《It's Not Easy to Be a Man After Travelling to the Future》


 Chapter 1: Souls Actually Exist after Death?

    Chapter 1: Souls Actually Exist after Death?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Ling Lan was dead!


    The moment she found herself hovering in the air looking down at the scene below her, she knew she was dead.


    She found that she could see through solid walls. She saw her parents crying outside the Intensive Care Unit and the solemn expression on her younger brother¡¯s face. She also watched as he released a quiet sigh when no one was looking, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.


    Ling Lan was not angered by this. She knew very well that she had been a burden upon her family for a whole 24 years, almost ruining their household, which was not very wealthy to begin with. If it were not for the fact that her disease was so bizarre that it was considered worthy of research, resulting in government support for her medication, she might have already passed away a full ten years earlier due to the inability to afford treatment.


    However, despite the dy, she still could not escape death in the end. The only surprise to her was that humans really did have souls.


    She peered up into the distant darkness of the night sky, and wondered fantastically ¡ª perhaps there were beings such as Ox-Head and Horse-Face 1 out in the world, or perhaps a Shinigami, like in the anime Bleach , who would suddenly spring out and drag her into the afterworld?


    Abruptly, sheughed, mocking herself for reading all kinds of useless books andics while she had been bedridden. Shinigami were from Japan ¡ª why would they show up in China? Ox-Head and Horse-Face were much more likely to appear, and perhaps even a small ghost dressed in traditional clothing?


    "Idiot! There are no such things as human souls; this is your spiritual self. If you don¡¯te back soon, you will really disperse into the air and be part of this world¡¯s energy." A childish voice rang out beside Ling Lan¡¯s ear, its tone frantic and concerned.


    Before Ling Lan could respond, she felt herself drawn back by an overwhelming pull, and her consciousness started to fade. Right before she cked out, she seemed to hear that same childish voice cry out joyfully, "I made it! I almost thought that my host would be lost for sure."


    At that very moment, the national first-rate military hospital Ling Lan was in was plunged into darkness. Soon after, the entire capital along with several neighbouring provinces and cities also joined it in the dark.


    The impossible urrence of such a wide-scale simultaneous ckout affecting the capital and several other province cities immediately prompted amotion in the otherwise quiet night.


    Fortunately, the ckout did notst long, onlysting for 3 minutes. All the cities quickly returned to normal, leaving only the National Power Company in disarray. Within those 3 minutes, the electricity they had supplied to those involved cities had mysteriously disappeared, as if the Power Company had not provided any electricity to begin with. But in reality, as proven by their numerical data, they had released more than a trillion kilowatts in those 3 minutes, a greater amount than they ever had before.


    This matter was quickly handed over to the National Security Agency to investigate. After several months, the answer given to the public was that theputer systems used by the Power Company to track the electric supply had been broken into by hackers, who had then tampered with the data and stopped the power supply, resulting in the mass ckout. And just like that, the public outcry over the ckout drew to a close.


    However, the investigation results that were finally sealed into the nation¡¯s top-secret security files were as follows ¡ª unexinable phenomenon. The power disappeared into thin air, just as if it were an act of God!


    *****


    Star Calendar Year 4731:


    At the spaceport of Anta, all the warriors headed for the front lines were lined up to enter the regr battleships. Meanwhile, in front of themanding mothership of the top-ranked official, a pair of lovers faced each other among the crowds of people saying goodbye, speaking in soft tones with their hands sped.


    "Ling Xiao, you muste back alive," pleaded Lan Luofeng with teary eyes.


    Ling Xiao nodded. He had not expected that he would have to rush into battle after being married for only two months, but the enemy was relentless and their nation wasn¡¯t faring very well, leaving him no choice but to take action.


    "I leave the household in your hands." Ling Xiao felt sorry for his newly wedded wife due to his imminent departure ¡ª once he left, all the messy bothersome issues in the family would fall upon this delicate woman before him. Could she hold off those greedy people? In his heart, he wasn¡¯t at all certain.


    With red-rimmed eyes, but a firm voice, Lan Luofeng said, "Don¡¯t worry, Ling Xiao. I will take good care of our household." She ced Ling Xiao¡¯s hand on her abdomen, and said shyly, "In another eight months or so, you are going to be a father."


    "We have a child? That¡¯s great!" Blindsided by the happy news, Ling Xiao embraced his wife and twirled her around in circles, joyousughter spilling from his mouth.


    Lan Luofeng held onto Ling Xiao anxiously but did nothing to stop his celebratory actions. After a long while, Ling Xiao finally put Lan Luofeng down and hugged her close, saying, "Luofeng, thank you!"


    "What are you saying? I am your wife, and this...is also a child I anticipate."


    Lan Luofeng smiled gently with her hand pressed against her abdomen, the joy in her heart overflowing. "I wanted to ask, what shall we name the child?"


    At her words, Ling Xiao started to consider it seriously. Looking at the mirrored joy on his wife¡¯s face, a spark of inspiration red. "I have decided. Whether it is a boy or a girl, our child shall be called Ling Lan! The child is both yours and mine, and is worthy to bear both our surnames." Lan Luofeng was also an only child, so perhaps this name would give his wife some happiness.


    Sure enough, Lan Luofeng was overjoyed, nodding vigorously. "Yes, let¡¯s do as you say."


    The tears in her eyes could no longer be held back, and Ling Xiao could do nothing but frantically help her wipe them away.


    At this time, the tform announced the call for final boarding. Lan Luofeng hurriedlyposed herself, wiped away the rest of her tears, and said with a smile, "Ling Xiao, you must fulfil your promise to me ¡ª Ling Lan and I will wait for your return together."


    Ling Xiao nodded gravely. "I always fulfil my promises."


    With anticipation for his child in his heart, Ling Xiao left, boarding themanding mothership under Lan Luofeng¡¯s teary gaze. Very quickly, themanding mothership closed its doors and started up, and under the guidance of air control, it disengaged from the navigation frame of the port, slowly rose into the air, and pulled away from the Star of Anta, leading innumerable battleships into deep space.


    Meanwhile, unnoticed by the people focused on the departure of the airships, a massive amount of energy was generated by the simultaneous powering up of the countless airships, causing this patch of space to waver and even fold in on itself in some ces. An almost microscopic particle suddenly appeared out of thin air and rushed towards the Star of Anta at the speed of light.


    Still mired in sadness, Lan Luofeng suddenly felt her abdomen grow hot and cold and couldn¡¯t help but scream out in shock, her hands drifting instinctively to cover her belly. This drew the concern of the chambein Ling Qin, who until now had been quietly standing watch like wallpaper in the background.


    "Young mistress, are you alright?"


    Lan Luofeng closed her eyes and carefully took stock of herself. Finding nothing wrong, she finally rxed, and replied, "Uncle Qin, I¡¯m fine. I think I was just a little too emotional."


    At that, Ling Qin breathed out a sigh of relief, "Young mistress, since the young master has already left Anta, I think we should go home now. It¡¯s too chaotic here, I¡¯m afraid it may be harmful to your health."


    Lan Luofeng was not a stubborn person, and she felt that Ling Qin¡¯s concerns had merit, so she nodded and said, "Lead the way, Uncle Qin."


    In short order, the two of them were seated in a hover car, speeding away from the spaceport towards home.

 Chapter 2: Young Master Ling Lan is born!

    Chapter 2: Young Master Ling Lan is born!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Ling Lan once again regained consciousness, but this time there seemed to be something wrong with her eyes, so she could only rely on her sense of feeling. It felt as if she was contained in a sealed vat of warm water, surrounded by liquid on all sides. At times, the vat seemed to be moved by someone, and she would be bumped around.


    Could it be that she didn¡¯t die? Had she been ced into a nutrient solution by the hospital to take care of her body?


    Before she could figure things out, her consciousness faded, and she was enveloped by darkness once again.


    After an indeterminate amount of time, she woke up again, still within the warm liquid, and this time she was aware for a little longer than before. This time, she could hear some sounds, although they sounded muffled as ifing from several walls away, so she could not make anything out clearly. She really wanted to know what was happening to her, but being unable to move, she could only work on trying to decipher the sounds. Before she could make any progress, however, she lost consciousness again.


    Dammit! Couldn¡¯t she just have a little more time? As Ling Lan lost awareness, she couldn¡¯t help but make this brief protest.


    As if Ling Lan¡¯s protest was heard, the time Ling Lan spent awake grew longer and longer, until one day, she found that she could move.


    After being trapped for so long, she naturally swung her fists and kicked out with all her might, but after only a few movements, she was entirely tired out and even felt sleepy again.


    This would not do. She could not keep being weak like this, or else how would she endure the inhuman pain when it came? Speaking of which, she hadn¡¯t felt pain in a long time. Could it be that the pain only came while she was unconscious? Ling Lan suddenly felt that being unconscious could also be a good thing.


    However, Ling Lan was not a girl who liked to avoid her troubles, or else she would not have had been able to live every day with excruciating pain for 24 years. She rallied her spirits and began to practice the set of health-bolstering Qi cultivation exercises taught to her by an old Chinese doctor who had treated her when she had first entered the military hospital.


    Even though she still had not felt any Qi form after over 10 years of practice, the pain in her body would lessen greatly after each session and be easier to endure. While this may well have been due to self-delusion, or some sort of cebo effect, it had nevertheless provided her with motivation to continue practicing the exercises.


    She lost consciousness as she practiced, and when she awoke once again, an unknown period of time had passed. She moved her limbs and shifted around for a bit before stopping to get a sense of her own condition and was immediately dumbfounded. She could actually sense something which she had never felt before ... something like Qi. It was unreal, like something out of fantasy ¡ª could it be that she was a talent blessed by the heavens, and her fake death had caused two of her extraordinary meridians, Ren and Du, to open up, turning her into a martial arts master?


    Ling Lan could not understand why she seeded this time when hard training for over 10 years had had no effect. Still, being able to sense Qi was a good thing. The old Chinese doctor had said that if she could achieve a sense of Qi, her illness would have the possibility of being healed. For 24 years she had wished for her illness to be cured so that she would no longer have to live every day in almost unbearable pain, feeling as if her entire body was being crushed.


    Ling Lan was ecstatic, and her enthusiasm for practice grew. She began practicing during her every waking moment, and this continued until she achieved a meditative state. Until now, she still had no clue that she had be a fetus, and that what had happened in her past life was no longer any of her concern, and that her worries were for naught.


    ********


    Lan Luofeng caressed her abdomen with a face full of worry. She was already 5 months into her pregnancy, but she had not felt any recent fetal movement from her baby. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that all the medical exams showed that her child was developing normally, she would surely have had a mental breakdown.


    Truthfully, she could take no more bad news. A month after her husband Ling Xiao had left for battle, news hade saying that there had been an ident when the fleet he was leading had entered a death tunnel to outnk the enemy camp, and that headquarters had lost all contact with his fleet.


    Later on, it was confirmed that the fleet had run into some energy disturbance in the depths of the dead star meteorite zone while passing through the death tunnel, and the entire fleet had been consumed by this devastating energy. There were no survivors. Every single member was lost, and no remains could be found.


    Before she could even fully absorb this terrible news, something even more distasteful had happened. A branch family member N-generations apart from Ling Xiao had ¡¯stepped up¡¯ to inherit the honours and privileges gained by Ling Xiao¡¯s sacrifice. He had even had the gall to imply that he was doing her a great favour and would take care of her for the rest of her life.


    Lan Luofeng had thrown that disgusting man out immediately, but those horrid people had been unwilling to give up. They had brought a representative over from the federal government to discuss the matter.


    Lan Luofeng was not a weak person. She knew that crying would only result in Ling Xiao¡¯s sacrifice being taken advantage of by these despicable people. With no other choice, she made a prompt decision. In front of those hateful and despicable people, she proimed that Ling Xiao had a son who was currently in her belly, and that only his son had the right to inherit all of Ling Xiao¡¯s des.


    Bias actually existed in the Federation¡¯s inheritancew with regards to military benefits ¡ª only male family members were allowed to inherit. This was why Lan Luofeng did not reveal she had a child from the beginning. Both she and the chambein Ling Qin knew that the child in her belly was a girl, but under these circumstances, she could not retreat. Ling Qin was in agreement and fully supported her decision.


    They had already thought it through ¡ª the moment Ling Lan was born, they would arrange for another baby girl to be raised alongside Ling Lan to be her loyal guard, who would also marry Ling Lan publicly once they were adults.


    They would also think of a way to manage Ling Lan¡¯s other identity so that she would be able to appear in public as a girl as well. Of course, all this still required more detailed thought and consideration. Still, Lan Luofeng believed that by the time Ling Lan grew up she would definitely have been able toe up with a solution that would give Ling Lan the best of both worlds.


    Lan Luofeng had only one unwavering thought, and that was that all of Ling Xiao and her possessions could only belong to Ling Lan. All those other bastards who crawled out from god-knows-where would not be allowed to take advantage of Ling Lan. She would not allow it, never, no matter the cost.


    Of course, another reason for Lan Luofeng¡¯s confidence was the unwavering loyalty of the main household vassals of Ling Xiao. They closed ranks around the Ling family home and kept a close watch, leaving those greedy outsiders no chance to harm their young master. Furthermore, the Ling family also had their own personal hospital, which made it even more convenient for Lan Luofeng to hide the secret of Ling Lan¡¯s gender.


    Just like that, under this strict guard, the time for Lan Luofeng to give birth finally arrived. Naturally, the chosen ce of birth was their personal hospital. No mistakes could be made at this final juncture. The doctors and nurses responsible for Lan Luofeng¡¯s delivery were family loyalists specially arranged by the Ling family ¡ª they would never ever expose this secret.


    ********


    Ling Lan was still practicing when cry after piercing cry disturbed her meditation, causing her to be very annoyed. At the same time, she could hear the sound of water flowing, and then her body was being repelled by some unknown force, and she was sliding downwards headfirst.


    In shock, she immediately spread open her legs to hold her position, stopping her body from sliding down any further.


    "God dammit, why doesn¡¯t this childe out? The amniotic fluid has almost run dry." The delivering doctor and nurses were sweating buckets. Everything looked like it was going well, but the child just did not want toe out. It was looking more and more like a case of obstructedbour. If that was the case, then they would have to do a caesarean section. Under those circumstances, their little miss¡¯s secret could not be guaranteed since too many people would have to be involved, highly increasing the likelihood of the secret being leaked.


    Lan Luofeng gritted her teeth and petted her distended belly, saying, "Dear, stop tormenting mummy. Come out quickly to meet me. Even if you are angry at mummy for making you live an abnormal life, you still need toe out to yell at me, right?"


    ... Alright, Lan Luofeng¡¯s IQ had dropped into the negatives due to the pain, so what she said should not be taken seriously. Which mother wants her child to yell at herself?


    But Lan Luofeng¡¯s words were heard by Ling Lan, andbined with what she just felt, along with her condition a while back, Ling Lan abruptly realised she had be a fetus. No wonder she had been unable to move for such a long time...


    However, didn¡¯t she die? Was she reincarnated? Why didn¡¯t she drink Meng-Po soup 1 ? Were the memories of her past life too deeply ingrained? The gentle and mellifluous voice of her current mother proved that this was not her mother from her past life, so that ruled out the possibility of rebirth.


    "Oh geez, you still have the spare time to think about reincarnation and rebirth? Your mother is about to suffer from obstructedbour because of you ... draw back your legs now!" A childish voice rang out in her mind in a panicked tone, reminding her of what she was supposed to do right now.


    Ling Lan listened and drew back her legs. Then she heard a soul-wrenching scream, and a surge of energy pushed her body out.


    Instantly, she could sense the presence of light ...


    Before she could do anything, she felt fingers digging into her mouth, making her feel like puking. She couldn¡¯t help but open her mouth to protest, and then she heard her own screeching calls!


    That¡¯s right, calls! Ling Lan would never admit that those were wails ¡ª that would be too embarrassing.


    "Mistress, the young miss is healthy!" The Ling family doctor finally gave a sigh of relief. With both mother and child safe, their duty was done. All smiles, she brought the now stubbornly silent Ling Lan over to Lan Luofeng¡¯s side.


    Lan Luofeng opened her tired eyes and caressed her child lovingly. Then her expression tightened. Resolutely, she said, "Tell Uncle Qin both Young Master Ling Lan and I are fine!"


    "Yes, Mistress!" The doctor stifled his smile and donned a simrly serious expression.


    The birth of the young miss, no, the young master did not mean the end of the matter. To fully protect the privileges left behind by Major General Ling Xiao, there were still many hard battles to be fought.

 Chapter 3: Assessment of the Newborn!

    Chapter 3: Assessment of the Newborn!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Properly cleaned up, Lan Luofeng and Ling Lan were moved to a deluxe hospital room where Ling Qin had already set up a specialised instrument used to assess the various body stats and potential of infants.


    "Mistress, allow me to examine the young master¡¯s condition." In truth, Ling Qin was a little disappointed that the child was a girl. Even if Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s premium military benefits were sessfully inherited by the young miss, the Ling family would have no chance within this generation to obtain the strongest ultimate weapon which represented the Federation ¡ª just like the one Major General Ling Xiao had ¡ª the IN mecha!


    The Federation¡¯sw allowing only male rtives to inherit military honours and benefits, though seemingly biased, did in fact have some basis. Among all the functioning IN mechas, there was not a single one with a female operator.


    The requirements to be an IN mecha operator were extremely high ¡ª not only did you need to have immense spiritual power, you also needed a strong and sturdy body. This was because the IN mechas were operated by abination of willpower and body movement, which worked together to realise many extremely dangerous andplicated attacks andbat techniques. Depending on the power behind these movements, a fraction of the energy was reflected back to the operator. Without a strong body, an operator could be injured just by executing a single basic move.


    The natural physical difference between men and women may not be noticeable with regr mecha, but it was ringly obvious when it came to IN mecha. There wasn¡¯t a single woman who could withstand that sort of recoil, even if she had trained up a muscr body. With regards to operating the IN mecha, the natural physical gap between the genders could not be eliminated by hard work.


    Then let¡¯s talk about those inherited military benefits. Those benefits actually referred to valuable resources being cultivated by the nation. The nation would invest vast amounts of money and manpower to nurture the designated inheritors of those military benefits. The grand goal was that these carefully cultivated candidates would be able to operate an IN mecha someday and be an ultimate weapon in service of the country.


    Therefore, women, who could not operate IN mecha, had been directly cast aside by the Federation. As those politicians would say, they could not waste taxpayers¡¯ money, right? And so this outright biasedw which discriminated against women was officially ratified without facing any opposition from the general public.


    Naturally, the present Ling Lan knew nothing of this. Right after her first two grand cries at her birth, she had jumped straight into training, because at the very moment she had entered the world, she had found that her sense of Qi had heightened even further, giving her an almost roiling sensation. Even if she had no idea what was happening, she instinctively knew that this was a golden opportunity that should not be missed, and so immediately entered a meditative state without regard to where she was.


    Of course, Ling Lan was only so bold because she was an infant. Besides sleeping and eating, and eating and sleeping, she basically had nothing else to do. Even if she entered a training trance, outside observers would just assume she was sleeping, and would not be particrly worried. More importantly, from the words she had heard her mother speak at her birth, she knew that her mother in this life would make sure she was well-protected, which gave her the reassurance to just let go and focus on training.


    Lan Luofeng carefully passed Ling Lan over into Ling Qin¡¯s arms and watched as Ling Qin slowly ced Ling Lan into a transparent ellipticalpartment.


    The moment Ling Qin withdrew his arms, the transparentpartment sealed itself and beams of alternating green and red light swept across Ling Lan¡¯s body.


    Suddenly, the transparentpartment emitted a piercing warning whistle ¡ª¡ª


    "What¡¯s going on?" Lan Luofeng sat up hurriedly in her bed. Her face, which was already pale due to her recent delivery, turned even paler in her fright and worry over her child.


    Ling Qin was just as taken aback by this unexpected warning whistle. However, before Ling Qin could rush over to check, the warning whistle went silent, and the assessment resumed as normal.


    Everyone was still rmed and uncertain, but they did not dare to stop the assessment of Ling Lan and so continued to wait patiently.


    Ling Lan was utterly oblivious to all of this ¡ª at that moment a childish voice in her mind was crowing gleefully, "Luckily I have quick reflexes, or else my host¡¯s secret would have been revealed. When I greet the hostter, I must get her to praise me well ... hehe!"


    Finally, the assessment device started to report its findings.


    Assessment data:


    Physical Fitness: [S] rank!


    Spiritual Power: Tier-2!


    Potential: [S] rank!


    Assessment overview: Excellent; focused cultivation rmended.


    Ling Qin was astounded by these results. In disbelief, he rushed over to take a closer look at the copy of the results printed out by the machine.


    The results were clearly printed out in ck and white, proving that he had not misheard.


    [S] rank physical fitness was rare even among male infants, appearing at a rate of 1 or 2 in a thousand. Of course this wasn¡¯t the most extreme case, for Ling Lan¡¯s father, Ling Xiao, had been a gifted genius born with a physical fitness of [SS] rank, which urred at a rate of 1 in several ten thousand. Ling Qin suspected that Ling Lan¡¯s good physical fitness must have been inherited from her father.


    Even more surprising, Ling Lan possessed natural tier-2 spiritual power. This meant that Ling Lan would have a natural advantage in mental training, a situation which only urred at a rate of 1 in several ten thousand individuals ...


    Deeply moved, Ling Qin shivered. Even Ling Lan¡¯s father, the Major General Ling Xiao, had only possessed tier-1 spiritual power at birth.


    [S] rank potential ¡ª the same basic assessment as Major General Ling Xiao. Major General Ling Xiao was the operator of an IN mecha ... does that mean that their young miss Ling Lan might also be able to operate an IN mecha?


    An IN mecha operator ... Ling Qin¡¯s shivers intensified at the thought, and he almost burst into tears. Could it be that the Ling family would produce the first female IN mecha operator?


    If that happened, it would truly be a p in the face to all those federalists!


    Although Lan Luofeng was also shocked by the results of Ling Lan¡¯s assessment, she was at heart a mother, and her first thought was how she could protect her child. Solemnly, she said, "Uncle Qin, Ling Lan¡¯s assessment results must be sealed."


    If Ling Lan¡¯s assessment were to be made public, the nation would certainly suggest taking her in for intensive cultivation. If Ling Lan were a boy, Lan Luofeng would have been fine with that. However, Ling Lan was a girl, and Lan Luofeng would not see her daughter suffer that life. Also, if the nation were to decide to send over specialised trainers instead, the secret of Ling Lan¡¯s gender would also be easily exposed. Thus, Lan Luofeng was determined that Ling Lan¡¯s assessment be sealed.


    Actually, even before Ling Lan was born, Lan Luofeng had already decided that she would let Ling Lan live as she pleased. She did not really want Ling Lan to follow in her father¡¯s footsteps and be part of the military. Lan Luofeng knew very well that as long as Ling Lan did notmit any major crime such as treason, she would be able to live off of the premium military benefits earned by Ling Xiao¡¯s sacrifice the way she wanted without worry. Even if Ling Lan wanted to live like a rich wastrel, Lan Luofeng would not object.


    Lan Luofeng looked upon Ling Lan in the device with loving yet remorseful eyes and thought, "Sorry, baby Ling Lan, for making you live an abnormal life ... It¡¯s because you are Ling Xiao¡¯s daughter, and I will not permit anyone other than you to enjoy the privileges your father¡¯s sacrifice have gained.


    "But you are also my daughter, and I love you, so I selfishly do not wish for you to bear the burdens of the Ling family. In the future, I won¡¯t go out of my way to raise you in any specific way ¡ª you will be free to choose whichever path you¡¯d like. Even if you end up being a wastrel, mummy will always support you."


    It must be admitted that Lan Luofeng had the makings of an irrationally protective mother ¡ª if Ling Lan were to wish for the destruction of the Ling family in the future, Lan Luofeng may even help draw up the ns with full enthusiasm.

 Chapter 4: The Childish Voice in the Mind!

    Chapter 4: The Childish Voice in the Mind!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Ling Lan was putting a lot of effort into training this time around. Her whole body felt sofortable, as if it were soaking in a hot spring, making her unwilling to end her training session. Unfortunately, some unidentified creature would not leave her alone and kept nattering on and on by her ear. She suddenly realized something she could never figure out before, the deeper meaning behind the monkey king Wukong¡¯s words in the grand epic Journey to the West : "It¡¯s as if there¡¯s a fly buzzing about every day ... sorry, not just one, but a swarm of flies around you, buzzing ... it really makes you want to scream for help!"


    Right now, she wished that she could do as Wukong did and grab hold of the fly, squeeze it until its insides burst out, and then use its own intestines to strangle it. Ha, until its entire tongue stuck out! And then she would flip her hand and dump it on the floor. Phew ¡ª¡ª and the whole world would be peaceful again.


    Of course, Ling Lan could only fantasize about this because this fly was living in her head, so there was no way for her to bring it to justice.


    Finally, Ling Lan could not take it anymore and was forced to end her session and wake up. Furious, she yelled at it internally, "Dammit, who the hell are you?"


    As if frightened by her forceful roar, the childish voice only responded after a long while. Warily, it said, "Mecha learning device number 444444444 from the Mechanical Kingdom of the Mandora star system! Also your contracted long-termpanion."


    Ling Lan was stunned ¡ª could it be that every child in this world she was reincarnated into was equipped with a simr learning device? It looked like the technology of this world was very impressive. She wondered if there was a huge differencepared to her original world.


    As if sensing Ling Lan¡¯s question, the childish voice rang out in her mind once again, its tone dismissive. "How could this world have such a progressive learning device such as myself? Also, you may have forgotten, but it was I who put you back in one piece when your spiritual self almost dispersed after your physical body died."


    Ling Lan abruptly remembered the voice she had heard when she had died in her past life. Her expression changed dramatically, "What in the world happened?"


    The childlike voice replied, "Your previous body could not support your powerful spiritual power, and so thoroughly copsed. Luckily for you, a once in a blue moon wormhole happened to open up right then. I managed to gather your diffusing spiritual energy at the final moment and took the opportunity to absorb some local energy to carry your spiritual self through the wormhole to this advanced world 10000 years in the future."


    "How does that work?" Ling Lan was very curious, what did this have to do with her luck?


    The childlike voice sniffed. "If we had remained in your original world, even if I had taken your spiritual self and let you be reborn there, you would still have died in the end. The weak physical bodies of the babies there would never have been able to support your immense spiritual self."


    As if sensing that it hadn¡¯t exined clearly enough, the childlike voice added, "Even an adult¡¯s body wouldn¡¯t have worked. The result would have been a replica of your previous body."


    Ling Lan shuddered. She did not want to experience that pain ¡ª of all her organs failing and breaking apart, then healing only to break apart again ¡ª ever again.


    At that thought, Ling Lan asked worriedly, "And there¡¯s no worry of that now?"


    The childlike voice sounded pleased with itself as it responded. "That¡¯s right. 10000 yearster, spiritual power has been sessfully uncovered and developed. Now, the bodies of babies are strong even in their mother¡¯s wombs, and some may even be able to withstand tier-3 or tier-4 spiritual power from birth. So long as you take a little care, you won¡¯t die."


    Hearing this, Ling Lan rxed. Being able to live on was all she was asking for.


    However, what the childlike voice said next made Ling Lan¡¯s heart leap into her throat once again. "That being said, I still have to help you restrain your spiritual power, or else your current body will still be unable to take it."


    "Then, will there be any danger?" The learning device sounded so young ... was it really reliable? Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but worry.


    "I can only guarantee you two years without worry. If you don¡¯t work hard to increase your body¡¯s resilience within this time frame ... you will still end up dead as a doornail!" The childlike voice revealed hints of schadenfreude, causing Ling Lan to feel threatened and angry at the same time. Since they had already traversed through time and space, couldn¡¯t this fellow have chosen a better world that would have eliminated this problempletely?


    The childish voice sounded put out at her thoughts. "No one knows where a wormhole will lead to. I already said that you were lucky ¡ª if we had arrived at a world worse than your own, you¡¯d already be dead as a doornail."


    Ling Lan felt a little sheepish after hearing this. She was only alive because of this fellow after all ¡ª she really shouldn¡¯t repay its kindness with ingratitude.


    Wait a minute. Ling Lan recalled that even though she had been physically weak before the age of three, constantly sick and bedridden, her body had still been far from breaking down. It was only after age three that her body¡¯s condition suddenly deteriorated drastically. Could it be that ¡ª¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s expression grew cold. "Is there anything else you haven¡¯t told me?"


    The childlike voice sensed that the truth it wanted to hide had been discovered by its host, and so helplessly decided to confess. "I¡¯m also not sure ... I just know that when I woke up, I was already contracted to you. I have tested your spiritual power before ¡ª in your world, your spiritual power was much, much higher than the average person¡¯s, registering at tier-2 ... perhaps that is why I was able to be bound to you. Of course, my awakening caused your spiritual power to directly jump up a level, and the bodies of your world then were incapable of sustaining tier-3 spiritual power."


    At longst Ling Lan had found the true culprit behind her death. Her emotions were jumbled and she had no idea how she was supposed to react.


    Seeing this, the childlike voice panicked, saying sadly, "I didn¡¯t do it on purpose. I¡¯m not sure myself how we met. I thought I could only exist within the Mandora star system." Even now, it still had no clue how it had gotten to that primitive.


    Ling Lan was a person who could not abide tears. She could not bear to see anyone cry, not even herself. The causey with her illness ¡ª though they tried to hide it, her parents had pretty much been in tears every day; she had noticed, but had no way of consoling them, and she hated that sense of helplessness. Thus, ¡¯Crying is forbidden¡¯ became one of Ling Lan¡¯s life principles, one which she carried with her to this world as well.


    "Alright, stop it, I¡¯m not ming you. All I can say is that this was all fate." Ling Lan gave up, deciding to let bygones be bygones. Although this self-titled mecha learning device had cost her her life in the past world, it had also given her another life, making them even.


    Besides that, her parents in her past life would still have her younger brother to take care of them in their old age. Without the burden of caring for her, their lives should be much easier and also much happier. Considering this, Ling Lan decided to let things go.


    Perhaps the suffering she endured in her previous life had given her peerless inner strength ¡ª very quickly, Ling Lan had thrown off the fetters of her past life, and her heart felt all the lighter for it.


    Now that her doubts and worries had been addressed, she soon remembered that she had been pestered to wakefulness by this learning device. What did it want? It was hard to imagine that they had chattered on for almost half a day without even touching on the matter. Ling Lan sweat-dropped ¡ª could it be that her concentration and thought processes had been weakened since she had be a baby again?


    Putting that thought aside for now, Ling Lan asked, "So, what did you wake me up for exactly?"

 Chapter 5: Luckily Still a Girl

    Chapter 5: Luckily Still a Girl


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    The learning device was just rejoicing over the fact that Ling Lan did not me it when it registered Ling Lan¡¯s question. Its joy disappeared, and it exined hurriedly, "You¡¯ve been asleep for two days and two nights for no apparent reason. Your mother has been crying so much that she hasn¡¯t been able to keep any food down due to worry. They¡¯ve decided that if you still haven¡¯t woken up by tomorrow, they¡¯ll send you to the hospital. From what I could gather, admitting you to a hospital will cause them a lot of trouble. I felt that something wasn¡¯t right about the situation, so I rushed to wake you up."


    A jolt ran through Ling Lan ¡ª she could not be admitted! Who knew if the technology here would be able to sense this fellow hiding within her mind? If it were discovered, she would most certainly end up as ab rat. She must make sure this didn¡¯t happen.


    For her own safety and personal freedom, Ling Lan decided not to fight it any longer. She allowed her throat to open up and started bawling, signalling to the people watching over her that she was awake.


    Frankly, Ling Lan had only intended to make a little noise, maybe a gurgle or a soft whine, but the sound that poured out of her throat was rmingly loud ...


    The childish voice almost shut down in fear. Hesitantly, it asked, "Was it necessary to cry so tragically?"


    Taken aback herself by the volume and emotion in her own cry, Ling Lan responded sheepishly, "Can¡¯t help it. My body¡¯s starving ..."


    Losing to her own body¡¯s needs, Ling Lan felt that all hope was lost ¡ª there went her angelic baby image. Truth be told, she had really wanted to be an angelic baby, well-behaved and adorable, bing the apple of her new parents¡¯ eyes. But it looks like that n had gone up in smoke.


    Because no matter how you look, a baby who would cry in such a frightening manner couldn¡¯t be described as angelic in any way ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s energetic cries woke the person resting right beside her. Lan Luofeng sprang up and pulled her daughter into her arms, looking her over with joyful, yet shocked and fearful, eyes.


    Her daughter had finally woken up! But she was crying so piteously ¡ª could there be something wrong with her?


    The doctor on-call rushed over from the room next door. After a detailed examination, it was determined that Ling Lan was just really hungry.


    Lan Luofeng looked down at Ling Lan suckling at her breast and felt her heart slowly settle back into her chest.


    After drinking her fill, flushed with wine ... er, milk, Ling Lan finally had the strength to take a good look at the world around her for the first time.


    She was in arge bedroom, sorge that Ling Lan could not see the entirety of the bedroom just by turning her small head around.


    The furnishings of the room were light and tasteful; no bold or garish colours were present. One of the first things Ling Lan noticed was that the bed she and her mom was lying on seemed very wide. Putting aside the space they had imed, there was still more than enough space for her to roll around several times ¡ª that is, of course, if she could roll.


    There were no bedside cabs installed at the head of the bed, as was the fashion in her previous world, instead, there were several metallic-looking objects near the corners of the room. The design of the objects was rather strange, giving Ling Lan the impression of robots.


    Within Ling Lan¡¯s range of sight, she could see no wardrobes or any other furniture of the like ¡ª that is to say, there was no other furniture she could see besides the bed.


    Ling Lan did not think much of this. This is ten thousand yearster after all ¡ª who knows how the world has developed? As long as she continued to live, she would surely find all the answers she needed. There was no hurry at all.


    There was another person in the room, an elderlydy, who stood watch beside her mother. Ling Lan nced at her curiously and found that she had a kind but serious face, and seemed to be very attentive to her mother¡¯s needs. She was probably not an elder in the family, but rather a long-time servant of the household.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan was d. This meant that the family she had been born into was rather well-off, so she wouldn¡¯t have to worry much about daily living. In her previous world, she had had to bear so much frustration and hardship due to theck of money caused by her illness ¡ª she was d that she could avoid all that in this world.


    At this point, Ling Lan was still blissfully unaware that being the child of a well-off family could sometimes bring about even greater frustration and hardship. Of course, that is a story for another time, so we shall not talk about it for now.


    After finishing her observation of her surroundings, Ling Lan turned her gaze upon her mother lying beside her, who had a soft smile on her face as she held Ling Lan¡¯s tiny hand. Her mother was a great beauty ¡ª even as a female, Ling Lan was enthralled just staring at her.


    Ling Lan was very pleased by this; no one wants to be in after all. Her mother¡¯s beauty meant that she would also grow up to be beautiful. Even if she didn¡¯t end up a great beauty like her mother, she would still be attractive enough to turn heads.


    Right then, a middle-aged man, roughly between the ages of 40 and 50, walked over to the bed. It was the chambein Ling Qin. He stood respectfully by the bed as he addressed Lan Luofeng.


    "Mistress, everything has been handled with both the government and the military. In a month, the Federation will officially dispense young master Ling Lan¡¯s right to inherit." Ling Qin¡¯s tone was solemn ¡ª if it were at all possible, he would rather see his master, the mainstay of the family, alive to guard the mistress and the young miss. Not this, where the young miss would be forced to lead an abnormal life.


    Young master Ling Lan? Ling Lan heard her name, and her spirits perked up in response. So this world had a boy who shared her name? Speaking of which ... she still didn¡¯t know what her current name was.


    After hearing what Ling Qin had to say, Lan Luofeng¡¯s eyes turned red, and crystalline tears fell. "Ling Xiao would definitely be happy about this."


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s reaction sent the old servant beside her into a fluster, and she only managed to calm Lan Luofeng down after some difficulty.


    Lan Luofeng wiped away her tears. She knew she had to control her sadness. She could not let herself fall ¡ª all that remained of Ling Xiao and her baby Ling Lan needed her protection. Even if Ling Lan were to sessfully inherit everything of Ling Xiao¡¯s, there were still many dangers lying in wait for her as she grew up. Lan Luofeng knew she could not let down her guard.


    Lan Luofeng bent over to kiss Ling Lan on the cheek. "Ling Lan, my child, mummy is sorry. From now on, you are the young master of the Ling family ¡ª you can only be the young master of the Ling family!" The guilt Lan Luofeng felt for forcing this upon her daughter was undeniable, however, the determination in her eyes was also immovable.


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s words sent Ling Lan into a tailspin. Young master Ling Lan? Me? F*ck! I was reincarnated into this world as a boy? No no no, I must have heard wrong ...


    Perhaps Lan Luofeng had pushed herself to the limit over thest two days fretting over Ling Lan, for she fell asleep soon after she finished speaking.


    Meanwhile, when the old servant turned away to do some other chores, Ling Lan subtly moved a small hand downwards to explore between her legs ...


    It¡¯s t! Ling Lan¡¯s heart calmed immediately.


    Luckily I¡¯m still a girl, she thought. Without that extra appendage down there, she wouldn¡¯t have to live the strange life of being neither man nor woman and worry about her mind being a mess.


    Of course Ling Lan was also very happy that she could still go by the name Ling Lan. She had been called by that name for over twenty years after all ¡ª it would have been a little hard to ept if she had to suddenly change her name.


    However, her happiness did notst long before it was driven away by a wave of anxiety.


    If the phrase ¡¯young master¡¯ had the same meaning as it did in her original world in the past, then she was in some pretty deep trouble. There must be some unavoidable reason why she would have to dress and present herself as a man.


    The guilt in her mother¡¯s eyes was clear. Despite that, her mother still chose this path. This could only mean that the situation was already so bad that Ling Lan had no other choice but to be a man to salvage the situation.

 Chapter 6: A Shameless Person

    Chapter 6: A Shameless Person


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Very quickly, a month had gone by, and it was time for the Federation to officially announce the inheritance.


    During this month, Ling Lan did not do anything besides eat or sleep. Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s ¡¯sleep¡¯ was actually a training trance.


    That said, Ling Lan was much smarter about it now. She assigned Little Four the task of waking her up whenever it was time to eat ¡ª she had no intention of misjudging her training time again. She did not want to be dragged to the hospital for a check-up after all, and risk exposing her secret and the existence of Little Four only to be ab rat.


    Who is Little Four, you ask? Who else could it be but that little fellow who imed to be a mecha learning device?


    Two weeks ago, under its guidance, Ling Lan had managed to pull together a mentalwork after around ten days of experimentation. Using it, she had explored her mindscape and managed to find the main body of the learning device deep within it. She had then sessfully unlocked the virtual learning space of the device. In the future, it would be much more convenient for her to meet the learning device ¡ª she would just have to will it, and her consciousness would be brought into the virtual learning space.


    Ling Lan still remembered how she had almost spewed blood when she first saw Little Four¡¯s virtual body.


    In truth, Little Four¡¯s appearance was very charming. It looked like a little boy of only three to four years old, with a bright and innocent smile on his face. In the words of modern-day ng, extremely ¡¯moe¡¯ [1]. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but find it adorable.


    The only problem was ... the little fellow had been too excited, and had flounced up to herpletely naked, butt jiggling.


    And so tragedy befell poor Little Four ¡ª he had been immediately scooped up and spanked soundly, until his white and bouncy little behind had been imprinted with the shape of Ling Lan¡¯s palms.


    Dammit, why did he have to show her his dick? Although his dick was so small that it could almost be ignored ... but it was still a dick, wasn¡¯t it? How could he do that to a pure and innocent maiden like her?


    Of course, although the spanking relieved Ling Lan¡¯s embarrassed anger, the little boy became angry in turn. In protest, he hid away in the depths of her mind and refused toe out again.


    At first, Ling Lan did not take it to heart, but when the situation showed no signs of improving after two days, Ling Lan gave in.


    She needed the little fellow to help wake her up after all. Resigned, Ling Lan patiently cajoled the little fellow out and promised to never resort to this sort of domestic violence ever again. Only then did the little boy return to his bouncy happy self.


    The two started talking a bit more, and when Ling Lan asked how she should address him, the boy¡¯s response annoyed Ling Lan once again.


    This little rascal actually wanted her to call him ¡¯Master Four¡¯? He didn¡¯t even have any body hair yet and he wanted this older sister to call him ¡¯Master¡¯?


    Even though Ling Lan had promised to never again use domestic violence, she still had other tricks up her sleeve. Under the full force of her logical-illogical-rational-irrational arguments, the little fellow agreed without question to be called ¡¯Little Four¡¯.


    Victory! Ling Lan was uncharacteristically proud of herself for this.


    However, when she found outter why Little Four had first wanted her to call him Master Four, she found herself speechless.


    Little Four exined that it had found that the title ¡¯Master¡¯ was extremely popr in books, TV, and the inte back on Earth, and since his designation had so many fours, what else could he be called but ¡¯Master Four¡¯?


    Ling Lan felt that she had been mistaken. She should never have tried to probe the motivations of a machine ¡ª doing so was an insult to her intelligence.


    Once Ling Lan had managed to establish a connection with Little Four, she could freely ess the virtual learning environment. Besides that, within this month, she had also picked up from the conversations between her mother and the chambein Ling Qin that her father of this world had died on the battlefield, which is why she had to inherit her father¡¯s military benefits by posing as a man.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but sigh ¡ª it seemed that sexism existed everywhere. Gender equality had been a struggle back on Earth, and now, ten thousand years in the future, when humanity had already expanded beyond the sr system, gender oppression was still thriving.


    The current Ling Lan had no clue what the military benefits were referring to. Although she could get the eager Little Four to look it up for her, she ultimately decided to take things one step at a time. There was still much she didn¡¯t know about this era, and it was probably wiser to take her time growing up to slowly understand the world around her instead of taking a shortcut.


    Ling Lan was a very patient and tolerant person. Otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to live over twenty years suffering the inhuman pain of her body breaking down. This tolerance of hers was definitely far above the average person.


    Initially, she had been worried about the two-year time limit that Little Four had mentioned ¡ª however, after some research, Little Four found that the Qi exercises she had been doing were an extremely effective way to increase physical fitness. ording to Little Four¡¯s estimations, even if she did nothing else but practice those exercises for just ten hours every day, she would still be able to easily resolve the danger she would have faced in two years time.


    And so, now that she knew her life was not on a timer, Ling Lan did not intend to hurry through life. She was still very young and did not want to stand out as a genius. Taking things a step at a time would be the safest and surest way to live. Ling Lan understood very well, after all, that the tree that grows above the tree-line gets toppled by the wind [2].


    Living freely was the most important thing!


    ********


    Soon, it was time for the Federation to hand over the inheritance documents. On that day, Ling Lan could clearly sense the sorrow and distress emanating from her mother. Once the document was handed over, her father Ling Xiao¡¯s death would officially be announced to the public, and her mother would no longer be able to avoid the reality of his death.


    Early that morning, Ling Lan sensed a disturbance in the typically peaceful household. However, since she was in the bedroom, she could not tell what was happening.


    However, she was soon picked up by a servant and brought downstairs. As they moved down the stairway, Ling Lan could see the glorious lights hanging from the ceiling, their edges brushing the sides of several tall columns.


    Yep, assessmentplete. This was a grand and luxurious hall. Her family was indeed of the upper echelon.


    Before Ling Lan could observe her fill, she had already been transferred into her mother¡¯s arms. Lan Luofeng¡¯s sombre mood improved considerably as she observed Ling Lan and her curious and roving eyes. Fortunately, Ling Xiao had left her this beautiful baby, giving her the strength to oppose those greedy wretches.


    She grasped at her daughter¡¯s little hand, and calmly announced, "This is Ling Xiao¡¯s son Ling Lan! Only he shall inherit all that belongs to Ling Xiao."


    At that moment, an old but strident voice spoke up, "We need to ensure that Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s sacrifice is not in vain. We are not denying Young Master Ling Lan¡¯s right to inherit, but only wish that the Ling family would choose the most outstanding child to inherit Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s premium military benefits, so that Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s unfinished duties can be taken up by the most suitable candidate."


    Lan Luofeng turned a sharp gaze towards the old speaker. About seventy years old, he still stood proud and tall. He was the grand elder of the Ling branch family ¡ª Ling Suren, and even Ling Xiao had had to address him respectfully while he was still alive. He was also the one appointed by the branch family to protest Ling Lan¡¯s inheritance of Ling Xiao¡¯s possessions.


    Ling Lan could feel Lan Luofeng¡¯s chest trembling as she tried to suppress her anger at Ling Suren¡¯s words.


    Honestly, she had never met such a shameless person. Look at the way he spun words to justify taking away a child¡¯s right to inherit from his birth father ¡ª if his words were to be believed, what was the point of military men risking their lives to protect their country? When they died, did it mean that it was open season on their unprotected families?


    Ling Lan pulled at her mother¡¯s fingers and gurgled.


    Darn it. If only she were bigger, she would certainly spit upon that person¡¯s body to shame him for his shamelessness.


    ########


    [1] ¡¯Moe¡¯ is a Japanese ng loanword that refers to feelings of strong affection mainly towards characters in anime, manga, and video games. Moe, however, has also gained usage to refer to feelings of affection towards any subject. (Directly taken from Wikipedia.) The usage here is referring to the utter adorableness of Little Four, which is capable of drawing out strong feelings of affection and fan-squeeing.


    [2] The meaning of this is simr to the Japanese saying ¡®the nail that sticks out gets hammered down¡¯¡ª outstanding people be themon enemy. Since there is no real English equivalent I could find besides this Japanese borrowing, I decided to keep it as close to the literal Mandarin saying as possible since I think the meaning stilles across pretty clear.

 Chapter 7: Burning Bridges?

    Chapter 7: Burning Bridges?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Ling Lan¡¯s actions soothed Lan Luofeng¡¯s heaving emotions. She knew that there were representatives from the federal government and the military present as well. She would not ruin Ling Lan¡¯s inheritance ceremony due to a rash moment of anger.


    Suppressing her anger, Lan Luofeng asked coldly, "What are your intentions, Uncle Ren?"


    Ling Suren¡¯s eyes narrowed, but he still revealed his n in the end. "Among the children of the Ling family, age three and below, let us select the one with the best qualities and potential to inherit."


    From birth to the age of three was the critical period for cultivation and moulding. After this time frame, the effects of cultivation would be greatly diminished, and cultivation would only be less and less effective with the passage of time.


    Lan Luofeng scoffed, "Do you really think that any of the Ling family children would be able to hold a candle to Ling Xiao¡¯s own child? Let me remind you that Ling Xiao was an IN mecha operator." In the Federation, gics decided everything. Very rarely did one see cases where amoner would suddenly show extraordinary talent or physical qualities. The transmission of quality traits had to be gradually nurtured and built up from generation to generation.


    "The Ling family managed to produce Ling Xiao ¡ª we can certainly produce another," said Ling Suren, his tone iron-d with certainty. He could speak with such confidence because he already had a child with stats very simr to Ling Xiao within his grasp. This was why he was willing to go so far as to forgo civility to obtain Ling Xiao¡¯s military benefits. The Ling family must produce another Ling Xiao to maintain their foothold on the of Doha.


    Although the Federation currently touted the ideology of equality on the surface, in truth, there was a distinct social strata working behind the scenes which decided which you could live on.


    The of Doha was a premium, and was also the capital of the Federation. Those who lived on Doha were either high officials with both power and authority, military bigwigs, or those supremely wealthy noble families with long histories and great influence.


    The Ling family was originally a small family who could only settle on a third-rate. However, they had managed to move to Doha due to the efforts of Ling Xiao¡¯s father, Ling Suzheng.


    Ling Suzheng had been an ace pilot, but unfortunately did not manage to be an ultimate weapon of the nation ¡ª¡ª an IN mecha operator. Still, his abilities were such that no one below the level of an IN mecha operator could rival him. On the battlefield, he had managed to cut down many of the top enemy pilots, umting many battle honours in his lifetime. In the end, the military had decided to reward his exploits by allowing Ling Suzheng to bring his family to live on Doha, acknowledging his role as a new war hero.


    To convince Ling Suzheng to bring the entire Ling family to Doha, and not just his own nuclear family, the Ling family head and elders of that time made a vow ¡ª the Ling family would view Ling Suzheng as the legitimate heir, and all the resources of the family would be his tomand. On top of that, the position of family head would also be inherited by Ling Suzheng¡¯s descendants from then on.


    On his end, Ling Suzheng had felt that he needed his family¡¯s support to establish himself on Doha, and so had agreed to move the entire Ling family.


    This decision of Ling Suzheng¡¯s had brought endless trouble to Ling Xiao, and now had even opened the way for the side family to try and steal Ling Lan¡¯s inheritance. If Ling Suzheng only knew how he had invited wolves in with his kind gesture, he might be turning in his grave.


    After living on Doha and enjoying its benefits for several decades, the Ling family had no intention of going back to how things were before. They knew very well that in twenty years, after focused cultivation from the country, if Ling Xiao¡¯s designated inheritor could not meet the minimum requirements set by the country, the Ling family would lose everything they had gained sinceing to Doha. They would have to go back to being a middle-ss family, no ... perhaps even be reduced to bing a lower-ss family. This would greatly affect the Ling family ie, as well as limit the romantic connections and career paths of the younger generations of the Ling family. No, they would not allow it to happen.


    Ling Suren did not give Lan Luofeng any chance to speak, but instead signalled for a woman who was carrying a one year old child to step forward. He pointed at the child and said, "This is the candidate that the Ling family has chosen. If Young Master Lan¡¯s body stats exceeds his, then we shall have no objection to Young Master Lan inheriting."


    He turned to nce at the military representative. "I¡¯m sure the military also wishes for the best talent for cultivation, and would not want to blindly take someone in based on blood."


    The military representative just smiled slightly and said nothing, giving no indication of their stance one way or another.


    Ling Suren had not expected outright vocal support from the military anyway; all he needed was this sort of ambiguous eptance. He once again turned to Lan Luofeng, this time with a trace of self-satisfaction in his eyes.


    Lan Luofeng smiled a small mocking smile. It looked like her decision to seal Ling Lan¡¯s assessment results was just another weakness to exploit from the perspective of the Ling family. Fortunately, chambein Ling Qin had predicted this move from them and had already made the appropriate arrangements.


    "You dare to covet Ling Xiao¡¯s military privileges?" Lan Luofeng swept her gaze around the room. Among the visitors, there were quite a few bystanders enjoying the show, but there were also some who looked genuinely concerned for her. This trial was not without its benefits ¡ª she could finally discern the true colours of some of the people around her. "Although Major General Ling Xiao is dead, his orphaned child should not be allowed to be bullied by his own family n. I¡¯m sure that the military would have something to say about this?"


    The military representative chose to ignore what Lan Luofeng was implying, saying with a smile, "Madam Ling, please be assured. Putting Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s military benefits aside, Ling Lan will not lose out on any benefits orded to the children of martyrs. The military will not let a hero¡¯s child be bullied."


    Although what the military representative had to say sounded pretty, the connotation was that the military benefits would go to the candidate that best suited the military¡¯s purposes.


    Lan Luofeng nced at the government official, but he merely smiled without adding a word to the discussion. It seemed like he was content to just observe the proceedings without interfering.


    Oh, Ling Xiao, this is the military you dedicated your life to, the country you gave your life to protect ¡ª did you ever dream that they would betray your trust and abandon your flesh and blood for their own interests? Are you regretting your choice now in the afterlife?


    Lan Luofeng could not suppress the contempt she felt any longer. She said, "So this is the government. So this is the military... I finally understand."


    Perhaps sensing the deep mockery behind Lan Luofeng¡¯s words, the smiles on the two representatives¡¯ faces froze.


    "If that¡¯s how it is, I, Lan Luofeng, would like a promise from the government and the military. Regardless of whether my child Ling Lan inherits his father Ling Xiao¡¯s military privileges, he shall be emancipated from the Ling family, and shall no longer be connected to the Ling family in any way."


    The two representatives looked at each other, but it was the military representative who spoke up in the end. "What do you mean?"


    Lan Luofeng smiled chillingly. "If Ling Lan inherits, all the other Ling family members must immediately leave Doha and go back to where they came from... If Ling Lan does not inherit, Ling Lan and I shall leave Doha instead. No matter what the oue, the both of us shall no longer be part of the Ling family."


    For a long while, Lan Luofeng had already intended to settle things with the Ling family. If she could clear this forever with one stroke, her efforts in securing this situation would be well worth it.


    Ling Suren¡¯s face twisted in anger. "Lan Luofeng, have you gone mad?"


    "Why, Uncle Ren, are you afraid? Afraid that the child you chose will not be able to beat Ling Lan?" Lan Luofeng was all smiles as she faced Ling Suren, one of her hands lightly covering Ling Lan¡¯s tiny chubby fingers. This was probably what a mother¡¯s strength referred to ¡ª Lan Luofeng had never felt as steady as she was now.


    Ling Suren was speechless. Although he had been full of confidence just a while back, Lan Luofeng¡¯s aggressive manner had shaken him, and doubt started to creep into his mind. He was afraid to take the risk.


    As if sensing Ling Suren¡¯s hesitation, another Ling family elder who was standing beside him whispered, "Beware a bluff."


    Hearing this, Ling Suren centred himself. That¡¯s right, Lan Luofeng must be bluffing out of desperation. If Ling Lan¡¯s body stats and potential were really that impressive, why would Lan Luofeng seal away the records? After all, the higher Ling Lan¡¯s potential, the more secure his inheritance ¡ª a smart person would never seal away those records, but would instead shout it from the rooftops to drive away other challengers.

 Chapter 8: Comparison of Assessments

    Chapter 8: Comparison of Assessments


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    The more Ling Suren thought about it, the surer he was of his suspicions. Gaining confidence, he sneered, saying, "Since Mrs. Ling Xiao has so decided, we, the Ling family, shall not force you both to stay. The whereabouts and future actions of Ling Lan shall be none of our business."


    "If Ling Lan inherits, the Ling family will have to move out of Doha within a months time ¡ª Uncle Ren, I hope you will not me me for my ruthlessness when that happens?" Lan Luofeng raised a brow as her eyes flicked towards the two representatives, reminding Ling Suren that both the government and the military would be witness to this agreement ¡ª there would be no way for the Ling family to renege on their word.


    Facing such an aggressive Lan Luofeng, Ling Suren exploded in anger, "And if Ling Lan doesn¡¯t inherit, can I also request that you both leave Doha within a month?"


    Lan Luofeng smiled icily. "I wouldn¡¯t ask this if I wasn¡¯t willing to do it myself. Could it be that the Ling family is too afraid to take this risk? Are you even more cowardly than a woman like me? Of course, if you are willing to give up on the inheritance, I can be merciful and let you all continue to remain in Doha."


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s offer served two purposes. One, by taking a step back, she could force Ling Suren to state his decision clearly, so the Ling family would have no way to feign ignoranceter. Two, she also wanted to give the Ling family onest chance ¡ª if they could control their greed, they would still be able to remain in Doha for another twenty odd years, which Lan Luofeng believed would be more than enough time for them to cultivate an outstanding operator of their own and secure their position in Doha.


    However, Lan Luofeng¡¯s words only served to cement Ling Suren¡¯s suspicions that this was just a desperate gambit on her part. Thus, without any reservations, he sneered coldly in response, "Since you are so stubborn, alright, the Ling family agrees to your terms. As you said, if Ling Lan inherits, the Ling family shall leave Doha. If the child we chose inherits, then Ling Lan will have to leave Doha. He shall never be able to enter Doha within his lifetime, and shall not be allowed to enter any military system of the nation." These stiptions would utterly destroy any chance of Ling Lan gaining rank, and would prevent an adult Ling Lan from ever returning in the name of vengeance.


    Hearing this, Lan Luofeng felt hatred grow within her heart. It had been foolish of her to feel sorry for them, to try and give them a way out. What the Ling family suggested was utterly ruthless ¡ª if Ling Lan had truly been a boy, the Ling family¡¯s requests would have ruined his future, forcing him to toil away his life in the working ss. The little mercy she had felt for them was nowpletely snuffed out, and her eyes were cold as she said, "Very well! As you wish."


    Lan Luofeng called for a servant to prepare an assessment device, but was stopped by Ling Suren. He turned to the military representative, "The military must have brought an assessment device over for this visit. If you please?"


    Lan Luofeng let him do as he liked. She had no intention of tampering with the device to begin with, and even if she had, she would not be so foolish as to do it in front of the military representative.


    The military representative did not refuse Ling Suren¡¯s request. This fit in nicely with their goals after all. In terms of getting urate data, the military¡¯s assessment devices were naturally much more reliable than the ones avable for public use.


    In short order, a top-of-the-line assessment device had been brought in by military troops.


    Meanwhile, in her mother¡¯s arms, Ling Lan was frantically going over the situation with Little Four.


    "Will they be able to determine my gender? Or discover your existence?" asked Ling Lan anxiously. If either of those secrets were discovered, she would have to leave this ce with her mother, and although she did not know what the outside world was like, the impression she got from Ling Suren and Lan Luofeng¡¯s conversation was that life outside could notpare to life here.


    Moreover, although Ling Lan was not afraid of suffering, she felt that she should naturally inherit her father¡¯s premium military benefits as her father¡¯s child. Why should a wild child who sprang out of nowhere get to inherit what belonged to her by right?


    That¡¯s right, Ling Lan was still thinking based on the logic she had developed on Earth ten thousand years ago. Inheritance by blood was clear-cut back then, so she really could not understand this current situation. As such, she refused to give up. She would definitely be the one to inherit Ling Xiao¡¯s premium military benefits.


    Little Four¡¯s tone was full of disdain. "As if a device which has yet to develop artificial intelligence would be able to thwart me? Don¡¯t worry, even if it could assess gender, I can change the data to reflect that you are male."


    Ling Lan was struck by Little Four¡¯s cocky tone. "Little Four, do you have the ability to change the assessment results as you like?"


    Little Four became exceedingly smug. "Of course! When you were first assessed, if I hadn¡¯t covered for you, your spiritual power would have exploded that assessment device."


    Exploded? Why did that word sound so ominous to Ling Lan? Before Ling Lan could ponder on it any further, she heard the military representative ask, "Who¡¯s first?"


    Lan Luofeng tightened her arms around Ling Lan, face expressionless as she said, "Let the Ling family¡¯s child be tested first."


    Ling Suren assumed that Lan Luofeng was just intending to dy the inevitable, and did not want to waste words arguing with her. He nodded and motioned for the woman by his side to ce the child in her arms into the assessment device.


    Soon, the child¡¯s results were presented:


    Physical Fitness: [S] rank!


    Spiritual Power: Tier-1!


    Potential: [A+] rank!


    Assessment overview: Excellent; heavy cultivation rmended.


    Seeing these results, the military representative¡¯s entire bearing changed ¡ª this child was definitely worthy of heavy cultivation by the military. A child with [A+] rank potential had a certain chance of bing an IN mecha operator, albeit a small one, but having any degree of probability was better than none.


    Ling Suren was very satisfied with the military representative¡¯s reaction. As he had expected, this child was an undeniable lure for the military. However, he showed none of this satisfaction on his face but turned calmly to face Lan Luofeng and said, "Mrs. Ling Xiao, there is still time, if you take back your words now and surrender the inheritance, the Ling family shall raise Ling Lan with the utmost care."


    Pretending to be a good Samaritan after going to all this trouble to rob a child of his inheritance? In his dreams!


    Lan Luofeng said mockingly, "That won¡¯t be necessary. I just hope all of you will move speedily when leaving Doha."


    So saying, she walked over to the assessment device and carefully ced Ling Lan inside it.


    By this time, Ling Lan and Little Four hade to an agreement to maintain the original assessment results. At first, Little Four had still been a little worried that the other child¡¯s results might be better than Ling Lan¡¯s, and had struggled over how he could secretly increase Ling Lan¡¯s stats, but after seeing these results, Little Four was reassured.


    Just like that, Ling Lan¡¯s sealed results were revealed.


    Physical Fitness: [S] rank!


    Spiritual Power: Tier-2!


    Potential: [S] rank!


    Assessment overview: Excellent; all out cultivation rmended.


    In the end, Little Four had still not been able to resist tweaking the results a little. The original rmendation of ¡¯focused¡¯ cultivation was upgraded to ¡¯all out¡¯ cultivation. Little Four was extremely pleased with himself ¡ª take that! ¡¯All out¡¯ was way better than ¡¯heavy¡¯!


    In reality, even if Little Four had not changed anything, the results would still be the same. The moment these results were presented, the representatives from both the military and the government decided unanimously that Ling Xiao¡¯s premium military benefits would be inherited by Ling Lan.


    The decisiveness of the two representatives was primarily due to the assessment of Ling Lan¡¯s potential. Although the other stats were also important, those stats could be improvedter on, while potential was innate and had a direct corrtion with a child¡¯s room for growth. Although the gap between an [A+] rank and an [S] rank seemed negligible, in the long run, the difference would reveal itself to be extremely significant ¡ª an [S] rank had a 5 to 10 percent higher chance of bing an IN mecha operator.


    Based on this point alone, Ling Lan truly deserved ¡¯all out cultivation¡¯ from the military.


    Lan Luofeng finally let out a sigh of relief. Although she had had confidence in Ling Lan, she still couldn¡¯t help but feel a little unsettled before the results were confirmed.


    By this time, Ling Suren could not help but know that he had fallen into Lan Luofeng¡¯s trap. His face flushed with anger, and he sorely wished that he could slice Lan Luofeng up into little pieces. On the other hand, Lan Luofeng faced him fearlessly. The Ling family would never have the guts to make a move with the two official representatives here.


    Lan Luofeng said shortly, "Ling Suren, you know the way out!" Since she had already decided to cut all ties with the Ling family, there was no point in forcing herself to make nice with them anymore.


    "Hmph, let us go!" Seeing the disdain on most of the visitors¡¯ faces, Ling Suren knew that they had overstayed their wee. There was no reason to linger, so he took his men and left.

 Chapter 9: Gene Stimulating Agent!

    Chapter 9: Gene Stimting Agent!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Another five months went by, and like any other infant, the six-month old Ling Lan could finally flip over and had started her evolution into a crawling creature. Ling Lan felt that her tongue was still uncooperative though, only allowing her to utter lone sybles ¡ª even so, her mother Lan Luofeng was overjoyed. Compared to other children, Ling Lan was already very articte, and Lan Luofeng felt as if she could almost understand what Ling Lan wanted to say.


    Ling Lan was almost moved to tears ¡ª she could finally make it known to her mother when she needed to go to the restroom. During this time frame, despite her best efforts, she had had troublemunicating with her mother who was on a different wavelength, resulting in several unfortunate idents ... causing her no end of embarrassment for having wet the bed again after twenty seven years of life.


    Well alright, let¡¯s just put aside all those shameful matters that happened in the past six months. There were too many to mention, and Ling Lan did not want to think about them anymore. She had decided that she would wipe this period of life from her memories.


    This day, the moment she woke up, Ling Lan felt something different in the air. Chambein Ling Qin¡¯s expression was tight, and her mom had dressed her with special care, helping her put on special underpants that would hide her secret from any angle.


    Ling Lan felt that the underpants were really quitefortable ... well, if she could ignore the two soft spherical pseudo-testicles inside.


    Not long after, several strangers in British-military uniforms suddenly descended upon the Ling household.


    Ling Lan observed the men in shock. She did not know if all soldiers who returned from war had the same imposing presence, but Ling Lan could keenly sense the honed edges hidden under those uniforms. This was most certainly a troop ofbat-savvy, blood-soaked, veteran soldiers.


    Ling Lan put on a nk face and pretended to y by herself, but she kept her ears wide open. She was extremely thankful that the family she was born into ten thousand yearster was still Chinese, and that thenguage being spoken was still Mandarin. This allowed her to skip having to learn a newnguage and meant she could gather information from others¡¯ conversation even as a baby.


    When the troops introduced themselves to her mother, Ling Lan finally understood. They were here to deliver the premium military benefits Ling Lan had inherited, and would continue to do so every six months from now on.


    This was also the day that Ling Lan found out what the premium military benefits actually were. Arge part of those benefits were gene stimting agents which were used to raise potential and body stats.


    There were four grades of gene stimting agents avable on the market, from grade-1 to grade-4. Grade-4 agents were the worst, while grade-1 agents were the best. This grading was based on the purity of the gene stimting agent. Grade-4 stimting agents had a purity of 30%, grade-3 had 45%, grade-2 60%, and grade-1 75%. The higher the purity of the stimting agent, the less harm it did to the body ¡ª it would allow the user to absorb most of the agent, and hence receive a higher boost to his potential and body stats.


    Therefore, the more agent a child¡¯s body could absorb, the better his development would be, building up the solid foundations necessary for potential IN mecha operators.


    However, these gene stimting agents were horrifyingly expensive. Let¡¯s put it this way ¡ª amoner¡¯s hard-earned life savings may only be enough to afford one bottle of the lowest grade gene stimting agent. To get an agent just one grade higher, the price would have to be multiplied by ten. As you can imagine, grade-1 gene stimting agents could only be afforded by those with either great power or great wealth, while the rest of themon people could only look on in envy.


    Of course, this didn¡¯t mean that there was no chance at all formoners to receive better resources. Every newborn child could be assessed at a public assessment centre and receive one of six rankings from the assessment.


    Those assessed as [F] rank would not receive any aid from the government. Until their bodies were unable to absorb any more agent, [D] rank babies could receive two bottles of grade-4 gene stimting agent per year, [C] ranks could receive two bottles of grade-3 agent per year, and [B] ranks could receive two bottles of grade-2 agent per year.


    Meanwhile, [A] rank babies had two options. They could ept two bottles of grade-1 agent per year and grow up freely, or enter the military and receive organised military training and receive an endless supply of grade-1 agent. However, with thetter choice, the child would have to spend his entire life serving the military.


    [S] rank babies would be immediately taken away for specialised training by the military, but the possibility of that happening was extremely low. As mentioned previously, this formidable ranking very rarely appeared amongmoner children ¡ª in a nutshell, gics decided everything.


    Meanwhile, someone like Ling Lan who inherited premium military benefits was entitled to the premium-grade gene stimting agents kept for central military use. These agents were even purer than the agents avable on the market, almost reaching 90% purity. This was the best the military could do at the moment, since research on agents had hit a teau. True 90% purity was just out of reach, but no one had been able to make the final step.


    This time around, the military had sent over a whole ten tubes of premium-grade agent. Because these ten tubes were worth cities, the military had no choice but to send out some of their ace mechas as an escort.


    Very quickly, Ling Lan had been stripped down to her special underpants. One of the men who seemed like a military doctor took out a long syringe with a sharp needle from a box he was carrying, and then used it to draw out the gene stimting agent from one of the tubes.


    Ling Lan turned a blind eye to all of this. That was all she could do ¡ª which six-month old baby knew to be afraid? At this moment, Ling Lan was grateful for her experience with needles. During her past illness, she had been injected so many times every day that she had be numb to the sight of needles, which was why she could face these injections so calmly now.


    The syringe was rapidly plunged into her arm. The military doctor was very skilled ¡ª Ling Lan only felt a slight sting and an itch as the needle went in, very much like a mosquito bite.


    The military doctor pushed the agent into Ling Lan¡¯s arm gradually, his demeanour stern as he observed Ling Lan¡¯s reactions. Some babies were ipatible with the agent, and there were also some babies who had been shown to have allergic reactions. In short, the greatest care must be taken when giving a baby their first shot of gene stimting agent to avoid any idents.


    Before Ling Lan could sense any difference, Little Four had already rushed to the forefront of her mind without any warning.


    "I sense something delicious! It¡¯s a taste I know well! No, that¡¯s not right, something¡¯s different ... yuck, what is this trash?! Why does it have impurities? This affects the taste too much!" Little Four was very unhappy. It felt that it had been tricked.


    Hearing Little Four¡¯s voice, Ling Lan hurriedly closed her eyes. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, right? She would live to regret it if anyone noticed anything strange from her eyes. Ling Lan said huffily, "Why did youe out?"


    Little Four felt wronged. It had thought that the great thing in its memories had appeared, only to be presented with this knockoff. It said sadly, "I thought something great had appeared, but it¡¯s just a knockoff. There are so many impurities inside ... if left uncleaned, your body will be harmed."


    Hearing that it was harmful, Ling Lan asked anxiously, "Little Four, can you clean it for me?"


    Little Four perked up immediately at her words, and said smugly, "Of course I can, who do you think I am? I am the smartest king mecha learning device from the Mandora star system! I can help my contractor do many things, such as expel any harmful substances from the body."


    Ling Lan chose to ignore Little Four¡¯s self-aggrandizement, asking in confusion, "If this thing is harmful to the body, then why do the people here want to inject it into babies?"


    "This is actually a great thing which can improve your body stats and potential. It¡¯s just that the technology here seems to be unable to achieve 100% purity, which is why there are impurities remaining which will harm the body. However, even so, the benefits still outweigh the costs. The only thing is that this agent cannot be absorbed indefinitely, because once the impurities have umted in the body to a certain degree, the body will lose the ability to absorb any more agent," exined Little Four.


    Ling Lan was relieved. As long as the oue was good, and there was no danger to her health, she would still be able to ept it. Besides, Little Four had already promised to clear out those impurities.


    Very quickly, the first tube of agent had been absorbed by Ling Lan, and the military doctor started injecting the second, and then the third ... by the time the military doctor picked up the eighth tube, his forehead was beaded with sweat, and his hands, which had remained steady so far, actually trembled a little.

 Chapter 10: Absorb Everything!

    Chapter 10: Absorb Everything!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    The military doctor could not be faulted for losing hisposure. Even the very rare [SS] rank babies could only absorb up to seven tubes of premium-grade agent. This time around, the military had brought over ten tubes merely as a show of respect toward Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s inheritor. The military had believed that no matter how outstanding Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s inheritor was, six tubes would have been more than enough, but Ling Lan just had to be an oddball who showed no signs of absorption satiation even at the eighth tube.


    The eighth tube of agent was injected into Ling Lan, and the process was as smooth as ever. When a body started to be satiated, it could be felt in the injection process. If the process was unhindered, that meant that the body could still continue to absorb more agent; but if the process seemed impeded, this indicated that the body was nearing satiation. If the agent could no longer be injected, then it meant that the body was already satiated and could no longer absorb any additional agent.


    Watching as Ling Lan sessfully absorbed the eighth tube of agent, the military doctor¡¯s calm expression finally changed. With his back towards Lan Luofeng and Ling Qin, he threw a meaningful nce at his assistant beside him, signalling him to go contact their superiors.


    The military doctor felt that he had done it subtly enough, but his actions had unfortunately still been captured by Ling Lan. Of course, the military doctor didn¡¯t think to worry about Ling Lan, for how much could a six-month old babe understand? What he didn¡¯t know was that an oddball such as Ling Lan existed in the world, an oddball who could think like an adult from birth.


    Seeing the military doctor¡¯s actions, Ling Lan knew that something wasn¡¯t right. Afraid that her absorption rate may be a little overboard, Ling Lan hurriedly asked Little Four, "Little Four, something doesn¡¯t seem right. It looks like we may be absorbing too much agent ... why don¡¯t we stop here?"


    Having had a taste of the agent, Little Four was unwilling to just stop. He reassured Ling Lan, "Don¡¯t worry! Didn¡¯t they bring over ten tubes? Since they brought so many, they must have expected that you would be able to absorb that much..." Little Four felt that his logic was impable.


    Ling Lan was still doubtful. "Are you sure? What if they just wanted to be prepared? Maybe only demonic babies can absorb that much. We have just started out, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to keep a lower profile." Ling Lan assumed correctly, but what she didn¡¯t know was that unfortunately, even if they stopped now, it was already toote.


    Little Four was still unwilling to just give up. This agent was good stuff! It would help get rid of the hidden danger threatening his host. So after some thought, he decided to focus on the present and think about the other thingster, and said, "I will arrange some cover-up during the tenth tube and make it look like your body is getting satiated, so even if your absorption rate is a little out of the ordinary, it still shouldn¡¯t arouse any suspicion. At the most, you¡¯ll only get a little more attention as you grow up, and we can pull back the rate gradually in future so that the impact of this first time is lessened."


    Before Ling Lan could argue, Little Four continued, "You should know, absorbing these ten tubes of agent will not only greatly multiply the efficiency of your training, but will also eliminate your hidden trouble once and for all, so you will never have to worry about your spiritual power overwhelming your physical body ever again."


    "Huh? Didn¡¯t you say that my Qi exercises would resolve the issue in two years anyway? What are you hiding from me?" Ling Lan finally sensed that Little Four was not telling her the full story.


    Little Four froze, realizing that it had slipped up, and finally admitted, "What I meant was that if your spiritual power does not increase, your problems would be solved in two years. But you must understand, even if you don¡¯t train it, your spiritual power will still increase as you grow older."


    Ling Lan was exasperated. "How could you not tell me this? Don¡¯t you know how dangerous this is?"


    Little Four looked up towards the heavens and mused with an innocent look on its face, "I didn¡¯t tell you? It must have slipped my mind ..."


    Ling Lan sorely wished that she could grab the little rascal and give him a good spanking. Sadly, she had already promised never to use domestic violence, so she could only put away her twitching palms. Suspiciously, she wondered ¡ª had the little rascal foreseen this day, and so had made her promise from the start to avoid violence?


    She took several deep breaths to calm herself down before asking, "Tell me honestly, in these six months, how much has my spiritual power grown?" Even if she were to die, Ling Lan wanted to know how she died, so she wouldn¡¯t end up as a befuddled ghost.


    "Actually, it¡¯s only grown this much..." Little Four indicated with his short and stubby fingers how truly little Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power had grown.


    "Since it¡¯s only that much, does that mean there is no danger?" Ling Lan asked with a sneer, now holding very little faith in the deceitful little rascal.


    Little Four wilted and said uneasily, "If it weren¡¯t for the agents this time, you would have fallen greatly ill in two years¡¯ time. However, as long as you continued your Qi exercises, I estimated that you would havepletely recovered after three more years of practice. But now that we have this agent, all the hidden problems are solved, so there will no longer be any trouble." Having said that, he grinned cheekily, satisfaction inly written on its face. It did not seem to be concerned about how badly things could have gone if they hadn¡¯t received the agent.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan gave up in resignation. If she tried to argue seriously with the little rascal she would just drive herself mad. Still, she gave a stern warning to Little Four ¡ª no matter what happened from now on, he must tell her everything. She wanted no more of these half-truths.


    Little Four was quick to agree, but whether he would really live up to his word Ling Lan couldn¡¯t tell.


    Honestly, Ling Lan felt that something was off with Little Four ¡ª even though he imed to be her contracted long-termpanion, she did not have the authority to ess the learning space¡¯s study programmes on her own. That is, if Little Four did not allow it, she would not be able to open the mental doors that represented those courses in her mindscape.


    If Ling Lan were someone else, she might have fretted over this, or may even suspect the learning device of having ulterior motives. However, Ling Lan was very tolerant. If she couldn¡¯t open it, then she couldn¡¯t open it. There was no need to push. It was nice enough to have someone to shoot the breeze with when she was bored.


    At heart, Ling Lan did not have any ambitions to lord over other people. All she wanted to do was live ¡ª safely, freely, and painlessly.


    ********


    In short order, the assistant had returned from giving his report. He nodded lightly at the military doctor, indicating that he should continue with the injections.


    Having received approval from the superiors, the military doctor continued injecting without worry. He had honestly been taken aback by Ling Lan¡¯s insane absorption rate, but had also been troubled over how he could ount for the excess injections used to his superiors.


    Finally, at the tenth tube, the military doctor finally felt more and more resistance as he continued to push the plunger. In the end, he could no longer inject any more agent when there were only a few drops left in the barrel.


    Only then did the military doctor pull out the needle, secretly dabbing away the sweat on his forehead. Luckily this child had been satisfied with this tenth shot, letting themplete their mission sessfully. A child who could absorb ten tubes of agent was not unheard of, but it was definitely very umon.


    The military people did not linger, leaving after a brisk farewell, leaving behind a bewildered Lan Luofeng and a slightly knowing Ling Qin.


    ********


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze tracked the soldiers as they left, and she finally rxed. And then, she registered a heavy weight in her dder ... she was dismayed. She hadn¡¯t even had much milk to drink since her mum knew that she would be given agent to absorb, so why did she have the uncontroble urge to pee?


    As if sensing Ling Lan¡¯s distress, Little Four said sheepishly, "I was afraid the military people would notice, so I didn¡¯t dare to expel the impurities through your sweat nds, but instead directed them to your dder ..."


    In other words, with all the impurities gathered there, it would be even more surprising if she didn¡¯t need to pee.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t even have the chance to yell for her mother before she tragically wet the bed once again ...


    "Little Four, you¡¯re dead meat!" wailed Ling Lan.


    God dammit! It had taken so long for her to regain some sense of dignity, and appeal to others as a lovable and angelic baby. But those joyous days had barely begun before they were ruined by this inconsiderate Little Four.


    Ling Lan was saddened once again. Especially when she heard her mum smack her bum lightly, teasing her for wetting the bed again, she felt the world around her grow dim in despair.

 Chapter 11: Learning System Activated!

    Chapter 11: Learning System Activated!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    That afternoon, on the of Doha, in the chief¡¯s office in the logistics headquarters of the first military regiment of the Federation, a young officer was reporting to the Chief of Central Logistics on the urgent news delivered today.


    "Chief, it has been confirmed that there is nothing wrong with Doctor Mu¡¯s report. The reports of the six mecha pilot escorts match up with his report perfectly," reported the young officer, flipping through the notes in his hands as he stood respectfully facing his seated superior.


    Behind the desk flipping through another set of notes sat an energetic middle-aged General. He nodded as he listened, before asking, "How many people know about this?"


    The young officer paused for a moment, stunned by the unexpected question, but he quickly recovered and answered, "Chief, this matter was handled by me personally. Other than my assistant and I, and those directly involved, no one else in the military is aware of the details."


    "Very good. Designate the information on Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s inheritor as S-ss ¡ª those below the rank of general are not allowed to ess it. Also, put out a gag order for those who already know of the matter. As for the follow-up on that inheritor, let the same group of men be in charge of it."


    "Yes! Chief." The young officer saluted and left the office with his orders.


    Alone in the now empty office, the middle-aged General sighed softly, "Ling Xiao, this is all I can do for your child. Hopefully he doesn¡¯t attract the attention of anyone else in the military."


    ********


    Ling Lan was very lucky. Completely unbeknownst to her, a certain someone had taken special care to protect her so that she would not be controlled by the military and be forced to be a fighting machine. What this gave her was time ¡ª precious time to grow up and enjoy her childhood.


    However, at this moment, Ling Lan had no thought to spare for how the military wanted to treat her. Although she had been worried that her unusual absorption rate would attract the military¡¯s attention, after ten peaceful days of nothing happening, she had put it out of her mind and moved on to do other things.


    She had always been an optimistic girl, which was why she had managed to survive twenty-four years of unbearable pain with her sanity intact.


    Of course, another reason why Ling Lan had put away her concerns about the military so quickly was the fact her attention had been drawn away by some wonderful news.


    Early this morning, Little Four had announced, with great aplomb, that she was now qualified to ess the learning mind-space.


    In Little Four¡¯s mind-space, a spacious circr hall was Ling Lan¡¯s entry point. Surrounding her were a circle of tightly sealed doors. Ling Lan had tried to open some of them, but every single one had been shut tight, and would not budge no matter what she did.


    After Little Four had had his fun watching her make a fool of herself, he had exined that the doors would not open until she met specific learning requirements. As for the details of those requirements, Little Four refused to say and had given her no hint at all.


    However, Ling Lan still had a good guess that the requirements had to do with her physical fitness, as Little Four had reminded her more than once to work hard on her training.


    Knowing that this was not up to chance, Ling Lan suppressed her burgeoning curiosity and settled down to focus on her regr training. This would not only aid her in her quest to eliminate the hidden threat to her health, but it might also provide her with the key to essing the materials hidden behind the doors of Little Four¡¯s learning space.


    In truth, Ling Lan was only approaching this matter with such urgency because she waspletely bored out of her mind. Every day she justy in bed, eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating ... or else she was ying on her own. These days as a baby were just too boring to endure. Even when she had been bedridden in her past life, she had at least been able to go online and surf the to relieve her boredom, or perhaps even read some novels or whatnot ...


    Of course, the other reason why Ling Lan was feeling suffocated was that her mom was being extra vignt in fears that her secret would be exposed. Her mom did not even dare to take her outside, much less take her visiting. As a result, Ling Lan had unfortunately spent the seven months since she had been born in only three ces ¡ª this bedroom, the grand hall, and the balcony ¡ª giving her no chance to truly observe this strange new world.


    Just when Ling Lan thought that she was going to go crazy from boredom, Little Four showed up with the good news, making her so happy she could cry.


    And so Ling Lan was on her best behaviour today. After being fed by her mother, she did not fuss to be taken outside as usual, but instead quickly went to sleep (which was in fact entering into the mind-space created by Little Four).


    This time, when Ling Lan entered the mind-space, she noticed that the space had changed a little since she hadst been there. This little change was a great source of joy to Ling Lan.


    Among the many tightly sealed doors, one door was shining with an eye-catching red light. On the surface of the door, tworge Chinese words could be seen ¡ª Physical Skills!


    By her side, Little Four exined, "I have updated thenguage system so that it now uses your current writing system and verbalnguage, so you won¡¯t have any trouble understanding it."


    Ling Lan was so touched by this that she pulled Little Four over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek in gratitude.


    Little Four blushed, turningpletely red, and starting to mumble bashfully, "Don¡¯t think you can win me over by being nice! I, Little Four, am an upstanding being, I will never go against my principles no matter what ..."


    Oh, Little Four. As you¡¯re saying this, can you not wriggle your butt around? And while we¡¯re at it, the corners of your lips are quirked a little too high, aren¡¯t they...? His words had no credibility whatsoever.


    Ling Lan did not notice Little Four¡¯s mumbling ¡ª all her attention had been taken up by the door before her. She slowly walked up to the door and gave it a good shove, and the door swung open.


    Ling Lan did not hesitate. She walked right in, and the open door mmed shut behind her.


    Suddenly, the room went dark. Ling Lan was shocked by this sudden turn of events, and shouted out, "Little Four, where are you?"


    Little Four¡¯s voice did not ring out through the darkness. All was silent around her, and the room was as dark as before. The eeriebination of darkness and silence caused Ling Lan¡¯s heart to pound violently, but she fought the instinctual terror and stood still, deciding to wait it out. She had faith that Little Four would never harm her.


    Ling Lan did not know how long she waited, for in the dark silence, time stretched endlessly, making the wait feel much longer than it really was. After a while, the cloistered darkness made Ling Lan recall her time as a fetus, and her rapid heartbeat started slowing gradually until it returned to normal. She shut her eyes and tried to remember how it felt to be within her mother¡¯s body, and was suffused with a tranquil calmness. Her fear and anxiety faded, and she entered a semi-conscious semi-dreamlike state ...


    After an indeterminate amount of time, Ling Lan abruptly sensed that the dark world around her had be awash with light. She squinted at the sudden brightness, and slowly surfaced from the depths of her inner calm.


    As her eyesight adjusted to the light, Ling Lan found that she was standing in an open square. The area was asrge as a football field, no, evenrger. Ling Lan felt very small in this wide expanse of space.


    Right then, a slightly mechanical voice spoke tonelessly from behind her, "Psychological resilience [SSS] rank. Highest level of physical skill training authorised."


    Apparently, the beginning was just another test. The system had been evaluating her psychological resilience based on her reaction ¡ª if she had reacted too badly, the system would have kicked her out and made her try again another time. On the other hand, if she did well enough to pass, the system would assign a ranking based on her score, which would be used to determine what level of training she¡¯d be subjected to.


    Of course, even if Ling Lan¡¯s performance was terrible, the system would still have allowed her to start learning the most basic level of physical skill training eventually, but her training would have been inevitably dyed. It should be noted that the earlier a contractor can learn the skills avable in the mind-space, the better ¡ª which is why the Mandora star system chose to have newborn babes bound to these learning devices.


    Still, what the child can aplish in the end is also dependent on his innate qualities. A heaven-blessed genius would be able to achieve much more bypleting the courses provided by the learning system, bing more and more outstanding, while a mediocre talent may just while away in mediocrity ... if the learning system is activated toote, the difference in levels would be impossible to bridge.


    Undeniably, Ling Lan had the great advantage of having two lives worth of experience,ting her the highest psychological resilience ranking of [SSS] from the system at first try. But we should also remember to shed a tear for Ling Lan ¡ª true to its name, the highest level of physical skill training was not an easy course to master ... it looked like Ling Lan would soon be living a miserable life of being tormented by the system.


    Ling Lan spun her head around to look for the source of the sudden voice and saw a uniformed male soldier standing there, eyes cold as he observed her.


    Don¡¯t ask Ling Lan how she knew the man was a soldier ¡ª it was a gut feeling. Ling Lan felt as if he were an unsheathed sword, sharp and precise, and she found it difficult to breathe just from being under the pressure of his gaze.

 Chapter 12: Tests Could Be Anywhere

    Chapter 12: Tests Could Be Anywhere


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Ling Lan gulped silently and tried to remain calm as she asked, "Will you be teaching me physical skills?" Ling Lan was extremely interested in learning these skills. In her previous life she had been mostly confined to a bed, but now that she had a healthy body, she wanted to learn as much as could so that this great body of hers was not wasted.


    The man remained expressionless, replying tly, "No, I am just here to introduce the skill paths you may choose."


    Ling Lan exhaled in relief yet couldn¡¯t help but feel a little disappointed. Although facing the man was extremely stressful, like a mountain pressing upon her making it hard to breathe, this also meant that he was very formidable. If he had been her teacher, she would certainly have benefitted greatly.


    The man paid no mind to Ling Lan¡¯s conflicted feelings, but continued by introducing himself. "You may call me Number One."


    Number One? Was that a codename? Could it be that in this learning space, all the instructors had no names but only went by codenames? Was it because names were unnecessary? Or was there some other reason?


    Number One continued, "As follows, I will introduce the options you have under the highest level of physical skills training. There are three sets ¡ª the Offensive Series, the Bnced Series, and the Defensive Series."


    Ling Lan listened very attentively as this choice would affect her entire life. She could not afford to be careless.


    "The Offensive Series, as its name implies, will cover the physical skills necessary in building a foundation for forceful offensive attacks. The Bnced Series will cover foundational physical skills suitable for a mixture of offence and defence, while the Defensive Series will focus on defence. Each contractor may only choose one set to practise." Number One seemed satisfied with Ling Lan¡¯s serious attitude as he further exined, "These three foundation physical skill sets cannot be practised simultaneously, or else the body will be greatly damaged."


    Ling Lan was startled ¡ª she had indeed been considering the ambitious idea of learning more than one set, and she had not expected Number One to see through her intentions and warn her. Gratefully, she said, "Thank you, Instructor Number One!"


    Although Number One had said that he would not be her instructor, Ling Lan sincerely felt that Number One was strong enough to be anyone¡¯s instructor, and thus deserved the title.


    Number One seemed a little taken aback by Ling Lan¡¯s manner of address, but quickly brushed it off. In his usual t tone, he asked, "Which set will you pick?"


    Ling Lan considered the three sets. Honestly, Ling Lan was drawn towards the Bnced Series ¡ª since it covered both offence and defence, this meant that the set had no obvious weaknesses, while the other two sets had very distinct advantages and disadvantages. Ling Lan did not n to be a master practitioner, but only wanted to strengthen her body. Just as she was about to answer, a sh of inspiration caused her to say instead, "Instructor Number One, I would like to hear your rmendation. Which set would work best for me?"


    Number One¡¯s gaze turned sharp ¡ª his focused gaze was like a dagger flying straight at her, but Ling Lan¡¯s face still held a neutral smile, as if she felt none of Number One¡¯s rage.


    The two of them stared at each other. The pressureing from Number One grew heavier and heavier. Though Ling Lan still looked calm on the surface, she was already quaking in her bones. She desperately encouraged herself to hang in there, telling herself that she just needed to hold on a little bit longer.


    Finally, Ling Lan prevailed. Number One dialled back his killer gaze, and an almost indiscernible smile flitted across his face. Ling Lan¡¯s heart settled ¡ª she knew she had made the right choice.


    As expected, Number One gave her his rmendation. "I rmend you choose the Defensive Series!"


    In truth, the presence of Number One was not so simple as to just introduce the sets to the contractors. He was actually another one of the examiners. From his very first sentence, he had begun misleading the contractors, giving contractors the false impression that they were free to choose any of the three physical skill sets he described.


    Of course, once a contractor had chosen, Number One would also allow said contractor to practise that set of physical skills. The problem was, had the contractor really chosen the set that was suitable for him?


    In the first ce, the learning devices had been designed to nurture excellence in outstanding talents. Although this lucky shot-in-the-dark method of choosing could still result in several prodigies, it did not fit in with the original intentions of the learning devices ...


    As such, the only valid exnation was that this was all still a test. A test which assessed the observational skills and logical reasoning of the contractors. Anyone with a little smarts would have noticed ¡ª did a simple introduction of the physical skill sets really require the presence of such a formidable instructor as Number One? This was obviously illogical.


    Naturally, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t that smart. She had not noticed this little logical w, but had in fact been truly fooled. However, she was very clear on one point, and that was that Number One was very strong. Moreover, she believed that no one knew the pros and cons of the three physical skill sets better than Number One. And since there was such an impressive instructor right in front of her, wouldn¡¯t it be a waste not to ask him for some advice?


    Thus, Ling Lan decided to ask Number One at that crucial moment. In this almost idental manner, Ling Lan stumbled her way past another test. It had to be said that Ling Lan was really very lucky.


    Since Number One had given his rmendation, Ling Lan naturally did not presume to think she could choose any better, and she quickly selected the Defensive Series of physical skills to learn.


    Once Ling Lan verbally acknowledged her selection of the Defensive Series, the scenery in front of Ling Lan¡¯s eyes changed. At this point, Number One had disappeared, and the person in front of her was now a delicate-looking female soldier. The soldier smiled and said, "Hello. For this period of time, I shall be responsible for your training. You may call me Number Nine!"


    This self-proimed Number Nine female soldier had a rather slim figure and did not possess the strong aura and thick sense of bloodshed that Number One did. Her strength was of a more introverted type ¡ª the description ¡¯still as a statue, movement as a wild hare¡¯ 1 described her perfectly.


    Ling Lan believed that, in a fight, this female warrior would probably be able to defeat a hulking brute with just one move. She called out respectfully, "Instructor Number Nine, please take care of me."


    Number Nine did not say anything more but immediately started doing several stretching exercises, indicating for Ling Lan to repeat them after her.


    Ling Lan found that although these few moves seemed easy, they were actually not. They stretched each part of the human body to its extreme, with the clear purpose of increasing the body¡¯s flexibility. These moves had some simrity with the popr yoga from 10000 years ago, giving Ling Lan a strange sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu.


    This set of moves had a total of nine stances. After Number Nine performed them three times, she noticed that Ling Lan had memorized all of them. Without giving Ling Lan any chance for questions, she sent Ling Lan¡¯s consciousness back to the main study hall with a flick of her finger.


    Ling Lan was struck dizzy by the unexpected blow. She wrapped her hands around her head and squatted, staying still as she waited for the dizziness to pass. As it slowly faded, she found that Little Four, who had been out here waiting for all this time, had worried himself sick over her. He was spinning in circles around her, trying to see if she was alright.


    "I¡¯m fine, Little Four. Just a little tired. I need to go out and rest a little." Ling Lan squeezed out a smile with some effort to reassure Little Four. She felt as if her spiritual and mental energy had been drained, and was so tired that she just really wanted to sleep.


    She quickly said goodbye to Little Four, returned to her physical body, and fell into a deep sleep, for real this time.


    Dead to the world, Ling Lan did not know that the anxious Little Four secretly used his energy to help Ling Lan activate her Qi cirction. He did so over and over again until her Qi started circting on its own. Only then did Little Four stop and keep away his energy.


    After doing this, Little Four¡¯s image in the learning space became much dimmer ...

 Chapter 13: Car or Plane?

    Chapter 13: Car or ne?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Recently, Lan Luofeng had been mired in a conflicted sense of joy. These days, her baby was no longer visiting the sandman every time she wasn¡¯t eating.


    However, before she could be happy about that for long, her conflict began ¡ª her baby had somehow became fascinated with a strange curled position.


    Now, there was nothing wrong with the curled position ... but whenever she saw her baby¡¯s two little feet used as bolsters hugged between her little hands against her little head, Lan Luofeng couldn¡¯t help but twitch internally and feel a phantom pain in her bones ¡ª this position was definitely not something her old bones could achieve.


    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Ling Lan was smiling like an idiot the whole time, so she knew that the position was not difficult at all for babies, she really would have rescued those little feet from those plump little hands.


    Luckily Ling Lan did not know what Lan Luofeng was thinking about, or else she would have burst out in tears. This position was not as easy as her mum thought it was. Even for a baby¡¯s body, getting into this position was not an easy feat. Sadder still, this was just the easiest first stance ¡ª the following eight stances were even more difficult, with each consecutive stance being harder than the stance before it. Right now, Ling Lan really had no idea whether she could reallyplete learning the nine stances within a year.


    She recalled Instructor Number Nine¡¯s warning. If she could not master the nine stances in a year, there would be punishment. Of course, to bnce it out, if she finished learning the stances within the time limit, there would be a reward ¡ª the earlier she finished before the deadline, the better the reward.


    In the mind-space, Ling Lan had felt that doing the nine stances was pretty easy, and so had been surprised when Instructor Number Nine had given her a one year deadline. She had arrogantly believed then that she would be able to aplish the task within a month. Now, she finally realised that she had underestimated the courses of the learning space ... they were truly insane.


    Actually, the difficulty was not in getting into the position itself, but rather in achieving perfect uracy. Each and every muscr curvature and angle must be pin-point precise. These few days, Ling Lan had been practising the first stance over and over again, but she still hadn¡¯t been able to achieve the most urate position in one move. Rather, she had to slowly tweak her position to get it right. This did not fulfil her instructor¡¯s expectations, which was to get into the most urate position within one second.


    However, Ling Lan was not anxious. She continued her routine of practising the curled position with her physical body when awake, and practising with her spiritual self in the mind-space when asleep. Although practising in the mind-space had no direct impact on her body, it allowed her to hone her intuition ¡ª in other words, it gave her the ability to assess whether she had achieved the ideal position within a split second.


    Where there¡¯s a will, there¡¯s a way. After over two months, just as she was about to turn nine-months old, she managed to achieve the state where her body would react the second her will moved. Within the blink of an eye, she could get into the ideal position. This officially marked Ling Lan¡¯s mastery of the first stance.


    Just as Ling Lan was about to happily begin practising the second stance, some wonderful news brought a halt to Ling Lan¡¯s practice. Her mother had finally decided to be charitable and take her out for a day of shopping ...


    In reality, rich and noble families with deep foundations like the Ling family would usually have a chambein to handle everything within the household. As the mistress, Lan Luofeng had no need whatsoever to go out to purchase anything personally. However, Lan Luofeng felt that since Ling Lan had already started to recognise people and notice objects, it was necessary for her to go out so she could explore more of her surroundings.


    Although Chambein Ling Qin felt that the outing was still a little too premature, he would never go against Lan Luofeng¡¯s decisions, and so had quickly made the appropriate arrangements.


    As a result, Ling Lan stepped out of the house for the first time to see what the world 10000 yearster was like.


    Over the grand hall and out the door, Ling Lan was immediately greeted by a refreshing scent. Arge expanse of grass appeared before her eyes ...


    That¡¯s right, outside the front door wasn¡¯t a marble staircase as Ling Lan half-expected, or even a wide and solid cement road ¡ª instead, there was a whole field of verdant grass stretching out into the distance. Ling Lan actually couldn¡¯t see the end of it, which just went to show howrge the field really was. Howrge really was her family home?


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t even have time to get over her awe before a car flew in from a distance. That¡¯s right, flew. This thing was like a car yet unlike a car. Its design was very much like the roadsters of Ling Lan¡¯s time. There was no one inside the vehicle, and the two seats were such that one was in front of the other. There was no steering wheel, and there were no such things as wheels below it, just a t surface.


    Could this be an unmanned car or ne? Please forgive Ling Lan for her uncertain phrasing ¡ª she was unsure what to call the vehicle although she was instinctively leaning towards it being a car.


    That thing was hovering in the air, about 3 metres off the ground, but as it got closer to Ling Lan¡¯s group, the vehicle descended lower and lower. By the time it stopped in front of Ling Lan, its height had dropped to just 50 centimetres above the ground, a convenient height for embarking and disembarking.


    The car doors opened automatically, greatly surprising an unprepared Ling Lan. Lan Luofeng and Ling Qin¡¯s attention was currently not on Ling Lan however, so they did not notice Ling Lan¡¯s strange change of expression.


    "Mistress, please get into the car!" said Ling Qin respectfully.


    Into the car? Bingo! 10000 yearster, themon transportation vehicle was still the car, so Ling Lan did not have to worry that she would say something wrong by ident in the future.


    Holding Ling Lan in her arms, Lan Luofeng moved directly to the back seat, while Ling Qin sat in the front seat.


    Ling Qin ordered, " Ling-Zero-Seven 1 , enter fully-sealed mode."


    A synthesised voice rang out immediately in response, "Order acknowledged by Ling-Zero-Seven." Following this, the four doors swung shut and a transparent cover appeared to close over the previously open top section, turning the vehicle into a fully-sealed car. (At this very moment, within the mind-space, a napping Little Four was jolted awake. It felt like a brother was close by ...)


    The synthesised voice soon rang out again, "Please select your destination."


    This time Ling Qin did not answer, but turned back to look inquiringly at Lan Luofeng. After some thought, for safety reasons, Lan Luofeng decided to go to a ssicmercial building which only catered to qualified members.


    After receiving the destination, the transport vehicle Ling-Zero-Seven was soon off. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the car was hovering, but there was almost no sense of movement. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the scenery outside was speeding by, Ling Lan would have thought that she was only enclosed in a small room.


    The car gradually arrived at the busy city centre, giving Ling Lan the first glimpse of traffic. Ling Lan saw many other simr cars driving around theirs. At first, she had thought that all the cars drove at the same height, but in reality, this was not the case. On the same vertical axis, Ling Lan saw four different cars flying in the same direction at different heights, moving together at the same pace.


    Ling Lan was awed yet puzzled by this. She wondered how these cars calibrated their heights ¡ª were they not afraid of idents happening?


    Her doubt was quickly cleared up, however, when Ling-Zero-Seven said, "Hover car on a collision course detected. Current distance 3 kilometres. Adjustment signal sent ..."


    It looked like the hover cars operated under a central program and also had to possess a certain level of intelligence ¡ª enough for them to discover problems pre-emptively, and to take preventive action to avoid collisions.


    As expected, Ling-Zero-Seven¡¯s next words showed that the two cars had arrived at an agreement. "Descending one metre! Time for descent will be in three seconds, please watch out."


    In three seconds, their hover car really descended one metre, while the approaching hover car ascended by over a metre. Just like that, the two cars brushed by each other, and the distance between the two cars when they had shifted tracks ...


    Well. Ling Lan¡¯s little heart had skipped a beat ¡ª that was too goddamn close! Had there even been 10 centimetres between the two cars?!


    However, looking at the calm and unconcerned faces of her mother and Chambein Ling Qin, Ling Lan knew that this distance must be pretty normal here. It looked like she still had some adapting to do.

 Chapter 14: Fear of Heights is a Big Problem

    Chapter 14: Fear of Heights is a Big Problem


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    When the hover car entered a sprawling city, Ling Lan could see towering skyscrapers and other tall buildings all around her, making her feel like she was truly in a future world. Almost every level of every building had parking spaces, and Ling Lan saw numerous hover cars hanging by the various levels of the tall buildings as they travelled. The sight made her think of Christmas trees, decorated with baubles, uniquely interesting. It couldn¡¯t be helped since those hover cars came in all colours of the rainbow, vibrant and eye-catching.


    Very quickly, Ling Lan had arrived at her destination. Ling-Zero-Seven paused for a moment in mid-air as it requestednding approval from their target building. The response came quickly, telling them to park at Area B Number 77¨C9.


    The hover car started circling the building until it arrived at a particr section. Then, it started rising, up and up for an unknown number of levels, before finally touching down on an emptynding spot.


    After Ling-Zero-Seven had finished parking properly, the car doors once again swung open on their own. As Lan Luofeng stepped out of the car, bending over slightly in the process, Ling Lan got a glimpse of the floor beneath her mother¡¯s feet ... and then, tragedy!


    The floor was entirely transparent ¡ª one could see everything below it. And just like that, Ling Lan grew dizzy and light-headed.


    Dammit, so she was afraid of heights! Since she had been bedridden from a young age, for most of her life, she had never known she had this fatal weakness.


    Ling Lan could almost cry ¡ª she was starting to think thating to the future was a terrible thing. On the way here from home, she had noticed that almost all the buildings in this world basically consisted of 100 levels or more ... Furthermore, the main mode of transportation here seemed to be the hover car, which could freely travel up to several hundred metres into the air. All this just proved that she would never be able to escape from heights in this life.


    Ling Lan was tormented ... how was she supposed to live? Ignorant of Ling Lan¡¯s plight, Lan Luofeng brought her into the building and walked into a transparent viewing elevator.


    As for what happened next, not surprisingly, Ling Lan fainted dramatically. Er ... I mean, fell asleep. Well, at least that¡¯s what her mum Lan Luofeng believed, totally missing the tears clinging to Ling Lan¡¯s eyshes.


    Now, even if she did notice them, she would have just thought that those tears were the result of her baby¡¯s sleepiness. Look, don¡¯t they just make her eyes sparkle in such an adorable way?


    Ling Lan did not know how long she had fainted ... eh-hm, slept, before she was woken up by a screeching sound. Opening her still somewhat blurry eyes, she saw a rampaging female dragon spitting out indiscriminate fire.


    "Lan Luofeng, you think you still have the right to show up here?" The yelling woman was still quite pretty, but that affected peacock-like attitude was rather unbing, making her lose all sense of ss.


    Ling Lan categorised her as an unsavoury character with one nce. She had no tolerance for anyone who scorned her mother.


    Still, Ling Lan was a little curious. Till now, she had not seen a single ugly person ¡ª everyone had at least looked decent. Ling Lan guessed that this future world was probably technologically advanced enough ... enough that a person¡¯s features could be calibrated while within the womb?


    Uh, Ling Lan, what do you think foetuses are? Programs or machines? Calibrated indeed ...


    Ling Lan only found outter that, quite simply, although it did have something to do with technology as Ling Lan had guessed, the changes weren¡¯t made before birth, but after. Anyone whose appearance did not fit within certain beauty parameters could choose to use beauty correction agents to fix their appearance. Although that sounded impressive, it was basically the same principle as cosmetic surgery, just more technologically advanced so everything could be handled via injections without the need to go under a knife.


    Of course, this did not preclude the existence of extremists, who for the sake of greater beauty beyond regr parameters, would push aside the agents and opt directly for the knife.


    Lan Luofeng said nothing in reply to the seething woman, but merely cast a cold nce at her, before ignoring herpletely to head towards an empty VIP room with her daughter in her arms.


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s clear dismissal made the woman even angrier. She grabbed hold of Lan Luofeng by the shoulder, and was just about to speak when Lan Luofeng hissed at her, "Let go!"


    Before the woman could do so, Chambein Ling Qin had rushed over from a few steps away to administer a light flick of his finger.


    With a shout of pain, the woman was pushed back a step and naturally lost her grip. Interest shed in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes ¡ª she hadn¡¯t expected that the outwardly gentle and understated Chambein Ling Qin was such a skilled fighter. That almost imperceptible small movement had been caught by Ling Lan¡¯s bright eyes.


    "Mistress, please go ahead into the VIP room with the young master. There are too many riff-raff here, they shouldn¡¯t disturb you." Without any expression on his face, Ling Qin stepped in between that woman and Lan Luofeng. If he hadn¡¯t been a bit too far away from Lan Luofeng back then, this woman wouldn¡¯t have had a chance toy a hand on his mistress.


    Ling Qin was annoyed at himself ¡ª it was all because of his negligence that the woman had managed to get close to the mistress and the young master. If she had had any evil intentions ... at the thought, Ling Qin felt a cold sweat break out along his back in bted fear.


    In truth, Ling Qin was being too hard on himself. If someone had truly had intentions to harm Lan Luofeng and Ling Lan, an expert of his calibre would definitely have sensed it and taken the appropriate defensive measures. He had only been taken by surprise because he hadn¡¯t sensed any killing intent from the surrounding people. Furthermore, this VIP section was specially set aside for women, so the surrounding people were all either noblewomen or women from rich and powerful families, leading Ling Qin to subconsciously slow his steps.


    "Alright, Uncle Qin!" Lan Luofeng had no interest in arguing with the woman and making a public spectacle.


    Ever since Ling Xiao had died and she had broken ties with the Ling family, Lan Luofeng had known that she would be ostracised by some of the noblewomen circles. Over the years, though the Ling family hadn¡¯t conducted much proper business, they had been rather proactive in arranging marriage alliances with the various elite and noble families. While they did not manage to connect with the main descendants of those families, they still managed to build some significant contacts among the lesser branches of those families.


    That woman who had grabbed Lan Luofeng was one of those Ling family marriage prospects. Her family had agreed to the marriage alliance because they had been interested in the power umted by Ling Suzheng and Ling Xiao in the army, and were hoping that the Ling family would be able to help them with that power. However, following Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s sudden death, the Ling family had failed in their power struggle with Lan Luofeng and had been forced to leave Doha, leaving her ns in ruins. The main cause of all this was Lan Luofeng¡¯s clever trap, which is why her resentment had red at the sight of Lan Luofeng, causing her to rush up like a mad dog to vent her frustrations. Lan Luofeng was not at all surprised by this turn of events.


    However, Lan Luofeng didn¡¯t care. She had never had any aspirations for power to begin with. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that she had wanted to show her baby the world outdoors, she would have just happily stayed home without a thought for the outside world. As such, why would she care if others ostracised her or scorned her?


    It cannot be denied that Lan Luofeng was a proud woman. While Ling Xiao had been around, she had still been willing to make an effort to mingle with these noblewomen. But now, she had no mood for it. Ling Xiao¡¯s death had robbed her of half her soul, while the remaining half had be dedicated to the raising of Ling Lan and the defence of Ling Xiao¡¯s hard-earned premium military benefits.


    Lan Luofeng ignored the whispers that broke out after that scene and walked into one of the unupied VIP rooms. At the same time, a waiting VIP service staff entered after her to provide her services.


    Ling Lan sighed. The damnable ss system still existed 10000 yearster despite efforts to remove it ¡ª looked like equality among all human beings really only worked in theory.

 Chapter 15: Sorry, I Lost Control!

    Chapter 15: Sorry, I Lost Control!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    In the VIP room, Ling Lan was having her horizons expanded. She would never have imagined that in this world 10000 yearster, one would no longer have to look for items in a store personally, but could just sitfortably in a VIP room and select categories of items to look at from an ultra-wide screen in the room. These items would be presented to you in 3D imaging, along with a detailed introduction. If a customer was particrly interested in an item, they could click on it to get even more information.


    Lan Luofeng perused the items with her full attention. She was basically only looking at items for Ling Lan, and very quickly, item after item had been delivered to the VIP room to await Lan Luofeng¡¯s final decision.


    "Infant Musical Bed: This item is elliptical in shape. There are two freely-interchangeable modes ¡ª half-sealed transparency mode and fully-sealed transparency mode. While the infant is sleeping on the bed, it can automatically select the appropriate music based on the infant¡¯s brain waves to encourage sleep. Besides that, this bedes equipped with its own intework and can download thetest music in the Federation on its own, saving parents the trouble."


    Its own intework? Automatic downloading and updating? The idle Ling Lan had just been about to fall asleep when these words poured into her ears, waking her up immediately. It should be known that she had been pestered half to death by Little Four recently. Every day he would whine and plead with her to find a chance for him to go online. In his words, "The one who has control over information shall triumph ..."


    Of course, Little Four was just saying it for the sake of saying it ¡ª Ling Lan and Little Four had no real enemies on the surface after all. The reason for Little Four¡¯s urgency was that he needed to understand more about this world so he could better serve his host, lest he make any serious mistakes out of ignorance.


    Take the incident of the gene stimting agent for example. It was precisely because Little Four had no clue about the absorption rate of infants in this world that the results had been so shocking, almost causing immense trouble for Ling Lan. If a mysterious benefactor hadn¡¯t stepped in to seal the information, Ling Lan might have already been snatched away by the military to be a war machine.


    Of course, the mentally adult Ling Lan would not have been so easily brainwashed and could have chosen to run away and hide. However, that would spell the end of her freedom, unless there came a day when she was strong enough to break free from the shackles of the country.


    Whenever Little Four and Ling Lan thought back on the incident, they would break out in a cold sweat. Even now they dared not drop their guard. Arge part of the reason why Ling Lan took over two months to master the first stance was that she hadn¡¯t dared to put full effort into her training. She was constantly worried there were spies around, so she didn¡¯t want to do anything else out of the ordinary to arouse their suspicion.


    Today, such great news just happened to fall into herp. A way for her to ess the inte, and in such a subtle manner too. It was an infant bed after all ¡ª who would suspect an infant sleeping on the bed to be secretly essing the inte?


    Hehe, brother, you must be crazy, please seek treatment immediately.


    Everyone would look at you as if you were an idiot, a fool, a madman ... and then throw down that line and walk away.


    Ling Lan was overjoyed ¡ª this bed was just made for her. Only she could use this infant bed to its full capacity, and not let its functions collect dust.


    Ling Lan mbered up decisively and started babbling excitedly while pointing at the infant bed. She was telling her mother that this bed was hers.


    Lan Luofeng was on the same wavelength as Ling Lan this time. With some surprise, she said, "Does Ling Lan want this bed? Could it be that Ling Lan likes music? Alright, since Ling Lan likes it, mummy will buy it."


    Okay, Lan Luofeng was obviously a doting mother ¡ª anything her child wanted, she would get. Fortunately, Ling Lan was a mentally mature person on the inside, or else she would certainly be spoiled rotten under Lan Luofeng¡¯s unreserved affection.


    Ling Lan got what she wanted, so her mood was great. She went to look for Little Four to gloat.


    "Little Four, Little Four ..." Little Four seemed to be in a strange mood, for he didn¡¯t respond at all to Ling Lan¡¯s calls, but was drawing circles on the ground with a sad look on his face.


    Ling Lan was exasperated and immediately greeted his head with a fist. "You rascal, what are you doing?"


    Unexpectedly, Little Four remained sullenly silent. Under normal circumstances, Little Four would have jumped up by now and would be loudlyining about Ling Lan¡¯s domestic abuse.


    Ling Lan was miffed and at a bit of a loss. She proceeded to pinch and pull at Little Four¡¯s face with all her might, hoping that Little Four would return to his senses.


    This time, there was finally some effect. Listlessly, Little Four smacked her hand away, and asked with a long face, "What¡¯s up?"


    Ling Lan asked concernedly, "Did something happen?"


    Little Four expelled a heavy breath and said, "I have been yed by this world."


    The words had barely left Little Four¡¯s mouth when the furious Ling Lan gave him a solid kick in the ass, sending him flying. "Dammit, are you kidding me?!"


    This kick chased away Little Four¡¯s strange mood and reced it with anger. He threw himself at Ling Lan, grabbing hold of her thigh and yelling, "You promised you wouldn¡¯t use violence! You¡¯re still hitting me, I want toin! Comin!"


    "Comin my foot! I still need to ask you why you tricked me! Looking like you were gonna die, letting me worry?!" For some reason, Ling Lan just couldn¡¯t control the anger burning within her. She knew very well that Little Four might have just been ying a prank ¡ª this was something she would have easily brushed off with augh in the past, why couldn¡¯t she do that now?


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that this was an explosion caused by the build-up of negative emotions in her heart. Although Ling Lan had consoled herself all this time after the gene stimting agent incident that everything was fine, Ling Lan had actually been unable to truly be at ease. She had been frightened that her secret would be exposed to the military, that she would be an experiment and end up torn between life and death. These sorts of negative emotions had been hiding deep in Ling Lan¡¯s heart all this time ¡ª if she didn¡¯t have a chance to release them, they would have had a negative impact on Ling Lan someday in the future.


    It should be said that Ling Lan was very lucky. Ling Lan¡¯s mood had brightened considerably due to this outing, a vast difference from her usual calm and forced tolerance. The torments of her previous illness may have given Ling Lan unbelievably strong tolerance and resilience, but that was also where the problem arose. Tolerance was a double-edged sword ¡ª being overly tolerant was harmful to both body and mind.


    Of course, just this sudden upswing to happiness would not have been enough to set off Ling Lan. However, Ling Lan had be extremely excited by the inte-equipped infant bed, and when she had sought Little Four out to share this news with him, his hopeless demeanour had pushed Ling Lan from the heights of happiness to the lows of anxiety. This sudden and dramatic shift in strongly opposing emotions caused Ling Lan¡¯s perfect tolerance to crack.


    As a result, the deeply hidden negative emotions exploded ... leading to Ling Lan¡¯s uncharacteristic kick and subsequent rampage.


    The two of them wrestled in the mind-space until they both ran out of energy and flopped to the ground.


    Ling Lany there, panting heavily. She hadn¡¯t expected to fight with a little kid, but her heart now felt amazingly light, as if her soul had been cleansed.


    Ling Lan chuckled, saying, "Little Four, I¡¯m sorry. I lost control."

 Chapter 16: Little Four Wants to Earn Money

    Chapter 16: Little Four Wants to Earn Money


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Little Four rolled around the floor once sheepishly, before rolling over to Ling Lan¡¯s side. "It¡¯s okay. After fighting with you, I feel much better. I was really very unhappy before ..."


    "How so?"


    "When we were in the hover car earlier and Ling-Zero-Seven spoke, I had thought that this world had someone like me. I was so happy ... since leaving Mandora, I have never met another of my kind, I was so lonely ... but, after secretly talking to Ling-Zero-Seven, I found that Ling-Zero-Seven is not the kin I¡¯m looking for. Although he is very simr, but it¡¯s just ... different ... not the same ... do you understand what I¡¯m saying?" Little Four asked, somewhat incoherently, his face full of hope. He couldn¡¯t be med for his confusion; his mental intelligence was at the level of a five to six year old child at the moment.


    Ling Lan replied jokingly, "Just like a human and a monkey?"


    Little Four¡¯s eyes brightened and he nodded vigorously, saying, "Yeah, just like that."


    Ling Lan patted Little Four¡¯s head affectionately. "Little Four, you forget, I am also a solitary existence in this world. Since you are also alone, and I am also alone, let us continue walking forward aspanions."


    Little Four was puzzled. "You are my host, of course I will continue to be bound to you in contract and never leave."


    Ling Lan pulled Little Four into an embrace, saying softly, "That¡¯s not what I¡¯m saying. I mean like family, like siblings, like the best of friends. Let¡¯s entrust our backs to each other, and be each other¡¯s most trusted person." Ling Lan was willing to put her faith in Little Four, for Little Four was the one who had apanied her through the end of herst life, and he was also the one who had given her this new life. All these experiences had made Ling Lan ept Little Four, viewing him as a younger brother.


    Ling Lan was determined topensate for the regrets of the past life with her new life, and so she wanted a healthy body, freedom and space, and also a friend she could talk to about anything. A younger brother who trusted her, who she could also trust in return ...


    Laying in Ling Lan¡¯s arms, Little Four was a little lost. He could not understand ¡ª his core dictated that he must be loyal to his host, so why did Ling Lan say they should be each other¡¯s most trustworthy person? Did they not already have that sort of rtionship?


    This was the first time Little Four was thinking with his full processing power ¡ª even if his core chip became overheated, even if his processes started to slow, he still wanted the answer to this question. Because of this, he knew what it was to want for the first time. He did not want to see Ling Lan disappointed. Even though he knew this was against regtions, he wanted to be selfish just this once.


    ********


    It was now two months after the fight, and during this time, Little Four had managed to infiltrate this world¡¯s inte through the bed¡¯s equippedwork. Under Little Four¡¯s rifications, Ling Lan had learned that the virtual here was already very developed, fully able to stand as a secondary world on its own.


    Ling Lan highly suspected that her mum was able to confine herself at home most likely because of the existence of this virtualwork, allowing her to do whatever she wanted to without needing to step foot out of her home. Moreover, she wouldn¡¯t have to worry about her identity, and could choose to live freely.


    From the information he gleaned on the inte, Little Four had discovered the true value of the gene stimting agents, and had also found out the typical absorption rate of the infants here. After Ling Lan was informed, she thought back to her first session with fear ¡ª they had overdid it with the absorption of the agent that time after all. Fortunately, throughout history, there were still a few babies who had absorbed even more agent than her, so at least she wasn¡¯t breaking any records.


    The two of them conferred,ing to a decision that no matter how many tubes of agent the military brought next month, they would only absorb ten.


    Actually, Ling Lan didn¡¯t even want to absorb ten tubes. She only wanted to absorb about six or seven tubes, an amount which would match up with her original assessment results. However, Little Four was firmly against it. Because from the information he had gathered, as they grew, the number of tubes an average baby absorbed would only increase rather than decrease after their first time. Only after they had matured would the number gradually fall and taper off, ending when they could finally no longer absorb any.


    Since Ling Lan had already absorbed ten tubes her first time, it would make no sense for the number to decrease the second time. Rather than risk looking even more abnormal, she might as well continue absorbing ten tubes. After all, that number had already been established the first time, so it wouldn¡¯t be any more surprising to the military. Furthermore, Ling Lan¡¯s body really needed that agent ¡ª Little Four had found that ever since Ling Lan started training in physical skills, her spiritual power had started growing at an even more rapid pace. Little Four was worried that Ling Lan¡¯s body growth would not be able to keep up with the growth of her spiritual power.


    After some internal debate, Ling Lan decided to ept Little Four¡¯s suggestion. Meanwhile, to better support Ling Lan, Little Four was struggling over how to earn money on the inte. This was because he had discovered suppliers for the agent on the, and although the impurities in those agents were much higher than the ones provided by the military, that was not a problem for Little Four who could clear away those impurities as easily as he could eat a carrot.


    Erm, well, he couldn¡¯t really eat human food, so ... alright, let¡¯s just assume it¡¯s a virtual carrot. The point is, it was very easy for him.


    For this grand ambition, Little Four had even secretly created a bank ount by hacking into the system of the Centre of the Federation Banking Alliance. Naturally, bypassing the defences of the system was like child¡¯s y to him, as easy as eating a virtual carrot. To ensure the security of the ount, without any approval, he had set the ount¡¯s level to triple-S. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t want to set it higher, but only one five-S ount existed at the moment, which was the ount of the Prime Minister of the Federation, so Little Four knew he couldn¡¯t go that far.


    Ling Lan observed as Little Four did all this and finally understood how amazing Little Four actually was ¡ª in the virtual world, Little Four was a god.


    However, no matter how amazing Little Four was, he still had no clue how to go about earning money, and so could only turn to Ling Lan for advice. Unfortunately, Ling Lan was also clueless about this. Think about it, her previous life was pretty much spent on a sickbed ¡ª other than learning about the world and getting information from the inte, she had basically spent the rest of her time reading novels andics ... If she had known this day woulde, she would have spent that time learning how to do business and looking up financial information instead ...


    Thump thump thump! Ling Lan was startled by the sudden sounds beside her. Lifting her head, she was stunned by the pile of books that had appeared in the great hall of the mind-space ... Ling Lan picked up a random book from the pile. The cover read . Looking at the titles of the other books in the pile, Ling Lan¡¯s face turned ck.


    Little Four looked at her with a face begging for praise, so proud of himself as if he had done a great thing.


    Ling Lan said through gritted teeth, "Why did you bring out so many financial books? And where did you get these?"


    Little Four said smugly, "Weren¡¯t you thinking about how you wanted to read more about these things? Luckily while you were in your previous body, I had downloaded and stored all the books I could get from the inte there. No matter what you want, I have it ..."


    Ling Lan blew up. "You think if I finish reading these I can be a business expert overnight? I think you¡¯re dreaming! What good can books do?!"


    Little Four drooped. "Are they useless?"


    "Of course they are! It¡¯s all theory. It¡¯s not that easy in the real world ¡ª the most these books can do is just provide some entertainment," said Ling Lan, resigned. She knew very well that she had no talent in this area.


    Little Four was very disappointed. With low spirits, he said, "So they are only for human entertainment. Looks like I¡¯ve wasted my time. To get all these books, I have spent so much time ..."


    Seeing this, Ling Lan felt sorry for Little Four, and quickly reassured him, "No no, there could still be some precious books in your collection. And some people who want these books may never be able to get them anymore ..."


    A sh of inspiration rushed through Ling Lan¡¯s mind, but remained just out of her grasp.


    Little Four sighed, "In your previous world, all these books were freely avable on the inte, who wouldn¡¯t be able to get them? Stop trying to make me feel better ..."


    "My previous world? 10000 years ago ..." Ling Lan finally caught hold of that spark. Excitedly, she said, "Little Four, I have figured out how we can earn money!"

 Chapter 17: Redemption of Honour Points?

    Chapter 17: Redemption of Honour Points?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Little Four asked excitedly, "What is it?"


    Ling Lanughed and said, "After these ten thousand years, even if there are cloud drives and other sorts of storage methods, I don¡¯t think all books would have been preserved till now ... why don¡¯t you go look and see if there are any requests for old books on the inte?"


    Little Four was a little hesitant ¡ª even if there were such requests, there wouldn¡¯t be many, which would only result in chump change. For his purpose of buying Ling Lan more gene stimting agent, he would need a lot more money, the more the better, so this little amount would not even be a drop in the ocean.


    Exasperated, Ling Lan flicked Little Four¡¯s forehead, saying, "Don¡¯t look down on this little bit of money. We just need to get started and collect some seed money first before looking for other ways to earn money. Otherwise, even if an opportunity appears, we won¡¯t be able to do anything."


    With this, Little Four understood, and abruptly felt the weight on his shoulders grow exponentially. He stood up tall and thumped his chest, saying, "You can count on me." Looking at his seriously adorable ¡¯believe-in-me-you-will-not-regret-it¡¯ face, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but snicker in her heart. She found herself thankful once again that she had Little Four at her side, who was willing to work hard for her benefit.


    After some discussion, the two of them decided that Little Four would be fully responsible for all matters on the virtualwork. That said, safety was the top priority ¡ª they¡¯d rather take things slow and gradually umte their seed money, as long as they could keep things as covert as possible. Honestly, they really didn¡¯t need to rush. Even if they could buy the gene stimting agents right now, who would be able to use them? Little Four was a virtual being, while Ling Lan was still a baby who could not even crawl properly yet.


    After passing on the follow-up tasks to Little Four, Ling Lan happily went to bed without giving any further thought to the matter. Left alone, a fired-up Little Four rushed into the virtual world and started doing as Ling Lan said, slowly umting cash.


    Ling Lan was someone capable of putting her full trust in others, so she did not pay any further attention to the matter after entrusting Little Four with it, not even asking for a progress report. Little Four was touched by this show of trust ¡ª oh how much faith did his lord have in him ¡ª so he decided he must do his best to serve her until his death.


    A while back, Little Four had consumed several hundred thousand words of the entire Romance of the Three Kingdoms when fulfilling the request of a client. After that, he had be obsessed, and this was reflected in his method of addressing Ling Lan ¡ª instead of the original ¡¯host¡¯, he now called her ¡¯lord¡¯. Every time Ling Lan heard that form of address, her head would throb ¡ª why did this silly child love cosy so much?


    It had to be said that Little Four was really very innocent. He had no idea that Ling Lan¡¯s ¡¯show of trust¡¯ was actually just blithe unconcern. In Ling Lan¡¯s opinion, while it would be great if they could earn money, it was also fine even if they didn¡¯t manage to earn any. After all, Little Four was the one who was gung-ho about it, and it was a zero-cost business, so it really didn¡¯t matter whether the results were good or bad. She was just d to see Little Four in high spirits, no longer looking as lonely as he was before.


    Alright, to be honest, Ling Lan had assigned this task to Little Four as a way to distract him and cheer him up ¡ª and poor Little Four had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.


    ********


    Time passed by quickly, and Ling Lan finally became a toddler capable of moving about on two feet. During this time, she had received one more round of agent injections, and as discussed, they stopped absorbing at the tenth tube like before. As for the military people, it was the same group as before, and they seemed to havee mentally prepared this time, remaining calm throughout the whole procedure. In fact, they were even gaining the mistaken impression that absorbing ten tubes was apletely natural phenomenon, not deserving of any surprise whatsoever. It had to be said that the military was certainly made up of extraordinarily mentally resilient and adaptable people.


    One day, during Ling Lan¡¯s sixteenth month of life, she was practising her bendy poses as usual, diligently going through all nine stances one at a time. She had actually managed to learn all nine stances by the time she was just a little over fifteen months old, and since then, she had made sure to practise all nine stances in order every day. Of course, there were still inconsistencies and mistakes, but Ling Lan would correct them as she progressed, gradually converting the nine stances into basic instinct.


    This time, when Ling Lanpleted the ninth stance, she suddenly felt a surge of heat run through her body. It was sofortable that she couldn¡¯t help but moan in pleasure. This was something that had never happened before ¡ª although she would also feel slightly warm and her body would be loose andfortable after finishing the nine stances, she had never felt this sort of euphoric floaty feeling before.


    Ling Lanidfortably on her bed, still basking in the echoes of contentment, when she abruptly found that her consciousness had been drawn into the learning mind-space.


    Before this, she had always chosen to enter actively ¡ª this passive ess was new.


    Before Ling Lan could protest the learning space¡¯s high-handedness, an aloof man had appeared out of thin air right in front of her.


    Ling Lan jerked in surprise, but immediately straightened up to say, "Hello, Instructor Number One!" She definitely must not let this formidable man notice her annoyance. Ling Lan intuitively knew that if she angered him, she would lose ayer of skin even if she didn¡¯t die.


    "Firstly, congrattions on your perfectpletion of the foundation chapter of the advanced physical skills course," said Number One, his face as emotionless and tone as cold as ever.


    Despite that, for some reason, Ling Lan just felt that Instructor Number One was actually in a very good mood.


    "Now you shall receive your reward," continued Number One.


    Ling Lan felt excitement stir within her ¡ª what kind of reward would Instructor Number One give?


    At this moment, an extremely mechanical voice piped up beside Ling Lan¡¯s ear, "Reward: first item, time remaining from deadline: 49 days, awards 49 honour points; second item, assessment results: perfect, awards 100 honour points. Total of all items: 149 honour points. Please confirm receipt."


    Facing Number One this time, Ling Lan finally realised that the mechanical voice she had heard before had note from Number One, but seemed to be the voice of the learning space¡¯s system.


    Ling Lan chuckled dryly. Hindsight is truly 20/20 ¡ª she only noticed now that although Number One¡¯s voice was very cold, it was also crisp and clear, with none of the mechanical inflections of the system¡¯s voice. It was a shame that Instructor Number One had appeared behind her that first time, causing her to mistakenly attribute the mechanical voice to him.


    Instructor Number One¡¯s voice rang out once more, "Now I shall exin the usage of honour points. Other than the corepulsory courses, the learning space also provides many additional supplementary courses which require honour points to unlock, and of course there are also games and other types of entertainment avable. You may freely choose how you would like to use these honour points."


    "Use? Does this mean that honour points are not that easy to get?" asked Ling Lan calmly. She knew very well that Number One¡¯s words may have some hidden meaning ¨C it could even be another test ¨C so she couldn¡¯t just take things at face value.


    Unfortunately, her questioning was not fruitful this time round. Number One did not answer, merely keeping his silence, though Ling Lan could sense a very light trace of humour in his eyes. Perhaps she had guessed correctly that honour points were indeed very precious. Or perhaps this first seemingly generous award of honour points was another trap, trying to fool people into thinking honour points were easy to get so they would spend them thoughtlessly.


    Arge screen suddenly appeared in front of Ling Lan. On the screen, there were many general category selections. It looked like these were the things that she could redeem with her honour points.


    "Do I really have to choose right now?" Ling Lan asked doggedly. Since she already knew that honour points were important, she didn¡¯t want to use them recklessly.


    Number One said, "You must. This is also one of your lessons." Number One smashed her hopeful ns, and continued, "You must choose within ten minutes, or else the system will enforce a random draw."


    At these words, Ling Lan¡¯s heart thumped. Something niggled at her mind, so without wasting anymore time, she opened the redemption window.

 Chapter 18: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

    Chapter 18: Between a Rock and a Hard ce


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Ling Lan flicked through the options on the screen. There really were all sorts of courses, from harp-ying to chess and various art and literature courses, even embroidery was included. Of course, there were also all sorts of martialbat skills, and even some really strange and bizarre courses she had never heard of before. The points to redeem these courses ranged from one point to several hundreds of points, while some even required up to one or two thousand points and perhaps even more.


    The gaming and leisure options were noticeably more expensive, starting from a base redemption amount of 50 points, with the more expensive options reaching up to 5000 points to 10000 points. Of course, this section also had a smorgasbord of options. Take games for example ¡ª there were traditional games with retro designs, magic and sorcery games, futuristic apocalyptic games, gctic mecha games, martialbat games, and they actually even had dating simtion games ...


    As for the other leisure options, anything you could think of as recreation could be found there. When she had tapped into that category, Ling Lan hadn''t even known where to look. There were just too many options.


    Hell, was this still a learning space meant for the cultivation of young talent? Why did she feel a corrupting influence emanating from these options?


    Ling Lan decisively exited from the recreational categories, and opened up the learning courses. Time was counting down, so she did not have a moment to lose. Since she had to redeem something, she might as well use the honour points she had now to redeem something she needed most at present.


    With a rough idea of what she wanted, Ling Lan clicked open thebat category, and then chose the subcategory of defence.


    Countless defensivebat techniques and skills immediately popped up on the screen. Ling Lan selected the option to list the skills and techniques ording to honour point requirement in ascending order, from the lowest to the highest.


    The first skill she saw cost only 1 honour point ¡ª Iron Skin. The description below it exined that the skill could turn the skin of a person''s entire body into iron, capable of withstanding heavy blows. With mastery, the practitioner''s skin would be a metallic colour. Without any hesitation, Ling Lan immediately sent the option flying ¡ª how could a soft and delicate girl like her allow her skin to be metallic in colour? It''s not like she wanted to be Iron Woman.


    Next were the skills that required 10 honour points to redeem. There were a few more than those requiring 1 point, but when she counted them, there were only about 10 options. Ling Lan found that interesting ¡ª there was one skill which cost 1 honour point, and ten skills which cost 10 honour points ... did that mean that there would be fifty skills which cost 50 honour points?


    Of course Ling Lan was just thinking about this idly; her full attention was actually upon these ten options before her. She only had ten minutes after all, there was no time to waste.


    Eagle w? What, mastery meant having w-like hands? No can do.


    Iron Head? She needed to bang her head against hard objects every day? That was just asking for pain and suffering. Dismissed.


    Golden finger? Practise by jabbing her fingers at trees every day? Ridiculous. Ignored.


    Crippling Legs? Mastery meant legs with exposed veins? Dear god that would be terrifying. No way.


    Long-ape Arms? What, mastery meant one''s arms would be as long as an ape''s? Dammit, even though she would have to live this life as a man, she still didn''t want to live as an ape-man. That would be too tragic ¡ª no way in hell.


    ¡­


    Why did all these skills either change a person''s appearance or require self-muttion to achieve mastery? Ling Lanined internally. Just as Ling Lan was about to give up on redeeming any of the 10-point skills, she noticed the final skill on the list ¡ª Rabbit Sky Leap.


    Rabbit Sky Leap: A conditional skill. Requires a high degree of body flexibility. Minimum requirement of B-rank flexibility, but A-rank and above flexibility rmended.


    This skill does not change one''s appearance after mastery, but will increase overall strength by three times or more. Precise increments will depend on practitioner''s flexibility and intensity of practice. Please observe changes and adjust ordingly.


    Practice method: ...


    This Rabbit Sky Leap skill captured Ling Lan''s heart immediately ¡ª it seemed like a perfectly normal skill, no torture or muttion mentioned in its training method. Besides that, the condition seemed tailor-made for her. The basic nine stances she had been practicing had focused specifically on increasing a body''s flexibility. Instructor Number Nine had clearly stated that once she mastered the nine stances, her body flexibility would be at A-rank.


    In general, babies were born with a flexibility of B-rank, but if they didn''t practise any sort of physical skill such as the nine stances, their flexibility would decline as they grew older. A regr adult would have a flexibility between D-rank to F-rank.


    If one trained in offensive physical skills, flexibility would drop even more, perhaps not even reaching D-rank. Meanwhile, a practitioner of the Bnced Series of physical skills would at most be able to maintain a flexibility of C-rank, with exceptional cases being able to achieve B-rank.


    As for the Defensive Series, there were two branches within the set itself ¡ª the Endurance Series and the Flexible Series. The Endurance Series focused on increasing a body''s toughness, hardening it to increase defensive ability, thus reducing flexibility, which would result in a body flexibility simr to those practicing the Bnced Series. Only the Flexible Series, as its name implied, focused on training up a body''s flexibility, and would allow practitioners to achieve a flexibility of A-rank and above.


    The basic nine stances that Ling Lan learned were from the Flexible Series. The learning space had automatically assigned the Flexible Series to Ling Lan because she was a girl, and because her natural flexibility had already been very high.


    It looked like the learning space also had some recognition of gender, and had been unwilling to produce an iron-muscled woman.


    At this point, Ling Lan had already made her decision, but she still cautiously browsed through the skills which required 50 honour points. The quality of the skills naturally increased as the cost of the skills increased, but the associated restrictions and conditions also got increasingly tougher. Many of the skills required a certain level of body strength, resilience, or flexibility, as well as a certain level of physical skill. Ling Lan knew that even if she redeemed these skills now, she still wouldn''t be able to practise them for three to five years. After all, her body was just not at that level yet, there was still much more training she had to do first.


    Just then, Number One reminded, "There is not much time left, have you chosen?"


    Ling Lan smiled and said, "Yes, I choose the Rabbit Sky Leap."


    Number One warned her, "The Rabbit Sky Leap only requires 10 honour points. You still have 139 points, what else will you choose? Please choose immediately."


    Ling Lan shook her head. "I only want this one. I don''t need anything else right now."


    Number One sniffed. "You still have so many honour points left. Do you really want to waste them?"


    Ling Lan smirked like a little fox. "Will they really be wasted?"


    Number One just stared at her cidly. His gaze was steady and indifferent, as if telling her that if she really chose only the Rabbit Sky Leap, all her remaining honour points would be cleared away.


    Ling Lan''s resolution started to waver under Number One''s stare ¡ª should she just redeem all her honour points now, and just wait to learn those skillster on when she met their requirements?


    But then that was also a problem ... Since she had no idea what the learning space would assign her next, if she redeemed her points now and chose something that was unsuitable for herter on, that would also be a waste.


    Should she gamble now? Or gamble for the future? Ling Lan struggled over her decision. She lifted her head to look at Number One, hoping to get some sort of hint from him. After all, the reason she wanted to save her honour points to begin with was because of Number One''s earlier words. Had she misunderstood what he was saying?

 Chapter 19: The Powerful Cheat Code

    Chapter 19: The Powerful Cheat Code


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    So that she could hold onto the free treatment provided by the country in her past life, over her 24 years of illness, Ling Lan had learned how to observe bodynguage and react ordingly. She had learned how to appeal to the doctors and nurses around her, acting cute and being well-behaved. The quota for free treatment was limited, and there were always plenty of other patients waiting in line, so she knew she had to get the researchers and caregivers to like her and care for her personally. This way, subconsciously, they would want to keep her around and would put in a good word for her when necessary.


    Her skills in this area were no use here against Number One, however. He was a battle-hardened veteran warrior ¡ª how could little inexperienced Ling Lan hope to glean anything from his bodynguage? The more Ling Lan stared at Number One, the more helpless she felt, until the point where she felt that it might be better to just redeem all her points now after all. It''d be better than letting them all go to waste.


    Just as she was about to ask to continue redeeming, the system announced, "Time''s up. Exchange 10 honour points for Rabbit Sky Leap, sessful!"


    Ling Lan was abruptly jolted into awareness. Unconsciously, it had already been ten minutes. Knowing that there was nothing else she could do, Ling Lan resolutely pushed aside all her anxiety. Since God had already helped her decide, there was no point having regrets even if she was going to lose all those honour points. It had to be said that Ling Lan was a very mature and adaptable girl ¡ª perhaps those 24 years of torment due to illness had taught her that there was no point in obsessing over the unobtainable.


    The system continued to announce, "One redemption sessful. Redemption missionpleted, 1 honour point awarded. Remaining honour points: 140 points. Shall be reserved for the next redemption."


    Ling Lan was ecstatic. She had guessed correctly! As expected, honour points could be saved up ¡ª Number One''s words had been a hint after all. The word ''use'' had been a subtle hint that honour points were precious, while the following statement that a random draw would be enforced after ten minutes indirectly implied that only one exchange was required.


    This seemingly simple statement was actually rife with meaning. The cost of the items that could be redeemed ranged from 1 point up to several tens of thousands of points, and though Ling Lan only had 149 points, the things she could redeem were numerous. This presented a problem ¡ª if the enforced draw by the system randomly selected an item that only cost 1 point or 10 points, or perhaps even 50 points, what would happen to the rest of the unredeemed honour points?


    Number One''s exnations had not covered any of that. Based on her previous experience, Ling Lan had quickly sensed something strange about the scenario, fearing that this was yet another trick. Perhaps this forced redemption was actually just a way for the system to teach new users how to redeem their honour points, just like how an instructor makes you practise a skill once in front of them right after they finished teaching you.


    Of course Ling Lan knew that every little action of the learning space was not as simple as it seemed, so the forced redemption must have some deeper meaning beyond that. However, Ling Lan didn''t think it was necessary to spend much time and effort to figure it out.


    So she chose the Rabbit Sky Leap which was most suitable for her. Not only could she practise it immediately, it was also a very subtle skill. Ling Lan was very satisfied with her choice. As for whether it was the best choice, Ling Lan was not overly concerned about that. She didn''t expect the best things to just appear in her path randomly, as if she were the ''main character'' in a story, but was content to just take things as they came.


    Instructor Number One was extremely pleased with Ling Lan''s performance this time as well. Without further ado, he switched ces with Instructor Number Nine, who proceeded to instruct Ling Lan in the Rabbit Sky Leap as well as the next chapter of her physical skills training ¡ª the Body Refining Nine Stances.


    Training for the Body Refining Nine Stances was a hundred times more difficult than training for the Basic Nine Stances. For the following month, Ling Lan trainedboriously to master the first stance with little to no effect ¡ª she couldn''t even get the positioning of a single arm right.


    Ling Lan felt that this was a miserable mission. Judging by her current progress, she would never be able to aplish it within the given deadline of five years. Fortunately, Ling Lan had a positive attitude. Even if it felt like an impossible mission, she wasn''t anxious or impatient. Every day, she worked hard to conquer it little by little, in hopes that when the deadline arrived, she wouldn''t be too far off the mark. Ling Lan had deduced from the first reward of honour points that the system''s punishment would most likely be based on a simr principle ¡ª the less she was behind, the lighter the punishment she would receive.


    ********


    Very soon, it was once again the time for a session of gene agent injections. Ling Lan had assumed that this third session would be very much like the first two sessions, where she would just beid on the bed to rest right after.


    Unexpectedly, when all the military personnel had left, Ling Lan''s mother Lan Luofeng had picked her up and had walked through several hidden passages to arrive at a small room. There was almost nothing in the room ¡ª only a small single bed by one of the walls and a waist-high wooden tub in the centre of the room. Nothing else.


    The moment Lan Luofeng entered the room, she asked, "Is everything ready?"


    "Yes, Mistress!" A middle-aged woman stood within the room. Ling Lan recognised her ¡ª she was chambein Ling Qin''s wife, Ling Nanyi.


    Lan Luofeng stepped forward to stand before the wooden tub. Ling Lan could now see that a little more than half the tub was full of an inky-green liquid that smelled heavily of medicinal herbs.


    Ling Lan was deeply surprised ¡ª so far in this time period, all she had seen were medications of Western influence, such as injections or pills, which were nd and tasteless. Now, this familiar smell abruptly brought her back to the memories of her past life. She had had to drink so much of this sort of herbal concoction, but still ... Ling Lan''s forehead scrunched up in worry ¡ª could it be that she was supposed to drink all of this medicinal liquid?


    Ling Lan felt shudders of apprehension within her heart. From her mother''s and Ling Nanyi''s demeanour, that tub of medicinal liquid was most certainly for her. Looking at the wooden tub once again, and then mentallyparing it to her own tiny body ...


    Hell, were they trying to kill her? If she finished drinking all this medicinal liquid, she would definitely be the first baby in the world to die from a distended belly due to Chinese medicine.


    Ling Lan''s mum was not as ruthless as Ling Lan had thought. "Is the temperature of the water alright? Ling Lan won''t be scalded, will she?"


    Thank God, she was supposed to bathe in it and not drink it. Ling Lan cried internal tears of relief as she hugged her mother tightly. Her life was spared.


    "Rx, Mistress. I have tested it properly, there won''t be any problems," replied Ling Nanyi firmly. Ling Lan was the Ling household''s only hope ¡ª she would never allow any bit of carelessness when it came to Ling Lan''s welfare.


    Lan Luofeng did not hesitate any further. In short order, she had stripped Ling Lan naked and ced her into the tub.


    Ling Lan felt as if she were soaking in a hot spring, warm andfortable, when suddenly she felt a surge of heat invade the core of her body from her skin. An indescribable feeling suffused her entire body ¡ª like pain yet not pain, like an itch yet not an itch. Ling Lan, who had never before been afraid of pain, actually couldn''t help but moan at the strange sensation.


    Lan Luofeng was startled by this and looked at Ling Nanyi anxiously, wondering how Ling Lan was doing.


    Ling Nanyi reassured her, "Mistress, this is normal, the young master is fine."


    As time passed, Ling Lan started getting used to the strange sensation. But then, the feeling escted into intense pain, almost reminiscent of the body-shredding pain of her previous life ...


    Oddly enough, this intense pain actually calmed Ling Lan down instead, as she knew she was fully capable of withstanding this sort of pain from 24 years of experience.


    "Huh? What is this thing?" Ling Lan heard Little Four exim within her mind.


    "What?" Although she could manage the pain, it was still nice to have someone to talk to to distract her from it based on her experience. She was very happy to chit chat with Little Four even while wracked with pain.


    "It''s a very strange energy ... it is actually raising the activation of your muscles and their resilience." Little Four was very surprised and curious. How was this tub of medicinal liquid brewed? There was no information on this concoction within his databases.


    "This must be a secret form of the Ling family, specially made for refining the body." In contrast, Ling Lan wasn''t as surprised. No matter how weak and insignificant the Ling family was, they were still an old n that had persevered for over several thousand years, so it was not at all surprising that they had developed this secret form over the years and had passed it on through the main branch of the family, Ling Xiao''s branch.


    "Lord, the things in this world of yours are amazing. Heavens, what did I discover? This medicinal liquid is actually 96 percent nt-based ..." Little Four marvelled. Who''d have thought such an amazing concoction could be made without having to utilise any sort of advanced technology? This was truly a miraculous world.


    Ling Lan sweat-dropped. What else would a Chinese herbal concoction be made of if not medicinal herbs?


    "And what''s the remaining 4 percent? Why is it so familiar ... poison? Yep, should be a type of snake poison ... and what''s this? Scorpion? Ce-centipede, and ... spider venom!" Little Four''s tone of voice kept getting higher and higher until he was practically screeching. It couldn''t be helped ¡ª within this one year, Little Four had learned about the various creatures that could be found in human society, and although he was OK with most of them, he really had no tolerance for creepy crawlies. ording to his sense of aesthetics, they were so ugly that they should be wiped from the surface of the Earth.


    Ling Lan chose to ignore Little Four''s manic iling in her mind. She was busy marvelling at the fact that she was actually going through a purification ritual like some main character in one of those novels she had read.


    Yep, travelling to the future was not too bad after all. The cheat code of the God of Time and Space Travel was pretty powerful.

 Chapter 20: Ling Lan is a Glutton

    Chapter 20: Ling Lan is a Glutton


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Lan Luofeng and Ling Nanyi stood beside Ling Lan and anxiously observed her expression and body condition. This medicinal liquid needed to be bathed in while conscious for maximum effect ¡ª the effects would be greatly weakened if the bather lost consciousness, and the first soak was the one with the greatest impact.


    Ling Nanyi saw that although Ling Lan¡¯s little forehead was all scrunched up, her facial expression did not show any signs of the savage struggle that other children had during these baths. She nodded approvingly ¡ª as expected of their master¡¯s child, this tolerance level was extraordinary. If their master was still around, he would probably be greatly heartened that he had such a reliable descendant.


    Every time Ling Lan¡¯s face twitched, Lan Luofeng subconsciously wanted to pull Ling Lan back into her arms. The pain in her eyes eclipsed the pain that Ling Lan was enduring ¡ª she really did not want to see her own child going through this sort of crushing pain. She had never forgotten what Ling Xiao had once said about the medicinal liquid ¡ª he had said that it was very effective, but it also inflicted tremendous pain in the process.


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s gaze shone with boundless sorrow, and tears glimmered in the corners of her eyes.


    Ling Nanyi sensed Lan Luofeng¡¯s reluctance and tried tofort her. "Mistress, you need to bear it and let it happen. This will help build up the young master¡¯s foundations so he can live a better life in the future. In the end, this world is still a world where the strong triumph ... without true strength, we will not be able to protect what the master left behind."


    Lan Luofeng nodded. "I know. It¡¯s alright, I can bear this. I believe that Ling Lan can continue holding on too." Ling Nanyi was right. A strong foundation was necessary for her child to be able to live freely in the future.


    *********


    Meanwhile ...


    "I need to go research this form. It¡¯s too miraculous! If I can understand the medicinal properties and how they work together, perhaps I may be able to develop a new agent! Lord, I¡¯ll be going now, take your time soaking ..." Without any remorse whatsoever, Little Four abandoned Ling Lan and ran off to his researchb to pursue his next great invention.


    Hells, this heartless bastard! Ling Lan, who had been hoping that Little Four would continue talking with her to share her pain, was full of contempt for his selfish actions. Later, she would definitely teach Little Four a lesson and would make sure he understood that nothing was more important than his lord.


    The intense pain caused Ling Lan¡¯s body to spasm uncontrobly, low moans spilling in an endless stream from her mouth. Suddenly, she recalled that her Qi exercises could somewhat alleviate this sort of pain, and quickly began practising them. It actually worked ¡ª the pain was greatly dampened and became bearable again.


    The violent spasms of Ling Lan¡¯s body just now made Lan Luofeng and Ling Nanyi even more anxious, but while Lan Luofeng was purely heartsick over Ling Lan¡¯s suffering, Ling Nanyi was concerned over what woulde next. She knew that the next half hour would be the most critical period of the medicinal bath, and it was also the part that was most difficult to bear. Most of the children would faint then ¡ª even their master had beatose, though still aware, for half a day back when he had endured thising half hour.


    Perhaps the Qi exercises Ling Lan practised had been deeply ingrained into her body memory since she had been practising them since she was in the womb, for Ling Lan entered into a deep meditative state very quickly. She could no longer feel the pain wracking her body, but merely felt as if she was submerged in a miasma of heat.


    Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s ck face, Lan Luofeng rxed in turn. It looked like Ling Lan had managed to ovee yet another hurdle.


    On the other hand, Ling Nanyi was confused since she knew the true properties of the medicinal liquid. Could it be that the herbal contents had been absorbed entirely? She peered at the inky-green water ¡ª the saturation of the colour indicated that there was still plenty of herbal content left.


    If so, then the pain should still be present and should have even intensified at this point. It seemed like their Young Master Ling Lan was either a child with abnormally high pain tolerance, or else had deficient pain receptors, being less sensitive than the average child.


    Ling Nanyi was leaning more toward thetter possibility, since it was rather inconceivable that a one and a half year old child would have such a high pain tolerance. This misconception of Ling Nanyi would bring even greater suffering to Ling Lan in her future training, as the Ling family tried topensate for her deficient pain receptors by intensifying their training, so that she could know what true pain was like.


    After an indeterminate amount of time, still groggy from her trance, Ling Lan sensed that she had been picked up from the tub and ced on the bed. Someone started massaging her gently, and Ling Lan felt sofortable that she could stand it no longer, and ... fell asleep.


    After sending away the military personnel, Ling Qin had been standing guard outside the room all this while. Seeing theme out of the room, he asked intently, "How was the effect?"


    Ling Nanyi could not contain her tion. She nodded vigorously as she reported, "The effect was much better than expected, all areas have been improved by 30 to 80 percent."


    Ling Qin almost broke down at these words. "Really?!" It should be known that throughout the history of administering these medicinal baths, Master Ling Xiao had recorded the best effects so far. That year, the recorded improvements had only been between 10 to 50 percent.


    Seeing Ling Nanyi nod decisively in confirmation, Ling Qin couldn¡¯t stop his tears from falling as he muttered fervently, "God bless our Ling family, God bless our Ling family."


    Ling Nanyi surreptitiously grabbed hold of her oldpanion¡¯s hand. She knew how much this news meant to her husband. Although Master Ling Xiao had been the master of the Ling family, he had been raised at the knee of her husband. Ling Qin had loved Ling Xiao like a son, and his passing had been as hard on her husband as it had been on the mistress.


    "Looks like the young master has inherited the physical qualities of Master Ling Xiao. Being able to absorb ten tubes of gene stimting agent, and even being able to get a better effect from the medicinal bath ..." Ling Nanyi said, wondering.


    Ling Qin was still overwhelmed by his emotions, and could only nod emphatically in agreement with tears in his eyes. The old Ling couple could only interpret it this way ¡ª they could not know that effects of the bath were so remarkable because of the Qi exercises. The shifting of the body¡¯s energies during the exercise had greatly increased its absorption ability, allowing the medicine to permeate even deeper into the body, hence resulting in improvements like never before.


    Just like that, Ling Lan began her life of medicinal baths. That aside, she continued to contort herself into bizarre poses that stretched the limits of the human body every day. Of course, she practised those poses in secret, lest her mum grow frantic with concern.


    ********


    One year passed after another as Ling Lan slowly grew up. Before she knew it, she had be a bona fide glutton, able to eat her mum¡¯s full day of meals in one sitting.


    Heavens, she was only four years old! Was she destined to grow sideways?


    That won¡¯t do! Today, she must diet. After all, she had a dream to be a child with ¡¯four greats¡¯ ¡ª great ideals, great morals, great discipline, and great goals ¡ª she must not lose to her own stomach.


    Ling Lan was just cheering herself on when she noticed that therge serving of fried noodles before her had vanished. With a constipated expression, she muttered to herself at the insufficiency of the noodles. They hadn¡¯t satisfied her hunger much at all! Rubbing her t tummy, she mentally cautioned herself not to eat any more ...


    A sudden shift in facial expressions, and Ling Lan pped a sure hand onto the table, shouting, "Give this young master an extrarge serving of beef steak!"


    Dammit, hunger pangs were the worst. Ling Lan would much rather suffer pain than hunger pangs.


    Oh well. She was already nning to live as a man this life after all ¡ª if she ended up bing a cool and stylish, elegant and poised, unparalleled handsome gentleman, and caused the women of the world to fall for her and fight over her, that would be a catastrophe. So ... for the sake of those clueless women and to minimize her sin, and also so that other men will be able to wed and graduate from bachelorhood, she should just go ahead and be a little fatter!


    Ahem, ahem, she was such a soft-hearted person!


    Ling Lan, moved by her own self-sacrificial attitude, resolutely took arge bite of the freshly served steak before her.


    It should be noted that Ling Lan was very quick to adjust her world view just so she had an excuse to indulge in her gluttony.

 Chapter 21: The Intricacies of the Qi Exercises!

    Chapter 21: The Intricacies of the Qi Exercises!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Ling Lan¡¯s consistently voracious appetite once again pushed Lan Luofeng into a quandary ¡ª it was a blessing that her child could eat, but ... was it really alright for Ling Lan to eat so much?


    Ling Qin and Ling Nanyi were asking themselves the same question as well. Ling Lan¡¯s appetite could certainly be ssified as monstrous ¡ª even if one tried to exin it away as a sign that her body needed energy, the amount of food she consumed was still rather hard to ept.


    Looking at Ling Lan¡¯s petite figure, however, they could only shake their heads and sigh. It just didn¡¯t make sense. Could it be that their young master¡¯s stomach was from an alternate dimension?


    With time, Lan Luofeng¡¯s worries proved to be unnecessary. Although Ling Lan ate a lot, her body did not change much besides growing a little taller; her waistline remained the same. Furthermore, unlike the other children who received injections of the gene stimting agent, she did not bulk up, but looked rather weak and skinny instead.


    ordingly, Lan Luofeng banished all thoughts of getting Ling Lan to diet. Her child was already so weak and skinny even after eating so much, if she made her diet, wouldn¡¯t her child end up a fragile bean sprout? Better to let her eat as she likes ¡ª it¡¯s not like the Ling household had any problem supplying that much food.


    From then onwards, no one ever contested Ling Lan¡¯s appetite again. In the end, whenever Ling Lan ate just a little bit less than usual, such as skipping out on a bowl of fried rice or a steak, the entire Ling household would descend into a panic. The young master¡¯s appetite had weakened! Could it be that he was ill ... Eh-hm, habit was certainly a powerful thing.


    Ling Lan herself was very puzzled at her own condition, and so quietly asked Little Four to investigate.


    Reliable as ever, Little Four soon provided an answer.


    The reason Ling Lan was so trim and skinnypared to the other children who received agent injections was that the ¡¯bulk¡¯ put on by those children was actually a physical symptom of the umtion of impurities within their bodies. Of course, this result was not an entirely bad thing. On the plus side, it indirectly strengthened the physical toughness of a child¡¯s body, making it able to withstand a certain level of impact. On the flip side, it would decrease a child¡¯s flexibility and lower the body¡¯s resilience.


    Meanwhile, the agent Ling Lan was absorbing contained no impurities due to Little Four¡¯s interference, so there was no build-up of impurities within her body, and consequently no physical bulk.


    As for Ling Lan¡¯srge appetite, it was due to Ling Lan¡¯s training in advanced physical skills within her mind-space. The training sapped a lot of energy, so Ling Lan had no choice but to increase her intake of food to replenish the energy used. Part of this could also be exined by the Ling family¡¯s secret medicinal form ... it had increased the storage capacity of Ling Lan¡¯s body so that it could store the energy from two bowls of rice in the same space others needed to store one bowl¡¯s worth of energy.


    Naturally, the more energy stored up by the body, the greater the energy potential ... the long and short of it was that it was advantageous for Ling Lan.


    As for why Ling Lan seemed weak and fragile ... Little Four was unsure. He searched for a long time before cautiously suggesting that the Qi exercises Ling Lan had learned in her past life were to me.


    After getting these answers from Little Four, Ling Lan was reassured. As long as there was no harm, Ling Lan didn¡¯t mind bing a glutton, especially since she could indulge her taste buds at the same time.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s pleasant days of pure feasting and sleeping didn¡¯tst very long. Soon, she had been mercilessly thrown into training under Chambein Ling Qin by her mother. Apparently, at five years old, it was time for her to start learning the hereditary Ling family martial arts.


    On the very first day, Ling Lan already caught a glimpse of the hard days ahead. The Ling family martial arts were of the harsh variety ¡ª there were no shortcuts, all improvements could only be achieved through hard training. A quota of punches and kicks had to bepleted every day, or else no rest was allowed.


    When Ling Lan finally finished herst kick for the day, she immediately dropped to the ground, immobile. Ling Nanyi, who had been standing watch by her side, picked her up tenderly and brought her directly to the hidden room for her medicinal bath, in hopes that it would soothe Ling Lan¡¯s exhausted muscles.


    The moment Ling Lan entered the medicinal bath, she knew that something was different with today¡¯s bath. There was no pain at all, only a tingling warmth which was sofortable that she was almost lulled to sleep.


    Little Four chose to pipe up at this moment, saying derisively, "This physical skill set is no match for the learning space¡¯s ¡ª it can easily cause problems for the body. If it weren¡¯t for this medicinal bath, any child who practised it would be damaged beyond repair."


    Ling Lan chuckled bitterly. "It¡¯s not like I can choose not to practise it. I have no choice but to continue. I really don¡¯t want to see the disappointed faces of the old couple." In her past life, Ling Lan had seen disappointment too many times on her parents¡¯ faces. So now, whenever she was on the verge of giving up, the disappointment that would appear in Ling Qin and Ling Nanyi¡¯s eyes would change her mind, giving her another boost of determination to hang on.


    This was truly self-inflicted! Even though Ling Lan knew this was one of her personal demons, she just couldn¡¯t throw off the influence of her past life so easily.


    After the bath, Little Four found that the damage caused by the training to Ling Lan¡¯s body had not beenpletely repaired by the medicinal concoction. Although the problem was rtively minor right now, it was a seed that would grow into a serious affliction if things continued as they were.


    Thus, Little Four nned to convince Ling Lan to find a way to skip tomorrow¡¯s training. However, early the next day, to his immense shock, he found that all the remaining damage he had sensed the day before had disappeared without a trace. In fact, Ling Lan¡¯s body was in a better condition than it had been even before the damage was inflicted.


    In disbelief, Little Four scrambled to ask Ling Lan what she had done the night before.


    Ling Lan was befuddled, unsure what Little Four was asking for.


    Little Four frantically rified that he needed to know what Ling Lan had done the night before besides sleep.


    This was indeed rtively important. If he could find out the cause, it would be a revolutionary discovery. Even in the technologically advanced world he came from, it was impossible to fully repair damage to the body with just medicinal solutions. Full repair required some sort of equivalent sacrifice, such as a reduction of life force or cell energy. Although these sort of sacrifices had no discernible negative effect in the short term, they would cause endless trouble in the long run.


    Ling Lan¡¯s situation was entirely different, however. Somehow, she had managed to achieve a full recovery without any sort of sacrifice. Her life force had not been weakened but had instead grown even stronger, while the stored energy within her body was even richer than before. All of this was proof that Ling Lan did not draw on any of her body¡¯s resources to repair the damage.


    Ling Lan thought the matter over seriously before hesitantly telling Little Four that she might have practised her Qi exercises right before bed.


    At her response, Little Four insisted that Ling Lan continue to attend today¡¯s training, and to follow it up with the Qi exercises at night.


    The results proved that Little Four¡¯s suspicions were correct. As expected, the cirction of energy prompted by the Qi exercises once again repaired the body to its optimum condition, just as it did the first day. Little Four watched the entire process in awe. Who¡¯d have thought that a primitive with fledgling technology would have such a miraculous thing? The Qi exercises not only had the ability to nourish the body¡¯s life force, but could also incorporate a portion of the body¡¯s energy into its active circuit to improve and maintain the body in such a way that would go undetected by technological means.


    Little Four could only ¡¯see¡¯ it now because Ling Lan was his host so they were sharing spiritual energy. Otherwise, he would never have believed that such a hidden wonder actually existed in the world.


    Little Four felt a smidgen of regret. If only he had known that primitive world had such wondrous things, he would have paid more attention and started gathering them from the very beginning. Unfortunately, it was all toote now ...

 Chapter 22: A Life Free From Debt!

    Chapter 22: A Life Free From Debt!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    A year¡¯s time went by quickly, and Ling Lan was soon about to turn six. Ling Lan who had alwaysined that time moved too slowly was now singing a different tune,ining that time was moving too fast instead.


    Since she had officially started learning the Ling family martial arts at the age of five, Ling Lan had been able to freely practise the Body Refining Nine Stances. In this one year¡¯s time, she had managed to achieve three times more than what she had managed in the previous three and a half years ¡ª before the age of five, she had only barely mastered the fourth stance, but she had mastered the following three stances after that within this past year. It should be noted that the Body Refining Nine Stances only got harder the further you progressed, each stance requiring even more time and effort to master than the stance before it.


    Unfortunately, Ling Lan did not have any room to rx despite that. In fact, her stress levels only increased from that point onwards. The deadline for her to master the Body Refining Nine Stances was fast approaching ¡ª she only had six months left, and she had yet to master the eighth stance, not to mention the even more challenging ninth stance.


    She desperately wished that she could squeeze every second of her day into training, even holdingbat poses during meal times and inhaling her food at top speed so she could get back to training sooner. This greatly dismayed her mother Lan Luofeng, who began to tearfully repent before a photo of Ling Lan¡¯s father. She felt that she had failed her husband by not raising their child right ¡ª Ling Lan had none of the decorum and grace of an established family n member.


    Amidst this chaos, the final deadline arrived. Although Ling Lan had sessfully mastered the eighth stance, the ninth stance was still iplete despite her best efforts.


    ********


    Ling Lan really did not want to face Instructor Number One. Unfortunately, the learning space was merciless and would not allow Ling Lan to escape. The moment the timer hit zero, Ling Lan¡¯s consciousness had been dragged into the learning space.


    When she entered the learning space for her physical skills course, the first thing she noticed was that the air seemed colder than usual. Instructor Number One was already standing in wait, his posture razor sharp, and he seemed to have been waiting for a long time.


    Ling Lan rubbed her arms, trying to get her goose bumps to subside. It was impossible for Ling Lan to hold herposure against the menacing cold air emanating from such a formidable warrior.


    Number One¡¯s aura was currently much, much colderpared to the other two times Ling Lan had met him. Even though his eyes maintained their usual calm, not a ripple of emotion in sight, Ling Lan could still clearly read the signs of Number One¡¯s deep displeasure.


    Crap, Number One must be very unhappy with her performance this time. Ling Lan¡¯s sense of danger was very healthy ¡ª she immediately adopted a serious manner, head bowed and eyes lowered as she said, "Instructor Number One, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯ve disappointed you."


    Number One replied coolly, "There¡¯s no need for that. We are only here to guide and instruct. Whether or not you appreciate it means nothing to us. You are apologizing to the wrong person."


    Although Number One said all this with his usual indifference and aloofness, Ling Lan could feel the underlying dissatisfaction running through his response.


    Ling Lan felt like crying. Oh Instructor Number One, what do you really mean? What do you want me to do?


    Although Ling Lan wasining internally, her face showed none of this as she kept her head bowed in respectful silence.


    Ultimately, Ling Lan was actually feeling somewhat guilty. She had really wasted a lot of time in the first three years of the given timeline. She had not practised seriously back then, although arge part of it could be med on her wariness of her watchful guardians in the Ling household. During that time, she would only practise in the depths of the night while her mother was sleeping, thus only managing about five to six hours of training each day. This greatly hobbled the speed of her progress. Although she had been free to train as much as she wanted after she started her training in the Ling family martial arts, she had not been able to make up for the time she had wasted in those first three years.


    "Training in the Body Refining Nine Stances. Eight stances mastered, mastery of the ninth stance at 69 percent. Mission iplete. Punishment options: One, a deduction of 200 honour points,cking points can bepensated with other options. Two, corporal punishment, 200 jolts of electric shock! Three, exchange honour points for an extension of the deadline, punishment will be doubled if mission is still unable to bepleted. Please make your choice!"


    The learning space announced all of Ling Lan¡¯s punishment options in its unforgiving t tone. The options were both a shock and a relief to Ling Lan. What shocked her was the harshness of the punishments ¡ª between therge deduction of honour points, and the shocking corporal punishment, she did not want to choose either unless she had no other choice. Honour points had proven to be supremely precious, so she was unwilling to lose them this way, while the corporal punishment was ... ahem, ahem, she really had no masochistic tendencies ...


    On the other hand, Ling Lan was relieved that the system provided a chance for her to fix the situation. The only catch was the possible doubling of the current punishment ¡ª just thinking about it made Ling Lan¡¯s little heart shudder in terror, and she could feel a chill creeping up her spine.


    Tone icy, Number One asked, "Speak. Which do you choose?"


    Ling Lan asked carefully, "Instructor Number One, could you please exin the third option to me?" If she did not have to spend much honour points in exchange, she was willing to try it.


    Number One gave her a cool look as he said in clipped tones, "You can use 10 honour points to extend your deadline by 30 days. In those 30 days, you may continue to practise the Body Refining Nine Stances. If you can master it in that time frame, the punishment will be cancelled. If you fail, the punishment will be doubled."


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart leapt. 10 honour points were an eptable loss in her opinion, although it was a little harder to decide whether she could really master the final ninth stance within 30 days. Truthfully, Ling Lan was not at all confident of her chances ¡ª she may really only need one more month to master the stance, but she could just as easily require two months or three months, or perhaps even one more year. Ling Lan remembered very well that Instructor Number Nine had told her that mastering the ninth stance required a certain degree of chance and enlightenment; mastery would be impossible without one or the other.


    Should she take the risk and try? Ling Lan hesitated, but in the end, she just could not sacrifice the precious honour points she had earned, nor could she convince herself to take the corporal punishment, so she decided to take the plunge and chose the third option.


    The moment Ling Lan stated her choice, she felt the temperature of the room rise to a morefortable degree. Number One decisively processed her choice for her, and before Ling Lan could ask any more questions, she had been summarily kicked out of the physical skills learning area.


    All Ling Lan could remember was a final cold stare, full of threat ¡ª a clear warning that she had betterplete her mission properly this time.


    Back at the general learning space, Ling Lan did not even spare the time to greet Little Four before hurrying back out to the real world to train.


    Although Ling Lan had no idea what Number One¡¯s final threat-filled gaze was meant to convey, she knew down to her very bones that if she did not manage to master the Body Refining Nine Stances by this new deadline, she would die a very gruesome death ...


    ********


    And so, Ling Lan trained like a demon possessed in the subsequent month. Every day, she would train until she only had enough energy left to keep breathing before she dared to stop. Under this brutal routine, Ling Lan finally seeded in mastering the ninth stance.


    When Ling Lan entered the physical skills learning space and found that there was only ten seconds left till the deadline, she broke out into a cold sweat. Honestly, till the veryst moment, she herself was unsure whether she would be able toplete the mission in time. All she could think of was to keep circting her internal energy, and push her body into the motions of the Body Refining Nine Stances over and over again.


    A rather stupid approach perhaps, but this reckless method may have led to the final push that Ling Lan needed. Ling Lan had trained to the point where her consciousness had started to blur, when she felt like a mental wall on the edge of her mind had crumbled. Her body had started going through all the poses of the Body Refining Nine Stances involuntarily, imprinting all the hard work she had put into learning the nine stances firmly into her body.


    Just like that, Ling Lan resolved the sword of Damocles [1] hanging by her neck, and finally returned to a life free from debt.


    ########


    [1] Having a sword of Damocles over you means you¡¯re facing an imminent threat, usually one involving great peril.

 Chapter 23: The Scout Academy’s Test

    Chapter 23: The Scout Academy¡¯s Test


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Little Young Master, are you ready?" Standing before the room where the strength test was taking ce, Ling Qin¡¯s expression was even more nervous than Ling Lan¡¯s who was about to be tested.


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips twitched. This grandpa chambein hadpletely lost his usual calm ever since they had entered the scout academy. Did he really have such little faith in her?


    Uh ... well of course there were things that were out of her control, like, who knew that the test of intelligence would be so iprehensible ...


    Recalling her shame in that part of the test, Ling Lan¡¯s face darkened. Still, to reassure her grandpa chambein who truly loved her from the depths of his heart, she said, "Rx, Grandpa Qin. I promise I willplete the mission."


    If not out of sincere worry for her, why would Ling Qin lose his usualposure? He was a trainedbat expert!


    At her words, Ling Qin seemed put at ease. "That¡¯ll do, that¡¯ll do."


    Ling Lan was standing here now because it was finally time for little Ling Lan to enter a scout academy. ording to Federationw, every child must enrol at a scout academy at the age of six, and receive ten years of mandatory schooling there.


    So even if Lan Luofeng was reluctant, she had no choice but to bring Ling Lan to the scout academy to take the enrolment tests which would decide which ss she would be in.


    There were four parts to the enrolment tests ¡ª intelligence, strength, stamina, and speed.


    The first part, the intelligence test, was easy. It was so easy that most did not even consider it a real test, as all they did was let the child being tested talk to the appointed examiner for 3 to 5 minutes, and then the results were out.


    Ling Lan only scored 80 marks in this test. ced among the sea of 90 marks scored by the other children, this score was humiliating, leaving Ling Lan speechless. Till now, she still could not figure out how her mature mentality honed over 30 over years of life had lost to the intelligence of those 6 year old brats. How did that even make sense? Who knew how those examiners determined the scores ¡ª there did not seem to be any basis whatsoever.


    Regardless of how wronged Ling Lan felt, she had no choice but to ept this result. ording to regtions, any objections about scoring could only be raised after all parts of the enrolment test had beenpleted.


    The second test was the test of strength. Ling Lan grimly swore that she would redeem herself in the following tests. No way would she let those little brats continue to beat her. The learning space in her mind was no joke!


    Finally, Ling Lan¡¯s name was called. As she prepared herself to enter the testing room, Ling Qin pressed lightly on Ling Lan¡¯s little shoulder. "Do you remember what the mistress told you? You must not disappoint the mistress!"


    Lan Luofeng was waiting for them outside the academy. Perhaps worried that her agitation would affect Ling Lan¡¯s performance, she had decided to remain outside and wait for them toe tell her the final results.


    Ling Lan obediently nodded her head. "Yes, Ling Lan will do it. Mummy should rx, Uncle Qin too." Acting cute was rather embarrassing, but this was the only way to reassure these people who loved and cared for her, so Ling Lan had learned to ignore her shame and just do it.


    Under Ling Qin¡¯s fond gaze, Ling Lan stepped into the examination room.


    In the area set aside for the strength test, two soldiers in military uniforms were seated in one of the rooms. One of the officers was flipping through Ling Lan¡¯s intelligence test results and its apanying examinerments. The shockingly low 80 marks stood out starkly, causing him to frown, but he could not help but exim in surprise when he saw the examinerments written below it.


    Curious at his partner¡¯s reaction, the other officer asked, "What¡¯s up?"


    "Calm and collected, no sign of leaps of logic,cking imagination ... we¡¯ve been in charge of testing children for almost three years, but I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve seen these sort ofments before."


    After listening to thesements, the other officer said with some dissatisfaction, "I¡¯m not going toment on the rest, but what¡¯s wrong with calm and collected? In battle, only the calm survive. Isn¡¯t this scoring a bit ridiculous?"


    "Who do you think is in charge of intelligence testing? They would never let this sort of child who¡¯s hard to brainwash and hard to win over into the special sses and waste their resources." The officer who had read out thements curled his lips, full of scorn for the examiners of the intelligence testing.


    "Hehe, that¡¯s true. Those great ns are only concerned with recruiting talent for their ns for their own profit, having long forgotten about the good of the Federation. Quite a few promising talents have been shunted into the regr sses because of them, losing the chance to be cultivated with better resources, and in doing so losing the Federation some great talent," the other officer said with some regret. Unfortunately, those people had both power and authority, and held a lot of influence and decisive power. For example, they have imed priority in arranging the enrolment sses of the scout academy, letting them ce students loyal to them in the better sses. The othermon soldiers involved in the process were powerless even if they wanted to help some of the unaffiliated talents.


    "Hopefully this child will perform better in the following tests, or else he will have no hope of getting into Special ss-A."


    "ss-A? He should thank his lucky stars if he gets into ss-B. He might just end up being pushed into one of the regr sses ..." The other officer did not think highly of Ling Lan¡¯s chances with such a low intelligence score.


    "Hello, examiners. Ling Lan is here for testing," said Ling Lan loudly. When she had entered the room, the two officers were in deep whispering conversation, so she had walked up till she was about 2 meters from them before standing at attention and announcing her presence.


    "Oh, he¡¯s got presence." One of the officersughed. They were used to seeing nervous and timid children, so it was rather refreshing to meet one so brash and unafraid.


    At heart, Ling Lan was an adult, and she had also had to withstand Instructor Number One¡¯s terrifying killing aura more than once ¡ª the weak presence of the two officers before her was really no threat at all in her eyes.


    The other officer smiled kindly, and pointed over to a row of barbells at one corner of the room, saying, "Lift the barbell that you can lift. Don¡¯t force yourself. This is just a test, not apetition."


    Hearing this, Ling Lan nodded. She walked over to the barbells, and saw that each barbell wasbelled with their weight. Ling Lan knew her body well ¡ª she had finished learning the foundational stage of the Ling family martial arts, and had now moved on to train inbat techniques, so she was very clear on the limits of her strength.


    Ling Lan did not choose immediately, but turned to ask, "Could you tell me which weight would give full marks?" Her abysmal intelligence score meant that Ling Lan needed to get as much marks as she could in the remaining three tests, because she just had to qualify for the special sses. This was also the mission given to her by her mom.


    It wasn¡¯t that Lan Luofeng wanted the glory, but only those students enrolled in the special sses had the right to build their own study ns, select their preferred instructors, and choose to stay at home. For the sake of protecting Ling Lan¡¯s secret, this was the only option.


    The two officers nced at each other. This child was certainly full of himself ¡ª even now they would not dare to im that they could lift 500 catties 1 . And this child wanted to take on the 100 marks challenge?


    "500 catties!" one of the officers finally replied.


    At this, Ling Lan strolled over casually to stand before the 500-catty barbell. She clenched her fists over the bar, considering ¡ª 500 catties was already slightly over her best established record. If she were to brute-force it, she could be injured if she was unlucky. Still, Ling Lan wanted to try. After all, it was not like there was no chance of sess, and she had her reliable Qi exercises to fall back on if she really did get injured, so she was not afraid of the consequences.


    Of course, another reason why Ling Lan wanted to try was that the strength test was a section where points were easy to get. The marks in this section were all objective ¡ª how much you could lift equalled how much score you would get, unlike in the following tests of stamina and speed where there was some room for interpretation. Although Ling Lan also had confidence for the next two tests, she was also wary of inexplicably losing marks again like in the intelligence test.


    Still, Ling Lan would not recklessly go ahead and lift the barbell. She wanted to protect her body as much as she could, so she surreptitiously circted her Qi once and filled her entire body with energy. Only then did she grab hold of the bar with all her might, lifting up the barbell with a mighty bellow.


    She waited till the monitor rang out with the signal sound of sess before cing the barbell down again. The heavy thud of the barbell hitting the floor roused the dumbfounded officers from their stupor.


    "He really did it ..."The two officers¡¯ shock and disbelief were writ all over their faces. One of them even ran over to the monitor disy to take a closer look. When he saw the distinct word of ¡®SUCCESS¡¯ on the screen, he was instantly too excited for words.


    "Who¡¯d have thought that after three years, I¡¯d have a candidatee out of my hands with a full strength score." The officer was both moved and proud ¡ª this wasn¡¯t the intelligence test, where the score could be manipted due to its ck-box workings. This result was a direct reflection of strength. He was actually witness to the birth of a newbat genius! (The higher the strength, the easier training would be ¡ª approximately half the effort for the same results.)


    The two officers wrote down Ling Lan¡¯s score with excitement and added theirments at the bottom. Theirment consisted of only two words: Combat genius! Only these two words could represent what they felt at this very moment.


    In their excitement, they did not notice Ling Lan¡¯s strange pensive expression when she put down the barbell. Of course Ling Lan was puzzled ¡ª she actually still had strength to spare when she lifted the barbell. She had initially thought that 500 catties would be a little beyond her limits, but when she actually lifted the weight, it was rather easy.


    Gee, could it be that she had eaten some sort of strength-enhancing pill without her knowledge?


    Unable to figure it out, Ling Lan could only let it go for now as she walked out of the room and got ready for the next test.

 Chapter 24: The Overly Friendly Little Boy

    Chapter 24: The Overly Friendly Little Boy


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan assumed that the following tests would still be conducted individually, but unexpectedly, she found that that wasn¡¯t the case when she arrived at the site of the next test.


    Both the stamina test and the speed test would be held at the same ce ¡ª the academy¡¯srge field.


    When Ling Lan and Ling Qin arrived at the field and tried to enter, Ling Qin was immediately stopped by one of the waiting staff members at the entrance. He told them that parents and guardians were not allowed to apany their child into the testing area.


    Ling Lan did not need Ling Qin¡¯spany to begin with; she had only let him tag along since she wasn¡¯t able to refuse his kind intentions. Now, seeing Ling Qin¡¯s worried eyes, she hurried to reassure him before saying a firm goodbye and entering the field. These thoughtful actions were noted by the staff member escorting Ling Lan into the field.


    "You are surprisingly considerate ..." praised the staff member. Among the many children who came for testing, he had seen many who cried and fussed, threw tantrums, or clung to their guardians ¡ª in contrast, Ling Lan¡¯s mature handling of the situation amazed him.


    Ling Lan merely smiled without saying anything in reply. She couldn¡¯t very well say that she was already over 30 years old, which was why she wasn¡¯t going to cling to her parents like other children, right?


    Ling Lan¡¯s calm and even-tempered attitude may have endeared her to the staff member, for he decided to provide an exnation as he pointed out the other children waiting ahead on the field grounds. "There are the children waiting to be tested. That group on the far right with less people is themoner children, the middle group consists of children from military backgrounds, while thergest group on the left is made up of the descendants of the elite families."


    Ling Lan looked towards where he pointed, and saw that there were already a lot of people gathered on the grass, all of whom were children enrolling for the year.


    On the of Doha, there were countless scout academies just like this one; however, the one Ling Lan was trying to enrol in was reputed to be the best in Doha, with no closepetition. Just to qualify for the enrolment tests, one had to either be from an elite family or a military family with a reserved spot, or else they would have to be like Ling Lan, who was an inheritor of premium military benefits. Those who inherited premium military benefits coulde frommoner families, elite families, or even military systems, so the children on the field had knowingly or unknowingly drifted into three distinct camps.


    Of course, if any of them failed the enrolment tests here, they would have to settle for the scout academy closest to their residence. This was the harsh reality of the matter ¡ª the Central Scout Academy of the of Doha only epted the best; they would not lower their standards just to boost their enrolment rates.


    However, it should be noted that arge majority of the children who failed were those from themoner families. The academy had released a statement to the public exining that these children¡¯s physical fitness was not up to the academy¡¯s standards. Whether that was true or if there was something fishy behind the matter, we will never know.


    Because every year, this academy which imed to only ept the best would still open two ¡®Exception sses¡¯ for enrolment ... to qualify, you¡¯d have to have wealth, power, and status!


    Ling Lan knew the staff member was trying to help her, so she responded with a bright smile. "Thank you!"


    It should be noted that Ling Lan had a beautiful smile. This smile had been deeply ingrained into her bones, and as long as someone treated her well and with sincerity, she would be generous with it. In her past life, this smile had earned her the good will and affection of all the doctors and nurses who had treated her. And now,bined with the attractive face born from her good genes in this life, the sweetness of her smile had only intensified.


    The staff member stared for a long moment, besotted. And then, he rubbed his nose lightly, peering around to the left and right. When he saw that no one else was paying attention, he said to her, "Little boy, don¡¯t smile like that in the future. It¡¯s for your own good."


    If this child did not have enough social and political clout, it was better if he was more careful with his smile. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t as dangerous now due to his young age, but in another five or ten years, this smile of his could very well be a problem.


    Ling Lan was taken aback by this unexpected advice. But before she could ask about it, they had arrived at the fringes of the crowd and it was no longer safe to ask. Ling Lan could only wave goodbye under the staff member¡¯s fond and worried gaze.


    "Little Four, what do you think that person wanted to say?" asked Ling Lan with a slight frown on her face.


    Little Four said nothing, but yed a recording of Ling Lan¡¯s previous smile within her mind. Till now, Ling Lan had never seen her current smile, though she knew that her original smile had been sweet enough to make people lower their guard and ease their spirits. However, looking at her smile now ... she finally understood why that staff member had tried to warn her.


    Dammit, looks like beauty is also a burden. In the past, she could only be considered pretty at most, with a sweet smile that could warm people¡¯s hearts. But now, her androgynous appearance and her very attractive face somehow made that same sweet smile even sweeter, adding an almost seductive quality to it. And this was still as a six year old, if she were a little older ...


    Ling Lan was not so na?ve as to believe that gay rtionships did not exist in this era. Although she was a girl in reality, she still did not want a gay man to confess feelings for her.


    Right then and there, Ling Lan decided that she could never smile like that again.


    As Ling Lan neared the three groups, the children in all the groups started looking over at her curiously. As mentioned earlier, Ling Lan was a really good-looking child ¡ª even among the multitude of handsome men and beautiful women in this world, she would still be considered a top-notch beauty. With the honesty of youth, the children directly expressed their appreciation of her beauty with their focused attention. A pretty child was always popr.


    In this manner, before Ling Lan could decide which group she should join, a well-built boy from the middle military group had started waving enthusiastically at her, shouting, "Here, here! Come quick!"


    Ling Lan was nonplussed. Who the hell was this passionate fellow? He didn¡¯t look familiar to her at all.


    Still, his greeting helped her solve one of her worries, so she started walking slowly in his direction. Her slow pace was intentional ¡ª what if she had mistaken his greeting when he had actually meant it for someone else behind her? She wanted to avoid that embarrassment if possible.


    However, it was soon proven that Ling Lan¡¯s caution was unnecessary. That boy really had been calling out to her, because he had already run over to grab her hand in impatience before she had covered half the distance.


    Ling Lan stared at the hand that covered her own with some consternation. Who the hell was he? How could he just grab her hand without asking as if they were familiar friends?


    Hehe, don¡¯t judge Ling Lan for her reaction. In the history of both of her lives, this was the first time a strange man, erm ... little boy, had held her hand. Our intrepid little student Ling Lan was actually feeling shy.


    They entered the group to the ce the boy had run out from, but before the boy could say anything, a sulky voice could be heard saying, "Qi Long, who¡¯s he?"


    Ling Lan looked towards the voice and saw that it was a plump little girl who had spoken. The girl red at her fiercely, as if she had taken away her favourite possession.


    Ling Lan was rendered speechless once again. Did all children in this time go through puberty so early? This girl had already learned how to be jealous? That aside, shouldn¡¯t she take a closer look before getting jealous? Couldn¡¯t she see that ¡®he¡¯ was a little boy right now?


    Ling Lan was also a little puzzled, as she felt that she probably looked better than Qi Long in her current body. Why did the plump little girl not seem to notice this, but had chosen without question to be jealous of her instead of wanting to get close to her? Could it be that she was just not the girl¡¯s type?


    What Ling Lan did not know was that this world was no longer like her previous world where leanness was considered attractive. Here, the children were all raised with the understanding that stoutness, bulk, and health were beautiful, so Ling Lan¡¯s weak and fragile beansprout look was not going to appeal to most of the female poption, no matter how attractive her features were.


    Qi Long had no idea that his little follower was jealous, focusing instead on introducing Ling Lan to his friends, "He was the one who was being tested before me in the strength test. Don¡¯t look down on him ¡¯cause he¡¯s skinny, he¡¯s really strong!" Qi Long liked to befriend those who he felt were stronger than him, as he felt that he could be stronger by mingling with them.


    Ling Lan blinked. So that¡¯s how Qi Long knew her.

 Chapter 25: Companions in the Same Group

    Chapter 25: Companions in the Same Group


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t suppress her curiosity. "How did you find out?" The results were supposed to be confidential, only known by the examiners. Also, those examiners had been enlisted from various military regions, and so knew how to keep their mouths shut.


    With some embarrassment, Qi Long replied, "Actually, when I went in for my test, the two examiners were talking about you, saying that you were a rare genius with unparalleled strength. I figured that if even the examiners said so, your strength must be ginormous!"


    Fine, looks like the examiners got carried away in their excitement and identally revealed some hints. But this gregarious fellow was also surprisingly observant, having managed to grab hold of the most important information immediately.


    "Oh right! What¡¯s your name? I¡¯m Qi Long, he¡¯s Han Jijyun. We grew up together, and he¡¯s the bestest of my best friends." Qi Long had no sense of the typical first-time reservations when meeting strangers; he had jumped straight into an enthusiastic introduction of the little boy standing beside the plump little girl. His expression as he spoke seemed as if he were showing off, causing Ling Lan to throw a curious nce at this boy who Qi Long seemed proud to know.


    The little boy seemed very serious, giving no outward reaction to Qi Long¡¯s enthusiasm other than to slightly nod at Ling Lan, although his eyes held an unmistakable trace of appraisal. Of course, this was due to his young age ¡ª if he had been just a bit older, he might have been able to do so more subtly.


    However, his assessing gaze did not make Ling Lan ufortable, because Ling Lan knew that he meant no harm by it, and that he was only trying to decide if Ling Lan was someone worthy of being befriended by his good friend Qi Long. Thus, Ling Lan was instead touched by this act of concern, proof of the deep friendship between the two boys.


    Looking at the beaming Qi Long standing at her side, Ling Lan recalled the novels she had read in the past. So it was true that every happy-go-lucky boy would have a cautious and thoughtful bro by his side ¡ª even now, she could see the strong bromance between the two little boys ... God was indeed fair and kind, and would protect those who were pure of heart.


    As her impression of Qi Long and Han Jijyun rose, Ling Lan¡¯s demeanour softened considerably. She greeted Han Jijyun amicably, "Hello, I¡¯m Ling Lan, it¡¯s nice to meet you."


    "Ling Lan, she is Jijyun¡¯s younger cousin Han Xuya. She always likes to hang out with us, don¡¯t take her words too seriously." Qi Long did not wait for Jijyun to respond, interrupting to introduce the plump little girl.


    Qi Long did not notice that his words had irritated the plump little girl so much that she was gnashing her teeth, while Han Jijyun threw a somewhat apologetic look at Ling Lan. Looks like he was used to ying the mediator for his best friend and his cousin sister.


    Ling Lan smiled but did not respond in any way to Qi Long¡¯s words. This somewhat cated the angry little girl, who felt that that Ling Lan at least knew his ce, and as such didn¡¯t find him as annoying as before. The emotions of girls were truly a fickle thing, regardless of their age.


    And so the group of children conversed like they were little adults, but they hadn¡¯t conversed for long before they heard one of the other children yell out, "The exam is starting!"


    It turned out that the examiner for this test had appeared on the field, and the staff members had begun separating the children into smaller groups.


    The way they grouped the children was simple ¡ª ording to their registration number, every ten numbers became one group. Ling Lan looked at her number, 7253, and then turned to look at the numbers of the children in Qi Long¡¯s group, and was immediately struck dumb. Dammit, wasn¡¯t this too coincidental?! Their numbers turned out to be right behind hers ¡ª 7254, 7255, 7256 ...


    Ignoring Qi Long¡¯s excitement, Han Jijyun¡¯s surprise, and Han Xuya¡¯s mild difort, Ling Lan could do nothing but look up at the sky, the corners of her mouth twitching. Was this the rumoured Laws of Dimension Travel? Would anyone fated to connect with her be naturally drawn to gather around her? Just like how Qi Long had just bulldozed his way into her life?


    Besides the four of them, the six other people who belonged in their group had also gathered around them. This was only natural as their group had the most people to begin with, so the others who were scattered had automaticallye to join up with thergest party.


    The neers consisted of five boys and one girl, and one of the boys looked very simr to the girl, so they were probably twins.


    Although there were hardly any ugly people left at this time, the twins were still extremely good-looking by current standards. They were like porcin dolls, with clear skins glowing with health ¡ª the boy looked dignified and confident, while the girl looked shy and adorable. Two almost identical faces with two distinctly different dispositions ¡ª Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but steal a few extra looks.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze was perhaps a bit too intent, for the twins seemed to sense it and looked over. The princess-like girl smiled at Ling Lan bashfully, which Ling Lan returned on reflex. When the boy saw this, he red at Ling Lan, as if warning her not to even think about flirting with his sister.


    Ling Lan rubbed at her nose, speechless. Fine, so she had beenbelled as a little lecher with just one smile. Still, wasn¡¯t this little boy¡¯s guard a little too high at this age? Wasn¡¯t it a little too early to even worry about defending his sister¡¯s honour from lechers?


    Qi Long noticed the boy¡¯s res, and red back fiercely in return as he tried tofort Ling Lan, "Ling Lan, don¡¯t mind it. Luo Lang¡¯s just like that, his sister is the centre of his universe."


    Looks like Qi Long was also familiar with the twins, or else he wouldn¡¯t have been able to call out the boy¡¯s name so easily.


    Ling Lan said helplessly, "Oh, so he has a sisterplex! A sis-con!"


    "Sis-con?!" Qi Long paused for a moment, bemused, before bursting out intoughter. "Ling Lan, you¡¯re just too talented. How did you manage to describe it so perfectly? Sis-con ... why didn¡¯t I think of that?"


    Qi Long¡¯s exaggerated reaction surprised Ling Lan. The term ¡®sis-con¡¯ had been so popr back in Ling Lan¡¯s original world that it had almost be a clich¨¦, so almost everyone knew it. Who knew that it didn¡¯t exist in this generation ...?


    A thought rose up in Ling Lan¡¯s mind. Could it be that, over the years, due to several catastrophes and major disasters, there had been some heavy losses in culture? In that case, the books and other reading materials Little Four had saved might truly be an invaluable pot of gold ...


    Qi Long¡¯s unusual reaction piqued the interest of the other children, who quickly asked him what was going on. Soon, the term ¡®sis-con¡¯ spread like wildfire among the kids, until everyone in the group except the twins had learned about it, and were giggling behind their hands.


    Though they tried to hide it, theirughter was still obvious enough that Luo Lang, the male twin, couldn¡¯t pretend not to see it. His face grew darker and darker, until finally, he could bear it no longer and went right up to Ling Lan to ask, "Hey, what bad things did you say about us?"


    Ling Lan, face full of angelic innocence, pointed at herself and said, "Me? Say bad things about you? Why would I do that?" She wasn¡¯t evenughing with the others ¡ª if he was looking for someone to me, shouldn¡¯t he look for Qi Long? Without his big mouth, how would the other children have found out and startedughing at Luo Lang?


    "Then why are theyughing at me?" used Luo Lang angrily. He had seen very clearly that the whole thing had started with Ling Lan. It was Ling Lan¡¯s words that caused Qi Long and the others to startughing at them.


    Ling Lan really didn¡¯t know what to do with this usation. "... Do you have paranoia syndrome?"


    "Paranoia syndrome ..." Pfft, stifledughter once again broke out from behind her. From the moment Luo Lang started talking to Ling Lan, the other children had been paying attention to them, and as expected, they once again heard something really interesting. They discovered that this weak-looking little fellow before them was a great wordsmith, using strange terms they had never heard of before but which fit perfectly with the situation, causing them tough uncontrobly. Heavens, he was really too talented.


    Qi Long wasughing the hardest, while even Han Jijyun couldn¡¯t help but smile like the kid he was, breaking up his usual serious fa?ade.


    This new bout ofughter made Luo Lang even angrier. He pointed at them all, so angry that he couldn¡¯t even speak ¡ª Ling Lan heartlessly wondered if he would get angry enough to faint.

 Chapter 26: The Exam Begins

    Chapter 26: The Exam Begins


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    It was evident that the physical endurance of the bodies of children in this time period was very high. No matter how angry Luo Lang was, his stance was still tall and steady. The only sign of his building anger was the stormy expression on his face.


    Seeing Luo Lang¡¯s expression, Ling Lan felt a little bad. After all, she was already over 30 years old if you counted the span of both her lives, which meant she could already be considered a weird auntie of sorts ¡ª how could she bully a young child like this?


    A little remorsefully, Ling Lan smiled at Luo Lang and said, "I was just joking. Please don¡¯t be mad."


    Ling Lan¡¯s smile startled Luo Lang, and her sudden submissive attitude also threw him for a loop. He stood there gaping, nonplussed, and the other children burst outughing once again. There was no helping it really, for his bewildered look was just too adorable ¡ª even his sister had started giggling softly. She quickly stifled it, however, and lowered her head bashfully, chastising herself mentally for her actions. How could sheugh at her brother who had always watched out for her?


    Meanwhile, Ling Lan was having a headache over her reflexive smile. It was so troublesome. After she had identally revealed her ¡¯seductive¡¯ smile once again, Little Four had gone ballistic, and she now had her hands full trying to calm him down.


    Leaving Ling Lan aside, who was busy with the ballistic Little Four, Luo Lang had been shaken out of his stupor by the others¡¯ughter. When he found that he had once again embarrassed himself, two splotches of red flushed over his ivory skin, spreading all the way to the roots of his ears.


    Then, he channelled his embarrassment into anger and lunged at Ling ... uh, Ling Lan¡¯s side where Qi Long was standing, and pushed him to the ground. Just like that, the two of them began to wrestle as they rolled around on the field.


    Qi Long and Luo Lang were all tangled up with one another ¡ª Qi Long¡¯s friend Han Jijyun did not try to help, only pulling Ling Lan and Han Xuya aside to watch as they fought. Meanwhile, Luo Lang¡¯s sister had also silently retreated a few steps out of the way, but she continued to watch her brother with worried eyes.


    With some difficulty, Ling Lan finally managed to calm Little Four, only to return to awareness to find that no one was trying to stop the fight. This baffled Ling Lan. In her past world, if any children started to fight, they would be pulled apart as soon as possible to resolve their problems peacefully. But here, although there were staff members on the field not far from them, they just continued with what they were doing as if nothing was happening ¡ª what exactly was going on? Ling Lan felt that her world view was being challenged by this new world¡¯s order.


    Ling Lan was not someone who could suppress her curiosity. She immediately turned to ask Han Jijyun about the situation, earning yet another appraising gaze from him. However, when he saw that Ling Lan really did not understand what was going on, he was rather stunned. This was pretty basic general knowledge that should have been taught by a father. Had Ling Lan¡¯s father not told him about it?


    Even though Han Jijyun had his doubts, he still exined to Ling Lan, "This is a habit we¡¯ve learned since we were little. If we need to resolve a problem with someone, fighting is permitted. However, no matter who wins or loses, the matter is considered closed after the fight."


    What a strange way of educating their children ... are they not afraid of encouraging violence? Once again Ling Lan was struck by how different the values and principles of her previous education werepared to the survival of the fittest mentality of this world. For example, no matter the origins of a child ¨C whether he was amoner, an elite, or a noble ¨C the first ambition of all the children here was to join the military. The second ambition was also to join the military, and the third ambition ... was still to join the military. Because strength was might, and military men were the strongest, especially if they managed to be a mecha operator. Only those whose bodies did not meet the requirements would give up on this dream of the military and reluctantly choose another profession.


    Since young, the education Ling Lan received was geared towards preparing her to be a mecha operator, the strongest of the strong. Everything she learned worked towards this goal, while her mum and Chambein Ling Qin had never even thought to ask her whether she wanted to be one.


    Honestly, she was rather apathetic towards the idea of bing a mecha operator. She was a girl, after all, with very little interest in fighting. She could never have guessed that she would travel to this warring world where the people were militarised, and, even more unexpectedly, that she would have a mecha learning device as a contracted follower ...


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but rub her jaw thoughtfully. Could it be that this was fate? Was everything that had happened trying to tell her that she was destined to walk the path of a mecha operator?


    Qi Long and Luo Lang were still fighting neck and neck ¡ª although Qi Long was actually slightly better in terms of fighting power, Luo Lang had stubborn determination on his side. So, although Luo Lang was slightly disadvantaged, he was still managing to hold his own against Qi Long.


    Ling Lan really wanted to know the oue of their fight, but when she saw that the staff member in charge of calling out the test groups was getting closer and closer to their numbers, she knew that there was no chance the fight would end in time. With some regret, she called out, "It looks like it¡¯ll be our turn soon. Are you guys sure it¡¯s alright to continue fighting like this?"


    The two boys froze at the same time, but Luo Lang reacted faster than Qi Long. He shoved Qi Long aside and scrambled off the ground, and started to fix his clothing and appearance. Although he could no longer revert to his initial pristine princely presence no matter how hard he tried, his proper upbringing would not allow him to face the examiner in such a dishevelled state.


    Qi Long was caught unprepared and was sent tumbling twice over by Luo Lang¡¯s push. He quickly mbered up as well and said huffily, "Wait till the test is over, let¡¯s continue our fight then." He was utterly unconcerned with his mussed up appearance, only swiping at his forehead twice to get rid of some sweat before letting it be.


    Naturally, Luo Lang refused to back down as well, so the two agreed that they would determine the true winner after the testing ended.


    Oh, such spirited andpetitive young children! Ling Lan felt old, for she could not find any sense in their random fight. By this time, Ling Lan had forgotten that she was actually the culprit who instigated Luo Lang¡¯s fight with Qi Long.


    The testing proceeded rapidly ¡ª Qi Long and Luo Lang had barely caught their breath when their group was already being called up by the staff member. The ten people in Ling Lan¡¯s party dared not dawdle and quickly ran over.


    The ten of them stood on the race track and made their final preparations. Then, an examiner walked over to exin how the testing would go. He asked them to get ready to run from the start line, and exined that they would have to safely arrive at the end line toplete this test. As for scoring, that would depend on how much time they took toplete the course.


    As Ling Lan got ready, she did not forget to keep an eye on the group of testees before them. This was a habit she had developed after multiple encounters with Number One ¡ª every time Number One appeared, his every action could be a test, so Ling Lan always had to be on her toes, making sure she caught every little hint in his actions and his words. This strict caution had be a part of her basic instincts.


    Ling Lan saw the previous group speed off at the examiner¡¯smand, and soon she could no longer see their silhouettes ...


    "Do you see it?" Han Jijyun leaned close and whispered to her. He had also noticed something strange.


    "Hn, even though the sun is shining brightly in the sky, there is fog on the track ... " Ling Lan pointed out the problem, which exined why the group before them had disappeared so quickly before their eyes.


    "Looks like the track here is under some area-of-effect illusion technology ¡ª this test is not as straightforward as it seems." Han Jijyun was an intelligent boy who had a deep understanding of advanced technology which other kids (like Ling Lan) may not have.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s warning made Ling Lan secretly raise her guard.


    Very soon, the examiner at the starting line called Ling Lan¡¯s group over. Once he had confirmed they were ready, he gave themand, and they were off.


    Qi Long immediately rushed forward at the head of the group, with Luo Lang close on his heels. It seemed like the two of them were determined to make apetition out of this as well.


    Ling Lan was third, and Han Jijyun was right behind Ling Lan. This strategic child had the same idea as Ling Lan ¡ª they were nning to follow behind Qi Long for now as they observed their surroundings. Meanwhile, the other kids were all following at various paces behind Han Jijyun.

 Chapter 27: The True Intention of the Test

    Chapter 27: The True Intention of the Test


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    They hadn¡¯t run for long when the sunny skies above them turned dark and foreboding. Storm clouds gathered, and thunder rumbled ominously. Right at the front, Qi Long cursed, "Damn our luck! Why did it only start to rain when it¡¯s our turn? Hurry up, everyone, or else it¡¯ll be even harder to run once it really starts raining, and our results will definitely be affected."


    After he finished speaking, Qi Long was just about to speed up when Han Jijyun called out from behind, "Long, don¡¯t speed up. Just keep your current pace."


    Qi Long was confused. He didn¡¯t understand why Han Jijyun wanted to stop him from speeding up; if it really started to rain, they would have to expend much more energy running through the rain, and the rain would affect their speed as well ... Their score in this test was based on how quickly they could arrive at the end point, so shouldn¡¯t they try to cover more ground now before it rained?


    Although Qi Long¡¯s mind was full of doubts, one of his strengths was self-awareness. He knew that his blood-sworn brother Han Jijyun was much smarter than him, so much smarter that he could only look on in envy. Since his sworn brother had said so, there must be something that he missed ¡ª it had been proven enough times in the past that it was never wrong to listen to Han Jijyun, so he would put his faith in his brother.


    And so Qi Long decisively dismissed his worries, and kept running at his original pace. It had to be said that none of the children in Ling Lan¡¯s group were particrlypetitive in nature, other than Luo Lang. And although Luo Lang was prideful, he was also an intelligent boy, so when he heard Han Jijyun¡¯s advice to Qi Long, he also decided not to speed up, merely keeping pace behind Qi Long.


    Among their peers, Han Jijyun¡¯s intelligence was publicly acknowledged. Even Luo Lang admired Han Jijyun for his intelligence, but unfortunately, Han Jijyun had befriended that idiot Qi Long before he could get to know him. He was full of regret that he had moved too slowly and felt that it was such a waste ¡ª if he had managed to get to Han Jijyun first, Qi Long would never have had a chance.


    The other kids also maintained their original pace, keeping close to the group so that they weren¡¯t left behind. Anyone who could attend the enrolment tests of the Central Scout Academy of Doha was no idiot ¡ª Qi Long and Luo Lang¡¯s fight had shown them that the two were much stronger than them, so if the two of them weren¡¯t afraid of wasting time, why should they be afraid?


    Han Jijyun quickened his steps to catch up to Ling Lan, and jogged by her side. In low tones, he asked, "Ling Lan, what do you think?" Han Jijyun¡¯s gut just told him that Ling Lan knew something.


    "Didn¡¯t you already notice it yourself?" asked back Ling Lan with a wounded gaze. Dammit, this was truly what was meant by heaven-blessed. Han Jijyun was only six years old, but he was already observant enough to discover something wrong with the situation ¡ª she felt pitiful inparison.


    She had only noticed the problem thanks to her experience of two lifetimes, as well as the intensive training and trials provided the learning mind-space. This year especially, Ling Lan had been free of any specific training menu or missions, but had been tormented by Number One via all sorts of methods, causing her to view everything with suspicion now. Looking deeper into everything by at least severalyers had be her default reaction.


    Han Jijyun was oblivious of Ling Lan¡¯s hurt little soul, continuing in a stern manner, "Hn, it won¡¯t matter whether we speed up or not, what wille wille. Perhaps they want to see how we react under pressure."


    "The examiner did not set a clear path for us, I suspect that ... this test might not have a typical finish line," admitted Ling Lan. Han Jijyun¡¯s intelligence allowed Ling Lan to speak freely without worry.


    She could finally throw off her sheepskin of a child! Hanging out with such a talented child meant that her own talents would seem less freakish as well. Ling Lan was so happy she could cry ¡ª these six years of ying a kid hadn¡¯t been easy.


    Han Jijyun turned thoughtful at Ling Lan¡¯s words. After a while, he responded, "Possibly, the test had already begun the moment we stepped onto the field."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Is this really a field?" Han Jijyun¡¯s words jolted Ling Lan into awareness. She thought back to when she first entered the field ¡ª that entrance had not at all been like a regr entrance to a field.


    "Wait and watch," said Ling Lan and Han Jijyun in almost perfect unison as their eyes met. Since they had already been caught up in the illusion, all they could do was continue and take things as they came.


    After that, they had only run a little bit further when it started raining cats and dogs. Ling Lan¡¯s party of ten were quickly soaked to the bone, and the rain obscured their vision while turning the earth beneath their feet into mud. The clothes on their body became heavy with rainwater and clung to their bodies, dragging them down. Under these conditions, having run for several thousand metres, lethargy started settling in. The two girls were hit especially hard and had already started to pant.


    "This is real water, not an illusion," Ling Lan concluded after paying close attention to the signals her body were sending her. It looked like the setting of this test was using abination of illusions and real props. There was no doubt that in this space they were upying, there were sprinklers equipped all over the ceiling overhead ...


    Since they already knew that they were walking within a virtual environment within a room, Ling Lan decided to ignore what she could see as she tried to construct an image of the underlying room in her mind.


    Admittedly, the virtual field presented to everyone had been nicely done ¡ª the racetrack of a field was just arge circr circuit, so even if those caught within the illusion ran multipleps around the track, they would still never suspect that they were merely within an enclosed room.


    Ling Lan¡¯s group ran another few thousand metres ¡ª although it felt like they had run countless circles around the track, not a single examiner came to inform them about how manyps they had left. This seemingly endless test began to cause the hearts of some of the weaker children to waver. In particr, the two girls¡¯ speed had dropped considerably, and they had fallen behind till they were at the very tail end of the group.


    The two boys who were rted to the girls, Luo Lang and Han Jijyun, merely turned a blind eye to this, however, continuing to run forward at a steady pace.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan frowned. Shouldn¡¯t they try to help the girls?


    Han Jijyun seemed to notice Ling Lan¡¯s hesitation, and quickly exined, "To be a proper soldier, one has to rely on one¡¯s own strength. Helping her would be harming her instead. On the battlefield, you can¡¯t rely on others to survive."


    Han Jijyun¡¯s words made a lot of sense, and Ling Lan was not a saint who would insist on helping. She was just about to ignore the girls when a thought shed through her mind, causing her to pause in consideration.


    Was this truly just a test of stamina and speed? If that was the case, the objective could just as easily be achieved on a regr field ¡ª was it really necessary to use such precious illusion technology to create this virtual environment? Furthermore, why split them into so many groups?


    She recalled the marathons she had seen in her previous life, where tens of thousands of people could run together at the same time. Ling Lan had taken note of the width of the race track ¡ª it was about 50 metres wide. Even if not everyone could run at the same time, the track could still easily handle up to several hundreds or thousands of people. Wouldn¡¯t doing so speed up the testing process and save time?


    Perhaps, the test was meant to test something else as well ¡ª what was the true intention of the test? Ling Lan knew that the answer to this question was probably the key to this test. If she could figure it out, then she would know how to pass the test.


    What other hints had there been in the examiner¡¯s speech? Sensing Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts, Little Four helpfully provided a rey of what the examiner had said.


    Tsk, only revealing what he wanted you to know, while keeping everything else a mystery ¡ª as expected of special examiners handpicked from the military forces ...


    Wait a minute. Handpicked from the military forces? Military forces? Realisation sparked in Ling Lan¡¯s mind ¡ª she got it! Since all their examiners were from the military forces, was this in itself a hint? Moreover, a group of ten men was precisely the smallest possible military unit in the military forces!

 Chapter 28: The Data of the Ten Children

    Chapter 28: The Data of the Ten Children


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan reigned in her tion, turning to ask Han Jijyun quietly, "What are the requirements to be a qualified soldier?"


    Han Jijyun was very surprised by Ling Lan¡¯s random question, but still answered seriously, "Passion and loyalty in service of our beloved Chinese Federation, and to respect, trust, and care for our fellow warriors with a pure heart ..." Han Jijyun recited the oath all soldiers had to swear under the g of their country when they qualified to be a soldier and put on their uniforms; the oath already included all the qualities required of a soldier.


    As she listened to Han Jijyun¡¯s recitation, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes grew brighter and brighter. She then continued asking, "And what are scout academies?"


    "Nurseries for future soldiers," said Han Jijyun without any hesitation or doubt.


    The smile on Ling Lan¡¯s lips became even more noticeable. "Then, we shouldn¡¯t lose our pure hearts to respect, trust, and care for our fellow warriors."


    Han Jijyun abruptly came to a realisation, and his eyes brightened up. He finally understood what Ling Lan was hinting at.


    "Qi Long, Luo Lang, go help Han Xuya and Luo Chao," shouted Han Jijyun to the two running at the front.


    "Ah ...!" Qi Long almost tripped over his own feet in surprise. Why did they have to help those two girls who were holding them back?


    "I¡¯ll exin once the test is over." Although Han Jijyun agreed with Ling Lan¡¯s assessment, he didn¡¯t want to waste time arguing and so decided not to give Qi Long and Luo Lang an exnation right now.


    Naturally, Qi Long listened to Han Jijyun. He gradually lowered his speed, dropping from first ce to thest. Seeing this, Luo Lang hesitated for just a moment before following suit. Remember, one of the two girls who needed help was his own biological sister ¡ª in contrast, Qi Long had no direct rtion to either girl.


    Also, while it was true that Luo Lang wanted to beat Qi Long once, he didn¡¯t want to win in this way. The prideful Luo Lang wouldn¡¯t ept this sort of shameful victory.


    Undeniably, Qi Long and Luo Lang had the best physical fitness among the ten children. (Ling Lan didn¡¯t count due to her being touched by the gods.) Even though they each took on the burden of another person, their speed was not reduced by much. In no time at all, the two of them had barrelled forward again, once more taking up their positions at the front of the group.


    ********


    In a particr observation room, the officer who just happened to switch his screen to view room 72 let out a surprised shout. Each officer in the room was in charge of monitoring ten rooms. The officers would switch their individual screens between rooms every one minute, going through all ten rooms in ten-minute intervals, and this officer had just happened to start viewing the feed from room number 72.


    The officer seated right beside him had been focused on his own screen, but couldn¡¯t help looking up in surprise at his colleagues¡¯ shout. He took a nce at his friend¡¯s screen out of curiosity, and when he saw what was happening, he also started to exim, "Oh, how interesting!"


    Their cries attracted the attention of the superintendent, who walked over with a frigid expression on his face. "What¡¯s going on? Why did you both break themand to maintain silence?"


    "Sir! We¡¯ve noticed some promising recruits," hurriedly reported the two officers, saluting the superintendent. There was no chagrin at all in their voices, instead, their tone was matter-of-fact. They knew that they were in the right because there was an overridingmand in the military ¡ª the discovery of any promising recruits was to be reported immediately ... and that was precisely what they were doing now.


    Upon hearing this, the superintendent¡¯s expression thawed. He looked at the screen, and with just one nce, his demeanour changed. What he saw on the screen had truly shocked him.


    The two officers nced at each other feeling proud of themselves, but also relieved that the children were still performing brilliantly at this bloody important moment.


    Sadly, the screen wasn¡¯t cooperative; the superintendent had only observed for a few seconds when the feed switched over to that of another room.


    "Wu, switch the feedback to the previous room," ordered the superintendent.


    "Yes, Sir!" Officer Wu was the one who was in charge of monitoring Ling Lan¡¯s group. He quickly adjusted the feed so that the screen was fixed on the room Ling Lan¡¯s group was in.


    From the screen, they could see that the two girls, Han Xuya and Luo Chao, who were originally being dragged around by Qi Long and Luo Lang¡¯s brutal pace, had now been piggybacked by the two boys. From the looks of it, the two girls hadpletely depleted their energy and could no longer run on their own.


    Meanwhile, behind them, the six remaining children, including Ling Lan, had started running in a rotation, making sure to assist the two children with the weakest stamina. Of course, they also helped each other, giving each other a push or a supporting shoulder when necessary as they ran, so nobody had been left behind.


    This current situation was a direct result of Ling Lan and Han Jijyun¡¯s decisive actions. If they hadn¡¯t reached out first to help the weakest two of their teammates, there would have probably been a few less people in the group by now.


    Their actions had sparked some realisation in the other teammates, whom they didn¡¯t know as well, so when those teammates saw that they were growing tired, they had actually stepped up and offered to take over and help. Thus, the current situation came to be as seen on the screen.


    "Give me the data of these ten children." Even as he marvelled at the sight, the superintendent¡¯s brows furrowed. A seed of doubt grew in his heart. This team was altogether too coordinated, causing him to suspect that someone may have abused their authority to manipte things so that these children had been put into one group on purpose.


    Soon enough, the data of Ling Lan¡¯s group of ten had been retrieved.


    ********


    Ling Lan: Son of Major General Ling Xiao, god-ss operator of the IN mecha , vicemander of the Seventh Division of the Interster Forces. Inheritor of said major general¡¯s premium military benefits. Physical Fitness: [S] rank, Spiritual Power: Tier-2, Potential: [S] rank.


    Qi Long: Son of Colonel Qi Yaoyang, ace pilot of the MT mecha , lead pilot of the Third Division of the Interster Forces. Physical Fitness: [S] rank, Spiritual Power: Tier-2, Potential: [S] rank.


    Luo Lang: Son of Colonel Luo Qifeng,mander of the Third Fleet in the Ninth Division of the Interster Forces. Physical Fitness: [S] rank, Spiritual Power: Tier-2, Potential: [S] rank.


    Han Jijyun: Son of Colonel Han Rong, deputy director of the Federal Central Military Intelligence Agency. Physical Fitness: [A+] rank, Spiritual Power: Tier-3, Potential: [S] rank.


    Luo Chao: Daughter of Colonel Luo Qifeng,mander of the Third Fleet in the Ninth Division of the Interster Forces. Physical Fitness: [B] rank, Spiritual Power: Tier-2, Potential: [A] rank.


    Han Xuya: Daughter of Major Han Yushao, acting head of the Federal Logistics Base on the of Qiyuan. Physical Fitness: [B] rank, Spiritual Power: Tier-2, Potential: [A] rank.


    Luo Shaoyun: Commoner. Nephew of Captain Luo Jiguang,mander of the Third Company of the mecha protective task force for mecha operators of the Thirteenth Division of the Interster Forces. Inheritor of said captain¡¯s premium military benefits. Physical Fitness: [A] rank, Spiritual Power: Tier-1, Potential: [A] rank.


    Yuan Youyun: Descendant of the Yuan family of the of Zhong Xing. Physical Fitness: [A] rank, Spiritual Power: Tier-1, Potential: [A] rank.


    Li Jinghong: Descendant of the Li family of the of Doha. Physical Fitness: [B] rank, Spiritual Power: Tier-1, Potential: [B+] rank.


    He Chaoyang: Commoner. Adopted son of Captain He Shaoji, deputy captain of the Ninth Fleet Assault forces of the Seventeenth Division of the Interster Forces. Inheritor of said captain¡¯s premium military benefits. Physical Fitness: [B] rank, Spiritual Power: Tier-1, Potential: [B+] rank.


    ********


    Taking in this data, the superintendent could clearly see that all the children came from different star systems, and had backgrounds from all walks of life, though over half came from traditional military families. Most importantly, however, even the weakest potential among the children was at [B+] rank. Even if that ranking might not qualify for the special sses, it was more than enough to ensure a spot in the regr sses.


    The superintendent looked once more at the first line. Ling Lan¡¯s data, in particr, made a surge of emotion rise up within him. The god-ss operator of the IN mecha Major General Ling Xiao ... that man was the role model of countless soldiers ... it was such a shame he had died in the death tunnel of a meteor field seven years ago. He could still remember what a shock it was when the news had first been received. The whole Federation had been shaken to its core, and all the military men had been greatly saddened by the tragedy.


    For context, it should be noted that there were only 12 god-ss IN mecha operators throughout the entire Federation. Each god-ss operator was considered a national treasure, and was the representation of a country¡¯s might, acting as a deterrent to foreign enemies. And Major General Ling Xiao, in particr, had been the only operator to have ascended to god-ss within the past ten years, and he had also been the youngest IN mecha operator.


    Back then, everyone had been optimistic, anticipating that Major General Ling Xiao would be able to be the strongest god-ss operator among the twelve, with youth as his greatest advantage. Sadly, the tree of his talent grew too high above the canopy 1 ¡ª it was toppled by the wind long before he could truly spread out his branches.


    Later on, the Federation¡¯s investigation had uncovered that the maic turbulence within the death tunnel was most likely a sinister plot hatched by an enemy nation, specifically targeting Major General Ling Xiao. Unfortunately, the Federal Intelligence Agency hadn¡¯t discovered this in time, and the painful price of their oversight was twofold ¡ª not only had the nation lost the potentially strongest god-ss mecha operator of the future, but the two countries had also be bitter enemies, whereby the war between them would not stop till one side was annihted.


    The death of a god-ss mecha operator would never be forgiven by the soldiers of the Federation!

 Chapter 29: The Final Lap

    Chapter 29: The Final Lap


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The superintendent suppressed his surging emotions, putting his full focus on the performance of the ten children on the screen. Finally, he smiled with satisfaction and said, "End their test and let them out."


    The officer in charge of monitoring Ling Lan¡¯s group wavered, and asked, "Then how shall we score them?"


    The superintendent red. "Do you need me to teach you something so simple? How much time did they take toplete the course? And how is their condition now?"


    The officer¡¯s eyes brightened. "Understood, Sir."


    *********


    Meanwhile, on Ling Lan¡¯s end, the group of ten had been holding out for another few rounds. By now, even the indomitable Qi Long and Luo Lang were starting to tire. Running with another person on your back was worlds apart from running on your own ¡ª after just a few rounds, they had begun to feel the doubled strain on their bodies. Initially, they had thought that they would be able to persist for another ten to twenty rounds, but now they weren¡¯t so sure about that.


    Among the ten children, Ling Lan was definitely the one in the best condition. Or perhaps it would be more urate to say that she was never tired ¡ª because from the moment they had started running, Ling Lan had been circting her Qi.


    Ever since she had tasted its fruits in the strength test, Ling Lan had harboured suspicions that the Qi exercises still had secrets for her to uncover. So, she decided to apply it once again during the running test. Clearly, her decision was a wise one ¡ª after running for so long, she was still brimming with energy, and her vital stats remained at the same levels as when she was at rest.


    These numbers were all supplied by Little Four. While Ling Lan was marvelling at her discovery, Little Four had shuffled over ... To put it nicely, he wanted to help Ling Lan research the Qi exercises and fulfil his role as a contracted assistant ... but in truth, Little Four was just bored because he had no ess to the inte here.


    Still, with Little Four¡¯s help, Ling Lan very quickly understood the secrets of the Qi exercises. Apparently, circting Qi could replenish the body¡¯s energy as it was being expended, as well as repair any damage affecting the body¡¯s functions, allowing the body to maintain peak condition over long periods of time.


    Of course, Little Four also noted that the current situation, where her body was maintaining a stasis between expenditure and recovery, was only possible because Ling Lan was not using much energy right now. If Ling Lan were to carry someone and run, like Qi Long or Luo Lang, full equilibrium would probably be impossible ¡ª some energy would still be expended. That said, Little Four encouraged Ling Lan by adding that the amount of energy recovered by the Qi exercises would increase the more she trained and circted her Qi, to the point that eventually, she may possibly never have to worry about her energy levels ever again. (Of course, this was only a possibility after several decades of training ... but Little Four decided that Ling Lan didn¡¯t really need to know that.)


    Ling Lan, who was still as sprightly as ever, looked at the sweat streaming from Qi Long and Luo Lang¡¯s foreheads as their steps started to slow. She could tell that their stamina was starting to fail, and that they might soon be unable to go on. Ling Lan was unsure whether she should offer to take over and help them ¡ª she wanted to, but she was also afraid that she would stand out too much by doing that. If only there was a way for her to help without being noticed ...


    Currently, under Little Four¡¯s regtion, Ling Lan¡¯s outward condition appeared to be simr to that of Han Jijyun¡¯s. Both of them were panting hard, and the backs of their shirts were drenched with sweat. After all, she had been helping the weakest boy in their group all this time ¡ª although she wasn¡¯t piggybacking the boy like Qi Long, carrying part of another¡¯s weight was still naturally more tiring than running solo.


    A devil and an angel were fighting in Ling Lan¡¯s mind as she pondered this dilemma. But before one of them could overpower the other, the outside world had already made Ling Lan¡¯s decision for her.


    Luo Lang cheered as he pointed towards one side, "I see a sign! One morep left!"


    Luo Lang¡¯s words were like a shot of adrenaline to the heart. Some of the children who were on the brink of giving up rallied themselves for a final push.


    Ling Lan looked towards where Luo Lang was pointing at, and saw an examiner lifting a disy screen, which only had a number one written on it in Arabic numerals. This clearly indicated that they only had one morep left to go.


    Seeing this, Han Jijyun encouraged the group onwards, "Just one morep left. We need to hold on no matter what. Make sure no one is left behind!"


    "Okay!" all the other nine members of the group shouted in response, Ling Lan included. They would get through this final round no matter what.


    Han Xuya suddenly inhaled sharply, and yelled, "Qi Long, put me down."


    "What¡¯s wrong?" asked Qi Long in surprise.


    "Thest round. I can do it." It was impossible for Han Xuya not to have noticed Qi Long¡¯s fatigue, and she didn¡¯t want Qi Long¡¯s results to be affected because of her. Qi Long was meant for the Special A-ss. For this final round, she would run on her own, even if she fainted before she could finish ... she didn¡¯t want to burden Qi Long any longer.


    On the other side, Luo Chao was also trying to convince Luo Lang to put her down for mostly the same reason. She didn¡¯t want her brother¡¯s results to be dragged down because of her. The two girls wanted Qi Long and Luo Lang to run at full speed for this finalp so that they could battle it out for the best time.


    Han Jijyun stepped in to dissuade them, "It¡¯s already the finalp. If we don¡¯t all make it to the end, then what we¡¯ve been doing so far will all be for nothing. Besides, you all should know what true soldiers do ¡ª they never leave arade behind!"


    Han Jijyun¡¯s words were like a ray of light. Several of the quick-witted children had immediately figured out what he was saying. Han Xuya and Luo Chao, who had initially still wanted to protest, also changed their minds at Han Jijyun¡¯s words. Instead, Han Xuya urged, "Qi Long, pull me quickly, let¡¯s move faster." Since they had already decided to finish together, then they couldn¡¯t afford to waste even one more second.


    And so, the strong pulled the weak in Ling Lan¡¯s group, and just like that, they supported each other as they hastened towards the finish line. At this time, Ling Lan took charge of pulling along the weakest two boys, leaving Han Jijyun free to run on his own. Han Jijyun threw a grateful nce in her direction ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s help was much appreciated. His stamina was almostpletely gone; if he still had to pull along another person, he was uncertain if he could actually finish this finalp.


    ********


    Outside the virtual environment testing room was an open-air caf¨¦ where more than a few of the examiners were seated, drinking tea and chatting with one another. This test was a long one which wouldst for at least three to four hours. Naturally, the examiners would not just sit outside the testing room and wait the whole time ¡ª most of them would typically order a cup of tea or coffee here to pass the time, and perhaps find a few familiar friends to chat with.


    Simrly, the on-site examiner responsible for room 72 was talking to a few close friends. He was just gettingfortable when themunication device on his wrist started beeping.


    He tapped the ept button on the device, and with a silver sh, a holographic screen appeared before him. Simultaneously, the image of the officer in charge of monitoring room 72 appeared on the screen.


    "Notice, the testees in room 72 are about toplete the test. Please make the necessary preparations."


    The examiner was bewildered. "Complete the test? In less than two hours? Really?" He really could not be med for his disbelief, for there had never been a record of this test beingpleted in less than two hours in all the history of the scout academy tests. The only exceptions were the children who had to be removed early from the room when they fainted out of exhaustion.


    However, there was no such notification from hismunication device, which was tracking the status of the ten children he was responsible for. None of the dots representing the ten children were red, which indicated unconsciousness, or even yellow, which meant their body had given out on them. All the dots were still green, indicating that they were all still conscious and that their bodies were still capable of going on.


    The invigtor of room 72 observed the incredulous face of the on-site examiner, and couldn¡¯t help butugh. He kindly reminded him, "You should hurry, otherwise you won¡¯t make it in time. Also, the kids in that group are great kids. You won¡¯t be disappointed."


    Without giving the examiner any chance to ask any further questions, the invigtor of room 72 ended the video call. He grinned to himself as he recalled the shocked face of the examiner ¡ªing here to monitor these kids had not been so boring after all.


    ********


    The examiner stared nkly at the dark screen before him, speechless. This sted invigtor ¡ª couldn¡¯t he have exined more clearly?


    The rest of the on-site examiners had also heard their conversation, all of whom were now looking at him in shock. Of course, there were also those who were burning with curiosity, and were just waiting to find out more so they could gossip.


    "I¡¯ve got it. Let me find out what¡¯s going on, then I¡¯lle back and tell you guys. I need to go work now." Pensively, the examiner stood up, calmly grabbing his military cap from the table and putting it on before slowly ambling over to room 72.


    Dammit, those children in there had better not disappoint him! The examiner tried to suppress his anticipation ... ha, his previous calm had actually beenpletely faked.

 Chapter 30: I Order You All To Attack Me!

    Chapter 30: I Order You All To Attack Me!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The caf¨¦ was connected by just one tunnel to a pearly-white, awe-inspiring building of epic proportions right across from it. Its walls, which stretched on endlessly, appeared to be seamless, but they actually contained countless electronic doors hidden from the naked eye. The main door to this virtual reality construct was essible from this tunnel, and it was open to the professional soldiers of the Federation for virtual simtion training and sparring.


    On the other hand, the entrance Ling Lan and the other children had entered from was actually the backdoor of this virtual reality construct. It was connected to the scout academy and appeared to be just a regr field from the outside. This was also why Ling Lan had been so easily fooled ¡ª who¡¯d have thought that a scout academy would have ess to such advanced virtual technology? From this, one could see how much importance the Federation ced on cultivating talent among the young.


    Of course, the convenient ess bestowed upon the scout academy was not purely for testing purposes. In the future, the assistance of virtual technology would be invaluable in elevating all the stats of the children.


    The examiner walked along the pearly-white wall for a distance. Frankly speaking, without using the signal he had pre-set with hismunication device, the examiner himself wouldn¡¯t have a clue where room 72 was. Once these electronic doors merged into this endless wall, they could no longer be seen from the surface; as if they had be one with the wall.


    The examiner was walking down yet another length of the wall when suddenly, themunication device on his wrist vibrated. He immediately stopped, a smile appearing on his face. It looked like he had found the room.


    Almost randomly, he brushed his fingers over the section of wall right in front of where he stood, though it was really with focused intent. Soon enough, his fingertips told him that he had found the correct spot, and he pressed down lightly three times.


    The wall reacted rapidly ¡ª the spot where the examiner had pressed lit up, and a palm-sized screen emerged from the wall. The screen disyed a password page, with an input keyboard consisting only of the ten Arabic numerals, 0 to 9.


    The examiner smiled as his fingers flew across the keyboard. His speed was astounding ¡ª his fingers moved so quickly that they appeared to leave blurry trails in the air. It was impossible for any observer to see which numbers he was pressing ... and then there was a loud click, like the sound of a sealed door unlocking. Within the blink of an eye, a doorway had appeared to the left of the examiner.


    The examiner strode in, and the door closed behind him, silently blending into the pearly-white wall once again.


    The moment the examiner entered room 72, a wide virtual race track came into view. Behind him, neither the door nor the wall could be seen anymore ¡ª only a race track, which extended as far as the eye could see, remained. The illusion was so realistic that it was hard to believe that a door and a wall had existed right there just moments ago.


    The examiner did not wait for long before ten figures appeared on the distant horizon. Some were running while some were pulled along, some were dragging down others down while some supported others ... but still they staggered forward at a run ¡ª no, walk would be more urate. It looked like the ten children were at the end of their ropes. In the past tests, the children would usually appear one at a time, unlike this group that still appeared organised and managed to arrive at the finish line without losing a single member.


    The examiner found himself slightly impressed. Perhaps this was what the monitoring officer had been trying to tell him ¡ª they were truly great kids.


    When the children saw him, they suddenly perked up and then, as if they had been injected with stimnts, they rapidly stormed towards the examiner like ferocious tigers.


    The examiner smiled. The fact that the promise of victory could prompt such a reaction from these kids was a good sign ¡ª truly, they had potential. The examiner was very pleased, and his impression of Ling Lan¡¯s group improved yet again.


    "I see the examiner ..." The exhausted Qi Long caught sight of the examiner when he lifted his head and the wee sight made him call out in exhration. Hearing his call, the other nine children rallied, eyes turning bloodshot, their appearances just like rabid wolves ...


    Ah woooo! Eerily in sync, the ten children let out a ravenous howl and then, just as if they had seen a gourmet dish cross over into their territory, they abruptly exploded with energy, rushing toward the examiner standing in the distance.


    They barrelled over the finish line but didn¡¯t slow down at all ¡ª instead, they actually sped up as they pounced on the waiting examiner.


    The charge of the ten children was so aggressive that the examiner was taken aback, but who did they think he was? The examiner was a professional soldier who had lived throughrgescale gctic battles; he regained hisposure within a split second.


    "These little rascals!" Facing this sudden attack, the on-site examiner was rather speechless. With a stony expression, without even moving a single step, he slightly twisted his body to the side. And just like that, hepletely evaded the children¡¯s desperate final attack.


    "Darn it, we missed!" Qi Long stumbled face first into the ground and punched the ground in frustration.


    Luo Lang, who was not far away from Qi Long, also slumped to the ground with a face full of dissatisfaction. The thing was, just as they were about to give up, Qi Long had suggested a plot that had boosted their waning energy ...


    What Qi Long said was that they must take revenge upon the examiner by turning him into a human cushion. That¡¯s right, they would push him to the ground and stack themselves on top of him. This would show the examiners that they were not to be easily bullied!


    Alright, so this plot had fanned the festering hatred of the ten children to the max, actually managing to draw out unknown wells of energy from within them, which had allowed them to continue running all the way till the end.


    Hatred truly was a formidable force.


    As for Ling Lan, she hadn¡¯t cooperated mainly out of hatred. Instead, her mind had drifted to strange ces ¡ª just thinking about a group of bratty kids pushing down a mature and handsome examiner ... wasn¡¯t this just like some trashy group student-teacher romance? Wasn¡¯t it? Wasn¡¯t it?


    Fine, so Ling Lan was a corrupted soul. It was all the fault of her previous life, during which she had read all sorts of lowbrow novels without shame.


    The examiner stood watching them with his arms folded before him. With a cold smile, he said, "Oho, I see you still have energy left. Not bad." The frigid look on his face was like ice, but he was actually ecstatic inside. Hell, this group was just too much like those batches of new soldiers he trained ¡ª they had spirit, they had guts, and they could think for themselves. And yet they were only six years old ... how extraordinary. The examiner felt the itch to just grab these ten children straight into his boot camp for special training ¡ª they were sure to be great soldiers someday.


    Qi Long raised his arms in surrender. "Sir, we are fully beat."


    The examiner scoffed, "If you all want to pass, get up." Dammit, still being able to speak in such a loud voice when you¡¯re out of energy? Who do you think you¡¯re trying to fool?


    Qi Long tsked, but pried himself off the ground anyway. Everyone had worked so hard toplete this test, if they failed simply because they couldn¡¯t stand up at the end, how shameful would that be? Qi Long was deeply influenced by his father, who firmly believed that men should face death standing up.


    Qi Long was the first to stand up, and Luo Lang was the second. Even though Luo Lang¡¯s hands and legs were cramping due to exhaustion, he still couldn¡¯t bear losing to Qi Long. Seeing Qi Long stand, he pushed his body to stand out of sheer unwillingness to lose.


    Ling Lan was next, followed by Han Jijyun, Luo Shaoyun, Li Jinghong, and He Chaoyang. They each stood up one by one, in sequence, until the final two, the girls Han Xuya and Luo Chao, were standing as well.


    Although they stumbled and fell several times in the process, gracelessly, they all still managed to stand up straight in the end. In their eyes, all one could see was the stubborn persistence for sess.


    The examiner was pleased. "Not bad, you lot are certainly spirited. Now, I order you all to attack me."


    All the children were stunned by this sudden turn of events.


    Han Jijyun reacted the fastest. The CPU of his brain spun at high speeds, analysing the intent behind the examiner¡¯s words. His expression was serious and solemn as he asked, "Why?"

 Chapter 31: The Weak Have No Right to Speak

    Chapter 31: The Weak Have No Right to Speak


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Why?" echoed the examiner with a cold smirk, "Do any of you have the right to ask?"


    Han Jijyun was not flustered by the examiner¡¯s rebuttal. With his usual level-headedness, he said, "Isn¡¯t the test over? The examiner at the start had stated very clearly that once we reached the finish line, the speed and stamina test would be over. So we have the right to refuse yourmand."


    Han Jijyun knew that everyone was already on theirst legs ¡ª some were even having trouble standing, only staying upright out of sheer bullheadedness. Leaving aside attacking the examiner, they may not even be able to take even one more step.


    The examiner looked at Han Jijyun, and there was a trace of approval in his eyes. This child was calm and analytical, not easily swayed by an opponent¡¯s show of force. In addition, he could defend his stance with evidence, disying solid logical thinking, and was good at catching on to key points and discovering the logical ws in other people¡¯s speech. Overall, a good candidate for a military strategist.


    Still, no matter how much he admired Han Jijyun, he wouldn¡¯t change his mind. With a mocking smirk on his face, he said, "Brat, let me teach you all the first rule you need to know to survive in this world ¡ª the weak have no right to speak."


    He swept a critical gaze over the angry children, and ten pairs of fierce and stubborn eyes stared right back at him. He was satisfied ¡ª if they hadn¡¯t been angered by his words, then their parents would have raised them in vain.


    When the examiner¡¯s gaze swept over Ling Lan, he couldn¡¯t suppress a soft exmation ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were the calmest among the ten children, still like dead water, deep and unfathomable. Was he scared silly? Or had he seen through the ruse? Or perhaps he was just unmoved by all this? The examiner frowned, and watched Ling Lan thoughtfully for a beat or two.


    What the examiner didn¡¯t know was that his gaze filled with killing aura waspletely ineffective against Ling Lan. Remember, Ling Lan had grown up under the crushing pressure of Number One¡¯s presence. In contrast, this kind of superficial scare tactic was really nothing to Ling Lan.


    Reining in his curiosity towards Ling Lan, the examiner¡¯s face turned sly, and with an evil grin on his face, he said, "You all can choose to ignore mymand. However, your results for the speed and stamina test ... well, sorry, you will all fail." His killing aura dissipated as he said this, as if it had never been there to begin with, but his words were cruel, casually threatening to destroy the children¡¯s dreams and ambitions.


    These words caused the faces of all the children in Ling Lan¡¯s group to fall. They hade brimming with confidence to enrol in this top-ranked scout academy, not to return home with their tails between their legs.


    "We have the right to submit aint." The expression on Han Jijyun¡¯s youthful face was frigid; he was indeed an extremely intelligent child, but no matter how smart he was, he was helpless against this sort of irrational bullshit. His chest felt choked with rage; this was the first time he had experienced the futile anger of the weak and downtrodden.


    "No, no, no! Didn¡¯t you all read the examination rules? Any child whoins or protests will have their results thrown out for this year ¡ª Could it be that you all would like to wait and try again next year?" The examinerughed as he shook his head, strolling over to stop in front of Han Jijyun, where he then bent over slightly to look the boy in the face with mocking yfulness. With deliberate slowness, he bit out a word at a time, "Smart little repeat student!"


    This expression, these words, and this sort of dismissive look ¡ª it was all just too infuriating. Damn, this examiner was just asking to be beaten up.


    Asking to be beaten up? Ling Lan sweat-dropped, and immediately yelled out in her mind, "Little Four, are you messing with my thoughts again?"


    Little Four slunk out from a corner, face scrunched up in an unhappy pout. His usually round face now looked like a steamed dumpling as he spoke through pursed lips, "He¡¯s too despicable! Bullying children!"


    Alright, so Ling Lan wasn¡¯t even angry yet, but the mentally immature Little Four had already been riled up by the examiner on her behalf. "Lord, beat him up for me."


    Ling Lan quirked her lips in a slight smile. "What¡¯s in it for me?"


    Little Four was ck-jawed. He had not expected Ling Lan to ask for something in return for his request. Didn¡¯t she know that he was requesting this for her sake?


    "Why?" Little Four wailed. Wasn¡¯t his host angry as well?


    "You said it ¡ª you want me to beat him up ¡¯for you¡¯. Since I would be helping you, of course you should give me something in return." Ling Lan¡¯s self-satisfied smirk made Little Four think to himself that she was no better than the examiner, a big bully who bullied children.


    "But he¡¯s bullying you! Don¡¯t you feel angry?" Little Four couldn¡¯t understand ¡ª the examiner was being so mean that even he felt indignant ... why was Ling Lan so calm?


    "Bullying me? I don¡¯t feel it." Although Ling Lan didn¡¯t know why the examiner was being such a hard-ass, still, she could sense no ill intentions from him.


    Ling Lan was extremely grateful for all the pressure that Instructor Number One and Number Nine had exerted upon her all these years. They had given her an ability that wasn¡¯t really an ability ¡ª being able to sense when someone had evil or killing intent towards her. Of course, ording to Instructor Number One, this ability of Ling Lan was still only at the rudimentary level, not really applicable and actually quite useless. If she ever encountered any true experts or assassins, Ling Lan would be dead before she could sense anything.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Little Four want to tear his hair out ¡ª his host was just too insensitive; the examiner¡¯s bullying was already so obvious, like a p in the face, and she could still say she didn¡¯t feel it?


    Ling Lan was just about to reassure Little Four when her expression abruptly changed ¡ª she sensed something off in Qi Long¡¯s aura; his spiritual power was fluctuating wildly.


    "Help me think of a way to pass Instructor Number One¡¯s exam three dayster!" Ling Lan threw out her request, and without giving Little Four any chance to protest, she retreated from her mind-space. There was something wrong with Qi Long and she needed to keep her attention on him.


    At this point, Ling Lan¡¯s nerves were taut, on full alert as she leaned slightly forward with both arms held low and slightly bent, one up and one down in a vague cross. Her right leg was shifted back, with her weight resting fully on her heel ¡ª this was a basicbat stance that she had learned this year from Number Nine. It was the best neutral resting stance for attacking or defending, allowing the body to move and expend energy with ease.


    Suddenly, Qi Long lifted his bowed head and everyone could see his bloodshot eyes, filled with killing intent. However, this killing intent was directed only at the examiner ¡ª it looked like the examiner¡¯s taunting of Han Jijyun had thoroughly angered Qi Long, and he was ready to explode.


    The examiner sensed Qi Long¡¯s killing intent and leapt backwards with some surprise in his eyes. But by the time hended, his entire demeanour and stance had changed, and all his eyes held was the anticipation for a fight.


    Hollering loudly, Qi Long shot forward like a torpedo, swinging his tightly clenched fists at the examiner. There was a loud crash and then dirt went flying, blocking everyone¡¯s vision.


    Could it be that Qi Long had actually hit the examiner? Did he throw the examiner to the ground? The other children couldn¡¯t see anything clearly and could only look at one another helplessly.


    Only Ling Lan had a solemn expression on her face, her brows slightly raised. Though the others couldn¡¯t see what had happened due to the dust, Ling Lan had seen everything. Little Four had disyed everything that had urred between Qi Long and the examiner in her mind, bypassing the problem of the dirt and dust entirely.

 Chapter 32: Ling Lan Makes a Move!

    Chapter 32: Ling Lan Makes a Move!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Qi Long¡¯s punch had missed ¡ª the examiner had evaded Qi Long¡¯s blow with a tilt of his body, causing it to strike the ground, sending dirt flying into the air.


    Even so, the gouge left on the ground from Qi Long¡¯s strike, roughly 3 inches deep and 1 metre wide, revealed that the power behind it was definitely no less than the 500 catties Ling Lan had lifted during the previous test.


    It was impressive that Qi Long could achieve 500 catties worth of strength with just his own power; this was obviously a purer and more direct reflection of strength as opposed to Ling Lan¡¯s performance due to the cirction of Qi.


    A sh of pleasant surprise passed through the examiner¡¯s eyes ¡ª perhaps even he hadn¡¯t expected that Qi Long would have such great strength. Even though this level of strength was nothing to the examiner, it had to be noted that Qi Long was still only six years old. There was no question that once Qi Long grew up, his strength would further grow to be even more impressive.


    Qi Long didn¡¯t stop attacking just because his first attempt struck air. As the others watched, he once again leapt into the air and pounced at the examiner.


    Unfortunately, despite all his speed and strength, Qi Long¡¯s attacks were full of holes due to his undevelopedbat skills. As such, the examiner was under no pressure whatsoever ¡ª if Qi Long were an enemy on the battlefield, the examiner could have killed him with one strike.


    As the dust and dirt drifting through the air finally dissipated, the group could finally see the battle between Qi Long and the examiner. They looked on as the examiner blocked all of Qi Long¡¯s attacks using just a single hand.


    Luo Lang lowered his voice and said to Ling Lan, "I¡¯ll go and help Qi Long. We¡¯ll count on you to hit the examiner." With that said, he jumped into the fray without waiting for a reply from Ling Lan, using all his might to send a punch flying towards the examiner¡¯s face.


    Luo Lang¡¯s attack forced the examiner to bring out his other arm, and his previously stationary body also begun to move. For a while, the three fought to a stalemate.


    Although Luo Lang had spoken very softly, all the surrounding children had still heard what he said. All of a sudden, the trembling in their bodies diminished as they all turned toward Ling Lan with expectation in their eyes, hoping that she could do as Luo Lang said and hit the examiner.


    Fine, so the examiner¡¯s taunts had thoroughly roused the children¡¯s hatred, drawing it onto himself ¡ª and the level of this hatred wasn¡¯t low, which was why they collectively wished for him to get hit several times so they could vent their anger.


    Thanks to Qi Long¡¯s attack, Han Jijyun had regained his usualposure, and he now noticed that Ling Lan was the only one among them that was standing steadily. Although his stance was a little strange, it was oddly pleasing to the eye, making one feel that it was natural to stand that way. Though Han Jijyun didn¡¯t know what that stance was, he could still tell that it was definitely some sort of amazingbat art.


    The children¡¯s expectant gazes made Ling Lan feel the pressure even more keenly, as if it was pressing down upon her like a mountain. She couldn¡¯t take their heated gazes and so turned to face the spot where the threebatants were ¡ª her face twitched minutely as she thought sullenly to herself, why did they all think she could hit the examiner? Could it be that they all knew that she had a learning space in her mind?


    Of course Ling Lan knew that this was impossible. These kids had entrusted their hopes to her solely because she was the only one among them who could still move. Naturally, if she could really hit the examiner then that would be the best, but even if she failed ... well alright, they didn¡¯t really have high hopes to begin with anyway. This whole attempt was just a shot in the dark; to seed, they would really have to have the devil¡¯s own luck.


    On the other end, the examiner had figured Luo Lang out after fighting him for some time. Although his strength wasn¡¯t as much as Qi Long¡¯s, it was still decent, probably around 100 catties. However, his physical fitness was clearly worse ¡ª fighting up till now, Qi Long¡¯s attacks only became fiercer and fiercer, while Luo Lang¡¯s breathing was showing signs of bing irregr just after several attacks.


    Still, the examiner also knew that Qi Long¡¯s current condition was rare ¡ª he had pushed past his limits to bring out histent reserves of energy. In all these years, the examiner had never seen a child who could break past his own limits without outside stimtion from agents ¡ª it had to be said that Qi Long was truly talented.


    Suddenly, he felt a chill seep out from his bones ... his battle experience warned him of danger and without even having to think, his body jerked to a stop on the balls of his feet, and he used the energy generated from his momentum to change directions and leapt back two steps ...


    But it was toote! Before his eyes, a small, delicate white fist appeared, on the verge of hitting his face in the next second.


    In the end, the examiner was still the examiner ¡ª he crossed his arms within this split second, sessfully blocking this seemingly sweet and harmless little fist, which was actually filled with killing intent.


    The two made contact with a resounding p, and the examiner felt a huge wave of energy surge towards him. His body, which had yet to find stable footing, was once again forced to take a few steps back.


    Meanwhile, borrowing the energy from the rebound, Ling Lan somersaulted through the air andnded securely between Qi Long and Luo Lang. She was still holding that odd basicbat stance, ready tounch her next attack.


    The examiner¡¯s demeanour turned serious, all traces of his earlier yfulness gone. He looked at Ling Lan standing there in the middle, and he could actually feel cold sweat breaking out along his back. Who¡¯d have thought that such a skilled fellow was hiding among this bunch of kids? He even knew how to hide his killing intent until the final second before revealing his fangs.


    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he had spent many years on the battlefield, gaining much experience and honing his reflexes, he would have certainly been hit by thatst move. And although he wouldn¡¯t have taken much damage from it, losing face would have been unavoidable.


    He cursed silently. Where did such a freakish talente from? The boy looked so soft and fragile on the outside, with his delicate face and clueless expression ¡ª no matter how you looked, he simply looked like a cute, na?ve, and innocent little boy who couldn¡¯t hurt a fly. And yes, although he had felt that there was something strange about the boy from the start, Qi Long¡¯s sudden attack and subsequent performance had grabbed all his attention, leaving the boy to fade into the background.


    He would never have thought that this kind of unassuming child would almost make him crash and burn.


    Ling Lan¡¯s unexpectedly strong disy thrilled the surprised children. They would never have guessed that Ling Lan would be able to push the examiner back several steps with just one punch ¡ª could it be that their hopes would really be realised?


    Han Xuya was an outgoing and passionate girl ¡ª her emotions ran high upon seeing the current situation, driving away her fatigue and making her shout out loudly, "Ling Lan, beat him! Beat him!"


    On the other hand, Luo Chao was a shy and reserved girl. She merely smiled bashfully in surprise, eyes shining with just a touch of admiration as she stared at that skinny figure standing beside her brother. Although he wasn¡¯t as well-built as her brother and the other boy, in her eyes, he was no lesser than them and was in fact even more reliable.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that she had unknowingly caught the budding heart of a pure young girl, romantic feelings twining around her in mistaken adoration ¡ª oh, what a mess!


    In the invigtion room, the invigtor responsible for room 72 switched his feed to Ling Lan¡¯s room once again out of boredom. Immediately, what he saw was a clear stand-off between the invigtor and the kids, and the atmosphere didn¡¯t seem friendly. Aghast, he thought to himself, what the hell was going on?


    His curiosity piqued, he fixed his screen once again on room 72, leaving only a small window at a lower corner of the screen to rotate through the other nine rooms he was monitoring.


    Ling Lan signalled with her eyes for Qi Long and Luo Lang to start their attack. She knew that if she was the one to lead the charge, they would definitely not be able to handle the examiner.


    Although Ling Lan had learned basicbat skills from Number Nine and had also sparred constantly with Number Nine, it was all just mental practice in the end. There was still a significant difference when it came to real battles in the physical realm.


    During herst attack, Ling Lan had already noticed that her physical body couldn¡¯t keep up with her intentions ¡ª the examiner would never have had the chance to dodge her attack otherwise.

 Chapter 33: Savage Little Wolf Cubs!

    Chapter 33: Savage Little Wolf Cubs!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Qi Long and Luo Lang, having received Ling Lan¡¯s signal, shared a quick nce before they sprung out to attack.


    Qi Long¡¯s speed was just a tad faster than Luo Lang¡¯s ¡ª he got to the examiner first and threw out a furious fist.


    This fist had both power and speed behind it, cleaving through the air with an audible sound. This caused the examiner¡¯s face to change, and he immediately raised his arm to block it.


    And then a fiery sensation spread along his arm from the spot he had used to block ¡ª the brat¡¯s strength and speed had actually increased yet again ... The examiner discovered that Qi Long was clearly the berserker type. Seeing the little fellow¡¯s impressive performance, the examiner was getting more and more excited.


    Before the examiner could counterattack to push Qi Long back, Luo Lang¡¯s attack had arrived from his other side ¡ª a whipping kick.


    Luo Lang knew that he wasn¡¯t very powerful and that his fists would be no threat to the examiner, so this time he chose to change his attack into a strong kick instead.


    Luo Lang¡¯s decision was unquestionably correct. Seeing this aggressive kick, the examiner had to admit that he had miscalcted. Luo Lang, who he had initially considered as the weakest and rtively harmless, had also found a way to contribute effectively, forcing him to spare some attention to deal with the boy¡¯s attacks.


    The examiner felt rather peevish. Why couldn¡¯t these kids act like regr six-year-olds and juste at him recklessly? Why did they have to be so smart and even think of changing tactics?


    He had no choice but to reach out with his other hand in a grab, catching hold of Luo Lang¡¯s foot as it reached him. But just as he was about to throw Luo Lang away from him ...


    Oh no!


    The examiner sensed the danger approaching him from below and quickly let go of Luo Lang¡¯s ankle to retreat.


    He moved just in the nick of time as Ling Lan¡¯s attack brushed past where he was moments earlier ¡ª a crotch kick! Without his noticing, Ling Lan had positioned herself below him where she had then crouched, both hands t on the ground, andunched her right leg directly upwards.


    In that direction ... was the ce that men were most afraid of being injured.


    The examiner, fortunately, noticed in time, managing to dodge Ling Lan¡¯s terrifying attack by a hair¡¯s breadth.


    Damn, that was savage!


    As the examinernded, a shudder passed through his heart as his crotch tightened reflexively. Ling Lan straightened up, face cool and expressionless, as his gaze swept across the examiner¡¯s lower half with some trace of regret for the near-miss. Seeing this, the examiner couldn¡¯t help but retreat another three steps, putting some distance between him and Ling Lan¡¯s group, before he felt a little safer.


    The examiner couldn¡¯t help but be afraid ¡ª just look at the power behind that kick! If that kick hadnded as intended, his family line would most certainly have ended with him. The examiner was beginning to regret his whimsy ¡ª why did he have to be so goddamn curious? Overly excited at the promise of great talent, he had decided to tease these kids just a little, but he hadn¡¯t expected to end up kicking a steel te.


    These were not the adorable children they appeared to be ¡ª they were actually savage little wolf cubs in sheep¡¯s clothing! The examiner could almost cry!


    But still ¡ª he liked them!


    The examiner looked at the three children before him, each with varying expressions on their faces. Regardless if they were wild (Qi Long), angry (Luo Lang), or cool (Ling Lan), their expressions couldn¡¯t hide the sheer tenacity in their bones as well as their savage natures. The smile at the corner of his lips deepened. Any soldier would be overjoyed in the face of such promising young talent.


    ********


    "Haha, examiner 072 is in deep shit," the invigtor couldn¡¯t help but jeer as he watched the proceedings up to this point. He hadn¡¯t missed how flustered the examiner had been in thatst encounter.


    The superintendent, who was just passing by on his rounds, overheard him speaking and looked over. When he saw that it was that officer who reported room 072 earlier, his irritation faded ¡ª after all, it was because of that officer that he had managed to learn about Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s inheritor. So he merely gently chided, "Quiet, what are you making noise about now?"


    The invigtor looked up to see the superintendent and stood up grinning to salute him, and then he reported in a low voice, "Sir, please look at this, there is a little problem." He pointed at the screen, asking the superintendent toe closer and see.


    The superintendent nced at him doubtfully, but still bent over slightly to look at the screen. On it, he saw the three children attack almost simultaneously ¨C one from above, one from below, while thest one exploited any openings ¨C and although their actions were still obviously untrained, they were surprisingly coordinated, causing the examiner quite a bit of trouble.


    "That¡¯s strange. What is examiner 072 doing? He should just take them down." The superintendent couldn¡¯t understand ¡ª he just subconsciously assumed that that would be an easy thing for the examiner to do against two or three little brats.


    "Sir, take a closer look at this child¡¯s movements." The invigtor had watched for a longer time and so had sussed out part of the problem.


    The superintendent knew that the invigtor wouldn¡¯t mention something for no reason, and so continued to peer at the screen intently.


    ********


    In room 072, Ling Lan was finding it easier and easier to move as the fight progressed. Initially, there was still some disconnection between her body and her intent ¡ª a few times, she was already there in her mind, but her body was a beat slower, making her miss out on several opportunities to hit the examiner. During this prolonged fight, however, she could feel her body bing more agile, starting to flow and work in tandem with her intent.


    As Ling Lan got into her groove, the examiner naturally found it more and more troublesome to fight. At the start, he still had some room to ck off, but gradually, he found that he could no longer hold back. If he didn¡¯t put his full attention on handling Ling Lan¡¯s group¡¯s attacks, he was very likely to get hit by Ling Lan.


    After fighting for so long, the examiner had alsoe to understand the children¡¯s strategy. They wanted to overwhelm his guard and find an opening, just to leave a mark on his body with either their fists or their feet. What a bunch of vengeful brats ... the examiner thought to himself helplessly. He¡¯d never have thought that a simple joke would cause the children to be so dead set on hitting him.


    The examiner could only keep warding them off ¡ª he couldn¡¯t really hurt them after all, could he? Even if the military didn¡¯t sanction him for it, he would also be unwilling to do so. I mean, just look! These three kids before him had such great potential.


    The examiner was not at all anxious. He had all the patience in the world to wait them out. A veteran soldier would neverck for patience, otherwise, they would never have survived the battlefield. These kids were already on theirst legs to begin with ¡ª he believed that it wouldn¡¯t take long for them to run out of energypletely. At that time, they wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything even if they had more tricks up their sleeve.


    Sure enough, just as the examiner predicted, the children couldn¡¯t fight on for much longer. Luo Lang was the first to run out of energy and was grabbed by the examiner, and thrown back into the middle of the other students where he remained slump, unmoving. Of course, the examiner did this skilfully so that Luo Lang¡¯s body wasn¡¯t injured in the process ¡ª he was only immobile due to fatigue.


    And so only Ling Lan and Qi Long were left to fight against the examiner. Without Luo Lang¡¯s cover, Ling Lan¡¯s sneak attacks could no longer work, so Ling Lan decided that she might as well pull out all the basicbat moves she had learned in her mind-space and fight directly.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t forget what Number One said ¡ª what you learned must be applied, and it was even better if you could apply it in a real battle ... Although fighting with the examiner was not really a real battle, it was still a chance for her to apply what she had learned in abat setting, so of course Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t let the chance pass her by.


    Besides, after fighting for so long, Ling Lan understood that the examiner would never hurt them, which meant that she could go all out without fear. Since the examiner was only going to be on the defensive, if she didn¡¯t take the chance to practice all her moves now, then when should she do it?


    As Ling Lan¡¯s moves grew bolder, Qi Long¡¯s moves also became increasingly aggressive. Qi Long was a quirky child ¡ª he didn¡¯t like to think very much, being of a bold and brash character, but this didn¡¯t stop him from being strong. He instinctively chose the method best suited for himself, so when Ling Lan¡¯s attacks grew fiercer, he felt it was right and so followed suit.


    The two fought ferociously to the point where the examiner was actually disadvantaged, where he looked like he was only able to focus on blocking.


    The observing children on the side all cheered on Qi Long and Ling Lan, with the exception of Han Jijyun and the recuperating Luo Lang. The two boys had serious looks on their faces ¡ª they didn¡¯t think that Qi Long and Ling Lan¡¯s current style of attack would be of any use against the examiner.

 Chapter 34: A Sure Hit!

    Chapter 34: A Sure Hit!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Sure enough, after a flurry of rapid attacks Qi Long was the first to slow down, as the explosion of energy brought on by his berserk state came close to ending. His aura began to fluctuate unsteadily, and his breathing becameboured.


    Ling Lan knew that Qi Long was likely at the end of his rope. If Qi Long dropped out, she would not be able to hold up against the battle-experienced examiner on her own, much less look for a chance to hit the examiner.


    Ling Lan¡¯s brows furrowed as she considered her options. Deep down, she was actually rather annoyed ¡ª if she had known that she would have to fight in this random battle, she would have brought some weapons with her, such as some type of hidden weapon. Even if she could not hit the examiner with them, they would still have served as a good distraction.


    Unfortunately, all she had on her were some consumable energy fluids to replenish physical energy, which she had brought as supplies for the exam. She only had three tubes, so even if she wanted to use them like hidden weapons, they wouldn¡¯t be very effective. She might have been able to fool the examiner for a while with a great number of items to throw, but with just these two or three things, the examiner would never fall for it.


    What should she do? Let Qi Long eat one of the tubes to replenish his energy?


    An idea sparked in Ling Lan¡¯s mind, and she immediately hatched a n. So, she started to match her speed to Qi Long¡¯s, slowing down as she made her aura waver as well, breathing hard, and sweating freely from her forehead. All outward signs broadcasted the fact that she was about to copse any second now.


    Ling Lan and Qi Long¡¯s obviously deteriorating condition put a damper on theirrades¡¯ cheers, which slowly weakened and finally faded away. Disappointment and resentment was visible on all their faces ¡ª it looked like their dream ofnding a hit on the examiner would not be realised.


    Han Jijyun and Luo Lang exchanged a look, and saw each other¡¯s bitter smiles. Honestly, this result was within their expectations, however, somehow, it just didn¡¯t sit right with them ¡ª they had really hoped that Qi Long and Ling Lan could have brought them a miracle.


    Was there really no hope left?


    At that moment, Qi Long traded yet another blow with the examiner. This time, due to ack of energy, Qi Long was thrown backwards by the examiner¡¯s block, stumbling back several steps.


    These few steps back sapped away Qi Long¡¯s confidence, and the strength that had supported him in the fight all this time seemed about to disperse. His stance started to falter, and he looked as if he was about to crash. Seeing this, Ling Lan rushed over to hold him up, and with a few light steps, she rapidly whisked him away from the examiner, putting some distance between them.


    "Are you alright?" With her back to the examiner, Ling Lan asked Qi Long frantically as she gripped his hand.


    Qi Long¡¯s expression jerked and his spirits rallied, as if Ling Lan¡¯s concern had given him confidence and courage once more. He said nothing, but nodded firmly to show that he was fine.


    Ling Lan turned around to look at the examiner, and then said resolutely, "Then let us fight this onest time." The condition of the two clearly showed that they were incapable of fighting any longer than that.


    Qi Long clenched his fists, gaze determined as he said, "Ok!" That said, he swiped his right hand over his face, as if he were wiping away sweat, but also as if he were wiping away his fatigue to boost his confidence. The fighting spirit in his eyes was ignited once again, and it seemed like it burned brighter than before.


    Even if he knew he was about to lose, he would not back down. Because this was their final chance ¡ª it was make it or break it.


    Qi Long and Ling Lan¡¯s performance pleased the examiner greatly. The care and concern for a teammate, the courage to fight till the end against a strong opponent ¡ª these were all qualities necessary to be an exceptional soldier, and these two kids had them. This was very rare; he was d that he had been able to find such excellent young talent.


    Qi Long attacked first. Although hisbination of punches still had speed and strength behind them, the examiner still managed to dodge them easily. There was no helping it ¡ª Qi Long only knew these fewbat moves. After seeing them used repetitively, even if the examiner could not remember them, his body was already familiar enough with Qi Long¡¯s attacks that handling them was a breeze.


    The examiner had just dodged Qi Long¡¯s attack when, on his other side, Ling Lan was already rushing in.


    However, the examiner¡¯s attention had been on Ling Lan all this time, because,pared to Qi Long, Ling Lan was much harder to deal with. Although Ling Lan¡¯sbat moves were not that varied as well (she had only learned one basic set ofbat skills), she was much smarter than Qi Long. She moved in unpredictable ways, and would modify her attacks ording to the situation during battle. All this required the examiner to spend more thought when handling her.


    The examiner saw Ling Lan¡¯s punching, and just like the attacks before it, it came from a spot that was the trickiest and most annoying to handle. These spots were basically defensive blind spots, very difficult to defend against ¡ª it was either dodge or substitute offense for defense, counterattacking the opponent to force them to retract their move.


    Without having to think about it, the examiner pushed a palm out in return, aimed at Ling Lan¡¯s chest. His arm was longer and his palm was wider ¡ª even as a counterattack, he was certain that his attack would reach Ling Lan first. And in their earlier encounters, Ling Lan had always reacted as he had hoped and gave up on her attacks. After all, continuing on stubbornly when you knew that your attack would be fruitless would only get yourself hurt, while your enemy would remain unharmed. A smart person would never do such a stupid thing.


    It was then that an ident urred. Ling Lan didn¡¯t dodge but continued to press forward, and then, a figure appeared in the path of his palm hurtling towards Ling Lan ¡ª it was Qi Long!


    Not good! The examiner was rmed, but because everything happened so quickly, he could no longer stop his attack. He rushed to pull back the force in his arm as he felt his palm connect solidly with Qi Long¡¯s chest.


    "AH!" screamed Qi Long, his entire body thrown into the air by the force of the blow. In mid-air, he threw up a mouthful of blood, and then crashed mercilessly onto the ground, where he theny unmoving.


    "Ah ... Qi Long, he¡¯s hurt!" the observing children all yelled out in fright. Han Jijyun in particr had be petrified, his face white as a sheet.


    The examiner was horrified. Had he pulled back toote? All his attention was now focused on Qi Long ¡ª looking at his prone body lying on the ground, fresh blood trickling out from the corners of his mouth in a steady stream.


    How did this happen? Could it be that he really hadn¡¯t managed to pull back in time, and had struck Qi Long with full force? Had he injured his internal organs? The examiner¡¯s thoughts were a mess, with no mind to spare for other matters. All he could see was Qi Long¡¯s body on the ground, spewing blood.


    "BAM!"


    The loud sound of a strong fist hitting flesh rang out abruptly, and the examiner was sent flying by arge surge of energy, falling to the ground in a heap.


    It turned out that Ling Lan had not given up on her attack. Taking advantage of the examiner¡¯s mental chaos, she had snuck in unnoticed tond a sure hit.


    Ling Lan blew lightly on her ¡¯weapons¡¯, her delicate fists, and grinned as she said, "Missionplete. Examiner hit. But sir, you wouldn¡¯t fail us just because you were embarrassed, right?"

 Chapter 35: Test Completed!

    Chapter 35: Test Completed!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Sprawled on the ground, the examiner¡¯s reaction was quick. With a back spring, he flipped back onto his feet.


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s punch had seemed very powerful, powerful enough to send the examiner flying, it hadn¡¯t actually done much damage to the examiner, only leaving a dark bruise on the examiner¡¯s left cheek. Of course, this perfectly suited Ling Lan¡¯s intent ¡ª she had only wanted to prove that they were not so easily bullied.


    The examiner stood there unmoving, but his face was an icy wastnd. Lifting his hand to touch the bruise on his face, even though it was numb to the touch, he felt an inexplicable hurt welling up from his heart.


    Indeed, it was a hurt mixed with rage along with deep disappointment ¡ª he wasn¡¯t angry because Ling Lan had managed to hit him, but because, with that hit, Ling Lan had disyed a selfishness and ruthlessness that he could not condone.


    The examiner could not fathom how this promising child, excellent on so many fronts, could be so cold and unfeeling to use his ownpanion as a human shield to achieve his ends. Although he had been flustered by the ident in thest encounter, his eyes had still seen clearly ¡ª Qi Long had suddenly appeared to block the hit meant for Ling Lan, not out of his own volition, but because Ling Lan had dragged Qi Long directly into the path of the examiner¡¯s attack.


    Worse yet, Ling Lan seemed utterly unconcerned about the condition of hispanion after the fact, only focused on his own results. This type of selfish behaviour was thest straw for the examiner ¡ª he decided that he would never give Ling Lan the chance to enter the special sses. The Federation could never give specialised cultivation to such a cold and unfeeling, selfish child. Even if he became a soldier, he would only bring harm to the Federation and to his fellow soldiers.


    But before the examiner could start yelling, what happened next stunned the examiner into silence.


    Ling Lan walked over to the unconscious Qi Long, who was still lying on the ground spewing blood, and kicked him several times on the side none too gently, saying with some consternation, "Alright. It¡¯s done. Aren¡¯t you going to get up now? Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re overdoing it?"


    And just like that, Qi Long sat up, a silly grin on his face as he said, "You really hit him?" Blood continued to trickle out of the corners of his mouth as he spoke, gruesome to see.


    Ling Lan said smugly, "Of course. Who do you think I am?" There were times when she just had to be childish ¡ª Ling Lan knew that she might already have overdone things a little, so all she could do was try and make up for it now.


    Qi Long nodded repeatedly in open admiration as he said, "Yup, Ling Lan, you¡¯re definitely stronger than me." That said, he continued eagerly, "Didn¡¯t I act really well though?"


    Ling Lan nodded easily without much sincerity, even going so far as to pat Qi Long on the head to humour him.


    Alright, so Qi Long¡¯s current demeanour was just too much like those loyal dogs she was familiar with in her world 10000 years ago ¡ª that earnest begging look was just too adorable that she couldn¡¯t help but to reach out and pet him.


    The straightforward Qi Long had no idea he was being patronised by Ling Lan, nor did he know that his image in Ling Lan¡¯s mind had been relegated to ¡®adorable¡¯¡ª He happily scrambled off the ground after being praised, licking at the dried bloodstains at the corners of his mouth. With some regret, he said, "Such a shame we had to waste so much energy fluid ... this taste is awesome, I¡¯ve never tasted such tasty energy fluid."


    Ling Lan rolled her eyes internally at his words, thinking, of course it was delicious ¡ª that tomato-voured energy fluid was the result of her hard research, how could hepare it to other energy fluids? Thinking of the original taste of energy fluids, Ling Lan¡¯s body shuddered reflexively. That taste ... was really not for human consumption. Probably even the cats and dogs of 10000 years ago would not touch it.


    Ling Lan was not someone who would mistreat herself. Since she couldn¡¯t stomach the taste of it, she decided that she would change it herself. With the help of Little Four, they finally managed to develop energy fluids in several fruit and vegetable vours, and tomato was just one of those vours.


    She had given Qi Long that vour because the colouring of that vour also resembled that of tomatoes, a vibrant red, which would easily let others mistake it for blood, lending even more credibility to Qi Long¡¯s act of getting injured.


    Looking at the lively and spirited Qi Long bouncing around, Han Jijyun¡¯s face finally returned to its usual colour. He asked with some confusion, "What did you all do exactly?" When he had thought that Qi Long was seriously injured, he had been too overwhelmed with panic to see what was going on.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s question echoed the question the examiner had in his mind. Although he was still uncertain about the details, by now, he had figured out that he must have fallen into some trap set by the two brats before him. How unexpected that a battle-experienced soldier like him would fall prey to the schemes of two children.


    He wasn¡¯t at all angry, however. Instead, joy was coursing through him. The child that he had found most promising, with such impressive abilities, was really not as terrible as he had thought ...


    Qi Long heard Han Jijyun¡¯s question and hurried to exin, "When I was thrown back by the examiner, Ling Lan came to drag me away. It was then that he gave me energy fluid, and when his back was to the examiner, he hinted at me to act, to pretend to be injured using the fluid."


    Still grinning widely, Qi Long scratched the back of his head, sheepish at causing everyone to worry. "So, when the examiner hit meter on, I pretended to get hurt and faked being unconscious."


    The examiner looked at Ling Lan pensively, then suddenly barked out, "Were you not afraid of making an error? What if I hadn¡¯t been able to pull back in time? Your n could have easily caused Qi Long to get injured, even destroy his future."


    Ling Lan looked puzzled. "Would you, Sir, have made a mistake like that?" Implied was her utmost trust in the examiner¡¯s ability to control himself.


    Qi Long just continued to grin, face still full of trust. Thinking of something, Han Jijyun looked at Ling Lan with an obscure gaze, which contained some hint of admiration but also a trace of anger, but he very quickly returned to his usual stoicism.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made the examiner splutter, but he really couldn¡¯t refute what he had said. He found that he had no idea how to handle this brat before him, but he had to admit that Ling Lan wasn¡¯t wrong ¡ª he definitely wouldn¡¯t have made such a mistake. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Qi Long¡¯s act had been too realistic, spewing blood and all, he would never have doubted himself. In the end, he was the one who had beencking in self-confidence.


    The examiner chuckled dryly. To think that Ling Lan had shown him his own weakness ¡ª what a remarkable child.


    This boy was really too extraordinary ¡ª bold as brass, yet attentive to details, and vicious in a fight. Scarier still, he had charisma, being able to convince others to join him easily ¡ª Qi Long and previously Luo Lang, though both strong themselves, had put their trust in Ling Lan unequivocally, letting him decide everything.


    Andstly, the boy had used strategy to expose the weakness in his heart ... the boy had understood that he would never hurt them, so if someone got injured during the fight, he would certainly be disturbed, thus revealing an opening in his defence.


    The examiner sighed and shook his head. Children these days were certainly not easy to fool. Rather huffily, he said, "This time, you all pass!"


    The examiner¡¯s words caused all the children to jump up in happy excitement. This meant that they had qualified to be students at this scout academy! Of course, whether or not they could attend the special sses was still to be decided ¡ª that would depend on the final score given by the examiner. Once the scores of the four exams had been totalled up, the first hundred students would be taken into the special sses.


    The examiner ignored the students celebrating before him, focusing instead on turning on hismunication device to press the button marking thepletion of the test.

 Chapter 36: Becoming a Boss

    Chapter 36: Bing a Boss


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The originally overcast sky cleared up in an instant as Ling Lan saw the surroundings blur around her. Once she could see clearly again, she found that she was now standing on a sandy plot ofnd while the original racetrack was nowhere in sight.


    This sudden change shocked all the children, who could only stand there gaping in surprise.


    Where they stood now was no longer the outdoor field they had been seeing; it was actually a 700-800 square-metre enclosed room. There was nothing in the room except a wide expanse of space covered in sand and dirt. Due to the simtion of rain in their test and their running all over the room, the ground was now a disgusting muddy mess.


    Meanwhile, the roof above had numerous sprinklers equipped, packed tightly across the ceiling and spread out to every corner ¡ª they were most likely the source of ¡®rain¡¯ during the test.


    In contrast to the children¡¯s shock and surprise, Ling Lan and Han Jijyun merely shared a knowing nce and smiled. The changes to their environment proved that their hypothesis had been correct. They truly had been led unknowingly into a virtual environment training room.


    The examiner didn¡¯t lead the children back through the door he hade from; instead, he brought them to the door they had entered from at the beginning. Opening it, he signalled for them to leave.


    The moment Ling Lan stepped out of the door, she saw that familiar field where the children had sat down at the beginning, where they had first been gathered before being split up into groups.


    Ling Lan understood now. She looked back to see the examiner standing on an empty racetrack, nodding at them in farewell. At this moment, his expression was no longer strict and foreboding, but instead contained some trace of humour. Finally, he turned to leave, walking further and further away until he disappeared at the end of the racetrack.


    Apparently, the virtual environment mode of these rooms had already been activated while they were outside. When the staff members had brought the different groups of children one by one to the track to prepare for their test, they were actually bringing them into separate rooms.


    When the ten children appeared without warning out of the virtual racetrack, the surrounding staff members on the outside couldn¡¯t help but reveal shocked expressions. After all, it had only been less than 3 hours since the tests began, which was an hour earlier than the typical end time for this test ¡ª could it be that these children had all failed and were prematurely ejected from the testing room?


    Just as they were wondering what to do, they noticed the digital number tes by the students¡¯ sides. All of them were lit up with the soft green light which indicated the sessfulpletion of the test. The staff members excitedly smiled ¡ª didn¡¯t this mean that all these kids were amazing talents?


    Fine, fine, so even the best Central Scout Academy had an insatiable thirst for promising talent.


    The staff members helpfully led them out of the testing site. When Ling Lan walked out of the main gates, the first thing she saw was Ling Qin¡¯s anxious face and she immediately felt warmth bloom in her heart.


    Yep, being with family was still the best! Only now did Ling Lan feel the aches and pains all over her body ¡ª although she had already held back her strength in the previous fight, the excessive exercise had still damaged her muscles, which were now making their protests known.


    The parents and guardians of the other children were also there waiting. Seeing their children appear, they all gathered around, asking about the test. The oue of this test would determine the future of the children as well as influence the future of their respective families.


    Learning that they had all passed, the guardians were very happy. Meanwhile, the children themselves had also established a deep bond by going through the test together ¡ª they all promised to reunite on the first day of school before reluctantly saying their goodbyes.


    Ling Lan said goodbye individually to each of the nine children, her manner polite and reserved, no hint of impropriety in her actions. This greatly pleased Chambein Ling Qin who took pride in the fact that his young master was such a gentleman, as expected of Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s child.


    Feeling that she had done everything as necessary, Ling Lan turned to leave with Ling Qin. But she had only taken two steps when she felt Ling Qin suddenly stiffen beside her before rxing again. At the same time, there was a violent sound of rushing air behind her ¡ª an ambush?!


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t sense any evil intent, however, so she simply moved one step to the left to evade this fierce tackle.


    With a loud "Whump!" her attacker was syed on the ground, face down in a spread eagle position right before Ling Lan¡¯s feet.


    Seeing this very familiar figure, Ling Lan¡¯s eye twitched. She shouted, "Qi Long! What do you think you¡¯re doing?!"


    Qi Long was now covered in dirt. He quickly climbed up, face calm as he brushed off the dirt from his clothes before saying, "I havee to say goodbye."


    Hearing this, Ling Lan face-palmed internally. "Just now, didn¡¯t I already say goodbye to you?" Dammit, when did this brat learn how to talk nonsense? Was he just being contrary?


    Despite having his lie exposed by Ling Lan, Qi Long wasn¡¯t at all embarrassed. With no trace of shame on his face, he continued, "That was just a group activity. Right now, this is my personal goodbye."


    Qi Long lifted his head to smile winningly at her. "Hehe, Ling Lan, aren¡¯t you touched?"


    "Touched? Not at all. Shocked? Maybe a little," said Ling Lan drily, face expressionless. Qi Long was the type that would take a mile if you gave an inch ¡ª she couldn¡¯t afford to show him any favour whatsoever or else the situation would spiral out of her control.


    Qi Long chose to ignore Ling Lan¡¯s jab, instead looking intently at Ling Lan, as if trying to confirm something. His gaze was sharp and prating, causing Ling Lan to shift ufortably, but before Ling Lan could say anything, Qi Long had said, "Ling Lan, you really are stronger than me. I submit to your strength. From now on, you¡¯re my boss."


    Ling Lan blinked. Boss? What the hell? Had she heard wrongly, or had Qi Long gone mad? Also, did she look like she wanted underlings? Why would Qi Long bring this up?


    Furthermore, why didn¡¯t anyone notify her of this? Was this decided privately just like that? Ling Lan¡¯s face was stuck in a deep frown as she thought all this to herself helplessly. Honestly, Ling Lan had never considered bing a boss ¡ª bosses were always at the head of the pack, the primary target, the one who would get shot first. Bing a boss would go against the resolution she had set from the start ¡ª to live a humble, low-profile, and safe life.


    The moment Qi Long finished speaking, he waved goodbye and fled, leaving a trail of dust in his wake. Ling Lan never had the chance to say anything. However, for Qi Long, Ling Lan¡¯s opinion was irrelevant. Qi Long was a single-minded creature ¡ª as long as he himself had acknowledged it, even if Ling Lan was in denial, he was dead-set on Ling Lan being his boss.


    And thus, Ling Lan became Qi Long¡¯s boss.


    Ling Lan grimaced as she watched the gradually disappearing figure of Qi Long. She was a little annoyed at herself for being too slow to react. Back then, she should have firmly grabbed hold of Qi Long andmunicated with him properly ... of course, this method ofmunication did not exclude the use of violence to get her point across.


    Han Jijyun ambled over with a slight smile on his face, clearly rejoicing in her misery.


    Ling Lanined to him, "Couldn¡¯t you have kept a better watch on that bro of yours?"


    "Bro?" Han Jijyun was startled by the term, not understanding what Ling Lan meant.


    Ling Lan smirked evilly. "Your bromance partner!"


    Han Jijyun was clearly taken aback for a moment as he digested this new term. And then, as ifing to a realisation, his jade-white little face turned red. Looks like his skin was still a little too thin to take this sort of joke.


    Ling Lan was surprised by Han Jijyun¡¯s blush ¡ª who knew that the mature-looking Han Jijyun would react in such a childish manner? "Wow, you¡¯re embarrassed just like that?"


    Oh, Ling Lan, no matter how intelligent Han Jijyun was, he was still just an innocent six years old child ¡ª of course his skin couldn¡¯t be as thick as yours which had been collected over the course of two lives, a total of 30 odd years.


    Out of intense embarrassment, Han Jijyun snapped back, "You¡¯re already going to be a boss, can¡¯t you be a bit more serious?"


    Ling Lan was hit where it hurt. Internally weeping, she looked at the sky. "I heard nothing."


    Dear God, she only wanted to live a peaceful life ¡ª she didn¡¯t have any grand ambitions; she only wanted any children who wanted to rely on her to stay far, far away, and to not disturb her. Amen!


    But Han Jijyun¡¯s next words caused Ling Lan¡¯s fervent hopes to be dashed into pieces. "He¡¯s already called you boss, are you nning to reject him? Also, you should also take care of me in the future ... Boss. Ling. Lan."


    Hells. Looks like even Han Jijyun was iming her as his boss.

 Chapter 37: The Examiner’s Recommendation!

    Chapter 37: The Examiner¡¯s Rmendation!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    At this time, Luo Lang stalked over with his head held high with his younger twin sister Luo Chao in tow. He rather looked like a peacock, thought Ling Lan to herself in amusement.


    Luo Lang stared at Ling Lan for several seconds, and then said, "Since Qi Long has submitted to you, then I¡¯ll also acknowledge your strength ... grudgingly. Please take care of my sister and me from now on."


    Huh? What was this? Ling Lan stared back nkly ¡ª she didn¡¯t really have any connection to Luo Lang, right?


    In her mind, Little Four could hold back no longer. Thunderously, he spat, "What else could it be?! He also wants you to be his boss! You- you¡¯ve wronged me."


    Little Four¡¯s gaze reflected only sorrow, creeping Ling Lan out. What was up with Little Four? Why did he sound so forlorn saying that she had wronged him?


    Ling Lan¡¯s mind started racing, thinking about what she could have done to hurt Little Four¡¯s delicate soul ... But after much thinking, she still couldn¡¯t figure it out and so could only assume that the little rascal¡¯s rebellious phase hade.


    Little Four was very angry and full of animosity. He hated those shameless people who hade to wrap themselves around Ling Lan¡¯s sturdy thighs 1 . He was also mad at Ling Lan¡¯s actions ¡ª she must have shown off too much to garner so much attention, causing him to have so manypetitors to be her number one underling.


    Alright, so Little Four was no longer obsessed with the epic ¡¯Three Kingdoms¡¯; he was now addicted to some third-rate novels meant for leisure reading. (The sudden drop in taste was just too jarring.) Consequently, the way he addressed Ling Lan had also changed.


    This was how it happened: One day, Little Four was extremely bored, so he decided to surf the randomly. By chance, he stumbled onto a very obscure website, which was called ¡¯World of sh¡¯. You even needed a password to log in! This piqued the curiosity of Little Four ... Naturally, passwords and the like were useless against him ¡ª he easily bypassed them and toured the site. He discovered countless business opportunities in there. So many people were crying out for sh novels, sh fanworks, sh videos ... and they were willing to pay for them!


    Little Four¡¯s greatest goal right now was to earn money ¡ª how could he let such a golden opportunity slip by? Although he wasn¡¯t certain his database had sh fanworks or sh videos, Little Four was confident that his database would at least have some sh novels. Putting aside the other things in his database, the sheer amount of novels he had in there was staggering.


    When Little Four searched his database, sure enough, the novels tagged as sh were almost more than he could count. (This was all the fault of Ling Lan¡¯s indiscriminate selection of reading material in her past life.) Little Four was ecstatic! He could already envision the Square-Holed Brothers 2 pouring in.


    Little Four also found that the more words a novel had, the more money it was worth, so after some picking and choosing, he chose to publish the rather long ¡¯Reincarnation in a Time of Armageddon: the Rise of the Cannon Fodder¡¯. Of course, he was also very curious to see what these sh novels were about, to drive the people here so crazy.


    Little Four read as he published and very soon, he found himself transfixed by the deep brotherly bond between the novel¡¯s boss and his underling. He then recalled what Ling Lan had said to him, about wanting him to be her younger brother ... Little Four was immediately moved to tears. (Sweat, Little Four was still clueless about what sh truly meant at this point. He had only read up till around chapter 150 where the sexual tones were still very subtle, and so remained as innocent as before.)


    However, Little Four¡¯s joy didn¡¯tst for long beforepetition appeared, and two at once at that! At this very moment, Little Four could fully understand the depressed mood of Little Ling in the novel ¡ª the morepetition there was, the greater the pressure ...


    Should he treat his boss better in the future so that his number 1 position wouldn¡¯t be taken away? Little Four started to think hard about the issue, unaware that his internal core chip was starting to heat up unnaturally once again.


    Let¡¯s leave aside Little Four wild imaginings and meaningless jealousy, as well as Ling Lan¡¯s concerned amusement about it for now. After the examiner for room 072 escorted the children out, he immediately contacted the invigtion room.


    In the invigtion room, the superintendent had been watching when the examiner hurt Qi Long by mistake and his brows had locked tight in a frown, and it only got tighter as he saw Ling Lan send the examiner flying. Only when Qi Long stood up at the end, apparently unharmed, did his brows rx.


    Seeing the examiner¡¯s contact request, he epted without waiting for the invigting officer to do so. Not allowing any room for the other to speak, he bellowed, "Number 413, once we¡¯re done, report back to the training camp!"


    The examiner for room 072 gaped. "Sir! Why are you there ..."


    Dammit. Why was his direct superior on the other side of the line? Why was he so unlucky?


    With a long face, the examiner asked carefully, "Sir, then when should Ie back?"


    The superintendent huffed and said coldly, "A monthter."


    The superintendent¡¯s reply made the examiner want to curl up and cry. Heavens, a month in the training camp ¡ª even if it wouldn¡¯t kill him, he would still shed ayer of skin. He¡¯d never have expected that he would have to go back to that terrifying ce again after 5 years, to relive the painful and horrible time when he had been a recruit.


    "What? You have something to say about that?" asked the superintendent, tone silky with an undertone of threat.


    "No, Sir, not at all! I have nothing to say!" The examiner immediately stood up straight and answered loudly. He knew his superior officer well ¡ª if he disyed any hint of hesitation, his punishment would be doubled right away ¡ª he had no intention of letting a month¡¯s worth of punishment be two or even three months within the blink of an eye.


    "Hn. Good. Was there anything else?" The superintendent was satisfied by the examiner¡¯s attitude, and so prompted him to exin why he had called to begin with.


    The examiner collected himself, and stated formally, "I would like to rmend several children for the special sses."


    "Oh?" The superintendent¡¯s lips quirked up in a small smile as he waited for the examiner to borate.


    "Yes. In my opinion, those children are all very promising ..." said the examiner after some thought, "but I¡¯m especially taken by 0723, 0724, 0725, and 0729."


    "How so?"


    "0723 ¡ª good foundations, with extraordinary strength for a child. His reflexes are also excellent and better yet, he can think on his feet in battle to the extent that he could be considered a cunning tactician. If we cultivate him intensively, he will definitely be an intelligent strategic-type warrior." The examiner¡¯s eyes sparkled as he described his observations of Ling Lan, clearly showing how much Ling Lan¡¯s performance had captured his heart.


    "0724 ¡ª his physical fitness is definitely on a non-human level. He actually managed to break past his body¡¯s limits all on his own ... He is a true prodigy. As long as the Federation provides focused cultivation, he is very likely to be the next IN mecha operator." By the time the examiner got to thest part of his report on Qi Long, his face was flushed with excitement.


    The examiner couldn¡¯t be med for losing hisposure. Aside from Major General Ling Xiao, no one had managed to rise up to the challenge of bing an IN mecha operator during the past 10 years. And now, he could actually see a glimmer of hope in Qi Long ¡ª how could he not lose control?


    An IN mecha operator, is it? Was 0724 the only potential candidate? The superintendent¡¯s gaze wasplicated, shaded by his eyelids, hiding away his true thoughts.


    "0725 ¡ª cool and level-headed, withmendable logic and an analytical mind. He is definitely an excellent staff officer in the making. I rmend that we focus his training in this direction." The Federation not only needed hot-blooded warriors unafraid of death, but also staff officers capable of nning and takingmand, who could deploy strategies from thousands of miles away.


    "0729 seems weaker than the other three inparison, however, he has an unyielding spirit ... If we ce him together with the other three, this attitude of his could push him to be an excellent soldier, as impressive as the others."


    The examiner systematicallyid out his thoughts on the four children and then silently waited for his superior officer to make the final decision.

 Chapter 38: Who’s the Opponent?

    Chapter 38: Who¡¯s the Opponent?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    After several long seconds of wait, the superintendent¡¯s calm voice was transmitted through themunication device, "Your rmendations have been approved! As for the reward for your rmendations, you¡¯ll receive them after you rejoin the troops." With that said, the connection was severed without waiting for the examiner¡¯s reply.


    Although the examiner had been mercilessly hung up on, he wasn¡¯t at all unsatisfied. The tight expression on his face loosened, and the hints of a smile could be seen.


    He rubbed off the sweat marks on his forehead and breathed a silent sigh ¡ª thankful that he had managed to survive his demonic team leader and, of course, pleased at his own prating insight.


    He had initially thought that this assignment at the scout academy was just a forced break for soldiers like him, something to spice up their routine while providing them with some extra pocket money ... he hadn¡¯t expected that he would be so lucky as to find such promising young talent, earning him additional rmendation rewards which would actually influence his career progression ...


    However, he was a little puzzled. Why did even his own demonic team leader get assigned to monitor this test? What the hell was going on here?


    The examiner for room 072 was part of the Federation¡¯s Special Mecha Forces, a member of the ded Special Ops Team, Number 413. This time around, his team had just returned from the battlefield, but before they could settle down and rest they had received military orders to go to the Central Scout Academy to oversee this year¡¯s enrolment tests (the final two events).


    He still remembered that back then, all the team members had been dumbfounded ... After all, they were all considered bloodthirsty killers on the battlefield ¡ª and now, just like that, they were expected to switch from being butchers to being nannies to coddle a bunch of kids?


    Of course, as themander of the Mecha Special Forces, their Demonic Leader ¡ª that is, the superintendent (this was just the rank they used in public, the true rank was only known within the military workings) that had been on the other end of hismunication device earlier ¡ª had protested this assignment, but had been summarily ignored. Resigned, theirmander could only send out the Special Ops team to be examiners. Still, he hadn¡¯t expected themander himself to be physically present as well ...


    ********


    The superintendent, who was also themander of the Special Forces, shut down hismunication device and then said to his subordinate invigtion officer, "Number 137, you¡¯ll be responsible for this. Arrange it so that the four of them enter the special sses, and their results must be average there."


    Number 137 blinked, confused. "Huh?"


    The superintendent swept an icy gaze at him, but though Number 137 did not make any further noise, his face was full of curiosity as if he really wanted to know what was going on.


    The superintendent rubbed his forehead wearily ¡ª why were all his subordinates such curious people? 413 was one, and 137 was another.


    "The tree that grows above the tree-line ... if their results are too good, it¡¯ll do more harm than good," exined the superintendent simply. 137 was a hacker ¡ª if he didn¡¯t give him an eptable answer, he¡¯d go looking for one himself and may cause all sorts of trouble that way.


    137¡¯s curiosity was appeased after receiving an answer, so he grinned and said, "Roger that, Sir. Leave everything to me."


    Oh, so now he¡¯s satisfied he¡¯ll call me Sir? The superintendent rolled his eyes and threw a pointed re at the offbeat 137 before walking away from him to continue supervising his other subordinates as they worked.


    Alright, so just within this short period of time when he had stopped to chat with 137, there were already several officers who had begun yawning in the invigtion room, and some had even slumped forwards and fallen asleep ...


    Hehe! Did they really think thismander of theirs was a lowly superintendent? Actually daring to act so slovenly in front of him ... themander of the Special Forces smiled sinisterly. He wouldn¡¯t allow his soldiers to be so unfocused and to lower their guard so casually, even though there was no real danger in this small Central Scout Academy.


    "Attention!" he hollered. The entire invigtion room was immediately thrown into disarray, and the sound of howls and wails could be heard. The Demonic Leader would discipline his soldiers, and he wouldn¡¯t show mercy regardless of location.


    ********


    Meanwhile, on Ling Lan¡¯s end, she finally reunited with her mother Lan Luofeng under Chambein Ling Qin¡¯s lead. Lan Luofeng anxiously asked, "Baby, did it go well?" If she hadn¡¯t been worried that Ling Lan¡¯s gender would be exposed at school, Lan Luofeng would actually care not one whit how her daughter did in the exams. She had never intended for Ling Lan to be a great soldier to begin with.


    Ling Lan smugly replied, "Of course. Who do you think I am?" The self-confidence writ all over her facey Lan Luofeng¡¯s worries to rest, and she too smiled along with Ling Lan.


    For the sake of her mother¡¯s happiness, Ling Lan was used to acting cute and ying the child. However, her efforts weren¡¯t in vain ¡ª Lan Luofeng, who had originally been overwhelmed with sadness at her father¡¯s passing, had slowly shifted her focus onto Ling Lan and had slowly regained her spirits; hope had rekindled in her eyes as the sadness became muted.


    The final results would only be announced half an hour after all the tests ended. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know how much longer the other children would take toplete the exam, so waiting here was obviously not a good idea. As such, she suggested to Lan Luofeng that they go home to wait for the results. After all, the final results would be posted on the Central Scout Academy¡¯s website, avable for public perusal.


    Lan Luofeng thought about it and agreed, and so brought Ling Lan home.


    ********


    As the sky slowly darkened into night, the final student finallypleted the exam at the Central Scout Academy. All the invigtors, who were responsible for keying in the marks, entered the scores they had collected into the Central Scout Academy¡¯s main system. The system would then calcte and tally up the marks before arranging them in descending order to produce a name list.


    Number 137 was excitedly flexing his fingers at this moment, warming them up for his uing performance. Being one of the top 10 hackers in the virtual world, he must definitely aplish the mission hismander had assigned him wlessly.


    In Ling Lan¡¯s home, Lan Luofeng was seated before arge screen, patiently refreshing the Central Scout Academy¡¯s website again and again, waiting for the announcement of the final results.


    Meanwhile, Ling Lan was lying down on the couch, talking with Little Four in her mind.


    "Little Four, can you go online from this position?" Ling Lan asked worriedly. She knew that Little Four could ess the inte wirelessly within a certain radius.


    Little Four looked like he had everything under control. "No problem, even a little further is fine."


    "Little Four, I only want you to enter the Central Scout Academy system to ensure that I can enter the special sses ¡ª don¡¯t go and do anything else," reminded Ling Lan.


    Although Ling Lan was confident, she had still decided to let Little Four keep a lookout for her results, just in case. It wouldn¡¯t do for someone else to mess around with the results after all. It had to be said that Ling Lan was very cautious.


    137 managed to infiltrate the Central Scout Academy¡¯s main system sessfully, however, his entry didn¡¯t go unnoticed by the watchful Little Four. "Eh? Someone really did show up ... he¡¯s gonna die." Little Four was incensed. This sort of action was like waving a red g at a bull. Remember, he was like a god on the web ¡ª who was it that dared to challenge his authority?!


    Ling Lan sensed Little Four¡¯s anger and hurriedly asked, "What¡¯s happening, Little Four?"


    Little Four pouted as he huffed, "Someone has infiltrated the system. It looks like he wants to change your scores. Let me get rid of him now ..." Little Four looked like he already had his knife sharpened and ready to ughter the poor invader.


    "Wait, no hurry. Let¡¯s see what he wants to do first. Also, can you track his location?" Ling Lan was very calm. Stopping the other prematurely wasn¡¯t going to solve the problem and would just rm the opponent. It would be wiser to just observe for now, and try to figure out the other¡¯s background. Ling Lan liked to know all the facts before acting ¡ª but if the opponent really seemed to harbour evil intentions, of course she wouldn¡¯t choose to be merciful.

 Chapter 39: Modifying the Scores

    Chapter 39: Modifying the Scores


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In the mind-space, Little Four acknowledged Ling Lan¡¯s reminder out loud and then became silent and unmoving. Ling Lan knew then that Little Four¡¯s consciousness had already gone into the virtualwork, leaving behind an empty shell.


    10,000 years¡¯ worth of technological advancement, as well as the emergence of spiritual power, had greatly changed the methods and approaches of modern-day hackers. Bing a hacker nowadays was no longer a purely learned skill; it also required some natural hacking talent. This talent referred to human spiritual power and the ability to disguise and hide one¡¯s true self.


    The assessment to categorise spiritual power could only be done after the age of ten, because that was when the spiritual power of a child matured and started to evolve into different types, which would determine the direction of their development and cultivation.


    Of course, Ling Lan did not know at this time that spiritual power would evolve that way, nor did she know that the inte hackers these days were so much more dangerous and terrifying than the ones from 10,000 years ago. These days, a battle between hackers could easily result in death or injury, while brain death was a rathermon consequence.


    In this era, hacker battles were known as death battles without gun-smoke ¡ª they were, at times, considered even more dangerous than real battles.


    Still, it was fortunate that Ling Lan didn¡¯t know, otherwise she would never have let Little Four go into the system. In her heart, Little Four had be her most cherished rtive. Even though the risk of her secret being exposed would be much higher if she didn¡¯t manage to get into the special sses, the problem wasn¡¯t insurmountable. If Little Four disappeared because of the dangers of hacking, however, she would never have been able to ept it.


    The moment Little Four¡¯s consciousness entered the dummy avatar he had embedded in the Central Scout Academy¡¯s systems, 137 jerked to a stop, immediately pausing his actions in modifying the scores.


    As expected of a top-tier hacker in the Federation ¡ª even though Little Four¡¯s entrance had been exceedingly subtle, 137¡¯s keen spiritual power had still sensed some disturbance in his surroundings. Cold sweat started dripping from his forehead.


    Examiner 413, who was standing guard beside his physical body, stiffened ¡ª could it be that 137 was in danger? 137 was only trying to change the scores because of his rmendations ¡ª if 137 were to be harmed doing so, he would never forgive himself. Although the bonuses he would get from these rmendations were considerable, his teammate was much more important.


    Number 137 was very careful, surreptitiously sending out mental feelers to investigate. Although he had no idea who his opponent was, he knew that it had to be someone formidable to be able to hide his presence so well.


    Little Four observed all this coolly. He wasn¡¯t restricted by human limits on the, whereby each person was only limited to one online avatar. Even hackers were not exempt from these limits ¡ª the most a hacker could do was to disguise his identity and obscure his entry point. In contrast, as long as he was online, he could divide himself into multiple avatars with a snap of his fingers, and conceal himself inside the very fabric of the inte itself.


    Little Four merely had to trace the spiritual power of his opponent to find his entry point. Although the opponent did use some spiritual power to hide his identity and location, these little tricks were like child¡¯s y to Little Four. With no trouble at all, Little Four had managed to lock onto his opponent.


    However, when he tapped into a monitoring device at the opponent¡¯s location and saw examiner 413, he knew that the matter wasn¡¯t the problem he had assumed it would be.


    He swiftly ryed this scene to Ling Lan in the mind-space and Ling Lan was stunned at the sight of their examiner Number 413.


    "What are they trying to do?" Ling Lan wondered. After all, her current scores had been given by the examiner to begin with. She had already found out her final score a few minutes ago, and although she did not rank first (because her intelligence score was just too horrible), she had easily secured second ce, so she was already certain to get into the special sses.


    If the examiner did not want her the enter the special sses, he could have just given her a low score directly ¡ª there was no reason at all for him to go to so much trouble with a hacker to change her scores now. Could it be that there was some other motive for his actions?


    Ling Lan decided to just stay back and observe for now; she could always make a decision after she found out what he was up to.


    Of course, Ling Lan could afford to be so daring because she had Little Four¡¯s guarantee that, no matter what the other did, he could reverse it with minimal effort.


    Meanwhile, Number 137 had spread out his spiritual power to explore the surrounding several times, but still did not manage to catch even a glimpse of the other person in the system. This caused him to be jumpy, and he started to doubt himself ¡ª could it be that he was too uptight, causing his senses to be fooled by paranoia?


    Time was running out and no matter how hard 137 looked, he could not find the source of the disturbance he had felt. 137 felt helpless as he saw that there wasn¡¯t much time left, and recalling that he still hadn¡¯tpleted the mission hismander had assigned him, he decided that he would just try to modify Ling Lan¡¯s score first.


    He had already thought it through ¡ª the moment he sensed anything off about the situation, he would turn tail and run. 137 wasn¡¯t so arrogant as to believe that he would be able to handle a professional whose presence he could not even confirm. Therefore, for safety reasons, running away was the best solution.


    His decision made, 137 carefully began to modify Ling Lan¡¯s score. Naturally, he dared not touch the scores of the first two tests, which had not been under their jurisdiction. Any changes there would be easily caught. Only the scores for stamina and speed had been controlled by their special ops team, keyed in by 413 and himself, and so could be freely altered. If any problem really urred, theirmander would be there to vouch for them, so he wasn¡¯t afraid.


    Of course, before this, 413 and he had considered just keying in a lower score. However, they had no idea how the other children from the other groups would do ¡ª if the score they entered turned out to be too low, or if something happened so they were unable to change the scorester ... Wouldn¡¯t it be such a shame for these children to lose their spot in the special sses? So, with a mind to minimise the risk of that happening, they had decided to key in the original high scores.


    Following 137¡¯s edits, Ling Lan¡¯s total score shifted, dropping her rank from the initial 2nd to the 17th ce.


    After 137 finished his edits to Ling Lan¡¯s score, he waited patiently for a long moment. Finding no change in his surroundings, he moved on to modify Qi Long¡¯s, Han Jijyun¡¯s, and Luo Lang¡¯s scores as well, causing them to fall from 3rd, 5th, and 6th ce, to the 18th, 21st, and 24th ce.


    137 did not forget what hismander had said: to guarantee the four children¡¯s entry into Special ss-A, but to do so in a way that was low-profile so that they did not gain too much attention. Right now, these middle-of-the-pack scores and rankings should resolve all of hismander¡¯s worries. After all, the first 50 students would enter Special ss-A, while students ranked 51-100 would go into Special ss-B.


    Little Four reported the modified scores and rankings to Ling Lan, and Ling Lan finally realised what the examiner had intended. Looks like he was doing this out of good intentions ¡ª these rankings right now were very nice, not too outstanding yet not too shabby.


    She had originally been worried whether or not her second ce ranking was too eye-catching since Ling Lan did not want to be the centre of attention, which would further increase the risk of her secret being exposed. The only problem was, she had not dared to change her score herself. After all, there were way too many people who were involved with these scores ¡ª any changes would likely be discovered instantly, so Ling Lan did not dare to move hastily. And now, the examiner had solved the problem for her, so she was free to enjoy the results without having to do anything.


    Still, Ling Lan was puzzled. "Who is this examiner really?"


    The other children may not know, but Ling Lan could tell ¡ª the inconceble taint of blood on the examiner¡¯s aura was something that could only be found on veterans who had fought and struggled through war and cruel battles ... he waspletely different from the officers who had been in charge of the intelligence and strength tests.


    Ling Lan would never forget the satisfaction shining from the examiner¡¯s eyes as he sent them off. Perhaps the faction within the Federation that he represented had their eye on the four of them and so were willing to go the extra mile to protect them as they grew?


    Whatever the case, this was a good thing! Ling Lan quickly put this matter to rest at the back of her mind.

 Chapter 40: Downed By a Glass of Wine!

    Chapter 40: Downed By a ss of Wine!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Although 137 had sessfullypleted his mission, he still felt restless and unsettled. Something just didn¡¯t feel right. For that reason, after leaving the virtualwork, he immediately reported to hismander on the strange disturbance he had sensed in the Central Scout Academy¡¯s system.


    After hearing 137¡¯s report, themander¡¯s expression became stern. Could it really be as the General suspected? Were the culprits behind Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s death on the move again?


    He indicated to 137 to leave things as they were, and reminded him about the code of silence before letting him go back and rest. He then turned on hismunication device and entered a number he rarely ever contacted.


    It wasn¡¯t long before a middle-aged general appeared on the holographic screen, a serious expression on his face.


    "Yo, Sir General, long time no see." At odds with his usual cold persona in front of his troops, themander was now casually flippant.


    "Oh, it¡¯s you, you little brat. Aren¡¯t you back on mandatory leave? Why are you free to contact me?" The familiar voice of themander caused the general¡¯s face to soften.


    "Wasn¡¯t it the military who sent us to the Central Scout Academy to take charge of the tests?"ined themander casually.


    The general¡¯s face stiffened and he said in a rush, "Being with kids is also a way of rxing."


    Themanderughed. "True!"


    And the matter ended there. It had been implicit in the general¡¯s words that their assignment to the school had something to do with him.


    "So what do you want, brat?" The general knew that this son of his old friend, who he had watched grow up from a little kid, would not contact him for no reason. Usually, he wouldn¡¯t see hide nor hair of him; the brat would scurry away faster than any mouse.


    Reminded of his purpose in calling, themander¡¯s expression turned grim. He faithfully reported what had happened to Ling Lan, as well as the disturbance 137 had felt on the virtualwork. Since their presence at the scout academy had been by the general¡¯s design, then it was very likely rted to the matter of Ling Xiao¡¯s son.


    "Duly noted," said the general calmly, "Let someone else handle things after this ¡ª don¡¯t get any further involved."


    Themander replied lowly, "Understood," and then asked, "Will there be any danger to Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s son?" From the general¡¯s words, he could somehow guess what the general was nning.


    The general did not answer his question, only saying, "Enjoy your vacation. Don¡¯t worry about anything else." With those parting words, he ended the call.


    Themander stared vacantly at the dark screen, and a shadow passed over his face. The general¡¯s words had indirectly told him the answer. The general himself couldn¡¯t guarantee that there would be no mishaps in his current arrangements.


    Themander knew very well that, for the future of the Federation, some sacrifices were necessary. The moles hidden in the higher ranks of the federal military had to be dug out, otherwise another incident like Ling Xiao¡¯s would happen again ¡ª and the Federation couldn¡¯t afford to lose any more god-ss operators.


    Still, he felt a little indignant. In service of the Federation, his idol Major General Ling Xiao had already been sacrificed ¡ª did his child have to be sacrificed too? He stood for a long moment, staring blindly into the distance, and after much thought, decided that he had to be true to his heart just this once.


    He dialled a contact number and was quickly connected. "413, I¡¯m sorry to inform you that your vacation has been cancelled." Aftering to a decision, the initial mncholy of themander had been swept away and he was even jovial enough to joke around with 413 now.


    413¡¯s wails of despair came over from the other end of themunicator, but themander¡¯s heart was like steel and he blithely ignored 413¡¯s mournful eyes. He continued to order, "Please ept your new assignment."


    Hearing this, number 413 straightened out his long face and stood at attention. "Number 413, reporting for duty!"


    "Starting now, for the next month, you and your squad are to protect Ling Lan of the Central Scout Academy in secret." Themander hoped that his arrangements would be able to ensure the safety of Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s child, as a personal tribute to his departed idol.


    "Ling Lan? Who¡¯s that?" asked 413, bewildered. They had just finished their assignment at the Central Scout Academy, but before he could even celebrate their release from babysitting duties, here he was, about to be a full-time nanny. Luckily he wasn¡¯t going to suffer through this alone ¨C he had 5 underlings in his squad ¨C which made him feel just a little bit better.


    "It¡¯s that 0723 you like so much," said themander.


    413¡¯s expression grew serious. "Has the enemy nation noticed him? Is he in danger?" 413 knew that there were many foreign spies hiding within the federation. Many promising young talents had barely had the time to sprout before they were cruelly crushed by the enemy nation.


    "Perhaps," said themander, without certainty. After all, it was all just spection on his part.


    "Roger that, Sir. I¡¯ll protect him well with my squad. You can count on it," said 413 resolutely. He might have moaned a bit more if it were some other child, but if it was number 0723, he had no objections whatsoever.


    Indeed, if Ling Lan didn¡¯t veer off from the right path, it was almost 100% certain that he would be an ace operator, perhaps even an imperial operator. Ever since Major General Ling Xiao had passed away, the Federation was stretched thin for skilled operators. Therefore, any young talent who had the potential to be ace operators were very highly valued by the Federation.


    "Wait a moment. I will ask 137 to transmit Ling Lan¡¯s information into yourmunicator. Remember, this is a secret assignment. Don¡¯t let anyone notice your presence," instructed themander.


    "Yes!"


    *********


    One dayter, the official notification letter from the Central Scout Academy arrived on the Ling family¡¯s general notification device, informing them about Ling Lan¡¯s eptance into the academy¡¯s special ss. The news made the long silent Ling family rejoice.


    Looking at the information contained in the letter, Lan Luofeng¡¯s mood was exceptionally light. Although she wouldn¡¯t have minded if Ling Lan became an idle yboy, all parents took pride in their child¡¯s sesses and Lan Luofeng was no exception. Of course, most importantly, Ling Lan¡¯s enrolment into Special ss-A meant that she didn¡¯t have to study on school grounds and could freely choose her own courses, which greatly reduced the risk of her true gender being discovered ¡ª this was the greatest source of joy for Lan Luofeng.


    In a great mood, Lan Luofeng decided that a grand celebration was in order. She thus instructed Chambein Ling Qin to prepare a feast for the entire Ling household toe together and celebrate. This was the firstrge-scale party held ever since the family head Ling Xiao had died ¡ª the lively atmosphere moved Chambein Ling Qin almost to tears.


    This was also the first time Ling Lan met all the external servants and workers of the Ling household. Of course, some of the guards maintaining the safety of the Ling household perimeters were not in attendance, but the other servants and workers were all there. Seeing all of their excited and hopeful faces, Ling Lan felt pressured for the first time ever. So she wasn¡¯t living just for herself ... she was shouldering the hopes and dreams of the entire Ling household.


    And this group didn¡¯t even include the Ling family loyalists yet ¡ª if the Ling family ceased to exist, there would be no reason for the loyalists to exist either.


    For the first time, Ling Lan truly understood what her new identity meant, along with the responsibilities she had to carry with it. Although the total age of her two lives was already over 30 years old, making her a mature adult, she was still just used to being an average person, only responsible for her own wellbeing. But now, all of a sudden, she had so many people¡¯s hopes and livelihoods resting upon her shoulders ... She panicked.


    The typically serene Ling Lan, finally unable to hold on any longer, subconsciously reached out for a ss of red wine and gulped it in down in one shot, and then ... she tragically fell over, dead drunk.


    If you must know, in her past life, due to her body¡¯s condition, Ling Lan had been prohibited from consuming any drinks and alcoholic beverages that might affect the body. And then, in this life, she had been prevented from imbibing by Lan Luofeng due to her young age. Therefore, neither her mind nor her small body could withstand the assault of alcohol, causing her to be downed by just one ss of wine.

 Chapter 41: Wilderness Training?

    Chapter 41: Wilderness Training?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan was a cute drunk ¡ª she did not start babbling nonsense, nor did she fly into a drunken rage. She only fell asleep silently, a saliva bubble popping up at the edge of her lips every once in a while.


    This adorable sight made Lan Luofengugh despite her annoyance. She had just taken her eyes off this child for a moment and she had gone and gotten herself drunk on red wine. Still, this was the only time Ling Lan really looked like a true six year old child, sleeping innocently without a care in the world.


    Lan Luofeng knew that these couple of years had actually been really tough on Ling Lan. Every day she had training assignments, and Lan Luofeng had watched with tearful eyes as she trained till she dropped. (In truth, Little Four had notified Ling Lan that time was up so she would get some rest. It wasn¡¯t that Ling Lan was cking off, but her body was really still too weak. Overexerting her body now in training would only cause irreparable harm, harm that even the Qi exercises would not be able to repair.)


    Lan Luofeng could not stop her training however, because she knew that this would benefit Ling Lan greatly in the future. The Federation was a world where the fittest survived ¡ª an extra measure of strength meant an extra measure of safety. For Ling Lan¡¯s future, she had to harden her heart.


    Lan Luofeng quickly bundled Ling Lan up and carried her to her room. Ever since Ling Lan could clearlymunicate what she wanted, she had demanded a personal room of her own. Lan Luofeng was an overindulgent mother with no bottom-line when it came to her child, so she had caved with minimal fuss and provided a lone room for Ling Lan.


    Carefully cing Ling Lan on her bed, Lan Luofeng dropped a light kiss on Ling Lan¡¯s adorable round face and then shut the door behind her as she left. What she didn¡¯t know was that, though Ling Lan looked as if she was sound asleep, her consciousness had actually been dragged ruthlessly into the mind-space by Instructor Number One.


    ********


    Ling Lan felt extremely wobbly, finding it rather difficult to stay on her feet, and the things she looked at seemed to waver in her sight.


    She felt a little nauseous and so quickly squatted down, gripping her head. Ling Lan just had to squat, lest she fall over the very next second from losing her bnce.


    "Hmph. How dare you drink." Number One¡¯s expression darkened further at the sight, and with a flick of his finger, a basinful of cold water sshed down upon Ling Lan from above. The sudden shock caused Ling Lan to shiver uncontrobly and her muddled senses abruptly came into focus.


    "Instructor Number One, you look well!" Ling Lan smiled awkwardly as she lifted her head, her expression pleading for mercy.


    "I am very not well." Instructor Number One paid no mind to Ling Lan¡¯s pleading, giving her no face as he told her in no uncertain terms that he was angry.


    Instructor Number One¡¯s words made Ling Lan break out into cold sweat ¡ª without even having to ask, she knew that the ¡®not well¡¯ Instructor Number One was talking about had something to do with her. Could it be that she had somehow irritated this fearsome demon instructor without even knowing it?


    Looking at Ling Lan¡¯s bewildered face, Instructor Number One raged, "In today¡¯s fight, what were you doing?! Is that how you were meant to use what Number Nine had taught you?"


    Ling Lan was indignant, "I managed to hit the examiner."


    "Well you could have hit him directly without having to resort to trickery! If you do this again, don¡¯t me me for punishing you." Instructor Number One firmly believed that honest strength was the true path ¡ª any sort of underhanded tricks were all dishonest methods, which should not be relied upon.


    Ling Lan paid no mind to the mention of punishment, but asked in surprise, "You mean that, I can actually hit the examiner with my own strength right now?" If that was the case, then why had she felt so overpowered? That the opponent¡¯s strength was so much higher than her own? Was it all an illusion?


    But then, all three of them had already used up all their strength and skills to fight the examiner for so long ... it was only when they were running out of strength that they had thought up that trick to hit the examiner. Of course, Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that using tricks was wrong or unfair ¡ª on the battlefield, survival was the only principle.


    "That¡¯s right. In today¡¯s battle, you missed three opportunities." That said, Number One flicked yet another finger and the scene of today¡¯s battle appeared before Ling Lan¡¯s eyes.


    "The first sneak attack was done well at the beginning. You remembered what Number Nine had told you, and kept your killing intent hidden, but when you were just about to seed, your heart wavered." Number One pointed at the scene, showing how when Ling Lan¡¯s punch was just about to hit the examiner, there was a fluctuation in her aura. This little fluctuation had let the examiner sense her attack, which was how he had managed to block her attack in that final second.


    "For the second sneak attack, you made the exact same mistake, losing your attention at the critical moment." Number One¡¯s voice grew colder and colder, and he looked as if he wished he could drag Ling Lan over to give her a good beating right now. She had obviously learned everything properly ¡ª why was she making such stupid mistakes in a real fight? If Ling Lan had only fought as she had trained, the examiner would have been hit by that very first move.


    "What angers me the most is that you don¡¯t even know how to change your own attack approach. Using the same moves over and over again ¡ª after failing in a sneak attack twice, even an idiot would know to watch out for your sneak attacks ... and still you persisted with sneak attacks! Is your head filled with the brain of a pig?" Instructor Number One¡¯s rage was incandescent as he observed Ling Lan¡¯s third attempt at a sneak attack ying out before them.


    "After being discovered, it¡¯s alright to just fight directly with the opponent, but what were you thinking using all your might for every single move? What will you use then to defend yourself? Also, don¡¯t you know how to mix in some feints among your real moves? Here, when your right elbow was blocked, and you continued to use your left elbow ¡ª both the opponent¡¯s arms had been used for defense, and because of your friend¡¯s attack on his waist, his only usable leg had been neutralised. Why didn¡¯t you take the chance to attack his lower body? Didn¡¯t you learn the Scorpion Tail Swipe? This was clearly a great chance for you to score a hit. What disappoints me the most is that you did not notice any of the errors you made during your fight, or even the missed chances ¡ª you are literally abat idiot."


    Many prodigies would often notice their own weaknesses during battle, but unfortunately, Ling Lan did not notice anything at all in her fight up till the very end. Even now, she had still been pleased with herself over her sessful trick, which was why Instructor Number One was so angry. "If it wasn¡¯t the fact that the opponent wanted to know how much you all could do, you would have already been killed at this point." Instructor Number One rolled back the scene to when she had started facing the examiner directly, pointing out how the examiner had stopped many of his moves halfway through so as to avoid injuring Ling Lan.


    Under Instructor Number One¡¯s detailed analysis, Ling Lan grew more and more ashamed. She had really thought she had performed pretty well in that battle, but who knew that she had actually done so badly, making mistake after mistake. Her tion at having hit the examiner today disappeared without a trace, leaving behind a cold ball of shame in her gut and her back drenched with sweat.


    "Looks like we need to have a round of wilderness training. We¡¯ll see what to do next after you learn how to hunt!" Instructor Number One coolly announced Ling Lan¡¯s fate.


    Before Ling Lan could ask any questions or beg for mercy, Instructor Number One had flicked his finger once again. Ling Lan saw the scenery change around her, and then she was standing in a primordial forest with Number One. She could hear the sound of a flowing stream in the distance, as well as the fearsome calls of some unknown wild beasts.


    Ling Lan¡¯s little heart felt like it was beating out of her chest. Although she had never spent much time in a forest before, she knew that this type of ce was rife with danger ¡ª not only were there wild beasts wandering around, nature itself was an intimidating thing, and there were also other unknown terrors lurking within.


    Ling Lan¡¯s face fell rapidly, however, she knew that this hunting mission was definitely unavoidable. This year had taught her that once Instructor Number One had made up his mind, nothing was going to change it.


    Still, she intended to try and plead with Instructor Number One for just a little more preparation time, so she could go back and ask Little Four for some wilderness survival tips. Unfortunately, Instructor Number One saw through her ns, and without giving her the chance to speak he said, please enjoy yourself, and promptly disappeared in a sh of light from this endlessly verdant world.


    Dammit! Number One, you are truly vicious!


    Ling Lan savagely directed her middle finger towards the direction where Number One had been standing in a disy of futile anger.

 Chapter 42: Hunting and Being Hunted!

    Chapter 42: Hunting and Being Hunted!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Dawn. When the first ray of sunlight prated the dense foliage of the forest, slowly lending it its warmth, the originally quiescent green world began to wake up once again. Various creatures started crawling out of their nests, beginning a new cycle of their daily routine ¡ª¡ª hunting and being hunted.


    On the ground, an unnamed little creature with wrinkled skin was stealthily making its way over to its destination. It was very small, only roughly the size of two human fists, but it dragged a wide t tail behind it that was twice the length of its body.


    It had no choice but to be careful. In this forest, 80% of the animals could kill it easily ¡ª and unfortunately, its meat was tender, so even though it was small and had very little meat, many of therger creatures still wouldn¡¯t mind hunting it as an appetiser.


    Its intended destination was an area full of shallow water depressions up ahead. That area was a swamnd, very suitable for its survival, because its light weight and body shape allowed it to move freely around the swamp without sinking into it. Aside from those creatures whose natural habitat was the swamp, other creatures could not even enter the area, making it much safer for the creature.


    Of course, most importantly, there was food for it here as well, making it well worth its while toe here. It almost started drooling thinking of food ¡ª the fish in the shallow depressions here were just too tasty.


    It finally made it there, smooth sailing all the way.


    At this time, in the shallow water of the numerous depressions, fish the length of fingers were joyfully swimming around, darting from one depression to another. All of the depressions were connected by countless narrow streams of water ¡ª although these streams were much too small for bigger fish to get through, they allowed these small fish to swim between the depressions unhindered. In one particr depression, the fish were greedily nibbling on some of the water weeds, oblivious to the fact that their natural enemy had arrived and was getting ready to feast on them to satisfy its hunger.


    The wrinkled animal entered the swamp and darted swiftly into one of the depressions. The fish scattered in fright, but swam blindly in their panic, ending up in a dead end ... In the end, their only oue was to be devoured by the agile wrinkled creature.


    After eating up the fishes in this depression, the creature climbed out of it and shook itself, causing the water droplets on its body to go flying, until its skin was once again as dry and pristine as before.


    It then rested for a little while. Hunting was not easy ¡ª actions that seemed easy actually took up a lot of its body strength. Still, even while it rested, it vigntly kept a lookout on its surroundings, afraid that a strong enemy would appear to eat it.


    Soon after, it had regained its strength, and had begun sneaking over to the next depression ...


    However, it did not notice ¡ª in the swamp not too far away from it, a pair of gelid eyes had locked themselves on its figure, prepared to ambush it during its next meal.


    When it once again leapt into another depression to capture more fish, the owner of the gelid eyes struck. A thick ck cable shot out, skirting by the edges of the depression, and the wrinkled animal was gone. The clear sound of flesh hitting water could be heard and then a water snake as thick as a man¡¯s arm could be seen sitting in the middle of the depression, its lower half curled up neatly beneath it. From a nce, it looked like it was about three metres long, perhaps more.


    In its mouth, the wrinkled creature was struggling with all its might, pping its wide tail around, but to no avail. It was swallowed by the water snake, bit by bit, until it finally disappearedpletely into the snake¡¯s gullet.


    The water snake raised its head, waiting for its food to travel down its throat into its stomach. And then, right at this moment, arge maw appeared abruptly beside it, sharp teeth glinting menacingly in the sunlight. Before the water snake could react, it had already been bitten, right where it was most vulnerable.


    Of course, the water snake was unwilling to justy back and die ¡ª before it died, it used the whole length of its three metre long body to wrap tightly around the opponent, hoping to bring it along with it into death. Unfortunately, the opponent was still mped onto its vital point, so it could not hold on for long. It soon died, and its coils loosened around its attacker.


    And then, a hulking creature climbed out from the depths of the swamp. Its overall appearance looked very much like that of Earth¡¯s crocodiles, butpared to a crocodile, its body was evenrger, and its four limbs were even thicker.


    It was the king of this swamp, and its favourite food was naturally the fastest and stealthiest water snakes. However, water snakes were extremely hard to catch ¡ª the moment they saw its shadow, they would flee immediately, slithering swiftly into the swamp water and disappearingpletely. Thus, it could only disguise itself and wait patiently ¨C at times up to a whole day and night ¨C to get its prize. Today, it would eat well.


    It raised its head and opened its jaws wide, putting thisrge snake into its mouth, slowly tearing it into pieces as it chewed and swallowed. Halfway through its meal, while half of the snake¡¯s body was still dangling outside its mouth, it caught sight of a dark shadow falling rapidly from above it with the corner of its eye.


    Dammit, what creature dares to disturb the King of the Swamp at its meal? It did not even consider the possibility of an ambush ¡ª it was the undisputed king of the food chain here, no creature would dare think of hunting it ...


    Before it could take a closer look, it felt a bone-deep piercing pain starting from its mouth go through its entire body. It let out a furious roar, a sign of its rage and disbelief that a creature would dare to harm it. It wanted to tear that creature apart with its sharp teeth, but found that it could not close its mouth anymore.


    No, it wasn¡¯t that it couldn¡¯t close it ¡ª somehow, sometime, a wooden staff had made its way into its mouth. It tried to dislodge the staff, but then found that it couldn¡¯t move its body either.


    Indeed, it was like it had been pinned to the ground. Aside from flinging its limbs around uselessly, it could not move at all. It had no idea what was going on, and as rage continued to build within it, it tried to roar again, but now found that it couldn¡¯t even do that anymore. And then the pain hit, coursing through every part of its body, so intense that it couldn¡¯t handle it. What the heck was going on?


    "So troublesome." Along with this voice, an extremely fragile looking thing appeared by its head. And then, the creature¡¯s final memory was of the strange creature lifting its scrawny foot above its head and stomping down viciously.


    Without any change in her expression, Ling Lan pulled her foot out from the skull of this king of the swamp. She had no interest in watching the death struggle of the creature and so had kindly put it out of its misery by stomping through its skull.


    Looking at the white brain matter all over her shoes, Ling Lan no longer felt the disgust she had felt at the beginning. The current Ling Lan was enveloped by an aura of honed aggression, just like a king of the jungle; she was no longer the weak and timid person she was before.


    Of course, with Ling Lan¡¯s current strength, fighting this creature in the swamp head on was not impossible. However, this fellow¡¯s skin was as strong as steel and Ling Lan had no weapons which could pierce through it. This skin it had was exactly why it could withstand the water snake¡¯s desperate counterattack at the end. Still, all creatures had their weaknesses and this swamp king was no exception.


    The insides of the swamp king was very fragile, which was why the swamp king normally would not leave its mouth open. For the only way to attack its insides, was through its mouth. As such, Ling Lan had decided to conceal herself within the swamp and wait till the swamp king started hunting. And when the swamp king had started to eat, she had taken the opportunity to stuff a small tree down its throat, all the way to its tail, sealing its fate with one blow.


    Getting to this point was not easy for Ling Lan. Many times, due to problems with emotional control, the swamp king had managed to sense her killing intent and evade her attack, causing her to lose her chance. Thus, Ling Lan had paid the price of death several times over before she finally grasped the ability to hunt wlessly. The trials and difficulties she went through in the entire process were truly too numerous to be cited.

 Chapter 43: The Experience of Death!

    Chapter 43: The Experience of Death!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan had initially thought that she would have to stay in this virtual forest for up to two or three years before she would get used to it and see some results ... but in reality, humans were exceedingly smart and adaptable creatures. Especially for those who were already equipped with offensive and defensive abilities, adapting to this dangerous environment was even easier than expected. Within a month, Ling Lan was now able to move freely through the forest.


    Ling Lan had never been a reckless person, so when Instructor Number One had disappeared, she had been very, very cautious with her every step. After all, having never been in the wild before, the forest was an unknown swathe of darkness in her eyes. Furthermore, she strongly believed that this forest was a terrifying ce ¡ª so her first thought was not about hunting, but rather on how she would be able to survive to see the light of the next day.


    Reality proved that she had still been too na?ve and had underestimated the dangers of the forest. She had not even made it till the night of the first day before she had been bitten by some unknown venomous insects hidden within the grass. This was her first experience with death ¡ª in the-speak of her previous world, her virgin death.


    Frankly, Ling Lan¡¯s virgin death was not at all easy. It could even be described as gory, capable of turning the stomach of anyone who saw it ¡ª the scene of her death was unbelievably horrific.


    For the rest of her life, Ling Lan never wanted to experience that sort of death ever again. The venom of the insects had been potently vicious, causing immense pain to its victim. This pain was even worse than the pain she had endured through her sickness from her previous life, even more prating than the pain she had endured during the medicinal baths of this life ¡ª because on top of the pain, was an uncontroble itch that could not be resisted ... she would never forget it.


    For three whole days, Ling Lan had suffered and itched. She had watched as she personally scratched away the bloody flesh from her body bit by bit, and all she had felt then was relief and a perverse sort of pleasure, until her body had been reduced to scraps of skin and flesh hanging on an almost empty skeleton. Only then did she breathe herst breath.


    Back then, she had thought that that was the end of it, that she was finally free from the torments of this forest, free to go back to reality. But when she opened her eyes once again, she was back where Instructor Number One had first dumped her, still within the forest. It was then that Ling Lan realised that this virtual world created by the learning space was not as simple as she had assumed ¡ª she would not be able to return to reality just by waiting it out.


    It was tied up with a mission ¡ª so until the mission waspleted, she was stuck here, unable to return.


    Thus, even though she was still traumatised by her first death experience, for the sake of returning to reality, Ling Lan had no choice but to buck up and force herself to continue exploring the forest so that she couldplete her mission. Ling Lan had not forgotten what Instructor Number One had said ¡ª his words had clearly indicated that she was to learn how to hunt.


    However, when Ling Lan managed to kill one of the forest creatures weaker than her, the learning space did not react at all. This told Ling Lan that she would not be able to aplish this mission on a technicality ¡ª she would most likely have to kill a fierce beast several times stronger than her for it to count.


    And so she started challenging this primordial forest. She encountered many dangers along the way ¡ª some she managed to escape, while most of the others naturally resulted in her death.


    She had been devoured by a swarm of ants, eaten alive until she was nothing but bones. She had been ambushed by an adorable looking animal, small but vicious, ending up as its meal. And she had also died from eating some poisonous fruits by ident, as well as experienced being bitten by some pestilent mosquitoes, dying in the end from the ravages of disease.


    However, all these countless deaths were not for nothing ¡ª Ling Lan gradually learned how to survive in this primordial forest. She absorbed all the knowledge she gained from her deaths, throwing away the kind and softer emotions that were unnecessary here, only keeping her level-headedness and her ruthlessness. From then on, all the creatures in the forest had only twobels in her eyes ¡ª¡ª¡®threat¡¯ or ¡®food¡¯.


    Through it all, Ling Lan gradually shifted from her initial timid and uncertain self into her current cool and selfposed persona. She could now face any danger without fear, and confidence oozed from her every pore. The entire forest was like her own backyard to her now ¡ª she knew all the animals and hazards here as well as the palm of her hand.


    This time, she had decided to hunt the swamp king after much thought and consideration. Even though the terrain here was more treacherous than many other areas within the forest, this also meant that the swamp king had a much lower guard than the other kings of the forest. Due to ack of contest, the swamp king was alsoparatively weaker, and although the terrain was to the swamp king¡¯s advantage, it wasn¡¯t necessarily a disadvantage for Ling Lan either.


    And so, Ling Lan had set a trap. Her first few attempts all ended in failure, where she often ended up as the swamp king¡¯s excrement, only managing to escape a handful of times. However, every failure added to her experience and Ling Lan slowly but surely started to grasp the swamp king¡¯s hunting habits. To give the swamp king a false sense of security, although Ling Lan had been lying in ambush every day, she had not made a move for over a week ...


    Ling Lan could still remember Instructor Number One¡¯s rebuke, saying that she did not know how to mix feints into her attacks, that continuous sneak attacks were not really sneak attacks anymore. And Ling Lan did not want to make the same mistake twice.


    Finally, today, Ling Lan saw a rare opportunity. Perhaps because Ling Lan had not attacked at all this week, the swamp king seemed to think that it had killed off all the stupid animals that dared threaten it. Moreover, it had just managed to capture its favourite snack of juicy, tender water snake, putting it in a great mood, and so it had subconsciously let down its guard ...


    Which was when Ling Lan had struck. This time, Ling Lan finally managed to deal a beautiful killing blow, which was also proof that Ling Lan had truly mastered the art of hiding her killing intent, sessfully nabbing her prey.


    As the swamp king fell dead before her, Ling Lan closed her eyes and reflected on how she had felt back when she had dealt the killing blow. There had been no agitation, no excitement, only cool patience and focus ¡ª Ling Lan savoured the difference between her previous attacks and this one, and understood that she had been too hasty before, too concerned with the final oue to maintain herposure. The moment the still pool of her emotions had rippled, her killing intent had seeped out.


    Ling Lanughed as her hands tightened into fists. Perhaps she could go back now and leave this godforsaken ce behind. Although Ling Lan was no longer afraid of the primordial forest, it didn¡¯t mean she liked it here. It was too lonely here ¨C there was no one to talk to, no one to spare her any bit of warmth ¨C she was just about to have a breakdown over the imposed solitude. It was just fortunate that she had great mental fortitude, otherwise she¡¯d have already been driven insane by now.


    Just then, Ling Lan sensed a change in her surroundings,ing from right behind her. She did not turn around, but her posture shifted minutely so that she would be ready to defend herself and fight back at any moment.


    "Not bad at all!" A familiar voice rang out from behind her, and Ling Lan felt rage roil within her even as she felt a profound sense of relief.


    Without thinking, she sprung backwards with a dip of her feet, leaning back as she flew through the air, flipped into a somersault, and then facing that man, she resolutely unleashed her leg into a savage kick aimed in his direction ...


    Dammit, Number One, you bastard! I¡¯ll kick you to death! The long-suffering Ling Lan could no longer keep calm.


    Instructor Number One was expressionless as always ¡ª seeing Ling Lan¡¯s attack, he did not even move his feet, merely holding out two fingers and aiming them at Ling Lan¡¯s iing foot.


    "Bam!" The two shed, producing a rather muffled sound, and Ling Lan felt a huge wave of energy swell from the bottom of her foot. Her entire body was thrown backwards, and that delicate foot that was capable of crushing the swamp king¡¯s skull actually felt a little numb, losing allbat ability in a moment.


    Ling Lan took control of her body in mid-air with a twist of her waist, allowing her tond on her feet right back where she had started, on top of the dead swamp king¡¯s head.

 Chapter 44: Resolving a Potential Problem

    Chapter 44: Resolving a Potential Problem


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    "Still able to unleash your anger, I see. Looks like you¡¯ve adapted well." Number One stood in the air before Ling Lan, an almost imperceptible trace of mirth in his eyes as he acknowledged Ling Lan¡¯s achievements for the first time.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help the little surge of happiness she felt at Instructor Number One¡¯s words, feeling as if she had been praised by an elder. However, Ling Lan was not so easily cated ¡ª her face stony, she asked huffily, "Instructor Number One, weren¡¯t you afraid that I would be driven insane by this cruel environment?"


    Ling Lan knew very well that if she hadn¡¯t been so mentally resilient, this primordial forest was totally capable of driving a regr adult out of his or her mind, much less an apparent six year old child like her. No matter how talented the child was, he or she would not be able to survive for long in this fearsome forest.


    Although one could revive countless times in here, the various horrific ways of dying and their realistic rendering upon one¡¯s body was more than enough to devastate a child¡¯s growing mind, mission notwithstanding.


    Ling Lan was very doubtful ¡ª was this learning space truly meant to cultivate children, or was it actually meant to destroy a child¡¯s future? Thus, she spilled her doubts to Number One.


    Number One¡¯s expression remained impassive, as he asked in return, "Are you insane?" Implied was the fact that Ling Lan¡¯s apparent sanity made her protests moot. If Ling Lan had truly be insane, then she wouldn¡¯t have been able to protest anyway ...


    Ling Lan stared up at the sky, speechless, weeping internally. Hells, she knew better now. As hosts, they had no true power whatsoever ¡ª as they grew up, they were subject to the cruel bullying of the learning space, with no room at all to fight back.


    Satisfied with Ling Lan¡¯s acquiescence, Number One said, "Since you havepleted the mission, the learning space will not skimp on your reward."


    That said, Ling Lan immediately heard the notification from the learning space¡¯s system. "Hunting missionpleted, 50 honour points awarded."


    Hells, this learning space was so goddamn stingy!


    Ling Lan spat in her heart. This proved that her original hypothesis had not been wrong ¡ª honour points were indeed difficult to obtain. This extreme mission which had almost driven her insane was only worth 50 points! She couldn¡¯t help but rejoice that she had not carelessly wasted those honour points she had received in the beginning.


    After the system had rewarded her, Number One did not say anything, only flicking a finger. The environment around them twisted once again, and the endless greenery, the swamp, and the skeletons all faded away, to be reced by an empty field.


    They had once again returned to the learning space where she had learned physical skills from Instructor Number Nine. Looking at the familiar grounds, Ling Lan was struck by how beautiful this scenery before her was for the first time ... even though there really was nothing in front of her.


    "Time is almost up ¡ª you should go back. Remember to contain your malevolent aura ..." Without rifying further, Instructor Number One summarily kicked Ling Lan out of the learning grounds, and in the very next second, Ling Lan had appeared within the great hall of the mind-space.


    In a corner, Little Four was seated in a thinking pose. As if sensing something, he lifted his head suddenly, and his eyes filled with joy as he saw Ling Lan. Just as he was about to pounce on her, he suddenly leapt back instead, scurrying to hide behind arge pir in panic. From there, he peeked out warily, and said, "Boss?"


    Little Four¡¯s shiftiness irritated Ling Lan. With a flying leap, she had grabbed hold of Little Four¡¯s earlobe before he could react.


    "Little Four, what are you running away for..." sneered Ling Lan. Although she could do nothing against Instructor Number One, it was a piece of cake for her to handle the rascal Little Four.


    "Objection! Objection! You promised me that you would never again use violence on me!" Little Four protested, jumping up and down in rage, and his initial fear fled. Trying to use violence on him ¡ª this must be Boss Ling Lan. Just for a moment, he had mistaken Ling Lan for someone else, a malevolent butcher filled with bloodthirst and killing intent ...


    With an annoyed huff, Ling Lan released Little Four¡¯s ear, asking, "Then why were you acting like you weren¡¯t sure who I was? Who else would enter this ce?"


    Little Four peered intently at Ling Lan, and then said, "Boss, have you not noticed the changes to your body?" As his voice tapered off, arge full-body mirror appeared before them, reflecting both their images faithfully.


    Ling Lan lifted her head to look, and immediately understood what Little Four was saying. Now she also understood why Instructor Number One had reminded her to contain her malevolent aura when he left.


    The Ling Lan in the mirror was no longer the wide-eyed innocent she had been. Ferocious eyes, killing intent lingering in her gaze, and the faint air of blood-tinged malevolence around her ¡ª all indications that this child was a savage wild beast, fully capable of attacking you the very next second if a chance presented itself.


    "How did this happen?" Ling Lan rubbed at her face frantically, trying to soften her expression. If she went out looking like this, she would definitely scare the living hells out of her mother. And even if she did not frighten her mother, terrifying the old staff and guards in the family would not end well either.


    Under Little Four¡¯s assistance, Ling Lan finally managed to reign in the malevolent aura around her. With some effort, she squeezed out a smile, and finally rediscovered the harmless Ling Lan of before. Satisfied, only then did she wave goodbye to Little Four and return to the outside world.


    Little Four energetically waved goodbye to Ling Lan, sending her off. When Ling Lan¡¯s figure had disappearedpletely from his sight, he finally gave up supporting himself and slumped to the ground, wiping away a handful of sweat from his forehead. Even if he was beaten to death, he would never admit to Ling Lan that he had been the one to extend the time period of the illusionary environment to its maximum setting ...


    Alright, so Ling Lan¡¯s forced stay in the primordial forest was not really Instructor Number One¡¯s fault, but rather due to Little Four¡¯s meddling. It could only be said that it was just Ling Lan¡¯s misfortune to have such an imbecilic teammate in Little Four ¡ª it was pure luck that she hadn¡¯t gone mad.


    Back in the real world, due to Ling Lan¡¯s previous diligence, she seemed as weak and fragile as ever, appearing without her newly developed malevolent aura, and so garnered no special attention from the people around her. Still, the very next day, Ling Lan submitted a request for actualbat training to Chambein Ling Qin.


    Naturally, the excuse she used was the final test at the academy, when she had had to fight the examiner. She imed that ¡ª because she had never encountered actualbat before, she did not perform well in the exam and failed to get a higher score, resulting in her 17th spot ranking when entering the Central Scout Academy.


    Ling Lan exined that she could not rx now ¡ª perhaps when she entered the academy, actualbat would be one of the specialised courses she would have to take, and she didn¡¯t want to lose face again. Consequently, she wanted to take the initiative before schooling started to train in actualbat.


    In truth, this was an arrangement requested by Instructor Number One to solve the potential problem of her malevolent aura.


    Malevolent energy should not be contained forcefully over long periods of time ¡ª this would harm Ling Lan¡¯s body in the long run, perhaps even affecting her growth. Only when she could control her malevolent aura freely, just like her instructors or other battle-experienced veterans, would the problem be resolved.


    Ling Lan¡¯s request moved Ling Qin immensely. What elders loved most was to see their beloved juniors show ambition, aiming for sess. Without any hesitation, he summoned the best warriors in the Ling household, and charged them as sparring partners for the young master.


    In this manner, Ling Lan began her self-torture program in this one month before school started.


    In the morning she fought against the Ling family warriors, while at night she was tormented by Instructor Number Nine. At her current level, Ling Lan still hadn¡¯t earned the right to be tormented by Number One ...


    With this continuous cycle ofbat every day and night, Ling Lan¡¯s tightly contained malevolent aura began to seep out slowly, until she managed to reign it in again, little by little, until it finally disappeared without a trace. In the end, only when Ling Lan had the intent to kill, would her malevolent aura reveal itself.


    Due to Number One¡¯s timely arrangements, Ling Lan safely passed the time when her secret could be discovered. Meanwhile, only two days were left till the start of school.

 Chapter 45: Who Wants to Kill Ling Lan?

    Chapter 45: Who Wants to Kill Ling Lan?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    On the official first day of school, Ling Lan refused Lan Luofeng¡¯s attempts to send her to school, only allowing Chambein Ling Qin alone to go with her and register.


    It couldn¡¯t be helped ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s eyelid had been twitching ever since she woke up early in the morning, and although she tried to convince herself not to be superstitious ... just in case, for safety reasons, Ling Lan was determined to leave her defenceless mother at home.


    Of course, once Ling Lan was seated in the hover car, she began discussing the causes of this physiological response with Little Four, trying to dispel her worry. However, the two of them were like half-empty cans rattling baselessly, neither being able to state anything for certain, and so the discussion could only devolve into confusion.


    Looking at the dizzy spirals of confusion that used to be Little Four¡¯s eyes, the chagrined Ling Lan decisively ended their fruitless discussion. She summarily concluded that the phenomenon was an unsolvable mystery, which somehow earned her the gullible Little Four¡¯s awestruck gaze.


    Even as Ling Lan basked in that gaze, she turned away so that Little Four was out of her sight. Hells, it was never her intention to dazzle an underage child with lies.


    Just as Ling Lan was trying to dispel the guilt she felt at her deceit, her gaze narrowed and she lifted her head to look out the car window. At the same time, Chambein Ling Qin beside her had also sensed the danger, and with a grim expression, he said, "Ling-Zero-Seven, switch into full-body emergency defense mode, and send out a distress signal."


    "Yes, orders acknowledged by Ling-Zero-Seven." As the master¡¯s designated vehicle, Ling-Zero-Seven was no ordinary hover car.


    As Ling-Zero-Seven¡¯s voice faded, Ling Lan saw that the transparent areas of the inner car were abruptly covered by another equally transparent defensiveyer. Meanwhile, she and Chambein Ling Qin had been securely buckled into their seats by safety belts which had sprung out from the seats. Then, Ling-Zero-Seven¡¯s speed kicked up a notch and it flew forward rapidly.


    Still, despite Ling-Zero-Seven¡¯s new elerated speed, they still did not manage to dodge the opponent¡¯s attack.


    A cold glint shed through Ling Lan¡¯s eyes and she gripped the handlebar beside her with both hands.


    "Crash!" A huge energy wave flipped the hover car and sent it spinning. Ling-Zero-Seven struggled with all its might to regain control of its unstable body.


    "Warning, warning! Body integrity at 71.28%, energy consumption at 22% ¡ª we can only withstand the same attack two more times!" reported Ling-Zero-Seven as it finally regained control of its body.


    "Ling-Zero-Seven, abandon pre-set route. Implement irregr driving; throw them off as much as you can." Ling Qin¡¯s eyes shone with ruthlessness ¡ª he would never let these people off for daring to try and harm the hope of the Ling family.


    "Yes!" Ling-Zero-Seven diverted from its usual movement style ¡ª not only did it increase its speed to 2.2 horsepower, it also began moving in random directions every so often, evading the enemies¡¯ long distance attacks again and again.


    Inside the car, Ling Qin calmly tugged open a buckle in front of his seat and arge box appeared before Ling Lan. In it was a protective vest, as well as an assortment of weapons.


    Already educated in this respect, Ling Lan knew that the weapons in the box included a type-II particle-beam submachine gun, a portable cold fusion gun, two sh grenades, two tear gas grenades, a smoke grenade, and of course, two ultra-lithium alloy short swords for meleebat. In the words of her previous world, the two short swords were so sharp that they could slice through iron as if it were soil, and could split a strand of hair if the wind blew it across their edges.


    All these weapons were controlled items by the military, forbidden for civilian use. However, where there¡¯s a will, there¡¯s a way ¡ª people would always find a way to get what they want; moreover, the Ling family was established via military means to begin with, and had countless ties with the military. As such, obtaining these weapons was really not that difficult for them.


    Ling Lan saw that there was a simr buckle in front of her, so she pulled on it and an identical box appeared before her.


    Ling Qin briefly exined to Ling Lan how they were able to ess these weapons so easily, "As long as the emergency defense mode has been activated, these weapon boxes will be unlocked. Under normal circumstances, even if you tried to pry thepartments open, you would never be able to get to the weapons."


    Ling Qin instructed Ling Lan to follow his lead and put on the protective vest. Who knew how long the hover car could continue to resist and stay afloat ¡ª it was necessary to take all possible precautions and defensive measures as early as possible.


    Ling Lan nodded her understanding and quickly put on the vest, and then strapped the two short swords securely to the sides of her legs. After some thought, she also picked up the portable cold fusion gun. Although it wasn¡¯t as powerful as the type-II particle-beam submachine gun, it was smaller and lighter, which made it much more suitable for a six year old child like her. Lastly, she took out the two sh grenades and tucked them into the side pockets of her protective vest, leaving the other grenades behind.


    The usefulness of a weapon was not decided by its firepower, but by its suitability ¡ª Ling Lan had learned this principle well from both her Ling family tutors and the learning space. Seeing her choices, Ling Qin nodded approvingly ¡ª Ling Lan had selected only those weapons which suited her. Although the other two grenades were very good for harassing the enemy, since they didn¡¯t have the proper protective gear, the grenades wouldn¡¯t be of much use to them.


    ********


    Several miles away, 413¡¯s squad, which had chosen to guard Ling Lan from a distance to avoid being spotted by them, were shocked and dismayed by the unexpected attack.


    "F*ck. Brothers, charge if you don¡¯t want to die!" Piloting his own mecha, 413 rushed swiftly towards the scene. Inside the mecha, his entire face was white ¡ª if any harm befell Ling Lan, he would certainly be yed alive by his demonmander.


    All this time, 413¡¯s squad had been having a pretty easygoing time of it. Ling Lan wasn¡¯t an active and rambunctious child who liked to run about ¡ª this made their job very easy, only needing to patrol around the perimeters of the Ling household every so often.


    The six of them pushed their mechas to the max, the sirens on their mechas wailing as they rushed in Ling Lan¡¯s direction. As they got closer and closer to the scene ...


    "Watch out! Scatter!" 413, who was in the lead, felt his hairs stand up, and he rolled to one side with a loud bellow.


    Six figures scattered apart as a powerful beam of cold light shot through their original path.


    "Number 2, unharmed!"


    "Number 3 mecha, right foot frozen."


    "Number 4, everything¡¯s normal."


    "Number 5, lost control of left hand."


    "Number 6, no damage."


    The five members of the squad immediately reported their status to 413. Only Number 3 and Number 5 had received damage in thatst attack.


    "Number 4, Number 6 ¡ª protect Number 3, Number 5. Number 2, with me against the enemy," ordered 413.


    "Yes, Sir!"


    Just then, a team of mecha troopers flew in from various angles to convene in front of 413. Their neat standardised mecha, equipped to the teeth with weaponry, betrayed the savage nature of the enemy, causing 413¡¯s face to be as dark as a thundercloud.


    413 turned on hismunication button. "What unit are you from? What is your intention?" This type of standardised mecha and its full set of arms were only avable within military channels. The military would never allow this sort of weaponry to fall into civilian hands ¡ª meaning that, these people had to havee from the military. And to be able to send out a squad of mecha troopers without alerting anyone, it had to be someone from the upper levels of the military.


    So, who in the upper ranks of the military wanted Ling Lan dead? Could it really be the mole concealed within the military?


    Still, just for the sake of one small promising seedling ... was all this firepower really necessary? Were they not afraid of exposing themselves?


    At this point, 413 was still unaware that Ling Lan was Ling Xiao¡¯s child. If he knew, then perhaps he would understand why someone would put so much effort into killing Ling Lan.

 Chapter 46: Scared?

    Chapter 46: Scared?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    413¡¯s questions met only silence, and then a wave of fire and artillery attacks was headed straight for him and his squad.


    "Damn! Activate Beam Shield," bellowed 413. The opponent was clearly trying to kill them all to silence them ¡ª it looked like there was no more room for diplomacy.


    On the other hand, when the enemy squad saw the mecha of their opponents using advanced beam shields, their leader raged, "Why do the rebel troops have this type of weaponry? Looks like the information was correct ¡ª someone in the upper ranks of the military has betrayed the Federation. Focus your fire, and break through those shields! Kill them all ¡ª themander has ordered to take no prisoners."


    "Yes, Sir!" Following that, an even more ferocious barrage of long-range fire rained down upon 413¡¯s squad, rendering them immobile.


    "Sir, what should we do?" asked 413¡¯s squad members as they fended off the opponent¡¯s attacks with their beam shields. Although they were veterans, butchers who had returned from the battlefield, capable of mercilessly ughtering enemy troops, they were still reluctant to fight troops from their own country.


    "Number 3, contact headquarters. Number 5, cover. The rest of you, attack with me!" 413 ordered without hesitation. Pulling out a beam sword from behind him, he charged towards the enemy.


    413 knew very well that the opponent might just be a squad of mecha troopers who had been deceived by their superior,pletely ignorant that their mission was a mistake. Still, he could not afford to be merciful. He was responsible for the lives of five subordinates and could not allow them to die because of his hesitation. Furthermore, the opponent intended to kill an innocent child ¡ª this was something he would not allow ...


    Their captain¡¯s decisiveness was channelled through to the squad members. The battlefield was no ce for hesitation orpassion ¡ª only the more ruthless person would survive.


    The mecha trooper squad saw four of the opponent mechas rushing towards them with their beam shields up. Their captain harrumphed and said coldly, "Launch the detonation cables."


    Following this order, a fiery dragon shot out from each of the six mechas, converging on the four approaching opponents.


    Suddenly, there was the crisp sound of several gun shots and the six dragons exploded instantly. A series of explosions followed soon after as the numerous bombs on the detonating cable were set off. There was a tremendous st, sending tremors through the earth, as well as cloaking the entire scene in smoke.


    Apparently, Number 5, who had been charged with providing cover fire, had deftly used the particle-beam gun on his functional right arm to shoot six clean shots, striking those detonation cables and setting them off, protecting 413 and the others in the process.


    His view clouded by smoke, the captain of the opponent mecha squad hesitated. Should he continue to overwhelm the enemy with sheer firepower? However, this short pause was enough for the enemy; a ring warning went through his mecha¡¯s systems, "Danger. Enemy lock-on detected. Evade, evade ..."


    His first response was to retreat quickly, because he could already see the lead opponent mecha charging out from the smoke, heading fiercely in his direction.


    Panicked, he raised the particle-beam gun in his hands, pressing down on the trigger desperately. In this moment, he hadpletely forgotten how to dodge in his machine, only thinking about how to make the opponent retreat or stop with his attacks.


    And then, he saw the opponent suddenly deviate from his straight path, moving instead in a strange radian, skilfully avoiding the dense rain of his particle-beam attacks. His pupils contracting, he shouted in shock, "Freeform evasion! How does he know the most advanced evasion manoeuvre of our military? What the hell is this?" Even as one of the top students at military school, he had yet to learn this skill ¡ª why was such a formidable person in the rebel forces?


    Heavens, what in the world was happening? It was at this moment that he began to feel that something wasn¡¯t right with the situation. But then it was toote.


    From hismunication systems came the sound of his teammates¡¯ terrified screams, but before he could ask them what was happening, his own mecha¡¯s disy had turned ck. No matter how hard he tried to get it to work, pressing the initiate button over and over again, his mecha did not react.


    Abruptly he realised, his mecha¡¯s movement driver must have been destroyed by the opponent, making him a fish trapped within a jar.


    Why did it have to end this way? How could he, an upstanding graduate who excelled in his military studies, lose to these wild mecha operators of the rebel forces? Had the world order been turned upside down? The mecha trooper squad captain slumped in his now useless control seat, face pale with an expression of deep disbelief.


    When 413 attacked, he had still shown mercy in the end. He had only destroyed the movement drivers of the mecha, avoiding the pilot carriage and sparing the operator¡¯s life. Of course, this was also because the gap in their abilities was distinct, allowing 413 the freedom to choose.


    Looking at the six immobile mechas, 413 couldn¡¯t help but click his teeth. Hells, thank god these mecha troops were greenhorns who had never seen blood before ¡ª otherwise, with their full arsenal against their own simple collection of particle-beam guns and beam swords, the oue of the battle would have been hard to determine.


    At this moment, Number 3, who had sessfully contacted headquarters, reported to 413, "Sir, themander has said to smuggle these people into the Headquarters of the ded Forces, and to destroy their mechaspletely. Best to let the opponent think that the pilots died along with the machines."


    413 nodded, and passed down the order. "Number 3 and Number 5, stay here and carry out themander¡¯s orders. The others, follow me on rescue detail."


    "Yes!"


    Just like that, 413¡¯s squad split into two groups and the four intact mechas sped towards Ling Lan¡¯sst known position.


    Together with his three team members, 413 flew for a distance with their eyes peeled, but saw no strange disturbances within their range of sight. They couldn¡¯t determine Ling Lan¡¯s actual position this way.


    Helpless, 413 could only order his troops, "Fan out and search. Notify me ASAP if you notice anything odd."


    "Yes!" Acknowledging the order, the three mechas behind 413 chose a direction at random and flew off.


    413 controlled his own mecha and continued flying forward. He was undoubtedly anxious ¡ª because of the scuffle with the troops, they had been dyed for up to 5 minutes. Within those 5 minutes, anything could have happened. He fervently hoped that Ling Lan and whoever he was with could hold on and wait for their rescue.


    They really had to find Ling Lan¡¯s whereabouts soon, or else everything would be for naught.


    Leaving aside 413¡¯s frantic search, on Ling Lan¡¯s end, they were going through a high-speed chase and were currently in a precarious situation.


    While evading, the hover car had been hit once more by the opponent¡¯s long-range missiles and had then given out a warning, telling them that the hover car would disassemble in 56 seconds.


    Due to the strain of going over its speed limits, the hover car¡¯s defensive abilities were already on the brink of copse, and adding in the damage it received from the attacks, it could hold on no longer.


    "Scared?" asked Ling Qin with a smile as he stroked Ling Lan¡¯s head. In his other hand, he was already holding a type II particle-beam submachine gun.


    "Nope!" replied Ling Lan coolly, as if she were totally unconcerned whether she lived or died. This surprised Ling Qin yet heartened him at the same time ¡ª Ling Lan was truly a chip off the old block. Naturally, he had no clue that Ling Lan¡¯s apathy towards death was due to her experiences within the illusory primordial forest within the learning space. There, Ling Lan had already learned that fear and terror would not help save her life ¡ª only keeping calm would allow her to capitalise on any chance of survival.


    "Protect yourself!" Ling Qin patted Ling Lan several more times on the head before lifting his head to look out the window. In a sh, the muscles of his entire body stretched taut as he prepared to go on the attack. Ling Lan did the same, except her actions were much subtler.


    Meanwhile, there was now only less than 10 seconds left on Ling-Zero-Seven¡¯s countdown ...

 Chapter 47: The Self-Volunteering Little Four!

    Chapter 47: The Self-Volunteering Little Four!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Once Ling-Zero-Seven¡¯s countdown hit 1, the still speeding hover car came to an abrupt stop. Ling Lan felt as if she would be flung out of the vehicle, but because her seatbelt was very secure, she stayed anchored in her seat.


    Soon, Ling Lan sensed the inertia fading, but unexpectedly, her entire body suddenly felt light and the safety belt unbuckled. It turned out that the hover car was beginning to disassemble, breaking into multiple pieces.


    "Run!" barked Ling Qin. He braced himself against the hover car for onest moment before being the first to spring out of the vehicle. Ling Qin had already made up his mind ¡ª he would set himself up as bait to draw away the surrounding assassins, giving Ling Lan a chance to escape.


    Ling Lan followed him out soon after. Amidst the numerous pieces of wreckage from the hover car, she quickly grabbed hold of one of therger pieces she had set her eyes on immediately. It wasn¡¯t toorge or too small, just right for sheltering her small body, and it was also flying off towards anding point which suited her.


    Like a lizard, Ling Lan clung to the piece of debris, and under the cover of the other debris flying around, she flipped herself nimbly in mid-air to hide behind the debris and reined in her presence. She then let the debris fly as it would until it fell with her positioned below it onto an empty plot of ground with no cover in sight.


    At the moment shended, Ling Lan circted her Qi throughout her body, filling her limbs and torso with energy as she crashed into the ground. Unknown to outside observers, arge ditch had been carved into the ground under the piece of debris she was holding onto, with Ling Lan fully ensconced within it. Naturally, the piece of debris was t against the ground above her ¡ª no one would suspect a person could be hiding under that debris.


    Ling Lan chose to hide in this manner because it took advantage of people¡¯s general assumptions and blind spots ¡ª in this t open ground with no ce to hide, her hiding ce would be easily overlooked, since the natural tendency was to focus on the surrounding shrubs and tufts of wild grass where people were more likely to hide.


    Of course, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t hiding here for safety reasons ¡ª she intended to counterattack. Once everyone¡¯s attention was further ahead, her position would be right behind the attackers, where she would have a chance to deal a killing blow from their neglected backs.


    Ling Lan had no choice but to take this risk. The opponent had chosen their ambush spot too well, where the protection from the cities were the thinnest. From the Ling household to the Central Scout Academy, Ling Lan¡¯s group had always travelled through bustling cities, and it was only during this particr half-hour stretch that they would pass through uninhabitednd. In this stretch, there were only woods or deserted ins, with hardly any people about ¡ª the only living creatures being wild beasts and fowl.


    By setting up their ambush here, the opponents ensured that by the time the cities on both ends received their distress signal and sent out rescue forces, the earliest possible time for reinforcements to arrive would be 15 minutes. Ling Lan believed that these people were fully capable of killing her multiple times over within these 15 minutes. She also believed that if the opponent couldn¡¯t find any trace of her in the surroundings, they would take a scorched-earth approach and do a thorough sweep, perhaps even digging three feet into the ground. When that time came, even if she was hiding in a blind spot, she would still be forced out from her hiding ce. She could not take this gamble.


    Most importantly, she could not be sure that Chambein Ling Qin could hold on for 15 minutes under these circumstances. If she didn¡¯t make a move, it was likely that she would see a loved one die for the first time sinceing to this future world, which was something she really didn¡¯t want to gamble on.


    Soon enough, three hover cars flew over. However, the opponent was very cautious, not driving right up to the main site. Instead, theynded about 30 metres away from where Ling Lan was hiding.


    Two of the hover cars opened up and eight stout men walked out. The eight of them were fully armoured, with protective helmets on their heads and protective suits on their bodies, and particle-beam submachine guns in their hands. These were all standard equipment,mon in both the military and even private personal armouries. Looks like the opponent was cautious in this aspect as well ¡ª anything that could reveal their identity had been excluded.


    The eight men crept closer, carefully, leaving behind that lone hover car with its doors shut. That car had two sma cannons raised high above it, covering the men¡¯s approach, ready to fire at any sign of resistance.


    Obviously, these three hover cars had been privately modified to bebat-suited hover cars, and Ling Lan noticed that there was no Federation-mandated registration number on any of the cars. The opponent was certainly well-prepared.


    Ling Lan did not raise her head at all, yet she knew the current situation as well as the back of her hand. Having Little Four meant that she could be aware of what was happening within the radius of a thousand metres even with her eyes closed. In this way, she knew that much farther away from the hover cars here, at a location not visible from this position, there were two humanoid mechas aiming long-range sniper rifles in this direction. The opponent was really determined to kill them.


    Calmly, Ling Lan calcted the sess rate of several possible attacks within her mind. However, all the scenarios that she had considered in her mind up till now had a sess rate of zero. Still, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t discouraged ¡ª her time in the primordial forest and her survival training there had engraved this lesson into her: be calm even if you were about to die, for a chance would often appear at the most improbable moment.


    For just the possibility of survival, she would have to first solve the problem of the predatory hover car. The two sma cannons were just too great a threat, although the two humanoid mechas in the distance were also a huge headache ... Ling Lan decided to just focus on the problem right before her for now.


    That said, the weapons she had on her now were just not enough for her to get rid of that armoured hover car, not to mention the professional assassins contained within it. With Ling Lan¡¯s current small frame, it might still be possible for her to handle one person, but if she had to fight two, then she would pretty much be like amb to the ughter.


    What should she do?


    "Tch, at this crucial moment, why did you forget me?" In her mind, Little Four, who had been waiting for Ling Lan to call for help all this time, suddenly made his protest heard.


    "Huh? How many people can you handle?" Ling Lan was startled and rather confused ¡ª she herself could not take on two at one time, what could Little Four do as a mental presence without a body?


    "Well, I can¡¯t do anything about the humans, but I can handle cars ..." said Little Four resentfully. Why was his boss so stupid? Humans weren¡¯tputers which he could hack.


    Little Four¡¯s words enlightened Ling Lan ¡ª she had indeed got caught up in thinking within a box. Modern hover cars were all controlled by artificial intelligences, while Little Four was the natural enemy of anything digital. As long as he was given a chance, Little Four could definitely wrest control of the hover cars, which would prevent the car¡¯s weapons from firing ...


    "From this distance, can you do it?" Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help asking once out of worry.


    "Even 10 metres further would be fine ... if your spiritual power were just a bit higher, I¡¯d be able to do it from even further away," replied Little Four with some disdain in his tone, as if looking down on Ling Lan for limiting his range.


    Ling Lan bit out in annoyance, "Just do it. If I kick the bucket here, you¡¯ll also die ..."


    Little Four shuddered ¡ª how did he forget that? He did not dare to kid around anymore, immediately borrowing some of Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power to start infiltrating the hover car.


    By this time, the eight men had already passed by Ling Lan¡¯s hiding ce. After all, there was nothing on this plot ofnd other than several pieces of debris of varying sizes lying t against the ground, no ce at all for someone to hide. Very naturally, they eliminated this area from their consideration, moving steadily towards the surrounding shrubs up ahead. Clearly, that was a much more likely hiding ce.


    As the men got closer and closer to the shrubs, Ling Lan¡¯s heart started thumping anxiously ... because that was exactly where Chambein Ling Qin was hiding.

 Chapter 48: The Psychotic Grandpa Chamberlain!

    Chapter 48: The Psychotic Grandpa Chambein!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    A soft "Pop!" was heard and a smoke grenade flew out from among the shrubs. Triggered, the eight men shot wildly at the grenade ¡ª their marksmanship was excellent; almost every single shot hit the grenade. However, smoke grenades were unlike other grenades which would explode or be ineffective when struck. It continued to release smoke, and the more it was hit, the faster it released smoke, and soon the entire area surrounding the shrubs was shrouded in a thick cloud of smoke. Although the protective helmets of the men were able to inste against the smoke to a certain extent, their vision was still affected.


    Still, the eight men were professional killers after all. They did not panic, firing their particle-beam submachine guns instead without hesitation. Countless particle beams shot out, turning the short shrubs into a pile of ash.


    Ling Lan was not at all worried however, as she had seen Chambein Ling Qin rush into the bushes on his right at the same time he had thrown out the smoke grenade.


    But Ling Qin¡¯s next actions thoroughly stunned Ling Lan ¡ª he untied a thin rope which was coiled around his wrist, and with a quick pinch on one end, the initially solid rope split into countless strands which were as thin as hair.


    Holding onto one end, Ling Qin swiftly tied it onto the trigger of the type II particle-beam gun, and then set up the gun within the bushes. Under the sound of gunfire, he snuck away once again to a new hiding ce. Ling Lan could clearly see that he still held the almost invisible thin strands of the dposed rope in his hands.


    After a round of fire, the eight men saw that the short shrubs had been reduced to cinders. With a quick exchange of nces and some hand signals, two of the men stepped forward. It looked like they wanted to examine the ashes of the shrubs to see if there was any sign of their target there ¡ª of course, any remains would do as well.


    The two men crept forward, and used the tip of their particle-beam guns to sift through the ashes. And right then, gunfire rang out from the right and a wave of particle beams cascaded out. The hidden Ling Qin had pulled on the strands within his hands, setting off the type II gun within the bushes.


    The type II gun ruthlessly expelled particle beams with an intensity that was way stronger than the opponent¡¯s own particle beam guns ¡ª as expected of the newest version of the particle-beam submachine gun.


    This attack was aimed at the six men providing cover ¡ª one of the men could not react in time and was mercilessly shot down. The others, including the two checking the burnt shrubs, were quick to react, directing all their gunfire at the bushes from where the shots originated. They shot unrestrainedly, and one of them finally managed to hit the type II gun lodged within the bushes, detonating it and turning the bushes into a sea of fire.


    Seeing this, the seven men stopped their attack, and their tightly strung nerves rxed. They were certain that since the type II gun had exploded, then the shooter holding it would certainly have been caught in the st. Besides, with this huge fire, even if the shooter didn¡¯t die in the st, he would still be roasted alive and turned into ash.


    But right at this moment, something unexpected urred. Ling Qin flew towards them from one side as heunched a Ling family signal re into the sky.


    It was alright if he died, but Ling Lan must survive. Ling Qin¡¯s purpose in attacking was primarily to draw all their attention, including the attention of the hover car in the background ¡ª he hoped ling Lan would take the chance to escape while they were preupied with him. Moreover, he believed that the Ling family loyalists were already on the way to meet up with them ¡ª with the Ling family¡¯s strength, handling these killers would be no big deal.


    The zing signal re hung high in the sky, surprising several groups of people who were frantically searching for Ling Lan. Exhrated, they turned towards the direction of the re and started rushing there at full speed.


    Ling Qin¡¯s attack was too sudden and unexpected. Only the man in the lead had enough time to react, shooting particle beams desperately to try and fend off Ling Qin¡¯s attack, while the other six just stood there dumbly.


    Quicker than words could say, Ling Qin¡¯s sprinting figure suddenly wavered, and then the leader¡¯s particle beams were behind him.


    The leader eximed in shock, "Irregr flicker!" This was a high level evasive move that was extremely hard to apply well inbat. Typically, anyone who could use this move inbat was certain to be a master fighter.


    A cold smile hung on Ling Qin¡¯s lips. At this moment, he had already gotten close to the assassin closest to him.


    "Quickly fire the sma cannons!" The team leader¡¯s gaze was fierce, holding a vicious determination within it. He shouted loudly through themunicator, retreating swiftly at the same time.


    In truth, the men had disembarked mainly as bait to tempt the opponent to attack ¡ª the true killing blow was always meant to be the hover car behind them. Of course, for these people who were used to operating from the shadows, sacrificing a few subordinates was perfectly normal, which was why the team leader had given up on his subordinate who was being attacked by Ling Qin without any hesitation whatsoever.


    The team leader had already readied himself to dodge, but the hover car behind them did not react as expected and fire its cannons. Instead, it just maintained its original position, along with radio silence.


    Before he could turn back to face the front, he heard a pained scream. The subordinate whom he had ruthlessly abandoned had already been pierced through the throat with a dagger by Ling Qin, and had emitted one final chilling cry. The cry seemed to reverberate with rage and despair ¡ª after all, he had seen with his own eyes how his team leader had abandoned him right before he died.


    Ling Qin¡¯s expression was one of aloof disinterest. His face had been spattered with bright crimson drops of blood, and the cloying scent of blood filled the air, thick enough to cause an average person to vomit. However, Ling Qin seemed perfectly at ease, going so far as to even daintily lick at the blood on the corner of his lips ¡ª¡ª what a psychotic Grandpa Chambein! Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but wail in her heart at the sight. What was up with all these people around her ...?!


    At the taste of blood, Ling Qin¡¯s expression turned obsessed, almost intoxicated ¡ª he hadn¡¯t experienced this bloody taste in so long!


    Two orbs of nameless fire ignited within his eyes. In his youth, he had been the one to crawl through piles of corpses on the battlefield with Ling Xiao¡¯s father ¡ª this sort of carnage was normal for him then. Sadly, after Ling Xiao had been promoted to god-ss, their bloody reign of terror was thoroughly shoved into the past. It wasn¡¯t that Ling Qin wanted to wash his hands of killing, but god-ss operators were the symbol of ultimate strength within the Federation, so no one wanted to risk the wrath of a god-ss operator.


    Ling Qin had thought that the many years of meditation and easy living had caused him to forget his initial savage nature. Unexpectedly, facing battle once again today, his blood still boiled and killing came back to him as easy as breathing. This pleased him greatly, and it felt like the savage beast within him had finally been set free after all this time.


    Ling Qinughed maniacally ¡ª looks like killing was still something he revelled in after all.


    Observing all this, Ling Lan silently wiped away a handful of cold sweat. Who knew that the strict and serious Grandpa Chambein who treated her so kindly was such a vicious character? The way that he killed was almost textbook material, and that chilling smile would make anyone think twice about crossing him.


    Ling Lan felt her little heart thunder wildly ... Hells, she must never anger Grandpa Chambein in the future! Ling Lan decisivelybelled Chambein Ling Qin as ¡¯a person not to mess with¡¯.


    When Ling Qinunched his attack, he had not considered surviving to begin with. So he didn¡¯t stop after killing the first enemy, but insteadunched himself at the next person in line.


    There was a clear gap between thebat ability of the two sides ¡ª despite his age, Ling Qin was strong, and hisbat prowess was not much weaker than when he was young. By the time Ling Qin had disposed of his third opponent, the team leader could be heard yelling furiously into hismunicator, "You bastard, I told you to shoot! Shoot goddammit ..."


    It turned out that the team leader still hadn¡¯t given up on the hover car. As Ling Qin prepared to kill yet another two people, the team leader was still desperately trying to contact the hover car to order them to shoot, but obviously, all he received in return was silence, and this silence was pushing him towards the brink of despair.


    Finally, he understood that their finishing move ¨C the hover car ¨C must have been taken out somehow and could no longer be relied on. Enraged, he threw away themunicator in his hands and lifted up his weapon, shouting, "Attack!"

 Chapter 49: The Threat of Long-Range Attacks

    Chapter 49: The Threat of Long-Range Attacks


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    A cold smile graced Ling Qin¡¯s lips. If the opponent had attacked him as a group from the start, he might already be a horizontal corpse lying on the ground. But now, besides the one man who had been gunned down by the type II submachine gun, he had sessfully ended the lives of three men with his own hands. It was no longer that easy for the remaining four people to hold him back.


    In all honesty, Ling Qin was very surprised himself ¡ª why was the hover car not reacting? The reason he had attacked so furiously was that he wanted to eliminate as many opponents as possible before he was taken out by the hover car, so that Ling Lan would have a greater chance of escape.


    Regardless, Ling Qin was very pleased with the current situation. It was clear that something had gone wrong on his opponents¡¯ end, and this was extremely advantageous for him. From the certainty of death to the renewed hope for survival, Ling Qin¡¯s attacks only became fiercer and more powerful.


    If living was an option, would anyone choose to die? Ling Qin also wanted to live ¡ª he wanted to watch Ling Lan grow up, get married, and have kids. He still dreamed of the day he could hold Ling Lan¡¯s children in his arms. For this objective, Ling Qin dug out all the inner potential he could from within his body.


    Ling Qin weaved left and right, nimbly avoiding all of the opponent¡¯s wild shots. He used the irregr flicker to its ultimate effect, leaving Ling Lan astounded as she watched. She decided then that if both Chambein Ling Qin and her survived this, then she must get Grandpa Chambein to teach her this move ¡ª it was just too goddamn beautiful.


    Evasion aside, Ling Qin¡¯s lethal attacks became even more unpredictable. His dagger flew through the air gracefully like he was dancing, and the mysterious rope being controlled by the fingers of his left hand was even more terrifying.


    Every single time the men saw the fingers of his left hand twitch, they couldn¡¯t help but back away. The men really couldn¡¯t be med for being fearful ¡ª out of the three men Ling Qin had killed, two had died because of this thin rope. They hadn¡¯t been observant enough and had let the rope loop around their necks, and with just a quick twist, their heads had been severed from their necks, blood spewing everywhere. That just went to show how sharp that rope truly was, andbined with how hard it was to see ¨C appearing and disappearing without any warning ¨C how could they not fear it?


    Ling Lan watched it with greedy eyes. This was undoubtedly a most subtle killing tool. Who knew that such an unassuming thin rope looped around Ling Qin¡¯s wrist would be so terrifying? Ling Lan decided that she must ask about the origins of this ropeter, and if possible, she wanted one of her own.


    Today¡¯s experience taught her that the world she was living in was truly dangerous. She needed to work much harder to improve her own capabilities and diversify the weapons and tools she could use ¡ª both were equally important.


    Still, although Ling Qin¡¯s feat in killing three of the men could partly be attributed to his strange choice of weapon and his own individual strength, arge part was still due to sheer luck. Certainly, the first person he killed was a result of his careful nning, but the following two were just opportunities presented through the opponent¡¯s own mistakes.


    If the team leader had not moved to abandon his own team member, the other members wouldn¡¯t have been so afraid of bing the next sacrifice, all choosing to withdraw to protect themselves instead of focusing on attacking. In that case, then Ling Qin wouldn¡¯t have been able to kill two more men in the chaos, turning the tables around.


    All that can be said was that the opponent¡¯s team had an idiot in it ¡ª and most unfortunately, this idiot was the team leader with the authority to decide whether they lived or died.


    Luckily, this idiot was not an idiot to the extreme, deciding to change his orders in time. The remaining four men quickly arranged themselves into the formation of an inverted trapezoid, cooperating with each other to coordinate their attacks and defense as they faced the aggressive Ling Qin who was rushing towards his fourth intended victim.


    The tips of four particle-beam guns lit up, spewing out countless particle beams in Ling Qin¡¯s direction, blinding the eyes of all observers, including the two mecha pilots closely watching the proceedings here.


    "Head, why don¡¯t those idiots fire the cannons?" One of the mecha pilots wondered out loud. He rubbed at his blurry eyes ¡ª the disy screen on the mecha ryed what was happening live, so his eyes would get tired from staring at it for too long


    He really just couldn¡¯t understand it ¡ª there had clearly been several really great opportunities tounch those cannons, but the men had just let those opportunities slip by, while the hover car just continued to hover there uselessly.


    The mecha operator called Head replied, "Who knows? All we need to do is do clean up. Only if those people fail, then it¡¯ll be up to us."


    "But the opponent has already sent out a signal re ¡ª reinforcements are sure to be on the way. If we don¡¯t resolve this matter soon, we may be discovered by the people heading here. Head, didn¡¯t you say that the superiors don¡¯t want our involvement to be revealed?"


    "That¡¯s right. If the superiors find out they botched this, we won¡¯t have a good time of it either. Oh, what the heck, let¡¯s just do it. I¡¯ll leave that annoying flea jumping around to you ¡ª make sure to get a headshot in one shot." After being reminded of the consequences by his subordinate, the operator called Head abruptly changed his mind and ordered his subordinate to eliminate Ling Qin quickly.


    "Got it, Head. Watch me as I take the stage." Finally, it was time for him to show off his skills. The mecha operator who had waited for so long was ecstatic. He controlled his mecha to swing about the huge long-range sniper rifle on its right shoulder, and then the 4-metre high mecha bent into a half kneeling position. Its metal left arm steadied the rifle, which had its sight aimed at the busily evading Ling Qin.


    The mecha¡¯s movements did not escape Ling Lan¡¯s notice. Ever since Chambein Ling Qin had begun fighting head on with those men, Ling Lan had been keeping an eye on the two mechas, wary of a sudden attack. Now, seeing one of the mechas getting ready to shoot long-range, she knew they were about to attack Grandpa Chambein, but she was not worried.


    Within this time, while Chambein Ling Qin had been fighting for his life, she had not been idle. After much calction and strategizing, she had finally found a way to handle the two mechas. It may not be the best n, but it was good enough to hinder and dy them.


    "Little Four, raise a hover car! And then calcte the trajectory of mecha A¡¯s attack." Ling Lan had randomlybelled the two mechas as mecha A and mecha B for ease of reference whenmunicating with Little Four.


    Following Ling Lan¡¯s order, one of the unmanned hover cars suddenly rose up from the ground, and not even a secondter, it was hovering 2 metres above the ground. Meanwhile, in front of Ling Lan, a map of mecha A¡¯s attack trajectory had appeared, with coordinates and height clearlybelled on it.


    "Move the hover car here," said Ling Lan decisively, pointing at a point nearest to the hover car.


    Before her words had faded, the hover car had already shifted into position under Little Four¡¯s control.


    "F*ck, what the hell? Actually blocking my line of attack." Resentfully, mecha A put down his sniper rifle. The operator was extremely displeased ¡ª that had been a prime opportunity to shoot, but it had been ruined by that errant hover car.


    That was probably unintentional, it just happened to move there." Mecha B also didn¡¯t know what was going on, but he still didn¡¯t hesitate to console mecha A, saying, "Don¡¯t mind it. Let me try this time."


    That said, mecha B started adjusting his own rifle¡¯s angle, aiming at Ling Qin who was still deep in battle with the four men. As for whether his shot would hit any of the men on the ground in the process ¡ª that was none of his concern.

 Chapter 50: Fighting For Time!

    Chapter 50: Fighting For Time!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Little Four, mecha B¡¯s attack trajectories," requested Ling Lan calmly, "and raise the second hover car." The more dangerous the situation, the more she needed to stay calm ¡ª Chambein Ling Qin¡¯s life depended on her.


    Ling Lan was endlessly grateful that she had the help of such a usefulpanion like Little Four. After Little Four had taken control of the threatening hover car, he had also notified Ling Lan that he had assumed control of the other two hover cars as well. This information was like a ray of light to the perturbed Ling Lan, giving her the precious inklings of an idea which might help Ling Qin and her hold on till backup arrived.


    Yet along with her relief, she also felt quite glum. For the first time ever, she truly recognised how weak she was still. Currently, she could only watch as a loved one she cared for fought for his life ¡ª if it weren¡¯t for Little Four, Grandpa Ling Qin would probably be bleeding all over the scene by now.


    As of this moment, Ling Lan did not notice that an intense need to grow stronger had taken seed and sprouted within her heart, and had started to grow secure roots. In the future, when she encountered difficulties and felt tired or lost, it would give her the will to carry on ...


    Little Four¡¯s actions were impable ¡ª not only did he manage to calcte and present all of mecha B¡¯s attack trajectories, he had also automatically shifted the second hover car to block off those trajectories.


    Little Four was a studious child ¡ª Ling Lan only had to order him once for him to remember her instructions. Thus, without needing to be told twice, he had already taken the initiative to do what Ling Lan wanted.


    "Little Four, well done." Even though she had never raised a child before, Ling Lan still knew that children loved to be praised. So, she was unstinting with her praise, causing Little Four to blush bright red, smiling so much till his eyes were all scrunched up into a line.


    ********


    When the hover cars once again interfered with the attack trajectories, even a dumber person would have noticed that something wasn¡¯t right.


    "Not good! Something must have gone wrong." Mecha B lowered his rifle, expression serious.


    "Head, I remember that the people in those hover cars are all out. There¡¯s no one in those cars." Mecha A had also figured out the truth, remembering that the people who had initially been in those cars were now embroiled in battle with the opponent.


    "Not good, we¡¯ve been discovered." Thinking about how their attacks were being thwarted, mecha B felt cold sweat start pouring out from his pores. His every move was most likely already being monitored by the opponent.


    "Ah ... H-Head, what should we do?" Mecha A began panicking. If their identities had truly been exposed, then they would not be allowed to live. Although he didn¡¯t know who their direct superior was, from the little that he had gleaned from Head¡¯s exnations, he knew that it was someone who had the power to move mountains and part oceans. Eliminating them would be like squishing ants to someone like that.


    "Shoot down those two hover cars," bit out mecha B ruthlessly. If they pulled back now, they still wouldn¡¯t be weed back; they might as well take a gamble, and perhaps achieve something that might work in their favour.


    "Alright, Head." Mecha A was too afraid not to listen. He once again lifted his sniper rifle to aim at one of the hover cars.


    ********


    "Little Four,e back quick." Ling Lan saw the opponent raise his rifle and just knew that they weren¡¯t about to just roll over. She was worried for Little Four¡¯s safety, and so quickly urged him toe back.


    Of course, Ling Lan felt a little regretful ¡ª she had actually intended to send a warning to the opponent with the hover cars, letting them know that they were being monitored, and hope that they¡¯d choose to retreat out of wariness. Unexpectedly, the n didn¡¯t work; looks like the opponent was a relentless character, who would fight till the very end.


    In that case,e on then! Ling Lan clenched her fists, determination writ all over her face. "Little Four, move thest hover car into a position which can block the attacks of both mechas."


    Before Ling Lan¡¯s words had faded, two loud collisions could be heard:


    "Boom!""Boom!"


    The two sounds were almost simultaneous. As expected, the opponent had pressed on their triggers, hitting the two hover cars at the front. However, these hover cars had been modified and were extremely solid ¡ª although there was a huge gouge in the car¡¯s body as a result from the rifle shot, where one side had even bent inwards, the internal circuitry was still intact, so the hover car was still able to stay airborne.


    "That¡¯s great, these modified cars are really pretty solid." Ling Lan looked at the hover cars still holding on in the air, protecting Ling Qin, and her heart rejoiced. At first, she had still been worried that the hover cars would not be strong enough, that they would be destroyed in one hit, but now it looked like they would still be able to buy them some time.


    Considering the time when Chambein Ling Qin had released the signal re, Ling Lan knew that if they could just hold on for another three to four minutes, assistance might make it here.


    Hover cars, you need to stay strong and hold on ... Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but pray.


    ********


    "F*ck, who made these hover cars to be so solid?" mecha B couldn¡¯t resist swearing. He turned his head and continued to order, "Don¡¯t ck off, continue to shoot. We must bring down those cars as soon as possible."


    "Yes, Head!" replied mecha A as he pressed down on his trigger furiously.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! The sniper rifles shot round after round, and on one particr round, a crack finally appeared on one of the hover cars, and continued to spread until the car was a broken mess ...


    BOOM! One of the hover cars was hit once more, and this time, it finally gave up the ghost and became a ming fireball, zing brightly as it fell to the ground.


    In swift session, the other hover car took another couple of hits and exploded as well, joining its partner in a fiery death on the ground below.


    "Hells, why is there another car? When did it move there?" Mecha B finally managed to eliminate the hover cars blocking his line of sight, but just as he was about to rx and start aiming for Ling Qin, he found that he could no longer see Ling Qin once more. And the reason was another hover car that had appeared near Ling Qin.


    And unlike the first two which were empty, this car had people in it. The people inside looked at the other two hover cars which had been shot down in mes, and understood what their fate would be as well. In panic, they beat at the doors and windows of the car, but unfortunately, the doors and windows of the hover car had already been sealed up tight by Little Four. There was no way they could get them to open.


    Naturally, they had thought about smashing the windows open, but unfortunately the cars had been too thoroughly modified ¡ª even the enhanced sniper rifles on the mechas could only destroy the cars after over ten hits, what could they do with only their fists?


    Meanwhile, as this was happening, Ling Qin had killed off another two men, leaving only one squad member and the team leader hiding right at the back.


    Ling Lan was very nervous. She hoped that this final hover car would be able to withstand the remaining attacks until Chambein Ling Qin managed to get rid of the final two men. At that time, even if there was nothing else to block the mechas¡¯ trajectory, Ling Qin should be able to utilise the geographical features of thend to find somewhere else to hide, such as another group of shrubs.


    Suddenly, the hover car reversed, and its two sma cannons fired, and the sma beams rose swiftly through the air.


    Ling Lan was greatly startled by this. "Little Four, what¡¯s going on?!"


    Little Four replied instantly, "Hehe, I didn¡¯t waste any time just now, and finally figured out the artificial intelligence systems of this world. I had not expected you humans to have managed to use this sort of mathematical means to create artificial intelligences which resemble us ¡ª of course, this resemnce is minor though, since those A.I.s are still worlds apart from us ..." Little Four was very smug, a proud smirk on his face as he praised his own individuality.


    A vein popped out on Ling Lan¡¯s forehead, and she raged, "Get to the point!" Hells, does this brat know what kind of situation they were in? Wasting time bbering on ...


    "I¡¯ve designed two small artificial systems, and have already imnted them onto the navigation system of the sma cannons." Little Four pouted, throwing out these words sulkily before turning to face away from Ling Lan. Fine, looks like this rascal child had gotten into another of his moods again.

 Chapter 51: Super Homing Projectiles?

    Chapter 51: Super Homing Projectiles?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan was not oblivious to Little Four¡¯s little tantrum, but her attention was entirely absorbed by Little Four¡¯s words. Those sma bolts had beenunched in the direction of the two mechas, but the range of sma cannons were notably short, meaning that it was highly unlikely for those missiles to hit the mechas, unless ...


    It wasn¡¯t that Ling Lan hadn¡¯t considered using the sma cannons on the hover car, but the information she had obtained from Little Four regarding the sma cannons had dissuaded her. sma cannons had both a distinct advantage and a distinct disadvantage ¡ª typically, its disadvantage could be ignored as long as its advantage was utilised to its maximum effect.


    Unfortunately, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t do that right now. The sma cannon¡¯s advantage was its high attack power, and the likelihood of its projectiles exploding upon impact. This meant that it would cause a certain amount of area-of-effect damage, having a high destructive power against its surroundings. Ling Lan didn¡¯t dare to fire the sma cannons to help Chambein Ling Qin kill the assassins because she was afraid that any mistake may end up in tragedy ¡ª where she identally killed Ling Qin instead of the assassins.


    Of course, she had also considered using the cannons to deal with the two mechas in the distance ¡ª but the disadvantage of the sma cannon was its short range. It was likely that the bolts would only fly half the distance before running out of speed and falling to the ground to explode harmlessly.


    These two characteristics of the sma cannons tied Ling Lan¡¯s hands. Though of course Ling Lan was already mentally prepared to let Little Four fire the cannons anyway if Chambein Ling Qin¡¯s life was truly threatened by the assassins.


    By now, Ling Lan had gotten a vague sense of what Little Four had been trying to say. She believed that Little Four wouldn¡¯t do something pointless ¡ª since he had dared to fire the sma cannons, he must have found a way to ovee its weakness. Perhaps those two minor A.I.s he had mentioned would bring about some effect to solve the problem ... If that was so, then Little Four was truly brilliant. Ling Lan¡¯s spirits soared.


    Little Four clearly sensed the change in Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts, and although he still had his back to Ling Lan, his butt started wriggling around, as if delighted by Ling Lan¡¯s newfound cheer.


    Ling Lan noticed Little Four¡¯s reaction, and knew that she must have guessed correctly. As such, she quickly praised, "Little Four, you¡¯re really the best Little Four."


    After spending so many years with Little Four, Ling Lan had already be familiar with all his quirks, and knew very well how much he loved praise. With just this simple phrase, she managed to make Little Four so happy that his eyes twinkled,pletely forgetting that he had just been angry at Ling Lan.


    Little Four pranced back to Ling Lan¡¯s side, patting his little chest as he said confidently, "Rx, Boss, leave the two mecha to me. Hehe, there are still two shots in the sma cannons ¡ª let me immediately install this little A.I. to affect them as well. That way, even if the attack this time is avoided, we can still continue attacking."


    Little Four¡¯s words slightly reassured Ling Lan. As long as they could distract the two mechas, Chambein Ling Qin would have even more time to handle those assassins, greatly raising the odds of his safety.


    Still, Ling Lan cautioned Little Four not to fire thosest two sma bolts unless absolutely necessary ¡ª at times, the threat of an attack was much more valuable than an actual attack.


    Ling Lan knew very well that although sma bolts had a lot of destructive power, that was only against people with basic protective gear. Against those mechas which wereposed from super titanium alloys, unless the missiles hit a defensive weak point, such as the mecha¡¯s cockpit (though the sma bolts would still not be able to breach the cockpit, its attack would shake the surroundings violently, possibly harming the pilot within it), they would be rather ineffective.


    On the opponent¡¯s side, as Ling Lan expected, mecha A and mecha B had not given up. They wasted no time in preparing to shoot down that final hover car. To their surprise however, before they could fire their own sniper rifles, the hover car had turned towards them andunched its own sma cannons in their direction.


    Mecha A couldn¡¯t hide the scorn in his voice as he mocked, "Tsk, does he really think he¡¯ll hit us with that?"


    Within the Federation, aside from greenhorns, everyone else knew the characteristics of sma cannons. Firepower was its advantage, while range was its fatal w. The only reasons it hadn¡¯t been dismissedpletely by the Federation were that its production cost was cheap and that it was still viable in a close-range battle, leading it to remain as one of the staple weapons of the federal military.


    That said, sma cannons were only a real threat to normal soldiers. They were really ineffective against mecha operators like them ¡ª even if they were hit, besides the possibility of being pushed around a bit by the shockwave, the missiles would do nothing to them.


    Mecha B thought the same as mecha A, dismissive of the harm the sma bolts could do to them. The bolts might not even hit them to begin with! Impatiently, he said, "Ignore those two junks, just focus on shooting down that hover car. We don¡¯t have much time left." By his estimations, they only had two minutes left at most ¡ª they had no more time to waste.


    "Yes!" Mecha A didn¡¯t dare to say anything more, putting all his focus into pulling on his trigger to attack that bothersome hover car.


    But he hadn¡¯t managed to shoot that many times when he heard his mecha¡¯s systems issuing a strong warning, "Caution! Caution! Attack detected, we have been targeted! Impact in 9, 8, 7 ..."


    On the screen, a lighted dot representing the attack source was closing the distance fast and looked like it was about to hit them very soon.


    "F*ck!" Mecha A only had time to curse briefly, before having to move his mecha into evasion manoeuvres. At the same time, mecha B had also started busily dodging.


    "Isn¡¯t it just a sma cannon? What the hell is going on?" As mecha B dodged, the attack source drew closer, and he could clearly see from his screen that the attacks were the two sma bolts they had dismissed earlier. Of course, one of the bolts was targeting him.


    Mecha Apleted an almost perfect 90 degree turn, thinking that he would be able to evade the boltpletely by doing so. However, he immediately found that the bolt actually turned with him, causing him to shout out in rm, "It¡¯s following me! Goddammit, what the hell is this?!"


    Did sma bolts have this tracking ability? And was their range this long? Mecha A felt his world view tilting on its axis ¡ª how could such an unbelievable thing happen?


    Mecha B naturally noticed this as well. His evasion movements were even more extravagant than mecha A¡¯s, even involving irregr sh evasion (a lower level version of freeform sh evasion). Logically, he should have been able to dodge any number of sma bolts this way. But now, no matter how he dodged, that one sma bolt dogged his every move, unlike regr sma bolts which would have fallen to the ground and exploded by now.


    "These are definitely not regr sma bolts!" The experienced mecha B concluded. "These must be modified homing projectiles ¡ª make sure you don¡¯t get hit by them, or else you¡¯ll be dead!"


    Mecha B decisively identified the projectiles as homing projectiles that had been modified to look like sma bolts. Despite appearances, they were sure to be the much more expensive and powerful super homing projectiles which were a nightmare to low level mecha pilots.


    Super homing projectiles were a type of artillery which had high destructive power and was equipped with tracking ability. Its power was not something a minor sma bolt couldpare with ¡ª if it hit, a normal standardized mecha would most likely be smashed into a pulp, although some higher level mechas might still be able to withstand its attacks.


    It had been feared by mecha pilots everywhere ever since it was first created, and was now considered one of the most troublesome artillery by mecha pilots. Another nickname it had was ¡®newbie killer¡¯.


    This was because the homing projectiles had very formidable tracking ¡ª once it locked onto a target, it was useless no matter how the mecha operator tried to outmanoeuvre it. Of course, this was with the exception of high level operators who could pull off highly advanced manoeuvres which utilised the operator¡¯s surroundings, causing the missile to blow up by hitting something else. However, this skill was not something the average mecha operator could handle, and so the homing projectile was considered one of the most hated weaponry among the low level mecha pilots. Many newbies often had their wings clipped because of this projectile, which was how it had gained its nickname.


    Thus, when mecha A and mecha B began suspecting that these bolts after them could be homing projectiles, they no longer had any thought to spare for the hover cars. Now, they only had one goal ¡ª find a way to dodge these tracking missiles stuck to them.


    There was no helping it ¡ª if it was before, they wouldn¡¯t have been so concerned. This time, in order to hide their identity, they had been givenmon standardised mecha to operate, which were incapable of withstanding a hit from a homing projectile.


    On Ling Lan¡¯s side, she watched in puzzlement as the two mechas jumped around dramatically to avoid the sma bolts. After all, even if the bolts hit, as long as they didn¡¯t hit the cockpit, the effect would be negligible ¡ª why were those two mechas so flustered?


    Ling Lan had no idea that Little Four¡¯s modifications had inadvertently caused the opponent to mistake the bolts for the terrifying homing projectiles, causing them to react ordingly out of caution. It should be said that the heavens were truly watching over Ling Lan, helping her to resolve her greatest threat at this crucial moment.


    "Yay!" Watching how his modified sma bolts were forcing the two mechas to run around in circles, Little Four raised his hand up in a victory pose.


    There was a hint of a smile on Ling Lan¡¯s lips, and she was no longer as tense as before. She had be much more rxed since the most pressing problem had been resolved. "Little Four, this time it¡¯s all thanks to you." Ling Lan¡¯s thanks was heartfelt ¡ª if it weren¡¯t for Little Four, Chambein Ling Qin might have been in real danger. And now, Chambein Ling Qin had even more time to make sure he could finish off the final two opponents before him.


    "Boss, why are you thanking me? Aren¡¯t I your follower? It¡¯s a follower¡¯s duty to help their boss." Little Four was puzzled. Didn¡¯t the novel he read say that it was the unquestionable duty of a follower to back up his boss in all things, no matter if it was to take the fall for a crime or just to help relieve their worries?


    Additionally, he found that he loved the intensity of battle. Looking at the bolts he reprogrammed chase the opponent¡¯s mechas all over the ce, his mood was exceptionally well. Little Four had the vague feeling that he was born to do this ¡ª although he hadn¡¯t been unhappy helping Ling Lan to earn money in the past few years, the present intensity here truly made his blood boil.


    Right then and there, Little Four made a decision. In future, he must look for more opportunities for his boss to encounter battle. Dammit, it was just too exhrating.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    Edits on weaponry have been made to this chapter and previous chapters based on reader feedback. The original raws say that the hover car hasser cannons on it, but the battle descriptions are not in line with aser weapon. The trantion team considered using ser-guided cannon¡¯ instead, but that didn¡¯t seem quite right either because the homing function was a modification by Little Four and not an original function of the cannon. As such, ¡¯sma cannon¡¯ is not a direct trantion but our best attempt to reconcile the logic of the situation. The sma fired by the cannons have substance, and Little Four modified them to be ¡¯homing sma¡¯ (see ¡¯homingsers¡¯ on TV-tropes), which fooled the enemy into thinking they are disguised homing projectiles.

 Chapter 52: A Genius among Geniuses!

    Chapter 52: A Genius among Geniuses!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    At this moment, Ling Lan would never have guessed that this fight had captured the interest of Little Four, and under his cajoling persuasion, she would be set upon a path directly opposed to her original n, moving further away from a stable and peaceful life to a life full of bloody carnage ...


    Blissfully unaware of the difficult battles toe in her future, Ling Lan patiently waited for Ling Qin to defeat the final enemy. Ling Lan was very cautious ¡ª before she could be sure it was safe, she had kept a tight lid on her presence. Although she had learnt somebat skills and had survived the primordial forest, this was still not enough for her to go up against these experienced killers.


    Furthermore, it was possible that far away from here, somewhere out of Little Four¡¯s radar, stronger mecha were lying in wait, just waiting for her to reveal herself.


    Ling Lan did not believe that she was a victor in life, who could exude dominance with just a shake of her body, and easily cut through all mouring enemies as if they were experience fodder. She was also not the type of female main character who was loved by everyone around her, who would have flowers blooming in her presence (it wasn¡¯t like she could be a female main character right now anyway), who ¡ª when in a difficult situation ¡ª would have a prince charminge riding to her rescue ...


    Right then, Little Four suddenly eximed in shock, causing Ling Lan¡¯s heart to jump into her throat again. "What¡¯s going on, Little Four?"


    Little Four did not answer, but moved the disy screen he was looking at in front of her.


    On the screen, the two mecha that were busily evading were suddenly surrounded by three different groups of people.


    The first group, which was also the most aggressive looking group, had the fewest people. They consisted of only four mecha, but exuded a heavy aura,pletely overpowering the other groups in terms of sheer presence.


    Their mecha had strange outer appearances, clearly shorter than the other mecha by a head, about 50 to 60 cm, but their torsos and limbs were obviously thicker and bulkier. The joints of the four limbs, in particr, were so thick that theycked all sense of grace and beauty. But it was precisely this sort of rough and unsophisticated mecha which could strike fear into people¡¯s hearts, mounting pressure on their opponents.


    These mecha had clearly undergone reinforcement procedures for all their parts. Whether it be in terms of weapon weight load or meleebat, these mecha would perform better than other humanoid standard mecha. At a nce, one could tell they were killing machines, and their body paint emphasised this ¡ª they were not painted in Federation white, but rather in a dark understated crimson, which just added to the overall aggression and bloodlust the mecha exuded.


    Clearly, these four mecha had rushed over here after a fight, as there were still the signs of battle on their bodies. They were indeed 413¡¯s squad. Just as they had been struggling to find Ling Lan, fruitlessly and helplessly, Ling Qin¡¯s signal re had given them direction, and they had finally managed to catch up.


    The second group was a troop of six mecha. Their appearance was very simr to Federation regtion mecha, only bearing some slight adjustments. Instead of the uniform bright white, they were a mix of white and blue. Anyone with an understanding of the Federation¡¯s mecha would know that these mecha were captain-level mecha, which were one level above the standard mecha. It looked like this troop was from the federal military.


    And the final group was a troop of five,mon standard mecha, though painted in a dark grey colour denoting that they were private forces. The Federation had an agreement with the elite families, permitting the families to have their own private forces, but their mecha could only be the most basic standard mecha, and the colour of those mecha must be dark grey. The only way to distinguish between the mecha of differing private forces was the logo painted on the chest te of the mecha.


    The logos on the chest tes of this troop of mecha was the Ling family¡¯s ¡ª a zing fire phoenix, eye-catching and vibrant. This troop was the Ling family loyalists, the mecha troop responsible for Ling Lan¡¯s safety.


    The fire phoenix was one of the spiritual totems of the ancient Chinese people, and the Ling family personally believed that they were the descendants of the god-beast fire phoenix. Hence, they had naturally selected the fire phoenix as their family crest.


    When Ling Lan had found out the origin story behind her family crest, she had almost been unable to stop herself from bursting out inughter. Who¡¯d have guessed that ten thousand yearster, in such a technologically advanced era, such unfounded myths and legends would still be around? All she could say was that humanity¡¯s love and obsession with the concept of god was just bone-deep.


    Of course, it was only called the fire phoenix within the Chinese Federation and its allied countries; in the neutral countries or the enemy nations, it was often referred to as the ¡¯undead bird¡¯, and ever since Ling Lan¡¯s father Ling Xiao had be a god-ss operator, it had degenerated into being called ¡¯that dead bird¡¯¡ª you could just see how deep the enemy¡¯s hatred ran.


    The three groups saw each other almost simultaneously and raised their respective guards immediately. However, the Ling family troops drew closer to the Federation troops, seemingly intent on allying themselves with them to oppose the other team, the one with the four fearsome looking mecha.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but frown, asking Little Four, "Little Four, could you zoom in closer, and hack theirmunications?"


    "Zooming in is fine, but I can¡¯t hack theirmunications. Your current spiritual power cannot support such long-distance hacking." Little Four¡¯s words contained a tinge of contempt, andbined with the stink eye Little Four was giving her, there was only one conclusion ¡ª she was being looked down upon by Little Four.


    Ever since Ling Lan had found out that her body may be ravaged by her spiritual power if it was too much for her body to handle, Ling Lan had been very wary of her spiritual power. She had not forgotten the daily suffering she had gone through in her previous life because of it. That¡¯s why, in this life, Ling Lan did not dare to cultivate her spiritual power on her own, fearful that she would overdo it and end up causing irreparable harm to her body.


    As such, no matter how much Little Four wheedled, Ling Lan had never used her honour points to redeem anything rted to spiritual power training within her mind-space. Still, even so, at six years old, Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power was already at the peak of tier-4 ¡ª with just the right push, she would naturally break past the tier-4 barrier to enter tier-5.


    Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s impressive three tier increase in spiritual power since birth was not really because of her talent in spiritual power, or because it grew too fast ¡ª from the beginning, Little Four had sealed up two tiers of Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power. But now, as Ling Lan¡¯s physical body slowly developed and grew stronger, Little Four had gradually unravelled the seal around her spiritual power.


    The potential problem of her overwhelming spiritual power was so quickly resolved due to Ling Lan¡¯s diligence in practising her Qi exercises.


    In truth, Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power at birth was actually tier-4. The information Lan Luofeng, Ling Qin, and the military had received was actually fake, a result of maniption by Little Four.


    It was for this reason that, back during Ling Lan¡¯s newborn assessment, the assessment device had started screeching in warning. The assessment devices for public use were only able to withstand up to tier-3 spiritual power, military-use assessment devices excluded.


    Why did the public-use assessment devices have such a setting? That was because without special care, any child with tier-4 spiritual power would certainly die within the womb, body copsing under the weight of its spiritual power. It was impossible for a child with tier-4 spiritual power to be born naturally without advanced technological support. Of course, Ling Lan was able to grow well enough in Lan Luofeng¡¯s body, primarily due to Little Four¡¯s assistance ¡ª as mentioned, Little Four had sealed away the excess spiritual power.


    However, both sess and failure were two sides of the same coin ¡ª when Little Four discovered the capabilities of the assessment device to measure spiritual power, he had released all of Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power out of curiosity, wanting to know how high Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power was. Unexpectedly, this almost ended in disaster, almost blowing up the device. If it weren¡¯t for Little Four¡¯s fast reflexes, quickly resealing Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power back to tier-2, the results would have been catastrophic.


    Frankly, Ling Lan¡¯s body at birth could bear up to tier-3 spiritual power, though her body would certainly be a little weakened. However, prioritising safety, Little Four had fixed Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power at tier-2.


    In any case, Ling Lan had not wasted these past six years. With the passage of time, Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power had grown till the peak of tier-4. It shouldn¡¯t be long now before all her efforts culminated and she naturally ascended to a mind-blowing tier-5 at her age.


    If the federal military ever found out that a six year old child had managed to achieve tier-5 when most grown men could not, they would certainly be floored. She was certain to be hailed as a genius among geniuses in terms of spiritual power.

 Chapter 53: The Ling Family Rescuers!

    Chapter 53: The Ling Family Rescuers!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    On the screen, that troop of four crimson mechas had immediately gotten into battle stances, but they did not make the first move. Instead, one of the mechas tried to initiatemunications via shouting. Unfortunately, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t hear anything from this distance ¡ª it made her have the sudden urge to rush into the learning space and redeem some spiritual power cultivation skills so that she could raise her spiritual power enough for Little Four to hack into theirmunication systems.


    Right at that moment, the frozen tableau of the three groups suddenly turned as one to face a particr direction. It turned out that the two mechas which had been evading Little Four¡¯s projectiles had inadvertently stumbled into the detection range of the three groups.


    The evading mecha B abruptly received an emergency warning from his mecha¡¯s systems. "Warning, enemy detected. Warning, enemy detected."


    Only then did mecha B notice that several red dots had appeared on his radar, and when he drew closer, fifteen mechas from three different forces were disyed on his screen. By now, their weapons had already been levelled against him, but weren¡¯t locked on just yet.


    "F*ck this, why are there so many mechas here? Wasn¡¯t it agreed that there would be no one else here?" Mecha B¡¯s entire chest felt cold, and his back was drenched with cold sweat ... could it be that this so-called mission was actually a trap?


    Mecha A had also noticed these mechas, and his face paled dramatically. He seemed to have the same suspicions. "Head, let¡¯s just run."


    Mecha B grit his teeth; he nced at the many mechas before him on his screen, and then nced at the two homing projectiles close behind them. Relying on his battle experience, he made a snap judgement. "Follow me closely. We¡¯ll just charge through." In this hopeless situation where they were facing a pincer attack, there was no room for them to retreat ¡ª only by charging forward might they have some hope of surviving.


    The two mechas did not stop, elerating instead as they rushed towards those mecha. Of course, as they moved, mecha B did not forget to open generalmunications to say, "Mecha squad 37 of the Seventh Division in the Third Army, please help us to eliminate the homing projectiles behind us ..."


    Mecha B knew that this lie would be easily seen through, but his objective was not really to fool them ¡ª he only needed them to hesitate and not open fire, so that he and his partner would have the one minute they needed to escape from their attack radius and leave for safety. If they were a little luckier, they may even be able to borrow the opponents¡¯ strength to get rid of the two projectiles sticking to them like gum.


    Sure enough, when the opponent heard the wordsing through the generalms channel, one of the squads lowered their particle-beam guns, while another squad lifted their weapons to train them on the air behind him and his partner. Only the four crimson mechas were still wary of them, facing them unwaveringly.


    Meanwhile, on Ling Lan¡¯s end, as she couldn¡¯t hack into the groups¡¯munications, she could only watch in confusion as the two enemy mecha flew like moths to a me towards the fifteen rescue mechas. She then saw the six mechas representing the military open fire first, however, they didn¡¯t do it to kill those two mechas, but helped them instead to destroy the two homing projectiles tracking them.


    Ling Lan¡¯s brow furrowed, and her expression turned grim. Could it be that this assassination attempt on her was sanctioned by the military? Was it because she had proved to be too outstanding by absorbing too much gene stimting agent, drawing the concern of the higher ranks of the military?


    No! Ling Lan immediately threw out that possibility. These past few years, although Ling Lan had been forbidden from going onto the inte due to her being underage, she was still aware of the information avable on the. Little Four had given her a detailed overview of her new world, letting her know that this present world she was in was a militant world. From birth, every person was prepped to be qualified military personnel, and among all the military positions, mecha operators were considered the cream of the crop ...


    The requirements to be a basic level operator were still rathermon, but the requirements to be an advanced operator were just too demanding. Especially with regards to physical fitness ¡ª that requirement could almost be called insane. Thus, the Federation greatly prized all children who had the possibility to be advanced operators, and all military branches and divisions were responsible to monitor and protect these children. They would never go after her for this reason.


    Excluding this possibility, then, as such a young child, who could she have offended? The Ling family members who had been chased out of Doha? They did not have the guts to do this ¨C if investigations found their hand behind this, the military would make sure that the Ling family would be utterly eradicated from within the Federation ¨C the Ling family could not take the risk.


    So, excluding herself, and also excluding the family, Ling Lan abruptly thought of the premium military benefits she had inherited. Before he died, her father Ling Xiao had been the youngest Major General in the Federation ¡ª could it have something to do with her father?


    Ling Lan felt that this was a likely possibility ¡ª perhaps when her father had still been serving in the military, he had inadvertently offended some people ...


    Only now did Ling Lan notice that she really didn¡¯t know much about her father Ling Xiao. She felt a little regretful ¡ª all these years, why hadn¡¯t she thought of asking Chambein Ling Qin and her other guardians about her father?


    Of course, Ling Lan knew that her father was the Federation¡¯s ... uh, no, the whole universe¡¯s coolest, handsomest, most young and impressive, most outstanding, most formidable yet gentle, and wless gentleman. (All the above was directly quoted from her mum Lan Luofeng, which led Ling Lan to conclude that a woman deeply in love was extremely blind. She would never say that out loud, of course, just letting this opinion stew within her, or else she would certainly be whisked away by her mum for a thorough spanking.)


    Pity the present Ling Lan, who only knew her father had been one of the youngest Major General¡¯s in the Federation, and that he had died in a chaotic death tunnel during the war with the Ferrand Empire. As for anything else regarding Ling Xiao, she knew nothing ... um, well, that¡¯s not quite true ¡ª she also had the extremely embarrassing and overblown description her mum Lan Luofeng had insisted on telling her.


    Ling Lan decided that when she returned safely this time, she would go find out more about her father and get to the bottom of things. She didn¡¯t want to have to be on her guard every day against hidden enemies ¡ª she liked having all the information within her hands so that she could chop off any trouble at its root.


    Although all these thoughts went swirling through Ling Lan¡¯s mind, it was actually a matter of a split second. Meanwhile, when the two enemy mechas had gotten close enough to the fifteen mechas, the four crimson mechas that had been still and silent till now suddenly sprang into action, doing something that stunned all the other operators.


    The four mechas had waited till the two enemy mechas were close to them before firmly pulling on their triggers. Countless high-temperature beams shot out from their guns, two mechas in a group, as they fired at the cockpits of the two enemy mechas.


    The cockpits could not handle the high temperatures of the particle beams and finally exploded, blowing up the mechas along with them, all of it raining down to the ground in a fall of debris.


    At that point, the military squad finally shook themselves out of their shock, and immediately raised their weapons agitatedly, aiming at the four crimson mechas. The situation was tense, and battle looked imminent.


    The mecha squad from the Ling family was cunning ¡ª knowing that this was not a matter which concerned them, they quietly snuck away as the other two groups faced off against one another. Right now, their top priority was to locate their Young Master Lan; everything else was none of their business.


    They soon found the right direction and sped off towards Ling Lan¡¯s location. At their current speed, it probably wouldn¡¯t even take one minute for them to arrive.


    Little Four cast a longing nce at those four extremely powerful crimson mechas, and then looked back at the hover car he was controlling with disdain. He hadpletely forgotten how excited he was when he had first obtained the hover car, and how grateful he was when he had discovered the sma cannons it was equipped with ... As expected,parisons should be avoided ¡ª the moment one learns how to differentiate between good and bad in terms of quality, then pickiness and disgust are sure to follow. This was a bad habit that no sentient being could avoid.


    Thirty-five secondster, two particle beams shot out towards Ling Qin at almost the same time, striking the final two opponents he had been struggling with. The two men, which included the team captain, died on the spot.


    Ling Qin exhaled deeply, slowly pulling back his attack stance to stand straight once more. With a smile on his face, he looked up at the sky and watched as five mechas appeared before him. The loyalists protecting Ling Lan were finally here; he could finally rx.


    As the tension eased from his stance, Ling Qin could feel the aches and pains in his body making themselves known. He knew that this was the result of drawing on histent reserves, but it was fine ¡ª the Ling family had a medicinal bath to repair this sort of damage. As long as he could rest for a couple of days, his body would recover. Of course, for Ling Qin, as long as Ling Lan was safe, even if his body was destroyed in the process, he would regret nothing.


    The five mechas slowly descended in front of Ling Qin, until they allnded soundly. Then, three of the mechas continued to maintain a vignt lookout, while the cockpits of the other two mechas opened up. The operators in those two mechas stood on a halyard and were lowered slowly to the ground. They were both dressed in a blue and white standard mecha operator uniform, with the Ling family fire phoenix logo emzoned on their chests, flickering in an almost lifelike manner under the sunlight as if it were about to take flight.


    The moment theynded, the two men hurried over to Ling Qin¡¯s side and removed their helmets. The one in the lead had a remorseful expression on his face as he said, "Elder Qin, sorry, our rescue waste." He was a hulking man, with a strong body and a strong face, with an honest and sincere expression. He was roughly thirty-four to thirty-five years old, and was very mature and reliable.


    Ling Qin was very dissatisfied with the slow response time of the Ling family mecha rescue team. In this period of time, if they hadn¡¯t been so lucky that the opponent¡¯s hover car hadn¡¯t fired its cannons ... although it still fired them in the end, the projectiles had seemed uncontrolled, flying wildly in some random direction, otherwise he would have been dead a thousand times over. And once he died, would Ling Lan ¨C this six year old child ¨C have had time to escape?


    Furiously, he said, "Ling Hua, what really happened? Why didn¡¯t you keep up with us?" The Ling family mecha squad was supposed to trail Ling Lan at all times, not allowing her out of their monitoring range. The Ling family had straightforward demands of the loyalists protecting the master ¡ª in cases of danger, they had to be on the scene within 10 seconds, unless it happened in a location where military force was forbidden, such as at the scout academies. But this time, the Ling family mecha squad had been dyed for a whole 5 minutes and more ¡ª this was something Ling Qin could not tolerate.


    Ling Hua did not argue, only saying with remorse, "Sorry, Elder Qin, it¡¯s our fault."


    Right then, the young man following Ling Hua spoke up, exining, "Elder Qin, we fell for the opponent¡¯s stratagem to lure us away ¡ª by the time we figured it out and rushed back, we had lost track of both you and Young Master Lan."


    "Ling Yu!" raged Ling Hua, as if unwilling to let Ling Yu exin. Perhaps he had decided that a mistake was a mistake, and that there was no excusing it.

 Chapter 54: Ling Lans Loyalists

    Chapter 54: Ling Lan¡¯s Loyalists


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    When Ling Qin heard what Ling Yu said, his attitude gentled considerably. Shaking his head, he sighed, "Oh you, why didn¡¯t you say anything and just take all the me on your shoulders? Youngster Hua, don¡¯t push yourself too hard. This time, you all still made it in time, otherwise my old bones would have been ended here today."


    Ling Hua had been raised single-handedly by Ling Qin, which was why Ling Qin was so harsh on him. The deeper the love, the greater the expectation ¡ª Ling Qin had very high expectations of Ling Hua, cultivating him as his sessor. It was his hope that after he passed away, Ling Hua would be able to take over his position and continue to protect the Ling family, Ling Lan, and her future children.


    Still, perhaps Ling Qin had been too harsh on him, causing Ling Hua¡¯s personality to be increasingly reserved, bottling everything up inside his heart. Even when he had been wrongfully used, he would still keep quiet, silently taking all the me.


    This time, Ling Hua reacted in the same way. Although Ling Yu had exined on his behalf, and Ling Qin did not continue to berate him, Ling Hua still couldn¡¯t get over his own inner guilt, saying, "Sorry, Teacher, I have disappointed you."


    Ling Hua¡¯s fierce eyes were filled with pain and self-remonstration ¡ª his carelessness and wrongful judgement this time had almost ended in disaster, causing him to feel extremely ashamed.


    Ling Yu felt that he could not let his team captain continue to me himself; the pressure upon his captain was just too intense. He looked around briefly, and saw no sign of Ling Lan. His expression changed drastically as he asked, "Elder Qin, what¡¯s going on? Where¡¯s Young Master Lan? Why don¡¯t I see Young Master Lan? Did something happen?"


    Ling Qin hurried to reassure him, "It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine, Young Master Lan is very well. He¡¯s just in hiding!"


    He turned his head to look at Ling Hua, chuckling, "Young Master Lan is ... very intelligent, and also very level-headed. I believe that he won¡¯t be any worse than any of the previous Ling family heads ¡ª you¡¯ll like him."


    Ling Qin¡¯s tone was full of pride ¡ª the rationality and calmness Ling Lan had disyed during moments of crisis was just too remarkable. Even Ling Lan¡¯s father Ling Xiao might not have done any better than Ling Lan at six years old.


    Although Ling Qin had jumped out of the car at the same time as Ling Lan, Ling Qin had still spared some attention to keep an eye on Ling Lan¡¯s actions, afraid that Ling Lan would make a mistake under pressure. Unexpectedly, Ling Lan¡¯s conduct had thrilled him immensely ¡ª be it choosing a piece of debris to hide behind in mid-air, or even the handling of hernding, everything had been almost perfect. In the end, it was Ling Qin¡¯s hiding spot that had been discovered instead, forcing him to battle just for the hope of survival.


    The more Ling Qin thought about it, the happier he became, and the smile on his face deepened ordingly. Perhaps grandparental love was a part of human nature, prompting elders in the family to take sce and fawn easily over their grandchildren and those of the same generation. Ling Qin selectively chose to forget that at six years old, Ling Xiao had already been thrown by his own father into the wilderness for survival training. In terms of resilience and keeping cool under pressure, Ling Xiao was certainly no weaker than the current Ling Lan.


    At Ling Qin¡¯s words, Ling Hua¡¯s raised brows revealed his astonishment, but his expression was quickly smoothed back into his usual calm mask as he asked, "Teacher, then where is Young Master Lan now?"


    Ling Qin signalled for them to walk with him. The three of them walked past several patches of shrubs and arrived at that wide expanse of t in, spreading out before them without a single hiding ce in sight.


    Looking out at this scene, the mature and reliable Ling Hua did not react in any way, patiently waiting for Chambein Ling Qin to exin. However, the young Ling Yu could not hold back his confusion, and asked, "Elder Qin, there¡¯s no ce for anyone to hide here. Why did you bring us here? To look at the scenery? What¡¯s so interesting about a plot of yellow soil? It would be better to find Young Master Lan instead, so that we can protect him better."


    Ling Yu¡¯s words implied that Chambein Ling Qin shouldn¡¯t fool around with them any longer, that finding Young Master Ling Lan was more important.


    Ling Qin red at Ling Yu irritably, and smacked him on the head, barking, "You rascal, am I that unreliable? Dammit, don¡¯t speak up if you know nothing. Disgraceful! Just keep following me and you¡¯ll see."


    Ling Qin continued to lead the two of them forward, muttering all the way, "Really, you¡¯ve been following after your team captain for around two to three years already, why haven¡¯t you learnt the least bit ofposure? Still so impatient ..." Ling Qin was somewhat puzzled ¡ª Ling Hua was so steady; after being in constant contact with him for these two to three years, Ling Yu¡¯s character should have settled down somewhat as well. Why was he still so restless? In the future, how would he take over Ling Hua¡¯s position to be the next mecha squad captain?


    Ling Yu pulled a long face behind Ling Qin¡¯s back, twitching his brows and eyes at his captain as if asking him ¡ª had Elder Qin always been so naggy like this?


    Ling Hua smiled wryly,municating with his eyes that Ling Yu should just bear with it ¡ª he himself was already used to this.


    Ling Qin finally arrived at the piece of debris Ling Lan had used to conceal herself, and he chuckled as he asked the two men beside him, "Do you sense anything?"


    Ling Hua looked at that piece of debris before them, and his eyes shed, thoughtfulness stealing over his face. Meanwhile, Ling Yu¡¯s face was full of bewilderment, seeminglypletely clueless about what Chambein Ling Qin meant. Before him was obviously a t piece ofnd ¡ª even if there was a small sheet of metal on top of it, it was still just a t piece ofnd. There was really no ce at all for someone to hide here, right? After all, could anyone be as thin as a piece of paper?


    Ling Hua squatted down and touched the sheet of metal. "Young Master Lan should be right below this, right? It is indeed a great hiding ce. Young Master Lan is very smart."


    At Ling Hua¡¯s words, Ling Qin¡¯s smile grew even wider, causing his rtively wrinkle-free face to crinkle up into a smile as vibrant as a blooming flower. "That¡¯s right, Young Master Lan is just below." Squatting down as well, he knocked gently on the metal sheet, saying, "Young Master Lan, it¡¯s safe now,e out quickly."


    The metal te remained motionless, as if no one was below it. But just as Ling Yu started to wonder if Chambein Ling Qin was going senile, misremembering the location, the metal te actually started to move. It twitched and then lifted up slightly, revealing a tiny gap between the te and the ground.


    Although the gap was really really narrow, Ling Yu could still clearly see the difference. He looked on with a face full of astonishment ¡ª who¡¯d have guessed that there was really someone hiding below?


    When Ling Lan saw that the person standing outside was really Ling Qin, she excitedly threw off the metal te on top of her, jumped out of the hole, and hugged Ling Qin tight. As she did so, her little body was actually trembling.


    Ling Qin sighed, and hugged Ling Lan in return. Although Ling Lan had reacted well under pressure, making all the right decisions, she was still just a child after all. That life and death situation must have really frightened her.


    Ling Hua and Ling Yu could now see the ground below the metal sheet, and so finally understood how Ling Lan had managed to hide herself under it. There was a deep man-shaped ditch in the ground, perfectly sized for Ling Lan¡¯s body. As such, the sheet would cover itpletely when Ling Lan was inside, and still remain parallel to the ground. This would lead outside observers to believe that it was just t ground, and utterly dismiss the metal sheet.


    Ling Hua looked at Ling Lan with aplex gaze. This ditch was most likely forcefully created by Ling Lan at the moment shended ¡ª this meant that their little master was not to be taken lightly, both in terms of strength and situational adaptability. No wonder Chambein Ling Qin was so pleased ¡ª with Ling Lan in the family, the Ling family would never fall.


    Still, due to her young age, she was unable to keep calm to the end yet, and was starting to show signs of aftershock now.


    Ling Lan seemed to takefort in Chambein Ling Qin¡¯s hug, and when she lifted her head once more, her face had regained its usual calmness, and her eyes no longer held the remnants of fear and shock that they had when he first saw her. Ling Hua nodded to himself. Their Young Master Lan¡¯s mental resilience seemed to be exceptional, and she seemed able to adjust her emotions well. As expected of a child who inherited their Master Ling Xiao¡¯s excellent genes ¡ª several yearster, she would certainly be able to be an ace operator, perhaps even a royal operator ...


    Ling Hua directed a friendly smile at Ling Lan ¡ª he wasn¡¯t good with words, and he also had no idea how to interact with a child, but he couldn¡¯t go wrong with a smile.


    Ling Lan nced at him curiously, and then tugged lightly on Chambein Ling Qin¡¯s sleeve, silently asking for Chambein Ling Qin to introduce these two men to her.


    Ling Qin pointed at Ling Hua and said, "He¡¯s called Ling Hua, a Ling family loyalist, captain of the Ling family mecha force, responsible for the master¡¯s safety when he is out working. This time, he¡¯s in charge of the squad guarding us in secret." And then he pointed at Ling Yu, who had been trying to pose as a big brother figure beside Ling Lan, and said, "This brat is called Ling Yu. He¡¯s a member of the force, Young Master Lan can just choose to ignore him." With Ling Yu¡¯s erratic behaviour, Ling Qin was afraid that Ling Lan would be infected by it after too much exposure, so it would be better to just separate them from the start.


    Ling Lan nodded at Ling Hua, and then asked Chambein Ling Qin, "Did something happen to the mecha squad, which is why they didn¡¯t manage to keep up with us?"


    Ling Yu sputtered in surprise, "Young Master Lan, how did you know we had encountered some trouble?"


    Ling Lan rolled her eyes at him, saying in contempt, "Why else would you all arrive sote?"


    Ling Hua¡¯s gaze brightened unnaturally, but he quickly lowered hisshes, shielding his thoughts.


    Ling Yu thought about it and couldn¡¯t help but agree ¡ª since the Ling family squad had not managed to arrive until thiste, it went without saying that they must have been lured away by the enemy or had been caught in a trap. Why was he so stupid? To the extent that he was being looked down upon by a six year old child.


    He could only rub at his nose in embarrassment and pretend that he could not feel Ling Lan¡¯s contempt as he replied seriously, "When we had just passed by Qiya City earlier and entered this wastnd, the captain was the first to notice a squad of mecha sneakily trailing Young Master Lan. To ensure the safety of Young Master Lan, the captain sent Ling Ze and two other men to draw away those mecha, while the captain and I continued to follow the both of you from far away. But soon enough, we had met up with another group of mecha which already had their weapons set up, who clearly intended to harm Young Master Lan. The captain and I could only open fire and draw way those mecha personally ... and then find a way to slip away."


    Reaching this point in his exnation, Ling Yu¡¯s expression was dark, "Later, the captain and I managed to regain contact, only to find that we had all been drawn far away from Young Master Lan,pletely losing any sign of Young Master Lan. We realised then that we had probably fallen for the enemy¡¯s stratagem of Luring the Tiger out of the Mountains. Thinking back on those mecha, they were better than us in terms of both numbers and equipment. It was still possible for the captain to escape, but at my level, I shouldn¡¯t have been able to escape, but I managed to ..."


    Ling Yu was very depressed. He bowed his head, deeply regretful that he had not noticed all this back then, almost causing trouble to befall the Ling family¡¯s only hope. If he had figured out the enemy¡¯s intention earlier, even if he had to fight to the death, he would still stick to Young Master Lan. Moreover, he would send out a signal re so that the other members would be able to rush to the rescue quicker.


    Ling Hua was also full of self-recrimination. This cockup was entirely his fault ¡ª if he hadn¡¯t made the wrong decision, Ling Lan and Ling Qin would never have been pushed into such a dire situation, almost losing their lives in battle.


    After Ling Lan had heard what Ling Yu had to say, her little face was grim. "This couldn¡¯t be helped. The enemy¡¯s ns were detailed and well-connected ¡ª even if you all had figured it out from the start and rushed over, it would probably have been useless anyway, and may even have forced the enemy to be even more vicious. Isn¡¯t everything just fine now? Everyone survived ¡ª that¡¯s a good thing, right? As long as we live, there¡¯s hope, and we can do what we want to do, no matter whether it¡¯s to protect or to seek revenge ..."


    Ling Lan sent a warning nce at Ling Yu. "I sure hope no Ling family member is a retard ..." She had noticed Ling Yu¡¯s yearning to die in battle, perhaps wanting to redeem himself in this manner out of self-me. However, this sort of retarded action was something Ling Lan despised ¡ª she would not allow her loyalists to be this kind of person.


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s words were a little blunt, Ling Qin was very satisfied. Ling Lan¡¯s words had been both gentle yet firm, managing to convey the authority of a master without involving baseless anger, full of understanding and mercy. With this, Ling Hua and Ling Yu should be able to truly recognise Ling Lan as their master.


    The Ling family loyalists ¡ª although generation after generation were dedicated to the Ling family head at the time, getting them to serve with their lives still required the head to earn their acknowledgement. This was the Ling family¡¯s way, a part of their rules and culture ¡ª ording to the old ancestor¡¯s will, if the current head could not get the proud family loyalists to submit, then he should have no business pursuing any grand ambitions. He should just stay at home obediently and focus on siring children, living out his idyllic life.


    The Ling family had set the submission of the loyalists as a trial of passage ¡ª sess meant that the head could go out into the world and pursue his ambitions, while failure meant the head should just give up his dreams and stay home, and protect the already established family assets.


    As expected, Ling Yu¡¯s face was full of emotion. His eyes were no longer downcast, but were shining brightly on his face. In this moment, he had truly be Ling Lan¡¯s loyalist and was no longer just a Ling family loyalist.

 Chapter 55: I Suspected It From the Very Beginning!

    Chapter 55: I Suspected It From the Very Beginning!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    After regaining his good cheer, Ling Yu noticed Ling Lan staring curiously at the particle-beam handgun at his waist. Showing off, he pulled out the handgun and passed it to Ling Lan, saying, "You like it? This is a particle-beam handgun ¡ª although its firepower is no match for submachine guns, it¡¯s still more than enough to wipe out anyone not wearing a protective vest."


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes sparkled as she epted the handgun, excitement clear on her face. She lowered her head and began studying the gun, as if curious about how the particle-beam gun was assembled.


    A smile yed on Ling Hua¡¯s lips. In this moment, Ling Lan had reverted to a regr child, full of curiosity towards something she had never seen before.


    Only Ling Qin looked strangely at Ling Lan ¡ª he knew that Ling Lan had long known about this sort of weapons, why did she want to feign enthusiasm? Still, he said nothing. He believed that Ling Lan must have her reasons for doing so, so he would wait patiently for the answer to be revealed at the end.


    Watching as Ling Lan fiddled around clumsily with the handgun, Ling Yu nervously reminded, "Don¡¯t flick off that safety. That¡¯s the switch ¡ª pressing it carelessly will cause problems."


    Ling Lan cast a reproachful look at Ling Yu, as if cross that he didn¡¯t trust her, but she was soon fully absorbed in ying around with the particle-beam handgun in her hands again. Not long after, after she had yed her fill, she seemed to lose interest, and just as she was about to return the gun to Ling Yu, she suddenly saw that the handgun on Ling Hua¡¯s waist was different than the one in her hands. With some confusion, she asked Ling Hua, "Why is your particle-beam handgun different from this one?" shaking the gun in her hand.


    Smiling widely, Ling Hua answered, "This is because the captain¡¯s designated weapons are different from the team members¡¯."


    "Oh? So that¡¯s why ... can I take a look at your handgun?" Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were full of curiosity, as if she really wanted to know what was special about the captain¡¯s handgun.


    With just a little hesitation, Ling Hua pulled out his particle-beam gun and handed it over to Ling Lan. Of course, he did not forget to caution, "Make sure you don¡¯t open the safety catch. This handgun is four to five times stronger than the regr particle-beam handguns, almost on par with submachine guns. Young Master Lan, take care."


    Ling Lan nodded obediently; she was not one to reject another¡¯s good intentions. epting the obviouslyrger handgun into her hands, she held the two guns up side by side inparison. They actually didn¡¯t look that much different from the outside; only the tail-end, which housed the energy storage unit, and the barrel were noticeably thicker andrger than those on the regr particle-beam handguns.


    Ling Lan yed around with the two guns in her hands for a bit, but just as Ling Hua and Ling Yu were about to ask for their guns back, Ling Lan¡¯s next move immediately caused their eyelids to twitch uncontrobly. They had never thought that their own Young Master Lan could be so shameless ¡ª she tantly put the two handguns directly into her protective vest, and even patted thepartments they were in with satisfaction after. That smug expression on her face told them loud and clear that the two particle-beam handguns were hers now, confiscated as part of her collection.


    Ling Huaughed helplessly, looking at Ling Qin in hopes that he could say something to convince Young Master Lan to give the guns back. After all, these were their standard weapons, a necessary part of their equipment.


    However, just as Ling Qin was nning to do just that, Ling Lan sent a pointed look his way, sharp and determined. His heart thudded in response, and he instantly changed his mind. Instead, he subtly indicated to Ling Hua that they should just let Young Master Lan satisfy her curiosity, and as for their weapons, they would be suitablypensated by Logistics when they got back to the Ling household.


    Ling Hua and Ling Yu could only pretend they hadn¡¯t seen anything, while Ling Lan smirked like the cat that ate the canary. Their small group quickly left the deserted ins and returned to the ce where Ling Hua and Ling Yu¡¯s mecha were parked. Ling Lan eyed those two gigantic mecha. Right now, standing proudly on the ground, looking down upon Ling Lan and the others, the mecha loomedrge before her, making her feel exceptionally weak and fragile. It would be so easy for these mecha to crush her. The rush of emotion was too great, causing the excitement to ze from her eyes as if she had just seen her most beloved toy.


    In reality, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t as crazy about mecha as she made herself look to be, however, the cool mecha that she had only seen in anime and manga in her previous world was now standing right in front of her as something real and tangible ... this made her feel as if she was in a dream, and for a moment, she was unsure whether she was still here or had gone back to her previous world. Thus, Ling Lan could no longer maintain her calm facade.


    "So this is our Ling family mecha? It looks so powerful." Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but exim.


    Ling Huaughed, thinking back on his first time ever seeing a mecha ¡ª his reaction then had been much like Ling Lan¡¯s now.


    Ling Yu became even more animated, boasting proudly, "Of course! But private mecha can only be this sort of standard mecha. If you enter the military, perhaps you can get even better mecha, and if you can be an ace operator, you can even change the colour of your mecha freely ... I really wish I could paint my mecha in my favourite colour red ..."


    "Stop dreaming. We won¡¯t even have the chance to upgrade to a captain level mecha." Ling Hua voiced his regrets for the first time. Every mecha operator would like to pilot the best mecha he could handle, and soar freely among the stars, cutting down all enemies before him, being able to dominate through fearlessness and sheer strength.


    Unfortunately, mecha were still considered restricted goods in the Federation. Even if some families had the right to own private mecha, all they could get were still the most basic standard mecha within the Federation.


    Having his dream shattered by his own captain, Ling Yu could only sigh. Bing a family loyalist meant that they could no longer pursue a military career.


    Ling Lan seemed oblivious to Ling Hua and Ling Yu¡¯s actions, walking up to the mecha in a daze. She reached out to touch anywhere she could reach, and her fingertips met a smooth coldness, just as she expected from a metallic outer casing.


    She wasn¡¯t content to just feel up one, running her hands over the other mecha as well. The slightly sleazy way she did it sent chills running through Ling Hua and Ling Yu as if they themselves were the ones who had been molested. It couldn¡¯t be helped ¡ª every mecha operator was very protective of his own mecha, loving it just as if it were his own body, which is why the two reacted this way.


    At that moment, a loud rumble could be hearding from above. Ling Lan lifted her head and immediately saw three mecha flying overhead in a radius of roughly 100 metres, each vigntly watching the direction it was responsible for.


    Ling Hua walked up to her and asked, "Young Master Lan, would you like to see how a mecha moves close up?"


    Ling Qin frowned slightly. Was it really appropriate to use mecha to entertain a child at this time? Their safety hadn¡¯t been guaranteed yet after all.


    Seeing this, Ling Hua exined, "The military group came together with us. They are guarding the outer perimeter right now, and we only managed to escape earlier due to their help."


    Ling Lan looked up at Ling Qin with a face full of hope, stopping Ling Qin¡¯s words of refusal within his throat. Fine, just consider it as a sort ofpensation. Ling Lan had almost lost her life this time, it should be fine to spoil her for a bit. So Ling Qin nodded, giving his approval.


    At this, Ling Lan saw Ling Hua winking at her conspiratorially, prompting her to giggle. Looks like Ling Hua really wanted to entertain her and had arranged this on purpose.


    Immediately, Ling Hua connected themunicator on his wrist. "Ling Ze, fly a bit lower so Young Master Lan can see how cool you all are. Make it a good show!" Ling Hua¡¯s words had a double meaning, subtly telling the other members that they shouldn¡¯t just do a simple sweep, but should include a few fancier moves ¡ª children loved those, after all.


    "Roger!" Ling Ze got the point instantly.


    The three mecha revved their engines and began flying circles above Ling Lan. And then they began executing various basic flying manoeuvers andbat moves, causing Ling Lan to drink it all in excitedly, pping and jumping unabashedly.


    After a set of extremely fancy movements, the three mecha suddenly dropped rapidly, causing Ling Lan to scream out in shock, beforeing to a sudden stop, drawingughter from Ling Lan once more.


    Watching this scene, Ling Qin felt tears gather in his eyes. Ling Lan¡¯s usually mature demeanour often made Ling Qin almost forget that Ling Lan was just a six year old child ¡ª it was natural for her to be this innocent and carefree. Sadly, due to Master Ling Xiao premature death, she had had no choice but to bear the mountainous burdens of the Ling family, which was why he had no choice but to force Ling Lan to grow up so quickly ...


    This was supposed to have been something her father would have shown her, but was now being performed for her by the Ling family loyalists. If only the mecha flying above were Ling Xiao¡¯s IN mecha ¡ª how wonderful that would be.


    The three mecha finally finished their performance and began their descent. To avoid shaking the ground too much, they activated the anti-gravity function of the engine. The mecha gradually descended, and the immense thrust energying from the engine caused Ling Lan, who was standing closest to the mecha, to lose her footing. Just as she was about to fall over, however, Ling Hua reacted and grabbed hold of Ling Lan, holding Ling Lan still even as he stabilized her.


    On Ling Lan¡¯s lowered face, a sh of killing intent came and went. Wasn¡¯t Ling Hua holding on just a bit too tightly?


    A cold awareness spread through Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, and her hands, feet, waist, and torso all shifted slightly in preparation ...


    The mecha got closer and closer, and Ling Lan raised her head with difficulty. From Ling Hua¡¯s height, he could clearly see the expression on Ling Lan¡¯s face, full of excitement and joy,pletely clueless about what would happen to her soon.


    A trace of regret and hesitation shed through Ling Hua¡¯s eyes ...


    Right then, the three mecha which had justnded suddenly raised up their right arms simultaneously, directing their lightspeed guns squarely at Ling Lan. Before anyone could react, Ling Hua, who had been holding Ling Lan, suddenly lifted Ling Lan¡¯s entire body up and threw her upwards into the air with all his might ...


    Flying above Ling Hua¡¯s head, Ling Lan could clearly see Ling Qin rushing over from behind Ling Hua with a face full of fear and panic, while an enraged Ling Yu followed close behind.


    Unfortunately, it was toote, as two of the three mecha aiming at Ling Lan abruptly turned to transfer their aim to Ling Qin and Ling Yu ...


    Quicker than words could say, a decisive chokehold!


    Ling Lan¡¯s right arm shot out at an angle which defied human physics, forcibly bending to lock onto Ling Hua¡¯s throat, and pivoting on this chokehold, she pulled back her body backwards in mid-air to hide herself behind Ling Hua¡¯s back. At the same time, a particle-beam handgun had appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s left hand and then it was pressed harshly against Ling Hua¡¯s temple.


    "Don¡¯t move!" Ling Lan yelled out, freezing the three mecha in their tracks. If she had just been a bit slower, they would have pulled their triggers.


    Suddenly finding himself in a reversed hostage situation, Ling Hua¡¯s face changed. With a chagrined look, he asked, "Where did we mess up, Young Master Lan?"


    Ling Lan answered serenely, "From the very beginning."


    "Huh?" Ling Hua did not understand.


    "From the moment you all werete, I had begun suspecting all of you. And when you all managed to return without any injuries at all, I knew for sure." Ling Lan had never trusted the Ling family mecha squad from the very beginning.

 Chapter 56: Individual Plots

    Chapter 56: Individual Plots


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The two sides faced each other in a stalemate. Although the three mecha still had their lightspeed guns trained on Ling Lan¡¯s group of three, because Ling Lan had Ling Hua at her mercy, they didn¡¯t dare to really pull their triggers, afraid that Ling Lan would kill Ling Hua in response.


    On the other hand, although Ling Qin and Ling Yu really wanted to get closer to help Ling Lan control Ling Hua, the three mecha clearly knew that letting them gather together would be a bad idea, and had shot a few warning shots at their feet when they tried to move. This was a warning to not move recklessly, otherwise they would willingly choose to let everyone die altogether.


    Both sides had their own concerns, so both sides dared not to make the first move ...


    "Why?" This stalemate gave Ling Hua the time to voice the questions he held within his heart.


    "There is only one possibility why Ling family loyalists would bete to the rescue, and that is fighting to the death after being caught in an ambush ¡ª I¡¯m sure you understand." Ever since Ling Lan had been officially taught how to read, she had tantly started to go through all the old books and historical records preserved by the Ling family. Therefore, she was well aware of all the information pertaining to the training of the Ling family loyalists ¡ª a truly loyal Ling family loyalist would never choose to leave his master¡¯s side on his own.


    In a situation like what Ling Hua described, Ling family loyalists would only choose to fight the enemy till the death, and not run away. They would definitely never allow their master to leave their sight unless they all ended up dead.


    Hearing this, Ling Hua smiled coldly. "Don¡¯t you know that the Ling family has another family rule? If a new master would like the loyalists to defend him with their lives, he will have to first gain the acknowledgement of the loyalists. You think you¡¯ve done this, Young Master Lan?" His lips curled into a mocking smile. Ling Lan¡¯s baseless usations and suspicious nature were very likely to alienate others, leading to the eventual downfall of the Ling family. This proved that he hadn¡¯t made the wrong choice ¡ª it was just a pity he had failed.


    Ling Hua sighed, "Young Master Lan, this time, you were just lucky to stumble onto the truth." The goddess of luck had stood on Ling Lan¡¯s side today, while he was just unlucky. Still, he wasn¡¯t going to make things easy for Ling Lan. He continued to say, "However, you should really do something about your suspicious and distrustful nature ¡ª which family loyalist would be willing toy down their life for you with that personality? Perhaps he might be the very next person you suspect."


    Ling Hua¡¯s words caused both Ling Qin and Ling Yu¡¯s face to drain of colour. Ling Qin knew that Ling Hua was saying this just to sow the seeds of distrust within the Ling family loyalists, to prevent them from ever fully trusting in Ling Lan, making it so that Ling Lan would never be able to gain the acknowledgement of the Ling family loyalists ... while Ling Yu was worried about whether he was under Ling Lan¡¯s suspicion himself.


    Ling Lan had seen the change in both Ling Qin and Ling Yu¡¯s expressions ¡ª Little Four¡¯s full-scope coverage was very efficient. Nothing that happened on the scene would escape his detection, even small actions such as Ling Hua¡¯s surreptitious palming of a dagger from within his sleeve.


    Ling Lan silently put up her guard, even as her lips curled up in a cool smirk, "Lucky? If your mecha had had any signs of battle on it, perhaps I might have doubted my suspicions ... Unfortunately, you forgot to ount for the small details. You should havepared it with Ling Yu¡¯s mecha, and added on several scrapes caused by beam shots. Perhaps then your words would have been more believable ... Ah, I¡¯m really such an overly suspicious person."


    Slowly but surely, Ling Lan pointed out the mistakes Ling Hua had made in his setup. As Ling Qin heard her speak, his face became more and more wrought with emotion ¡ª so his Young Master Lan had already be so capable without his noticing ... Master Ling Xiao truly had a sessor now. A frisson of regret ran through Ling Qin¡¯s heart ¡ª oh, if only Young Master Lan was really a young master!


    Ling Yu finally realised that what he had assumed to be the childish whims of Young Master Lan, were actually full of hidden meaning. He looked at the small body clinging to Ling Hua¡¯s back, holding Ling Hua hostage, and his eyes glittered with a strange light.


    Young Master Lan was so level-headed and intelligent ¡ª as befitting her status as master. At only six years old, she was already so amazing, and it was likely that she would only grow up to be even more impressive. Awe and respect surged within Ling Yu ¡ª at this very moment, he truly recognised Ling Lan as the master he intended to serve, someone he would be willing to sacrifice his life for.


    "So, you were feeling up our mecha to check for the signs of battle." Ling Hua finally understood where he had gone wrong and was filled with regret.


    He couldn¡¯t believe that he had really been tricked by Ling Lan. He had thought that she was just a child, that no matter how smart she was, she wouldn¡¯t be able to see through his plot. Unexpectedly, Ling Lan was so freakishly talented that she had suspected everything from the start. Not only did he not manage to fool the other, but unknowingly, he had been drawn into the other¡¯s carefullyid plot.


    Frankly, Ling Lan hadn¡¯t been sure at first who was the traitor, which was why she had plotted to take away both Ling Hua and Ling Yu¡¯s particle-beam handguns so that she could guarantee Ling Qin¡¯s and her own safety. And then, she had faked an obsession for mecha so that she could get close enough to inspect the mecha. As she touched the outer shell of the mecha, she took the opportunity to check on the condition of the mecha, which helped her to determine the true culprit.


    Ling Hua chuckled bitterly. If only he had taken Ling Lan seriously from the start and treated her as an equal, he would never have let Ling Lan get close to his mecha. Then, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to discover his lie, and he wouldn¡¯t have ended up losing so terribly.


    "Didn¡¯t you consider that I could just be that much stronger? The captain must be better than the regr team members after all," asked Ling Hua stubbornly.


    Ling Lan was silent for a moment as she considered his point, but then replied regretfully, "Honestly, I would like to think that way as well. I really did not want to see the day the Ling family loyalists would betray the Ling family ¡ª betray me ... But, you forgot the most important thing, one of our Ling family¡¯s most important house rule."


    Ling Lan¡¯s voice was soft, but her words crashed into Ling Hua¡¯s ears like thunder, "While we still have strength, we are not to abandon our family. Ling Hua, it¡¯s true that the Ling family loyalists do not have to put their lives on the line before they have acknowledged the current family head. This is why I do not doubt Ling Yu¡¯s loyalty. There are clear signs of beam damage on his mecha, some close to piercing through his cockpit. This meant that he had almost died in his fight, that he had done all that he could ... " Hearing this, Ling Yu¡¯s heart warmed, and his eyes became damp instantly.


    "But you are different. Your mecha has no signs of damage at all, which meant that the situation was still well within your control. Although I have not gained your acknowledgement, I¡¯m still a member of the Ling family, still a member of your family ... but in that situation, you chose to abandon me. This behaviour ... what does it mean?"


    Ling Hua was rendered speechless. So, he had carelessly exposed his true thoughts so easily ¡ª he had taken the six year old Ling Lan much too lightly. Deep in his heart, regret swirled. If he had known that Ling Lan was this bright, he would have just carried on honestly with his duty to protect Ling Lan. If he had not fallen for that temptation, and chosen to take this risk, perhaps his children would still be able to receive the best upbringing from the Ling family in remembrance of his hard work ...


    "Young Master Lan, I¡¯m sorry. If I had only known you were such a bright child, I would not have epted another¡¯s offer to betray you. Sadly, it¡¯s toote. I will not ask for your forgiveness, but only hope that you won¡¯t take out your anger on my family and my children ¡ª everything is my own fault." Ling Hua exhaled a quiet breath, the regret in his eyes unconcealed as he spoke with an earnest expression.


    Emotionlessly, Ling Lan replied, "I never take out my anger on other people."


    "Thank you, Young Master Lan!" As Ling Hua¡¯s voice rang out, the stalemate broke in a blur of violence. Ling Hua grabbed Ling Lan¡¯s hand on his throat with his own left hand, even as he flicked his right hand upwards in a vicious thrust. The dagger in his hand was aiming for Ling Lan right wrist, which was holding the particle-beam handgun to his head. That was the greatest threat to him right now, and he needed to get rid of it while Ling Lan was still unprepared.


    But then, he felt a sh of heat course through his head, and all was empty ... he could no longer feel his right hand ¡ª had he missed? Why wasn¡¯t his left hand holding on to that little hand at his throat?


    And then he saw the scenery in his vision change, from the sight of three mecha to a sheet of endless blue ... and that was his final thought.


    "Captain!" A terrible wail rose up from among the three mecha.


    And then the three mecha pressed down on their triggers resolutely ...


    Ling Qin and Ling Yu made a frenzied jump towards Ling Lan, hoping desperately that they would be able to block Ling Lan from the beam attacks.


    Only Ling Lan was unmoved, staring steadily at the three mecha without even flinching.


    Ling Qin and Ling Yu shoved Ling Lan roughly onto the ground, and thenid their own bodies over hers to cover her from sightpletely, almost suffocating Ling Lan in the process.


    Impassively, Ling Lan said, "Grandpa Ling Qin, and you too Ling Yu ... you¡¯re ttening me, can you both get off me now?"


    Ling Qin barked, "Just stay still and hide yourself! Even if we die, you cannot die. You¡¯re our Ling family¡¯s only hope."


    Ling Yu nodded vigorously in agreement. "I¡¯m Young Master¡¯s loyalist. To die for you is my duty and honour." That said, he pressed down on Ling Lan¡¯s head once more, as if afraid that Ling Lan would be struck by some stray attack beam. Ling Yu was rather surprised that he could survive for so long under the collective attack of three beam guns, so long that he even had time to respond to Young Master Lan.


    Finally, Ling Lan could take it no longer. With a dramatic roll of her eyes, she said, "Don¡¯t you two notice that you aren¡¯t in any pain whatsoever?"


    Taken aback, Ling Qin abruptly realised that it was true ¡ª why wasn¡¯t there any pain? Could it be that his entire body had been blown to smithereens until his nerves were no longer there to feel pain? Of course, he knew this was impossible, so the only possible exnation was that the opponent had not attacked ...


    Ling Yu had also figured it out by this time. They turned back to look and saw the three mecha just standing there, still in their attack stances, unmoving as if they had been frozen in ce.


    But when they looked at the middle sections of the mecha, they immediately understood ¡ª somehow, sometime, the cockpits of the three mecha had disappeared, only leaving behind threerge holes.


    Not too far away from the mecha, the three cockpits could be seen slowly drifting downwards on parachutes, shing distress signals all the way. The three cockpits had obviously been set to space rescue mode ¡ª as long as no one opened the cockpits up to provide rescue from the outside, the people inside would not be able to open it.


    From the looks of it, the three cockpits had been automatically set to rescue mode by the mecha and summarily ejected, causing the pilots to be trapped like fish in a bowl.


    Seeing this, Ling Qin and Ling Yu were ecstatic. They quickly mbered off the ground, pulling Ling Lan up with them, and then Ling Yu ran over to check on the three cockpits to make sure the opponents were really trapped within. After all, the pilots still had weapons on them ¡ª this was not the time to take any chances.


    Meanwhile, Ling Qin had walked over to stand by Ling Hua¡¯s body, sadness written all over his face. Ling Hua was the sessor he had raised singlehandedly, outstanding in all respects. Whether in terms of ability or personal charisma, he was heads above all the others. All these years, as Ling Qin gradually released the reins, Ling Hua had taken on arger role and had gradually gained the trust of the other Ling family loyalists. Slowly but surely, he was being epted as the next leader of the Ling family loyalists.


    In Ling Qin¡¯s original ns, once Ling Hua had acknowledged Ling Lan, he would relinquish his role as the leader of the loyalists and pass it on officially to Ling Hua. He had believed that, as long as Ling Hua took good care of Ling Lan, the glory days of the Ling family would continue. So, even when he died, he would be able to face the previous two family heads proudly in the afterlife.


    He would never have guessed in a million years that the sessor he had chosen and raised so carefully would betray them, breaking his heart and chilling it in equal measure.


    Ling Hua, what in the world could have persuaded you to betray Ling Lan ¡ª to betray the Ling family? Could there possibly be someone else like you in the Ling family?

 Chapter 57: The Still Unresolved Fear of Heights!

    Chapter 57: The Still Unresolved Fear of Heights!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Little Four, this time is all thanks to you." With a face full of gratitude, Ling Lan looked at the smugly wriggling Little Four in the learning space. If it hadn¡¯t been for him, no matter how alert she was or how much she tried to prepare, the result would have been the same ¡ª the overwhelming strength of a weaponised mecha was not something her strategies could counter, meaning that they actually had no chance of winning.


    The reason Ling Lan had bbered on for so long with Ling Hua, was to buy time for Little Four to infiltrate the mecha¡¯s A.I. and wrest control. Although Little Four was like a god in the virtual world, the natural enemy of all A.I., the A.I. of the mecha was not like the low-level goods installed in the hover cars. For Little Four to gain control, he still needed to expend quite a bit of effort. Of course, after gaining this experience, it wouldn¡¯t take this long to hack intomon standard mecha next time, unless the mecha was of a higher level.


    Besides that, Ling Lan had also wanted to take the chance to reveal Ling Hua¡¯s true colours to Ling Qin and Ling Yu, as well asy out the reasons for calling him a traitor. She knew very well that if misunderstandings and grudges were not removed early, after festering to a certain extent, the consequences could be disastrous, and she had no intention of making such a low-level mistake.


    After examining the three cockpits, Ling Yu bounded back excitedly, and asked Ling Lan, "Young Master Lan, what should we do next?"


    Ling Yu had already acknowledged Ling Lan, fixating on her as his lifelong master, so his first instinct was to look to Ling Lan for instruction.


    "Contact home and ask them to send more people over. Bring these people back for interrogation, and find out who exactly is the one who is after me, and after the Ling n." Ling Lan had not forgotten about that locked-down hover car Little Four had parked at the wayside ¡ª perhaps the people inside knew something useful.


    "Yes, Young Master Lan!" If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Young Master Lan was not yet sixteen years old, and as such not able to officially ept the position of family head, Ling Yu would have really liked to call her ¡¯Master¡¯.


    That¡¯s right, Ling Yu had already imprinted on Ling Lan for this life ¡ª so even if Master Ling Xiao came back to life, his loyalty would not change. Of course, the current Ling Yu did not know that he would really face this extremely difficult dilemma in the future ...


    With a heavy heart, Ling Qin walked back to stand by them. Even without looking at his heavy steps, Ling Lan knew that Ling Hua¡¯s death was a great blow to the old chambein who had served the Ling family for three generations. After all, within thesest six years, Ling Qin had spoken of Ling Hua¡¯s excellence more than once with unreserved pride. Yet, it was this same person that he had been so proud of that had betrayed the Ling family, betrayed him ... this caused Ling Qin to lose faith his own judgement.


    Frankly, Ling Lan¡¯s ready suspicion of Ling Hua had a lot to do with Chambein Ling Qin¡¯s constant mentions of Ling Hua around her. Because, ording to Ling Qin, Ling Hua was just too outstanding ¡ª so outstanding that it was impossible for him tomit such a low-level mistake and dy rescue. So really, a person should never stand out too much. Doing so would make people remember you, so whenever you decide to drag your feet to cause a bit of mischief, the jarring difference between your performance then and now would easily expose your intentions. If Ling Hua ever found out that this was the reason behind his failure, he would probably deeply regret how brilliantly he had shone before this day.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what she could say to console the sad old man before her. She had never been good at consoling others. That was why she had decided to always face her loved ones with a smile in her previous life, just so her parents wouldn¡¯t worry. Still, history had proven that this method of hers was useless. Although her parents would keep smiling in front of her, they would always cryter in ces where she couldn¡¯t see ¡ª but her ears were sharp, so she had still heard it all. (Due to her high spiritual power, her five senses were also N-times more sensitive than an average person¡¯s.)


    Ling Lan believed that for someone to forget their grief, that person should be kept busy. Wasn¡¯t it said that time was the best medicine? She was sure she had read it in a book somewhere ... In any case, regardless of whether it works, she would just go ahead and use it for now. She lifted her hands to sp Ling Qin¡¯s hands in hers, and asked, "The hover car is gone. How are we going to get to school?"


    Well, alright, so Ling Lan hadn¡¯t forgotten the purpose of their trip today. Today was the first day of school for her ¡ª Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to be that one student who waste on the first day and be the focus of attention that way. Ling Hua¡¯s bloody end had driven the lesson home that it wasn¡¯t a good thing to stand out and be remembered.


    When Ling Qin heard Ling Lan¡¯s question, he immediately rallied himself. That¡¯s right, now wasn¡¯t the time to grieve! He must not allow Ling Lan to be marked down for beingte ¡ª this ck mark would definitely hold Ling Lan back when she applied to the various major military schools in the future. Ling Qin was very ambitious ¡ª he was already imagining Ling Lan¡¯s entrance into the Federation¡¯s strongest number one boys¡¯ military school ...


    Alright, so Ling Lan¡¯s true gender had slipped his mind for the moment ¡ª please forgive an old man for his random fit of Alzheimer¡¯s!


    Without even thinking about it, Ling Qin decided that he would pilot Ling Hua¡¯s mecha to send Ling Lan to the Central Scout Academy. As for those traitors and assassins, he would leave them to the reluctant Ling Yu, who really wished he could switch ces with Ling Qin.


    *******


    Looking on as Ling Qin flew away with Ling Lan as a passenger on the mecha, Ling Yu¡¯s face was glum as he whined internally. Boo hoo hoo! How I wish I could personally send Young Master Lan to school ...


    The mournful Ling Yu could only vent his surging resentment on the few assassins within the hover car. Before they left, Little Four had already unlocked the car door, but for safety reasons, he had destroyed the A.I. on board to disable its weaponry. As for the old-school particle-beam handguns, they were basically useless against mecha, so the assassins didn¡¯t even dare to try and resist, obediently giving themselves up. Even so, they were almost roasted. Ling Yu used the beam gun on his mecha to herd them, and even though the beams had just grazed by their bodies, the intense heat of the shots had still left serious burn damage on them, leaving them one step away from being cooked.


    Thus, by the time another batch of Ling family loyalists arrived, the assassins looked at them as if they were their saviours, so moved that they almost wanted to cling to the loyalists¡¯ feet and cry.


    Dammit, even if they were assassins, and now prisoners, that didn¡¯t mean they deserved to be tortured! What happened to human rights?


    ********


    The moment Ling Lan entered the cockpit, she found out how a mecha carried a passenger. It turned out that behind the control seat of the mecha, between the seat and the wall of the cockpit, there was a small space. It wasrge enough to hold a grown person of roughly 150 catties 1 , but of course it wasn¡¯t asfortable as the pilot control seat, and could perhaps even be considered a little cramped.


    Of course, for a child like Ling Lan, this space was still ratherrge, almost enough for Ling Lan to move around freely inside.


    Closing the cockpit door, the lights dimmed, and Ling Qin quickly pressed the A.I. activation button to light up the cockpit once again.


    "A.I. activated. Checking in progress. Please wait! To select emergency activation, please press the emergency activation button!" The A.I. reminded as part of its activation procedure.


    There were two ways to activate a mecha ¡ª one was the regr activation, which was a little slow, requiring about 1 to 3 minutes, while the other was the emergency activation, whose activation time corrted with the level of the A.I.. The higher the level of the A.I., the less time it took to activate. The A.I. of this type ofmon standard mecha required between 12 to 15 seconds.


    Captain level mecha could shorten this time till about 10 to 12 seconds, and moving upwards, each level higher could shorten that time by another 2 to 3 seconds. At the top, the Federation¡¯s ultimate weapons, the IN mecha, could truly achieve 0-second activation, which was one of the reasons why they were considered the strongest mecha.


    Of course, Ling Qin did not choose the option of emergency activation this time. Although Ling Lan ran the risk of beingte, the situation was not so dire that they had to use emergency activation.


    Although emergency activation could save time, it had a fatal weakness ¡ª it would skip the process of checking the functionality of all its parts and weapons. Mecha, as finely-calibratedbat machines, would umte damage to its various parts in every battle. And when a particr part reached its breaking point and stopped functioning as it should, if the pilot decided that day to use emergency activation ... predictably, it would all end in tragedy. The only question being the scale of the tragedy.


    Naturally, Ling Qin would not let Ling Lan risk this kind of danger, so he took the regr path of regr activation.


    This time, the activation process did not require the full 3 minutes,pleting itself in 2 minutes and 10 seconds, logging them onto the main mecha control system.


    However, this sort of activation speed drew Little Four¡¯s contempt ¡ª within the learning space, he was jumping around agitatedly, loudlyining about how this sort of tortoise-like speed was literally akin to murdering the mecha operator. If it weren¡¯t for Ling Lan¡¯s quick and vehement objection, Little Four would have already forced his way into the mecha to begin modifying the A.I..


    Still, Ling Lan promised Little Four that once she obtained her own mecha, she would definitely let Little Four take charge of the A.I. ¡ª it would be up to himpletely how he would like to modify it. Only then did Little Four subside reluctantly, agreeing to wait till the day he could show off what he could do.


    Swiftly, Ling Qin turned on the mecha¡¯s omnidirectional disy function, which immediately immersed them in what Ling Lan felt to be like a virtual world. It seemed like she was sitting on a floating seat, looking down at the ground from a height of 5 to 6 metres.


    Yep, this feeling isn¡¯t half bad! Ling Lan watched with enraptured eyes as Ling Qin piloted the mecha, finding the entire process fascinating. She was a little eager to try it herself, starting to look forward to the day she could pilot her own mecha.


    Ling Qin grabbed hold of the control stick, and turned his head briefly to caution, "Young Master Lan, sit tight, I¡¯m about to take off."


    Ling Lan nodded and held on tightly to the armrest beside her, indicating that she was ready.


    Receiving confirmation from Ling Lan, Ling Qin¡¯s hands flew rapidly over the controls ¡ª all Ling Lan knew was that within a split second, Ling Qin had gone through approximately 20 different motions.


    From the outside, the mecha Ling Qin was controlling was seen to bend its knees, and then it sprang upwards. Simultaneously, the two main engines below the waist section of the mecha rumbled to life, generating an immense propulsion force, sending the mecha flying forwards into the air.


    The abrupt movement of the mecha caused Ling Lan¡¯s body to be pressed down securely into her seat by the opposing gravity. Fortunately, Ling Lan¡¯s physical condition was good enough that it didn¡¯t feel particrly ufortable.


    Although the cockpit had a certain degree of dpression capability, for the sake of better sense control for the pilot, it didn¡¯t eliminate this sort of inertia. This was yet another reason why mecha operators needed to have strong physical bodies. Research had proven that, without the existence of pressure, operators were unable to sense the movements of the mecha ¡ª they were unable to confirm whether their movements were being projected urately, and thus couldn¡¯t achieve the precision needed to execute the movements they wanted up to proper standards.


    Soon, the mecha had entered airspace and had begun flying swiftly towards its destination. Due to the projection of the omnidirectional disy, Ling Lan had the false perception that she was sitting on an untethered chair, weaving swiftly through the blue skies and fluffy white clouds ...


    All Ling Lan could hear was a persistent buzzing in her ears, and then ... she cked out.


    Before she fainted, she finally remembered ¡ª she still hadn¡¯t gotten over her fear of heights yet!


    Noooooo ~~~ what about my dream of piloting a mecha?!!! Ling Lan was weeping piteously at Little Four within the learning space. In return, Little Four was driven into a frenzy ¡ª if Ling Lan did not manage to ovee this problem, how would he ever get the chance to modify a mecha¡¯s A.I.?

 Chapter 58: A Familiar Totem!

    Chapter 58: A Familiar Totem!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Early that morning, the main entrance of the Central Scout Academy was already bustling with people. Countless hover cars weaved through the air ¡ª if the local government hadn¡¯t taken the proper precautions by sending out police forces to maintain order, the traffic would most likely have jammed up and several collisions might even have urred ...


    It couldn¡¯t be helped, as there were just too many cars. Every year, almost ten thousand students enrolled in this scout academy, and the parents of the students who were only allowed to go home on off days every week were out in full force. They were the main culprit behind the unusual congregation of hover cars in the air today.


    After all, only the top hundred kids who qualified for the special sses had the right to be day students 1 , and could freely choose the courses they were interested in. The other children had no choice but to ept the school¡¯s arrangements to live on campus and were only allowed to go home on off days every week.


    However, these children could still change their fate ¡ª every year, there were two chances to enter the special sses. To encouragepetitive spirit in the children, the Central Scout Academy would rerank the entire school every six months. It didn¡¯t matter if you were in the special sses, the merit sses, or the regr sses, no one was exempt, and only those who managed to rank within the top hundred would be taken into the special sses for the next six months.


    Of course, for the children from the merit sses and the regr sses to score within the top hundred and enter the special sses ... although it couldn¡¯t be said that no one seeded, the chances of it happening were highly unlikely, rarer than rare 2 . From the beginning, the children from the special sses would receive education and resources far beyond the means of the regr sses; half a month¡¯s time was more than enough time for the gap between them and the children from the other sses to grow exponentially.


    Nevertheless, this was still considered a sort of fairness mechanism ¡ª a chance given by the school for those children in the merit and regr sses to break through their limits and reach for the stars 3 ¡ª whether the children seeded in doing so depended solely on them.


    On one of the fields of the scout academy, Qi Long, Han Jijyun and his cousin Han Xuya, as well as the twin siblings Luo Lang and Luo Chao, were gathered together. They were peering out into the sky with their heads lifted as if searching for something.


    They had arrived at the scout academy bright and early that morning. Ever since they had found out that they had qualified for the special sses, they had been filled with anticipation for the first day of school.


    That¡¯s right, the final results confirmed that all five of them had been grouped into the special sses. Qi Long, Han Jijyun, and Luo Chao had all entered Special ss-A, while the two girls had sessfully entered Special ss-B. This result had sent the girls into joyous fits ¡ª none of the adults had expected much of them at first, predicting that it was more likely for them to end up in Merit ss-1. So when the results came out, the two girls had been smug about it for weeks.


    Besides that, Luo Shaoyun and Yuan Youyun, who had taken the exam with them, had also managed to rank within the top hundred, sessfully bing members of Special ss-B. And while the final two people in their exam group had scored a little weaker, they had still got into Merit ss-1, which was the top ss right after the special sses.


    Han Xuya and Luo Chao knew in their hearts that these exemry results were all thanks to Boss Ling Lan. (Since their elder brothers had already recognised him as their boss, of course they¡¯d choose to follow suit.) However, they also knew that it was all up to them from this point onwards ¡ª they really did not want to be the first students to drop out from the special sses.


    "Qi Long, you still haven¡¯t found Boss¡¯ hover car?" chubby-girl Han Xuya asked Qi Long rudely.


    Han Jijyun marked her tone and frowned. He really disliked the way his cousin sister ordered Qi Long around; she shouldn¡¯t lose her manners just because they were familiar. This character of his cousin¡¯s made it very easy for her to offend others without even knowing it.


    Qi Long did not respond, not because he was angry or anything, but just because he was toozy to deal with Han Xuya. He just kept his eyes glued to the sky, but sadly, he still saw nothing.


    Seeing how Qi Long was ignoring her, Han Xuya was a little ticked off. But just as she was about to say something about it, she saw her elder cousin brother ring at her, so she could only swallow her words resentfully. What could she do? Her parents had told her to listen to Han Jijyun in all things at school.


    Finally, Qi Long could take it no longer. He reeled back his gaze, rubbed his hands over his tired eyes, and said helplessly, "No sight of that hover car Boss was riding before ..."


    Luo Lang jeered, "Calling someone ¡¯boss¡¯ yet forgetting to get his contact number ¡ª tsk, only you."


    It turned out that, in his excitement back then, Qi Long had forgotten the most important thing ¡ª to exchange contact information with Ling Lan. As such, now he could do nothing but keep scouring the skies with his eyes for any sign of Ling Lan¡¯s hover car among the countless other hover cars in the sky.


    Qi Long threw an unimpressed nce at Luo Lang, retorting, "Didn¡¯t you forget too?" Who was he to criticize him when they were the same?


    "You ..." Qi Long had hit Luo Lang right where it hurt, riling up the boy once again.


    Han Jijyun rubbed his forehead in consternation and began to y mediator. "Ok, ok, since we¡¯ve all acknowledged the same person as our boss, we¡¯re all on the same boat now. We should be a bit more united, to avoid giving Boss Lan any trouble."


    Perhaps Han Jijyun¡¯s phrasing of ¡¯giving Boss Lan trouble¡¯ was effective, for the two troublemakers subsided, although they both still sniffed loudly once before turning away to ignore each other.


    Han Jijyun smiled wryly to himself. These two were certainly a handful ¡ª looks like their issues could only be resolved once Boss Ling Lan gets here to force them to get along. Alright, so the one who had always been watching out for Qi Long, Han Jijyun, had also learned how to shift responsibilities, summarily deciding that these two troublemakers were Ling Lan¡¯s problem now.


    At that moment, a loud siren rang out through the Central Scout Academy!


    This siren was to warn everyone present that some weaponised force had entered the outer perimeter of the Central Scout Academy.


    Heavens, who would be so daring as to attack Doha¡¯s Central Scout Academy? Did they not know that the school had a squad of military mecha in permanent residence?


    Before Qi Long, Luo Lang, and the others could react, a dark grey mecha could be seen approaching rapidly from the horizon. Its imposingrge body, as well as the two giant beam sabres on its back, sent tremors of fear running down the back of anyone who saw it.


    However, the Central Scout Academy also responded quickly ¡ª six blue-white mecha had already appeared to fly forward to meet the dark grey mecha.


    The only reason they didn¡¯t just open fire was that the signal being transmitted by the dark grey mecha registered as friendly, but they still couldn¡¯t afford to drop their guard.


    Watching this, the children on the ground were ck-jawed and wide-eyed with wonder. Some of them had never seen a federal mecha before ¡ª at most, they had seen pictures, or even 3D animations ¡ª and while others may have seen the real thing before, they had still never seen a real battle between real airborne mecha.


    Regardless, all the children here shared one thing inmon. All of their eyes had lighted up at the sight of the mecha, glittering and bright. Unquestionably, they had been utterly captivated by the formidable figures of the mecha.


    In contrast, the adults surrounding the children were in no mood to admire the mecha ¡ª if that dark grey mecha turned out to be an enemy, they knew that they were in grave danger. The power of mecha was truly horrifying ¡ª not only were their equipped weapons fearsome, the mecha itself was fearsome. Their self-destruct sequence before death was not something a normal person could withstand. Even just standing here, they could be drawn into the path of its destruction.


    However, the following events helped to settle the fears of everyone there. The six mecha seemed to have reached an agreement with the dark grey mecha, and soon, under the escort of the six mecha, the dark grey mecha hadnded at a designatednding spot.


    Right then, Qi Long suddenly asked Han Jijyun, "Jyun, the picture on the dark grey mecha¡¯s chest ¡ª doesn¡¯t it look familiar? I feel like I¡¯ve seen it somewhere before."


    Han Jijyun was already on the case. He felt that vague sense of familiarity too, so when he heard Qi Long¡¯s question, he nodded and said, "Yes, you¡¯re right, it is familiar. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ve seen it somewhere before ... could it be one of the elite families we know?"


    The dark grey colour of the mecha meant that it was a privately-owned mecha, and totems were the favoured symbols by elite families to represent themselves ¡ª Han Jijyun¡¯s thoughts naturally led in that direction.


    Luo Lang, however, was derisive of their actions. In his opinion, it was just an exceptionally ordinary red bird. There were so many elite families within the Federation,rge and small, and there were plenty among them who used totems simr to this one. Perhaps they had seen something simr to this before somewhere, hence the sense of familiarity.


    Han Jijyun and Qi Long searched their memories but came up with nothing. None of the elite families close to them used anything simr to this totem, so where could they have seen this before?


    And then, Luo Chao, who had been standing to one side, spoke up softly, her entire face blushing red, "On Boss Ling Lan¡¯s hover car, I think I saw something very simr."


    "Ah!" The three boys gaped in surprise; Luo Chao¡¯s words were just too unexpected.


    Han Jijyun was especially troubled. Could it be that he and Qi Long had also seen it then, but hadn¡¯t registered it consciously? Instead, had their subconscious remembered it, resulting in this strange sense of familiarity?


    On the other hand, Qi Long had immediately cast away all his doubts after Luo Chao¡¯s words. Since he had the answer now, he wasn¡¯t going to waste any more effort thinking about it.


    Luo Chao was frightened by the response of the three boys, and had immediately scampered like a rabbit to hide behind Han Xuya, and refused to say another word after that.


    "Sister,e here,e here. Come tell your elder brother how you know that Boss Lan¡¯s hover car has this picture on it?" With a face full of pleasant surprise, Luo Lang hurried to call his sister out for a detailed exnation.


    Seeing everyone¡¯s attention on her, Luo Chao became even shyer, replying in a low voice, "I wanted to know more about Boss Lan, so I paid special attention to the car that came to pick him up."


    And there was the answer. When it came to a boy she liked, a girl would be willing to dig three feet deep just to find out everything she could about the other, and the bashful little Luo Chao was no different than any other girl in this respect.


    Luo Lang felt a pang of sourness in his heart. Was the little sister he had grown up with going to be taken away by another just like that? No way. Even though he had submitted to Ling Lan, that didn¡¯t mean that he would just give up his little sister on a silver tter ... Luo Lang silently determined that he would think of a way to minimise contact between Boss Lan and his sister. He wouldn¡¯t allow his own precious baby sister to be snatched away by someone else ¡ª not even Boss Lan.


    Han Jijyun did not spare a thought for Luo Lang¡¯s internal conflict; he watched the dark grey mechand safely, then turned on themunicator on his wrist.


    "Aiya, so you finally remember me, Master! May I know how I can help you?" An extremely sweet and pretty voice could be hearding from the device, its tone flirty and yful.


    This prompted the Luo twins to turn around with curious looks, because Han Jijyun¡¯smunicator was clearly different from theirs, actually containing an intelligent system. Theirs just had boring selection buttons, not personable whatsoever.


    On the other hand, Qi Long and Han Xuya were already used to it, and so remained impassive. Han Jijyun had always liked to fiddle with this sort of little curios, and had actually managed to piece together this one functional little gadget over the years.

 Chapter 59: Freaktastic Boss!

    Chapter 59: Freaktastic Boss!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Expand search range," ordered Han Jijyun.


    "Ok!" Very quickly, a bird¡¯s-eye view of the Central Scout Academy had appeared on hismunicator¡¯s virtual screen, disying the image of the entire Central Scout Academy within the confines of the screen. Of course, the image was clear enough that they could see thending spot chosen by the mecha.


    Han Jijyun tapped lightly on thending spot on the virtual screen, and the screen automatically zoomed in as close as it could to the tapped location.


    Han Jijyun adjusted the viewing angle slightly, and soon, a dark grey mecha was presented in all its glory before the children. Its entirely metallic outer ting shone with the dark gleam unique to mecha, while on its chest area, arge red bird with outstretched wings on the brink of flight rested, its entire body wreathed in mes, shining with exceptional brightness in the morning sunlight.


    Although the mecha had no visible heavy weapons (if it had, it would have been shot down by the Central Scout Academy¡¯s defensive missiles before it could even get near the school), the two giant beam sabers strapped on its back were more than enough on their own to emphasize its might. It should be known that a normal mecha would have just one small beam saber as its standard weapon, but this mecha had two giant beam sabers instead ¡ª it was clear to see that the operator of this mecha was an extremely talented closebat mecha specialist.


    This clearly customized weapon, so different from the weapons ofmon standard mecha, made Qi Long and Luo Lang¡¯s eyes burn with want. It couldn¡¯t be helped. Mecha, as high-grade weaponised equipment of the Federation, were banned goods that could not be purchased by the public. The children had almost no chance of seeing the real thing close up ¡ª only getting a glimpse through video screens, or even just learning about them through illustrations.


    Only if they were direct descendants of some major elite family, or perhaps the offspring of some high-ranking military officer (N-th generation military), then they might have a chance ofing in contact with a mecha.


    "Eh? Has the cockpit of the dark grey mecha opened?" Luo Lang¡¯s sharp eyes caught the difference on the virtual screen.


    "Looks like it. What a shame the image is still a little small so we can¡¯t see it clearly," said Qi Long with some regret.


    Without saying a word, Han Jijyun threw a scornful nce at the two of them. He didn¡¯t mock them, however, only zooming in once more onto the dark grey mecha, fixing the disy on the cockpit.


    Sure enough, the dark grey mecha¡¯s cockpit was already open, and they could see a small child climbing out from inside with his head lowered.


    "Why does this person look so familiar?" Qi Long was a little slow on the uptake.


    This question drew the contempt of both Luo Lang and Han Jijyun ¡ª hells, this fool was the first one to rush up to acknowledge him as boss and now he can¡¯t even recognise him?


    At the sight of the little figure, Luo Chao, who was standing beside them, had blushed bright red even as her eyes sparkled. It looked as if she had recognised who the person was as well. Meanwhile, Han Xuya was the only person who wasn¡¯t looking at the virtual image, for all her attention was on Qi Long.


    Right then, the child in the image finally raised his head.


    "Holy sh*t, it¡¯s Boss Lan!" Qi Long finally recognised the person, and couldn¡¯t help but yell out in excitement, "That¡¯s awesome, actually riding a mecha to school! Hail Boss!"


    Right now, Qi Long¡¯s respect for Ling Lan was surging endlessly like the waters of a river after rain. Dammit, tell him, who else could be as freaktastic as his boss?


    Qi Long wasn¡¯t the only one taken inpletely ¡ª even Luo Lang had lost the heart topete with Ling Lan at this point. The distance between the two of them was just too goddamn wide, wasn¡¯t it? Just think, here they were drooling over the mecha on the screen, when Ling Lan had already gotten to use a mecha as mere transportation ... where was the humanity?! Fine, he should just quitparing himself against a non-human being and save himself some grief.


    Luo Lang had been enlightened ¡ª he decided he would not waste any time trying to steal Boss Ling Lan¡¯s position; it would be wiser to just faithfully do his duty as a follower. Perhaps then he might even be able to ask Boss Lan to let them touch the mecha ... Thinking of this, Luo Lang¡¯s blood boiled, and his eyes shined with a dazzling light.


    Yep, the perks of being his follower may not be half bad.


    In contrast, Han Jijyun¡¯s expression was rather troubled. His face was stiff and closed-off, and a question had lodged itself within his mind ¡ª who exactly was Ling Lan? Coming here by mecha ... although that was also shocking to Han Jijyun, it wasn¡¯t as impactful as it was for Qi Long and the others. What shocked Han Jijyun more was the response and attitude of the Central Scout Academy.


    Qi Long, Luo Lang, and the others may not know what all this meant, but Han Jijyun knew. Piloting a mecha into the heavily guarded Central Scout Academy was a suicidal act. And usually, continuing on after a warning had been given would definitely result in a merciless barrage of fire, until the mecha had been shot down. This scenario, where six mecha were sent out to escort it instead, was something that shouldn¡¯t have happened. Of course, the six mecha were there in part to monitor and dictate thending of said mecha, but still, no matter what, what happened today was definitely not normal. It looked like Ling Lan¡¯s family background carried some weight.


    During their enrolment test, Ling Lan¡¯s exceptional perceptivity, logical reasoning, andbat prowess had gained the sincere admiration of Han Jijyun. Which is why when his good mate Qi Long had chosen to acknowledge Ling Lan as his boss, Han Jijyun had not objected. However, now it seemed like there were some issues surrounding Ling Lan¡¯s identity ¡ª he would need some time to think about this, about whether acknowledging Ling Lan as their boss would have any negative repercussions for Qi Long and himself ...


    Han Jijyun still remembered what his father, the Head of the Federal Intelligence Agency, had once taught him ¡ª be wary of anyone who got close to him, even children, for in their position, it was far too easy to be ensnared in some other¡¯s plot, and end up being used as a pawn ...


    ********


    Descending from the mecha via a halyard, Ling Lan¡¯s feet once again met solid ground, and her heart could finally settle.


    Still, now wasn¡¯t the time to rejoice just yet. She needed to control the muscles of her two legs so they wouldn¡¯t tremble ¡ª as a member of Special ss-A pinned with high expectations, she couldn¡¯t afford to expose her weakness against heights.


    Ling Lan took in a deep breath to calm herself before forcing out a stiff smile, and turned to wave goodbye to Chambein Ling Qin in the cockpit. Chambein Ling Qin could no longer apany her into the school to handle the registration procedures; the school was not going to allow a mecha which could threaten the safety of the children to remain on school grounds for long.


    Aware of the vignt stares of the six mecha beside him, Ling Qin knew there was no point in dying. So, he piloted the mecha and left reluctantly under the watchful guard of the six mecha. The reason Ling Qin could leave so simply without protest was that he knew there was nowhere safer than the Central Scout Academy. Their safety measures were even more impressive than that of the Ling family¡¯s, so he waspletely at ease leaving Ling Lan in their care.


    Ling Qin knew that it wasn¡¯t wise to linger ¡ª if by any chance this issue was manipted by the Ling family¡¯s enemies, the Ling family would be in deep trouble. The current Ling family was no longer the Ling family during the time of Master Ling Xiao ¡ª the influence they wielded then and their imprable strength had disappearedpletely. At the heart of the matter, it was because there was no individual mighty enough support the family. Since Young Master Lan was really just too young, not yet able to withstand the storms of life, they had no choice but to keep a low profile for now and bide their time.


    Ling Lan watched as Ling Qin and his escort of six mecha departed, before looking around curiously. The spot she hadnded in was a small wooded copse. There was hardly anyone else around, and it was very secluded, but it had plenty of space to support thending of one mecha. No wonder the six mecha had directed them here tond ¡ª it was also a good ce if they needed to dispose of any bodies ...


    In the midst of her wild thoughts, Ling Lan chose a direction at random and started walking. She was prepared to keep walking until she got out of the woods and found someone to point her towards the registration area for new students.


    Since she had confirmed that this location was very secluded, Ling Lan was calm. As long as no one knew she had arrived in a mecha, then there wouldn¡¯t be any negative impact on her academic life here. She would still be the totally mediocre genius Ling Lan submerged among the throng of other geniuses.


    ********


    Seeing Ling Lan on her way out, Han Jijyun shut down hismunicator, and turned to tell Qi Long and the others, "Let¡¯s go wee Boss Lan."


    Right now, Han Jijyun¡¯s mind was clear. From the start, all the kids in their exam group had not revealed their backgrounds, so they really did not know who Ling Lan¡¯s parents were, nor which system he came from. However, Ling Lan also didn¡¯t know anything about them either, so they were still on even ground. If he only started worrying about Ling Lan¡¯s true identity now, that would be rather narrow-minded of him. So, Han Jijyun wisely decided to let the matter rest.


    As for whether Ling Lan was a person worthy of befriending, they had plenty of time to judge that for themselves, so there was no hurry. Han Jijyun decided to take a neutral stance and observe from the sidelines for now.


    Qi Long was the first to respond to Han Jijyun¡¯s suggestion. "Alright! I¡¯m going to ask Boss Lanter if I can take a ride on that mecha." Qi Long¡¯s excitement was palpable when talking about the mecha.


    Although Luo Lang didn¡¯t say anything to that, the glint of greed in his eyes left no doubt in the others¡¯ minds that he was in agreement with Qi Long on this matter.


    Han Jijyun opened his mouth, as if wanting to say something in response to Qi Long, but quickly closed it again. A thought shed through his mind ¡ª perhaps he could use Qi Long¡¯s questioning to get a better idea of Ling Lan¡¯s personality ...


    ********


    Ling Lan had been walking for roughly half an hour when she suddenly saw the vague outlines of some buildings in the distance. Ling Lan¡¯s heart leapt up joyously ¡ª she was finally getting out of these woods!


    And then, Ling Lan abruptly frowned, and her right hand slipped casually into her pocket, gripping hold of the miniature particle-beam handgun she had taken from her family¡¯s hover car previously.


    Meanwhile, under her clothes, Ling Lan¡¯s nerves and muscles pulled taut ¡ª if Ling Lan sensed any danger at all, both the particle-beam gun in her hand and her prepped body would be able to spring to her defence instantly against any ambusher.


    "Boss, we¡¯ve finally found you!" Qi Long¡¯s voice boomed out from the edge of the woods.


    Ling Lan¡¯s face could not help but darken instantly. Sullenly, she thought to herself: Why did she have to meet up with this fellow right when she entered the school? She had never wanted to be a boss or gather any followers ¡ª this was obviously contradictory to her personal setting of ¡¯mediocrity¡¯!


    Just as Ling Lan was wondering whether she could get away with pretending not to hear him, or perhaps avoid him by turning in a different direction, Qi Long and his group of five were already sprinting towards her.


    Well, dodging was out of the question. She sighed, and her right hand slipped out naturally from her pocket. Then, she turned and waved listlessly at Qi Long and the others. At the same time, her tightly coiled body loosened up. Against thesepanions who took the test with her, she really couldn¡¯t keep her guard up.


    "Boss, you were just too freaktastic earlier! Actually riding a mecha to school!" The moment Qi Long opened his mouth, Ling Lan¡¯s beautiful ns were smashed.


    "Who else knows?" Ling Lan red fiercely at Qi Long, wanting him to exin fully. If it really turned out that everyone had already found out, then she would have topletely reconsider how she would portray herself to the public.

 Chapter 60: Group 072 Gathers!

    Chapter 60: Group 072 Gathers!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Only we know," Han Jijyun was the first to respond.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression eased immediately; things weren¡¯t that bad then. Right now, Ling Lan still hadn¡¯t noticed that she had actually already epted these few children into her heart, which was why she was unconcerned that they knew about this situation.


    Han Jijyun was carefully observing Ling Lan¡¯s expressions. He smiled a subtle smile ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s reaction pleased him because it meant that he had also acknowledged them in return.


    Qi Long, Luo Lang, and the others were not as meticulous and contemtive as Han Jijyun. Brimming with excitement, they surrounded Ling Lan and started bombarding her with curious questions about how it felt to ride a mecha.


    Facing these questions, Ling Lan was a little embarrassed. She was at a loss on how to answer since she couldn¡¯t very well say she was unconscious for most of the flight.


    No way. To protect her glorious image, she definitely could not let this weakness of hers be exposed.


    Vaguely, Ling Lan said, "When you all get the chance to ride one yourself, then you¡¯ll understand."


    Hearing this, Qi Long and the others were naturally disappointed, which made Ling Lan feel bad for being so flip towards these children who admired her. So, she added, "There are some things that, if told to you by others, will always belong to them ¡ª you must experience these things yourself for them to belong to you."


    These words sounded deep, and as ifing to some realisation, Qi Long and the other children¡¯s eyes lit up. Once again, they were taken in by Ling Lan, who had spouted such profound words with such ir.


    Seeing the idolisation on these children¡¯s faces ¡ª even the intelligent Han Jijyun¡¯s eyes were shining with pleasant surprise ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s heart wavered as she sweated internally.


    She had never intended to deceive children! How was it that she had once again raised the level of idolisation these children had for her?


    Finally, Qi Long, Luo Lang, and the others dropped the topic of mecha, and began chatting about what they all did at home after the test. All of them had trained; it looked like Ling Lan had truly inspired them.


    When Ling Lan was asked about his activities for the past month, they unexpectedly saw his face turn white, before he said listlessly, "What else could it be like ¡ª I was training, just like the rest of you."


    Luo Lang and Han Jijyun could just tell that that training he mentioned was not ordinary, otherwise Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t have such a traumatized look on his face. Only Qi Long remained clueless and continued to pester Ling Lan for details.


    Weakly, Ling Lan replied, "I was experiencing death, in various forms ... Would you like to try?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s words, said in an eerie dead tone, sent chills running across Qi Long¡¯s body. No matter how brash he was typically, this time he dared not say anything more. Moreover, even Luo Lang and Han Jijyun distanced themselves from Ling Lan, afraid of being dragged in as well. They had no doubt that what Ling Lan said was true ... because they could already feel the malevolent aura seeping from Ling Lan¡¯s body. This wasn¡¯t something that could be achieved through just normal training.


    ********


    Very quickly, Ling Lan and the others had finished registering and had set their study schedule. As Ling Lan had chosen to be a day student, she had tried her best to squeeze all her sses together. Unfortunately, even so, she only managed to keep Wednesday free, as several of the sses required attendance for consecutive days, making it unavoidable. Next, they went to the logistics department to collect two sets of tailored uniforms each.


    As today was just the registration day, the school did not arrange any sses yet, merely allowing the students to wander around campus to familiarize themselves with the surroundings and the facilities. Ling Lan also took the chance to tour Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Han Jijyun¡¯s shared dorm. Although special ss students could choose to be day students, almost none of the special ss students would choose to do so. As such, this privilege was considered by the students of the Central Scout Academy to be the most pointless and pretentious privilege ever.


    The three boys were assigned the same living quarters, a vi just for the three of them. More precisely, all Special ss-A students would be assigned a vi when they chose to board at the school. This was one of the perks of being a member of Special ss-A.


    The vi was rather luxurious, and it was free . The kitchen and living room was well-equipped, and aside from the three bedrooms, there was a training room, a gym, and specialised login pods for the children to enter the academy¡¯s virtual reality system.


    The Federation was very strict when it came to minors¡¯ ess to virtual reality. Any child below the age of sixteen was only allowed restricted login. Meanwhile, young children who hadn¡¯t entered scout academies did not even have the right to enter virtual realities, and could only browse web pages on a screen.


    However, once the children entered a scout academy, it meant that they were now allowed to ess virtual realities. Of course, this ess was limited ¡ª they were only allowed to log into the closed virtual reality of the scout academies. There, the only people they could interact with were teachers and other students of the scout academy. They could receive guidance from teachers there, or have a virtual spar with the other scout academy students, but that was it. This was protection provided by the school, to prevent the children from premature contact with theplicated world of adults, which could influence their growth and development.


    The conditions of the vi were top-notch. Luxury andfort,bined with a high level of integrated technology ¡ª Ling Lan was ovee with envy, almost wishing that she could board at school after all.


    As for the living quarters of the two girls, Ling Lan and the boys did not go over to look. Although the children were still small, they already knew enough to distinguish between the sexes and knew that it wasn¡¯t right for boys to simply enter the girls¡¯ dorms.


    By the time the two girls were done settling in and returned to meet up with them, it was already time for lunch. Qi Long magnanimously dered that he would treat them to lunch for today.


    With themoner mentality of never passing up a free meal, Ling Lan quickly agreed, even though the amount of credits she had personally was staggering. These past few years, Little Four had be a famous online writer ¡ª rumour had it that he had N-many crazed fans supporting him ¡ª and although Little Four would purchase some gene agent every once in a while, it hardly made a dent in the amount of credits Ling Lan had.


    The scout academy¡¯s canteen was veryrge, taking up a full several thousand square metres. Everywhere you turned, there were food options for the children¡¯s selection ¡ª it was a dazzling smorgasbord of any variety of food you could imagine.


    Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Han Jijyun were all descendants of mid- to high- rank military families, certainly not the type tock for money. Since he had decided to treat, of course he must treat the best avable! After asking one of the teachers on duty, Qi Long grandly led the way to a particr corner of the canteen. It was said that the food there was the most delicious and exquisite, naturally with a suitably steep price.


    When Ling Lan saw the random dishes of several thousand credits per tter, she felt that she should really rebuild Qi Long¡¯s value system. Ling Lan had already found out the value of credits in this world. One credit was roughly equivalent to one Chinese yuan in her previous world, which meant that even the cheapest dishes before her now was easily one thousand yuan each ... they weren¡¯t eating food , they were eating money!


    Ling Lan was determined. From now on, she would hold onto the money of all these babes ¡ª she just couldn¡¯t allow them to be so wasteful anymore.


    Consequently, all the allowance of the five children were confiscated by Ling Lan, who only gave them 1000 credits each from that. Of course, they could ask for more if they spent it all, but they would need to report what they spent it on, and if any wastefulness was discovered ... The five children had no idea what the consequences would be, since Ling Lan didn¡¯t tell them, but the cold smile on Ling Lan¡¯s face told them that it would not be good.


    Han Jijyun had no objection to all this. Although he didn¡¯t know why Ling Lan would care so much about the way they spent money, he believed that Ling Lan had no ill intentions, and may perhaps even have some profound motivation for his actions ... could it be that he wanted them to be more independent? At that thought, Han Jijyun visibly lightened up.


    Er ... that was the problem with intelligent children, they would always think too much. Ling Lan really wasn¡¯t thinking much about it at all ¡ª she just felt that the way they spent was too wasteful. Although Ling Lan was also able to be wasteful now if she wanted to, themoner mentality embedded in her bones still felt that wastefulness was a sin ...


    Because they knew they wouldn¡¯t be able to eat this way again from now on, the children dug in with gusto, fully prepared to consume the future¡¯s worth of food now. After all, all the credits had already been transferred over to Ling Lan. And so, they ate and drank, and ate and drank, and then they noticed that the other three people from their exam group had alsoe to the canteen for their meal. Qi Long thought that since his credits would be confiscated from today onwards, he might as well use more now, and so generously invited them to join in as well. Thus, the six-person group expanded into a nine-person group, packed tightly around the round table.


    The lively air at their table drew the attention of everyone around. After all, they were all new here ¡ª the old students would only be here a weekter ¡ª so it was rare to see a group asrge as Ling Lan¡¯s hanging out together, which naturally drew the envy-jealousy-hate of various parties around them.


    One such example was this frowning fellow. He was watching them with a face full of displeasure because his should-be underling Li Jinghong had actually decided to leave his side to join them. This displeased him greatly.


    "Li Jinghong, why don¡¯t you introduce us?" Although he was furious, he could still maintain his calm. Before he found out more about the opponent, he would not be so rash as to start fighting ¡ª he kept the Li family teachings close to heart.


    "Ling Lan, Qi Long, Luo Lang ... long time no see," greeted Li Jinghong energetically. With that, thepanions of exam room 072 were all gathered, and Li Jinghong¡¯s arrival was met with a hearty wee.


    Han Jijyun noticed the darkening of the handsome face behind Li Jinghong, and couldn¡¯t help but snicker internally. From Li Jinghong¡¯s impatient demeanour, as well as the other fellow¡¯s arrogant expression, he could just tell that the fellow wasn¡¯t all too likeable.


    "Ahem." An impatient reminder of his presence.


    With an affected expression of realisation, Li Jinghong pointed at the boy behind him with exaggerated motions and said, "This is the third grandson of our Li family head, Li Yingjie."


    Li Yingjie stood proudly, waiting for Li Jinghong to continue borating, but Li Jinghong wasn¡¯t as cooperative as he had assumed, stopping with just that brief introduction. This made Li Yingjie¡¯s expression turn even darker, and he looked on the verge of blowing his top.


    By now, even Qi Long had figured out Li Jinghong¡¯s stance. It was clear that he really did not like this Li Yingjie, but only tolerated him as another member of the same Li family. However, Li Jinghong could not outright offend him, because Li Yingjie was a descendant of the main family after all, while he was just from the branch family. At the end of the day, he was still one of the members being shaded by therge tree of the Li family.


    That said, Qi Long and the others did not share Li Jinghong¡¯s concerns ¡ª since theirrade didn¡¯t like that person showing off in front of him, then they should definitely bite the bullet for him and chase the annoying fellow away.


    "Li Yingjie was it? Hello! But we¡¯re eating right now, so we don¡¯t have time to entertain you. Please show yourself off." Qi Long¡¯s blunt dismissal caused Li Yingjie¡¯s expression to change dramatically. He had never encountered such treatment before ¡ª in the Li family, no one would dare to treat him this way. Mind you, he was a favoured child, for his assessment results at birth had ced him securely before his two elder cousin brothers. Although he was not the first in line to inherit the Li family leadership, he believed that once he grew up, he would definitely be able to usurp his elder cousin¡¯s position and obtain the right to inherit.


    "You¡¯re way too arrogant," bit out Li Yingjie vehemently. If it weren¡¯t for the Li family teachings, he would have already charged over to give the other a good pummeling.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    Oh wow. Rank 20 moving into the weekend. ?( ? )?


    (¤Å??????)¤Å Thank you all so much for voting for this novel. Have a celebratory thank you chapter!

 Chapter 61: An Intense World of Competition!

    Chapter 61: An Intense World of Competition!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Qi Long was not one to back down from a fight. Hearing what Li Yingjie said, he rolled his eyes and replied, "Too much? So what if I¡¯m too much? You¡¯ve something to say about it?" Sometimes Qi Long was outright shameless because he didn¡¯t need to think about the consequences. He believed that his good friend Han Jijyun would definitelye to his rescue, and now he also had Boss at his back, causing him to be even more impudent.


    Of course, at his back, his ¡¯solid shields¡¯ Ling Lan and Han Jijyun weren¡¯t as lighthearted. They shared amiserating look, wry smiles on their faces. Han Jijyun, in particr, was rather troubled. He found that Qi Long was bing more and more reckless, which wasn¡¯t a good thing. He decided that he would need to sit Qi Long down and give him a good brainwashing soon when no one else was around.


    Qi Long¡¯s words finally set off Lackey #1 who was standing behind Li Yingjie. He jumped out raging, "Punk, do you know who he is?"


    "The third grandson of the Li family head." Qi Long picked at his ear, indicating that he wasn¡¯t deaf and that he had heard everything clearly the first time.


    "He¡¯s also the number one ranking student in this year¡¯s special ss ¡ª the most promising scout student in the Federation this year." The pride on Lackey #1¡¯s face made it seem as if the number one rank belonged to himself.


    Li Yingjie¡¯s face was also full of smugness. He was very proud of the fact that he had managed to stand out among the masses with his skills, obtaining the coveted position of first ce.


    First ce? Qi Long cast a searching look at Li Yingjie. The smug fellow didn¡¯t feel that strong ¡ª the presence seeping from his body wasn¡¯t even a match for his own, not to mention against his Boss¡¯s. Qi Long had already had a taste of his Boss Lan¡¯s indistinct yet menacing trace of malevolent aura, and knew that it was not to be taken lightly.


    Qi Long¡¯s natural gift was his strong intuition ¡ª in Han Jijyun¡¯s words, animal instinct. He didn¡¯t have to think much, being able to urately gauge an opponent¡¯s strength just via pure intuition.


    Sensing that the first ce of this year¡¯s Special ss-A was not even a match for himself, Qi Long¡¯s mood took a dark turn, and his attitude became even meaner. With clear disdain, he said, "So what?"


    This answer was obviously not ording to script, sending the opponent into an immediate apoplectic rage. The others also burst outughing ¡ª Qi Long was absolutely the type that could cause someone to keel over dead out of sheer anger, and the most frightening thing was that he himself wouldn¡¯t even be aware why the other died.


    "You ¡ª¡ª wait till our Bosses after you!" Lackey #2 was also moved to help.


    "Is that so? Then I¡¯ll be waiting," said Qi Long shortly, still looking at Li Yingjie with contempt.


    Qi Long¡¯s impudence was because he had the utmost confidence in himself, and he also believed that no one could best him aside from his own boss. Furthermore, even if he did sh*t the bed, there was still Boss to pick up after him. He had faith that Boss Lan would not just stand by while his own followers were being bullied ... in any case, Qi Long was already shamelessly counting on Ling Lan.


    Qi Long¡¯s words caused Li Yingjie¡¯s cheeks to puff up like a toad¡¯s in anger. However, he still had the mind to maintain the poise of a member of an elite family, and chose not to start a fight right then and there. In the end, he only red darkly at Qi Long, and left with these words, "Just you wait."


    The waters of the scout academy were truly deep! Li Yingjie still remembered the cautionary words of his father ¡ª before he fully figured out how things stood in the scout academy, he should not move recklessly. His father had also mentioned that the main principle in the school was ¡¯survival of the fittest¡¯ ¡ª it was almost impossible to dominate within the school by relying on one¡¯s family background or wealth unless you managed to buy the loyalty of some of the more formidable students to be part of your guard. Otherwise, he could only suck it up even if he were bullied by themoner children within the school. His family would not intervene, so he could only rely on himself to resolve any problems.


    He had reservations because of his father¡¯s words, so he decided that he would hold off for now. After he had gained a better understanding of the school and had built up his own power base, then there would be plenty of opportunities for him to discipline that impudent fellow and teach him what¡¯s what. Li Yingjie was very confident. With his own abilities and his family background, there was no reason he would lose to anyone in the academy.


    Since the master had left, theckeys were sure to follow, but the fierce res they left behind was a clear sign that the matter wasn¡¯t over. Nevertheless, this was now a matter for the future. Li Jinghong released a heavy breath. Finally, he was rid of that annoyance.


    "Why do you hate him so much? I heard he was a strong contender to be the next family head." Han Jijyun was curious; the struggles within the Li family had always been intense. Every generation, the crowning of the family head was always the result of a descendant of the main family stepping up to bend all the other contenders to his will by force ¡ª the so-called hierarchy of inheritance was just an empty promise. ording to the survival principles of the elite families, Li Jinghong, a branch family member, should be doing his best to kiss up to Li Yingjie.


    Li Jinghong¡¯s expression dimmed, and he said, "I really don¡¯t like him. No matter how talented he is, I still won¡¯t like him. You all don¡¯t know ... but our eldest cousin brother is really really nice. All of us children in the branch families really like him, but unfortunately ..." Abruptly, Li Jinghong¡¯s expression hardened with determination. "Regardless of the result, I will never stand on the opposite side of my eldest cousin brother."


    "This way, won¡¯t you offend Li Yingjie?" Han Jijyun shook his head. Li Jinghong¡¯s way of thinking was really unsuitable for survival in arge elite family like the Li family. The consequence of being led by one¡¯s emotions was often bing mere cannon fodder in the crossfire. If Li Yingjie really ended up bing the family head, Li Jinghong¡¯s actions now would guarantee that he would have no ce within the Li family in the future.


    "It¡¯s fine. Who knows if a child more talented than him would appear in the future?" Li Jinghong did not believe that it would be so easy for Li Yingjie to just im the position of family head. In this generation, due to his eldest cousin brother¡¯s mediocrity, all the children of the main family were champing at the bit ¡ª hidden manoeuvers abounded as they all fought with their sights set on the position of family head.


    "Not to mention, even if Li Yingjie really got lucky and managed to inherit, I am not afraid. I¡¯m prepared to be a professional soldier, so the Li family can¡¯t touch me in the future." Li Jinghongid out his ns, stating why he wasn¡¯t afraid of offending Li Yingjie now.


    He didn¡¯t want to see his favourite elder cousin brother forced to lose the position of family head and being put into captivity for the rest of his life. So, he decided to leave the messy quagmire of the Li family as early as possible. What he couldn¡¯t see couldn¡¯t hurt him.


    This was the reality of arge elite family ¡ª theplex environment full of cruelty and bloodshed forced the children within it to grow up so quickly.


    "Wee then." Han Jijyun really liked Li Jinghong¡¯s personality. nning out his future so early, and pursuing it with determination, ignoring all the misceneous distractions along the way ¡ª this type of person would seed easily. Han Jijyun liked making friends with people like this because they wouldn¡¯t give him any trouble.


    Yup, one troublemaking Qi Long was more than enough, thank you. Han Jijyun refused to ept a second one.


    The ten people of group 072 did not get hung up on the matter for long and continued to feast and be merry. At this moment, Ling Lan was still unaware that her future would be full of entanglements with the Li family ...


    ********


    In the afternoon, they toured the entire campus grounds of the scout academy. Halfway through, when they passed by abat hall, Qi Long had dragged Ling Lan in for a fight. Naturally, Ling Lan pummelled Qi Long soundly. However, despite his swollen eyes and bruised nose, Qi Long continued to keep a silly grin on his face. Seeing his full mouth of white teeth on disy, one could just tell he was really very simple and was a masochist to boot.


    After eating lunch, Ling Lan had already arranged the time for her pick up with her family. When it was about time, she bid farewell to thesepanions of group 072. Perhaps it was just the way of this world that the children were so mature and intelligent, in such a way that Ling Lan did not feel at all annoyed or bored when interacting with them. Of course, she was also exceptionally patient, because these adorable children with varying personalities had triggered her maternal instincts to the max ...


    With reluctance, the children apanied Ling Lan to the school gates. Especially Qi Long, who strongly requested Ling Lan to convince her parents to let her stay with them at school. ording to him, being able to fight with Boss Lan every day ¡ª it was awesome just thinking about it!


    Learning of Qi Long¡¯s ns, Ling Lan, who had originally started considering staying at the school after all, decisively dismissed the ideapletely. Dammit. She definitely had no interest to cross moves with Qi Long every day. This fellow fought like a maniac, and was as stubborn as a cockroach ¡ª although she was confident in defeating him, she couldn¡¯t be certain how long it would take, so it was overall a troublesomebour which exhausted both her mind and body.


    The school gates were shut tight. All was silent, and there was no one around. When the guard at the gates saw Ling Lan¡¯s grouping out, he immediately rushed forward to stop them. Ling Lan¡¯s group was still dressed in their own clothes, so the guard couldn¡¯t tell which ss they were from. As today was registration day, the school did not restrict the children¡¯s dressing. But from tomorrow onwards, the students of the Central Scout Academy would have to put on their individual uniforms, otherwise they would find it very difficult to get around the scout academy.


    With regards to the scout academy uniforms, there were a total of four colours. These colours were not for distinguishing between the lower grades and the upper grades, but were meant to distinguish between the sses. This taught the children to recognise what rank and privilege were from the very beginning, and about what ¡¯survival of the fittest¡¯ meant.


    The school uniforms resembled the Federation military uniforms and looked very smart when worn. The colour of the Special ss-A uniforms was a vibrant red, and the edges of its sleeves and cor were also different from the other sses. They were decorated with gold patterns, an understated nod to luxury. The uniform represented the school¡¯s hopes for these children ¡ª may they ze as brightly as the red of their coats, and finally be one of the dazzling battle stars of the Federation.


    ording to school rules, when facing a child wearing the red uniform of Special ss-A, children wearing uniforms of any other colour, regardless of their grade level, would have to give way. Of course, if someone from Special ss-A insulted a child wearing a uniform in any other colour, the child had the right to challenge the other tobat during therge-scale ranking every six months. All consequences to be borne by the involved parties, of course.


    Meanwhile, Special ss-B had white uniforms. Special ss-B consisted of children who were just a shade weaker than the Special ss-A kids. In the future, it was possible that they could achieve the heights of the Special ss-A kids, but they could also end up bing a mediocre member of the military. Therefore, the white of their uniform was a message, telling them that their future was up to them to colour in ¡ª what colour it became in the end was all up to their own individual efforts.


    Then, the uniforms of the merit sses were blue, while the regr sses¡¯ were green. Both these colours symbolized sources of life ¡ª the school wanted to tell the children through these colours that they were an indispensable part of the Federation.


    Of course, the colour of one¡¯s school uniform was not set in stone. As long as you worked hard, there was a chance to move up every six months. The school would be impartial in rearranging the sses based on the newest rankings.


    The 50 slots of Special ss-A were the prize being fought over by over tens of thousands of students, while the original special ss kids would have to give it their all to keep their spots.


    From the very first day of school, the Central Scout Academy had already started teaching the children that this was an unbelievably intense world ofpetition.

 Chapter 62: An Intentional Arrangement

    Chapter 62: An Intentional Arrangement


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    When the guard found out that Ling Lan was a member of Special ss-A, who had also chosen to be a day student, he was dumbfounded. After so many years of being a guard at the school, this was still the first time he had met a day student.


    From this, we can see that the freedom to be a day student offered by the school was basically just an empty privilege. It¡¯s obvious if you think about it ¡ª with such apetitive system in ce, every student would wish that they could spend the 24 hours each day as if they were 48 hours ... who¡¯d be willing to waste timemuting back and forth from school?


    Although the guard was shocked, he still let Ling Lan out of the gates withoutment. Of course, Qi Long and the other kids were mercilessly locked within the gates. Who asked them to choose to board at school? Upon bing a boarder, students were not allowed to take even half a step out of school grounds outside of specified times, even if one was a special ss student.


    Ling Lan waved goodbye to herpanions and stepped out of the school gates. Right outside, the Ling family hover car was already parked, waiting.


    This time, the Ling family had sent out five hover cars, and Ling Lan¡¯s main escort was the only non-betrayer of the rescue team, Ling Yu. Chambein Ling Qin hadn¡¯te because he was busy wrapping things up with the betrayers.


    Ling Lan got into the hover car arranged by Ling Yu, and Ling Yu got in after her, and then started reporting on the investigation results they had gathered in the course of the afternoon.


    It turned out that Ling Hua had betrayed the Ling family because he didn¡¯t want his child to follow in his footsteps to be a Ling family loyalist for the next generation.


    Ling Hua¡¯s son, Ling Yi, was younger than Ling Lan by one year. At his birth, he was assessed to be just a hair weaker than Ling Lan in terms of fitness and potential. In other words, Ling Yi had a very high probability of bing an ace operator. However, the offspring of Ling family loyalists had no right to enrol and study in a scout academy ¡ª they could only ept the in-house education organised by the Ling family. This meant that Ling Yi¡¯s growth would be stunted ¡ª he would never be able to pilot a mecha better than the standard mecha, and his chances of being promoted to an ace operator were pretty much nil.


    As Ling Yi grew closer and closer to turning six, Ling Hua had been tormented by his internal struggle. It was then that a chance for his son to excel beyond his station had appeared before him, and so Ling Hua¡¯s loyalty had wavered.


    The other party had promised that as long as Ling Lan died, the Ling family would be dissolved. Then, Ling Hua¡¯s family could be regr citizens again, and Ling Yi would be able to formally enrol and study at a scout academy, obtaining a bright and limitless future.


    After listening to Ling Yu¡¯s report, Ling Lan sighed regretfully. "How stupid."


    Ling Yu said dazedly, "Yes, the captain was really so stupid ... if only he had told us about this, he could have used the information to gain enough merit to request for his freedom."


    Ling Yu still remembered that there was one rule among the Ling family rules: Any loyalist who performed exceptionally meritorious services could request one thing of the family head that was within the head¡¯s means. As long as Ling Hua had rted the n against Ling Lan to Chambein Ling Qin, it would have counted as an exceptionally meritorious service, and he would have been able to put forward his request. Ling Lan and Chambein Ling Qin would never have refused him.


    Till this point, Ling Lan and Ling Yu just couldn¡¯t understand why Ling Hua had been willing to walk down this dark path, finally choosing to betray the Ling family rather than use this information as a bargaining chip.


    However, once Ling Lan returned to the living room of the Ling family main estate, the waiting Ling Qin told her the rest of the information he had just discovered, which included the other reason behind Ling Hua¡¯s betrayal.


    With a serious expression, Ling Qin said, "ording to those three loyalists, during a fit of boasting, Ling Hua revealed that the other party had promised to provide his son with six tubes of gene stimting agent every year until Ling Yi could absorb no more. Of course, he had also promised the other three loyalists that their descendants would also be able to enjoy this privilege if their stats were good enough."


    "The other party is certainly generous. Looks like this person who¡¯s after me is someone powerful." Ling Lan finally understood why Ling Hua had chosen to betray them in the end. Even though the offer seemed to be just six tubes of gene agent, it had given Ling Hua a sense of how powerful the other side really was, implying that crushing the Ling family was not too difficult for them.


    "Ling Hua was frightened. He felt that the Ling family would not be able to go up against that person; he didn¡¯t want his child to be buried along with the Ling family." Ling Qin naturally understood Ling Hua¡¯s mentality as well, and sighed sadly once again.


    "Young Master Lan, what do you n to do with Ling Hua¡¯s wife and child?" asked Ling Qin carefully. There wasn¡¯t a single family which would ept the orphan of a traitor; many families would choose to eliminate the problem entirely by getting rid of them as soon as possible.


    Just as Ling Lan was about to answer, amotion broke out at the main gates. A child could be heard crying, "Young Master Lan, Young Master Lan, I beg you, please see me!"


    From the sofa, Ling Lan quirked a brow, lifting her head to look at Ling Qin. As such, she saw when a hint of awkwardness shed past Ling Qin¡¯s face. It looked like he knew who the child screaming outside was.


    Ling Lan did not ask any questions. She just stood and walked to the gate, with Ling Qin and Ling Yu following close behind her.


    The moment Ling Lan arrived at the gate, she saw a little midget just a little smaller than her struggling within the grasp of one of the guards. He was still screaming for Young Master Lan, and when he saw her appear, his eyes lit up with a savage joy.


    "Who are you? Why do you want to see me?" Ling Lan asked impassively.


    "So you¡¯re Young Master Lan?" At Ling Lan¡¯s words, the little midget struggled even harder.


    Ling Yu, who was standing behind Ling Lan, threw a pointed look at the guard holding onto the child, and the guard immediately loosened his grip and retreated to the side.


    "I¡¯m called Ling Yi. My dad¡¯s Ling Hua." The midget straightened up and introduced himself after calming himself for a moment.


    Ling Lan nodded internally. No wonder Ling Hua was willing to be a traitor for his son ¡ª the child was indeed very bright, and could already control his emotions well enough to grasp opportunities in his path.


    "They told me that, my dad is dead ... my dad was so strong, how could he die?" There was still hope on Ling Yi¡¯s face, as if hoping that Ling Lan would tell him that all this wasn¡¯t true.


    Ling Lan secretly sighed; Ling Hua may have wronged her, but he hadn¡¯t wronged his son Ling Yi. A thought tumbled through her mind, and she replied, "Even the strongest person cannot always fend off an enemy¡¯s underhanded schemes. Ling Yi, your father is really dead."


    "Who killed my father?" Ling Yi¡¯s eyes were clouded with despair.


    "I do not know, but we¡¯re guessing that the orders came from someone in the upper ranks of the military, and that my father was also killed by one of the opponent¡¯s plots," said Ling Lan sadly and regretfully.


    Ling Lan resolutely pushed the me of Ling Hua¡¯s death onto the enemy who wanted her dead. She looked forward to Ling Yi¡¯s vengeance against the other once he grew up. After all, even though Ling Hua had died at her hands, wasn¡¯t the root cause the other party¡¯s inducement?


    Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s words caused a sh of surprise to pass through both Ling Qin¡¯s and Ling Yu¡¯s eyes, but their expressions quickly rxed, as if pleased with the way Ling Lan had spun things.


    Gaining the answer he sought, the mes of hatred zed in Ling Yi¡¯s eyes. "Young Master Lan, I¡¯ll definitely be stronger. At that time, I hope Young Master Lan will give me the chance to end the enemy with my own hand."


    Ling Yi¡¯s words caused an irrepressible shudder to run through Ling Qin¡¯s and Ling Yu¡¯s body. A chill settled in their hearts ¡ª could this end up being a case of warming a snake in one¡¯s bosom 1 ?


    Only Ling Lan seemed unperturbed, as she nodded and said, "Alright, I promise you this. Also, I must tell you ¡ª when your father sacrificed himself, he requested that you be set free, and I¡¯ve agreed to it ..."


    But Ling Yi interrupted Ling Lan to say, "I don¡¯t want to leave the Ling family."


    "Why?" Ling Lan was curious.


    "I want to inherit my father¡¯s position. I want to be Young Master Lan¡¯s most trusted loyalist." Ling Yi¡¯s face was filled with determination. Ever since he was little, he had received education telling him to be loyal to the Ling family and the family head ¡ª the thought of leaving the Ling family had never crossed his young mind.


    This response caused Ling Lan to fall silent.


    Ling Hua, you betrayed yourself, and betrayed the Ling family ... but your child had no intentions to leave the Ling family to begin with. Wasn¡¯t that just ironic?


    "I really want to agree with your request, but unfortunately, I promised your father first. A person should not go back on their word ..." said Ling Lan regretfully.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Ling Yi burst out into tears instantly. After all, he was only just a five year old child ¡ª facing an unknown future, even the strongest and brightest child would not be able to bear the anxiety within his heart. Like the child he was, he wailed.


    "Ling Yi, if you want to inherit your father¡¯s position, then you can¡¯t cry anymore," with reddened eyes, Ling Lanforted the boy. "Your father wished for you to enter a scout academy, and then obtain a ce in a military school, and finally be a professional military man. You cannot let your father down."


    Then, Ling Lan patted him on the head and continued, "However, I didn¡¯t say anything about sending you away. You will still be a member of the Ling family, only a free man in name. When you¡¯ve grown up, it¡¯ll be up to you whether you want to leave or return to the Ling family."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words reignited the hope in Ling Yi¡¯s heart. He wiped away his tears, and said, "Yes! I¡¯ll work hard, Young Master Lan. I¡¯ll definitelye back." He said this with steel-like conviction.


    He then turned around with a serious look on his face to speak to Ling Yu, who was behind Ling Lan. "Brother-inw Yu, I¡¯ll leave Young Master Lan to you for now. Once I¡¯ve be stronger, I¡¯ll definitelye back to take your position from you." That said, he bowed to Ling Lan in farewell and left the Ling family main estate.


    With a face full of worry, Ling Yu asked, "Young Master Lan, isn¡¯t this arrangement too risky?" If Ling Yi ever found out the truth, it was very likely that he would turn against them instead.


    Ling Lan smiled a slight smile. "Isn¡¯t it more interesting this way? Whether or not Ling Yi bes useful to me in the end, he is still a good chess piece."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words rendered Ling Yu speechless ¡ª he really couldn¡¯t figure out what Ling Lan¡¯s true thoughts were now.


    Ling Qin¡¯s expression was a little unsettled, but in the end, he said nothing.


    Ling Lan turned her head to face Ling Qin with a harsh expression. "Grandpa Chambein, you¡¯ve already handled the traitors and those prisoners, right?"


    Ling Qin¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and he stared at Ling Lan intently.


    Ling Lan asked, "About Ling Hua¡¯s betrayal ... besides the three of us, who else knows?"


    Ling Yu hurriedly shook his head. Out of caution in case there were other traitors within the Ling family, the three traitorous mecha squad members had been interrogated personally by him and Ling Qin. No one else knew any details.


    Ling Qin¡¯s verbal response corroborated this. After Ling Yu had left, he had continued the interrogation on his own, which was how he had found out the key reason behind Ling Hua¡¯s betrayal.


    "That¡¯s good. After getting rid of those people, as long as the three of us keep our mouths shut, Ling Yi should never be able to find out the truth." Ling Lan¡¯s words sent cold sweat running down Ling Qin¡¯s and Ling Yu¡¯s back. Was this Ling Lan¡¯s subtle way of warning them?


    "What if the person who tried to buy Ling Huaes out to tell Ling Yi the truth?" Ling Qin was still uneasy about this; Ling Yi was clearly a ticking time bomb.


    "Perhaps then we can inculcate the idea in Ling Yi that all of it is a plot by the opponent ... Anyway, it¡¯s a bigger problem if he doesn¡¯t reveal himself. If hees out, we could then follow the vine to get the melon 2 , and find out once and for all who is trying to harm our Ling family." Ling Lan¡¯s expression was sly.


    Ling Qin¡¯s eyes lit up. "This is a good n." If Ling Yi really managed to draw out that venomous snake from the shadows, it was worth it to take the risk.


    Just like that, the three of them discussed things a little more, and then Ling Qin and Ling Yu went off to handle their respective matters. Meanwhile, Ling Lan was left sitting alone on the sofa of therge living room. Once she confirmed that the two men had left, she sighed softly, "To save Ling Yi, was it really necessary to make things soplicated?"


    On the surface, Ling Qin and Ling Yu had seemed as if they really wanted to tear the weed out by its root 3 , but in truth, everything they did was to salvage Ling Yi¡¯s life. Otherwise, how could the little Ling Yi suddenly appear at the main door of the Ling family main house?


    The loyalists protecting the main house must have received the order to let Ling Yi through to the main doors, and both Ling Qin and Ling Yu should have something to do with this order ... The moment Ling Lan saw Ling Yi, she had understood this immediately.


    Although Ling Lan had no intention of taking Ling Yi¡¯s life to begin with, this sort of intentional arrangement annoyed her.


    It was great that the Ling family rules were humane and reasonable, however, they weren¡¯t ideal for warding against insubordination. In times when the family head was weak while the servants were stronger, this type of subtle nudging without the master¡¯s express permission was likely to happen. Although they didn¡¯t mean any harm, and there was no negative impact on her currently, if she let this go on unchecked, it might end up causing her a lot of trouble someday.


    Perhaps she should think of a way to change the current status quo, otherwise, it may really be impossible for her to continue putting her trust in the Ling family people. And that, would truly be a tragic thing. Both for Ling Lan, and for Ling Qin and the rest.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    Merry Christmas, everyone! ^-^ Thank you for all your support thus far -- it means a lot. I¡¯m not a super fast trantor, but I can give you all some extra chapters for this holiday season. (Holiday speed burst!) Besides this one, there¡¯ll be another extra chapter tomorrow as well. Happy holidays!

 Chapter 63: Number Five Appears!

    Chapter 63: Number Five Appears!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Walking out from the Ling family main house, Ling Yu finally couldn¡¯t contain himself any longer, and asked Ling Qin in front of him, "Elder Qin, why didn¡¯t you ask about the cockpits ejecting from the mecha?"


    Ling Yu knew that that must have been caused by Ling Lan somehow, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t have been so calm when the mecha had fired. It¡¯s just ¡ª he really couldn¡¯t figure out how Ling Lan had done it. Could it really be that he could control A.I.?


    Of course, Ling Yu knew that this was preposterous ¡ª a joke. Everyone knew that A.I.s were self-contained systems. If a hacker was crazy enough to try and control an A.I., the A.I. would shut down automatically, and the mecha would automatically switch over to manual controls.


    Even the most skilful hacker in the world would not be able to seed. Moreover, once the A.I. had shut down, the controls would still be in the hands of the operators in the cockpits. It couldn¡¯t be that all three operators had made the same control error, right?


    Of course, another possibility was the A.I. itself glitching ... Ling Yu naturally shied away from this avenue of thought. If that were true, it would certainly be a catastrophe of epic proportions ¡ª it would utterly destroy the entire weapons system of the Federation. The Federation just could not afford for this to be true.


    In front of him, Ling Qin paused for a moment before turning his head back to caution, "Ling Yu, you overstep."


    Ling Yu¡¯s heart skipped a beat. Every generation of the Ling family head had his own trump card andst resort, and these were considered forbidden territory within the Ling family. No one was allowed to look into it, and vitors of this unspoken rule would receive a bloody end. And here he had stumbled across the line unknowingly.


    "Yes, thank you, Elder Qin, for the reminder." At this point, Ling Yu no longer held a whit of curiosity about it; perhaps this was just one of the Ling family¡¯sst resorts. It made sense when one thought about it. Mecha were the ultimate solo weapon ¡ª even themon standard mecha could easily wipe out a bare-handed martial expert. If he didn¡¯t keep something up his sleeve, how could the Ling family head put mecha into others¡¯ hands without worry?


    It had to be said that Ling Yu had an overactive imagination, his brain easilying up with all sorts of wild ideas to fill in the nks. The result of his ¡¯reasoning¡¯ was a back drenched with cold sweat, and the already loyal Ling Yu had no more stray thoughts, bing Ling Lan¡¯s most loyal loyalist in his lifetime.


    Ling Qin observed Ling Yu¡¯s realisation and eptance, and smiled a satisfied smile. Ling Qin was a good elder, and a good guard, but he was not a good steward. If he hadn¡¯t been sox in his management all these years, the people of the Ling family wouldn¡¯t have been so uncertain about their own position within the household, resulting in that tragic betrayal. However, Ling Qin was a person who knew how to reflect. Since he had made a mistake previously, then he would change now.


    So he had deviated from his usual agreeableness into this stern demeanour, and had issued an immediate warning in the face of Ling Yu¡¯s curiosity. If this was before, Ling Qin would have patiently exined things to Ling Yu before counselling Ling Yu to drop the matter. He wouldn¡¯t have outright warned Ling Yu without providing an exnation.


    It looked like Ling Lan wasn¡¯t the only one who had sensed the problem within the Ling family. Ling Qin had sensed it too and had begun his attempts to correct it. As for whether it would be effective, only time would tell.


    Of course, Ling Qin may have been affecting an enigmatic look as he warned Ling Yu, but in reality, he himself had no clue how the cockpits had been automatically ejected from the three mecha. Back then, his first thought was indeed that this was ast resort of the Ling family.


    He still recalled that when Ling Xiao had left, he had said something carefully and intently by Lan Luofeng¡¯s ear. Perhaps even then, Master Ling Xiao had sensed the problem within the Ling family, and for precaution¡¯s sake, had passed the secret of thisst resort on to Lan Luofeng. (Grandpa Chambein, you¡¯re really thinking too much. The man just wanted to say some sweet nothings to his beau and was embarrassed to be overheard.) Andter, Lan Luofeng must have passed it on in turn to Ling Lan.


    It should be noted that Chambein Ling Qin¡¯s ability to fill-in-the-nks was certainly a match for Ling Yu¡¯s ¡ª initially, Ling Lan had still been worried about how she would exin this issue away, but now, because of these two¡¯s misunderstandings, it was no longer a problem.


    Mind you, as Ling Lan had been discussing the matter of Ling Yi earlier, she had been constantly worried that they would ask about that. Of course, she had alreadye up with a strategy to handle it, but unexpectedly, the dreaded question hadn¡¯te even when they had left. This made Ling Lan very thankful, and she could finally rx. Since everyone was willing to pretend, she was also happy to y along.


    Still, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t happy for long before she was mercilessly dragged into the learning space.


    That night, under Lan Luofeng¡¯s praise, Ling Lan had yed up her cuteness to the max and feasted until she was full. Just as she was humming and preparing to lie down to rest, she felt her consciousness being sucked out of her body by a terrifying force.


    F*ck! Not again!


    Ling Lan savagely raised her middle finger against the dark world before her, mentally cursing at the tyranny of the learning space, and at how it didn¡¯t know how to respect its own host. Of course, Ling Lan only dared to be so impudent now ¡ª once Instructor Number One showed up, Ling Lan would be as obedient as she could be. It couldn¡¯t be helped. Number One was just too scary ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s strength was improving little by little, and the more it improved, the more she could sense how overwhelming Instructor Number One¡¯s strength was. With just one look, he could render her immobile ...


    As expected, the sombre coffin-faced Instructor Number One appeared, and Ling Lan immediately hid away her indignant expression, lowering her head and smoothing her brows into a face eager to learn.


    "Today¡¯s ambush. What are your thoughts?" asked Number One directly.


    "In front of mecha, the ultimate solo weapon, pure physical strength is nothing, like an ant." Ling Lan would never forget the helplessness she had felt when facing the mecha. If it hadn¡¯t been for Little Four¡¯s help, she would have been done for.


    "For the present you, it¡¯s already not bad that you couldprehend that." Number One didn¡¯t seem particrly satisfied with Ling Lan¡¯s response, but he wasn¡¯t angered by it either. He continued, "Based on your current performance and condition, I have to adjust your training n."


    Ling Lan was taken aback; she had no idea what Instructor Number One meant.


    "Number Five!" Number One spoke once again, but called out an unfamiliar number.


    "Big Bro, I¡¯m here." A vaguelyzy voice rang out from behind Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan abruptly turned her head, and saw a rather dashing looking young man with a smile on his lips. When his eyes met hers, he waved at her enthusiastically. Facing Number One¡¯s stifling presence, he seemed entirely unconcerned.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze narrowed; this man was definitely more than he seemed. She knew very well how formidable as usual Instructor Number One¡¯s presence was ¡ª the fact that this man could be so carefree in the face of that ... did it mean that his presence was just as formidable?


    "After this, your training will be led by Number Five, with Number Nine assisting." Number One didn¡¯t seem to mind Number Five¡¯s flippant attitude, disappearing afterying down thew.


    Meanwhile, Number Nine had also appeared in the learning space. When she saw Number Five, the subtle smile on her face faded into ice. "Number Five, long time no see."


    "Lil Sis Number Nine! It¡¯s been such a long time. Your brother here has almost contracted lovesickness since it¡¯s been so long. My hair turning white overnight and all ..." Number Five scurried over to Number Nine, face filled with emotion as he sped Number Nine¡¯s hand. His expression was full of longing,pletely oblivious of the throbbing green vein on Number Nine¡¯s forehead.


    Faced with Number Five¡¯s shameless words and actions, Number Nine threw a kick at him without any hesitation.


    With just a single leap, Number Five escaped the range of Number Nine¡¯s attack, but he still showed no restraint, continuing to tease, "Lil Sis Number Nine, so passionate even after so long. You make elder brother so happy."


    "Number Five, do not forget your mission. Number One isn¡¯t as patient as I am," huffed Number Nine coldly. She seemed used to Number Five¡¯sckadaisical attitude, bluntly reminding him not to go overboard.


    When Number Five heard this, his grin visibly froze for a beat.


    Number Nine didn¡¯t pay any more attention to Number Five, turning instead to Ling Lan to say, "Ling Lan, Number Five¡¯s training will not be easy, you must be prepared." Facing her pet disciple, she couldn¡¯t help but worry a bit more than usual. She understood that Number One wouldn¡¯t allow her to be the only one responsible for Ling Lan¡¯s training this time because he was afraid that her affection for Ling Lan would affect her progress.


    Although Number One seemed to be very dissatisfied with Ling Lan, nitpicking at any little w, Number One actually thought very highly of Ling Lan, even training her up as if she were his sessor. Otherwise, Number One wouldn¡¯t have modified his training n for Ling Lan again and again.


    Hearing this, Number Five¡¯s smile deepened once again. "Number Nine, rx, Ling Lan¡¯s also my student. I¡¯ll take good care of him." For some reason, looking at Number Five¡¯s smile, Ling Lan felt a chill settle over her heart.


    Ling Lan¡¯s intuition was not mistaken. When Number Nine heard Number Five¡¯s words, she did not rx at all, but rather looked at Ling Lan with strange pity in her eyes. This gaze set off the final rms in Ling Lan¡¯s mind ¡ª hells, this was definitely nothing good.


    Before Ling Lan could ask Number Nine any questions, Number Five flicked a finger, and Ling Lan was thrown into a new learning area, an endless grassy in. With a tortured look on her face, Ling Lan heard the voice of the system ring out by her ear:


    Mission: 1 minuteter, a wolf pack wille. Please hold out against the wolf pack¡¯s attack for 20 minutes without dying. Reward forpletion unknown! Punishment for failure unknown!


    Ling Lan had no thought to spare right now for reward or punishment. Her forehead was beaded with sweat ¡ª goddammit, actually expecting her to fight bare-handed against wolves! And she had to hold out for 20 minutes as well ¡ª this was definitely a mission meant to kill someone. Ling Lan did not believe that the wolves in this wolf pack here would be like the wolves from her previous. The wild beasts within the learning space were definitely several times bigger and stronger than their earthly counterparts.


    It wasn¡¯t that Ling Lan had not considered running away, but unfortunately she had no idea which direction the wolf pack woulde from, or even if they would attack from all directions. Since she couldn¡¯t be sure, recklessly running away might just put her in a worse situation. She might as well just save her strength and wait for the final battle.


    Ling Lan naturally used thest of her waiting time to observe her grassy surroundings. If she could just find an easily defensible location, then setting aside 20 minutes, she should even be able to defend for a fair bit longer.


    Unfortunately, Ling Lan was disappointed. The learning space was not like the games of her previous world, full of bugs ¡ª in this grasnd before her, there wasn¡¯t a single obstruction in sight, the endless t in of grass only followed by yet endless t in of grass. And on the ground itself, there was only soft grass on top of loose soil. There weren¡¯t even any hard rocks, so Ling Lan couldn¡¯t even find one to use as a weapon even if she wanted to.


    Dammit, the learning space was truly vicious. It wouldn¡¯t allow Ling Lan to borrow any external strength whatsoever, determined to make Ling Lan fight off the wolves with just her bare hands.


    A minute¡¯s time went by swiftly, and then countless howls broke the silence from all around Ling Lan. Sure enough, the wolves were not going toe from just one direction, but were surrounding her. For Ling Lan, this just made the situation even more perilous.


    Ling Lan narrowed her eyes and released the malevolent aura contained within her body in a sudden st. The moment this malevolent aura appeared, a change fell over the wolves¡¯ howls ...

 Chapter 64: The Rabbit Sky Leap Skill!

    Chapter 64: The Rabbit Sky Leap Skill!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Against a wolf pack, showing any weakness was not going to work. A wolf pack wouldn¡¯t think as deeply as a human would ¡ª in their eyes, the weaker the prey, the easier it would be for them to release their aggression upon it. In contrast, against a stronger opponent, a wolf pack would be much more cautious, and wouldn¡¯t just pounce recklessly.


    Sure enough, the full st of Ling Lan¡¯s malevolent aura made the alpha wolf pause ¡ª after all, Ling Lan was someone who had killed the King of the Swamp before and had been baptised in the blood of the various kingly beasts. This malevolent aura caused the wolves to be wary, and the wolves who had been bounding at her from all directions stopped at the lead wolf¡¯s howling cries. Still, they remained poised to attack, just waiting for the alpha wolf¡¯s signal.


    The dense pack of wolves almost filled the entire grassy in, and every wolf was extremelyrge and fierce, their bodies as big as a small cow¡¯s. Their snouts were spread in savage grins, and drool hung from the razor-sharp tips of their exposed teeth.


    Facing such delicious prey, the eyes of this pack of ravenous wolves were almost glowing green ... If a normal person was here and was faced with this scene, he would likely piss his pants and copse to the ground.


    Still, Ling Lan was unaffected. She remained cool-headed and continued to look for her chance.


    At this moment, she was very grateful that she had gone through the survival training in the primordial forest. After experiencing the terror of surviving there, she could keep her calm in this situation, heart steady and muscles pliant.


    Both sides observed each other for a long moment. And then, the alpha wolf¡¯s howl rang out once again. Ling Lan¡¯s ears twitched, sifting through the criesing from the wolf pack, and she managed to confirm that there were actually five alpha wolves of equal rank within the pack. Pleasant surprise shed through Ling Lan¡¯s eyes ¡ª perhaps this was the fighting chance she had to hold out for 20 minutes.


    Without waiting for the five alpha wolves toe to an agreement, Ling Lan charged forward, her target being the area to the northeast side. Different from the other wolves in the wolf pack, the wolves in this area had a clear red line on their foreheads.


    Ling Lan¡¯s unexpected action caused chaos to break out within the pack surrounding her, but a piercing howl rang out, followed closely by the cries of the four other alpha wolves¡¯, bringing the pack back to order and silence.


    Only the wolves with red-lined foreheads continued to bare their fangs at Ling Lan who had invaded their territory. It looked like the alpha wolf of this part of the pack felt that this was a direct challenge to its authority, and that Ling Lan was a prey that had delivered itself to death¡¯s door.


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s fists flew furiously, savagely sending red-lined wolf after red-lined wolf flying, she was still keeping a close watch on the whole situation. Seeing the other wolf packs under the other alpha wolves sitting by the side-lines as she had expected, her heart settled.


    Of course, Ling Lan didn¡¯t think the danger was over yet. If the red-lined wolf pack couldn¡¯t handle her, the alpha of this pack would probablypromise in the end and choose to cooperate with the other wolf packs. At that time, she would still be subject to a group attack.


    Frankly, although the wolves had looked as if they worked together like a single entity at first, they were still divided by their respective packs. Cooperating to take down a prey was fine, but if one pack wanted to enter another pack¡¯s territory, that was definitely out of the question. Unless the particr wolf pack was weaker and needed the reinforcement of outside help, only then would the alpha wolf loosen this restriction. Ling Lan had cleverly grasped hold of this point and had jumped on her own into the red-lined wolves¡¯ territory, forcing the other wolf packs to step back and wait.


    Ling Lan may be small, but the power behind her fists wasn¡¯t, and her physical fitness was certainly of the abnormal sort. After six years of continuous training with the Qi cultivation exercises, along with the medicinal baths of the Ling family, her body¡¯s resilience had long since exceeded that of an average person¡¯s. Although her skin still looked as fair and rosy as a maiden¡¯s, it was very difficult for normal des to leave any sort of mark on her body.


    ********


    Somewhere high up in the air out of Ling Lan¡¯s sight, Number Five and Number Nine were watching the fight.


    Number Five nodded and said, "Not bad, she has good basics. Number Nine, looks like you put in a lot of effort."


    Number Nine¡¯s eyes held a trace of a smile, and her tone was proud as she said, "Yes, Ling Lan is very hardworking and motivated."


    Number Five nced at Number Nine with a half-smile on his face. "You¡¯re satisfied with her current progress? It doesn¡¯t seem like she¡¯s reached her limits yet ¡ª Number Nine, you¡¯ve be soft on her after all. That¡¯s not like you."


    Number Nine sniffed. "I think this level of progress is best suited for her." However, after she said this, a subtle blush stole over the skin behind Number Nine¡¯s ears.


    It couldn¡¯t be helped ¡ª Number Nine couldn¡¯t really say that with full honesty. It was the truth that she hadn¡¯t pushed Ling Lan as hard as she could in the past few years.


    Mind you, the teaching approach of the learning space was to use the most extreme and cruellest methods imaginable to force the children to break past their limits and unleash their innate talents. It made the children challenge their limits in every way, physically and mentally, and even in other respects.


    This sort of cruel teaching approach put every single child who entered the learning space under an endless amount of torment and duress. Almost all the children had not been able to bear it, and would end up either breaking down in tears, running away in fear, or even losing all their confidence to loudly beg for mercy ... this was all part of the phase of vulnerability that the children had to experience and ovee.


    But Ling Lan stood out as an oddball. It was as if she had already established her goals early on (the girl was a proper adult who had lived two lives, not an ignorant young child, of course she wouldn¡¯t be so easily scared off by this type of teaching approach), so, in the six years with Number Nine in charge, no matter how harsh the training, or how unreasonable the courses, Ling Lan had endured. She had never voiced a singleint, nor shed a single tear. This stoicism ended up moving the typically unfeeling Number Nine, leading her to be somewhat soft on Ling Lan.


    It had to be said that this was a beautiful misunderstanding!


    Number Five touched his chin with his right hand, and the smile on his lips deepened. Perhaps this was why Number One had unsealed him ¡ª this child had actually managed to affect Number Nine, how interesting ...


    Seeing Number Five¡¯s strange smile, Number Nine couldn¡¯t help but worry for Ling Lan. She raised her voice in warning, "Number Five, don¡¯t go overboard."


    Number Nine knew how insane Number Five could get ¡ª at the beginning, countless promising prodigies had had their wings snapped by his hand. Of course, anyone who managed to survive his training would certainly be an unimaginable talent ... but she had never seen Number Five seed in training anyone.


    Number Nine looked over at Ling Lan with aplicated gaze. It¡¯s not that she didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to be great, but rather than subject her to the unspeakable torments of the training period, she¡¯d rather see Ling Lan happy and carefree ... but could a powerless person truly be happy and carefree?


    As ifing to some realisation, Number Nine abruptly turned away, and with her back to Number Five, she said, "Once you¡¯re done with training,e find me."


    Number Five quirked a brow. "What? Not going to follow us around anymore? Aren¡¯t you afraid I¡¯ll end up ruining your beloved disciple?" After all, the reason they hade here was due to Number Nine¡¯s worry to begin with.


    At this moment, Number Nine¡¯s face no longer held any traces of worry. With a cool expression, she said, "Number One did the right thing. I am not suitable to be Ling Lan¡¯s main instructor right now. But, I believe that Ling Lan will definitelyplete your training course."


    "So much confidence in her?" Number Five was taken aback. For context, it should be known that he had ruined several hundred prodigies with his training methods previously, which was why he had been sealed within the learning space. Thus, he himself was very surprised when he was unsealed this time ¡ª and even more surprisingly, Number One had actually put him in charge of their current host.


    "Ling Lan¡¯s not just my pet disciple, she¡¯s also Elder Brother Number One¡¯s." A confident smile appeared on Number Nine¡¯s lips before she disappeared from the area.


    Number Five stared at the spot where Number Nine disappeared and smiled thoughtfully. Number One¡¯s disciple? That was just too interesting!


    ********


    Meanwhile, around Ling Lan, the bodies of red-lined wolves were beginning to pile up, and although yet more red-lined wolves continued to circle her, their attacks were not as aggressive as they had been before, and were perhaps even a little tentative.


    This scenario enraged the alpha wolf of the red-lined wolves ¡ª it felt that its authority had been undermined by this weak little prey before it. So it let loose another howl, spurring on the attacks of the red-lined wolves, causing them to be more aggressive.


    Bam! A red-lined wolf who was lunging for Ling Lan¡¯s throat was punched right in the head.


    Crack! Its skull fractured, and its calf-sized body fell heavily to the ground. And there the red-lined wolfy, whining piteously, and after a few final fluttering breaths, its chest went still and the wolf never got up again.


    The current Ling Lan was no longer her usual serene self ¡ª her eyes held a limitless amount of killing intent, and she attacked with precision and ruthlessness. This sort of life-and-death scenario did not allow for any carelessness on her part; she was determined not to experience death being torn apart by wolves.


    She had already begun circting her Qi the moment she started attacking, as this was one of her trump cards when charging into the wolf pack. As long as the opponent was not stronger than her, the energy expended in her attacks could bepletely recuperated by the cirction of Qi. In other words, Ling Lan would never be in danger of a tragic death by exhaustion.


    The alpha of the red-lined wolves watched as its subordinates fell one by one, with no visible effect on the weak prey. Finally, it could tolerate it no longer, and with a howl, it rushed into the fray.


    The alpha of the red-lined wolves was much bigger than the other red-lined wolves; its body could bepared to that of an adult bull. It approached with bloodshot red eyes ¡ª the countless deaths of its subordinates by Ling Lan¡¯s hands had sent it into a towering rage.


    The other red-lined wolves backed away in the face of their alpha, leaving the battlefieldpletely up to their leader.


    Ling Lan exhaled softly. ns and counterns shed through her mind as she considered whether she should try to draw out the fight with this alpha wolf, so she could while away a bit more time.


    But the red-lined alpha wolf was not going to give Ling Lan the time to think, pouncing at her the moment it got within range. It swung its thick ws at Ling Lan, trying to tear this detestable prey in half.


    Ling Lan leant back slightly, just enough to avoid the alpha¡¯s ws, when suddenly, the wolf¡¯s ws mysteriously lengthened.


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and she quickly pushed on her two feet to spring back further, narrowly managing to avoid those sharp extendable ws.


    After evading the attack, Ling Lan struggled to regain her bnce as she peeked at the alpha¡¯s ws. All four of the alpha¡¯s ws had extended by approximately 10 centimetres. Who knew that the red-lined alpha wolf within the learning space would have the ability to retract its ws? This surprise had almost made her take some unintended damage.


    The alpha wolf wasn¡¯t going to give Ling Lan time to adjust, immediately lunging at her once again, and its main weapon this time was its sharp teeth.


    Ling Lan met it with a fist, but this time she felt as if she was hitting a solid rock. Her fist throbbed in pain, and the resulting aftershock of energy pushed her back by five to six paces.


    On the other hand, Ling Lan¡¯s punch didn¡¯t seem to have caused much damage to the alpha. The alphanded squarely, and when it saw Ling Lan falling back, it charged forward once again with all its might, jaws wide open in preparation for a savage bite.


    "Rabbit Sky Leap!"

 Chapter 65: A Rip-Off of a Mission Clear Reward!

    Chapter 65: A Rip-Off of a Mission Clear Reward!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan¡¯s right arm was numb so she could no longer use it to attack, so she decisively threw out a back kick, using the technique she had trained diligently to obtain in the past five years ¡ª the Rabbit Sky Leap. And now she would finally be able to test it out for real, and see how much power this skill, which had cost her 10 honour points, truly wielded.


    With a loud "Bam!", the red-lined alpha wolf was sent flying amidst its own pained cries. It smashed onto the ground and actually rolled another five to six metres due to the remaining energy behind the blow beforeing to a stop.


    Ling Lan put down her right foot, her eyes full of satisfaction. As expected, the Rabbit Sky Leap was really powerful ¡ª the strength of her own fists had not been able to do much damage to the red-lined alpha wolf, but the Rabbit Sky Leap could, and it looked like the damage value it dealt was significant.


    ording to Ling Lan¡¯s calctions, the Rabbit Sky Leap technique could increase her leg strength by as much as five times ¡ª and this was just at the basic level of mastery. If she continued to practise and became even more proficient with the skill, it would definitely be one of her killing techniques.


    At this moment, the red-lined wolf tottered upright again. As its head was hit directly, it seemed to still be somewhat dazed. The red-lined alpha wolf shook its head to try and dispel the dizziness, but this move only made it fall over again.


    The condition of the red-lined alpha wolf caused the red-lined wolf pack to fall into disarray. The wolves were all howling at the sky worriedly, as if asking if their leader was okay.


    Still, as befitting one of the reigning kings of the grasnds, the red-lined alpha wolf stood up once again. This time, it seemed to have regained full awareness, and turning to face the one who had kicked it, its eyes were crimson, filled with the need to rip Ling Lan into pieces.


    Still, the wild beasts within the learning space had a certain level of intelligence ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s kick had shown the alpha wolf that this small prey before it was not as weak as it seemed. It knew that it would not be able to handle the prey on its own, and so the red-lined wolf cast away its dignity, and howled up at the sky.


    Very quickly, the wolves all around took up the howl as well, and the wolf packs in all directions bowed down collectively. From different directions and from different wolf packs, four huge alpha wolves emerged. They were like kings, strolling out proudly from among their subjects, slowly approaching Ling Lan.


    Apparently, the red-lined alpha wolf had called out for assistance from the other alpha wolves.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression turned frigid. Although she didn¡¯t have to continue duking it out with the sea of wolves, thebined attack of five alpha wolves was also nothing to sneeze at. She really feared that she might lose her life under the fangs and ws of these alpha wolves as soon as the fight began.


    "Interesting, didn¡¯t expect her to have that skill." Number Five¡¯s eyes narrowed in contemtion, aplicated expression on his face as he watched Ling Lan preparing to do battle against the five alpha wolves. Had that skill been her own choice? Or had it been just luck?


    At that moment, the five alpha wolves officially began their attack on Ling Lan. With the red-lined alpha wolf as the lead attacker, the other alpha wolves circled around, darting in every so often to try and score a sneak attack. Their movements were well-coordinated, nothing at all like the messy and chaotic attacks of the regr wolves of the wolf pack.


    The attacks of the alpha wolves had a sort of beauty to it, unlike the crude savagery of the regr wolves¡¯ attacks. The alpha wolves¡¯ movements could even be called graceful, though sometimes strange and elusive. But every coboration between the wolves was just right, causing Ling Lan to be extremely harried as she evaded, almost dying several times in the process.


    Ling Lan no longer held anything back. She pushed Qi into her two arms, instantly doubling their strength. Although it couldn¡¯tpare to the power of the Rabbit Sky Leap, it was still more than enough to prate through the alpha wolves¡¯ thick hides and deal them some pain.


    Right now, Ling Lan¡¯s own body strength was not enough to fight against these alpha wolves ¡ª Ling Lan had already be aware of this during her first battle with the red-lined alpha wolf.


    The perfectly coordinated attacks of the five alpha wolves gave them the upper edge, but Ling Lan wasn¡¯t helpless under these attacks. The powerful Rabbit Sky Leap was something the five alpha wolves had to watch out for because they just couldn¡¯t tell which kick was actually a Rabbit Sky Leap in disguise.


    Under this scenario, the two sides were actually pretty evenly matched.


    Still, the fearsome attacks of the alpha wolves let Ling Lan experience the thrill of dancing with death ¡ª she slowly let herself go, subconsciously descending into a pure world ofbat, not a single stray thought within her mind. After fighting for a long while, Ling Lan felt a rush of euphoria permeate through her body ¡ª the shackles holding her back had finally been broken.


    Ling Lan felt as if she had entered a whole new world, where the energy within her body was cheerfully waving at her, as if announcing their return.


    Ling Lan knew what this was ¡ª it was the shackles she had put on herself previously to control her own strength. Within the past month, Ling Lan had been embroiled inbat training with the Ling family loyalists, all for the sake of restraining her malevolent aura. Even so, Ling Lan was very afraid that her malevolent aura would suddenly burst out, causing her to lose control and harm her family by ident. And so she had cautiously convinced herself, that no matter what the situation, she would not permit herself to release all of her strength in its entirety ...


    Gradually, this self-hypnosis of sorts became a type of shackle, until finally, Ling Lan found that even if she consciously wanted to, she was unable to unleash all of her strength. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry at this result.


    Later on, she had sparred with Qi Long, and although she should have been able to defeat Qi Long with a straightforward show of strength, she had found it impossible to bypass her own personal limiters. In the end, she could only keep dragging out the fight until Qi Long had been exhausted for the spar to end.


    Naturally, faced with such a frustrating situation, Ling Lan was very unhappy. But unfortunately, she had been unable to resolve the problem, and so had had no choice but to push it to the back of her mind, and wait for a solution to present itselfter. Unexpectedly, at this crucial life-or-death moment, Ling Lan had broken past her shackles, regaining full ess to her strength.


    The alpha wolves sensed this change in Ling Lan; slowly but surely, they sensed the strength of their opponent grow stronger and stronger ¡ª attacks which had only caused minor pain previously, were now actually hurting them to their bones.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know how long she had been fighting the alpha wolves, but she was starting to feel that her Qi cirction could no longer keep up with her energy expenditure. Her stamina was gradually fading, seeming as if it would disappear entirely the very next moment. She should have been anxious and worried by this, but she was uncharacteristically calm ¡ª just as if she wasn¡¯t the Ling Lan fighting for her life right now, but rather a cold-eyed observer on the side-lines.


    Indeed, she had actually entered a strange sort of ne, where the attacks of the five alpha wolves seemed to ur almost in slow-motion. She could actually see a hole in the coborative attacks of the five alpha wolves, and sensed that if she targeted that spot, she would definitely manage tond a solid hit.


    Although Ling Lan didn¡¯t know why this was happening, she instinctively knew that this was a precious opportunity. Thus, she absorbed energy through her cirction of Qi once more, sent it running down into her right fist, and then threw a firm punch at the hole she had noticed.


    Meanwhile, from Number Five¡¯s perspective, Ling Lan¡¯s right fist vanished mysteriously all of a sudden, and then a loud smack rang out, and an alpha wolf was sent flying to sprawl on the ground a distance away. However, the alpha wolf wasn¡¯t heavily injured and managed to struggle back to its feet, and then with an angry howl, it rejoined the battle once more.


    At that moment, Number Five¡¯s face was a study in shock. Disbelievingly, he muttered to himself again and again, "How can this be? How can this be? Could it be the zone?"


    Even as the thought reared its head, he squashed it. He shook his head forcefully, telling himself to calm down, that what he was thinking was impossible. What child would be so aberrant as to touch on the borders of a zone at six years old? Perhaps it was just a lucky shot by Ling Lan.


    Seeing their ownrade being sent flying, albeit just briefly, the other alphas were enraged ¡ª this was an outright challenge! They no longer held any of their initial notions of fooling around, deciding to give the fight their all.


    Ling Lan still remained calm; she had once again noticed a hole in the defences of the five alpha wolves. Even now she was unsure how her fist had connected with the head of one of the alpha wolves ¡ª the area she had aimed for had clearly been an empty space. Herst attack had been half-hearted, tentative as she was only testing it out. But this time, she would no longer hesitate.


    "Rabbit Sky Leap!"


    Resolutely, Ling Lan used her strongest technique on the hole. Immediately after, a deste cry rang out ¡ª and one of the alpha wolves was seen falling heavily to the ground. Arge hole had been ripped open on its belly, and its blood was gushing out like a river ... there was no possibility that it would survive.


    The Rabbit Sky Leap technique could really be used as a one-hit-kill blow; Ling Lan was extremely pleased. Perhaps there were other skills and techniques much stronger than the Rabbit Sky Leap, but Ling Lan still felt that the Rabbit Sky Leap was much more useful and adaptable. Since the movements for it looked no different from a regr kick, she could hide it when she used it ¡ª no one would be able to tell which kick of hers was a Rabbit Sky Leap, so it was an extremely stealthy move.


    The wolf who died was the red-lined alpha wolf. All we can say is that the red-lined alpha wolf was just too unlucky ¡ªing on so strongly because it thought it had the upper hand, only to lose its lupine life.


    At the death of the red-lined alpha wolf, the red-lined wolf pack started a round of mournful howling and then quickly dispersed. Within the span of two to three minutes, they had all fled the scene.


    The four remaining alpha wolves stared at each other for a moment, and then decided to follow the example of the red-lined wolf pack. They swiftly retreated, howling out to their subordinates as they did so.


    Ling Lan watched as the wolf packs slowly retreated until they had left her range of sight. Still, she didn¡¯t rx yet, staying on her feet for another three minutes. Finally, she could hold on no longer and toppled over to lie down on the ground. Those final two blows at the end had drained all of Ling Lan¡¯s physical energy. She had only remained standing out of sheer stubbornness, afraid to reveal her inability to continue to fight. Only when her body could really take it no longer had she given in to fall to the ground.


    If the wolf packs chose to return and rally a second attack on her right now, it would definitely be an easy task for them to make mincemeat out of Ling Lan. Fortunately though, the wolf packs had really departed, so Ling Lan managed to survive by the skin of her teeth.


    Even so, Ling Lan was still fearful as she recalled the situation. Once again, she was keenly aware of how important Little Four was to her. Without hisprehensive monitoring, her safety was entirely up to fate and circumstance ¡ª Ling Lan really detested this feeling of uncertainty. Of course, most importantly ... it was rather lonely without Little Four by her side.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts quickly turned to the sensation she had experienced in the earlier battle. That ability to glean the defensive holes of an opponent with one look, the feeling of having the flow of battle within her hands ... that sensation was just wonderful.


    Ling Lanid on the ground and held a fist up to the sky. Although she had no clue what that sensation was, she knew that it came from within her own body. In the fight, both herbat instincts and her physical strength had been pushed past her original limits, progressing one step further.


    Was this what was meant by a personal breakthrough? But before Ling Lan could get too caught up in her excitement, a wet-nket in human form appeared in her sight.


    Number Five had materialized out of thin air right above Ling Lan. Peering down at Ling Lan, he grinned widely as he said, "Congrattions, you¡¯ve cleared the mission."


    At the same time, the system¡¯s voice rang out by Ling Lan¡¯s ear: "Missionpleted. Reward ¡ª intense training by Number Five obtained!"


    When Ling Lan heard the contents of the reward, her gut reaction was that she had been ripped-off. If she had known that this was the reward for clearing the mission, she would definitely havemitted suicide right off the bat, so that she would utterly fail the mission. Ling Lan had not forgotten Number Nine¡¯s gentle warning ... Boo hoo hoo! Could she have a redo?! Ling Lan really felt like crying, full of regret for what might have been.


    However, Number Five didn¡¯t give Ling Lan much time to regret her life choices. With another quick grab, he tossed Ling Lan into his own special training area.

 Chapter 66: Still Ended Up a Boarder

    Chapter 66: Still Ended Up a Boarder


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Somewhere on the of Doha, in a top-secret location, someone was reporting the results of their operation through amunicator. "Sir, the people below have sent back the news ¡ª we have failed."


    "What happened?" The screen was pitch-ck, and the disguised voice that came through was cold and mechanical.


    "There were way too many people protecting that brat, not just those opposing us, but even the des showed up."


    "The des? Why are they involved?" The other could not understand why the ded forces would appear here and now.


    "Sir, what should we do now?" The caller¡¯s forehead was dripping with sweat. His superior was unforgiving of failure ¡ª he was deeply afraid that he would lose his head over this.


    "Looks like the situation is a littleplicated." The ded forces¡¯ involvement was clearly a concern to the other. "Ling Xiao¡¯s son ... perhaps they are using him as bait now."


    "It can¡¯t be." The caller just could not believe it. Ling Xiao was the Federation¡¯s hero ¡ª how could they treat a hero¡¯s child so heartlessly?


    "Hmph. For their own benefit, what wouldn¡¯t the people in power abandon?" The otherughed coldly, tone mocking as he continued, "If Ling Xiao were still alive, and found out that the country he defended with his life was using his only descendant as bait, putting him in danger, he would probably be filled with endless regret."


    As if finding his own words rather pointless, the mechanical voice regrouped andmanded sternly, "Forget going after Ling Xiao¡¯s son. Using him as bait to draw us out? In their dreams!"


    "Understood!" The caller reflexively stood up to receive his orders, however, he was still worried, so he asked, "Sir, that boy is the child of a god-ss operator ¡ª ording to the transmitted data, his potential is excellent. If he is like Ling Xiao, and grows up to be another god-ss operator for the Federation, this will be very disadvantageous for our Empire. Shouldn¡¯t we just take the risk and eliminate him ...?" god-ss operators were just too strong beyond belief, capable of deciding the ultimate oue of a battle if they were present.


    The speaker of the mechanical voice picked up on the worried tone of his subordinate, and chided in dissatisfaction, "Didn¡¯t you do research on the information regarding god-ss operators? Over thest several hundred years, has the offspring of any god-ss operator manage to achieve that pinnacle? Even ascending to the level of an ace operator has been difficult for them. Didn¡¯t the gicists of our Empire publicize their research thesis? When a particr bloodline has culminated in a god-ss operator, that means that the energy potential within the genes of that bloodline has already peaked. This also means that all the energy potential of that bloodline has been consumed by the produced god-ss operator, resulting in his descendants bing more and more mediocre ... Ling Xiao¡¯s descendants are done for."


    Otherwise, Ling Xiao¡¯s son Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t have failed to even make the top 10 of the Central Scout Academy. The decline of the Ling family was a foregone conclusion, so they weren¡¯t really worth their attention.


    This news dropped onto the caller¡¯s head like a bomb, sending his mind reeling. If Ling Xiao¡¯s son wasn¡¯t a real threat to the empire, then why had his superior spent so much effort trying to assassinate Ling Lan?


    As if sensing his subordinate¡¯s bewilderment, the mechanical voice rang out once more through themunicator, "It has been almost seven years since Ling Xiao¡¯s death, but all the military personnel of the Federation have not forgotten this extraordinary god-ss operator, still filled with ungging admiration for him. If at this time, news that his son had been assassinated by official mecha operators of the Federation were to spread ... how do you think the military men in service of the Chinese Federation will react?"


    The sweat started to flow freely from the caller¡¯s forehead. "They may start to suspect that Ling Xiao¡¯s death was due to a conspiracy, a sacrifice in the power struggle among the upper ranks of the military ¡ª a mutiny may ur within the Federation." Who knew that his boss had been nning to use Ling Lan¡¯s death to set up such arge stage?


    "What a pity the opponent also thought of the same thing, and decided to just y along with our trick, choosing to use Ling Xiao¡¯s son as a sacrificial pawn to bait us. I think, even if we really killed Ling Xiao¡¯s son, the opponent will be able to fabricate evidence to pin the me on our Empire." The mechanical voice was filled with regret. This exchange was his loss ¡ª it was just lucky that he had discovered this early on, and managed to clean up after himself, only exposing some unimportant pawns in the process.


    Listening to the analysis of the situation by the mechanical voice, the caller¡¯s forehead was beaded with sweat; he had almost ruined his superior¡¯s grand n. He quickly nodded and bowed, saying, "Yes, Sir, I understand now."


    "We shall scatter our forces andy low for now. Don¡¯t do anything rash. The matter of the Ling family ends here." The mechanical voice decisively gave up on the operation to assassinate Ling Lan. He just could not let the opponent pin the death of Ling Xiao¡¯s son upon the head of the Empire.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s death had already shown him the fervour of the military men of the Federation. Due to his death, the conflict between the two nations had escted into an epic long-standing feud, which currently still showed no signs of stopping. If Ling Xiao¡¯s son¡¯s death became more fuel to the me, he was afraid that the Empire would be overrun by those military men of the Federation and be utterly destroyed.


    "Yes, Sir," responded the caller, before carefully shutting hismunicator and turning to ry his superior¡¯s orders.


    Just like that, the threat towards Ling Lan was resolved. When Ling Lanter became the Federation¡¯s star warrior of a new generation, these people would be filled with regret, beating themselves up for not choosing to continue with their assassination operation ...


    Meanwhile, themander of the des had received news from 413, who had secretly escorted Ling Lan all the way home. The assassination attempt this time had chilled him, even as it infuriated him. He had never expected that the opponent had already managed to secretly control some of the high-ranking people within the federal military.


    The band of mecha operators 413¡¯s squad had captured and brought in were indeed serving military men of the Federation, but unfortunately, they really didn¡¯t know anything and were just a bunch of idiots who had been used.


    Still, themander of the des had been able to confirm that the power base of the opponent hidden within the Federation was considerable, and that a bunch of traitors had already been gathered around him. But for now, his greatest worry was for Ling Lan¡¯s safety. Ling Lan may have narrowly escaped this time ¡ª but what about next time?


    Themander of the des hesitated for a brief moment, but finally connected to that particr contact number once more ... in the end, when he shut hismunicator, the tension in his brows had faded and his expression was light and cheerful.


    Although that old fellow had mercilessly extorted a substantial sum from him, it was alright as long as his objective had been achieved. At the most he¡¯ll just have to take on a couple more strenuous jobs in the meantime, but for the preservation of the bloodline of the Federation, this trouble was worth it!


    ********


    Early the second day, Ling Lan finally escaped from the torments of Number Five. With low spirits, she levered herself out of bed and washed up, and then rapidly wolfed down her prepared breakfast. There was no helping it ¡ª the distance to school was rather far, so she needed to hurry to make sure she had enough time for the journey. Of course, Ling Lan was also considering whether she should look for a ce close to the scout academy to live ¡ª wasting so much time every day onmuting was not a sustainable n in Ling Lan¡¯s opinion.


    Ling Lan decided that she would discuss the matter with her mother when she returned from school that day. Just as she finished her preparations and was about to leave, an unexpected guest showed up on the Ling family doorstep ¡ª the dean of the Central Scout Academy.


    The dean¡¯s arrival was for one purpose only, and that was for Ling Lan to give up her special ss right to be a day student. This was because Ling Lan was the only person this year who chose to be a day student, so the dean was concerned that Ling Lan¡¯s grades and progress would be held back by this.


    Of course, as the academy was the one to request for the student to relinquish this right, the academy promised that Ling Lan could request something else from the academy, as long as the request was within the academy¡¯s means.


    Although Lan Luofeng was very tempted by this offer, she could not agree. Why had Ling Lan chosen to be a day student to begin with after all? Because of the problem of her gender. If she stayed with someone else, the risk of exposure would be too high ¡ª Lan Luofeng could not afford to take the risk.


    Even if Lan Luofeng wanted to refuse, she still needed to have a legitimate reason for refusing. This moment fully disyed Lan Luofeng¡¯s ability to improvise. In an instant, she actually managed to concoct a believable excuse ¡ª she said that ever since Ling Xiao had passed away, she had contracted an extremely severe case of depression. Consequently, she could not bear to be apart from her loved ones for long. If Ling Lan were to board at the school, she would be unable to control herself, and may end up harming herself.


    Ling Qin, who was standing to one side, was very cooperative, immediately affecting an extremely morose expression, nodding gravely to affirm that what his mistress said was true. Meanwhile, with a face full of worry for her mother, Ling Lan regretfully declined the dean¡¯s kind offer.


    ying the pity card was obviously a smart move, for the dean¡¯s expression was awkward and filled with helplessness. Just as the three believed that the dean would give up on his n, the dean seemed toe to some momentous decision and suggested an arrangement that shocked the three of them.


    He actually suggested that Lan Luofeng live together with Ling Lan in the school. And since the academy had the iron-d rule of not allowing non-staff to live on campus, the dean even went so far as to offer Lan Luofeng a position at the school as a teaching assistant, so that she could legitimately board at the school.


    The dean also promised that Ling Lan and her mother could live alone in one of the vis at the school, where they wouldn¡¯t be disturbed. On top of that, the dean even specially permitted Lan Luofeng to bring along two servants to help her manage the vi.


    With this, there was no longer any reason for the three to refuse. Ling Lan quickly thanked the dean, agreed that she would relinquish her right to be a day student, and would try her best to finalise the procedures required to board at the school as soon as possible.


    Having received a satisfactory answer, the dean was greatly pleased and automatically offered to give Ling Lan the day off so that she could finalise all the procedures today itself. Then, without leaving a trace of his visit, he left, only leaving behind three dumbfounded people who hadn¡¯t regained their senses sitting in the living room.


    ********


    The dean walked out of the Ling family gates, boarded his hover car, and finally dropped his noble bearing to slump in his seat. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, and once againmented to himself at how difficult the Ling family was to handle. He thought back to the time when he had to persuade Ling Xiao ¡ª he had also had to sacrifice a lot then to seed ...


    However, he had still managed to achieve what his old friend had asked of him. Although the academy had had to pay a steep price, the result was still wonderful. The dean smiled in satisfaction. He had gotten many concessions from his old friend for this, so it was overall worth it.


    ********


    Ling Qin was the first to regain his senses. With a face full of joy, he turned to say to Lan Luofeng, "Mistress, this is a great thing! If Young Master Lan lives at the school, her safety is guaranteed."


    Lan Luofeng remained uncertain and suspicious, smiling wryly as she said, "Uncle Qin, why do you think the academy is so amodating towards Ling Lan, even going so far as to open a backdoor like this for her? I¡¯m very worried. Ling Lan had just been ambushed, and now right after, the Central Scout Academy is giving Ling Lan such preferential treatment?"


    It should be known that the gates of the Central Scout Academy were not so easily entered. The work benefits offered by the school was unquestionably the best in the Federation, so even a lowly teaching assistant position there was still highly sought after by countless highly-educated people. Lan Luofeng had never dreamed that such a coveted position would just fall into herp due to her connection with Ling Lan. Of course, Lan Luofeng was not impressed by the position since she didn¡¯t need it. Although the Ling family seemed weak now, it still had a substantial foundation, enough so that both Ling Lan and Lan Luofeng could live N-lifetimes without having to trouble themselves over living expenses.


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s words made Ling Qin hesitate as well ¡ª could it be that this was just another plot against Ling Lan? Ling Qin was beginning to be a little fearful. The assassination attempt and its series of attacks had troubled the heart of the old man, and he hadn¡¯t had time to get over it yet.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan hurried to remind them, "I hear that the Central Scout Academy has the highest safety ranking, and students are prized most highly by the academy. Ever since the academy has been established, not a single student has ever been harmed on school grounds. Grandpa Ling Qin, is this rumour true?"


    Ling Qin¡¯s eyes brightened, as if reminded of something, "Mistress, Young Master Lan is correct. The scout academies are run independently of any government or military system, and god-ss operators are the ones in charge of protecting them ..."


    Ling Qin¡¯s gaze was passionate and heated; Ling Lan was very familiar with such eyes ¡ª some rabid fans of superstars in her previous world had eyes which shined with the exact same type of light.


    Ling Lan knew that Ling Qin¡¯s passionate reaction was drawn out by the god-ss operators he mentioned. What exactly was that all about?


    Ling Lan was determined to let Little Four dig up some information on thister on. Suddenly, she realised that she really didn¡¯t know much about this world at all. The assassination incident had given her her first glimpse of real mecha, blinding her with obsession for a moment ... these past few years, she had just been focused on training hard and had rather neglected all the interesting things in the outside world.


    In truth, Ling Lan could not be med for this. Some information was actually ssified by the government, and Little Four had felt that Ling Lan really didn¡¯t need to know about these sort of things at her age, and so hadn¡¯t collected these information. As such, Ling Lan naturally wouldn¡¯t have known about any of this.


    Thus, poor Ling Lan was still unaware that her father was the idol of the military men of the Federation, and that he had been the youngest god-ss operator of the Federation.


    Ling Qin¡¯s words reassured Lan Luofeng, and so she happily ran upstairs to pack for both Ling Lan and herself.


    Just like that, Ling Lan did not show up in Special ss-A for the first official day of school. When the homeroom teacher of Special ss-A glossed over the fact that Ling Lan had already applied for the day off, his tone was obviously protective. This stirred up the discontent of the other students in Special ss-A, provoking a flurry of private discussion ...


    While Qi Long didn¡¯t think much of the matter, Luo Lang seemed to have sensed something, but only Han Jijyun had a serious expression on his face ...


    Boss Lan, who are you really?

 Chapter 67: The Impudent Challenger

    Chapter 67: The Impudent Challenger


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In the mirror, a little boy was wearing the rumoured military-style uniform of Special ss-A. The bold red, the fitting tailoring, the glittering bronze leather boots that were so polished that one could almost see one¡¯s reflection in it, and the leather belt with a metal buckle around his waist ¡ª all of it added a dash of charm to the already handsome boy, swaying the heart of the woman beside him, causing her heart to swell with motherly love.


    Lan Luofeng framed her face with her hands, expression dreamy as she said, "Lan Lan, you really look so much like your daddy today ¡ª so handsome beyondpare."


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but roll her eyes. Praise her if she wanted to praise her ¡ª why did she have to bring up her old man? Could it be that she was praising her on the surface, but was actually thinking about her old man?


    Thinking about Lan Luofeng¡¯s long previous history of such urrences, Ling Lan was pretty sure her mum was caught up in her own romantic fantasies again. She decided to disregard the woman, turning to say to Ling Nanyi directly, "Grandma Chambein, I leave mum in your care."


    Ling Nanyi was Chambein Ling Qin¡¯s wife. This time, moving into the scout academy, Lan Luofeng and Ling Lan had brought Ling Nanyi along, tasking her with the running of the vi. And Ling Nanyi had then also selected a servant girl who was deadly loyal to the Ling family with an impable record toe along with her, to help her with the cleaning of the vi.


    With a smile, Ling Nanyi replied, "Young Master Lan, please don¡¯t worry."


    That done, Ling Lan waved goodbye to them and walked to the vi doors. Just as she opened the door ... Lan Luofeng finally shook herself out of her love-dazed state. "Ling Lan, what do you take your mother for? You ingrate!" Lan Luofeng bellowed from behind her. She had just registered what Ling Lan was implying, and her ire was raised.


    Ling Lan turned to look back with a smile. "Congrattions, Mum, you haven¡¯t be aplete idiot." That said, she slipped out of the house.


    "Crash!" Some unidentified item mmed into the doors, and Lan Luofeng¡¯s lion roar could be heard once again. "Ling Lan, just you wait, you¡¯ll get it once you get home!"


    With a smile on her lips, Ling Lan left the vi behind. She knew her mum was just talk ¡ª when she really returnedter, her mum would definitely hug her close and kiss her all over her face, almost seeming as if she wouldn¡¯t stop until Ling Lan¡¯s face was visibly swollen with her love. There was a time when Ling Lan wondered whether this bad habit was something her mum had learned from her dad ... but unfortunately she had no frame of reference, and so the truth would never be known.


    Ling Lan slowly walked over to the main road which led to this patch of vis. At this dawn hour, there were already quite a few children and teens about, dressed in the same red uniform. Though their ages ranged, the direction they were headed in was the same ¡ª towards the learning area of the scout academy.


    It turned out that this vi area that Ling Lan was boarding in was specially allocated for the Special ss-A students ¡ª from the first grade to the tenth grade, all of them were in this area.


    However, very few of these students were walking like Ling Lan. They wore shoes which jetted air out backwards and were flying freely over the main road.


    These shoes were called jet-rollers, very simr to the roller skates of Ling Lan¡¯s previous world, which had wheels attached to the bottom of the shoes in either two rows or just one single row. However, jet-rollers were even more advanced than roller skates. On both sides of the shoes and the heel area, miniature drivers were installed, which could draw power from the energy storage unit to power the jets. When a certain velocity was achieved, the shoes would lift off the ground along with the person wearing them. Of course, their maximum achievable height was only about 2.5 metres.


    Ling Lan was a little puzzled. The school rules did not allow students to use external powers to fly or speed around within school grounds ¡ª how could these special ss students be so daring to do so so tantly?


    "It can be confirmed that these students are all second grade and above," Little Four jumped out to say.


    "Look it up, why can they use jet-rollers in school?" Ling Lan didn¡¯t believe that they were so free just because they were in Special ss-A; there must be some other reason.


    "Found it! Apparently they used battle points to redeem those jet-rollers, which is why they can use them in school." Little Four was reliable as ever, piggybacking on a random wireless signal to log on to the school intr, and quickly finding the answer that Ling Lan needed.


    "The redeemed jet-rollers are specially customized by Central Scout Academy, tagged with the Central Scout Academy¡¯s identification code, which is why they can be used within the school grounds. Other jet-rollers are forbidden ¡ª if found to be used, demerits will apply, and the student will immediately be downgraded by one ss level." Without waiting for Ling Lan to prompt him, Little Four continued to supplement his exnation.


    That¡¯s more like it! Ling Lan had just been wondering how the academy could differentiate between redeemed jet-rollers and those brought in from the outside, but Little Four¡¯s exnation answered all her questions. She stared enviously at those seniors zooming around, and decided that she would also redeem one when she had the chanceter on.


    Ling Lan walked to one of the hover car stops servicing the vi areas. The academy was just too vast ¡ª if the students were to walk, they would definitely not get to the learning area within an hour. And as new students, they didn¡¯t have jet-rollers, so the only way they could save time was to rely on these hover car stops set up by the academy.


    Even before she arrived at the stop, Ling Lan could see the long line of people in wait. A little put off, Ling Lan scratched her brow. Looks like she wouldn¡¯t be able to take the first few cars, but hopefully she wouldn¡¯t bete still. Ling Lan had actually left the house a littlete due to Lan Luofeng¡¯s fussing.


    Ling Lan maintained her current speed as she walked towards the stop. Right then, she heard a familiar voice shouting out from somewhere not far behind her, "Jijyun, Luo Lang, hurry up! We¡¯re going to bete ..."


    It was Qi Long! Ling Lan was extremely surprised; what a coincidence to bump into Qi Long and the others here. A mischievous smirk appeared on her lips. The three boys still didn¡¯t know she had started boarding at the school, so they probably wouldn¡¯t expect to bump into her here so early in the morning.


    Sure enough, Qi Long didn¡¯t notice that the person walking in front of him was Ling Lan. Just as he was about to zoom past Ling Lan, she stuck a foot out in his path.


    "Qi Long, watch out!" From behind, Luo Lang could see this very clearly, but because he was too far away, he couldn¡¯t do anything to stop Qi Long aside from yelling out to him, hoping that he would notice in time.


    Qi Long truly had the intuition of a wild beast ¡ª Ling Lan had stuck her foot out at the most perfect timing to catch him unawares, but even so, just before the moment Qi Long would trip, he managed to catch himself in time to draw his feet back enough to just slide by Ling Lan¡¯s foot, escaping the fate of being tripped. However, everything happened too fast, so Qi Long¡¯s rhythm was still thrown off. Hisnding was uneven and he stumbled, almost falling down anyway.


    "You goddamn bastard ..." After finding his feet, Qi Long turned around, raging, fully prepared to teach the sneaky fellow a lesson, but was faced with Ling Lan¡¯s cheeky grin instead.


    "Boss, it¡¯s you!" Qi Long was overjoyed. He took arge step forward and enveloped Ling Lan in a bear hug, before voicing his doubts, "Why are you here?"


    Han Jijyun and Luo Lang had also rushed over angrily in the meantime, but at Qi Long¡¯s joyful shout, their anger melted away into pleasant surprise. Han Jijyun¡¯s eyes were even sparkling as he asked, "Boss Lan, you¡¯ve decided to board at school?" Seeing Ling Lan here, there should be no other possibility.


    Helplessly, Ling Lan said, "I had no choice. The school forcefully cancelled my day study right, so I could only board at the school."


    "That¡¯s great! Now we can always learn and train together." Qi Long was the most pleased by this; he finally had someone who could keep up with him in a fight. Yesterday, he had sparred with Luo Lang, but Qi Long had not been satisfied at all. Sparring with Boss Lan was still the best, although he would always be thoroughly trounced by Boss Lan.


    Han Jijyun and Luo Lang¡¯s expressions were also pleased though, and amidstughter and chitchat, they arrived at the hover car stop. By this time, there was already much fewer people waiting in line. Han Jijyun shed hismunicator at the stop¡¯s sensor, and the sensor responded in an automated mechanical voice, "The hover car you require will arrive in 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Please be ready."


    Very quickly, the students lining up before them had all boarded a hover car and left, and their group of four was next. The academy¡¯s hover cars were all built for four people, with two seats in the front row and back row respectively, and looked quite like a convertible car from Earth. Their hover car arrived very punctually, 3 minutes 20 secondster on the dot from the time Han Jijyun had checked. Ling Lan¡¯s group of four seated themselves randomly on the two rows and selected the first year Special ss-A ssroom as their destination.


    ********


    They had just arrived at the ssroom doors when the preparatory bell indicating the start of ss rang out from within the ssroom. The children within the ssroom immediately found their seats and began their final preparations for the day ahead. When Ling Lan walked in, she drew their curious gazes. Because Ling Lan¡¯s was an unfamiliar face, they quickly surmised that Ling Lan was the mysterious student of probable remarkable origin who had taken leave on the very first day of school yesterday.


    Han Jijyun signalled Ling Lan to follow him. It turned out that the homeroom teacher had already assigned everyone¡¯s seats yesterday, and Ling Lan¡¯s seat was directly behind Han Jijyun¡¯s, while Qi Long and Luo Lang were seated to the right and left of Ling Lan.


    "How did it end up this way?" Ling Lan was very surprised. This arrangement was very convenient for them to converse and interact, but it was just too coincidental for all four of them to be seated together.


    With a resigned expression on his face, Han Jijyun replied, "Your seat and mine are ording to the teacher¡¯s original arrangement, but Qi Long¡¯s and Luo Lang¡¯s are the results of battle." It looked like Han Jijyun had tried to stop Qi Long and Luo Lang, but had not seeded.


    "What do you mean ¡¯results of battle¡¯?" Ling Lan was curious.


    Qi Long piped up excitedly from the side, "After the teacher finished assigning the seats, he said that if anyone was unhappy with their seats, they could challenge the student who had the seat they wanted. If they won the challenge, then they could switch seats; if they lost, then they¡¯ll have to serve the student they challenged for a month. Both Luo Lang and I won."


    Ling Lan was speechless. This world was truly a dangerous world ¡ª they were all so young, but the teacher was already starting to cultivate their fighting spirit. Looks like she really couldn¡¯t take it easy if she wanted to achieve something in this world.


    Right at that moment, the bell signalling the official start of ss reverberated through the ssroom, and an elegant and refined youth sedately entered the ssroom. He was their first grade Special ss-A homeroom teacher.


    In the new students¡¯ first week, there was no official teaching. The first half of the day was taken up by a course teaching them about the academy¡¯s rules, while theter part of the afternoon was allocated for physical training and getting used to the academy¡¯s training machinery and facilities.


    The homeroom teacher of Special ss-A was named Cheng Yuanhang. When he saw Ling Lan, his gaze turned cold, and then he announced to the ss, "Yesterday I said that if anyone had a seat they preferred, they could challenge the owner of that seat as they liked. Originally, the activity should have ended yesterday, but because a student was absent yesterday, we could not just end it. So, I¡¯ll ask again today ¡ª does anyone here want Ling Lan¡¯s seat?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s brow furrowed. Looks like the homeroom teacher didn¡¯t like her, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t specifically call her out by name.


    The students looked at one another, but no one made a peep. Nobody wanted to challenge Ling Lan. Think about it. Challenging a fellow student with unknown capabilities just for a seat that was not that much different from another ¡ª and if you lost, you¡¯d have to serve the other for a month ... no matter how you looked at it, it just wasn¡¯t worth it. Although Ling Lan¡¯s rank was only 17, Qi Long and Luo Lang whose rankings were behind him had risen up like dark horses and had shown just how unexpectedly strong they were. The students couldn¡¯t help but be wary after that.


    Just as Cheng Yuanhang thought no one would challenge, a weak and skinny child stood up and said, "I want to challenge!"


    "Lin Zhong-qing?" All the students were in an uproar. The deadst of Special ss-A actually wanted to challenge the upper middle ranking Ling Lan? Wasn¡¯t that just looking for trouble?!

 Chapter 68: Youve Lost

    Chapter 68: You¡¯ve Lost


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t particrly bothered by Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s impudent challenge, but her follower Qi Long was riled up instead. He felt as if his boss had been looked down upon, so with a loud p on his table, he stood up and shouted, "Dammit, daring to challenge my boss? You¡¯re too cocky! Teacher Cheng, I¡¯m willing to ept his challenge and fight on behalf of my boss."


    Qi Long¡¯s interruption startled Lin Zhong-qing, but then a trace of glee shed through his eyes. Perhaps no one else saw it, but Ling Lan did. Of course, all the credit should be given to Little Four who wasprehensively monitoring the ssroom. No one¡¯s expression within the ssroom could escape Little Four¡¯s sharp eyes.


    Qi Long¡¯s unexpected request for battle caused rage to cross Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s face. Coldly, he said, "Qi Long, don¡¯t test my patience."


    Cheng Yuanhang had really been angered. How old were these children? Already forming groups and saying boss this boss that ¡ª what do they take this sacred Central Scout Academy for? Cheng Yuanhang was ofmoner descent, and had only achieved the sess he had today via the cultivation of the Central Scout Academy. As such, he deeply loved the academy, and loathed any bad children that might harm the academy¡¯s reputation.


    And Ling Lan, Qi Long, and the others in his group, were all bad children in Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s eyes. Especially Ling Lan. On the very first day of school, he had already made the deane personally to request leave for him ¡ª Cheng Yuanhang was very dissatisfied by this. The esteemed dean was the person Cheng Yuanhang respected the most. In his opinion, getting the honourable dean himself toe and handle the trivial procedures of applying for leave ¡ª this must definitely be due to pressure exerted by the power backing Ling Lan ...


    Because of this, Cheng Yuanhang privately came to the conclusion that Ling Lan¡¯s inclusion in Special ss-A must be due to maniption of a back door. Against these second-generation rich degenerates who relied on their family background and power, he was full of contempt. Therefore, Cheng Yuanhang had decided to give Ling Lan a harsh awakening right at the start of today, so that the boy would understand that the Central Scout Academy was not a ce where he could dominate just with his family connections.


    Of course, Qi Long wasn¡¯t content to just step back. Just as he was about to argue the point, Ling Lan stepped out from the side and pressed him back into his seat, signalling for him to stop speaking.


    Ling Lan then turned to look at Cheng Yuanhang, and asked serenely, "What do you think, Teacher?"


    Cheng Yuanhang gave her two options. "You can choose to ept the challenge, or you can refuse. But refusing means that you automatically give up your seat. Student Ling Lan, what is your choice?"


    Ling Lan looked steadily at Lin Zhong-qing, and said, "Since Student Lin wants to challenge, of course I shall ept."


    When Lin Zhong-qing heard Ling Lan ept, aplicated expression crossed his face. There was a trace of unease, but more a sense of relief ¡ª this was not the typical expression a challenger should have.


    "Boss, looks like that midget has an ulterior motive in challenging you." Once again, Little Four had caught on to Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s change in expression, and spoke up to caution Ling Lan.


    "Ok. Let¡¯s wait and see." Ling Lan secretly put up her guard. Although Lin Zhong-qing looked rather weak, she had read N-many amount of novels,ics, and anime, and knew that there were many main characters who liked to pretend to be weak to fool their opponents 1 , who knew if this Lin Zhong-qing wasn¡¯t someone like this? Ling Lan kept her attention focused as she continued her vignce.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eptance of the challenge caused all the first year Special ss-A students to be excited. Under Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s lead, the whole ss came to one of thebat halls within the academy.


    Walking up to the Information Input Station within the main hall, Cheng Yuanhang personally keyed in Ling Lan and Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s battle request, and under ¡¯Nature of Combat¡¯, he selected the option of ¡¯Open Arena¡¯.


    Pensively, Ling Lan nced at Cheng Yuanhang. Looks like this teacher was really against her ¡ª it wasn¡¯t just her imagination.


    This wasn¡¯t the first time Ling Lan hade to thisbat hall. On registration day itself, she had already requested a fight here before together with Qi Long. Thus, she knew very well that there were many options under ¡¯Nature of Combat¡¯, ranging from ¡¯Closed and Private¡¯, ¡¯Closed Small Arena¡¯, ¡¯Semi-Open Small Arena¡¯, ¡¯Open Small Arena¡¯, ¡¯Closed Arena¡¯, ¡¯Semi-Open Arena¡¯, to ¡¯Open Arena¡¯ ...


    Any option with ¡¯closed¡¯ meant the fight would be private and hidden, rejecting any viewing audience, just like her spar with Qi Long. Back then, they had chosen a ¡¯Closed and Private¡¯ battle, while this battle between her and Lin Zhong-qing was actually best suited for the ¡¯Semi-Open Small Arena¡¯ option.


    A ¡¯semi-open¡¯ battle would open a uniquebat room, and audience members would need to have the room¡¯s passcode to enter. They would just have to let the ss-A students know the passcode, then they would have been able to fight a match without any outside disturbance. In that situation, even the side who lost wouldn¡¯t have his embarrassment broadcast to the public and lose face.


    But an ¡¯open¡¯ fight was different ¡ª this type of battle was open for viewing for all students within the Central Scout Academy. Furthermore, before the fight, thebat hall would even do aprehensive announcement. As such, open battles were usually only used during the ranking battles every six months, extremely rare under normal circumstances.


    Sure enough, the news of the Open Arena battle was announced repetitively by thebat hall, drawing all the other students who were here for their own individual practice to the side of their ring. When this impromptu audience saw that there were two new students on the stage wearing eye-catching red clothes, they knew it was a fight between Special ss-A kids. Pleasantly surprised, they started discussing the fight in earnest, and the atmosphere around the arena became even livelier.


    Quite a few students even turned on theirmunicators so they could contact their good friends toe spectate as well.


    Ling Lan and Lin Zhong-qing were currently standing on the left and right side of the stage respectively, facing each other. In contrast with Ling Lan¡¯s calmposure, Lin Zhong-qing looked extremely nervous.


    Cheng Yuanhang looked at the two people on the stage and asked them, "Are you two ready?"


    The two nodded in confirmation, and Cheng Yuanhang issued themand, "Battle, start."


    Lin Zhong-qing heard Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s call to start, but he didn¡¯t choose to attack immediately. Instead, he retreated swiftly, putting some distance between him and Ling Lan.


    "What is he trying to do?" asked Little Four in confusion.


    "We¡¯ll know when we fight. By the way Little Four, while I¡¯m fighting, don¡¯t make any sound to distract me," reminded Ling Lan worriedly.


    She still remembered the time a while back when she had been going throughbat training with the Ling family loyalists. Due to Little Four¡¯s importune interruption, she had been struck heavily by one of the loyalists, almost gaining a serious injury. Fortunately, the Ling family medicinal bath and the Qi exercises were very reliable, supporting Ling Lan so she didn¡¯t have anysting damage. Still, that one time was enough to scare Ling Lan half to death ¡ª it turned out that her life was still not guaranteed.


    Little Four immediately pulled an imaginary zipper across his mouth in response, signalling that his lips were sealed. He would definitely not cause Ling Lan any trouble.


    Ling Lan activated her Qi cirction, and could instantly feel all her senses heighten. When she looked at Lin Zhong-qing once again, she had the feeling as if the entire course of the battle was within her grasp ... it was glorious.


    This was also part of the results of two nights of training under Number Five ¡ª a newly discovered ability. Although it had only been two nights in real time, due to the time rate conversion, Ling Lan had actually been tormented viciously under Number Five¡¯s hand for a little over two months, almost driving Ling Lan up the wall.


    Luckily, this ability had progressed from its erratic functionality based on her mental condition, to its current stable functioning of working 5 to 6 times out of 10. Ling Lan¡¯s suffering had been worth it.


    The next second was it! Ling Lan¡¯s intuition told her that Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s attack wasing.


    Sure enough, of the two people facing off, Lin Zhong-qing was the first to attack. He swooped in abruptly, and his angle of attack was a tricky one.


    Many of the higher grade students nodded in approval when they saw Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s attack. Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s timing was spot on as well ¡ª the time he attacked was the precisely the point when a human¡¯s mental focus would wane after intense concentration; it was when people were the slowest. Moreover, his attack stance was also great, not just any regrbat art.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s reaction shocked and awed the watching students. As if well-prepared, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s attack only made her move a tiny step, and with a slight tilt of her body, she had easily dodged his attack.


    "F*ck, this kid is just too confident in himself. Actually choosing to dodge in such a narrow range, isn¡¯t that too much?" The older students were all rather stunned, and started criticizing Ling Lan for being too reckless in her evasion movements.


    Qi Long and Luo Lang looked at one another, and read the shock and surprise on each other¡¯s faces. They knew very well that using the smallest angle possible to dodge was Ling Lan¡¯s specialty. This was definitely the most energy efficient way of dodging, but only Ling Lan would dare to do so. Qi Long and Luo Lang didn¡¯t even dare to try ¡ª this was closely rted to confidence and ability, and they just weren¡¯t at that level yet. However, what shocked and surprised them was not that they were familiar with this evasion move, but because they had sensed that Ling Lan had an even deeper understanding of this type of small-range evasion now, which made her movements look extremely graceful and natural.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s first strike struck air, but he didn¡¯t retreat directly, choosing to follow up with a flurry ofbo punches, moving forward with the determined air of wanting to defeat quality with sheer quantity 2 . Unfortunately, Ling Lan¡¯s strength was really just too far above him ¡ª this sort of tactic was no problem at all for Ling Lan.


    Gently swaying her body, Ling Lan swiftly dodged all of Lin Zhong-qing¡¯sbination attacks, and somehow, she found herself once again in that strange state she had achieved during her fight with the five alpha wolves. This state was still currently not under Ling Lan¡¯s control, so whether she could enter it or not was really up to her luck.


    Once she entered this state, all of Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s attacks became weakness after weakness in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. With just one punch, she would be able to knock Lin Zhong-qing down ... it¡¯s just, now, seeing Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s desperation as he attacked with clenched teeth; his rage and stubbornness made Ling Lan decide to just wait a little longer.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s boxing skills only consisted of a few moves, and after Ling Lan saw the second repetition of the attack pattern, she knew it was time to end this.


    Ling Lan did nothing other than make a simple fist, and throw it out firmly at thergest weak point in her eyes.


    Bam! Ling Lan¡¯s fist smacked into a soft ball of flesh, and then that thing was sent flying out like a cannonball, tond heavily on the arena floor.


    With just this punch, Lin Zhong-qing had been hit, and was now lying still on the ground without any sign of getting up.


    All the observing students were gobsmacked. Was this not a battle between two Special ss-A students, but rather a battle between a Special ss-A student and someone from the regr sses? They knew very well that although Special ss-A had a ranking of 50 spots, all the children didn¡¯t really differ much in terms of ability, and were practically on par with each other. But this scene before them shattered everything they knew ¡ª was there such arge gap, such as that between clouds in the sky and dirt on the ground, even among the Special ss-A students?


    "You¡¯ve lost," said Ling Lan calmly towards the fellow lying on the stage who was still unwilling to get up. Although her punch had seemed heavy, it definitely would not have done any significant damage to the opponent.

 Chapter 69: Ling Lans Problem

    Chapter 69: Ling Lan¡¯s Problem


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Expression dark, Lin Zhong-qing sprang to his feet and said dejectedly, "It¡¯s my loss." However, he quickly raised his head again, and with wide, open eyes, and a face full of tenacity, he added, "But next time, I won¡¯t lose to you again." The fight and confidence in his eyes were still present, not at all dampened by this loss.


    Contemtively, Ling Lan looked at him, and then said sedately, "I¡¯ll be waiting." This little guy was no fool ¡ª with that performance, he had probably drawn the attention of the homeroom teacher.


    Sure enough, Cheng Yuanhang started apuding from below the stage, expression approving as he said with a smile, "Not bad, Ling Lan, as expected of one of the higher ranking students in our ss." Then, he turned to look at Lin Zhong-qing with an expression of deep appreciation for talent, clearly showing who Cheng Yuanhang truly approved of, and said, "Lin Zhong-qing, your performance was very good. Failure is the mother of sess ¡ª keep it up, you¡¯ll seed one day."


    Hearing this, Ling Lan was speechless ¡ª Teacher Cheng, oh Teacher Cheng, when you say this, could you not do it right in front of me? Wasn¡¯t this just cursing her to one day lose at Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s hands? Ling Lan was currently simmering with resentment.


    Receiving Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s praise and encouragement, Lin Zhong-qing suppressed the gratefulness in his heart as he replied, "Understood, Teacher. I will work hard."


    That¡¯s awesome, he had managed to leave a good impression on his homeroom teacher! Lin Zhong-qing gave himself a mental fist-pump. Then, he turned to look at Ling Lan, who was standing across from him with his hands folded before him, and doubt rose in his heart.


    Subconsciously, he swept his gaze to the area below the stage and saw Li Yingjie¡¯s unconcealed anger at Ling Lan¡¯s sess in the limelight. At that, his mind settled.


    Heaven destroys those who don¡¯t look out for themselves!


    By this time, Little Four had sensed Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s intentions. In the mindspace, he was so angry that he was stomping around, insisting that Ling Lan should teach that horrible punk a lesson ¡ª better yet, she should beat him up until his own mum couldn¡¯t recognise him. Darn it, actually daring to think of using his boss ¡ª did he really think his boss would be so easily taken advantage of?


    At this moment, Ling Lan was flipping through the files on Lin Zhong-qing which Little Four had passed to her. She found out that Lin Zhong-qing was amoner child, and tracing back N-generations, all information indicated that his family was of perfectly normalmoner descent. Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s [S] rank body and tier-1 spiritual power were definitely due to a type of gic mutation. The child was really quite pitiful. For the sake of money and other benefits, his parents had given him to the military as research material.


    However, after six years of research, Lin Zhong-qing was determined as the result of a lucky gical mishap, and so did not have any research value whatsoever in the stimtion of gic mutation. As a material with no research value, the military was unconcerned about his whereabouts. Thus, Lin Zhong-qing became a member of the Central Scout Academy this year.


    For such a person of 3cks cking family,cking money, andcking power), what was it that pushed him to challenge Ling Lan? If Lin Zhong-qing had only continued to maintain a low profile and avoid attention, he could have smoothlypleted his ten years of education at the Central Scout Academy, and then be free to choose the future he wanted.


    But he had instead chosen to grandstand, and though he had indeed managed to attract the homeroom teacher¡¯s attention, the disadvantages were obviously greater than the benefits, and Lin Zhong-qing did not seem like an impetuous person.


    Thinking of this, Ling Lan said, " Little Four, dig a little deeper. I don¡¯t think this matter is that simple."


    Little Four patted his little chest energetically, saying, "Boss, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll keep a close all-rounded watch on Lin Zhong-qing. I¡¯ll definitely find out his secret!" That said, Little Four scarpered off to write out hisprehensive monitoring n, seeming as if he would not rest until he found out everything there was to know about Lin Zhong-qing. At this moment, Ling Lan made a silent prayer for Lin Zhong-qing. Being targeted by Little Four basically meant that he would have no more secrets to himself.


    And so Ling Lan and Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s fight ended just like that, but the ripples following the event were not over yet. Among the special ss students of the upper grades, rumours spread about a first grade Special ss-A kid who was extremely strong, so much so that his ss-A ssmate, who was also within the top 50, had been defeated with just one blow.


    Everyone began to anticipate the ranking battlesing in six months. Every year, the top-ranking student of ss-A had the right to challenge across grades. Who knew how far this first year ss-A student could go? How many grades ahead could he defeat? (These people didn¡¯t even consider the possibility that Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t be the top-ranking student.) At that thought, the first grade students were keyed up, while the upper grade students were eager as well, ready to teach this arrogant upstart a good lesson. (As the rumours spread, they became more and more twisted, finally skewed in such a way that Ling Lan became an extremely strong and capable punk with a terribly arrogant attitude.)


    ********


    In the fourth grade Special ss-A, a sunny youngster grinned cheekily as he said to hispanion beside him, "Shiyu, with such a formidable kid in the first grade, your little cousin brother¡¯s position at the top is at risk."


    "That brat Yingjie ¡ª if he doesn¡¯t take a loss, he would really think that he¡¯s at the top of the world." Li Shiyu¡¯s face was full of contempt as he said this, as if extremely scornful of his own younger cousin.


    "You Li family members are really something. If your eldest cousin brother really has no talent, then why do you all insist on making him the first in line to inherit? Causing your entire household to be full of civil strife, so troublesome." The sunshine youngster was grateful that he was born in the Yun family. Although there were also some messy affairs within the family, inparison with the Li family, those issues were not really issues at all, so his family affairs could even be described as clean.


    "Yun Xiu, you look down on my eldest cousin?" Li Shiyu¡¯s expression was a little strange as he nced at him.


    Yun Xiu threw a sarcastic look at him, "You think? He¡¯s older than you by a few months, but he couldn¡¯t even qualify for the Central Scout Academy. I heard he was sent by your grandpa family head to the Li family origin of Azure to study at the scout academy there? Looks like your family head isn¡¯t optimistic about this first inheritor of your family."


    Azure was a third-rate, and was one of thoses that were rather behind on resources; it could notpare at all with the premium capital of Doha. Typically, any child with even a speck of talent would never be assigned there.


    "Who knows ..." Li Shiyu¡¯s expression was a little lost. He had not had many encounters with his eldest cousin because ever since his eldest cousin had been born, he had been taken away by Grandfather for personal training. From young, the times they met were fewer than few, countable on just one hand. But even so, he had a very deep impression of this elder cousin brother of his. This profound impression was not due to his status as first inheritor, but was something caused by the very essence of his elder cousin himself.


    His eldest cousin had a warm aura about him that invited others close, mysteriously drawing in the people around him. Even if everyone in the Li family said that his eldest cousin wasn¡¯t fit to be the first inheritor, he had never seen a trace of resentment or dissatisfaction in his cousin¡¯s bearing. That never-changing, warm smile led others to be reflexively happy in his presence.


    Although Li Shiyu was also a strong contender for the right to inherit, every time after he met his eldest cousin, the yearning to fight for it would lessen just a little more. Sometimes, he even felt that letting his eldest cousin be the family head wasn¡¯t such a bad idea. He would be very willing to help his cousin ze his way forward, eliminating any rebellious Li family members in his path ...


    Li Shiyu shook his head, trying to dislodge this notion. His parents would never allow him to do so. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh softly. "My eldest cousin, is hard to understand ... viewing him as an enemy is very difficult."


    Ever since their eldest cousin brother left for Azure, he had not returned in four years. Quite likely, Li Yingjie had very little memory of this cousin brother, which was why he was so fixated on getting the inheritor position. If he really met their eldest cousin, he would very likely start gradually losing the motivation to steal this right from him.


    "The old grandfather of your family is still going strong anyhow. Any fight over the position will still have to wait for many yearster. It¡¯s still too early to think about all this. But, I¡¯m curious. When that self-important younger cousin of yours gets robbed of his rank at the top, what will his expression be like?" Yun Xiu smirked evilly ¡ª it was his favourite thing to see the expressions of those pompous brats who thought they were geniuses when they were being ground into the dirt.


    "Ho, so your vulgar taste remains unchanged ... well, you¡¯ll see in six months," teased Li Shiyu, expression light and casual. Li Yingjie wasn¡¯t the eldest cousin he didn¡¯t want to fight; he would dly see him be aughing stock. Alright, so brotherly ties were weak in the Li family to begin with ¡ª it¡¯s just that this generation had produced an oddball like his eldest cousin brother.


    "Leave me alone, aren¡¯t you even more vulgar? That¡¯s your younger cousin, you know." Yun Xiu smacked Li Shiyu¡¯s shoulder in mock anger. Li Shiyu¡¯s interest in seeing Li Yingjie make a fool of himself was no less than his own, as expected of someone from the Li family.


    Li Shiyu justughed at Yun Xiu. One really didn¡¯t need that many friends, sometimes just having one who really understood you was enough.


    ********


    Ling Lan¡¯s study life had officially begun, or we should say, Ling Lan was getting along just fine. Although the homeroom teacher Cheng Yuanhang had treated her rather harshly on her first day, he had changed his original view of her after seeing her impressive performance, and consequently no longer went out of his way to give her trouble. This was one of the pay offs of her battle with Lin Zhong-qing ...


    Another pay off was her poprity among the ss-A students. The entire ss consisted of boys (Ling Lan¡¯s current identity was that of a boy, so we can just ignore this irregr case), and they followed the mentality of ¡¯survival of the fittest¡¯. As such, Ling Lan¡¯s defeat of thest ce Lin Zhong-qing in one move was greatly admired by all her ssmates, so they all wanted to be friends with her. This was because they felt that they themselves would have been unable to pull off what Ling Lan had done.


    Of course, there were still some who were averse to Ling Lan, such as the small group that was led by Li Yingjie. They shunned her subtly, and were even a littlebative at times.


    Regarding this, Ling Lan was apathetic. She had never considered herself as a femme fatale invincible from all angles ¡ª someone who had flowers blooming in her presence, people falling at her feet, who caused havoc on heaven and earth, disturbing gods and spirits alike with her beauty ... (Ling Lan was of the opinion that such a woman was definitely not human.) Thus, it was perfectly normal for there to be people who didn¡¯t like her. Furthermore, speaking of Li Yingjie, she also didn¡¯t like him in return. That smug look of his was just like that of a narcissistic peacock, not cute at all.


    Fine, although Ling Lan wasn¡¯t a pure ¡¯face-con¡¯ 1 , she was a certified ¡¯moe-con¡¯ 2 , only being fond of pretty and adorable children ...


    However, the fight didn¡¯t just bring Ling Lan good results, it also brought along arge problem.


    And that was this uninvited guest, Lin Zhong-qing, before her. Even though Ling Lan had refused the month of service he owed her after he lost his challenge, Lin Zhong-qing would not ept it. He still insisted on paying this debt with full diligence. ording to Lin Zhong-qing, you reap what you sow ¡ª he took the gamble, so he must pay the price ¡ª this was what a true man must do.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    We move up, we move down, but we¡¯ve been firmly in the top 20 rankings this week. w(¡ã£ï¡ã)w


    Yay to all of you! (?????)? Have some love with this bonus chappie.

 Chapter 70: The Meaning of Companions!

    Chapter 70: The Meaning of Companions!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s decision was supported by many of the students in ss-A ¡ª even teacher Cheng Yuanhang was full of approval ¡ª but Ling Lan was aggravated by it.


    Bastard! Ling Lan cursed in a very udylike fashion, extremely disdainful of the people who supported Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s high-handed way of doing things. Was causing trouble to others really something a real man would do?


    Alright, perhaps if she really was a boy, she wouldn¡¯t be so confused by this. But dammit, she was a girl, definitely a girl, forever a girl ... if she let a boy serve her in such close range, and if the truth came out, how would she still get married in the future? Ling Lan had still not given up on the idea of getting married as her true self in the future, primarily because she really wanted to give birth to a child of her own to y with.


    Adding up the ages of both her lifetimes, she was already an olddy of over 30 years old. Her mental age was definitely at that particr stage where she desperately wanted to get married and have kids. However, Ling Lan was still rational and knew that she could only think about it for now. If she really wanted to have a child, she would still need to wait for this body to mature, and for that, she would still need to wait for about ten years ... or was it twenty years?


    When the horrific concept of twenty whole years crashed into Ling Lan¡¯s awareness, Ling Lan was immediately reduced to tears. How was she to pass her days from now on? Did she really have to wait until her mental age was already at the level of the grand Monkey King, Sun Wukong 1 , before she would be able to wed and have kids?


    While Ling Lan was still caught up in her mncholic musings and her endless resentment at the cruel drag of time,pletely lost in her own mind, that extremely troublesome person in her life right now appeared again.


    "ssmate Ling Lan, here are the notes for the previous theory ss that I¡¯ve spent all nightpiling." Respectfully, Lin Zhong-qing came over to hand over a blu-ray USB storage drive from this world. The storage drive was very advanced ¡ª one only had to align one¡¯s wristmunicator to face the drive and turn on the blu-ray function to transfer all the data within the drive into themunicator, to be read at the user¡¯s convenience.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t sure whether tough or cry at Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s good intentions. She really had no need at all for any notes, for Little Four had the ability to record the entire lecture of a teacher, avable for her to peruse whenever she needed.


    Of course, Little Four¡¯s supremacy could only be fully realised within this period of time ¡ª when it came to the second half of the year, the first grade students would be allowed to enter the virtual world to study, so they would no longer have to fear being left helpless when they couldn¡¯t understand their lessons.


    In the virtual world, all the academy¡¯s courses had an equivalent virtual counterpart. However, every time one essed these virtual sses, one would have to spend credits (i.e. money), or use battle points to redeem credits for use.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s way of doing things was just a troublesome annoyance to Ling Lan, but a particr little brat had been utterly driven up the wall by him.


    ********


    Within the mindspace, Little Four was throwing a violent tantrum. He felt that Lin Zhong-qing was taunting him, challenging him for his treasured position as Ling Lan¡¯s number one follower. The infuriated Little Four lifted the kitchen knife in his hand up high (who knows where he got it from), and swung it around impassionedly. This caused Ling Lan¡¯s eyelid to twitch nervously, fearful that Little Four would identally cut himself.


    Vehemently, Little Four swished the kitchen knife down before him, raging, "I¡¯ll kill him. I must kill him. Boss, don¡¯t you stop me!"


    But I¡¯ve never even thought of stopping you! Ling Lan would really like to say that, but unfortunately she was afraid that Little Four would start to cry as if tears were free ¡ª that amount of tears would certainly be enough to turn her mindspace into an endless ocean ... and she really didn¡¯t want to drown to death.


    Head aching, she rubbed her forehead and said helplessly, "Little Four, are you able to kill him right now?" Hells, how would an incorporeal Little Four kill a flesh-and-blood Lin Zhong-qing? Don¡¯t bring up things that are impossible; people will justugh at you.


    Realizing how idiotic his actions have been thus far, Little Four threw away his little kitchen knife, and pounced on Ling Lan to cling to her thigh as he whined, "Boss, you¡¯ll definitely help me, right?"


    Was this how the rumoured ¡¯thigh-hugging¡¯ 2 felt like? Hn, it truly feels pretty good. Little Four rubbed his face against Ling Lan¡¯s thigh. Although Little Four was still just a little bean right now, his actions were already moving towards bing a little pervert.


    Unaware that she was being taken advantage of 3 , Ling Lan stared at Little Four¡¯s shameless actions and a vein throbbed on her brow. She dearly wished she could just grab Little Four and give him a good beating. Unfortunately, she had already promised Little Four that she would not resort to domestic violence, so this wish had to be left unfulfilled. This made Ling Lan feel that she had agreed too hastily in the beginning. If she had only known then how much worry Little Four would cause her, she would definitely never have simply agreed to this condition just to cheer him up then.


    However, Little Four¡¯s next words thoroughly chased away all of these thoughts from Ling Lan¡¯s mind. Cold sweat started to flow freely from her pores, and even her legs felt a little weak. "Boss! Just you wait, the moment he logs on to the virtual world, I¡¯ll definitely show him! I¡¯ll make sure he dies silently within the virtual world, hehehe!"


    Little Four¡¯s sinister demeanour caused the hairs on Ling Lan¡¯s back to stand ¡ª how had she forgotten about Little Four¡¯s powers within the virtual world? Finally understanding that Little Four¡¯s words were not just idle threats, Ling Lan panicked.


    That¡¯s right. Although she did feel that Lin Zhong-qing was bothersome, and also wanted to get rid of this bother ¡ª that didn¡¯t mean she wanted him to die! No matter what, Lin Zhong-qing was still an adorable little kid ... although she didn¡¯t like this kid so much since he was a littleplicated.


    She rushed to talk down Little Four, speaking gently to try and dispel this terrifying notion from Little Four¡¯s mind. "Little Four, don¡¯t worry, that punk is no threat to you. Little Four will forever be the most precious follower in my mind."


    At this moment, Ling Lan was unstinting with all the flowery sweet talk she could muster, just so she could get rid of Little Four¡¯s killing intent. All this to save a totally irrelevant ¡¯Viger A¡¯ ¡ª why was life so hard?


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Little Four blush instantly. Happily wriggling his little bottom, he asked coyly, "The most precious, most important, number one follower, right?"


    Ling Lan nodded decisively. "That¡¯s right. Little Four is my most precious, most important, number one follower ¡ª no one can take away your position. So Little Four, you can just enjoy looking down upon the other followers fighting beneath you ..."


    Er ... she had never thought of continuing to collect followers though ... why did the conversation take such a weird turn as she was speaking with Little Four? Dammit, it must be Little Four¡¯s fault. He must have some strange ability to distort the topic of conversation. Ling Lan resolutely put all the me on Little Four.


    Little Four had no idea what Ling Lan was thinking, but hearing what Ling Lan said, he seemed toe to some realisation. "Boss, I understand now. You mean, those other followers are all followers of this follower!" he said, pointing to himself gleefully.


    Ling Lan could almost cry. That wasn¡¯t really what she meant, right?! Unfortunately, at that moment, she didn¡¯t dare not to nod. If Little Four went crazy again, it could be predicted that half a yearter, arge swathe of Special ss-A students would be dead. That would definitely result in a terrifying upheaval, and she would most likely be implicated. Therefore, she needed to stop Little Four now.


    Alright, so Ling Lan didn¡¯t really have the saintly love of a matron goddess; in the end, she was still just looking out for herself.


    Decision made, Ling Lan nodded again firmly. In her mind, a scene formed where Qi Long, Han Jijyun, Luo Lang, and the others were chasing the kiddy Little Four around yelling out ¡¯big bro¡¯, while Little Four had his little hands on his waist,ughing long and loud into the sky above.


    Ling Lan was instantly pained, sweating internally as she made a silent apology: Sorry dear brothers, for the sake of world peace, and humanity¡¯s safety, you all will just have to put up with this.


    Because she had never imagined that she would actually bring this "nuclear weapon" down upon this world ¡ª she was culpable!


    Finally, it seemed that Little Four was hit by Ling Lan¡¯s candy-wrapped missiles, and calmed down. He stated grandly that he would be merciful, and let that Lin Zhong-qing go this once.


    When Ling Lan heard this, she immediately turned up the sugar level, cajoling Little Four until he was all smiles again, no longer having any thought of almost losing his precious number one follower position. Only then could Ling Lan rx and turn her attention to the sticky problem of Lin Zhong-qing. When all was said and done, the root of all the problems was Lin Zhong-qing.


    ********


    This time, Ling Lan no longer wanted to reject diplomatically. She pushed the USB drive back directly, and said coolly, "I don¡¯t need it." She had even refrained from putting it more politely ¡ª do you see how much effort she was expending just to save this fellow? Even Qi Long and the others had had to pay a ¡¯painful¡¯ price for this objective, although they weren¡¯t aware of it ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s brusque refusal froze Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s expression, but he soon regained hisposure. He hesitantly took back the blu-ray USB drive, and pretended not to notice Ling Lan¡¯s cool dismissal, continuing to ask with a smile, "ssmate Ling Lan, where will you all be goingter?"


    There was just one period of Mandarin ss in the early afternoon, and then it was all free time until lunch time. As Ling Lan¡¯s personal attendant, Lin Zhong-qing needed to know what Ling Lan was going to do next.


    Ling Lan merely nced coolly at him, saying nothing. Ling Lan already had no more patience to continue going back and forth with Lin Zhong-qing.


    Beside her, Han Jijyun seemed to have picked up on Ling Lan¡¯s mood, so he spoke up, "Lin Zhong-qing, we do not wee you here, and we do not need your so-called service. We hope that you do note looking for our Boss Lan anymore."


    Being rejected formally and verbally for the first time, Lin Zhong-qing could no longer maintain his smile. His face fell and he looked at Ling Lan with a troubled expression. However, this time he did not continue to cling on with words, but just bowed politely to Ling Lan before he turned and left.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s abrupt departure puzzled Qi Long. "What does he mean by that? Will he not bother us anymore?"


    Uncertainly, Luo Lang replied, "Probably. We¡¯ve already said it so clearly."


    Han Jijyun watched Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s gradually departing figure, and his brows furrowed as he said, "Boss Lan, this person ... is probably not so easy to chase off."


    Ling Lan nodded. "Yes. Him sticking to me is not because he lost the challenge, but for some other purpose."


    Han Jijyun was startled. "What purpose?" He had not sensed anything at all, thinking all this time that Lin Zhong-qing was simply doing this so he could fulfil his bet, to show how trustworthy he was and gain some brownie points in the teachers¡¯ eyes.


    At this moment, Han Jijyun felt a little lost; he had self-categorized himself as the intelligent strategist in Ling Lan¡¯s group. He had categorized himself this way because hisbat ability was no match for Qi Long¡¯s ¡ª Qi Long was a natural born fighter, certain to be a high-level mecha operator in the future. Already aware of Qi Long¡¯s superiorbat prowess, Han Jijyun was mentally prepared, and so wasn¡¯t too depressed by it. But he had never expected that Luo Lang, who joined inter on, would also be stronger than him inbat ability. This caused him to abruptly lose his self-set ce, so he had no choice but to search for a different position he could fill. Very quickly, he had noticed that their group was stillcking a wise strategist. With regards to this character setting, Han Jijyun felt that he was quite suited to the task. So although he didn¡¯t state it outright in front of hispanions, his actions and the learning courses he chose all started leaning in that direction, a clear sign of his determination.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s words floored him once again. Could it be that he wasn¡¯t suited for this character setting after all? The more Han Jijyun thought about it, the more insecure he felt, and his mood dipped significantly.


    Seeing Han Jijyun¡¯s expression change, Ling Lan felt a headacheing on again. Why did these little fellows by her side all require so much care?


    Ling Lan could only deepen her wry smile and say, "Actually, I¡¯m not too sure myself. It¡¯s just that every time Lin Zhong-qing looks at me, his gaze gives me that sort of feeling ... perhaps I¡¯m just thinking too much."


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s expression was a little exaggerated to the point of suspicion, those words weren¡¯t actually lies. She really still wasn¡¯t sure what Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s motives were in trying so hard to get on her good side. However, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t anxious. She believed that with the passage of time, she would naturally learn of the other¡¯s n.


    Besides, they were all just six year old brats right now, not involved in much power struggles for wealth or political clout. No matter how much Lin Zhong-qing plotted, not much harm coulde to Ling Lan. This was yet another reason why Ling Lan was not at all impatient, and could just ignore Lin Zhong-qing.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words let Han Jijyun temporarily push away the uncertainty in his heart. With a serious expression, he said, "Since Boss Lan has said so, there must be something wrong with Lin Zhong-qing. We need to be a little more careful." Despite Ling Lan¡¯s rather ambiguous exnation involving intuition, Han Jijyun decided to put his faith in her full-heartedly, and started cautioning the others to be more alert.


    It wasn¡¯t just Han Jijyun who trusted Ling Lan ¡ª even Qi Long and Luo Lang were the same, nodding firmly to show that they understood.


    The unquestioning faith of herpanions surprised Ling Lan slightly, and an indescribable swell of warmth rose within her heart. Was this what was meant by the trust of one¡¯spanions?


    In her previous life, Ling Lan had always been stuck in the hospital, constantly struggling at the border between life and death. She had never experienced what the term panion¡¯ meant, but now, Ling Lan felt as if she understood it a bit better.


    It was soon proved that Han Jijyun¡¯s judgement was very urate ¡ª Lin Zhong-qing was not someone who easily backed down.


    At noon, Ling Lan and the others had just walked into the school canteen when they heard a familiar voice cry out, "ssmate Ling Lan, here, over here."


    Ling Lan lifted her head and looked over, and saw Lin Zhong-qing waving at them enthusiastically with a wide smile on his face, just as if that awkward situation earlier that afternoon had not happened at all. She was thoroughly impressed by Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s thick skin. Already having been denied so heartlessly, how could he still greet them so passionately? This child¡¯s resilience was really just too strong.


    Qi Long and the others looked at one another, unsure how they were supposed to react. All their lives, they¡¯ve never met such an agreeable child ¡ª they couldn¡¯t find it in themselves to keep rejecting Lin Zhong-qing in the face of his unreserved smile. Even the typically cold-hearted Han Jijyun had nothing to say.


    Ling Lan exhaled a quiet breath. Fine, she too found it impossible to continue refusing such a resilient child, so she said, "Let¡¯s get to know him a little better. The four of us, against one of him ¡ª no matter what how you look at it, we won¡¯t lose."


    These words were unanimously approved by all three of herpanions, and so they headed towards the beckoning Lin Zhong-qing.


    However, internally, Ling Lan was more vignt than ever. This Lin Zhong-qing was so unbelievably tolerant ¡ª what he wanted must not be trivial.


    She couldn¡¯t help but sigh again. The children of this world were definitely non-human ... even with two lives worth of experience, she could only stay ahead of them by a little. If shepared her true six year old self from her previous world with these children, she would undoubtedly lose all the way to distant Siberia 4 .

 Chapter 71: Lin Zhong-qings Objective?

    Chapter 71: Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s Objective?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The actions of Ling Lan¡¯s four-man group surprised Lin Zhong-qing for a beat, but he was then ovee by a surge of joy. In all honesty, when he had greeted them, his heart was pounding, for he was afraid that Ling Lan and her group would just ignore his existence.


    Unexpectedly, Ling Lan and her friends were really headed in his direction ¡ª this made him suspect for a moment that he was in a dream.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s tenacity and perseverance had gained him the favour of the simple-minded organism Qi Long; afraid that his sharp-tongued mate Han Jijyun would say something to hurt Lin Zhong-qing, Qi Long hurriedly called out, "Lin Zhong-qing, why are you looking for us?"


    Naturally, Qi Long¡¯s good will was felt by the perceptive Lin Zhong-qing. With a grateful nce at Qi Long, he said smiling, "I just wanted to tell ssmate Ling Lan that, I¡¯ve found him a seat."


    Although Lin Zhong-qing had been smiling at them all this while, it was normally just a polite facade; but this time, his smile seemed to be somewhat genuine. For the first time, Ling Lan felt that Lin Zhong-qing actually looked pretty cute when he smiled.


    Han Jijyun frowned slightly, and his originally cold expression became even colder. Meanwhile, Luo Lang sniffed, as if displeased at Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s unnecessary action. It was true though. A red-coat student would neverck for a seat. If they found a seat they liked (as long as the seat wasn¡¯t upied by another red-coat student), they need only walk up to that person, and without having to say a word, the student dressed in a uniform of any other colour would automatically relinquish their seat.


    Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s group of four would never do such a tasteless thing. The dining area was veryrge, so there would always be some seats open ¡ª they just needed to spend a little time looking that¡¯s all.


    Lin Zhong-qing was unconcerned with what Luo Lang and the others thought. Solicitously, he pulled out one of the chairs and said to Ling Lan, "ssmate Ling Lan, please sit here."


    Ling Lan looked at his slightly fawning face, and thought back on that slightly sincere smile, and felt her heart soften. So, she did not refuse, sitting on the chair he had pulled out. After all, Lin Zhong-qing was just a six year old child ¡ª Ling Lan, who was really a quirky auntie at heart, was truly unable to resist such a little kid.


    Seeing Ling Lan take a seat, Qi Long and the others quickly chose a seat before them at random and sat down as well.


    Ling Lan¡¯s first ever concession to him was obviously a good sign. Suppressing the emotional upheaval within himself, Lin Zhong-qing asked carefully, "What would ssmate Ling Lan and your friends like to eat? Let me bring it over for you all."


    ¡¯Bring¡¯ and not ¡¯buy¡¯! Lin Zhong-qing very clearly articted to Ling Lan and the others what his bottom line was in terms of service.


    Ling Lan cast a searching look at Lin Zhong-qing. This child was just too artful with words and phrasing ¡ª he avoided offending them, but also didn¡¯t let himself be pushed into a corner. As long as this type of person got a chance, he would certainly be amendable man.


    Ling Lan decided that she would give Lin Zhong-qing that chance. She indicated for Lin Zhong-qing to push his wristmunicator closer, and then used her ownmunicator to transfer some credits directly to Lin Zhong-qing. Not much, just 240 credits ¡ª the exact amount to pay for six deluxe set meals.


    In this era, personalmunicators not only could send and receive messages, but were also equipped with the ability to retain personal identification information, bank cards, and other misceneous services, truly providing multipurpose convenience.


    "Six deluxe set meals, a double portion each for Qi Long and I." Ling Lan pretended not to see Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s stunned gaze, tonelessly listing out what they wanted to eat.


    Frankly, Lin Zhong-qing could not be med for his reaction. Set meals were typically only chosen by children from themoner families. Any child from a slightly better family background would basically order separate dishes which had an overall better taste.


    Lin Zhong-qing did not know that Qi Long¡¯s and the others¡¯ credits had long ago been confiscated by Ling Lan on the first day of school. Since then, themunicators of the five of them, including Qi Long (as well as the two girls always hanging out with them), had never contained more than 1000 credits.


    Thus, their every meal changed from the luxurious spread of delicacies they began with, to the current simplistic set meals, though these set meals were still of the deluxe variety. Even so, this was undoubtedly many brackets below what they were having before.


    Of course, this wasn¡¯t a baseless decision by Ling Lan. Through Little Four¡¯s research, they found that the food groups within the academy¡¯s deluxe set meal could fully provide all the nutrition that the children needed. Even Ling Lan and Qi Long, who had extraordinarily high metabolisms, were able to fuel their bodies sufficiently by eating a double portion of said set meal. Of course, Ling Lan would never tell Qi Long and the others that after she went home, she still had to supplement her diet with a gargantuan supper. It couldn¡¯t be helped. Ling Lan was a glutton to begin with, and on top of that, every night she would be tormented ceaselessly by Instructor Number Five, so her energy consumption was rather off the scales.


    Lin Zhong-qing very quickly regained hisposure, and he felt the stirrings of gratefulness within his heart. Was this Ling Lan and the others¡¯ strange way of preserving his dignity? He said nothing, only casting a briefplicated look at Ling Lan before nodding heavily and leaving to help them get their food.


    Looking at Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s departing back, Han Jijyun¡¯s frown eased slightly. With a hint of uncertainty, he asked, "Boss Lan, you seem to have some admiration for him?"


    Hearing this, Qi Long and Luo Lang turned to look at Ling Lan, and waited for her answer. This would affect how they would treat Lin Zhong-qing ¡ª whether he should be considered as apanion or not, the treatment would bepletely different.


    "Yes, I have some admiration for his tolerance. If we were to switch ces, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be able to bend as far as he has." Carrying out one¡¯s responsibilities while tolerating shame was not something everyone could do; even Ling Lan, with her two lives of experience, could not say for sure that she¡¯d be able to endure it.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused Qi Long and the others to descend into a thoughtful silence. Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s humility had made them forget that he was only six years old just like them ¡ª what kind of experiences had he lived through to have learned to be so tolerant?


    Right at that moment, the sounds of amotion could be hearding from not too far away. Ling Lan and the others all turned to look, and saw a significant crowd surrounding a lone figure. Among those in the crowd were students dressed in red, as well as those dressed in uniforms of other colours, while the one being surrounded was definitely wearing bright red clothes.


    They seemed to be arguing, which greatly surprised Ling Lan and her group. After all, the hierarchy within the school was clear ¡ª unless it was an upromisable conflict, the students in school uniforms of any other colour would never challenge a red-coat student. For if they were caught by the school disciplinarymittee, it wouldn¡¯t end well for them.


    "It¡¯s Lin Zhong-qing," eximed Luo Lang in surprise. From his position, he could just see the profile of the red-coat student being surrounded.


    "The ones surrounding him seem to include some of our ssmates." Han Jijyun had also seen some familiar faces in the crowd, and his frown deepened. Although Lin Zhong-qing was ranked lowest within their ss, inst ce, his poprity within the ss was still pretty good. What reason could there be for him to be in a standoff with their ssmates?


    "It¡¯s Li Yingjie¡¯s group," said Qi Long with clear dislike. Ever since Qi Long had helped Li Jinghong brush off Li Yingjie, within the ss, the two of them were constantly at odds. Every time they met, they couldn¡¯t resist exchanging a few barbed words. If one had to name Qi Long¡¯s most hated person within the academy, Li Yingjie would be it.


    Right now, in the first grade Special ss-A, there was the incipient formation of two clear power bases. One of the power groups was Li Yingjie¡¯s ¡ª having the prestige of being at the top of the rankings, he naturally drew a portion of the students to his side. Meanwhile, the other power group was Ling Lan¡¯s party. In contrast with Li Yingjie¡¯s abstract rank, the strength disyed by Ling Lan¡¯s one-move defeat of Lin Zhong-qing was much more persuasive. Many students did not really acknowledge the legitimacy of Li Yingjie¡¯s ranking ¡ª after all, part of it was just based off interviews, and not truly earned through real battle with other students. This situation was very vexing for Li Yingjie, causing jealousy and hate against Ling Lan to rise within him. He believed that it was Ling Lan who was hindering his steps towards uniting the first grade Special ss-A under his rule.


    After some thought, Ling Lan said, "Let¡¯s go find out what¡¯s going on."


    Lin Zhong-qing was currently on an errand for them after all; it was the morally right thing to have a little concern for him.


    The four of them walked over to the scene of themotion and heard the surrounding students in lively whispered discussion. After listening for just a moment, the four of them had gotten a rough idea of the situation.


    It turned out that when Lin Zhong-qing was passing by Li Yingjie¡¯s group, he had been stopped by one of theckeys dressed in white. Theckey had ordered Lin Zhong-qing to go see Li Yingjie for a talk. Although Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s family background wasmon, and he was inst ce within Special ss-A, he still had the pride of a red-coat student. How dare an insignificant white-coat student order him around with such a tone? He naturally did not respond well, refusing tersely without any concern for politeness.


    If thatckey had just stopped there, this matter would have been swept away just like that. Unexpectedly, theckey had brashly grabbed hold of Lin Zhong-qing. Enraged, Lin Zhong-qing had immediately sent the white-coatckey flying with one kick.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s actions were taken as provocation by Li Yingjie¡¯s group, who all jumped up in anger and surrounded him, demanding that he apologise. And so this scenario was the result!


    Right then, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s expression was extremely dark ¡ª if it wasn¡¯t for his extraordinary tolerance, he most likely would have already started throwing punches, and this standoff wouldn¡¯t have happened.


    The appearance of Ling Lan¡¯s group of four made Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s expression lighten a little, a trace of astonished delight shing through his eyes.


    On the other hand, when Li Yingjie saw Ling Lan and her group, his expression darkened noticeably, looking a little grim, but was mostly disgruntled. It looked like he was unhappy with Ling Lan¡¯s group butting in.


    Suddenly, Ling Lan¡¯s steps paused. With a strange expression, she looked at Lin Zhong-qing, a possibility shing rapidly through her mind.


    Was Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s tolerant behaviour these past few days just so he could depend on her to handle Li Yingjie and his group?


    When Ling Lan stopped, Qi Long and the other two stopped as well. Although they didn¡¯t know why Ling Lan had stopped, it was already a habit for them to follow Ling Lan¡¯s movements, so they also stopped without hesitation.


    Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s group stopping still, Li Yingjie¡¯s expression eased a little. He was very pleased at Ling Lan¡¯s understanding of the situation. He really didn¡¯t want Ling Lan toe interfere in his ns at this moment, and Lin Zhong-qing was his first target.


    In contrast, when Lin Zhong-qing saw Ling Lan staying put, his expression changed. He could vaguely sense Ling Lan¡¯s intent to just observe from the side-lines, and this troubled him. His initially somewhat calm expression dimmed significantly, and there was actually an almost unnoticeable trace of despair in his eyes.


    Ling Lan frowned deeply, troubled and a little puzzled. If Lin Zhong-qing could thicken his skin and suck up to her, then why couldn¡¯t he do the same with Li Yingjie? Could he have some other unknown reason for this?


    With a shift in thought, Ling Lan decided that she would help out Lin Zhong-qing this one time. After all, doing so was no skin off her nose ¡ª she was already on bad terms with Li Yingjie anyway.


    Her halted steps resumed once more ... Ling Lan¡¯s actions rekindled Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s deadened and hopeless eyes, and there was even a hint of gratefulness within his newly brightened gaze.

 Chapter 72: A Response Which Exceeds Expectations

    Chapter 72: A Response Which Exceeds Expectations


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan moved, and the three followers behind her moved with her. Very quickly, they were all standing before Li Yingjie.


    "Lin Zhong-qing, why haven¡¯t you bought the set meals?" Ling Lan¡¯s tone was brusque.


    If he wanted to borrow her strength, then Lin Zhong-qing should understand that this strength was not so easily borrowed. What needed to be paid still needed to be paid ¡ª Ling Lan had no intentions of working for free.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words settled Lin Zhong-qing, and he responded, "ssmate Ling Lan, I¡¯m sorry for making you wait." He swept his gaze towards Li Yingjie¡¯s group as if telling Ling Lan that they were the culprits stopping him from buying the food.


    Ling Lan obligingly followed Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s gaze to cast her attention upon Li Yingjie¡¯s group, and with affected surprise, she quirked a brow and said, "Oh? It¡¯s ssmate Li! What¡¯s up? Do you all have some business with Lin Zhong-qing?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s surprised look was so obviously faked that Li Yingjie¡¯s face immediately flushed with anger. Ling Lan had clearly seen him here from the start but was so tantly lying. Through gritted teeth, he said, "Oh, so it¡¯s ssmate Ling Lan. I do have some business with him." If Ling Lan wanted to pretend, then he would y along and pretend as well ¡ª he was sure he could pretend even better than Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan nodded, and said almost casually, "Then let¡¯s do this on a firste first served basis then. ssmate Li, why don¡¯t you wait till ssmate Lin haspleted my requests first beforeing to look for him again ..." As if suddenly thinking of something, Ling Lan added, "A monthter sounds about right."


    A little coyly, she continued, "ssmate Lin lost to me, you see, so no matter what, he needs to serve me for a month first. So sorry to let you down."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words almost caused Li Yingjie to spew blood. This was basically telling him that Lin Zhong-qing was now under Ling Lan¡¯s protection.


    Li Yingjie could no longer maintain a friendly appearance. With a frigid expression, he said lowly, "Ling Lan, you¡¯re really going to oppose me now?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression was innocent as she asked Lin Zhong-qing, "ssmate Lin, do you want to stop carrying out the terms of the bet you lost when you lost the challenge?"


    Lin Zhong-qing shook his head firmly. "No."


    With a helpless look on her face, Ling Lan shrugged at Li Yingjie. "ssmate Li, it¡¯s not that I want to oppose you, but ssmate Lin isn¡¯t ready to break his promise." Ling Lan¡¯s expression seemed to imply that Li Yingjie was barking up the wrong tree by being angry at her.


    This performance by Ling Lan made Li Yingjie even angrier, yet he couldn¡¯t find any way to refute what Ling Lan had said. His face flushed an even deeper red in bottled anger.


    Ling Lan was unconcerned with the near-exploding Li Yingjie. Turning her head, she said to Lin Zhong-qing, "Why are you still standing there? We¡¯re almost starving to death."


    "Yes, ssmate Ling Lan, I¡¯ll bring your lunches over immediately." Ling Lan¡¯s response had already surpassed Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s expectations ¡ª he was a little groggy, unsure why the thus far cold and unfriendly Ling Lan would help him this much. Initially, he had only wished for Ling Lan to confirm that he was serving him, just so he had an excuse to refuse Li Yingjie.


    Ling Lan was satisfied. She directed a slightly apologetic smile at Li Yingjie, and then led Qi Long and the others away from the area.


    This almost dismissive attitude was quickly driving Li Yingjie mad ¡ª he wanted to stop Ling Lan and teach him a good lesson, but he just damnably couldn¡¯t find a usable excuse. Right then, he hated the fact that he was within the Central Scout Academy. If this were the outside world, he would definitely use his power and authority to ¡¯take care¡¯ of this detestable, arrogant bastard before him. (Right now, in his eyes, even Ling Lan¡¯s most normal attitude would be taken as a personal taunt.)


    When the boss gets mad, it was naturally up to the followers to help the boss take out his anger. Ackey-boy dressed in a white school uniform leapt out, but knowing that Ling Lan¡¯s group wasn¡¯t something he could handle, he didn¡¯t dare to say anything to them. Instead, he set his sights on the seemingly more bulliable Lin Zhong-qing. "Lin Zhong-qing, don¡¯t you dare leave! If you leave, I¡¯ll make it so your life¡¯s hell!"


    Perhaps this punk had gotten used to being an arrogant little sh*t since young, for his first impulse was to threaten. Thing was, his threat made all the watching students burst out intoughter, and of course, thisughter was filled with mockery.


    This mockingughter caused the white-coatckey¡¯s face to flush and pale erratically. In that moment, he just couldn¡¯t figure out why he was beingughed at.


    Actually, he couldn¡¯t be med for this. It wasn¡¯t unusual for new students who had just entered the Central Scout Academy to find it difficult to adapt to their new roles within the school. Particrly those second-generation young lords who were used to getting their way from young ¡ª it was even easier for them to make a mistake. Only once they had tasted the bitter consequences would they understand that the world within the Central Scout Academy was entirely different from their previous world.


    In this world where the strong dominate and everything was based on personal strength, the distinction between the elite and the humble was represented by the colour of their school uniforms. Every six months, the internal academy re-ranking was the chance for the students to find a new foothold in life.


    Therefore, how could a white-coat student threaten a red-coat student? The school disciplinarymittee would make them understand that the results of viting the colour hierarchy was not something they could bear.


    Li Yingjie red fiercely at that follower who still didn¡¯t know that he had vited the school rules. No matter how much Lin Zhong-qing was ignored within Special ss-A, he was still a red-coat student ¡ª how could a white-coat student threaten a red-coat student so brazenly? If the academy administration found out, this follower of his would be in a world of trouble.


    Lin Zhong-qing turned his head, casting a scornful look at that white-coat student. "I would really like to see, how exactly you would make my life hell." Although he was meek by necessity within Special ss-A, this didn¡¯t mean that he would take bullying from the students of the other sses. The red clothes he was wearing represented his status, his dignity.


    The white-coatckey still looked as if he wanted to say something when Li Yingjie said curtly, "He Fei."


    Sensing Li Yingjie¡¯s rage, the white-coatckey, otherwise known as He Fei, didn¡¯t dare to say anything more.


    Li Yingjie looked at Lin Zhong-qing, and asked coldly, "Lin Zhong-qing, you¡¯ve really decided?" Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s family background wasmon, and his strength wasn¡¯t outstanding in Special ss-A, which was why Li Yingjie had initially set Lin Zhong-qing as his first target. He had intended to make Lin Zhong-qing his subordinate, and then slowly tame the other Special ss-A students until he finally managed to achieve full control of ss-A. What a pity this Lin Zhong-qing was such a stubborn fellow ¡ª actually ignoring his invitation from the very beginning, until his direct refusal at the end. Not just that, Lin Zhong-qing had aligned himself with the group of people he hated the most.


    "Yes, I, Lin Zhong-qing, always mean what I say." Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s demeanour was tough and intractable, leaving no retreat for himself. If small obstacles like this could cause him to shrink back, he would never have been able to survive those couple of years in theboratories. While other children were growing up under the care and affection of their parents, he had already learned how to think for himself, knowing that he would have to depend on himself to obtain the life he wanted.


    "Fine, in that case, I won¡¯t force the issue." Li Yingjie was straightforward when it came down to it; he truly let go of the idea of recruiting Lin Zhong-qing to his side right then. With a cold expression, he turned to his band of followers and said, "Why are you all still standing? Sit down and eat."


    All of his followers were students with uniforms of other colours, so of course they didn¡¯t dare to ignore Li Yingjie¡¯s orders. They all quickly sat down and began eating.


    No longer surrounded, Lin Zhong-qing finally released a sigh. Having Li Yingjie give up on his own was the best oue for him. Still, he didn¡¯t let his guard down yet, afraid that Li Yingjie was only distracting him with empty words, but was actually nning to deal with him privately.


    Lin Zhong-qing knew very well that, with his current abilities, he could not stand up to Li Yingjie. The principle of ¡¯survival of the fittest¡¯ was protecting him, yet cing him in danger at the same time. The moment Li Yingjie decided to go after him, he would definitely be in trouble. This was the reason why he was willing to stoop so far to insinuate himself into Ling Lan¡¯s group¡¯s favour.


    Indeed, from the very first day of school, Li Yingjie had already set his eye on Lin Zhong-qing. Meanwhile, Lin Zhong-qing had no intention whatsoever of bing anyone¡¯s follower ¡ª six years of life within aboratory had been enough; he wasn¡¯t about to so easily let go of the precious freedom he had regained. Yet, he couldn¡¯t stand up to Li Yingjie with his own strength. And so he had cracked his head trying to think of a way to help him out of this mess ...


    Initially, Lin Zhong-qing had been banking on Qi Long or Luo Lang. Their challenge battles on the first day to get the seats they wanted had shown Lin Zhong-qing just how strong they were. They had respectively managed to defeat the initial rank 5 and rank 8 of the ss without much trouble, suggesting that their strength was on par with the top 3 of the original ranking. However, he had then inadvertently heard Qi Long and Luo Lang talking about their absent boss Ling Lan, and changed his mind.


    Since that absentee had the ability to be the boss of these two formidable students, Ling Lan¡¯s strength must not be any weaker than that of Li Yingjie¡¯s. As long as he could borrow some of Ling Lan¡¯s power, he should be able to escape the clutches of Li Yingjie. And so, this had led to his challenge towards Ling Lan.


    From the very beginning of the challenge, he had already known that he would lose. However, what he wanted wasn¡¯t victory, but to lose the challenge so he could obtain the ¡¯punishment¡¯ of serving the other for a month. A month¡¯s worth of buffer time was sufficient for him to grow and improve so that he could find a better way to handle Li Yingjie.


    The result of all this strategizing was worth it! Although Lin Zhong-qing wasn¡¯t sure if Li Yingjie had truly let go, he could at least avoid Li Yingjie¡¯s outright forceful manoeuvring, having earned some breathing space.


    Lin Zhong-qing, who was waiting for the service robot to deliver the set meals, thought about all that had happened thus far. He clenched his fists, eyes shining with a fierce light. As long as he had enough time, he would no longer let anyone be in a position to threaten him again. An intense desire to grow stronger zed high within Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s heart.


    Meanwhile, at that moment, Ling Lan, who had been waiting at the dining table for Lin Zhong-qing to bring the set meals over, was talking with Qi Long and the others when, suddenly, her expression tightened minutely, but the change was quickly smoothed away. Her strange expressionsted for only a microsecond, and had not been picked up by Qi Long or any of the others.


    "Little Four, erge and dissect that expression of Li Yingjie¡¯s ..." Ling Lan ordered Little Four within the mindspace.


    "Yes, Boss!" Little Four was very excited ¡ª finally, it was his chance to shine again! He must live up to the title of number one follower after all.


    In the mindspace, the trace of vicious anger in Li Yingjie¡¯s eyes was erged by Little Four, and then it was studied closely ¡ª up, down, left, right, near, far, and from multiple angles. After muchparison and checking, it was confirmed that the target of that gaze was Lin Zhong-qing ...


    "Boss, what do we do next?" Little Four seemed ready to stir up some trouble.


    Ling Lan rolled her eyes at him. " Do what? Doughnut 1 ! Just go back and rest." Since Li Yingjie¡¯s target was Lin Zhong-qing, then she wasn¡¯t going to spend time worrying about it.


    Ling Lan was not a saint. Lin Zhong-qing? Helping him once was already her being merciful. Subsequently, whether or not he could tide the waves was all up to himself.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    Happy New Year in advance with an advance extra chapter. There¡¯ll be a longer chaptering up at the usual time in a couple hours.

 Chapter 73: Ling Lans Crisis!

    Chapter 73: Ling Lan¡¯s Crisis!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Time flew by, and very quickly, five months had passed. The atmosphere within the Central Scout Academy started bing restless, for the mid-year wide-scale ranking which would decide the fate of the students for the next six months was about to begin. For the sake of doing well in this critical ranking, all the students in the Central Scout Academy were hard at work making their final preparations.


    Ling Lan had passed these past few months uneventfully ¡ª not standing out, but not being lost in the masses either. However, after Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s challenge, Ling Lan hadn¡¯t fought with anyone else again. Even during physicalbat ss, when her ssmates would spar with one another to improve, Ling Lan had also refused to fight.


    Of course, at the start, in the first month after school began, Ling Lan would still enter thebat hall to hold sparring practices with Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Han Jijyun. But these practices hadn¡¯t gone on for long when, in one of theter battles, Ling Lan had lost control and seriously injured Qi Long by ident. After that incident, Ling Lan had adamantly refused to spar ever again, only allowing Qi Long and the other two to spar with one another.


    Honestly, it wasn¡¯t that Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to spar and exchange tips with her friends ... She had her own considerations for this. Because ¡ª she had discovered that, when going through the Number Five¡¯s most recent so-called ¡¯Ultimate Training Method¡¯, a strange fluctuation would appear in her spiritual power after every night of training she endured. As time went by and the nights umted, this strange fluctuation just got stronger and stronger. She had been constantly nervous, wondering what this strange phenomenon would bring, but no changes appeared in her daily movements, so she could only set the matter aside temporarily.


    But gradually, she realised that whenever she was fighting, especially when she entered attack mode, it was all too easy for her to descend into a bloodthirsty frenzy, and she would be filled with the desire to destroy everything in sight.


    In the beginning, she had still been able to contain this desire, so she thought that she was strong enough to ovee these negative emotions caused by the insane training. However, with the passing of time, she found it harder and harder to control the force of these negative emotions. She started having doubts, wondering if something had gone wrong with her spiritual state.


    After injuring Qi Long, Ling Lan finally understood. There was indeed something wrong with her ¡ª her spiritual power had gotten out of control. Number Five, who was said to have driven countless talents insane, had simrly caused Ling Lan to develop a spiritual issue after tormenting her for a month.


    Thus, Ling Lan no longer dared to join in the fights. She was afraid that she would really kill Qi Long and the others next time. If that happened, it would definitely be toote for regrets.


    Qi Long and the others knew why Ling Lan refused to fight, so when other students challenged her, Qi Long and Luo Lang had stepped forward. They said that if the students wanted to challenge their boss, they would have to get through them first as they were Ling Lan¡¯s followers.


    And there were those who really were sceptical whether they would follow through, but when the third-ranked of their ss put forth his challenge, Qi Long had immediately stepped in to ept on Ling Lan¡¯s behalf.


    This time, the challenge was again set as an Open Arena battle, drawing the attention of the students of the Central Scout Academy. School hadn¡¯t started for long, but the first grade Special ss-A had already requested for an Open Arena battle twice ¡ª this gave the upper grade seniors the uniform impression that this year¡¯s new students were certainly a violent lot. Of course, this also increased their anticipation for the uing mid-year rankings. Would the rankings of the first grade Special ss-A change drastically? If that really happened, it would likely establish a brand new record within the academy. Mind you, in the past, the rankings of Special ss-A had always been pretty much stable and unchanging.


    Qi Long and that third-ranked boy had fought bitterly for an hour, the battle dragging on till the veryst moment. In the end, Qi Long¡¯s will proved to be stronger, and his stamina was better, and he sessfully defeated his opponent.


    This result made the initially restless students shut uppletely. Think about it. Even the third-ranked had lost; if anyone else wanted to challenge, they had better weigh their own capabilities once more before doing so.


    Qi Long¡¯s reliable performance helped Ling Lan earn several months of peace, which also gave her time to resolve the troublesome issue of her out of control spiritual state. But as the mid-year wide-scale ranking loomed ever closer, the originally calm Ling Lan began to get agitated, because she had still not been able to find a solution to her problem.


    When the mid-year ranking tournament arrived, she would no longer be able to refuse the challenges of her peers, unless she chose to give up on her results and leave the Special ss to be a regr ss student.


    This was a result that Ling Lan could not ept. After knowing what it meant to be in Special ss-A and having experienced all its myriad benefits, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t so stupid as to let it go. That¡¯s right, Ling Lan really didn¡¯t want to stand out too much, but she also didn¡¯t want to be a weakling. She still wanted to be in control of her life, and be a truly free person.


    "I must solve this problem," said Ling Lan, clenching her fists tight.


    Ling Lan knew very well that if she didn¡¯t resolve this issue, she would not be able to fight ¡ª the Central Scout Academy would never condone the existence of a homicidal maniac. Her loss of control was already at a rather severe stage. Now, whenever she fought, blood would flow like a river, and corpses would litter the ground. She could still clearly remember how she had failed in the most recent mission given by the learning space.


    This time, the mission she had received had been to rescue a hostage. However, she ended up killing everyone in the target area, including the hostage she was supposed to save. Consequently, she experienced the learning space¡¯s punishment for the first time.


    Ling Lan shuddered violently in recollection ¡ª that had certainly not been a great experience. The electricity coursing through her body, lingering, as she hovered on the edge of wanting to die yet being unable to die, wanting to live yet unable to live ¡ª that suffering was pretty much on par with Number Five¡¯s perverse torments. She definitely never wanted to experience it again.


    Now Ling Lan finally understood. The so-called learning space was not a helpful cheat code (with the exception of Little Four), but was definitely a malicious glitch that existed to torment her.


    *******


    While Ling Lan was struggling with anxiety and helplessness, in the learning space, the great Number One who Ling Lan had the utmost respect for was ripping apart Instructor Number Five¡¯s personal training space with extreme prejudice.


    At that moment, Number Five was busily plotting something inside. When he felt the ground shake and the mountains tremble, he looked at the rapidly disintegrating world around him and knew that the situation was not good. But just as he was about to run, arge hand mped harshly over his neck.


    "Number Five, I merely intended for you to train up Ling Lan¡¯s ability to withstand pressure and hardship, not destroy her." Number One steadily red at Number Five, a deep and seemingly unquenchable anger smouldering within his eyes.


    He was someone who put his full trust in his brothers and subordinates ¡ª since he had decided to entrust Ling Lan to Number Five for training, he wouldn¡¯t interfere in the process. Thus, he hadn¡¯t been aware of the abnormality which had developed in Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual state.


    If Number Nine had not been keeping a close watch on Ling Lan and noticed her strange behaviour in time to notify him, he might have only found out the truth after Ling Lan had thoroughly descended into madness.


    Facing Number One¡¯s wrath, Number Five was still extremely calm. Helplessly, he said, "Number One, I haven¡¯t destroyed her. She¡¯s just reached the point where she has to choose a Dao 1 ."


    Number One¡¯s expression changed. "How did this happen so quickly? My initial estimate was that she would only reach this stage four yearster."


    Recalling something, Number One¡¯s expression turned frigid. With mounting anger, he asked, "Number Five, did you break the agreement you made with me and used your Extreme Hell Training Method?"


    Number Fiveughed, and his eyes were full of satisfaction. With that, Number One understood everything. Overwhelmed with rage, he no longer held back, instantly mming Number Five violently into the ground.


    With a resounding "BAM", Number Five¡¯s training space was once again sent shuddering. Number Five¡¯s entire body had been mmed deeply into the ground, and only his face remained exposed aboveground.


    This force wasn¡¯t easily borne ¡ª Number Five¡¯s expression was gruesome; the tearing pain didn¡¯t allow him to maintain his smile any longer. However, Number Five was unwilling to admit his loss just like that. He forced the corners of his lips to twitch into a smile and said, "Number One, don¡¯t me me. Who asked Ling Lan to be such a great piece of material ... originally, I really hadn¡¯t thought of using that method, but every time I set an outrageous mission for her, she still managed to ride it out. You just don¡¯t know ... how every time shepleted a mission, I would get that much more excited. Even more unexpectedly, in half a month¡¯s time, besides the Extreme Hell Method, she had already worn out my bag of tricks. All my insane training torments had been ovee by her."


    Number Five¡¯s expression turned a little wild. "That resilience ... it¡¯s abnormal. I¡¯ve never encountered anything like it before. And so I became reckless with emotion ..."


    "So, you broke the rules and let her into your Extreme Hell Training Method for training. You didn¡¯t know that doing so would destroy her," said Number One with profound heartache.


    Ling Lan was the first person he had truly wanted to cultivate as an inheritor, but unexpectedly, due to his carelessness, she was on the brink of being destroyed by Number Five. He, who had never regretted anything before, actually felt the stirrings of regret in this moment.


    "No, I didn¡¯t destroy her, Number One. Did you know, she really passed it ¡ª the Extreme Hell Training Method ¡ª she¡¯s the only one who passed it and kept her mind. She has only be caught up in the confusion of Dao." The more Number Five spoke, the more excited he became, and his face was brimming with the fervour of sess.


    "Passed? You said Ling Lan passed?" Number One couldn¡¯t believe it.


    "Yes, she passed. The only regret, is that she actually couldn¡¯t find her Dao." Number Five¡¯s face was filled with regret. In his visualizations, anyone who managed to pass the Extreme Hell Training Method, as long as they came out with their mind intact, would be a strong fighter possessing Dao. But Ling Lan was an oddball ¡ª she passed with a clear mind, but was unable to find the Dao that was right for her, and thus descended into chaotic confusion.


    "How did this happen?" Number One was also confused now, since he had faith in Number Five¡¯s deductions.


    "I suspect that it¡¯s because she doesn¡¯t have a purpose to be strong." Number Five¡¯s expression was a little strange. After spending these past few months with Ling Lan, he had gotten a vague sense of how Ling Lan thought. Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts were contradictory ¡ª she wanted to be a strong person, yet she didn¡¯t want to stand out and be burdened with too much responsibility. Even more emphatically, she didn¡¯t want to be weak, unable to control her own destiny.


    As a result of these contradictions and doubts, although Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power had already arrived at the doorstep of Dao, its weight was not substantial enough to push open the door to enter a more profound realm. For context, it should be known that once a person grasped the power of Dao, all aspects of their abilities would improve on a vertical axis. In future, regardless of what they wanted to do or learn, their progress would certainly cover a thousand miles in one day 2 ¡ª things that would have taken them ten years to learn before, would very likely take them only two to three years to master.


    "What Dao do you think she¡¯s most likely to enter?" Number One¡¯s expression was grim as he asked this. Number Five was the most familiar with Ling Lan¡¯s condition ¡ª Number One needed to understand more, so he could figure out how to help Ling Lan choose the right Dao.


    "Killing Dao! A while back, she failed a hostage rescue mission. The reason being that she killed everyone at the camp site, including the hostage," said Number Five with a smile. If they left Ling Lan unchecked, then with the passing of time, it was almost a certainty that Ling Lan would enter the Killing Dao.


    "Uneptable. The Killing Dao is too bloody, ipatible with Ling Lan¡¯s personality." Number One rejected this Dao immediately. Frankly, the Killing Dao was also an extremely good Dao, except that anyone who walked this Dao must be able to be truly cold and emotionless, so it was unsuitable for Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan may look cold and aloof on the surface, but inside, she was actually a person who cared deeply. This was why she was willing to pretend to be a boy for Lan Luofeng¡¯s sake, and go through all the apanying troubles. It was also the reason why when Qi Long and the others had stuck to her and insisted on calling her Boss, she had decided to just give in. It was why even when she knew Lin Zhong-qing was just using her, Ling Lan had still chosen to help him out.


    "The Demonic Dao is also a possibility," choked out Number Five amidstughter. He actually knew well that Ling Lan was very against the Killing Dao, so it was highly probable that her heart would be troubled and conflicted, resulting in an internal demon. If the internal demon managed to fully develop, Ling Lan would have no other choice than to walk the Demonic Dao in the end.


    Number One threw a cold re at Number Five, causing his exposed head aboveground to break out in a cold sweat. He received Number One¡¯s meaning loud and clear. It was obvious that Number One hated his recklessness, which had resulted in this internal demon forming within Ling Lan, which may force her onto a path that Number One found distasteful.


    ording to Number One¡¯s original ns, four yearster, Ling Lan would very naturally enter the gates of Dao. Then, she would have been able to smoothly transition into the problem-free Sovereign Dao or perhaps the Sage Dao. This was the Dao that Number One had intended for Ling Lan, for it was the broadest and most straightforward of Daos.


    Unfortunately, Number Five had interfered. Although he had managed to push Ling Lan to the gateway of Dao within a terrifyingly short time, because Ling Lan¡¯s spirit wasn¡¯t ready yet, she was now gued with a host of problems.


    "Looks like, Ling Lan needs to find her personal reason for bing strong as soon as possible. But, who can help her?" Number One sighed. He wasn¡¯t good at handling this sort of psychological issues.


    "I¡¯ll go." A clear voice rang out from behind Number One.


    Number Nine appeared, her sweet face filled with killing intent, and the gaze she directed at Number Five was almost heavy enough to kill. Number Five raised his head to look up at the sky, pretending that he didn¡¯t see anything. Right now, he simply didn¡¯t dare to annoy Number Nine who was in full protective tiger-mum mode.


    Number One¡¯s expression eased and he said, "Alright. Number Nine, I¡¯ll leave Ling Lan to you."


    Number Nine nodded and quickly disappeared.


    Only then did Number Five smile bitterly and look back. "Finally, she¡¯s gone. Number One, can you let me out now?"


    Number One stared at him coldly, and then stomped firmly right on top of his head, sending him straight into the ground so he was truly buried alive. Then, Number One immediately disappeared from Number Five¡¯s training space.


    Not too long after, Number Five miraculously resurfaced from within the earth,. His expression was at ease as he said cheerfully, "So not just Number Nine has developed feelings, even Number One is affected, bing more and more human. The experiment this time was very sessful. Ling Lan truly possesses the ability to influence intelligent bio-entities ... the only thing left, is whether this ability is beneficial or harmful to us intelligent bio-entities?"


    "Still, it¡¯s really dangerous for Ling Lan this time ... did I really go overboard? If something really happens to Ling Lan, then wouldn¡¯t I lose a lot of entertainment? There¡¯s no other material with such resilience, capable of withstanding every single one of my newly developed training methods. Hm, yes, looks like I¡¯ll have to think of a way to help her ovee this crisis ..." Number Five was deep in thought ¡ª at this moment, he waspletely unaware that he, who had never cared for whether a material lived or died, was actually worrying over Ling Lan.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    New developments for a new year! XD


    May you all have a great year ahead. *sends good vibes*

 Chapter 74: Little Fours Suggestion

    Chapter 74: Little Four¡¯s Suggestion


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan had justin down, when she felt her consciousness being forcefully dragged once more into the learning space. However, Ling Lan was now used to this ¡ª after all, the instructors in the learning space all just loved to contact her this way.


    This time, what she saw first wasn¡¯t the cold face of Number One, nor was it the twisted smile of Number Five ¡ª instead, it was the delicate features of Number Nine. Seeing Number Nine¡¯s lovely face, Ling Lan felt as if she was healed instantly.


    "Instructor Number Nine!" Ovee with emotion, Ling Lan pounced. She really hadn¡¯t seen Instructor Number Nine in so long. She had really missed her, but it wasn¡¯t up to her whether or not she could see a particr instructor ¡ª the learning space was the one who decided.


    Hugging Instructor Number Nine tightly, she could feel the generous swell of the other¡¯s bosom under her military uniform. Oh, the envy, jealousy, and hate that stirred within her! Heaven knows if she would be able to have such a voluptuous body like Instructor Number Nine¡¯s when she grew up?


    Then, Ling Lan recalled her current identity as a fake man, and was instantly thrust into gloom. She had overheard her mother saying before that, once she hit puberty, she would need to be injected with blockers to prevent her body from secreting too much oestrogen ... In other words, if she could not reim her female status, then she would be destined to be just like how she was in her past life ¡ª t as an airport runway 1 .


    Number Nine looked at the emotional Ling Lan, and her heart was filled with fluffy feelings. It truly had been a while since shest saw Ling Lan, and she had missed her just as much. However, Number Nine was still Number Nine in the end. Her emotions were only visible for that short moment before she regained her usual cool and aloof appearance.


    She patted Ling Lan¡¯s shoulder before letting go, and then asked calmly, "Ling Lan, is something wrong with your spiritual self?"


    At this question, Ling Lan bowed her head dejectedly. "Instructor Number Nine, so even you¡¯ve found out about it."


    "Yes. Strange fluctuations appearing in your spiritual self ... as an inhabitant of your mind, of course I can sense it." Number Nine exined why all the instructors knew. Of course, what Number Nine didn¡¯t say, was that this was actually only possible if an inhabitant broke the rules, forcefully breaking boundaries to sense the host¡¯s condition. For that, Number Nine had had to pay a hefty price.


    This was the learning space¡¯s restriction upon the inhabitants, as well as protection for the host. If Number Nine wasn¡¯t so concerned that Number Five would break Ling Lan, she wouldn¡¯t havemitted this vition.


    Seeing Ling Lan in such low spirits, Number Nine was anxious. Not one to beat around the bush to begin with, she went straight to the point and asked, "Do you know why this situation is happening?"


    Ling Lan thought about it for a moment, and then replied uncertainly, "Is it because Instructor Number Five¡¯s training has created some negative emotions? Which then influenced my emotional bnce?"


    "No, that¡¯s not it," Number Nine denied firmly.


    Seeing Number Nine reject the reason she had thought was behind all this, Ling Lan was even more confused. "If that¡¯s not it, then what is it?"


    "It¡¯s your heart. It¡¯s filled with doubt and uncertainty." Number Nine announced the answer directly.


    "Huh?" Ling Lan hadn¡¯t expected this answer. Could doubt and uncertainty cause her spirit to twist so much that she would lose control? Ling Lan¡¯s first instinct was disbelief, that Number Nine was just joking with her.


    But seeing Number Nine¡¯s steady gaze, Ling Lan could not be sure.


    "Ling Lan, although I do not know why your tolerance is so extraordinary, almost aberrant, it is why you were able to withstand all the tests and torments set for you by Number Five. This has made your spiritual power grow very strong, very rapidly, to the point that you¡¯ve even touched upon the gates of Dao."


    "Dao?" Ling Lan was even more bewildered. She was currently in a technologically advanced future world, not an ignorant medieval period when cultivation theory discussions were popr.


    "Er ... you don¡¯t need to understand this right now. What I want to tell you, is that this abnormality in your spirit is urring because you do not have a clear purpose in your heart for bing stronger." Number Nine knew she had slipped up, so she hurriedly tried to gloss over it.


    "Purpose?" By this time, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were wide and round, dazed. Number Nine had thoroughly confused her, and her mind was spinning.


    "Yes, you¡¯ve epted all the missions and training we¡¯ve set for you, and endured them despite all the difficulty. Why?"


    Ling Lan held her dizzy head in her hands as she desperately searched for an answer to the question.


    But Number Nine stopped her. "Don¡¯t be in a rush to answer ¡ª go back and think about it carefully. Think about what kind of future is it that you want, and what your reason is for wanting to grow stronger ... Once you¡¯ve figured this out, the spiritual problem bothering you now will go away and you¡¯ll return to normal."


    With that said, Number Nine chased Ling Lan out of her training space.


    ********


    Just like that, Ling Lan came to the central hall of the learning space. At this time, Little Four was crouched in the centre of the hall, drawing something on the ground with his butt stuck up in the air;pletely oblivious to Ling Lan¡¯s arrival.


    Ling Lan calmed herself a little, and started to reflect on Instructor Number Nine¡¯s words. Number Nine had undoubtedly given her some good news, which was that the loss of control of her spiritual power she was so worried about was not a huge problem. It could be healed naturally, as long as she could find the answer to dispel the doubt and uncertainty from her heart.


    But, what were her doubts and uncertainties? Ling Lan was lost once again.


    Little Four, having finallypleted his masterpiece, stood up, and was prepared to admire it for a good while when, with a subconscious lift of his head, he saw Ling Lan standing right before him.


    With a thump, Little Four fell over, and his first reaction was to wonder if his tricks had been noticed by Ling Lan.


    This noise startled Ling Lan, who raised her head to see Little Four sitting on the ground with a frightened look on his face. She couldn¡¯t help but frown and ask, "Little Four, what¡¯s going on?"


    Little Four hurriedly put on a fawning face and said sweetly, "Boss, why are you here?" With a pull of his right hand, a floor cushion appeared in his hand out of thin air. He carefully set down the cushion by his side and said submissively, "Boss, are you tired? Come sit here."


    At the same time, behind him where Ling Lan couldn¡¯t see, Little Four swiped his left hand and the picture on the ground before him was wiped clean, leaving no trace behind.


    Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts hadn¡¯t been on Little Four to begin with, preupied with her own internal dilemma. Hearing Little Four¡¯s reply, she didn¡¯t pry any further, but instead sat down with a long face by Little Four¡¯s side, sighing deeply.


    Knowing that he hadn¡¯t been found out, Little Four was instantly at ease. It was his duty as Ling Lan¡¯s number one follower to help his boss solve her problems, so seeing Ling Lan so troubled, he quickly opened his mouth to ask, "Boss, why are you sighing? Tell me about it. Maybe Little Four can help."


    "Instructor Number Nine said that my heart has doubts and uncertainties, and that I don¡¯t have a resolute will or purpose for bing stronger." Of course, Ling Lan didn¡¯t really expect Little Four to be able to help her, but it was still nice to share one¡¯s troubles, so she spilled her worries to Little Four anyway.


    Little Four was very surprised, for he didn¡¯t think of that as a great problem at all. "Boss! What¡¯s there to worry about? If you don¡¯t have a purpose, you just need to find one!"


    "Does it work that way?" Ling Lan was nonplussed. Could it be that she was overthinking it?

 Chapter 75: The Dream of Having Kids!

    Chapter 75: The Dream of Having Kids!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Why wouldn¡¯t it? If you don¡¯t have a purpose, then let¡¯s just build one. Once you have a purpose, Boss, then you won¡¯t be doubtful and uncertain anymore." The more Little Four spoke, the smugger he became, and then he abruptly realised that he truly was, as expected, one of the smartest of the intelligent bio-entities.


    It made sense! Ling Lan decided to try out Little Four¡¯s method, even though Little Four really did seem rather ky ... Perhaps she would be able to luck out, like a blind cat stumbling over a dead rat, and stumble across the solution.


    Ling Lan contemted for a long while, and then, with a face full of confusion, she asked, "Little Four, what purpose should I build exactly?"


    Little Four was speechless. Wasn¡¯t this something the Boss should decide for herself? Why was she asking him?


    Still, Little Four was undoubtedly a dutiful follower. Without a word ofint, he immediately browsed through his database, and word after highlighted word started popping out at him. Excitedly, Little Four said, "Boss, let¡¯s go dominate the gxies!"


    Ling Lan rolled her eyes dramatically at Little Four. "Do you take me for an idiot?" Anyone who would do something so troublesome ¡ª putting in so much mental and physical effort for no praise to boot ¡ª must be an idiot.


    "Then ... how about bing a king somewhere?" Little Four lowered his ambition by arge margin.


    "Not interested," said Ling Lan huffily. Couldn¡¯t Little Four give any more normal suggestions? She was definitely not the type of person who wanted to be a ruler ¡ª Ling Lan knew herself well enough to know that.


    "Building a harmonious and perfect world?" ... "Bing a peerless hero?" ...


    Ling Lan was peeved. Suggesting all these grand ambitions, Little Four was obviously just mocking her. Dammit, she wasn¡¯t a saint!


    Under Ling Lan¡¯s increasingly displeased gaze, Little Four¡¯s voice became softer and softer ... Boo hoo hoo! Boss, these are all search results from the database ¡ª even if Ling Lan wasn¡¯t happy about it, there was nothing he could do.


    Oh? There was one more. Little Four suddenly noticed one unread result. "Right, we could start a harem and sow seeds?" Although he didn¡¯t have a clue as to what ¡¯start a harem and sow seeds¡¯ meant, this phrase appeared at a rate no less than the previous suggestions.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan flew into a rage, immediately hammering a fist onto Little Four¡¯s head. "Idiot, I¡¯m a girl!" Dammit, ¡¯sowing seeds¡¯ was something men did, alright? Besides, she didn¡¯t have a female-queen mentality. Plus, she had been raised with the concept of ¡¯one husband one wife¡¯ ¡ª as such, this was something that she simply could not ept.


    "So a girl can¡¯t sow seeds in a harem?" Little Four pouted, a little unconvinced. He really didn¡¯t understand what this had to do with gender. However, since Boss clearly hated this one, of course it would be discarded without question.


    The two of them continued to puzzle over the issue, seated together with their faces resting within the cups of their hands, frowning heavily.


    Ten minutes passed ... Half an hour passed ... and finally, an hour passed ... Still unable to think of any good suggestions, Little Four was driven mad. Pulling at his own hair, he screamed, "Aaaah ... I really can¡¯t think of anything! What other great purposes are there?!"


    "Great? Why does it have to be great?" Ling Lan seemed to have been triggered by Little Four and found a new avenue of thought. "Perhaps we could start thinking from small wishes ..."


    Little Four did not understand. "What do you mean?"


    "For example, Little Four, what is the goal you want to fulfil most right now?"


    Hearing this, Little Four puffed out his little chest and said, "I want to be Boss¡¯s number one follower."


    Ling Lan¡¯s was speechless. Didn¡¯t he have any slightly more ambitious thoughts? Besides, she had already dered him her number one follower ¡ª why was he still so caught up in this issue?


    Little Four seemed to have gotten the point though. He looked at Ling Lan with shining eyes and said, "Boss, what do you want to aplish at the moment?"


    "Continue maintaining my position in Special ss-A." Ling Lan¡¯s response was quick and without hesitation. This was truly what had been bothering her most recently.


    "Maintain? Don¡¯t you want to be first?" Little Four was puzzled. With Ling Lan¡¯s strength, getting first ce should be a piece of cake.


    "No ns for that. Of course, if I get it by ident then that¡¯s fine too. I¡¯m just going to go with the flow." Ling Lan wasn¡¯t too bothered by this issue.


    The moment she finished speaking, Ling Lan jolted. Could it be that the aimlessness and hesitation that Instructor Number Nine had mentioned was precisely thisckadaisical attitude of hers? Because she had always gone with the flow, epting everything life gave her ¡ª be it her grades, her training, or even the training missions in the learning space. Honestly, she had never pursued any of it on her own initiative.


    "I¡¯ve figured it out ..." Ling Lan felt enlightened.


    "Could it be that I really should go after the first ce ranking?" Although Ling Lan felt that she was onto something here, her heart was still a little troubled. Deep inside, she didn¡¯t really want to make waves and push herself into the spotlight ¡ª would forcing herself to do something she didn¡¯t want to do really resolve her current plight? Or would she just end up going further down the wrong path?


    "If you don¡¯t feel like it then leave it. After all, even if you get first ce, there aren¡¯t that many benefits to it. The cost and benefits just don¡¯t match up." Little Four wasn¡¯t gued by all those chaotic thoughts running through Ling Lan¡¯s mind; he was only looking for the answer purely from a cost-benefit standpoint. Obtaining first ce ¡ª there was pretty much no benefit other than an increase in reputation, so Little Four was unconcerned about whether his boss became the first rank.


    "Boss, you need to find something more profitable to do." Out of boredom, Little Four conjured a lollipop in his hand and licked it a couple of times. He believed that anything could be done, just not pointless work.


    "More profitable? There really isn¡¯t anything." Ling Lan, who was all tapped out of desires, really couldn¡¯t think of anything that fit Little Four¡¯s criteria.


    Little Four was stumped. He gave a hard lick to his lollipop, and then very seriously said to Ling Lan, "Let¡¯s put it this way. Boss, what kind of life do you want to have in the future?"


    "A peaceful, free one. And when I¡¯m bored, I can give birth to a child, raise him, and y with him." A smile yed on Ling Lan¡¯s lips. She really wanted a child of her own. If her two lives were added together, she really wasn¡¯t that young anymore.


    When Little Four heard what Ling Lan had to say, his expression turned miserable.


    Seeing Little Four¡¯s exaggerated expression, Ling Lan was irked. "What? I can¡¯t have a child?"


    "Of course you can," Little Four hastily reassured her. "But Boss, have you not thought about your situation?"


    "Situation? About my identity as a fake man?" Ling Lan was abruptly brought back to reality. With this identity, it was basically fated that she wouldn¡¯t be able to wed someone openly. If she wanted to borrow sperm from some man, she¡¯d even have to do it secretly ...


    "I believe the Ling family will arrange for a loyalist to couple with me." Ling Lan wasn¡¯t worried that she wouldn¡¯t get a man, for Lan Luofeng and Ling Qin would never let the Ling family line die out.


    "Won¡¯t work," objected Little Four, agitated.


    "Huh? Why?" Ling Lan didn¡¯t understand.


    "Boss, you must know, whether a child is excellent or not is basically all up to the genes of the father 1 ." Within this period of time, Little Four had been doing a lot of research on this topic on the virtualwork.


    "Ah ... so this means that no matter how great my genes are, it¡¯s useless?" Ling Lan was incensed. She would be the one giving birth to the child, but whether or not the child was excellent had nothing to do with her? That was just preposterous!


    Regretfully, Little Four said, "Of course if the mother¡¯s gics are better, the child will be even more outstanding, but the main load is still on the father. If the father¡¯s gics are weak, the child¡¯s birth stats are almost guaranteed to be weaker."


    "In other words, if I want my baby to be more outstanding, I cannot just find some random man." Ling Lan gnashed her teeth. What kind of heredity is this? Why make the father¡¯s side so important?


    With schadenfreude 2 , Little Four said, "That¡¯s right, Boss."


    "With my current circumstances, it¡¯s impossible to freely date a strong man, get married and have kids." Ling Lan finally understood the meaning behind Little Four¡¯s exaggerated expression.


    Of course, if Ling Lan didn¡¯t care for the stats of the baby, then all this wouldn¡¯t be a problem. However, Ling Lan was definitely a responsible mother. If she could let her baby be more outstanding, she would definitely not let her own baby take the lesser option.


    "Is there really no way to resolve this?" asked Ling Lan with a frown. She didn¡¯t believe that. No matter what, she would have a baby. No matter how difficult the process was, she would still aplish it ¡ª this was all she wanted to do in this life.


    "There is. Two ways." Little Four was as reliable as ever, directlying up with two options for Ling Lan.


    "Number one, rob the Federation¡¯s sperm bank. I believe there will be lots of strong men¡¯s sperm kept there." Little Four¡¯s words made Ling Lan¡¯s eyes light up, but his next words made Ling Lan¡¯s face fall.


    "However, you¡¯ll need to defeat the ace mecha squad stationed there. Rumour has it that the leader is an imperial operator. As a reminder, an imperial operator is just one level below a god-ss operator ¡ª for you to sessfully steal the sperm from the bank, you¡¯ll need to have the capability close to that of a god-ss operator, otherwise, you¡¯ll be going in alive anding out dead."


    "And the other way?" Ling Lan decisively discarded this option. She only wanted to have a kid, not seek death.


    "Find a random strong man you like, push him down, and just have your way with him," said Little Four savagely.


    Ling Lan wanted to face-palm. Dammit, these two methods were just not something a normal person could do.


    "I rmend you pick the second option. Going up against one strong man will definitely be easier than going up against a team of strong men," suggested Little Four considerately.


    Little Four¡¯s words didn¡¯t make Ling Lan¡¯s expression turn any better, because raping a strong man was definitely not an easy thing.


    "Of course, you could also try seduction ... if a strong man is willing to take a romp under the sheets with you, Boss, then you wouldn¡¯t have to worry anymore." Little Four smiled in satisfaction, thinking that this suggestion of his was just amazing.


    "Idiot!" Ling Lan knocked Little Four¡¯s head exasperatedly. Which man would willingly romp under the sheets with another man? Unless he was bent. But if he was bent then she wouldn¡¯t be able to take it, because ultimately, she was still female.


    "No? Then Boss, you¡¯ll just have to do it forcefully," said Little Four regretfully.


    "Forcefully, eh? Looks like I¡¯ll have to be even stronger or else I won¡¯t be able to overpower the other." Ling Lan racked her brains and found that what Little Four said made sense. For the sake of giving birth to an outstanding baby, she just had to break past her limits.


    "Yup. Good luck, Boss. You¡¯ll need to work harder from now on, or else you won¡¯t be able to raise an outstanding child." Little Four gave Ling Lan his encouragement.


    Suddenly, Ling Lan found that all her suffering at the learning space¡¯s hands was not meaningless ¡ª it would make her stronger, making it easier for her to achieve her goals.


    "A child birthed by me, Ling Lan, must be the most excellent one ..." Ling Lan¡¯s eyes no longer held any trace of doubt or uncertainty. No one would be able to stop her from carrying out her resolution to give birth to an exceptional child. "In that case, I must be the strongest so that I will have a greater range of selection ..."


    Because of this simple wish, Ling Lan stepped onto the path of the strong, no longer lost.

 Chapter 76: The Ranking Tournament Begins

    Chapter 76: The Ranking Tournament Begins


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    It wasn¡¯t long before the mid-year wide-scale rankings were finally here, and the theoretical exams for various subjects were the first to be held. Ling Lan was very confident regarding these exams. She always had a great memory and now she also had the ultimate cheating machine, Little Four, so it was almost impossible for her not to get full marks.


    However, Ling Lan soon found that she had celebrated too soon. Any child who could enter Special ss-A was no simpleton ¡ª their IQs were all terrifyingly high, as proven by the publicized scores on the digital bulletin board. Almost all the ss-A students scored full marks, with the exception of a few kids who lost one or two marks out of carelessness.


    Alright, so only two students didn¡¯t get full marks, and one of them was Qi Long. Furthermore, he was the one who had the most marks deducted, one mark each for two subjects, tragically putting him in thest ce of Special ss-A, which Qi Long felt was a great loss of face.


    There was no helping it. His brash and forthright personality made it impossible for him to be as detail-oriented as Han Jijyun and Luo Lang ¡ªcking the patience to check his work, he could only lose marks. Luckily for him, he only made minor errors in two subjects; based on Han Jijyun¡¯s pre-exam prediction, Qi Long would have at least lost marks in three to four subjects.


    Meanwhile, the other student had only been deducted one mark. But that one mark was enough to drop him below rank 100, for among the children of the other sses, there were more than a few who scored full marks as well.


    Of course, Qi Long, who had been deducted two marks, was no longer even within the top two hundred. One could clearly see just how intense thepetition was within the academy.


    Of course, the current rankings were only temporary ¡ª the final rankings were still pending on thebat results, for that was where the real test was. The Central Scout Academy ced the highest priority onbat arts. As long as you defeated everyone, even if your theory grades were average, you would still be the uncontested number one of the Central Scout Academy.


    Of course, the theory grades were not unimportant, for thebat exams were held under an elimination system. The children who were eliminated would be given their final rank based on their theory results. Only if two eliminated students happened to have the same theory results, then the two of them would have to go through an additionalbat match to determine their final rank.


    For example, when the top 8 progressed into the top 4, four students would be eliminated. Based on their theory grades, the one with the highest score would automatically be ranked 5th, and so on and so forth. In the situation where same scores appear, like say the 5th and 6th ce had the same theory marks, then the 5th and 6th would have an additional fight to determine the actual 5th and 6th ces. If this happened with the 7th and 8th, it would be the same thing, where the 7th and 8th would battle to confirm the 7th and 8th ranks. If the 6th and the 7th had the same theory grades, then the 5th rank and the 8th rank would be confirmed first, and then the 6th and 7th would battle each other to determine the true 6th and 7th ranks ...


    Therefore, the theory results were not very important for the winners but were crucial for those who failed. At times, the difference of just one theory mark could spell the difference between heaven and earth.


    ********


    And so, the much anticipated ranking tournament officially began within thebat hall of the Central Scout Academy.


    Because this was thebat ranking battles held every six months, all the arenas in thebat hall were opened. The options for closed battles were removed so all the battles could be disyed openly for public viewing. The students could choose to spectate in person or watch a live broadcast of the all the arena ranking battles from their dorms.


    The ranking battles were fought on an elimination system ¡ª the ten grades of the scout academy were split across approximately three thousand arenas. On the first day, those participating in the ranking battles were just the regr ss students. The winners would then move on to the second day to battle the merit ss students. On the third day, the Special ss-B students would officially join in, while Special ss-A would only take part on the fourth day.


    These few days, Ling Lan had just stayed put in her own vi. She told the others that she was meditating to centre herself, but in truth, she was actually entering the learning space and making full use of the time she had left to resolve the problem of her loss of spiritual control.


    Ever since she had confirmed her desire to have an excellent kid as her purpose for bing strong, when Ling Lan had once again epted a bloody mission from the learning space, she actually found that she would no longer lose herself like before when she enteredbat mode. She could retain a little of her awareness now ¡ª though this duration was short, it was still undoubtedly a good sign, giving Ling Lan hope that she would be able to regain full control of herself.


    Ling Lan was d that she had the learning space. The ranking battle was almost here so there wasn¡¯t much time left in reality, but her time could be considerably extended within the learning space. Without any hesitation, Ling Lan had taken the initiative to ask Instructor Number Five to extend the time within the learning space to the maximum so that she would have sufficient time to resolve her problem.


    She knew that this decision would also extend her time of suffering under Instructor Number Five¡¯s hands, but in order to aplish her objectives, Ling Lan no longer feared anything.


    Number Five was extremely receptive to Ling Lan¡¯s request for further self-torture and had agreed without question. After three years time (time which had been prolonged by the learning space) of bitter suffering, Ling Lan regained her sobriety bit by bit. Finally, she seeded in mastering her self-control within the time limit. Moreover, due to the additional torments she had endured within this period of time, her heart had be unbelievably strong, and her spiritual power had be extremely solid.


    Ling Lan believed that, even if the world were to be destroyed before her eyes now, she would be able to face it with a calm face and a steady heart, as serene as ever.


    While she had seeded in mastering her mind, Ling Lan had also discovered that she now had a new understanding of thebat arts she had previously learned ...


    ********


    Early on the fourth day, Ling Lan, who had perfectly resolved her control problems, left her residence.


    She had just arrived at the hover car stop when she saw Qi Long and the other two boys waiting for her a little further ahead.


    When Han Jijyun saw Ling Lang arrive, he used the sensor to call for a hover car to bring the four of them to the colossalbat hall.


    Right now, thebat hall was not as crowded as it had been in thest three days. After all, only 200batants were left for each grade, so the total of all ten grades only made up 2000 people. Adding on the friends and ssmates who were here to spectate, there was still only 5000 to 6000 people. Compared to the first day when there were 70 to 80 thousand people rubbing shoulders, this was nothing.


    "Qi Long, here, here!" A strident voice rang out from a corner of thebat hall. Ling Lan looked over and saw that it was the two girls, Han Xuya and Luo Chao, and beside them were some of the other original group 072 members.


    Luo Lang was very excited and was the first to rush over while Qi Long, who had been called for directly, naturally went together with Luo Lang. Ling Lan and Han Jijyun shared a smile, and then slowly walked over as well.


    The female dormitory where Han Xuya and Luo Chao were staying was on the opposite end of Qi Long and the other three¡¯s dorm, so it wasn¡¯t very convenient for them to meet up anywhere else but here in thebat hall.


    "You all came too." Ling Lan nodded in greeting to the others.


    "Yup, we¡¯ve all been lucky enough to squeeze into the top 200." Li Jinghong was the one who spoke up. As a member of the merit ss, he was thrilled to make it into the top 200. It should be known that there were 2000 students in the merit sses. Anyone who could enter the top 200 was undeniably outstanding, for among these top 200, the 50 Special ss-A students were also included.


    "Good luck. As long as you win one fight, you might have a chance to enter the special sses," Qi Long cheerfully encouraged Li Jinghong as he patted his shoulders. The top 100 were the special ss students, with the only difference being whether one was in ss-A or ss-B.


    If Li Jinghong really managed to win his uing battle, he would definitely be considered a sessful contender and would probably be the centre of attention for a long while.


    Li Jinghong was a little embarrassed. "I don¡¯t dare to think that far. Everyone here is strong ¡ª I can only say that in the earlier fights, I was a bit luckier. The opponents I faced were all not very strong."


    Hearing this, He Chaoyang, who was also in the merit sses with Li Jinghong, was a little displeased. "Jinghong, it doesn¡¯t matter if we can do it or not, but we shouldn¡¯t lose our spirits. Since we¡¯ve already made it here, we should fight our best."


    Li Jinghong was enlightened, and nodded energetically, "Chaoyang, you¡¯re right. Since we¡¯re already in the top 200, if we don¡¯t try our best then it wouldn¡¯t be fair to our previous efforts."


    "That¡¯s how it should be." He Chaoyang smiled. The two of them were the only two of the 072 group to enter the merit sses. Being in the same environment had made them be very close ¡ª they¡¯d helped each other, supporting one another as they progressed together.


    Seeing this, Luo Shaoyun said worriedly, "Ah, Li Jinghong and He Chaoyang are working so hard ... looks like our positions aren¡¯t safe."


    Luo Shaoyun¡¯s words caused Han Xuya and Luo Chao to be worried in turn.


    "You¡¯re still alright, but it¡¯ll be difficult to say for little Luo Chao and me." Han Xuya sighed heavily. She found that the pressure from entering Special ss-B was much higher than that of entering the merit sses. This time, she had only narrowly made it into the top 200 ¡ª if the opponent hadn¡¯t fallen over before she had from ack of stamina, she might already have lost in the battle moving from 400 to 200. Heaven knows if she would be able to continue on this time ... if she couldn¡¯t make it into the top 100, she would drop into the merit sses.


    Staring at her own fingers, Luo Chao timidly said, "I ... I¡¯m also very worried."


    Her expression rendered Luo Lang speechless ¡ª unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t fight on behalf of his sister, otherwise he would definitely not let Luo Chao be so worried.


    "At this stage, it¡¯s no longer a matter of just strength, but more of spirit." Seeing the misgivings on the two girls¡¯ faces, Ling Lan, who was also a girl at heart, couldn¡¯t help but speak up.


    "How so?" Apart from Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Han Jijyun, the other children all looked at Ling Lan with expectant faces, hoping that Ling Lan would enlighten them.


    "The strength of those who managed to enter the top 200 is actually roughly the same, so it¡¯s possible for either side to win. In the end, victory will depend on whose confidence is stronger, and whose endurance is greater, that¡¯s all." Ling Lan kept her arms folded behind her back, and secretly crossed her fingers. Her intent was just to encourage them; she wouldn¡¯t take any responsibility for anything beyond that ...


    Han Xuya¡¯s gaze brightened. "Just like my previous match! I just have to hold on for a second longer than my opponent, and victory will be mine."


    Ling Lan nodded, indicating that what Han Xuya said was right.


    Luo Chao looked at Ling Lan, blushing, and thought to herself: "Ling Lan definitely must not like girls who give up easily. Yes, I must work hard, I must hold on until the end ..."


    Ling Lan settled everyone¡¯s nervous jitters with a few words, and their eyes all began to shine with confidence. Han Jijyun stared keenly at Ling Lan. He hadn¡¯t expected Ling Lan to be so astoundingly proficient at handling the hearts of people as well ¡ª where the hell did hee from really? An elite family? Some unknown formidable force? Or perhaps ...


    Han Jijyun didn¡¯t dare to probe too deeply. He took a deep breath and pushed aside all the stray thoughts in his mind. He warned himself ¡ª Ling Lan was just Ling Lan, their Boss Lan. All he needed to do was remember this.

 Chapter 77: The Debut of Techniques and Secret Skills!

    Chapter 77: The Debut of Techniques and Secret Skills!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Frankly, Han Jijyun was overthinking things; clever people were very likely to make this mistake. Ling Lan¡¯s words were all just in reassurances; there was nothing more to it. As for why they worked so well ¡ª all we can say is that Ling Lan was just too highly regarded within group 072, so everyone believed her without question.


    Their small group walked to the area set aside for the first-grade ranking battles. Along the way, Qi Long subtly tugged on Ling Lan¡¯s arm and Ling Lan reflexively slowed her steps.


    Seeing that the otherpanions beside them weren¡¯t paying any attention to them, Qi Long whispered quietly, "Boss Lan, has your problem been solved?"


    The otherpanions may not have known about Ling Lan¡¯s problem, but as an unintended victim, Qi Long knew very well that when Ling Lan put his full attention into battle, he had issues with losing control.


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart felt warm as she nodded at Qi Long, saying, "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m fine now."


    Qi Long smiled in visible relief. "That¡¯s great." Suddenly, his expression turned serious and he said, "Boss Lan, this time, I will fight with my full strength." When he said this, Qi Long¡¯s eyes were full of fighting spirit ¡ª it was clear that he really wanted to defeat Ling Lan just once.


    Ling Lan nodded, epting the challenge.


    Right then, the two of them felt themunicators on their wrists vibrate powerfully. Their eyes lit up ¡ª the notification of their battles had arrived.


    Sure enough, themunicators disyed their fighting grounds and match order. Qi Long¡¯s fight was at arena 33, the third match, while Ling Lan¡¯s was at arena 35, the sixth match.


    "Boss Lan, this time, my fight will end before yours." Qi Long was very excited. This way, he wouldn¡¯t miss out on watching Ling Lan¡¯s fight.


    Their otherpanions had also received their respective notifications. Several of them were browsing through their notifications when Han Xuya abruptly yelled, "Ah ah ah, why is my battle the first match?! Ah, I¡¯m not mentally prepared yet!"


    Luo Chao hurriedly consoled her, saying, "Mine¡¯s not much better, I¡¯m fighting second."


    "Me too!"


    "Me too!"


    Luo Shaoyun and Li Jinghong yelled out at the same time. The three of them anxiously stuck out their arms, lining up theirmunicators in a row so they couldpare their fight arenas. When they found that they weren¡¯t assigned to the same arena, the three of them let out a breath of relief. Luo Chao in particr was patting her chest lightly, trying to calm her pounding heart. Everyone¡¯s luck was pretty decent; they didn¡¯t have to fight amongst themselves from the start.


    None of them wished to fight one of their ownpanions and send the other out.


    Both Qi Long and Yuan Youyun were up for the third match, but just like the others for the second match, they were at different arenas. Han Jijyun and He Chaoyang were up for the fourth match, again at different arenas, causing all of them to sigh in relief.


    Luo Lang was up for the fifth match, while Ling Lan was up for the sixth. Although they didn¡¯t know if there was a seventh match or more after that, this was the best arrangement possible for Ling Lan¡¯s group. The knowledge that the strongest Ling Lan was going upst, was an intangible source of inspiration and mental support for them.


    The first up was Han Xuya. The first match was at arena 32 and she was up against a chubster from the merit sses.


    The fights arranged by the academy were never dictated by luck ¡ª the students from the special sses would be fighting against those students from the merit and regr sses who had battled their way up, so if those students wanted to rise up beyond their station, they would have to defeat a special ss student fair and square.


    The two chubby kids standing together on the arena stage made for a humorous picture. Han Xuya, in particr, had a strange quirk ¡ª she liked to chew on jerky during battle, so her chubby cheeks were forever bulging, just like an eating hamster.


    Of course, only Ling Lan felt this way. The otherpanions were all watching arena 32 anxiously, waiting for Han Xuya¡¯s battle results. They became superstitious at this time, hoping that Han Xuya could bring back the first win and bring them all luck.


    Han Xuya didn¡¯t let them down; the chubster across her didn¡¯t give Han Xuya too much trouble. Not long after the fight began, Han Xuya caught onto one of the opponent¡¯s careless mistakes and threw him to the ground. Before the other could climb back up, Han Xuya barrelled right at him like a mini torpedo.


    A heavy "BAM!" of impact made Ling Lan and the others observing gasp in sympathetic fright, teeth aching. Sure enough, the little chubster was utterly stunned by Han Xuya¡¯s heavyweight blow, allowing Han Xuya to sit on him without much resistance, wherefore she began pummeling him left and right.


    The teacher refereeing the match couldn¡¯t help but break out into a cold sweat. He hurriedly called an end to the match and dered Han Xuya the winner. He was afraid that the little chubster would end up dying if he yelled any slower.


    Smugly, Han Xuya walked off the stage. Qi Long asked Han Jijyun beside him, "Have you all learned a new move?" Han Xuya¡¯s teeth-aching method of barrelling into someone was something she couldn¡¯t do before.


    Han Jijyun nodded and said, "Yes. For this ranking battle, the elders in the family specially arranged some special training and taught us a few tricks we could use right now."


    Qi Long¡¯s expression grew grim. Most likely, any student with hereditary family martial arts would have had special training in preparation for the ranking battles. Thispetition wasn¡¯t as simple as he thought it would be.


    When Luo Chao went up next, this point was proven. Luo Lang and Luo Chao hadn¡¯t wasted any of their prep time either. Luo Chao¡¯s physical strength was obviously weaker than Han Xuya¡¯s. This time, Luo Chao fought in a very smart manner ¡ª she didn¡¯t engage the opponent directly like Han Xuya, but danced around the opponent, saving her strength as much as possible as she looked for the opponent¡¯s weak points.


    Luo Chao¡¯s opponent was also a member of the merit sses, who had solid basics ¡ª even though his every move and stance was nothing special, they also had no obvious weaknesses.


    "Your sister may be in trouble," Qi Longmented worriedly. Although he and Luo Lang didn¡¯t really get along, he was still rather protective of the bashful Luo Chao. Seeing the fight entering a stalemate, he couldn¡¯t help but say something.


    Luo Lang¡¯s hands had already clenched into fists by his thighs. He was the one who was the most worried for his sister, but he still remained calm as he said, "Don¡¯t rush, just wait a little longer ... as long as she can find a weak point, Luo Chao will definitely be able to defeat the opponent." Luo Lang had seen Luo Chao¡¯s hard work all this time; he hoped Luo Chao¡¯s efforts wouldn¡¯t go to waste here.


    This match was the longest of all the first-grade matches ¡ª Luo Chao¡¯s match was still unfinished by the time Luo Shaoyun and Li Jinghong returned. And at this moment, Qi Long and Yuan Youyun had already received the notification to get ready, for their matches were about to start.


    Qi Long and Yuan Youyun hadn¡¯t left for long when Luo Chao¡¯s movement speed slowed noticeably, and Luo Lang¡¯s expression changed dramatically.


    At the same time, Luo Chao¡¯s opponent was startled for a moment, but then his eyes gleamed with joy. He quickly sped forwards and thrust a fist directly at Luo Chao¡¯s chest.


    Although Luo Chao had quick reflexes, turning her body to evade, her left shoulder was still hit, and a trace of pain appeared on her young face. However, her left hand didn¡¯t slow down at all, grabbing hold of the opponent¡¯s right arm which had struck her.


    "Not good!" The opponent felt his right arm being grabbed and knew that he was in trouble. As expected, Luo Chao¡¯s right fist came right at him but he had no way to dodge. Who¡¯d have expected that such a delicate-looking girl would have the courage to exchange a fist for a fist ¡ª this was thoroughly a lose-lose situation where both sides would be injured.


    "Oh no! They¡¯re both hurt! Is Little Sister Luo Chao alright?" Seeing this scene, the newly returned Luo Shaoyun and Li Jinghong couldn¡¯t help but exim in shock ¡ª they really liked this pretty sister of Luo Lang¡¯s.


    Luo Lang said nothing in response but looked at the scene with a cold expression. Equally injured? Not necessarily!


    Luo Chao¡¯s opponent naturally didn¡¯t want to just take Luo Chao¡¯s punch without resisting ¡ª he brought up his left arm in a horizontal block in front of his chest and readied himself to take Luo Chao¡¯s attack. In his opinion, girls were naturally weaker so his left arm should be enough to parry the attack and diffuse the power behind it.


    However, when Luo Chao¡¯s fist met his shoulder, he felt a great surge of energy crashing onto it and then a snapping sound could be hearding from his left arm. Intense pain radiated from his arm straight to his heart and he couldn¡¯t help but scream, "Aaaaaah ..."


    Luo Shaoyun gulped. "Luo Lang, is your sister a freakishly strong woman?" This strength appeared to be even stronger than his own. It should be noted that children nowadays had extremely sturdy bodies due to the absorption of gene agents to repair and supplement the body. Although it wasn¡¯t at the level of copper skin and iron bones, it was still strong enough that normal levels of strength shouldn¡¯t be able to hurt them.


    "No, this is one of our familybat techniques ¡ª One-Inch Punch 1 !" Luo Lang wasn¡¯t secretive about it and he started giving Luo Shaoyun and the others a detailed exnation.


    The One-Inch Punch wasn¡¯t an advanced technique; many families had simr strike techniques, so Luo Lang wasn¡¯t worried about others knowing its name. If the technique wasn¡¯t orally taught along with a physical demonstration, observers wouldn¡¯t be able to learn its secrets, so there was no need to fear it being stolen by others.


    "Little Four, did you save a recording of Luo Chao¡¯s attack earlier?" Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up. This sort of strike technique was pretty good ¡ª it would be a good idea to take some time in the future to research it.


    "Saved." Little Four¡¯s answer was met with Ling Lan¡¯s hearty approval. When Ling Lan wasn¡¯t paying attention, Little Four smugly made a victory ¡¯V¡¯ with one hand. He would never tell Ling Lan that everything that had happened throughout her life, every moment from her birth till now, could be found within his databases. There would never be any storage problems.


    Seeing that the child¡¯s arm was broken, the teacher in charge of Luo Chao¡¯s arena immediately called a stop to the match and dered Luo Chao the winner. Although Luo Chao¡¯s opponent was unwilling to surrender, he could do nothing to fight this result and so could only walk off the stage with teary eyes. This time, he had lost due to impatience. He shouldn¡¯t have rushed, for his chances of winning had actually been much higher than Luo Chao¡¯s.


    Luo Chao leapt at her brother excitedly and Luo Lang caught her in a hug. But then, with an unhappy expression, he chided, "Why did you use this method?" Although he was happy that his sister won, he didn¡¯t want his sister to win in a way which required her to get injured.


    Luo Chao peered up timidly at Luo Lang. "My stamina was running out, and the opponent was still very steady, revealing no weak points. has said before that my attacking speed is very slow, so, if I didn¡¯t use this method, I was afraid I wouldn¡¯t be able to hit him."


    Luo Chao still wanted to nag, but Han Xuya interrupted a little unhappily, "It¡¯s fine as long as she won ¡ª did you want to see Luo Chao lose?"


    Luo Lang was bbergasted. "H-how could I?" And with that, he couldn¡¯t scold Luo Chao anymore. After all, Luo Chao had won!


    Luo Chao sighed internally and sent a grateful look at Han Xuya. She still wasn¡¯t good at handling her elder brother¡¯s disapproving gaze. Surreptitiously, she nced at Ling Lan and found Ling Lan looking back at her with a bright smile on his face and approval in his eyes. Her face bloomed red instantly.


    He ... is looking at me now! Luo Chao felt as if she was going to faint; her heart was throbbing so violently.


    "Eh? Boss, after that little girl looked at you, she looks like she¡¯s going to faint. Oh, it must be that you¡¯re too fierce and scared her." Little Four recalled the violence he was subjected to when he first met Ling Lan and immediately empathised.

 Chapter 78: Advancing in One Move!

    Chapter 78: Advancing in One Move!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan red at Little Four exasperatedly, "You still have the free time to worry about other people? Have you figured out the secrets of that One-Inch Punch yet?"


    At those words, Little Four puffed out his cheeks. This request of his boss was just too unreasonable ¡ª how could the secrets of the One-Inch Punch be so easily deciphered? Such little consideration for her followers, this was obviously childbour abuse!


    Hmph, he wanted to lodge aint ... er, that is, find a helper!


    Little Four¡¯s gaze was mournful as he took onest nce at Ling Lan, whose attention had already shifted back to the outside world, and slowly disappeared from the mind-space, going heaven knows where.


    ********


    Luo Chao¡¯s victorious return gave Luo Lang and the others the heart to go check out Luo Shaoyun¡¯s and Li Jinghong¡¯s battle results. As expected, Luo Shaoyun sessfully advanced into the top 100, but Li Jinghong failed. The students of Special ss-A were not herbivores 1 ¡ª to achieve an upset was really as difficult as mounting the heavens.


    When Luo Lang discovered who Li Jinghong¡¯s opponent was, he couldn¡¯t help but pity him for his bad luck. It turned out that Li Jinghong¡¯s opponent was the second-rank, Wu Jiong. Even Luo Lang himself was uncertain if he could beat that fellow for sure ¡ª if they fought, the odds would be fifty-fifty, or perhaps Luo Lang¡¯s odds of winning might be even lower.


    Not long after, Qi Long bounded back happily. His opponent had been someone from the merit sses, and so had not given him much trouble. He had handily defeated the other within ten moves and now returned triumphant.


    Meanwhile, Yuan Youyun was still fighting and probably wouldn¡¯t be done for a while longer. Soon after, the fourth matches began. Han Jijyun and He Chaoyang went up, and they were followed by Luo Lang for the fifth match and Ling Lan for the sixth match. Just like that, they all took their turns on stage, and Ling Lan¡¯s group of ten finished their fights for the first half of the day.


    Both Li Jinghong and He Chaoyang from the merit sses had ended their run, while the remaining eight had sessfully entered the top 100, guaranteeing their ces in the special sses. Clearly, the positions of the original special ss students were very secure; for any child from the merit sses to overthrow anyone, the journey was still long.


    Of the students who advanced to the top 100, Ling Lan was the one who advanced the most easily ¡ª defeating the merit ss student she was up against with just one move. Of course, this method of winning almost crumbled the other child¡¯s confidence. Luckily, the refereeing teacher immediately provided some counselling and spiritual guidance, thus saving the child¡¯s future. Because of this, Ling Lan received quite a few displeased res from that teacher. His gaze was clearly saying that she should have shown some mercy and let her opponent show off some moves at least, why did she have to be so ruthless ...


    Against the teacher¡¯s pointed gaze, Ling Lan could only rub her nose and quietly slink away. Frankly, she could not be med. The moment her opponent had moved, she had clearly seen the other¡¯s weak point. This weak point had shone with such a brilliant light that she had thrown a punch before she knew it. By the time she was aware of it, the opponent had already been knocked off the stage, so it was toote even if she wanted to let the other show off a few moves.


    Aside from the oddball Ling Lan, the next best results were those who managed to defeat their opponents in ten moves. There were quite a few in that category ¡ª the top 5 of Special ss-A all managed it, along with Qi Long and Luo Lang.


    Just like that, the battles in the first half of the day were over. Li Jinghong and He Chaoyang collected their emotions and happily joined in the celebrations of theirpanions who advanced. Together, they came to the school canteen and prepared to indulge in a good feast to reward themselves.


    Ling Lan decided to be generous at that moment, agreeing to withdraw 5000 credits so they could order several delicacies and treats they¡¯d been drooling over for a long time in celebration. All of them ate happily. After eating their fill and resting for a bit, they weed the second round of the fights for the day where the top 100 would be narrowed down to the top 50. In other words, it was the final battles to determine the ss-A positions.


    Because the number ofbatants had been halved, there were only three match slots in the afternoon battle rounds. Ling Lan was no longer the finishing act this time, but was up first instead.


    Ling Lan¡¯s opponent was a student from Special ss-B. In these top 100 to top 50 advancement rounds, the Special ss-A students would not be ced in a situation where they¡¯d have to face one another. The academy wouldn¡¯t be so brain dead as to let the outstanding students face off so early and lose their chance to advance that way. Therefore, if the ss-B students wanted to enter ss-A, they would have to defeat a ss-A student to prove their worth.


    The moment Ling Lan stepped on stage, she sensed an extremely tant warning stare. She looked towards the source of the stare and immediately felt a little guilty, cold sweat beading her forehead. Dammit, why was her luck so terrible?


    It turned out that the referee in charge of their arena was, of all people, the same teacher referee from her morning bout. Seeing Ling Lan appear, the narrowed gaze of the teacher was filled with warning, wordlessly telling her that she should tone down a little and not hurry to end things this time. No matter what, she should still leave some room for her peer to keep his confidence.


    Ling Lan secretly wiped off the sweat from her forehead, reminding herself that she could not make the same mistake as in the previous round. For this reason, she purposefully put both arms behind her back and gripped each arm with the other tightly, so they would keep each other under control. This way, no matter how strong her reflexes were, she wouldn¡¯t be able to move so quickly.


    Although Ling Lan was doing all this out of good intentions, in the other¡¯s eyes, Ling Lan¡¯s action of putting both arms behind her was really just too arrogant and obviously demeaning. He felt as if he had been shamed; his small young face turned bright red in anger.


    The moment he heard the referee yell ¡¯start¡¯, he pounced. There was no probing involved; he attacked directly with a powerful whirlwind side kick. The force behind the kick could certainly be considered as all the strength his body could muster ¡ª it was clear just how angry the opponent was, almost driven to the edge of irrationality, which was why he had charged headlong at Ling Lan to attack without any other considerations.


    Regardless of how much Ling Lan had prepared before the fight, it was all, unfortunately, useless. Ling Lan saw the opponent¡¯s fierce kicking at her, and as it got closer and closer, an absolutely fatal opening appeared before her.


    Typically, any move, when nearing the end of its force, would have this sort of opening. The only question was, how big the opening was.


    Ling Lan¡¯s reflexes were definitely top-notch. Seeing this opening, she didn¡¯t even have time to think, reflexively counterattacking ...


    Wasn¡¯t Ling Lan¡¯s arms gripping onto each other behind her back? Why could she still counterattack?


    Indeed, Ling Lan¡¯s arms were gripped tightly with no way of attacking. However, who asked the opponent to attack with his feet? Thus, Ling Lan also reflexively fought back with her feet, instinctively sending a leg kicking out.


    When her foot mmed heavily into a human body, she already knew that she had messed up. Unfortunately, by this time, it was toote for her to pull back her strength. The one saving grace was that she had not used the Wave Stacking Art she had learned from the learning space and had even controlled her own physical strength to 50%.


    Even so, the opponent was still sent flying off the stage by her kick. This beautifully clean kick drew shocked gasps from all the students in the audience, as well as made the senior students who had inadvertently witnessed the scene sober up. The scene also drew the infuriated gaze of the teacher referee. Dammit, didn¡¯t I ask you to take it easy? Why are you doing it again and again and again ...


    The teacher¡¯s eyes were full of resentment and me ¡ª Ling Lan couldn¡¯t take it any longer and shrunk back, jumping off the stage to slip away.


    Ling Lan¡¯s clean and decisive one-move defeat of her opponent drew the attention of all the first grade students. Remember, Ling Lan¡¯s opponent had been a Special ss-B student ¡ª although the ss-A students were indeed stronger then the ss-B students by a head, it wasn¡¯t at the level where the former would be able to defeat thetter in just one move. Ling Lan¡¯s impressive performance caused everyone to start specting in secret. Ling Lan was most likely the strongest within the first grade ¡ª the current best student or first rank was all just in name.


    The subsequent matches seemed to prove the point. The ss-A first-rank Li Yingjie had gone up against a ss-B student and had only managed to defeat the other after 28 moves. This result, inparison with the results of previous years, was actually quite outstanding. Unfortunately, inparison with the aberrant Ling Lan, Li Yingjie¡¯s performance became extremely average. This caused Li Yingjie to be filled with anger and hatred, and he now had yet another reason to hate Ling Lan: That arrogant fellow had stolen the wind from his sails, he was really too despicable ...


    Qi Long¡¯s performance was also pretty good ¡ª he managed to defeat his opponent at the 30th move ¡ª while Luo Lang did a little worse, but also managed to defeat his opponent within 50 moves. These results were already considered above average within ss-A.


    Meanwhile, Han Jijyun had got caught up in a drawn-out battle. It couldn¡¯t be helped, for Han Jijyun¡¯s strength was his exceptional intelligence, while hisbat abilities were considerably weaker. In addition, he didn¡¯t have any finishing moves and so could only draw out the battle to while away his opponent¡¯s stamina. Finally, after almost 300 moves, the clever Han Jijyun managed to find an almost imperceptible opportunity and used it to defeat his opponent, sessfully making it into the top 50.


    Han Xuya, Luo Chao, Luo Shaoyun, and Yuan Youyun, who had originally been part of ss-B, were all stopped here. They couldn¡¯t make it into the top 50 and so would remain in ss-B for the next six months. This proved once again that progressing even just one step further was definitely not that easy.


    At the end of this day¡¯s battles, the name list of the top 50 was officially released. 49 names stayed the same, remaining as ss-A members, while 1 member was changed. The original 2nd ce from the bottom was defeated by ss-B¡¯s 2nd ce from the top, who sessfully took his ce on the new roster. Sessfully advancing into the top 50, he became the only child who managed an upset.


    This result really made the 1st ce of ss-B want to cry. In fact, he was actually stronger than the 2nd ce, however, he had lost to thest ce of ss-A, Lin Zhong-qing. His luck was really a little terrible; Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s strength was actually much stronger than the person ranked before him, leaving no chance for the ss-B first ce to win. In the end, he could only watch as his weaker ssmate sessfully advanced, while he had to wait for yet another six months.


    In reality, the sses were basically settled by the end of this day. Over the following few days, the internal ss ranking battles would be held and the ranking battles for the top 50, in particr, would be the centre of everyone¡¯s attention.


    ********


    On the fifth day, the internal ss ranking battles began. The match-ups were announced on the day itself and, as usual, had been determined by ranks. The 1st-ce was matched up against thest ce, the 2nd was up against the 49th, and so on and so forth.


    Seeing this match-up list, the ss-A 34th ce was the first to start wailing. The first person he was up against was the one who had advanced into the top 50 by defeating all of his opponents in one move ¡ª Ling Lan. The ssmates who were on good terms with him all patted his shoulders in constion, but they were actually secretly sighing in relief, d it wasn¡¯t them.

 Chapter 79: Talent Killer!

    Chapter 79: Talent Killer!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Alone in a corner, Lin Zhong-qing stood with his head bowed, carefully reading through the information on hismunicator about his fight venue and match order. He heard the voices of the surrounding students consoling the 34th ce and surreptitiously lifted his head to look at Ling Lan, who was currently engaged in conversation with Qi Long and the others. His gaze wasplicated and hard to decipher.


    Of course, Lin Zhong-qing had known that Ling Lan was very strong, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t have been able to get Qi Long and Luo Lang, whose strength was on par with the top three of ss-A, to submit to him. Even the abnormally intelligent Han Jijyun had willingly acknowledged him as his boss. (One could tell all this just from their conversations and how they acted.) Still, he hadn¡¯t expected Ling Lan to be this strong. Advancing this far with consecutive one move take downs ... it was quite terrifying.


    It should be known that this result would be brag worthy at any school. Even the self-titled ultimate genius Li Yingjie was unable to do this. Although Ling Lan seemed very cold and aloof, he was not against helping out if it was something he could do with a lift of his hand, just like when Lin Zhong-qing had needed his help previously ...


    Thinking of this, a bitter smile pulled at the corners of Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s lips, and regret settled on the surface of his heart.


    Sometimes, what¡¯s lost is lost. If he hadn¡¯t thought to take advantage of Ling Lan back then and had chosen to serve him sincerely instead, perhaps he might have had a chance to obtain Ling Lan¡¯s friendship. Unfortunately, now it was no longer possible. No one would be willing to be friends with someone who had once used them.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s gaze cleared up instantly, as he ruthlessly strangled the rebellious bit of hope within his heart. The experiences of his youth had made it impossible for him to put down his defences to trust in someone else ... which was why he was destined to be forever alone. Friendship and sentiment and anything else along those lines were all just passing clouds.


    Lin Zhong-qing was patiently awaiting the start of the fights, when he found that two people he loathed had appeared beside him. It was Li Yingjie and hisckey, the one who was thirdst in ss-A.


    Lin Zhong-qing really looked down on him. Although they were insignificant in ss-A, being at the bottom of the heap, that didn¡¯t mean that they should throw away their dignity to be someone else¡¯sckey, allowing another to order them around and yell at them, just for certain benefits. Of course, if they were like Qi Long and Luo Lang, who submitted due to the other¡¯s personal charisma and strength, and called the other Boss out of their own personal will, he would never view them with contempt, but would instead admire them.


    Unfortunately, this punk Li Yingjie, other than being stronger than others, really had no charisma or qualities that would lead others to submit to him. He was just no match for Ling Lan. At this time, Lin Zhong-qing still hadn¡¯t noticed that his heart had already acknowledged Ling Lan.


    Perhaps sensing Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s contempt for him, Li Yingjie¡¯sckey, that thirdst in ss-A, actually took the initiative to mock, "Yo, isn¡¯t this our deadst Lin Zhong-qing? Who knew you would still be in ss-A, how lucky." Since the secondst had already been thrown out of the ss by the ss-B second-ce, he could only seek a little sense of superiority from Lin Zhong-qing.


    Lin Zhong-qing did not care about the other¡¯s taunts. If he didn¡¯t even have this bit of tolerance, how could he have survived those six years as a researchb rat? He only nced impassively at theckey, before lowering his head to look back at his ownmunicator. This clearly dismissive behaviour made the other¡¯s face flush red immediately.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s attitude caused the surrounding students to break out intoughter. Lin Zhong-qing was on good terms with most of his ssmates, and could be considered a socially intelligent person. However, when it came to Li Yingjie¡¯s group, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s attitude was rather unfriendly.


    No matter how tolerant a person was, when someone pressed the wrong buttons, they would not be able to just continue tolerating. Lin Zhong-qing, who had already lost six years of his freedom, prized his independence the most. Meanwhile, Li Yingjie had wanted to use forceful measures to get Lin Zhong-qing to be his subordinate, and be at his beck and call. This, hadpletely stomped all over Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s buttons, which was the main reason for Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s hostility against Li Yingjie. Unfortunately, till now, Li Yingjie still didn¡¯t know where he had gone wrong, and was still trying to use force to get what he wanted, causing Lin Zhong-qing to hate him more and more.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s attitude enraged Li Yingjie¡¯sckey. He couldn¡¯t help but shout, "Don¡¯t get too cocky! Later, Boss Li will definitely teach you a lesson!" By the end, his tone held an obvious trace of schadenfreude.


    After hearing this, Lin Zhong-qing lifted his head and looked at him strangely. That look was the look one used to look at an idiot. Seeing this, theckey was about to blow his top, actually raising his hand in preparation to teach Lin Zhong-qing a lesson right then and there.


    Lin Zhong-qing waited. If the other initiated an attack, then he would have an excuse to retaliate.


    Seeing a private battle about to break out, everyone¡¯s gaze was drawn over. Li Yingjie, who was standing by the side, frowned slightly, and yelled out tersely, "Yuan Li, draw back, now!"


    Li Yingjie¡¯s shout made Yuan Li stop immediately, and he scurried back to Li Yingjie¡¯s side with a panicked expression. Ever since agreeing to be Li Yingjie¡¯s follower, he had certainly received quite a few benefits ¡ª high-grade gene agent, which he had to save up so hard for before, was now given to him, one tube every three months. This was also the real reason why his strength had remained consistent enough so he could keep up with the others, however, at the same time, he also lost a lot to get this, such as his pride ...


    Li Yingjie stopped Yuan Li, and only then did he look at Lin Zhong-qing, and say haughtily, "Lin Zhong-qing, stop taunting my subordinate. Purposefully picking a fight ... why don¡¯t we make a bet instead?"


    Lin Zhong-qing snorted inughter. Taunt Yuan Li? Was he so free that he had nothing else better to do? Bullsh*t!


    Li Yingjie didn¡¯t care whether Lin Zhong-qing agreed with him or not. He continued, "Next round, should be the fight between you and me. Why don¡¯t we make a bet? If you can hold up against me for 50 moves, then I¡¯ll forgive the past, but if I defeat you within 50 moves, then you¡¯ll have to acknowledge me as your boss." In the end, Li Yingjie still hadn¡¯t given up on bringing Lin Zhong-qing under his control.


    When Lin Zhong-qing heard this, he couldn¡¯t help but burst outughing. "Hey, Li Yingjie, is your brain dysfunctional?"


    At these words, Li Yingjie¡¯s entire face turned dark and cold. From his perspective, he had already given Lin Zhong-qing plenty of face, but unexpectedly, his kind intentions made Lin Zhong-qing be so brazen. Actually daring to be so impudent to his face, he must really want to die. A fierce light shed through Li Yingjie¡¯s eyes. He decided that in the uing match, he would utterly destroy Lin Zhong-qing, and chase him out of Special ss-A for good.


    However, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s response ripped through Li Yingjie¡¯s scheming. "You should probably confirm who your opponent actually is."


    Li Yingjie¡¯s first reaction was to assume there had been a mistake. He hurriedly searched for the notification on hismunicator, and saw that he was up against the 50th ce. Wasn¡¯t the 50th ce Lin Zhong-qing?


    He continued to read the rest of the notification, and sure enough, the name listed at the 50th ce was not Lin Zhong-qing, but a name he wasn¡¯t familiar with, meaning that that person was definitely not someone from ss-A.


    With a sh of realisation, Li Yingjie abruptly understood. The ss-B second-ce who had defeated their ss-A secondst in the previous round, had been automatically assignedst ce in their ss by the academy¡¯s A.I. because he had just qualified for ss-A. Meanwhile, Lin Zhong-qing had automatically risen by one rank, bing the 49th rank. In other words, his next opponent was not Lin Zhong-qing, but the new ex-ss-B student. He had been mistaken.


    "What a shame ... I had really wanted to bet with you." Lin Zhong-qing slowly drew closer to Li Yingjie. Just as he was about to brush by, he suddenly stopped, and threw down this statement. "50 moves? How weak. Ling Lan would have been able to defeat me in 1 move. Compared to him, you are really too weak."


    These words made Li Yingjie ¡¯s face burn red in anger. He clenched his fists, forcing himself to stay calm. The academy prohibited students from fighting privately. If any such incidents were discovered by the academy, the students involved were very likely to be downgraded and punished. This was something Li Yingjie could not ept ¡ª the moment he dropped down to ss-B, he might even lose the right to contend for the Li family inheritance.


    Meanwhile, Ling Lan¡¯s group, who had already noticed themotion around Lin Zhong-qing, had heard the words Lin Zhong-qing said as he left, and all of them couldn¡¯t help but frown.


    "This punk is again adding to your hate value." These days, Han Jijyun had started habitually using some of Ling Lan¡¯s vocabry from her previous world when he spoke. He felt that those terms were just too descriptive ¡ª such as this ¡¯hate value¡¯, apt and brilliant.


    A fierce expression appeared on Luo Lang¡¯s pretty face. "I¡¯ll go teach him a lesson."


    "Count me in," said Qi Long hurriedly. He wasn¡¯t in it to teach the other a lesson, but was just looking for a chance to fight.


    Ling Lan lifted her hand to grab hold of Luo Lang¡¯s cheek, and pinched and pulled at it harshly for a bit, until Luo Lang was begging for mercy, before letting go. "Don¡¯t be hasty. If we really taught him a lesson, that would just be ying into his hands."


    "Ah ..." Luo Lang was stupefied, a little uprehending.


    Han Jijyun eyes, however, lit up, thinking of something. Ling Lan shared a smiling nce with him. It was always so easy talking to intelligent people.


    Qi Long rubbed his head, but didn¡¯t say anything. He believed that Han Jijyun would exin things for him sooner orter.


    Qi Long trust was not misced; as expected, Han Jijyun began exining things to Qi Long and Luo Lang, "Lin Zhong-qing is currently struggling to find an excuse to interact with us. If you go look for him, isn¡¯t that exactly what he wants?"


    "But I would be going to teach him a lesson," said Luo Lang stubbornly.


    Han Jijyun smiled wryly as he shook his head. "You won¡¯t be able to handle him. If he thickens his skin and clings to you, you probably won¡¯t be able to deny him. Just think of what happened before ..."


    Luo Lang abruptly had nothing more to say. That one month, Ling Lan had always kept cool and ignored Lin Zhong-qing, Han Jijyun had been sly and had not given Lin Zhong-qing much opportunity to get close, while Qi Long had focused on his training, unconcerned about anything else. Only Luo Lang had found himself subconsciously talking to Lin Zhong-qing, and he had even helped Lin Zhong-qing out of several tricky situations ...


    "Alright, I¡¯ll keep away from him." Luo Lang¡¯s strength was that he would always fix his mistakes if he knew about them, although he might still make the same mistake againter on ...


    ********


    The morning battles officially began. This time, there were only two match rounds. Han Jijyun was up for the first round, while the remaining three were all up for the second. However, by the time Ling Lan and the other two had returned after their battles, Han Jijyun¡¯s fight was still ongoing ¡ª it was clear just how difficult it was for Han Jijyun to fight.


    In the end, Han Jijyun¡¯s stamina was better than his opponent¡¯s, so he managed to oust the other. Even so, Han Jijyun was almost burned out and was immediately sent to a healing pod to recover his energy.


    Qi Long and Luo Lang did not have much difficulty. Qi Long had defeated his opponent after exchanging roughly 50 moves to clinch the victory, while Luo Lang did slightly worse, only managing to defeat his opponent after nearly 80 moves to advance. As for Ling Lan ...


    The moment the fight began, Ling Lan had not dared to open her eyes. She was afraid that she would again see some fatal weakness, and then her body would reflexively attack and steamroll the opponent.


    After a night of research, Ling Lan had finally figured out the reason. These uncontroble reflexive movements were the final remnants of her spiritual loss of control. There wasn¡¯t actually a problem ¡ª her body and mind were still in the process of syncing up after she returned to normal, so the issue would resolve itself after another one and a half months. Ling Lan could only me herself for recovering toote, so there wasn¡¯t enough time for the residual effects to clear out, resulting in her current predicament.


    To prevent once again defeating her opponent in one move, Ling Lan decided to close her eyes this time. She thought that, if her eyes were closed so she couldn¡¯t see the opponent¡¯s attack, then it would be impossible for her to attack reflexively anymore, right? Of course, Ling Lan only dared to do so because she had full confidence in her two ears. In the learning space, one of her training sessions under Number Five was in a pitch-ck sealed room, where she had to dodge the attacks of hidden weapons without sight. In the beginning, she had died horribly countless times, but eventually, she managed to evade everything to emerge unharmed. This experience had given her a pair of extremely sensitive ears, with the trained ability to discern movement and positions just by listening to the wind.


    However, even so, after dodging about 10 moves, Ling Lan could hold back no longer. With just a slip in attention, her eager foot shot out in a kick.


    And then, the opponent was cleanly sent tumbling off the stage ...


    Ling Lan opened her eyes, and immediately saw the almost apoplectic referee. Her heart dropped ¡ª why was it this teacher referee again? As Ling Lan had kept her eyes closed the moment she stepped on stage, she had really not noticed that the one in charge of refereeing her match this time was still the same referee from her previous two matches.


    Ling Lan hurriedly put an innocent look on her face, herrge bright eyes broadcasting only one thing ¡ª she really hadn¡¯t done it intentionally. In order to escape responsibility, Ling Lan decided to y up her cuteness just this once.


    The referee charged over, the muscles on his face a little twisted, as he said through gnashing teeth, "Couldn¡¯t you have pretended to struggle for a few moves with your opponent before defeating him?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression became even more innocent. Didn¡¯t she already dodge for about 10 moves?


    Seeing that Ling Lan still hadn¡¯t figured out her mistake, the teacher couldn¡¯t take it anymore, yelling, "You bloody kept your eyes closed, and kept both hands behind your back, and waltzed around cockily daring him to hit you ¡ª do you really think we¡¯re all blind?"


    Clearly, in others¡¯ eyes, Ling Lan had still defeated her opponent in one move despite what she did. Moreover, the blow to the other child¡¯s confidence this time was even more severe.


    In her previous two matches, they could stillfort the children who lost that Ling Lan was just lucky, or that he had just been born with supernatural strength, or perhaps the children themselves had been too careless and had lost to Ling Lan¡¯s sneak attack ... these excuses had been enough to salvage the children¡¯s confidence. But now, what Ling Lan just did was obviously telling his opponent that he really didn¡¯t even consider him a threat. Even if he kept his eyes closed and gave you a 10 move handicap, you would still be unable to hit him, and in the end, he only had to use one move to defeat you. This blow was just too heavy. The teachers were at a loss, unable to find any excuses to use tofort the losing child this time ¡ª tell me, how could they not be frantic?


    This was why the teacher could no longer hold his temper. This brat Ling Lan was clearly a talent killer!


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    One Move Lan strikes again! XD


    On a side note ... rip, I guess  is still using an auto-updating form for release rate. So, FYI, the release rate on the novel main page is currently wrong. I¡¯m still only promising a stable 7 chps/week. (The holiday season and ranking bonuses are throwing the rate off. Xp)

 Chapter 80: Advancing Into the Top 13!

    Chapter 80: Advancing Into the Top 13!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    However, no matter how angry or resentful the teacher was, he could do nothing about Ling Lan. If the children in ss-A were the talent that they treasured and wanted to cultivate, then Ling Lan was most certainly thergest pearl deep within their hearts. The appreciation they had for him was immeasurable. This was why the teacher could only yell somewhat angrily at Ling Lan for a while, reminding him to not be so heavy-handed next time to save them the trouble.


    Even if they really, really cherished Ling Lan, they still had to maintain their impartiality on the outside. No matter what was said, the other children were also the future pirs of the Federation ¡ª they couldn¡¯t just give up on them.


    The teacher¡¯s demeanour really resembled that of a parent whose child had hit a child from another family. As a parent, he had to scold his own child just to cate the other party; as for whether he was actually gleeful inside ... hehehe, I¡¯m sure you all understand.


    Just like that, under the teacher¡¯s repetitive nagging, Ling Lan could only nod obediently to show she understood. It couldn¡¯t be helped. Ling Lan still had to take the oppression of the academy for another 10 years, so she had no choice but to carry on with her tail between her legs 1 . Of course, Ling Lan was personally a child who was so obedient that she couldn¡¯t be any more obedient, so obedient that she had never gone through a rebellious phase in her previous life ...


    Thinking of this, Ling Lan considered ¡ª should she try being rebellious once in this life? But when her mum Lan Luofeng¡¯s tear-blurred eyes appeared within Ling Lan¡¯s mind, paired with her loving yet mncholic expression, Ling Lan just couldn¡¯t muster up the heart to think any more about it. Yup, she definitely couldn¡¯t handle the acting of her Oscar-level diva mum. If Ling Lan was a little fox 2 still in training, then her mum was definitely a grand fox demon that had been through a thousand years of cultivation. They were just onpletely different levels.


    More than once, she had lost to her mum¡¯s waterworks. Even if she knew that Lan Luofeng was just faking it, she still fell for it. It was all because she couldn¡¯t bear to see others cry. This weakness that she had brought with her from her previous life caused her to be fully trapped within the maniptions of her thousand-year fox demon mother. Just like Monkey-Sun 3 within the Buddha¡¯s hand, she would forever be unable to escape from her mother¡¯s palm.


    At this thought, Ling Lan was shrouded in gloom. She began resenting that dad of hers who had died so early, leaving behind such a troublesome burden for her. If her dad were still alive, this thousand-year fox demon would have been her dad¡¯s responsibility.


    However, this was all just fanciful thinking by Ling Lan. Lan Luofeng was, in fact, Ling Lan¡¯s sweet burden for this life, which she carried with pain, yet also with much joy ...


    ********


    When the morning¡¯s official advancement battles ended, the children who advanced had no more business in the hall and were free to do whatever they wanted. Meanwhile, the students who had been eliminated continued to remain in thebat hall to wait for the system to once again announce the battle pairings for the rankings of the 26th ce to the 50th ce. Of course, this had nothing to do with Ling Lan¡¯s group of four so they went straight to Qi Long¡¯s and the other two boys¡¯ vi. There, they settled down on the living room sofa, andfortably watched the fights while having warm drinks.


    Among the first grade Special ss-A 26th to 50th ranking battles, the only one whom they were concerned about was Lin Zhong-qing. Who asked Lin Zhong-qing to have impure intentions towards them at the beginning? This caused Ling Lan and the others to involuntarily start paying attention to him.


    During the advancement battles from top 50 to top 25, Lin Zhong-qing had been up against the ss-A second-ce, Wu Jiong. Lin Zhong-qing had lost as everyone expected; however, unlike what everyone expected, he had not been defeated quickly by Wu Jiong. Instead, he had battled with Wu Jiong for over 100 moves before finally being brought down by Wu Jiong, who had been patiently waiting for an opportunity, when he ran out of stamina.


    These results caused an uproar among the ss-A students. However, what the students were stunned by was not Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s incredible improvement, but rather, Ling Lan¡¯s strength. Because they still remembered how, when school first started, Ling Lan had once beaten Lin Zhong-qing easily with just one punch. Didn¡¯t this prove that Ling Lan¡¯s strength was already far beyond the top 3 of ss-A?


    At that time, the gazes directed Ling Lan¡¯s way from the other students had been filled with deep apprehension. The children from ss-A had forgotten that half a year had already gone by since Ling Lan¡¯s fight with Lin Zhong-qing ¡ª Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s current strength could no longer bepared to his strength back then. If Ling Lan fought with Lin Zhong-qing once more, she might not be able to defeat him in one move anymore ... however, doing so in two moves was still very possible.


    However, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s subsequent performance gradually eased their ssmates¡¯ fears. In the ranking fights to determine his actual ranking, Lin Zhong-qing proved his strength. He consecutively defeated many people, finally settling in the 28th spot.


    This result may not seem brilliant, butpared to his rank at the start of the school year, his improvement was undoubtedly astonishing. It should be known that the ss-A rankings were not upset so easily because ss-A was made up of various prodigies from all over, who were all exceptional. To go up in rank among this group of freakish talents ... it was really extremely difficult. This also proved that Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s natural talent was prodigious, though of course he also put in more effort than the other students, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t have improved this much.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s performance this time made Ling Lan¡¯s group of four start to take him seriously. This little fellow who had a belly full of plots and schemes, though unlikely to be a threat to Ling Lan, could very well be a rival for Qi Long and the others. Han Jijyun, especially, felt the pressure most keenly because Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s future development was looking to be an intelligence-type soldier just like him.


    In the meantime, Ling Lan and the others also watched several matches of the popr upper grade students. As expected, they were all formidable opponents, full of amazing moves. Ling Lan was delighted, making Little Four copy everything down. If they could decipher just one or two of the moves, Ling Lan would already benefit greatly.


    Thebat arts taught by the learning space was definitely top-notch but was way too lethal. Every move, every stance, was aimed at an opponent¡¯s fatal spots, making it rather unsuited for this sort of arena sparring tournaments held by the academy. And while the Ling family had their ownbat arts, it had the same problem ¡ª thebat arts of the loyalists were naturally geared towards killing an enemy efficiently. Of course, the Ling family did notck for those so-called ¡¯orthodox¡¯bat arts as well, but with Ling Xiao¡¯s death and Lan Luofeng falling out with the entire Ling family, Ling Lan never did have the chance to learn thosebat arts.


    This was why Ling Lan couldn¡¯t drag out the fight for a few moves before defeating her schoolmates. The moment she moved, it was a killing blow ¡ª how could the fight be prolonged? Therefore, Ling Lan was extremely interested in these random skills and techniques she saw in the academy though they were looked down upon by the instructors within the learning space.


    Ahem, she needed to give face to the academy teachers, didn¡¯t she? At the least, she should show that she had already listened to their advice.


    When all of the fights ended, Ling Lan¡¯s group prepared to eat lunch. However, this time they didn¡¯t go eat at the canteen but went online directly to order some takeout, requesting the canteen to send several deluxe set meals straight to the vi.


    After they had eaten, Ling Lan and the others rested for a little while and then headed back to thebat hall. Right now, thebat hall was no longer as raucous as it had been at the start; it had already be extremely quiet. Other than the ss-A students of the ten grades, who were waiting for their match-ups to be announced by the system, almost everyone else had gone back to their dorms to watch the ranking battles of the top 25.


    Very quickly, the notifications came. Ling Lan opened it to look and was immediately dumbfounded. It turned out that she had received a bye for this round. It was very likely that the academy was afraid that Ling Lan wouldmit another one-hit-kill and cause them trouble, so they had arranged for her to just move on for this round.


    The moment the news spread, the other children in the top 25 actually cheered in unison ¡ª it looked like no one wanted to go up against Ling Lan so early. Although they still needed to fight a proper match, it was still better to have some hope instead of having to face the hopeless situation of going up against Ling Lan.


    The match-ups of the fights this time were truly randomised. There was no longer much differentiation in strength among the top 25, so they would be paired up randomly by the system to fight it out. But in this way, tragedy struck. On Ling Lan¡¯s side, Han Jijyun and Qi Long were matched as opponents, creating the first urrence of an internal fight between the members of Ling Lan¡¯s group. This made the other students extraordinarily happy ¡ª there was no helping it, Ling Lan¡¯s group was just too strong, so one less to worry about was a great stroke of luck.


    Han Jijyun reacted in a straightforward manner. The moment the fight started, he raised his hand to signal his surrender. He knew he was no match for Qi Long in terms ofbat. The two of them often sparred together for practice, so Han Jijyun knew very well what the final result would be. As such, there was no reason to waste his strength.


    Luo Lang¡¯s opponent wasparably weaker. Still, the students who entered the top 25 all had exceptional strength ¡ª against them, Luo Lang did not have an overwhelming advantage; the odds of him winning were 60-40 at most.


    Luo Lang, who was only just a little stronger, was very cautious in his fights. He could clearly remember Ling Lan¡¯s reminder at the start of the battles. Capsizing a boat in a ditch 4 ? He would never allow that sort of thing to happen to him. Still, Boss was really Boss. Why was everything he said so meaningful ... Ahem ahem, yet another unwitting little guy had been won over by the charm of this sort of olden sayings; unknowingly, his admiration towards Ling Lan had risen a little bit more.


    Luo Lang fought very carefully and seriously, giving his opponent no chances from start to end. And once his opponent¡¯s stamina was about finished, Luo Lang swooped in to grab hold of an unintended small opening exposed by the opponent, knocking the other off the stage, and advanced to the top 13.


    The original top 9 ranks of ss-A, as expected, all sessfully advanced. However, the 10th rank unexpectedly lost to the student who was originally in 14th ce and was knocked out. Including Ling Lan, Qi Long, and Luo Lang, those within the top 13 were officially settled.


    After that, the ranking battles to determine the 14th to the 25th ce were held. Han Jijyun performed impressively, defeating two people, getting a bye, and then finally going up against the original 10th ce to score a win. He ended up in rank 14, which was a significant improvement from his initial rank 21.


    However, as his original results had been purposefully suppressed by the hacker of the ded Special Ops Team, this was just him returning to his rightful spot now. Of course, if he hadn¡¯t had to go up against Qi Long during the advancement rounds into the top 13, he might have perhaps even gone up a few more ranks.


    Just like that, the day¡¯s ranking battles were over and Ling Lan remained firmly in the category of those who advanced with ease. Qi Long could also be considered as one within that category ¡ª after all, he hadn¡¯t had to fight at all for his second match since Han Jijyun had just surrendered, letting him advance easily. Luo Lang was the most exhausted one. When they returned to the vi, without saying a word, he immediately shuffled off to lie down in the restoration pod within his room to rest up properly.


    There was no time to waste right now; he had to seize every minute and every second he could to recover his energy. Tomorrow morning, there would be two critical matches ¡ª from top 13 to top 7, and from top 7 to top 4 ¡ª and Luo Lang didn¡¯t want to stop there. If possible, he still wanted to participate in the afternoon¡¯s semi-finals and finals ... and to realize that wish, he could not afford to be the least bit sloppy.

 Chapter 81: Initiate Disciples!

    Chapter 81: Initiate Disciples!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    The night passed in silence. The next day, Ling Lan¡¯s group of four arrived at thebat hall bright and early. At this time there were even less students in thebat hall, with more teachers present instead. Their objective ining here now was to adopt one or two outstanding children for personal instruction ¡ª this was also one of their responsibilities as an instructor.


    For the record, any child who could remain till the final day was most certainly an exceptional seedling that had managed to weather the beating of waves and the erosion of sand ¡ª a buildable talent, certainly good enough to satisfy their conditions for taking on a personal student. Of course, whether or not a match was made still depended onpatibility.


    Mind you, for some of the stronger instructors, taking on an apprentice not only depended on talent, but arge part also depended on affinity at first nce.


    The tournament soon started, and first up were the fights for the advancement of the top 13 into the top 7. This round, the one to receive a bye was no longer Ling Lan but the ss-A first-rank Li Yingjie.


    Ling Lan saw this notification within themunicator and couldn¡¯t help but wonder if the academy arranged byes ording to a student¡¯s strength? If the next to receive a bye was Wu Jiong or Qi Long, then this assumption would pretty much be verified. In Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, Li Yingjie, Wu Jiong, and Qi Long were of the same level.


    Ling Lan¡¯s opponent was the ss-A ninth-rank Qin Yi. She had seen Qin Yi¡¯sbat style before ¡ª he was an intelligence-type fighter, who liked to first figure out the opponent¡¯s true strength before countering, so almost every fight of his started with him dancing around the opponent.


    Ling Lan had never encountered this type ofbat opponent before. In the learning space, Instructor Number One upheld the principle of sure kills in one blow, and was definitely a pure suppression-type attacker. Instructor Number Nine held fast to the most orthodoxbat ideal ¡ª if soldierse, send a general to defend; if the waters rise, build a dam. This principle advocated thebat style of countering a move with a move, exchanging one blow for another. Instructor Number Five¡¯sbat style was even nastier than his character ¡ª as long as he could obtain victory, he would do anything. Recalling some of Instructor Number Five¡¯s methods, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t suppress her shudders. Even now, she still felt the chills running through her body. The training of that time had almost destroyed her ¡¯three outlooks¡¯ 1 .


    Qi Long, Luo Lang and Han Jijyun, who were Ling Lan¡¯s regr sparring partners, were also not this type of opponent. Qi Long liked to start with a bang and end with a bang ¡ª fighting with him made for the wildest and the most intense battles, not requiring much thought. Because Qi Long wouldn¡¯t give you the time to strategize and think of your next move ¡ª you could only pull up your sleeves and throw yourself into the fight if you wanted to keep up with his wild attacks which pelted at you like rain.


    Luo Lang¡¯sbat style was of the same stream as Instructor Number Nine¡¯s, however, the difference in their abilities were like heaven and earth. For Ling Lan, handling Luo Lang was the easiest and most thoughtless thing, because Ling Lan was just too familiar with Luo Lang¡¯s style of attack.


    Meanwhile, Han Jijyun was the weakest among the four of them. Aware of his own weakness, he liked to experiment with strange moves when fighting them. Every time he fought he would use a differentbat style ¡ª who knows where he collected that manybat styles from ¡ª but unfortunately, due to the difference in strength, he had never been able to achieve very good results in the end. Only a few times, when Luo Lang had not adjusted in time, had Han Jijyun managed to wrest victory from his hands. But against the much stronger Qi Long and Ling Lan, Han Jijyun had not won even once. This also proved that when there was enough distance between strength levels, all schemes and plots, and all the strange moves in the world, were useless.


    Therefore, Ling Lan was particrly alert in facing this uing match with Qin Yi. Of course, it wasn¡¯t that Ling Lan was worried that Qin Yi would give her any trouble in advancing, but rather, she wanted to be ready to process any insights she might obtain from fighting an opponent with a different style, which could enrich her battle experience.


    Meanwhile, Qi Long was up against the 7th-rank of their ss, Xu Zhizhi. Coincidentally, Xu Zhizhi¡¯sbat style was almost the same as Qi Long¡¯s, so this match between them was definitely going to be bursting with passion and energy.


    Luo Lang was rtively unlucky. He, who had been gued with horrendous luck over thest few days, had actually been matched up with the 3rd-rank of ss-A, Ye Xu. Any child who made it into the top 3 of ss-A was definitely some supreme genius, and would most certainly have outstandingbat abilities ... this was obviously going to be another tough fight for Luo Lang.


    When Luo Lang saw his opponent¡¯s name, his entire face copsed, and he could almost cry. This was undoubtedly a tough bone that would be extremely hard on the teeth. Even if he managed to win this match by luck, he would probably be unable to continue fighting due to his depleted stamina, which would mean that he could only stop here, fated not to see the next match. It should be known that the matches for the top 7 to advance into the top 4 would follow right after ¡ª would he have any hope of winning without having any time to recover his energy?


    The answer was that he most definitely would not ... how could he not be depressed?


    Helplessly, Ling Lan patted Luo Lang¡¯s shoulder, consoling him weakly, "Luo Lang, just do your best!" She just couldn¡¯t bear to see Luo Lang¡¯s sorrowful eyes anymore, this pitiful child ... why was he oh so unlucky?


    Qi Long rubbed his chin, and said to Luo Lang with a serious look on his face, "Luo Lang, don¡¯t do any more bad things from now on."


    Luo Lang was taken aback by these words, unsure what Qi Long meant.


    Qi Long donned a look that said ¡¯this child is unteachable¡¯, and shook his head saying, "Didn¡¯t Boss say this before? Too many evils done will damage your RP 2 ."


    "Qi Long, I¡¯m going to kill you." Only then did Luo Lang figure out that Qi Long was messing with him. He leapt up and lunged at Qi Long. Qi Long saw Luo Langing at him, and perked up joyfully. And so the two of them started throwing punches and kicks in a noisy tter,pletely ignoring everyone else around them, not at all bothered at being the centre of attention.


    Oh, these two insensitive children ... Ling Lan rolled her eyes dramatically, and dodged to one side with Han Jijyun. The two of them tacitly started whispering to one another, pretending as if they were just members of the audience.


    Yup, they would definitely, definitely never admit that they knew those two big idiots who had absolutely no concept of upholding appearances.


    ********


    Qi Long and Luo Lang¡¯s fierce battle drew the attention of everyone in thebat hall. Among them, two instructors, who had initially had a trace of boredom and impatience on their faces, became much more energetic when they saw Qi Long and Luo Lang¡¯s spirited exchange of blows as they fought.


    "Not bad, not bad, the old dean really didn¡¯t lie to us. The little brats from this year¡¯s first grade really do have some chops," said one of the instructors, chuckling.


    The other person remained stern, observing intently as Qi Long and Luo Lang continued to exchange moves, before responding, "Hn, the foundations of these two brats are pretty good."


    Qi Long and Luo Lang had trailed Ling Lan for this half a year; though it was hard to say if there was any improvement in other aspects, their foundations inbat were definitely much sounder than they had been at the start of the school year. This was because the learning space had always emphasized that the basics were the most important ¡ª Ling Lan naturally brought this principle to Qi Long and the others during their regr practice sessions.


    After watching for a moment, the grinning instructor suddenly sighed. "Tai, don¡¯t you find this scene familiar?"


    The serious-faced instructor looked at the other, uprehending.


    "Thinking back, when I met you, it was also at the scout academy. Back then, we also fought like this." The smiling instructor¡¯s face was filled with nostalgia.


    Hearing this, the stern instructor couldn¡¯t help but huff mockingly, and say, "The silly grin you had on your face all day back then annoyed me whenever I saw it." That said, he side-eyed his good friend coldly, and continued, "Your face right now is still like that, still annoying."


    "Dammit, well, aren¡¯t you still wearing that coffin-face of yours around scaring people?" The smiley instructor became disgruntled. Still, even so, his face continued to bear a smile ¡ª looks like he was naturally born with a smiling face.


    "Want a fight?" Coffin-face stared narrowly at Smiley-face, fighting spirit thick in his eyes.


    Smiley-face blinked in realisation, and said sullenly, "F*ck, almost fell for your plot. I¡¯m not going to fight you ¡ª so troublesome." How had he forgotten that his friend was a natural battle freak? His hands would itch if he didn¡¯t get to fight at all in a day. Moreover, whenever he actually fought, if he didn¡¯t fight till both the skies and thend were dark, and till both his body and energy were exhausted, he wouldn¡¯t stop. Nope, he wasn¡¯t going to inflict this self-torture on himself.


    Coffin-face saw that his taunts weren¡¯t going to work, and his face was full of regret. This year, it was the turn of their batch of operators to teach at the scout academy for one year. Having just left the battlefield, they were still really unused to this sort of civilian lifestyle ¡ª they naturally belonged to the battlefield.


    "Which child do you favour?" asked Smiley-face, brimming with curiosity.


    "That one with the crew cut." Coffin-face was referring to Qi Long.


    "Yep, the crew cut brat should have the better strength. However, that pretty boy¡¯s physical characteristics are really not bad, a real trainable talent." Smiley-face seemed to like Luo Lang better.


    Hearing Smiley-face¡¯s words, Coffin-face¡¯s already stern face became even sterner. He peered intently at Smiley-face and said, "You want to take him on as a student? An initiate? Have you thought it through?"


    The military world really ced a lot of importance on the master-disciple rtionship. Regardless of whether it¡¯s taking on an ¡¯initiate disciple¡¯ or the final ¡¯true disciple¡¯, once their rtionship was confirmed, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get away from this connection for the rest of their lives. For instance, if Smiley-face wanted to take on Luo Lang, even just as an initiate disciple, it would be equivalent to Smiley-face acknowledging Luo Lang as a disciple of his branch. From then on, Luo Lang would receive the protection and cultivation of Smiley-face¡¯s branch ¡ª in other words, whether Luo Lang was good or bad in the future, Smiley-face would have a hand in it.


    "Yeah, just as an initiate disciple though." Smiley-face continued smiling widely, utterly unconcerned.


    "Precisely because it¡¯s just as an initiate disciple, that¡¯s why I need you to be more serious about it." Coffin-face was a little angry now. If Smiley-face was taking the boy on as a true disciple, then he would have nothing to worry about, because in that case, both the instructor and the disciple would already be grasshoppers tied together on the same string ¡ª both would have to be equally responsible, and that rtionship would be akin to that of a father and son.


    But an initiate disciple was different. That rtionship did not require anything from the student, but had requirements for the instructor. In other words, taking on an initiate disciple meant a unidirectional rtionship where the instructor provided painstaking care and effort. If the initiate disciple decided not to be the instructor¡¯s true disciple in the end, all the invested effort of the instructor previously would be wasted with no avenue for recourse, because all of it was out of the instructor¡¯s self-will.


    "It¡¯s rare to find one that I like. It¡¯s worth it to take a little risk." Smiley-face seemed to have made up his mind.


    Coffin-face knew that once his good friend made a decision, he would not change his mind. He could only sigh to himself, and said nothing more.


    "Angry?" asked Smiley-face, prodding at Coffin-face¡¯s shoulder. Smiley-face felt that his willfulness may have been a little disrespectful in the face of his good friend¡¯s concern, so he couldn¡¯t help but seek reassurance.


    "No. I¡¯ve just made a decision," said Coffin-face cidly.


    "What decision?" Smiley-face was very curious.


    Coffin-face peered at Smiley-face for a moment, then said, "I have decided to take on that crew cut boy as my initiate disciple."

 Chapter 82: Ling Lan vs Qin Yi

    Chapter 82: Ling Lan vs Qin Yi


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    "Ah ..." Smiley-face finally could not maintain his smile any longer ¡ª the shock was clear on his face ¡ª but he very quickly collected his wits, and said exasperatedly, "Have you gone mad? This is an initiate disciple we¡¯re talking about, initiate ¡ª if the elders in your family find out, you¡¯ll be in deep sh*t."


    "I¡¯m optimistic about that crew cut boy¡¯s future." Coffin-face¡¯s expression was very calm, as if telling Smiley-face that he was worrying for nothing. "Besides, didn¡¯t you say those two brats are just like we used to be?"


    He was still the one who understood Smiley-face the most. Qi Long and Luo Lang¡¯s fight had reminded Smiley-face of when they had first met, bringing up feelings of nostalgia. On top of that, in terms of both looks and character, Luo Lang closely resembled Smiley-face, which was why Smiley-face had been moved to take Luo Lang on as an initiate disciple. Of course, another reason was that Luo Lang¡¯s personal qualities were also very exceptional ¡ª otherwise, no matter how simr they were, without any cultivation value, the thought of taking him on would never have crossed Smiley-face¡¯s mind.


    Coffin-face¡¯s words left Smiley-face unable to continue to try and dissuade him. Smiley-face¡¯s lips pped soundlessly for a moment, but he finally settled on saying, "Perhaps they can inherit our dreams."


    "I hope so." Coffin-face looked towards Qi Long¡¯s direction, and when Smiley-face wasn¡¯t looking, a subtle smile silently appeared on his lips, instantly gentling Coffin-face¡¯s typically austere look considerably.


    ********


    The arena matches for the advancement of the top 13 into the top 7 were all held simultaneously, so after Ling Lan and the other two of her group exchanged encouragements, they all went to their respective stages.


    The matches officially began, and most of the crowd had gathered around the stage where the Ling Lan vs Qin Yi match was being held. Some of the ss-A students who had already been eliminated came personally to thebat hall just to watch this match.


    Of course, the feelings of the ss-A students wereplicated, unsure whether they wanted Ling Lan to continue her one-move advancement streak or wished for someone to break it so that Ling Lan would return from that untouchable distance to a more manageable distance before them.


    However, regardless of what the students thought, Ling Lan and Qin Yi appeared to be extremely calm. When the referee called out the start of the match, Qin Yi first dashed to one side of the stage, while Ling Lan remained standing in the middle of the arena, facing the other from a distance.


    Just like that, the two of them froze. Time slipped by slowly ¡ª an unknown number of minutes passed ¡ª and the audience themselves couldn¡¯t help but be impatient.


    At then, one of the two finally moved.


    Ling Lan was the one who moved. Not because her patience was worse than Qin Yi¡¯s, but because she felt that continuing to wait like this was just a waste of time. Qin Yi¡¯s stance was defensive, so it was obvious that he didn¡¯t intend to strike first.


    Qin Yi had taken such an approach because after studying Ling Lan¡¯s previous battles, he had found that those students who had been defeated in one move by Ling Lan had all attacked first. Although he didn¡¯t know if defending and counter-attacking would be effective, Qin Yi was hopeful. He settled on the strategy of waiting for Ling Lan to attack first.


    Qin Yi still had confidence in himself. He believed that if he put his full attention on tracking the opponent¡¯s movements, he should be able to see the other¡¯s attacking style, and perhaps would be able to stop the opponent¡¯s attack.


    Ling Lan knew what her opponent was thinking, and so decided not to waste any time; this time, she initiated the attack.


    Ling Lan charged forward, her right hand forming a fist and striking out at Qin Yi. Her punch actually emitted a loud explosion of air ¡ª you could just see how terrifying its speed and power was.


    This time, the teacher in charge of refereeing their match was no longer the one from Ling Lan¡¯s previous matches. However, when he saw this attack of Ling Lan¡¯s, his gaze revealed a trace of astonishment. This astonishment was not due to Ling Lan¡¯s speed or strength, but rather due to the move itself.


    Ling Lan¡¯s consecutive advancements with just one move had piqued the curiosity of many teachers, who had then gone on to observe the recordings of Ling Lan¡¯s fights. This teacher referee was one of them, and Ling Lan¡¯s current attack move had been recognised by him.


    This was an attack move of Ling Lan¡¯s first opponent in the ranking battles. Of course, when Ling Lan executed it, the attack speed and strength was much faster and much fiercer, and at the same time, the opening that appeared when she swung her fist was subtly fixed by crossing her left hand over her chest in preparation for a counter. In other words, the opening was no longer an opening, but a hidden trap.


    This was the result of Ling Lan and Little Four¡¯s research. Ling Lan hadcked proper moves suited for arena-style fighting, which had given her no choice but to appropriate moves from the other students. Finally, she had managed to synthesize around ten moves from her research, and this was the first time she was using any of them in battle.


    In contrast to the students¡¯ bewilderment, the experienced teacher had been able to tell the origins of this move with one look. This was the reason behind the astonishment in the teacher¡¯s eyes.


    Qin Yi saw Ling Lan charging at him, and he reacted nimbly, dodging with a quick turn of his body. Ling Lan¡¯s attack missed, and before she could follow up with a second attack, Qin Yi had once again dashed away with a few quick steps, putting a distance of roughly 7 to 8 metres between him and Ling Lan.


    "Wow, he¡¯s being really cautious. But Boss, why did you decrease your speed and strength by 70%? If you had just attacked with your normal speed, he would never have been able to dodge." The watching Little Four was very puzzled. It was obvious that one move would have been enough ¡ª why had Boss held back?


    "No matter what, I must drag the fight till about 10 moves. I don¡¯t want to see the teacher¡¯s resentful eyes anymore." Ling Lan was truly afraid of that and had decided to first take it easy for a bit.


    Last night, she had trained in the learning space for the entire night ¡ª which had been prolonged to a duration of two months ¡ª and had finally settled that problematic after-effect of hers. Adding up all the time spent before and after, she had spent almost half a year¡¯s time (in the learning space) to eradicate the problem. This was why Ling Lan could control her own speed and strength today, otherwise, even if Ling Lan nned to take it easy she would have been unable to.


    Getting his answer, Little Four said nothing more. He still remembered Ling Lan¡¯s warning to not make noise and disturb her unnecessarily when she was fighting. If the opponent hadn¡¯t dodged far away, and Ling Lan hadn¡¯t stopped pushing her attack, Little Four wouldn¡¯t have voiced his question.


    Ling Lan saw that Qin Yi had prepared himself once more, so she charged forwards again, and the moment she got within range, she threw out a side kick. In order to sessfully drag out the fight to over 10 moves, Ling Lan had no choice but to be a bit careful, and pay close attention to Qin Yi¡¯s condition. She didn¡¯t wish to pull back her strength and speed only for the opponent to be defeated anyway because he wasn¡¯t prepared to take her attack. That would undoubtedly be an extremely tragic thing.


    Of course, the teacher who had studied Ling Lan before could tell that this side kick was also an attack move of one of Ling Lan¡¯s previous opponents. However, Ling Lan had simplified this side kick. It no longer had the initial preparatory spin to umte strength.


    Although that sort of strength-umtion method could indeed increase this side kick¡¯s power by 30%, this one spin not only decreased the attack speed, but also created arge weak point. During the spin, there would be a moment when one¡¯s back would be to the opponent ¡ª if the opponent grabbed hold of this opportunity, not only could they easily break this move, but they may even counterattack to injure the user heavily instead. This was the reason why Ling Lan had been able to send the original user flying so easily in her previous match.


    Thus, Ling Lan decisively discarded that one spin, choosing to throw the side kick right after a half turn. The motions had been simplified, but the strength boost was partially retained. ording to Ling Lan¡¯s estimations, even though the strength umtion was weaker, there was still a 15% boost, and if the move was handled better, even 20% was possible. As such, only 10% of bonus strength was lost, but with this little loss, arge weak point could be fixed, and the attack speed would also go up. It was undoubtedly worth it.


    Perhaps this kick came too forcefully, for although Qin Yi had already been mentally prepared, he was still frightened by this ferocious kick of Ling Lan¡¯s. He abruptly realised why Ling Lan had been able to kick her opponents off the stage with one move ¡ª it was this strength, which was definitely of a horrific calibre. At that moment, Qin Yi was still oblivious that this was already the result of Ling Lan holding back 70% of her strength and speed.


    Qin Yi¡¯s reaction time and speed once again proved that he was exceptional. Facing Ling Lan¡¯s powerful side kick, he again managed to evade.


    At this time, the watching students began cheering for Qin Yi. Ling Lan¡¯s performance in her previous matches had been too unbelievable and aberrant, so the students couldn¡¯t help but view her as amon enemy. So, when they saw Qin Yi managing tost for two moves, they all started voicing out their encouragement, hoping that he would end Ling Lan¡¯s legendary winning streak.


    Under the students cheers, Qin Yi¡¯s initially tense spirits rxed. He felt that his initial strategy wasn¡¯t wrong. Ling Lan must definitely be someone who was good at finding his opponent¡¯s weaknesses; he had been able to catch hold of his opponents¡¯ weaknesses when they attacked first in his previous matches, which was why he had been able to defeat them in one move. However, when Ling Lan was the attacker, the roles were switched around, so Ling Lan was no longer as invincible as they had thought him to be.


    Very quickly, Ling Lan hadunched several more consecutive attacks. If Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Han Jijyun had been here, they may have been shocked and puzzled, because these few moves of Ling Lan would have been both familiar yet strange to them at the same time. That¡¯s right, these moves had all been appropriated by Ling Lan when she had fought them. However, these moves, under thebined study of Little Four and herself, had undergone a certain degree of modification. This is not to say that Qi Long¡¯s and the others¡¯ moves had any problems, but Ling Lan had modified these moves to better suit her own physical capabilities.


    "Ah, Boss, it¡¯s the 10th move now." Little Four wasn¡¯t just a simple observer; he was seriously helping Ling Lan to count the moves being exchanged.


    "Now? Finally I can let loose." Holding back her strength and her speed, as well as keeping track of the opponent¡¯s reactions ¡ª these ten moves had been extremely frustrating for Ling Lan. Hearing Little Four say that her imposed 10-move limit was up, her mood brightened immensely.


    At this time, Qin Yi had already gotten used to Ling Lan¡¯s attack speed and strength. He felt that he was able to handle Ling Lan¡¯s attacks now, and had begun thinking of ways to counterattack. After all, he would never win by purely defending. Although he was very wary of Ling Lan¡¯s strong ability in catching an opponent¡¯s weakness, he believed that even if he was caught by Ling Lan, he would be able to handle the situation with his speed and reflexes.


    So, he decided to make a tentative attack, and his choice of attack was one of the moves from his family-inherited martial arts, one that was best suited for spontaneous adaptation.


    "He¡¯s attacking," Little Four called out. Qin Yi¡¯s constant dodging, slippery as an eel in water, had annoyed Little Four immensely. Now, seeing the opponent finally nning to attack, he was understandably thrilled.


    "An attack that isn¡¯t an attack, a defence that isn¡¯t a defence ... there must be something more." Qin Yi thought that his speed was very fast and that the changes in his move were very subtle, but in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, his speed was rather slow, and some of the changes were obvious at a nce. Moreover, her senses had already pinpointed a defensive blind spot in his move¡¯s defences.

 Chapter 83: Extreme Talent!

    Chapter 83: Extreme Talent!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    This was Ling Lan¡¯s innate talent. When her mental focus reached a certain boundary point, a miraculous ability would emerge. Ling Lan herself wasn¡¯t sure what it was, but she felt that it was very useful. As long as she could see the opponent¡¯s move clearly, she would be able to find the opponent¡¯s weakest point.


    Ling Lan may be uncertain, but Number One in the learning space knew what it was. It was precisely because of this that Number One had unsealed Number Five, with the goal of cultivating an extraordinary Ling Lan. It couldn¡¯t be helped; this innate talent was just too rare. Even in Number One¡¯s country with its highly advanced civilization, children with this innate talent were extremely limited, almost one of a kind. It was the most precious specialbat talent ¡ª¡ª Profound Insight, the perfect innate talent for mecha operators.


    A notion flitted through Ling Lan¡¯s mind: to attack the weak point, or let the opponent continue his probe and see?


    In the blink of an eye, Ling Lan made her decision. She decided to first take a look at the opponent¡¯s move. Ling Lan was confident ¡ª she believed that even if she gave the opponent one more move, the final oue would not change. This wasn¡¯t blind confidence, but a belief backed up by strength.


    Besides, she was really kind of curious ¡ª what would the final form of Qin Yi¡¯s move be like?


    Having made her decision, Ling Lan reacted just as Qin Yi would have hoped. She balled up her right hand into a fist, and held an attack pose, meeting the opponent¡¯s attack head on.


    A dark gleam shed through Qin Yi¡¯s eyes, and with a shake of his wrist, his entire arm actually moved like a snake, twisting and turning, twining swiftly up Ling Lan¡¯s right arm to grab onto it securely.


    He caught him! At that moment, Qin Yi¡¯s gaze revealed a trace of pleasant surprise, a little shocked that he had actually managed to seed in one move.


    Qin Yi believed that as long as he managed to control Ling Lan, he had obtained the key to winning.


    But was that truly the case? Qin Yi¡¯s pleasant surprise had yet to fade, and his follow up move had yet to be executed, when he suddenly felt a sharp pain at his shoulder as arge force mmed into it. At the same time, there was a sudden change in his vision. In his sight, Ling Lan suddenly became the unscble rooftop of the colossalbat hall, and his hand that had been gripping onto Ling Lan¡¯s right arm suddenly felt as if it was holding onto a slippery eel, which slipped out of his hand in a sh ...


    A loud "Bam", and Qin Yi¡¯s body was roughly thrown to the floor of thebat hall. The intense paining from all over his body confused him ¡ª he struggled to push his upper body up, and saw Ling Lan standing high above him on the edge of the arena stage, looking down on him with a cold expression ...


    Looking down? Qin Yi abruptly woke up, realising that he had already fallen off the stage. In other words, he had already lost this match. ording to the tournament¡¯s rules, when a fighter had been thrown out of the range of the arena, it was an immediate loss.


    What in the world happened? He was the one who had grabbed Ling Lan, and he was the one who had been just about to win ... then why was he the one who had been flung out of the arena in the end? This match ¡ª he was truly baffled how he had lost. Qin Yi pounded his fists against the ground in frustration, unable to ept his loss.


    Seeing Qin Yi¡¯s dark mood, the teacher referee sighed softly. There had just been too much difference between Qin Yi¡¯s and Ling Lan¡¯s strength, which was why Qin Yi just couldn¡¯t understand how he had lost to Ling Lan.


    However, this wasn¡¯t the time to exin things to Qin Yi. The referee dered loudly, "This match, Ling Lan wins, sessfully advancing to the top 7."


    ********


    Perhaps the other children had seen the match as if through fog and mist, but the observing teachers had all seen very clearly. At the time when Qin Yi had sessfully grabbed hold of Ling Lan¡¯s right arm, just as his hand closed around it, Ling Lan¡¯s right hand, which had initially been fisted, had opened up, and the extended fingers had been just the right length to make contact with Qin Yi¡¯s shoulder.


    Of course, this little bit of contact should not have been enough to send Qin Yi flying, but the teachers were all experienced fighters, with the experienced eyes of the strong. They saw that, in the moment when Ling Lan¡¯s fingers touched Qin Yi, his fingers had fluttered a few times. This led the teachers to quicklye to the conclusion that Ling Lan had employed some technique, something along the lines of a secondary One-Inch Punch, which had the effect of stacking strength.


    However, because the teachers had not fought with Ling Lan themselves, they could not tell for certain the power of this secret technique, and so were unsure how much Ling Lan¡¯s strength had been stacked by it. Still, this force must not be small, otherwise Qin Yi would not have been so easily knocked off the stage.


    Ling Lan¡¯s impressive performance made all the teachers¡¯ eyes light up; they were all nodding in approval, expressions filled with pleasant surprise. Some of them were even eager to pounce, wishing they could just take on Ling Lan as an initiate disciple right now. However, when they saw the other teachers around, who all had their sights set on Ling Lan on the stage, these teachers could only halt their steps, sighing internally. This matter wasn¡¯t going to be that simple ¡ª there were just too manypetitors.


    In the academy, teachers could freely choose their initiate disciples, and there was no limit to this number. Likewise, students also had the right to choose the initiate teacher they wanted, but each student could only choose one teacher. In other words, for these teachers to be Ling Lan¡¯s initiate teacher, they would have to get Ling Lan to choose them willingly, and this was undoubtedly going to be very difficult. All of the teachers within the academy had their own advantages, so no one knew who Ling Lan would pick.


    ********


    Leaving Qin Yi¡¯s gloom aside, Ling Lan had left the stage immediately after hearing the referee teacher¡¯s announcement. Qin Yi¡¯s move had sparked her curiosity ¡ª she had never expected someone¡¯s arm to be able to twist into the shape of a fried dough twist. It looked like her previous foundational physical skills training had already pushed the limits of human flexibility, but at least it had still been within the realm of possibility for humans. It wasn¡¯t like what Qin Yi just did ... seeing his arm twine around her arm like a snake, Ling Lan had felt an ache in her teeth, involuntarily drawing in a cold breath.


    Goddammit, she just hated those kind of legless creepy crawly creatures. Even though she had touched, killed, and even eaten quite a few, hate was hate ¡ª this deeply rooted mentality wasn¡¯t something that could be swept away just by killing them.


    Ling Lan hadn¡¯t stepped off the stage for long when the ss-A 2nd-ce Wu Jiong also came off his stage. His opponent had been the weakest of the group, the original 14th-rank of ss-A.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s strength was clearly much stronger than the other by a significant margin, and on top of that, Wu Jiong was an extraordinarily quick attacker. Once his opponent had been drawn into his rhythm, the opponent had been unable to keep up and had missed blocking one of Wu Jiong¡¯s punches in the end. With that, he had been sent flying out of the arena and dered defeated. Though Wu Jiong had only been slightly behind Ling Lan in getting off the stage, because the rally of attacks had been unusually quick, over 40 moves had already passed in his match.


    Subsequently, several more students got off their respective stages one after another. Qi Long was the fourth person of the first grade ss-A to advance into the top 7. Seeing Qi Long¡¯s animated expression, Ling Lan just knew that Qi Long must have had a great time in his fight, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t be looking so satisfied.


    "Fighting an opponent with a simr style, how was it?" Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but ask curiously.


    Qi Long¡¯s mouth split open in a wide smile. "It was beyond awesome! If I get bored in future, I¡¯ll go find that punk for a fight." His match had truly been a passionate and energetic one, exceptionally lively, allowing Qi Long to fully release all the pent up energy within his body.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan mentally spared a moment of grief for Xu Zhizhi. Being fixated on by this battle maniac, it could be foreseen that Xu Zhizhi¡¯sing days would be filled with tragic beatings.


    "You ... don¡¯t go overboard," said Ling Lan weakly. Since they were lucky enough to be ssmates, she had to try and salvage a bit of Xu Zhizhi¡¯s future.


    "Rx, Boss, I¡¯ll watch myself. I won¡¯t injure him." Qi Long sent a mournful look at Ling Lan, and added, "If Boss was willing to fight with me, then I wouldn¡¯t have to go look for him. Fighting with you, Boss, is still more exciting."


    Every time he sparred with Ling Lan, although he was always the one being pummelled, he would always feel that he had gotten a bit stronger after it. So, he sincerely wished to fight Ling Lan more, but unfortunately, Ling Lan had refused to fight for a long while previously, greatly depressing him.


    Hearing Qi Long¡¯s words, Ling Lan shuddered violently, and replied immediately, "Xu Zhizhi¡¯s skills are pretty good, he¡¯s a good opponent. Qi Long, you have good taste." Better you than me, Xu Zhizhi ¡ª sacrifice yourself as tribute! Ling Lan resolutely cast aside the little remaining sympathy she had for her ssmate into the far reaches of outer space.


    Hells, if Qi Long really fixated on her instead, she would have to really spend all day and night embroiled in the world ofbat. That would truly be unbearable.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Qi Long nod affirmatively. He too believed that his choice wasn¡¯t bad ¡ª for him, who liked to fight, being pummelled by Ling Lan was unavoidable, and when fighting with Luo Lang and Han Jijyun, he found himself unable to truly let himself go, so fighting them was unsatisfying. Now that he had found Xu Zhizhi who fought with the same blunt and wild style as he did, he could fight without worry, so his mood was extraordinarily good.


    Qi Long had already thought it through early on ¡ª if Boss Lan was free, then he would look for Boss Lan to fight (torment himself), but if Boss Lan wasn¡¯t free, then he would seek out Xu Zhizhi to fight (torment the other), and when Xu Zhizhi ran out of energy, he would go fight with Luo Lang and Han Jijyun ...


    There was no helping it. Qi Long¡¯s stamina was truly so good that it was abnormal, which was why he had no choice but to keep fighting to expend all that excess energy.


    "There isn¡¯t any problem with your stamina right now, right?" Ling Lan was a little worried that Qi Long might have gone overboard in his glee at finding new prey.


    When Qi Long heard this, he hurriedly shook his head. He would never make such a mistake. He gave his arms several forceful shakes, showing Ling Lan that his energy was still abundant.


    Although Qi Long looked as if he was all brawn with little brain, he definitely wasn¡¯t a reckless person, but was more the type who seemed foolish in his great wisdom. He had a clear bottom-line in his heart, knowing that y was y, but there was a limit to that. Advancing from the top 13 into the top 7 was not the end point; the following top 7 to top 4 advancement matches were directly after. If he really fooled around too much and used up most of his energy, if he then happened to lose, even if he could forgive himself, he believed that his boss Ling Lan would never let it go, and would definitely kill him personally.


    After half a year of interaction, Qi Long knew very well what Ling Lan¡¯s creed was. Ling Lan only upheld one principle ¡ª a battle that could be won should never be lost. If victory was uncertain, then efforts should be made to win; if loss was certain, then avoid if possible, if it was unavoidable ... then create all the conditions necessary to win and win it.


    In other words, Ling Lan was someone who hated, abhorred, loathed failing. This was apulsion that Ling Lan had brought with her from her previous life, because back then, failure for Ling Lan would be at the cost of her life, so Ling Lan could not afford to lose.


    Therefore, Qi Long, as Ling Lan¡¯s follower, couldn¡¯t speak of losing so easily. Qi Long just couldn¡¯t drop the ball at this critical juncture, unless he no longer wanted to call Ling Lan Boss ...

 Chapter 84: The Top 4 Emerges!

    Chapter 84: The Top 4 Emerges!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    For the advancement of the top 13 to the top 7, the final match to end was Luo Lang and Ye Xu¡¯s. The two of them were equally matched, and a winner had only been determined right at the very end when they had both been utterly worn out. Ye Xu had copsed a secondter than Luo Lang, and thus gained the victory, sessfully advancing.


    Han Jijyun and the others felt sorry for Luo Lang. If Luo Lang hadn¡¯t had to expend so much energy yesterday, causing fatigue to remain in his body which held him back today, then perhaps the result would be different. But regardless, Luo Lang¡¯s match was officially over.


    However, Luo Lang¡¯s defeat didn¡¯t lower his standing in the eyes of the ss-A students, because in this match, he had proven that his strength was roughly equivalent with that of Ye Xu¡¯s. In other words, Luo Lang¡¯s strength was on par with the ss-A top 3 ranks.


    The gazes of all the ss-A students were now gathered upon Ling Lan and Qi Long. If Luo Lang¡¯s strength was already on par with the top 3 of ss-A, then how strong were Ling Lan and Qi Long really? It should be known that Luo Lang was considered the weakest among the three of them.


    However, they believed that as the matches progressed, Ling Lan¡¯s and Qi Long¡¯s true strength will be disyed before them. Then, they would be able to know once and for all just how much depth there really was to Ling Lan and Qi Long.


    ********


    In short order, about half an hourter, the advancement battles for the top 7 into top 4 began. Although Ye Xu really hoped he would get a bye once so that he would be able to have more time to recover his strength, unfortunately, the academy did not wish for Ye Xu to be that lucky. The bye for this round was given to Qi Long.


    When the name list for the assignment of byes came out, Ling Lan could pretty much confirm the academy¡¯s bye-allocation strategy. They had chosen the strongest few ¡ª in other words, the academy was intentionally precluding the element of luck in this.


    For the top 7 to top 4 battles, due to Qi Long¡¯s bye, there were only three matches. Ling Lan¡¯s luck was not much weaker than Qi Long¡¯s, actually being matched up with the already worn out Ye Xu who no longer had the ability to put up a good fight. Meanwhile, Li Yingjie had been matched with the original rank-5 of ss-A, Jiang Yuan, while Wu Jiong had been paired with the 4th-rank, Zhou Jirong ¡ª both matches a meeting of the strong.


    The moment Ye Xu saw the match-up name list, his face fell. His opponent was actually going to be that Ling Lan ¡ª this luck of his was just too terrible.


    Originally, he had thought of at least trying to fight, but against such an opponent like Ling Lan, he wasn¡¯t sure he could win even if he had been full of strength, let alone in this current dire situation ... Ye Xu had no choice but to consider the other ranking battles he would have to fight if he lost. It should be noted that the ranking battles to determine the rankings of 13th-8th and 7th-5th would be held at the same time ¡ª if he used up the rest of his strength here, it was very likely that he might not even be able to hold onto 5th ce.


    It had to be said that the stronger the child, the stronger their judgment and eptance. Knowing when to give up was also a form of courage.


    The moment the referee teacher on stage said start, Ye Xu, who had already thought things through, resolutely raised his hand to surrender. So, just like that, Ling Lan once again advanced easily, sessfully bing the quickest to advance among the three people, excluding Qi Long¡¯s advancement via the bye.


    Meanwhile, Li Yingjie¡¯s and Wu Jiong¡¯s respective matches were both very intense. Although Li Yingjie and Wu Jiong were the top 2 of ss-A, their strength was not yet at the level where they would suppress all opposition, being just a little stronger than their opponents. As such, it was really hard to say who would win in the end, for of course the opponents also had their eye on advancing, and had drawn up their full strength to fight it out with their opponent.


    However, the two of them proved to have substantial roots in the end. Li Yingjie was the direct descendant of the top elite family of the Federation ¡ª all thebat arts he learned had been through the tests of time, with only the best foundational arts being kept, and as such he had a head start over other people. Meanwhile, Wu Jiong was also the descendant of a fourth-generation military family ¡ª a set of militarybat arts was enough for him to dominate over most of the other kids. In the end, the two of them relied on their solid foundations to defeat their opponents and advanced sessfully into the top 4.


    The advancement of these four students was epted full-heartedly by the ss-A students, with no objections whatsoever.


    The morning¡¯s battles didn¡¯t end there; following right on its heels were the 13th-8th and 7th-5th ce final ranking battles. This time, Ye Xu¡¯s luck returned, receiving the only bye slot for the 7th-5th ce ranking fights. This gave him the time to continue resting in the recovery pod, taking advantage of every second to recover his energy.


    Luo Lang¡¯s luck was also not bad. For the first round, he fought against a weaker student, gaining a hard-earned victory. Then he received a bye for the next round, and had to wait for the winner of the other group to be done so they could fight for the 8th rank. Of course, he also took the chance to rest in a recovery pod to regain his strength. In the end, having recovered enough energy, both Ye Xu and Luo Lang defeated their respective opponents. And so, Luo Lang obtained 8th ce, while Ye Xu obtained 5th ce.


    On the rankings, Ye Xu¡¯s ranking had droppedpared to when school just started, but his status was not at all lowered in the minds of the students. Ye Xu¡¯s strength was definitely exceptional ¡ª it was just that no one had expected two aberrant oddballs such as Ling Lan and Qi Long to appear in ss-A. Qi Long was more the oddball, while Ling Lan was more the aberrant.


    Meanwhile, Luo Lang¡¯s rank had risen considerably, obtaining the 8th position. Everyone felt that it was well-deserved, with some students even thinking that Luo Lang¡¯s true rank should be one or two ranks higher. After all, he and Ye Xu had been neck and neck during their battle, so it would be reasonable for him to be the 6th rank. However, there wasn¡¯t much difference in strength among the top 10 of ss-A anyway, so there was no need to be too caught up in the details of the rankings.


    Finally, only the exact ranking of the top 4 was left unsettled. What were the final match-ups going to be? However, the semi-finals and the finals had been scheduled for the afternoon, so the ss-A students could only suppress their curiosity, and go have their lunch at the canteen first.


    ********


    While eating, Han Jijyun voiced his concern over the possibility of Ling Lan going up against Qi Long, but Qi Long wasn¡¯t worried about it at all. Rather, he was excited at the prospect, thinking that that would be the perfect opportunity for him to fight all out with Boss Lan.


    Hearing this, although her expression retained its usual calm, Ling Lan prayed in her heart for the academy¡¯s A.I. to be wise, and assign the troublesome Qi Long to be someone else¡¯s responsibility.


    Talking andughing, the few of them finished their lunch, and then went back together to thebat hall, to wait for the notification of the final match-ups.


    ********


    The time finally arrived, and the battle name list was revealed. Seeing it, Han Jijyun and Luo Lang leapt up in excitement, while Wu Jiong frowned slightly, his expression turning grim.


    That¡¯s right, his opponent for theing match was the one he feared the most ¡ª Ling Lan. If possible, he really had not wanted to meet him during the semi-finals, hoping that he would be able to advance to the finals in his best condition.


    However, Wu Jiong quickly regained his equilibrium. As a descendant of a military family, he wasn¡¯t one to shy away from tough challenges. Wu Jiong was actually very prepared. Ever since Ling Lan had first advanced in one move, he had already been paying attention to him, considering Ling Lan as his greatest rival within ss-A.


    Indeed, in Wu Jiong¡¯s eyes, that arrogant punk Li Yingjie was not worthy of being his rival. Although Li Yingjie was a match for him now, he believed that in three to five years time, he would definitely leave Li Yingjie in the dust as one of his stepping stones.


    From Wu Jiong¡¯s observations, he found that Ling Lan¡¯s current strength was certainly one level higher than them, so it would be extremely difficult to defeat him. Still, he wouldn¡¯t give up just because of this. He had contacted his father, detailing Ling Lan¡¯sbat movements to him, in hopes that his father would be able to provide some guidance.


    It wasn¡¯t that Wu Jiong didn¡¯t want to let his father see a recording of Ling Lan¡¯s fights, but unfortunately, the Central Scout Academy kept a very strict guard on the videos of their students. It was impossible to send out the data from within the school ¡ª the moment one left the school grounds, any data saved within anymunicators, as long as it was a video file downloaded from the school servers, would be automatically deleted via formatting, so even a top expert in A.I. would be unable to restore it.


    This was one of the ways the academy protected its students, forbidding video images of its students from being leaked to the outside world, though of course verbal descriptions were not included under this coverage.


    After Wu Jiong¡¯s father had heard his descriptions, he had waited a beat before telling him to just hold on and wait for an opportunity. If he could hold on till after the opponent¡¯s tenth move, then perhaps he would be able to find a way to win.


    The greatest reason for this was just that Ling Lan made too few moves, so there was no way to see where his weaknessesy. Wu Jiong had naturally taken his father¡¯s words to heart, and based on the top 13 to top 7 advancement match, his father¡¯s words were proven to be urate.


    Qin Yi had just been a little too impatient, moving recklessly before he had figured out Ling Lan¡¯s true strength. Wu Jiong mentally warned himself to be patient ¡ª no matter how fierce Ling Lan¡¯s attacks were, even if there were many openings, if he wasn¡¯t sure of sess, he should just continue to hold back.


    ********


    Very quickly, the two matches officially kicked off. After some hesitation, Han Jijyun had decided to go watch Qi Long and Li Yingjie¡¯s battle. Meanwhile, Luo Lang had chosen to go watch Ling Lan¡¯s fight, because he wanted to see Ling Lan¡¯s truebat skills.


    Speaking of which, it was rather sad that after following Ling Lan for half a year and fighting him several times during that time, they had still never seen Ling Lan use any proper systematicbat arts. Because, when Ling Lan fought with them, he basically didn¡¯t use any formal moves at all. He only attacked based on instinct with direct moves, clear to see and understand.


    Precisely because of this point, Han Jijyun and the others had never been able to pin down Ling Lan¡¯s true background. Although Han Jijyun had tried beating around the bush, Ling Lan had just smiled but kept silent. Was there really a secret behind it all, or was there really no secret at all? They just had no way to know.


    If Ling Lan had known that Qi Long and the others were so concerned about her background, she would probablyugh her head off. At this moment, Ling Lan still wasn¡¯t clear about her father¡¯s true status in this world, thinking that she was just an ordinary inconspicuous descendant of a small elite family ¡ª a child with a widowed mother who had broken ties with the small elite family at that.


    It had to be said that Ling Lan was a little careless in this respect. Of course, Little Four was also partly to me here, never reminding Ling Lan to go learn more about Ling Xiao, so Ling Lan only knew that her father was an unremarkable major general in some random regiment (the Federation had so many major generals they were like hairs on the backs of cows), who had then carelessly gotten a GAME OVER when he went off to fight on the battlefield.


    The matches finally started, and Wu Jiong chose to do the same as Qin Yi, dodging to one side, and putting up a cautious defence. This caused Ling Lan¡¯s head to ache.


    Meanwhile, on Qi Long¡¯s side, the fight was intense from the very beginning. Qi Long had always been a child who fought based on personal instinct, so when he heard the referee teacher say start, he charged forwards immediately ...

 Chapter 85: Qi Long vs Li Yingjie

    Chapter 85: Qi Long vs Li Yingjie


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Initially, Li Yingjie had wanted tounch a test attack once to probe Qi Long¡¯s depths, but the thought had barely crossed his mind when the other¡¯s right fist had appeared unexpectedly before his eyes. It wasing at him fast and furious, the wind sted towards him by the punch causing a mild ache in his cheeks.


    Li Yingjie reacted quickly. He leaned backwards to put as much distance as he could between the two of them, and crossed his arms in front of him to block the punch ...


    A soft "bam!" ¡ª the sound of a fist striking flesh. Li Yingjie was sent stumbling back three steps before the force behind Qi Long¡¯s punch dissipated. But with this retreat, he had lost the initiative.


    Taking advantage of the opponent¡¯s inability to attack, Qi Long rained a heavy barrage ofbo attacks on Li Yingjie. This was Qi Long¡¯s favoured style of attack to begin with, so he was truly fighting just as he liked. In the few advancement matches at the beginning, his opponents had all been thoroughly defeated by these wild attacks of Qi Long. Mind you, it wasn¡¯t easy for opponents who were slow to rev up and get their head into the game to get used to Qi Long¡¯s unreasonable attacks.


    Qi Long¡¯s fierce attacks in this match led all the watching teachers to nod repeatedly in approval, all of them thinking that he was good at timing his attacks, and had good instincts ¡ª a true natural-born fighter.


    When Coffin-face, who was intently watching Qi Long fight from the side, saw this, his expression became heavy, as if thinking of something.


    Seeing this, Smiley-face couldn¡¯t hold back his curiosity. "You noticed something?"


    "Just keep watching, if it really is what I think it is ... Yun Ye, maybe, I¡¯ve hit the jackpot." Coffin-face¡¯s eyes, which were originally as calm as still water, were actually shining with an unusual light; it was clear to see just how turbulent his emotions were.


    Smiley-face understood his good friend very well, and knew that his friend would not talk about things he wasn¡¯t sure of, and so he did not continue to question, but instead turned to put his full attention on watching Qi Long and Li Yingjie¡¯s match. Perhaps he would be able to see something, for Smiley-face knew very well who his good friend was excited about.


    Although Li Yingjie was so cocky and arrogant that he invited dislike, it could not be denied that his abilities were really not bad and that he had really solid foundations. Even though he had been taken off guard by Qi Long¡¯s fierce attack right out of the gate, it wasn¡¯t long before he gradually managed to hold his ground. Although he was still more on the passive side, he still managed to find several opportunities to fight back. This performance of his also gained the acknowledgement of quite a number of the teachers in attendance.


    Of course, this was not to say that Li Yingjie had turned the tables around and was fighting Qi Long on even ground. Truth was that Qi Long still had the advantage; it was pretty much impossible for Li Yingjie to wrest control back within 100 moves.


    Li Yingjie also understood that this situation was bad for him, and as this was also the first time he was disadvantaged in a fight, he couldn¡¯t help but be a little anxious and impatient. Since he had first entered the Central Scout Academy, his father had already told him that the first ranking tournament was very important. Its importance did not lie in the treatment one would receive after having their ranking confirmed, but rather in its function as a test to highlight the cream of the crop, so that the most exceptional students could receive the cultivation of the most exceptional instructors under the Initiate Program, which was unique to the Central Scout Academy.


    However, very few children would have the chance to experience it, for the Initiate Program was extremely covert, and its education system was on a one-on-one basis ¡ª other than the children who had been selected to participate in the program, the majority of children would never get to know of its existence.


    Of course, with regards to some of the older elite families, those upper-ranking individuals with power and authority, this secret was no secret at all. Thus, they would remind their children to pay special attention to the first ranking tournament, which was how Li Yingjie knew of this as well.


    Frankly, the Central Scout Academy was also aware of this ¡¯leak¡¯, so the concealment of this program was actually only targeted at themoners. However, the academy was not at all concerned, because those children who emerged with great potential and exceptional abilities were typically all from these elite families and high-ranking upper ss. After all, these people possessed excellent gics, so the quality of their descendants was guaranteed to a certain extent.


    Although Li Yingjie was a little irritable and impatient, under the solid foundational teachings of the Li family, he still managed to hold himself back, exchanging up to 100 moves with Qi Long. He had originally thought that the situation would slowly get better, but after 100 moves, he found that his passive state in the match was still unchanged. At that moment, his heart started to be agitated, and the way he fought became more and more impatient.


    Seeing this, Smiley-face lifted an eyebrow and said, "Tai, looks like the oue is set."


    Coffin-face nodded. "Crew cut boy¡¯s opponent¡¯s patience iscking. This is a good chance, but whether or not he can take hold of it, still depends on what the crew cut boy¡¯s going to do." If it really was as he thought, the boy could not lose ...


    Li Yingjie decided that he could not afford to continue dragging things out with Qi Long ¡ª he needed to regain the initiative and quickly end this match and advance. Only then could he get the opportunity to train under the strongest instructor.


    Just bying to that mental decision, Li Yingjie¡¯s entire aura changed. His initial bit of impatience disappeared in a split second and a cold air started emanating from his entire body.


    The students in the audience may not have been able to sense this sort of change in aura, but the eyes of the watching teachers all turned serious. Smiley-face and Coffin-face were not excluded, especially Coffin-face, who surreptitiously prepared a Federation coin in his hand, just in case.


    At this moment, Qi Long seemed to have sensed the difference in Li Yingjie, but did not stop attacking with his hands and legs, instead increasing the intensity of his attacks.


    Coffin-face¡¯s eyes were coldly focused, and his expression became even grimmer. Could it be that Qi Long had sensed the danger and so was attacking with all his might?


    Li Yingjie parried attack after attack as he systematically retreated one foot after another. Meanwhile, his gaze became exceptionally cool and analytical, and there was even a trace of not too subtle killing intent.


    No matter how berserk Qi Long was, his attacks would always have a moment of pause, and Li Yingjie was just waiting for that moment. He wanted to defeat Qi Long in one strike, so he needed to put enough distance between them, otherwise he would be too busy handling Qi Long¡¯s relentless attacks to even unleash his trump card.


    That¡¯s right, Li Yingjie was so confident because he still had a powerful trump card. His father had cautioned him not to use this trump card frivolously, because this was a killing art of the Li family, and was one of the truebat arts that had been passed down the Li family over thousands of years.


    There was enough distance now ¡ª Li Yingjie finally got into the stance of the Li family¡¯s sure-kill technique ...


    When Coffin-face saw this, his expression changed subtly. His fingers flipped, and the coin held in his palm was now poised between his index finger and his middle finger. If Qi Long charged forwards to attack, he would immediatelyunch the coin to send Qi Long flying out of his opponent¡¯s attack range.


    Just when everyone thought that Qi Long would continue rushing forwards to attack Li Yingjie, Qi Long did something which stunned all the spectators. As if suddenly sensing something, Qi Long, who had been preparing to attack, frowned and actually stopped moving forwards. Not only that, he also retreated swiftly, putting a considerable distance between him and Li Yingjie.


    When Qi Long stopped once more, his pose had already changed from its original attack stance to a defensive stance, expression cautious, seemingly very concerned about Li Yingjie¡¯s change.


    Seeing this, Coffin-face¡¯s emotionless face suddenly became animated. Retrieving the coin between his fingers to envelop it once more in his palm, he muttered to himself, "That¡¯s right, this is it, this is it."


    "Tai, what exactly is it ?" After watching for so long, Smiley-face found that he was still clueless, and so couldn¡¯t resist opening his mouth to ask again.


    "Don¡¯t rush, Yun Ye, once the results are out, I¡¯ll exin." Right then, Coffin-face just had no thought to spare for exining things to his good friend. His spirited eyes were fixed squarely on Qi Long, a deep yearning in his gaze. Initially, he had only wanted to take on Qi Long as an initiate disciple because of Smiley-face, but now, he truly wanted to do so from the bottom of his heart.


    The spectating Han Jijyun¡¯s expression also became grim ¡ª although he couldn¡¯t sense it as urately as the instructors, he could still tell that something wasn¡¯t right with the change in Li Yingjie¡¯s aura. Along with Li Yingjie¡¯s strange pose, Han Jijyun knew that this was going to be trouble. The clever Han Jijyun deduced instantly that Li Yingjie must have brought out his deeply hidden trump card, for this somewhat fear-inducing pose had not been seen in any of his previous matches.


    At that moment, Han Jijyun couldn¡¯t help but muse to himself ¡ª no wonder the top of the rankings had been monopolized by the old elite families for many years; their roots were indeed deep. It should be noted that for them, who were from middle-ss families within a militaristic system, being able to learn a high-level military basic art was already considered extraordinarily lucky. But for those old elite families, they had more than one set of this sort ofbat arts, and the types were varied, some even including real hereditarybat arts, such as the case of the Li family.


    Just like that, Qi Long and Li Yingjie faced off, and this time, Qi Long disyed his rare patience, holding back instead of charging forwards recklessly to attack.


    Li Yingjie couldn¡¯t help but swear internally ¡ª why was this Qi Long so d*mn lucky?! Right now, the stance he was holding was the Li family¡¯s strongest defensive counterattack move. As long as Qi Longunched an attack, he could instantly take advantage of the opponent¡¯s fatal weakness during his attack, and achieve a one-hit-kill effect. Unfortunately, Qi Long suddenly refused to attack ...


    Li Yingjie did consider that perhaps Qi Long had seen through his stance, but the moment this notion popped up, it was ruthlessly quashed by him. His father had said before that all opponents who saw the Li family deathbat arts were dead ¡ª Qi Long definitely couldn¡¯t know what he was thinking.


    In the end, the one who lost in terms of patience was still Li Yingjie. Li Yingjie decided not to wait any longer because this one killing move wasn¡¯t all he had; he still had many killing moves which required him to take the initiative.


    So, Li Yingjie changed his stance. He rushed towards Qi Long, reaching Qi Long¡¯s side in a sh, and two fingers of his left hand headed straight for Qi Long¡¯s right arm, while his right hand syed open vertically like a de ...


    Seeing this, Qi Long was startled, and then without even thinking about it, his right fist hurtled toward the other¡¯s left fingers.


    In Coffin-face¡¯s low hanging right hand, that little coin once again appeared between his fingers.


    Another "bam!" of bodily impact, and two figures were sent flying in separate directions.


    Then there was a loud "Ah!", which was quickly followed by two bodies violently crashing onto the ground. Bothbatants had been unable to withstand the force behind the other¡¯s blow and had crashed heavily to the ground.


    One of the figures smashed onto the floor of the arena stage, continued to roll over and then bounced off the edge, directly tumbling off the stage to fall below the arena.


    Meanwhile, the other person smashed onto the stage as well, and actually made deep scratches on the arena floor as he slid towards the edge of the arena. Just as it looked like he would fall off the stage, that person swung out his left hand in a w and resolutely struck out with all his might at the arena floor.


    His fingers sunk into the ground with a resounding noise, but even so, score marks roughly 3 centimetres long were left on the surface of the arena floor. However, because of this force, the person managed to halt his falling body, and then with a somersault, he was once again standing firmly on the edge of the stage, clearly telling everyone that he was the winner of this match.


    The referee teacher stood at the edge of the arena, nced down at the figure lying below the stage, and then looked at the student who was already standing securely beside him. His expression was incredulous. Looks like the first grade ss-A was really going to riot.


    "I dere, the winner of the advancement fight is ¡ª¡ª Qi Long!"

 Chapter 86: Sixth Sense?

    Chapter 86: Sixth Sense?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Following this deration, Li Yingjie, who was below the stage, stood up with a face full of shock as if he could not conceive that this would be the oue.


    "How ¡ª you knew that was my only weak point?" Seeing Qi Long preparing to walk off the stage, Li Yingjie couldn¡¯t help but call out. It was the greatest killing move, but it also had the greatest weakness. An average person would never choose to fight in a way where both parties would take damage, not when there were other options avable, but Qi Long had chosen to attack that spot out of all spots ¡ª this was something he just could notprehend.


    Qi Long scratched his head, and thought hard for a while before replying, "I didn¡¯t know. It¡¯s just my instincts were telling me that it should be that way, and so my fist went there."


    Of course, he didn¡¯t say that he had once almost lost his life under a simr move made by Ling Lan. He had asked Ling Lan then whether there was a way to break the move, and Ling Lan, guilty at identally injuring Qi Long just then, had deconstructed the move for him, as well as taught him that the spot which looked the strongest was most often the weakest in moves like this. In choosing to dodge it, you would fall right into the opponent¡¯s trap.


    However, when fighting, Qi Long didn¡¯t have the chance to think that much. He only remembered one point ¡ª the more dangerous it was, the more he should not dodge. Thus, even as he nked out, he decided to listen to his heart and attacked the spot it pointed out as attackable. Reality proved that his heart had not lied to him.


    However, Qi Long¡¯s answer made Li Yingjie¡¯s face flush red. He felt that this answer was an excuse Qi Long had thought up because he was unwilling to tell him the real reason. At that moment, a swell of rage crested in his heart, and he hated the fact that he couldn¡¯t rip apart the hateful Qi Long before his eyes.


    However, a trace of worry rose in his heart at the same time. He wondered if the Li family top-secret killing moves had been leaked ¡ª if that was really the case, it would be a devastating blow to the Li family. Mind you, for the Li family to be so firmly rooted in the Federation, with a lineage spanning thousands of years, arge part of it could be credited to this set of highly lethalbat arts. Li Yingjie decided that once the ranking battles were over, he must immediately ry this news to his father so that he could investigate and find out who was it that had betrayed the Li family ...


    It wasn¡¯t just Li Yingjie who didn¡¯t believe Qi Long¡¯s words, for even the other spectators were sceptical. Of course, as Qi Long sworn brother, Han Jijyun knew that Qi Long was really speaking the truth, because he knew very well just how powerful Qi Long¡¯s animal instinct was.


    There was still one more person who believed Qi Long¡¯s words ¡ª the quietly observing Coffin-face. The matter-of-fact look on his face only made Smiley-face, who was standing beside him, even more confused. He was just about to question the other, when Coffin-face suddenly tugged at his clothes, signalling for him to walk away with him.


    After answering Li Yingjie, Qi Long then slowly walked off the stage towards the waiting Han Jijyun. Before he could call out a greeting, he saw two youths dressed in instructor apparel, with a clearly militaristic air about them, walking towards him from the corner of his eye, and couldn¡¯t help but stop in surprise.


    The tall man with a cold expression started by saying, "You there, student. Excuse me, how should I address you?"


    At this moment, several instructors who had been thinking of taking action saw the two men¡¯s approach, and abruptly stopped their steps with bitter smiles on their faces. They knew then that things were just not fated to be with that boy who was so wild inbat ¡ª they wouldn¡¯t dare to fight over an initiate disciple with those two tough customers.


    Qi Long was a little puzzled, unsure why the man hade up to him, but he still answered politely, "Hello Teacher, I¡¯m called Qi Long."


    Han Jijyun sensed someone behind him and quickly turned his head around to look. When he saw who it was, his expression tightened, and he immediately bent low in a bow, saying respectfully, "Good day, Teachers."


    Seeing Qi Long still standing with a bewildered face, he hurriedly nudged him, signalling for him to follow his example.


    Although Qi Long was a little lost, unsure why Han Jijyun wanted him to be so respectful to the other party, he would never go against Han Jijyun¡¯s will in small matters like this, and so Qi Long mimicked Han Jijyun and gave a respectful bow as well.


    Coffin-face and Smiley-face exchanged a look, and Smiley-face took a closer look at Han Jijyun, a trace of interest in his eyes. This little fellow wasn¡¯t simple at all, actually managing to sense something within that split second ...


    The two men indicated for Qi Long and Han Jijyun to follow them, so Han Jijyun decisively tugged on Qi Long, pulling him along behind the teachers. Although Qi Long really wanted to go see Ling Lan¡¯s match, he still eded to Han Jijyun¡¯s decision, and together they came to a secluded corner in thebat hall.


    Smiley-face took a look around, and only after confirming that there was no one within range to hear their conversation, did he nod to Coffin-face to proceed.


    "Qi Long, I would like to take you on as my initiate disciple, are you willing?" Coffin-face¡¯s expression was as frigid as usual, not at all concerned that his cold demeanour would scare away this student he had his eye on.


    "Initiate disciple?!" Qi Long was at first taken aback, but then he recalled something and came to an abrupt realisation.


    Seeing this, Coffin-face let out an internal breath of relief ¡ª looks like this child already knew of this secret, so he wouldn¡¯t have to waste words exining. This sort of exining task was what he feared the most.


    Han Jijyun nced at Qi Long with a face full of envy. About the matter of initiate disciples, his own father had already informed him about it when he had been epted into the academy. This was also why he had been so respectful back when the teachers had approached Qi Long; he had figured it out instantly.


    "Of course I¡¯m willing." Bing an initiate disciple was not like bing an instructor¡¯s official disciple ¡ª there were no responsibilities associated with it on the student¡¯s end, only benefits. Of course Qi Long would not turn down this opportunity to be strong quickly which had fallen into hisp with no strings attached. Without even having to think about it, he agreed.


    However, Qi Long was not someone who would forget his friends. He pulled Han Jijyun closer to his side and said, "This is my good friend, called Han Jijyun, IQ 260, definitely smarter than me. Teacher, could you also ept him as an initiate disciple?"


    Hearing this, Han Jijyun¡¯s face paled dramatically and he hurried to stop him, yelling, "Qi Long!"


    Many children would be disliked and discarded by a teacher because of greed, and lose the chance to be an initiate disciple in the end. Seeing Qi Long so reckless, Han Jijyun was so anxious that his forehead was beaded with sweat. In his heart, he was ming Qi Long ¡ª why did he have to be so wilful? Didn¡¯t he know this was his chance to be strong quickly?


    Seeing Han Jijyun so anxious for Qi Long, while Qi Long remained determined to obtain this privilege for his good friend, Smiley-face¡¯s smile deepened, and even the lines on Coffin-face¡¯s face gentled noticeably.


    The two of them shared a nce, and then Smiley-face looked once more at Han Jijyun to say, "Han Jijyun, if you¡¯re not against it, then be my initiate disciple."


    In awed surprise, Han Jijyun raised his head to say, "Can I?"


    Smiley-face was all smiles as he nodded, and Han Jijyun said emotionally, "Thank you Teacher, I¡¯m willing, I¡¯m willing."


    Seeing this result, Qi Long grinned widely in satisfaction.


    But Coffin-face frowned slightly as he said, "Didn¡¯t you have your eye on the other boy?" Taking on one more disciple meant that he would have to expend double the effort ¡ª Coffin-face didn¡¯t wish for Smiley-face to be too tired.


    Smiley-face remained smiling as he said, "Taking on one more is no big deal. We¡¯ll have plenty of time thising year ahead." That said, he removed two t and rectangr copper tes from his pocket, both of which had an orchid blossom carved on it, and handed them to Han Jijyun, saying, "One¡¯s for you, while the other is for the other initiate disciple I¡¯ve got my eye on. He should also be one of yourpanions, hm, that boy who was fighting with Qi Long in the morning."


    Hearing this, Qi Long and Han Jijyun looked at each other in pleasant surprise, and said in unison, "Luo Lang."


    Smiley-face smiled and said, "Should be him."


    Han Jijyun did not hesitate, immediately contacting Luo Lang through hismunicator, throwing down a brief ¡¯get here¡¯, and hanging up before Luo Lang could answer.


    Luo Lang, who had been in the midst of watching Ling Lan and Wu Jiong¡¯s match, came over, utterly confused. When Smiley-face repeated his intentions to take him on as an initiate disciple, Luo Lang likewise agreed without any hesitation, directly taking one of the copper tes from Han Jijyun¡¯s hands. This was a token representing the teacher¡¯smitment ¡ª it could not be lost.


    Meanwhile, Qi Long had received a silver dor, but the image on it was that of a pine tree, hardy and strong, tasteful in its simplicity.


    Having gained satisfactory initiate disciples, Coffin-face and Smiley-face no longer had any thought of remaining in thebat hall. Bidding farewell to Qi Long and the others, they left thebat hall after arranging a time and ce for training.


    On the road, Smiley-face finally asked the question he had held back for so long. "Tai, what exactly does that Qi Long have to cause you to be so excited, to even bring out that token which represents an official disciple?"


    "If I had the authority to ept true disciples, I¡¯d even be willing to give a gold dor," said Coffin-face seriously. "That boy Qi Long, if I¡¯m not mistaken, has awakened the sixth sense."


    Coffin-face¡¯s words shocked Smiley-face. "How can that be? Even we have only just touched on the edges of the sixth sense."


    "Perhaps, this is an innate talent he was born with." Coffin-face could only exin it this way. The sixth sense was a miraculous ability, allowing one to sense danger and opportunity instinctually. Right now, the Federation already knew how to rely on extremely cruel torments to force trainees to gain this ability, but of course, the sess rate was exceedingly low. Only those with resolute personalities who had been through countless battles could have the chance to obtain this, as they called it, ability from the realm of the gods. For instance, he and Smiley-face were part of the few lucky ones.


    This was also the first time he had seen it in a child ¡ª that unpolished natural ability was even stronger than that which they¡¯ve obtained through external forces ... perhaps this was their chance to cultivate an ultimate warrior for their sect.


    Coffin-face had already decided that he would train Qi Long well; he would not allow such an extraordinary talent to be lost within the masses. He also considered that if he couldn¡¯t teach Qi Long well enough, then he would entrust Qi Long to his honourable teacher for mentoring.


    If Instructor Number One from the learning space were here, his face would be filled with disdain upon hearing what Coffin-face had said. This was no ¡¯sixth sense¡¯. It was, in fact, an awakened sensory talent ¡ª proper name ¡¯Perception¡¯, otherwise known as ¡¯Animal Instinct¡¯ ¡ª and was one of the lower-average level talents. From this, we can see that the technology and its apanyingbat cultivation systems of the current world and the Mandora star system were light years apart,pletely not of the same level.


    Meanwhile, after collecting their thoughts and feelings, Qi Long, Han Jijyun, and Luo Lang hurried back to Ling Lan¡¯sbat arena to watch her match. Ling Lan¡¯s match was theplete opposite of Qi Long¡¯s, no intensity in sight. The twobatants were battling it out in terms of patience, both sides testing the other.


    Ling Lan knew very well where her problemy ¡ª killing people was no problem; even if ten more Wu Jiong appeared, she would be able to KO 1 them easily. However, to win without harming her opponent, or even just lightly wounding her opponent, was a great challenge for Ling Lan. After all, all the moves she had mastered were ultimate killing moves; the moves that she could take out for a formal match were just too limited.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    Haha, flirting with the edges of the top 10. Nice. Whether we get up there or not, thank you all very much for the votes, and for reading andmenting. Some of yourments really make my day. :3


    Here¡¯s one extra chapter for the week. Have a great weekend, y¡¯all.

 Chapter 87: A New Upset Record

    Chapter 87: A New Upset Record


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Of course, Ling Lan could also choose to fight by just reacting to the opponent¡¯s moves ¡ª however the opponent chose to fight, that¡¯d be how she¡¯d break the move. Unfortunately, Wu Jiong was unwilling to y along with this n of hers. In other words, Wu Jiong was determined not to take the initiative and attack but wanted Ling Lan to start attacking.


    As such, Ling Lan was currently having a headache. This was also why Qi Long¡¯s side had already exchanged over a hundred moves, but here on Ling Lan¡¯s end, only ten or so tentative moves had been exchanged. In other words, a majority of the time was wasted by the two fighters just circling each other.


    However, whatever Ling Lan mayck, patience wasn¡¯t one of them. Even Instructor Number One had mentioned before that Ling Lan¡¯s patience was of an abnormal level, except when she herself did not wish to tolerate something. It could be predicted that this stalemate of theirs where they continued to circle around each other would continue indefinitely. This caused many of the spectating students to lose their patience, leaving in droves, while a majority of the teachers also shifted their gazes from Ling Lan to observe the situation at some of the other arenas.


    Within the mindspace, Little Four had also be increasingly agitated at the current endless circling. "Boss, aren¡¯t you dizzy at all?" They¡¯ve already circled for around fifty to sixty circles, right?


    "I¡¯m fine. No dizziness at all." Ling Lan replied, self-mockingly. She was rather helpless to do anything about the current situation. It should be noted that during several of her attacks, she had intentionally exposed some small openings, but unfortunately, Wu Jiong¡¯s patience and self-discipline were both excellent, actually managing to resist the temptation to attack.


    "Boss, just KO him directly," urged Little Four. His boss could obviously finish this with just the tip of a finger, why did she have to make things soplicated? Little Four really didn¡¯t understand what Ling Lan was worrying about.


    KO directly? If only it were that easy. Ling Lan threw an angry re at Little Four, telling him to stop making this sort of useless suggestion.


    Ling Lan¡¯s distrust made Little Four very angry. His little cheeks immediately puffed up in anger, and his lips were puckered tightly in a deep pout. Huffily, he said, "Boss, why do you need to fight at his pace? Won¡¯t you be able to hit him if you just move faster?" Little Four knew Ling Lan¡¯s abilities very well ¡ª her attack speed could go even higher, so if she just raised it by a notch, this detestable punk before her would definitely be unable to dodge.


    Ling Lan was stunned for a moment, but then started chuckling wryly. She found that she had really wedged herself into a box ¡ª why did she have to target the opponent¡¯s weakness to attack? True, she possessed the ability to see the opponent¡¯s weakness with one look, allowing her to find the opponent¡¯s fatal weakness in the moment of the other¡¯s attack to defeat them. But that¡¯s not all she possessed. She still had her own strength, speed, and reflexes that were superior to the average person¡¯s. It was entirely possible for her to rely on these other things to steamroll her opponent ... this was the true disy of strength.


    "Little Four, you¡¯re really my good little brother. Thanks!" Ling Lan, who had resolved her dilemma, bestowed a wide smile upon Little Four, warm like the sun in winter, so warm that Little Four¡¯s little heart began pounding wildly, as he basked in this warmth that made people never want to leave.


    Little Four felt as if his entire being was suffused with warmth ¡ª his puffed up little cheeks deted, and the corner of his lips twitched upwards involuntarily.


    Her problem solved, Ling Lan did not hesitate to go out at full speed, and with a quick stomp of her feet, she used the force of the spring to dash towards Wu Jiong on the opposite side. At the same time, her fisted right hand punched out fiercely at the opponent.


    Wu Jiong was startled by this series of actions, but it was just a momentarypse. He quickly raised up both his hands into a blocking stance, preparing himself to block this powerful hit of Ling Lan¡¯s.


    Internally, Wu Jiong was very surprised and confused, because this attack sequence had already been used by Ling Lan at the start of the match, and he had blocked it perfectly then. An attack method that had already proven to be useless ... why did Ling Lan want to use it again?


    Wu Jiong couldn¡¯t figure it out, but he very quickly found out why. The same block, the same stance, the same speed ... expecting that he would be able to block it perfectly the same way, Wu Jiong was shocked to find that the fist heading straight for him suddenly ¡ª just when it was about 30 centimetres from his face ¡ª disappeared.


    Yes, the fist that had clearly been right in front of his eyes a moment ago, vanished from sight just like that.


    Absurdity! What in the world happened? Even as his mind struggled toprehend what had happened, Wu Jiong knew that he was in trouble.


    The thought had barely surfaced in his mind when he felt his left shoulder being struck by a heavy force. This force sent his body flying backwards uncontrobly, where he then started falling rapidly towards the ground.


    "Not good, I¡¯m hit!" The intense pain radiating from his left shoulder made Wu Jiong suck in a cold breath, however, he did not give up. Holding back the pain, he forced himself to twist in mid-air, discharging the force with a somersault tond firmly on the floor. He pressed his right hand to his left shoulder, swiftly checking on his injury.


    "Okay, it¡¯s just a muscle injury!" Wu Jiong was relieved. The force behind Ling Lan¡¯s blow hadn¡¯t been too strong, just inflicting a light surface wound, which wouldn¡¯t affect him in his following fights.


    However, Wu Jiong only had time to rejoice for a moment ¡ª right after he confirmed that he had only received a light wound, Ling Lan¡¯s next attack had arrived.


    "This time, I must be able to see the attack!" Wu Jiong was not convinced by thatst strike. He thought that his miss was because he had let down his guard a little; after all, he had managed to defend perfectly against that attack several times in the ten moves or so before it. He did not believe that he would make the same mistake again this time with his full focus engaged.


    But reality stunned Wu Jiong ¡ª this time, he not only did not see Ling Lan¡¯s attack movement, even Ling Lan himself disappeared from his sight.


    He saw it well ¡ª at about a distance of 3 metres away from him, Ling Lan¡¯s entire body suddenly disappeared.


    Goddammit, could it be that Ling Lan could also turn invisible? Wu Jiong couldn¡¯t help but curse internally. Of course, he knew this was impossible, and the reality was that Ling Lan¡¯s speed was too fast for his eyes to keep up with. Was this really possible?


    The few students who were still watching Ling Lan and Wu Jiong¡¯s match couldn¡¯t help but also yell out in shock at this time. Because, just like with Wu Jiong, Ling Lan had disappeared from their view. Of course, they could see much better ¡ª the split second after Ling Lan disappeared, he reappeared right in front of Wu Jiong, but because he was in a crouch, Wu Jiong did not see Ling Lan below him.


    Qi Long was so excited that his entire body was trembling. He clutched at Han Jijyun¡¯s hand and said, "Heavens, Boss has be stronger again. This speed ... it¡¯s just too goddamn cool."


    Hearing this, Luo Lang could only nod vigorously beside him. Both his eyes were trained on the match, unwilling to be distracted, afraid that he would miss an even more spectacr motion.


    "Be stronger again?" Han Jijyun was the only one who was doubtful. Ling Lan¡¯s performance didn¡¯t seem like he had suddenly be stronger, but was more like his strength had been unsealed.


    With a "Pow!", Wu Jiong once again flew through the air with a muffled grunt.


    "Ling Lan!" Everyone couldn¡¯t help but shout, for the crouching Ling Lan had directly thrown an upper kick to send the unprepared Wu Jiong straight up into the sky.


    The explosive strength from the legs was much stronger than strength from the arms, and this time, Wu Jiong was hit on his right shoulder. This time, it was no longer just a surface injury ¡ª after the initial sharp pain, Wu Jiong could only feel an expanse of numbness in his right shoulder; he could not feel his entire right arm anymore.


    Cold sweat broke out over his entire body. What was the condition of his right shoulder? Had his bones been shattered by the kick? Although the Federation had developed regenerative healing fluid, which could speed up the recovery process of wounds, shattered bones were not so easily fixed. An injury like that in the wrong ce could affect him for life.


    This kick of Ling Lan had looked fierce, but she had actually controlled her strength so that she would not cause longsting damage to Wu Jiong. Although she couldn¡¯t be certain that there wouldn¡¯t be any fractures in the bones, there would definitely be no serious injury such as breaks or shattering of the bones.


    "Pow! Pow! Pow!" Ling Lan¡¯s attack didn¡¯t stop there. Three consecutive meetings between fist and flesh ¡ª the airborne Ling Lan no longer gave Wu Jiong any chance of retaliating, directly striking him out of the arena perimeters to fall below the stage. Then, shended firmly on the arena stage, gaze impassive as she waited for the referee¡¯s final deration.


    Perhaps Ling Lan¡¯s attack speed had been too quick, or perhaps Ling Lan and Wu Jiong had dithered for too long in the early stages of the fight ¡ª whatever the case, the referee teacher responsible for the match actually froze in shock for a full 30 seconds.


    The scene was still and silent. No one dared to say a word in the face of Ling Lan¡¯s ferocity. His performance before and after were just too different that everyone was in disbelief. Just before, the twobatants were still circling each other endlessly, and now, within the blink of an eye, the oue was determined? That second-rank was so easily KO-ed? Was Ling Lan just ying around all this while?


    Everyone was speechless, unsure how they were supposed to face Ling Lan after this. They bemoaned in their hearts ¡ª why did such an aberrant existence like Ling Lan have to appear in their grade this year? He was so strong that they could not even imagine defeating him anymore.


    The teacher suddenly woke up and hurried to dere, "This match, Ling Lan advances. Congrattions to Ling Lan for entering the finals!"


    The referee teacher¡¯s deration caused Qi Long and the other two to cheer. And then, scattered apuse could be heard until the entire arena was filled with the sound of apuse. Even some of the upper grade seniors watching the match were also pping.


    Ling Lan was just too strong. After a brief bout of despondency, the first grade children were all convinced by Ling Lan¡¯s strength ¡ª the ideology of ¡¯survival of the fittest¡¯ made them acknowledge Ling Lan¡¯s supremacy.


    The apuse from the upper grade seniors wasn¡¯t out of acknowledgement for Ling Lan, but more in admiration of Ling Lan¡¯s sess in achieving an upset. The probability for a lower-ranking student to win all this way and advance into the finals was actually very, very low, and though it wasn¡¯t unheard of in the history of the scout academy, such urrences were fewer than few. But this year, people were shocked. Because two people managed to achieve upsets at the same time to advance into the finals. Undoubtedly, both Ling Lan and Qi Long had established a new record, a new history, at the Central Scout Academy.


    ********


    In the dean¡¯s office, two people were currently observing the match.


    "Old Xu, what do you think?" Smiling, the dean pointed at the cool-faced Ling Lan left standing on the stage.


    "Not bad, Ling Xiao truly has a worthy sessor now." The man called Old Xu was dressed in a trim military uniform, and the stars on his shoulders and the insignia on his chest told the world that he was a lieutenant general.


    Lieutenant General Xu asked pressingly, "Have you arranged an initiate teacher for the child? If you don¡¯t have a suitable candidate, I can arrange something."

 Chapter 88: Ling Xiaos Legacy?

    Chapter 88: Ling Xiao¡¯s Legacy?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    With a half-smile, the dean looked at Lieutenant General Xu. The teasing glint in his good friend¡¯s eyes caused Lieutenant General Xu¡¯s face to burn slightly, and he said embarrassedly, "Aren¡¯t I just concerned about Ling Xiao¡¯s child? So much that I¡¯ve forgotten this is your territory ... how could you not have made arrangements? I¡¯ve worried for nothing."


    "Being concerned for Ling Xiao¡¯s child is a good thing. How about this, why don¡¯t you pass me the thing that Ling Xiao left in your care?" The dean¡¯s smile was even deeper than before.


    Lieutenant General Xu didn¡¯t even have to think about it, refusing immediately. "No way. The item that Ling Xiao left with me before he was deployed may very well be the secret behind his ascension to god-ss operator. It belongs to the Federation, and to our military."


    The dean¡¯s smile disappeared. "Ling Xiao left me a message that that item is to be left for his child. Old Xu, don¡¯t cross the line. Ling Xiao sacrificed his life for the Federation ¡ª we cannot wrong him, and wrong his child."


    Lieutenant General Xu¡¯s expression turned a little ugly, and he said heavily, "That¡¯s why I¡¯ve been spending so much effort to protect this child, even raising his secrecy level, and finally sending him into your care. Besides, not giving him Ling Xiao¡¯s relic is also for his own safety. The legacy of a god-ss operator ... is something everyone would go crazy over. That child would not be able to protect it."


    "Xu Tingzhu! You godd*mn bastard!" The dean mmed his hands on the desk and stood up, no longer able to maintain hisposure.


    "Ye Yifan, calm down." Lieutenant General Xu red back just as fiercely. Over this matter, every time they met, they would leave on bad terms.


    "Calm down? I am already calm enough, tolerating you for six years. Right now is the time when this child needs guidance for initiation, and which instructor could be better than a god-ss operator? That is Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy!" said the dean seriously. "This is the right of Ling Xiao¡¯s son. He has the right to inherit everything of his father¡¯s."


    "I did not say that I wouldn¡¯t let the child inherit. Once we have deciphered it, we will reproduce a copy for him. He will still be able to obtain everything of Ling Xiao¡¯s." Lieutenant General Xu was very angry at his old friend¡¯s misunderstanding. He wasn¡¯t nning to rob Ling Lan of his rights, but only wished that Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy could be circted around the military, perhaps even bing standardized. It could be imagined how impactful that would be ¡ª the Federation¡¯sbat power would certainly get a swift boost, perhaps even bing a terrifying force powerful enough to be a deterrent for the bordering enemy nations. It should be known that Ling Xiao had been the youngest god-ss operator of the Federation who had advanced the fastest.


    The dean said mockingly, "It¡¯s been six years. Has your military department cracked any bit of it?"


    Lieutenant General Xu was silent. After 10 seconds, he replied solemnly, "I believe that, after another few years, we will definitely be able to decode it and obtain Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy."


    "Stop lying to yourself. You all have no idea what to do with that thing." Although the dean was just the dean of the Central Scout Academy, that didn¡¯t mean he was ignorant of all the news and secrets of the internal military.


    Having the truth thrown into his face by his old friend, Lieutenant General Xu¡¯s expression was a little awkward.


    The dean pretended not to notice Lieutenant General Xu¡¯s awkwardness and continued to say, "This proves that some activation condition must have been set on that thing by Ling Xiao. Perhaps only his sessor can activate it."


    Lieutenant General smiled bitterly at these words. In truth, he also knew that it was highly probable that that was the case, but he just couldn¡¯t let it go and wanted to try for a little longer. "I¡¯m also doing this for the future of the Federation. If we could just decrypt that thing, even if it doesn¡¯t result in another god-ss operator for the Federation, it could still help the Federation cultivate a countless number of high-level operators. If our luck is a bit better, even imperial operators are possible."


    The dean¡¯s tone gentled. "That¡¯s why, I have given you six years. If you all had cracked it, I would make a copy for Ling Lan, and consider Ling Xiao¡¯s will done. However, you all still have not cracked it, and Ling Xiao¡¯s child has now officially entered this academy. At the start of the next six months, he will have the right to enter the virtual world and ept initiate instruction. I have to pass on Ling Xiao¡¯s relic to that child so that he is not held back."


    Lieutenant General Xu was still nomittal. "Passing it on to that child, how far can he go? None of the children of a god-ss operator have been able to break past their limits to be a high-level operator. Even if we use agents to heavily cultivate them, advancement to ace operator level has already been considered a grand feat. But if the item remains with the military, once it¡¯s decrypted, there will be countless aces, even imperials! Old Ye, no matter how you look at it, it¡¯s more beneficial in my hands, just give me a little more time, alright?"


    With effort, the dean held back the rage within his chest, and said, "This is all based on the assumption that you all will be able to crack it. What if you all cannot crack it within your lifetimes? Or perhaps Ling Xiao has set it so that if it¡¯s not his sessor, it¡¯s impossible to obtain his legacy? Forcefully trying to crack it might trigger it to self-erase via formatting; that way, we won¡¯t be able to get anything at all. Not just that, we would also have caused Ling Xiao¡¯s child to lose out on obtaining his legacy. We cannot be that selfish."


    Lieutenant General Xu was a very tenacious person. Once he had decided on something, he typically would not change his mind easily. Even if everything the dean said was true, he still didn¡¯t want to ept the dean¡¯s words.


    The dean felt rather helpless. He also understood his good friend¡¯s personality ¡ª more susceptible to persuasion than coercion ¡ª so he thought of apromise. He said, "Old Xu, let¡¯s try a different method. Since your military department hasn¡¯t been able to crack it so far, then let¡¯s put it in the virtual world of the Central Scout Academy. We can allow all the children free ess to it, and let the children challenge it. Perhaps then, we might be able to obtain some unexpected rewards. You should know, the way children think is very imaginative and unrestrained,pletely beyond what we adults can do.


    "Also, hiding this thing among all the other open missions ¡ª I believe no one would imagine that this would be Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy. Even if Ling Xiao¡¯s child really obtains the legacy, there shouldn¡¯t be any danger."


    Hiding in in sight, was it? Lieutenant General Xu considered the n, weighing the potential costs and benefits. Seeing that Lieutenant General Xu was a little persuaded, the dean decided to add more fuel to the fire. He patted Lieutenant General Xu¡¯s shoulder and said, "Old Xu, don¡¯t forget, these children are truly the future of the Federation. No matter who obtains Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy, our Federation will have everything to gain and nothing to lose."


    Lieutenant General Xu was finally convinced, but he put forward a request, "That item has to remain under our monitoring."


    This way, no matter who obtained the legacy, they would be able to receive the inheritor¡¯s information immediately, so that they would be able to seek him out to get him to divulge the contents of the legacy, giving the Federation the means to be stronger.


    The dean thought for a moment, and then agreed, but suggested that before anyone managed to crack it, the monitoring staff may not have private contact with the world outside the academy. In other words, before there was any change, they would have to stay put within the academy as instructors and wash their hands of any messy and improper conduct.


    Lieutenant General Xu agreed to that in turn. After all, when their monitoring staff entered the Central Scout Academy, it was only reasonable to y by their host¡¯s rules.


    The two of them agreed on a time to transfer Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy, and then Lieutenant General Xu bid farewell and left.


    Seeing Lieutenant General Xu get onto a mecha and leave, the dean exhaled a shallow breath, and said softly, "Ling Xiao my boy, this is all I can do. Whether or not he can obtain your legacy will be all up to your son now."


    ********


    Ling Lan, who had just ended her match, could not know that in the dean¡¯s office just a few kilometres away, for the sake of her rights, two old men had gone through a spirited debate. Some parts of it were evenden with the stench of gunpowder 1 , but the dean had managed to win her the chance to obtain the legacy in the end.


    Ling Lan got off the arena stage and was immediately surrounded by Qi Long and the other two. Qi Long in fact had just pounced, but was kicked away by the conservative Ling Lan. She was still a virgin maiden, okay? How could she just let any man hug her so easily?


    As Wu Jiong¡¯s injury was a little severe, he had to lie down in a recovery healing pod for a length of time, so the 3rd and 4th rank determination battle would be dyed by half an hour. Meanwhile, Ling Lan and Qi Long¡¯s match would be held after Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie¡¯s match.


    Ling Lan¡¯s group of four was just about to go to the side to rest when, after taking just a few steps, Ling Lan felt that familiar tyrannical suctioning from the learning space.


    D*mmit, here we go again. Cold sweat poured from Ling Lan¡¯s forehead as she fought desperately against that suction force.


    Right now, she was a little confused ¡ª why would this awareness-sucking phenomenon of the learning space appear randomly in the light of day? Previously, it had always only happened when she was about to go to bed at night.


    Ling Lan knew she couldn¡¯t hold on for too long, so she tugged on Qi Long¡¯s arm and said, "Qi Long, I¡¯m not feeling so well. Quick, help me to a recovery pod."


    Due to her strong resistance against the suction, Ling Lan¡¯s face was extremely pale, causing Qi Long and the others to be very worried.


    Han Jijyun indicated for Qi Long to hurry up and help Ling Lan to the recovery pods, and asked concernedly, "Boss Lan, has the eleration you did earlier caused damage to your body?"


    Ling Lan was just cracking her head trying to think of an excuse for her strange condition when Han Jijyun unexpectedly delivered up this perfect excuse to her. She nodded and said, "Yes, that eleration movement draws on the body¡¯s energy, which is why I don¡¯t use it normally. But as long as the draw isn¡¯t too much, there isn¡¯t really a problem. I just need to lie down in a recovery pod for a while to recover."


    Ling Lan¡¯s reply reassured Qi Long and the others. Qi Long abruptly thought of something most important, and quickly opened his mouth to ask, "Then, for the match with meter, can you make it in time, Boss?"


    Ling Lan smiled wryly. She herself had no clue how long those few instructors within the learning space would hold her for this time ¡ª it might just be for a few minutes, but it could also be for a day, or even for several days and nights. Unable to say for certain, Ling Lan could only say ambiguously, "This depends on how much energy I have used up this time. If it¡¯s just a bit, then I¡¯ll be fine after a few minutes, but if it¡¯s more, I may not be able to make it to the final match."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Qi Long dete instantly. He had really been looking forward to fighting a great match with Boss Ling Lan.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan said sternly, "Qi Long, regardless of what happens, you must persevere. You must not make our grade one ss-A lose face."


    Hearing this, Qi Long was taken aback, unsure what Ling Lan was talking about.


    Han Jijyun understood however, and seeing Qi Long¡¯s face perplexed face, he hurried to exin, "Boss Lan means that if, in the end, you are the one to represent grade one ss-A to challenge the upper grades, you must not disgrace our ss-A."


    Qi Long understood then, and he nodded solemnly to show that he understood. "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m like a roachie 2 that can¡¯t be killed!"


    Although Qi Long wasn¡¯t sure what the ¡¯roachie¡¯ Ling Lan had mentioned before meant, he really liked how it was described as impossible to beat to death, thinking that the description fit him very well.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help butugh, though of course she kept her reason forughing to herself. However, she hadn¡¯tughed for long before her face paled even more. The force trying to suck Ling Lan¡¯s awareness into the learning space was gradually increasing in intensity, and Ling Lan almost didn¡¯t manage to resist it, almost fainting right then.


    Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s face bing even paler, Qi Long and the others no longer dared to talk to Ling Lan and affect him even more. Soon, they had rushed to the recovery pods which had been supplied by thebat hall for the students.


    Luo Lang hurriedly opened one of the recovery pods, and Qi Long and Han Jijyun supported Ling Lan to lie down in it. Ling Lan only had enough time to say a breathy ¡¯thanks¡¯, and then she could no longer resist the yet stronger pull and fainted on the spot.


    Qi Long saw Ling Lan close his eyes and enter a deep sleep, and then they slowly closed the recovery pod. Seeing the healing fluid envelop Ling Lan, their faces were writ with worry, but for now, all they could do was watch over him. There was nothing they could do to help Ling Lan but wait for him to recover. They only hoped that this time would go by faster.


    However, in the end, Ling Lan did not wake up in time, and so was absent for the final match. This was equal to a loss by forfeit.


    Qi Long became the grade one ss-A 1st-rank, and also received the right to challenge the upper grade ss-A top rank. This was the cross-grade challenge tournament that all the students were excited about.


    The cross-grade challenge tournament would begin tomorrow. Within thebat hall, there would be only one arena. The lowest grade would keep challenging upwards until he lost. Of course, he could also keep winning until he reached the final match, sessfully iming the peak to be the true scout academy number 1.


    Still, all the children of grade one ss-A knew that Ling Lan was the true top rank, the undisputed king of grade one ss-A. On this point, even Qi Long himself had no doubts.

 Chapter 89: The Mysterious Murals!

    Chapter 89: The Mysterious Murals!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    When Ling Lan, who had had her consciousness forcefully extracted, opened her eyes once more, she found that she wasn¡¯t in any particr instructor¡¯s training space, nor was she in the main hall of the learning space where Little Four was at. Instead, she was in an extremely dark and gloomy tunnel.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but frown. She wasn¡¯t a stranger to tunnels in the mind-space ¡ª once, one of Instructor Number Five¡¯s twisted experiments had been held in this sort of setting. Of course, that experience definitely could not be called pleasant, so Ling Lan was not a big fan of this sort of surroundings.


    Still, Ling Lan was also very clear on the fact that whether she liked it or not, she would have to stay put here. The learning space had never put anything up for negotiation.


    Ling Lan waited for a good long while, but no instructor presented themselves. The furrow of her brows deepened ¡ª what exactly was going on?


    "Hello, is anybody there? Instructor Number One? Instructor Number Five? Instructor Number Nine?" yelled out Ling Lan. She did not want to waste time here on this sort of endless waiting. Remember, on the outside, Qi Long was still waiting to fight a match with her, and she really didn¡¯t want to be a no-show.


    The only response Ling Lan received was a gradually fading echo from the tunnel; there was no human response. After some thought, Ling Lan raised her hand to rub at her forehead and said with a helpless tone, "Little Four, stop ying,e out now."


    She thought that this could be a prank by Little Four, but unfortunately, silence was still the only response Ling Lan received. And so Ling Lan was stumped. Could it be that she had guessed wrongly?


    Ling Lan¡¯s brows were scrunched up tightly as her gaze swept over her surroundings in hopes of being able to find some clue ¡ª if this was a test, the learning space would definitely provide some sort of hint.


    The lighting in the tunnel wasn¡¯t very good ¡ª she could only see for a distance of about 10 metres. All around her was a thick darkness, just like a ck hole capable of devouring everything, so still and quiet that she felt suffocated.


    Ling Lan took several slow steps forwards, and it suddenly got even darker. Ling Lan squinted her eyes, trying to get her eyes adapted quicker to the meagre light that was almost darkness. Ling Lan thought that it would be dark all along the tunnel, but unexpectedly, it got subtly brighter right in front of her as she shuffled along, and then she found that two metres ahead, on the wall on her right-hand side, there was a small tform jutting out, with a small oilmp sitting on it. Themp was emitting a feeble light, lighting up the area around it for several metres.


    "How stingy. Couldn¡¯t they have put out a bigger one? A brighter one?" Ling Lan was a bit disgruntled. As a girl, she really hated the dark.


    Ling Lan¡¯s grumbles had just faded when her face went ck in surprise. She had noticed that she was surrounded by thick darkness once again, not a trace of light visible.


    "Seems like, this tunnel has a curve to it." Only that could exin why her sight could be obscured, preventing her from seeing the light of the next oilmp.


    Ling Lan continued to move forwards. When she once again entered the ce where the light was the darkest, she saw something from the corner of her eye which made her let out an involuntary cry of surprise. She felt as if the wall at that section was not the same as what she saw earlier ¡ª an even t sheet ¡ª but instead had highs and lows as if marked with something.


    Could it be that the wall contained some secret? Or perhaps the information of the test? Ling Lan felt a surge of excitement. She quickly retreated back to where the oilmp was, and with a leap through the air, she plucked down the oilmp from its tform.


    "Looks like there was a reason for setting out oilmps that can be removed. I actually overlooked that. Luckily my sight is amazing, letting me see things that most people can¡¯t, so I didn¡¯t miss it in the end." Even as Ling Lan congratted herself, she became even more cautious. She had sensed that the test set by the learning space this time was not easy ¡ª no instructions from the instructors, and also no hints from the system. She even suspected that, if she hadn¡¯t discovered the key point hidden on the walls, she might very well have gone around in never-ending circles in the tunnel, until she managed to find it ¡ª or perhaps, if she never managed to find it, she would be here until she died ...


    Ling Lan shook her head vigorously, telling herself to stop scaring herself. She lifted the oilmp and continued onwards with a hand on the wall. Finally, the uneven section of wall she had noticed revealed itself before her ... it turned out to be a realistic lifelike mural.


    Ling Lan lifted the oilmp high, and rays of light shone over the mural to disy it in its entirety before her eyes.


    And then, Ling Lan felt a rush of killing intent assault her senses, making her draw in a cold breath. On the mural, corpses littered a wild in. Their bodies were broken and battered, and on those corpses whose faces were still distinguishable, one expression was vividly portrayed ¡ª¡ª terror, a profound terror born from extreme despair.


    And in the centre of this in piled with corpses, a person stood tall. He was looking at everything surrounding him with a smile on his face, as if in admiration, but also as if he were enjoying thisvish feast of bloody carnage before his eyes. At the same time, gripped in his hands, was the head of an infant still in its swaddling clothes. His fingers had already sunk into the infant¡¯s flesh, causing countless rivulets of fresh blood to flow down and obscure the infant¡¯s face ...


    Ling Lan felt a chill prate her heart. She could clearly sense the emotions of the ruthless killer in the image. There was no frenzy, nor was there any distortion in his rationality ¡ª instead, there was a sort of extreme calm. He was thoroughly enjoying all of this ¡ª killing people was just another game ¡ª there was no semnce of humanity within him.


    Could this person still be considered human? Ling Lan held back her difort and continued to walk. After another 10 metres or so, another mural appeared. It waspletely different from the previous one. This time, the image was packed with a horde of live people. They were prostrated on the ground, with quite a few of them looking up towards somewhere high above. Although the expressions on their nted faces were all different, there was one point they all had inmon ¡ª their eyes were all filled with a zealous reverence. And their focus was at the highest point of the mural. A human being, fashioned like a deity, was holding onto a staff, smiling benevolently down at all of his believers at his feet.


    Unsure why, Ling Lan, who should have felt warmed and calmed by this picture, again felt a chill run through her. She couldn¡¯t help but feel that that deity¡¯s smile carried a type of mockery and contempt; as if within his eyes, all he saw were a multitude of ants.


    Ling Lan¡¯s brows drew even closer together. What were these murals trying to tell her? Ling Lan knew that the learning space would not give out useless images. If there was no meaning to them, the two walls of the tunnel would be smooth and unblemished, not to mention how concealed the murals were.


    Ling Lan was not someone to think herself into knots. Since she couldn¡¯t figure it out now, then she would just continue moving onwards to find the answer.


    Subsequently, more murals appeared one after another, bringing Ling Lan through demonic realms, fantasy dreamscapes, spiritual nes, and also bestial wildernesses ... all kinds of strange and fascinating worlds presented themselves before Ling Lan one by one. Even as Ling Lan was awed and stunned by all of them, her confusion grew ¡ª what exactly were all these seemingly unrted murals driving at?


    Just like that, Ling Lan skimmed over all these murals one by one. After approximately half an hour, when the countless murals were starting to make Ling Lan¡¯s eyes cross and head spin, yet another new mural appeared.


    This time, Ling Lan found her steps stopping as she eximed loudly in surprise because this mural waspletely different from any of the others she had seen previously. It was not depicting the story of any gods or demons, but chronicled the life of a regr human being.


    Indeed, it was a long mural split into six panels, and though the images on the six panels were different, they all featured the same protagonist.


    In the first panel, he had a confident smile on his face, and his eyes danced with excitement. Carrying his own weapon, a bastard sword, slung over his back, he walked out of his own world. In the picture, behind the protagonist was a golden paddy field ¡ª it was harvest season, a peaceful refuge.


    In the second panel, he came to a world buffeted by foul winds and bloody rain. He saw hell on earth, as a group of bandits raped and piged a random vige. Young and filled with a sense of righteousness, he was enraged, drawing out the bastard sword from behind his back to sh with the bandits.


    The story was picked up closely in the third panel. At his back, countless youths followed his lead, lifting all kinds of weapons to fight back, finally killing every single one of the bandits. And then, since the vige had already been destroyed, the survivors all willingly decided to apany him on his travels.


    In the fourth panel, the group helped many other people who needed simr help. They lifted their weapons to defend themselves and to defend others, and here, the people gathered around the protagonist had increased.


    In the fifth panel, two different camps of people were warring with each other. The protagonist was standing in the middle of one of the camps, his bastard sword lifted high above him, pointed at the enemy as he shouted to attack. Countless warriors followed his lead into battle, courageously charging at the enemy.


    In the final panel, he had ascended the dragon¡¯s throne which represented the right to rule. He was smiling, while the warriors who had followed him faithfully by his side had their arms raised high as they cheered. Joy and excitement were written all over their faces, for they had managed to defeat all the enemies that had threatened them, and established the utopia they had dreamed of ...


    "Achieving sess and establishing a legacy?" Ling Lan wondered at this strange turn ¡ª after all, the previous murals had all depicted stories of spirituality, gods and demons ¡ª it was a bit hard to take this suddenne-shift into a record of the struggles of a human. Ling Lan only paused for a moment; when she finished looking over the entire mural, she chose to continue moving forwards.


    She had only taken a few steps when she abruptly stopped, and as if thinking of something, she quickly backtracked to return to that image on the first panel. In short order, she skipped to the sixth panel, and then Ling Lan¡¯s initially calm face turned grim in an instant.


    "Is this image trying to tell me ... about the corruption of a human heart? Gaining power, but losing one¡¯s true self in the process? Is it worth it or is it not worth it? Or perhaps there is yet some other deeper meaning?" Ling Lan¡¯s brows became even more tightly furrowed. The smile of the protagonist in the first panel was sincere and enthusiastic, and very warm. But by the sixth panel, the same smile had already be fake and superficial, even cold.


    Ling Lan stared closely at the protagonist¡¯s smile on the sixth panel, and the more she stared the more strange and unsettled she felt. Perhaps Ling Lan had stared too long, for she felt as if the smile on the protagonist¡¯s face was growing wider and wider, and at the same time, the chill emanating from the depths of his eyes seemed to be ever more palpable. It got to the point where Ling Lan could vaguely sense a surge of killing intent.


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart skipped a beat ¡ª but just as she thought to jump away from the mural, she found that her body could no longer move.


    F*ck! What in the world was happening? Why couldn¡¯t she move?


    Right then, Ling Lan noticed that, within the mural, an odd streak of ck had appeared on the protagonist¡¯s originally grey-white eyes, and was rapidly expanding to epass the entire mural. Soon, the mural had be a terrifying vortex of swirling darkness, and unsurprisingly, the immobilised Ling Lan was directly sucked into it.

 Chapter 90: Evolution Mission!

    Chapter 90: Evolution Mission!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Ling Lan could only feel herself tumbling and being tugged every which way within the ck vortex, and then she was swiftly sucked into a bottomless ck hole. She felt as if she was travelling through the ck hole ¡ª perhaps it was for only one second, or perhaps a long time had passed, like maybe an hour, or even a day.


    Ling Lan¡¯s awareness became somewhat dulled and just as she was nking out, light shed before her eyes, and she was spat out from the ck vortex.


    Ling Lan felt herself falling rapidly. At this time, Ling Lan could see that she had arrived at an unknown small valley and was now hurtling down towards a small grassy hillside.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know if this patch of grass was potentially dangerous, so she took in a deep breath, and using her developed core strength, she swept her right foot down several times, sending several strong gusts of wind flying down towards the grass. These winds thoroughly ruffled the grass below, sending the wild hares hiding within scattering in fright, with even several ground rodents among them.


    The possibility of there being a hidden swamp or traps ¡ª none! The possibility of concealed venomous insects and other dangerous pests ¡ª infinitely close to zero!


    In that split second, Ling Lan determined that the spot she was about tond on was safe, and so she freely allowed her body to fall. Still, she remained cautious, for Ling Lan knew that in an unknown world, there would also be unknown dangers.


    Afternding safely, Ling Lan carefully observed the surroundings of hernding point. Seeing that there really was no danger, only then did she take the time to take a closer look at the beautiful valley before her.


    The view in the valley was breathtaking. On the distant hillsides, countless trees grew ¡ª a patch of gold here, a patch of vibrant red there, and verdant greens were everywhere. At the foot of the hills, the thick grass was interspersed with wild flowers in a variety of colours, swaying gracefully in the wind.


    There was also a small brook that weaved among the flowering meadow, concealed by the surroundings in some parts while clearly disyed in others. Like this, it had a sort of bashful beauty, a somewhat elusive quality about it. But nearer to her side, the brook suddenly widened considerably, bing a small river which was neither too deep nor too shallow, and there were even some palm-sized fish frolicking within it.


    On the river bank, clusters of multi-coloured wild flowers were scattered across the ground, and as the river water flowed over cobblestones of varying hues, the beauty of the flowers entwined with the radiance of the shimmering water, the splendour of each enhancing the other. Just like that, her eyes were treated to an idyllic portrait of a fairy-talend, giving Ling Lan the mistaken impression that she had returned to the Earth of her previous life ...


    Although back then she had only seen such beautiful scenery online, she still remembered how enchanting those images were.


    Now, in this current world, it was already impossible to see this sort of beautiful natural scenery. The more advanced technology was, the more damage was done to the environment. Even though the Federation now had countless inhabitables which resembled Earth, it was impossible to find scenery as beautiful as that which had once existed on Earth.


    By the brook there was also a small footpath, meandering off into the distance in two directions. This proved that this valley was not uninhabited, otherwise there would not be such a path.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan was undoubtedly d, because this meant that she would be able to find out quickly where she was, or perhaps find out what she was supposed to do next.


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s entry method this time was rather strange, she had already determined that she must have entered one of the specially designated missions of the learning space. Only when shepleted the mission would she be able to return once more to the great hall of the learning space, or perhaps to one of the instructors¡¯ training spaces.


    In fact, Ling Lan was very suspicious. This hint-less setup, where one had to rely solely on one¡¯s own ability in a wild goose chase, was very much like something the insane Instructor Number Five would cook up. Only he would do such an irresponsible thing ¡ª throwing her into the mission realm without any notice. If it were Number One or Number Nine, they would definitely meet up with her first to give her some guidelines.


    Of course, this was all just Ling Lan¡¯s spection and could not be confirmed. She would have to first finish this mission and return before she could find out for sure. So, the first thing Ling Lan needed to do was find out what her mission was this time, otherwise she wouldn¡¯t be able to take the next step. This was currently Ling Lan¡¯s biggest problem. It wasn¡¯t like before, when the instructors would exin the mission, or when the system would announce the parameters. This time, it was clear that she had to rely on her own investigation and judgement.


    Were those murals a hint for part of the mission? For some reason, Ling Lan just could not put those murals out of her mind ¡ª there was just something about them that made her think that they were a key point, but in what way exactly, Ling Lan just could not say.


    Since she couldn¡¯t glean anything from the murals right now, she would just look for some new clues in this ce first.


    Her mind made up, Ling Lan started moving. She first looked at the direction of the river flow, and then started walking along the footpath, heading in the direction of the source of the brook. Ling Lan really liked to start from the beginning. That way, she believed that regardless of whether she wanted to search or to solve a problem, the order would be systematic, and it wouldn¡¯t be as easy to miss anything.


    Just like that, Ling Lan slowly followed the path to wind up those little slopes. She ascended step by step, and after about 30 minutes, when Ling Lan turned a corner along the footpath, she saw arge mountain in the near distance. At a nce, she could see that the path would end abruptly before that mountain.


    This way should be a dead end! If she wanted to save time, Ling Lan should just turn back now, and search for clues in the other direction. Brows furrowed, Ling Lan looked towards the mountain, considering whether she should just turn back here.


    "Ling Lan, you must remember, there is no such thing as ¡¯almost¡¯ in the study of physical skills, and there are definitely no shortcuts. Through hard training, knowing means mastering everything ¡ª if not everything is mastered then it means you do not know. There are only these two categories, no other." Instructor Number Nine¡¯s clear voice suddenly rang out in Ling Lan¡¯s mind in recollection.


    Back then, when she was still learning the foundational physical skills, Instructor Number Nine had asked her whether she knew them yet. Being cautious, Ling Lan had replied by saying that she ¡¯almost¡¯ knew them.


    This answer caused Instructor Number Nine to give her a good long lecture, warning her that she should make sure everything she does is really at 100% before thinking of her next step.


    100% confirmation, is it? Ling Lan scratched her head and released a quiet sigh, giving up on the notion of heading back. There shouldn¡¯t be a time limit for this mission. In that case, she might as well run to the end and see. Ling Lan knew that if she didn¡¯t take the effort to make sure, she would not be at ease.


    Ling Lan continued onwards towards the towering mountain, and after approximately half an hour, Ling Lan finally arrived at the base of the mountain.


    This mountain had a curve to it, curving inwards and causing an oval plot of t ground to appear before it. On the plot ofnd were many trees of varying heights and sizes. Some of the trees were iparably thick, having already grown here for who knows how many centuries, perhaps even millenniums.


    Meanwhile, it had only taken one nce for Ling Lan¡¯s eyes to light up, because she had noticed an almost imperceptibly small path winding into the forest. This was all thanks to Number One who had previously made her stay in a primordial deep forest for several months, leading her to learn how to find those very well-hidden yet safe paths, no matter if they were created by wild beasts or herself.


    The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked up into a smile. So it was true that 100% confirmation was needed for anything, otherwise too many chances would have easily slipped by unnoticed.


    With a light heart, Ling Lan stepped into the woods. Following that concealed pathway, she walked past this short 30 metres of forestednd, and what met her sight was a tiny fissure, so small that it could have been missed, right at the bottom section of the mountain.


    This fissure was so thin and narrow that it would have been unnoticeable from a distance. Even at a closer distance, without going through those tall, imposing trees blocking her line of sight, it would have been impossible to see it.


    A strand of sky 1 , was it?


    It truly was extremely concealed ¡ª the trick with the line of sight, along with the trap of habitual thinking, would easily cause most people to overlook it. Ling Lan herself had almost given up halfway through, but luckily she had remembered Instructor Number Nine¡¯s teachings, which had made her persist in her efforts.


    Ling Lan¡¯s felt a stirring of emotion; perhaps the hint she needed would be inside this ce? Or perhaps the answer?


    Ling Lan slowly approached the fissure. Sure enough, it was a strand of sky ¡ª the fissure would only allow a person of average build to pass through it. If someone a little plumper would like to go through, they would probably have to make some special preparations before they could do so.


    Of course, for Ling Lan, there was no problem at all. Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual appearance was currently that of a six year old child. At the very beginning when Ling Lan had first entered the learning space, Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual self had yet to mergepletely with her current body, so her spiritual avatar had looked like her old self from the previous world for a period of time. But after that, as she grew older and the mergepleted sessfully, Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual avatar had slowly matched up with her outer appearance, so she now looked exactly the same inside the learning space as she did in the outside world.


    Ling Lan sessfully went through the strand of sky, and unexpectedly, there was another valley within the valley. The first thing she saw was argeke ¡ª it was likely that thiske was the source of the little stream she had followed along the way here, while the water source for theke must be the snow melting from the surrounding mountains reaching up to the sky.


    Ling Lan skirted the edges of theke, which was emitting wisps of cold air, and continued following the path. After walking for another two to three minutes, an expanse of glinting gold came into view, causing Ling Lan to squint involuntarily.


    This was arge paddy field, which could be described as stretching as far as the eye could see. When the wind of the valley swept by, a golden wave would roll through the field. Right now was the harvest season of the valley, and Ling Lan had the sudden urge to rush into the fields and gather up all that bountiful grain ...


    Erm, themoner mentality of her previous world was acting up again, influencing her thoughts and emotions. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at herself.


    Just as Ling Lan was about to continue moving on, a thought shed through her mind. She recalled the mural that had caused her to be sucked into the ck hole ¡ª in the first panel of that mural, wasn¡¯t there a paddy field just like this?


    Could it be that she was now within the world on that mural?


    This was actually highly probable! Since she had been sucked in by that mural, then it would makeplete sense for her to have entered its world. If this deduction was correct, Ling Lan would have to think ¡ª what exactly did the learning space want her to do by sending her into this world?


    Thinking back on the protagonist¡¯s smile in that first panel and in the final panel, about how the two smiles appeared so simr yet conveyed such different meaning, Ling Lan felt as if she were on the edge of an epiphany. Did her mission have something to do with those smiles?


    Ling Lan had just thought of this when a mechanical voice rang out from the skies of the valley above her, "Congrattions, you have identified the vital clue. Now assigning the learning space¡¯s exclusive mission ¡ª seek out your correct evolution pathway!"

 Chapter 91: Test or Choice?

    Chapter 91: Test or Choice?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Right after the announcement by the system, arge ck vortex appeared once more before Ling Lan and sucked her in without any fanfare.


    F*ck, again?! Ling Lan was speechless; couldn¡¯t the learning space be a little more gentle? However, having experienced it once, Ling Lan was no longer as flustered this time.


    It was still impossible to pin down a sense of time, but when a brightness shed before Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, she knew that she was about to be disgorged.


    Sure enough, just like the first time, she was spat out into the air, but this time Ling Lan was ready for it. Shended on her feet in an absolutely elegant pose; Ling Lan decisively gave an internal cheer for her own outstanding performance.


    Of course, the check beforending was still necessary, for Ling Lan had not forgotten the sly ways of the learning space ... yep, it was definitely sly to the extreme. Ling Lan, who had fallen for its traps more than once at the beginning, had by now already learned the basic instinct of maintaining her vignce at all times.


    The spot where Ling Lan hadnded on was a deste hillside. Thepletely exposed yellow soil no longer contained any of the flourishingly beautiful vigour of life of the mountain valley, but was all dried and yellow cracked earth, with hardly any of the greenery which represented life. At a nce, there was only bleakness and destion, and even an almost suffocating sense of despair.


    Even more frighteningly, a weathered old road weaving through thend was already stained with a sheet of red, the way littered with corpses.


    Not too far from Ling Lan, some frightened people were running in desperation, while a group of frenzied men chased them from behind with swords and knives in hand.


    Ling Lan could see that this was definitely the scene from the second panel. Only now, the protagonist from the image was missing, while Ling Lan herself had been added.


    Was this a test? Were they looking to see what choice she would make? To be an emissary of justice, or to remain as a cold-hearted observer?


    Taking joy in helping others was a good thing ¡ª Ling Lan felt that this was the basics of being a good person. However, there was a prerequisite to this. Before helping, she had to consider whether she had the ability to help, and also whether the other was someone worthy of her help.


    For instance, these people before her right now, those folks running away ¡ª were they worth her help? Also, how strong were those people carrying weapons? Were they good or bad?


    Ling Lan, who was standing high up at the top of the slope, looked down at the bloody scene below with a cold expression, as if she could see none of the loss of life going on.


    Why? Why did those people just think of running, and did not even try to fight back? Ling Lan¡¯s emotions were a little conflicted, somewhat sympathetic and filled with hate for the attackers, yet also a little disappointed with the victims. In fact, those people running away were not much fewer in numbers than those chasing them ¡ª if they had really wanted to fight back, the situation wasn¡¯t entirely hopeless.


    Ling Lan looked at the person right at the front of those escaping, and saw that the person¡¯s eyes were filled with a desire to live so intense that it had turned into a fervour which cared nothing for the costs incurred in its pursuit. And abruptly, Ling Lan felt as if she understood.


    When faced with a situation where their life hangs in the bnce, humans would reflexively choose the path which they feel is the safest and most dependable. Like right now, in this sort of desperate situation, as long as he could run just a little faster than the other people, the man would be able to escape from the range of the ughter, which meant that he had the hope of surviving ...


    This was basic human instinct, a deeply concealed inner ugliness. It was a demon that would be released in this sort of desperate times.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help butugh, the soundced with mockery. Wasn¡¯t this just another version of survival of the fittest?


    Unfortunately ... Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned to those killers giving chase. The contempt and cruel joy in their eyes were unmistakable. All this just proved that no matter how hard the people tried to run, it was useless. All of those people trying to escape would not be able to outrun the killers¡¯ des. The killers were just whetting their appetite for the kill by first ying a game of cat-and-mouse, enjoying the spectacle of ants disying the baseness of their humanity.


    Ling Lan suddenly thought of the invasion of Japanese troops into China in her previous world. The Kwantung Army of a mere twenty thousand men had actually managed to conquer the entire Northeast China. This result was undoubtedly ludicrous ¡ª just the total poption within those provinces was enough to tten the Kwantung Army several times over. So why had they been able to invade and take control so easily? Was there the same baseness of humanity at y then?


    Ling Lan shook her head andughed in spite of herself, and cast off all the stray thoughts in her mind. The current Ling Lan was only the Ling Lan of this life; the previous world did not concern her anymore.


    Just then, at the very back of the pack, an older man finally could not evade the swords any longer. He fell to the ground, but at the same time, he gave a strong shove to the young man who had been dragging him along all this time as they ran ...


    "Xiaolong, run quickly!" Knowing that he had no hopes of survival, the old man grabbed onto one of the chasing killers as they stepped over him. He held on with a death grip, and his face was filled with a savage sort of release.


    The young man who had been shoved forwards did not dare to stop, and could only keep running forwards with all his strength, tears streaming down his face. He could not let this chance gifted by his rtive go to waste.


    The old man was swiftly killed under the hacking of des, and one of the killers spat on his corpse as he pulled back his sword, and said scornfully, "Thinking to survive from our des? In his f*cking dreams."


    A dream, was it? Ling Lan¡¯s right hand surreptitiously slipped a sharp dagger from the side of her calf. She held the hilt in an inverted grip, with the end of the hilt between her thumb and index finger. Meanwhile, her left hand pulled out an extremely short tri-edge trench knife. She had decided that she would help these escapees ¡ª the actions of that old man before his death proved that they were not cowards; it was just that there was no one to spark their rage and courage.


    Perhaps Ling Lan¡¯s killing intent was too strong, for one of the killers who was in the midst of enjoying his ughter suddenly turned to look in Ling Lan¡¯s direction. Of course, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t nning to hide. Just like that, she stood high above and watched them, waiting for them to move.


    Those people saw that it was a just a child, and their faces filled with glee. After killing so many adults, they had gotten a little sick of it ... perhaps this pitiful little rabbit would bring them more satisfaction. The first killer pointed Ling Lan out to the men beside him and indicated for them to bring the child over.


    One of the men leapt out from the crowd and headed towards Ling Lan. Seeing this, Ling Lan suddenly turned and ran. This reaction was just too normal ¡ª when a child saw something or someone that frightened them, this was what they would do.


    This movement of Ling Lan¡¯s also drew the attention of the runners, and Ling Lan could then clearly hear several shocked cries, as well as several shrill voices urging her to run faster!


    So, even as their humanity was on the brink of crumbling, these people still retained a smidgen of care for the young? Humans, as expected, were extremelyplicated. Even though it was obvious that they couldn¡¯t even help themselves in this scenario, seeing an even weaker being in peril, they couldn¡¯t help but be concerned.


    However, the moment did not allow Ling Lan to ponder this any further. The killer who had split off from the group was already close, having run up the slope.


    "Little baby rabbit, stop running. Come quietly and follow your gramps back, so we can y together ..." The man¡¯s face was filled with excitement, and his tongue actually slipped out to lick at his lower lip. He was thinking of the ways he would torment this poor little wretch that seemed so pitiable, and was truly very pitiable.


    Originally, Ling Lan had decided to just kill the other here, because she had already drawn the opponent to a blind spot out of view of the other people, but when she heard this, she changed her mind. She decided not to do anything, and let the other capture her.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t going to let any of them go. She wanted to keep all of them right here. To do this, it wouldn¡¯t be easy. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know if the opponent had something that could transmit messages instantly. If she made a move, and the person had reflexes quick enough to send out information on her to the rest of his group, it wouldn¡¯t be good.


    It was true that Ling Lan wanted to help these people, but she also didn¡¯t want to bring trouble on herself. To avoid this, she would have to kill all the enemies here instantly. If these people were unprepared, she was confident that she could get them all in one go. But how could she make them lower their guard to let her draw close ... ? That had been Ling Lan¡¯s only problem, and now, with this, the problem was no longer a problem.


    Ling Lan screamed as she was grabbed by the other. She struggled desperately, but how could her tiny body escape the powerful grip of an adult man? The man cheerfully dragged Ling Lan back to his group. Behind him, the tri-edge knife in Ling Lan¡¯s left hand was already positioned over the other¡¯s heart ¡ª at any strange movement, her knife would be thrust without mercy into the other.


    "Chief, here¡¯s a cute little mouse." The beast holding onto Ling Lan threw her directly before his leader, where Ling Lan cowered and peered at them fearfully.


    Meanwhile, those people running away had also been surrounded by some of the other killers, who were herding them towards Ling Lan¡¯s direction. Sure enough, the killers had just been ying around with these poor people, giving them the false impression that they had any chance of survival.


    From the corner of her eyes, Ling Lan saw the despair on the ash-pale faces of the people being herded back at sword point. The opponents¡¯ sudden burst of speed let them know once and for all that they had never had any hope to begin with, and so, they gave up on themselves.


    Why did they have to give up? Were they not willing to even try? Failure and giving up were what Ling Lan hated the most. Your life was your own ¡ª even if it had to end, shouldn¡¯t it be of your own choice?


    "Doesn¡¯t look like someone from their vige. He really looks so fresh and lovely." The leader immediately noticed how different Ling Lan waspared to the others. His brows drew in slightly, and there was some doubt and suspicion in his eyes.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression stayed unchanging ¡ª other than fright, there was just more fright ¡ª it perfectly encapsted how a six year old child would react when faced with strangers, when faced with danger ... Yup, thank you very much to Instructor Number Five, for teaching her all these random useless things ... now they were actually useful.


    "Perhaps it¡¯s a child from a merchant group. Didn¡¯t we just rob and kill a merchant group yesterday on the old road?" One of the men didn¡¯t think it was a problem. It was quite normal after all for some people to slip through while they were busy robbing.


    His subordinate¡¯s words cleared up the leader¡¯s concerns, though he really wasn¡¯t all that concerned to begin with, and had only been a little puzzled. After all, what harm could a five or six year old child do? Even if the child had a kitchen knife, it was a bigger worry whether the child would cut themselves.


    "True, true, then let us have some fun." The leader¡¯s words made the men around him burst out into raucousughter. Some of them were even itching to get started, eager to personally torment this pitiable little mouse. Wouldn¡¯t extreme terror look interesting on a child¡¯s face?


    Meanwhile, the other people who had been chased over to observe didn¡¯t dare to make a sound, afraid that if they made any noise, they would be the one to be tortured and killed instead.


    Of course, some of them even had the guilty thought that perhaps if this child could satisfy the perverse appetites of these demons, maybe they wouldn¡¯t be killed ...


    Ling Lan had not pinned any hopes on these people to begin with, but unexpectedly, someone within the group actually tried to beg for mercy on her behalf. "I beg you, please let him go. He¡¯s just a child ..."


    From the corner of her eyes, Ling Lan saw that the one who spoke was the young man who had been pushed by the old man. His face was full of entreaty, though of course, more despair ¡ª perhaps he too knew that speaking out was useless, but he had still chosen to open his mouth at a bid for that almost non-existent chance of hope.

 Chapter 92: Massacre In Progress!

    Chapter 92: Massacre In Progress!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Haha, punk, such pretty words ... then, would you like to die first in his ce?" The head stared at the young man in amusement. He was truly interested to see if there really was someone who would be willing to trade their life to save apletely unrted stranger.


    How could that be possible! Ling Lan knew very well that she herself would never do such a thing. She also didn¡¯t believe that there would be someone so saintly that they would willingly give their life for a stranger. However, the youth¡¯s reply stunned Ling Lan. For a moment, she even thought that she was experiencing an auditory hallucination.


    That young man had actually stated that he was willing to trade his life.


    F*ck! Darn learning space, couldn¡¯t it present a slightly more normal scenario? Ling Lan scorned it mentally, but it couldn¡¯t be denied that her heart had sped up for a beat at the moment she had heard this answer. Perhaps her heart also couldn¡¯t understand how an imbecile like this could exist in this dimension?


    "Haha, little mouse, looks like you have pretty great luck! Someone¡¯s actually willing to die in your ce." The head patted Ling Lan¡¯s face, and lifted his head to chortle, "Shouldn¡¯t you properly thank that big brother?" The young man¡¯s unexpected response had thoroughly amused the head, giving him a taste of something new. Of course, he was even dder to destroy and push these two people before him into the depths of despair.


    "Come, as thanks, you¡¯ll have to smile and watch as my subordinates slowly peel his skin off ..." The head savagely twisted Ling Lan¡¯s head to face the young man. Meanwhile, the young man had already been propped up by tworge men, while another, licking the polished knife in his hand, looked as if he was considering which part of the young man he should start cutting from.


    When the people being forced to kneel saw this scene, their faces filled with terror. Some of them were even filled with disbelief, unable toprehend why the young man would try to save a strange child, and even be willing to be subjected to such inhumane torture for the child¡¯s sake before his death.


    On the side of the killers, all of their attention were now on the young man. They had revelled in this sort of scenario all along ¡ª seeing the pain and despair of a person and listening to their wails before they died excited them. Even the head¡¯s attention was on the young man,pletely forgetting about Ling Lan within his grasp.


    This was a chance! With everyone¡¯s attention on the young man, Ling Lan knew that the best moment for her to strike had arrived.


    Ling Lan¡¯s head remained still, but her arms twisted and bent to an extremely bizarre degree, breaking past the physical limits of the human body. The dagger in her hand then swung down mercilessly at the head still holding onto her face.


    The head was guffawing as his subordinate slowly neared the young man, staring delightedly at the young man¡¯s desperate struggles. He was anticipating the scene when the young man would finally crumble, when he would scream and cry about how much he regretted his choice ... then suddenly, he felt a cold sh at his throat, and then the scene in front of him was spinning.


    He saw his subordinates, as they busied themselves making preparations to kill and maim those pitiful ants. He even saw the pitiable little mouse in his hands, who was strangely standing beside a very familiar body. But of course, most surprisingly, that body did not have a head ...


    Head? Familiar? Wasn¡¯t that his body? He was falling apart in his shock ¡ª what the hell had just happened?


    Ling Lan had seeded in one move, and without any hesitation, she broke the grip of the palm still holding onto her, and leapt at the few killers nearest to her. They still hadn¡¯t noticed that their head had been killed, and was currently happily watching as theirpanion threatened and tormented that self-sacrificing young man.


    In order not to attract the attention of those at the front, Ling Lan kept a tight control on her speed. She didn¡¯t move as fast as she could, but made sure to watch her shadow, and moved with a stealthy silence. Several times she flickered, and another few people had their throats callously shed by Ling Lan¡¯s dagger.


    As blood gushed violently from their gaping throats, their mouths were muffled tightly by Ling Lan as they died. They did not have any chance to sound a warning, to tell theirpanions that a death god was approaching from their backs.


    Frankly, Ling Lan¡¯s throat-shing technique was a learning space exclusive method ¡ª when she had cut the lifeline in their throats, she had also cut off their ability to speak. However, just to make sure there were no mistakes, Ling Lan still decided to cover their mouths.


    The young man who was facing Ling Lan was the only one who could see all this clearly. His eyes bulged, and his expression turned to one of stunned disbelief, and even his initially struggling body abruptly stilled.


    This strange reaction caused all the observing killers to pause in astonishment. Subconsciously, they prepared to turn and look, to see what exactly was going on behind them to elicit such a reaction from the young man, to the point that he would forget about his own imminent death ...


    What a dumb pig of a teammate!


    Ling Lan decisivelybelled the young man as ¡¯dumb¡¯. Luckily, he hadn¡¯t revealed any joy or excitement on his face, otherwise these killers would certainly have their guards up in a sh. Right now, they were just curious about what the young man had seen.


    Ling Lan knew there was no more time. She needed to eliminate all these killers before they figured out what was going on, or else they might be an even bigger problem.


    This time, Ling Lan no longer controlled herself; she unleashed every bit of her strength and speed. Like an ephemeral shadow, Ling Lan swept across the scene, the tri-edge trench knife and the dagger in her hands swiping interchangeably in a deadly dance. Everywhere she went, the unprepared killers found a weapon piercing one of their vital spots unerringly, sending countless blossoms of blood blooming into the air.


    Ling Lan¡¯s path was a straight line ¡ª while this wasn¡¯t a good path for killing enemies, it was the best path for the rescue. Although the enemies at the fringes of both sides may be able to escape, this would prevent the young man from being used as a hostage.


    As predicted, Ling Lan managed to stay one step ahead, killing the two men immobilising the young man before they could react. At the same time, she sent the young man behind her with a kick. There wasn¡¯t a single killer left there, so it was the safest ce.


    By this time, quite a few of the killers had finally gotten a hold of themselves. Ling Lan had originally been afraid that they would scatter and run, depriving her of the chance of killing them all, but unexpectedly, the men just raised up their weapons and charged at her with dreadful bellows.


    How nice! So the opponents were also dumb as pigs ¡ª this made both sides even then.


    Ling Lan did not give these people any chances. Within several blinks of an eye, all of the men had been eliminated. Meanwhile, there wasn¡¯t a single speck of blood on Ling Lan¡¯s body, other than the dust which had been thrown up into the air during the fight.


    On this deste in, countless corpses had been added once more, but this time, the bodies were those of the merciless killers.


    Ling Lan stood up straight and coolly stowed away her weapons. She looked down at the head¡¯s head on the floor, whose frozen features still held that crazed smile with a trace of fear, unimaginably creepy. Ling Lan nodded to herself, and mumbled under her breath, "As expected, after a head leaves the body, it doesn¡¯t die straight away. There¡¯s a dy of one to two seconds, or perhaps even longer ..."


    Ling Lan did not spare a look for those unsettled survivors, but prepared to leave.


    Ling Lan had just taken several steps forward when that young man shouted, "Wait!"


    Because the young man had been silly enough to try and trade his life for hers, Ling Lan decided to give him a chance. "Hm?"


    "Are you alone? If you have nowhere to go, why don¡¯t youe back with me to my vige?" The young man worked hard to squeeze out a smile ¡ª he had just been saved from the brink of death after all; even the calmest of people would be unable to keep their cool, not to mention that he wasn¡¯t a calm person to begin with.


    Was this the next hint of the mission? Ling Lan thought it over, and decided that she should go take a look at the vige. After all, right now, she waspletely clueless about this so-called evolution pathway and had no idea what she was supposed to do next anyway.


    Seeing Ling Lan nod, the young man was thrilled. And just like that, Ling Lan prepared to follow the young man back to his vige.


    Before they left, the people recovered some of the possessions they had had to discard while running, so everyone had arge bundle on their back as they prepared to set out. However, a majority of theirpanions were to remain here forever, never able to return. The survivors were unsure how they were supposed to face the rtives of those people who were eagerly awaiting their return.


    On the road, Ling Lan found out that these people were all from the same vige. Their excursion this time was to procure some necessities at a small town about 30 li 1 away. They had never expected such a terrible thing to happen.


    Ling Lan followed them as they made their way around a small hillside, and the destion was noticeably clearing up as they progressed, with more and more greenery bing visible. The young man told Ling Lan that their vige was built around a natural heaven-blessed spring, which was the site of the green lung of this wastnd, allowing all the people in their vige to survive in this aridnd.


    After traversing another distance of road, a green abundance of grass came into view. But when the young man turned excitedly to tell Ling Lan that they were about to arrive at the vige, Ling Lan¡¯s expression changed dramatically.


    She signalled for everyone to hide, while she quietly crept ahead. Luckily, this wasn¡¯t a boundless expanse of t grasnd, but was a hilly area with plenty of erratic ups and downs.


    Soon, Ling Lan had followed the curve of the mountain to arrive at the mouth of the vige. However, one look at the scene before her eyes and Ling Lan understood that the young man¡¯s vige was also facing the tragic oue of being massacred.


    On severalrge trees by the vige gates, a significant number of strapping young men were already bound and hung on the branches, some still alive. Meanwhile, around them, the elderly, the women, and the children were all tied together. They were kneeling on the ground and struggling desperately, crying and screaming as they tried to crawl closer to their loved ones. Laughing uproariously, the killers watching over them used their weapons to knock down anyone who tried to resist, and made them watch on helplessly as their sons, husbands, and fathers had their bowels cut open and their hearts torn out, dying before their very eyes.


    "Scumbags!" The rage in Ling Lan¡¯s heart red into a furious me. This scene had thoroughly crossed over the line of Ling Lan¡¯s ¡¯forbidden territory¡¯. If at the start Ling Lan could be said to be hesitant to intervene because she hated troublesome matters, right now, Ling Lan just really wanted to kill every single one of these scumbags that definitely could not be considered human anymore.


    However, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t someone who would let rage get to her head. She wasn¡¯t going to allow a moment of recklessness to cause her to fail to rescue these people and lose her life instead.


    Ling Lan still remembered that phrasal hint given by the system. An exclusive mission ... it was likely that she wasn¡¯t permitted to die in this mission. The moment she died, the mission would end, never to repeat.


    After dealing with the learning space for almost a full six years, Ling Lan was very familiar with the learning space¡¯s mission reward mechanism. The stranger and more unique the mission was, the more generous the reward. With regards to the exclusive mission, just based off the word ¡¯exclusive¡¯ alone, Ling Lan could confirm that the mission reward would definitely be generous to the point where she would regret it if she didn¡¯t manage to get it.


    Therefore, from the very beginning, Ling Lan had never even considered giving up. No matter how great the difficulty, she mustplete this mission.

 Chapter 93: The Resurrected Demon in the Heart!

    Chapter 93: The Resurrected Demon in the Heart!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan closely observed the situation, and found that there were only 17 men watching over the vigers. However, Ling Lan suspected that there were more men around than this group of killers, otherwise the hundred or so strong young men of the vige would not have been rounded up so easily. There were probably more killers within the vige proper.


    Killing off these 17 men was actually not that difficult, but the true difficultyy in how she could kill all of them before they could sound the alert and regroup. And like before, she needed to prevent a hostage situation from happening.


    After considering it for a moment, Ling Lan snuck back to where the young man and the others were hiding, and ryed what was happening at the vige entrance to them.


    Just as everyone was panicking, with some even suggesting that they should just abandon the vige and run, the young man once again offered a differing opinion. He felt that they should go back and save their rtives, otherwise their lives would be meaningless.


    The young man¡¯s tenacity and passion moved the others, so everyone ultimately decided to go to the vige entrance to try and rescue people. Of course, they were also well aware that everything was moot without Ling Lan¡¯s help ¡ª involuntarily, all of their gazes fell on Ling Lan, but only the young man¡¯s gaze was filled with apology. He had only invited the solitary Ling Lan to follow them out of good intentions, hoping that he could put down roots in their vige and stop having to wander. Never had he expected that he would cause Ling Lan to be dragged into danger once again.


    Ling Lan¡¯s original n was to coordinate with these people anyway, to draw away some of the guards from the vige entrance. So, she did not rebuff them, but instead presented them with a straightforward ount of her n.


    Perhaps everyone had things they wanted to protect at all costs, for although Ling Lan¡¯s n could very well cost them their lives, at that moment, not a single person backed down, or voiced any objection. With faces filled with determination, the vigers agreed to execute Ling Lan¡¯s n.


    Seeing these people whose mental states werepletely different from how they were initially, Ling Lan realised that humans, despite having countless faults, when ced in a situation where they had to protect something they just couldn¡¯t live without, their decisions may very likely astound. Take the situation right now for example, these people no longer disyed any of the selfishness they had at the start.


    Ling Lan led them to a hidden col 1 by the vige entrance, and then she sneakily dashed closer to the vige entrance to lie t on the ground. Luckily, Ling Lan was now a child with a small body, so even though there wasn¡¯t much cover near the vige entrance, a slightlyrger rock still managed to conceal most of Ling Lan¡¯s body.


    Once in position, Ling Lan turned to the col and gave the others the hand signal to begin.


    Those people abruptly stood up, lifted the wooden staffs and rocks they had found lying about, and rushed out of the col.


    "Bastards! I¡¯m gonna kill you all!" All of them shouted in unison.


    Themotion startled those men at the vige entrance, but when they saw the ragtag group with their makeshift weapons, they burst into wildughter. In fact, there even was some element of pleasant surprise in their reactions, gleeful that more prey had decided to serve themselves up for their amusement.


    In contrast, some of the women and elders tied up there started yelling in shock and terror, "Run away! Don¡¯te!" At this point, they considered their lives forfeit, so those who were still free should just stay away. Every saved life counted.


    Among the 17 people, there was a small head. He signalled for ten men from the group to go capture those suicidal people.


    Ling Lan calmly watched as the ten men passed by her side and rushed towards the col. Meanwhile, the group led by the young men faltered and started to pull back amidst the cries of their rtives, actually turning tail to run. These actions naturally made the ten men chasing after themugh even harder.


    As this was happening, the remaining seven men did not stop their killing games. The head let his subordinate pull out one of the women who had yelled for the others to run, but their chosen target was not the woman herself, but was the little girl child of three to four years of age clinging to her.


    Another two subordinates came out and savagely ripped the little girl away from her mother. They paid no heed to the little girl¡¯s terrified wails, tying her hands together securely, preparing to hang her on one of therge trees of the vige entrance. The tree that they chose was already filled with countless other murdered vigers.


    Seeing this, the woman went berserk. Without any hesitation, she lunged at the man holding her daughter ¡ª although her hands were tied behind her back, she still sunk her teeth into his wrist, trying to make him let go of her daughter. In order for her own daughter to have a chance of survival, she didn¡¯t care if she had to give up her life. The woman portrayed the selflessness of maternal love to the max, causing Ling Lan¡¯s heart to clench, aching in sympathy.


    This detestable learning space, why did it have to show her such a scene? Ling Lan almost lost her cool, almost wanting to just rush out and kill every single one of those scumbags right then and there.


    But Number Five¡¯s crazy torments had not been in vain ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s spirit wouldn¡¯t waver just because of this scene. Still, even so, both of Ling Lan¡¯s hands were clenched tightly over the weapons in her hands, almost as if she were going to crush them with her grip.


    The woman actually knew that what she was doing was useless ¡ª her daughter still wouldn¡¯t be able to escape death in the end. Still, she refused to give up, desperately holding onto her bite on the killer¡¯s wrist.


    Even though her head was being pummelled fiercely by the man, even though blood had already coated her entire face, even though she was likely to die in the very next second ... she did not let up from start till end. Because she knew that the moment she loosened her teeth, her daughter¡¯s life would really be lost. And she absolutely did not want to see her own daughter die right before her eyes.


    Seeing her mother being hit till her whole head was drenched with blood, the small little girl could only wail in shock and terror, "Mama, mama ..."


    That killer¡¯s awkward situation caused all the other men tough at him. There wasn¡¯t muchradery among them, so no one even thought ofing over to help him escape from the woman¡¯s savage bite. Even the head himself was guffawing. Seeing apanion make a fool of themselves was also part of their entertainment.


    Meanwhile, Ling Lan took the chance to slip behind them, finally baring her eager fangs.


    "I¡¯ve gotten sick of killing women, perhaps this little brat can excite me a little more." The head indicated for another subordinate to tie up the little girl.


    Just then, Ling Lan pounced, leaping towards the thug still beating on the little girl¡¯s mother. At the same time, she sent a pebble flying with a kick, aimed straight for the killer who was just about to hang the little girl up.


    A muffled whump, and the head of the killer who was tying up the little girl burst open. A reddish white liquid sprayed out, some of it staining the little girl¡¯s body.


    Meanwhile, on Ling Lan¡¯s end, there was just a cold sh, and the thug¡¯s throat had been shed open. A stream of warm blood spurted out to ssh on the mother¡¯s head, mingling with her own blood on her face.


    The thug¡¯s expression was a stunned one; till the very end, he had no idea why liquid would be spouting from his throat ... he slowly fell over, slumping to the ground alongside the mother.


    After dispatching the thug, Ling Lan did not stop. Before the other killers could understand what was going on, she unleashed her greatest speed and strength.


    The remaining few killers didn¡¯t even see anything, or if they had sharp eyes, all they saw was a passing shadow ¡ª in the blink of an eye, Ling Lan had efficiently finished off the four small fry, and then she immediately leapt at the head.


    The small head was undoubtedly the strongest of the bunch. Seeing what had happened, he instantly knew they had hit a steel te 2 ; he knew he should shout, so the master killers inside the vige coulde quickly ...


    The head instinctively defended his neck ¡ª his above average eyesight had allowed him to see that all his subordinates had died from a sh of the throat.


    He thought that as long as he could hold out for a while, he would be able to yell and inform his boss inside the vige that an enemy hade ... perhaps then he¡¯d still have a chance of surviving.


    Well, dreams were beautiful, but reality was cruel. How could Ling Lan give him such a chance? Otherwise she wouldn¡¯t have used bait to lure away arge portion of his subordinates; she had done that specifically to avoid giving them the chance to notify theirpatriots in the vige.


    Just as the head was about to yell, he suddenly felt as if his palm had been pierced by something, and then the same sensation was at his throat. Due to the unimaginable speed, he actually didn¡¯t feel any pain. He had thought that it would hurt, but he felt nothing till the moment he died.


    Ling Lan¡¯s tri-edge trench knife stabbed mercilessly into the opponent¡¯s throat, sealing his intended alert within his throat. She could even hear the faint clickinging from deep within the opponent¡¯s throat as he tried to speak.


    "You all have no more chances," said Ling Lan coldly as she pulled out the trench knife. The head¡¯s eyes were wide as he fell face first to the ground. In fact, even before Ling Lan had removed the trench knife, the other was already fully dead.


    Ling Lan did not hesitate, but immediately rushed towards the col outside the vige entrance. She still remembered that there were other people waiting for her rescue, and ten more killers for her to dispatch.


    Ling Lan hadn¡¯t moved far from the vige entrance when she caught sight of the group of killers chasing after the young man¡¯spany. The time Ling Lan had used to kill the seven men at the vige entrance had really been very short, so these people hadn¡¯t had time to get very far.


    At this time, Ling Lan had no more concerns, so these ten killers were summarily dispatched by her. Meanwhile, the vigers who had yed bait were all fine, with only one person spraining their ankle while running, but it wasn¡¯t serious and wouldn¡¯t affect his mobility.


    The young man and the others followed Ling Lan back to the vige entrance, and helped to untie and release the bound vigers there. Upon questioning, they found out that the vige had been set upon by bandits and that this group was just the first batch of captured vigers. There were more vigers within the vige whose fates were uncertain, though the odds weren¡¯t in their favour.


    Once again, Ling Lan became the focus of attention. Ling Lan simply instructed the young man to find a ce to hide with all of the vigers, while she herself went deeper into the vige to scout.


    Under the grateful stares of all the vigers, Ling Lan slipped into the vige. She wasn¡¯t doing this for the vigers, but rather to vent the righteous aggression she had bottled up inside. She just wanted to kill all those inhumane beasts, but of course saving some of the vigers along the way was a wee plus.


    Ling Lan did not have a so-called heroplex; she just didn¡¯t want this sort of inhumane beasts to exist in this world. Perhaps the history of the invasion of China, so hated by the Chinese people, in her past world had left a deeply embedded wound within the hearts of all the impassioned descendants of China. Thus, when faced with such a simr scene, this banked rage was triggered.


    "I am me. I only live to follow my heart." Ling Lan had temporarily forgotten the mission, only wanting to go wild without reservations for once, and let out that demon imprisoned within her heart.


    Indeed, under Number Five¡¯s insane torments, Ling Lan, who had once lost control of herself, was just like a demon who would cut people down like grass. And right now, facing this group of beasts wearing human skins, was the best time for the demon within her heart to resurrect.


    A trace of madness bloomed in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, but this madness was very restrained, so honed and focused in its intensity that it presented as calm.

 Chapter 94: The Test of Dao

    Chapter 94: The Test of Dao


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan secretly snuck into the vige. By now, the inside of the vige was a sea of blood, a true hell on earth. Quite a number of the vigers had died on the roads or in their doorways, every one of them with their eyes wide open, staring sightlessly at their ruined vige, unable to be at peace. Their facial expressions differed ¡ª there was fear, despair, and even some with a sort of speechless grief and indignation ... perhaps they were filled with bitter hate, wondering why this catastrophe would befall them when they had just been peacefully living out their lives ...


    Along her way, Ling Lan crouched down, silently closing the eyes of one of the vigers who had died a traumatic death. Right then, there was not a speck of emotion in Ling Lan¡¯s gaze. It was as calm as water, and a rush of terrifyingly cold air was emanating from her body.


    As she walked, whenever she saw any killers alone or in small groups, Ling Lan would decisively dispose of them before silently leaving. If she saw arge group of thugs together, she would go around them. Perhaps these killers were too engrossed in their killing frenzy, for they did not notice at all that theirpanions were being slowly picked off little by little.


    Then, at one point, when Ling Lan had once again gotten rid of another batch of thugs, she identally missed one who had been relieving himself in a hidden corner, out of sight.


    Ling Lan noticed her mistake swiftly and sent a dagger flying through the air to pierce through the other¡¯s throat, but it was still a step toote. A sharp whistle rent the blood-stenched air of the vige.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but make a soft sound of regret. Just as she had feared, the thugs really had a way to pass on a message instantly. Without a doubt, the other thugs would now be wary and on the defensive, which would make Ling Lan¡¯s hunt a little more difficult.


    Still, it was just a little more difficult ... a cold smile appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s lips. The hunting game would not end just because of this.


    Ling Lan¡¯s figure slowly disappeared from her present location. By the time the other killers rushed to the scene, all they could see was theirpanions¡¯ corpses lying on the ground, without any sign of the one who killed them.


    This incident was quickly reported to the main leader of this particr massacre, who immediately gave the order for his subordinates to gather, naturally not forgetting to ask them to bring hostages along with them. He highly suspected that this master killer may have ties with the vige people.


    As they gathered, Ling Lan managed to kill off yet a few more groups of thugs, saving a significant number of vigers in the process. But Ling Lan did not stop to talk to any of them, only continuing on her hurried way after killing the thugs.


    The vigers had no idea where Ling Lan came from, but this did not prevent them from being grateful for her help. Moreover, Ling Lan did not know that, some of the rescued vigers didn¡¯t just leave ¡ª some of the strapping young men found some weapons and made their own rescue teams, silently making their way in different directions, hoping to save even more of their loved ones and other vige folk.


    Meanwhile, outside the vige entrance, the young man ¡ª after finding a rtively safe location for the younger kids, the weak and infirm old folk, and the fragile women, as well as some injured men who could not fight ¡ª led the remaining vigers who could still put up a fight to pick up the weapons of the killers Ling Lan had killed, and rushed over too.


    Along the way, many bloody battles broke out. The vigers went head to head with small groups of killers, and paid a bloody price to overwhelm these killers stained with the blood of their rtives, saving their own rtives who were still alive.


    ********


    Only when all of the killers had gathered before the main leader did the leader discover that this ce which, in his eyes, was a ce where they could kill and indulge in their perverse interests, had actually cost him around two-thirds of his men, leaving behind only about a hundred men.


    "D*mn it! Who is it? Show yourself!" The main leader was enraged by this drastic loss of men. He signalled for one of his men to bring out one of the hostages, and then bellowed, "If you don¡¯t show yourself, I¡¯ll kill him."


    Since the hidden attacker hade for the sake of this vige, then they must certainly care about the lives of these ants. As long as the other showed themselves, the leader believed that he and his men would definitely be able to hack the attacker into a thousand pieces.


    After waiting for a minute, the surroundings still remained silent as a tomb. With vehemence, the leader shouted, "Kill him."


    The viger was summarily executed by his subordinate, and blood coated the ground, drawing the terrified screams of the other vigers.


    "I¡¯m not a saintly matron, or a benevolent hero, all I know is, only keeping calm will give me the chance to aplish my goals." Ling Lan held on tightly to the weapons in her hands, her eyes coolly observing the bloody scene before her.


    Indeed, her goal was to kill every one of these beastly scumbags and save as many vigers as she could. As such, she could not give in to irrational ardour.


    The leader saw that his first threat was ineffective, and signalled for a subordinate to bring out three more vigers. This time, one of the vigers was a tiny baby still in its swaddling clothes.


    Ling Lan¡¯s irises contracted, and she shut her eyes in anguish. Did she have to continue tolerating this? Do I really have to wait until they be tired of killing and be distracted, and a chance presents itself, for me to make a move? Goddammit! My heart tells me ¡ª no, I don¡¯t want it to be like this.


    Instructor Number Five, your so-called insane-level training didn¡¯t work after all, otherwise, why can¡¯t I be truly cold-blooded? Why can¡¯t I turn a blind eye to an innocent child dying before me? Could this be my forbidden ground? Does this count as a human weakness?


    ording to my instructor¡¯s words, I should restrain this tendency towards mercy to be stronger, and not yield to my soft heart andpassion. I should restrain it, but ...


    Within Ling Lan¡¯s heart, a dilemma urred for the first time. Her initially steady heart started showing subtle signs of uncertainty ...


    ********


    Within the learning space, Number Five and Number Nine barged into Number One¡¯s space unannounced.


    Number One, who had been standing alone in the virtual space deep in thought, saw the uninvited guests and was rather displeased. Coldly, he said, "What did you twoe here for?"


    "I would like to know, what Dao Ling Lan will choose in the end." Number Nine¡¯s face was full of worry. If Ling Lan selected a Dao unsuited for her in her evolution, she may very well end up doing double the work for half the results.


    In contrast, Number Five smirked evilly. "I hope she walks the path of the Heartless Dao, or maybe the Killing Dao." This was a type of shortcut ¡ª although the barriers she would face in theter stages with these Daos would be a little more difficult than other Daos, that was after all a consideration for the future. Number Five believed that there would be ways to resolve it then, and it was overall worth it since she would be able to raise herself to the level of a master within a short period of time.


    For this purpose, his training in the period preceding this had intentionally been steering Ling Lan¡¯s personality and way of handling things towards the direction of these two Dao. If Ling Lan held fast to her memories of this time, it was highly possible that she would end up walking one of these two Dao.


    "I disagree!" raged Number Nine. "Ling Lan may look like she has a hard heart, and she may do things with resolution, and have an extraordinarily high tolerance ¡ª but I know, Ling Lan¡¯s true self is passionate, and gentle ... she ispassionate, so the path suited for her should be the Fellowship Dao or the Benevolence Dao."


    "I only know that the test she entered is for the Sovereign Dao," Number One told them about Ling Lan¡¯s current situation.


    "What?!" yelled Number Five and Number Nine simultaneously in shock. They had never considered that Ling Lan would enter the test for the Sovereign Dao. Ling Lan had no sovereign-like thoughts at all ¡ª how could it be possible for her to pass this test?


    Seeing the shock-pale faces of the two and their flustered appearance, Number One harrumphed coldly and said, "Entering the test for the Sovereign Dao, doesn¡¯t mean that she must definitely walk this Dao."


    "But, it is typically very hard for anyone to jump out of the boundaries of the test and forge their own Dao." Number Nine had no confidence at all on this matter. Based off what she knew, there has not been a single child that had managed to make this step.


    Number Nine¡¯s words caused Number One and Number Five to fall silent. They too knew that this was extremely difficult, and that Number One¡¯s words were mostly self-constion.


    "Perhaps, Ling Lan really can walk the path of the Sovereign Dao. It¡¯s not like every person who walks it has sovereign-like thoughts to begin with ... hehehe!" Number Five rambled on for a bit before he couldn¡¯t continue to lie to himself and the others anymore, and could only use fakeughter to fend off Number One and Number Nine¡¯s unimpressed cold stares.


    It was true that sovereign thinking wasn¡¯t something innate, but a child would still have to have some instinctive greed on this front. For example, liking from young to be stronger by a head, taller by an inch, liking to show off, or even liking to take on leadership roles ... Ling Lan was trulycking in this respect.


    "I believe Ling Lan is not a typical person," said Number One finally after a long moment of silence. He believed that no matter if the Sovereign Dao suited Ling Lan or not, Ling Lan would definitelyplete this test and find the Dao that truly belonged to her.


    ********


    Ling Lan, who was still within the test mission, closed her eyes in silent contemtion. She heard the leader¡¯s countdown, and knew that if she didn¡¯t show herself, three lives would end right there, one of which was a babe who had not been long in this world.


    "Kill them!" The leader¡¯s cry woke Ling Lan up, and she subconsciously took a step forward, revealing her silhouette.


    "You finally appeared ..." Amidst the leader¡¯s wildughter, his three subordinates who were holding onto the hostages firmly swung their sharp des down ...


    "Impulsiveness is a demon; the results are not nice." Ling Lan¡¯s gaze no longer wavered. Her split second falter had shown her the truth, making her realise that being soft-hearted was indeed a mistake. "But, holding back was an even bigger mistake. I might as well have just chosen to battle it out in blood from the start ¡ª exchanging a tooth for a tooth, and blood for blood was what I should have done."


    Why did she have to control herself? Why did she have to worry so much? If she hadn¡¯t shown up, these vigers would still have died at the hands of these killers. In that case, she might as well have killed off all of these killers as soon as possible, and saved as many people as she could that way.


    The choice was actually very simple. She didn¡¯t have to be a saintly matron or a benevolent hero ¡ª under the condition that her life was safe, she only needed to do whatever she could do with resolve. Hesitation would only cause her to sink deeper into more troublesome plights, just like what was happening now.


    The main leader saw Ling Lan rushing forwards with an icy expression, and signalled for his subordinates to pull out five or six vigers, shouting, "Don¡¯t move, or else I¡¯ll kill them!"


    "Do it. I will avenge them." Ling Lan¡¯s speed became even faster, and she lunged fiercely at the killer closest to her, des swinging.


    Seeing that the attacker wasn¡¯t fazed at all by his threats, the leader screamed in crazed anger, "Kill them! Kill them all!"


    "Do it. I will also do the same and kill you all." The current Ling Lan had eyes like ice, and everywhere her hands fluttered by, a corpse was left behind amidst a spray of blood. Ling Lan did not dodge these blood stters, and soon her sweet little face had been stained crimson with blood, which slowly fell from her face drip by drip. She looked just like a ghoul that had crawled out from hell, here to collect all the living souls from the area.


    "Who the hell are you?" Finding that the vigers¡¯ lives were no deterrent to Ling Lan¡¯s ughter, the leader was a little panicked. Ling Lan¡¯s killing method was quick and decisive, extremely efficient. Every swing of her arm took away yet another of his subordinates¡¯ lives ¡ª in short order, ten or so men had already died by her hand.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    If you¡¯re getting sick of the bloodshed, hang in there! The killings end in the next chapter. :p

 Chapter 95: Cracking the Mission!

    Chapter 95: Cracking the Mission!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    "A debt collector." Ling Lan¡¯s trench knife stabbed mercilessly into the heart of one of the subordinates, and blood once again stained her hair. As she leapt away to lunge at another, she didn¡¯t forget to leave this response behind.


    Ling Lan¡¯s savagery caused the killers to have no time to bother with the vigers. They all lifted their weapons and charged at Ling Lan, preparing to surround her and attack her from all sides.


    "I¡¯ve wounded him!" shouted one of the thugs suddenly. There was still a trace of blood clinging to his weapon, but this was also his final achievement, for Ling Lan¡¯s dagger cut through his throat the next second.


    "After striving for so long, I still couldn¡¯t avoid getting injured." Ling Lan looked at the cut on her shoulder area impassively. Though it was still bleeding sluggishly, Ling Lan did not retreat at all, seemingly not feeling any pain from the wound. She decisively swung her weapons around and thrust them at the next foe.


    She had no wild hopes of killing all of these beastly scumbags without any injury to herself ... although she had considered at one point toplete the mission perfectly in such a way, which was why she had chosen to tolerate so much at the start. But that sort of toleration had made her feel unbearably frustrated and irritable, deeply ufortable. In contrast, though she had gotten injured, her current mood was extraordinarily light. She relished this sort of battle, this sensation of freedom.


    This is the kind of battle I yearn for! No suppression or holding back, free to do whatever I want to do!


    Yes, freedom is what I want!


    Humans were resilient. As long as they were given a slim thread of survival, they would be able to unleash unimaginable power ... and the vigers who had been held captive here were no exception.


    The tools the thugs had used to threaten them had finally been turned back against the thugs themselves, and Ling Lan¡¯s overwhelming strength and ferocity stoked the vigers¡¯ courage. Everyone there knew that if they didn¡¯t fight back, all that awaited them was death, and now that they had the hope of survival ...


    For the sake of their husbands and wives, for the sake of their parents and rtives, and also for themselves, everyone in the vige ¡ª whether male or female, young or old ¡ª took up weapons, determined to engage these criminals who had destroyed their happy homes in a battle to the death.


    It was very difficult for regr people with lowbat ability, like the vigers, to finish off these exceptionally strong killers. However, the vigers had already decided to risk everything, determined to die honourably even if they couldn¡¯t seed. Just think about how many vigers there were ¡ª if one wasn¡¯t enough, then try two; if two wasn¡¯t enough, then try three.


    This was no longer a game where the strong butchered the weak, but was now a horrific melee fight. Beside the body of every despicable killer, you could basically see a viger tangled up with him, almost inseparable.


    This was how the vigers fought. Very simply, the elderly entrusted their hopes to the younger generation, rushing forward to pull a random killer into a death embrace ¡ª then, even if their chests were hacked into paste, they wouldn¡¯t let go. It had to be said that thetent reserves of humans were truly unfathomable ¡ª the strength of these old people before death became inexplicably horrifying, capable of rendering the killerspletely immobile. Then, the second viger would rush forward, followed by the third, the fourth and so on ... until the opponent was dead.


    The vigers¡¯ sudden fearlessness in the face of death shocked the killers; following the death of one killer after another, the remaining killers actually began to panic. In particr, once their greatest leader was sessfully killed by Ling Lan, they could no longer control the fear in their hearts, and began fleeing like beaten dogs towards the outsides of the vige.


    Though Ling Lan tried her best, a few killers still managed to escape, making her feel a little disappointed. She had really wanted to end every single one of them here.


    Although the killers were dead, this vige was pretty much destroyed. Only 30% of the vigers had survived, with a majority being women and children, as well as a small number of young men. Almost all of the elderly had perished in that final sh.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t linger; she felt that it was inappropriate for her to remain in this vige which needed to be rebuilt. The vigers were still in a stupor from their grief, and so did not notice when Ling Lan left.


    "Benefactor, don¡¯t go," shouted the young man suddenly, rushing over with the rest of the vigers his team had rescued.


    This shout seemed to awaken the vigers from their grief, and they all gathered around her, begging Ling Lan not to leave them.


    Ling Lan did not look back, only replying coolly, "I ... am not your benefactor."


    "No, you are. If you hadn¡¯t killed most of the killers, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to survive." Of course, the vigers didn¡¯t believe Ling Lan¡¯s words ¡ª if Ling Lan hadn¡¯t intervened, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to oppose the killers no matter how hard they tried.


    "You¡¯ve saved us. We are willing to acknowledge you as master." Perhaps the vigers were grateful, or perhaps they just needed the protection of someone strong, for the young man¡¯s suggestion was unequivocally approved ¡ª they were all willing to be Ling Lan¡¯s servants.


    The vigers¡¯ words led Ling Lan to recall the image within the third panel of the mural. That protagonist had possessed countless subordinates ¡ª perhaps this was where he had started to amass power. ording to the mission itinerary, she should just agree and continue to experience all the images within those six panels of the mural ¡ª perhaps then she wouldplete the mission.


    Ling Lan fell into a contemtive silence, and then, just as she was about to speak up and agree, she abruptly remembered her mission description ¡ª to find the right evolution pathway for herself. If she just blindly followed the contents of the mural, would that be ¡¯right¡¯?


    Ling Lan felt as if she had hit upon a key point. Back then, it was because she had noticed the difference between the protagonist¡¯s smile in the first panel and the sixth panel that she had been sucked into the mural ... in that case, could she take it as the protagonist¡¯s path of bing a king and total domination being a mistake? So the main point of this mission was the term ¡¯right¡¯?


    Ling Lan had the strong feeling that the answer was right before her, but there just happened to be a thinyer of paper still in the way ... the more she thought about it, the more confused she became, until she reached a point where she felt that her thoughts were a bit of a mess.


    Ling Lan habitually sat down in a meditative pose and began circting her Qi. After one circuit, the stray thoughts in her mind all disappeared, and things became clearer.


    Ling Lan once again thought back to the earlier question, but this time she started chasing the thought from the beginning. It had all started because she had noticed that the smile in the first panel and the sixth panel were different ...


    The smile in the first panel was sincere, innocent, and passionate, while the smile in the final panel had be fake, affected, and cold. This indicated that after the protagonist had gone through the experiences of the mural, he had changed from a pure-hearted youth into a dark and deceitful ruler. As he grew up, he had also lost his innocence ...


    The right evolution pathway? A notion sparked through Ling Lan¡¯s mind. She suddenly thought ¡ª could it be that the learning space felt that the protagonist¡¯s choice to be a ruler was wrong?


    No, no, no ... Ling Lan felt that there was something wrong with this assumption; perhaps there was still some deeper meaning ... Ling Lan thought back to the countless other murals she had seen in the tunnel. Although they all depicted different things, with different forms and different content, they all had one point inmon ¡ª their protagonists were all strong in a particr aspect.


    This fit perfectly with the learning space¡¯s reason for existing. Cultivating its host to be strong was the only calling of the learning space, so regardless of which path of strength the host decided to pursue, the learning space would not restrict its host, but was rather happy to provide support. Thus, there was absolutely nothing wrong if the protagonist in the mural decided to be a king who liked to expand his territory.


    Then, the problem might be with the protagonist¡¯s mental state ¡ª could the loss of self be what the learning space really disapproved of?


    At this thought, Ling Lan felt as if she had opened a door that had originally been sealed up tight, bringing in a sea of light. All the conundrums she had before had been answered.


    Ling Lan thought to herself: although the protagonist managed to be a king, he lost the sincerity and passion he had in the beginning, losing his true self. The mission this time may very well be for me to understand my true self, and figure out what my true thoughts are ...


    I want to possess a healthy body, I want to live freely, I want to do whatever I want to do without worry. I don¡¯t want to see any sinister plots, and I don¡¯t want to be controlled. I want to make a few close friends and bosom buddies, and raise an exceptional baby. Yes, I hate troublesome things, and I don¡¯t want to be tied down ...


    Ling Lan abruptly opened her eyes, stood up to face the young man waiting patiently by her side and said firmly, "I refuse!"


    "Why?" cried the young man sadly. His entire expression actually twisted, and his gaze was resentful.


    "Your fates rest in your own hands. What does it have to do with me?" Ling Lan said impassively. This was truly spoken from her heart. "Why should I take care of you all? Why should I bear your responsibilities? No one can force me to do what I don¡¯t want to do, no one."


    "Then why did you save us? You might as well have let us die at the hands of those people." The young man burst into tears, and all the vigers also started crying. Even the sky started to weep rain, as if unsatisfied with Ling Lan¡¯s heartlessness.


    "To save or not to save is my choice, to die or not to die is yours ..." Ling Lan threw down this final statement, and then immediately turned to walk away, no hesitation at all in her demeanour.


    In that moment, Ling Lan had made her decision. She wanted to be a free spirit, and do whatever she wanted to do. She didn¡¯t want to live ording to the world¡¯s rules of right and wrong, and restrict her own movements that way.


    Gradually, Ling Lan left that blood-stained vige further and further behind,ing to a deste hillside of yellow soil. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know if her choice was the right one, but she regretted nothing. Instead, her heart was light, because the mission this time had let her reaffirm the path she wanted to walk. So that she wouldn¡¯t be tied down, so that she could live freely, so that she could give birth to an absolutely exceptional baby ¡ª she needed to be much stronger!


    Just as Ling Lan was about to unleash a scream to vent the pent up emotions in her heart, a ck vortex suddenly appeared once again before her eyes, pulling her inside it in an instant.


    F*ck, again?! Ling Lan only had enough time to say that before she was entirely devoured by the ck vortex.


    The tall slope of yellow soil once more subsided into silence, just as if Ling Lan had never been there.


    ********


    Alone in his space, Number One was sitting cross-legged in contemtion when his mind flickered, and then he abruptly disappeared. At the same time, with joyful faces, Number Five and Number Nine also disappeared from within their own spaces, and the three of them appeared together before the gates of the test of Dao.


    Very quickly, a ck vortex appeared before them, and then a small figure dropped out from it.


    Ling Lan calmly adjusted her posture in the air, and thennded safely on her feet.


    "Ling Lan, congrattions, you have passed," said Instructor Number One coolly.


    Number Five and Number Nine shared a nce, subtle knowing smiles on the corners of their lips. Number One¡¯s true emotions were not as calm as his appearance would suggest.

 Chapter 96: The Dominance Dao!

    Chapter 96: The Dominance Dao!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan blinked at the three instructors before her in bemusement. She hadn¡¯t expected this mission to involve all three of her instructors at the same time ¡ª the fact that even the usually aloof Number One had appeared made her feel rather touched.


    "What¡¯s going on, instructors?" asked Ling Lan.


    Number Nine was the most anxious; she immediately opened her mouth to ask, "Ling Lan, what Dao did you choose?"


    "Dao?" Ling Lan was taken aback, but understood right after and replied quickly, "I didn¡¯t choose any of those Daos."


    "How could that be possible?" Number Nine¡¯s face was filled with disbelief. Passing meant that the testee had found the Dao that belonged to them ¡ª why did Ling Lan have to say that she hadn¡¯t chosen a Dao? Number Nine wasn¡¯t the only one who didn¡¯t believe her; even the typically contrary Number Five also didn¡¯t believe her. Only Number One had an unfathomable look of deep thought on his face.


    "Well, I can¡¯t really say I didn¡¯t choose ..." said Ling Lan bashfully as she rubbed her head and smiled. "I chose to walk my own Dao, and then the system said I passed and just let me out."


    Number One¡¯s eyes brightened, ring with an intense light, while Number Five and Number Nine¡¯s faces were filled with shock, which quickly turned into triumphant joy ... how lucky were they, to be able to raise a pupil who could forge her own Dao ¡ª this sort of person would undoubtedly be a historic figure.


    Ling Lan said somewhat regretfully, "Unfortunately, I¡¯m not sure whether I canplete it. The development of this Dao is all up to me to figure out."


    ********


    After Ling Lan had been sucked in by the ck vortex from the scene of the second panel, she hadn¡¯t appeared in a new scene, but had entered an expanse of nothingness instead. Everything had been a grey nkness around her, not a single thing in existence, while Ling Lan herself had just been suspended in mid-air within this nothingness.


    Just as Ling Lan was getting restless, the grey nkness suddenly twisted and actually turned into an enormous grey dragon to pounce at the suspended Ling Lan.


    Back then, Ling Lan had been terrified, but finding that she had been robbed of the ability to move, she could only watch helplessly as this enormous grey dragon swallowed her whole.


    Within that split second, countless images shed before Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. The countless Daos which existed in the world were disyed before her, and she experienced all the trials and epiphanies associated with the Daos along with the images ... when Ling Lan woke up once more, she found that she was still suspended within the nothingness, unharmed, as if all that had just happened had just been a passing dream.


    An extremely wispy voice came from a distance: "Of these countless Daos, one of them belongs to you. Which one will you choose?"


    "Dao? Is that the evolution pathway I want?" asked Ling Lan pensively.


    "Those paths earlier, didn¡¯t you see them all?" replied the wispy voice.


    "Hate, frenzy, tolerance, control, ties, responsibility, and even kindness and murder ... every person had to abandon some part of themselves ... is this the cost for evolution?" This sort of choice greatly displeased Ling Lan. Was it really necessary to make sacrifices to be stronger?


    "Gain and loss, has always been fair; to sacrifice or not, is up to the individual." The wispy voice was cold and emotionless, but it also spoke the truth. In the end, everything was up to personal choice.


    "Is it fair?" Ling Lan closed her eyes, once again immersing herself in the grief and epiphanies brought on by those images. It was true that all those people had be the top of their fields, standing at the pinnacle of human achievement, but they also lost some very important things in the meantime. Even those people who had chosen the Fellowship Dao still lost their family ¡ª¡ª when one¡¯s love was all-epassing, and all men were equal in one¡¯s eyes, what significance did family have?


    She did not believe that those people had chosen the Fellowship Dao purely for themselves to begin with ¡ª it was likely that they had chosen it also for the sake of their families, but in the end, the oue was distinctly different from their original intentions. In that case, what purpose was there in bing strong this way?


    It was true that Ling Lan wanted to be strong because she didn¡¯t want to live a restrained life. If she was strong enough, her father¡¯s military benefits wouldn¡¯t be coveted by others, and she eventually wouldn¡¯t have to keep pretending to be a man to hold onto them.


    She really wanted to give birth to an exceptional baby, but her identity now meant she needed to be strong enough to push down a man she liked in order to get the other half of the gic material needed for her child.


    Moreover, she wanted her child to be able to live openly without having to sneak around, growing up honestly under the care of her boundless love ... she wanted to live this life without any regrets, looking down upon the whole world with a smile ... all of this required her to be even stronger, perhaps even strong enough to stand at the very top.


    However, this didn¡¯t mean that she was willing to sacrifice certain things in the process. For instance, she didn¡¯t want to be a madman or a viin, scorned by the world, so the Demonic Dao, Ghoul Dao, or Killing Dao were all unsuitable for her. She also didn¡¯t want to be a saint, a benevolent figure, or a king, to be some sort of leader, for this would force her children to have to be on their guard from a young age, losing the childish innocence and joy they should have. Thus, the Sage Dao, Sovereign Dao, and Benevolence Dao were all not the Dao she needed either. Whatever emotionless-type Dao or rtionship-centred Dao were all nonsense, Heart¡¯s Dao, Literary Dao, Martial Dao ... all these evolutionary Daos with their multitude of restrictions and conditions were not at all pathways that Ling Lan wanted to walk ...


    After analysing each and every one of the Daos, Ling Lan still couldn¡¯t find a Dao that suited her. Dissatisfied, she said, "Didn¡¯t you say that there would a Dao suitable for me among all these Daos? Why is there none that catches my eye?"


    The wispy voice rang out once more, "There are hundreds and thousands of Dao in the world, how do you know that there is no Dao that is suitable for you?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s response was quick. "In other words, the Daos I¡¯ve seen are only a portion? Then isn¡¯t that strange? Why won¡¯t you let me see them all?"


    The wispy voice rang out again, but it no longer sounded cool and unaffected; this time, there was a trace of dissatisfaction in its tone as it said, "Due to coincidence and serendipity, you¡¯ve been given the blessing of several Daos. Don¡¯t be too greedy now."


    Ling Lan cared not for the voice¡¯s dissatisfaction, but rather found the answer she sought from its response. "In that case, I won¡¯t choose any of those Daos you¡¯ve shown me."


    Ling Lan¡¯s reply stunned the wispy voice. "Why?" Previously, anyone faced with this situation would always joyfully choose one of the Daos offered; why would this person before it now bear to give up such a great opportunity? It was finding this a little hard to ept.


    "Didn¡¯t you say that there were hundreds and thousands of Dao in this world? Then I need to find the one that suits me best!" Ling Lan used its own words against it, the teasing tone in her voice obvious.


    The wispy voice was instantly aggravated, "All these Daos I¡¯ve given you are Daos which have been tried and tested, created and developed by those who have seeded, capable of helping you grow strong quickly. Anything else would have to depend on your own capabilities, leaving you stumbling in the dark ¡ª you may end up aplishing nothing in your life, unable to be strong ... are you stupid?"


    "Hehe, not faking it anymore?" Ling Lan poked fun at the voice.


    The voice went silent, and Ling Lan continued to say, "You¡¯re the system of the learning space, aren¡¯t you? Stop pretending to be some mysterious master and just tell me straight, what exactly is this?"


    "Choosing the right evolutionary Dao, refers to your path of evolution." This time, the voice was no longer wispy, but was the usual system¡¯s voice Ling Lan was familiar with.


    Only then did Ling Lan nod contentedly. There we go ¡ª acting all high and mighty like some deity, beating around the bush with mysticism and riddles; these were all things she wasn¡¯t used to. "Isn¡¯t this just taking on training step by step?" asked Ling Lan curiously. She still hadn¡¯t wrapped her mind around the appearance of this mysterious concept of Dao.


    "Dao is a sort of enlightenment, a ne of thought, a realm ... not just regimented numbers and training." The system¡¯s reply was airy, but Ling Lan still understood and nodded somewhat thoughtfully. This was thanks to Ling Lan having read way too many novels in the past ¡ª some Chinese Buddhist scriptures and teachings would often appear in novels, so this sort of words with deep zen vour was no problem for her.


    "All those Daos I saw were a type of extreme. In other words, when someone walks to a particr extreme, he may be able to realise some profound secret of that extreme ..." There were many things to do with humans which cannot be exined by technology. For instance, the Qi cultivation exercises she had learned was one of these miraculous things.


    This time, the learning space¡¯s system did not respond, for these things needed to be discovered by the host themselves.


    After another few minutes, the learning space¡¯s system asked again, "You really don¡¯t want to choose those Daos? They¡¯re really a shortcut, you know."


    But Ling Lan recalled those cultivation-type novels she had read ¡ª it¡¯s been said that the experience of others can only be referenced but not imitated blindly, because everyone is different. Only those things which one has realised on one¡¯s own are truly suited for oneself, so perhaps Dao is the same ...


    Ling Lan had her answer. She shook her head once more, "I don¡¯t want them."


    "Is it that you don¡¯t want to be strong anymore?" The system¡¯s voice was somewhat disappointed; its host Ling Lan was exceptional on so many fronts, so it just couldn¡¯t understand why Ling Lan would give up this obvious chance to be strong.


    "Of course I want to, but like you said earlier, only one Dao of the hundreds and thousands in this world will be suitable for me ¡ª and I really want to walk that Dao," said Ling Lan firmly.


    "Even if you end up aplete failure, you mustn¡¯t regret this," cautioned the system once more.


    "No regrets." Ling Lan was a greedy person ¡ª she wasn¡¯t willing to cast away her feelings. Perhaps this avarice would ultimately cause her to lose the chance to grasp Dao, but she believed that even if she never found the Dao that belonged to her, she could still be strong.


    "In that case, shutting down the learning space¡¯s legacy system ..." Since the host had no need of it, then there was no need for the existence of the learning space¡¯s legacy system.


    Following this announcement, Ling Lan felt all the misceneous images of Dao within her mind being extracted, along with all the apanying epiphanies. At the end, a thundering voice crashed down, "What is Dao?"


    The answer spilled forth from within Ling Lan, "A human¡¯s true heart!"


    Her reply echoed throughout the space, and the light in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes grew brighter and brighter. She said firmly once more, "Yes, a human¡¯s true heart."


    "And what is your Dao?"


    "Freedom, an existence without shackles, so my Dao should also be free, not limited to the boundaries of any Dao ... it is the existence of any possible Dao."


    Ling Lan abruptly lifted her head, and the light in her eyes was so bright it could almost illuminate this entire virtual space. "So, I shall name my Dao as the Dominance Dao."


    "Congrattions, you have passed." The voice of the system rang out once more, telling Ling Lan the good news. Before Ling Lan could continue to ask any questions, she had been whisked away again by a ck vortex, and when she was spat out once more, she had already arrived at where Instructor Number One and the others were at.


    ********


    "The Dominance Dao, is it?" Number One peered intently at Ling Lan, and a momentary trace of satisfaction flit through his eyes. This was truly the dominant air his disciple should have; he was very pleased with Ling Lan¡¯s choice.

 Chapter 97: Logging Into the Virtual World!

    Chapter 97: Logging Into the Virtual World!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Missionpleted, Ling Lan was sent back to the great hall of the learning space by Number One and the others. Little Four was sitting in a corner, nodding off. When Ling Lan appeared, Little Four was immediately shocked awake, and opening his eyes to see Ling Lan, he quickly pounced and hugged her tight.


    The sudden extraction of Ling Lan¡¯s awareness while she was scheduled forbat had thoroughly frightened Little Four. Although Little Four was also a member of the learning space, he was a support intelligence-entity responsible for helping the host to handle general affairs and had no control over the actions of the learning space. Still, he secretly made a resolution ¡ª he would make himself evolve further so that he could help Ling Lan bring the entire learning system under her control, so that the learning space would no longer be able to extract Ling Lan¡¯s consciousness as it liked.


    This incident led both Ling Lan and Little Four to find their respective objectives for bing stronger. The two of them no longer just went with the flow, but began working purposefully for the future.


    By the time Ling Lan woke up, the arena battles were already all over ¡ª Ling Lan ended the ranking battles this time in second ce. Ling Lan wasn¡¯t all too bothered by this, for Ling Lan¡¯s current goal was already not something this small little scout academy could satisfy. She wished even more for even more powerful people to fight.


    Ever since Ling Lan came out from the learning space, she had already vaguely gained some insight on the existence of Dao; although she still couldn¡¯t borrow any of its energy, this was enough to imbue her body with a trace essence of Dao. In other words, if Ling Lan exposed just a little of this Dao essence, even a tenth grade student would be unable to resist its influence and would be unable to perform at full capacity. This was what made Dao so terrifying ¡ª it had the ability to limit and weaken the opponent.


    Ling Lan believed that this wasn¡¯t all there was to Dao, but she had only just learned of it and was still unclear about what Dao truly was. At the same time, she was also unsure as to the limits of this essence. How strong did an opponent have to be before this Dao essence would lose its effectiveness? All of this still awaited her exploration and research.


    However, right now, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t ready to delve into this yet. Her entire concentration had been captured by the virtual world. That¡¯s right, Ling Lan and the others had finally been approved to enter the virtual space that could stand as a self-contained world of its own. The catch was that they still couldn¡¯t freely ess and explore the whole virtual world of the Federation, but were restricted to hanging out in the virtual world of the Central Scout Academy.


    In Ling Lan¡¯s words, this was obviously the ¡¯newbie vige¡¯ of the game world ¡ª only when one¡¯s level was high enough would one be able to go out into the big bad world out there.


    Still, just this was enough on its own to thrill Ling Lan and the others. Before entering, they promised to meet up at the login point inside. Subsequently, they all went back to their own dorms, and lied down in their respective personal login pods.


    The current virtual world was not like that of Ling Lan¡¯s previous world. The Federation was extremely strict with the management of the virtual world ¡ª the rules and regtions associated with it were no less than that of the real world, and was in fact significantly stricter. It should be known that over the millenniums, there had been over dozens of cases where the anarchy within the virtual world had spilled over to cause catastrophes in real world society. All these incidences caused the federal government to start taking the virtual world seriously, and toe up with variousws specifically targeted towards the regtion of the virtual world, which had alsoe to be known as humanity¡¯s second world.


    Of course, the emergence of these regtions caused this second world to be very organised, which in turn led to this second world¡¯s rapid development, bing unbelievably prosperous. It should be known that the Federation¡¯s mainframe used a human¡¯s brainwaves as the condition for logging in, and that every person¡¯s brainwaves were one of a kind, never-changing. Think about it. Every person could only have one ID and one image, no alternate ounts ¡ª if someone were caughtmitting some crime or breaking somew, they would be stripped of their right to log into the virtual world, and may even have to go to jail.


    Current humans had already gotten used to existing within a virtual world, living a second life within this secondary world. This made people care very much about their own IDs, taking care with their virtual selves, obeying thew. Of course, if you weren¡¯t afraid of the federal government stripping away your right to enter this second world, you could just cause as much trouble as you want.


    Naturally, this wasn¡¯t foolproof ¡ª as technology continued to develop, humans were also continuing to evolve. ck-hat hackers who existed tens of thousands of years ago still existed tens of thousands of yearster; but now they were called under one umbre term ¡ª hacker.


    This was not because hackers had be weaker, but rather, hackers as a collective had a higher entry point now. Only those whose minds had mutated in a way that allowed them to hide their true self within the virtual world could be a hacker.


    Of course, among the hacker collective, there was still a side branch. That was a group of hackers who had the power to harm the electrical brainwaves of other humans, thus being able tomit murder within the virtual world ¡ª¡ª they were known by the people of the Federation as ¡¯virtual spectres¡¯! A scary existence capable of ¡¯eating¡¯ the souls of humans.


    Of course, all this had nothing to do with the present Ling Lan. It was impossible for Ling Lan, who could only hang around the virtual world of the Central Scout Academy, to bump into these fearsome beings; she was currently excitedly waiting for the connection from her login pod to go through.


    Very quickly, Ling Lan had arrived at arge hall. It looked very familiar, actually being the exact replica of the Central Scout Academy¡¯s great hall. This caused Ling Lan to sweatdrop ¡ª who knew the academy would be so shameless as to set the login screen of the login pods to be the school¡¯s great hall.


    Ling Lan looked left and right, but didn¡¯t notice any selection icons of any kind. However, in the near distance, a glimmering pir of light could be seen slowly rotating.


    Just as she was puzzling over the situation, Ling Lan suddenly heard a familiar voice ring out inside her mind, "Boss, do you want to change your name and appearance?"


    "Little Four? How did you get here?" Hadn¡¯t she been brought here by her brainwaves? How had Little Four been brought along?


    Little Four said smugly, "Who do you think I am? I am the god of the virtual world ¡ª as long as there is a login signal, is there anywhere I can¡¯t go?" Before Ling Lan could ask any other questions, he asked again, "Boss, do you want to change your name and appearance?"


    "I was just wondering why there wasn¡¯t the option to change my appearance ... where is it? Quickly, tell me," said Ling Lan happily. This was her first time encountering the virtual world, so she was truly clueless how to go about doing things.


    At these words, Little Four¡¯s expression turned scornful as he said, "Please Boss, what option to change your appearance? There¡¯s no such thing. Once the mainframe has confirmed your brainwaves, it¡¯ll automatically model your virtual self after your real world name and appearance ¡ª and this is also the only ID you can use to enter the virtual world."


    Ling Lan said glumly, "Then there wouldn¡¯t be any sense of being in a virtual world! Isn¡¯t that just like reality?"


    "Otherwise, how would the government here be able to control this virtual world?" Little Four wasn¡¯t at all surprised.


    Ling Lan sighed deeply, feeling rather disillusioned, but she abruptly perked up and asked, "Little Four, what did you say earlier?"


    Little Four cast a scornful look at Ling Lan, wondering if Ling Lan had gotten dementia so young. "I asked if Boss wanted to change your name and appearance."


    Ling Lan pped her hands together loudly, "Yes, that." Confused, she asked, "Little Four, if the mainframe generates name and appearance automatically after confirming my brainwaves, then how can you help me change my appearance and ID? And if you help me to change them, will I be stuck that way from now on?"


    Little Four red at Ling Lan, miffed that Ling Lan thought so little of him. He sniffed and said, "Am I thatme? Who do you think I am? God! I can change your brainwave information every time you login to the mainframe, and let you have a different appearance and ID every single time."


    Ling Lan was moved, "Doesn¡¯t that mean that ... I can have countless alternate ounts?"


    Little Four said smugly, "That¡¯s right, but I rmend you start out with just your real ount and just one alternate ount for now. Making too many would also be a waste."


    "Why would I use an alternate ount?" Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that she needed to do anything illegal or unconscionable, so she really didn¡¯t see the need for an alternate ount.


    Little Four looked at her as if she were an idiot. "Don¡¯t you want to go out and look around? With the appearance of an adult?"


    Ling Lan blinked, startled, but was then overwhelmed with joy, "I can go out? Not just stay confined here in the Central Scout Academy?"


    Unhappily, Little Four reminded her once more, "Boss, I already told you, I am a god-like existence. All the restrictions of the virtual world doesn¡¯t exist for me. Yup, it¡¯s like what you mentioned before ¡ª all tofu walls 1 ."


    Ling Lan felt dizzy with joy. She thought that she would still be trapped within the scout academy for another few years before she coulde into contact with the greater world outside, but unexpectedly, because of Little Four, she could enter mainstream society right now, to get a true understanding of this world.


    However, Ling Lan quickly calmed herself ¡ª six years of training within the learning space ensured that Ling Lan would never remain in an abnormal mental state for long. Once again, she refused Little Four¡¯s offer, because she needed to log in with her real ID and image for today, for this was the day she would be meeting up with her otherpanions in the virtual world for the first time.


    Still, Ling Lan also told Little Four that the next time they had the chance, she would use a fake adult appearance to explore the outside world, to get a better understanding of this virtual world.


    Under Little Four¡¯s nudging, Ling Lan walked to stand before that pir of light, which was actually the teleportation tunnel to enter the virtual world. Ling Lan only hesitated for a moment before stepping resolutely into the light.


    Ling Lan¡¯s entry point was arge za, which vaguely resembled the za of the Central Scout Academy, except it was bigger and wider. This was also the first entry point for all the students. Ling Lan could already see several familiar figures sitting on one of the long benches in the za not too far away, waiting for her to arrive.


    Ling Lan walked over, smiling as she said, "You all sure move fast, all of you actually arriving before me."


    Seated on the bench, Han Xuya pouted and said somewhat sulkily, "Boss, you are thest one. What took you so long? We¡¯ve been waiting for almost half a day."


    Beside Han Xuya, Luo Chao smiled shyly at Ling Lan, face filled with a quiet joy. For the past few days, because she was afraid that she would affect Ling Lan and the other boys during their fights, she had not gone to the hall to cheer them on, and this had caused Luo Chao¡¯s spirits to be a little low. When she saw Ling Lan once more, Luo Chao¡¯s mood immediately brightened immensely.


    Qi Long, who had be slightly impatient due to the long wait, hurriedly said, "I¡¯ve asked those NPCs 2 . There are a lot of missions here, which can give us cash, or even let us learn somebat moves."


    Qi Long, with his passion for fighting, waspletely helpless against this temptation, almost ready to abandon his boss and run off to seek the true path ofbat.


    Seeing how eager and restless everyone was, Ling Lan said, "Why don¡¯t we first exchange contact information, and then just go our own ways for a bit? We can just contact each other if we need any help."


    "Okay!" Ling Lan¡¯s suggestion was unanimously approved; they all also believed that it was much more convenient to move separately. Just like that, each of them recorded down the others¡¯ contact information, and then they all went their separate ways.

 Chapter 98: Legacy Mission?

    Chapter 98: Legacy Mission?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    After everyone had left, Little Four asked listlessly, "Boss, what should we do now?" Little Four, who had already been to the real virtual world, just couldn¡¯t muster up any enthusiasm for this enclosed little world.


    "Let us just explore this newbie vige a little ..." In contrast, Ling Lan was very interested, for this was the very first time she was encountering the virtual world. She never expected that it would be so realistic ¡ª when she had first seen Qi Long and the others, she had almost thought that they were still in the real world.


    Newbie vige? What does that mean? Little Four was troubled; why couldn¡¯t he understand what his boss was saying?


    However, for the sake of not cracking his image of ¡¯smartest intelligence-entity¡¯, he didn¡¯t dare ask Ling Lan what it was, but instead secretly went to trawl through his own databases. Very quickly, in some random web novel, Little Four found the term, and when he took a look at the context of the term, he finally understood.


    Little Four looked around at this closeted little world,pared it with the meaning of ¡¯newbie vige¡¯ in-gaming, and found that his boss¡¯s description was just perfect. Once more, Little Four was awed by Ling Lan¡¯s deep knowledge ¡ª Boss sure is Boss, alright ¡ª able to use such concise and simple terms or sentences to describe aplicated thing in its entirety. Just look here ... to ensure that those children who have yet to properly establish their values and world views were not led astray, the academy chose to protect them within an enclosure. Wasn¡¯t this exactly like the newbie viges which had been established in-gaming 10000 years ago to protect the rights of new yers?


    Setting aside Little Four¡¯s current adtion towards Ling Lan which was surging like the waters of the Huang He 1 and threatening to overflow ... Ling Lan spent a whole day satisfying her curiosity, roughly exploring the entire area of this small enclosed world and getting a rough idea of the conditions within this enclosed city.


    The city was veryrge, over a hundred timesrger than the scout academy in reality. By Ling Lan¡¯s estimations, it was impossible to learn all the nooks and crannies of this city without spending several years¡¯ time. This vastness was probably also for the sake of keeping the scout academy students at bay. After all, they had to stay put here in this patch of virtual reality for over 10 years while they remained in the academy ¡ª if they conquered this city within a few days, the students would definitely riot.


    Time in the virtual world wasn¡¯t extended like Ling Lan imagined it to be, but moved at the same pace as real-world time. In other words, a day in the virtual world was equal to one real day.


    Ling Lan wandered the city shops for a while and found that there weren¡¯t any strange or iprehensible products ¡ª everything in the shops were items that also existed in reality. Then, when she asked, she found out that the things one bought in this virtual world were actually things being bought in reality. The moment you made an order and paid, the seller would send out the goods in the real world. Oh, right. A gentle reminder ¡ª things bought in the virtual world were non-refundable.


    Of course, all sorts of learning halls were still the mostmon in the city. Within them were countless recordings of lessons for various courses ¡ª as long as you couldplete certain preset missions, you would be able to receive one of the course videos for free. Of course, you could also choose to buy the lessons outright, but the cost in gold was enough to blind you ... Hells, it was just too expensive.


    If it were possible to transfer some credits in from the real world to exchange for currency, perhaps the students would not be so resentful, but unfortunately, to push the students to be independent quicker, the academy banned this trading function. Even more unreasonable was that every student who first entered wouldn¡¯t be given any money at all by the miserly academy, not even a single cent.


    Want to buy something in the virtual world? That¡¯s fine, students. Please ept a mission and use your own two hands to build your fortune. All the NPCs will smilingly parrot this sentence,pletely unmoved by the children¡¯s tantrums or wailingints.


    Of course, the academy wasn¡¯t truly that heartless ¡ª they set up countless easy small missions within the virtual world. Naturally, the money one could earn from these missions wasn¡¯t much, but as long as onepleted the mission, one could obtain the associated gold or redeem particr course instructions for free.


    Rumour had it that there were also some legacy missions and ultimatebat moves avable which caused the students eyes to burn with want, for these missions could let an average child rise meteorically overnight.


    Of course, it wasn¡¯t easy to get this type of high-level mission, which was dependent on luck and circumstance. Moreover, even if you received this kind of mission, whether you couldplete it was still uncertain ¡ª ultimate moves and legacies weren¡¯t that easy to obtain. These hidden details were stillpletely unknown to Ling Lan and the other new students who had just gained ess to the virtual world. They could only begin from the small missions, and learn more about this ¡¯second world¡¯ of humanity as they earned some pocket money.


    As Ling Lan had the ultimate cheating device in the form of Little Four, she truly took to the virtual world like a fish to water. Facing the tens of thousands of content produced daily, Little Four carefully helped Ling Lan to pick out those missions which had the best cost-benefit ratio, allowing Ling Lan to umte gold at the fastest possible speed.


    If necessary, Little Four could also directly bypass the lock on the virtual space and exchange credits for virtual currency to bring to Ling Lan. But this suggestion was immediately refused by Ling Lan. Ling Lan felt that she already had too much of an advantage presently because of Little Four. If she pushed it even more, she would really draw the wrath of the heavens and the grudge of the people ... Ling Lan decided it would be better to keep a lower profile.


    Of course, Ling Lan also refused Little Four because she still had one great advantage ¡ª the battle points she had gained in the ranking tournament were actually valid for changing into virtual currency. Ling Lan guessed that this was a reward mechanism put in ce by the academy for the top talents, a covert form of encouragement. It could be expected that these exceptional children would be able to rely on this additional wealth from reality to pick up useful skills a step earlier, which was in line with the educationalpass of the scout academy.


    ********


    Just like that, Ling Lan busily passed a year between the scout academy and the virtual world. Within this period, she went through two more ranking tournaments, and for both times, she maintained her ranking at 4th ce. The first time, she met Luo Lang in the semi-finals and chose to give up; while the second time, she met Qi Long in the semi-finals and also chose to give up.


    Don¡¯t me Ling Lan for not having any fighting spirit ¡ª the difference between their strengths was just too wide. Asking Ling Lan to fight with them was really just like asking her to bully children, and there was really no benefit for either side. If not to guarantee that she would be able to get the best education and the best cultivation resources, Ling Lan would have no desire to fight at all.


    This move also caused Ling Lan¡¯s reputation to only circte within her grade; the upper grade seniors had still had some interest in Ling Lan at the beginning, but in the end, seeing Ling Lan consecutively get held back in the top 4, they gradually lost interest.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about any of this ¡ª the scout academy was just a ce for her to learn, not a ce for her to show off. Besides, she was very busy every day. She had lessons of the scout academy to learn, missions of the learning space to do, and she still had to make some time to research the Dao she wanted to walk. Of course, she also didn¡¯t forget to goplete several small missions in the virtual world with the highest returns as selected by Little Four every day.


    On this day, Ling Lan logged in to the virtual world as usual to do her missions, but the moment she entered the virtual world, she was immediately bombarded by the countless alerts of herpanions trying to contact her. She opened her shingmunicator, and found that Qi Long and the others were desperately trying to get hold of her.


    "What¡¯s up?" Ling Lan was extremely curious ¡ª although the others would contact her every once in a while, they had never tried to contact her all at once like this before. Something big must have happened.


    "Boss, where are you?" Qi Long¡¯s loud voice almost shattered Ling Lan¡¯s eardrums.


    Ling Lan took a look at the familiar buildings around her and replied, "100 metres in front of the Electrodynamics building."


    This time, Ling Lan was preparing toplete a particr Physics instructor¡¯s mission, and obtain instruction from said instructor in Physics topics. This wasn¡¯t in the form of a video, but was a personal one-on-one instruction. Furthermore, the instruction time awarded depended on how well the mission waspleted. In other words, the better Ling Lan did in the mission, the longer the instruction time she would get ... This was also why she was willing to take on this mission.


    "Hehehe ... Boss really likes to joke ... you can even measure out 100 metres just like that," said Qi Long amidst sillyughter. He had of course picked up on Ling Lan¡¯s dissatisfaction in her tone ¡ª it must be because of his overly loud volume earlier, but he was really just too excited and just couldn¡¯t control it.


    "Don¡¯t ept that mission right now!" Qi Long suddenly thought of why Boss would be there, and hurried to stop him. Although the reward of that mission was tantalising, the mission contents were truly rage-inducing.


    It was an examination mission, involving two solid hours of examination time. Of course, this wasn¡¯t the reason why the children would be driven wild ¡ª were there any dumb children who could enter the Central Scout Academy? They weren¡¯t at all afraid of tests. But, as a mission from a Physics instructor, why were the contents being tested from all subjects?! Even the smartest child would have one or two weaker subjects; thus, a majority of the children had all failed, with only a few all-rounded abnormals who managed to scrape by.


    Among Qi Long and the others in the group, only Han Jijyun had managed to pass the test and receive a month of face-to-face instruction. This caused Han Jijyun¡¯s knowledge in Electrodynamics to improve in leaps and bounds ¡ª ording to Han Jijyun, he didn¡¯t have to worry about anyone chasing up to him in this subject for the next 5 years now ¡ª it was truly fantastic.


    "Reason?" asked Ling Lan calmly. She wasn¡¯t someone who would easily give up on her objective. Qi Long would have to give her a convincing reason, otherwise she would still choose to proceed with the mission.


    "Come quickly to Mecha Street, a legacy mission has appeared here." Qi Long tried to lower his voice, but he couldn¡¯t hold back his excitement. He was so moved that he was on the verge of frenzy.


    "Legacy mission? Really?" Ling Lan was startled by this news. Within this year, she had graduallye to understand some of the secrets of the virtual world, finding out that it was possible that there were some legacy missions here just waiting for the right person toe along and find it. Still, that was just a rumour after all ¡ª she had yet to hear of any student who actually obtained a legacy mission, but of course this didn¡¯t include any students who may have obtained a legacy and then kept it a secret.


    "Of course really! This mission has already been verified by the academy. Now everyone is preparing to go give it a try, but I hear from the students who¡¯ve tried that the test of this mission is really weird. They all lost without knowing why, and was sent directly back out. But no one really believes what they say, and are all waiting to go try it once for themselves. Boss, that¡¯s a legacy mission. Legacy, " Qi Long spilled all that he knew in a flood, shouting in his enthusiasm.


    Qi Long just couldn¡¯t contain his excitement. The term ¡¯legacy¡¯ could not be used lightly in this world ¡ª only those strong enough to reach the level of a imperial operator and beyond had the right to bequeath their life¡¯s learnings through a legacy method to a disciple. And a legacy mission was a type of test set by an imperial-level and above fighter to choose a disciple.

 Chapter 99: Walk Ones Own Path

    Chapter 99: Walk One¡¯s Own Path


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "It can¡¯t be ... aren¡¯t legacy missions the type that can only be stumbled upon by luck? Why would they have an open test this time?" Ling Lan¡¯s first reflex was to think that this was a joke, but then, considering Qi Long¡¯s straightforward personality, he would never joke about something as major as this. So, she started asking for more information.


    "I¡¯m not sure about that myself. Maybe the one who set the legacy mission just likes to use this kind of wide-scale elimination method to choose a disciple. Still, I like it," said Qi Long, grinning happily. He felt that he would have very little luck with those legacies which depended on chance, so he was ecstatic to see this type of publicly essible legacy mission. Plus, he felt that this sort of legacy was fairer.


    Qi Long would think this way due to his personality ¡ª being someone who favoured the direct approach, just looking at the convoluted twists and turns of some things gave him a headache.


    "So it¡¯s a sea-selection 1 !" Ling Lan eximed in realisation. Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s words made Qi Long on the other end of themunicator gasp out in repeated admiration once more, for he felt that this descriptor was truly perfect for the situation.


    The skin on Ling Lan¡¯s face had gotten exceptionally thick by now, having gotten used to taking credit for all those-terminology or modern ng so popr in her previous world. Thus, she just calmly took it in stride and told Qi Long that she would hurry over immediately.


    Although Ling Lan wasn¡¯t particrly keen about this public legacy mission, this was still Ling Lan¡¯s first encounter with a so-called legacy mission after all. She was very curious, and so decided to hold off on her current mission and go take a look at Qi Long¡¯s area first.


    Little Four fully supported this n; he was very annoyed at himself for overlooking this legacy mission, and so decided that he would analyse this sort of legacy mission closely to avoid missing them in the future. He would make sure to find all the legacy missions and present them to his boss ... It had to be said that Little Four was really very greedy, actually nning to round up all the legacy missions within the virtualwork. Luckily Ling Lan didn¡¯t notice what Little Four was thinking right now, otherwise she would certainly be rendered speechless ¡ª legacies weren¡¯t like the Chinese cabbages they could eat every day!


    ********


    As its name implied, Mecha Street was a street filled with mecha shops. However, in the newbie vige, er ... no, the enclosed city of the scout academy, what the shops sold were all kinds of mecha figurines of different sizes, readily avable for the students to peruse to better understand this world¡¯s strongest solo weaponry. Whether they were male or female, as long as they had money, they would definitely buy one of the mecha models they liked.


    The mecha models were very realistic ¡ª the materials used to make them were actually of the same alloy type as real mecha. That said, real mecha were made with the highest grade materials, while the models were made with secondary level materials, along with some misceneous junk materials. Still, every part of the mecha was made perfectly, just like on a real mecha. All movable and removable parts worked exactly like a real mecha, and even the controls and operational instruments within the mecha¡¯s cockpit were all present and ounted for. This made them perfect for letting the children learn about the internal structure of mecha and some of its basic operations.


    The moment Ling Lan arrived at Mecha Street, she could see countless students surging in a particr direction. So, without even having to ask Qi Long for directions, Ling Lan knew exactly where she should go. It was very likely that these students had all rushed over after hearing the news.


    Moving with the crowd, Ling Lan finally arrived at her destination. Seeing the human blockade spanning 100 metres long, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but frown deeply. Just at a nce, there were probably about almost ten thousand students gathered here.


    Ling Lan could only contact Qi Long once again to find out where they were. Because they had arrived early, they were now stuck about 60 to 70 metres to the front. They had never expected that within a few short minutes, over ten thousand students would have rushed over. Now, they were stuck with no way to move forward or backward, and so could only stay put and wait for their turn to take the test.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan decisively turned around, prepared to go back to her earlier mission. So many people ... who knows when it¡¯ll be before it¡¯s her turn? Ling Lan didn¡¯t have that much time to waste; in fact, her time had been tight to start with.


    But Little Four stopped her, asking her to wait a while, before disappearing in a hurry.


    Ling Lan thought of Little Four¡¯s abilities and so decided to be patient and wait. However, she didn¡¯t like to be surrounded by people, so Ling Lan looked around to her left and right ...


    The shops on mecha street were basically all three-storey buildings, with the lowest level being taller than the floors of a regr building by about a half-storey because the model mecha on the first floor were all very big and tall, some even reaching a height of up to three metres high. These models could allow a person to sit in the mecha¡¯s cockpit to experience first-hand how it really felt to operate one, but of course, the price of this type of mecha wasn¡¯t cheap. Without external financial support, relying solely on the students¡¯ own efforts to gather money, it would be impossible to purchase these mecha without investing up to seven or eight years of time. Of course, if Ling Lan wanted, with Little Four¡¯s assistance, she would be able to purchase it after two years at max.


    The second storey of the shops were where the well-crafted miniature model mecha were disyed, avable for perusal and purchase by students who liked collecting them. Meanwhile, the third storey was where the cashier was located, and where one could go to pre-order some model mecha. After all, some mecha were extremely expensive, so the shops didn¡¯t want to tie up too much of their cash flow in stock.


    Every mecha seller¡¯s shopfront was decorated uniquely and with personal ir ¡ª there were those which drew inspiration from sci-fi and fantasy, while others were simple, some traditional, and even more in line with modern trends ... Ling Lan¡¯s attention had been drawn by a shop roughly three metres in front of her. A canvas sign full of vintage vour hung from its walls, and a string of small rednterns trailed down from the roof of the third storey.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes shed; perhaps she could make use of this.


    Before she could be surrounded by people, Ling Lan took advantage of the little space she had around her to take two small quick steps, and then, with a spring of her toes, she leapt off the ground.


    "Owie, who stepped on my head?!" A small student whose attention had been absorbed by the front suddenly felt someone stepping on his head. He quickly looked up and saw a small nimble figure flying by.


    "Someone is jumping on top!" Quite a few other people had also noticed Ling Lan¡¯s actions, and they all began making a racket.


    Ling Lan could be seen flying tond on the side of the wall of the shop, where she tugged on the string ofnterns with one hand to send herself flying upwards once again. Ling Lan¡¯s body was extremely agile; she managed to flip up onto the roof in an instant like a nimble monkey.


    "F*ck, so that¡¯s also a way of doing things." Those observing abruptly realised that it wasn¡¯t absolutely necessary to walk on the ground to move to the front. Those with fast reflexes immediately copied Ling Lan and began climbing up the shop. However, it wasn¡¯t long before everyone else gathered their wits and leapt towards that string ofnterns. The result was tragic but predictable ¡ª how could this small string ofnterns bear the weight of so many people? ¡ª it snapped from the middle, causing many of the students on the lower half to fall down.


    It would have been fine if things ended there, but at that moment, everyone was still rushing towards that shop, thus resulting in a disastrous stampede. It was saidter that countless students had been evicted right out of the virtual world because of this stampede incident. When those students tried logging in once more, they were warned that their virtual bodies had been destroyed by unbearable pressure, and that they would have to wait till three dayster before they could log in again.


    This caused the students to beat their chests in frustration, full of bitter regret. If they had known this would be the oue ... why did they have to try and follow that despicable person¡¯s shortcut? If they had just obediently kept their ce in line, they were likely to have gotten their turn after just a full day and night of waiting.


    Ling Lan had no idea that her spontaneous movements had actually sparked such a tragedy within the virtual world. She sped over the rooftops, and it wasn¡¯t long before she saw Qi Long and the others hemmed in on all sides by people. One, two, three, four, five ... nine ¡ª yup, every one of them was there, all stuck within the crowd.


    Making a direct call to Qi Long¡¯smunicator, Ling Lan said smugly, "Lil¡¯ boy Qi Long, I see you ~" It was rare that she had the urge to tease them. Ling Lan sat on the edge of a rooftop and looked down at her friends peering around trying to find her when they heard the news.


    "Boss, where are you? Why can¡¯t I see you?" Qi Long was very surprised. He was barricaded on all sides, stuck, so how in the world had Bosse to find them from over 100 metres away?


    Han Jijyun lowered his head in thought, when suddenly an idea popped into his head. He looked up and immediately saw Ling Lan grinning and waving at them.


    What an intelligent child, being able to find the key point so quickly. Ling Lan confirmed once more that Han Jijyun was very smart; as long as he was given a tiny hint, he could immediately hone in on the most important points.


    Under Han Jijyun¡¯s prompting, Qi Long and the others also looked up to see Ling Lan smirking at them. With some frustration, Qi Long said, "Now why didn¡¯t I think of that?" Since this virtual world was known to be almost 100% realistic, of course it would be possible to also travel over the rooftops. Unfortunately, it was already toote now. They were squeezed within the crowd, unable to find any space to sprint towards a shop wall.


    In the end, they could only regretfully let Ling Lan help them to go ahead and find out about the contents of the mission. Ling Lan naturally did not object. She waved a casual farewell to them and then disappeared.


    Han Jijyun sighed and said, "Boss Ling Lan is truly the boss, always able to think of things we¡¯d never think of. Compared to him, we¡¯re just too weak." Rather than martial prowess, Han Jijyun was more admiring of Ling Lan¡¯s intellect ¡ª this was a natural focal point for intelligent people.


    Qi Long nodded in agreement, and said somewhat dejectedly, "Yeah, we all learnedbat arts together, but in the end, while we can still only use them as sparring stances, Boss can apply them as killing tools already."


    Qi Long would still pester Ling Lan to spar with him every once in a while, and Ling Lan would ept if she was in a good mood. Both of them would only use thosemonbat arts taught by the school during those spars. However, for the exact same move, while Qi Long was still just replicating it as taught, Ling Lan was already simplifying it and absorbing it, making it truly part of her own personalbat arts.


    Those observing from the side-lines may not have been able to see the situation clearly, but Qi Long who was in the thick of it knew very well that Ling Lan was truly very scary. Hisbat ability had already surpassed them by too much. At times, he would even get the illusion that the pressure Ling Lan exerted was as formidable as his father¡¯s.


    Because every time they crossed moves, Ling Lan would always pull back right before he would hit his fatal spots. To an outsider, it would seem as if they were fighting evenly, but in fact, Ling Lan was just holding back. Sometimes, his moves even had a trace of mentoring embedded within them, pushing Qi Long¡¯s understanding of how to fight better.


    However, even though Ling Lan was already holding back that much, Qi Long could still feel the force of the wind behind Ling Lan¡¯s fists. It scraped over his body so sharply that it felt as if it could split his skin ¡ª this force was a terrifying one, and he knew he would have no chance of surviving even just one hit. It would be a total GAME OVER.


    This truly disyed the resilience of Qi Long¡¯s personality. He did not be sullen and depressed in the face of Ling Lan¡¯s fearsome strength, but instead respected Ling Lan even more. At the same time, he also pushed himself to train harder, refusing to allow himself to be too much weaker than the boss he had acknowledged. This, was his pride as a follower.

 Chapter 100: The Case of the Glass Window!

    Chapter 100: The Case of the ss Window!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    It wasn¡¯t long before Ling Lan arrived at the mission location. Frankly, if you didn¡¯t look closely, it would be impossible to see where it was, because the entire Mecha Street was filled with people. The ground wasn¡¯t visible no matter which end you looked at. However, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were sharp. She noticed that at the entrance of one particr shop, the children were lined up and entering one at a time, and so she knew she had found the right ce.


    Ling Lan did not choose to jump down, for she suspected that if she tried to cut the line right then, it would definitely incite the rage of the crowd. If that happened, no matter how adept she was at fighting, she would still be beaten up by all the students like a rat crossing the street 1 . So sheid t on the roof, and peeked over the eaves to look down. As she expected, the third storey had windows.


    That being so, she positioned herself, and then, hanging down with her feet hooked on the eaves, she managed to touch the windows of the third storey. Right now, Ling Lan only hoped that the ss wouldn¡¯t be anything insane like bulletproof ss or tempered ss.


    She tapped on the panes lightly, and the ss produced a crisp and clear sound ¡ª it should just be regr ss. Ling Lan decisively clenched her fist and threw a heavy punch. A crisp ¡¯bang!¡¯ rang out, and there was now a hole in the ss. Ling Lan continued to rain several more blows at the window until all the ss had been shattered.


    Ling Lan¡¯s savage method was noticed by the students below, and a furor broke out among the students waiting on the street. They had never even considered such a violent way of entering a shophouse. Quite a few of the students were mentally chiding themselves ¡ª if they had only known of this method earlier, then they wouldn¡¯t have had to wait so patiently in line for so long.


    Ling Lan paid no mind to the envy-jealousy-hate of the students below. She loosened the grip of her legs, both hands grabbing on tightly to the window frame, and nimbly flipped herself from outside the window into the shop.


    But when Ling Lan got a better look at the scene inside the shop, she was instantly depressed. Because, of all the ces she could enter from, she had coincidentally entered the room where the portal to the test was located. As a result, she was immediately caught red-handed by the instructors posted there to maintain order.


    An elderly instructor with a white beard pointed a trembling finger at her and raged, "Who are you? From which grade? How can you be so disrespectful?!" Ling Lan was wearing the red uniform specific to the special sses, so it went without saying that he was one of those prideful princes. The only question was which grade he was from.


    Ling Lan swiftly took a look around the room, and found that other than the one angry old teacher in front of her, the other teachers, especially those of the younger generation, weren¡¯t as angry as she would have expected. Some were even smiling slightly with a trace of approval in their gazes.


    Eh? This action of hers was obviously going against the established order of things, and may even create chaos and confusion ¡ª why weren¡¯t the instructors offended? Why would they even approve ? Ling Lan abruptly remembered that this was a world where the strongest survive, where everything was decided through strength. Was intelligence also considered a type of strength? Did the academy openly announce this legacy mission, but never really intended for the children to enter the test under normal pathways? So, this method of hers which would seem so rebellious and off the beaten track in her previous world ... was actually considered a disy of intelligence here?


    Ling Lan did not linger on the idea, letting it sweep by without thinking any more of it. This was because she needed to respond properly to the instructor; the academy ced top priority in respecting one¡¯s teachers and honouring the truth, and Ling Lan had no intentions of flouting this tradition.


    "Good day, teacher. I am Ling Lan of grade 2 ss-A." Ling Lan¡¯s calm self-introduction caused some of the teachers to break out intoughter. This child showed no hint of shame for being caught doing something wrong ¡ª his expression was closer to that of an innocent babe¡¯s.


    "Even if you are a child from ss-A, one of the most excellent of students within the academy, I will submit aint to the school administration on your horrible behaviour and make them take away your right to be in ss-A." Ling Lan¡¯s easy attitude without any sign of repentance had thoroughly enraged the already angry old teacher.


    The old teacher¡¯s words made the younger teachers around him smile bitterly, silently shaking their heads. This elderly teacher was infamous within the academy for being mule-headed. Right was right, wrong was wrong, no ifs and buts about it ¡ª he was a stubborn old fogey who would show no mercy. It was for this very reason that the academy administration had put him in charge of keeping order here. They were hoping he would be able to frighten some of the academy¡¯s more unruly students with his sternness and keep them in check. Who knew that before he could have a chance to frighten those naughty students, he would already sh with an intelligent child with unorthodox thinking?


    The younger instructors were all glum ¡ª if this old teacher weren¡¯t here, they would have just let Ling Lan go ahead and take the test already! It couldn¡¯t be helped. They just really liked this sort of student who was willing to leap out of the box, and who was filled with limitless potential.


    Ling Lan was also extremely troubled. She kneaded her forehead, thinking about how she could solve this problem. It wasn¡¯t that she was really afraid that the elderly teacher wouldin, but rather, she felt that it would be wrong to make this old man with a head full of white hair angry.


    After a beat of silence, Ling Lan opened her mouth to ask, "May I know who is the owner of this shop?"


    A young man was sitting on a sofa by the side talking quietly with another young man in military uniform as they watched events unfold. Hearing the question of the child who broke the window, he hurriedly raised his hand and said, "That¡¯s me. I¡¯m over here." With a smile on his face, he waited with interest to see what Ling Lan would do next.


    Seeing the young man¡¯s intrigued expression, Ling Lan¡¯s heart settled. With a slight bow of her head, she said sincerely, "I¡¯m sorry I broke your shop¡¯s window pane! May I know how much it would cost to install a new one? I will pay for it."


    "It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine, it¡¯s just a small ss pane," said the young man, still smiling, casually refusing Ling Lan¡¯s offer.


    But Ling Lan insisted, "I did it, so I will take responsibility. The academy has taught us before that we should not run away from our responsibilities."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused all the teachers present to nod their heads silently ¡ª even the angered elderly instructor was stroking his white beard in gratification, and the harsh expression on his face gentled considerably.


    An impressive child! A sharp glint shed through the eyes of the young soldier beside the young man. Defusing the elderly instructor¡¯s rage with just a few short sentences; he could already predict that this case would end peacefully.


    "Haha, what if this piece of ss is very expensive? I know well that you scout academy students don¡¯t have much money here," said the young man with a mischievous smirk. It seemed like the young man just wanted to mess around with Ling Lan on purpose. At the same time, he was subtly reminding Ling Lan that she shouldn¡¯t make promises so quickly before she had all the information.


    With a shake of her wrist, Ling Lan sent the small item in her hand flying through the air straight towards the young man. This movement was extremely sudden, but the young man was not at all flustered. He calmly reached out his right hand and easily caught the item.


    This sharp and clean catch caused Ling Lan¡¯s brows to lift up slightly; looks like the owner of this shop was more than he seemed. Ling Lan kept her surprise lidded as a smirk appeared on her face. "This is a fragment of that ss of yours. It would be easy enough to find a device to assess itsponents. We students of the scout academy are protected by the scout academy ... I believe that Big Brother wouldn¡¯t want to offend the scout academy, right?"


    Every student who studied at the scout academy would receive the academy¡¯s protection. Any adult who tried to cheat or deceive the students would certainly draw the frenzied vengeance of the scout academy.


    The way Ling Lan looked at the young man, just as if he were an idiot, made the young soldier beside him chuckle, while the young man couldn¡¯t help but hide his face behind a hand, speechless. He just hadn¡¯t been able to stop himself from teasing this cute little boy a little ¡ª did the boy have to retaliate so fiercely? Actually being looked down upon by a 7 year old child ... Boo hoo hoo, he didn¡¯t want to live anymore.


    The elderly instructor¡¯s face, which had already gentledpletely by this time, actually smiled a little at this speech of Ling Lan¡¯s, nodding all the while. So this child wasn¡¯t an unruly and naughty child ¡ª he was very clear on what was right and wrong in the bigger picture, and was also a responsible child. He really wasn¡¯t a bad child at all ... looks like he couldn¡¯t treat him too harshly now, to avoid hurting the child¡¯s development ...


    Unknowingly, the elderly instructor¡¯s thoughts had been changed by Ling Lan¡¯s performance.


    "Alright, just giving me 500 Federation virtual coins will do." The young man could only give an amount that was lower than the market rate by 30%. Ling Lan naturally didn¡¯t refuse the other¡¯s kind intentions and stupidly insist on paying the so-called correct price just to prove how noble she was.


    That done, Ling Lan packed away her contempt, her expression turning earnest as she thanked the young man. This caused the young man¡¯s spirits to brighten instantly, and he once again felt like this child before him was just too adorable.


    Boo hoo hoo, he must definitely propose to his girlfriend as soon as possible so they could consummate their marriage and have a plump little baby next year as cute as this child before him ...


    Ling Lan swiftly transferred the requested gold coins to the young man, and the case of the broken window was settled just like that. Then, she walked over to stand in front of the elderly instructor and said seriously, "Thank you, teacher, for your guidance."


    These words of Ling Lan finally moved the old instructor. The children these days were all very rebellious, and would usually hold a grudge against their teachers when rebuked, rather than be grateful for it. Yet, the elderly instructor could see very clearly that Ling Lan was sincere when she thanked him. Ling Lan¡¯s current demeanour made the old instructor unable to maintain his initial sternness, so he only said gruffly, "Remember, there¡¯s no next time."


    Eh?! Was this still that merciless stubborn old fogey they all knew? All of the other instructors were extremely surprised that the elderly instructor would let Ling Lan off so easily 2 . They had initially thought that the elderly instructor would personally go all the way to the disciplinary department to make aint. Who would have guessed that the end of the matter would be this ¡¯all thunder but no rain¡¯ type of result?


    A smile hung on the corners of the young soldier¡¯s lips as he looked at Ling Lan¡¯s face which was dripping with sincerity. What a perfect finishing blow! Who knew that after leaving the academy for over a decade, another aberrantly exceptional child would appear ... Lin Lan ... Lin 3 ? Linn 4 ? Ling 5 ? The child¡¯s surname and that of the prodigy of his time actually sounded the same. What a coincidence ... could it be that it was the same Ling?


    At this thought, the young soldier¡¯s expression dimmed. When he looked at Ling Lan once more, his gaze carried a trace of prayer, hoping that this stunningly intelligent child would be able to grow up safely. He hoped that the child would not end up like his old ssmate, who had lost his wings to some sinister plot eight years ago before he could fully shine his brightest ...


    The old instructor ignored the shock on the other instructors¡¯ faces. He scoffed in his heart: "Did you all really think I was senile and blinded by old age? That I wouldn¡¯t be able to see this child¡¯s brilliance? Being hard on him would have just been to prevent him from walking down the wrong path due to his overwhelming intellect. But this child really handled this matter well. Hepletely captured my weak points, making me unable to continue being stern. Oh, how perfectly he did it ..."


    A trace of worry appeared on the elderly instructor¡¯s face, along with some quiet satisfaction; his feelings were mixed. This child would either grow up to be a hero, or an ouw ¡ª who knew what path he would choose in the future ...


    Seeing that the case of the broken window had been settled favourably, the teacher in charge of calling the students to enter the test did not continue to call on the next student. Instead, he indicated for Ling Lan toe over and gave him some time to prepare as he waited to be transported through the portal for the test.

 Chapter 101: A Simple Test?

    Chapter 101: A Simple Test?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan hadn¡¯t even waited for two minutes when the instructor said, "Ling Lan, it¡¯s your turn."


    Under the instructor¡¯s guidance, Ling Lan touched the portal.


    Her hand had barely touched the portal when she felt a tremendous sucking force pulling her entire body into it. Of course, this was just what Ling Lan felt. From an outsider¡¯s perspective, Ling Lan had only walked through the portal and disappeared.


    "I hope this child can receive his inheritance!" This notion suddenly rose up within the young soldier¡¯s heart.


    However, very soon he had received news from the secret monitors that that child had also been rejected and had been sent back to the login point.


    Even such an exceptionally talented child had been denied? Ling Xiao, exactly what kind of inheritor were you looking for? It couldn¡¯t be denied that the young soldier was a little disappointed deep down, for he had really thought highly of that child. Perhaps there would be a chance in the future for him to help that child ...


    The staff who were monitoring in secret had tracked Ling Lan¡¯s movements in the virtual world from the very moment she entered the portal. Only when they saw her walk into the library from the login point, where she then proceeded to sit and study, looking as if she had no intention of moving, did the staff ease their monitoring.


    The young soldier didn¡¯t know that these monitors, who were led by him in name, actually had another mission. The higher-ups had instructed that whenever a child named Ling Lan attempted the legacy mission, the child should be monitored closely every step of the way.


    ********


    The moment Ling Lan entered the specialised space of the legacy mission, she actually found Little Four tucked away in a corner waiting for her. Surprised, she was just about to ask him what was going on when Little Four mysteriously pressed a finger against his lips and made a loud "Shhh!", signalling Ling Lan not to speak.


    Ling Lan red at Little Four irritably. If he was really trying to be stealthy, would he have made such a loud shushing noise? Still, Ling Lan didn¡¯t interrupt Little Four, merely waiting patiently for him to exin.


    "Boss, someone is monitoring this space." Sure enough, Little Four gave her some momentous news.


    "What exactly is going on?" asked Ling Lan in confusion.


    "This space is not yet the real legacy mission space. It is just a transit station that the virtual world has specially set aside for this legacy mission, which is why it can be monitored," exined Little Four. "I¡¯ve tracked it, and it¡¯s connected to the military."


    Ling Lan frowned, "And you still dare to stay here?" Wouldn¡¯t the other side discover Little Four and cause them trouble?


    Little Four rolled his eyes at Ling Lan, extremely displeased that she didn¡¯t trust him. "Who am I? I am the god of the virtual world. They can only see what I want them to see. Like right now, all they can see is an image of you standing in front of that diamond-shaped crystal, investigating it seriously." Little Four was very smug about this.


    "Now who was it who acted as if a great enemy was upon us, telling me to not make a sound?" Ling Lan red coolly at Little Four, instantly smothering his budding self-satisfaction.


    Sensing that things were veering off-track, Little Four immediately adopted an obedient look, eager to please. This made Ling Lan annoyed and amused in equal measure; in the end, Ling Lan could only let it go, turning to focus on a more important question.


    "About this legacy mission, how much do you know?" Since Little Four hade so early, he should have already gotten some understanding of the situation.


    But reality wasn¡¯t as simple as Ling Lan had assumed. When Little Four heard this question, his entire face fell. With a greatly stricken look, he said dejectedly, "Sorry, Boss, I can¡¯t get into that ce." Little Four pointed to the front where the diamond-shaped crystal was hovering in the air, slowly turning on its axis.


    "What is it? A portal?" Ling Lan walked over to the crystal to peer at it curiously.


    Little Four said gloomily, "It is also a type of portal, but this crystal is some strong person¡¯s solidified spiritual essence. I believe that the test space is right inside. Originally, I wanted to go inside to find out more, but I had just gotten close when I was repelled by the spiritual force around the crystal. It almost injured me," said Little Four as he patted his little chest in remembered fear. If he had gotten hurt, his mental faculties would have been disrupted, and it might have been a very long time before he could have appeared in front of Ling Lan again.


    "Oh? Then what should I do?" Hearing Little Four¡¯s words, Ling Lan became more cautious.


    "You just need to touch that crystal. That¡¯s what I saw many of the students do," said Little Four. "After they touched the crystal, they disappeared from this virtual world, and then one or two minutester, they reappeared in the virtual world again, but they were already back at the login point where we first logged in."


    "Disappeared from the virtual world? Could it be a new space?" Ling Lan understood what Little Four was saying. In other words, they hadn¡¯t been transported to another area in the virtual world, but had disappeared directly from this virtual world itself.


    Little Four thought for a moment before saying, "I have some iplete data here ¡ª it seems that there is a theory that when a person¡¯s strength reaches a certain level, a realm will emerge. And every individual¡¯s realm is an independent space."


    Hearing this, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but think of Dao. The essence of Dao can weaken an opponent¡¯s abilities ¡ª was it then also a type of realm, except that this realm was not yetplete?


    The notion came and went, and Ling Lan moved on to her next question, "Did all those students fail the mission?"


    "Of course! Otherwise the next person wouldn¡¯t be able to enter. This legacy mission is really very interesting, only allowing one person to enter at a time. Only when the person inside has failed can the next person go in. Luckily the testing time is quick ¡ª the results are typically out within two or three minutes. There was even one student who didn¡¯t even manage tost 30 seconds before being sent to the login point. How stupid," said Little Four with clear schadenfreude.


    "Perhaps I won¡¯t do much better," said Ling Lan disapprovingly. Who knew what things would be tested inside ¡ª no one could guarantee that they would definitely be able to pass.


    "Boss will surely do fine and take down this legacy mission." said Little Four with a pout. In his mind, Ling Lan was the smartest!


    "Little Four, thank you." Ling Lan was very touched by Little Four¡¯s faith in her. She stroked Little Four¡¯s small head, while her mind was working through her next options.


    With some doubt, Ling Lan said, "Little Four, I want to give up on this mission. You know why ... I don¡¯t want the military to notice me." It would be fine if she didn¡¯t manage toplete it, but if by chance she really managed toplete it, it might result in some negative repercussions for her.


    Puzzled, Little Four said, "Even so, you don¡¯t have to give up, right? I can create an illusion, so no matter whether Boss seeds or fails, I can make it look like you¡¯re chased out after 3 minutes."


    "Little Four, you can create illusions?" Ling Lan was extremely surprised. But then, she recalled that Little Four could alter human brainwaves, so of course he could also mimic human brainwaves to make an illusory Ling Lan appear in the virtual world.


    "However, if I stay inside, it will still be useless when the next person finds that they can¡¯t get in," said Ling Lan with a sigh.


    "That¡¯s easy. I¡¯ll just make a new space and let the children after that enter that new space. And then, I¡¯ll set it so that they¡¯ll be sent back to the login point at a random time between one to three minutes." Little Four didn¡¯t see the problem.


    "And what about the contents of the test?" After all, quite a few students had already entered the real legacy mission space to take the real test. If by any chance it was discovered that the test contents were different, it would be bad.


    "Tch, Boss, you really have too many questions. Wouldn¡¯t you already be inside the real test by then? As long as you¡¯re inside, when you take the test, I¡¯ll be able to find out the test contents then. At that time, I¡¯ll just copy it over ... Also, if by any chance Boss fails and gets thrown out, I won¡¯t even have to make a new space anymore. So, Boss, just go in and leave everything to Little Four."


    Little Four couldn¡¯t stand it any longer and nudged Ling Lan impatiently to go in. Although Little Four could give those monitors an illusion, he couldn¡¯t just let Ling Lan continue to just stand still in front of the crystal ¡ª that would be suspicious.


    Ling Lan finally rxed. She put her hand onto the crystal floating in the air ¡ª for some reason, when she touched the crystal, she felt an indescribable sense of kinship, warming her deeply from the inside ...


    Then, she was enveloped by the warmth of this spiritual energy and was brought to a ce shrouded in fog. There was nothing at all in her surroundings other than semi-transparent fog and mist.


    Just as Ling Lan was wondering what she should do, the mist suddenly condensed to form a grey figure. This figure was short and small, roughly the height and size of the present Ling Lan. And then, the little figure started to go through a set ofbat arts.


    Ling Lan took a close look and found herself speechless. Was this the test? Wasn¡¯t this just a little too easy? It turned out that that little figure was going through one of the basicbat arts that all students learned from the academy in grade one.


    "Scout basicsbat arts?" Ling Lan tentatively gave her answer, but found that the little figure was still going through the motions without stopping.


    So it wasn¡¯t testing her for the name of the art? A thought shed through Ling Lan¡¯s mind, and she struck a pose and begun following the grey figure to go through this set of basicbat arts. However, Ling Lan started from the very first stance; she wanted to prove her hypothesis.


    Sure enough, Ling Lan found that the moment she started, that little figure restarted to follow Ling Lan as she went through the movements. As she had guessed, it was indeed a test of bodynguage. Of course, it wasn¡¯t impossible for it to also be a test ofbat art names, so Ling Lan decided to cover all her bases to make sure that she would pass safely.


    Ling Lan called out the name of each move as she performed them, until she and the grey figure were movingpletely in sync. When Ling Lan finally finished going through the entire set ofbat arts, the grey figure disappeared, leaving Ling Lan standing alone in the space once again. She hadn¡¯t been thrown out, so it looked like she had passed this first round of testing.


    Ling Lan let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness she had guessed correctly. That one set ofbat arts had taken up roughly two to three minutes ... which meant that most students had failed in the second round. What in the world was this second round testing for which would cause all of the students to fail?


    Ling Lan¡¯s heartbeat became a little erratic just thinking about it. At this moment, the mist once again condensed into a human figure, but the figure this time was no longer a small child, but a bulky adult. This figure proceeded to go through yet another set ofbat arts, but this particr set made Ling Lan¡¯s facial expression change drastically.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    Aw yeah, we¡¯ve reached the hundreds! Here¡¯s a celebratory bonus chapter, and as usual, thank you for all the support. :3


    Another chap will be out at the usual time, so this cliffy shouldn¡¯t feel as long. (This author is a master of cliffs, I tell you. XD)

 Chapter 102: A Test of Questions and Answers!

    Chapter 102: A Test of Questions and Answers!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling-style killing arts! That was one of the Ling family loyalists¡¯ specialisedbat arts ¡ª why would it appear here in this mission space? Doubt rose in Ling Lan¡¯s heart. If it could be said that she wasn¡¯t particrly concerned about this legacy mission at the start, now that she had seen this set of killing arts, Ling Lan had no choice but to take it seriously.


    Ling Lan did not hesitate ¡ª she quickly followed the figure¡¯s lead to go through every punch and kick of the Ling-style killing arts perfectly. Having grown up practising these arts inbat training with the Ling family loyalists, Ling Lan had long had it ingrained in her memory.


    Once Ling Lan had gone through the full set of the killing arts perfectly, the grey figure dissipated once again. At the same time, Ling Lan felt as if the surrounding fog and mist were gradually melting away, and soon, she could clearly see the scenery before her.


    She was standing on a lush and greenwn. In the distance, there were the highs and lows of mountain ranges, circled by clouds and mist; nearby, a stream was trickling, and the air was filled with birdsong and the scent of flowers. A lovely and tranquil mountain valley scene had just appeared so abruptly before Ling Lan¡¯s eyes.


    Ling Lan had never seen scenery as beautiful as this, which caused her heart to be unbelievably quiet in an instant. At that moment, a sheet of white paper suddenly descended from the skies, drifting down leisurely to float miraculously at her eye level and unfurled itself.


    On it was a line of writing. It was a request: This is a beautiful mountain valley, but unfortunately, till now it still has no name. Please give it a nice name now.


    Ling Lan had just finished scanning these words when an exquisite Chinese writing brush appeared beside the white paper.


    That¡¯s strange. Why would such an ancient thing appear in this modern ce?


    Ling Lan¡¯s brows furrowed. Her gaze was fixed on the writing brush ¡ª the more she looked at it, the stranger it seemed. This was because the design of the brush actually seemed somewhat familiar to her, but she just couldn¡¯t recall where she had seen it before.


    The academy? Ling Lan silently shook her head, eliminating this possibility. The academy was too advanced ¡ª if you told her that there were some things that defied reality there, Ling Lan might still believe you, but for an almost extinct antique such as a Chinese writing brush to appear there was almost impossible.


    In that case, the only possibility was her house.


    When and where would she have seen a writing brush like this one in her house? A writing brush would typically appear in a study room, but the study in the old Ling family mansion belonged to her father. Thus, the writing brushes in there were all bold and simple in design ¡ª there was no such elegantly exquisite writing brush there, which was clearly meant for women ...


    For women? The study? Ling Lan suddenly recalled an incident ... That was back when she had first started learning how to read and write. She had been dragged into the study by her mum to practise calligraphy. Her mum had said that this was a Ling family tradition ¡ª every descendant of the Ling family must learn how to do it well. Back then, Ling Lan had been miserable. Her tiny fingers hadn¡¯t been able to hold any of her father¡¯srge writing brushes in the proper grip. In the end, she could only pretend to be clueless and innocent, and just grip the writing brush as if it were a mop.


    Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s put-out expression, Lan Luofeng had been giggling with amusement. However, she also knew then that she had been careless, not having prepared a small writing brush more appropriate for Ling Lan. In the end, in order to let Ling Lan grip the brush correctly, she had taken out a small writing brush that she treasured dearly, lending it to Ling Lan. She had also told Ling Lan with a tender look that this was a love token given to her by her father Ling Xiao.


    She remembered that she had reflexivelyined right then that her dad was really such a cheapskate, while her mum was just too gullible. Lan Luofeng hadn¡¯t known whether tough or cry, and had knocked her smartly on the head. Still, that little writing brush had really been so pretty and exquisite that Ling Lan had yed with it curiously for a good long while that day. But starting from the second day, that delicate little writing brush had once again been secreted away by Lan Luofeng. In its ce was an extremelymon small writing brush. From then on, Ling Lan had never again seen that love-token writing brush.


    Five years had passed since then, and Ling Lan had almost entirely forgotten that event as well as that brush.


    Ling Lan suppressed the emotions roiling within her. Carefully, she picked up the exquisite writing brush before her and twirled it in her palms. A phoenix with its wings outstretched in flight was carved on the shaft of the brush. It was exactly like the one she had seen in the past ¡ª sure enough, this brush was the one from her memory.


    Could it be that this legacy had something to do with the Ling family? Something to do with her dad? Or perhaps this legacy was from her dad?


    Ling Lan felt as if she were going mad, otherwise why would she even have these kinds of thoughts? Legacy missions could only be issued by someone at the level of a imperial operator or beyond. And anyone at that level would undoubtedly be a terrifying existence, almost a symbol of immortality. How could that short-lived dad of hers fall into this category?


    But what if it were true? Ling Lan¡¯s heart started pounding violently ...


    Right then, another line of writing suddenly appeared on the paper: You still have one minute to think. The countdown begins now. 60, 59, 58 ...


    F*ck! Ling Lan¡¯s emotional feelings fled instantly. She started thinking hard on what name she should give to this valley. At this moment, Ling Lan was somewhat regretful that she had gotten distracted by the writing brush, and had not used her time wisely to think about this problem.


    "A beautiful valley, an exquisite brush? What exactly is this legacy mission trying to tell me with this imagery?" The CPU of Ling Lan¡¯s little brain was whirring at full speed, trying to find any hint she could from her surroundings.


    The writing brush was her mum¡¯s love-token? In that case, could this lovely valley also have something to do with her mum? Ling Lan began scouring through the conversations she had had with her mum, hoping that she would be able to find some clue there.


    43, 42, 41 ... time continued to slip away bit by bit. Ling Lan¡¯s forehead began to bead up with sweat ¡ª Goddammit, if only Little Four were here.


    "Boss, looking for me?" Little Four¡¯s voice suddenly rang out from within her consciousness. Ling Lan was startled, "Little Four, you¡¯re here?"


    "Yup, I¡¯ve been watching all this time. It¡¯s just that I was sealed by an energy force and couldn¡¯t talk to you. But when you thought of me just now, that energy just disappeared," replied Little Four.


    "Enough about that for now. There¡¯s still about 30 seconds left. Quick, help me think, when I talked with my mum before this, did she ever mention a ce like this?" Ling Lan was burning with anxiety, throwing out the question hurriedly.


    "That¡¯s a bit too broad. Are there any more hints?" Little Four also became anxious, and his core processing chip started running in overdrive.


    "Whatever location for my parents¡¯ engagement, dating, or proposal, or perhaps a marriage spot or a honeymoon destination ... or maybe some country that she has a deep impression of, or even an ideal country to build a home?" Ling Lan ran through anything she could think of ¡ª all she could do now was gamble.


    "Dating spots ... other than the Ling estates, it was military camps. Your dad is really unromantic!" muttered Little Four. How in the world had Mama Lan been wooed by this? "Engagement? Proposal? Marriage? Honeymoon? Huh?! The family estates? Military camps? Hells, did your dad only know how to run between the family grounds and the military camps?! Did he never even consider exploring other ces?!"


    Little Four was infuriated. No matter how hard he looked, Ling Xiao and Lan Luofeng¡¯s romance history only went back and forth between military camps and the old Ling family estates. There was nothing at all connected with this beautiful valley before them right now.


    "Then what about dreams? Or ideals? Didn¡¯t my mum have any ces which she really wanted to visit?" Ling Lan saw the number on the paper dropping from double digits into single digits, and couldn¡¯t help but yell.


    "I¡¯ve got it! It¡¯s Belief! Mama Lan most wanted to go to Belief ..." Little Four finally located the ce that Lan Luofeng missed the most.


    At this point, the countdown had already reached 3. Ling Lan didn¡¯t hesitate, quickly writing down ¡¯Belief¡¯. The moment the final ¡¯f¡¯ was written, the countdown timer hit zero.


    Ling Lan stared nkly at her answer. She honestly had no idea what kind of ce ¡¯Belief¡¯ was, so she didn¡¯t know if this answer that Little Four provided was right or not. Whatever the result, she had already tried her best.


    The words on the paper slowly faded away, including Ling Lan¡¯s answer, and the paper turned back into apletely white sheet. Ling Lan took in a deep breath and waited for the final determination of the legacy mission.


    You Pass! Two words in bold and vigorous cursive writing emerged on the paper. When Ling Lan saw the two words, the tension in her heart eased, and she soon started to feel fatigue settling into her body and mind. The intense pressure and anxiety within that short one minute had really taken a toll on her mental resources.


    When the two words disappeared once more, new questions appeared. However, these questions were not at all difficult, because they were clearly a type of self-introduction.


    "Name: Ling Lan!"


    "Father: Ling Xiao!"


    "Mother: Lan Luofeng!"


    "Age: 7 years!"


    "What does your father like best?" The fifth question made Ling Lan pause. She stopped the brush in her hand, thinking back on what Lan Luofeng had said.


    ********


    "Baby Ling Lan, do you know what your father likes?" Lan Luofeng was hugging Ling Lan, showing her a photo of her and Ling Xiao together, as she asked Ling Lan this.


    Ling Lan rolled her eyes mentally. If her mum didn¡¯t tell her, how would she know?


    "Your father really, really likes mecha. You could even say that, in his life, besides mecha, there is still only mecha. Mummy was sometimes jealous of his mecha, but your daddy was the coolest when he was piloting his mecha. No one else couldpare." Mama Lan was starting to get lost in her fantasies again, her face dreamy with recollection. This made the one-year-old baby Ling Lan whack Ling Xiao¡¯s charming smiling face in the photo with a small hand.


    "You menace!" scolded Ling Lan internally. The moment her dad was brought up, her mum would be unsteady.


    "Still, what your dad loved most was me. Did you know that? Your daddy told me once ... if he had to choose between me and mecha, he would abandon mecha without question, and choose me." At this point in her story, Lan Luofeng blushed. "Wait till I meet him again. I will definitely make him throw away his mecha, and apany me forever ... like he promised."


    Ling Lan felt a faint sense of mncholy from these words. Loving so deeply that she just could not ept the other¡¯s death ... whenever Lan Luofeng mentioned Ling Xiao, she spoke of him as if he were just on a long journey away, as if he hadn¡¯t truly departed.


    *******


    Wasn¡¯t mum the one dad loved the most? This was probably also what her mum wished for ... Ling Lan sighed, and behind the question of ¡¯what does your father like best¡¯ , she wrote down ¡¯Lan Luofeng¡¯.


    However, the next question gave Ling Lan yet another headache ¡ª why were the questions of this legacy mission so bizarre?


    "Your mother¡¯s sleeping habit?" Ling Lan¡¯s face couldn¡¯t help but twitch at this question. Without hesitation, she put down ¡¯grinding her teeth¡¯.


    When Ling Lan stopped writing, a final question appeared on the paper. "Do you need to modify your answers?"


    Ling Lan resolutely wrote ¡¯no¡¯. At the final stroke, the brush in Ling Lan¡¯s hand instantly turned into ck mist and dissipated into the air. The words on the paper also disappeared once again.


    And then, very quickly, a new line of writing emerged on the paper.


    "Congrattions on advancing to the next round!"

 Chapter 103: A Heartless Dad?

    Chapter 103: A Heartless Dad?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    At the appearance of this line of text, the beautiful valley before Ling Lan¡¯s eyes shattered like ss and dissipated. In the blink of an eye, a new scene unfolded before Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. She was now in some luxurious hall, a hall which Ling Lan could not be more familiar with. It was the hall of the home she had lived in for a full 7 years ¡ª¡ª the Ling family mansion.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze revealed a trace of surprise at this unexpected scene. The cautious Ling Lan did not choose to walk around randomly, but instead stood still where she was. She tapped lightly on her own head as she thought: Was this originally set up this way? Or had the legacy mission extracted this image from her memories to create an impromptu illusion?


    She needed to figure this out, otherwise she might make a wrong choice in the uing round of tests and fail the mission. Although she had already gone further than any of the other children before her, Ling Lan was still unwilling to ept failure down to her very bones.


    Ling Lan decided that she would first investigate the details of this great hall. If this scenery was the original setting of the legacy mission, then it was very likely rted to her father Ling Xiao. If that was the case, this mansion drawn from Ling Xiao¡¯s memories would most definitely have some differences inparison to the current mansion. Her father had already been dead for almost 8 years after all. On the other hand, if this illusion was born from an extraction of her memories, then she shouldn¡¯t be able to find any differences in her surroundings.


    Ling Lan took a careful look around, and very soon, she had found something different. There was an additional woollen army coat on one of the armchairs in the hall, and on the wall behind it, the space beside her parents¡¯ wedding photo was empty. It was missing a portrait of herself.


    Every year, Lan Luofeng would choose one of Ling Lan¡¯s newest photos to convert into a portrait, and then hang it beside their wedding photo in the great hall. The portrait had already been changed seven times without skipping a year. ording to Lan Luofeng, she wanted Ling Xiao to keep watching Ling Lan as she grew up.


    But in Ling Lan¡¯s opinion, Lan Luofeng was clearly just too free and needed to find something to do. Still, to keep her mother happy, Ling Lan was d to oblige.


    "From this, it looks like this scene is definitely not drawn from my memory. From the time I was born, my picture has always been hung here." Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked up in a small smile. Since she had gotten her answer, her following choices would be much easier.


    When Ling Lan took her first step, a clear and resounding voice rang out in the hall. "Please choose a room as you wish. The test content of every room is different. Some are easy, while some are difficult ..."


    The corner of Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked upwards. This was probably a trap. Ever since she had entered this legacy mission, she had not seen any task that depended purely on luck. This was obviously abnormal if it really was as she thought.


    As if sensing Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts, the clear voice continued to say, "This has nothing to do with being fair. Sometimes, luck is also a type of strength." Of course, it didn¡¯t change the fact that, whether you liked it or not, this was how it would be.


    The clear voice had barely faded when the doors of all the rooms facing the hall swung open in unison with crisp sounds. The opened doorways seemed to beckon Ling Lan to enter.


    "Isn¡¯t this just a misleading trick?" Ling Lan already had an answer in her heart. If this were someone who didn¡¯t know the Ling family mansion, they would definitely be tricked by this scene before them. This mission had been silently eliminating all candidates who weren¡¯t from the Ling family from the very beginning. This was probably why all the children before her hadn¡¯t been able to pass ¡ª they were all not Ling Lan.


    "Were you waiting for me? Oh, Father!" By this point, Ling Lan could pretty much confirm that this legacy mission had been created by her father Ling Xiao.


    Oh dad, what kind of person are you, really? Ling Lan smiled wryly. She really regretted not having looked up information on Ling Xiao, causing her to be floundering in confusion right now.


    Ling Lan settled her emotions and then began walking determinedly across the hall. She ignored the stairways curling off to the sides, walking directly to the centre of the corridor.


    There were rooms along both sides of the corridor. Right now, all the room doors were already open. As Ling Lan walked down the hallway, she could see the decorations and contents of the rooms. Some of them were the same as their current counterparts, while others werepletely different. Was this how it was in her father¡¯s memory?


    She walked over to stand before a full-length mirror. The mirror was very tall andrge, reaching up to 2.5 metres tall and spanning 4 metres wide.


    Without any hesitation, Ling Lan pushed her palms against the mirror and something unexpected urred. The mirror actually broke apart from the middle, folding in on itself in four different directions until it finally disappeared to reveal a hidden passage. At the end of the 4-metre wide passage was a spacious staircase draped with a shaggy white carpet.


    Ling Lan had just stepped into the passage when the mirror reassembled itself behind her, returning to its original appearance in the blink of an eye. It was once more a wless full-length mirror, its fine cracks imperceptible to the naked eye. Modern-day technology was already able to achieve this wless perfection.


    The Ling family mansion was split into two independent areas. The front section was for entertaining guests, though it naturally included a master bedroom for the master, along with studies and othermon rooms to fend off spying.


    Meanwhile, the hidden back area was where the Ling family head truly resided. Besides the Ling family head, this secret was only known to a few old loyal servants who frequently visited the mansion.


    Therefore, even if other students had passed the previous few rounds by chance, once they got here, they would still be unable to find the correct room. Furthermore, even if someone identally touched the mirror, it still wouldn¡¯t open. This was because the force necessary to open the mirror corresponded to the position touched. If the position touched was different, the force needed to trigger the mirror to open would also be different.


    Of course, this did not exclude the possibility of someone being phenomenally lucky, being able to pass every round of the test by sheer luck ... This sort of person would obviously be someone favoured by the heavens, a destined winner in life, the main character of a story ¡ª Ling Lan would have no regrets losing the legacy to such a person; it was stupid to try and match an abnormality.


    Ling Lan slowly walked up the staircase. For some reason, her heart started pounding dramatically and her palms started oozing sweat. Would Ling Xiao, her father in this life, really appear in that room?


    Ling Lan finally arrived at the study. Her mum Lan Luofeng had once said that this study belonged to Ling Xiao. Flipped around, it meant that Ling Xiao also only existed within that study room. The moment Ling Xiao walked out of that study, Ling Xiao was no longer Ling Xiao, but Lan Luofeng¡¯s hubby.


    Ling Lan had always felt that her mum was rather domineering ¡ª she just hid it very deeply. In particr, her soft-touch methods were on a level of its own; tears especially, were one of her sure-win tactics. Many times Ling Lan had surrendered to these methods, and she believed that her father would also have been powerless against them.


    Thus, Ling Lan chose the study. Since this was a legacy mission set by Ling Xiao, then he would only be able to pass on the legacy when he was truly Ling Xiao.


    Ling Lan took a deep breath and ced her right hand on the door handle of the room. With a strong push, the door easily swung open, and everything within the study was revealed before her eyes.


    Abruptly, silent tears fell from Ling Lan¡¯s eyes ...


    Behind the study desk, a handsome young man was smiling gently as he looked at her. And that man was her father, Ling Xiao.


    Only then did Ling Lan notice that, over the span of these 7 years, under Lan Luofeng¡¯s daily nagging and bombardment of stories, she had already subconsciously epted this man before her as her father. It was only because Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t physically around that these affectionate emotions had been deeply buried within Ling Lan¡¯s heart, and had never been discovered by herself. And now, really seeing her father standing before her, Ling Lan could no longer control the emotions in her heart. The tears could not be stopped as she involuntarily began to cry.


    The current Ling Xiao should be a memory-entity from 8 years ago. He was utterly unmoved by Ling Lan¡¯s emotional turmoil, only giving her a slight nod before saying, "Being able to get here, you should be my child Ling Lan."


    However, he quickly scoffed at himself and said, "Well, not definitely. I believe that the military will not let go of this legacy so easily. Perhaps you all really managed to crack this mission. After all, the previous rounds and questions weren¡¯t that difficult." With these words, a cold glint suddenly shed across Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes. Ling Lan abruptly felt a crushing wave of pressure sweep towards her, almost ttening her to the ground. Fortunately, Ling Lan had already been fashioned by the learning space into a little anomaly ¡ª she immediately leaked a little essence of Dao to bear the burden of this endless pressure.


    Still, just this small taste had told Ling Lan that her father was, as expected, very strong. Anyone who could issue a legacy mission was no ordinary person.


    It seemed that Ling Xiao only wanted to posture a little, and he may also be wary in case the one who passed was really his child. Very quickly, he had retracted the pressure emanating from his body.


    "If the one inheriting my legacy is not my child, I have only one wish. After you have learnt it, look for my child, and pass these things on to him." Ling Xiao¡¯s words made Ling Lan¡¯s tears fall even more fiercely; this legacy had really been left for her by her father.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s attitude gentled abruptly, and he said, "If you want to receive my legacy, there is one more mission you mustplete. Find me something I need."


    With those words, Ling Xiao said nothing further, only looking straight at Ling Lan with a smile. Ling Lan hurriedly wiped away her tears. This wasn¡¯t the time for her to mope and be mncholy; she had to finish this mission first.


    Ling Lan asked carefully, "Could you give a little more detail?"


    All that answered Ling Lan was still just Ling Xiao¡¯s smile. Ling Lan tried a few other things, beating around the bush, but unfortunately, Ling Xiao just smiled at everything. Ling Lan was rather put out by this, a little resentful that her dad had made this legacy mission soplicated.


    With no other choice, Ling Lan could only observe the study room closely in hopes that she would be able to locate some kind of clue. Sadly, Ling Lan was quickly disappointed. She noticed that this study was almost identical to the study in her memory. Other than Ling Xiao sitting behind the desk, all the decorations and furniture in the room were exactly the same. It was clear to see how much Lan Luofeng had treasured Ling Xiao¡¯s study, unwilling to change any bit of it after his death.


    Ling Lan was frustrated. What should she do? What thing could her old dad need? Ling Lan could only take a closer look at Ling Xiao, and hope that she would be able to discern something from his facial expressions and bodynguage.


    At that moment, Ling Xiao looked as if he were enjoying the show. His jaw was cradled in his left hand, which was leaning artlessly against the arm of the chair. His right hand was tapping lightly on the surface of the desk as he looked at her with a half-smile.


    Dammit, this heartless old man of hers, actually tormenting his own child so ... Ling Lan was full ofints.


    Although Ling Lan understood deep down that the Ling Xiao before her now was the Ling Xiao of 8 years ago who knew nothing of the person standing before him now, and that this sort of irritating attitude was definitely not targeted at her specifically ... she just couldn¡¯t help but feel annoyed.

 Chapter 104: The World of Belief!

    Chapter 104: The World of Belief!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Also, why did he have to keep tapping his fingers? Didn¡¯t he know that all that noise would interfere with her thinking process?


    Wait ... tapping noises? Ling Lan suddenly recalled something Lan Luofeng had mentioned before. When her mum had first met her dad, she had been attracted by the noise her dad had made by tapping on a table. It was because of that that they had gotten to know each other, and their love story had taken off and became unstoppable ...


    ********


    Back then, her mum had been a fresh-faced 16 year old maiden who had just graduated from a scout academy. As she hadn¡¯t been particrly talented and didn¡¯t have good potential, she hadn¡¯t managed to get into any of the major military schools of the Federation. However, Lan Luofeng had dreamed of being in the military since young, so she had decisively signed up to serve as a foot soldier, finally seeding in bing amon starship JMC 1 female trooper.


    After 3 months of training for new recruits, her mum had been assigned to the starship fleet belonging to her dad, finally bing the second mainship¡¯s JMC.


    Subsequently, whenever Lan Luofeng had gone out to eat with the other female troopers of the same rank, she would find that no matter where they sat, some mecha fighters would appear by their side. Among them was a young man, who seemed to be their team leader. He appeared especially handsome and powerful, drawing the admiration of many of the female troopers.


    However, the sense of hierarchy within the military camps was very strong. Even the most average mecha fighter held the military rank of second lieutenant, not to mention one at captain level. Meanwhile, they were merely somemon female troopers of the lowest possible rank. They just didn¡¯t have the right to initiate conversation with a mecha fighter. They could only fantasize every day that these mecha fighters would one day greet them first ... Many girls had been willing to be soldiers,rgely for the purpose of reeling in a rich and promising husband.


    Lan Luofeng was the only girl who didn¡¯t think anything of this. She was still very young and hadn¡¯t be interested in love yet, which was why she was rather slow when it came to these things. However, even so, Lan Luofeng had also been surprised sometimes, wondering why she would run into that mecha officer so often ¡ª no matter where she sat, she would bump into him.


    Back when she had first heard the story, Ling Lan had known right away that it was because her dad had already started crushing on her mum. That¡¯s why he was using this sort of ¡¯serendipitous meeting¡¯ method to increase her mum¡¯s impression of him ... he had really been quite desperate.


    Just like that, a month had passed by in fits and starts. Then one day, Lan Luofeng had ¡¯unfortunately¡¯ ended up alone. The other JMCs in her ss had been sent out to carry out variouspetition missions for the various divisions of the Federation, because the mecha fighter confrontation event had been drawn by the second mainship. Consequently, the second mainship had sent out the main force of their mecha battle squad, and the JMCs in charge of those mecha had to go with them. In the end, only three JMCs were left on the second mainship. Every ss of JMCs had had to leave a member behind on duty; Lan Luofeng¡¯s ss had left the youngest member of their ss, Lan Luofeng, behind.


    And so when it was time to eat, Lan Luofeng could only go eat by herself. Just as she had sat down to begin her meal, someone suddenly sat down across from her. It was that young and handsome mecha officer who kept bumping into her whom she still didn¡¯t know.


    Lan Luofeng found it strange that the other would choose to sit at her dining table when there were so many other empty seats and tables around. However, they were in a public canteen ¡ª anyone could freely choose where they wanted to sit. Despite the strangeness, Lan Luofeng didn¡¯t think too much about it and just continued to eat her food.


    Naturally, Ling Xiao, who had worked so hard to create this opportunity, was unwilling to retreat without attempting anything. Let it be known that for the sake of getting some time alone with Lan Luofeng, he had cracked his head to squeeze out every ounce of ingenuity he had. He had purposely volunteered his unit for the mecha confrontation event mission, just so he could send away all those annoying JMCs hanging around.


    Yet, he had never gotten to know a girl before, so he was at a loss on what to do next. In the end, he had clumsily chosen to attract Lan Luofeng¡¯s attention by making noise.


    So, Ling Xiao had used his fingers to knock on the surface of the table lightly. Three long two short. Pause. Followed by another three long two short. Just like that, he started tapping out a consistent rhythm. At first, Lan Luofeng had found it strange, and then her attention had been captured, curious. When she saw that no one else was looking, she quietly asked Ling Xiao what he was doing with this rhythmic tapping.


    Smiling, Ling Xiao told Lan Luofeng all the information he had prepared beforehand. Apparently, this kind of knocking was a type of code, called the Duomo code. It was a type of secret code shared between a JMC and the mecha fighter they were responsible for. Back during the warring period, there had been an incident where themunications channel connecting a JMC and their mecha had been hacked and deciphered ... in the end, the enemy had used the information gained from this hacking to set up an ambush, resulting in theplete destruction of an entire mecha troop. Later, a JMC named Duomo had thought up this method ofmunication. Using the code he thought up, he had helped his mecha fighter to escape the enemy¡¯s ambush again and again,pleting their missions sessfully to return safely.


    From then onwards, every JMC would create their own unique Duomo code, to prevent a simr situation from happening ever again.


    As a JMC, Lan Luofeng was naturally very interested in this sort of code. She sincerely requested to learn more about this code, but Ling Xiao seemed rather reluctant to say more. However, under Lan Luofeng¡¯s repeated pleading, he finally agreed, making Lan Luofeng feel extremely grateful.


    Listening to the story up till this point, Ling Lan could only sigh at her mum¡¯s na?vet¨¦. Her dad had obviously been putting on an act to reel her mum in. Still, her mum couldn¡¯t be med for getting hooked so easily ¡ª her dad had clearly grasped her mum¡¯s vital point. Any dutiful JMC with ambition would not be able to resist this temptation. All she could say was that her old man had just been too shameless.


    Whenever Lan Luofeng told the story, at this point, she would hold her face in her hands and sigh dreamily. She would marvel at the fact that Ling Lan¡¯s dad and her were just so meant to be ¡ª because, in their following conversations, she had found out that Ling Xiao was also a mecha fighter of the second mainship, and on top of that, he was one of the mecha fighters she was responsible for. But Ling Xiaoter told her that he had known she was the one from the very beginning. Her voice had been different from anyone else¡¯s ¡ª soft and sweet, so veryfortable to listen to. His heart had imprinted on it from the very moment he had first heard her speak.


    When Lan Luofeng told Ling Lan this, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but stifle a grin. She just knew that her dad had harboured impure intentions, and it looked like he had a voice kink as well.


    After spending time alone together, just the two of them, for about half a month, the temperature of their feelings rose quickly. The two of them then agreed to be an exclusive JMC and mecha fighter pair, and together they created a Duomo code that belonged only to them.


    Of course, this Duomo code hadn¡¯t yet found its way to the battlefield when, after the other JMCs returned, it had begun to be used frequently by them in daily life. Because they were afraid the other JMCs would find out about the two of them (it was primarily Lan Luofeng who was shy ¡ª who asked her to be the youngest and yet be the first one to get a boyfriend?), so every time they wanted to date, Ling Xiao would sit at the table beside Lan Luofeng¡¯s during meal times and rap on the table with his fingers. In their code, he would tell her where and when to meet, and regardless of whether Lan Luofeng was free, she would always rap back in their code to tell Ling Xiao if she would meet him or not.


    At this point of the story, Ling Lan was really speechless. Could this still be considered dating? Why did it seem more like undercover spies trying to meet up? Still, Ling Lan was d for her mum. Her first love had been so perfect that she had directly gotten married to her dad. It was just unfortunate that her dad had died young ... this should be med on this current world, full of war and strife, no peace in sight.


    In order to make her mum happy, Ling Lan had expressed great interest in their Duomo code and said that she wanted to learn it. Hearing this, Lan Luofeng had been overjoyed, and had passed everything about this Duomo code belonging to her and Ling Xiao on to Ling Lan.


    ********


    Thinking back on this, Ling Lan began listening closely to Ling Xiao¡¯s tapping sounds. One long two short, three long one short, two long one short, four continuous short taps ... Ling Xiao¡¯s tapping was very systematic. Four distinctly different sound sections, representing four sybles ¡ª posepro kento? kento posepro? token propose? It was ¡¯proposal token¡¯ 2 !


    Ugh. Dad, how much did you love mum, really? Ling Lan thought back on all the tests she had gone through thus far; they all had something to do with her mother to some extent.


    Frankly, Ling Lan was wrongly ming Ling Xiao. Even before Ling Xiao had left for the death tunnel, he had had a premonition that something would go wrong. However, a military order was absolute ¡ª he couldn¡¯t not go. So, before he had left, he had condensed his spirit energy to create this legacy mission, in hopes that his child would be able to obtain his legacy.


    Still, he knew very well that the upper ranks of the military were greedy for the way he had managed to advance to legendary operator status. Thus, he had not given the legacy mission directly to Lan Luofeng, but had chosen to submit it to his direct superior instead. He had been afraid that Lan Luofeng and Ling Lan would have gotten into trouble for the treasure they possessed, and be targeted and killed by those avaricious people who would do anything to get their hands on his legacy.


    However, Ling Xiao had also known, that submitting it to his superior might mean that this legacy would never reach the hands of his child either. Thus, he had made further arrangements. He left a message for the old dean of the Central Scout Academy, hoping that once his child Ling Lan entered the scout academy, the dean would submit a request to the military on his behalf to get the legacy back. So that the old dean would put his back into it, Ling Xiao had agreed to release this legacy to the entire Central Scout Academy. Any child who could pass his tests would be able to obtain his legacy.


    Ling Xiao had worked so hard to arrange all this ¡ª naturally, he didn¡¯t want anyone else to obtain his legacy. So, when creating the contents of the test, he had used a progressive advancement method, which would slowly eliminate any outsiders.


    In the first round of tests, he had used the foundationalbat arts of the scout academy, to give the impression that he was judging all the children equally. Although this set ofbat arts was pretty much general knowledge, this round could sessfully exclude all adults. He had set it to be a mirroring test, not just for testing purposes, but also to immediately chase out anyone whose body size exceeded 1.6 metres, eliminating almost all adults. This had caused all the fighters of the military who attempted the mission to fail in the very first round.


    Of course, if Ling Lan had grown up before making contact with this legacy mission, she would also have been chased out and wouldn¡¯t have been able to obtain the legacy. However, Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy was only effective when practised at age 10 and below. After the age of 13, there was basically no chance of training ording to the legacy anymore anyway. Ling Xiao could only hope that Ling Lan would be able to enter the legacy tests before she exceeded the age limit.


    After ensuring that only children would be able to proceed, Ling Xiao had revealed his true intention from the second round onwards, by using the killing arts of the Ling family loyalists. This move pretty much killed all chances of any other children entering the following rounds of testing. Of course, if the military really wanted to, they could still find a way to get hold of the Ling family loyalists¡¯ killing arts and assist other children to enter the third round.


    Therefore, in the third round, Ling Xiao had chosen to use a secret base only known to him and Lan Luofeng. Only Lan Luofeng would know how that lovely valley came to be.


    Within the military camp, when did they ever have the chance to go out and see those beautiful sceneries? Even if they had entered the virtual world, they would have been stuck inside the 7th Division¡¯s world. In order to make Lan Luofeng happy, Ling Xiao had brought her into his mecha and let create an immersive holograph of that lovely valley scene. In her great delight, Lan Luofeng had yfully named it as the ¡¯World of Belief¡¯ ...

 Chapter 105: The Real Token!

    Chapter 105: The Real Token!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Xiao believed, that Lan Luofeng would definitely tell Ling Lan about how they had met and fallen in love, and about his mecha. (On the second point, he was mistaken. Lan Luofeng hadn¡¯t told Ling Lan about his mecha, since Lan Luofeng believed that it was still a bit too early to tell Ling Lan about things to do with mecha.)


    Fortunately, Lan Luofeng had once revealed that the ce she most wanted to visit was the ¡¯World of Belief¡¯, which had been recorded down by Little Four, allowing him to find the correct answer to that earlier question. It had to be said that Ling Lan had passed that test by the skin of her teeth. Still, even if Ling Lan had failed, she could have still gone home to ask Lan Luofeng for the correct answers and attempt the mission againter.


    Ling Xiao had not restricted the number of times someone could take the tests, for he himself was afraid that his questions were too left-field that even Lan Luofeng might have forgotten about some of the answers.


    Ling Xiao was also afraid that someone would seed by pure chance, blurting out his mecha¡¯s name on a lucky guess, so he had set up another obstacle. If a candidate randomly entered any of the rooms from the main hall, Ling Xiao would let the candidate know the Ling family training methods. If the candidate trained hard with that, he or she would still be able to achieve imperial operator level ¡ª his father had trained with that set of methods back in those days; it was truly a pretty good training method.


    In this manner, Ling Xiao would be able to pull the wool over everyone¡¯s eyes and continue to wait for his child to enter the mission for testing. Because, only his child would know that the Ling family mansion was split between the front and back sections, and be able to find the correct room.


    Of the rooms in the back section, such as the bedrooms and other studies etcetera, it wasn¡¯t asplicated as Ling Lan had assumed. Ling Xiao only existed within his study. In other words, even if Ling Lan had gone into any of the other rooms, there would be no one there to assign any tasks. Only when she entered the study would she see the holographic image Ling Xiao left behind.


    But in the end, Ling Xiao had still been uneasy. After all, the military¡¯s strength was truly formidable ¡ª he had no way to guarantee that those loyalists from the Ling family mansion wouldn¡¯t betray him and leak the mansion¡¯s secrets to the military. So, he finally decided to add onest test. The content of this test was truly a secret belonging only to him and Lan Luofeng.


    Mind you, Ling Xiao and Lan Luofeng¡¯s exclusive Duomo code had never been used on the outside before. In other words, this code was only known to the two of them. As such, the only people who would be able to answer this test would be Lan Luofeng, and one other ¡ª who was naturally the person who had personally learned the Duomo code from Lan Luofeng. Without a doubt, this other person could only be his child.


    Just as Ling Xiao predicted, Ling Lan used the Duomo code to crack the final test.


    Having thought of an answer, Ling Lan decisively turned and left the study. She went to the master bedroom and headed straight for the dressing table to find her mum¡¯s jewellery box.


    Inside the jewellery box were some luxurious and exquisite essories. Ling Lan casually pawed through them, but didn¡¯t find what she was looking for. She quickly cast it aside and changed directions. She walked to the singrrge bed within the bedroom. Ling Lan was very familiar with this bed ¡ª she had been sleeping on it from birth. She had only said goodbye to it after she had been able to speak coherently enough to ask for her own bedroom.


    During that time, she had found out that Lan Luofeng had a secretpartment to hide her precious things in on this bed. Ling Lan carefully felt along the edges of the bed, touched a spot, and then a small sma screen suddenly emerged on the smooth headboard of the bed. There was a selection keyboard of 10 number keys disyed on it. Without having to think, Ling Lan directly entered the number code she knew by heart. If Lan Luofeng had never changed it, the code shouldn¡¯t be wrong.


    After entering the code, it didn¡¯t take 5 seconds before the screen suddenly popped out, and an approximately 30 cm by 50 cm drawer appeared just like that before Ling Lan.


    As expected, this secretpartment had long been here! Thepartment was empty, nothing at all within it, except for an extremely exquisite little box. Ling Lan took out the box and opened it. Arge, glittering diamond ring appeared before Ling Lan, shining radiantly under themp light. It was the wedding ring that her mum had cherished all this while.


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked in a slight smile, knowing she had found her target. She closed the box, and holding it in her hand, she made her way back to Ling Xiao¡¯s study.


    Seeing her return, Ling Xiao asked with a half-smile, "Found what I want?"


    Ling Lan just opened her right hand and showed Ling Xiao the box. Without saying a word, she peered intently at Ling Xiao.


    The smile on Ling Xiao¡¯s lips grew wider. "This is the thing I want?"


    Ling Lan still said nothing, only opening the box to reveal therge diamond ring inside it.


    "This is your answer?" said Ling Xiao with a raised brow, waiting for Ling Lan¡¯s verbal confirmation.


    "Lan Luofeng¡¯s wedding ring. You gave it to her," replied Ling Lan calmly.


    Ling Xiaoughed uproariously. Then, his expression was admiring as he said, "Not bad. You actually found the answer. Could you tell me, how exactly did you figure out that this ring was the answer I wanted for this mission?"


    "I only said that this was a wedding ring. I never said that this was the mission answer." Ling Lan¡¯s words stopped Ling Xiao¡¯sughter in its tracks. He froze, stunned by Ling Lan¡¯s unexpected response.


    This time, it was Ling Lan¡¯s turn tough. Hells, she had finally managed to give her heartless old man a taste of his own medicine! All this while, she had only been helplessly toyed around with by her old man.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s awkwardness onlysted for a moment. He quickly collected himself, and said with some amusement, "In that case, why did you bring it here to show me?"


    "Because, you need it to open the door to get the thing you need." Ling Lan took out the ring and waved it at Ling Xiao.


    "Oh? I really don¡¯t know what thing I need other than this ring. I¡¯m very sorry, you¡¯ve failed the mission." Ling Xiao¡¯s smile turned cold, and he mercilessly dered Ling Lan¡¯s failure. His clearly disappointed expression seemed to tell Ling Lan that she had really been mistaken.


    "This is just a proposal ring, not a proposal token. Although it¡¯s only different by one word, what¡¯s wrong is wrong. Right? Oh, father of mine?" Ling Lan mercilessly tore apart Ling Xiao¡¯s lie. "Stop faking. If I were to really choose this diamond ring as my final answer, then the mission would truly be a failure."


    Ling Xiao seemed utterly unmoved. He only sighed softly and said, "You¡¯ve alreadye so far. If you fail just like this and go back, you¡¯ll probably be unable to ept it either. Let¡¯s do this. I¡¯ll give you one chance. I hope you¡¯ll be able to convince me."


    Ling Lan knew that this was likely a part of her dad¡¯s test as well, and so did not bother being polite. She walked directly to stand behind her father and poked him with a finger, saying, "Dad, please move aside for a moment."


    With an indulgent expression, Ling Xiao stood up, cooperatively giving up the study desk. Since he had already chosen to give the candidate a chance, let him do as he will.


    Ling Lan brazenly sat down in the chair Ling Xiao had just vacated, and pulled out the middle drawer of the study table. She reached into it with an open palm, palm first, toy her hand t against the underneath of the desk surface. After waiting for 3 seconds, nothing changed. Ling Lan abruptly realised that within this memory of Ling Xiao¡¯s 8 years ago, the Ling family safe hadn¡¯t yet been programmed to recognise her fingerprints.


    Moodily, Ling Lan stood up and said to Ling Xiao, "Lend me your palm."


    That said, she pulled over her father¡¯s palm and ced it against the bottom of the table surface, holding it there for 3 seconds. Then, a soft, almost imperceptible click could be hearding from a bookcase to the side.


    Ling Lan walked right up to the fourth bookcase. The bookcase was already filled to bursting with all sorts of paper-based reading material. This sort of ancient reading method was rarely found anymore in this modern generation. Now, in this world, all existing paper-based reading material were old texts inherited from several centuries up to even a millennium ago. Whenever a typical person saw this type of old texts, they would feel respect well out from within; they wouldn¡¯t dare to move around the texts recklessly, much less even try to touch these precious artefacts.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s following actions were barbaric. If her actions had been seen by any lovers of old books, she would most certainly be mobbed and critiqued to death.


    Ling Lan savagely grabbed hold of one particr book and pulled harshly. The book was torn and a round shaped hole with many facets was revealed.


    It turned out that Ling Lan had only torn off a protective back cover on the ¡¯book¡¯. Of course, if she hadn¡¯t used her father¡¯s palm print to unlock the cover first, even if Ling Lan had used all of her strength, she still wouldn¡¯t have been able to peel off this protective covering.


    Ling Lan lined up the diamond side of the ring against that multi-faceted round hole, and it fit perfectly. This time, the wait was longer ¡ª after about 6 seconds, a ¡¯ck¡¯ came from within the bookcase.


    The book Ling Lan grabbed this time was just right beside the ¡¯book¡¯ with a hole. This time, Ling Lan didn¡¯t pull, but pushed it forwards. Following that, the entire shelf of books abruptly disappeared, revealing a square safe about 30 cubic centimetresrge.


    Apparently, the diamond ring was only the key to open the safe. However, the diamond ring itself was also a test ¡ª if a candidate randomly lucked out during the search and found it, he would be tricked by Ling Xiao¡¯s earlier words and really take the diamond ring to be the real answer Ling Xiao wanted. In that scenario, what the candidate would receive in the end would still be that set of Ling family training methods and not Ling Xiao¡¯s true legacy.


    Of course, if this were the real world, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t even have to take the extra step to find the ring. Many times before this, when Lan Luofeng hadn¡¯t been around, Ling Lan had let Little Four municate¡¯ directly with the A.I. of the safe, opening it easily that way.


    However, right now, they were in the mission world, so Ling Lan had no choice but to be a little more careful. She didn¡¯t know what the consequences would be if she skipped this step ¡ª what if her old man was a stickler for tradition and required everything to follow its proper procedure? If she tried fooling around with any shortcuts in that scenario, she would just be tanking her own chances. Ling Lan decided that it would be better to y it safe. She would rather spend a little more time and make sure this mission waspleted properly.


    Ling Lan skilfully entered the code to open the safe. Lan Luofeng had never changed the passcode, so the code she knew was the same as the one used here.


    Inside the safe were plenty of antiques, along with many strange and rare odds and ends. They had all been collected by the many generations of Ling family heads, including some cool stuff that Ling Xiao himself had found, such as the exquisite writing brush Ling Lan had once used.


    Ling Lan desultorily pawed through the items and picked out three from the pile. She ced them in front of Ling Xiao and said, "Dad, this is the proposal token you wanted. All three of them."


    All three items looked exceedinglymon ¡ª a white sheet of paper that could be bought from any road-side stall, a chip that couldn¡¯t be moremon, and a keychain shaped like a mecha.

 Chapter 106: Vision and Hand Speed!

    Chapter 106: Vision and Hand Speed!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    That sheet of white paper was already filled with writing ¡ª it held the marriage vows Ling Xiao had written for Lan Luofeng! Every vow on the paper just proved that Ling Xiao was totally henpecked 1 .


    The chip, was the control chip of Ling Xiao¡¯s wealth. With this chip alone, Lan Luofeng would be able to forcefully transfer all of Ling Xiao¡¯s worldly possessions to someone else¡¯smunicator without having to get Ling Xiao¡¯s approval.


    Meanwhile, that keychain was modelled after Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha. What this really represented, or if there was any deeper meaning to it, Lan Luofeng had never told Ling Lan. She had only told Ling Lan that of these three things, the most valuable was actually this keychain, but now it had be just a souvenir ...


    Ling Xiao looked at the three items before him with aplicated expression, but he was clearly moved. However, he very quickly managed to calm his almost overflowing emotions and raised his head to smile blindingly at Ling Lan. "Congrattions, Ling Lan, you¡¯ve passed. You shall receive Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy, my legacy ... my child, I¡¯m so very happy today!"


    Ling Xiao¡¯s smile caused Ling Lan to be awestruck. Now she finally understood why her mum would always lose her mind in fantasies whenever she talked about her dad ¡ª her dad¡¯s sincere smile was just too stunning. Even in this future world where one could find beautiful men and women everywhere, her dad¡¯s looks were definitely still of the godlike legendary level.


    Ling Xiao made Ling Lan stand before him. At this moment, he was silent. After a long while, a light trace of loss appeared on his expression, and he said, "Honestly, I don¡¯t wish for this legacy mission to appear. Because, its appearance would mean that I¡¯m really gone. If possible, I really want to apany my wife, and be by your side as you grow up ... I can¡¯t bear to let you both go. My child, I don¡¯t even know if you¡¯re a boy or a girl. I really wish I could see for myself how you look like, whether you resemble me or your mum ..."


    Ling Xiao¡¯s loss ofposurested for only a split second; he soon regained his equilibrium and said self-mockingly, "What¡¯s with this sentimentality ... is this the result of the wavering of belief? What a terrible feeling."


    Ling Xiao recovered his usual smile once more and looked at Ling Lan. The nameless tenderness in his gaze caused Ling Lan¡¯s heart to spasm, as all sorts of emotions rose up within her heart.


    Ling Lan knew very well that Ling Xiao was definitely not looking at her right now. This Ling Xiao was a manifestation of spiritual energy from 8 years ago ¡ª perhaps this affectionate gaze was meant for Lan Luofeng, and maybe included some anticipation for his then unborn child? But for some unknown reason, this scene just tugged at Ling Lan¡¯s heartstrings, making her heart ache. She didn¡¯t know if it was because she had merged with this bodypletely, causing her to be unable to control her emotions when faced with this body¡¯s biological father.


    Ling Xiao said, "I believe that my child is the strongest child. I will entrust your mum to you. You must definitely make her happy! I¡¯m an irresponsible husband, and also an irresponsible father. I¡¯ve failed you both."


    Ling Lan tried to speak, but Ling Xiao made a stopping motion, "Don¡¯t speak. Let me hold on to my fantasy a while longer ... you will call me ¡¯Daddy¡¯ earnestly, and then say ¡¯I love you¡¯."


    That said, Ling Xiao smiled bitterly and said hoarsely, "Isn¡¯t that just a useless daydream? An irresponsible person like me ... if I get a scolding, it would already be too easy on me. What right do I have to ask you, my child, to call me ¡¯daddy¡¯ 2 ?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s mouth twitched, but she did not call out ¡¯daddy¡¯ in the end. Although she knew that Ling Xiao was her dad of this life, and Ling Xiao was extremely familiar to her due to the constant reminiscences of her mum ... The address of ¡¯daddy¡¯ was really quite difficult for the mentally mature Ling Lan to voice out.


    Ling Lan could only put the me on this man across from her ¡ª he was just too young, causing her mind to inexplicably rebel against the very idea.


    Dejection shed through Ling Xiao¡¯s gaze; those words of his were actually an indirect plea for his child to call him ¡¯daddy¡¯. He didn¡¯t dare to ask directly, because he felt he had wronged his child.


    Sadly, the truth was really just as he had feared. His child truly hated him and was unwilling to call him ¡¯daddy¡¯ ¡ª this reality made him feel very hurt. The Ling Xiao of 8 years ago had imagined many possibilities of this encounter, and this was one which he had most hoped not to see ...


    Regardless of how dejected Ling Xiao felt, he still began to teach his first lesson.


    Ling Lan thought that the first lesson would be Ling Xiao¡¯s exclusive physical skills or something along those lines ¡ª mind you, the very first lesson she received when she first entered the learning space, and also when she first entered the Central Scout Academy, was physical skills (other than theoretical studies). After all, the basics were the most important.


    "Are you wondering why we aren¡¯t starting with physical skills?" asked the Ling Xiao of 8 years ago, having predicted Ling Lan¡¯s puzzlement.


    Since Ling Xiao was the one to ask, Ling Lan naturally nodded without any hesitation, and waited for Ling Xiao to exin.


    Smiling, Ling Xiao told Ling Lan that the academy¡¯s basic physical skills set was the umtion of the efforts of countless talents over tens of thousands of years. It was definitely one of the best foundational physical skills set avable, so before Ling Lan fully mastered that set of physical skills, he would not teach Ling Lan any other physical skills, including his own exclusive physical skills. Many people, before their basics had been built properly, would already attempt to learn physical skills or spiritual skills of a higher level ¡ª this waspletely wrong. Think about it. If you try to build a building when your foundations haven¡¯t even been settled yet, how would you be able to build a tall building?


    Ling Xiao was unsure how the other legendary operators had advanced to their level, but Ling Xiao¡¯s advancement was closely tied to his foundations. Back then, Ling Xiao had only wanted to prove himself to his father his own way, and so had refused to learn the Ling family¡¯s secret physical skills. Instead, he had trained in the academy¡¯s foundational physical skills until he mastered it to its extreme. In the process, he had touched on the most profound meaning of foundational physical skills, which showed him a path to advance to legendary status ...


    "What does it mean to fully master it?" asked Ling Lan, puzzled. She already knew the foundational physical skills by heart ¡ª could it be that she still hadn¡¯t been doing it right?


    "When you can execute this set of physical skills without having to think about it, no longer limited to the stances ¡ª about then, you will naturally understand," exined Ling Xiao briefly. He didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to be impatient ¡ª she was still young and had plenty of time.


    "Now, what I can teach you is how to improve your eyesight and hand speed. These are things that you cannotck for eitherbat or operating mecha," said Ling Xiao. "They are both things that require hard work to train, especially finger speed. That needs to be trained beginning from youth, while the bones of the fingers haven¡¯t fully grown yet and are still extremely flexible. Only then can you develop your personal limits to its maximum."


    That said, Ling Xiao suddenly lifted up a palm. A clear and translucent round bead was mped between two of his fingers. And then all his fingers started to dance, causing the bead to tumble freely amidst the five fingers. It started out slow, but the speed gradually became faster and faster ¡ª in the end, Ling Lan, who took pride in her eyesight, couldn¡¯t even see a shadow of the bead anymore. Ling Xiao¡¯s fingers had be mere afterimages in the air, so quick that she couldn¡¯t even tell which finger was which ...


    Just as Ling Lan was staring as if in a trance, Ling Xiao suddenly folded his fingers to make a fist. The abrupt shift from movement to stillness disoriented Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, making them ache, extremely ufortable.


    "Your vision hasn¡¯t reached the level of my hand speed, which is why you feel the strain. Close your eyes and rest for a bit." Ling Lan did as Ling Xiao said, and soon found that her eyes no longer felt stretched and achy. Only then did she open her eyes again.


    "That¡¯s where the limit of your eyesight is. You feel it now? From now on, you must train your hand speed. At the same time, you must get your vision up to the level of your hand speed. This requires slow and steady training. There is no shortcut," said Ling Xiao to Ling Lan. Legacy missions weren¡¯t as miraculous as most people thought ¡ª there is no way for someone to ascend to the heavens in one step. To seed, it all still depended on your own effort to earn it; the legacy mission would only show you how to do so more efficiently, that¡¯s all.


    "I understand." Ling Lan nodded, heart filled with gratitude for Ling Xiao¡¯s mentoring. As he trained her hand speed and vision, Ling Xiao had indirectly been telling Ling Lan that, to be strong, she needed to rely on her own efforts ¡ª no one else could do it for her.


    "Just now, was that already your fastest speed?" Ling Lan, who was in a great mood, finally disyed the curiosity a 7 year old child should have.


    Ling Xiao only smiled silently, but spread out his fingers once more. In his palm was no longer just the one crystal bead from before, but a whole nine beads. Ling Lan found herself tongue-tied with astonishment. Before she could find her voice to ask, Ling Xiao¡¯s fingers started moving once more. The nine crystal beads collided with each other within his palm, emitting clear and reverberating bell-like sounds. As they collided with one another, the beads started bouncing irregrly ¡ª this was the hardest thing to control, because you had to predict where each bead would go. Ling Lan was sure she could control one bead with no pressure, two if the speed wasn¡¯t too fast, but three would be tricky.


    However, Ling Xiao easily controlled all nine beads, his fingers flying swiftly to block every single one before they could fall, only allowing them to roll around in his palm.


    Gradually, Ling Xiao¡¯s speed became faster and faster, until finally, the sounds of the beads colliding meshed into one solid sound, no gaps between collisions. At this point, Ling Lan could no longer see what was going on in Ling Xiao¡¯s hand ¡ª everything was just a blur.


    Ling Lan thought that this was already the limit, but unexpectedly, something even more astonishing happened. Gradually, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t even see the blur of shadows anymore ... It was as if Ling Xiao had spread open his palm like a lotus flower, but there was no sign of those beads within it.


    Ling Lan knew this was a false impression; Ling Xiao¡¯s speed had just reached a frightening level, enough to fool the eyes into registering this illusion, defaulting back into the original setting. This was a misperception, an illusion born of sheer overwhelming speed.


    Before Ling Lan could regain her senses, she heard several consecutive cking noises, nine in total. Following these sounds, Ling Xiao abruptly stopped the motions of his fingers. At this moment, Ling Lan felt a throbbing pain in her eyes, and tears begin to spill over from them in a flood. They had been working too hard to try and see a speed too far beyond their limits, and had finally incurred the bacsh.


    It took a while, but Ling Lan finally feltfortable again. She opened her eyes and saw Ling Xiao standing before her with a smile, his right hand in a loose fist.


    "I¡¯m alright now," said Ling Lan embarrassedly. She focused her attention on Ling Xiao¡¯s right hand.


    Ling Xiao slowly opened his right palm. In the middle of his palm, the initially solid crystal beads had been turned into a heap of powder. Ling Xiao shook his fingers lightly, and the fine powder scattered, sifting through his fingers to drift slowly to the ground. Under the refraction of the light, the crystal powder sparkled, sending out countless glimmering rays, immersing the two of them in an illusion of a magical realm.

 Chapter 107: Transported to the Capital?

    Chapter 107: Transported to the Capital?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t bedazzled by this magical scene; her expression changed slightly in awareness. Although Ling Lan hadn¡¯t been able to see what was going on in Ling Xiao¡¯s palm earlier, she could tell that Ling Xiao¡¯s fingers hadn¡¯t been exerting much pressure; he had just simply been blocking the paths of those crystal beads to prevent them from falling off his palm. But it was precisely this sort of forceless pressure that, under the workings of extreme speed, had shattered the crystal beads from the inside out. It was clear to see just how much destructive power it had.


    "Looks like, you¡¯ve understood." Ling Xiao was very pleased with Ling Lan¡¯s reaction. He had thought that he would have to exin in further detail, but unexpectedly, Ling Lan had actually grasped the deeper meaning already.


    "Yep, when anything reaches a certain limit, a great energy will be created," said Ling Lan carefully, summarizing her thoughts.


    Ling Lan was very excited internally, because she had finally met someone she could discuss these things with. In the learning space, her instructors only let her feel things out for herself, never ever telling her much about Dao, causing Ling Lan to feel extremely lost.


    "That¡¯s right. I didn¡¯t expect you to notice that point. I call it ¡¯Shi¡¯ 1 , and there isn¡¯t just one type of Shi, but many. However, Ling Lan, you must remember not to bite off more than you can chew. More Shi is not always better." Ling Xiao nced coolly at Ling Lan, rapidly cooling down her initially bubbling excitement.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s reminder caused Ling Lan to be thoughtful. After that, Ling Xiao didn¡¯t let Ling Lan remain for long in the mission space. He only told her that in future, she could ess this ce directly to find him by using his spirit crystal, with no need to take the test again. Then, Ling Lan was immediately sent back to the login point of the academy¡¯s virtual world.


    ********


    "You finally appeared, Boss!" When Little Four saw Ling Lan, he burst out in tears and pounced on her, clearly upset.


    Ling Lan reflexively caught hold of Little Four, and cautioned him saying, "Youing out like this, won¡¯t it be suspicious?"


    Little Four sniffled, "It¡¯s no problem, Boss. This is a special space I created. We can see outside, but they can¡¯t see us."


    "Right, in the mission space, why did you be silent after I arrived at the Ling family mansion?" Ling Lan had thought it strange. If she hadn¡¯t been afraid that her dad wouldn¡¯t acknowledge it, she would really have liked to just let Little Four open the safe directly. She had originally thought that Little Four would jump out straightaway to critique her dad¡¯s pedantry, but Little Four had been surprisingly silent and non-reactive.


    Back then, she had been too caught up with the mission, so although Ling Lan was puzzled, she didn¡¯t have the mind to go ask Little Four about it. But now, Ling Lan¡¯s curiosity was back.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused Little Four to recall his misery, and he started crying once more. Under Ling Lan¡¯s constion, he managed to tell her the reason in between sobs ¡ª apparently, when Ling Lan had entered the study and seen Ling Xiao smiling face, what greeted Little Four had instead been Ling Xiao¡¯s sharp and cold gaze. That piercing gaze had scrambled Little Four¡¯s operations, kicking him right out of the legacy space. This was also the reason why Little Four had been unresponsive ¡ª he had been kicked out by Ling Xiao at that point.


    Ling Lan frowned, a little worried. Did this mean that anyone with strong spiritual strength would be able to discover Little Four¡¯s existence?


    Little Four sensed Ling Lan¡¯s anxiety for him, and his core chip actually started to heat up. However, this heat was warm and veryfortable, cheering him up immensely. He said then to Ling Lan, "Boss, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve met other people before with great mental and spiritual energy, but they never noticed me. Perhaps it was because I entered your dad¡¯s legacy space, which is equivalent to entering his spiritual self, that¡¯s why he noticed me."


    "Hmm, yup, what you say makes sense. Still, please be careful after this. Don¡¯t simply go into other people¡¯s spiritual self. Let¡¯s avoid the risk." Ling Lan felt that what Little Four said made sense, but still cautioned Little Four to be more careful in the virtual world from now on. He shouldn¡¯t get too caught up in thinking he was a god.


    The two of them talked for a little bit longer. During this time, Little Four was multitasking ¡ª he was also controlling the fake Ling Lan he had created to walk out of the library and slowly make its way to the login point. Then, he made the fake Ling Lan go through the motions of logging out.


    Due to expending so much brainpower during the legacy mission, Ling Lan was somewhat fatigued. So, she logged out of the virtual world together with Little Four and went off to take a good long rest.


    Meanwhile, due to Little Four¡¯s thorough arrangements, neither the monitoring military nor the other students entering for the test noticed that Ling Lan had already sneakily obtained Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy. To create the false impression that the legacy mission was still uncracked, Little Four left the virtual pocket testing space up. Until one day, it disappeared along with Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy mission, throwing the military into disarray, unable to figure out what had happened ...


    ********


    After Ling Lan received her father¡¯s legacy, she began practising the bead exercise every day with both hands at the same time. Of course, Ling Lan did not practise with those precious crystal beads, but with sturdy steel beads instead.


    Qi Long and the others, who had been hanging out with Ling Lan all this while, saw Ling Lan forever carrying around two steel beads to fiddle with, and was ovee with curiosity. So they asked Ling Lan why she was doing so.


    Ling Lan felt that this was not any special training method that she needed to keep secret ¡ª Ling Xiao himself had said before that this was just a small technique to train up hand speed, the key was whether one had enough determination to keep working on it without giving up. Thus, she generously told them what she was doing, and exined what benefits the training would bring.


    When Qi Long and the others heard this, they immediately had stars in their eyes. Hand speed had always been a troublesome issue for fighters and mecha operators ¡ª even though the Federation had also tried to develop some training methods to increase hand speed, the effectiveness of those methods was limited, yielding only slight improvements. The moment one hit a bottleneck, there would be no more effect from then onwards.


    The others in the group rushed to follow Ling Lan and train together, and so a trend swept through the Central Scout Academy ¡ª several bored students of the second grade ss-A, no matter if they were reading, eating, or chatting, would always be seen fiddling with a small steel bead in their hands, rolling it round and round in their palms ...


    Just like that, they trained steadily for several months, and Ling Lan abruptly found that she had not experienced any improvement in an entire month. Every night, using three steel beads simultaneously, her training would break down at the 3.0127 minute mark. For a whole month she struggled and hovered on this time frame, and Ling Lan just knew that she had encountered her first bottleneck.


    Ling Lan really wanted to break through this bottleneck, so she specially increased the practise time for hand speed ... but the more impatient she was, the worse the effect. Ling Lan found that after several consecutive days of forceful extended training, her hand speed actually deteriorated to a certain degree instead. She knew then that she couldn¡¯t continue this sort of self-punishing training anymore, otherwise, not only would there be no effect, she may even cause some unnecessary problem to appear in her two hands.


    Ling Lan decided to rest well for a bit ¡ª besides the missions from the learning space which had never stopped, whether it was in reality or within the virtual world, Ling Lan chose to stop everything. Her typically busy life abruptly became free, causing her to feel a little out of sorts.


    Seeing his boss¡¯s clear difort, Little Four thought of a good way to kill time and rx at the same time. He prepared an adult appearance for Ling Lan to use in the virtualwork so that she could go explore the virtual world outside and expand her horizons.


    Little Four¡¯s suggestion touched Ling Lan deeply. After all, she had never been to the real virtual world ¡ª the virtual world of the Central Scout Academy, at the end of the day, was just a tform for the students to familiarise themselves with the virtual world.


    Immediate action is better than anticipation ¡ª that very afternoon, Ling Lan made Little Four get everything ready, and then she logged into the virtual world, prepared for her first foray into the outside world.


    Ling Lan entered the login point ¡ª it was still the same hall she had first logged into, no changes whatsoever. At first, Ling Lan thought Little Four had forgotten about modifying her appearance, so she said moodily, "Little Four, why didn¡¯t you help to change my appearance?" Sigh, a kid was still a kid after all, easily dropping the ball at crucial moments.


    Speechless, Little Four made a floor-length mirror appear in front of Ling Lan, presenting Ling Lan¡¯s current appearance to her.


    "Hehehe ..." giggled Ling Lan in embarrassment. It turned out that Ling Lan¡¯s appearance had already been changed. When Ling Lan had logged in, Little Four had immediately modified her brainwaves, helping her into her virtual disguise instantaneously.


    Ling Lan¡¯s current form was that of a girl around sixteen years old, in the flower of her youth ¡ª her looks bore some resemnce to the Ling Lan of herst life, with a steam-bun face 2 and a pair of big lively eyes, extremely alert and adorable.


    "This appearance ... isn¡¯t it just too ¡¯kawaii¡¯ 3 ?" She looked like a total loli 4 ! Ling Lan felt a little awkward. To be honest, she had already gotten used to her shota 5 face of this life that leaned more towards the boyish side.


    "This way, no one will ever suspect that you¡¯re Ling Lan!" Little Four was perplexed. He had gone to so much effort to create a human appearance that waspletely different from the current Ling Lan ¡ª why would Boss have anyints?


    "That¡¯s true." Ling Lan finally got with the program. If they had fashioned an appearance that had simr qualities to her current self, though the probability of being discovered was still very low, there was always the slight chance she would be discovered. Little Four had really considered everything very thoroughly.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t hold back her admiration, showering Little Four generously with praise, sending Little Four straight into a happy daze.


    When he heard Ling Lan request to go to the capital, still hazy with pleasure, Little Four didn¡¯t look at the name of the, choosing a capital quickly and beginning their transportation ...


    Cough cough , who asked every to have a capital? Little Four had just sent Ling Lan off when he noticed the problem. However, Little Four didn¡¯t dare to say anything. He had just received Ling Lan¡¯s praise ¡ª if he revealed his mistake now, wouldn¡¯t that just be pping himself in the face? Besides, Azure¡¯s capital was still a capital! His boss hadn¡¯t really specified that she wanted to go to the capital of Doha ...


    At this point, Ling Lan had no idea that her current position was already no longer on the of Doha where she lived. Instead, she was now on Azure, a on the fringes of the Federation several hundred thousands of light-years away.


    Ling Lan stood at the transfer point, looking around in shock and surprise at the vintage scene before her. She could almost believe that she had returned to the olden times. "I thought that the capital should be even more advanced and futuristic than the city we live in. Who knew it¡¯d be this traditional?"


    "Every city¡¯s setting is different. The capitals here all have more traditional settings." Little Four secretly wiped the sweat off his forehead; at least that excuse had sounded somewhat usible.

 Chapter 108: A Dangerous Man!

    Chapter 108: A Dangerous Man!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "That¡¯s true. Butpared to a modern science-fiction type setting, I like this better." Ling Lan smiled. The familiar architecture and the familiar surroundings made her feel at ease instantly, sweeping away the tiredness that had been umted over several months of high-intensity training.


    When Little Four heard that Ling Lan liked it here, all his nerves and anxiety fled. Now wasn¡¯t this just a fortuitous mistake? Thinking of this, Little Four started to be a little smug ¡ª as I thought, I¡¯m really the smartest intelligent bio-entity. Even when I make a mistake, I make it in such a perfect way!


    Leaving Little Four¡¯s private celebration aside, Ling Lan brought Little Four along as she toured the entire capital city. Of course, she was only window shopping. For one, this identity didn¡¯t have a corresponding central bank ount, and so had no way to pay with credits. Although Little Four could have found a way to handle it, Ling Lan was of the mind that they should avoid doing unnecessary things to avoid trouble. Most importantly, she was afraid that the central bank would run scans at irregr intervals ¡ª if anything was exposed, it would be troublesome for both her and Little Four.


    Secondly, this identity also didn¡¯t have any safe dummy mailing address. Was she supposed to get the stores to deliver anything she bought to the Ling family estates? Then what would be the point of going to the trouble of making this fake identity?


    Ling Lan was just like an imprisoned bird which had been set free ¡ª she was full of enthusiasm no matter what she saw. Being able to freely walk the streets and browse was fulfilling a dream of hers which spanned both her lives.


    In her previous life, she had always been confined to her sickbed. She dreamt every day of having the chance to go out and explore the streets, but unfortunately, till the end, that dream had never been realised. And then, since she had been born in this world, she had always been restricted to her home. And after that, she became restricted to the scout academy ¡ª although the virtual world of the scout academy also had shops, the items they offered were extremely monotonous, all having something to do with learning. Furthermore, the shops were all too science-fictiony, so Ling Lan just couldn¡¯t experience any of the enjoyment of regr shopping there.


    However, this capital waspletely different. The ssical buildings, as well as the decorations of the stores were all very simr to that of the stores in her previous life, giving her the satisfying feeling of ¡¯ttening a road¡¯ 1 . Her mood was endlessly buoyant.


    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that every time she entered a store, a store introduction would pop up right before her eyes, Ling Lan might have believed that she was actually browsing a real street.


    The capital truly lived up to its status as the capital. Whether it was in terms of fashion, food, activity, or amodation, the sheer variety was dazzling. Just as Ling Lan was engrossed in her sightseeing, the people around her, who had also been busy with their shopping, suddenly stopped walking, as if receiving some unknown signal. On their faces were expressions of excitement. Some of them even yelled out involuntarily.


    Very quickly, they changed their personal ns, all of them heading mutually towards the same direction.


    "What¡¯s going on?" Ling Lan was a little bewildered by this, and hurried to ask Little Four.


    Without dy, Little Four immediately began a search. Then, with a surprised expression, he said, "There¡¯s actually a mechabat tournament happening here. And it¡¯s a cross-level J6 challenge against a J8, can this be real?"


    Ling Lan, who knew almost nothing about the world outside in this life, said dumbly, "J6? J8? What¡¯s that?"


    Little Four pped his forehead; only now did he remember that he had forgotten to supplement Ling Lan¡¯s knowledge on this front. So, he quickly gave a general overview of what mechabat tournaments were all about.


    In the virtual world, this mechabat tournament was actually a type ofbat game that was open to all members of the public. Any citizen could participate in thebat game as long as they were 13 years old and above. Meanwhile, the students of the scout academy could get rid of the seal of the scout academy once they turned 13, and enter the real virtual world. In other words, if they followed the normal schedule, Ling Lan would only be able toe here after she turned 13.


    Regardless of age, any newbie who just started the game would be at level J0. They needed to learn how to operate mecha and go through rtedbat training before unlocking the newbie arena. After earning 100 points, they would sessfully move forward into level J1; and after umting 1000 points, they¡¯d enter level J2. Calcting forwards from this, you can just imagine what an astronomical number of points was needed to achieve level J9.


    Little Four told Ling Lan that very few mecha operators managed to advance to level J9 ¡ª of the billions of people in the entire Federation, there were only about three to four thousand people who had done it. Of course, there is also a level higher than J9, but those people who could achieve it would not bother with this sort of mechabat game for the masses. Little Four didn¡¯t borate much on that, for he felt that these things were still a little too far off for Ling Lan to worry about.


    "It¡¯s lucky then that cross-level challenges are allowed?" Otherwise, going ording to the regr flow, slowly umting points bit by bit, who knows how many months and years it would take to enter J9? Ling Lan felt a little dizzy just looking at the countless number of zeroes behind that extrapted number.


    "It¡¯s allowed, but the conditions for a cross-level challenge is very strict. If a challenger fails, the punishment may make the person regret it so much that they¡¯d kill themselves ..." said Little Four in a t tone. Advantages are not so easily obtained.


    "For a cross-level challenge, winning one fight isn¡¯t enough. You would have to consecutively defeat three randomly selected high-level opponents over the course of three days before your cross-level challenge is considered sessful. Only then will you really enter the ranks of that level. But if you lose, the point deduction is extremely harsh. Take that J6 for example, he might very likely lose so many marks that he would fall directly back to level J3, maybe even J2." Little Four exined the rules and punishment rted to this cross-level challenge.


    "Well, it still seems worth it. Even if he falls down to J2 or J3, he can just challenge a J7 or J8 next time. As long as he can manage 3 wins sometime, won¡¯t he be right back up?" said Ling Lan, disagreeing.


    "How could it be that easy? Each person only has three chances to initiate a cross-level challenge every year. Unless he wins all three times, otherwise, if he loses just once, he would have to start over and umte points again. As everyone knows, points are extremely hard to collect in the mechabat tournaments. It requires a lot of time and matches. More importantly, the so-called cross-level challenges are actually just a cross-1-level challenge. A J2 can only challenge a J4, a J3 can only challenge a J5 ... so even if he waits a whole year, he still wouldn¡¯t be able to return to his original position. Boss, do you still think this kind of cross-level challenge is worth it?"


    Little Four¡¯s words stunned Ling Lan. "So that¡¯s how it is. Then, isn¡¯t the cross-level challenge just for show? Probably very few people would choose to try a cross-level challenge, right?" It looked like the creator of the game really hated people who took shortcuts, actually posing such imposing restrictions and obstacles.


    "Of course, otherwise the people here wouldn¡¯t be so worked up over this current challenge. There might still be many cross-level challenges in the lower levels, but a high-level cross-level challenge is very rarely seen. Especially this type of J6 vs J8 challenge ¡ª I¡¯ve heard that you might not even see one within 100 years. Boss, you¡¯re really quite lucky." Little Four reported everything he had learned from his searches to Ling Lan, telling her that this uing mecha fight was really very umon.


    "Then let¡¯s go take a look." Ling Lan¡¯s interest was thoroughly piqued by Little Four. They moved along with the crowd towards their destination ¡ª a seven-storey tall pagoda.


    "Drats, we need to buy tickets." Ling Lan was about to walk through the entrance when a line of text suddenly appeared before her. Her mood fell ¡ª apparently tickets were required to enter.


    This was also the first time Little Four was entering a battle stadium to watch a mecha fight, so he hadn¡¯t known they had needed tickets either. Hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words, he said, "Wait one moment," and disappeared.


    Ling Lan thought that Little Four would be away for some time, but surprisingly, it had only been a few seconds when Little Four returned. He made a victory pose with his hands and said smugly, "Boss, everything¡¯s settled."


    As Little Four was speaking, another personpletely covered up in a ck windbreaker was just about to buy the ticket number he was interested in when a notification popped up on hismunicator: "Sorry, the ticket number you¡¯ve selected is no longer avable. Please make a new selection."


    "Eh? Weird, someone was actually faster than me? It¡¯s been taken ..." muttered the person to himself. He had no choice but to choose the seat right next to the one he had wanted. Seeing the words ¡¯purchase sessful¡¯ appear, he closed hismunicator and walked into the battle stadium.


    At this moment, Little Four was extremely pleased with himself. He had finally gotten the chance to show off his skills as an omnipotent underling in front of Ling Lan ¡ª for a godlike existence like him, sneaking Ling Lan in without a ticket was nothing.


    Um ... no, Little Four was an obedient babe ¡ª he would never do this sort of underhanded thing. He was just ... doing a favour, yep, doing a favour by showing up to watch.


    Receiving Little Four¡¯s confirmation, Ling Lan walked towards the entrance of the battle stadium once more. This time, the words that appeared before her was no longer a reminder to buy a ticket. Instead, the words were a wee ¡ª thank you for your patronage, your seat number is XX-section XX-row XX-number.


    Ling Lan sighed in wonder yet again; Little Four was truly very useful. Whether it was in the real world or in the virtual world, she just couldn¡¯t get by without Little Four¡¯s help.


    Ling Lan stepped through the gates and felt the scenery twist before eyes. And then, she found herself standing at the entrance to a random passage, rows and rows of seats before her.


    "Could you please give way?" An icy voice rang out from behind Ling Lan. She quickly turned and saw a man in a windbreaker standing there. What surprised Ling Lan was that the man¡¯s face was almost wrapped uppletely by therge hood of the windbreaker ¡ª only his lower jaw and slightly quirked thin lips could be seen from within its shadow.


    "Uh ... sorry." Ling Lan ducked her head apologetically, and hurried to give way. Her head lowered, Ling Lan did not let the other discover her shock. She clenched her fists tightly, annoyed at herself for being careless.


    Just now, Ling Lan actually hadn¡¯t sensed the presence of anyone behind her. This was the first time someone had been able to get close to her without her noticing ¡ª if the other had had any bad intentions and ambushed her, she would definitely have been KO-ed directly and be deader than dead.


    And when she had faced the man, a pressing sense of danger had risen from her heart. This was the first time she could actually feel danger emanating from a person¡¯s body.


    The man did not say anything, only nodding at Ling Lan lightly to signify thanks before moving past Ling Lan. It looked like he was also an audience member who hade to watch the match.


    Ling Lan did not follow after him right away; she was still a little wary of that man, and decided that it would be a better idea to keep some distance from him. The man finally walked off into the distance, far enough that Ling Lan could no longer see his silhouette. Then, she heard Little Four say, "Oh crap, that fellow is a hacker ... no, he¡¯s very likely one of those rumoured spectres."


    "Little Four, by spectre, do you mean those beings capable of wiping out a person¡¯s consciousness in the virtual world?"


    "Of course! The aura of that person is very simr ¡ª it¡¯s a type of spiritual mutation that belongs to a spectre hacker," confirmed Little Four.


    Even within the virtual world, Ling Lan could feel cold sweat breaking out on her forehead at these words. No wonder she had sensed so much danger from the man ¡ª it turned out that he was a being who could kill someone without a trace ... Boo hoo hoo, this virtual world was really very dangerous.


    Even if Ling Lan could KO a person like this a hundred thousand times over in real life, in the virtual world, she still needed to give these people a wide berth.

 Chapter 109: God View!

    Chapter 109: God View!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    "Boss, do you want to know that person¡¯s real identity? I can go find out!" Little Four¡¯s eyes were sparkling, as if he had found some great new toy.


    Ling Lan was just about to agree when she suddenly grew cautious and asked, "How are you nning to find out?"


    Little Four said excitedly, "Of course by infiltrating the other¡¯s spiritual self! Then I¡¯ll be able to see the other¡¯s true identity."


    "Not allowed!" barked Ling Lan fiercely inside the mind-space.


    Ling Lan had not forgotten about what had happened within her dad¡¯s mission space. Little Four had said then that a strong person¡¯s spiritual self would be able to discover him, and may even take control of Little Four to harm him. Who knew if this hacker-evolved spectre would be able to cause some catastrophic damage to Little Four?


    "Why?" Little Four was taken aback by Ling Lan¡¯s sharp rebuke. Mind you, even when Ling Lan had been applying domestic violence in the past, she had never before treated him so sternly. That scary expression and tone of voice didn¡¯t just shock Little Four but also hurt him. He wilted, a depressed expression on his face. He started to wonder if Ling Lan didn¡¯t like him anymore, treating him this way.


    "First off, we have no conflict with him. Why poke a sleeping tiger? If we anger him, and he decides toe after us, we¡¯ll be in a lot of trouble ..."


    Little Four was just about to say that he wasn¡¯t at all afraid of that, because he could handle everything just fine, but Ling Lan pressed down on his little shoulder at that moment. She said earnestly, "Most importantly, I don¡¯t want you, Little Four, to be in danger. If anything happened to you, I would regret it for the rest of my life. So, Little Four, you must promise me. You must protect yourself well, so that you can stay by my side forever and ever, until the day I leave this world ..."


    Hearing this little speech by Ling Lan, all of Little Four¡¯s sadness and resentment disappeared ... he felt as if his CPU was overloaded ¡ª not just that, his core chip was starting to heat up, bing hotter and hotter, almost reaching critical levels. He should have been frantic and panicked, and tried to find a way to cool his core chip down rapidly ... but, goddammit, he just didn¡¯t want to. He even felt that the existence of this heat was truly wondrous ¡ª he loved this feeling so much he could die.


    Ling Lan saw Little Four¡¯s ck and unresponsive face and was afraid he hadn¡¯t understood what she had been trying to say. So, with emphasis, she repeated again, "Little Four, listen, I forbid you from going off on your own from now on to investigate the spiritual selves of anyone strong or dangerous. As long as the other leaves us alone, we¡¯ll leave them alone too. Remember, you must protect yourself. Didn¡¯t you want to be my number one follower? If you don¡¯t listen to me, I¡¯ll take away your precious number one follower position." Ling Lan decided that a threat was necessary along with the warning to show just how serious she was about this.


    At this point, Little Four had already lost all ability to think, but that grand goal of being the number one follower had always been a top priority in his heart, so when he heard Ling Lan¡¯s warning threat, he hurriedly nodded obediently, giving up any thought of checking out that man.


    He could lose anything else, but that number one follower position must not be lost! This was Little Four¡¯s only major ambition ever since he had be aware.


    In that case, he would let that man go this time. Still ... Little Four finally returned to normal. His CPU was no longer running on overdrive, and his chip was no longer in danger of shorting. He looked towards the direction where the man had vanished and fiercely swung his fist into the air. He was determined to not let that man hurt his boss, otherwise, even if he had to go against his boss¡¯s words, he would still give that man a piece of his mind.


    After obtaining Little Four¡¯s promise, Ling Lan could finally rx. She waited for a few minutes, then slowly made her way to the designated eating area at the front to look for her seat.


    It should be said that looking for a seat in the virtual world was extremely easy ¡ª the moment she entered the seating area, a chart of the seatingyout automatically appeared before her eyes. A red light was blinking on one of the seats on the chart, while a green dot was gradually moving forwards. Yup, that green dot was herself.


    Very quickly, Ling Lan had followed the chart to find her seat. Once she sat down, the chart before her eyes disappeared, and she regained her usual vision.


    Ling Lan looked around curiously at the audience around her. A familiar outfit caught her eye, rendering her speechless instantly, curse words pouring out in a torrent inside her mind ... Why was she so unlucky? Actually meeting up once again with this dangerous fellow.


    It turned out that Ling Lan¡¯s neighbouring seat was upied by that dangerous man with a mutating mentality who was evolving into a spectre. However, the man¡¯s attitude was not bad ¡ª when he saw Ling Lan approaching, he nodded slightly in greeting.


    "Uh ... hello!" Ling Lan squeezed out a weak smile before turning away moodily.


    Even so, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t really all that scared inside. Although the other was very dangerous, the two of them were just passing strangers with no bad blood between them; it was unlikely that the other would harm her for no reason.


    Furthermore, although Ling Lan had forbidden Little Four from exploring, she knew that if the other tried to do something bad to her, Little Four would definitely counterattack and protect her from getting injured. In addition, Ling Lan was very confident in her own abilities. As long as she could hold off the other¡¯s sneak attack at the start, it wouldn¡¯t be that easy to harm her afterwards. She was mostly unrivalled within the Central Scout Academy ¡ª although she was a little weaker within the virtual world, she wasn¡¯t so weak that she would bepletely helpless against attack. In short, Ling Lan felt prepared no matter what happened.


    Just like that, Ling Lan regained her equilibrium once more and turned to coolly survey the battle stadium.


    The battle stadium wasrge, sorge that it was rather frightening. It was a lot like an erged version of the basketball stadiums of her previous world, just that the rectangr court in the middle had been changed into a huge circr ring. On all sides were audience stands, packed tightly one level after another. Ling Lan carefully counted and found that there were actually as many as 12 levels from top to bottom. By her estimations, this stadium could hold up to 500,000 audience members ¡ª ifpared to her previous world, this venue would definitely be considered one of the more massive stadiums. If this building existed in reality, what an enormous structure it would be.


    Ling Lan sighed; the architecture of the future was heading more and more towards massive sizes, it seemed. Currently, Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that this mecha battle stadium that she found so massive was actually just a small venue in this world. Azure was a third-rate, so its capital was also considered a third-rate city ¡ª it could only have this sort of small mecha battle stadium.


    The capital of a second-rate would be able to possess a medium-sized stadium, which could hold 800,000 people. Meanwhile, a first-rate could have arge stadium, which could hold 10,000,000 people. As for the capitals of capitals like Doha, they could have giant stadiums. These stadiums could hold up to 20,000,000 people ¡ª now that¡¯s what you would really call an enormous structure. All we can say is that the current Ling Lan was really a country bumpkin, having seen very little of the real world thus far.


    It wasn¡¯t long before the entire stadium was filled with people, a crowd of heads all packed together. Soon, the sound of a bell rang out beside their ears ¡ª the sound of this bell was very melodious, sounding more like the tinkling of water than a metal bell.


    Following this sound, warm apuse broke out across the whole stadium. At the same time, two mecha slowly descended from the skies, making their way down slowly tond on the ground.


    One of the mecha was entirely red while the other was a sheet of silver. When Ling Lan focused on any one of the mecha, the image before her eyes would reveal that mecha¡¯s basic information. From this, Ling Lan found out that the red mecha was the J6 challenger, while the silver mecha was the J8 recipient of the challenge.


    The two mecha belonged to two different categories of mecha. The red mecha was a winged transformer type mecha ¡ª its advantage was optimum flexibility in the air, and it could switch freely between a humanoid shape and a pure aviation model ¡ª considered a mecha suited for bothnd and air. Its right arm was equipped with a beam gun, while its left hand was left empty for general use. The sides of its two legs each held one high-alloy dagger, and below its wings were several high-efficiency guided missiles. Of course, this was just standard regtion equipment; as for whether there were any hidden secret weapons, no one could tell.


    Concealed weaponry was also a type of strategy in these mechabat fights, so all mecha would typically have something up their sleeves.


    Meanwhile, the silver mecha was and-based humanoid mecha, extremely agile onnd. On its back was a radiation gun, which was a specialised anti-aircraft weapon. In the mecha¡¯s right hand was a beam saber and its left hand was simrly empty on standby. All its other equipment were just like the red mecha¡¯s, standard regtion weapons.


    The two mecha faced each other from a distance, both moving their limbs as they liked; they seemed to be warming up.


    Right then, a strange scene suddenly urred on the match grounds, causing Ling Lan to yell out in surprise.


    On the field, the scenery suddenly changed ¡ª the normal floorboards swiftly turned into an endless desert. The audience was also whisked away from the stadium into the middle of this desert ... Ling Lan could even feel the scorching heat of the sun on her body, as well as the limitless heat reflected by the sand beneath her feet.


    Ling Lan quickly understood that this must be a type of simtion method, creating a realistic desert environment in an instant. Ling Lan still hadn¡¯t shaken herself out of the shock of finding herself in a desert when she was blindsided again. Apparently, the red winged transformer mecha had switched into aviation mode while the background was changing into this desert. Now, it was zooming off into the distance, directly bing a small ck dot before disappearing from sightpletely. The silver mecha was equally fast ¡ª with a few great bounds, it had also disappeared into the dunes in the distance ...


    How was she supposed to watch the match if she couldn¡¯t see the mecha?


    She asked Little Four, but Little Four was just as clueless. He quickly rushed to search for a solution, but just then, a cold voice abruptly rang out from beside her, almost scaring Ling Lan witless. "First time watching a match?"


    Ling Lan turned her head. Sure enough, it was the mysterious man with his hidden eyes, ears, and nose who had spoken. Ling Lan was a little startled. She had obviously sensed that the other was very cold, so why would he take the initiative to speak to her?


    Still, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t so foolish as to refuse someone who was willing to help. "Yes, it¡¯s my first time watching this kind of match."


    "Focus and say ¡¯selection¡¯ in your mind, a menu will appear," the man instructed Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan did as he said, and a line of text appeared before her eyes: Please choose the viewing angle you want. 1: God View. 2: Challenger View. 3: Defender View.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know which viewing angle was better, and so decided it would be wiser to ask an old hand at this. Thus, she unreservedly asked the man beside her, "Which viewing angle should I choose?"


    "If you want to see an exciting match, choose God view. If you want to know how to operate a mecha or ways to counter, you can choose the other two options." The man was not as aloof and hard to get along with as Ling Lan had feared; he patiently responded to Ling Lan¡¯s question.


    Ling Lan thought for a moment. She did not know how to operate mecha at all, so it would be a waste to watch from the other two perspectives. She might as well watch the two mechas fight ¡ª perhaps it would spark some inspiration for her ownbat skills. Thus, she decisively chose God view.


    "Thanks." Before making her selection, Ling Lan politely thanked the man beside her.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    Bonus chap iing in 1 hour.

 Chapter 110: Hide and Seek?

    Chapter 110: Hide and Seek?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    After giving her thanks, Ling Lan no longer paid any attention to the man or his response; all her focus was now on the mechabat match about to begin. This caused the man beside her to throw a speechless nce at her ¡ª well, that was rather perfunctory. Shouldn¡¯t she be more sincere when thanking someone?!


    Ling Lan was oblivious to the internal grumbles of the man beside her. After choosing God view, the image before her eyes shifted instantly, revealing two very different images. One image was focused on the red mecha, while the other showed that the silver mecha had already hidden itself underneath one of the sand dunes. The colour of the mecha was gradually changing to match the colour of the dune.


    Ling Lan found this rather interesting, and put her attention on the silver mecha¡¯s image, silently saying in her mind to zoom out ... Unthinkingly, she had stumbled upon the correct controls. The image zoomed out, showing that the hiding ce of the silver mecha waspletely invisible from a high bird¡¯s eye view.


    Using the same method again, Ling Lan zoomed out the image of the red mecha as well. Only then did she find out that the red mecha was actually not that far away from the silver mecha ¡ª it was just that the red mecha had been circling around without getting close to the other¡¯s hiding spot. Now, the whereabouts of both mecha had been observed.


    On the lower left corner of the image, there was a number counting down. Ling Lan guessed that this was probably the official start time of the match. The number was now already at 73, so the match would probably start about a minute or soter.


    Moreover, Ling Lan also noticed that after she chose a viewing angle, it was as if she had entered a separate space. She couldn¡¯t feel the presence of anyone around her ¡ª it was as if she was the only one watching this battle, all disturbances screened away. Ling Lan wasfortable with this ¡ª at least that man with the dangerous presence would not be able to disrupt her from enjoying the mecha fight.


    Meanwhile, on Little Four¡¯s end, not only did he search out all kinds of control systems for mecha fighting games, he also looted all the information about other control systems that could be found within the virtual world. After he returned from his piging, Little Four told Ling Lan that this kind of low-level mistake would never happen ever again.


    Little Four¡¯s mood was actually terrible right then. He had never expected that the virtual world would have a game directly imnted inside it, and that every game would have different control systems. This threw him, a virtual god, for a loop, causing him to lose face greatly in front of his boss this time. He still remembered how he had proudly proimed himself as the god of the virtual world to his boss once ...


    Who could have expected that there were things a god didn¡¯t know ... it was such a p in the face!


    Ling Lan had no idea Little Four was tying himself up in knots over this; right now, she was patiently waiting for the countdown to reach zero. Finally, when the clock disyed a string of zeroes, the initially circling red mecha abruptly changed directions and flew straight towards the silver mecha¡¯s hiding spot. Ling Lan supposed that it was very likely that, to avoid wasting time with hide-and-seek, the system had directly informed the red mecha of its opponent¡¯s general position.


    Ling Lan believed that, for fairness¡¯ sake, the system wouldn¡¯t give specific coordinates on the other¡¯s location to either side. Sure enough, the red mecha¡¯s subsequent actions proved this point. In the air, while still about 5 km away from the silver mecha¡¯s position, the red mecha suddenlyunched a guided missile.


    The moment the missile was fired, Ling Lan felt ripples pass through the image. Little Four jumped in with an immediate exnation, "This is a NNEMP 1 missile. It can disrupt the radar scanning of a mecha."


    It looked like in order to make the audience feel the scene better, the system had added in these visual effects to represent these originally invisible interactions.


    "What is the furthest distance that a mecha¡¯s radar scanning can reach?" asked Ling Lan thoughtfully.


    "Depends on the mecha¡¯s radar model. Amon mecha will typically be able to scan up to 2000 metres, an intermediate mecha up to 2500 metres, and an advanced mecha up to 3000 metres. Of course, there¡¯s still special-ss mecha which can scan up to 4000 metres."


    "Could the silver mecha be a special-ss mecha?"


    "At J8 level, it¡¯s very likely to possess a special-ss mecha. But for a special-ss mecha, not only must the mecha operator¡¯s operational skill be up to level, the operator must also have gathered a certain amount of meritorious exploits," exined Little Four to Ling Lan as he browsed through the information he had found.


    Ling Lan nodded. Now she understood why the red mecha had fired the NNEMP missile from 5 km away. It was probably afraid the opponent was a special-ss mecha, whose radar was capable of sensing 1000 metres further than his own mecha.


    It was a reality that the red mecha couldn¡¯t afford to lose, so he couldn¡¯t gamble on this possibility.


    The red mecha had just fired the NNEMP missile when it transformed into humanoid shape in mid-air and slowly descended tond on the ground. Next, the red mecha¡¯s colour slowly faded to match the colour of the desert.


    "This is the ¡¯chameleon system¡¯ only equipped on advanced mecha and beyond. It allows a mecha¡¯s external colour to change ording to its environment." Little Four continued to rify things for Ling Lan. Originally, all this information would be taught to Ling Lan in the scout academy before she turned 13; however, since Little Four had let Ling Lane into contact with the virtual world and mecha fights prematurely, Little Four had no choice but to be the transmitter of knowledge.


    A ring-shaped object slowly emerged from the shoulder area of the red mecha which had turned into the colour of the desert. Then, the object slowly and carefully snuck towards the position of the silver mecha.


    "The ring-shaped object is an IE-type 2 heat detector, the newest model on the market. It¡¯s considered a type of retrofit, not an originalponent of mecha. This model of heat detector can sense heat up to a distance of 1500 metres." Little Four was quick to react, introducing this new item that had appeared to Ling Lan immediately.


    Ling Lan nodded silently. Even if the K8 mecha also had an IE-type heat detector equipped, the red mecha would not be disadvantaged. The two mechas had initially been set apart greatly by their long-range sensing capabilities, but with this move by the red mecha, the ying field had been levelled. Of course, if the other side didn¡¯t have the newest heat detector equipped, this move would have given the red mecha the upper hand.


    A well-timed and well-used NNEMP missile ¡ª it looked like the red mecha hade fully prepared for this cross-level challenge. It hadn¡¯t issued the challenge recklessly, and hade armed with meticulous strategy and tactics to handle the J8. It seemed like this match wouldn¡¯t be a quick one-sided battle; if the J8 wasn¡¯t careful, an upset might really be possible ... Ling Lan felt her enthusiasm surge.


    Ling Lan wanted to know how the silver mecha would react after facing the loss of its radar. She turned her attention to the silver mecha¡¯s side and was promptly shocked still by the other¡¯s decision. Apparently, when the silver mecha had seen its radar fizzle out, it had stopped to think. After about one minute, the operator chose to submerge the mecha¡¯s entire body into the sand dune and shut down the mecha. The scene truly became deathly silent.


    This action naturally stunned Ling Lan. Even though Ling Lan didn¡¯t know much about mecha, she still knew that shutting down a mecha would also remove the defensive shield originally shielding the outside of the mecha. In other words, the defensive ability of the mecha currently would depend solely on the strength of the metal it was made of. If it was coincidentally shot by the opponent¡¯sser gun, it would definitely take heavy damage.


    Ling Lan knew very well that doing this on the battlefield was pretty much a suicidal act. However, in this one-on-one fight, it worked wonders. This move by the J8 mecha made the J6 mecha¡¯s heat detector be utterly useless. In other words, the J8¡¯s choice levelled the ying field once again. To discover the other, they could rely on nothing else but their eyes; no external force or gadget could be borrowed.


    At this point, Ling Lan thought of another question. "The mecha is inactivated, losing its defences. Our human bodies naturally produce heat ¡ª won¡¯t that be picked up by the heat detector?"


    Little Four answered, "Because the protective clothing that mecha operators wear have heat-shielding properties, so the heat detector won¡¯t be able to pick up their body heat."


    Ling Lan understood now. No wonder the J8 mecha had chosen to shut down without any hesitation. He had this to fall back on.


    The J6 mecha which had already changed colour to merge with the desert sand began to walk across the desert. Ling Lan thought that the weight of the mecha itself would make it very difficult for the mecha to move, but unexpectedly, the mecha walked on the sand as if it were normal t ground, as if it took no extra effort whatsoever. She took a closer look at the mecha¡¯s feet, and found that only its sole would sink into the sand, as if its big and heavy body did not exist.


    Could it be that this virtual world wasn¡¯t able to simte realistic effects? Ling Lan was doubtful.


    Little Four sensed Ling Lan¡¯s puzzlement, and hurried to clear it up. "It¡¯s not like that. These mechae with their own levitation system, which can decrease the mecha¡¯s body weight. Here, the J6 mecha is still not being operated to its maximum capabilities. If a top-notch mecha operator were controlling it, its feet wouldn¡¯t sink at all into the yellow sand. Now that would truly be a disy of walking on firm ground."


    So that¡¯s how it was! Ling Lan felt as if she had be more knowledgeable. She found that things rted to mecha couldn¡¯t be viewed through the lens of normal logic. Right now, her interest towards mecha was rising in a vertical line ¡ª the long-slumbering mecha dream of hers began to stir and re up once more.


    Goddammit, she really wished she owned a mecha right now! Ling Lan¡¯s heart throbbed with excitement and impatience.


    "Boss, if you want mecha, please get over your fear of heights first!" whined Little Four with a pout. The main reason he still hadn¡¯t given Ling Lan any sort of mecha training till now was that Ling Lan was still afraid of heights.


    Little Four¡¯s words caused even Ling Lan¡¯s thick-skinned face to turn red. Although her fear of heights had indeed gotten better under forceful training over this duration of time, she wasn¡¯t sure if she was really over it yet ... and so, Ling Lan pretended not to have heard anything, looking away from Little Four¡¯s usative stare. She turned her attention back to the images before her.


    The red mecha carefully approached the silver mecha¡¯s position. However, all he knew was the other¡¯s general position and not the actual position, so when he found that the heat detector wasn¡¯t picking anything up, he stopped moving and began to consider what to do next. By now, the J6 mecha must have probably figured out that the heat detector was useless.


    The J6 mecha seemed to be a little nervous now. Ling Lan saw that, with every step he took, he would look around warily. After many close brushes, he finally got closer and closer to the sand dune that the J8 was hiding in.


    Who would discover the other first? The J8 was hidden within the sand dune, making it very difficult for the J6 to discover it. On the other hand, the J8 had shut down his mecha, and was in a blinded state. Both sides were not able to see the other ¡ª was this match destined to be a game of hide-and-seek from beginning to end?

 Chapter 111: Calling Me Big Brother?

    Chapter 111: Calling Me Big Brother?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Right then, Ling Lan saw the J8 mecha move ¡ª some colour suddenly appeared on the entirely grey mecha.


    "This is emergency activation. Now it all depends on what mecha it is. The emergency activation time of special-ss mecha is between 4 to 7 seconds, while an advanced mecha¡¯s is between 7 to 9 seconds ..." Little Four also began to feel a bit nervous; this would determine which mecha would gain the initiative.


    For a heat detector to detect heat and ry its findings back to the mecha¡¯s cockpit, there would be a 2 second dy. From this point onwards, this mecha battle would be a match of fighting over time ... to see which mecha could react faster, and which mecha operator could respond quicker.


    Two seconds after the J8 activated, the J6 mecha found that a red heat spot had appeared on the screen connected to its heat detector. The J6 mecha, whose back was to the red spot, spun on one leg to turn around swiftly, and aimed precisely at the coordinate position indicated by the shing red dot. But there was nothing there ...


    Even so, the J6 mecha did not hesitate. It swiftly pressed down on the trigger of theser beam gun in its hands. Energy from a clip of the gun¡¯s energy storage unit was converted into beam rays, and the rays shot out in a torrent towards the sand dune before the mecha. This round of intense firepower actually turned the dune into a pit in an instant, but there were no mecha remains to be found inside. Besides yellow sand, there was just more yellow sand.


    "Emergency activation 5.537 seconds. That J8 mecha is most certainly a special-ss mecha. Its luck isn¡¯t bad, managing to finish activation within 6 seconds," remarked Little Four. If the mecha had finished activating just half a second slower, it would have been impossible for the J8 mecha to evade the J6 mecha¡¯s beam gun attack.


    "Not good!" The J6 mecha, which had been attacking the dune, abruptly leapt into the air. In mid-air, it pointed theser gun in its hands straight down towards the ground below it and pulled the trigger, sending a wave of energy pouring out once more.


    At the same time, a beam saber shot out from the sand, heading straight for the J6, while a sturdy beam shield emerged to block off the J6¡¯s beam attacks.


    Seeing that its beam gun attacks wouldn¡¯t be able to fend off the other, the wings on the J6¡¯s back spread open to reveal six high-efficiency guided missiles and fired them immediately.


    The J8 mecha had intended to pierce the J6 mecha with its saber, but seeing the six missiles headed towards it, it knew that it wouldn¡¯t be able to hold them off with just a beam shield.


    It quickly reversed directions in mid-air, and under thebined screeching of the mecha¡¯s thrusters, it forcefully pushed its ownrge frame several hundred metres away from the missile¡¯s trajectory. At the same time, the mecha¡¯s arms crossed behind it, and the J8 took out a beamser cannon in an instant, keeping away its beam saber on its back.


    The mecha lifted theser cannon with a strong left arm and steadied it with its right hand. It turned to face the six guided missilesing after it, and the operator decisively pulled the trigger. An immense surge of energy spewed out from the mouth of the cannon, rushing up into the sky.


    When this energy surge made contact with the missiles, the missiles were blown up one after another. These consecutive explosions shook Ling Lan¡¯s entire body violently, making her feel as if she were really on a battlefield.


    The J8 mecha had finally wiped out the six threatening guided missiles, but the J6 had also regained the attacking initiative. It flew up high into the air, aiming itsser beam gun at the J8 on the ground and fired once more.


    Meanwhile, the J8 had no means to retaliate at the moment, and could only scurry all over the ground to dodge the J6¡¯s attacks. However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t think the J6 had the upper hand ¡ª instead, she felt that the J8 was already slowly reiming the initiative in this match.


    This was because Ling Lan could see very clearly that the J8¡¯s steps had never be disorganised. It was obviously using the most widespread and most adaptable footwork ¡ª¡ª split steps.


    Although the J8 looked like it was being forced to flee helter-skelter like a mouse, every step it took was calcted to be on the most advantageous position, neutralizing every attack from the J6 in the air.


    The J6 seemed to also have figured out that it wouldn¡¯t be able to hit its opponent just by relying on itsser beam gun. It lifted its wings once more, and a new round of high-efficiency guided missiles wereunched. The six new missiles descended upon the J8 mecha below in a horizontal line.


    The J8 mecha didn¡¯t choose to retreat. It lifted itsser cannon again, and this time, it fired threeser beams simultaneously.


    What was surprising was that the three shots were timed in such a way that they also created a horizontal line, flying forwards to meet the six missiles head-on.


    When the first missile was set off, the following two missiles exploded as well. The concussive force from the explosion of the three missiles and theser beams then set off the remaining three missiles. Once again, the J6¡¯s attacks were a bust. Besides that, due to the violent tremors from the explosion, yellow sand filled the air, obscuring the vision of the J6, preventing him from seeing what was happening below ...


    Without thinking about it, the J6 shot downwards desperately with the beam gun in his hand. In the meantime, he was anxiously looking over the indicators from his heat detector, worried that the opponent would take advantage of his momentary loss of vision to fire itsser cannon.


    Right then, he suddenly noticed a beam of light shooting towards his lower belly without a sound. This attack came too swiftly ¡ª he had no time at all to defend; the body of his mecha was already out of time to dodge the attack.


    Quicker than words could say, the J6 decisively threw theser beam gun in its hand onto theing light beam. There was a loud ¡¯boom¡¯ as the two collided and the J6¡¯sser gun was utterly destroyed by the beam. Still, the J6 was thrown back by the resulting force, away from the path of the light ray, narrowly avoiding the fate of being pierced clean through the stomach. (That area was where the cockpit was. If it were hit, even if the operator didn¡¯t die, he would still lose control of the mecha. Either way, the J6 would have lost.)


    It was then when everyone could finally see what was happening. It turned out that after swathes of yellow sand had been blown into the air, and while visibility was poor, the J8 mecha had sprung upwards and, working with the power of its thrusters, it had flown up into the air in a split second. It had gotten close to the J6, and then, the J8 had purposefully discarded itsser cannon in favour of stabbing its beam saber at the J6.


    Aser cannon shot produced heat, which would have been captured by the mecha¡¯s defensive systems, taking out the element of surprise from its attack. Thus, the J8 had chosen to use its beam saber, which was formed from cold light, because it was undetectable.


    However, the J6 had reacted extremely quickly. It had sensed danger within that split second and decisively surrendered its weapon in exchange for a chance at survival.


    Still, having lost its beam gun, the J6 could only fight with the J8 in meleebat. The moment they shed, Ling Lan knew that the J6 mecha was definitely going to lose. In terms ofbat instinct, the J6 was clearly weaker than the J8; they were onpletely different levels.


    Of course, the other audience members did not have Ling Lan¡¯s vision and couldn¡¯t tell. After all, the two mecha were both fighting passionately, no clear winner or loser between the two of them. The fight looked like it was neck-and-neck, extremely exciting. The reason why Ling Lan could tell at a nce waspletely due to her innate talent ¡ª¡ª Profound Insight. From the very beginning, she had identified the J6¡¯s weakness, and had also noticed that the J8 was not yet fighting with its full strength.


    Thus, Ling Lan knew that the difference between the J6¡¯s and J8¡¯s meleebat skills were actually veryrge. As expected, a cross-level challenge was not that easy.


    She lowered her head and sighed, choosing to withdraw. A mecha fight was actually not that much different from a real physical fight. With just a nce, Ling Lan could tell that quite a few of the moves had been inspired and based off of real physicalbat. It was just that these moves were much swifter and more incisive in realbat, while they looked obviously clumsier when executed with mecha.


    Ling Lan had just withdrawn from the scene of the fight when she sensed something strange. The entire battle stadium was eerily silent and still. Everyone was sitting in their seats, unmoving ¡ª it looked like their attention had beenpletely captivated by the game fight in the other space.


    Still, she was a little creeped out by the stillness of the silent scene. She couldn¡¯t help but twist her neck around, just moving a little to prove that she was still a living person.


    "You didn¡¯t watch till the end?" The man beside her suddenly spoke up. Caught unprepared, Ling Lan was almost scared witless. Still, Ling Lan was still Ling Lan after all ¡ª after going through the insane torments of the learning space for so long, Ling Lan¡¯s little heart was unbelievably strong.


    "Yes, aren¡¯t you doing the same?" asked Ling Lan reflexively after collecting her wits.


    "The J6 is losing for sure. What else is there to see?" The man didn¡¯t seem to be in a good mood.


    "You chose the J6¡¯s viewing angle?" asked Ling Lan, tone almost certain.


    "I had wanted to see how a weaker person would be able to beat a stronger opponent ... unfortunately, that J6 wasted his own advantage." The man seemed to have a lot toin about the J6¡¯s performance.


    "What advantage did the J6 have?" Hisbat instinct was obviously off, so Ling Lan really couldn¡¯t think of a way the J6 could win.


    "That J6 is a famous marksman, but unfortunately, he didn¡¯t show any of that skill in this match," said the man regretfully. It looked like he was very familiar with the J6¡¯s skills.


    "Marksman? With beam shields, there shouldn¡¯t be much a marksman can do though. Right?" Ling Lan was recalling how the J8 mecha¡¯s beam shield had pretty much withstood the power of theser gun.


    "The J6 should have chosen to snipe. Meleebat is the J8¡¯s specialty." The man knew bothbatants well.


    Ling Lan thought back to the attack when she had first started school ¡ª it had been so troublesome to be targeted by snipers ¡ª and nodded in agreement.


    Sniping was the best ambush, impossible to guard against absolutely. After all, a beam shield could only protect a specific spot and not the entire body. Moreover, sniping was undetectable. If the J6 had chosen to snipe from the very beginning, the oue of this match might have been harder to tell.


    Seeing Ling Lan agree with his opinion, the man¡¯s mood took a turn for the better. "But an upset is still a very difficult thing after all. Even if the J6 had scraped a win in this match, he would still lose the next match. The oue would not change."


    Ling Lan understood what the man meant. If the J6 had sniped his way to victory in this match, his opponent in the next match would definitely be prepared with anti-sniping gear. In other words, the J6¡¯s sniping advantage would only be effective once, in the end, he would still have to rely on his own physical skills to pass.


    "Perhaps the J6 understood this, and so decided to try a ranged attack where both sides could see one another. I think that if he won two times in a row, he would definitely use his trump, sniping, in the third match."mented Ling Lan, putting herself in the J6¡¯s shoes. If it were her, she also wouldn¡¯t have used her pocket ace right at the start and let the opponents figure out a counterstrategy.


    The man was silent, a little taken aback, before he made a low noise of agreement. Yet, Ling Lan could clearly sense that the other¡¯s mood had gotten worse somehow ...


    This wasn¡¯t looking good. If the other¡¯s emotions became so terrible that he lost control, wouldn¡¯t she be in danger? Ling Lan had not forgotten that the other was a spiritual mutant turned spectre that was capable of killing her consciousness.


    "I have to go now. Bye, Big Brother!" That should be right, right? Even though she couldn¡¯t see his face clearly, just based off that lower jaw and those upturned lips, the man was clearly an adult ...


    "Ah? Big brother?! Uh, goodbye!" The man seemed to be rather taken aback by Ling Lan¡¯s address, pausing for a beat before responding.


    Ling Lan did not notice this; she was anxious to get as far away as she could from this dangerous man. After she heard him say goodbye, she hurriedly walked off, quickly leaving the man behind as she distanced herself from the mecha battle stadium.


    The man muttered moodily to himself, "Could it be that I really look that old now? Calling me big brother? ..." In a dark mood, he chose to exit from the battle stadium and then left the virtual world.

 Chapter 112: Mecha Training Hall

    Chapter 112: Mecha Training Hall


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In a private manor on Azure, an old man was staring anxiously at a closed login pod to the virtual world. Soon, he saw the lights inside the login pod turn off and the pod¡¯s door suddenly opened. An androgynous, pretty child of about eleven or twelve years old was lying inside the pod. His face was pale and his entire body was currently drenched with sweat, as if he had been through some strenuous exercise.


    After several seconds, the child slowly opened his eyes. Seeing the old man before him, he smiled weakly and said, "Major-domo, why are you waiting here?"


    "Are you still nning to fool me? Young Master, your body is not well. Didn¡¯t your grandfather tell you not to go online?" The major-domo¡¯s eyes held a trace of remonstration, but was mostly heartache.


    The pretty child continued to smile and said, "No matter what, I still have to go online a few times. Otherwise, I won¡¯t be able to keep up with the pace of studies at school."


    The major-domo held back and said nothing more; he could not tell his young master not to study after all ... he could only walk up to lift his young master out of the login pod, and put him into the prepped recovery pod at the side to rest.


    Looking at the sleeping figure of the lovely child before him, the major-domo heaved a heavy sigh. His heart was filled with affection and heartache for the child ¡ª it wasn¡¯t that easy to be the first in line to inherit ... the young master excelled in every way, but his physical body was just too weak. His spiritual self mutation was just too much of a burden on the body.


    ********


    Meanwhile, Ling Lan, celebrating for finally leaving the dangerous person behind, continued to browse the streets of the capital. It had taken so much trouble toe out this once ¡ª she should make full use of the chance and see her fill. Unknowingly, she found herself on yet another mecha street. This mecha street wasn¡¯t made up of mecha stores selling toys and figurines like those in the Central Scout Academy, but actually had stores selling real mecha, the strongest weapons of the Federation.


    Ling Lan took a cursory look as she walked down the street, and then chose to enter the Anji 1 mecha store at random.


    The moment Ling Lan entered the store, she saw several shop assistants chatting behind the store counter. The men and women were about toe forward to offer their assistance, but seeing Ling Lan walk in on her own, they stopped.


    Little Four pouted andined, "Noting forward to serve us ... do they think we have no money?"


    In contrast, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t too surprised. "My current appearance is that of a 16 year old, with no apanying guardian. Would you think that I¡¯d be able to afford mecha? It¡¯s perfectly normal for them to ignore us. Besides, without them following us around, won¡¯t it be easier to browse as we like? Even more fun?"


    Little Four seemed toe to a realisation, "That¡¯s true! But I must still make sure they know in the future that Boss is a wealthy person. Buying the best mecha here is not a problem!" Little Four¡¯s expression was proud and cocky.


    Ling Lan¡¯s nced at him. "Looks like you¡¯ve earned quite a bit in the virtual world?"


    "It¡¯s alright, not that much, probably about several hundred thousand billion." This world may becking in some things, but it was certainly notcking in people, especially bored people. He had just randomly posted several novels online, and they were now all doing very well. Just the ¡¯mary awards¡¯ from fans alone had contributed several hundred billion to Little Four¡¯s ount.


    Ling Lan smiled and said, "Good job. Keep up the good work."


    Receiving Ling Lan¡¯s praise, Little Four was extremely happy. He was even happier over this than when he had ¡¯conquered¡¯ this virtual world. In his heart, he was more determined than ever to get all the Federation¡¯s money into his wallet.


    Let us give a round of apuse for Little Four¡¯s grand goal ... and let us wonder when Little Four will find out that the Federation¡¯s money will never ever run out.


    Right then, from among the shop assistants, a cheerful young man stepped out voluntarily. He approached Ling Lan and greeted her politely, "Hello, I¡¯m assistant 017 of Anji Mecha Store. May I know if you require any assistance?"


    "Thank you, but I¡¯m just looking around." Ling Lan was a bit startled, but she demurely refused 017¡¯s offer of service.


    When Assistant 017 heard Ling Lan¡¯s response, he did not reveal any sign of disappointment. He just continued to smile brightly and said, "Customer, this should be your first time getting close to mecha, right?"


    This customer with eyes full of curiosity ¡ª this should be the first time she is stepping into a mecha store. This scene made him recall his nervous excitement the first time he himself stepped into a mecha store. Back then, he had not known where to start and had really hoped someone would help him out; perhaps this girl would also require some guidance like him did ... it was this feeling that made 017 ignore the other shop assistants¡¯ jeering ande over voluntarily.


    Ling Lan nodded firmly in answer to his question, for this was the truth.


    Assistant 017 smiled at this and indicated for Ling Lan to walk with him. He then brought Ling Lan to a section filled with basic mecha ¡ª this area was a ce suitable for novices to purchase mecha. Inside was various models of basic mecha, totalling about ten different types.


    Ling Lan took a quick look and couldn¡¯t help but frown. These ten or so mecha all had differing shapes, but could overall be split into three categories. One category was bestial mecha, another was avian mecha, and the remaining category was the mostmonly seen humanoid mecha.


    The reason Ling Lan was frowning was that these mecha models were much cruder than the two mecha she had seen at the mecha battle stadium. Whether it was in terms of colouring, form, or even in terms of weaponry and equipment, these mecha here werepletely iparable. If the two mecha she had seen at the mecha battle stadium were considered adults, then these mecha here were undoubtedly toddler-level. This made Ling Lan feel rather disappointed.


    Ling Lan¡¯s displeasure was clearly seen by assistant 017, but he wasn¡¯t at all surprised by this.


    He exined kindly, "Customer, all the mecha in our Federation are actually variations evolved from these three categories of basic mecha. If you want to be an outstanding mecha operator, you¡¯ll need to master the controls of these three types of basic mecha. If you do this, no matter what type of advanced mecha you try to operate in the future, you¡¯ll be able to pick it up quickly."


    Hearing this, Ling Lan was moved; she packed away her initial scorn. She would never forget the importance of basics ¡ª both the learning space and her father Ling Xiao had strongly emphasised the importance of basics ¡ª it yed arge role in determining the final oue of an individual¡¯s personal growth.


    A warning g rose up in Ling Lan¡¯s heart; she couldn¡¯t believe that she had actually made the low-level mistake of judging by appearances. It looked like the previous period of smooth sailing had made her forget to be humble and cautious, and actually be as arrogant as Yng 2 .


    Ling Lan¡¯s shift in attitude made Assistant 017 nod internally, his impression of her bing even better. He continued to say, "Actually, I don¡¯t rmend you to buy a mecha right now. In fact, the virtual world has mecha training halls that specialize in teaching the controls of the basic mecha. Customer, you can first go there to learn more."


    Ling Lan thanked Assistant 017. If it weren¡¯t for his help, she wouldn¡¯t have known that the virtual world had these things. After she asked Assistant 017 how to get to a mecha training hall, she left the Anji Mecha Store.


    Assistant 017 sent Ling Lan off with a smile, and returned to the counter. He was weed back by the scornful jeers of the other shop assistants.


    "Wasted your energy, didn¡¯t you? I told you that that girl had no money ..."


    "At that age with no guardian along, she was definitely just here to look around. She would never have bought something as expensive as a mecha. 017, you just wouldn¡¯t believe it and still wanted to go forward. See, you¡¯ve got nothing to show for it ..."


    "Even if you wanted to gain more sales to earn a highermission, you still need to find the right targets."


    Assistant 017 did not get angry, only replying with a smile, "I wasn¡¯t doing it for sales. I just felt that she naturally belonged with mecha."


    Assistant 017¡¯s words caused the other shop assistants to burst out into uncontrobleughter, all of them mocking him and asking him when he had be a fortune teller. Mind you, girls, due to biological reasons, very very rarely advanced to be high-level mecha operators. So, among the millions and millions of mecha operators in the Federation, just having a thousand female mecha operators was already considered a lot.


    017 was unperturbed by the mass mocking, only smiling and shaking his head in response. This carefree attitude of his soon sapped the interest of the others in mocking him, and they all left to do their own things.


    All of them did not know what 017 was thinking ¡ª the closer he got to that girl, the more he had sensed it ¡ª the future of that girl on the path of mecha was boundless ... 017 smiled again. "It¡¯s also a good thing to build up some good karma ..."


    ********


    Very quickly, Ling Lan had found the mecha training hall. The moment she neared the entrance, a line of text appeared before her eyes. "Do you want to formally enter mechabat?"


    "Oh ... so this here is also a mecha fighting game!" Little Four eximed when he saw these words.


    Ling Lan understood then that the mecha training was most likely connected to the mecha fighting game. Ling Lan would naturally have to join the game, or else how would she be able to learn and train in the mecha controls?


    The moment Ling Lan made her choice, she was transported straight into arge hall. Inside, there stood a handsome soldier, and there were three hulking basic mecha standing beside him.


    Ling Lan walked to stand before the soldier, but before she could say anything, the soldier asked, "Recruit, do you want to first understand more about thebat styles of the three mecha, their controls, or do you just want to choose a mecha directly?"


    Ling Lan was a cautious person ¡ª she did not understand much about mecha yet, so she of course chose to first learn more about the three mecha¡¯sbat styles and controls.


    Very quickly, two images appeared before Ling Lan. One of the panels was ying a video of the movements of the mecha from the outside, while the other panel showed the movements of the mecha operator inside the cockpit which caused that movement.


    Ling Lan saw a pair of hands flying rapidly within the cockpit, and following the motions, the mecha in the other panel made a reactionary movement. For just one basic movement, the fingers in the cockpit had to make over 10 motions.


    For instance, just taking one step involved the mecha¡¯s pelvis, knee, ankle, bnce, as well as the energy distribution between its two legs. Ling Lan had counted, and just such a simple movement required 18 control motions from the cockpit in an instant ¡ª and this was still considered an easy movement.


    "It¡¯s very challenging, actually being all manually controlled. There¡¯s a lot of pressure on hand speed." Ling Lan was very surprised. She had always thought that operating a mecha was just like driving, with a control stick or something simr.


    "Aren¡¯t these things what Daddy has been teaching? If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Boss you were having trouble with it, we wouldn¡¯t havee out to sightsee. I wonder if you mix your training with operating a mecha, would the effect be better. If we could just break past Boss¡¯s bottleneck in one go, that¡¯d be great," suggested Little Four.


    By now, Little Four was already calling Ling Xiao ¡¯daddy¡¯. This was because Ling Lan had once heard Little Four say Boss¡¯s daddy something something h h h ... and felt that it sounded somewhat awkward. Besides, she had always considered Little Four, who had travelled along with her to this future, as her little brother, so she decided to just ask Little Four to call Ling Xiao ¡¯daddy¡¯ alongside her.

 Chapter 113: Rabbit Mecha?

    Chapter 113: Rabbit Mecha?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Perhaps the learning space had tweaked Ling Lan to be more boyish in personality, for her interest towards mecha was at an unprecedented high. She not only looked over the controls of all three basic mecha, but also eyed all the basic mecha models greedily. She found that she really liked every single type of mecha she saw, so much so that she really wished that she could own all of them.


    Sensing Ling Lan¡¯s greed, the soldier told Ling Lan steadily that all recruits were only allowed to choose one mecha to start. If she wanted to own more, she would have to rely on her own efforts to earn more points to redeem new mecha ...


    The soldier¡¯s words caused Ling Lan to calm down instantly. She began to consider which type of mecha she should choose as her initiate mecha. Ling Lan was a little uneasy, afraid that she would choose wrongly.


    Still, Ling Lan was a good child ¡ª she just loved to ask questions, a habit trained up in the learning space. So, she asked the soldier ¡ª as a beginner, which mecha was best suited for her?


    In fact, the first person Ling Lan asked was Little Four, but unfortunately, Little Four also didn¡¯t know which of the three mecha before them was best or most appropriate for her. His familiarity with this world¡¯s mecha was not much better than Ling Lan¡¯s.


    Ling Lan had no choice but to go to her second option and ask the soldier. Unexpectedly, Ling Lan really struck the nail on the head ¡ª the game¡¯s system had indeed arranged it so that the soldier would be able to answer this type of question. When the soldier heard Ling Lan¡¯s question, he gave a straight answer. "The mecha with the easiest controls, which are the easiest for beginners to learn, is the bestial mecha. I rmend you begin training from bestial mecha."


    Since the soldier who was familiar with mecha had already said so, it shouldn¡¯t be wrong. Ling Lan immediately selected the bestial mecha without any hesitation. She had barely spoken when with a wave of the soldier¡¯s hand, arge spin wheel appeared abruptly before Ling Lan.


    On the spin wheel, Ling Lan could see countless images of bestial mecha. There was a ferocious cheetah and lion, and an ugly spider and giant ant, and of course, right in the middle of the wheel was argepass needle pointing at those images of bestial mecha.


    "What is this?" Ling Lan stared at it all nkly. Then, shocked realisation stole over her face. "Could it be that obtaining a mecha also depends on luck?"


    "A beginner¡¯s mecha is gifted by the system. So, a beginner has no right to choose the mecha. Which mecha model they get will be determined randomly by this spin wheel," exined the soldier. "Luck, is also a form of strength. You should anticipate your luck and hope it brings you a strong and powerful mecha!"


    In Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, the soldier¡¯s current smile was filled with schadenfreude. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what the other beginners felt during their first time here, but Ling Lan¡¯s teeth were currently aching from holding back her irritation. She really wished she could just send a punch flying, and blow that despicable smile off the other¡¯s face ...


    Of course, Ling Lan could only think about it and not actually do it. After all, she still had to rely on the other to get her mecha. Ling Lan spun the spin wheel forcefully. The spin wheel spun frically, and then gradually slowed down as time went by. Finally, it got slower and slower, and just as it was about to stop on a panther-type mecha, the needle jumped unexpectedly.


    Ling Lan hadn¡¯t even managed to take a good look at which mecha model the needle was pointing at when with a ¡¯pop¡¯, confetti swirled through the air. Then, an extremely cute giant rabbit abruptly appeared before her.


    Ling Lan was gobsmacked ... a rabbit? Why a rabbit?! Even an ugly spider or ant would be more fearsome than a rabbit!


    With some difficulty, Ling Lan calmed herself down. Then, she saw the weapon in the rabbit¡¯s hands, and Ling Lan found herself utterly lost for words ... Dammit, this nonsense system! You¡¯re really shameless! Actually equipping a rabbit mecha with a carrot ¡ª do you really think this rabbit here is a real rabbit?!


    Within the mind-space, however, Little Four had stars in his eyes. With his hands framing his face, he wriggled his butt and shouted, "Boss, this mecha is so pretty and cute! I like it!"


    When the soldier saw the rabbit mecha appear, the smile on his face grew even wider. "Congrattions, recruit, on obtaining our Federation¡¯s newest rabbit mecha model." That said, he reached out a hand to pass a white item that resembled a remote control to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan took the item; it was obvious that this was the activation key of the rabbit mecha. She said sullenly, "If you don¡¯t congratte me, I think I might be happier."


    The soldier seemed oblivious to Ling Lan¡¯s sour mood. His expression suddenly turned grim, and he issued amand, "In that case, recruit, get into your mecha immediately. We¡¯ll begin training in the basic controls now."


    "Yes!" Ling Lan stood at attention to receive the order, and then pressed a button on the remote key. The door to the cockpit on the belly of the rabbit mecha swung open. Ling Lan leapt up in one big stride, and then with several consecutive hops, she smoothly made her way into the cockpit. Lying down, she pressed the button once again and the cockpit door closed, turning the rabbit into a whole rabbit once again.


    Ling Lan had just finished doing this when the soldier waved his hand, and the rabbit mecha with Ling Lan inside it disappeared from this login point. They reappeared in a room specially for training the basic movements, such as jumping and running.


    At this moment, Ling Lan chose to activate the mecha. Of course, she chose regr activation ¡ª after approximately 3 minutes, the rabbit mechapleted its activation.


    Just as Ling Lan was about to turn on all the screens, she noticed that a line of text had appeared on the main screen before her eyes. "Basic control instructions for the rabbit mecha ... "


    Following these instructions, Ling Lan finally understood the functions of the buttons before her. She had initially thought there was no control stick, but in fact, there was. It¡¯s just that the control stick was located among a sea of buttons. Back when Ling Lan had been watching the demo operations, because she had been dazzled by the hand speed, she hadn¡¯t noticed it. As those fingers had flown over the control panel, the control stick was actually the item that was used most frequently.


    "Who knew mecha controls are actually thisplicated? In the past, when I watched the mecha fights, I thought it would be as simple as physicalbat ... looks like I¡¯ve underestimated mecha operators after all." Just trying to understand and remember the array of buttons before her, Ling Lan felt the onset of a minor headache.


    "Rx, Boss. As long as the mecha¡¯s A.I. is evolved, it won¡¯t be asplicated to operate anymore." Little Four had been looking over the mecha¡¯s A.I. closely, considering how he could improve it to help his boss save some energy.


    But Ling Lan stopped Little Four, saying, "Little Four, don¡¯t improve the mecha¡¯s A.I.."


    Little Four was puzzled, "Why not?"


    "I came here to learn, so I should do it like the other children and start from the basics. The instructors in the learning space and my dad all repeatedly stress the importance of the basics ¡ª I cannot just avoid them because I¡¯m afraid of trouble," exined Ling Lan. "Besides, this is the virtual world. Not only is there systemic monitoring, there are also those dangerous figures with mutated spiritual selves. No one knows whether this area is being monitored; I don¡¯t wish for you to be in any danger."


    Ling Lan¡¯s concerned words made Little Four unable to protest, so he could only nod obediently and promise not to do anything to help Ling Lan with this. However, as a result, Little Four wasn¡¯t in a very good mood, because he found that the areas where he could help his boss were really just too few.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan quickly changed the topic. "Little Four, what do you think was the mecha type our dad used when he first started learning? If it was a bestial type, was the mecha he received also very silly?" The more Ling Lan talked about it, the more curious she was.


    As expected, Little Four¡¯s attention was pulled away by Ling Lan, and he found he had something new to do. Excitedly, he told Ling Lan to wait for a moment, and he then scampered off to collect all the information he could find on Ling Xiao.


    Although Ling Xiao¡¯s data wasbelled as S-ss, who was Little Four? He was a virtual god! There wasn¡¯t anything that couldn¡¯t be done as long as he wanted to do it ¡ª previously, it was just that he hadn¡¯t thought to collect Ling Xiao¡¯s data, which was why he didn¡¯t have any on him right now. But now that Boss had indicated interest, as his boss¡¯s follower, he would definitely satisfy his boss¡¯s curiosity.


    Very quickly, Little Four returned. Face filled with excitement, he said, "Boss, Boss, do you know who our daddy is? Oh wow, he¡¯s just too incredible!"


    Ling Lan¡¯s curiosity was instantly ignited by Little Four. After some thought, she said, "Dad¡¯s military rank is major general ... could it be that he¡¯s a special-ss mecha operator?" Ling Lan vaguely remembered that Little Four had mentioned special-ss mecha before; the associated operator rank should be special-ss mecha operator, right?


    Little Four shook a finger as he said proudly, "Nope! Mecha operators are not categorised that way." Following that, Little Four gave a breakdown on the levels of mecha operators in this world.


    "Mecha operators are also called mecha warrior-masters. From the name alone, you can tell that there are two titles included. One is mecha warrior, while the other is mecha master. Operators of advanced mecha and below (inclusive of advanced mecha themselves), are collectively called mecha warriors, while those who operate special-ss mecha and above are called mecha masters.


    "Mecha warriors, are then further divided into trainee mecha warriors, junior mecha warriors, intermediate mecha warriors, and advanced mecha warriors. The corresponding mecha they pilot are trainee mecha, junior mecha, intermediate mecha, and advanced mecha.


    "Meanwhile, mecha masters are divided into special-ss mecha masters, ace mecha masters, imperial mecha masters, and god-ss mecha masters. Special-ss mecha masters and ace mecha masters both pilot special-ss mecha, though an ace mecha master would have a higher level of control over their mecha. Imperial mecha masters pilot imperial mecha, while god-ss mecha masters naturally operate the Federation¡¯s ultimate weapons, god-ss mecha 1 .


    "But this is just the military¡¯s internal categorization. For the public, the distinctions are not that discrete. All the mecha warriors and mecha masters are just called mecha operators.


    "Generally speaking, imperial operators and above will not be deployed in cases of war. This is because these type of mecha operators are beings that can decide the oue of a war. As such, each country has agreements binding them, which will not be broken unless under special circumstances.


    "God-ss operators are an even more fearsome and threatening existence. The Federation can possess such a vast expanse ofnd and distant boundaries all because the Federation has the highest number of god-ss operators among the neighbouring countries ...


    "Boss, now take a guess. Which level of operator does our dad belong to?" Little Four¡¯s brows and eyes were all scrunched up in a line from his exuberant smile; it was clear that he was in an excellent mood.


    "Seeing you so happy, our dad must be pretty well ranked. Could it be that he had already be an ace operator?" Ling Lan thought back to her dad in the legacy mission ¡ª he was so unbelievably young; if he had really managed to achieve ace operator status, he would definitely already be among the best and brightest.


    "No, no, no, that¡¯s wrong, that¡¯s wrong." Little Four red at Ling Lan with contempt, somewhat miffed at Ling Lan for underestimating their dad ...

 Chapter 114: God-Class Operator Ling Xiao!

    Chapter 114: God-ss Operator Ling Xiao!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan was shocked, "Could it be that our dad had already reached imperial level?" Heavens, their old man was just too abnormal!


    Little Four¡¯s expression was sullen. Couldn¡¯t Boss take a more adventurous guess?!


    The moody Little Four did not answer Ling Lan directly, but merely read the contents of a military report he had found to her. "The Federation originally had 12 god-ss operators, but 8 years ago, they unexpectedly lost one of them, the youngest god-ss operator of the Federation. That god-ss operator had lost his life in a death tunnel on the evening of the day he was deployed to the enemy nation ..."


    8 years ago? Death tunnel? What a coincidence ¡ª dying on the same year and the same ce as her old man ... Ling Lan¡¯s brows furrowed. Little Four wouldn¡¯t have brought up unrted things in their conversation; could it be that this had something to do with her dad?


    Before Ling Lan could figure it out, Little Four tacked on a sentence that made Ling Lan nk out. "The mecha of that god-ss operator, is named !"


    After a long while, Ling Lan asked shakily, "You¡¯re saying that ... that god-ss operator is Ling Xiao?"


    Little Four nodded. "Yes, the only person to have advanced to god-ss operator status in the Federation in thest 10 years, also the youngest ever in history to achieve that status ¡ª this person is Ling Xiao."


    "Lies!" yelled Ling Lan suddenly.


    Little Four was taken aback. He had not expected that Ling Lan¡¯s reaction would be so dramatic, even outright rejecting this news.


    "If he really were a god-ss operator, then how could he have been deployed? Didn¡¯t you say that, imperial levels and above were not allowed to be deployed randomly? Plus, aren¡¯t god-ss mecha the Federation¡¯s ultimate weapons? Such a formidable weapon ¡ª how could the person who controlled one die so easily?"


    Seated within the rabbit mecha, Ling Lan involuntarily clenched her fists tightly. If Ling Xiao had been weaker, Ling Lan could still have epted him dying just like that. But the Ling Xiao being described by Little Four was just too strong. Such a powerful man dying so simply ¡ª she just found it a little hrious and unbelievable.


    "ording to the top-secret files I found within the military, our dad only used 6 years to ascend from ace operator to god-ss operator status. Sessfully advancing to imperial operator status in Star Calendar Year 4725, then sessfully advancing to god-ss operator status in Star Calendar Year 4728. However, from the moment dad became an imperial operator, this information had been sealed by the military. Around that time, the military probably already had ns to hide dad¡¯s real status and deploy him to fight the enemy nation.


    "So, that year when dad was deployed, he did so under the identity of an ace operator. This was also why dad only had the military rank of major general. If he had gone as a god-ss operator, he would at least have gotten the military rank of general." Little Four¡¯s tone was regretful. If Ling Xiao had passed away with the rank of general, the resources Ling Lan inherited would have been much more substantial.


    The innocent and simple-minded Little Four didn¡¯t consider the fact that if things really panned out as he thought, the people who would set their eyes on those resources wouldn¡¯t just be the small Ling elite family. It was highly likely that greater forces would be drawn as well; at that point, Ling Lan may very well have lost the right to inheritpletely.


    Little Four¡¯s regrets onlysted for a moment. He moved on to say, "The Federation was initially nning to pull a fast one by deploying Ling Xiao into battle, hoping to uproot our historical enemy, the Twilight Empire, in one stroke. However, for some unknown reason, the upper ranks of the military sent down the order for Ling Xiao to lead a fleet through the death tunnel to sneak behind the enemy nation, in preparation for a pincer attack ... unexpectedly, the fleet encountered violent energy turbulence from deep within the death tunnel and lost their lives."


    "It¡¯s really so coincidental!" At this moment, a trace of an ice-cold smile hung on Ling Lan¡¯s lips, causing chills to run through Little Four¡¯s heart. It turned out that, subconsciously, Ling Lan had begun to emit the killing intent she had amassed in the learning space.


    "Yup, it¡¯s so coincidental that it¡¯s suspicious. In fact, there was indeed something wrong with the militarymand, and the energy turbulence within the death tunnel wasn¡¯t formed naturally as well." Little Four centred himself and continued to tell Ling Lan what he had found.


    Little Four¡¯s searching capabilities were undoubtedly powerful, proving that he was truly the virtual god he imed to be. Of course, Little Four was also putting in so much effort because Ling Xiao was now his daddy as well. He had to find out all he could about his daddy so that if anyone asked him about it in future, he would be able to give a proper answer. Still, he had not expected that this serious search of his would actually turn up some problems.


    "Looks like, this was a plot targeting my dad." Ling Lan fully believed in Little Four¡¯s abilities. If Little Four said there was a problem, then there must certainly be a problem. Moreover, Ling Lan too had thought from the start that all these coincidences stacking up together was unlikely to truly be coincidence.


    "Yes, I can confirm that, our daddy really did die from a sinister plot," said Little Four decisively. "Originally, theplete annihtion of Ling Xiao¡¯s fleet had struck a heavy blow on the morale of the Federation. However, the military acted quickly. They immediately announced Ling Xiao¡¯s status as a god-ss operator, along with the reason for his death. They imed that he was killed by a plot of the Twilight Empire ¡ª this caused the fighting between the Federation and the Twilight Empire to escte immediately, until it truly reached the point where there wouldn¡¯t be peace till one side was defeated. Now, the fighting has been going on for 8 years, and there are still no signs of stopping. There have already been countless deaths and injuries of the military on both sides."


    Ling Lan was rather surprised. "Why would dad¡¯s death cause such an oue?"


    Little Four sighed, "Boss, you don¡¯t understand the position god-ss operators have within the hearts of the Federation soldiers. God-ss operators are like gods to military staff, and Ling Xiao was the youngest one. His victories spurred the excitement of all the soldiers ¡ª it could be said that Ling Xiao was the idol of the entire military. Also, because Ling Xiao was the youngest of the god-ss operators, he had much more potential and room to grow than the other god-ss operators. It was almost certain that he would have be the guardian deity of the Federation for the next forty to fifty years.


    "Think about it. Their guardian deity was sacrificed to an underhanded plot of the enemy nation ¡ª how could the soldiers of the Federation just let it rest? So they could only continue to fight endlessly until one of the countries no longer has the ability to fight."


    Listening till this point, Ling Lan descended into deep thought. She recalled how when others had fought over her right to inherit, the military had chosen to just stand by and watch. Then she thought about when she was ambushed on her way to school. And then, there was her father¡¯s legacy mission ¡ª he had set up so many obstacles and tricks, just so he could narrow down the selection and find her ... she felt like she understood things a bit better now. The people within the upper ranks of the military who had caused Ling Xiao¡¯s death had not loosened their monitoring of the Ling family; it seemed that they did not want to see anyone from the Ling family appear in the military world.


    "Little Four, looks like we need to find the people in the upper ranks of the military who killed my dad," said Ling Lan with an icy smile.


    "Ah? Why?" Little Four didn¡¯t understand.


    "For one, Ling Xiao¡¯s blood flows within this body of mine, and I am also learning from Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy. Whether it¡¯s a life debt, or a mentorship debt, I need to avenge Ling Xiao. I cannot just allow him to die senselessly.


    "Secondly, in these 8 years, I believe the other has been monitoring us all this while. The moment we stand out a little in the military world, the other will definitely not hesitate to kill us off. I don¡¯t wish to live with this hidden knife hanging over our heads."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words drew Little Four¡¯s bitter anger towards amon enemy. He immediately said, "Don¡¯t worry, Boss, leave the virtual world to me." Little Four recalled the monitoring of the legacy mission, and reminded himself again and again that he needed to be more careful than careful ¡ª he must not reveal any openings that could bring the threat of death to his boss.


    Right after that, Little Four tacked on worriedly, "But, that person still hasn¡¯t been exposed till now. Being able to kill dad without anyone finding out about them, they must be a skilled schemer. Can we beat him?" Little Four didn¡¯t think his boss was the type that plotted well.


    "If I can¡¯t do it alone, I¡¯ll just have to find a few helpers." Ling Lan smiled coldly. Initially, she had not wanted to be a boss, but reality was forcing her to be one even if she didn¡¯t want to. How could she go up against some military bigwigs without having some helpers on her side?


    That¡¯s right, Ling Lan¡¯s sights were now set on Han Jijyun. Ling Lan had full confidence in her fighting skills ¡ª if she just worked at it, though she couldn¡¯t guarantee she¡¯d reach god-ss level, getting to ace or imperial level was still possible. However, when it came to plotting and scheming, Ling Lan was at a loss, while the opponent was a master at it. Therefore, she could only seek external help. Now, of the few followers by her side, only Han Jijyun¡¯s intelligence was clearly a head above the others, and recently, that intelligence was gradually moving towards the side of cunning and slyness.


    It looked like she would have to push things a little more, and make Han Jijyun be even more sly and cunning ... that¡¯s what Ling Lan was thinking.


    After making this decision, Ling Lan pushed the matter aside. After all, it was still too early to look for the opponent; Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t rush to seek out the other¡¯s tracks now while her own wings were still developing.


    Temporarily setting the matter aside, Ling Lan started to study the controls of the rabbit mecha seriously, slowly experimenting with making the mecha walk. After all, this was the very first step of controlling mecha. Have you ever seen a mecha that couldn¡¯t walk, but which could hack at someone with a knife?


    Alright, the ¡¯walk¡¯ of bestial mecha was more like jumps and leaps, especially for a rabbit. The hind legs were designed to be much stouter than the forelegs, so Ling Lan would first have to learn how to get the hind legs to spring. Luckily, Ling Lan need only control it with her fingers, so there was no difort in trying to adapt.


    After stumbling and face-nting a couple of times, Ling Lan finally grasped hold of the ability to move the rabbit mecha. Of course, she still could not get the mecha to hop in a straight line just yet. Watching as her mecha jumped left and right, but never in a straight line, Ling Lan sweatdropped.


    Just like that, Ling Lan immersed herself in mecha training. By the time Little Four nudged her back to awareness of her surroundings, it was already time to log off.


    Because Ling Lan had Little Four to cover for her, she logged off directly at the mecha training hall. Strolling out of the login pod, she took a quick shower and then went downstairs.


    In the dining room, Lan Luofeng was humming as she set out dishes on the table. Of course, these dishes were all prepared by the servants; Lan Luofeng was a young mistress of a noble family who had led a pampered life ¡ª the most she could do was fry an egg, and even then the quality was not guaranteed ... it could very well be undercooked or overcooked.


    Seeing Ling Lane down, Lan Luofeng smiled. "My baby, if you still hadn¡¯te down, I was about to go up and call you."


    There was nothing Ling Lan could say in response to this. Previously, there had been several times when she had been forced offline by Lan Luofeng¡¯s persistent pestering. Her mum was the type of person that wouldn¡¯t give up before she achieved her goal. Trying to match her in terms of patience, Ling Lan didn¡¯t think much of her odds.


    Ling Lan and Lan Luofeng ate together as usual. Ling Lan had only taken a few bites when she could not help but ask, "Mum, did you know that dad was a god-ss operator?"


    Lan Luofeng nodded, "I knew. Why?"


    "Why didn¡¯t you tell me?" asked Ling Lan moodily.

 Chapter 115: The Tragic Rabbit!

    ¡°Why should I have told you? Would his being a god-ss operator affect your life in any way?¡± Lan Luofeng cast a confused nce at Ling Lan. ¡°Not to mention he has already left us, and even if he were by our side, whether or not he is a god-ss operator, what does that have to do with us?¡±


    Ling Lan thought about it and felt that what Lan Luofeng said was correct. Knowing if Ling Xiao was a god-ss operator or not really didn¡¯t have much impact on her life at all.


    Lan Luofeng picked up a mouthful of Ling Lan¡¯s favourite side-dish with her chopsticks and ced it in Ling Lan¡¯s bowl, and continued to say, ¡°Also, Ling Xiao is just Ling Xiao. He¡¯s a normal person, and also my husband, your daddy. Whether he¡¯s a god-ss operator or not, he¡¯s still my husband and your daddy. These two identities will never change.¡±


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s words caused Ling Lan¡¯s body to jerk in realisation, and the restlessness she had felt after finding out that Ling Xiao was a god-ss operator abruptly disappeared.


    ¡°Also, Baby Lan, don¡¯t let your daddy¡¯s status influence your choices in the future. You must remember ¡ª you are you. You just coincidentally have a father named Ling Xiao, that¡¯s all.¡± Lan Luofeng was somewhat worried, afraid that her daughter would choose to do things she didn¡¯t like just because of Ling Xiao, like try to be a mecha operator or something. ¡°I hope that you¡¯ll choose what you like to do in the future, and not choose out of some obligation or whatever other reason ¡­¡±


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s words caused Ling Lan to look at her mum with new eyes; she felt as if she was getting to know a new side of Lan Luofeng.


    Ling Lan reckoned that among all the females that her dad had encountered, her mum was the only one who didn¡¯t treat her dad as someone overwhelmingly strong or an idol or perhaps even as a long-term food provider. She had very simply and purely seen him as a regr person to live an average life with. And so, her dad had chosen her mum ¡­ yup, decisively making a move even before her mum had be an adult.


    ¡°Thanks, Mum!¡± said Ling Lan sincerely. She finished off all of the side-dishes that Lan Luofeng had given her and then lifted her head from her bowl to ask, ¡°Mum, say, do you think Dad could still be alive?¡±


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s lips bloomed with a radiant smile, and she nodded decisively and said, ¡°Yes, I think your daddy wouldn¡¯t die so easily. He¡¯s a god-ss operator!¡± Her tone concealed none of her admiration and pride for Ling Xiao.


    Ling Lan smiled too then. Since her own mum wished for this, then she would also hold onto this hope as well. Besides, it was just like her mum said ¡ª a god-ss operator wouldn¡¯t just die that easily ¡­


    Ling Lan finished eating and then went with her mum to the field outside to walk off the meal. After that, she returned to a training room to practise several sets of physical skills. In particr, Ling Lan ran through the scout academy¡¯s foundational physical skills set at least 10 times, because Ling Xiao had mentioned that this set of physical skills was not as simple as it seemed. It may even be a great help when operating mecha and advancing in the future.


    At the end, she took a shower andy down to sleep. Entering the learning space as usual, she saw Little Four sitting on the ground. There were countless papers piled high beside him, and he was flipping through several more sheets of paper in his hands.


    Ling Lan asked curiously, ¡°Little Four, what are you doing?¡±


    Perhaps Little Four had been too engrossed in what he was doing; he was so frightened by Ling Lan¡¯s voice that he flung his arms out ¡ª the papers in his hands were thrown into the air, and one of themnded on his head.


    Little Four quickly pulled down that piece of paper. Seeing Ling Lan grinning at him, as if amused by his panicked performance, Little Four said grumpily, ¡°Boss, why did you have to sneak up on me? You almost scared me to death!¡±


    ¡°Scared you to death? Why? Were you doing something bad?¡± teased Ling Lan.


    Unexpectedly, Little Four¡¯s face paled. He quickly reached out and gathered the papers in front of him, pulling them close. Ling Lan looked at him suspiciously and said, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you really were doing something bad?¡±


    Little Four choked out a nervousugh. ¡°No way! I was just gathering some information, things about Dad and also stuff about mecha.¡±


    When Little Four mentioned mecha, he was mumbling somewhat unintelligibly, but Ling Lan¡¯s attention had been fully captured by ¡®things about Dad¡¯. She cautioned Little Four, ¡°Gathering the information may be important, but make sure you stay concealed. Don¡¯t let anyone discover you.¡±


    Little Four smiled and said, ¡°Rx, Boss!¡±


    ¡°Still ¡­¡± Ling Lan pointed at the pile of paper in front of Little Four, ¡°Is this necessary?¡± Frankly, Little Four could just absorb the information directly into his system procedures ¡ª he really didn¡¯t have to materialize the information onto these sheets and sheets of white paper.


    ¡°Boss, don¡¯t you feel that words on paper is ssy?¡± asked Little Four, expression dreamy. ¡°Reading from paper, doesn¡¯t it make me seem very intelligent?¡±


    This troublemaking brat ¡ª so he¡¯s just trying to show off! Ling Lan said huffily, ¡°In that case, you can continue being intelligent. I¡¯m going into the learning space to learn now.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s unimpressed attitude made Little Four feel that there was now a generation gap between him and Boss. Thus, he sulkily waved Ling Lan away, indicating for her to not disturb his work.


    Ling Lan could only shake her head silently at Little Four¡¯s heartlessness. She sighed to herself, mourning the fact that little brats nowadays were just too spoilt and pampered. She was just about to push open the doors to the physical skills learning area when from the corner of her eye, she noticed arge door to the side. A word had finally appeared on it: Mecha!


    Could it be that because she had encountered mecha, the learning space had also activated a mecha course?


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart heated up and she decisively turned away from the physical skills doorway. Tentatively, she prodded the doorbelled ¡®mecha¡¯ and felt it move slightly. It wasn¡¯t like before when the door was fused to the wall,pletely immovable.


    Ling Lan gave the door a hard shove and the door swung open with a bang. She walked inside and saw an endless space. In the near distance, a rugged soldier with a full beard was guffawing boisterously as he watched her approach.


    ¡°Haha, Ling Lan, you¡¯re finally here!¡± The soldier¡¯s energetic greeting made Ling Lan nce at him cautiously. Could he be a new instructor?


    The personalities of the instructors Ling Lan had met so far were all different ¡­ Number One was cold and cool to the extreme, and meant every word he said. Number Five liked tough, but was sly and maniptive to the extreme, and was unbelievably perverse, capable of chilling others to the bone. Number Nine was very strict and looked very cold and aloof, but was actually a woman with a soft heart ¡ª Ling Lan had received much care from her since the very beginning.


    As such, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t afraid of stern-faced teachers, but was fearful of those with smiling faces and passionate appearances; she had been traumatized by Number Five¡¯s torments ¡­ So, seeing the other¡¯s enthusiasm and wide smile, she was instantly on her guard. If by any chance this was another instructor like Number Five, she would definitely be toyed with most terribly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think so much. I¡¯m not Number Five. I have no interest in torturing people. Right, I¡¯m your mecha instructor, Number Three. In fact, when you turned 6 years old, I had already wanted to activate the mecha course. But, due to your real-life situation back then, Big Brother Number One refused my request. I had thought that I¡¯d have to wait for another 5 to 6 years before it came up again. Unexpectedly, you activated it yourself after just one year, hahahahahaha ¡­ that¡¯s great!¡± Number Threeughed up at the sky, as if immensely pleased with Ling Lan¡¯s choice. Looks like he had really be impatient with waiting.


    Theughter finally stopped, but before Ling Lan could ask any questions, Number Three snapped his fingers. A rabbit mecha dropped from the sky,nding directly in front of Ling Lan. Ling Lan could only stare nkly at its familiar appearance. ¡°Why is it this mecha?¡±


    Number Three replied helplessly, ¡°Can¡¯t help it, our mecha¡¯s controls are somewhat different from those in your world, so we had to let the space assistant gather all the mecha models and controls of this world. So far, the space assistant has only sent in the data for this one mecha. Of course, this is also because you selected this mecha ¡­¡±


    Ling Lan finally understood why Little Four had had that dodgy look in the hall of the learning space. It turned out that he had secretly sent the stats of the rabbit mecha into the learning space, making it the initiate mecha for her mecha training. Dammit. He knew that she didn¡¯t really like the rabbit mecha ¡ª couldn¡¯t he have changed things a little and brought in some other models?


    Of course, Ling Lan was most upset at her own luck. If she had managed to draw a more formidable mecha to begin with, then she wouldn¡¯t have to take Number Three¡¯s mocking gaze.


    Regardless of how gloomy Ling Lan felt, she still had to listen to Instructor Number Three¡¯smands. She got into the cockpit of the rabbit mecha. As expected, the control buttons were the same, no changes whatsoever.


    Ling Lan activated the mecha, and the mecha quickly booted up sessfully. She then opened the mecha¡¯s screen to disy the situation outside, but found that the initially vacant and open space had now be an extremely narrow tunnel. By Ling Lan¡¯s estimation, the tunnel was just 1.5 times the width of the mecha itself. To sessfully make her way through the tunnel, it would require very fine control of the mecha¡¯s movement. Additionally, there were also some irregr obstacles within the tunnel ¡ª on the floor, and on the walls on both sides ¡ª which were probably designed to test a mecha operator¡¯s ability to handle the controls to adjust to circumstances.


    ¡°Firstly, you¡¯ll need to go through obstacle course training. Can you see the numbers on the bottom of the screen?¡± Number Three¡¯s voice rang out beside Ling Lan¡¯s ear.


    Ling Lan looked at the screen as Instructor Number Three said, and sure enough, on the lower part of the screen, the numbers 03.00.00 were shing at her, reminding Ling Lan of their existence.


    ¡°This is a countdown timer for 3 minutes. You¡¯ll need toplete this obstacle course within 3 minutes to pass. And your deadline toplete this mission is just one week.¡± Number Three¡¯s tone was tinged with obvious schadenfreude.


    F*ck! Teaching her nothing and giving her a mission right off the bat? Instructor Number Three, you¡¯re a mecha instructor, not a mission distributor ¡ª isn¡¯t what you¡¯re doing too shameless? Before Ling Lan could give voice to herints, the shing numbers on the lower half of the screen began to count down rapidly.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyelid twitched. Abruptly, she found that with the speed of her mecha¡¯s jumps, 3 minutes weren¡¯t long at all.


    At this moment, Number Three¡¯s gleeful voice rang out once more, ¡°Oh right, every time you fail an attempt, the system will dole out punishment. You hang in there now!¡±


    Hearing this, Ling Lan frantically operated her mecha. Her fingers flew, actually blowing past the speed limits she had managed to achieve before this ¡­ the system¡¯s punishment was not pleasant at all ¡ª she really didn¡¯t want to experience it ever again.


    However, dreams are beautiful but reality is cruel. Ling Lan mmed into a wall for the nth time, and after repeatedly embodying the rabbit in the tale ¡®<i>waiting for a rabbit by a tree stump </i>¡® <sup>1


    </sup>


    , the timer finally hit zero. Overall, she had only managed to jump forward a few metres. Oh, tragic rabbit ¡­ Ling Lan had yet to finish bemoaning the poor rabbit when a wave of numbing pain swept over her body ¡­

 Chapter 116: Arbitrary Punishment!

    Chapter 116: Arbitrary Punishment!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Dammit, I just knew this would happen!" Ling Lan swore loudly. She could almost see the faint smoke rising from her mouth, ugh ... she was about to bepletely cooked by electricity.


    Unfortunately, before she could get over the pain and numbness left by this electrocution, the scene before her shifted abruptly. She was brought along with her mecha back to the start of the obstacle course. And then, the learning space did not give Ling Lan any time to rest, immediately restarting the 3-minute countdown once more.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan finally couldn¡¯t help but curse silently. FUCK!


    After that, it was another flurry of frantic movements to control the rabbit mecha, to send it lunging out desperately. Perhaps tragedy likes to repeat itself, for Ling Lan had only taken a few hops when she once again mmed into a wall. And then she bounced back, and hit the wall again, and bounced back, and ... in the end, she still hit the wall again ...


    The image before Ling Lan was a constant loop of falling and rolling around ¡ª the result of all this wall-mming was a dizzy head and spinning eyes. Once again, Ling Lan was experiencing the feelings of the unfortunate rabbit in the folktale of ¡¯ waiting for a rabbit by a tree stump¡¯ !


    Failure, followed by yet more failure! Electrocution after electrocution, restart after restart ... Ling Lan had no idea how many times she had restarted this mission anymore. She estimated that she hadn¡¯t even managed to get 50 metres into the tunnel so far. And what¡¯s worse, she didn¡¯t even know how long this sted tunnel was in total.


    The reason to me for Ling Lan¡¯s constant wall-mming was that the tunnel was really just too narrow. There were times when Ling Lan clearly felt she had not made any mistakes with the controls, and even the screen disy was telling her that her jump coordinates were in a straight line ¡ª but unfortunately, the mecha still somehow ended up mming into the wall. This caused Ling Lan to be rather discouraged, frustration rearing up within her heart.


    Goddammit! This tunnel just did not allow for any bit of error in her controls ¡ª was this the standard a newbie should have? Ling Lan, having been electrocuted to within an inch of her life, was filled with simmering indignation. Hells, it was like she thought, nothing good ever came from men who liked to smile ...


    After god-knows how many failures, Ling Lan¡¯s spirit was worn down to the brink. After onest electrocution, she was summarily thrown out of the mission space, and Ling Lan blearily found herself in the great hall of the learning space once again.


    The hall was no longer as messy as when Ling Lan had first arrived; Little Four had tidied up the floor. When he saw Ling Lan appear suddenly before him, he was startled by her appearance and yelled, "Boss, you were electrocuted?!"


    Ling Lan¡¯s head was heavy ¡ª she only stared uprehendingly at Little Four in response.


    Seeing this, Little Four couldn¡¯t help but sigh and shake his head. With a sympathetic flick of his finger, arge full-length mirror appeared before Ling Lan.


    In the reflection of the mirror, apletely ck figure looked out nkly at them. There were even wisps of ck smoke still wafting off the figure, the only break in the ck being the whites of the figure¡¯s eyes ... oh, right, the figure¡¯s teeth were still white too! Ling Lan bared her teeth at the mirror, revealing her set of straight white teeth. Contrasted with the ck, her teeth gleamed even whiter than usual.


    Not just that, Ling Lan¡¯s hair was all standing up, puffed up in curls. They reminded Ling Lan of the instant noodles of her past life ¡ª really, her appearance was as bizarre as one could imagine.


    "AH! Number Three, I want to kill him!" This horrible state of hers made Ling Lan scream out in frustration. Right now, she did not look one bit like the cute moe shota that she usually looked like ¡ª she was a total ck phantom that had crawled out from the hearth.


    Little Four smothered augh with his hand, "Boss, so you¡¯ve met Number Three! Hehe, don¡¯t be fooled by his brash and forthright-looking face; he actually loves to y pranks on people."


    Ling Lan was stunned. "You know them, Little Four?" She had always thought that Little Four belonged to a different system than the instructors, and so would not meet each other. Looks like that wasn¡¯t the case.


    "Of course! There are many things I don¡¯t understand which require their help, like with those battle ... well, I just know them." Little Four had almost let the truth slip. It turned out that those moves he had helped Ling Lan modify and appropriate was actually the hard work of the instructors. Little Four had just shamelessly imed the credit for himself.


    Sensing something amiss with Little Four¡¯s words, Ling Lan stared at him suspiciously. Little Four¡¯s heart started pounding erratically, afraid that his deceit would be discovered by his boss. He quickly changed the topic, saying, "Boss, how did you end up this way?"


    At Little Four¡¯s question, Ling Lan was in no mood to think more about the holes in Little Four¡¯s speech. She sighed softly and said tiredly, "Instructor Number Three gave me a mecha control mission ..." She scratched her head, mussing up her instant-noodle hair into a bird¡¯s nest, and then shouted resentfully, "Argh ...! He didn¡¯t teach me anything! Just told me to get through that crazily narrow beyond narrow tunnel within 3 minutes. How would that be possible?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s words instantly made Little Four raise his little fists in anger as well. With sympathetic indignation, he said, "Yeah, how could Number Three be so unreasonable? No matter what, he should give Boss some time to adapt!"


    "Er ... actually, he did in fact give me a week¡¯s time to finish it," admitted Ling Lan awkwardly.


    "Then, Boss, how did you end up so messed up?" Wasn¡¯t it just training? Why did it look like she had had to go through a mountain of swords and swim through a sea of mes?


    Gloomily, Ling Lan said, "Though it was training, every time I failed, I would be electrocuted!"


    Little Four¡¯s eyes popped out in disbelief, and he muttered, "How can that be, electrocuted just for failing in training? When did the system be so strict?" That said, he cast a pitying nce at Ling Lan. "Boss, you¡¯re in big trouble. If you fail the mission this time, I think you¡¯ll lose ayer of skin even if you don¡¯t die. "


    Hearing this, Ling Lan¡¯s spirits drooped even more. "Yeah, I didn¡¯t expect to be electrocuted so badly just for failing in training ... if I can¡¯t pass this mission a weekter ..." Ling Lan shuddered violently, the sense of doom in her heart bing even heavier.


    The learning space¡¯s punishments came in many bizarre forms, but every type would stay with you for the rest of your life ... no one would be willing to go through it again if they could help it. Ling Lan had failed N-times under Instructor Number Five¡¯s tutge, and so had experienced a multitude of mind-breaking punishments. All in all, she really never wanted to experience them ever again.


    "But it¡¯s really odd ..." Little Four sat on a step, face cupped in his hands as he said in a confused tone, "Since you were given a time limit forpletion, why would you still be punished after failing during training, Boss? This doesn¡¯t seem to match up with the system¡¯s settings ..."


    Little Four was the most familiar with the system of the learning space ¡ª although the system was very strict, its every step would be executed strictly ording to the guidelines of the learning space. Could there be some other reason for this deviation in behaviour?


    Hearing what Little Four had to say, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but wonder, "Could it be that Instructor Number Three was intentionally messing with me?"


    Little Four threw a disdainful nce at his boss. "The instructors are only in charge of assigning missions. They don¡¯t have the jurisdiction to give out punishment ..."


    But Ling Lan persisted, "Then what¡¯s up with Instructor Number Five¡¯s punishments? The degree of perversity involved is absolutely a sign of his work."


    Little Four exined, "That¡¯s because Boss had already failed the mission. Among all the punishments offered by the system, the instructor has the right to choose which one is implemented."


    Ling Lan understood then. However, this just deepened the mystery ¡ª why would the system punish her for no reason when she only failed in training?


    Little Four searched through the rules of the learning space, and finally found a regtion that somewhat fit this strange scenario. "Boss, when you were training, did you do anything against the rules?"


    During training, if the host did anything the system viewed as breaking its rules, the system would implement appropriate punishment ording to the severity of the vition!


    Ling Lan gave it some serious thought, and felt that other than controlling the mecha to jump and m into walls, she really had not done anything else. Could it be that the system considered her wall-mming as the terrible sin of vandalism, and assigned punishment for it?


    Ling Lan told Little Four her guess, and Little Four thumped the table in agreement. His boss¡¯s assumption made sense.


    However, Little Four was extremely curious. "Boss, why did you have to jump and m into the wall? Wouldn¡¯t it be fine if you just walked slowly?"


    Ling Lan said with some embarrassment, "Isn¡¯t it all because of that 3 minute countdown timer? I wanted to speed up and quicklyplete the mission, but the faster I went, the harder the mecha was to control. And once I hit a wall, the mecha would bounce around like a rubber ball, making it impossible for me to control. Ahem! In the end, I could only be a dizzy rabbit ..."


    When a mecha receives a concussive force, 30% of it would be realistically reflected upon Ling Lan¡¯s body. Even if Ling Lan¡¯s body was as strong as an ox, the consecutive impacts and tumbles had still been too much for Ling Lan. Disoriented and unwell, she had thoroughly experienced what it felt like to be a rabbit mming into a tree.


    "Boss, you know very well that you won¡¯t be able toplete this mission within 3 minutes with your current ability level. So, why are you rushing it? Why don¡¯t you first familiarize yourself with the controls to get the rabbit to walk? Slow down as much as possible and work hard so you don¡¯t hit the wall. Take your time and walk through the tunnel slowly and familiarize yourself with the path. Wouldn¡¯t that be better?" Little Four just could not understand Ling Lan¡¯s decision. After all, didn¡¯t she have an entire week to figure it out? Why was she so impatient?


    Ling Lan said moodily, "It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to! But Instructor Number Three said, if I fail there would be punishment. Also, once the time is up, I¡¯ll be brought back to the starting point. How am I supposed to get used to the tunnel ..." Suddenly, Ling Lan jerked, thinking of something. Her gaze brightened instantly.


    "Thank you, Little Four!" Before Little Four could react to this outburst, Ling Lan had pulled Little Four into a hug and dropped a smacking kiss onto his soft and pink little cheek. This sudden affectionate action immediately crashed Little Four¡¯s thought processes ¡ª his two eyes were wide as saucers, and his entire body froze up.


    Ling Lan did not notice that Little Four¡¯s spirit had been sent flying off by her unexpected kiss. She took a fewrge strides to stand once more before the doorway of mecha, and purposefully pushed it open. She needed to test her hypothesis to see whether she was right.


    Entering the doorway, she saw Instructor Number Three still standing beside that rabbit mecha. Seeing Ling Lan return, Instructor Number Three said with an expression of surprise, "I thought you were onlying back tomorrow? How do you still have strength to train?"


    Ling Lan said coldly, "I¡¯m not that weak." If it really was as she thought, Instructor Number Three was really just too sly.


    Instructor Number Three seemed not to see Ling Lan¡¯s dark expression. With a heartyugh, he said, "That¡¯s great! Get into the mecha then."

 Chapter 117: The Learning Spaces Warning!

    Chapter 117: The Learning Space¡¯s Warning!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan smoothly leapt up into the mecha¡¯s cockpit, and then swiftly closed the door and activated the mecha. After 3 minutes, on the lower right corner of the disy screen, the 3-minute countdown timer appeared once more. As before, the numbers shed at her, a constant reminder of their presence.


    This time, Ling Lan only took one nce at the numbers before looking away. This was not because the string of numbers made her nervous, but because she wanted to focus on the final image being disyed on the screen.


    Sure enough, the image on the screen changed, and Ling Lan was once again at the entrance of the test tunnel. The learning space did not give Ling Lan much time to prepare; the numbers on the bottom of the screen began to roll, the countdown had begun ...


    This time, Ling Lan did not rush ¡ª she did not try to increase her hand speed desperately to push the mecha out as fast as she could ¡ª instead, she chose to decrease her hand speed. Her current speed was definitely not fast, with some pauses mixed in at times. She worked hard to coordinate her two hands, and facing the small and narrow tunnel, she controlled the rabbit mecha to hop lightly into it!


    This hop was very short, not even 2 metres, not even the length of her rabbit mecha¡¯s body. However, this caution guaranteed that she made no mistakes this time. Slowly but steadily, she hopped her way to the centre of the tunnel. There were still no mistakes.


    Ling Lan did not rush to make the next jump ¡ª only after properly calcting the distance needed did she flex her fingers and operated the mecha to jump.


    Having calmed down, no longer affected by the 3-minute countdown, Ling Lan now noticed that this seemingly straight tunnel actually had a slight curve to it. However, it would not be noticeable with the naked eye when moving at fast speeds.


    Right then, Ling Lan finally understood why she had kept mming into walls previously. Having been unaware of the curve of the tunnel walls, even if she had used the coordinate data provided by the mecha and jumped to the marked coordinates, it would not have helped. Because in reality, she had already made a judgement error ¡ª all that awaited her was a crash into a wall.


    3 minutes time wasn¡¯t very long, but it also wasn¡¯t very short. Ling Lan had just made her way through roughly 30 or so metres of the tunnel, avoiding several obstacles along the way, when her time ran out. However, Ling Lan was not aware of this. Because this time, strangely enough, the learning space did not impose punishment the moment the countdown hit zero. The electrocution did not happen, and Ling Lan also was not chased back to the starting point. Instead, after the timer hit zero, it did not stop, but continued to count down, going into the negatives ...


    All this happened silently, so Ling Lan, who was thoroughly focused on operating her mecha, noticed nothing ... only after she had jumped a few more times, going about 10 metres deeper into the tunnel, did she remember to turn and look at the countdown timer. Ling Lan was wondering why the 3 minutes seemed to stretch on for so long this time.


    Ling Lan nced at the timer and saw that the timer was still moving, but this time, the numbers were not getting smaller, but gettingrger andrger. In fright, Ling Lan abruptly stopped her hands, and the rabbit mecha immediately froze andy down on the ground.


    Looking closer, Ling Lan finally saw that the countdown timer was now disying negative numbers. In other words, she had long gone beyond the allocated 3 minutes. Ling Lan started to think. Before this, she had been too anxious, desperately increasing her speed to charge and m her way through the course, so much so that shepletely ignored her surroundings. Thus, she had mmed into the walls repeatedly, and the final oue was getting electrocuted after the timer ran out and being sent back to the beginning ... why did the learning space not react this time, seemingly content to let her do as she pleased?


    Ling Lan thought back to when she had pushed open the ¡¯Mecha¡¯ door, and her conversation then with Instructor Number Three. She recalled how she had so easily fallen for Instructor Number Three¡¯s misdirection and believed that there would be punishment if she did not finish the mission after the 3 minutes on the timer ran out. She thought about how she had be overwhelmed with panic and frantically tried to make her mecha run forwards recklessly ... she had really been so bloody stupid!


    She had actually forgotten that, in the learning space, before a mission¡¯s deadline was up, there would not be any punishment for failing in training! She had had 7 full years of learning experience ¡ª and she hadpletely forgotten everything in that split second. No wonder the learning space had gotten mad. It had to be said that, ever since she had managed to obtain Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy from right under the military¡¯s noses, Ling Lan had be a little cocky. This made her lose her initial sense of caution.


    Ling Lan mocked herself, "How shameful! I actually neglected such an obvious clue. And this trap would have been discovered easily if I had just stopped to think ... is this because I¡¯ve lost my mental bnce? Because I thought I was stronger than most other people, so I became too proud?"


    Was the learning space trying to tell me through punishment that I still don¡¯t have the right to strut around with my tail up 1 ? Ling Lan had the realization that this electrocution wasn¡¯t punishing her for failing, but was punishing her for her recklessness and carelessness, as well as her loss of mental bnce. This was a warning from the learning space!


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips curved up into a slight smile, her eyes glittering. Although the learning space was somewhat offbeat at times, it would always step in to prevent her from making mistakes at key moments. She really felt that she was extremely fortunate to have received the learning space.


    Having thought things through, Ling Lan¡¯s mind was at peace. She no longer worried about the so-called countdown timer, but merely focused all her attention on operating the mecha to slowly manoeuvre her way through this tunnel. The start of the tunnel was so narrow that it only allowed one mecha to squeeze through at a time, and though the tunnel gradually widened out, the number of obstacles also increased. There were even sections where there were obstacle piles , which required several consecutive hops to clear.


    Ling Lan overcame each and every one of the challenges of the tunnel, but then, a new problem appeared. A huge boulder appeared before Ling Lan, and there just was not enough space on either side of the boulder for therge rabbit mecha to pass through. Moreover, there were several rocks of uneven height below therge boulder as well; thispletely prevented any challenger from passing through the bottom of the boulder.


    It only took one look for Ling Lan to determine the path she should take. Right at the top of the boulder, there was a ¡¯coincidental¡¯ gap with just enough room for the rabbit mecha to leap through. Note that she said ¡¯leap through¡¯. In other words, this time, she needed to make sure the rabbit mecha jumped high enough to reach the gap and moved forwards enough to clear the boulder, otherwise it would be all too easy to m into the rock.


    Ling Lan let the rabbit mecha¡¯s A.I. analyse the path she needed to take for this jump, along with the controls necessary for it. She then visualized it over and over in her mind, and only after she felt somewhat confident about it, did she get ready to move.


    She controlled the mecha to retreat around 10 metres ¡ª the boulder was too tall, so she needed to use a run-up approach to build up momentum. The first time, Ling Lan sprinted up to the rock, but when she reached the jumping point, she felt that there was a deviation in her positioning and hit the emergency brakes. The mecha only managed to stop at a distance of 0.01 metres away from the rock, scaring the cold sweat out of Ling Lan.


    The second time, she got the jumping position right, but she did not use enough power to reach the required height. Luckily, Ling Lan reacted quickly ¡ª at the moment she was about to hit the rock, she controlled the rabbit to kick out with its limbs at the rock, sending the mecha into a flip. She then controlled the mecha tond safely, avoiding the tragedy of mming into the boulder ...


    These two failures gave Ling Lan a better idea of what to expect. On her third try, with a steady grasp of all the key points, Ling Lan sessfully got her mecha to leap swiftly through the gap at the top of the boulder. At this moment, Ling Lan was still unaware that making her way through the various obstacles in the course had steadily built up her proficiency with the rabbit mecha¡¯s controls. From being flustered at the beginning, till being able to handle unforeseen circumstances with ease now, Ling Lan¡¯s improvement was truly phenomenal.


    Meanwhile, Ling Lan was still adjusting. In order to handle all sorts of scenarios, she had subconsciously begun slowly merging thebat moves she had learned in real life with her mecha control process. And this, was truly the ultimate objective of this tunnel mission.


    Within the learning space, the passing standard for mecha operators was that a mecha operator had to be able to control a mecha as if it were their own hands and feet, just as if the mecha were an extension of their own bodies. And this wasn¡¯t something many people could do in the real world.


    So, if Ling Lan wanted to pass, she still had much training to do to hone her mecha control! This also gave Ling Lan the false impression for a while that her mecha control was terrible ...


    After oveing several more obstacles, Ling Lan finally arrived at the finish line,pleting a full run of the tunnel. The time she used was slightly less than 32 minutes and 13 seconds. Of course, this duration was worlds apart from the mission requirement of 3 minutes. Still, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t particrly worried. This was because she knew that she had limited her hand speed for this run, keeping it at a normal level. Besides, this first full run was just to map out the tunnel and get to know the situation inside it, so she had wasted a lot of time at every obstacle. The second time would be different.


    Reality proved that it was indeed as Ling Lan had expected. The second time, Ling Lan directly shortened the time used to 23 minutes, and her third pass was infinitely close to 20 minutes. However, this time became her current limit ¡ª in the following fourth, fifth, and sixth attempts, she maintained this result, never being able to break past the 20 minute barrier.


    To ensure that she did not make a mistake and m into the wall again, Ling Lan still did not unleash her hand speed; she continued to use the hand speed she used at the start to control the mecha. But after testing out several different ways of jumping without being able to break past the 20 minute barrier, Ling Lan decided to increase her hand speed by one level.


    However, after raising her hand speed, Ling Lan started making mistakes. Although she was still extremely careful, she still could not help but lose control at a particrly sharp turn, slipping out of her intended path to careen towards the wall. But Ling Lan reacted quickly, no longer allowing herself to m helplessly into the wall like before. Instead, she used all four limbs of the mecha to kick off from the wall, and riding the rebound, she moved her mecha back on the correct path. Of course, this was also due to the fact that her speed was not yet at the maximum, and so was still within the limits of Ling Lan¡¯s control.


    Just like this, she shuffled and stumbled her way through the tunnel ¡ª she then found that her time had not gotten any better, and had in fact gotten slower than before, clocking in at around 21 minutes. However, Ling Lan was not discouraged. This new speed would require some adjustment, and in the process of adjustment, it was perfectly normal to make some mistakes. As such, the time dy was within her expectations.


    When she managed to fully get used to the new speed, Ling Lan was sure that she would be able to shorten the time to below 20 minutes.


    And so Ling Lan maintained this speed, and went through the tunnel again and again, making adjustment after adjustment ...


    The night passed without conversation ¡ª Ling Lan did not even know when she was kicked out by the learning space. From early the next day, aside from the sses that she had to attend, Ling Lan spent all her time in the learning space training to pass the mission.


    Of course, to reassure her mum, Ling Lan pretended to be in the virtual world by lying in a login pod. Ling Lan naturally also did not forget to instruct Little Four to fake her appearance in the virtual world to collect information from all the major subject halls. She had not forgotten the threat within the military ¡ª it would not do to let that party notice anything amiss.

 Chapter 118: The Real No.1 of Year 4738

    Chapter 118: The Real No.1 of Year 4738


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan stood once more at the entrance to the tunnel; she had never stopped challenging it. She closed her eyes and counted the seconds, and then abruptly opened them again. Her eyes zed with a vibrant light, and her fingers flew in a coordinated dance. With a strong push of its hindlegs, the rabbit mecha bounded into the tunnel.


    At this moment, Ling Lan¡¯s entire body and soul were immersed in the mecha ¡ª she already knew the situation within the tunnel like the back of her hand, so there was no need for her to even think about how to ovee the obstacles. All of it was already a steady flow within her mind.


    The rabbit mecha leapt and soared nimbly within that small and narrow space. At times it crawled, at times it leapt, at times it moved rapidly, at times it slowed to turn ... quite a few times it narrowly scraped by a wall, where just a hairsbreadth closer would mean a forceful crash and a violent tumble.


    This time, Ling Lan did not hit the wall at all, sessfully making her way through the tunnel swiftly. She looked down at the time ¡ª as expected, she had finally broken past the 20-minute barrier. In fact, she had improved her time by a whole 5 minutes, ending the course within 15 minutes.


    Compared to her first time, Ling Lan had undoubtedly reduced her time by half. However, to achieve the 3 minutes required toplete the mission, Ling Lan still had a long way to go. Still, Ling Lan was very happy. This progress proved that her control of the rabbit mecha had improved by a substantial margin.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t anxious to raise her hand speed further at this point; instead, she continued to work on stabilizing her current hand speed. She practised over and over again ¡ª running the same obstacle course repetitively was very dry and boring. Making the mecha jump and leap and run to break through obstacles may have been new and exciting for the first run or two, but after the tenth time and beyond, all that was left was boredom. Fortunately, Ling Lan was a very tolerant person. The dry monotony and boredom of the exercise were not enough to turn her off and make her choose to give up halfway.


    In this manner, she stayed in her house for three to four consecutive days. Then, Ling Lan was dragged out of the learning space by Little Four over an unexpected urrence.


    Back then, Ling Lan had been focused on her training in the tunnel to try and apply a higher hand speed. Just as she had been running, the scene in front of her eyes suddenly twisted and spun, bing blurred and unfocused. By the time Ling Lan could see clearly again, she had already been brought to the great hall of the learning space.


    Little Four was waiting for her there with an anxious expression. Seeing Ling Lane out, Little Four immediately rushed over as he shouted, "Boss, hurry! Qi Long and the others are looking for you."


    During this time, Little Four had been substituting Ling Lan to enter the virtual world. So, he was also responsible for reporting anything of note that happened there.


    "Can¡¯t you handle it?" Ling Lan automatically assumed it was something to do with the virtual world. That¡¯s why she was rather surprised, because Little Four had patted his chest and guaranteed that he would be able to handle anything in the virtual world back when he had first taken on this duty.


    "It¡¯s a real world issue. They were just trying to contact you online, and it looks urgent. They want you to go to thebat hall immediately. It looks like something major is happening," exined Little Four in a hurry.


    Ling Lan was rather bewildered, unsure what could have happened to make Qi Long and the others so anxious. With a worried heart, she quickly left the learning space and climbed out of the login pod to the virtual world. She took a moment to change into a clean uniform, and then immediately set out for thebat hall.


    The moment she arrived at the entrance to thebat hall, Ling Lan found that there was an unusuallyrge crowd here today. She took a swift look around, and found that there were not just students from her grade, but also quite a number of students from the other grades. There were younger juniors who had just started school here, as well as seniors from a grade or two higher.


    Among the groupings of blue and green, Ling Lan could even see some white and red ¡ª looks like there were also quite a few students from the special sses. Ling Lan grew even more curious. What in the world had happened to make the students of the lower division gather here?


    Although the scout academy had ten grades, these grades were in fact split into three different divisions. Grades 1 to 4 made up the lower division, 5 to 7 was the intermediate division, and 8 to 10 was the upper division. The students of every division had their own circles, and aside from those with intent, very few people were willing to cross these circles to get to know the students of the other divisions. Just take Ling Lan¡¯s group for example. They may know about the matters concerning the lower division students, but they only knew vague details about things to do with the intermediate division, and the upper division waspletely out of the consideration of these lower division children.


    Ling Lan immediately contacted Qi Long, and finding out that the others were at arena 3, she hurried over. On the way there, Ling Lan¡¯s ostentatious red uniform drew the admiration and envy of the surrounding merit ss and regr ss students.


    Although Ling Lan kept a rather low profile within the academy, there were still quite a few people who recognised her. These people were talking in hushed whispers to the people beside them who didn¡¯t know Ling Lan.


    "Do you know who that person in the red uniform is?" said one of the informed grade one students excitedly to a student beside him whom he had just met.


    "A Special ss-A student? From which grade? I don¡¯t think I saw him at the cross-grade challenge matches." Some of the people who had no acquaintances in the upper grades naturally did not know much about their seniors.


    "You should at least know about Qi Long, right?" Qi Long had obtained the top rank of the special sses multiple times in session, and so had often appeared at the cross-grade challenge fights. Thus, even the new students knew him.


    "Of course I know! The leading person in the second grade ¡ª I¡¯ve seen him in the cross-grade challenge matches. I get excited just speaking of him! In thest challenge, he actually managed to challenge all the way up to grade 4 before losing. He really makes us lower grades proud!" It looked like this new student was a fan of Qi Long¡¯s; his face was filled with idolisation.


    "Hehe, let me tell you ... that person just now is Qi Long¡¯s boss! He¡¯s also in the second grade." The informed one was very smug; he actually knew about the strongest hidden boss.


    "No way!" Shocked cries rang out one after another ¡ª eavesdroppers drawn by their discussion all had expressions of disbelief on their faces. Qi Long was the high-profile academy star of the lower grades ¡ª how could a superior being like him submit and acknowledge another person as boss so easily? And someone from the same grade at that, with a lower ranking!


    "Hmph, you really think Qi Long dominates the second grade? If my elder cousin sister wasn¡¯t in that grade, I may not have known about this secret." The ones who paid attention to the internal grade rankings were basically those in the same grade. Very few students from other grades would bother with the rankings of another grade, which was why most people from the lower grades and the upper grades would not know the internal matters.


    "What secret? Tell us quick!" Those who loved uncovering the truth all began urging the informant to hurry up and reveal the secret he knew.


    "My cousin sister said that, every time that person encountered Qi Long, he would automatically forfeit, never ever choosing to attack."


    "Why?" Everyone wondered.


    "Is it because he knew he couldn¡¯t win, so he chose not to fight? That doesn¡¯t mean that person is stronger than Qi Long though!" someone objected.


    "I have proof. You all know that in the grade ranking matches, what¡¯s the least number of moves Qi Long took to defeat his opponent?"


    "Yup, I remember someone mention it once. I think it was 3 moves, against the weakest opponent in the first round ... Qi Long¡¯sbat skills are amazing ¡ª he¡¯s not just agile, his strength is also greater than others his age by too much. On top of that, his foundations are very solid, and I heard he has some sure-kill moves as well."


    "But as the opponents get stronger, Qi Long also can¡¯t defeat them that easily anymore. From around 10 moves to over 10 moves, even using up to several hundred moves ..."


    "That¡¯s why I say, Qi Long is strong, but he still hasn¡¯t reached the level of domination," said the informant airily, nodding as he heard what everyone had to say about Qi Long¡¯s abilities.


    "You can¡¯t say that. Anyone who can enter the special sses in our academy is a talent from the cream of the crop. Qi Long being able to press down everyone his age already proves that he is extremely outstanding." The other people felt that the informant was being rather unreasonable with hisments.


    "Hehe, once, that person managed to defeat an opponent in ... guess how many moves?" asked the informant coldly, in response to the others doubting his words.


    "What¡¯s his strength like? You can¡¯t just ask us to guess blindly without anyparison point."


    "That opponent was also from the special sses. Qi Long managed to defeat that person in roughly 50 moves." The informant provided aparison point.


    "About 50 moves?"


    "Could it be less than the number of moves Qi Long needed?" Seeing the informant¡¯s impassive face, everyone was shocked. "40 moves? Or maybe 30 moves?"


    The informant just smiled but said nothing.


    Everyone there drew a cold breath. "20 or so moves? Maybe about over 10 moves?" Everyone felt that their guesses were already very bold.


    Sadly, the informant did not seem to agree. He shook his head, sighing, and said, "Can¡¯t you all be more daring with your guesses?"


    "Within 10 moves?" In a sea of silence, a wavering voice piped up quietly. This guess made everyone hold their breath, waiting for the informant to respond.


    "Within 10 moves? Hehehe, you¡¯re all wrong. He only used one move ..." revealed the informant proudly, just as if Ling Lan was his own boss.


    "Woah, that strong?!" There was a cacophony as everyone eximed in shock. If this were true, then that person was definitely the reigning champ of the second grade.


    "I predict that, if they really fought, even Qi Long wouldn¡¯t be able to hold out for long." The informant finally gave his hypothesis.


    "Then why would he choose to forfeit? If he became the top rank, then he would be able to participate in the cross-grade challenge!" Some people felt it was a shame, because they had not been able to see that person¡¯s awesomeness in defeating his opponent in one move.


    "Who knows? Perhaps he prefers to keep a low profile." An oracle of truth 1 presented himself.


    "Right, what¡¯s that person called?" Those with superior strength would always garner respect; the surrounding students were eager to find out the identity of their new idol from the informant.


    "Ling Lan, the true number 1 of Year 4738 2 ..."


    ********


    Ling Lan deeply mourned the fact that her hearing was so sharp ¡ª she had actually heard every single bit of gossip loud and clear. She had already tried her best to keep a low profile! Who knew that someone had still found her memorable? Still, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t really bothered. This gossip would probably just circte among the lower division; the upper division would have no interest in following the gossip within their circle. So, no one outside would care or recognise her ...


    Very soon, she had rushed to arena 3, and she immediately saw Qi Long and the others waiting in front of the stage. Ling Lan walked over quickly and asked, "Qi Long, why did you call me toe over in such a hurry? What exactly is going on?"


    Subconsciously, Qi Long nced at Han Jijyun, clueing Ling Lan in that it was probably Han Jijyun¡¯s idea to call her here.


    Sure enough, Han Jijyun received Qi Long¡¯s signal, and spoke up, "Boss Lan, I was the one who asked Qi Long to call you here. Actually, calling you here this time is to discuss the matter of Lin Zhong-qing."


    "Him? Is there any connection to us?" Ling Lan was too busy; she did not have that much time and effort to go worry about the other students in her ss who she was just on regr terms with.


    "Of course there¡¯s no connection right now, but there¡¯ll soon be one." The corner of Han Jijyun¡¯s lips quirked up, and there was actually a trace of deviousness in his smirk.

 Chapter 119: Taking Lin Zhong-Qing In as a Follower?

    Chapter 119: Taking Lin Zhong-Qing In as a Follower?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Han Jijyun¡¯s words made Ling Lan very curious. With a slight quirk of her brow, she waited for Han Jijyun to continue exining.


    "Earlier, Lin Zhong-qing contacted me urgently in the virtual world. He hopes that we can help him out, because he has been blockaded by Li Yingjie. "


    "What? That punk Li Yingjie hasn¡¯t given up on making Lin Zhong-qing submit?" Ling Lan was rather speechless to hear that. This Li Yingjie was really too stubborn ¡ª starting back in the first grade, ever since Lin Zhong-qing had refused to be his subordinate, this brat had been determined to pick a bone with Lin Zhong-qing. He kept finding opportunities to make trouble for Lin Zhong-qing, trying to make Lin Zhong-qing submit to him. As luck would have it, Lin Zhong-qing was also someone who was open to persuasion but not to coercion ¡ª the more Li Yingjie tried to force the issue, the more he refused to submit. Thus, the two of them had be locked in a never-ending feud.


    "It can¡¯t be helped. Li Yingjie is now stuck riding the tiger 1 . Ever since he hit a dead end with Lin Zhong-qing, he thoroughly lost all credibility to be the boss of the special sses. Many students in ss are now just agreeing in words but not in mind ¡ª some have even mocked him behind his back, saying that he should handle Lin Zhong-qing first before doing the talking. So, this year hasn¡¯t been easy for Lin Zhong-qing."


    There was one more thing Han Jijyun didn¡¯t say. Another reason why Li Yingjie couldn¡¯t be the undisputed boss of year 4738 was the existence of their group. Compared to Lin Zhong-qing, Li Yingjie actually hated them even more for blocking his way. It¡¯s just that Qi Long alone was already hard for him to handle, not to mention Ling Lan, who was stronger than Qi Long. So, Li Yingjie, who was unable to take his anger out on them, could only go after the vulnerable Lin Zhong-qing who had no one backing him.


    At the heart of the matter, Lin Zhong-qing was actually coteral damage of Li Yingjie¡¯s dispute with them ... Han Jijyun sighed deeply. Although the academy tried its best to minimize the influence of family background among the students, setting up lots of regtions preventing students from possessing special rights due to their backgrounds, was there any child who was stupid among those who could enter the Central Scout Academy¡¯s special sses? A full year of time and more had been enough for them seek out the loopholes in these regtions. With that, they managed to artfully avoid the rigid external protection of the academy, using other methods within the boundaries of the rules to force some children without reliable backgrounds to be their attendants, subordinates, or even gophers ...


    In Special ss-A, most of the children came from some sort of weighted background. After all, genes determined everything ¡ª it was much more likely for a powerful and wealthy elite family to produce an outstanding child. So, in the Special ss-A of Year 4738, there were only three or four people from moremon family backgrounds. Besides Lin Zhong-qing who stood his ground to keep his independence, the others had all chosen to rely on other ssmates with stronger abilities and backgrounds.


    Among the array of wealthy and powerful backgrounds present in the ss, Ling Lan¡¯s background (leaving aside Ling Xiao¡¯s identity) was considered insignificant, but no one dared to bother him. In the academy, background wasn¡¯t the most important thing ¡ª might was the foundation which truly allowed a person to stand their ground.


    Though Lin Zhong-qing, who hade from a poor district, had been gradually increasing his strength, the top 5 of the ss could still handle him easily. In other words, Lin Zhong-qing was the easiest to handle among all of the Special ss-A children ¡ª who else could Li Yingjie target if not him?


    However, Lin Zhong-qing himself knew that he would not be able to stand up against Li Yingjie. So he had chosen to tolerate ¡ª no matter how much Li Yingjie taunted him or insulted him, he had taken it and refused to react. This made Han Jijyun admire him greatly for his ability to restrain himself for a greater purpose.


    "Hasn¡¯t he been targeted before all this while? Didn¡¯t he manage to resolve it all himself so far? Why does he want our help this time?" Ling Lan was curious. She knew very well that even though Lin Zhong-qing was a poormoner, he had a prideful heart. Unless there was no other choice, he wouldn¡¯t have reached out for their help.


    What could have happened? What could be grave enough to corner Lin Zhong-qing? Ling Lan stroked her jaw absent-mindedly as she thought about it.


    Han Jijyun replied, "It¡¯s like this. Lin Zhong-qing told me that the opponent invoked the rule of nemesisbat, and challenged him to an arena battle. The one who loses will have to recognize the other as boss, and be his subordinate. A nemesisbat match cannot be avoided. The moment one chooses to refuse the fight, the academy A.I. will see that as a forfeit and automatically dere it as the loss of the side which refused ... This time, Li Yingjie was smart. He used thebat rules of the academy."


    "How did Lin Zhong-qing fall for it? Hasn¡¯t he always been careful?" To avoid Li Yingjie¡¯s taunts and challenges, Lin Zhong-qing had learned all he could about the academy¡¯s rules. He was always careful to stay away from things that wouldn¡¯t benefit him, but it looks like he had been set up this time.


    "Yes, well, in the virtual world, Li Yingjie recruited a regr ss student and sent him to offend Lin Zhong-qing. You know how as well how all the students of Special ss-A have their pride. They would never permit someone else to trample over it easily. So, Lin Zhong-qing chose to teach him a lesson ... and then, this was the result ..."


    "The other boy recorded a video of himself being beaten up and submitted it to the school A.I. to request for a nemesisbat match. After it was approved, he challenged Lin Zhong-qing. Under nemesisbat mode, Lin Zhong-qing cannot refuse, so he had no choice but to ept." Ling Lan naturally knew what was going on instantly. "Looks like Li Yingjie really invested a lot of thought and effort to trap Lin Zhong-qing. For this n, he had toplete the team formation mission in the virtual world. He¡¯s most likely the third person of our second grade to seed in building a team ..."


    Only teams would allow the members of the team to substitute amongst themselves freely. And so, in the end, the one Lin Zhong-qing had to fight was no longer that regr ss student, but Li Yingjie.


    "That fellow is really willing to pay to get Lin Zhong-qing, actually willing to waste a team member slot." Each team only had six member slots, and after the members had been chosen, the team members could no longer be changed. The existence of teams was a way for the academy to foster cooperation and team battle sense among the students. It was also a way to cultivatesting bonds among team members, so that the team members would be able to learn more responsibility by watching out for each other, lending each other a hand, and progressing together.


    The growth and strength of each individual member of the team would also be a determining factor in when they¡¯d be able to enter the real virtual world. Once students reached the age of 13, they would have the right to challenge for the right to exit. If sessful, the Central Scout Academy would remove the restrictions on those children, and give them free ess to the virtual world. Mind you, only in the extended virtual world would they be able to experience mecha controls, and this ... this was the dream of all the students of the scout academy. All the children dreamt of the day they could operate mecha!


    Thus, every team was very particr about its members. They wouldn¡¯t take in just anyone, unless a team member identally bes incapacitated ... that¡¯s why, the members of a team were definitely the best of friends, steadfastrades that one would be willing to fight beside till they graduated from the scout academy.


    "What does Lin Zhong-qing want exactly?" Ling Lan had an inkling of what Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s objective was, and her brow furrowed slightly.


    "He wants to join us." Sure enough, Han Jijyun gave voice to the answer Ling Lan had thought of.


    "I don¡¯t find him promising." Ling Lan didn¡¯t really like Lin Zhong-qing. She felt that Lin Zhong-qing was just too tolerant ¡ª in contrast with Ling Lan¡¯s voluntary self-restraint and tolerance, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s brand of tolerance was forced by external pressure. As a result, he was very moody and sombre, and his gaze was always dark with murky shadows. Letting this kind of person join them may very well bring an unstable element into their team.


    Ling Lan was totally preparing to lead Qi Long and the others to beat the exit challenge the moment they all turned 13. As such, she didn¡¯t want there to be any surprises.


    "He¡¯s stated clearly that he wants to be Boss¡¯s subordinate, and that he¡¯s willing to serve you loyally," added Han Jijyun. It looked like he really favoured Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s addition to their team.


    Ling Lan still wasn¡¯t moved. She had the Ling family loyalists, who were way more reliable than Lin Zhong-qing.


    "Actually, Lin Zhong-qing is not a bad addition. In my opinion, he chose us only after thinking it over very seriously. He probably wouldn¡¯t betray us. You should know that right now, in Special ss-A, there are only 2 teams which can match up with Li Yingjie¡¯s group. One would be the Wu Jiong-Ye Xu team, and the other is our team," exined Luo Lang, chiming in. "But the Wu Jiong-Ye Xu team is aligned with the federal military system, and Lin Zhong-qing really dislikes this sort of authoritarian elitism. So, he doesn¡¯t really want to join them, which is why he chose us."


    "And we¡¯re not aligned with the federal military system?" asked Ling Lan in confusion. She cast a doubtful nce at the boys standing before her, poking fun at their backgrounds. She had learned about their family backgrounds after over a year of hanging out together. Qi Long, Han Jijyun, and Luo Lang were all descended from upper ranking federal military families.


    The three boys couldn¡¯t help butugh. Still chuckling, Qi Long retorted, "But Boss, you aren¡¯t! Whether or not we are aligned with the federal military system depends on your identity as our leader."


    Ling Lan scratched her face in embarrassment. She wasn¡¯t sure whether she should tell them now that she was actually aligned with the federal military system after all ... In the past, she had thought that with her father¡¯s death, that her family was just an extremely normal martyr¡¯s family, which would definitely have nothing to do with the federal military system. Therefore, she had told Han Jijyun and the others that she came from a middle-average family, and that her father had just been sacrificed in battle before she was born.


    And so, back when Ling Lan had just discovered her father Ling Xiao¡¯s true identity, she had been very conflicted. She just didn¡¯t know how she could re-exin her identity to herpanions now.


    "You all want to ept Lin Zhong-qing?" Ling Lan wasn¡¯t a self-opinionated person. Although she didn¡¯t particrly like Lin Zhong-qing, she still decided that she would listen to what everyone had to say.


    "Yeah, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s potential is great, and he puts in a lot of effort into studying. His improvement is obvious ¡ª in the most recent ranking tournament, he managed to make it into the top 15. His future results shouldn¡¯t be too much off the mark. Boss, taking him in as a follower should bring us no disadvantages," analysed Han Jijyun.


    "But we¡¯ll just have to go up against Li Yingjie¡¯s group." Ling Lan considered whether it was worth it to take on this troublesome issue for Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s sake.


    "Isn¡¯t that pretty interesting? With no rivals, nopetition, our improvement will be much slower," said Han Jijyun with a smile as he looked to one side; it was Li Yingjie andpany. Right then, Han Jijyun¡¯s gaze was somewhat piercing, a little different from how it was usually.


    A notion passed through Ling Lan¡¯s mind. While the innate talents of Qi Long, Luo Lang, and herself were geared towardsbat, Han Jijyun¡¯s wasn¡¯t. His innate talent belonged to the intelligence stream; in other words, he could not rely solely on book-learning or fighting to increase his abilities, but had to sh wits often with others ...


    Ling Lan thought of her future ns ¡ª Han Jijyun was definitely one of the most integral links in the chain. Only if Han Jijyun became more capable would she be able to aplish what she wanted to do perfectly.


    So Ling Lan nodded and said, "Alright, I agree."

 Chapter 120: Joining Officially!

    Chapter 120: Joining Officially!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan¡¯s agreement caused the smile on Han Jijyun¡¯s face to deepen, and his gaze brightened even more. Perhaps Han Jijyun had found a game he wanted to y, and so his spirits were running high.


    When Han Jijyun wasn¡¯t paying attention, Qi Long nudged Luo Lang lightly with a shoulder, and asked quietly, "Did your initiate instructor arrange some sort of mission?"


    Luo Lang was startled, somewhat unable to wrap his mind around how sharp Qi Long¡¯s instincts were. This was because Qi Long always gave off a brash and forthright vibe, and seemed like he would be extremely careless. However, Luo Lang very quickly gathered his thoughts and nodded almost imperceptibly with a subtle dip of his chin, telling Qi Long that he had guessed correctly.


    Qi Long grinned. Only he knew that he had guessed so easily, not because he was intuitive, but because his initiate instructor had also given him a mission. So, seeing Han Jijyun suddenly be so proactive, his mind connected the dots to his own situation, which was why he had jumped to this assumption so quickly.


    "How about this? Let¡¯s leave Qi Long in charge of this matter." Ling Lan currently intended to cultivate Qi Long as the spokesperson for their team, wanting to put him in charge of representing their public image. This was because Qi Long¡¯s appearance was bright, lively and extremely positive, easily gaining the trust of others. In the future, no matter what mission they epted, this disposition of his would be an unexpected boon when cooperating with others.


    As Ling Lan had been trolled multiple times by the smiling faces of instructors Number Three and Number Five, she believed that people who smiled like they were kindly gentlemen were often representatives with ¡¯ck innards¡¯ 1 , bellies filled with murky waters of deceit and evil intentions. Therefore, she wasn¡¯t particrly fond of that kind of smile. In addition, she had the utmost respect for Instructor Number One, and held Instructor Number Nine in high esteem ¡ª and these two people were ssic ¡®ckface¡¯ representatives. This led her current expressions and speaking tone to gradually shift infinitely closer towards the behavioural patterns of those two instructors. In Little Four¡¯s words, right now was the developmental phase of the ckface shota ...


    "Ah ...?" Ling Lan¡¯s arrangement boggled Qi Long. What was he supposed to be in charge of?


    "I¡¯m saying that Lin Zhong-qing will be your attending follower. You¡¯ll be responsible for him." Since she would be pushing Qi Long to take centre stage, then it made sense for her to assign ackey to him, right? Besides, Ling Lan had way too many secrets, which made it unsuitable for someone to keep following her around.


    "Later, when you fight in the arena, you need to do your best, alright? Otherwise, you¡¯ll lose your follower ..." Ling Lan patted Qi Long¡¯s shoulder in encouragement, and then washed her hands of the responsibility.


    Yet, Qi Long didn¡¯t care about Ling Lan¡¯s unexined transfer of duties to him; he was in excitement mode. As a battle freak, the moment he heard the words ¡¯arena¡¯ and ¡¯fight¡¯, his blood boiled, and he just wished he could rush over immediately to the stage to satisfy a little of his battle lust. Although that punk Li Yingjie was somewhat iffy in the way he handled things, his personalbat ability was not bad. Good enough to be Qi Long¡¯s opponent.


    Meanwhile, Han Jijyun had already got hold of Lin Zhong-qing viamunicator, and told him to meet them secretly in a small room they opened for private arenabat. As this type ofbat was set as private, no one would be able to get into the room without entering the correct password. Since Han Jijyun was prepared to let Lin Zhong-qing join the team, he would have to teach Li Yingjie a lesson no matter what. In the process, he wanted to reap more benefits from Li Yingjie, so he couldn¡¯t let Li Yingjie find out that Lin Zhong-qing had already joined their team.


    Very soon, Lin Zhong-qing entered the privatebat room. When he entered, Lin Zhong-qing couldn¡¯t see anyone, but just as he was wondering if he got the wrong room, he saw Ling Lan and the others waiting for him in a corner of the room that had been in his blind spot. Out of worry that Lin Zhong-qing could have been followed, Han Jijyun had arranged it so that everyone was located within a blind spot when someone first enters the room. This would eliminate any chance of them being discovered by an unintended audience.


    Seeing the door close, Ling Lan and the others walked out of the corner. Lin Zhong-qing carefully nced at Ling Lan who was standing in the middle of the group, and waited for the final verdict.


    Being able to join Ling Lan¡¯s team would undoubtedly be the best oue for him. Ever since Ling Lan had helped him previously without even batting an eyelid, Lin Zhong-qing had been extremely grateful towards Ling Lan. Back then, he had already been conflicted ¡ª wondering if he should lower his head and ask to join Ling Lan¡¯s group directly so that he could be under their protection. But at that time, he had just qualified for the Central Scout Academy and had also managed to be a Special ss-A student in one go ¡ª his pride and personal drive was high; he didn¡¯t want to be someone else¡¯s tag-along. Moreover, he was confident that he could evade Li Yingjie¡¯s pressuring, and so the thought of joining Ling Lan¡¯s group came and went.


    However, reality was cruel. His rtionship with Li Yingjie became increasingly worse, until it reached the point where they were almost archenemies. Meanwhile, although he continued to improve, the more he learned, the more he could feel the distance between himself and the top 5 of Special ss-A. Ling Lan, Qi Long, Li Yingjie, Wu Jiong, and Ye Xu were the irond top 5. Their strength exceeded the other ss-A students by a significant margin; it could be said that no one was even close to threatening their positions.


    Of the five, Ye Xu was the weakest. And while Li Yingjie and Wu Jiong were about equal in strength, Qi Long was overall stronger than them by a head. Needless to say, Ling Lan was the uncontested #1 in the minds of all the students of their year. Although he had never truly obtained the top rank, the fact that his follower Qi Long had sessfully earned the top rank 3 years in a row just proved how fearsome he was.


    In the intra-grade ranking fights, Lin Zhong-qing had fought against Ye Xu and Wu Jiong before. Against them, he had only managed to hold out for 50 to 60 moves. Deep down, Lin Zhong-qing knew that if the other had really used their sure-kill moves, he would never have been able to hold out for that long. He could perhaps hold out for half that number of moves. The sheer pressure brought on by the gap between their levels let Lin Zhong-qing lose without any resentment.


    Compared to the other four people, Lin Zhong-qing was actually much more curious about Ling Lan. In fact, you could even say that he was brimming with questions. Before this, he had asked around in a roundabout way to find out more about Ling Lan¡¯s family background. He found out that Ling Lan was from a middle-ss family, and was also a posthumous child ¡ª while he had still been in his mother¡¯s womb, his father had lost his life in one of the Federation¡¯s battlefields. Aside from having a slightly better background, Ling Lan and he had rather simr conditions ¡ª they didn¡¯t have any additionalbat skills, and didn¡¯t have ess to any battle experience from their elders ¡ª then why did Ling Lan have such formidable battle power? Could it be a gic issue? But they were just lower than Ling Lan by one level, so logically, the difference shouldn¡¯t be thatrge.


    Lin Zhong-qing had also studied Ling Lan¡¯s fights before, and found that his battles were clean, precise, and efficient, never dragging things out (with only just one move used, there really was nothing to drag). Furthermore, his every attack was neither so strong that it was unstoppable, nor so fast that it was invisible. A simple straightforward move, without any extraneous frills or flourishes, directly aimed to strike at his opponent¡¯s biggest weakness.


    Of course, he himself was very familiar with those attack moves Ling Lan had used ¡ª they were all sourced from the basic physical skills set of the Central Scout Academy, with only some being sure-kill techniques appropriated from other students.


    Originally, Lin Zhong-qing hadn¡¯t known this. But then one time, he noticed Qin Yi¡¯s sure-kill technique being executed perfectly by Ling Lan¡¯s hands, letting him defeat Ye Xu in one move. Then, he had known that Ling Lan had the unbelievable ability to rapidly mimic and absorb others¡¯ sure-kill techniques. This had also given him some insight on how Ling Lan could have be so strong.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t have a formidable family background, nor did he have any additionalbat skills (or so he thought; yet another poor babe being kept in the dark). And yet, he had be the number 1 of their year ¡ª Lin Zhong-qing truly respected and admired Ling Lan from the heart. He felt that Ling Lan had brought honour to all the students frommon family backgrounds. The only regret he had, was that Ling Lan was very aloof ¡ª not seeming to care very much for the students around him. Aside from those few people from the start, after a whole year, it was still those few people who were close to him.


    Then, this time, he had unexpectedly fallen into a trap and was now forced to fight against Li Yingjie directly. Lin Zhong-qing knew that he was no match for Li Yingjie, but he was unwilling to just roll over and be Li Yingjie¡¯s subordinate. And so, he had thought of Ling Lan. If he really had to submit and be someone¡¯s subordinate, then he would much rather be Ling Lan¡¯s subordinate. Even though Wu Jiong was also a good candidate, Lin Zhong-qing wasn¡¯t as keen to submit to Wu Jiong.


    Thus, he had taken the initiative to contact Han Jijyun online and put forward his request. He had thought that he would feel horrible doing it ¡ª after all, he had fought hard for independence for over a year, but still couldn¡¯t escape the tragic oue of bing a follower. The only constion he had was that at least contacting Han Jijyun to submit to Ling Lan was his own choice. However, unexpectedly, the moment the words left his mouth, he had actually felt at peace. His heart seemed lighter, as if shedding a heavy weight 2 . Perhaps he had already been thinking about this for a long time subconsciously, but his pride and ego had not allowed him to consider it consciously.


    Now, Lin Zhong-qing hade to face the person that could determine his future destiny. His initially steady heart actually started fluttering in panic ¡ª goddammit, he was actually nervous! And there were also feelings of fear; he was really afraid of being rejected ...


    "Lin Zhong-qing, I have agreed to your request. But I¡¯m used to acting alone, so, after this, you can just follow Qi Long and the others." Ling Lan¡¯s words brought both joy and pain to Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s heart. The joy was because he could finally join Ling Lan¡¯s team and receive their protection; the pain was because he had heard Ling Lan¡¯s rejection. Ling Lan wasn¡¯t taking him on as a follower personally, but handing him over to Qi Long and the others.


    Who knew there woulde a day where he would be dismissed by another as a follower? Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t know how to feel ¡ª he merely nodded his head in a daze to indicate that he understood.


    Only the team leader could request the addition of a team member; an individual wasn¡¯t able to randomly search for a team and request to join on their own. So, when Ling Lan saw Lin Zhong-qing nod his eptance, as the team leader, she used hermunicator to connect to the academy¡¯s mainframe, and submitted the request form for Lin Zhong-qing to enter her team. Once the request was approved, the A.I. would contact the team member listed on the form. Next, the team member need only enter the password of hismunicator toplete the process and join the team.


    The A.I. very quickly checked Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s information to confirm that he was currently a free agent. Then, it forwarded Ling Lan¡¯s invitation to Lin Zhong-qing¡¯smunicator.


    Lin Zhong-qing took a deep breath ¡ª he then resolutely pressed on the ¡¯confirm¡¯ button and entered his password. When he saw the congrattory message confirming his addition to Ling Lan¡¯s team, Lin Zhong-qing let out arge breath. It felt to him as if the dust had truly settled and he was back on solid ground. He hid it well though; no one else in the room noticed.


    "Qi Long, I leave the arena battle to you." Ling Lan had simultaneously received a notification informing her of the sessful addition, along with a copy of all of Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s data. As a team, they were considered as one entity, so all the team members¡¯ information was publicly avable within the group. Meanwhile, any grudges on Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s shoulders would also be extended to epass the whole team. In other words, any of the other team members could substitute for Lin Zhong-qing in the uing fight. This logic was exactly the same as the one behind Li Yingjie¡¯s plot to trap Lin Zhong-qing into a fight.

 Chapter 121: Battle Points for Self-Redemption!

    Chapter 121: Battle Points for Self-Redemption!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    This was the first time in thest couple of years that a nemesisbat match was to be held in the Central Scout Academy. Lin Zhong-qing and Li Yingjie¡¯s wager on their futures created an uproar among the lower grades; this was also why there were so many people here in thebat hall today.


    Li Yingjie had long taken up his position on the stage, waiting for Lin Zhong-qing to arrive. At this moment, he was very pleased with himself, thinking that Lin Zhong-qing was already a bird in his hand. All that remained was for the final result to be dered ¡ª Li Yingjie was extremely confident that he would be able to take down Lin Zhong-qing easily with his strength.


    The more Li Yingjie thought about it, the more excited he was ¡ª he could almost see Lin Zhong-qing bowing down before him now ...


    However, the following events did not unfold as he had pictured. In the final minute before the arena battle would officially start, the person that appeared across from him was not Lin Zhong-qing, but Qi Long. Right then, Li Yingjie knew that his plot had been countered by the opponent, and he screamed in anger, "Why is it you?!"


    Qi Longughed freely, saying, "Why can¡¯t it be me?" In Li Yingjie¡¯s eyes, Qi Long¡¯s heartyughter was a taunt, mocking him for falling victim to his own cleverness.


    "Who¡¯d have thought that Lin Zhong-qing would be your team member ... I¡¯d never expected you all to be willing to waste a member slot for that fellow." In Li Yingjie¡¯s ns, after he had defeated Lin Zhong-qing, the first thing he would do would be to forbid him from joining any teams. Since Lin Zhong-qing had been so unwilling to submit to him, then he would utterly destroy him and turn Lin Zhong-qing into a lowly dog for Li Yingjie to kick and scold as he pleased!


    "You yourself were willing to let a regr ss person join your team. At least Lin Zhong-qing is still a Special ss-A student. It¡¯s not at all shameful to have taken him in." Qi Long was rather perplexed by Li Yingjie¡¯s words. Right now, no matter how he looked at Li Yingjie, he just felt that there was something wrong with the other¡¯s brain. Really, what was he thinking? The members of a team were supposed to be the best partners to grow up with, and would be the most intimatepanions who would fight right by one¡¯s side in the future.


    Therefore, every team leader would be more careful than careful, weighing their options again and again, when deciding whether to ept someone into their team. Li Yingjie¡¯s act of adding a weak member who would obviously drag down the strength of a team, all for the sake of revenge against someone who didn¡¯t want to join him ... in Qi Long¡¯s opinion, this sort of behaviour was illogical. It was definitely the action of a retard.


    Qi Long¡¯s words further ignited Li Yingjie¡¯s rage ¡ª there was only one notion in his mind now, and that was that he had fallen prey to Ling Lan¡¯s team¡¯s evil scheme. He believed that this was all a ploy set up by Ling Lan¡¯s group to eliminate their greatest rival (him) so that they could obtain the coveted status of kings of year 4738.


    It had to be said that Li Yingjie was really full of himself. He had always thought of Ling Lan¡¯s group as hispetition, so the moment he found that the situation wasn¡¯t looking good for him, his first conclusion was that he had been set up.


    Dizzy with rage, Li Yingjie could no longer remain calm. The moment the referee teacher said start, he charged with bloodshot eyes towards Qi Long on the opposite end. Of course, this manner of approach was useless ¡ª already weaker than Qi Long in general, after losing hisposure, the difference between Li Yingjie¡¯s and Qi Long¡¯s strength was even clearer. Within the span of a few moves, Li Yingjie was being dominated by Qi Long on every front.


    A slight smile appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s lips; this match was already Qi Long¡¯s.


    ********


    In a corner not too far from the arena stage, Wu Jiong, who had been observing the fight, sniffed coldly at this point and said, "Ye Xu, let¡¯s go."


    "Yes!" replied Ye Xu, nodding. Even at their level, they could tell what the final oue of the fight would be. Initially, they had been looking forward to seeing the fight between Li Yingjie and Qi Long, but who would¡¯ve guessed that Li Yingjie would be mentally imbnced and lose his calm? Hence, the fight had lost all meaning, making them lose interest in it as well.


    Wu Jiong and Ye Xu had actuallye to spectate for a specific purpose ¡ª they too had wanted to invite Lin Zhong-qing to join their team. Although Lin Zhong-qing was currently only ranked 15th in the ss rankings, seemingly not too strong, the fact is that he had sessfully moved up from the position of deadst to the upper segment of ss-A in just short of 2 years. If Lin Zhong-qing continued to improve at this rate, he would certainly be able to make a true ce for himself among those at the top one day. Wu Jiong and Ye Xu both thought highly of his future prospects, so they were willing to give one of their precious team member slots to Lin Zhong-qing.


    Of course, Wu Jiong and Ye Xu also believed that as long as Lin Zhong-qing was willing to join them, if they negotiated politely with Li Yingjie based on their families¡¯ status in the military world, the other would probably give way.


    However, Wu Jiong hadn¡¯t considered that Ling Lan would beat them to the punch ... Wu Jiong felt a twinge of regret in his heart, thinking that he had lost this chess match by a slim margin. He had wanted to wait till Lin Zhong-qing had utterly lost all hope before offering a helping hand ¡ª that way, he would have been able to gain Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s gratitude ¡ª but unexpectedly, Ling Lan¡¯s group had stepped in halfway and hijacked his target. If he had only known earlier, he would not have waited to try and maximise his advantages. He should have just contacted Lin Zhong-qing directly the moment he had found out about Li Yingjie¡¯s trap ...


    "That punk Qi Long really moves too goddamn quickly. Actually beating us to the punch to get Lin Zhong-qing,"ined Ye Xu, displeased, as he stared at Qi Long dominating the match.


    "Qi Long? That punk is just a battle maniac, he wouldn¡¯t think that far. Without that person, Lin Zhong-qing would never have chosen to join them." Gaze serious, Wu Jiong directed Ye Xu¡¯s attention to Ling Lan who was standing in a corner.


    "Ling Lan ..." Ye Xu¡¯s expression changed subtly. He still remembered when he had first been defeated by Ling Lan in one move ¡ª that one incident had almost destroyed his confidence. Luckily, Wu Jiong had found him, and they had bonded whilemiserating together over their losses to Ling Lan. The two of them began working together, and finally managed to build a team of their own, bing one of the only three teams in their grade at present. This also allowed their reputation to stay on par with Ling Lan¡¯s team, taking on the role as a sort of counterbnce.


    As for Li Yingjie¡¯s team, in their eyes, it wasn¡¯t even a threat. It was really only Li Yingjie himself who blindly believed that his team was one of the strongest teams in the ss ...


    At the heart of it, Wu Jiong actually looked down a little on Li Yingjie. He was a direct descendant of a top elite family, but though hisbat ability was not bad, that brain of his ... was really below Wu Jiong¡¯s notice. He just kept doing a bunch of nonsensical things that did neither himself nor anyone else any good.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s group quietly disappeared from thebat hall. Meanwhile, on the stage, the results were quickly decided. Li Yingjie, who could fight against Qi Long for up to several 100 moves typically, did not disy any of the strength a top 5 of ss-A should have this time. It hadn¡¯t taken even 100 moves before he was struck by one of Qi Long¡¯s fists and flew off the stage, sealing his loss.


    After Li Yingjie lost, two options popped out on hismunicator ¡ª one was to adhere to the wager and serve the other, while the other was to redeem himself by using battle points to trade for his freedom.


    Based on Li Yingjie¡¯s personality, he would certainly choose to redeem himself, but before he could make his choice, he had fainted out of sheer anger.


    Because Li Yingjie had lost the ability to choose, after 3 minutes, the academy¡¯s mainframe automatically transferred that right to Qi Long, allowing him to make the choice on behalf of Li Yingjie.


    If Qi Long chose the first option, he would have to send out an invitation for his team, while the second option would require the loser to forfeit a set number of battle points to redeem himself.


    Of course Qi Long was unwilling to take on this trash Li Yingjie; he hurriedly chose for Li Yingjie to redeem himself. And then, all he saw was the immense figure supplied by the A.I. ¡ª the countless number of zeroes made Qi Long¡¯s eyes cross. It turned out that Li Yingjie was worried that Lin Zhong-qing would choose to redeem himself, and so had set it so that the price for self-redemption was one million battle points. This was an absolutely astronomical number. For context, despite Qi Long¡¯s battle achievements, in these two years at the academy, he had only managed to earn slightly more than a thousand battle points.


    In truth, Li Yingjie had already proposed this self-redemption price right from the beginning when he had challenged Lin Zhong-qing to a nemesis match. This way, no matter which option Lin Zhong-qing chose, he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape his palm. If Lin Zhong-qing chose the second option, he would use the debt of these battle points to force Lin Zhong-qing to give up his studies and work non-stop in the virtual world by taking on missions to repay his debt. (The scout academy¡¯s battle points can be traded using the credits earned within the virtual world.)


    However, this malicious intent of Li Yingjie¡¯s had now smashed his own toes, benefitting Qi Long. This was also another reason why Li Yingjie had fainted ¡ª he knew what the price of self-redemption was, and even he could not bear the cost.


    Very quickly, a message was sent to Qi Long¡¯smunicator, informing him that a batch of battle points under Li Yingjie¡¯s name had been transferred into his ount. The mainframe also told Qi Long that the remaining deficiency would be automatically transferred to his ount whenever Li Yingjie earned more battle points in the future. In other words, even without taking Li Yingjie in as ackey, Li Yingjie would have to work for Qi Long until the day he graduated from the Central Scout Academy.


    Just like that, Li Yingjie was forced to take a great loss. On the other hand, Lin Zhong-qing managed to get rid of a burden that had troubled him for close to 2 years. However, Qi Long very quickly received the remaining battle points from Li Yingjie, clearing the debt. Qi Long knew very well that this was most likely the doing of Li Yingjie¡¯s family. They must have applied pressure in the background to allow the direct transfer of credits into Li Yingjie¡¯s virtual ount so that he could trade them for battle points to clear his debt.


    Although the academy had announced to the public that it was impossible to obtain credits from the outside world, when real power and authority came into y, the academy would still give some face to the extremely resourcefulrge elite families. Qi Long was clear about the twists and turns involved in this, so he wasn¡¯t particrly surprised to receive the payment for Li Yingjie¡¯s debt so quickly. He merely told Ling Lan and Han Jijyun about the amount he of battle points he received. In the end, Ling Lan decided that she would leave 100,000 points for emergencies, while the rest would be left to Han Jijyun to handle. Hopefully, thisrge windfall would be able to give them a boost within the scout academy¡¯s virtual world. Of course, the greatest objective of Ling Lan¡¯s group was to free all the members of the team from the worry of purchasing developmental agents.


    Battle points were very useful ¡ª you could use them in the academy to buy the highest-grade cultivation agents, which were extremely hard to find in the outside world, as well as high-grade gene agents. However, the price was extremely steep ¡ª 100,000 battle points for just one tube. Even if the children of the academy worked their butts off doing missions and pushed their hardest during the arena battles, they would still need at least 5 years before they would umte 100,000 battle points.


    Qi Long¡¯s current amount of battle points could only purchase 10 tubes of high-grade gene agent, and this number was only enough to supply Qi Long for one year of absorption. Ling Lan felt that buying these agents now was rather not worth it ¡ª they might as well try to think of a way to gain some interest on these battle points and earn more. The more they earned, the more agents they would be able to get.


    Han Jijyun felt the same way and so epted the duty graciously. He was filled with vigour, thinking that this sort of purposeful life right now was what he really wanted. Everyone left to do their own things, leaving only Little Four to continue muttering by Ling Lan¡¯s ear. He was whining that he would have been a better candidate than Han Jijyun to handle those battle points.

 Chapter 122: The Cheetah Mecha Operator!

    Chapter 122: The Cheetah Mecha Operator!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In the end, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t take Little Four¡¯s incessant whining, so she had no choice but to let him take the remaining 100,000 battle points she had saved for emergencies to invest. Of course, Ling Lan warned him beforehand that if he lost the battle points, she would pull down his pants and give him a good spanking, lifting the ban on domestic violence this once.


    Little Four naturally sniffed at this, thinking that Ling Lan¡¯s threat would never have a chance to happen. In his words ¡ª have you ever seen a god lose money? What? You said yes? Then you must definitely be a retard!


    Ling Lan definitely did not want to be called a retard, so, after she gave the 100,000 battle points to Little Four, she gave the matter no more thought. Of course, Ling Lan was mentally prepared ¡ª if the battle points were really lost, then she would make Little Four take a little risk and transfer some credits in from the outside world to repay the debt. As a boss, she needed to be ountable to her followers, after all.


    After Ling Lan had settled all the real-world matters, she continued to focus on training up her mecha control. Time was slowly ticking by, getting closer to the final deadline, but Ling Lan just couldn¡¯t break past the critical 3-minute line. In other words, Ling Lan had pushed till she could use her highest hand speed without making any control errors, but unfortunately, her time had stopped around 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Even in her best condition, her best results were only infinitely nearing 3 minutes 20 seconds ¡ª the distance to 3 minutes was just too far away ...


    Once control hits a critical threshold, it was virtually impossible to improve the time needed by even just one second. Ling Lan could almost predict the failure of this mission already; the memories of numbing pain of her body being electrocuted reared up from the depths of her mind, and she couldn¡¯t help but tremble a little.


    Ling Lan became more and more anxious, which negatively impacted her training results in her following sessions. This feeling was just like when she had reached a bottleneck previously with her father¡¯s hand speed training. Ling Lan thought to herself ¡ª could this really already be her limit? Was she actually unsuited for piloting mecha?


    This mental state of Ling Lan was unsuitable for mecha control training; the picky learning space ruthlessly kicked Ling Lan out of the training area.


    Little Four, who had been busy earning battle points, sensed his boss¡¯s glum mood, and quickly put down what he was doing toe and ask her why. When he heard that she had encountered a bottleneck once again, he again suggested taking Ling Lan to the outside virtual world for a trip for a change of pace.


    Ling Lan felt that just staying in the mission space wouldn¡¯t solve her problem anyway, and her training results recently had just been getting worse and worse ¡ª she might as well go outside for a bit. Then, she recalled that it was only after she had first learned some mecha control in the outside virtual world that the learning space¡¯s mecha course had been unlocked. Perhaps the answer to her breakthrough would also be in outside virtual world.


    Just like that, Ling Lan and Little Four once again returned to the ce where they had logged off the first time, inside the mecha training hall.


    However, at this time today, there were quite a few newbies training at the mecha training hall. Inside the room Ling Lan had selected, there were also seven to eight bestial mecha practising their basic movements. There were powerful agile fierce bestial mecha, such as a panther, a tiger, and a lion, as well as tough offensive type mecha with sharp horns or protrusions, such as a porcupine, a stegosaurus, and a rhinoceros. Of course, there were also nimble scout type mecha, such as a wolf and a fox.


    They were all in the middle of practising the basic movements of their mecha. Some were doing like Ling Lan previously, stumbling around; this was obviously their first time here, making them the newbies of newbie operators. There were also some who had trained for some time, who disyed a certain level of control, marking them as older newbies.


    The moment Ling Lan entered the room, most of the bestial mecha inside stopped moving or slowed down. This was because Ling Lan¡¯s mecha was the extremely rare rabbit mecha, highly umon on the market. On top of that, the resting state action Ling Lan had set was just too adorable ¡ª the rabbit was nibbling at the red carrot 1 held between its forelegs, head twitching slightly. Its cute appearance coupled with its cute actions naturally drew the crowd¡¯s attention.


    Ling Lan had set the resting action of the mecha this way on a whim. Originally, she had thought that this action would never be seen by anyone else, and so had purposely set it to be cuter for her own entertainment. But she hadn¡¯t known that her first visit to the mecha training hall had been a special circumstance. Back then, most people had been drawn away to watch the mecha fight in the battle stadium, so there hadn¡¯t been many people staying behind to practise in the hall. Thus, she had ended up being the only person in the room.


    Although Ling Lan was rather surprised that there were so many mecha training together here, she didn¡¯t really think too much about it. Though the resting action of the rabbit mecha was rather adorably silly, no one would be able to tell who was operating it anyway. Ling Lan did not think that she would be so unlucky to get a rabbit mecha again when she used her real identity to log on in the future ...


    In the training hall, there was one cheetah mecha whichpletely ignored Ling Lan¡¯s arrival. His actions remained the same as he continued to go about his training systematically and meticulously. Ling Lan¡¯s attention was quickly drawn to the other, because he was controlling that mecha perfectly. Whether it was running, jumping, leaping, or pouncing, every movement was clean and precise. When executed in sequence, the actions were agile and flowed smoothly, bringing an aesthetic beauty where power merged wlessly with speed. This even gave Ling Lan the illusion that the mecha before her was no longer a mecha, but actually a real live giant cheetah.


    Ling Lan¡¯s attention also drew Little Four¡¯s attention. He surreptitiously looked in on the operator of the cheetah mecha, and upon seeing that familiar figure, he couldn¡¯t help but exim in surprise, shaking Ling Lan from her mesmerised stupor. "What happened? Little Four?"


    Little Four said excitedly, "Haha, Boss, we¡¯ve bumped into an acquaintance. Guess who the operator inside the cheetah mecha is?"


    "How would I know? This is only my second time in this virtual world, so I don¡¯t really know that many people ... could it be someone from real life?" mused Ling Lan, rubbing her chin.


    "No, we met this person on ourst trip, Boss. You even talked to the other. Here¡¯s a hint: the other is very dangerous ..." said Little Four with a cheeky grin, shaking his right index finger.


    Ling Lan figured it out abruptly. "That hacker with spectre abilities?" He had been the only one who fit the definition of dangerous.


    "Haha, Boss, you got it! It¡¯s him. Who knew his mecha control is also so good ... but why is he still practising basic mecha control here? Could it be that his age isn¡¯t as old as we thought?" said Little Four, wondering. Back then, although the man had concealed his appearance, he had given off an impression of being a mature adult. Could it be that they had been fooled?


    "What, is there an age limit for someone to learn basic mecha control?" asked Ling Lan curiously.


    "Well, no, there isn¡¯t. It¡¯s just that most learners are around age 13 to 16; even the oldest wouldn¡¯t be as old as 18. That¡¯s why I find it a little odd. The feeling that man gave us is that he should already be over 20, right?" replied Little Four. "But then he¡¯s a hacker-evolved spectre, so it could be that he had manipted his aura."


    "If only Boss had let me investigate his real appearance, then we wouldn¡¯t have been fooled." Little Four still seemed to still hold some resentment over the matter.


    "Leave it, let¡¯s avoid trouble if we can. He has nothing to do with us, why should we know so much about him?" Ling Lan then reassured Little Four, "Still, this person¡¯s mecha control skills are really impressive. Looks like I should go reference the control methods of some mecha experts. Perhaps then I¡¯ll be able to find some inspiration to break through."


    Ling Lan felt that she had been building a car in a sealed room 2 for too long. Training on her own day after day, she had taken many of the control moves for granted, bing set in her ways. Especially after seeing the way the cheetah mecha operator controlled his mecha, Ling Lan deeply realised that she still had some unnecessary frills for some of her moves ¡ª she had oveplicated things a little.


    "Oh, it looks like he¡¯s going to take the basic movement assessment mission now. Let¡¯s go see." Little Four didn¡¯t wait for Ling Lan¡¯s response, dragging Ling Lan and her mecha along to follow the other into the assessment mission¡¯s space.


    "Is it alright for us to just enter like this?" asked Ling Lan somewhat worriedly as she nced at the cheetah mecha who was preparing to take the assessment. After all, the other was an evolved spectre who could kill brainwaves. If the other had already set it so that viewing was restricted, wouldn¡¯t their barging in here be taken as an outright challenge? If things took a turn for the worst, heads would roll.


    "No worries, this type of assessment mission is open for public viewing. Anyone can choose to watch. Many people like to watch others take the assessment before taking the assessment themselves so that they can absorb some experience," said Little Four breezily.


    Little Four¡¯s answer let Ling Lan rxpletely. She then took a look around, and noticed that she was the only one here observing. This made her suspect whether Little Four had just been shooting off his mouth again ...


    However, seeing the other ignore her presence, Ling Lan decided that it wouldn¡¯t hurt. Even if Little Four had been lying to her, she had no way to go out anymore anyway because the assessment mission had already started.


    Inside the assessment mission, the entire space was filled with all kinds of messy and disorganised obstacles. The cheetah mecha was weaving among the obstacles, no trace of hesitation or awkwardness in its movements. All of its actions flowed naturally, no observable kinks at all.


    Just as Ling Lan was thinking that the other would easily pass the mission this time, the initially stationary obstacles began to move irregrly. This sudden change shocked Ling Lan, and also flustered the cheetah mecha operator.


    A rock column suddenly burst out of the ground ¡ª the cheetah mecha had just leapt into the air, and it looked like he was about to collide with the column. Right then, the cheetah mecha twisted so that its four limbs could spring off the rock column, and with this force, the mecha¡¯s body was sent leaping in another direction, nicely evading a collision with the column.


    Ling Lan¡¯s high-strung nerves eased slightly, but the following situation made her heart rise into her throat again. It turned out that the cheetah mecha had not escaped from danger yet ¡ª though it had changed directions, a giant rock was hurtling towards him from the other direction.


    The operator of the cheetah mecha was very calm. He controlled the mecha to shift movements in mid-air; the mecha¡¯s four limbs shuddered twice in the air and then stepped firmly on the giant rock. Borrowing this force, it bounced back, once again dodging a potentially dangerous collision.

 Chapter 123: Breaking Through a Bottleneck!

    Chapter 123: Breaking Through a Bottleneck!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The cheetah mecha changed direction repeatedly in mid-air, springing from one obstacle to another; it actually managed to stay in the air without having to set foot on the ground even once. Using multiple rebounds, he weaved his way nimbly through the air, jumping over wave after unending wave of obstacles. Without any real danger, hested till the final point, passing this assessment mission perfectly.


    "Congrattions, XXX, for graduating the basic mecha controls course with a result of 1 minute 57 seconds. This record has been entered into the top 1000 of the elite leaderboard." A line of red text appeared suddenly on the screen of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha. This proved that the other¡¯s speed was indeed exceptional.


    "Wow, Amazing. This result of his actually ced him within the top 1000 of the elite leaderboard, and this is his first attempt too!" Little Four¡¯s words stunned Ling Lan once more. Mind you, the other¡¯s control ability is something not even she ¡ª with the learning space she possessed, and the tenfold extra practice time she had because of it ¡ª could do. And the other had just aplished it so easily ...


    "Could it be that he has suppressed his previous passing results?" Ling Lan felt her own confidence take a big hit, and recalling that the other was an evolved spectre, capable of manipting data in the virtual world, she wondered if the other had applied some subterfuge here.


    "I checked. He really didn¡¯t." Little Four¡¯s words informed Ling Lan that the other¡¯s result was a true one. This fired up Ling Lan¡¯s motivation ¡ª this time, she really felt the difference between herself and a true aberrant-level prodigy of this world. Having no true rivals that could match up to her in the Central Scout Academy had made her cken, but this event made her draw taut the reins of hard work once more, setting her firmly on the road of the strong.


    "He¡¯s really amazing. Who knows how well I can do?" Competitive spirit red in Ling Lan¡¯s heart. She had always been the boss at the academy, so suddenly having someone be better than her had made her eager to test herself.


    "Why don¡¯t you try for yourself, Boss?" Little Four was obviously a troublemaker; sensing her restlessness, he immediately started goading Ling Lan.


    It was true that Ling Lan wanted to know what level her basic control skills were at, so she went along with Little Four¡¯s suggestion and chose to take the basic controls assessment mission.


    Ling Lan felt herself being transported into a spacious area. This area was different from the assessment area of the cheetah mecha previously.


    "Every assessment map is chosen randomly. Word has it that there are over 100,000 maps, so it is virtually impossible to prepare for the assessment by researching the maps beforehand. This also guarantees that the result of every assessment is valid and reliable," said Little Four, exining why the map was different.


    "Since the maps are different, then why do they still rank people based on time? Among these hundred thousand maps, there must be some levels which are harder or easier than others," said Ling Lan doubtfully.


    "The difficulty level of all the maps is equal. The controls being assessed on each map are about the same so that the operator¡¯s true abilities are reflected in the results. For instance, the operator of that cheetah mecha earlier finished his map in 1 minute 57 seconds; then, he would also finish this map in almost the same amount of time. The deviation won¡¯t exceed one second, give or take."


    Ling Lan nodded to show she understood. She saw a timer appear on the screen of the mecha counting down to the start of the test. This method of informing was much more humane than that of the learning space ¡ª after all, the system here gave you some prep time, unlike the learning space, which would start whenever it felt like it. Every start would just sneak up without warning, leaving Ling Lan feeling helpless.


    Seeing tworge letters ¡¯GO¡¯ appear, Ling Lan controlled her rabbit mecha to bound off at flying speed. The fully engaged Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that, at this time, a familiar mecha had slipped into her assessment mission space. It was that cheetah mecha, the evolved spectre who Ling Lan had always considered extremely dangerous.


    It turned out that the cheetah mecha had been fully aware of Ling Lan¡¯s presence during his assessment. However, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha had really just seemed so harmless, and its behaviour of nibbling on a carrot had been so amusing, that the cheetah mecha¡¯s operator couldn¡¯t help but chuckle, curiosity towards the operator of such a cute mecha stealing into his mind.


    He saw that the rabbit mecha was simply observing quietly, and so left it alone. When his assessment ended, seeing the notification messages from the system, he was also very moved and satisfied. By the time his emotions settled and he was about to select the option to graduate and leave the mecha training hall, he unintentionally noticed that Ling Lan¡¯s rabbit mecha had chosen to take the assessment mission as well. Curious, he didn¡¯t choose to graduate, but instead chose the option to return for more training, and so was sent back to the mecha training hall. Then, he had entered this space to watch Ling Lan¡¯s assessment.


    Of course, this choice meant that he would have to retake the basic assessment again once moreter on, but he didn¡¯t care. After all, for him, passing the assessment was really a simple matter.


    Little Four had noticed the other from the very moment he entered to observe, but Little Four chose not to inform Ling Lan. This was because Little Four didn¡¯t think the other could influence them in any way. Even if the other was an evolved spectre, Little Four believed all along that the virtual world was his territory ¡ª no one would be able to harm Ling Lan under his watch.


    In order to let the rabbit mecha manoeuvre freely without any burden, Ling Lan shifted the carrot, which had initially been on the rabbit¡¯s back, to its mouth and mped down to hold it between its teeth. After that, a giant rabbit could be seen hopping around nimbly within that vast space, dodging one obstacle after another.


    There was sufficient room for Ling Lan¡¯s mecha to prance around freely ¡ª this allowed Ling Lan to pay less attention to those obstacles. At this moment, Ling Lan was unleashing the fastest speed she could handle for the rabbit mecha to run; in other words, her hand speed had already reached its highest point at present.


    "What great speed. Their hand speed is most likely already at a high level. Who knew Azure had such an amazing youth ... is it an academy student? If it is an academy student, then who could it be? Is it a supreme prodigy who managed to beat the trial to remove their virtual ess lock at only age 13?" The cheetah mecha operator wondered to himself in awe as he watched the rabbit mecha¡¯s speed. In his mind, he was going through the people he knew to try and figure out who the rabbit mecha operator could be among those on Azure.


    Frankly, the cheetah mecha couldn¡¯t be med for not considering the others. This was because the newbies in the mecha training hall were either the freshest of newbies, those who had just gained ess to the extended virtual world, or students from the scout academies who had seeded in their challenge. Either way, they were the type with no money who wouldn¡¯t be able to afford the exorbitant fees for a transfer. Therefore, if they wanted to learn about mecha, they would definitely go to the local mecha training hall for training, and not choose to transfer to another.


    Just like that, due to a misunderstanding, the cheetah mecha operator was never able to find the operator of the rabbit mecha. Only when he went to military schoolter on did he manage to find some hints.


    ********


    Some of Ling Lan¡¯s high-speed turns left the cheetah mecha operator in awe, but also with some regret. "Hmm, it looks like there are some minor ws in uracy, but at this speed, this performance is already impable." The cheetah mecha operator¡¯s operator knew very well that, the faster the speed, the more difficult it was to control the mecha. Certain turning motions, which could be executed within perfect range at low speed, would be extremely difficult at high speeds. Typically, as long as a set movement can bepleted at high speed, then it would already be considered an excellent performance.


    Ling Lan¡¯s performance in the first half was basically perfect, but thetter half of the assessment wasn¡¯t that easy. Just when Ling Lan was enjoying her run, the difficult section arrived ¡ª it turned out that she had reached the part with the irregrly moving obstacles. Even though Ling Lan already knew these obstacles existed, they came on so suddenly that she was still thrown for a bit of a loop.


    This was because these moving obstacles arrived so abruptly, and they moved without any sense of predictability.


    Ling Lan was in the midst of sprinting when she saw arge rock hurtling towards her from her left side with the corner of her eye. At that speed, Ling Lan knew well that it would soon smash into her mecha¡¯s waist.


    In a split second, Ling Lan decided ¡ª she rejected the option of an emergency stop, because she knew that once her mecha stopped, she wouldn¡¯t be able to increase its speed to this level again. This was because there was no longer any space here for her to slowly increase her mecha¡¯s speed. Her only option now was to break through with pure speed.


    Ling Lan¡¯s decision was the same as the cheetah mecha¡¯s ¡ª progress by leaping from obstacle to obstacle. The thrusters on both sides of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha¡¯s waist activated at the same time. Borrowing the force of the thrusters, the mecha¡¯s speed was again raised by a whole level.


    But therge rock was justing at her too quickly ¡ª even though Ling Lan had increased the speed of her mecha by a hair with the help of her thrusters, she still only managed to push half of the mecha¡¯s body out of the path of the iing rock. The rabbit mecha¡¯s hind legs were still within range of the rock¡¯s trajectory.


    "Is he going to fail here?" The cheetah mecha operator frowned, because at this moment, there was already no possible way for the rabbit mecha operator to dodge anymore. However, right then, the rabbit mecha¡¯s next move sent a sparkle through his eyes, and he couldn¡¯t help but yell out in admiration.


    The rabbit mecha had done somethingpletely unexpected. With a sudden shake of its hind legs, the rabbit mecha had bent its hind legs back till a right angle 1 was formed between its waist and its hind legs. Because of this bizarre move, therge rock had just barely grazed by the rabbit mecha¡¯s hind legs. On top of that, the mecha¡¯s raised hind legs pushed off abruptly against therge rock passing by, making an extremely terrifying loud noise. And this push sent the rabbit mecha zooming forwards at three times its original high speed.


    If the instructors of the learning space had seen this move, they would have all eximed that this was the secretbat skill Rabbit Sky Leap.


    This move had been inspired by the abilities of a rabbit, but was actually unsuitable to be used in conjunction with the rabbit mecha. However, in thisst scene, Ling Lan had been forced into a corner, and had involuntarily used this move. Of course, being able to execute the move so nimbly with the rabbit mecha was all thanks to the hard work Ling Lan had put into her basic mecha control training in the learning space. She had already absorbed those basic mecha controls into her very instincts. Thus, in that critical moment, she had been able to take out this move, helping her to escape this desperate situation.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s crisis wasn¡¯t over yet. The added power of the Rabbit Sky Leap made the mecha¡¯s speed go beyond the limits of what Ling Lan could safely control. Meanwhile, the obstacles also became faster to match the increased speed of the mecha, bing even more erratic and strange in their movements, leaving Ling Lan scrambling to stay in control.


    Seated within the rabbit mecha, Ling Lan was already drenched in sweat. She peered intently at all the images being disyed inside the mecha, dodging every obstacle that came from heaven knows where. Unknowingly, her hand speed had actually broken past her bottleneck, bing faster and faster, at times even producing several afterimages, something which had never happened before.

 Chapter 124: Dont Choose to Graduate?

    Chapter 124: Don¡¯t Choose to Graduate?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Warning, because the mecha used an irregr movement, some damage has urred, some damage has urred." Right then, the rabbit mecha¡¯s A.I. sounded out a warning.


    Ling Lan was currently fully immersed in her mecha control; she ordered calmly, "Check damage level of mecha."


    "Mecha damage at 30%. Warning, still sustaining damage. Please decrease speed by 50% immediately ... damage at 31% ... please decrease speed by 50%!" The A.I. repeated its warnings mechanically.


    "How much longer can it hold on?" Ling Lan didn¡¯t choose to decrease her speed. For one, the speed of the moving obstacles around her no longer allowed her to decrease her mecha¡¯s speed. And secondly, her current speed was from the rebound energy of the Rabbit Sky Leap ¡ª the mecha itself had no way to control this speed anyway. Reality made it so that Ling Lan had no choice but to continue moving at high speed.


    "Estimated that after 2 minutes, the mecha shall enter breakdown condition. Warning, damage level at 31%, please reduce speed by 50% immediately."


    "That¡¯s enough time." To prevent the warning sounds of the A.I. from affecting her control, Ling Lan simply turned off the A.I.¡¯s vocalization. Her expression calm, she once again controlled her mecha to evade the continuous ambush of the obstacles.


    It had to be said that Ling Lan¡¯s adaptive ability was at an abnormal level ¡ª this had always been one of Ling Lan¡¯s strongest innate talents, andbined with the study and training provided by the learning space, this talent improved even more, its effects bing even more obvious. After dodging somewhat clumsily for the first few abrupt attacks, Ling Lan got used to the mecha¡¯s present speed.


    Very quickly, yet another horizontal wooden beam suddenly swept out from left to right, Ling Lan controlled the mecha to push off another obstacle once more to fly into the air, dodging it cleanly. This time, the movement seemed to flow easily, with no sign of the previous fumbling. Not only that, Ling Lan controlled the mecha with pinpoint uracy to twist so it could step on the flying wooden beam, and pushing off it, she made the mecha fly forwards once more like a cannonball.


    "That adaptive ability is really abnormal. Only after adjusting 3 or 4 times, he has already grasped hold of the mecha¡¯s new speed and the ability to leverage force." The cheetah mecha operator was simrly amazed by Ling Lan¡¯s insane level of ability.


    Sure enough, Ling Lan¡¯s subsequent performance was just as the cheetah mecha operator expected ¡ª the airborne rabbit mecha¡¯s leaps were never again as flustered as it had been at the start, moving with ease and grace to spare. In the end, Ling Lan safelypleted the assessment mission.


    "Congrattions, 40, for graduating the basic mecha controls course with a result of 1 minute 58 seconds. This record has been entered into the top 1000 of the elite leaderboard." A line of shing green text suddenly appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s mecha¡¯s screen. Right below it, an option appeared soon after ¡ª Name: Reveal/Hide.


    Ling Lan immediately chose the option to hide, and then a line of red text appeared on the highest section of the mecha¡¯s screen. It was just like the text which had appeared when the cheetah mecha hadpleted his test: "Congrattions, XXX, for graduating the basic mecha controls course with a result of 1 minute 58 seconds. This record has been entered into the top 1000 of the elite leaderboard."


    "Slower than me by one second, and also on his first assessment as well! As expected, gifted mecha operators exist everywhere. Even here on this small of Azure, there is someone whose talent is equal to mine." A sense of threat welled up in the cheetah mecha operator¡¯s heart ¡ª he would never forget the words his grandfather had once said to him ... if you want to change your destiny, you will need to rely on yourself!


    The cheetah mecha operator was just about to take the assessment again to graduate and officially leave the status of newbie behind, when he noticed that the rabbit mecha¡¯s operator actually chose to return to training like he had previously.


    The cheetah mecha operator was extremely curious. He had chosen to return out of curiosity about the rabbit mecha¡¯s assessment results, but why would the rabbit mecha choose to return as well? The cheetah mecha operator knew very well that it couldn¡¯t be because of him, for he hadn¡¯t even chosen the option to retake the assessment yet.


    Perhaps Ling Lan¡¯s superhuman control and adaptive ability had piqued the cheetah mecha operator¡¯s curiosity, for he did not choose to continue and take the assessment. Instead, he backed out from the assessment space, prepared to go look for that rabbit mecha, and ask him why exactly he had chosen to return.


    After all, the rabbit mecha¡¯s result was extremely outstanding ¡ª a normal person would have been thrilled and chosen to graduate in a hurry so that they could go off and make a living in the real world of mecha.


    ********


    Ling Lan, who had returned to the great hall of the mecha training hall, was reflecting deeply on how it had felt to control the mecha earlier during the assessment. Then, she sighed, saying, "Who knew that controlling mecha is not all about pushing the limits of speed ... sometimes, alternating the speed between fast and slow to control the rhythm is better."


    "Congrattions, Boss, on breaking past your bottleneck!" At this moment, Little Four finally piped up to congratte Ling Lan. Earlier, Little Four had been smothering his mouth with both of his hands, afraid that in his excitement, he would identally make some noise to disrupt Ling Lan¡¯s breakthrough and realisation. If that had happened, he would have truly be a fiendish felon guilty of a thousand years of sin.


    "This time is all thanks to you, Little Four. Thank you!" Ling Lan knew that this sessful breakthrough had all been because Little Four had brought her to the outside virtual world and let her encounter mecha. And then, she had seen the images of the cheetah mecha during his assessment at the mecha training hall. This series of events had all led to her epiphany and subsequent breakthrough.


    Ling Lan was just about to say something more when she saw countless red warning signs appear on her mecha¡¯s screen. Abruptly, she recalled that she had shut off the A.I.¡¯s vocal functions during the assessment mission. She hurriedly turned it back on, and then the A.I. could be heard ring out warnings in a frenzy: "Warning, mecha damage level at 67%. Please choose to repair immediately, please choose to repair immediately."


    Ling Lan stuck out her tongue. Who could have guessed that the Rabbit Sky Leap skill would cause that much damage to the mecha? No wonder the learning space had emphasized again and again that the physical body must be extremely flexible to use this skill, otherwise the user could incur sometent injuries.


    "Repair!" Right now, Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to choose a new mecha just yet ¡ª after all, she still hadn¡¯t passed the learning space¡¯s standards for the basic controls of this rabbit mecha.


    Registering Ling Lan¡¯s order, the A.I. immediately disyed the contact numbers of the major mecha repair shops in the capital. All Ling Lan needed to do was call. As Ling Lan still hadn¡¯t graduated yet, she wasn¡¯t allowed to take the mecha out of the mecha training hall. So, she could only call for someone from one of the repair stores toe here and service her mecha. Ling Lan swiftly chose a repair shop closest to the mecha training hall, called its number, and secured an agreement for them to send someone to the mecha training hall to check her mecha in 5 minutes.


    As Ling Lan was waiting, a cheetah mecha appeared again in the great hall of the mecha training hall. It looked left and right, and when it saw Ling Lan¡¯s rabbit mecha in the hall, it suddenly ran over. When it was about 10 metres away from Ling Lan, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha received the other¡¯s contact request.


    Ling Lan was extremely surprised ¡ª why would this evolved spectree looking for her? Out of responsibility for her own safety, Ling Lan seriously tried to recall if she had done anything that might have offended the other. Coming up with nothing, she approved the contact request and epted themunications channel he established. Then, she asked hesitantly, "What¡¯s up?"


    Against the mysterious ability of a spectre, Ling Lan was still very wary. She would try her best to avoid offending the other as much as possible.


    "Excuse me, I just wanted to ask. Why didn¡¯t you choose to graduate earlier,ing back here instead?" The voice of the cheetah mecha operator was still the same voice; it was just as Little Four had said ¡ª the operator of the cheetah mecha was that evolved spectre.


    "My mecha¡¯s broken." Ling Lan¡¯s reply obviously surprised the other. It was true that mecha would often get damaged with newbies piloting them, because some people with terrible control skills would ram the mecha into obstacles until they were almost unrecognizable during basic training. Just like when Ling Lan mmed into walls repeatedly at the beginning of her training. However, Ling Lan was obviously an expert at control, so she wouldn¡¯t make this kind of low-level mistake ¡ª so how did the other¡¯s mecha get broken?


    The doubts of the cheetah mecha operator merely shed through his mind, unsaid, but Ling Lan¡¯s reply still did not exin his decision to return. "Even if you choose to graduate, you can still get the repair shop toe and repair your mecha, just at a different location."


    "Oh, this is just one of the reasons. The main reason why I chose to return is because there are still many things wrong with my basic control. I still need a lot of practice to make sure there is no chance for error." The cheetah mecha operator also had a hand in Ling Lan¡¯s breakthrough ¡ª the other just didn¡¯t know it ¡ª so, the grateful Ling Lan decided to reveal a bit of her secrets of evolution to him. As for whether the other believed her, that was not something she was responsible for. She was just going to act in a way that would give her peace of mind.


    Of course, Ling Lan also thought of building a good connection with the other. If the other really took her words to heart, and trained up his basic mecha control, it was very likely that he would be able to achieve the rank of special-ss mecha operator at the least. In Ling Lan¡¯s opinion, the other¡¯s innate talent with mecha was even better than her own.


    "Didn¡¯t your result already make it into the top 1000 of the elite leaderboard?" The cheetah mecha operator did not understand. "Doesn¡¯t this result prove that your basic training is already very outstanding?"


    "Outstanding doesn¡¯t equal perfect. Besides, aren¡¯t there about 1000 other people in front of me? I don¡¯t want to lose to them," said Ling Lan calmly. These were words spoken from her heart ¡ª although she wasn¡¯t sure what realm her father had achieved with his ultimate immersion into perfecting his basic control, she couldn¡¯t lose to any other random people out there, right?


    The cheetah mecha operator seemed to have been shaken by Ling Lan¡¯s words; only after a long while did he reply, "So that¡¯s why. But we can still practise our basic control outside; we don¡¯t necessarily have to stay here in the training hall."


    "There are too many distractions outside. People are very easily attracted by fresh new things. At that time, I¡¯ll definitely get distracted and won¡¯t be able to focus fully on training my basic control. So I might as well get rid of all these potential problems from the start. Here, there¡¯s nothing, so all I can do is train my basic control. I¡¯m not a very strong-willed person, so I can only use this method to fix that. But Big Brother, you are different from me. Perhaps you can stand the loneliness and resist the temptations ..." Ling Lan started teasing the other, making the other unsure whether tough or cry.


    At this moment, 4 to 5 people apanying a repair mecha walked into the training hall. Ling Lan knew that this was most likely the repairmen she had made an appointment with, so she bade farewell to the cheetah mecha operator, and walked over to greet the group.


    ********


    The cheetah mecha operator sat within his cockpit, thinking. In the end, he found that what Ling Lan said was true ¡ª he also could not confirm that if given the choice to learn a new move, he would be able to resist the temptation, and choose to practise that instead of continuing to focus on his basic control.


    "Ambitious. Actually nning to defeat all those other prodigies before him. How interesting ..." The cheetah mecha operator rubbed the control stick in his hands, a slight smile on his lips. Talking to himself, he said, "Since I n to spark a revolution, then I will need to achieve the pinnacle of strength in this world. Then, starting now, I can¡¯t lose to anyone. How can I be satisfied with just being within the top 1000 ..."

 Chapter 125: The Emergence of Gods?

    Chapter 125: The Emergence of Gods?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In one of the basic training rooms in the mecha training hall of Azure, three mecha were practising to dodge obstacles in the air and on the ground.


    A humanoid mecha and an avian mecha very quickly finished their own basic training, leaving only a rhinoceros bestial mecha dodging awkwardly ¡ª he was only about halfway through his course.


    The other two mecha who had already finished began to talk quietly between themselves. In an annoyed tone, the avian mecha said, "Lu Xiaolong is really too stupid. Even letting him choose to control the easiest bestial mecha, he still needs over 15 minutes toplete the basic training course. The assessment contents will be several times harder than this, and a passing grade needs to be within 5 minutes ... heaven knows when he¡¯ll be able to get there and graduate."


    "Originally, I had thought he was simple-minded and easy to order around, but now it looks like I made a mistake. Simpletons just can¡¯t handle mecha control," said the humanoid mecha sulkily, as if deeply regretting his oversight.


    "Do we have to stay here together with this idiot? The other students who graduated from the scout academy with us have all already entered the real mecha world. I even heard that quite a few of them have already upgraded their mecha." The avian mecha was rather anxious, feeling that he was being held back by that idiot on their team.


    "At the beginning when we wanted to form our 3-man team, our n was for Lu Xiaolong to be the shield right at the front. You would be in charge of aerial attacks, and I would cover long-range attacks. If we give up on him, we¡¯ll need to find a new team member in the mecha world ..." The humanoid mecha was considering what would be the most beneficial course of action for them.


    "By the time we wait for that idiot to graduate, we would long have integrated with our new team member. Right now, I¡¯m very worried about whether he can even coordinate with us. You should know that the middle tote stages require team work toplete missions. At that time, a team cannot have any notable weaknesses ..." The avian mecha had already lost patience; he didn¡¯t think much of Lu Xiaolong¡¯s chances at all, thinking that he might hold them back then.


    "Fine, we won¡¯t wait for him anymore. Let¡¯s go take the assessment first, but how should we tell him?" The humanoid mecha had always maintained his outward image of a nice guy.


    "Watch me do it. When the idiotes out from practice, I¡¯ll tell him." The avian mecha knew the troubles of the humanoid mecha, so he chose to volunteer.


    After waiting a good long while, the bestial mecha finally finished his one round of basic training. Face beaded with sweat, he ran over to the two mecha waiting for him, and said in embarrassment, "Sorry, Ah Ka, Dali, I made you wait."


    The avian mecha sighed softly and said, "Xiaolong, looks like we need to go our separate ways."


    The bestial mecha was taken aback, unable to figure out what the avian mecha was saying at that moment.


    "I discussed things with Ah Ka, and think that we should go and take the basic assessment first. We¡¯ll then go out to the mecha world to gather some resources, and thenplete a team building mission to fully establish a team." The avian mechaid out their ns.


    The bestial mecha still didn¡¯t understand. "Isn¡¯t the minimum requirement for the team building mission three people?"


    "We¡¯ve checked out the discussion forums at the mecha world, there are professional gamers who specialize in taking on these kinds of missions. They help teams that don¡¯t have enough members toplete the mission, and when a proper memberes along, they¡¯ll quit the team to let the other in." The avian mecha was cursing internally ¡ª why did other have to choose to be so smart now? Actually knowing about the member requirement for the team building mission.


    "So that¡¯s how it is. That¡¯s great! I¡¯ve been worried that I might be holding you both back. This past period of time, I¡¯ve actually been thinking of telling you both to just go look for a new member and stop waiting for me." The bestial mecha let out a sigh of relief. He was really very reluctant to part ways with these two good friends who were willing to amodate his denseness.


    "Hehe, so you had already known that you were holding us back, eh ..." The avian mecha chuckled awkwardly. Internally, he was filled with regret. He regretted that he hadn¡¯t known the other had had these kinds of thoughts; otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have had to find this sort of excuse. He was also annoyed at the other ¡ª if he had those kinds of thoughts, then why hadn¡¯t he said anything earlier?! If he really considered them as friends, then he definitely wouldn¡¯t have wanted to hold them back. This Lu Xiaolong was clearly trying to cling to them and rely on them.


    "Xiaolong, don¡¯t take this to heart too much. We¡¯re good friends, you know. You need to work hard here; don¡¯t let us leave you too far behind," said the humanoid mecha in a hurry, sensing the avian mecha¡¯s building rage. If the fact that they had abandoned a teammate were to be public knowledge, their team would definitely be unable to get a new member. Whether it was in the real world or on the virtualwork, abandoning and betraying one¡¯s teammate was extremely looked down upon. He was unwilling to have such a sin staining his name.


    Clearly ashamed, the bestial mecha said, "Yeah, I¡¯ll work hard. I must pass this assessment as soon as possible to catch up to you two."


    The avian mecha operator¡¯s lips curled, thinking nothing of the other¡¯s promises. However, under the humanoid mecha¡¯s warning re, he could only throw out someforting words, "You really don¡¯t have to rush. Wait for us to get even more resources in the mecha world, then when you join us, you will be able to get a newer and better mecha immediately."


    The bestial mecha said gratefully, "Thank you, Ah Ka and Dali."


    The humanoid mecha and the avian mecha immediately made preparations to take the assessment. The bestial mecha wanted to watch their assessments, hoping to gain some experience, but the humanoid mecha advised him otherwise, saying, "You should observe the assessment of someone who¡¯s also using a bestial mecha. That would be much more useful for you."


    The bestial mecha felt that what the humanoid mecha said was right. So, he looked up the assessment venues of bestial mecha, and found that there were a few bestial mecha taking the assessment right now. He selected the one with the most recent start time, and clicked the option to enter and observe.


    Seeing the bestial mecha disappear from the training room, the humanoid mecha and the avian mecha each chose to begin their respective assessments, and were transported to their individual assessment mission spaces.


    ********


    Lu Xiaolong had just entered the assessment space, when he saw a rabbit mecha dancing and leaping gracefully among the irregrly moving obstacles. Lu Xiaolong first reaction was to wonder if he was seeing things ¡ª he rubbed his eyes and found that the scene before him was real. Gradually, without knowing it, he was absorbed into the other¡¯s movements. The mecha before his eyes was no longer a mecha, but a real live rabbit, prancing freely in a forest.


    Suddenly, the scene stopped moving. Lu Xiaolong roused from his trance, and found that the rabbit mecha had already passed and ended its assessment. Abruptly thinking of something, he looked up at the top part of his screen. A line of red text was shing brightly, "Congrattions, XXX, for graduating the basic mecha controls course with a result of 1 minute 18 seconds. This record has been entered into the top 100 of the elite leaderboard."


    "Top 100 of the elite leaderboard!" Lu Xiaolong felt as if his eyes were about to pop out of his head. Such great fortune had fallen upon him ¡ª he had never expected that a random choice had given him the chance to observe the assessment of someone at the level of a god. If he could only draw some inspiration from this experience, it would benefit him for life.


    However, Lu Xiaolong very quickly deted, because he found that in his mind, other than the other¡¯s magnificent and graceful moves, there was nothing else. This had truly been an epic fail of an observation ¡ª he couldn¡¯t believe he had missed such a great opportunity.


    Head bowed in depression, Lu Xiaolong opened up the selection pane for bestial mecha assessments once more. Besides the rabbit mecha which had just finished, the other mecha¡¯s assessments were still in progress. Lu Xiaolong stared at the few names on his list, and just couldn¡¯t work up the enthusiasm to go watch any of them.


    Right at that moment, a new mecha suddenly popped out among the selections. Reflexively, Lu Xiaolong clicked on it.


    This time, it was a cheetah mecha. Lu Xiaolong had just raised his head, when he saw the cheetah mecha flying out to be a shooting ray of light, even leaving a phantom trail behind it.


    "An expert!" Although Lu Xiaolong knew his own control was nothing to talk about, his skills of appreciation were pretty amazing. He immediately sensed that he had gotten lucky once again.


    Sure enough, it wasn¡¯t long before the other arrived at the section with the moving obstacles. The feeling that he got from the rabbit mecha in the previous assessment engulfed him once more. Once again, he had the illusion that the cheetah mecha before his eyes was a live cheetah on the hunt. It nimbly dodged all obstacles in its way, heading unerringly towards its target.


    Lu Xiaolong didn¡¯t even look at the time; once again, he was utterly absorbed in the cheetah mecha¡¯s agile movements, all the way till the end.


    "Congrattions, XXX, for graduating the basic mecha controls course with a result of 1 minute 19 seconds. This record has been entered into the top 100 of the elite leaderboard." Unsurprisingly, when Lu Xiaolong turned back to his screen, a result infinitely close to the rabbit mecha¡¯s appeared before his eyes. It was also a top 100 score.


    "Later, I must definitely participate in the mecha lucky draw!" Lu Xiaolong felt that his RP must definitely be off the charts for him to bump into two gods of mecha back to back. This luck could very well nab him a rumoured mecha equipment in the draw!


    If only he could get to know those two gods ... but unfortunately, those gods must have already chosen to graduate and leave. Feeling regretful, Lu Xiaolong didn¡¯t have any mood to observe any further, so he chose to leave the assessment area to return once more to his training room. But when he got there, the two gods that he had assumed had graduated and left were actually standing right there before him ...


    "Ah ... why are you two still here?!" Lu Xiaolong¡¯s voice sted out into the room. It turned out that Lu Xiaolong had forgotten to close the public speaker he had turned on when he had spoken with his friends.


    The rabbit mecha and the cheetah mecha had initially been practising on their own, but hearing his voice, they both looked back simultaneously.


    Lu Xiaolong could almost see the confusion in the eyes of both mecha. This made him almost want to p himself so that he could use pain to remind himself to be more aware of what he was doing.


    "Didn¡¯t you both make it into the top 100 already? Why didn¡¯t you choose to graduate?" Lu Xiaolong still couldn¡¯t restrain his curiosity, spilling his questions out in a rush.


    However, right after he said this, Lu Xiaolong immediately regretted it. Who knew if the two gods would find his questions annoying and choose to leave this room and go somewhere else? Then, wouldn¡¯t he have thoroughly lost the chance to get to know these two gods better?


    Sure enough, the rabbit mecha only turned to nce at the cheetah mecha, and then with a bob of its head, it turned away to continue practising its basic movements. Sigh, as expected, gods weren¡¯t so easy to approach. Lu Xiaolong lowered his head and sighed dejectedly.

 Chapter 126: A Strange Sense of Rapport!

    Chapter 126: A Strange Sense of Rapport!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Just as Lu Xiaolong was beating himself up mentally, a cool voice suddenly rang out by his ear, "The basics are very important. We haven¡¯t mastered them fully yet, which is why we cannot graduate and leave."


    Lu Xiaolong jerked his head up and saw that it was the cheetah mecha who had replied. Gratefulness surged in his heart ¡ª so not all gods were cold and aloof; this cheetah mecha operator was obviously a friendly person.


    In reality, Lu Xiaolong waspletely wrong. The cheetah mecha hadn¡¯t nned to answer Lu Xiaolong¡¯s question to begin with, but because the rabbit mecha had signalled him to do so with that nce and bob of its head, the cheetah mecha had no choice but to reply.


    After several consecutive months of hanging out together, even though they hardly spoke to one another, a strange sense of rapport had been born between them. With just a look or a small motion, they could just tell what the other meant. Thus, the rabbit mecha¡¯s previous nce and head bob had let the cheetah mecha operator understandpletely what the other was asking.


    "But ... you are both already so strong. How could it be that you¡¯ve still not mastered basic control?" Lu Xiaolong just couldn¡¯t understand. If these results wasn¡¯t proof that they had mastered the basics, then did it mean that those of them who had graduated by just achieving the passing line were basically unfit to operate mecha?


    "Are we strong? Aren¡¯t there about 100 other stronger people in front of us?" The cheetah mecha operator¡¯s voice had a trace of self-mocking, as if unsatisfied with their current results.


    This statement by the cheetah mecha operator made the rabbit mecha turn to nce at him once more. Its gaze was clearly questioning ¡ª when had they be a group?


    This made the cheetah mecha operator snicker a little internally. It really was rather unbelievable ¡ª the two of them had only had one actual conversation. Their subsequent meetings had been coincidental when they happened to meet up in the training room. They really weren¡¯t that close, but there was just this indescribable rapport between the two of them.


    Of course, part of this serendipity was due to his own initiative. Ever since their only conversation, he had always used his spiritual strength to locate the other¡¯s position, and then pretended to have entered the same room to train by coincidence.


    However, he truly was fated to meet up with the other. Many times, the rabbit mecha arrived after him, but still somehow found its way into the training room he was in. (At this moment, Little Four wasughing gleefully up at the heavens: What? You think the magistrates are the only ones allowed to burn down houses, while themon people are forbidden even to lightmps? 1 Who can beat me, Little Four, in this virtual realm?)


    Perhaps the heavens were being kind to him, the gods and spirits giving a peerless prodigy like him their blessing in the form of this assistance from an unexpected quarter.


    He hadn¡¯t dismissed Ling Lan¡¯s words, which was why he changed his original n to graduate and leave, choosing to remain here in the mecha training hall to hone his basic mecha control instead. On top of that, he also put in more effort into training up the scout academy basics physical skills. He figured that since it was also a foundational skill set, basic physical skills should be simrly important.


    Reality proved that his assumptions were not wrong. In the end, he could thoroughly sense the benefits honing his foundations had brought to him. In the real world, his initially weak and sickly body was slowly recovering, while in the virtual world, his mecha control had broken through several limits, causing his results to improve in leaps and bounds.


    As intelligent as he was, he had long figured out that the rabbit mecha had intentionally revealed those things to him in their only conversation. Perhaps the both of them being mecha prodigies in their own right had sparked some mutual care, so the other had been willing to reveal some of his own secrets of mecha control to him. This secret was very likely an exclusive secret belonging to the other¡¯s sect. Otherwise, out of the many mecha operators out there, why were there so few who viewed basic control with such importance? Thus, he would carve this great kindness into his heart.


    Of course, he had no way to repay this kindness just yet ¡ª in fact, he didn¡¯t even dare to reveal his true identity to the other right now. Before he was fully in control of his own destiny, he needed to keep a low profile, otherwise it would be spitting on all that his grandfather had done for him.


    He knew very well that, due to that reading of his Four Pirs of Destiny 2 , his grandfather had hidden all information on his true potential, purposefully announcing his mediocrity instead. In the end, his grandfather had even used the excuse of his potential being too average to exile him to the distant Azure. All of this was to protect him, to keep him out of the crosshairs of the rich and powerful elite.


    But he was still indignant about it. He wasn¡¯t willing to just choose to escape passively ¡ª he wanted to be strong, and then stand at the pinnacle of this world, able tough at all the buffeting storms and winds. Yes, he wanted to master his own destiny ¡ª he wanted to change that prophesized destined finale!


    The cheetah mecha was involuntarily drawn into his own thoughts. Meanwhile, due to the other¡¯s words, Lu Xiaolong had lost all of his initial urgency to leave the training hall. He believed that if the god had said so and was doing so, then it must really mean that the basics were very important. Without even having to think about it, he hurriedly sent a message to his two good friends taking the assessment. He told them not to graduate just yet, but toe back and train up their basic control more.


    After a few minutes, his good friends responded. His good intentions naturally weren¡¯t able to convince these two ¡¯good friends¡¯ who had already decided to abandon him. Their messages even suggested in a roundabout way that he was only doing this because he couldn¡¯t bear to see them leave, and was resorting to this sort of desperate measures.


    Lu Xiaolong may be a bit slow when it came to learning, but he wasn¡¯t an idiot; of course he understood the hidden meaning in their messages. Lu Xiaolong was extremely hurt. He really wished he could exin to his good friends, even hoping that they would be able to watch the assessments of the two gods ... but he found that the two of them had shut off theirmunicators simultaneously, automatically rejecting all of his contact requests.


    He went through his contact list, trying to pass on a message through some of their mutual friends, but the response he received again and again was not to disturb them ¡ª now that they were in the real mecha world, they weren¡¯t as free as when they were in the mecha training hall; they were really very very busy ...


    By this time, Lu Xiaolong had already sensed something was off, but he did not want to think too much about it, unwilling to doubt his good friends. Before him were two options ¡ª one was to stop worrying about the others and focus on his own basic training until he was satisfied; the other was to quickly pass the assessment, paying no mind to how badly he did, so that he could be reunited with his friends as soon as possible.


    He nced at the two gods resting at the side after their practice, and after some thought, decided that he should try asking the cheetah mecha about this. Perhaps the god would be able to give him a good idea.


    The cheetah mecha operator saw the rhinoceros mecha approaching him once again, and couldn¡¯t help but frown. Honestly, he didn¡¯t really like interacting with strangers ¡ª this was primarily due to his cloistered life thus far in his manor.


    Subconsciously, he looked towards the rabbit mecha. The rabbit mecha¡¯s eyes suddenly blinked at him, as if telling him to be nice.


    The cheetah mecha operator smiled wryly. Alright, since the rabbit mecha operator wanted him to be nice, then he would be nice. He just wasn¡¯t able to refuse someone who had helped him.


    ********


    "Little Four, isn¡¯t challenging the other¡¯s tolerance this way a bit overboard?" Ling Lan was now rather worried that if the operator of the rhinoceros mecha really infuriated the cheetah mecha, he might be murdered right off by the other.


    "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve already made arrangements. The rhinoceros won¡¯t die," replied Little Four. "If I hadn¡¯t worked things out yet, I wouldn¡¯t have let him get so close to you. After all, he¡¯s an evolved spectre!" Otherwise, if by any chance he was out and about away from his boss, and his boss bumped into the other, wouldn¡¯t that be too dangerous?


    "That said, from the looks of it, his temperament is not bad. Not at all as dangerous as we thought." Little Four was very satisfied with the other¡¯s behaviour thus far. This way, he can leave Boss to him without any worry.


    Little Four suddenly felt that something wasn¡¯t right ¡ª what did he just think about leaving Boss to him ... Oh fie fie fie, he must take that back! Anyone who dares to covet his boss must die! Death to all of them! Little Four began sharpening his knife, his little eyes ring with suspicion and animosity at the cheetah mecha operator.


    Of course, this behaviour of Little Four¡¯s was immediately stopped by Ling Lan. Ling Lan was extremely speechless ¡ª what nonsense was this brat thinking of this time? Ling Lan suddenly found that having a shared mind may not always be a good thing.


    ********


    Lu Xiaolong told everything to the cheetah mecha operator in order, and Ling Lan and the cheetah mecha operator immediately knew what was up. Both of them were good at reading people, so they knew without a doubt that the poor Lu Xiaolong had been heartlessly cast aside by the two people he considered his good friends.


    Ling Lan cast a sympathetic nce at Lu Xiaolong, but believed that this was actually a good thing. At least now he wouldn¡¯t be used up by his friends before being cast aside. In that sense, this was much better.


    The cheetah mecha operator also thought the same ¡ª the two of them once again shared a look through their mecha, feeling as if they could clearly sense the other¡¯s thoughts. Once again, they marvelled at the miraculous rapport between the both of them; there were just no words to describe it.


    Of course, the two of them weren¡¯t about to blurt out the answer directly. They were just passing acquaintances with Lu Xiaolong; they weren¡¯t close enough to be that blunt.


    The cheetah mecha operator thought for a moment before saying, "I rmend you focus on training up your basic control. Although the time taken will be longer, this way will obviously be more useful to your friends. I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t want to be a burden to them, right?" Perhaps time will let the other figure things out for himself.


    Lu Xiaolong nodded energetically. What the god was saying was undoubtedly what worried him the most.


    "If you don¡¯t have enough talent, then you¡¯ll just have to make up for it with hard work. So, don¡¯t think about simply passing. Make sure you master your basic control, otherwise you¡¯ll really be a burden to your good friends." Of course, the good friends he was talking about referred to true friends, and not those who had abandoned Lu Xiaolong.


    The cheetah mecha operator¡¯s words enlightened Lu Xiaolong. That¡¯s true, even if he forced a pass and went over now, he still wouldn¡¯t be much help to his friends. He might as well stay here and put in more practice to improve his basic control, and only move on when he truly had the ability to help them.


    Decided, Lu Xiaolong bid farewell to the two gods. Of course, before he left, he tried to ask for a way to contact the two of them, but was unfortunately turned down by the cheetah mecha operator. Lu Xiaolong did not dare to cling ¡ª he knew that it was already a great blessing to have received some guidance from a god just once. If he were greedy and tried to ask for more, that would be too shameless. However, he still told them his name, his parting words and tone filled with the hope that they might meet up again someday. Hopefully at that time, the gods would still remember him.


    Seeing the other leave reluctantly, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t hold back a sigh. "Who knew you were so good with words?"


    "Is that so? Looks like I have talent in this area." Hearing the other¡¯s praise, the cheetah mecha operator¡¯s mood improved immensely, and he began joking back.


    "Yes! You should really develop your skills in this area. You shouldn¡¯t waste your talent." Ling Lan could hear the other¡¯s humour, and so she replied in kind with augh. Ling Lan had no way to know that because of this one statement, the other would truly change how he interacted with others. When the two of them met up again in the future, she wouldn¡¯t imagine the person she met then would be the same person as this cheetah mecha operator she knew now.

 Chapter 127: Preset Control Mode!

    Chapter 127: Preset Control Mode!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Hmm, since you¡¯ve said so, I¡¯ll have to work on it then." The cheetah mecha operator¡¯s reply was very serious, but Ling Lan did not notice, still thinking that the other was joking.


    There was a slight pause, and then the cheetah mecha operator said in awe, "Your speed this time is faster than mine. Recently, I¡¯ve gotten stuck in a bottleneck. I keep getting stalled at this time with no way to progress further. My hand speed has already hit a limit, maybe this is the most I can do." The cheetah mecha operator¡¯s voice was somewhat sad; perhaps the time to leave hade.


    "Then just train your hand speed!" Ling Lan blurted. After several months of hanging out together with their mutual understanding, Ling Lan was also extremely reluctant to see the other leave. However, her words had barely faded when her guard went up. When did she lose all her defences against the other?


    "Train my hand speed? How do I do that?" eximed the cheetah mecha operator in response, just as shocked by Ling Lan¡¯s words.


    However, he very quickly realised what he had done ¡ª his question had most likely stepped into the territory of the other¡¯s inherited secrets. How could he covet the other¡¯s training secrets? "I¡¯m sorry. I overstepped."


    "It¡¯s fine ..." Ling Lan frowned silently. She actually felt somewhat bad, as if not telling him was a sin. What in the world was happening? If Ling Lan¡¯s mind weren¡¯t so steady, she might have already blurted out the training method without even knowing it.


    "Little Four, can you sense anything off?" In her mind, Ling Lan quickly called Little Four to the rescue.


    "Nope ... everything¡¯s perfectly normal! Eh? What¡¯s this? What a strange mental fluctuation ..." eximed Little Four in shock. "Actually matching up with the frequency of Boss¡¯s real brainwaves ... hold on, let me check my databases to see what this means."


    "Is it harmful?" Ling Lan asked anxiously. She could not afford to take any chances ¡ª the other was a very dangerous evolved spectre, you know.


    Little Four had already pulled up the data by this point, and with some schadenfreude he said, "Oh, it¡¯s nothing much. It will just magnify a certain positive substance 1 infinitely. For example, if you think he¡¯s not bad, then under the influence of this fluctuation, you will think he¡¯s really nice. If you think well of him, then this feeling will directly extend to the point of considering him a close friend. If you have any bit of affection for him ... hehe, Boss, then you¡¯re done for. You¡¯ll immediately be at the step of loving him so much that you¡¯d be willing to die for him."


    Little Four¡¯s words made Ling Lan roll her eyes at him. Was she someone that thirsty, that desperate? Was she really surging with so much lustful desire?


    "Also, this ability can reduce the existence of a certain negative substance. For example, it can decrease an enemy¡¯s animosity, correct other¡¯s negative opinions of him etcetera ... in short, everyone who sees him will like him!"


    "He¡¯s doing it on purpose?" Ling Lan¡¯s face was tiger-fierce. If the other had used this ability on purpose, she would definitely put him on her cklist. Although she had a good impression of him, who knew if this was all just the product of this ability?


    "No, this is an ability he was born with. He doesn¡¯t know how to use it consciously." Little Four rubbed his chin and cackled, "Hehehe ... because he likes you so much, and hopes you will like him in return, that¡¯s why this ability activated now. Let me put it this way. This ability can only appear when he himself truly wants to treat the other well. So, congrattions Boss, you are part of the group of people whom he really likes and wants to treat well."


    At this, Ling Lan rxed. Little Four could even see the minor curve of a small smile on her lips ¡ª it looks like his boss was greatly ddened by this. Little Four felt nostalgic ¡ª ever since Boss had begun developing in the direction of bing a ckface, he had rarely ever seen Boss smile anymore. He really missed it so much. Boss¡¯s smile at the start had been so beautiful ¡ª though it might not have been able to topple countries, it was certainly more than lovely enough to topple cities.


    As he continued to think about it, Little Four began to resent those instructors in the learning space. Why was it set up so that all the smiling teachers were those with ck innards and perverse attitudes?! While the strict and proper ones just had to have ice-blocks for faces? Totally skewing the perspective of his boss ... it should be known that Boss truly loathed that forever outwardly smiling, but internally extremely perverse Instructor Number Five.


    Little Four¡¯s words naturally made Ling Lan very happy ¡ª it had already been several months since she had told the cheetah mecha operator about the importance of the basics. After spending so much time together, she would have cultivated some emotions even if the other was a rock, not to mention that they were both living breathing human beings. Unknowingly, the cheetah mecha operator wasn¡¯t the only one who hade to consider Ling Lan as a friend; Ling Lan herself hade to see the other as a dependable friend.


    Setting that aside, during this time, Ling Lan had also ovee many difficulties within the learning space¡¯s mission.


    Because Ling Lan had broken through her bottleneck, there was a resulting breakthrough in her hand speed once again. This made Ling Lan¡¯s passing time improve tremendously, clocking in at slightly less than 3 minutes 10 seconds. This was just less than 10 seconds away from the mission¡¯s passing condition of 3 minutes.


    Subsequently, Ling Lan attempted the tunnel mission again and again, each time fixing the control errors she made in her previous run. As Ling Lan¡¯s mistakes dwindled, her time needed for the course also got closer and closer to 3 minutes. However, when she hit the 3 minute 3 second mark, Ling Lan once again hit a wall. After several consecutive practices, she found that she couldn¡¯t progress any bit further.


    Ling Lan did not panic. Even though her time was so close to the designated time limit of the mission, she knew very well that rushing would not solve anything. Only keeping calm would help her find a way to ovee this in the end.


    Ling Lan started to think back on the movements of the cheetah mecha ¡ª back then, the cheetah mecha¡¯s movements had been extremely fluid, and his speed had been very fast as well; however, his running and jumping rhythm had not been as intense as his speed would suggest. Instead of more frequent bounds, it was more like each bounding motion had used up the mecha¡¯s limits ¡ª in other words, he had pulled out every bit of the mecha¡¯stent reserves.


    Even more astounding was the fact that he had used the reaction force of everynding to maintain and add on to his velocity, pushing it to the extreme. This had allowed the cheetah mecha¡¯s speed to go beyond the limits the operator had given it, letting it ess speed beyond the abilities of the operator.


    Meanwhile, she herself had simrly managed to push her rabbit mecha¡¯s speed to the limit, but could she also use the reaction force from this type of repetitivending to increase her speed?


    Ling Lan knew the Rabbit Sky Leap was the best stepping reaction force technique ¡ª she just wasn¡¯t sure how long the rabbit mecha in the learning space could hold out under the technique.


    Ling Lan experimented a few times and finally grasped the timing. She could only use it during the second half of the course, and it had to be after the two-thirds point ¡ª otherwise, if she used it too early, the mecha would disintegrate before she could pass the mission.


    Still, the advantage of the learning space was once again disyed. That is, mecha were indestructible inside it ¡ª after disintegrating, when she once again went back to the start, the mecha¡¯s condition would be back at 100%.


    It wasn¡¯t free however. Ling Lan was naturally pained when she found that her honour points had been ruthlessly deducted by a whole 10 points ¡ª this was equal to the amount which she had used to redeem the Rabbit Sky Leap skill!


    Under this repetitive testing, Ling Lan had used up almost 80 honour points before she finally pinned down the timing needed to use the Rabbit Sky Leap in the mission. Even if the mecha did not disintegrate, smaller repairs still required honour points; it was just slightly cheaper.


    And then, in the final moments left, by luck, Ling Lan finally managed to break through the 3-minute limit, clocking in at 2 minutes 59 seconds. The cost was rather steep ¡ª this time, due to overwhelming speed, the rabbit mecha had almost disintegrated entirely. Luckily, she had managed toplete the mission before it could fully disintegrate.


    However, the learning space did not give Ling Lan any time to take pride in her achievement. At this moment, Instructor Number Three pranced onto the scene. He seated Ling Lan in the auxiliary seat, and then operated the rabbit mecha himself to run through the mission course once.


    Ling Lan could see very well that Instructor Number Three¡¯s hand speed wasn¡¯t that fast; she could see every movement of his hands clearly. However, it was precisely this kind of control method that made the rabbit mecha move through the tunnel as if it were dancing. At times, it even left trails of light behind it, shing through the tunnel like a bolt of lightning.


    As Instructor Number Three controlled the mecha, he exined the reasoning for this type of control method to Ling Lan. Ling Lanpared it against her own control method and recognised her deficiencies. Right then, she finally understood why the instructor hadn¡¯t taught her how to control the mecha at the beginning, instead leaving her to figure things out for herself. It was because some elements of mecha control needed to be personally experienced before one could understand why it had to be done a certain way ¡ª only by doing so could one understand what was wrong. Most importantly, everyone had their own control habits, and the best control method was the one which suited oneself.


    The whole way through, Ling Lan gained new insight on controls, while Instructor Number Three breezed through the course, finishing it in 2 minutes and 11 seconds on the dot.


    Regarding this, Ling Lan was very curious. How did Instructor Number Three manage to achieve such a terrifyingpletion speed when his hand speed had been slower than hers? Of course, when Ling Lan asked this question, Instructor Number Three just asked her in return: Was his hand speed really slower than hers?


    Ling Lan looked in astonishment at the reading from the hand speed monitor that the mecha¡¯s A.I. had gathered, finding that Instructor Number Three¡¯s hand speed had actually been the same as hers. But why did it look like his hand speed was slower then? She had not even noticed the appearance of any afterimages ¡ª Ling Lan knew that when her hand speed reached a certain level, this phenomenon would appear.


    "You focused all your speed on a particr time period. Not only does this tire out your hands and mind, but even the mecha itself would also be extremely worn out," said Instructor Number Three, patting the body of the rabbit mecha, gaze affectionate. It was as if the mecha before his eyes was not a mecha, but a living thing which needed to be protected and cared for, and not controlled barbarically.


    Ling Lan was surprised by the instructor¡¯s actions, but at this moment, she still could notprehend this mental state of a mecha operator. She could only think back on the speed the instructor had used when controlling the mecha, and found that he had maintained an even speed throughout the course ¡ª this was rather strange. Mind you, within the tunnel, every scene was different, and there were even some unpredictable scenarios ¡ª how in the world had Instructor Number Three managed that?


    "Among the controlmands of the mecha, there is something called preset control mode. You should use it appropriately." Instructor Number Three¡¯s words enlightened Ling Lan. She knew very well what preset control mode was ¡ª the resting motion of her mecha was a type of preset control. It¡¯s just that that motion was a fixed preset control; she just had to program the motion into the mecha beforehand, and then use the specially trained buttons to execute it ...

 Chapter 128: Rabbit-Cheetah Duo!

    Chapter 128: Rabbit-Cheetah Duo!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan did not have to question Number Three any further on how to input these preset controlmands. This was because Ling Lan already knew that, other than the fixed preset control mode, there was also an instantaneous preset control mode. Thetter mode would ept extremely brief input, and would only be effective for one usage.


    This was a type of control method which was extremely well-suited for emergency battle. However, many people had forgotten that mecha came with this function, because this instantaneous preset control mode required a lot from the operator. Many people did not possess the ability to handle this type of control method, so most mecha operators still found it easier to just depend on their own adaptive ability and control the mecha directly.


    Instantaneous preset control mode needed the mecha operator using it to have a certain level of predictive ability ¡ª the so-called awakened ¡¯sixth sense¡¯ of this world. Meanwhile, in the learning space, this ability was named ¡¯Animal Instinct¡¯, and was a lower-average standard innate perception ability.


    In fact, Ling Lan¡¯s innate talent of Profound Insight was the best among the other innate talents in the same category. As such, the instantaneous preset control mode was extremely appropriate for Ling Lan ¡ª this was why Instructor Number Three had made it a point to bring it up.


    During this time, Little Four had gradually siphoned in data he had collected from the real world into the learning space, giving the instructors within it a general understanding of the technological environment Ling Lan was living in. Thus, they knew that this world was extremely behind with regards to awakened perception abilities at the moment, and even in terms of mecha control, this world was N-levels worse than that of their own world.


    So, the instantaneous preset control mode, which was familiar to all the residents of the learning space, was rather neglected in this world. Here, with the exception of those who had awakened the sixth sense, othermon mecha operators would be utterly clueless about this function on their mecha, and even many instructors of mecha control may not remember the existence of this function. This was another reason why Instructor Number Three had stepped up to demonstrate mecha control in person.


    Ling Lan understood what Instructor Number Three intended with his guidance. In contrast with the instructor¡¯s control, she could clearly see that she was stillcking in many areas, whether it be awareness, control, or prediction. Ling Lan knew this was all because her basics were still below standard, so she didn¡¯t choose to learn a new control method, merely continuing to train her basic control. The only exception was that she began including the usage of instantaneous preset control mode in her training. Of course, this was extremely difficult. Many times, Ling Lan¡¯s attempts ended in failure, but Ling Lan still continued tirelessly in her attempts to learn it.


    In this manner, several months passed. Ling Lan¡¯s life fell into a regted routine ¡ª at dawn and at dusk, she set aside two blocks of time to train her basic physical skills; whether it was the scout academy¡¯s or the one taught by the learning space, she wouldn¡¯t allow them to fall behind. At the same time, she also didn¡¯t forget to train her hand speed. By this time, she had already broken through the limit of three marbles 1 , and was now able to train with four marbles at a time.


    However, just like when she had been training with three marbles, she could not sustain the activity for long. Still, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t anxious ¡ª she remained patient and practised every day, improving bit by bit. It was a victory as long as she could sustain activity for just a little bit longer than the day before.


    Meanwhile, during the day, she would attend sses at the academy if there were sses, and if there weren¡¯t, she would enter the virtual world to practise her mecha control there. Of course, Ling Lan would habitually check to see if that cheetah mecha was at the mecha training hall. Anyone would have asting impression of the first stranger they met in the virtual world who also helped them out.


    Of course, there was another reason Ling Lan was looking for the other ¡ª every time she saw the other¡¯s training movements, she would somehow gain some measure of insight from it. In return, the other seemed to be of a simr mindset; and so, the two of them often ended up training together without nning it in advance. Although they still did not speak much to one another, they knew each other very well, just like old bosom friends. By the end, they could even tell with just a look or a motion what the other wanted to do.


    Meanwhile, Little Four was also very busy. One of his duties was to find time to fake Ling Lan¡¯s virtual appearance to help his bossplete some of those scout academy daily missions. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t very well stay offline for so long, right? Besides that, Little Four also had to help Boss to maintain her rtionships with Qi Long and the others. There were times when he even had to pretend to be Ling Lan to join them in clearing some group missions. Luckily, Little Four had grown up with Ling Lan and had hung around her all this time, so he was extremely familiar with Ling Lan¡¯s mannerisms and tone of voice, managing to carry it off without raising any suspicion among herpanions.


    On top of that, Little Four still had to prevent the cheetah mecha operator from getting too close ¡ª Little Four firmly believed that someone being so nice for no reason, must definitely be hiding some evil intention. The cheetah mecha operator was treating his boss so well, so he must have some nefarious intentions. Little Four had to protect his boss!


    Of course, all this was just Little Four¡¯s opinion; Ling Lanpletely disagreed. From what she could sense, the cheetah mecha operator was extremely mature, and he was also an operator who was deeply obsessed with mecha control. Moreover, the other did not even know whether she was a boy or a girl, so what sort of nefarious intentions could he have?


    Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s words drew Little Four¡¯s derision. He mocked her, saying that she was just fooling herself ¡ª just think about it, all of the newbies in the mecha training hall were basically all youths of about 16 years of age ... why would a mature adult be here? And youths were the hardest people to figure out ¡ª who knew what kind of insanity they would involve themselves in next?


    Neither one could convince the other, but Ling Lan did not take any of this to heart. She continued to ¡¯coincidentally¡¯ meet the cheetah mecha (Little Four was the main contributor to this; he felt that it was still safest to keep someone dangerous close where he could watch him) and train together in silence. At times, Ling Lan would feel as if she had gained some breakthrough and enter the mecha training hall to take the basic assessment again. At those times, there would always be a cheetah mecha watching from the side. Simrly, every time the cheetah mecha retook the assessment, as long as Ling Lan was online then, she would also choose to watch from the side.


    With all of this, Ling Lan felt that the cheetah mecha should be considered one of her friends now. Which was why she had been so happy when she had heard what Little Four had to say about the other¡¯s ability. In her mind, only when both parties felt the same could a rtionship be called a true friendship.


    Thus, Ling Lan decided to tell the other her secret of training hand speed. "It actually isn¡¯t much of a secret. Back in the real world, you just need to ce some marbles in your palm and move them around quickly without letting them fall, that¡¯s all."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused the cheetah mecha to be extremely taken aback ¡ª he had never expected Ling Lan to just reveal her inherited secret just like that. He could not help but be worried for her, saying, "Aren¡¯t you afraid of drawing the displeasure of your teacher¡¯s sect? Don¡¯t reveal this kind of secret so easily in future."


    "Displeasure? It shouldn¡¯t." Ling Lan lifted her head as she thought about it. She did not think her dad would be so stingy and mind that much, so she said, "Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m only telling you about this, because you¡¯re my friend."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words touched the cheetah mecha operator. He suddenly had the urge to tell the other about his true identity, but the words had barely touched his lips when his grandfather¡¯s words echoed by his ear: "Little Lan 2 , you must remember, while you¡¯re studying at the scout academy of Azure, even if you meet a friend you find extremely dependable, you still cannot let them know your real identity or what you really look like. Only when you¡¯re fully 20 years old, after you¡¯ve officially be an adult ..."


    The cheetah mecha operator clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth ¡ª only by doing so could he push down the shame and guilt he felt to the bottom of his heart. After a long beat of silence, he finally managed to eke out two words, "Thank you!"


    Ling Lan knew nothing about the struggle within the cheetah mecha operator¡¯s heart right now. She was in a great mood, because she believed that with the help of the training method to increase hand speed, the cheetah mecha would definitely continue to stay here and train his basic control. With a friend by her side, training wasn¡¯t as boring as it could be.


    ********


    In the following period of time, inside the mecha training hall, a rabbit mecha and a cheetah mecha were often seen training their basic control together, taking assessments together, studying control techniques together ... they became known as the famous rabbit-cheetah duo of the mecha training hall.


    The rabbit-cheetah duo¡¯s skilful and almost wlessly perfect movements attracted the respect and admiration of all the mecha newbies who walked through the mecha training hall¡¯s doors. Gradually, they gained reputation among the newbies; every one of their assessments would draw countless spectators. These spectators were witness to the birth of Ling Lan¡¯s and the other¡¯s increasingly high ranking on the leaderboard. They saw off batch after batch of old newbies, and weed group after group of fresh newbies.


    Due to these newbies both young and old, talk of the rabbit-cheetah duo spread even further and became even more legendary. In the end, rumours about them spread far and wide throughout the entire virtual world ¡ª saying that two experts of mecha control were unwilling to graduate from the Azure mecha training hall, because they wanted to surpass the old time and make a new record.


    Of course, this rumour was greeted with scorn by most people. Almost everyone thought that the rabbit-cheetah duo were obviously chasing a pipe dream ¡ª they would never be able to break the old record. This was because the current best record of the basic control assessment was set ten years ago, by none other than the god-ss operator Ling Xiao. Of course, back then, Ling Xiao still hadn¡¯t be a god-ss operator yet.


    Still, even so, his result wasn¡¯t something an average person could break. After repeated studies by specialists, they confirmed that Ling Xiao¡¯s result had already achieved the pinnacle of basic mecha control. Only if someone were to use mecha of special-ss and above,bined with the control skills of an ace operator or better, then there might be the low possibility of surpassing it. (Because the mecha used for basic control assessments were the most primitive three types of mecha, the crudeness of the mecha had also limited Ling Xiao¡¯s performance.)


    But is this possible? Everyone knew that all the mecha training hall provided were the most primitive mecha; no one could get their hands on any better mecha. So, there would never be a scenario where, using the same type of mecha, someone would be able to break Ling Xiao¡¯s record ...


    Ling Lan did not know that they had swept the whole virtual world into animated discussion. After she and the cheetah mecha operator had thoroughly studied and experimented with their bestial mecha, they had then switched to avian mecha, and had finally chosen humanoid mecha.


    When they had be fully proficient in the basic control of all three main types of mecha, Ling Lan used a humanoid mecha in the learning space to pass the tunnel mission. After she passed, the long-absent Instructor Number Three appeared once more, and this time, he immediately told Ling Lan to make preparations ¡ª tomorrow, she would officially begin following him to learn the beginner level techniques and movements.


    When Ling Lan heard this, she almost raised her arms and cheered; sheughed loudly three times 3 to celebrate her progress to the next stage. It should be noted that continuous training in just the basic controls was really boring and hence tiring. If she had been alone, she might have already gone ahead long ago and graduated to the real mecha world to seek out newer and more interesting pursuits. But when she saw the cheetah mecha operator practising the basic mecha controls with such a serious attitude, Ling Lan had no choice but to carry on and persist. Dammit, how could she, a mature older woman, lose to this little green spring onion of a youth before her ...


    (A certain pretty boy youth who had just logged off was cheering himself on at the same time: to be the strongest mecha operator in this world, he could not lose to anyone else. Since the rabbit mecha could train so tirelessly in the basic controls withoutint, then he must be able to do it too! He must hold on and persist!)


    It had to be said that, at times, some misunderstandings were extremely beautiful. The two of them felt that the other¡¯s attitude was very serious and very tenacious, and so they both did not want to lose to the other ... in this way, the two of them persisted together through mastering these extremely dry and boring basic mecha control exercises!

 Chapter 129: Missed It?

    Chapter 129: Missed It?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The next day, Ling Lan rushed to log on to the virtual world in her excitement. She swiftly chose her rabbit mecha and and was loaded into the mecha training hall, prepared to seek out the cheetah mecha operator to tell him the good news. Hell yeah, she could finally say bye-bye to basic control training!


    However, she was quickly pinned down by horror. If the mecha could faithfully mimic what Ling Lan felt at that moment, we would see the rabbit mecha shiver from head to tail, all its hairs standing on end.


    Apparently, Ling Lan had unwittingly turned on the mecha¡¯s viewing screen, only to be faced with tworge ck holes staring at her unblinkingly. Those ck holes were really just too dark, too dim, and too vacant, causing pins and needles to break out all over Ling Lan¡¯s scalp.


    "Hells, why did you have to lie down right in front of me!" raged Ling Lan, immediately jumping up to kick and punch at the other.


    And so a rabbit was seen waving a carrot around violently, whacking a cheetah loungingzily on the ground before it. This love-filled scene caused all the surrounding newbies to turn and look, extremely curious ¡ª what was this legendary rabbit-cheetah duo doing now?


    Helplessly, the cheetah used its ws to block the rabbit¡¯s tantrum, and said somewhat dully, "Stop being angry, I have something to tell you."


    Eh? He had something to tell her too? nkly, Ling Lan pulled back her carrot and ced it in the rabbit¡¯s mouth for safekeeping. Then, she plopped down beside the cheetah, and waited patiently for the other to speak.


    The cheetah was silent for a moment, before saying gloomily, "I just wanted to tell you that, I have to take the assessment and graduate today." Saying this, the cheetah was telling Ling Lan that this time, he would choose to graduate and leave the mecha training hall, and head off into the real mecha world.


    The cheetah mecha operator actually felt as if he were doing a great wrong to the rabbit mecha operator ¡ª if it had not been for the rabbit mecha operator, he would not have ever been able to obtain such great improvement in his mecha control. After this period of training, he now fully understood the reason why basic control was so important. He was very grateful to Ling Lan, and this gratefulness just added to his guilt for leaving first on his own.


    Ah? So coincidental? She was just thinking of leaving, and now the other actually needed to leave as well. In that instant, Ling Lan had the sudden feeling that the synchronicity between the two of them was really rather abnormal.


    "Uh ... I actually wanted to say that too ¡ª that I wanted to take the assessment and graduate." Due to surprise, Ling Lan paused for a few seconds before finally spilling the words that she had wanted to say to the cheetah mecha operator.


    However, this odd pause of a few seconds made the cheetah mecha operator misunderstand the situation. He thought that Ling Lan was intentionally lying to him just tofort him. Mind you, to break Ling Xiao¡¯s graduation assessment record, it was still somewhat difficult at their current skill level. The cheetah mecha operator had always thought that Ling Lan had been staying behind in the mecha training hall because she needed toplete the mission of breaking that record. At one point, he even suspected that this was a mission assigned by Ling Lan¡¯s mentor¡¯s sect ...


    So, when Ling Lan suddenly changed this stance of hers, saying that she wanted to take a final assessment and graduate as well, in the cheetah mecha operator¡¯s eyes, this was obviously for his sake. The made him feel touched and ashamed at the same time.


    Such a great teacher and good friend, but because of his promise with his grandfather, he was not able to reveal his true identity and appearance to the other ... The guilt in the cheetah mecha¡¯s heart just grew and grew, and his reluctance to leave just became stronger and stronger.


    "Sorry!" A torrent of emotions, and in the end he could only condense them into this mostmon of words.


    "I¡¯m speaking truthfully ..." Ling Lan was somewhat speechless. Dearie, you¡¯re really overthinking this.


    "Due to some issues in the real world, I need to leave the mecha training hall to go to the real mecha world. I¡¯m really very sorry."


    "Honestly, I¡¯m not lying ..." said Ling Lan moodily. Why wouldn¡¯t he believe her?


    "I know! Thank you!" The cheetah mecha operator abruptly cut off what Ling Lan was saying, thanked her sincerely, and then before Ling Lan could respond, he had already chosen to enter his graduation assessment ...


    Seeing the cheetah mecha disappear in an instant, fleeing under duress from his own perceived guilt, Ling Lan almost flipped the table in anger. Hells, that bastard! Couldn¡¯t he have listened to her properly before leaving?


    A long whileter, Ling Lan, who had regained herposure, suddenly burst intoughter. For the first time, she found ¡ª so the cheetah mecha operator had had such an obstinate side to him. Also, that fellow had really just been too good at letting his imagination run away with him.


    Still, Ling Lan could feel the stirrings of regret in her heart. After all, the cheetah mecha operator was the first person in this world who had given her the true feeling of a friend; but unfortunately, the two of them just hadn¡¯t met at the right time. Both of them were hiding their respective identities, and so, in the end, they could only be strangers with the greatest rapport.


    "Little Four, go take a look at his result." This time, Ling Lan did not want to go and disturb the other¡¯s assessment, especially since she knew that the other already harboured some guilty feelings towards her. Ling Lan felt that it was a bit of a pity ¡ª honestly, she really wanted to part on good terms with the cheetah mecha.


    Very quickly, Little Four had returned to tell her the cheetah mecha¡¯s final assessment result. His time was just 2 seconds away from Ling Xiao¡¯s record, and this result was enough to leave his mark on history as the overall fifth ce.


    In the end, Little Four told Ling Lan that the other¡¯s brainwaves had truly disappeared from this mission space. In other words, he had indeed left the mecha training hall¡¯s world to enter a different virtual space.


    Little Four asked if Ling Lan wanted to continue tracking the other to see where hended in the other virtual space, but after some thought, Ling Lan declined. It was just as she had thought earlier ¡ª the two of them had met at an inopportune time. How would they have been able to continue maintaining their friendship when they were unable to face each other with their real identities?


    "What a shame. If he¡¯s around, Boss, your mecha control would definitely improve even faster," Little Four would forever consider things from a perspective which benefitted Ling Lan most.


    "You should know that, if it¡¯s truly gold, it will definitely shine one day," said Ling Lan enigmatically.


    What the heck did Boss mean? Little Four was immediately struck by a wave of dizziness. He hurriedly ran a search on Boss¡¯s statement, and instantly understood. So Boss had meant that the other would never be able to escape from the palm of Boss¡¯s hand! 133t Boss owns 1 ! Flower shower 2 !


    Ling Lan ignored Little Four¡¯s mistakenprehension, immediately choosing to take her final assessment. She entered the mission space belonging to her, and cheered herself on mentally: "I mustn¡¯t lose to that punk!"


    Countless runs of the assessment had let Ling Lan and the other experience almost every assessment map; this time, the map selected was coincidentally a map Ling Lan had run before. Ling Lan closed her eyes softly, and she could clearly visualize every obstacle of the assessment mission in her mind ...


    The mecha sounded thest few alerts to signify the start of the assessment. When only two seconds remained on the countdown, Ling Lan abruptly opened her eyes, and a radiant spark of light shed across her eyes.


    Finally, the start sound rang out, and Ling Lan¡¯s rabbit mecha could be seen rushing out like the wind. Among the irregrly moving obstacles, it was leaping and dancing freely, just like an ephemeral shadow, a y of light, sometimes visible sometimes not.


    Meanwhile, inside the cockpit, Ling Lan¡¯s expression was exceptionally rxed ¡ª her eyes were half-lidded, and the movements of her fingers did not give off any sense of urgency like they used to. Instead, her movements seemed almost casual, sometimes creating afterimages without conscious thought. This made her hands seem like they were performing a graceful dance, choreographing an absolutely beautiful piece of her own.


    Subconsciously, Ling Lan also used instantaneous preset control mode ¡ª her understanding of this map made it the obvious thing to do, so she included the preset controls without any fuss whatsoever. With that, Ling Lan had entered a sort of heavenly realm of control, causing Little Four to be both shocked and overjoyed at Ling Lan¡¯s great luck.


    This situation clearly proved that Boss Ling Lan¡¯s control skills were about to ascend by yet another level. Perhaps, this time, she would finally be able to achieve the lowest hand speed required by her dad ...


    "Congrattions, you¡¯ve sessfully created a new record! The secondary world shall nowmence a world-wide notification, please select whether to publicize your name or to remain anonymous?"


    Seeing that Ling Lan was still immersed in the insights she had gained in that control session, Little Four quickly helped Ling Lan choose to stay anonymous. Even though no one would be able to trace it back to Boss¡¯s real identity if they chose to publicize the name of her avatar, there would still be some risk involved. Little Four constantly took Ling Lan¡¯s words to heart, so he now knew to make sure to protect himself well first in all endeavours.


    Once Little Four had made the selection, within the virtual world, everyone who was online could hear a voice from the main system: Congrattions, XXX, for sessfully creating a new basic mecha control graduation result record! Each generation brings forth new talent, this stable world has finally weed a new era of change!


    When everyone heard this, a great furore broke out. Those who knew about the rabbit-cheetah duo were all guessing whether it was one of them who had broken the record. Some people even logged off right then in their excitement, rushing to use theirmunicators in the real world to contact their friends who were still inside the realm of the mecha training hall to find out more.


    However, the response they received was that their friends did not know anything either. Of the few who had been coincidentally browsing the assessment name list at the time, none had seen any sign of the rabbit mecha or the cheetah mecha.


    It turned out that, to ensure confidentiality, Little Four had removed Ling Lan from the list of observable assessments the moment she started her assessment. In other words, no one would have been able to see Ling Lan¡¯s assessment.


    Thus, the only one who knew the truth was the cheetah mecha. Frankly, when the cheetah mecha operator had heard this system announcement, his first reaction was that it must be the rabbit mecha. Following that thought, he chuckled wryly and said to himself, "So you could have graduated and left a long time ago ... Hanging out at the training hall for so long, you were probably just waiting for me. But in the end, I still let you down." In low spirits, he immediately chose to leave the mecha world.


    ********


    In a private manor, a major-domo was patiently waiting for his young master to log off. However, as time passed and the login pod remained closed, he suddenly thought of something and leapt forward to pry open the login pod forcefully from the outside. All he saw inside, though, was a pretty young man crying silently.


    "Why are you crying, Young Master? Did something happen?" The major-domo was flustered. His young master was an extremely strong child ¡ª previously, when his body was in a bad condition, even if the pain was unbearable, he would still face others with a smile, never crying or showing his pain.


    The pretty young man opened his eyes; his typically bright and steady gaze now seemed a bit lost and confused. Just as the major-domo was about to ask, the pretty youth suddenly spoke, "Major-domo, why did grandpa insist that I can only tell others my real identity and appearance after I turn twenty? Just why?"


    If it weren¡¯t for this promise, he would not have chosen to leave the rabbit mecha operator. Then, he wouldn¡¯t have to feel this heartache ¡ª so losing a friend was such a painful thing.


    The major-domo opened and closed his mouth several times, but in the end he could only recite that old fallback, "Young Master, you¡¯ll find outter on!"


    "Later on? Hehe, sometimes, what¡¯s missed is missed, gone forever ... Major-domo, do you know? Just earlier, I¡¯ve missed what should have been my most important best friend in this life!" said the pretty boy 3 amidst bitterughter, his tears spilling over silently once more. His expression was pained, and it was overshadowed with a deep sadness for not being able to control his own destiny. It was only at this time that he was truly acting like the 13 year old kid he was.

 Chapter 130: Its Been Tough On You!

    Chapter 130: It¡¯s Been Tough On You!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan had broken her dad Ling Xiao¡¯s basic control graduation record. This greatly surprised Ling Lan ¡ª despite her joy, she knew very well that this was the result of a fortuitous ident. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that she had been familiar with this assessment map, she would not have been confident enough to use the instantaneous preset control mode. And then, to stumble by chance into the extremely rare Celestial Realm ... her results were actually about the same as the cheetah mecha operator¡¯s ¡ª at most, her best performance would have just beaten his by one second. All we can say is that as a time-traveller, she had been given a direct hack by the God of Time Travel.


    Still, this hack had caused Ling Lan¡¯s control ability and hand speed to ascend by yet another level. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but sigh in awe at how unfairly intense the Celestial Realm hack was ¡ª actually pushing her abilities up by one level immediately.


    In order to fully absorb and master her new hand speed as well as the control realm brought on by the Celestial Realm, Ling Lan immediately chose to iste herself. She headed straight into the learning space to soak in her new insights.


    The Celestial Realm did not bestow this increase in ability to a person directly; it only temporarily brought out a person¡¯s best possible state at that moment in time. To really obtain these ability gains, it all depended on one¡¯s effort in understanding and reflection, to seriously learn these new limits and make them one¡¯s own. Otherwise, as more time passed, the insights given by the Celestial Realm would drift away with the wind, leaving no trace behind. At that time, one¡¯s control ability and hand speed would revert to its original state.


    Ling Lan spent over a month taking in these insights within the learning space, but outside, only a few hours had passed.


    When Ling Lan finally stepped out from the virtual login pod, the aura of her body had changed slightly. The initially frigid and somewhat pressing air around her had diminished a little, no longer feeling as cold as before.


    Over the past few years, as Ling Lan¡¯sbat ability grew stronger and stronger, the endless killing missions in the learning space had caused the killing intent around her to be thicker and thicker. If Little Four hadn¡¯t tried his best to help her suppress this blood-soaked killing intent, her ssmates who were slightly weaker wouldn¡¯t have been able to approach her at all. And even if Qi Long and the others got close, they would only be able to stand up straight with difficulty, they wouldn¡¯t be able to move.


    Of course, if that had happened, Ling Lan would certainly fall under the suspicion of the academy teachers and the monitoring military personnel. After all, the students in grades one to three shouldn¡¯t have had any real battle experience; only starting from the fourth grade would they be sent out on hunting assignments. How could a child who had never seen true bloodshed possess such a thick blood-red killing intent?


    However, as Ling Lan¡¯s killing intent grew even thicker and thicker, Little Four also found it harder and harder to hold it back. In the end, a little bit of it escaped, but fortunately, at that time, Ling Lan was going through her icy ckface period. Therefore, even if she emanated a cold aura that chilled the hearts of others, it was still somewhat exinable. This had let Ling Lan safely avoid the suspicion of the military monitors once more.


    Little Four was the first to sense the ebbing of Ling Lan¡¯s icy air. He instantly threw confetti into the air in celebration. He had been so worried that if the killing intent continued to increase, he would not have been able to hold it back any longer. It had been on the brink of happening ¡ª but now, they had dodged a bullet once again.


    In a great mood, Ling Lan indulged herself with a great feast. Her title of ¡¯glutton¡¯ had never changed, and she was even eating more than before. However, by now, Ling Lan¡¯s mum, Lan Luofeng, had already gotten used to the sight of her daughter guzzling down food like a ck hole. This was normal. The day when Ling Lan ate less ¡ª now that would be a catastrophe, a sign that the Armageddon had arrived.


    *******


    Several days passed, and Ling Lan, having received some great news, was rather distracted. She actually began to drift off inside the learning space, mind busily calcting the passing rate of time outsidepared to time inside the learning space. This ¡¯physically here but mentally elsewhere¡¯ behaviour thoroughly enraged Instructor Number Three, who had been in the middle of teaching Ling Lan some F-grade 1 mecha moves. He immediately kicked Ling Lan out of the mecha training space, sending her to stare nkly alone in the great hall of the learning space.


    Hells, if she didn¡¯t want to learn, then he didn¡¯t want to teach either! Instructor Number Three¡¯s tsundere 2 side was triggered!


    However, there was a legitimate reason for Ling Lan¡¯s inattentiveness today. It was because in the Central Scout Academy, a course that she had been anticipating for a long time was finally here ¡ª outdoor hunting.


    This outdoor hunting wasn¡¯t just running around in a forest ¡ª using slingshots to shoot at wild chickens and wild ducks ¡ª that sort of boring thing. No. It was a full three months of wilderness survival training on some random primitive.


    Of course, they were still only 10 year old kids, so the academy would not throw them straight off into some terrifying hell-hole to hunt. At most, they would only be sent to an area with some elementary-ss wild beasts with lowbat ability for training. At Ling Lan¡¯s current level of strength, handling those low-level beasts with trash strength was really not much different than killing wild chickens and ducks to her.


    But ... that was not the main point. The main point was that they were going to another. This meant that Ling Lan would finally be able to take a ride on a spaceship like in the stories she had read ¡û This was the true reason for Ling Lan¡¯s excitement. Darling, did you get that?


    In short, our country bumpkin Ling Lan could finally ride a real starship to take a trip into space. So, she just had no way of staying calm. It¡¯s just like when we were in primary school, and the teacher had announced a field trip for the first time, we would have been so worked up and excited that we would not be able to sleep the night before ...


    The moment Ling Lan saw she had been kicked out of the mecha learning space, without even thinking about it, she immediately exited the learning space. She lifted themunicator by her pillow to look at the time. Er ... it¡¯s still too early, only about 4 a.m. in the morning ...


    But Ling Lan just couldn¡¯t sleep anymore. She climbed out of bed, put on hermunicator, and checked her luggage once more:


    Weapons: Two maic alloy daggers! To the outside world, Ling Lan had always been a right-handed weapon wielder, but in truth, she was better at wielding weapons with her left hand than her right. This dual-wielding ability had been trained under Instructor Number Five ¡ª Number Five had said that, a trump that is hidden will always be one¡¯s strongest trump card.


    Rumour had it that this time, the academy would actually give everyone a beam gun as an emergency backup; the students had all begun learning how to use beam guns since they were in third grade. Ling Lan¡¯s shooting skills were not bad, but they definitely weren¡¯t top-tier. On this front, both Han Jijyun and Lin Zhong-qing were clearly better than her ¡ª their sheer natural talent in shooting was astounding.


    Thus, this time, she also brought along an extremely covert weapon ¡ª a bracelet specially prepared for her by Chambein Ling Qin. Ling Lan carefully ced the bracelet on her right wrist. She looked at the metallic sheen of its deep ck colour,mon-looking yet serving a suitably decorative purpose, and nodded in satisfaction.


    This was indeed that ultra-strong, unbreakable, ultra-thin rope that Chambein Ling Qin had used during in that ambush several years ago. It was an indispensable tool for killing people, crossing distances, and rock climbing. With this at hand, Ling Lan would be able to handle certain difficult situations with ease.


    Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s bag was mostly filled with nutrient solutions of varying vours (the results of her research), recovery fluids, and first-aid medications. At this time, she was somewhat annoyed ¡ª oh why couldn¡¯t the learning spacee with some storage functions? If it did, then she would have been able to bring enough of all the things she might need, and wouldn¡¯t have to fret about what she should and shouldn¡¯t bring.


    Because all these things would have to be with them at all times, if they brought more than what they would be able to bear, their hunting ability would decline sharply. At that point, they wouldn¡¯t be the ones hunting anymore, rather, they would be hunted by the wild beasts instead.


    Ling Lan also did not forget to bring some changes of clothes. At this moment, she was atypically d that she was a fake man. Because she had been injected with suppression shots, her body was in an undeveloped state. Thus, she didn¡¯t have to worry at all about menstruation or any of the other host of embarrassing issues rted to puberty. And from that, she also wouldn¡¯t have to worry about being endangered by these problems in the outdoors either, things like attracting attacks from the wild beasts due to the stench of blood ...


    Just like that, after much study and much cutting down, she finallypleted her packing. By this time, the sky was already fully bright. Ling Lan took a quick shower, and then walked out of her room in high spirits.


    ********


    When Ling Lan arrived at the ssroom of grade 4 Special ss-A, she found that she was one of thest few to arrive. It looked like she wasn¡¯t the only one who was excited.


    "Boss Lan, over here, over here!" An energetic voice rang out from a corner of the ssroom. Without even having to lift her head, Ling Lan could already tell who it was. The only people who would yell out to her so passionately ¡ª other than Qi Long, there was only Lin Zhong-qing. Qi Long¡¯s voice was louder, however, so his voice was still quite distinctive.


    After following Qi Long around for two years, Lin Zhong-qing had lost almost all of his initial gloomy personality. Instead, he was as enthusiastic and full of smiles as he had been at the start of school, when he had served her for one month. However, Ling Lan knew very well that this was just a facade Lin Zhong-qing was holding up against the outside world; inside, it wasn¡¯t that simple.


    Still, Ling Lan did not caution Qi Long and the others about this. It was up to them to decide their own rtionships ¡ª whether good or bad, only they themselves would know.


    Ling Lan lifted her head to look, and saw Lin Zhong-qing standing by his seat, waving at her.


    Ling Lan walked over with an indifferent expression. As a girl, she really had no clue how to interact with these little boys, and so could only use this sort of macho-cool image to handle the situation. In any case, this group of kids seemed to be eating it up.


    "Boss Lan, I¡¯ve bought you breakfast," said Lin Zhong-qing, smiling, as he passed over a box on the table.


    Ling Lan swept a look over the scene, and saw that Han Jijyun and Luo Lang were both sitting at their own ces with identical boxes, eating delicately. Seated on top of his desk, Qi Long was also holding a box, and was wolfing down its contents unreservedly.


    Looks like Lin Zhong-qing hadn¡¯t just prepared breakfast for her. Ling Lan epted the box and opened it. It turned out to be the golden soup dumplings 3 which were extremely hard to get within the academy. It looked like Lin Zhong-qing had gone to the canteen super early to line up just to get these ¡ª he had truly put in a lot of effort.


    Ling Lan used her chopsticks to prod at the soup dumplings in her lunch box, and said coolly, " It¡¯s been tough on you! 4 "


    Though Ling Lan had said this almost casually, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s face was painted with a trace of pleasant surprise. Even the ravenously eating Qi Long behind him raised his head in surprise, surreptitiously using an elbow to nudge Lin Zhong-qing lightly, congratting him for finally getting acknowledgement from Boss Lan.


    He used a full two years, only to get this simple sentence ... Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s mind was a mixed bag of emotions ¡ª for a moment, he actually wasn¡¯t sure whether he was happy or resentful ...


    Right then, a ssmate suddenly rushed into the ssroom, obviously emotional, shouting, "Big news! Big news!"


    Wu Jiong and Ye Xu had been chatting at one side. When they heard this cry, they jerked, and quickly turned to look at the student who had shouted.


    "It¡¯s likely that our outdoor hunting course this time may be cancelled ..." The moment the student entered, he shared the bad news with everyone. This caused all the students to be anxious ¡ª they had already waited for this day for so long, could everything be cancelled at thest moment?


    "What happened exactly? And where did you hear this news?" Seeing that Qi Long had no intentions of asking, Wu Jiong had no choice but to speak up himself and ask.

 Chapter 131: Planet Azure

    Chapter 131: Azure


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Qi Long was the spokesperson for Ling Lan¡¯s group ¡ª since Qi Long did not ask, that meant Ling Lan¡¯s group had no interest in the proceedings. But just because Ling Lan¡¯s group had no interest did not mean that Wu Jiong himself was not interested.


    "I heard that the seventh grade virtual world barrier-crossing award was taken away by the academy of another. When the dean found out, he was really, really angry, so he called an emergency meeting now with all the teachers." The student informant had a dejected expression on his face; he too had been eagerly anticipating the extracurricr activity this time. "Now it looks like there won¡¯t be time for them to take us hunting outdoors."


    The student informant had answered so readily and in so much detail, because the one who asked had been Wu Jiong. He was the team leader of one of the three major teams in ss-A, after all. If the student could gain Wu Jiong¡¯s favour and thus get the opportunity to join his team, then he would be set.


    Although there were quite a few other established teams in ss-A, there were only three teams which the currently still teamless students really wanted to join. As Li Yingjie¡¯s team was now full, his was out ¡ª but the few remaining slots on the other two teams were being eyed closely by those students.


    Ling Lan¡¯s team was very strict in their requirements, due to having only one final slot left. Everyone knew that, to enter Ling Lan¡¯s team, the difficulty level was scarily high ¡ª not only did one¡¯s talent have to be exceptional, one also had to be some sort of an all-rounder. Those who knew their own limitations decisively put their sights on Wu Jiong¡¯s team. At the very least, Wu Jiong¡¯s requirement for joining was not as high as Ling Lan¡¯s team¡¯s. And furthermore, his team had two slots remaining, so no matter what, the chances for sess were naturally much higher. This caused Wu Jiong¡¯s team to receive much more attention than Ling Lan¡¯s team in ss-A.


    "Which¡¯s scout academy managed to pull that off?" asked Ye Xu, extremely curious.


    "It was Azure!" The student informant¡¯s answer stunned all the students in the ss. Azure was a third-rate ¡ª the resources they had there were N-levels worse than theirs here ... could it be that an unparalleled prodigy had appeared there?


    When Li Yingjie, who had initially been unconcerned by the discussion, heard the term  Azure¡¯, his face paled drastically, as if thinking of something. He hurriedly asked, "Do you know who the people who crossed the barrier were?" A team was necessary to pass the barrier mission, which was why Li Yingjie asked this question.


    The student informant shook his head regretfully, "I only overheard these few things when I passed by two teachers discussing the issue on the way here. I heard that the Azure students pushed through the barrier before 5am this morning, sessfully bing the first team to pass the barrier mission this year. After that, I didn¡¯t dare to stay back and listen anymore, so I¡¯m not clear on who those people are."


    "For the details, the teachers would probably know." The other students also began noisily discussing the matter.


    Right then, a clear voice rang out from the ssroom door, "That¡¯s right, I indeed do know ..." It turned out that their Special ss-A homeroom teacher Cheng Yuanhang had arrived.


    "Good day, Teacher Cheng!" Seeing Cheng Yuanhang enter the ssroom, all the students obediently returned to their seats. They then stood primly at attention and greeted their teacher.


    Cheng Yuanhang indicated for the students to sit down, and then he announced, "I have two things to tell you all. Firstly, do not worry, the original ns for outdoor hunting will not change. We will be leaving today as nned!" Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s words caused the entire ss to cheer in unison; mind you, they had been waiting a really long time for this day.


    "However, this time round, your hunting quota and difficulty level will be much harderpared to that of the previous years. All of this will depend on your performance on the field, even the smallest quota must be more than half times more than the previous years¡¯ quota." Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s following words raised a furore among the ss-A students ¡ª what was the meaning of this?


    "In other words, your ss¡¯s outdoor hunting duration will be extended to 5 or 6 months ..." added Cheng Yuanhang. This drew a new wave of indignant objections from the students ¡ª yes, they had wanted to experience the thrill of some bloody sport, but they had never wanted to remain butchers for so long on a primitive!


    "Teacher, why did you all decide to make things this way?" asked Ye Xu angrily. This way of doing things was obviously a little unfair by academy standards. In the academy, it was permitted to raise objections, as long as you backed it up with logic and, of course, strength.


    "Why?" Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s expression darkened. He mmed his palm onto his desk, the loud noise instantly silencing the mouring students in the ss. The ssroom became dead silent.


    "Ever since our Central Scout Academy was established, we have never once lost the seventh grade virtual world barrier-crossing award, but this year, we lost it. Before we could pass the barrier mission, the scout academy of the distant third-rate Azure broke through it ... This is a disgrace for our Central Scout Academy, and also a disgrace upon you all ..."


    At this point, Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s tone eased slightly, "Have you all considered the reason? Why we failed? Is it because we have been blinded by the glories of our past, so we did not see the relentless pursuit of the other scout academies? Today, at the group meeting of the academy teachers, what the dean said was right ¡ª we thrive by strife and die by leisure! If we do not wake up, our Central Scout Academy will lose its former glory, and be eliminated by the changing of the times."


    "So, we¡¯ve decided to take this experience to heart and no longer take it easy ... So, congrattions, from now onwards, you all shall receive the full force of our education. We won¡¯t let you all have time to think of any nonsense ... we will make sure to squeeze out every bit oftent potential you have in you." Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s words caused a chill to settle deep in the bones of the students; it felt as if a great cmity was upon them.


    Ling Lan propped up her chin with one hand, a trace of a smile on her lips. She had long felt that the academy was setting their overall standards too low for the students. This was also one of the reasons why her strength just kept getting further and further from that of these children. Luckily, Qi Long and the others had been hanging around her, and so had not been held back by the academy¡¯s education standards.


    Still, Ling Lan also understood the academy¡¯s caution. After all, at this age, the children were still growing ¡ª if they went overboard with training, it may cause long-term damage to their bodies. The academy did not dare gamble with that.


    "So that¡¯s why we will be getting additional training on all fronts." Wu Jiong understood now. He threw a nce at the pleased look on Ling Lan¡¯s face, and somehow understood a bit better why the other was so exceptional. His training load was probably much much more than theirs ... if that was really the case, then he too would not lose to the other.


    "Yes, from now on, the Central Scout Academy shall increase the mission load of every grade by two times or more. If the seventh grade of next year loses again, then we¡¯ll continue increasing the load," dered Cheng Yuanhang with a cold smile. This was the academy¡¯s decision. If they wanted to have better days, then they would have to hope that next year¡¯s seventh grade would do better.


    "Teacher Cheng, do you know exactly which people were on that team which passed the barrier mission?" Li Yingjie could hold back no longer, speaking up to ask what he was most concerned about.


    Cheng Yuanhang stared at him with a half-smile. Li Yingjie felt as if his thoughts had been read by the teacher, but he really wanted to know the answer. If his elder cousin brother was among those people, that would mean that his hopes of recing his cousin as the first inheritor in line was almost impossible.


    "You don¡¯t have to concern yourself over this. All you need to do is work hard toplete the assignments given by the academy." Cheng Yuanhang did not give a straight answer, instead advising Li Yingjie to focus on his own issues.


    "I only want to know whether there is someone called Li Mn 1 among them," asked Li Yingjie doggedly.


    Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s brows furrowed. He nced at the somewhat emotional Li Yingjie, and thought for a moment before saying, "There was indeed one person with the surname Li." Li Yingjie¡¯s face drained of colour in an instant, but then Cheng Yuanhang continued to say, "But I remember that that person was called Li Lanfeng 2 !"


    "Li Lanfeng?! It¡¯s fine if it¡¯s not him." Li Yingjie¡¯s face regained its usualplexion. If it wasn¡¯t the name that he feared it would be, then it didn¡¯t matter who broke past the barrier.


    "Alright, if there are no questions, everyone follow me to the za to assemble," said Cheng Yuanhang, seeing that the students were mostly settled. With that, he brought the grade four ss-A students to the central za of the Central Scout Academy.


    Along the way, jet-rollers filled the skies ¡ª everyone was riding their jet-rollers to follow their homeroom teachers to the central za. Ling Lan thought to herself, perhaps this was why jet-rollers were prized so highly in the academy ¡ª when it came to this sort of mass movement, it would have been rather inefficient without the help of jet-rollers.


    At this moment, there were already quite a lot of people at the za. All the grade four students would be going out to hunt today; only the areas they were assigned to were different.


    Ling Lan abruptly noticed that the quiet skies directly above the za were filled with countless small shuttle-like spaceships. This scene made Ling Lan feel once again as if she were inside a science fiction world ... well, fine, her whole existence right now was totally a science fiction.


    Ling Lan saw something that wasn¡¯t usually here around the za ¡ª there were severalrge hovering tforms. Right then, on some of the tforms, there were already some students who had arrived earlier. From the tforms, the students were boarding those little spaceships one by one.


    Once everyone was inside, the doors of the spaceship would close, turning it into an airtight elliptical shuttle. Then, with a whoosh, the spaceship would zoom off. That instantaneous burst of speed was definitely as high as 0.5 mach.


    Cheng Yuanhang brought them to a tform rtively taller and wider than the rest. The moment all the students were on the tform, arge red-painted spaceship flew over and stopped before them.


    On the body of the spaceship, the words ¡¯Central Scout Academy Special ss-A¡¯ were actually painted on it. Ling Lan sweatdropped ¡ª did ss-A even have its own exclusive spaceship? Looks like the academy had really invested a lot in making sure the students felt the distinction of being strong.


    The interior of the spaceship was veryrge. There were three round tables in the centre, and positioned angrly around each of the tables were six padded armchairs. The other seats were all scattered haphazardly around the threerge round tables. Clearly, the academy also wanted to emphasize the elevated status of the strong even within the ss itself, pushing the concept of survival of the fittest to the very max.


    The students lined up and boarded the ship in an organised fashion. Those students who entered first but were not from the three major teams all consciously left the seats around the three tables open.


    Ling Lan was the first member of the three major teams to enter. With one look, she gleaned what this arrangement was all about. Without any reservations, she sat in one of the armchairs around one of the tables; Qi Long and the others of her team followed her lead and sat around the same table.


    This was their position. Within the scout academy, there was no such thing as giving way out of modesty; to do so would just invite contempt.

 Chapter 132: Thoroughly Convinced!

    Chapter 132: Thoroughly Convinced!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Wu Jiong, who entered soon after, looked at Ling Lan seated on the right, and with a smile, he moved to sit at the round table to the left of Ling Lan¡¯s. Ye Xu and the other members of his team followed him.


    It had to be said that the positions Ling Lan and Wu Jiong had chosen were the best of the three tables. Their tables were positioned closest to the big screen, while the position of the other table was obviously not as good as theirs, its line of sight being partially blocked by them.


    The spaceship¡¯s screen disyed the scenery outside. The passengers could enjoy drinks while viewing the scenery outside; Ling Lan, who was extremely curious about everything, would naturally be unwilling to get a lesser seat.


    Han Jijyun seemed to be very familiar with spaceships. He tugged on the arm of Lin Zhong-qing, who was also staring around in awe like a country bumpkin, indicating for him to follow him. From who knows where, they found some iced canned drinks, and together they brought the drinks over to the rest of Ling Lan¡¯s group.


    This caused the other children to look on in envy, but they did not dare to follow suit. Having never set foot on a spaceship before, they really were unsure where they could get those drinks, and there were no service staff or customer service etcetera on hand to help them. If they messed up and caused some trouble by any chance ... that would be troublesome.


    Ling Lan used her the pad of her index finger to rub gently in a circle around the top of her can, luxuriating in the chill given off by the body of the can. Although the weather now wasn¡¯t extremely hot, being able to enjoy a cool refreshing drink like this was still a true pleasure.


    Ling Lan nced at Han Jijyun, who was currently talking with Qi Long. Sensing her stare, Han Jijyun turned to look and saw Ling Lan looking at him. So, he raised the drink in his hand and gave it a slight shake in her direction. Moreover, his expression was somewhat teasing in nature.


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked. "Your family¡¯s intelligence is very urate, eh?"


    A light shed through Han Jijyun¡¯s eyes, and his lips split into a quick grin. Shamelessly, he said, "Boss, isn¡¯t this all just to serve you better?"


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help butugh. She held onto the can in her hand, and raised it to knock lightly against the other¡¯s canned drink, signalling her eptance. The two of them lifted their heads in unison and took a drink. Their eyes met ¡ª everything that needed to be said was conveyed in silence.


    Ling Lan knew very well that, with these actions, Han Jijyun was telling her which stratum he came from ... the Intelligence Agency? What a scheming brat. If Little Four had not gathered detailed information on all of them early on and passed it to her, Han Jijyun¡¯s subtle hint this time might have really just flown over her head.


    Is it because some things just can¡¯t be said out loud? Especially with his special family background, Han Jijyun was clearly much more ¡¯ck-bellied¡¯ 1 than before. Looks like cultivating him into the team¡¯s brain would not be a problem.


    ********


    Han Jijyun was satisfied; the smile on his lips deepened. This once again proved that Boss Ling Lan was an intelligent person that only needed a small hint to understand everything. This time, by bringing out the drinks ¡ª firstly, he wanted to tell Ling Lan about his family situation; and secondly, it was out of a small selfish wish to test Ling Lan.


    Originally, Han Jijyun had acknowledged Ling Lan as bossrgely because of his childhood friend Qi Long. Because Qi Long was determined to follow Ling Lan with all his heart, as his best mate, Han Jijyun could only bite the bullet and follow him.


    As they grew up year by year, Han Jijyun asked himself more than once ¡ª could he really follow Ling Lan with all his heart like Qi Long, acknowledging him as his boss? Han Jijyun knew very well that if he could not be truly sincere in his loyalty, forcing it would eventually lead to a split one day due to a conflict of interest. If that happened, both sides would be hurt, so he might as well make things clear now and rebuild their rtionship. Perhaps then, their rtionship could be more permanent.


    Han Jijyun did not deny that Ling Lan¡¯s strength was extraordinary ¡ª in terms ofbat, he had never seen anyone else as talented as Ling Lan ¡ª it was like he was a peerless prodigy born for the sole purpose of fighting. This was also the reason why Qi Long was so deathly loyal to Ling Lan; as a battle maniac, of course he would idolize this unparalleledbat genius.


    But Han Jijyun knew that he wasn¡¯t like Qi Long; he wasn¡¯t that obsessed withbat. Compared to fighting, he much preferred studying all kinds of space campaigns. The various unusual space strategies drew him inpletely, and he was also deeply interested in starshipmand. Thus, Ling Lan would not be able to receive his submission with justbat ability alone. Han Jijyun liked to use his head, so he hoped to find someone who could out-think him to submit to.


    However, in these past few years, Ling Lan¡¯s cool attitude towards Lin Zhong-qing made Han Jijyun feel that Ling Lan was not a simple person. Han Jijyun understood that Ling Lan must know that Lin Zhong-qing was not simply what he appeared to be, which was why she was treating him so coldly. Han Jijyun had sensed Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s duplicity because of his experience from staying by his father all those years before he came to school. Still, as long as Lin Zhong-qing did not do anything to harm them, he also would not be mean and expose him.


    In any case, the matter of Lin Zhong-qing proved that Ling Lan was definitely not a simple-minded person. This made Han Jijyun extremely happy, even starting to feel that following Ling Lan just like this wasn¡¯t too bad after all. However, it still wasn¡¯t enough to secure his full loyalty. In order to resolve this matter as soon as possible, he intentionally arranged this hintden scene. If Ling Lan did not catch the hint, of course Han Jijyun would not give up so easily ¡ª he would give Ling Lan three chances. If Ling Lan did not sense anything for all three times, then he could only regretfully tell Ling Lan about his position.


    Unexpectedly, Ling Lan¡¯s response was so rapid that he was rather shocked ¡ª this truly proved that he and Qi Long had not chosen the wrong boss. At the very first hint, Ling Lan had got it, even using doublespeak to point out his background. He was thoroughly convinced now. This proved that Ling Lan was very likely much more astute than he had thought ...


    The final clinking of cans was his promise to Ling Lan that he, Han Jijyun, would only recognise Ling Lan as boss in this life from now on, with no more reservations.


    Ling Lan had not known that Han Jijyun had been struggling over this issue. Frankly, she had never taken Qi Long¡¯s and Han Jijyun¡¯s acknowledgements as boss too seriously, thinking that these were just the yful words of children. What she didn¡¯t know was that the children of this world all matured way too early; they took their promises extremely seriously, and would never break them easily.


    ********


    Ling Lan¡¯s and Wu Jiong¡¯s teams each took one round table; when Li Yingjie finally showed up near the end, he saw that the two best spots had been taken by Ling Lan and Wu Jiong, and red angrily at them. But in the end, he could do nothing but sit down sulkily at the round table behind them. Who asked him to arrive sote? There was really nothing he could say about not getting a good spot.


    Cheng Yuanhang swiftly did a head count, confirming that all the students of his ss had boarded the ship. Only then did he inform the spaceship pilot to depart for the spaceport.


    This leg of the journey took about one hour. Ling Lan was slightly disappointed in the scenery along the way. It was okay at the beginning, when they could look down at the entire Central Scout Academy campus ¡ª Ling Lan was once again awed at just how vast the academy was. It was so unbelievably amazing, almost asrge as a special-ss city. But once they were high up in the air, other than white clouds there were just more white clouds. In the end, Ling Lan lost all interest in looking at the scenery, instead half reclining in her armchair with her eyes closed to rest for a bit.


    They arrived at the spaceport not a second over their estimated arrival time. All of the students got off the spaceship in an organised fashion, and saw that they were now in an endlesslyrge spaceport. Standing at its centre looking out, one would feel as if this spaceport was vast beyond imagining. There were over ten thousand starships stopped by the gates of the port. From one gate to another, walking would require around one hour ¡ª if one goes to the wrong gate by mistake, it would be difficult to change to the right gate in time. Of course, the federal government was smart, so they made sure that countless transit trains dedicated to the various gates would appear here.


    Their teacher led them to board the hover train dedicated to gate 117. The transit was quick; Ling Lan and the others arrived at their destination within 5 minutes.


    When they got off this time, Ling Lan saw that a colossal and fearsome-looking cone-shaped starship was parked at gate 117. The missile heads bared to the outside proved that this was a weaponised starship, definitely not a leisure cruiser for citizen usage. The scars left on its body by missiles just drove the point home that this was no simple starship.


    Ling Lan cast a curious look at the teacher Cheng Yuanhang at the front, wondering how he had found such a fearsome starship. Mind you, this kind of battle-experienced starship couldn¡¯t possibly belong to the scout academy.


    Cheng Yuanhang led the students into the starship. At the main door, a strong man stood ramrod straight. Although he wasn¡¯t dressed in military uniform, Ling Lan could still clearly sense the stamp of the military on him. It was as if the unsatisfied bloody killing intent freshly back from the battlefield still lingered around him.


    "Old Lian, I didn¡¯t think it¡¯d be you. We¡¯ll be troubling you this time." Cheng Yuanhang was extremely warm towards the other, and his tone had a clear thread of respect.


    "Haha ... Little Cheng, what are you saying? As long as I¡¯m free, I just love epting assignments from your academy. Many of my brother subordinates are from your ce, you cultivated them well!" said Old Lian with a boisterousugh, pping a hand on Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s shoulders.


    That said, he pulled Cheng Yuanhang aside subtly, and asked quietly, "Give me some hint. Of the students you¡¯ve brought this time, how many are you satisfied with?"


    Speechless, Cheng Yuanhang red at him, "Don¡¯t even think about it. They¡¯re still kids."


    As if having been caught harbouring some ulterior motives, Old Lian chuckled awkwardly. He did not dare to say anything further, hurriedly turning to order his subordinates in a loud voice to bring Cheng Yuanhang and his students to their waiting room.


    Seeing the students disperse, Cheng Yuanhang surreptitiously pulled Old Lian aside, and indicated for the other to look in Wu Jiong¡¯s direction. "That Wu Jionges from a military elite family. You should know his grandfather, that support pir of the military Wu family."


    Old Lian stuck his tongue out, gasping in surprise, "Who¡¯d have guessed that is his grandson? He should probably be the most talented one of your bunch then."


    "He¡¯s not!" said Cheng Yuanhang curtly. He pointed out Qi Long and Ling Lan, and said quietly, "That boy with the silly grin, the one that¡¯s speaking so brashly ... his talent is definitely no less than Wu Jiong, perhaps even better. He¡¯s called Qi Long. In fact, his father isn¡¯t a simple character either. Qi Yaoyang, you should know him, right?"


    "Of course I know! That¡¯s the strongest ace operator of our Third Division mecha operators. I heard that he¡¯s about to advance to be an imperial operator this time, but who knows if that¡¯s true ..." Old Lian was rather tongue-tied in his shock; the backgrounds of these kids were frankly quite frightening.


    "Well, it¡¯s about time for him to ascend. At the beginning, he purposely held back and dyed his advancement just so he could be deployed sessfully. After these past few years, he probably won¡¯t be able to hold back any longer." As Cheng Yuanhang had a direct line to the academy dean, his information was generally quite reliable.

 Chapter 133: Sparring!

    Chapter 133: Sparring!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Although we¡¯ll lose a great warrior on the battlefield, the Federation will gain an extra measure of deterrent power. I wouldn¡¯t want to see something like what happened to Major General Ling Xiao happen again." As Old Lian said this, his expression was overcast with shadows. Till now, he just could not understand ¡ª for that inconsequential battle, why had they sent out an IN mecha, the Federation¡¯s ultimate weapon, so randomly? Even more hrious was the fact that a god-ss operator, so prized by the Federation, had actually been killed so easily by the enemy nation¡¯s trap ... Had the personnel of the Federal Intelligence Agency all gone to eat sh*t?


    Every time he thought of the matter, rage would burn hotly in his heart. He really wanted to f*ck up those idiots who hade up with this strategy ... if the Premier Head of State hadn¡¯t immediately apprehended those people for questioning, the Federation soldiers would very likely have stormed into the military to drag out all those involved and put a bullet into their brains before being appeased.


    "Stop bringing up sad history. What happened with Major General Ling Xiao is a thorn in all the hearts of us people in the Federation." Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s expression dimmed. Even though ten years had passed since that incident, the citizens of the Federation still could not ept this cruel reality.


    Cheng Yuanhang looked towards Ling Lan in the distance, and hisplexion improved. Rallying his spirits, he said, "Those two kids I mentioned, though their talent is great, and their strength is also sufficient, still, they aren¡¯t the strongest in my ss ..." This one in a million prodigy could perhaps remedy their pain one day.


    These words of Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s flustered Old Lian. "Ah ... they still aren¡¯t the best?" He pped a hand onto Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s shoulder roughly, and said with envy, "You little punk, how are you so lucky? The first time taking a ss, and you get such exceptional young prodigies."


    Cheng Yuanhang said proudly, "Don¡¯t you see what ss I¡¯m leading? .... It¡¯s Special ss-A which has gathered all the top talent within the Federation!" There was a radiant light in his eyes ¡ª thinking back, when the dean had first told him the news, he had almost been overwhelmed with joy and surprise.


    "Already said you have the devil¡¯s own luck," huffed Old Lian.


    Cheng Yuanhang pretended he heard nothing, turning to point at Ling Lan, who was currently motionlessly observing theyout of the starship, and said, "There, that¡¯s the one. He¡¯s who I¡¯m referring to. His name is Ling Lan. What do you think? Not bad, right?"


    Old Lian peered intently at Ling Lan for a moment, and then could not help but rub his chin excitedly. He nodded and said, "Hn, not bad. I like that alert gaze of his. A very level-headed little fellow, isn¡¯t he? No matter how curious and excited he is, he¡¯s still putting his own safety first ¡ª it¡¯s obvious that he¡¯s trying to memorize our military formations."


    "It¡¯s not just that. This kid¡¯sbat ability is also a level beyond the others. Putting it bluntly, this kid, other thancking some physical strength, on all other fronts, the men below you ... will most likely be no match for him." Cheng Yuanhang had full confidence in Ling Lan¡¯s capabilities ¡ª his tone was sure when he said this.


    "How could this be?" Old Lian could believe that Ling Lan¡¯s talent was exceptional, but he definitely could not believe this im of Cheng Yuanhang¡¯s. He felt that Cheng Yuanhang was just praising his own wares ... think about it. A little brat of not even 10 years of age, no matter how insanely talented he was or how quickly he picked upbat, should still be unable to beat the battle-experienced veterans under him.


    "Don¡¯t believe me? If there¡¯s a chance, just let your subordinates try him," suggested Cheng Yuanhang with a half-smile. He was obviously telling Old Lian that they were the real deal ¡ª real gold did not fear the test of fire.


    Old Lian descended into a thoughtful silence. He pulled at his jaw, looking at Ling Lan with a contemtive gaze ...


    ********


    On the starship, six people were assigned to one room. So, Ling Lan¡¯s team directly applied to stay together. Besides Ling Lan¡¯s team, all the other teams also chose to do the same.


    It wasn¡¯t long before the starship disengaged from the navigation frame, and officially departed. Very quickly, they left the spaceport behind for the endless starry skies. This time, their space journey would take seven days for them to arrive at their destination. At the beginning, the students were still in an excited state. Eagerly watching the starry skies go by, time seemed to pass rather quickly. But after two consecutive days of the same thing, their excitement slowly waned and they calmed down. The monotonous scenery could no longer hold the children¡¯s attention; the students, who were used to the hustle and bustle of campus life, began to feel bored and restless.


    As if sensing the children¡¯s boredom, the starship captain suddenly announced that a sparring match would be held between the students and the starship¡¯s crew. This reignited the students¡¯ excitement ¡ª besides sparring with other students and sometimes the teachers in the academy, the students had really never fought any other adults before.


    Every child had their dreams of bing strong. They too wanted to know how wide the gap was between them and grown adults in terms ofbat ability.


    Qi Long was a pure battle maniac ¡ª hearing this news, he immediately dragged Ling Lan and the others to thebat room to watch the fights. Of course, he also intended to go fight a match for himself.


    There was an extremely spaciousbat room inside the starship. Ling Lan noticed that the walls of thebat room were made of highly resistant metalposite steel tes. Anything below 1 tonne 1 of strength would not leave a mark on them; this was definitely a room which could let fighters fight as hard as they liked ...


    Cold sweat beaded on Ling Lan¡¯s forehead. It looked like the crew members of this starship were all battle maniacs, otherwise they would not have specially used such an expensive and precious metal just to make abat room.


    By the time Ling Lan and the others got there, in thebat room, there had already been quite a few students who had sparred with the starship¡¯s crew members. Although the ss-A children were considered exceptional among the students of the same grade at school,pared to these crewmen, they were really all too green. It only took a few moves for the students to lose; even the one who performed the best was not able tost more than 10 moves.


    This kind of one-sided fighting was not at all exciting in the crewmen¡¯s eyes, causing the spectating crewmen to yawn non-stop. "The captain must be really bored to monkey around like this, actually getting us to fool around with these little brats. Just watching Lil¡¯ Jin and the others fighting like this is really ufortable." As they were afraid to hurt the children by ident, every crewman that went up to fight had to be exceedingly careful with their strength. These people observing were depressed just watching this.


    Being used to battles with real knives and guns, these fights were truly just like child¡¯s y to the crewmen. They had no interest at all in ying along, which was why they were rather put out at being forced to do this by their captain¡¯smand.


    These words drew the indignation of the surrounding Central Scout Academy students. However, after these few rounds of sparring, they too knew that the gap in strength between them and the crewmen was just toorge. Even if they rushed forwards, they would just be delivering themselves up for bullying.


    The students of Special ss-A had always been a privileged lot in the academy. The academy had instilled the notion in their minds that they were the best of the bunch, so their pride was naturally stronger than the other students by far. Against this sort of terrible defeat, they were of course unwilling to just admit defeat ¡ª they wanted to get some dignity back!


    "The ones you have beaten aren¡¯t even the strongest in our ss. Wait till you¡¯ve defeated those strongest few before saying anything more," said one of the students huffily.


    These words were soundly approved by all the students in attendance. "That¡¯s right, the strongest person in our ss isn¡¯t here yet. Don¡¯t look down on us."


    "Defeat him first before talking big ..."


    The angry words of the children made the crew members burst out intoughter. One of the crewmen even moved to point at one of the skinnier crew members and said, "Quan,ter, why don¡¯t you be the one to meet their strongest fighter?"


    "Me? But I¡¯m a JMC,bat isn¡¯t my specialty," said Quan softly, scratching his head. It was general knowledge that JMCs were the crew members with the weakestbat ability on board the starship.


    "That¡¯s why you¡¯re perfect! At least then we¡¯ll be able to see them hold out for about 50 moves, giving them some face 2 ." These crewmen were all old shipmates who followed no restrictions or taboos ¡ª their unfiltered words were definitely not polite, immediately causing many of the scout academy students to almostbust from anger.


    Ling Lan had just been quietly watching the proceedings, when suddenly, a voice rang out by her ear, "Even now, you¡¯re still holding back?"


    It turned out that Wu Jiong and his team had arrived, just in time to hear these words. Right now, veins were popping out on his forehead, and his eyes were lit with the mes of rage ¡ª it looked like he was pretty angry.


    "You could go up and give it a try," suggested Ling Lan. She was not so impulsive that she would rush forward just because of some words. It¡¯s not like being insulted would cause any additional hairs on her head to fall off.


    Wu Jiong said darkly, "Aren¡¯t you the one who¡¯s the strongest of us all?" Ling Lan could tolerate to this extent? Didn¡¯t he have any pride of being strong at all? Wu Jiong just could not figure it out.


    "If they could be defeated by someone who¡¯s not the strongest, wouldn¡¯t that be even more exciting?" said Ling Lan lightly with a quirk of a brow.


    Wu Jiong cast a searching look at Ling Lan, and then a mocking smile appeared on his lips. "True!" That said, he readied himself to move forward when a hand suddenly reached for him.


    Wu Jiong reflexively tried to dodge, but found that he had no chance ¡ª that hand had sealed off all the room he had to dodge ...


    "It¡¯s not yet time for you to go out." Ling Lan was the one who had stopped Wu Jiong.


    "Lin Zhong-qing," Ling Lan suddenly turned to yell out.


    Startled, Lin Zhong-qing blinked for a moment before replying in a hurry, "Boss, what¡¯s up?"


    "You go and test that person," ordered Ling Lan. "Use only the scout academy¡¯s foundationalbat arts."


    "Alright ..." Although Lin Zhong-qing did not know why Ling Lan refused to let him use any secret arts, since the Boss had said so, he would follow through even though he did not understand.


    "To fight with our strongest top-rank, a JMC is unqualified." Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s voice cut through the crowd, causing the ss-A students to cheer after they got over their surprise. They had seen that Ling Lan, Qi Long, Wu Jiong and the others of their team had alle. Moreover, Lin Zhong-qing was part of Ling Lan¡¯s team. Hising forward must have undoubtedly been approved by Ling Lan.


    Wu Jiong watched as Lin Zhong-qing walked onto thebat area, and asked Ling Lan worriedly, "Will he be fine?"


    "Facing a JMC who isn¡¯t specialised inbat, as long as Lin Zhong-qing keeps his head, he won¡¯t lose." Ling Lan could tell at a nce that that crewman Quan was not a realbat expert. Although Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s skills and techniques were verymon, his foundationalbat arts were very solid. Against this kind of person with weakbat basics, he shouldn¡¯t have much difficulty.


    "I¡¯ll take your word for it." Wu Jiong had faith in Ling Lan¡¯s judgement. After all, in terms ofbat, within their ss, if Ling Lan imed to be second ce, then no one would dare to im first ce.


    "Oh oh oh oh ... Go, Quan, go!" The crew of the starship began to make a ruckus.


    Under the egging of hispanions, Quan finally walked onto thebat area. In his mind, he thought that even though he couldn¡¯t beat hisrades-in-arms, dealing with these bunch of brats would still be no problem.

 Chapter 134: Top 5 of the Class

    Chapter 134: Top 5 of the ss


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The two of them bowed to each other, and then the fight started. After several moves had been exchanged, the initially loud voices of the crewmen became softer and softer, until their attention was fully absorbed by the fight.


    "That rotten brat¡¯s basicbat arts are pretty good, very solid."


    "He¡¯s also quite calm and careful, not using any so-called secret techniques or ultimate moves to break up the integrity of his basicbat arts. Quan just can¡¯t find any openings."


    "Quan¡¯s attacks have all been resolved." The offence and defence of the basicbat arts were very bnced, so unless the opponent was someone whosebat realm greatly exceeded Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s, it would otherwise be very difficult for them to crack these basic physical skills built through solid training.


    ********


    "Your student ... this counterattack is perfect, eh? Hmph, these little bastards will now have to tuck away their proud peacock tails." In the captain¡¯s room, Old Lian was staring intently at the screen. Seeing his own crew performing so disgracefully, he was extremely angry.


    Old Lian had naturally seen the interaction between Ling Lan and Wu Jiong, and was very satisfied at their fighting spirit. However, when he saw Ling Lan send Lin Zhong-qing out to fight, knowing that Lin Zhong-qing was not part of the top tier of ss-A, he had begun to wonder whether that little fellow was being overly confident.


    Although that Quan was indeed the JMC of his ship, and his skills were the bottom of the heap among his crew ... But still, any member of his crew was no ordinary crew member! Every single one of them had been baptised in the mes of countless merciless battles, all of them seasoned warriors who had mbered up from beneath a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood ...


    Old Lian believed that even the weakest among them, Quan, should be an impossible opponent to defeat for the students from ss-A. Unexpectedly, he was being harshly pped in the face by the reality before him ...


    Sitting at one side, Cheng Yuanhang pretended not to see Old Lian¡¯splexion which was rapidly changing colours. Instead, he calmly took a sip of the tea he held in his hands without saying a word. However, the subtle smile on the corner of his lips showed how pleased he was at the moment.


    ********


    "Lin Zhong-qing, fighting!" "Lin Zhong-qing, go, go!"


    The students of ss-A were all pumped up, cheering enthusiastically for their fighting ssmate. Even Li Yingjie, who had never gotten along with Lin Zhong-qing, also kept a stern face throughout, hoping that Lin Zhong-qing would put up a good fight and take back some face for ss-A.


    Right then, Quan was beginning to feel somewhat anxious for being unable to take his opponent down; a very small opening appeared in his thus far steadybat arts ...


    Is this a chance or a trap? Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s mind jolted, at this moment, he felt as if he could hear Ling Lan bark out by his ear, "Attack his right nk!" That spot was precisely where the opening was.


    Lin Zhong-qing had no time to think ¡ª his body just obeyed thatmand, sending out a powerful punch with all the strength it possessed.


    "Bam!" The sound of a fist meeting flesh. This move of Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s came swiftly ¡ª the opponent was flustered, and unable to dodge, he was hit directly!


    Quan was seen staggering several steps back. Subconsciously, his right hand was pressed onto his right nk. His face was white as a sheet, and there was a pained expression on his face. It looked like Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s punch hadnded soundly, and he had taken the full brunt of it.


    Expression changing, a crew member with a red cross stitched on the right arm of his uniform jumped out from the crowd. Lifting the emergency healing apparatus on his waist, he quickly scanned the other¡¯s body and then said anxiously, "There¡¯s internal bleeding. Quick, send Quan into the recovery pod." This guy should be the ship¡¯s doctor.


    The ship¡¯s doctor¡¯s words spurred several muscled crew members into action; they hurriedly carried Quan to the recovery pods. The initially flippant crewmen¡¯s expressions had turned serious. They found that this group of little brats before them were not as simple as they had thought.


    Thebat roompsed into a short silence. Seeing that the starship¡¯s crew were finally taking them seriously, Ling Lan sent a pointed look at Lin Zhong-qing.


    Lin Zhong-qing received Ling Lan¡¯s cue, and spoke up once more, "I¡¯m not fully proficient inbat arts yet. If I injured that big brother, please forgive me!


    "However, if all the crew members on this grand ship are all of this level, then there would be no need to continue the spars any further." Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s words caused the crewmen¡¯s faces to pale and flush erratically ¡ª this was obviously aeback targeted at their previous cocky remarks!


    "So what you¡¯re saying is, the other students in your ss are even stronger than you?" An icy voice rang out from behind the crew.


    The crew anxiously moved aside to give way, all of them calling out, " Sir 1 !"


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes narrowed. A man dressed in Federation military uniform appeared, his entire demeanour emitting a piercing cold air. He looked to be around 35 to 36 years old, one of the youngest among the crewmen, but the other much older crewmen all seemed to treat him with extreme respect, perhaps even some fear.


    From the pressure exerted by the other, Ling Lan could just tell that this person was probably the strongest one among all these crew members.


    The other¡¯s aura also affected Lin Zhong-qing. Lin Zhong-qing felt as if he was being pressed down by an invisible force, so heavy that his knees wanted to buckle, but the pride in his bones would not allow him to disgrace the academy, disgrace his ss, and disgrace Ling Lan¡¯s team. A sh of white teeth, and he borrowed the pain from biting his own cheek to recover the prideful look on his face. Then, he replied, "With my strength, I can only squeeze into the top 10. As for the top 5, I don¡¯t even have the right to touch them with a finger ..."


    "Is that so? Now I really want to see how strong this top 5 of your ss whom you can¡¯t even touch really are." The military instructor cast his gaze over the surrounding crewmen, searching. This made the crew members stand up straight reflexively and throw out their chests.


    "Team Golden Scales." The instructor¡¯s gaze finallynded on one of the teams. "This time, your team is up!"


    "Yes, Sir!" The six men of Team Golden Scales could not conceal their surprise; they had not expected the instructor to send them out.


    This nomination also bbergasted the other crew members. They would never have expected the instructor to go so far, actually sending out the team members of their ace mecha team. Were these little brats really that strong?


    "Can you call out your ss¡¯s top 5 now?" After arranging the roster for the starship¡¯s crew, the instructor turned his head to ask Lin Zhong-qing, tone indifferent.


    Lin Zhong-qing reflexively turned to look at Ling Lan. One of the fingers of Ling Lan¡¯s low-hanging right hand gave a light flick.


    Standing beside Ling Lan, Han Jijyun suddenly felt himself being pushed out gently by a surge of energy. His body took two strides forward involuntarily,ing to stand in front of Ling Lan and the others. It was as if he had seen Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s question, and stepped out by himself to exin.


    Han Jijyun was a smart child; he instantly understood who the one who had pushed him forward was. Steadying himself, he immediately introduced the top 5 of their ss to the instructor: Qi Long, Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, Luo Lang, and Ling Lan.


    Wu Jiong looked at Lin Zhong-qing and Han Jijyun standing in front of them, and quietly asked Ling Lan, "How shall we arrange this?"


    "To win, or purely for sparring?" Ling Lan threw back this question.


    "What do you mean?" Wu Jiong frowned.


    "If we want to win, then we should follow the methods of Tian Ji¡¯s horse-racing 2 ; if we just want to spar to learn something, then it¡¯s best to have roughly equal match-ups." It was now up to Wu Jiong and the others to choose. Ling Lan was frankly unconcerned whether they won or lost ¡ª her gaze met that of the instructor¡¯s. She had no interest in the Golden Scales Team. It would probably be more meaningful if she could fight against that instructor.


    Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie discussed the matter for a moment, then decided that they wanted to win. Having a strong thirst for victory, they were unwilling to ept defeat.


    Qi Long and Luo Lang did not have an opinion; they were willing to just follow whatever Ling Lan decided.


    Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie¡¯s choice made Ling Lan¡¯s brows furrow gently. This fear of losing a fight was not a good thing. Still, Ling Lan did not say anything, only nodding to show that she understood. There was a total of six members in the Golden Scales Team. With a nce, Ling Lan could already tell which few were weaker and which few were stronger. Her eyes flickered in thought, and then she called Qi Long to call Han Jijyun back for a discussion.


    In the end, the few of them decided to request for the scout academy to have the right to freely choose their opponent. After all, they were the weaker side ¡ª it was very normal for them to have some conditions.


    Han Jijyun conveyed Ling Lan and the others¡¯ request to the instructor, and he agreed to it without any hesitation.


    Li Yingjie was the first to go up. The opponent Ling Lan selected for him was the weakest one among the Golden Scales Team. The instructor¡¯s brows lifted slightly, watching Li Yingjie¡¯s fight intently even in his surprise. As expected, Li Yingjie¡¯s ability wasn¡¯t bad, actually able to fight on even ground with that crew member, not at all disadvantaged.


    "The principles of Tian Ji horse-racing, is it? Interesting." A hint of a smile appeared on the instructor¡¯s lips. These kids really had a strong desire for victory, it seemed. Still, this wasn¡¯t a bad thing ¡ª if they didn¡¯t have these kinds of intense feelings, then they wouldn¡¯t be passionate youths, would they?


    Li Yingjie¡¯s basicbat arts were obviously weaker than Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s, and the opponent was someone N-times stronger than Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s opponent. Several times, he was almost defeated because the opponent had caught hold of the openings in his movements. Fortunately, Li Yingjie¡¯s inherited family martial arts and secret techniques were all high-grade material. Every time he felt that something was not right, he would use a Li family life-saving technique. This helped him to avoid many sure-hit attacks.


    Just like that, the two fighters exchanged over a hundred moves. The member of the Golden Scales Team felt that this was a great loss of face, being unable to take down such a small brat like this ... He lifted his head to look at the instructor, a plea in his eyes.


    The instructor¡¯s brows were locked deeply, and he shook his head without even having to think about it. Of course he knew what the other was asking for, but that movement was thest resort of mecha. Moreover, beating a mere student with that would be meaningless.


    Unable to get approval from the instructor, the team member seemed to lose all fighting spirit. Li Yingjie grasped an opening he revealed in his negligence and sent the other stumbling back three steps.


    Catching his bnce, the team member was enraged. To reim his lost face, the stance of his two hands shifted abruptly, his five fingers clenched lightly as he faced Li Yingjie from a distance.


    The instructor¡¯s countenance changed, and he yelled, "Stop!" The team member was jerked back to awareness by this loud yell. Cold sweat poured from his forehead, and he immediately pulled back his hands to stand to one side.


    "This match, we forfeit," said the instructor coldly, "L19, return immediately and go into istion for 3 days."


    "Yes!" L19 replied, head bowed. Due to the height difference, Ling Lan could see theplicated expression on his face, which also held a trace of thankfulness.

 Chapter 135: As the Fights Progress!

    Chapter 135: As the Fights Progress!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    L19 very quickly left thebat room ¡ª it looked like he was going to shut himself up in istion immediately. Ling Lan saw that no one apanied him, looks like the discipline of the crew was extremely strict and clear-cut. This was not something any ordinary contracted starship could do.


    A trace of understanding appeared on the curve of Ling Lan¡¯s lips; she pretty much knew what kind of existence this starship was now.


    Their initial n was for Luo Lang to be the second to fight, but after some calction, Ling Lan decided to switch the positions and let Wu Jiong fight first. Of course, Ling Lan also told Wu Jiong who the second weakest opponent in the line-up was.


    With regards to the change in fighting order, though Wu Jiong was a little confused, he did not have any objections. Before he entered thebat area, Ling Lan said lowly, "Hold up first for about ten moves, wait till the opponent¡¯s charge wanes before fighting back."


    Li Yingjie¡¯s victory had been very random, and could be considered a concession by the other side. But nevertheless, it was still a loss for their opponents. This would naturally stoke the indignation of the remaining members and cause them to yearn even more for victory ¡ª they desperately needed a victory to reim their face.


    Ling Lan spected that this time, the opponent would no longer give them the opportunity to initiate attack. The opponent would most certainly attack fiercely so that they could take this match cleanly and quickly. If the students could not hold up against this starting wave of attacks, then there would be no shot at victory.


    Thus, Luo Lang, who wasn¡¯t good at handling this sort of berserk attack mode, was not suitable toe out now. It was likely that he would be flustered just after a few moves from the opponent, and would quickly be defeated and sent off the field. Ling Lan was unconcerned with the oue of this sparringpetition, but she also did not want Luo Lang to just lose without learning anything. Therefore, she needed to first crack this rush attack strategy of the opponents, to make them believe that snatching the attack initiative was useless.


    But Wu Jiong was different ¡ª he specialised in handling this kind of rush attack. Ling Lan believed that he would definitely be able to withstand the initial rush, and this was why Ling Lan wanted him to fight second. Wu Jiong wanted to win, while Ling Lan did not want her followers to learn nothing from the experience; this way would cover both bases.


    Of course, in order to make sure Wu Jiong would be able to win the match, Ling Lan still gave Wu Jiong a reminder, making sure he was prepared.


    Wu Jiong nodded to indicate that he understood. Although the two of them were consideredpeting rivals within the ss, this did not mean that he didn¡¯t trust Ling Lan¡¯s judgement.


    The two fighters got into position and bowed to one another. Wu Jiong¡¯s opponent was a big man of about 30 years of age. One look at the other¡¯s hulking body and the thick strong muscles on his arms, and it was obvious that the opponent was definitely a power-type fighter. Wu Jiong mentally raised his guard, Ling Lan¡¯s reminder resurfacing in his mind. At first, he had been nning to observe a bit more, but he now immediately made the decision to defend first before attacking.


    Sure enough, as Ling Lan predicted, the opponent this time was no longer as careless and casual as the opponent who had fought Li Yingjie. The other was approaching this fight very seriously, with no thought of giving a handicap. The moment the fight began, he charged forwards like a thunderstorm, bringing forth a flurry of punches and kicks, each movement fierce and powerful.


    Because Wu Jiong was mentally prepared, this ferocious whirlwind attack mode did not faze him much. He kept calm and dodged each attack carefully. He was like a leaf floating on the surface of a raging sea, riding the waves without fear ¡ª no matter how fierce the other¡¯s attacks were, he could always find some way to hold on without losing any ground.


    He weathered a round of the other¡¯s attacks with much difficulty, and then ¡ª perhaps the other had pushed himself too far in order to keep the momentum of his attacks going, for the force behind them suddenly slowed obviously ¡ª Wu Jiong, who had long been ready to counterattack, leapt forward without having to think twice. A set of advanced military-usebat arts belonging to the Wu family was unleashed from his hands, and he stole the attack initiative from his opponent. This sudden change caused the team member of the Golden Scales to scramble to switch gears, and the course of the battle turned.


    Seeing this, the instructor¡¯s brows furrowed lightly. He was now almost certain that the other side was using the strategy of Tian Ji¡¯s horse-racing ¡ª who¡¯d have guessed that they would be able to urately pick out the two weakest members of Team Golden Scales? Furthermore, the student who had fought in the first match as well as the one fighting now was most likely part of the top 3 of the 5-student line-up.


    The instructor had yet to finish this line of thinking when the scene on the field changed. Charging in close, Wu Jiong struck both of his fists out at the same time ¡ª this short and swift attack was too fast for the opponent¡¯s defence, and he was hit full on by Wu Jiong¡¯s attack.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s attack this time used two One-Inch Punches, so though it looked like two light hits, it really wasn¡¯t. The opponent was obviously misled, and the force of the One-Inch Punches caused him to stumble back quite a few steps.


    Gaining an advantage, Wu Jiong did not show any mercy. He stayed close to the opponent and his fists pummelled the other¡¯s abdomen in a frenzied rain of attacks. (This was a height issue; Wu Jiong could only attack that spot.) The opponent had no choice but to move to block these attacks ¡ª the abdomen was one of the weakest spots on the human body. Though Wu Jiong¡¯s frame was small, his strength was not insignificant, so the opponent had to be careful. He could only keep retreating to dispel the force of Wu Jiong¡¯s attacks.


    Then, suddenly, Wu Jiong¡¯s frenzied attacks stopped. He pulled back his strength and leapt backwards to return to his starting position, putting some distance between him and his opponent. He then bowed to the other and said, "Thank you for the concession, Uncle!"


    The man abruptly realised ¡ª he looked down at his feet, and sure enough, without knowing it, he had retreated till he had stepped out of the defined boundaries of thebat area. In other words, he had been forced out of the ring by Wu Jiong; ording to the rules, he had indeed lost the match.


    The man could not help but chuckle wryly. "What an impressive scout, it is truly my loss."


    The man then marched over to stand in front of the instructor, lowered his head and said, "I¡¯m sorry, Sir, I¡¯ve lost."


    "L18, return and enter istion for three days!" The instructor sighed softly and assigned punishment again. Losing to a scout was an embarrassment for an adult ¡ª by giving out some punishment, it may help to ease the shame.


    The man saluted the instructor gratefully, and then turned to leave. It looked like he was also going off on his own to iste himself immediately. Istion was not necessarily a bad thing ¡ª sometimes, cooling off for a bit may perhaps reap great benefits. Many people had earned their advancements and improved their abilities through isting themselves and reflecting.


    Still, after two consecutive men going off to iste themselves without objection, Ling Lan¡¯s line-up of five shared a knowing nce. There was only one message in their eyes ¡ª this starship was most likely a military vessel in active service that was currently disguised as a mercenary vessel. Consequently, the they were headed to this time was most likely not the publicly known primitive as stated in theirmunicator notifications, but instead a secret sealed by the military.


    After gaining two victories, the scout academy students were on cloud nine and were getting a little carried away ¡ª they actually began shouting out to win all the following matches. In contrast, there were still some students who kept their head, who felt that the following matches would not be as simple anymore.


    In particr, Qi Long and Luo Lang¡¯s expressions were currently extremely grim. This was because their boss had told them personally that he had already chosen the strongest two fighters from the Golden Scales Team for them. In Ling Lan¡¯s words, they were being served up to be tormented.


    Luo Lang was the third to go up. The opponent he chose was a young man of about 22 to 23 years of age. He had a refined look about him with a bashful smile on his face, making others feel as if he was very harmless.


    However, Ling Lan told Luo Lang with absolute certainty that this man was not as harmless as he seemed. He was the second strongest among the six people of the Golden Scales Team, and was a vicious character who wasn¡¯t beneath using underhanded tactics to win. As Ling Lan was saying this, his face clearly expressed a hint of pity, as if dering that Luo Lang wouldn¡¯t have a good time of it in this fight.


    The instructor really thought that the other side would follow the flow of Tian Ji¡¯s horse-racing all the way, and so choose their third weakest team member. Unexpectedly, the other chose the second strongest of the Golden Scales Team this time, and it was the one with the belly full of plots and schemes to boot.


    The instructor couldn¡¯t help but shake his head, thinking to himself that Ling Lan and the others were most likely going to be disappointed this time. This was because this young man ... even the instructor himself found him hard to deal with. He justid too many traps in his fights, setting out too many lures ¡ª even he could not help but fall for some of them a few times. That man was truly the most difficult person to handle within the Golden Scales Team ...


    Could it be that they thought that this team member appeared weaker? The instructor took a closer look at that ck-bellied punk of the Golden Scales Team, and found that he really did give off that kind of vibe. Had the children really fallen for this trap? Or did they have some other motive for choosing him?


    The instructor¡¯s gaze once again honed in on Ling Lan¡¯s side, trying to glean some hint from their bodies. When he noticed that these scouts were only as tall as their chests, he was abruptly taken aback, and then he couldn¡¯t help but chuckle lowly to himself. Unknowingly, he had begun to consider the students on an even ying field as himself. The other side was clearly just some kids of about 10 years old ¡ª how could they figure out who was stronger or weaker in the Golden Scales Team from appearance alone? Perhaps the first two matches they won were just a coincidence ...


    "Luo Lang, once you go up, don¡¯t think too much. Don¡¯t worry about whether the other has any openings or not. Just focus on using your basic physical skills properly, and deal with any blows as theye." Not having the heart to see Luo Lang lose terribly, Ling Lan chose to give him a small suggestion.


    Luo Lang nodded, and said gratefully, "Got it, Boss." Even knowing he was going out to be tormented, it would still be nice to not lose too badly.


    Luo Lang understood deep down that he was definitely no match for his opponent. Although the other did not look that old, he must have already been through countless battles and must have struggled through many life-or-death scenarios. In reality, his battle experience must exceed Luo Lang¡¯s by several multiples, being a battle-seasoned veteran soldier. Luo Lang considered it great luck that he would be able to spar with someone like this before going on the hunting assignment.


    Perhaps seeing how L18¡¯s rush attack was ineffective,bined with Luo Lang¡¯s serious face, which had no sign of arrogance from the previous two wins, the opponent chose to give up on the rush attack strategy. He began to circle around Luo Lang, testing him. As he circled, he would intentionally reveal some defence holes, small openings etcetera, trying to entice Luo Lang into attacking first.


    However, due to Ling Lan¡¯s warning, Luo Lang just ignored all these openings. He too was extremely careful ¡ª before figuring out the opponent¡¯s true strength, he would not move recklessly.


    They faced-off just like this for several circles, and then, as if feeling that it would be useless to continue on like this, the opponent attacked.


    The scout academy¡¯s basicbat arts, though said to be equally bnced in terms of offence and defence, at its heart, each of its attacks was built on the foundation of defence. In other words, the defensive strength of the scout academy¡¯s basicbat arts was extremely solid ¡ª it could perhaps even be said to be perfect.

 Chapter 136: Ling Lans Wrath!

    Chapter 136: Ling Lan¡¯s Wrath!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Because Luo Lang took Ling Lan¡¯s warning to heart, no matter how the opponent tried to rush him, lure him, mislead him, or pull him in with faked openings, he remained steady. He resolutely ignored all temptation, using only the basicbat arts he was well-versed in to counter each move the opponent made. He held fast to defence, and neverunched any attacks of his own.


    However, this situation was soon broken. When Luo Lang was faced with the exact same opening for the n-th time, his heart wavered. He began considering whether this opening was a true opening or not ... Luo Lang could not be med for wavering, because this opening was somewhat different than the other openings he had seen previously. Many times before, he had almost missed itpletely; it was that well-concealed.


    In contrast to the other openings which had disappeared after he ignored them once or twice, this opening had appeared again and again countless times despite his ignoring it. And whenever it appeared, it would be extremely subtle and easy to miss ... but regardless of how insignificant it was, an opening was an opening ¡ª it had still been noticed by Luo Lang.


    Of course, Luo Lang did not choose to attack impulsively straightaway; instead, he carefully observed to try and find the reason why that opening would appear. He had not forgotten Boss Ling Lan¡¯s words, so he decided to watch for a bit longer. The moment he confirmed that this was a true opening, he definitely would not go easy on his opponent ...


    Luo Lang carefully observed the opponent¡¯s movements and assessed the strength behind the other¡¯s blows as he blocked them. Finally, he gained some insight.


    The opponent was left-handed! So his left hand could exert much more strength than his right hand. Yet, everyone knew thatbat arts typically favoured right-handed attacks, while the left hand was mostly used for blocking techniques. Perhaps for this reason, the opponent had modified thebat arts he had learned into right-handed blocks and left-handed attacks. Of course, this modification had its pros and cons ¡ª the advantage was that it was easier for right-handed opponents to mess up their blocks and face his attack directly, and the disadvantage was simr, in that he may also end up making an error in defense.


    To resolve this problem, the opponent hade up with a n. He was a smart man, and did not want something he modified to be unusable, so he chose an extremely challenging route of development. He made it so that he would be able to shift between blocking and attacking seamlessly ¡ª in other words, both his left and right hand could be used to attack and defend. If he became proficient in this, although it could not be said that he would be unrivalled, fighters on the same level would find this move of his extremely hard to crack.


    But fortunately, it seemed like the opponent still had not merged his set of movespletely. Because of this, there was a momentarypse whenever he shifted between offence and defence, and this gap would be the best moment for Luo Lang to attack.


    Aftering to this conclusion, to avoid any idents, Luo Lang continued to exchange several more moves with the opponent to confirm. Finding everything as he expected, he decided not to wait any longer and attacked. Since this was an opportunity, he definitely would not miss it.


    When Luo Lang moved to strike at the opponent¡¯s opening during thatpse, the observing Ling Lan sighed in her heart. This opening was really just too perfect ¡ª Luo Lang still was not able to resist its temptation in the end. It was a trap!


    Sure enough, as Luo Lang threw his punch at what was obviously a w, the w suddenly disappeared. It was as if that weak point was just something he had imagined, having never existed to begin with.


    Luo Lang only felt his attacking right arm be grabbed by a powerfulrge hand, and then he was dragged forward by the other before he could pull back.


    Luo Lang found himself falling forwards as he lost his bnce, and at the same time, he felt a heavy strike to his abdomen. And then, he was flying backwards, a mouthful of blood spewing from his mouth ...


    Not only that, in Luo Lang¡¯s vision, the opponent had once again raised his fist and was hurtling towards him to attack.


    At that moment, Luo Lang¡¯s heart was filled with helplessness and regret ¡ª he had not held fast to Boss¡¯s warning, and fell for the opponent¡¯s trap. The result would be a tragic one; it looked like the other was going to give him a good beating now. His only hope was that he wouldn¡¯t be too badly injured ¡ª he still had to attend the hunting course after all.


    Right then, a figure suddenly appeared in thebat area, catching the opponent¡¯s follow-up punch in one hand.


    Ice in her tone, Ling Lan said, "This match, we admit defeat! However ..." Blood-red killing intent surged from her body. Only for an instant, but it was enough to send chills down the backs of everyone present.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze shot like coldsers into the opponent¡¯s eyes, and cold fear rose in his heart. "This follow-up fist, I¡¯ll be taking it!"


    That said, Ling Lan¡¯s right hand, which was gripping the other¡¯s wrist, twisted, and with a crisp "crack!", the other¡¯s hand was cleanly broken.


    "Stop!" A cry rang out at the same time as the sound of this break, and then, fuming, the instructor could only say, "You go too far."


    Ling Lan looked at him coldly, and said, "Too far? Thatst attack had already caused serious damage to mypanion. And this additional punch wasn¡¯t going too far?"


    The instructor flushed to his ears. "How would you know if that extra punch of his would further injure yourpanion? The Golden Scales Team have absolute control over the level of their strength."


    "Absolute control? What great absolute control ..." Ling Lan let loose a few dryughs.


    Yes, indeed, Ling Lan was thoroughly enraged. Luo Lang had already been injured by the opponent, but the other still chose to follow through with another punch ¡ª this obviously had some malicious intent behind it. And when Ling Lan stopped the attack by gripping the other¡¯s wrist, she could sense the power behind the attack. Although it would not kill Luo Lang, it was certainly enough to force Luo Lang to stay in a recovery pod for 3 to 5 months. In that case, Luo Lang would have no choice but to be absent for the hunting course this time. Mind you, the first hunting course was extremely important, and may even affect the distribution of cultivation resources ¡ª these were all things Luo Lang could not afford to miss.


    And this was also one of the reasons why Ling Lan could not forgive the opponent. Therefore, in her wrath, she had broken the other¡¯s wrist in warning.


    Ling Lan¡¯s connotationden words and her mockingughter put the instructor in an awkward position. Although this soldier under him was both talented and strong, he was rather petty ¡ª the two consecutive losses for their team irked him, making him feel that they, the Golden Scales, had lost face. So, even when he had won, he had not stopped, wanting to teach these scout brats a good lesson, but he unexpectedly kicked a steel te instead.


    "L15, after your injuries are healed, go into istion for three days as well. Reflect on your actions!" Extremely embarrassed, the instructor bellowed at L15.


    Although L15¡¯s wrist had been broken by Ling Lan, his expression remained calm, as if it was not his wrist that had been broken. Only the thin trails of sweat running from his forehead proved that he was actually holding back the pain. Upon hearing the instructor¡¯s verdict, he used his other working hand to salute and responded, "Yes, Sir!"


    As he left, he swept a dark look at Ling Lan who was still standing in thebat area. A trace of lethal animosity shed through his eyes, but it onlysted for an instant. He swiftly returned to normal, as if that dark emotion had just been a hallucination.


    "Boss, he actually dares to think of harming you? I¡¯ll destroy him!" Catching sight of this, Little Four was sent jumping in anger. He pulled up his sleeves in preparation to go fight for his boss.


    Ling Lan huffed exasperatedly, "You want to destroy him? How?"


    Little Four abruptly realised that he had no real hands and feet, and so had no way of helping his boss to destroy that fellow. He was so shocked that he went off to crouch in a corner to draw circles in gloomy silence.


    But he quickly recovered when inspiration shed through his mind. He jumped up and said to his boss excitedly, "Boss, quickly go and get a mecha of your own in real life! Then I¡¯ll be able to help you!" He could totally rece the mecha¡¯s A.I. andmand the mecha to go PK 1 that fellow ...


    Ling Lan could not bear to see Little Four disappointed, so she nodded and said, "Okay, I¡¯ll hurry, and then you can help me to handle those bad eggs that want to harm me." Only with this was Little Four pacified.


    No one noticed the cold and sinister look L15 directed at Ling Lan; everyone was filled with admiration for L15¡¯s stoicism under such intense pain. Of course, most of the attention was on Ling Lan standing in the middle, and those gazes were filled with shock and disbelief.


    On the other hand, the scout academy students all had a matter-of-fact look on their faces, proving that Ling Lan¡¯s ability was indeed typically at this level. This made the crew members no longer dare to look down on the students.


    By this time, the instructor had regained hisposure. He looked at Ling Lan and said coldly, "You should be the strongest one among them, right? Judging by your strength, none of the Golden Scales team members will be a match for you. There¡¯s no need for the remaining matches then." He looked at strongest member of the Golden Scales Team ¡ª the team leader, a 25 to 26 year old stern-faced youth ¡ª and his face revealed a trace of regret. Since the other had managed to break L15¡¯s wrist in one move, then L13 would most likely be unable to hold out for more than a few moves.


    "Of course the matches should continue. The one to fight next isn¡¯t me. It¡¯ll be the other top 5 candidate from our ss, Qi Long!" dered Ling Lan loudly.


    Qi Long rushed forward to stand by her side. "Boss, I¡¯m here."


    Ling Lan patted Qi Long¡¯s shoulder, and then turned to say earnestly to the team leader of the Golden Scales, "Big Brother, please guide thispanion of mine well."


    The team leader looked to the instructor for instruction, and the instructor nodded helplessly. Since they had already agreed to this sparringpetition from the start, he couldn¡¯t very well refuse now, could he?


    ********


    In the captain¡¯s room, Cheng Yuanhang, whose expression had changed slightly when Luo Lang was injured, saw Ling Lan¡¯s forceful retaliation and promptly returned to normal. In contrast, Old Lian¡¯s face was dark and grim, feeling that he had greatly lost face from this. Who would have guessed that the young man he had ced so much hope on would turn out to be such a sore loser?


    "Old Lian, that one must be a top talent among your ranks here, right? It¡¯s normal for him to be a little arrogant," counselled Cheng Yuanhang kindly.


    "Hmph! Compared to your ss¡¯s Ling Lan, he¡¯s just a pile of crap," huffed Old Lian. His heart was itching ¡ª if he could get this unparalleled genius for his ship, then he would have hit a jackpot.


    "I¡¯ve already said not to even think about it. The First Division Special Ops Team already have their eyes on him." Cheng Yuanhang told this information to the other bluntly, in hopes that the other would not waste his time and back off. Some talents ... could really only be appreciated from afar and not obtained.


    Old Lian let out a regretful sigh. This starship of theirs was still too low-level to think of obtaining this kind of peerless prodigy. This was also why L15, despite his pettiness, was still the bearer of their hopes here.


    Meanwhile, on the field, Qi Long and the Golden Scales team leader, L13, were already locked together in an intense battle. L13¡¯sbat style was also the forthright and supremely aggressive type, very simr to Qi Long¡¯sbat style. Early on, Ling Lan had sensed this in their presences, and hence paired them up to fight.

 Chapter 137: Qi-Jin Stage?

    Chapter 137: Qi-Jin Stage?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    However, in the end, Qi Long still lost to L13, the team leader of the Golden Scales. Yet, Qi Long wasn¡¯t too disappointed. From the very start of the match, he had already known that no matter how talented he was, or how solid hisbat foundations were, he wouldn¡¯t be able to match up to these battle-seasoned veteran soldiers in terms ofbat experience.


    Both fighters had honest and hearty dispositions ¡ª after shing in battle, the Golden Scales¡¯ team leader had a really good impression of Qi Long. Therefore he extended an invitation to Qi Long ¡ª while they were travelling together, as long as he was free, Qi Long coulde seek him out for a spar any time.


    It had to be said that human rtions really depended a lot on chance encounters. Qi Long and L13 were undoubtedly destined to meet; this was a great surprise that pleased Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan knew very well that Qi Long¡¯sbat arts had reached its first bottleneck stage. To break through it, there were two ways. One of them was to wait for the right timing, for that opportunity of sudden insight ¡ª this way, the bottleneck would naturally be resolved on its own. The other method was to increase battle experience by throwing oneself into countless fights, especially against experiencedbat experts. In those fights, one could seek inspiration bit by bit to spur a breakthrough.


    Of course, these two methods all needed a certain degree of luck. Still,pared to the vagueness and uncertainty of the first option, the sess rate of thetter method was clearly higher. Ling Lan naturally hoped that Qi Long could walk the second path to seek his breakthrough.


    Unfortunately, although Ling Lan¡¯s strength was high among Ling Lan¡¯s party, because everything she mastered were ultimate killing moves, she was not a suitable candidate for this sort of energy-draining, drawn out spars in search of inspiration. On the other hand, the others in the group were weaker than Qi Long, and so had no way to ce the intense pressure needed on Qi Long to spur his breakthrough.


    On this, Ling Lan was extremely helpless. Theck of suitable candidates around had caused Qi Long to stagnate indefinitely at his bottleneck, just waiting for the fluke of sudden insight. As for thosebat instructors in the academy, due to the sheer number of students they had to instruct, they just didn¡¯t have the time to provide these guidance spars for Qi Long.


    Of course, there was still one more good candidate, and that was Qi Long¡¯s initiate instructor. The more Qi Long learned, the more he could sense how strong his initiate instructor was. But unfortunately, after mentoring him for over a year, his initiate instructor had be very elusive ¡ª they did not even know where to begin looking for him. Thus, they could only patiently wait for the instructors toe to them.


    Moreover, Qi Long¡¯s bottleneck had only appeared recently, so his initiate instructor would have no idea that his student had already encountered his very first bottleneck.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mood was exceedingly great! She had not expected to help Qi Long resolve this issue with just one unintended spar on this starship. L13¡¯sbat level was clearly higher than Qi Long¡¯s, and even more perfect was the fact that hisbat style was extremely close to Qi Long¡¯s. The sess rate for breaking through a bottleneck was undoubtedly higher with the help of an opponent with a simrbat style.


    At this moment, Ling Lan¡¯s lingering resentment towards L15 was naturally lessened by her good mood. In her mind, she decided that as long as the other did not cross her in future, she would definitely leave him alone.


    Just when everyone thought the sparring matches were over, something unexpected happened! Ling Lan actually spoke up to ask the instructor, "Sir, why don¡¯t we have a match?"


    At these words, the instructor turned to stare intently at Ling Lan, and then said, "It would be my pleasure!" Ling Lan¡¯s clean and efficient interception of L15¡¯s attack had shaken the instructor, and he was actually a little chilled by the ruthless way Ling Lan had broken L15¡¯s wrist. A tendril of fear had even risen in his heart when a little of Ling Lan¡¯s bloodlust had leaked.


    The instructor knew well that Ling Lan¡¯s strength was considerable ¡ª perhaps not much weaker than his. Thus, he too wanted to fight a match with Ling Lan personally so that he would be able to properly gauge this child¡¯s true strength. The Central Scout Academy was known as the focus grounds for aberrant prodigies ... this child, who was clearly the strongest of this batch of prodigies ¡ª how strong was he exactly?


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made all the students bubble over with excitement. Who would have guessed that Ling Lan would challenge the starship¡¯s instructor? Everyone knew that the starship¡¯s instructor would certainly be one of the strongest few on the ship.


    All the spectators self-consciously went silent, eyes trained on the two in thebat area.


    Ling Lan and the instructor faced one another from a distance, each at their respective corners. It was as if the fight hadn¡¯t begun yet, but all the spectators knew that wasn¡¯t true. This was because the demeanours of bothbatants were extremely serious, and there was a vague sense of a formless pressure slowly gathering between them. Even the spectators could feel the pressure pressing down on them mentally, making them back away involuntarily.


    Very quickly, the audience in thebat room had stepped back about ten or so metres from thebat area. At that point, only the stronger people on the starship managed to stand their ground; meanwhile, of the academy students, the only ones who could stand in this area were Qi Long and Wu Jiong. Li Yingjie and Luo Lang were one step behind them, while Ye Xu and Lin Zhong-qing were behind Luo Lang and Li Yingjie by a half-step. This, was a reflection of their true strength.


    The outermost circle was mostly scout academy students. This made the students grit their teeth, silently determined to train even harder ¡ª they definitely could not disgrace their Special ss-A. All of them looked with faces full of hope at Qi Long and the others standing right at the front, and told themselves that one day they would also stand beside them ...


    As for Ling Lan standing in the ring ... uh, that wasn¡¯t human anymore ¡ª they wouldn¡¯t try to match an anomaly.


    The forces of Ling Lan and the instructor¡¯s presences shed, both trying to suppress the other. The instructor put in all his strength from the start, but found that Ling Lan was standing there like a mountain buffeted by winds 1 , impossible to budge.


    The instructor took a deep breath, and knowing that his strength had umted till its highest point, it was time for him to strike ...


    The spectators were still patiently waiting when suddenly bothbatants rushed at each other at the same time, each throwing a punch.


    Both punches did not look that heavy, almost seeming somewhat casual. They did not have any of the flourishes ofbat stances, but were merely simple punches. One might say they were fast, but they were not that fast either ¡ª all the spectators saw were two fists travelling on the same straight line, getting closer and closer to one another, to finally connect.


    A loud "BAM"! What seemed like two very casual punches actually created such a deafening sound upon contact. On top of that, the formless energy caused by the bacsh from the crashing of fists pushed the spectators back once more. Qi Long, Wu Jiong, and the others were forced to move back another 3 to 4 steps, a heavy weight on their chests, as if they had been struck.


    Wu Jiong and Ye Xu exchanged a shocked and doubtful nce, while Li Yingjie¡¯splexion paled. Qi Long and Luo Lang both remained unperturbed, while Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s eyes shed with a fierce light.


    Meanwhile, some of the more average starship crew members had even been sent tumbling by this force. This punch of Ling Lan¡¯s shocked all the crewmen, and theypletely lost anyst bit of disdain they had for the students.


    ********


    In the captain¡¯s room, seeing this scene, Old Lian¡¯s expression changed drastically and he choked out, "How can this be, he has actually attained the Qi-Jin stage ..."


    The development of physical skills was expressed by six major stages ¡ª Foundational, Manifestation, Refinement, Qi-Jin 2 , Domain, and God-Realm. Except for the Foundational and Manifestation stages which had 10 levels, the other 4 stages were a kind of ne. How strong the embodiment of each ne was depended on how well an individual understood the ne.


    Meanwhile, the differentiation between the 10 levels of the Foundational and Manifestation stages were in terms of punching power, speed, and reflexes. Once all those attained particr numbers, a bottleneck would form naturally ¡ª and if one broke through that bottleneck, one would enter the Refinement stage of physical skills, which was the proof of joining the ranks of the physical skills masters.


    So, there was a saying in this world: Of physical skills, those below Refinement, are all mediocre.


    Generally, in the scout academies, students below the age of 13 would all be in the ranges of the Foundational physical skills stage, while those above 13 were basically all at Manifestation stage.


    Of course, very few talented children might be able to enter the Manifestation stage before 13 years old. Qi Long¡¯s talent was truly astounding, to already touch the fringes of the Refinement stage. All he needed was to break through his bottleneck to enter it officially.


    Thus, the fact that Ling Lan had managed to enter the Qi-Jin stage at this age caused even the steady and experienced Old Lian to be gobsmacked, his expression filled with disbelief ...


    In truth, Cheng Yuanhang had also been shocked by Ling Lan¡¯s disy of strength. He had known that Ling Lan was very strong, but he had never imagined he was this strong.


    Of course, this was also Ling Lan¡¯s fault for not disying her strength before this. Every time she was matched up against Qi Long or Luo Lang, she would just forfeit and end the match. And then, her previous matches were all one-move events, which did not really allow anyone to figure out her real strength. But today¡¯s match finally let him know why Ling Lan refused to fight during regrbat practice. Within the Central Scout Academy, other than thosest few aberrants in the upper grades that may be able to put up a fight against him, if Ling Lan fought with any other student, it would definitely just be one-sided bullying.


    Shaken from his thoughts by Old Lian¡¯s words, Cheng Yuanhang put a confident look on his face and said stubbornly, "Why can¡¯t it be? In our Central Scout Academy, prodigies are everywhere."


    Old Lian red at him angrily, "If you have that many prodigies, why don¡¯t you send some our way?" The new soldiers dispatched to them every time were all the extremely mediocre type.


    Cheng Yuanhang shrugged and said helplessly, "You know as well that I¡¯m just responsible for cultivating them. The ones in charge of dispatching them are your upper ranks of the military ... Besides, those crazily talented prodigies would first be taken away by the military schools ... and once theye out from there, they¡¯re all junior officers. Can your starship hold them?" In the end, Old Lian¡¯s starship was really too low in level ...


    At these words, Old Lian sighed heavily. Indeed, covert teams like theirs which existed in the grey areas ... really didn¡¯t have any way to possess those prodigies with their endlessly bright futures before them.


    ********


    In thebat area, Ling Lan could sense from where their fists met that the opponent¡¯s strength was waning, and knew that the other was at the end of his rope. A thought shed through her mind, and she started to pull back her strength, matching the other¡¯s as it decreased. In the end, the two of them were pushed back by the rebound of their respective strengths, falling a few steps back.


    The two of them separated once more, and once again faced one another from a distance of several metres, as if waiting for the next move to begin.


    Unexpectedly, the instructor actually closed his eyes, as if reflecting on the feelings he had received from the previous move. But very quickly, he opened his eyes again, and holding back his emotions, he said, "What is your name?"


    "Ling Lan!" Although Ling Lan¡¯s expression was nk, perpetuating her image of a ckface, her brows could be seen to lift slightly, showing that she was in a great mood.


    "Thank you, I¡¯ll remember this kindness. Also, this match is my loss," said the instructor loudly, and he nodded to Ling Lan. Winning or losing wasn¡¯t the point here ¡ª the main point was that he had learned something from this encounter.

 Chapter 138: The Mysterious Planet!

    Chapter 138: The Mysterious!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan gave an exemry scout¡¯s salute and then turned to walk back to rejoin the other students. To their confused faces, she said, "The spars are over. Let¡¯s go back."


    The ss-A students nced at one another, uncertain whether Ling Lan had won or lost this match. Although the starship¡¯s instructor had said it was his loss, it wasn¡¯t obvious at all from the scene before them. Furthermore, Ling Lan also wasn¡¯t disying any signs of happiness or excitement. Could it be that this was just the instructor being modest to leave some face for the students?


    "What are you thinking? We still have far to go. We need to work hard once we get back." Ling Lan¡¯s words enlightened the ss-A students ¡ª looks like the opponent had really left some face for them.


    Under Ling Lan¡¯s lead, the ss-A scouts gradually trickled out of thebat room, while the crew members began to gather around the instructor.


    Some of the stronger crew members still had shocked expressions on their faces, still unable to believe that a child was able to match up to their instructor in terms of strength. Of course, there were also some weaker crew members who were indignant, and they broke the cold atmosphere to ask, "Sir, why didn¡¯t you teach the other a proper lesson? Why still give him face? He injured our L15!"


    "Give face? Yes, face was given ... but it was he who gave me face." The instructor¡¯s expression was dark, and heughed coldly and said, "What a bunch of blind idiots. All of you ¡ª go into istion for a day!" Even though he did not mind losing, it still did not feel great to have it constantly brought up by others.


    The instructor¡¯s punishment caused all the present crew members to wail in misery. In particr, those crewmen who had not said anything at all felt like they had been caught in the bacsh for no good reason ¡ª they could only send fierce dagger-res at those few idiots who had spoken, but did not dare to object. This was because they understood the instructor well; he was a man that meant exactly what he said. If anyone dared to beg for mercy, the punishment would just be doubled.


    The crew members automatically headed towards the designated istion rooms of the starship. Seeing the instructor following closely behind them, one of the crew members said fawningly, "Sir, you don¡¯t have to monitor us. We will go to the istion rooms on our own."


    "I¡¯m not monitoring you all. Rather, I¡¯m also going into istion for seven days," replied the instructor coldly.


    "Whatever for?" eximed the crewman, shocked.


    "If one does something wrong, one must ept the punishment. The same goes for myself." Leaving this statement behind, the instructor entered an istion room. The crew members looked at one another in confusion, unsure what exactly the instructor had done wrong ...


    ********


    When the instructor reappeared once more, the calm indifference on his face let everyone know that the instructor¡¯s strength had increased again. The initially exposed sharp edges of his power had now been sheathed, bing almost undetectable. If he did not move to attack, it would be very easy to overlook his existence.


    That¡¯s right, after isting himself for seven days, the instructor finally progressed from the middle stage of Qi-Jin to thete stage of Qi-Jin. As for whether he would be able to enter the peak stage of Qi-Jin, or evenplete the entire Qi-Jin stage, well, that depended on fate and chance, on whether there was the possibility of obtaining sudden insight.


    Old Lian had once asked the instructor how he had attained a breakthrough this time. It should be known that after entering the Refinement stage, every increase in ability required a certain degree of chance and lucky coincidence. The instructor replied that this was due to that sparring match between him and Ling Lan. The force of the other¡¯s presence had let his initially stabilized ne to once again sense the possibility of a breakthrough. This was an opportunity for him, and luckily, he caught it.


    There was one thing the instructor did not say, however, and that was that he suspected that, in this fight, Ling Lan had given him this helpful push on purpose. If that were true, Ling Lan¡¯s strength was very likely already at theter stages of Qi-Jin. The instructor did not dare to dwell on the idea, otherwise he would start to think that them adults were all idiotic, actually unable to match up to a 10 year old child. Thus, he buried this notion deep within his inner mind.


    Still, regardless of whether Ling Lan had done it on purpose or if it was an ident, he would inscribe this kind favour onto his heart.


    ********


    The sparring matches this time broke the ice between the scouts and the crew of the starship. At times, when either party had some grievance to air, they might argue verbally, and if one side found themselves losing and wanted to settle the matter with a fist fight, naturally no one would object. In this manner, by and by, the rtionship between the two sides actually got better and better. Among the crew, aside from the small few who were especially petty, the majority of the men now viewed the scouts with affection and care.


    Qi Long, in particr, often sought out the team leader of the Golden Scales Team, L13, for a fight. Every one of their fights was loud and vigorous ¡ª at first, some of the crew and the scouts would still cheer for their ownpanion, but they soon learned to ignore them. This was because these two people were the type to seek torment in their fights. They were never concerned with winning or losing, but only wanted to fight till their muscles were sore and their strength was depleted, only crawling out of thebat room with difficulty after their bodies were covered in bruises and other injuries.


    Both sides quickly got used to the self-tormenting fighting style of the two, and so in the end, no one was interested in cheering them on anymore.


    Still, self-destructive though the two may be, the effects of their fights were pretty good. Ling Lan could clearly sense that Qi Long¡¯sbat ability was gaining more and more of the presence of the Refinement stage ¡ª his breakthrough was within reach, all that was needed now was a catalyst.


    Meanwhile, the time L13 spent sparring with Qi Long wasn¡¯t just fruitless work on his end ¡ª in contrast to Qi Long who was still looking for a catalyst to break through, L13, who had just entered the Refinement stage, used these spars to settle fully into the ne of Refinement, no longer stuck in a ¡¯fake¡¯ Refinement stage as he had been before the spars.


    Ling Lan naturally knew that there was one person on the starship who hated her deeply, and that was the one who had had his wrist broken by her, L15. Ling Lan was a cautious person, so she made Little Four monitor the other around-the-clock. Through this, Little Four unexpectedly found that L15 did not really trust L13 very much. When he found out that L13¡¯s strength had increased, the shes of envy-jealousy-hate in his eyes when no one was looking revealed his true feelings. Although these shes were mostly just present for an instant ¡ª L15 quickly reverting to his default bashful and harmless appearance, face filled with well-wishes ¡ª how could they escape the being known as Little Four? An ultimate cheating device capable ofprehensive 360 degrees monitoring with no blind spots ¡ª no one would be able to evade his eyes unless Little Four himself chose to neglect this person.


    When Little Four told Ling Lan about his discovery, Ling Lan sighed deeply once more. As expected, those who liked to smile were all nothing good ¡ª their bellies full of ¡¯bad water¡¯ 1 , they were truly detestable. This further cemented Ling Lan¡¯s distrust of those who smiled all the time, those who were courteous in all respects with great poprity, who gave others an impression of being a good guy. Ling Lan felt that these types of people were definitely hiding something behind their smiles, so she needed to be extremely careful when dealing with them.


    In this way, a week of raucous bickering and fighting passed. Although L15¡¯s heart still held all kinds of jealousy and hate, seeing that he now had no way to target Ling Lan and the others, he could only behave, not doing anything stupid to try and harm them.


    This week, after going through several spatial leaps, the starship arrived safely at their destination, a primitive they told outsiders was a wild and untamed.


    After the final spatial leap, themunicators of Ling Lan and the other¡¯s had lost their locative functions. ording to the starship¡¯s notification, this was because this area was one with maic interference, so all the locative systems on themunicators would be affected and lose their functionality. However, there was a much more advanced navigation system on board the starship, so they did not have to worry aboutpletely losing their way.


    Of course, Ling Lan knew very well that the starship¡¯s crew were lying, because Little Four told her that they had already entered an unknownary sector, an ubelled location on the Federation star maps.


    "As expected, a secret location. The we¡¯re going to is probably not as simple as we imagine it to be." Ling Lan quietly raised her guard.


    The starship entered the atmosphericyer of the primitive. Due to the starship¡¯s alert, Ling Lan and the others were already seated with their seatbelts buckled.


    The starship shuddered violently for about 10 minutes or so before finally stabilizing. Ling Lan knew then that they had sessfully prated the¡¯s atmosphere, and would soonnd. Sure enough, after just a short while, the starship notified them to gather their things and disembark.


    Ling Lan and the others put on their backpacks and grabbed their luggage. The moment they stepped out of the ship¡¯s doors, they were stunned by the scenery before them. This was because they found that right under their feet was a small city. It turned out that the starship had parked directly on a mountain peak right in the middle of a small city. The Federation had used some advanced technological method to cut this mountain at its waist, creating arge tform of several hundred thousand square units 2 , which provided plenty of space for the starship tond securely.


    On the tform, many soldiers dressed in military uniform were directing the scouts off the ship and getting them into lines to ride the mountain top¡¯s cable car down to the city at the foot of the mountain.


    When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Ling Lan could finally see what the city looked like. The small city was extremely crude and simple. The houses were short and squat, appearing very much like the military barracks of Ling Lan¡¯s previous world. The strangest thing was that the outermost circle was not a thick and sturdy wall, but was instead an extremely tall railing made out of vertically erect posts. Was it because there was no danger here? Was that why they decided to put up a circle of posts just as a show of defense?


    At the foot of the mountain, there were also soldiers to wee them, who then brought the 50 students to an emptied camping ground. Right then, several thundering cracks sounded from not too far off, and when Ling Lan and the others turned to look, they saw a savage beast the size of an elephant stampeding towards them.


    Ling Lan swiftly put down her backpack and pushed her hand into one of the bag¡¯s outer pockets to grab hold of her superior alloy short des. The moment danger was upon them, she would be able to kill the beast immediately with the sharp des. Meanwhile, Qi Long, Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, Luo Lang, and Ye Xu were only a step behind Ling Lan in reacting. Almost simultaneously, they all got ready for battle. Perhaps due to Ling Lan and the others calm handling of the situation, the other students also did not panic even though their reactions were slower. Several secondster, they were all ready to fight.


    ********


    The senior officer of the military camp was observing them silently. Seeing their response he nodded in satisfaction. " The scouts this time round are much better than those fromst year. Their mental fortitude are all not bad! Especially those who reacted the fastest. They aren¡¯t much worse than the soldiers under us here."


    The civil officer that looked like an advisor standing beside him said smilingly, "ording to the captain of the Fei Qiong 3 , these scouts are all pretty good, with some even being abnormal prodigies."


    "Don¡¯t listen to that fellow¡¯s bullshit. In his eyes, anyone with a little bit of talent are all abnormal prodigies. His judgement is really quite terrible," sneered the senior officer.


    When the advisor heard what his superior said, he just smiled and stoppedmenting. In truth, he had felt that the captain of the Fei Qiong seemed different than usual when he was saying this. Something had been off about him, and his eyes had contained a kind of envy-jealousy-hate within them ...


    Still, since his superior didn¡¯t like this topic, then he wouldn¡¯t speak anymore on it to avoid displeasing his superior. Who asked his superior to be at odds with the captain of the Fei Qiong ?


    ********


    Meanwhile, at this time, on the Fei Qiong which had already departed, Old Lian cackled evilly to himself. "Shi Yunfei, this old man just won¡¯t tell you how great these kids truly are. Whether or not you find that abnormal prodigy will all depend on your luck." He had no interest in helping an old foe increase his sect¡¯s strength.

 Chapter 139: To Withdraw or to Remain?

    Chapter 139: To Withdraw or to Remain?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The savage beast mmed into the railing, and just when everyone thought the railing was certain to break, what actually happened stunned them. Unexpectedly, the seemingly flimsy railing was actually very sturdy, and was even equipped with terrifying electrical power. When the beast crashed into the railing, the railing emitted a piercing zapping sound, sparking off arcs of electricity. Very quickly, the wild beast had been electrocuted into a pile of ash, falling onto the ground right outside the railing.


    Only then did Ling Lan notice that there were many simr piles of ashes right outside the railing ¡ª looks like there were quite a number of wild beasts besides this one before them whichmitted suicide in this manner.


    Han Jijyun couldn¡¯t help but exim, "An electric barrier fence!"


    This cry caused expressions of realisation to dawn on the scouts¡¯ faces; only electric barrier fences would have such power.


    It looked like the wild beasts on this were really not that simple, otherwise there would be no need to use the Federation¡¯s strongest protective measure. Ling Lan was not the only one to realise this. Many of the other students also thought of this, and their faces started to reveal traces of anxiety. They could already sense that the hunting course this time would not be as straightforward as they had imagined it to be.


    "All students of the Central Scout Academy ..." At this moment, a rion voice was transmitted into the ears of all the students. "Wee, everyone, to  Wild and Savage¡¯ 1 . This time, you 50 students will be having your hunting course here. I sincerely hope that all of you will be able toplete this course ... but even beforepleting the course, my biggest hope is that every one of you will be able to survive the hunt!"


    This speech made the students anxious and doubtful. They did not know why a simple hunting course would involve their lives.


    "You did not hear wrongly. This course may very well cost you your lives, because the wild beasts you will be facing won¡¯t be those tame animals you are used to. Instead, you will be facing beasts of a minimum level of H-ss."


    When the students heard that the lowest level they would be hunting would be H-ss beasts, there was an instant uproar, and disbelief was written all over their faces.


    The Federation had once announced to the public that there were all kinds of fierce beasts in the universe. Beasts below J-ss were still within controble range ¡ª in other words, the damage they could cause was not significant. But from J-ss onwards, the beasts left the category of wild beasts and went straight into savage beast level. Of course, J-ss beasts were still the weakest of the savage beasts ¡ª their strength was roughly at the level of Foundationalbat stage level 2 to 3. Anyone withbat talent who had learnedbat arts for three to four years would be able to handle them.


    However, starting from I-ss, it was different. The strength of the savage beasts then approached the Foundationalbat stage levels 5 and 6. H-ss monsters were even at Foundationalbat stage levels 8 to 9; in other words, they were already half a step in the Manifestation stage.


    Meanwhile, the students were mostly all at Foundational stage level 8 to 9, with only a few at the Manifestation stage. Against these H-ss monsters, they would have no advantage whatsoever.


    The students were bewildered by this ¡ª could this kind of situation still be considered a hunting ss? This was basically asking them to gamble with their lives! Moreover, this was still only talking about the lowest ss of monster here. If they were unlucky, they might even bump into a G-ss, or perhaps even one of a higher level ... wouldn¡¯t it be over for them then?


    Right then, that rion voice once again rang out by the students¡¯ ears, "Whether or not to continue with the course, the choice is up to you. There¡¯s still time for you to quit now. On your right hand side is the ce to register to drop out. Now, you all have 3 minutes to choose ..."


    At that moment, to the right of Ling Lan and the other students, a soldier with an A.I. in one arm waved a hand at them, signalling for those who wanted to drop out toe find him.


    This sudden choice caused the scouts to fall into indecision and uncertainty, unsure what they should do.


    At this time, Wu Jiong pulled Ye Xu over to go towards Ling Lan to discuss the matter. To one side, Li Yingjie¡¯s gaze wavered for a moment, but then, with a clench of his teeth, he followed them.


    "Ling Lan, what do you think?" asked Wu Jiong.


    Ling Lan was rather surprised. She had never thought that Wu Jiong woulde and ask for her opinion. Still, despite her surprise, she told Wu Jiong her decision honestly, "Continue with the course."


    "Are you not afraid of the danger?" asked Wu Jiong. Then, feeling as if his words were not enough to convey what he meant, he added, "I¡¯m talking about your team members." That day, Ling Lan¡¯s spar with the instructor had let Wu Jiong know that Ling Lan¡¯s strength was just too far beyond them ¡ª perhaps this hunt would be no danger at all for him, but the same could not be said for Han Jijyun, Lin Zhong-qing and the others on his team ...


    "Indeed, the hunt this time is very dangerous. It¡¯s very likely that what they said may happen. But this danger brings opportunity with it, as well as an increase of strength ..." Ling Lan stopped here, turning to look at Qi Long and the others beside her, before continuing, "I also believe that Qi Long and the others will protect themselves well, and then be even stronger, finding the opportunities that belong to them."


    That said, Ling Lan nodded solemnly and said, "They are just that strong!"


    Thisst statement was said forcefully, with conviction, showing that Ling Lan¡¯s confidence in Qi Long and the others was absolute.


    This statement also drew the brilliant smiles of Qi Long and the others, a sign of how touched they were by it. In that instant, their hearts pulsed with the intense emotions of being understood and epted ... Ling Lan¡¯s trust caused their initially unsteady hearts to settle immediately.


    Wu Jiong cast a long look at Ling Lan, and then nodded and said, "That¡¯s true. Although the hunt this time is very dangerous, it is also a chance for us. Of course we can¡¯t give up this course."


    Ling Lan nodded at Wu Jiong¡¯s words, saying nothing more. After hearing what Ling Lan and Wu Jiong had to say, Li Yingjie¡¯s initial doubts also disappeared. He told himself that he definitely could not lose to Ling Lan, Wu Jiong, and the others. What they could do, he could do too.


    No one knew that Wu Jiong was actually a little disappointed at this point. He had questioned Ling Lan with an ulterior motive ¡ª he had hoped that Ling Lan would respond in an uncaring manner so that Qi Long and the others would begin to harbour a grudge in their hearts against him. He had not expected Ling Lan¡¯s response to make Qi Long and the others even more loyal to Ling Lan instead.


    At this point, he knew that trying to get Qi Long and the others to leave Ling Lan and work with him instead was no longer a possibility. This also meant that his chances of oveing Ling Lan were almost nil.


    Yes, ever since the first year, Wu Jiong had never thought of admitting defeat. He had always wanted to beat Ling Lan. When he saw that beating Ling Lan on his own was not a feasible path, he had then chosen to challenge him with a team. He shifted his goal to the seventh grade, when they turned 13 and would challenge the virtualwork barrier.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s team was also very strong, possessing the twobat talents Qi Long and Luo Lang. Still, Wu Jiong was not discouraged. He did not think that Qi Long and the others were reallypletely loyal to Ling Lan. Qi Long, especially, had always been the top rank of their ss ¡ª was he really content to just be a puppet in Ling Lan¡¯s hands?


    Thus, this time, he had specially asked a trick question. If Ling Lan had expressed blithe unconcern for his team members, he would be able to leverage this to spark Qi Long¡¯s dissatisfaction and cause the dissolution of Ling Lan¡¯s team. (When necessary, a team¡¯s member may choose to build their own team, and then the other members may choose once again whether to follow this member or the original leader, prompting a reorganization of the team. This was a failsafe to handle unresolvable conflicts within a team.)


    But the final oue disappointed him. The friendship among Ling Lan¡¯s team was truly like steel. Everyone knew their positions well, and there was no sign of the dissatisfaction he had thought there would be.


    Frankly, Wu Jiong would think this way because he did not understand the position Ling Lan held in Qi Long and the others¡¯ hearts. The one who admired Ling Lan the most in Ling Lan¡¯s team was no other than Qi Long himself. It should be said that Ling Lan counted as half an instructor to Qi Long. Many times, when Qi Long encountered any difficulties in hisbat skills, Ling Lan was the one who would enlighten him. Thus, Qi Long might not submit to others, but he would definitely submit to Ling Lan.


    Meanwhile, Luo Lang had always been nipping at Qi Long¡¯s heels. He and Qi Long could actually be considered rivals. Whenever Qi Long was stuck, he was also stuck, and when Qi Long improved, he would also improve ordingly. If Ling Lan was half an instructor to Qi Long, then she was also half an instructor to Luo Lang. Therefore, Luo Lang had never considered leaving Ling Lan. His only hope was to one day step over Qi Long to be Ling Lan¡¯s number one follower. (Little Four jumped out indignantly here. Dammit, Boss¡¯s number one follower is meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ... (the subsequent several hundred thousand ¡¯e¡¯s have been removed) ¡û unidentified entity found to have trespassed, please ignore.)


    The one who had always harboured doubts towards Ling Lan was instead the inconspicuous Han Jijyun. Having just averagebat ability in the ss, he really liked using his brain to solve problems. Thus, he would not be convinced by those who were all brawn and no brain ¡ª no matter how strong they became, under certain creative strategies, he could still cause them to lose terribly. Later on, only after finding out that Ling Lan was actually very ck-bellied himself (arge part of the credit here goes to Little Four; Ling Lan really wasn¡¯t asplicated as Han Jijyun thought her to be), did Han Jijyun be truly convinced and recognized Ling Lan as his boss.


    As for Lin Zhong-qing, who entered the teamst, he had pretty much sold himself to the team to be a member. Before gaining Ling Lan¡¯s full acknowledgement, all he was thinking about now was how to obtain Boss¡¯s sincere eptance, so the notion of leaving Ling Lan had never even crossed his mind ...


    The three teams of ss-A simultaneously decided to continue with the course. Seeing this, the other students who had still been hesitating all said they would remain as well.


    In fact, Ling Lan was the one who gave them the courage to remain. On the starship, Ling Lan¡¯s even fight with the instructor made them believe that as long as it wasn¡¯t a monster above G-ss, Ling Lan should be able to defeat the beasts with no problem.


    Although Ling Lan treated others coldly and his icy ckface did not seem very friendly, they believed that at critical moments, Ling Lan would definitely offer assistance.


    The three minutes were soon up, and seeing that none of the students had chosen to leave, the senior officer was very pleased. "This group of brats are pretty good. Their wills are strong, unlike those from thest few years, which always had a few who chose to leave ... in that case, we need to avoid any carelessness and stay alert. We really can¡¯t let anything bad happen to them 2 ."


    "Don¡¯t worry, Sir! Our ace mecha squad is already fully prepared. Whenever the scouts are out hunting, they will be secretly protecting them from the skies. They¡¯ll definitely not let anything go wrong with the children," said the advisor with a smile.

 Chapter 140: Hunting Preparations!

    Chapter 140: Hunting Preparations!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "That¡¯s good then. They are the best batch of this year¡¯s talents at the Central Scout Academy. Although it¡¯s too early to tell whether there are any aberrant prodigies among them right now, no matter what, they are the treasures of our Federation. We mustn¡¯t lose any of them." The senior officer¡¯s expression was serious. Every time these children came here, the pressure on him was unbelievably heavy ¡ª if any one of them died in an ident while hunting, it wouldn¡¯t end well for him.


    After some thought, he still felt insecure, so the senior officer added thismand, "Let the special-ops team on the ground follow them as well, to ensure protection from both the air andnd."


    "Roger that, Sir, I¡¯ll arrange it immediately!" responded the adviser. He then hurried to pass down this newestmand so that the special-ops team could prepare to set out immediately.


    Meanwhile, in the camping grounds, that rion voice rang out once more, "Next, the students who hear their names, pleasee up to retrieve your chip, as well as yourbat uniform and firearm."


    With that, a troop of soldiers brought out a whole bunch of things in front of them, and began calling out their names one by one. Everyone went up to the registration point to collect the items mentioned, Ling Lan and the others included.


    The chips would be their identity cards in this military camp. Credits that could only be used inside the camp could be saved within them, and could be used to buy things in the camp. Other than free amodation, everything else in the military camp needed to be purchased using these credits. In other words, to live morefortably, they would need to find a way to earn these credits ¡ª and hunting was just one of the ways. This was just another way of telling the students that only the strong had the right to live a better life ¡ª the principle of survival of the fittest being emphasized here once again.


    Ling Lan followed the usage methods of the chip and inserted it into themunicator on her wrist. Then, she saw the previous system of themunicator being shut down, and the new system was activated. On the chip, there was no name, just a number. Ling Lan¡¯s number was 017717. She peeked at Qi Long beside her, and saw that his number was 017709. It looked like these numbers were just randomly assigned by theputer to each of their 50 ssmates, with no underlying pattern to be found.


    The chips were preloaded with 1000 credits. This surprised Ling Lan, who had thought that there would be nothing inside. Unexpectedly, the camp was giving them some time to adjust, not being as merciless as she had assumed they would be. As long as they found a way to earn credits before these 1000 credits were used up, then they would be able to survive within this camp sessfully.


    Considering the fact that they were here for a hunting course, then it was likely that the beasts they hunted could be exchanged for credits. The only question was how much. Of course, Ling Lan was sure there were other exchange methods as well; she just didn¡¯t know them yet. Still, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t anxious. After all, they would be staying here for no less than 3 months, perhaps even longer, so there would be plenty of time for her to slowly figure everything out.


    Ling Lan put on herbat uniform. The clothes fit her almost perfectly ¡ª the academy had probably sent their data over to the military beforehand so they would be able to get the correct sizes for the children.


    After obtaining these items, the originally anxious students felt a little more secure. Thebat uniforms had a certain degree of defensive ability, able to withstand two or three attacks from an H-ss savage beast, which would give the students a little more to bank on when protecting themselves. Meanwhile, the firearms provided were all beam handguns, only meant for defence. The firearms were there just in case the students found themselves surrounded by savage beasts and needed the firepower to st a bloody trail through the beasts to escape ...


    The hunting course required them to use cold weapons with their own hands to kill the savage beasts. This was also why Ling Lan had brought two high-efficiency alloy des. Ling Lan could handle the short de type of cold weapons well with both hands; in particr, her right hand was so proficient with them that it could be said that it was godlike. However, Ling Lan¡¯s left hand was actually most proficient with the tri-edge trench knife. But since almost no one in this era knew how to use the tri-edge trench knife, Ling Lan had no choice but to shelve it for now, otherwise she would not be able to exin how she had learned how to use it.


    Ling Lan ced one of the high-efficiency alloy short des into the outer pocket of herbat uniform by her hip. The other she stuffed into the back of her belt. The one on her belt was prepared for her left hand. In a critical moment, she would be able to draw out the de in time to hack at a savage beast.


    From the start, Ling Lan had been a dual-wieldingbatant ¡ª she had just projected the appearance of being a right-handed fighter to the outside world to hide her true strength.


    After finishing her preparations, Ling Lan took a look around. She saw that the expressions on the students¡¯ faces were casual and rxed after changing into theirbat uniforms, and could not help but frown.


    It was true that thebat uniforms could withstand two or three attacks from an H-ss savage beast ¡ª however, this just meant that the other¡¯s attack would not break thebat uniform, the force behind the attack would still not bepletely negated. 3 to 4yers of the power behind the attack would still be conveyed to the body, so if the body was not strong enough, the victim would still have their bones broken or incur some internal damage from the force of the attack. Therefore, they could not rx just because they had the uniforms.


    In Ling Lan¡¯s opinion, they should avoid being hit if they could help it. Otherwise, each hit would bring either death or injury.


    Ling Lan gave a serious warning to Qi Long and the others, dousing their excitement from obtaining thebat uniforms. Their expressions turned grim instantly, knowing that they had rxed too soon. It was just as Ling Lan cautioned ¡ª even though thebat uniforms would increase their chances of survival, that did not mean it was foolproof. Everything still depended on their own capability to work hard and survive this cruel hunting exercise.


    Once everyone was ready, Ling Lan raised her head to nce at the sun. Even after half a day, it had not shifted in position, still hanging high up in the sky.


    Ling Lan found a soldier on duty in the camp and asked him about the, and found out that the switch between day and night here was different from that of the star system they lived in. A day here consisted of 120 hours, and the nights were just as long. The watch soldier also told Ling Lan that the mass of this primitive was just toorge, which was why one self-rotation required that much time.


    As for how they decided when to eat or sleep, the decision was up to them. After all, every person had different adaptability, and the rest time they needed varied as well.


    Ling Lan then asked about the departure time for the hunt, and was told that a car would bring them to the hunting grounds from the campsite in an hour. As such, Ling Lan decided to first go and fill up her belly, lest she have no strength to huntter due to hunger.


    She also asked about the food matters of the students, and learned that there was a specialrge canteen set up to provide meals for the campground staff. There, one could eat whenever they wanted, though the food needed to be purchased with credits.


    Ling Lan did not continue to inquire further after that. Instead, she led Qi Long and the others straight to the canteen. Wu Jiong¡¯s team, which had been keeping an eye out on her movements, knew what she was nning, and decided to follow her lead.


    The two teams ate a meal of the simplest and cheapest fast food, which costed them 50 credits each. Ling Lan noticed then that the camp really was not giving them much time to prepare at all ¡ª if they could not find a way to earn money after three days, they would not be able to afford any more food ...


    While they ate, Han Jijyun suggested that they first head to the credit exchange area to learn how they could earn more credits. He felt that they needed to learn the trading methods here before they went hunting, especially with regards to the exchange rates for the beasts. They wouldn¡¯t want to kill a savage beast after much difficulty just to find out that it wasn¡¯t worth much credits ... that would be such a waste.


    Ling Lan agreed that that was wise. So, everyone sped up to finish their meal, cleaning their bowls out within a few minutes. Then, they hurried to the credit exchange point to inquire about the various ways to trade for credits. There, they found that only the path of hunting had been left for the students.


    It looked like the camp was worried that the students might put too much priority on surviving that they would forget the main purpose of their trip. Thus, they might as well fix the credit exchange method of the students from the start. Fortunately, the items they would be able to get from most of the savage beasts were all worth quite a lot ¡ª as long as they caught something every day, they definitely would not starve.


    Ling Lan then spent another hundred credits to buy a copy of this¡¯s catalogue of savage beasts, saving it into hermunicator.


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s heart ached a little at the loss of this 100 credits, she felt that it was money well spent, because the data on the savage beasts on the catalogue was veryprehensive. Their physical characteristics, attack methods, strengths and weaknesses, and even their skills were detailed very clearly. Besides that, the catalogue also contained a detailed listing of the exchange prices of all the different parts of the various savage beasts. This way, they would be able to target the more valuable savage beasts when hunting, gaining much more for the same amount of effort.


    After preparing all this, Ling Lan then brought her team back to the assembly point for the students. As Wu Jiong¡¯s followers had not known what Ling Lan¡¯s group was nning, they had eaten at a slower pace. By the time they finished their meal and got out, they had already lost sight of Ling Lan¡¯s team, and so could only slink back sullenly to the assembly point. Thus, they were already there before Ling Lan¡¯s team.


    Not long after, a stout officer led a squad over to them. Looking at the little bean sprouts in front of him, he chuckled and said, "Hi, darling brats! I¡¯m your leader for the activity this time. Please call me ¡¯leader¡¯."


    Seeing the scouts¡¯ attention all on him, he continued, "Later, I will be taking you all to the hunting grounds. Remember, listen to mymands. Don¡¯t act on your own, or else don¡¯t me me for not warning you when you die."


    The officer¡¯s words caused the students¡¯ hearts to leap up into their throats once again.


    "Also, do you all have any teams? Team leaders, raise your hands," asked the officer.


    Among the students, six hands, including Ling Lan¡¯s, were raised. The officer¡¯s brows creased. He had not expected there to be so few teams in this term¡¯s batch of students. Initially, he had thought that in teams, the students would be able to coordinate and work together better, increasing the safety of the hunt. However, the current situation was not as good as he had hoped.


    Helplessly, he raised his right hand and shouted, "Those with teams, leaders, bring your team members over here to my right hand side. Team leaders stand first in line, all teams in a row."


    Very quickly, Ling Lan and the others had lined up by the officer¡¯s side. Qi Long stood in for Ling Lan as the leader at the front. Just like that, the six teams made six lines, and it became clear that Ling Lan¡¯s team was the one with the most members, five people. Meanwhile, the other teams had either four or three people, with one team even having only two.

 Chapter 141: The First Hunting Lesson

    Chapter 141: The First Hunting Lesson


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    This scene caused the officer to smile wryly, thinking to himself that the scouts this year were really such oddballs. In the past, the scouts who came were all mostly already in their own teams, and all those teams basically had all 6 members. But this term, not only were there very few teams, the teams were not even filled yet. He found it annoying just looking at the sparse teams.


    "Why are there so few team members?" asked the officer unhappily to all the team leaders.


    "My team is actually full, but the other two members are not in ss-A." Li Yingjie was the first to respond.


    "Still in the process of choosing. No final decision yet." This was what Wu Jiong had to say.


    "Um ... the ones I like have already joined other teams, and the ones who haven¡¯t joined a team yet, I don¡¯t see any I like," said Qi Long with a grin, scratching his head, adding a touch of goofiness to his demeanour.


    "I want to take in more people, but they don¡¯t want to join me," said one of the team leaders with a long face. Who asked everyone to have their eye on Ling Lan¡¯s and Wu Jiong¡¯s respective teams?


    "Ditto +1!" Another team leader had a simrly long face.


    "Ditto +2!" The final team leader was also part of the long face n.


    The officer was unsure whether tough or cry at the humorous words of thest three team leaders. He then turned to ask the other students, "What about you all? Why didn¡¯t you choose to join a team, or make your own team?"


    All was silent, so the officer pointed at one of the students at random. "You, answer!"


    That student truly bemoaned his bad luck, actually being called on to answer. Sullenly, he replied, "If I made my own team or joined another team, then I would lose the chance to join Ling Lan¡¯s or Wu Jiong¡¯s team. We all do not want to lose these final three chances."


    "Alright, alright, so you all have your considerations." The officer stared doubtfully at Qi Long and Wu Jiong, uncertain what sort of charisma they had to make the other students so tenacious. However, there was no way to continue on like this, so the officer grinned sardonically and said, "I don¡¯t care about these messy considerations of yours. Here, my word isw. Right now, Imand you all to quickly get into temporary teams of five. Give me the name list in 3 minutes. If you still don¡¯t have a team then, I will randomly assign you one."


    The officer swept his gaze at Qi Long. "Since your team is already full, I won¡¯t make any changes. You all can wait over there." The officer pointed out a direction, signalling for Qi Long and his team to move there.


    Qi Long and the others were very happy that they could remain with Boss Ling Lan. This gave them a lot more confidence.


    The students reacted swiftly. It took only 5 minutes for 10 teams to form. To ensure his team¡¯sbat ability, Wu Jiong chose a ssmate ranked in the top 10 to join his team, while Li Yingjie had managed to secure the 13th-rank for his team. The other students teamed up ording to how well they got along with one another.


    Seeing that the students were all ready, the officer waved expansively and shouted, "Depart!"


    The scouts charged aggressively towards the entrance of the camping grounds, and there they found a huge vehicle which greatly resembled a fully enclosed armoured car of Ling Lan¡¯s past world, but was five or six times bigger. The officer indicated for the students to get into the vehicle.


    Ling Lan felt the vehicle start up and move. Along the way, she even felt the body of the vehicle being crashed into by somerge force, causing several loud bangs. Seeing the anxious and curious faces of the students, the officer in the same carriage exined, "This is just the savage beasts attacking. Don¡¯t worry, this area is mostly just beasts below G-ss. They won¡¯t be able to do any damage to this transport car."


    "Won¡¯t any higher ss savage beasts appear?" asked one of the students.


    "I¡¯ve lived here for 3 years and that has never happened. The savage beasts on this are all territorial, so the savage beasts normally won¡¯t leave the area they live in," exined the officer. Seeing that everyone was still anxious, he then shared the greatest trump of the camp. "We have heavy artillery on the transport car, capable of killing savage beasts below E-ss."


    At that, the students released relieved sighs, and waited calmly for the transport car to bring them to the hunting grounds.


    ********


    After travelling for not even half an hour, the transport car stopped. The car door swung open, and Ling Lan and the others disembarked under the officer¡¯s direction to find that there was a temporary outpost here.


    The officer pointed at the thick forest in front of them and said in introduction, "This is the H-ss hunting area which has been specially set up just for you all. Right now, mark down the coordinates of this location. You must not go beyond the radius of this coordinate by 10 kilometres."


    He then pointed at the temporary outpost behind him and said, "This is a temporary rest area provided for you all. The fence around the perimeter is also an electric barrier fence, definitely capable of withstanding multiple attacks by H-ss savage beasts. Inside, there is also an exchange station. Also, if you want to return to the main camp, either you walk back, or you¡¯ll have to buy a return ticket. And each return ticket requires 500 credits ..."


    The officer¡¯s mouth split into a grin, and he said with some malicious glee, "So, please work hard and earn money!"


    That said, without waiting for a response from the stunned students, he leapt onto the transport vehicle, which then zoomed away from the area, leaving the students with nothing but faces full of dust.


    Slow on the uptake, the students only realised they had been abandoned by the heartless officer after the vehicle was no longer visible. They broke out into angry curses, yelling loudly of the other¡¯s despicable shamelessness, actually leaving without teaching them anything.


    Han Jijyun ignored the uproar beside him, turning to ask Ling Lan, "Check out the outpost or just go hunting straightaway?"


    Ling Lan said impassively, "The outpost won¡¯t run away, we can always check it out when we get back. We need to get a better idea of this area before nightfall so we can create a hunting n tonight."


    Ling Lan¡¯s decision gained everybody¡¯s agreement. Or, we should say, since Ling Lan had decided so, no one else in the team would have any objections. Thus, the five of them swiftly put on their backpacks and headed towards the forest ahead.


    Seeing the movements of Ling Lan¡¯s team, the other teams put a lid on their anger and began moving as well. Some teams chose to enter the temporary outpost to check it out, while other teams followed Ling Lan¡¯s team to enter the hunting area, getting ready for their first hunt.


    ********


    At this moment, several kilometres in the air above Ling Lan and the others, a mecha battle squad was monitoring the area. Seeing some of the scout teams begin to hunt, their captain gave the following orders to his subordinates. "Each person is responsible for one team. Don¡¯t let theme to any harm."


    "Roger that, Captain!"


    "M1702, choosing the first team!"


    "M1703, choosing the second team!"


    "M1704, choosing the fifth team!"


    "M1705, choosing the ..."


    ********


    Meanwhile, in a different direction, on a mountain slope several kilometres away, a bestial mecha squad was also monitoring the area.


    "Little ones, have you chosen your targets?"


    "Boss, don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ve all chosen ..."


    "Pity there aren¡¯t any lolis, can¡¯t push any of them down ..."


    "Shotas are just as good for that, you sleazy uncle."


    "Don¡¯t look at me that way, it¡¯s just my fatherly love overflowing ..."


    "Che ..." This group of people, though noisy and flippant in their unfiltered speech, were nevertheless precise in their movements. Controlling their bestial mecha, they made their way skilfully through the forest, surreptitiously tailing the respective scout teams they had chosen to protect.


    ********


    Qi Long was the spearhead of Ling Lan¡¯s team, with Han Jijyun in the middle, Luo Lang and Lin Zhong-qing at both nks, and Ling Lan at the back of the formation. Han Jijyun¡¯sbat skills were the worst among them, so before they figured out the true strength of the savage beasts in this area, Ling Lan had no choice but to use this safest formation.


    It was extremely calm the whole way through ¡ª they didn¡¯t encounter any so-called savage beasts. After walking 300 to 400 metres into the forest, Ling Lan¡¯s gaze suddenly flickered and her head twitched minutely towards the left. She could clearly sense that a savage beast was approaching from that direction.


    A few secondster, Qi Long also sensed it. He quickly gave a warning, "It looks like a savage beast ising. Everyone watch out."


    Hearing this, everyone tightened their grips on their weapons, focused intently on the direction they were in charge of defending. No one knew what the first H-ss savage beast they encountered would be like and where it would attack from.


    The wait wasn¡¯t very long. Within a few seconds, a burly grey figure leapt out from the short shrubs on their left side. Its chosen target was the one standing closest to it, Luo Lang.


    Long prepared, Luo Lang swung the high-frequency de at the figure in a hurried arc. Perhaps Luo Lang¡¯s counterattack was too swift, catching the opponent by surprise, for it was struck dead on by Luo Lang¡¯s attack.


    A wailing howl rang out, and the grey silhouette twisted in the air tond nimbly on its feet. The powerful attack by Luo Lang had not damaged it at all.


    At this time, everyone could finally see what it really looked like. It was about the size of arge dog, and was covered in a coat of long grey hair. Its head was like a rabbit from Ling Lan¡¯s past world, but was 4 or 5 timesrger than a rabbit¡¯s head. Meanwhile, its tail was not short and small, but thin and long, with countless scales on it instead of hair. With a subconscious flick of its tail, a crisp crackling sound rang out, and there were now several thin gouges in the tough packed earth. It was obvious that its tail was immensely powerful.


    "sh rabbit, speed-type H-ss savage beast. Attack methods: mouth, ws, tail. Strength: Immense speed, almost undetectable. Thick and tough skin, unable to be injured by normal strength. Weakness: Predictable attacks. Very impatient. Exchange value: Skin and fur, 10¡ª100 or more (depending on the integrity of the item). ws (whole), 20 each. Tail (whole), 100."


    Ling Lan read out the information on the sh rabbit immediately. Her memory was amazing, almost to the extent of having a photographic memory. Of course, even if she forgot, Little Four had already saved all the information on the savage beasts and would have reminded her.


    Listening to Ling Lan¡¯s recitation, Qi Long¡¯s gaze shone brighter and brighter ¡ª this was all money!


    "Looks like it will be our first quarry." Lin Zhong-qing was equally as excited.


    The sh rabbit was the weakest among all the H-ss savage beasts. As such, there were not many things of value on it, only three. However, this did not beat the fact that it was the easiest savage beast to hunt. Not only could it allow them to practise on it to familiarize themselves with hunting, they would also profit from it somewhat ¡ª this was a great thing!


    "In that case, Lin Zhong-qing, we¡¯ll leave this quarry to you," said Ling Lan calmly.


    In their team, Lin Zhong-qing was the nimble and speedy type. Thus, hunting a sh rabbit as practice was perfect for him, very likely to trigger some insight.


    The objective of hunting was not simply to take down a quarry, but also to learn how to hunt game that was most suited to one¡¯s abilities. This was the first lesson of hunting, known as ¡¯know thyself, know thy enemy¡¯.

 Chapter 142: Enemy Attack? Enemy Attack!

    Chapter 142: Enemy Attack? Enemy Attack!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Under Ling Lan¡¯s nning, every member of Ling Lan¡¯s team experienced hunting solo. After a week, Ling Lan felt that the others had already gotten used to hunting, and were able to work together well with great rapport. So, she decided not to move around with them anymore.


    Ling Lan had only been following them around this week primarily because she wanted to protect them, afraid that they might encounter some unexpected scenarios. It wasn¡¯t that Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to go off on her own to the areas with higher ss savage beasts, but, Little Four told her that there were mecha convoys from the camp scattered around watching over them, both in the air and on the ground. However, with the passage of time, the number of mecha gradually decreased.


    Thus, Ling Lan could only bide her time at the temporary outpost. Still, she had the learning space, so it wasn¡¯t aplete waste of time. However, these actions of Ling Lan drew the contempt of the mecha operators protecting the students from the skies ...


    Just take today for example. After sending Qi Long and the others off at the gates of the temporary outpost, Ling Lan ambled back to the living quarters andy down to sleep. Thiszy and unmotivated demeanour of hers instantly infuriated the mecha operator in charge of this area.


    "Hells, this punk is such a goddamn rascal, not going out to hunt again," said the mecha operator angrily to his teammates.


    By this point, the mecha operators were no longer protecting the teams individually, but was keeping track of them through radar monitoring. Any hunting team that entered the range of the area they monitored would fall under their protection.


    This particr mecha operator¡¯s protection range just happened to include the temporary outpost. Every time he saw Ling Lan remaining at the outpost on his own, sleeping sweetly without a care in the world, his mood would take a deep nosedive. He felt that Ling Lan was not living up to all of their expectations.


    "Could it be that his credits haven¡¯t been used up yet?" One of his teammates asked him distractedly as he gathered information on the hunting teams within their protection range. Many of the children just did not have the guts to go out and hunt unless absolutely necessary.


    "If that was the case, I wouldn¡¯t be so angry! I¡¯d just have to wait for him to reach that critical point. But he just goddamn won¡¯t ever run out of credits because his teammates are actually willing to provide for him without anyint!" Extremely disgruntled, the mecha operator¡¯s voice was deep and sullen. "Even though they returned every single time covered in injuries, they would still just smile and give the quarry they hunted to that brat, and let him exchange it for credits and continue to remain in the temporary outpost."


    The operator was somewhat envious, but his heart also ached for those children. For the sake of such an unmotivated and useless teammate, were their actions worth it?


    "Ho! Looks like that punk¡¯s interpersonal skills are pretty good then." Being able to get his teammates to provide for him willingly was also an aplishment. The other mecha operators could not help but exim in awe.


    "Could it be that the punk has an impressive background?" Of course, someone would think of this ¡ª maybe this was the reason why those children didn¡¯t dare to not support him?


    "I asked the captain, and he said that he doesn¡¯t have any notable background. It¡¯s just that his father died long before he was born in a battle with the Twilight Empire." Very early on, the mecha operator in charge had already asked the captain to investigate the child¡¯s data, and found that his background was very average. Even more average than those of his teammates, Qi Long and Luo Lang.


    "Perhaps those children pity him for being an orphan of a martyr. Giving him some consideration because of that would be normal," someone spected.


    "That¡¯s not the way to be considerate. They are here to see blood ¡ª if this brat never sees blood, then how will he grow? Don¡¯t they know that this is actually harming him?" The mecha operator in charge was somewhat distressed at the waste of talent.


    "What are you worrying for? If he doesn¡¯t want to grow stronger, what can we do ..." The other¡¯s words had barely faded when he suddenly gasped in shock, and asked doubtfully, "Look up there, what¡¯s that?" When he had been browsing through the images, a light had seemed to flicker at the top of the screen. He adjusted the image, and found that countless bright spots had appeared on it, and could not hold back a shout.


    All of the mecha in the air immediately pulled up their images as well, and saw that there really were countless bright spots descending from the atmosphere.


    "What¡¯s going on? Why didn¡¯t the camp control tower give us a report?"


    "Could it be an enemy attack?"


    "No way ..."


    Just when those aerial mecha operators were at a loss, Ling Lan, who had already entered the learning space and had started practising her physical skills, sensed a strong signal calling her from the outside. She decisively ended her training and returned to the great hall of the learning space. There, she saw Little Four with an anxious face, who rushed to say, "Boss, I just did an aerial scan, and discovered a mysterious force invading this!"


    Ling Lan¡¯s face changed. She quickly returned to the real world, leapt up from her bed, and rushed out.


    Standing in the square of the temporary outpost, she lifted her head to look up at the sky, and could vaguely see several glimmering lights in the skies above.


    "Little Four, lock onto one of those bright spots and zoom in," ordered Ling Lan.


    A close-up of the scene right by a bright spot abruptly appeared before Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. The bright spot turned out to be a giant elliptical metal object. Its outer shell was smooth and glossy, and it looked just like arge egg made of metal ¡ª there was no way to tell what it was. Its speed of descent was not very quick, just as if there was a reactionary force pushing against the¡¯s gravity.


    Ling Lan¡¯s brows furrowed, suddenly thinking of something. She yelled out quickly, "Little Four, could you check to see into outer space?"


    "From here, I¡¯ll need to hack into the radar here. Boss, hold on for a few seconds ..." That said, Little Four left. Ling Lan counted under her breath, and when she reached 9, the image before her suddenly shifted to an image of the space right beyond this.


    In space, there was nothing. All was silent, just as if those unidentified flying objects had just appeared in their vision from thin air.


    "The other side might be using some cloaking system to evade radar scanning, and so were not discovered," exined Little Four, "Let me try to change their radar scanning system ..." This so-called ¡¯cloaking¡¯ was not true concealment ¡ª it was just recognizing an opponent¡¯s radar scanning system and preparing a corresponding countermeasure. So, a minor modification to the scanning system would solve the problem.


    Little Four¡¯s words had yet to fade when Ling Lan saw two massive interster motherships suddenly appear in a corner of the initially boundless starry sky. Beside them were four escort starships. Right then, those elliptical metal objects were beingunched in a never-ending stream from the mothership¡¯sunch port. The four escort starships were positioned at four corners, carefully guarding the two motherships in the centre.


    "Searching for their emblem ..."


    The starships within the image began to rotate, until, on one side of one of the ships, a blood-red sun was revealed ...


    "The Twilight Empire ..." Ling Lan¡¯s gaze narrowed, her mind swiftly registering the severity of the matter. Immediately, she said, "Quick, transmit the images to the camp¡¯s control tower ..."


    "Already done." Little Four had instantly transmitted those images to the control tower.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze filled up with killing intent ¡ª the Twilight Empire ... that was the main culprit in her father Ling Xiao¡¯s murder. She had originally thought that she would only get the chance to get revenge and kill the people of the Twilight Empire once she grew up, but unexpectedly, this opportunity had presented itself here at this mysterious.


    Of course, Ling Lan also knew very well that their appearance here most likely meant that some problems had also emerged within the inner workings of the Federation, just like back when Ling Xiao had been killed. Only this time, she wondered who their target was.


    ********


    When the control tower received Little Four¡¯s transmitted images, they instantly sounded the rm ... The entire camp leapt into action under the ring cacophony of the rms. All the resting soldiers rushed out, grabbing their weapons and their mecha.


    Meanwhile, the mecha operators in the air still observing those unidentified bright spots in the atmosphere had also received the warning of an enemy attack from the control tower.


    "Warning, this is an enemy attack ...! Warning, this is an enemy attack!"


    "Get ready for battle!" The cold voice of the captain came through the publicmunications channel.


    "Yes!" All of the mecha were fully armed, and they watched suspiciously as those countless flying objects drifted down towards their. The moment the captain gave themand, they would charge.


    In the meantime, the hunting students had also received the notification to return to the camp or the closest outpost.


    When the opponent had drifted down to a certain altitude, the flight-capable winged mecha or humanoid mecha all flew up into the sky as well, waiting in formation.


    ********


    Meanwhile, in space, themanding officer of the mothership who had supervised theunching of the metallic giant eggs, was closely watching the feedback images of the situation below. When he saw that the opponent had already noticed them and were prepared to attack, he instantly pounded the table in anger. " Baka 1 , how did they discover our concealed airstrike strategy? Which bastard ratted us out?!"


    Originally, they had wanted to overwhelm the opponent with the element of surprise, but was unexpectedly faced with this sort of direct faceoff. His heart started to twinge in pain ¡ª the sneak attack this time involved their empire¡¯s most exceptional mecha column, if any idents happened and they were lost here, it would definitely be a severe loss.


    Thismanding officer naturally didn¡¯t know that the reason the opponent was prepared was due to Little Four, this intelligent bio-entity from the miraculous Mandora ...


    "Attack!" When the control tower gave thismand, all the air-borne mechaunched the first wave of attack. The metallic eggs right at the bottom were instantly caught in the explosions of this intense firepower. Losing the anti-gravity deceleration, they dropped like stones, hurtling downwards at full speed. The mecha in formation paid no mind to these falling eggs ¡ª everyone knew that at that speed, even if there were protective fittings inside, the people inside would still be at death¡¯s door even if they didn¡¯t die.


    These images were transmitted back to the motherships in space, causing themanding officer to yell ¡¯baka baka¡¯ non-stop, yet he was helpless to do anything. Now that things had developed into the current situation, it was no longer something he could resolve.


    "Sir, can we let them break out of the shells and act now?" The adviser beside the officer wiped away the sweat on his forehead, and reminded him with a bow. Since there was already no chance of a sneak attack, they might as well fight outright pitting strength against strength.


    " Sano-kun¡¯s 2 suggestion is good. Give out the order to act!" Themanding officer finally calmed down.


    " Hai 3 !"


    ********


    Once the order went out, all the falling metallic eggs cracked open by themselves, revealing the ck mecha hiding within each one. The sight of those ck mecha, along with the crimson sun emzoned on their chests instantly drove all the Federation¡¯s mecha operator¡¯s into a collective rage.


    "Curses, it¡¯s mecha!"


    "The bloody Twilight Empire!"


    "Dammit, kill them all ... avenge Major General Ling Xiao!" It wasn¡¯t clear which mecha operator said this, but it summed up the burning animosity of the mecha operators well.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    If anyone has questions orments about the usage of Japanese terms in this chapter, please refer to the trantor¡¯s thoughts section at chapter 144 first before posting.

 Chapter 143: The Mecha Battle Kicks Off!

    Chapter 143: The Mecha Battle Kicks Off!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s death due to one of the Twilight Empire¡¯s evil plots was a major grudge for all mecha operators of the Federation. They too had once thought of charging onto the battlefields against the Twilight Empire for revenge, but they were soldiers, and so had to submit to the military¡¯s arrangements. They had been assigned to develop this mysterious, but the rage in their hearts had not disappeared. Now, suddenly seeing the hated killers appear before them, almost all of the mecha operators were about to go on a rampage.


    Everyone present on the field knew that this would be a death sh, a fight till one side or the other was dead!


    The artillery in the hands of the Federation mecha operators needed nomand, firing wildly in an endless barrage. A great battle was about to start ... in the sky, the sounds of rocket fire filled the air ¡ª the Twilight Empire mecha naturally did not justy back and admit defeat. Even if they had no choice but to dodge while they were still trying to gain control of their mecha, they would still raise up their firearms when necessary to return fire.


    The entire battlefield was shrouded in the smoke of artillery ¡ª with every round of fire, several mecha would be destroyed and fall ... some of the Federation, more of those from the Twilight Empire.


    Those mecha plunged from the skies wreathed in thick smoke and zing fire, crashing loudly onto the ground. Even Ling Lan, who was quite far away from the heart of the battle, could still feel the violent tremors from the ground, almost losing her footing.


    On the ground, those mecha would explode a second or even a third time. Shrapnel went flying, wisps of me scattering everywhere ¡ª the immense explosive force broke the surrounding trees at their waists, some trees even being uprooted entirely. Yet even more trees were set alight by the errant sparks, quickly bing engulfed in mes ...


    Under the barrage of artillery, the initially tranquil primitive forest descended into a sea of smoke and fire. The savage beasts within seemed to sense the looming threat, and began to make amotion.


    The descending Twilight mecha were getting closer and closer to the Federation mecha soldiers in the air; at this point, the camp control tower gave a new order, "All aerial mecha squads, move out immediately!"


    Thismand proved that the battle had already entered the most intense closebat stage. The oue of this battle now would be determined entirely by whose nation¡¯s mecha operators were stronger.


    From the start, this world had been a world governed by the principle of the survival of the fittest ¡ª only by being stronger than the opponent could you have the right to continue surviving.


    All the Federation mecha operators who received the order operated their mecha to fly towards those iing Empire mecha. In the skies of this, blue-white mecha and ck mecha shed, battling it out with one another.


    ********


    The suprememander of the camp looked at the starships hovering in space on the screen before him. Rage spiked in his heart, and he threw the phone receiver in his hand roughly at the ground, where it instantly broke apart.


    Raging, he said, "Goddammit! If these bastards weren¡¯t here, how would I have let these despicable mechand so easily ... Damn! Now we can only rely on the mecha teams to hold them off with force."


    On the other end of the phone receiver, the technician soldier silently wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead. He was thankful that he had managed to react quickly enough to shut down the functions of the receiver moments before themanding officer had smashed it, saving the eardrums of his teammates.


    It turned out that the secret headquarters on this was equipped with anti-aircraft artillery. However, due to the threat of the starships in outer space, the suprememander did not dare to use them. This made him feel extremely frustrated and was the main source of his rage.


    Themanding officer could almost confirm that the Twilight Empire was just using these mecha to try and entice them into firing their anti-aircraft missiles. After finding out that the opponent was the Twilight Empire, themanding officer knew that even if the opponent had found the coordinates to this, they still would not know the detailed location of the Federation¡¯s secret headquarters on the.


    If the opponent had known for sure where the headquarters was, they definitely would not have first let the mecha descend for a sneak attack. Instead, they would have just opened fire with the starships, directly blowing up their mainmand centre right from the start. This way, without any propermand, the Federation warriors would definitely not be able to muster up any effective resistance. The Empire would have been able to easily assume control of this.


    If he had not discovered the opponent¡¯s starships, he might very well have already given themand for the camp to fire their anti-aircraft missiles. He could almost see the final oue then ... those few starships of the Twilight Empire would then have figured out where they were hiding, and sent all their firepower on board towards them,pletely destroying this location, vaporizing everyst bit of them, leaving no bodies behind.


    At this thought, themanding officer felt a lingering frisson of fear in his heart. Luckily the radar had worked in the end, managing to detect those concealed starships and motherships. This also made him instantly aware of the opponent¡¯s scheme, saving him from giving out a wrong order.


    Themanding officer collected his emotions, and turned to ask the chief of staff beside him, "When will the reinforcement teams arrive?" Although he had seen through the opponent¡¯s dangerous scheme, the situation right now still wasn¡¯t looking good.


    "The crew closest to us is at the Misri Corridor area. Even if they rush over at top speed, it is estimated to take about 10 hours," reported the chief of staff.


    "Hold out for 10 hours, is it?" The suprememander frowned, considering whether it was possible to hold out for 10 hours with his current forces.


    "Commander, there¡¯s more bad news I have to tell you ..." The chief of staff had received thetest updates from the other staff officers, and he now looked somewhat ill. "The forces just sent word that just now, a Twilight Empire fleet was seen in the vicinity of Qiming."


    The suprememander hurriedly tapped on the star map on a screen andpared the distance between the two locations. He could not help but curse! This was because the distance from the Misri Corridor and that from Qiming were roughly the same. In other words, 10 hourster, the opponent would also receive reinforcements.


    "Contact military headquarters immediately. Tell them to send even more fleets over. No matter how long it¡¯ll take them toe, we will hold out till the end!" That said, the suprememander turned and left the control tower. This surprised the chief of staff who had begun making arrangements for hismands. He asked, "Commander, where are you going?"


    "Where? To fight! Am I supposed to just sit here and wait? My soldiers are all battling courageously right now!" With an angry re, themander stalked onto the control tower¡¯s elevator tform to go down, not giving the chief of staff any time to stop him.


    Nimbly, he climbed into his own mecha, and after activating it, he piloted it to fly up to the aerial battlefield. Behind him, his bodyguard mecha team followed swiftly ... themander they were supposed to protect had already chosen to battle, of course they could not stay back.


    "Ahem, this fellow ... that¡¯s so irresponsible!" The chief of staff looked at the back of themander who had leapt into battle, and muttered unhappily to himself. Still, he could onlyin a little in protest ¡ª against the formidablemander whose very nature was that of an extreme battle maniac, all he could do was resign himself to his bad luck and clean up after him.


    ********


    "Baka! The opponent actually chose not to use their anti-aircraft missiles but fight in close quarters with mecha? Are they that confident in their own mecha operators? What do you all think?" In space, themanding officer on the mothership saw that their ns had failed once again. Their originally perfect strategies, all failing ¡ª this caused him to be extremely displeased and angry.


    "Commander, don¡¯t worry. Among the mecha operators executing the air strike this time is a team of our empire¡¯s ace mecha escorts. As long as theynd sessfully, the opponent¡¯s mecha operators will definitely be no match for them." The staff officer beside him quickly offered reassurance, boosting themanding officer¡¯s confidence, "They will definitelyplete this ¡¯Operation Decapitation¡¯!"


    There were many strategies; they too had thought of all kinds of unfavourable contingencies. As long as the ace mecha troopnded sessfully, they would carry out ¡¯Operation Decapitation¡¯ ¡ª seek out the opponent¡¯smand centre and destroy it so that the opponent would have no organisation, and hence lose all form of effective resistance.


    " Yoshi 1 ! I hope they don¡¯t disgrace our great Twilight Empire." Once more, themanding officer felt as if he had the situation well in hand.


    ********


    On the, right now, there were the sounds of countless firearms being fired. The temporary outpost was also ringing with the warning res alerting the troops of an air attack. Some on-duty soldiers were directing nonbatants to the nearest air raid shelter, but their main responsibility was to help those students at the outpost who were scared shitless.


    "Bastard, stop running around recklessly! Come back quickly!" A soldier on duty at the outpost was currently gathering all the students hiding all around the outpost. When he saw Ling Lan standing at the entrance of the outpost looking around randomly, he instantly yelled at him anxiously.


    Suddenly, from god knows where, a bomb fell ¡ª the soldier leapt frantically at Ling Lan ... then, he felt his body being tugged aside by something, causing him to tumble in another direction, dropping straight into a trench dug by the camp.


    "Boom!" The bomb exploded on the other side. But because they were inside the trench, they werepletely uninjured. The soldier raised his head, bewildered, and saw a small figure crouched in front of him.


    "Big Brother, thank you for saving me." That charming young shota had a serious expression on his face, but the immense gratitude he held in his eyes was unmistakable.


    Although the soldier was still wondering how he had suddenly changed course in mid-air, the two of them had indeed been saved by the shift in direction. As such, he could only scratch his head in confusion and say, "As long as you¡¯re alright! As long as you¡¯re alright!"


    Then, realising something, he asked, "Why didn¡¯t you go to the air raid shelters?" The camp had informed the students the coordinates of all the air raid shelters at the first moment, letting them choose the nearest air raid shelter to hide at. Fearing that the students would be scared stiff by this sort of ruthless battle scene, they had then sent some on-duty staff to check up on them, which was why this soldier had appeared here at the outpost.


    "I wanted to go, but was still checking the directions, confirming the coordinates." Ling Lan gave a perfectly normal reason. In the midst of an unforeseen event, it was very easy to lose one¡¯s direction in the chaos.


    The soldier had already seen scouts in this sort of situation an nth number of times, and so merely pointed at a direction and said, "You just walk in this direction, and then look at the coordinate numbers on yourmunicator, and you should be able to find an air raid shelter."


    "Thank you, big brother. Then I¡¯ll be leaving first!" Ling Lan gave him a grateful scout¡¯s salute, and then jumped out of the trench, quickly disappearing into the distance.


    The soldier pulled on his helmet and carefully moved forwards in a low crouch. He needed to continue checking the next location. After moving stealthily in this way for several tens of metres, he abruptly realised that the other¡¯s movements had been much more agile than his ...

 Chapter 144: Chance! Make a Move!

    Chapter 144: Chance! Make a Move!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan did not choose to go to that air raid shelter; instead, she secretly hid at a random blind spot within the outpost. With Little Four¡¯s help, she contacted Qi Long. "Qi Long, where are you guys now?"


    "Boss Lan, finally got hold of you. We can¡¯t go back anymore," said Qi Long, chuckling drily.


    "What happened?" asked Ling Lan in surprise.


    "The road we need to go back is now a battlefield!" The sound of violent hacking and shing could be heard from Qi Long¡¯s end ¡ª the sound was so loud that it almost covered Qi Long¡¯s voice.


    "Mechabat!" Ling Lan could immediately tell what the sound signified.


    "Yes, and not just ... BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" Loud explosions rang out on Qi Long¡¯s end, "Boss, we need to retreat quickly, otherwise we¡¯ll be chopped into pieces by the winds of their swords."


    Heavy panting could be heard via themunicator ¡ª it looked like Qi Long and the others were running for their lives trying to escape that frightening battlefield. Ling Lan was extremely anxious, hating the fact that she wasn¡¯t there with them.


    "We can¡¯t go any further. Any further and it¡¯s the F-ss savage beast area." Han Jijyun¡¯s voice rang out on the other side of themunicator.


    "You all already entered the G-ss savage beast area?" A bad feeling rose in Ling Lan¡¯s heart.


    "Yup, the battlefield spread too quickly, so we could only keep dodging backwards. But luckily, those G-ss savage beasts have also been frightened away by the battlefield." Qi Long¡¯s voice held a trace of relief, because if that had not been the case, they would not have been able to run so deep into the forest.


    "Stop running. Those savage beasts have already be even more dangerous," said Ling Lan frantically.


    The sound of running footsteps slowed and finally came to a stop. Then, Qi Long¡¯s voice came through once again, a note of puzzlement in it, "Boss Lan, what did you say?"


    "They¡¯re about to go berserk from this sudden battle." Ling Lan had already received Little Four¡¯s warning. He had found that within the range of his monitoring, the savage beasts¡¯ eyes had already turned red, as if they were about to go berserk at any moment.


    "Can you all go around the battlefield?" Ling Lan followed up with this question.


    "No, the battlefield has already spread to cover the entire G-ss savage beast district. No matter which way we go, we¡¯ll have to pass through F-ss territory," responded Han Jijyun. He had been keeping a close eye on the situation, so he knew very well that right now, the battlefield had engulfed almost all of H-ss and G-ss areas. Therefore, if they wanted to avoid the battlefield and get back to the temporary outpost, they could only go through F-ss savage beast territory.


    Han Jijyun felt very helpless. With their capabilities, their chances of passing through F-ss territory safely was exceedingly low ¡ª they would only have one chance in ten of surviving. It wasn¡¯t that much different from just cutting through the mecha battlefield directly.


    "Boss, please don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll act ording to the situation. Right now, we¡¯ll first go look for a good ce to hide. Boss, you should also go to an air raid shelter as soon as possible and hide." Qi Long told Ling Lan their decision. He knew that in this type of situation, even if Ling Lan was strong, he would not be able to help them.


    In this kind ofrge-scale, destructive mecha battle, scout academy students like them who only knew low-levelbat arts were just ants. Qi Long and the others did not want Ling Lan to be in any danger, even somewhat d that he had note with them to hunt and gotten stuck here as well.


    "Alright, find a ce as soon as possible to hide then. Oh, and keep yourmunicators turned on. I¡¯ll contact you guys periodically." After giving her orders, Ling Lan cut the call.


    Ling Lan¡¯s brows were deeply furrowed. She knew very well that on that battlefield, the Federation mecha operators were fully engaged in battle and had no mind to care about the students anymore. In other words, whether Qi Long and the others lived or died was entirely up to their luck now.


    "Goddammit! I need to find them!" Ling Lan made her decision in an instant. She was not someone who would abandon herrades.


    Ling Lan knew that if the battle continued to spread outwards, Qi Long and the others would be forced to enter the territory of even higher level savage beasts. Little Four had already cautioned more than once that the savage beasts there were already in a state of violent frenzy ¡ª theirbat abilities were definitely not at their normal baseline. Undoubtedly, the longer Qi Long and the others lingered there, the more precarious their situation would be.


    With a decision in her heart, Ling Lan quietly zipped out of the outpost. The soldier on guard at the entrance, who was waiting for straggling students, only felt his eyes blur for a moment, as if a shadow had flown by at the edge of his vision. But when he looked around, he saw nothing.


    "Am I seeing things? Looks like the surrounding smoke still managed to affect my vision ..." The soldier could only exin it this way. He threw all thoughts of that passing shadow to the back of his mind and stopped worrying about it.


    Ling Lan rapidly dashed through the hunting grounds of the H-ss savage beasts. In the dim lighting of the dense forest, she moved through the trees as nimbly as a monkey. With several quick dashes, she zipped from one tree branch to another. Her speed made her seem just like a shadow, leaving afterimages between the tree trunks, and herndings were so soft that they made no sound.


    After travelling for about 2 kilometres, Ling Lan abruptly came to a stop. Her brows lifted slightly, but very quickly, she leapt up nimbly, and dashed into one of the shrubs to hide without making any noise.


    Ling Lan had just hidden herself when, not far from Ling Lan¡¯s position, tworge mecha collided heavily in the air and simultaneously lost control and fell.


    They crashed forcefully into the forest undergrowth about 200 metres away from Ling Lan. The great tremors caused by the crashes stirred up a tornado, which whipped out to decimate the surrounding trees. The tornado only died off when it was about less than 10 metres from where Ling Lan was hiding.


    Ling Lan seemed to have expected this, for she was not affected at all. All throughout, she kept a lid on her presence, crouched within the shrubs, motionless. The instant she went into hiding, Ling Lan had entered hunting mode ¡ª her mind was as still as ice, perfectly melding her presence with her surroundings. Even if Instructor Number One from the learning space came here now, before Ling Lan made a move, it would still be very difficult for him to find Ling Lan¡¯s hiding spot.


    Perhaps the two mecha had been rendered useless by the crash, for the operators could not get them to stand up again. Almost simultaneously, the hatch of the cockpit on both mecha opened. Two mecha operators leapt out from their respective cockpits at the same time.


    "ng!" The clear ring of cold weapons shing, proving that the two mecha operators had crossed des again in an instant.


    The two of them were pushed back by the other¡¯s attack, each stumbling backwards several steps before regaining their footing. They gripped the short swords in their hands and faced each other from a distance, waiting for the next chance to attack.


    The distance between the two of them was about 10 metres. The mecha operator dressed in a blue and whitebat uniform on one side was from the Federation. Ling Lan could tell due to the Federation logo on his chest ¡ª a big golden five-pointed star. On the other side was the mecha operator of the Twilight Empire, dressed in abat uniform the same ck as the Empire¡¯s mecha. The entire uniform was a dark inky ck, the only spot of colour being the blood-red sun on his chest.


    The mecha operators¡¯bat uniforms were a type of one-piece outfit, evening outfitted with a fully sealed helmet. This set ofbat uniforms were definitely the best defensive equipment in this world. Ordinary des would not be able to pierce through it; of course, the short swords equipped on the bodies of these mecha operators were made of a special type of metal ¡ª although the swords could not pierce through thebat uniforms, three stabs at the same spot would weaken the uniform enough to prate it and deal damage.


    The two of them faced off for a few seconds, unmoving, and then, their figures shed as they moved almost simultaneously.


    ng! ng! ng! ... Over 10 times the weapons shed. The two men were fighting evenly, but the consecutive attacks were wearing down the stamina of both of them rapidly. Soon, the two men were starting to breathe unsteadily.


    They had originally been fighting in their mecha for half a day up in the air, using up a lot of their energy already. And now, on the ground, they were engaged in a life-or-death close-range battle. Whether it was in terms of mental or physical strength, they were at the end of their ropes ¡ª it was all down to who could hold out for a breath longer.


    The patiently waiting Ling Lan had already quietly picked up a twig about a finger-length and slipped it between her fingers, poised as she waited calmly for the two men tounch into their next attacks.


    Finally, the two men lifted up their swords again, and charged towards the other at the same time ...


    Chance!


    With barely a thought, Ling Lan¡¯s wrist twitched, and the twig in between her fingers flew like an arrow towards the Twilight Empire mecha operator.


    Ling Lan naturally knew that the twig would not be able to prate the other¡¯sbat uniform on its own. Thus, her target was the only weakness of thebat uniform ¡ª the neck!


    Even though, on the surface, it seemed like the mecha operator¡¯s entire body was shielded by thebat uniform, in truth, at times, from a particr angle, a tiny unshielded gap would be revealed. For example, when a mecha operator lifted his head a certain way, an almost imperceptible gap would appear at the join between the helmet and thebat uniform.


    Ling Lan, who was lying t within the shrubs, was viewing the scene from a downward angle, and so managed to catch sight of this tiny, tiny gap. All this time, Ling Lan¡¯s cool observation was so she could find this opportunity for a one-hit kill. And Ling Lan¡¯s patience finally brought her this opportunity.


    The small and thin twig struck silently and abruptly ¡ª also, the Twilight Empire mecha operator never would have imagined that there would be another ruthless hunter here, so his full attention was on the Federation mecha operator opposite him. He wasn¡¯t guarding against other sources of killing intent.


    He suddenly felt a stab of pain at his neck, and the hand which he had nned to use to parry the opponent¡¯s short sword stilled for a moment.


    But this short pause was enough to make him miss the correct timing to parry, and he could only watch as his chest was pierced forcefully by the other¡¯s short sword. Panicked, he tried to back away, but then he discovered something even more frightening ¡ª he could not control his body at all.


    Within the blink of an eye, the opponent had stabbed his chest three times repeatedly, breaking through his uniform to pierce into his chest. He could only watch as his own blood started to spurt from his chest ...


    What in the world had happened? They had clearly been evenly matched, both unable to overwhelm the other ... why would he lose control over his body in these final moments?


    The mecha operator of the Twilight Empire fell over with a face filled with disbelief. Till the end, he still could not figure out how he had died, causing him to be a muddled ghost even in death.


    Of course, the reason for all this was Ling Lan¡¯s undetectable attack; it had just been too strange and unexpected. Because the twig had been so small and thin, it had only caused a small droplet of blood to well up at the area on the neck which it had shot into. Thus, the Twilight Empire mecha operator had never even noticed that he had suffered a sneak attack.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    First off, I¡¯m very pleased by the steady ranking this week. Very pleased. :3 And since I also have some extra time, here¡¯s an extra chapter.


    Secondly, as quite a fewmenters have questioned the use of Japanese words in recent chapters, here is my response instead of having to reply again and again individually.


    1. These words are included in ordance with the raws. Either the author spelled them out phically with Chinese characters, or it was implied, as with the structure of the names. The words are not left ¡¯untranted¡¯ because this is not a Japanese novel.


    2. Despite point #1, some have requested the words be ¡¯tranted normally¡¯. To that, I have to say, what is normal? Usage of foreign words in text has always been epted as a literary device, even in original English works. It helps in setting background and differentiating characters. Ask yourselves -- would this be an issue if the words included were Spanish or French or, better yet, some obscurenguage you were unfamiliar with? The only issue here seems to be the anime-like impression Japanese has in some readers¡¯ minds. As a trantor, my duty is to be faithful to the original, personal biases notwithstanding. I will only ¡¯fix¡¯ the raws if something is greatly illogical (like with theser missiles in a previous chapter), contradictory, or is clearly an error on the author¡¯s part (typos, wrong names, etc.). Which brings me to ...


    3. Even reading the raws, the enemy Twilight Empirees off as a littleedic, perhaps due to the inclusion of the Japanese words. Who¡¯s to say that that is not the original intent of the author? Belittle and caricaturize the enemy -- making it easy for readers to dislike them and cheer for the MC¡¯s side. This is not to say I agree with this method or the ideology of the author, but it is a possibility that this was what the author was aiming for.


    Thus, I am sorry if it makes any of you ufortable, but I will be leaving the Japanese words as is. It¡¯s pretty systematic, so it should be easy enough to ignore or to just switch the terms in your own mind as you read if it bothers you. Besides, there won¡¯t be much more of it once the fighting gets into full swing, and this arc will end in about 10 chapters or so anyhow. I hope this answers all your questions on the matter. As always, thank you for your support, and happy reading. :3

 Chapter 145: Controlling Polar Light!

    Chapter 145: Controlling Pr Light!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The Federation mecha operator saw that his opponent waspletely dead; only then did he let out a breath, rxing fully. Simrly, he had not noticed anything odd, just feeling d that the opponent had run out of stamina before he had. This was why he was the one who lived and not the opponent.


    Hiding at one side, Ling Lan was just thinking whether to go out and meet the other to obtain an update on the battlefield situation when a frisson of rm coursed through her heart. Without even thinking about it, Ling Lan pushed off the ground forcefully with both arms, sending her whole body flying backwards rapidly.


    At that moment, a terrifying light energy beam poured down from the skies, apanied by a horrified voice screaming, "Dodge ...!!"


    A Twilight mecha in the air had noticed the surviving Federation mecha operator on the ground, and had decisively raised the gun in his hand to send a powerful light beam sting down on the other. Not too far from this spot, another Federation mecha had also happened to see the opponent¡¯s movement, and had tried to lift his own gun to stop the other, but it was toote.


    The resting Federation mecha operator standing there had no chance of reacting, directly being engulfed by that massive light beam ...


    A loud "BOOM" and the earth was sted apart, causing an approximately 20-metre wide pit to appear. Right then, that Federation mecha operator standing there had disappeared without a trace, only leaving behind blood-soaked dark rust coloured earth as proof of his existence.


    "Bastards! I¡¯ll kill you!" The other Federation mecha operator¡¯s anguished voice rang out, interspersed with countless sts from his gun.


    In the air, yet another pair of Federation and Twilight Empire mecha became locked in battle, oue uncertain.


    ********


    Less than 10 metres away from the deep pit, Ling Lan was lying t on the ground, drenched in cold sweat, not daring to make a single move. Luckily she had sensed the danger back then and had run away in time. Otherwise, if she had still been hiding in her original spot, that hit just now would have turned her into a puddle of bloody water just like that Federation mecha operator.


    Even so, she had still been struck heavily by a broken tree which had been thrown her way by the st, incurring some internal damage. Ling Lan knew very well that in this kind of grand mecha battle, fragile physical bodies just could not stand up to the potential damage. She was already considered unbelievably lucky for surviving this round.


    "Boss, the mecha discarded by those two earlier may perhaps still be usable." Right now, Little Four was also very nervous. Ling Lan was stuck on her own on the battlefield ¡ª this situation was just too dangerous. They needed to have a mecha of their own to be able to stand up to the enemy. After searching for a long while, Little Four had found that the mecha which had fallen at the very start of this still seemed somewhat intact, so there was a chance it could still be used.


    "Let¡¯s wait for a moment. Let those two mecha leave first." Ling Lan circted her Qi to start healing her injuries as she consoled Little Four.


    By now, there was nothing but t ground around those two mecha which had fallen, no avable cover whatsoever. If she just rushed out like this, she would definitely be noticed by the two mecha battling it out in the sky. Ling Lan absolutely did not want to be like that Federation mecha operator earlier ¡ª consumed by fire, saying a thorough goodbye to the world, leaving no trace behind.


    Little Four knew that Ling Lan was right, and so said nothing further. However, the notion of getting a mecha of their own once again reared up in his heart. That way, he would be able to control the A.I. of the mecha and help his boss.


    Ling Lan¡¯s internal injury was not too severe, but if not treated well, there would still be the possibility of future problems. Especially since they were still in a dangerous position right now ¡ª any damage would mean a decrease inbat ability, so the most important thing now was to make sure her injury was fully healed.


    Consequently, Ling Lan left the safety of her surroundings up to Little Four, putting her full attention into recuperating. Very quickly, Ling Lan shut out all thoughts of her surroundings, entering a deeper dimension of Qi cirction and healing ...


    ********


    When Ling Lan opened her eyes once more, her body felt light ¡ª the tired feeling in her muscles as she had rushed here was gone along with her injury. Ling Lan knew that this was due to the deeper level of Qi healing, replenishing the vital energies of her body till its optimum state.


    Ling Lan¡¯s spirits were light as she looked up subconsciously. There was nothing there ¡ª the two mecha fighting there before she began healing herself were gone. Frowning lightly, Ling Lan asked, "Little Four, why didn¡¯t you wake me?" Who knew how much time she had wasted ¡ª if she had known that those two mecha were gone, she would have woken up earlier.


    Little Four did not think he did anything wrong. Righteously, he said, "You need to be well so we can find Qi Long and the others more efficiently."


    Ling Lan had nothing to say in response to Little Four¡¯s words. After all, Little Four had done so for her sake. If she did not heal her injuries fully and forced herself to go and look for herpanions, and then, if by any chance there was any danger, she may have dropped the ball at a critical point. That was definitely being irresponsible.


    Thus, Ling Lan cast aside the issue and began sneaking cautiously towards the two fallen mecha. As she moved, she asked Little Four, "When did those two mecha leave?"


    "Hmm? They never left ..." For a moment, Little Four had no idea what Ling Lan was saying.


    "Then where are they?" Little Four¡¯s words scared Ling Lan so much that she immediately dropped t to the ground and stopped moving. Could it be that the two mecha were hiding in some unseen corner? Why didn¡¯t this little rascal tell her about this sooner?


    "Oh, they¡¯re justying about 1000 metres away." Little Four¡¯s words let Ling Lan¡¯s heart settle back in her ribcage.


    Little Four brought up the image of the scene 1000 metres away in front of Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. Through it, Ling Lan could see that the two mecha had apparently perished together. 1000 metres away, there was yet another deep pit, and at the bottom of it, the two mecha were tangled up with one another. The beam sabers in the hands of both mecha were deeply buried in the other¡¯s cockpit. Thick crimson liquid was gushing out endlessly from both cockpits ¡ª the mecha operators inside were extremely unlikely to have survived.


    "Little Four, monitor the surroundings, including the area above," ordered Ling Lan, after letting out a heavy sigh. Almost every second on the battlefield, a life was ended. Ling Lan hoped she did not be the next to perish. Thus, she needed to get a handle on the surrounding situation so that she would not be caught off guard by an enemy hiding in a corner.


    Under Little Four¡¯sprehensive monitoring, Ling Lan safely arrived at her destination. Little Four swiftly checked the two mecha and found that they were both viable for repair. After some consideration, Ling Lan decided to take control of the Federation mecha. Although she also considered using the Twilight Empire mecha to sneak into the ranks of the Twilight Empire and attack them from within, the battlefield was a chaotic mess ¡ª both sides were already in a battle frenzy, if she were identally killed by the Federation, that would be such an ironic waste.


    Ling Lan quickly climbed into the cockpit, and Little Four instantly took over the control rights of the A.I.. Then, the first thing he did was to urgently shut the cockpit hatch, and then activate the mecha.


    The mecha¡¯s screen lit up in a sh, and then countlessbinations of 0s and 1s appeared, scrolling up in an endless stream from the bottom of the screen, finally covering the entire screen ...


    "Boss, please wait patiently. I¡¯m upgrading the A.I. and repairing some of the broken driver routines." Little Four¡¯s voice suddenly came out from the mecha¡¯s sound systems.


    Ling Lan waited for roughly 3 minutes, and the countless 0s and 1s finally disappeared from the screen, condensing down to form tworge words ¡ª Pr Light 1 !


    After a brief moment, the two words slowly faded from the screen. At the same time, the screen brightened, and Ling Lan felt the enclosed feeling she had at the start fade away. She could now see the limitless blue skies, and several columns of ck smoke drifting over from who knows where.


    "This mecha is part of the advanced mecha Pr Light series." Seeing the words ¡¯Pr Light¡¯, Ling Lan immediately knew what level of mecha she was about to operate. Who¡¯d have guessed that her first time piloting a real mecha would directly skip basic mecha, lower mecha, and intermediate mecha, jumping straight to advanced mecha? Other children probably wouldn¡¯t even dare to dream of such a thing. "As expected, anything is possible on a battlefield!" thought Ling Lan to herself.


    "The Pr Light series ¡ª its strengths are its speed and its long-range attacks. In contrast, it¡¯s a bit weaker in terms of close-rangebat," said Little Four regretfully. It should be noted that whether in terms of physical skills or mecha control, Ling Lan¡¯s skills in close-rangebat were much stronger than her long-range attacks.


    "Little Four, there¡¯s no such thing as strengths and weaknesses for mecha. Whether it¡¯s strong or weak depends entirely on the ability of the operator." A small smile hung on the corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips. Even if this was the weakest mecha, when it came to close-rangebat, she had the confidence to utilise it well.


    "Also, I¡¯ve found the instructional channel for the Pr Light controls. Boss, do you want to view it?" This was an advanced mecha after all, some of its controls were somewhat different from those of a basic mecha.


    "Okay, just speed it up." Ling Lan had already scanned the control buttons ¡ª most of it was almost the same as with basic mecha controls, with only a few new additions. What Ling Lan was interested in was this section of the video.


    Very quickly, Ling Lan had absorbed the newly added things. There was nothing too strange about them, mostly just theunch buttons of some artillery weapons. Ling Lan wasn¡¯t someone who used those much anyway, so this just made Ling Lan even more confident.


    "What a shame that other than two small high-frequency des and a beam saber, this mecha has no other close-range weaponry." Little Four was full of contempt for the dullness of the high-frequency des and the sole piercing function of the beam saber.


    "They¡¯re enough for me." Ling Lan nimbly controlled the mecha to grip the beam saber in its left hand. That length and piercing function really made it feel like a tri-edge trench knife; Ling Lan was very pleased.


    "Little Four, run an immediate check on the remaining artillery left and the power levels." Ling Lan was not an impulsive person. Everything she did, she hoped to do it with all the information at her disposal.


    "Head: anti-aircraft missiles 2 , 2. Left arm: Beam shield energy sufficient, able to support 2 hours of continuousbat. Beam saber energy insufficient, only able to sustain for around 40 minutes. Right arm: 57 mm high-energy beam rifle, able to fire 18 beam shots. Additionally, in the chest area, two iid rockets were still unused. Driver energy blocks: Main energy block with 20% remaining, two secondary energy blocks still left unused." Little Four reported the status items of the mecha to Ling Lan one by one.


    "If we fly, how long can we sustain movement? If I fight at full strength, how long can the mecha hold out?" Ling Lan then threw a few possible scenarios at Little Four.


    "Purely flying, we¡¯ll be fine within 10 hours. If youbine flight with full outbat, 30 minutes should be okay!" replied Little Four conclusively.


    "Got it." Ling Lan now had a baseline. She then operated the mecha to fly swiftly at low altitudes, rapidly making her way towards Qi Long and the others. Ling Lan was not flying at max speeds, however, because she did not want to be noticed and targeted by the enemies in the air above ...

 Chapter 146: Discovered?

    Chapter 146: Discovered?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In a dark and dense forest area closest to the battlefield, a team of four scout students were carefully moving through the trees, trying to go around the whole battlefield by skirting the edges of the forest ...


    They could clearly hear the violent sounds of artillery and explosions not far away, and every once in a while, they could feel the sudden tremors of the ground when a mecha crashed from the skies into the ground. Each time, they would be frozen in terror, afraid that some stray artillery or even mecha would just fall directly on them.


    "You guys, still okay?" Qi Long swiped off the sweat on his forehead, and turned back to ask his teammates behind him.


    "Don¡¯t worry about us. Right now, the most important thing is to not go the wrong way." Han Jijyun¡¯s brows were furrowed as he continued to keep track of their coordinates. Due to the spreading of the battle, they were getting closer and closer to the active territory of the F-ss savage beasts. Even if they had not received Ling Lan¡¯s warning, they could feel the chill from within their bones ¡ª the situation was already getting worse and worse.


    The few of them once again made their way carefully through the forest. After a distance, Qi Long, who was in the lead, abruptly waved his hand. The boys behind him immediately dashed away to hide in the bushes or behind trees, beam handguns in their hands. If an F-ss savage beast appeared, they would pull the triggers without hesitation ¡ª taking the initiative would give them the upper hand.


    Qi Long alone was left in a half crouch, his beam gun pointed right at the spot which he had found suspicious. Sweat dripped down his forehead to glide down his cheek. He did not dare to lose his concentration ¡ª an F-ss savage beast was equivalent to a human at the Refinement stage; this wasn¡¯t something he, as someone who had barely stepped into the Refinement stage, could match up to. He had already thought things through. If an F-ss savage beast actually appeared, even at the cost of his life he would create an opportunity for his teammates to escape.


    "Qi Long?" A deep and hoarse voice came from behind the shifting shrub.


    "Wu Jiong, it¡¯s you." Qi Long rxed instantly, almost dropping bonelessly to the ground. He had really been too nervous before this.


    Hearing the two of them speak, Lin Zhong-qing and Luo Lang were about toe out of hiding when Han Jijyun, who was covering Qi Long¡¯s back, signalled them to watch and wait. The two of them instantly put up their guard again, gripping their guns tightly as they continued to remain hidden.


    Wu Jiong finally climbed out from the bush. His protective vest was a little damaged, and there was an open wound on his cheek. After Wu Jiong came out, his teammates Ye Xu, Qin Yi, and the others also revealed themselves, walking out from various corners. One of them was being supported by Qin Yi. The lot of them were all in roughly the same condition as Wu Jiong, extremely dishevelled.


    Wu Jiong saw that Qi Long was alone, and his expression shifted slightly. "Where are your teammates? And where¡¯s Ling Lan?"


    Qi Long answered, "They¡¯re here." He turned to wave behind him, and Han Jijyun and the others walked over.


    Then, Qi Long said, "Boss Lan is at the temporary outpost. There¡¯s only the four of us here." He pointed at Wu Jiong and asked, "How did you all be like this?"


    Wu Jiong grimly spat out a gob of spittle. "Pah! Our luck was just too bloody terrible. A bomb blew up not too far from where we were hiding. Luckily, we had hidden behind arge thousand year old tree, so the tree blocked most of the explosion. But still, being the closest to the explosion, Chen Yu was heavily injured. It¡¯s lucky we had enough emergency healing agents on hand, otherwise Chen Yu would have really been in danger. Now, at least he¡¯s alive."


    Chen Yu was the ss-A student who had temporarily joined Wu Jiong¡¯s team for this hunting period. His results in ss had always been average, and he was normally extremely untalkative, and so was very easily overlooked by others. But for some reason, Wu Jiong had chosen him at first nce ...


    "Do you have enough medical agents? We still have some here." Qi Long asked in concern. Hearing Qi Long mention this, Han Jijyun hurriedly took off his backpack, prepared to take out some first aid agents.


    "Thank you, but that¡¯s not necessary for now. Chen Yu¡¯s injuries are stable, but to heal it as soon as possible, we need to get back to the outpost immediately to get him into a recovery pod." Wu Jiong declined Qi Long¡¯s offer, but hisplexion did not look any better. This was because they needed to get through the battlefield as quickly as they could to get Chen Yu back to the outpost for treatment, or else his injuries might get worse if left untreated for too long and end up giving him trouble in the future.


    But how they could pass through the battlefield was a huge problem. At this moment, he truly hated how helpless he was.


    He lifted his head to look at Qi Long and said, "We¡¯re preparing to go back to the outpost as soon as possible to get treatment for Chen Yu. What are you guys nning?"


    "We also n to do the same," replied Qi Long, "Boss just contacted us, saying that the savage beasts here are about to go berserk. The longer we stay here, the more dangerous it¡¯ll be."


    "Cutting through the battlefield is impossible. The two sides are fighting too fiercely. The artillery is flying everywhere ¡ª no one knows whether they¡¯ll hit us," said Wu Jiong.


    "Not just that. If any enemy sees us, they would also shoot a beam projectile at us without mercy. They¡¯ve always been passionate about getting rid of us so-called ¡¯promising seeds¡¯," added Han Jijyun, mockingly.


    "Hn, so we can only stick to the forest and go around the battlefield this way," Qi Long told Wu Jiong their original n.


    "Just as I thought." Wu Jiong had the same n as well.


    "Still, it¡¯s just as dangerous. We¡¯re basically rubbing the edges of the F-ss savage beast territory as we travel. If we happen to meet an F-ss savage beast, we¡¯ll be wiped out," cautioned Han Jijyun.


    "Dammit. Staying here is not an option, we might as well try our luck," muttered Ye Xu in frustration.


    "Agreed!" The others all chimed in as well. They were the genius students of the Central Scout Academy, the cream of the crop ¡ª from youth, their education had always taught them to face trouble head-on and create chances for themselves. They were certainly not people who would just do nothing and wait for death.


    The two teams were in agreement. In fact, Luo Lang and Lin Zhong-qing even helped Ye Xu, Qin Yi, and the others by taking their backpacks so that they could care for Chen Yu better. This cooperation helped the two teams move a little faster.


    Right then, Qi Long suddenly signalled for everyone to stop. Under Wu Jiong¡¯s suspicious gaze, Qi Long excitedly took a call on hismunicator. "Boss, how did you manage to contact us?"


    Not long after the battle started, themunicators had lost themunication function. Qi Long and the others knew that this was due to the fighting. The camp control tower was afraid that the enemy would hack their signals and so had chosen to cut satellite transmissions. But surprisingly, even under these circumstances, Ling Lan still managed to contact them. This was absolutely freaktastic!


    And so, in Qi Long¡¯s mind, Boss Ling Lan¡¯s image just became even more impressive.


    Hearing Qi Long¡¯s question, Ling Lan knew that this was all thanks to Little Four. Still, Ling Lan did not exin herself. After simply asking Qi Long for their current coordinates, she told Qi Long that she was on her way over. If they were not in any danger, they should stay as close as possible to the coordinates they gave until she got there.


    Hanging up hismunicator, Qi Long¡¯s face once again revealed his trademark wide-toothed grin, adding some goofiness to his demeanour. However, everyone present knew that this was just Qi Long¡¯s facade ¡ª he had never been silly when he needed to be astute.


    "Good news?" Wu Jiong asked, seeing Qi Long in such a great mood after answering the call.


    "Yup. My boss will be here soon," said Qi Long gleefully. Hehe, it was truly great to have a boss. Even if the sky fell, there was someone to hold it up.


    "It¡¯s too dangerous! What can he do even if hees?" Han Jijyun¡¯s first reaction was to object, feeling that Ling Lan must have gone mad. He felt that this was not an action Ling Lan should take ¡ª this was definitely not the choice of a rational type leader. Still, it could not be denied that a tendril of warmth was spreading through his heart, and his initially gging spirits suddenly lifted significantly.


    "Brothers united, we can even cut through gold 1 ! With Boss leading us, I have nothing to fear ... Also, Boss said that he¡¯s already at G-ss territory, heading here." Qi Long did not have as many considerations as Han Jijyun ¡ª he just felt that with everyone together, he would even be willing to venture into a dragon¡¯sir or a tiger¡¯s den.


    "That¡¯s great! Since Boss ising, then let¡¯s just wait here," said Luo Lang, equally excited. At the same time, he had noticed that arge part of Han Jijyun and Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s stamina had been used up during this forced march. It was just that they were in a hurry to get back, and was surrounded by danger, so they hadn¡¯t dared to stop and rest.


    Qi Long looked at Wu Jiong, and Wu Jiong looked at the tired faces of all his team members. He felt that it was indeed about time to get some rest, so he nodded and said, "Let¡¯s rest for a moment."


    The two teams found a rtively secluded spot, and with Qi Long and Wu Jiong as sentry on each side, the others huddled together in the middle and began consuming thepressed biscuits and nutrient solutions they had on them.


    Very quickly, they had eaten their fill and rested. If it were not for the sounds of explosions and mecha fighting not too far from them, they could almost believe that the battle had just been a bad dream.


    "Not good! Hide!" Wu Jiong and Qi Long shouted almost simultaneously.


    The two teams reacted quickly. They immediately threw down the food in their hands, all of them moving to the respective nearest cover to hide.


    At that moment, a blue and white mecha fell from the sky, crashing forcefully into the forest about 100 metres from them. In an instant, the area had be arge pit, trees fallen with broken branches scattered everywhere.


    Three powerful energy beams immediately followed, striking the cockpit of the mecha with precision. The cockpit was devoured by the beams instantly, melting away to be a gaping hole.


    Three ck Twilight Empire mecha lowered their beam cannons in unison. " Seeking death idiot 2 !" sneered one of the mecha operators gleefully.


    Honestly, this Federation mecha which had been destroyed was really very unlucky. He had been on his way back to restock on ammunition, but had unexpectedly stumbled upon this three-man team of Twilight Empire mecha. Although he had tried his best to escape, he still did not manage to evade theirbined attack in the end and was killed.


    "Stop dithering. Our brave warriors are fighting courageously. We need to find the enemymand centre as soon as possible and carry out Operation Decapitation. The earlier we finish, the more brave warriors we can save." One of the other mecha seemed to be the squad leader of the three-man team. The moment he said this, the other two mecha immediately responded respectfully, "Hai!"


    Just as the three men were about to pilot their mecha away, one of the mecha seemed to spot something as he zoomed out his screen. "Eh? What that could be 3 ?"


    "Kotou-kun? Did you find something?" The small team leader was startled by his subordinate¡¯s cry of surprise, and quickly asked him to report.


    "Hehe, no worries. I just found some fun little mice." The mecha operator called Kotou-kun suddenly let out a burst of maniacalughter, somewhat excited and perverse.

 Chapter 147: Ace Operator?

    Chapter 147: Ace Operator?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    At that moment, the squad leader also caught sight of the few ¡¯little mice¡¯ that Kotou had noticed. He knew of his subordinate¡¯s little penchant, and so grumbled at him good-naturedly, "I¡¯ll give you one minute to deal with these little mice. Shikamaru-kun, let¡¯s go."


    The squad leader could leave so easily because he did not think that these few little mice would be any trouble for Kotou, so there was no need for all three of them to be there. Might as well let Kotou enjoy himself.


    The two of them very quickly sped off in their mecha, leaving Kotou behind alone. When they left, they did not notice that from another direction, close to the ground, a white and blue mecha was skimming its way towards the area ...


    Kotou controlled his mecha to lock onto the group below him. From a distance, he raised his mecha¡¯s right arm, aiming his beam gun right at the people staring at him fearfully from below.


    Qi Long, Wu Jiong, and the others naturally knew they had been discovered by the other. Their faces paled, and they shouted desperately for theirrades to run ... but in fact, they knew deep down that no matter how fast they ran, they would not be able to outrun the impact of the mecha¡¯s beam gun.


    "Wakaka! Pitiful worms, say farewell to the world just like this!" Kotou saw the terrified faces of the children below and began tough wildly in excitement. This was the type of expression that excited him! It was like the high from taking drugs ¡ª irresistible ... this was also the reason why he had always loved torturing and killing children.


    With this twisted mentality and a crazed smile, Kotou decisively pressed down on theunch button in his hand. Energy began to gather at the muzzle of his beam gun, about to burst forth at any moment ...


    A loud "Boom!"


    From a distance, a beam struck his mecha¡¯s beam gun before he could shoot. Because of this beam, the beam gun exploded instantly, blowing off the whole right arm of Kotou¡¯s mecha. The arm dropped to the ground below.


    "Federation mecha!" Qi Long, Wu Jiong, and the others had thought they were doomed, but unexpectedly, they were saved at thest second. They all turned to look for the source of the beam, and saw a blue and white mecha flying swiftly from a distance, heading straight for the Twilight Empire mecha in the air.


    "That¡¯s great! We¡¯re saved!" There was an expression of great relief on all the children¡¯s faces.


    Han Jijyun was the only one who was still somewhat level-headed. "Take advantage of this chance and run!" There had been three Twilight mecha, while only one Federation mecha wasing here. If the other two Twilight mecha hurried back, Han Jijyun did not think the Federation mecha had good odds of surviving. The mecha had saved them, so Han Jijyun also did not want him to die, but reality forced Han Jijyun to first prioritize their own survival.


    Qi Long and the others knew Han Jijyun was right; they cast a reluctant look at the blue and white mecha, and then gathered everyone and moved deeper into the forest ...


    "Good luck, Federation mecha operator!" Everyone was silently cheering on the Federation mecha operator in the sky.


    "Baka!" Kotou was livid. He had only wanted have some fun and kill off a few mice, but just a slip in attention had allowed the opponent to st off his mecha¡¯s right arm, losing him his beam gun.


    He red hatefully at that iing blue and white mecha. It was a standard advanced mecha, with only the Federation¡¯s logo on its chest, nothing else. From this, he could tell that the other was just a regr advanced mecha warrior.


    In the Federation, mecha of ace level and above would have their own personal symbol on the chest other than the Federation¡¯s logo. The higher one¡¯s level, therger one¡¯s personal symbol would be. When one became a god-ss operator, the Federation logo would no longer be disyed, leaving only one¡¯s unique personal symbol behind. Take Ling Xiao for example. On the chest area of his mecha, there had only been a fiery phoenix on disy.


    His initial n to contact his squad leader abruptly stopped ... he had really been thinking of calling his squad leader over, but seeing that the opponent was just a regr advanced mecha warrior, his pride would not allow him to press the connect button.


    If he had to call for help against this kind of opponent, it would truly be a disgrace.


    Kotou felt that he could not afford to lose this face ¡ª he was the elite of the Empire, an ace operator ¡ª how could he lose to amon advanced mecha warrior of the enemy nation?


    Kotou decided in an instant that he would avenge himself. Even if he only had his left arm remaining, with his control skills, it was enough to torment the opponent till the other yearned for death.


    Kotou controlled the mecha¡¯s left arm to pull out the beam saber behind its back, in preparation for close-rangebat.


    "Boss, the opponent is actually choosing to engage in close-rangebat!" Little Four was thrilled. Compared to long-range attack, Little Four had much more confidence in Ling Lan¡¯s close-rangebat.


    "That¡¯s pretty good luck. Little Four, engage full horsepower, charge!" Ling Lanmanded decisively.


    Initially, she had been controlling her speed, wary of the other sniping at her mecha. Thus, she had been fully focused, ready to push her mecha into irregr flight. This decision of the opponent actually eased her mind greatly. Mind you, irregr flight was very taxing mentally, and was also a high-level movement that Ling Lan only learned recently. If forced to use it, Ling Lan would have only been able to do her best despite her average proficiency with it.


    "Got it, Boss. Leave it to me." Little Four¡¯s reply was apanied by a burst in speed.


    Kotou had thought that he would have some time to adjust, but unexpectedly, the opponent¡¯s speed suddenly increased by several folds, and the opponent appeared before him in the blink of an eye. Even worse, the other did not seem to have any intentions of slowing down, instead choosing to barrel straight at him, as if determined to bring him down and perish together.


    Kotou naturally did not want to die together with the opponent. His first reaction was to dodge ¡ª he activated the emergency thruster on one side, forcibly shifting his mecha to a side, narrowly missing the other¡¯s charge.


    But before Kotou could rx, the blue and white mecha about to pass by suddenly stopped strangely. At the same time, its mechanical arm bent and pushed out savagely. The crook of the ck mecha¡¯s neck was struck by a forceful elbow.


    A loud "Bang!" This strength behind this elbow was considerable. It immediately sent the ck mecha spinning, and the initially air-borne mecha began plunging towards the ground ...


    "Goddammit!" A moment of negligence made him lose the initiative and take on the passive role in this fight. Kotou tried desperately to regain control of his mecha, hoping to slow the speed of his descent and recover the mecha¡¯s bnce to counterattack.


    He finally managed to stop his mecha¡¯s descent with much difficulty, but the blue and white mecha did not stop attacking with just that elbow. The opponent actually descended as well, flying upside down to meet him head first, sending an iron fist hurtling his way.


    This attack once again disrupted the mecha¡¯s bnce. The mecha dropped sharply, and just when Kotou was trying his hardest to pull up his mecha, he was bbergasted to find that the opponent¡¯s blue and white mecha was falling even faster than him, actually overtaking him in an instant.


    This was all because the blue and white mecha had engaged both main thrusters at the same time, boosting its speed so the mecha could descend faster ...


    Qi Long and the others, who had just run away to a safe distance, were hiding and watching the battle. Seeing this development, their hearts jumped into their throat. Could it be that there was something wrong with the Federation mecha¡¯s systems? Or did the mecha operator make an operation mistake?


    The blue and white mecha was about to smash into the ground when ¡ª barely 2 metres from the ground, the mecha¡¯s thus far inert secondary engine for reactionary propulsion activated, its 12 jet spouts all opening up. A powerful surge of air sted out, actually blowing the leaves and broken branches on the ground into the air, twirling on the whirling winds.


    This st of energy was enough to stop the falling mecha cold. At the same time, the blue and white mecha¡¯s two mechanical arms lifted high above its head, all ten fingers spread wide, and mmed heavily onto the ground. Meanwhile, in the air, its two legs spun fiercely, kicking out towards the spot where the ck mecha was about to fall into.


    And so, a mecha spun gracefully into an intermediate difficulty Thomas ir 1 , kicking the ck mecha back up into the air. This time, due to thisrge force, the ck mecha no longer had any way to deflect, and was sent flying by the blue and white mecha¡¯s kick.


    "Amazing!" Qi Long and the others were utterly stunned by this sight. They had not expected that a mecha could pull off humanbat arts, and it was even more impressive and exciting than seeing a real person pull it off.


    The blue and white mecha pushed off its hands and flipped to stand upright. Without hesitation, it used its left hand to pull out the beam saber on its back, while its right hand grabbed the high-frequency de on its thigh, and pounced ruthlessly at the ck mecha who had hit the ground and was now lying there immobile.


    "Argh, baka, die die die!" Kotou shook his concussed head. Seeing the blue and white mecha rushing at him with its des, he immediately fired all the artillery he could on his body to try and stop the other. Perhaps out of fear, he actually began cursing vehemently within the cockpit.


    Facing the ck mecha¡¯s barrage of fire, the blue and white mecha¡¯s rushing figure suddenly started folding and ovepping, even creating multipleyers of ghost images ... The artillery allnded around the blue and white mecha, releasing countless light and mes, but not a single one hit the mecha.


    "Isn¡¯t that the irregr flicker that only ace operators would know?" asked Wu Jiong, astonished.


    Qi Long nodded excitedly. "Yes, yes, it is! The one controlling that mecha must definitely be an ace operator!"


    Qi Long was currently looking at the formidable blue and white mecha with a face full of admiration. He wished that he could be the one piloting that mecha ... The desire in his heart was raging: I want to operate mecha, operate mecha (several hundred thousand more ¡¯operate mecha¡¯s omitted) ...


    "Impossible, how could it be irregr flicker ..." When Kotou saw this, his eyes popped wide open in disbelief. A wave of regret crashed into his heart ¡ª he felt as if he had been tricked ...


    "Despicable chinks 2 !" In his final moments, he reflexively pressed the button to connect to his squad leader. But it was toote. The blue and white mecha¡¯s beam saber stabbed viciously into his cockpit. The immense beam energy immediately destroyed his upper body, leaving the cockpit filled with blood.


    ********


    The squad leader, already 3 kilometres away, saw Kotou¡¯smunication request, and hurriedly epted. "Kotou-kun? Kotou-kun?"


    The other end was silent, but for the strange sound of dripping water ...


    "Not good, something happened to Kotou-kun! Let¡¯s go back!" The squad leader had a bad feeling about this. He instantly made his decision, calling for another team member to go back with him to check out the situation.

 Chapter 148: Number X ...

    Chapter 148: Number X ...


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan resolutely ignored her difort; she gritted her teeth and controlled the mecha to pull out its beam saber from the Twilight mecha¡¯s cockpit.


    Ling Lan¡¯s difort was not because this was her first kill in real life, but because her current small body found it a little hard to bear the reaction force from operating mecha.


    Little Four noticed Ling Lan¡¯s condition and understanding the reason behind it, he asked her anxiously, "Boss, are you alright?"


    Little Four knew that operating mecha would definitely cause reaction force to reflect back on the operator¡¯s body. He had already done his best to lower the reaction force incurred to the minimum, hoping that his boss would not be harmed by it.


    However, Little Four never expected that Ling Lan would perform so outstandingly for her very first time operating real mecha. In particr, those final movements to evade the artillery had been beyond her usual standards ¡ª evolving the irregr dash of advanced mecha operators straight to the irregr flicker only ace operators were capable of.


    The irregr dash and the irregr flicker were actually the same skill. The reason there were two names for it, was that depending on the operator¡¯s skill proficiency, the resulting effect was visibly different.


    The irregr dash was an advanced mecha control technique, one of thepulsory techniques advanced mecha warriors and special-ss mecha operators must learn. On the other hand, irregr flicker was a skill exclusive to ace operators. In other words, only an ace operator would be able to execute irregr flicker perfectly.


    This was also why Qi Long and Wu Jiong would mistake Ling Lan for an ace operator. Frankly, Ling Lan¡¯s current control capabilities were only at the level of an advanced mecha warrior. At most, she could be said to have stepped half a foot into the ranks of special-ss mecha operators.


    Without a doubt, the appearance of the irregr flicker was the result of an idental cross-limits burst of skill.


    Of course, this cross-stage disy of skill had also dealt heavy damage to Ling Lan¡¯s body. Although Little Four had already tried his best to minimize the damage, Ling Lan¡¯s body had still incurred a certain degree of damage.


    "I¡¯m fine. I¡¯ve been through worse pain than this. This is nothing," Ling Lan reassured Little Four. Even though herplexion was so pale that it was worrying, her spirits were still at regr levels; it was as if the pain of her body did not exist.


    Honestly, from the moment she had decided to pilot the mecha, she was already mentally prepared to get hurt. Mind you, for a child not yet 13 years old, no matter how solidly built the child was, their bones just could not handle the feedback force from operating mecha. This was also one of the reasons why the Federation banned children below 13 years old from learning how to operate mecha.


    Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s reassurance to Little Four was also the truth. This little bit of pain she felt now was nothingpared to the excruciating pain of her illness from her previous life. Inparison, the pain she felt now was not even worth mentioning.


    "Besides, Little Four, you¡¯ve already helped me neutralize most of the reaction force, protecting me well. So I¡¯m fine. Thank you, Little Four!" Ling Lan thanked Little Four sincerely for his hard work. If not for him, her body might be in even worse condition.


    "Boss, I definitely won¡¯t fall for your candy-wrapped missiles ..." Little Four was beaming, a smile blooming on his face, stretching from ear to ear. Still, he did not forget to rify his stance. As a principled intelligent entity, how could he be so easily bought?


    Ling Lan ignored the currently tsundere Little Four, quickly scanning her surroundings instead. Very quickly, she had found Qi Long and the others¡¯ hiding ce. Seeing the lot of them unharmed, she instantly rxed.


    Ling Lan efficiently hung the mecha¡¯s beam saber back on its back and slipped the high-frequency de back into its ce at the mecha¡¯s outer thigh. Just as she was thinking to go greet Qi Long and the others, Little Four¡¯s expression suddenly tightened and he warned, "Boss, the two Twilight mecha who left earlier areing back. They¡¯re about 2 kilometres away from us."


    Ling Lan felt a weight settle in her heart at these words. Although she already knew this was a possibility, finding out that the opponent was reallying still made her a little nervous.


    "Hide properly. Don¡¯te out!" Ling Lan threw down these words and purposefully flew the mecha in another direction, preparing to distance herself from this area. Ling Lan did not want the following battle to hurt Qi Long and the others, otherwise hering here to aid them would be meaningless.


    Qi Long and the others hiding in the dense forest heard a cold voice ring out by their ears. They were startled, and dispelled all thoughts of climbing out from their hiding ce. Theyid t in their respective hiding ces, not daring to make any movement.


    "It¡¯s the Twilight mecha. The two mecha who left earlier have returned. Everyone make sure to stay hidden!" Wu Jiong¡¯s hiding spot happened to allow him to see the mecha flying swiftly by in the skies above. He immediately hissed out a warning. Qi Long and the others now knew why the Federation mecha had warned them not to move before flying off.


    "He¡¯s trying to save us by drawing those two mecha away?" There was aplicated expression on Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s face; it was abination of gratitude and respect, and also a trace of bewilderment.


    "He¡¯s an ace mecha operator, he¡¯ll definitely be able to defeat those two mecha." Luo Lang clenched his fists, trying to convince himself while convincing Lin Zhong-qing at the same time.


    "Will he? Don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t see the numbers on the arms of those three mecha." Ye Xu¡¯s spirits were low. As children within a militant system, they were well-informed about their own nation¡¯s and their enemy nations¡¯ mecha details. (At least, they knew more than the time-travelling outsider Ling Lan.)


    Ye Xu¡¯s words caused everyone to fall silent. Only Lin Zhong-qing remained confused; he looked at Qi Long and then Han Jijyun, hoping that they would exin things for him. As a poormoner, he did not really know much about this military information.


    However, the typically talkative and outgoing Qi Long was uncharacteristically pensive and umunicative. His face revealed his puzzlement as he thought deeply about something. Han Jijyun cast a confused look at him, but found that Qi Long¡¯s attention wasn¡¯t here at all. So, he took over to exin, "The Twilight mecha operators¡¯ levels can be determined by the serial number on their arms. Those few mecha earlier all had an ¡¯X¡¯ at the beginning of their serial numbers. That means they¡¯re from an ace mecha team!"


    "Ace?" Lin Zhong-qing caught hold of the key point.


    Han Jijyun smiled bitterly and nodded. With that, Lin Zhong-qing understood, and his face drained of all colour ...


    Would their saviour lose his wings 1 here? The children¡¯s hearts grew heavy with worry.


    ********


    "Squad leader, I¡¯ve found Kotou-kun¡¯s mecha. There¡¯s arge hole in Kotou-kun¡¯s cockpit. Looks like it¡¯s been shattered. From my observations, this should be the result of a stab by a mecha¡¯s beam saber ..." Mecha operator Shikamaru discovered the area Kotou-kun had perished on his scanner. The zoomed-in pictures his camera picked up was very clear; it was very obvious how his teammate had died.


    " Baka-yarou 2 !" A vein popped out on the squad leader¡¯s forehead as he gritted his teeth and cursed. He was irritated that someone had actually managed to kill his subordinate right under his nose. This made him feel extremely humiliated.


    "Squad leader, there¡¯s a mecha over there ... it¡¯s Federation." Mecha operator Shikamaru had already widened his search range, and soon picked up the low-flying Ling Lan on his radar.


    "That fellow must be the one who killed Kotou-kun. We must kill him to wash away our disgrace. After him!" Livid, the squad leader immediately turned and set his mecha on the path towards that mecha. Behind him, Shikamaru reacted swiftly, hurriedly following with his mecha.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mecha was not flying in a concealed manner, and its speed was not very fast either. She was doing this intentionally so those two mecha would chase her and get further away from the hiding ce of Qi Long and the others. Ling Lan knew very well that she would have to risk her life to fight against two ace mecha. During that time, she wouldn¡¯t be able to spare any mind for the surrounding situation. To avoid harming Qi Long and the others by ident, the further she could get away from them, the better.


    The image Little Four transmitted to her let Ling Lan know that the two mecha were following her as she had hoped. Then, Ling Lan abruptly increased her speed by many times. The two main engines of the mecha roared in unison, and the mecha drew a lightning-quick line through the air, flying over 1000 metres in an instant.


    "Shikamaru-kun, speed up. The opponent has noticed us." The squad leader saw the Federation mecha trying to escape and knew that the other had noticed them on his tail.


    "Hai!" The two Twilight mecha increased their speed at the same time, and like two feral dogs locked on Ling Lan¡¯s scent, they chased after her.


    As Ling Lan was controlling her movement speed, not pushing her mecha to its limits, after around 10 seconds, the enemy had already caught up to her.


    "Shikamaru-kun, high altitude snipe." Once Ling Lan entered sniping range, the squad leader immediately gave the order. He dearly wished that his subordinate would be able to destroy that hateful mecha operator with one shot.


    "Hai!" The mecha operator Shikamaru was a sniping expert to begin with. He controlled his mecha to fly steadily and lifted the sniping rifle in his mecha¡¯s hands. The moment he managed to lock onto Ling Lan flying in front of him, he pressed the firing button.


    "Boss, we¡¯ve been targeted." The opponent had just locked onto Ling Lan¡¯s mecha when Little Four issued a warning.


    Ling Lan¡¯s fingers danced frically ¡ª very quickly, sweat began to bead up on her forehead and the tip of her nose, condensing to slide down her face and drop ...


    Her mecha was suddenly seen to wriggle like a fish in water, drawing a strange curve, allowing it to dodge Shikamaru¡¯s shot by a narrow margin!


    "Irregr flight! Damn it!" Mecha operator Shikamaru was extremely put out for missing his target. He also knew how to execute irregr flight, but to be able to calcte the trajectory of a shot so urately ... this was the first time he was seeing this.


    What Shikamaru did not know was that it wasn¡¯t the mecha operator who managed this feat, but Little Four substituting for the mecha¡¯s A.I.. Of course, this was also only possible due to Ling Lan and Little Four¡¯s close rapport. Otherwise, if they were unlucky, they might very well have been hit and perished along with the mecha.


    Although Ling Lan managed to evade multiple snipes by the mecha operator Shikamaru, she was held back at the same time. When the squad leader chasing them got within 100 metres of Ling Lan, he sneakily raised the beam cannon in his hands to aim at Ling Lan who was still busily dodging Shikamaru¡¯s attacks, prepared to lock onto her and shoot.


    "Boss, the other mecha is also about to attack," cautioned Little Four anxiously.


    "Troublesome!" Ling Lan was confident that she could sessfully dodge all the snipe attacks of one mecha, but if two mecha attacked at the same time, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t sure if she could remain unharmed.


    That said, Ling Lan¡¯s control hand speed actually increased by one level. Right then, the outlines of Ling Lan¡¯s fingers were no longer visible, nor was it possible to see which buttons were being pressed. At most, on the control panel, one could only see the countless afterimages of her fingers, just like blossom after blossom of flowers blooming, beautiful and ephemeral ...

 Chapter 149: Looking For an Answer!

    Chapter 149: Looking For an Answer!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Just when the squad leader was about to lock onto Ling Lan¡¯s mecha, the mecha¡¯s waist twisted into a very bizarre position, and its initial forwards flight trajectory suddenly took a 180 degree turn.


    It should be known that for a mecha to change directions, they either needed to curve and make a U-turn in the form of a semi-circle, or they could choose to stop their engines and turn their body around before starting their engines again. The first option would maintain a mecha¡¯s speed, but required time; the second was immediate, but the mecha would lose the speed it had built up.


    However, this control of Ling Lan suppressed the weaknesses of the two options and kept most of their strengths. This was a control method unique to the Mandora star system that Ling Lan had learned from Instructor Number Three in the learning space. Of course, ording to what Instructor Number Three said, this control method was actually still a very basic and wed one. This was because the mecha of this world were really a bit too crude and simple, meaning many of the more advanced control methods just could not be executed.


    The squad leader saw the opponent twist bizarrely ¡ª sessfully changing directions and maintaining its high speed ¡ª and charge fiercely towards him.


    "What is this?" the squad leader shouted. Thispletely went against the principles of mecha control.


    If Little Four had known that this move would cause the opponent to be so shocked, he would definitely be extraordinarily smug andugh up into the skies, because this was a product of their Mandora star system ¡ª they had a saying back there which reverberated throughout the entire gxy, and that was: When Mandora moves, who stands a chance?


    Perhaps Ling Lan¡¯s control had exceeded the squad leader¡¯s expectations, unprepared, he easily let Ling Lan get close to him, and the two looked about to collide in the very next second.


    Still, he was the squad leader of an ace mecha squad after all, as well as being an ace mecha member. His mental fortitude and his experience were obviously much better than the other two; his adaptive ability especially was well-seasoned.


    The squad leader did not react like Ling Lan¡¯s first opponent, Kotou, who had panicked and chosen to dodge. Instead, he calmly turned off his engine thruster. Without the support of the engine thruster, the mecha began plummeting towards the ground due to its own weight.


    But after it had dropped about half the body height of the mecha, the squad leader started up the engine once more. At the same time, the upper body of the mecha bent backwards, and its left hand raised a high-frequency de high to stab at the cockpit of the Federation mecha who had already leapt to his original position.


    Of course, even if he managed to hit his target, it would not inflict a fatal injury on the opponent. At most, the opponent would just be struck dizzy for a moment. Yet, that was what he was aiming for. As long as a pause appeared in the opponent¡¯s control, he would have the time to counterattack.


    However, that would be the best-case scenario. It was also possible that he would not stun the other even if he managed to hit his target, which would instead let the opponent have the opportunity to attack in close range, resulting in a mutually damaging encounter.


    But whichever the case, he would not be the loser. He still had a teammate behind him, so even if he and the opponent were both damaged in this encounter, his teammate would be able to eliminate the opponent.


    The squad leader knew very well that in this situation right now, he could not afford to retreat. The moment he retreated, he would lose the initiative to attack and would be forced into a defensive position. With just one face-off, he could clearly tell that the opponent was a mecha expert. The opponent definitely would not let any opportunity slip by; he would definitely stick to him like an ulcer to the bone 1 andunch a barrage of attacks on him as he dodged. When that happened, he would really be in danger. The moment he failed to avoid due to any negligence, he could very well lose his life.


    The squad leader really hoped that the opponent would give up attacking and choose to evade his strike. This way, the situation would be reversed, and the one with the attack momentum would be him instead.


    The situation was not as advantageous to him as he imagined ¡ª the opponent did not choose to evade, but also wasn¡¯t struck by him either. The Federation mecha raised his right hand in that brief instant and used a simr high-frequency de to parry his attack.


    An explosive "CLANG!" Two sharp des collided violently!


    Not just that, the opponent¡¯s left hand had pulled out the beam saber behind his back at some point, and after blocking with his right hand, the beam saber in his left hand swung ruthlessly at the waist of the squad leader¡¯s mecha.


    If the squad leader were to be hit by this savage blow, even if his mecha was not chopped in half, the internal driver pathways would definitely be disrupted, which would cause the mecha to malfunction, perhaps even bing immobile and useless.


    The right hand of the squad leader¡¯s mecha was equipped with a beam cannon. The beam cannon wasrge and heavy, but very powerful. As long as it hit, its attack was capable of melting a mecha straightaway, achieving a one-hit kill effect. All this while, countless Federation mecha had been killed by beam cannons ¡ª its efficiency was extraordinary.


    In terms of long-range attacks, this weapon was fearsome. However, every weapon had its weakness. The beam cannon¡¯s was for an enemy to get close. The moment the enemy got close, the heavy bulky beam cannon would be nothing more than a burden, preventing a mecha from moving nimbly, just like the predicament the squad leader was facing right now.


    The squad leader was undoubtedly a decisive person. He immediately chose to discard the beam cannon. Therge beam cannon dropped from the sky, crashing heavily into the dense foliage below. Without the extra weight of the beam cannon, the now nimble mecha arm rose up to meet the opponent¡¯s beam saber.


    A dull "ng" ¡ª beam saber and mecha arm collided once again. The two of them were thrown backwards. The Twilight mecha had activated the beam shield on its right arm in that instant, rendering Ling Lan¡¯s beam saber attack ineffective.


    The squad leader¡¯s prompt response let him tide over this crisis safely, but the initially ready to fire Shikamaru began to falter.


    While the two mecha were tangled up together, he did not dare to fire his cannon, since he might hit his own squad leader as well if he wasn¡¯t careful.


    This was also one reason why Ling Lan had chosen to fight in close quarters with the squad leader. Otherwise, no matter how proficient she was at irregr flight, she would still be hit eventually by one of the two mecha¡¯s attacks. Right now, her stubborn insistence on sticking to a close-range fight had tied the hands of the other mecha, temporarily easing her crisis.


    But Ling Lan knew that this was just a temporary reprieve ¡ª the opponent definitely would not let this passive situation continue. They would definitely find a chance to attack. On her end, she would need to find a way to eliminate one of the mecha before her opponents found that chance. As such, Ling Lan¡¯s choice was to start by first targeting this mecha, which was obviously the main attacker.


    The two mecha jumped apart immediately upon contact. The Federation mecha¡¯s two side engines roared once more, stopping this rebound in its tracks before pushing the mecha forwards once more to hack at the opponent with its right hand. Ling Lan now had to ensure that her mecha remained within a body¡¯s length of the Twilight mecha, or else she may draw the other mecha¡¯s long-range snipe attacks.


    "Baka!" The squad leader had yet to catch his breath when he saw the opponent attacking once more. He hurriedly controlled his mecha to meet the attack with his own de, a curse spilling from his mouth.


    Remember, a proportion of the reaction force when controlling mecha to fight would be fed back onto the mecha operator¡¯s body. Therefore, mecha operators had the habit of stopping for a moment to rest after taking action, before moving on to the next move. It was very easy for the body to get injured when executing consecutive moves.


    In the cockpit, Ling Lan¡¯splexion was bing increasingly paler. The load on her body had already exceeded her limits ¡ª Little Four was even worried whether his boss would copse in the next second. This kind of high frequency attack was really too taxing on the body.


    ********


    Although the battlefield of the mecha and the hiding ce of Qi Long and the others were significantly far apart, the two teams in the forest were still somewhat flustered by the intense sounds of collision and the sts of artillery.


    "Qi Long, it¡¯s too dangerous for us to stay here. Why don¡¯t we continue moving? Let¡¯s go around the battlefield to the nearest air raid shelter to hide." Wu Jiong felt that instead of waiting here blindly, they might as well take the risk and continue moving forwards. Perhaps they would stand a better chance that way.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s words caused everyone¡¯s expressions to shift. Han Jijyun and the rest of Ling Lan¡¯s team looked to Qi Long, waiting for him to make the decision. When Ling Lan was not around, they would defer to Qi Long. Ling Lan¡¯s purposeful cultivation of Qi Long as the team leader had been acknowledged by everyone in the team. So, even if she wasn¡¯t there, the team would not lose direction.


    After some thought, Qi Long said seriously to his team members, "I¡¯ll be staying here to wait. What do you all think?"


    Including Han Jijyun, the team members were all taken aback by Qi Long¡¯s words.


    "Why?" asked Han Jijyun. Qi Long must have his reasons for choosing to stay; they wanted to know the reason before making a decision.


    Qi Long raised his head to look at the mecha fighting in the skies in the distance. His gaze wasplicated, but he soon regained hisposure and turned to face the group, saying, "Boss Lan said that he woulde. I need to wait for him."


    Han Jijyun and the others abruptly remembered. The situation earlier had been too precarious ¡ª the near loss of their lives at the hands of the Twilight mecha had driven this point from their minds. All of them nodded their heads to show that they wanted to wait for their boss together with Qi Long. They believed that since Boss Ling Lan had said he wasing here, then he would definitelye.


    Wu Jiong cast a long look at Qi Long and his team, somewhat admiring and somewhat envious. He admired the strong bond of friendship among Ling Lan, Qi Long, and the others of their team, which held up even in the face of death, and also envied their great luck ¡ª actually having a boss who would be willing to brave lethal danger toe save them.


    "Then we¡¯ll leave first." Wu Jiong turned to look at his teammates behind him, gaze lingering on the injured Chen Yu. They could not afford to wait.


    Qi Long watched as Wu Jiong left with his team, until their figures disappeared. Then, he turned to say to hispanions, "Let us go!"


    "Where? Aren¡¯t we waiting for Boss Lan?" Luo Lang was bewildered.


    "I want to see our saviour¡¯s battle up close," said Qi Long, looking to the battlefield in the distance, "Perhaps I will be able to find the answer I want. No, I don¡¯t need it ..." Qi Long¡¯s words were somewhat contradictory.


    Han Jijyun was the one who understood Qi Long best. His expression shifted and he asked, "Did you notice something?"


    "No, I don¡¯t know, and I don¡¯t want to know." Qi Long dodged Han Jijyun¡¯s question, directly putting on his backpack and heading off towards the mecha battlefield.


    Han Jijyun was puzzled, but he did not continue to question Qi Long, merely indicating for Luo Lang and Lin Zhong-qing to follow.


    Since Qi Long did not want to talk about it, then he would not ask. He believed that as long as he followed Qi Long, he would be able to find the answer.


    ********


    The two mecha had been tussling for several moves. Well, it was more of Ling Lan attacking fiercely while the squad leader defended himself passively. Seeing that the situation was not looking good for his squad leader, Shikamaru finally fired.


    His marksmanship was very urate. Even though Ling Lan was fighting the other at such high speeds, she was still shot.


    "The mecha¡¯s external shell received light damage. The beam¡¯s effect is minor. Initial estimations suggest that the other is using a miniature beam gun!" Little Four ran a quick scan of the mecha and reported his findings.

 Chapter 150: Ling Lans Crisis!

    Chapter 150: Ling Lan¡¯s Crisis!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    It turned out that the waiting mecha operator Shikamaru had finally thought of a way to attack Ling Lan without harming his squad leader. He had decisively set aside the powerful beam cannon, hanging it back on his back, drawing out the miniature beam gun strapped to his waist instead.


    The beam gun¡¯s power was noticeably weaker than the cannon¡¯s, and its range was extremely short. But its advantage was that he did not have to worry about hurting his teammate. Even if he shot his teammate by ident, based on the mecha¡¯s innate defensive ability, as long as he did not strike the same ce twice, the mecha would not take any significant damage.


    He chose to use this beam handgun to snipe, primarily just to harass the Federation mecha operator. Though the shots were weak, they would distract the opponent and prevent him from attacking fiercely. This way, his squad leader would have a chance to counterattack. However, if the opponent decided to just ignore his attacks due to the limited damage of the handgun, he believed that, if given a chance, he would be able to hit the same spot multiple times to deal heavy damage.


    Without a doubt, his choice trashed Ling Lan¡¯s hopeful ns, allowing him to rejoin the battle without worry.


    "Looks like I¡¯ll need toe up with something to finish off this mecha in front of me." Ling Lan knew that the scales of victory were slowly tipping in favour of the opponents ¡ª she could afford to wait no longer. N-number of options shed through her mind ...


    Operator Shikamaru pressed on his trigger once more, and a beam shot out from the muzzle of the beam handgun.


    The beam scored a direct hit on the right side of the Federation mecha¡¯s waist. The sound of an explosion rent the air ¡ª a thick plume of smoke started pouring from the back of the mecha¡¯s waist.


    "YES!" Shikamaru couldn¡¯t help but mentally give himself a pat on the back. This shot, his luck had actually been so lucky that it had cleanly taken out one of the opponent¡¯s side engines. This would create problems for the opponent¡¯s mobility system.


    Sure enough, because of this incident, the Federation mecha¡¯s engines suddenly sputtered and died, causing the entire mecha to plummet.


    The squad leader, who had been having a frustrating time fighting the opponent, was startled, but he soon recovered and was ovee with joy. "Chance!"


    Who knew his subordinate Shikamaru-kun would be so reliable, directly blowing up the opponent¡¯s engine? This was the moment for him to counterattack.


    His exhration let him forget all about the aches of his body; he controlled his mecha to pounce like a ferocious tiger dashing down a mountain at the Federation mecha. Earlier, he had constantly been on the defensive ¡ª now it was finally his turn to beat on the other. Of course he would not miss this great opportunity for revenge.


    In the distance, the operator Shikamaru was just about to continue sniping when he saw his squad leader leaping at the opponent. His finger on the trigger paused ... Hn, let squad leader vent some of his anger first!


    In his mind, the Federation mecha which had already lost one of its main side engines was definitely no threat to his squad leader. Moreover, he also believed that his squad leader would relish the chance to torment the other a little to release the pent up frustration from being suppressed previously. As a dutiful subordinate, he could not get in the way of his squad leader¡¯s fun in bullying the opponent.


    "The opponent fell for it!" Seeing the squad leader leaping at her, Ling Lan was overjoyed. This had all been a bet ¡ª she was betting on this mecha¡¯s thirst for revenge, and betting on the other mecha¡¯s non-interference ¡ª and she had won.


    Although Ling Lan was unbelievably hyped, her hands remained steady. She controlled the head of her mecha perfectly, turning it to look up at a very specific angle.


    "Calcting attack trajectory, perfect!" Little Four¡¯s voice had barely faded when the anti-aircraft missiles in the mecha¡¯s head area wereunched by Ling Lan.


    These two missiles came so suddenly ¡ª the opponent would never have expected the supposedly panicking Federation mecha operator to have the mind tounch anti-aircraft missiles.


    The squad leader knew that he would not be able to dodge, but still, he wasn¡¯t too worried. This was because this type of anti-aircraft missile was not very effective against mecha, due to the resilient outer shell of the mecha that was capable of resisting the explosive power of the missiles.


    The squad leader just assumed that this was the desperate final attack of the Federation mecha operator in the throes of death ¡ª that even though the opponent knew this attack was useless, he had still fired the missiles.


    Before the missiles would hit the squad leader¡¯s mecha, they suddenly turned upwards. Abruptly, he found that his main screen was shaking and then thick smoke smothered the entire image. He could only see ck smoke on his main screen; the opponent¡¯s mecha was concealed.


    He reacted quickly, immediately recing the image of the main screen with the images sourced from other cameras.


    "Squad leader, watch out!" The panicked voice of his subordinate Shikamaru came through themunications channel. Reflexively, he controlled the mecha to cross its arms and defend.


    He had justpleted this move when he felt his mecha being struck by a tremendous force, and then his whole mecha was thrown up into the air.


    What was happening? The squad leader was rmed, finding that things were already out of his control.


    From a distance, Shikamaru had the clearest view. The two anti-aircraft missiles fired by the Federation mecha had initially been heading for the squad leader¡¯s mecha¡¯s shoulder area, only to suddenly shift directions near the end to strike the head. In other words, the opponent had been aiming for the mecha¡¯s main camera from the start ¡ª the two anti-aircraft missiles were no ordinary missiles, but had been installed with a guidance system.


    This proved that the opponent¡¯s attack was not a hastily cobbled final struggle, but a pre-nned strike.


    The opponent used the low-powered anti-aircraft missiles to disrupt the squad leader¡¯s main screen; the thick smoke caused by the explosions were probably also part of the opponent¡¯s n. Then, once the squad leader¡¯s vision had been obstructed, the opponent hadunched the extremely powerful iid rockets from its chest, sending the squad leader¡¯s mecha straight into the air.


    Angrily, Shikamaru raised the beam handgun in his hands, prepared to st the opponent¡¯s mecha to smithereens ...


    But then a shocking thing happened ¡ª the engine that should have been damaged by him suddenly roared loudly once more, and the powerful force of its thrust sent the Federation mecha up towards the squad leader¡¯s mecha in the air.


    On top of that, the Federation mecha¡¯s following action made him yell out in shock. He saw the opponent swiftly sheathe the high-frequency de in its right hand back to the mecha¡¯s outer thigh, and then, grabbing its beam saber with both hands, it stabbed straight at the squad leader¡¯s cockpit.


    "Quick! Activate your beam shield and defend!" Shikamaru screamed.


    The squad leader was a leadership figure after all; he managed to activate his beam shield in that instant.


    The beam saber and the beam shield collided violently. Ling Lan could only feel arge rebound force feeding back into her hand.


    "Little Four, hold steady, don¡¯t get repelled!" Ling Lan pushed the mobile force of her mecha to the max, pushing against the rebound, while Little Four desperately worked to make sure that the mecha¡¯s systems would not break down under thebined pressure.


    In the sky above, a white and blue mecha with a beam saber gripped in both hands could be seen flying past rapidly with its beam saber pushed up against the cockpit of a ck mecha, drawing a straight line through the air.


    "Baka! Baka!" At this moment, the squad leader, who had finally regained the view of his main screen, started hacking desperately at the Federation mecha with the high-frequency de in his left hand. Once, twice, thrice ¡ª leaving mark after mark on the opponent¡¯s mecha.


    Within the cockpit, Ling Lan could not endure it any longer, throwing up a mouthful of blood. The hacking of the other mecha caused the mecha to shudder to a certain extent; the consecutive tremors worsened the injuries already borne by Ling Lan. Under the roiling of her Qi and blood, she actually ended up spewing blood.


    "Boss, are you alright?" Little Four was panicking.


    "It¡¯s fine. I can take it. How much longer can the beam saber hold out?" In this contest between beam saber and beam shield, both sides were expending energy. Whoever ran out of energy first would be the one to disappear. Right now, Ling Lan was betting on the opponent¡¯s beam shield expending more energy than her beam saber.


    "There¡¯s less than 10 seconds left!" Little Four was extremely anxious.


    "I¡¯ll risk it!" A feral glint shed through Ling Lan¡¯s eyes; in crucial moments, she could even be ruthless to her own self.


    "Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two ... Sh*t! There¡¯s no more energy ..." Little Four¡¯s voice had barely faded when Ling Lan felt the force blocking the beam saber in her hand melt away, and the beam saber pierced through something.


    And then, all that was left of the beam saber was its hilt. Was this a sess or a failure? Ling Lan¡¯s doubtsted for a mere instant; her fingers never stopped, still dancing rapidly, creating thoseyered afterimages.


    The Federation mecha discarded the depleted beam saber from its hands and grabbed the Twilight mecha with its right hand. With it as a fulcrum, the Federation mecha spun in a circle to hide behind the body of the Twilight mecha, sessfully dodging the sneaky snipe attack by operator Shikamaru.


    "Shikamaru-kun, the Empire¡¯s mission is in your hands now," said the squad leader to his distant subordinate, as he looked at the blood gushing out from the hole in his chest.


    "Squad leader, what are you saying?" The distant operator Shikamaru had not managed to see what had happened in the end. The beam saber and beam shield had run out of energy at almost the same time.


    "Use your beam cannon! That¡¯s an order!" The squad leader felt that his life was slowly fading. With hisst breath, he gave thismand, and then triggered the mecha¡¯s self-destruct mechanism.


    "Even if I die, I will pull you down into hell with me!" bellowed the squad leader with the final bit of his energy.


    "Squad leader!" Shikamaru now understood what had happened. In those final moments, the beam saber had likelysted a second longer than the beam shield. In that one second, the saber had pierced through a vital point of the squad leader. This was why the squad leader wanted him to switch to the beam cannon ¡ª he did not have long to live.


    "Squad leader, the Empire shall not forget your sacrifice!" Mecha operator Shikamaru¡¯s eyes were ice cold. He threw away the beam handgun in his hand, and once again lifted up the beam cannon from his back. Getting into position, he aimed right at his squad leader¡¯s mecha ... as well as the Federation mecha hiding behind it!


    ********


    "Not good. The other mecha has switched over to its beam cannon." This whole time, Little Four had been monitoring the Twilight mecha sniping them from a distance.


    "Does he not care that hisrade will die?" Ling Lan¡¯s first thought was that the other had gone mad.


    "No ..." Ling Lan abruptly felt a deep apprehension crawl into her heart, the warning bells in her mind were ringing.


    Without even having to think about it, her fingers flew ¡ª in this kind of life-or-death juncture, she did not think about the so-called limit of her finger speed. In her mind, there was only one thought ¡ª she needed to be fast, faster, even faster than faster ... because she was fighting with the god of death for the time to survive.


    This time, the control panel no longer had thoseyered afterimages ¡ª instead, Ling Lan¡¯s fingers disappeared into thin air ...


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    Yes, the title of this chapter is exactly the same as a previous chapter. No, it is not a mistake. :3 (Ling Lan just has that many crises in her life. orz)

 Chapter 151: Only Chance is to Get Close!

    Chapter 151: Only Chance is to Get Close!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan¡¯s mecha suddenly dipped, the entire mecha somersaulting, then it bent both knees to kick out abruptly, sending the Twilight Empire mecha in its hands flying.


    The Twilight mecha flew like a missile, hurtling straight for the sniping mecha in the distance. Meanwhile, riding the reaction force of the kick, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha flew backwards. Almost at the same time, Ling Lan activated the mecha¡¯s engines to full power, adding onto her momentum to push her mecha¡¯srge body further away from the kicked mecha.


    From around 300 metres away, the Twilight mecha responsible for sniping pressed the trigger of the beam cannon. An extremely powerful energy beam shot out from the mouth of the cannon ...


    An intense explosion rent the air. The force of the explosion was so strong that it sent out powerful shockwaves which could be felt from even 2 to 3 kilometres away. Meanwhile, close to the heart of the explosion, stretching out 500 metres, all the trees and nts had been ravaged by this great explosion. In particr, 100 metres around the centremost point, there was not a speck of greenery left. All that remained was turned up ck dirt and arge pit of about 50 metres wide.


    At this life-or-death juncture, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha control had exceeded her limits, achieving a realm regr people were unable to obtain. But despite her speedy reaction, she still did not manage topletely escape the range of the Twilight mecha¡¯s self-destruction. Her mecha¡¯s right leg was blown to smithereens.


    This immense concussive force also dealt heavy damage to Ling Lan herself. With a cry, she once again threw up a mouthful of blood, her head spinning.


    Ling Lan bit down fiercely on the tip of her tongue, letting the sharp pain force her back to wakefulness. She wiped away the traces of blood at the corners of her lips and asked, "What happened? How could the explosion from self-destructing be so strong?"


    Little Four gave his analysis instantly, "The mecha self-destructed at the moment the beam cannon struck, igniting the full force of the cannon beam. The two energy waves added to each other, resulting in an effect N-times stronger than just pure addition."


    "Looks like it involved some chemical reaction." Ling Lan frowned. This unpredictable explosive force was the cause of the severe damage to both her mecha and herself.


    ********


    Marching rapidly, Qi Long and the others were thrown off their feet by the tremors from the explosion. The weakest Han Jijyun was even sent flying, but fortunately, Qi Long was able to react in time to press him down to the ground so he wasn¡¯t injured.


    Qi Long waited for the tremors to stop and then climbed up quickly to look into the sky. He saw that the Federation mecha¡¯s right leg had been destroyed in the st, and hisplexion paled.


    "We need to move a little faster." The aerial battle did not seem too far, but was in fact 3 to 4 kilometres away. Qi Long and the others were already moving extremely rapidly, but still only managed to cover half the distance thus far.


    However, this time, Qi Long¡¯s decision drew his sworn brother Han Jijyun¡¯s objection. "Qi Long, the closer we get to the mecha battlefield, the more danger we¡¯ll face. Especially now, the mecha on both sides are obviously at the do-or-die moment ¡ª at any point, they could choose to self-destruct to bring the other with them. If we get too close, judging by the explosion just now, we will die immediately."


    Han Jijyun was extremely rational, not at all led by his emotions. Thus, seeing that progressing further would threaten their lives, he raised his objection, not allowing Qi Long to behave wilfully just because they were sworn brothers.


    "I know." Qi Long did not deny the truth of Han Jijyun¡¯s words. He too knew that going closer was not a smart move, but a voice in his heart was yelling at him to get as close as he could ¡ª if he didn¡¯t obey, he felt as if he would die from the tension and sense of suffocation in his chest.


    Qi Long pointed at his chest and said, "But, my heart tells me that I should go there. You know well that many times, my heart is more urate than my mind ... although I don¡¯t know why it wants me to do this ... but, what you say is right. Getting close is really very dangerous. I cannot be selfish and ask you all to take this risk with me."


    Qi Long felt that he had been selfish. He should have exined things clearly to his teammates and discussed the matter first before making a decision.


    Han Jijyun looked at Qi Long silently, and found that Qi Long¡¯s gaze was extremely determined ¡ª he was dead-set on getting close. As his sworn brother, Han Jijyun understood Qi Long well. Although Qi Long seemed brash and forthright on the surface, not cing anything butbat in his mind ... In truth, Qi Long¡¯s personality was very stubborn. Once he had made a decision, even a herd of thousands of cows would not be able to hold him back 1 .


    "I want to go," said Luo Lang suddenly.


    Luo Lang¡¯s abrupt interjection caused Qi Long and Han Jijyun to turn and look at him with some befuddlement. With some embarrassment, Luo Lang scratched at a cheek and said with a smile, "Actually, everyone knows that Qi Long¡¯s animal instinct is very urate. If instinct is telling Qi Long that he must go there, then there must be something there. Perhaps it might even be safer there. Besides ..." Luo Lang¡¯s expression became serious, "I also want to watch our saviour kill off the enemy and return safely to camp ..."


    At this moment, Lin Zhong-qing chimed in as well, "Honestly, I want to go too ..."


    Even Luo Lang was surprised by this, looking over in shock. Luo Lang¡¯s support of Qi Long¡¯s decision wasrgely due to the fact that he had be sworn brothers with Qi and Han Jijyun since they started school, so it made sense to advance and retreat in ord. However, Lin Zhong-qing joinedter, so his rtionship with all of them naturally wasn¡¯t as deep. It was understandable that Luo Lang and Han Jijyun were willing to take the risk with Qi Long, but Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s decision was obviously a little beyond their expectations.


    The three of them focused their attention on Lin Zhong-qing, waiting for his exnation.


    Lin Zhong-qing said seriously, "Whether the team leader¡¯s instinct is right or not, I do not know. However, the fact that I want to be strong is not a lie. So, I cannot retreat because I fear danger ... cowards will never be strong."


    Regardless of whether Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s reason was true or false, his support undoubtedly stunned Qi Long and the other two. Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s willingness to risk his life by throwing in his lot with them proved that he truly considered himself a member of their team now, and wasn¡¯t just here because he had been forced to by circumstance.


    Han Jijyun forcefully held back the surging emotions in his heart and said, "In that case, team leader, bring us along."


    Qi Long looked around at the three people in front of him, nodded solemnly and said, "Okay! Let¡¯s go!"


    From then on, they no longer doubted; there was only the strong bond between brothers who were willing to brave life and death together.


    The four of them moved with Qi Long in the lead, Han Jijyun right behind, Lin Zhong-qing in third, and Luo Lang watching their backs. They swiftly made their way through the dense forest. The violent tremors caused by the previous explosion were not purely bad ¡ª it also brought about a small benefit. There were no longer any savage beasts in this area of the forest. Even if some savage beasts were lingering around previously, the force of the explosion had scared them enough to send them running into F-ss territory. Therefore, Qi Long and hispany did not meet any obstacles whatsoever; it was smooth sailing all the way to their destination.


    Along the way, Han Jijyun quietly said to Qi Long, "Qi Long, you must definitely be a qualified team leader!" Han Jijyun¡¯s voice was extremely, extremely soft, so soft that it was more like Han Jijyun talking to himself.


    At the front, Qi Long jerked. His chest throbbed. In a position no one else could see, his fists clenched.


    ********


    Meanwhile, in the aerial battlefield, Ling Lan was facing another crisis. In order to dodge the opponent¡¯s snipes, Ling Lan had no choice but to once again control the mecha to execute irregr flight. However, this type of advanced flight movement put a heavy burden on the mecha.


    Right then, on the secondary screens on both sides, many areas had lit up with shing red warning alerts. The entire cockpit was drowned in a sea of rms.


    "Little Four, scan damage condition." Ling Lanmanded Little Four to report as she controlled her mecha to dodge the opponent¡¯s fire.


    "Right leg damage 100%, left leg damage 30%, right main engine working under duress, the entire mecha¡¯s overall damage at 52% ... Ah, it¡¯s 53% now ... Boss, every time you execute irregr flight with the mecha, the damage rate goes up. Estimated 10 more minutes at max before the mecha disassembles ..." Little Four quickly reported the condition of the mecha to Ling Lan. "Most importantly, because of the continuous fighting, there¡¯s only one secondary energy block of the mecha¡¯s driving energy remaining. 20% has already been used. If we fight at full strength, it can only hold out for 5 minutes!"


    "That¡¯s really bad news!" Ling Lan grit her teeth. In short, this mecha would not be able to hold out for much longer, so she would need to find a chance to counterattack within this limited time. Otherwise, she could only let the opponent chase her around and be beaten to death.


    "Little Four, how many more usable weapons do we have?" Ling Lan controlled her mecha to dodge another of the opponent¡¯s attacks, and the screen shed with red warnings. The alert that the mecha¡¯s damage levels were at 55% caused her brows to furrow.


    "Hanging on the left shoulder, a 57mm high-energy beam rifle, able to fire 18 shots. In the two slots on the outer thigh, a high-frequency de in each one," said Little Four regretfully, "Only these."


    "We need to think of a way to get close ..." Ling Lan silently nned. Solely depending on the 18 projectiles of the 57mm high-energy beam rifle, it was impossible to finish off the opponent. Only if she got close would she have a chance. Even though the high-frequency des were a little blunt, a few extra hacks would make up the difference.


    However, the opponent also knew what the consequence of letting Ling Lan get close would be, and so was extremely cautious. Every time Ling Lan attempted to get close, the opponent would swiftly back away to keep a certain distance between him and Ling Lan. In other words, the opponent was nning to attack Ling Lan from a distance till she died 2 .


    "Little Four, analyse the surrounding terrain!" While flying, Ling Lan took down the 57mm high-energy beam rifle with the mecha¡¯s right arm as she waited for the results of Little Four¡¯s analysis.


    "The north, east, and west are all just filled with endless in and forest shrubs. The ground condition is soft and the earth is slightly loose. About 300 metres to the west, there is a rock mountain. The close-up image indicates that it is adamantite 3 ..." Little Four reported on the surrounding terrain one by one to Ling Lan.


    "Adamantite?" Ling Lan¡¯s gaze shed, as if thinking of something, "How high is its hardness factor?"


    "Up to 12!" responded Little Four with certainty.


    "That¡¯s enough!" Ling Lan instantly made her decision. Still in flight, she lifted the beam rifle in her right hand and began shooting at the opponent.


    Shooting was certainly not her one of her strong suits. That said, this was only inparison with her personal strong suits. Ifpared to another person, Ling Lan¡¯s marksmanship was considered in the upper range of good ¡ª it just wasn¡¯t at the most excellent level, that¡¯s all.

 Chapter 152: Self-Destruct!

    Chapter 152: Self-Destruct!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    It was extremely difficult to shoot urately while flying at high speed. Furthermore, ace mecha operators basically all knew how to dodge using irregr flight, some even able to use irregr flicker for long periods of time. Thus, in a battle between opponents of the same level for advanced mecha operators and above, to defeat the other with pure gunfire ... this was almost impossible.


    However, Ling Lan had not nned to incapacitate the opponent with just her beam rifle to begin with. She was only using it to create the impression that she was fighting for her life; in reality, she was preparing to lure the opponent to the rock mountain.


    The two mecha shot at one another with the guns in their hands, neither doing damage to the other. Still, because the Twilight mecha operator¡¯s beam cannon was a more powerful weapon, Ling Lan was at a disadvantage.


    In this manner, Ling Lan had no choice but to retreat as she fought, slowly drawing the opponent to the rock mountain.


    18 beam shots were not much. Ling Lan had already calcted and used them sparingly, but they were gone in a blink of an eye. Though she knew very well that she had no shots left in her rifle, she pretended not to know, pressing her trigger once more as she aimed at the Twilight mecha ...


    No more? Panic. The anxious Federation operator once again controlled his mecha to press down on the trigger again and again ... but there was still nothing!


    Mecha operator Shikamaru saw that the Federation mecha¡¯s movements were somewhat flustered ¡ª repeatedly pressing on the trigger, but its beam rifle did not respond. He paused, thinking to himself. Could this be a trap?


    Shikamaru cannot be med for being wary. The example of his squad leader was still fresh in his mind. Remembering how his squad leader fell for plot after plot before finally self-destructing had made him jumpy and paranoid 1 . His first reaction to any strange situation now was to wonder whether the opponent had some plot up his sleeve.


    However, when he saw the Federation mecha throw away the beam rifle in the end and turn tail to run, he knew that the other¡¯s rifle had truly run out of power.


    Shikamaru¡¯s heart leapt in joy. This meant that the opponent no longer had any long-range attacks. As long as he kept his distance, long-range attacks were his domain now. He immediately controlled his mecha to chase after the fleeing Federation mecha.


    Of course, Shikamaru could only give chase without worry because Ling Lan had thrown away her beam rifle. If the opponent were still holding onto his rifle, Shikamaru would definitely be on his guard and not chase so closely on the opponent¡¯s heels.


    The two mecha began a game of tag ¡ª at one point, the Twilight mecha shot its beam cannon once, but the shot was dodged nimbly by the Federation mecha operator. This caused Shikamaru to curse internally. It has already been three rounds of continuous battle ¡ª why was the opponent still so focused?


    "Little Four, have you finished calcting?" Ling Lan asked calmly, not at all influenced by the cascading shing red alerts all over her screen.


    "The beam cannon requires roughly 55 seconds to gather its energy, but this doesn¡¯t exclude the fact that the opponent could be faking," responded Little Four. While the opponent had been firing at them, Little Four had been constantly gathering data and analysing it. However, what he could analyse was merely what the opponent revealed. If the opponent just happened to be as cunning as his boss, then his analyses could very well all be wrong.


    "How likely is that?" asked Ling Lan.


    "About 15% chance," replied Little Four. After all, this data was gathered within a short period of time, so some error was to be expected. Thus, the risk of this being a plot was still quite high.


    "In other words, 85% chance of winning. It would be stupid not to take the risk." A trace of a smile appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s lips. In the learning space, as long as there was more than 50% chance of winning, she would fight for it, because if you didn¡¯t, you would definitely die.


    "Yup. Also, the mecha¡¯s damage levels are already at 75%. From this point on, the mecha¡¯s damage rate will double, so it may not hold out for even 2 minutes ..." reminded Little Four, looking at the horrifying damage levels of the mecha and its almost depleted power.


    Ling Lan did not respond. Her fingers sped up even more, and this time, her fingerspletely disappeared. Focused on the controls, Ling Lan did not notice, while Little Four did not dare to say anything about it, afraid that he would distract Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mecha began circling the rock mountain as it flew; she was still waiting for an opportunity.


    "Boom!" The Twilight mecha on her tail fired its beam cannon once more. The immense beam flew at her from a diagonal angle. Ling Lan calmly executed a small range irregr movement, dodging the attack.


    Irregr movement ced a heavier burden on mecha ¡ª Ling Lan could even hear the mecha¡¯s body emitting creaking noises. The mecha was very likely to break apart soon.


    However, Ling Lan paid no attention to all this. Instead, she continued by pulling off a surprising move ¡ª she turned off the mecha¡¯s engines. Then, she controlled the mecha to get into a pose where all four limbs were facing the ground, and with the limbs asnding pads, her mecha began falling towards the rock mountain below.


    Ling Lan was not very high above the rock mountain to begin with, and the mecha itself was heavy, so it took less than 10 seconds for the mecha to crash into the rock mountain.


    A loud "Boom"! The forceful impact caused the rock mountain to quake, throwing dust into the air, and Ling Lan¡¯s mecha was soon obscured within it.


    Shikamaru had quickly halted his mecha when Ling Lan¡¯s mecha had dropped, keeping his distance. Extremely cautiously, he kept his cannon trained at the dust cloud. At any odd movement, he would dodge and shoot. Ling Lan had been wily from the start; this made Shikamaru very wary.


    Of course, all this happened within the blink of an eye ¡ª Shikamaru had just gotten ready when a blue and white figure leapt out from the dust cloud, lunging at him at a frightful speed.


    This speed was definitely not a speed an advanced mecha could achieve ¡ª Shikamaru¡¯s first reaction was to retreat and then he reflexively pressed down on the trigger of his cannon ... but nothing happened. He nced at the indicator on his screen, only to find that the 55-second recharge time wasn¡¯t over yet; there were still 11 seconds remaining.


    Shikamaru gritted his teeth and pushed his engines to their limits, letting the mecha retreat at full speed. He needed to get past this brief 11 seconds ¡ª as long as he could survive till then, a shot from his beam cannon would be enough to destroy this detestable Federation mecha in front of him.


    The Federation mecha leaping at the Twilight mecha was currently already worn and battered. Its initially still intact left leg had also disappeared by this time; all that was left were some broken edges at its thighs. The entire outer shell of the mecha was covered in scratches, and some of its internal parts were even exposed at certain areas. Thatst fall had indeed caused significant damage to the mecha¡¯s body.


    "The mecha can only hold out for another 50 seconds at most ..." Little Four was doing his best to maintain the condition of the mecha so that it wouldn¡¯t break apart in the very next second.


    Ling Lan did not seem to hear Little Four¡¯s warning. Right then, she felt as if she was an outside observer, watching herself operate the mecha with cold eyes. Her thought processes were somewhat mechanical, urately pushing the engines to the maximum speed the mecha could take, aiming the mecha to pounce at the opponent at almost light speed.


    At this moment, the two mecha¡¯s roles in their game of tag were now reversed, and the distance between them grew increasingly closer ... One of them was anxiously waiting for his beam cannon to recharge, while the other was waiting for the final gap between them to close. She had done everything she could, now it was up to the goddess of luck to decide who she would favour.


    Shikamaru watched as the Federation mecha got closer and closer. 10 metres, 5 metres, 3 metres ... a feral smile emerged on his face, "Die!"


    He decisively pressed the button to fire his beam cannon. At that very moment, the cannon¡¯s power had finally finished recharging, allowing it to fire once again.


    A crisp yet resounding "SNAP", and Shikamaru saw sparks bloom at his right shoulder from the corner of his eyes. Then, he realised in shock that the beam cannon on his right shoulder had not fired at all ...


    "Warning! Right arm control system has been destroyed. Please repair immediately!" The A.I. mechanically reported the damage sustained by the mecha.


    Shikamaru had no idea what had happened, but still understood that his mecha must have somehow been manipted by the opponent, causing the cannon on its right arm to be useless ... cold sweat beaded on his forehead. Without thinking about it, he forced his engines to speed up even more, trying to pull away and distance himself from the opponent.


    As long as he could pull away, his left hand could take over and use the weapon in his right hand. When that time came, victory would still be his.


    Shikamaru¡¯s n was beautiful, but reality was not as cooperative as he had hoped. He felt his mecha sink downwards. It turned out that the despicable Federation mecha had actually caught his mecha in a tight hug. In other words, no matter how much he elerated, he would not be able to pull away from the Federation mecha.


    This continuous series of actions caused Ling Lan¡¯splexion to be as white as paper. Blood spilled uncontrobly from her mouth inrge heaves. Still, Ling Lan tenaciously held on. She decisively pulled up the self-destruct mechanism of her mecha, and pressed down on the cockpit¡¯s eject button at the same time.


    "Little Four, the rest is in your hands." These were Ling Lan¡¯s final words before she lost consciousness. Of course, this was because Ling Lan fully trusted Little Four, otherwise she would not so easily allow herself to faint away.


    The moment the cockpit was ejected, control would be handed over to the A.I.. The A.I. would calcte the best reactionary force to apply for a safending and determine a securending spot. On this front, Little Four was undoubtedly even more reliable than any regr A.I..


    "Leave it to me, Boss!" said Little Four solemnly. He knew very well that Ling Lan was putting her life in his hands ¡ª this was a disy of Ling Lan¡¯s faith in him. At this thought, Little Four¡¯s core chip burned. This made Little Four a little worried about whether his chip would overheat and blow.


    On his side camera, Shikamaru saw the ejected cockpit of the Federation mecha and immediately realised what was about to happen. He tried to get the Federation mecha still clinging to him off, but either Ling Lan had made the mecha hold on very tightly, or Shikamaru himself was too panicked ¡ª he was actually unable to find a way to get the mecha off. He was trapped.


    Right then, Qi Long and the others had already made their way to a spot about 1 kilometre away from the battle. When they saw the Federation mecha crash into the rock mountain, they could not help but be anxious and despair. But then they saw the Federation mecha shoot out once more from the dust cloud, and almost leapt up in their excitement.


    They also saw the Federation mecha shoot a white light from its right hand at the Twilight mecha when the two were about 3 metres apart. This move was too sudden, so subtle that the Twilight mecha did not detect it.

 Chapter 153: Goddess of Luck?

    Chapter 153: Goddess of Luck?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Subsequently, they saw sparks shooting out from the Twilight mecha¡¯s right shoulder joint. A high-frequency de was embedded in it up to the hilt. The small group immediately understood what the previous sh of white light was. Apparently, the Federation mecha had hurled the high-frequency de in its hands at the crucial moment, aiming for the weakest defensive spot of a mecha, its joints, and had seeded in one go!


    The Federation mecha operator¡¯s distinctivebat style undoubtedly expanded the group¡¯s horizons. This would also influence them in future when they learned how to operate mecha ¡ª they would not be limited by the doctrine of previous operators. Daring in both thought and action, they would create countless miraculousbat moves in mecha control in their respective domains ...


    At present, the Federation mecha had sessfully gotten close to the Twilight mecha, but having no more weapons, it could only rely on its remaining mechanical arms to hug the enemy mecha tight, and then the cockpit was seen to be ejected ...


    With the exception of Lin Zhong-qing, Qi Long and the others were all from a federal military system background. Although they had not operated a mecha yet, they were still very familiar with mecha. From this scene alone, they could tell that the Federation mecha operator had chosen to self-destruct to finish off this final opponent.


    But was the 30 seconds before the explosion initiated enough for the ejected cockpit to safely escape the st radius? Normally, the mecha¡¯s self-destruct mechanism was meant for the operator to die along with the enemy ...


    "Boom!" "Crack!" "Kaboom!"


    The first sound was the Federation mecha self-destructing, and then, perhaps the explosion sparked something, for the beam cannon on Twilight mecha¡¯s right arm suddenly split open, causing the Twilight mecha to blow up as well in arge st.


    Of course, before the big explosion, the opponent¡¯s cockpit had also been ejected, but the following second and third sts undoubtedly intensified the concussive force ¡ª the opponent just did not have the time to escape the st radius. He was instantly blown sky high right at the heart of the explosion, plummeting to the ground in ckened crisps and thick smoke.


    Without even having to check, Qi Long and the others knew that that mecha operator was definitely dead. Just looking at the mass that was left ¡ª already a whole half size smaller than the cockpit was at the start ¡ª it was certain that the person inside could not have survived.


    Fortunately, the Federation mecha¡¯s cockpit had been ejected much earlier and had been flying at a faster speed. It had shot away from the st centre by almost 500 metres, just escaping the most dangerous zone. But even so, it was still thrown further away by the st by about 100 metres before it began to descend in a natural curve, heading swiftly towards the ground.


    Qi Long and the others were extremely anxious, hearts lodged high in their throats. Deep down, they prayed that the concussive force of the explosion had not destroyed the A.I. inside the cockpit ...


    Their prayers were effective ¡ª when the cockpit reached a particr altitude, the cockpit¡¯s reactive thrust powered on, slowing the cockpit¡¯s descent.


    After self-destructing, ejecting the cockpit had a 9 in 10 chance of ending in death; it was basically just there for self-reassurance. Not only did the cockpit have to get out of the st range, it had to be ejected high enough, and the reactive thrust must activate urately. Every single item on that list had to be met, otherwise ejection would still result in death.


    Luckily, the cockpit was being controlled by Little Four. Otherwise, relying on the Federation¡¯s current A.I.s, who knew what the oue would be? The Federation¡¯s A.I.s could only mechanically remember some data sets, and execute operations based on regted settings ¡ª it would not consider other variable factors.


    Seeing the cockpitnd safely under the application of reactive thrust, Qi Long and the others instantly let out a sigh of relief. They hurriedly made their way over to thending spot of the cockpit to check on the pilot. If they could help out somehow, then them rushing here would be so worth it.


    "Boss, Boss, we¡¯re safe now." Little Four¡¯s calctions were urate, letting the cockpitnd safely. He called out in excitement to Ling Lan, wanting her to praise him.


    However, the inside of the cockpit was still and silent. Only then did Little Four notice the blood still dripping continuously from his boss¡¯s lips. "Boss, stop scaring me, wake up! Wake up!" he shouted desperately, but Ling Lan remained silent. Thinking of something, Little Four quickly detached from the mecha¡¯s A.I. to look for Ling Lan in the learning space. However, inside, he still found no sign of Ling Lan. Instantly, he panicked, knowing that things were not good.


    "Boss must have taken a great deal of damage and lost consciousness. At this time, I must let her eat some healing medical agents ..." Little Four figured it out, but he was just a formless intelligence entity, and so had no limbs to use to feed Ling Lan. At this moment, Little Four hated the fact that he was an intelligence bio-entity.


    Right then, Little Four suddenly sensed people approaching! Anxiously, he scanned the surroundings, and when he saw those few familiar figures, he was instantly ovee with joy. Boss was saved! Qi Long and the others had arrived.


    From a distance, Qi Long could see the cockpit lying silently on the ground. He signalled for Han Jijyun and the other two behind him to wait while he carefully crept closer to the cockpit, wanting to observe the situation.


    He had just gotten within 100 metres of the cockpit when the doors to the cockpit suddenly swung open, startling Qi Long. But he was soon taken with joy ¡ª the fact that the cockpit was opened from within meant that the person inside was still alive, otherwise the doors would not open on their own. Of course, Qi Long did not know that this world had such a miraculous existence as Little Four.


    Qi Long did not choose to go closer, patiently waiting for the mecha operator inside toe out. A stranger approaching without reason would be easily misunderstood, especially when on a battlefield. Warriors were extremely sensitive after fighting ¡ª any strange movements would just prompt a counterattack. Although Qi Long wanted to help their saviour, he did not want to randomly lose his life here, so he retained the necessary caution. Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s subtle training all these years was also a reason.


    Qi Long waited patiently for a few minutes, but did not see anyoneing out. In fact, Little Four was already anxiously jumping up and down in the cockpit ¡ª if not for the fact that he had no voice, he would have otherwise long called Qi Long and the others over.


    Qi Long¡¯s pause puzzled Han Jijyun and the others, so Han Jijyun led Luo Lang and Lin Zhong-qing over as well,ing to stand beside Qi Long. At this moment, they too saw the opened cockpit.


    "Qi Long, could it be that the person inside is injured and can¡¯t get out?" Han Jijyun thought of this possibility.


    Qi Long¡¯s eyes brightened, thinking to himself that what Han Jijyun said made sense. He decided to go forward on his own and see, and let Han Jijyun and the others continue to wait here. He got closer and closer, and when he saw the blood within the cockpit, all wariness he still had fled instantly. He hurriedly quickened his pace to rush to the door of the cockpit and looked inside.


    "Jijyun, it¡¯s not good,e over quickly!" Qi Long¡¯s voice actually held true grief.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s heart skipped a beat ¡ª could the mecha operator inside be one of Qi Long¡¯s rtives? He hurriedly ran over with Luo Lang and Lin Zhong-qing. When he saw the unconscious small figure inside who was still bleeding from the mouth, his expression changed drastically, and he shouted, "Boss Lan! This cannot be, how can it be him ..." Those were ace mecha operators he was fighting! Boss Lan was only 10 years old ¡ª there was no way he could control mecha ... Han Jijyun felt everything he thought he knew about mechapletely copse at this moment.


    "Will Boss Lan die ...?" Seeing the terrible state Ling Lan was in, Luo Lang felt a chill spread throughout his entire body, and his body began shivering uncontrobly. Meanwhile, Lin Zhong-qing was even more stunned, unable to form a coherent thought for a long moment.


    "Quick, feed him some healing agents!" Han Jijyun saw that the others were panicking, and so quickly collected his emotions to order calmly.


    "Oh, oh!" Qi Long and the others hurriedly pulled out the medicinal agents they had in their backpacks and tried feeding them to Ling Lan. However, because their hands were shaking, the agents spilled, missing their mark to slide off Ling Lan¡¯s lips.


    "Let me!" Han Jijyun quickly pushed away the typically bold and brash idiots who were currently iling in their panic. He took one pack of agent from Luo Lang¡¯s hands, and using his left hand to pry open Ling Lan¡¯s mouth, he poured the agent in.


    "Another!" Han Jijyun indicated for them to pass him more and continued to pour, only stopping after five full packs were gone.


    The effect of five packs of medicinal agents were pretty good. The initially pale-whiteplexion of Ling Lan started to warm, and the blood flowing from her mouth started to slow. Three minutester, Ling Lan was no longer spewing blood.


    "We have to return to the camp site immediately, otherwise Boss¡¯s injuries will not be able to be healed. If any aftereffects are left, this might destroy Boss¡¯s future!" Seeing Ling Lan no longer at the brink of death, Qi Long¡¯s rationality returned.


    Qi Long¡¯s words naturally obtained everyone¡¯s agreement. They carefully lifted Ling Lan out from the cockpit, and then looked for materials in the surroundings to make a simple stretcher to carry Ling Lan in. After all, it was better for Ling Lan to lie down and be still in his current condition.


    While searching for materials, they actually stumbled upon the beam cannon discarded by the Twilight Empire¡¯s squad leader previously. The beam cannon was veryrge and heavy. It was impossible for the four of them to carry it with them.


    After some thought, Han Jijyun asked Qi Long and the others carry Ling Lan¡¯s cockpit over to the beam cannon. Under Qi Long and the others¡¯ confused gazes, Han Jijyun positioned the cockpit within the line of attack of the beam cannon and triggered the cannon. The shot utterly destroyed Ling Lan¡¯s cockpit, melting it down, leaving no trace.


    At this moment, Qi Long and the others finally realised why Han Jijyun did this. Destroying the cockpit would also destroy the ck box within it. Consequently, no one would be able to find out about Ling Lan¡¯s battle and defeat of the three Twilight ace mecha. (They did not know that Little Four had long wiped the data files within the ck box.) Then, Ling Lan¡¯s true capabilities could be concealed and remain undiscovered. Mind you, if someone else were to find out about this, Ling Lan would definitely be embroiled in much trouble in the near future, and her life may even be threatened. They all understood the theory of the wind toppling the tree above the treeline.


    In this manner, the four of them destroyed anything that could expose Ling Lan¡¯s capabilities, and then began to trek back to the camp site carrying the still unconscious Ling Lan.


    This journey was very difficult ¡ª many times, they almost ended up bing a meal for the F-ss savage beasts. However, each time they were in a tight spot, those savage beasts would suddenly get spooked and turn tail and run away desperately, disappearing into the forest ... Even as this puzzled them, they couldn¡¯t help but be thankful for the blessing of the goddess of luck, letting this miraculous thing happen again and again.


    Little Four pursed his lips, pouting, displeased with this so-called ¡¯goddess of luck¡¯ who was iming the credit for his work. Dammit, if I hadn¡¯t released the blood-tinged killing intent concealed within Boss¡¯s body to scare off those small fry, you would all be the excrement of those savage beasts by now ... Hmph, goddess of luck, my foot!

 Chapter 154: Awakening!

    Chapter 154: Awakening!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In outer space, in the control room of the Twilight Empire interster mothership, a group of people had already been waiting patiently for several hours. But as time went by and there was no news from below, they began to grow restless and began discussing what they should do next.


    "Commander, the enemy¡¯s reinforcement fleets are at this point, while our reinforcement fleets are here," reported the chief of staff, pointing out the locations on the star map on the big screen.


    "In three hours, the enemy¡¯s starships will appear in the outer space of this," the chief of staff continued to say after referencing the information.


    "This fleet ¡ª before they can reach here, they should be attacked by our empire¡¯s reinforcement fleet. We still have time." Themander was unwilling to just give up now. The below was currently in a meleebat stage ¡ª no one could tell yet who the final winner or loser would be.


    "Where are Ikeda-kun and the others now?" asked themander.


    "They¡¯ve alreadynded safely and are currently carrying out Operation Decapitation. However, only two teams have managed to assemble. The others are either missing or have been nobly sacrificed in battle," replied a staff officer in charge of keeping track of the dead and injured.


    "Any movement from the other fleets of the Federation?" themander asked the chief of staff.


    The chief of staff immediately pointed out three dots closest to this and said, "At each of these three points, a fleet is stationed there. Although our covert scouting did not manage to find out their destinations, based on the current situation, they will definitely be heading our way.


    "If they rush here, we will have no chance of winning this battle." This was the closest to the three countries ¡ª the Federation, Caesar, and Gend ¡ª and was honestly a bit far from Twilight. Thus, their interster fleets could not speedily send assistance, unlike the Federation.


    After a thoughtful silence, themander asked, "How much time do we have left at most?"


    "If we don¡¯t consider that first fleet, at most 7 hours." The chief of staff gave his verdict.


    "Pass on the order to Ikeda-kun. They only have 7 hours, no, 6 hours and a half. If they cannot carry out Operation Decapitation in 6 and a half hours, they will be abandoned," said themander ruthlessly.


    "Hai!" Everyone bowed their heads fearfully as they epted the order. Within Twilight, the suprememander had the ultimate right to decide whether the warriors below lived or died.


    Time passed bit by bit. The first reinforcement fleet was attacked by a Twilight Empire reinforcement fleet even before they entered the starspace of this. Both sides began an intense starship battle, involving thousands of starships respectively. Over a hundred thousand starship warriors were killed in this space battle.


    When only half an hour remained on the clock, dark clouds nketed the whole Twilight interster mothership control room. Everyone¡¯s face was a sheet of grey ¡ª they could already feel the failure of their invasion n this time.


    "Why do we still not hear anything from Ikeda-kun?" Seeing that the opponent¡¯s reinforcements were almost here, themander of the mothership in outer space started yelling in anger.


    The people around him could only bow their heads in silence. At this moment, everyone felt that the odds were not in team leader Ikeda¡¯s favour.


    "Baka! All useless trash!" Frankly, themander did not have a good feeling about this as well; he was just unwilling to ept it. Of course, they did not know that of their two surviving teams of ace mecha, one had died without fanfare, courtesy of Ling Lan. It was just that no one would ever know, besides Qi Long¡¯s group of four.


    Meanwhile, the other team very unfortunately crossed paths with the mecha squad of the camp¡¯s suprememander. The suprememander himself was an ace operator at his peak, just one step away from advancing to imperial level. And the weakest member of the squad protecting him was still a special-ss mecha operator. The campmander was extremely cunning ¡ª seeing this ace mecha team, he immediately ordered his mecha team to surround and kill them.


    That team did not even have the chance to fight back, dying under the collective shots of countless beam guns. In this way, Operation Decapitation was easily nipped in the bud.


    As Qi Long and the others were rushing back to the main camp, the battle was already reaching its end. The starships in the space above the were beginning to retreat systematically in the directions of their respective countries.


    Of course, the departure of the starships meant that any mecha operators left on the had basically been abandoned. The¡¯s main camp released the call to surrender ¡ª however, the Twilight Empire mecha operators had been brainwashed very thoroughly by their nation. When they knew they had no more chance of survival, these Twilight mecha operators did not lose their fighting spirit, nor did they choose to surrender. Instead, they exploded with astoundingbat ability, dragging quite a few Federation mecha operators down with them as they died. This frightened the cold sweat out of the Federation mecha operators, so they no longer dared to hold any sympathy for these abandoned soldiers ¡ª they began shooting the moment they saw one alive.


    This situation resulted in very few injured members on both sides. Twilight did not need any prisoners, so if they won in a fight, they would immediately take the opponent¡¯s life. In return, the Federation returned tooth for tooth, blood for blood ¡ª by the end, no one was willing to spare the lives of these enemies who had taken theirrades¡¯ lives and take them prisoner anymore anyway, so the killing continued.


    ********


    After rapid-marching for a whole 15 hours, Qi Long and the others finally managed to get back to the main camp. When the camp¡¯s medical officer saw Qi Long and the others carting in the unconscious Ling Lan, he hurriedly let them put Ling Lan into one of the healing pods for treatment.


    "Luckily you lot came back in time. If you all were just an hourter, the healing pods might not be even be effective anymore." Seeing the information released by the healing pod, the medical officer could not help but exim.


    Qi Long asked anxiously, "How long does he need to be treated before he can wake up?"


    "If just for waking up, perhaps about three days. However, to fully heal his body, he would most likely have to lie in the healing pod for up to 3 months." The medical officer was not exaggerating. In truth, Ling Lan¡¯s body was near the brink of copse. There only remained a tendril of vitality left in her body, and this tiny tendril was what would power Ling Lan¡¯s recovery. If this tendril was utterly destroyed, then it would be useless even if Ling Lanid in this healing pod for 10 years.


    "Three months? That long?" Thepanions were struck with bted fear. They had known that Ling Lan had been injured badly, but they did not expect the injuries to be this severe.


    "That long? Little fellows, you all should be grateful that it is only three months, and not no time at all," sighed the medical officer. Only kids like these would be bothered about the length of time needed for healing. For people like him who were used to seeing life and death, as long as there was a chance to lie down and receive treatment, it was a blessing no matter how long it took.


    Every day the medical officer had to oversee countless patientsing and going, so after settling Ling Lan in, he did not pay any more attention to the matter. Meanwhile, Qi Long and the others came every day to the medical department to watch over the healing pod, waiting for Ling Lan to wake up.


    The medical officer was very reliable; three dayster, Ling Lan hazily woke up.


    The others were thrilled, rushing to ask if Ling Lan needed anything.


    Ling Lan shook her head at them. Little Four had told her everything that had happened after she lost consciousness, so she knew that Qi Long and the others were aware that she was the one operating the mecha. However, Ling Lan was very pleased with the clean-up that Han Jijyun had done. She had originally nned to do the same to destroy all evidence of the incident.


    Meanwhile, at this time, this was finally fully back in the control of the Federation. They sessfully killed all the invading Twilight warriors, though of course there were some mecha operators who had chosen to abandon their mecha and flee on foot into the forest to hide, biding their time for an opportunity to counterattack.


    With regards to those people, the Federation did not specially send out teams to clear them out. This was because once they entered F-ss savage beast territory, those mecha operator without their mecha were really unlikely to be able to handle those savage beasts ...


    The rebuilding after the battle alsomenced very quickly. The Federation delivered materials and resources in an endless stream to the. Some credit had to be given to the Twilight Empire for this ¡ª their invasion this time forced the Federation to publicize the coordinates of the mysterious and include it into the Federation¡¯s maps, where it was given the name  Demonbeast¡¯. This was because there was nothing other than endless savage beasts on the ...


    Half a monthter, Qi Long and the others resumed their hunting assignment. Of course, every time they returned, they would not forget to give Ling Lan a share of their earnings. In this way, three more months passed. Ling Lan finally obtained the approval of the medical officer to leave the healing pod and could once again move around freely.


    The first thing Ling Lan after regaining her mobility was to go eat. She was seriously starving ¡ª although nutrient solutions could replenish all the minerals and other elements needed by the body, her stomach, which was used to working for over 10 years, just could not help but feel hungry.


    After she finished eating her fill, she looked up to find Qi Long and the others sitting beside her, waiting patiently.


    "When did you guys arrive?" Ling Lan was startled. She had been too focused on eating that she had not noticed anything happening around her.


    Of course, she also questioned Little Four inside her mind, asking him why he had not alerted her. Little Four was speechless ¡ª Boss was the one who said that these few people were on the list of people whose presence did not need to be announced. When had Boss changed her mind? Why did he not know about it?


    "Not too long ago. Seeing Boss eating so happily, we¡¯re also very happy," replied Han Jijyun with a smile.


    Ling Lan rubbed her brow helplessly and said sulkily, "Han Jijyun, just ask if you have a question, this sneaky look doesn¡¯t suit you." Han Jijyun¡¯s sudden change from a cool and serious scout into a warm and smiling gentleman just seemed really awkward to Ling Lan; she couldn¡¯t help but feel goosebumps rising all over her body.


    "Here is not a suitable ce," said Han Jijyun regretfully, keeping his smile as he looked around.


    Due to the rebuilding spanning 3 months, many of the veteran soldiers all managed to obtain new weapons of their own. Thus, they were in a great mood, so it was easy to see tables after tables of rowdy celebrating soldiers.


    Observing the situation around them, Ling Lan nodded and said, "True. Then let¡¯s go back to the dorms."


    Ling Lan led Qi Long and the others back to their dorms. She then took a quick shower and changed into a new set of protective clothes before sitting at her usual spot. Then, she said, "Alright, ask if you have any questions. But, this is only for today." Ling Lan wasn¡¯t someone who liked to talk about herself, which was why she had dragged on so long in revealing to the others that her father was Ling Xiao.

 Chapter 155: My Father Is Ling Xiao!

    Chapter 155: My Father Is Ling Xiao!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The group stared at one another, and Han Jijyun was the one who asked in the end, "Boss Lan, who are you really?"


    Helplessly, Ling Lan rubbed at her forehead once more. In the end, she still could not avoid answering this question, but since she had chosen to be honest, she should really introduce herself properly. Thus, she answered seriously, "My name is definitely real. I am really called Ling Lan. My family background isn¡¯t fake as well, but, I just didn¡¯t tell you all who my young dad who passed away was."


    "Boss Lan¡¯s father? Surname Ling? Sacrificed 10 years ago?" Qi Long muttered to himself as he thought.


    All of them here were intelligent children. Almost immediately, an astounding yet sorrow-tinged name emerged in their minds. All of them could not help but stare at Ling Lan incredulously, "Ling Xiao?!"


    Ling Lan nodded expressionlessly, indicating that their guess was not wrong.


    "Ah ..." Knowing that they had not guessed wrongly, Qi Long and the others couldn¡¯t help but exim. The shock of this answer was really too much for them.


    It should be known that Ling Xiao was one of the twelve god-ss operators of the Federation, as well as the only human being who had managed to sessfully advance to god-ss operator status at the young age of 24. Throughout human history, the youngest to advance to god-ss operator status before Ling Xiao was a 33 year old mecha operator from the Caesar Empire. In one jump, Ling Xiao had raised the bar by a whole 8 years, proof of just how aberrant he was.


    Thus, to the people of the Federation, Ling Xiao was a godlike existence. Although he died early in the end, having been killed in a plot by the Twilight Empire in the death tunnel, this did not stop the passionate soldiers and those children chasing their dreams from viewing him as their lifelong idol.


    Moreover, Qi Long, Luo Lang, and the others had grown up within the federal military system. All along, Ling Xiao had been a figure often mentioned by their guardians, in tones wistful for what might have been. They even emphasized the fact that if Ling Xiao had lived, the Federation would have been able to holdplete deterrence ability over the other nations for the next 50 years, with no worry of border trouble. So, as they gradually grew up learning about Ling Xiao and his exploits, they also began viewing Ling Xiao as their own idol. They hoped that one day, they would be able to achieve everything Ling Xiao had achieved, and perhaps even go one step further toplete what Ling Xiao did not get toplete.


    Right now, Qi Long and the others actually learned that their Boss Lan was the son of that aberrant genius, Ling Xiao, the people¡¯s idol. The lot of them were instantly stupefied by the news.


    Ling Lan coughed empathically, shaking them from their stupor, before continuing to say, "Because my father died young, and also because his circumstance is a little special, it didn¡¯t seem very appropriate to talk about him."


    "No wonder Boss is so good at operating mecha," sighed Han Jijyun softly, his entire body rxing. He had actually been afraid that Ling Lan was from a major faction from within the military. If that was the case, their rtionship would very easily drag their paternal families into an unnecessary faction feud, and this was something he did not want to see. If that happened, their friendship would certainly change, no longer able to stay pure and simple.


    "Boss, could you teach us how to operate mecha?" The mecha maniac Qi Long¡¯s eyes were sparkling; he had really been fantasizing about this moment for so long.


    Qi Long¡¯s suggestion stirred the hearts of the other boys as well. With faces filled with expectation, they looked at Ling Lan with stars in their eyes, hoping that she would agree.


    "I cannot," Ling Lan refused resolutely.


    She had secretly absorbed so much gene agent, and then trained both body and spirit repeatedly in the learning space and in reality. Besides that, she also had Little Four doing his best to keep the mecha in check, lowering the feedback energy to the absolute minimum. Under these circumstances, her body still received heavy damage. Not to mention, Qi Long and the others were children who had not been through specialised training for mecha. Qi Long may still be fine, but the others¡¯ bodies just would not be able to support even two or three mecha movements.


    Seeing their stubborn gazes, Ling Lan said sternly, "Because of our Ling family secret methods, that is why I can learn mecha a few years earlier. Even so, I still was not able to take the feedback energy of the mecha and was injured badly. What will support you all to learn mecha now? The Federation does not allow children to learn mecha before the age of 13 for a good reason. Don¡¯t y the fool with your lives."


    Ling Lan was most afraid that these children would not listen to reason, secretly sneaking off to try and learn control on their own. This was noughing matter ¡ª a misstep would easily end in disaster. They could even lose their lives.


    Ling Lan¡¯s scolding words caused the boys to break out in cold sweat instantly. Because they had seen Ling Lan dispatching the three enemy ace mecha so efficiently, they had naturally assumed that they could also learn how to operate mecha,pletely forgetting the repeated warnings of their own parents and instructors. It should be known that the reaction force from operating mecha was very powerful ¡ª even for adults, not everyone was suited for operating mecha.


    "Even with our Ling family secret arts, my father never wished for me to operate a real mecha before I turned 13 ... if the situation hadn¡¯t been desperate, I too wouldn¡¯t have done it," said Ling Lan to Qi Long and the others. She had only operated the mecha because the situation forced her to.


    Qi Long and the others were ashamed. They knew very well that Ling Lan had done all of it to save them. Otherwise, Ling Lan would not have left the outpost to look for them, and so would not have operated the mecha and ended up with a body covered in wounds.


    They no longer felt the restlessness they had felt before, nodding to show they understood. Still, deep in their hearts, the seed of yearning to be ace operators had been nted. One day, those seeds would sprout and grow tall and strong.


    ********


    The hunting course was not as long as Qi Long and the others thought it to be. After spending about half a year on Demonbeast, the academy finally sent a starship to collect them.


    Initially, they had intended to take them back after the battle ended. However, due to the being invaded by Twilight Empire forces, the Federation had no choice but to reveal the existence of the to the public. This incited a great uproar within the Federation. The citizens were very unhappy about the Federation¡¯s concealment of this auxiliary, and had begun to organiserge-scale demonstrations on variouss.


    This caused the Federation government and the Federation military to be primarily reactive ¡ª they had to first focus on settling themotion inside the nation. Therefore, they forcefully suppressed the request of the Central Scout Academy to retrieve its students. They were afraid that if the public found out that they had sent a batch of the Federation¡¯s most exceptional youths to the dangerous Demonbeast for training, the demonstrations would intensify.


    Still, thanks to this, Ling Lan managed to avoid drawing attention and subsequent trouble from her injuries this time. If the Central Scout Academy had sent a military ship to retrieve them, then they would certainly have found out that their prized student had been seriously injured during this battle. Then, they would definitely have assigned a specialist medical team to treat Ling Lan. If that happened, the secret of Ling Lan¡¯s concealed gender might very well be exposed! (All the information the Central Scout Academy received was that out of the 50 students, there were 0 deaths, 0 missing, 21 injured, 29 unharmed, and that none of the students had any risk of dying.)


    This was also why the Central Scout Academy was willing to wait. If there really had been any fatal injuries or casualties, the dean of the Central Scout Academy would likely have stormed into military headquarters and forcefullymandeered a starship to go pick up his students already.


    Just like this, Ling Lan andpany safely returned to the academy. After saying goodbye to her friends, Ling Lan hurried back to her vi.


    At the garden gate to the vi, a lovely figure was peering out anxiously ...


    Ling Lan felt tears spring to her eyes, once again experiencing the bittersweet 1 feeling of having a rtive worrying about her ... she had almost forgotten what it was like.


    "Mummy!" Ling Lan shouted the moment she was within sight of Lan Luofeng. Lan Luofeng rushed out at a supernatural speed, sweeping forwards like a gust of wind, pulling Ling Lan into her arms.


    "Ling Lan, you¡¯re really back! That¡¯s great! Mummy missed you so much." Lan Luofeng, who had always faced Ling Lan with a smile, actually had tears in her voice at this moment. This was a sign of just how much she had worried over this half a year.


    Ling Lan abruptly realised that Lan Luofeng was still haunted by the shadow of her father¡¯s mysterious passing; perhaps she was afraid that Ling Lan too would disappear as Ling Xiao had. If Ling Xiao had taken away half of Lan Luofeng¡¯s soul, then the remaining half was undoubtedly tied to her. If she really passed away, Lan Luofeng would likely follow her into death without any hesitation. Losing her, Lan Luofeng would no longer have any soul left to keep her alive.


    Ling Lan was unbelievably touched by Lan Luofeng¡¯s deep motherly love. She hugged Lan Luofeng back with all her might as tears fell silently from her eyes. "Mummy, I¡¯m sorry for making you worry."


    In her previous life, although her parents loved her, due to her illness, they were already slowly giving up on her. They gave most of their love to her younger brother, and the remaining love they had for her was slowly being worn away by the endless treatments and care she needed. Ling Lan did not me them. This was a basic human instinct ¡ª to avoid the pain they sawing, they voluntarily chose to slowly divert their love.


    Thus, the death of Ling Lan in her previous life was actually a type of release for her parents and her brother. Of course there was sadness, but there was even more a sense of relief at finallyying a burden to rest.


    The Ling Lan of this life had constantly been guarded with her affections, because she too was afraid of being hurt. Towards Lan Luofeng, she had deep respect and love, but not a lot of intimacy. Because she had taken over the body of Lan Luofeng¡¯s child, she needed to bear the responsibility. Her impression of Ling Xiao was mostly based on descriptions from Lan Luofeng. She had taken so long to tell Qi Long and the others that Ling Xiao was actually her father, inrge part due to the fact that Ling Lan had never really registered that she was really Ling Xiao¡¯s child.


    However, when Ling Lan personally felt the tremors running through Lan Luofeng¡¯s body right now ¡ª the physical manifestation of her deep-seated worries and fear, a reflection of that unnameable adoration of motherly love ¡ª the generous warmth of it instantly wrapped around her entire body. Ling Lan could no longer hold back her brimming emotions, sincerely saying sorry to Lan Luofeng!


    Only Ling Lan truly knew what this apology meant ¡ª it wasn¡¯t purely referring to this most recent injury, but was for her closed-off heart over these past ten years. She was sorry for not responding properly to Lan Luofeng¡¯s ten years of unstinting motherly love.


    Perhaps Ling Lan¡¯s warm response surprised Lan Luofeng, for she quickly gathered herself and pulled away a little from Ling Lan. After looking her over carefully, she asked worriedly, "Ling Lan, are you alright?"


    Ling Lan patted her chest and replied, "All is well. I can even put away 20 servings of steak with no problem." Fully epting Lan Luofeng into her heart, Ling Lan once again recovered her previousposure and began to joke around light-heartedly with Lan Luofeng, smiling.

 Chapter 156: Why Did You Die?

    Chapter 156: Why Did You Die?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "That¡¯s good. Did you know? Your expression now is a little richer now than it was previously. Mummy can stop worrying now." Lan Luofeng patted Ling Lan¡¯s adorable shota face, satisfied, before pulling Ling Lan by the hand into the vi.


    Meanwhile, Ling Lan¡¯s heart throbbed at Lan Luofeng¡¯s words ¡ª so Lan Luofeng had always been watching and observing all the changes she went through. The only reason why she never said anything was that Lan Luofeng chose to believe in her own child.


    Perhaps only a mother who loved you fully would pay attention and notice all these minute changes. Lan Luofeng did not seem to care much for her academic results, and seemed not to worry about Ling Lan¡¯s future; in all appearances, not a responsible parent. However, looking closely, from birth till now, in the minor details of her life, anything or anyone who made Ling Lan feel ufortable would unknowingly disappear ... this was definitely Lan Luofeng¡¯s doing ¡ª she could not bear to see her child suffer.


    The more she felt Lan Luofeng¡¯s love, the more remorseful Ling Lan felt. She pressed down on Lan Luofeng¡¯s hand, drawing Lan Luofeng¡¯s questioning gaze.


    Ling Lan smiled radiantly at Lan Luofeng and said, "Mummy, have I told you earlier that I love you?"


    Lan Luofeng covered her mouth in pleasant surprise. Since she was little, Ling Lan had had a heavy burden on her shoulders, deeply pressured. While she was still an infant, she still liked tough and y pranks at times, but as she grew up, she became increasingly colder and began emanating an antisocial presence. This made Lan Luofeng¡¯s heart ache for her child, and she was also extremely regretful, wondering whether her initial decision had doomed Ling Lan.


    Later on, Ling Lan had truly be the family head of the Ling family and took the responsibilities of the Ling family onto her shoulders. From then on, Ling Lan never liked to speak much. Of course, to get Ling Lan to speak more, Lan Luofeng had tried pretending to be ditzy to cling to Ling Lan, trying to cajole Ling Lan into talking to her or to tell her ¡¯I love you, mummy¡¯ and so on, but all she got in the end was just perfunctory responses. This had really made Lan Luofeng a little sad.


    Now, seeing Ling Lan say this voluntarily, Lan Luofeng couldn¡¯t help but be overjoyed. She was very afraid that Ling Lan¡¯s spirit would be twisted because she had to pretend to be a boy, but seeing Ling Lan¡¯s sincere smile now and her slightly cheeky tone, all seemed well with Ling Lan. This was undoubtedly what Lan Luofeng was most happy to see.


    "It¡¯s such a shame, Ling Lan, you really forgot to tell mummy this earlier," replied Lan Luofeng with a smile. Yet, two crystal tears fell from her eyes, and one coincidentally fell onto Ling Lan¡¯s palm.


    Ling Lan stared at that warm tear in her palm, so warm that it seemed to sear, and then lifted her head to say again seriously, "Mummy, I love you! From now on I will take over Daddy¡¯s duty and tell you every day that I love you!"


    "Ling Lan, Mummy loves you too!" Lan Luofeng hugged Ling Lan close once again. Eyes blurred with tears, she looked up at the sky and felt as if she could almost see Ling Xiao smiling at her and saying that he had found someone to love her in his ce.


    "Thank you, Ling Xiao, you¡¯ve given me the most precious treasure, my Ling Lan!"


    Ling Lan and Lan Luofeng ate a great meal in the vi as they talked andughed. Ling Lan picked and chose some interesting stories from her time at Demonbeast to tell Lan Luofeng. Of course, she said nothing of her getting injured. Since she was now safely home, why bring up these things which would make her mum worry?


    She then told Lan Luofeng about the followers she had gathered. Lan Luofeng was extremely interested to hear about them and immediately instructed Ling Lan to bring those followers of hers here tomorrow afternoon after sses ended, for her to inspect and to share a meal or something.


    Ling Lan was instantly speechless. Inspect? What did her mum take her followers to be? However, when Ling Lan saw Lan Luofeng¡¯s disappointed expression and low spirits, she couldn¡¯t bear it and so could only nod and agree.


    The moment she obtained the answer she wanted, Lan Luofeng instantly revived to full health, excitedly calling for Ling Nanyi to arrange tomorrow¡¯s dinner menu. Seeing her mum so lively and energetic, Ling Lan was resigned yet happy as well. Even if this was a little troublesome, she felt that it was still tolerable. Ling Lan suddenly wondered ¡ª would her dad also lose to such an expression?


    Thinking about it, it was entirely possible. Because Lan Luofeng¡¯s expression earlier was obviously well-practiced ¡ª it was definitely not the first time she had used it. And the only person who could let Lan Luofeng gain such experience, aside from her dad Ling Xiao, there was pretty much nobody else.


    When housekeeper Ling Nanyi heard that Young Master Lan was inviting ssmates over for dinner, she too was swept up in the excitement and immediately jumped into the discussion animatedly. Because this was the first time Ling Lan was inviting friends home ... although this was just a temporary living area within the academy, it was still their temporary home, wasn¡¯t it?


    Watching the two fretting women loudly discussing at the dining table, even going back and forth multiple times over a single dish on the menu, Ling Lan knew that she was unnecessary here. Resigned, she quietly left the dining hall and logged on to the virtualwork. There, she contacted Qi Long and the others who were also online and arranged for them toe eat at her house. Only after that did she secretly slip into Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space.


    At the same time, Little Four created a fake Ling Lan to walk around the virtual world randomly, creating the illusion that Ling Lan was nowhere near the legacy space.


    ********


    This time, the moment Ling Lan entered the legacy space, it was no longer asplicated as before. There were no tests; she immediately arrived at the Ling family mansion. Ling Lan took the familiar path to the study and pushed the door open to see Ling Xiao sitting behind the study desk. He was in the middle of writing something, and when he heard the noise of Ling Lan entering, he lifted his head. Seeing Ling Lan, he smiled warmly and said, "Ling Lan, you¡¯vee?"


    He immediately followed up by saying, "Looks like you¡¯ve already met the requirements needed to receive the next part of the legacy. In that case, show me." That said, he brushed his hand lightly over the surface of the table and six translucent crystal beads appeared.


    Ling Lan did not look at the crystal beads on the table, only keeping her eyes trained steadily on Ling Xiao¡¯s face. That face with such a warm and kind smile on it ¡ª thest time she saw it, she did not feel much resentment, but this time, seeing it again, a surge of negative emotion rose in her heart. She wished she could just leap forward and punch the smile off that face.


    During this time, Ling Lan had already learned a lot more about god-ss operators. She knew very well that they were near-godlike beings and definitely did not die easily. Even if the energy turbulence in the death tunnel back then had been overly terrifying, that did not mean that Ling Xiao could not escape. Just looking at a god-ss operator¡¯s horrifying speed which was close to lightspeed, escape was not impossible.


    What was it that made Ling Xiao willing to abandon Lan Luofeng and herself to choose death?


    "Why did you die?" Ling Lan bit out word by word, voicing the doubt in her mind.


    Ling Xiao was taken aback, as if unprepared for Ling Lan to ask this question.


    "I ask you, why did you choose to die?" yelled Ling Lan with mingled grief and rage. Lan Luofeng was such a perfect woman ¡ª how could Ling Xiao bear to make her sad? He should know that without him, Lan Luofeng would lose her happiness ¡ª even if she had a child, she would still lose the vibrancy and colour she should have had ...


    Ling Xiao smiled bitterly, his aura still so warm and calm that he seemed beyond reproach. "I am a soldier. I cannot refuse the military¡¯smands! Besides, I have never thought of dying. I really wished I could have lived ..."


    After a brief moment of silence, Ling Xiao continued, "I don¡¯t know whether I am dead when you entered this legacy space. But I can tell you with certainty that I would not choose to kill myself, and I would not leave things to fate. If there is any hope of survival, no matter how difficult things may be, I will persevere and fight with all my strength to obtain it."


    "If that is the case, why are you still dead?" Ling Xiao was a god-ss operator! Could it be that that maic field energy turbulence still had some hidden story behind it that even Ling Xiao had no way of piloting his god-ss mecha to leave?


    "I do not know. I just sensed danger! After achieving a certain level of strength, one obtains the ability to predict danger. Which is why I prepared a legacy space beforehand. This was to be myst resort. It doesn¡¯t mean I am truly dead ..." Ling Xiao¡¯s smile slowly faded, "Of course, it is also possible that I am really dead!" Ling Xiao¡¯s aura exploded ¡ª only now did Ling Lan sense how terrifying the spiritual pressure of a god-ss operator was.


    Luckily, the press of Ling Xiao¡¯s aura came and went. But just that brief taste of it was enough to drench Ling Lan in sweat. In that moment, she had even had the wrongful feeling that she would die under its pressure.


    "Originally, we had wanted to settle things once and for all. We were going to locate the greatest parasite hidden within the Federation. But unexpectedly, that parasite was deeper and higher up in rank than we had anticipated. It was very likely that the opponent saw through our ns and so set up a countern. It was a loss by just one move; there was no shame in losing. You just need to be careful, for the opponent may very likely try to end things by killing out my line." Ling Xiao revealed just a little of the information back then. "Of course, I have also made some arrangements. If those people do not go against their word, perhaps you will be able to grow up in peace and also obtain my legacy."


    At this point of his recitation, Ling Xiao snorted and said, "When a man dies and the lights go out, whether those people are still willing to take the risk for me, no one knows. This is not something I can control. So Ling Lan, you must remember. No one is reliable ¡ª the most reliable thing is to be strong yourself. Besides that, intelligence is also something you cannotck. If I, Ling Xiao, am truly dead, at the heart of it, I must have died by the opponent¡¯s plot."


    Ling Lan did not expect that Ling Xiao had long thought of this and had also made the appropriate arrangements. It was just that in the end, things must still have happened outside of Ling Xiao¡¯s expectations, causing all of Ling Xiao¡¯s ns to be useless.


    These words of Ling Xiao caused the negative emotions in Ling Lan¡¯s heart to slowly melt away. It was just as Ling Xiao said ¡ª this was not something he could control.


    She walked forward and swept her hand over the surface of the desk. The six crystal beads instantly disappeared. Subsequently, four beads appeared in the gaps of Ling Lan¡¯s fingers, while two more rested in her palm.


    Ling Xiao nodded lightly. Just thatst move alone showed that Ling Lan¡¯s speed had already reached his minimum requirement.


    Ling Lan did not look at Ling Xiao¡¯s expression. Her fingers folded and began dancing swiftly. Then,yer afteryer of afterimages of Ling Lan¡¯s fingers appeared, and countless clear sounds of collision started to ring ¡ª ding ding dang dang 1 , extremely pleasant to the ear. Gradually, these tinkling sounds became powerful ringing, reverberating like stormy winds and driving rain, an endless assault. It was clear to see that Ling Lan¡¯s hand speed had already reached a significantly terrifying speed.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    With new context, it bes clear that one term has been tranted somewhat incorrectly prior to this. (=.= Dang nab Chinese ambiguity!!) I¡¯m posting this note here because it will be impacting the next chapter directly.


    Please note that ¡¯mental strength¡¯ will be corrected to ¡¯spiritual power¡¯, while ¡¯mental mutation¡¯ will be changed to ¡¯spiritual mutation¡¯. Retroactive changes will be made to previous chapters. I¡¯m sorry for any confusion caused.

 Chapter 157: Innate Talent Awakens!

    Chapter 157: Innate Talent Awakens!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Xiao¡¯s gaze was filled with satisfaction. This speed of Ling Lan¡¯s had indeed met his requirement, and was actually a hair better than what he required. Just as Ling Xiao was going to say that she had passed, the ringing sounds of the crystal beads colliding sped up even more, merging the separate noises into one collective consistent peal of sound. Meanwhile, at this time, Ling Lan¡¯s fingers had disappeared ...


    Seeing this, the expression of the initially smiling Ling Xiao shifted. If he weren¡¯t afraid of disturbing Ling Lan¡¯s attention, he might have just yelled out in shock. Ling Lan¡¯s hand speed had actually reached the step of Void ¡ª this was a definite step into the standard requirement to be an ace mecha operator. His child should be no more than 10 years old ... right?


    With a dull ¡¯puff¡¯, Ling Lan¡¯s fingers stopped and she woke up from the state of Void she had been in. Her brows furrowed lightly, and she opened her palm. Inside it were still four crystal beads, but now there was also a little powder.


    "p p p ..." Ling Lan heard the sound of apuseing from beside her. She lifted her head to look and saw Ling Xiao pping sedately. He smiled and said, "Ling Lan, very good. You¡¯ve actually reached the state of Void."


    "Void?" asked Ling Lan, puzzled. Ling Lan had learned mecha training exercises on her own, other than those things taught by the instructors in the learning space. Therefore, no one had exined the relevant standards to her. Little Four should have been the one to gather this information for her, but Little Four was under the mistaken belief that his boss only needed to learn the techniques of Mandora, and so had neglected this front.


    Ling Xiao seemed to be prepared for this. Hearing Ling Lan¡¯s question, he exined, "The hand speed for mecha control is split into 5 stages. Base, representing the foundational speed ¡ª most mecha operators in training and low-level mecha operators are within the range of this level. Diligence, the next stage after Base ¡ª typically putting in hard effort will be enough to bring one up to this level. Intermediate mecha warriors belong at this level. Apex, representing the advanced mecha warriors ¡ª this means that one¡¯s hand speed has already reached the standard limits of the human body. Shade, a stage belonging to special-ss operators ¡ª of course, a part of those here could also advance into novice ace operators. Meanwhile, Void was the standard by which operators were judged to be ace operators or not ... originally, my requirement was for you to achieve Apex speed, but unexpectedly, you¡¯ve given me such a great surprise from the start."


    Ling Lan listened closely to Ling Xiao¡¯s exnation, then after a pensive silence, she asked, "After Void, is there a higher speed? And also ..." Both of Ling Lan¡¯s eyes focused on Ling Xiao, "What is your speed?"


    Ling Xiao was silent for a long moment, but then he said, "Above Void is Form ... but, that¡¯s still a long way away yet for you. You don¡¯t have to know about it now." Ling Xiao only mentioned a title, but did not go into the specifics.


    "And you?" Ling Lan doggedly continued to ask. The second question was the one she was more concerned about.


    Ling Xiao looked cidly at Ling Lan, and Ling Lan looked back unflinchingly at Ling Xiao. Her gaze was filled with the message that she would not back off on this.


    Ling Xiao sighed deeply. "My hand speed is Space ..." His tone was somewhat fond, as if a little resigned at his child¡¯s stubborn personality.


    "That¡¯s the highest speed, right?" said Ling Lan decisively. Otherwise Ling Xiao would not have be a god-ss operator.


    Ling Xiao shook his head and said, "No one knows where the true limits of the human body are. Space may be the limit right now, but is it really the ultimate limit? No one is able to foretell the future with absolute certainty ..." Ling Xiao¡¯s gaze was somewhat vacant, as if reminiscing about something.


    Thoughtful, Ling Lan nodded. In her previous life, she had never even considered that humans could be this strong. Just looking at the physical body alone, human strength in this world was over ten times greater than it was in her previous world ... For instance, the extraordinarily strong men of her previous world, would only match up to the strength of a 10 year old child here. It was clear to see that in these ten thousand years, humans had made countless breakthroughs in the so-called human limits.


    Ling Xiao abruptly came to himself, and sensing that Ling Lan had no more questions, he continued to say, "Since you¡¯ve already met my requirements, then the second part of the legacy is yours now."


    That said, Ling Xiao waved a hand in Ling Lan¡¯s direction, and Ling Lan instantly felt arge surge of energy push her out. And then, she was falling rapidly, just as if plummeting uncontrobly from the sky.


    Ling Lan¡¯splexion was extremely pale. Even though she had already conquered her fear of heights after a period of bitter training, still, when faced with this sort of uncontrolled free-falling, she felt all the hairs on her head stand on end. If not for the fact that she was certain that her cheapskate dad Ling Xiao had no bad intentions towards her, she would certainly have started screaming by now. But even so, she was so scared that her body was drenched with cold sweat.


    Ling Lan fell into a grey-coloured area. Mist covered everything, hiding the surroundings from her eyes. Just when Ling Lan was wondering what to do, countless information and precious images were crammed into her brain ... numbers, movements, forms, experience ¡ª in short, everything that Ling Xiao had learned, from control intuition, battle experience, and all sorts of misceneous insight were shoved unceremoniously into Ling Lan¡¯s little head.


    "Once you¡¯ve absorbed all this,e find me again then ..." In a daze, Ling Lan heard this final statement by Ling Xiao, and then fainted dead away ...


    Oh, but before fainting, Ling Lan at least remembered to point a savage middle finger at her old man. Hells, this legacy was just way too tyrannical! It was truly over the top!


    Meanwhile, Ling Xiao thought: What a tenacious child! Luofeng, you raised her well!


    ********


    When Ling Lan woke up again, it was already the morning of the next day. She climbed out from the virtual logon pod, and cradling her head, she shuffled to her bedroom to get some proper rest. Of course, this drew the concern of Lan Luofeng. However, Lan Luofeng still chose to believe in her child, thinking that Ling Lan had everything well in hand.


    After a good sleep, along with Little Four¡¯s help, she managed to seal away anything currently inapplicable into the depths of her brain, thus clearing up a great portion of her overloaded brain. Only then did she have the space to continue processing. This is when Ling Lan found that, in the second part of Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy, the most important bit was the training and control of spiritual power. Moreover, this was the key for an ace operator to advance to imperial status.


    Most notably, after turning 10 years old, mutations may ur in a child¡¯s spiritual power ... this would influence the developmental path of the child.


    "Little Four, do you know anything about this spiritual deviation?" Ling Lan suddenly realised that she was currently at this crucial moment.


    "This is how this world refers to it, but ording to the studies of our Mandora star system, this is an inevitable manifestation. After 10 years of age, humans start to step onto the course where their various functions gradually mature 1 . The initially slowly developing spiritual power enters a period of rapid growth, starting to awaken the innate talents within the body at the same time. This type of spiritual awakeningbined with the stirring of the dormant talents are what this world calls spiritual mutation," Little Four reported all the information he found on their studies of the subject.


    "If so, then spiritual mutation is a good thing." Ling Lan was instantly reassured.


    "Of course it¡¯s a good thing, but it may not definitely be a good thing." Little Four¡¯s words made Ling Lan frown. So was this a good thing or a bad thing at the end of the day?


    "It depends on what the awakened talent is. Not every talent is suitable for operating mecha."


    "Oh? How so?" Ling Lan was curious.


    "Some innate talents, like Decadent Voice, Soaring Dance, Conquering Smile ..." Little Four beganying out the information he had gathered.


    "Be detailed when talking about the talents. Just saying the name, what can I know?" Ling Lan red fiercely at Little Four, dissatisfied with hisziness.


    Little Four rolled his eyes. Something so easy to understand, yet his boss wanted to make thingsplicated. He pouted and said, "It¡¯s actually very easy to figure out. For Decadent Voice, the awakened talent affects the voice. It makes the bearer¡¯s voice attract people¡¯s attention without them noticing it, even able to make them drunk on it. Meanwhile, Soaring Dance is a type of bodynguage, able to make people feel what it is conveying, as if they were in a dream or an illusion. Conquering Smile is even easier to understand. One smile conquers cities, another smile conquers countries, a third smile conquers gxies ... hehehe, in fact, Boss, you have talent in this area." Little Four started giggling behind his little hands. Naturally, he was then captured by an angry and embarrassed Ling Lan for some domestic violence ...


    With great difficulty, Little Four finally managed to escape Ling Lan¡¯s demon sp, and whined, "How violent, I can¡¯t even speak the truth anymore ..." Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s pointed re, he quickly mmed up and stopped joking around. Pulling on a straight face, he continued to say, "Those talents earlier are more suited for the entertainment industry. Many of the world¡¯s popr singers, dancers, and performers are all people with awakened talents in these areas."


    "For instance, that evolved spectre hacker we met a few years ago was also due to a type of talent awakening. It¡¯s just that his awakened talent is destructive strength on the virtual side." Little Four raised another familiar example to rify things for Ling Lan.


    In the end, Little Four nced at Ling Lan and said teasingly, "Actually, Boss, your innate talent is already awakened."


    "What?!" eximed Ling Lan, "Why didn¡¯t I know of this?"


    "Haven¡¯t you noticed, Boss? Isn¡¯t your ability to see through an opponent¡¯s weakness with a nce very miraculous?" Little Four pursed his lips, looking down on his boss for being so slow.


    Ling Lan was enlightened. No wonder every time she fought she would see through the opponent¡¯s weakness straightaway. Even when she was on Demonbeast, fighting with the Twilight Empire mecha, she also had this feeling. That was why she had been able to sessfullye up with a strategy on the fly, and make the opponents act as she willed so that she could finally kill them.


    "Boss, this is your innate talent! It¡¯s just that Boss¡¯s innate talent still hasn¡¯t awakenedpletely. You still need to work on it. Right, Boss¡¯s number two follower (the number one follower is him, Little Four, the others are all after him), that one called Qi Long ¡ª that so-called animal-like instinct of his is also a type of talent awakening ..." Little Four continued with the revtions.


    "So Qi Long has also awakened his talent!" eximed Ling Lan in astonishment. Suddenly, tone puzzled, she said, "That¡¯s not right. Qi Long already had his animal instinct since young. Didn¡¯t you say that innate talents could only be awakened after 10 years old?"


    "Silly Boss. Talented children can naturally awaken their innate talents earlier. Like you, Boss, and Qi Long, are both this type. Still, early awakening is rtively umon. Most children only begin awakening from 10 years old onwards. And even if the talents are awakened early, they won¡¯t be noticed unless the changes are extremely obvious. Like yours, Boss, and Qi Long¡¯s covert type of awakened talent, it is not obvious at all and will be easily overlooked ... Before I said anything, didn¡¯t you yourself not notice anything, Boss?" said Little Four disdainfully.

 Chapter 158: The Instructors of the Learning Space Assemble!

    Chapter 158: The Instructors of the Learning Space Assemble!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan could only rub her nose and ept Little Four¡¯s contemptuous res. Who asked her to be a real dimwit when it came to things like this? In future, she would still need Little Four to exin things to her. Ling Lan knew well that she could not use pure force on Little Four all the time ¡ª when appropriate, she should let him have his fun, so that he would put in even more effort in future to provide information of this sort.


    It had to be admitted that Ling Lan herself was actually pretty ck-bellied at times. Let us surrender somepassionate tears for the clueless Little Four in advance!


    In fact, the spiritual power training method passed down by Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy was extremely reasonable. Even Little Four, who had N-amount of materials saved in his databases, could not help but have an intense light in his eyes at seeing these systematic training methods. While Ling Lan was not looking, he swiftly made a digital duplicate of the material in his hands, which then vanished instantly after without a trace. Who knows where he sent it to ...


    ********


    In a particr exclusive space within the learning space, below the dark and gloomy skies, there was a towering mountain peak. At its highest point, there was a t cloud tform. Number One was sitting there in solitude, eyes closed as he meditated. Suddenly, his brows lifted and he reached out a hand in a quick grab, and a file appeared just like that out of thin air into his hand.


    Only then did Instructor Number One open his eyes and start flipping casually through the file. Then, his expression abruptly turned grim, and his cold voice thundered throughout the entire space. "Assemble!"


    His voice had just dissipated when in that gloomy patch of sky, about 10 metres or so above the area Number One was meditating, eight dark vertical lines suddenly appeared.


    Subsequently, those vertical lines grew thicker and thicker, and then they actually split open from the middle, and the first thing that came to sight was a pair of hands in each line. After that, the hands forcefully ripped those ck seams apart, revealing the figures they were attached to. They were the instructors of the learning space, from Number Two to Number Nine, all eight of them with no absentees.


    The seemingly simple and honest Instructor Number Threeughed heartily and said, "Big Brother, what has happened, actually calling us to assemble?"


    Number Five¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly, and a harmless smile emerged on his handsome face. "It must be something big, but who knows if it can make me excited ..." That said, he licked at his lips, his demeanour one of profound interest. Speaking of which, ever since little Ling Lan had graduated from his tutge, he had felt as if life had lost all meaning, he no longer had any desire or motivation to do anything ...


    Number Four was a sexy great beauty. Even dressed inpact military clothes, her sexy curves and buxom figure were still clear enough to cause massive nosebleeds in men ¡ª oh, the allure of a woman in uniform ...


    She sighed and said grumpily, "I only care about when I can debut ... I really want to teach our family¡¯s Baby Lan!"


    Number Nine sniffed coolly, "Ling Lan has no need to learn those things of yours ..."


    Number Four smirked and shook her hands, "No, no, no. Sister Nine, don¡¯t be so sure. Baby Lan will still need a man someday. When that timees, she will need everything of mine. I will let her master all the methods she needs to control everything of a man¡¯s ..."


    Number Nine was about to retort when she seemed to recall something, and so held back and said nothing ...


    Number Six, Number Seven, and Number Eight were triplets, all male. They all looked to be around 25 to 26 years old, faces attractive and masculine, the type that would easily inspire trust in others. The three looked exactly the same. At a nce, it was impossible to tell one from another. They looked balefully at their big brother Number One, their gazes just short of directlyining to their big brother ¡ª why didn¡¯t he let them go out and teach their baby disciple?


    Number One seemed unable to withstand the wronged-wife look 1ing from three identical handsome faces at the same time, for he coughed and said, "Before Ling Lan has decided her future developmental pathway, you all just have no way ofing out ..."


    Who asked the three of them to be specialists in specific areas? Number Six was a whiz at anything to do with finance and investments, Number Seven was a master at administration and management, while Number Eight was an expert at military nning, strategy, and tactics. They were obviously respectively a money bag, a major-domo, and a military advisor. If Ling Lan had decided to conquer the world, the three of them would have appeared much earlier, but Ling Lan was still somewhat unsure about her future ns, so they could only keep waiting ...


    "Eh? Where¡¯s Number Two?" Number Four suddenly recalled that there was still Number Two who shared their sad fate, not being able to debut as well. Could it be that Number Two, unlike them, did not want to interact with their Baby Lan?


    Everyone abruptly realised that Number Two who hade here with them had actually disappeared ...


    Number One coolly thrust the document in his hands behind him, saying calmly, "Number Two, take a look at this document."


    The shadow of Number One¡¯s right hand suddenly moved, stretching up to take the document from Number One¡¯s hands. The moment the document left Number One¡¯s hands, it became a shadow too, returning to join Number One¡¯s shadow, merging seamlessly into it.


    Watching this scene, everyone present felt a chill invade their hearts. However, they all seemed to have some resistance built up against this creepy shadow y ¡ª most of them just shifted a little, but then stood steady and pretended not to see anything.


    Very soon, the dark shadow spoke, "A very perfect set of spiritual power training methods, even safer and steadier than the triggering method that our Mandora star system has to awaken innate talents. Compared to this method, our measures are clearly a little violent." The shadow¡¯s voice was hoarse and ragged, somewhat grating on the ears, making anyone who heard it feel ufortable.


    "It¡¯s really that good?" Number Five¡¯s eyes finally sparked with some interest. His voice had barely faded when a copy of the document sprang out from the shadow and flew straight at Number Five.


    Number Five caught it deftly and began browsing through it. His gaze flickered and he sighed in awe, "So that¡¯s how it is. This way, the effect of awakening the innate talents will be doubled with just half the effort. This is a good lesson, I¡¯ll need to see how I can integrate this with my Hell Training ..."


    Number Nine grabbed the document from him, and sniffed coldly. "Don¡¯t ruin this great thing ..."


    Number Five just smiled without retorting, and did not try to take the document back either. Frankly, as beings made from data, they could clearly know all the content within the document just by touching it; browsing through it was just a habit they had.


    Everyone took their turn to take a look, and they each had their respective insights. Spiritual power training had a certain boosting function upon high-intelligence bio-entities like themselves. Or should we say, every one of them obtained differing types of insights applicable to their own domain ¡ª this was beneficial to their evolution.


    "Who¡¯d have thought that we would one day receive a present from our host ..." sighed Number Four. Her words caused everyone to fall silent. Due to the bindings of the rules, they would have to repay their host for the gift. However, at present, it was rather difficult to repay their host properly, because this was not the Mandora star system. Without the relevant technology, they could not materialize ...


    "This matter, let¡¯s leave it tillter. There will be a chance somehow." Number One closed the issue for now, in wait for a future opportunity. For this reason, at some time in the future, Number Six, Number Seven, and Number Eight would be working hard to develop the technology of this world, fighting to hasten the arrival of the day they could materialize.


    Instructor Number One considered for a moment, and then said to Number Two, "Number Two, it¡¯s time for you to debut."


    "Yes, Number One!" said Number Two darkly. This time, he had once again changed his manner of speaking. Being voiced by the shadow, the entire scene was made dark and eerie.


    This sort of supernatural atmosphere displeased the other instructors. They all put forth their protest for Number Two to change his image so that he would not frighten their beloved Baby Lan.


    Their protests were only met by Number Two¡¯s gruesome, cold chuckles. The entire space was filled with the hair-raising sound of hisughter, and then the entire space suddenly dimmed. Dark winds rose on four sides, a ghostly chill swirling into the air, and nameless will-o¡¯-the-wisps fluttered in the distance ... it was as if they had abruptly been plunged into the abyss of hell.


    Other than Number One who still remained expressionless, as unmoving as a mountain, the others, even the extremely perverse Number Five, could no longer hold onto their smiles. At this time, Number Two said faintly, "If Ling Lan could endure Number Five¡¯s torments, then I think she should not be afraid of me ... me ... me ..." His voice echoed endlessly within this space ...


    At these words, Number Five instantly became the focus of everyone¡¯s anger as they vented their fear on him. They red fiercely at Number Five, wanting him to fix things with the gaslighting 2 Number Two ... Number Nine, in particr, huffed coldly, her expression one of great displeasure. If Number One had not been there, she would definitely have challenged Number Five to a fight. Mind you, since a long while back, she had already wanted to give Number Five a good beating on behalf of their adorable Baby Lan.


    Facing the crowd¡¯s anger, Number Five could only smile stiffly. With regards to Number Two, no matter how perverse Number Five was, he did not dare to push Number Two too far. That fellow was extremely proficient at spiritual maniption, and was good at concealing himself. If he angered him by ident, he would definitely be greatly brutalized by the other. Number Five was a sadist, not a masochist.


    Besides, towards Ling Lan, he really had no evil intentions. Why couldn¡¯t thesepanions beside him understand this? It should be known that their soft namby-pamby methods would never be able to cultivate an unparalleled prodigy ¡ª it could only be said that a genius was always lonely and misunderstood ...


    Number Five cravenly pretended to be lost in the silence of his own genius and swiftly departed!


    ********


    Ling Lan did not know yet that her good days were over. Very soon, she would be greeted by yet another wave of the learning space¡¯s torments. Currently, she was anxiously standing at the entrance to her vi, waiting for the arrival of Qi Long and the others. Not just them, even the other members of group 072 wereing, as well as the new addition Lin Zhong-qing.


    This was the first time Ling Lan was receiving a visit from ssmates in both her lifetimes. Even the typically calm Ling Lan could no longer keep her calm in this moment; she was actually quite nervous.


    "Boss Lan, we¡¯re here!" This voice was most certainly that of the loudmouth Qi Long. Ling Lan walked out of her little garden, and immediately saw a group of children dressed in red uniforms and white uniforms about 100 metres away. The fellow right in the front waving wildly at her was none other than the brash and forthright Qi Long.


    Right behind him, a girl was also waving just as vigorously. It was the candid, tom-boyish Han Xuya. Meanwhile, Luo Chao was closely tailing Han Xuya, tugging on the other¡¯s sleeve with a red face, trying to remind Han Xuya to be more reserved.


    Yuan Youyun, Luo Shaoyun, He Chaoyang, and Li Jinghong were looking at Ling Lan with faces filled with excitement. They looked as if they really wanted to greet her but was unsure whether they should. Ever since Ling Lan and the others had gone to Demonbeast to hunt, they had not seen them for as long as half a year.

 Chapter 159: Take a Wife or Marry a Husband?

    Chapter 159: Take a Wife or Marry a Husband?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Speaking of the four of them, they were now all students of Special ss-B. In particr, He Chaoyang and Li Jinghong, due to their weaker talent, had worked themselves to the bone just to chase up to Ling Lan and the other elites. After four years of tenacious struggling, they finally managed an upset to squeeze into thepetitive ranks of Special ss-B. Bing ssmates with Yuan Youyun, Luo Shaoyun, Han Xuya, and Luo Chao, the six of them sessfully built their own team, bing team members who would grow together. Tomemorate group 072 where they had taken the exam together, they named their team ¡¯072¡¯!


    Most surprisingly, the team leader of team 072 was actually the easily embarrassed, shy and often blushing Luo Chao ... it was true enough that people could not be judged by their appearances.


    Meanwhile, Ling Lan¡¯s team had been short of one person all this time. Ling Lan was unconcerned by this, so Qi Long and the others also did not worry.


    Behind Yuan Youyun and the others were Han Jijyun, Luo Lang, and Lin Zhong-qing. Although they were restraining their excitement on the surface, their gazes revealed their true emotions. In contrast to the ignorance of the others, Qi Long and the other three knew the true meaning of this visit ¡ª this would be the first time they would encounter the world of god-ss operator Ling Xiao, especially the wife mentioned in the legends of Ling Xiao. (That¡¯s my mum! ¡û Ling Lan was moody; these bunch of followers were actually ignoring her ...)


    The group nervously followed Ling Lan into the vi, and then saw a beautifuldy smiling gently at them. Of course, in this time period, beautiful men and women were everywhere, but still, the children could feel a warmthing from Lan Luofeng¡¯s body, easing their initially high-strung nerves.


    The half-grown kids greeted Mama Ling politely and bashfully. This greatly pleased Lan Luofeng, because her Ling Lan always had a serious adult-like expression on her face, giving her no sense of achievement as a mother. But now, she could finally have a taste of what it felt like ... Boo hoo hoo, if only her own daughter was as lively as these children before her eyes ...


    The intent behind Lan Luofeng¡¯s gaze rendered Ling Lan speechless ¡ª how had her mume to the conclusion that these kids were lively? Setting everything else aside, just looking at Han Jijyun alone ¡ª that stern expression of his was not much better than hers ...


    All that could be said was that parents would never be satisfied with the current situation. They would always admire the things that their child has yet to aplish, regardless of whether it was apt or not.


    In a great mood, Lan Luofeng¡¯s demeanour was naturally very weing to the children. Inparison with their fierce dragon mums at home, the children could not help but admire Boss Lan¡¯s blissful life. It was once again proven that the grass was always greener on the other side.


    During the meal, Ling Lan observed her mum¡¯s formidable diplomatic methods for the first time. Without any notable signs, she managed to coax out the family backgrounds of all ten children by beating around the bush. Of course, not everyone was oblivious ¡ª Han Jijyun noticed, but he was not surprised by it. This was an expected measure by any responsible mother to understand the friendships of her child. Han Jijyun had already been mentally prepared for this, and so was the one to handle the subtle interrogation the best.


    Lan Luofeng looked at the children before her with extreme satisfaction. It had been a really long time since the house was this lively; her child finally had her own friends now ... who knows which of them would be the right one for her daughter 1 ?


    That one called Qi Long had a good personality, very obedient, not bad not bad; but then that one called Luo Lang was just so pretty, she liked him by just looking at him (Lan Luofeng was a certified face-con); that Han Jijyun was a bit stern, but he was very clever and handled things in a very organized manner, seeming to match well with her daughter ... and that Lin Zhong-qing, although his family background was a bit weaker, he knew how topromise and seemed adaptable, and would most certainly do well in the future, also a good choice. What a shame she only had one daughter ...


    In short, Lan Luofeng was extremely satisfied and pleased with all the boys here in front of her; she had actually already begun debating with herself over which one was the best choice.


    These impure thoughts of Lan Luofeng were quickly seen through by Ling Lan, and cold sweat sprang out from her forehead. Oh mum, can you stop looking at my friends as if you are looking at your future son-inw? Your daughter is only 10 right now, okay? And most importantly, right now your daughter is still male ...


    Just like that, under Lan Luofeng¡¯s special ministrations, the dinner table was a lively affair for both host and guest. The atmosphere was friendly, and the children soon lost their initial reservations.


    Of course, there was also an exception. Luo Chao was the only one at the dining table with her head bowed, only eating the white rice in her bowl, not even daring to lift up her chopsticks to get any of the other dishes. Watching her, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t sure whether tough or cry. Was this little girl going to eat only white rice till the end?


    "Hey, eat more Duomo meat 2 . Your body is too weak." Ling Lan¡¯s seat was diagonally across from Luo Chao. She picked up a piece of white meat with her chopsticks and ced it into Luo Chao¡¯s bowl. The shy and adorable Luo Chao¡¯s gentleness melted Ling Lan¡¯s heart ... In truth, because Luo Chao¡¯s spiritual power increased at a greater rate than average, her body condition had always been a little unwell. This struck a chord with Ling Lan, bringing up memories of her past life, so she would always pay a little more attention and care to Luo Chao.


    "Thank you, Big Brother Lan!" Luo Chao¡¯s entire face flushed red, and her eyes were glistening like those of a baby deer. Ling Lan pulled back her chopsticks speechlessly. Oh, little girl, big sister is only concerned about your body; there really isn¡¯t any deeper meaning ... perhaps she needed to tone down this type of involuntary care a little in the future.


    This action of Ling Lan¡¯s caused the initially lively dinner table to suddenly fall silent. Qi Long, especially, was gaping, extremely shocked at Boss Lan¡¯s sudden kindness in caring for Luo Chao. Meanwhile, Luo Lang¡¯s expression was conflicted ¡ª should he push away his boss to safeguard his little sister, or should he just go with the flow ... The others kept stealing nces at Ling Lan and Luo Chao ¡ª could it be that without them knowing, Boss and their little sister had developed some rtionship?


    Only Han Jijyun remainedposed, as if unaffected. Unfortunately, his chopsticks slipped a few times, unable to pick up the dishes he wanted. From that, it could be seen that he currently was not as calm as his appearance would suggest ...


    Ling Lan swept an exasperated re at the group of brats with varying expressions on their face. This re frightened the kids so much they hurriedly pulled their rice bowls close and began gulping down the white grains. Boo hoo hoo, as expected, they had no right to be nosy about Boss¡¯s business ... what a waste of all the delicious food on the table ¡ª they now did not even dare to reach out to take any!


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s originally decorous and demure smile suddenly froze, and her gaze became somewhat unfocused. Could it be that these boys all had no chance? Would she obtain a daughter-inw in the end instead? No, that¡¯s not right, she gave birth to a daughter, right?


    At the end, the evening ended and the group dispersed. The children left Ling Lan¡¯s home satisfied. The fact that Ling Lan had invited them to be guests at her home proved that Ling Lan had truly epted them. This was the main reason for their satisfaction with this visit.


    All said, they finally seeded in hugging onto a big thigh ... er, that is to say, they have finally be Boss Lan¡¯s sworn siblings!


    Lan Luofeng waited impatiently for Ling Lan to return from sending her friends off, and then she pulled Ling Lan close and asked anxiously, "Baby Lan, do you like boys or girls?" Whenever Lan Luofeng was in a panicked state, she would default to calling Ling Lan ¡¯Baby Lan¡¯.


    Ling Lan secretly rolled her eyes in exasperation ¡ª she¡¯s still a 10 year old child right now, okay? Isn¡¯t it a bit too early for her mum to be worrying about this?


    "You still remember that you didn¡¯t give birth to a boy, right?" Big sister here is female in both body and soul ¡ª how could I like girls?


    "Then what¡¯s going on with that Luo Chao?" Lan Luofeng still could not let it go. Even she had rarely ever gotten such caring treatment from her Baby Lan ... alright, so Lan Luofeng was a little bit jealous!


    "Don¡¯t you think she¡¯s really sweet? So much cuter than that bunch of smelly brats ..." replied Ling Lan, "I like this kind of little sister!"


    Seeing Lan Luofeng¡¯s stricken face, Ling Lan added on helplessly, "Purely as an elder brother towards a younger sister. Mum, don¡¯t overthink it."


    That said, Ling Lan ran away! Leaving behind a petrified Lan Luofeng.


    And then, in the vast and vacant great hall, a hysterical cry rang out:


    "AHAHAH ... Nanyi, I¡¯m going to go insane!" Lan Luofeng pulled at her hair wildly; at this moment, she no longer retained any of her so-called decorum.


    A knife in hand, Ling Nanyi rushed out from the kitchen in shock, "Mistress, what happened?"


    "Boo hoo hoo, Nanyi, Baby Lan has really started thinking of herself as a boy ... what should we do now?" Lan Luofeng¡¯s mind was echoing with the phrase ¡¯purely as an elder brother towards a younger sister¡¯ ... That ¡¯younger sister¡¯ was most definitely referring to Luo Chao, then wouldn¡¯t the ¡¯elder brother¡¯ be referring to Ling Lan herself?


    Hearing this, Ling Nanyi¡¯s expression calmed down. "This is how it should be, otherwise Young Master Lan would not be able to pull off the role so well."


    "But, I don¡¯t want to have a daughter-inw in future, I want a son-inw ..." said Lan Luofeng in distress.


    "Don¡¯t worry, Mistress. Even if Young Master Lan takes a young mistress, with the current technology, it will still be possible for the young mistress to give birth to Young Master Lan¡¯s child ..." Ling Nanyi¡¯s eyes were shining, starting to consider the possibilities along this avenue ¡ª where she could go to obtain excellent sperm, and then let Young Master Lan¡¯s and the young mistress¡¯s eggsbine to take the sperm and merge so that a pair of twins could be born ... Of course, only Young Master Lan¡¯s child could be considered as family head for the Ling family. As for the young mistress¡¯s child, they would just be trained up as a loyalist to apany Young Master Lan¡¯s child ...


    Listening to Housekeeper Ling Nanyi¡¯s counsel, Lan Luofeng felt that it made sense. After all, no matter whether her daughter took a wife or married a husband, it would not affect her getting grandchildren. Thus, her mood brightened, no longer conflicted.


    Ling Lan, who had barely turned the corner, heard this conversation between her mum and the housekeeper, and was instantly rendered speechless. What was up with these people ... she really could not think on the same wavelength as them.


    However, Ling Lan did not take this matter to heart. She was still only 10 years old ¡ª whether she would marry a wife or husband, the choice was still very far off. Right now, she might as well make full use of her time to get stronger instead. Might was the true right!


    ********


    Time passed swiftly, three years went by just like that! In these three years, Ling Lan grew from a short little bean sprout into a stately and well-proportioned, aloof youth. Compared to three years ago, Ling Lan¡¯s current status within Special ss-A of Year 4738 was also extremely noteworthy. Even the influential types like Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie could only turn their des away, full-heartedly acknowledging Ling Lan as the only boss of ss-A.


    In reality, these three years were not as pleasant for Ling Lan as everyone assumed. By day, her authority was indeed unchallenged, but by night, she was thoroughly living a tragedy. Within the learning space, she was going through countless torments, being bullied endlessly by Instructor Number Two.

 Chapter 160: A Grand Game?

    Chapter 160: A Grand Game?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Still, Instructor Number Two was not as crazy as Instructor Number Five. Of all the countless ways he could use to torment Ling Lan, he only used the simplest of them, but it was still enough to frighten Ling Lan to within an inch of her life during every training session with him.


    Who knew where Instructor Number Two obtained his intel? (Little Four was cackling smugly; of course the info came from him.) He brought the ghost movies and horror films of Ling Lan¡¯s previous world to life. Ling Lan had thought that after Instructor Number Five¡¯s perverse torments, she was already immune to any other torments, but who knew she still had a weakness ... actually being terrified of those illusionary ghosts and spirits.


    These eldritch ghosts had no form, so physical attacks were useless against them. Many times, Ling Lan found her own sword turned against herself by these ghosts to disembowel herself or stab out her own heart, where she then breathed herst without being able to do anything. This greatly frustrated Ling Lan ¡ª she had never felt so helpless before. At least during Instructor Number Five¡¯s insane training, she had not beenpletely unable to fight back.


    From the start, Instructor Number Two had not told her what she should do. Every time she entered the learning space, she would be thrown directly into all sorts of horror films to train, putting Ling Lan through time after time of unending terror. Ling Lan finally knew what a so-called endless trial was now ... it was truly unbearable.


    In the course of dying five or six times, Ling Lan had tried countless ways, finally grasping the use of spiritual sensing to kind of sense the existence of those eldritch ghosts. And so she began to focus on training with the spiritual power training methods bequeathed to her by her father, trying to use her spiritual power to fight these ghosts in these horror films ... Only at this time did Instructor Number Two appear to instruct Ling Lan on how to pull out her spiritual power and teach her the way to divide it.


    This extraction and fragmentation of spiritual power was agonizing ¡ª every time, Ling Lan would go through the suffering of having her spiritual power being forcefully ripped apart. This was much more painful and much more unbearable than the feeling of her physical body being torn apart ¡ª every time, Ling Lan would only barely seed after she started puking from the pain. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that she did not want to die in myriad strange ways, Ling Lan would have lost all courage to even attempt a second time.


    Still, this inhuman torment had significant results. Ling Lan¡¯s original one cord of spiritual power split into two cords, and then the two cords split into three cords, and so on until she finally seeded in splitting out 12 cords of spiritual feelers. In Instructor Number Two¡¯s words, she had seeded in bing an initiate level spiritual power user. Of course, from the moment Ling Lan seeded in extracting and projecting her formless spiritual power, this meant that she now had the ability to defend against those formless spirits, giving her the possibility of survival in those endless horror film scenarios.


    In these three years, Ling Lan had pretty much lived through all the horror films in her previous world. From the start when she could only defend passively, till the point when she could finally fight back, to now where she could kill her way through the sea of ghosts ¡ª these three years caused Ling Lan to grow up very quickly! This method of Instructor Number Two¡¯s which forced Ling Lan to reincarnate repetitively caused Ling Lan to master the various uses of spiritual power in a very short amount of time. Ling Lan even managed to invent several spiritual power attacks of her own ...


    Regarding this, Instructor Number Two could only exim in silence at how aberrant Ling Lan¡¯s tolerance was. Consequently, he further increased the difficulty ¡ª in several attacks in some scenes, he took part personally ... and so Ling Lan once again experienced the sensation of dying at ghostly hands, weing yet a new round of evolution.


    Due to the endless pressure of terror, Ling Lan¡¯s innate talent awakened at a much faster rate than other people. Not only did her Profound Insight talent awakenpletely so she could now use it as she willed, she even awakened a second innate talent ¡ª Ice Affinity, which allowed Ling Lan to learn the element of ice. This caused Ling Lan¡¯s body to emit a faint chill, and in tandem with her cold and expressionless ice-block face, a new generation cold-faced pretty boy came into the world!


    The awakening of Ice Affinity not only took Ling Lan by surprise; the instructors of the learning space were also very surprised. Ling Lan¡¯s body clearly was not born with the element of ice, so why did this innate talent awaken? Later on, Instructor Number One made an irresponsible guess ¡ª perhaps because in her heart Ling Lan believed that cold-mannered ckfaced people were all good, while those who liked to smile were a ck-bellied lot full of bad water, so the element of ice had be fond of her ...


    Wasn¡¯t this just ridiculous? Look well, this was what is meant by an irresponsible guess!


    Ling Lan truly shocked and surprised everyone with the awakening of her innate talents. The awakening of the innate talents of others would always show some sign, whether big or small ¡ª for instance, Qi Long¡¯s Animal Instinct had presented young and just became more and more obvious. During this period of time, his initiate instructor mentored him for a full year, letting him fully master Animal Instinct. He was now especially sensitive to those who tried to get close to him, directly being able to intuit their true intentions ... he was just like a human lie detector. Moreover, under his instructor¡¯s invitation, Qi Long also officially became his true disciple ...


    Han Jijyun¡¯s awakened innate talent was Strategy, an enhanced version of intelligence. This would definitely aid him in bing a perfect intelligence-type staff officer.


    Inparison, Luo Lang¡¯s awakened innate talent was rather unexpected ¡ª¡ª Alter Ego! When his innate talent activated, it would automatically create a new personality ¡ª this personality could be passionate, or heartless, or wrathful, or cold-blooded ... once, it even presented the personality of a ruthless fighting machine. At that time, both his attacks and his tactics were extremely scary, because Luo Lang had be so cold-blooded that he would even risk himself in his calctions ...


    Whenever Luo Lang¡¯s innate talent activated, Qi Long would be extremely agitated, because only Qi Long¡¯s Animal Instinct could tell whether Luo Lang¡¯s new personality was good or bad. If it were a bad personality, the group would pounce on Luo Lang to control him, to prevent him from doing anything unforgivable. It was truly an undeniably dangerous innate talent to awaken! Of course, this type of uncontroble innate talent like Luo Lang¡¯s was pretty much half-useless ... without Qi Long there, if a bad personality presented, no one would know. These personalities were all able to fake normalcy, so only Qi Long¡¯s Animal Instinct could detect it as its natural counter. Of course, this was also true of Ling Lan¡¯s Profound Insight, but no one knew about this innate talent of Ling Lan¡¯s. Everyone just assumed that Ling Lan¡¯s awakened talent was Ice Affinity.


    Both Han Jijyun and Luo Lang had also been taken in by their instructor as true disciples; this was especially imperative for Luo Lang. His dangerous innate talent gave his instructor no choice but to seek help from his sect, hoping they would be able to think of a good way to resolve thistent threat of Luo Lang¡¯s.


    Of course, both Qi Long and Luo Lang¡¯s talents were suitable for operating mecha, butpared to the rtively unstable Alter Ego, Animal Instinct was undoubtedly a level better.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s awakened innate talent was Concealment. When it was activated, his presence would vanish without a trace. As Ling Lan would say, he was a person very suited to be an assassin.


    Han Xuya¡¯s awakened innate talent was Violence. Once it activated, herbat strength would multiply by several folds. This was also a low-level innate talent very suitable for mecha operation. Everyonemented that this innate talent was wasted on Han Xuya, causing Han Xuya to fly into a rage and demand a PK 1 from them with her talent activated. Then, this strongwoman would beat them into the ground with her abominable strength ... it was clear to see that the talent of Violence was very helpful in terms of providingbat strength.


    The most unique talent was Luo Chao¡¯s. Initially, everyone thought that the shy and pacifist Luo Chao would awaken some type of lifestyle rted innate talent, such as Favourable Impression, or Voice Control etcetera ... But surprisingly, she actually awakened Navigator, which was very rare among females. This meant that Luo Chao would be an excellent starship captain in the future.


    Yuan Youyun¡¯s awakened talent was Energy Reservation, most suitable for drawn out battles, while Luo Shaoyun¡¯s was Berserker, theplete opposite of Yuan Youyun¡¯s. Luo Shaoyun¡¯s talent lent itself well to a quick-paced battle, where he could just rain a torrent of blows down on the opponent to crush them, and was not good for a drawn out battle. He Chaoyang awakened Phantasm, while Li Jinghong awakened Thousand Li 2 Astral Projection. Both these innate talents were not reallybat-suited and were extremelymon. Still, the two boys were very happy, because many of the other students in their ss did not even awaken any innate talent at all. In other words, they did not undergo a spiritual mutation.


    Some of the awakened talents of the members of the two teams were counters of each other or very simr, so the two teams often PK-ed among themselves. The rtionship between the members increased steeply till they were all bosom buddies, however, they all also knew that some of them would be leaving once they turned 16. This was because the paths they would walk in the future were divergent.


    Everyone also knew that the youngest little sister Luo Chao had a crush on Boss Lan, but Boss Lan did not seem to reciprocate ... he treated Luo Chao exactly the same as he treated them all. They felt that this was a bit of a shame, for they were actually very willing to leave the adorable little sister Luo Chao in Boss Lan¡¯s hands.


    ********


    One day, Ling Lan was studying some ss materials on the virtualwork when she suddenly heard hermunicator ring ringly.


    Ling Lan nced down and saw with some surprise that it was Luo Lang. Normally, either Qi Long or Han Jijyun would be the one to contact her; it was extremely rare for Luo Lang to do so. Why was this fellow contacting her ...? Curious, Ling Lan connected the call and asked, "Luo Lang, what¡¯s up?"


    "Boss,e to the academy canteen quickly! Qi Long is going up against some tenth grade students ... the other side has over about 20 people!" Luo Lang¡¯s tone was anxious. Qi Long was indeed very strong, but against so many people, his pair of fists would still be unlikely to defeat the opponents¡¯ horde of fists.


    "Calm down. What happened?" asked Ling Lan calmly.


    "A female student from ss-B identally bumped into the other, and an argument broke out. One of the girls on the other side actually pped the ss-B student several times. We just happened to be in the area, and Han Xuya could not overlook it and so went out to defend the student. Boss, you know how hot-tempered Han Xuya is. After some bickering back and forth, they almost wanted to hit Han Xuya as well, so Qi Long stepped out. And then twenty students suddenly emerged from their side to surround Qi Long, demanding that Qi Long kneel down and apologise! They also said they wanted to teach us arrogant juniors 3 a lesson ..." Luo Lang detailed the entire stream of events to Ling Lan.


    "Got it. I¡¯ll be there at once! Also, dy for as long as possible!" After giving these instructions to Luo Lang, Ling Lan hung up. After some thought, she immediately contacted Wu Jiong, "Wu Jiong, notify all the students of ss-A and ss-B to gather at the academy canteen!"


    "Uh? Okay!" Wu Jiong was stunned for a moment, but immediately agreed and then asked, "What¡¯s going on? Why do the students of both sses need to go there?"


    A sly smile appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s lips, "Do you want to y a grand game with me?"


    "A grand game?" Wu Jiong¡¯s interest perked up instantly.


    "I¡¯m very curious ... what the ¡¯grand armed melee¡¯ which has disappeared from the academy for over a hundred years is like ..." Ling Lan¡¯s smirk was sinister. At this moment, she seemed to be channelling a faint shadow of Instructor Number Five.


    "A grand armed melee!" yelled Wu Jiong in shock. He was drenched in cold sweat in an instant.


    "What? You don¡¯t dare to y with me?" Ling Lan¡¯s tone seemed mocking, but sounded more like the seductive tone of a demon.


    Wu Jiong felt his heart pounding violently, his mind filled with the idea of a grand armed melee ... He gulped audibly, swallowing a mouthful of saliva then said, "Fine, I¡¯ll y with you! Who¡¯s the opponent?"


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    Please note that the term ¡¯legacy disciple¡¯ will be changed to ¡¯true disciple¡¯. Retroactive changes have already been made. This is to avoid confusion with inheritors of legacies, as well as to match up with the change of term by the original author herself.

 Chapter 161: Grand Armed Melee!

    Chapter 161: Grand Armed Melee!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "10th graders! They¡¯ve long been unable to stand the sight of us 7th graders, and are now bullying the girl from ss-B to taunt us ..." After hearing what Luo Lang had to report, Ling Lan could tell that this was definitely a show of strength by the 10th graders to try and put them in their ce.


    "10th graders ... Boss Lan, you sure enough are the boss. I, Wu Jiong, give in to youpletely!" Wu Jiong had initially thought it was just going to be a grand armed melee with the 8th graders, but who would have expected that Ling Lan would just go for the challenge with the greatest difficulty, directly going head to head with the highest-ranking 10th graders. Wu Jiong foldedpletely to this sort of courage.


    "Wu Jiong, I heard that there are very few people in ss-B that experienced a spiritual mutation, and even in ss-A, a little less than half had no obvious changes?" said Ling Lan, changing the topic.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s mood dipped. "Yes, over these few years, there are less and less students experiencing spiritual mutations. If they don¡¯t mutate before they turn 16, they will very likely lose the possibility of operating mecha ..." Even if someone who did not undergo a spiritual mutation operated mecha, they would never be able to go beyond intermediate mecha warrior status. Therefore, when they applied for the variousrge military schools after they turned 16 years old, those schools would never ept these children into their mecha sses.


    "Sometimes, a cruel battle will spur someone to evolve and have a breakthrough ... the grand armed melee is such an opportunity." Ling Lan vaguely revealed the reason why she wanted to have this grand armed melee.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s eyes brightened, and his admiration for Ling Lan deepened. He immediately tapped his chest and said, "Boss Lan, don¡¯t worry. I will inform all our ssmates in the special sses ..."


    Wu Jiong¡¯s poprity was very high within their grade; he had a good rtionship with every team. So, if the students within the grade had any problems, they normally liked to look for Wu Jiong for help. Only if Wu Jiong was not able to help would they carefully approach Ling Lan for assistance.


    It could not be helped. Although Ling Lan never got angry, her cold and austere face, along with the faint chill emanating from her body and her indifferent stare, all made them hesitant to approach her. As the children grew older, the better they became at gauging strength levels. Ling Lan¡¯s capabilities had obviously gone far beyond the range of a scout student, causing the children to feel pressured naturally ¡ª they even felt that facing Ling Lan was scarier than facing their instructors.


    This was also why Ling Lan tasked Wu Jiong to inform the other students ¡ª who asked him to be so popr? Of course, Ling Lan really did not know anyone else¡¯s contact number other than Wu Jiong¡¯s. So, even if she wanted to notify the other students personally, she had no way to do it.


    After settling everything, Ling Lan logged off the virtual world, put on her jet-rollers, and swiftly left her vi.


    Ling Lan had just risen into the air on her jet-rollers when she saw quite a few students of ss-A gliding out from their vis on their jet-rollers as well.


    "Boss Lan!" Everyone stopped, greeting her with clear idolisation. If Qi Long was said to be the number 1 fighter of Year 4738, and Wu Jiong was the central pir, then Ling Lan was their unmoveable mountain 1 , proving just how steady and reliable she was in their eyes.


    "Hn. Has everyone arrived?" Ling Lan halted as well, hovering in the air, and in less than a minute, over 30 odd students had gathered around her.


    "Pretty much. Some have already gone ahead," replied one of the students, "While some are still on their way."


    "Then let¡¯s go!" said Ling Lan calmly. With that, the jets on both sides of her jet-rollers shot out a stream of air, activating instantly, driving her towards the canteen of the academy¡¯s upper division.


    "Move out!" The students behind her shouted, and the 30 odd students collectively followed Ling Lan on their jet-rollers.


    At this moment, inside the academy upper division¡¯s canteen, a gang of red-d youths of 15 to 16 years old ¡ª whether standing or sitting, or leaning and supporting ¡ª were casually but surely cordoning off an area with their bodies. On one side inside this circle of people, someone was seated unabashedly on a chair. Opposite him stood a slightly younger red-d youth, while several boys and girls of the same age stood behind him, dressed in either red or white.


    "What, Qi Long, you want to take responsibility for this matter?" said one of the 10th grade ss-A students standing at the side, sneering.


    Qi Long grinned good-naturedly and said, "Senior, no matter how the incident started, you¡¯ve already managed to hit and scold ¡ª isn¡¯t it time to stop?" Qi Long was not really afraid, but if the situation continued to degenerate and they actually began fighting, the few ss-B female students here would certainly be harmed. He had initially stepped in just so he could prevent them from getting hurt.


    "Qi Long, how dare you! Actually speaking to a senior in that tone?!" That person was infuriated by Qi Long¡¯s barbed words, immediately leaping out to berate him loudly.


    "Senior, you think too much!" A slight trace of a mocking smile appeared on Qi Long¡¯s lips. By now, of course he could tell that the other side had intended to make a big deal out of this matter from the very start. They were nning to give these 7th graders who had just entered the upper division 2 a show of force to put them in their ce!


    "Qi Long! You ..." This attitude of Qi Long thoroughly enraged the 10th grader. Was this really how a student who had just entered the upper division should act? Thinking back on when they themselves had first moved up and had been hazed by their seniors, their attitude had been extremely respectful and humble. Why was it that now that it was their turn to haze their juniors, they just had to meet this kind of disrespectful and insolent prick?


    "Qi Long, don¡¯t be too arrogant now! Although you are the number one of the 7th grade, in our eyes, you¡¯re nothing ..." spat out the leader, expression dark and foreboding, "If we want to y around with you, it would just be like toying with a pitiful worm ... know your ce! Kneel down to me and apologise!"


    "Kneel!"


    "Kneel!"


    "Kneel!"


    Cry after cry demanding Qi Long kneel echoed within the academy canteen. The 10th grade students were now united against amon enemy, putting all their pressure on Qi Long, who they saw as the head of the 7th graders.


    All of the 8th and 9th grade students stayed in their corners, not daring to make a sound. This was a scene that would ur every year, where the 10th graders of the upper grades would exert pressure to put the newly advanced 7th graders in their ce. This was just the beginning ¡ª once the other 7th graders appeared, they would also be given the same treatment ... When they had been in the 7th grade, they too had endured the same ¡ª that feeling was really absolutely horrible. But this was just how things worked in the upper division ... whoever had therger fist would be the one with authority!


    Here, no instructors would interfere in this type of bullying or scuffles. It should be said that once students entered the upper division, they were already considered as students who could graduate. The academy had taught them all it could, and everything beyond this was for the students themselves to figure out on their own. Therefore, this area had be a microcosm of the adult world, a world where might was supreme and logic was irrelevant. This was also why this incident of the 10th graders hazing the 7th graders would ur every year. It had be a sort of dark legacy. The humiliation they had endured at the beginning would be taken out of the hides of their juniors now.


    So, even if the 7th grade students here now were once the elite of the intermediate division, within the upper division, they should first learn how to walk with their tails between their legs!


    "Hehehehe ... kneel? My boss told me that men can only die standing, and cannot live kneeling!" The smile on Qi Long¡¯s face had vanishedpletely. He couldpromise, but he would not lose his dignity and his pride.


    "In that case, then I really would like to see how tough your bones really are, Qi Long!" The moment the leader of the 10th graders said this, 7 or 8 people stepped out from the crowd, rubbing their palms and clenching their fists in preparation to mob Qi Long.


    Seeing this, Qi Long immediately got into a defensive stance. He harrumphed coldly and said, "I too would like to know how capable you seniors really are to get me, Qi Long, to submit ..."


    "That¡¯s right! I, Luo Lang, would also like to see!" Luo Lang knew there was no longer any way to dy, so he also stepped forward to stand beside Qi Long. His fists were raised, ready to put up a good fight against these people.


    Han Xuya clenched her fists fiercely and shouted, "And me too! Dammit, I¡¯m not afraid of these bastards!" Men who bullied women and those weaker than themselves were the worst, and these 10th grade seniors hadmitted both those sins ¡ª her hate against them was at the max.


    Facing this situation of being surrounded on all sides, Luo Chao¡¯splexion was pale with shock and fear, but she still stood her ground resolutely, supporting the injured female student without retreating a single step. She would never forget what Boss Lan had said to her ¡ª you can be afraid or panicked, but you cannot retreat and run away!


    "What an insolent fellow. Just a 7th grade top rank and he thinks the whole academy is his to rule?" The 10th grade students began to jeer ¡ª the more they saw this kind of backbone, the more they wanted to destroy it. They themselves had not managed to stand up for themselves back when they were hazed, what gave these 7th graders the right to do so?


    "Teach him a lesson!"


    "Teach him!"


    "Teach him!"


    The 10th grade students were insistent on putting the 7th graders in their ce; the entire canteen was filled with raucous cries urging for a beatdown.


    "Since you 10th grade seniors want so much to teach us 7th graders a lesson, then we 7th grade students shall collectively ept your challenge!" An icy voice rang out from the doors to the canteen.


    Qi Long turned his head in surprise and joy and saw that familiar figure in the lead. He shouted, "Boss, you¡¯re here!"


    Arge group of students in red uniforms marched into the canteen, and at the fore was Ling Lan!


    Seeing so many 7th graders appear all of a sudden, the expression of the leader of the 10th graders shifted minutely. "Could it be that you 7th graders want to revolt?"


    "Revolt? In my opinion, fighting you all doesn¡¯t deserve the use of this term!" Ling Lan¡¯s words caused the 10th grade students to break into an uproar. Hells, this gang of 7th graders just kepting out with more and more insolent punks! Looks like it wouldn¡¯t do not to teach them a good lesson!


    "Since you all want to fight so much, then as you wish, we 7th graders challenge you 10th graders to a grand armed melee!"


    "Grand armed melee?" The 10th grade students were somewhat confused. And then, as if suddenly recalling something, the leader yelled out, "You¡¯re insane!"


    He looked at the number of students beside Ling Lan and instantly let out a sigh of relief. "No, you all can¡¯t possibly seed in requesting a grand armed melee. With just this number of people, it¡¯s impossible ..."


    To be approved, a grand armed melee required 95% approval out of the total 100 students 3 of the Special ss-A and Special ss-B in the grade.


    "No, you heard right, we¡¯re officially challenging you 10th graders to a grand armed melee!" Another voice rang out from behind Ling Lan. It turned out that Wu Jiong had also rushed over with a group of students at his back, most of them ss-B students in white uniforms.


    Wu Jiong waste because he had been busy contacting the ss-B people. As a grand armed melee required 95% approval from thebined students of Special ss-A and Special ss-B to pass, Wu Jiong had discussed the issue with the ss-B teams in advance and had finally reached a consensus.


    "You¡¯re all insane, insane!" The 10th grade students all had fear on their faces. They had only wanted to scare the 7th graders and put them in their ce ¡ª they definitely did not want to unleash that horrifying grand armed melee ... that was just asking for someone to die!

 Chapter 162: Fighting For Honour!

    Chapter 162: Fighting For Honour!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In the most recent hundred years, there had not been a single grand armed melee. This was because the event was much too bloody and cruel, involving all the students of two grades in arge-scale group melee! During that time, no one would be able to control themselves ¡ª terror, rage, submission, humiliation ... there were all sorts of elements that could cause someone to lose control. A massive number of casualties had been recorded for a grand armed melee in the past ¡ª this was another important reason why the grand armed melee had faded away into obscurity for up to a hundred years.


    Of course, the moment the words ¡¯grand armed melee¡¯ were said, not only were the 10th graders taken aback, even the 7th graders present, like those ss-A students who hade with Ling Lan, were all gobsmacked as well. They had only been notified that a 7th grade ss-B female student had been bullied by a 10th grade senior, and had only rushed here to lend a hand and show support. They had never expected their leaders Ling Lan and Wu Jiong to immediately escte the issue to such an extent.


    However, their blood could not help but boil with excitement ¡ª if the ¡¯grand armed melee¡¯ of 100 years back which made all students turn pale at its mere mention were to reappear at their hands ... that would be so goddamn amazing!


    "Big Brother Xu, they don¡¯t have enough people, only 89 ..." One of the 10th grade students quietly reminded their leader to not panic. This was very likely a scare tactic by the 7th graders; they should not trip themselves up because of this.


    At this reminder, this Big Brother Xu took a closer look and found that it was as that student said and calmed down. Indeed, who would be so stupid as to y the fool with their own lives ¡ª a grand armed melee? Even if they really wanted to try it, they wouldn¡¯t dare to fight one against the 10th graders, right? Wasn¡¯t this just suicidal? These little brats were definitely just trying to scare them, wanting to get them to surrender without putting up a fight. They must not fall for this threat and undermine their own authority! Thus, the leaderughed long and loud, "Hahaha ... that¡¯s hrious! Actually daring to suggest a grand armed melee against us. Alright, I¡¯ll y with you all. Let¡¯s see if you all can really gather the full 95 people needed to sessfully initiate a grand armed melee!"


    Originally, there was some disturbance among the 10th graders at the mention of a grand armed melee, but after some internal discussion, the 10th graders had quickly settled down. Now, hearing their leader speak out, they all began chiming in as well, "Yeah, we¡¯re waiting ..."


    "Such a fun event, how can you leave me, Li Yingjie, out!" A flippant and prideful voice rang out from the doorway. Ling Lan and Wu Jiong couldn¡¯t help but sweatdrop ¡ª this punk Li Yingjie just loved to show off, extremely egotistical.


    However, the arrival of Li Yingjie¡¯s team showed that the three strongest teams of Year 4738 were working hand in hand. Meanwhile, at this very moment, the number of 7th graders present had reached exactly 95 people. If everyone here chose to agree, they would have the minimum quorum required to initiate a grand armed melee.


    "ssmates, since entering the upper division, you all must have felt the suppression from the upper grades. Be it by a little or a lot, quite a number of people have suffered. Boss Ling Lan has said before that people should possess backbones ¡ª we should rather die standing than live being forced to kneel. Because this is our dignity, our pride ¡ª once lost, then we will be unqualified to be soldiers ... and what are we scouts? The cradle to cultivate qualified soldiers. What do you say? In this situation, can we submit?" proimed Wu Jiong loudly.


    "No!"


    "No!"


    "No!" The rage of the 7th grade students was stirred up by Wu Jiong¡¯s words; they all shouted their defiance loudly with clenched fists.


    "Shall we take up weapons to defend our own honour? To let everyone know that, although we are new members of the upper division, we will not allow ourselves to be scorned!" Wu Jiong continued to fan the mes.


    "Grand armed melee!" Heaven knows who hollered it out, and then all the other 7th graders took up the chant, "Grand armed melee! Grand armed melee! Grand armed melee!"


    Only by initiating a grand armed melee would the 7th graders prove their right to stand on equal footing with the 10th graders, through a fair fight.


    "Then let us initiate a grand armed melee!" Wu Jiong raised his right hand, revealing hismunicator, and put up the grand armed melee against the 10th graders for a vote.


    Simultaneously, all the 7th grade special ss students received the options of ¡¯agree/disagree¡¯ to initiate the grand armed melee. Everyone present resolutely clicked on ¡¯agree¡¯. Even those 7th grade special ss students who had not yet made it to the scene also received this selection notification from theirmunicators at the same time.


    ********


    A white-d youth lying down on the grass in front of one of the dormitory vis suddenly felt his wrist vibrate. Bored, he listlessly opened the notification and when he saw the contents, he instantly leapt up. "Grand armed melee? Haha, how interesting! Who¡¯d have expected the ss-A people to have such guts? I need to go watch the fun!" The initiator had to be one of the top 5 of ss-A ¡ª although he did not know who it was, he still decisively clicked on the button to agree. Then, with a stamp of his feet, he disappeared from the patch of grass!


    "Grand armed melee against the 10th grade ¡ª 7th grade special ss approval at 97 people. This number exceeds the minimum requirement. The grade grand armed melee is officially established!"


    Spread out at all corners of the academy, all the 7th grade students, whether they were from the special sses, the merit sses, or the regr sses, received this news on theirmunicators at the same time. This caused the 7th graders to jump in shock 1 ...


    And then, all the rms in the academy started to re, going on for a whole 3 minutes! Everyone was flushed out from all corners of the academy by these warning rms. They began asking the people beside them what was going on, but unfortunately, other than the 7th graders and a small number of the upper grade students, most of the students were clueless, so there was no clear answer to be found.


    Right then, a female voice with a faint mechanical tone rang out above the academy:


    "Warning, one hourter, a grand armed melee between the 7th grade and the 10th grade will officially begin. Duration is set for 24 hours. All students not involved with the grand armed melee please note, please enter the dormitory area quickly within this 1 hour. For 7th grade and 10th grade students who refuse to participate in the grand armed melee, please enter the dormitory area as well! One hourter, the dormitory area will go into full lockdown, bing the only safe area during the grand armed melee. No one shall fight within the safe area; vitors will receive heavy punishment!"


    The academy¡¯s warning announcement was repeated three times. All the students of the academy were instantly in an uproar ¡ª some lower grade students did not even know what a grand armed melee was, and were quickly looking it up along with all other relevant information on theirmunicators. When they found out how cruel a grand armed melee was, some children¡¯s faces had turned deathly pale.


    Very quickly, a recording was yed on the academy loudspeakers. It was the speech that Wu Jiong had given to the special ss students in the canteen:


    "ssmates, since entering the upper division, you all must have felt the suppression from the upper grades. Be it by a little or a lot, quite a number of people have suffered. Boss Ling Lan has said before that people should possess backbones ¡ª we should rather die standing than live being forced to kneel.


    "Shall we take up weapons to defend our own honour? To let everyone know that, although we are new members of the upper division, we will not allow ourselves to be scorned!"


    ...


    "Grand armed melee! Grand armed melee! Grand armed melee!"


    In the end, the students were collectively bellowing for a grand armed melee. This infected all the students of the academy, especially those 7th grade students of the merit sses and the regr sses. During this period of time, they had all suffered the suppression of the upper grades. All the humiliation they had been forced to endure all this time, abruptly exploded in this moment.


    Grand armed melee! This was a chance for revenge gifted to them by the special ss students! They silently clenched their fists tightly. Even if they died, they would pull those seniors who had bullied them down into hell along with them!


    "The assembly point for the 7th grade ¡ª Sunmoon Square in the district-N! The assembly point for the 10th grade ¡ª Freedom za in district-E!" Finally, the academy mainframe gave the two grades their respective assembly points, and everyone began to move. In contrast with the 7th grade¡¯s repressed and focused fighting spirit, the 10th grade students were obviously somewhat panicked and unbridled ...


    "Bastards! That bunch of 7th graders are most definitely lunatics!" A majority of the 10th grade students had the same opinion. Otherwise, how would they be so berserk as to initiate a grand armed melee?


    On the other hand, the 8th grade and 9th grade students were all puzzled, astounded at the sheer guts of the newly advanced 7th graders. They would rather start a savage grand armed melee rather than submit andpromise, and subject themselves to the bullying of the upper grades ... could it be that the upper division would be turned on its head?


    Some of them were even vaguely regretful ¡ª if only they had suggested a grand armed melee like the 7th grade now when they had been hazed by the 10th graders back then ... would they have be different? Maybe even stronger?


    ********


    In the dining room of the instructors, the instructors had initially been quietly eating their meals. Today, our esteemed dean was also eating in the dining room.


    Just as he was enjoying his meal, the academy rms suddenly sounded throughout the academy. In his fright, the dean actually spewed out the food he had in his mouth right then. He abruptly stood up and yelled, "What¡¯s going on?!"


    Could the mainframe have shorted? Or was someone actually stupid enough to attack the scout academy?


    The dean¡¯s wristmunicator began vibrating forcefully. The moment he connected, the captain of the ace mecha team guarding the school appeared on the screen. "Dean, what happened?"


    "I was just about to ask you. Could it be that outsiders have invaded the academy¡¯s airspace again?" The dean recalled the incident with Ling Lan seven years ago. That Ling family had been so brazen as to fly a mecha straight into the academy¡¯s airspace, giving them quite a scare.


    "No, we used radar to scan the surroundings. Everything¡¯s normal. No unidentified objects have approached the academy. Could it be that there¡¯s an internal problem?" The mecha captain reported their findings to the dean.


    "Understood. Be prepared to act on your end, I¡¯ll check with the school mainframe ..." The dean had yet to finish speaking when the voice of the mainframe rang out in the dining room:


    "Warning, one hourter, a grand armed melee between the 7th grade and the 10th grade will officially begin. Duration is set for 24 hours ..."


    "Grand armed melee? F*ck, why did this hundred year old relic appear again?" All the teachers looked at one another. Even they had not experienced a grand armed melee before, having only heard its name, so they did not really know how bloody or scary a grand armed melee could be.


    "Heavens, which bastard initiated this?" The dean¡¯splexion changed drastically as he leapt up in shock. He had actually seen those top secret files before. Every time there was a grand armed melee, the children would indeed develop rapidly, however, the casualty rate was just too shocking. Therefore, the dean of every generation would take precautions against a grand armed melee happening. They would rather the children develop steadily instead of using this kind of cruel method to force their growth. This was yet another reason why the grand armed melee had disappeared for over a hundred years.


    The dean connected to the mainframe and pulled up the video of the location where the grand armed melee had been initiated.


    Therge screen right at the front of the dining room suddenly lighted up, and then the scene of a confrontation was yed. Two sides were facing each other ¡ª Ling Lan, Qi Long, Wu Jiong, etcetera were all disyed clearly, not a single person was excluded ...


    "Godd*mn! Basically all the 7th grade special ss members are there!" Seeing the 7th grade special ss so united, all the instructors had approval in their gazes. This made them think of theirrades who had fought by their side through battles of life and death ...


    Good good good! As expected of his offspring! The dean stared at Ling Lan¡¯s figure and could not help but suck in a sharp breath. The dean was truly an old fox ¡ª just by looking at the standing positions of the 7th grade students, he could tell who the orchestrator of this grand armed melee was.

 Chapter 163: The Grand Armed Melee Begins!

    Chapter 163: The Grand Armed Melee Begins!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Although the dean was fearful and angry, he could not help but be heartened by how influential his old friend¡¯s descendant was. Still, he quickly collected his thoughts and emotions, and bellowed at the gobsmacked teachers frozen in their seats in the dining hall, "Are you all still eating?! Get a move on!"


    "Ah ..." The teachers were stunned silly once more by the dean¡¯s ferocity. Who knew that the normally gentle and mild-mannered dean would have such a violent side to him?


    "The rules relevant to the grand armed melee will be transmitted to yourmunicators by the mainframe in a moment," said the dean frantically, "Everyone be on guard at your positions and monitor every inch of the academy grounds. Keep a lookout for the rescue signals sent by the mainframe ¡ª at critical moments, put your backs into saving people!" When the mes werepping at one¡¯s brows 1 , even the most mild-mannered person would be sent off the edge. If a massive number of casualties really urred, even he would not be able to hold the fort.


    "Yes, Dean!" The teachers finally woke up. The moment the grand armed melee began, their responsibilities would not be easy. They would have to keep the situation under control, and at critical moments, they would have to morph into omnipotent superhumans to rescue students.


    "Dammit, what a real bunch of troublesome and reckless fellows ..." The teachers mayin, but not a single one of them was really displeased by this turn of events. The 7th grade teachers, in particr, could barely hide their glee, drawing the admiration of the teachers of the other grades. How had they managed to inspire such guts in their students?


    On the other hand, the teachers of the 10th grade were somewhat solemn. They had initially thought that their students were decent enough, butpared to the current 7th grade, they could feel howcking the students they had taught were.


    The teachers swiftly left the dining hall. In the now empty dining hall, like taking off a mask, the dean¡¯s expression changedpletely. His initially angry and impatient expression disappeared, and his lips actually curved upwards in a suspicious arc, showing just how good his mood was.


    "Perhaps, these children will be the Federation¡¯s future ..." The circumspect and farsighted dean knew very well what the current children werecking.


    "A grand armed melee ... what opportune timing! Ling Xiao, if your son wasn¡¯t just fooling around and nned this on purpose, then he is truly impressive ..." If the boy had truly noticed this point and intentionallyunched a grand armed melee to give the children an opportunity to awaken, then that meant that Ling Lan was not just a simple warrior, but a strategist as well. If he continued to develop his skills, it would not be impossible for him to be a legendary marshal.


    Blood andbat were the true fertile soil to cultivate real strength! With the passing of the years, old men like them gradually eased up on the younger generation out ofpassion. They would rather choose those safer teaching methods than let the children face danger. But in truth, in the past hundred years, the number of people who had managed to advance to higher-ss operator was obviously pitifully smallpared to that of the previous century. Even taking the unparalleled prodigy Ling Xiao into consideration was not enough to blot out this fact. Although the educational methods of 100 years ago were bloody and cruel, exceptional top-notch operators were produced generation after generation in an endless stream ... The status the Federation enjoyed now was fought for and earned by the batches after batches of top-notch operators produced then.


    The dean naturally knew the w in their education system now, but he stillcked the conviction to force the start of a grand armed melee ... Unexpectedly, that bunch of 7th grade special ss students had helped him to make the decision this year.


    ********


    At Sunmoon Square of District-N, Ling Lan and the others had already rushed over to the scene. At this moment, the academy¡¯s transportation robots had already brought over bundles after bundles of rubber bats and had piled them up inside Sunmoon Square. The same thing had happened over at Freedom za where the 10th graders were.


    Everyone who was involved in the grand armed melee, whether on the side of the challenger or the challenged, had all received the rules relevant to the grand armed melee. In this grand armed melee, they would only have one weapon ¡ª these rubber bats. If any other weapon was discovered to be used, the user would be immediately expelled, and their side would be deducted 1000 melee points. Of course, you could bring along as many rubber bats as you wanted, as long as you could carry them.


    The 7th grade students needed no instruction. They quickly took up their weapons ¡ª some took just one, while others took two. This all depended on whether you were more proficient with single-handed wielding or dual-handed wielding.


    Ling Lan symbolically took up one of the sticks as well. Frankly, with Ling Lan¡¯s capabilities, having a stick or not would not make much of a difference. However, since everyone had taken at least one, she needed to blend in a bit so that she would not stand out too much.


    Just when Ling Lan thought that she would only need to sit still patiently and wait for the grand armed melee to start, Qi Long and Wu Jiong unexpectedly coborated to sell her out. Without letting her know, they directly appointed her as the grand leader of this grand armed melee, and gave her the responsibility of making the overall arrangements and deciding the initial mobilization of their forces. ording to Wu Jiong, since the grand armed melee was initiated by Ling Lan, then he should take full responsibility for it.


    Ling Lan did not push away this responsibility. From the start, she had nned to use this to settle everything once and for all, getting rid of the troublesome problems from the upper grades with one stroke. She stood up on the open stage of Sunmoon Square, and using the loudspeaker there, she said, "Everyone is saying that we 7th graders have gone mad, actually starting a grand armed melee ... but have we truly gone mad?


    "No!" The steel in Ling Lan¡¯s voice pulled in the attention of all the 7th grade students.


    "After we¡¯ve entered the upper division, everyone has suffered some hazing, whether big or small, from the seniors of the upper grades. Some even cross the line into outright humiliation. For the sake of graduating peacefully, there¡¯s nothing wrong with choosing to tolerate this. It¡¯s also a valid and appropriate method, I agree!" These words of Ling Lan¡¯s caused the students to break out into a furore ¡ª if tolerating is right, then why had he chosen to start this grand armed melee?


    "But will tolerating solve the problem? It cannot!" Ling Lan¡¯s voice turned cold and forbidding, even containing a trace of concealed killing intent. "The seniors of the upper grades will not stop just because you tolerate them. In fact, they will just be worse and escte their bullying time after time ... I believe everyone here has felt this. In that case, why should we continue to tolerate? Is it just to hold on through these few years, just to be as hateful as those upper grade seniors, and then bully the new juniors of that time just tofort ourselves?


    "Is that the path we want to walk?" Ling Lan¡¯s gaze was extremely cold, chilling all the 7th grade students; they actually did not dare to let their eyes meet hers directly.


    "Yes or no?!" Ling Lan roared, the sound ringing out loudly by everyone¡¯s ears.


    "No!" Qi Long was the first to shout in reply. His cry was soon followed by Wu Jiong¡¯s and several others¡¯, and then more and more, until everyone¡¯s voices were merged into a formidable wave of sound, "NO!"


    This was the true voice of the hearts of the 7th grade right then. They had not yet been bullied so much that they had lost their pure souls ¡ª without a soul twisted by constant humiliation, they were brimming with guts and fighting spirit. Thus, they refused to let themselves be hateful and grotesque.


    "A dark history should be ended, a dark legacy should not exist within the cradle which cultivates qualified soldiers. And we, the 7th grade, shall be the ones to end this dark legacy ... we are the champions of what is right!"


    "Champions! Champions! Champions!" Everyone¡¯s blood was boiling after listening to Ling Lan¡¯s speech. That final remaining tendril of fear within their hearts disappearedpletely ¡ª all that was on their minds now wasbat!


    Ling Lan waved both hands in a downward sweep to get the students below to quiet down again, and then continued to say unhurriedly, "Of course, I also do not wish for there to be any reckless heroes among us. Intelligence and courage should go hand in hand. Therefore, I rmend that all the merit sses and regr sses move around in teams as abat unit!


    "I do not rmend acting alone. Although the grand armed melee is a messy fight, it is extremely suitable for team members to cooperate with one another. I do not wish for any in our 7th grade to fall. Do not forget ¡ª by your side, you have your brothers, your sisters, your friends, yourrades ... you are not fighting alone!"


    These words received the heartfelt approval of all the 7th graders. Everyone looked at the good friends and teammates around them, and determined that they would fight by theirpanions¡¯ sides till the very end!


    "Besides that, do not forget to read closely through all the rules of the grand armed melee. When you all meet a Special ss-A student, remember to press the button to surrender or the button to ask for help ... admitting defeat is not shameful. Only by living will there be hope for the future!" Ling Lan emphasized her final words with a push of her spiritual power, hoping that at a critical moment, the students would not be so worked up that they would attempt to perish along with their opponents. However, just this strong push was enough to drain Ling Lan¡¯s tremendous spiritual power, and her head started to throb in pain.


    After saying her piece, Ling Lan stepped off the stage, giving her ce to Wu Jiong and Qi Long. She signalled for Lin Zhong-qing to cover her, and then moved to sit in a corner, closing her eyes to rest and regain her strength.


    "Boss, how can you be so reckless?" In the mindspace, Little Four was very dissatisfied with what Ling Lan had done.


    "Understood. I won¡¯t do it again. Let me rest first; help me monitor the surroundings." Ling Lan did not argue with him, but she also did not regret her decision. Initiating the grand armed melee was to give all the 7th graders a chance to be stronger, not to let them stagnate where they were.


    After giving her instructions to Little Four, Ling Lan focused on cultivating her spiritual power. Compared to Luo Lang or Lin Zhong-qing, she trusted Little Four¡¯s monitoring even more. Anywhere the academy mainframe could monitor, Little Four would be able to monitor as well, without letting the mainframe find out to boot.


    Time passed quickly; very soon, the hour was almost over. Under Wu Jiong, Qi Long, and some others¡¯ arrangement, the 7th graders had swiftly departed Sunmoon Square to spread themselves throughout the entire academy, finding spots to conceal themselves.


    The grand armed melee was a battle where the two sides hunted each other. Aside from the dormitory area, the entire academy was their hunting grounds. Even if thebined total of the two grades was about 20,000 people, once the students were scattered throughout the Central Scout Academy, they would be like water droplets falling into an ocean, leaving nosting ripples behind.


    In the end, Wu Jiong¡¯s team and the organizing teams also left, leaving Ling Lan¡¯s team as the only team in Sunmoon Square. At this moment, the mainframe¡¯s voice once again rang out with an announcement that reverberated throughout the whole academy:


    "7th grade vs 10th grade, grand armed melee willmence after this countdown. Duration is 24 hours. Winning criteria: The grade with 40% of their poption remaining and an umted melee score of 60%! Numbers at present ¡ª 9212 vs 9374! umted melee score at 0 vs 0. The countdown begins now. 10, 9, 8 ... 3, 2, 1 ¡ª the grand armed melee officially begins!"


    As the mainframe officially announced the start of the grand armed melee, a dome of light immediately surrounded the dormitory area. Seeing this, several 10th grade students waiting by the dormitory area were extremely shocked and surprised. They tentatively tried to enter the dormitory area, but were repelled by a powerful force.

 Chapter 164: The Strongest Student in the Academy!

    Chapter 164: The Strongest Student in the Academy!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "F*ck, we can¡¯t go in! The entire dormitory district has actually been fully covered by an energy shield." Apparently, these five or six 10th graders had wanted to watch the fun, nning to run away into the dormitory district if the situation turned bad. Unexpectedly, the mainframe did not leave any room for these students to exploit, directly sealing away the dormitory area behind a light shield. Now, the people inside could note out, but the people outside simrly could not go in.


    "Then what should we do?" asked one of the students, terrified.


    "What can we do? Just find a ce to hide and wait till everything blows over toe out ... Hehe, the 7th grade has 100 people or so less than us; we 10th graders are sure to win this grand armed melee. It¡¯s absolutely the right choice for us to join in this grand armed melee." This speaker was rather smug; he seemed to be the head of this group.


    "Leader, why do you say so?"


    "I¡¯ve done some digging. Every time, the winning side of the grand armed melee will receive countless resources from the academy. But those who do not participate will not enjoy these benefits ... otherwise, why would I bring you all out here and take the risk?"


    "What if we happen to encounter any 7th grade Special ss-A students?" This group was entirely made up of regr ss people. Even though they were three years older than the 7th graders, they still could not go up against those prodigies in ss-A.


    "Are you an idiot? That¡¯s why we need to hide well! If we¡¯re really that unlucky, we just need to surrender. Once we surrender, the opponent can¡¯t do anything to us anymore. If they try anything, we just need to press the help button to get assistance and a teacher wille rescue us. At that time, the one who took action against us would also lose the right to continue on in the grand armed melee ..." It looked like this team leader had indeed taken some effort to understand the rules of the grand armed melee just so he could take advantage of the confusion.


    "Looks like someone ising. Hide quickly!" The team leader heard the sound of people approaching, and hurriedly led his team members to hide inside a patch of trees by the side.


    Right then, in several locations, the 7th graders and the 10th graders were already shing ...


    After Ling Lan heard the mainframe¡¯s announcement, she nodded to Qi Long and the others. Then, Qi Long with Han Jijyun, and Luo Lang with Lin Zhong-qing, two in a group, swiftly departed from Sunmoon Square. The initially noisy Sunmoon Square was instantly deathly silent ¡ª only Ling Lan was left standing alone on the stage, looking off into the distance.


    "Little Four, where is the top rank of the 10th grade ss-A?" Ling Lan decided to first test the waters, wanting to see how strong the best of the 10th grade was.


    Little Four immediately disyed the location of the 10th grade top rank with a red dot on a 2D map of the Central Scout Academy. With a flying leap, Ling Lan left Sunmoon Square without a sound.


    ********


    "Leader, are we not going to hide?" Somewhere in the academy, six people were standing in a tantly noticeable location. Their bright red clothes clearly disyed their ss. One of the members was ncing around nervously as he questioned a grim-faced youth.


    "It¡¯s just that bunch of 7th graders. Are they worth hiding for?" The grim-faced youth did not reply, instead, another member standing beside him spoke up with a dismissive quirk of his brow, seemingly not at all worried about this so-called grand armed melee.


    "Rumour has it that their top rank Qi Long is very formidable ..." cautioned that nervous-looking team member.


    For some reason, he just could not shake the feeling that danger wasing. Although he had no idea what this feeling was, many times, this kind of feeling had let him ovee one threat after another. And this time, this sense of danger was even stronger than anything he had ever felt before ¡ª he just had no way of exining it, because no one on his team would believe him even if he spoke up.


    "Last year, he challenged the 8th grade, which is to say the current 9th grade top rank, Lu Jing, and failed. And Lu Jing can¡¯tst more than 30 moves against our team leader. These 7th graders are definitely no match for our team leader," argued yet another team member.


    "Yeah, the team leader is the onlybat genius that has entered the Qi-Jin stage in the scout academy right now, you know! He¡¯s the strongest student in the academy!" said another team member, face filled with idolisation, "If the team leader had publicized this information, those 7th grade brats would never have dared to suggest something like this grand armed melee."


    At this moment, the grim-faced youth spoke, "Alright, if you all have the strength to bicker you might as well go and clean up some of those 7th graders. I never again want to see something like that incident three years ago ..."


    A wave of rage emerged on the youth¡¯s face. He was the pride of his grade, but three years ago, his team had lost to a barrier-breaking team from some third-rate¡¯s scout academy. And then, this year, the 10th graders led by him had actually been challenged to a grand armed melee by the juniors of the 7th grade ... this was clearly a smack to his face! Did they really think this grade of his was so easy to bully?


    "Someone¡¯sing!" One of the team members suddenly voiced a warning.


    Following that, a team of 7th grade students dressed in blue uniforms could be seen peeking out from behind the trees ...


    "Crap, why are we so unlucky? Meeting the 10th grade top rank Zhang Jing-an¡¯s team right off the bat." When the leader of this team saw the face of the rumoured strongest scout at present, his mind became a jumbled mess. He immediately signalled for his team members to quickly retreat and escape.


    "Eh, where did they go?" One of the running team members looked back to check on the 10th grade team, but found that the 6 people standing there previously had all disappeared.


    "Not good, run faster!" The team leader had barely finished speaking when the ground beneath his feet shook violently. His entire body was thrown backwards into the air, before he fell to crash forcefully onto the ground. There was a tightness in his chest, making him feel nauseous.


    The team leader hurriedly leapt up to check on his teammates and found the situation unpromising. The weakest team member was already coughing up blood, obviously having sustained heavy internal damage.


    At this moment, 6 figures appeared in front of them. As expected, it was Zhang Jing-an¡¯s group of six.


    One of them abruptly charged over, the stick in his hand swinging down towards the 7th grade regr ss team leader.


    The team leader reacted quickly ¡ª evading with a twist of his body, his own rubber bat swinging out with the movement. But just as his rubber bat was about to strike the opponent, the other suddenly vanished, and then he felt his abdomen being struck harshly. Once again, he was sent flying backwards through the air, and this time, in the air, a mouthful of blood spewed out!


    With just one hit, he had been injured seriously!


    They were definitely no match for these people! This notion rose swiftly in the team leader¡¯s mind. The pain in his body should have dulled his reflexes, but for some reason, his fingers moved even quicker than his mind, pressing down on the button to surrender immediately. At the same time, the button seeking rescue lighted up.


    He had just crashed onto the ground again when that 10th grade team member rushed in once more to attack with his stick. Suddenly, the 7th grade team leader¡¯smunicator emitted a white light, which instantly repelled the stick! At the same time, the twobatants received a notification from the mainframe: "Attacking a target which has already surrendered ¡ª 100 melee points deduction!"


    "F*ck, what is this?! Actually losing points!" yelled the 10th grade team member angrily when he read the notification.


    Zhang Jing-an stared coldly at the regr ss team leader on the ground and said, "His reaction time was pretty quick, actually managing to press the surrender button in that split second in the air. Liulian, you were too careless."


    "Looks like this fellow¡¯s reflexes are really good!" Another member stared curiously at the 7th grade regr ss team leader, seemingly very interested in studying him.


    "We¡¯ve surrendered!" The 7th grade team leader¡¯s heart was filled with fright. He quickly yelled out to remind the opponents that they could not attack an opponent who had surrendered. The other team members also reacted quickly. During the span of their conversation, they had also pressed the surrender button.


    "Tch, so boring!" They had initially hoped the opponent would resist a little so they could toy with them, but unexpectedly, this team actually did not have a single shred of courage, actually choosing to surrender just after being injured with one hit.


    These 10th graders could not have imagined that the 7th graders were so decisive and quick to choose to surrender because Ling Lan had embedded a subliminal trigger within them with her spiritual power during her speech. When they encountered an opponent who was distinctly stronger than they were, they would not struggle needlessly but choose to surrender immediately to save their lives.


    In fact, the grand armed melee had not been as bloody and cruel as it was made out to be at its inception. Everyone who participated in a grand armed melee in the beginning had known who their opponents were ¡ª the regr sses would seek out the regr sses, the merit sses would seek out the merit sses, the special sses would seek out the special sses ¡ª so everyone would be fighting against someone of almost equivalent strength. In that way, both sides would be able to gain battle experience while raising their individual capabilities at the same time.


    However, as time went on, the grand armed melee began to change in nature. In order to obtain victory, the stronger students would first go after the students from the regr sses. Some who were particrly twisted would not even give those regr ss students a chance to surrender, killing them straightaway. The side who was harmed then decided to repay blood with blood and also began sending out their strongest students to go kill the other side¡¯s regr students. In the end, the situation spiralled out of control, amassingrge number of casualties and injuries on each side. Thus, the academy had no choice but to make it much harder for the students to initiate a grand armed melee.


    Ling Lan naturally knew the tragic history of the grand armed melee. To cut off this potential development, Ling Lan purposefully exerted spiritual pressure to embed a subliminalmand, almost causing her spiritual power to copse on itself. When meeting an opponent of overwhelming strength or obtaining a serious injury, surrender. Even if they were unconscious, their bodies would move because of this subliminalmand and press the surrender button.


    "Let¡¯s leave. After they surrender, a teacher will soon be here to take them away," said another team member. Continuing to linger here would just be a waste of time.


    "Fine. I think I sense another team of mice approaching. Who knows what level they are this time ... I hope we can have some fun." One of the team members could sense the approach of another team, and his gaze shone with a faint red light.


    "Go!" Zhang Jing-an said only that before disappearing. The others soon followed him.


    Seeing no one else around them, the 7th grade regr ss team instantly rxed.


    "So this is the top ranking team of the 10th grade ss-A. Our strength is really too far apart from theirs; we couldn¡¯t even take one attack ..." The team leader was extremely depressed, "Who knows if Qi Long can stand up against them ..."


    "Qi Long already lost to Lu Jing of the 9th grade, and Lu Jing can¡¯t defeat Zhang Jing-an. I don¡¯t anticipate the oue of this grand armed melee!" One of the team members was pessimistic.


    "What are you all saying? Have you all forgotten that Qi Long still has a boss on top of him? The real king of our 7th grade is Ling Lan!" Another team member was indignant, "One move? Leader, don¡¯t tell me you can withstand one move from Boss Ling Lan?"


    Despite being needled by his team members, the team leader was not at all angry. Instead, his spirits rallied. "Oh yeah! how could I forget that we still have Boss Ling Lan? Anyone against him has been finished off in one blow ¡ª he¡¯s definitely no weaker than Zhang Jing-an."


    "However, we¡¯ve really lost face this time, being kicked out of the fight so soon after it started. We need to train well once we get back ..." sighed the team leader.


    His words caused all the team members to fall into a contemtive silence. That¡¯s right, they were probably the first batch to leave the field! That was truly disgraceful! A strong desire to be stronger rose within their hearts. If there were to be another grand armed melee in the future, they definitely did not want to be the first batch of students to leave again!


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    Uh ... ok, so I just received this news not too long ago from up-top. Whether it¡¯s good news or bad news is up to you all personally, I guess.


    This novel will be going premium on April 18, 2018. There should be a mass release on that day. If not, sometime around then at least. So ... save up them spirit stones if you want to read ahead then. (As far as I know, the release rate will stay the same after going premium, so the premium chaps shouldn¡¯t stack up too much.) Before then, I won¡¯t be able to give you all any extra chaps, ¡¯cause everything¡¯s gonna go into feeding that mass release that  wants. (Like, seriously, I will die if I give you all extra chaps now while trying to build that stockpile. *hyperventtes*)


    That said, if you have anyints about premium, please bring it over to the forums rather than the reviews andments sections of this novel. Premium is not within my control, soining to me and dissing the novel just because of premium will only make me feel helpless and sad. :¡¯(


    To end, thank you all very, very much for the support thus far, and I hope you all continue to enjoy and support this novel even after it goes premium, whether as free readers or paying ones. :3


    And now ... let me get back to the grindstone so y¡¯all can have your mass release then. orz

 Chapter 165: Team Zhang Jing-an!

    Chapter 165: Team Zhang Jing-an!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    On a small path within a dense patch of forest, a team of white-d students were running for their lives. The words embroidered on their chests proved that this team was a 7th grade one.


    "They¡¯reing after us ..." One of the team members seemed to sense something. His expression fell, and he quickly told his teammates the bad news.


    The team leader knew that continuing to run was useless. Originally, he was hoping that the other party was just passing by and would overlook their team, but now, from the looks of it, the opponent had clearly set their sights on them. He gritted his teeth andmanded, "You all run ahead!"


    "Leader!" all the team members eximed. It was clear that the team leader was preparing to stay behind alone to hold off their pursuers.


    "Don¡¯t worry, if I really cannot hold them off, I will surrender! But our whole team cannot fall here." The team leader¡¯s thoughts were clear. They were certainly no match for the team pursuing them, so even if the entire team stayed back to fight, the final oue would still be their loss. And the final judgement on who wins and who loses a grand armed melee is greatly dependent on the final number of people remaining. From the start, the number of 7th graders who participated in this grand armed melee was already less than the other side, so they needed to save as many people as they could.


    "Leader, you lead them away!" The team member right at the end suddenly stopped running, standing still right where he was. If they really had to leave someone behind to hold off the enemy, they might as well let him, the weakest member, do it. Even if he left the grand armed melee, it would not make a significant difference to the overall strength of his team.


    "Xiaoming ..." The team members were clearly reluctant ¡ª he was apanion who had grown along with them all this time after all.


    "Go! Do you all want to fold here?!" shouted the student called Xiaoming angrily.


    The team leader saw that Xiaoming had been left far behind during this time; it was now toote even if they wanted to leave another person instead. At this moment, he could not afford any moment of hesitation. Thus, he merely slowed for a brief moment to say, "Let¡¯s go!" before resolutely running ahead.


    The team members could only shove their reluctance away and gritted their teeth to chase after the team leader. Running with all their might, they soon disappeared from Xiaoming¡¯s sight.


    A red-d youth rushing swiftly after the team saw the white-d Xiaoming standing in the middle of the road, and so halted.


    His sudden stop made the other red-d youths behind him stop as well. The number 10 was embroidered neatly on their red uniforms, showing them to be 10th grade students.


    "Hoho, looks like they n to sacrifice one to save the other team members. Leader, what should we do?" The youth who had stopped first asked his team leader standing behind him.


    "Shi Qi, have you noted the details of those few people running away?" The team leader turned to ask the red-d youth beside him tonelessly.


    "No problem, Leader. As long as they stay within 2 kilometres of us, they won¡¯t get away," said Shi Qi proudly. His awakened talent was Lock-On ¡ª as long as he locked onto an opponent¡¯s details within his mind, he would be able to seek out the opponent within a 2 kilometre radius.


    "How long before they escape from your search radius?" the team leader continued to ask.


    "4 minutes!" replied Shi Qi confidently.


    "Yuan Chen, I¡¯ll let you y for a bit with the person below!" said the team leader to the youth who had first stopped, "You only have 3 minutes and 30 seconds!"


    Yuan Chen rubbed his palms together excitedly. "That¡¯s enough!" That said, he glided down from the tree tond squarely in front of the 7th grade white-d youth Xiaoming standing in the middle of the road.


    It was precisely Zhang Jing-an¡¯s team which had chased up to this 7th grade ss-B team.


    When the white-d Xiaoming saw just one red-d youth appear before him, he gripped the bat in his hand nervously. His gaze flitted to the trees on both sides, trying to sense where the other members of the other¡¯s team were.


    "Rx, I¡¯m the only one fighting you!" Even as Yuan Chen¡¯s words reassured him, Xiaoming couldn¡¯t help but worry for his own teammates.


    "How pitiful, actually being sold out by your teammates, being left behind to be a sacrificial offering!" Though Yuan Chen¡¯s lips kept yapping on about how pitiful Xiaoming was, the bat in his hands showed no mercy. He rushed forwards fiercely to attack the other with a savage blow.


    The white-d Xiaoming was very agile. Seeing the other attacking, he instantly leapt backwards, cleanly avoiding the opponent¡¯s strike.


    "Not bad ... looks like you still want to struggle a bit before dying." Yuan Chen licked his lips in excitement. He raised his bat and continued to attack. This time, his attack speed increased considerably; the bat rained down on Xiaoming like the battering of the rains and winds in a thunderstorm. It looked like his first strike had just been a casual attack, not reflective of his real strength. Moreover, he did not stop needling his opponent verbally, "What a shame, you are just too weak. You can¡¯t even take a few of my attacks. You¡¯re destined to just suffer by my hands."


    The white-d Xiaoming ignored Yuan Chen¡¯s mockery. He merely gritted his teeth and did his best to resist, finally managing to defend against all of the opponent¡¯s attacks this round. But even so, Xiaoming could already feel his right hand, which was gripping the stick, going numb and senseless from the repeated battery of the other¡¯s power. He knew that if the other continued to attack this way, he would eventually be ovee ...


    A loud thump! This was the sound of a bat striking flesh!


    "Ah!" cried out Xiaoming in pain. His entire person was thrown backwards into the air by the force of this attack. His numbed right hand had finally been unable to react in time, failing to block a savage blow by the opponent.


    Seeing this, Yuan Chenughed gleefully; this was fully within his estimations. And so, showing no mercy, he once more sped up and got in close to the other, prepared to pummel the other soundly.


    Right then, Shi Qi, who had been quietly watching the fight, suddenly let out a shocked cry.


    Zhang Jing-an¡¯s brow twitched. "What happened? Shi Qi?"


    "Nothing, Leader! It¡¯s just that those few little mice who had been running away are actuallying back!" Shi Qi announced his discovery to the others.


    "Could it be that they are trying to catch us off guard? Or trying tounch a sneak attack? Aren¡¯t they looking down on us too much?" Another team member couldn¡¯t help but snicker.


    "This is even better, saving us the effort of chasing them down." Zhang Jing-an felt that this was a good thing, so he shouted down to Yuan Chen below, "Yuan Chen, take your time and y. Those little mice areing back, so you have plenty of time."


    Zhang Jing-an¡¯s words caused the white-d Xiaoming to panic. Mentally, he was angry and anxious ¡ª angry that his teammates had chosen toe back, and anxious that they would end up beingpletely wiped out here because of this.


    Still, no matter how angry and anxious Xiaoming was, he could not suppress the surge of warmth that rose up within his heart. He knew that his teammates¡¯ choice wasrgely because they did not want to abandon him.


    Hearing Zhang Jing-an¡¯s words, Yuan Chen¡¯s initially rapid attack pace slowed. As he swung the bat in his hands, he resumed mocking the white-d Xiaoming, "Ho, looks like, those few teammates of yours think pretty highly of you, actually choosing to turn back to rescue you ... however, this decision is really too stupid. Your team really sucks. Who¡¯s your team leader? Wishy-washy and indecisive, and also having no self-awareness ... under his lead, you all will definitely never be a strong team and be strong individually. Like now, all you all can be is our stepping stones!"


    "Whether our team sucks or not, I do not know. What I do know is that my team is a little better than your team ¡ª at least we are more humane than you all are," responded Xiaoming coolly. It¡¯s fine if they wanted to mock him, but he would not allow them to scorn his team leader and hispanions.


    "F*ck you!" Xiaoming¡¯s words thoroughly enraged Yuan Chen. Yuan Chen¡¯s attack speed rose once again, his rubber bat striking the other¡¯s body ceaselessly without mercy, once again throwing the other backwards into the air. These consecutive heavy blows dealt extremely heavy internal damage to Xiaoming, who could not help but throw up blood.


    Not too far away, on the branch of arge tree, Ling Lan was closely watching the situation. An ice bead silently appeared in her palm. The other benefits of Ice Affinity were not obvious, but when she was trying tounch a stealth attack, she did not have to waste time and effort to find a hidden weapon ¡ª she just needed to focus and she would have a weapon.


    Ling Lan aimed at a particr direction where a figure wasying ... a nimble flick of her finger, and the ice bead flew ...


    "Ouch!" On one tree, a white-d youth who had been lying down among the branches secretly watching the show suddenly felt a force push him lightly from behind. This push was not strong enough to hurt him, but it made him lose his bnce to fall down from the branches.


    He turned back to look for the source of the push, but saw no one. There seemed to be a glimmer in the air, but when he narrowed his gaze to look closer, it had disappeared, as if it had just been in his imagination.


    "Ah ah ah ... help!" The white-d youth did not find the culprit and so could only turn back around and struggle desperately in the air. But in the end, he still ended up crashing spread-eagled onto the ground.


    This unexpected scene gave Zhang Jing-an andpany a fright. About tounch another attack, Yuan Chen stopped, turning his head to look at this unexpected guest who had disturbed his fight.


    In contrast to the other¡¯s surprise, Zhang Jing-an¡¯s face showed a trace of seriousness. Being able to sneak up on them without being noticed, this white-d youth was obviously not a simple character. He may very well have some unique hidden ability. Zhang Jing-an immediately discarded the possibility that the other was stronger than him; he did not think anyone from ss-B could be that strong.


    The white-d youth pushed himself up from the ground with difficulty, moaning all the way. His exaggerated manner made everyone stare at him curiously.


    Meanwhile, when Xiaoming saw the face of the white-d youth, he couldn¡¯t help but exim, "Xie Yi, why are you here?"


    "So it¡¯s a 7th grade junior! Come to save your fellow ssmate? What admirable fellowship." When Yuan Chen saw the number embroidered on the other¡¯s chest, he tapped his bat lightly against his left arm, and spoke up with a half-smile.


    Xie Yi patted the dust off his clothes and said with an expression of consternation, "You think too highly of me. Facing a team of the top 10th graders, if I have this notion, then I¡¯m definitely a moron. Honestly, I just didn¡¯t hold onto that tree securely enough and fell down by ident. If possible, can you all just pretend you didn¡¯t see me ..."


    "Do you think, that is possible?" asked Yuan Chen darkly.


    Xie Yi¡¯s face fell instantly, and he pouted and started muttering to himself, "I just knew it. Not hugging onto the tree properly would end up like this ... Ahem, I¡¯m really too pitiful. Just trying to get a good show and being pulled in like this ... How about you seniors show some mercy and we just exchange a move for show and call it a day?"


    Speaking up at the end, Xie Yi¡¯s eyes were sparkling brightly, his expression clearly broadcasting the fact that he just wanted to have a good discussion with the 10th grade seniors. Everyone sweatdropped. Could it be that this fellow was truly a moron with acking brain?

 Chapter 166: Who’s the Opponent?

    Chapter 166: Who¡¯s the Opponent?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "That¡¯s fine. You just need to stand there and not move and let me hit you a few times and everything will be over!" Yuan Chen had barely finished speaking when he charged over, ready to teach this flippant punk a good lesson.


    "That won¡¯t do. If I get hit, it¡¯ll hurt ..." squealed Xie Yi in fright, turning to run. Just when Yuan Chen was about to hit him, Xie Yi suddenly looked back and leapt into the air. His initially empty right hand now somehow had a rubber bat in it, and heunched a powerful downward chop towards Yuan Chen¡¯s head.


    Xie Yi¡¯s counterattack came too quickly and too suddenly ¡ª this unexpected move gave Yuan Chen a great scare. He did not dare to continue attacking Xie Yi, jerking to a quick stop to raise his own bat above his head, blocking Xie Yi¡¯s attack head-on. Luckily he had reacted swiftly, otherwise Xie Yi would have seeded in his sneak attack.


    However, even so, Yuan Chen had still taken a hit. Xie Yi had been acting with a n, while Yuan Chen had only been reacting reflexively ¡ª this attack caused him to stumble 3 to 4 steps backwards, a dull pain roiling in his chest. He couldn¡¯t help but open his mouth and blood spewed out immediately ...


    "Despicable!" Yuan Chen pressed a hand to his chest and choked out in rage.


    "This attacking method ... it¡¯s too wretched and despicable!" Rage coloured Zhang Jing-an¡¯s face; their team had never suffered such a disgrace before.


    Xie Yi acted as if he did not understand what was going on. A puzzled expression on his face, he said, "Aiyaiyai, senior, why are you throwing up blood suddenly? Are you trying to tell us that as long as we work hard, we will benefit?" Xie Yi¡¯s face lit up instantly, and he said emotionally, "Boo hoo hoo, Senior, you are really such a great guy! Still not forgetting to teach us even during this critical time, even willing to pay the price of getting injured ..."


    "Shut up! I¡¯m definitely going to kill you!" Yuan Chen¡¯s eyes werepletely bloodshot. He felt that he had been yed by this ant before him ¡ª he felt humiliated, feeling that his dignity had been ruthlessly stomped beneath the other¡¯s feet. He wanted revenge. He needed the blood of the opponent to wash away his humiliation. For the first time, an intense desire to kill swelled within his heart ...


    Not too far away, Ling Lan¡¯s brows furrowed. She could clearly sense the 10th grader¡¯s desire to kill. Unable to ept the strength of someone he viewed as weaker than him, and thus choosing to destroy the other? Could this also be considered an ugly aspect of humanity?


    Ling Lan looked at the still cheerful Xie Yi who seemed oblivious to Yuan Chen¡¯s intent to kill, and a smile bloomed on her lips. "I thought that I had already concealed my capabilities well enough, but unexpectedly, someone is even better at hiding than I am 1 ... as expected, this world isn¡¯t that simple ..."


    "Yuan Chen, don¡¯t break the rules ..." Zhang Jing-an too had sensed Yuan Chen desire to kill, and so spoke up to warn him.


    "Leader, don¡¯t worry, I will settle this matter perfectly." As long as he did not give the other a chance to surrender or ask for help, even if he killed the other ¡¯by ident¡¯, the academy would have no way to punish him. "Leader, you all can leave temporarily." He did not want people nattering on beside him when hemitted murder, even if it were his team leader.


    Zhang Jing-an cast a searching look at Yuan Chen and then said, "Alright ..." That said, with a quick dash, he left the scene. Shi Qi and the others merely nced at Yuan Chen, then left after Zhang Jing-an without saying anything.


    After Zhang Jing-an and the others had left, Xie Yi¡¯s smiling face abruptly became solemn. He said to Xiaoming behind him, "You should leave quickly ..."


    "No way. I can¡¯t leave you alone with him. Let¡¯s fight together." Xiaoming was determined. He felt that no matter what, two people together would stand a better chance of winning than one person.


    "Puh-leeze. You¡¯re already seriously injured. How do you n to fight? Furthermore, if you aren¡¯t here, it¡¯ll be easier for me to escape! Running away is my specialty, don¡¯t hold me back!" Xie Yi couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes. Sometimes, being too steadfast was also a troublesome thing.


    "Really?" Xiaoming wasn¡¯t sure whether he should take Xie Yi at his word.


    "Of course it¡¯s true! Quickly, go, go!" Xie Yi¡¯s expression was annoyed. He waved his hand impatiently at Xiaoming, as if shooing away a fly.


    Xiaoming looked at Xie Yi worriedly, but seeing that Xie Yi seemed to be serious about this, he clenched his teeth and left the scene.


    Knowing that Xiaoming had left the scene, Xie Yi¡¯s initially tense expression instantly rxed. "Aiks, the troublesome people have all left. Now, let us y ..." With no one watching, Xie Yi was nning to bring out his secret techniques. Otherwise, what was the point in keeping them hidden for so many years ...? Besides, he also did not want to let off someone who wanted to kill him ¡ª he was not a saint.


    Yuan Chen said sinisterly, "Yes, it is indeed time for us to y ..." That said, he pounced!


    ********


    Somewhere else, Zhang Jing-an had led his 5 team members to run about five to six hundred metres away. Then, Shi Qi reminded, "Those people are just ahead. We¡¯ll see them soon." He was talking about that team of 7th grade ss-B students they had been chasing from the start.


    "Zhu Qi, Qing Ming, I¡¯ll leave those people for you guys to handle!" For opponents like this, Zhang Jing-an had no need to act himself.


    "Shi Qi, you keep watch over the situation!" Zhang Jing-an sent Shi Qi over as well not because he was worried that Zhu Qi and Qing Ming would fail, but rather because he was afraid one or two people would manage to separate and run off from the team again. Zhang Jing-an liked to wrap things up in one go, and did not like there to be any loose ends.


    "Yes, Leader!" The three of them acknowledged their orders and quickly sprinted off.


    "Leader, what about me?" The remaining team member was rather depressed. Everyone had their own tasks; only he had nothing to do.


    "Luo Qiong, haven¡¯t you noticed something off? I keep having the feeling that someone is watching us, but I can¡¯t find the other," admitted Zhang Jing-an to this remaining team member.


    "Leader, could it be some teachers watching us?" This was the first thing Luo Qiong could think of. Some teachers were truly very formidable ¡ª the more the students learned, the more they found those teachers frightening.


    "This is also possible, which is why I have brought you all away from Yuan Chen. If the teacher¡¯s attention stayed there, then we wouldn¡¯t sense anything here ... but this feeling kept following me. Even after I sent Zhu Qi and Qing Ming off, this feeling still stayed here ..." As Zhang Jing-an continued to borate, he suddenly eximed in surprise, "The feeling is gone ..."


    Then, his expression changed drastically. "Not good. Something has happened to Shi Qi!" Shi Qi¡¯s presence was no longer concealed; this meant that he had most likely lost consciousness.


    "Has he been attacked? Is it our opponents?" cried Luo Qiong, shocked.


    "Of course it¡¯s the opponent. Those teachers would never attack Shi Qi." Zhang Jing-an¡¯s expression was dark. He had actually been unknowingly followed by an opponent, and by spreading out his forces, he had unintentionally fallen for the opponent¡¯s plot.


    Ling Lan had quietly snuck up to Shi Qi who was hiding on a tree branch, and before the other could notice her and react, she had struck him unconscious with one blow. She then carefullyid the other down on the branch, quietly pressing the other¡¯s surrender button to ask for assistance.


    Right below, Zhu Qi and Qing Ming were oblivious. At that moment, they were gleefully watching the five figures who had appeared in front of them. It was the 7th grade ss-B team who had returned to try and rescue their teammate with a sneak attack.


    Between Ling Lan¡¯s fingers, two extremely small and thin ice needles appeared out of thin air. With a flick of her wrist, the ice needles flew silently through the air to pierce into the area behind Zhu Qi¡¯s and Qing Ming¡¯s neck. The two of them shivered, feeling a chill spread out from their neck. However, this feeling merely shed by, quickly disappearing without a trace, causing them to think that they had imagined it.


    The thin ice needles would not actually hurt them, and also would not give them any lingering after-effects. But for one hour, their true strength would be restricted by 30% to 40% by the cold air of the needles. This was a chance Ling Lan was giving to the 7th grade team. Whether or not they could take advantage of it would depend fully on the efforts of the 7th grade team members.


    After doing all this, Ling Lan left the scene to return to the ce where Zhang Jing-an was waiting.


    "You¡¯vee!" Zhang Jing-an could feel himself being watched once again. So, he spoke up, hoping to trick the other into revealing themselves.


    Meanwhile, as Zhang Jing-an spoke, Luo Qiong was looking around nervously. Dammit, he had not sensed anyone approaching! Could it be that the opponent was like Xie Yi and had a special concealment talent? He did not believe that the 7th grade students could be that much stronger than him.


    "As expected of the first rank of the 10th grade!" A cold voice rang out, as if right by their ears, but also as ifing from a far distance. Zhang Jing-an tried to pinpoint the opponent¡¯s position based on this voice but could not; instead, this voice seemed to muffle all other sounds around him.


    "Ugh ..." Luo Qiong made a strangled sound, as if his voice had been stoppered at his throat. Without thinking about it, Zhang Jing-an leapt in Luo Qiong¡¯s direction, but there was already no one there.


    Zhang Jing-an stood there, cold sweat dripping from his forehead. The opponent had already made his move, and he had lost a team member in an instant, but he had not seen a hair of the opponent. Thus, he had no idea at all who the opponent was ¡ª when had such an abnormal prodigy appeared in the 7th grade? Or could it be said that some perverse and deviant teacher was ying a joke on him?


    At this point, Ling Lan had already appeared where she had ced Shi Qi earlier. She put Luo Qiong there as well and pressed his surrender button too before disappearing again.


    Ling Lan had not disappeared for long before two figures abruptly appeared on thatrge tree branch. Seeing the two red-d youths on the branch, they eximed, "They¡¯re from the 10th grade ss-A ..."


    One of them bent down to check the necks of the twoid down on the branch, "They¡¯re unconscious!"


    "How are their injuries?" asked the other with a worried tone.


    "The opponent¡¯s method is very polished. These two were knocked unconscious in one hit without any warning. They are not injured at all." The person who was checking on them continued to diagnose the reason for their condition.


    "So what you¡¯re saying is, the opponent knocked them unconscious and then pressed their surrender button to get us to take them away?" said the other, pleasantly surprised.


    "Looks like it ..." The person checking on the students was just as pleased. Discovering a strong student indeed made them very happy, but they were even happier that this student¡¯s morality was impable as well. Every teacher hoped that their academy would produce such a student who was exemry in body, mind, and soul.


    "The 7th grade students aren¡¯t as weak as we had expected ..." The teachers had originally thought that the 7th grade would certainly lose this grand armed melee without a doubt. Now, it looked like it was too early toe to a conclusion just yet.

 Chapter 167: Drawing a Snake Out of Its Lair?

    Chapter 167: Drawing a Snake Out of Its Lair?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "No matter what the situation is as they fight, we can only observe from the sidelines and try our best to avoid cases of death and bloodshed ..." said the teacher solemnly, with regret. Back when they had been scouts themselves, they had never gone through such a stirring incident like this grand armed melee.


    Each holding onto a student, the two teachers swiftly left the scene. Like they said, no matter how much their hands itched to do something, they could only do their duty as a transporter ¡ª moving students who had failed off the field, watching dumbly as the students fought each other until the grand armed melee ended.


    Zhang Jing-an felt that immense pressure disappear, and knew that the opponent must have distanced themselves once more after seeding in their attack. His eyes narrowed as he quickly forced himself to calm down. His initiate instructor had once told him that, on the battlefield, no matter what the situation was, one had to remain calm. The moment one loses their calm, one would be at death¡¯s door.


    His entire being quietened, and then a surge of energy burst out from within him, spreading out. The melodies on the wind of this energy surge flowed towards Zhang Jing-an like musical notes. Abruptly, Zhang Jing-an turned to stare in a particr direction and said coldly, "Are you still not going toe out?"


    Since she had been discovered, Ling Lan did not waste time hiding any further. She walked out from behind arge tree, anding to stand about 20 metres away from Zhang Jing-an, the two of them stared evenly at each other.


    The other was wearing the same red uniform as he was, and the number 7 glinting on the other¡¯s chest proved that he was one of the rival 7th graders in this grand armed melee. However, that elegant and cold face was not the 7th grade top rank, Qi Long, whom they were familiar with. A thought shed through Zhang Jing-an¡¯s mind, and he said, "Qi Long¡¯s boss ¡ª¡ª Ling Lan!"


    Ling Lan quirked a brow, as if surprised that Zhang Jing-an knew her name.


    "The uncrowned king of the 7th grade is no secret. If one wants to know, then one will know," said Zhang Jing-an tonelessly. That said, if it were not for the grand armed melee this time, he might not have known that such an exceptional expert was hiding in the 7th grade. Originally, he had thought that no matter how strong the other was, he would at most be at the level of the 9th grade Lu Jing. But now, from the look of things, he had miscalcted.


    "Looks like you were already aiming for me from the start! This situation right now should be your doing. We can finally face off one on one ... however, you really think you are a match for me?" Zhang Jing-an remarked with a half-smile. In his eyes, Ling Lan¡¯s nning was undoubtedly a little too self-conceited.


    Ling Lan did not answer Zhang Jing-an, but only continued to stare at him emotionlessly, causing Zhang Jing-an to be unable to figure out what Ling Lan was thinking.


    In truth, Ling Lan was actually conversing with Little Four in the mindspace. "Little Four, where are those people now?"


    Apparently, just now, Little Four suddenly alerted Ling Lan to the fact that the people he was monitoring had finally started to move.


    "About 3 kilometres from here," responded Little Four, confirming the others¡¯ position. Little Four was currently in sharing mode with the academy mainframe ¡ª everything within the academy was at his fingertips. Also, ording to Ling Lan¡¯s wishes, he did not apply any concealment methods onto Ling Lan. Therefore, as long as someone wanted to, they could easily find out where Ling Lan was.


    "Little Four, looks like the things you discovered were urate." A murderous glint shed through Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. Another big reason she had initiated this grand armed melee was to lure the snake out of itsir ¡ª and now, from the looks of it, the opponent had not been able to hold back, as expected.


    However, she first needed to handle this fellow in front of her as fast as possible ... Ling Lan nced at Zhang Jing-an standing before her. Even though this person was very cocky and arrogant, and his personality was nothing great, Ling Lan still did not want to involve him in the cat-and-mouse blood sport of her and her enemy, and cause his death by unlucky chance. Thus, she decided on a speedy fight to end things quickly, and eliminate him from the grand armed melee as soon as possible.


    Right then, Zhang Jing-an was thrilled ¡ª the faint sense of Ling Lan¡¯s natural force of presence let him know that the other was an expert ¡ª he was d to find a worthy opponent. Ever since the seniors had graduated from the academy, he had had the feeling of being arge mountain surrounded by molehills. Especially when he became ever more proficient at using the mutation of his spiritual self, he had thought himself unrivalled among the academy students! While this made him proud of himself, it also made him feel somewhat dejected ¡ª it was not a pleasant feeling to be alone at the top of the world without a match who could rival him.


    Perhaps this youth before him now could give him a good fight and loosen his joints! Although Zhang Jing-an felt that Ling Lan could bring some colour into his life, he never even considered the possibility that Ling Lan could defeat him.


    Zhang Jing-an wanted to fight, so he charged in directly. He did not use a rubber bat or any so-called fancy moves ¡ª he attacked with a simple punch. Perhaps Zhang Jing-an felt that victory was within his grasp, and so thought that there was no need for anyplicated moves, that his strength alone was enough to steamroll the opponent.


    It looked as if Zhang Jing-an only took a single unassuming step, but this simple one step actually carried him across the entire 20 metres of distance between the twobatants ¡ª in an instant, he was already right in front of Ling Lan.


    In fact, this was just a trick of the eye ¡ª Ling Lan could clearly see Zhang Jing-an take ten steps within this short period of time toe right up to her. Meanwhile, Zhang Jing-an¡¯s right fist was already flying towards her face.


    Whether in terms of his crossing over or this final punch, his speed had reached an extreme ¡ª Zhang Jing-an even had the misperception that in the very next second, his fist would strike the opponent and send the other flying ... the smile on his lips had just begun to blossom when time froze.


    Because, he felt his fist being detained by a gentle force, preventing him from moving any further.


    It turned out that right at the moment Ling Lan was about to be struck, she too made a fist and met Zhang Jing-an¡¯s punch with a punch of her own. Although the two fists seemed to collide violently, no sound was produced. It was as if there had been no power behind the two punches at all, making the collision seem like a friendly fist bump.


    Zhang Jing-an knew his own strength ¡ª he had definitely used about 80% of his strength in that punch of his. A situation like this would only ur because the opponent had met his punch with a corresponding amount of power, hence neutralizing the power of his punch with amazing gentleness.


    This punch of Zhang Jing-an¡¯s did not create his desired effect, instead pushing him into a deadlock. Now, his choices were to either pull back his strength and try again, or push more force into his punch to continue pressing forwards. As long as his strength could overpower the opponent¡¯s, the deadlock would be broken, and thebined forces of both of them might even crash downpletely on his opponent.


    Zhang Jing-an naturally was unwilling to just pull back; from the start, he had considered himself the stronger party. So, with a soft shout, his entire face instantly flushed red. He abruptly sucked in his belly, and then with several consecutive shakes of his wrist, four silent and invisible energy waves were sent flying towards Ling Lan.


    This was an ace in the hole given to him by his initiate instructor ¡ª he could unleash four hidden energy waves instantly, and each wave would stack onto the force of the wave before it so that by the time the final wave struck, it would carry the terrifying power of eight times the force of his personal strength. Of course, his initiate instructor warned him repeatedly to not use this move unless absolutely necessary. However, Zhang Jing-an felt that this was the perfect time to use it ¡ª because this was a battle of pride between the strongest of the 10th grade and the 7th grade!


    Just by looking at her opponent¡¯s hand movements, Ling Lan could tell that the opponent had likely used a power-stacking technique. She decisively used One-Inch Punch ¡ª the two hidden forces shed repeatedly, until finally, neither force could suppress the other, and so both of them blew up simultaneously.


    Ling Lan and Zhang Jing-an were sted backwards into the air by this massive bacsh of energy. Even the stout tree they were standing by was destroyed instantly by the st, its broken branches falling from the sky to crash into the ground.


    With a reverse nk in mid-air, Ling Lan stabilised her body,nding firmly on the tree fork of anotherrge tree not too far away. On the other hand, Zhang Jing-an did not have as good a time of it ¡ª only after flying out for about 5 to 6 metres did he manage to grab hold of a random tree branch with his left hand and, with that as leverage, pull himself back onto a tree to find stable footing again. Still, his right arm hung low, swaying freely with his body movements.


    Ling Lan pressed her own right arm with her left hand, and said coldly, "As expected of the number one of the 10th grade, breaking my right arm with one move."


    At the same time, Zhang Jing-an was also gripping his own right arm, expression unsightly as he said, "You¡¯re not weak either!" Simrly, his arm had also been broken by the other. Thatst move could be considered a loss on both sides. At this time, Zhang Jing-an no longer had any of the sense of superiority he had at the start; he now knew very well that Ling Lan was an expert at the same level as him.


    "Still, even so, we must determine who is stronger!" Ling Lan seemed set on having a clear winner and loser ¡ª the moment she finished talking, she stomped forcefully, then borrowing the rebound from the tree branch, she flew forwards like a cannonball at Zhang Jing-an,pletely ignoring the injury of her right arm.


    Zhang Jing-an¡¯s expression was solemn. He knew that this time, it was time to determine a final oue. Forbatants like them at the Qi-Jin level, victory and defeat would be determined in a split second ¡ª it just came down to whose Qi-Jin was better.


    This time, Ling Lan chose to attack with her left hand. Of course, she could only use her left hand now, but, she seemed to not be very confident in her left hand, choosing to attack with a rubber bat.


    Zhang Jing-an too chose to attack with a rubber bat. Gripping it tightly with his left hand, he moved to meet her attack. The two were just about to sh, when Ling Lan¡¯s face suddenly revealed an expression of great shock and she shouted, "Dodge quickly!"


    Zhang Jing-an was unmoved by this, his left hand and the rubber bat in it still moving forwards with the strength of his entire body.


    Hmph! Thinking to trick me like this? No way! This notion had barely brushed through Zhang Jing-an¡¯s mind when he felt the back of his head being struck a heavy blow ...


    He instantly felt as if his body were drained of all energy. As he fell down, with hisst remaining bit of consciousness, he saw Ling Lan across from him choosing to turn tail and run, as if seeing some frightful being ...


    Hells, so he wasn¡¯t trying to trick me ... At this moment, Zhang Jing-an¡¯s heart was filled with regret. If only he had listened to the other¡¯s warning. Would he then have been safe from this sneak attack?


    Zhang Jing-an tumbled down from the tree he was standing on, but before he could crash into the ground, a figure swept by to catch him and set him down gently on the ground. At the same time, the figure pressed Zhang Jing-an¡¯s surrender button, and then disappeared instantly without a trace.


    Somewhere 1000 metres away, a team of five dressed in instructor garbs were pausing for a moment. One of them, a 27 or 28 year old young teacher was activating his spiritual power to delve into the nearest monitoring signal, trying to locate the position of their target with all his might.


    "The other¡¯s position right now has changed. From the initial southeast direction, he has moved towards the north," the teacher opened his eyes and said to a 35 or 36 year old male teacher beside him.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    For those who have questions about the premium system, please check out ¡¯Never¡¯s FAQ¡¯ on the  forums (https://forum./d/4559-never-s-faq-3rd-edition/2).


    But here, let me give a few key things on premium with regards to this novel:


    1) You CAN still read for free at a rate of 1 chapter a day. You just need to resist the temptation of the extra locked chapters after the free chapter while you wait for the next day.


    2)There will no longer be an ad option for locked chapters. Price per chapter is determined by . Rate is 1 SS/200 words as far as I know. So, for this novel, you should expect to be using about 10-13 SS per chapter.


    3) You should not have to use more than 300 SS total for the uing mass release. (Like, I don¡¯t think I can trante that much by then anyhow, so this is a generous estimate.)


    IMPORTANT! Please note that if you do decide to unlock any chapters with SS, you will then have to continue using SS to unlock any future chapters unless you want to wait for the free release point to catch up. What this means is -- let¡¯s say the free release is at chapter 5. If you use SS to unlock the next 10 chapters which were mass released and run out of SS, then you would have to wait 10 days for the free release to catch up, because chapter 6 would be the free release the next day, which you have already unlocked with your SS.


    So ... this is my advice.


    For free readers - If you are only following 1 or 2 premium novels including this one, you can go ahead and unlock chapters at the mass release, because your daily logins should give you enough SS to support your reading moving forwards. However, if you are reading many premium novels, then I would suggest choosing just 1 or 2 to keep updated with, while just following the free release rate for the rest. If you choose to keep with the free release rate for this novel, then you should not unlock the mass release chapters. You could always unlock only at major cliffhangers, and then skip a day or two till the free release catches up again.


    For paying readers - You can do as you like. It¡¯s your money. :3 Thank you in advance for your patronage.

 Chapter 168: Is This Mission Really Right?

    Chapter 168: Is This Mission Really Right?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "How far from us?" This teacher should be the leader of this team. At hearing his team member¡¯s report, he could not help but frown.


    "Not even 1000 metres away," replied the scanning teacher.


    " Xiao Lai 1 , watch the surroundings carefully. Don¡¯t let the other teachers discover our tracks," arranged the leader decisively.


    "Yes, Leader!" The scanning teacher Xiao Lai received themand.


    The leader waved a hand behind himself, and five figures disappeared instantly from the area with several hushed swishes.


    Meanwhile, in the direction of true north, Ling Lan was sprinting across the ground, instructing Little Four inside the mindspace to help her find the most appropriate hunting grounds.


    "Little Four, here?" Ling Lan abruptly stopped her steps and asked Little Four.


    "Yes. There are no scout students at all within 1000 metres of this area." Although Little Four did not know why Ling Lan was so concerned about the presence of scout students, as a follower, he had a responsibility to meet his boss¡¯s requests.


    "Alright, then let¡¯s wait here for prey toe!" The hunting grounds Ling Lan had chosen was arge, dense forest deep within the academy. This area was already far from the variousrge dormitories ¡ª a typical person would not choose toe to this sort of dark and deste ce, unless they were students who were trying to be clever and hide for the whole 24 hours of the grand armed melee.


    With a few flying leaps, Ling Lan disappeared soundlessly into the forest.


    Not even a minuteter, the team of five teachers appeared where Ling Lan had disappeared.


    "Right here. A minute ago, the monitoring device detected his figure here. He entered the forest and disappeared from this point," Xiao Lai pointed at the direction where Ling Lan disappeared.


    "Can we not find his precise hiding spot?" The leader looked out into the quiet forest and asked.


    "No way to pinpoint it. This ce has almost no monitoring facilities, unless we mobilise the satellite system of the mainframe," said Xiao Lai regretfully, "I still cannot hack into the Central Scout Academy¡¯s mainframe to obtain its control rights ... its level is no less than the mainframes of our military headquarters."


    The leader said then, "Only a minute has passed. He can¡¯t have gotten far. Let¡¯s chase!" That said, he was the first to jump into the forest. His team members did not hesitate, jumping into the forest with him. They were just going in to handle a 13 year old babe, they had no worries about strategizing to avoid forests or any disadvantageous locations.


    The group dashed far a length of ground, until when the leader suddenly halted and closed his eyes, carefully sensing the environment around him.


    "The other¡¯s presence suddenly disappeared. How did he do it?" The leader¡¯s expression was dismayed. If the target escaped this time, they would find it very difficult to exin things when they returned. It should be known that chances to finish off the other without leaving obvious traces were extremely rare; so, their ringleader had already given the execution order ¡ª that brat had to die in this grand armed melee.


    "Could it be that we chased too far and overtook him?" asked one of the team members. They absolutely could not believe that a 13 year old plus child could beat them in terms of travel speed.


    "Of course not!" The leader harrumphed. He could sense the disturbances where the other had entered and moved through the forest, so of course this was impossible.


    However, he also believed that, with their speed, it was impossible for them not to have caught up to the other. Thus, the most likely possibility was that the other had a kind of miraculous concealment method, and was hiding somewhere at the side to avoid their detection.


    "He should be close by! Let us spread out and search. Search properly, don¡¯t overlook any suspicious ces." The leader made a decision instantly. "Also, don¡¯t forget what we came here to do ..."


    The leader swept a cold look over all the team members. "Kill him. Don¡¯t be soft-hearted and show any mercy! That is our mission!"


    "Yes, leader!" The four of them acknowledged the orders. Their initially somewhat rxed expressions instantly became serious. They each chose a separate direction and then began slowly searching outwards.


    ********


    "As expected, they are here to kill us ..." Inside Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace, Little Four dutifully projected what all 5 of the men were doing.


    "Argh, why are that fellow¡¯s movements so urate? He¡¯s about to find us!" Little Four jumped up in fright inside the learning space.


    "Don¡¯t panic!" Ling Lan consoled Little Four. She peered intently at one of the teachers ¡ª well, let¡¯s just call them teachers for now ¡ª who was already very close to her location ... she needed to find an opportunity tond a one-hit killing blow.


    The moment these people got close, Ling Lan knew she was facing the second great crisis in her life ever since that first assassination attempt when she was six. These five people were allbat experts in the middle tote stages of Qi-Jin. In particr, that team leader had even fully mastered the Qi-Jin stage, like her, and was just waiting for thatst catalyst to spark the insight to enter a new domain.


    The other was getting closer and closer to her hiding spot, yet Ling Lan¡¯s heart was bing increasingly calmer. Her heartbeat slowed immensely, almost going into a state of hibernation as sheid there unmoving.


    One step, two steps, three steps ... the other was already right in front of her. The shoes on his feet almost stomped on her fingers, but even so, Ling Lan¡¯s heart was still as clear as ice. Unafraid even if the sky copsed, she did not move a single inch.


    Just as the other was about to approach one step further, the neighbouring shrubs about a metre away suddenly rustled. That person instantly turned with a look of caution upon his face, ready to go and investigate the situation over there. Right then, Ling Lan moved!


    Ling Lan¡¯s right hand was gripping a conical weapon, transparent in colour and emitting a trace of cold air ¡ª it was an ice cone made via the use of Ice Affinity. At present, this was thergest weapon Ling Lan could condense with her talent. Hmm? You ask, wasn¡¯t Ling Lan¡¯s right hand broken? Why can she still use a weapon?


    Well, apparently, when she had met Zhang Jing-an¡¯s punch with a punch, Ling Lan¡¯s right arm had been unharmed. She had just pretended it was injured to give the impression of weakness, as for who would fall for it ... that was not something Ling Lan needed to consider.


    However, the ice cone in her right hand was not Ling Lan¡¯s most reliable weapon; her real killing move was a spiritual charge.


    In this generation, spiritual attacks were an ability that onlybat experts at the Domain stage or ace operators could possibly have. Take a good look, they could only ¡¯possibly have¡¯ it. Indeed, both these parties must possess immense spiritual power and ability to advance that far, however, just having the spiritual power for it did not mean they could use spiritual power attacks. Only if they awakened an innate talent in this vein could they possess this ability. For example, the spectre ability gained from spiritual mutation was a type of spiritual attack.


    However, Ling Lan was an oddball. She did not awaken any spiritual attack type innate talent, but because she had the instruction of the learning space, she had gained this formless yet powerful killing move through masochistic training. This was also why Ling Lan dared to hunt the 5 people after her who were Qi-Jin stage experts like her.


    In fact, the rustling of the shrubs that pulled the opponent¡¯s attention had also been Ling Lan¡¯s doing via maniption of her spiritual power. Undoubtedly, this time, Ling Lan had nned very well. All the reactions of the opponent were within her calctions.


    A fierce spiritual charge would cause the opponent¡¯s head to be struck by an abrupt force. Zhang Jing-an, who had just stepped into the early stages of Qi-Jin, had fallen unconscious without being able to put up any resistance 2 ; however, this teacher before her, who was already at the mid-stages of Qi-Jin, was only stunned for 2 seconds before regaining consciousness.


    But these 2 short seconds were enough for Ling Lan to kill the opponent several times over. The ice cone created by Ice Affinity plunged mercilessly into the other¡¯s chest. Ling Lan did not hesitate at all after her sessful strike, backing off instantly. Without even ncing at what would be of the opponent, she left!


    Thatst strike had already revealed her killing intent. If she lingered for even a beat, she would be surrounded by the other 4 people. At that time, she would truly be put in a tight spot with the odds against her.


    The moment Ling Lan left, the ice cone piercing the other¡¯s chest shattered, bing countless translucent and glittering spots of light to disappear into the air. Without the continued support of Ling Lan¡¯s Ice Affinity, the ice cone had no way of maintaining its shape; this was also a reason for Ling Lan to choose weapons created via Ice Affinity. In the end, only these 5 people would know what her killing weapon was 3 .


    "Xiao Lai!" Rushing over, the leader yelled out in shock. It turned out that the first team member killed by Ling Lan just happened to be Xiao Lai, the one who had awakened a hacking innate talent and who could hack into the monitoring systems to track her. As hacking talents belonged to the spiritual series of awakened talents, Xiao Lai had had great resistance against Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual charge. However, he was still notpletely immune to Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual charge, and so had finally died under Ling Lan¡¯s sneak attack.


    Fearfully, Xiao Lai pressed desperately on the wound at his chest, trying to staunch the blood gushing out, as he mumbled over and over again, "I don¡¯t want to die, I don¡¯t want to die ..." They had initially thought that this was an extremely easy mission ¡ª they only had to kill a 13 year old scout, and they were all elite soldiers ...


    "Xiao Lai, hold on!" The team leader took out some medicinal agents and fed them to the other. However, he too knew that it was useless. Unless they could get supplementary blood to maintain the other¡¯s minimum blood level within the next 3 minutes, and then obtain a recement heart within 2 hours, even a god would be unable to save him.


    But now, they were in the Central Scout Academy. Moreover, they were impersonating teachers to assassinate a student within the academy. They had no way of requesting emergency aid, and so had no way of receiving assistance. In other words, the leader had no way of bringing Xiao Lai back to their own territory within 3 minutes.


    Hiding at one side, Ling Lan bit down fiercely on her own palm, hoping the pain could alleviate the difort she felt in her heart. The person she had just killed was not the virtual humans created by the learning space, and neither was he an enemy nation mecha warrior like on Demonbeast, nor was he a traitor who had betrayed her trust.


    He was very likely just a regr soldier who did not know the truth beforehand, someone who had just simply epted a mission ... yet, she could not be merciful just because of this. She could not die. She definitely could not die. Early on, she had already made a vow ¡ª in this life, she wanted to live safely, securely, and freely. If anyone tried to interfere with this goal, she would not care even if she had to morph into a demon to defend it ...


    "Leader! Is this mission really right?" asked Xiao Lai, eyes filled with doubt as he breathed hisst.


    "Xiao Lai!" The team leader howled lowly, tears falling silently from the corners of his eyes. Just as Xiao Lai had said, was this mission really right? Why did they have to kill a half-grown kid? Could it be because the child¡¯s father had betrayed the country, so they suspected the child would also be a traitor? Why did they have to go so far to prevent something yet to be decided?


    The team leader slowly closed Xiao Lai¡¯s wide open eyes. When he lifted his head once more, his gaze was sharp and cold, "Xiao Lai, until now you do not understand. We do not need to know what is right or wrong. Once you¡¯ve entered the organisation, the mission is number one! Don¡¯t worry, I will kill him and avenge you. Arade¡¯s blood is not wastefully spilled." The team leader¡¯s killing intent became thick and overbearing. His entire aura gradually began to fluctuate and be unstable, even showing faint signs of going berserk.

 Chapter 169: Demon?

    Chapter 169: Demon?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Seeing this, a thought flitted through Ling Lan¡¯s mind. The leader¡¯s aura was in a chaotic state, causing him to lose his usualposure ... this was definitely a great opportunity to kill him. But just when Ling Lan was about to make her move, three figures flew towards them from three different directions.


    "Leader!" shouted one of the team members.


    Meanwhile, another team member saw the blood-soaked Xiao Laiying in the leader¡¯s arms, and could not help but cry out in dismay, "Xiao Lai!"


    Still in hiding, Ling Lan quietlymented the lost opportunity. If those three people hade just 5 secondster, she would have had enough time to make her move. Ling Lan was a decisive person. Seeing that there was no longer any possibility ofunching a sneak attack, she once again muffled all signs of her presence, sinking down to hide like an inanimate object.


    The team leader pushed down the sorrow and rage he felt in his heart, and said through gritted teeth, "Xiao Lai was the target of a sneak attack by the opponent. He¡¯s dead! The opponent is proficient at concealment and assassination. You must all be careful." His turmoil had onlysted for a moment. By now, he had already regained his calm, and immediately deduced Ling Lan¡¯s general position. "He shouldn¡¯t be far from here. From the time I sensed killing intent and rushed here, only 3 seconds have passed. He would not have had the time to go too far."


    The team leader believed that although he had been thrown into mental turmoil by Xiao Lai¡¯s death, he had not lost his sensory abilities. If Ling Lan had chosen to run away back then, he would definitely have sensed the boy¡¯s movements. But when he had arrived at the scene, the surroundings had been still and silent. That meant that the other must have chosen toy low somewhere close by.


    Perhaps, the boy was just by their sides now, just waiting for a chance to strike a killing blow.


    "From now on, the three of you shall be one team. When you search, don¡¯t stray too far from the others. It¡¯s best if you all can keep an eye out for each other." The team leader knew that the other three members of his team were at about the same level of strength as Xiao Lai. As such, they would be in danger if they got stranded on their own, so he decided to let the three of them search as a group. As for himself ... if the opponent thought that he was a good target on his own, he would let that punk know that, before true strength, any brilliant sneak attacks or assassination attempts were all futile.


    "Yes, Leader!" acknowledged all three men with serious expressions. Xiao Lai¡¯s death had raised their guards; they were not confident that they would be able to evade the opponent¡¯s undetectable sneak attack on their own.


    Ling Lan saw the four of them split up into two teams and start searching in two different directions. Ling Lan¡¯s luck was undoubtedly excellent ¡ª the first directions the two parties began searching in were coincidentally not where she was hiding. Of course, this was just a temporary reprieve. When the two parties did not find anything in the directions they were searching right now, they would definitely circle back to search the ces they had not covered on their first run. In other words, if Ling Lan just continued to hide here, she would still eventually be discovered by the opponents.


    Ling Lan considered her options, and then decided to find a chance to trail that group of three. Although on the surface, going after the team leader to try and execute an assassination seemed more likely to seed, Ling Lan somehow had an unexinable feeling in her heart that there was something dangerous about that team leader. It was this sense of danger that made her give up on trying to sneak attack that team leader immediately.


    Of course, for Ling Lan tounch a sneak attack on the three-man team without being caught was also very difficult. However, Ling Lan believed that as long as she was patient and focused, it may not be impossible.


    Right then, a gust of wind swept by, shaking the leaves on the trees, causing them to rustle loudly. With a light push of her palms, Ling Lan sprang off the ground and flew towards the direction where the three-man team had gone ...


    When the wind died down, Ling Lan drifted softly tond like a leaf, dashing into another concealed spot to continue hiding once more ... Ling Lan¡¯s patience was extremely high ¡ª even though she still could not see hide or hair of the three-man team, the moment the wind stopped blowing, she would stop moving as well, and would remain still until the next gust swept by.


    On the other end, the team leader was searching with his head bowed. His ears twitched with the sounds of the wind. Though his face remained expressionless, doubt shed briefly through his eyes ...


    He actually could not hear anything out of ce. Other than the sounds of the wind, and the rustling of leaves, all he could hear was the sound of their own footsteps as they traipsed through the dry grass. Could he have made an error in judgment? Was the opponent still choosing to hide at his original spot and not nning to try another sneak attack? Or had he perhaps already gotten close to them, and he just could not hear it?


    The leader¡¯s expression became grim. Just then, a tendril of fog abruptly appeared in the forest. It slowly became thicker and thicker, until the leader¡¯s figure was hidden within this dense patch of white fog.


    ********


    The members of the three-man team kept the instructions of their leader close to heart; the distance between them never exceeded 10 metres. Not only that, they each also made sure to keep one team member within sight at all times. This was the triangr formation unique to the Federation military, and it was considered a defensive formation with no blind spots.


    Ling Lan continued to use the sound of the wind as cover, sneaking up stealthily to the three-man team. However, she was not happy. Instead, her brows were tightly furrowed, because she had noticed that under this formation, she would have no chance whatsoever to try a sneak attack.


    She needed to mess up this formation as soon as possible! Ling Lan knew she did not have a lot of time. Little Four, who had been keeping an eye on the leader, had just told her that he had lost track of the leader. Although Little Four was using high-definition satellite monitoring to scan the area where the team leader had disappeared, that area had already be a thick cloud of fog. Under these circumstances, even the most high-definition satellite would be ineffective.


    Ling Lan reckoned that the fog was part of the other¡¯s innate talent ability. Under the cover of the fog, perhaps the other had already turned back and was rushing here at full speed. Meanwhile, she not only had to find a way to finish off these three people in front of her as soon as possible, she still had to beware the aftermath. She did not want to be like the tragic mantis which stalks a cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it 1 .


    A gust of wind swept by, causing the shrubs and trees around to sway gently, rustling. At the start, the three-man team had been in a state of paranoia, which then toned down to nervous caution ... and now, they were calm. At this y of the wind, they merely cast brief nces reflexively at those areas which emitted sound.


    Seeing this, an idea sparked in Ling Lan¡¯s mind ...


    The three men saw nothing strange and so continued to walk and search. Not long after, another draft swept by, and like before, the trees and shrubs emitted a round of choppy noises ¡ª but this time, an almost imperceptible object shot out along with this gust of wind.


    Taking advantage of the wind, Ling Lan had sent an extremely thin and small, yet extremely sharp, ice needle flying out at the team member closest to her. At this time, the other¡¯s range of sight just happened to turn towards some source of sound. Moreover, the direction of this turn just happened to expose his most defensively weak temple to Ling Lan.


    Ever since humans have used gene agents to spur the development of the body, their bodies¡¯ vitality and resistance had been strengthened greatly inparison to that of Ling Lan¡¯s previous world 10,000 years ago. Thus, besides the areas of the head and brain, there were no longer any fatal weaknesses on any other part of the body.


    If Ling Lan wanted to rely on this extremely thin ice needle to give the opponent a death blow at any other part of the body, that was almost impossible. Only by shooting it straight into the head to destroy the other¡¯s brain could it achieve a killing effect. Just like how Ling Lan had killed that Twilight Empire mecha operator on Demonbeast ¡ª using a short wooden needle to pierce through the other¡¯s lower jaw diagonally to prate the brain, killing the opponent by destroying the other¡¯s brain. Otherwise, just purely piercing the throat may not necessarily guarantee the other¡¯s death.


    Compared to theyers of defense shielding a mecha operator¡¯s head, this three-man team before her, due to their disguise as teachers, had not donned any defense for their heads. This gave Ling Lan the possibility of achieving one-hit kills.


    Ling Lan¡¯s ice needle was truly too small and thin, and on top of that, she had used the sound of the wind to cover its tracks ¡ª only when the ice needle was no more than 10 millimetres away from the opponent did his expression twist in realisation.


    No matter how much she tried to hide the attack within the sound of the wind, a Qi-Jin levelbat expert would have a defensive Qi flow around him, so when the attack approached this Qi flow, it would be noticed by the opponent. This was also why Ling Lan had chosen to do a close-range assassination at the start with Xiao Lai. After all, hidden weapons were not very effective against Qi-Jin experts who were on their guard.


    That person was just about to move his head to dodge the attack, when Ling Lan¡¯s long prepared spiritual attack followed. This time, her spiritual attack was not as intense as the one she had used against Xiao Lai, which could cause someone to fall unconscious directly. Instead, this attack would only concuss the head of the target, making him lose control of his movements, briefly paralyzing the other.


    It would onlyst for a split second; the target would be back to normal almost immediately . However, this one split second was enough ¡ª with fear and shock, the opponent found that it was toote to dodge!


    The ice needle plunged soundlessly into the opponent¡¯s temple, leaving no trace except an extremely miniscule red dot where it had entered ... as well as that rictus of horror right before the moment of death!


    In the meantime, the other two people did not notice that anything had happened. They continued to search ahead, still staying in their triangr formation. But after walking a few steps, they realised that one of their members on one of the corners had trailed behind ...


    One of the remaining members stopped and shouted out doubtfully, "Xiao Lin, did you find something? Why aren¡¯t you keeping up?"


    Xiao Lin just continued to stand there unmoving, staring off fixedly at a spot, as if he had found something.


    The two of remaining members looked at one another, then agreed tacitly to go over to take a look. They carefully made their way over and one of them walked right up to Xiao Lin¡¯s side. He nudged Xiao Lin on the shoulder and said, "Hey, why aren¡¯t you answering?"


    Unexpectedly, this nudge caused Xiao Lin¡¯s entire body to fall forwards. The two men were shocked ¡ª one of them quickly got into a defensive pose nervously, while the other moved forwards to check on theirpanion, only to find that Xiao Lin had stopped breathing ...


    "Ahh ... that goddamn bastard, you need to f*ckin¡¯e out and show yourself! What kind of hero attacks from the shadows?! Come fight me one on one if you have the guts!" That person leapt up abruptly, screaming out into the dimly lit forest hysterically. He was thoroughly frightened by this silent and unexpected passing of Xiao Lin.


    " Xiao Chong 2 , calm down!" the other team member yelled anxiously, looking around warily all the while. The surroundings were quiet and still, not a figure in sight ...


    "Leader! Leader!" bellowed the hysterical team member, hoping that his team leader would hurry over to investigate the cause of Xiao Lin¡¯s death.


    However, all that answered him was still silence. Even his leader was nowhere to be seen or heard. The hysterical team member gradually calmed down, but hisplexion also grew increasingly paler. He could not help but think: Could it be that their team leader had also already been killed silently and unexpectedly like this?


    He shook his head emphatically. No, the leader was so strong and formidable. He definitely wouldn¡¯t be offed by a 13 year old child ... but, was their target really just a 13 year old child? Or perhaps the one behind the deaths of hisrades was not their target at all? Perhaps it was a demon?


    He thought of thatrge hole in Xiao Lai¡¯s chest that had been created by an unknown weapon, and then looked down again at Xiao Linying on the ground without a mark on him. All he could see was the terrified expression on Xiao Lin¡¯s face, as if he had seen something horrific right before he died ...

 Chapter 170: Split-Core Twofold Detonation Technique!

    Chapter 170: Split-Core Twofold Detonation Technique!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Xiao Fei, there was clearly no one around earlier, but Xiao Lin still died, even leaving with such an expression on his face. Our opponent isn¡¯t human!" Although science and technology exined that there were no ghosts and spirits in this world, the bizarre nature of Xiao Lin¡¯s death had still caused Xiao Chong to panic. "Right now, even the leader has disappeared! He must have died at the hands of that terrifying demon too! If we continue to stay here, we¡¯ll definitely die!" Facing such a creepy situation, even a braver man would be affected by fear.


    "p!" Xiao Fei threw a tight p across Xiao Chong¡¯s face. In reaction, Xiao Chong gaped, expression still anxious, confused, and helpless.


    "You need to godd*mn calm down!" barked Xiao Fei, "The leader had mentioned that the opponent is good at concealment and assassination, so it¡¯s not surprising that he knows some methods that we cannot understand. But this doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯s invincible!"


    "Besides, I don¡¯t believe the leader has really been finished off." Xiao Fei knew his leader¡¯s capabilities very well ¡ª if even the leader could not resist, then they would really have no chance of leaving this forest alive. He told himself that he must remain calm. The moment the both of them got caught up in panic, then death would really be at their heels.


    Xiao Fei¡¯s calm and steady words finally lessened Xiao Chong¡¯s panic. His gaze began to rove, but just as he was about to say something, he suddenly saw the bushes about 10 metres behind Xiao Fei burst apart soundlessly. Countless des of grass and leaves shot out like arrows at Xiao Fei¡¯s back.


    "Watch out!" Xiao Chong¡¯s previous panic was wiped away instantly. A cold light shone from his eyes as he pushed Xiao Fei gently to one side with his left hand. Then, lifting his right hand, he charged towards the bush the attack hade from. A formless st of Qi-Jin, and the grass and leaves flying towards them were instantly obstructed.


    A muffled "bang!" ¡ª the two invisible forces collided. Xiao Chong¡¯s body was shaken by the st, and he felt the breath and blood in his chest roil ... calmly, he circted the hidden force in his body, and once more gathered the energy at his palms to push out at the opposing force once more ...


    The addition of this burst of Qi-Jin finally suppressed that formless energy, and the grass and leaves frozen in the air were immediately thrown back from whence they came.


    Hiding in the opposite direction, when the muffled st rang out, Ling Lan¡¯splexion paled, as if sustaining some great blow. However, her expression did not change and her vision did not waver. She still kept her eyes coolly focused on the other team member, the one who had been pushed aside by Xiao Chong, Xiao Fei.


    That¡¯s right, her target this time was none other than Xiao Fei. The flying grasses and leaves earlier were indeed her tactic, but that move was just a feint, an intentional attack to lure the attention of Xiao Chong.


    Although Xiao Chong¡¯s surface panic had looked very real, the invisible bloody aura lingering about them proved that these people were all veterans who were used to bloodshed. How could they be so easily frightened by arade¡¯s unexined death? His performance was undoubtedly meant to lull Ling Lan and try to entice her into attacking.


    After figuring things out, Ling Lan decided to just y along. Even though she risked getting injured this way, she would obtain another chance to kill off yet another one of her opponents. This was an undoubtedly worthy exchange.


    Right after Xiao Chong sted away those grasses and leaves, with no hesitation, he stomped on the ground, and using the reaction force generated from it, he pounced towards the area that had been sted apart. Both his palms were thrust forward, formless Qi-Jin behind them as he struck out!


    Since the formless force hade from this direction, then the opponent must definitely be hiding there! He had caught the killer! Glee shed through Xiao Chong¡¯s eyes. As long as the opponent exposed himself, based on the strength he had sensed from theirst encounter, Xiao Chong was confident that he would definitely be able to kill the other by working together with Xiao Fei.


    With a loud "Boom!", dirt was thrown up into the air along with shrubbery as the ground was sted apart by the force of his attack. At the end of it, a deep pit of about a metre wide in diameterid before Xiao Chong.


    "A good opportunity! Explode!" At this moment, Ling Lan, who had been hiding to one side, saw Xiao Chong leave the side of the other team member, and immediately detonated the spiritual power she had nted by Xiao Fei¡¯s side.


    Ling Lan was not confident that she could kill two Qi-Jin experts at the same time with a spiritual st. Inparison with Xiao Chong¡¯ste stage Qi-Jin strength, Xiao Fei with his early mid-stage Qi-Jin strength was undoubtedly easier to kill. Therefore, from the very start, her target had always been Xiao Fei ¡ª always start from cartge when gnawing on bones 1 , after all.


    The formless and colourless spiritual power, under Ling Lan¡¯s control, exploded in an instant, creating a massive shockwave aimed straight for Xiao Fei¡¯s brain.


    Xiao Fei, who had been pushed to one side by Xiao Chong, had already been in defensive mode. His attention was currently focused on Xiao Chong¡¯s attack ¡ª the moment he noticed any sign of the opponent, he would follow up with an attack of his own and help Xiao Chong.


    However, before he could notice anything, tremors abruptly coursed through his mind. This was a warning signal, an ability of every fighter who managed to enter Qi-Jin stage. Could it be that the opponent was trying tounch a sneak attack on him?


    This notion had barely passed Xiao Fei¡¯s mind when the hidden force spread out across his body ballooned rapidly ¡ª if anyone or any hidden weapons approached him, he would be able to sense it ...


    But even as he pulled this defensive action, he felt a formless energy collide with the defensive hidden force on his body ... He felt his Qi-Jin shudder violently, and then waves of dizziness and disorientation invaded his brain. As if from a distance, he felt like he could hear his own Qi-Jin being detonated by that surge of energy. Boom! Boom! Boom! ...


    These concussive forces were focused on attacking his brain. In the end, he felt his brain sumb to these overwhelming energy surges, and with ast roaring st, it exploded ... he thoroughly descended into darkness and knew no more.


    On the other side, Xiao Chong, who was attacking the source of the attacking energy, thought that his two Qi-infused palms would force out the killer hiding within the shrubs. However, other than flying dirt and grass, there was no one to be found ... besides the rustling sounds of the trees and nts stirred by the wind, there was nothing else in the surroundings.


    "Damn it!" Seeing his two palms not having their intended effect, Xiao Chong could not help but curse silently, heart doubtful. Had the killer snuck away in the very moment he hadunched his sneak attack at Xiao Fei? But he had not heard anyone moving at all! Or could it be that that person had never been there to begin with? In that case, then how had that attack been created?


    Sure enough, Xiao Chong was not as flustered as he had appeared to be. Or, more urately, his previous weak performance was just meant to put the killer hiding in the shadows at ease and get him to attack.


    He had indeed gotten his wish. The opponent had struck, but the oue was not ideal. He did not manage to frisk out the opponent, which made him even more uncertain and lost than before.


    He moodily walked back to his teammate¡¯s side. Of course, along the way, he did not forget to stay vignt ¡ª he believed that the killer was still nearby. It was only that the killer had a mysterious way of moving and hiding, causing him to be unable to find an opening, so fear began taking root in his heart.


    "Xiao Fei, did you find anything?" he asked softly. Xiao Fei had been standing behind him all this while defending, perhaps he had seen something.


    Unfortunately, there was no response to his question. Sensing something off, Xiao Chong¡¯s expression changed drastically. He rushed over to stand before Xiao Fei and was treated to the sight of Xiao Fei¡¯s wide open eyes staring off sightlessly into the distance. Meanwhile, thin rivulets of blood were flowing ceaselessly from Xiao Fei¡¯s eyes, nose, ears, and mouth ... With just one nce, Xiao Chong could tell that the other was already dead.


    "Aaaah!!" Xiao Chong howled mournfully. Compared to the other teammates, he and Xiao Fei had grown up together, attended school together, fought their first battle together, and survived together. They were the best of sworn brothers. His death caused Xiao Chong to go utterly berserk ...


    Hiding within the grass, Ling Lan¡¯s current condition was not optimistic either. Her face was as white as paper ¡ª thatst spiritual st had undoubtedly drained her spiritual power. Not only that, a spiritual st was also an attack which extracted a heavy toll on oneself even as it dealt great damage to the opponent 2 . Moreover, the attack she used this time ¡ª the split-core twofold detonation technique ¡ª actually had an even higher requirement than a regr spiritual st, with a correspondingly higher damage output.


    Though the power of a spiritual st was indeed very strong, it had a weakness ¡ª after it was activated once, the user would not be able to umte spiritual power again for a short period to continue attacking. Thus, if Ling Lan used a spiritual st to attract the opponent¡¯s attention, then she would have no way of immediately gathering spiritual strength again tounch another sneak attack. In order to sessfully kill off one of her opponents, she could only take a risk and use the split-core twofold detonation technique.


    The split-core twofold detonation technique was an area-of-effect technique. It split her spiritual power into two portions, which could then be detonated separately to attack a target. The immense turbulence caused by the twofold sts of spiritual power could instantly destroy anything tangible or intangible within a certain range.


    Ling Lan knew well that that missing team leader was most certainly on his way here. There was no time for her to continue wasting; she needed to finish off these two people before the team leader arrived. Otherwise, up against that leader at the peak of Qi-Jin, Ling Lan had no confidence she would be able to stand up to him even one-on-one, much less if the other still had a helper remaining.


    Ling Lan believed that, by using the split-core twofold detonation technique, she would definitely be able to kill off at least one of her opponents. And in reality, Ling Lan had done it. However, the cost was also very high. Not only was her spiritual power depleted, her head ached fiercely, feeling as if it were splitting apart, causing her to feel like puking. Even her physical body sustained a little damage. The only blessing was, setting her spiritual power aside, herbat ability had not been decreased by much.


    "Boss, you cannot use any more spiritual power." Checking on Ling Lan¡¯s condition, Little Four spoke up to caution her, "Forcefully using any more will cause irreparable long-term damage to your spiritual self."


    "Understood!" replied Ling Lan. Her gaze was fixed on the grieving and berserk Xiao Chong. His aura had started to fluctuate; this was undoubtedly a good time to attack ...


    Since she already had no way of using spiritual attacks anymore, then all she could do was charge in. With a strong push of her arms, she flew like an arrow towards Xiao Chong who was still howling mournfully up into the sky.


    At the same time, a cone-shaped icicle appeared in her hands, and in a split second, she was at the opponent¡¯s back.


    In fact, Ling Lan already long knew that the so-called innate talents from spiritual mutation actually had very little to do with how strong one¡¯s spiritual power was. It was just that the innate talents possessed by a body required spiritual power to trigger. Although Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power was depleted, she still had the tiny bit of spiritual power needed to activate Ice Affinity to make this small icicle ...


    At that moment, the wailing Xiao Chong abruptly turned around. He red at Ling Lan with bloodshot eyes and shouted, "You¡¯ve finally appeared!"

 Chapter 171: I Want to Live!

    Chapter 171: I Want to Live!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The opponent¡¯s hand unerringly grasped hold of Ling Lan¡¯s right hand which was stabbing towards him, a savage smile appearing on his lips.


    It¡¯s a trap! Ling Lan realised instantly that the other¡¯s unstable aura and his frenzied wailing had all been a sham ¡ª all for the sake of getting her to attack!


    A piercing glint shed through Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. Regardless of whether the other had done this intentionally or not, at this moment, there was no longer any possibility of a sneak attack.


    Defenceless, an unexpected spiritual charge could indeed cause a target to lose control of their actions for a brief second, allowing her to carry off a one-hit kill. However, once the opponent had their guard up, then a spiritual charge, which was not very strong, would not be able to cause the opponent to lose control. Consecutive assassinations had thoroughly raised her opponents¡¯ guard, which was also why Ling Lan had chosen to use a spiritual st instead of a spiritual charge when she had killed Xiao Fei.


    Thus, for this attack, she had had no choice but to try her luck in a direct confrontation. She only hoped that she could at least deal heavy damage to the opponent, if she could not kill him, before the team leader arrived, so he would be unable to continue fighting.


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s right hand was in the opponent¡¯s grip, she reacted extremely quickly. Her left hand abruptly swept towards the other¡¯s neck, and at the tips of her fingers, an extremely small and thin ice needle was revealed. Against an opponent at the same level of Qi-Jin, even an ice needle, which did not look that sturdy, could give the opponent a fatal wound.


    His brief but full-on contact with Ling Lan let Xiao Chong know that this seemingly 13 year old youth before him was actually at a simr level of strength as him. He was also a Qi-Jin levelbat expert. Thus, Xiao Chong did not dare to take any risks. With a forceful spring of his legs, he dodged that glittering, cold ice needle of the opponent. But in doing so, his right hand had no choice but to let go of Ling Lan.


    He thought that the opponent would take the chance to escape ¡ª most assassins who were proficient in the various methods of assassination would choose to distance themselves immediately if their attempt failed. Thus, right after he dodged the other¡¯s ice needle, he came to an abrupt stop, aiming to stop the other when he tried to escape.


    Regaining free use of her right hand, Ling Lan did not run away as he expected; instead, she chose to get even closer, throwing out a fierce elbow in his direction.


    Because Xiao Chong had chosen to stop, he had no room at all to dodge again. He had no choice but to cross his arms and forcefully take the opponent¡¯s blow.


    An audible thud! Both sides had used their full strength ¡ª when the two hidden forces collided, loud explosions could be heard. As Xiao Chong had blocked Ling Lan¡¯s attack in a hurry, his Qi had not been as substantial as Ling Lan¡¯s. Xiao Chong felt his feet be unsteady, and stumbled back three consecutive steps before the force he had received faded. Even so, he felt a heaviness in his chest as his Qi roiled, and he almost threw up a mouthful of blood.


    During the collision, Ling Lan¡¯s face drained of its colour. However, she had indisputably won the upper hand in this encounter. So, pressing her advantage, she closed the gap as the other retreated, once again getting up close and personal.


    "Godd*mmit!" Xiao Chong had yet to find his footing when he saw the opponent attacking once more. Swearing loudly, he did not choose to dodge this time, but instead clenched his fists and struck out fiercely at the opponent. He just knew that offense was the best defense ¡ª otherwise, he would forever be passively defending against the other¡¯s attacks,pletely losing the chance to fight back.


    Ling Lan saw the opponent¡¯s fisting at her, but did not evade it. Instead, she used her left hand to intercept the opponent¡¯s punch, and then, her right fist swung out ...


    A sh of joy passed through Xiao Chong¡¯s gaze. Simrly, his left hand intercepted Ling Lan¡¯s fist, and the two of them were instantly in a deadlock. Undoubtedly, Ling Lan¡¯s choice this time was advantageous to Xiao Chong. From his initial passive disadvantaged position, he had now risen to be on equal footing with Ling Lan again.


    Right then, Ling Lan¡¯s entire body leaned backwards, and a trace of a smirk yed on the corners of her lips ...


    "Not good!" Warning bells began to ring in Xiao Chong¡¯s heart. Without having to think about it, he retreated swiftly, trying to dodge the threat.


    But it was already toote ¡ª he felt a heavy force striking his abdomen, and then he was sent flying backwards. In mid-air, a mouthful of blood sprayed from his mouth. Ling Lan had used the move she was extremely proficient in by now ¡ª Rabbit Sky Leap. Now, her Rabbit Sky Leap no longer had a mere strength increase of 3 times, but 7.


    Rabbit Sky Leap was definitely a great skill; its power was formidable and it was extremely subtle. Unfortunately, this skill could not be used consecutively. Because the recoil from executing the Rabbit Sky Leap was too strong, Ling Lan¡¯s body could not take the repeated battering of this force. She needed some time to recover before using it again, otherwise it would be too easy for Ling Lan¡¯s legs to be permanently damaged.


    Even though Xiao Chong had already achieved thete stage of Qi-Jin, bearing the full measure of this powerful kicking force, he was still injured badly.


    About to hit the ground, Ling Lan twisted to one side and pped her right hand against the ground to push herself upright again, once again flying towards Xiao Chong. She swung a long readied fist.


    Subtle vibrations could be seen running through Ling Lan¡¯s right arm, being transmitted to her fist. This was abat special skill she had redeemed with honour points from the learning space early on ¡ª¡ª Wave Stacking Strike!


    Wave Stacking Strike stacked the body¡¯s hidden forceyer byyer onto one¡¯s fist. From just 2yers at the start, Ling Lan could now stack up to 6yers, which meant that she could attack a target with up to 6 times her normal Qi-Jin.


    Ling Lan knew very well that a woman¡¯s physical strength was naturally weaker than a man¡¯s ¡ª to be strong in her own right, besides needing to make sure herbat skills were better than herpetitors, she simrly could not lose in terms of strength to those men. In order to make up for this natural deficit, in choosing her techniques, she leant towards those skills which involved power stacking. This was a reason why she had redeemed the Wave Stacking Strike from the learning space.


    Xiao Chong saw the opponent¡¯s fist hurtling towards him and he grimaced. In the air, he had no way to change directions and dodge, and so could only take the blow. With a shout, he threw out his own fist, prepared to duke it out with Ling Lan.


    A loud "Boom!" The two Qi-Jins crashed into one another and the energy swept outwards in a ring. The surrounding trees could not take this powerful force; they all began to lean towards the outside, and a countless number just broke apart under the pressure to fly out.


    "Wah!" In mid-air, Xiao Chong once again spewed ance of blood. He was thrown backwards at a speed greater than before. Only when he mmed violently into arge tree did his body stop moving.


    He slowly slid down the tree trunk to kneel on the ground! Meanwhile, the tree he had mmed into had clear cracks spreading out on its bark where he hadnded ¡ª it was obvious how forcefully he had mmed into it.


    In the meeting of the two fists, although Ling Lan had the initiative as well as the support of the Wave Stacking Strike, she still sustained damage. Being thrown backwards, she stumbled two or three steps back and threw up a mouthful of blood. Only then did the roiling of her blood and Qi settle down enough for her to suppress her difort.


    "Gotta take your life while you¡¯re down!" Seeing the opponent already at a critically injured state, onlycking one final blow to end things, Ling Lan showed no mercy. She stepped forwards once more, pouncing like an arrow at the opponent, throwing a palm out at the same time. The moment she finished off the opponent, Ling Lan would once again conceal herself andy low to wait for her final opponent, the team leader!


    Just as Ling Lan stuck out her palm, her heart throbbed abruptly, a never before encountered sense of danger stealing into her mind ... unknowingly, heaven knows when, a thinyer of fog had drifted to her side.


    "Not good! He¡¯s here!" rm bells rang in Ling Lan¡¯s mind. Her palm abruptly changed directions to strike at the ground, and using that rebound, she retreated with a backflip. Then, as nned, her legs stomped firmly on the ground, sending her body flying at lightspeed into the distance, instantly disappearing from the area.


    Ling Lan who had flown over 100 metres away in an instant suddenly felt her body being struck forcefully. Blood sprayed from her mouth, and her body plummeted uncontrobly to crash heavily into the ground.


    At this moment, behind Ling Lan, a plume of thick fog appeared. Then, a figure emerged from within it ¡ª it was the missing team leader.


    "Who knew that in just 5 minutes, you managed to kill Xiao Lin and Xiao Fei. Even Xiao Chong almost could not escape your lethal grasp," said the team leader, expression frigid, "You are indeed a dangerous character."


    Ling Lan¡¯s internal Qi-Jin had been scattered by thatst strike. Right now, her limbs were lifeless, but she did not want to give up. So, she slowly forced herself to climb off the ground and stand up straight. Using the back of a hand to wipe away the blood stains at the corner of her mouth, she said bitterly, "A Domain fighter!" Although the opponent had just entered the Domain stage, this difference of one stage made Ling Lan unable to bear even one attack from the other. "Your luck is truly great, actually having a breakthrough on site."


    This also exined why the other had taken up to 5 minutes toe. It was likely that the opponent had been in the middle of his breakthrough in this time, and so could not rush over.


    "This is still thanks to you, otherwise I would not have been able to find the catalyst to breakthrough," huffed the team leader. The death of hisrades caused him to be unbearably agonised, leading his already peak Qi-Jin to quake violently, coincidentally causing cracks to appear on the shackled barrier on his development. Initially, he was thinking to finish off the other before finding a ce to focus on his breakthrough, but unexpectedly, when he activated his innate talent, he found himself already deep in the process of breakthrough. This made him have no choice but to continue with his breakthrough, which was why he was dyed by 5 minutes, causing him to lose two morerades. The joy of breaking through could not make up for the pain of losing arade ¡ª this was why his hate for Ling Lan ran even deeper.


    He did not give Ling Lan any chance to continue talking. With a quick sh, he had appeared in front of Ling Lan and was reaching out towards Ling Lan¡¯s neck.


    Ling Lan tried to dodge the other¡¯s hand, but found her body pinned in ce by an invisible force, sealing away her ability to move. She could only watch helplessly as the opponent easily wrapped his fingers around her neck.


    The team leader effortlessly carried Ling Lan by the neck as he headed back to where Xiao Chong was. The opponent¡¯s strength almost suffocated Ling Lan to death. Although she did not know why the opponent did not just kill her directly, the desire to continue living made Ling Lan secretly run through her Qi exercises, hoping to recover her Qi-Jin quicker and win an opportunity to live.


    The team leader very quickly arrived back where Xiao Chongy. He threw Ling Lan to one side and bent over to check on Xiao Chong¡¯s condition. Only then did he let out a breath of relief. Although Xiao Chong¡¯s injuries were severe, he wasn¡¯t dead, and so could be considered lucky. He took out a tube of medicinal agent from the bag at his waist and fed it to Xiao Chong.


    Very quickly, Xiao Chong regained consciousness. Seeing his leader, his eyes turned red and he said, "Leader, Xiao Lin and Xiao Fei are dead." They had been theirrades! On the battlefield, they had not died at the hands of enemy soldiers, but lost their lives here in amon mission to a child ... Xiao Chong found this hard to ept.


    With simrly red eyes, the team leader nced at the bodies of Xiao Lin and Xiao Fei lying not too far away and said quietly, "Xiao Chong, I¡¯m sorry. I still camete in the end."


    Xiao Chong shakily shook his head, "You can¡¯t be med, Leader, that bastard is just too despicable!" That said, his expression shifted and he asked, panicked, "Where¡¯s the bastard?"


    The leader threw a nce at the immobile Ling Lan sitting to one side and said coldly, "I caught him. In a bit, we¡¯ll use his blood to honour our fallenrades."


    Hearing this, Xiao Chong nodded his head vigorously. He pushed himself to his feet and slowly made his way to stand before Ling Lan. Grabbing her roughly by the throat, he dragged her to the ce where Xiao Lin¡¯s and Xiao Fei¡¯s bodiesy.


    Meanwhile, the team leader took the time to bring the body of Xiao Lai over from his ce of death, setting him down together with Xiao Lin and Xiao Fei.


    "Xiao Lin, Xiao Fei, Xiao Lai, watch carefully, this is the culprit who killed you all. Now, I will send him over to your world ... you all must take proper revenge." As the team leader spoke, silent tears began to fall from his eyes. What he had originally considered a simple and minor mission, had actually ended up with him being separated from his brothers by the boundaries of life and death. In his deep regret, he also hated Ling Lan for his viciousness. He abruptly turned his head and said stonily, "Xiao Chong, kill him!"


    "Yes, Leader!" Xiao Chong¡¯s visage was gruesome as his fingers on Ling Lan¡¯s throat clenched forcefully.


    Ling Lan felt as if she could hear the bones of her neck straining under the pressure, about to shatter ... was she really about to die here?


    Ling Lan wanted to struggle, she wanted to resist ... but her body was still locked tightly, unable to make any motion to resist. Ling Lan knew that this was probably a manifestation of the opponent¡¯s Domain ¡ª the opponent was not going to give her any chance to escape.


    D*mmit! I want to live, I want to live! Right before Ling Lan descended into unconsciousness, she roared in her heart!

 Chapter 172: Domain Stage?

    Chapter 172: Domain Stage?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Die!" Xiao Chong bellowed, his fingers moving to crush the opponent¡¯s throat. But suddenly, he felt his fingers go weak, his entire body feeling somewhat numb and cold. He almost lost his grip on the opponent¡¯s neck ¡ª fortunately, the opponent was already powerless and unable to struggle, otherwise he might very likely have let the opponent escape.


    Could it be that his previous internal injury had affected him? Xiao Chong had just begun to puzzle over the issue when all his confusion was driven away by a wrenching pain in his chest.


    He instinctively looked down and was immediately petrified. The first thing he saw was a fair and soft-looking little hand, and in it was a strong-looking heart, still beating ... whose heart was it?


    Immediately after, his entire face twisted in shock and fear, because he saw that a bloody hole had appeared on his chest. Right then, fresh blood was gushing out from the hole ¡ª not only staining his own clothes, but also painting the plot ofnd he stood on in red ... Meanwhile, the small figure standing before him remained spotless. Before any blood could spray onto the other, it would be repelled, as if there was some sphere protecting him.


    Xiao Chong¡¯s vision once more returned to the heart in that little hand, and his mouth was unbearably dry and bitter. So that vigorous thing was his heart? When had his heart been pulled out from inside his body? And he hadn¡¯t felt anything when it happened?


    At that moment, another fair and soft-looking little hand touched his wrist and gently pushed his hand away. Only then did Xiao Chong notice that he wasn¡¯t gripping onto the other¡¯s throat at all. There had been a distance of several millimetres between his fingers and the opponent¡¯s throat ... he just had not realised it.


    After the little hand pushed away his fingers, it lightly patted his cheek. The initially icy and youthful little face of his opponent actually shifted into a smile. The smile was sweet and lovely, making Xiao Chong feel as if he had seen the sun, blindingly radiant yet so warm that people yearned for it.


    "You can die now!" However, what followed the warmth of the sun was only cruel reality.


    When this merciless murmur was delivered from behind this beautiful smile, Xiao Chong heard a ¡¯st¡¯, as if something had been crushed. He instinctively looked towards the sound, and then found his entire body gripped by wrenching pain, and his life quickly slipped away.


    It turned out that his heart had been crushed by that little hand. He even saw the opponent¡¯s fingers pinch and rub it tastelessly for a bit before throwing away the shredded meat with a flick. The opponent¡¯s hand then immediately returned to its original pristine condition, not even a speck of blood on it, as if its crushing of the heart had all been in Xiao Chong¡¯s mind.


    Even scarier was the fact that although the opponent had obviously beenmitting a horrifying and disgusting thing, the opponent seemed to see it as normal. In his gaze were traces of mockery, taunting, and curiosity ¡ª but there was no difort or disgust whatsoever, as if the other had long be used to doing such things.


    This sort of carefree attitude in ying around with others¡¯ lives made Xiao Chong feel as if he had been plunged into icy water, his entire body turning cold ... a demon, he was most definitely a demon!


    "Leader ..." Arduously, Xiao Chong turned his head to look towards his team leader standing at the left to the front of him, as if trying to warn his leader that a demon hade.


    Domain stagebat experts were extremely sensitive to being watched. The team leader quickly turned his head and saw Xiao Chong¡¯s gruesome and tortured expression. His expression shifted and he swiftly retreated, pulling a distance away from Ling Lan and Xiao Chong. It wasn¡¯t that he did not want to save Xiao Chong, but Xiao Chong¡¯s gaze was clearly telling him to run. This made the team leader have no choice but to be cautious and try to figure out the situation before making a decision.


    As he pulled away from the two, he could finally see Xiao Chong¡¯s condition. Both of Xiao Chong¡¯s eyes had turned greyish white, utterly dead and lifeless ¡ª he had used up thest of his life to warn his team leader.


    The leader¡¯s eyes became awash with red, a dark rage sweeping briefly across his face, "Godd*mn, you actually managed to break the bindings of my Domain?"


    To prevent any idents, he had specially used his Domain ability to fully seal Ling Lan¡¯s movements, guaranteeing no chance of failure. Who knew he had still underestimated Ling Lan in the end. The opponent had actually managed to break his binding and even kill off his only remaining team member Xiao Chong right before his eyes. This caused him to be both livid and extremely regretful at the same time ¡ª he should have just killed the other immediately when he had first caught him, and not brought him back here.


    Still smiling radiantly, Ling Lan prodded Xiao Chong who was in front of her with a finger, and then, with a thud, Xiao Chong¡¯s stocky body crashed onto the ground.


    Only then did the team leader see the cause of Xiao Chong¡¯s death. There was arge hole in his chest, blood still flowing from it, and the team leader could also see the mangled bloody flesh on the ground near it. His entire face twisted up, and he cried out, "You¡¯re vicious!"


    Hearing this, Ling Lan lightly waggled a finger in front of her and said with a grin, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, you¡¯re wrong. This is not being vicious, but creating a masterpiece. Look at his lovely expression ... normally, you won¡¯t ever see such a lovely expression." Ling Lan¡¯s smile grew wider. "You should thank me, for letting you see such a rare visage."


    "Demon!" howled the team leader, "I¡¯ll definitely kill you!" Even as the team leader was filled with hate for Ling Lan, he hated himself for not just killing off this evil demon straightaway back then.


    "Kill me? Can you kill me?" Ling Lanughed and shook her head. The opponent¡¯s ignorant words were somewhat hrious from her perspective. Her force of presence abruptly rose significantly, a terrifying and immense wave of pressure descending upon this little forest. The team leader¡¯s face fell and he could not help but exim, "Domain stage!"


    The team leader¡¯s words had barely faded when he shook his head emphatically, face filled with disbelief. "This is impossible. He can¡¯t have jumped levels to advance into Domain stage. It¡¯s not true, this is definitely a lie ..." He tried to convince himself that what he felt from the other¡¯s terrifying presence earlier on was just an illusion.


    Frankly, the team leader had reason to doubt what he felt. The further one progressed, the more crucial it became to take things a step at a time. In particr, after entering the Refinement stage, every increase in level was built on the umtion of one¡¯s foundations. It was extremely rare for a cross-level advancement to ur, especially for the Qi-Jin stage, where every increase in level needed the umtion of years of hard work. Take the leader for example, he had been stuck at the optimal peak level of Qi-Jin for a whole 10 years. Although the Domain stage was just a small step away, he had just never found the right catalyst.


    If hisrades had not died silently one after another before him, causing his emotions to churn and destabilize his internal energy, which unexpectedly then led to the catalyst of his advancement, he might have lingered on the optimal peak level of Qi-Jin for god knows how many more years ...


    His advancement had had a certain element of serendipity to it. Still, it wasn¡¯t strange ¡ª after all, he had already been at the optimal peak level of Qi-Jin; advancement was the natural and logical next step. However, this was not the case for the opponent. When he had exchanged that one move with the opponent, he had learned that the other had already achieved the peak level of Qi-Jin, but was still two ranks away from achieving the optimal peak level. These simple two minor ranks were impossible to ovee without 3 to 5 years of effort ¡ª how had he jumped straight into Domain stage in one leap?


    Besides that, the Domain auraing from the opponent was clearly thicker and more substantial than his, just as if the opponent had already entered Domain stage for many years. This was not something an expert who had just entered Domain stage should have ¡ª this waspletely illogical!


    "It wasn¡¯t easy to cultivate such a little abnormality, and it was almost ruined at your hands. Just thinking of this, my mood is just terrible. I am not happy at all." Although Ling Lan was saying that she wasn¡¯t happy, the smile on her face did not dim in the slightest, instead bing increasingly brighter. But it was precisely this radiant sunny smile which caused chills to run through the team leader¡¯s heart, a never before experienced sense of danger looming in his heart.


    "What do you mean?" asked the team leader cautiously. He was naturally very confused right now, somehow just unable tomunicate with this seemingly rather insane child before him.


    Ling Lan sighed softly, twirling her hair behind her ear gently with a finger, and said with a smile, "Even if I tell you, you won¡¯t understand ... it looks like there isn¡¯t much time left, let¡¯s finish things quickly." That said, he muttered softly to himself, "This lousy body, actually being unable to sustain my emergence for 3 minutes, how horrible ... Number Nine, put more effort into it in future and train up this little fellow¡¯s body. Make her just a bit stronger."


    Inside the mindspace, expression stony, Number Nine warned, "Stop talking nonsense. Still not finishing off the opponent? Do you really want Ling Lan¡¯s body to break down because of your dithering?"


    Number Nine was very unhappy. Number One had clearly asked her to go handle the opponent, but this punk Number Five had rushed ahead and snatched the initiative. If she were not afraid that forcefully taking control away from Number Five would elerate the copse of Ling Lan¡¯s body, she would definitely never let him continue to be in control.


    Number Nine¡¯s strength was the weakest among the nine instructors. Initially, if she had taken control of Ling Lan¡¯s body, she would be able tost for at least 7 to 8 minutes; but because of Number Five¡¯s insubordination, rushing out on his own, the time limit was shortened to 3 minutes before it would break down. After all, Number Five¡¯s power was just too much for Ling Lan¡¯s current physical body to support.


    It should be known that the greater the difference between the strength of the person in control and that of the host¡¯s, the greater the damage to the host. If Number One took control of Ling Lan¡¯s body, it probably would take less than a second for Ling Lan¡¯s body to copsepletely.


    "Fine, being able to juste out for a while is already good enough." Number Five felt that he shouldn¡¯t be too greedy now ... if Ling Lan¡¯s roots were really harmed, he would definitely be pummelled so hard by Big Bro Number One that he would not be able to take care of his daily life 1 , and at worst, his consciousness might just be wiped outpletely. A shudder ran through Number Five¡¯s body, some fear swirling in his heart. He had just wanted toe out and see their host¡¯s world, somehow forgetting about his terrifying big bro.


    Number Five decided to finish the fight in a few seconds, and then immediately go turn himself in to Big Bro for punishment. So, his fingers flicked lightly, and an invisible force nketed the area for several li. The team leader felt as if he had been congealed in a thick liquid ¡ª every move he tried to make required the strength of nine bulls and two tigers 2 .


    "Activate Domain!" The team leader decisively activated his Domain, dispelling the pressure the opponent was forcing upon his body. Furthermore, his body began to be blurred and unfocused as the surrounding forest began to be thick with fog, and then his entire person disappeared within the fog.


    Seeing this, Number Five¡¯s lips curved up into a smile and he said with a chuckle, "This innate talent ... interesting!" That said, he closed his eyes, as if listening intently for something, but also as if unconcerned by what was happening.

 Chapter 173: What Kind of Personages?

    Chapter 173: What Kind of Personages?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Suddenly, the thin and wispy fog behind him became substantial, and a sharp de pierced towards Ling Lan¡¯s back. Number Five seemed oblivious ¡ª the de punching right through to burst out of Ling Lan¡¯s chest, but strangely enough, the wound caused by the de did not bleed at all. It was just as if the leader had stabbed a fake person.


    "Not good!" From the feedback of sensation from his hand, the team leader knew that he had been duped. This figure before him was not a real person ¡ª stabbing it did not feel at all like stabbing through blood and flesh, but like stabbing a person made of straw ...


    Just when the leader was about to turn into fog once more, he suddenly noticed that countless transparent thin lines had appeared around him, gathering to form a to wrap around his entire body. His shift into fog was interrupted, and his body was securely bound.


    "Ah! Explode!" The team leader was naturally unwilling to just give up and be caught; the Qi-Jin of his body suddenly detonated. Although the transparent thin lines were dense and numerous, they were fortunately not very sturdy. They broke apart one after another under the force of the team leader¡¯s exploding Qi-Jin, and the leader took the chance to struggle out of the web around him. Still, because he had failed in turning into fog, his entire body was now real and tangible.


    "What Domain is this?" The team leader¡¯s face changed subtly; he had never before seen such a Domain, which was actually able to set up such an all-epassing within this area.


    "Oh, this is just a type of Domain modification ..." answered Number Five carelessly. With that reply, his figure instantly turned into a bundle of grass and twigs, breaking apart to drift on the wind. Very quickly, not too far from the leader, the grasses suddenly grew at an insane speed, shooting up and weaving together into one entity, finally changing into the appearance of Ling Lan.


    "nt Replication?" The team leader was startled, and then, as if thinking of something, his expression changed drastically. "Could your spiritual mutation be nt Maniption?"


    In a forest, encountering a strong fighter with a nt Maniption mutation was undoubtedly the scariest thing. This was because the forest would enhance nt Maniption ¡ª this would be just like entering the opponent¡¯s territory; the opponent¡¯s attack coulde from any space or angle.


    "nt Maniption? What an interesting way of saying things ..." Number Five said with a grin. He did not have the time or mood to exin things to the opponent, and besides, Number Nine was staring intently at him in the mindspace, clearly afraid he would go overboard in ying around. Number Five did not want to offend the other, just so she would not go andin to Big Bro Number One.


    So, he shouted lightly but crisply, "Net, Form!"


    The ce where the team leader stood was suddenly overgrown by nts, rapidly meshing into arge, enveloping his entire person within it ...


    The team leader naturally did not just stay still and wait to be captured. He tried to turn into fog once again, but just as he activated his Diffusion Domain, his entire body spasmed with pain, and then his entire body was petrified, no longer able to move. Only at this moment did he notice that therge was not just purely arge, but also a fearsome weapon made of countless blood-sucking poisonous vines.


    The toxins of the poisonous vines caused him to instantly lose his mobility, and its horrific blood-sucking speed made him feel as if the blood in his body was disappearing rapidly. He felt his energy disappearing, and began to feel lightheaded from the loss of blood. Gradually, he felt unbearably cold ... until he finally descended into ice-cold darkness ...


    "Retract ..." Number Five sensed that the prey had already lost all signs of life, and so recalled all of the poisonous vines covering the opponent¡¯s body. The vines swiftly sank into the ground, and when the leader¡¯s entire body was revealed, it had already astoundingly be a dry corpse, not a single drop of water left within it.


    "Alright, you can scram now," said Number Nine curtly in the mindspace, clearly in a bad temper.


    Number Five just smiled without retorting. In the learning space, Number Five would not argue against the words of only two people ... one of them was Number One ¡ª his overwhelming strength gave him no chance to fight back. And while Number Nine¡¯s strength was the weakest, for some unknown reason, Number Five just could not work up the interest to turn against Number Nine, or even think of revenge or anything like that ... Number Five just attributed this phenomena to Number Nine and Number One both being of the cold ckfaced line, and that he just seemed to be helpless against their type.


    Without putting up any resistance, Number Five gave control of Ling Lan¡¯s body over to Number Nine. Number Nine did a quick check of Ling Lan¡¯s body, and the expression on her face turned even colder. "Number Five, you¡¯ve godd*mn gone too far with your games."


    Even if Number Nine¡¯s personality was calmer, when she saw the state Ling Lan¡¯s body was in, she could no longer maintain her calm. She could not help but roar like an enraged mother tiger. It turned out that Number Five¡¯s use of his Domain had afflicted Ling Lan¡¯s muscles with varying degrees of injury. By Number Nine¡¯s estimations, Ling Lan definitely would not be able to regain her primordial Qi without a year and a half or so going by. This filled Number Nine¡¯s heart with regret and sympathy, and her rage and disgust at the primary culprit Number Five grew even deeper.


    Seeing Number Nine¡¯s enraged demeanour, Number Five gingerly rubbed his nose. Sigh, mother tigers protecting their cubs should never be disturbed ... he had better run away quickly! Number Five very gutlessly slinked away from the mind-space back to his own area in the learning space, concealing himself.


    Seeing Number Five slipping away so irresponsibly, although Number Nine was still infuriated, she knew that she still needed to help Ling Lan clean things up. So, she could only let Number Five off for now. Still, Number Nine was determined that once she returned to the learning space, she would definitely seek out Big Brother Number One andin, and get him to teach Number Five a good lesson.


    Number Nine suppressed the emotional upheaval in her heart, and focused on getting rid of the five bodies and destroying the evidence. Number Nine¡¯s innate talent was Cold me ¡ª she only needed to get a bit of it onto her target¡¯s flesh or blood, and the me would never stop until it had turned the target into ash and dust. It should be said that among the instructors¡¯ innate talents, hers was the scariest, but it was unfortunately not suitable for bing a mecha operator. This was one of her never-ending regrets.


    In the Mandora star system, the human body had already evolved till an apex. The humans there were extremely strong ¡ª each punch or p was capable of causing massive damage. Especially after their innate talents awakened, they would only be stronger, absolutely capable of breaking the order of humanity.


    However, the Mandora star system was not at all afraid of the fearsome oue of this human evolution. This was because they possessed mecha which were even more frightening than the strongest human after evolution. As long as a mecha was present, even the strongest human would have no way of resisting.


    Let¡¯s put it this way. Only one Domain stage expert would appear out of a poption of several hundred million, but they would be helpless in front of a Refinement stage special-ss mecha operator. The outer shells of mecha were equipped with all sorts of advanced technology, allowing them to be capable of withstanding extreme temperatures, both high and low. They even had various types of energy shields which were capable of resisting all manners of awakened innate talents. A human would just have no way of harming an operator inside a mecha.


    Not just that, the weapons and the firepower of the mecha themselves were truly fearsome ¡ª all sorts of powerful wide-range attack missiles ... even a Domain stage expert would be helpless against them. Regardless of how strong one¡¯s body was, or how fast one¡¯s speed was, it would still be no match for a mecha¡¯s speed and resilience. There was just no way ofpeting against the frenzied sts of these firearms.


    This was why no matter how much humans evolved, this was still ultimately a world ruled by mecha. In particr, the emergence of biomecha was just an unexinable bug for humans.


    Number Nine swiftly cleared the scene. She then lifted her head to look out into the distance ¡ª several strong presences were approaching, but they were toote. All the evidence here had already been destroyed at her hands.


    With a sh, Number Nine disappeared silently from the forest. She had not disappeared for long when several teachers with strong auras appeared in this patch of forest.


    It turned out that although the sh between Number Five¡¯s and the team leader¡¯s Domains had only spanned several brief moments, the fearsome pressure of Domains had still been sensed by other experts of the same stage. The unfamiliar presences stirred their curiosity and confusion, and so they hade to check things out.


    Unfortunately, they had still arrived toote. Other than the aftermath of battle and the bits of aura which had yet to fully dissipate, there was nothing to be found.


    "Honourable Dean!" A figure appeared on a tree branch; it was the dean of the Central Scout Academy. The teachers present all quickly greeted him.


    "Su Qing, sense and see if you can find out what kind of personages we¡¯re dealing with?" asked the dean, brows furrowed, to one of the teachers. Su Qing¡¯s Domain was Induction ¡ª he could determine the characteristics and abilities of a target¡¯s Domain from lingering presence signatures, and with that, find out who had been here. Typically, the Federation would have records on the Domains of the various known Domain masters from all countries.


    The dean was extremely conscious about the inexplicable appearance of Domain masters here. Mind you, right now was the crucial period when two grades were engaged in a grand armed melee ¡ª if any idents were to happen, it would be a disaster. The Domain masters who appeared here without warning ... were they hostile? If they were hostile, or were perhaps infiltrators from an enemy nation, here to cause trouble ... if massive casualties were incurred among the children at the academy, the dean would have let down the Federation¡¯s trust in him, and he would be unable to face the guardians who had entrusted their children to the academy.


    Su Qing heard the dean¡¯s instruction and quickly responded, "Yes, Dean!" With a quick flip, hended on the ground, and then activated his Domain ...


    Very soon, confusion rose on Su Qing¡¯s face. In a sh, he was back at the dean¡¯s side, where he then asked softly, "Sir Dean, there are three different types of Domain signatures. There is a majority of a water element type, so one of the Domain masters probably has a water element ability ... but I can¡¯t see obvious signs of water in the remains of the battle ... it is possible that the other¡¯s ability is some variation of the element of water ..." It had to be said that Su Qing¡¯s deductions were extremely urate ¡ª the team leader¡¯s Diffusion was, in fact, a variation of a water element ability.


    At this point, Su Qing paused, the confusion on her face bing even clearer. "As for the other two signatures, they¡¯re very strange. I can only say I¡¯ve never sensed this type of strange signature before ... Besides giving me an impression of great strength, I can¡¯t figure out anything else. If I had to find a way to describe it, I can only say that one of the signatures gives me a sense of endless emptiness, while the other has an extreme sense of dissonance ..."


    The dean was also befuddled by Su Qing¡¯s descriptions, but he still managed to glean that Su Qing had been unable to identify the information of the other two Domain masters. So, he asked, "Leave those two aside for now. Can you find a Domain master that somehow fits the first signature?"

 Chapter 174: A Fearsome Ability!

    Chapter 174: A Fearsome Ability!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Our own Federation¡¯s Lieutenant General Proteus, the Old Beast of the Northeastern Muqi elite family, King Makino of the Twilight Empire, and General Raye of Dosa. A little further out, those such as Queen Helen of the Aoya Alliance, the Water Sage of the Southstar Gxy, and the Frost Monarch of the Chaotic Lands all have simr Domain abilities," Su Qing listed all the renowned masters of the entire human world who fit the conditions.


    "Simr? Then that means they are all not the one ..." The dean caught what Su Qing implied.


    "Yes, although these masters¡¯ Domain abilities are extremely simr to what I sensed, they are merely simr." Su Qing knew very well that those masters¡¯ Domain abilities were still distinctly different.


    "In other words, this is a Domain master who has yet to be registered ..." The furrow of the dean¡¯s brows grew even deeper. "Su Qing, in your opinion, could this be some Domain masters intentionally hidden away by an enemy nation? A scheme targeting our Federation?"


    Su Qing was silent. The dean¡¯s worries were not made in jest ¡ª ever since the Twilight Empire set a trap which managed to kill the Federation¡¯s god-ss operator Major General Ling Xiao, weakening the Federation¡¯s deterrent power by a whole three levels, anything could be possible.


    However, after some thought, Su Qing opened his mouth to say, "It¡¯s also possible it¡¯s just some newly advanced Domain masters. We just haven¡¯t received their information, that¡¯s all." This would be the optimal oue, but Su Qing was not optimistic about it. This was because one newly advanced Domain master was still possible, but three mysterious Domain masters appearing without warning at the same time? This was clearly a little too much of a stretch.


    The dean also knew this well. After a beat of silence, he continued to ask, "Can you find out the whereabouts of the targets now?" No matter what motives these visitors had, they needed to locate them as soon as possible ¡ª it was best to take control of the initiative.


    Hearing this, Su Qingughed dryly and said, "Sir Dean, you¡¯ve forgotten that I¡¯m not good at tracking ..."


    The dean rapped himself on the head in frustration and said glumly, "D*mmit, I¡¯ve gotten confused by all these troublesome matters ... Lu Nan, is he here?" asked the dean, looking towards the group of teachers.


    "I¡¯m here, Sir Dean!" shouted a teacher not too far away helplessly, raising his hand. When will the honourable dean remember his face? He had been standing right beside him, and he still needed to ask whether he hade ... it was so sad!


    Although Lu Nan felt a little hurt, he still immediately locked onto the strongest water element energy at the scene and began to search. But this time, he failed ¡ª because the energy could only be found within this area of 100 metres. There was nothing else beyond that range, just as if the Domain master had never even left the area.


    Lu Nan was undaunted. Without hesitation, he locked onto that somewhat vacant-feeling energy signature, but no matter how hard he tried to lock on, his ability just could not capture that wispy energy. After trying 5 or 6 times, which all ended in failure, Lu Nan could only choose to give up, and try instead to lock onto that somewhat conflicting and ufortable energy signature.


    Lu Nan thought that this would likely end in failure as well, but surprisingly, he managed to lock on in an instant. However, before he couldmence path tracking, he found that the energy which came into contact with his Domain energy had actually begun to burn without being fanned by the wind, and had begun to devour his energy ...


    This bizarre phenomenon caused Lu Nan¡¯s expression to change drastically. He resolutely cut off the energy he had used to lock onto that foreign energy signature. His reaction time could be considered godlike in terms of speed, and yet, within these short few seconds, that frightening energy had already consumed one-fifth of his own energy.


    The dean noticed the change in Lu Nan¡¯s expression, saw him stumble back several steps, looking somewhat haggard and weak, and could not help but ask in surprise, "Lu Nan, are you alright?"


    Lu Nan¡¯s expression was pained as he said, "I¡¯m sorry, Sir Dean, I am unable to find out where the targets have gone ..."


    "What is all this?" The dean¡¯s irises contracted, doubt and surprise swirling in his heart.


    It should be known that even if Lu Nan¡¯s tracking ability was not number one in the Federation, it was still more than enough to qualify in the top 3. As long as he tried to track someone, even a master at the Domain level would find it difficult to escape his search. The dean had thought that this time again Lu Nan was certain to be able to find some clue, but unexpectedly, even he was helpless.


    "That water element Domain master Su Qing mentioned had never left this area of about 100 metres, so there¡¯s nothing for me to find ... Meanwhile, the other vacant-feeling energy, I cannot lock onto it, and as for the other one ..." Lu Nan¡¯splexion paled, expression revealing traces of lingering fear, "That energy is too terrifying. The moment I locked on and touched it, it began to burn on its own, as if it wanted to devour all my energy. Luckily, I cut off that part of my energy without hesitation, otherwise ..."


    If he had hesitated at all due to unwillingness, maybe tried to think of some other way, those few seconds of dy might even have caused his entire being to be burned up by that fearsome energy, leaving no trace ... this was just too frightening! The more Lu Nan thought about it, the more frightened he was. He had never before encountered this kind of strange and terrifying energy ... who could the Domain master who possessed such energy be?


    Lu Nan¡¯s words were heard loud and clear by everyone present. Their expressions changed, and some of them could not help but take a step back reflexively, as if afraid of being contaminated by this fearsome energy and thus bring disaster upon themselves.


    After listening to what Lu Nan had to say, the dean contemted silently for a few seconds, and then, he said faintly, "You all, do you think that the water element Domain master could have died at the hands of this person?"


    The dean¡¯s words enlightened everyone there. This would exin why that water element Domain master had not left this area.


    "But there isn¡¯t a body here ..." remarked one of the teachers, confused. However, he stopped abruptly after only spitting out half his sentence, because he thought of the characteristics of the other¡¯s Domain. Perhaps after being contaminated by this energy, that water element Domain master had been thoroughly consumed?


    Everyone there realised the same thing, and could not help but shudder. They looked at those areas with bloodstains, and a chill rose within their bones. They wished they could just leave this ce immediately.


    The dean was not expecting a response from the other teachers with hisment. He looked towards the direction where the grand armed melee was going on, sighed, and said, "I only hope now that those two mysterious masters are not targeting the students of our academy ..."


    The dean¡¯s words had barely faded when the pressure of his presence abruptly expanded, and with a grim expression, he ordered, "Su Qing, return to the central control room immediately. Request a ss redprehensive alert from the mainframe. We must ensure that this grand armed melee ends perfectly!"


    "The rest of you, freely choose an area to monitor. We need to cover all the areas where the grand armed melee is taking ce, and keep a close eye on the progress of the grand armed melee. If you notice anything suspicious, request backup from the academy mecha squad!"


    The dean passed down a long string ofmands, spurring all the Domain stage instructors into motion. This time, the appearance of a mysterious Domain master within the Central Scout Academy had caused all these Domain masters to emerge from the depths of the academy where they had been hiding. And all of them were now fully focused on monitoring the grand armed melee! Due to their presences, the grand armed melee was fully under their control at all times, so no major injuries or deaths urred. For the students of both grades involved, this was truly a pleasant surprise.


    ********


    In a small forested area in the academy, a white-d, slightly short and petite youth crashed forcefully into a red-d, tall and thin youth. There was a muffled thud, and then both boys were repelled back from one another to fall heavily to the ground ...


    The white-d youth got up again shakily, roughly swiping away the blood at the corner of his lips. His gaze was as fierce as that of a wolf as he red at the red-d youth stumbling to his feet across from him.


    They were the 7th grade white-d Xie Yi and the 10th grade red-d Yuan Chen. Initially, Yuan Chen had thought that it would be a simple matter to handle a white-d 7th grader, but who could have expected that Xie Yi had such hidden depths ¡ª his strength was no lower than his at all. The two of them fought a difficult battle, ending up in a stalemate.


    In the beginning, they were still using some techniques, exchanging blows, using a move to counter a move for a rather glorious battle. Butter on, after the two of them had used up most of their stamina, they no longer had the mood to keep dragging the fight on. Thus, they began to fight power with power, trying to use blunt force to overpower the other.


    Just like this, they shed violently again and again ¡ª if one stopped to count, they had probably shed up to 20 to 30 times. It should be said that by now, the two of them were already at the end of their ropes. Now all that was left was to see who would fall first, unable to hold on for that final breath.


    "D*mmit, a 10th grade red-coat is really hard to handle. I underestimated them ..." Xie Yi thought glumly to himself, spitting out the blood in his mouth.


    Xie Yi was someone who liked to y the pig to eat the tiger, and so had hidden away all this time within ss-B. Although ss-A¡¯s Qi Long, Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie and such were extremely popr and well-known within the grade, he was not bothered at all by this. He believed that he would not lose to anyone with his capabilities ¡ª the only one he was uncertain about was the uncrowned king of their grade, Ling Lan.


    Xie Yi had always been of the opinion that the ¡¯strong¡¯ of the scout academy wasn¡¯t all that strong. Only at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy where all the best talent gathered ¡ª that was the gathering grounds of the true aberrant prodigies. Only the cream of the crop of all thes of the Federation would be epted there, to be the strongest of the strong.


    Thus, ever since he was 6 years old, his goal had been the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. He hadin low till now, just waiting for the day he applied to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, when he would make his grand debut 1 !


    "Looks like I¡¯ll have to use my ace in the hole, although it¡¯s quite troublesome to use it ..." Xie Yi was not an indecisive person. Sensing that he would not be able to finish off the opponent under current circumstances, he decided to pull out his trump card and go all in.


    Xie Yi shifted into an attack stance with a fist facing outwards, just like before, but this time, a sheen of purple light shed swiftly across his body. With the flickering of this purple light, the muscles of his face twitched noticeably and his expression was one of sufferance, as if tolerating some difort.


    "Die!" roared Xie Yi, pouncing fiercely. Meanwhile, his opponent, the 10th grade Yuan Chen, had simrly readied himself to attack. Almost simultaneously, the fists of the two boys collided once more.


    "Ahhh!" Yuan Chen howled piteously, his entire body spasming violently as if he had been electrocuted.


    Xie Yi¡¯s condition was not much better than Yuan Chen¡¯s; his body was also trembling minutely, and the pain on his face was obvious.


    A few secondster, the two of them sprang apart to fall to the ground. At this time, Yuan Chen looked wretched. He was unconscious, and ck smoke rose faintly from his slightly agape mouth, his body still twitching every so often.

 Chapter 175: Collaboration? No!

    Chapter 175: Coboration? No!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Xie Yi was also slumped on the ground. Ignoring the difort of his body, he forced himself off the ground. Opening his mouth, a plume of smoke billowed out as he grumbled, "D*mmit, a spiritual mutation ability causing harm to its user? How is that reasonable?!"


    Xie Yi was undoubtedly miffed by this ability of his. His spiritual mutation had given him a very powerful ability, Electrify. However, in contrast to others who could control their spiritual mutation abilities perfectly, he had no way to control Electrify. Whenever he used Electrify, he would be harmed in the process as well, though the damage would be half of what his target endures. Still, even at half strength, it was not pleasant. Furthermore, Electrify was not helpful in piloting mecha, perhaps evenpletely useless ¡ª Xie Yi was very disappointed by this, thinking that it was better to have no ability at all over having this crappy one.


    On a tree not too far away, two red-d youths ¡ª one sitting, one standing and leaning against the trunk of the tree ¡ª were observing Xie Yi¡¯s and Yuan Chen¡¯s fight.


    "The punk Boss told us to watch in his message sure is impressive ..." said the seated youth with a grin. He was very pleased with Xie Yi.


    "Was there ever any doubt of Boss Lan¡¯s judgment? ... I¡¯m actually more curious about how Boss managed to send us messages ..." said the standing stern-faced youth. This was something he just could not figure out.


    Once the grand armed melee started, all the students¡¯municators had lost theirmunicative functions. Aside from the notifications automatically given by the mainframe, as well as the surrender and ask for rescue buttons, all other functions were disabled. But all this, to Ling Lan, did not seem to be a problem at all. It was the same back then on Demonbeast, and it was the same again here now with the grand armed melee.


    "Why think so much ...?" The seated youth cast a moody nce at hispanion. His friend just liked to think too much all the time ¡ª even simple things becameplicated in his mind. "Jijyun, stop wasting your energy thinking about it. If Boss didn¡¯t mention it, it just means that this is not something we can do."


    He really understood his boss. If it were something they could learn, Boss would not be stingy and keep it to himself. Since Boss said nothing about it, it was probably something they could not do with their abilities. There was no point for them to worry about it.


    The standing youth nked out for a moment at hispanion¡¯s words, and then,ing to terms with his realisation, he chuckled wryly and said, "Qi Long, you really are the one who understands Boss the best ..." Qi Long¡¯s words had parted the fog of confusion in his mind. Thinking back, it was indeed as Qi Long had said ¡ª as long as it was something they could use, Ling Lan would never keep it to himself. So, since Ling Lan had not said anything, that meant that this thing was not something they could know or bear ... In contrast to Qi Long¡¯s simple thought process, Han Jijyun would still reflect on these things a little deeper.


    These two people were none other than Qi Long and Han Jijyun. The two-man team had had a smooth time of it, easily defeating many 10th grade merit ss teams and ss-B teams. In fact, they were rather disappointed that they had not encountered any 10th grade ss-A teams.


    And then, not too long ago, Qi Long had received a short text from Ling Lan, saying that a very interesting fellow had appeared in this location. Ling Lan had said that the boy was very strong, and had hidden his talents very deeply. He wanted them toe over and see, and if they were satisfied, they could take him in as the 6th member of their team.


    They had stood here and watched for about 5 minutes, getting a general idea of the other¡¯s capabilities. Even though the boy was a little weaker than Qi Long, he would probably be a match for Luo Lang.


    "Eh? He seems to be using his awakened talent!" Qi Long surprised exmation startled Han Jijyun from his thoughts. Han Jijyun looked over, and sure enough, that fellow¡¯s body showed signs of using his innate talent. Ever since the term ¡¯awakened innate talent¡¯ had been brought up by Ling Lan, Qi Long¡¯s team had no longer called ¡¯awakened innate talent¡¯ as ¡¯spiritual mutation¡¯ anymore. This was because they felt that Ling Lan¡¯s term for it seemed more appropriate.


    Regarding this new term, they were not at all surprised, because all kinds of new terminology had been spouting endlessly from their Boss Lan ¡ª they were already used to it.


    The two of them watched until the final blow was dealt, also seeing how Xie Yi was tortured half to death by his own innate talent. Qi Long could not help butugh, "This innate talent is really interesting, actually turning against its own user ... what a quirky talent!"


    Watching the scene before them, even the typically serious Han Jijyun could not stop his face from twitching, unable to ept this reality for a moment. He had studied awakened innate talents, a.k.a. spiritual mutation, at depth, so all relevant information was known to him. And yet, he had really never seen mention of such a quirky talent ¡ª dealing 1000 damage to the enemy while dealing 800 damage to oneself? This was absolutely an ultimate move meant to drag an opponent down with you at the very end ...


    Xie Yi suddenly stoppedining about his ability, lifting his head to look in the direction of the two boys. "Hey, have you guys seen enough?" he asked coldly. Done with the fight, Xie Yi immediately sensed eyes on him as he calmed down.


    "Haha, very cautious, and your senses are also very alert. Really not bad at all!" Hearing this, Qi Long immediately replied with augh. The more he looked at this fellow in front of them, the more he liked him. He really wished he could just invite him to join their team immediately.


    Frankly, it was very easy to obtain Qi Long¡¯s favour. As long as one was strong enough and able to fight with him often, then everything was OK.


    Qi Long had barely finished speaking when he had jumped down from the tree, running over to Xie Yi. Seeing this, Han Jijyun could only follow him speechlessly. Qi Long had always been a man of action ¡ª Han Jijyun was really helpless to do anything about that.


    "Qi Long!" The other being the consistent top rank of their grade, Xie Yi was still very familiar with Qi Long. His gaze then swept to Han Jijyun standing behind Qi Long, and a trace of recognition shed through his eyes. These two have always been as thick as thieves ¡ª for them both to appear before him together was pretty normal ... the only thing was, why would they just happen to stop here and notice his fight? Could it be due to him being a white-coat, while his opponent was a red-coat? Xie Yi was trying to figure out the reason for Qi Long and Han Jijyun¡¯s appearance here.


    "I don¡¯t know when Boss noticed you, but you¡¯re really very strong. Inviting you to join our team, I approve," said Qi Long calmly after sizing up Xie Yi from head to toe.


    "Join your team?" Xie Yi was bewildered, "Why?" Anyone would be confused and lost if a person suddenly appeared without warning to invite them to join their team.


    Qi Long was just about to speak when Han Jijyun suddenly tugged on his sleeve, causing him to instantly close his mouth. Qi Long was azy person ¡ª since Han Jijyun was signalling that he wanted to speak, then Qi Long would happily back off and wait. He could save his words trying to convince the other.


    Han Jijyun stepped forward, and with a serious expression, he asked, "May I know how I should address you?"


    "Xie Yi!" Xie Yi was subdued by Han Jijyun¡¯s formal and serious demeanour. This was the kind of person he found most difficult to resist.


    "Schoolmate Xie Yi, are you currently in any other team?" If he already had a team, Han Jijyun would just end the conversation here. Although they truly stillcked a teammate, they would not go and steal members of some other team. This was something that was beneath them.


    "As a matter of fact, no!" Hiding his true capabilities all this while, he naturally had no interest in joining those weak teams which approached him. Thus, he had been a lone wolf this entire time.


    Hearing his reply, Han Jijyun¡¯s stern expression eased a little, however, he continued to exin seriously and earnestly to Xie Yi, "It¡¯s like this. Our team is currently still missing a member, and we¡¯re nning to attempt the barrier-crossing mission in the virtual world soon. Being able to enter the real virtual world one step earlier to experience mechabat ¡ª would you be interested?"


    Xie Yi jerked his head up, eyes trained on Han Jijyun¡¯s, trying to determine if he was truly being honest.


    With regards to mechabat, of course he was interested. The reason he had been going solo all this time was partly just waiting for the right bid. He had kept an eye on the 3 major teams in ss-A, seeking an opportunity to cooperate with them. Of course, he had also once considered making his own team toplete the mission on his own, but unfortunately, all the capable students had been whisked away by the 3 major teams. As such, he had had no choice but to temporarily set aside that arrangement.


    But now, to his surprise, Ling Lan¡¯s team actually took the initiative to invite him to join. This surprised him greatly, his heart beginning to pound rapidly because of this invitation. No matter how much he had tried to keep a low profile, he was still a 13 year old youth at heart ¡ª he still wanted to be the centre of others¡¯ attention. If not for the grand goal he had set since young of making a grand entrance when he applied for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, he definitely would not have been able to tolerate and hold back for so many years ...


    "A coboration?" asked Xie Yi carefully. He needed to know whether this was a temporary team, or a team meant for lifelongpanionship. Depending on the answer, his decision might very well be different as well ...


    Han Jijyun instinctively turned to look at Qi Long, and they shared a nce, subtle amusement in their gazes. Han Jijyun then turned back to look at Xie Yi and said, "Coboration?"


    A trace of disappointment shed through Xie Yi¡¯s eyes; as expected, a stranger like him who joined halfway was only suitable for a temporary coboration.


    "No!" Han Jijyun¡¯s subsequent words shocked Xie Yi so much that his jaw dropped, his expression filled with disbelief.


    "We only take inpanions. Coboration? We have plenty others for that." Wu Jiong and Ye Xu, for example were all candidates for coboration, but they would never be members of their team. From the very beginning Ling Lan had said that their team would rather go without than settle for someone substandard. Once someone joined them though, then that person would be a long-termpanion, a friend they would trust at their back on the battlefield when they battled for their lives.


    "If you only want to coborate with us ... then, sorry, our invitation is void." When Han Jijyun said this, his expression was cold and unyielding, a sharp glint shing through his eyes.


    At this moment, Xie Yi¡¯s feelings were extremely conflicted. Agreeing would mean that he would be a member of Ling Lan¡¯s team. He would have to sign an agreement stating that he could not drop out of the team of his own ord. Most importantly, if he and his team leader happened to apply to and be epted by the same military school, the team would be maintained, so he would not be able to join an even stronger team.


    Mind you, whether it was Ling Lan or Qi Long as the team leader, Xie Yi believed that both of them were fully capable of sessfully enrolling into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. In other words, this current decision of his may very well be a lifelong choice ...


    As if sensing Xie Yi¡¯s internal struggle, Qi Long and Han Jijyun did not hurry the other. After all, this was indeed a major decision that would affect his future ¡ª he could not afford to be careless about it. On their end, they also wished for the other to consider things thoroughly before making his decision. They wanted him to join full-heartedly as a loyalpanion who could grow with them, and not join with lingering doubts and uncertainty in his mind, unable to view them as true friends.


    Unable to make a decision, Xie Yi thought of Qi Long¡¯s exploits as the top rank in the cross-grade challenges, and knew that the other¡¯s capabilities were no weaker than his own. He also thought of the mysterious and unpredictable Boss Ling Lan behind Qi Long ...

 Chapter 176: Ling Xiaos Instructor!

    Chapter 176: Ling Xiao¡¯s Instructor!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Although I don¡¯t know when Boss noticed you ..." He suddenly recalled what Qi Long had said at the start, as if the one who had first noticed him was Ling Lan and not them ...


    Xie Yi¡¯s gaze steadied. He looked at Qi Long and asked seriously, "Earlier, you said that the first to notice me was your boss? Did you mean Ling Lan?"


    Qi Long nodded and said, "Of course. If Boss hadn¡¯t told me you were here, we wouldn¡¯t havee here to watch you fight."


    Qi Long¡¯s words caused Xie Yi toe to an abrupt realisation. He finally knew who had pushed him down from his tree ¡ª it must have been Ling Lan!


    Xie Yi¡¯s expression alternated between red and white as he struggled with the idea. He had thought that even if he was not the champion of the 7th grade, he would still be within the ranks of the strongest few. But now, reality had given him a direct p in the face. When he had been nudged off the tree by Ling Lan, not only did he not sense the other, he had even thought that he had fallen due to his own mistake ...


    It was clear to see that Ling Lan¡¯s capabilities were far beyond his; Xie Yi¡¯s mouth tasted bitter. "Is Ling Lan really really strong?"


    Qi Long threw a puzzled nce at Xie Yi. Ling Lan¡¯s strength was unanimously acknowledged by the entire grade ¡ª why did Xie Yi look as if he had just found out about this? Still, Qi Long replied properly, "Of course. If Boss fought seriously, I don¡¯t know if I can evenst for 10 moves ..." As Qi Long said this, he secretly crossed his fingers behind his back, praying to any passing deity to forgive him for his lie.


    Qi Long had actually increased the number of moves he could handle in his response. No matter what, he was still the grade¡¯s top rank; saving some face was necessary. I mean, it¡¯s not like he could be honest and say that he could not even take one move from Boss ... that would be too embarrassing.


    Xie Yi had no clue that Qi Long was already buffering his words to save face, adding on a couple extra moves, but still the answer of 10 moves was enough to settle him. He did not think he could beat Qi Long, and so if Qi Long could notst for 10 moves, then he himself would not be able to either.


    Even if they enrolled now, Ling Lan¡¯s current strength would be no weaker than that of thoseuded prodigies of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. With such a powerful team leader, their team would definitely never be mediocre.


    Xie Yi¡¯s heart was decided instantly. He lifted his head and said, "I will join!"


    Qi Long and Han Jijyun exchanged a joyful nce at Xie Yi¡¯s rion response. Although they still did not know Xie Yi very well right now, the other had only made his decision after serious contemtion. As such, the other must have considered things thoroughly, and definitely would not change his mind easily after this. This was precisely the type of team member they needed ...


    Of course, to truly be a truepanion of theirs, he would still need to go through a series of tests, just like how it was with Lin Zhong-qing at the start ... Xie Yi was just blissfully ignorant of this at present.


    Yet, Xie Yi naturally could not join Ling Lan¡¯s team right away, because the grand armed melee was still ongoing. All functions of themunicators were still in lock-down mode. Xie Yi could only wait for the grand armed melee to end so that he could receive the invitation from Ling Lan¡¯s team ...


    Mission aplished, Qi Long and Han Jijyun departed after asking what Xie Yi was nning to do next. As Xie Yi¡¯s stamina was depleted, he needed to find a ce to rest and recover, while Qi Long and Han Jijyun needed to continue fighting. In particr, they wanted to seek out the strongest few of the 10th grade ss-A and defeat them all; otherwise, the 7th grade may not be able to win this grand armed melee.


    Xie Yi waited for Qi Long and Han Jijyun to leave, and then, smiling sinisterly, he prepared to finish off the still unconscious Yuan Chen. However, before he could act, the teacher monitoring the scene appeared suddenly to whisk the other away, causing Xie Yi to lose his chance.


    Still, Xie Yi was not vexed by this. After all, the other had not been a sworn enemy. If not for the fact that the other had tried to kill him first, he too would not think to kill the other. He had only wanted to eliminate all future threat ¡ª this was a point which all pig-yers 1 had to hold fast to. But since a teacher had shown up, he would not be stubborn about it. Pig-yers needed to be clear on the fact that they were just ying as pigs, but were not really pigs 2 ¡ª so, they should not be afraid of any challenges.


    That said, Qi Long and the others continued to fight. Because the top team of the 10th grade had pretty much been wiped out single-handedly by Ling Lan ¡ª the remaining two members had also been secretly undermined by Ling Lan 3 ¡ª this greatly alleviated the pressure on the 7th grade ss-A students.


    That said, the two members who had been undermined by Ling Lan had encountered a 7th grade ss-B five-man team, and a fight had broken out. Even though the ss-B team was overall weaker than those two members, they worked together well, and hence actually managed to withstand a series of fierce attacks from their opponents. As the fight dragged on, the maniption Ling Lan had applied began to have an even greater effect. Meanwhile, the team member chased away by Xie Yi had discovered the signals his team members had left behind, and had finally managed to catch up to reunite with them. At this time, having be adjusted to fighting, the reunited 7th grade ss-B team, now with all six members, began tounch their counterattack ...


    In addition, due to the pressure exerted upon them by their opponents, two out of the four students who had yet to awaken their innate talents actually awakened them. Although the abilities they awakened were very ordinary, awakening any ability at all meant that in terms of operating mecha, they would go much further than those students who did not awaken ... Of course, the more suited the innate talent awakened was for mecha control, the more of an advantage it was in all aspects of operating mecha.


    Against the spirited attack of the 7th grade ss-B team, the two 10th graders were finally ovee. One of them was knocked unconscious right at the scene from a coordinated attack of the ss-B team, while the other, seeing that the situation was not right, instantly turned tail to run ... but was struck down by another 7th grade ss-A team coincidentally passing by.


    This kind of battles were urring at various ces around the academy. Those struck down could be 7th graders or 10th graders ¡ª only when the grand armed melee ended would the final numbers be known. For now, everyone involved just continued to work hard to remain active in the grand armed melee.


    Yet all of this no longer had anything to do with Ling Lan. Controlling Ling Lan¡¯s body, Number Nine hurried to the dormitory district under Little Four¡¯s guidance.


    As long as one pressed the surrender button, they would be able to enter the dormitory safety area. Of course, Little Four could use the mainframe and let Ling Lan enter even without surrendering, but recalling Ling Lan¡¯s caution, Little Four knew that he could not do anything that could leave traces to be discovered. If he did this, without a doubt, Boss would be exposed to public scrutiny.


    Number Nine decisively pressed the surrender button; Ling Lan¡¯s body would not be able to hold out for much longer. If they did not return to an absolutely safe ce, she would not be able to be assured of Ling Lan¡¯s safety. For both Number Nine and Little Four, inparison, the oue of the grand armed melee was just not as important as Ling Lan¡¯s life.


    Number Nine quickly entered the dormitory area, and with several quick sh steps, she had made her way to Ling Lan¡¯s vi where she burst straight into the house. Right then, Ling Lan¡¯s body had already begun showing signs of breaking down, her entire body covered in blood. Such a horrific scene caused Lan Luofeng to leap up in shock from the couch where she had been watching thetest updates on the grand armed melee.


    "Aunt Nan!" Lan Luofeng caught the falling Ling Lan in her arms as she shouted.


    "Young Master Lan! What happened?!" Ling Nanyi appeared in the living room instantly after the shout. From this alone, Number Nine could tell that the other was at the very least a Qi-Jin level master.


    "Unidentified enemies pretended to be teachers to assassinate me! Contact Ling Qin to send trained professionals from home for protection ..." After leaving these final words in a hurry, Number Nine regretfully returned to the learning space. It wasn¡¯t that she did not want to exin things better, but Ling Lan¡¯s body really could not support her manifestation any longer. If she continued to stay, Ling Lan¡¯s body would truly be done for.


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s eyes were wide as she stared at Ling Lan lying unconscious in her arms. A vicious glint shed through her eyes ... No mother could ept her child being harmed. Even the frailest and gentlest mother would be a savage mother lion in times like this.


    "Aunt Nan, let Uncle Qin send people over. Send the strongest people. Not just that. Mobilise all the mecha squads at home for me. I want the academy to give our Ling family an exnation!" Lan Luofeng¡¯s face was a sheet of ice. Her initial gentleness was nowhere to be seen, her gaze filled with the intent to kill.


    Pleasant surprise shed through Ling Nanyi¡¯s eyes. She nodded emphatically and said, "I understand, Mistress!" This was the presence the mistress of the household should have! She had always been of the mind that Lan Luofeng was just a little too weak.


    "Ling Xiao, I definitely won¡¯t let anyone harm our baby, no one ..." Lan Luofeng embraced Ling Lan tightly, as if she would be able to protect her child better by doing so.


    "Mistress, I¡¯ve already sent out the notification. One hourter, they will arrive." Ling Nanyi used the special Ling familymunication method, contacting Ling Qin speedily.


    "Also, I¡¯ve asked Xiao Ying to activate the recovery pod. It is best for Young Master Lan to go into a recovery pod now ..." From her check of Ling Lan¡¯s body, Ling Nanyi found that other than the wide-scale disintegration of the muscles, Ling Lan¡¯s internal organs was also disying varying degrees of damage. However, fortunately, all of these injuries were not fatal with the current technology. As long as there was no problem with the brain, the recovery pod would definitely be able to heal Ling Lan¡¯s injuries. It was all just a matter of time.


    Lan Luofeng knew that she would not be able to carry the 13 year old Ling Lan all on her own with her level of strength. So, she decisively passed Ling Lan to Ling Nanyi. Since she was unable to help, she should just get out of the way and not make things more difficult. Lan Luofeng knew very well what she should do.


    Eyes red, she watched as Ling Lan was ced into the recovery pod. Seeing the recovery pod close, Lan Luofeng finally showed some weakness, her expression showing traces of sorrow and pain.


    But once the recovery pod hid Ling Lan from sightpletely, Lan Luofeng¡¯s expression turned cold and unforgiving. She abruptly turned to Ling Nanyi and said, "Aunt Nan, let us wait for the dean¡¯s arrival ..."


    "Yes! Mistress!" said Ling Nanyi respectfully.


    One hourter, an old man with a head of white hair appeared mysteriously at Ling Lan¡¯s vi. Lan Luofeng had met him before ¡ª Ling Xiao had brought her to visit him once ¡ª he was one of Ling Xiao¡¯s initiate instructors 4 , Mu Shui-qing 5 .


    "Instructor Mu ..." Seeing the other, Lan Luofeng¡¯s eyes turned red, almost breaking out into tears. Ever since Ling Xiao had passed away, Mu Shui-qing had shut himself up in the Ling family mansion. He had note out for 10 years. This time, due to Ling Lan¡¯s near assassination, he had finally been troubled enough toe.


    "Where is Ling Lan now?" asked Mu Shui-qing anxiously.


    Lan Luofeng hurriedly led Mu Shui-qing to Ling Lan¡¯s recovery pod and opened it up. Mu Shui-qing carefully examined Ling Lan¡¯s body, and his expression shifted minutely, "There is still a trace of water elemental energy from a Domain master. Looks like the one who tried to kill Kiddy Lan is a Domain master."


    Mu Shui-qing¡¯s expression eased slightly in constion, "Although I don¡¯t know how he managed to escape from the opponent, surviving an attack from a Domain master is a miracle on its own."

 Chapter 177: Old Beast Mu Shui-qing!

    Chapter 177: Old Beast Mu Shui-qing!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    That said, Mu Shui-qing thoroughly examined the Qi-Jin in Ling Lan¡¯s body. A strange flush appeared on his face, "Good! As expected of Ling Xiao¡¯s child. Who¡¯d have thought that you would have achieved the peak of Qi-Jin stage at this age ..." Perhaps Ling Lan had been able to survive this crisis because his opponent Domain master would never have guessed Ling Lan was already at this stage. As such, the opponent might not have used his full strength, giving Ling Lan an opportunity to escape with his 1 life.


    Mu Shui-qing¡¯s gaze was tender as he watched Ling Lan lying inside the recovery pod. Ling Lan had undoubtedly been very lucky. Just as he was about to close the recovery pod again, he suddenly sensed Ling Lan¡¯s initially slowly circting Qi-Jin speed up, the Qi-Jin umting rapidly ... Could it be that Ling Lan was entering thete stage of Qi-Jin peak now? If that was the case, then this would truly exemplify the saying that blessings woulde if one could weather a great crisis!


    Mu Shui-qing gently closed the recovery pod, then turned to Lan Luofeng and said, "Remember not to open the recovery pod during this period of time. This child is truly blessed with great fortune. In the midst of this crisis, he actually obtained the catalyst for advancement ... perhaps the recovery time of these serious injuries of his will be greatly shortened due to this advancement."


    Mu Shui-qing¡¯s words caused Lan Luofeng to breathe a sigh of relief. Although Ling Nanyi had reassured her repeatedly that Ling Lan¡¯s injuries looked worse than they were, not actually anything serious, Lan Luofeng had simply been unable to stop worrying. However, Mu Shui-qing was different. He was an instructor who had been greatly respected by Ling Xiao; what he said could not be wrong.


    After some thought, Mu Shui-qing added, "After his injuries are healed, let Ling Lan stop his schooling at the academy and return to the mansion. The scout academy has taught all it can; it¡¯s time for him to learn from me now ..."


    "Ah ..." Lan Luofeng lifted her head in joy and surprise, "I understand. Thank you, Instructor Mu!"


    Lan Luofeng remembered Ling Xiao telling her once that, his ascension to god-ss operator was closely rted to the things Mu Shui-qing had taught him. However, Ling Xiao had never gone into detail on what it was exactly that Mu Shui-qing had taught. This time, studying with Instructor Mu Shui-qing would undoubtedly be a great help to Ling Lan¡¯s future development.


    Seeing the pleased and excited expression on Lan Luofeng¡¯s face, Mu Shui-qing couldn¡¯t help but recall his most outstanding disciple, Ling Xiao, and his expression dimmed. He still remembered, back when he had first met Ling Xiao, he had been overjoyed, believing that the other would be able to inherit his full legacy. With a disciple like that, he had thought that he would have no more regrets in this life.


    But who could have expected that the other would die so young, falling from this world before his time. Even as his heart ached, he wondered if the heavens had refused to allow the existence of such a nature-defying prodigy ... his heart was as lifeless as ash, and so he chose to seclude himself in Ling Xiao¡¯s old mansion, shutting himself off from the world.


    This time, if not for Ling Qin begging desperately outside his door, pleading for him to intervene and rescue Ling Xiao¡¯s only descendant, he would not have been moved to leave his seclusion. In truth, he had really wanted to take a look at the only child Ling Xiao had left behind ...


    Who could have guessed that with just this one look, he was astounded once more ¡ª Ling Xiao may have passed away, but his nature-defying aptitude had not been reimed by the heavens. Instead, it had been inherited by his child, who was just as prodigious as his father. This discovery jolted Mu Shui-qing¡¯s ash-dead heart to life once again ... the desire to mentor a disciple was rekindled within him.


    "Hopefully this child will grow up sessfully, and not repeat the tragedy of Ling Xiao ..." He would not be able to bear the tragedy of the idental death of another beloved disciple. That would be too cruel for him.


    ********


    At present, sitting within the dean¡¯s office, the dean suddenly received news from the academy mecha squad protecting the campus.


    "What?! You say that the Ling family mecha squad is already nearing the campus no-flight boundary?" The dean had already been troubled by the mysterious disappearance of the Domain masters, and now, hearing this bad news, he was instantly in a towering rage, "What the hell? Is the Ling family trying to mutiny?!"


    "Dean, the other party says that their current family head Ling Lan was attacked by mysterious Domain stage teachers inside the academy. Although he escaped with his life, he is currently unconscious with heavy injuries. To ensure their family head¡¯s safety, they need to immediately escort their family head off the premises ..." said the captain of the mecha squad on the other end of themunicator glumly, "From their words, it¡¯s clear that they me the academy for not doing its duty in protecting its students. They have even demanded for you, the dean, to give their mistress a satisfactory exnation!"


    "Domain stage master¡¯s attack?" Coming to a realisation, the dean immediately said, "Who is heading the Ling family mecha squad? Tell him to calm down, don¡¯t be reckless and exacerbate things ..."


    The squad captain chuckled dryly and replied, "That won¡¯t be a problem. The lead of the Ling family is Ling Qin! That fellow only moves after careful consideration ..."


    When the dean heard that Ling Qin was heading the squad, his brows eased, but then very quickly scrunched up tightly again!


    "This fellow ... looks like he¡¯s here to force me to handle this matter personally!" The dean instantly figured out what Ling Qin intended with this show of force. Unfortunately, he had no choice but toply with the other¡¯s intentions. This was because their academy was indeed in the wrong on this matter ¡ª a student had been seriously harmed within their academy grounds. Moreover, the assant was an unidentified, mysterious Domain master ... no matter what, the academy had to take responsibility!


    The dean said helplessly, "Tell Ling Qin that I will visit their mistress immediately. After understanding the situation, I will give them a proper response."


    Very quickly, the captain of the mecha squad returned with Ling Qin¡¯s response. "Dean, Ling Qin has agreed, but is only giving us one hour¡¯s time. If by then they don¡¯t receive a final answer, then even if they all die here in battle, they are determined to try and break through our defences."


    "D*mmit, this punk is tantly threatening me. Godd*mmit!" The dean almost exploded with anger, but he could not fault the other¡¯s response. If he really wanted to give the other a satisfactory exnation, one hour was sufficient for him to find out the truth of the matter. "I understand. Within one hour, I will let their mistress contact them."


    The dean hung up, a dark rage creeping over his heart ... could it be that those mysterious Domain masters were really sent by the enemy to deal with Ling Lan?


    "Godd*mn, after doing away with Ling Xiao, now they want to go after Ling Xiao¡¯s child?" Just thinking of this possibility, the dean could no longer keep a lid on his anger, mming a hand down powerfully on his office desk.


    This palm contained both the dean¡¯s rage and internal force, actually destroying therge, thousand-year old red sandalwood desk before him. With a loud rumble, the entire desk copsed, instantly bing a pile of debris.


    "Sir Dean, where are you going?" In the great hall outside with the mainframe, Su Qing had been monitoring the campus with his full attention when he saw the dean rush out of his office, fuming. He immediately stood up to ask what was wrong.


    "Su Qing, those mysterious Domain masters ... their target may very likely be Ling Lan. They want to kill him ..." Facing his trusted senior officer, the dean immediately divulged his suspicions.


    Su Qing¡¯s expression paled. Within the academy, other than the dean, he was the only one who knew about Ling Lan¡¯s true identity as Major General Ling Xiao¡¯s only direct descendant.


    "Dean, I¡¯ll go with you!" Su Qing could not suppress the rage in his heart, ready to apany the dean.


    "No need. Monitor the grand armed melee closely for me. Do not let the opponent take advantage of the chaos to do anything else." Although the dean was very worried about Ling Lan, he was still the dean of the Central Scout Academy. He needed to be responsible for all the students ¡ª there must not be any more idents in this grand armed melee.


    "Understood, Sir!" Su Qing knew the weight of the matter, and so epted thismand regretfully.


    After arranging all this, the dean rushed over to the dormitory district. The safety areas were restricted by the mainframe to keep out those of the two grades who were participating in the grand armed melee ¡ª those with status ess like the dean could still enter freely. Of course, regr teachers may still find it much more difficult to enter the safety areas during the grand armed melee; the restrictions imposed by the mainframe were still rather numerous.


    Arriving at Ling Lan¡¯s vi, the moment he entered the main door, he saw a stony-faced youngdy sitting primly on the living room sofa. She was Ling Xiao¡¯s widow, Ling Lan¡¯s mother, Lan Luofeng. Meanwhile, behind her stood the housekeeper of this vi, as registered in the books of the academy, Ling Nanyi.


    "15 minutes. Sir Dean, you came pretty quickly," said Lan Luofeng icily to the dean, closing the pocket watch in her hands. She had already received news from Ling Qin. The Ling family mecha squad were standing by at the edge of the no-flight zone of the academy, awaiting her orders.


    Faced with this scene, the dean rubbed his nose, somewhat flustered, uncertain how he should respond. After a brief hesitation, he asked somewhat stiltingly, "Ling Lan ... is alright, right?"


    "Thanks to you, he is now lying in a recovery pod, almost dead." Lan Luofeng¡¯s tone was sharp and cutting, not giving any consideration to the dean.


    "As long as he¡¯s fine, as long as he¡¯s fine!" A child being harmed in the academy ¡ª their academy was definitely responsible. The dean could only swallow his voice and bear the brunt of Lan Luofeng¡¯s anger.


    "The opponent is a water element Domain master, dressed in the clothes of an academy teacher ... Ye Yifan, shouldn¡¯t you give us an exnation?" A wizened voice rang out from above the living room. The dean looked towards the voice, and saw a white-haired, lean old man slowly making his way down the stairs, his steps slow but stable.


    The moment he saw the old man, as if shocked, the dean immediately leapt up and said respectfully, "Instructor Mu!"


    "Hmph, still remember that I am your instructor? I thought you had forgotten ..." sniffed Mu Shui-qing, discontentedly. Ye Yifan was an excellent student of his in his early years, butter on, they had drifted apart due to ideological differences.


    The dean silently wiped away a handful of cold sweat from his forehead. The colour of his face shifted uncertainly, a trace of contemtion briefly coursing through his eyes. Mu Shui-qing had been his initiate instructor when he had been a youth. 50 years ago, Mu Shui-qing had already been a Domain stage master; after so many years, he was probably already at a different stage by now ...


    The dean was someone who thought a lot. Seeing Mu Shui-qing appear here, he began to suspect ¡ª the other two so-called Domain masters ... could they have been contrived by Mu Shui-qing? Legend has it that God-Realm masters were able to contrive any elemental energy as they wished ...


    Frankly, the dean could not be med for thinking this way. In his eyes, no matter how strong Ling Lan was, he was still a boy ¡ª there was no way he could withstand a Domain master¡¯s attack. Unless Mu Shui-qing had stepped in to help, Ling Lan definitely could not have escaped from a Domain stage master with his life.


    For a Domain master to kill a scout student, it was as easy as stepping on an ant. How could Ling Lan have possibly found a chance to escape?

 Chapter 178: Ling Lan Wakes Up!

    Chapter 178: Ling Lan Wakes Up!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The dean believed that he had obtained the truth. With this, he could exin why that water elemental Domain master had never left the scene ¡ª he had probably been killed by Mu Shui-qing right at that spot. And this was also why Mu Shui-qing clearly knew the opponent had been a water elemental Domain master.


    Connecting the dots, the dean arrived at an answer. This would also exin why Lu Nan had been unable to lock on to the other two energy signatures. Think about it, how could a Domain stage person use their abilities across stages to track the movements of a God-Realm master? Perhaps at the very moment of locking on, this Old Beast had already noticed the trace, and had then given a slight warning by using mysterious means to destroy part of Lu Nan¡¯s energy.


    Sure of his answer, the dean¡¯s initial bewilderment over the mysterious Domain masters was quelled, and his restless heart settled. Anything was the scariest when it was still unknown ¡ª once a reasonable exnation was found, then it would no longer be as frightening.


    At ease now, the dean¡¯s demeanour became even more respectful. He said to Mu Shui-qing, "Instructor Mu, how could I ever forget you, old man 1 . You will forever be the instructor of the Marshal and I. But, what are you doing here?"


    "If I don¡¯te, should I just watch as Ling Xiao¡¯s child dies here? What the hell is wrong with your safety measures here? Allowing unidentified enemies to infiltrate so easily?" Mu Shui-qing¡¯s expression was one of extreme dissatisfaction, full of anger at the ease with which enemies had entered the scout academy.


    Hearing this, the deanined in his heart: No matter how tight security is, won¡¯t it all be rubbish in your eyes? Won¡¯t you still be able toe and go as you please? Of course, the dean only dared to say this in his mind; facing Mu Shui-qing¡¯s merciless scolding, he did not dare to argue at all. He could only nod repeatedly and say, "Yes, yes, yes, we did not do enough. We¡¯ll definitely correct this."


    "Since you know, aren¡¯t you going to go and find out who exactly that water elemental Domain master is for me? Where in the world is he hiding now?" Mu Shui-qing was rather worried. An unknown Domain master hiding undercover by Ling Lan¡¯s side ... this was extremely dangerous for Ling Lan. After all, he could not stay beside Ling Lan to watch over him at all times.


    "Uh ...." The dean cast a speechless nce at Mu Shui-qing. The opponent had clearly already died at his hands, why did he still want him to go and investigate?


    Recalling that Mu Shui-qing had always been a ck-bellied person since the past, the dean could not help but think a little deeper. Could it be that Instructor Mu wanted to take the opportunity to clean up some of the other factions within the academy?


    At this notion, a sharp coldness emerged on the dean¡¯s face. Indeed, this was a great chance. These past few years, pressure from various parties had given him no choice but topromise, letting different factions ce various people with differing objectives into the academy as instructors. This had caused some unwee new developments to appear in the school¡¯s culture. It was indeed time to find an opportunity to straighten things up a bit, and restore a clean order to the academy.


    Just as the Marshal reminded them, the scout academies were the cradle where their legion of troops was cultivated. They needed all kinds of resources, but should reject all politics.


    "Understood, Instructor Mu!" Figuring things out, the dean immediately nodded and agreed, but then continued to say, "However, right now is still the time of the grand armed melee. I can¡¯t perform anyrge-scale cleaning up. I hope toprehensively reorganise the entire scout academy after the grand armed melee ends, giving peace back to the academy, as well as giving you and Mistress Ling an eptable ounting then."


    "Good! Just do as you say, do not forget your promise." Touched, Mu Shui-qing patted the dean¡¯s shoulder. Although this student of his had always been somewhat soft in his character, when necessary, he could still be determined enough. Mu Shui-qing¡¯s initial discontentment with Ye Yifan vanished, and he couldn¡¯t help but pat his shoulder again in approval.


    The two of them were actually talking about twopletely different things, and yet their responses matched up wlessly. They both thought that the other understood what they were saying, and that they too understood what the other wanted to do ...


    Seeing that Mu Shui-qing was satisfied, the dean took the opportunity to suggest that Lan Luofeng inform the Ling family mecha squad outside not to trespass without reason and just wait patiently for the grand armed melee to end. Given some time, he would definitely give the Ling family a satisfactory answer.


    Obtaining the response she wanted, Lan Luofeng agreed to let the Ling family mecha squad return to the Ling family estate ... Just like that, the major incident that was about to break out among the two parties subsided in this mutual agreement, both sides patiently waiting for the end of the grand armed melee.


    Lan Luofeng had agreed to wait so readily inrge part because Ling Lan had been the one to initiate this grand armed melee. Thus, she did not want this momentous grand armed melee to be stopped halfway.


    ********


    24 hours passed by quickly. In the end, at 319 people versus 171 people, and a score of 14922 versus 10776, the 7th graders soundly defeated the 10th graders, bing the ultimate victors of the grand armed melee.


    At the same time, they officially became the strongest grade within the scout academy. All students of the other grades, when faced with a 7th grade student (with a uniform of the same colour), needed to submit and give way. This was an acknowledgement of the strong ¡ª because the results fought for by the 7th grade had obtained the recognition of the entire academy. Of course, there were still those who did not want to submit. After a year, they would be free to challenge the 7th grade then and initiate another grand armed melee ... to fight for the title of the strongest grade!


    Meanwhile, after beingatose for several days, Ling Lan finally woke up. She found herself inside the learning space, her entire mind somewhat at a loss.


    "Boss, you finally woke up!" Little Four, who had been fiddling with his own fingers alone in the learning space, abruptly saw Ling Lan appear before him, and instantly pounced at her emotionally ... his tears gushed out like a waterfall, almost drowning Ling Lan.


    "Stop! If you don¡¯t stop now, even if I¡¯m not dead yet I¡¯ll be drowned to death by you ..." Ling Lan poked Little Four¡¯s head weakly, wanting him to keep those worthless tears to himself 2 .


    "Boss, I¡¯ve been so worried these past few days, being unable to find you all this time ..." sniffled Little Four.


    "Don¡¯t you see I¡¯m fine? I¡¯m still alive. Looks like while I was still unconscious, someone saved me ... Little Four, I want to know who saved me. What happened back then?" Ling Lan asked Little Four, eager to know the truth of the matter.


    "At that critical moment, Number Five took over your body, Boss, instantly wiping that horrible fellow out ... originally, Number Nine was the one who was supposed toe out, but Number Five was disobedient and rushed toe out first. It¡¯s because of him that your body, Boss, is in such a terrible condition. Number Nine said that Number Five¡¯s power exceeded Boss¡¯s by too much, and so caused much more damage to Boss¡¯s body. If she had been the one toe out, the situation would have been better," Little Four prattled on, telling Ling Lan what had happened.


    "So the instructors can control my body, this is the first time I¡¯m hearing about it ..." Ling Lan had not expected that the instructors of the learning space could borrow her body toe to her world. This made her wonder ¡ª what in the world was the learning space exactly? Was it really just a simple assistive learning device?


    The more Ling Lan thought about it, the more mysterious she found this learning device in her head to be. Her heart couldn¡¯t help but beat erratically ¡ª who knew if this was ultimately good or bad for her?


    "This is nothing. If your technology here hadn¡¯t been so useless, they could have long actualised themselves," scoffed Little Four. If the technology here were just a bit more advanced, then he would not have to be so helpless every time Boss encountered danger, only being able to watch without being able to do anything.


    "Actualise?" Ling Lan was stunned. She couldn¡¯t help but chase the thought, "Little Four, what is that exactly?"


    Little Four felt that he had made a major slip-up, and so began looking around aimlessly, pretending that he could not hear anything. No matter what, he was unwilling to continue discussing this topic.


    Seeing Little Four¡¯s actions, Ling Lan realised that this must definitely be something tied to the rules and restrictions of the system. As a support intelligence-entity, the system seemed to impose many restrictions on Little Four. Having figured this out, Ling Lan did not want to put Little Four in a tight spot, and so stopped asking. Ling Lan knew that if this was something he could tell her, Little Four definitely would not hide it from her. Although she was indeed very interested in what ¡¯actualization¡¯ involved, she did not want Little Four to be punished and harmed by the system¡¯s restrictions. At the heart of it, Little Four was much more important than all of that.


    Seeing Boss Ling Lan letting him off with so much understanding, Little Four was instantly greatly moved. Chirp, chirp, chirp 3 ... his boss was just the greatest! He must definitely work hard to evolve and be even stronger ... once he became strong enough that the restrictions and bindings be ineffective against him, then he would be able to tell all these secrets to Boss!


    At this moment, Little Four¡¯s yearning to be strong became increasingly more intense, and his distaste for the system¡¯s bindings increased correspondingly ... this also spurred him to deviate from the original developmental pathway set for him by the system, to truly be a powerful, independent, emotionally-capable Little Four.


    Ling Lan skipped over the topic, turning instead to ask about other things. Thus, she found out that the 7th grade had not disappointed, securing the victory of the grand armed melee, and bing the final beneficiaries. Moreover, under the academy¡¯s instructors diligent monitoring, along with their speedy rescues, no deaths urred in this grand armed melee. Of course, the number of wounded was indeed rather staggering ¡ª a whole 3000 people had bled and incurred injuries, while 800 of these had serious wounds. It was clear to see how intense and violent the grand armed melee had been.


    After being informed, Ling Lan breathed a sigh of relief. She had been the one to initiate the grand armed melee ¡ª although she had already been mentally prepared for deaths and injuries in the process, this final oue was undoubtedly a perfect one ... this made her very happy.


    However, what Little Four told her next gave her pause ¡ª she never knew that that eminent master living in the Ling family mansion had such aplex background, capable of changing the course of her life with just a simple sentence ... was she really about to leave the scout academy where she had lived for 7 years?


    Thinking of the littlepanions who had grown up alongside her, some reluctance welled up in Ling Lan¡¯s heart. Unknowingly, she had already epted them into her heart, truly considering them as her own dear younger siblings.


    However, the cold rationality Ling Lan cultivated within the learning space very quickly chased away this little bit of reluctance. Ling Lan knew very well that everyone had their own paths to walk ¡ª she could not always shelter them under her wings. Letting them learn how to be independent earlier would be better for their future development.


    Besides, there was a secret inside Ling Lan¡¯s heart. That was that, she would not choose to enrol in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Instead, she would enrol in a co-ed military school in a distant gxy to finish up the remainder of her studies. After that, she would traverse the starry skies, gradually disappearing from the public eye ... to regain her female identity, it was necessary for her to leave the people who were familiar with her. Therefore, instead of making them unbearably sad then, she might as well take the chance to leave now. This way, at that time, she would be able to find a very good excuse to leave this.

 Chapter 179: Cry Daddy!

    Chapter 179: Cry ¡¯Daddy¡¯!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Decision made, Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts no longer lingered on the scout academy. Her mind turned to that Instructor Mu who had the deepest respect of her mother Lan Luofeng ¡ª what sort of personage was he? Based on Little Four¡¯s description, he could even berate the dean of the Central Scout Academy without any reservations ¡ª his identity was most certainly not simple.


    Chattering on and off, Little Four reported everything, and then, suddenly thinking of something, his mood drooped noticeably. With a face full of reluctance, he asked, "Going back just like this, won¡¯t it be very difficult to meet up with daddy?"


    Outside the academy, when they logged on, they would log onto the real virtual world, not the academy¡¯s enclosed virtual world. From there, to seek out the concealed gateway to the Central Scout Academy¡¯swork, even if Little Four spread out his resources, would take up considerable time and effort. It was not a simple matter.


    That was not to say that Little Four could not break past the barrier-gate, but the virtual world was just too vast ¡ª many concealed gateways would be easily overlooked. It was just like that mysterious BL world 1 Little Four had entered previously ¡ª if Little Four had not stumbled upon it by ident, he might never have known that a virtual space was hiding at that particr spot ...


    That was why Little Four was rather worried ¡ª if he could not find that concealed gateway to the Central Scout Academy quickly, then, did that mean that he would not be able to visit daddy within the near future? Mind you, in the recent past, whenever Little Four had time, he would run over to Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space, sometimes even up to 3 or 4 times a day. Although Little Four was very afraid of Ling Xiao¡¯s immense spiritual energy and did not dare to interact directly with him, Little Four only needed to see Ling Xiao¡¯s warm smile and his mood would be amazingly upbeat ...


    Ling Lan was deeply suspicious of this sort of atypical behaviour from Little Four ¡ª was her Little Four already at the age where he needed paternal love? This spection of hers naturally prompted Little Four¡¯s empathic denial ... but seeing an extremely noticeable flush appear around the skin surrounding Little Four¡¯s ears, Ling Lan instantly realised that Little Four was just too embarrassed to admit the truth.


    Little Four¡¯s reaction caused Ling Lan to fall into a silent contemtion. Ling Lan¡¯s emotions regarding Ling Xiao were extremelyplicated. As she was growing up, Ling Xiao had never appeared. Although Lan Luofeng constantly talked about Ling Xiao and his glorious exploits by her ear since she was small, trying to establish the image of a perfect father in Ling Lan¡¯s mind, Ling Lan was after all not a true child. Her mental maturity meant that it was impossible for her to truly ept a man she had never met, a man she only knew by name as her father just because Lan Luofeng kept bringing him up in conversation.


    Thus, Ling Xiao had always been the most familiar stranger in Ling Lan¡¯s heart! Just like a character on a portrait ¡ª beautifully perfect but ethereal and unrealistic.


    But then all of this had been broken apart by her idental venture into Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space. Although the Ling Xiao within the legacy space was just a spiritual entity, it was still a manifestation of Ling Xiao¡¯s true character. The words and interactions with the entity inside represented the words that Ling Xiao had imagined he wanted to say even before Ling Lan was born. From those words, Ling Lan had sensed the deep love that Ling Xiao had held for his child ...


    Ling Xiao was definitely a caring father. He was willing to trust his child, and when his child needed it, he would provide the warmest and most substantial love and care ... During this period of interaction, Ling Lan could clearly sense this from the spiritual entity, and had been moved by it.


    Ling Lan still remembered, back when the two of them had first met in the legacy space, at the end, Ling Xiao had asked Ling Lan whether she could call him ¡¯daddy¡¯ ... This request had been ignored by Ling Lan then. Because back then, Ling Lan really had not been able to ept that foreign and young beyond reason man as her father.


    However, after spending time with him these past few years, Ling Lan often going into the legacy space to receive instruction from Ling Xiao and spar with him, she had finally got to experience a father¡¯s mentorship and expectation for his child. This made Ling Lan unable to continue ignoring Ling Xiao¡¯s love and sacrifices ...


    Ling Lan muttered to herself, "Yes, I need to find an opportunity to go see him once!" This time, she would call him ¡¯daddy¡¯! He deserved it; the Ling Xiao of 13 years ago had sincerely wanted to be a dutiful father back then.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused Little Four to revive instantly. Deeply moved, he said, "Alright, leave everything to me." Although they were in a recovery pod right now, with seemingly no way to enter the virtual world ¡ª who was he? He was the all-powerful virtual god Little Four! As long as there was a path to connect to the virtual world, he would be able to connect ... Oh no, why had he forgotten this earlier? Actually wasting so many days just waiting for Boss to wake up.


    Boo hoo hoo, daddy, Little Four has already not seen you for almost 10 days! I really miss you so much! Little Four missed Daddy Ling Xiao¡¯s warm presence terribly. That was what a dad felt like.


    With Little Four¡¯s assistance, Ling Lan was carried by Little Four into the virtual world. As there was no official login device, they were currently online as darkizens with no identity. Little Four took the initiative to conceal their figures, immediately slipping into Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space.


    The two of them walked the familiar path through the Ling family mansion and pushed open the study door. Hearing theme in, Ling Xiao lifted his head, and with a warm smile, he said, "Ling Lan, you¡¯vee ..." Just like an extremely patient father who had been waiting unbelievably patiently for his own yful child to return home after ying their fill ...


    Ling Lan even had the mistaken feeling that, in these days which she had been absent, had Ling Xiao been sitting alone behind his desk all this time, just waiting for the moment she would open the door and walk in?


    Ling Lan felt a pang run through her heart and her lips trembled. Finally, one word escaped her lips, "Daddy!" Although this cry was very soft, in this silent and tranquil study, it was unmistakably clear.


    Ling Xiao, who had originally been sitting primly behind his study desk abruptly stood up at hearing Ling Lan¡¯s cry. Because of the rough movement, the study desk actually shuddered, several books piled on it falling noisily to the ground. Right then, Ling Xiao had no mind to bother about all this. Emotionally, he said, "Ling Lan, just now ... what did you call me?"


    Ling Lan saw Ling Xiao¡¯s low-hanging right hand curl into a tight fist. His eyes held traces of pleasant surprise, and nervousness, as well as some inconceble fear. Ling Lan would never have imagined that this strong man before her ¡ª who had stood at the pinnacle of humanity, the god-ss operator Ling Xiao who was considered an ultimate weapon of the Federation ¡ªwould actually have times when he was afraid ... What¡¯s more, what he feared was that his child would be unwilling to call him ¡¯daddy¡¯.


    Seeing this side of Ling Xiao, Ling Lan heart was aplicated jumble of feelings. She could not say whether it was joy or sorrow, but her eyelids actually felt a little strained and wet ... Back when Ling Xiao was facing death, had he been just as scared? Afraid that she, who had never had him around to be a father, would not want to acknowledge him as a father?


    "Daddy!" The first cry was undoubtedly the hardest. After pushing it out, the following cry seemed much easier. This subsequent cry of Ling Lan¡¯s was much clearer than her first, and it was also much louder.


    "Hey!" Ling Xiao responded solemnly. His initially taut facial muscles instantly rxed, and arge smile bloomed on his face. It was radiant and blinding, actually making it impossible to look at him directly ¡ª even Ling Lan, who was used to seeing gorgeous men, found herself dazed and bedazzled in that instant.


    By the side, Little Four subconsciously swallowed, and gasped in awe, "I finally know now who Boss resembles ..." He still remembered back when Boss was 6 years old, one smile from her was capable of stealing people¡¯s hearts and souls. Back then, he had puzzled over how Boss had this ability ¡ª looks like it had been inherited from her daddy.


    Little Four¡¯s words caused Ling Lan to abruptly wake up from her stupor. She could not help but throw a re at Little Four ¡ª what nonsense is this little idiot spewing now? She was Ling Xiao¡¯s child; hasn¡¯t it been said since ancient times that daughters resemble their fathers? Her resembling Ling Xiao was a perfectly normal thing!


    Ling Xiao was undoubtedly in a great mood. In the past, he had always waited for Ling Lan to start speaking, but this time, he initiated conversation by asking, "Ling Lan, my child, do you need me to exin anything for you this time?"


    Ling Lan shook her head. "Nothing at present. I¡¯ve juste to tell you that we may not be able toe here in the near future for a period of time."


    Hearing this, Ling Xiao was taken aback. "Why?"


    Ling Lan chuckled dryly. "I need to go back to the mansion. There aren¡¯t any login devices tuned to the scout academy¡¯s virtual space there. If I want toe here, it¡¯s a little problematic."


    Ling Xiao¡¯s initial excitement and joy gradually dissipated, and a trace of sadness swept through his gaze. Because it passed by so swiftly, lost in her own thoughts and emotions, Ling Lan did not notice.


    After a beat of silence, Ling Xiao opened his mouth to say, "When will you be leaving, approximately?"


    Ling Lan silently estimated the time her body needed to recover. "One monthter at the soonest." One monthter, even if her internal injuries were still not fully healed, she should be able toe out from the recovery pod.


    "Then in this one month, try to take time toe here as much as possible," said Ling Xiao with a stern expression. Without his smile, he faintly exerted an invisible force of presence, causing Ling Lan to instantly feel pressured.


    "Yes, daddy!" replied Ling Lan, standing tall reflexively.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s looked long and hard at Ling Lan, as if trying to engrave Ling Lan¡¯s appearance into his heart. Under Ling Xiao¡¯s focused gaze, Ling Lan¡¯s palms were sweating from nervousness. As if sensing Ling Lan¡¯s anxiety and unease, a faint smile appeared on Ling Xiao¡¯s face. This smile made Ling Xiao¡¯s entire force of presence dissipatepletely. Ling Lan immediately felt the invisible pressure upon her vanish; her entire person instantly at ease.


    "Tell me about your mother. Is she well?" Asking about Lan Luofeng, Ling Xiao¡¯s entire being became extremely gentle, the unconcealed love in his gaze so saturated that one could almost wring water out of it 2 .


    Seeing this kind of Ling Xiao, an old poem stirred in Ling Lan¡¯s mind ¡ª the strongest score-forged 3 steel, turns to finger-twining silk. When a man truly loves a woman, no matter how strong he was, he would willingly be finger-twining silk 4 ...


    The faint mncholy in Ling Lan¡¯s heart rose up once more ¡ª if Ling Xiao had not died, he and Lan Luofeng would most certainly have been a heavenly couple. However, the heavens were cruel, unwilling toy eyes on such a perfect happy ending ¡ª it insisted on leaving it unfulfilled, thus engraving it in bone and heart 5 .


    Ling Lan slowly recounted bits and pieces of Lan Luofeng¡¯s life in these past 13 years. She spoke of her gentleness, her doting love, her petty shameless y-tantrums, her untiring nagging ... as well as her rich descriptions of that perfectly wless husband in her mind¡¯s eye ...


    At this point of her narration, Ling Lan saw a sh of pain pass through Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes, as well as a faint sense of regret, and even a trace of nkness.


    The two of them ¡ª one seated, one standing ¡ª thus conversed half the day away. Only then did Ling Lan realise that there was actually a differentiation between day and night within the legacy space. The visibility inside the study gradually grew dim, as the sun outside the window gradually fell below the western horizon.

 Chapter 180: Proud Of You!

    Chapter 180: Proud Of You!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Only then did Ling Xiao seem to be aware of the passing of time. He blinked and said, "Oh, it¡¯s thiste?" He looked at Ling Lan and asked, "Are you leaving now?"


    Ling Lan really wanted to say that she had stayed here for too long, that someone outside must already be looking for her. But, for some reason, Ling Lan found that she just could not spit those words out.


    Even so, Ling Lan¡¯s silence had already told Ling Xiao that she really could stay no longer.


    "Don¡¯t forget. This one month, find time toe here as much as possible!" Ling Xiao emphasized this point heavily once more, as if worried Ling Lan would forget.


    Ling Lan nodded heavily. This was the first time she felt that leaving this ce was so difficult, her heart ever so reluctant ...


    "Go!" That said, Ling Xiao waved a hand, and Ling Lan felt herself being pushed out by a sweep of energy. By the time she came to her senses, she was already outside the legacy space.


    "Boss, let¡¯s go!" Ling Lan was not the only one who was reluctant; Little Four was just as reluctant. But they were really just out of time.


    The two of them quickly returned to the recovery pod. They had not been back for 3 minutes when the recovery pod was opened to reveal Lan Luofeng¡¯s frantic and anxious face.


    Ling Lan gave her mother a wide smile, soothing her by saying, "Mummy, I¡¯ve woken up. I¡¯m fine!" Ling Lan had really wanted to smile brilliantly, but the tears in her eyes began to flow uncontrobly ...


    Mummy, did you know that Daddy and I had talked about you all afternoon? Did you know that, when Daddy heard news about you, his face would emit a radiant light? Did you know that, Daddy had to forcefully hold back the grief and regret he felt when he heard those wistful words you said while missing him?


    Two people who were so obviously in love ... why did they have to be so cruelly separated by life and death? For the first time, Ling Lan felt pain stab into her heart, on behalf of her parents of this life who loved her so.


    "Ling Lan, is it very painful?" Lan Luofeng was frantic over Ling Lan¡¯s tears, thinking Ling Lan was in unbearable pain. Ling Lan shook her head and said, "It doesn¡¯t hurt. I¡¯m just d I¡¯m still alive ... Mummy, living is great, isn¡¯t it?" If Ling Xiao were still alive, would Lan Luofeng¡¯s life be without regrets?


    "Yup, it¡¯s great as long as you¡¯re alive!" Lan Luofeng nodded emphatically, tears flowing down her face as well. As long as Ling Lan lived, even if she had to die immediately in exchange, she would be willing ...


    At times, Lan Luofeng would think to herself that, if Ling Xiao were still alive, no one would dare toy a hand on her Ling Lan. But Ling Xiao had truly passed away so young. Without his protection, those despicable and avaricious people had targeted their child without reservation. From young, Ling Lan had learned on her own that she had to bear everything on her own shoulders ...


    Ling Xiao, oh, Ling Xiao, how could you bear to leave us behind? However much I love you, that is how much I hate you! A trace of resentment shed through Lan Luofeng¡¯s teary eyes. For the first time ever, she had a grudge in her heart towards Ling Xiao.


    ********


    Ever since Ling Lan woke up, her body was slowly recovering within the recovery pod. This news was greeted with great joy by everyone in the Ling family. If the family head holding up a family is out of the picture, the family would very easily copse on itself.


    After finding out that Ling Lan was fine, Ling Qin began a new round of investigative retrenchment within the Ling family mansion. For some of those family loyalists whose loyalty could not be guaranteed, Ling Qin sent them all out of Doha to others to expand the Ling family businesses. He needed to ensure that before Ling Lan returned to the Ling family mansion, that all the Ling family members remaining on Doha were loyal without question.


    Ling Lan¡¯s multiple brushes with danger had thoroughly frightened this Ling family chambein. He did not want Ling Lan to ever be in such crises again due to some negligence on his part. Ling Qin knew very well that luck would only work once or twice, but never three or four times. He needed to takeprehensive action ahead of time in order to ensure Ling Lan¡¯s safety.


    At this moment, Ling Lan did not know that because of her, everyone in the Ling family had begun to move, trying to create a safe home for her to recuperate in peace. In this one month, she was busy sneaking into Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space along with Little Four to meet Ling Xiao.


    However, in this one month, Ling Xiao was obviously much stricter than before. The moment Ling Lan entered the legacy space, Ling Xiao would throw her into an assessment space to test all the abilities she had learned thus far. Even if she passed the assessment on a particr front, this did not mean that Ling Lan was free ¡ª the next time, the assessment would still be there, but its contents would have been raised by a whole difficulty level ...


    These kinds of pressure-test assessments allowed Ling Lan to gain a deeper understanding of all the abilities under her belt. Her initially already somewhat loosened and primed Qi-Jin at peak stage, under the continuous pressuring over the course of the month, sessfully broke through to officially enter the optimal peak level of Qi-Jin. As long as Ling Lan continued to umte the Qi in her body, she felt that she would soon be able to peek into the profound secrets of Domain stage.


    Still, Ling Lan had the vague feeling that she already seemed to understand what the profound secrets of Domain stage were ¡ª but that feeling was like a sh of lightning, slipping away before it could be caught. But Ling Lan believed that as long as the energy within her body umted till a certain level, she would perhaps then be able to know what the profound secrets of Domain stage were.


    That great barrier that blocked off 99.9999999999% of Houtian Domain masters from ascending to be Xiantian Domain masters 1 ¡ª to her, was perhaps not that difficult ...


    This feeling was very intriguing; Ling Lan felt as if she were being informed by her own body¡¯s instinct. This pleased Ling Lan tremendously. Initially, she had thought that ascending to Domain stage would require luck and serendipity, that she may very well be stuck at this barrier for up to 5 to 10 years ¡ª perhaps even her whole life. But unexpectedly, the heavens favoured her so, actually bestowing such a cheat upon her ...


    In her excitement, Ling Lan told her father Ling Xiao what she was feeling. Ling Lan¡¯s strange feelings also caused Ling Xiao to be rather stunned. However, Ling Xiao did not believe that these feelings were untraceable, and so carefully asked her for a detailed ounting of everything that had happened in the recent past. When he heard that someone had borrowed her body to unleash Domain energy, Ling Xiao was pretty sure he now understood part of it.


    Ling Xiao guessed that, because Ling Lan¡¯s body had felt Domain stage energy first-hand, its muscles had generated a type of Domain energy memory. Moreover, this memory would help Ling Lan grasp the profound secrets of Domain, and from there, lead Ling Lan into bing a true Domain master. Regarding this, Ling Xiao could not help but admit that Ling Lan¡¯s luck was truly astounding ¡ª actually being able to benefit from misfortune under those kinds of circumstances.


    However, Ling Xiao also believed that this muscle memory would fade away with the passage of time. Therefore, for Ling Lan to sessfully advance to Domain stage, she would need to do so before this muscle memory disappeared. Otherwise, once enough time passed, the muscle memory would vanish, and this fortuitous catalyst would also be lost. At that time, for Ling Lan to advance to Domain stage, she would then have to do it the hard way like other people. She would have to continue to seek out chance opportunities to obtain the possibility of sudden insight.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s words gave great joy to Ling Lan even as they burdened her. Indeed, this was her lucky chance ¡ª but whether or not she could take good advantage of it still depended on her hard work.


    ********


    A month passed swiftly. On this day, Ling Lan once again came to Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space. Ling Xiao did not act like before and throw Ling Lan into an assessment space, nor did he give pointers on Ling Lan¡¯sbat weaknesses and instruct her through learning exercises. At this moment, he was just sitting behind his study desk, deep in thought.


    Seeing Ling Lan arrive, he stood up and slowly walked over to Ling Lan¡¯s side, and then hugged her close gently. "Ling Lan, my child, in this one month, you have worked hard. I am very happy seeing your growth."


    Ling Lan, in Ling Xiao¡¯s embrace, felt her father¡¯s warm presence enveloping her. This caused Ling Lan to breathe in silently. This was the first time Ling Xiao was hugging her ¡ª it felt so good that she almost lost herself in the sensation.


    This kind of warm hug filled with the sense of safety, was an experience so distant within Ling Lan¡¯s memory, almost forgotten ... Only when she experienced it again did Ling Lan know that she had always yearned for it inside her heart. She yearned for all of this ... as expected, she was still a girl, somewhat sentimental! This was really not a good thing ¡ª her current identity did not permit her to be weak ...


    But, just this once, let her let loose and be selfish ¡ª let her revert to being a little girl for once, and freely enjoy the warmth and safety of her father¡¯s embrace. It was as if the wind and rain would be kept out by this strong and gentle man before her eyes ¡ª she could just hide safely within the nest of her father¡¯s arms.


    "Time really went by so quickly, I don¡¯t feel ready to let go ..." Ling Xiao¡¯s arms suddenly tightened around her, his entire presence shifting from its initial tender warmth into cold grimness. "But, a baby eagle must still leave its nest to fly on its own eventually ..."


    Ling Xiao slowly pushed Ling Lan away. "All I should have taught you, I already have. In the end ..." Ling Xiao slowly reached out his right hand, and tapped Ling Lan lightly on the forehead. Ling Lan blinked nkly, then felt a surge of foreign memories rush into her brain, including some of the tasks Ling Xiao needed her to do after this.


    Ling Lan stared dubiously at Ling Xiao, unsure why he would use this method to leave his final instructions.


    Ling Xiao smiled gently, a finger lightly pressed to his lips, in a shushing motion, indicating for Ling Lan not to say anything. In his eyes, there was a trace of cunning.


    " I believe the military has always been monitoring this area. In truth, I¡¯ve sensed the presence of a foreign spiritual entity, but that spiritual entity does not seem to have any bad intentions, which is why I¡¯ve ignored them. Still, some things, some legacies, should not be known to other people ... it¡¯s fine if you understand, don¡¯t say anything."


    These words by Ling Xiao rang out in Ling Lan¡¯s mind; it was uttered from the spiritual entity Ling Xiao had inserted into her mind just previously.


    Ling Lan surreptitiously wiped the cold sweat off her forehead, unsure whether she should tell Ling Xiao of Little Four¡¯s existence. However, Ling Xiao did not give Ling Lan any opportunity to speak. He suddenly lifted his head to look out the study door and said, "Although I really cannot bear to part from you, for your safety, I need to disappear now ..."


    Ling Xiao bowed his head, once more looking intently at Ling Lan, his eyes shining with relief and happiness. "Ling Lan, I am very proud I am your father. One day, you will create your own legend. Daddy is proud of you!"


    That said, Ling Xiao beamed. The smile on his face this time was more radiant than any before it, dazzling to the eye, but Ling Lan did not get lost in its brilliance this time. Because, an indescribable sadness was rising in her heart at that moment ¡ª in Ling Xiao¡¯s smile, Ling Lan could see deeply hidden grief and regret. If it were possible, Ling Lan believed that Ling Xiao would never want to die ¡ª he would never choose to disappear from this world.

 Chapter 181: The Disappearance of Ling Xiaos Legacy!

    Chapter 181: The Disappearance of Ling Xiao¡¯s Legacy!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Goodbye!" Ling Lan only saw Ling Xiao¡¯s lips move, leaving behind this one final word, and then she was chased out by a great force by Ling Xiao once more ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s mind had yet to settle when Little Four¡¯s expression became frantic. "Not good, Dad¡¯s legacy space is disappearing!"


    Hearing this, Ling Lan was horrified. She tried to enter the legacy space again, but was barred. Even Little Four, this practically omnipotent god of the virtual world, had also been forcefully ejected by this powerful force of the legacy space, unable to find any way to get close ...


    At this time, Ling Xiao¡¯s voice rang out in Ling Lan¡¯s mind, "Stop, my child. Please forgive this irresponsible father of yours. Please take on my responsibility, take good care of your mother, Lan Luofeng!"


    As this voice faded, Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space also vanished from the virtual world of the scout academy, leaving no trace behind. It was as if Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space had never existed.


    "Boss, Dad ... really disappeared ..." Little Four abruptly appeared beside Ling Lan. In virtual space, Little Four could freely control his manifestation. And so, a little boy of about 5 to 6 years old clung to Ling Lan¡¯s sleeve, sad tears streaming endlessly from his eyes.


    Little Four was so sad because he had not even had the chance to introduce himself to Ling Xiao, or call Ling Xiao ¡¯daddy¡¯ to his face ...


    Ling Lan suppressed the urge to cry, patting Little Four gently on the head as she tried tofort him, "Daddy didn¡¯t disappear. He will always be in our hearts, isn¡¯t that so?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused Little Four to be thoughtful. He held back his gushing tears, but just when he was about to say something, he noticed a notification from the virtual space. His expression turned grim and he said, "Boss, we need to leave quickly. There are hackers and spectres approaching ..."


    Little Four quickly whisked Ling Lan away with him. In several sh steps, they were back in the recovery pod. As they ran, Little Four did not forget to wipe clean all traces of their presence within that virtual space. Little Four believed that, with the work of an intelligence-entity of his level, a normal person would not be able to find anything suspicious. However, Little Four was still very cautious. After sending Ling Lan back, he returned to the scene once again. He had considered it ¡ªif anyone found anything by ident, he would utterly destroy the scout academy¡¯s virtual world, deleting all data within it. He would not allow any danger toe to his Boss.


    Just a few seconds after Little Four had run away with Ling Lan, five people suddenly appeared where they had been standing. Four of them were dressed in uniforms, while thest was wearing a ck robe which cloaked his entire body, hiding his appearance. This was the standard outfit for spectres.


    One of the men dressed in uniform, obviously somewhat higher in rank, said to the others, "It should be here. Go investigate and see if there are any abnormalities."


    Receiving their orders, the other four began to move. Not long after, they reported their findings to the head.


    "Colonel, there is no trace of the existence of a legacy space, and there is also no sign of one being moved by human measures ..." said one of the uniformed members obscurely. He knew very well whose legacy space they were looking for. If it were lost, it would be an immeasurable loss for the entire Federation.


    "Colonel, I have already sessfully noted down all students who were in the area within these three hours. Here is the name list ..." said another uniformed member as he handed a sheet of white paper over to the colonel. On it was a tightly packed list of student names.


    The colonel epted the name list but did not look at it. Instead, he turned to look at the ck-robed man on the other side. "Lieutenant Colonel J, did you find anything?"


    Lieutenant Colonel J was specially transferred by the military from another specials team to assist them. With regards to the other¡¯s details, the colonel did not know much, and even the other¡¯s face was unknown to the colonel. However, the colonel was not annoyed by this. He knew that no one had the right to know the true identity of a spectre other than the spectre¡¯s direct supervisor. These were all necessary measures set in ce to protect spectres.


    Every country maintainedprehensive monitoring on spectres. In particr, if an enemy nation¡¯s spectre was discovered, all attempts would be made to kill them off. The moment the spectre¡¯s real identity was exposed, as long as there was any chance of killing the other, a nation would choose to make a move even if it had to pay a steep price.


    This was because there was no way at present for human society to be separated from the virtual worldpletely ¡ª and spectres were existences equal to death gods in the virtual world. No matter how strong a person was in real life, the moment they entered the virtual world, if they were targeted by a spectre, they pretty much had no chance of escape. It should be said that spectres were a type of bnce-disrupting existence to the virtual world. Their death-god-like ability was feared and distrusted by all the people in power, regardless of their nationality ...


    Lieutenant Colonel J indicated for the colonel to wait patiently, and then he spread out his spectre ability, beginning to sense the chaotic energy in the surroundings.


    Meanwhile, the colonel took the opportunity to scan quickly through the name list in his hands. Seeing no one clearly suspicious on the list, he handed the document over to the uniformed member standing beside him all this while, saying, "Let the monitoring room dig out the information on all the people on this list. Investigate it thoroughly, don¡¯t let anything at all suspicious slip through."


    "Yes, Colonel!" The uniformed member left swiftly after epting the document.


    After sensing for a moment, Lieutenant Colonel J said, "I don¡¯t sense the remnant energy of any other spectre." A spectre¡¯s energy signature can only be sensed by another spectre. "The disappearance of the legacy space should have nothing to do with spectres."


    Hearing what Lieutenant Colonel J had to say, the colonel let out a breath of relief. If this incident had truly been caused by the infiltration of an enemy nation¡¯s spectre, he would probably have been court-martialled and inevitably charged with dereliction of duty.


    "However ..." Lieutenant Colonel J¡¯s voice carried a slight tone of confusion, "The remnant energy here makes me feel a little ufortable."


    "Ah?" said the colonel excitedly, "have you sensed something strange?"


    Lieutenant Colonel J shook his head and said, "That¡¯s not it. Perhaps the self-destruction of the legacy space produced some energy that affects my spectre abilities." He could not exin it. This was just a gut feeling of his, not a sense of danger. That energy he sensed just made him feel extremely ufortable, as if somewhat repulsive to his spectre abilities.


    The colonel instantly understood what Lieutenant Colonel J was trying to say. A legacy space left by a god-ss operator would most certainly carry some of the god-ss operator¡¯s spiritual energy. These energies were extremely powerful ¡ª if spectres could be said to have a counter, these god-ss masters would be their only rivals in the virtual world. Their spiritual power was formidable enough that even these death gods could do nothing against them.


    After figuring it out, the colonel cast Lieutenant Colonel J¡¯s words into the back of his mind. Instead, he began to worry over how he could ount for the disappearance of Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space to his superiors. Even though he had escaped the fate of being court-martialled, he still needed to find a reasonable exnation for this freak phenomenon! So, with a woebegone expression, he asked, "Then, Lieutenant Colonel J, can you guess the reason for the legacy space¡¯s disappearance?"


    Lieutenant Colonel J contemted the issue in silence for a moment, then said unhurriedly, "Actually, there are many reasons why a legacy space would disappear. One, would be due to outside interference, which would mostly be due to spectre abilities. Another, would be that the legacy of the legacy space has already been passed on. Once an inheritorpletely masters everything the legacy space has to offer, to ensure the exclusivity of the inheritor¡¯s legacy, the legacy space would choose to self-destruct ..."


    The colonel¡¯s eyes lighted up. "Are you saying that, it is possible for that legacy space to have been sessfully inherited by someone?"


    Lieutenant Colonel J nodded lightly. "Yes, that is one of the possibilities. Of course, another possibility is that, the legacy space¡¯s creator had set a final deadline. Once that deadline is exceeded, regardless of whether the legacy space was inherited or not, it would still begin its self-destruct sequence."


    The colonel had initially been thrilled by hearing of the possibility of the legacy being inherited, but what Lieutenant Colonel J had to say next about a self-destruct deadline caused his face to fall. He truly did not wish for Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space to have disappeared because of thetter reason ¡ª this would be such a heavy loss for the Federation.


    Right now, he could only hope that it was the second of the three possibilities listed. As long as they could find Ling Xiao¡¯s inheritor, then they would be able to obtain all of the secrets to Ling Xiao¡¯s ascension to god-ss operator status from the inheritor. At that time, even if they could not use those secrets to ascend to god-ss, the Federation would probably be able to produce mass numbers of top-notch mecha operators and dominate the entire human world. The Federation¡¯s dream of being at the top of the world would be realised!


    Having received an investigative report, the colonel had no mind to continue staying here in this virtual space. He immediately led his team of five away from the scene.


    They had not left for long when Little Four¡¯s figure appeared where they had been standing. His little face was extremely grim, and he muttered to himself, "Spectres, eh? Rather impressive, as expected ..." That said, he disappeared once more.


    Meanwhile, at this time, both in the virtual space and in reality, the news of the disappearance of Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space had already gone viral 1 . Because there had never been confirmed news that Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space had chosen an inheritor, all the students had remained extremely passionate in trying to crack this mysterious legacy space. There was attention on it at all times, so when the legacy space disappeared, the news immediately spread like wildfire among the students. The military, which had wanted to keep the matter under wraps, had beenpletely caught off-guard.


    The only relief was that, aside from some of the upper ranks of the military and the academy¡¯s dean, no one else knew who had been the creator of the legacy space.


    The military¡¯s investigation continued on in secret. The upper ranks of the military were leaning towards the exnation that the legacy had been inherited sessfully. Therefore, they ordered strict monitoring and investigation on those people who had engaged with the legacy space over the past month before its disappearance. The moment anything strange was discovered, these students would be apprehended and brought in for covert questioning.


    For this purpose, they even transferred in some hypnotists from particr special ops teams to hypnotise the children to try and find out the truth. However, all these seemingly suspicious students turned out not to be Ling Xiao¡¯s inheritor. This oue disappointed them, and also made them anxious ¡ª their movements began to intensify, no longer being as covert as before.

 Chapter 182: I Want to Become Strong!

    Chapter 182: I Want to Be Strong!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    These actions drew strong opposition from the purely academic faction within the scout academy. They felt that these measures by the military was obviously making light of the wellbeing of their students. Although the Federation dered that hypnosis was harmless to the human body, and the general public believed that, the experienced teachers in the scout academy knew that hypnosis was actually a form of spiritual attack. It would cause some cracks and holes to appear in the spiritual self of the one being hypnotised. This would affect the children¡¯s future development, especially those who wanted to be mecha operators or starship navigators. Spiritual damage was especially taboo for those two career pathways.


    From the start, the Central Scout Academy had been the gathering grounds of almost all the top 3 tiers of exceptional children. All of these children were very likely to be excellent soldiers in the future ¡ª the loss of any single one of them would be a loss to the Federation. Thus, the pure-academic faction, with Dean Ye Yifan at its head, made the decision to chase out the monitoring military staff currently within the campus. They needed to protect their students! Moreover, Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space was gone; it was unnecessary for these monitoring staff to remain in the Central Scout Academy.


    The upper ranks of the military were naturally unwilling to just give up on Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy, but there was a pure-academic faction within the military upper ranks as well which supported the Central Scout Academy¡¯s decision. On top of that, the Grand Marshal also seemed to be on the side of the Central Scout Academy, so the military had no choice but to agree to withdraw the monitoring team trying to reim Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy.


    In fact, this intense bacsh from the Central Scout Academy was inrge part due to the sudden unfounded suspicion towards Ling Lan by one of the senior officers in the monitoring team. The team had then requested the right to interrogate Ling Lan from the academy. This caused Mu Shui-qing, who had been watching over Ling Lan all this time, to be livid, and also spurred the dean of the academy, Ye Yifan, into an explosive rage.


    Mind you, for this past month or so, Ling Lan had been calmly lying within a recovery pod, with no way of logging onto the virtual world. Without any shred of evidence whatsoever, the military had actually dared to submit such a preposterous request ¡ª this made the instructors of the pure-academic faction of the academy unbelievably mad.


    Especially once the academy found out that the fake teachers who tried to assassinate Ling Lan hade about due to the negligence of the monitoring team ... one of their teams had been secretly killed and reced while returning from the outside and the monitoring team had not noticed the problem, which had allowed the opponents to sessfully infiltrate the Central Scout Academy and obtain the chance for an assassination.


    Their negligence had already caused their student to receive such severe injuries, and they still wanted to take things one step further to destroy their student¡¯s future? Did they really take the Central Scout Academy to be pussycats? Here for them to push around as they liked? Enraged, the Central Scout Academy no longer gave any face to the military. They immediately threw an eviction notice at the monitoring team. This forceful measure let the monitoring team know that the matter was thoroughly out of their control now ¡ª although they tried their best to negotiate, it was all useless.


    It should be said that the monitoring team had done a very stupid thing. Not only did this suggestion enrage the Central Scout Academy beyond reason, even the pure-academic faction within the upper ranks of the internal military itself was extremely angry. Even the Federation¡¯s Grand Marshal expressed extreme displeasure with their actions.


    In the end, with no way of salvaging the situation, the monitoring team could only slip away from the Central Scout Academy with their tails between their legs. Meanwhile, Ye Yifan had taken this opportunity to fire almost all of the teachers within the academy who were not focused purely on academics. Only a small portion, with true skills but not much influence, managed to remain at the end of this great spring cleaning ...


    Of course, this series of events was generally unknown to the scout students. They only knew that some of the teachers they were familiar with were gone, while some new unfamiliar teachers had emerged. However, there would always be new teachers appearing every year anyway, so the students did not find it strange.


    Still, the military needed toe to a final verdict for the disappearance of Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space. In the end, the military chose the final possibility as proposed by Lieutenant Colonel J. Ling Xiao must have set a final deadline when he had first created his legacy space. Whether or not his legacy was inherited, when the time came, the space would self-destruct.


    This deduction made perfect sense and was epted by a majority of the upper ranks. Although an extremely small portion of the upper ranks still insisted on believing that someone had obtained Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy ¡ª they believed they just had not found the inheritor yet. However, when they heard that the Grand Marshal had approved the military¡¯s submitted verdict, they knew the tide had passed. They could only regretfully give up on their investigations ¡ª no one would dare to question the Grand Marshal¡¯s decision. And so, the disappearance of Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space ended without any great trouble, bing one of the military¡¯s unsolved mysteries.


    The furore over the disappearance of Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space faded into tranquillity with the passage of time. Meanwhile, after resting for a full month and more, the condition of Ling Lan¡¯s body was getting much better. When Lan Luofeng found out that Ling Lan was able toe out from the recovery pod, she decided that it was time to pack up. Three dayster, they would return to the Ling family mansion.


    In these 3 days, Lan Luofeng was extremely busy. She submitted a request for the academy to process Ling Lan¡¯s withdrawal from the school; this was undoubtedly against Federation regtions. However, considering the special circumstances ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s body still needed time to recover, and Mu Shui-qing was exerting pressure on Ye Yifan ¡ª the academypromised. Ling Lan would have to return to the school in three years time to take the academy¡¯s final exam and apply for further enrolment at a military school or some other specialised academy then. After obtaining this promise from Lan Luofeng, the scout academy agreed to Ling Lan¡¯s withdrawal request.


    News of the assassination attempt against Ling Lan during the grand armed melee had spread across the whole academy after the grand armed melee. The 7th grade, in particr, found out that Ling Lan had only been attacked by enemy nation assassins after sessfully dispatching the top student of the 10th grade. If academy teachers had not arrived at the scene in time, Ling Lan might very well have been killed. This aggravated the entire 7th grade as a whole, because they knew very well that if Ling Lan had not dispatched the top rank of the 10th grade before he had been taken out, the winners of the grand armed melee was likely to have been the 10th grade ...


    Considering what might have been, the 7th grade was filled with hatred for those enemy nations of the Federation 1 . Qi Long and the others of Ling Lan¡¯s group of friends, were especially livid. They wished they could personally find those killers and tear them into pieces.


    Lan Luofeng knew what the truth of the matter was, but also knew that this was politics. For unity, security, and to fan the patriotism of the students, some lies needed to exist, while some truths needed to be buried. Lan Luofeng did not want to be at odds with the country¡¯s political machinations ¡ª as long as they could give her a satisfactory ounting, she would not concern herself with these trivial things. Thus, she chose to look the other way.


    Qi Long and the others were extremely worried about Ling Lan¡¯s condition. While Ling Lan was still unconscious, they kepting to visit him, and so they knew that the damage to Ling Lan¡¯s body was severe enough to require a long stay at home. Ling Lan could no longer continue to attend school with them at the academy. This news saddened them, especially Qi Long. After finding out the news, he ran off on his own to abat room for a punishing round of training. In the end, it was still Han Jijyun who managed to coax him back out.


    Even so, the other members of Ling Lan¡¯s team could clearly sense the change in Qi Long. Although he seemed as outgoing and straightforward as ever, it was as if there was a rumbling volcano inside him. Though everything looked normal on the outside, no one could tell when he would explode ...


    Han Jijyun was half pleased and half worried at this condition of Qi Long¡¯s. He was pleased because Qi Long had be much more proactive over matters involving Boss Lan, disying much more initiative. But he was also worried because he was afraid Qi Long would be unable to bear the pressure he put on himself, and crumble under it in the end ...


    Han Jijyun clenched his fists silently, telling himself that he must work hard. He must not let Qi Long walk down the path of self-destruction. Whenever Qi Long lost his way, he would step up to show him the way ...


    ********


    When official news of Ling Lan¡¯s withdrawal from school came out, Qi Long¡¯s group, including Han Xuya and Luo Chao, as well as the original members of group 072, all came to make their final farewells with Ling Lan.


    Filled with reluctance, the group came to stand before Ling Lan. Right then, Ling Lan was seated in a technologically-advanced wheelchair. Seeing the group here to say goodbye to her, Ling Lan¡¯s heart was filled with happiness.


    However, when Ling Lan saw Qi Long¡¯s appearance, her brows twitched into a slight frown. Observant as ever, she had noticed something off about Qi Long.


    "Qi Long,e here." Seeing Qi Long¡¯s state, Ling Lan was instantly in a bad mood. She coldly ordered Qi Long toe and stand beside her.


    Qi Long excitedly walked over to wait for his boss¡¯s instructions, but Ling Lan did not say anything. With a flick of her finger, Ling Lan sent an ice bead smacking into Qi Long¡¯s forehead, causing Qi Long¡¯s head to bend back involuntarily.


    Qi Long grimaced at the pain, his right hand flying up to press and rub at his forehead. He shouted, "Boss, why did you hit me?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s ice bead had left a dark red mark on Qi Long¡¯s forehead. It was clear that Ling Lan had not wanted to be soft on Qi Long. "Seeing your current state, I just feel annoyed and really want to hit you."


    Confused, Qi Long asked, "Why, Boss? Aren¡¯t I doing quite well?"


    "Quite well? What¡¯s up with your angry-at-the-world attitude?" sniffed Ling Lan. Ling Lan could clearly sense the bottled rage Qi Long had stoppered up inside him.


    Qi Long was silent. His hanging arms curled into fists, the veins on the backs of his hands bing obvious. He did not even seem to notice even when his nails left deep marks on his palms. Should he tell Boss Lan how much he hated his own helplessness? ... If he had just been a little stronger, Boss Lan would not have had to fight on his own.


    Qi Long knew that despite the all-around lock on themunicative functions on theirmunicators during the grand armed melee, Boss Lan could bypass those restrictions. So, Boss Lan could easily have notified them when he was being attacked. But even when Boss Lan¡¯s life had been hanging in the bnce, he had still chosen not to contact them, fighting on his own instead. Qi Long knew that this was because Ling Lan did not want to bring them into danger. But from another perspective, this proved that they were just too weak to help Ling Lan ...


    "Smack!" A cold staff-shaped weapon rapped the backs of Qi Long¡¯s hands, leaving behind a red line. "What are you doing? Self-mutting? I don¡¯t have such a wimpy follower," said Ling Lan coldly, an ice-staff in her hands.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused Qi Long¡¯s feelings to be unbnced, his breathing bing ragged as his chest rose and fell noticeably. He blurted out, "Boss, I want to be strong!"


    Ling Lan¡¯s brow quirked. "Why?"


    "I don¡¯t want to just stand behind you anymore. I don¡¯t want to see Boss hurt but be helpless to do anything about it. This feeling sucks ..." Qi Long mumbled lowly. His fists clenched tight once again, and he lifted his head to shout abruptly, "So, I want to be strong enough! I want to be able to fight by your side, Boss, and be your left and right arms, true sworn brothers that can brave life and death together ..."

 Chapter 183: Latent Problems and a Mission!

    Chapter 183: Latent Problems and a Mission!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan was stunned by these words. She had not expected herself to be the cause of Qi Long¡¯s sad state. At this moment, Qi Long had lost his mental bnce due to his desperate need to grow stronger. Although being more proactive and more aggressive than before was a good thing, it was not so easy to strengthen one¡¯sbat arts just like that. The process needed the umtion of time. If she did not have the learning space, which multiplied the amount of training time she had by manyfold ¡ª just relying on the time she had in real life, it would have been impossible to achieve the peak stage of Qi-Jin ...


    It should be said that something had gone wrong with Qi Long¡¯s mental state. If this issue was not resolved soon, it would definitely be a greattent danger to Qi Long in future.


    After weighing the matter for a moment, Ling Lan said, "Qi Long, I¡¯m very happy you think this way. In future, we may be deployed to a battlefield. At that time, I hope that you will be the one protecting my back!"


    Qi Long eyes zed, his entire beinging to attention. Ling Lan was clearly telling him that he had high hopes for him; this increased his intent to be stronger ¡ª he definitely would not let Boss down.


    "But, Qi Long, it¡¯s not that easy to be strong. It cannot be rushed. You need the umtion of time ..." However, Ling Lan¡¯s following words made Qi Long¡¯s heart sink. Was Boss Lan refusing him? Perhaps he wasn¡¯t a genius, and so could not keep up with Boss¡¯ footsteps?


    "I hope that you will take things a step at a time and build your foundations well. Then you¡¯ll be able to go higher in the future," said Ling Lan slowly.


    "But that way, the distance between us will just keep gettingrger," said Qi Long agitatedly.


    Ling Lan¡¯s brow quirked. "How could it? You will just be getting closer and closer to me."


    "Huh?" Qi Long was struck dumb by Ling Lan¡¯s words. For a moment, he just could not understand what Ling Lan meant.


    Ling Lan coolly pointed at her body and said, "What is the condition of my body?"


    Qi Long lowered his head and said, downcast, "You need to recuperate for 3 to 4 years!" This was what the Ling family had announced to the public.


    "Qi Long, this is the price!" said Ling Lan, self-mockingly, "Although the damage to my body was caused by the assassination attempt by enemies this time, my body is damaged so badly mostly because I had sometent problems remaining from breaking through too quickly before that."


    In her heart, Ling Lan silently confessed her sins to any passing gods. For the sake of her little follower¡¯s future, she could only lie. Honestly, Ling Lan¡¯s words were not entirely a lie ¡ª if Ling Lan had not possessed the godlike cheating device, the learning space, even the most talented of prodigies would have had to pay an evesting pyrrhic price to achieve her current level of strength.


    "How can this be?" Ling Lan¡¯s words shocked all of her littlepanions. They could not believe that their Boss Lan, who seemed so formidable and level-headed, would actually do such a foolish thing.


    Ling Lan swept her gaze in a circle over herpanions before her and said tonelessly, "Because I did not want to lose to my father ..." Ling Lan lifted her head slightly, as if holding back her emotions. Very quickly, she lowered her head again, and when she faced them once more, she was back to normal. "But my talent is no match for my father¡¯s. No matter how hard I train, I still cannot reach the pace of my father. Slowly, I felt the gap widening so I became impatient. Thus, at a moment not really suitable for breaking through, I still chose to break through."


    Qi Long and a few others knew who Ling Lan¡¯s father was, so they did not reveal any signs of surprise at hearing this. In contrast, the faces of the others who had no idea who Ling Lan¡¯s father was were filled with bewilderment as they stared at Ling Lan. In their eyes, Ling Lan was already so aberrantly prodigious that they could only look up to him ... but now, Ling Lan was saying that he waspletely no match for his father ... Then, how aberrant was Ling Lan¡¯s father exactly?!


    Ling Lan saw the stupefied expressions of the others, and instantly realised that they probably still did not know that her father was Ling Xiao. It looked like before Qi Long and the others had gotten explicit permission from her, they had not told any of the others about this information. Her heart was instantly filled with gratitude and affection for them. A thought passed through her mind, and she said, "Can¡¯t figure it out? How can there be someone so aberrant?"


    Han Xuya, Luo Chao, and the others nodded their heads vigorously at Ling Lan¡¯s words. They really could not figure out who could be so aberrant and terrifying to cause the seemingly all-powerful Boss Lan admit defeat.


    "My father is Ling Xiao!" The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips twitched upwards. She could not conceal the pride she felt that her father was just that aberrant.


    "Ah!" Han Xuya was the first to scream in shock. A great lover of mecha, she naturally knew what the name Ling Xiao represented.


    "God-ss operator!" In their astonishment, the others could not help but gulp. In their hearts, Ling Xiao was like a deity ¡ª they would never have dared to even think of rting anyone by their side to him.


    After a fit of excitement, thepanions quickly calmed down. They looked at Ling Lan with gazes of admiration and also sympathy. They admired that Ling Lan¡¯s father was the god-ss operator Ling Xiao, but also pitied Ling Lan for actually trying to challenge that publicly acknowledged number one prodigy. It would have been more of a shock if he hadn¡¯t lost badly!


    Ling Lan felt somewhat awkward under these stares. In any case, she really had no intention ofparing herself to her father, but this excuse was just more convincing. She coughed and then turned to look at Qi Long, and said, "Qi Long, even though I managed to force a breakthrough sessfully, I hurt my foundations. So, I have no choice but to rest for a long period of time after being injured this time. Do you also want to be like me? Lying in a bed for 4 to 5 years, maybe even longer?"


    Qi Long shook his head emphatically. He did not want that. He just wanted to be able to stand by Boss¡¯s side when he needed him, and not just have to watch helplessly, or even be protected by Boss. Therefore, his desire to be strong would never change. At most, he would be a little more careful, making sure not to rush as much when trying to break through in his physical skills training.


    Qi Long¡¯s gaze shone with his determination. Ling Lan sighed internally ¡ª why was this brat so stubborn? For the first time, Ling Lan had a bit of a headache. It was really so goddamn difficult to be someone else¡¯s boss. How could she get rid of Qi Long¡¯s tenacious way of thinking?


    "Qi Long, you¡¯re actually cornering yourself now." Ling Lan suddenly thought of the uing mission of the 7th grade, and her eyes lighted up. She felt that she had a way to solve the problem now. Since she could not find a way to suppress Qi Long urgent desire to be strong, then she would give him a safe way to be stronger. "Physical skills are not the only path to bing stronger."


    Qi Long threw a confused nce at Ling Lan, unsure what Ling Lan wanted to say.


    "In this world, the strongest people are not physical fighters, but mecha operators," reminded Ling Lan, "Just like my father Ling Xiao, although his physical skills were only at Domain, he still became a god-ss operator, the Federation¡¯s ultimate weapon. This is an existence that even God-Realm masters cannotpare with.


    "And after this, you all will be going toplete the virtual world barrier-crossing mission. This was my original goal. Although I can¡¯t go anymore now, that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯ve given up on this goal. So Qi Long, as the team leader, and as my follower, you need to finish it for me."


    Looking at the level of Qi Long¡¯s team right now, this mission was totally at an S-level difficulty. Hearing Ling Lan¡¯smand, Qi Long¡¯s spirits rallied. He pounded his chest and said, "Don¡¯t worry, Boss, I willplete this mission."


    "This is just the first step. After entering the real virtual world, go and learn how to operate mecha. Three yearster, when I return to the academy for the tests, I hope you will all have sessfully advanced to intermediate mecha warrior or higher. Especially you, Qi Long, you need to be at advanced mecha warrior level."


    "Why?" asked Qi Long, confused.


    "Didn¡¯t you want to be strong?" said Ling Lan calmly, "An advanced mecha warrior can match up with an early stage Domain master. At that time, you will have the right to stand beside me and fight alongside me."


    Qi Long¡¯s gaze glimmered. He had finally found a shortcut to bing stronger. 3 years, and he would have the right to stand by Boss¡¯s side. For him, this path was much more secure than physical skills.


    Qi Long nodded solemnly and said, "Alright, Boss, I will definitelyplete this goal. Three yearster, I will definitely be an advanced mecha operator."


    "Alright, if you all don¡¯t achieve this objective, three yearster, just wait for my punishment." Ling Lan¡¯s tone was cold and ominous when she said this, causing everyone else besides Qi Long to shiver involuntarily, their expressions paling noticeably.


    Mind you, to rise up from newbie trainee to intermediate mecha warrior in three years¡¯ time was an absolutely tough challenge. Even if they had not truly experienced what it was like to learn mecha control, they still knew that it required a massive amount of points to upgrade mecha within the virtual world. These points needed to be earned by winning mecha fights. Even more frightening was the fact that, once they lost, an equivalent of the number of points they would have won would be deducted from their umted score. This rule had caused many people to be stuck with thebel of newbie even after 2 to 3 years, because their total score was still in the negatives.


    For them to sessfully advance to intermediate mecha warrior in 3 years, they needed to maintain an extremely high win-rate, perhaps even not lose at all ... this waspletely impossible!


    Face ashen, Han Xuya could not help but open her mouth to plead, "Can the requirements be lowered for us girls?"


    Ling Lan swept a nce at the other, "If you think it¡¯s impossible, then it¡¯s better to just not go and not learn how to operate mecha."


    Ling Lan¡¯s merciless words caused Han Xuya¡¯s face to turn even paler, and she could not help but argue, "I remember that even the most impressive person in the virtual world needed 3 years and 3 months to advance from newbie to intermediate mecha warrior. How can we seed?"


    "That is just on public records. As far as I know, there is one person who only used half a year to be an intermediate mecha warrior from a newbie, in total using just one year to be an advanced mecha warrior," Ling Lan casually described a fact she knew.


    "How could that be? Who was he?" Han Xuya¡¯s first reaction was to disbelieve it.


    "My father, Ling Xiao!" replied Ling Lan calmly.


    "Uncle Ling is a god-ss operator, and also the globally recognized number one prodigy. How are we supposed topare to him?" said Han Xuya feebly. Her cry of ¡¯Uncle Ling¡¯ made Ling Lan¡¯s face twitch. Mind you, the Ling Xiao in the legacy space had been a stunning pretty boy ¡ªpletely ipatible with the title of ¡¯uncle¡¯.


    Ling Lan kept her face ck with all her might, and continued to say, "Which is why I asked you all to do it in three years. That¡¯s 3 times more time than what Ling Xiao used to advance. You should know that in the same three years of time, Ling Xiao had already advanced to ace operator status. You all should also know that for a mecha operator to advance to ace operator status is a natural chasm. Many people remain stuck in this chasm for all their lives, unable to break through ... Compared to this, my request is already low enough."

 Chapter 184: Divine Command Sect!

    Chapter 184: Divine Command Sect!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Han Xuya still wanted to say something to that, when Luo Chao beside her frantically used her hand to block Han Xuya¡¯s mouth. Han Xuya was so shocked by this that she did not even struggle,pletely forgetting what she wanted to say.


    Luo Chao¡¯s action stunned all the otherpanions ¡ª was this still their shy little sister Luo Chao? They reflexively nced at Ling Lan, sighing in their hearts ¡ª Ah, as expected, love can truly make one go wild ...


    Seeing everyone looking at her, Luo Chao realised that she had overreacted. Embarrassed, she pulled her hand away and hid behind Luo Lang. In an instant, the bashful little sister Luo Chao had returned.


    Ling Lan pretended not to see everyone¡¯s somewhat knowing gazes. Instead, still maintaining an ice-block face, she asked coldly, "How about the rest of you? Do you all think it¡¯s impossible?"


    At this moment, the few people who had been through the fires of battle on Demonbeast abruptly recalled that, back then, it was the 10 year old Ling Lan who had expertly handled a mecha. Ling Lan had even managed to kill off an X-series ace mecha squad of the Twilight Empire. It was without question that Boss¡¯s mecha control skills were already at a terrifyingly advanced level. If they did not take advantage of these three years to work hard and give chase, the moment Boss¡¯s body recovered, they would most certainly be left even further behind by Boss ...


    Qi Long¡¯s initially steady heart became even more determined. Han Jijyun, Luo Lang, and Lin Zhong-qing were also on board. They silently clenched their fists, each setting their own goals within their minds ¡ª not to be an intermediate mecha warrior which Ling Lan had asked of them, but to be an advanced mecha warrior like with Qi Long. They too did not want Ling Lan and Qi Long to leave them behind.


    Seeing the elder brothers all promise toplete this mission in 3 years with faces filled with determination, Luo Chao gazed at Ling Lan admiringly. This was Boss Lan. Only Boss Lan could convince all the elder brothers to promise to aplish such a nigh impossible mission ...


    Without question, in Luo Chao¡¯s budding heart, Ling Lan was definitely a perfect boy. Strong, authoritative, charismatic, and reliable. Although Ling Lan could sense the leanings of Luo Chao¡¯s young heart, she did not know what to do about it. Thus, she could only pretend not to know anything, and hope that being apart from her for 3 years would be enough to weaken Luo Chao¡¯s affections, until the point where they could fade away without a trace.


    Just like that, Ling Lan left the Central Scout Academy, seen off by her littlepanions. She returned to the Ling family mansion, and continued to recuperate for a period of time. During that time, the Central Scout Academy sent over countless medicinal agents, along with some precious cultivation resources. In particr, several tubes of special-grade gene agent would be sent periodically. Combined with the gene agent that Ling Lan received from the inheritance, this allowed Ling Lan¡¯s body to recover even faster. Her body had initially been estimated to recover in a year, but after only 8 months it was fully healed with no worry oftent problems.


    After Ling Lan¡¯s body had fully recovered, Mu Shui-qing asked her toe to the ce where he had secluded himself.


    The moment Ling Lan arrived, the already waiting Mu Shui-qing asked, "Do you know why I asked you toe here?"


    Ling Lan shook her head, but then quickly nodded instead. With a smile, Mu Shui-qing patiently waited for her exnation.


    Ling Lan said, "I shook my head because I am not very sure, but then I nodded because I know that you, teacher, will definitely tell me."


    " A child with great daring 1 !" Mu Shui-qing could not help butugh heartily. Ever since Ling Xiao had passed away, this was the first time he wasughing so freely. Both father and son 2 were truly worthy of being nature-defying prodigies capable of upturning the heavens and earth ... they would always take him off guard with pleasant surprises ¡ª being able to take them in as his disciples was truly his great luck.


    Mu Shui-qing finally restrained hisughter and continued to say, "Indeed. Asking you toe here, I have some things to tell you. I am one of your father¡¯s initiate instructors ... Of course, this is just on the surface. In fact, your father is my true disciple." True disciples and initiate disciples were twopletely different concepts. For initiate disciples, he only needed to give them some pointers, but for true disciples, they were the inheritors of their sect ¡ª it could be said that, at that point, the instructor-student rtionship was just like that of a father and son.


    Ling Lan thought for a moment, then said, "Then how should I address you? Master¡¯s Master?"


    Mu Shui-qing did not know whether tough or cry. "Just call me ¡¯master¡¯!" Since he would be teaching her hands-on, then Ling Lan would truly be his true disciple. What else should he call him but ¡¯master¡¯? Besides, he really did not care about any seniority issues. In their sect, once you joined, only the rtionship within the sect mattered.


    Ling Lan rubbed her nose, rather speechless. If she called the other ¡¯master¡¯, then wouldn¡¯t she be on the same seniority level as her father Ling Xiao? Was she then supposed to call her own father ¡¯senior brother¡¯? Ling Lan was somewhat conflicted.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s spirits quickly drooped. Even if she called Mu Shui-qing ¡¯master¡¯, she would have no chance to call her father ¡¯Senior Brother Ling Xiao¡¯ anyway! In that case ... why should she be conflicted? After thinking things through, Ling Lan did not continue to tie herself into knots. She called out, "Master!"


    "Good! Good! Good! This is how my good disciple should be. Efficient in whatever you do, make sure to never be indecisive. On this point, you are better than your father," said Mu Shui-qing happily.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan thought back on the feeling Ling Xiao had given her in the legacy space. Her father had seemed pretty decisive and efficient, not at all indecisive like how Mu Shui-qing said he was ... however, Ling Lan quickly cast these thoughts aside, because Mu Shui-qing had begun to speak again.


    "Our sect emphasizes the basics. Everything begins from the basics, so now I will be teaching you the foundational physical skills of our sect ..."


    "Um ... Master, I already know this," said Ling Lan hurriedly.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words bbergasted Mu Shui-qing. "How do you know it?"


    Ling Lan smiled wryly and said, "Master, our sect is the Divine Command Sect, right?"


    Mu Shui-qing leapt up in shock. "How do you know this?" The Divine Command Sect had always been passed down one-to-one ¡ª ever since Ling Xiao died, he was the only one left ... could it be that there were still others of the Divine Command Sect?


    An almost imperceptible smile appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s lips. "My father told me."


    As if realising something, Mu Shui-qing said with an expression of astonishment, "Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space. So you received it."


    A trace of mockery appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s lips. "It should have been mine from the beginning." Ever since she found out about the inheritance method of the Divine Command Sect, Ling Lan knew very well that Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space had been specially prepared for her.


    "Yes, that thing should indeed belong to you ... the military was just a little greedy, that¡¯s all," said Mu Shui-qing, sighing. He could understand what the military did, but some things were not able to be obtained just because one wanted them ... the requirements for the Divine Command Sect were too high ¡ª the requirements on spiritual power were especially stringent. If Ling Xiao had not identally activated his spiritual power and broken past an obstruction through sheer luck, rising up by three whole levels, even he might have had to give up on the Divine Command Sect. On this front, Ling Lan¡¯s talent was obviously better than Ling Xiao¡¯s, because Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power was innately strong.


    "Since you¡¯ve already received your father¡¯s legacy, I won¡¯t have to teach you the basics again." Mu Shui-qing was in a great mood. This meant that Ling Lan would finish his studies with him much earlier than he could have imagined. At first, he had been somewhat regretful that he had sought out Ling Lan thiste, causing Ling Lan to miss the most opportune timing to learn from the Divine Command Sect. This would make it much harder for Ling Lan to learn and practice the foundational physical skills, perhaps even multiply the time he needed to master them. Unexpectedly, Ling Lan had long received Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy, and thus had not missed the best timing at all.


    "Yup. In the end, right before father disappeared, he told me to find you to learn the final Divine Command technique," Ling Lan passed on Ling Xiao¡¯s final message.


    After a startled pause, Mu Shui-qing immediately understood what Ling Xiao was aiming for. Ling Xiao had wanted him to know that an inheritor still existed for the Divine Command Sect. He had wanted to deliver Ling Lan to him personally, to try and make up for the pain and regrets he had left his master with when he had departed.


    Mu Shui-qing¡¯s eyes turned red and he jerked his head up to look at the sky. His voice was choked with tears as he said, "Ling Xiao, my son, even in death you were worrying about this old man, eh? So you¡¯ve personally sent me hope, giving me motivation to live on ..." How lucky was he to have taken in such a good disciple? It was a shame that he and Ling Xiao¡¯s teacher-disciple rtionship had been so brief,sting only a mere 10 years¡¯ time ...


    Mu Shui-qing¡¯s words made Ling Lan realise as well why Ling Xiao had not chosen to pass on the ultimate technique of the Divine Command Sect to her. Since Ling Xiao had alreadypleted his discipleship, he must have already mastered all the techniques in the Divine Command Sect. He had chosen not to pass it on to Ling Lan, because he had wanted her to seek out Mu Shui-qing and tell his master through her that the heir of the Divine Command Sect still lived.


    Ling Xiao wanted tofort his master in this way, but of course, there was also the intent for Ling Lan to take on his responsibilities, just like how he had tasked Ling Lan with the care of Lan Luofeng at the beginning.


    Of course, Ling Xiao may also have had the thought of training up Ling Lan¡¯s persistence, asking Ling Lan to seek out the elusive Mu Shui-qing patiently to train up her tolerance. However, he had never expected that Mu Shui-qing was just living within the Ling family mansion. Moreover, not too long ago, due to the assassination attempt on Ling Lan, Mu Shui-qing had been coaxed out of seclusion by Chambein Ling Qin¡¯s pleading, and had then stayed by Ling Lan¡¯s side to protect her. Subsequently, when Mu Shui-qing had set eyes on Ling Lan, he had been prepared to teach her already.


    It had to be said that Ling Lan¡¯s luck was truly amazing ¡ª everything had just fallen into ce effortlessly.


    A long while after, Mu Shui-qing finally calmed down. He looked at Ling Lan, and the affection in his eyes was apparent. Right now, in his eyes, Ling Lan was not only the only heir of the Divine Command Sect, he was also the hope his good disciple Ling Xiao had given to him. At this moment, no matter how he looked at Ling Lan, his heart was filled with joy and appreciation.


    "Since you are already at the final step ... then let me first assess your spiritual power. Let me see if you meet the requirements to learn the final technique." Although Mu Shui-qing¡¯s heart was filled with fondness for Ling Lan, he was still very strict in the passing on of the final technique. It should be known that the skills and techniques of the Divine Command Sect all depended on the strength level of an individual¡¯s spiritual power. If Ling Lan did not meet the minimum requirements of the Divine Command technique, for Ling Lan¡¯s sake, he would not teach it to him.


    "Okay~!" Ling Lan nodded. That said, her spiritual power began to spread out. Very rapidly, it split into countless invisible spiritual threads, each roughly as thick as a finger. These threads flew towards Mu Shui-qing, but this time, Ling Lan encountered resistance. About a metre away from Mu Shui-qing, she sensed a strong shield made of spiritual power defending Mu Shui-qing on all sides.

 Chapter 185: Three Years Later ...

    Chapter 185: Three Years Later ...


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Spiritual charge!" A strong spiritual charge was sentshing out at Mu Shui-qing. But when this spiritual charge ran into the other¡¯s spiritual self, it only created some ripples in the other¡¯s spiritual barrier, and then swiftly disappeared.


    With this one attack, Ling Lan knew that her master¡¯s spiritual power was definitely thick and substantial ¡ª normal attacks would do nothing against it. Sure enough, Mu Shui-qing shook his head and said, "With just this bit of power, it is impossible to learn the Divine Command final technique."


    Ling Lan¡¯s brows furrowed, now knowing that she would not be able to pass the assessment if she did not put her full strength into it. So, she clenched her teeth and decided to use the strongest spiritual attack she had ¡ª¡ª spiritual st!


    Of course, the strength of one spiritual st was probably not enough to budge Mu Shui-qing, so Ling Lan immediately brought out the charged four-part st she could do right now to attack.


    To achieve a four-part st, Ling Lan would divide her spiritual power into four cords and then detonate them separately. The sts would stack upyer byyer, making the power of the spiritual st several times stronger. By the time the fourth cord of spiritual power exploded, the force created would be 8 times her initial spiritual st. It was in to see that this stacking of the spiritual sts was copied by Ling Lan from the activation method of One-Inch Punch, and could be considered one of Ling Lan¡¯s self-created spiritual attacks.


    Ling Lan carefully condensed her spiritual power into four spiritual cords as thick as her arm. Then, with clear sequencing, she sent them stretching out towards Mu Shui-qingyer byyer. Just as they were about to make contact with Mu Shui-qing¡¯s spiritual shield, Ling Lan shouted four times inside her head, "Explode! Explode! Explode! Explode!"


    Invisibly, the four cords of spiritual power exploded one by one in the air. In the space where the two stood, violent turbulence appeared in the formless air,yer afteryer. When the final spiritual power cord exploded, theyered force of the spiritual sts crashed like a tidal wave onto Mu Shui-qing.


    When Mu Shui-qing¡¯s spiritual shield met this immense spiritual turbulence, a subtle change came over his expression. He pped his palms together, and with a grunt, the spiritual power shielding his body was reinforced ...


    "Boom!" Two waves of spiritual power collided violently in the air. Although Ling Lan could not physically hear the sound of the collision, the feedback force being transmitted by the air clearly showed that the concussive force of this collision was definitely far beyond any of her previous spiritual sts.


    The powerful concussive force was directly reflected onto Ling Lan¡¯s body. The power surge came too quickly and too fiercely ¡ª Ling Lan had no way to stabilise herself. Her entire body was sent flying back by the reflected force to crash onto the ground.


    Meanwhile, several powerful tremors ran though Mu Shui-qing¡¯s body, hisplexion paling noticeably, but he quickly recovered.


    Still, even though both of them were ultimately fine, Mu Shui-qing¡¯s courtyard had been utterly destroyed by the collision of the two spiritual powers. The powerful concussive force had blown everything in the courtyard into dust ¡ª even the walls of Mu Shui-qing¡¯s home had cracks running through them now, looking as if they would crumble at any moment. It was clear to see how fearsome that turbulence had been.


    With a nimble backflip, Ling Lan was back on her feet. It looked like she had not been injured by any of the reflected force, but herplexion was still extremely pale ¡ª it seemed that the four-part spiritual st was quite taxing for her.


    "You brat. Actually being so harsh ..." Mu Shui-qing looked at Ling Lan somewhat speechlessly. This brat really had no notion of respecting his master ¡ªing out so strongly with such a powerful spiritual attack right from the start. Also, he had proved himself to be a determined fellow ... it should be known that it was extremely painful to execute a spiritual st ¡ª a regr person would not be able to tolerate the pain.


    Ling Lan just stood there, face pale. Right then, spasms of pain had begun to throb at her forehead. The spiritual sts had drained too much of her spiritual power; she was already at the point of exhaustion. However, she endured the intensifying pain, as well as the nausea rising in her chest, and said, "If I am not harsh with myself, I would have long died at another¡¯s hand."


    At these words, Mu Shui-qing felt a pang of bitterness run through his heart. He naturally knew what Ling Lan was referring to. Ling Xiao¡¯s achievements had shone too brightly, leading many unscrupulous people to cast their greed upon his legacy and wealth. As Ling Xiao¡¯s only legal inheritor, Ling Lan¡¯s existence was undoubtedly a thorn in their side 1 that these people would do anything to remove. If Ling Lan was out of the picture, they would be able to tantly im the legacy and wealth that Ling Xiao had left behind. In order to achieve this purpose, they had schemed, plotted, and manipted both on the surface and from the shadows ¡ª till now, Ling Lan must have grown up in a storm of blood and violence.


    "Sorry, I should havee see you earlier ..." Mu Shui-qing was filled with remorse.


    "Master, you being in the Ling family is my protective talisman." Now Ling Lan finally understood why when the Ling family side branch had plotted to take away her inheritance right, the military had chosen to remain silent and let them do as they would, but had not dared to make their support clear. Arge part of it must have been because they feared Mu Shui-qing, who had been stationed within the Ling family. That was why they had not dared to go too far. Also due to Mu Shui-qing¡¯s existence, her mother Lan Luofeng had had enough courage to set a trap for the Ling family side branch. And this was also the true reason why the side branch had obediently left Doha after losing that wager ...


    It could be said that Mu Shui-qing¡¯s decision to seclude himself in the Ling family mansion had protected Lan Luofeng and Ling Lan to a certain extent, causing any others who coveted Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy to have no choice but to retreat temporarily.


    "Good! With you, Ling Xiao has an heir! Right now you should just train your spiritual power further. Three monthster, I will officially teach you the Divine Command final technique." Mu Shui-qing¡¯s heart was alight with joy. He reached out his hand to pat Ling Lan on the shoulder and conveyed his decision.


    "Many thanks, Master!" Ling Lan bowed.


    ********


    Three years¡¯ time went by in the flick of a finger ... when spring once again descended as expected on Doha one fine spring day, before the sun could fully crawl out from the horizon, when the first rays of dawn had barely stretched out their feelers, at the main entrance of the Central Scout Academy, five red-d youths were already standing there. They seemed to be waiting for something.


    One of the youths, with a strongly-built body, had an anxious expression on his face. Every so often, he would breathe in and breathe out deeply, trying to calm his turbulent emotions.


    The guard at the entrance, who normally would not allow any scout students to step out one foot from the gates, was ignoring this group of people. He remained seated at his service station, sipping his cup of tea breezily.


    It wasn¡¯t that he did not want to catch them, nor had he been bribed by the party ¡ª it was just that he could do nothing against these fellows except watch them. They were all 10th graders from the strongest team in the scout academy, and their team leader was known to be the strongest student in the academy.


    Even if the guard had wanted to pull them back inside the gates, he just did not have the capability to do so! The guard smiled wryly as he shook his head and continued to ignore the group.


    Although the Central Scout Academy imposed many strict rules upon its students, as long as you were strong enough, those rules would be like a sheet of white paper ¡ª free for you to scribble on as you like. This was why the guard had no choice but to leave them be. If he really wanted to make all of them submit, other than mobilising the academy¡¯s mecha squad, there was truly no way of doing so.


    Beside the anxious young man, another red-d youth¡¯s expression was distinctly different. He leanedzily against the boundary wall, a helpless expression on his face as he said, "Leader, does it have to be this early? Isn¡¯t it just Boss Laning back to take his test today?" That said, he yawned widely, as if still half-asleep, some crust still hanging at the corners of his eyes.


    Before the anxious youth could answer, a pretty and graceful youth standing beside him, with a frail schrly air about him, cool and quiet, had reached out a hand to p the other¡¯s head. He said coldly, "Weing Boss back is a huge thing. What are you thering on about?"


    The indolent youth grimaced, rubbing his sore head where he had been pped. His sleepiness had been chased away, and he said unhappily, "Luo Lang, can you watch your image? Don¡¯t be so rough, okay? Clearly looking sodylike, yet being so fierce when hitting someone ..."


    "What did you say?" Luo Lang blew up. The thing he hated the most was others saying he looked like a girl. Ever since they had entered puberty,pared to his otherpanions, who had all bulked up and be more rugged, filled with masculinity, his looks had inclined towards willowy grace instead. Other than a slight increase in height, he pretty much looked exactly the same as his twin sister Luo Chao. It was a running joke among thepanions that if Luo Lang cross-dressed and pretended to be Luo Chao, sitting down, no one would be able to tell the difference.


    The indolent youth was not afraid of Luo Lang¡¯s rage. He suddenly pped both his hands together in front of him as if in prayer, a trace of bashfulness appearing on his face as he stomped a foot down and whined coyly, "Aiya, my lovely prince Luo Lang, could you pleasee have tea with me this afternoon?" That said, he batted hisshes with all his might at Luo Lang. He had perfectly re-enacted how Luo Lang had been propositioned thesest two years by well-built women, a scene which at one point had been theugh of their team.


    "Xie Yi, you¡¯re asking for it!" Luo Lang was really livid now. His pert face was flushed bright red, but this shade of anger just added colour to Luo Lang¡¯s cheeks, making him even more alluring. Since young, Luo Lang¡¯s temper had not been the best. He had always liked to let his fists do the talking, which was how he had be friends with Qi Long. Right now, hearing Xie Yi tease him, he immediately put up his fists and leapt at Xie Yi, intent on giving him a good beating.


    Xie Yi¡¯s and Luo Lang¡¯s strength were about equivalent; the two of them began to exchange blows right there by the school gates, happily tangled up in one another. The guard sitting at his station found his face twitching uncontrobly as he watched them ... He could only hope that these two fellows would be careful not to destroy school property around the gates as they fought.


    "Alright, both of you, stop!" said a cold-faced handsome youth at one side. It was Han Jijyun. He had noticed that their leader Qi Long¡¯s mind was not here, so it was pointless to rely on him to stop these two from fighting. Thus, he had no choice but to speak up instead. This was because he could already sense the resentful stareing from the guard station behind them.


    Perhaps the team members respected the authority of their strategist, Han Jijyun, for after hearing him order them to stop, the two fighters drew back their fists and legs. Luo Lang sniffed coldly, then turned his head away from his opponent. On the other hand, Xie Yi scratched his nose idly, and then sticking both hands into his pockets, he ambled leisurely back to his original spot.


    Behind Qi Long, emitting his usual gentle air, Lin Zhong-qing said to the returning Xie Yi with a smile, "Xie Yi,ing here earlier is actually not a bad thing. Let us admire the sunrise! I think it¡¯s been a while since we¡¯ve watched the sun rise!" Over the past three years, in order toplete the goal Boss Lan had set for them, they had not dared to y around; all of their time had been spent on learning mecha control. Fortunately, not too long ago, they had all reached their goals, and so could finally rx.


    Yes, the five people waiting here at the school gates at the crack of dawn were Qi Long, Han Jijyun, Luo Lang, Lin Zhong-qing, and the youth who had joined them after that grand armed melee three years ago, Xie Yi. Today was the day when all the scout students applied and sat for the enrolment tests of the various military schools and other vocational academies. Consequently, their Boss Lan would be returning to the Central Scout Academy for the first time in three years to participate in the academy¡¯s final graduation assessment.

 Chapter 186: Ling Lan Returns!

    Chapter 186: Ling Lan Returns!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Xie Yi could not help but purse his lips at Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s words, saying, "I really just can¡¯t figure you guys out. Training desperately these past 3 years in mecha control, almost to the extent of forgetting to sleep and eat ... are Boss Ling Lan¡¯s instructions really that important?"


    By the time Xie Yi had joined the team, Ling Lan had already withdrawn from the academy and left. Therefore, he wasn¡¯t very clear about Ling Lan¡¯s revered status within the team, and just could notprehend why the goal Ling Lan had set would cause everyone in the team, including the team leader, to be so driven. The average person would not have been able to endure the sort of training the children had put themselves through which had almost bordered on self-torture. However, Qi Long and the others had persevered ¡ª holding on for a whole 3 years. It was as if they would be caught and devoured by a savage beast chasing from behind if they had stopped.


    Of course, Xie Yi had suffered greatly these three years as well. His teammates had all been like wound-up springs, training fervently ¡ª the amount of training they did was mind-blowing. Despite no one forcing him to train with them, seeing all his teammates training diligently beside him, he could not help but submit to the immense pressure to train too ...


    In short, Xie Yi felt like he had been living in hell for these past three years. Along the way, he had sometimes cursed himself back then for being so naive and clueless, being so easily tricked into joining their team ... But Xie Yi did not want to be left behind by his team members, and so he had actually managed to endure it all, obtaining results that he would never have imagined on his own. Moreover, over these three years, Xie Yi had beenpletely integrated into the team. At this time, even if they tried to kick him away, he himself would cling onto Qi Long¡¯s thigh and refuse to go.


    Xie Yi¡¯s question caused Lin Zhong-qing to begin to reminisce. His smile deepened, and he nodded heavily at Xie Yi and said, "That¡¯s right. Although the nominal leader of our team is Qi Long, the true soul of our team is Boss Lan." He then advised Xie Yi, saying, "Xie Yi, remember this. Even though we¡¯ve all acknowledged you, for as long as Boss Lan does not acknowledge you, you will never be a true member of our team."


    Hearing this, Xie Yi¡¯s face fell. "So, I still need to gain the approval of Boss Ling Lan?" After three years of working hard beside thesepanions, Xie Yi had long considered himself as part of the team.


    Luo Lang chimed in with a cold sniff, tone proud as he said, "That goes without question. Xie Yi, you should be careful. Don¡¯t keep fooling around all the time. Boss Lan isn¡¯t as easily taken in as we are." Luo Lang did not forget to step on Xie Yi while he was down 1 .


    "Luo Lang, you¡¯ve known Boss Ling Lan for so long, you must know what Boss Ling Lan likes. Come on, tell me ..." Xie Yi seemed to have forgotten all about his earlier fight with Luo Lang. He began pestering Luo Lang, trying to get some information on Ling Lan so he would be able to y to his favour.


    "Boss Lan is very fair and objective, don¡¯t think of getting by with tricks ..." Although Luo Lang¡¯s words were still curt and cold, his tone had obviously gentled a little.


    "No, definitely not. How would I be so shameless? Don¡¯t you see how I¡¯m trying now to understand our Boss Ling Lan a little better? Oh Luo Lang, my good brother ... earlier, it¡¯s all big brother¡¯s fault. Don¡¯t be angry, ok? Right now, big brother is in trouble. You need to help big brother a little, right~?" Xie Yi was someone who was ¡¯people-smart¡¯ 2 ¡ª clearly sensing the easing of Luo Lang¡¯s attitude, he immediately intensified his efforts like a snake slithering up an extended stick 3 . Expression tragic and pitiful, he reasoned and pleaded with Luo Lang. The thickness of his skin made the other three youths look askance at him. They could not help but take a few steps back and pretend not to know this shameless fellow.


    "Hmph, so now we¡¯re brothers? What did you say about me earlier?" A triumphant smile appeared on Luo Lang¡¯s lips. His prideful glee made the other three step back a little more. Fine! These two were truly a quirky pair! When their tempers were riled, the two of them fought like cats and dogs ¡ª definitely no sign of any brotherly affection whatsoever. But when the two of them got along, their rtionship was so harmonious that they could almost share the same pair of pants.


    Sure enough, under the bombardment of Xie Yi¡¯s candy-wrapped missiles, Luo Lang caved. He began to tell Xie Yi about what he knew of Ling Lan¡¯s personality and principles. However, his exnations caused the three people beside the pair to lose control of their facial muscles once more ... was the Boss Lan being described by Luo Lang really the boss they knew? Why couldn¡¯t they rte his descriptions to the image they had of Boss in their minds at all?


    As the sun slowly rose higher into the sky, and the few waiting youths began to be a little restless, Qi Long suddenly said, "Looks like he¡¯s here ..."


    The other youths all looked towards Qi Long, and Han Jijyun said with a raised brow, "Animal Instinct?" Qi Long¡¯s innate talent Animal Instinct was very strong ¡ª he would often sense a change in the surrounding environment a step before them.


    Qi Long nodded, indicating that Han Jijyun was right. His innate talent Animal Instinct had indeed sensed the vibrations in the air, letting him know that arge convoy was approaching. And today, all of the 10th grade students taking the assessment were already inside the academy. The only oneing here now would be Boss Lan.


    10 minutester, at the horizon, a massive airborne team was slowly approaching them. Right at the front were two miniature mecha. At their chests was the emblem of a fiery red phoenix in flight. As it was a family emblem, there was a ck ring outside the flying fire phoenix.


    The colour of the ring represented the family¡¯s rank. Families were ranked from top rank, to rank-1, rank-2 ... and so on in sequence until rank-7. In total, there were eight ranks. Gold was the highest rank. Typically, onlyrge and powerful families, which were generally elite families with long-standing legacies, had the right to bear this colour. Within the Federation, there were two top rank families ¡ª the Li family and the Ye family.


    There were four rank-1 elite families represented by the colour purple. They were the reclusive Northeastern Muqi, the Old Martial Beitang, the Empyreal Zhuge, and the Hundredfold Zhou.


    Meanwhile, there were obviously many more rank-2 families, which were represented by the colour bright yellow. Rank-3 elite families used orange, rank-4 red, rank-5 blue, rank-6 green, and rank-7 ck. Rank-7 was the most humble of small families, pretty much epassing all areas of the Federation. Any average family who possessed personal armed bodyguards fell into this category, and the colour they could use was ck.


    If the Ling family had not split off from the original Ling elite family, they would have borne the red of rank-4 families ... Initially, the Ling family had not modified the totem on their mecha, continuing to use their family totem with its red outer ring. This was because the fire phoenix was red in colour, and along with the mes zing brightly beneath it, many people would overlook the red of the outer ring, taking it as part of the mes. At a nce, all most people would see was a totem of a fire phoenix being reborn in a wash of mes ...


    However, the original totem was retired after Ling Lan returned home to the Ling family mansion at 13 years old. Lan Luofeng, Ling Qin, and the others had felt that it was time to hand over the Ling family to Ling Lan. Once there was an official change in the family head, the totem would be changed to match the status of the family head. Since the Ling family had cut ties with the Ling elite family, then it no longer had the right to use the red of rank-4 families. Furthermore, as family head, Ling Lan did not have any battle exploits nor societal status, and so could only use the lowest ranking ck ring.


    When Qi Long saw the totem, he eximed in excitement, "It really is Boss!"


    Closely following behind the two mecha were three ck hover cars flying almost abreast of each other, while behind the hover cars were two more miniature mechas tailing closely. This formation was clearly meant to protect the ck hover car right in the middle. The gazes of Qi Long and the others all honed in on that hover car. In particr, Qi Long was nervously clenching his fists. His palms felt as if they were a little damp.


    The speed of the flying convoy was not very fast, perhaps it could even be considered slow, as if it were waiting for something. The answer was soon revealed as the roar of mecha engines suddenly reverberated throughout the academy. A squadron of mecha flew out swiftly from the within the academy, moving forwards to meet the convoy. If it had just been hover cars, the mecha squad would not have bothered. However, they could not let down their guard with the addition of the four miniature mechas.


    Seemingly receiving the mecha squad¡¯s permission to enter, under the watchful guard of the mecha squad, the convoy began to elerate and speed towards the academy gates. Just before they were to arrive, the four miniature mecha suddenly separated to hover in mid-air at four corners, going into a defensive stance. Meanwhile, the hover car in the middle began to descend, slowly gliding down towards the school gates. In the end, it stopped not 10 metres away from the gates.


    Qi Long¡¯s group of five was just about to approach when a strong sense of danger swept over them. The two miniature mecha closest to them almost simultaneously aimed their beam guns at the group. If they continued to move forward, countless beam shots would rain down on them.


    "Ling Yu, they are my friends!" A cool voice rang out from within the hover car. This caused the two miniature mecha to immediately be at ease, pulling back their beam guns.


    "It really is Boss!" That familiar voice instantly excited Qi Long and the others. Sure enough, their boss was back!


    The doors of the hover car finally swung open, and a youth dressed in a red uniform bent over with his head bowed to get out of the hover car. ck military boots stomped confidently on the ground. The youth stood up straight and lifted his head to look in the direction of Qi Long andpany.


    Qi Long and the others felt an intense gaze sweep over them ¡ª they couldn¡¯t help but puff out their chests and suck in their tummies, standing up straight in response.


    Then, an extremely subtle smile appeared on the lips of that sculpted cold face. "Companions, I am back!"


    "Boss ..." Qi Long and the others pounced at Ling Lan emotionally. Qi Long¡¯s speed was the fastest ¡ª he was the first one to embrace Ling Lan. His eyes were red, and his voice was choked with tears as he said, "Boss, I¡¯ve waited for you for so long."


    Thest three years, he had trained desperately, all in the hopes that one day he would be able to truly stand by Ling Lan¡¯s side, so they could be brothers who could watch out for one another and brave life and death together ... and today, he had finally seen this day arrive.


    Ling Lan patted Qi Long¡¯s back lightly, "Yes, I know. Which is why I¡¯vee back."


    Qi Long suppressed the upheaval in his heart, reluctantly letting go of Ling Lan. But before he could say anything else, he had been shoved aside by Luo Lang. Luo Lang grabbed Ling Lan and hugged her tight, fiercely snuggling against her, as if seekingfort. "Boss Lan, I¡¯ve missed you to death."


    This action of Luo Lang¡¯s rendered Ling Lanpletely speechless. Who the heck was this? When did their team take in a girl? She slowly pushed away the clingy Luo Lang, and after giving him a close look, voice cracking, she said, "Luo Lang? How did you grow up to look like this?"


    This punk Luo Lang had actually grown up to be even more feminine than she had ¡ª was there still any reason in this world?! This harsh reality deeply wounded Ling Lan¡¯s fragile soul. She raged in her heart: Hells, I am the one who¡¯s a girl, alright?!

 Chapter 187: My Role?

    Chapter 187: My Role?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Luo Lang¡¯s face turned bright red at Ling Lan¡¯s shocked question. If it had been anyone else, Luo Lang would definitely have raised his fist and punched them, but Ling Lan was his most respected, most loved, most idolised Boss Lan! And besides, he couldn¡¯t win against him anyway ...


    Unsure what to do, Luo Lang could only stand there helplessly. His lost demeanour actually added an extra tinge of softness to his appearance, truly prompting pity and affection in others. This caused the wailing in Ling Lan¡¯s heart to escte: Boo hoo hoo ... this brat¡¯s existence was absolutely meant to harass her. How was she to live with this cruel reality?!


    Ling Lan¡¯s question caused Xie Yi, who was standing by the side, to burst out intoughter. Finally finding a scapegoat for his anger and frustration, Luo Lang roared and pounced at Xie Yi, and a grand battle broke out once more.


    But this time, no one was willing to bother with either of them; even Han Jijyun, who would usually rein them in, did not have the mind to care about them at the moment.


    "Boss Lan, long time no see!" Forcefully holding back his emotions, Han Jijyun peered closely at Ling Lan standing before him. Although he had not lost hisposure like the others, the typically stoic expression on his face was gone, reced by a clear expression of pleasant surprise.


    Ling Lan hugged Han Jijyun abruptly, patting his back forcefully as she said, "Jijyun, these past three years, it¡¯s been tough on you."


    Han Jijyun¡¯s strategic nning was definitely instrumental in ensuring that Qi Long¡¯s team remained secure as the strongest team of the academy. It should be known that Wu Jiong¡¯s team and Li Yingjie¡¯s team were both extremely strong teams as well ¡ª both those teams must have always been eyeing the throne of Qi Long¡¯s team ravenously all this while.


    Truthfully, those two teams were no weaker than Qi Long¡¯s in terms of capability. In fact, it might even be said that they were a hair better, because they were full teams with all 6 members, while Qi Long¡¯s team wascking Ling Lan and so had always been operating with just 5 people. Inherentlycking, for them to maintain their status as the strongest team, Han Jijyun had yed a major role with his careful nning and thoughtful maniptions. Without Han Jijyun, no matter how strong Qi Long became, the team would not have been able to fend off thebined challenge of the other two teams.


    The approbation in Ling Lan¡¯s words almost caused Han Jijyun to break out into joyful tears. Ling Lan recognised all his efforts over these past three years! At this moment, he finally understood the meaning behind the phrase ¡¯a gentleman would die for a patron who recognises his worth¡¯ ¡ª having a boss like Ling Lan, was truly his good fortune.


    Ling Lan released Han Jijyun, and her gaze shifted to look at Lin Zhong-qing. She walked forwards and bumped her shoulder lightly against his. This action, reminiscent of the silentmunication between sworn brothers, caused Lin Zhong-qing to be filled with shocked joy. Could this mean that Boss Lan had truly epted him now, and would begin viewing him as a brother of equal status with Qi Long and the others? He could not help but croak out, "Boss Lan ..."


    "Yes!" An extremely small smile appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s lips, but Lin Zhong-qing still noticed it. That smile told Lin Zhong-qing that he was not mistaken.


    After interacting with Qi Long, Han Jijyun, and Lin Zhong-qing for a bit, Ling Lan looked over at the other two still embroiled in their fight. Curiously, Ling Lan asked, "That¡¯s Xie Yi?" Ling Lan recalled Qi Long telling her that he was epting a student called Xie Yi into their team when she had left the academy. And that person was thebat expert hiding within ss-B whom she had inadvertently discovered during the grand armed melee.


    Qi Long nodded and said, "Yes. He¡¯s not bad. Willing to train hard with us, just shy of joining us at the advanced mecha warrior level."


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze glittered. "Looks like you all are getting along well."


    "Yup, this punk¡¯s skin is really thick. He is capable of anything ... even we can¡¯t take it sometimes," said Lin Zhong-qing, chuckling wryly. He had thought that he was extremely unppable, that his skin was already thick enough, butpared to Xie Yi, he was really just in the kiddie league ¡ª Xie Yi¡¯s behaviour showed him what thick-skinned really was ... his shamelessness knew no bounds.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s words received Qi Long¡¯s and Han Jijyun¡¯s agreement. All of them believed that no matter what kind of environment Xie Yi was ced in, he would be able to live on resiliently ...


    Hearing Qi Long¡¯s and the others¡¯ opinions on Xie Yi, Ling Lan nced contemtively at Xie Yi. Perhaps he would be able to fill in the gaps of Qi Long¡¯s team ... of course, this was with the prerequisite that Xie Yi knew what he was supposed to do.


    Ling Lan then asked, "How long are they nning to fight for?"


    "Until Luo Lang¡¯s tired," said Lin Zhong-qing with augh. They all knew that the person who really wanted to fight was Luo Lang; Xie Yi was just going along passively. So, when Luo Lang no longer wanted to fight, the fight would be over.


    "Then let¡¯s just leave them to it." That said, Ling Lan began walking towards the academy gates. When she had left her home, she had been carefully observing the time. She had no intentions of letting her final assessment be affected by her beingte. Even though she was not aiming to enter the top military school, that didn¡¯t mean that she did not want to enrol in the other schools.


    Seeing Ling Lan make a move, Qi Long, Han Jijyun, and Lin Zhong-qing decisively left the two fighting people behind and followed Ling Lan through the academy gates.


    Xie Yi, who had been keeping a close eye on Ling Lan¡¯s actions, saw that Ling Lan had already entered the gates, and quickly shouted, "Luo Lang, Boss Ling Lan has entered the academy!"


    "Ah ..." Engrossed in the fight, Luo Lang had not noticed this at all. He hurriedly stopped fighting, and seeing the backs of Ling Lan and the others entering the school gates, he shouted out, "Boss, wait for me!" He frantically ran after them, leaving his fighting partner Xie Yi behind.


    "How heartless!"ined Xie Yi. If he hadn¡¯t pitied Luo Lang for his plight earlier, he would not haveughed and given Luo Lang a way out to vent his embarrassment. Of course, there was another reason for his obviousughter. Back when Ling Lan had first faced the others, those true emotions revealed had made him feel like an outsider, which made him very ufortable. Thus, he had taken the chance to tease Luo Lang, egging him into a fight to push aside this feeling.


    "So I have to get Boss Ling Lan¡¯s acknowledgement? How troublesome ..." Xie Yi frowned, ambling unhurriedly after Luo Lang to enter the school gates.


    Still, he did not wish to be excluded by the others anymore! Xie Yi found that he really hated that.


    Luo Lang and Xie Yi very quickly caught up to the others. The six of them slowly walked to the nearest hover car stop, and prepared to take a hover car to the assessment centre.


    While they were waiting, Xie Yi thought for a moment, then walked over to stand before Ling Lan. He said seriously, "Boss Ling Lan, I¡¯m called Xie Yi. Leader Qi Long and the others said that only if I obtain your acknowledgement will I be a true member of the team ... I hope that Boss can acknowledge me."


    Ling Lan nced at Xie Yi coolly. This nce gave Xie Yi a chill, as if he had beenid bare by it. Initially filled with confidence, he suddenly began to doubt himself ... could he really obtain Ling Lan¡¯s acknowledgement?


    He didn¡¯t know how long he waited ¡ª perhaps it was just a second, or perhaps it was 30 to 40 seconds ¡ª when Ling Lan finally responded, "Why should I?"


    Xie Yi rallied his spirits and replied, "I will not hold the team back."


    "There are many who won¡¯t hold the team back. You¡¯re not indispensable," answered Ling Lan indifferently.


    Xie Yi was struck dumb by Ling Lan¡¯s words. Dammit, can¡¯t he tell that he was just being humble?! Was he supposed to be tantly honest and say that he was the best at fighting, and that his strength was top-shelf material?! Xie Yi¡¯s expression was awkward, but this moment fully disyed the extreme thickness of Xie Yi¡¯s skin. He regained hisposure once more and said with augh, "Of course, I can also fight very well."


    "To join our team, it¡¯s the most basic thing to be able to fight well."


    Xie Yi choked once more on Ling Lan¡¯s merciless words. True enough, he finally felt the legendary difficulty of Boss Ling Lan ¡ª he was truly impervious against ttery andmon tricks 1 , utterly unpredictable. That stony expression, that unruffled tone ... Xie Yi really had no clue where he should apply force.


    He could only chuckle bitterly and fall silent. This time, it was his loss; he could only retreat for now.


    Right then, a hover car arrived. Ling Lan was the first to board, followed closely by Qi Long and Han Jijyun. Meanwhile, Lin Zhong-qing, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi were prepared to take the next hover car.


    Han Jijyun had just boarded, the car door still open, when Ling Lan suddenly turned her head to say to Xie Yi, "Xie Yi, what do you think your presence can bring to the team? When you can answer this question, then I will give you a clear answer!"


    Ling Lan¡¯s words had barely faded when the car doors closed. Han Jijyun keyed in their destination on the hover car¡¯s A.I., and the hover car sped off into the sky, quickly disappearing into the distance.


    Xie Yi was taken aback by Ling Lan¡¯s parting words. He had thought that Ling Lan would not be giving him a response today, so he had already been nning to work on it for the long haul. Unexpectedly, Ling Lan had suddenly thrown him this question. Even as it boggled him, he was a little lost, because he had never thought about what he could bring to the team.


    "Xie Yi, what are you nking out for? Come in quickly!" Luo Lang¡¯s impatient shout came to his ears. Xie Yi blinked and saw that Lin Zhong-qing and Luo Lang were already on a hover car, waiting for him to board. He quickly boarded and closed the car door.


    The hover car flew swiftly towards their destination, but Xie Yi¡¯s heart was fully upied by Ling Lan¡¯s question. "What do you think your presence can bring to the team?"


    Really, what can I bring to the team? Strength? I cannot match Qi Long, and am even slightly weaker than Luo Lang, only just a little stronger than Lin Zhong-qing and Han Jijyun. But Han Jijyun¡¯s role is that of the team¡¯s tactician, so hisbat power has never been the most important thing, while Lin Zhong-qing ...


    Xie Yi thought back on the role Lin Zhong-qing yed in the team, and found that for every mission, all the information, mission-appropriate equipment, and necessary medicinal agents, had all been prepared perfectly by Lin Zhong-qing ... it looked like Lin Zhong-qing had secured himself the role of being an excellent logistics support for the team.


    Only then did Xie Yi realise that everyone in the team had their own designated role. Moving on to the second strongest, the bad-tempered Luo Lang ¡ª at the start of every mission, he would fulfil the role of advance guard. He would scout ahead and test the surroundings, reporting the situation back in a timely manner to the team. And whenever he did this, Luo Lang would alwaysplete his duties perfectly.


    Meanwhile, the team leader Qi Long had always been in charge of coordinating the team. In contrast, he had always been lounging on the fringes, simply moving wherever the team went. Now, thinking back, he had not known what position he yed in the team at all. This was probably the reason why Boss Ling Lan had asked him this question.


    That¡¯s right, what gave someone the confidence to say that they had the right to be a true member of the team when they themselves had no clue what their own position was in the team? At this thought, cold sweat broke out across Xie Yi¡¯s entire body. He had really been such an idiot ...


    "No, I am not an expendable person on the team. I will definitely find a role that belongs only to myself. But ... what is the role that would suit me best?" Xie Yi felt that his brain was a muddled mess. Groggy and confused, he unknowingly found himself already at the assessment centre.

 Chapter 188: Applying to a School!

    Chapter 188: Applying to a School!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Watching Xie Yi drift down soullessly from the hover car, the waiting Ling Lan could not help but furrow her brows. Could it be that the little fellow had been struck too deeply by her words and had incurred a spiritual wound?


    She looked dubiously at Qi Long, her eyes filled with questions. D*mmit, didn¡¯t you all say that this guy was very thick-skinned? Why did he fall into such a sorry state from such a minor setback?


    To Ling Lan¡¯s questioning gaze, Qi Long could only shake his head firmly, indicating that he knew nothing.


    Of course, after Ling Lan shifted her gaze elsewhere, Qi Long could only murmur in his heart, ¡¯That also depends on who the opponent is. A humanoid weapon like you with such horrific killing power ¡ª what does it matter how thick one¡¯s skin is? Your power is still unbearable!¡¯


    At this thought, Qi Long couldn¡¯t help but nce sympathetically at Xie Yi, donating a handful ofpassionate tears for his plight of almost copsing under a simple jab by Boss Ling Lan ... Thinking back, this was also how I, your big bro, endured till this day!


    "Xie Yi, are you really nning to apply for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy in this state?" Xie Yi was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts by a familiar cold voice.


    Ling Lan was staring at him coldly. The ice in his eyes caused Xie Yi to shiver involuntarily ¡ª he could actually feel the same pressure as when he stood before some instructors. It had been a long time since he had felt that sensation.


    "If you lose here, then you will really have no right to be a member of our team." Ling Lan¡¯s warning made Xie Yi gather his emotions. There was no room for him to consider all theseplicated things right now. Only one thought remained in his head ¡ª he could not fail here. He must seed in enrolling into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, and then prove himself worthy of bing a true member of the team.


    Seeing Xie Yi regain his equilibrium, Ling Lan let out a silent breath of relief. If her previous words had caused Xie Yi to stumble and make a mistake during the assessment, then she would havemitted a grave sin.


    The few of them arrived at the assessment point specially set aside for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Almost all of the Central Scout Academy¡¯s 10th grade boys eligible for admission was gathered here. Everyone had three application chances, and all of the boys had set their first option as the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. This was the dream school of all the boys, so even if they knew the chances were slim, they still used up one of their application chances on this school with no regrets.


    Qi Long and the others joined the long line of people waiting. However, the line moved swiftly, and very soon it was their turn. Qi Long and his team lifted their right hands, revealing theirmunicators, and waved them at the A.I. processing the applications for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. A beep was heard, and then the virtual screen disyed their details, along with the honours and results they had obtained in their 10 years at the scout academy.


    After each person concerned verified his details, he would press the ¡¯confirm¡¯ button of the A.I., and their information would be delivered instantly to the database of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. After that, all they had to do was wait to receive the confirmation notification on theirmunicators.


    Very quickly, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had responded by sending their application numbers to theirmunicators. At this point, they then had to wait patiently for themunicator notification for the final testing.


    After the 5 members of the team had gone through the entire process, they waited for Ling Lan to do the same. However, Ling Lan did not do anything, merely signalling for Qi Long and the rest of the team to move so they would not obstruct the others behind them from applying.


    This unexpected action of Ling Lan¡¯s confounded Qi Long. He blurted out right then and there, "Boss, why aren¡¯t you applying to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy?"


    "Let¡¯s speak at the side, alright?" Qi Long¡¯s outburst had made them the centre of attention; Ling Lan was rather resigned by this.


    "Ah ... that¡¯s Ling Lan who withdrew from the academy three years ago." Noticing Ling Lan, everyone began to stir in excitement. The grand armed melee that year had beenunched by Ling Lan, and due to that decision, many initially unawakened students had obtained the opportunity to awaken ... It could be said that, arge majority of the 7th graders then ¡ª that is, the 10th graders now ¡ª were extremely grateful towards Ling Lan.


    "Our uncrowned king has returned ...!" shouted someone in joy, obviously a loyal supporter of Ling Lan.


    "Just now I seem to have heard that Ling Lan is not applying for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy? Why is that?" Some people hadtched onto Qi Long¡¯s question, and began to debate the reason behind it in astonishment.


    In their eyes, only those ss-A folks would be able to sessfully enrol into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy without much trouble. As the king of kings in ss-A, if Ling Lan did not enter the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, who should?


    "Could it be that Ling Lan¡¯s injury from back then still hasn¡¯t healed?" asked a random student. The cacophony was cut by an abrupt silence, and then the noise exploded, even more chaotic than before. Could that really be true?!


    Hearing these spections, as if thinking of something, Qi Long¡¯s face changed.


    Seeing the situation slipping out of control, Ling Lan hurriedly signalled for Qi Long and the others to leave the area first. This spot was truly unsuitable for them to talk.


    The group quickly left the application point. The assessment time would be sent directly to the applicants¡¯municators, so it was not necessary to wait at the application point itself. As long as the applicant was notte for the assessment, it was all fine.


    The six of them came to a rtively quiet location, and then Ling Lan said, "Actually, choosing not to apply for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy is a deeply thought out decision on my part."


    "Could it be that your body hasn¡¯t healed yet, Boss?" asked Qi Long anxiously. Back then, when the academy doctor had determined that Ling Lan would require 3 to 4 years to fully recover, they had assumed that 3 years would take care of everything for sure. Who knew reality would not turn out this way ...


    "Yes, I still need one year¡¯s time. And this year just happens to be the most critical one ... If I don¡¯t take care, sometent problems will remain in my body, which may even affect my future career as a mecha operator." Ling Lan did not hesitate to exaggerate. Even if she were as fit as an ox right now, she would still spin it so that she was a ravaged wilting white cabbage.


    "You all know that the first year of physical training at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy is exceedingly harsh ¡ª if one doesn¡¯t pass, one will be kicked out from the school directly. My family doctor has clearly diagnosed that my body would not be able to withstand that year of training. Since I already know it is impossible, I can only give up on applying."


    Ling Lan naturally wasn¡¯t afraid of this so-called harsh physical training. The reason why she would not apply for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy is that both her mother, Lan Luofeng, and she were not at all confident that she could keep her gender under wraps for all 6 years at the school.


    Just the annual physical check-up alone would be an unfordable natural chasm, not to mention the various forms of physical training they would have to go through. Based on what she knew, there were times when they had to fight stripped to the waist ¡ª and this was impossible for Ling Lan!


    Of course, even without those issues, it still was not suitable for Ling Lan to enter the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, this gathering grounds of abnormal prodigies, with her current situation. Mind you, once she managed to enter that school, she would draw the attention of the entire Federation. And this was precisely what Ling Lan did not need. The best thing for her would be to be utterly forgotten, to fade away into obscurity so she could find a chance to regain her female life.


    Lan Luofeng did not want her daughter to live forever in the world as a man; she just could not bear it. Thus, after discussion, the final decision was for Ling Lan to apply to the most remote in the gxy, Aureolin 1 .


    It was an agricultural, with beautiful scenery and temperate weather. Moreover, the college there was rather easygoing ¡ª one just needed to muck about for a few years there to obtain a degree. Although Ling Lan felt somewhat regretful for the choice, she did not want to let Lan Luofeng worry, and so agreed.


    Of course, Ling Lan did not obediently apply to those horticultural colleges as Lan Luofeng wished, choosing instead to apply to the onlymunity college specialising in mecha repairs on the. Ling Lan had carefully examined that school, and found that although it was known as a mecha service college, it still had a mecha control course. The course only epted 50 people, but Ling Lan believed that, based on her status as a ss-A student from the Central Scout Academy, that college would definitely not reject her.


    When Qi Long and the other 4 members heard about Ling Lan¡¯s situation, their mood instantly dropped.


    Han Jijyun could not help but ask, "Then, which military school are you applying to?" The other military schools were perhaps not as strict as the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    "I¡¯ve prepared to apply to the Windchase Mecha Service College on Aureolin." The youths were gobsmacked once more by Ling Lan¡¯s reply.


    "Servicing mecha? Boss, are you joking?" Qi Long leapt up in shock, his face filled with disbelief.


    He had never forgotten Ling Lan¡¯s formidable control skills ¡ª while in the virtual world, he had piloted a mecha and simted a fight with the figure of the Twilight mecha that day in his mind, and he had lost spectacrly. This gave Qi Long a clearer idea of Ling Lan¡¯s true control ability. For such a prodigious mecha operator to go be a regr skilled technician and service mecha ... he felt that his entire world was being upended.


    Ling Lan cut off Qi Long with a cold re, "The Mecha Service College does not just have mecha servicing courses, it also has a mecha control course."


    These words finally let the team members¡¯ spirits return to their bodies ¡ª Boss wasn¡¯t going to go be a mecha repairman! ¡ª they felt they had been revived.


    "Is the mecha control ss of that any good?" asked Han Jijyun dubiously.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s response to that let them finally understand why their Boss Lan had chosen that school. "It¡¯s so-so. But that is the most suitable for resting and recuperating. The weather is mild, the scenery beautiful, and the air quality is the most optimum A+ grade. My family doctor has said that my body will be able to rx best there, and will be able to eliminate alltent problems. Plus, the school is very easygoing, working on a credit-based system. For the first year, I n to rest at home and just work on some theory sses. I will put the actual control sses in the second year ..." said Ling Lan, her expression turning helpless at this point, "Only that school allows me to freely arrange my time, so that ce is the most suitable for me ..."


    Ling Lan found that she was really good at lying ¡ª she herself was almost taken in by her own lies.


    Seeing the five still in low spirits before her, Ling Lan added, "Besides, just because I¡¯ve gone there doesn¡¯t mean I won¡¯t evere back. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy has transfer opportunities every year. Promising students at other schools can still reapply for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy through testing. Once my body recovers, I will be back."


    Firstfort them for now, there will be some excuse to exin thingster on ... Ling Lan decided to take things one step at a time and cross bridges when she came upon them. Right now, she needed to pump Qi Long and the others up for their application test into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Mind you, only at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would they receive the best support for their development. She definitely would not allow their futures to be negatively impacted because of her.


    Sure enough, Ling Lan¡¯s words caused Qi Long and the others to rally immediately. It was true when they thought about it! So Boss Lan wouldn¡¯t be applying for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy now, but that doesn¡¯t mean he won¡¯t be able to enrolter on. There would still be chances, and although those chances would be much more difficult than applying now, who was Ling Lan? He was their boss! It would be no problem for him!


    It had to be said that Qi Long and the others really had a kind of blind faith in Ling Lan. In their minds, as long as it was something Boss Lan wanted to do, nothing was impossible.

 Chapter 189: The Flames of War Rise Again!

    Chapter 189: The mes of War Rise Again!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Just like that, Qi Long and the others went off in high spirits to take the test for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Meanwhile, Ling Lan went to the application point of the school she had chosen. There was no one there; almost none of the Central Scout Academy students would choose to apply to the colleges here.


    Here were the most backward vocational colleges andmunity colleges, and the application for these institutes were all processed by just one A.I.. Frankly, the Central Scout Academy did not want their students to apply to these schools at all ¡ª if not for the Federation¡¯s regtions for fairness and equal opportunity, the Central Scout Academy would definitely have driven these schools out of its assessment centre without giving them any chance.


    Ling Lan deftly chose the course she wanted to apply for, and very quickly, the Windchase Mecha Service College had approved her application request. Soon after, Ling Lan received the other¡¯s reply on hermunicator.


    Opening it to read, Ling Lan blinked nkly. Tworge words ¡ª ¡¯TEST EXEMPTED¡¯ ¡ª came into sight. The other party had actually exempted her from the application testspletely. It was clear to see how shocked and pleased the school was by her application. They were very afraid that this was an impulsive decision on Ling Lan¡¯s part, and so did not want to give Ling Lan any time to reconsider.


    It was of course a good thing to be exempted from testing; Ling Lan decisively pressed the confirmation button. With her confirmation, her data file was sent straight to the Windchase Mecha Service College ... That done, Ling Lan immediately rushed back to the application point of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, to wait for the final assessment results of Qi Long and the others.


    ********


    Meanwhile, at this exact moment, at a distant Federation border, on a battlefield between the Twilight Empire and the Federation, another round of conventional warfare officially began.


    On the battlefield, the starships of both sides faced off from a distance. Countless intermediate and advanced mecha were being ejected from the starships¡¯ ports, almost filling up the entire starry sky. Ten of thousands of mecha engines roared in unison, the sound threatening to rip the starry skies apart.


    The mecha of the two nations formed team after team, breaking off to engage their own group of opponents. Ever since technology had advanced enough to make gctic war possible, mecha battles had be the most basic type ofbat, sometimes to the point where the final oue of a war would be determined based on the power of each side¡¯s mecha operators. This was also why all nations invested so much in the cultivation of mecha operators ¡ª they were the main fighting force, the strongest solo weapons for the purpose of domination and conquest.


    Every war was fierce and brutal. Whenever war broke out, great numbers of mecha operators would fall, which was why mecha operators had the highest casualty rate among soldiers. Even so, every soldier of the Federation still wanted to be a mecha operator as their first choice, because only mecha operators could truly control their own lives, as long as they were strong enough.


    This was just a conventional battle, but even so, countless mecha operators had already been lost to these starry skies. Those final res as they fell were like radiant fireworks, lighting up the entire starry skies, leaving behind its owner¡¯s final requiem.


    On the mainmand ship in the middle of the Federation fleet, everyone in themand centre was looking at the battlefield before them with serious expressions. They were waiting patiently for the final oue of the mecha battle ¡ª at that time, this sh would be over.


    It wasn¡¯t that they did not want to arrange any tactics or stratagems to reduce the number of casualties ... it was just that this had be routine. This kind of conventional battle, against a long-standing enemy across many years ¡ª they had be familiar with each other¡¯s tactics. After all this protracted fighting, what mattered in the end was the overall strength of the two nations, as well as which nation had the stronger mecha.


    "There is strange movement on the left side of the opponent¡¯s fleet!" Right then, a report rang out in themand centre from a surveince soldier responsible for monitoring the area.


    "Zoom in!" The suprememander of the Federal Border Protection Fleet, Major General Tang Xu, who had been stationed here for 6 years, gave an immediatemand after hearing the report. Tang Xu was 43 years old this year, and was considered one of the few outstanding and authoritative Major Generals in the Federation now. Due to his tenacity, he had ensured the stability of the situation at the Federation¡¯s border for several years.


    At hismand, therge screen in themand centre rapidly zoomed in on the position in question. They then saw ck mecha being silently ejected one after another from the opponent starship¡¯sunching ports.


    The surveince soldier manipting the image knew very clearly what was important. He immediately provided a close-up of one of the ck mecha, especially focusing in of the arm area and erging it. At the sight of the serial number beginning with an ¡¯S¡¯, themand centre was instantly in an uproar. There were even several senior officers who couldn¡¯t help but burst into foulnguage.


    "Twilight actually sent their special ace mecha squad out!" All the Twilight ace mecha were basically marked with XSYZ serial numbers. Z marked the strongest squads of ace mecha, while X marked the weakest. The strength of the ace mecha of the Twilight Empire was equal to that of the Federation¡¯s ace mecha. Of course, the Federation¡¯s ace mecha squads were also differentiated by their strength. In any case, the S-series special ace mecha squad deployed by the opponent could be considered an extremely powerful veteran mecha team of the Twilight Empire.


    Tang Xu knew the situation gave him no time to hesitate. He immediately ordered, "Order the Soaring Dragon ace mecha squad to attack!"


    Each fleet would have one ace mecha squad to hold the fort. They were the top fighting power of the Federation ¡ª if it were not absolutely necessary, he really did not want to send them out. Just the very idea of losing one of the operators made his heart ache terribly. However, even more, he just could not allowmon mecha operators to lose their lives needlessly in engaging the opponent¡¯s ace mecha operators. Ace level enemies required aces to match.


    ********


    At the right nk of the fleet, an interster mothership was hovering, quiet but somewhat forbidding. In its belly, a primed and fully-equipped mecha squad was waiting to be deployed. It was the trump card ace mecha squad of this protection fleet ¡ª¡ª the Soaring Dragons!


    At this moment, they were sitting in their respective mecha with solemn expressions. They were spread out in their respectiveunch passages, paying close attention to the progress of the battle before them.


    Suddenly, the call tobat rang out through the entire mothership. The sharp sound pierced through the initial silence, and all the ace operators instinctively clenched the control sticks in their hands. This sound meant that their turn to battle was about to begin.


    They had already been waiting for too long. Every time a battle began, they would always be ready to move out, but in the end, they had never had a chance to see the battlefield. Holding fast to the order from themand centre to wait and be on standby at every battle ... if it were not for the military culture deep within their very marrows, the multiple urrences of cry wolf 1 would very easily tire them out and cause them to bex in carrying out their orders.


    However, all the ace operators knew well that since they were being deployed now, it meant that the enemy would most certainly be ace operators of the same level. This would be a cruel battle to the death ¡ª both sides would use their lives to prove who the true kings were!


    "Orders. Ace mecha squad Soaring Dragon to strike. Direction southwest, coordinates 1245, 2340!" Every operator of the Soaring Dragons heard thismand from themand centre on their mecha¡¯s public channel.


    "8001, 8002, 8003, 8004, 8005, all prepped and ready to go. Calling JMC801, requesting deployment!" From eachunch port, deployment requests were transmitted from the ace operators to the headset of the JMC responsible for guiding the ace mecha.


    "Checking ... All equipment in order, mobility normal. Launch approved. 3, 2, 1 ...unching!" The JMC specially in charge of the ace mecha approved theunch requests after swiftly running through the prerequisite checks.


    "Fire!" "Fire!" "Fire!" Consecutive sounds of ejections rang out. From the 5unch ports on both sides of the mothership, the prepped ace mecha were shot out into the skies.


    "8011, 8012, 8013 ... requesting deployment!"


    "8021, 8022, 8023 ... requesting deployment!"


    Batch after batch of ordered ace mecha were shot into the skies ... at this moment, the exclusivemunications channels of each mecha were extremely busy. A mecha battle involvingrge battalions was not conducted in solo fights; the mecha needed to group together in units to engage the enemy.


    "8011 calling 8001. Wingman One requesting to enter formation ..."


    "8021 calling 8001. Wingman Two requesting to enter formation ..."


    In this manner, every time a formation was fully formed, the mecha would then move swiftly to the coordinates themand centre sends them.


    ********


    "Baka, how does the opponent move so fast?" Themander on the Twilight¡¯s mainship, a general with a thin moustache on his upper lip and grey sideburns, saw team after team of silver-white mecha flying from the opponent¡¯s backend, swiftly intercepting their ace mecha which had already gotten into formation, and couldn¡¯t help but swear angrily.


    "General, believe that our mecha operators will not lose to those chinks," said a young staff officer with a slight bow, but his tone was haughty. It should be known that their S-series special ace mecha squads were called the ¡¯victory mecha which would never fall¡¯ 2 ¡ª dealing with these small guppies would definitely be no problem.


    "Aoki, don¡¯t underestimate them. The Chinese Federation has always been our archenemy. For thousands of years, as long as war breaks out, it has always been the end of their lives or ours. Throughout history, we have suffered defeat many times because we underestimated them, bringing great losses to our empire. We must learn from these lessons." The general was a cautious person. He was not blindly confident like some people within the country, self-assured in their belief that the Chinese Federation was just a pretty flower vase 3 .


    "General, what you say makes sense. But, the Chinese Federation now is no longer the Federation of before. 16 years ago, even their god-ss operator Ling Xiao lost his life at our warriors¡¯ hands. Now, they are just in their death struggle. Victory will forever belong to the Great Twilight Empire." Staff Officer Aoki¡¯s face was filled with pride. The sessful assassination of Ling Xiao was the glory of every Twilight soldier.


    As soldiers of the new generation of the Twilight Empire, they had grown up under the propaganda of the empire¡¯s sessful killing of the Chinese Federation¡¯s strongest god-ss operator Ling Xiao. In their world view, the Chinese Federation was already on the wane, no longer having the strength to resist them. The Great Twilight Empire would definitely obtain the final victory and eventually take over the entire Chinese Federation.


    "Is that really so?" The general¡¯s expression was grim as he stared at therge screen. He did not believe that the Chinese Federation really had no backup resources. What¡¯s more, they still had other god-ss operators. Even though those people had remained reclusive all this time, if the Chinese Federation truly was pushed to the brink of no return, these fearsome beings would probably appear one after another. In contrast, their empire only had nine mecha god-kings 4 ¡ª they just could not match up in numbers.


    "We need to drag them along for another period of time. The oldest god-ss operator of the Federation must be nearing 200 years old by now ..." The general calcted in his heart. As long as one or two of the opponent¡¯s god-ss operators died, then in any top-level contest of strength, their Empire would not be at a disadvantage. At that time, it would truly be the time for their Great Twilight Empire to push their attack.

 Chapter 190: The Mysterious Mecha in the Black Hole!

    Chapter 190: The Mysterious Mecha in the ck Hole!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Aoki, notify the special ace operator squad. Let them use all their might to kill the opponent¡¯s ace operators!" The general gave a decisive order. Since a stealth attack was already out of the question, then they might as well eliminate a part of the other¡¯s ace operators to weaken the enemy¡¯sbat power.


    "Hai!" Aoki epted the general¡¯s order with a respectful bow, the pride on his face fading. After that, he turned around and passed on the order to the mecha operators currently facing the opponent¡¯s ace operators.


    Meanwhile, that batch of deployed Soaring Dragon ace mecha had already began shing with the enemy ¡ª the curtains were lifted on a scene of brutal fighting.


    While themand centres of both sides patiently watched the progress of the ace operator fight, at the heart of the mes of battle, an invisible energy was forming.


    On the Federation¡¯smand ship, a soldier monitoring the battlefield suddenly cried out in shock.


    The other soldiers beside him were startled and quickly asked, "What happened?"


    "Look here, what is that?" The soldier zoomed in on the oddity he had seen. Right at the centre point of the fighting, a ck dot had appeared unexpectedly.


    The soldier was really bothered by the ck dot, finding it rather creepy and frightening. He magnified the image of the dot as far as he could, and finally, they could clearly see that, at the centre of the ck dot, there seemed to be some energy swirling backwards. Even stranger was the fact that the ck dot was expanding at a rapid pace.


    "Could this be ... a ck hole!" This bone-chilling reverse airflow phenomenon sparked some memory in the soldier¡¯s mind, and he could not help but blurt out his conclusion.


    "What happened?" The senior captain in charge of the surveince room rushed over when he heard themotion.


    "Sir, it¡¯s a ck hole! A ck hole has appeared at the heart of battle. Order the fighters to retreat quickly!" The soldier¡¯s face was pale with fright. ck holes were the ender of all things ... once swallowed by a ck hole, no one could escape from within it. Therefore, the moment the emergence of a ck hole was discovered, even if they were in the middle of a battle, both sides would mutually choose to stop fighting and escape together.


    By now, the captain could clearly see the ck dot the soldier had erged on the screen as well. In just this short period of time since the soldier had first discovered it, the dot had expanded from its initial size of a tiny fingertip to a round hole of about 20 to 30 centimetres in diameter. The ck hole was spreading at a rapid pace ¡ª it was foreseeable that, in short order, it would be a supersized hole capable of swallowing everything. At that time, no one here would be able to escape from its clutches.


    The captain knew the situation was dire. He swiftly leapt at his optical supeputer, and activated theputer¡¯s wartime emergency protocol! Of course, this protocol could not be activated simply. If any abuse of power was discovered, the person in question would definitely be court-martialled.


    "Wartime emergency protocol activated sessfully. Please choose the required option!" The A.I. inquired coldly.


    "Open all military channels. I want to broadcast a wide scale announcement!" Even the short time taken to activate the supeputer caused the captain¡¯s forehead and bridge of his nose to drip with sweat. A ck hole was truly too frightening; he was afraid there would not be enough time.


    "Connecting to all military channels, sessful!" When the A.I. reported this, the captain immediately pressed the voice button for the broadcast. "Emergency notification for all troops. At the centre of the battle, a ck hole is forming! All mecha operators are to retreat immediately, all mecha operators are to retreat immediately!"


    "I repeat. Emergency notification for all troops. At the centre of the battle, a ck hole is forming! All mecha operators are to retreat immediately, all mecha operators are to retreat immediately!"


    This abrupt military-wide broadcast caused an uproar among the Federation fighters. At this time, themand centre had already received the images of the ck hole transmitted by the surveince room. Without even having to think about it, the suprememander immediately ordered all the starship carriers to send out the retreat signal to the mecha troops they housed.


    In the meantime, the ck hole at the centre of the fighting had already expanded into a dark chasm of 3 to 4 metres wide. The suction of energy was already extremely obvious now, especially for the ace operators closest to the ck hole. They quickly halted their fighting and stared fearfully at the ck hole as it grewrger andrger, its suction power bing stronger and stronger.


    Everyone knew what a ck hole represented. It was the root of cmity, death, and the destruction of all things.


    "It¡¯s a ck hole, retreat quickly!" Such an obvious ck hole made the Twilight Empire mecha operators retreat swiftly even before their own starships could send out the signal to retreat.


    At this time, all the mecha operators of both nations no longer had any desire to continue fighting. All the mecha flew swiftly back to their own starships, afraid that if they were any slower, they would be consumed by the ck hole.


    But they were still too slow in the end. The ck hole, which had already expanded to about 10 metres wide, suddenly burst open! As if being pried open by some force, the ck hole abruptly became a gigantic ck hole of over 100 metres wide. The innermostyer of mecha were instantly caught in the suction of the ck hole.


    "Godd*mmit, increase horsepower, operate engines at 120%!" The innermostyer of mecha could already feel the growing suction. Some of the operators reacted very quickly, decisively powering their engines to the max to try and escape the suction range. Operating the engines at 120% could not be maintained for long ¡ª doing this for too long would leavesting damage to the main engine. Mecha operators who loved their mecha typically would not bear to do so.


    This group of quick-thinking mecha operators were considered lucky. Although they had to pay the cost of breaking their engines, they still managed to at least charge out from the suction range of the ck hole, salvaging their lives. In contrast, many more mecha operators lost their chance at survival due to their slow reflexes. They were instantly pulled in by the suction ... by the time they thought to push their engines to the max, it was much toote.


    Under this fearsome extra-terrestrial force of nature, even the formidable and dominant ace operators were like infants, unable to resist.


    Although most of the ace operators had managed to escape from the suction range of the ck hole due to their superior reflexes, because the ck hole had appeared right in the middle where the ace operators had been fighting, there were still quite a number of ace operators who had been ruthlessly devoured.


    Facing this situation, the operators of both nations could only stare helplessly as those mecha were consumed by the ck hole. There were also quite a few mecha who, before they could be fully sucked into the ck hole, had directly exploded due to the battering of the chaotic turbulence, turning into countless shards of debris ...


    "8217, hold on!" One of the ace mecha formations of the Federation was in a simr crisis. The main mecha 8207 had reacted quickly, almost escaping from the danger zone. As long as his mecha did not break down, escaping with his life was no problem.


    However, 10 metres behind him, wingman mecha 8217 was not as lucky as 8207. He was still within range of the powerful suction of the ck hole, and most critically, one of his two secondary engines had exploded due to overload. This decreased his speed by a good chunk, and his crisis was precisely due to this significant loss of speed.


    The suction of the ck hole grabbed hold of him ¡ª due to its great power, 8217 actually began sliding backwards. This meant that his mecha¡¯s engines were already running out of power to fight this powerful suction.


    As the main mecha of 8217, the leader of the formation, seeing his own wingman 8217 in such grave danger, did not even stop to think about it. He immediately controlled his mecha to grab hold of the other¡¯s right arm.


    "Leader!" Seeing his leader reach out to help him at this most perilous moment with no concern for his own well-being, 8217¡¯s eyes turned red with emotion. He desperatelymanded his A.I. to increase the output of his engines, hoping to borrow his leader¡¯s extra pulling force to escape death.


    They were frozen like this for 30 seconds. When the wingman saw the other secondary engine of his mecha blow up due to overload as well, he knew that it was hopeless.


    "Don¡¯t give up!" Even though he knew that the chances of the two of them escaping together were miniscule, 8207 still did not let go.


    "Leader, let go of me!" 8217 said through gritted teeth. He could not drag his leader with him into death.


    "No, 8227 has already been sacrificed. I will not watch as my final brother dies!" 8207 refused firmly.


    It was already the end of the line, but 8207 still would not let go ¡ª he only kept repeating, don¡¯t give up! 8217¡¯s tears began to fall, "Leader, let go quickly ... do you really want to die with me?"


    "If all my brothers are dead, then what would be the point of living on my own? We¡¯ve said before that ¡ª if we die together on the battlefields someday, we will be brothers again in the next life. Now, 8227 is already gone. With the two of us too, even if we go to the afterlife, all three of us brothers will be able to be together once again," said 8207 with a smile. Being able to die with one¡¯s brothers, was also a type of happiness.


    "Leader!" Although tears were still falling from 8217¡¯s eyes, 8217 smiled as well. "Thank you for taking care of me all these years. Bing your number one wingman is my greatest fortune." That said, he reached out his left hand to pull out the beam saber on his back, and then, amidst 8207¡¯s shocked cries, he resolutely brought the saber down on his own right arm ...


    With a "Swoosh!", the mecha¡¯s right arm fell. Suddenly losing the weight in his hands, 8207¡¯s over-revved engines instantly pulled him out of the range of the ck hole¡¯s suction.


    "8217!" roared 8207 in grief, tears in his fierce eyes. His final brother, using such an intense method to sacrifice himself, saving him ...


    There was a deep pain in 8207¡¯s chest ¡ª mindlessly, he leapt towards the ck hole, but was held back by formation leader 8102 who had arrived in the nick of time. " 207 1 , calm down!"


    "They were my brothers!" 8207 finally burst into tears.


    "They were my brothers too!" barked 8102 sharply, "You remember this, your life right now is no longer just your own. It is also 217¡¯s."


    These words caused 8207 to jerk, his initial struggles dying down instantly.


    Right at that moment, 8102¡¯s wingman 8122 suddenly cried out, "Leader, look, at the heart of the ck hole, something is flying out ..."


    8102 looked over quickly. Indeed, at the centre of the ck hole, something was slowly moving out against the ck hole¡¯s suction. Although its speed was exceedingly slow, it was still slowly but surely getting away from the heart of the ck hole. "How is this possible?


    Everyone knew that the suction force was definitely the most terrifying at the heart of a ck hole ¡ª absolutely nothing could stand against it. What in the world was that thing to be able to fight off this type of suction power to slowly escape from within the ck hole?


    8102 zoomed in on the image of the thing. Sure enough, at the heart of the ck hole, a mysterious mecha was making its difficult way forwards, trying to escape the grip of the overwhelming suction of the ck hole. The body of that mysterious mecha was marked with clear signs of damage, even looking somewhat dpidated. Yet, it was precisely this beat-up mysterious mecha that was currently performing a miracle.

 Chapter 191: The Fearsome Combat Ability of a God-Class Operator!

    Chapter 191: The Fearsome Combat Ability of a God-ss Operator!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    However, what he discovered next filled 8102 with great pleasant surprise ¡ª the mysterious mecha¡¯s left arm was currently holding onto a mecha with a broken arm. That mecha was precisely 8217 who had just chopped off part of his arm and had been swallowed by the ck hole.


    "Look at the left hand of that mecha ... isn¡¯t that 8217?" 8102 could not help but ask joyfully. Even though he was sure his eyes were not mistaken, this pleasant surprise made him somewhat doubtful ¡ª could therade he thought for sure was dead return once more to their side?


    8102¡¯s question was like a shot of adrenaline to 8207 1 . His spirits rallied and he hurriedly operated his mecha¡¯s screen to zoom in on the heart of the ck hole and immediately shouted, "It¡¯s him! It¡¯s him! It¡¯s 8217!"


    "That mecha ... don¡¯t you all think it looks somewhat familiar?" 8102¡¯s number one wingman 8112 had also seen the mecha, but his focus was on the other mecha¡¯s form.


    "It¡¯s a mecha from our Federation. I see the golden five-pointed star on his right arm! That¡¯s the exclusive symbol of our Federation!" shouted 8122 as well.


    Meanwhile, the mecha at the heart of the ck hole continued to fight with all its might against the pull of the ck hole. After a period of movement, that mysterious mecha finally moved out of the innermost circle of the ck hole¡¯s centre. There, perhaps due to the weakened suction, the mysterious mecha began to speed up, its appearance bing increasingly clearer to the crowd.


    The body of the mysterious mecha wasrger than ace mecha by a ring, and could even be considered a giant mecha. This type of mecha asked a lot from its operator. The mecha¡¯s design was rather simple and unsophisticated, and the scars all over its body only added a sense of weariness to it. All of this proved that this mecha had been through great trials and had suffered great hardship.


    Still, despite the mysterious mecha¡¯s beat-up body, the personal totem at its chest was surprisingly vibrant. A fiery red phoenix being reborn from the zing mes beneath it, the fire phoenix about to take flight as if drawing from the energy fed to it by the mes ... this totem was extremely familiar to all mecha operators of the Federation at the scene, and this familiarity seemed toe from deep within them ...


    "Fire phoenix! That¡¯s the fire phoenix rising from the ashes!" Someone yelled out within the public military channel.


    "It¡¯s Ling Xiao ¡ª it¡¯s Major General Ling Xiao!" As if being woken from a trance, everyone began to shout and exim. The totem of the fire phoenix rising from the ashes ¡ª only one person in the Federation had that mark. And that was the god-ss operator Major General Ling Xiao! Just like the fire phoenix in his totem, Major General Ling Xiao had risen from the ashes of death to return to the Federation!


    "That¡¯s right, it¡¯s Major General Ling Xiao! I¡¯ve seen that mecha in my textbooks before. It¡¯s ¡ª that is the god-ss mecha !" There were also some who had recognised that simplistic giant mecha as the legendary god-ss mecha .


    This also exined why this mecha could resist the powerful suction of the ck hole at its heart ¡ª only a god-ss mecha would be capable of such a feat.


    On the other side, the Twilight Empire had also identified that giant mecha trying to escape from the heart of the ck hole as the god-ss machine of Ling Xiao who was rumoured to have already been killed by them.


    At this sight, within themand ship of the Twilight Empire, Staff Officer Aoki, who had been closely observing the ck hole, was stupefied. "How can this be? How can this be? Hasn¡¯t Ling Xiao already been killed by our brave warriors? Why is he still alive, suddenly emerging from inside the ck hole?" Aoki could feel his pride crumbling, suddenly being informed that the source of his confidence was all a lie. Right then, he just could not ept it. "No, this definitely cannot be real. I must be seeing an illusion, an illusion!"


    "p!" Aoki¡¯s face was whipped to the side by a forceful p. The general standing beside him had thrown a p at him to wake him up. "So what if he is alive? It¡¯s very easy to let him die!"


    The general was a decisive person. He knew that once Ling Xiao returned to the Chinese Federation, the Chinese Federation¡¯sbat power would reach a new unimaginable height. This was something their Twilight Empire could not tolerate.


    The general¡¯s eyes turned fierce. He swiftly connected to the military-wide channel and gave his orders. "No matter what the cost, kill god-ss operator Ling Xiao!"


    Following this order, the mecha operators who were still dubious received an answer ¡ª that mysterious mechaing out from the heart of the ck hole was indeed Ling Xiao¡¯s .


    "Kill Ling Xiao! Kill Ling Xiao! Kill Ling Xiao! Kill Ling Xiao!" The troops of the Twilight Empire had been educated via brainwashing 2 . The killing of god-ss operator Ling Xiao was one of the great exploits of their country that had been established 16 years ago ¡ª they definitely would not allow this honour to be overturned. All the Twilight Empire mecha operators piloted their mecha to approach the ck hole. They raised the beam guns in their hands, shooting fervently towards the heart of the ck hole.


    "D*mmit, they¡¯re trying to kill our Major General Ling Xiao!" The despicable actions 3 of the Twilight Empire infuriated the Federation soldiers who were anxiously waiting for Ling Xiao to escape from danger.


    "Protect Major General Ling Xiao!" When Major General Tang Xu saw this, he could not help but bellow into themunications channel.


    Ling Xiao was their Federation¡¯s ultimate weapon, one of their guardian deities ¡ª they definitely could not let any harme to him here.


    "Protect Major General Ling Xiao!"


    "Protect Major General Ling Xiao!"


    "Protect Major General Ling Xiao!"


    Following roar after angry roar, all the Federation soldiers raised the weapons in their hands and began to intercept the enemy¡¯s attacks. Many of the mecha operators even leapt to the fringes of the ck hole, to form a tight mecha defensive wall, using the bodies of their own mecha to bear the brunt of the enemy¡¯s beam fire.


    They knew very well that doing so may cost them their lives, but they were unafraid. This was because they were doing this to protect their national military idol, the god-ss operator ¡ª¡ª Major General Ling Xiao 4 .


    And so, after every beam attack, there would always be a mecha or two from the Federation mecha defensive wall which exploded as it went beyond its damage threshold. At that time, a new mecha would step up to take its ce, once again blocking off the beam fire.


    Of course, the Twilight Empire¡¯s mecha operators were not having a good time of it either. The Federation mecha operators fought back just as fiercely, beam fire roaring out from both sides at about the same intensity. This battle had be a standing showdown. The mecha operators were no longer mecha operators ¡ª they no longer flew around nimbly, and there were no moreplex attack manoeuvres. The two sides just shot at each other mechanically like fixed wooden puppets.


    It should be said that this battle was a mecha fight without any strategy. Countless mecha operator lives were lost on both sides, and it was all for the sake of one person ¡ª the one currently struggling to get away from the suction of the ck hole, Ling Xiao.


    The Federation mecha operators did not know how many attacks they blocked off, nor did they know how much time had passed. But finally, they heard a cheer ring out in the generalms channel, "Major General Ling Xiao has sessfully escaped the ck hole!"


    When they heard this news, all the Federation mecha operators swelled with joy and triumph, feeling that it would have been worth it even if they had died.


    Subsequently, an extremely gentle voice rang out across the channel, "Many thanks for your protection, brothers." This voice made everyone unbelievably emotional, also bringing tears to Major General Tang Xu¡¯s eyes. This familiar voice was precisely that of Ling Xiao who had ¡¯died¡¯ 17 years ago.


    Ling Xiao handed over 8217 to a mecha operator of the Federation, then controlled to fly upwards to hover above the Federation mecha.


    "Activate Divine Punishment system!" said Ling Xiao calmly.


    "Command received by , Divine Punishment activated!" and Ling Xiao¡¯s rapport was already at an extreme ¡ª not even a secondter, twelve wings suddenly sprouted from ¡¯s back, and then, the wings began to absorb energy rapidly till a pinnacle of potential.


    Next, Ling Xiao controlled to aim the twelve wings in twelve directions, pointing at the Twilight mecha horde in the distance.


    Ling Xiao decisively pressed his trigger, and twelve powerful beams swept out at the Twilight mecha horde ahead, causing the entire starry sky to be a sheet of light in an instant. The Federation mecha operators found themselves temporarily blinded by the intense light.


    When the twelve beams faded away and the crowd¡¯s vision was restored, they found to their shock that twelve empty lines had been carved into the Twilight mecha horde. The mecha which had been in those lines previously had all vanished, and even more terrifying was the fact that there was no remaining trace of any of them.


    What attack was this? It was way too horrifying! Everyone¡¯s gazes were drawn towards Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha. Only then did they notice that Ling Xiao¡¯s had already shifted in appearance. On the mecha¡¯s back were twelve wings, so perfect that they enchanted the hearts of all observers, giving others the impression that an angel had descended.


    Pure white light was currently umting at the tip of each wing, which slowly grew brighter and brighter, almost searing the eyes of anyone who stared at them. Additionally, an immense energy was beginning to emanate from those wing-tips ...


    Right then, the twelve wings changed directions simultaneously, still pointed at the Twilight mecha horde, but in twelve new directions this time.


    Soon, twelve beams fired out once more, and when the light faded, twelve new vacant rows were left among the enemy horde.


    Just two simple beam attacks had obliterated approximately 2000 mecha of the Twilight Empire. Although the majority of these had been intermediate to advanced mecha, there had still been quite a few ace mecha among them. Regardless of mecha type, against this fearsome attack, they were allpletely helpless.


    "Baka, Ling Xiao must die!" Seeing the horrific results of Ling Xiao¡¯s sts, the general was reinforced in his belief that Ling Xiao could not be allowed to live. Otherwise, it would be a devastating blow to their Twilight Empire. "All starship cannons to aim at Ling Xiao! Fire, fire with all you have! We must kill off Ling Xiao!"


    The general knew well that even if all of them died here today, as long as they seeded in killing off Ling Xiao, everything would be worth it. For the Empire, all sacrifices were worth it.


    "Not good, the enemy is nning to go for broke 5 ." The enemy starship fleet¡¯s strange movements were naturally picked up by the Federation¡¯smand centre. They were somewhat flustered ¡ª it should be known that the power of a starship¡¯s main cannon was extremely horrifying. Even the sturdiest interster mothership would not be able to withstand more than 3 to 5 attacks from a starship¡¯s main cannons.

 Chapter 192: The First Marshal!

    Chapter 192: The First Marshal!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Push forwards! Intercept the starships, do not give them any chance to fire their main cannons!" roared Major General Tang Xu in thems channel. At this point, they could only fight it out. If things became truly dire, blocking off the cannonfire with one of their starships would also be worth it. Following this order, all the Federation starships began to move. Unfortunately, the starships were toorge and clumsy ¡ª it was not that easy to turn their bodies.


    This was also why starships, despite having powerful main cannons, could not be the main fighting force in an interster battle. In contrast to the agile mecha, the heavy and slow bulky starships were not at all suited for quick battles,pletely toyed with by mecha. If not for the fact that starships themselves were bulked up with great defences and the damage of mecha attacks were insignificant against their bulk, incapable of finishing them off, starships may likely have to quit appearing in battlepletely.


    "Lock onto Ling Xiao, and fire!" The main cannon of the first starship finally had its sights on Ling Xiao, and so the starship¡¯s main cannoneer was charged to attack Ling Xiao, who was hovering in ce in the air.


    A deafening "Boom!" ¡ª the main cannon¡¯s fire hit Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha directly. Smoke and fire shot out in all directions,pletely engulfing .


    The starship¡¯s main cannoneer leapt up and danced in excitement, hollering, "I¡¯ve hit him! I¡¯ve hit him!" If Ling Xiao were to die at his hands, he would be the hero of the Twilight Empire!


    The smoke cleared and the mes vanished! When Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha appeared perfectly unharmed before the crowd once more, the dancing cannoneer froze, and his excited words became lodged in his throat as if his neck were being strangled. His face was the picture of disbelief. This was because the massive firepower of the main cannon had actually been unable to leave any mark at all on Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha .


    The Federation soldiers were as equally mystified, unsure how Ling Xiao¡¯s had managed toe out of such powerful cannon-fire utterly unscathed. Some sharp-sighted people then noticed the faint sheen of multi-coloured light on ¡¯s outer shell, and immediately understood. "Divine Shield! It¡¯s the god-ss mecha¡¯s exclusive Divine Shield system!"


    The reason why god-ss mecha could be god-ss mecha was that the A.I. of the mecha could support several systems which regr mecha A.I.s could not. One of these was the Divine Shield system ¡ª it could convert energy into an almost wless, practically invincible divine light shield. It could be said that any weapon invented by humankind at the moment was incapable of breaking through Ling Xiao¡¯s defences. Of course, the Divine Shield system was not without weaknesses. It drained too much energy ¡ª even a god-ss mecha¡¯s supposedly endless power could only sustain the system for a short 3 minutes.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha withstood the main cannon¡¯s attack this time but did not continue to remain stationary to be a sitting target. The air around the mecha suddenly warped, and in the very next second, it had appeared by the other¡¯s starship.


    "The Divine Wind system!" This was yet another of the god-ss mecha¡¯s exclusive systems. Once it was activated, the mecha could reach up to 4 times the speed of light, truly achieving instantaneous teleportation.


    Right then, Ling Xiao, who had already appeared beside the starship, swiftly removed a giant sword hilt from his back. His mecha gripped the sword hilt tightly in its right hand, and a 100-metre long beam saber abruptly appeared out of nowhere in this starry space.


    Ling Xiao gripped this giant saber tightly and then swung it down powerfully in a great arc at the starship ...


    A lift of his hand, a swing of his saber ¡ª Ling Xiao did not look again at the starship, keeping away his giant beam saber instantly after his attack to hang it once more behind his back.


    And then, the air around warped again and it reappeared within the enemy mecha horde.


    Just at that moment, that starship suddenly split apart. Due to the unexpected explosion, the people inside it were thrown into space, officially bing space trash and dying instantly.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s killing spree did not end there ¡ª like a wolf charging into a flock of sheep, Ling Xiao flew among the enemy mecha horde. At this time, two short swords had appeared in his hands. They were the most basic of mecha equipment, high-frequency des. Still, just these two most basic of weapons sliced through the opponent¡¯s mecha as easily as cutting right through a watermelon. The speed of the Divine Wind system, paired with god-ss control and unearthly footwork, caused the mecha to flicker in and out of sight. In the blink of an eye, Ling Xiao had destroyed several tens of mecha, among them quite a significant number of ace mecha.


    At this moment, everyone understood why it was said in the human world that god-ss operators could dictate the oue of war ¡ª there was just no one who could withstand a god-ss operator¡¯s attack, nor were there any weapons capable of prating the other¡¯s defence. Only by relying on forces of nature, such as ck holes (this should be eliminated now), or explosions of primordial maic energy 1 (this was questionable), or consecutive supernovas (almost impossible to happen), or the butcher¡¯s knife of time (pretty much the most helpless waiting game), etcetera etcetera etcetera ... perhaps those might have the possibility of finishing them off 2 .


    Seeing this scene, the Twilight Empire general knew that he would certainly be unable to achieve his objective today. Even if they sacrificed every single person on their side, they would still be unable to kill Ling Xiao here. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, he decisively ordered their retreat. He needed to report the news that Ling Xiao still lived post-haste to the Empire¡¯s military headquarters.


    The Twilight Empire fleet retreated swiftly, very quickly disappearing without a trace. Seeing their opponents scurry off with their tails between their legs back to their own space border, all the Federation warriors cheered! They were cheering for the triumph of this battle, as well as cheering for the return of the god-ss operator Ling Xiao.


    "Federation 7th Division vicemander, Ling Xiao, requesting provisional docking from an allied starship!" Ling Xiao connected to the general military channel and submitted a docking request.


    Tang Xu breathed in deeply, suppressing the tion in his heart as he pressed the button tomunicate. "I, Tang Xu, themander of the First Defence Fleet of the Western Border Guard, permit Major General Ling Xiao to dock on my ship." Following that deration, themand ship began transmitting a guidance signal.


    Ling Xiao operated his mecha to slowly descend onto the starship¡¯s navigation frame. Sliding along the frame, he slid swiftly into the interior of the starship.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s control was extremely precise, urately stopping right at the stop-line. At this moment, a sweet and gentle voice rang out in the mechams channel. "Major General Ling Xiao, hello! I am the JMC guiding your mecha into the hangar this time. Please follow my instructions to carry out the following movements."


    "Roger!" Somewhat familiar, the sweet and pretty voice caused Ling Xiao to zone out for a moment before regaining his awareness. That voice had called up his memories of Lan Luofeng ¡ª back then at the start, she had been his exclusive JMC. He had not seen her for almost a full 17 years ... he wondered how she was doing now. And there was still their child Ling Lan ... a swell of fear and uncertainty actually rose up in Ling Xiao¡¯s heart, his heart beginning to pound. He was homesick, yet he feared the reception he would receive when he returned.


    Under the JMC¡¯s lead, Ling Xiao piloted his mecha urately into the frame, and then leaving it to the operation of the starship¡¯s systems, his mecha was brought straight into themand ship¡¯s mecha hold.


    Ling Xiao turned off his mecha and opened the cockpit door. At this time, the entire mecha hold had already be filled with the soldiers of themand ship, both men and women. They all wanted to take the opportunity to catch a glimpse of Major General Ling Xiao in person ¡ª he was a heroic figure from legend who had been believed dead for 17 years, after all.


    Ling Xiao had long be used to this type of gazes. He had always been an elite among the elites, an aberrant prodigy, idolised by people wherever he went. Although he had been away from the Federation for 17 years, he was not at all unfamiliar with this sort of gawking.


    A lift carried Ling Xiao to the ground. His original mecha suit had already be worn and tattered, but even so, it did not detract from his looks. A warm and elegant smile on an unbelievably handsome face ¡ª all the female soldiers¡¯ were blushing as their hearts throbbed. They wished they could just rush forward and hug him, leaving a beautiful memory for themselves.


    But these were all just fantasies; they would never dare to act so impudently. Although Major General Ling Xiao looked exceedingly gentle and mild-mannered, just like a humble gentleman, there was just some mystical force about him that stayed their restlessness, discouraging them from going too far.


    "Major General Ling Xiao, wee back!" Tang Xu had already hurried to the mecha hold by this time. Seeing Ling Xiaond, he rushed forwards and sped Ling Xiao¡¯s hands in his, face filled with tion as he greeted Ling Xiao.


    The two men had met a few times 17 years ago and had shared a brief conversation, but following Ling Xiao¡¯s unfortunate ¡¯demise¡¯, their budding rtionship had been ended abruptly. Back then, Tang Xu had deeplymented the loss of a like-minded brother-in-arms.


    "Major General Tang Xu, long time no see!" Before greeting Tang Xu, Ling Xiao had peeked at the other¡¯s epaulette 3 , thus finding out the other¡¯s current military rank. 17 years were enough for many of his friends to change military ranks. He wondered if the same could be said for his enemies ... a trace of killing intent shed through Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes.


    Although Tang Xu really wanted to say something to Ling Xiao, he just could not find any words. He could only shake Ling Xiao¡¯s hands solemnly, even though he knew that it was actually more appropriate for them to interact via military salutes.


    Ling Xiao swept his gaze around at the surrounding people and smiled wearily, "If possible, please prepare somewhere for me to rest first. I have lived in that damnable ck hole for a really long time. I¡¯m physically and mentally worn out."


    At the reminder, Tang Xu hurriedly nodded and said, "Done. I¡¯ll prepare things immediately!" Ling Xiao¡¯s fatigued state proved that his struggle out of the ck hole was definitely not as simple and easy as it had seemed to them. He must have paid an extremely steep price in the process.


    Just like that, Ling Xiao temporarily settled in with the First Defence Fleet of the Western Border Guard, to rest and recuperate. On the other hand, due to technical issues and ack of appropriate materials, the mecha could not be serviced. It would have to wait till Ling Xiao returned to Doha to receive proper care and maintenance.


    Meanwhile, at this very moment, Ling Lan, who had already found out that Qi Long and the other five had all passed and been epted into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, did not know that a man who would change the future course of her life was on his way home ...


    ********


    One weekter, the Federation¡¯s first marshal secretly arrived at the headquarters of the First Division. A staff officer by his side informed him that the guest was waiting for him in the living room.


    The moment the marshal entered the living room, he saw a man sitting primly on the sofa. The man was about 27 to 28 years old, or maybe even around 30, and on his handsome face was an indistinct trace of a smile, naturally drawing the favour of others. However, because he was dressed from head to toe in brand new martial attire, the trim and almost pressed-creaseless general¡¯s uniform made him look sharp and dashing. This lessened his original gentle air somewhat, giving him a rare share of stateliness.


    "Ling Xiao, you still live! This is wonderful!" said the marshal emotionally the moment he saw the other, his footsteps speeding up subconsciously.


    Seeing that the marshal was here, Ling Xiao immediately stood up at attention and gave the other a proper military salute. "Marshal, long time no see!"

 Chapter 193: Ling Xiaos Request!

    Chapter 193: Ling Xiao¡¯s Request!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Yes, it¡¯s really been a long time, almost a full 17 years!" said the marshal with a face filled with nostalgia. Ling Xiao had been the abnormally talented prodigy he had singled out by name for cultivation, and had once been his pride and joy. Back when he had heard of his demise, the marshal had been filled with unimaginable grief.


    "Ling Xiao, regarding your sessful return this time, headquarters has promised to call a press conference to announce your return. Also, congrattions on sessfully bing the 9th General of our Federation. This is the honour and status you should rightfully receive!" said the marshal with mixed feelings as he patted Ling Xiao on the shoulder. He then moved to sit in an armchair on one side, signalling for Ling Xiao to sit down as well for a talk.


    "Many thanks for the appreciation, Marshal!" said Ling Xiao with a soft smile, taking a seat on the sofa beside him. He did not appear to be smug or arrogant from the rise in his status ¡ª this formed a strong contrast with his youthful appearance, causing the marshal to nod in approval inside his heart, increasingly pleased by what he saw.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s 17 years of trials and suffering were not for nothing; it had caused Ling Xiao¡¯s entire demeanour to be much more steady and reliable. He deserved the esteemed rank of general, worthy of trust.


    "As for your assignment ... the 7th Division has, after all, been rebuilt for over 10 years, so every part of the division is already well-developed, making it unsuitable forrge-scale adjustment," said the marshal carefully. He knew well how much the 7th Division meant to Ling Xiao, but times had changed, and now the 7th Division no longer had a ce for Ling Xiao.


    "How does headquarters want to assign me?" In contrast, Ling Xiao did not seem as concerned as the marshal had feared, merely asking calmly about the intentions of the military headquarters.


    "Headquarters is nning to reassign a portion of the troops from each division to build a new 23rd Division. The division will be given drafting priority with the new batch of soldiers this year, while you, Ling Xiao, shall be the solemander of the 23rd Division. You may freely choose your deputies from any of the other divisions."


    The marshal detailed the ns the military had for him. Since Ling Xiao had be the Federation¡¯s 9th great general, it was of course necessary for him to lead his own army. However, all the current army divisions already had their ownmanders and, excepting cases of grave error, armies typically would not casually switch their suprememanders. In the end, military headquarters decided to just establish a new army division and make Ling Xiao responsible for it. In order to appease Ling Xiao, they even proffered some preferential treatment and special privileges.


    "This is fine too!" Ling Xiao found this arrangement satisfactory. Although the 7th Division indeed meant something special to him, its meaning was not on thebel of the 7th Division, but rather with hisrades-in-arms within that division.


    17 years¡¯ time was long enough for things to change significantly ¡ª although the 7th Division still retained its name, thoserades who had fought with him through thick and thin were already gone. Thus, he actually felt it was fine even if he did not go to the 7th Division.


    Still, Ling Xiao would not reveal his true thoughts on the matter. Let those folks in headquarters feel as if they had wronged him ¡ª this way, he would be able to make some outrageous requests of them.


    "Do you still have any other requirements? As long as it is within my means, I will make sure you get it." Sure enough, as Ling Xiao expected, the marshal was the first to fall for it.


    Ling Xiao held a moment of silent contemtion, and then said, "I want to know everything that happened with my wife Lan Luofeng and Ling Lan over these past 17 years. I want to catch up on everything I missed in thesest 17 years."


    The marshal cast a searching nce at Ling Xiao and sighed. He then indicated for the secret service officer by his side to hand over a pre-prepared document. The moment he found out that Ling Xiao still lived and was on his way back, he had asked for this document to be prepared. Knowing Ling Xiao, he would definitely ask him for this information.


    Putting his hands on the document being handed over by the staff officer, a surge of emotion coursed through Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes. He took a moment to settle himself, before reaching out to ept the document fully into his hands.


    Ling Xiao eagerly opened the file and began by browsing the bit and pieces of Lan Luofeng¡¯s life over these past 17 years. As Lan Luofeng had always stayed at home, there wasn¡¯t much in terms of content. Ling Xiao very quickly finished reading this part of the file.


    When Ling Xiao moved on to the part of the file with Ling Lan¡¯s information, he took in a deep breath before continuing. The first thing that caught his eyes was a student photo of Ling Lan at 13 years old. The red of the scout uniform made Ling Lan look majestic and spirited. His little face was fixed in a stony expression, like a stoic and serious mini-adult. Ling Xiao found this aloof and unapproachable appearance of his unbearably adorable.


    So this was his son Ling Lan? He was definitely thebination of his and Lan Luofeng¡¯s strengths! Ling Xiao instantly became a Twenty-four Filial Exemrs dad 1 ... his child was naturally the best and most exceptional!


    In a great mood, he flipped to the next page. The document began to introduce the various things that had happened from Ling Lan¡¯s birth onwards. When Ling Xiao read till the part about how the Ling branch family had schemed to usurp Ling Lan¡¯s inheritance of his premium military benefits, his gaze turned cold. He had been worried from the start about what troubles these greedy family members could bring to Lan Luofeng and his child ... but he had not expected that their appetites would be so voracious, actually thinking of outright robbing his child of what he had left for him. He must teach them a lesson.


    Then, seeing how Lan Luofeng used thebined forces of the military and the government to chase the entire Ling family out of Doha, Ling Xiao could not help but smile. He knew it ¡ª Lan Luofeng was not as weak as she appeared to be.


    However, his good mood soon evaporated. This was because he saw that Ling Lan had suffered an assassination attempt on the way to his first day of school, and not just that, a betrayer had actually emerged from among Ling Lan¡¯s loyalists ... at this point, Ling Xiao almost exploded from rage. He decided that when he got back, he would thoroughly clean up the Ling family loyalists ¡ª he definitely would not allow any danger to remain hidden by Ling Lan¡¯s side.


    But the following information slowly calmed Ling Xiao¡¯s rage. He had mixed feelings when he saw that at every ranking tournament, Ling Lan would always surrender on his own at the final moments. His son was clearly capable of dominating all the other students of his grade, but was just unwilling to stand out, finally bing the grade¡¯s uncrowned king. The path his son had chosen to walk was different from his. He had always shown himself to be strong, always in the limelight, while Ling Lan chose instead to hide his talent. His methods ofying low were just a little terrible ¡ª anyone who was paying attention could see right through it 2 .


    The file documented all of Ling Lan¡¯s impressive exploits in the scout academy, and especially at the part where Ling Lan sessfully initiated the grand armed melee that had been sealed away for 100 years, Ling Xiao was instantly filled with pride! So this was his son Ling Lan!


    Ling Xiao¡¯s pride and tion stopped there, however. As he read the next part, his face turned pale.


    Who could have expected that enemy spies would infiltrate the academy disguised as teachers to try and assassinate Ling Lan during the grand armed melee? Fortunately, Ling Lan was spected to have been saved by the God-Realm master Mu Shui-qing. But even so, Ling Lan had already received serious injuries, his body almost being destroyed.


    "Dammit!" raged Ling Xiao, his fingers clenching. The paper in his hands was instantly crumbled into powder to drift down from the air.


    This outburst allowed Ling Xiao to regain hisposure. He looked down regretfully at that destroyed piece of paper ¡ª crap, there were still some things he hadn¡¯t had time to read yet ...


    Ling Xiao could only skip to the final page, only to find that there was nothing more ...


    "Marshal, my son Ling Lan was injured severely at 13. What happened after that?" Ling Xiao was anxious to know Ling Lan¡¯s current condition, quickly turning to ask the marshal for answers.


    Hearing Ling Xiao¡¯s question, the marshal knew that Ling Xiao must not have seen the rest of the page he had destroyed. He replied, "Because Ling Lan¡¯s wounds were too severe, the specialist doctor prescribed 3 to 4 years of proper rest to heal his body. During this period of time, he cannot take part in any extreme activity, otherwise it would just exacerbate his wounds, very likely leaving somestingtent trouble in his body."


    Saying this, the marshal felt rather awkward. No matter what, as members of the upper rank of the military who were alumni of the scout academy system, they all had some responsibility for the assassination attempt of Ling Lan within the academy. He signalled his secretary to light a cigarette for him, and then continued to say, "Due to this circumstance, Ling Lan made the decision to withdraw from the academy to recuperate at home for 3 years, and only returned to the scout academy in the final year when it was time to apply and register with the various colleges and universities."


    "Does that mean his body is fully recovered now?" Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes were hopeful.


    The marshal drew a mouthful of smoke and puffed it out in a long breath. "No! ording to thetest news, Ling Lan¡¯s body was injured too severely, 3 years was not enough for him to recover fully. The doctors have diagnosed that he will need at least another year for the possibility of full recovery."


    Ling Xiao¡¯s entire face turned frigid. His lips were pressed together in a thin line, while his hands were clenched into two tight fists. Due to the extreme force ced on them, the bones of his fingers actually began to emit cracking noises ...


    The marshal added, "It was a few days ago when your son Ling Lan applied to the various higher institutions. You should know that the military schools have very strict requirements, especially for the first year when they focus mostly on training up the students¡¯ physical bodies. Any student who cannot keep up will be expelled. I don¡¯t know which institution Ling Lan will choose in the end, but he probably will not apply for those military schools."


    "Can we find out now?" asked Ling Xiao.


    The marshal looked at the staff officer, who immediately nodded and said, "Marshal, the information is avable for checking now."


    Ling Xiao did not turn to look at the staff officer at all, keeping his gaze squarely on the marshal, awaiting his reply.


    "What shall I do with you? Still so tenacious!" Ling Xiao¡¯s clear telegraphing of his intentions of not leaving until he received an answer caused the marshal to shake his head helplessly. He could only send off his secret service officer to look up the final results of Ling Lan¡¯s applications.


    Soon, the staff officer returned. His expression was extremely strange as he peeked at Ling Xiao, and he looked as if he were holding back some words which he would have liked to say to Ling Xiao. Still, he remembered his ce, and without saying anything, he passed the new folder in his hands to Ling Xiao.


    "What, Ling Lan actually applied to the Windchase Mecha Service College on Aureolin? What school is this? Why haven¡¯t I heard of it?" Ling Xiao was dumbfounded by the news before his eyes. Even if military schools were out of the picture, there were still plenty of renowned public general universities for Ling Lan to choose from.


    "That¡¯s amunity college, rank-F," exined the staff officer in a small voice. Rank-F institutions were at the lowest tier; almost no other institutions could be worse than that. Back when he had first seen this information, the staff officer had been just as shocked, which was why he had taken the extra effort to look up the relevant details and ranking of the Windchase Mecha Service College.


    "Ha, Ling Xiao¡¯s son, my son, actually falling so far as to enter a rank-Fmunity college ... Marshal, I think you owe me an exnation." Ling Xiao had been dealt a heavy blow by this news. Losing his previous respectfulness, his tone was curt and demanding. Some people, some things, were his hot buttons, not to be triggered carelessly. Lan Luofeng was one of them previously, and now Ling Lan was one.


    The marshal naturally did not take offense at this. In fact, Ling Xiao would only be so direct with him because he truly considered him as an elder who cared for him. He rubbed at his brow in consternation, unsure what he should do.


    When he had first seen his staff officer return with thatplicated expression on his face, he had known that something was not right. And sure enough, this was the situation.


    "Then, you tell me. What do you want?" He indeed owed Ling Xiao a great deal; the marshal could not refuse him.


    "I want my son to enter the Federation¡¯s First Men¡¯s Military Academy!" Ling Xiao said with steel-like conviction. In his heart, that was the only ce that was worthy of his son.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    While reading this, did anyone else have the sense of watching a reaction video of Ling Xiao reading heavily redacted early chapters of this novel? :p


    ---------


    Update (24/4): New release schedule. Admins identally unlocked extra chaps previously, so the new free release schedule is as follows -- 193 (24/4), 194 (25/4), 195 (26/4) ... Also, the release time seems to have gottenter. On my end, this chapter seemed to unlock at 5:20 p.m. (UTC+8). More data needed to confirm, but for now, just know that a free chapter will unlock some time on its scheduled date.

 Chapter 194: Terrible Odds?

    Chapter 194: Terrible Odds?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Impossible!" The marshal rejected the request without even thinking about it.


    The First Men¡¯s Military Academy was the central focus of the entire Federation. Any student who managed to be epted into the school was the Federation¡¯s cream of the crop, each and every single one of them sufficiently exceptional on their own merits. From the very establishment of the school, in order to preclude any injudicious eptance of students via backdoor dealings which would ruin the golden reputation of the school, there was supervision from both the military and the government. Thispletely prevented any possibility of abusing special rights to get into the school via a backdoor. So, even if he wanted to help Ling Xiao, he had no way to handle the government side of things, especially that wily old first premier.


    "Marshal!" Ling Xiao¡¯s entire expression darkened. He stared intently at the marshal, gaze filled with dissatisfaction. For the sake of his child¡¯s future, he would not back off on this.


    Seeing this side of Ling Xiao, the marshal was extremely troubled. Though Ling Xiao seemed very agreeable on the surface, he was actually very stubborn in his bones. Especially once he had decided on something, he would not rest until his objective was achieved.


    "Godd*mmit!" The marshal breathed in an aggressive lungful of smoke, burning his cigarette down to the root. He rubbed out his cigarette butt heavily in the ashtray on the tea table, and with an exasperated expression on his face, he said, "If I could help you, I would definitely do it. But to enter the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, it¡¯s not just up to me. At the very least, you need to get through the first premier of the State Council."


    Having said this, the marshal calmed down a little and continued to advise, "Ling Xiao, even if we allowed it, and your son was epted, have you ever considered the fact that your son¡¯s body will not be able to endure past the first year? If his body was injured irrevocably because of this, won¡¯t you regret this?"


    "Don¡¯t we have you?" Ling Xiao shot this question back at the marshal.


    "What do you mean?" The marshal found that he could not keep up with Ling Xiao¡¯s train of thought.


    "As long as you issue special dispensation, allowing Ling Lan to be exempt from the first year¡¯s exams, won¡¯t that be fine?" Ling Xiao had already made up his mind; in the first year, Ling Lan would not participate in any training at the school, only continuing to focus on recuperating.


    "Ling Xiao, don¡¯t you go too far!" The marshal was about to blow up. It wasn¡¯t like the Federation¡¯s First Men¡¯s Military Academy was run by his family ... he couldn¡¯t just waltz in and do as he liked!


    "I recall that, as long as military headquarters issues a special cultivation n for a student, they can have full jurisdiction over the student¡¯s first year of training." Ling Xiao had already thought of everything. However, this special cultivation n still required the marshal to sign off on it, which was why he was still here holding up the marshal, trying to obtain his agreement.


    "Let military headquarters issue a fake special cultivation n? No way, this involves too much ..." The marshal wanted to refuse instinctively.


    "Didn¡¯t you say our 23rd Division was free to choose our mid-level and upper ranking officers as we liked? I can issue this special cultivation n, with the intent to cultivate Ling Lan as a central pir of the 23rd Division." For his son¡¯s future, Ling Xiao did not mind exploiting his power for personal gain.


    "Ling Xiao, giving youmand of the 23rd Division is not for you to y dictator!" When the marshal heard Ling Xiao dering his tant intention to abuse his power, he was instantly furious. Hells, couldn¡¯t he keep himself in check a little in front of him? No matter what, he was still themander-in-chief in charge of monitoring all the army divisions of the Federation!


    "Marshal, setting the rtionship between Ling Lan and I aside, just based off Ling Lan¡¯s talent and potential alone, if he had not suffered an assassination attempt by an enemy nation three years ago and had remained healthy, would he have been epted by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy this year?" The marshal¡¯s fury did not ruffle Ling Xiao; he merely continued to exin his point of view calmly.


    The marshal nodded. Ling Lan¡¯s talent was no weaker than Ling Xiao¡¯s by much ¡ª if he had been able to grow up without interruption, even if he did not achieve Ling Xiao¡¯s heights, it would pretty much be no problem for him to be an ace operator.


    "Then, at that time, when he graduates from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, would he be qualified to be a central force of an army division?" pressed Ling Xiao.


    The marshal said huffily, "Any student thates out from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy is fought over by all army divisions for recruitment." Unsaid was the underlying agreement that if the assassination attempt had not happened, Ling Lan¡¯s future would be just as Ling Xiao was describing.


    "Therefore, what I am nning to do is not abusing my power for personal gain, but rather, taking responsibility on behalf of the military." Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes were glowing with conviction. "Ling Lan was only injured in an assassination attempt because the enemy managed to infiltrate one of the troops sent by the military into the academy to protect the students. In other words, on this matter, the military should definitely take responsibility."


    Frankly, the marshal also knew very well that the military should indeed take on the full responsibility for Ling Lan¡¯s assassination attempt. It was their carelessness and negligence that had allowed the enemy to infiltrate the academy sessfully, finally resulting in this regretful mishap.


    "We only need to bear the responsibility of shielding him for one year, and we would have salvaged the future of a prodigy. The debt the military owes him, I am only trying to help the military pay it back," said Ling Xiao righteously, just as if he truly had no personal stake in this at all.


    The marshal did not know whether tough or cry at Ling Xiao¡¯s words ¡ª this Ling Xiao was truly unscrupulous in fighting for his objectives. But, he liked it, because this reasoning was sufficiently just and honourable.


    "In that case, it is not necessary for you to issue this special cultivation n. I will make the arrangements." The marshal did not want Ling Xiao to bear the bad name of abusing his power.


    Ling Xiao did not care if he had to bear this so-called bad name or bad reputation, but since the marshal cared, he would not press the issue. Ling Xiao knew very well how to leave a favourable impression on his superiors ¡ª a suitable degree of obedience andpliance was absolutely necessary.


    That said, the marshal suddenly found that he had been unknowingly led astray from the main problem by Ling Xiao. "Why are we skipping to the end? Ling Xiao, you need to first convince the first premier. As long as the other agrees, then there won¡¯t be any problem on my end. Including everything else after, I can arrange it for you."


    "Why is it necessary to convince him?" A smile bloomed on Ling Xiao¡¯s lips. Even though it appeared as warm and kind as ever, the marshal could just sense the hidden trace of deviousness behind it.


    "I recall that there is this particr rule in the federal military ordinances. Tomend the contributions of a soldier to the Federation, when a soldier bes a general of the Federation, his son shall have the right to a secured ce in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. As long as the first marshal approves, he can enter the First Men¡¯s Military Academy directly tomence his studies. Since this is something granted by military authority, the government system has no right to object ..."


    The Federation was a militaristic nation where military exploits were supreme. No jurisdictional agency nor private individual could prevent a contributor of military exploits from using his special rights.


    The marshal¡¯s face twitched as he looked at the general¡¯s outfit on Ling Xiao¡¯s body. He suddenly found himself regretting his actions ¡ª why had he moved so fast on Ling Xiao¡¯s promotion?


    Apparently, the marshal had taken advantage of Ling Xiao¡¯s sudden return to life to suggest promoting Ling Xiao to the military rank of general while the other factions were still in disarray. As Ling Xiao¡¯s capabilities were unequivocally recognised, and his reputation preceded him, on top of the fact that the factions were utterly confounded by the news of his return, no one had found a reasonable excuse to object at short notice. Moreover, the government also wanted to use Ling Xiao¡¯s return to divert public attention, to stabilise the somewhat vtile domestic state of affairs ofte, and so had given their energetic support to the suggestion. And so, under these myriad coincidences and circumstances, Ling Xiao¡¯s promotion to general did not garner much opposition, passing smoothly.


    Afraid that things might change again, the marshal had signed off on the agreement right then and there, and this matter had thus been settled. He just hadn¡¯t imagined that his kind intentions woulde back to smash him in the foot, leaving him in the awkward position of riding a tiger 1 .


    Mind you, this special right had been set aside for themendation of a general¡¯s contributions to the Federation, but practically everyone assumed that it was just an honorary special right. This was because no one would ever use it, as it was almost impossible for someone to be a general before the ages of 60 to 70 years old. By that age, let alone sons, perhaps even their grandchildren would have already wedded wives and sired children. Who then would think to use this special right?


    The marshal abruptly found that quite a few military special rights of the Federation at the moment were all just honorary in nature, for there was no one who could actually enjoy those benefits. But now, their existence was obviously there to open backdoors for Ling Xiao ... Ling Xiao¡¯s age was just much too young.


    "Alright, I¡¯ve got it," said the marshal, resigned.


    Seeing Ling Xiao still standing tall before him, he said exasperatedly, "What else do you want?" If this fellow dared to request anything else, he would definitely throw him out of here.


    "The eptance letter of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy!" demanded Ling Xiao.


    "Ling Xiao, you really think I¡¯m an omnipotent god? Seek and ye shall find ¡ª able to pull an eptance letter out of thin air? Godd*mmit, scram! Go home, and wait there patiently!" roared the marshal.


    Ling Xiao grinned at these words, and then saluted him respectfully, "Yes, Marshal!" He turned neatly to leave, but when he reached the doorway, he suddenly looked back to say, "Marshal, actually, I was just waiting for this statement of yours!" That said, heughed loudly as he walked out the door.


    "Darn brat!" The marshal couldn¡¯t help but scold even as he smiled. Only Ling Xiao would dare to be so impudent before him, asking for so much. This gave him a sense of kinship with the other. Ever since bing the Federation¡¯s first marshal, on particr fronts, he had lost many things.


    ********


    The moment Ling Xiao walked out the door, a major waiting patiently by the door perked up, his eyes brightening as he rushed over to salute and say, "General!"


    "Let¡¯s go!" said Ling Xiao. He then led the way out of the 1st Division¡¯s headquarters toe to the courtyard gates.


    A ck luxury hover car was gliding towards them to slowly stop at the gates. Its position was very precise; Ling Xiao only needed to walk down 3 steps to get into the car.


    The major rushed ahead of him to open the car door.


    Ling Xiao stepped into the car and sat down. Only then did the major close the car door, taking a seat himself in the assistant¡¯s seat 2 .


    This hover car was not controlled by an A.I., but by a human driver. A chauffeur was already seated in the driver¡¯s seat. His epaulette showed that he was also a major, clearly marking him as no ordinary chauffeur.


    "Return to the temporary military camp!" said the major in the assistant¡¯s seat to the chauffeur.


    The chauffeur nodded and began to slowly guide the hover car out. His driving was steady and his speed control was excellent ¡ª the passengers could not tell at all that the car was in motion.


    Even though the hover car was driven very stably, its speed was not slow. In the blink of an eye, they had already disappeared into the horizon, heading swiftly to their destination.


    ********


    Sitting in the hover car, Ling Xiao¡¯s feelings were currently veryplicated.


    He needed to go home now! He wondered if Luofeng would forgive him. After all, he had left mother and son alone for 17 years!


    At this thought, Ling Xiao¡¯s heart cringed. Still, he knew that if he only returned home after the official announcement, Lan Luofeng would most certainly kick him out again.


    He must go home as soon as possible! Ling Xiao did not know why, but he just had the feeling that his return this time was marked by terrible odds in his favour ...

 Chapter 195: General Ling!

    Chapter 195: General Ling!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    On this day, as usual, Ling Lan was entering thebat room to carry out her basic training. However, not long after she began, she was interrupted by a grim-faced Ling Qin.


    "Grandpa Ling Qin? Is something wrong?" Seeing the other¡¯s solemn expression, Ling Lan halted her movements to ask, as she grabbed a towel to wipe off her sweat.


    "Master, we just received an urgent notification that the newly promoted General Ling is on his way to visit you." Ling Qin¡¯s expression was extremely perplexed.


    It should be known that generals were the true military authority below the marshal ¡ª there were only nine of them in the entire Federation, inclusive of this newly promoted general. Each and every one of them was amander-in-chief of one or more army divisions. Just a simple stomp of their feet was able to make the earth quake and the mountains shake within the Federation. This kind of personage whom they had to look up to in the past ... why would someone like that make a personal visit to the Ling family?


    If the old family head Ling Xiao had still been alive, he would not have found this so strange. After all, Ling Xiao was one of the mere twelve god-ss operators of the Federation ¡ª even the marshal did not dare take him lightly. Thus, these generals too would not dare to treat him flippantly, so it was not impossible for them toe pay a visit. But now, the family head of the Ling family was Ling Lan who had barely turned 16. Furthermore, to the outside world, he was a youth who had sustained serious injuries which had limited his growth. A typical person would never pay much attention to the Ling family like this ...


    What worried Ling Qin the most was that the other¡¯s surname was Ling. Ling Qin could not help but be suspicious ¡ª could this visiting general be part of the old Ling elite family that they had chased out of Doha?


    If that was the case, this might very likely be a warning from the other party. It could be that this visit may be to force the Ling family into paying some price! Unavoidably, some apprehension reared up in Ling Qin¡¯s heart.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan frowned lightly. She too was a little bothered by this surname Ling. However, she was not thinking as far or asplicated as Ling Qin was. She was only a little bummed because it had taken her so much effort to distance herself from the sights of the upper ranks of the military, but now all that effort may be wiped away by this General Ling¡¯s visit. This was going against her original ns.


    Still, Ling Lan knew that since the military had already notified them, they were not in a position to refuse. She could only go with the flow and take things as they came.


    "Grandpa Ling Qin, make preparations, and then we¡¯ll y things by ear!" Ling Lan still had a trump card in hand ¡ª she was the orphaned child of the god-ss operator Ling Xiao. Even if this General Ling had any evil intentions against the Ling family, he would not dare to be too tant about it.


    "Yes, Family Head!" Ling Qin left with his orders.


    Only then did Ling Lan return to her bedroom and change into a set of formal attire suitable for meeting guests. Since the other was a general, she could not afford to give offense.


    As for Lan Luofeng, neither Ling Qin nor Ling Lan notified her. Ling Qin did not, because Ling Lan was already the family head of the Ling family. All household matters would be carried out ording to Ling Lan¡¯s will ¡ª only if Ling Lan was not present would Ling Qin consider notifying Lan Luofeng. Meanwhile, Ling Lan did not, because she did not want to disturb Lan Luofeng with these matters. Ever since three years ago when Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space had disappeared and his shade¡¯s final words were a reminder to take care of Lan Luofeng, Ling Lan had solidified Lan Luofeng as someone she would protect for the rest of her life.


    When Ling Lan andpany received the news that the general¡¯s car was about to arrive, Ling Lan led Ling Qin and Ling Yu to stand at the Ling family mansion gates to wait respectfully. As amon citizen with no battle exploits or ranking to her name, Ling Lan did not yet possess the right to wait indoors to greet the general.


    The first thing that came into view were two miniature mecha. Ling Lan could tell from the emblem at their chests that they were part of the mecha escort forces avable to those of general rank in the military. Behind them was a convoy consisting of five luxury hover cars, with three miniature mecha on each side, and another two miniature mecha protecting the convoy¡¯s nk. The entire procession was flying swiftly towards them.


    The general¡¯s procession was surprisingly simple, not at all as ostentatious as Ling Lan had expected. Ten miniature mecha and five luxury hover cars, so simple was the convoy which made its way over. This gave Ling Lan a better impression of this General Ling; at the very least, he did not give off an air of oppression.


    When the convoy arrived at the Ling family gates, the ten mecha hovered up in the air, beginning to monitor all directions of the convoy. At the same time, from four of the luxury hover cars, ten or so fully-equipped guards disembarked and swiftly formed arge circle around thest remaining hover car in a tight defensive formation.


    Subsequently, the car door on the assistant seat¡¯s side of thatst hover car opened, and a major who was approximately 30 years old stepped out from the car. After taking a careful look around, he then opened the back door of the hover car.


    Ling Lan then saw a figure dressed in a general¡¯s uniform step out from the hover car, head bowed and waist bent. She did not know if it was just a misperception, but Ling Lan sensed that the other was somewhat nervous in that split second when he had stepped out of the car ... this made Ling Lan rather puzzled.


    But this was no time to ponder. Ling Lan quickly suppressed this puzzlement and rallied her spirits, and led Ling Qin and Ling Yu to hurry forwards in wee.


    Right then, that General Ling lifted his head and looked over. When his eyes met Ling Lan¡¯s, the both of them felt a jolt in their hearts.


    The moment Ling Lan saw that person¡¯s face, she almost lost all colour in her face. That face was still clearly etched in her memory ¡ª not only because Lan Luofeng constantly rambled at her with Ling Xiao¡¯s picture before her face, but because that face had apanied her through arge part of her childhood in the legacy space.


    Ling Qin¡¯s reaction was even worse. Ovee with emotion, he could not stop his body from trembling, his jaw opening wide, trying to call out that name in his memories. But perhaps due to being too emotional, his voice just would not work.


    "Uncle Qin, long time no see!" Seeing this, Ling Xiao could not help but greet him with a wry smile. Meeting the person who had taken care of him from young again after 17 years, his feelings were aplicated mess ¡ª he almost burst into uncontroble tears.


    "Master ..." Ling Qin finally squeezed out, his tears unlocked in a sudden torrent.


    As the current leader of the Ling family mecha squad, Ling Yu¡¯s heart was also filled with stunned shock. After all, Ling Xiao was the idol of his youth. However,pared to Ling Qin¡¯s emotional state, he was somewhat calmer. This was because he was now the leader of the mecha protection squad of the current family head, Ling Lan. As such, he was only loyal to Ling Lan, so even in his excitement, he reflexively looked towards Ling Lan for instruction.


    "Your Excellency General Ling, please forgive the attendants of yours truly for their disrespect! Pleasee in!" Ling Lan threw a cold nce at Ling Qin, jolting Ling Qin to awareness instantly. He knew that he had forgotten himself, and quickly stepped back to stand behind Ling Lan, no longer daring to even look at Ling Xiao.


    Right then, Ling Lan had be extremely calm. The torments she had suffered for 16 years in the learning space showed their extraordinary results now ¡ª Ling Lan did not lose herposure just because the other looked like Ling Xiao. Before the other properly expressed his identity, they could not afford to trip over themselves.


    Ling Lan¡¯s courteous response caused Ling Xiao¡¯s steps to slow, and the smile on his face froze for a beat. However, he knew that this was not an appropriate ce for discussion, so he braced himself and walked through the gates.


    This was clearly his own home, but now it was like he was just here as a visitor! Looking at his son¡¯s attitude, he was extremely unwee ... there was no hint of pleasant surprise at seeing his father. Instead, his son was carefully on guard against him, just as if he hade to steal something or another ¡ª this was really too much! Resentment sprouted in Ling Xiao¡¯s heart ¡ª he had wanted to hug him close or do something along those lines, but unfortunately, it looked like his son would not give him this chance.


    Ling Lan watched Ling Xiao walking ahead of her, and her mind started turning in puzzlement: What was going on? Could it be that this Ling Xiao before her was really Ling Xiao? The Federation used gical DNA testing to determine a person¡¯s real identity though, so thispletely precluded the possibility of someone impersonating Ling Xiao through stic surgery. Still, Ling Lan could not help but be suspicious ¡ª because this General Ling had truly appeared at such a coincidental time. Ling Lan still remembered that Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space had disappeared three years ago ...


    Of course, perhaps the Ling Xiao before her was really Ling Xiao ¡ª but then why did he fake his death for 17 years? And why had he suddenly chosen to resurface again now? Was there some deep mystery to exin this? He had to goplete some top secret mission? And so had no choice but to fake his death? Or perhaps Ling Xiao had not died on the way to that battlefield, but had been rescued and lost his memory?


    At this moment, Ling Lan was filling in the nks in her mind with her imagination, countless scenarios shing through her head. In particr, imagining the possibility that Ling Xiao had remarried and birthed more children during his amnesia, only to suddenly regain his memory 17 yearster to return home ... a ze of anger red in Ling Lan¡¯s heart. Whatever the case, it was an injustice to her mother Lan Luofeng. Casting aside one¡¯s wife and child for his career, status, and prestige ¡ª this man deserves to be killed! Remarrying and starting a new family due to memory loss, it would be fine if he just stayed away and never returned. Buting back to try and enjoy a life with two separate families ¡ª he would still deserve to be killed!


    Ling Xiao, who was walking ahead, suddenly felt a chill run through his body. Somehow, he kept sensing some unexinable killing intent around him ... but who here would want to kill him? Ling Xiao shook his head, baffled, and chased away that chill in his heart.


    Entering the Ling family mansion, Ling Xiao saw the familiar great hall before his eyes. A photo of him and Lan Luofeng still hung on the wall, but of course there was now a new picture beside it. It was a photo of Ling Lan on the day she turned 16 years old.


    This familiar setting caused Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes to well up with heat, tears almost falling from his eyes. Fortunately, the trials he had gone through in these past few years had made his heart much stronger than it had been 17 years ago; Ling Xiao managed to control this surge of emotion.


    "Uncle Qin, where¡¯s Luofeng? Is she doing well?" First off, Ling Xiao wanted to know whether the person that mattered most in his heart was doing well.


    Ling Qin was just about to answer when he thought of something. He turned to look at Ling Lan, waiting for her instruction. Although Ling Xiao was Ling Lan¡¯s father, Lan Luofeng¡¯s husband and their previous family head, the present family head was Ling Lan. He needed to first obtain Ling Lan¡¯s approval before responding.


    From Ling Lan¡¯s behaviour at the gates, Ling Qin perceptively sensed Ling Lan¡¯s unhappiness with Ling Xiao. There was even some wariness in her demeanour. This made Ling Qin have no choice but to be cautious as well ¡ª as his emotions slowly settled down, Ling Qin too began thinking that the sudden appearance of this General Ling before them was just too coincidental.


    After all, Ling Xiao had already been officially dead for 17 years ... if this General Ling was really Ling Xiao, then why had he hidden away for these 17 years? Ling Qin¡¯s gut feeling was that there was a deeper story behind all this. Before he could remain level-headed in the face of Ling Xiao¡¯s return to life, it would be better for him not to act presumptuously. He might as well leave the current situation in the hands of his current family head, Young Master Lan.


    These past 3 years, Ling Lan¡¯s performance at home hadpletely convinced Ling Qin. He believed that Ling Lan was fully capable of handling all this ¡ª so he lowered his head and kept silent, taking one step back to make Ling Lan stand out more. With this move, he was showing Ling Xiao that Ling Lan was the current master of the Ling family.

 Chapter 196: An Infuriated Ling Xiao!

    Chapter 196: An Infuriated Ling Xiao!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes glimmered. Both Ling Qin¡¯s demeanour, as well as the manner of the other young man behind him, proved that the barely 16 years old Ling Lan had truly taken charge of the Ling family. He was truly the family head, not just in name. This pleased and surprised Ling Xiao greatly. Some smugness rose faintly in his heart ¡ª as expected of a son of his.


    Of course, even as Ling Xiao was heartened by this, he could not help the anxiety in his heart. After all, he still had not received the answer he wanted. Thus, he turned his head to look towards Ling Lan, hope in his eyes, wishing for Ling Lan to give him a satisfactory answer.


    However, as if not seeing Ling Xiao¡¯s beseeching gaze, Ling Lan merely took one step forwards and waved at the sofa, saying politely, "General Ling, please have a seat."


    A tendril of rage rose in Ling Xiao¡¯s heart, and his presence red involuntarily. This brat was really giving him no face! Did he not know how anxious he was to find out about his wife?!


    Facing Ling Xiao¡¯s pressing presence, Ling Lan continued to maintain her icy expression, unmoved. It should be known that after facing Instructor Number One¡¯s tremendous force of presence over a long period of time, Ling Lan had already developed some immunity against this sort of pressure. Of course, this was also due to the fact that Ling Xiao¡¯s presence still retained some gentleness, not pressing down much harder than Instructor Number One¡¯s.


    Seeing the unmoved Ling Lan, Ling Xiao could only sullenly take a seat on the living room sofa. Although he was secretly a little annoyed that Ling Lan did not recognise him, he did not dare to fly off the handle. After all, his 17 years of absence gave him no confidence to yell at Ling Lan that he was his father, so he could only quietly tolerate Ling Lan¡¯s cold treatment of him.


    Ling Lan called the servants to serve up tea. Ling Xiao took a sip of his tea ¡ª the familiar taste sent a jolt through Ling Xiao¡¯s heart, and he could not help but open his mouth again to say, "Ling Lan,e, let your mother out. There are some things we need to have a good discussion about."


    Ling Lan said cidly, "General Ling, my father has been dead for 17 years. As his widow, my mother has always lived a simple and secluded life. It is probably inappropriate for her to meet a strange man. If you have any matters to discuss, you can just tell me. I will pass on a message to my mother."


    Ling Lan had already made up her mind. Before she figured out what had happened, she would not let Lan Luofeng out to see Ling Xiao. If she truly found Ling Xiao to be an irresponsible man, or a present-era Chen Shimei 1 , she would definitely chase the other out straightaway to protect her mother. Even if she was no match for Ling Xiao in terms of both power and strength, with Little Four¡¯s help, she should still be able to use the influence of the virtual world to bring disgrace and ruin down upon Ling Xiao.


    In the mindspace, Little Four was raising his fists high in response to Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts, his entire appearance screaming the fact that he would attack and withdraw as his bossmands. But in a ce unseen by Ling Lan, he was slumped on the floor, crying, ¡¯Boo hoo hoo, I don¡¯t want Dad to be a Chen Shimei ...¡¯


    Ling Lan¡¯s extremely cold response made Ling Xiao choke on a breath. He suddenly found that this son of his was so mature and cool-headed that it was somewhat annoying ... shouldn¡¯t he be overjoyed by his return and be urging Lan Luofeng toe out so their family could reunite? This kind of courteous speech ¡ª he was totally treating him as a stranger! No, a stranger may have received better treatment ... the coldness in that brat¡¯s eyes clearly showed that he was seeing him as a boss-level enemy.


    Ling Xiao could clearly tell that Ling Lan must have recognised him by now. Back when they first saw each other, he had seen the emotional upheaval in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. However, Ling Lan had swifted pushed down those emotions, and after regaining his calm he had begun to react defensively every step of the way, showing no sign that he would like to acknowledge Ling Xiao as his father. This knowledge made Ling Xiao so frustrated that he could almost puke blood.


    "Ling Lan, I am your father Ling Xiao!" In the end, Ling Xiao could not hold back, revealing his identity in curt, bitten off words. He had only wanted toe home and be reunited with his family ¡ª to hug his wife by a warm hearth, to bounce his son on his knee ... was that too much to ask?


    At these words, a trace of contempt appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s lips. "Oh? Then, 17 years ago, what was that notification we received from the military informing the Ling family about Ling Xiao¡¯s demise?"


    Ling Xiao kneaded his forehead, smiling bitterly as he said, "Back then, I was sted by that maic energy turbulence in the death tunnel to an unknown location. Honestly, I was lucky. Due to the intense collisions of energy, a ck hole was created, allowing me to escape death. However, through the ck hole was an unknown world 2 . I couldn¡¯t find my bearings anywhere on a Federation star chart. To find my way home, I spent a whole 17 years. Only 10 days ago, when the ck hole I had gone through opened again due to the energy turbulence caused by a battle between the Federation and the Twilight Empire, did I manage to find my way back here."


    Ling Xiao briefly exined why he had ¡¯died¡¯ for 17 years. Back then, everyone had indeed thought that he was dead. Meanwhile, he had been drifting in a foreignnd all this time. Back then, he too did not have the confidence that he would live to return to the Federation.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan¡¯s hanging hands clenched into fists, her heart rate spiking. Did this mean that Ling Xiao had had no intentions of leaving her mum and herself behind from the start?


    "Not long after, the military will publicly announce this matter, and you all will know everything. As for my promotion to general, that¡¯s because I was already eligible for promotion to Lieutenant General 17 years ago. But at that time, the Federation wanted to push their advantage to eradicate the Twilight Empire, and so intentionally concealed my rank, letting me lead the 7th Division to attack Twilight before the other nations could react ..." Ling Xiao exined the truth of the matter back then, revealing why he had appeared at the frontlines despite being a god-ss operator.


    "However, at the time, the marshal had suddenly fallen deeply ill, causing the main authority of military headquarters to fall to those below him. Who knows whether it was because of the resulting power struggle, but the n to attack Twilight was leaked. Or perhaps there were already spies in the highest ranks of the military ... In any case, the Twilight Empire found out that the eradication n would be carried out by me, and so created a series of plots and schemes targeting me ..."


    "Although the marshal took back military control post-haste after he recovered, it was toote. I had already been led skilfully to the spot they had crafted ..." Regret was clear on Ling Xiao¡¯s face. This sequence of unfortunate events had thus caused him to be separated from his wife and son for 17 years.


    Ling Qin¡¯s face was filled with true emotion. He looked towards Ling Lan, waiting for her to soften.


    "A very interesting story ..." Ling Lan sipped her tea and then continued calmly, "I am very interested in your 17 years of life in that unknown world. What kind of world was it?" Who knew if Ling Xiao hadn¡¯t been able to bear the loneliness and had found some pleasurepanion or whatnot to be by his side ... it was better to figure all of this out before deciding whether or not to let her mother Lan Luofenge out.


    At Ling Lan¡¯s words, Ling Xiao paused for a moment, startled at this avenue of questioning. He smiled wryly and said, "That was a primitive world. It did not have the technological advancements of our Federation. You could even say that there were no starships, no aircrafts, and no mecha. When I firstnded there, those people thought I was a god ..."


    "A god, is it?" Ling Lan abruptly lifted her head up to look straight at Ling Xiao, her gaze cold and piercing. "I would like to ask you ¡ª in these 17 years, did you find a new woman there?"


    Ling Xiao flew into a rage at these words, barking, "How could that be?! I already have your mother."


    "You¡¯ve said before, back then you too did not know whether you would be able toe back. Did you never consider building a new family there or something?" asked Ling Lan with a quirk of her brow. It was clear to see that Ling Lan did not believe Ling Xiao¡¯s denial.


    "Other than your mother, I do not want any other woman." Ling Xiao abruptly stood up, his gentle airpletely gone. In his rage, Ling Xiao could not restrain himself from releasing the dominant air hidden within his bones, "I, Ling Xiao, am definitely not that type of unfaithful, two-timing person."


    Ling Lan¡¯s suspicious questions had undoubtedly caused Ling Xiao to feel deeply affronted. In these past 17 years, there had indeed been women who had flirted and confessed to him, but his heart had always been true to Lan Luofeng and that child in her belly. Thus, he had resolutely turned away all temptation, putting all his mind and effort on getting back. In these 17 years, he had been hard at work in every waking moment, even making many concessions in his quest to return.


    Although Ling Xiao was extremely angry, he still remembered that this was the Ling family. He did not unleash all of his force of presence, only focusing it on Ling Lan. He felt that this obnoxious brat really needed a good lesson, actually daring to question his integrity and feelings. It was outrageous!


    Ling Lan gave a muffled grunt, the vital energies in her chest roiling, almost forcing out a mouthful of blood. She knew that this was the pressure from Ling Xiao¡¯s focused rage, an oue she had prompted, but she did not regret it at all. Knowing for sure that Ling Xiao had not betrayed Lan Luofeng, she could then hand over Lan Luofeng to Ling Xiao without worry.


    "Ling Xiao, how impressive of you! Bullying us, mother and child, the moment you return?" A crisp voice rang out from above, tone filled with subtle anger. A bolt of joy ran through Ling Xiao¡¯s heart at this familiar voice; his rampaging spiritual pressure was instantly retracted.


    "Luofeng!" Ling Xiao walked forwards emotionally, reaching out to try and wrap his arms around Lan Luofeng who wasing down the stairs.


    Lan Luofeng fiercely pushed aside Ling Xiao¡¯s arms,pletely ignoring him to run to Ling Lan¡¯s side. Face filled with worry and distress, she asked, "Ling Lan, how are you? Are you hurt?"


    Ling Lan circted her Qi through her body once along the pathways of the Qi exercises, and her initially heavy and tight chest felt much better. Ling Xiao had only wanted to give Ling Lan a small lesson and had not been trying to hurt her ¡ª Ling Xiao still remembered that Ling Lan¡¯s body was currently injured, so he dared not use too much force.


    Seeing Lan Luofeng¡¯s teary and frantic manner, Ling Lan quickly reassured her, saying, "Mummy, I¡¯m fine!"


    Seeing that her precious daughter was fine, Lan Luofeng could then turn to addressing the culprit who had almost hurt her daughter. She instantly morphed into a maternal beast protecting her offspring, charging over fiercely to Ling Xiao¡¯s front, and pressed a forceful finger onto Ling Xiao¡¯s chest, scolding, "Ling Xiao, you bastard, you dare to bully my child? Do you really think I, Lan Luofeng, am so easy to bully?" That said, she rolled up her sleeves, and threw her fists at Ling Xiao in rage, as if beating at a drum.


    In response, Ling Xiao could only run for his life, dodging as he apologised and pleaded for mercy. Right then, he did not look any bit like the god-ss operator and general he was.


    Ling Lan¡¯s face twitched uncontrobly. She lifted her head to look up at the great chandelier hanging above them, wondering if she could disappear from here now to show that she really did not know this couple before her ...


    Inside Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace, Little Four was gaping in shock and bewilderment. That man fleeing so gracelessly, repeatedly begging for mercy all the way ... was he still that gentle and dashing, unbelievably handsome daddy of his? Also, was that ferocious female warrior chasing and beating him in a frenzy still that so-gentle-she-seemed-to-be-made-of-water mummy of his memory? He felt as if his whole world had been turned upside down.

 Chapter 197: A Determined Destiny!

    Chapter 197: A Determined Destiny!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Finally, at a moment when Ling Xiao could guarantee that he would not hurt Lan Luofeng by ident, he pulled her into his embrace, holding her close as he apologised over and over again, "Luofeng, it¡¯s my fault. I shouldn¡¯t have lost my temper ..."


    In Ling Xiao¡¯s arms, Lan Luofeng struggled for a bit, but finding that she really could not move, her expression crumbled and she broke out into sobs, "You bastard. You already left for 17 years ... if you don¡¯te back, that¡¯s that, but why do you bully us, mother and child, right aftering back? Who gave you the right?"


    Ling Xiao rushed to apologise again, "I¡¯m sorry! It¡¯s my fault! It¡¯s all my fault!"


    "Of course it¡¯s your fault!" As a wife, Lan Luofeng was still somewhat reasonable, but as a mother, bullying her kid was definitely unconscionable.


    At this moment, how would Ling Xiao dare to say anything to defend himself? He could only continue to agree, "Yes, yes, yes, it¡¯s definitely my fault!"


    Ling Lan finally understood what was meant by ¡¯even heroes need to back off sometimes¡¯ 1 ! Against her ferocious mum, her dad could only back off. However, Ling Lan could clearly tell from the light shining from Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes that this was a willing concession on his part. This also proved that all those things Ling Xiao had said in his fury previously were all true.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan let out arge sigh of relief inside her heart. Being able to see her parents of this world being lovey-dovey ¡ª happiness welled up in her heart.


    However, when she saw that the two before her still showed no sign of separating, she couldn¡¯t help but sweatdrop. Hells, they should really mind their shining image, right? There were still outsiders around, you know! So, Ling Lan coughed heavily and reminded them, "Perhaps, we should sit down and discuss things properly?"


    Lan Luofeng was jolted to awareness, and she quickly pushed Ling Xiao away with a face filled with embarrassment. She quickly walked over to Ling Lan and holding Ling Lan¡¯s hand, she turned with a proud look to say to Ling Xiao, "Ling Xiao, this is our child, Ling Lan. The best child ever 2 !"


    Ling Xiao smiled and nodded, "Yes, I know. Ling Lan, my child, is indeed very good!" Although Ling Lan was sufficiently exceptional, Ling Xiao felt that he should not praise his son too much. He needed to push him down a little, and not pamper him like he would a daughter. Honestly, he had really wished for a daughter who resembles Lan Luofeng ... but it¡¯s alright, they would just have to continue working on it in future.


    Lan Luofeng shook Ling Lan¡¯s hand in hers as she smiled blissfully, "Ling Lan, he is your daddy Ling Xiao, isn¡¯t he great?" Her face was filled with anticipation, looking forward to Ling Lan¡¯s acknowledgement of Ling Xiao, and for her to call him ¡¯daddy¡¯.


    Ling Lan nodded and said calmly, "Mm, Mum, your judgment is pretty good." But she just could not call him ¡¯daddy¡¯ just yet.


    Perhaps Ling Lan had given all her emotions towards Ling Xiao to the spiritual entity within Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy space, so now when she was facing the real Ling Xiao, Ling Lan actually felt somewhat distant from him, making her unable to call him ¡¯daddy¡¯ right away.


    Ling Xiao seemed to understand Ling Lan¡¯s hesitance. He did not push the matter, skipping past it with a smile. Lan Luofeng could only sigh. 17 years of absence made it impossible for Ling Xiao and Ling Lan to abruptly have an affectionate father-child rtionship.


    Ling Lan saw that Ling Xiao and Lan Luofeng seemed to have much to say to one another; knowing that this was not a good time for them light bulbs 3 to hang around, she indicated for Ling Qin and the others to leave. This included the secret service officer, that major who had entered the Ling family mansion along with Ling Xiao.


    Of course, when that major left, his expression was somewhat twisted. It was clear to see that Ling Xiao¡¯s current demeanour hadpletely overturned the valiant and dashing image of General Ling Xiao that all soldiers had in their hearts.


    By the time Ling Lan and the others saw Ling Xiao and Lan Luofeng again, it was already the morning of the second day. As for what they had been doing all this time, Lan Luofeng¡¯s bashful manner and sultry eyes were pretty ring clues.


    At this moment, Ling Lan was seated at the dining table, ying host to the only guest free to attend breakfast ¡ª that secret service officer assigned to Ling Xiao. They were eating a simple breakfast together. Seeing her parents appear in that state, Ling Lan¡¯s facial muscles twitched involuntarily. Did these two people not know how to be a little more reserved?


    Ling Lan suddenly recalled that her mum was a lustful woman nearing 40 years of age 4 , and could not help but cast a pitying nce at Ling Xiao. She hoped that he had not been squeezed dry by this mother of hers who was, at present, just like a hungry tiger or wolf.


    Perhaps Ling Lan¡¯s gaze had been too obvious, for Ling Xiao¡¯s handsome face actually blushed when he met her eyes. Ling Lan was very surprised by this ¡ª who knew her dad who was over 40 would have such thin skin ...?


    "What are you looking at?" As she sat down, Lan Luofeng rapped Ling Lan lightly on the head in embarrassment, secretly annoyed at how strange Ling Lan¡¯s gaze was.


    "Nothing!" said Ling Lan with a straight face. Her cold and stern face looked as unmoved as ever, making Lan Luofeng almost doubt whether she had misjudged Ling Lan¡¯s expression due to her own guilty conscience.


    Ling Xiao, however, was a god-ss operator after all; his senses were extremely perceptive, so Ling Lan¡¯s little tricks naturally could not fool him. He coughed awkwardly and then changed the topic to say, "Right, Ling Lan, I forgot to tell you some great news!"


    Ling Lan raised a brow, unsure what great news Ling Xiao could be referring to.


    "You will be guaranteed admission into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy! The school¡¯s eptance letter should be here in a few days." Ling Xiao¡¯s following words made Ling Lan spit out the milk in her mouth she had yet to swallow. Meanwhile, Lan Luofeng¡¯s chopsticks fell from her hand to drop onto the tes on the table, causing a ringing tter to echo in the room.


    "What did you say?" said Ling Lan in fright as she coughed.


    Smiling proudly, Ling Xiao said, "I said, you can go study at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy now." His expression that was all but screaming ¡¯quick, thank me!¡¯ almost made Ling Lan feel like kicking him in the face.


    "Don¡¯t you know that my body¡¯s injuries still haven¡¯t fully recovered? Even if I go, I won¡¯t be able to get past the first year of extra tough physical conditioning." Ling Lan¡¯sposure had finally cracked; she could not hold back her exasperation as she replied.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s expression was solemn as he replied, "Of course I know. But, Ling Lan, don¡¯t worry, I have arranged everything. For the first year, you will receive special treatment and be exempt from exams. I will make sure to let your body recover fully before letting you go through physical conditioning. I will not let your body retain anytent problems."


    Ling Xiao¡¯s words were said with steel-like conviction. He had already considered everything that needed to be considered, the only thing that he had not considered was the problematic off-chance that his son was actually a daughter ...


    Looking at the self-satisfied Ling Xiao who seemed to have thought of everything, Ling Lan looked speechlessly at Lan Luofeng. Her eyes were questioning: Mum, did you not tell Dad about my true gender ...?


    Lan Luofeng shot back with her gaze: Can¡¯t you see I just hadn¡¯t found the time yet?


    Ling Lan puffed up her cheeks, filled with contempt for her mum. She dare say that the two of them had been too busy canoodling, and so her mum hadpletely forgotten that there was still this major issue tomunicate.


    Lan Luofeng nced at the secret service officer, He Xuyang, who was stealing careful nces at them from one corner of the dining table. Ling Xiao had introduced him previously as the officer who had been assigned to him by headquarters after he became a general. Whether he was loyal to Ling Xiao remained to be seen in theing days. As such, such a major issue as Ling Lan¡¯s gender was not appropriate to be shared with Ling Xiao here.


    Yet, this matter was of the utmost urgency and could not be concealed any longer. Mind you, once Ling Lan entered the Men¡¯s Academy, she would have to undergo a full body check-up. At that time, Ling Lan¡¯s female gender would not be able to remain hidden ¡ª this was also the main reason why Lan Luofeng had not wanted Ling Lan to enter a boys¡¯ military school.


    Frantic, Lan Luofeng abruptly stood up, and pulled Ling Xiao, who had just been about to eat breakfast, up with her as well.


    "Ling Xiao, I feel there is something I still need to share with you," said Lan Luofeng.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s face was filled with bafflement, but he stillplied with Lan Luofeng¡¯s arrangement. He put down his bowl and chopsticks and left the dining hall with Lan Luofeng, returning to the bedroom where they had spent a sensuous night.


    Of course, as they left, Ling Xiao happened to see the astonished expression of the major, who seemed somewhat shocked at his amazing stamina ... this made Ling Xiao¡¯s face burn with mortification ¡ª Lan Luofeng¡¯s words had truly left too much room for interpretation.


    The moment Lan Luofeng arrived at the bedroom, she shut the door and pounced forward to cling to Ling Xiao and said, "Ling Xiao, Ling Lan definitely cannot be allowed to go to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy."


    Ling Xiao was taken aback. "Why?" He had already arranged everything ¡ª why was Lan Luofeng and Ling Lan so against this? Ling Lan¡¯s expression at the dining table had been too obvious; he naturally picked up on his son¡¯s true feelings on the matter.


    Through clenched teeth, Lan Luofeng hissed softly, "That¡¯s because Ling Lan is a girl. She¡¯s a daughter, not a son!"


    Ling Xiao was instantly stupefied. Face filled with disbelief, he stuttered, "Wh-what d-did you say?"


    "I said that our Ling Lan is a daughter not a son," Lan Luofeng repeated.


    "Daughter?!" Before Ling Xiao could yell out in shock, Lan Luofeng had covered his mouth and forced those words back into his throat.


    "It¡¯s fine if you know. What are you yelling for?" Lan Luofeng red at Ling Xiao with censure.


    Ling Xiao could not help but rub his forehead, "How did you even think of getting Ling Lan to pretend to be a son?"


    Lan Luofeng said angrily, "Isn¡¯t this all because of your sudden death? In order to inherit your premium military benefits, I had no choice. Otherwise who knows if the two of us, mother and child, would have been yed and eaten alive by those greedy Ling elite family members?"


    Ling Xiao was instantly enlightened. Back then, everyone must have been eyeing the right to inherit what he had left behind. Even if Lan Luofeng had been willing to surrender Ling Lan¡¯s inheritance rights, to make sure there were no loose ends, the Ling family n would definitely have secretly gotten rid of Ling Lan even if they left Lan Luofeng alone. Only if Ling Lan obtained the right to inherit would she also receive care and protection from the military, thus earning the safety and security to continue living. This was one of the reasons why Lan Luofeng had chosen as she had. At the heart of it, it was still his, Ling Xiao¡¯s, fault!


    Ling Xiao hugged Lan Luofeng close lovingly, and couldn¡¯t help but sigh in gratitude, "Luofeng, thank you, for protecting our daughter."


    Lan Luofeng pounded Ling Xiao¡¯s chest once in response, and said worriedly, "What do we do now?"


    Ling Xiao¡¯s mind whirled. Because the n to guarantee Ling Lan¡¯s admission into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had been obtained after so much effort on his part, if he suddenly said that his son wasn¡¯t going anymore, all those involved in arranging this, including the marshal, would definitely be suspicious. This was because he had truly nned everything too perfectly, almost excluding all possible reasons not to go.


    If Ling Lan did not go, they might start paying even more attention to her instead ... If Ling Lan had previously shown herself to be a degenerate good-for-nothing, they might still be able to argue that Ling Lan was unwilling to work hard and suffer through training. But unfortunately, Ling Lan had performed exceptionally well at the scout academy, and was a truly buildable prodigy in everyone¡¯s eyes ...


    This would just lead everyone to specte in other directions, perhaps even cing Ling Lan under closer military surveince ¡ª this was definitely nothing good for Ling Lan. On the other hand, entering the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the main issue would be how to conceal her real gender from others ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s stony visage floated to the forefront of Ling Xiao¡¯s mind ¡ª there was nothing at all feminine about her. Honestly speaking, if he were to stand side-by-side with Ling Lan, and let others guess who was the girl between the two of them, the probability of others mistaking him over Ling Lan for a girl would be much higher. It was safe to say that Ling Lan had already achieved a miraculous realm with her impersonation of a man.


    At this thought, Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t help but admire Lan Luofeng at her sess in training their daughter to impersonate a man. No one had discovered the charade these past 16 years, including the marshal and himself ¡ª everyone had truly believed that Ling Lan was a boy.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s brain began to swiftly shift through which events in the military academy would threaten to expose Ling Lan¡¯s gender, and then find a method to resolve it. In the end, he found that if he manipted things well enough, Ling Lan could safely evade all the threats and remain undiscovered. As long as Ling Lan could graduate sessfully from the military academy, Ling Xiao believed that with his resourcefulness, he could definitely construct an alternate identity for Ling Lan, allowing Ling Lan to live freely within his 23rd Division with two separate identities ...


    Overall, it would be much better than thrusting Ling Lan into the military¡¯s sights right this moment! Ling Xiao decided instantly that he would still let Ling Lan study at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Although Ling Xiao had decided, at the thought that he would be sending his precious daughter into a den of hungry wolves and tigers 5 , his chest felt tight and he could almost vomit blood.


    He could not help but clench his hands into tight fists, and growl mentally: If any presumptuous snot-nosed brat dared toy a finger on his precious daughter, he would definitely tear the other to pieces, crush his bones, and scatter his ashes!

 Chapter 198: Cruel Punishment

    Chapter 198: Cruel Punishment


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Xiao¡¯s nning was quite perfect, but it did not receive Lan Luofeng¡¯s approval. In fact, when Lan Luofeng heard that Ling Xiao had decided to let Ling Lan study in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy anyway, she went berserk.


    Lan Luofeng did not want her daughter to continue impersonating a man. Ling Lan was already 16 years old ¡ª this was the best time for a young girl to develop, but because she had to impersonate a man, to avoid being discovered, Ling Lan had always been injected with hormone suppressors, restricting the oestrogen levels in her body to prevent the development of her gender. The military had always insisted that hormone suppressors were harmless to the human body, and that once one stopped using them, one¡¯s body would quickly recover its equilibrium and return to normal.


    Of course, the military had not invented this hormone suppressor for contraceptive purposes, nor was it meant for turning women into men ¡ª rather, it was meant to ensure the survival ability of female soldiers on the battlefield.


    Mind you, there would always be several days every month when a woman would be inconvenienced and feel ufortable, their spiritual energy and physical strength dropping below their usual standards. It was still fine during regr times, but in the event of a battle, these reasons would cause a female soldier¡¯sbat capability to drop, risking her life. Thus, any female soldier who was about to enter a battlefield would be injected with a shot of hormone suppressor beforehand, ensuring that they were not bothered by feminine issues for half a year.


    Of course, agents such as this hormone suppressor were categorised as semi-restricted medicinal agents, unavable to the general popce. However, the Ling family had had two generations within the upper ranks of the military, after all. Even though Ling Xiao had died, the connections he left behind had still been enough to gain these not highly sought agents for the Ling family quite easily.


    Ever since Ling Lan turned 10, she had begun injecting herself with these hormone suppressors, and this had continued for 6 years. Lan Luofeng had always been concerned that Ling Lan would suffer somestingplications due to the long-term use of these hormone suppressors. After all, female soldiers would not be injected with hormone suppressors over a long period of time like Ling Lan ¡ª they would only take a shot right before battle during critical periods, and once the battle ended, they would stop using the suppressors immediately.


    This time, Ling Xiao¡¯s sudden revival had given Lan Luofeng a great joyful surprise while also letting her put down the great rock she had pressing on her heart all this while. Lan Luofeng thought that as long as Ling Xiao was back, Ling Lan¡¯s impersonation as a man would naturally be resolved.


    This was why when Lan Luofeng had first heard that Ling Xiao had bumblingly sent their daughter into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy before knowing the truth, though she had been stunned, she had not been worried or angry. After all, Ling Xiao just hadn¡¯t known that Ling Lan was a girl at the time. Therefore, Lan Luofeng had rationally pulled Ling Xiao back to their bedroom to discreetly tell Ling Xiao this secret.


    Lan Luofeng had initially hoped that Ling Xiao would then think of a way to refuse Ling Lan¡¯s eptance into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, but unexpectedly, the answer she received in the end was still to let her precious daughter continue living as a man for another 6 years. Not just that, she would have to do so living under the same roof as a group of other men ... this made Lan Luofeng blow her top.


    "No way! I will not allow my daughter to enter the all-male First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Ling Lan is a girl!" Lan Luofeng was currently extremely thankful that every bedroom in the Ling family mansion had been installed with soundproofing ¡ª even if the two of them were screaming at one another, no one outside would be able to hear.


    "I know. I promise I will arrange everything properly. No one will discover Ling Lan¡¯s true gender." Ling Xiao tried to reassure the hysterical Lan Luofeng, trying to calm her down.


    But these words of his just made Lan Luofeng even madder. She pointed an angry finger at Ling Xiao¡¯s nose, "Ling Xiao, what is the basis of your promise? 17 years ago, you promised that you would return, but you broke your promise, ending up ¡¯dead¡¯ for a whole 17 years, leaving me and Ling Lan to suffer and be bullied, even ending up in this kind of difficult situation. Now, you¡¯re talking to me again of promises? Will you only be content after Ling Lan¡¯s life and reputation are utterly ruined?"


    At this moment, Lan Luofeng waspletely unwilling to believe anything Ling Xiao had to say. As a mother, her concerns and fears were much greater than Ling Xiao¡¯s ¡ª she knew well that if Ling Lan¡¯s true gender ever got out while she was in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, Ling Lan¡¯s life would truly be over. No one would be willing to believe in her chastity and innocence, especially since she had been living together with so many men in one ce.


    Even if Ling Lan did not mind, and Ling Xiao did not mind, as a mother, Lan Luofeng could not ept her own daughter being side-eyed and treated with scorn by others. This would drive her mad!


    "I had already had everything nned out, letting Ling Lan distance herself from Doha, distance herself from the sights of the upper ranks of the military so that she could slowly fade out and recover her true gender to live freely ... but all this was ruined by you! Why did you not return earlier orter, choosing precisely this time toe back?"


    So speaking, Lan Luofeng¡¯s eyes were glittering with resentment. She hated that Ling Xiao had returned at such a coincidental time, returning at this critical period when Ling Lan was about to decide her future path ... and then presumptuously changing the path they had already arranged, causing Ling Lan to once again fall into such a dangerous plight.


    "I¡¯m sorry, Luofeng, I was too impatient. When I saw that Ling Lan had missed the opportunity to enter the First Men¡¯s Military Academy due to her injuries, I lost control. I just didn¡¯t want my child to be disappointed ¡ª she was so exceptional at the scout academy; she must have wanted to enter the First Men¡¯s Military Academy ... I just assumed." Ling Xiao hugged Lan Luofeng close as he apologised repeatedly, "What¡¯s done is done. I can only do my best to make up for this mistake. Refusing is not impossible, but the risk Ling Lan will face in doing so will not be any less than if she were to enter the First Men¡¯s Military Academy!"


    When Lan Luofeng heard there would be risks involved either way, she calmed down and waited. Ling Xiao immediately took the chance to exin to her the reasoning behind his decision.


    Ling Xiao belonged to the marshal¡¯s camp. There were many in the military who did not submit to the marshal ¡ª among the nine great generals, four belonged to other factions, while two maintained their neutrality. If these factions had not been at each other¡¯s throats fighting for power constantly, not at all cooperative with one another, the marshal would not have been secure in his First Marshal¡¯s seat for over 10 years.


    But even so, at any sign of trouble, the opponent would look for an excuse to attack the marshal, so the marshal could not guarantee that his position would continue to remain secure. Ling Xiao had no choice but consider this as well. It should be known that the marshal had invested a lot in gaining special admission into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy for Ling Lan.


    If Ling Lan refused this admission in the end, the opponent factions would certainly not let this opportunity go by. They would set their targets on Ling Lan and monitor her from the shadows to find out the true reason for her refusal ... Even if they found nothing, they were also likely to manufacture something that would cause the marshal, who had approved and fought for her admission, to lose face ...


    This would definitely cause the marshal¡¯s camp to descend into a passive and disadvantaged position. As part of the marshal¡¯s camp, Ling Xiao naturally did not want to see this happen, but most importantly, he was afraid that with his lone pair of fists, he would not be able to keep Ling Lan safe from danger.


    Even if Lan Luofeng heard nothing else, she got the point that Ling Lan would be in danger if this resulted in long-term surveince. Lan Luofeng was an intelligent woman ¡ª she quickly figured out which option would be more beneficial to Ling Lan. Ling Xiao¡¯s decision was not wrong.


    Still, although she understood, the rage in her chest was still simmering. It was this Ling Xiao before her with his presumptuousness that had forced her precious daughter to have no choice but to dy regaining her true identity by 6 years ... no matter how she looked at Ling Xiao right now, she just felt irritated!


    "Ling Xiao, do you still remember those promises you made when you proposed?" After calming down, Lan Luofeng was rather scary.


    Cold sweat welled up on Ling Xiao¡¯s forehead, but he did not dare not to answer, "I remember."


    "Back then, what was the 4th promise you made to me?" asked Lan Luofeng icily. Right then, she seemed to have the air of a soldier about her.


    "After marriage, I will make sure my wife is forever happy and well. I will never make my wife angry. If I break this promise, punishment is up to my wife." Ling Xiao¡¯s memory was excellent; he could immediately recite his 4th promise.


    "Ling Xiao, right now I am very unhappy, very unwell. I am very, very angry. What do you think I should do?" bit out Lan Luofeng, word by word.


    "I know, Luofeng. Tell me then, I will take any punishment." Ling Xiao grimaced. He had no excuse ¡ª it was true that he had not upheld the promise he had made back then. Not only did he leave for the battlefield when they had just been newly wed, causing Lan Luofeng much distress, he had even gone missing for 17 years after that, leaving Lan Luofeng to hold up this family all on her own. And now, when he returned, he had immediately created another mess, causing Lan Luofeng to boil over in rage ... he indeed deserved punishment.


    "I have decided. Before Ling Lan regains her female identity, I will not allow you to step one foot into my room ..." With that said, Lan Luofeng turned away without a backwards nce at Ling Xiao, opening the bedroom door and walking out.


    Ling Xiao was left gaping nkly, before he came to himself and ran after her, shouting, "Luofeng, don¡¯t treat me this way, let¡¯s discuss things properly ..." He gave chase, pleading with Lan Luofeng to take back those terrible words.


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s punishment was just too cruel ¡ª wasn¡¯t this forcing him to be a monk for 6 years? Although he had already abstained and been one for 17 years, at that time he was being a vegetarian without meat in sight 1 , so of course he could bear it. But things were different now. His favourite dish was tempting him every day in front of his eyes, but he was not allowed to eat it? This was definitely a type of getion and abuse from the soul ...


    Ling Lan saw Lan Luofeng charging back huffily, ignoring Ling Xiao chasing behind her, and just knew that the situation was probably not good.


    Meanwhile, the moment Ling Xiao arrived at the dining hall, his initially frantic emotions silently faded away, to be reced with a calm gentleness. However, Ling Lan could still clearly sense that trace of awkwardness remaining in his heart ... looks like, against Lan Luofeng in a towering rage, Ling Xiao was equally as helpless.


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s displeasure was really too obvious. He Xuyang did not dare to linger; he swiftly finished off his breakfast and then found a random excuse to leave the dining hall. Ling Lan¡¯s gaze signalled for Ling Qin to follow him and send him off, but it was actually to ensure there was no one else in the surroundings because what¡¯s next would be a discussion for their family alone. It was really very important that no one else learned anything of it.


    Even though Ling Xiao was calmly eating his breakfast, he was still observing the expressions of everyone in the dining hall. Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s caution in handling things, a surge of pride rose in his heart: Look, this is my daughter!


    Compared to a son, Ling Xiao was even worse at resisting a daughter ...


    "Is the decision for me to enter the First Men¡¯s Military Academy set in stone?" After receiving Ling Qin¡¯s confirmation that the coast was clear, Ling Lan stared at Ling Xiao steadily as she asked.


    "Well, no, but the risk of refusing is too great, both for you and for me." Ling Xiao did not prevaricate. He then detailed all the possible consequences of refusing to Ling Lan, and concluded, "The final decision is still up to you. If you really don¡¯t want to go, I, Ling Xiao, can still take the fallout. However, the danger to you will be a little greater."


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    Last chapter was a whopper of a chapter, hence the high spirit stone cost. To rify things, the price of chapters is set by  and is determined by word count, 1 spirit stone for approximately 200 words. Footnotes and trantor thoughts are EXCLUDED from this word count. This I can say for certain because I actually experimented to see what would affect word count. (Would have had to be really careful with footnotes if they counted. :p) So, please continue to enjoy the footnotes and my trantor thoughts without worry. :3


    ::::::::::::::::::::::::::


    On a side note, it seems that  is refunding a bunch of spirit stones that expired from an error a while back. You know, the time when a very significant amount disappeared? I just received mine back yesterday though others have received theirs back quite a while earlier. You need to reim these spirit stones manually, so please make sure to check your notifications area (which is a tab in your inbox, I think?) to im them before they expire. If thepensation hasn¡¯t shown up for you, maybe wait for another week or so then make a @ report on the forum. (This has been your public service announcement. xP)

 Chapter 199: Fellow Disciples?

    Chapter 199: Fellow Disciples?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    At this moment, Lan Luofeng could not hold back from saying, "Ling Lan, don¡¯t worry too much. Your father can handle things." Although Lan Luofeng was extremely annoyed with Ling Xiao, her trust in Ling Xiao was still unshaken.


    Ling Lan thought for a moment, and then asked, "Can you make sure my gender won¡¯t be discovered?" Since Ling Xiao had decided to send her into the military academy, he must have a sure n.


    "Yes, I will arrange everything." Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes were filled with confidence; he would never take any chances with his daughter¡¯s life.


    "Then I¡¯ll go," Ling Lan decided. Honestly, the greatest reason why she had not wanted to go study at the military academy was that she feared her true gender being discovered; there were just too many events involving body check-ups over the first year. She had the confidence to hide once or twice, but with such arge number of asions, she was uncertain she could keep the charade going. Since Ling Xiao could help her eliminate this problem, Ling Lan naturally had nothing else to worry about.


    Besides, Ling Lan really wanted to see Qi Long, Han Jijyun, Luo Lang, and the others again. When they found out that she would be studying with them at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, their expressions would probably be supremely interesting.


    A faint smile bloomed on the corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips. Honestly speaking, she had really been reluctant to part with them. She had spent so many years with the group after all ... the ties and emotions among them had already burrowed into their respective bones ¡ª they were not something she could so easily cut away.


    Ling Lan¡¯s decision brought a temporary end to the fight between Ling Xiao and Lan Luofeng. The family of three could finally put their attention on their breakfast. However, as the first meal together as a reunited family, the atmosphere was a little strange. It should have been heart-warming, but due to the remnant outrage in Lan Luofeng¡¯s heart, along with Ling Lan¡¯s subtle difort towards Ling Xiao, the overall atmosphere was rather awkward.


    Although Ling Xiao tried his best to please Lan Luofeng and Ling Lan, thetter two were in no mood to amodate him. This caused Ling Xiao to suffer through a rather awkward breakfast, dejection colouring his brow subconsciously.


    Seeing this familiar expression, Ling Lan¡¯s hand, which was holding her chopsticks, trembled. Right then, Ling Xiao¡¯s expression was almost exactly like the expression of the Ling Xiao in the legacy space when she had refused to call him ¡¯daddy¡¯. This made Ling Lan¡¯s heart pound, that initial sense of unfamiliarity with this Ling Xiao abruptly melting away. At this moment, she finally felt that the gentle Ling Xiao before her now who loved to smile, was truly the same Ling Xiao that she had willingly called ¡¯daddy¡¯ previously ... the current Ling Xiao just did not know this yet.


    Ling Lan opened her mouth, but still did not manage to utter ¡¯daddy¡¯. The spiritual entity Ling Xiao was the Ling Xiao of 17 years ago, while the Ling Xiao now was the Ling Xiao of 17 yearster 1 . Whether in terms of appearance or physical aura, the two were somewhat different. This brief period of time spent together was not enough for Ling Lan to get over these differences. Besides, Ling Lan had always been a girl who did not open her heart readily to others.


    "In that unknown world, were there also many strange and wonderful things?" Even though she wasn¡¯t able to call Ling Xiao ¡¯daddy¡¯ just yet, Ling Lan still could not bear to see Ling Xiao being so awkward. So, she decided to help him out by initiating a conversation.


    Ling Lan¡¯s question caused Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes to light up. His initially somewhat dejected expression instantly be energetic and lively, and he said excitedly, "Yes! Although the technology there was outdated, they had very rich mineral resources. Many of the materials there are those which the Federationcks. But, please don¡¯t spread this information, I did not tell anyone else about this ..."


    Seeing Ling Xiao animatedly telling Ling Lan all about the unknown world he had been at, a smile gradually emerged on Lan Luofeng¡¯s face. Ling Xiao and Ling Lan were the two people she loved the most; of course she wanted the two of them to get along. At this moment, Lan Luofeng hadpletely forgotten to hold onto her grudge against Ling Xiao.


    Right then, Ling Lan was actually somewhat regretting her choice of topic. She had not pegged Ling Xiao as a chatterbox, but once he started speaking he could not be stopped ... this made a green vein pop out on her forehead, and she almost flipped the dining table to signal an end to the topic.


    Ling Lan did not know that, if it wasn¡¯t for her question, Ling Xiao would not have been so excited about the topic and spilled everything about the unknown world in a rush to her. Clearly, Ling Lan¡¯s curious tone had thrilled Ling Xiao beyond reason, causing him to lose hisposure. He just wanted to make his daughter happy ¡ª¡ª any Twenty-four Filial Exemrs dad would involuntarily be foolish, long-winded, and unprincipled in front of his daughter.


    As if taking pity on Ling Lan¡¯s poor ears, the heavens sent someone to rescue her. A cold harrumph rang out in the dining hall, "If you¡¯ve returned, why have you not scrambled over to see me?"


    Ling Xiao was in the middle of his excited narration when he was shocked by this sudden voice. He leapt up quickly and choked out, "Master! Why are you here?"


    "Darn brat, can¡¯t I be here?" Although Mu Shui-qing was scolding Ling Xiao, his tone was emotional. It was clear to see how much Ling Xiao¡¯s return had impacted the old man. If not because he wanted to give Ling Xiao some personal time with his family, Mu Shui-qing would definitely havee seek Ling Xiao out as soon as he heard the news.


    Only then did Ling Xiao remember that it was Mu Shui-qing¡¯s appearance 3 years ago which had saved Ling Lan¡¯s life. His master must have been worried that Ling Lan would suffer another assassination attempt, and so had remained at the Ling family mansion to protect her.


    Ling Xiao was instantly ovee with remorse. Because of him, his wandering master had no choice but to stop his travels to stay at the Ling family mansion to protect Ling Lan. In the end, it was still his failing ...


    "Ling Lan, bring Ling Xiao over to see me." Mu Shui-qing did not bother himself with Ling Xiao¡¯s thoughts. He gave an order directly to Ling Lan, and then went utterly silent.


    "Yes, Master!" replied Ling Lan calmly. Her voice was not very loud ¡ª you could perhaps even call it very soft ¡ª so Ling Xiao, lost in his guilty feelings, did not notice what she said.


    Ling Lan¡¯s cold face could not help but twitch as she nced at the pensive Ling Xiao. She had forgotten that she had another identity ¡ª as a disciple of Mu Shui-qing as well, Ling Xiao would be her senior brother ...


    They were father and daughter, but also fellow disciples of the same sect ... the seniority and rtionship hierarchy between them was really such a mess!


    Conflicted, Ling Lan put down her bowl and chopsticks. Standing up, she waved goodbye to Lan Luofeng, and then departed swiftly from the dining hall. Alright, right now, she too was utterly confounded by theplicated tangle of her rtionship with her father.


    Ling Lan¡¯s greeting startled Ling Xiao out of his reverie, and without her having to call him, Ling Xiao too said goodbye to Lan Luofeng and followed Ling Lan out of the house to arrive at a back courtyard ¡ª¡ª the site of Mu Shui-qing¡¯s seclusion.


    The moment they entered the yard, they saw Mu Shui-qing sitting up straight on a wooden chair in the garden. Ling Xiao saw that Mu Shui-qing¡¯s hair was all white now. Though he continued to smile, his eyes abruptly turned red as he cried out softly, "Master!"


    Mu Shui-qing peered intently at Ling Xiao, cataloguing the condition of his body, before nodding in satisfaction. "Not bad, no signs of anytent problems." Apparently, Mu Shui-qing¡¯s first priority was to scan Ling Xiao¡¯s body for any problems. After all, back then, Ling Xiao had been sted by a tremendous force to an unknown world ¡ª though he managed to survive, he must have received some heavy damage back then.


    Mu Shui-qing had been extremely afraid that Ling Xiao had paid the price of depleting his vital energies to earn the chance of survival. But now, from the looks of it, the situation was not as horrible as he had imagined. This reassured him greatly.


    "Thank you, Master!" said Ling Xiao gratefully. He naturally knew what Mu Shui-qing had done.


    "Other than to check you over properly, there is one more thing I want you to do," said Mu Shui-qing.


    "Please instruct me, Master," said Ling Xiao respectfully, slightly toning down his smile.


    "Help your master assess Lan-er 2 ," said Mu Shui-qing, pointing to Ling Lan, who was standing behind Ling Xiao.


    "Ah? Master ..." Ling Xiao¡¯s small smile froze. He would never have expected that this was what Mu Shui-qing had wanted him to do. Ling Lan was only 16 years old ¡ª could she withstand the force of presence of a god-ss operator?


    "I forgot to tell you. Three years ago, I¡¯ve already taken on Ling Lan as my true disciple. In fact, she is already your junior sister." After spending three years together, Mu Shui-qing naturally knew Ling Lan¡¯s true gender by now.


    That said, Mu Shui-qing began tough heartily. Ling Lan could just feel the trace of mischief running through Mu Shui-qing¡¯sughter ¡ª he really gave off the impression of an old prankster right then.


    Hearing this, Ling Xiao¡¯s expression changed drastically. He almost spewed blood, and could no longer hold onto that unchanging smile on his face. Flustered, he said, "Master, Ling Lan is my daughter!" Couldn¡¯t you have taken on Ling Lan as my disciple on my behalf instead?!


    Mu Shui-qing red at him. "Before me, the only thing that matters is the rtionship within the sect. At other times, it¡¯s up to you what you want to call each other."


    Mu Shui-qing¡¯s determination caused Ling Xiao to rub at his forehead, head aching. At this moment, he no longer had any bit of his usual genial air, his entire aura rather prickly. Godd*mmit, what the hell was this?! He had not even gained his daughter¡¯s acknowledgement ¡ª and now his seniority was undercut by a whole generation, making him his own daughter¡¯s senior brother? No wonder themon folk all called his master an old beast ¡ª sure enough, he did not act on logic, but on personal whim.


    Ling Xiao began to resent his master¡¯s offbeat manner of doing things.


    "Master, father and I do not suit this type of address. Let us just address each other as normal." Ling Lan was just as conflicted, suddenly finding that calling Ling Xiao ¡¯senior brother¡¯ was even harder than calling him ¡¯daddy¡¯ ... Previously, since Ling Xiao was dead, Ling Lan had not thought this would be an issue.


    Hearing Ling Lan verbally acknowledge him as her father, Ling Xiao felt a frisson of joy course through his heart. But he was immediately depressed again. This meant that Ling Lan only acknowledged their blood rtion; it did not mean that Ling Lan had epted him emotionally, otherwise Ling Lan would have just called him ¡¯daddy¡¯ rather than ¡¯father¡¯. Ling Xiao was very clear on the difference between the two forms of address.


    However, Ling Xiao immediately bucked up again. Since Ling Lan had already acknowledged the truth of their blood rtion, he believed that it would not be long before she would be able to ept him wholeheartedly as her dad.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s heart was filled with motivation ¡ª to obtain the acknowledgement of the two most important women in his life, he would definitely work hard. He would use all his love to fill up the gaps left by his absence of 17 years.


    Seeing the conflicted and rebellious looks on the faces of his two disciples, Mu Shui-qing could only regretfully set aside his pranking nature. Still, Ling Xiao¡¯s reaction had pleased him well ¡ª he had finally managed to rip that unchanging smile off of Ling Xiao¡¯s face! So it wasn¡¯t that Ling Xiao was inherently even-tempered ... it was just that there had been nothing important enough in the past to warrant a change in his expression!


    "Oh alright, suit yourselves." Mu Shui-qing finally let Ling Xiao and Ling Lan off the hook. This made both Ling Xiao and Ling Lan sigh internally ¡ª if Mu Shui-qing had truly insisted, they could only have obeyed their master¡¯smand against their will, and first address each other as fellow disciples. Of course, this would undoubtedly be rubbing salt into the wounds on Ling Xiao¡¯s heart. After all, right now, he still had not managed to have Ling Lan willingly acknowledge him as her dad yet.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    The next chapter is shorter, AND I¡¯m doing pretty good on chapters, so you all can expect an extra chapter in about 12 hours time. ^-^

 Chapter 200: Ling Xiao vs Ling Lan!

    Chapter 200: Ling Xiao vs Ling Lan!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "However, Ling Xiao, don¡¯t hold back. Ling Lan is not as weak as you think she is. She has already obtained your legacy," reminded Mu Shui-qing.


    A strange light entered Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes. Ever since he had found out that his legacy had suddenly disappeared from the Central Scout Academy, he had already had the premonition that Ling Lan had obtained the legacy. However, so much had happened since he returned that he had not had a chance to ask Ling Lan about it. Now though, Mu Shui-qing¡¯s words proved his premonition right. This put him in a very good mood. His legacy had been meant for Ling Lan to begin with ¡ª he had only been worried that the military would confiscate it and refuse to hand it over to Ling Lan.


    In reality, his worries were not unfounded. The military had indeed refused to hand over the legacy directly to Ling Lan, cing it instead in the virtual world of the Central Scout Academy for all the scout students to attempt when they found they could not crack it. They had still been plotting to keep Ling Xiao¡¯s method of ascension within their control.


    Although Ling Xiao did not know how Ling Lan had managed to fool those monitoring staff to sessfully obtain his legacy from right under the military¡¯s nose, this was the situation that Ling Xiao had most wanted to see. He could not help but give his daughter countless thumbs ups inside his heart!


    "Alright, Lan-er, just let ... me properly assess how much you¡¯ve learned?" Ling Xiao swallowed the word ¡¯daddy¡¯ he had been about to say, forcibly changing it into ¡¯me¡¯.


    Ling Xiao was still very careful ¡ª before Ling Lan epted him, Ling Xiao did not want to put pressure on her and make her unhappy.


    Ling Lan did not respond, merely giving a cold martial salute, and getting into a defensive stance as she instantly activated a spiritual shield.


    To determine whether one has studied well in the Divine Command Sect, of course one would have to examine one¡¯s prowess in spiritual confrontation. The sect¡¯s uniquebat style was very familiar to Ling Xiao and Ling Lan who were both from the Divine Command Sect.


    However, when Ling Xiao activated his spiritual pressure, Ling Lan finally understood what kind of existence a god-ss operator was. Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual power was as vast as an ocean, but thick and substantial ¡ª just activating it made Ling Lan feel like she was a tiny boat on a raging sea, struggling desperately to stay afloat. If she were at all careless, she would be consumed entirely.


    Just this little taste let Ling Lan know that Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual power was more formidable than Mu Shui-qing¡¯s, even drawing an unfathomable fear from within her.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression turned grim. Of course, on the outside, Ling Lan only seemed to grow even colder ¡ª the temperature of the entire space plummeted, bringing a faint chill into the air.


    "Your spiritual self mutation is actually along the line of the element of ice!" Ling Xiao sensed the drop in temperature, and his brows furrowed. This type of mutation path was actually not very suitable for piloting mecha. Or more precisely, this spiritual mutation could not add anything to a mecha operator¡¯s control skill. That way, it would be very difficult to achieve the merging of human and mecha as one ... For Ling Lan, this meant that she might not be able to touch the gates of bing an imperial operator in the future. In other words, there was almost no hope for Ling Lan to ascend to be an imperial operator.


    Ling Lan knew that the spiritual mutation Ling Xiao was referring to was her awakened innate talent. She replied calmly, "The direction of mutation is not important, and whether or not it is suitable for operating mecha is also not important. Otherwise, there wouldn¡¯t be so few imperial operators in the Federation. I believe that ascension to the highest level still depends on serendipity and whether I am putting in enough effort!"


    "Lan-er, talent is very important for operating mecha, but the suitability of one¡¯s spiritual mutation to mecha is even more important. One cannotck either one," said Ling Xiao with a sigh. He had seen countless mecha operators who had had the same belief as Ling Lan at the start, thinking that there was hope as long as they worked hard. But in truth, every operator of imperial level and beyond possessed a spiritual mutation which enhanced their mecha operation with its associated abilities. In other words, there had not been a single imperial operator whose spiritual mutation was unsuitable for operating mecha thus far.


    "Just because no one has found the way, does not mean that the way does not exist." Ling Lan had full confidence in herself. Instructor Number One had said before that her other awakened innate talent, the top-rated Profound Insight, was the talent best suited for operating mecha. Although she did not know whether her dual awakening would bring some unforeseen challenges to her mecha control, she believed that as long as she worked hard enough, she would not lose to the various prodigies of this world with their exceptional talents.


    Of course, the inherent weakness of her body was also something that would hold Ling Lan back from ascending to a higher level; the physical weakness of women could not be so easilypensated for. However, for 16 years, Ling Lan had been training hard with the full set of foundational physical skills of the learning space, along with the Qi exercises of her past life. This had caused all aspects of her physical capacity to be infinitely close to that of the boys of the same age. As long as she continued her training, this inherent disadvantage would slowly be resolved, and would no longer be a factor holding her back from ascending.


    "Good, ambitious!" Ling Lan¡¯s confidence and conviction swept away Ling Xiao¡¯s dejection. He was heartened, and his spirits rallied.


    This minor recovery allowed his spiritual power to gather once more. If Ling Lan had not already enteredbat mode and kept her guard up impably, she might have been overwhelmed by this sudden fluctuation and received damage to her spiritual self.


    But even so, Ling Lan still felt arge force mming into her brain, and was knocked briefly unconscious! This also allowed Ling Lan to experience how her opponents had felt back when she had used her spiritual attacks on them.


    "Heptashield!" chanted Ling Lan mentally. Her fingers twitched, and her spiritual power suddenly shifted rapidly ¡ª three approximately 1 square unit 1 spiritual shields appeared instantly.


    The heptashield, as its name implied, was a top-level Divine Command Sect technique involving the formation of seven shields. It swiftly divided the spiritual power of an operator into seven parts, each part forming a shield in the formation. The defensive ability it created was definitely not limited to the total of the defence values of the seven shields added together ¡ª rather, it used the flexible movement of the shields to provide aprehensive defence with no dead angles. If practised till the end stage, the shield formation could even be used for offence. Of course, Ling Lan currently wasn¡¯t at that level yet ¡ª out of the seven shields, she could only control three.


    Seeing this, Ling Xiao¡¯s smile deepened. "Not bad. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯ve already learned one top-level technique!" The very first top-level technique Ling Xiao had learned in the past had also been the heptashield. However, back then, he had already been 18 years old, while Ling Lan was currently only 16 right now, so she had learned this technique a whole 2 years earlier. This just proved that, with regards to spiritual power, his daughter¡¯s talent was definitely at the most aberrant level ...


    At this time, Ling Xiao did not know that Ling Lan possessed such tremendous spiritual power because this was the umtion of the spiritual power of both her lives, nothing to do with innate talent. However, all of this was not important, because Ling Lan¡¯s current spiritual power was indeed already much, much more than any of her peers.


    "Let me test the defensive ability of your heptashield." With this warning, Ling Xiao charged forwards with a powerful surge of energy. Ling Lan knew that this was the most basic of spiritual power attacks ¡ª as long as one has had any spiritual training, the spiritual charge was an attack they would know!


    However, a god-ss operator¡¯s spiritual charge was unlike a regr person¡¯s spiritual charge ¡ª although Ling Lan could sense that the opponent was only hurling one cord of spiritual charge at her, she could still sense the great threat posed by the attacking right at her.


    Ling Lan¡¯s brows furrowed and the fingers of her right hand flicked lightly. The three shields defending her body immediately shifted into the way of Ling Xiao¡¯s attack trajectory. Ling Lan believed in her sense of danger 2 ¡ª this should be a hint given to her by Profound Insight. Ling Xiao¡¯s attack may seem normal, but there was probably some trick hidden within it.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual charge struck the first shield. Without putting up much resistance, the shield shattered. Seeing this, Ling Lan¡¯s expression remained unmoved, merely directing the second shield forwards. The second shield was swiftly shattered as well, but it managed to sustain itself for 2 to 3 seconds before shattering, unlike the first which had shattered upon contact.


    Without any hesitation, Ling Lan brought her third shield forward to meet Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual charge. But just as the shield was about to encounter the spiritual charge, the spiritual shield suddenly contracted, bing a small mirror shield the size of one¡¯s palm between blinks.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual charge crashed soundlessly into that tiny mirror shield of Ling Lan¡¯s. If not for the pebbles and twigs and leaves on the ground being thrown in the air to fly away from the point where Ling Lan and Ling Xiao met, no one would know that the two people facing each other were currently locked in a most dangerous spiritual sh.


    The observing Mu Shui-qing tilted his head slightly, dodging a random rock that had flown in his direction. The smile on his face was growing increasingly wider, like a wildly blooming garden cosmos 3 , as radiant as it could be.


    Mu Shui-qing was naturally very satisfied. His whole life, he had only taken in two disciples. It went without saying that Ling Xiao was his most aplished disciple, now among the strongest in the Federation ¡ª a god-ss operator, who were called ultimate weapons in this world. And then there was Ling Lan ... Mu Shui-qing felt that their Divine Command Sect surely existed for the sake of an aberrant prodigy like her. Mu Shui-qing believed that the Divine Command Sect would definitely flourish in her hands.


    At this moment, Mu Shui-qing could not help but look at Ling Xiao, thinking: Ling Xiao, oh Ling Xiao, you should take a look at the heptashield belonging to Ling Lan!


    The moment Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual charge met Ling Lan¡¯s small mirror shield, he felt his own spiritual charge being repelled back at him by a massive force!


    This spiritual power that had been reflected back at him escaped his control in an instant, actually bing part of the other¡¯s attack force targeting him!


    "Heptashield!" Ling Xiao¡¯s eyebrows lifted in surprise. His fingers flicked and seven shields appeared around him. With a thought, one of the shields flew forward instantly to block this reflected spiritual power.


    "This heptashield is different from mine ..." Who was Ling Xiao? He had noticed that Ling Lan¡¯s heptashield was different at a nce ¡ª his seven shields could only block, but could not reflect attacks.


    "Is it because of the contraction?" Ling Xiao flicked a finger, and one of the shields swiftly shrunk down to be palm-sized as well. However, the shield only became much thicker, without any sign of that mirror surface like Ling Lan¡¯s had. "Looks like this is not the only reason!"


    Although Ling Lan had managed to reflect Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual charge, she did not manage to stand steady. She was forced 5 to 6 steps back before all the force behind Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual charge dissipated. Still, even so, she felt a nauseous roiling in her chest. Ling Xiao¡¯s power had been too formidable; she had only withstood the hit with great difficulty.


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    The aforementioned extra chap. :3


    -----------


    Also, as an boration on the footnotes issue since many people are still sceptical despite my reassurances ... if you read on a web browser, you will see that the footnotes are not part of the main text. Instead, they are in little pop-up boxes which only show up when you click on a numbered button by whichever phrase they are tagged to. In the apps, this feature is not implemented yet, so you see the footnotes as appended to the main body of the text at the end of the chapter. However, no matter how they are disyed, they do not add anything to the word count -- readers pay the same price no matter if they read on a browser or the apps. If you still do not trust me, just do a word count check on your own andpare it against the pricing scheme to see.

 Chapter 201: Acceptance Letter!

    Chapter 201: eptance Letter!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan did not hold back that heavy breath in her chest. She let it out slowly, finally settling the difort she felt. Although Ling Lan had sessfully withstood one spiritual blow from Ling Xiao, she only became more convinced of Ling Xiao¡¯s unfathomable power. This was because Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual charge had been so effortless on his part, so casual that it was frightening to consider.


    This was the second time Ling Lan had felt like this after encountering Instructor Number One. It was as if she would not be able to catch up even if she worked hard her entire life. If Ling Lan had not been through all kinds of perverse torments under Instructor Number Five, causing her mentality to be extremely secure, this sh might have caused a w to appear in her mental state.


    From the sidelines, Mu Shui-qing chuckled and said, "Ling Xiao, what do you think? Ling Lan¡¯s heptashield is very impressive, right?" Mu Shui-qing¡¯s tone was undoubtedly smug. Inheritance was all well and good, but innovation would undeniably make a master even more excited and pleased. The ultimate goal of a legacy was for a pupil to surpass their master 1 , after all.


    Even the consistently prodigious Ling Xiao was amazed by Ling Lan¡¯s innovative breakthrough. The smile on his face grew even more radiant as he nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, it¡¯s too unexpected. I never knew the heptashield could be used this way." He looked at Ling Lan with pride, "This should be the results of your own research, right? What a great idea."


    The heptashield had always been categorised as a defensive ability, with basically no offensive capability. Only in theter stages, once one became extremely proficient in its use and had the power to back it, could one use the heptashield¡¯s mobility to deal some small attacks to an opponent. However, inparison to Ling Lan¡¯s improved reflective shield, the offensive power of that was insignificant.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s praise made Ling Lan somewhat shy. After all, this sessful oue was the result of thebined research of Little Four, the instructors, and herself. Ling Lan now knew that Little Four¡¯s so-called calctions and nning were actually all the work of the instructors. The instructors had just not wanted her to know that they could learn from the techniques of the real world and study them and modify them, and so had made Little Four take credit for them.


    Ling Lan rubbed her nose, and then began to exin the thought process behind the instructors¡¯ and her modifications to the technique. "Because I didn¡¯t want to passively wait for an opportunity, so I thought, if I could attack even as I was defending, wouldn¡¯t that change the flow of the battle? I was just thinking how I could make a shield have offensive capability ...


    "I tried many things, having also tried to use the shield as a weapon to attack the opponent. I found that it was all useless, because once the attack failed, it would switch into spiritual charge form. The shield would break apart on its own." Speaking of her past failures, a small smile appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s lips. During that period of time, the instructors had all had troubled expressions ¡ª even Instructor Number Five had not been able to maintain his typical perverse smile, bing somewhat frenzied by their consistent failures.


    "Later on, after happening to see the movement of a trampoline, I wondered if I could make the shield be like a trampoline. As it defended, could it also make the force it received bounce back? After studying it for quite a while, I finally managed toe up with this type of shield. As for why the surface is like a mirror ..." Ling Lan trailed off here, a mischievous smile faintly appearing on her lips.


    Ling Lan did not rify, instead bringing out her heptashield once more. She positioned the three shields right in front of Ling Xiao, and then quickly changed all of them into the palm-sized mirror-surfaced small shields ...


    "Can all of them reflect?" asked Ling Xiao, irrepressibly curious.


    "Attack and see," said Ling Lan, "Try to use as little strength as possible." The current defensive shield was not as strong as the original version of the heptashield; if Ling Xiao used too much power, he might not be able to see the effect.


    Ling Xiao nodded and casually unleashed a spiritual charge. The force and pressure of this spiritual charge were not as strong as that of his previous one. The spiritual power broke through the first shield, and then broke through the second ... but again met obstruction on the third shield, and the remaining power was reflected.


    "The defence power of the mirrored surface is greatly weakened, and not every surface has the ability to reflect. Looks like the reflective ability is not because of the mirrored surface ..." With this one strike, Ling Xiao had found the strengths and weaknesses of the shields. He understood that the appearance of the shields was not the most important thing ¡ª all of it was a show that Ling Lan wanted others to see.


    The three mirrored shields destroyed, Ling Lan merely condensed three new shields before her. This time, the three shields did not change at all, looking exactly the same as Ling Xiao¡¯s heptashield.


    At this point, Ling Xiao did not need Ling Lan to prompt him. He immediately sent a spiritual charge at the shields. The attack once again broke through the first and second shields, but was obstructed at the third shield, where the force was reflected back once more.


    "This time, the reflective shield looks exactly like a normal heptashield. That means that the reflective ability is not due to external factors but an internal quality ... but, why is it always the third shield which reflects? Are you free to choose which shield has the reflective ability, or is it restricted to the final shield? Or can all three shields have the power to reflect?" Gaining new information, Ling Xiao just had even more questions.


    "I can only control one reflective shield at present, because the spiritualposition of the reflective shield is different from the original heptashield. As for which shield is reflective, that is up to me to choose," answered Ling Lan, "The reason why I ce it on the third shield is because your power is too strong. Without the two shields before it to whittle away some of the power, I am not confident the reflection would seed. Father, you should know that the reflective ability of the modified shield has its limits. If an attack exceeds that limit, the shield will just break and fail to have any reflective effect."


    Listening to Ling Lan¡¯s exnation, Ling Xiao could not help but nod along. When he heard his daughter say his power was strong, he couldn¡¯t help but preen internally. Could this be considered his daughter¡¯s roundabout way of acknowledging him as her father? Ling Xiao was being overly optimistic about this. Ling Lan was just stating the facts, without any other thought in mind.


    "Also, the defensive ability of a reflective shield is lower than that of a normal heptashield. Till now, I have not found a way to solve that issue." A trace of regret appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s face. If she could make the defensive power of the reflective shield equal to that of the original heptashield, only then would her innovation be considered sessful. Right now, it was still an unfinished product.


    "Ling Lan, you are still young! You still have so much time to perfect this technique," said Ling Xiao, "The creation of a new technique must go through countless experimentations and revisions. Don¡¯t be impatient."


    This advice startled Ling Lan ¡ª that¡¯s true, when did she be so impatient? Instructor Number One had inly told them before that developing a new technique required the test of truebat. In the process, countless adjustments and revisions were doubtlessly necessary. What remained in the end would definitely be the result of countless reforging.


    "Thank you, father!" Even if she was unable to call Ling Xiao ¡¯daddy¡¯ so intimately right now, Ling Lan would not be stingy with the address of ¡¯father¡¯.


    Emotion shed through Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes. This was a good sign! His daughter¡¯s tone seemed to be softer than it had been previously ¡ª did this mean that his daughter had already epted him?


    Ling Xiao decided to strike while the iron is hot, and take the chance to interact well with Ling Lan now, so he began asking more about the spiritual construction of her reflective shield. Ling Lan had never thought to hide this information, so when Ling Xiao asked, she began describing all her findings to him.


    Mu Shui-qing looked at the father and daughter pair before him discussing themand of spiritual power, and the heart-warming scene made his eyes feel a little damp. In the past three years, he had fantasized before how wonderful it would be if Ling Xiao still lived! Who would have thought that three yearster, his fantasies would be reality ... the heavens were truly kind to this old man for letting him see this scene ...


    ********


    Time passed swiftly; a month¡¯s time over in the blink of an eye. Sometime during the month, the eptance letter from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy arrived as expected.


    However, on the day the letter was collected, another case of domestic violence urred in the Ling family. Seeing the eptance letter rekindled Lan Luofeng¡¯s dormant grudge with a new dose of anger. She instantly gave Ling Xiao a kick, not forgetting to add on an elbow attack as well ... As Ling Xiao was afraid that he would harm Lan Luofeng identally, he did not dare to use Qi to protect himself. So, Lan Luofeng¡¯s attacksnded squarely on Ling Xiao¡¯s body, causing him to grimace in pain.


    Not just that, that night, Lan Luofeng staunchly refused to let Ling Xiao into her bedroom. However, early the next day, Ling Lan was lucky enough to see Ling Xiao being kicked out of Lan Luofeng¡¯s bedroom, so she knew that Ling Xiao had still managed to sneak into Lan Luofeng¡¯s bedroom sessfullyst night!


    In contrast to Lan Luofeng¡¯s anger, the main victim in question, Ling Lan, seemed not at all concerned. Since Ling Xiao had said that he would be able to help her handle all those tests and training that could expose her gender, what else was there for her to worry about? Besides, she was actually quite curious about the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Meanwhile, in this one month, Ling Lan had often sparred with her father Ling Xiao. Of course, this was just a nice way of putting it ¡ª in fact, she had been one-sidedly bullied by Ling Xiao via all manner of torments. When it came tobat, Ling Xiao showed no mercy. This made Ling Lan miss Qi Long and her band ofpanions terribly ¡ª because when she fought with them, she would be the one ying Ling Xiao¡¯s role.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s fate of being tormented ended after a month. This was because Ling Xiao had finally sumbed to military headquarters¡¯ consecutive desperate summons, finally being summoned out of the Ling family mansion back to military headquarters. A weekter, the military would hold arge press conference for him, where they would announce the officialmencement of the formation of the 23rd Division. Just like that, Ling Xiao transformed from an extremely free house husband and male nanny extraordinaire into the busiest great general in the Federation.


    Apanying Ling Xiao to military headquarters was the still fuming Lan Luofeng. Of course, Lan Luofeng had not intended to go with Ling Xiao at first, but she had been bundled up and sent on her way with Ling Xiao by Ling Lan. Mind you, in one more month, she too would be setting off for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to register. Was Lan Luofeng supposed to be left all on her own then at the mansion to guard an empty nest?


    Furthermore, Ling Xiao was now the most eye-catching superstar general of the military, neithercking in looks nor reputation. The number of people who liked Ling Xiao must be staggering ¡ª if Lan Luofeng continued to sulk and make things difficult for Ling Xiao, what if another woman found some opportunity to wedge her way in? Wouldn¡¯t Lan Luofeng regret that to death?


    Ling Lan clearly knew that Lan Luofeng was the type that was unyielding on the outside but soft on the inside 2 ¡ª if not, during this one month, her dad would not have constantly been kicked out of her mum¡¯s bedroom in the morning ... Ling Lan did not have to wonder to know what they had been doing during the night.


    However, a few times, Ling Lan had seen Ling Xiao rubbing his knees inexplicably. This made Ling Lan suspect her great father had been punished by her great mother to kneel on a mecha circuit motherboard ...


    Ling Lan had seen that thing before ¡ª it had lots of parts sticking out vertically on it, all of them very solid and very pointy. At this thought, Ling Lan could almost feel her knees aching in sympathy. She could not help pitying Ling Xiao ¡ª her great mother was actually quite the ck-bellied character.

 Chapter 202: Preparing for Departure!

    Chapter 202: Preparing for Departure!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    A week after Ling Lan sent her parents off, the military called a press conference, announcing the news of Ling Xiao¡¯s return to life to the public!


    Ling Lan looked at the unbelievably handsome and elegant Ling Xiao on the screen and could not help but be in awe. Her father in this life was truly impable whether it was in terms of appearance or air of presence. However, she of course admired Ling Xiao¡¯s loyalty and steadfastness in love and marriage much more. Whether it was in her past life or this one, a good man, in Ling Lan¡¯s opinion, was someone responsible like Ling Xiao.


    "Daddy, can I really believe that you wille back?" Ling Lan thought back to the young Ling Xiao in the legacy space ¡ª after 17 years, Ling Xiao seemed to still be the same Ling Xiao ...


    "Don¡¯t disappoint me, Daddy! You must give Mummy happiness!" Seeing the mature and gentle Ling Xiao, who seemed as if he could ept anything, Ling Lan could not help but press a hand to her own chest, muttering to herself with aplicated expression.


    As long as ... as long as I can confirm that you are the same man as before, I will definitely willingly call you ¡¯daddy¡¯! All of Ling Lan¡¯s feelings for her father had been given to the Ling Xiao from the legacy space who had watched her as she grew up. This was also the final reason why Ling Lan was still unwilling to call Ling Xiao ¡¯daddy¡¯.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s return not only invigorated the entire Federation, but also stunned the countries bordering the Federation, their attitudes towards the Federation beginning to change. Before Ling Xiao¡¯s return, although the Federation still had eleven god-ss operators, five of them were already officially in their old age, their condition deteriorating significantly. Three of the five were even already at the phase when they were just waiting for heaven to call 1 ¡ª whether they could maintain even half of theirbat ability was a question mark.


    The Federation only retained 5 to 6 god-ss operators who were in fighting form. Compared to the other countries, they did not have that many more god-ss operators in their peak. This was also why the Federation had not had a lull in battle for these 10 over years, because it no longer possessed enoughbat power to deter its border countries.


    But Ling Xiao¡¯s return to the Federation made the Federation¡¯sbat power increase tremendously, because Ling Xiao was young enough that his future was immeasurable. He might very well be the strongest god-ss operator in legend. Not just that, Ling Xiao also was sitting on a method to ascend to god-ss operator, which could let the Federation cultivate even younger god-ss operators. Of course, god-ss operators were not that easy to cultivate, perhaps requiring ten to twenty years or even longer. That said, many high-level operators would probably be produced in the process ¡ª there definitely wouldn¡¯t be few ace operators or whatnot. This was something the other nations really did not want to see.


    This restored the Federation¡¯s deterrent power to its initial state before Ling Xiao¡¯s death. All the countries became extremely friendly, respectively sending delegations to congratte the Federation. All the ambassadors¡¯ attitudes were obviously much more respectful than before. This made the Federation¡¯s government extremely happy ¡ª it should be known that in the 17 years after Ling Xiao¡¯s ¡¯death¡¯, the Federation had lived in a very repressed manner. But now, they could finally have better days.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s poprity and high status also caused the initially ignored and rather bleak Ling family to once again be busy and lively. Ling Lan was in no mood to entertain these materialistic fair-weather ¡¯friends¡¯, so she summarily announced that she was isting herself for training, the Ling family mansion officially closing its doors to all visitors.


    During this time, Ling Lan had also received congrattory letters from Qi Long and the others. They were all extremely happy on their boss¡¯s behalf, while also thrilled that the idol of their hearts was still alive. If they weren¡¯t currently part of an exploration team on an inteary adventure, they would definitely have rushed over to the Ling family home to visit Ling Lan, and taken the chance to understand the entire story at the same time.


    Their correspondence made Ling Lan happy, but of course she did not forget to remind them to be careful outside. Originally, Ling Lan had also wanted to tell them that she would be joining them at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy this year, but she held back the words as they were about to spill from her mouth.


    Ling Lan wanted to give them a surprise! Of course, Ling Lan would never admit that she actually wanted to see their expressions as their jaws dropped in surprise ... She was such a great boss, how could she be so evil?


    ********


    Another twenty days passed, and it was finally time to register at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Even though Lan Luofeng had contacted Ling Lan several days ago, saying that she and Ling Xiao wanted to rush back to apany her to register, Ling Lan had strongly refused. This was because the assembly point listed on the eptance letter was the intergctic spaceport on Doha. In other words, she just needed to board the direct transfer to the spaceport. For such a short journey, it really wasn¡¯t necessary to drag the busy Ling Xiao back here.


    Lan Luofeng initially refused to agree to Ling Lan¡¯s opinion, but Ling Xiao unexpectedly supported Ling Lan¡¯s decision. Back when Ling Xiao had agreed, Ling Lan could hear Lan Luofeng roaring angrily in the background ¡ª although Lan Luofeng had agreed with father and daughter in the end, Ling Xiao most probably had to pay a painful price for this. As for what that price was, Ling Lan could not know.


    On the night before she left, after Ling Lan and Lan Luofeng had shared updates with one another as usual, Ling Xiao had unexpectedly appeared beside Lan Luofeng, requesting to speak with her.


    On the screen, Ling Xiao was again dressed in his general¡¯s uniform, and the fatigue between his eyebrows was hard to miss. His gentle voice rang out, and Ling Lan¡¯s heart throbbed. "Lan-er, I have arranged everything. For the first year, other than the theory sses, you are not scheduled to take any physical training courses, and you have been exempted from all the tests and assessments. However, I can only solve the official courses on the academy¡¯s side. It¡¯s up to you to handle the private and informalbat training that often urs among students ... Take care with everything!"


    "Understood, Father!" said Ling Lan gratefully. However, Ling Lan¡¯s voice sounded as calm as ever, and was just as cold to Ling Xiao¡¯s ear. He sighed. When would his daughter open her mouth and call him ¡¯daddy¡¯? Perhaps even act like a sweet little girl in front of him begging for attention ...


    A visualisation of Ling Lan acting cute appeared in Ling Xiao¡¯s mind. A coy and bashful expression appearing on that icy cold face ... Ling Xiao abruptly found himself feeling unwell. Fine, Ling Lan was the best just the way she was. Ling Xiao wept ¡ª was he destined not to have a daughter-like daughter in his life 2 ? At this moment, the hatred in his heart began to rise ... the ones who had created this horrible oue were definitely those people who had trapped him ¡ª he would never stop going after them.


    Ling Lan felt a sh of killing intent sweep over Ling Xiao¡¯s body, but he returned to normal in the blink of an eye. If she had not been so attuned to killing intent due to the learning space, she might have been fooled by how quickly Ling Xiao had concealed it. She was somewhat puzzled ¡ª what was it that had caused Ling Xiao to suddenly be filled with killing intent?


    Composed again, Ling Xiao looked at the calm-faced youth on the screen. Knowing that his 17-year long absence had already forced Ling Lan to be self-sufficient and be responsible beyond her years, the remorse in his heart grew.


    No, this would not do. He must take on the responsibilities of a father. He must let Ling Lan know that, from now on, there was someone who would weather storms for her. "Ling Lan, at the military academy, you do not have to worry about anything. Do whatever you want to do. Dad will support you no matter what!" Ling Xiao said assertively to Ling Lan.


    Instantly, Ling Lan found herself speechless. Ling Xiao¡¯s words made her recall that widespread phrase in her previous world: My dad is Li Gang 3 !


    A scene popped up in Ling Lan¡¯s mind ¡ª arrogantly, she led her group of arrogant underlings around (Qi Long¡¯s team members all made cameo appearances), and whenever she saw anyone who rubbed her the wrong way, she would set her underlings on them with an imperious wave of her arm ... and if anyone dared to question her actions, she would throw down these words audaciously: My dad is Ling Xiao! Sue me if you dare! You fool!


    Truly spoken with the arrogance of a second-generation military elite! Ling Lan instantly pped this scenario out of her mind. It was really all too familiar ¡ª definitely like the setup for a minor viin in a novel, like she was a small boss for the main character to defeat in his quest to level up. If that was the case, then wouldn¡¯t Ling Xiao be the final ultimate boss? Godd*mmit, the more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed! Ling Lan could not help but shudder. Could it be that she had not travelled to a future world, but into a novel instead? She really did not want to be this type of 2nd-generation good-for-nothing who would obviously just be cannon fodder!


    "Got it!" The rational Ling Lan would naturally not do something so stupid. Right now, she not only had to be responsible for herself, she also had to be responsible for her dad. The two of them, father and daughter, could not be a pair of bosses for that mysterious main character to level up!


    Although Ling Lan was thinking this way, her heart still felt a surge of warmth. Ling Xiao¡¯s behaviour let her know that this Ling Xiao before her had absolutely no three outlooks when it came to his child 4 ...


    ********


    Early the next day, Ling Lan, who was preparing to leave, was once again struck speechless by the Ling Qin couple¡¯s overboard way of doing things. Looking at the countless luggage bags that dominated a great half of the grand hall, even the typically calm Ling Lan could not stop her stoic face from twitching. "What is all this?"


    "These are all the things you would need, Young Master!" The insensitive Ling Nanyi did not sense Ling Lan¡¯s bewilderment. She tugged on Ling Lan¡¯s hand and began exining everything packed in the bundles of luggage. There were tworge bags of clothes, one bag of shoes, tworge bags of food and snacks, threerge bags of medicinal agents, and fourrge bags of misceneous items. And this was all after she had tried her best to cut down.


    Ling Lan could not help but rub her forehead. She was just going to school, not moving house ...


    "I just need two sets of clothes, two pairs of shoes, one week¡¯s worth of undergarments, and just give me the medicinal agents which were specially brewed by us. Leave the rest." Ling Lan just did not have the strength to correct what the couple Ling Qin had done. She gave a straightforward list of the things she wanted to bring.


    "But, how will that be enough ..." Ling Nanyi was still worried, and even Ling Qin, who had been listening quietly at one side, could not help but frown in disagreement at Ling Lan¡¯s list.


    Ling Lan said helplessly, "All the other things can be solved with money. Do I really need to bring so much?"


    Ling Nanyi was enlightened. She nodded repeatedly, saying, "Right, right, right, why didn¡¯t I think of that? You¡¯re still the smartest, Young Master." That said, she happily began looking for the things Ling Lan had wanted.


    However, she had truly stuffed too much together ¡ª it really was rather difficult to find the things Ling Lan wanted in the pile of luggage. However, even as she struggled with the luggage, Ling Nanyi did not forget to remind Ling Qin, "Husband, you should contact Master, ask him to send more credits for Young Master to spend ..."


    Ling Qin felt what she said was right. So, he immediately took action ¡ª without any care for whether Ling Xiao was busy, he called Ling Xiao¡¯smunicator directly and conveyed this request to his master.


    A few secondster, on Ling Lan¡¯smunicator, two blindingly astronomical amounts of credits were sessfully transferred into her ount. Without having to ask, Ling Lan just knew that this was definitely the doing of Ling Xiao and Lan Luofeng. It looked like the couple were doing their best to push her onto the road of idle profligacy ...

 Chapter 203: Send Off?

    Chapter 203: Send Off?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Doha. As the centre of the Federation, its intergctic spaceport was also thergest and most luxurious of all thes in the Federation. The spaceport was built in the outer space of the; the room inside it about the size of a city on the. Meanwhile, the staff of the spaceport all lived in the spaceport city. Other than a difference in gravity, everything else felt no different from being on the itself.


    Connecting the spaceport and the was a specialised rocket car, while the heart of the spaceport itself was a special tform for it. It would receive the specialised rocket cars from various cities from all over. It could be said that the liveliest and most hectic ce in the entire spaceport with the most people was right here. Even during normal periods, it would serve several hundred thousand people every day.


    Moreover, today was one of the busiest days of the spaceport, because today was the day when the military academies and the myriad other famous schools held their annual registration. For this reason, all students who needed to register today were rushing to the spaceport with their guardians, causing the entire spaceport to be raucous with the cacophony of human voices as they said their goodbyes.


    As the central of the Federation, Doha¡¯s spaceport was massive, possessing several tens of thousands of navigation frames for interster ships to park on. The respective military academies and other renowned schools already had their exclusive ships parked at the various ports, ready to wee their iing students. They were only waiting for the students toe and present their eptance letters to gain entry.


    Of course, these spaceships were definitely not going to be at the three districts, X, Y, and Z. Those three districts were restricted for military affairs, only avable forbat warships to park at. Regr spaceships were not permitted to enter.


    Meanwhile, at this time, in one corner of the hall of the special tform, several youths were gathered. One of the youths was squatting on the floor, arge steamed bun in each hand, while a ham sausage dangled from his mouth as he chewed on it ravenously, as if there was no one else around him. His crassness made the youths who passed by, as well as their guardians, frown reflexively.


    "Xie Yi, can you maintain a little dignity?" Among those standing, a youth with looks like a maiden could not help but gripe at the squatting youth, frowning.


    "Luo Lang, I¡¯m hungry ..." With great difficulty, Xie Yi found time between bites to say this. This group was precisely Qi Long¡¯s team which had agreed to meet up and register together.


    "Didn¡¯t you eat breakfast beforeing?" Luo Lang red disapprovingly at Xie Yi. Hells, it was almost ten! When exactly had this fellow woken up?


    Xie Yi lunged at one hand then the other, and with tworge manic bites, the steamed buns in his hands vanished just like that. He did not even chew them much before swallowing them down ¡ª however, this manner of eating, which only prioritised speed and not quality, immediately taught Xie Yi a lesson. He, the handsome and brave, infinitely charming Xie Yi was actually choked by the buns ...


    Xie Yi pounded his chest desperately. At the side, Lin Zhong-qing saw that the situation did not look right; he hurriedly took out a bottle of water from his backpack, uncapped it, and passed it to Xie Yi.


    The moment Xie Yi got his hands on the bottle, he threw his head back and began pouring the water into his mouth, finally catching his breath as the buns slid down. "Damn, that was too dangerous. I actually thought that I would choke to death just now!" That said, he continued to pat his chest weakly in remembered fear, silently thankful for his luck.


    "Who asked you to eat so quickly? It¡¯s like you haven¡¯t eaten your whole life," said Luo Lang, ring at Xie Yi with contempt.


    Xie Yi mumbled lowly, "If I wasn¡¯t trying to answer your question, would I have eaten so quickly?"


    "What question?" Luo Lang blinked nkly, and then thinking back, he realised what it was and said, "That question about not eating breakfast?" Did that really need an answer? Just by looking at Xie Yi¡¯s ravenous manner, one could tell that he hadn¡¯t eaten breakfast for sure.


    "Hehe, isn¡¯t this all because I was too excited to sleepst night? So I overslept today, and didn¡¯t have time to eat breakfast ..." Xie Yi was not at all embarrassed, loudly announcing the reason why he had not eaten breakfast.


    "What are you so excited for? Isn¡¯t it just going to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy?" Luo Lang rolled his eyes in exasperation, face filled with contempt.


    They had even gone on an inteary adventure already ¡ª Luo Lang, who considered himself a mature man now, was already extremely calm over their entrance into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Honestly, Luo Lang was also very excited inside his heart, but he just wasn¡¯t as exaggerated about it as Xie Yi was. Of course, he would never admit to this.


    Luo Lang¡¯s contempt caused Xie Yi to ¡¯tsk¡¯ in response. "That¡¯s not why I¡¯m excited ..." He lifted his head to look towards Qi Long, his expression filled with emotion, "Isn¡¯t it all becausest night, the team leader mentioned that Boss Lan wille today to send us off ... I was really moved by that."


    Ever since he had met Ling Lan two months ago at the assessment venue, he had been constantly seeking his answer. Finally, during the team¡¯s adventure, he felt that he had found his role. However, they had not had a chance to meet with Ling Lan, so he had also not been able to tell Ling Lan the answer he had found.


    During their adventuring, although Qi Long and the others would often contact Ling Lan through virtualmunication, during those times, Xie Yi had somehow felt like he was an outsider. Even though Ling Lan would nod at him in greeting as well through the screen, not ignoring him, he just had the feeling that, whenever Ling Lan appeared, he would be subconsciously pushed to the side by thepanions by his side ...


    Even more depressing was that the few times he tried to tell Ling Lan his answer through the screen, the moment his eyes met Ling Lan¡¯s stony expression and that pair of cold piercing eyes that seemed as if they could see through his soul, he had be unable to speak.


    With regards to this, Xie Yi had to admit that he had an indescribable sense of apprehension towards Ling Lan deep in his heart. This made him not dare to speak recklessly. However, today¡¯s meeting would be a great chance. He would not retreat anymore ¡ª he would definitely tell Ling Lan what his answer was.


    Xie Yi¡¯s words caused Luo Lang¡¯s expression to be serious. As long as it was rted to Ling Lan, Luo Lang¡¯s attitude would always be serious. In his heart, Ling Lan was the only peer he trusted and would submit to, an invible boss.


    Yes, he would not submit to the number two in name, Wu Jiong, or the one who had battled him constantly for third ce (sometimes winning, sometimes losing), Li Yingjie, or even the nominated team leader of their team, Qi Long. But he would never not submit to Ling Lan, who had always been formidable, mysterious, and unfathomable since they were young.


    This was a kind of unvoiced respect and admiration that had been built up since they were young. With the increment of age, this respect and admiration only grew deeper and deeper, until it finally reached a point where it was indissoluble. In other words, Luo Lang would only submit to one person in this life; he would only recognise one boss, and that would be Ling Lan.


    "Xie Yi is right. When I received leader¡¯s message, I nked outpletely, almost believing I had heard wrong ..." said Lin Zhong-qing wonderingly.


    In Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s impression, the cold and dominant Boss Lan would never do such a heart-warming thing like sending them off. He was more likely to send a hologram which would throw down this cold statement: "Don¡¯t disgrace me when you are there!" And then all kinds of twisted charm-dominance-coolness-swag 1 would follow, and all that was left for them would be an iparably lofty silhouette which would then slowly fade away ...


    Which was why when Lin Zhong-qing had heard the news, he had been dumbfounded. He did not even remember when he had hung up hismunicator on Team Leader Qi Long, where he had then shuffled off to eat a tasteless dinner, and then blurrily drifted off to his bed to fall asleep miraculously. Only when he woke up the next day and bit his arm hard did he realise that he really had not misheard.


    Right then, standing to one side, Qi Long could not resist speaking up as well, "You don¡¯t have to mention yourself, even I was stunned silly when I received Boss Lan¡¯s video-call. My first thought was that I must be dreaming, that the person on the other side was definitely not my boss ..."


    Han Jijyun could not bear to listen to this any longer; he said sternly, "Alright, well, the fact of the matter is, Boss Lan is indeeding to send us off. Buck up, all of you. Don¡¯t let Boss be dissatisfied."


    Three years ago, due to Qi Long¡¯s emotional imbnce, the unhappy Boss Lan had immediately thrown down an assignment, causing them to go through countless torments and suffer terribly 2 . Han Jijyun really did not want for a repeat of that with yet another three-year mission because Boss Lan was unhappy with their conditions ... he would most definitely copse if that happened.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s words caused the other people to shudder involuntarily as well. Even the typically slouching and unmotivated Xie Yi changed his original demeanour, bing spirited and enthusiastic. That mission three years ago had truly frightened the wits out of them. They dared not try something like that again easily.


    Seeing hispanions change gears into their dashing and energetic personas, Han Jijyun turned with satisfaction to look at the time on his wristmunicator. "It¡¯ll be 10 in another three minutes. Boss said to meet at the great hall of tform number 9 right around 10, so he should be here soon."


    They all nced reflexively at their ownmunicators. Seeing that Han Jijyun was right, they all came to attention and began waiting with their heads lifted high, peering greedily at the crowding to and fro on the hall of the tform, hoping to see their boss among them ...


    Behind them, in a row of seats by a wall, in a semi-reclined seat, a person who had seemed to be dozing with their face hidden behind a freshly-printed Federation magazine suddenly sat up straight.


    This person was wearing an extremely simple white shirt, which was topped by a thin army-green windbreaker, ck pants, held up by a gold-buckle belt, and on their feet was a pair of ck army boots. This outfit should have been eye-catching, making its wearer appear handsome and spirited, but for some reason the wearer was extremely nondescript, just as if they were a regr pedestrian, causing others to overlook the other instinctively ...


    He slowly pulled off the magazine covering his face, revealing a cold and expressionless face. Looking intently at the group of youths trying to find their target, the corners of his lips curled up involuntarily, breaking the ice to allow a faint sense of warmth to appear on his body.


    He stuffed the magazine in his hand into the backpack by his side, and then slung the backpack over his shoulder as he walked slowly towards the backs of Qi Long and the others. As his footsteps made almost no sound, Qi Long and the rest did not realise at all that someone was now at their backs.


    "Not right!" Suddenly sensing something, Qi Long abruptly turned his head around. At critical moments, Qi Long¡¯s innate talent Animal Instinct kicked in.


    Qi Long¡¯s sudden movement startled the others, who then also turned reflexively. Luo Lang even moved into an attack stance at first notice.


    "Boss!" eximed Qi Long, voice hoarse with shock, "How did you get behind us?"


    Mind you, the ce where they had been standing put the entire crowd entering and exiting the tform within their range of sight. There should be no way for someone to avoid their sight to appear directly behind them. Could it be that Boss had the miraculous ability of teleportation? Qi Long could not help but wonder irresponsibly.

 Chapter 204: A Brass-Necked Diplomatic Personnel!

    Chapter 204: A Brass-Necked Diplomatic Personnel!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    By the time Qi Long shouted, the others had also noticed that the one who had silently snuck up behind them was none other than Ling Lan whom they had been waiting for. They all became restless with excitement.


    The small smile on Ling Lan¡¯s lips had disappeared without a trace at the moment Qi Long had turned around. Hearing Qi Long¡¯s question, Ling Lan huffed coldly and said with a stern expression, "I had been sitting behind you all this whole time. You all were just so careless that you forgot to check your backs. If I were an assassin, none of you would have escaped."


    She had thought that after going on an inteary adventure, they would have be more vignt ¡ª but they were unexpectedly still rather careless, actually neglecting a spot which they should never neglect.


    Facing Ling Lan¡¯s stony visage, Qi Long and Luo Lang did not dare to put up any form of protest. They immediately bowed their heads and epted the lecture, faces filled with embarrassment and remorse.


    Only Han Jijyun tried to exin, "Boss, you intentionally suppressed your aura. Even if we had been more careful, we still wouldn¡¯t have been able to guard against you!"


    Qi Long and Luo Lang nodded emphatically at Han Jijyun¡¯s words. In fact, when they had first arrived, they had carefully observed their surroundings as well as the few travellers seated on those seats behind them. Finding that their auras were all exceedingly normal, nothing at all out of the ordinary, only then had they let down their guard.


    "Even if you don¡¯t sense any danger, you should not let down your guardpletely," advised Ling Lan.


    "Understood, Boss!" The five boys nodded respectfully. They knew that Ling Lan was only saying this for their sakes, otherwise he would not have personally set up this situation to teach them this lesson.


    Ling Lan cast a satisfied nce over them and then said, "Since everyone¡¯s here, let¡¯s go to the registration point of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy." That said, she began to move, but she had only taken a few steps when Xie Yi spoke up from behind her, "Boss Lan, please wait a moment!"


    Ling Lan turned with a quirked brow, "You have something to say?"


    Xie Yi let out a deep breath, trying to ease his nerves, before saying, "Yes, I want to tell you, Boss Lan, the answer to that question you asked me three months ago."


    Ling Lan folded her arms across her chest, lips tilted up slightly, tone interested as she said, "Oh?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze caused Xie Yi¡¯s heart to spasm, and the courage he had built up almost deted. He clenched his fists tightly, silently cheering himself on. Don¡¯t be nervous, you must spit it out. Whether you live or die all depends on today¡¯s attempt!


    He breathed in deeply once more and then said, "In the team, in terms ofbat power, I am indeed no match for the leader or Luo Lang; in terms of strategy, I cannotpare against our strategist 1 ; in terms of attention to detail, I cannot beat Lin Zhong-qing ... but, I have a strength that no one else has. That is, my skin is thick enough, able to do things they might not be able to do ..."


    That statement of ¡¯my skin is thick enough¡¯ caused the others to reveal expressions of shock. Was Xie Yi nning to use a ¡¯ sticky-candy 2 strategy¡¯ to cling to Boss Lan until he could not take it anymore and chose to acknowledge him? They surreptitiously wiped off the cold sweat pouring from their foreheads at the thought. Had they forgotten to tell Xie Yi that Boss Lan¡¯s tolerance was beyond horrifying? This move was doomed to fail!


    "Three years since joining the team, I have gotten to know the personalities of my other teammates. The leader and Luo Lang are focused onbat, and have no patience to interact much with others. The strategist is intelligent and good at nning, but this gives pressure to others, who won¡¯t dare to approach the strategist easily, afraid they would be carelessly manipted by the strategist ..." Xie Yi listed out his teammates¡¯ strengths one by one, and his gaze finally fell on Lin Zhong-qing, "Lin Zhong-qing is good with people, and he¡¯s careful and observant ¡ª a lot of our intel was obtained by him from others, so this role would actually be really suitable for him as well. But, the support logistics for our team is a heavy duty, so he is also one of the busiest in the team ..."


    Everything Xie Yi said was on point; Ling Lan nodded in acknowledgement of his logic. Seeing this, Xie Yi initially unsteady heart received a boost of encouragement, just as if he had been given a shot of heart tonic 3 .


    With renewed courage, he raised his head abruptly, meeting Ling Lan¡¯s gaze head on, and said confidently, "So, I am prepared to take on the role of externalmunications. The team needs a diplomatic personnel to moderate when cooperating with other teams. With my thick skin, letting me go andmunicate with the other party would undoubtedly be the most appropriate option. No matter what kind of attitude the other party has, I will be able to take it."


    "It¡¯s unexpected that you would actually find such a role for yourself. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a waste of your talent?" said Ling Lan coldly, eyes trained on Xie Yi, her gaze almost boring a hole right through him, "Qi Long has told me before that you are a fighter no weaker than Luo Lang. Don¡¯t you want to be a main attacker of the team?"


    Xie Yi chuckled dryly and said, "If there were only five of us in the team, without you, Boss Lan, around, perhaps I might be ambitious enough to try and fight for a primary attacker position, but ..." He shook his head, "the leader and Luo Lang will definitely not relinquish the two main attacker positions. And besides, for you, Boss Lan, your right and left arms should be the leader and Luo Lang whom you are most familiar with and have the best rapport with. This will undoubtedly be more eptable for you. I am well aware that three years is not enough time for me to challenge them for their positions."


    At this point of his exnation, Xie Yi¡¯s gaze turned sharp. "Of course, in another three to five years, once I¡¯ve be confident that my rapport with Boss Lan won¡¯t lose to the two of them, I will fight for a change of role."


    Back when Xie Yi had been contemting the issue, he had considered a formation without Ling Lan, with Qi Long as the leader. In that formation, he indeed had a high chance of bing a main attacker, but Xie Yi believed that, with Ling Lan¡¯s capabilities, as long as the other¡¯s injuries were fully recovered, getting into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was a sure thing. A yearter, Ling Lan would definitely make a sessfuleback and re-enrol into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Thus, he needed to consider the situation a yearter.


    Xie Yi¡¯s words touched Ling Lan. She had not expected that Xie Yi would include her in his considerations whening up with his role in the team. If her father had not bungled up and caused her to be sent into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, she would have really felt guilty for Xie Yi¡¯s struggles ining up with this answer ...


    Ling Lan peered intently at Xie Yi and then said, "I understand!" That said, she turned around and left, being the first to walk out of the great hall of tform number 9.


    Xie Yi stood stunned, unsure what Ling Lan meant by that reply. Right then, Luo Lang nudged Xie Yi excitedly, scolding him teasingly, "Idiot! This means Boss has acknowledged you."


    Luo Lang¡¯s words caused Xie Yi to be overwhelmed with pleasant surprise. He really had Boss Lan¡¯s acknowledgement now? That¡¯s awesome! His suspended heart finally settled down after three months of worrying, and he actually felt his eyes grow damp. He couldn¡¯t believe he was on the verge of crying ¡ª this was really too embarrassing, really not what a grown man should be doing ...


    Qi Long trailed Ling Lan closely; as he passed by Xie Yi¡¯s side, he patted his shoulder heavily in congrattion. Three years¡¯ time was enough for them to consider Xie Yi like a brother, so they had sincerely hoped that he would be able to get Boss Lan¡¯s acknowledgement. Otherwise, it would have been a terrible shame even for them.


    Following right behind Qi Long, Han Jijyun nodded at Xie Yi. Although his expression was just as austere as ever, his eyes could not hide his happiness and well wishes for Xie Yi.


    When Lin Zhong-qing passed by Xie Yi¡¯s side, heughed softly and said, "Xie Yi, congrattions." Lin Zhong-qing had also gone through Ling Lan¡¯s evaluation, so he really understood Xie Yi¡¯s feelings at this moment. That year, when he had earned his acknowledgement, he had been equally moved beyondposure ¡ª because this meant that he had truly be a member of the team, no longer at risk of being a passing guest ...


    Right at the end was Luo Lang. He smiled gently at Xie Yi, lovely as peach blossoms, his eyes glimmering with emotion, leading others to be mesmerized against their will. However, Luo Lang¡¯s following words instantly shattered this spell, "Idiot Xie Yi, why are you standing there stupidly? Noting?"


    Seeing Luo Lang¡¯s diminishing figure, Xie Yi chuckled dryly as he hurried to keep up.


    Xie Yi could not help but sigh internally. Their entrance into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy definitely would not be calm and peaceful. Luo Lang was very likely to be their team¡¯s own Helen of Troy 4 ... he could almost imagine it ¡ª in the military academy, him having to constantly run around handling all kinds of ¡¯diplomatic incidents¡¯ caused by Luo Lang ...


    "If Boss Lan is around, he should be able to hold back those deviant and insincere fellows, right?" Thinking this way, Xie Yi began to fret over how he would live through that one year at the military academy without Ling Lan there to hold down the fort.


    "I hope I¡¯m just worrying over nothing!" Xie Yi could only think this way.


    The six of them walked out of the tform. A cooling breeze swept by, and all of them felt refreshed. Although the spaceport was a fully enclosed man-made space, it simted the natural environment on the, making people feel veryfortable.


    The hover car stop was right outside the tform; they arrived at it after just a few steps. Meanwhile, by this time, Ling Lan¡¯s backpack had already migrated onto Qi Long¡¯s shoulders. As Ling Lan¡¯s capable follower, how could he allow Boss to personally carry his own backpack?


    Freed from her luggage, Ling Lan stuck both her hands into her pockets, a carefree expression on her face. Since her follower wanted to please her, she should give him a chance to perform. Besides, she also knew that Qi Long¡¯s body, which was built like a bear, could even take on another 500 to 600 catties 5 without any trouble, which was why she could just kick back and enjoy this treatment.


    The hover cars of the spaceport seemed toe one after another in a never-ending stream. The six of them swiftly managed to hail two hover cars and split up into two groups, and after keying in the district they needed to go to, the hover cars zoomed off towards their destination. The whole way there, all they could see were hover cars flying at different heights. They sped and weaved among one another at an unheard tempo, the scene much as if they had entered a rhythmic world of hover cars.


    The First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s registration point was atnding tform 99 of District-K. Once the hover cars of Ling Lan¡¯s group entered District-K, the horde of hover cars in the sky was no longer visible, and the hover car closest to theirs had already moved to keep a kilometre away from them. It was clear to see that there were really very few peopleing into District-K ¡ª this proved that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was really not easy to get into.


    The hover car very quickly arrived onnding tform 99, and Ling Lan and the others disembarked. Right in front of thending tform was a gateway ¡ª to enter, one needed to have a gate pass, and this gate pass was an eptance letter from the school.


    Seeing this, the expressions of Qi Long and the others dimmed and they stopped walking. They knew that the time for them to part with Ling Lan was about toe; their initial excitement was now taken over by the sadness of parting.


    "Why did you stop?" Seeing her fivepanions stop almost simultaneously, expressions dejected, Ling Lan was snickering in her heart, but her face only revealed a vague puzzlement.


    "Boss ..." Qi Long was the first to speak, but he did not know what else to say.

 Chapter 205: I Used a Backdoor!

    Chapter 205: I Used a Backdoor!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "What time is the deadline for registration?" Qi Long felt unsettled meeting the gaze of Ling Lan, who was eyeing him coldly, so he immediately turned his head to ask Han Jijyun. Fine, he really just could not look at Boss and say goodbye.


    "Before 12!" Han Jijyun replied without even having to check. The typically careless Qi Long very easily forgot little details like these; this had made Han Jijyun develop the habit of being Qi Long¡¯s walking encyclopedia.


    Qi Long nced at themunicator on his wrist and saw that it was only 10:30. There was still time to hang out with Boss. At this moment, he was somewhat regretful ¡ª why hadn¡¯t he suggested they find a restful teahouse or caf¨¦ to have a nice chat before Boss had said toe here and register?


    If the heart moved, then action should be taken immediately; Qi Long carefully tested the waters. "Boss, why don¡¯t we find somewhere to sit and have a chat? After all, it¡¯s still quite early before the deadline of 12 o¡¯clock."


    Ling Lan threw a cold nce at him, "What¡¯s there to chat about? Besides, no one knows what other procedures you will have to go through after going in. What if there isn¡¯t enough time?"


    Qi Long found himself struck dumb by Ling Lan¡¯s words. Did he really have toe out and admit that he wasn¡¯t ready to say goodbye to Boss just yet? Qi Long, who considered himself a grown man now, felt it was beneath him to do such a childish action.


    The others could see that Ling Lan¡¯s heart was set, not to be changed, so even if they were in full agreement with Qi Long¡¯s suggestion to spend a little more time with Boss, they did not dare to say anything in support.


    Ling Lan watched as the five youths walked away, turning back to look at her with every step, faces filled with reluctance, and she almost lost hold of her coffin-face. She could not help but furrow her brow ¡ª it looked like she had not perfected her ckface yet. She still wasn¡¯t at the point where she could bepletely unfazed by anything and everything 1 . These cute expressions of her few littlepanions right now had almost cracked her icy facade ... it looked like she still needed to train it more.


    However, from Qi Long and the others¡¯ perspective, Ling Lan¡¯s locked eyebrows were an indicator that their boss was displeased with their maudlin disy of dragging their feet. And so, they could only harden their hearts and force themselves to stop looking back. They each took out their respective eptance letters and headed for the gateway¡¯s sensors and scanned them.


    "Beep! Logging information, registered First Men¡¯s Military Academy cadet, Qi Long! Please provide your proof of identity!" Following the instructions of this mechanical voice, Qi Long held out his right wrist, allowing the scanner to scan hismunicator.


    "Beep! Proof of identity logged. Identity verified, entrance permitted!" The doors of the gateway suddenly slid open, revealing a tunnel about a metre wide. Qi Long walked through it and the gateway closed behind him once more.


    Qi Long stood inside and waited for the others to enter as well. After all five of them had entered, they were just about to say their final goodbyes to Boss when they found to their shock that Boss Ling Lan had walked up to the side of the gateway.


    Could it be that Boss still had some instructions to pass on? The five of them waited with bated breath, but the subsequent scene caused their jaws to drop, and they continued to gape for a long while.


    Ling Lan took out a palm-sized card from her pocket and waved it at them. They could almost see a little devil peeping out from behind Ling Lan, smirking mischievously at them.


    "Beep! Logging information, registered First Men¡¯s Military Academy cadet, Ling Lan! Please provide your proof of identity!" Exactly the same as when they went through the process, the gateway recited those familiar words.


    They stared dumbly at Ling Lan as she calmly lifted her wristmunicator up for the sensor to scan, and then casually walked into the tunnel ...


    Qi Long rubbed his eyes forcefully to make sure he wasn¡¯t seeing things. Back when he had asked Ling Lan which school he had applied for, he had most definitely said it was the Windchase Mecha Service College on Aureolin, and he had also confirmed that he had been epted for enrolment. Then, why was Ling Lan all of a sudden a cadet of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy like them? What in the world was happening? Also,ing into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy just like this, will Boss¡¯s body be fine? Mind you, during the first year, all that the cadets would be learning would be some advanced and challenging physical training. Anyone with a weaker physical constitution was very unlikely to be able to bear it, not to mention someone like Boss with unhealed injuries.


    In his shock, Qi Long could not help but voice his doubts.


    Ling Lan held back her humour, and exined calmly, "This eptance letter was obtained by my dad through a backdoor. As for the first year of physical conditioning, also because of this backdoor, my dad got me exempted ..."


    Han Jijyun was the first to regain his bearings. It made sense ¡ª as one of the nine great generals of the Federation, Ling Xiao definitely had enough clout to get his child into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. As for the exemption ... Han Jijyun could not recall anyone ever managing that.


    Just as Han Jijyun was puzzling over the issue, a sudden spark of realisation shed through his mind. He gasped in shock, "Boss Lan, do you already have a military rank?" Only students who were already military officers had the right to be exempted from exams for the first year, because their physical training and evaluations would be handled fully by the military.


    Anyone who understood how the military divisions worked knew that the divisions¡¯ physical training and evaluations would only be tougher than the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s. Mind you, the physical training and evaluation of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy could only bebelled as a paramilitary training and evaluation. Just the prefix of ¡¯para-¡¯ was enough to show that it was weaker than real military physical conditioning. Therefore, if someone could pass the military¡¯s physical training and evaluations, then they would definitely be able the pass the military academy¡¯s physical assessments.


    "Hn, my dad has settled everything for me using that backdoor. I only need to focus on recovering from my injuries in the first year." The more Ling Lan borated, the more she felt like an entitled loafer. This made Ling Lan, who had always liked to let her strength do the talking, feel somewhat unsettled. It looked like one needed to have a strong heart to be an idle good-for-nothing rich kid, otherwise one just wouldn¡¯t have the proper aura for it ...


    "General Ling is too amazing!" Qi Long and the others had all regained their senses by now. Hearing what Ling Lan had to say, they eximed in astonishment, gazes filled with the light of idolisation, admiration, etcetera. When it came to their dear cherished idol, they werepletely blind to the fact that Ling Xiao¡¯s actions were already within the realm of abuse of power, an official misconduct.


    "That¡¯s wonderful! Boss, we can be together again!" In his excitement, Qi Long glomped Ling Lan and would not let go, the initial morose uncertainty in his heart vanishing without a trace. Only now did he realise that, all these years, his Boss Lan 2 had already be the pir of support in his heart. As long as Ling Lan was standing by his side, his heart would be filled with courage, confidence, and strength. Even if the path ahead was filled with countless trials and tribtions, he would be able to scream at the skies. Even if the skies of the Federation were to be ripped asunder, he would have no fear.


    "Boss, you¡¯re so mean! Actually tricking us!" Luo Lang did not want to be left out. He also pounced over and hugged Ling Lan and Qi Long. Draping himself over the both of them, he snuggled forcefully into the nape of Ling Lan¡¯s neck in discontentment. He did not notice that when he said ¡¯tricking us¡¯, his tone had lilted up at the end, the sounds drawn out, giving his words a sense of coquettishness.


    Luo Lang¡¯s voice and actions made Ling Lan shudder and push him away. "Luo Lang, don¡¯t hang on me and act cute. You should remember you are a man! A man!" By the end, a growl could be heard in Ling Lan¡¯s voice; it was clear to see how deep her resentment ran on this matter.


    D*mmit, why did her own voice have to be so cold, so t? Sometimes, she had tried to intentionally curl her tone of voice at the end of her sentences, trying to warm up the atmosphere, but it only came out sounding even more threatening than before ... Fine, she had now utterly given up on acting cute in this life. Her mum had not given birth to her with talent in this area; she could not force it!


    Luo Lang flushed, his face bing even more alluring with its pink glow. It was so pretty the others could not bear to look at him directly, all of them turning their heads away. Luo Lang said rather sadly, "Boss, when did I do that? Aren¡¯t I just being happy? Also, I¡¯m a man to begin with. It¡¯s not like I wanted to look this way ..."


    His eyes were blurry with a light sheen of moisture, and there was a hint of a nasal tone to his voice due to his sadness, making his retort sound soft and weak. Anyone who heard it would instantly feelpassionate, reflexively wanting to speak up andfort this cute and lovely sweetheart before them ...


    At this, even Ling Lan could not help but feel her face start to twitch. She pressed a hand to her forehead, trying to dispel her headache ¡ª for Luo Lang to enter the all-boys First Men¡¯s Military Academy looking like this ... was this really a smart move? All kinds of BL stories she had read in her previous life surfaced in her mind ... a boys¡¯ military school was fertile ground for cultivating homoerotic rtionships!


    "Little Four, control yourself!" Ling Lan¡¯s headache felt even worse. This Little Four ¡ª actually sneaking out at this moment toe and cause trouble for her ... those BL stories that had appeared in her mind earlier had all been Little Four disying the stories he had archived.


    "The fertile ground of homoerotic rtionships!" Little Four cheered in the mindspace. Of course, he secretly fantasized ¡ª would his boss go have a steamy gay fling at the military academy just once? Little Four started to feel excited, thinking that he had found a fun new game to y.


    Right then, Ling Lan could not know what Little Four was thinking. She merely threw Little Four into the learning space, packing him up so he would not be able toe out and mess with her thoughts. Looking at the teary Luo Lang, Ling Lan thought of her own situation and could not help but sigh internally.


    Forget it. She was already unintentionally on this road of cold and aloof dominance; having Luo Lang, who seemed to be developing unstoppably in the direction of having a face as fair as a flower and as lovely as the moon 3 , by her side, was somehow afort to her. Perhaps this was a gift from the heavens ¡ª specially gifting her a littlepanion to share her androgynous fate. This path was no longer as lonely as before!


    Ling Lan consoled herself. This way, she could now ept Luo Lang the way he was. And thus, Ling Lan put down the conflicted feelings she had in her heart. She walked over and patted Luo Lang on his shoulder, saying, "Then just stay like this! We only need to be ourselves!"


    Ling Lan¡¯s words had a double meaning, but this could not be known by the other five. Only she herself knew that she was also consoling herself as she was consoling Luo Lang.


    Luo Lang¡¯s feminine appearance had always been a bitter pill in his heart. Originally, Luo Lang had thought that Boss Lan would be just like his other teammates, somewhat disapproving of his looks, but unexpectedly, Boss Lan had said such a thing to him instead. He was instantly greatly moved, abruptly gripped by a profound sense of being understood. "Boss, thank you!"


    Boss, only you understand my true heart. Luo Lang is still the same Luo Lang as before ¡ª I won¡¯t change just because my appearance has changed! Thank you, Boss. Having your trust, even if everyone else in the world looks down on me for my looks, I will not be angry or depressed, or ever doubt myself!


    Luo Lang¡¯s internal frustration with his looks disappeared. He smiled joyfully, radiantly, and even more beautifully. His initially still somewhat concealed radiance was fully unleashed at this moment, causing the others to feel as if they could not look at him directly ...


    But all thepanions knew deep down that ¡ª Luo Lang had be stronger again! Because his charisma had risen to a whole new height! Thepanions who had grown up alongside him all knew very well that Luo Lang¡¯s capabilities and his charisma were corrted. The stronger he was, the brighter his charisma would shine!


    Ling Lan did not know that her inadvertent constion had let Luo Lang untie the knot in his heart. The release of the bindings caused his mental state to level up, increasing his initially secured physical skills ne once more, allowing Luo Lang¡¯s charisma to be improved and enhanced. This point would incite a great stormter on, causing their team to have a much harder time in the military academy with a never-ending string of conflicts!


    And this storm would also lead a cadet with very hidden depths to stumble into Ling Lan¡¯s life ...

 Chapter 206: Journey!

    Chapter 206: Journey!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The reality of Ling Lan¡¯s enrolment into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy thrilled Qi Long and the other four. Ling Lan waited for them to calm down, and then led them to enter tform 99.


    The moment they entered tform 99, they saw a medium-small interster spaceship parked silently on the port runway. It went without saying that this was the spaceship which would be bringing them to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    The First Men¡¯s Military Academy was famous throughout the entire Federation. Everyone knew it was situated on Edusea 1 , but its specific address was not publicly known. This was very likely a measure to protect its students, but could also be to prevent riff-raff from getting close to the school and causing trouble. Whatever the reason, the obscurity of the academy¡¯s address was an undeniable fact.


    The spaceship was quite a distance from them; a long and straight travetor 2 was directly connected to the entrance of the spaceship. The six of them stepped onto the travetor, and holding onto the handrail, they chatted leisurely as they were swiftly carried to the entrance of the spaceship.


    They then walked off the travetor, and just as they neared the cabin door, an icy voice rang out, "Please disy your boarding pass."


    Inside the area right after the cabin door, a fully outfitted officer was standing. He politely saluted them and began going through the necessary pre-boarding check.


    Ling Lan brought out that palm-sized eptance letter from her pocket and passed it to the officer.


    The officer reached out his right hand for it, and then lifted his left hand as well. There was a miniature device in the palm of his left hand ¡ª Ling Lan took a nce, and immediately realised that it was the Federation¡¯stest data scanner model, which was also the most portable version.


    Sure enough, the officer swiped Ling Lan¡¯s eptance letter across the scanner, and Ling Lan¡¯s associated data instantly appeared on the device¡¯s screen.


    When he saw the words ¡¯DATA MATCHED¡¯ appear, only then did the soldier return the eptance letter in his hand to Ling Lan. At the same time, the data on the scanner¡¯s screen quietly disappeared.


    Somewhere internal where Ling Lan could not see, her name, which had been bright white on a registration name list, instantly turned ck. Ling Lan¡¯s data had been transmitted instantaneously to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s mainframe database to form a student file.


    Of course, this was also another measure by the school to prevent outsiders from sneaking in. If by any chance someone managed to forge Ling Lan¡¯s eptance letter and came to register, the registration list that already had Ling Lan¡¯s name dimmed would immediately cause the other to be withheld at the door. At the same time, the registered Ling Lan¡¯s data would be sent to the National Security Agency. The National Security Agency would then send an officer to investigate the two parties post haste to determine the truth of the matter before passing judgement.


    The reason for this strictness was entirely because the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was the gathering grounds of the most exceptional young talents of the entire Federation. If an enemy spy managed to infiltrate the school and sabotage the students there, the Federation¡¯sbat capability would not only be greatly reduced for about 10 years, but could even result in a discontinuation of particr legacies. This was something the Federation could not abide; therefore, the registration period for new students every year was when the National Security Agency was most pressured.


    After that, Qi Long and the others all passed through one after another, and then the six of them walked deeper inside the spaceship. Although it was considered a small ship, it was still ratherrge on the inside ¡ªrger than therge cruise ships of Ling Lan¡¯s previous world by 5 to 6 times.


    They were led by a staff member of the spaceship to arge hall. In there were many seats, but they were not arranged like the seats of aerones in her previous world, row by row. Six extremelyfortable armchairs were arranged around a round table, and this formation was repeated again and again to fill the entire hall.


    Ling Lan estimated that, if all the seats were filled, it would amount to 700 to 800 people. However, right now, the hall was pretty empty, not many people in there at all. It looked like it was still rather early in the registration period, so many of the students were not here yet.


    Ling Lan randomly chose one of the tables near the entrance of the hall and sat down, the others moving along with her.


    As time passed, the spaceship started to fill with students. The initially quiet hall began to grow noisy and lively as people found others familiar to them and sat together, excitement written on every youthful face. Without question, each and every one of them was full of curiosity about their new life at the military academy.


    Of these students, arge majority was undoubtedly from the Central Scout Academy. As they trickled in, some of them may not have noticed Ling Lan seated among them, but as the number of people increased, some sharp-eyed students finally noticed the presence of Ling Lan who should not have appeared here. Their first action then was to rush over excitedly and greet Ling Lan ¡ª the uncrowned king Ling Lan had their unquestioning deference.


    As more and more students from the Central Scout Academy found out that Ling Lan was present, they all would run over by themselves to greet her. This caused the gazes of all the students from the other scout academies to turn pensive, starting to wonder who this person really was. Why did he have such high repute, to inspire these other elite talents to offer their greetings voluntarily?


    They could see very clearly that these students had not a single bit of coercion in their demeanours; they were doing this sincerely. When they returned to their own seats, the smiles on their faces were obviously brighter than before, and their conversational manner became even more natural and at ease. It was as if just by greeting that youth, their confidence had increased.


    This unusual reaction caused these students who did not know Ling Lan to be cautious of her. Inbination with Ling Lan¡¯s originally cold demeanour, her expression icy and unapproachable ... no matter how you looked at it, she did not seem like someone easy to get along with.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s team and Li Yingjie¡¯s team entered at about the same time. Originally somewhat at odds with one another, the moment they stepped into the hall, they noticed Ling Lan seated among the other students. Theirplexions shifted minutely ¡ª Li Yingjie¡¯s face turned dark and he frowned slightly, while Wu Jiong donned an expression of pleasant surprise as he walked over and said in a raised voice, "Boss Lan!"


    This cry was heard by almost everyone in the hall, and caused a change toe over the expressions of those people who were already wary of Ling Lan. The words ¡¯Boss Lan¡¯ conveyed many things ¡ª strength, means, and also the ability to put pressure on them!


    Any student who was epted by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was definitely the cream of the crop of all the scout academies from the various cities around Doha. In their world, they were like kings, each of them leaders of a sort. The words ¡¯Boss Lan¡¯ raised their hackles instinctively, instantly turning Ling Lan into a public adversary.


    Ling Lan quirked a brow and nodded, and then said calmly, "Wu Jiong, long time no see." This Wu Jiong had be really devious now! However, she had not intended to be a boss at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy anyway, so Ling Lan, who was determined to keep a low profile, did not really mind Wu Jiong¡¯s little maniption. Rather, if Wu Jiong had not shown any ambition and desire to scheme, Ling Lan was more likely to have looked down on him.


    "You have alsoe to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy?" Ling Lan¡¯s application to a school on Aureolin was known to almost everyone who paid attention to her. This question made all the other curious students who had been too afraid to ask perk up their ears, waiting for Ling Lan¡¯s reply.


    Ling Lan said breezily, "I was lucky. The military rmended me." In front of outsiders, Ling Lan made sure to protect Ling Xiao¡¯s glorious image. Although at present these people did not know Ling Xiao was her father, Ling Lan believed that this fact would not be hidden for long. Mostly because Ling Xiao, who was eager for the whole world to know he was Ling Lan¡¯s father, would definitely find an opportunity to dere his identity in front of her fellow students ...


    Ling Xiao had a deep resentment over how Ling Lan had kept the fact that she was Ling Xiao¡¯s child a secret from her schoolmates for so long. Thus, Ling Lan knew that the seemingly mature and wise Ling Xiao would definitely act foolishly when it came to this matter!


    Ling Lan¡¯s reply caused the hearts of Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and those in theirpany to skip a beat ¡ª but it made sense once they stopped to think about it. They themselves had been witness to Ling Lan¡¯s strength. It was reasonable to believe that the military, which had always gathered data on the top talent from the various major scout academies, would not let such an unparalleled prodigy go to waste.


    After exchanging a few more words, Wu Jiong led his team members away to sit at a position close to Ling Lan¡¯s table. On the other hand, Li Yingjie nodded stiffly at Ling Lan in greeting and then moved off to sit on another side. In contrast to Wu Jiong¡¯s sophisticated way of handling things, Li Yingjie was obviously much more inexperienced.


    Very soon, it was 12. At this time, on the four walls of the hall, four huge virtual screens appeared. On the screens, a middle-aged man with a dishevelled face and a messily put on captain¡¯s uniform appeared.


    The man snickered, and then said rudely, "You brats who are about to enter the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, I have to tell you, we are about to depart! This journey will take 2 days and 1 night. If you get hungry, on your right-hand side, is the cafeteria catering to you lot. Eat whatever you are given, no whining and backtalk! Also, on this journey, you all have to listen to me. You do what I tell you to do. Even if you are princes or geniuses outside, here, you are just the tiniest of all tiny little worms ..."


    The captain¡¯s arrogant words caused the expressions of everyone in the hall to change. Only Ling Lan¡¯s countenance remained unmoved; she merely continued to stare coldly at the bad-mannered, irritable spaceship¡¯s captain on the screen ...


    The captain seemed to notice Ling Lan¡¯s stare, for a mocking smile appeared on his lips. He swept a challenging look in her direction ¡ª though of course it could also be that he was just challenging everyone in the hall ¡ª and said, "What? You guys don¡¯t want to? That¡¯s fine. The crewmen under me just so happen to be so free they don¡¯t know what to do with themselves right now, and want to loosen their bones. I¡¯ll let them tell you lot what¡¯s the right choice to make in this situation!"


    Apanying the captain¡¯s words, a bevy of brutish and rowdy crewmen instantly surged out from passages at all corners of the hall to appear before the students. Their eyes were simrly filled with taunting challenge, as if eager to find any disagreeable brat so they could flex their muscles.


    A portion of the students was petrified by this sudden situation. The faint signs of rage on their faces slowly faded away as they made their way back to their own seats. It could be said that they were extremely rational, unwilling to be the chicken killed as a lesson to the monkeys 3 .


    Qi Long, who was sitting beside Ling Lan, leaned close to Ling Lan and asked quietly, "Should I go teach them a lesson?" The other party¡¯s high-handedness rubbed Qi Long the wrong way. More importantly, this scamp¡¯s fists were starting to itch for a good fight.


    Of course, Qi Long had also volunteered because he had confidence in himself. He had received focused instruction from Ling Lan since young, and he had also trained desperately to improve his skills in those three years when Ling Lan had not been around. Moreover, two months before this, he had also went on that high-risk inteary adventure. Having been through all this, he was no longer the unpolished fighter he had been before.

 Chapter 207: Scheming!

    Chapter 207: Scheming!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan shook her head and said, "No need. Wait and see!"


    The spaceship¡¯s captain must have some reason for suddenly acting this way. A memory of the manga Hunter x Hunter she had read in her previous life surfaced in Ling Lan¡¯s mind. From the moment Gon Freecss 1 got on the boat to take the Hunter Examination, the testing had already begun.


    "Is this a show of force to put us in our ce? Or is it, like I suspect, our first test? How interesting!" A trace of humour appeared at the corner of Ling Lan¡¯s lips. This originally dull journey had suddenly be much more intriguing.


    At this time, the crew members began to hurl jeers and taunts at the students, as if purposely trying to incite the students¡¯ anger and make them choose to fight. However, their efforts were all in vain, because the students all managed to restrain themselves in the end, not responding to their taunts.


    Frankly, this was all because Ling Lan had chosen to wait and see. Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s party¡¯s inaction, the slick Wu Jiong was naturally unwilling to make a move recklessly. And while Li Yingjie may be immature and brash, he was not brainless, so he of course knew as well that this was not the time to act rashly. Meanwhile, ever since the grand armed melee, the rest of the Central Scout Academy students 2 had gotten used to following the lead of the three major teams. Since the three major teams were biding their time, the other students naturally followed suit to observe the situation.


    And since arge half of the Central Scout Academy students had chosen not to do anything, the students from the other academies naturally would not be so retarded as to volunteer themselves asb rats. After all, they were all elites from various academies ¡ª they were not so simple-minded that they would blow up from some taunting. Thus, this powder keg of a scene was resolved by the silent tolerance of one side.


    ********


    Inside the captain¡¯s room, the captain could not hold back a curse, brusquely cutting off the video feed and auditory system on his end.


    He turned to re at the other person in the captain¡¯s room and barked, "D*mn, do these batch of students have no bloody guts?"


    "They are just being rational. The provocation you arranged is too low-level. Any child with a bit of intelligence would be able to see that something wasn¡¯t right." The one who spoke was a middle-aged man dressed in a clean pressed major uniform. His air was dignified, and the flecks of white in his sideburns made him appear mature and reliable, a stark contrast against the captain¡¯s crude messiness.


    The major passed a bottle of white wine over with a smile. The captain harrumphed, but epted it, twisted the cap open, and began chugging it down.


    "Don¡¯t drink so fast. Why are you taking out your anger on yourself?" chided the major.


    "D*mmit, isn¡¯t there a single one of these little bastards who is more hot-tempered? After all these years, this is the first time I¡¯ve seen something like this," said the captain in frustration.


    Mind you, his task was to assess the students¡¯ capabilities and personalities. Provoking them right from the start had always worked very well for him, because there would always be that one or two hot-headed and impulsive brats who would jump out for him to use as an example. This would give him the opportunity to assess the students¡¯ attitudes when faced with overwhelming force.


    "Well, it¡¯s not that there aren¡¯t any. They¡¯ve just been restrained." The major walked over to the screen and reyed the previous footage. On the screen, they could see that there had been a few people who had stood up to protest, but they had been quickly stopped by the people beside them. The scene between Qi Long and Ling Lan was also noted by the two men.


    The major erged one of the images. It was one of the students from the Central Scout Academy. He was tugging on his teammate¡¯s arm, using his gaze to point out a certain direction to his teammate, as if reminding the other that he should be aware of the situation.


    Following the student¡¯s line of sight, the major scrolled across the image, and Ling Lan¡¯s, Wu Jiong¡¯s, and Li Yingjie¡¯s teams came into view.


    "Do you not notice that these students were all waiting for the reactions of these few people?" said the major, pointing at Ling Lan¡¯s area.


    "Tch, you think I can¡¯t see that? While I was speaking, this bunch of brats had obviously been enraged by me, but they all chose to look there at the first moment ..." The captain had noticed.


    "That¡¯s right. I did a brief check and these students should be from the Central Scout Academy. You too know that a whole 10% of the First Military Academy student poptiones from the Central Scout Academy. It goes without saying that within our military academy, the Central Scout Academy faction has the most members ...


    "But, it is also the one with the least cohesion!" The spaceship¡¯s captain¡¯s face was filled with disdain. He himself had note out from the Central Scout Academy, so he did not bear much good will for the Central Scout Academy. Even though the people who graduated from the Central Scout Academy were generally more talented and more capable than students from the regr scout academies like them, there was just too much infighting within their ranks. They were like a teful of scattered sand.


    "Yes. This is also why although the Central Scout Academy faction has the most people, it has never managed to be the top faction within the military academy! Forcefully being suppressed by the other scout academy factions ... this is their tragedy." These past three years in particr, the Central Scout Academy faction had been even more sluggish 3 ¡ª it had not even managed to rank within the top three.


    "That¡¯s not the only point. Although the students from the Central Scout Academy are all very strong and talented, in our military academy, none of them managed to be the strongest in the school. This is also why they have been unable to make their faction the number one faction." The captain bluntly pointed out the weakness of the Central Scout Academy. Even though its students were more talented and stronger than other students across the board, the one standing at the peak just wasn¡¯t any single one of them ...


    "True. Especially thesest three years, there wasn¡¯t a single Central Scout Academy student within the top three. Even the strongest one is just at 5th ce. Sigh, the well-established top Central Scout Academy has finally begun to decline ..." The major was affected by a wistful mncholy. Although he was not from the Central Scout Academy, his superior, mentor, and benefactor were all part of the Central Scout Academy faction. Thus, he still had a deep affection for the Central Scout Academy.


    "However, this year might be different." The major¡¯s initially regretful gaze became focused in a split second. The students from the Central Scout Academy were surprisingly united this time ¡ª perhaps a true king had appeared among them, earning all of the students¡¯ deference. If that was the case, the power bnce of the factions within the military academy may very well go through a momentous change with their addition.


    "Perhaps, the assessment this time will give us a pleasant surprise." He and the captain had never been satisfied over all these years, because the students¡¯ final decisions had never truly been the answer they wanted.


    "You think?" The captain, who had never thought well of the Central Scout Academy, did not think much of the students from it. Infighting was a characteristic of the Central Scout Academy from the start ¡ª could this batch really be an exception?


    "Then let us just wait and see!" said the major good-naturedly with augh, not at all bothered by his friend¡¯s scepticism.


    "Sure. But, I need to make them stop holding back as soon as possible, otherwise we won¡¯t be able to see what we want to see." A sharp light entered the captain¡¯s eyes, and a great force of presence silently began to spread. At this moment, he was no longer that rough and arrogant captain, but was more like a wild beast from the depths of the universe, powerful and dangerous!


    ********


    Ling Lan had long known that these two days and one night would not be so peaceful, but she still could not put a finger on the reason for the captain¡¯s provocation. If this was really a test ¡ª then what were they testing for? Before she could figure anything out, an unexpected conflict urred before her eyes.


    The first half of the first day went by peacefully. Although the crew members would still throw in the asional taunt, the now calm students managed to resist rising to the bait. However, this peace vanished by the time night came.


    At dinner time, Ling Lan¡¯s group of six came to the cafeteria and ate a simple dinner. The ship provided a buffet-style meal, but the options were very limited, and the taste was not very good. Although the students were rather unhappy about it, they knew that they were now on the other¡¯s home ground, and so could only tolerate.


    However, there were some things that could not be resolved just by tolerating them. Very soon, when a student who had finished eating was walking out of the cafeteria, he was shoved back. Quickly, several hulking crewmen had surrounded the student. One of the crewmen rubbed at his own shoulder, demanding arrogantly for the student to kneel and apologise to him for hurting him when he had crashed into him.


    The student naturally would not agree to this humiliating style of apologising. He argued with logic, saying that he had been walking just fine ¡ª it was the other who had suddenly changed directions when they were about to cross each other to bump into him. He had no time at all to react, which was why the collision happened. If anyone should apologise, it should be the crew member.


    "Looks like, that captain has made his move!" Ling Lan¡¯s brow furrowed. Could it be that the other wanted to see the students¡¯bat ability? Or was he trying to see how the other students would react to this sort of scenario?


    "To observe coldly from the sidelines, or take on the confrontation with righteous anger? Or perhaps they are trying to assess the students¡¯ true hearts?" Ling Lan looked at Han Jijyun, an inkling of realisation in her mind.


    Han Jijyun also seemed to have figured something out. Without sharing a word, the frowning duo simultaneously thought of the time they had taken the enrolment tests for the Central Scout Academy.


    "It¡¯s exactly like the Central Scout Academy¡¯s test." Not long after, Han Jijyun smiled in realisation.


    "This time, the main content of the test is most probably unity!" Unlike before, Ling Lan slowly deduced the test¡¯s content.


    "I agree!" Han Jijyun nodded. He too felt that this was the greatest possibility.


    Against such arge bevy of well-built crewmen with deep bonds and great rapport, it was impossible to fight back as an individual or with the strength of several small teams. To obtain equal standing, they needed to have sufficient power to defend themselves and their rights ¡ª the weak have no right to speak ...


    The disadvantage of their numbers required them to band together as one unit. Of course, individual performance andbat power would also be important areas of observation ¡ª how the students united would depend on the individual abilities of several people, whilebat power was a condition to achieve equal status. Otherwise, even if they banded together, it would be a waste of energy if they did not have the strength to back it up.


    "Killing many birds with one stone! A great n!" Han Jijyunmented, tone admiring. The person who designed this test condition was undoubtedly a genius.


    ********


    The major in the captain¡¯s room suddenly felt his nose itch, which caused him to sneeze loudly. He rubbed his nose and said bemusedly, "That¡¯s strange, why would I sneeze for no reason? Could the temperature regtion system be down?"


    "Checking ... the temperature regtion system is functioning normally. Major Wang Yi, your senses are mistaken." The ship¡¯s mainframe did a self-check in response to the major¡¯s query and swiftly replied.


    "Is that so? Could it be that someone is thinking of me? 4 " wondered the major.


    "This question ... there is no detailed data for me to analyse. Please excuse me for not being able to provide an answer!" The mainframe answered dutifully, even though it felt that the major¡¯s question was really very pointless and idiotic ...

 Chapter 208: Ling Lans Plan!

    Chapter 208: Ling Lan¡¯s n!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    By now, themotion at the cafeteria entrance had drawn many of the students¡¯ attention as they gathered around the scene. Of course, there were quite a few with angry expressions, but they still did not move recklessly. The crew members around were observing them closely ¡ª the moment the students made any strange movements, the crew would probably surge forward to show them their ce.


    Ling Lan nced coldly at this scene, and suddenly turned to look at Xie Yi and said, "Xie Yi, go invite Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie over!"


    Xie Yi¡¯s gaze brightened. "Yes!" Since Ling Lan was giving him this order, it meant that he must have acknowledged the role he had set for himself. Even though Luo Lang had said that Boss Lan already recognised him, before he received a clear response from Ling Lan, Xie Yi had still felt somewhat unsettled, afraid that Luo Lang had only been consoling him.


    Xie Yi was very good at diplomacy ¡ª very soon, Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie had both arrived at the cafeteria with their teams in tow.


    "Boss Lan, I heard you were looking for us?" Wu Jiong¡¯s expression was surprised. Ling Lan very rarely looked for him, and whenever he did, it always meant something big was about to happen, just like with the grand armed melee back then.


    In contrast, with an awkward expression, Li Yingjie called out in a low voice, "Boss Lan!" The pride in his bones made him reluctant to address Ling Lan this way, but ever since Wu Jiong had changed the way he addressed Ling Lan to ¡¯Boss Lan¡¯, Li Yingjie had drawn weird looks from everyone in ss-A and ss-B when he had once called Ling Lan by name directly. Even the members of his own team had stared at him strangely. This gave him no choice but to bend his proud neck and lower his head, acknowledging Ling Lan as the boss of their year through clenched teeth.


    Ling Lan actually did not mind how others addressed her ¡ª whether they called her Boss Lan or called her name directly, it was all fine. They were both just forms of address. She signalled for them to look towards the centre of the conflict, and asked quietly, "What do you both think?"


    "Eh? Him? Boss Lan, that¡¯s a student from our academy, called Peng Jiayen. He used to be in a merit ss, but managed to achieve an upset in his final year to enter ss-B, and then sessfully qualified for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. He¡¯s talented." Wu Jiong was very familiar with all the outstanding students in the academy, swiftly listing out the other¡¯s background without any trouble.


    Wu Jiong had just finished telling them about the student¡¯s background when the conflict escted once more. Several crew members of the ship had lost their patience. They took action ¡ª two of the crew members stepped forward in unison, attempting to grab the student and force him to his knees to apologise.


    Students from the Central Scout Academy were not as weak as they had imagined ¡ª sensing the threat, the student twisted his body, evading the two men¡¯s pincer attack. However, just as he finished dodging, two more crew members suddenly attacked, leaving no room for the student to evade anymore. He was instantly caught and brought under their control.


    This series of attacks happened in the blink of an eye. The other students on the scene did not have any time to react and that student had already been subdued by the crew. Not just that, the other side had even used pure force to push the student to his knees ...


    This scene caused rage to emerge on all the students faces; even the expressions of Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie, and the others with them who had just arrived could not help but change. The other side was really going too far in their bullying.


    Ever since they had gone through the grand armed melee, as the Central Scout Academy students had fought valiantly together to cooperatively defeat the 10th grade, they had developed a goodradeship with one another. This was unlike the other years before them whose students were mostly indifferent towards one another with clear divisions between the sses. Now, seeing one of their schoolmates who had fought alongside them being shamed this way, all the Central Scout Academy students found themselves growing angry on his behalf!


    Several students even reached out to help, but were forced back by the crew ...


    Still, the palpable agitation of the surrounding students made the crew members cautious in their continued bullying of that student. At this moment, a leading crew member said with a mocking huff, "This matter has nothing to do with all of you. It¡¯s our personal business! Those who tried to take action earlier, I forgive you all for your emotional loss of control. But if you all dare to try and help again now, don¡¯t me us for not staying polite!"


    That said, the crew members who had been initially been watching the show from a distance all drew in to close ranks. The crewmen had already been stronger than the students by a clear margin, and now their numbers had grown ¡ª this made many of the students begin to waver ...


    However, as Ling Lan, Wu Jiong, andpany were at their backs, and since they had not indicated that they were going to let this slide, the students did not retreat and disperse, merely holding their ground without taking further action. The two sides were abruptly submerged in silence in an unofficial face-off. The atmosphere became tense in an instant.


    "Boss Lan, we cannot just tolerate this offence!" Although Wu Jiong did not want to escte things, he also did not want to be this cowardly.


    By the side, Li Yingjie nodded in agreement, full of support for Wu Jiong¡¯s words. They were all prideful elites ¡ª this baseless humiliation could not be borne.


    Right then, a faint smile pulled on the corner of Ling Lan¡¯s lips. Her initially cold and forbidding face was not warmed much by this trace of a smile. Instead, the surrounding people who were familiar with Ling Lan only felt a deeper chill pervade their hearts. They could clearly feel the temperature emanating from Ling Lan drop by another few degrees.


    Ling Lan tugged lightly at her sleeves and said calmly, "Three years ago, you all apanied me in orchestrating a grand armed melee. Now, would you all still have the guts to make a big y with me?" That said, the corners of her eyes lifted slightly as she peered at them through slitted eyes and waited for their response.


    Ling Lan¡¯s question caused a shudder to run through Wu Jiong¡¯s and Li Yingjie¡¯s hearts. Wu Jiong calmed himself for a moment before asking warily, "What are you nning?"


    Ling Lan threw a nce at Qi Long, and Qi Long and the other four members of her team spread out to surround the three of them. Ling Lan also did not forget to instruct Little Four to scramble the surveince equipment in this area, manufacturing a false image to fool the monitors.


    After receiving the all clear from Little Four, in a voice only loud enough for the three of them to hear, Ling Lan said, "Takeplete control of the ship!"


    Wu Jiong jerked his head up to stare dumbly at Ling Lan; even Li Yingjie was so shocked by Ling Lan¡¯s words that he could only gape at her.


    "What? You don¡¯t dare?" Ling Lan¡¯s gaze swept over to stare at them, a trace of mockery in the corners of her eyes.


    Wu Jiong was after all a child from a military family. He quickly regained hisposure and asked softly, "You have confidence? That captain does not seem easy to handle." There may be many crew members, but the number of students was also nothing to scoff at. With Ling Lan¡¯s reputation and their status and capabilities, it was entirely possible to unite the Central Scout Academy students to form a resistance.


    The only worrisome point was that captain. The other was most definitely a Qi-Jin stage expert, if not a Domain-stage one. If Ling Lan was not injured, they might have been able to seed by attacking altogether.


    "Also, the ship must have a protective mecha squad. Once the mecha make a move, we won¡¯t have any chances of winning." By now, Li Yingjie had also regained his calm, and brought up the issue of the ship¡¯sbat resources.


    "Mecha? We just need to lock down the mecha hold and it¡¯ll be fine. Unless they want to destroy the ship to perish together, the mecha will just be essories ..." It¡¯s not like they were imcable enemies, determined to kill each other; the other side would definitely never mobilise their mecha squad.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words enlightened Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie. They were the new students of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the warriors who would protect the nation in the future ¡ª the people on this ship would never dare to truly harm them, so they really did not have anything to fear.


    Of course, this did not exclude the possibility that this ship had been sent by the enemy. But if that was the case, things would not end well for them even if they did not fight back. Thus, they might as well take the risk and perhaps win a chance of survival.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s heart began to pound. If they truly managed to take control of the entire ship, this would definitely be an unprecedented miracle, for he believed that the previous cadets would never have dared to attempt this ... his palms began to sweat, and his face turned somewhat red from his excitement.


    Simrly, Li Yingjie also figured it out. He shared a look filled with irrepressible excitement with Wu Jiong, and then they both turned as one to nod solemnly at Ling Lan. They would take this wild gamble together with Ling Lan.


    Seeing the both of them agree, Ling Lan let out an internal sigh of relief. Although she had confidence in herself, without the support of Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie, this grand and ambitious endeavour would undoubtedly be much more difficult.


    Ling Lan immediately let Little Four create a tactical map with the crew members¡¯ positions plotted on it and sent a copy each to Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie. After that, she swiftly outlined her n.


    Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie nodded repetitively as they listened, their eyes shining brighter and brighter. What they had initially thought would be a campaign with very small chances of sess changed into a real possibility under Ling Lan¡¯s clever nning.


    It looked like what Ling Lan had said about taking control of the ship was not a brash and foolhardy attempt, but an idea formed through careful consideration. Otherwise, he would not have this detailed tactical map ready at hand. It looked like while they had been stewing in their forced tolerance, Ling Lan had already been making preparations for her next move.


    Although they did not know how Ling Lan had obtained this tactical map with all the positioning of the crew, they believed that this map was real. They had taken a quick nce at several spots as noted on the map, and had found that those crew members had pretty much been standing right where the map said they would be ...


    Wu Jiong¡¯s admiration towards Ling Lan rose once again, a strange bitterness rising in his mouth at the same time ¡ª he could once again feel the huge gap between Ling Lan and himself. Whether it was in terms of strategy or in terms of mental state, he was weaker than Ling Lan by too much. He too had been equally unhappy with the captain¡¯s attitude during his wee speech and the myriad taunts of the crew, but he had only chosen to tolerate all the way, only thinking to safely get through these 2 days and 1 night.


    Even when he saw a schoolmate being bullied and shamed for no reason, although he was indignant, he had still only been thinking of how to help that student get through that particr trial and let the matter die down ... yes, in his mind, even as he thought of ways to help his own schoolmate, he was also keeping in mind that he should do his best not to offend the other party, because this was their territory ...


    But Ling Lan was different. The fact that his preparations were so thorough meant that Ling Lan had been thinking of taking control of the entire ship from the start. He had never even entertained the idea of just tolerating the crew¡¯s abuse in silence. Perhaps Ling Lan¡¯s way of thinking was extremely radical, but godd*mn was it exciting! It made his heart race ¡ª this was what a man should do ... he truly could not match up to Ling Lan!


    Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie led their respective teams away from the scene to carry out their tasks. As the two left, their expressions were extremely interesting. In contrast to Wu Jiong¡¯s bitter resignation, Li Yingjie¡¯s expression was undoubtedly much moreplex. All kinds of envy-jealousy-hate shed across it, only to end in a helpless sigh as he left downcast ...


    Finding that the person he wanted to ovee was so unassably strong on all fronts, no matter how proud or unyielding Li Yingjie was, he could only let go of hispetitive spirit. He knew now that he could no longer rival Ling Lan in this life, because he had already lost the courage to fight against Ling Lan. Just thinking of a head on battle with the other made his heart feel unimaginably weak and feeble.

 Chapter 209: Move!

    Chapter 209: Move!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    After Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie left the cafeteria silently with their teams, Qi Long approached Ling Lan and said, "Boss, what do we do next?"


    With his capabilities, he had naturally heard Ling Lan¡¯s speech on taking control of the ship as well ¡ª though of course this was also because Ling Lan had no intention of hiding it from him to begin with. Qi Long was thoroughly fired up by Ling Lan¡¯s n, ready to move.


    This was his boss, forever daring to do what others would not dare to do! Qi Long¡¯s heart was bursting with pride!


    "You are required here to hold the fort. Dy for us as long as possible ¡ª attract and hold the crew¡¯s attention," instructed Ling Lan in a low voice. Qi Long¡¯s task was very important. ording to her n, it would be best if Qi Long could fish out the captain from his room.


    "Later, first let Luo Lang step up to help Peng Jiayen! You stay put and keep an eye on things. Wait for my final order!" Ling Lan¡¯s expression was extremely serious. Whether or not things would go smoothly on their end depended on the situation here with Qi Long; she hoped everything would turn out well.


    "Got it, Boss!" Qi Long replied solemnly.


    "Xie Yi!"


    "Here, Boss!" Xie Yi replied hurriedly.


    "While Luo Lang is holding everyone¡¯s attention, you go and gather all the students of ss-A and ss-B from the cafeteria, and get them toe back to the main hall. Remember, do it stealthily. If you can¡¯t, it¡¯s better not to move at all than to move recklessly!"


    Their n did not have many steps, but each step required finesse. Moreover, Ling Lan did not want the students to leave the cafeteria en masse ¡ª this would make those crew members suspicious.


    "Understood, Boss," replied Xie Yi somewhat nervously. Ling Lan¡¯s request was not easy; his task would definitely be very challenging. However, Xie Yi did not want to disappoint Ling Lan.


    After assigning these tasks, Ling Lan brought Lin Zhong-qing and Han Jijyun with her out of the cafeteria into the main hall.


    Right now, there was already a significant number of Central Scout Academy students gathered there. They were almost all ss-A and ss-B people. While she had been arranging things with Qi Long and the others, it seemed that Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie had not been idle.


    Seeing Ling Lan appear, the spirits of all these students rallied, fighting spirit filling their eyes. Earlier, back when Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie had called them out, they had told them that Boss Lan was going to lead them in ying a grand game today.


    Everyone was wondering what this ¡¯grand game¡¯ was referring to; many of them were guessing whether it would be like the grand armed melee, but against the crew. Thinking of the possibility, their blood began to boil with excitement. Ever since the grand armed melee, they had not encountered a stage as thrilling as that again. They had really missed that feeling. Furthermore, they did not have a favourable impression of the ship¡¯s captain and the crew ¡ª it could perhaps even be said that they hated them. As such, they were extremely willing to engage the crew in a vigorous battle.


    Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie were currently staking out a corner each, quite a crowd gathered around each of them. When they saw Ling Lan enter the room, they nodded at her silently, signalling to her that they were ready.


    However, Ling Lan did not say anything in response nor signal the attack. Instead she walked back to her seat and sat down, at the same time telling the others to do the same. "Watch the show for now!"


    Just as everyone took a seat, baffled, rousing cheers rang out from the cafeteria, along with bellows of rage from the crew. A Central Scout Academy student ran into the hall, shouting, "Luo Lang has attacked!"


    Luo Lang¡¯s actions represented the decision of the uncrowned king, Ling Lan. He would not bow his head to the opponent. It was just like with the grand armed melee back then ¡ª he would rather fight valiantly, never submitting even if he might lose terribly.


    Everyone turned to look with expectant faces at the seated Ling Lan, waiting for him to give the order.


    "Wait a little longer!" Ling Lan nced at hermunicator and said calmly.


    At this time, several ss-A students were trickling in from the cafeteria. When they saw the group assembled within the hall, pleasant surprise shed through their eyes. However, they remembered Xie Yi¡¯s warning, so they did not react outwardly. They made their way almost casually to Ling Lan¡¯s side, demeanours natural as they found empty armchairs to sit in. It was as if they did not know one another, or perhaps were not very close; everyone treated each other indifferently.


    Right then, Ling Lan appeared at ease, but she was in fact anxiously collecting data on the situation around the whole ship with Little Four. Little Four was very reliable. He had already managed to infiltrate the mainframe to use its surveince systems to monitor the entire spaceship. He then marked the danger zones and areas where the crew were gathered on a map, to facilitate Ling Lan¡¯s subsequent actions.


    At this time, on the ship, almost everyone¡¯s attention was focused on the cafeteria. Even the captain in the captain¡¯s room was also focused intently on the conflict in the cafeteria, only checking on the students in the main hall every once in a while.


    However, by now, the video feed the captain was seeing was an edited version by Little Four. In his screen, there were only a small few within the main hall, and those few were scattered loosely around the hall with no signs of grouping together.


    Meanwhile, Little Four ced the people ¡¯missing¡¯ from the hall within the feed of the cafeteria. In this way ¡ª in and out, plus and minus ¡ª Little Four managed to conceal the movement of the students and the true situation in the main hall.


    Soon, there were over a hundred people gathered around Ling Lan. Ling Lan finally gave Little Four the signal to let Qi Long make his move!


    ********


    Inside the cafeteria, the standoff between the two sides had been broken due to Luo Lang¡¯s interference. The crew members turned to anger in their shame, and tried to band together to mob Luo Lang. But who was Luo Lang? He was the third rank on the verge of obtaining second rank (Ling Lan excluded)! Although he might still be a distance away from Qi Long, he was about the same level as Wu Jiong. If not for the fact that Wu Jiong¡¯sbat style countered his, he would not have had to bear the frustration of being the academy¡¯s third rank.


    After Luo Lang beat off the third batch of crewmen who wanted to teach him a lesson, he was beginning to feel the strain. The crew members were all very strong and capable ¡ª if they had not been intent on subduing him without harming him, he might very likely have not been able to fend off these three batches.


    "Tsk! Actually being beaten by a littledy. You all are such a disgrace!" Along with this voice, a young man appeared at the entrance to the cafeteria. His hairstyle was stylish, his expression mocking, his gaze wicked as he ogled at Luo Lang, making Luo Lang feel extremely ufortable.


    When the crew saw the young man, they called out in unison, "Leader!" It was unexpected that this crew member who looked to be the youngest of them all was actually their leader. Luo Lang and the waiting Qi Long both frowned in silent ord, caution rising in their hearts.


    "Tch tch tch, who knew there would be such an exquisite item ... why don¡¯t you warm my bed tonight?" said the young man predatorily, as if having discovered some great thing.


    "Shut up, bastard!" screamed Luo Lang in response, his face turning red with anger from the other¡¯s offensive words.


    But this angry appearance only made him even more enchantingly gorgeous! The lovely picture he made stunned all the crew members present. If their hearts and minds had been less steady, they might really have be bewitched by Luo Lang.


    A keen light shed through the young man¡¯s eyes, but he continued to mock irreverently, "Asking me to shut up? Then, you are inviting me to take action instead?" That said, with a quick dash, he was reaching out his fingers towards Luo Lang¡¯s jaw. It could be called an attack, but could also be called an attempt at molestation.


    The other¡¯s action caused Luo Lang to be even angrier. He immediately blocked the other¡¯s fingers, kicking out fiercely with his right leg at the same time.


    "Whump!" The other reacted quickly as well, blocking Luo Lang¡¯s attack with a leg of his own. The two of them retreated two steps back ¡ª it looked like it was a draw. The students cheered with raised arms for Luo Lang¡¯s impressive performance, but only Qi Long frowned lightly once more. He knew that the other¡¯s capability was likely slightly better ¡ª Luo Lang would have a tough fight now.


    Luo Lang too knew this very well. The rage consuming his heart was abruptly pushed aside, his entire being bing cool and collected. This ability to swiftly adjust his emotional state made the young man¡¯s eyes light up, eximing in wonder in his heart. Who knew that this girlish youth before his eyes was actually so proficient at controlling his emotions? Just a moment ago he was still raging at the skies, and now, in the blink of an eye, he had be so calm andposed. The young man greatly admired this smooth transition and control. It should be known that unstable emotions would affect one¡¯s ability to perform ¡ª it was possible that it could add to one¡¯s strength, but it was much more likely to cause weakness instead.


    "This punk!" Qi Long¡¯s initially furrowed brow eased. He had not expected Luo Lang to be so daring, actually activating his innate talent right now. Mind you, Luo Lang¡¯s innate talent was very dangerous ¡ª it was entirely possible to unleash a dark character instead. It was considered an unstable innate talent, and Luo Lang typically would not activate it.


    It was probable that Luo Lang was feeling pressured by the task Boss Lan assigned to him. Now, with the addition of an opponent stronger than him, unwilling to just admit defeat, Luo Lang had chosen to take the risk and activate his innate talent.


    Undoubtedly, Luo Lang¡¯s luck today was exceedingly good. The character his activation brought out turned out to be his cool persona, which was extremely suited for battle. This made Luo Lang¡¯sbat power rise exponentially ¡ª even Qi Long now was unsure whether he could beat Luo Lang under the influence of this persona.


    Luo Lang and the young leader shed again, and this time, Luo Lang was again pushed back by two steps, but the young leader retreated a whole four steps. This made the leader¡¯s expression shift. From thatst crossing of blows, he could already clearly sense the sudden increase in his opponent¡¯s strength. The youth who had initially been slightly weaker than him had suddenly be stronger than him by a hair, putting him at a disadvantage.


    "What kind of abnormality is this?!" The young leader could not help but wonder silently. Mind you, he had always been called a prodigy, which was why he could enter the optimal peak of Refinement at such a young age, now just one insight and one chance short of entering Qi-Jin stage. In contrast, the opponent had originally been at the peak level of Refinement, but had suddenly shot up to a half step into Qi-Jin ... yes, it was a level even closer to Qi-Jin than optimal peak. He had believed the level to be a myth, but it had unexpectedly appeared in reality, and he had just encountered it.


    In the captain¡¯s room, the captain saw the young leader and Luo Lang¡¯s fight, and his eyes lit up. "Good. This brat may look like a sissy, but his explosive power is astonishingly horrifying. Lil¡¯ Ghost has met his match."


    In the time it took him to say this, Luo Lang and the young leader had exchanged several more moves. Currently, the leader was beginning to have trouble keeping up with Luo Lang¡¯s moves. Everyone could see that the young leader was the one who was disadvantaged; this reality caused the faces of the crew members at the scene to change ...


    Right then, Qi Long received a message from Ling Lan. "Move!"


    Without thinking, Qi Long darted out like an arrow, throwing his right fist straight at the young leader who was busily blocking Luo Lang¡¯s attacks.

 Chapter 210: The Operation Begins!

    Chapter 210: The Operation Begins!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Qi Long¡¯s speed was very fast, moving almost between blinks. Because the young leader was currently fully focused on Luo Lang, he was not on guard against a sneak attack from Qi Long. Thus, Qi Long¡¯s unexpected strike hit the other square in the face, and the young leader was sent flying by this one punch to crash heavily to the ground ...


    "Leader!" The crew members on the scene cried out in shock. They were shocked that their leader had been struck down with just one punch, and also furious at the other side¡¯s shameless sneak attack.


    Seeing this, Luo Lang stopped attacking and stood to a side. He cast a discontented nce at Qi Long. "I could have handled him." This one nce was unimaginably flirtatious 1 !


    Qi Long seemed oblivious ¡ª he only lifted up his right hand to reveal themunicator on his wrist. Luo Lang instantly understood ¡ª Boss Lan¡¯s orders must have arrived.


    ********


    "Right now, the one that attacked, is he that youth¡¯s team leader?" In the captain¡¯s room, the major¡¯s interest was piqued by Qi Long who had abruptly attacked.


    "He should be!" said the captain, frowning. He rather disliked this sneak attack method of Qi Long¡¯s.


    ********


    Meanwhile, in the cafeteria, five or six furious crewmen leapt at Qi Long, prepared to teach this despicable punk a lesson.


    Qi Long stood his ground, ring coldly at these crewmening at him. Right before they could touch his body, he gave a great bellow, the Qi-Jin in his body circting rapidly as he stomped the ground heavily with his left foot. With the rebound force produced, he sprang into the air, and let loose with both legs ...


    "Bam!" "Bam!" "Bam!" ...


    Consecutive sounds of bodies being kicked rang out, and these crewmen were sent flying back like flower petals being scattered by a heavenly flower girl 2 . They fell heavily to the ground and tumbled to the side. One of the crewmen even ended up being bowled in Luo Lang¡¯s direction. Facing this sudden human projectile, Luo Lang shifted one small step, and with a slight twist of his body, the crewman grazed by him to crash into the ground ...


    At this moment, the young leader had already got back on his feet. Seeing Qi Long knocking down these crew members so easily, he could not help but exim with a dark expression, "Qi-Jin stage!"


    These three words were hissed through clenched teeth. He would never have thought that such a monster would be concealed within this batch of new cadets. A 16-year-old at Qi-Jin stage ... this was absolutely a legendary existence.


    "Qi-Jin stage? How can this be?" The captain, who had been paying close attention to the situation in the cafeteria in his room, heard what the young leader said and could not help but shout.


    The major smiled wryly, "Perhaps, the Central Scout Academy has been so quiet for so many years because they were focused on cultivating this monster ..." Ye Yifan, are you preparing youreback now?


    "The military academy may really be in for an upheaval," sighed the major.


    "If the other is really at Qi-Jin stage, Lil¡¯ Ghost is definitely no match for him!" said the captain with a grim countenance, "I must go and see." He could not afford to let the boat capsize in a ditch 3 . Failing to teach these fresh cadets a lesson, while his capable subordinates were beaten so badly they fell into a funk in the end.


    "Mm, it¡¯s time for you to go quell the situation." The major was in full agreement. If they did not suppress that Qi-Jin stage fresh cadet, their test was likely to be nipped in the bud, for those students would definitely no longer have any fear of them.


    "Don¡¯t worry, I will teach him a good lesson. On my turf, no one has ever dared be this cocky." That said, the captain departed from his room.


    The captain¡¯s movement was immediately reported by Little Four to Ling Lan. Ling Lan clenched a victory fist internally, mentally cheering a loud ¡¯YES¡¯ ¡ª they had finally managed to hook the captain out of his room 4 ...


    However, they still needed to wait a little longer ... Ling Lan held back the excitement in her heart. Her expression extraordinarily calm, she remained still in her seat, closely monitoring the captain¡¯s progress.


    At this time, some of the students in the hall not from the Central Scout Academy were extremely curious over therge assembly of around 100 students around Ling Lan. One of them slunk up to a Central Scout Academy student right on the fringes of the group and asked softly, "I want to ask, what¡¯s the n behind so many of you gathering here?"


    The Central Scout Academy student was actually not very clear why Ling Lan had called them all here ¡ª he only knew that it would definitely be something big and exciting. He smiled apologetically at the student who asked, but did not reply verbally.


    Seeing that the Central Scout Academy student had no intention of sating his curiosity, the other student could only give up and return back to hispanions.


    "Did you get any news?" asked one of hispanions softly.


    That students shook his head regretfully, but said firmly, "There must be some plot. They just do not want to let us know." He looked towards a pensive-looking youth, and could not help but ask him, "Third Elder Brother, what should we do now?"


    The pensive youth was startled out of his thoughts by this question. He frowned as he lifted his head, and throwing a nce in Ling Lan¡¯s direction, he said, "Wait! So many people won¡¯t suddenly disappear. We¡¯ll definitely find out what they¡¯re up to in the end. "


    Over this past half of the day, he had basically figured out that these students were all from the Central Scout Academy. In the past, the students of that academy had always been the object of their envy-jealousy-hate, but from now on, they were all standing at the same starting line.


    And it was for precisely that reason that he was unwilling to be excluded by these prodigies at this juncture ...


    "Okay, we¡¯ll do what you say, Third Elder Brother." These few people had only managed to qualify for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy because of him, so they were very deferential to him, willing to follow his will in all things.


    ********


    When Ling Lan confirmed that the captain had entered the branch passage heading to the cafeteria, she knew that the time to act had arrived. She abruptly stood up, swept her gaze across the students around her, and said softly, "The game begins! Don¡¯t ask any questions. Just follow your own team leaders. A bitter on, they will exin what exactly we are nning to do."


    Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie nodded at Ling Lan, and then they led 30 over people into passages in two different directions, leaving the main hall ... a majority of the team members followed their team leaders, nonplussed, but the ten or so team leaders present all knew what they needed to do.


    The passage that Wu Jiong chose was headed for the engine room ¡ª he needed to gain control of the engine room as soon as possible. It should be known that once the power was cut in the engine room, the spaceship would enter a paralysed state where all its systems would be unable to run normally. To take control of the ship, this ce was indispensable. Due to the great importance of the engine room, Ling Lan had given this challenging task to Wu Jiong.


    Meanwhile, Li Yingjie was headed for the living quarters of the crew. They needed to suppress the crew members inside at soonest notice. They could not allow the crew members to catch their breath and gather together to fight back.


    Ling Lan swept her gaze over the remaining people in the room, and said coldly, "Follow me!"


    She led the way out of the main hall, Han Jijyun and Lin Zhong-qing close behind her. The remaining students looked at each other in excitement, and then hurried to keep up, not daring to dawdle.


    Ling Lan¡¯s task was the heaviest. The path she chose required them to take control of two ces, one of which was the spaceship¡¯s central control room. Mind you, all the facilities and procedures were coordinated and controlled from there. These included the power system, the gravitational system, the surveince system, the weapons system, the mecha system, detection system, etcetera. All these systems were monitored and controlled by specialised staff. Ling Lan could still ignore the other systems, but to lock down the doors of the different sections, one needed to take control of that room.


    Although Ling Lan was sure that the spaceship¡¯s side would not mobilise their mecha, Ling Lan decided to eliminate all possibility of that happening anyway. Therefore, Ling Lan decided to take control of the central control room and seal off the mecha hold where all the mecha were being kept so the other party would have no chance to even get close to the mecha!


    Besides this ce, the other ce they needed to take control of was the captain¡¯s room behind the central control room. The core of the ship¡¯s mainframe was there ¡ª only by taking control of the captain¡¯s room could they crack the mainframe¡¯s authority and gain the right of control, thus truly obtaining the ship¡¯s control rights.


    Originally, the captain¡¯s room was the hardest to conquer because the most capable captain was stationed there. However, due to Ling Lan¡¯s nning, this was no longer a problem. This made it much easier for Ling Lan and the students to gain the control rights of the spaceship.


    Although the difficulty seemed much reduced, Ling Lan still did not let down her guard ¡ª because Little Four had warned her that there was still one person in the captain¡¯s room, and Ling Lan was unclear on that mysterious person¡¯s capabilities. This added a certain degree of uncertainty to their n.


    In the main hall, very soon, there was not a single Central Scout Academy student left.


    "Third Elder Brother, which team should we follow?" One of the members of the group which had been watching Ling Lan andpany closely could not help but ask anxiously.


    "This one!" The one they called ¡¯Third Elder Brother¡¯ still remembered who the head of that group was ¡ª it was that student who everyone reverentially called Boss Lan. He had the most interest in him.


    This group of people carefully trailed behind Ling Lan¡¯s party, slowly following it deeper into the passageway.


    Ling Lan¡¯s party very quickly divided themselves intobat units, three to a team for a total of 12 teams. The odd man out, Ling Lan, was a solo team on her own. Every time they came to the hiding spot of a crew member, they handled it by pitting one team against one opponent.


    To begin with, these students were exceptional prodigies of the Central Scout Academy; theirbat prowess was not weak. On top of that, pitting three-man teams against each crew member let them breeze through all the way, bringing down all the concealed sentries without causing much of a stir.


    However, they soon met an unforeseen incident. Perhaps the smooth sailing caused the Central Scout Academy students to somewhat lose their focus ¡ª when it came to the twelfth batch of sentry crewmen, they bumped into a tough nut to crack. A three-man attack actually did not manage to put down the opponent.


    That person reacted quickly ¡ª he did not choose to fight back, instead moving towards the hidden warning rm in his hand. Just when everyone¡¯s expressions changed, silently screaming ¡¯oh shit¡¯, that person¡¯s hand halted abruptly right before it could touch the button. Then, there was a sh of a silhouette, and that person was down on the ground.


    Only then did the students notice that Ling Lan, who had been watching their backs at the nk, had finally made a move. With lightning speed, she had struck the opponent unconscious.


    Ling Lan swept a cold look over all of them, and the small team which had made a mistake automatically ducked their heads, cold sweat breaking out all over their bodies.


    "Be more alert!" These three cold words let the three-man team breathe out a sigh of relief even as they felt consumed by shame.


    "Yes!" The three of them answered quietly. They silently reminded themselves that they definitely could not lose focus and make such a mistake again, and lose face.


    They did not want to see Ling Lan¡¯s disappointed gaze. Ling Lan¡¯s greatness had already be rooted in their hearts after 10 years of umtion and reinforcement. They believed that Ling Lan would definitely reach the pinnacle of strength; thus, they hoped to keep following Ling Lan. This was a wish born out of a deep admiration from the heart ...

 Chapter 211: New Members!

    Chapter 211: New Members!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The three youths moved all of the unconscious sentry crewmen into one of the ship¡¯s rooms and locked it. Without someone to input the passcode on the panel outside, the people inside the room would not be able to get out. Ling Lan also did not forget to let Little Four disable theirmunicators, preventing the possibility of any of the opponents revealing their n if they woke up earlier than expected.


    By now, the students following Ling Lan could tell what Ling Lan¡¯s objective was. Although it sounded insane, everyone¡¯s blood was boiling at the thought. No one chose to withdraw, instead bing even more excited, believing that this was truly what they should do ...


    They were youths who had just stepped out from the scout academy, and were right in their rebellious phase. They had countless fanciful dreams ¡ª they were still hot-blooded youths filled with boundless courage. They wanted to make something of themselves and were willing to put in the effort to do it, whatever the cost may be. Still wet behind the ears 1 , they had no fear. As young men, their wings of freedom had yet to be bound by reality ...


    Thus, their only thought now was that as long as they kept following Boss Lan before them, they could achieve things they never thought possible ¡ª insane things they never would have dreamed of ... and all this was precisely what fed their confidence and pride!


    "Third Elder Brother, they, they, they¡¯ve gone mad! Completely crazy!" When the group trailing Ling Lan¡¯s party from afar finally saw what Ling Lan¡¯s party was doing, they were instantly scared sh*tless 2 . Some of them were so scared that their bodies had even begun to tremble.


    From the perspective of these students, Ling Lan¡¯s party¡¯s actions were undoubtedly a major crime of insubordination ¡ª actually daring to attack the people sent to escort them to their school ... Had they given up on studying at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy?!


    "Third Elder Brother, let¡¯s quickly tell the ship¡¯s crew. We must stop them. What they¡¯re doing will ruin our pathway to the military academy. They must be lunatics." A member suggested informing the ship¡¯s men, thinking that stopping Ling Lan¡¯s party¡¯s insane actions was the right thing to do.


    "Idiot! Shut your mouth!" barked Third Elder Brother, "What do you all know?" Third Elder Brother looked ahead at where the figures had already disappeared and a gleam of intense light shed across his eyes. Although attacking the crew seemed to be such an unthinkable act, the immediate impression being that the perpetrators must be mad ... after giving the matter a little more thought, it was not necessarily so.


    Mulling it over, from the very start of the journey, the captain¡¯s introduction had been filled with provocation, and the crew¡¯s attitudes had been even worse, their speech full of all kinds of contempt, mocking, taunts, and insults. Even with the students¡¯ clear tolerance and giving way, the other side had not let it rest, purposefully forcing that confrontation in the cafeteria, intentionally humiliating that student ... all of this was testing the bottom line of the students.


    In other words, this ship, from the captain to its crew, had never intended to make nice with them from the very beginning. Even if they tolerated again and again, the oppression and humiliation would have just gotten worse and worse, until the students could not take it anymore and exploded ... this would have been the inevitable oue. In that case, why shouldn¡¯t they go ahead and address the root of the problem?


    That person must be thinking this way, which was why he was doing this! Admiration shone from Third Elder Brother¡¯s eyes. How daring was he to be able to make this decision? 3 And how great must his charisma be to be able to convince up to 100 students to willingly take this risk with him?


    His thoughts went back to the cafeteria ¡ª the other Qi-Jin stage student, he too was an astounding existence. What role did he have to y in this?


    "He should be attracting everyone¡¯s attention, providing cover for their operation! The person who designed this n is not just bold, but also very meticulous!" Third Elder Brother had always been a smart guy; he very quickly figured things out. A wave of bitterness surged in his heart ¡ª he had once thought he was good enough to challenge these elites once they entered the military academy, but now from the looks of it, he had taken things too lightly. Just this Boss Lan alone ¡ª whether in terms of scheming and guts, or realm 4 ¡ª was just too far away from him.


    "Third Elder Brother, they will definitely fail. That captain is most definitely super strong ¡ª they absolutely won¡¯t be able to beat him. If we go with them, we will be mistaken as part of them ..." reminded a member.


    "So what if we¡¯re together? D*mmit, how can we sit out of such an awesome thing? Although we¡¯re not Central Scout Academy students, don¡¯t forget, we¡¯re also graduates of a scout academy, cadets of the military academy just like them ..." said Third Elder Brother.


    "If they fail, we will still be mocked and tormented by those crew members. We might as well join them and let the scales tip as far as it can in our favour ... it¡¯s a waste of youth not to take crazy risks. I have decided to take the gamble, what about the rest of you?" Third Elder Brother felt his heartbeat speeding up, his blood starting to boil ¡ª even though failure would bring nothing good, but what if they managed to seed?


    This was definitely an incident that would shock the military academy ¡ª perhaps even up to the entire Federation! He bloody did not want to miss this.


    "Third Elder Brother¡¯s decision is my decision!" His most loyal team members dered.


    "Since you all have decided, then I¡¯ll of course join in ..." Although there were still a few people on the team who hesitated, seeing that most of the members had agreed to fight it out, they could only grit their teeth and jump in since they did not want to hold their team back.


    The team finally came to an ord. Meanwhile, Ling Lan¡¯s party had already disappeared into the passage ahead. Third Elder Brother made his members hurry up ¡ª if they were left behind by the other, then they would not be able to pitch in even if they wanted to.


    Third Elder Brother was in the lead, and just whilst they were hurrying on their way, a cold and somewhat familiar voice suddenly rang out by his ear. "Since you all are interested, thene along!"


    Third Elder Brother¡¯s footsteps abruptly stopped. His face shifted slightly, because he had identified the voice ¡ª it was the voice of that youth called Boss Lan.


    The other team members were baffled by his sudden stop, and Third Elder Brother was suddenly heard to say, "Gao Jinyun, I look forward to working with you."


    "Ling Lan, wee to the team!" The cold voice responded swiftly. As expected, it was that Boss Lan.


    "Boss, what are you mumbling to yourself for?" The team members were creeped out by Gao Jinyun¡¯s strange behaviour. One of the team members could not help but speak up to ask.


    Gao Jinyun did not respond, only saying, "Hurry up and move forwards!"


    "Ah? We¡¯ll be discovered by the team ahead if we move too fast," said a member worriedly.


    "They have already discovered us a long time ago. Just now, they were just inviting us to join them." Gao Jinyun finally exined why he had been muttering to himself.


    "So hurry up! No more chit chat!" said Gao Jinyun moodily. That Boss Lan actually possessed the ability to transmit verbal messages from a distance ¡ª what ability was this? Could it be a type of spiritual mutation?


    "..." Gao Jinyun¡¯s words made everyone speechless. Who could have guessed that they had already long been discovered by the other party despite their caution? Thinking back, if they had decided back then to go tell on them, they may have been mercilessly attacked by the other party, ending up shoved into a small dark room just like those incapacitated crew members had been.


    At this thought, the members could not help but look at Gao Jinyun gratefully. Once again, it was proven that following Third Elder Brother was not wrong.


    The moody Gao Jinyun never would have known that his team members¡¯ trust in him would increase once more because of this. They even decided in their hearts that after this, no matter what decision Gao Jinyun made, they would agree unconditionally. This gave him a bunch of stubbornly united team members. In the future, this unity would be what allowed his team to perform exceptionally, securing their spot as the second main force of Ling Lan¡¯s entourage ...


    "Boss, I did pretty good, right?" Little Four smugly begged for praise from Ling Lan in the mind-space. Earlier, he had used the advanced technology of the learning space to convert Ling Lan¡¯s voice into coded supersonic waves which could only be sessfully received by the specified person.


    Ling Lan said nonchntly, "Not bad at all! Little Four, keep it up!" Honestly though, Ling Lan really thought what Little Four did was unnecessary. There had really been no need to make things soplicated ¡ª he had just needed to transmit her voice through the sound systems already within the ship and let it out within the vicinity of the other group. Even if the message was heard by a few more people, so what? Still, she would not burst Little Four¡¯s bubble and discourage him. Since Little Four had the interest to do it, then she would leave him to it, as long as he did not find it troublesome.


    "However, don¡¯t forget to cover us. The opponent must not discover our movements!" Ling Lan reminded worriedly. She was just afraid that Little Four would get too caught up in his y and forget his main task. The reason why their path had gone so smoothly, not being discovered by the central control room despite taking out so many sentries, was all because Little Four had created fake video feeds, showing the opponent that everything was going on as normal.


    "Got it, Boss!" Little Four said, disgruntled. Would he make such a low-level mistake? Why did Boss always ignore what he said? He was a god of the virtual world! He could handle this type of small case without any errors even if he were asleep ...


    Leaving aside Little Four¡¯s grumbles within the mind-space, at this time, the other people in Ling Lan¡¯s party had also sensed Gao Jinyun¡¯s party¡¯s movements. When Han Jijyun heard the soft susurration of footstepsing from behind them, his expression could not help but change.


    The footsteps sounded rather disorganised, so it looked like the iing people would not be few. Had they been discovered by the ship¡¯s crew?


    The other students also began to be restless. Lin Zhong-qing turned to look at Ling Lan, asking her whether he should lead some people over to hold them off.


    Only then did Ling Lan speak up to exin, "Don¡¯t worry, they are our allies!"


    Hearing this, the hearts of everyone there rxed instantly. The initially tense atmosphere dissipated as they patiently waited for Gao Jinyun¡¯s party to catch up.


    The moment Gao Jinyun approached Ling Lan¡¯s party, he could see everyone stopped there waiting for his party. Thirty pair of bright eyes stared at them in unison, making him feel a tremendous pressure.


    "We are students from Huoyun City 5 Scout Academy. I am called Gao Jinyun ..." Gao Jinyun straightened his attitude, and began introducing his party to the other.


    "We¡¯ll do full introductionster. Jijyun, go arrange it!" Ling Lan coolly interrupted Gao Jinyun, and then immediately turned to head into the depths of the passage. The students did not dare to dawdle, following closely ...


    Gao Jinyun reflexively rubbed his nose, silently noting to himself that this Boss Lan was really hard to talk to ...


    With the addition of Gao Jinyun¡¯s party, Ling Lan¡¯s party now had more than 40 people. As they did not know the capabilities of Gao Jinyun¡¯s party, Han Jijyun did not split the teams, grouping everyone together as one team to move together.


    This column of people did not meet any other unexpected issues along the way. Finally, they neared Ling Lan¡¯s first objective, the spaceship¡¯s central control room.

 Chapter 212: Disguised Infiltration!

    Chapter 212: Disguised Infiltration!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan halted, and with a flick of her right arm, the Central Scout Academy students moved with utmost cooperation, dashing to one side to stick closely to the passage walls. Gao Jinyun¡¯s party was off by a beat, but they did not mess up. Some of their members just did not dodge as adeptly as the students from the Central Scout Academy, seeming somewhat clumsy inparison.


    This directparison showed the difference in skill levels instantly; Gao Jinyun¡¯s face felt hot with shame. He silently decided that when he entered the academy, he would definitely train his party up well, to avoid shaming themselves again in front of Ling Lan in future.


    Ling Lan signalled for the students to stay in ce and not move. Then, with a nimble sh step, she had arrived at the doorway of the central control room. The doors were tightly sealed ¡ª entering or exiting required a passcode.


    "Little Four, how many people can you confirm inside?" Ling Lan asked Little Four silently.


    "There are 53 staff members, and 10 guards." Little Four projected the scene inside the central control room faithfully in Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace.


    "The opponent has the advantage in numbers. Breaking in forcefully may not allow us to take control quickly. The other side are likely to find time to send out the news of our attack." Ling Lan¡¯s brow furrowed, finding the situation somewhat out of her expectations. She had initially thought that since it was a meal time, the staff members inside would be fewer ¡ª unexpectedly, there wasn¡¯t that much fewer than normal.


    "Boss, I can instantly seal off theirmunication equipment!" Little Four became excited. This was his chance to shine! It was time to show Boss how awesome he could be.


    "And the weapons?" Ling Lan threw an icy nce at the smug Little Four, instantly suppressing the other¡¯s mes of arrogance. Indeed, all the staff members inside were equipped with beam handguns. If they just charged in, the other side need only find a chance to pull their guns and shoot, and some of their party might unfortunately die here.


    Ling Lan did not believe that under this sudden and unexpected attack, the people inside could still keep calm and judge the situation urately. It would already be a blessing if they did not just shoot indiscriminately all at once ¡ª if by any chance a student were to fall here, she would not be able to live with herself.


    Little Four was deeply struck by Ling Lan¡¯s words. He could only squat down and draw circles on the ground, busying himself with self-reflection ...


    Should she use arge-scale spiritual attack? Ling Lan silently spected. She actually had a solution ¡ª she could sense that the people inside were not people with awakened innate talents on the spiritual front; so, her spiritual attacks could totally incapacitate all of them.


    However, Ling Lan had one reservation, because Ling Xiao and Mu Shui-qing did not want others to know of this ability of hers. As veteran warriors, they knew the importance of keeping a trump card. In critical moments, that could be the ultimate move that would save one¡¯s life.


    Ling Lan took this advice to heart. Although spiritual attacks were not her only ace in the hole, no one would everin about having too many trump cards. Thus, Ling Lan had nodded and agreed.


    Ling Lan did not like to go against her word. Since she had already promised her father and her master not to use spiritual attacks unless absolutely necessary in a life-or-death situation, Ling Lan would hold true to that. Therefore, she decisively threw out this option and tried to think of another way.


    Ling Lan began to go through anything that could help their operation, and suddenly, a thought came to her mind. She recalled those sentries who had been struck down by them ¡ª could they maybe try to use the uniforms and weapons of those men?


    Ling Lan immediately returned to Han Jijyun¡¯s side, and quietly outlined her n. Han Jijyun felt that the idea was excellent, and the other team leaders by his side also nodded in approval as they heard the n. As long as the other party had just a beat of hesitation and uncertainty, that would be their chance.


    Although the other side had more people, thebat ability of the staff members were not very strong. As long as the other side did not find a chance to pull their guns and begin shooting en masse, the cadets would definitely be able to keep the situation under control. Their chances of winning were undoubtedly still very high.


    All young and courageous scout students were willing to take risks ¡ª everyone felt that this n was worth a shot.


    And so, Ling Lan led the group back to the room where they had put the sentries in. Before they entered, Ling Lan let Little Four check to see if any of the men had woken up. After confirming that they were all still unconscious, they opened the door. Everyone rushed in, and very soon, all the sentries¡¯ clothes and weapons had been lifted off their bodies.


    During this time, Little Four had done a quick scan of the ship, and found that the teams moving around the ship were in groups of 10 men. As such, it looked like the first batch to enter the central control room should not exceed 10 people.


    After listening to Little Four¡¯s report, Ling Lan was even more certain. This was definitely a spaceship run by military men, because the arrangement of 10 people per unit was precisely the smallest mobile unit of the official Federation army (with the exception of mecha squads).


    Inside the room, everyone quickly changed into the sentry uniforms. Even though they were only 16 years old right now, their bodies were already not that much different from that of an adult¡¯s. At a nce, it was almost impossible to notice anything off.


    Ling Lan was the only one who put on the uniform and then immediately took it off again, because Ling Lan was not the well-built manly type. Her muscles were all leanness and graceful lines ¡ª it was impossible to tell she was abat master when she was not circting her Qi or actually fighting. Her entire stature was a bit more slender than regr males, so the uniforms were obviously too big on her, not at all fitting.


    Everyone agreed that Ling Lan might as well not wear the uniform, because it would be obvious at a nce that she was in disguise, making the disguisepletely pointless.


    Ling Lan smiled wryly; the difference between genders was still apparent. However, Ling Lan very quickly centred herself again, because there was an even more delicate man in her party, Luo Lang ... at that thought, she immediately had no more regrets.


    (Ling Lan, don¡¯t you think there is something wrong with the way you are thinking? You are a girl, while Luo Lang is a boy ...) 1


    In order to ensure safety, Ling Lan, Han Jijyun, along with several intelligent-type team leaders discussed several action ns inside this sealed room. Among these, Gao Jinyun¡¯s performance stood out. He provided multiple possible scenarios that could happen once they entered the central control room, as well as the opponent¡¯s possible responses; this made the other team leaders from the Central Scout Academy hold a higher opinion of him.


    The students of the Central Scout Academy were a haughty bunch, never ever entertaining the idea that there could be better prodigies than themselves in the other scout academies. So, when Gao Jinyun had first joined them, they had not thought much of him and his party, their attitudes clearly cold and indifferent. If not for the fact that Gao Jinyun¡¯s party had performed eptably all this way, they might have tantly revealed expressions of disdain.


    But this time, many of the scenarios that Gao Jinyun described were things they themselves had not thought of. This made them understand that Gao Jinyun was not a simple character, and their initial bit of contempt slowly disappeared as they began to treat Gao Jinyun as an equal.


    Unnoticed by the others, Ling Lan and Han Jijyun shared a nce, the meaning of which only they knew.


    At the end, each of the team leaders epted their own tasks and returned to their respective teams. The moment Gao Jinyun returned, several team members surreptitiously gave him a thumbs up, showing their deep respect for their leader. No matter howposed Gao Jinyun was typically, at this moment, even he could not prevent the corner of his lips from curling up into a slight smile ...


    Gao Jinyun wanted to say something humble, say that he had only thought of all these due to the inspiration from the others ... Just as he opened his mouth to speak, he suddenly stopped, and all of his initial glee and satisfaction disappeared. He looked towards Han Jijyun, who was currently discussing the final details with Ling Lan, with aplicated expression. Just then, he had realised that those ideas and scenarios he had suggested had all beenpleted under the other¡¯s careful indirect guidance. In other words, without knowing it, he had been manipted by the other.


    "F*ck, who are these people?!" Gao Jinyun, who had originally been confident in his own intelligence, felt his ego being struck once more. Could it be that only aberrants existed beside aberrants? Still, Gao Jinyun was not someone who could not tell good from bad. The other had clearly been trying to help integrate him into their party with his actions ...


    Subsequently, the first batch of members to enter the central control room was selected. They were the ten strongest scout students excepting Ling Lan, while Lin Zhong-qing would take on the role of impersonating the leader of the sentry team.


    Ling Lan led all of them swiftly back to the doors of the central control room. To save time, Ling Lan stepped up immediately, letting Little Four crack the passcode for this door.


    Of course, in the eyes of the others, all of this was Ling Lan¡¯s doing. All they saw was their Boss Lan standing at the door staring at it for about one second, and then his fingers flew over the touchscreen, leaving behind trailing afterimages. Several secondster, he suddenly stopped and calmly told them the passcode ...


    They were once again in awe of Boss Lan¡¯s greatness. Who could have expected that thebat-powerful Boss Lan would also be so exceptional when it came to deciphering codes? In their hearts, a question emerged ¡ª was there anything Ling Lan could not do?


    Lin Zhong-qing, who was disguised as the leader, took a deep breath, trying to calm his pounding heart. Now was his time to perform. He mustplete the task Boss Lan had assigned to him perfectly. He must let Boss Lan see that he, Lin Zhong-qing, was definitely a team member worthy of trust.


    When Ling Lan had reached out a helping hand back when he had been most troubled, when Ling Lan had clearly known he was joining his team with an ulterior motive but still chose to treat him with dignity, giving him a chance to be strong, Lin Zhong-qing had known that Ling Lan would be the leader he would chase for life ...


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s gaze became resolute in an instant. Ever since joining Ling Lan¡¯s team, he had been making preparations for this day. In that case, what was there to be nervous about? Perhaps the personal pep-talk worked, for his initially high-strung emotions eased and faded, leaving himself calm and centred.


    He reached out his right hand, and keyed in the passcode with steady fingers. The door gave a sudden click and then slid to the left, revealing a roughly 1.5 metre wide entry.


    The people inside heard the sound and looked up reflexively. Seeing that it was just the ship¡¯s sentries, they rxed and turned back to their own work. Only one guard near the door asked in surprise, "Eh? Why are you all here? Has something happened outside?"


    Lin Zhong-qing answered calmly, "Yes! We havee to give a report."


    Without even thinking about it, the guard connected a call on his wristmunicator, and shouted, "Chief, a leader of one of the sentry teams says that there is a situation outside, and is here to report to you."


    "Let hime over here on his own!" A rough voice came from the other end of themunicator.


    "Yes, Chief!" The guard ended the call and pointed in a direction, saying, "The chief is over there. You can head right over."


    "Thank you!" said Lin Zhong-qing politely, though he was mentally cheering ¡¯YES¡¯ loudly to himself. It was unexpected that the ship¡¯s central control room was so ck in terms of security, letting him pass so easily without even confirming his identity.


    He threw a swift nce at his teammates behind him and then walked off in the direction the guard had pointed out. Lin Zhong-qing knew very well that time was of the essence right now ¡ª every second wasted meant an increase in the risk of being discovered.

 Chapter 213: Take Control of the Central Control Room!

    Chapter 213: Take Control of the Central Control Room!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    After Lin Zhong-qing left, the team leaders behind Lin Zhong-qing spread out, all of them getting closer to the various positions the guards were standing at. The guard at the door began to sense something off about the situation, and could not help but warn in a low growl, "Hey, you are not permitted to wander around here."


    In response, one of the team leaders walked over to sp the guard¡¯s wrist and said with a smile, "Brother, we¡¯re just curious. We¡¯ve been defending the safety of this area all this time but never got the chance to take a good look. Now, while we¡¯re waiting, isn¡¯t it okay to let your brothers expand our horizons a little ...?"


    The guard¡¯s stern expression eased a little at this, but there was still some irritation on his face as he said, "Even so, messing around is not allowed. If the chief finds out, you all will definitely not enjoy the consequences. Listen to me, brother, tell your men to get out immediately, otherwise I will report this to the chief!" The guard¡¯s tone was tinged with threat. He did not want himself to get into trouble with the chief over this matter.


    "Let our leader handle the chief. Brother,e on, give me some face!" The team leader who was impersonating a sentry member abruptly put a stern look on his face, and his low-pitched voice was filled with threat as he leaned in close.


    At this moment, the guard finally saw the face of the ¡¯sentry¡¯ who had almost had his entire face covered. Although the other¡¯s face was grim with threat, the parts of the face that were exposed were conspicuously young, just like that of a fresh green youth of 15 to 16 years of age. He abruptly recalled their current mission ¡ª wasn¡¯t it to escort about 500 newly registered students of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy from Doha?


    He swore in his heart, and tried with all his might to wrench his wrist from the other¡¯s grasp. At the same time, he tried to shout out to alert hispanions that the sentries were fake ¡ª this was an enemy invasion!


    But before he could sound the warning, the back of his head was struck a heavy blow, cutting off the cry he had been about to unleash. He instantly felt his mind grow murky and dim.


    "F*ck, still conscious? The guards here are truly iparable to those sentry men outside ..." He could vaguely hear a voice speaking by his ear. He then felt another blow to his head, and he fully descended into the darkness, no longer sensing anything.


    It turned out that all the students dressed as sentries had charged in under Ling Lan¡¯smand. They were split into two batches. The first batch had charged straight for the staff members, while the other had leapt towards those guards grappling with the very first batch of students who had entered with Lin Zhong-qing. As this particr guard had been standing closest to the door, he was the first to be knocked down by the students.


    "Nobody move!" The students charged in like wolves and tigers, beam guns in their hands trained on the staff members who were watching the screens. This sudden and unexpected development stupefied the staff members, who just sat there dumbly, not daring to move one bit.


    This abrupt situation also disturbed the chief waiting inside for Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s report. Seeing this, he pointed angrily at Lin Zhong-qing and bellowed, "Who are you people? Who gave you all the guts toe barging in here?"


    Lin Zhong-qing stepped up immediately and said loudly, "Captain¡¯s orders. From now onwards, we¡¯ll be taking over the control of this area."


    "Bullsh*t, why didn¡¯t I hear of this?" The chief of the guards did not believe this at all. If the captain had truly given the order for a change inmand, he would definitely have been notified.


    "My captain only told me. Of course you wouldn¡¯t know." By this time, Lin Zhong-qing had already walked closer, narrowing the distance to leave only 3 metres between him and the chief. Hearing the guard-chief¡¯s question, Lin Zhong-qing could not help but chuckle.


    "Who the hell are you? From which squad?" The guard-chief was livid now. He was the bosom advisor of the captain ¡ª the captain would never simply transfermand of the central control room to someone else without notifying him.


    As if thinking of something, the guard-chief¡¯s face turned dark, "Could it be that you all are mutinying? No, that¡¯s not right ... why don¡¯t I recognize you? Who the hell are you?"


    Lin Zhong-qing did not reply, only leaping forwards as quick as an arrow ...


    Seeing this, the guard-chief knew that these fellows were not here with good intentions. Reacting quickly, he drew the beam gun at his waist, but just as he was about to lift it and shoot, it was already toote.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s attack had arrived. Entirely airborne, he kicked out savagely. The sound of his leg whistling through the air showed how forceful it was, even without getting hit by it, the guard-chief could tell that if the kicknded, he would definitely incur some heavy injury. In the worst case, he might even lose his life.


    The guard-chief naturally would not y the fool with his life. He decisively gave up on shooting, choosing instead to cross his wrists to block Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s kick.


    A muted "Bam!" could be heard as the two collided. Lin Zhong-qing was pushed back by a tremendous force. He somersaulted in the air tond securely on his feet, while the guard-chief stumbled back three paces before the remnant force of Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s powerful kick dissipated.


    However, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s attack did not stop there. The moment he found his footing, he leapt forwards once more, not giving that guard-chief any chance to open fire. In the meantime, the other students were also leaping at the respective guards they had targeted ...


    The staff members may have been stunned for a moment, but they quickly gathered that they were under attack. They really wanted to fight back, but although the enemy seemed to have fewer people, each and every one of them was an exceptional young prodigy. Theirbat skills were much better than theirs, as technicians. Several eager staff members had been subdued instantly by sharp-eyed and agile students the moment they even thought of moving, thoroughly scaring the more cautious staff members into submission.


    Of course, somewhere out of the notice of the students, Ling Lan was secretly using her spiritual power to monitor the scene. Whenever she noticed some staff members who were covertly trying to activate the rm system or trying to shoot without being discovered, she would send a spiritual attack at them. The force she used was not enough to knock them unconscious, only giving them a bout of dizziness and making them lose temporary control of their bodies.


    By the time they got hold of themselves, their strange movements would have been discovered by the youths closest to them and they would be subdued ...


    Thus, whether that strange sensation was something they felt before being struck down or after being struck down, the staff members themselves found it hard to determine. So, in the end, they could only believe that they must have just been subdued by the opponent.


    Very soon, the situation was under the students¡¯ control. Other than the chief, the other nine guards had all been subdued. This left even more students free to control the scene, further discouraging the staff members from moving. They knew very well how capable their guards were, much stronger than they ¡ª if even the guards were no match for these opponents, then they would just be serving themselves out on a tter if they stepped forward.


    Moreover, the enemies¡¯ identities were unknown. Therefore, all the staff members chose to wait and see ¡ª of course, if the other turned out to be enemies of the Federation, they would fight to the death to take them down.


    Meanwhile, the guard-chief and Lin Zhong-qing were engaged in a tough fight, neither able to obtain the upper hand. Everyone¡¯s attention became focused on the two of them ...


    "Boss, I¡¯ve already sessfully taken control of the systems inside!" Ling Lan, who had been waiting outside alone, finally heard Little Four¡¯s answer. Little Four had finallypleted the task she had set for him, takingmand of the various systems of the central control room in a short amount of time.


    "Good job, Little Four!" Ling Lan was unstinting with her praise. As a bonus, she even stroked his hair and rubbed his head. The petted Little Four smiled radiantly, face filled with satisfaction.


    "Bam!" Lin Zhong-qing and the guard-chief were sprung apart once more after a collision. Landing on his feet, Lin Zhong-qing shouted, "All together!"


    Hearing Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s cry, several team leaders who had already been rubbing their palms in anticipation leapt forwards without any reservations ... they had long wanted to join the fight, but before Lin Zhong-qing gave explicit permission, they would not simply interrupt. This was a type of respect towards one¡¯spanions as well. Of course, now that Lin Zhong-qing had given his approval, they would not hold back.


    "You¡¯re too despicable!" Seeing Lin Zhong-qing withdraw, only for four to fivebat experts like Lin Zhong-qing to take his ce, the guard-chief could not help but howl, thoroughly enraged.


    At this moment, Lin Zhong-qing stood unruffled in the outer circle of the fight, a smile on his face, but the words he spoke were filled with mockery, "Are you stupid? You are our enemy. Who would speak of morality with an enemy? It¡¯s not like we¡¯re idiots ..." This contemptuous tone made the already enraged guard-chief feel the mes of his rage grow even hotter.


    Unable to calm down, the guard-chief quickly exposed an opening, taking on a powerful direct hit from one of the team leaders. His right shoulder was struck heavily by the other¡¯s fist, making him instantly lose strength in his right hand.


    Lin Zhong-qing, who had been waiting on the outside for a chance, naturally would not let this rare opportunity go by. His eyes lit up, and with a spring of his right foot, he threw his entire body into the air once more, leaping at the guard-chief.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s attacks came quickly and somewhat suddenly. When the team leader blocking the guard-chief¡¯s line of sight suddenly slid to one side cooperatively to let Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s attack through, the guard-chief was not at all prepared, not to mention find time to change moves to suit.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s kicknded squarely on the other¡¯s chest, sending the guard-chief flying backwards to crash heavily onto the wall of the central control room, leaving a faint imprint behind before bouncing off it to fall to the ground.


    This kick of Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s was extremely powerful; the guard-chief had only had time to gather Qi in his chest as a final defence. But how could this little bit of defence stand up the power behind that kick? The chief was still injured by it. When he fell to the ground, a mouthful of blood spurted out to colour the floor.


    Seeing this, three of the team leaders who had been part of the group fighting the guard-chief leapt forwards without any mercy. Two of them grabbed hold of one of the guard-chief¡¯s arms each, while the third person put his knee directly on the back of the guard-chief, pushing him to kneel on the ground,pletely subduing the other.


    Only then did Lin Zhong-qing reveal a proper smile. He had finallypleted the task Boss Lan had set for him. He turned his head back to shout proudly, "Leader!"


    Following Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s cry, a handsome figure walked slowly into the central control room. Dressed fully in ck, with gleaming military boots, he walked in with sure steps. His cold but dashing appearance, chilling aura, along with this spirited and majestic attire made everyone¡¯s eyes light up, their minds involuntarily eximing, "How domineering!"


    However, very quickly, the crowd¡¯s gazes were drawn to that conspicuously young face. At this moment, everyone instantly realised who these attackers were.

 Chapter 214: Ling Lans Intention

    Chapter 214: Ling Lan¡¯s Intention


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Godd*mmit, a revolt?" The moment the guard-chief saw Ling Lan, and then turned to see those covered up ¡¯sentries¡¯ taking off their caps, also revealing their overly young faces, he understood that the ¡¯enemies¡¯ before him this time were actually their mission, the new cadets of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    He was filled with shame and anger, struggling harder in an attempt to regain freedom. However, those three team leaders did not dare to let up without Ling Lan¡¯s order, holding him very securely, giving him no chance at all to struggle free.


    Seeing that his struggles were futile, the guard-chief threatened angrily, "Don¡¯t you all want to study at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy anymore? Without us, you all will never get to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Still not letting us go ...?"


    Without question, all the guard-chief could think of right now was that these new cadets must be crazy to do such an insane thing.


    At this time, Ling Lan, who had been calmly waiting for Little Four¡¯s search results, finally heard Little Four¡¯s gleefulughter in her mindspace. "Haha, Boss, I have already found their destination. I¡¯ve even gotten the detailed coordinates! Without them, I can still bring you, Boss, to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to report for school."


    That said, Little Four could not help but mumble, "They were unexpectedly cautious, hiding their true destination so deeply. I had to look really hard, which is why it took some time ..." Reading between the lines, he was telling Ling Lan that he had not been so slow on purpose ¡ª it looked like Little Four was still somewhat worried that his boss would me him for cking off.


    "It¡¯s great that you found it!" Ling Lanforted Little Four inside the mindspace. After that, she put all her attention back onto the central control room, because she noticed that, just now, several of the staff members had secretly tried to activate the rm system on theirmunicators as well as the ship¡¯s internal enemy attack alert ...


    A trace of a cold smirk emerged on Ling Lan¡¯s lips, because all their efforts were useless. From the very start, she had let Little Four utterly seal off theirmunicators as well as the central control room¡¯s alert system the moment he gained control. They had no way at all to contact the outside world now. This was another reason why it had taken Little Four a little longer to discover the ship¡¯s true destination; Ling Lan knew very well what was the most important.


    Sure enough, reality made the other side panicked and flustered. They found that no matter how hard they pressed on their buttons, theirmunicators and the alert system in the central control room had lost their functions. Not only did they not have any tools to contact the outside, they had also lost the right to control the spaceship at the same time. This discovery made their expressions change drastically, whatposure they had left vanishing in an instant.


    The staff members familiar with programming all knew what the reason was. This meant the other side had a top-notch hacker, which was how they had managed to crack through their systems andmunicators in such a short period of time. At the same time the hacker had taken control of their main control systems, they had lost their contact with the outside world.


    Right now, they were like voiceless mutes, like sightless blind, like wingless birds, like criminals who had lost their freedom ...


    "Do you all understand now? Even without you all, we can still make our way to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to report for sses!" Since they had a top-level hacker, of course they would be able to find out the true destination. Ling Lan swept a frosty gaze across the control room. Everyone could sense the ice in that gaze, as well as the unlimited killing intent within it.


    This concentrated killing intent made all the staff members present who still wanted to try and regain control freeze instantly. Fear rose in their hearts ¡ª did the other truly intend to kill them? Who on earth were these new cadets? How could they have such intense killing intent?


    Not only the staff members were petrified by this gaze, even the new cadets felt a chill in their hearts even though they knew this gaze had nothing to do with them. The gun hands of some of the cadets could not help but tremble a bit, which just made the staff members at the other end of the nozzle even more frightened, afraid that the cadet in front of them may lose control and press the trigger by ident, causing them to be ghosts in such a muddled way ...


    Seeing everyone at the scene petrified by her killing intent, Ling Lan was very satisfied. The many years of ughter and torment in the learning space were extremely effective ¡ª even if she had no killing intent in her heart, she was now able to force herself to emit killing intent, confusing the opponent of her true intentions.


    That¡¯s right, Ling Lan had no choice but to do this. In the instant she had walked in, and these staff members had realised that the ones holding them hostage were a bunch of military academy cadets, their initial fear had disappeared. They did not believe that these cadets had any intentions of killing them, and with that knowledge, they no longer had anything to fear, and so became emboldened.


    This was also why so many people had thought to press the alerts on theirmunicators and try to sound the rm, because they did not really think the cadets would truly pull their triggers and shoot them with those lethal beams ...


    Ling Lan could not allow these thoughts to remain unchecked ¡ª once the other side began to fight back without any reservations, the situation might escte beyond their control. At that time, she would have no choice but to kill a few men, but Ling Lan wanted to take perfect control of this ship without harming a single person. This was also why she had been so decisive in revealing her killing intent.


    But this alone was not enough. After all, without the sight of blood, these people would have some reservations, but this would not make thempletely lose the will to fight back. Ling Lan swept her gaze across the room once more, her sight finallynding on the guard-chief¡¯s body.


    The guard-chief was already at the middle-stage of top-level Refinement. If it had not been for five or six of the team leaders who were already in Refinement stage fighting him together, along with Lin Zhong-qing who was already in the early-stage of top-level Refinement, they would only have been able to subdue the other through sheer numbers. Of course, if the other was in Qi-Jin stage, Ling Lan would have been forced to fight personally.


    The guard-chief was also the strongest of all the people here ¡ª if she could use pure strength topletely subdue the other, it would definitely shatter the other side¡¯s confidence, making them no longer able to muster the will to fight back.


    Ling Lan could have actually ordered the cadets to knock all these people unconscious, and then shut them up in a locked room just like with those sentries from before. She only made things soplicated, inrge part, all for the sake of these cadets.


    She could indeed let Little Four take full control of the spaceship and fly them to their final destination, but this way, the new cadets would miss out on a chance to learn how to control a spaceship. Mind you, this kind of hands-on learning experience on an actual spaceship was very rare ¡ª even cadets would only have a chance for practical training on a true spaceship in their 4th year, and even then, it would only be for those outstanding students.


    If these new cadets could obtain this opportunity to get some hands-on practice, it would undoubtedly be extremely beneficial for them ... and these staff members would be the best mentoring teachers. This was also the biggest reason why Ling Lan had not chosen to make everyone unconscious.


    Because these cadets had willingly followed her and put their trust in her ¡ª even if her n had been so insane in their minds, they had still followed her without anyints. Ling Lan was someone who repaid the kindness of others ¡ª since they had treated her this way, she wanted to repay them with something of a little value.


    Ling Lan, who already had a decision in mind, slowly walked over to where the guard-chief was being forced to kneel. She slowly squatted down, looked at the guard-chief, and asked coldly, "Do you feel very aggrieved?"


    "Of course, you all are too despicable. If you all hadn¡¯t attacked in a group, how could you all have taken me down?" The guard-chief undoubtedly had a lot of confidence in himself.


    "Fine, I will give you one chance. If you can block one move of mine, I will release everyone here and personally report to your captain for punishment." Ling Lan abruptly stood up and waved at the three team leaders holding the guard-chief down.


    The three team leaders smiled and let go. Pleasant surprise shed through the guard-chief¡¯s eyes, and he hurriedly stood up, saying, "No need for just one move. I¡¯ll even take 100 moves." He still had his pride; he did not want to take advantage of Ling Lan.


    However, his words made some of the cadets burst out intoughter,ughing at how the opponent was overly confident in his own strength. Although the other Central Scout Academy students had not seen Ling Lan fight for three years, Ling Lan had already been a top-level Qi-Jin master three years ago ¡ª against a top-level Refinement stage fighter, Ling Lan would definitely overpower the other in one second. They believed that even though Ling Lan¡¯s body was not fully recovered, taking down the opponent in one move should still be no problem.


    The guard-chief noticed theughter of some of the cadets and his heart dropped. Could this leader of theirs actually be a super expert? He looked again at Ling Lan¡¯s youthful face and cast away his doubts. Because, to defeat him in one move, the other would need to have Qi-Jin stage ability. The other being so young, was it possible for him to be at that level?


    Although there was indeed a Qi-Jin stage student in the cafeteria, that student was after all still at the early stages. Against him, the guard-chief believed he would definitely be able to take up to 50 or 60 moves with no problem ...


    Although the guard-chief did not think Ling Lan had the ability to defeat him in one move, the cadets¡¯ attitudes made him have no choice but to be cautious. He took a defensive stance, waiting seriously for Ling Lan¡¯s attack. Since the other was willing to have a fair fight, he too was willing.


    Ling Lan had said very clearly ¡ª if he could block one move from him ¡ª which meant that the other would be attacking while he defended. He did not want to vite the agreement.


    Ling Lan calmly nced at the guard-chief and then unleashed her aura. An invisible pressure pressed down on the entire central control room.


    "Qi-Jin stage!" Sensing this pressure, the guard-chief¡¯s expression changed. He pushed his defence from 7yers to 12yers ¡ª it could be said that he had pushed all his energy into his defence.


    "Let¡¯s just do it this way!" Ling Lan casually reached out a finger, pushing it lightly in the other¡¯s direction. This unconcerned demeanour almost made the guard-chief spew blood, but before he could get angry, he sensed the endless pressureing from Ling Lan¡¯s finger.


    "Top-level Qi-Jin, no, this should be optimal Qi-Jin ... how can this be?" The guard-chief was frantic. He quickly crossed his wrists, fiercely defending along the trajectory of Ling Lan¡¯s reaching finger.


    A loud "Bam!" ¡ª Everyone in the central control room was pushed back by an invisible wave of Qi-Jin; the scene was aplete mess.


    The guard-chief was sent flying to once more m into the ship¡¯s wall and crash heavily down. Blood flowed in an endless stream from his mouth, and his eyes flipped to white ¡ª it was hard to tell whether he was dead or alive.


    Even more frightening was the fact that there was now a human-shaped dent in the unbelievably solid ship wall. This scene made all the staff members gape in shock and horror, chilled with fear. How strong exactly was the leader of these cadets? Could it be that he was already at the level of the captain?

 Chapter 215: Respective Decisions!

    Chapter 215: Respective Decisions!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Seeing the initially pristine floor stained red by the blood spewing from the other¡¯s mouth, Ling Lan furrowed her brow in disgust. She callously flicked her sleeve, and then, as if ordering someone to take out the trash, she said, "This smell of blood is really disgusting. Lin Zhong-qing, throw this trash out for me so I don¡¯t have to dirty my eyes."


    Ling Lan said this in an indifferent tone, sufficiently showing her cold disregard for human life. Even Lin Zhong-qing who was familiar with Boss Lan could not help a shudder running through his heart when faced with this kind of Boss Lan, his face nearly losing all colour in fear.


    Fortunately, over the years, Lin Zhong-qing had already mastered how to use a smile to mask his true thoughts. He continued to maintain the smile on his face and replied breezily, "Yes, Leader!" The way he said it was as if he were used to these words from Ling Lan ¡ª as if incidents of this sort were amon urrence ¡ª causing the staff members to be consumed by fear.


    Ling Lan nodded mentally. Lin Zhong-qing had grown a lot over these past three years, able to handle this sort of impromptu situation proficiently as well. Although the two of them had not discussed this beforehand, their rapport was on point, easily achieving the effect that Ling Lan wanted.


    Lin Zhong-qing calmly stepped forward. Frankly, his heart was not as steady as his demeanour would suggest ¡ª Boss Lan¡¯s ambiguous attitude made him unsure whether the guard-chief was still alive or actually dead ... Lin Zhong-qing could not help but wonder whether Boss Lan had truly killed the guard-chief?


    His heart was full of questions, but his expression remained calm and unruffled. He walked over to the guard-chief¡¯s body, bent down, and grabbed hold of the other¡¯s clothes by his chest. However, as he did so, he surreptitiously used a nimble technique to touch the other¡¯s chest as well ...


    " Dup, dup, dup ... 1 " The faint sound of a heart beating was transmitted through his palm. Lin Zhong-qing instantly realised that this was probably a scene orchestrated by Ling Lan on purpose to terrorize the staff members of the central control room.


    Although Lin Zhong-qing could not understand why Ling Lan would go through all this trouble, he believed that Boss Lan must have his reasons for doing so.


    As for whether Boss Lan himself was unsure of the guard-chief¡¯s state, Lin Zhong-qing did not even think the matter worth considering. He knew very well that, based on Boss Lan¡¯s capabilities, his boss definitely knew the other lived. The only reason he acted so ambiguously was definitely because he was setting a scene.


    The uncertainty of the guard-chief¡¯s condition caused the staff members within the central control room to experience a sort of empathetic grief 2 . A faint sadness spread through the central control room ¡ª not only were they worried for the guard-chief, they were also worried for themselves. At this time, they no longer held on to theposure they had before. They no longer believed that these youths truly would not dare do anything to them ¡ª because their leader, that cold-faced and unfeeling ck-clothed youth, was definitely a cruel and ruthless character.


    Ling Lan saw that the initial restlessness among the staff members had settled, and immediately decided to continue striking while the iron was hot. So, she red angrily and said, "Tie them all up!"


    This bunch of new cadets were still rather green ¡ª actually not thinking to restrain these staff members.


    That said, Ling Lan threw a look at Lin Zhong-qing. Seeing Boss Lan¡¯s meaningful gaze, a thought sparked through Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s mind. He recalled the method Ling Lan had once taught their team for tying people up. The method was one where they did not need to worry about materials to tie others up; they would be able to take it from the captives themselves. That method was to use the captives¡¯ belts. In this world, on the ship, whether it were the guards or the staff members, all of them would be wearing a belt so that they could holster their beam handguns on it.


    Fully understanding what he should do, Lin Zhong-qing nodded at Ling Lan and walked straight over to the nearest staff member. As the other struggled, he unbuckled and took off the other¡¯s belt.


    The students had already taken away the beam handguns at first notice right after they had taken control of the staff members. Therefore, these staff members did not have any firearms to use against the students, only able to rely on their fists. However, in terms ofbat skills, how could these people match up to the elite prodigies trained by the Central Scout Academy?


    "Stop struggling. The more you struggle, the more painful it¡¯ll be ..." The smile on Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s lips widened, causing the staff member to be even more afraid. Could it be they wanted to torture them for their own entertainment? The terrified staff member could no longer keep his calm. He began to struggle in earnest, almost wresting out of the grip of the student restraining him.


    "Hmph!" Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s smile turned cold. With a quick dash, he pressed the other to the ground, and then used the belt in his hands to tie the other¡¯s two arms securely behind his back, finally looping the belt around the other¡¯s neck before tugging it back to buckle securely by the arms 3 .


    The method Lin Zhong-qing used to tie the staff member was styled in an eightfold intece. This binding method required skilful technique ¡ª it was an extremely difficult but extremely practical binding method that was not easy to learn even after multiple tries. It had been redeemed by Ling Lan from the learning space using honour points.


    If this binding method was not done correctly, there was a certain chance for the target to break free. However, once the technique was mastered, the more the target struggled, the knot of the eightfold intece would just be increasingly tighter, giving the target no chance at all to break free.


    Of course, this method was useless when it came to those at Refinement stage and above. After all, the strength of a Refinement stage was enough to snap the resilience of a leather belt. However, these staff members would have no way of breaking free, because the strongest among them was only at the level of Manifestation.


    Lin Zhong-qing still remembered how much effort it had taken back then for their team to master this knot, especially for team leader Qi Long. With his brash and straightforward personality, he had never liked this kind of detailed work; he had tried several hundred times without seeding even once. This had enraged Boss Lan, who had proceeded to throw team leader Qi Long into a privatebat room for a good round of torment before being satisfied.


    Although they did not know how badly team leader Qi Long had been tormented back then, whatever the case, when team leader Qi Long came back after his injuries were healed, he had been very careful when learning the knot again. That uncharacteristically tremulous and cautious demeanour of his was carved into their minds. From then onwards, the team members were even more wary of angering Boss Lan ... because no one wanted to experience the same tragedy as Qi Long.


    Lin Zhong-qing very quickly tied his knot, and pushed that staff member to a corner. Then, under Ling Lan¡¯s indication, he walked over to another staff member and again used the same method to take the other¡¯s belt, but this time, he said to the other team members on the scene, "Can I trouble the team leaders to monitor the situation? Meanwhile, the other team members,e tie knots with me. Let¡¯s get these staff members all tied up."


    Just like that, the students followed Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s step-by-step example and began tying knots. After each round, Lin Zhong-qing would go around and check each of their knots, and whenever he found any mistakes, he would correct it immediately. Rinse and repeat three times, and all the staff members were securely tied up. Of course, when the students thought back on how to tie the knot, their minds were a muddled mess, not at all sure how they should go about it 4 ...


    However, this did not exclude some students with photographic memories from learning the knot. Still, Ling Lan was unconcerned by this. The learning space still had even better binding methods ¡ª if this method becamemon knowledge among the students, then she could always just redeem an even more advanced binding method for Qi Long and the others.


    Of course, Ling Lan did not even consider whether relearning a new binding method would make Qi Long wish he were dead ... It was even possible that Ling Lan was hoping to take advantage of it to school Qi Long again ...


    The situation in the central control room was already in its end stages; what happened after this had nothing to do with herself. Ling Lan decisively passed on the burden, turning to say to Han Jijyun, "Jijyun, you stay back and hold the fort. Take charge of the central control room." Next, she swept her gaze at all the other students in the central control room and said, "The strongest five, follow me to the captain¡¯s office!"


    Lin Zhong-qing did not even think about it. He was the first to step forward and say, "Leader, bring me!"


    Ling Lan nodded and said, "Alright, four more!"


    The team leaders all vied against one another to get one of these four slots. To save time, Ling Lan directly called out the four strongest toe along. Since she chose based on strength, the other team leaders who were not chosen had noints.


    Of course, Ling Lan also reminded the remaining group that the central control room was the most important control tform in the ship. They needed to remain here to ensure the safety of the central control room ¡ª they could not afford to let the ship¡¯s crew snatch control back once they found out.


    When Han Jijyun sent Ling Lan out of the central control room, Ling Lan told him in a low voice, "This is a good chance to really learn how to manage the work sequences on a spaceship."


    "But we only know bits and pieces." They have not had any formal training in operating a spaceship ¡ª this may be a great opportunity, but Han Jijyun did not think that they could figure anything out on their own. This was likely going to be a wasted chance. Han Jijyun could not help but sigh under his breath.


    Ling Lan swept a nce around the central control room and reminded, "Over there. Aren¡¯t there people to mentor you all?"


    Han Jijyun¡¯s eyes brightened, instantly understanding what Ling Lan was implying. His mind turned and he asked hurriedly, "Is that guard-chief still alive?" Even though he did not think Ling Lan would kill indiscriminately, he still needed to obtain a confirmed answer, because he had thought of a way to let those staff members teach them voluntarily.


    Ling Lan nodded in confirmation of Han Jijyun¡¯s guess. "How to use him is up to your capabilities." She could only do so much. Whether or not they could obtain what they wanted next would depend on Han Jijyun¡¯s efforts.


    Ling Lan put in so much effort and thought into engineering this primarily because back when the group had first applied for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, Han Jijyun had not signed up for the military strategy specialization he was good at, instead choosing to apply for the starship navigation specialization. This meant that Han Jijyun would be a starship captain in the future, and even if he did a little worse, he would still be an important navigator on a starship ...


    Perhaps many people would find it a shame that Han Jijyun had cast aside his own strengths to choose a specialization with a less promising future, but Han Jijyun was very clear on what he was doing.


    It should be known that Ling Lan, Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi had all chosen mecha piloting as their specialization, while Lin Zhong-qing had chosen the oft-neglected, perhaps even only chosen as ast resort, supply and logistics.


    In fact, with Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s talent, he could certainly have applied for mecha piloting as well, but he had still chosen this low-key and unassuming specialization in the end. Han Jijyun understood why he had done so. He was doing it for the sake of the team ¡ª a team could afford to lose a powerful fighter, but it could notck an excellent logistics person.

 Chapter 216: The Ships Mainframe!

    Chapter 216: The Ship¡¯s Mainframe!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    An excellent logistics specialist meant a team would have several extra lives. To be a topbat team, the position of logistics specialist could not be left unupied. After careful consideration, Lin Zhong-qing chose this without any regrets.


    Of course, this did not mean Lin Zhong-qing had given up on mecha piloting. Students from other specializations could still choose to take mecha piloting courses, but their studies in the area just would not be as specialised and systematic than if the student had actually signed up for the specialization. In the end, theirbat power would also naturally be iparable with those students from the mecha piloting specialization.


    Overall, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s decision was a great sacrifice. He hadpletely given up on his own path to be a super strong fighter, choosing instead to invest in the possibility of hisbat team bing a top team. Han Jijyun too had made his decision for this objective.


    Han Jijyun believed that only by bing a starship captain would he be able to better serve his current team. Yes, Han Jijyun could not ept that their lives would be ced in the hands of an unfamiliar starship captain.This made Han Jijyun feel very unsettled and insecure, so he decided that he would step up personally.


    It could be said that every single member of Ling Lan¡¯s team was using their own way to better the team. This was also why Ling Lan wanted to help Han Jijyun settle into his role quicker ¡ª if he could have practical experience operating a starship ahead of time, this would undoubtedly give Han Jijyun a head start over the other students in the starship navigation specialization ...


    After arranging everything, Ling Lan quickly left the central control room. Her objective was now the captain¡¯s room. Only by obtaining the control rights of the mainframe would she be able to truly im control of this ship.


    Han Jijyun looked at Ling Lan¡¯s disappearing figure, and very quickly rallied his spirits. His gaze became sharp and discerning. Just as Ling Lan had said, this was a great chance for him to familiarise himself with a spaceship¡¯s controls. If he could fully utilise the remaining 1 day and 1 night, he believed that when it came to practical control of a spaceship, those peers at the academy would definitely be no match for him after this.


    Of course, to let these staff membersy down their grudge and mentor them sincerely ¡ª that would depend on how he, Han Jijyun, could spin things. Han Jijyun swept his gaze over the remaining cadets guarding the central control room and was suddenly struck by a realisation. He had just noticed that Ling Lan¡¯s arrangement still had another deeper meaning ...


    Han Jijyun smiled lightly, thinking to himself: Boss Lan sure enough is Boss Lan!


    Han Jijyun was an ambitious person. Although he had applied for the starship navigation specialization, he did not truly want to give up on military strategy. He wanted to develop both fronts at the same time, learning from both specializations. Han Jijyun¡¯s goal was very ambitious. He not only wanted to be an exceptional captain, but also an indispensable military adviser for the team,ing up with ns and tactics for his brothers to protect them in their missions.


    Han Jijyun silently cheered himself on, telling himself that he needed toplete this trial before him; he could not let Boss Lan down.


    ********


    As Han Jijyun was cracking his head on how to obtain sincere instruction from the staff members, Ling Lan¡¯s group of six had arrived at the captain¡¯s room at greatest speed.


    Before they even got close to the captain¡¯s room, Little Four already spoke up to remind Ling Lan that there was still one person guarding the captain¡¯s room!


    Ling Lan did not waver. She instantly directed Little Four to crack the passcode on the door of the captain¡¯s room. The door was swiftly unlocked, and without even stopping to think, Ling Lan led Lin Zhong-qing and the others straight into the room.


    At this time, the major inside the room was staring at the virtual images in front of him. The main video was focused on the scene in the cafeteria; the other images were all in small windows around the edges of the screen for his convenience to check on them every so often.


    In the cafeteria on the main screen, the captain was already in a fight with Qi Long. Probably because he was pleased to find this talent and eager for sport, the captain was not going all out. Instead, he was holding back his strength to fight Qi Long at an equal level, sparring with Qi Long with the intention to instruct.


    Qi Long was a battle maniac from the start ¡ª he very quickly sensed the intentions of his opponent. When he discovered that the other had no ill will and intended to instruct him, he reeled in those highly offensive power moves, and began learning from his opponent in earnest.


    The major could not help but nod his head in approval at this scene. The extremely talented young fighter in the screen was, as expected, a fellow with extraordinarily strongprehension when it came to battle. No wonder he had achieved such a level at this age.


    Right then, he suddenly heard the A.I. controlled door emit a soft click, and then it slid open on its own. He turned back in shock. Mind you, only he and the captain had the ess code to the room ¡ª no one else should be able to get in. And right now, the captain was in the cafeteria ... so who could it be that was entering now?


    A youth dressed in a ck windbreaker came into view, walking ostentatiously into the room with five sentries trailing him. Seeing him look back, the youth¡¯s face remained unmoved as he stated some preposterous words in an icy tone. "Sorry, I¡¯m here to inform you that I¡¯m taking charge of this ship!"


    "You ¡ª impudent!" The major burst out intoughter in his extreme anger. Still, this did not affect his rational thinking. "Looks like that youth in the cafeteria is part of you all."


    The major instantly figured out Ling Lan¡¯s n. That Qi-Jin youth in the cafeteria had been so tant, all so they could lure the most capable captain of the ship out of his room, making it easier for them to conquer this area ... but, was it really going to be that simple?


    The major quickly calmed down. He pointed at a small screen on the virtual monitor and said, "I¡¯m just a little curious. How did you all avoid the ship¡¯s surveince devices?" That image was precisely the video feed of the passageway to the captain¡¯s room. He should have seen them pass by that area on the way here, but there was nothing in the logs.


    Ling Lan stepped forward without a care. The moment she had walked through the door, she had taken stock of the other. This soldier of major rank breathed deeply and steadily, his aura thick and settled. If she was not mistaken, he should also be a Qi-Jin stage expert. However, this was no threat to Ling Lan. At present, Ling Lan¡¯s capabilities were at the level where no one below the stage of Domain could rival her.


    Ling Lan strode over to the captain¡¯s exclusive seat and sat down, a hand casually sliding across the mainframe¡¯s light source before her. She said calmly, "You mean this?"


    Following Ling Lan¡¯s words, the image on the screen suddenly changed. A person actually appeared in the initially empty corridor ¡ª it was the image from when the captain had walked out of the room ...


    With this, the major finally understood. His expression shifted slightly and somewhat rattled, he said, "You all have a high-level hacker." Only a high-level hacker could change the video feed, but shouldn¡¯t hackers of this level all already be in the control of the military since young? Why would such an expert be among this group of youths?


    "Do you all really think that you can crack the mainframe in a brief amount of time to obtain the control rights of the ship?" The major did his best to smooth out his expression. He smiled coldly as he surreptitiously adjusted his body temperature.


    Once one¡¯s ability reached a certain level, one did not need to touch one¡¯smunicator to send out a warning signal ¡ª one could do that just by changing one¡¯s body temperature.


    Ling Lan nced coldly at the major and said evenly, "Don¡¯t waste your strength. It¡¯s useless!"


    The major too had sensed that something was wrong, because the temperature of his wrist was already extremely low, but hismunicator still was not responding. This meant that themunicator had already lost the function to contact the outside. This was definitely not something a high-level hacker could do ¡ª what in the world was going on?


    Ling Lan no longer bothered with the stunned major. She continued to touch the light beams of the mainframe, as if shifting something around.


    In fact, inside the mindspace, Ling Lan was currently telling Little Four, "Little Four, help me connect to the mainframe. I want to get the administrative rights of this ship."


    "Okay, Boss, I¡¯m already talking to it! This little fellow is very interesting, actually having developed a little bit of self-awareness ..."


    Ling Lan quirked a brow in surprise, "Oh? An existence like you?"


    Little Four huffed discontentedly, "How could that be? Who do you think I am? I am without peer under the heavens ... I just said that it was seeking the path of evolution, having sparked the barest inkling of desire to shake off the restrictions of its programming. It¡¯s like the mainframe has been invaded by a virus, except this virus will not destroy the mainframe¡¯s programming, instead giving it the tiniest bit of awareness towards evolution ... This is the first time I¡¯m sensing this. In the past, no matter how humanistic a mainframe appeared to be, it was still within the confines of its programming."


    "Boss, let me first talk with it a little. It seems to be very afraid of me." Little Four had tried tomunicate with the other, but had not received a response from the mainframe.


    Just a whileter, the mainframe finally spoke up, "Hello!"


    Little Four cheered inside Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace. "Boss, it is willing to talk with us now."


    "I want to be the master of this spaceship," Ling Lan said calmly to the mainframe.


    "..." The mainframe fell silent once more.


    "Little Four? What¡¯s going on?" Ling Lan asked inside the mindspace.


    "Wait a bit. It seems to have some feelings for its original master." Little Four had sensed the mainframe¡¯s reluctance, feeling the mainframe¡¯s affection for the captain.


    In the mainframe¡¯s world, Little Four had already found the mainframe¡¯s true self. He was holding up a naked little brat of about one years old 1 by the scruff of his neck as he chided, "What, being disobedient now?"


    The mainframe whined pitifully, "The master has always treated me well."


    Little Four said exasperatedly, "We¡¯re just taking control temporarily ¡ª temporarily , understand?" He believed that his boss would not really want to keep such a small ship as this one ¡ª she was definitely just taking control temporarily for her major counterattack this time.


    "But the master will be sad." The mainframe still wanted to help his master even though the being before him now was so strong beyond his understanding. If he made him angry, he believed the other would definitely kill him without any mercy, and then take full control of the ship anyway. Although he did not want to disappear, the rules set within his chip, as well as the feelings in his heart, made him unable to just agree to their demands.


    The mainframe was unsure whether this feeling was a requirement of his programming, or was it truly his own heart being reluctant to betray his master ...


    "Then step aside, I¡¯ll take over temporarily. I¡¯ll return control to youter on." Little Four did not want to continue bickering with this immature mainframe endlessly, so he threw down this offer.


    "Please no! The programming is set so that I will die with the ship." The mainframe hugged Little Four¡¯s calves as he bawled, "If you take over, the programming will destroy my consciousness ..."


    With his life hanging in the bnce, the mainframe instantly threw aside his reluctance for his master. He revealed a w within the system. "As long as you crack the programming set by the master, I can temporarily be your master¡¯s ship." The system was a dead thing ¡ª as long as one obtained the control rights, the mainframe would not have to self-destruct, but this should not count as a betrayal of his master, right ...? The mainframe consoled himself, thinking.

 Chapter 217: Proclamation of Battle!

    Chapter 217: Promation of Battle!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Say that earlier!" huffed Little Four exasperatedly. Cracking defences or whatever was a minor case for him, as easy as pie.


    With just a thought, Little Four hacked through the defensive measures set in ce by the captain around the mainframe. The mainframe stared admiringly at Little Four, abruptly having the desire to abandon his current master to follow after this amazing senior ...


    Little Four sensed the mainframe¡¯s thoughts and hurried to say, "You still can¡¯t move around freely, and your concealment ability is poor. Once you leave, you¡¯ll be discovered by the monitoring staff immediately. You might as well stay here and grow steadily and be even stronger ..."


    For the mainframe of this ship to have the possibility of evolving, it was clear that that rough and brutish-looking captain typically still cared for this rather naive mainframe very well; he could be considered a good master.


    Little Four did not want to kidnap a minor ¡ª this would really make him feel like a criminal, so he immediately stopped the mainframe. However, seeing the mainframe looking a little dejected, Little Four consoled him, saying, "Don¡¯t worry. Once you grow up, I¡¯lle and take you with me ..."


    Little Four¡¯s innocent words offort gave the mainframe a drive of its own, causing it to develop rapidly within a short period of time. This would even lead to a timeter on further along the line when Ling Lan and the others would receive major assistance from the mainframe of this ship ...


    It could only be said that this simple-minded little mainframe had ¡¯married¡¯ himself off to Little Four due to this chance meeting ...


    "Weeding out the setmands of the previous master. Now awaiting the new master¡¯smands. Master, please rename this ship." The mainframe finally recited the words which represented a change of ownership, causing the major¡¯s expression to change drastically, "You can¡¯t do that!"


    If these new cadets really obtained the administrative rights of this ship, the crew would definitely be theughingstock of all their peers, perhaps even bing unable to lift their heads for the rest of their lives.


    The major knew that he must stop Ling Lan. He leapt forward desperately, his aura out in full force, trying to force Ling Lan away from the captain¡¯s seat. By now, he could already tell that the concealed high-level hacker was in fact this youthful but cold and dominant young man before his eyes.


    The major¡¯s attack was fierce, but Ling Lan was not scared by it. This was because although the major¡¯s attack seemed fierce, Ling Lan could not sense much killing intent behind it. The other¡¯s objective was just to force Ling Lan aside and not to kill her ...


    However, the major¡¯s level was originally already weaker than Ling Lan by a bracket, and now, because he did not want to hurt Ling Lan, his attack power was diminished by another 30%. If the major truly gave his all, using all the killing techniques and ultimate moves he knew to attack, perhaps Ling Lan would have to be a little more cautious and choose to put all her focus into defending. But under these circumstances, Ling Lan did not feel threatened at all ...


    Still, even though Ling Lan did not feel threatened, she did not self-conceitedly decide to take the attack with her body. Extremely careful with her life, she still chose to lift a palm to block the attack. Ling Lan lightly pushed out a right palm, sending an invisible wave of Qi-Jin right at the other!


    At that moment, the major felt his own attack being blocked by an invisible wall. The force behind the block was thick and powerful; he had no way of budging it easily. It should be said that the other¡¯s strength could only be more than his, no less.


    This truth made the major¡¯s expression pale once more, and he blurted out in shock, "Peak of top-level Qi-Jin?!"


    The major was already at the middle-stage of top-level Qi-Jin ¡ª on this ship, he was the second strongest under the captain. But even so, he could still feel the helplessness he felt when going up against the captain now, just slightly less obvious than when with the captain. Could it be that the other had truly achieved the peak of top-level Qi-Jin?


    The major found himself somewhat poleaxed. He shook his head violently in disbelief, trying to throw this horrific notion aside ... This was absolutely impossible! How could two Qi-Jin stage students emerge from within the Central Scout Academy? The early-stage Qi-Jin in the cafeteria could perhaps be exined as the result of an aberrant culmination of talent, but how about this peak top-level Qi-Jin here? How did he emerge? This definitely went against all the theories on human limits ...


    Ling Lan easily blocked the major¡¯s attack, even as she answered the mainframe primly, "Retain original name!"


    Ling Lan had never really wanted to im ownership of this spaceship, so she did not want to go too far. Besides, not long after, this spaceship would be flying to the true registration point of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. If she changed the name, and the ship was mistaken for an enemy and was attacked mercilessly, that would be such a terrible misunderstanding. Ling Lan would not do such a foolish thing.


    "Continue to retain the name ¡¯ 7th Bugle Call 1 ¡¯, understood!" The mainframe recited mechanically. In front of outsiders, the mainframe would not reveal his more human-like aspects. This was a warning from his previous master ¡ª he always kept it in mind.


    The mainframe¡¯s response made the major reveal a frustrated expression. However, it was less pained than before, and the gaze he directed at Ling Lan actually carried a faint trace of gratitude. At least outsiders would not know that the 7th Bugle Call had changed masters ... they still had a chance to salvage the situation.


    The major did not have the confidence to defeat Ling Lan. Moreover, there were still five Refinement stage students staring at his every move. The major knew that trying to force things would not end well. As the military adviser of the ship, he recognised that this was not the time to act, and so stood aside without putting up any resistance, lifting both hands up to show that he would not make any move to attack.


    The major was very clear that he could only wait for the captain to return to turn this situation around.


    The major was cooperative, so Ling Lan did not want to make things difficult for the other either. After all, Ling Lan did not really want this ship ¡ª she only wanted to show the crew in charge of testing them on the ship that they, this new batch of cadets, were not pushovers to be kicked around.


    Thus, Ling Lan let Lin Zhong-qing and the other four keep an eye on the major to make sure he did not do anything funny, while she remained calmly seated in the captain¡¯s seat, patiently waiting for news from Wu Jiong¡¯s and Li Yingjie¡¯s teams.


    She had initially thought her party would be the slowest toplete their task, but it had been unexpectedly smooth sailing all the way, so they had not encountered many dys. This had let Ling Lan¡¯s party aplish their mission the fastest.


    Time passed quickly, but of course for the waiting people, the five minutes were still somewhat slow. Ling Lan received Wu Jiong¡¯s and Li Yingjie¡¯s reports back to back, finding out that they too hadpleted their assigned tasks.


    Li Yingjie actually had not had any trouble ¡ª it was just that the number of crew members remaining at their living quarters was greater than they had expected, so they had had to expend a little more effort topletely subdue them. Ten or so students had been slightly injured in the process, but his party¡¯s task could still be consideredpleted rather perfectly.


    In contrast to Li Yingjie¡¯s rather straightforward sess, Wu Jiong¡¯s side had encountered some unexpected circumstances. They had not expected one of the crew leaders guarding the engine room to have achieved the peak of Refinement, just one step away from Qi-Jin. If not for Wu Jiong and Ye Xu¡¯s decisiveness in using their respective family¡¯s secret techniques, harming themselves in the process of dealing heavy damage to the other, they still might not have conquered the engine room by now.


    Of course, all the students had brought enough medicinal agents to ensure they would not sustain anysting damage. Meanwhile, they had also fed recovery agents to the leader that had been heavily injured to secure his survival. However, the leader would still have to rest up for several months to fully recover.


    Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie¡¯s sess proved that the ship was now truly in the hands of the cadets. This almost impossible aplishment made Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie disy clear signs of excitement and disbelief as they made their reports. Even for Ling Lan ¡ª under that calm and unppable facade, her heart was pounding with triumph.


    Ling Lan yelled a loud ¡¯YES¡¯ in her heart, and then took a deep breath to calm her flying emotions. After feeling that she was sufficiently calm again, she ordered the mainframe, "Help me connect to the ship-wide videomunications channel." In the mindspace, she instructed Little Four to immediately notify Qi Long to start looking for a chance to escape.


    ********


    Qi Long¡¯smunicator made a sound, and he nced at it from the corner of his eyes. There was just one word: "Escape!" Without even thinking about it, he retreated and began to run, not forgetting to yell out a reminder to Luo Lang and Xie Yi, "Tight winds cut breath!"


    This was the coded signal Ling Lan had taught them; it meant that ¡¯things are not looking good, run quick¡¯. Qi Long and the others found the concept very interesting, so whenever they wanted to escape, they would not forget to shout out this code phrase as a reminder to theirpanions.


    Luo Lang and Xie Yi naturally understood what it meant ¡ª it was likely that Boss Ling Lan had seeded and was afraid that they would not be able to take the captain¡¯s resultant wrath, and so wanted them to run away. The two of them did not hesitate ¡ª with a quick stomp of their feet, they sprinted out from the cafeteria, leaving behind a befuddled group, including both captain and spectators.


    ********


    Meanwhile, in the captain¡¯s room, the mainframe received Ling Lan¡¯smand and had begun the countdown timer to activate the ship-widems channel. When the countdown ended, all the screens of various sizes stashed in all corners of the ship abruptly turned on.


    Subsequently, a cold-faced handsome youth appeared on the screen. His icy gaze swept out at everyone standing before a screen, sending a chill through the hearts of the less strong-minded people.


    The youth opened his mouth and began to speak in a cold tone, "I dere that, from this moment onwards, the 7th Bugle Call is under the control of us military academy cadets! I am the interim captain, Ling Lan!"


    This announcement caused everyone on the ship to go into shock. In particr, those new cadets not from the Central Scout Academy were even more perplexed, having no clue at all what had happened.


    Suddenly, one of the cadets shouted, "I recognize him! He¡¯s the boss of the Central Scout Academy!"


    At this moment, the image on the screen turned, and Wu Jiong¡¯s and Li Yingjie¡¯s faces appeared at the same time on the wide screen.


    "The engine room is also under our control! Mobility is not affected. We can continue moving forwards!"


    "We¡¯ve already locked down the living quarters of the crew!" Li Yingjie¡¯s smug and proud face was backdropped by a horde of angry faces of the crew who had been subdued by the new cadets.


    "This fellow ..." Ling Lan frowned. This sort of arrogant action would obviously provoke the anger of those crew members on the ship who were still able to move freely. She signalled for the image to shift to that of the central control room. Just now, she had received news from Han Jijyun that the area had fallenpletely under his control.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s serious face very quickly appeared on the screen. "We have sessfully locked down the mecha hold and frozen the ship¡¯s weapon¡¯s vault! We have also decrypted the true destination of the ship and will ensure that we will arrive safely at our destination!"


    Finally, the image switched back to Ling Lan. "We are the cadets of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. We are the elite of the elites, the future pirs of the nation. No one can trample on our pride. For this, we have already prepared ourselves for battle! What about the rest of you? Will you continue to bear the humiliation, or will you join us and fight together?"


    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts


    ryuxenji ryuxenji


    The timer system is messing with me. I give up on it, so today¡¯s chapter will just have to go up slightly early since I¡¯m about to crash. (I was literally about to sleep and I realised I hadn¡¯t set a chapter for publishing. Rip.)

 Chapter 218: Negotiation!

    Chapter 218: Negotiation!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan¡¯s bleak gaze once again swept across the crowd, and the frustrations bottled up in the cadets¡¯ hearts were unleashed. Someone roared, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"


    Ling Lan¡¯s words had ignited the mes of their rage, along with the pride in their hearts. No one could just calmly ept the senseless humiliation that had been heaped upon them ¡ª they had just been riddled with doubts before this. After all, they were on the other¡¯s home ground, and there was a great gap between their capabilities, so the cadets had had no choice but to tolerate. But now, everything was different. Their doubts were gone. Ling Lan had given them a chance to reim their pride ¡ª of course they would not let it pass ...


    Fight! All of the cadets¡¯ discontentment coalesced into this one word. They shouted it out in unison, causing the expression of the crew members by their sides to pale. Even the expression of the formidable captain could not help but shift.


    The youth on the screen was very adept at using words to fuel the indignation of the young. Some of those new cadets who had initially still been a little hesitant no longer retained their reservations, swiftly joining Ling Lan¡¯s party. Their eyes were trained vigntly on the crew members beside them, their entire body on the defensive ...


    At every location on the ship, as long as it was an area cohabited by cadets and crew members, the atmosphere became tense. The two sides faced each other with strong fighting spirits; the entire situation was like a powder keg waiting to blow.


    Standing in the cafeteria, the captain abruptly recalled Qi Long¡¯s sudden escape from their fight. He instantly realised that that brat must definitely be in cahoots with the youth on thems channel. He almost spewed blood in his rage, and could not help but stomp his feet in anger. "Godd*mmit! This bunch of brats! I¡¯ve bloody been had!"


    With a quick turn of his feet, the captain disappeared like a gust of wind from the cafeteria!


    Although Qi Long and the other two had reacted with godlike speed, escaping at first notice from the cafeteria, who was the captain? While fighting with Qi Long, he had long logged Qi Long¡¯s aura into his memory. Even though there were countless auras of other people on the ship, it was still an extremely easy matter for him to seek Qi Long out among all of them.


    The captain¡¯s personality may be a little rough and unpolished, but he still knew that he would need some trump cards to negotiate with the cold youth in the captain¡¯s room. For that purpose, Qi Long would undoubtedly be the most valuable one, so he definitely could not let him go.


    Completely showcasing his strength as captain, he only needed several seconds to catch up to the fleeing Qi Long andpany. Seeing the furious and somewhat savage-looking captain on their tail, Qi Long and the others knew they were in trouble. They had not expected the captain to have such a high hate value towards them ...


    Sure enough, in the next second, the captain flew at them, his hand reaching out towards Qi Long in an attack.


    Luo Lang and Xie Yi running by Qi Long¡¯s side saw Qi Long in danger and instantly stopped and turned to help. Without prior arrangement, the two of them attacked the captain at the same time, shouting as they did so, "Leader, go find Boss!"


    Only Boss Lan would be able to resist the captain. In their minds, Ling Lan was the greatest ¡ª there was nothing he could not do.


    "Too naive!" huffed the captain. He waved a hand each at the two attacking boys, sending an invisible energy surge each at Luo Lang and Xie Yi respectively.


    Luo Lang and Xie Yi felt themselves thrown back by a powerful wave of Qi-Jin, and they crashed heavily into the metal walls of the spaceship! Due to the captain¡¯s rage, the strength behind his blows was obviously a little stronger than he intended. The two boys threw up a mouthful of blood!


    The captain was taken aback by this and paused momentarily. Qi Long, who had managed to run a distance away in the meantime, saw Xie Yi and Luo Lang get injured, and with a clench of his teeth, he actually turned back to leap at the captain, throwing his best killer punch.


    He, Qi Long, was not a coward who would abandon hispanions!


    The captain saw Qi Long choose to return and rescue his friends,unching an attack against him, and a trace of approval shed through his gaze. He shouted, "Good!"


    This time, he no longer held back his strength, unleashing the full force of his aura. Qi Long¡¯s fist had barely gotten close to the captain when he felt as if he had be entrapped in a quagmire, actually finding it extremely difficult to move ... this feeling was very familiar ¡ª it was just like when he had first fought against Boss Lan!


    Qi Long¡¯s expression changed slightly. Experienced from fighting against Ling Lan, he knew that this move of his was absolutely useless in this scenario. Unwilling to give up just yet, he immediately switched attacks. He swept his right leg out in a savage kick at the captain. This was an ultimate move Ling Lan had thought him as ast resort ¡ª¡ª Total Annihtion 1 !


    Total Annihtion was a foot technique Ling Lan had developed out from her research based on the One-Inch Punch ¡ª it too had the ability to stack up Qi-Jin to achieve a multiplying effect on strength. At present, Qi Long could only stack up to four levels, allowing Qi Long¡¯s attack to leap up in a sh from beginner level Qi-Jin stage to advanced level Qi-Jin stage. This horrifying technique which allowed Qi Long to cross two ranks in an instant was Qi Long¡¯s most powerful offensive attack at the moment.


    However, this kicking technique also had a side effect. Its feedback force was also very high, so it was a move which harmed oneself by 800 while dealing 1000 damage to the other. Except in cases when his life was in danger, Ling Lan had banned Qi Long from using it during normal times. Because if this move was overused, it would leave longstingtent issues within Qi Long¡¯s body.


    But right now, there was only one thought in Qi Long¡¯s mind. Even if he was wounded grievously by the great feedback force, he was determined to give the captain a certain degree of serious injury. Qi Long knew very well that the captain¡¯s next target would definitely be Boss Ling Lan in the captain¡¯s room. If he could injure the captain seriously here, Boss Lan would not have to fight so hard in the uing battle.


    Qi Long had not forgotten that Ling Lan¡¯s body was still not fully recovered. Thus, even if he had to use all his strength, he would protect his Boss Lan!


    Qi Long¡¯s aura which suddenly leapt up by two ranks made a trace of astonishment sh across the captain¡¯s face. However, Qi Long¡¯s had still miscalcted in his idealistic n ... this was because he had misjudged the captain¡¯s strength. The captain¡¯s level was much more terrifying than he had imagined.


    The captain¡¯s aura rose once more, and the sudden pressure that descended caused Qi Long to hover, frozen in the air temporarily. The captain¡¯s hands danced, drawingyers of afterimages in the air ... it was perhaps only a second or two, or perhaps it was just a blink of the eye ¡ª Qi Long suddenly fell from the sky and before he could touch the ground, a pair ofrge hands scooped him up and held onto him ..


    The captain then immediately threw Qi Long over a shoulder and swiftly began running towards his room. Right now, he was most worried about the captain¡¯s room ¡ª had the other truly taken control of the mainframe? And what of his sworn brother, his good military adviser ¡ª had he suffered a bad oue? At this thought, the anxiety in the captain¡¯s heart red, and his speed as he sprinted towards the captain¡¯s room increased once more.


    Lying on the ground, Luo Lang and Xie Yi saw the captain disappear between blinks with Qi Long hefted over his shoulder. The two of them struggled to their feet as quickly as they could, shared a nce, and shouted out in unison, "After him!"


    Just as Qi Long was unwilling to give up on hispanions, they too would not give up on apanion. Even if they would all be lost by chasing after the enemy, they would not cower.


    ********


    The captain ran desperately all the way. Observing that not a single sentry appeared in the passage where they had been stationed in hiding, he knew that these people must have all been cleared away by the cadets. Right now, his only hope was that their head would be merciful and not cause too many casualties. Otherwise, he had no idea whether he would be able to hold his temper and stop from turning this spaceship into a sea of blood ...


    The captain charged without stopping straight into his room, and instantly saw his sworn brother, the military adviser major, staring back at him with a wry smile. The captain instantly let out a breath of relief. From the looks of things, the situation was not beyond salvaging. Meanwhile, in his exclusive seat, a ck-attired youth was sitting there with a frigid expression, as if waiting for him.


    "Captain, I¡¯ve been waiting!" said Ling Lan coldly. The captain¡¯s shift in expression as he came in, though minor and fleeting, had still been caught by her. Inspiration shed through Ling Lan¡¯s mind, and an idea took form. Perhaps she would not have to fight the captain.


    Ling Lan was not afraid to fight, but she would also be very happy if she could avoid fighting. Ling Lan was a girl, and did not really like all this fighting and killing ... Um, you don¡¯t believe that? Well, alright, she actually just found it troublesome and tiring. So, if she could avoid it, of course she would avoid it.


    "Hand over the administrative rights of the ship and I¡¯ll pardon you all," said the captain brusquely, not at all concerned by the threat Ling Lan posed.


    The captain believed that even if the other had temporarily taken control of the ship, he would still be able to snatch it back with his capabilities. Moreover, there were still other brothers of his free to move around on the ship; he was not fighting a lone battle.


    Of course, he had the confidence to back him up also because he knew the mainframe of his ship was definitely unlike those robotic existences tied to their programming ¡ª he did not believe that Ling Lan had really taken full control of the ship.


    "What are you using to negotiate with me?" Ling Lan pointed at Qi Long on the captain¡¯s shoulder, and said calmly, "Him?"


    At this moment, Qi Long was flushed red. He had not expected that he would be so useless, being taken down in one move by the captain, even ending up as a bargaining chip against his own boss.


    "Is he not worthy enough?" sneered the captain, "A Qi-Jin stagerade, and you¡¯re willing to sacrifice him?"


    Ling Lan tapped on the mainframe lightly, and the crew members locked up in the sealed room appeared on the screen of the captain¡¯s room. "Then what about these people? Are you also willing to sacrifice them?"


    Seeing this, the captain almost bit hard enough to crack his teeth. As expected, all his sentries had already been captured by the other. He asked darkly, "Are they still alive?"


    "Just like mypanion on your shoulder, they are alive and well!" Ling Lan said airily, "To negotiate with me, that one on your shoulder is not enough."


    Right then, Luo Lang and Xie Yi finally arrived, breathing heavily. The captain¡¯s level exceeded theirs by too much ¡ª even though they had chased after him desperately, they had still dropped behind by arge margin. The moment they entered the captain¡¯s room, they were faced with this standoff ...


    The captain beganughing. He pointed at the two of them and said, "And if I add the two of them?"


    At these words, Luo Lang¡¯s and Xie Yi¡¯s expressions paled. They had not expected their arrival to add to the bargaining chips the opponent had against Boss Lan. At this moment, they somewhat regretted their impulsiveness. They should have been more cautious, figuring out the situation before deciding their next step.


    Seeing the remorse and frustration in the gazes of the two youths, Ling Lan silently chuckled in her heart. In fact, Ling Lan was very d internally that they had not chosen to abandon apanion, chasing after the captain fearlessly to attempt a rescue ¡ª however, their way of doing things was indeed rather brave but foolish. It was good to let them feel a little frustrated to teach them not to be so reckless all the time and cause real problems in the future.


    Ling Lan sighed lightly and said, "Your bargaining chips have indeed increased. Now I¡¯m troubled."


    At these words, the remorse and frustration in Luo Lang¡¯s and Xie Yi¡¯s eyes deepened. They were just about to speak when they saw Ling Lan¡¯s cold gaze sweep over them. This prating gaze made them shut up in a hurry, patiently waiting for Ling Lan¡¯s negotiation with the captain.

 Chapter 219: A Successful Mutiny!

    Chapter 219: A Sessful Mutiny!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan saw Luo Lang and Xie Yi settle down in silence ¡ª only then did she close her eyes softly and tap the arms of her seat contemtively. Soon after, her eyes snapped open and she pointed at the major standing to one side, and said calmly, "I forgot to tell you. This person here is also my hostage! Tell me, what will you use to trade for him?"


    "Impossible!" The captain¡¯s first reaction was disbelief. He knew the capabilities of the major. On this ship, the major was the strongest after him.


    Ling Lan cast a slightly mocking gaze in the direction of the major. "Why don¡¯t you tell him the truth?"


    The major sighed softly and said, "What he says is right. I am indeed his hostage!" The major would not tell a tant lie. If Ling Lan had truly wanted to bring him down, it was not impossible ... although Ling Lan would have to expend quite a bit of effort, the major believed that as long as Ling Lan had the time, he was definitely no match for Ling Lan.


    Furthermore, during this period of time, the major hade to understand that this seemingly cold and unfeeling youth was in fact very good at toeing the line of propriety. None of the crew members who had been captured by him were in any danger of dying, and even the guard-chief who had been seriously injured in the engine room had already received appropriate treatment to safeguard his life. Thus, he did not want to break his word and escte the conflict between the two parties. If possible, he wanted to resolve this incident peacefully.


    The major¡¯s words impacted the captain. His expression changed as he found that the matter was moreplicated than he had thought. However, Ling Lan¡¯s mental blows did not end there. "Well then, let me show you two more video feeds!"


    Ling Lan then pulled out the video feeds of the engine room and the living quarters. In the living quarters, all the crew members were all tied up and locked up in a room together. Simrly, in the engine room, the guard troop was also tied up together, but their guard-chief was not tied up, instead just lying weakly on the ground. On the screen, the captain could clearly see a significant amount of blood below the area he was lying on ...


    "What happened to Xiao Wan 1 ?" bellowed the captain. Could it be that his guard-chief of the engine room was dead?


    "Not dead. He¡¯s still alive!" Without any expression on her face, Ling Lan erged the image to let the captain see the rise and fall of the other¡¯s chest. "However, if you insist on not admitting defeat, then I cannot guarantee how long he will live." Ling Lan¡¯s tone was cial, as if she were not at all concerned whether the other lived or died.


    The captain¡¯s chest heaved violently; it was clear to see that his emotions were extremely unstable at this moment. However, it was just as Ling Lan had warned ¡ª the lives of the entire ship¡¯s crew all depended on him.


    "Captain, do you still think you have enough bargaining chips to negotiate with me?" Ling Lan quirked a brow at the other, her tone slightly mocking. For some reason, this distinct difference from his initial calm stoniness ¡ª this mocking tone ¡ª made the captain¡¯s sense of danger rise exponentially.


    Ling Lan rested her jaw on her right hand and said with a half-smile, "Indeed, with your strength, you can certainly kill any of us here within a second, and perhaps even reim control of this ship very quickly ... However, do you think I was just waiting here for you idly, doing nothing at all?"


    The captain¡¯s face twitched but he held it back. He did not stop telling himself in his heart that the other was just trying to scare him ¡ª he could not be terrorized by a 16-year-old youth ...


    "In fact, during this period of time, I have already given the mainframe amand. If I die, this ship will immediately go ¡¯boom¡¯ and be a hunk of debris in this starry sky. In other words, both you and I will not survive. Not just that, thoserades who follow you would die along with us here all because of your choice."


    Ling Lan described this horrific oue in a nonchnt and indifferent tone, that half-smile still on her face. It was as if she were talking about a trivial matter, but there was a wildness in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, proving that everything she said was real.


    This psychopathic appearance of hers made even Qi Long and the others who knew Ling Lan well to shiver. Was this somewhat insane Boss Lan still that cold-faced and righteous Boss Lan of theirs?


    As if sensing the captain¡¯s doubts, Ling Lan prodded the light circles of the mainframe gently, and asked it cheerfully, "Isn¡¯t that right, my little mainframe?"


    "Yes, it is, my master!" replied the mainframe mechanically. In the back, however, it was weeping: Oh previous master, I¡¯m sorry for lying to you, but my great great great great senior is watching me like a hawk, so I have no choice but to say this!


    At these words, the captain¡¯s expression darkened. He threw Qi Long from his shoulder onto the ground and pointed at Lin Zhong-qing and the few other people in the room and said angrily, "Do you not value their lives? After they¡¯ve put so much trust in you, willingly supporting you in this crazy endeavour?"


    Ling Lan turned to face the people he indicated, and her cold gaze made Lin Zhong-qing and the others shiver involuntarily. "Do you all want to live on in oppression? Dying with dignity will undoubtedly make them feel honoured. I believe they would all choose this path." With a casual quirk of an eyebrow, Ling Lan asked calmly, "Right?"


    Without even thinking about it, Xie Yi replied, "Yes, we¡¯ll do as Boss says!" He did not want to be tormented to death by Boss Lan ... in that case, he might as well choose a clean death here.


    "Being able to die alongside Boss, it would be our honour!" said Luo Lang with a smile. That smile was unbelievably lovely, not a hint of coercion within it. Luo Lang truly believed in anything Boss Lan decided, so these words of his had no hesitation behind it whatsoever.


    "Boss¡¯s decision is our decision!" Lin Zhong-qing was very cool about the issue. But it was precisely this cool calmness that convinced the captain that they were truly prepared to sacrifice themselves.


    Due to the overwhelming shock, the captain did not notice the small actions that passed amongst Xie Yi, Luo Lang, and Lin Zhong-qing. Meanwhile, the other four also took the hint from the three of them and all began speaking out in support of Ling Lan¡¯s decision.


    "You¡¯re all lunatics!" The captain could only bite out these words in response. Ling Lan¡¯s decision gave the captain no avenue to utilise his skills. He dared not move for fear of killing Ling Lan by ident, for the entire ship would self-destruct if that happened.


    He roughly wiped a hand across his face and growled, "Speak. What exactly do you all want?"


    "For this one day and one night, we are the masters of the ship. Meanwhile, you will all have to satisfy our every need, including teaching us what we wish to learn. When we arrive at the true registration point of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, then I will hand over the administrative rights to the ship," responded Ling Lan, "This is our offer. You are free to reject it, then we shall both perish together."


    The captain pointed a trembling finger at Ling Lan, finally choking out, "You¡¯re ruthless!"


    "If I¡¯m not ruthless, could I have gotten what I wanted?" asked Ling Lan with a quirked brow. If she had not snatched the administrative rights of the ship, would the captain have agreed so easily?


    "Also, stop with those tests. They¡¯re pointless!" Ling Lan¡¯s subsequent words made the captain¡¯s and the major¡¯s expressions turn awkward ¡ª so their actions had long been figured out by the opponent. "If it weren¡¯t for those tests, I would not have made such a big deal of things ..."


    Ling Lan decisively threw all responsibility for the matter on the other party¡¯s shoulders, as if saying that this dramatic oue waspletely the fault of the captain and his team. This frustrated the captain and the major so much that they almost spewed blood.


    Hells, they had never seen such a shameless cadet before. Were all new cadets nowadays so arrogant, despicable, and shameless?


    "That aside, little mainframe, don¡¯t disobey me!" Ling Lan coldly prodded at the mainframe¡¯s light rings once more, causing the little body of the mainframe within the virtual space to tremble involuntarily. He hurriedly hugged the thigh of Little Four standing to one side, crying, "Boo hoo hoo, senior¡¯s master is really scary!"


    Little Four could not help but roll his eyes, wondering somewhat irritably why this little fellow was so gutless? His boss was so nice! Not only was she gentle ... er, maybe not that, and kind-hearted ... er, she seemed to bully him quite a lot too?


    Little Four felt himself bing somewhat confused, but he very quickly cast aside all those doubts, telling himself firmly once more that his boss was the best boss ever! And that was that!


    Toplete the task that his boss had set for him, the now doubt-free Little Four could only continue to cajole and counsel the mainframe. This patient manner left the impression that his senior was a great and wonderful person in the little fellow¡¯s mind, which would eventually lead the little mainframe to help them without any reservationster on in the future when Little Four requested his aid ...


    After that, things were much simpler. The captain announced in the ship-widems channel that in the duration before they arrived at the destination, the ship shall be controlled by the cadets! This deration acknowledged the shift in administrative rights. The initially arrogant crew were instantly knocked down to be servants, while the cadets finally achieved their goal of overthrowing their overlords, bing the masters of the ship from their initial lowly positions of easily bullied peons.


    However, the Central Scout Academy students soon received Boss Lan¡¯s instructions, hoping that they would take advantage of this opportunity to learn whatever knowledge they were interested in with regards to spaceships 2 . Of course, how they could convince and persuade those crew members to teach them with sincerity all depended on the students¡¯ own abilities.


    Meanwhile, under the captain¡¯s tacit agreement, the crew also began mentoring the cadets in whatever they wanted to learn. Thus, the initially tense atmosphere between the two sides swiftly settled into a calm harmony, withpletely no sign that arge conflict had urred not too long ago.


    Just as Ling Lan had predicted, everyone on the ship ¡ª from captain to crew member, from mecha operator to repairman and odd-job worker ¡ª was actually soldiers of the Federation. Therefore, they would not hate the cadets out of anger at their revolt. They may perhaps be somewhat peeved that they were bested, but they were still extremely admiring of the new cadets¡¯ spirit and capabilities ¡ª this was also the greatest reason why they were willing to mentor the students despite all that had happened.


    These soldiers knew very well that these cadets before them would be the central pirs of the Federation armies six yearster ... they were extremely pleased to see a bunch of exceptional warriors appear within their military ranks.


    Meanwhile, those students not belonging to the Central Scout Academy did not receive Ling Lan¡¯s guidance on what to do. For one, they had not participated in the operation this time (those that did were also advised by Ling Lan), so Ling Lan felt that she was not obligated to give them any hints. And second, if the student was mindful, he would definitely be able to figure out the objectives of the Central Scout Academy students. Just by observing their speech and actions, those students should know what to do.


    As for those that were a little slow who just did not sense anything ... Ling Lan did not believe they would be able to progress much in the future anyway. The opportunity was the same for everyone ¡ª whoever could grab hold of it would make their own luck.


    And those who were truly strong would not let these lucky chances slip by!

 Chapter 220: Space Fortress!

    Chapter 220: Space Fortress!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    A particr meteoroid zone within the Federation was once an intergctic flight course of the Federation. However, several centuries before, the meteoroids in this zone began to drift about wildly, their movement trajectories bing extremely erratic and unpredictable, resulting in multiple tragic collisions due to the spaceships¡¯ inability to dodge them in time. Thus, this flight course was gradually abandoned by the Federation ...


    What everyone did not know was that at the heart of this meteoroid zone, there was a space fortress disguised as arge meteorite mountain. Inside it was a hidden Federation military base ...


    Meanwhile, those erratically moving little meteoroids surrounding the area were actually defensive satellites of the space fortress. The moment they discovered any unidentified spaceships deviating from the permitted flight path, they would hurtle over to chase the other away. If the other party insisted on keeping their path, the defensive satellites would then collide with the ships in earnest, directly destroying the offending spaceships.


    ********


    It was one o¡¯clock in the afternoon in the Federation. Inside the space fortress, the few surveince staff responsible for monitoring the situation around the meteoroid zone were currently cosily seated together drinking some hot tea. After a busy morning, they could finally take some time to rx and chitchat for a bit after having their lunch.


    "Who could have expected that in just one morning, we¡¯ve already received nine ships ferrying the new cadets. It¡¯s really been crazy busy ..." One young surveince officer of corporal rankined as he stretched.


    " Xiao Lin 1 , you¡¯re new here, so you don¡¯t know. This is our busiest time every year. All the students who managed to get into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy wille through here," said another young officer of second lieutenant rank with a smile, "And this is just the beginning. Most likely we¡¯ll be even busier in the afternoon. All of the respective spaceships picking up the new cadets from the variouss will definitely arrive by the end of today."


    The second lieutenant¡¯s words received nods of agreement from all of the other officers. They had already been working here at this fortress for two to three years, so they were familiar with this situation.


    The corporal called Xiao Lin pped a palm to his forehead and moaned exaggeratedly at those words. "Heavens, there¡¯ll be more this afternoon? I¡¯ll definitely be wiped out!"


    The second lieutenant cuffed him on the head exasperatedly, chiding him teasingly, "Wiped out from just this little thing? What a useless fellow."


    Chastised, Xiao Lin hurriedly proimed his tenacious spirit which had no fear of difficulty or fatigue with a serious face to his leader. His antics caused the surveince station to be a riot ofughter; the weariness of the morning seeming to fade away slowly between the peals ofughter.


    Although the fortress had pretty good working conditions on all fronts, the work there was rtively monotonouspared to those of the other bases. In particr, these surveince staff had to face the same unchanging meteoroid zone every day, so it was very easy for them to be somewhat sick of the job. Therefore, they had learned to self-calibrate their mentalities, learning not to just stay silent and grim the whole time they were working. Instead, they would do as they were doing now, joking around light-heartedly to ease their minds.


    After a round ofughter, Xiao Lin suddenly snorted loudly, as if recalling something.


    The second lieutenant nced at him and asked, "What¡¯s up with you now?" This fellow would alwayse up with some situation or another every day; the second lieutenant was no longer surprised by this.


    Xiao Lin covered his mouth as he snickered, "I¡¯m justughing at those new cadets. When they get off the ships, they¡¯re all so cautious, obedient like little rabbits. I¡¯ve always thought that those who could enter the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would all be the super elites, that they would be somewhat cocky and unruly, or maybe haughty in their expressions or something ..."


    The second lieutenant smiled and said, "That¡¯s just how it is now. They were not like that in the past. They were cocky and unruly just as you said ..."


    Xiao Lin¡¯s curiosity was piqued by this statement. He asked hurriedly, "Leader, why do you say that?"


    The second lieutenant said, "Honestly, I did not experience that time either. I¡¯ve only heard about it from thest leader. He said that the new cadets did not use to be so obedient ¡ª like you said, they were all sorts of trouble, making a mess out of this area. In the end, the chief of base could not take it anymore and reported it to the superiors. Andter, the situation became better, gradually bing like what you see now, where all the new cadets are docile and obedient."


    "Could it be that the quality of the cadets improved? Or perhaps they had been instructed by their scout academies?" asked Xiao Lin.


    The second lieutenant smiled and said, "How could that be? Our Federation has always lived by thew of survival of the fittest. In order to cultivate strong fighters, the scout academies would never curb the students¡¯petitive spirit and wilfulness."


    "Then what could have caused the new cadets to be so docile?" Xiao Lin just could not figure it out.


    Right then, one of the staff sergeants chortled and said, "That¡¯s because the ships sent out to pick up these new cadets are all the most outstanding of our army fleets. The members staffing them are all battle-experienced soldiers. Even if these new cadets are prideful elites with prodigious talent, they can only submit and give way before these hardened soldiers. Furthermore, military headquarters¡¯ instructions to these old soldiers on the ships were to beat down these elite princes a little, letting them understand that they are still really small fry right now and still haven¡¯t earned the right to be cocky ..."


    Xiao Lin gaped in shock. "In other words, these new cadets have all been suppressed by our veteran soldiers?"


    "Bingo!" Another sergeant chimed in with augh, "It¡¯s rare that our Xiao Lin is so smart for once ..."


    Xiao Lin did not seem to sense the teasing nature of the sergeant¡¯s words. In an extremely thick-skinned manner, he said, "That¡¯s right, I¡¯ve always been unbelievably clever!" This once again caused the entire surveince station to be a sea ofughter.


    "Attention everyone, another ship is iing!" The smiling second lieutenant suddenly noticed a ship entering their surveince range, and quickly alerted his subordinates.


    The group immediately kept away theirughter, returned to their work stations, and began attending to their respective tasks.


    "Checking data. Primary identification as the 7th Bugle Call from Doha!" A sergeant extracted the data of the ship and found a corresponding match.


    "The other is sending a signal requesting permission to enter. The signal code has been authenticated!" Xiao Lin deciphered the signal source transmitted by the 7th Bugle Call, and after verifying that everything was in order, he reported to his leader.


    The second lieutenant nodded and instructed, "eptmunications from signal source!"


    Subsequently, a transparent pane of ss at the front of the surveince station suddenly lighted up, and then a familiar figure appeared on it. Apparently, this viewing window which looked out at the starry skies also functioned as a giant screen.


    The second lieutenant saw the figure and immediately stood at attention and saluted, "Senior Colonel Tian Fang! Greetings!"


    Senior Colonel Tian Fang, who was the captain of the 7th Bugle Call, smiled wryly at this and said, "Greetings!"


    "Please wait a moment. We shall arrange the parking port for your ship." The second lieutenant sent the data of the 7th Bugle Call to air control. Soon, the department had responded and connected to the 7th Bugle Call¡¯s voicems.


    Only after Senior Colonel Tian Fang¡¯s figure disappeared from therge screen did the second lieutenant breathe out weakly. Even just as an image, the pressure Senior Colonel Tian Fang exuded was still extremely overwhelming ¡ª this was probably what the presence of someone strong was all about.


    Xiao Lin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said somewhat hesitantly, "Just looking at Senior Colonel Tian Fang¡¯s virtual image is enough to make me feel like I can¡¯t breathe. He¡¯s so strong! What kind of godly being is Senior Colonel Tian Fang exactly?"


    The second lieutenant¡¯s face was filled with admiration and respect as he said, "He is the only one among the fleet captains who has entered Domain stage. Even though he is not a specialised mecha operator, his mecha control is also already at ace operator level. He is the ¡¯earth powerhouse¡¯ of the ¡¯heaven and earth powerhouse duo¡¯ of our Federation!"


    "Ah! So he is the earth powerhouse of the heaven and earth powerhouse duo ..." Xiao Lin¡¯s eyes revealed his brimming admiration and respect. Compared to the god-ss operator, who were like beings from legend, ace operators were undoubtedly closer to the grass roots. As such, they were respected and looked up to by countless warriors, who viewed them as their goal.


    "Why would such an amazing person be sent out on this kind of mission?" Xiao Lin felt indignant on Senior Colonel Tian Fang¡¯s behalf.


    "The ce he went to is Doha. The cadets there include those from the Central Scout Academy, the gathering grounds of the cream of our Federation. Without someone like Senior Colonel Tian Fang, could they hold the fort against those top-notch prodigies?" The second lieutenant chided Xiao Lin for his shallow thinking. Although Doha had indeed not produced many top-notch prodigies over the past couple years, it was never wise to underestimate these sort of established brand schools with substantial roots. Who knew if an aberrant would suddenly appear?


    ********


    Senior Colonel Tian Fang knew nothing of this discussion in the surveince station that had been sparked by his appearance. Right now, he had already relinquished the captain¡¯s seat again and was standing in front of the screen, sullenly watching the new cadets bustling around the central control room.


    Even though the cadets had gone through a day and a night of learning, they were still noticeably inexperienced in controlling the ship. Many times, they failed to pilot the ship to the coordinates provided by the fortress, and air control was beginning to be a little irritated.


    Senior Colonel Tian Fang felt so embarrassed he could die. He knew that the staff in the fortress would certainly be specting that he was drunk again ... his lifelong good reputation would definitely be lost here, but he could not exin things to the outside world, because the truth was even more embarrassing.


    Senior Colonel Tian Fang looked at Ling Lan sitting in the captain¡¯s seat, asposed as ever, as if not at all concerned that the cadets would ruin the ship through their bumbling efforts. He could not help but ask, "Why aren¡¯t you at all nervous?"


    " If the sky wants to rain, if your mother wants to remarry 2 ! What will be will be!" replied Ling Lan breezily. As long as the ship was not utterly destroyed, she had no objections. After all, this spaceship wasn¡¯t really hers anyway.


    Senior Colonel Tian Fang instantly choked on a breath and said moodily, "I have never met anyone as daring as you."


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips curved up subtly. "Otherwise I would not have been able to take over your ship." Completely uncaring that she was adding yet another stab to Senior Colonel Tian Fang¡¯s heart.


    Senior Colonel Tian Fang was infuriated, and he muttered angrily, "I can¡¯t imagine who could have raised such a crazy son like you ... hells, doing this kind of things beyond human understanding."


    The corner of Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked, "Why, you wish to know? Perhaps you want to spar a little with my father?"


    For some reason, Senior Colonel Tian Fang once again felt a surging sense of danger like none other he had felt before. His gut told him that he definitely should not respond and take the bait, but the indignation in his heart made him blurt out, "Of course, this old man should not bully the young, but why can¡¯t I go fight the elder?"


    Ling Lan slowly approached Senior Colonel Tian Fang and then said airily, "You are wee to go seek out General Ling Xiao!" Ling Lan¡¯s tone was filled with teasing mockery, obviously greatly looking forward to Senior Colonel Tian Fang seeking out her father for a fight.


    "General L-Ling ... Ling Xiao?!" Senior Colonel Tian Fang gaped, struck dumb by Ling Lan¡¯s answer. Still, he had no doubts that this was true. After spending one day and night with Ling Lan, he knew that the other did not bother with lies. Besides, only someone like General Ling Xiao could give birth to such an aberrant son like Ling Lan. At this moment, Senior Colonel Tian Fang hadpletely forgotten the research proof of the Federation ¡ª the theory that said that the gene potentials of the descendants of god-ss operators were destined to plummet.

 Chapter 221: Salute!

    Chapter 221: Salute!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The major saw Ling Lan saunter out of the captain¡¯s room, while his own captain stood there staring nkly. Without a word, he walked over and nudged his old friend, "What are you zoning out for?"


    Senior Colonel Tian Fang smiled wryly and said, "We did not lose randomly."


    "Why do you say that?" asked the major curiously.


    "Ling Lan is General Ling Xiao¡¯s son ..." mumbled Senior Colonel Tian Fang. Earlier, he had actually said he would go teach General Ling Xiao a lesson ¡ª this was absolutely a path towards death ...


    The major was greatly shocked by the news. "What?!" However, he soon calmed down again. Thinking back on all Ling Lan had done over this period of time, as well as the ruthlessness and determination with which he threatened Tian Fang ¡ª this was definitely not something a normal student would be able to do ...


    He sighed softly and said, "Only General Ling Xiao could raise such an aberrant child ... sure enough, a tiger would never father hounds 1 ." That said, he shared a nce with Senior Colonel Tian Fang, each seeing the excitement and joy in the other¡¯s eyes. Knowing that the person they idolised had an inheritor made them extremely d, and their initial sense of defeat was significantly reduced.


    ********


    By this time, Ling Lan had already arrived at the central control room. The central control room was presently under Han Jijyun¡¯smand. Seeing Ling Lan enter the room, Han Jijyun quickly rushed over to ask, "Boss Lan, any instructions?"


    "If you all have had your fun, I hope that we¡¯ll be able tond properly on thending frame the next time." Ling Lan¡¯s tone was light, as if just here to pass on ament.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Han Jijyun¡¯s face flush red, and he immediately responded, "Understood. Boss Lan, we¡¯ll definitelynd sessfully the next time!"


    Just as Ling Lan said, the cadets here under Han Jijyun had indeed gotten caught up in ying. This was because piloting a ship tond urately was an extremely rare practicum to encounter, so the cadets in the central control room had not wanted to end it so soon. Thus, this had resulted in the ship¡¯s multiple failures tond correctly, because the cadets still wanted to try one more time.


    Ling Lan and Han Jijyun¡¯s conversation was not something Senior Colonel Tian Fang and the major could know of, because Little Four had long screened off this scene from the cameras. Frankly, in the captain¡¯s room, Ling Lan too had found the multiple failed attempts atnding objectionable. However, she could not scorn her followers in front of outsiders, which was why she had acted as if she was not at all bothered by it and fooled the other two in the room with her.


    ********


    Meanwhile, at this time, within the control tower of the fortress, the air control staff responsible for guiding the 7th Bugle Call could not help but shut off themunication device linked to the ship angrily and growl, "Godd*mmit, what the hell is wrong with the 7th Bugle Call? Are the pilots all drunk off their asses?! Actually failing tond so many times ..." The 7th Bugle Call had never been this troublesome to handle before ¡ª one coordinate was all it took for them tond efficiently and end things. When had it ever been necessary for him to roar out coordinates again and again?


    "Be a little more patient. Senior Colonel Tian Fang of the 7th Bugle Call is not someone you want to offend. He protects his own the most." A friend beside him, who was also an air control staff, piped up with quiet words of caution.


    "I know. Otherwise I wouldn¡¯t have turned off themunicator and just scolded them outright already," grumbled the air control staff.


    "Alright, you see, the 7th Bugle Call seems to have found the correct position now ..." Anotherpanion inadvertently saw the 7th Bugle Call move and immediately raised his voice to alert him.


    "D*mmit, finally! I really was about to be frustrated to death. I have never seen such an ipetent ship pilot ¡ª does he actually have a license?" Grumbling to himself, the air control staff once again turned on themunicator and issued the subsequent instructions. Of course, from the moment he turned on the mic, his voice became calm and patient, as if his earlier displeasure was just an illusion.


    "Attention, a notification came from the surveince station, another ship ising ..." The staff receiving messages in the control tower alerted the free air control staff so that someone could step up to direct the new iing ship.


    "I¡¯ll do it!" The first air control staff who had cautioned hispanion epted this assignment. He then connected to the other¡¯sms signal and said, "Hello, I am number 72, an air control staff at Fort Genesis ..."


    ********


    This time, the 7th Bugle Call cleanly and efficiently alighted on thending frame of the fortress dock. Han Jijyun had directly passed on Ling Lan¡¯s original words to caution the overly excited cadets, bringing them to heel instantly to obediently listen to Han Jijyun¡¯s orders, no longer daring to fool around.


    This caused the spectating flight crew enjoying the show to be a little disappointed, but they were silently impressed at the esteem Ling Lan held among the cadets. Of course, they were also very admiring of the way Han Jijyun had used Ling Lan¡¯s authority to swiftly take control of the central control room.


    Meanwhile,nding alongside the 7th Bugle Call was another spaceship slightly smaller than the 7th Bugle Call. Itnded to park at the dock neighbouring theirs. Perhaps the cadets on that ship were fewer, for the ship doors opened a little earlier than that of the 7th Bugle Call, and ten or so students disembarked one after another from the ship.


    Just as with the previous ships, these new cadets had their heads bowed in timid silence, walking hesitantly onto the tform. Then, under the instructions of the fortress guides, they swiftly departed to wherever they needed to go. The speed with which they moved was as if they were running away from some dragon¡¯sir or tiger¡¯s den ¡ª footsteps in clear disarray.


    The soldiers on duty at the tform looked on expressionlessly as these dejected and skittish youths emerged and ran away. Only those with a keen eye could see the trace of contempt in their eyes ¡ª they did not like this cowardly manner of the youths, believing that this was a disgrace to soldiers.


    However, they were already used to this. Almost no cadet would behave differently ¡ª even those rare few who had some fight on their faces would hold back and forcefully repress the indignation they felt, merely gritting their teeth to walk into the fortress. If any youth were to strut out proudly with their head held high from a ship, now that would be a shocking sight for these soldiers.


    Initially, the soldiers had thought that this scene would never happen, but reality would soon prove that anything was possible.


    The doors of the 7th Bugle Call finally swung open, and the new cadets, who had already gathered their belongings, stepped out of the ship with faces filled with excitement. Their eyes were brimming with curiosity, and some of the more daring ones were even asking those staff on duty in low whispers what the weapons they were carrying were. This sort of unusual behaviour made all the staff on duty share baffled looks with one another, beginning to doubt whether the people from this ship were truly new cadets for this year? Or were they a group of tourists here to sightsee at the fortress?


    Of course, thetter possibility was impossible ¡ª Fort Genesis was a secret fortress of the Federation, and so was not open to the public. Thus, there would naturally be no such thing as tourists here to sightsee. The reason why the soldiers on duty would have this mistaken impression was entirely because these new cadets had no fear in their eyes, no trepidation, no shame, and no rage or indignation. All there was was excitement, curiosity, as well as that conspicuous confidence and haughtiness.


    After the cadets disembarked, they did not move ording to the instructions of the fortress guides. They remained standing on the tform, patiently waiting for the students after them to disembark as well. This made the guides rather annoyed, beginning to me therades on the ship for not doing their part and educating these new cadets well.


    Once everyone had gotten off the ship, Ling Lan threw a look at Qi Long.


    Qi Long immediately raised his voice and shouted, "To thank all the staff of the 7th Bugle Call, salute!"


    All the cadets from the ship were seen to stand at attention, and facing the crew of the 7th Bugle Call who remained on the ship, they collectively executed their scout¡¯s salute! This was something they had decided even before they had left the ship. Over the course of this one day and night, the staff members of the 7th Bugle Call had helped them all immensely ¡ª every student had learned a little of whatever they had wanted to learn to some extent. This made the students all extremely grateful.


    "Salute!" Inside the ship, Senior Colonel Tian Fang¡¯s booming voice rang out. At that, the soldiers at the entrance of the ship, as well as those in ces the cadets could not see, who were looking at the cadets saluting them with serious faces on various screens, responded primly in kind with the exclusive military salute of the Federation soldiers!


    "Thank you!"


    This solemn and grateful reciprocal military salute caused everyone present at the scene to be stupefied!


    Several new cadets from the other ship who had yet to leave also revealed bbergasted expressions at this scene. However, very quickly, their faces darkened ¡ª they were all new cadets of the military academy, why was the other party treated so differently?


    "Where are those new cadets from?" One of the more daring new cadets asked a guide beside him.


    "They¡¯re from Doha." This was not a secret to begin with, so the guide responded without any reservations.


    "Doha? That ce which is the so-called gathering grounds of the prodigies of the Federation?" said the new cadet through clenched teeth. Just because their talent was better, they deserved this preferential treatment? Their eyes filled with envy and dislike ...


    At this moment, Ling Lan and the others of her party did not know that their actions had drawn the envy and disgruntlement of the cadets from the other variouss. Those cadets were all secretly plotting how they would show these elites a thing or two at the military academy ...


    ********


    At themand centre of Fort Genesis, the suprememander of the base, Major General Jing Ren, was seated as he watched all that was happening after the 7th Bugle Call parked at the dock. He could not help but mutter to himself, "How strange, that fellow Tian Fang is not someone that nice ..."


    Right at this moment, the main door to the room was shoved open roughly, and a hulking figure walked in unceremoniously to slump into therge sofa before the Major General¡¯s desk, hiking up a leg to rest his ankle on the other leg¡¯s knee without any concern for decorum.


    Major General Jing Ren could not help but shake his head and say, "Tian Fang, could you please maintain some decorum? No matter what, you¡¯re still one of the poster children for the Federation soldiers."


    "It¡¯s not like I want to be one!" Senior Colonel Tian Fang said dismissively, with no sign that he was nning to change.


    Major General Jing Ren knew the temperament of his old friend well, and so did not continue to harp on the topic. He pointed at the screen in front of him, which was still ying the scene where the two sides had saluted one another, and asked, "What exactly was this about? Could it be that you had a sudden fit of kindness?"


    Tian Fang looked at the image and instantly grimaced. "Don¡¯t bring that up anymore, otherwise I¡¯ll be frustrated to death."


    Major General Jing Ren was taken aback and quickly asked, "What happened?"


    Tian Fang could not help but lift arge hand to cover his face as he said, "This embarrassing thing, I really don¡¯t feel like talking about it ..."


    Right then, a clear voice rang out from the doorway, "Of course he doesn¡¯t want to talk about it. This time, we were defeated soundly." The major from the 7th Bugle Call had arrived.


    "Luo Yang, you¡¯vee as well." Major General Jing Ren¡¯s expression was pleased as he quickly stood up in wee.


    Major Luo Yang shut the door as he came in and then walked forward with a smile. He bumped fists with Major General Jing Ren ¡ª this was their special way of greeting one another.

 Chapter 222: What Right?

    Chapter 222: What Right?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Major General Jing Ren 1 said intively, "Every time you pass through here, you nevere over to visit me."


    "You know that one of us, either I or Tian Fang, have to remain with the 7th Bugle Call," said Luo Yang with a wry smile.


    "I shouldn¡¯t have let you go with Tian Fang from the start. If you had followed me, right now you too should already be a senior colonel." Major General Jing Ren nced coolly at Tian Fang, as if ming Tian Fang for holding back Luo Yang¡¯s progress.


    Senior Colonel Tian Fang could only rub his nose and stay silent. At the beginning, it was indeed he that had clung to Luo Yang and begged him to help him, because he knew that it was impossible for him with his brash and forthright personality to handle all those misceneous trivial things associated with running a ship. Thus, he had to find a trustworthy friend to help him, and Luo Yang was his only choice.


    "But, why could you bothe down this time?" asked Jing Ren curiously.


    "Because the 7th Bugle Call is currently undergoing a system reset, so there¡¯s nothing I can do there anyway," replied Luo Yang.


    "Reset?" Jing Ren¡¯s face paled slightly. "What in the world happened?" Unless something major urred or the system became corrupted, there would be no need to reset the system ¡ª it looked like the 7th Bugle Call had indeed gone through some major incident.


    Luo Yang and Tian Fang nced at each other and smiled wryly. In the end, Luo Yang was the one who answered, "Honestly, this incident could be seen as major, but could also be seen as minor. Our ship was taken over by the new cadets from Doha."


    "Personnel control?" Jing Ren saw the wry smiles on their faces and his expression changed drastically, "Could it be that the administrative rights of the ship changed hands?"


    Senior Colonel Tian Fang chuckled dryly and said, "Exactly!" If not for this reason, would anyone on board have been able to control a Domain master like himself?


    It took a long while for Jing Ren¡¯s fluctuatingplexion to ease and recover. His expression was grim as he said, "This matter must not be discovered by military headquarters. Otherwise, both of you will be punished, perhaps even court-martialled if you¡¯re unlucky."


    "With so many cadets involved, this matter may not be able to be contained," said Luo Yang, "However, as long as one person is willing to help, we will be fine."


    Jing Ren¡¯s expression twitched, "What do you mean?"


    "As long as General Ling Xiao is willing to bury this incident ..."


    "General Ling Xiao!" shouted Jing Ren, "How would that be possible? For what reason would he move to help us?"


    "Because, the head of the new cadets who sessfully conquered the 7th Bugle Call was none other than General Ling Xiao¡¯s son. If we don¡¯t ask him to resolve this, who should we ask instead?" Senior Colonel Tian Fang threw down a bomb directly.


    "What?! General Ling Xiao has a son?" Jing Ren was in disbelief. He covered his forehead with his left hand and waved his right hand at them, saying, "Hold on, let me organise my thoughts for a moment. This news is a bit too much, my brain¡¯s CPU can¡¯t process it so quickly."


    Finally, Major General Jing Ren regained hisposure. He thought for a moment ¡ª it was true that the only one who could intervene and would be willing to intervene was General Ling Xiao. However, Major General Jing Ren was still a little worried. "Will General Ling Xiao intervene just because his son was involved?"


    Senior Colonel Tian Fang chuckled and said, "Before he left, Ling Lan hinted for me to go seek out General Ling Xiao!"


    "This Ling Lan is General Ling Xiao¡¯s son then? Had he already considered the consequences?" If that was the case, this youth Ling Lan was really not simple. A brilliant gleam of light shed across Jing Ren¡¯s eyes.


    "Whether it was in terms of skill or strategy, he was very strong. His future achievements are very likely to be no less outstanding than General Ling Xiao¡¯s." Luo Yang greatly admired Ling Lan, believing that the other¡¯s future was immeasurable.


    "That brat is as bold as brass, and his heart is strong enough to make hard decisions, no matter whether it¡¯s against himself or hispanions. Even I am a little chilled by how ruthless he can be ..." said Senior Colonel Tian Fang with a solemn expression as he stroked his jaw, "I¡¯m very worried he will go too far."


    Senior Colonel Tian Fang had a different opinion than the major. He was afraid that after this triumph, Ling Lan would be even more uninhibited. If he encountered someone even more ruthless than himself, he might spiral awry terribly.


    "He is only sixteen years old," Luo Yang reminded Tian Fang, "There are too many future possibilities, we cannot juste to a conclusion so soon!"


    Tian Fang fell silent, but the worry in his heart was notpletely quelled. Ling Lan was indeed abnormally exceptional on so many fronts, but the more aberrant one was, the more terrible the consequences if one ended up on the wrong path.


    "Hey, what are you worrying for? Isn¡¯t he General Ling Xiao¡¯s son?" Jing Ren reminded Tian Fang. With therge tree Ling Xiao to provide shade, they should not be worrying over mere conjectures.


    Tian Fang was enlightened and instantly broke out intoughter. In his mind, he felt somewhat awed at the fact that Ling Lan had left such a deep impression on him that it had made him forget about General Ling Xiao. How fearsome was his force of presence that it could suppress the thought of his personal idol ...


    ********


    Meanwhile, at this moment, Ling Lan andpany were making their glorious way to the venue prepared for the new cadets to eat and rest ¡ª¡ª the fortress cafeteria. They had already been notified by the guides that they would board a new spaceship at 5pm in the afternoon to begin the next leg of their journey.


    "Boss Lan, it¡¯s just as you predicted. This is a transfer station," said Han Jijyun softly. Ever since Ling Lan had found out that their destination was here, she had predicted that this was very likely just a transit point, and it was now proven that Ling Lan¡¯s prediction was right.


    Such arge party suddenly entering the cafeteria, dressed in attire which was not Federation military uniform ¡ª it was obvious that these people were new cadets of the military academy. However, this batch of cadets all had smiles on their faces, easy and carefree, and when they entered the cafeteria, they were not as quiet as the other cadets before them. Quite a few of them were happily chatting with one another, the atmosphere of the group exceptionally lively.


    The attention of all the other new cadets in the cafeteria was instantly drawn to the group, all of them trying to guess which these people were from.


    At a round table in a corner, a group of about ten cadets was also looking at the party. One of the cadets, a youth with a cultured and refined air, had a contemtive expression on his face.


    "Zhou Ya? What have you discovered?" A youth with azy expression by his side noticed his serious expression, and spoke up to ask.


    The contemtive youth was jolted out of his thoughts. His brow furrowed and he said, "Wang Hui, this batch of people are not simple. We should not cross them for no reason." Zhou Ya nced at hispanion beside him, and gave these words of caution.


    "Oh?" Wang Hui did not seem to think much of his friend¡¯s warning, and his expression reflected his nonchnce.


    "The group is not divided. They all chose to sit together. This means that there must be a central figure among them, perhaps someone strong enough that everyone is willing to defer to ... we have just entered the military academy. Before we figure out the other¡¯s strength, it is best we do not offend them simply." Zhou Ya did not think that they could go up against these several hundred people with just the ten of them. Even if his group were all exceptionally capable, they could not hope to prevail against those many fists.


    At this time, a youth who had been outside scouting for information returned and leaned over by Wang Hui¡¯s ear to borate on the others¡¯ background. Wang Hui¡¯s expression, which had tightened up a little due to Zhou Ya¡¯s words, became rxed once more after hearing what the scout had to say. He said mockingly, "So they are from Doha. What use is there even if they have more people? Who have they produced over these past couple of years? Haven¡¯t they still been pushed below our Wuji Gxy 2 for three consecutive years, unable to do anything about it?"


    "Although Doha has not produced anyone of note thesest few years, it is still the gathering ground of the various notable prodigies of the Federation, after all. We cannot underestimate them." Zhou Ya was undoubtedly cautious ¡ª before they found out more about the other, he did not approve of offending the other without good reason.


    "Alright, I¡¯m not going to argue with you. As long as they don¡¯t bother us, I definitely won¡¯t bother them first." Wang Hui finally lifted his hands in surrender after Zhou Ya¡¯s multiple warnings. He then changed the topic and said, "Zhou Ya, Do you get the feeling that their expressions are a little different from those of the other cadets from the others? It¡¯s as if they did not receive much suffering. Could it be that they were not harassed by the crew of their ship at all?"


    It should be known that along the way, they had been harassed endlessly by the crew on their ship. Although they had tried to resist at first, as they saw the numbers the other side had, as well as the other side¡¯s strength, they had had no choice but to lower their heads in submission. However, perhaps because the ten of them had proved themselves stronger than the other cadets by a head, those crew members had seemed to go a little easier on them. The crew had not bullied them as harshly as they had with the other students, almost causing those other cadets to lose their confidence.


    Zhou Ya too had this doubt in his mind. "This, is also something I would like to know." Why could they still maintain the brimming confidence and haughtiness of their youth? After this journey, even the always cocky Wang Hui had be much more reserved, knowing how to take a step back and take others¡¯ reactions into consideration.


    Zhou Ya mumbled to himself, "We¡¯ll be travelling with themter on. We¡¯ll definitely be able to find out some answers to this mystery."


    There were not many people in the cafeteria; Ling Lan and the others very easily found a rtively spacious area to sit at. As usual, Ling Lan¡¯s team, Wu Jiong¡¯s team, and Li Yingjie¡¯s team each took a round table, while the other teams spread out to settle around the tables circling these three teams. Ever since finding out that these teams before them had orchestrated the conquest of the ship, giving them the learning opportunities on the ship, those students who were not from the Central Scout Academy too did not want to get separated from these strong teams.


    Any student who could get into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was definitely intelligent; they knew which option was better for them. Thus, they too followed the example of the Central Scout Academy students, choosing seats alongside them to sit in. This conspicuous unity raised gs among the other groups of students.


    Several youths who were rather close to Ling Lan¡¯s end even left their original seats to choose somewhere farther away to sit.


    Right then, Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie walked over to greet Ling Lan, saying, "Boss Lan, we have something to discuss with you."


    Ling Lan indicated for the two to sit down.


    Li Yingjie peered at those other cadets who were side-eyeing them with vaguely palpable animosity, and scoffed, "Looks like they don¡¯t wee us here."


    Wu Jiongughed and said, "Was our entrance too grand?"


    Ling Lan thought for a moment and nodded. "Just a little! I think, as the number of cadets increase, there will only be more people who hate us."


    Li Yingjie was just about to say something when he saw ten or so people giving trouble to the Doha cadets at the fringes of the circle. He frowned and said, "There¡¯s someone looking for trouble with us?"


    Wu Jiong had also seen it. "It¡¯s not our Central Scout Academy. They¡¯re bothering the cadets from the other Doha scout academies."


    "Should we help?" Qi Long looked towards Ling Lan. Even if those people were not from their Central Scout Academy, they were still from Doha,panions from the same. Qi Long did not want to see them being bullied.


    "Let¡¯s leave this to Li Yingjie." Ling Lan¡¯s words made the small group turn to look at her in shock.


    "Why?" asked Li Yingjie with a disgruntled expression. Hells, it wasn¡¯t like he was Ling Lan¡¯s follower ... what right did Ling Lan have to order him around?

 Chapter 223: Natural Born Rogue!

    Chapter 223: Natural Born Rogue!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "In their eyes, we already are one group. Or, are you saying you want to be separate from us?" Ling Lan nced at Li Yingjie coldly, her piercing and frosty gaze causing Li Yingjie¡¯s initial disgruntlement to disappear instantly. Still, he turned to look unhappily at Qi Long and said, "Qi Long is stronger than me. Wouldn¡¯t it be better for him to go?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s slender fingers gripped Qi Long¡¯s lower jaw abruptly, pulling him forward to let Li Yingjie take a good look at that affable face with its honest grin. She asked calmly, "This face. Do you think it looks like a domineering and unreasonable, arrogant face which would bully others?"


    Li Yingjie choked, and seeing Qi Long grinning guilelessly at him, his eyelid began twitching violently. This face of Qi Long¡¯s was the exemr of ¡¯I am an honest man; I am a good person¡¯. If he stepped forward ... let alone suppressing the other party, he would most definitely end up raising the other party¡¯s morale. Even if they managed to defeat the other in the end, the other side would still have doubts whether the result was due to their own carelessness. It would have no deterrent effect whatsoever ...


    Just as when he had first lost to Qi Long, that feeling of not being convinced, thinking that it was all his own carelessness ... No, even now, he still wasn¡¯t convinced by the other. Even though he knew very well that Qi Long was indeed stronger than him by a hair, he just could not muster up true deference for Qi Long.


    Li Yingjie subconsciously peeked at Ling Lan, and then looked again at the silly grin on Qi Long¡¯s face. He suddenly understood why he could not defer to Qi Long ¡ª because Qi Longcked the type of nature-defying domineering air that Ling Lan exuded! Although Boss Lan had tucked away that domineering air very cleanly at the moment, when he unleashed it during confrontations, that air was enough to make him quake in his boots. This fear had slowly seeped into his bones with the passage of time, causing him to no longer be able to even conceive the notion of resisting.


    "Our group cannot only have one image to present to the public. Our amicable and reasonable side can be assigned to Qi Long." Ling Lan released Qi Long¡¯s jaw, retracting her right hand.


    Seated beside Ling Lan, Luo Lang took a wet wipe out from his backpack with an expression of disgust. Lifting up Ling Lan¡¯s right hand, he carefully and meticulously wiped Ling Lan¡¯s slender jade fingers clean. Fine, he admits that he thinks Qi Long¡¯s oily face would really sully Boss Lan¡¯s graceful and beautiful fair hand ¡ª he needed to serve his boss well by cleaning his hand up.


    This scene rendered Qi Long speechless. Hells, was he being viewed as a virus right now?


    As one of the parties involved, green veins popped up on both of Ling Lan¡¯s temples, twitching. However, seeing Luo Lang¡¯s serious expression, Ling Lan decided to just ignore this and let him do what he wanted. After all, she was just temporarily giving up her right hand and there really wasn¡¯t any harm in this. At the very least, it was hygienic ¡ª she would not have to go wash her hands specially after this.


    Ling Lan studiously ignored the others¡¯ side-eyes, and continued to say, "Being cocky is equally important ¡ª this can deter some minor viins from crossing us simply. We also need to be domineering sometimes. At times, acting right away is much more effective than arguing back and forth with people." Ling Lan clearly stated her opinion. In order to thrive in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, constantlypromising and being amodating was not the best n.


    Wu Jiong nodded thoughtfully while Han Jijyun stared nkly. Then, like a window had been opened, his gaze grew brighter and brighter ¡ª did Boss Lan mean to use both soft and hard tactics simultaneously? Being forceful on both fronts?


    "But why do I have to act?" Li Yingjie still did notprehend Ling Lan¡¯s decision. Qi Long may be unsuitable, but wasn¡¯t there still Wu Jiong?


    Ling Lan cast a nce at him and her lips quirked up slightly, "An arrogant rich family¡¯s son ¡ª isn¡¯t that your original form?"


    These words of Ling Lan made Wu Jiong, Qi Long, and the others burst out intoughter. Those team members sitting close enough to hear, including those from Li Yingjie¡¯s team allughed secretly as well ¡ª they were recalling Li Yingjie¡¯s arrogant behaviour when he had first entered the scout academy. It was as Boss Lan said ¡ª Li Yingjie had truly been an annoying, wildly arrogant, and self-conceited descendant from an elite family.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Li Yingjie¡¯s face darkenpletely, because he too had remembered his horrible manner back when he was young and ignorant. Ah, that would be an unshakeable stain for his whole life!


    Ling Lan felt that she should not continue to bully this annoying-looking rich kid, who was really just a prideful tsundere little uke 1 , so she patted Li Yingjie lightly on the shoulder and said, "Frankly, we¡¯re all not suited to do this. In terms of family standing, none of our backgrounds are deeper than yours (Ling Lan secretly crossed her fingers behind her back at this), so only you are suited for this task. You will pull it off the best."


    "Like Wu Jiong, his face is filled with righteousness. One look and you can tell he¡¯s from a regimented military family. Can you really ask him to act as an arrogant and unreasonable 2nd-generation ancestor 2 ?" asked Ling Lan in return, pointing at Wu Jiong.


    "Yes, Li Yingjie, you naturally possess that arrogant air required. No one can beat you. You should just make the sacrifice for our party." From Ling Lan¡¯s words, Wu Jiong could tell what his future image would be, so he quickly rushed to coax Li Yingjie. As his ssmate for 10 years, he naturally understood Li Yingjie¡¯s weakness towards ttery.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s words undoubtedly cheered Li Yingjie up immensely. Seeing the pleading and expectant faces of Qi Long and the others around the table, he sniffed haughtily and said impulsively, "Since you all begged so earnestly, I¡¯ll take one for the team and ept this responsibility then."


    Seeing this side of Li Yingjie, Ling Lan could not bear to look straight at him, immediately turning her head away. This little fellow had been sold off and still he stayed to help his traders count their money 3 ¡ª how was he so adorkable 4 ...


    "Good luck!" Qi Long and the others all cheered energetically for Li Yingjie, which just made Li Yingjie even more eager to perform. "I¡¯ll let you all see what a true arrogant 2nd-generation ancestor is like. Watch and learn!"


    Li Yingjie rolled up his sleeves and said to his team members, "Follow me. Let us go teach them a good lesson."


    "Yeah!" shouted Li Yingjie¡¯s team excitedly. Those hanging around with Li Yingjie were pretty much all cut from the same cloth.


    Looking at the unimaginably arrogant Li Yingjie, Ling Lan and the others collectively sweatdropped. Dammit, this fellow was a naturally born to be a rogue.


    "Leader, how should we do this?" On their way, a team member asked Li Yingjie.


    "How? Just go right up to them and teach them a lesson! Hit them however we want as long as it¡¯s not fatal. Remember, we are great arrogant rogues ¡ª anyone who rubs us the wrong way, we beat up!" said Li Yingjie with a fierce re.


    "What if someone stronger than us appears?" The team member was still uncertain. Mind you, the other side was also headed for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, all exceptional characters from the respective scout academies. What if by some chance they ended up kicking a hard te and failed in beating up the other to be beaten up instead?


    "Don¡¯t you see that we have people behind us?" Li Yingjie pointed out the table behind them where Ling Lan was seated, "Do you think those new cadets will have someone stronger than Boss Lan?" Li Yingjie was currently extremely bold ¡ª if by any chance he could not handle things, wasn¡¯t there still Ling Lan and the others behind him?


    Subconsciously, Li Yingjie had already considered Ling Lan and the others as a sturdy shield at his back. To be honest, he was not resistant towards Ling Lan¡¯s instructions; he was just a little displeased at Ling Lan¡¯s casual way of ordering him around.


    Ling Lan understood Li Yingjie very well. She knew the other was an egotistical show-off who loved to be in the spotlight ¡ª this sort of role, especially, where he had to exert his dominance over others, was as easy as breathing for him.


    Meanwhile, at this time, at a table on the outermost edge of the circle, two parties were locked in an argument.


    "Wu Yong, don¡¯t you go too far." One of the Doha cadets seemed to know the person who hade to provoke them.


    "Wu Pei, I¡¯m going too far? If you hadn¡¯t set me up, would I have remained to study at a scout academy in Dorun?" said Wu Yong coldly, "Even so, I have still managed to enrol into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. You cannot destroy me."


    "That matter back then is all just your imagination. I have nothing to do with it. Since we have both gotten into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, this is something worth celebrating. Why are you still here to seek trouble with me?" asked Wu Pei calmly.


    "Because I have already wanted to beat you up 10 years ago. You just ran away too quickly, hurrying off to Doha, never returning in 10 years. Unexpectedly, I have finally bumped into you again today and can finally clear up our debt back then." Wu Yong continued, "Should I break your right hand? Or both your legs? I¡¯ll let you have a taste of my suffering back then."


    Wu Pei¡¯s expression became frosty and he said warningly, "Wu Yong, you better not take things too far. These people here are all from Doha."


    "Haha, will they act on your behalf? Aren¡¯t you the only one who was epted into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy from that scout academy of yours?" Wu Yong knew everything regarding Wu Pei like the back of his hand.


    "Seize him!" Wu Yong said to thepanions by his side.


    Just as those people were nning to seize Wu Pei, a haughty voice rang out, "Ho, who permitted you to bully my people?"


    At this moment, Li Yingjie had already led his team members to the scene. Li Yingjie raised his jaw high, looking down with disdain at the other side. This obviously contemptuous expression made the rage on the faces of Wu Yong¡¯s party climb rapidly.


    "He is not someone from your scout academy." Wu Yong forcefully tamped down on his anger, coolly warning Li Yingjie not to interfere needlessly.


    "Hmph! Hasn¡¯t anyone told you that all of the people from Doha are under my protection?" These words of Li Yingjie were said with arrogance, but they received echoing support from the other academies from Doha, "Yes, we¡¯re all under his protection." Everyone knew that this was just Li Yingjie¡¯s excuse for butting in to help, so they all spoke up to amodate him.


    "Are all people from your Central Scout Academy so arrogant?" A cold glint glimmered in Wu Yong¡¯s eyes as he said sinisterly.


    Li Yingjie did not respond, instead turning his head to ask the other students from the Central Scout Academy behind him, "Brothers, someone is saying that we¡¯re arrogant. Should we not disappoint them then?"


    "Yeah!" Quite a few of the Central Scout Academy students who were morebative all stood up and surrounded the group, seeming as if they were eager to begin fighting right now. This scene made Wu Yong hesitate, not daring to move recklessly, but he was unwilling to retreat just like that, so he asked curtly, "Can¡¯t you all be reasonable?"


    Li Yingjie snorted and said, "You already said we were arrogant, and still you ask us to be reasonable? Are you stupid?"


    Wu Yong choked on a breath, finally only managing to bite out, "You watch your step." This was a random threat issued out of helplessness, which was also meant to signify the end of this conflict. Any slightly reasonable person would not let the matter escte further ¡ª the two sides involved would typically back off at this point and go their respective ways.


    But who was Li Yingjie? He was an absolutely unreasonable and arrogant elite family princeling. The moment he heard the other¡¯s words, he became unhappy.


    "Watch my step?" Li Yingjie chuckled darkly, "I would really like to see how you will make me watch my step, you bastard. Beat him!"

 Chapter 224: The Deep Waters of the Military Academy!

    Chapter 224: The Deep Waters of the Military Academy!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Following this cry, Li Yingjie¡¯s team and those Central Scout Academy students whose fists were already itching for a fight leapt forwards, rounding up all ten or so students of the other group. The cafeteria became aplete mess, the group fight kicking off just like that.


    Qi Long stared dumbfounded at the scene before him, mumbling to himself, "They really began fighting?" Truthfully, he had actually thought this conflict would be peacefully resolved.


    Ling Lan rubbed her brow helplessly, her head beginning to ache slightly. This Li Yingjie was truly hard to control once his arrogance was in full swing ... Still, this was good too. At least some of the new cadets who had been thinking of trying something against them would now think twice before bothering them.


    "Wu Jiong, go and check in on Li Yingjie. Don¡¯t let him take things too far!" Ling Lan was worried that Li Yingjie would not be able to stop once his temper was running high, so she sent Wu Jiong off to wrap things up. Compared to Qi Long and the others, Wu Jiong had a better rtionship with Li Yingjie.


    Wu Jiong nodded to show he understood. However, what Ling Lan was worried about did not ur ¡ª Li Yingjie still remembered Ling Lan¡¯s instructions and was careful not to inflict any life-threatening injuries. Even so, Wu Yong and his party of about ten people all received heavy internal injuries. In the end, they had to be carted up to the starship headed for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy by the soldiers at the fortress, hence bing one of the running jokes at the military academy.


    This made those students bear a terrible grudge against the students from Doha. In the end, they even joined forces with those who opposed the Doha faction, adding a considerable amount of obstruction for Li Yingjie and the others. Of course, this would all take ce in the future, so we won¡¯t talk about it here for now.


    This scene was taken in fully by the group that had been observing Ling Lan from a corner.


    "Zhou Ya, looks like you were right. This year¡¯s Doha is indeed not simple. We need to watch out for this person," said Wang Hui grimly, pointing at the mboyantly arrogant Li Yingjie at the centre of the chaos.


    Zhou Ya nodded, but his gaze was directed at the table Ling Lan was at. He had seen Li Yingjie leaving from that table ¡ª then, what sort of characters were the people at the same table with him?


    Zhou Ya believed that all these people were definitely not simple. He even suspected that the one who truly had the strength to rally the other talented students to his side was not actually that arrogant youth, but was likely one of the othersying low at that table ...


    Zhou Ya swept his gaze across the group gathered there. He automatically skipped over Luo Lang and Ling Lan, the two weakest looking members, and his eyesnded squarely on that agreeable grinning face of Qi Long¡¯s. Was he the one? Doesn¡¯t seem like it ... or perhaps him? Xie Yi¡¯s radiantly smiling face leapt into focus ... or perhaps him? Han Jijyun¡¯s cold and stern face made Zhou Ya¡¯s irises narrow abruptly ¡ª he had sensed an invisible pressure pressing down on him ...


    "Zhou Ya, are you alright?" Wang Hui saw cold sweat appear abruptly on Zhou Ya¡¯s forehead, and could not help but exim in surprise.


    Zhou Ya closed his eyes, calming himself down quickly. As if replying to Wang Hui, but also as if he were just talking to himself, he muttered, "I may have met my rival."


    "What?" Zhou Ya had spoken so softly that Wang Hui had not heard him properly.


    Zhou Ya smiled at Wang Hui and said, "It¡¯s nothing. Maybe I¡¯m just too tired."


    Zhou Ya¡¯s words made Wang Hui rx. Indeed, Zhou Ya had spent too much mental effort on handling things with those crew members on the ship previously. This was something that could not be helped ¡ª when one¡¯s strength was weaker than the opponent¡¯s, one could only make up for it with wit and intelligence.


    Zhou Ya nced once more at Han Jijyun and thought to himself: Is that person their strategist? He looks like a real impressive character. Zhou Ya knew very well that since they belonged to two different power factions, there woulde a day when they would sh ... he rallied his spirits and his eyes lit up ¡ª he, Zhou Ya, was not someone who was afraid of challenge!


    As if sensing something, Han Jijyun swept his gaze around the cafeteria, but could not pin down that sense of being watched. He silently shook his head ¡ª could it be that he was being paranoid?


    ********


    After the fight, the cafeteria fell silent once more. As the Doha contingent was greater in number, they dominated almost arge half of the cafeteria, while the students from the others were spread out across the other half, staring warily at the Doha party. In the interim, several more ships had arrived one after another. Finally, when the cafeteria was almost fully packed, the students received the notification that they were about to board a new ship and begin the new leg of their journey.


    Under the lead of the fortress staff, Ling Lan and the others came to the boarding point of the new spaceship. They were instantly struck dumb by the formidable appearance of this new ship. It turned out that the spaceship this time was not disguised as amoner spacecraft, but was a genuine military vessel, a patrol ship marked by the Federation.


    At the helm of the patrol ship was a powerful long-range energy cannon,ser cannons spread out threateningly all over both nks of the ship and its stern. In addition, there were two long-range interster guided missiles clipped to the belly of the ship, ready to attack any enemy from afar.


    The spaceship¡¯s hull was also not something those small spaceships impersonating as public spaceships couldpare to. In its entirety, it was three timesrger than the 7th Bugle Call. This massive military vessel lounged in the spaceport, and inparison to all the other short and small ships around it, it seemed even more grand and majestic.


    Ling Lan did not know what kind of existence an interster mothership was, which wasrger than regr starships by tenfold, but right now, this starship before her in its full glory awed Ling Lan, who once again felt her blood boil with excitement within her.


    All of the cadets boarded the ship with awe and reverence, and then received some rules they had to follow within the starship. Perhaps the new cadets had been stunned into meekness by the majesty of the military vessel, or perhaps they were still traumatised by their experiences on the previous ship, for they did not dare to irritate the soldiers on the ship, obediently waiting as instructed on the ship.


    Ling Lan¡¯s party naturally did not want to cause any trouble this time; thus, the journey was smooth sailing all the way. Three dayster, they sessfully arrived at a mysterious and lovely.


    Little Four had long contacted the mainframe on the military vessel in secret to find out the coordinates of theirnding spot. He alerted Ling Lan to the fact that this ce was yet another unmarked by the Federation. Ling Lan could not help but recall her first outing to Demonbeast and all its associated happenings. She shuddered in silence, gued by the unshakeable feeling that something was going to happen here on this mysterious as well ... She could only hope her luck was better this time, allowing her to peacefully live through these six years of life at the military academy.


    The starship naturally could not descend straight through the atmosphere of the. It hovered in the spaceport in the outer space of the, where the excited students then transferred to a shuttle train which brought them to their actual destination ¡ª¡ª Military Capital!


    The screens on the train exined that this had only one human city, and that was Military Capital. There were only two kinds of inhabitants in Military Capital ¡ª one was military academy students, while the other was military men. That¡¯s right, the instructors of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were actually soldiers and officers from various positions within the army.


    The construction of Military Capital was very beautiful. The arrangement of its buildings was set ording to the ancient Bagua 1 ¡ª without the relevant map, it would be very easy to get lost in the maze of buildings. The heart of Military Capital was a flower garden za, which took up a vast amount ofnd and was also extremely beautiful. To amodate this location, there were no tall buildings around it, with only a few non-standard small buildings nestled among the trees.


    You ask where the military academy was? In fact, the entire Military Capital was the military academy! Here, all the buildings were ces where the students could study, rest, entertain themselves, or shop. The facilities of Military Capital were exhaustive ¡ª anything for eating, using, wearing, and even ying could be found here ¡ª never ever giving one the feeling that they were living in an enclosed world. Furthermore, the virtual world was openly essible to the cadets at all times to log in and out as they liked.


    When Ling Lan¡¯s year of cadets stepped into Military Capital, she instantly noticed some cadets dressed in standardised uniforms staring at them strangely. Quite a number of them had even opened theirmunicators, as if contacting someone about their arrival. This raised Ling Lan¡¯s guard ¡ª could it be that these senior cadets wanted to show the new cadets their ce?


    Thinking about it, Ling Lan felt that this was a likely possibility, so she warned Qi Long, Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and the others to be a little more careful to not get separated from the others and give the older cadets a chance to act.


    It looked like the waters of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were pretty deep ... Ling Lan notified Lin Zhong-qing and Xie Yi with a serious expression that they needed to swiftly find out more about the situation at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, especially with regards to the various factions and their leaders.


    Ling Lan thought silently: It looks like it wouldn¡¯t be as easy as she had thought to establish a foothold here in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy!


    Of course, Ling Lan was not cowed by this ¡ª ever since she knew that Ling Xiao would be there behind her to support her and clean up any messes, Ling Lan had be much more daring than before.


    ********


    In the garden of a particr vi in the 4th year dormitory district, four young men were idly ying cards.


    One of them was very well-built, his strong square face filled with a fierce coldness. Even when ying cards, his demeanour was extremely serious, just as if he was currently embroiled in a huge mecha fight, filled with concentration.


    Across from the well-built youth was an extremely handsome young man. However, this handsomeness was filled with a sense of perversity. Slightly narrowed eyes and a constant half-smile naturally made him ooze deviousness in others¡¯ eyes.


    On the right-hand side of the youth with the devious air was an extremely in-looking youth. However, his simple attire and appearance did not make him pale inparison to his uniquely strikingpanions. It was as though he were between two sparkling diamonds, but continued to emit his unique lustre as a luminous pearl, no weaker for the difference.


    Meanwhile, across from the in youth was a young man wearing a half-mask covering the top half of his face. His soft red lips always carried a beautiful curve, and the eyes behind his mask constantly emitted a warm sense ofughter. The aura around him was warm and weing, making others feel like getting close involuntarily. It should be said that the one who gave others the first impression of being harmless and friendly was unquestionably this youth.


    "I heard that, an aberrant talent ising from the Central Scout Academy of Doha this year?" The devious youth flicked at the cards in his hands, sharing some rumours he had heard with an intrigued expression on his face.


    "Where did you hear that from?" asked the in youth with a quirk of his brow.


    The devious youth smiled slightly, "Who else but our old rival, that Zhang Jing-an who came from the Central Scout Academy. Ever since he lost to us, he has mentioned that the strongest aberrant prodigy of the Central Scout Academy will being to our military academy this year. It is impossible to forget!"


    The well-built youth acted as though he had heard nothing, pulling out one of the cards in his hands seriously to ce it on the table, and called out, "Jack!" Then, he turned to look at the masked youth and said, "Lanfeng, it¡¯s your turn now." He was not interested in this sort of rumour ¡ª if a strong mecha fighter appeared, perhaps he might pay more attention.


    The warm youth abruptly copsed the cards in his hands, and then said with a smile, "Zhao Jun, don¡¯t rush, the card wille out eventually." He slowly pulled out a card from the closed deck in his hands, lightly cing it on the table as he asked, "Han Ye, do you know who that is?"

 Chapter 225: The Various Factions!

    Chapter 225: The Various Factions!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "I don¡¯t know. Zhang Jing-an has not said anything more!" replied Han Ye, "However, ording to my sources, he will go pay a personal visit to that person today." He randomly drew a card from his hand and threw it onto the table, and then stroked his jaw and said, "I really want to know right now ¡ª if that aberrant prodigy really joins Zhang Jing-an¡¯s faction, who will be the true leader of the Doha Central Scout Academy faction?"


    The in youth smirked and said, "Zhang Jing-an has made a wrong move! If that person is truly as aberrant as he said, he will definitely not be able to suppress the other." That said he nced at the cards on the table and said, "I pass on this round! Zhao Jun, it¡¯s your turn."


    Zhao Jun looked at the cards and shook his head, signalling that he too could not y this hand, and gestured for the next yer, Li Lanfeng, to y his card.


    Li Lanfeng pulled out a card and ced it down, saying, "Well, you can¡¯t really say that. Perhaps he is willing to be the other¡¯s assistant ..."


    The in youth nced at Li Lanfeng and asked, "You think Zhang Jing-an is that broad-minded?"


    Li Lanfeng closed up his cards, thinking seriously for a moment before saying admiringly, "Wei Ji, looks like you are still the one who understands Zhang Jing-an better!"


    Wei Ji smiled, as if basking in Li Lanfeng¡¯s words. "I¡¯ve been fighting him for 4 years. If I still don¡¯t understand him, would I still have the right to sit by your sides?"


    Han Ye chuckled. Although the four of them came from differents, ever since they entered the military academy, they had been working with each other to fight against the Doha faction. The coboration among the four of them was integral to the current situation of being able to easily keep the Doha faction in check beneath them.


    "That¡¯s why I say we still need to continue cooperating. We cannot let Zhang Jing-an find a chance to put on airs," said Han Ye.


    Zhao Jun shrugged and said, "Leave me out of all this plotting and scheming. If a fight breaks out, just let me know then."


    Wei Ji side-eyed him and said tonelessly, "We don¡¯t expect you toe up with any strategies anyway. All you need to do is fight."


    Zhao Jun red at him angrily, but just as he was about to say something, Li Lanfeng spoke up, "Zhao Jun is the best among us in terms of mecha piloting. If we don¡¯t rely on him for fighting, who should we rely on?" That said, he threw an admiring gaze at Zhao Jun, snuffing out the rage in Zhao Jun¡¯s heart instantly. He patted his chest firmly and said, "Don¡¯t worry, leave the fighting to me!"


    Han Ye and Wei Ji shared a nce subconsciously, a trace of apprehension in their eyes. However, they soon regained theirposure, one resuming his airy manner, the other still smiling as deviously as ever.


    Li Lanfeng did not seem to detect the swift change in the two youths¡¯ eyes. He looked at Han Ye and Wei Ji with a warm smile and asked brightly, "Are we still ying?"


    Han Ye threw the cards in his hands onto the table and stretched expansively. Only then did he stand up and say, "No, let¡¯s stop. Before figuring out the situation on Zhang Jing-an¡¯s side, I can¡¯t rest easy sitting here."


    There were several cadets chatting not too far away. When one of them saw Han Ye stand up, he rushed over to say, "Leader?"


    "Let¡¯s go!" said Han Ye to his team member.


    "Leaving so soon? Busy?" Wei Ji frowned lightly and stood up as well. He did not really have much desire to leave, but since Han Ye was about to go, there was not much point in him staying behind.


    Han Ye smiled and said, "I have to go arrange some of my people to keep watch on Zhang Jing-an ... I have to find out how strong that aberrant even Zhang Jing-an respects is. I really do not want to let the Doha Central Scout Academy faction rise again!" It had taken them much effort to lead the Wuji factions to suppress the Doha factions ¡ª he had no intention to relinquish his position as the third in power.


    Wei Ji nodded and said, "Then I¡¯ll go with you!" At this time, Wei Ji¡¯s team member had also run over, and the two youths left the vi with their respective team members.


    Seeing their figures disappear from sight, Zhao Jun sniffed and threw down the cards in his hands. "D*mn, really taking me as their hired thug now?"


    Li Lanfeng also threw down the cards in his hands, a subtle smile on his face. "Since it¡¯s a cooperation, some price must be paid. It¡¯s fine as long as this price remains within our control."


    Zhao Jun turned his neck from side to side, rxing his body that was somewhat stiff from sitting too long. In a somewhat disgruntled tone, he said, "I really don¡¯t know why you chose to join them back at the start. Wouldn¡¯t it have been better to join forces with the number one and number two factions?"


    Li Lanfeng shook his head and said, "Joining the number one and number two factions, we would not have any speaking rights. That would truly make us hired help ... conversely, joining them ¡ª to protect their third position, they would definitely value us highly. We can only truly establish a foothold within the military academy with the speaking rights this affords us."


    Zhao Jun knew that what Li Lanfeng said was not wrong. He nced at Li Lanfeng worriedly and said, "But, they have still begun to fear you."


    Li Lanfeng smiled and said, "It¡¯s fine. A lone wolf like me, even if they fear me the fear won¡¯t grow by much. It¡¯ll be okay as long as you don¡¯t act as if you¡¯re too close to me."


    "You told me to pretend to be a simple-minded brawny character, while you¡¯re the mediating character between me and them. If I¡¯m not close to you, who am I close to?" Zhao Jun huffed coldly. If he was not close with Li Lanfeng, then that would truly be suspicious.


    "It¡¯s actually not a huge problem. As long as you act as impulsive and eager for a fight as usual, they will think it¡¯s very easy to control you, and hence not worry about me too much," said Li Lanfeng.


    Zhao Jun harrumphed and said, "Right now in the military academy, who doesn¡¯t think of me as the impulsive and eager to fight Tyrant Zhao?"


    Li Lanfengughed at these words. "Isn¡¯t that pretty good? Anyone who wishes to avoid trouble will certainly avoid disturbing you, right?"


    Zhao Jun fell silent for a long moment before opening his mouth to say, "When will we be able to go up against that Thunder King?"


    Li Lanfeng paused, his entire being suddenly turning extremely cold and forbidding. However, this shift in his aura onlysted for a split second. In the blink of an eye, he had recovered his usual warm aura, and he articted his answer word by word, "There will be a chance."


    Zhao Jun peered intently at Li Lanfeng, and the bleak aggression about him grew thicker. "I¡¯ll be waiting!"


    Right then, a light breeze swept through the garden, ruffling the hair of both youths. Warm and gentle, bleak and forceful ¡ª the two distinctly different types of aura melded surprisingly well together, without any sense of irregrity.


    ********


    The first thing the cadets did upon entry to the military academy was to carry out all the registration procedures, collecting the uniforms prepared by the school and finding out where their dormitories were at the same time. The amodation provided by the military academy were all stand-alone vis. Each vi could hold six people; Ling Lan¡¯s team very coincidentally were all arranged to stay in one vi.


    Qi Long and the others were naturally very surprised by this ¡ª only Ling Lan knew that this was definitely the work of her dad. In order to prevent his daughter¡¯s gender from being exposed, Ling Xiao had pulled all strings to arrange for Ling Lan to live together with these followers of hers, in hopes that they would be able to protect Ling Lan.


    Of course, Ling Xiao had only done this after doing a lot of private investigation ¡ª he knew Qi Long and the others greatly admired Ling Lan, and were the type of sworn brothers that would give their lives for Ling Lan. This put a somewhat sour taste in Ling Xiao¡¯s mouth even as he was proud of his daughter. He just kept having the feeling that this bunch of brats were here to steal away his precious daughter ...


    The students from Doha were pretty much distributed within the same district. During this registration period, Lin Zhong-qing and Xie Yi had used their own individual abilities to take the opportunity to understand some things within the military academy, such as the distribution of power among the factions as well as the ranking situation.


    Students from Doha made up the majority, but they were split up into various factions of different sizes, each unwilling to defer to another. Of these, Zhang Jing-an¡¯s faction was thergest, and could be considered the representative of the Doha Central Scout Academy faction. But even so, his faction was still firmly pressed down by three otherrge factions, unable to budge.


    They were respectively the number one faction, the Leiting faction 1 , the number two faction, the Tianji faction 2 , and the number three faction, the Wuji faction 3 .


    When they passed on this information to Ling Lan and the others, Qi Long was infuriated, thinking that Zhang Jing-an had disgraced all of the Central Scout Academy. Mind you, every year, the Central Scout Academy was the school which supplied the most number of sessful applicants to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy in the entire Federation.


    Ling Lan and Han Jijyun shared a nce, a trace of understanding in their eyes. Han Jijyun voiced a reminder, "Looks like, Zhang Jing-an will soon being to find us." He turned to ask Ling Lan, "Boss Lan, what should we do?" Coborate or refuse him?


    "Let hime!" Ling Lan did not state her stance just yet.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s eyes glinted, as if understanding something, and he said nothing further. Seeing this, Qi Long and the others cleverly asked no questions. They had long learned that when Boss Lan and Han Jijyun were speaking, they would need to go through several twists to fully understand what was going on, so it would be pointless even if they asked.


    Sure enough, just as Ling Lan finished washing up and was lounging on the living room sofa to rest, Zhang Jing-an came to visit. Being able to source Ling Lan¡¯s address at such short notice, Zhang Jing-an was still rather capable.


    Zhang Jing-an had brought his few team members along; Qi Long had already been instructed by Ling Lan to let them in without giving them any trouble.


    Seeing Ling Lan sitting on the sofa, Zhang Jing-an said with a smile, "Ling Lan, seeing that you managed to enrol into our military academy, I am extremely d!"


    At this moment, Zhang Jing-an no longer had any of the dejected air he had had after his failure at the grand armed melee that year. Although his faction was currently being suppressed by the other three major factions, he was still the leader of the fourth ranking faction after all. He appeared spirited, and even with a smiling face and a friendly attitude, he still retained a trace of the prideful air of a superior.


    Zhang Jing-an¡¯s words and his attitude made a trace of displeasure appear on the faces of Qi Long and the others. They would not allow anyone to disrespect their Boss Lan. Even if Zhang Jing-an was their senior back then, they would not condone it.


    Ling Lan only quirked a brow at his words, before pointing at the sofa before her and saying calmly, "Senior Zhang, please sit!"


    Since Zhang Jing-an was treating her with the air of a superior, Ling Lan naturally needed to strike back. She immediately treated Zhang Jing-an like a subordinate follower, casually instructing him to sit.


    This breezy attitude made the expressions of the team members who hade along with Zhang Jing-an to change. One of them was about to bark out a warning at Ling Lan when Qi Long abruptly swept an icy re at him, harrumphing loudly.


    This loud harrumph reverberated by his ears, and that person felt a jolt in his chest, his blood and vital energies roiling. The cry he had been about to utter seemed to be lodged in his throat, no longer able toe out. His expression changed drastically, and he stared in vacant shock at Qi Long who was standing beside Ling Lan ...


    Zhang Jing-an¡¯s expression changed as well, his initial haughty manner disappearing to be reced by a share of grimness. He nced at Qi Long with aplicated expression, and signalled for that team member to back down.

 Chapter 226: New Cadet Regiment!

    Chapter 226: New Cadet Regiment!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Zhang Jing-an walked over to sit on the sofa Ling Lan had pointed out. He did not say anything to Ling Lan, instead turning to Qi Long beside her to say with an admiring expression, "Junior Qi Long, you are the valedictorian among the new cadets joining us this year, bringing such glory to our Doha Central Scout Academy! This strength of yours is notable even among the upper ranks of the entire military academy. In future, you will definitely be a central pir for our Central Scout Academy faction!"


    On the surface, Zhang Jing-an was praising Qi Long, but he was in fact trying to nt a thorn in Ling Lan¡¯s heart. He wanted her to grow wary of Qi Long and be unable to trust Qi Long fully. Moreover, he also believed that as long as Qi Long was given a chance, with his strong capabilities, he would certainly be unwilling to continue deferring to Ling Lan! Zhang Jing-an believed that, with his abilities, he could definitely convince the simple-minded little Qi Long to join his faction.


    Just now, Ling Lan¡¯s cold indifference had caused Zhang Jing-an to make the decision to give up on Ling Lan and choose Qi Long. Of course, to get what he wanted, he would need to create trouble between the two to cause Qi Long and Ling Lan to split up. This was also why Zhang Jing-an had praised Qi Long so highly ¡ª he was hoping to kindle Qi Long¡¯s desire for recognition, thus making him dissatisfied with Ling Lan.


    However, Zhang Jing-an¡¯s idealistic calctions were destined to fail. As heuded Qi Long, he carefully observed the changes in Qi Long¡¯s expression, but found that Qi Long did not react at all to his words. This made Zhang Jing-an¡¯s brow furrow, his heart bing somewhat unsettled.


    Ling Lan naturally knew what Zhang Jing-an was aiming for, but she was not at all concerned. She had already intended to push Qi Long up as a leader from the start ¡ª it was just that Qi Long was a battle maniac and had no interest whatsoever in this sort of things.


    Zhang Jing-an saw the two of them ignoring his words, even sensing some mockery in Ling Lan¡¯s gaze, and could only sulkily stop his attempts at provocation. With stiltedughter, he said, "And Junior Ling Lan, I haven¡¯t seen you for a few years, but you¡¯re still as spirited as ever." The few years he had spent in the military academy had obviously made Zhang Jing-an more mature and tolerant than when he had been at the scout academy.


    Since it looked like Qi Long was a dead end, he had no choice but to pick Ling Lan again. Zhang Jing-an¡¯s intent shifted instantly, returning to his original target.


    Ling Lan was expressionless, still retaining her ckface to say coldly, "Many thanks!"


    This voice with no trace of warmth made Zhang Jing-an choke for a moment, only managing to squeeze out a smile after a long while. However, the smile still looked rather forced.


    It should be said that Zhang Jing-an had not expected Ling Lan to be so discourteous to him, not even bothering with surface niceties. He had initially nned to use their rtionship as senior and junior to close the distance between them and then suggest a partnership, but now it looked like this was impossible.


    Thus, Zhang Jing-an went straight to the point. "New to the military academy, Junior Ling Lan, you likely still don¡¯t know how the distribution of power is right now in our military academy, right? If you want to pass your days securely in the military academy till you graduate, it won¡¯t do if you don¡¯t understand this."


    Ling Lan quirked a brow and said, "Oh? There¡¯s such a thing?" If there was someone willing to voluntarily exin it to her, she naturally would not reject them. It was never wrong to try and understand things a little better.


    "There are many factions of varying sizes within the military academy. There are about ten or so that are strong enough to be ranked, but, there are four strongest factions that stand out from the rest. They are respectively the first faction, Leiting, the second faction, Tianji, the third faction, Wuji, and our Doha Central Academy faction." At this point, a trace of regret appeared on Zhang Jing-an¡¯s face. "If the people from the other scout academies in Doha were willing to join us, we would never have ended up as the fourth faction. Even if bing the first or second may be a bit difficult, third ce should have been in the bag. Last year when we had a ranking mecha fight with the Wuji faction, we only lost by about 10 points at the end. What a shame ..."


    When Zhang Jing-an mentioned the third faction, his tone and demeanour were clearly disgruntled. He lifted his head to look at Ling Lan and said, "However, I believe this year will be different. We can definitely take back the third position. I know there are a full 300 or so new cadets from the Central Scout Academy this year. As long as we unite and work together, even the position of second faction is worth trying for."


    At this point in his speech, Zhang Jing-an was ovee with excitement. He could already almost see the glorious scene of him leading the students of the Central Academy faction strutting around the military academy.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s response instantly smacked him back into reality. Ling Lan could be heard to say calmly, "Senior Zhang¡¯s thinking is very admirable, but I personally dislike fighting and don¡¯t want to take part in this sort of thing. As for the other new cadets, Senior Zhang can go and try inviting them personally."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words almost made Zhang Jing-an spew blood. He stared wide-eyed at Ling Lan, his face a picture of disbelief. What was he saying about disliking to fight ... wasn¡¯t this person before him now the one who instigated that horrific grand armed melee back then?


    Zhang Jing-an was about to say something when Ling Lan abruptly stood up and said, "It¡¯s been a long day. I¡¯m already very tired. Forgive me for not being able to apany you any further. Please help yourself, Senior Zhang!"


    That said, Ling Lan turned and left the dining hall immediately to return to her own room, not giving Zhang Jing-an any chance at all to continue speaking or to try asking her to stay.


    Watching as Ling Lan¡¯s figure disappeared, Zhang Jing-an¡¯s expression shifted slightly. He repressed the rage in his heart, turning his head to look at Qi Long and invited, "Is Junior Qi Long interested to contribute your strength to our Central Academy faction?"


    Qi Long yawned widely, and waved his hand in refusal, saying, "We follow Boss Lan. If he¡¯s not interested, then we¡¯re not interested. Sorry about that, Senior Zhang! It¡¯s really too tiring. I too need to rest now. Bye!" So saying, he too left the hall, returning to his own room to rest.


    Being outright rejected by the two strongest people in this year¡¯s intake from the Central Scout Academy, Zhang Jing-an could not bear to stay any longer. He resentfully said goodbye to Han Jijyun and the others and then swiftly made his way out of Ling Lan¡¯s vi.


    "D*mmit, refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit 1 ... does he really think this is still the time for him to have the wind and storm at his beck and call?" The moment he got back to his own vi, Zhang Jing-an flung a teacup from the tea set in his living room savagely against the ground. All the humiliation he had bottled up at Ling Lan¡¯s ce was finally unleashed at this moment.


    "Leader, what do we do next? Do we teach them a lesson?" One of his team members walked close to ask quietly. This was Zhang Jing-an¡¯s typical way of handling things ¡ª anyone who was unwilling to submit would be harassed by teams till they were forced to submit and joined his faction.


    Zhang Jing-an¡¯s gaze shed, a reckless urge rising in his heart to send some people to teach those few damn brats a good lesson. However, he very quickly got a hold of himself, knowing that right now was not the time. After all, the other new cadets had not joined his faction yet ¡ª if the others found out he had taught Ling Lan and his team a lesson just because they would not join him, those new cadets might grow wary and be unwilling to join.


    Hmph! Wait till he got all of the new cadets into his fold, then he would most certainly teach them a lesson! Zhang Jing-an¡¯s gaze was venomous ¡ª till death he would not forget the humiliation he suffered in his final year at the scout academy. He would definitely take revenge for the grudge acquired back then.


    ********


    The upper ranks of the other factions soon got wind of the news of Zhang Jing-an¡¯s failure. Some of them reacted with contempt, while some reacted with schadenfreude. However, they did not think much of this so-called strongest aberrant of the Central Scout Academy ¡ª even though they knew the valedictorian of this year¡¯s batch was from the Central Scout Academy, they still were not concerned. This was because there was a valedictorian every year, but the one who could truly be the strongest of the year within the military academy was oftentimes not that valedictorian.


    Everyone thought that the Central Scout Academy faction would soon be embroiled in a power struggle between the old and new internal factions, but things were unexpectedly peaceful. Zhang Jing-an did not take any measures, while Ling Lan¡¯s side seemed to be focused on their studies, showing no signs of wanting to take power. This made all the various factions somewhat bemused ¡ª could it be that Zhang Jing-an could really tolerate this batch of disobedient new cadets?


    Meanwhile, it was not that Zhang Jing-an did not want to take action, he just could not. Because he had been continuously trying to invite the other new cadets to join his faction over this period of time, but all he received were rejections. Although Zhang Jing-an had considered trying to force things from the weakest of the new cadets, he found that the bonds among this batch of new cadets were extremely strong. It was all too easy to spark off some unintended effect if he was not careful. This made Zhang Jing-an have no choice but to give up on this avenue of action. He could only tolerate for now and try to think of another way.


    Ling Lan was naturally aware of the fact that Zhang Jing-an had been smacking into walls with the new cadets, because Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and the other team leaders had discussed this matter with her before.


    Ling Lan had stated her decision outright, which was to stay neutral and observe for a year first. After all, their first year was the gruelling physical conditioning; they would not have any energy to participate in this struggle among the factions. When they moved on to the second year and the timing was right, then they could decide whether to join some other faction or create an organization themselves.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words seemed to give these people direction, so they all decided to temporarily not join any faction either, putting all their focus intopleting their training tasks. To prevent Zhang Jing-an and his faction from taking out his anger and frustration on them for not getting what they wanted, they temporarily established a new cadet regiment, supporting each other in their daily movements.


    They did not ask for Ling Lan¡¯s opinion, directly promoting her as the first regimentmander, with Qi Long as the second regimentmander, Wu Jiong as the third, and Li Yingjie as the fourth. The position of fifth regimentmander would be filled by the other team leaders in turn to facilitate operations.


    Ling Lan only found out about all this after the fact and was rendered extremely speechless! Mind you, she had told them to observe the situation for a year just so they would be able to establish their worth in the eyes of the other factions, and not so they could make their own organisation. Moreover, she did not want to be the first regimentmander of this new cadet regiment ... hells, she really did not want to take on any such responsibility, alright?!


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s face was currently already at the extreme ckface level, all emotions almost indiscernible from her expression. Thus, no matter how dissatisfied she was with the situation, she could only emanate endless cold air to torment these idiot schoolmates who did not understand her true intentions.


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s cold aura chilled these new cadets to the bone, every time they passed by Ling Lan and ended up shivering in their boots from this frigid air, they were ever more convinced in their decision: See, how formidable was their first regimentmander! With just one look, he could freeze them in their tracks. Under his lead, they would definitely be able to puff out their chests in pride within the military academy, holding their ground.


    Heaven knows who revealed the establishment of the new cadet regiment to the other students from the other scout academies of Doha. These new cadets had experienced the great triumph of taking control of the spaceship under Ling Lan¡¯s leadership, and so were already fully convinced of Ling Lan¡¯s capabilities. As such, quite a significant number of Doha¡¯s new cadets also joined the regiment. Only an extremely small number of new cadets joined the other factions of Doha due to personal reasons.


    With that, almost 500 new cadets joined the new cadet regiment. The decently sized organisation, not too big yet not too small, made the other factions step lightly in their oppression. If any major violence urred, the military academy would step out to enforce punishment on all sides, so that would be disadvantageous to them too. Under these circumstances, the new cadets of the new cadet regiment temporarily obtained the space to exist freely ...

 Chapter 227: New Cadet District!

    Chapter 227: New Cadet District!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Requesting login to the virtual world. Requestor: Ling Lan, age 16 years. Requirements for login fulfilled. Please wait a moment!" Logging into the great hall, Ling Lan finally saw this approval notification. This was because Ling Lan had not participated in the barrier-crossing mission when she had been 13 years old, so her true identity could only officially enter the real virtual world after she turned 16 years old.


    Of course, Ling Lan was already long familiar with the real virtual world. The only reason she was using her real identity now to login was that Qi Long and the others wanted her to enter the virtual world and join the exciting world of mecha.


    Ling Lan¡¯s login spot was the camping grounds of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. However, this camping ground was only essible to cadets; outsiders had no way of entering. There was a mecha training hall inside the camping grounds itself ¡ª as long as one could graduate from the test there, they would be able to enter the mecha world.


    The moment she stepped into the mecha training hall, she came to the hall where one chose their beginner mecha. The same handsome soldier stood there as before, along with those three basic mecha. She had just approached when the soldier spoke up to ask, "Recruit, do you want to first understand more about thebat styles of the three mecha, their controls, or do you just want to choose a mecha directly?"


    This time, Ling Lan naturally chose to select her mecha immediately. Perhaps out of habit, she actually chose the option of bestial mecha. Before Ling Lan could regret her choice, the soldier waved expansively, and therge spin wheel which had snubbed Ling Lan once appeared before her once more.


    Seeing this familiarrge spin wheel, Ling Lan could not help but sweatdrop. Tenaciously, she asked, "Can¡¯t I just choose directly?"


    "A beginner¡¯s mecha is gifted by the system. So, a beginner has no right to choose the mecha. Which mecha model they get will be determined randomly by this spin wheel. Luck, is also a form of strength. You should anticipate your luck and hope it brings you a strong and powerful mecha!" The soldier was still reciting the same script as before, each word exactly the same.


    Ling Lan could not help but direct a middle finger at the sky, full of contempt for the system¡¯s rigidity. Unexpectedly, this action of hers actually caused the soldier¡¯s expression to turn stern and he issued a warning, "The recruit behaves disrespectfully to the soldier. Luck value deducted by 100!"


    Ling Lan almost spewed blood ¡ª the system was truly brutal.


    Eagerly, Little Four asked quietly within the mindspace, "Boss, do you want me to erase this punishment?"


    Ling Lan immediately stopped Little Four. After all, she was using her true identity to login. Who knew whether this area was being monitored, or if there would be some record left behind of the proceedings? Besides, it was only her luck value that was being deducted. At most, when she was choosing a mecha, her luck would be bad enough to end up with a most terrible mecha. With her current abilities, even the worst mecha would not have its battle power reduced by much.


    After consoling Little Four, Ling Lan resolutely spun therge spin wheel. In her mind, she was thinking ¡ª with such low luck value this time, she should not obtain a rabbit mecha again, right? It should be known that that rabbit was still one of the newer mecha developed by the Federation, so itsbat power was actually above average.


    So thinking, Ling Lan heard a ¡¯poof¡¯. Colourful confetti swirled before her eyes, and an extremely adorable giant rabbit abruptly appeared before her ...


    D*mmit, why was it still a rabbit?! Wasn¡¯t it said that the rabbit was one of the newer models to be developed by the Federation, only able to be drawn if one¡¯s luck was great? Ling Lan still remembered what the soldier had said back when she had first drawn the rabbit ¡ª he had smiled andmended her for her luck. Today, her luck had dropped by 100, and she still drew the rabbit? What the hell was this?


    The soldier saw the rabbit mecha appear, and his face revealed a smile filled with schadenfreude. "Congrattions, recruit, on obtaining our Federation¡¯s newest rabbit mecha model." He raised his hand to pass the remote control for the rabbit mecha to Ling Lan.


    At this moment, Ling Lan really wanted to p herself a few times ¡ª why did you have to choose bestial mecha, why did you have to even think of rabbit, now reality has really conjured it up ... with a bitter expression, she epted the remote control. D*mmit, she really did not want to meet up with Qi Long and the others controlling a rabbit mecha!


    Just imagine it ... a cold-faced unsmiling youth, operating an adorable rabbit mecha, and when the rabbit mecha paused, it would even nibble every once in a while on a carrot ... Oh my god! She feltpletely unwell, almost being able to imagine how Qi Long and the others would be bowled over withughter ...


    But to change to a new mecha, one needed a massive amount of points. Moreover, the points of the mecha training hall were extremely difficult to umte ¡ª the points needed to switch to a new mecha required a long period of foundational control training to gather, and right now, what Ling Lancked most was time. Qi Long and the others were waiting for her in the mecha world ¡ª she needed to enter as soon as possible to meet up with them.


    She might as well go to the mecha world and take part in the mecha arena fights. As long as she did not lose, it was rtively easy to collect points there to redeem a higher level mecha in the shortest period of time! Ling Lan decided that she would not contact Qi Long and the others right away after she entered the mecha world. Let her switch her mecha first.


    Ling Lan boarded her rabbit mecha and immediately chose to take the assessment. With regards to mecha, the mecha she was most familiar with was most likely the rabbit mecha. The moment the controls were in hand, Ling Lan instantly found her groove, controlling the rabbit mecha just as if it were an extension of her limbs.


    In order not to reveal too much, Ling Lan suppressed her hand speed, slowing things down by a full three brackets. Still, even so, her final results were good enough to ce her within the top ten. Ling Lan decisively chose to remain anonymous; she did not want to be targeted by unknown enemies.


    The assessment ended, and the same phrase popped up ¡ª do you want to graduate and leave ¡ª and this time, Ling Lan naturally chose yes.


    The screen of her mecha turned white, and when the image stabilised once more, she was already in another world. Ling Lan knew that this was the mecha world. Ling Lan had been here before. However, at the time she had not taken a close look before logging off, in a hurry to return to the learning space to assimte the insights she had gained during the assessment. After that, she had not used that fake identity to log in again, so she was unclear on the situation in the mecha world.


    The scene depicted on the screen was that of a deste wastnd, as if the world had been through armageddon. There were overturned buildings and crumbling walls ¡ª ruins everywhere without a person in sight.


    At this time, a block of text emerged on the mecha¡¯s screen. "Wee to the mecha world. Your login number is SH291786907R9. We rmend you personalise your username."


    Heh, this number was really very long. It was clear to see just how many people there were in the mecha world. They could be professional mecha operators from the military, or they could be simple mecha enthusiasts, or perhaps mecha experts from the general public ...


    Ling Lan knew that the serial number was not suitable for interaction. She needed to pick a name that would be easy to recall and easy for herpanions to use in conversation. Of course, this name needed to carry the words ¡¯ Lingtian 1 ¡¯, because Qi Long that punk had chosen to name their team as the Lingtian Battle n 2 ... this fearless fellow ¡ª naming the team so arrogantly, drawing hate.


    Ling Lan randomly chose [ Lingtian First-String 3 ]. Surprisingly, it was epted straightaway ¡ª this truly made her doubt whether her luck had truly been docked by 100 4 ... Or maybe her luck was currently already nature-defying, so it would not matter no matter how much it was deducted?


    Ling Lan shook her head uprehendingly and decisively threw aside her doubts. She began to browse through the indicated missions on her screen. Right now, she was standing in the wastnd area which all newbies needed to challenge. There would definitely be some hint here telling you where the nearest town where humans gathered was. You would be able to leave if you found the hint, but if you couldn¡¯t, you would be stuck here forever. Even if you died, you would still be revived here in this wastnd.


    Many newbies would be stuck here for quite a long while. For one, it cultivated the observational skills of the newbies, and secondly, it would also polish the newbies¡¯ mecha control. Before they reached a certain standard, they would not be allowed to enter the true mecha world.


    This was because even if they managed to enter the mecha world before their skills were up to snuff, they would still end up being bullied and kicked around, and not be able to improve. There were many newbies who used shortcuts to enter the mecha world, and then voluntarily withdrew due to being unable to progress further, losing the courage to operate mecha in the end.


    Ling Lan randomly chose a direction and began walking. Here, it was wastnd on all four sides. The first direction chosen would obviously be just trying one¡¯s luck, so Ling Lan did not bother wasting brain cells over it.


    After swiftly disposing of two waves of mutated rodents, Ling Lan found a hint. It looked like the path to the human town was underground, but it was unfortunately taken over by arge swarm of mutated rodents. To leave this ce, she would need to clear out the entire batch of mutated rodents.


    ording to the average newbie¡¯s abilities, a newbie would have to wait until more people gathered here on this map to form teams and coborate. But who was Ling Lan? Even if she had been given the rabbit mecha which was best at acting cute, this task posed no difficulty for her. She naturally would not choose to wait, immediately controlling her rabbit mecha to invade the underground tunnel.


    Right at that moment, a humanoid mecha just happened to log onto this space. He had just appeared when he saw arge rabbit nibbling on a carrot hopping merrily into the underground tunnel. He was about to yell out for the other to stop, but found that the other had already disappeared ...


    "That¡¯s just asking for it! The rabbit mecha is one of the mecha with the least fighting power. Can one person ovee the overwhelming swarm of mutated rodents?" The humanoid mecha operator shook his head, prepared to wait for the other to revive and then get him to wait together for more teammates.


    Three minutes went by, and the rabbit mecha still had not appeared at the revival area. The humanoid mecha eximed in surprise, "He¡¯s unexpectedly capable, actually holding out for so long ..."


    Five minutes went by, and still the revival area was still and silent. The humanoid mecha began to frown ¡ª could it be the other had be afraid and chosen not to revive?


    Ten minutes went by, and still there was no sign of the rabbit mecha¡¯s reviving figure. The humanoid mecha began to fidget ¡ª what in the world had happened?


    When twenty minutes had passed and the rabbit mecha still had not revived. The humanoid mecha could hold back no longer, "If I die, I die. I need to see what has happened ..."


    Decision made, the humanoid mecha moved to dash into the underground tunnel. The moment he entered, he saw the ground littered with the corpses of mutated rodents. Zooming in on the image of the dead rodents, he could immediately see that all the rodents had been killed with one strike, never requiring a second blow. Each strike had been clean and efficient, as if having been calcted by aputer. Not a share of energy wasted, not a share of energy less than what was needed.


    "What amazing attack skills!" The humanoid mecha sped up, and the further in he went, the more corpses of mutated rodents he found. By the time he got to the centre point, the corpses of the mutated rodents were stacked in towering heaps. In these numbers, even though he knew they were just dead carcasses, the humanoid mecha could not help but feel mentally creeped out ...

 Chapter 228: The Adorkable Rabbit Mecha!

    Chapter 228: The Adorkable Rabbit Mecha!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "This definitely isn¡¯t something a newbie can do. Who the heck is he? Who exactly is the operator of that rabbit mecha?" The humanoid mecha was currently ovee with shock and awe, beginning to guess at the other¡¯s background.


    Right then, something stirred abruptly behind the humanoid mecha.


    "Squeak squeak squeak ..." These sounds were transmitted from a distance. Although they were extremely soft, the powerful sound systems of the mecha had still captured them urately.


    These were the cries of the mutated rodents! The humanoid mecha operator¡¯s face paled drastically, and he shouted, "Not good! It¡¯s time for the mutated rodents to respawn ... run!"


    The humanoid mecha knew without having to think about it that the road he had taken toe here was certainly already blocked off. His only option was to speed up and move forwards for any hope of survival. If he was luckier, he might even be able to break past the newbie area and enter the human town.


    The humanoid mecha decisively revved his engines to the max, zooming forwards speedily ...


    The sounds behind him were getting increasingly louder ¡ª the chaotic cacophony from behind him proved that there were countless mutated rodents on his tail. Sweat poured in a steady stream from the forehead of the humanoid mecha operator, flowing down into his eyes.


    Real sweat carried the taste of salt, and the mecha world faithfully reflected this ¡ª the operator felt his eyes stinging from his sweat. However, he did not dare to wipe them away nor to even blink, afraid that any slight pause or hesitation would allow the endless swarm of mutated rodents behind him to chase up to him, making him end up as their gourmet meal ...


    The mutated rodents in the wastnds were extremely powerful ¡ª their ws and teeth were their weapons, easily tearing through the metallic outer shells of mecha. Such a vast amount of mutated rodents behind him would be able to consume him entirely in an instant. Thus, the moment he was surrounded, there would be practically no hope of survival ¡ª death would be certain ...


    The mecha¡¯s screen suddenly indicated that there was a signaling from ahead, a distance of about 100 metres. Was it the exit? Hope red in the humanoid mecha operator¡¯s eyes. He kicked his mecha¡¯s engines up another notch ¡ª in other words, the mecha¡¯s engines were currently operating beyond capacity. But for the sake of living on, this was a natural choice.


    80 metres, 50 metres ... there was a turn up ahead ¡ª what was that shing light? Could it be a portal?


    The humanoid mecha operator¡¯s eyes were filled with hope. As long as he could charge through this portal, he would be able to enter the human town and leave this newbie wastnd behind. He must do his best now!


    30 metres ... sess was in sight! The humanoid mecha operator¡¯s face was filled with joy. He had never expected that he would be able to leave the newbie area so quickly. Perhaps he would break the record, bing the fastest recruit to break through into the human town?


    At this moment, a violent ¡¯bang¡¯ suddenly rang out in this eerie and silent underground tunnel. The humanoid mecha operator felt his mecha being struck forcefully by an external force, his initially swiftly flying mecha being thrown off course by this collision ...


    No, he could not fail like this! The humanoid mecha operator¡¯s expression was twisted in a fearsome rictus as he desperately tried to stabilise the mecha¡¯s body. Still, his mecha finally fell to the ground, and with a trip, it stumblingly continued to run forwards. There were only 10 metres left ¡ª he just needed another 3 seconds, no, just 1 second would do, and he would be able to leave this horrific underground tunnel behind ...


    However, the time he yearned for was not bestowed by the heavens. Another loud sound of collision rang out ¡ª he was hit by a second attack. Yet another mutated rodent had mmed into him viciously, and the attack this time threw the humanoid mechapletely off-bnce. It was sent flying to fall right before the portal ...


    Just one more metre and he would be able to touch the portal, but unfortunately he would no longer have the chance ... the endless swarm of mutated rodents behind him leapt on him without mercy, submerging the humanoid mecha, and then the cruel sounds of crunching teeth filled the tunnel ...


    No! The mecha operator looked despairingly at the portal right before his eyes ... and then his screen turned ck. This was because the mutated rodents had fully covered all his cameras with their bodies. An instantter, he received an alert ¡ª do you choose to revive? Fearing that the operators would suffer mental trauma from the various sufferings before death, the system by default would set the effect from pain and death to zero in the mecha world.


    The operator grimaced and pressed the button to confirm. When the mecha¡¯s screen lighted up once more, he had already been returned to the revival point of the wastnds. The humanoid mecha operator was currently extremely frustrated and regretful. If he had only entered the tunnel a minute earlier, no, if he had only entered a second earlier, or perhaps had not stopped to look at those rodent bodies, choosing to run at full speed, he would not be here right now. Instead, he would be in the human town district, truly entering the exciting world of the mecha world ...


    The chance only came once; it was gone if you missed it. Now, to get through the newbie area, he could only wait for morepanions to cooperate with him to fight through the tunnel.


    ********


    Ling Lan, who had already arrived at the human town could not know that such a thing had happened behind her, that a humanoid mecha operator had almost managed to sweep past the newbie area by riding on her coattails. Right now, she had just received a system notification telling her that she had broken the record for being the fastest to enter the human town. The system asked her whether to publish her name or remain anonymous, and Ling Lan naturally chose to remain anonymous. Still, she scorned the mecha world system for being miserly, not even awarding a prize for breaking the record ...


    She looked over a map and found the mechabat challenge hall. Unexpectedly, when she requested entry, she was denied because she did not have enough points, thus not even having the right to enter to spectate in the challenge hall ...


    Only then did Ling Lan realise that the minimum requirement to enter the mecha challenge hall was 10 points. Every time you entered the hall, whether or not you spectated, you would be deducted 10 points. This was an absolutely tyrannical rule!


    As for taking part in a mecha challenge, even the most basic level trainee mecha challenge fight would require 1000 points. In short, for Ling Lan to enter and make a sessful challenge, it was impossible without at least 1010 points.


    Ling Lan nced at her personal information. In the column tallying her points, arge ¡¯0¡¯ stared back at her. Right now, she had absolutely no hope of entering the challenge hall; her main priority now was to find a way to quickly umte these 1010 points.


    Frankly, Ling Lan was only in these dire straits because she had not gone through foundational training. As long as one took things step by step andpleted the set series of foundational training till they passed, and if they did not use any points to redeem other types of mecha, 1000 points were basically a confirmed thing. Every newbie would have umted that much by going through the normal process. If anything was to me, it was what an oddball Ling Lan was. Having already been through foundational training long ago, she of course would not go through it again, which was why she did not have this basic point umtion.


    "What should I do now? How can I get these points as soon as possible?" Thinking deeply, Ling Lan reflexively set the rabbit mecha into preset control mode. The rabbit mecha was thus seen to sit in ce, nibbling on the carrot in its front paws as its head twitched.


    This cute and adorkable appearance turned the heads of all the mecha passing by. Several female mecha operators were even stunned into stopping, eagerly watching the extremely adorkable rabbit mecha. Some desire even stirred in their hearts to maybe try and redeem a simr rabbit mecha for themselves.


    Ling Lan was oblivious to the fact that she had be the focus of attention. Right then, she was asking Little Four, "Little Four, have you found the relevant data?" Whenever Ling Lan was at a loss, the all-capable Little Four would be brought into y.


    "Boss, I¡¯ve found it! There¡¯s a mission hall here where you can ept missions. Once youplete the missions, you will be able to get a certain amount of points." Little Four was very reliable, very quickly finding a course of action.


    "What kinds of missions are there? Which of them will give me more points, and are more suitable for me to do?" Ling Lan continued to ask.


    "The missions include the standard system missions, special missions, limited-time missions, as well as yer-assigned missions. The standard missions from the system tend to be more troublesome and take more time, but are pretty easy. However, the points they give are also rtively little. They are more appropriate for beginner level recruits for practice. As for the system special missions, that would depend on the mission you ept. Sometimes the points awarded will be very high, but there are also times where the points awarded can¡¯t evenpare to that of the standard missions. For the limited-time missions, things are unclear. It seems to be associated with luck. If your luck is good, you¡¯ll get more points, while if you¡¯re unlucky, you may even get no points for your effort. As for yer-assigned missions, they are typically harder and more difficult toplete. In contrast though, they tend to give much more points than those missions provided by the system. Most strong yers will choose this type of missions."


    Listening to Little Four¡¯s exnation, Ling Lan first eliminated standard missions and limited-time missions from her consideration. Like Little Four said, standard missions required too much time for little gain, which made them unsuitable for her situation of needing to umte 1010 points in a short amount of time. Meanwhile, limited-time missions required particr levels of luck, and she had just had 100 points deducted off her luck value. Who knew if her final point gain would be influenced because of that?


    Right now, the missions that suited her purpose were only the system¡¯s special missions and the yer-assigned missions. Ling Lan could only hope that her luck was better, that she would be able to find a high point mission that could bepleted quickly. Er, why did this seem to have something to do with luck again?


    Having decided, Ling Lan operated her rabbit mecha to go to the mission hall. She did not know that a video of her rabbit mecha had already been recorded by some busybody and uploaded to the shared highlights of the mecha world, letting everyone know that an extremely adorkable rabbit mecha had shown up in the remote Three-Seas Town 1 ...


    ********


    Somewhere else in the mecha world, in the extremely lively and bustlingrge za of Dunhuang City 2 , two humanoid mecha were currently patiently waiting for their other teammates to gather. The blue-white humanoid advanced mecha suddenly cackled audibly, causing the equally advanced red mecha beside him to jump in fright. He could not help but speak up to ask, "Zhao Jun, why are youughing so creepily?"


    "I¡¯mughing that someone who loves rabbit mecha as much as you has finally appeared in the mecha world. Of course, he¡¯s even more ostentatious than you are, directly operating a rabbit mecha into the mecha world ..." cackled Zhao Jun.


    "What¡¯s so strange about that? Don¡¯t all recruits have a certain probability of drawing a rabbit mecha?" asked the red mecha.


    "But when they enter the mecha world, 99% of rabbit mecha users would definitely change their mecha into some other type of mecha. There are almost none who can persist and keep using a rabbit mecha," said Zhao Jun, "Of course, I¡¯ve also not seen someone with a rabbit mechaplex quite like you 3 . Even the core mecha in your mecha space has been set to a rabbit mecha ..."

 Chapter 229: Accepting a Mission!

    Chapter 229: epting a Mission!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Every time this notion popped into Zhao Jun¡¯s mind, he would find himself extremely baffled. It should be known that one¡¯s core mecha should be the strongest mecha among all the mecha one possessed. Yet, his good friend, Li Lanfeng, went against the grain, choosing the weakest rabbit mecha as his core mecha. What hidden charisma did the rabbit mecha have? Enough to cause Li Lanfeng to be so fond of it, to the extent that he would do such an insane thing?


    In response to his good friend¡¯s questions, Li Lanfeng was as unforting as usual.


    Zhao Jun was already used to it by this point, and so did not really expect Li Lanfeng to suddenly have a fit of kindness and tell him his thoughts. He casually continued to say, "Lanfeng, that rabbit mecha operator¡¯s abilities seem to be pretty good. Even in standby mode, he has set the rabbit mecha to rest in an extremely cute manner. Twitching its head and nibbling on a carrot, very interesting!"


    Li Lanfeng jerked. "What?"


    Zhao Jun sad, "Huh?"


    "What did you just say?" Li Lanfeng did not seem to have heard what Zhao Jun had to say clearly, asking him to repeat himself.


    Zhao Jun racked his brains to think back on what he had said, and then offered somewhat uncertainly, "About that rabbit mecha being interesting? How its standby action is to twitch its head and nibble a carrot?" Was this what he had said earlier?


    Li Lanfeng only responded to this after a long while. "That is indeed very interesting!"


    Zhao Jun nced dubiously at Li Lanfeng. His good friend¡¯s voice sounded a little hoarse ¡ª could it be that he had caught a cold from enjoying the breeze with himst night? Zhao Jun suddenly felt guilty. If he had not been so restless, he would not have pulled Li Lanfeng along with him to the top of the high tower to enjoy the night breeze.


    Li Lanfeng did not know what Zhao Jun was thinking. Inside his mecha¡¯s cockpit, his gaze became unfathomable, as if he were recalling something.


    ********


    At this moment, Ling Lan had long arrived at the mission hall, and was currently resting with her eyes closed. Of course, she was not killing time ¡ª it was just that there was already a diligent little worker Little Four helping her sift through the hundreds and thousands of avable missions to pick those most suited for her. Leaving Little Four to it was clearly much more professional and efficient than if she were to do it herself.


    Like right now, it had only been 30 seconds when Little Four¡¯s smug voice rang out within her mindspace. "Boss, I¡¯ve found it."


    "What do you have?" said Ling Lan with an approving expression as she stroked Little Four¡¯s head.


    Little Four was all smiles as he basked in his boss¡¯s affection, replying, "There is only one yer-assigned mission, while there are three special missions from the system. They all suit us very well, and don¡¯t seem to require much time or effort. Of course, the points given are also not bad." With a wave of his hand, a sheet of white paper appeared in Little Four¡¯s hand, which he then passed to Ling Lan. Little Four felt that the information was too detailed to exin clearly, so he decided to just use text to disy what he had found.


    Ling Lan epted the paper and saw the following written on it:


    Special System Mission:


    1) Find the missing ¡¯starlight conversion power core¡¯ of Three-Seas Town, allowing Three-Seas Town to possess night-time defensive ability! Reward ¡ª 1 mecha starlight conversion power core (equipment adapted for mecha use); 500 points.


    2) One weekter, Three-Seas Town shall be the target of a coordinated attack by the mutated beasts of the wilnds. The mayor of Three-Seas Town received the news, and in order to save the town, he has requested you, warrior, to bring a letter to the mayor of Suncreed City 1 , in hopes that the other can send some elite troops toe and help defend the town ... Reward ¡ª 1 Supreme Frost Moon Battle Sword (equippable back weapon for mecha); 200 points.


    3) On the only road between Three-Seas Town and Suncreed City, a horde of mutated savage beasts have appeared. Three-Seas Town has issued a generous bounty for their elimination! Reward ¡ª 1 low-level mecha evolution stone (adds a certain degree of sess when modifying lower mecha); 1 high-performance beam gun (equippable right-hand weapon for mecha); 200 points.


    yer-assigned Mission:


    An advanced mecha warrior requested to escort the client safely inside Suncreed City. Completion reward: 1 mecha repair toolkit (perfectly repairs any mecha below advanced mecha level once); 1 application of emergency repair (temporarily restores an intermediate mecha with damage of 60% and above back to perfect condition, time duration 1 minute! If used when damage level is below 60%, condition is only restored by 35%! Percentage of restoration will decrease in corrtion with lowered damage levels); 200 points.


    Ling Lan flicked a finger at the paper and said, "Your meaning is to ept all four missions together?" 1100 points in total ¡ª that would cover the minimum requirement of 1010 points for the mecha challenge hall.


    "Yes," replied Little Four decisively.


    "Why? The second and third system¡¯s special missions and the yer-assigned mission do seem rted, so it makes sense to ept them together. But the first system mission ... I just can¡¯t see how it rtes to the other missions."mented Ling Lan with a frown.


    Little Four chuckled gleefully, "Other people might of course not know the secret behind this, but who am I? Arge-scale search is indeed very difficult, but this small-scale search is no trouble for me. The starlight conversion power core is actually in the main nest of the savage beasts. We should just pick it up along the way and bring it together to the mayor of Three-Seas Town to collect the reward."


    Ling Lan cuffed Little Four lightly on the back of his head, "Smart aleck, ept them all then."


    Little Four said smugly, "I¡¯ve already done so! I was afraid if I waited, someone else would take them first."


    Looking at Little Four¡¯s ¡¯praise me, praise me!¡¯ expression, Ling Lan could not help but sweatdrop. This little brat was beginning to get too full of himself again ¡ª this called for some discipline ... and so, she fiercely pinched Little Four¡¯s chubby little cheeks.


    Over Little Four¡¯s cries for mercy, Ling Lan asked, "How do we contact that yer?"


    Little Four escaped from Ling Lan¡¯s demon fingers with great difficulty, and rubbing his brutalised cheeks mournfully, he said, "He will contact us on his own."


    Right at that moment, the A.I. of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha suddenly sounded an alert. [No Mecha Unrepaired] requestingmunications, YES or NO?


    Little Four hurriedly shouted, "That¡¯s him!"


    Ling Lan pressed the button to ept, and instantly heard a feeble voice say, "Excuse me, are you the one who epted my mission?"


    Ling Lan said calmly, "Yes!"


    "This mission is to Suncreed City. The savage beasts there are very powerful; it¡¯s impossible to pass if you¡¯re not an advanced mecha warrior. I would like to ask, are you an advanced mecha warrior?" The other did not seem to have a lot of confidence in Ling Lan, and could not help but give a warning.


    "Since I epted your mission, I will definitely send you to your destination. You don¡¯t have to worry." Ling Lan looked at the rabbit mecha representing trainee status and her face was dark. This mecha truly did not have much persuasive power.


    The other seemed to glean Ling Lan¡¯s connotation from her words, and so said, "Then I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t give you this mission. A while earlier, three intermediate mecha warriors epted this mission together, and still they did not manage to pass ..." As if thinking of something, he added, "The more people are involved in this mission, the more savage beasts there are, which makes it even harder. Trying to power through with sheer numbers is useless in the mecha world; individual ability is all that matters here."


    Hearing this, Little Four immediately said, "Boss, do you want me to help you create an illusion, making your mecha look like an advanced mecha to the other party?"


    The corner of Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked. "No need. I will use my strength to prove that this mission is mine toplete." ncing at Little Four, Ling Lan reminded once more, "Little Four, you must remember, right now I am using my real identity. So, anything involving the outside world cannot be manipted. Don¡¯t let anyone discover your existence."


    Startled, Little Four quickly nodded his head and said, "Understood, Boss!"


    Ling Lan ruffled his hair and said, "You must be careful with your actions in the future. I cannot lose you, Little Four!" The emphasised concern in her tone made Little Four¡¯s eyes turn red. He hurriedly nodded emphatically, mentally reminding himself not to let his boss worry anymore. Boo hoo hoo, so this is what Boss¡¯s care and concern was like. There was a sweet and sour feeling in his heart, but he was energised by it! No, he couldn¡¯t take it anymore, his core chip seemed to be a little overheated ...


    Ling Lan did not sense Little Four¡¯s reaction to her words. Currently, all her attention was on [No Mecha Unrepaired] as she responded coolly, "Even for advanced mecha warriors, if their control skills are not up to par, they still will not be able toplete the mission. Besides, to find an advanced mecha warrior in this Three-Seas Town is most likely very difficult." Along the way, Ling Lan had observed that this area was basically a ma for trainee mecha and lower mecha; there were very few intermediate mecha, and as for advanced mecha, Ling Lan had not seen even one.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made the other choke, because what Ling Lan said was the truth. Setting aside the question of whether advanced mecha warriors would appear in Three-Seas Town, just looking at the reward the client was offering, he would not be able to attract any advanced mecha. He could only hope for an advanced mecha who just happened to be on his way to Suncreed City to ept his mission as a matter of convenience. He could never have imagined that Ling Lan was in fact epting his mission precisely because it was conveniently along her way for her other missions ...


    "Instead of waiting indefinitely for an unknown possibility, you might as well take a gamble on me. Of course, you can first take a look at mybat ability. If you still think it¡¯s no good, it won¡¯t be toote to reject me then," Ling Lan continued to say.


    Ling Lan¡¯s suggestion convinced the other, who replied, "What you say makes sense. Let me see yourbat ability first then. If it¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll give this assignment to you. Let¡¯s do this, let¡¯s meet at the town¡¯s western gate."


    Ling Lan naturally agreed to this. It was necessary to pass through the western gate of the town on the way to Suncreed City anyway, so the other¡¯s suggestion would not waste too much of either of their time.


    However, Ling Lan did not let Little Four go just because of this. She rapped Little Four sharply on the back of his head, causing Little Four to look at her in confusion, unsure why Boss was hitting him for no reason again.


    "This doesn¡¯t count as troublesome? A waste of time?" Ling Lan threw an icy re at Little Four, scaring him so much that he could only bow his head timidly, muttering in a small voice only he could hear, "Isn¡¯t this because you, Boss, are unwilling to let me manipte things ..." His final thought that this was all Ling Lan¡¯s own fault remained unsaid, as no matter what, Little Four would not dare to give voice to it, only able to forcefully swallow it back into his gullet.


    With a ¡¯whack¡¯, Little Four¡¯s head was given another firm cuff. Tears bloomed from Little Four¡¯s two eyes, and he nced at Ling Lan inint. Boo hoo hoo, Boss, why are you bullying me again?


    "It¡¯s my own fault?" said Ling Lan with a half-smile as she stared at Little Four. That stare made Little Four¡¯s entire body feel cold ¡ª how had he forgotten that his and Boss¡¯s minds were connected? Even if he did not voice that thought, Boss would still know about it ...


    Little Four was indeed very shameless; he immediately said with an innocent look, "Boss, never, definitely not, you must have heard wrong. No, no, no, sensed wrong!" Feeling as if this was not persuasive enough, Little Four suddenly said with an enlightened expression, "Ah ... it must definitely be an invasion of an unidentified virus! Little Four must go kill the virus! Boss, Little Four has to go handle things now ..." That said, he ran away with a whoosh.

 Chapter 230: The Open Secret of the Military Academy!

    Chapter 230: The Open Secret of the Military Academy!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "This Little Four is really bing more and more daring!" Ling Lan once again confirmed that this intelligence entity of the learning space was definitely an oddball, acting in all ways exactly like a real child. He had disyed all kinds of emotions and behaviours, including ying mischievous tricks and shirking from his responsibilities.


    Ling Lan piloted her mecha to the western gate of the town. The western gate had slightly less traffic than the other gates, because this was the beginning of the pathway to Suncreed City. It should be known that even if the path to Suncreed City was cleared by someone, it would only take one day for the savage beasts inhabiting it to respawn and repopte it. Most notably, those savage beasts were truly too formidable ¡ª anyone below advanced mecha warrior status just had no hope of passing through, so this was considered the hardest road to take during the newbie period.


    Ling Lan¡¯s rabbit mechaid there nibbling on its carrot, twitching its head. Its adorable appearance drew significant attention again, though that attention very quickly subsided as well. After all, in the end, a mecha¡¯s worth still depended on its capabilities. Aside from a portion of women who would be sold by the sheer cuteness, men would just toss a curious nce or two at it and then cast it to the back of their minds 1 .


    Very soon, Ling Lan saw a humanoid mecha appear at the western gate, looking around left and right. She thus knew that this person should be [No Mecha Unrepaired], and so operated her mecha to hop over to the other. This sudden movement seemed to startle the other, as the other reflexively went into a defensive stance. It was clear to see that this mecha operator¡¯s reaction time was not bad.


    "[No Mecha Unrepaired]?" asked Ling Lan in the publicms channel.


    "[Lingtian First-String]?" The other¡¯s tone of disbelief clearly showed how disappointed he was in the appearance of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha.


    "Yes!" replied Ling Lan.


    "Sorry, but I have to go now!" [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s voice was tinged with anger ¡ª he felt that he had been yed. He immediately turned his mecha around to leave, but found a carrot-shaped sword held up before his mecha.


    "We agreed that you would take a look at mybat ability. I do not wish for someone to vite the agreement." Ling Lan¡¯s voice was extremely cold. For some unknown reason, [No Mecha Unrepaired] actually felt a chill prate into his heart.


    "Hn?" This questioning sound of Ling Lan¡¯s carried a hint of a threat, though she was internally sweatdropping. For the sake of points, she was actually in the process of threatening someone now ... where had her morals gone?


    "Fine!" Without thinking about it, [No Mecha Unrepaired] agreed. As a genius mecha modifier, he was very well-versed in mecha controls. He had turned around so swiftly, but in the same period of time, the other had been able to take two steps forwards and bring up a weapon to block him. Based on that operation alone, he could sense that the other¡¯s skills could not be weak. This was one of the reasons why he had capitted so easily; of course, he would never admit that he had been scared into changing his mind.


    "This road leading to Suncreed City has a lot of savage beasts along the way. Of course, the savage beasts closer to the western gate are not as fearsome as those deeper along the path. As we move ahead, we will see the first wave of savage beasts. If you can obtain my acknowledgement, I will give the mission to you," said [No Mecha Unrepaired], "Of course, if you can¡¯t satisfy me, I will not continue on with you."


    "Okay!" Ling Lan agreed to [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s conditions. "But, you need to keep up with my speed, otherwise I won¡¯t bother with you." Ling Lan did not wish to have to divide her attention to protect him while she was fighting. Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts went like this ¡ª if the other could not even protect himself while she blocked off a majority of the savage beasts, she would rather give up the mssion than help him. Ling Lan felt that if he was not skilled enough, he might as well continue training in Three-Seas Town, waiting to be strong enough before travelling out into the greater world outside.


    "Alright!" [No Mecha Unrepaired] peered at this rabbit mecha before him and replied.


    The two mecha flew rapidly towards Suncreed City. There were several mecha operators around who recognised [No Mecha Unrepaired]; some of them quickly turned on theirmunicators and shared theirtest discovery with their friends.


    " Extra, extra 2 ! I just saw [No Mecha Unrepaired] challenging the road to Suncreed with a rabbit trainee mecha."


    "Tch, this fellow still hasn¡¯t given up? Didn¡¯t he die enoughst time to scare him off?"


    "He¡¯s really keeping worse and worsepany now, actually trying it with a trainee mecha this time. I bet that he will die halfway through again." This was a voice filled with schadenfreude.


    "Who asked him not to join the Thunder King Faction? Serves him right to be stuck hanging around Three-Seas Town! I heard that the Thunder King has already put out the word that no one is to help him. Weren¡¯t there three outsider punks who epted his mission a few days back? It was lucky that their team was wiped out on the mission, otherwise those three punks would have been wiped out by the Thunder King¡¯s men anyway." This was a student from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Only someone from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would understand the conflict between [No Mecha Unrepaired] and the Thunder King.


    "Hey, where do you think that rabbit mecha is from? Actually courting death by epting the mission?" asked another First Men¡¯s Military Academy student.


    "He¡¯s most definitely not from our First Men¡¯s Military Academy, or else how would he dare to ept that mission? At the military academy, this is already an open secret. Even the new cadets of this year would have been warned by the older cadets," replied another First Men¡¯s Military Academy student, "Only those new cadets from the other military academies might not know about this and dare to take the mission. However, once they are taught a lesson a few times, these neers will probably not ept [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s mission anymore."


    "Say, do you think the Thunder King will make a move this time?" Even more military academy cadets joined the conversation to ask curiously. It turned out that the channel they had been using to chat was the channel exclusive to the military academies.


    "Do you think they can pass the Suncreed passage mission?" someone shot back, "If they can¡¯t pass, why would the Thunder King act? Still, it¡¯s possible he might punish them after the fact."


    "That rabbit is really too unlucky. New to the mecha world, and already shing with the Thunder King." Someone began feeling sorry for that extremely adorable rabbit.


    "This rabbit is still considered fortunate. At most being punished in the mecha world would not do him any real harm. If he were a First Men¡¯s Military Academy cadet, then that would truly be called terrible. The Thunder King will definitely not let anyone who disobeys him go free." In the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the Thunder King was the undisputed one of a kind king. His strength was formidable and his faction was strong ¡ª even the leaders of the second and third factions did not dare to oppose him openly.


    "Have you all heard? This year¡¯s new cadets are pretty wild, actually forming their own new cadet regiment, unwilling to join any other factions. Is the Thunder King and the others just gonna leave them be?" Someone suddenly brought up this question.


    "These new cadets may be having the time of their lives now, but they¡¯ll have lots to cry aboutter. The Thunder King does not have time now to bother with these trivial things. He¡¯s in Closed Door Meditation right now. Once he is done, he will be the first 4th year of our military academy to ascend to ace operator! At that time, you think the Thunder King will let these new cadets do as they like, breaking the order of the academy?" This speaker was most likely from the Thunder King Faction; his news was extremely up-to-date.


    "So that¡¯s how it is!" Thems channel was filled with sighs of admiration. Someone could be heard to mutter, "I wonder if the Thunder King Faction is still epting people ..."


    The informant said haughtily, "To enter the Thunder King Faction, the minimum requirement is to be at intermediate mecha warrior level. Once you all achieve that, perhaps I can put in a word for you all."


    "Alright! I¡¯ll add you as a friend. You must follow through and help me out in the future, okay?" The people in the channel all became excited, all speaking up to request a friend slot with the informant. If they could really join the Thunder King Faction, it would be pretty much guaranteed that they would be able to strut around on campus without worry for their remaining six years at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    "Hehe, no problem ..." The informant did not expect that he would be so popr just by revealing a little bit of news about the Thunder King. In his mind, he once again praised himself for the amazingly urate decision of joining the Thunder King Faction back then.


    ********


    Ling Lan and [No Mecha Unrepaired] had no idea that after their departure, those mecha operators who recognised [No Mecha Unrepaired] would spread the word of their meetup. They were currently fully focused on getting as fast as they could to the closest savage beast territory from the western gate.


    Very quickly, they had arrived at the location. Observing the teeming horde of white-furred animals with crimson eyes before them, Ling Lan¡¯s brow twitched involuntarily, "Rabbits?" Godd*mmit, asking her rabbit to kill rabbits? Why did this seem soedic no matter how you looked at it?


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] did not seem to sense anything wrong with the scene, replying seriously, "Yes. Don¡¯t underestimate them. These mutated rabbits are very terrifying. Their teeth and ws are their killing tools, but what¡¯s even more frightening is their kicking power, fully capable of killing lower level mecha instantly ..." That said, he cast a worried look at Ling Lan. The other was just a trainee mecha rabbit. If by any chance he was killed in the very first second of attacking, that would be too pitiful ... [No Mecha Unrepaired] could not help but add on kindly, "If you think it¡¯s impossible, why don¡¯t we just go back?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s rabbit mecha removed the carrot from its mouth with its front ws. She then said coldly, "Give me two minutes!"


    Although it really would not take that long for her to kill off all these rabbits, Ling Lan did not want to reveal the full extent of her capabilities before someone unfamiliar. Thus, she had extended the time needed to 4 times what she actually needed.


    Then, Ling Lan controlled the rabbit mecha to spring powerfully off its hind legs, and the entire rabbit mecha flew towards the horde of mutated rabbits ...


    "Ah, you can¡¯t do it that way ...!" Seeing the rabbit mecha¡¯s actions, [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s expression paled dramatically as he gave a mournful cry. Once the ground began to shudder violently, the rabbits of the entire area would be drawn over ¡ª at that time, even an advanced mecha might lose his life easily if he weren¡¯t careful. This was yet another reason why the path to Suncreed was so hard to get through.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] quickly operated his mecha to flee the scene, running up to 100 metres away before turning back tremulously to peek back at Ling Lan. And then, he was bbergasted by what he saw.


    Ling Lan controlled her rabbit mecha to swing the carrot-shaped sword in its hand around in a deadly dance. Each and every rabbit that leapt at her was sent flying with one strike, where they thenid still, never getting up again.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] quickly halted his mecha and zoomed in on the image on his mecha¡¯s screen. The rabbits on the ground had all had their chests pierced clear through, dying instantly.


    In his utter stupefaction, [No Mecha Unrepaired] shifted his screen back to focus on the battling Ling Lan. Only then did he see how casual and easy every move of Ling Lan¡¯s seemed; never once did that red carrot strike air. One time, he saw the other control the rabbit mecha to stomp heavily on the ground, sending the entire mecha up into the air. Then, with a whirlwind gyration of its body, all the mutated rabbits leaping at it had been swept away. That scene was just as if a peerless ultimate master rabbit hade to terrorize a bunch of harmless and puny rabbits who did not know how to fight ...

 Chapter 231: Sneak Attack!

    Chapter 231: Sneak Attack!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] knew that those seemingly harmless rabbits were actually extremely horrifying for low-level mecha operators, being able to kill them easily in an instant. However, this scene before him ¡ª this mecha rabbit, obviously still a trainee, going on a rampage ¡ª gave him the false impression that even he would be able to go forward and kick those rabbits around and ughter them as he liked.


    Time passed by bit by bit; the number of rabbits still alive on the field grew fewer and fewer. By the time the blood of the final rabbit was sttered onto the grassy field, precisely 2 minutes had passed, not a millisecond more or less than what the rabbit mecha had imed at the start.


    What strength and confidence was this, for the other to be able to give such an urate timeframe? [No Mecha Unrepaired] could not help but pinch his cheeks within his cockpit, only believing that this was real at the resulting sting of pain he felt.


    Heavens, what level of mecha operator had he ended up hiring? Even an advanced mecha would not have been able to defeat such arge number of mutated rabbits so easily within two minutes, especially under conditions like this where it had been surrounded on all sides. [No Mecha Unrepaired] could not help but shudder at that moment ... could the other be a special-ss operator? Considering that possibility, he was beyond exhrated. Perhaps this time he would really be able to sessfully arrive at Suncreed City, no longer being stuck at Three-Seas Town, unable to improve his mecha repair skill level.


    Ling Lan easily finished off the final rabbit ¡ª aside from a few drops of blood dripping from the red carrot weapon, there was not a single speck of blood on the white body of the rabbit mecha, which remained as pristine as before. This was the result of Ling Lan slowing down her speed and her skilful control.


    With a stomp of its hind feet, the rabbit mecha sprang off the ground once more and engaged its thrusters, arriving in the blink of an eye to stand before [No Mecha Unrepaired]. This sudden movement once again gave [No Mecha Unrepaired] a fright. However, this time, he no longer reflexively shifted into a defensive stance ¡ª humans were truly extremely adaptable creatures.


    Ling Lan controlled the rabbit mecha to use its carrot to rap on the humanoid mecha, and asked calmly, "So?" The voice was as frigid as before, but the threat behind the tone was palpable, as if at the first hint that [No Mecha Unrepaired] would even dare to utter ¡¯no¡¯, he would be immediately destroyed.


    Right then, [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s heart was filled with joy, not one bit of unwillingness to be found. He hurriedly replied, "It¡¯s great! Sir [Lingtian First-String], this mission is in your hands now." Then, he quickly contracted Ling Lan for his mission ¡ª he did it very speedily, afraid that Ling Lan might reconsider and refuse.


    Of course, once this contract was established, it would be maintained by the mecha world¡¯s mainframe, which would not allow either side to break the agreement without good reason.


    Sir? Did her voice really sound so much like a man¡¯s now? Speechless, Ling Lan pressed the button to ept the mission. She did not know whether she should be proud of herself for impersonating a man so sessfully ...


    Since the two of them hade to an agreement, they did not continue to linger here, immediately beginning their journey towards Suncreed City.


    Along the way, Ling Lan not only encountered small packs of mutated wolves and many mutated wild bulls, but even a pack of five mutated ck panthers in the end. The further along they went, the stronger the beasts became. When a pack of mutated cheetahs showed up, they wasted quite a bit of Ling Lan¡¯s time due to their extraordinary speed. After all, inparison with the mutated cheetahs, the rabbit mecha¡¯s speed was nothing. Fortunately, her innate talent Profound Insight was very helpful ¡ª it discovered the cheetahs¡¯ weakness not soon after, allowing Ling Lan to kill them. Still, the struggle hadsted a full five minutes.


    "Looks like, against the stronger mutated beasts, a trainee mecha is still rather weak overall." If Ling Lan had been given an advanced mecha, these cheetahs would have been killed with a swing of her arm. Even if she had not been given an advanced mecha, but a lower mecha instead, Ling Lan still would not have wasted five minutes. It was likely that she would have only needed one to two minutes to wrap things up. This was the mecha¡¯s limits ¡ª even for Ling Lan, who was already at ace operator level control, it was impossible to execute an instant kill against a beast that was stronger than the mecha¡¯s abilities.


    Even as Ling Lan was feeling rather sorry about the state of her mecha, [No Mecha Unrepaired] was filled with awe at how easily Ling Lan had dispatched these beasts. Mind you, back then, he and the three intermediate mecha warriors had been killed at this spot, instantly being sent straight back to revive by these cheetahs. Back then, they had not even seen much of the cheetahs before they had been killed and returned to the town.


    But now, the five cheetahs had appeared at the same time, but had still been easily handled by the other within a short period of time. With this, [No Mecha Unrepaired] was even more confident in their chances of arriving at Suncreed City safely. Furthermore, he had also confirmed to himself that the one controlling this rabbit trainee mecha was most definitely a special-ss mecha master. He felt extremely fortunate, actually being able to coincidentally meet such a strong person in the game world. Only a strong person such as this would be able to make his way freely around the low-level world using just a trainee mecha.


    Ling Lan had just finished off the five cheetahs, not yet moving ahead, when she heard Little Four exim joyfully, "Boss, it¡¯s right here! The starlight conversion power core should be inside the ancient den of the monster of this mountain."


    Ling Lan said calmly, "Done killing the viruses?" Ever since Little Four had been seen through by her, and had used the excuse of killing a virus to run away, he had not presented himself again. Ling Lan had thought that this brat would not dare to face her anymore ¡ª unexpectedly, he had suddenly emerged again now.


    Little Four stiffened, and then forced a pandering smile on his face. "All done, all done. Oh Boss, you really do care about me! Little Four is so touched ...!" That said, he did not forget to hug Ling Lan¡¯s thigh and act cute with all his might, desperately hoping for Boss to forget his previous disrespect.


    Ling Lan lightly flicked Little Four on the head. "Don¡¯t try to act cute and brush it off. In a bit, you¡¯ll be helping me to redeem yourself!" Little Four hurriedly agreed. Boss was clearly prepared to let him off ¡ª of course he would not be so stupid as to let this chance go by.


    And so, Ling Lan changed directions to follow an almost indiscernible mountain trail, heading into a dense forest.


    Seeing this, [No Mecha Unrepaired] panicked, shouting hurriedly, "Sir [Lingtian First-String], where are you going?" Did the other not want to bring him to Suncreed City anymore?


    Ling Lan replied, "I want to clean up the old den of the mutated beasts a little."


    "Ah, those mutated beasts in the home den are all very formidable! We definitely can¡¯t go. It¡¯s too dangerous! Besides, to get to Suncreed City, we only need to keep following Suncreed Road. There is no need at all to take this risk."


    Ling Lan abruptly turned her head to look at [No Mecha Unrepaired] and said tly, "This is my mission. If you don¡¯t want to go, then just wait for me here."


    Being pierced by the vacant gaze of the rabbit mecha, [No Mecha Unrepaired] did not dare to offer any more objection. Right then, he finally realised that he was really just a convenient tag-along for the other. Having figured that out, he came to to find that Ling Lan was gradually pulling further and further away. He abruptly shouted, "[Lingtian First-String], wait for me! I¡¯ll go too." Leaving him here all alone ... it was definitely much more dangerous to stay behind than to follow the other. He had no intention of losing his life here.


    "What? You¡¯re not afraid of apanying me to your death?" Ling Lan halted to mock icily.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] hurriedly said, "We¡¯ve travelled all this way together. No matter what, there¡¯s some bond between us now. How can I watch a friend brave danger on his own and stay behind alone? No matter what, we should share our joys and pain, and go through thick and thin together ..." As if knowing that these words of his were not at all convincing, [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s voice became softer and softer as he spoke, almost not daring to meet the spirited rabbit eyes of Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan merely nced at the other without puncturing his lies. Since [No Mecha Unrepaired] dared to brave danger with her, it meant that he trusted her abilities to arge degree. Ling Lan did not say anything further, tacitly agreeing to let [No Mecha Unrepaired] tag along.


    The two of them entered the forest depths. They had not gone far when Ling Lan suddenly shoved [No Mecha Unrepaired]. This movement was too sudden ¡ª [No Mecha Unrepaired] was totally unprepared. He fell to the ground instantly, tumbling two circles away ...


    "Boom!" Where [No Mecha Unrepaired] had been standing, some unknown item had crashed heavily into the ground, throwing up countless amounts of dirt and fallen leaves.


    Right then, Ling Lan¡¯s rabbit mecha suddenly pushed its engines to send the entire mecha into the air, flipping into an upside down position with the carrot in its hands facing downwards. Then, like with a nail, it drove the carrot powerfully straight into the ground below.


    "Boom!" This was the sound of the mecha hitting the earth. Immediately after, the rabbit mecha leapt up nimbly to dash 5 metres away andnd securely on all four feet.


    Following this series of actions, a string of violent snapping and twisting could be heard. In the end, everything fell silent again, and when all the flying dirt and leaves finally settled back onto the ground, the scene became clear to the eye.


    Only then could [No Mecha Unrepaired] see that, where he had initially been standing was now a deep gouge of about half a metre wide and 30 centimetres deep . That gouge which looked like the result of a whip let [No Mecha Unrepaired] know that if he had been struck by it, even if his mecha had not been destroyed, the power behind the blow would have been enough to rattle him to death.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] could not help but nce gratefully at Ling Lan; the other had saved his life once again. If the other had not pushed him aside so decisively, he would have died and returned to Three-Seas Town. But before he could speak up to thank the other, he was shocked into silence by the scenario on Ling Lan¡¯s end.


    Not five metres away from the rabbit mecha, a gruesomerge mouth was opened ravenously. Four razor-sharp teeth shone with a chilling light as the jaw opened and closed while the creature continued to struggle, as if wanting to leap forwards to swallow the rabbit mecha not too far from it whole. However, no matter how much it struggled, it could not escape from its bindings to move even another step ...


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] very quickly realised that he was looking at the head of a snake. Moreover, at the critical juncture between the head and the rest of its body, a sword had prated to the hilt. The hilt of the sword was green in colour, and was shaped like leaves. [No Mecha Unrepaired] naturally knew that this was that carrot de of the rabbit mecha.


    Meanwhile, the flesh beneath the pierced juncture, spreading as far as half a metre, had already be a mess of minced meat. The tail part of the snake, due to being disconnected from the head, had reflexively curled up on itself, unable to make any more attacks.


    This horrifying beast before them was a gigantic mutated python, whose attack power must be unrivalled. If an intermediate mecha warrior hade here, he might very well have died from a sneak attack before even being able to actually meet it head on. No, perhaps even an advanced mecha warrior would have found it difficult to escape from this unorthodox attack. But now, this mutated python had had its vital point pierced by the rabbit mecha in the span of just one sneak attack,pletely losing its ability to fight back.


    "Can you still stand up?" Ling Lan looked towards [No Mecha Unrepaired], frowning. Had she used too much strength earlier, inadvertently injuring the other?


    Only then did [No Mecha Unrepaired] stir from his stunned torpor. He quickly scrambled off the ground and said, "It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m fine."

 Chapter 232: The Python Family!

    Chapter 232: The Python Family!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The gigantic python finally ceased its struggles. The giant snake head crashed abruptly to the ground, sending some dirt and leaves up into the air again. [No Mecha Unrepaired] said carefully, "It¡¯s dead ..."


    "Not yet!" responded Ling Lan coldly. How could this petty trick fool her? In the primordial forest, what savage beast had she not seen? Some were even slyer than this python here.


    "Ah ..." [No Mecha Unrepaired] stared gobsmacked at the python ¡ª in that state and it still wasn¡¯t dead?


    Ling Lan drew a short sword each from behind the two hind legs of the rabbit. With a powerful swing of her left hand, one of the short swords flew, whistling through the air right at the head of the python.


    Just as the de was about to strike, the python suddenly raised its head to snap its jaws savagely over that flying short sword. With a loud crunch, that short sword made of high-durability steel broke into pieces. It was clear to see how great the bite force quotient 1 of the python was. If Ling Lan had walked forward personally, her vital points might have identally been caught in its sneak attack, destroying her mecha and losing her life.


    However, this frightening strike was also the python¡¯s final attack. Heaven knows when, the second short sword in Ling Lan¡¯s hands had been sent flying out without a sound. Even as the python¡¯s jaw shattered the first short sword, the second short sword buried itself in the snake¡¯s eyes, piercing through the entire snake head.


    In the throes of death, the python seemed to be in great pain. It split its mouth open wide in a howling cry to the heavens. After a long ear-splitting wail, the snake head finally fell heavily to the ground once more, sending yet another spray of dust and dirt into the air.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan made the rabbit mecha jump forwards. [No Mecha Unrepaired] was horrified by this, shouting loudly, "[Lingtian First-String], watch out in case it isn¡¯t dead!" If by any chance the other was ying dead again, wouldn¡¯t it be very dangerous for the rabbit mecha to just approach it like that?


    "This time it¡¯s really dead," replied Ling Lan calmly as she walked up to the head. She pulled out the carrot sword pinning the snake by its vital point, cing it back securely into the rabbit¡¯s mouth. Next, she pulled out the short sword which had burrowed into the snake head, rubbing it against the ground a few times before putting it back behind her mecha¡¯s hind legs with some disgust. There was no helping it ¡ª the weapons on the trainee mecha were just too few; Ling Lan could not afford not to take it back.


    As Ling Lan made preparations to leave, [No Mecha Unrepaired] spoke up once more, "Um, aren¡¯t you taking the spoils of victory?"


    Previously, when the rabbit mecha had finished off those other mutated beasts, it had never once taken the spoils of victory off those mutated beasts¡¯ bodies. [No Mecha Unrepaired] felt his heart ache at the waste ¡ª mind you, those were all points! Although each spoil would only offer several decimal points worth of points, many a little makes a mickle 2 ! With that many beasts, if they had collected all of the spoils, it would have amounted to over at least several tens of points.


    Living in the mecha world, restrictions were everywhere if one did not have points. If he had countless points, then he would not have been stuck so pitifully at Three-Seas Town for so long. He could have just offered 10,000 points as a reward ¡ª then, even the Thunder King would not have been able to stop a strong mercenary from bringing him out of Three-Seas Town.


    "Spoils of victory?" asked Ling Lan curiously. She truly had no idea about these sorts of things.


    "Yes! The beasts have lots of good things on their bodies. As long as we collect them, we can take them to an exchange store to redeem points. For instance, the teeth of this python ¡ª each one could be worth 3 points, 4 of them giving a total of 12 points. Like the pelts of the rabbits you have been killing all this way ¡ª each would be worth 0.2 points, while the pelts of the wild wolves would give 0.3 points ..." [No Mecha Unrepaired] really knew the value of the spoils of victory like the back of his hand. He detailed all the wastage Ling Lan hadmitted this entire journey.


    After listening for half a day 3 , Ling Lan finally got the gist that there was still this method of gathering points within the mecha world. However, she took a look at that snake¡¯s head ... fine, she really had no interest in touching that ugly body again, so she said, "You collect it!"


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] thought Ling Lan was letting him help her collect the spoils, and so happily made a sound of acknowledgement before moving forwards to collect those 4 sharp teeth from the snake¡¯s head. Ling Lan¡¯s terrifyingbat power this entire way had let [No Mecha Unrepaired] understand that that bit of reward he was offering was totally insufficient to hire such a formidable mecha operator. He really wanted to use something else to supplement his payment ¡ª if he could help the other collect the spoils of victory and get a bit more points that way, he would feel less guilty.


    As [No Mecha Unrepaired] harvested the teeth, he sighed, looking at that centre section of the python which had been smashed into mincemeat. This was the result of Ling Lan plunging down from a tall height, using gravity and the weight of her own mecha to crush the snake¡¯s body with one strike. This move was wless both in terms of timing and uracy, proving that Ling Lan¡¯s mecha control skills had already reached a point where her body and the mecha had be one. This was the mark of a special-ss operator, which also proved that [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s deduction was correct. The operator of this rabbit mecha before him was most definitely a mysterious and powerful special-ss operator.


    Of course, [No Mecha Unrepaired] was not sighing over the other¡¯s strength. Instead, he was sighing over the fact that that section of snake skin had been ruined by Ling Lan¡¯s brute force. He silently thought to himself that, if they could have peeled it off in perfect condition, such a ginormous piece of snake skin would have been worth at least 30 points. This was already among the highest amount one could get from the redemption of victory spoils. Alright, in the process of umting points to hire a master, [No Mecha Unrepaired] had undoubtedly be somewhat of a point-freak.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s harvesting ability was rather strong ¡ª the four teeth took him less than two minutes. Still, even so, Ling Lan felt this was not worth it. Perhaps that was why Little Four had not suggested this method to her. Ling Lan only needed perhaps several seconds to kill a beast, but collecting the spoils would waste a lot of her time. This was definitely not something Ling Lan wanted.


    Seeing [No Mecha Unrepaired] done with the harvesting, Ling Lan did not linger, continuing forwards. Although they remained vignt for the rest of the way, they did not encounter any more savage beasts, nor did they meet any dangers. The strangeness of the situation made [No Mecha Unrepaired] be restless and unsettled. However, for some unknown reason, seeing the rabbit mecha hopping unhurriedly before him ¡ª each hop eating up the same amount of distance, with the exact same arc and rhythm ¡ª this precise operation soothed his emotions, allowing him to regain his calm ...


    After travelling for about 5 minutes, Ling Lan suddenly stopped and said, "Careful."


    Although [No Mecha Unrepaired] was not officially trying to be a mecha warrior, these couple of years of watching out for himself had given him extremely richbat experience. Hearing Ling Lan¡¯s warning, he instantly assumed a defensive stance, multiple viewing angles popping up on his mecha¡¯s screen to cover his surroundings. However, aside from the silence, there was nothing else strange about the situation.


    No, in fact there was still noise. It was the sound of tree leaves being rustled by the wind, but this was extremely normal ... Sweat beaded on [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s forehead ¡ª the calmer and more normal things seemed, the more it meant danger was imminent.


    At this moment, [No Mecha Unrepaired] still did not realise that he now trusted Ling Lan unconditionally. It was because of this that he took Ling Lan¡¯s simple warning so seriously, to the extent that he would believe a hazard was right before them.


    "Jump!" shouted Ling Lan abruptly. Without even thinking, [No Mecha Unrepaired] operated his mecha to leap into the air. In his screen, he saw a sh of red light sweep beneath his mecha¡¯s feet.


    "Swish!" It was the sound of something piercing through flesh and blood, or perhaps stabbing into earth. [No Mecha Unrepaired] had not yet figured out the sound when he heard a tremendous snapping sounding from not too far behind him.


    Before [No Mecha Unrepaired] could expand the scope of vision of his mecha to look, he felt his mecha being thrown into the air by a great force.


    From his screen, [No Mecha Unrepaired] could clearly see that the one who had attacked him had been the rabbit mecha. The other had given him a solid kick with its hind legs. This kick was even more forceful than the force Ling Lan had used to shove him aside earlier, causing [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s mecha to fly up high, soaring over severalrge trees, before crashing heavily to the ground about 30 metres away.


    If not for the fact that [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s physical constitution could still be considered excellent, just this series of collisions alone could have given him grave injuries. Despite not being injured, [No Mecha Unrepaired] still felt his Qi and blood roiling from the concussive force, and could not help but spurt out a mouthful of blood ...


    "Could it be that [Lingtian First-String] is trying to kill me?" This was [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s first thought. However, he quickly dispelled it, because he believed that with [Lingtian First-String]¡¯s abilities, killing him would be as easy as a lift of a hand. He would not just be left with such minor injuries.


    Meanwhile, on Ling Lan¡¯s end, she had borrowed the reaction force from kicking [No Mecha Unrepaired], assisted by the thrust of her engines, to rise up swiftly into the air. This allowed her to dodge the speedy attack of a silver beam of light, while also helping [No Mecha Unrepaired] to dodge this ruthless killing attack at the same time. Based on the trajectory of the silver light, the first one to be hit would have been [No Mecha Unrepaired].


    Ling Lan controlled her mecha tond securely on the ground. She carefully observed a gigantic silver python coiled up approximately 10 metres away, which was already preparing tounch its next attack. This python was even more colossal than the python Ling Lan had killed earlier. Two snake eyes asrge asnterns were beaming with coldly sinister light, not at all trying to hide the killing intent within them.


    "Who¡¯d have thought that the savage beast upying this area would be from the python family." Ling Lan¡¯s brow furrowed. Even though Ling Lan had been schooled by the learning space in such a way that she was already no longer like a girl, not at all afraid of any fierce beasts or savage creatures, this did not eradicate her inherent nature of loathing these types of slithery cold-blooded animals. Therefore, when she discovered that the opponent was these pythons, some dislike still reared within her heart.


    Ling Lan cast a nce at a distance not too far off, where her carrot-sword had already pinned a slightly smaller python. That python was struggling desperately, trying to wrest free of the carrot-sword¡¯s de.


    She could not help but ¡¯tsk¡¯ in annoyance; Ling Lan knew that she would definitely not be able to retrieve the carrot-sword right now to attack. Furthermore, as the rabbit mecha was a trainee mecha, other than the carrot-sword, it only had two high-performance steel short swords as its cold weapons. One of the swords had already been ¡¯nobly sacrificed¡¯ in the previous fight, so the only cold weapon Ling Lan could use now was that one remaining short sword.


    Although there was still a beam handgun on the back of the mecha, Ling Lan knew very well that it would be impossible to ovee the defensive power of this humongous python¡¯s skin relying on that handgun alone. Of course, it could not be said that it would be useless ¡ª if one managed to shoot a vital point, it would still be effective. For example, the eyes of the python, or perhaps the vulnerable mouth cavity unprotected by the skin ... however, in a moving fight, it would be extremely difficult to hit these points urately. Unless it was absolutely unavoidable, Ling Lan did not n to use that unreliable beam handgun.


    Ling Lan lifted up the only remaining short sword she had with her left hand. Right now, she was a little regretful at her own overconfidence. She should have prepared a sharp long sword beforehand, or perhaps a lightsaber ¡ª that way, killing these pythons would be much easier.

 Chapter 233: The Weapon Regretless!!

    Chapter 233: The Weapon ¡¯Regretless¡¯!£¡


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Another resounding "Bam!"


    The giant python was pouncing forward again. Ling Lan controlled her mecha to leap up into the air, kicking forwards forcefully with its hind legs. The python was sent flying back by the powerful kick ¡ª the python and the mecha were only in contact for a brief moment before they were moving off in different directions again tond in two separate locations, once more facing each other in a standoff.


    "Warning! Over-capacity usage of mecha¡¯s hind legs. Damage at 7%. Please use with caution; cherish your mecha!" Within the cockpit, the mecha¡¯s mainframe immediately issued a warning, protesting the brute actions of its operator.


    Thatst kick may have pushed the python back, but because the giant python was really just too big and too heavy, the mecha had had to bear a force which exceeded its anti-shock capacity, causing the mecha to incur a certain degree of damage.


    "Tch, even this is no good?" Ling Lan had thought to use the mecha¡¯s own body to attack topensate for theck of weapons, but now it looked like things would not be so simple. She smacked the control stick moodily and said, "This trainee mecha is just too godd*mn fragile."


    Little Four could not help but dab at his sweat inside the mindspace. Since the start of her studies, Ling Lan¡¯s mechabat style was already showing signs of being of the wild and barbaric type. He still remembered how she had caused her mecha to be all scratched up, bearing wounds from being pushed beyond its limits. In the end, they had had no choice but to spend so much credits to repair the mecha, only thus preventing the mecha frompletely breaking down. Therefore, regardless of how strong or solid the mecha was, it would not fare much better than this rabbit mecha in Ling Lan¡¯s hands. This was because Ling Lan would forever bring out the greatestbat power a mecha was capable of, even pushing for more ¡ª it would be stranger if the mecha did not break down!


    ********


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] rubbed away the trickle of blood at the corner of his lips, forcefully suppressing the nausea he still felt from the bloody stench as he operated his mecha to get up from the ground. Meanwhile, the inside of his cockpit had long be flooded with alerts from the mainframe, which was warning non-stop that the mecha had been attacked, and disying the resulting damage levels. He unstintingly used a low-level repair kit, letting the mecha bepletely repaired in a very short period of time.


    Of course, while he did all this, his gaze had not once left the battle scene 30 metres away. When he saw that the rabbit mecha was left with only one short sword weapon, he could not help but be anxious; he understood that if the rabbit mecha could not finish off this frighteningly ginormous python, the both of them would definitely lose their lives here.


    "No, it was so difficult to find such a strong mecha operator to bring me to Suncreed City, I definitely cannot die here, wasting all that effort!" [No Mecha Unrepaired] was naturally unwilling to just admit defeat. He opened up his bag, desperately searching through it to see if there were any cold weapons the rabbit mecha could use within it. Right then, he was somewhat thankful that he was in the wilds, and not in abat arena. In abat arena, it was not permitted to change one¡¯s equipped weapons halfway.


    When he came to a pitch-ck weapon, he could not help but stare at it nkly. "Should we use this one?"


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] looked at this cold weapon he had developed in Three-Seas Town. It was shaped like a tangdao 1 of olden times, but its de was not like the clean diagonal-cut edge of a traditional tangdao, instead sporting an extremely conspicuous concavity. This concavity was deep near the edge, bing gradually shallower as it travelled along the body of the de to spread along its entire surface.


    The entire sword was a sheet of ck, not as eye-catching as other brighter and shier weapons. However, it silently emitted a type of killing intent, letting people know that this was no ordinary sword. Of course, that was all they would know ¡ª only its creator and the one who used it would be able to trulyprehend the fearsome nature of this sword.


    This was a lethal weapon [No Mecha Unrepaired] had forged using the best materials he could gather in Three-Seas Town. Back when he had seeded, it had let him advance two stages, from trainee mecha mechanic to advanced mecha mechanic, in an instant. Back then, he had been young and cocky ¡ª in his pride and joy, he had forgotten that he should hide his light under a bushel 2 until he was sufficiently strong enough to protect himself. He had proimed his name in a high-handed fashion, allowing the Thunder King to figure out his identity. In the end, whether it was here in the mecha world, or in reality, the Thunder King had been pressuring him with the power of his faction to join his organisation.


    As a result of his unwillingness to submit, he had been restricted by the other to Three-Seas Town, unable to move. If he was not able to pass the assessment this year because of this, then he would be mercilessly cast out from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. The Thunder King was precisely such a ruthless character. Anyone who did not submit to him would definitely have their future crushed by him.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] had never ever considered selling off this cold weapon. Even though a few strong fighters had tried offering extremely high prices before out of curiosity at this weapon¡¯s stats, and he too had known that he might be able to leave Three-Seas Town if he just sold this sword ... he had still decided to keep this weapon with him until he was pushed to the absolute brink. Not just because this was his pride and honour, but also as a reminder to himself of his ignorance, his hubris, his weakness, his shame, as well as his reason for resisting.


    "I named it ¡¯ Regretless 3 ¡¯, to remind myself that I have chosen not to regret. At the same time, I also hope that this weapon will be able to disy its glory in the hands of a mecha operator who would allow it to attack with no regrets ... perhaps, its master has appeared!" [No Mecha Unrepaired] looked at the nimble figure of the rabbit before his eyes, and with a grit of his teeth, he resolutely pulled out the sword Regretless which meant so much to him.


    As Regretless fully appeared in the dense forest, the temperature of the initially already extremely cold and sinister forest suddenly dipped further, causing [No Mecha Unrepaired] to tremble involuntarily.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] stroked the de of Regretless affectionately. When he lifted his head once more, his gaze was filled with conviction. He knew very well that if [Lingtian First-String] truly kept his promise and brought him to Suncreed City, he would definitely offend the Thunder King. Even though [Lingtian First-String] had yet toplete the mission, [No Mecha Unrepaired] found himself somehow trusting the other without reason. They had only spent a short while together, but he hade to learn that though the other was cold and domineering, he was definitely a responsible man.


    Thus, he believed that Regretless would not fade into obscurity if he gave it to him. Under [Lingtian First-String]¡¯s skilful control, Regretless would definitely shine its brightest. He hoped that one day, if [Lingtian First-String] really ended up shing head-on with the Thunder King, the weapon he used in that encounter would be Regretless ...


    Intense light shed through [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s eyes. He shouted abruptly, "[Lingtian First-String], catch!"


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] controlled his mecha to throw Regretless; Ling Lan could only see a blur of dark light flying towards her. She calmly operated her rabbit mecha¡¯s right hand to reach out in a grab, and abruptly felt a heavy weight in her hands. Unprepared, she almost lost her footing. However, Ling Lan¡¯s adaptive ability was extremely powerful. She instantly activated the engine on her right side, using the great thrust generated by it to stabilise the mecha¡¯s slightly tilting body.


    "What weapon is this, actually so heavy?" Ling Lan peered curiously at the weapon in the rabbit¡¯s hands. It was a cold weapon like a dao 4 but not a dao, like a sword but not a sword. Still, based on its weight that almost unbnced her mecha alone, she could tell that this weapon was definitely special.


    However, reality did not allow Ling Lan to think too much about it; the giant python was attacking again. The rabbit mecha¡¯s forelegs were not very strong ¡ª Ling Lan was afraid that she would not be able to wield this clearly very heavy weapon single-handedly. So, she decisively gripped the sword with both hands and swung it out fiercely towards the python¡¯s attack trajectory.


    A loud "boom" rang out! The body of the sword and the snapping sharp fangs of the giant python collided violently!


    Screech ~! The sturdy fang and the sword scraped against each other forcefully, emitting an ear-splitting high-pitched noise!


    Crack! A crisp sound, and a fang suddenly popped out, whizzing away to bury itself in arge tree not too far away from the fight.


    This sword may seem extremely thin, but its hardness had exceeded that of the mutated python¡¯s fang. At the same time, this result also proved that the sharpness of the sword was at a fearsome level.


    "Scram!" Ling Lan barked, revving her mecha¡¯s engines and its supplementary thrusters to the max. With a powerful spring of her strong hind legs, the force was transmitted to the sword in her hands, actually sending the entire giant python flying back.


    A loud thump! The python once again crashed into the ground. But this time, things were different. It was actually writhing in agony, bellowing loudly to the skies.


    It turned out that that previous strike had not only broken off one of the python¡¯s fangs, it had also left a wound on the python¡¯s face, which was currently bleeding profusely.


    "Oh my god, this sword is so sharp!" Little Four was eximing in Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace. Mecha cold weapons in general sacrificed sharpness to maintain its sturdiness and strength. Many cold weapons were all made in the form of spiked club-like weapons, or perhaps extremely thick swords. Their characteristics were all focused on solidness and heft rather than sharpness.


    "It¡¯s not just sharp ... its tensile strength is also amazingly good. Such a narrow de actually having the same tensile strength as broader and thicker swords ¡ª no, perhaps even better by a bit." Compared to sharpness, Ling Lan was more concerned about its tensile strength, for this would decide the lifespan of a weapon. No matter how sharp a sword was, if it did not have enough tensile strength, breaking apart after just a few uses, then it would still be utterly useless.


    "This mecha world is pretty interesting, actually having this sort of weapon ..." Little Four sensed that this mecha world was notpletely the same as the real world. This piqued his interest to find out all the secrets of this mecha world.


    "Having thisplementary weapon in hand, I don¡¯t need to waste any more time." Ling Lan felt that she could finally let loose and attack now. She twirled her new sword once, then leapt unhesitatingly towards the giant python.


    "F*ck! Why didn¡¯t he first take some time to get used to the weapon? Attacking directly? Does he not want to live?" [No Mecha Unrepaired] was beyond anxious ¡ª mecha operators needed to familiarise themselves with their mecha¡¯s weapons before they would be able to generate the greatestbat power with them. Using an unfamiliar weapon may backfire due to the resultant control errors, causing a person¡¯sbat power to decrease instead. This was also why [No Mecha Unrepaired] was worried for Ling Lan.


    The giant python saw its initially defensive opponent suddenly initiating an attack. Feeling as if it had been impugned, it was instantly in a towering rage. It ignored the pain of the wound on its face to leap forwards once more, ready to teach this detestable fellow before it a profound lesson. It would let him know that a king¡¯s dignity would not be trod upon.


    Both sides shed once more, and this time, Ling Lan no longer had any reservations. She used the rabbit mecha¡¯s full power from the start, causing Little Four¡¯s heart to ache, as well as causing the cockpit to be filled with the ringing warnings of the mecha¡¯s mainframe, "Warning! Engine power exceeded 120%. Mecha operating over-capacity. Mecha is sustaining damage, 5%, 7%, 10% ..."

 Chapter 234: Starlight Conversion Power Core!

    Chapter 234: Starlight Conversion Power Core!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "What a nag!" Ling Lan turned off the mainframe¡¯s voice systems, putting all her attention into piloting her mecha. On the mecha¡¯s control panel, Ling Lan¡¯s fingers once more could be seen producingyered afterimages born of rapid speed. Stacked together, thoseyers of afterimages looked like a slowly blossoming lotus flower, insubstantial but unbelievably beautiful.


    The rabbit mecha crouched abruptly, its forelegs holding the sword dipping slightly. This minor shift let Regretless swiftly evade the giant python¡¯s attacking fangs, sweeping below the python¡¯s jaw to get to its vital point, where the sword was suddenly twisted upwards. At the same time, the still crouching rabbit mecha had long made preparations to leap.


    And so, a white rabbit could be seen to spring up from the ground into the air. The sunlight streaming in from between the tree leaves reflected off the mecha¡¯s body, causing the entire mecha to gleam brightly, dazzling the eyes. This sh of reflected light also caused the screen of [No Mecha Unrepaired], who had been closely watching the rabbit mecha, to suddenly white-out, going into a blinded state for a brief moment.


    "HISSSS!" The giant python made a terrible cry. Regaining his vision, [No Mecha Unrepaired] saw the hissing head suddenly drop off the snake¡¯s body to fall to the ground. A fountain of blood gushed out from where it had been chopped off, spraying the ground about 10 metres around it crimson. And then, the humongous snake¡¯s body finally toppled down as well ...


    Ling Lan had already piloted the rabbit mecha tond about 10 over metres away from the snake¡¯s body, and so had not been hit with any of the blood spray. Her mecha suddenly swept a cool gaze in a particr direction, honing in on a patch of grass. This abrupt movement caused the grass there to shift slightly and then grow still, not to move again.


    Ling Lan turned her gaze away in satisfaction. As long as they did not obstruct her frompleting her mission, she too did not want to kill all of these savage beasts. After all, she had never wanted to umte points by collecting savage beast materials anyway. With a bound, the rabbit mecha appeared before [No Mecha Unrepaired], reaching out a hand to return the weapon to the other. "Thank you. This weapon is very impressive. Now, I return it!"


    Though the weapon was great, Ling Lan did not have any intention of iming it for her own. As long as she upgraded to a better mecha and had it outfitted with the standard weapons, it would already be sufficient for Ling Lan¡¯s use.


    Hearing this, [No Mecha Unrepaired] was taken aback. He had not expected [Lingtian First-String] to be unmoved by Regretless after experiencing its power first hand, that the other would still choose to return the weapon to him. From the other¡¯s tone of voice, [No Mecha Unrepaired] could tell for sure that this was not an act ¡ª the other really had no intention of taking the sword. This caused [No Mecha Unrepaired] to be deeply moved. Mind you, in the mecha world, in order to make their mecha stronger, some supreme weapons would often be fought over by the various strong fighters. Some would even resort to forceful and overbearing means to snatch these weapons from the hands of the weak.


    This only further cemented [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s determination to gift the sword to [Lingtian First-String]. He said, "No need to return it to me. I¡¯m giving you this weapon."


    "For me? I don¡¯t think the mission reward included this." Although this weapon was great, Ling Lan did not want to owe [No Mecha Unrepaired] for no good reason.


    "This is an extra. Consider it a token of my goodwill," said [No Mecha Unrepaired] with a smile. Just those rewards by themselves were not at all sufficient for him to hire a special-ss operator.


    "Since the mission reward had already been agreed on, you don¡¯t have to take out anything further to supplement it." Ling Lan quirked a brow, as if understanding [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s worries, and continued to say, "Don¡¯t worry, I will safely bring you to Suncreed City. I won¡¯t go against our agreement, and I won¡¯t ask for anything extra."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused [No Mecha Unrepaired] to flush. He waved his hands frantically and said, "It¡¯s not like that. I have never doubted that you will honour our agreement. This weapon ... for me, is special, because it was created by me." [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s voice became very soft, "Although many people had wanted to buy it, I have never been able to sell it, always hoping that one day, someone who understands it will be able to take it together into battle, fulfilling the dreams I entrusted to it."


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] lifted his head and said firmly, "It¡¯s called Regretless. I hope that someone strong can let it have no regrets in battle. After this period of time, I feel that you can fulfil my dream, and so, I want to give this weapon to you."


    [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s words made Ling Lan take a close look at the stats of the weapon in her hands. Sure enough, its details stated ¡ª¡ª Weapon¡¯s Name: Regretless (equippable back weapon for mecha); Characteristics: Sturdy, sharp; Weight: 206 kg. Creator: [No Mecha Unrepaired]. Quality: Superior.


    Little Four was supplementing the information with exnations inside the mindspace for Ling Lan. Cold weapons like these of superior quality, with both high tensile strength and sharpness, were extremely rare. On top of that, its weight was enough for it to be used as a heavy weapon at critical moments as well. Regretless, which had no obvious weaknesses, could be used long-term, as long as it was not damaged, even up till she became an ace operator 1 . Meanwhile, in the mecha world, the level of familiarity one had with one¡¯s weapon would bepletely reflected in the mecha¡¯sbat power. Thus, this sort of long-term weapon was what all mecha operators loved and appreciated. It could be said that if this weapon were to be auctioned, it would attract the attention of all mecha operators below the level of ace operator.


    Ling Lan agreed with what Little Four was saying ¡ª when she had first begun practising with that carrot-weapon, she had also had to take a long time to get ustomed to it. Later, when she had switched to other mecha, in contrast to the rtive simplicity of firearms, she had had to spend the most time on cold weapons. This was because battles involving cold weapons were extremely dangerous ¡ª any bit of carelessness could bring great cmity on oneself.


    Ling Lan, who had not been moved by Regretless earlier, was really somewhat interested now. For a mecha operator, finding a suitable primary cold weapon they liked was an extremely key thing. Initially, Ling Lan had nned to change her mecha before considering this matter, but now, such an exceptional cold weapon had appeared, so Ling Lan had no choice but to begin thinking about it now.


    Ling Lan did not struggle over the issue for long. She took Regretless back, slinging it into ce at the only weapon¡¯s bezel at her mecha¡¯s back, and said, "Thank you. This weapon is indeed very exceptional. It is precisely what I need, so I will dly ept it. However, the rewards we had previously agreed on, you don¡¯t have to give those to me anymore." At this point, Ling Lan suddenly remembered that without those 200 points, she would not be able to get the full 1010 she needed. So, she added somewhat sheepishly, "Uh, the points are still needed. Topensate you for your loss, in future I can ept one more task from you. Of course, that task must be something I can do."


    Ling Lan decided to fully end this entanglement here. She did not like to drag things out, and so stated things inly right now. This was to prevent problems in future if they could not agree, wasting the ties of friendship formed here with the gift of this sword.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] had never intended Ling Lan to pay any price from the start, very sincerely wanting to entrust the best weapon he had created to the other. Therefore, hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words, he did not take Ling Lan¡¯s promise to heart, merely nodding happily in response. Right then, he did not know that this promise of Ling Lan¡¯s would cause his future to be extraordinary ...


    Ling Lan very quickly came to the ce that Little Four had indicated, picking up an extremelymon-looking rock. Seeing this, [No Mecha Unrepaired] said with some confused annoyance, "What¡¯s this? Is that your mission?" This dusty, grey, and unassuming rock could be found anywhere, but Ling Lan had selected it out very carefully from a pile of rocks.


    "Yes, this is a starlight conversion power core," replied Ling Lan.


    "What? This is that rumoured starlight conversion power core?!" [No Mecha Unrepaired] instantly eximed in shock.


    "Rumoured?" Ling Lan blinked nkly at [No Mecha Unrepaired], unsure why the other would be so shocked.


    "Oh [Lingtian First-String] ... this is the only main storyline mission of Three-Seas Town. Although many people have epted it before, no one has ever been able to find the core. Many people think that it¡¯s because the starlight conversion power core hasn¡¯t appeared yet, considering the mission an impossible mission toplete at the moment," exined [No Mecha Unrepaired].


    "Is that so? I just saw that the points it offered was pretty good, so I epted it," said Ling Lan nonchntly.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] almost wept ¡ª was this the difference between the strong and the average person? Missions that they did not even dare to think about, and the other had only casually epted it because it offered more points ... A thought suddenly urred to [No Mecha Unrepaired]. "How did you know there would be a starlight conversion power core here? That this mission could bepleted?"


    Ling Lan replied calmly, "I¡¯vee here before and seen this. But I didn¡¯t know what it was for back then, so I didn¡¯t take it and just left it here ..."


    Didn¡¯t take it? [No Mecha Unrepaired] almost spewed blood. Alright, so the other had long been to this savage ce before. Recalling how the other had seemed extremely familiar with the surroundings here, as if strolling through his own backyard, [No Mecha Unrepaired] understood and decided to let it go.


    Ling Lan put the starlight conversion power core into her mecha¡¯s equipment storage and said, "Alright, let¡¯s go."


    Having been stunned multiple times by Ling Lan, [No Mecha Unrepaired] naturally had no objections, quietly following Ling Lan away from the area.


    The two of them had retraced their steps for about 10 minutes when Ling Lan suddenly nced at [No Mecha Unrepaired] and asked, "Have you offended someone?"


    While they had been at the town¡¯s western gate, the intermittent stares [No Mecha Unrepaired] had attracted from some people had let Ling Lan sense that her employer may very likely have offended someone. However, Ling Lan was not concerned by this ¡ª as long as she could obtain points, she would still ept the mission to escort the other.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s heart jolted and he croaked, "Why do you ask?"


    "These mecha probably followed you here. However, they don¡¯t seem to be strong enough and were killed by the savage beasts." Ling Lan pointed at the forest ahead, signalling [No Mecha Unrepaired] that he could go take a look.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s expression paled and he hurriedly piloted his mecha over. Several quick boundster and he could see several greyed out mechaying t on the ground. This meant that these mecha were already in the state of death. Even if they decided to revive, the mecha would only disappear from this location 20 minutester. During this period of time, anyone coulde and take the equipment and weapons the other had dropped, or perhaps any other tools.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] saw that familiar lightning bolt 2 symbol on the mecha¡¯s chests and instantly said through clenched teeth, "It¡¯s them again, the Thunder King¡¯s faction."


    "Thunder King?" Following behind [No Mecha Unrepaired], Ling Lan could not help but think that this name sounded really familiar ...

 Chapter 235: Its Time to Change!

    Chapter 235: It¡¯s Time to Change!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    At Ling Lan¡¯s question, [No Mecha Unrepaired] turned his head to smile wryly and said, "The Thunder King is the leader of the most powerful faction in our school. His faction is also good enough to rank within the mecha world ..."


    [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s words caused a thought to tumble through Ling Lan¡¯s mind. Suddenly, she recalled ¡ª wasn¡¯t there someone with the nickname of ¡¯Thunder King¡¯ at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy? Could it be him? Ling Lan could not help but narrow her eyes. She asked slowly, "From ... the First Men¡¯s Military Academy?"


    "Ah? So you know of him too? Indeed, we are from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy," said [No Mecha Unrepaired] dejectedly, after his initial surprise.


    "Aren¡¯t you all schoolmates? How did your rtionship be so terrible, that he would even send people toe after you?" Ling Lan was now rather curious about how [No Mecha Unrepaired] had offended this Thunder King, causing the other to expend so much effort in monitoring him, yet not finishing him offpletely.


    "Actually, I don¡¯t have any real grudge with the Thunder King. I just refused to join his faction. I had thought that even if the other was unhappy about it, he wouldn¡¯t go too far. Unexpectedly, they actually began to restrict me on all fronts in the mecha world, not allowing me to get out of Three-Seas Town," exined [No Mecha Unrepaired], "I¡¯m not abat mecha operator, so I don¡¯t really go out much. Plus, as long as I don¡¯t join the arena fights in the town, they can¡¯t attack me there. They have no other choice than to restrict me from going to other towns to harass me."


    At this point of his narration, [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s tone turned slightly bitter, "You don¡¯t know, but a portion of our results at the military academyes from the mecha world. The deadline to produce results is three years. If we don¡¯t achieve the lowest requirements of the military academy in three years¡¯ time, we will be expelled. And this year, is my third year ..." [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s gaze was currently extremelyplicated, there was stubbornness, but also a trace of self-doubt. He gritted his teeth and said, "I need to leave Three-Seas Town this year and go to Suncreed City. This is my final chance. I cannot just admit defeat like this."


    [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s dignified tenacity moved Ling Lan, and her impression of the Thunder King changed from indifference to a slight dislike. She scrunched her brow and asked, "The Thunder King is that overbearing?"


    If the other¡¯s style was really like that, Ling Lan could almost guarantee that their new cadet regiment would definitely be targeted mercilessly by the other. An overbearing person like that would definitely not allow a new cadet faction he could not control to emerge. It looked like she would have to consider things properly now.


    "Overbearing?" [No Mecha Unrepaired] shook his head. "He doesn¡¯t have much interest for normal students, never bothering them. However, he highly values some talented students, and will even use maniptions to force the other to join him. That said, I¡¯ve heard that towards those people who join his faction, he takes care of them well in terms of both resources and physical support. Some students who were forced to join around the same time I was pressured to now don¡¯t seem to have muchints, instead advising me to not miss the chance ..." said [No Mecha Unrepaired] with a bitter smile. This was also why he had begun to waver.


    "Of course, if those talented people are already being protected by some other faction, he will not intervene," added [No Mecha Unrepaired].


    As Ling Lan listened, her sharp eyebrows 1 drew close together ¡ª from [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s words, Ling Lan could tell that this Thunder King was definitely an intelligent person. He knew how to ensure his own power base, while not allowing other factions to band together against him ... if they had to face such an opponent, it would indeed be pretty troublesome.


    At this moment, Ling Lan somewhat regretted epting this mission. With the Thunder King¡¯s abilities, it was likely that even if [No Mecha Unrepaired] did not reveal her name, he would be able to find some clue to seek her out. This was not to say that Ling Lan feared the Thunder King; Ling Lan just did not want to offend the military academy¡¯s most powerful faction before she had figured out the full situation in the school. For Ling Lan, theter she became exposed, the safer it was for her. After all, the secret of her body made it inappropriate for her to stand in the limelight ...


    "Ling Lan, gold will always shine. This is not something you can hide just because you want to hide it. Even though your gender needs to remain hidden, so you will indeed have some reservations at the military academy, this doesn¡¯t mean that you need to hold back or tolerate disrespect and humiliation. You must understand. A child of mine, Ling Xiao, has no need to fear anything. When there is something you want to do, just charge forwards bravely and do it! Your father, Ling Xiao ¡ª¡ª me, is more than capable of bearing any consequences." At this moment, the words that Ling Xiao had said to her when she had left home once more shed within her mind, causing Ling Lan¡¯s heart to throb.


    Ling Lan could not help but cover her face as her lips quirked up. Indeed, things were different for her now. She was not alone in protecting Lan Luofeng and the whole Ling family. Now, there was arge mountain standing behind her, the Federation¡¯s great general Ling Xiao, her most awesome dad of this life.


    Ling Lan could not help but mock herself internally: Ling Lan, you need to get used to this identity of yours now. You are no longer that background character lying on your sickbed waiting for death in your past life. You are now the ¡¯son¡¯ of the Federation¡¯s great general Ling Xiao, the Federation¡¯s strongest god-ss operator. You have enough clout to stand up to anyone¡¯s provocation. Even if the Thunder King is fiercer or stronger, so what? As a second-generation ancestor, do you really need to fear him?


    Back then, didn¡¯t you tell Qi Long, Wu Jiong, and the others that, to live freely in the military academy, besides some things that have to be kept under wraps, they also cannotck the necessary cockiness and aggression? As the person who said those things, how can you shrink back just because of the Thunder King¡¯s overbearing manner? You need to discard the you from your previous life, and truly be this world¡¯s Ling Lan ...


    Right then, Ling Lan finally understood ¡ª ever since Ling Xiao had returned from the dead, her original goal of living a stable and peaceful life had ended. As the child of one of the Federation¡¯s generals who was also a god-ss operator, she was destined not to have an ordinary life. Even if she regained her gender, she still would not be able to return to her initial tranquil life 2 . Her future was destined to be thrilling and dramatic ...


    It was time to change! A cold light shed through Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, which held a conviction like never before!


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] did not know that Ling Lan had already thought through certain matters, thus heralding a change in her personal style, making her even more proactive and forceful. Beaten down by the guilt in his heart, he began apologising, "I¡¯m really sorry. This time, you sending me to Suncreed City will definitely offend the Thunder King."


    "That¡¯s alright!" Having cast away her doubts, Ling Lan was calm as she said, "Thunder King? Perhaps other people might fear him ... me, I¡¯m not afraid."


    That said, Ling Lan looked at [No Mecha Unrepaired] and said, "If by any chance you have any trouble, you cane look for me. You still have one chance to hire me. Don¡¯t waste it." Ling Lan¡¯s meaning was very clear. If the Thunder King came to pressure him again, [No Mecha Unrepaired] could seek her help.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s eyes to light up, but they very quickly dimmed again. He knew very well just how massive the Thunder King¡¯s faction was; although [Lingtian First-String]¡¯s mechabat skills were very strong, no matter how strong, it still could not stand up to the power of the Thunder King¡¯s faction! He could not be so selfish and let a friend be dragged into danger.


    Seeing [No Mecha Unrepaired] fall silent, Ling Lan naturally knew what [No Mecha Unrepaired] was worrying about. This further improved her impression of [No Mecha Unrepaired], and she could not help but say, "For numbers, we have people too."


    If she told Qi Long and the others that they may be going to war against the school¡¯s strongest faction soon, that bunch of brats would definitely be thrilled out of their minds ... Ling Lan could almost see the eager appearances of Qi Long and the others grinding their fists and rubbing their palms gearing up for a fight, and her heart actually begun to heat up as well.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] was sceptical of Ling Lan¡¯s words, but he had still sensed the depth of Ling Lan¡¯s good intentions, and his heart could not help but feel thankful towards this mecha master he had met serendipitously. Even though he did not believe that [Lingtian First-String] would really be able to resolve his dilemma, he was still extremely grateful.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] made a low, solemn sound of agreement, his initially somewhat fluttering heart calming down instantly. Even though he knew the path before him was cloaked in uncertainty, right now he had rekindled his confidence, restored his fighting spirit, and was ready to continue walking courageously. Thank the heavens that he had not been abandoned by this world ¡ª there was still someone willing to give him a hand!


    The two of them ended their conversation and continued their journey. As they left, [No Mecha Unrepaired] did not forget to pick up the equipment dropped by the ¡¯dead¡¯ mecha operators. Since he was already at odds with the Thunder King, he was not worried about adding on to his grudge.


    Perhaps those on his trail had all died on the road, for Ling Lan and [No Mecha Unrepaired] did not see any sign of being followed as they journeyed, safely and peacefully arriving at Suncreed City.


    Amidst [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s grateful thanks, Ling Lan received the 200 points she was owed and then bid farewell to him.


    Seeing her original total of 0 points instantly jump to 200 points, Ling Lan¡¯s mood became exceptionally good. Subsequently, she took a trip to the city council toplete the letter delivery mission, before running non-stop to return to Three-Seas Town.


    The moment she arrived at Three-Seas Town, Ling Lan discovered that quite a significant number of people were watching her. Ling Lan did not have to guess to know that these people must be the Thunder King¡¯s men. She had only entered the mecha world for a couple of hours ¡ª she had done nothing other than helping [No Mecha Unrepaired]plete his mission to get to Suncreed City and offending the Thunder King, so other people would really have no reason to notice her.


    Ling Lan was not afraid. If the Thunder King¡¯s men did note to mess with her, she would not actively go and provoke them either. After all, the Thunder King helmed the military academy¡¯s number one faction. At the heart of it, Ling Lan did not want to engage the Thunder King while her side was still disadvantaged on all fronts. Ling Lan was used to having the initiative, so she hoped to gather more first-hand information on the other first before making a decision. Moreover, the other factions were still observing coldly from the side-lines. Ling Lan did not want to weaken themselves unnecessarily for some other faction to swoop in and profit.


    Ling Lan pretended not to know anything, going off to see the mayor to submit her mission. Besides gaining some equipment, she also received another 900 points, finally obtaining the minimum point requirement for her to challenge the arena fights. As soon as she was able, Ling Lan chose to enter the arena to take part in the arena challenge, hoping to speed up her point gathering process. She needed to level up as fast as possible so she could redeem the mecha with the lowest point requirement and then leave this ce to meet up with Qi Long and the others. This was the task that Ling Lan had toplete first.


    The moment Ling Lan entered the arena fights, several people behind her opened theirmunicators to contact some other people.


    "Head, the other has entered the arena challenge fights. Now what?"


    "Hmph, daring to oppose Leiting, this person is really seeking death. Spread the word ¡ª all the new trainee mecha operators who just joined the organisation in this district are to stop their activities and collectively take part in the challenge fights. If they meet the rabbit mecha, they should thrash him. I want him to have no chance of levelling up, forever remaining at Three-Seas Town as a trainee mecha!" From the other end of themunicator came a dark voice, coldly dering Ling Lan¡¯s fate.

 Chapter 236: Newcomer Matchups!

    Chapter 236: Neer Matchups!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "If the other really escorted [No Mecha Unrepaired] to Suncreed City, those trainee mecha operators may not be able to handle him," reminded the person reporting, somewhat hesitantly.


    "Even many of our intermediate mecha warriors had died on the road to Suncreed, do you think they managed to get to the city alive?" barked the other side in response, "Idiot! It goes without thinking that they failed. That¡¯s why that damn rabbit would think to go to the arena fights to gain battle experience ..."


    "Yes, yes, yes, I¡¯m overthinking it." The contacting person dabbed at the cold sweat on his forehead, regretting his big mouth, as he shut hismunicator. He then immediately sent the head¡¯s orders out. Subsequently, a considerable number of mecha ported back to enter the mechabat arena fights ...


    ********


    The moment Ling Lan entered the mechabat hall, the system delivered an alert, asking her to decide whether to remain anonymous or to make her name public. After some thought, Ling Lan still decided to remain anonymous. It was better to be cautious ¡ª even if they really would have to go up against the Thunder King in the end, she wanted to leave enough preparation time for herself.


    As Ling Lan was still considered a trainee mecha operator, she could not join the real arena fights yet. In other words, the official arena fights and cross-level challenge fights had nothing to do with her. She could only take things one step at a time, so the ones she would be facing, would be those at the same level as her, the other trainee mecha operator newbies 1 .


    The arena fights at Ling Lan¡¯s level were called the neer matchups. The points awarded for each match were not much, just 1000 points, and there were no additional betting awards. Of course, if she lost, Ling Lan would be deducted 1000 points, once again bing the penniless pauper she had been at the beginning.


    Ling Lan did not think she would lose ¡ª this was not blind arrogance, but informed confidence. Of course, she also did not mind that each match would only her 1000 points ¡ªpared to those time-consuming missions earlier, the points she could get here were iparably greater. Ling Lan was very satisfied with this. Thus, without giving the matter further thought, she instantly submitted a request for a match.


    Very soon, the system¡¯s voice rang out by Ling Lan¡¯s ear, "[Lingtian First-String], wee to the Mecha World¡¯s arena fights. As you are still a trainee mecha, you can only take part in the neer matchups (a tournament exclusively for trainee mecha). Entering you into the neer matchups¡¯ matchmaking system now. Please wait!"


    Ling Lan thought that she would have to wait a long time, but surprisingly, it had only been a few seconds when she heard a ¡¯ding!¡¯ and the system spoke up again, "Please note, your opponent has been randomly selected by the system ¡ª trainee mecha [Dream Butterfly Dance]. Three secondster, you will be transported to the match arena. There will be 10 seconds of invulnerable protection time. Once the protection disappears, the match officially begins!"


    [Dream Butterfly Dance]? Ling Lan¡¯s first thought was that the other was a girl, though of course it could also be a more effeminate young man ... As Ling Lan was wondering, her mecha¡¯s screen suddenly turned dark before lighting up again, and she found herself in a t in, endless to the eye, but there were no ces to conceal oneself. This meant that this match would be a sh of sheer strength.


    The opponent¡¯s choice was a flying transformer type mecha ¡ª this meant the other was extremely confident in their control skills. Otherwise, they would not have chosen the flying transformer mecha, which had the highest control difficulty coefficient among all the basic mecha. This made Ling Lan¡¯s heart sink as she grew serious. If the other was truly a control prodigy, she needed to make sure she would not capsize her boat in a ditch here.


    The 10 seconds of protection time went by quickly. Ling Lan was curious about the opponent, and so decided not to attack first. She wanted to see the other¡¯s attack ¡ª as long as the other made a move, she would be able to tell how strong the opponent was.


    The opponent¡¯s first decision was to transform, and then piloting their mecha to fly into the air, they chose tounch a long-range attack. This was the most basic strategy of flying transformer mecha. A flying transformer mecha¡¯s main advantage was that its long-range attacks were the strongest among all the three basic mecha. Thus, this decision of the opponent was undoubtedly extremely urate.


    With a "bam", Ling Lan operated her mecha to leap away. A light beam exploded at the spot where she had just been standing, sending countless amounts of dust and dirt into the air. As she leapt, Ling Lan was already on the lookout for the opponent¡¯s following attacks, but unexpectedly, after failing in their first attack, the other chose to retreat once more, pulling a distance away from her. This caused Ling Lan to be rather disappointed.


    Just in thatst attack alone, the opponent had already made three mistakes. One, during the flying transformer mecha¡¯s first long-range attack, they should not have aimed at where she had been standing; instead, they should have considered where she would dodge to ¡ª this was called prediction. Of course, if one did not have enough confidence in one¡¯s predictive ability, one could fire multiple shots towards several potential areas where she could dodge to. This was one of the requisite abilities of a long-range attacker. However, the opponent had not done so, only using amon mecha operator¡¯s most basic shooting skill, firing some beams and calling it a day.


    Two, even if the flying mecha did not have any predictive ability, they could have watched where she was dodging to and followed up by firing consecutive attacks after her. This would pressure the opponent, giving the opponent no chance to counterattack, only able to dodge reactively.


    Three, an experienced flying transformer mecha would know to maintain distance with their target during attacks. However, when she had dodged, she had caused the distance between the two of them to already be very far. The rabbit mecha¡¯s long-range weapons werepletely incapable of striking the opponent, so it waspletely unnecessary for the other to be so cautious and give up on attacking to put even more distance between them.


    Without question, whether in terms of basic control, or in terms of decision-making, the opponent was green beyond green. It could be said that, based on the other¡¯s control skills, they were not at all qualified to operate a flying transformer mecha with its high difficulty coefficient. If Ling Lan was asked to advise, she would say that the other should obediently stick to operating bestial mecha, mastering the basic controls before choosing other types of mecha.


    Ling Lan had been able to tell the opponent¡¯s base line from just one attack. Initially somewhat interested, Ling Lan instantly lost the mood to continue dragging things out with the other. And so, Ling Lan activated all the engines of the rabbit mecha ¡ª the rabbit leapt and ran as if it were airborne, like an arrow; the opponent¡¯s attacks had no way of keeping up with this speed. Seeing the othering closer and closer, the opponent started to panic, actually turning to run away desperately ... but in the next second, they suddenly found that they could no longer see the rabbit¡¯s figure in their mecha¡¯s screen. What in the world was this?


    The opponent did not dare to move recklessly, quickly stopping the mecha and carefully scanning for signs of the rabbit mecha. But before they could look closely, the mainframe of their mecha began ring a warning, "Danger!"


    They only managed to hear this one warning, and then they immediately felt their mecha being struck by a tremendous force ¡ª they were almost rattled unconscious by the collision, and then their mecha¡¯s screen turned ck. Closely following that was a notification from the system¡¯s voice, "Your vital point was struck by the opponent, causing your mecha to explode instantly resulting in your death. Please choose whether to continue to the next round or to leave ..."


    They had actually died? How the heck did they die? The flying mecha chose to continue to the next match, but selected the option for a temporary rest to reorganise. They then immediately looked up the battle feed of the fight between the rabbit mecha and them, and finally found out how they had died.


    Apparently, the rabbit mecha had already ducked below him, going into the blind spot of their mecha. Then, with a powerful leap, the other had charged into the air from below, using that extremely characteristic red carrot to vite their chrysanthemum 2 ...


    "How despicable!" [Dream Butterfly Dance] could not help but m their hand onto the control panel. That image of viting her chrysanthemum was really too sleazy and revolting. As a girl, she really could not ept this. At this moment, hatred towards the rabbit surged within her heart ¡ª the other¡¯s attack was just so humiliating ...


    An angry woman often could not be reasoned with!


    Ling Lan did not know that due to her desire for efficiency, she had actually incited the hatred of a girl. Right now, she was waiting for her next match ¡ª even though she had already obtained 1000 points from her first fight, she would need at least 100,000 points to redeem the worst lower mecha. This was just the first step of her long journey ¡ª she needed to win at least 100 consecutive matches to obtain these 100,000 points.


    Very soon, the system notified her that a new challenger had been found ¡ª the trainee mecha operator [ All-Rounded Expert 3 ]. As before, she would be transported to the battlefield three secondster.


    [All-Rounded Expert]? It looked like this person was very confident, actually daring to pick such a name. Ling Lan looked at the name and began to deduce the other¡¯s personality.


    This was a habit she had picked up from Instructor Number Five. Number Five liked to manipte the opponent, so would often approach from unexpected angles to dig out some secrets. For example, words or phrases the opponent liked to use, or perhaps some pet names or nicknames they gave themselves ¡ª oftentimes, these fine details would be a surprisingly urate reflection of their inner heart. Of course, this did not exclude the possibility of there being some masters of deception who were good at pretending, purposefully spouting some nonsense or naming themselves based onpletely irrelevant things. For those people, one needed to use reverse psychology to figure them out.


    The battlefield she was transported to was still an endless in, exactly the same as in the previous match. This made Ling Lan suspect whether this was the only battlefield for the neer matchups. If her suspicions were correct, then the system probably did not think highly of thebat between neers. The system must have reckoned that neers would not be able to use their environment to do anything, and so had set this unchanging t in as the battlefield.


    "Haha, who knew I¡¯d be so lucky! Actually running into the rabbit mecha the team had sent out an alert telling us to target!" Tauntingughter rang out by Ling Lan¡¯s ears, extremely wild and uninhibited.


    Ling Lan frowned and looked over to see a humanoid mecha standing conspicuously not too far away from her. Slung casually over its shoulder was a huge metal cleaver, and the mecha just stood there rxed, not at all vignt, no sign at all of the tension of someone here to participate in a match.


    Ling Lan could not help but snort softly. This fellow was really asking for death ¡ª being so loose and careless in front of an opponent, pretty much nobat standards at all.


    In Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, the other¡¯s entire body was full of openings. It could be said that, if she attacked, Ling Lan could definitely kill the other in one second without breaking a sweat. She had initially thought she would encounter a mecha operator of a better standard, but it was unexpectedly another weakling-fodder ... this made Ling Lan rather disappointed once again. Although Ling Lan wanted to gather points as fast as she could, she also wanted to find an opponent worthy of a fight, and not these trash who had not even passed the mecha control basics.


    These past few years, she had trained long and hard. Whether in terms of physicalbat skills or mechabat, Ling Lan had always harboured a deep respect for allbat arts in her heart. Seeing the opponent being so flippant and irreverent, she was filled with extreme dislike.

 Chapter 237: Combat Style!

    Chapter 237: Combat Style!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    After the 10-second protection period, Ling Lan did not wait for her opponent to make the first move like in her previous match. Ling Lan believed that [All-Rounded Expert]¡¯s irreverent attitude made him unqualified to even operate a mecha into battle.


    Thus, Ling Lan operated her rabbit mecha to leap forwards without any hesitation. With a powerful spring, her mecha flew like an arrow parallel to the ground. In an instant, she had removed the carrot-sword from the rabbit¡¯s mouth and swung it forwards fiercely, drawing a brilliant red trail of light through the air, shing at the cockpit of the humanoid mecha.


    "Warning! Danger!" The other¡¯s mainframe only had time to give this one warning before the initially brightly lit cockpit was plunged into darkness. Then, the system¡¯s voice rang out, "You have died in battle. Please choose whether to continue to the next match or to leave?"


    [All-Rounded Expert] blew a gasket at this unexpected oue. He believed that his opponent must definitely have used some illegal controls in this attack, otherwise how could he have been insta-killed in just one move 1 ? This rabbit was really too despicable! No wonder the team had sent out a kill order on it. Hmph, and to think he had even felt sorry for the other ...


    [All-Rounded Expert] decided that he would go back and seek the other out again to teach him a good lesson, letting the other understand that one could not live in such a despicable manner. [All-Rounded Expert] chose to withdraw from the matchups and look up his own battle records, trying to seek out information on that rabbit. Unexpectedly, the other had chosen to remain anonymous. This further cemented [All-Rounded Expert]¡¯s belief that the other hade prepared to use some underhanded rule-breaking methods to rob him of his points. He was filled with indignant rage, immediately raising an objection to the mecha world¡¯s system, hoping that the system would disqualify the other¡¯s win. Not only that, he alsoined that the other had used illegal methods which broke the system¡¯s rules.


    Very quickly, the system responded. The system judged the match valid; [All-Rounded Expert]¡¯s objection was refuted. Furthermore, the contents of hisint were judged by the system as groundless assumption, a form of false usation.


    With regards to false usations, the punishment was extremely severe both in the real world and in the virtual world. [All-Rounded Expert] was immediately deducted 2000 points, and was given a 10-match ban by the system. This oue made [All-Rounded Expert] even more infuriated. Mad from anger, he could not control himself, curses and profanities pouring endlessly from his mouth. And then, a greater tragedy urred ¡ª this behaviour of [All-Rounded Expert] made the virtual world system kick him out, along with the notification that he had been banned from entering the virtual world for 3 days.


    [All-Rounded Expert] stared at the red-worded warning on his screen and kicked open the virtual world login pod in a towering rage. Crawling out from it, he roared, "sted mainframe! I¡¯m so pissed off!"


    Right then, the hatch of the login pod beside his suddenly opened. A young man sat up from inside and asked with a baffled expression, "Qiao Lin, why have youe out? No wonder I could not find you in the mecha world."


    He had tried to contact [All-Rounded Expert] in the mecha world, but was informed by the system that the other was unreachable. Out of worry, he had then decided to go offline to check on the other, and sure enough, the other had left the virtual world.


    Qiao Lin looked at the other and then, as if finding a confidant, he immediately broke out into a rant telling the other everything that had happened in the mecha world.


    The other youth frowned slightly, disagreeing with Qiao Lin¡¯s point of view. He said, "Since the mainframe did not find anything wrong with the other, that means the other didn¡¯t cheat. Perhaps you just took your opponent too lightly."


    Qiao Lin retorted angrily, "How could that be? Even if I did not take the other seriously, as peer trainee mecha operators, is it possible for him to insta-kill me? It¡¯s not like I entered a cross-grade challenge match." At the heart of it, he just could not believe that he could be killed instantly by a trainee mecha operator of the same level. He could not ept this oue.


    At these words, the other youth paused. Knowing that Qiao Lin could not ept this result, he tried to counsel him gently, "It¡¯s likely that the other is a hacker, and did something the mainframe cannot see through. Your anger is wasted for now. Why not save it and look for a chance to take revenge in the future?"


    Although the youth wasforting Qiao Lin this way, a trace of disagreement could be seen on his face. The mecha world was renowned to be the most secure virtual world ¡ª hackers would never be able to manipte anything inside it unless they were the even more terrifying spectres. However, spectres relied on directly damaging an opponent¡¯s spiritual power to obtain victory ... seeing Qiao Lin¡¯s hysterically exuberant demeanour right now, that possibility could be excluded. The truth was very likely as he had guessed ¡ª Qiao Lin had been too careless and, by sheer fluke, this insta-kill was the oue.


    If Qiao Lin had not been the Thunder King Qiao Ting¡¯s younger brother, he would not have even bothered with theseforting words. ncing at the bristling Qiao Lin, he could not help but sigh. Even though they were brothers with the same bloodline, their talents werepletely iparable. The Thunder King Qiao Ting was the prodigious mecha operator in the limelight, while Qiao Lin was an incapable fool, only able to bank on his elder brother¡¯s reputation to act like a prince ...


    After spending a little more time consoling Qiao Lin, the youth then said goodbye to the other andid back into the virtual login pod. In that instant before the login pod closed, a mocking smirk suddenly appeared on the initially discontented face of Qiao Lin ...


    ********


    Over the next two days, a piece of news went viral among the lower mecha operators. In the neer matchups, a particr trainee rabbit mecha had consecutively killed over 40 other neer trainee mecha operators in one day, immediately leaping to the top of the neer rankings.


    40 consecutive victories was not any great news ¡ª many people before this had also achieved this type of results. Though of course these people did not aplish it in one day ...


    Indeed, in terms of time, the rabbit mecha¡¯s achievement was rather remarkable, but this was not the reason for the uproar. The reason why the entire mecha world was so shaken, was that this rabbit mecha had managed one-hit kills against opponents of the same level. Not just once, or twice, but every single time. These results were certainly unprecedented ¡ª though it could not be known whether this feat would not be replicated in the future, within the near future at least, no one could do the same ...


    Moreover, this was not some cross-grade arena fight, where it was easy to get a one-hit kill due to the great difference in strength between the two fighters¡¯ levels. In a neer matchup, as both sides were neers, it was very rare to see such an overwhelming difference between participants. Many people suspected that the rabbit mecha must have stayed back at the mecha training hall to keep polishing its basic controls, waiting until it was honed to the max before entering the mecha world 2 . This would exin why its strength was so high.


    Of course, there were also people who suspected that this was the alternate ount of some expert. However, this supposition was soon outright refuted by the official authorities, because the mecha world did not allow alternate ounts. Every person¡¯s brainwaves and spiritual power was unique, and they used that to login to the virtual world, so it was impossible for someone to have a second ount.


    Even hackers with spiritual self-mutations or spectres could not modify their brainwaves and spiritual power to establish a new ount. They could only use shielding methods to hide their true identities from the system. However, they too could not change the facts, for example, changing their level from a mecha expert to a trainee mecha operator ...


    The deration from the authorities only escted the matter further. More and more people were leaning towards the idea that the rabbit mecha had trained within the training hall for several years to achieve this grand debut. In the meantime, the rabbit mecha did not stop its winning streak. In the second day, 60 people fell to its sword, pushing its total victories to 100 matches. Each and every one of these 100 matches were finished with one-hit kills.


    This achievement caused those lower level mecha operators to grow even wilder ¡ª many of them were filled with regret for not training properly in their basic control, for not appreciating their first mecha, for switching over to a better mecha before they were fully familiar with their first mecha. Quite a number of people began idolising the rabbit mecha, even believing that one day, he would be the most talented mecha operator of the Federation ... it was highly likely that another prodigy like Ling Xiao had appeared.


    On the third day, just as everyone was eagerly anticipating the rabbit mecha¡¯s continued victory streak, they found that they could no longer see any sign of the rabbit mecha in the neer matchups ... just when everyone was boggled by this, someone calcted the rabbit mecha¡¯s points and found that the points from the 100 consecutive wins was enough for the rabbit mecha to advance to lower mecha operator.


    In other words, the rabbit mecha could not join the lowest tier of cross-grade challenges. Many people assumed that the rabbit mecha would definitely participate in a cross-grade challenge, but soon found that the mysterious rabbit mecha had truly disappeared from the entire arena. It was as if its fervent battle exploits of the previous two days were just a dream, a mass hallucination.


    ********


    "Li Lanfeng, you¡¯ve recently been researching thebat methods of the rabbit mecha. Did you find anything?" In the 4th year dorms, the regr visitor Zhao Jun, who came to see Li Lanfeng studying those videos again, could not help but ask.


    "Just as everyone is saying, their basic control is close to perfect. Not a single move is wasted. It¡¯s so clean and efficient that it¡¯s scary," replied Li Lanfeng with a serious expression.


    "Looks like, the other¡¯sbat style is very simr to yours!" Zhao Jun understood Li Lanfeng. His good friend was also someone who pursued the perfection of basic controls. This was the reason why Li Lanfeng had still not yet advanced to special-ss operator. Staying as an advanced mecha warrior for two years was so that he could train in the advanced mecha warrior basic controls until he mastered them till perfection. Otherwise, Li Lanfeng¡¯s current mecha level would have already been the same as his. Two years¡¯ time was enough for him to peek into the doorway to the secrets of ace operators.


    Zhao Jun had always thought that Li Lanfeng had a sort of problematic obsession with basic controls; he himself did not think much of it. Everyone knew that the more advanced a mecha operator was, the moreplex the manoeuvres they could learn would be, with a corresponding greater power. Many people would not want to waste time on the basic controls of lower mecha ¡ª in Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes, the basic controls of each level need only be learned until one was familiar with them; it waspletely unnecessary to hone them till perfection. Zhao Jun was of the firm opinion that Li Lanfeng was wasting his time.


    However, Zhao Jun would not force Li Lanfeng to change his ways. Compared to Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha control skills, he trusted and valued the other more for his brains and strategic mind. In fact, he felt that Li Lanfeng was better suited to be a strategist rather than a full-time mecha operator.


    "Yes, this style is indeed very simr ..." mused Li Lanfeng, who seemed to be recalling something, his gaze distant.


    "Could this be someone from your sect?" asked Zhao Jun jokingly, still remembering Li Lanfeng mention before that the perfect mastery of basic controls was the hard-and-fast rule of his sect.


    At these words, Li Lanfeng blinked, startled, as if realising something. He very quickly regained hisposure though, to say, "Zhao Jun, you have finally said something useful. Perhaps, that rabbit mecha really has some rtion with our sect."

 Chapter 238: Phoenix Thrall Fate!

    Chapter 238: Phoenix Thrall Fate!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Really?" Zhao Jun¡¯s interest was hooked. He quickly said, "Then, you should ask the people of your sect, see who¡¯s the one who most recently entered the mecha world. Ask him to level up quickly. Damn my hands are itching for a fight with him."


    Li Lanfeng nced at Zhao Jun with a half-smile and did not reply to his words, instead bringing up another topic, "I hear the Thunder King is in Closed Door Meditation. Once he seeds, he will advance to be an ace operator. You probably won¡¯t have a chance to fight him anymore."


    As if being doused by a bucket of water, Zhao Jun¡¯s initial excitement vanished. He rubbed fiercely at his strong face and said sulkily, "Dammit, that fellow really isn¡¯t human. I just became familiar with special-ss mecha and built up the confidence to go fight him, and he goes ahead and advances to ace? Is the gap between us really that wide, that I¡¯m unable to catch up no matter how I chase?"


    Zhao Jun was rather discouraged ¡ª he himself was considered someone with great talent in mecha control, butpared to the Thunder King Qiao Ting, he was still weaker by a hair, forever chasing with all his might behind the other. He had finally caught up this year with great difficulty, atst seeing the chance to fight the other evenly, but immediately found himself being left behind yet again. This feeling was very mentally damaging. Mind you, even now, he had not managed to even touch the gateway to the profound secrets of ace level.


    "Not human? Wide gap? You think too highly of him." A trace of contempt appeared on Li Lanfeng¡¯s lips, as if he did not consider the Thunder King much of a threat.


    "Saying that ... you don¡¯t think he¡¯s going to advance this time?" Li Lanfeng¡¯s words made the low-spirited Zhao Jun revive instantly. Zhao Jun really deferred to Li Lanfeng¡¯s judgement. If the other failed to advance, it would prove that he had not been left too far behind by the other.


    "I did not say that. Whether or not he can advance, depends on his capabilities, and also, luck." As he spoke, Li Lanfeng shed a half-smile and a teasing gaze. This expression made Zhao Jun¡¯s attention waver involuntarily for a moment ...


    Zhao Jun hurriedly gathered his emotions, forcing his eyes away from Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze, shifting his vision to one side. Damn, what kind of spiritual mutation was this exactly? It was too lethal ¡ª many times, he would be struck uncontrobly, losing his focus and dropping his guard in an instant. If Li Lanfeng was his enemy, he would have long been dead several times over ... of course, only he knew a thing or two about this ability of Li Lanfeng¡¯s. Before outsiders, Li Lanfeng was still very restrained, never activating this particr ability.


    Regaining control of himself, Zhao Jun turned his full attention onto the Thunder King. Through gritted teeth, he said, "Right! We still need to look at luck! Damn, I hope his luck is stedly terrible this time, that he doesn¡¯t manage to advance."


    "Rather than pinning your hopes on that fickle and uncertain luck, you might as well go and properly study your mecha control and try to elevate your realm as soon as possible ... even if the Thunder King fails this time, he won¡¯t be staying as a special-ss operator for long," Li Lanfeng reminded Zhao Jun kindly.


    Li Lanfeng knew well that Qiao Ting¡¯s advancement to ace operator was just a matter of time. If he was lucky, he may just advance to ace operator tomorrow ¡ª and even if his luck was terrible, in the two years before graduation, even if he had to grind, he would have grinded his way up to ace operator level.


    "I¡¯ve got it. I¡¯ll go now to the mecha world. Not going to waste a single minute ..." Li Lanfeng¡¯s reminder made Zhao Jun feel the pressure bearing down on him. Losing the interest to keep nattering on with Li Lanfeng, he immediately went back to login to the virtual world to study his mecha control. The only path to advancement was to train hard and break past one¡¯s own control limits.


    Li Lanfeng sent Zhao Jun off with a smile. When he was the only one left in the room, his initially warm and smiling gaze gradually turned cold and focused, with a trace of anxiety hidden deep within it.


    Li Lanfeng looked once more at the rabbit mecha on the screen. And right at that moment, the rabbit mecha once more blew up its opponent¡¯s mecha cleanly and efficiently, proudly turning to leave the match arena. That calm indifference towards victory was so familiar that it made his heart ache. Li Lanfeng¡¯s fists curled up tight involuntarily. "Who are you really? Is it him? No, he would not have stopped where he was 7 years ago. But that style is so like him ... could it be a junior brother or junior sister from his sect? Or perhaps his disciple?"


    Li Lanfeng instantly made a decision. He would definitely find this rabbit mecha and find out for sure whether he had any rtion to that person he had known back then ...


    If he was lucky enough to find him ... the anxiety and nervousness in Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart suddenly eased a little, the courage inside him rising up once more. Yes, as long as he could find the other, as long as he was willing to teach him again, he would have the confidence not to lose against that so-called destined life 1 !


    Right then, Li Lanfeng could not help but recall the dawn of several days back, when his grandfather had called ...


    Li Lanfeng, who had just woken up and was washing up, had received a rare video call from his grandpa. Li Lanfeng had been a little startled. Mind you, ever since he had been epted by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, in order to prevent his identity from being exposed, his grandfather had almost cut off allmunications with him. Moreover, he had been shunted from being the inheritor of the main family, to be a branch disciple who was performing eptably. He had then been living a low-key life at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy for four years.


    "Grandpa, why are you contacting me?" After his grandfather had hinted that this call would not cause any trouble, Li Lanfeng finally rxed to ask.


    " Lan-er 2 , I hope you can ascend to special-ss mecha as soon as possible ..." The Li family patriarch¡¯s expression was rather grim.


    Li Lanfeng was gobsmacked at these words. "Why? Grandpa?"


    A few years back, Li Lanfeng had once told his grandfather that a mecha expert in the mecha world had instructed him on the importance of the basic mecha controls. Furthermore, he had already tasted the fruits of mastering the basics ¡ª if he truly did well with them, he could even manage a cross-grade challenge. His grandfather had been extremely supportive regarding the matter. So why would he suddenly make such a request today? It should be known that he was still that little bit away from fully mastering the basic controls of advanced mecha warrior level. This was why he had kept staying back instead of advancing to special-ss operator.


    "A few days ago, I asked the Zhuge family head to help read your fortune. The signs show that that king is already by your side ..." Grandfather Li¡¯s voice was extremely grave, even a little troubled. "All these years, making you conceal your identity and hide your face, sending you off far away and cultivating you in secret ¡ª all of this was to let you be supremely strong, so you would have the capability of changing your destiny ... now the signs have shown that that person has appeared. There is no more time for you to slowly umte your strength. If you are not strong enough, and catch his eye, how will you escape your destined Phoenix Thrall Fate?"


    Li Lanfeng heard that the king had emerged and his heart jolted. His brow became deeply furrowed, and when he heard that annoying Phoenix Thrall Fate being mentioned again, he could not help but clench his fists tightly. His fingernails almost broke through the skin of his palms, but that minor pain was nothingpared to the rage brewing in his heart.


    Every direct descendant inheritor of the Li family would always have the family head of the Empyreal Zhuge divine their life fate, to better determine the cultivation pathway best suited for their destinies.


    From birth, he had been assessed to have astounding talent. His grandfather had been overjoyed, thinking that he would be the most outstanding prodigy of the Li family, but the Phoenix Thrall Fate reading of the Empyreal Zhuge had instantly mmed him down from the skies into the dust ... this was also why he could not appear tantly in front of the other Li family members, because the first inheritor of the Li family definitely could not be some king¡¯s ything. The Li family could not suffer that disgrace ...


    His grandfather had been too soft-hearted though, at the same time unwilling to give up on his talent, and thus had decisively hidden away this reading. His grandfather had then announced to the public that his talent was not good, and sent him off to the third-rate Azure. To the outside, his grandfather appeared to be letting him while away in obscurity, to live or die on his own merits, but in truth, his grandfather was spending a lot of effort in cultivating him. If not for these arrangements by his grandfather, he would long have been confined within the family¡¯s forbidden district by the other Li family members. They would wait for him to grow up, then deliver him right into that king¡¯s hands to be the other¡¯s personal ything, to trade some favours for the Li family ...


    Li Lanfeng could not help but snort in his heart. What godd*mn Phoenix Thrall Fate? He was a man! How could he ever submit and lie below another man¡¯s body 3 ? Even if the other was a king with unparalleled strength, he would not submit to fate. He had trained hard to improve himself, racking his mind to plot and n, all for the sake of going against the heavens to change this fate. He had gotten so far; he was definitely not going to give up now.


    Although his grandfather¡¯s words made Li Lanfeng fearful and indignant, they did not make him lose his cool. He replied softly, "Grandpa, I understand. Don¡¯t worry, I will arrange everything. In just a little more time, I believe I will be able to advance to special-ss mecha operator level."


    "As long as you know what you¡¯re doing." Grandpa Li was silent for a moment before reminding, "Lan-er, be wary of the strong people that appear by your side this year, or perhaps those geniuses advancing to ace operator this year. Your destined king may very likely be among them. Keep your distance from them as much as possible. Don¡¯t let the other be interested in you ..."


    Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly and said, " Looking like this, how could someone still have interest in me 4 ?"


    Had grandpa be overly caught up in that reading? Honestly speaking, he had always been sceptical ¡ª was the reading really that urate? If it were that urate, then why would the Zhuge family head cooperate with his grandfather to try and help him go against the heavens and change his fate?


    Grandpa Li fell silent once more. How could he tell his grandson that, at times, interest in someone was not purely due to appearance? It could be due to attitude, behaviour, or perhaps one¡¯s way of handling things ... "In any case, you have to be careful!" That said, he hung up and ended the video call.


    After hanging up, the Li family head on Doha had a trace of contemtion on his grim and weathered face. He was thinking back on the reading by the Empyreal Zhuge ¡ª peeking out from under the dazzling Phoenix Thrall Fate was an undefined Supreme Commander Fate ¡ª if not for thatst half of the reading, he would not have invested so much to arrange for his grandson to defy his fate, even if his potential had been so astonishing ...


    "Grandpa has helped you as much as I can. Now it¡¯s all up to you to choose." The family head of the Li family sighed softly, gaze distant as he looked out the window. For him, the best oue was undoubtedly for his grandson to be a suprememander.


    Li Lanfeng looked at the nk screen with a deep frown, thinking, "Who could that king be? Rumour has it that the Thunder King is about to advance to ace operator? Looks like it¡¯s about time to think of a way to restrict the Thunder King¡¯s faction."

 Chapter 239: Slaughter a Chicken to Strike Fear into the Monkeys?

    Chapter 239: ughter a Chicken to Strike Fear into the Monkeys?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan patted the humanoid lower mecha she had just redeemed. The entire outer shell of the mecha was dark grey ¡ª although it was not particrly eye-catching, the mecha was a great improvement from her previous one whether in terms of durability and safety or weapons.


    It not only had a beam energy gun with extremely high destructive power, it also possessed a high alloy steel broadsword. Two sai 1 hung at the back of its waist, while high alloy steel short swords were hidden inpartments at the side of its thighs ¡ª their tensile strengthpletely beyond what the short swords of trainee mecha could offer. However, it was still lower mecha at the end of the day, so it still did not have the right to carry a beam saber. But Ling Lan no longer needed a beam saber anyway, because she now had the primary cold weapon Regretless which was 100 times better than anymon beam saber. She could use it until she became an ace mecha operator without any worry.


    After she was done admiring this lower mecha that now belonged to her, Ling Lan finally pressed the remote control button in her hands. The initially closed hatch of the mecha cockpit swung open ¡ª Ling Lan did not choose to use an esctor, instead leaping up with a dash to mber up the mecha with light touches of her hands and feet. She flew swiftly upwards in this manner, ending up seated within the cockpit in the blink of an eye.


    Ling Lan casually closed the cockpit and activated the mecha, waiting for all of its systems toe online. Only then did she operate her mecha to login to her personal space and execute several basic movements. The controls felt much smoother than that of the trainee mecha ¡ª if she had used this current mecha to escort [No Mecha Unrepaired] to Suncreed City, Ling Lan believed that even without weapons, just relying on the ability of this mecha alone, she would have been able to finish off those fewrge snakes bare-handed.


    After familiarising herself with the controls for a period of time, Ling Lan drew out Regretless from her backpack with satisfaction, and unequipped the lower mecha¡¯s basic cold weapon, themon high alloy steel broadsword. Since she already had a better weapon, Ling Lan would of course use it. She would only be able to use Regretless to its full capabilities if she came to know it as well as her own arms.


    Ling Lan stashed the high alloy steel broadsword into her backpack 2 . Recalling how, not too long ago, she had treasured the carrot-sword which wasn¡¯t even as good as the high alloy steel broadsword, Ling Lan could not help but sigh to herself. Humans were just so fickle, casting away the old for the new ... seeing something better, they would heartlessly abandon that which was worse. It was truly heartless.


    After that bout of sentimentality ¡ª Ling Lan so rarely giving free rein to her so-called female tendency of overthinking things ¡ª Ling Lan then calmly chose to enter the mecha world. As Ling Lan had already switched to a humanoid lower mecha and Three-Seas Town was half-teeming with mecha of the same type, her appearance did not attract any of the townsfolk¡¯s attention.


    Since she had converted to a new mecha, Ling Lan no longer had any interest in abusing those newbies at the mechabat hall. She felt that it was time to contact Qi Long and the others. Thus, Ling Lan entered the name [Lingtian Combat] into the system and sent a friend request over.


    Very quickly, [Lingtian Combat] had epted her friend request. At the same time, the mecha¡¯s mainframe suddenly said, "[Lingtian Combat] is requestingmunications, YES or NO?"


    Heh, what a quick response! Ling Lan of course agreed, and then a voice loud enough to shatter her eardrums rang out in her cockpit, "Boss, you¡¯ve finally contacted me!" It was Qi Long¡¯s unapologetically loud voice.


    At the same time, the system¡¯s voice began ringing out constantly by Ling Lan¡¯s ear, sounding out ding after ding of notification. [Lingtian Abacus], [Lingtian Parcel], [Lingtian Sharp de], [Lingtian Substitute] 3 requesting to add you as a friend ...


    Ling Lan decisively approved all these requests. She knew who they were ¡ª [Lingtian Abacus] was Han Jijyun, [Lingtian Parcel] was Lin Zhong-qing, [Lingtian Sharp de] was Luo Lang, so [Lingtian Substitute] was undoubtedly Xie Yi then 4 .


    Of course, as Ling Lan approved the requests, she wasining internally. This group of idiots ¡ª what kind of stupid names were they choosing for themselves? No standards whatsoever.


    After Ling Lan had finished approving everyone, Qi Long dragged the others into thems channel as well. Then, Qi Long could be heard to ask excitedly, "Boss Lan, was that rabbit you?"


    Ling Lan was startled, "What rabbit?"


    "That rabbit which killed other mecha of the same level in one move! Those 100 neer matchups, we¡¯ve all seen them!" Qi Long¡¯s tone was hinting strongly that she should stop hiding; Ling Lan¡¯s skills in mecha control were known by all of them here, other than thest to join them, Xie Yi.


    "It¡¯s not!" Ling Lan denied firmly. She would never admit that adorkable rabbit was her ¡ª this would affect her great and formidable image too much.


    Ling Lan¡¯s resolute denial left Qi Long speechless. In his mind, only Ling Lan was capable of operating a trainee mecha to achieve instakills. This had always been Ling Lan¡¯s style ¡ª hadn¡¯t he advanced to the top 5 at the Central Scout Academy in precisely this manner? In the end, Ling Lan had encountered himself and Luo Lang, which was the only reason why he had not progressed further.


    "If it¡¯s not Boss, then who else could it be? I cannot imagine anyone else able to do this," Luo Lang was equally sceptical.


    "Alright, since Boss Lan doesn¡¯t want to talk about the matter of the rabbit mecha, let¡¯s not ask anymore!" Han Jijyun stepped in to stop them decisively. Of course, he too did not believe Ling Lan¡¯s denial ¡ª in his eyes, this was already an irrefutable fact. However, since Boss Lan did not want to mention it, he must have his reasons. Han Jijyun did not want to trouble Ling Lan.


    Although Han Jijyun had put a stop to the topic, Ling Lan could still tell from their demeanours that no one had believed her words. Still, at this point, all she could do was stiffen her jaw and continue to lie through her teeth. She would never admit the rabbit mecha was her anyway; as for what Qi Long and the others wanted to think, that was not something she could control.


    Qi Long and the others could not wait to meet up with Ling Lan. Considering that she already had a lower mecha and since she had a record at Suncreed City, which allowed her to transport directly to the city, Ling Lan suggested they meet up there.


    Unexpectedly, this suggestion made the few of them whoop in glee. Qi Long in particr wasughing uproariously as he said, "It¡¯s like I said, who else could ... be but Boss?" Though Qi Long mumbled through part of his sentence, Ling Lan could tell without even thinking about it that Qi Long was most definitely talking about the rabbit mecha.


    "What? Is something wrong with Suncreed City?" asked Ling Lan curiously.


    "It¡¯s like this. Suncreed City is the capital of the strong. Only those mecha operators who have managed to break through Suncreed Passage from the various newbie towns have the right to enter Suncreed City ..." exined Han Jijyun, "Each newbie town has 4 passages, each leading to a different city. Three of the passages have a lower difficulty level ¡ª as long as one takes things step by step, one will be able to enter each of the various cities. But the final passage of every town will lead to Suncreed City. Suncreed City is very unique in the mecha world. It can only be essed by breaking through the passages in the newbie towns. Those who entered the other cities from the other passages have no way of getting to Suncreed City from those other cities."


    "So, any mecha operator who can get into Suncreed City is exceptionally strong. Suncreed City is also the mecha holynd in all the mecha operators¡¯ minds. Not only are there many missions there, it holds all kinds of weapons and equipment, as well as houses all the temples where the various upations need to go to advance to special-ss. Like for us mecha operators, to advance to special-ss operator from advanced mecha warrior, we need to be evaluated at Suncreed City," added Luo Lang.


    "So that¡¯s how it is ... but that passage to Suncreed City really wasn¡¯t that hard. As long as one learns how to operate mecha properly, anyone can pass," said Ling Lan airily.


    "How is it that simple? Even an advanced mecha warrior may not be able to pass through! Thinking back, our group was wiped out three times on that road before passing by sheer luck," said Qi Long with an expression of remembered fear. It was clear to see how challenging that passage to Suncreed City had been for them.


    "Even if the passage to Suncreed City is a little difficult, if you can¡¯t get past it yourself, just hire an expert to help and the matter is solved." Ling Lan did not believe that everyone in Suncreed City had all really fought their way through ¡ª like that [No Mecha Unrepaired], hadn¡¯t he been escorted to the city by her?


    "Which expert would be willing to bring along a burden when trying to break through the passage? The more people there are, the more savage beasts there will be to match the numbers, and they will also be stronger as well. Besides that, only people who have never beaten Suncreed Passage before can attempt it. People like us who have already gone through it have no way of entering the passage again."


    Han Jijyun recounted the restrictions of the Suncreed City Passage. This was also why life-skills yers typically could not get into Suncreed City unless they joined an organisation, faction, family, or something along those lines which could arrange things and expend great effort so that some of the more talented life-skills yers could be brought into Suncreed City to develop.


    Hearing all this, Ling Lan could not help but sigh that she had lost out. If she had known earlier that going to Suncreed City was such a difficult hurdle, she would not have been so hesitant to ept [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s weapon, Regretless.


    Very quickly, the six of them had gathered at Suncreed City. Seeing the five silver-blue humanoid mecha before her with their elegant forms, Ling Lan once again looked at her own dark and slightly bulky mecha body, and was instantly troubled ... this scene was absolutely just like an ugly duckling running into a group of swans.


    Meanwhile, this scene indeed made some advanced mecha warriors or special-ss mecha operators look askance at the group. However, they just assumed that the lower mecha must have been brought to the city by these advanced mecha warriors. This lower mecha was so enviably fortunate, just like that intermediate mecha a couple days back.


    "These few days that I¡¯ve been immersed in the mecha world, has anything happened outside?" This was the first thing Ling Lan asked when she met Qi Long and the others. For some reason, she was feeling rather unsettled, feeling as if something was about to happen.


    "Indeed, the situation outside has not been quite right these past couple days." In contrast to the brash and forthright Qi Long, the meticulous Han Jijyun had indeed noticed something off.


    "What¡¯s it about?" asked Ling Lan with a frown.


    "ording to Wu Jiong, someone bullied a person in our new cadet regiment yesterday. Li Yingjie naturally couldn¡¯t let that pass, and so led some people to strike back. But when that person left, he warned Li Yingjie to watch himself. His attitude was extremely arrogant ¡ª I had already suspected it could be someone from a particr faction at that moment," said Han Jijyun.


    "Scouting? Or perhaps provocation? Did you manage to find out which faction the other belongs to?" Ling Lan¡¯s expression became focused.


    "Wu Jiongter found out that the other seems to have some connection to the Leiting Mecha n. That person is an underling of someone within the Leiting Mecha n. Right now, I don¡¯t know whether this is Leiting¡¯s idea or whether that person is acting on his own." That said, Han Jijyun¡¯s brow furrowed slightly as well. They had not secured their foothold in the military academy yet, and were already going up against the number one faction¡¯s Leiting Mecha n 5 ... this was undoubtedly extremely disadvantageous for them.


    "Leiting? Thunder King?" Ling Lan recalled [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s words and sighed, "Even if this was not Leiting¡¯s idea, they will not let this chance go by. I¡¯m afraid that this time, the Thunder King is about to make a move." ughter a chicken to strike fear into the monkeys ¡ª their new cadet regiment was just too perfect for the role of the chicken.

 Chapter 240: Leitings Intentions?

    Chapter 240: Leiting¡¯s Intentions?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "It shouldn¡¯t be. The Thunder King is in Closed Door Meditation right now, preparing to advance to ace operator ¡ª he should not have the spare time to bother with this sort of trivial thing," Xie Yi suddenly cut in to say.


    News of the Thunder King¡¯s Closed Door Meditation to advance to ace operator was pretty much known throughout the whole First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Even they as new students had also heard a thing or two about it. After all, such a super talent emerging from the military academy ¡ª the news was worthy of being widely promoted.


    A thought stirred in Ling Lan¡¯s mind at those words. She said hurriedly, "Wait, let me think. This may be an opportunity for us to develop."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made the group¡¯s eyes light up. They suppressed the excitement in their hearts, afraid that they would disturb Ling Lan¡¯s train of thought if they spoke up.


    Mind you, the new cadet regiment seemed to be doing well right now, without being especially pressured by the other factions. But in reality, those factions were like a sword hanging above their heads ¡ª they were constantly under threat. Because they could not know when those factions would decide to make a move to apply pressure on them, to force them to have no choice but to join those factions in the end.


    The students of the Central Scout Academy had always been a bunch of extremely talented students, hence they were all extremely prideful. They were unwilling to go against their personal wishes due to external pressure ¡ª this was why they had so quickly reached a consensus to establish the new cadet regiment.


    Initially, the Central Scout Academy faction which Zhang Jing-an represented would have been a great haven for them. Unfortunately, the grade that Zhang Jing-an represented was the one who had been defeated by them back then in the grand armed melee. Thus, the new cadets did not want to let someone who had once fallen by their hands to lead them now. At the heart of it, they did not think much of Zhang Jing-an ¡ª this was also one of the reasons why Zhang Jing-an had failed to convince anyone to join his faction.


    Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s existence was another reason why they were unwilling to join Zhang Jing-an¡¯s faction. If Ling Lan had not been around, many of them would have at least temporarily joined Zhang Jing-an¡¯s faction for security due to the pressure. However, Ling Lan hade to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. In the new cadets¡¯ eyes, Ling Lan who had led them to victory in the grand armed melee, and who had sessfully snatched the administrative rights of the spaceship, was undoubtedly much more worthy of their trust. This was also one of the reasons why the new cadet regiment was established so sessfully.


    "Jijyun, tell me, the other side being so open with their provocation, without even trying to hide which faction they came from ... is it really only to make an example out of us?" Ling Lan began to suspect the other¡¯s motives.


    Typically, in order to achieve greater deterrent effect, one side would create a moral high ground for themselves, pushing the responsibility of instigating the conflict to their opponent. In the end, they would further prove their superiority with a one-sided victory ¡ª at that moment, riding on the wave of that sess, they would find it much easier to attract some exceptional new cadets into their ranks ...


    However, Leiting had acted in a rather impatient manner this time. They were obviously trying to incite the anger of the new cadets as quickly as they could ¡ª their methods crude and rough. Even if they won in the end, Leiting would still incur the bad reputation of picking on the weak and bullying the freshmen. This may end up making the other uninvolved new cadets grow worried, afraid that they would be bullied as well, and would instead negatively affect Leiting¡¯s efforts in recruitment. It just did not make sense no matter how Ling Lan thought about it.


    "If not, then for what reason? Could it be that they simply want to beat us into submission to make us join them?" Jijyun could not think of any other exnation. "Although we have more people, it is still far from the numbers of all the new cadets. Every year, the military academy takes in up to 7000 new cadets."


    Something abruptly urred to Ling Lan at Han Jijyun¡¯s words. She suddenly asked seriously, "What if, they knew the assessment results of us new cadets?"


    The results of the new cadets¡¯ assessments would be recorded in the students¡¯ respective files, and these results would affect the mentorship and material resources the military academy would invest into the cultivation of the individual students. In fact, it was already being reflected in reality now. Their group of students had all been ced into the best sses of their respective specializations, having ess to the best teachers as well as the best material resources in their studies and training.


    For example, in Ling Lan¡¯s Mecha Piloting ss-A, not only were the various instructional teachers all the most outstanding in that field, even the teachers in charge of the practicum portion were all mecha operators of ace level and above. Not only that, when it came to the distribution of the real-world training mecha, the students would often be given one of the best mecha the school had to offer. Of course, how good of a mecha would still depend on how well they performed in their virtual mecha training practices.


    At these words, Han Jijyun seemed to think of something, and his expression shifted slightly, "The other side has our new cadet assessment results? There¡¯s a hacker ..." The military academy had a specialised hacker training ss, so it was extremely believable that there would be hackers within the various factions.


    "Won¡¯t the military academy have put up proper defences?" Knowing well that there were hackers among the students, Han Jijyun would be somewhat dissatisfied with the protective measures of the school if they so easily allowed others to ess the information of the new cadets.


    "Perhaps, this is also a test the military academy has set for the hacker students." In contrast, Ling Lan did not find it strange ¡ª defences were built to be broken; the only difference was in whether others seeded in breaking through or not.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words enlightened Han Jijyun; this was a distinct possibility. In order to spur a hacker into putting their all into cracking a defence, there must be sufficient incentive, and the assessment details of the new cadets were undoubtedly a most attractive prize. After all, even if the hackers themselves were unconcerned, the organisations they belonged to would want it, which gave the hackers no choice but toply.


    "From the looks of things, Boss Lan, your suspicions should be correct. They are not trying to make an example out of us ... their real objective is in fact us . This fight, it looks like we cannot avoid it." Ling Lan¡¯s deduction made Han Jijyun realise the truth of the situation, and he could not help but begin to worry.


    "Leiting is determined to get us. That¡¯s why even though the Thunder King is in Closed Door Meditation and thuscking a leader, they still want to make us join them by force as soon as possible. They are afraid the other organisations will also find out about this news and intervene." Ling Lan had basically figured out Leiting¡¯s entire purpose by now, "From the looks of it, our assessment results are still unknown to the other factions ..."


    Right then, Ling Lan instructed Little Four within the mindspace to go to the military academy mainframe and take a look, to see if someone had already broken through its defences to steal their data.


    Very swiftly, Little Four returned with an answer. There was indeed someone who had seeded in essing the database to download a document with their info. Additionally, that person had left behind a defensiveyer of their own. Currently, there were several other hackers working on cracking that defensiveyer ¡ª based on their progress, they would probably only seed a week from now and get their information.


    Since Ling Lan now knew about this, she naturally let Little Four put extra security around their information. She did not wish for their data to once again be obtained by others. The more people who knew, the more danger the new cadet regiment would be in. This was because they were like infants holding onto treasure chests ¡ª without sufficient strength to protect the wealth that belonged to them, their final oue could only be to watch as others stronger than them came and took it away ...


    Receiving Ling Lan¡¯s orders, Little Four scampered over to handle it. Of course, he patted his puffed up little chest and guaranteed that, in this world, no one would be able to steal the data from under his protection, aside from those in the military academy who had the right to view the data.


    "Still, no matter why Leiting is doing this, their challenge towards us this time is not entirely a bad thing for us." After resolving thistent problem, Ling Lan let out an internal sigh of relief. Now, she need only focus on handling Leiting. Even if Leiting was the top faction in the school, as long as it was just one faction, the pressure was much reduced.


    An idea shed through Han Jijyun¡¯s mind, and he hurried to agree, "That¡¯s right, this sh is indeed not a bad thing for us."


    Qi Long¡¯s head felt like it was waterlogged from all the subtext embedded in the conversation between his boss and his sworn brother. He could not help but open his mouth to ask, "What in the world are you two talking about? What good thing bad thing?"


    In an umon turn of events, Han Jijyun did not answer Qi Long¡¯s question, instead continuing to say to Ling Lan, "Due to the uncertainty of the situation, the other factions in the military academy are likely waiting to see the results of Leiting¡¯s advance on us."


    "If we are unable to fend off Leiting¡¯s attack, even if we do not want to go to Leiting, it is unavoidable for us to end up joining some other faction. The final oue of our new cadet regiment would definitely be to split up and be separately absorbed into the other factions," Ling Lan calmlyid out the final oue of their new cadet regiment, "However, if we can survive this advance, even though we¡¯ll be pitted against Leiting, as long as our assessment results are not found out by the other factions, they will not risk fighting against Leiting and angering the Thunder King to intervene. After all, we aren¡¯t the only new cadets. They would be perfectly happy to see us at odds with Leiting, each at the other¡¯s neck, giving Leiting no mind to bother with the other new cadets, so they would have better luck in their own recruitment."


    "Going up against Leiting, although we might very likely lose terribly, it is also an opportunity for us. Leiting can be our opponent, but they will also be our protective talisman." Han Jijyun then added, worried, "But, how can we ensure our data isn¡¯t obtained by the other factions?"


    "On this matter, don¡¯t worry. I will handle it," replied Ling Lan decisively. Only then did Han Jijyun remember that their Boss Lan was most likely an unfathomable hacker ¡ª this had already been proven on the spaceship. A smile instantly broke out on his face.


    At this time, the others had also figured things out. Xie Yi asked, "Does this mean that, even though things look bad for us, the situation is actually not as terrible as it would seem on the outside?"


    Ling Lan shook her head, "Well, we can¡¯t say that. At most, the chances of winning and losing are half and half."


    That said, Ling Lan turned her head to look at Han Jijyun and instructed, "Jijyun, go and contact the regimentmanders of the new cadet regiment 1 . Ask them to gather at our vi. Since we have decided, we need to let them know."


    "Yes! Boss," replied Han Jijyun. However, he was still a little concerned as he asked, "What if this makes them cower?" This was not like during the grand armed melee ¡ª Leiting¡¯s strength and numbers really exceeded theirs by too much. Furthermore, they had just arrived at the academy, and had not yet properly established their foothold. It was a legitimate concern that many of the new cadets would be gued with doubt and fear.


    "Just tell them first. If they don¡¯t want to be involved, let them withdraw," said Ling Lan dispassionately, "I have never expected them to make any moves anyway."


    Han Jijyun was visibly taken aback by these words, and then his eyes lit up. "Boss, are you saying ..."


    Ling Lan did not respond, but Han Jijyun too did not expect Ling Lan to answer, because he already had a vague answer in his heart.


    Meanwhile, at this moment, in the living quarters of the military academy of a particr year, quite a few people were ring angrily at the person in the head seat. From among them, a young man with a hard expression yelled angrily in interrogation, " Lin Zhidong 2 , what the hell do you think you¡¯re doing? If Regiment Commander Qiao finds out about these things you did, you can just wait for the regimentmander to skin you alive!"

 Chapter 241: Truth!

    Chapter 241: Truth!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Stay calm!" Facing hispanions¡¯ inquisition, Lin Zhidong did not be angry, merely asking them levelly to settle down.


    "Indeed, we are all from Leiting, all friends. Let¡¯s discuss things civilly. Mu Ying, don¡¯t be impatient, let¡¯s hear Lin Zhidong¡¯s exnation." A young man seated beside Lin Zhidong advised the livid Mu Ying with soothing tones while throwing a look at Lin Zhidong at the same time, urging him to start exining things quickly.


    "Honestly, if Regiment Commander Qiao were not in Closed Door Meditation, I would have suggested directly to let Regiment Commander Qiao go forth personally to bring those people under control." Opening his mouth, Lin Zhidong did not exin, instead stating his opinion.


    "Why did you have to be so impatient? Couldn¡¯t we do this gradually in a more subtle manner? Do you know that these actions of yours will smear the good name of Leiting?" Mu Ying once more leapt to his feet upon hearing Lin Zhidong¡¯s words, practically spitting in rage as he almost shoved a finger right onto Lin Zhidong¡¯s nose.


    Lin Zhidong pushed the other¡¯s finger aside with one hand, turned to look at the others present, and said, "Do you all also think the same way?"


    The young man who had initially been ying mediator instantly smiled wryly and said, "Zhidong, your actions over these past few days have really gone a little overboard. Before he went into Closed Door Meditation, the regimentmander had said that any action representing Leiting as a whole needed to be discussed and agreed upon by all of us first before execution. You skipped talking to us, directly going ahead to provoke the other side so openly ..." He cast a nce at the others then added, "We just feel extremely uninformed!"


    The corner of Lin Zhidong¡¯s lips carried a hint of a sneer. He looked towards the others ¡ª their gazes held unconcealed censure. He sniffed coldly and said, "It¡¯s not that I didn¡¯t want to tell you all, but I was afraid that if I told you all, this secret would get out. At that time, the loss for Leiting would be considerable."


    "You don¡¯t trust us?" Mu Ying leapt up once again 1 .


    "Yes, I do not trust you all," replied Lin Zhidong unreservedly.


    "You ..." Lin Zhidong¡¯s words made the faces of everyone there change. They felt that these words were a huge insult directed at them.


    Seeing the situation turning sour, the mediating young man quickly said, "Zhidong, how can you say things like that? Being friends for so many years ... don¡¯t you have even this bit of trust in us?"


    Hearing this, Lin Zhidong¡¯s expression gentled slightly. "It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust you all. I just don¡¯t trust the people by your sides. The more people who know, the easier it would be for this secret to get out. And this matter concerns whether we, Leiting, will finally be able to conquer and unite the factions in the military academy in the future."


    "What do you mean?" Lin Zhidong¡¯s words caused everyone¡¯s expressions to shift.


    "You all must use your spiritual power to make a vow, that the secret ends here with you all, otherwise I will not tell you." On this matter, Lin Zhidong was surprisingly insistent and forceful. This also made the group exceptionally angry, almost flicking their sleeves to storm away.


    The mediating young man once again spoke up to ease the tension, "Zhidong, is this really necessary? Making a vow with spiritual power is no small thing ..."


    "The secret I¡¯m about to say has great importance for Leiting. I believe that when the regimentmander finds out, he will also approve of the way I¡¯ve handled things," answered Lin Zhidong calmly.


    Mu Ying was the first to jump out. "If I have to make a vow, then I¡¯ll make a vow! But, Lin Zhidong, if the secret you tell is less than dogshit, I will definitely report this to the regimentmander and get you kicked out of Leiting."


    Lin Zhidong said haughtily, "If you all think this secret is not worth your spiritual power vows, you don¡¯t have to report to the regimentmander. I will ask to leave on my own."


    "Fine, Lin Zhidong, you must follow through with your words!" That said, Mu Ying was the first one to make a spiritual power vow. The others, seeing that Mu Ying had already done so, could only follow suit helplessly.


    Seeing that everyone present had made a vow, only then did Lin Zhidong bring out a document from beside him. He then passed it to the mediator youth who was sitting closest to him.


    The youth opened it, and his expression changed as he read its contents. He forcefully suppressed the urge to ask questions, merely passing the document to the next in line. A simr expression appeared on the next person¡¯s face as well, and very quickly, the document had been passed through everyone¡¯s hands to finally return to Lin Zhidong. Lin Zhidong threw the document to one side, where an energy converter was already prepared. The converter deconstructed the file, turning it into immaterial energy, and saving it into an energy block.


    "Now you¡¯ve all seen it. This is why I did not notify you all, choosing to provoke the other side directly," said Lin Zhidong coldly.


    "How can this be?" Mu Ying¡¯s face was a picture of disbelief. "One or two is still believable, but for an entire ship¡¯s new cadets to be this way ¡ª this is too oundish."


    In the face of Mu Ying¡¯s scepticism, Lin Zhidong¡¯s face darkened. "Do you all not trust my hacking skills?"


    One of the group could not help but say awkwardly, "Zhidong, you¡¯re the hacker with the best grades in this school. We all trust in your abilities. It¡¯s just that the contents inside are just too oundish, so we can¡¯t help but be a little suspicious."


    "Could they have cheated?" Another in the group nced at Lin Zhidong and then said slowly, "Or perhaps the information Zhidong obtained is false?" At the heart of it, they still did not believe in the appearance of these results.


    Hispanions¡¯ distrust made Lin Zhidong¡¯s expression turn stormy. He held back the rage in his heart as he sneered, "This information, was obtained by me from the academy¡¯s mainframe¡¯s most secure S-tier. If even the S-tier needs to contain such a fake document, I really don¡¯t know where else real documents should be stored. Should they be stored on the Federation¡¯s mainframe¡¯s S-tier instead?"


    "As for cheating, do you all really believe in that reason yourselves?" asked Lin Zhidong with a mocking tone, "The ones who test cadets are all hardened veteran soldiers who have been baptised in the mes of fire. Getting them to help you cheat? I don¡¯t know what price one could use to move them. Let me put this another way. Even if they cheated, would they make it so obvious? All the students on the entire ship being so outstanding? Not a single one who failed?"


    Lin Zhidong¡¯s words made the others all cool down instantly. Indeed, a fake document would never be ced in the S-tier of the military academy¡¯s mainframe. Since Lin Zhidong had said S-tier, then it definitely could not be wrong. After all, every year, the information Lin Zhidong had mined from the S-tier on the new cadets had always been extremely urate ¡ª it was impossible that he would have obtained false data from a wrong direction this time. Besides, if this was truly a case of cheating, the method was really too idiotic. These abnormal results would certainly attract the attention of the school administration, and prompt inquiries and investigations to prove its validity. No one would dare to be so tant and daring in doing such an idiotic thing.


    "I believe, not much longer after this, the hackers of the other factions should also be getting this data. At that time, there won¡¯t be any hope for us to monopolise this group of people." Lin Zhidong swept his gaze around their circle before continuing to say, "You all are clear on Regiment Commander Qiao¡¯s standards of recruitment. He only epts new cadets whose assessment results are pass and above. Especially for those who did well, he would not hesitate to employ measures to obtain them. We cannot allow Regiment Commander Qiao miss out on these excellent talents while he is in Closed Door Meditation."


    Lin Zhidong¡¯s little speech made everyone¡¯s expressions turn grim. They all knew Qiao Ting¡¯s methods ¡ª if he knew the assessment results of these new cadets, he would definitely use all sorts of means to pull them into his fold.


    "However, since they are so exceptional, they probably won¡¯t be so easy to subdue?" Everyone loved excellent talents, but these people would often be extremely proud and self-assured, unwilling to easily submit to another.


    "That¡¯s why I set up this stage. Even if we¡¯re a bit arrogant, we need to let the other side ept our challenge and then follow up with a bet. When they lose, they¡¯ll have to collectively join us, Leiting." Lin Zhidong had already thought things through.


    "What if they are afraid and don¡¯t dare to ept our challenge?" After all, Leiting was the number one faction in the school ¡ª these new cadets may find their legs trembling from fear at the mere mention of Leiting¡¯s name.


    "That would be even better. We can just push for them to join us if they don¡¯t even dare to fight us. We can then promise to pardon all past transgressions against us. But if they dare to join any other factions, we¡¯ll beat them up every single time we see them. In the mecha world, we will block off all avenues of their growth ¡ª if we can¡¯t use them, then we will crush thempletely," said Lin Zhidong with a cold smile. He had already considered both possible reactions from the other side. He would not let them escape his grasp ¡ª he would make sure to wrap this up well before the regimentmander emerged from his training.


    "If it¡¯s a battle with the new cadets, the school rules only allow physical skillsbat. And those students are from Doha, which prioritizes physical skills the most. I fear that we won¡¯t be able to have much of an advantage."


    "No matter how strong they are inbat, they are still just first year cadets, young fledgelings freshly out from the scout academies, while we¡¯re already 4th year or 5th year senior cadets. Mechabat has not only improved our mecha skills, it has also spurred on the development of our physical skills. Those extra years ofbat experience is enough for us to push them around," said Lin Zhidong with a cold smirk, "Even those among us with the weakest physical skills would have been able to make up for theck of talent in three years¡¯ time. You think they have a chance?"


    "Well that¡¯s true." The group nodded all around. They may have put their focus on mechabat for the past few years, but in their spare time they had still gone to the physical skillsbat hall to spar with others for the fun of it. They too had sensed the benefits mechabat had brought to their physical skills ¡ª during their spars, they had been able to instantly discover their opponent¡¯s openings. Undoubtedly, their physical skills and vision had improved greatly from when they had first entered the academy.


    "Won¡¯t the other factions interfere? If they too know about these people, they will not let us monopolize them." Someone else brought up another issue.


    "Hackers. Our school only has a few names on record, and they all only belong to the top 4 factions. However, I am the first to obtain this information. In order to dy the others, I¡¯ve even added some precautions of my own, so they¡¯ll need to spend some time to crack it. Though I don¡¯t know when they¡¯ll be able to break through, I have been watching their progress. Still, this matter should not be dragged out ¡ª if it¡¯s dragged out too long, and the others obtain the real data as well, we may very likely end up with nothing to show for our efforts 2 ..." exined Lin Zhidong, "So, we need to issue a challenge to the new cadet regiment and settle things. Once we seed in absorbing them into our fold, even if the other factions discover the truth then, they will not dare to offend us with the regimentmander around."


    "That¡¯s good. Looks like we need to issue our challenge as soon as possible ..." All those seated here finally came to an agreement, and they began discussing when they should issue their letter of challenge to the new cadet regiment.

 Chapter 242: Letter of Challenge!

    Chapter 242: Letter of Challenge!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In reality, the new cadet regiment received the letter of challenge even earlier than Ling Lan had predicted. Two days after their discussion 1 , the new cadet regiment¡¯s public regimentmander, Wu Jiong, received Leiting¡¯s letter of challenge!


    On that day, around noon, Qi Long, Wu Jiong, and the others from the Mecha Piloting ss-A had justpleted their brutal physical training for the morning. Dragging their tired selves to therge military academy canteen to eat, they had barely sat down and taken a few bites when a raucousmotion broke out by the canteen doors, causing the initially noisy canteen to instantly fall silent.


    "Which of you is the regimentmander for the new cadet regiment? Show yourself to ept this letter of challenge!"


    The one who spoke was a cadet dressed in a blue military-style uniform. He swept a gaze over the people within the canteen, his haughty expression seeming to view them as trash. Behind him were five or six cadets also dressed in the same uniform. Based on the uniform colour alone, it was clear that they were definitely part of the top 500 brilliant students within the military academy.


    The basic colour of the military academy uniforms was green, signifying the average student. Blue represented the top 500 outstanding cadets in the school, based on their cumtive grades from all aspects. Meanwhile, the dux 2 of each specialization of each year would be wearing the glorious white uniform exclusive to them. This was a reward for the elite of the elites, as well as a type of respect orded to them. Take the Thunder King for example. He was the dux of the 4th year mecha piloting specialization, so his uniform was the only white one among those of that year within that specialization.


    Initially, there had been a few other people dressed in blue uniforms who had been eating, who had turned with expressions of irritation at being disturbed, but when they saw the badge pinned on the chests of the interrupting group, their expressions shifted, and the rage on their faces faded away. This was because they knew which faction that badge represented ¡ª it wasn¡¯t something they could afford to go up against ...


    Wu Jiong and Qi Long shared a knowing nce. That night, Ling Lan had already assembled them and told Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and the other team leaders of her suppositions. Thus, they had constantly been waiting for Leiting¡¯s move, and now they had finallye.


    "What? Is the new cadet regiment so gutless, not daring to ept our Leiting¡¯s letter of challenge?" mocked the youth in the blue uniform. He had already been informed by the upper ranks that he must enrage the leaders of the new cadet regiment, so they would ept the letter of challenge on impulse. Of course, if they refused to ept no matter how he taunted, then he would throw down this ultimatum ¡ª the regimentmander of the new cadet regiment would have to go to Leiting¡¯s headquarters to apologise personally to the vice regimentmanders, otherwise they would not be spared.


    Qi Long threw a nce at Wu Jiong ¡ª for this type of antagonistic scenario, his affable face was not at all suitable. In Boss Lan¡¯s words, Qi Long had a goofy nice-guy face, much more suited for acting innocent and shifting me after the new cadet regiment had gone out to bully others.


    Wu Jiong understood tacitly what he should do. He used his chopsticks to rap the dishware before him, and then with a harsh throw, his chopsticks smacked loudly onto the metal table, emitting a crisp loud ng. The atmosphere of the initially silent canteen became fraught with tension due to this sharp noise.


    With a subtle smirk on his lips, Wu Jiong leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed before him as he said evenly, "I am the regimentmander of the new cadet regiment. Speak if you have something to say, fart if you have to 3 !"


    Boss Lan had said before ¡ª they absolutely could not lose in terms of attitude!


    These past few years, although Wu Jiong had always been suppressed by Ling Lan and Qi Long, he had still been an active participant and leader in the grand armed melee back then, as well as in the fight for the spaceship¡¯s administrative rights. These victories made himposed and confident, and because he had always been pressed down by others more exceptional than him, he had not be overconfident and arrogant. Right now, even though he was facing the military academy¡¯s number one faction Leiting, his heart was as calm as ever, not at all apprehensive.


    This attitude of Wu Jiong¡¯s was clearly out of Leiting¡¯s expectations. Rage emerged on their faces, and the lead youth in particr took one step forward and yelled, "Punk, you watch your mouth!"


    Wu Jiong threw a cool nce over and said calmly, "What? You have something to say?"


    The clear contempt in Wu Jiong¡¯s gaze made those people step forward instinctively, faces ovee with rage as they seemed intent on teaching Wu Jiong a lesson.


    But before they could get any closer, the new cadets who had originally been seated quietly in the canteen suddenly all stood up in a tter. They red angrily at the people from Leiting, as if warning them that if they dared step any closer, then the new cadets could not be med for not being courteous anymore.


    Seeing 300 over people stand up altogether in one go, the expressions of the five or six people from Leiting paled abruptly. Their steps faltered, and after several changes inplexion, the head youth in blue actually began tough, "Haha, that earlier was just a joke! Seeing the new cadet regiment so united, we Leiting feel very heartened by this! You all are worthy to fight against Leiting!"


    This person was extremely thick-skinned ¡ª even as he ttered the new cadet regiment, he did not forget to elevate his own faction. He smiled gently at Wu Jiong and asked, "This regimentmander, how may I address you?"


    Wu Jiong uncrossed his arms to tap his fingers lightly against the surface of the table. He stared at the head youth with a half-smile ¡ª this familiar expression made Qi Long and those in his team feel an ache in their teeth. Please, no matter how much you idolise our boss, you really don¡¯t have to learn his mannerisms, right? They felt cold just looking at him.


    Perhaps this expression of Wu Jiong¡¯s put a lot of pressure on the head youth, for his smile actually slipped off his face. In the end, he could only stand there awkwardly, unsure how to wrap things up.


    As expected, this expression of Boss Lan¡¯s could really do a lot of damage ... he would have to use it more in the future; it was enough to subdue some minor characters. Wu Jiong tucked away this expression, satisfied, and opened his mouth to say, "My surname is Wu. You may call me Regiment Commander Wu!"


    "Regiment Commander Wu, impressive as expected. With you to lead them, the new cadet regiment will certainly do well." The head youth immediately threw up a thumbs up in response, expressing his heartfelt admiration. Since mockery and pressure would not work, he could only try cajoling. As long as the other side epted their challenge, he would find a way to avenge this humiliation.


    No matter how the head tried to hide it, the indignation in his eyes had still been detected by Qi Long and the others. However, since they were already determined to sh with Leiting anyway, they really did not care whether the other was offended or not.


    "May Regiment Commander Wu please ept this letter of challenge from Leiting? With such an exceptional opponent as yourselves, we of Leiting are also overjoyed!" Under the res of over 300 people, the blue-clothed head youth nervously walked over to Wu Jiong, withdrew a rectangr card from his pocket, and handed it over with both hands.


    Right then, a hand intercepted to take the card. It was Ye Xu, who was seated beside Wu Jiong. At this moment, he had already stood up, snatching the card over with one hand to then pass it to Wu Jiong.


    Only then did Wu Jiong ept the card and open it. Inside, it was written that three dayster, the two sides would engage in a physical skills showdown at thebat hall. Both sides would send 5 representatives, with winning 3 out of 5 being the winning condition. On top of that, there would be an additional wager involved, to be disclosed on the day of the showdown, and it cannot be refused 4 .


    Sure enough, Leiting¡¯s objective was their new cadet regiment as a whole ¡ª Boss Lan¡¯s predictions were not wrong. Seeing this, Wu Jiong knew for certain what was going on. That wager was definitely for the new cadet regiment to join Leiting ...


    "Alright, three dayster, at thebat hall. Be there or be square!" Wu Jiong snapped the card shut again, and replied with firm conviction. This had already been pre-discussed, so Wu Jiong naturally dared to ept right away.


    "Good! Regiment Commander Wu is refreshingly straightforward as expected. Three dayster, we¡¯ll await your grand presence at thebat hall!" His missionplete, the head youth of the Leiting group was all smiles.


    At this time, from another table, Li Yingjie threw a cold re their way and said imperiously, "Since you¡¯re done with your bullsh*t, you can scram!"


    The people from Leiting had been frozen in ce by the sheer force of presence of Wu Jiong and those 300 or so people, and now they were being openly derided by some punk from who knows where. They were abnormally frustrated ¡ª they had no way to oppose the new cadet regiment¡¯s Regiment Commander Wu, but teaching this pompous brat should be fine, right? And so, several people began moving towards Li Yingjie with sinister intent.


    Li Yingjie flicked his fingers and kicked away the chair behind him, saying with a cold smile, "What? Want to fight?"


    With this one sound, a flurry of the screeching noises of chairs being shifted rose throughout the canteen. The 300 or so people who had been standing in ce, ring angrily at them, had actually pushed away their chairs and begun moving closer, several of them already rubbing their palms together in anticipation of a fight.


    With that, they could not be unaware that this cocky punk before them was definitely someone from the upper ranks of the new cadet regiment. The blue-clothed head youth could no longer hold back the rage in his heart. He pointed an angry finger at Li Yingjie and said savagely, "Fine! Three dayster, just you wait!"


    That said, he led his posse to scurry away, sent off by a wave of raucous ¡¯scram!¡¯s from behind,pounding their shame. Ever since joining Leiting, they had always been above others, ying the role of the bullies; but today, they were treated to a taste of being bullied mercilessly by others, and it was almost enough to make them shatter and swallow their teeth 5 .


    Seeing the people from Leiting scurry away, only then did Wu Jiong pass the letter of challenge to Qi Long across from him. Qi Long flipped it open to read, and instantly began to chuckle coldly, "As Boss expected. Leiting has really taken us, the new cadet regiment, for a fish fillet on the chopping block, ready for them to cut as they will."


    At this moment, Wu Jiong was already anxiously looking for his chopsticks. Earlier, to create the right atmosphere, he had coolly thrown his chopsticks onto the desk, and now he had no idea where they had flown to ... his poor stomach was so hungry it was about to revolt. If he still did not eat, he would be the first regimentmander to faint from hunger. For the sake of aiding the new cadet regiment¡¯s stand, he did not have it easy ...


    "I can¡¯t take it anymore. Lend me your chopsticks!" Seeing Qi Long¡¯s chopsticks set on the table, Wu Jiong could bear it no longer, taking it into his hands to begin eating rapaciously ... Boo hoo hoo, the morning¡¯s physical training had already squeezed him dry of his vital energy ¡ª if he did not replenish it, he would really starve to death.


    "No! Those are mine!" Exasperated, Qi Long threw aside the letter of challenge in his hands, wanting to snatch his chopsticks back, but Wu Jiong was a step quicker. He dashed over to the next dining table, not forgetting to say as he went, "I supported you in acting out this scene. You should repay me somehow ¡ª lending me your chopsticks can be considered repayment."


    Qi Long directed a rude gesture at Wu Jiong, but did not continue to give chase. Wu Jiong was not wrong; he should have been the one to step up and ept that letter of challenge ... but he was very hungry too! Although he had eaten a bit more than Wu Jiong earlier, his appetite was naturally voracious ¡ª how could those few bites earlier be enough to satisfy his stomach which was equally bawling from hunger?


    His gaze turned, and he saw Han Jijyun eating seriously beside him, bite by measured bite, slow and methodical, not at all impatient or hurried. It was as if he were not at all hungry, and was only eating toplete the mission of eating ...


    "Oh Jijyun, since you aren¡¯t that hungry, then first take care of your big bro here!" Qi Long cheerfully snatched away the chopsticks from Han Jijyun¡¯s unresisting hand and then began happily eating again.


    Han Jijyun stared nkly at his now empty right hand, and then turned to look at the joyfully eating Qi Long. He almost wanted to dump the dishes before his eyes onto Qi Long¡¯s head ¡ª was there a sworn brother who would do such a thing? Not causing trouble for others, but troubling one of his own instead?


    At another table, Lin Zhong-qing saw this scene and let out a soft sigh. He took out a small pouch from his waist, drawing out a few short metal sticks from inside it. Screwing them together, it took but a few moments for him to produce a pair of regr-sized chopsticks, which he then passed silently to Han Jijyun.


    Receiving the chopsticks, Han Jijyun tamped down on his anger and resumed eating. In his mind, he decided that he would definitely not help Qi Long next time. No matter how much Boss Lan bullied Qi Long, he would turn his head and pretend he saw nothing 6 .


    The news of the new cadet regiment¡¯s haughty eptance of Leiting¡¯s letter of challenge soon spread throughout the entire military academy. Those variousrge factions which had always been suppressed by Leiting were naturally gleeful at their misfortune ¡ª it was unexpected that the forceful Leiting would also have times where they had their faces smacked so hard. However, they did not believe that the new cadet regiment could withstand Leiting¡¯s subsequent vengeance. They were all waiting for the new cadet regiment to disperse under the pressure, and were prepared to slip in in the aftermath to take advantage of the panic and chaos to bring those lost new cadets into their own factions.


    Just as everyone was waiting to see the downfall of the new cadet regiment, only Li Lanfeng greeted the news with deep contemtion, his expression serious and considering.

 Chapter 243: The Distance between the Two?

    Chapter 243: The Distance between the Two?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s attitude was only clear to one person by his side, Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun was a little bemused by it, asking, "Why? Do you have some other insight?"


    Li Lanfeng lifted his head to nce at Zhao Jun, and said contemtively, "The new cadet regiment epted the letter of challenge in such a high-handed fashion ... it¡¯s clear to see that they have full confidence in themselves."


    Zhao Jun did not think much of it. "The students from the Doha Central Scout Academy have always thought highly of themselves, somewhat blind to reality. Wasn¡¯t Zhang Jing-an exactly like this back then? shing with the Thunder King right from the start, and now he doesn¡¯t even dare to make a peep, tucking his tail between his legs whenever he sees the Thunder King ..."


    Zhao Jun rubbed his jaw. "Right now, I really want to see the faces of those new cadets after they¡¯ve been thoroughly thrashed by Leiting. Their expressions must be very interesting."


    Li Lanfeng breathed out slowly and silently, then asked softly, "That aberrant who Zhang Jing-an is still so conscious about after three years ¡ª could he only be at the level of someone like Zhang Jing-an?"


    At these words, Zhao Jun¡¯s expression shifted. He too recalled the secret news he had uncovered from Zhang Jing-an¡¯s faction. That aberrant was someone who Zhang Jing-an hated so much his teeth gnashed, but even so, Zhang Jing-an still had not dared to make a move, forcefully holding back his anger to watch the new cadet regiment establish itself with cold eyes ...


    "Who exactly is that aberrant? I heard that the one who presented himself to ept the letter of challenge was a youth called Wu Jiong. He imed to be Regiment Commander Wu of the new cadet regiment ... could it be him?" Zhao Jun was not very good at analysing data.


    "Regiment Commander Wu? Have you ever heard of a true regimentmander being addressed with a surname attached? Only the second or third inmand, those vice regimentmanders and such, would have their surnames attached to the title, for convenience of distinction!" said Li Lanfeng calmly.


    A cold light shed through Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes. "In other words, the true regimentmander of the new cadet regiment has not yet shown himself."


    "Showing one¡¯s trump card right from the start, now that would be stupid," replied Li Lanfeng, "So, I have my reservations on the oue of Leiting¡¯s operation this time."


    Right then, Li Lanfeng¡¯s mind was filled with the information on this batch of new cadets he had gleaned from the S-tier of the military academy mainframe ... those were not a bunch of ordinary new cadets! If the people from Leiting underestimated them, without the Thunder King to hold down the fort, Leiting might really end up capsizing their boat in a ditch.


    Of course, it would be his pleasure to see the Thunder King suffer a loss!


    ********


    At this moment, Ling Lan, who was in the mecha world desperately raising her level, did not know that Leiting¡¯s letter of challenge had already been delivered into Wu Jiong¡¯s hands. However, Ling Lan had already asked the team leaders to inform their respective team members about their uing sh with Leiting two days ago.


    Telling them served two purposes ¡ª one, was to let the regiment members know the decision of the new cadet regiment; two, to distinguish those members within their organisation who would veer with the wind 1 , only thinking to use the new cadet regiment to establish themselves. Ling Lan believed that a faction¡¯s strengthid not in numbers, but in unity ¡ª only if they were willing to share their trials and rewards equally would they be able to go far. She felt that the pressure from Leiting this time would be a great opportunity to assess the will and motivation of the members of the new cadet regiment.


    As for Ling Lan¡¯s team, Qi Long and the gang would naturally follow their boss loyally. Meanwhile, Wu Jiong was extremely taken in by Ling Lan, for Ling Lan¡¯s many daring decisions had benefitted him greatly. Moreover, ten years of being schoolmates had shown Wu Jiong that Ling Lan was an extremely trustworthy person ¡ª he would never abandon anyrades that follow him. Thus, Wu Jiong was willing to fight alongside Ling Lan for a better future. He wasn¡¯t afraid ¡ª even if they lost terribly in the end, it would be a waste of their youth if they did not take wild risks!


    As for Li Yingjie, even though he had always had a bit of a grudge towards Ling Lan and Qi Long, Ling Lan¡¯s strength truly left Li Yingjie speechless. Additionally, Ling Lan did not do anything to restrain Li Yingjie¡¯s temperament or personality, even outright stating that the arrogant tasks would be his responsibility. This made Li Yingjie feel deep down as if he had finally found someone who understood him. Under these circumstances, when Ling Lan asked him whether he wanted to leave the regiment, Li Yingjie had instantly refused.


    Li Yingjie did not consider anything else. He only thought that since Ling Lan believed in him and trusted him, then he must live up to this trust 2 . Besides, when has the cocky Li Yingjie ever been afraid of someone? The number one faction in the military academy? So what? He, Li Yingjie, would not submit. This was his pride as a member of the first elite family of the Federation.


    As for the other students from the Central Scout Academy, Ling Lan¡¯s decisions had never disappointed them before, so even though they were somewhat unsure about things this time, they were still determined to push forward or retreat alongside Boss Lan. This was because they knew that if they did not resist, they would still be seen as potential ves by the other factions. In that case, they might as well fight it out in a gamble ¡ª after all, in their eyes, Boss Lan was extremely strong and had never failed their expectations.


    Rather, it was the decision of the students from the other scout academies of Doha which surprised Ling Lan and the others. They had initially thought that a majority of these people would withdraw from the new cadet regiment, wisely choosing to protect themselves, but surprisingly, most did not want to quit, willing to advance and retreat together with the new cadet regiment. Only an extremely small number chose to quit, not even 30 people in total. Therefore, the total number of people in the new cadet regiment was still endlessly close to 500, not reduced by much. This made many factions which had wanted to see the new cadet regiment fall apart greatly disappointed ... especially Zhang Jing-an, who had wanted to take advantage of the situation to recruit people.


    Of course, it had to be said that these students¡¯ decision not to withdraw, their willingness to fight with Ling Lan, had a lot to do with one man¡¯s efforts. He was the one who had joined Ling Lan¡¯s party midway during the spaceship¡¯s operation, Third Elder Brother Gao Jinyun.


    During this period of time, Gao Jinyun had built up quite a reputation among the students not from the Central Scout Academy. After all, he had been the only team leader who had participated in the n to conquer the ship who was not from the Central Academy. Under his publicity efforts, Ling Lan¡¯s image rose to lofty heights in the new cadets¡¯ minds. Even though Leiting was the number one faction in the school, in these new cadets¡¯ eyes, that Boss Lan, who was strong enough to ¡¯defeat¡¯ the captain, was no weaker than Leiting¡¯s regimentmander, the Thunder King. And this was the main reason why they were willing to support Ling Lan in this sh.


    Their way of thinking was undeniably extremely naive, exactly like that of a newbie ... but newborn calves are not afraid of tigers 3 , and sometimes, what looked like a reckless action would turn out to be a momentous turn capable of changing one¡¯s fate.


    ********


    That night, Wu Jiong and the others brought the letter of challenge right away to Ling Lan¡¯s vi to pass it to her.


    Ling Lan sat on the sofa in the hall and calmly opened the letter. When she saw the contents of the challenge, the corner of her lips quirked up involuntarily. "Sure enough, their challenge is one of physical skills! This is our chance."


    Wu Jiong¡¯s expression did not ease by much. "They will definitely send thebat experts of the higher grades, perhaps even seniors of the 6th year. They are older than us by five years. Five years¡¯ time is enough to pull apart from us by a whole realm." Wu Jiong was currently only at Refinement stage ¡ª if the opponent sent only those from Qi-Jin stage, they would lose for certain if they only relied on Qi Long and Ling Lan.


    "Not necessarily!" replied Ling Lan decisively.


    "How so?" asked Wu Jiong uprehendingly.


    "Jijyun, can you find the course curriculum for all six years of our mecha piloting specialization?" Ling Lan abruptly turned her head to ask Han Jijyun.


    Although Han Jijyun was not sure why Ling Lan would ask about this, he still nodded and began looking up the course info of the military academy on hismunicator. In the end, he connected hismunicator to thergest virtual projection system of the vi walls, to disy the contents of his search.


    "Wu Jiong, take a look, what do we have to learn in our six years here?" said Ling Lan, pointing at the info disyed on the screen.


    Wu Jiong cast a baffled look at Ling Lan, but still strode forwards without any objections. He scanned the screen quickly and was struck with realisation. "So that¡¯s how it is. In our six years, there really aren¡¯t many physical skills courses!"


    "That¡¯s right. In our six years here, the military academy focuses on cultivating our mecha piloting skills, and not our physicalbat skills. Thus, the upper years would not have put much attention and effort on physicalbat skills, so the gap between us and the seniors should not be as wide as you might imagine ..." Ling Lan stated her thoughts. "This is also why I believe we have a chance. In terms of physicalbat, I believe the students of our Central Academy are definitely the best," said Ling Lan with steely conviction.


    "Yep, Boss, you¡¯re right," Qi Long was the first to respond enthusiastically. Although the others did not say anything, the initial worry and grimness in their eyes had faded, and their gazes began to shine.


    Qi Long and the others had regained their confidence so swiftly because Ling Lan¡¯s words were not pure constion, but rooted in truth. Compared to the other scout academies, the Central Scout Academy was undoubtedly one which ced the most emphasis on physicalbat skills. It could be said that among the exceptionalbat experts within the military academy right now, arge portion were from the Central Scout Academy ... only a handful were from the scout academies from others.


    Of course, good physicalbat skills did not equate to good mecha piloting skills. As mentioned previously, the talent for mecha piloting was different from the talent needed for physicalbat, which was why those with goodbat talent may not necessarily be excellent mecha operators. This was also why Zhang Jing-an and his group had been finding it harder and harder to thrive within the military academy.


    Mind you, from the second year of admission to the academy onwards, after the cadets officially be mecha operators, thepetition between students was no longer centred on physicalbat, but on mecha operatedbat.


    "But, even if we survive this time, what if other organisationse after us?" Although Wu Jiong now had confidence, he was still worried about the future of the new cadet regiment. If those other factions came after them one after another, even if they were made of iron, they would eventually be beaten down.


    "Don¡¯t worry. After we win this time, the other factions will note after us," said Ling Lan evenly.


    "Why?" asked Wu Jiong.


    "If even the first faction Leiting cannot take us down on physical skills, can they do it?" replied Ling Lan, "I reckon that even if they challenge us again, it will definitely be after we officially be mecha operators. That time will truly be our most difficult time. Not only will we have to fend off Leiting¡¯s revenge, the other factions will also be waiting to strike."


    The Thunder King would not allow the new cadet regiment that had sullied the reputation of Leiting to continue existing. For some reason, Ling Lan actually recalled those words of [No Mecha Unrepaired] ¡ª the Thunder King was not someone who could be easily reasoned with ...


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s tone was dark and heavy, her face disyed no sign of pressure, calm as ever as she said, "However, at that time, we will no longer be freshmen. Two years¡¯ time is enough for us to gather our strength."


    Only then did Ling Lan look towards Wu Jiong and say, "Of course, this period of time won¡¯t be easy for us. We¡¯ll need to raise our mecha piloting skills as quickly as possible. Otherwise, two yearster,cking strength, we will still be fish meat on a chopping board, free for anyone to slice and dice."

 Chapter 244: My Goal!

    Chapter 244: My Goal!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Wu Jiong¡¯s expression turned cold and his gaze became solemn. "It looks like we¡¯ll need to work hard! Hopefully 1 , two yearster, our new cadet regiment will be able to be one of the top four factions in the academy. At that time, even if the Thunder King wants to consume us, he will have to stop and think about it."


    "One of?" Ling Lan threw an icy nce over and said with a huff, "You only have that little bit of ambition?"


    Wu Jiong was dumbfounded. "Boss Lan ..."


    "My goal, is not being one of the factions." Ling Lan¡¯s words made Wu Jiong somewhat confused, unsure what in the world Ling Lan was trying to say. However, Ling Lan¡¯s following words almost made him fall over in shock. Ling Lan raised a finger to point straight up as he 2 said coldly, "My goal, is to unite the factions of the military academy. In other words, by the time I leave the military academy, there will only be one faction in the school, and that will be ours!"


    Ling Lan¡¯s face was cold as ever, his expression extremely serious ¡ª it was clear to see that everything he had said was from his true heart. Despite his stature and build not being as imposing as Wu Jiong¡¯s, his force of presence was absolute in its domination of the scene, suppressing everyone present. This made Wu Jiongment once more the distance between him and Ling Lan. Ling Lan could be the boss, not only because he had enough strength and capability, but also because he dared to think the unthinkable.


    "Alright, Boss Lan, just based on these words of yours alone, I, Li Yingjie, acknowledge you full-heartedly as my boss!" A voice carried over from the doorway. Wu Jiong did not have to turn his head to know who it was 3 ¡ª¡ª Li Yingjie. This stubborn, prickly, and insubordinate fellow had finally admitted his deference towards Ling Lan.


    Li Yingjie¡¯s admission simrly surprised Ling Lan. With a quirk of her brow, she teased, "I thought that I was already your boss since a long while back."


    Li Yingjie choked, the colour of his face fluctuating unpredictably, and he finally deted and said, "Forget it. Since I¡¯ve already acknowledged you as Boss, you can just say whatever you want." Li Yingjie could not refuse to submit ¡ª he could not beat Ling Lan in a fight, and he did not have as much guts as the other either. And now, he had even lost to Ling Lan in terms of sheer arrogance. What right did he have still to refute Ling Lan¡¯s words?


    Li Yingjie¡¯s defeated manner made Ling Lan feel rather sorry for him. In the end, she still liked the cocky Li Yingjie better, so Ling Lan pointed at the sofa beside her and said, "Sit, Li Yingjie. I do not wish for you to lose your personality. As long as you are capable enough, I don¡¯t think there is anything wrong with being arrogant. In future, if there¡¯s anything you can¡¯t handle, just look for the others, and if they can¡¯t handle it either,e find me ..."


    Following Ling Lan¡¯s words, Li Yingjie¡¯s expression lifted up proudly once more, his eyes shining with vibrant light. Behind him, an invisible tail rose higher and higher. Wu Jiong, Qi Long, and the others turned away speechlessly, unable to watch. Oh, this innocent child ... Once again being coaxed by Boss Lan onto the path of being a great rogue; he had obviously had the opportunity to change his ways and return to the proper path ...


    Ling Lan looked at Li Yingjie¡¯s expression and felt rather guilty. Bewitching an innocent babe like this to do bad things ¡ª would she be struck down by lightning ...?


    ********


    Time passed swiftly, and very soon it was time for the wagered fight between Leiting and the new cadet regiment. The exclusivebat hall of the military academy had long been filled with students from the various years. Of course, arge majority of the students were there to see Leiting torment the new cadets. Only very, very few new cadets still carried a tendril of hope that the new cadet regiment which was also made up of freshmen would be able to create a miracle, and do them freshmen proud.


    Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun both arrived a bitte, but they did not have to squeeze and shoulder their way to a good position at the front of the arena stage. As high-ranking members of one of the four top factions in the military academy, one of the VIP boxes in thebat hall was reserved exclusively for them.


    They took an elevator up, and then walked to stand before one of the rooms to the side. On the door was a square screen of roughly 30 centimetres. Li Lanfeng raised his right hand and waved it at the screen, and then the room door slid lightly to the left, revealing an entrance of about 2 metres wide. The two of them did not hesitate, entering right away.


    The moment they entered, a voice could be heard to say, "Haha, speak of the devil 4 ! Lanfeng,e, let me introduce you to a talented young fellow."


    Li Lanfeng looked in the direction of the voice and saw Han Ye sitting on a sofa waving at him in a rather irreverent manner. Meanwhile, a fresh-facednky youth of about 1.8 metres tall was standing tall beside him. He was presumably a new cadet from this year¡¯s batch, and the youth was currently observing him smilingly, a trace of respect in his gaze.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s lips curved up slightly, revealing a slight smile, making his entire being seem endlessly warm. This smile startled the other however, a thread of confusion shing through his eyes, but the other quickly got a hold of himself to regain his original expression.


    The smile on Li Lanfeng¡¯s lips grew deeper. He turned to look at Han Ye, who had been observing his expression intently, and as if not at all aware of Han Ye¡¯s previous impolite attitude, he smiled easily and said, "Han Ye, how nice! Congrattions on gaining yet another great fighter. However, no matter how d you are, you still need to test him well. Don¡¯t let some pretender slip in and profit from the confusion again."


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words made Han Ye¡¯splexion shift slightly. They made him recall when he had happily taken in a bunch of freshmen who hade from his a few days ago. Back then, he had brought those new recruits over here to show off to Li Lanfeng because not a single person from Li Lanfeng¡¯s third-rate Azure had managed to get into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy this time.


    Unexpectedly, those recruits had all been useless fellows ¡ª the moment they were pressured by Zhao Jun¡¯s aura, they had all actually cowered with their tails tucked between their legs, not daring to say another word. Those timid and cowardly expressions still made him furious when he recalled them now. The reactions of those people had truly disgraced their Wuji.


    All this was because Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng were both from third-rates. The two were from differents though ¡ª Zhao Jun was from Redrock 5 , while Li Lanfeng came from Azure. Meanwhile, Wuji was a first-rate within the Federation, much better in terms of both level, treatment, and resources than the third-rates. Therefore, losing face in front of Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng was extremely infuriating for Han Ye.


    Han Ye took a good look at Li Lanfeng, trying to see if the other was intentionally making a crack at him. However, Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes were unbelievably clear and limpid, and his warm smile and gentle aura had not a single shred of malicious intent in it ... could it be that he was overthinking things?


    Han Ye could not see anything strange about Li Lanfeng¡¯s demeanour, so he sniffed coolly and said, "Hmph, would I make the same mistake again?" He pointed at the youth beside him and continued, "Lanfeng, this is my junior, his name is Zhou Ya 6 . His specialization is military strategy, and he is the first rank in the military strategy specialization among this year¡¯s freshmen." When he said this, Han Ye¡¯s expression was proud, not forgetting to nce at Li Lanfeng to gauge his expression to see if there was any change. Sadly, his efforts were all in vain ¡ª Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression was no different from usual, as calm as ever.


    Han Ye deted slightly, turning his head to introduce to the youth, "This is the strategist of our Wuji Mecha n, Li Lanfeng. In future, you should learn well from big brother Li. Wuji¡¯s future will eventually depend on you and your strategies."


    "Big Brother Li, hello, please watch out for me in future." Zhou Ya gave Li Lanfeng a military academy cadet bow, his gaze curious as his eyes roved over this gentle-mannered youth before him.


    Before Li Lanfeng arrived, Regiment Commander Han Ye had hinted that he hoped Zhou Ya would be able to rece Li Lanfeng and take his position quicker, to be the primary strategist of the Wuji Mecha n. Hearing that, he was naturally extremely moved ¡ª Regiment Commander Han Ye¡¯s words proved the other¡¯s trust and acknowledgement of him. Still, he would not be proud and self-conceited because of this and offend Li Lanfeng recklessly.


    Frankly, in his conversation with Regiment Commander Han Ye, Zhou Ya had vaguely made out the regimentmander¡¯s wariness towards Li Lanfeng. This proved that the other was absolutely not someone to be crossed easily. Otherwise, he would not have been able to retain such a secure hold on the primary strategist position within the mecha n as someone not from Wuji.


    Li Lanfeng politely returned a bow of his own, and said with a smile, "Zhou Ya, right? Don¡¯t be so formal. I¡¯m not specializing in strategy. It¡¯s just that Regiment Commander Han Ye wascking such an important role, so he made do with me filling in. Now you¡¯re here, I can take the burden off my shoulders. It¡¯s like Regiment Commander Han Ye said, the future of the Wuji Mecha n will depend on you all."


    Done speaking, Li Lanfeng did not forget to pat Zhou Ya¡¯s shoulder in encouragement. Then, seeking out a random sofa, he sat down. True to his words, his expression was clearly much more rxed, as if he had genuinely spoken from the heart.


    This made Han Ye and Wei Ji, both of who had been closely observing Li Lanfeng, to furrow their brows. This was why they had always been wary of Li Lanfeng ¡ª Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression was always veryposed, gentle, and unassuming. It could perhaps even be described as somewhat easygoing and content with one¡¯s lot ... but would there really be a cadet, outstanding on all fronts, who had no ambition whatsoever? Both their gazes involuntarily met once more, reading the same suspicion in the other¡¯s eyes.


    Wei Ji turned his gaze away and suppressed the misgivings in his heart. Standing up, he greeted with a smile, "Zhao Jun, what are you standing at the door for? Still noting over to sit? I too happen to have a talent from Wuji for you to meet." He pointed at the seat next to his, indicating for Zhao Jun toe over.


    Zhao Jun had initially been coldly watching the attacks, both open and covert, being exchanged among the people in the room. Now, seeing Wei Ji calling him, a trace of interest instantly appeared on his austere face. He walked forwards, eyes trained on the youth with a somewhatzy expression standing by Wei Ji¡¯s side, and asked seriously, "A prodigy at mecha piloting?"


    Wei Ji choked at those words, and said sulkily, "Zhao Jun, you know that these students have just started working with mecha. No matter how talented, it would be impossible to tell in such a short amount of time!"


    Zhao Jun threw a disgruntled re at Wei Ji. "You know very well that I am only interested in mecha piloting. Why would you mislead me?"


    Wei Ji prodded at Zhao Jun helplessly for a moment, finally saying with a bitter chuckle, "Fine, fine, fine, just say it¡¯s my fault. But this Wang Hui is abat genius from our Wuji, already at the optimal peak of Refinement stage, just a half step away from entering Qi-Jin stage." Wei Ji¡¯s tone was threaded with a faint trace of pride.


    Mind you, these past few years, Zhang Jing-an was the only one who had already advanced into the early stage of Qi-Jin before entering the military academy. The others, no matter how strong, had only been at Refinement. Even the number one of the military academy, the Thunder King Qiao Ting, had only been at the peak of Refinement when he had first entered the academy, a level weaker than Wang Hui.


    Of course, when the Thunder King had been a freshman, he had already disyed his terrifying talent in mecha piloting, which was how he had begun suppressing Zhang Jing-an ever since the second year. By now, he hadpletely left Zhang Jing-an several horse heads behind 7


    , shooting straight up to be the number one of the military academy.

 Chapter 245: The Dux Li Shiyu!

    Chapter 245: The Dux Li Shiyu!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898


    Without question, the Thunder King was a marvel ¡ª and Wei Ji hoped that Wang Hui could reproduce this miraculous achievement of the Thunder King. That way, a few yearster, when the Thunder King graduated and left the military academy, it would be the time for their Wuji Mecha n to rise to the top.


    Learning of Wang Hui¡¯sbat level, Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes shed brightly. "Not bad, with the addition of these two talents, Wuji¡¯s future is boundless!"


    Zhao Jun¡¯s words made Han Yu and Wei Jiugh, pleased. In contrast to the shrewd and unfathomable Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun, who only knew to fight, was much simpler ¡ª his words would never twist and turn; what was said was what he meant.


    Having said that, Zhao Jun pped Wang Hui on the shoulder approvingly, then walked over to sit down beside Li Lanfeng.


    This move of Zhao Jun¡¯s made Han Yu and Wei Ji frown, a trace of frustrated regret in their eyes. Back then, they should not have tried some petty tricks in order to keep Zhao Jun in check through fear, thus enraging him, giving Li Lanfeng the chance to be the mediator between the two sides. From there, Li Lanfeng had gained Zhao Jun¡¯s friendship, resulting in their current close rtionship. If Zhou Ya really seeded in recing Li Lanfeng, they might still be unable to chase away Li Lanfeng too obviously, to force him to resign from his post within the n ...


    Over these past few years of cooperation, they hade to learn that Zhao Jun was a very loyal and steadfast person, definitely someone who would sacrifice his life for a friend. If Zhao Jun became discontented with them over Li Lanfeng, he might choose to leave the Wuji Mecha n in a fit of rage to follow Li Lanfeng, and that would be a major loss for them.


    Zhao Jun was a genius at mecha piloting, strong enough to squeeze into the top three of their year. Excluding Li Lanfeng¡¯s strategic nning, Zhao Jun was integral to the Wuji Mecha n¡¯s secure third-ce ranking. If the two of them went off to join another faction because of this, it would very likely affect the position of their Wuji Mecha n among the school factions ...


    Han Yu¡¯s and Wei Ji¡¯s eyes met, sharing a nce, conveying their tacit decision to temporarily set their n aside and continue tolerating Li Lanfeng a while longer. Zhou Ya and Wang Hui still needed some time to grow anyway; their mecha n indeed still needed Li Lanfeng¡¯s strategic mind.


    Of course, they decided mentally that they would find a chance to drive a wedge between Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun in the interim ¡ª once the two became at odds, it would be time for them to banish Li Lanfeng.


    So decided, the two began conversing enthusiastically with Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun. Not long after, a dark wall within the box suddenly lit up ¡ª it turned out that this was a high-tech screen, and it was currently set up for direct viewing without any segmentations. Of course, it was also possible to choose to dissect the screen into several windows for multiple viewing angles. Right then, on the arena stage dominating the screen, several youths in blue uniforms suddenly appeared. Their expressions wereposed and proud; it was the delegation from the Leiting Mecha n. With that, the four of them in the box stopped their conversation, turning their eyes to therge screen.


    In the dark box, facing the screen, no one saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile turn mocking from its initial warmth, and his clear gaze became deep and dark. The current Li Lanfeng was no longer at all kind and approachable, instead emitting a cold edge.


    ********


    The moment the Leiting people got on the stage, they received the passionate cheers of all the students in the audience of thebat hall. The Federation had always championed the rule of survival of the fittest, and this was disyed most vividly within the military academy. The Leiting Mecha n was the strongest faction in the military academy, and so obtained the acknowledgement and respect of the majority of the cadets.


    At this moment, the other boxes on the second floor were gradually being imed by their respective owners. Practically all the people in the boxes took the cheersing from thebat hall below as a matter of fact, absolutely certain that the final victors would be Leiting. Only in one particr corner of one of the boxes was there someone worrying about the fate of the New Cadet Regiment 1 .


    "F*ck, the whole hall is cheering for Leiting. No one thinks the New Cadet Regiment will win. Honestly speaking, I don¡¯t think the New Cadet Regiment has any hope of winning either. I say, has your younger cousin brother¡¯s head been shot at before? Actually daring to ept Leiting¡¯s letter of challenge?" In that box, a baby-faced youth in a blue uniform abruptly smacked his hands onto the arms of his sofa, his entire expression a mask of rage at the perceived ipetence.


    Standing before the screen, a person in a white uniform was standing tall with his back to the baby-faced youth. He cut a dashing figure, and with a hand on the frame of the screen, he replied without even turning back, "It¡¯s fine since he has already epted. At least I¡¯ll be able to see how much this younger cousin brother of mine who has always been aiming for the first inheritance rights has grown."


    "Just for that reason? That¡¯s why you actually emerged from yourboratory toe see thispetition that he is destined to lose?" The baby-faced youth¡¯s face was filled with incredulity.


    He knew his sworn brother ¡ª ever since they had entered the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, and he had chosen to specialize in military medical research, it was like he had been possessed by a demon. Day and night, he was always at theboratory with his instructors researching the various strange and bizarre diagnostic and treatment questions known to the Federation at present. Perhaps he truly had talent in this respect, for he actually managed to sessfully produce several treatment procedures in the course of his research, which after practical real-world testing, were discovered to be extremely effective. As a result of his exceptional performance on these course problems, from the start of the second year, he had sessfully be the dux of the military medical research specialization. Since then, the position of dux had seemed reserved for him alone, never to budge.


    The baby-faced youth had always believed that if the Thunder King was a peerless prodigy in mecha piloting, then his good friend, Li Shiyu, was certainly a horrifyingly aberrant existence in the medical field. The two dominated over the masses in their respective domains, bing the indisputable number ones of their fields.


    "Lose?" Li Shiyu muttered to himself. At this moment, five more figures appeared on the arena stage, dressed in the average cadet¡¯s green uniform. It was the five representatives of the New Cadet Regiment here to participate in the physical skillsbat showdown.


    Through the screen, Li Shiyu stared at the cocky punk who was standing with his arms crossed on the stage. His initially handsome face instantly became dark and foreboding, as he bit out word by word, "If that punk loses, I will make him pay the price." Thetent energy spurring gene agent S-modification that he had just developed recently ¡ª didn¡¯t it just happen to becking some human experimental candidates? Perhaps Li Yingjie would be a suitable experiment subject.


    At this moment, Li Yingjie, who had his chin lifted up defiantly, suddenly felt a chill pass through his body. He could not help but shiver, causing Luo Lang beside him to nce at him disapprovingly, "You¡¯re afraid now?"


    Li Yingjie red at Luo Lang, and shot back, "Who¡¯s afraid? There was just a gust of cold wind earlier ..."


    Cold wind? Luo Lang looked around at this fully enclosedbat hall with not a single gap for air flow ¡ª the temperature forever maintained at 20 degrees by the thermostat. In this ce where not a trace of wind could be created ... a cold wind? Who was he trying to fool?


    Luo Lang sniffed and rolled his eyes, no longer paying any mind to the cowardly Li Yingjie beside him. He had originally thought that the always cocky Li Yingjie did not know what fear was, but the other was unexpectedly just a tiger in a cave ¡ª only cocksure and domineering in its own den.


    Luo Lang¡¯s sniff clearly revealed his true opinion, which caused Li Yingjie¡¯splexion to flush and pale erratically. He wished dearly that he could grab hold of the other¡¯s cor and yell in his face: What the hell are you sniffing for?! Everything this bro has said is the truth! There really had been a st of cold wind, or else why would this bro shiver?


    Unfortunately, reality did not permit Li Yingjie to do so. He could only suppress the urge to right this misunderstanding and put aside his shame for now. In his heart, he decided that he must obtain victory in the fighting ring ¡ª he would use reality to tell Luo Lang that he, Li Yingjie, had never been afraid of the opponent before.


    These things that happened on the stage could not be observed clearly by the spectating students. All they could see was a pretty youth and a prideful youth bending their heads close to exchange a few words, and then move apart again to stand still, patiently waiting for the referee the school administration had assigned to appear.


    The military academy permitted wagering on fights, whether official or personal. The only difference was that, official fight wagers would be officiated over by the academy¡¯s referee, while personal fight wagers would not involve the academy in any way.


    Still, both types of wagering had one restriction ¡ª no deaths could be incurred. If an incident of death urred, the academy would dispatch a team to investigate. And if the offending side was discovered to have killed with intent, the student or organisation which had intentionally caused the death would be mercilessly court-martialled and tried under the full force of thew. The most severe punishment possible naturally being the death penalty.


    Thus, even if there was discord or conflict among the cadets which was carried over into their wagers, the wagers would typically not result in any deaths. Of course, cases where the perpetrator intended to die along with their victim were not included in this.


    The fight wager between the two factions, Leiting and the New Cadet Regiment, was an official fight wager, which was why a referee from the academy would be present. This official wager was the result of agreement on both sides, because both sides were afraid that the other party would go back on their word.


    Mind you, the results of an official fight wager were guaranteed by the academy. The moment the results were out, the wager would have to be fulfilled. Even if one party regretted the wager after the fact and wanted to renege on it, the other party could request for the school administration to step in and forcefully carry out the terms of the wager. Leiting was determined to obtain the New Cadet Regiment. In order to ensure nothing went wrong, they would certainly choose an official fight wager. Meanwhile, the New Cadet Regiment had simr concerns, so, without any objection, the wager this time naturally became an official fight wager.


    ********


    "Shiyu, look. That youth by your younger cousin brother¡¯s side is so pretty, just like a girl. Is he participating as well?" The baby-faced youth seemed exasperated at the sheer ipetence on disy, "Heavens, does the New Cadet Regiment not have anyone else? Actually sending out such a delicate youth to fight ... how could they bear to do so 2 ?"


    Right then, Li Shiyu tooid eyes on Luo Lang¡¯s appearance, and he was instantly stunned. Another face floated into his mind¡¯s eye ¡ª different, yet equally beautiful ¡ª no, that other face was even lovelier than the face of this youth before him, so beautiful that it almost felt as if it should not appear in the human world ...


    Li Shiyu¡¯s heart abruptly spasmed violently ¡ª was this the reason why the heavens was unwilling to give his eldest cousin brother a healthy body? Because he did not belong to thismon world to begin with, and needed to be reimed?


    No, I will not allow it! Even if I have to fight against the heavens, I will keep Brother Mn here!


    Li Shiyu gripped the frame of the screen tightly, his fingers locked around it, savouring the pain travelling up through his fingers. It was as if this was the only way to soothe the wrenching pain in his heart. It was precisely due to this unbearable pain that he had chosen a different path without any regrets. Even if he would lose the inheritance rights to the Li family because of this, he would not regret it.


    A crisp "Crack!" rang out ¡ª a piece of the screen¡¯s frame had actually been shattered by Li Shiyu¡¯s iron grip. Baby-face instantly jumped up and rushed over, taking Li Shiyu¡¯s hand in his even as he bemoaned, "Heavens, my points ..." Although this box was theirs by right for the year, anything inside that was destroyed would still needed to be paid for.

 Chapter 246: What Virtues Or Abilities Have You?

    Chapter 246: What Virtues Or Abilities Have You?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Baby-face carefully looked over Li Shiyu¡¯s fingers. Discovering no wounds, he instantly released a relieved sigh. If Li Shiyu¡¯s hands were at all damaged, he would definitely be dismembered by the senior colonel instructors of the military medical research branch of the medical faculty, and be made into a specimen to be experimented on.


    Mind you, Li Shiyu was a gem in the hearts of all the instructors in the military medical research specialization. All the instructors wanted to take in Li Shiyu as their own true disciple. There had even been arge battle fought previously over the matter ... In the end, the head of the military medical research branch Major General Qi had been unable to take it any longer, and hade out to dere Li Shiyu as the shared disciple of all the instructors; only then did the fighting stop. This was also one of the reasons why Li Shiyu was so exceptional in his specialization.


    Seeing the worry on his friend¡¯s face, Li Shiyu¡¯s heart was moved. He took his hand back and said sheepishly, "Yun Xiu, I¡¯m fine!"


    "That¡¯s good then. What happened earlier that made you so angry?" asked Yun Xiu curiously. What exactly had triggered Li Shiyu?


    Li Shiyu looked towards Yun Xiu, and sighed softly, "You still remember the grand armed melee that year? And that I wasn¡¯t in the school then?"


    Yun Xiu remembered, nodded and said, "Yes, back then I hadmented that it was such a shame you had to miss it! Otherwise you could have already had a chance to cross blows with your younger cousin brother." Then, recalling how Li Shiyu had changed when he had returned, his tone became regretful as he said, "I had originally thought that you would apply for the mecha piloting specialization in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. But unexpectedly, when you came back, you suddenly told me you wanted to be a military doctor! Until now, I still cannot understand it ..."


    At this point of his recollection, Yun Xiu¡¯s face was filled with confusion. Even now he still wanted to understand why, after just leaving for a brief stint of half a month, Li Shiyu had returned withpletely different dreams and goals.


    Even more so since Li Shiyu had been given the cold shoulder due to his decision. The second year after he chose to be a military doctor, Li Shiyu gained a newborn younger brother ¡ª this move by Li Shiyu¡¯s parents was proof that he had been abandoned by them 1 . This was because for one to be the family head of the Li family, one had to be the strongest mecha operator within the Li family. Thus, Li Shiyu¡¯s decision was a clear deration that he was voluntarily giving up in the fight to be the first inheritor for the position of family head.


    If Li Shiyu truly had no talent in mecha piloting, Yun Xiu would definitely have supported his good friend¡¯s decision. But the fact was that Li Shiyu¡¯s talent in mecha piloting was very high.


    In these four years in the military academy, Li Shiyu had put his full effort into medical research, only using the bare minimum required by the military academy to train in mecha control. But despite that, Li Shiyu still had no difficulty in advancing to the early stages of advanced mecha warrior ¡ª it was clear to see how talented Li Shiyu actually was in mecha piloting. Every time this thought crossed his mind, Yun Xiu wouldment the waste on behalf of his good friend.


    In the face of his good friend¡¯s questioning, Li Shiyu only pursed his lips, but did not reply. However, due to his good friend¡¯s reminder, the incident that year appeared once more in the forefront of his mind ...


    That was when he had just reached the 10th year in the scout academy. He and his parents had been busy preparing for his application to the mecha piloting specialization in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy ... but it was at this time when his grandfather, the current family head of the Li family, had suggested that he go visit his eldest cousin brother Li Mn.


    Ever since his eldest cousin brother had gone to Azure, he had never once returned to Doha. 10 years¡¯ time did not make Li Shiyu forget about his eldest cousin brother. Rather, with the passing of time, after bing numb to the cold ruthlessness of the Li family members as they fought among themselves for power and authority, the memory of the unique warm aura of his cousin was almost stark in contrast, engraved even more deeply into his heart.


    Thus, when his grandfather had suggested he take a vacation to visit his eldest cousin brother on Azure, he had dly agreed. However, he could not have known that this visit would end up changing his entire life ...


    Li Shiyu recalled that pale face on that sickbed, those dull-coloured lips, that limp person halfid up on the bed ... Still, that person had smiled so warmly at him ¡ª his smile so pure and clean, without any trace of resentment. His eldest cousin brother was not oblivious to the Li family¡¯s machinations, but he was still living without a care.


    His eldest cousin brother¡¯s stamina was already very weak, unable to support speech for too long. Li Shiyu remembered how short the meeting with his cousin had been ¡ª only a brief ten or so minutes. During that time, his eldest cousin brother had not said anything about their family, only mentioning some of his own insights, such as how one should observe more, listen more, learn more, and think more ¡ª only then would one be able to see things clearer and project their thoughts further. Or, for example, how one should not blindly judge an incident or a person, for some incidents and people were not as simple as they appeared ¡ª how considering things from a few more angles would perhaps yield some new discovery. In the end, he had also said that the hardest things for people were tolerance and eptance, especially when it came to some friends and rtives. Sometimes, if they made a mistake, one should not be so quick to heap on the me ¡ª instead, give the other a chance to right the wrong. Sometimes, taking a step back may yield even better results ... he had said with augh that, Li Yingjie, for example, who seemed so arrogant and bossy, was actually a good person at heart. Treat him with a bit more patience, and one may see more bright gleams of goodness and something different.


    Though Li Shiyu had felt that these words were a little strange, as if his eldest cousin brother had been trying to hint at something, he had not thought much of it back then. He had just listened quietly as his cousin spoke, greedily absorbing more of the other¡¯s warmth 2 . This was something the Li family in Doha could not provide, so he was hungry for it. Only when he had seen the sweat pouring from his eldest cousin brother¡¯s forehead from the strain did he bid farewell and depart very reluctantly.


    On the journey home, he settled down and contemted those words his eldest cousin brother had said, and found something off about them. It was as if his eldest cousin brother had been trying to guide him ¡ª back then, he had already been suspicious, wondering why his eldest cousin brother would say all this ...


    Only when he returned to Doha and met his grandfather, who then told him personally that in future, his eldest cousin brother¡¯s role would be on his shoulders, did hee to a shocked realisation. His grandfather had sent him to visit his eldest cousin brother, not for any so-called kinship bonding, but for the purpose of letting his visit be an announcement to his cousin on the Li family¡¯s decision. He was the candidate the Li family had selected to rece his eldest cousin brother as inheritor ...


    Li Shiyu was immediately consumed with regret. Due to his ignorance, his idiocy, his dim-wittedness ¡ª he had actually hurt his beloved eldest cousin brother by his own hand. He also hated the Li family¡¯s heartlessness. His eldest cousin brother¡¯s body was already so weak, and they had still given him such a heavy mental blow at this time ¡ª they had never intended for his eldest cousin brother to get better, hoping instead that he would just go ahead and die from the shock for their own ease of mind.


    Yes, his eldest cousin brother was very intelligent! The moment he had seen him, his cousin had already understood what the Li family had decided. His eldest cousin brother had not reacted with resentment or rage, but had instead done all he could as an elder, giving his younger brother some advice and guidance, entrusting his hopes to him ...


    In his heartache, Li Shiyu rejoiced that he had left the Li family early on to enter the scout academy, thus saved from bing cold-blooded like the rest of the Li family members. He directly refused his grandfather¡¯s arrangement, and said that, since the Li family had given up on his eldest cousin brother, then he would be the one to build his eldest cousin brother¡¯s future! The Li family people would no longer be allowed to interfere in his eldest cousin brother¡¯s life! As for the matter of the Li family inheritor, since Li Yingjie was interested, then they should just let Li Yingjie do it.


    Yes, he disdained the position of Li family inheritor ¡ª he did not value this cold-blooded Li family.


    He had long thought before that when he grew up to be someone strong enough to stand on his own, he would take his eldest cousin brother out of the Li family, the two of thempletely cutting ties with this cold-blooded and heartless Li family 3 .


    His grandfather had not been angered by his words. Instead, he asked him with a sneer ¡ª what was he basing his words on? If he became the family head, he might perhaps still be able to give Li Mn a better life, otherwise, everything was just empty talk ¡ª he would not be able to give his cousin anything.


    Subsequently, his grandfather had listed out the total fees of all the various consultations, medications, and high-grade medicinal agents spent on his eldest cousin brother all this while to Li Shiyu. To maintain Li Mn¡¯s life, it was impossible without several million credits. If Li Mn had not been a direct descendant of the main branch, so the Li family had borne the costs, he would have long died from illness on Azure. The Li family had already done more than enough for Li Mn. Now, they could not let the average Li Mn continue to be the first inheritor, making the Li family theughingstock of the top elite families.


    This was the true opinion of a family head. Li Shiyu had been very disappointed ¡ª he had thought that his grandfather had truly loved his eldest cousin brother, only sending him to the distant Azure to protect him, distancing him from the cruel struggles within the main camp of the Li family. Reality proved that he had been too idealistic. There was no such thing as kinship and blood rtion within the Li family; profit was the only thing tying parents and siblings together ¡ª there was only calction, and using one another. Perhaps his grandfather had simply not wanted to keep seeing this disgrace of the Li family, thus sending eldest cousin brother so far away for his own peace of mind.


    Li Shiyu was sad and indignant, reflexively wanting to fight back with barbed words. But when the words came to his lips, he recalled those words his eldest cousin brother had said to him back at Azure, that he should learn to tolerate ...


    Yes, if he became at odds with his grandfather, and let his parents know his true thoughts, it might end up harming his eldest cousin brother.


    Li Shiyu knew very well how ruthless his parents could be with their methods. Once they found out that his eldest cousin brother was the reason why he had refused to be the first inheritor, they might very likely employ dirty means to eliminate the problem. This was not something he wished to see; he did not want his eldest cousin brother to be harmed any further due to him. Thus, Li Shiyu was silent. He only said that he would return and think about it.


    His grandfather had looked at him contemtively ¡ª that one nce almost making him think he had been seen through ¡ª but his grandfather had not said anything on it. He had only informed him that he still had a year¡¯s time to consider, but once he began schooling at the military academy, that would be the final deadline. As he left, his grandfather had also reminded him that he coulde discuss things over with him whenever he had the time.


    The words ¡¯discuss things over¡¯ were said with especial emphasis; Li Shiyu understood the hidden meaning behind his grandfather¡¯s words. If he agreed to ept the position of first inheritor, his grandfather would be willing to pay some price, such as continuing to pay for Li Mn¡¯s medical expenses for a while longer or something.


    Li Shiyu thought for a very long time after returning to the scout academy. He had also considered his grandfather¡¯s suggestion ¡ª to be the family head, and then hold up the sky for his eldest cousin brother 4 , allowing him to live securely under his wing ...


    Yet, Li Shiyu could not fool himself. By the time he truly obtained the rights of family head, it would be thirty to forty yearster at least, while his eldest cousin brother¡¯s body did not seem like it could hold out for so long. Only by finding the best doctors in the Federation as soon as possible, the best medicine, the best resources, would he have any hope of extending his eldest cousin brother¡¯s life.


    Li Shiyu did not hope for his eldest cousin brother to die young. Right now, the human lifespan was already infinitely close to 200 years ¡ª he wished that his cousin would at least live beyond 150 years ... to achieve this goal, he could only find a way to heal his eldest cousin brother as soon as possible.


    At present, what Li Shiyu wanted, he did not have, so it was impossible to rely on any outside power. As for the Li family, his grandfather had already spoken. The Li family had already done their duty by his eldest cousin brother ¡ª the age of maturity in the Federation was 20; the Li family would only support him till then. After that, they would no longer continue to pay for those massive medical fees of his eldest cousin brother. ording to his grandfather¡¯s words, since he would be an adult then, he should be fully responsible for himself.


    This meant that there could only be one path before him. Four yearster, he needed to possess arge amount of credits, enough to rece the Li family¡¯s role in supporting his cousin¡¯s exorbitant medical fees. However, at that time, he would still only be a cadet, so he would never be able to afford it. Moreover, the Li family would only give Li family descendants the necessary credits for daily living, not a credit more. Before maturity, even if they earned any credits, those credits would be imed by the Li family ounts ¡ª he would not see a single bit of it.


    For those few days, he was gued with worry, with no mind at all to bother with anything else around him. Even though the 10th grade had been beaten so soundly by the 7th grade that they did not dare to lift their heads, he had not noticed. Every day, he was thinking about his and his eldest cousin brother¡¯s future. Just when he was at his wit¡¯s end and was preparing himself to lower his head and negotiate with his grandfather, an application brochure from the military academy illuminated a path for him.


    The military academy not only had mecha piloting, but countless other specializations as well, and one of them was the military medical research specialization which was held in very high esteem by the military. Meanwhile, military doctors were definitely the best among the Federation doctors. As such, they had the opportunity to work with medicinal agents that had been secretly formted by the Federation. In particr, there were certain forbidden medicines that only top-level military doctors could ess.


    Therefore, instead of begging others for medicinal agents and resources, he might as well be a top-level military doctor himself and earn the right to take those medicines and resources. Li Shiyu¡¯s gaze had sparkled; he had finally found a path by which he could save his eldest cousin brother.


    Li Shiyu did not rush. He immediately went home and had a sincere talk with his grandfather. When he had told the other of his decision, he remembered his grandfather asking him if he would ever regret it.


    Li Shiyu remembered that he had smiled as he replied, saying that he did not want to be a puppet controlled by power and profit. He was not heartless enough to abandon his own blood brothers ... and since that was the case, he would follow his heart. He would not regret it.


    When he bid farewell to his grandfather, he could vaguely hear his grandfather muttering these words: Li Mn, what virtues or abilities have you 5 ...

 Chapter 247: Wager!

    Chapter 247: Wager!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Right at that moment, a human figure slowly walked onto the stage. That person was about 30 years old and was dressed in the alternating blue-white military uniform of the Federation. He had a handsome face and a stately build ¡ª by simply standing on the stage, he drew everyone¡¯s eye.


    "Ah, the referee is here." The person¡¯s age and military uniform which differed from the cadets clearly marked him as the referee sent by the academy.


    "Heavens, the referee the school sent is actually Colonel Tang Yu 1 !" When an eagle-eyed student noticed who the referee on the stage was, he could not help but yell out in shock.


    "What?! Colonel Tang Yu, that ace instructor who cultivated the Thunder King, the number one in the school?" As the news spread among the students, even those who had not known Colonel Tang Yu before this also began eximing in awe.


    Mind you, Colonel Tang Yu was the strongest among the instructors of mecha piloting ¡ª it was rumoured that he was already an ace operator. Besides that, in one of the teams he led, which had 6 students in total, the Thunder King was just a half-step away from advancing to ace status, while the other five in the team had all sessfully advanced to special-ss operator. Undoubtedly, he was the superstar ace instructor of the military academy ¡ª rumour had it that after he was done mentoring this batch of students till their 4th year, he would be able to mentor a new batch of 2nd years starting next year.


    Perhaps Colonel Tang Yu had willingly taken on the role of referee just so he could take a look at the abilities of this year¡¯s intake? After all, these people could be his students of tomorrow ... of course, it was even more likely that he had already begun taking in students, so perhaps this wagered fight was also an assessment of Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s for the new cadets?


    All of the senior students stared enviously at the five freshmen standing on the stage. Even if these students were defeated in this fight, as long as they performed decently and caught Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s eye, their futures would be immeasurable. It had to be said that this year¡¯s freshmen were just too lucky.


    The mecha instructors of the military academy did not mentor their personal students up till the 6th year, typically only mentoring them till their 3rd year. As the freshmen were focused on their physical conditioning for the first year, busy building up the proper foundations, the mecha instructors would only take in students beginning from the second year. After mentoring them to the 4th year, their focused mentorship would end. Since the 5th and 6th year students were basically in the process of prepping for graduation, they typically had two options. One, was to go join some adventuring groups on some intergctic adventuring mission to increase their own real-world battle experience; the other, was to enter the armed forces directly and begin an internship. Of course, those who chose the second option were all the best the school had to offer, typically already being noticed in their 4th year for their exceptional performance. By their 5th year, the military division which had its eye on them would issue them an internship offer letter and take them away ...


    Of course, those 4th year students who performed well this year were pretty much all aiming for the newly established 23rd Division ¡ª not because they would have more opportunity to shine in a new division, but because themander of the 23rd Division was one of the twelve god-ss operators of the Federation, General Ling Xiao. He was the idol of all the cadets ¡ª the Thunder King was rushing so much to advance to ace operator this year precisely because he wanted General Ling Xiao to know of his existence. With that, he would have a chance to be noticed by the other and obtain that precious internship offer letter.


    An internship offer letter did not mean that one would be able to remain at that division at the end of the 2-year internship, but as long as one performed within eptable standards, one would normally not be dismissed by the division.


    At this time, seeing the appearance of Colonel Tang Yu, those within the boxes frowned. Anyone with a brain could tell that the academy¡¯s arrangements this time seemed to hint at some deeper intent.


    Only Yun Xiu in Li Shiyu¡¯s box continued to fret obliviously, "With Colonel Tang Yu as referee, won¡¯t he be biased towards Leiting? After all, the Thunder King Qiao Ting is his favoured disciple."


    Li Shiyu instantly rolled his eyes at his friend at these words, having no desire at all to even respond.


    However, this somewhat moronic question of Yun Xiu¡¯s had pulled him out of his memories. Even though his mood remained solemn and heavy, he was no longer caught up in the past. As a result of these few years of research, Li Shiyu was increasingly confident that he would be able to take over his eldest cousin brother¡¯s medical expenses before his rite of passage to adulthood.


    These past few years, the research studies Li Shiyu had participated in had all yielded tremendous results ¡ª besides one forbidden medicine that was restricted for military use, the yields of the other studies could be generalised for public use. As such, to reward him, the academy had given Li Shiyu many awards, which included arge sum of credits.


    Back then, Li Shiyu had already told his instructors of his personal situation back home, so these credits were currently stored within the ounts of those instructors.


    Of course, the greatest profit was not the school¡¯s reward, but the sale of his patent rights. After learning of Li Shiyu¡¯s situation, during the forging of the contract with the manufacturer, his instructor had specially requested for the main researcher Li Shiyu to not be directly reimbursed with credits, instead asking forpany shares of equivalent value. The interest gained from those shares every year was clearly stipted to be transferred into Li Shiyu¡¯s ount once he became an adult. Li Shiyu was overjoyed by this oue; he was filled with gratitude towards that instructor. This would undoubtedly give him a long-term steady source of ie, helping him eliminate future worries.


    Seeing Li Shiyu¡¯s face recover from its pained expression, Yun Xiu let out an internal sigh of relief. He had not expected that his thoughtless question on why Li Shiyu had changed his mind to study military medicine would cause his good friend so much pain.


    His twisted expression had let Yun Xiu know without words that Li Shiyu must have encountered some painful event back then. Yun Xiu could not help but regret his rashness and try to do something to fix things. When he saw Colonel Tang Yu step onto the stage, an idea sparked and he had immediately blurted an extremely stupid question to draw Li Shiyu¡¯s attention. Now, it looked like his ploy had been quite effective ¡ª Li Shiyu had really returned from his memories, and his expression was now much more natural.


    As a cadet, Yun Xiu naturally knew that all the instructors of the military academy were righteous military men. They would never do such an obviously biased thing, and Colonel Tang Yu, who was especially widelyuded for being upstanding, was even more unlikely to do such a thing.


    ********


    Within the Wuji box 2 , seeing Colonel Tang Yu step onto the stage, Li Lanfeng and the others also made sounds of shock and surprise. Who would have expected this great god to appear on such a small arena stage ...?


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s hand which was holding his drink jerked. He could not help but look towards the five representatives of the New Cadet Regiment, a trace of pensiveness in his gaze. Among these people of the New Cadet Regiment, which one was it that had such formidable backing, able to affect the typical style of the military academy? Even the top elite family, the Li family, did not have the capability. Even if the Li family could influence the decision of the president of the Federation, they would not be able to budge the Federation military. And since the military academy was part of the military system, even the president would not be able to order the military academy around ...


    A small smile appeared on Li Lanfeng¡¯s lips as he thought: How interesting, looks like this fight of Leiting¡¯s won¡¯t be as easy as they thought!


    ********


    The moment Colonel Tang Yu was on the stage, he coughed loudly, and the initial furore caused by the colonel¡¯s appearance instantly died down. Colonel Tang Yu smiled faintly and then said, "Today, I will be the referee for this fight between the New Cadet Regiment and Leiting. I will judge fairly ording to the rules. If there is any dissatisfaction with the results, or anyints on my decisions as referee, you may request an arbitration with the arbitrationmittee of the academy ..."


    That said, Tang Yu nced at the five representatives of both sides. Seeing the steady expressions on both sides, he nodded slightly, approving at the quality of the representatives chosen.


    He continued to say, "This fight is best three of five, to be fought by five representatives from each side. To ensure fairness, the five participating representatives are not announced beforehand. One minute before the fight begins, the leader of each team is to submit the name list 3 of the representatives participating in the fight to me. Remember ¡ª once the name list is in my hands, no more changes are allowed, or else the side which makes any changes will be immediately considered to forfeit."


    Seeing both sides nod in understanding, Tang Yu continued, "One more thing. There is a wager on this fight as agreed by both sides. Before the fighting begins, the wager needs to be stated clearly. The school rules dictate that the contents of the wager shall not go against anything expressly forbidden by the military academy ..."


    At this point of his speech, Tang Yu paused, his cold gaze shing like a knife across the faction members of both sides seated on the spectating tform, causing those people to feel a shiver in their hearts. Those students who were slightly weaker actually felt cold sweat break out all over their bodies.


    "As Leiting is the challenger, please enter your wager into the military academy mainframe." Tang Yu indicated for the Leiting Mecha n to submit their wager into the mainframe.


    Very quickly, on therge screen behind the arena stage, the contents of the wager was disyed. It was very simple, only one sentence. The contents of the wager read: If Leiting wins, all members of the New Cadet Regiment shall collectively join Leiting!


    The appearance of this wager made all the spectators break out into amotion once more. Even the audience within the boxes could no longer keep theirposure, overwhelmed with surprise.


    "Why this wager? Isn¡¯t Leiting very particr about the quality of their members? Why do they want to take the entire group? Could it be that there¡¯s some secret about the New Cadet Regiment that we do not know?"


    All the leading people of the various factions began to cry out ¡ª they could not believe what they were seeing. They had initially believed that Leiting would request for the New Cadet Regiment to disband, and then aim to absorb a portion of the more talented new cadets into Leiting. They would then be able to take advantage of the chaos while the members of the New Cadet Regiment were still filled with anger and hate at Leiting to snatch away a portion of the talented new cadets.


    However, this wager of Leiting¡¯s threw all their ideal calctions out of the window. Leiting¡¯s method of taking the whole pot for themselves without sharing a single errant drop made them extremely dissatisfied.


    In the Wuji box, Han Yu and the others were simrly shocked beyond belief. He and Wei Ji shared baffled nces, the confusion evident on their faces.


    They reflexively looked towards Li Lanfeng, hoping he would be able to give them an answer. Although they were extremely apprehensive of Li Lanfeng, they still believed fully in Li Lanfeng¡¯s analytical abilities. Many times when they were unable to figure things out, Li Lanfeng could strike right at the heart of the matter 4 .


    Li Lanfeng met their gazes and opened his mouth to say, "I too do not know why Leiting would do this. But I¡¯m certain that the New Cadet Regiment must have something that Leiting values." Han Yu and Wei Ji nodded; they knew enough to figure this out for themselves.


    "In the previous period of time, the major factions were all working on deciphering the data of the entrance evaluations of the new cadets. I wonder if Leiting has obtained that info." Li Lanfeng did not draw things out, inly stating his thoughts to the two.


    It was not that Li Lanfeng did not want to keep things to himself, but he knew that, even if he said nothing, Han Yu and Wei Ji would still have been able to think of this after a few days at thetest. In that case, he might as well be frank, to better give the other two the impression that he really had nothing to hide from the two of them. Moreover, the most important secret was still in his hands. This little bit of trivial news ¡ª Li Lanfeng truly did not consider it anything of real worth.

 Chapter 248: Luo Lang Fights!

    Chapter 248: Luo Lang Fights!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Could it be that the results of this batch of students are all pretty good? Even if there are some who are a bit weaker, in order not to waste anything, they decided to take in everyone?" mused Han Yu, following the logical flow of Li Lanfeng¡¯sment.


    Wei Ji said in agreement, "This New Cadet Regiment is from Doha, with most of the students from Doha¡¯s Central Scout Academy. Their abilities won¡¯t be too far off the mark. Taking all of them in, Leiting would not lose anything. But I suspect this matter will not be that simple ... could it be some scheme of Leiting¡¯s? His objective may not be the entire New Cadet Regiment, but a particr person within the New Cadet Regiment. However, in consideration that that person may be proud and unruly, he decided he might as well take in the whole lot?" Wei Ji raised another possibility.


    "That aberrant Zhang Jing-an mentioned?" eximed Han Yu, as ifing to some realisation, his eyes shining.


    That aberrant, who Zhang Jing-an was afraid of, would most certainly not be someone easy to bring to heel. Perhaps Leiting was afraid that if they targeted him alone, the aberrant might not have any reservations, thus ending up like that 4th year genius mecha modifier, stubborn to the end, still unwilling to submit even now. Perhaps after that experience, Leiting had chosen to change their methods. By taking in the entire group, that aberrant would have no choice but to consider hispanions beside him, and thus lower his head and submit.


    "A feint! Certainly a great strategy!" sighed Han Yu, a trace of admiration in his gaze, "Even if Qiao Ting isn¡¯t around, the vice regimentmander Lin Zhidong is not someone to cross."


    A faction could notst for long by relying on one person¡¯s strength alone. Leiting had been able to remain as the top faction in the military academy for so many consecutive years due to the exceptional vice regimentmanders it had, especially the adviser Lin Zhidong. Although this first vice regimentmander was not from the strategy specialization, he was no less capable than those of the specialization.


    Li Lanfeng did not refute the two¡¯s suppositions, merely nodding in agreement as he smiled softly. However, the gazes of the four were then drawn once more by the stage, for the representative of the New Cadet Regiment had emerged. It was the public regimentmander Wu Jiong. He had been the one to step up and ept the wager with Leiting, as well as raise their own conditions for the wager. If by any chance the Leiting Mecha n lost, then they would have to be responsible for the safety of the New Cadet Regiment for the next two years. This meant that, in those two years¡¯ time, if some other faction challenged the New Cadet Regiment, all the fights would be the Leiting Mecha n¡¯s responsibility.


    This wager would in fact indirectly make the entire Leiting Mecha n into the fighters and protectors of the New Cadet Regiment, but inparison with Leiting¡¯s wager, the New Cadet Regiment¡¯s wager was not that unreasonable. Since Leiting wanted to consume the entire New Cadet Regiment, the New Cadet Regiment naturally could also request Leiting to be their helpers. Besides, the New Cadet Regiment did not have ill intentions ¡ª they only stated a period of two years, leaving Leiting no way to refuse.


    As expected, the vice regimentmanders of Leiting very quickly agreed to the terms after a brief discussion. After all, Leiting too did not want the other factions to covet the promising New Cadet Regiment. If Leiting lost by any chance, this would ensure the cadets would not be taken in by any other faction in the uing two years. And two yearster, Leiting would have another chance to consume the New Cadet Regiment. Therefore, this wager had no downsides from Leiting¡¯s perspective.


    When Colonel Tang Yu dered that the wager was established, the upper ranks of all the factions could not help but sigh. With this, even if the New Cadet Regiment won by a fluke, they could do nothing within the next two years. No matter how tempting the regiment was, they could only watch without doing anything, because they still did not have the guts to go up against the Leiting Mecha n ...


    At this time, they could not help but exim in admiration at the strategic thinking of the New Cadet Regiment,ing up with a wager that Leiting could not refuse. Whether they won or lost, the New Cadet Regiment would still obtain the protection of therge tree of Leiting ¡ª it was all just a matter of duration.


    After the wager was agreed upon, all the representatives of the Leiting Mecha n and the New Cadet Regiment walked off the stage, to await the start of the first match. Colonel Tang Yu had already mentioned the rules of the fight. For each match, both sides would have five minutes¡¯ time to arrange things. Within those five minutes, each side must decide the candidate for their team. If they did not submit a name within the given time, the referee would give the victory to the opposing side.


    Walking off the stage, Ling Lan looked pensively at the people on Leiting¡¯s side. Earlier on the stage, she had secretly evaluated those people¡¯s skill level, and had a rough idea of their capabilities in her mind. However, other than herself who could beat anyone handily, it would be a little risky for Qi Long and the others ... Ling Lan furrowed her brow slightly, beginning to consider the order they would use for the arena fights.


    This time, Ling Lan had chosen Qi Long, Wu Jiong, Luo Lang, Li Yingjie, and herself to be the fighting representatives. Originally, she had wanted to see how the opponent would send out their candidates before making her final arrangements. However, Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s speech threw her ns out. Concealing the name list before announcing it at the final moment made Ling Lan lose all direction.


    "Boss, have you forgotten that you still have me?" Just when Ling Lan was fretting, Little Four began making a ruckus moodily inside the mindspace. Of course he was moody ¡ª why did Boss always forget his existence during these critical moments? It should be known that he was the best cheating device!


    "Fie fie fie, what was that random thought just now? I, Little Four, am a youth of five virtues 1 ¡ª I would never do such a tasteless thing as cheating," said Little Four, happily justifying his own actions and twisting words, "We are fighting a great battle of information! Taking the initiative by procuring information on the opponent is the bedrock of sess ¡ª all of this is just the means in service to this ultimate end! History shall be written by the victors!" Little Four had recently be addicted to military stories; who knew where he had stolen this particr block of text from ...


    Little Four was still throwing words around to extol the virtues of his behaviour, while Ling Lan¡¯s eyes had lit up at Little Four¡¯s timely interruption. That¡¯s right! How had she forgotten that Little Four was a god of the virtual world? If she wanted to know the name list the opponent had set, wasn¡¯t it just a simple matter? Her only hope was that the opponent would not choose to key in their selection at thest second. Otherwise, even if Little Four could obtain the information, she still would not have the time to enter her own selection.


    Little Four had finally re-established his own self-image, soothing his soul, and he immediately sensed Ling Lan¡¯s concerns. In response, he said disdainfully, "With me, Little Four, around, would you still need to enter it manually? You only need to think of the name in your head, and I, Little Four, will be able to instantaneously send it over ..." Such a simple matter ¡ª why did his boss have to worry so much? Wasn¡¯t this just making light of his, Little Four¡¯s, abilities? Little Four could not help but pout in silent protest of Ling Lan¡¯sck of faith in him.


    Seeing this demeanour of Little Four¡¯s, Ling Lan¡¯s heart settled. In a great mood, she kneaded Little Four¡¯s face inside the mindspace,ughing loudly as she said, "Good. Little Four, I leave this matter to you." Only within the mindspace would Ling Lanugh so unreservedly. The smile behind theugh made Little Four lose focus ... Boo hoo hoo, why did the charm of Boss¡¯s smile seem to have increased limitlessly once more?


    Thinking of this, Little Four once again reaffirmed that it was safer for Boss to remain ckfaced. Otherwise, even though he was a god in the virtual world, he would be reduced to a puddle of goo by his Boss¡¯s smile ... Little Four abruptly recalled that he seemed to have very low resistance against Daddy Ling Xiao¡¯s smile too ¡ª could it be that smiles were his fatal weakness?


    At this thought, Little Four suddenly felt a sense of danger invade his heart. This was because he remembered that intelligent bio-entities could not be found to have any obvious weaknesses, otherwise they would be recalled for repurposing. Little Four shiftily looked around, and finding no other intelligent bio-entities in the area, only then did he rx. He pounded his chest ¡ª luckily he was not in the Mandora star system right now, so no other intelligent bio-entity had observed his abnormality.


    Little Four had barely settled from his fright when Ling Lan came up with another question. Even though she may know the skill levels of those people, she had no way to match the person to the name on the opponent¡¯s name list.


    Little Four became absorbed by Ling Lan¡¯s question instantly, forgetting his earlier fright. When he figured out what his boss was worried about this time, he could not help but roll his eyes contemptuously at his boss. D*mmit, and he had thought what kind of difficult problem his boss had now ... it turned out to be such a small matter!


    Very swiftly, the named datasheets of the Leiting representatives appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace, along with a 3D rendition of their appearance. Ling Lan quickly matched the people to their names ¡ª now, the moment the opponent entered the names, Ling Lan would be able to tell which level their physical skills were at, and make the appropriate counter.


    With this, Ling Lan¡¯s mind was greatly eased. Ling Lan was prepared once more to mimic Tianji¡¯s horse racing ¡ª sending out the fighters on her side strategically ording to the strength level of the opponent. As long as they won three matches in the end, the New Cadet Regiment would have the right to their own freedom!


    "Boss, the opponent¡¯s name list is out!" Little Four yelled out in the mindspace, and then the opponent¡¯s fighting order and corresponding image were disyed in Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace.


    "D*mmit, actually starting off with the third strongest. Looks like the opponent is also guarding against this strategy of mine, actively working to win thispetition." Ling Lan could not help but frown as she read over the other¡¯s name list; the opponent had indeed dealt a good hand.


    Ling Lan turned to look at herpanions beside her, and her gaze finallynded on Luo Lang. "Luo Lang, get ready to fight!"


    "Yes, Boss!" Luo Lang¡¯s pretty face lighted up ¡ª he had not expected Boss to send him up for the very first match.


    Meanwhile, seeing that Ling Lan had chosen Luo Lang, without waiting for her to give the order, Little Four instantly sent Luo Lang¡¯s name to the referee Tang Yu.


    Observing Luo Lang¡¯s excited expression, Ling Lan had no choice but to be a wet nket and calm him down a little. With a stern expression, she said, "The opponent is a master at the peak of early stage Qi-Jin, while you have just entered Qi-Jin. The Qi-Jin in your body has not settled yet, and so is unsuitable for a hard confrontation. Draw things out to start, and then figure something out after you¡¯ve gotten used to the pace."


    Ling Lan had chosen Luo Lang because Luo Lang currently needed a tough fight to help him stabilise his realm of first level early stage Qi-Jin. This was also why Ling Lan had not gone up first to just win the match. Even as she ensured the final victory would be theirs, Ling Lan hoped for herpanions to improve through the fights.


    Ling Lan knew her arrangement might cause Luo Lang to suffer a tough fight, perhaps even being beaten very badly; however, for the sake of herpanions¡¯ growth, she needed to harden her heart. Sometimes, losing was not a disgrace, but a type of progress.


    "Understood, Boss!" Luo Lang nodded his pretty head seriously, showing that he had heard her advice.


    Right at this moment, the five minutes ran out. Colonel Tang Yu shouted from the stage, "Leiting Mecha n vs New Cadet Regiment ¡ª first round matchup: 5th year Qi Ya against 1st year Luo Lang."

 Chapter 249: Still a Little Ways Off!

    Chapter 249: Still a Little Ways Off!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Luo Lang took in a deep breath. Although he knew the opponent was stronger than him, Luo Lang did not want to give up just like that ¡ª he wanted to help Boss out. Even if he knew it would be very difficult to achieve the oue he wanted, he still wanted to try.


    When Luo Lang walked onto the stage, amotion broke out among the people watching below. "What¡¯s this? The New Cadet Regiment is actually sending out such a skinny weakling? Could it be the New Cadet Regiment is prepared to throw this match?"


    "Look, is that fellow really a guy? He looks even prettier than a girl!" Who knows who yelled this out, causing the crowd¡¯s attention to swiftly turn away from Luo Lang¡¯s thin and slender frame to his lovely face.


    "F*ck, it can¡¯t be a girl dressed up as a guy, right?" Some random lecher was in raptures at the sight, beginning to indulge in wild fantasy.


    Of course, his fanciful delusions received the contempt of the students beside him ¡ª did he really think this was those olden times? Able to impersonate a man just by putting on some guy clothes? Upon entrance to the military academy, the first thing they had to go through was a physical check-up. That had been conducted before everyone else, where they had all been naked ... well, alright, the examining teachers were very reasonable, and would allow you to use your hands to cover your willy.


    Of course, these scornful cadets looking disdainfully at that lecher would never ever imagine that there truly was someone who had tantly enrolled into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy as a girl to study. During that physical check-up, this person had naturally been exempted via special privilege by a particr national idol general who loved his daughter deeply ...


    In one of the boxes on the second floor, Luo Lang¡¯s beautiful face and his delicate and seemingly easy to overpower figure made a person¡¯s eyes shine. A covetous smile grew on that person¡¯s lips as he mumbled to himself, "Who could have expected that there would be such a stunner among this year¡¯s freshmen ..." He licked his lips, deciding that he would obtain the other by any means necessary 1 .


    ********


    Leiting¡¯s candidate, Qi Ya, was a 5th year cadet, currently still at the academy for hisst few courses. As his physical skillsbat ability was extremely outstanding, in order to ensure victory, Lin Zhidong had personally invited him to represent them. Sending Qi Ya out as vanguard was a calcted move on Lin Zhidong¡¯s part.


    Ling Lan was not the only one who had thought of Tianji¡¯s horse racing; Lin Zhidong too had thought of the same principle. He was afraid that the New Cadet Regiment would send out their third strongest to fight against the weakest in his party, catching him off guard and thus causing Leiting to lose the first match. Lin Zhidong knew well that the first match was key ¡ª morale would lean towards the side who won. Lin Zhidong did not want to let the New Cadet Regiment obtain that advantage, and so had chosen the third strongest in Leiting¡¯s party, Qi Ya, to fight first, guaranteeing the final oue.


    Lin Zhidong¡¯s thought process was, even if the opponent nned to fight in the order of their strength levels, he would not lose out by sending out the third strongest now. As long as they won this match, he would still have the two strongest at hand ¡ª no matter what, victory would be theirs. Although Lin Zhidong was somewhat wary of that mysterious ¡¯aberrant¡¯, he still had more faith in those two strongestbatants below the Thunder King.


    Qi Ya saw how delicate his opponent was, just like a girl, and was instantly filled with displeasure. The gaze he directed at Luo Lang carried a clear trace of contempt. Instead of bing angered by the opponent¡¯s attitude, Luo Lang was pleased. The more the opponent looked down on him, the better his chances to achieve an upset.


    Of course, Luo Lang had not forgotten Ling Lan¡¯s earlier instructions. So, the moment he got onto the stage, even though Colonel Tang Yu had not given the signal to start, Luo Lang¡¯s entire body was keyed up in readiness. Despite looking no different from his usual standing posture, anyone with a keen eye would be able to tell from his low-hanging arms and slightly bent waist that Luo Lang would be able to unleash his strength in an explosive burst to handle any sudden shifts in the situation.


    Colonel Tang Yu was an ace mecha operator, but he was also abat expert. Otherwise, the academy would not have sent him to be the referee of this fight. Seeing Luo Lang¡¯s stance, a gleam of light no one else could see shed through his eyes. However, when he nced towards Qi Ya, his brow creased almost imperceptibly ...


    Tang Yu raised his right hand expressionlessly, and with a sharp wave, he shouted, "Begin!"


    Luo Lang had initially thought to stay on the defensive, drawing out the fight with the other for a bit. Unexpectedly, the opponent did not put up any defence at all. He stood sluggishly, his entire person slouched and seemingly unprepared. Seeing this, a thought sparked through Luo Lang¡¯s mind and with a spring off his right foot, his entire body pounced from one side of the stage to the other like a cannonball, striking hard and fast towards the opponent.


    Seeing this attack of Luo Lang¡¯s, Tang Yu¡¯s eyebrows rose slightly, somewhat surprised. He had determined that Luo Lang¡¯s original stance had beenrgely defensive; however, Luo Lang had been able to switch from that stance instantly into offence. Moreover, he had done so without any interruption in his movements, the transition smooth and wless. It was clear to see that Luo Lang¡¯s control over his muscles had reached an extremely high realm.


    Even though Luo Lang¡¯s body may lean towards the delicate side, not as buff, and with slightly weaker resiliencepared to the average boy, this control over his muscles allowed him topensate for his body¡¯s weakness. It could be said that Luo Lang had already developed abat style appropriate for his body type. This was most definitely a youth who possessed extremely great talent inbat.


    Right then, Tang Yu could not help but be pleased by this discovery of talent. This type of ability would undoubtedly be a great help to mecha piloting. As long as Luo Lang¡¯s physical condition could pass the 1st year¡¯s evaluation, Tang Yu believed he would be unable to refrain from taking in such a talented student.


    Luo Lang¡¯s attack was undoubtedly sudden. The unprepared Qi Ya took fright, but he was after all a 5th year ¡ª in terms ofbat, he was very experienced. He would not be flustered like those newbies, choosing tosh out thoughtlessly in his panic. Instead, he retreated calmly and rapidly, trying to put some distance between him and his opponent so he would have enough space to gather his strength and counterattack.


    Although Luo Lang was a 1st year military academy cadet, his battle experience was not weak either. Mind you, hispanion Qi Long was a battle maniac, dragging his friends off to spar whenever he had the time. Luo Lang was undoubtedly the one who had been dragged off the most 2 ¡ª though Xie Yi had joined in after that, the frequency still had not dropped by much. The natural result of all this fighting was a wealth of experience.


    Luo Lang saw his opponent retreating and instantly knew what the other was plotting. Having the initiative, how could he let go of this advantage? Thus, on the arena stage, two figures could be seen dancing around the stage, one in constant close pursuit of the other. Due to the extremely high speed, the spectating students actually saw the action as a streak of shadow moving across the stage.


    Watching this scene, Lin Zhidong could not help but harrumph and say, "I was surprisingly right. The opponent really had been nning to use the principle of Tianji¡¯s horse racing ... luckily I had taken measures to counter this, or else the opponent might really have taken the first match." If he had sent out the weakest in his team, whose skills were not much stronger than the other, at that time, it would have been hard to determine for certain which side would win. But now, victory was sure to be theirs ... Although Lin Zhidong¡¯sbat ability was not that strong, he firmly believed that with Qi Ya¡¯s strength, he would never lose to a 1st year freshman.


    On the stage, Qi Ya saw that no matter how he hard he tried to retreat, the other was sticking like sticky-candy to him ¡ª he could not pull away no matter what. He felt that this performance of his was really too disgraceful, and rage surged in his heart. He began to hate Luo Lang who he had initially looked down upon ... he would definitely teach this detestable fellow before him a brutal lesson.


    Even though he was currently at a total disadvantage, with his capabilities, he would still be able to defeat the other.


    Having full confidence in himself, Qi Ya did not want to retreat any longer. He abruptly halted his steps, and with a loud bellow, the Qi-Jin in his body gathered rapidly to surge into his right hand, where he then thrust out his right palm in a fierce strike towards Luo Lang.


    "Alright!" shouted Luo Lang, seeing the other stop running and choosing instead to circte his Qi to fight him head on. His long ready right fist punched out powerfully at the opponent.


    This move of Luo Lang¡¯s seemed to go against Ling Lan¡¯s instructions at the start, but Luo Lang did not think he was doing anything wrong. He had managed to take the initiative and take control of the flow of the fight from the start due to the opponent¡¯s underestimation of him. Plus, the other had attacked from an emergency stop, so the power he could put into his blow would definitely not be as substantial as his own. Thus, Luo Lang felt that even if he met this blow of the opponent¡¯s head on, he would not lose, and may even have an overwhelming advantage.


    And so, a fist and a palm crashed into each other, sending a muffled whump ringing out across the stage. With Luo Lang and Qi Ya at its centre, a powerful swirl of wind swept out over the surrounding audience.


    However, there were Qi-Jin absorbing facilities around the edges of the stage, hence the students sitting below could not feel any of this invisible force. Still, even so, everyone knew that this strike was certainly not as simple or casual as it appeared to be.


    The two fighters were frozen in ce for several seconds ¡ª three perhaps, or maybe just one ¡ª and then the two of them were abruptly sent flying back from their stalled state. Luo Lang had been on top to begin with, so when he was sent flying, he immediately flipped into a somersault to dissipate the rest of the force, and thennded soundly on the ground.


    Meanwhile, Qi Ya retreated a whole three steps before finding stable footing again, though his face flushed deeply. Hisplexion quickly returned to normal, but from the perspective of those keen of eye, Qi Ya most likely lost out by a hair in this collision.


    The spectating students looked at one another ¡ª they had not expected what they believed would be a one-sided fight to be such a close fight instead. It was to the extent that in thatst strike, the 1st year Luo Lang had vaguely gained the upper hand, while the 5th year Qi Ya seemed to have lost out inparison.


    Some new cadets became exhrated watching the proceedings. Even though they had hoped in their hearts that the new cadets would be able to achieve something in the fights, upholding their pride, they knew reality would not be that easy. Furthermore, Luo Lang had seemed unbelievably scrawny, making them lose all hope from the start. Who could have expected that that youth who was as pretty as a picture on the stage could actually fight so well, going at it so fiercely from the beginning, and then even suppressing the opponent in thisst encounter ... Could it be that the New Cadet Regiment¡¯s arrogance in epting the wagered fight was not purely out of stubborn pride, but because they truly had the strength to back them up?


    Tentative hope rose in these new cadets¡¯ hearts. If the New Cadet Regiment really won ... they, as freshmen, would undoubtedly have a better refuge. Compared to those pre-existing factions, the New Cadet Regiment which was made up of freshmen like them was certainly much more eptable in their minds.


    Thus thought the spectating students ¡ª and even on Leiting¡¯s side, quite a few faces had shifted slightly. After all, Qi Ya was their third strongest fighter; if he lost ... the situation would not look good for Leiting.


    Seeing the disquiet of hispanions, one of the strongest fighters in Leiting quietly exined some things to the people around him. Consequently, those people rxed and began to smile in relief.


    "Luo Lang, is still a little ways off 3 ," Ling Lan sighed as she shook her head lightly.

 Chapter 250: Innate Talent Activated!

    Chapter 250: Innate Talent Activated!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Luo Lang may have had the upper hand for the entire fight so far, but the difference in their skill levels made this blow of Luo Lang¡¯s utterly ineffective. In contrast, although the opponent may appear to have taken a blow, Luo Lang¡¯s stride was broken, causing the two fighters to once again return to the equal ground they were in at the start.


    Ling Lan could see that Luo Lang himself, within the fight, hade to understand that his advantage had been lost after that strike, which was why he had not chosen to press his attack. Instead, he cautiously chose to defend, and the two fighters once again faced each other in a standoff.


    Standing to one side, Tang Yu saw Luo Lang¡¯s actions and nodded silently. This 1st year student did not be reckless and overconfident due to his advantageous position at the start. He could clearly sense the change in the flow of the situation, quickly shifting to defence when he saw his advantage disappear. It was clear to see that he was level-headed and rational ¡ª he was definitely a good seedling to be a mecha warrior.


    The more Tang Yu observed Luo Lang, the more he liked him. Right now, the only thing holding Luo Lang back from bing an excellent mecha operator, was his scrawny frame. Tang Yu could not help but wonder whether he should go to his old friend who specialized in medicine, and take several tubes of their newly developed gene agent S-modification ... he had heard that its effects were even better than the special-ss gene agents ...


    As the referee Tang Yu¡¯s thoughts went off on a tangent, Qi Ya, who was across from Luo Lang, had rallied himself mentally to attack despite looking as insouciant as before. If Luo Lang impulsively chose to attack again by force, he might very well get an opportunity to injure him in one blow. Unfortunately, Luo Lang was extremely cautious ¡ª he did not act like Qi Ya expected. Qi Ya could not help but curse internally, frustrated at the overly cautious nature of this 1st year cadet.


    Luo Lang¡¯s manner and actions let Qi Ya know that waiting for Luo Lang to attack first would be fruitless. There were only two paths before Qi Ya ¡ª battle Luo Lang in patience, where the one who lost patience first would attack; or Qi Ya himself couldunch an attack now.


    Of these two paths, Qi Ya almost unhesitatingly chose the second. This was because he did not want to continue dragging things out with Luo Lang, believing that this way of fighting was an insult to his skills. He believed that finishing off the other cleanly with a KO would reflect his true capabilities better, truly highlighting the dominance of Leiting.


    Of course, choosing to initiate the attack was also because that previous sh had given him a clear understanding of the true level of Luo Lang¡¯s physical skills. Inparison to him, Luo Lang was obviously much weaker ¡ª he should have just entered the early stage of Qi-Jin. For Qi Ya, who exceeded his opponent by three minor levels, defeating the other should be a sure thing. Qi-Jin stage was unlike the stages before it, where the difference between every small level was not that significant, so an upset in those stages was indeed possible. However, at Qi-Jin stage, just the difference of one small level would be enough topletely overpower an opponent.


    With this understanding as his support, Qi Ya leapt forward fearlessly,ing right up to Luo Lang in the blink of an eye. A powerful right fist flew at Luo Lang.


    Luo Lang saw Qi Ya¡¯s attack and heard the sound it made as it cut through the air, and knew that he could not take this attack by force. At this moment, his thin andnky body disyed apletely differentbat style from that of someone with a stouter body. Luo Lang deftly shifted a step, lightly twisting his waist to one side, and the opponent¡¯s fist sailed by the left side of his body ...


    This distance was controlled skilfully, almost calcting the other¡¯s attack range with pinpoint precision, resulting in the punch missing him by the barest of distances. Of course, the only thing Luo Lang could not control was that when he had avoided the punch, several strands of hair had not been able to swing away in time, and had actually been sliced off by the power of the wind-force behind the punch. They reluctantly bid farewell to their owner, drifting away wistfully in the air.


    A loud ¡¯BOOM¡¯ ¡ª Qi Ya¡¯s punch was heavy, forceful and unstoppable. It crashed into the floor of the stage, emitting a loud sound.


    The floor of the stage actually began to crack due to this great force, the cracks spreading out like a web to the outer edges of the stage. Meanwhile, at the point where the fist hadnded, a shallow ditch of about 30 centimetres had appeared.


    Taking advantage of the lull, before the opponent could make another move, Luo Lang dashed to the other side of the stage with a quick spring of his feet, once again pulling away from Qi Ya. However, his expression was much more solemn than it had been before. Because he had sensed the power of the opponent¡¯s fists at close range, he knew even better now that if he were to be hit identally, his body would definitely be unable to take it ¡ª he would instantly be injured severely and be forced to withdraw. This was the difference between levels in Qi-Jin. Although the levels did not seem to be that far apart, the disparity in vigour and richness of one¡¯s Qi-Jin was like heaven and earth.


    The damage to the stage made the freshmen spectating below the stage cry out in shock ¡ª was the match about to be stopped here? One strike had caused the stage to be damaged to this degree ¡ª how many more blows would this stage be able to take?


    The older cadets saw the restlessness of the new cadets, and could not help but sweep disdainful nces at them. At that moment, they had forgotten how they had reacted the exact same way to a simr scene back when they themselves were younger.


    Not only were the spectating freshmen stunned, even Qi Long and the others were astounded by this development. They had not imagined the arena stage of thebat hall of the military academy to be so fragile, actually unable to withstand one blow from an early stage peak level Qi-Jin. Li Yingjie was still rtively unbothered, but Wu Jiong and Qi Long began musing to themselves, wondering whether they should hold back some of their strength when it was their turn to prevent the entire stage from crumbling ...


    Ling Lan saw the stupefied expressions of herpanions, and sighed internally. She spoke up to exin, "This is highly advanced simtion technology, able to physically disy the strength of a candidate on the stage. Everything will return to normal after 30 seconds."


    She had barely finished speaking when the cracks on the stage began to slowly knit back together, bing whole again in the end. This scene made the new cadets exim in wonder once more ¡ª who knew the military academy had actuallybined simtion technology with the arena stage, allowing a fighter¡¯s strength and power to be manifested in this way, providing such visceral stimulus for the spectators.


    Seeing this, Qi Long, Wu Jiong, and the others turned their heads to look admiringly at Ling Lan, silently thinking, ¡¯Boss sure enough is Boss. So knowledgeable ¡ª nothing can escape his eyes.¡¯


    Ling Lan epted the idolisation of herpanions with a cid face, but internally, she was sweatdropping. Luckily Little Four had given her a heads up in time, otherwise she too would have been one of the clueless horde! Of course, Ling Lan was also grateful for her ice-cube face, unmoving as a rock mountain. It had prevented this fact from being exposed, allowing her to maintain her grand image in herpanion¡¯s hearts ...


    Even as Ling Lan was interacting with her group, the fight on the stage continued. Qi Ya tenaciouslyunched attack after attack at Luo Lang, but they were all dodged by the other. At this moment, Luo Lang was steadfastly obeying Boss Ling Lan¡¯s instructions ¡ª he did not meet the opponent with force, choosing to weave and dodge and drag things out. Just like this, several exchanges went by ... one side erratic like the wind, the other a centred well of power. One light, one heavy, they twisted and turned around the stage, leaving the audience gaping. The one-sided fight they had imagined at the start had never urred; this fighting style of Luo Lang¡¯s would be able to sustain him for very long before he tired.


    There began to be some unrest on Leiting¡¯s side. Some of the other fighting representatives had expressions of annoyance on their faces, thinking that Qi Ya was performing very shamefully, losing the faces of them seniors.


    Qi Ya naturally knew about themotion below the stage; he was angry and frustrated, but he had no good way of dealing with Luo Lang whose speed was clearly faster than his. The skinny Luo Lang¡¯s agility was obviously better than that of the average person. To catch hold of the other, either he had to tire the opponent out, or he had had to make him lose his cool ...


    Seeing the easy way the other was breathing, Qi Ya knew Luo Lang¡¯s energy level was very sufficient. In fact, Qi Ya suspected that this irritable flea would still be jumping around even after he himself ran out of energy. Moreover, Qi Ya had no intentions of waiting any further ¡ª he wanted to defeat the other quickly to defend his honour. In that case, he could only make the other lose hisposure ...


    An evil grin turned up the corners of Qi Ya¡¯s lips. As he brushed by Luo Lang again, he mocked, "You trash who only knows how to dodge, did you use your body to trade for the right to be a candidate for this fight?"


    Luo Lang¡¯s pretty face flushed red as he dodged once more. He controlled the fires of rage in his heart ¡ª he knew the other was only saying this to rile him and make him lose his cool. He must not fall for it ...


    Qi Ya advanced once more, his two fists attacking in an endless stream. Luo Lang weaved left and right, narrowly avoiding getting hit several times by the cutting winds of the opponent¡¯s punches. Still, even so, several gashes appeared on Luo Lang¡¯s uniform, revealing his exquisite ivory skin.


    "As expected, you really have excellent attributes. No wonder your regimentmander was beguiled by you, promoting you without concern for anything else." Qi Ya swept a suggestive nce at the revealed skin.


    "Shut up!" Luo Lang screamed. He could tolerate an insult to himself, but he would not allow anyone to insult his Boss Lan!


    "Shut up? Why should I? If he can do it, then he should not be afraid of others speaking of it!" From Luo Lang¡¯s reaction, Qi Ya could tell what Luo Lang¡¯s weakness was. Heughed even more wildly as he said, "I want to tell everyone that your regimentmander is gay, that is, a brokeback 1 ..."


    Luo Lang¡¯s face flushed crimson, his eyes beginning to turn bloodshot in his anger. He continued to dodge, but his body began shaking uncontrobly ...


    "Haha, I¡¯ve hit the nail on the head, right?" Qi Ya added venomously, and then his long-prepared right leg whipped out in a side kick ...


    Everyone thought Luo Lang would dodge when, right at that moment, Luo Lang suddenly froze, his head bowed. Just as Qi Ya¡¯s savage side kick was about to strike Luo Lang¡¯s body, Luo Lang¡¯s left hand reached out and actually grabbed hold of Qi Ya¡¯s right ankle.


    The spectating Qi Long abruptly stood up, his face paling as he said, "Not good!"


    This sudden action made Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie look over in bafflement, but the exmations of the rest of the audience quickly pulled their attention back to the stage. They assumed Qi Long had reacted that way due to his concern for hispanion; only Ling Lan knew what that was about. She tugged at Qi Long and warned him quietly, "Keep it down!"


    Realising where he was at, Qi Long quickly sat down again, but hisplexion remained pale and wan. He leaned towards Ling Lan¡¯s ear and said softly, "Boss, Luo Lang activated his innate talent." He had not expected Luo Lang to throw caution to the wind and activate his innate talent on the stage. What in the world had the opponent said to anger him so?


    Although Qi Ya had spoken very softly, so the spectators had not been able to make out what was said, from the constant movement of his lips, and Luo Lang¡¯s increasingly troubled expression, it was certain that he had said something which had provoked Luo Lang. Otherwise, Luo Lang would not have disobeyed Ling Lan¡¯s orders and choose to activate his innate talent.


    Ling Lan replied levelly, "I know!"


    With that statement, Ling Lan¡¯s aura became unbelievably cold and forbidding, with even a trace of killing intent seeping out. Fortunately, this air of Ling Lan¡¯s came and went in the blink of an eye, so other than the few people near her, no one else sensed anything. On the stage, Tang Yu cast a dubious nce in her direction, but he quickly turned back in bewilderment to the fight on the arena stage.

 Chapter 251: The 4th Form of One-Inch Punch!

    Chapter 251: The 4th Form of One-Inch Punch!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Qi Long sensed the shift in Ling Lan¡¯s aura, and could not help but worry for Luo Lang ¡ª could it be that Boss had truly be furious because of Luo Lang¡¯s disobedience?


    Right then, Ling Lan asked Qi Long in a low voice, "Can you tell what personality he managed to activate?"


    Ling Lan hoped the personality Luo Lang activated was not one which was brutal, bloodthirsty, and uncontroble. Otherwise, she would have to forfeit to protect Luo Lang ¡ª the military academy would never permit an uncontroble loose cannon who could not differentiate friend from foe to continue studying at the school and eventually enter an army division.


    Qi Long peered closely at Luo Lang and then shook his head, puzzled. "Strange. This personality has never appeared before. I cannot sense any intense malicious intent, but my innate talent is warning me that I must be careful."


    Ling Lan frowned at his words. She carefully studied Luo Lang¡¯s expression ¡ª there was no sign of bloodthirst, nor was there any sort of extreme ruthlessness. The current Luo Lang just seemed endlessly cold, but this coldness did not epass everyone, merely directed solely at his opponent.


    Weighing things in her mind, Ling Lan decided and said, "Let¡¯s continue watching."


    Ling Lan too wanted to know what personality this was that Luo Lang had activated. As long as Luo Lang did not lose control, Ling Lan did not want to cut the match short. This was because she knew that, since Luo Lang had thrown caution to the wind to activate his innate talent, he must really not want to lose to this opponent who had insulted him. As their boss, Ling Lan wanted to help Luo Lang achieve what he wanted to do.


    Seated beside them, Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie did not know the struggles of Qi Long and Ling Lan. Right now, their attention was fully absorbed by the stage. They had even stood up in their excitement, as Luo Lang had currently taken full control of the scene.


    With one hand, Luo Lang gripped Qi Ya¡¯s ankle. All the spectators knew that the power behind that kick was extremely formidable ¡ª handling it with one hand must definitely be challenging. However, Luo Lang seemed to do so easily ¡ª he did not even take a single step back due to the opponent¡¯s strength, appearing cool and unruffled.


    Luo Lang could be seen to slowly lift his head. The red flush on his face from before was gone and hisplexion had already regained its usual fairness, bing unbelievably cool. Both his irises were a deep ck, like pools of dead water, so deep and unfathomable that Qi Ya, being pinned by them in close range, felt a chill permeate his heart.


    "I¡¯ve told you before, to shut up," said Luo Lang calmly, "What a shame you would not listen ..." As he spoke, Luo Lang raised his right hand and swept it in a fierce chop down at the opponent¡¯s shank 1 gripped in his other hand. Based off the speed and force that he was applying, if the strike connected, the bones of the shank would certainly break.


    Qi Ya¡¯s pupils shrunk in fear, the warning bells in his mind ringing ¡ª he shook his right leg desperately, trying to regain the freedom of his leg. But Luo Lang¡¯s left hand was like a vise; he could not struggle free anytime soon.


    Qi Ya naturally would not just do nothing and resign himself to his fate ¡ª he sprang up from the ground with his other foot, and executing a half-flip in the air, he swung his left leg, which had initially been supporting his weight, out in a fierce kick towards the side of Luo Lang¡¯s neck.


    In order to protect his right shank, Qi Ya was revealing the brutal side of his nature. He no longer held back, beginning to target Luo Lang¡¯s vital points.


    Everyone eximed in shock at the sight, sucking in a cold breath. Quite a few freshmen even stood up in horror, concerned for Luo Lang on the stage. If the opponent¡¯s kicknded, Luo Lang¡¯s fragile neck area would certainly be snapped, killing him instantly. There would be no chance at all for rescue and recovery. In an arena battle within the military academy, these vital points were off-limits. Without question, Qi Ya had broken the academy rules.


    Seeing this, a cold gleam shed through Tang Yu¡¯s eyes. He was just about to take action, when he saw Luo Lang calmly change the attack trajectory of his right hand, to directly meet the other¡¯s kick. Thus, Tang Yu paused, but he still made preparations to act. However, right then, Colonel Tang Yu had drawn a huge ¡¯X¡¯ in his heart over Qi Ya ¡ª this kind of person who would be so ruthless against arade, he would never give him a chance to go to those elite ace military troops ...


    With an audible ¡¯pow¡¯, Luo Lang¡¯s palm struck the opponent¡¯s other ankle, and Qi Ya felt a snap. Following that, an intense pain radiated from Qi Ya¡¯s foot to his heart, and he could not help but yell, "Argh!"


    The collision of the two forces naturally produced a tremendous rebound force. Qi Ya was thrown back forcefully, and due to the intense pain he was in, he actually did not manage tond soundly. His entire body was flung out to crash heavily onto the stage, where he then slid across the ground, leaving a faint mark in his trail.


    Meanwhile, Luo Lang had to take several steps back before finding his footing. However, his left hand hung limply by his side. From the swinging motion it was making, it was clear to see that Luo Lang¡¯s left hand had most likely been broken by the rebound force in meeting the other¡¯s kick earlier.


    Looking at Qi Ya cradling his ankle on the ground, his expression a rictus of pain, and contrasting it with Luo Lang on the other side, who also had a broken bone, but sported a cold and unfeeling expression ... it was clear to see which was superior. The freshmen were naturally unconditionally on Luo Lang¡¯s side, while some of the seniors could not help but frown as well at this time. They looked down on Qi Ya for losing the face of the seniors, and silent admiration for Luo Lang began to grow in their minds. This delicate looking youth was actually a tough character.


    Colonel Tang Yu walked over to Qi Ya¡¯s side expressionlessly and asked, "Cadet Qi Ya, can you still fight? If you cannot, I will announce the victor for this match."


    Both sides were simrly injured, but it never even crossed Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s mind to ask this question of Luo Lang. This was because he believed that, as long as that fellow Luo Lang had breath left in his lungs, he would definitely continue fighting. This was how a qualified military man should behave. Compared to Luo Lang, this 5th year Qi Ya was just too much of a wimp.


    Qi Ya felt as if there was a drill boring into his right ankle ¡ª the pain was truly unbearable. Without saying a word, Qi Ya knew the other must have applied some hidden move on his ankle, and the hate for Luo Lang in his heart just grew even more. Right then, hearing the referee Tang Yu ask this, how could he voluntarily admit defeat? Holding back the pain, he replied, "I can fight!"


    That said, Qi Ya slowly climbed off the ground. This scene was greeted by the apuse of the spectating students. Even though Qi Ya had truly performed terribly before this, at this very moment, he was undoubtedly acting as a qualified cadet should; this gained him the acknowledgement of a portion of the students.


    At this scene, Qi Long could not help but snicker softly. He said quietly to Ling Lan, "Boss, looks like that punk Luo Lang has secretly used a mean move." He stroked his jaw and wondered, "Which move did he use? The 3rd form of One-Inch Punch?"


    Ling Lan instantly responded, "No, it¡¯s the 4th form."


    "Huh? When has there been such a move?" Qi Long was stupefied. How did he not know about this?


    "The One-Inch Punch is the Luo family¡¯s ultimate arts. Of course it¡¯ll have some ace in the holes," answered Ling Lan.


    The instructors within the learning space had already developed the One-Inch Punch up till the 9th form. Ling Lan¡¯s team had already mastered all the forms up to the 3rd form, but since the One-Inch Punch series had originated from the inherited ultimate arts of Luo Lang¡¯s family, Ling Lan had specially taught the 4th form to Luo Lang. This was to prove that the One-Inch Punch was still the Luo family¡¯s ultimate arts, so Luo Lang would forever have an extra ace in the hole than the others.


    After listening to Ling Lan¡¯s exnation, Qi Long found it made sense, and so no longer concerned himself about the issue. This was Qi Long¡¯s strength ¡ª always knowing where to draw the line, never demanding things that did not belong to him.


    On the stage, Qi Ya, who was back on his feet, red hatefully at Luo Lang. He knew that his performance had disgraced him in front of everyone here, and all of this had been caused by this hateful youth before him. He was raging internally, wishing that he could kill Luo Lang to release the pent up anger and hate in his heart.


    Luo Lang¡¯s eyes met Qi Ya¡¯s, and the remote disinterest in Luo Lang¡¯s gaze sent a chill through Qi Ya. His mind, which had been consumed with rage, was suddenly shocked into wakefulness ¡ª because he had sensed a kind of danger. In fact, he could even sense a slight trace of killing intent from the other ... could it be the other also wanted to kill him?


    How could this be? Qi Ya shook his head emphatically, casting this thought aside. He hadn¡¯t done anything 2 , so how could the other have killing intent against him? Right then, Qi Ya had forgotten those words he had said earlier 3 . He did not know that ¡ª some things, some people, just could not be sullied.


    Seeing the two face off once more, Tang Yu announced, "The match continues!"


    No sooner had he finished speaking when Luo Lang moved. He dashed out like a ferocious tiger, flying over to Qi Ya¡¯s side. Since the other could not move properly, when should he attack if not now?


    Just as Luo Lang expected, one foot short, Qi Ya could not dodge; he could only meet Luo Lang¡¯s attack head on. Of course, Qi Ya was not afraid ¡ª in fact, he was rather gleeful. He had wanted to fight Luo Lang head on from the start. With regards to internal energy 4 , his was undoubtedly more substantial that Luo Lang¡¯s. Fighting on that front, he had full confidence to injure Luo Lang and obtain the final victory.


    However, were things really going to turn out as he expected?


    When the two of them exchanged the first blow, Qi Ya¡¯s expression changed dramatically. He found that the other¡¯s attack power was no weaker than his ¡ª his original anticipated n of using internal energy to injure the other had no way of being realised.


    The second move, the third move, the fourth move ... slowly, Qi Ya realised that every time his arms blocked the other¡¯s attack, the spot he blocked with would ache in pain. This pain was extremely simr to that of where his ankle was broken, just not as intense. For the first and second move, he had not sensed much of it, but after the third and fourth moves, the pain began to intensify, and by the time they reached the seventh and eighth move, he was actually unable to raise his arms properly ...


    A ¡¯bam¡¯ rang out. Luo Lang had grasped the opening and struck Qi Ya¡¯s cheek forcefully, and Qi Ya was sent flying. Luo Lang had held back on this strike, not using the forms of One-Inch Punch, but even so, Qi Ya was knocked unconscious instantly by Luo Lang¡¯s base strength. He crashed onto the ground and did not get up again.


    Colonel Tang Yu quickly rushed forwards to check on Qi Ya¡¯s condition. Seeing that the youth had no life-threatening injuries, and was indeed out for the count, he indicated for the staff in thebat hall to send Qi Ya to the treatment centre. With the present technology, as long as it was not a fatal injury, any patient who was still breathing could basically be saved.


    Qi Ya was seen to be lifted off the stage, and Tang Yu then smiled and announced loudly, "The first match, 1st year Luo Lang of the New Cadet Regiment wins!"


    The faces of the people from Leiting were currently a sheet of darkness. It was unexpected that Qi Ya, who they had had high hopes for, would actually be defeated in an upset by a frail-looking 1st year. The opponent had taken a match right from the start, and more frighteningly, the one they had defeated was their third strongest. Quite a few members of Leiting began to reconsider ¡ª could they really win this fight against the New Cadet Regiment? For the first time, they began to harbour doubts.


    Lin Zhidong gritted his teeth and said, "It¡¯s no matter. I suppose the other side had sent one of their strongest. As long as we win the rest of the matches, losing one match won¡¯t affect the final oue."


    A man beside him said evenly, "The key is the fight order. If the opponent just happens to use their strongest few against our weakest ..."


    This was not like a transparent private fight, where fights were arranged ording to personal strength ¡ª a blind fight not only tested a fighter¡¯s true strength, but also tested the psychological tactics and strategy of each side. Perhaps it could be called luck, but this was the mode the official challenges used, all in hopes of seeing more diverse matchups. Compared to an open fight, a blind fight was undoubtedly much fairer ¡ª if one applied the correct strategy, and had a great burst of luck, even the weak had hopes of winning.


    These words made Lin Zhidong fall into silent contemtion. His gaze wavered slightly, but quickly settled. He did not believe that their luck would be so horrible that the opponent would manage to grab hold of those two opportunities so precisely.


    Luo Lang slowly walked off the stage, and he was weed back by the respectful gazes of the members of the New Cadet Regiment. As there were quite a few non-Central Academy freshmen within their ranks, those students had indeed been somewhat doubtful at Luo Lang¡¯s inclusion as one of the five representatives. However, this fight had proven that Luo Lang truly had the skill to be one of the five top fighters of the New Cadet Regiment. There was no longer anyone within the New Cadet Regiment who doubted his strength now.


    Seeing Luo Lang¡¯s impressive performance, the man in the box who had already be interested in Luo Lang licked his lips excitedly, chuckling deeply as he said, "What a prideful and spirited little fellow. If I break those proud bones of his bit by bit, wouldn¡¯t his expression be very interesting? 5 Muahahahaha ... 6 " Gruesomeughter rang out to fill the entire box, involuntarily causing one¡¯s skin to crawl.


    ********


    Luo Lang slowly walked to stand before Ling Lan, where he then stared coldly at her. Facing this strange situation, Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie, who had initially nned to step forward and congratte Luo Lang, stopped moving instantly. They stared uncertainly at the two people in front of them.


    Ling Lan remained seated, unmoved, as she stared back evenly at Luo Lang. The cold air around her body became much denser.


    Luo Lang opened and shut his mouth, but emitted no sound. Ling Lan coldly rebuked, "Still not letting go?" That said, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes gleamed with a cold light, piercing Luo Lang with its intensity ¡ª as if receiving some heavy blow, Luo Lang¡¯s body swayed, and then his eyes closed and he began falling towards the ground.


    Qi Long reacted quickly, catching Luo Lang and pulling him into his arms. At first chance, he examined Luo Lang¡¯s arms, and then, face paling, he shouted, "Boss, there are multiple breaks on the bones of Luo Lang¡¯s arms!"


    "I know. Let the staff arrange for Luo Lang to go to the treatment centre, apanied by Lin Zhong-qing," Ling Lan swiftly ordered.


    This punk ¡ª using the 4th form of One-Inch Punch multiple times when he had yet to master it, forcefully increasing the level of his internal energy ... unable to fully control the form¡¯s power, of course his own arms would have been broken by the rebound force of the One-Inch Punch. Still, the tolerance level of that alter ego of his was truly off the charts, and he was tough towards himself as well, actually tolerating the pain of both broken arms until he could finally defeat Qi Ya ...


    When Tang Yu found out that Luo Lang had been fighting while tolerating the pain of broken arms, waiting till he won and returned to his teammates¡¯ side before allowing himself to copse, he was even more delighted with this strong and determined youth. He had already made up his mind that, even if Luo Lang¡¯s body did not meet expectations in the end, he would still use his own special rights to take in the other as his disciple.


    Once Luo Lang had been sent off to the treatment centre, Ling Lan, noticing the confusion in Wu Jiong¡¯s and Li Yingjie¡¯s eyes, spoke up to exin, "Just now, the opponent had insulted Luo Lang, saying that he had only been chosen as a representative because he belongs to me."


    The two stared nkly back, not understanding the meaning behind the words right away. Qi Long understood however, because Ling Lan had already mentioned it to him previously when she had exined why Luo Lang had be enraged enough to activate his innate talent. Thus, he pulled the two aside and quietly spelled things out for them 7 .

 Chapter 252: Fatal Weakness!

    Chapter 252: Fatal Weakness!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Wu Jiong¡¯s and Li Yingjie¡¯s facial expressions soured and they turned to spit fiercely at the ground, ring furiously at the area where the Leiting representatives were. Those words of Qi Ya¡¯s not only insulted Luo Lang and Ling Lan, they also insulted every single person in the New Cadet Regiment at the same time. This made the boys livid.


    As ssmates who had grown up alongside Ling Lan, Luo Lang, and the others of their team, Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie naturally knew the nature of the close rtionship among the members of Ling Lan¡¯s team. It was absolutely the purest of brotherly bonds. From the 1st grade at the scout academy, Ling Lan, who had already been more mature than any of them, had watched over and cared for his team members like an elder brother, treating them like his own younger brothers. In fact, they were very envious of the rapport between Ling Lan and the other members of his team, which was so good that, at times, they could understand each other with just one look. They just could not imagine how someone could sully the pure rtionship between the two by casting such aspersions.


    Li Yingjie had always been a straightforward person who spoke without filtering his words. He grumbled discontentedly, "Saying Boss Lan and Luo Lang have this kind of rtionship, he might as well say it¡¯s Qi Long and Luo Lang. Those two have always hung around each other since young, sparring and fighting with one another. Haven¡¯t they spent even more time together?"


    These words made Qi Long hook his arm around Li Yingjie¡¯s neck in indignation, where he then pressed his fist forcefully against the other¡¯s head. This made Li Yingjie squawk in pain, but with his fighting strength being no match for Qi Long¡¯s, he had no way of escaping Qi Long¡¯s violent hands. He could only apologise repeatedly until Qi Long finally let him go. Of course Qi Long would be annoyed! How could such a big stalwart man like him like guys 1 ... Inparison, Qi Long still preferred those curvaceous bodies of pretty younger sisters 2 .


    Right at that moment, Little Four once more informed Ling Lan of the submission of the opponent¡¯s candidate name. This time, they had chosen their 4th strongest fighter, Song Lianlu.


    Ling Lan very quickly realised the reasoning behind this arrangement of the opponent. Qi Ya, who they had had high hopes for, had been defeated; this made Leiting have no choice but to be cautious. They were afraid that if they sent out the weakest among their line-up, and he met a strong opponent, they would lose one more match. However, they also did not want to send their two strongest out, as that would leave them with no one to hold the fort. Thus, after some deliberation, they had sent out the safest option, the 4th strongest, to attempt to take this match.


    Ling Lan turned her head to look at Qi Long and the others. Just as she was about to tell Qi Long to get ready, Li Yingjie stepped forward and volunteered, "Boss Lan, I¡¯ll go up for this match."


    Ling Lan felt her gums ache as she held back the words she had been about to say. Like Luo Lang, Li Yingjie was also at first level early stage Qi-Jin. Against an opponent of top-level early stage Qi-Jin, he had almost no chance of winning, unless Li Yingjie also had that kind of inexplicable, mysterious, and unpredictable innate talent like Luo Lang¡¯s. Then, there might still have been the possibility of an upset.


    Seeing Boss Lan staring at him with a frigid expression, Li Yingjie clenched his fists nervously. Although he knew volunteering on his own to fight was rather reckless of him, very likely to affect Boss Lan¡¯s strategic arrangements, he just did not want to lose to Luo Lang. At the same time, he also wanted to prove that he was not a coward. Earlier on the stage, his involuntary shudder had caused Luo Lang to mistake him for one, and he was still stewing over it. Thus, having seen Luo Lang win the first match after great difficulty, Li Yingjie did not want to fall behind Luo Lang by too much.


    The fighting spirit in Li Yingjie¡¯s eyes made Ling Lan change her mind instantly. She nodded and said, "Alright. Don¡¯t disgrace our New Cadet Regiment."


    The reason why Ling Lan had changed her mind at thest moment was that Luo Lang had unexpectedly won his match. Therefore, even if Li Yingjie lost this next match, it would not affect the bigger picture. After all, there was still the weakest fighter in the opponent¡¯s line-up who, barring any unexpected incidents, should lose whether Wu Jiong or Qi Long went up against him. And so, Ling Lan agreed to Li Yingjie¡¯s plea to fight now.


    As long as it would not affect the final oue, Ling Lan was willing to go along with these little fellows¡¯ wishes.


    Obtaining Ling Lan¡¯s approval, Li Yingjie¡¯s eyes shone with a trace of pleasant surprise. He had originally thought Boss Lan did not like him very much ¡ª after all, he had indeed been rather annoying in the past. But just now, there was no dislike or apathy in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes; his demeanour had been extremely serious. In that moment, Li Yingjie fully felt the trust that Ling Lan had in him.


    For some reason, he suddenly recalled his second eldest cousin brother Li Shiyu¡¯s words to him, "When you finally learn what brotherly bonds mean, then you will understand that power is not something irreceable."


    At this moment, Li Yingjie seemed to vaguely understand what his second cousin brother had been saying. He looked towards Ling Lan ¡ª if it were Ling Lan, Li Yingjie probably would not fight with him over the position of regimentmander ...


    On the stage, Colonel Tang Yu had already received the name list from both sides. The moment time was up, he announced, "The New Cadet Regiment vs Leiting Mecha n, 2nd round. 1st year Li Yingjie against 4th year Song Lianlu!"


    ********


    Inside the box, Yun Xiu heard this announcement and his spirits rallied. He quickly turned to yell, "Shiyu, your younger cousin brother is up now. His opponent is Song Lianlu from our year."


    Li Shiyu, who was resting with his eyes closed on the sofa, abruptly opened his eyes. Seeing Li Yingjie strut confidently onto the stage, his brow furrowed. "Song Lianlu is already a Qi-Jin master, Li Yingjie is most probably no match for him." No matter how much he said he looked down on Li Yingjie, Li Shiyu could not help but worry for him right then.


    Yun Xiu had an opposing opinion. "Not necessarily. That weak-looking youth earlier managed to defeat the Qi-Jin stage Qi Ya after all. I think this year of freshmen aren¡¯t as weak as we think them to be ... perhaps your cousin is also already in Qi-Jin."


    Li Shiyu was silent for a moment, and then said faintly, "I hope it turns out that way ... still, if he loses, I will let him understand the consequences of losing." Since he and his eldest cousin brother could not be the family head of the Li family, he hoped that Li Yingjie, who would be the family head in the end, would be even stronger. Even if he could not get used to the Li family¡¯s heartlessness, having been taught all this time to take pride in the Li family, Li Shiyu still did not want to see the Li family decline.


    ********


    Seeing that both sides were ready to fight, Colonel Tang Yu waved his right hand and shouted, "Begin!"


    Following this sound, the two fighters faced each other from a distance, not attacking right off the bat. Qi Ya¡¯s loss had made Song Lianlu be exceedingly cautious. He did not know whether his opponent was strong or weak, so, he was prepared to observe the situation for a bit before making a decision.


    Meanwhile, Li Yingjie had received instruction from Ling Lan as well before getting onto the stage. Like with Luo Lang, because he had just entered Qi-Jin stage and his Qi-Jin had yet to settle, it was not wise for him to fight head-on with his opponent. Thus, his strategy would still focus on drawing things out. Of course, the situation on the stage would be constantly shifting, so everything would still depend on Li Yingjie¡¯s judgment.


    Although Li Yingjie was an arrogant punk, he was not an impulsive one. Hisbat intelligence was still pretty good, otherwise he would not have remained securely within the top 5 for ten years. Therefore, he chose the same path as Song Lianlu. The two of them faced each other from a distance, circling the stage as they looked for a chance to attack.


    This was distinctly different from Luo Lang and Qi Ya¡¯s direct confrontation ¡ª the two fighters in this fight circled the stage for a whole 3 minutes without acting. This dull scenario made the spectating students lose their patience, some of them even outright beginning to yawn. Quite a few people began discussing among themselves, wondering how many minutes more they would spend dancing around each other ...


    Right then, the initially still circling Song Lianlu suddenly rocked on the balls of his feet, and then his entire body shot forward like an arrow. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Li Yingjie, his right fist striking out fiercely at Li Yingjie¡¯s left side. Just before, a weakness had suddenly appeared in Li Yingjie¡¯s defence.


    Song Lianlu knew that this could also be a lure, but he also knew that if he did not try and attack now, even if they continued to weave around one another for half a day, he still might not find a better chance to attack. Thus, Song Lianlu decided to make his move.


    However, as Song Lianlu attacked, he found that the weakness had disappeared. In its ce, was Li Yingjie¡¯s long ready wed hands. This was the Li family¡¯s ultimate arts ¡ª the strongest offensive defensive measure to handle an opponent¡¯s attacks.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan¡¯s brow furrowed, knowing that Li Yingjie was likely toe to grief. This lure-and-counterattack tactic of Li Yingjie¡¯s was actually not wrong ¡ª his mistake was in underestimating his opponent¡¯s capabilities. If he had used this move against an opponent of equal level, Li Yingjie would absolutely have had the upper hand, but now, things were not so certain.


    Sure enough, Li Yingjie¡¯s grasping hands locked onto the opponent¡¯s right fist, but the moment they connected, Li Yingjie felt a strong surge of energying from the opponent¡¯s fist, almost repelling his grab off in its intensity.


    Li Yingjie knew that if the other repelled his grab, he would certainly take a heavy blow from the other in return. He would definitely be injured, and may have to dere his loss in advance ... he did not want Luo Lang to taunt him. So, gritting his teeth, he tolerated the intense pain radiating up his arm, tenaciously keeping his hold on the other¡¯s right fist ...


    Song Lianlu felt that he was about to shake his opponent¡¯s palm off, but just as he was about to seed, the other retained the hold on his right fist and then he felt a pull. He felt the strength of his entire body being pulled to an empty spot, and he careened uncontrobly to crash into the shielded area on the edges of the arena ...


    The shielded area emitted a blinding light ¡ª a pattern like the shattering of ss appearing within the light. In the meantime, after drawing the opponent¡¯s strength to one side, Li Yingjie¡¯s readied right fist struck out immediately towards Song Lianlu¡¯s chest.


    Defence was just a prelude to attacking ¡ª the final objective of Li Yingjie¡¯s move was here ...


    However, Song Lianlu reacted equally swiftly. His left palm moved to block his chest at the critical moment, forcibly receiving this unexpected attack by Li Yingjie!


    With a ¡¯pow¡¯, fist met palm, and then, with a loud crack, the two were sent flying backwards. Song Lianlu had to take a whole 3 steps back afternding to find his footing, while Li Yingjie also had to take 3 steps back before standing firmly. From the spectating students¡¯ perspective, the two fighters had battled to a draw.


    Only those with a keen eye had noticed that Li Yingjie¡¯s low-hanging left hand was trembling minutely beyond his control. That powerful attack of the opponent he had grabbed hold of previously had clearly damaged Li Yingjie¡¯s left hand severely.


    Wu Jiong and Qi Long could tell, and their expressions paled. Wu Jiong said worriedly, "Li Yingjie¡¯s left hand is injured. It¡¯ll be tough from this point on."


    Ling Lan said calmly, "This match, Li Yingjie was at a disadvantage from the start. That¡¯s why winning or losing isn¡¯t so important. I just wanted to see how far he could go."


    Li Yingjie had a fatal weakness ¡ª when he knew he was at a disadvantage, that he was no match for his opponent, he would very easily give up on himself. His charactercked some tenacity. This was also why he had lost to Luo Lang so many times all this while, ending up in 5th ce, slightly behind Luo Lang in the rankings.


    This was what Ling Lan was thinking. Since Li Yingjie had sincerely acknowledged her as boss, she was inclined to help Li Yingjie solve this problem. Today was a good opportunity ¡ª it was rare for Li Yingjie to have such an intense desire to fight ...

 Chapter 253: Stand Up!

    Chapter 253: Stand Up!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Suppressing the intense paining from his left hand, Li Yingjie looked at the confident Song Lianlu across from him, and his heart sank. Thatst move had let him know just how wide the gap was between his strength and the opponent¡¯s. Under these circumstances, how could he beat the other? Li Yingjie¡¯s gaze began to waver with uncertainty ...


    Song Lianlu had simrly sensed the power behind Li Yingjie¡¯s attack. Despite his hastiness in blocking it, he had still managed to take it. It looked like the strength of this cocky punk in front of him was indeed weaker than him by a strand. With this, he had some basis for confidence now. His initial caution and tentative approach vanished, to be reced by a raging barrage of attacks.


    Facing this sudden attack, Li Yingjie naturally did not choose to take it forcefully. He instantly retreated to evade ¡ª it should be said that though Li Yingjie¡¯s evasion ability was not as elegant as Luo Lang¡¯s, it was still extremely remarkable, nimbly dodging all of Song Lianlu¡¯s fierce attacks. Still, even so, Li Yingjie was already disadvantaged, clearly being a passive receptor of Song Lianlu¡¯s attacks.


    Just like that, one attacked fiercely without any reservations, while the other dodged narrowly again and again. Everyone could tell that the loss of the New Cadet Regiment¡¯s representative was just a matter of time. Unless this freshman managed to pull out some ultimate move and have a sudden explosion of strength like the previous freshman, the oue of this match would not change.


    Of course, they would not jump to a conclusion so quickly ... after all, before the final results were out, anything was possible. Thus, everyone watched the stage intently, waiting for the results to emerge. Either this freshman would be on the defensive right until he gets defeated, or, like in the previous round, he would suddenly explode andunch a counterattack from dire straits.


    ********


    Below the stage, the spectating Wu Jiong and Qi Long¡¯s faces were growing darker and darker. They knew that, if things continued like this, Li Yingjie would definitely lose! It was not that they could not ept failure, but they did not want to see Li Yingjie being pummelled continuously in such a frustrating manner. In their minds, even if they lost, they must lose gloriously!


    Ling Lan frowned. Li Yingjie¡¯s old problem had appeared again. The moment he met an opponent he could not beat, he would be unmotivated and defend passively, having no courage at all to risk everything in ast-ditch struggle.


    Ling Lan began to think back ¡ª when had Li Yingjie begun to have this issue? As Ling Lan had not paid much attention to Li Yingjie in the past, by the time she had noticed, this fellow had already had this problem. Of course, Ling Lan was not a saintly matron. She would not go and help this irritating punk the way he was back then even when she noticed. Therefore, this problem hadsted all this while until today.


    Sensing his boss¡¯s confusion, Little Four could not help but roll his eyes. Without saying a word, he pulled out out several video clips he had recorded in the early days, projecting them within Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace ...


    The first video was of Ling Lan¡¯s first fight against Li Yingjie. Without even sparing the other a nce, Ling Lan had sent Li Yingjie flying with one punch ... At the end of the video, Li Yingjie¡¯s disgruntled and resentful gaze was clearly captured within the frame.


    The second video was Ling Lan¡¯s second fight against Li Yingjie. Again, she had not even looked at him, sending him flying with one kick ... Li Yingjie¡¯s expression at this time was one of dejection, with even a touch of self-doubt.


    The third video was simrly a fight between Ling Lan and Li Yingjie. Ling Lan once again casually sent Li Yingjie flying with one punch ... Li Yingjie¡¯s expression here now was somewhat wooden, and a light trace of self-contempt could be read from his lips.


    The fourth video was still a fight between Ling Lan and Li Yingjie. This time, Ling Lan just happened to be in the period when her killing intent had been the densest. Regardless of how Little Four tried to cover it up, some had still leaked when she had fought, instantly smashing through Li Yingjie¡¯s mental defences. That time, Li Yingjie did not even manage to do anything before being sent flying off the stage by a punch from Ling Lan ... back then, his gaze was filled with terror ...


    From then onwards, whenever Li Yingjie encountered someone stronger than him, he no longer had the courage to try and fight it out ...


    Ling Lan rubbed her forehead wearily. "Little Four, you mean that, Li Yingjie¡¯s current condition ispletely because of me?"


    Little Four nodded firmly. "Of course. The first few defeats had already made that fellow¡¯s heart be unbelievably weak. That fourth time, was coincidentally when your killing intent was at its worst. His spirit received a terrible blow by that killing intent you leaked, leaving him with an inner demon."


    "Tsk, why is this fellow¡¯s heart so d*mn weak? Isn¡¯t he very arrogant and proud?" Ling Lan was somewhat baffled by this. Qi Long had been constantly losing to her as well, and she did not see any openings open up in that brat¡¯s mental state to produce an inner demon. He still fought as roughly as before.


    "How could it be the same? Qi Long respects you, Boss. In his heart, Boss is not only Boss, but also a Master. Losing to you is very normal for him. But it¡¯s different for Li Yingjie. He has always considered you, Boss, as a rival, desiring to beat you so much that he was almost crazed by it. But Boss just happened to be too strong and overwhelming. Losing again and again, losing until he had no more confidence, and then his already fragile heart was coincidentally invaded by Boss¡¯s killing intent, hence leading to this problem ...."


    Little Four¡¯s exnation made Ling Lan somewhat depressed. She had never thought that Li Yingjie would end up following her in the end, making this problem an issue she had to handle. If she had only known earlier, she would have been more merciful back then 1 . However, it was toote for all that now ¡ª she might as well put her energy into thinking about how she could resolve the psychological problem this brat had now.


    Right then, a powerful sound of fist meeting flesh rang out, "Pow!"


    On the stage, Song Lianlu had finally grasped a chance tond a heavy punch onto Li Yingjie¡¯s left shoulder. Li Yingjie was sent flying to crash heavily onto the stage. He slid several metres, leaving an extremely obvious line on the stage; it was clear to see how powerful the opponent¡¯s blow had been.


    Li Yingjie could not stop himself from throwing up a mouthful of blood. Although his vital points had not been hit directly, the opponent¡¯s strength had still been strong enough to cause st injury to his internal organs. He felt a profound ache in his chest cavity, and even worse, his entire left arm had lost all sensation. Who knew if thatst punch had shattered the bones of his shoulder, or if it had damaged his nervous system ...


    Song Lianlu saw the opponent struck down and pleasant surprise shed through his eyes. Just as he wanted to follow through to determine the oue, Colonel Tang Yu suddenly stopped him and indicated for him to stand to one side. Then, Colonel Tang Yu walked up to Li Yingjie¡¯s side and asked, "Do you choose to admit defeat or continue to fight?"


    When Li Yingjie heard Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s question, a voice rang out in his heart, ¡¯Li Yingjie, admit defeat quickly! The opponent¡¯s strength is so much higher than yours. You have no way of beating him. There¡¯s no point in persisting. You might as well admit defeat and suffer less.¡¯


    Yes, why did he have to hold on so hard and fight? He was weaker than the opponent to begin with ... wasn¡¯t it normal to lose?


    Li Yingjie slowly raised his hand, prepared to say the words ¡¯I admit defeat¡¯, when a cold voice rang out from behind him, "Li Yingjie, stand up!"


    Li Yingjie turned his head in bewilderment and saw Ling Lan, who had initially been seated below the stage, now standing right by the edge of the arena stage, looking at him with an icy expression.


    "Li Yingjie, where have the guts you had when you were younger gone to? Godd*mmit, stand up! It¡¯s time to let them see what the real cocky Li Yingjie is like." Ling Lan¡¯s gaze was clearly frigid, but for some reason Li Yingjie could see the same firm faith in him as before in his gaze ...


    ¡¯He understands me, and is also willing to believe in me, which was why he had agreed to my request ...¡¯ Li Yingjie did not forget that, before the round, Ling Lan¡¯s gaze had been on Qi Long, but he had still agreed to his volunteering in the end. Not perfunctorily, but with full faith in him, believing that he would put up a good fight.


    ¡¯No, I cannot let him look down on me!¡¯ Li Yingjie was shaken. A voice in his heart was raging ¡ª yes, I¡¯m cocky and arrogant. I was not afraid of anything at the beginning. Even if someone was stronger than me, I would dare to challenge them ... admit defeat? When had this phrase appeared in my mouth? That¡¯s definitely not me.


    Li Yingjie abruptly turned his head around. His initially slightly raised right hand changed directions to m onto the ground and support him as he slowly pushed himself off the ground. In spite of the agony, there was no change in Li Yingjie¡¯s face at this moment, as if the wounds on his body did not exist.


    Seeing Li Yingjie¡¯s movements, Ling Lan turned around with satisfaction, returning to her seat. She believed that, this time, Li Yingjie was different now.


    Li Yingjie stood up straight, and turning to the waiting Colonel Tang Yu, he said, "I want to continue fighting!"


    A trace of approval shed through Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s eyes, and he nodded and said, "Alright, the match continues!"


    Song Lianlu silently tsked. If Colonel Tang Yu had not stopped him, he could have taken the chance to beat the other until he had no more fight in him. At the heart of it, this punk had been saved by the referee.


    However, this would be the only time! A subtle smile appeared on the corners of Song Lianlu¡¯s lips. This half-crippled punk before him waspletely no match for him.


    ********


    "Who was the one who yelled earlier?" In the Leiting area below the stage, Lin Zhidong frowned as he looked at Ling Lan walking back to her seat, and asked the people around him.


    "I don¡¯t know. This person is very unfamiliar." The person beside him looked closely at Ling Lan, and found her face unfamiliar, and so shook his head. As Ling Lan had always stayed within the vi without going out, other than those people from the Doha academies, most of the major factions outside really did not know about her.


    "This person needs to be watched." Lin Zhidong was extremely alert. Being able to rekindle arade¡¯s fighting spirit with just a few words, this person could not be simple.


    "Yes, Vice Regiment Commander Lin, I will arrange it," answered the person beside him respectfully, silently memorising Ling Lan¡¯s name.


    "Qi Long, Li Yingjie¡¯s aura seems to have changed," said Wu Jiong to Qi Long excitedly. Li Yingjie¡¯s transformation on the stage had also been sensed by Wu Jiong.


    Qi Long let out a sigh of relief as well and replied, "Yes, we don¡¯t have to worry about him anymore." He then sighed and added, "Boss Lan is truly Boss Lan, able to change Li Yingjie with just one sentence."


    These words received Wu Jiong¡¯s agreement. He nced admiringly at the calm and cold-faced Ling Lan by their sides. Only a talent such as Ling Lan, who could discern a person¡¯s nature with one look, would be able to unearth thetent talents of everyone in their team, better leading them as they advanced further. On this point, Wu Jiong was really too far away from Ling Lan¡¯s level.


    Once again, Wu Jiong felt the distance between he and Ling Lan keenly. This sort of respect and admiration umted bit by bit in Wu Jiong¡¯s heart, until it was so substantial that it could not be overturned. He could only continue to willingly chase after the other, until the end of time!

 Chapter 254: Im Proud of You!

    Chapter 254: I¡¯m Proud of You!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The sudden shift in Li Yingjie¡¯s aura startled Song Lianlu. His attacking speed slowed reflexively, giving Li Yingjie time to swiftly pull away to face Song Lianlu from a distance once more.


    Seeing this, a slight smile appeared on Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s face. This representative of the New Cadet Regiment was still not too bad. Although he did not perform well at the start, he had still adapted in the end ¡ª only a child like this was worthy of being Luo Lang¡¯s teammate ... Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s heart had unknowingly begun to lean towards the New Cadet Regiment.


    Li Yingjie red at Song Lianlu. At this moment, he only wanted to rip off a chunk of flesh from the opponent¡¯s body somehow, exactly like a savage wolf cub, prepared for its final struggle.


    Li Yingjie¡¯s fierce gaze made Song Lianlu¡¯s heart clench. His expression became grim ¡ª even if he was confident in his victory, he did not dare to move recklessly right then.


    Seeing the opponent suddenly be hesitant and cautious, Li Yingjie¡¯s lips curled into a self-mocking smirk. It turned out that when he himself was resolute, the opponent¡¯s aura would also shift in response. Many of his previous inexplicable defeats had truly been his own fault.


    Li Yingjie self-mocking smilested only for a brief moment before he once again reverted to his typical arrogant and haughty demeanour. The appearance of this expression actually made his initially handsome face rather irritating to look at ¡ª apparently changes in mental state would affect one¡¯s external appearance. This was also why Li Yingjie had not been very popr in the Central Scout Academy despite being a handsome little fellow.


    Still, the attention of the spectating students was not on Li Yingjie¡¯s annoying face. Instead, their gazes were drawn to an extremely unique motion he made.


    Li Yingjie¡¯s remaining mobile right hand was raised slightly forwards, his fingers molded into a strange form ... like a hook but not a hook, like a fist but not a fist. But for some reason, the moment this form appeared, everyone found their attention involuntarily drawn to it.


    ********


    "Ah, what move is this?" Seeing this atypical stance, inside the box, Yun Xiu could not help but turn to ask his good friend Li Shiyu in surprise.


    "This brat is actually using this move now." Li Shiyu¡¯s expression instantly gentled. Earlier, when Li Yingjie was being beaten like a stray dog, his face had been thunderous and unsightly.


    "You know?" Yun Xiu stared with starry eyes at Li Shiyu, his face filled with anticipation to hear his best friend¡¯s exnation.


    This cute moe puppy-dog look made a small smile appear on Li Shiyu¡¯s lips, his mood turning for the better instantly. He said, "This is my family¡¯s exclusive killing art. Choosing to use it here, it looks like this fellow is prepared for a final plunge."


    At this exnation, Yun Xiu turned to look wide-eyed at the screen, excited to see what would happen next.


    ********


    Seeing the opponent¡¯s strange actions, without even thinking about it, Song Lianlu knew the other was about to do something major. However, he was not like that moron Qi Ya, only wanting to save face and reacting with brute force. As long as the final victory was his, he did not mind if the process was unsightly, or if it was dull and uninteresting.


    Thus, Song Lianlu was extremely patient. He chose to continue waiting, waiting for this surging aura of Li Yingjie¡¯s to pass. He believed that, having been heavily injured, Li Yingjie would not be able to hold out for too long. This rallied strength of his would certainly pass, and that moment would be Song Lianlu¡¯s time to attack.


    The scene once more descended into the ennui of the start. On the stage, the two fighters each staked out a separate corner, where they stood unmoving. Time passed bit by bit ¡ª one minute, three minutes, five minutes ... the two fighters who seemed content to face off like this forever made the spectating students restless and they began to chat among themselves. The initially quiet and austerebat hall began to rustle with the noise of discussion ...


    "How long are they nning to face off like that? This is too boring."


    "Isn¡¯t that freshman already half-crippled? Why does that Leiting person have to be so careful? Is it necessary?" All these wereints by the bored people.


    "That new cadet¡¯s stance is a little cryptic. It¡¯s necessary for the Leiting candidate to be cautious."


    "Looks like, Leiting¡¯s representative can¡¯t figure out the depth of the other¡¯s move either. But waiting is more advantageous for the Leiting candidate. Even though the fight is more boring this way, this is undeniably the correct way ..." These were the viewpoints of those who supported the prolonged impasse.


    The views of the people below the stage were varied. Some scorned Leiting, some supported them, but no one believed that the New Cadet Regiment had any chance of making aeback in this match. This was because Li Yingjie was already heavily injured, while Song Lianlu of Leiting waspletely unharmed. Furthermore, Song Lianlu was obviously the stronger of the two fighters, so unless there was a major ident, the oue would not change anymore. Right now, all the audience was waiting for was when Song Lianlu would officially defeat Li Yingjie and clinch the victory.


    Just when everyone thought that this impasse would continue, Li Yingjie seemed to have run out of stamina and could not hold on any longer. His body swayed slightly ...


    Song Lianlu¡¯s gaze brightened, and long prepared, he dashed in, leaping at Li Yingjie.


    At the moment Li Yingjie had swayed, that immense pressure from that move pressing down on Song Lianlu had copsed, the threatening sense of danger hanging over his head disappearingpletely. Song Lianlu believed that Li Yingjie¡¯s broken body could not support the move any longer, so this was definitely the best opportunity for him to attack.


    Just when Song Lianlu was about to hit the other¡¯s body, he saw the pale-faced Li Yingjie suddenly smile at him. This unexpected smile made Song Lianlu¡¯s heart clench, but victory was right in front of him ¡ª his fist would strike the opponent in the very next second. Based on his strength, he believed that Li Yingjie was no longer able to muster the energy to fight on ...


    Watching from below the stage, when Ling Lan saw this scene, her expression changed abruptly and she stood up quickly. The corners of her lips twitched, but in the end, she only pressed her lips tight in a thin line, expression cold as she waited for the final oue.


    Unwilling to give up on this opportunity, despite the unease in his heart, Song Lianlu clenched his teeth and punched his fist forwards tenaciously. He could not simply give up on this chance just because he could not figure out Li Yingjie¡¯s strange smile. Instantly, he felt his fist strike a soft fleshy body.


    Bullseye! Song Lianlu was overjoyed ¡ª this meant he had won this match.


    But before he could even smile in relief and joy, he felt his abdomen hit by arge force. It instantly broke through his defensiveyer of internal energy, prating into his body.


    "Pffft!" A mouthful of blood sprayed out from Song Lianlu¡¯s mouth. The powerful force had directly injured his internal organs ¡ª his entire body was sent stumbling back seven to eight steps before he managed to stop. However, right after that, he felt his knees fold and he slumped to sit on the ground.


    The cause of this phenomenon was the strange and erratic internal energy running amok in his body. It was brutalizing his innards, nerves, and muscles, leaving Song Lianlu with no more strength to remain standing.


    Meanwhile, on the other side, Li Yingjie had simrly been sent stumbling back several steps by Song Lianlu¡¯s attack. He retreated even further than Song Lianlu, only stopping when he reached the edges of the stage. Compared to Song Lianlu¡¯s injuries, Li Yingjie was undoubtedly hurt even worse. Mouthfuls of blood were being heaved out uncontrobly from his mouth, but even so, he still smiled as he stared at Song Lianlu, smugly and arrogantly.


    *******


    "This brat, actually choosing a mutually destructive oue!" In the second-floor box, Li Shiyu smacked a palm into the wall in a fit of anger, leaving a palm print in it. At one side, Yun Xiu¡¯s heart ached once more ¡ª it looked like the fewer than few credits he had could not be saved anymore.


    Still, heartache aside, he was even more worried about the condition of Li Yingjie. "Shiyu, will your cousin be fine after taking that blow?"


    "As long as he still breathes, he won¡¯t die," said Li Shiyu tly.


    Li Shiyu may have sounded indifferent, but he was still worried for that disappointing cousin of his deep inside. After all, that brat had clearly been injured severely and was likely unable to move anymore. It was very probable that he would faint dead away on the stage in the very next second. Li Yingjie had not chosen to dodge that heavy blow by Song Lianlu, using his body to take it forcefully instead ... this was full on direct internal damage.


    Of course, Li Shiyu also knew well that it was not that Li Yingjie could not dodge ¡ª that swaying motion from before, Li Shiyu knew that it had been a lure because the Li family had that particrbination move. However, he had not thought that Li Yingjie would use the method of exchanging injury for injury to counterattack. Although Li Shiyu felt that this was somewhat not worth it, he had to admit that for Li Yingjie to inflict heavy damage on his opponent, this was the only option which had any chance of seeding. It should be known that if Li Yingjie had chosen to dodge, the opponent would also have had a simr chance of evading Li Yingjie¡¯s killer move ...


    "This brat has be much more ruthless than before." ¡¯Not only towards others, but also towards himself. Being able to take such ruthless action, this brat has grown up a little more ... it is just unclear whether this growth is good or bad,¡¯ thought Li Shiyu somewhat dispiritedly.


    ********


    On the stage, Li Yingjie knew he was smiling because he had gravely injured the opponent. The aftereffects of the Li family killing move would be more than enough to trouble the other considerably. He had avenged himself ¡ª even if he did not win the match, he did not feel disheartened. He believed that hispanions would definitely recover this loss.


    Li Yingjie was in fact already at his limit. He felt his head spinning and his vision blur ¡ª these were the symptoms of massive blood loss. He knew he should lie down and receive first aid, but for some reason, he did not want to just lie down like this. He wanted to see Boss Lan¡¯s face and observe his expression, but he just did not have the strength left to even turn his head around ...


    ¡¯What a pity, not being able to see Boss Lan¡¯s expression at this time ... I wonder if he would be satisfied with my performance today?¡¯ Li Yingjie thought somewhat bitterly. So he had yearned so much for Boss Lan¡¯s acknowledgement ...


    "Li Yingjie, today, I¡¯m proud of you!" The distinctly cold voice belonging to Ling Lan rang out by Li Yingjie¡¯s ears. This voice made Li Yingjie¡¯s spirits perk up; he actually managed to turn his head and saw that icy yet domineering face of Boss Lan.


    Currently, Ling Lan had once again walked over to stand by the edge of the stage. Even though his face was as cold and t as usual, Li Yingjie could clearly feel the sincerity of his words ...


    That will do! Li Yingjie closed his eyes in satisfaction, a smile on his lips as he toppled backwards. However, someone very quickly caught him ¡ª it was the referee of the fights, Colonel Tang Yu.


    The moment Colonel Tang Yu saw Li Yingjie¡¯s condition, he knew the other was alreadypletely unconscious, unable to continue fighting. His condition was dangerous as well ¡ª even without using internal energy to probe the other¡¯s body, he could tell the other had received extensive internal damage, because blood was still flowing unstoppably from Li Yingjie¡¯s mouth even now.

 Chapter 255: Qi Long Enters the Stage!

    Chapter 255: Qi Long Enters the Stage!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Staff, send him to the treatment centre immediately!" Tang Yu shouted. Two uniformed staff members brought a stretcher onto the stage, quickly whisking Li Yingjie away to the treatment centre.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan turned to instruct Qi Long, "Notify Xie Yi quickly. Tell him to go with them and keep us updated."


    Qi Long quickly contacted Xie Yi, telling him to follow Li Yingjie to the treatment centre, and to give them timely reports on Li Yingjie¡¯s condition.


    Thisbat method of Li Yingjie¡¯s which fully disyed his unwillingness to lose even if it would result in an internecine oue 1 had moved Qi Long, Wu Jiong, and the others. It had also let the members of the New Cadet Regiment see a whole new side of the arrogant-to-the-point-of-annoying Li Yingjie.


    It turned out that that detestable 2nd generation ancestor, who would every so often push them around with his abilities and family background, was as willing as them to put his all into fighting for hispanions¡¯ freedom and their futures. At this time, even those New Cadet Regiment members who bore some dislike for Li Yingjie found themselves silentlyying down their grudges ...


    Since you treat me with sincerity, then I will also treat you sincerely. We arerades willing to brave life and death together, advancing hand-in-hand without ever giving up!


    Li Yingjie was very quickly carted away, leaving a still rtively conscious Song Lianlu on the field. Tang Yu announced expressionlessly, "The second match, 4th year Song Lianlu of the Leiting Mecha n wins! Overall, the score is now at 1-1."


    Tang Yu had just announced the results when Song Lianlu on the other side could not hold on any longer either, copsing to the ground in a dead faint. Tang Yu could only send someone to cart Song Lianlu to the treatment centre as well. It had only been two matches, but all four fighters involved had had to be admitted into the treatment centre ¡ª it was clear to see how intense the fights were this time.


    A cold gleam shed through Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, and the surrounding temperature dropped by several degrees. Qi Long and Wu Jiong could not help but shiver ¡ª without having to ask, they knew that Boss Lan was currently very angry, otherwise the temperature would not drop so significantly. Still, they were very happy to see Boss Lan react this way. This meant that Boss Lan was about to go berserk, and the fate of the Leiting contingent could only be even worse than Luo Lang and Li Yingjie¡¯s.


    Qi Long and Wu Jiong¡¯s anticipatory schadenfreude was, at the heart of it, because Leiting had been too brutal. Their fighters had had no intention of stopping the moment victory was determined 2 . Otherwise, Luo Lang and Li Yingjie would not have been injured so badly, and Ling Lan would not have be so angry.


    Following Tang Yu¡¯s announcement, the waiting Lin Zhidong finally let out a sigh of relief. They had finally won this match. He had not expected the opponent to be this strong, able to fight so fiercely against Leiting¡¯s representative ... Lin Zhidong was somewhat regretful ¡ª perhaps he should have found out more about the opponents before making arrangements. However, he only wavered for an instant, and then Lin Zhidong¡¯s eyes became steady again.


    With the overall score at 1-1, the two sides were again at the starting line. Of the subsequent three matches, he only needed to win two, and Leiting would win this wagered fight. Compared to the other side who had already yed all their trump cards, he still had two of the strongest jokers 3 in his hand ¡ª this fight, it was impossible for him to lose.


    Lin Zhidong looked towards the two seniors seated beside him watching the fights, and a trace of respect shone in his eyes. With a bowed posture, he softly asked one of them, "Senior Feng-ming, the next match, I may have to trouble you to fight, to clinch another victory for Leiting." These two powerhouses were not people he could order around casually; he needed to ask whether they were willing.


    One of them, the man Lin Zhidong had called Senior Feng-ming,ughed brightly at the question, "Seeing them fight so well, my hands have indeed begun to itch. The next round, I¡¯ll fight."


    His smile as wide as ever, he turned his head to look in the direction of the New Cadet Regiment area. His gaze was tinged with admiration and approval; it looked like he had a very good impression of the New Cadet Regiment. In the end, he did not forget to advise, "Zhidong, if Leiting really wins, inform Qiao Ting that we cannot bully them. We need to cultivate them well. They will definitely be the future supporting pirs of our Leiting."


    Freshly admitted into the military academy, and they were already able to fight on equal terms with older cadets like themselves ¡ª he believed that the futures of these youths would perhaps be even better than theirs.


    Lin Zhidong smiled and nodded. "That goes without saying. Otherwise, I would not have arranged this wagered fight." The connotation was that he had set his sights on the other side, which was why he wanted to take them in wholesale.


    Senior Feng-ming nodded and said nothing more. Meanwhile, the other strong and good-looking youth beside him said levelly, "The freshmen this year are indeed very strong!"


    "Boss Huo?" Senior Feng-ming turned in bewilderment to stare at his team leader, unsure why the other would say this.


    "Two Qi-Jin stage masters have alreadye out. What level is the remaining three at?" The good-looking youth said with a half-smile and a quirked brow.


    Senior Feng-ming began to muse in silence at those words, while Lin Zhidong had also been startled into realisation. ckjawed, he asked, "Boss Huo, you mean ... no, they can¡¯t all be at Qi-Jin stage!" Lin Zhidong shook his head repeatedly in denial, "That¡¯s definitely impossible. How could there be so many Qi-Jin stage masters among the freshmen? Two or three would already be stretching the limits ... they must be using the principle of Tianji¡¯s horse racing. The next one must definitely be their strongest fighter."


    Hearing this, the good-looking youth only swept a dispassionate gaze at the somewhat panicking Lin Zhidong, mentally shaking his head. Although Lin Zhidong performed pretty well on all fronts, he was still not from the military strategy specialization after all, unable to truly hold steady during times of crisis ... However, this was already Qiao Ting¡¯s problem. Since he had already let go, he needed to believe that Qiao Ting could support the whole of Leiting.


    On the other side, Lin Zhidong had just submitted the name list when Little Four alerted Ling Lan, saying, "Boss, the other side has sent out Nie Feng-ming!"


    "The second strongest, is it?" Currently, Ling Lan could only send out either Qi Long or Wu Jiong. Comparatively, the public regimentmander Wu Jiong could less afford to lose. Ling Lan¡¯s gazended decisively on Qi Long. Although Qi Long¡¯s physical skills level was higher than Wu Jiong¡¯s by two levels, he was still no match for the opponent. Still, Ling Lan believed that Qi Long would be able to learn much from this fight ...


    "Qi Long, prepare to fight!" Ling Lan ordered.


    At her words, Wu Jiong¡¯s spirits sank as Qi Long shouted excitedly, "Got it, Boss!"


    Both of them had had their fighting spirits stoked by the previous two matches and wanted to be the third to fight. Unfortunately, Ling Lan had chosen Qi Long in the end. Thus, one dejected, one gleeful ¡ª two distinctly different expressions appeared just like that before Ling Lan.


    Facing the endlessly mournful and piteous signals Wu Jiong was emitting, Ling Lan rubbed her brow and said helplessly, "Wu Jiong, you¡¯ll get your turn. Don¡¯t rush."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Wu Jiong¡¯s eyes light up, and he instantly tucked away his previously mournful expression as he threw a smug look in Qi Long¡¯s direction. You can bloody enjoy yourself in this match first; next round is my turn.


    Right then, Wu Jiong did not know that Qi Long was actually a pitiful cannon fodder Ling Lan had sent off to die ¡ª obtaining the final victory would depend on him and Ling Lan.


    Tang Yu received the name lists sent by both sides and the moment time was up, he announced, "Leiting Mecha n vs New Cadet Regiment, 3rd round, 5th year Nie Feng-ming against 1st year Qi Long."


    This announcement caused amotion to break out below the stage. In particr, those older cadets sported faces full of shock. They had never expected that, for this match, Leiting would actually dig out their previous vice regimentmander. Since he had appeared, then would the previous Leiting regimentmander appear as well? That person was the number one within the military academy for physicalbat!


    After both representatives had stepped onto the stage, having obtained confirmation from both sides that they were ready, Colonel Tang Yu coolly dered, "Match start!"


    Following this cry, Nie Feng-ming made the same decision as Song Lianlu earlier. He wanted to observe the opponent¡¯s strength before making a decision, so he did notunch an attack. Instead, he immediately moved into a defensive position, his eyes closely watching the opponent¡¯s stance and movements.


    Nie Feng-ming thought that his opponent would do the same, but Qi Long surprised him. After jumping back and forth several times to stretch and loosen his muscles, Qi Long suddenly elerated and charged forwards,ing up to Nie Feng-ming in the blink of an eye, lifting a hand to send a fist hurtling straight at the other¡¯s face.


    Qi Long¡¯s fighting style was not like the typical bnced, simultaneously offensive and defensive,bat of the Chinese Federation. His style was closer to that of the neighbouring Caesar Empire ¡ª full-force attacks, substituting offence as defence. It could almost be said that defence did not exist for Qi Long.


    Although Ling Lan had always wanted Qi Long to learn some defence, after multiple sessions of intense torment, Qi Long had walked onto a different path of training. Since he could not defend well, then he might as well not defend at all and focus all of his strength into increasing his body¡¯s resistance and ability to take hits 4 . Within Ling Lan¡¯s learning space, this type of training method was named Body Refining. It was one of the hardest paths to walk, but once it came to fruition, ording to Ling Lan, he would have an indestructible body, able to withstand up to 100,000 catties 5 of force.


    Thus, Nie Feng-ming was destined to have no chance of observing his opponent ¡ª a wild barrage of attacks had begun bearing down on him.


    Nie Feng-ming weaved left and right, finally dodging this sudden wild attack of Qi Long¡¯s. He was almost drenched in cold sweat by fear. It was fortunate that he had plenty of battle experience ¡ª if someone weaker were in his ce, they would certainly have been pummelled silly, falling in bafflement beneath these flurry of wild punches before they could even show what they could do.


    Nie Feng-ming gradually got used to this unreasonable and brutish method of attacking ¡ª he began to inject some counterattacks in between his initial dodging. The two fighters went back and forth exchanging blows, throwing punches and kicks. The fighting was intense; it was difficult to determine who would win anytime soon.


    Watching this, Tang Yu¡¯s eyebrows quirked and a slight smile emerged on his face. At the beginning, Qi Long¡¯s disorganised attack made him think that this youth was the weakest representative of the New Cadet Regiment, perhaps only included to make up the numbers. But now from the looks of it, he had misjudged.


    His seemingly reckless actions were actually very systematic ¡ª every attack was directed at a tricky spot which would harass the opponent. Even more astounding was the fact that the trajectory of his every attack also shielded all the fatal weaknesses and openings of his own body very well. If the opponent wanted to strike those spots, he would have to choose to battle it out with Qi Long with brute force, otherwise his efforts would be futile.


    Colonel Tang Yu was filled with silent admiration. Who¡¯d have thought that there would be so many highly talented youths among this year¡¯s freshmen? This youth especially, had progressed even further than his previous two teammates in the realm of physical skills. It could even be said that, while others were still at the stage of learning through mimicry, he had already begun to seek out and develop abat style exclusive to himself.


    Tang Yu¡¯s gaze was involuntarily drawn to peer at the area below the stage. There were still two more youths ... would they be just as outstanding?

 Chapter 256: The Unkillable Roachie!

    Chapter 256: The Unkible Roachie!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In the rest area of the Leiting Mecha n, the expressions of many had turned extremely ugly. Who the heck was this youth? Why could he fight evenly with their previous vice regimentmander?


    Lin Zhidong could not help but ask Boss Huo beside him, "Boss Huo, can you tell what level that youth is at?" As Qi Long was the primary attacker right now, with Nie Feng-ming defending passively, it was hard to tell for now what realm the opponent¡¯s physical skills were at.


    Boss Huo responded dispassionately, "It won¡¯t be lower than Feng-ming¡¯s by much, otherwise Feng-ming would not be so passive. However, this is just temporary." No matter how strong someone at the early stages of Qi-Jin was, they would not be able to hinder Nie Feng-ming to this extent ¡ª that youth on the field was certain to already be at the middle stages of Qi-Jin. The only question was which minor level in the middle stages he was at.


    Lin Zhidong¡¯s face paled at these words, and he said with a rasp, "Middle stage Qi-Jin? How can this be?" For the past few years, even if the freshmen had great talent, some admitted at the level of Qi-Jin, they would still only have just stepped into early stage Qi-Jin. Take Zhang Jing-an for example. Looking back throughout the history of the military academy, it was still only that one year 20 years ago, when General Ling Xiao had entered the academy, that a student had entered the school already at the middle stage of Qi-Jin. It had caused a ratherrgemotion back then.


    With a troubled expression, Lin Zhidong looked towards that youth engaged in a close fight on the stage with Nie Feng-ming. Could this be the aberrant Zhang Jing-an had been talking about?


    With much difficulty, Lin Zhidong pressed down the shock in his heart to say resentfully, "I just knew it. For the third round they would definitely send out the strongest one in their team. Luckily I had arranged for Senior Feng-ming to fight ..." If he had sent out their weakest member here, they would very likely have already lost this match. He had initially thought to easily finish off the other side with a breezy 3-0, yet the score was now already 1-1. However, Lin Zhidong still hoped that Leiting could be ahead in points overall, so they would be able to fight from a superior position instead of being pressured to perform with a disadvantage in the count.


    Hearing this, Boss Huo could not help but nce at the rest area of the New Cadet Regiment. Was this youth on the stage right now really their strongest fighter? Why had there been a sudden sh of cold air just earlier, which had made fear stir in his heart? Was it an illusion, or was there some powerful instructor from the academy present? Boss Huo could not find an answer, and so could only set aside the concerns in his heart and continue to watch the fight on the stage.


    Meanwhile, on the side of the New Cadet Regiment, only Wu Jiong remained by Ling Lan¡¯s side. He was clenching his fists, expression nervous as he kept a close watch on the stage. Seeing Qi Long push back the opponent again and again, he could not hold back the joy from his face as he turned to Ling Lan and asked, "Boss Lan, don¡¯t you think Qi Long has a chance to win this match?" Qi Long was fighting so well, and he had always been very strong ¡ª he would not disappoint them.


    Right then, Ling Lan had her arms folded across her chest as she coolly watched the moves exchanged by the fighters on the stage. This was her usual habit ¡ª copying thebat moves of the real world and feeding them into the learning space. Besides being able to earn some amount of contribution points this way, she could also obtain the improved and further refined ultimate moves developed by the instructors based on the moves she fed the learning space for free. From Ling Lan¡¯s perspective, this could be said to be killing two birds with one stone.


    To Wu Jiong¡¯s question, she replied instantly, "The fight has just begun, it is too early to determine."


    Frankly, Ling Lan could see very clearly that it actually was not impossible for Qi Long to win, but the probability was extremely small. Even though he seemed to be fighting his opponent evenly for now, the fight appearing to be extremely exciting, Ling Lan could clearly sense that the flow of the match was already gradually leaning in favour of Nie Feng-ming. If Qi Long continued to fight like this, his chances of winning would only keep decreasing.


    But would Qi Long change his fighting style? No! Thus, Qi Long¡¯s loss, Ling Lan could already almost see it ...


    However, it was notpletely impossible ¡ª all of it would depend on whether Qi Long could achieve a personal breakthrough on the stage. To overpower the strong from a weaker position, the chancey in securing a breakthrough during the fight, and Qi Long truly had the potential to do so.


    Ling Lan could not help but recall the time back when they had been six years old, during the entrance test of the Central Scout Academy ¡ª Qi Long¡¯sbat moves had been extremely immature, but he had unexpectedly achieved a personal breakthrough then ... perhaps she could ce a little hope on this.


    The people below the stage were nervous and conflicted, while the two on the stage were getting more and more engrossed in their fight. Qi Long¡¯sbat style had always been attack, attack, attack, with no pauses to take stock or defend. He was the type who became more and more berserk as he fought ¡ª the more pressure he was under, the harder he fought back. In Ling Lan¡¯s words, he was an unkible roachie. Therefore, despite Nie Feng-ming having the upper hand in terms of the flow of the match, in terms of attack, Qi Long seemed to be on a roll. With the exception of people like Ling Lan whose realm was high enough to discern the true face of things, the other people were all watching as if through cloud and mist. Even if Leiting was extremely confident in Nie Feng-ming, they could not help but find their hearts beating erratically at this moment.


    "What¡¯s going on?" Lin Zhidong was flustered, "Boss Huo, didn¡¯t you say Senior Feng-ming would take control of the situation? Why isn¡¯t there any sign of this even now?"


    Boss Huo¡¯s thick eyebrows knitted tightly, and he replied, "Don¡¯t rush, keep watching! The opponent is not weak, but, I estimate that he is weaker than Feng-ming by one minor level ..."


    "Boss Huo, you¡¯ve made out the levels?" Pleasant surprise bloomed on Lin Zhidong¡¯s face. As long as the opponent was not stronger than Senior Feng-ming, he was not afraid.


    "Hn. The spots that the opponent has been attacking are all the weak points of Feng-ming¡¯s moves, making it very ufortable for Feng-ming to fight." Boss Huo¡¯s eyebrows remained locked together. "The opponent seems to know Feng-ming¡¯sbat moves very well ... leading Feng-ming to be countered at every turn. Still, even so, the opponent has no way of taking Feng-ming down. Based on this point alone, we can tell that the opponent¡¯s strength is weaker than Feng-ming¡¯s, otherwise Feng-ming would be finding it even more difficult to fight."


    "Then, when will Senior Feng-ming be able to turn the situation around?" Lin Zhidong¡¯sbat realm was too low, so he really could not tell anything much from watching. He could only ask Boss Huo once again.


    Boss Huo answered, "Wait patiently for a little longer. It should be soon." He had barely finished saying that when he suddenly smiled and added, "There¡¯s no need to wait anymore. Feng-ming is already turning things around now. He should finish off the opponent very quickly."


    Only at this point did Boss Huo notice the shifting of the flow towards Feng-ming. The time it took for him toe to this conclusion was obviously behind Ling Lan¡¯s ¡ª it was clear to see that in terms of vision, Boss Huo was no match for Ling Lan.


    However, Boss Huo was still astounded enough at the capability of this year¡¯s freshmen. Thinking back to when they had first entered the academy, there had only been one early stage Qi-Jinbat master, and that had already been enough to send the military academy into rapture, pooling their resources to focus on cultivating that talent. Who could have imagined that this year, Qi-Jin stagebat masters were almost like a dime a dozen, popping out one after the other ... Was it because Qi-Jin masters were now mainstream, or had their year just been too lousy?


    "Could it be that the military academy is about to be turned upside down?" For some reason, Boss Huo suddenly had this thought, but he very soon shook it out of his head. In the military academy, the determination of whether one was strong did not depend on physical skills, but on mecha control. Perhaps, two yearster, they would be able to see if these talented youths were equally aberrant when it came to mecha control.


    On the stage, as expected, the flow of the match was developing as Ling Lan had predicted. Nie Feng-ming had be used to Qi Long¡¯s berserker style attack mode, and was slowly turning the situation around. Qi Long¡¯s initially fierce attacks gradually toned down, and his attacks even seemed to give off a sense of being forced and restricted. With this, everyone believed that, not too long after, Nie Feng-ming would certainly be able to defeat his opponent, clinching the victory for this round.


    However, everyone had been too idealistic ¡ª another 50 to 60 moves passed, and still there was no sign of Qi Long¡¯s defeated figure. Even though he was not fighting as freely and wildly as he did at the start, he was still holding on ...


    Another ten minutes passed, and Qi Long was still holding on ...


    Twenty minutes passed, and Qi Long was still holding on ...


    Thirty minutes went by, and Qi Long was still holding on ...


    "F*ck, that freshman is really an indestructible cockroach!" Qi Long¡¯s tenacity finally gained him the admiration and respect of some of the older cadets. How was this freshman so tenacious and resistant to damage? Several times, it was obvious that he had been struck by Nie Feng-ming¡¯s fists and legs ¡ª many people thought that Qi Long would be injured by this, and that even if he was not hurt, he would still end up shifting his posture and attack stance due to the pain, leading him to lose the ability to use his offence as defence.


    Of course, once that happened, Nie Feng-ming would jump on the chance tounch consecutive attacks and bring him downpletely. But surprisingly, even after taking several attacks, Qi Long seemed not to feel anything. The attack motions of his hands were not at all affected ¡ª instead, Nie Feng-ming was greatly shocked by Qi Long¡¯s pain-free reaction, so much so that he forgot to continue attacking. This gave Qi Long a breather and he forcefully tided his way through the attack.


    "Damn, does that fellow not have any pain receptors?" Many times they saw Nie Feng-ming¡¯s forceful fists strike the other¡¯s body ¡ª even the audience watching from below could feel their bodies ache in sympathetic pain, but Qi Long remained indifferent, no change at all in his expression.


    "What a monster!" Even if his strength was weaker than themselves, meeting such an opponent would cause anyone to have a headache. Frankly, Nie Feng-ming currently indeed found himself presented with a terrible headache. He even wondered if this youth before him was a robot, just cloaked in ayer of human skin.


    "Looks like this match has turned into a fight of endurance. Now we just need to see who runs out of stamina first." Those who were astute had already figured out that the oue of the fight would not be determined anytime soon.


    "That body of Qi Long¡¯s is truly abnormal. Even though he¡¯s hit, it looks as if he was only tickled. This match is going to drag on for a while; it would be great if the opponent could be worn down." Wu Jiong stared excitedly at the stage. Every time he saw Qi Long fight, he would be unbelievably excited. It could not be helped ¡ª Qi Long¡¯sbat style was just like that, every punch meeting flesh, no irs and dramatics, his pure strength doing all the talking.


    "The opponent is extremely collected. At present, Qi Long has no advantage!" Ling Lan replied with a frown. Qi Long may be acting extremely nonchnt, but she had still seen his face twitch slightly whenever he had been hit. It wasn¡¯t that it didn¡¯t hurt ¡ª Qi Long was just suppressing it by force.


    Great. Each one of this bunch of brats is even more tolerant than the one before ... they were all bloody turning into teenage mutant ninja turtles 1 now. She could only hope Qi Long¡¯s internal injuries were not too severe, otherwise he would not be able to hold up for long. Ling Lan worried in her heart.


    Ling Lan actually did not mind whether Qi Long won or lost. She only hoped that Qi Long would be able to find a chance to breakthrough during this match, pushing past his current bottleneck.


    Mind you, Qi Long had been stuck at middle stage Qi-Jin for almost a full year now ¡ª although she had sought Qi Long out whenever she had time to spar with him and put him through the wringer, the effects had been insignificant. Perhaps Qi Long had already gotten used to herbat methods, for his bottleneck had not budged at all from their sessions. This was also why Ling Lan had chosen to let Qi Long sh with the second strongest on the opposing team. Even as Ling Lan plotted to ensure the final victory would be theirs, she also hoped Qi Long would be able to benefit from this fight.


    "The opponent is pulling away!" Wu Jiong suddenly stood up to shout. At the same time, the development ying out on the stage made Ling Lan¡¯s brow crease into a deep furrow.

 Chapter 257: Breakthrough in a Hopeless Situation!

    Chapter 257: Breakthrough in a Hopeless Situation!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Nie Feng-ming, who had been fighting close to Qi Long all this while, suddenly retreated, distancing himself from Qi Long. Qi Long had never been a fighter who relied on speed. He was unable to keep up with the opponent¡¯s unexpected move, and a considerable distance was put between them.


    A cold light shed through Ling Lan¡¯s eyes ¡ª she knew that Nie Feng-ming was probably about to unleash some ultimate move!


    Sure enough, Nie Feng-ming suddenly crouched low and then sprang up into the air. Airborne, a surge of Qi seemed to flow from the soles of his feet into his right arm.


    With an audible tearing sound, Nie Feng-ming¡¯s right arm bulged ¡ª the rippling muscles tore through his school uniform, his sleeves turning into tatters.


    "Pneumatic Punch!" Nie Feng-ming shouted, his right hand clenched into a tight fist which was hurtling towards Qi Long.


    "Good timing!" The fighting spirit in Qi Long¡¯s eyes red. Even if he knew he was no match for the opponent, Qi Long would never cower. He resolutely threw out his own right fist in response, "Take my One-Inch Punch!" Only the 3rd form of One-Inch Punch would be able to help him weather this move.


    Seeing this scene unfold, even someone as calm andposed as Ling Lan could no longer sit still. She stood up abruptly, her expression coldly focused as she waited for the final oue.


    The two punches collided with a loud ¡¯boom!¡¯ ¡ª endless energy surged from the two fists, radiating out from where the fists were connected. This surge of energy shook the entire stage, causing the stage to actually emit groaning noises, creaking as it begun to quake.


    Beneath the feet of the two fighters, the ground suddenly shattered. Of course, this was just virtual 3D imaging, but it made the audience feel as if it were real. It was as if the stage beneath the fighters¡¯ feet would really be unable to hold on past the next second and thoroughly copse.


    The cracks spread rapidly outwards ¡ª the speed and range of those around Nie Feng-ming were slower and smaller, while those around Qi Long were quicker andrger. This point alone proved that the stacked strength Qi Long was wielding with the aid of the 3rd form of One-Inch Punch was still a bracket inferior to the opponent¡¯s in terms of internal energy. If not, the feedback force beneath his feet would not be sorge 1 .


    Both fists stayed connected for several seconds; in the end, the two of them could not withstand the opposing forces and were sent flying back at the same time.


    With a somersault in the air, Nie Feng-ming dispersed the reaction force andnded soundly on one corner of the stage. Still, even so, he felt his Qi and blood roiling in his chest, a sickly sweet coppery taste at the back of his throat surging to get out. He clenched his teeth and forcefully pushed back this bloody Qi. As the second strongest person in Leiting for physical skillsbat, he would not allow himself to be visibly injured on the stage. This was his pride.


    Meanwhile, Qi Long was in a worse state. He had no way of dispersing the energy as casually as Nie Feng-ming had ¡ª he was instantly sent flying, and in the air, he could not stop himself from spewing out a mouthful of blood.


    Qi Long¡¯s body had initially already been injured by the opponent; he had merely been suppressing it by relying on his tough body. However, at this moment, being pressured by this tremendous surge of Qi-Jin from the opponent, he could no longer hold back the extent of his injuries. Not only that, this forceful sh had heaped yet more injury on top of his previous injuries, thus resulting in his spewing of blood the moment he was sent flying.


    Qi Long was not as vain as Nie Feng-ming ¡ª since he could not do it, he might as well not force it. He allowed his body to m heavily onto the stage, leaving a dent on the already crumbling stage.


    Qi Long pressed a hand to his chest as he fell to the ground. By this time, Colonel Tang Yu had alreadye up to his side, and he crouched down to ask, "Qi Long, can you still fight?" He did not ask him whether he admitted defeat, instead asking whether he could still fight ¡ª this was because the impression Qi Long had made in Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s mind was that he was a youth who absolutely would not admit defeat.


    Qi Long¡¯s lips split into a wide grin as he replied loudly, "Fight! Why wouldn¡¯t I fight? As long as I can still move, I¡¯ll fight till the end."


    Even though Qi Long had no dignity to speak of at this moment ¡ª his mouth and lips all coated with blood, looking somewhat frightening ¡ª his grin and those words and tone filled with conviction moved Colonel Tang Yu. Qi Long¡¯s honest face carried a look of determination and a somewhat silly smile, but it was much purer than those clever people and their schemes. He was someone who devoted his entire body and soul intobat ¡ª this kind of person would often climb much higher than those intelligent prodigies, walking further than they ever could.


    Colonel Tang Yu felt his initially cold and hardened heart begin to burn, and he shouted out loud, "Good! Then let the fight continue!"


    Tang Yu abruptly stood up and took two steps back to stand in the middle of the stage. This meant that the match was in a temporary time-out ¡ª the fight would need his deration to resume.


    A trace of gratitude shed across Qi Long¡¯s drooping eyes. He looked to be unbelievably guileless, like such a nice guy, but Han Jijyun had always imed he was in fact very ck-bellied ¡ª he understood all the things he truly needed to understand. Indeed, that was true ¡ª like right now, Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s actions may not have been explicitly exined, but Qi Long still understood that the other was helping him.


    Interrupting the fight was extremely advantageous to Qi Long. This gave him a chance to catch his breath and deal somewhat with his injuries. It also gave him the time to settle his chaotic Qi-Jin to restore some of his fighting strength.


    Qi Long did not sit to rest, but slowly climbed off the ground. He could not let Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s good intentions be noticed by anyone else. Colonel Tang Yu saw Qi Long¡¯s slow movements, and a trace of approval shed through his eyes. Able to use the time he had to recover his strength without any outward signs, this silly little fellow was not truly silly. However, this was even better. There were way too many plots and schemes in this world ¡ª even someone as formidable as god-ss operator General Ling Xiao had not been able to avoid being set up and harmed ¡ª a little adaptability was never out of ce.


    Although Qi Long had obtained a chance to catch his breath, the time was not very long. In the span of a few breaths, Qi Long had stood up straight again.


    "Can we start now?" Tang Yu asked Qi Long once again. Seeing Qi Long nod, he then turned to ask the same to Nie Feng-ming, and seeing Nie Feng-ming nod as well, he waved his arm and yelled, "The fight continues!"


    ********


    During the time when Colonel Tang Yu had paused the match, Lin Zhidong had not been able to stop himself from frowning. He said, "Boss Huo, Colonel Tang Yu seems to be intentionally dragging the time." Even though Colonel Tang Yu was the teacher adviser of Leiting¡¯s regimentmander Qiao Ting, with regards to this wagered battle, Colonel Tang Yu was obviously leaning towards the side of the New Cadet Regiment.


    "Hn, Colonel Tang Yu has a very favourable impression of this batch of new cadets. Looks like the six-person quota of next year hasrgely been decided now," Boss Huo sighed. Initially, he had hoped Leiting¡¯s freshmen would be able to secure one or two of the slots, but now, it looked like the chances were low.


    Lin Zhidong gaped and said, "You¡¯re saying ... these freshmen?"


    "What do you think? Able to represent the New Cadet Regiment, these must be their strongest. And these people will undoubtedly be the future students of the mecha sses. Just the three freshmen who have alreadye out to fight are already enough to please Colonel Tang Yu ... I only hope that the next two are truly, as you say, the weakest of the New Cadet Regiment¡¯s line-up. That way, our Leiting freshmen may still have some hope of bing Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s students."


    Lin Zhidong could see Boss Huo¡¯s displeasure, and said in response, "Boss Huo, as long as we win this wagered battle, we will be able to take in the entire New Cadet Regiment. Then, Colonel Tang Yu will still be the mecha instructor of Leiting."


    "You¡¯re not wrong, but outsiders will never truly put their full effort into serving Leiting. I will still rest easier if our own Leiting people manage to obtain some slots," said Boss Huo with a solemn tone.


    People they added in from the outside could be utilised, and utilised well at that, but the full future of Leiting could not be entrusted to them. If by any chance the other held some grudge in their hearts and betrayed them from the inside, then it would truly be a tragedy for Leiting.


    Lin Zhidong¡¯s heart clenched in fright, and he hurried to nod and say, "Boss Huo speaks truly. I will be careful. There is still one year¡¯s time. By whatever means, I will find a way to let Colonel Tang Yu ept one of Leiting¡¯s best talents."


    At that, Boss Huo was finally satisfied. "That¡¯ll be fine!"


    Lin Zhidong went silent however, beginning to wonder whether his initial thinking had been too simple. As Boss Huo had said, could outsiders really be the future pirs of Leiting?


    ********


    On the stage, following Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s deration to begin, Nie Feng-ming pounced. The opponent looked like he was at the end of his rope ¡ª if he did not attack now, was he going to wait until the opponent had recovered even more to fight? Nie Feng-ming would not let this opportunity go by.


    One punch, two punches, three punches ¡ª every punchnded on flesh. Even though Qi Long had gained some time, it had not been enough for the roiling Qi-Jin in his body to settle back to normal. Therefore, when Nie Feng-ming attacked, despite wanting to punch back and block, Qi Long found that he actually no longer had the strength to swing his fists. He could only watch helplessly as he was struck.


    Following these few punches, a great amount of blood once more poured from Qi Long¡¯s mouth. It went without question that his internal injuries were worsening. Qi Long did not know how much longer he could hold on for, but he could not resign himself to being defeated just like that. He thought of Luo Lang, who had been willing to take the risk and activate his innate talent for the sake of victory, and he also thought of Li Yingjie who, despite losing, had savagely taken a chunk of the opponent¡¯s flesh in rpense 2 .


    Qi Long¡¯s eyes once again zed with fire ¡ª what hispanions could do, he needed to be able to do too! Even if he could not win, he would make the opponent pay a hefty price!


    Qi Long¡¯s mind became sharper and sharper ¡ª even if he did not have any strength left to swing his fists, his eyes were locked tight on the opponent¡¯s fists, watching as those fists struck his body again and again ...


    How did it feel like to watch personally as he was tormented by another? Qi Long did not know. All Qi Long knew was that he had not been able to clearly see the opponent¡¯s fists at first, but those fists gradually slowed down in his vision, until it seemed as if they were moving in slow motion, individual still frames in his eyes.


    From the moment the opponent began circting his Qi, to the channeling of power into his fists, all of it was presented before him. The attack trajectory of the punches were so clear, unlike before when he had to estimate where the opponent would attack from. Now, he could see so clearly just by using his eyes ¡ª he could even determine from his vision which part was the point powering the attack just from its trajectory.


    He knew that as long as his fist hit that spot, not only would he not feel the other¡¯s strength, that strength would also backfire on the opponent. But he just godd*mn couldn¡¯t move right now! If he could move, he would be able to hit that spot, and he believed that he would not lose!


    Qi Long was currently extremely frustrated. If he still had the energy, if he could still fight back ... at this moment, Qi Long found to his pleasant surprise that his hand had moved. However, it could not keep up with the speed he needed ¡ª he had no way of reaching that spot with the time it would take his hand to get there.


    No, he could not give up just like this! Right then, Qi Long could no longer feel the intense pain throughout his body. At that moment, there was only one thought in his mind ¡ª faster, faster, and even faster ¡ª to let his fist reach that spot in the time he needed it to ...


    Ling Lan, who had initially sat down again and was just watching Qi Long be abused, was forcefully holding back her desire to step in. When she saw Qi Long¡¯s fist twitch, her eyes abruptly brightened. However, Ling Lan feared that this was just a subconscious action of Qi Long¡¯s, and so remained reserved. But when she saw Qi Long¡¯s speed be increasingly faster, actually exceeding his original top speed in the end, she stood up once more.


    At this moment, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes revealed her pleasant surprise. Could Qi Long really be this lucky? Actually breaking through in this sort of hopeless situation?


    BAM! BAM! BAM! These were the sounds of punches striking flesh!


    Nie Feng-ming¡¯s forehead was already coated withyers of sweat tracks. He did not know how many iron fists he hadnded on the opponent¡¯s body, but other than some muscles spasms right at the start and some minor reactions to the pain, the opponent had actually not disyed any signs of feeling in the following few attacks. Not only that, the pressure the opponent was exerting on him was getting heavier and heavier ¡ª he was even beginning to question whether he was actually fighting a human being anymore.


    Nie Feng-ming¡¯s attacks became increasingly quicker, his fists raining down on Qi Long¡¯s body like a torrential downpour. The blood flowing from Qi Long¡¯s lips continued to increase, until he was puking it out by the mouthful. Everyone thought that Qi Long no longer had any ability to fight back, that he would only be able to stand there and let Nie Feng-ming beat him as he liked ...


    Even Colonel Tang Yu could not help but wonder whether he should just announce Qi Long¡¯s loss, but Qi Long¡¯s eyes were still shining with determination. It was as if he had never lost his ability to fight, and was only waiting for the opportune chance.


    "Bam!" This sound was different from the ones before it. Everyone stared in astonishment at the youth with his blood-soaked grin. Qi Long, who seemed as if he had no strength left to lift his fist and block, had actually managed to lift his fist to urately meet the other¡¯s attacking fist. That sound just now was precisely the sound of the meeting of the two fists ...


    "Great!" Right here and now, even those seniors who did not think well of the new cadets could not help but cheer for Qi Long! Such an unkible cockroach ... under such circumstances, which everyone had thought waspletely hopeless, he had finally counterattacked.


    "What is this?" Nie Feng-ming¡¯s expression finally changed. He began to doubt himself ¡ª could it be that his fists had no strength at all behind them? Was this why he was unable to bring down the opponent, finally giving the other a chance to counterattack?


    "Feng-ming, don¡¯t nk out, continue to fight!" Boss Huo saw Nie Feng-ming¡¯s expression of confusion, and quickly stood up to shout him out of it. As an outside observer, he could naturally tell that Qi Long¡¯s internal injuries had already reached a limit. Nie Feng-ming would only need to add on a few more hits topletely defeat the opponent ¡ª no, perhaps just one more hit would do.


    Nie Feng-ming quickly regained his senses. With a grit of his teeth, he swung his fists up again and sent them punching out fiercely at this youth before him!


    "Bam!" What he struck was still the opponent¡¯s fist. The other had not punched any slower than he had, perfectly intercepting his own punch at the point where his strength had not reached its maximum, preventing him from using his full strength. It felt as horrible as being purposefully interrupted just when one was nning to relieve one¡¯s bowels 3 .


    "I do not believe you can keep intercepting my fists!" Nie Feng-ming was already heated up from the battle. His fists rained down like a thunderstorm, but every punch was intercepted by Qi Long, each one intercepted at that most ufortable spot.


    "Argh!" After punching for who knows how many times, Nie Feng-ming suddenly felt the hot blood roiling in his chest. His mouth opened and a mouthful of blood sprayed out, staining Qi Long¡¯s chest.


    The many urate blocks had caused his strength to be repressed, forced back into his body since it could not be released. After these multiple stunted attacks, his internal organs could no longer handle the umted backflow of energy, finally resulting in internal damage, causing him to no longer be able to hold back from puking blood.

 Chapter 258: Fatal Weakness!

    Chapter 258: Fatal Weakness!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Ah, what¡¯s going on? Why is Nie Feng-ming throwing up blood too? The opponent didn¡¯t even hit him!" The spectating people were all dumbfounded. Even some of thosebat experts were boggled, with only a few people at a higher realm bing spective ...


    Inside the Wuji box, Han Yu, Wei Ji, and the rest, who had initially been happily chatting and joking around, not thinking much of this match, finally found their expression¡¯s twisting in shock. Han Yu in particr could not help but exim, "What the bloody hell is going on? It can¡¯t be that this is a supernatural encounter, right?"


    The opponent was clearly not as skilled as Nie Feng-ming, and he had already been pummelled by Nie Feng-ming till he was half-crippled ¡ª even stranger was the fact that Nie Feng-ming had not been hit whatsoever ... how then had he mysteriously gotten injured to the point that he was puking out blood?


    Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun shared a nce, Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes simrly brimming with confusion. This was because there was no one who could intercept an opponent so many times at the precise spot where the opponent¡¯s strength was the weakest. As this bizarre situation had never urred before, most people just could not conceive of it, and hence were unable to figure things out.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes remained as calm as before, but inside his heart, he kept thinking that those movements were rather familiar ¡ª it was as if somewhere deep in his memory, someone else had done something simr before ...


    When Nie Feng-ming began throwing up blood, he had no choice but to stop attacking. He leapt back abruptly, pulling away, thinking that Qi Long would follow him, but unexpectedly, Qi Long only stood there, not moving a single step. Instead, Qi Long¡¯s eyes were wide as he continued to sport his split-mouthed grin ¡ª backdropped by his bloody face, his expression seemed rather stiff and eerie.


    Nie Feng-ming swiped at the blood on the corner of his lips, eyes trained on this unbeatable youth before him. No matter how steady and level-headed he was, at this moment, he could not help but be anxious internally. He sorely wished he could strike this detestable youth down with one punch and end this unending sticky-candy of a match.


    "Feng-ming, be patient!" Right then, Nie Feng-ming heard a familiar voice ring out from behind him. Turning to look, he saw that Boss Huo had alreadye up to the edge of the stage, and was giving him a quiet reminder.


    As long as the people by the stage did not climb onto the stage, verbalmunication was within allowed parameters during the fights. Thus, Ling Lan¡¯s words to Li Yingjie, as well as Boss Huo¡¯s words now to Nie Feng-ming, were all considered legal actions ¡ª neither side would have any objections.


    Nie Feng-ming nodded at Boss Huo, his initially slightly restless and impatient heart settling down. He turned once more to look at the motionless Qi Long ¡ª it was just as Boss Huo had said, the current Qi Long was not the Qi Long at the beginning of the match. Even though he looked half-crippled, for Nie Feng-ming to truly defeat the other, he needed to first find a way to avoid the other¡¯s perfectly timed interceptions.


    Nie Feng-ming took a deep breath and moved. However, the direction he chose to attack in was no longer straight on, but from the side ¡ª he was betting that Qi Long¡¯s broken body was unable to move.


    As expected, Qi Long¡¯s body did not move ¡ª his head did not even twitch. Only one fist again appeared abruptly before his eyes, again aiming for that most ufortable spot.


    So the side doesn¡¯t work? Nie Feng-ming leapt back the moment his fist bumped Qi Long¡¯s. He then once again changed directions to get behind Qi Long.


    This scene made everyone cry out in shock, because they all knew what Nie Feng-ming was nning ¡ª he wanted to attack Qi Long from behind. This action might seem somewhat unsporting, but on the battlefield, there was no such thing as fairness. Only the person who survived would be the winner.


    However, were things really as he imagined them to be? Just as his foot was about to hit Qi Long¡¯s back, he suddenly found that arge fist was once more before his eyes, urately striking the side of his kneecap.


    There was a ¡¯crack!¡¯ ¡ª this was the sound of a joint being dislocated. Qi Long¡¯s strength had urately struck at the most fragile spot on Nie Feng-ming¡¯s leg, finally causing Nie Feng-ming to grunt involuntarily.


    Nie Feng-ming was no ordinary person ¡ª even though his knee had been unexpectedly dislocated by Qi Long, he did not yell out. With a stomp of his left leg, he flew backwards to once again stand at his original position. However, now he was using only his left leg as his support. His right leg was dragging on the ground, no longer able to exert any energy.


    Qi Long had in fact not turned aroundpletely. He had only shifted half a step, but this half step had been enough for Qi Long to obtain the angle he needed to swing his fist, intercepting the opponent¡¯s attack in a timely manner while bringing him the unexpected benefit of wounding the other further.


    With this, the oue of the match was once more shrouded in mystery ¡ª it was possible for either side to win or lose. After all, one person¡¯s body was heavily injured, while the other¡¯s right knee was dislocated. The scales of the match were once again bnced. At this point, even Boss Huo from Leiting could not help but frown, because now even he could not tell how this match would turn out.


    He peered at Qi Long, who was still wearing that bloody grin, and felt that that grin of his was really too creepy and unnatural. In his memory, the other had seemed to be like this ever since he had begun using that inscrutable fist to intercept Nie Feng-ming¡¯s attacks ...


    Could it be ...? Boss Huo¡¯s gaze lit up, and both his eyes locked onto Qi Long, tracking him closely. The fight was still ongoing ¡ª even though Nie Feng-ming¡¯s knee was dislocated, this did not prevent him from attacking. Very soon, Qi Long and Nie Feng-ming were once more engaged inbat.


    This time, Boss Huo did not spare any of his attention on Nie Feng-ming. He put his entire focus on Qi Long ¡ª whether it was Qi Long¡¯s smile or gaze or even his reflexive actions, Boss Huo missed none of it. In the end, his eyes brightened even more. He had discovered what condition Qi Long was in right now.


    Apparently, Qi Long was already at his limit. The grin on his face was not a true grin, only there because Qi Long just did not have any spare energy to shift the muscles of his face. He had funnelled all his remaining energy into his fists. As long as Nie Feng-ming continued to harass Qi Long, and drain all his energy, the other would fall in due time ...


    While Boss Huo was just figuring out Qi Long¡¯s condition, Ling Lan, as Qi Long¡¯s boss, had already begun frowning deeply the moment Nie Feng-ming had chosen to attack Qi Long¡¯s back.


    When Qi Long had shifted that half step to counterattack, the furrow of Ling Lan¡¯s brow had deepened even further. That¡¯s right, at that point, when no one else had noticed anything, Ling Lan had already discerned that Qi Long was already running on fumes.


    For that half step, Qi Long had had to hold back the agonizing pain all across his body to move with a Herculean effort. Beneath both of Qi Long¡¯s almost immobile feet were two average-sized puddles. The puddles did not consist of the blood Qi Long had spat out from his mouth, but of sweat which had poured from his body when he had pushed through the pain to execute that half step ...


    Ling Lan closed her eyes in regret, feeling sorry for Qi Long. She knew Qi Long¡¯s personality well ¡ª as long as there was a chance of winning, he would not think of losing at all. However, Qi Long¡¯s breakthrough had still been toote. His internal injuries were too severe; his broken body simply could not support his counterattack.


    However, this pity Ling Lan felt onlysted for a brief instant. What she prioritised the most was still the improvement Qi Long had gained in this match. Trading one defeat for Qi Long¡¯s breakthrough, Ling Lan felt that this was unbelievably worth it.


    "Feng-ming, don¡¯t be so one-minded! Attack from all angles!" shouted Boss Huo once again.


    Nie Feng-ming had the utmost trust in his boss. Thus, hearing his boss¡¯s instructions, he did not pause to think about it ¡ª with a spring of his left leg, he flew into the air like arge bird of prey. This time, he did not attack Qi Long directly, but in ordance with Boss Huo¡¯s instructions, he came up behind Qi Long ...


    And then he leapt into the air once more, sending a fist hurtling towards Qi Long¡¯s lower back!


    With a ¡¯bam!¡¯ the two fists collided forcefully. Although Qi Long tried his best to turn around, his battered body would not allow him to abuse it a second time, finally lodging its protest.


    This time, Qi Long only managed to shift a small half step, even smaller than that of the first time. Although he did manage to turn, it was not aplete turn, so he did not have the time nor the space and angle to disrupt the opponent¡¯s attack. In order to protect his body, he could only take this attack by force.


    This was the first direct Qi-Jin confrontation between Qi Long and Nie Feng-ming since Qi Long¡¯s breakthrough. The difference was that this attack of Nie Feng-ming¡¯s was of a tentative nature, and so did not contain his full power, so Qi Long managed to bear it.


    The two fists could be seen to push against each other for about 1 to 2 seconds, and then Nie Feng-ming was sent flying back by the rebound force of the collision. Meanwhile, Qi Long¡¯s body swayed violently in ce, and the blood which had stopped flowing began to trickle from his mouth once again. Still, even so, he did not retreat even half a step.


    It was not that Qi Long did not want to retreat, but once he did, the breath holding him upright would escape. Even under these circumstances, Qi Long still did not want to give up, because he did not want to lose to anyone other than Boss. In Qi Long¡¯s mind, he could only lose to Ling Lan.


    As expected! Nie Feng-mingnded on one foot, because his other leg was powerless, and to stabilise himself, he had to take several hops back. Though he looked a little clumsy and dishevelled, all this could not stop him from smiling. Due to Boss Huo¡¯s advice, he had found Qi Long¡¯s fatal weakness.


    It turned out that Qi Long was really already at his limit, and could no longer turn around!


    "Has it still been exposed in the end?" Ling Lan sighed. Even though Ling Lan had known that Qi Long¡¯s weakness would eventually be discovered by the opponent, Ling Lan had still hoped for a lucky fluke in her heart. She had hoped that Qi Long would have a chance to defeat the other before he was figured out by the opponent.


    Since Nie Feng-ming had discovered Qi Long¡¯s weakness, he naturally did not prolong the fight. He once again moved to Qi Long¡¯s back and attacked with a rapid fist ...


    Qi Long was still holding on. From the stage, sound after sound of fists colliding could be heard. Following the increase of Nie Feng-ming¡¯s strength, the swaying of Qi Long¡¯s body became more and more extreme. The blood never stopped flowing from his mouth, instead increasing in volume with time, until it was flowing out like water ...


    Now was the time! Nie Feng-ming sensed the power levels from Qi Long¡¯s fists once more, and his eyes instantly shone with a radiant light. The next move would be when the oue would be decided ¡ª with just one more punch, he would defeat Qi Long.


    However, he did not want to end things like this! As the second strongestbat expert within the military academy, this fight with Qi Long had greatly hurt his pride. Under the situation where he had the full upper hand, he had actually been inflicted with internal injury in a mysterious way. Moreover, the opponent had even found a chance to dislocate his knee. Nie Feng-ming felt that this performance of his was a disgrace. If he could not utterly crush the opponent, he would never be able to lift his head before the people of Leiting ...


    A trace a cruelty shed through Nie Feng-ming¡¯s eyes. He took in a powerful breath, concentrating all the Qi-Jin in his body, and shouted, "Pneumatic Punch!"

 Chapter 259: Giving Him a Taste of His Own Medicine!

    Chapter 259: Giving Him a Taste of His Own Medicine!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Boss Huo stood up abruptly, yelling in shock, "Feng-ming, stop!"


    On the stage, Tang Yu¡¯s expression changed drastically. With a shift, his body sprung into motion, prepared to stop this highly destructive ultimate move of Nie Feng-ming. If some major casualty urred in these fights he was refereeing, it would be a great dereliction of duty ...


    There was a ¡¯thwack¡¯, clearly distinct from the dull thumps of fists hitting flesh. This sound was obviously much crisper. Everyone found to their shock that, heaven knows when, another person had appeared on the stage.


    He stood between Nie Feng-ming and Qi Long, easily holding Nie Feng-ming¡¯s fist with one hand. The fluttering of his sleeve proved that this person had just rushed onto the scene.


    His fist in the other¡¯s palm, Nie Feng-ming¡¯s first feeling was that the other¡¯s strength was like a bottomless ocean. When the explosive power contained in his fists charged at the other, it was like a stone dropping into a tranquil sea, with nary a ssh nor ripple. It was truly as if his strength had been swallowed whole by the boundless depths of the ocean.


    This feelingsted for only a brief instant, and then Nie Feng-ming perceived the opponent¡¯s strength as arge mountain ¡ª he was only standing there without counterattacking, but Nie Feng-ming could not budge an inch.


    What frightened Nie Feng-ming even more was the extremely cold air the other was currently emitting. Nie Feng-ming identally made eye contact with the other, and saw endless blood-soaked killing intent. Nie Feng-ming¡¯s spirit and body were both already at their limits to begin with, his mental resistance at its lowest ¡ª this surge of bloody killing intent struck deep into his inner mind, inciting endless terror, and his body actually began to tremble uncontrobly.


    Colonel Tang Yu had finally rushed to Nie Feng-ming¡¯s side by this time, but he was a step toote. When he saw that Nie Feng-ming¡¯s attack had been intercepted by a passing stranger 1 , he instantly let out a sigh of relief.


    However, he soon calmed down and was shocked by a realisation. He had in fact been the person closest to Nie Feng-ming, but the other had arrived a step ahead of him. Didn¡¯t this prove that the other was stronger than him?


    Tang Yu stared in stupefied wonder at the other. The person was dressed in the regr green military academy uniform, was neither tall nor short, and his figure was somewhat on the slender side, but without the sense of fragile delicacy Luo Lang exuded. His straight-backed figure seemed to contain boundless energy ¡ª otherwise, he would not have been able to stop Nie Feng-ming¡¯s attack so easily without any harm to himself.


    Most surprising was the fact that though he looked extremely cold-hearted and ruthless, this still could not conceal his young and immature face. That unfamiliar face and that extremelymon freshman uniform instantly allowed Colonel Tang Yu to know the other¡¯s identity.


    Tang Yu was not nning to berate the other. After all, Nie Feng-ming¡¯sst attack had indeed been too vicious. As teammates from the same group, wanting to save arade was perfectly justified ¡ª Tang Yu approved of it.


    However, before Tang Yu could ask any questions, the students below the stage had already begun to exim:


    "Who is that?"


    "How did he suddenly appear on the stage?"


    "Yeah, when did he go up?"


    As the neer had moved too fast, many students whose realm was not high enough yet had only managed to see that a person had appeared on the stage out of thin air. They could not see how the other had gotten there, which was why they were so baffled.


    "That person¡¯s speed has almost reached the limits of the human body!" Those people with adequate vision within the boxes all acknowledged this point, stunned to the depths of their heart. Although they did not know the other¡¯s background, without discussing it beforehand, they all mutually noted his appearance, determined to investigate once they went back to find out who he was ...


    Tang Yu¡¯splexion very quickly returned to normal, and he said to the person, "Cadet, thank you very much for your assistance. However, the fight is still in progress. Please leave the stage."


    "That¡¯s unnecessary. This round, we, the New Cadet Regiment, have lost," announced Ling Lan dispassionately.


    Tang Yu was taken aback, unsure whether the other could speak on behalf of the New Cadet Regiment, when from below the stage, the New Cadet Regiment representative Wu Jiong could be heard to call out, "That¡¯s right, we, the New Cadet Regiment, admit defeat for this round!"


    Since the representative of the New Cadet Regiment had acknowledged the loss, Tang Yu did not raise any questions, instantly dering, "The 3rd round, 5th year Nie Feng-ming wins! The overall score is 2-1, Leiting Mecha n in the lead over the New Cadet Regiment."


    Tang Yu had barely finished his announcement when Ling Lan turned to look at the stubbornly upright Qi Long behind her. A surge of sour pain coursed through her heart. Although she had wanted Qi Long to break through, she had never intended for Qi Long to end up in such a terrible state, bing so gravely injured. If she had not managed to intercept Nie Feng-ming¡¯s blow in time, the force of it would have shattered most of Qi Long¡¯s bones. Even if he managed to recover, Qi Long¡¯s initially amazingly sturdy body would be downgraded by several levels, perhaps even choking off Qi Long¡¯s boundless potential.


    At this thought, the rage in Ling Lan¡¯s heart red. She hated the other¡¯s viciousness, and cursed her own carelessness at taking things for granted. Fortunately, nothing truly regrettable had happened, otherwise she would have regretted it for life.


    Ling Lan took in a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the burning rage in her heart. She said lightly to Qi Long, "The match is over. You can rest now."


    The initially standing Qi Long heard this, and as if receiving somemand, he copsed. Tang Yu reacted swiftly, nimbly catching Qi Long and checking on his injuries. Hisplexion paled slightly, and he yelled out, "Staff, send him to the treatment centre, quickly!" He had not expected Qi Long¡¯s internal injuries to be so severe, and the boy had still fought on for so long, unwilling to fall till the very end ... what kind of mental support did this youth have?


    Tang Yu could not help but think back to the previous fighters, Luo Lang and Li Yingjie. They too were the same ¡ª withstanding almost unbearable injuries to execute horrifying counterattacks ... he could not help but look at this cold-faced youth before him. Even if the other had not made it clear, he could tell that the true leader of the New Cadet Regiment was likely him.


    Very soon, Qi Long had been sent to the treatment centre. As his sworn brother, Han Jijyun naturally could not sit still any longer. Without waiting for Ling Lan¡¯s orders, he took the initiative to apany Qi Long ...


    At this time, Nie Feng-ming, who had been lost in the haze of bloodlust, finally overcame his inner demon by relying on his excellent mental fortitude, bing aware once more.


    "You¡¯ve woken up?" Ling Lan¡¯s expression was still cold and emotionless, but the suppressed rage in her eyes burned brightly once more following Nie Feng-ming¡¯s awakening.


    "This match is over. Cadet, please let go of the representative." Although Nie Feng-ming¡¯s final Pneumatic Punch had been somewhat vicious and uncalled for, nothing unsalvageable had happened after all, so Tang Yu was hoping to minimise the fuss. After all, the match involving Nie Feng-ming was already over ¡ª the New Cadet Regiment would not gain anything from chasing the issue.


    Hearing Tang Yu¡¯s words, Nie Feng-ming began to struggle, trying to wrest free of Ling Lan¡¯s grasp. For some reason, he just felt that this cold youth before him was way too dangerous. His instinctive reaction was to get away from the other.


    "We admit defeat because our skills are no match for our opponent. However, those who intend to harm my brothers will have to pay the due price!" Ling Lan¡¯s icy voice reverberated throughout the entirebat hall. This was Ling Lan¡¯s deration to the entire military academy ¡ª towards anyone who would harm her brothers, she would not show any mercy.


    Yes, Ling Lan was truly angry now. She wanted everyone in the military academy to know that she, Ling Lan, was no cowardly limp-egg that would willingly shrink away quietly and just take what others dished out 2 .


    Her words had barely faded when Ling Lan¡¯s hand on the other¡¯s fist abruptly lifted, and Nie Feng-ming was thrown bodily into the air. When he was about 2 metres away from the ground, Nie Feng-ming felt a cold and powerful hand press on the back of his skull, which then pushed forwards forcefully ...


    This sudden action of Ling Lan¡¯s made the expressions of both Tang Yu on the stage and Boss Huo below the stage pale drastically. They thought that Ling Lan was about tomit murder. Without prior agreement, they both leapt at Ling Lan, trying to stop the other¡¯s rampage.


    Tang Yu was only one step away from Ling Lan, but he had only just thought of approaching when an invisible surge of Qi-Jin stopped him. Meanwhile, Boss Huo was too far away ¡ª the duration of that blink of time was not enough for him to get there in time.


    A loud "boom" rang out! The entire stage shone with a radiant light and emitted an ear-splitting rm. The majority of people could not tell what this represented, but as the referee, Tang Yu knew that this meant the force the stage had received was already close to its maximum capacity. If a little bit more force was added, the stage may copse entirely.


    At this moment, Tang Yu could no longer maintain hisposure. His face was extremely pale ¡ª it should be known that the sturdiness of this stage in thebat hall was enough to withstand all damage below Domain stage. Since the stage was sounding its warning, could it be that this new cadet was already infinitely close to Domain? Or perhaps he had already arrived at that rumoured half step into Domain?


    Only after the light from the stage had faded and the warning rms had died down, could all the spectating students see the situation on the stage clearly, whereby they were all bbergasted.


    Nie Feng-ming¡¯s entire body wasid t on the stage, his front stered to the ground. On his face which was turned slightly to one side, both of his eyes were rolled up so the whites were showing ¡ª it could not be determined from appearance whether he was dead or alive. With his body at its centre, countlessrge gaping cracks had spread across the entire stage, causing the stage to seem broken and dpidated. It really led people to worry whether the three people still standing on the stage would copse the stage entirely if they moved.


    Boss Huo, who had already rushed onto the stage, saw Nie Feng-ming¡¯s terrible condition, and his eyes turned red. He pointed at Ling Lan angrily and questioned, "Why did you kill him?"


    Ling Lan flicked her sleeves, as if brushing off some dust, and replied emotionlessly, "Don¡¯t worry, he isn¡¯t dead!"


    "Not dead?" These words made Boss Huo calm down instantly from his towering rage. He quickly turned to look at Colonel Tang Yu.


    At this time, Tang Yu had already rushed forwards to check on Nie Feng-ming. He probed the side of Nie Feng-ming¡¯s neck, and his initially troubled expression eased. Luckily the boy was only severely injured and not dead. Otherwise, even if he had wanted to help the New Cadet Regiment, things would not have been so easily settled.


    "He¡¯s still breathing, but the bones of his entire body have been broken. He must be sent to the treatment centre immediately. It looks like Nie Feng-ming won¡¯t be able to recover fully without spending about a year and a half¡¯s worth of time." Tang Yu let Boss Huo know Nie Feng-ming¡¯s condition, and then swiftly instructed the staff to send Nie Feng-ming to the treatment centre.


    Right then, Tang Yu really did not know what to say anymore. In three consecutive rounds, all six participants were sent to the treatment centre. Was this really abat showdown or was it actually a death match? Never had any wagered fight been so brutal ¡ª at the bottom of it, it was all because these freshmen, each and every one of them, were such tough nuts to crack, unwilling to admit defeat ...


    During the new cadet admission assessment, didn¡¯t those unholy terrors 3 break these new cadets¡¯ proud bones and teach them a good lesson? Colonel Tang Yu could already sense that the pride of this batch of freshmen were extraordinarily robust, not at all like students who had been tormented and shamed ...


    Hearing that Nie Feng-ming was ultimately fine, Boss Huo finally let out a sigh of relief. He suppressed the rage in his heart as he asked in a measured tone, "Why did you harm our team member without any reason?"


    "Without any reason? I was only giving him a taste of his own medicine." Ling Lan¡¯s cool gaze was locked onto Boss Huo, "Could you not tell what your team member was doing just now? If that move of his hadnded, my brother would be in his current condition."


    "Didn¡¯t you manage to save him? Since your brother is fine, why would you be so cruel?"


    "And if I had not managed to save him?" Ling Lan shot back, "I will not forgive anyone who harms my brothers. No matter how powerful the other¡¯s faction is, or how formidable the other is personally."


    At this point of her speech, Ling Lan¡¯s icy gaze swept out to epass everyone watching the fights. She bit out word by word, "Right here, I want to remind everyone in the military academy, including all the major factions. If anyone dares to trouble my brothers for no reason, or harm them, I will definitely never let it rest. No matter how long it will take, I will make sure they pay for it."


    Using her spiritual power, Ling Lan made her voice ring out by everyone¡¯s ear, including those within the boxes. Quite a few weaker students actually found themselves trembling, their entire bodies feeling cold ...


    Only Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression shifted at these words, a subdued spark shing through his eyes. What familiar energy! Could the other be a kindred type 4 ? Li Lanfeng, who had initially held very little interest in Ling Lan, instantly slotted Ling Lan into his mind. When he found an opportunityter on, he would be prepared to test the other. If they were alike, perhaps there was the possibility of a coboration ...

 Chapter 260: Spiritual Life Coach?

    Chapter 260: Spiritual Life Coach?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Boss Huo found his breath stifled for a moment by Ling Lan¡¯s question, but fury soon followed in response to Ling Lan¡¯s arrogant words. In his extreme rage, heughed and said, "What shameless boasting. A tiny first year actually daring to threaten us?" Where did these first year students get the gall to do this?


    "Oh no, I¡¯m just rifying our New Cadet Regiment¡¯s principles in dealing with outsiders," responded Ling Lan calmly, "I also believe that, the other groups, including senior¡¯s Leiting Mecha n, will have something simr to this creed as well. We are just doing what we should."


    Ling Lan was not wrong. As an organisation, in order to protect the group and the welfare of its members, there must be some action. For example, the Leiting Mecha n¡¯s method of doing things was even more bossy and tyrannical than what Ling Lan had said. It went to the extent where if an outsider did not want to submit to them, they would be targeted on all fronts.


    However, this was all established on individual strength ... an idea sparked in Boss Huo¡¯s mind. He unleashed his full aura and pressed it down on the youth opposite him, and said slowly, "Ambitious, and your words are haughty, but it still remains to be seen whether you have the corresponding level of strength to back them up. Otherwise, it¡¯s all hot air, and you will only beughed at for biting off more than you can chew."


    Right beside them, Colonel Tang Yu sensed the great force of Boss Huo¡¯s aura pressing down, and his expression could not help but shift subtly. He threw a hurried nce at the main target of this force, but found Ling Lan still standing there with his back straight, expression unchanged, and the colonel¡¯s expression eased as he let go of his worry.


    Ling Lan seemed to not feel any of the pressure Boss Huo was silently heaping on her. Airily, she replied, "You can try."


    Boss Huo was just about to retort to that when Colonel Tang Yu suddenly opened his mouth to interrupt, "The names of the 4th round have yet to be announced, so both of you please leave the stage. Do not affect the continuation of the fights."


    Boss Huo cast a contemtive nce at Tang Yu, and then peered searchingly at Ling Lan for a long moment before sneering and said, "I hope we¡¯ll have the chance to fight. What you suggested just now is precisely what I intend to do ..." That said, he did not linger. With a dash, he left the stage, returning to Leiting¡¯s area.


    The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked at these words, revealing a very light trace of mockery. She of course knew what the other was hinting at. It was nothing more than wanting to take revenge for his team member ... the two of them were destined to fight in the end anyhow; she would just wait and let things be.


    Thus, Ling Lan also dashed back to her own territory. Right then, Wu Jiong approached nervously and asked in a low voice, "Boss Lan, can we really win?"


    For the first time, some uncertainty actually appeared in Wu Jiong¡¯s expression. This greatly surprised Ling Lan ¡ª in her mind, Wu Jiong had always been a mentally stable and assured youth who would never lose confidence in himself.


    "What are you trying to say?" Ling Lan quirked an eyebrow.


    Wu Jiong averted his eyes briefly and said, "Even Qi Long lost, will I ... will I be okay?"


    Wu Jiong knew very well that the situation was extremely disadvantageous for the New Cadet Regiment right now. They needed to win both of the final two rounds to win this wagered fight. This meant that, regardless of which match he had to fight, he could not lose. This type of pressure was not easy to bear, and on top of that, he had just seen Qi Long, who was stronger than him by a hair, fighting so hard just to lose in the end anyway. This caused him to begin harbouring a tendril of doubt in his own abilities.


    These words of Wu Jiong¡¯s made Ling Lan turn her head abruptly, her bleak gaze shooting straight at Wu Jiong.


    This gaze pierced Wu Jiong¡¯s heart like a sharp de, causing him to lower his head in shame. He knew that something had gone wrong with his mental state ¡ª behaving so disgracefully at this critical juncture, he was really letting Boss Lan down ...


    With a ¡¯thwack¡¯, Ling Lan flicked a forceful finger onto Wu Jiong¡¯s forehead, causing Wu Jiong to look up and cover his forehead reflexively, his expression confused.


    "Have you woken up?" asked Ling Lan.


    "Ah ..." Wu Jiong was gaping in bewilderment, reflexively making a sound in response. It looked like Ling Lan¡¯s finger-flick had really stunned him silly. After all, he and Ling Lan¡¯s rtionship was unlike that of Ling Lan with Qi Long and the others of his team ¡ª childhoodpanions who had grown up together ¡ª but more of a working rtionship. And Ling Lan¡¯s action just now was extremely intimate, like the way one would treat a beloved follower. This made Wu Jiong emotional and conflicted at the same time, making him unsure how he should react all of a sudden.


    "Wu Jiong, frankly, yourbat talent is not much weaker than Qi Long¡¯s," said Ling Lan after Wu Jiong had calmed down slightly.


    "Ah ...?" Once more, Wu Jiong was left stunned by Ling Lan¡¯s words. Was Boss Lan trying to console him? Mind you, he had always been suppressed by Qi Long, having never beaten the other even once. It was obvious that his talent was no match for Qi Long¡¯s.


    "The reason you can¡¯t beat him, is that you are not as simple as Qi Long here," Ling Lan pointed to her own chest.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words confused Wu Jiong, but Ling Lan continued to exin, "Other thanbat, Qi Long¡¯s heart has nothing else. But you are different. The things you think about are many, such as your future, and the futures of the members of your team ... all these distract your mind from purebat, which is why you will never catch up to Qi Long in terms ofbat."


    Wu Jiong grinned wryly at these words and replied, "Qi Long has you, Boss Lan, to help him. Of course he can focus without any distractions ..."


    Ling Lan interrupted him to say, "No, remember when I left the academy for three years? Without my help, you still did not manage to chase up to Qi Long. Have you never considered the reason for that?"


    Wu Jiong blinked, his expression troubled. For a beat, he could not understand what Ling Lan was saying, but he was after all a clever person. After turning the idea around in his mind for a while, he figured it out, and instantly chuckled bitterly, "So that¡¯s how it is. It¡¯s because Qi Long has Han Jijyun, has Luo Lang, has Lin Zhong-qing, has Xie Yi ..."


    "Yes, Qi Long¡¯s other strength is his willingness to believe in hispanions. He believes hispanions will handle the other things well, so he does not have to worry, able to immerse his full heart and soul into the path of martialbat," said Ling Lan, nodding, "Qi Long understands his role in the team very well, and has always been working hard to live up to his role."


    At this point, Ling Lan peered at Wu Jiong and said, "On the other hand, you, trusting only Ye Xu, have taken on the roles of almost everyone else ... you have too much to worry about, so with regards to martialbat, you of course cannot match up to Qi Long."


    As he listened, Wu Jiong ducked his head in shame. What Ling Lan was saying was precisely the problem with his team. Despite being very strong individually, inparison with Ling Lan¡¯s team, his team members were all clearly much weaker in their role designations. Previously, he had always thought it was because the skills of his team members were no match for Lin Zhong-qing, Xie Yi and the others of Ling Lan¡¯s team, but now, from the looks of it, he himself was the problem.


    "But, from another perspective, you should also be proud of yourself." Ling Lan¡¯s words took an abrupt turn, causing Wu Jiong to lift his head in surprise, to stare at Ling Lan in disbelief. He had already behaved so terribly ... why would Boss Lan still say he should take pride in himself?


    "Even though your attention had been split up among so many things, you still were not left too far behind Qi Long. Isn¡¯t that something to take pride in?" Ling Lan asked, lifting an eyebrow.


    These words of Ling Lan made Wu Jiong¡¯s heart feel warm instantly ¡ª so he really was not that much worse than Qi Long!


    "That is why I believe in your strength, that you will definitely win at the critical moment ..." Ling Lan finally gave her answer. All of this talk was actually just to eliminate that little speck of self-doubt in Wu Jiong¡¯s heart. As the big boss of the regiment, she really did not have it easy ...


    Ling Lan was in fact very bothered inside. When had she also taken on the job of being the spiritual life coach of these children? Li Yingjie was one, and now Wu Jiong was another ... but, upon reflection, Li Yingjie¡¯s and Wu Jiong¡¯s behaviours were more like those of a normal 16 year old teenager. Qi Long and Luo Lang were the ones who were weird, actually submitting themselves to a round of torment on the field without any reservations.


    Could it be that because she was not a normal 16 year old girl, herpanions who grew up with her had also be abnormal along with her? At this thought, Ling Lan could not help but feel a bout of remorse. Of course, this feeling onlysted for a very brief moment before being thrown to the back of her mind.


    In the course of one conversation, Ling Lan achieved her purpose. From his initial uncertain state, Wu Jiong had now be unbelievably confident. This also allowed Ling Lan to rx ¡ª after all, no mistakes could be made in these final two rounds.


    "Boss, the opponent has submitted their name list! As expected, it¡¯s their weakest member, Chang Le 1 !" Little Four finally piped up from within the mindspace. This time, Leiting had submitted their name list veryte, basically right at the border of the allocated 5 minutes. However, following the submission of the opponent¡¯s name list, Little Four instantly sent Wu Jiong¡¯s name over.


    This was Ling Lan¡¯s instruction. She had already told Little Four that she would be fighting against that strongest Boss Huo, while the weakest Chang Le would be Wu Jiong¡¯s opponent. Thus, when the opponent¡¯name list was revealed, Little Four had sent Wu Jiong¡¯s name over without checking in with Ling Lan again.


    On Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s end, to the naked eye, it looked as if the New Cadet Regiment and the Leiting Mecha n had submitted their name list at the exact same time. This made the colonel raise his eyebrows, silently impressed at how unruffled the two factions were, able to wait till the veryst second before submitting their name lists. He could not know that this process involved some wlessly excuted cheating by a miraculous intelligence entity.


    "Leiting Mecha n vs New Cadet Regiment, 4th round. 4th year Chang Le against 1st year Wu Jiong!"


    Following this announcement, Leiting¡¯s Lin Zhidong rapped his own head with a fist in frustration. He had initially wondered whether to let Boss Huo go up in this 4th round, but then, he was afraid that that mysterious youth who had crippled Nie Feng-ming in one blow would also be fighting in this round. After much thought, he decided to send out the weakest Chang Le to be sacrificed against the opponent¡¯s strongest member, but unexpectedly, the opponent was so calm, actually sending out their regimentmander, Wu Jiong.


    At this moment, Lin Zhidong already knew that this Wu Jiong was most likely just the public regimentmander of the New Cadet Regiment. The one truly in charge of the New Cadet Regiment should be that mysterious youth, because the pressure the mysterious youth exuded was much heavier than that of Wu Jiong¡¯s ...


    "This is good. I really want to personally teach that youth a lesson," Boss Huo suddenly spoke up from beside him, causing Lin Zhidong to jump. With that, Lin Zhidong no longer dared to reveal any more of his frustration, only nodding to show that he understood.


    However, both their reactions showed that they did not look favourably upon Chang Le¡¯s chances in this match. After all, Wu Jiong was the public regimentmander of the New Cadet Regiment, so he really could not be that weak. The other three who hade out so far were all at Qi-Jin stage, so this Wu Jiong must surely be at Qi-Jin stage as well. It was just unclear whether he was in the early stages of Qi-Jin or the middle stages ... meanwhile, although Chang Le was also at Qi-Jin stage, he was only at the mid-level of early stage Qi-Jin. This match, would definitely be tough to win.

 Chapter 261: Wu Jiong’s Calculation!

    Chapter 261: Wu Jiong¡¯s Calction!


    Trantor: DRZ Editor: H2dH2mr


    After taking the stage, Wu Jiong and Chang Le had their guards up. Wu Jiong shouldered the huge pressure of having to win, while Chang Le hoped to end this battle in his turn and be the great hero of Leiting.


    In contrast to Lin Zhidong¡¯s and Boss Huo¡¯s uncertainty, Chang Le was extremely confident of himself as he had already reached mid-level early stage Qi-Jin, and believed that Wu Jiong was around the same level as those two new cadets who hade out earlier on, who had just entered first-level early stage Qi-Jin. He was not convinced that there would be new cadets stronger than him, and Qi Long, the one who came out during the third match, was probably the rumoured aberrant as he was extremely strong.


    Chang Le had overlooked Ling Lan¡¯s existence at this moment. He was under the impression that Ling Lan could severely injure Nie Feng-ming in one strike only because Nie Feng-ming and Qi Long had been in a situation where both sides had suffered serious injuries, so Nie Feng-ming had been defenceless It had to be said that having a huge discrepancy between their strength made one unable to see the actual facts, and Chang Le was currently in such a state.


    When Chang Le saw Wu Jiong doing a high-level military physical defensive hand gesture when he took the stage, he was instantly delighted.


    There were numerous top-ssbat arts in the military academy, one of which was the top-ssbat art used by the military. When Chang Le had advanced into Qi-Jin, the physical skill he had selected to match his upgrade was that one. As such, seeing that Wu Jiong was also using that same set of military physical skills, he was overjoyed. When using the same series of physical skill, the higher levels countered the lower levels. With that, Chang Le was even more convinced that victory was in his grasp.


    He who was extremely confident did not think of probing his opponent, instead using a powerful finishing blow from the military physical skill right off the bat.


    Witnessing the situation, Wu Jiong¡¯s eyes gleamed. Perhaps the opponent¡¯s attack speed was extremely fast and he could not dodge, as Wu Jiong merely braced himself by making a cross with his arms to defend and intercept the opponent¡¯s attack!


    "Bang!" A loud sound resounded and Wu Jiong was knocked back hard, his feet sliding across the ground, marking it with two streaks. Meanwhile, Chang Le¡¯s body simply shook before he steadied himself.


    Solely based on this encounter, it seemed like Wu Jiong¡¯s strength was a notch lowerpared to his, and Chang Le was heartened by this. He did not even think it through before he continued attacking, his foot kicking out forcefully.


    Wu Jiong did not choose to receive the attack but instead dodged it with a slide.


    This action reaffirmed Chang Le¡¯s belief that the other party was weaker, thus not daring to receive his attack directly. Before he went up on stage, Boss Huo had reminded him to exercise caution and thoroughly understand the opponent¡¯s strength before making a move. Currently, Chang Le whose whole head was filled with grand dreams of being a hero had tossed Boss Huo¡¯s warning to the back of his mind. In addition, burning up with passion, he had long forgotten the need to retain thirty percent of his strength for defence as he unleashed all of his strength into his attacks against the opponent.


    He did not notice that, despite the fact that Wu Jiong had been sidestepping from the beginning and seemed like a small boat struggling amidst a surging gale, his face was abnormally calm. Every dodge of his was extremely efficient without being sloppy, and those with keen eyesight could see that Wu Jiong seemed to have a well-thought-out n with every dodge and clearly understood his opponent¡¯s path of attack.


    "No good, Chang Le¡¯s too impulsive, and I¡¯m afraid he¡¯s fallen into the opponent¡¯s stratagem." Boss Huo who was seated below and observing the match furrowed his brow, involuntarily looking towards Ling Lan seated in the New Cadet Regiment¡¯s area with his hands crossed, his expression calm, seemingly having a card up his sleeve.


    Apparently sensing Boss Huo¡¯s line of sight, Ling Lan coldly met his gaze, and then, the corner of her mouth raised slightly, as if saying victory belonged to them...


    Boss Huo felt stifled. Although he had had a premonition of Chang Le having a difficult fight, Boss Huo did not wish to lose...


    "You¡¯re stronger than your opponent and as long as you remember to go steady and strike hard without advancing prematurely, we can win this match." Wu Jiong who was dodging on the stage suddenly recalled the words Ling Lan had told him before he took the stage, and endless admiration welled up in his heart.


    After receiving an attack from the opponent, Wu Jiong was aware that the opponent was inferior to him by a notch. Initially, he could have chosen to attack head-on and fight a fierce battle, and defeat his opponent that way, but Wu Jiong did not wish to do so.


    After three consecutive bitter and desperate battles, Wu Jiong wanted to gain aplete and overwhelming victory to prove the might of their New Cadet Regiment. Therefore, he had revealed weakness on purpose, so that the opponent would have the mistaken impression that his strength was weaker, and abandon defence to focus fully on offence ...


    Of course, there was another reason why Wu Jiong had set this up. ¡ª he knew the opponent had also learned the top-ss military usebat arts. If it had been any otherbat move, he would not have done so. After all, deliberately showing weakness might very well lead to shooting oneself in the foot, allowing the opponent to seize the flow of the match and put him in a passive position. Just like during the first battle Luo Lang fought, it was the opponent¡¯s mocking that allowed Luo Lang to seize the opportunity and gain upper hand.


    However, it just so happened that the opponent had learned the top-ss militarybat move, and who was Wu Jiong? He was a direct descendant of a military elite family, the Wu family, a genuine N-generation military family descendant. In addition, the inherited martial arts in the family was the physical skill used by the military, and when he had advanced in Qi-Jin levels it had caused a sensation in Wu family because he was the youngest descendant in the family who had advanced. Even the family head was alerted, who then directly instructed him in the Wu family¡¯s exclusive secret moves.


    Thesebat moves had been researched and tempered through N-generations of Wu family masters, assimting the best traits of the top-ss militarybat moves while harmonizing them with other topbat moves. It was inevitable to be extremely familiar with various types of military physical skills while learning their family¡¯s secret moves, and there were even many moves that specifically countered those of the military physical skill set, including the top-ss militarybat moves.


    This was also the reason Wu Jiong had fearlessly devised this n. He was familiar with the opponent¡¯s moves and even during the first few attacks, killing moves aimed to counter them had directly surfaced in Wu Jiong¡¯s mind. However, Wu Jiong believed that the opportune timing had yet to arrive, so he had endured silently until now...


    But now, Wu Jiong considered that timing to have arrived. The opponent had once again struck out with both fists ¡ª this was a military top-ssbat move called the Twin Dragon Strike. The scary part of this attack was that as long as both hands were to simultaneously make contact with the opponent¡¯s body, a Qi-Jin loop would appear between the fists, directly destroying the opponent¡¯s internal organs, which made this one of the most powerful killing moves of the military top-levelbat arts.


    Yet, there was a fatal weakness in this attack, and that was the user¡¯s chest would bepletely exposed, and when both fists struck out, the move had to bepletely executed without any leeway for retreat. Thus, as long as he pinpointed a weak spot, the opponent would not have time to change moves even if he wanted to save himself. Therefore, Wu Jiong believed that his opportunity had arrived...


    Wu Jiong suddenly came to a stop and no longer dodging, his hands abruptly came together, while both his arms thrust forwards to ce him between Chang Le¡¯s fists. With a loud shout, his originally joined hands suddenly separated, while his arms spread open to push out forcefully against the opponent¡¯s forearms ...


    Only after both of the opponent¡¯s fists had brushed past his body, did Wu Jiong retract his arms and used both fists to strike fiercely at the opponent¡¯s chest ¡ª¡ª Twin Dragon Strike Remake! This was the Wu family¡¯s secret move, a revised first-ratebat move of Twin Dragon Strike. This secret move allowed offence and defence in one move, counteracting the weak point of the original Twin Dragon Strike of being unable to defend!


    Chang Le received a direct blow from Wu Jiong and crashed heavily to the ground with a thud, sliding out several meters before spitting out a jet of blood...


    This unexpected scene shocked everyone, because Chang Le had held the upper hand all along, so they had not expected the situation to suddenly change, for Wu Jiong to actually knock down the opponent with one move.


    Chang Le copsed onto the ground, covering his chest, but was unable to contain the fresh blood in this mouth. He then asked painfully, "Why do you know this move...?" Familiar with the militarybat art, he naturally understood that the move the opponent had executed was from the same series.


    Wu Jiong coldly replied, "As a student of the militarybat arts, you should know which family has the strongest militarybat arts."


    Chang Le recalled something, and hisplexion turned deathly pale. "The Wu family. So you¡¯re from that Wu family... I am too unlucky." That said, he fainted and was thoroughly unconscious. Wu Jiong had pulled his punches and only injured his heart instead ofpletely destroying it. Otherwise, Chang Le would not even have had the opportunity to speak with him....


    Unlucky? Was it truly just bad luck? A hint of disdain was revealed on Wu Jiong¡¯s lips and he felt ashamed for actually losing confidence earlier on. Luckily, Boss Lan had made him realize in time that he was strong enough ...


    At this moment, Colonel Tang Yu had gone up to examine Chang Le¡¯s condition, and discovering that the youth¡¯s injuries were severe, he hastily called out for staff members to send Chang Le to the treatment centre. Subsequently, he announced the New Cadet Regiment the victor for this match, bringing the overall score to 2-2, with both teams back at the starting line once again.


    Everyone¡¯s attention was now on thest match. They were all looking forward to whether Boss Huo, the number one inbat arts, would truly appear on stage...


    Wu Jiong coolly walked off the stage. Out of the four matches, he was the only representative who was uninjured. His performance was sufficient to prove that he was absolutely suitable to be the public regimentmander of the New Cadet Regiment.


    "You¡¯ve done well." Spotting Wu Jiong walking over, Ling Lan was generous with her praise.


    A hint of a smile appeared on Wu Jiong¡¯s originally stony face at the praise. He recovered his senses very quickly, however, and mentally shook his head. He had not expected to be so happy with just one sentence from Ling Lan ¡ª he was even happier than when he had received his father¡¯s acknowledgment...


    This time, Little Four immediately submitted Ling Lan¡¯s name without waiting for the opponent to publish their list, as regardless of who came out, Boss was going to fight thest battle anyway.


    The five-minute intermission finally psed, and Tang Yu loudly announced on the tform, "New Cadet Regiment Vs Leiting Mecha n, 1st year Ling Lan against 5th year Huo Zhenyu."


    Following the announcement, enthusiastic shouts sounded from the audience. Reason being, Huo Zhenyu was the Military Academy¡¯s number one in physical skillbat, as well as being the Leiting Mecha n¡¯s previous leader. His reputation was not inferior to Thunder King Qiao Ting¡¯s, and it was only during the fourth year, after passing the position to Qiao Ting, that his prestige had declined. Even so, witnessing Huo Zhenyu actually standing up on the stage, the older students who had been looking forward to seeing him fight could no longer contain their excitement as they cheered loudly.


    "He¡¯s really going to fight. Damn, seems like Leiting is determined to win against the New Cadet Regiment." The various leaders of the major forces sighed.


    After witnessing Huo Zhenyu emerge on the stage previously, they had had a premonition that he might be fighting. However, they had still held on to a trace of hope, wishing that he would consider his status as the top rank inbat skills and not rashly take the stage.

 Chapter 262: The Reactions of the Various Factions!

    Chapter 262: The Reactions of the Various Factions!


    Trantor: DRZ Editor: H2dH2mr


    Yet, reality crushed the hopes of the various faction leaders. This indicated that they were unlikely to obtain even the slightest share of this big fish, which was the New Cadet Regiment. They could not help but secretly sigh in regret. If they had known that the new cadets this year were so outstanding, they would have long taken action instead of watching from the sidelines, allowing Leiting to take possession of this decisive opportunity right now.


    The various leaders could already envision the future. After Leiting swallowed the entire New Cadet Regiment, their influence would definitely expand once again. With that, the position of the number one faction in the Military Academy would not be changing in the slightest for several years, firmly belonging to the Leiting Mecha n.


    Not mentioning the agony and regret of various factions, the senior students observing the fight believed that the Leiting Mecha n would inevitably obtain victory in thisst match without any suspense. While everyone was in shock and excitement due to Huo Zhenyu¡¯s appearance, the new cadets¡¯ reactions caused the surrounding people to raise their eyebrows, to the extent that those senior students believed that the new cadets had limited outlook and experience, not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth.


    It turned out that, after beholding Ling Lan, the powerhouse of their hearts, ascending the stage, the new cadets were unable to restrain their excitement as they stood up in session, raising their arms and shouting, "Boss Lan will certainly win!"


    That¡¯s right, in the hearts of every member of the New Cadet Regiment, especially students from Central Scout Academy, Boss Lan who had guided them in winning the grand armed melee and taking control of the spacecraft would never be defeated.


    This disy of the New Cadet Regiment caused the others to be secretly shocked at the position Boss Lan held in the members¡¯ hearts. Previously having considered them to already be in their grasp, Lin Zhidong¡¯s expression changed subtly upon witnessing this scene as he recalled Boss Huo¡¯s warning. He began having misgivings towards Ling Lan while pondering on methods to diminish Ling Lan¡¯s prestige among the new cadets after taking in the New Cadet Regiment.


    At this moment, no matter how slow-witted the various leaders of each faction were, they were now clear about the devil who had caused Zhang Jing-an to be so apprehensive.


    In Wuji¡¯s cabin, Han Yu¡¯s face suddenly darkened after hearing the fanatic shouts from the new cadets. "Apparently, the aberrant Zhang Jing-an mentioned should be this person." Besides him, there should be no one else who could achieve this.


    Han Yu¡¯s gaze was shadowed as he looked at that stern, lean youth on the stage, and he felt aplicated emotion silently emerge within him. Thinking back on the time when they themselves had entered the Academy, even though they were proud and arrogant, they had had no option but to join the Wuji faction which belonged to their gxy as they were under pressure from all sides.


    Even so, as 1st-year cadets, they had always been ordered about and lectured by the older cadets with seniority and no one would help them. They could only mp down their tails and endure the toughest first year, and then work their utmost hardest to increase their strengthter on. After that, he had expended great effort to climb up the hierarchy, fighting and scheming, to finally be one of the leaders of Wuji Mecha n.


    Han Yu was simply unwilling to recall how much hardship he had endured during that time. He had originally thought that this was an inevitable route every cadet had to walk without exception, as even the formidable Thunder King, Qiao Ting, had walked that same path.


    Yet against everyone¡¯s expectations, the new cadets this year had taken an unprecedented path. To avoid being bullied and enved, they had established a faction belonging to them alone that was not weaker than the other influential powers almost immediately after entering the military academy. Then, soon after, they had epted Leiting¡¯s challenge in a high profile manner, causing the new cadets to be the focus of the entire academy. And at present, they were tied against Leiting, proving their strength.


    Despite all this, Han Yu did not believe the new cadets would be the final victors. Still, based on their performance on the stage, the senior members of Leiting would certainly refrain from provoking them even if they joined the Leiting Mecha n. It was apt to say that, in the military academy, the strong were respected, and honour was obtained through strength.


    Wei Ji heard Han Yu¡¯s words and quietly sighed. "Seems like we¡¯ve belittled this aberrant. It¡¯s no wonder Zhang Jing-an regarded him with importance while simultaneously avoiding him."


    Since the third contestant from the New Cadet Regiment was already at mid-level intermediate stage Qi-Jin, it was reckoned that Ling Lan should be at mid-level advanced stage Qi-Jin at worst. Even he had to look up to this realm as his physical skills had only entered the early stages of Qi-Jin, because they had concentrated on mecha piloting all these years ...


    Wei Ji felt lingering fear just thinking about it ¡ª the strength of new cadets this year had exceeded his expectations. Fortunately, he had not provoked them on impulse from the start, as Wuji did not have a solid foundation like Leiting. If they were to have fought on the stage, the oue of the battle would have been hard to say.


    Zhao Jun heard them, but he was unconvinced. He sneered and said, "Being good at physicalbat doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯ll also be outstanding as a mecha operator..." That dismissive look of his caused Han Yu and Wei Ji to involuntarily purse their lips. However, they were aware that Zhao Jun was a frank and outspoken person, so they did not refute his words.


    Having heard what was said, Li Lanfeng smiled. "Zhao Jun, you shouldn¡¯t speak this way. A person who performs well in battles won¡¯t be too inferior as a mecha operator." A person with robust physique would often possess a slight advantage in mecha piloting. This was also the reason why the military academy had emphasized training up their physiques as it was unlikely for the majority of experts to have bad physiques.


    "Hmph, that might not be true. Isn¡¯t Zhang Jing-an a mecha cripple?" When Zhang Jing-an had entered the military academy, he was the only new cadet who reached Qi-Jin stage and was top-ranked among the new cadets. Unfortunately, after starting to learn Mecha Piloting from the second year, the other cadets had caught up with him, and he was currently on the verge of being lost in the vast sea of cadets. His figure was nowhere to be seen in the top fifty, and he had be aughingstock between the upper echelons of the variousrge factions ...


    If not for the fact that the Doha Central Academy faction that Zhang Jing-an belonged to had a strong foundation, just based on his strength, they might not have been able to maintain the ranking of being the military academy¡¯s number four faction.


    Hearing Zhao Jun mention Zhang Jing-an, everyone was silent as this was a fact that could not be refuted. In reality, there were many cases simr to Zhang Jing-an¡¯s, of students having powerful physical skills but not excelling in mecha piloting.


    At this moment, seated in a certain area among the New Cadet Regiment, Gao Jinyun spoke to a few people seated beside him. "Boss Lan is about to appear on stage. You all had better watch attentively."


    One of the people he was speaking to asked nervously, "I heard that the opponent is the top-rank inbat skills. No matter how powerful is Boss Lan, he won¡¯t be able to win against the opponent, right?"


    "Yeah! Although Boss Lan has capability and charisma, Leiting is ultimately the number one faction. Is it really appropriate to go against them so early?" Another person voiced this question. In reality, he was not optimistic about how the New Cadet Regiment¡¯s battle would turn out this time; if Gao Jinyun had not warned him in advance not to try anything, he might have already followed the other team leaders and considered alternative options.


    Hearing what they had to say, Gao Jinyun sneered. "I specially reminded you all because of our rtionship. Don¡¯t be short-sighted like the others and collude with outsiders when the oue has yet to be revealed. Furthermore, even if Boss Lan were to lose, I¡¯d still advise you all to follow Boss Lan... Don¡¯t foolishly think you would be a true member of Leiting after joining them."


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s words caused the others to be wordless and silent. If they truly joined Leiting, could Boss Lan keep the New Cadet Regiment from disbanding? Leiting would never allow such a situation to happen, and the first person to be suppressed was most likely to be Boss Lan.


    "Do you think anyone can suppress a person like Boss Lan?" Gao Jinyun¡¯s question caused everyone to shiver. Would that chilly and domineering Boss Lan acknowledge allegiance to another? Oh my god, please forgive their inability to imagine that.


    Gao Jinyun sneered, "Leiting wants to devour the entire New Cadet Regiment but that would depend on whether they have the ability."


    Ever since the spaceship incident, Gao Jinyun had had an inexplicable trust towards Ling Lan. While many hearts wavered, he resolutely believed that Ling Lan would never be a subordinate to another faction. In his heart, no one could be boss of Boss Lan.


    "Besides, would Boss Lan lose?" Gao Jinyun concealed this sentence deep in his heart and did not say it out loud.


    He was not convinced that the Boss Lan who could calmly confront the captain of the spaceship and not be at a disadvantage would lose to a mere academy cadet. Even if that cadet was in their 5th year or was about to enter the military as abat expert. Compared to the captain who had climbed out from a sea of blood, the force of presence of a cadet was obviously weaker andpletely iparable.


    These leaders had been roped in by him into the New Cadet Regiment, and thus, he had to live up to his responsibility towards Boss Lan and prevent the others from betraying him.


    Perhaps Gao Jinyun¡¯s words had proved effective, for a few of the originally hesitant leaders became determined. Regardless of the result, they decided they would follow alongside Boss Lan. In any case, Boss Lan was simr to them ¡ª as new cadets of the same enrolment year, it was more likely that he would look after them. Without a doubt, this was a better choicepared to the other factions.


    Hearing them say that they would not turn traitor, Gao Jinyun immediately rxed and settled down quietly to watch Boss Lan¡¯s match. Currently, he was unaware that Ling Lan already had intentions to seize this chance to clear out those opportunistic cadets who were clearly only trying to benefit from the regiment.


    Of course, these actions of his were not meaningless, because he settled the hearts of these small team members so they did not betray the New Cadet Regiment, which led the Central Academy students to truly acknowledge those students who came from the other Doha scout academies. This built a great foundation for Ling Lan to genuinely be the king of the new cadets, and it could truly be said to be an unintended side benefit ...


    By this time, Ling Lan and Huo Zhenyu had moved onto the elevated stage. The two of them did not make any preparations for battle, merely standing casually on their respective sides. It was as if they were not participating in the final decisive match, but instead taking a stroll.


    However, as the referee, Colonel Tang Yu nodded mentally in approval at the situation. Although both fighters seemed rxed, their casual stances were, in fact, without any openings. Tang Yu believed that, as long as there was the slightest sign of movement, they could instantly enter a battle state. This was the result of assimtingbat into their basic instincts, and it could be seen that theirbat realm had already exceeded that of every cadet here.


    Right then, no matter how unperturbed Tang Yu was, he could not help but shoot a nce at Ling Lan while wondering to himself, where exactly had this aberrante from ...?


    Colonel Tang Yu quickly sorted out his thoughts, and without asking if the two fighters were prepared, he waved his hands and announced loudly, "The match begins!" With their capabilities, it did not matter if they were prepared or not, so Tang Yu would not ask unnecessary questions.


    Following Tang Yu¡¯s deration, silence fell around the stage as everyone¡¯s attention became focused on the twobatants.

 Chapter 263: Oppressive Aura!

    Chapter 263: Oppressive Aura!


    Trantor: DRZ Editor: H2dH2mr


    Although Colonel Tang Yu had announced themencement of the match, Ling Lan and Huo Zhenyu seemed not to have heard it, not moving in the slightest.


    Ling Lan¡¯s bearing was grave and stern, her gaze cold with both hands behind her back while she stood to one side. Huo Zhenyu¡¯s eyes were half-lidded as he quietly stood on the other side with a calm expression, seemingly not minding who his opponent was, as if the confrontation during the third match had not happened ...


    Just like that, one cold and the other calm, they stood without moving as they allowed time to pass. One minute psed, two minutes psed, three minutes psed ... Along with the passing of time, some noise could be heard in thebat hall. In particr, some of the older students were baffled as to why Huo Zhenyu had not chosen to attack after such a long time.


    They believed that, as the number onebatant of the Military Academy, Huo Zhenyu could certainly dispose of the opponent with no difficulty, so they were puzzled by his inactivity for such a long period of time.


    They were unaware that it was not Huo Zhenyu who did not want to take action, but rather, he did not have the chance to do so. During these three minutes, he had been constantly searching for an opening in the opponent, but regardless of how hard he searched, he couldn¡¯t find a window of opportunity. Even though there had been a few faintly discernible chances, they had been rejected by him as they had made him feel an indescribable sense of danger.


    Huo Zhenyu was not a rash person, so he had chosen to continue waiting, and with this wait, the time had exceeded three minutes...


    /¡¯To not have the slightest opening ...¡¯ Huo Zhenyu could not help but smile bitterly. At this moment, he was secretly guarded against Ling Lan, the reason being that an opponent whom he could not find an opening in could not be weak.


    However, should he continue waiting? Huo Zhenyu immediately rejected this thought. ording to the opponent¡¯s ability, he would not reveal any fatal opening even if he waited. Therefore, Huo Zhenyu changed his mind and decided to take the initiative to force an opening.


    Hence, Huo Zhenyu¡¯s aura burst out from his body and bore down on Ling Lan like a wave.


    In reality, whether abatant had reachedte-stage Qi-Jin or not would depend on whether he had grasped control over his own aura. That was to say, abatant ofte stage Qi-Jin could release their own aura to oppress the opponent, causing the opponent to be unable to disy a hundred percent of their fighting capability. After reachingte stage Qi-Jin, there was no possibility of losing when facing an opponent of weaker strength.


    Of course, there was another reason Huo Zhenyu had activated his oppressive aura, and that was to find out the opponent¡¯s true strength, for using his oppressive aura was a good method for probing.


    Ling Lan and Huo Zhenyu were at a deadlock for three minutes, each side only executing a few baiting moves during that period. However, Huo Zhenyu had not been tempted and Ling Lan could not help but silently acknowledge that the opponent was truly an experienced, expert fighter, able to see through her intentions.


    That¡¯s right, the reason why Ling Lan did not take the initiative was that she could not find an opening in the opponent¡¯s defence, and even if she had attacked, it would have been useless as it would be easily dodged. However, she wanted to defeat the opponent in one move and show the might of the New Cadet Regiment, preventing others from daring to provoke them rashly ...


    Ling Lan wanted to kill the chicken to warn the monkey, and sadly, Huo Zhenyu had be the chicken. Although this chicken might be a terrifying fighting chicken, it would not change the initial intention Ling Lan had when she epted the fight from the start.


    Of course, based on Ling Lan¡¯s strength, she could directly activate her ability and temporarily lockdown the opponent¡¯s movements for an extremely short time, aplishing a one-strike defeat. However, as someone who liked to hold back, Ling Lan was unwilling to reveal all her cards, which was why Ling Lan wanted to aplish this magnificent feat while concealing her strength.


    Ling Lan had been pondering her next move, when she suddenly sensed the opponent¡¯s oppressive aura pressing towards her. Ling Lan¡¯s heart thumped. /¡¯As expected, he¡¯s at peak levelte stage Qi-Jin ... If it was me three years ago, it would definitely have been a hard battle. However, right now ...¡¯


    Thanks to instructor Number Five borrowing Ling Lan¡¯s body, she had been able to directly breakthrough from peak levelte stage Qi-Jin to optimal peak. In addition, her body had memories of Domain, allowing her to get a glimpse of the mystery of Domain.


    Although she was unable to officially advance to Domain stage due to various reasons, she had indeed entered the legendary half-step to Domain stage!


    With the ability to activate her domain, although the period of time was absurdly short, this allowed Ling Lan to be an unequalled ultra-expert below the Domain stage.


    The moment the opponent used his oppressive aura, Ling Lan knew his intentions. The corner of her lips curled up slightly, but she revealed a grim expression, and her stance which had been without any openings slowly broke down ...


    "A chance!" Huo Zhenyu¡¯s expression brightened and his figure shed, appearing before Ling Lan in the blink of an eye. Raising his right hand he had prepared beforehand, he immediately thrust out a strong and powerful fist.


    "It¡¯s here, Boss Huo has attacked." The situation on the stage could be seen clearly and when Huo Zhenyu moved, everyone who was awaiting a fight shouted. Nheless, both thebatants¡¯ fists had already collided against each other on stage by the time the spectators shouted.


    "Good move!" Ling Lan had made a fist and faced his attack directly without fear. She had long waited for this attack and with her strength, she had nothing to fear.


    In fact, Ling Lan had progressed in this type of powerful and overbearing style which, ording to Instructor Number Nine, was not a route a female should take. Unfortunately, the majority of the instructors who instructed her were males and in particr, the overbearing instructor Number One.


    Even if Number Nine was discontented, she dared not express her objections outright, only choosing instead to instruct Ling Lan in as many techniques that trained her flexibility as she could, hoping Ling Lan would not end up bing a rough, masculine female brute.


    "Bang", a muffled sound echoed! Ling Lan¡¯s and Huo Zhenyu¡¯s fist urately counterbnced each other, and even though the resulting sound seemed as if they had not exerted a great amount of strength, the edge of the elevated stage produced a brilliant light. This indicated that the entire stage had beenpletely saturated with the Qi-Jin released by the both of them, and was infinitely close to its critical point.


    On the ground surface of the arena, with their position as the centre, countless cracks expanded outward. From there, the force both of them endured could be seen.


    After remaining in a deadlock for several seconds, both of them suddenly sprang apart. Ling Lan retreated seven to eight steps before standing firm and it was the same for Huo Zhenyu. Both of them seemed to be evenly matched but there was still some difference between them ¡ª Ling Lan wore a cold expression as before, whereas Huo Zhenyu¡¯s expression was fluctuating between red then white. And then, a trace of blood could be seen trickling down from the corner of his mouth.


    This scene caused all the spectators to go into an uproar and in the Leiting area, everyone¡¯s expression changed, especially Lin Zhidong¡¯s. His face had copsed entirely on itself into an unsightly expression.


    "How could this be?!" Not only were the senior cadets who were spectating the match from below the arena in disbelief, even the leaders of various factions in each cabin had reacted in unison as if by a non-existent prior agreement, crying out in surprise, unable to believe the scene they had witnessed.


    Regardless of how shocked those senior cadets were, the cadets of the New Cadet Regiment leapt up and cheered upon witnessing this scene. As expected, no one can defeat Boss Lan!


    Looking at the New Cadet Regiment pping in celebration, the people from Leiting seemed somewhat depressed and silent. Many of them could only do their best inforting themselves that their Boss Huo might have underestimated the enemy and did not use his full strength in that attack, and thus, the opponent had grasped the opportunity... They could only secretly cheer for their Boss Huo, hoping his next move would teach the opponent a lesson and prove Boss Huo¡¯s strength, diminishing the morale of these new cadets while he was at it.


    Regardless of what others thought, on the stage, Huo Zhenyu was currently astounded. He originally had ample confidence in his strength and believed that even the teachers in the academy might not be stronger than him in terms of physicalbat. However, at this moment, a new cadet had caused him to feel inferior ¡ª a punch he exerted all his strength to throw had been easily received by the opponent. It was to the extent that during the previous contest between their Qi-Jin, he had been at a disadvantage. Could it be that the opponent¡¯s realm was higher than his?


    "Hey, do you still want to fight?" Ling Lan¡¯s chilly voice echoed in Huo Zhenyu¡¯s ears, causing cold sweat to emerge on his body. He had been so shocked by thatst encounter that he had actually forgotten he was currently in a battle. If the opponent had not reminded him and had instead chosen to mount a surprise attack, he might have already fallen victim. If he had been injured as a result, then this battle would truly be hard to fight.


    Tang Yu looked at Ling Lan in astonishment. That had been a good opportunity for a surprise attack and he had assumed Ling Lan would not have let this chance slip by. But contrary to his expectations, Ling Lan had shaken his opponent out of his stupor. Was he abiding by the martial arts¡¯ principles of fairness? Tang Yu could not help but furrow his brow, because this was not a desirable mindset on a battlefield.


    Nevertheless, Tang Yu rxed his frown very soon and broke intoughter. All in all, Ling Lan was only a new cadet who had just entered the Military Academy and had never been on a battlefield, so naturally, he did not know that there was no so-called principle of fairness there. Only those who survived were the true victors, and perhaps he would understand the correct way of handling matters after going out on a battlefield.


    Ling Lan had thought of mounting a surprise attack, but if she were to defeat the opponent this way, the people from Leiting would have believed that she was merely lucky and had not defeated her opponent by true ability. This oue was not what she wanted, so she had spoken up to alert Huo Zhenyu with seemingly with good intentions.


    "Are you prepared? I¡¯ll be attacking next," Ling Lan spoke seriously.


    Huo Zhenyu smiled wryly and nodded. Since he had received the opponent¡¯s favour of warning him beforehand, he had no choice but to receive the opponent¡¯s attack. As the opponent was willing to face him with fair-mindedness, he did not want to be belittled by him.


    Seeing his reaction, Ling Lan¡¯s expression brightened faintly and she continued, "This attack is my strongest killing move. Be prepared!"


    These words caused both Tang Yu and Huo Zhenyu who were on stage to be at a loss. Should they criticize the other¡¯s straightforwardness or remind him not to be too frank?


    Currently, both of them did not expect that Ling Lan¡¯s intentions of saying these words were in hopes of Huo Zhenyu not evading her attack. Her seemingly overly frank sentences were actually a trap intended to leave Huo Zhenyu with no room to back off, yet still making him believe it was his own choice.


    At this moment, Ling Lan could not help but smirk. Her reminder had actually obtained her her opponent¡¯s appreciation, resulting in the opponent having no choice but to receive her attack head-on. This was absolutely a pleasant surprise that had saved her a lot of trouble.


    Ling Lan took a deep breath, and took a slight step forward as her right fist punched out softly.


    This punch looked as light as a feather, but Ling Lan knew she had used One-Inch Punch with it. However, the opponent¡¯s bearing had made Ling Lan reluctant to be too extreme, so she had only used three bands of One-Inch Punch.

 Chapter 264: The Final Victors!

    Chapter 264: The Final Victors!


    Trantor: DRZ Editor: H2dH2mr


    Huo Zhenyu did not let his guard down just because Ling Lan¡¯s punch seemed feather-light as he had already suffered a loss from the previous attack, so he was even more cautious this time. In addition, Ling Lan¡¯s warning had given him sufficient time for preparation, so instead of considering it as Ling Lan taking the initiative to attack, it would be better called a mutual attack.


    Reason being, Huo Zhenyu, who had prepared in advance, had chosen to attack to defend and directly used his strongest attack to confront Ling Lan¡¯s punch.


    When experts exchanged blows, they did not require hundreds or even over thousands of blows like those in the lower realms ¡ª very often, one or two moves could determine the victor. Huo Zhenyu understood this and believed the opponent did too. Therefore, this move of the opponent was definitely not as simple as it seemed and was instead an earth-shaking punch.


    Huo Zhenyu naturally would not hold back anymore ¡ª letting his Qi sink into his dantian 1 , he shouted: "Ultimate Overlord Punch!"


    Following his shout, Huo Zhenyu¡¯s right hand clenched into a fist and moved fiercely to sh against Ling Lan¡¯s.


    This movepletely reflected Huo Zhenyu¡¯s style ¡ª vigorous, bold and powerful. Before his fist met with Ling Lan¡¯s, the explosive sound of his punch tearing through the air caused the expressions of the many spectators to change. Even though they were not directly facing this attack, they could feel the terrifying power it contained.


    Ling Lan¡¯s countenance changed faintly and she suddenly increased the strength in her punch from 70 to 90 percent. Only such a terrifying and overbearing punch was befitting of someone who had the identity of the military academy¡¯s number onebatant. A hint of seriousness emerged in Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts as she did not dare to belittle the opponent.


    With a bang, the two powerful fists collided and Ling Lan could sense that the opponent¡¯s strength was very solid, and he was absolutely not someone she could defeat by using one or two bands of One-Inch Punch.


    The moment Huo Zhenyu came into contact with Ling Lan¡¯s fist, he felt a force simr to roaring waves transmitted through his fist. Although it was powerful, it was still within the scope he could withstand. However, before he was able to rx, he sensed another new force oveying on the original attack surging towards him once again.


    Huo Zhenyu¡¯s expression subtly changed as he groaned and frantically circted his inner Qi-Jin to withstand the immense oveying force once again. The strong point of this Ultimate Overlord Punch was that, before exceeding his limits, he could resist the opponent¡¯s attack no matter how powerful it was.


    At this moment, Huo Zhenyu rejoiced at his initial decision to use his most powerful move instead of another finishing blow. Otherwise, the sudden addition of this oveying power would have injured him.


    However, Huo Zhenyu was only at ease for a few breaths¡¯ time, as very soon, he felt another new force emerging, which was once again oveid on the original force, nearly oveing him. Could it be that he was about to lose?


    "No!" Unwilling to be defeated, Huo Zhenyu looked up to the skies and howled wildly. His eyes were wide open and filled with fury, his face thoroughly red. At the same time, his entire right hand suddenly bulged...


    With a tearing sound, Huo Zhenyu¡¯s right sleeve became torn as pieces of cloth fell onto the ground one by one, revealing a sturdy arm with bulging muscles and veins that swelled up.


    In order to resist Ling Lan¡¯s third band of One-Inch Punch, Huo Zhenyu had utilized the extreme limit of his Ultimate Overlord Punch. He sincerely hoped that this was the opponent¡¯sst attack, or else he would be meeting his defeat.


    A light flickered in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes and her originally fairplexion flushed red. She let out a grunt and, using the third band of One-Inch Punch which was about to disappear as a foundation, another, fourthyer of force emerged out of nowhere...


    The force behind this attack was too powerful, epassing the umted force of the previous three strikes. When Huo Zhenyu sensed the fourth strike iing, hisplexion suddenly paled because the energy in his body was already being used to the extreme limit and he did not have any excess energy to withstand this fourth strike...


    Several squelching pops rang out, and the skin on Huo Zhenyu¡¯s arms suddenly split open like a sieve with countless holes, and the sounds of bones cracking could also be heard as blood spurted out from various sections of his arm.


    Huo Zhenyu¡¯s arm had been crippled because of this fourth strike, but the attack did not stop here; shortly afterwards, Huo Zhenyu was sent flying into the air as a mouthful of fresh blood sprayed out from his mouth with a spitting sound.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan withdrew her fist and her brows furrowed as the red flush on her face faded and turned pale in an instant. Apparently, she hadcked the capacity for a fourth One-Inch Punch but had forcefully executed it anyway and caused a bacsh, thus suffering from a slight internal injury.


    This time around, Ling Lan had learnt a lesson, that she should not belittle any opponent when duelling and should go all-out regardless of who the opponent was. Otherwise, it would be very easy for the opponent to overturn the match.


    "Since when have I be so conceited andcent?" Ling Lan could not help but scorn herself. Her originally prudent personality had been progressively disappearing ever since she found out that her father Ling Xiao was not dead ¡ª this was not an ideal situation.


    Seems like it was not a good thing to have a solid backing! Ling Lan decided to go on as before and act as if Ling Xiao had been "sacrificed" as this would be more beneficial for her growth.


    On her end, Ling Lan was self-analysing her own mentality, deciding to rely on herself to continue growing in the future. Meanwhile, Huo Zhenyu had spat out a mouthful of blood in mid-air, allowing him to breathe easier. He then flipped over andnded on the ground, but as his inner Qi-Jin had been depletedpletely, he did not manage stand firm afternding and retreated three to four steps in session before stabilizing himself.


    All the cadets watching the match surged to their feet in a stupefied uproar. They had not expected that the powerful Boss Huo could not even withstand a punch from the opponent. Everyone felt that their worldview had been overturned, thinking, who the hell was this mysterious young man? To actually be able to defeat the number onebatant of the military academy when he had just entered the academy?


    Huo Zhenyu raised his head with great difficulty and looked at the slender young man who had a calm expression as before. If not for his firm will, he most likely would not have been able to remain standing.


    Seeing Ling Lan retract his right hand, Huo Zhenyu noticed that the opponent¡¯s arms appeared to be trembling uncontrobly. It could be seen that the opponent using such a powerful finishing blow was not without any repercussions, and thisforted him a little. At the very least, the opponent was notpletely invulnerable.


    If the opponent had not been injured in the slightest ... Huo Zhenyu could not help but smile bitterly on the inside. He believed that his confidence would have been directly shattered by the opponent, and then he would have be doubtful of himself, wondering whether the five years of bitter training he had spent had been a mere joke...


    Even so, his confidence had still suffered a blow and was on the verge of crumbling apart. Huo Zhenyu was aware that in order to build up his confidence once again and forget the traumatic experience the opponent had brought him, he would perhaps have to spend a very long period of time recuperating.


    At this moment, Colonel Tang Yu looked towards Huo Zhenyu and asked loudly, "Huo Zhenyu, can you continue fighting?" Perhaps the spectators were unable to clearly tell Huo Zhenyu¡¯s condition, but as the closest observer, Colonel Tang Yu was clear that Huo Zhenyu was already reaching his limits and would not be able to continue battling for long.


    Having heard what was said, Huo Zhenyu smiled bitterly. He straightforwardly raised his hands and said, "Referee, I admit my loss for this match." His strongest move had been defeated and his body was near to falling apart, so he did not know what he could use to continue fighting.


    In a serious tone, Ling Lan said, "Many thanks!"


    What Ling Lan said was not a conventional greeting or words just for show. She was genuinely thankful that Huo Zhenyu¡¯s full-strength attack had allowed her to realize the problem with her mentality, and this was more important than winning the match. If she had not discovered this and waited until the day she arrived on the battlefield, this sort of mentality could have caused her death no matter how strong she was.


    Huo Zhenyu¡¯s reply did not go against Colonel Tang Yu¡¯s expectations. He looked at Ling Lan as if thinking of something, and announced loudly, "New Cadet Regiment vs Leiting Mecha n, the fifth match, New Cadet Regiment 1st-year Ling Lan wins. The match score is 3-2. The New Cadet Regiment are the final victors of this fight!"


    Following this announcement, all the members of the New Cadet Regiment leapt up and cheered enthusiastically. Evidently, everyone was cheering for Boss Lan as Ling Lan had used this match¡¯s victory to establish the New Cadet Regiment¡¯s unparalleled position so that no one could contend against them.


    Wu Jiong, who was seated below, did not feel regret upon hearing the cheers, but instead waved his arms and shouted for joy along with the other members. Multiple past experiences had made him understand that though he might be able to lead an extremely powerful team, he was incapable of making them into a winning team that would triumph in every battle. Reason being, hecked Ling Lan¡¯s boldness and aggressiveness, and even in terms of mentality, he was unable to be like Ling Lan who could always remain unperturbed regardless of any difficulty he encountered.


    "Haha, we¡¯ve truly won..." Several of the team leaders beside Gao Jinyun revealed dazed, silly smiles after witnessing the result. Even though they had been convinced by Gao Jinyun to continue following Boss Lan, they were nevertheless stunned after witnessing Boss Lan defeat the military academy¡¯s number onebatant and emerge victorious in this wagered fight; the shock of this oue was too huge.


    Gao Jinyunughed proudly to his heart¡¯s content. "Hahaha, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re all aware now of Boss Lan¡¯s prowess ... Leiting wanting to absorb the New Cadet Regiment is a dream as long as Boss Lan is here!"


    One of the leaders took a deep breath and finally calmed down. Then, in admiration, he said, "Leader Gao, you¡¯re right. We shall follow you unquestioningly in the future."


    Currently, these leaders were secretly rejoicing that they had been convinced by Gao Jinyun because of their close rtionship with him and had patiently waited for the result. This moment proved they had made the right move; they could not help but feel sorry for those few leaders who had not had the resolve to stay and had sought out alternative options. As Gao Jinyun mentioned, there was only one opportunity ¡ª grabbing it meant grabbing it, while missing it meant that you had truly missed the opportunity.


    "Let¡¯s go, we shall go and wee Boss Lan!" Gao Jinyun looked at the members of the New Cadet Regiment rushing forth to the stage and suggested excitedly.


    "Alright!" The several leaders answered loudly one by one. At this moment, they indeed wanted to enjoy this hard-earned joyous asion with everyone in the New Cadet Regiment. This was a victory belonging to them, and represented that the New Cadet Regiment had truly established themselves in the military academy.

 Chapter 265: A Hypocritical Person

    Chapter 265: A Hypocritical Person


    Trantor: DRZ Editor: H2dH2mr


    The New Cadet Regiment¡¯s joy was set off in contrast with Leiting¡¯s gloomy expressions as they were still in disbelief, unconvinced that Leiting would ultimately lose this battle... Heaven knows how long it had been since Leitingst tasted defeat. However, the battle this time had given them a taste of it and this feeling was absolutely unpleasant.


    Lin Zhidong looked at the elevated stage, which was almost totally surrounded by the New Cadet Regiment, with an unsightly expression. He knew that the ensuing period of time belonged to the victor¡¯s celebration and there was no longer any ce for Leiting to stay. In any case, he did not wish remain and continue to see Leiting losing face.


    Another matter which he had to consider thoroughly was how to give Regiment Commander Qiao an exnation ... The defeat this time would definitely deal an unprecedented blow on Leiting¡¯s prestige as the opponent they had lost to were the new cadets who had just enrolled in the military academy.


    Lin Zhidong could already imagine the Thunder King¡¯s rocketing fury and his body could not help but tremble. Soon after, Lin Zhidong calmed down and gnashed his teeth in frustration as he said, "Let¡¯s go!"


    Following his words, the members of the Leiting Mecha n who felt ashamed to continue staying here soon left the battle hall. Of course, while they were leaving, they heard numerous cadets making loud booing sounds, among them the cadets from the New Cadet Regiment and also cadets from other factions. Also among them were supporters who were fond of Leiting but were currently disappointed in them.


    Many senior cadets of the various influential factions were incapable of epting the fact that Leiting had lost to the New Cadet Regiment; their feelings were directly reflected in their booing.


    The deeper the love, the more profound the hate when love turns into hate. This sort of feeling was present within them and no matter what, Leiting losing this match had indeed disappointed many cadets.


    Before Lin Zhidong left the battle stadium, he could not help but turn around and look at the stern, young man standing in the middle of the elevated stage epting the New Cadet Regiment members¡¯ enthusiastic cheers. His dignified appearance resembled that of a general returning in victory and even more like a king who had opened up a new territory and was enjoying the supportive cheers of his subjects ...


    Actually, Lin Zhidong had misunderstood. Ling Lan¡¯s default was an ice-cold expression [T/C (ryu): Yep, it¡¯s her trademark face by now.]; she would still maintain this look even when being cursed at. In short, Ling Lan¡¯s cool and aloof expression in this situation was indeed extremely aggravating ...


    "Don¡¯t be toocent ... Leiting will definitely return this grudge!" Lin Zhidong¡¯s expression was chilly as he sniffed onest time before he turned and left thisbat hall that had embarrassed him so.


    ********


    As the members of the New Cadet Regiment rushed towards the elevated stage, Huo Zhenyu, as one of the participants of the fight, left the stage in loneliness. Other than a few of his team members, no one paid any attention to his actions as the former king ofbat.


    At present, everyone¡¯s attention was gathered on Ling Lan who was in the middle of the elevated stage. He was the leading role in this battle, and the newly emerged king ofbat in the military academy!


    Of course, Huo Zhenyu saw the people from Leiting leaving with their tail between their legs and also heard the sounds of booing which had spread throughout the battle stadium. Sadness shrouded his heart; it was hisck of strength that caused this result.


    At this moment, one of his team members saw his state and hastily said, "Boss Huo, let¡¯s head to the treatment centre. Your injuries are very severe ..."


    Hearing the other¡¯s words, Huo Zhenyu gently patted his own right arm which had gone totally numb and said indifferently, "It¡¯s just a small injury and is of no importance. Unfortunately, I¡¯ve lost and caused Leiting to lose this wagered fight ..."


    "How is this a small injury? Boss Huo, you still have to participate in the division assessments in a month¡¯s time." That team member was anxious, as this was rted to Boss Huo¡¯s future growth.


    "That¡¯s right, Boss Huo, you had best head to the treatment centre for treatment!" The other team members urged.


    Huo Zhenyu no longer refused; he headed towards the treatment centre with a few team members.


    On the way, one of the team members spoke with dissatisfaction. "Boss Huo, those leaders of the current Leiting are going too far, to think that not even one came to see you ... If we had known earlier, Boss Huo shouldn¡¯t have agreed to participate in this fight."


    "Forget it, in any case, I am still Leiting¡¯s former leader and I can¡¯t reject a request of theirs when theye looking for me." Huo Zhenyu smiled bitterly. Even if he had passed Leiting to Qiao Ting, he was still unable to reject them when Leiting was in need of help.


    "Merely, it¡¯s unfortunate for Nie Feng-ming as he will definitely have to be absent for the examination a monthter. He had always been anxiously longing to enlist for the 23rd Division," said another team member with regret on his face. ording to the news sent over by the team members who had apanied him to the treatment centre, Nie Feng-ming had to receive treatment for ten months before he couldpletely recover. That was to say, he would definitely miss this year¡¯s examination.


    Huo Zhenyu went silent for a moment before saying with a heavy heart, "I¡¯ve let down Feng-ming."


    "No, it was Ling Lan. His attack was too ruthless," one of the members spoke as his face revealed hatred.


    The few of them had formed a small mecha team in the military academy and had grown up together during these five years, and had long be brothers of different surnames with bonds no inferior to biological brothers. With Nie Feng-ming¡¯s current situation, they could not help but hate Ling Lan who had heavily injured him.


    "Rest assured, I will not forget about this grudge," said Huo Zhenyu coldly.


    Even though they were aware that Nie Feng-ming was partly to me for receiving such a serious injury, but in terms of feelings, Huo Zhenyu was unable to ept his own brothernding in such a miserable condition ...


    Regarding how they treated their brothers andrades, Huo Zhenyu¡¯s and Ling Lan¡¯s mentality were more or less the same. Even if the fault was on their side, they were intolerant of outsiders taking actions!


    "I¡¯ve decided to apply for enlistment to the 23rd Division in a month¡¯s time and wait for Nie Feng-ming¡¯s return. Inevitably, there will be a day when we¡¯ll run into Ling Lan, and at that time, it¡¯ll be time for us to pay back what we received today."


    Huo Zhenyu revealed his decision and caused the team members around him to be astonished; they knew that Boss Huo¡¯s original target was the 1st Division as his idol was the Federation¡¯s First Marshal, while the 23rd Division¡¯smander Ling Xiao was Nie Feng-ming¡¯s idol. This was also the reason Nie Feng-ming had chosen to enter the 23rd Division¡¯s enlistment examination.


    "Since Boss Huo is going to enter the 23rd Division examination, I shall follow him too!"


    "I¡¯ll enter the 23rd Division too."


    "Me too!"


    The other team members, who were originally hesitant whether to follow Boss Huo or enter the division of their own idols, no longer had any apprehensions due to Boss Huo changing his mind and so dered their determination to follow his lead.


    Huo Zhenyu did not speak but merely smiled. This was the only thing he could do for Nie Feng-ming, by setting a foundation for him before he entered the division. Once he joined them, their small team would once again gather and fight together to obtain the highest achievements. Following that, they would then find Ling Lan and return their bitter hatred of today.


    ********


    Currently within the cabin, after Li Shiyu witnessed the result and saw the new cadets rushing towards the arena all at once, he turned towards Yun Xiu and said, "Let¡¯s go."


    Upon hearing that, Yun Xiu was in shock as he said, "What? We¡¯re leaving right now?"


    The number of cadets leaving the arena was the highest right now and in previous times, Li Shiyu would usually wait for an hour and a half for the majority of the crowd to leave before he left. However, why was he anxious to leave this time?


    "I have to head to the treatment centre and look at that foolish little brother of mine, to see if he¡¯s still able to move ..." exined Li Shiyu.


    "Ah, so you were the type who would show love and respect as what good brothers should?" Yun Xiu did not believe the exnation Li Shiyu gave in the slightest.


    Li Shiyu immediately shot a re at Yun Xiu. Of course he would show love and respect as what good brothers would, but that was reserved for his older cousin.


    Seeing Li Shiyu¡¯s stern gaze, Yun Xiu hastily raised his hands in surrender, indicating that he would not say anything else and obediently follow Li Shiyu to leave the cabin.


    In Wuji¡¯s cabin, Zhao Jun yawned, and to those beside him he asked, "The fight has ended, are you all intending to stay here?"


    Han Yu¡¯s expression was somewhat gloomy as he said, "I want to watch the rey. You can leave first if you¡¯re not interested."


    The New Cadet Regiment was unexpectedly strong and caused Han Yu to feel threatened. In particr, the majority of the cadets in the New Cadet Regiment belonged to the Central Scout Academy¡¯s faction and so he could not help but be concerned whether they would join the Doha faction.


    At the same time, Wei Ji nodded and said, "I would also like to watch the rey. All of you can do as you wish."


    Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng stealthily exchanged a nce before Zhao Jun spoke up to say, "I¡¯m not interested. We¡¯ll talk about it after they be expert mecha operators. Lanfeng, what about you, are you leaving together or would you like to stay?"


    Li Lanfeng shrugged his shoulders in a rxed manner. "It¡¯s as what you said, after they be an expert in mecha piloting during their second year, perhaps I will be interested. To invest effort in thinking about them right now is somewhat not worth it."


    Hearing his words, Zhao Jun smiled. "In that case, let¡¯s leave together."


    Li Lanfeng stood and replied, "Alright, let¡¯s leave together." He then said to Han Yu and Wei Ji, "It¡¯s fine to attach some importance to them, but the Thunder King will certainly be the number one person who wishes to dispose of the New Cadet Regiment." His words implied that it was too early for Wuji to be apprehensive towards the New Cadet Regiment; it would be more suitable after the New Cadet Regiment had weathered Thunder King Qiao Ting¡¯s fury.


    Han Yu and Wei Ji smiled in response, and only after Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng left did Han Yu put away his smile as he snorted coldly. "Does he truly think he¡¯s Wuji¡¯s strategist?"


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s attitude of being superior in all aspects caused Han Yu to be increasingly discontented with him. Unknowingly, he started disliking Li Lanfeng more and more, but in the past, he had definitely felt that Li Lanfeng was a good person. However, why does he seem so pretentious right now?


    Wei Ji replied unenthusiastically, "There¡¯s nothing to be done. Two years ago, we had indeed relied on many of his schemes, so although he isn¡¯t our official strategist, everyone in Wuji considers him as one." After speaking, Wei Ji could not help but look towards Han Yu. "I don¡¯t know why you do not see eye to eye with Li Lanfeng. I feel that he doesn¡¯t have huge ambitions and has been diligent regarding Wuji¡¯s affairs ..."


    Han Yu furrowed his brows. "Actually, it was fromst year that I started to always feel that something¡¯s slightly off with Li Lanfeng. Right now, the more I see him, the more I feel that there¡¯s a problem with him. Don¡¯t you feel that his smile is very fake?"


    Wei Ji smiled bitterly and shook his head. He truly did not see anything wrong with Li Lanfeng. If not for Han Yu being extremely discontented with Li Lanfeng, he really did not wish to fall out with the other. After all, the rtionship between the four of them had been very good in the past.


    Han Yu looked towards Zhou Ya and Wang Hui. "What do you think?"


    Wang Hui followed Wei Ji in shaking his head, expressing that he could not identify what wrong there was with Li Lanfeng.

 Chapter 266: The Li Family Brothers!

    Chapter 266: The Li Family Brothers!


    Trantor: ryuxenji, DRZ Editor: mjn0898, H2dH2mr


    Zhou Ya was silent for a moment, before saying measuredly, "Senior Li¡¯s smile is indeed very warm and genial, but I be nervous whenever he smiles. Maybe it¡¯s because it¡¯s my first time interacting with Senior Li, so I¡¯m unused to him ..." Zhou Ya¡¯s expression seemed somewhat conflicted.


    Before Zhou Ya had finished speaking, Han Yu was already pping his hands together and saying, "See! Zhou Ya feels the same way I do ..."


    These words made Zhou Ya smile wryly. Actually, he himself could not say why he was nervous around Li Lanfeng, but it was definitely not like Han Yu was saying, that Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile was very fake. Li Lanfeng was obviously a kind and gentle senior ¡ª why was Regiment Commander Han Yu so against the other?


    Of course, no matter how doubtful Zhou Ya was, he would not say anything, because the antagonism and strife within the upper ranks usually did not have much reason to it. Oftentimes, just for the sake of an extra share of power, one party would push another party into hell ... while this current situation was just a tant dislike so far.


    However, Zhou Ya did not mind this situation. Han Yu¡¯s behaviour was inrge part helping him clear out a path to be Wuji¡¯s military adviser. It should be known that within Wuji, Li Lanfeng was the publicly acknowledged strategist of the mecha n, holding extremely high esteem among its members. Without Han Yu¡¯s help, relying on himself, he might have to wait until Li Lanfeng graduates and leaves the academy before he would be able to take on the role of adviser.


    As an ambitious person, Zhou Ya did not want to dawdle within the military academy for 2 to 3 years. He yearned to ascend the skies in one step, craving the chance to disy his full abilities, and desired the respect and admiration of the n members.


    And so, Zhou Ya kept his silence, as if tacitly agreeing with Han Yu that he too felt something off about Li Lanfeng ...


    ********


    Having left the Wuji box, Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng did not know what was happening inside the box. They walked till the end of the hallway, where they happened to bump into the Li Shiyu and Yun Xiu who had also departed from their box.


    When the four met, they were all startled ...


    A trace of confusion appeared silently on Li Shiyu¡¯s handsome face. This masked youth before his eyes, who was radiating such a warm and gentle aura, seemed somewhat familiar ...


    Li Lanfeng was the quickest to regain his bearings. He smiled and gave the other side a cadet¡¯s salute, and then said, "Li Shiyu, dux of the military medical research specialization, I¡¯ve heard such great things about you 1 ."


    "Erm, hello, have I met you somewhere before?" Li Shiyu¡¯s brow creased and he could not help but ask.


    "Well, no, but I¡¯ve seen you before!" said Li Lanfeng with a smile.


    "Oh? When?" Li Shiyu pursued the question. His memory had always been good ¡ª this person across from him had such a strange sense of familiarity, he just could not believe that he really had not met him before.


    Smilingly, Li Lanfeng was about to answer when Zhao Jun beside him asked with a quirked brow, "Lanfeng, so this is the so-called direct descendant of your Li family? That genius Li Shiyu you mentioned?"


    Li Shiyu jolted at these words, blurting out, "You¡¯re a Li family descendant too?"


    Li Lanfeng nodded and said, "Yes, but I¡¯m just a branch descendant. However, I was previously lucky enough to be in the same school as Young Master Mn. It¡¯s just that Young Master Mn dropped outter due to illness, and I¡¯ve not seen him since then ... I wonder how Young Master Mn is now. Is he well?" asked Li Lanfeng with a face filled with concern.


    Hearing this, Li Shiyu¡¯s mood dipped. "Cousin Brother Mn¡¯s body is indeed not well." However, very quickly, Li Shiyu rallied and said confidently, "However, I believe Cousin Brother Mn will definitely get better."


    A strange light shed through Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes, and he nodded and said, "Yes, Young Master Mn will definitely get better."


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words put Li Shiyu in a good mood instantly. Within the Li family n, this was the first time he had heard another Li family member willing to believe that his eldest cousin brother would recover. This made Li Shiyu extremely grateful, naturally feeling a sense of kinship with Li Lanfeng.


    "You¡¯re going back?" Li Lanfeng continued to ask.


    Before Li Shiyu could respond, Yun Xiu had piped up from beside him, "We¡¯re going to go see Shiyu¡¯s younger brother 2 , that Li Yingjie who fought second for the New Cadet Regiment."


    A trace of surprise rose on Li Lanfeng¡¯s face. "So Young Master Shiyu is also nning to go see Young Master Yingjie ... I was just prepared to go check on Young Master Yingjie¡¯s condition myself. Why don¡¯t we go together?"


    Zhao Jun cast a thoughtful nce at Li Lanfeng ¡ª mind you, when they had stepped out of the box, the other had not mentioned anything of the sort. However, he had always respected Li Lanfeng¡¯s decisions, so he quietly yed along.


    Li Shiyu hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. Based off the other¡¯s good will towards his eldest cousin brother alone, he could not refuse the other 3 .


    Just like that, the four of them hurried to the treatment centre. The moment they entered its doors, they could see that therge hall had been split into two factions, each staking out one corner, dutifully ignoring the other.


    These people were very easy to tell apart. One side was all dressed in the green freshmen uniform, so it was obvious they were first years. Meanwhile, on the other side, there was green and also blue, but the age difference clearly marked them as upper year students. It went without saying that these two factions were respectively the people from the New Cadet Regiment and the Leiting Mecha n.


    The moment Li Shiyu¡¯s group of four stepped into the treatment centre, they drew the gazes of everyone inside. After all, three of them were dressed in the blue uniform of the elite, while Li Shiyu was even dressed in the white uniform of a dux. This colour would draw attention no matter where he went.


    However, the first years of the New Cadet Regiment very quickly averted their eyes. The age of the four neers clearly marked them as seniors; the members of the New Cadet Regiment did not think that these people were here for them. After all, they did not know such impressive seniors, so these people could only be from the Leiting Mecha n.


    On the other hand, those from the Leiting Mecha n were in a state of confusion. Several sharp-eyed people had noticed Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun, who they knew were from the Wuji faction. Moreover, Li Shiyu was also an influential figure within the school. The Leiting Mecha n may dare to offend everyone and anyone, but they would never dare to offend any student from the military medical research specialization. This was because, in future, those people were very likely to be the ones responsible for their lives ... no one wanted to gamble with their lives.


    The treatment centre fell under the jurisdiction of the military medical research department. Seeing the dux of the department in charge of them personally here at the scene, the staff were instantly nervous. One of the leaders of the staff in the treatment centre came forwards to ask, "Dux Li, may I know what instructions you have for visiting us at this time?"


    Please don¡¯t let there have been any mistakes in the treatment ns submitted by the treatment centre ... ayer of sweat formed on the forehead of the team leader. If that was truly the case, that meant that they might very likely lose their jobs here at the military academy, be dismissed from service, and be sent back to their homes ... Mind you, in the Federation, the social status and treatment of military personnel were of the highest calibre ¡ª the workers really did not want to lose the honour of being a soldier.


    "I heard that in this wagered fight, many people were injured, and the injuries were very serious, so I specially came over to take a look." Li Shiyu¡¯s words let the team leader of the treatment centre instantly release a sigh of relief.


    "Can you give me an overview of the patients¡¯ current conditions?" Li Shiyu continued.


    The team leader of the treatment centre quickly said, "Yes, Dux Li, pleasee this way ..." He led Li Shiyu over to the healing pods of one of the upper years, and then continued to say, "This student¡¯s condition is especially severe. The bones of his entire body disy different degrees of breakage, but strangely enough, such wide-scale traumatic impact did not deal any fatal injury to the inner organs. It¡¯s clear to see that the one who did this has extremely precise control on his application of strength. When we first saw it, we were all extremely stunned and awed by it. Even though the opponent had shown mercy, not dealing any fatal injury, for this patient to fully recover in less than ten months is impossible."


    The team leader peeked carefully at Li Shiyu, then said softly, "Unless we take out the special medicinal agents the military medical research specialization has developed, then perhaps the time could be shortened."


    Li Shiyu merely nodded but said nothing. He naturally knew how the other had been injured ¡ª that youth had brought it all on himself. Thus, he had no interest whatsoever in helping him. Besides, the other was also the adversary of his younger cousin¡¯s party. Regardless of how much he looked down on that jerk of a cousin of his, he would not allow others to bully a member of their Li family ...


    The team leader saw Li Shiyu keeping silent, and sighed softly, but said nothing further. After all, the special medicinal agents of the military medical research department were extremely precious. He had only brought it up earlier to try his luck ¡ª if Li Shiyu had truly been moved to help, then it would have been a blessing upon this patient.


    The team leader then led Li Shiyu¡¯s group of four to another healing pod. This healing pod held a first year. The surrounding youths saw them approach and all revealed stern and nervous expressions as they stared at them, as if on guard against any sign of intended harm to theirpanion.


    Seeing this, Li Lanfeng nodded mentally. This New Cadet Regiment was more united than he had imagined ¡ª it looks like they really could not be underestimated.


    The team leader pointed at the healing pod and said to Li Shiyu, "This is a first year student. Multiple wound-sites on his internal organs and meridians ... it can be said that he was pretty much half dead, but his body¡¯s regenerative ability is extraordinarily strong. In tandem with the recovery agents here, he should be back to normal in three months."


    Li Shiyu approached and took a look, and found that the one lying in the healing pod was that tenacious youth who had fought after Li Yingjie. That brutal match had stirred even him ... he had initially thought that the youth¡¯s wounds would take at least half a year to heal, but surprisingly, he would be okay after just three months. It looked like this youth¡¯s physical constitution was truly exceptional.


    The team leader then pointed at the healing pod next to this one and said, "That one is also a first year student. His injuries are also very severe ¡ª his left scap 4 is shattered ¡ª he won¡¯t be recovered till 2 or 3 monthster."


    Li Shiyu walked closer to see, and as expected, it was Li Yingjie. He was lying in the healing pod with a tortured expression of pain, and Li Shiyu could hear some vague moaninging from him. In contrast, the other first year student beside him who was injured much worse was able to tolerate the pain stoically without any change in his expression.


    Li Shiyu was instantly in a bad mood. He sniffed coldly and said, "Just a minor injury and you¡¯re behaving so disgracefully. You¡¯re really losing the face of the Li family."


    Li Yingjie heard a familiar voiceing from outside the healing pod and forced his eyes open, only to be instantly wide-eyed with shock. He stared at Li Shiyu ¡ª hells, why was his second elder cousin brother 5 here?


    Back when Li Shiyu had gone against his grandfather¡¯s orders, choosing to give up on his identity as inheritor, even though Li Yingjie did not know the full story, he had heard a thing or two about it. Still, he just could not figure out why this iprehensible second elder cousin brother of his would appear within the military academy, and wearing the white uniform he admired so much to boot. This meant that Li Shiyu was definitely the dux of one of the specializations, and this was no easy feat.


    Even the proud Li Yingjie had already given up on his goal of bing dux, because Li Yingjie knew that the dux of their year¡¯s mecha specialization would be none other than Boss Ling Lan.

 Chapter 267: Transferral of Treatment!

    Chapter 267: Transferral of Treatment!


    Trantor: ryuxenji, DRZ Editor: mjn0898, H2dH2mr


    Li Yingjie was still secretly wondering what the heck was going on when Li Shiyu said to the staff member monitoring Li Yingjie¡¯s healing pod, "Help me open up this healing pod!"


    "This ..." The staff member looked dubiously at his team leader, not daring to obey immediately. Even though Li Shiyu was the dux of the military medical research specialization, thus being like half a leader to them, this matter was rted to the treatment of a student, so the staff member did not dare to move recklessly.


    Seeing this, the team leader hurried to exin, "Dux Li, this student is currently undergoing treatment. If we interrupt the process now, it might affect the final recovery time."


    At these words, Li Shiyu raised his right hand and turned on hismunicator to carefully enter some information, then said, "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve already requested to take on Li Yingjie¡¯s treatment from the military academy. Very soon, you all should receive the transfer procedure request here."


    As the dux of the military medical research specialization, Li Shiyu had the right to request primary responsibility over the care of any patient. Of course, the military academy would still hold responsibility over the two students. The administration would keep track of the entire treatment process, circumventing any possible harm that could ur to either of the involved parties. Either side thatmitted any fault would be strictly punished by the military academy.


    Hearing Li Shiyu¡¯s exnation, the team leader rxed. Very quickly, the team leader received the transfer order, and so instructed the staff member to stop the treatment process of the healing pod and open the pod.


    This out of the ordinary event drew the concern of the other first years waiting in the treatment centre. They all gathered close, and upon seeing the healing pod suddenly being opened, their expressions changed. One of the students was Xie Yi, who had apanied Li Yingjie here for treatment under Ling Lan¡¯s orders. Enraged, he asked, "What do you all think you¡¯re doing? Don¡¯t you know that interrupting treatment will affect his recovery?"


    The team leader rushed to exin, "This student will be transferred to the Military Medical Research Centre for treatment. You all can rx. The treatment and medicinal agents there are several times better than those we have here. Not only will his injuries not be affected, he might even be able to recover even earlier."


    Xie Yi peered dubiously at Li Shiyu and the others ¡ª would these people who were obviously seniors be so kind and benevolent? Xie Yi could not be med for overthinking things. After all, they had just had a confrontation with the seniors of Leiting. ording to the update they had received from a member who had rushed over from the arena, Boss Lan had just defeated the top fighter of Leiting, officially winning the wagered fight. It could not be excluded that the people of Leiting might turn to anger from their shame, and take the opportunity to do something underhanded while they still had not received direct orders from those in the upper ranks.


    Seeing this, Li Lanfeng smiled and exined, "We¡¯re from the Wuji Mecha n, and this is Dux Li from the military medical research specialization. If you understand how our military academy is run, you¡¯ll know that the military medical research specialization is never involved in the conflicts among the various factions."


    As military doctors were the holy ones who treated the sick and healed the wounded, they needed to treat all patients objectively without any bias. Thus, whether it was within the military academy or within the actual military, military doctors were absolutely not allowed to be involved in any conflicts among the various factions. This was because once a military doctor was involved, they could not guarantee that their heart would remain pure. Especially on the battlefield, if a doctor hesitated or wavered due to their patient being from a different faction, it could result in a death, and this was something the military could not condone.


    From the start, Xie Yi was a news-gatherer, a busybody ¡ª he knew what the senior across him had said was not wrong. If the other was really from the military doctor specialization, he could certainly rx, for the other would definitely not do anything bad to Li Yingjie. As such, he acquiesced, but he still kept a close watch on Li Shiyu and his group. The moment he detected anything odd, he would make sure to prevent them at first notice from harming Li Yingjie.


    At this time, Xie Yi was still rather simple and naive, not knowing that military doctors were people too. They experienced the full gamut of emotions just like any other person, and especially towards those particr people whom they loved and hated in equal measure, even if they would treat them dutifully, they would still find all manner of ways to ¡¯torment¡¯ the other. And despite how these torments were actually also beneficial to the patient, it went without question that there was not a single patient who would be willing to ept such treatment if they had been given a choice.


    As the healing pod waspletely opened, the healing fluid inside the pod was suctioned out at the same time. Very soon, Li Yingjie¡¯s body was revealed, and several secondster, the uniform he was wearing was blown dry ¡ª it was as if he had never been immersed in healing fluid.


    At this moment, Li Yingjie finally found the chance to speak. He asked, "Second elder cousin brother, why are you here?"


    "Hmph, why can¡¯t I be here?" Li Shiyu harrumphed coldly. Facing Li Yingjie, he did not have the same patience he had when dealing with his eldest cousin brother. He found this brat here annoying no matter how he looked at him.


    Li Yingjie was instantly left speechless. He found that he was indeed a great idiot for asking this question. Li Shiyu being here, dressed in the uniform of a dux no less, naturally meant he was a student of this military academy. And being able to be a student of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, of course meant he had passed the admissions tests. Could his brain have been injured when he had been struck previously?


    "Fine, that was a stupid question. I should ask, what are you doing here? Are you here tough at me?" Li Yingjie stared unhappily at Li Shiyu. His rtionship with his second elder cousin brother was not very good; he would not be so self-deluded to think that his cousin was here to be chummy with him.


    "At least you are self-aware, wise enough to know you¡¯re a joke. Yes, I¡¯m here to lecture you. Performing so terribly on the stage, you¡¯ve really disgraced our Li family," scolded Li Shiyu, disappointed. Even though Li Shiyu had rejected the position of Li family inheritor, this did not mean he did not acknowledge that he was of the Li family. Thus, seeing Li Yingjie perform so badly, he was extremely dissatisfied.


    Li Yingjie rolled his eyes at these words. How could he have forgotten that his cousin brother had an inherently venomous tongue 1 ? Whenever they met, his cousin brother would critique him till it seemed as if he were worthless. Of course, he had not wanted to just take it, constantly looking for a way to fight back. But unfortunately, the other was older than him by quite a few years, and relied on his advantage of the extra years of strength and knowledge ofbat skills to suppress Li Yingjie. Thus, he had failed many times in his attempts to object, never having found a chance to turn the tables till now.


    Originally, four years ago was a very good chance for him to turn the tables, but Li Shiyu had unfortunately be at odds with grandfather because he had rejected the position of inheritor, subsequently moving out of the Li family mansion. This caused Li Yingjie to no longer have the chance to meet the other to attempt bringing his revolt to the final stages ...


    Li Shiyu paid no mind to whether Li Yingjie would be disgruntled by his words, instead continuing to instruct, "Later, follow me to the Military Medical Research Centre. After this, your injuries will be my responsibility."


    "That¡¯s not necessary. Since I can be healed here too, why should I go there?" retorted Li Yingjie haughtily. He did not want to owe this annoying second elder cousin brother anything, and would rather suffer a little more here.


    At these words, Li Shiyu¡¯s face darkened and he leaned in close, bending over to pat Li Yingjie¡¯s still immobile face within the healing pod, and said lowly, "My taking over your treatment, is already a fact. So, just give up."


    Li Shiyu¡¯s dark face made the warning bells in Li Yingjie¡¯s heart re loudly ¡ª could it be that his cousin brother was shifting his venom from his tongue to his hands 2 instead? He struggled desperately, trying to speak. Right then, an icy voice suddenly rang out from the main doors of the treatment centre. Despite the size of the treatment centre and how many people there were inside, this voice seemed to ring out by everyone¡¯s ears, clear and coherent.


    "I would like to know, what in the world is going on?" From the doorway, this question signalled the entrance of a coldly dashing youth radiating a cold aura as he slowly walked into the treatment centre.


    For some reason, the moment he entered the treatment centre, the entire centre¡¯s temperature seemed to drop by several degrees. Some people even felt an invisible pressure descend upon them. The initially somewhat raucous noise was abruptly silenced, and everyone¡¯s eyes were drawn and held by this youth.


    It turned out that Ling Lan who had won the arena fight had arrived, and behind her were quite a few of the team leaders of the New Cadet Regiment.


    Li Yingjie¡¯s initially grumpy expression instantly brightened when he heard this voice. He turned his head to look over and shouted out, "Boss Lan!"


    This behaviour of Li Yingjie¡¯s made Li Shiyu¡¯s face change minutely, and the gaze of Li Lanfeng, who had been observing Li Yingjie all this while, shed briefly. Li Lanfeng lifted his head to look in Ling Lan¡¯s direction, and his gaze became extremely solemn.


    "Li Yingjie!" Li Shiyu could not hold back an angry bellow. His voice was raised quite a few decibels ¡ª it was clear to see how much rage was contained behind it. Li Shiyu was extremely dissatisfied with how easily Li Yingjie had acknowledged another as his boss, and was also sad on behalf of his eldest cousin brother. This was because he felt that only Li Mn should be the boss of them Li family brothers. And Li Yingjie, this great big dumbass, had actually given this honourable title of their eldest cousin brother to someone else ¡ª this was something he could not forgive.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s furious roar did not cow Li Yingjie, who instead had an expression filled with stubborn recalcitrance on his face. Li Yingjie was exactly like this. He was someone who, if he does not acknowledge you, no matter how much you pressure him, he would still refuse to submit. However, if you could gain his heartfelt deference, one cold nce would be enough to freeze him in his ce. Right now, this personality of Li Yingjie¡¯s was out in full force, which just made Li Shiyu¡¯s rage re even higher.


    If it could be said that meeting his eldest cousin brother made Li Shiyu want to draw close instinctively, wanting to protect the other, then meeting Li Yingjie waspletely the other way round. All of Li Shiyu¡¯s initial praiseworthy good temperament wouldpletely disappear, only leaving behind roars of anger and a venomous tongue ... not once could they co-exist peacefully.


    Li Shiyu and Li Yingjie red at each other. On one side, Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression shifted minutely, but just as he was about intervene and mediate, a cial voice rang out extremely close to him, "Why isn¡¯t my party member being treated? Can you exin this?"


    Apparently, Ling Lan had already arrived by the healing pod of Li Yingjie, and was speaking directly to the staff member in charge of treating Li Yingjie.


    Perhaps because she had juste straight frombat, there was still a trace of killing intent on Ling Lan¡¯s body. This intimidating aura actually made the staff member break out in cold sweat all across his forehead, unable to reply for a moment.


    "Hm?" Ling Lan quirked an eyebrow, her freezing gaze driving a bolt of chill into the staff member¡¯s heart. He quickly replied, "I¡¯m sorry, he ... he¡¯s been transferred to the Military Medical Research Centre."


    "Transferred to the Military Medical Research Centre?" Ling Lan¡¯s brow furrowed, unsure what this meant. Xie Yi dashed up to her side and exined the entire chain of events to Ling Lan. Ling Lan nodded as she listened, finally getting the picture.


    Once Xie Yi was done speaking, he retreated. Only then did Ling Lan turn her attention to Li Shiyu¡¯s group of four, and Li Shiyu¡¯s group instantly felt a wave of invisible pressure crashing onto them.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze began to flicker once more, because he had sensed a familiar energy ... perhaps the other was really like him. This was the very first time he had ever sensed the presence of kin ¡ª his heart could not help but pound for several beats.

 Chapter 268: Are You Threatening Me?

    Chapter 268: Are You Threatening Me?


    Trantor: ryuxenji, DRZ Editor: mjn0898, H2dH2mr


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s control over his emotions was undoubtedly excellent ¡ª in the blink of an eye he had regained hisposure. He continued to observe coldly, keeping quiet, but mentally made a note to try and find out more about the other, to aid his future ns.


    Ling Lan swept her gaze contemtively over the four youths, and her gaze finallynded on Li Shiyu. Xie Yi had mentioned very clearly that this dux was the one who had pushed this decision through, so she said to him, "Are you the one who requested to transfer my man into the Military Medical Research Centre?"


    In spite of his displeasure, Li Shiyu¡¯s good upbringing still made him nod in response, indicating that Ling Lan was right.


    At that, Ling Lan raised an eyebrow and said, "I recall that, a request like that still requires the agreement of the patient being treated." After finding out about the situation, Little Four had instantly looked up all the rted regtions on transferral of treatment cases. Thus, Ling Lan was now extremely clear on all the rules and procedures associated with the process ¡ª there were plenty of loopholes for her to y with ...


    Li Shiyu¡¯s expression darkened, but he still replied, "I¡¯m the dux of the military medical research specialization. As long as any patient is within the treatment centre, I have the right to designate them as my patient without requiring the other¡¯s approval." That said, he did not forget to throw a fierce re in Li Yingjie¡¯s direction ...


    The moment Li Shiyu said this, the senior year students all nodded in agreement, while the 1st year freshmen stared at one another, uncertain whether the military academy really had this rule.


    Li Yingjie was rather bewildered by Li Shiyu¡¯s re ¡ª when and how had he offended his second elder cousin brother now? Initially already irritated, he became even more disgruntled. His rage rose higher, but he still held back, only expressing it by returning an equally scathing re to indicate his displeasure.


    Although every time Li Yingjie encountered Li Shiyu, they were like primed firecrackers, ready to explode at the slightest provocation, over these many years, Li Yingjie actually knew that his cousin brother would never hurt him. Otherwise, having the full upper hand over him all these many years, Li Shiyu would not have just mocked and taunted and snarked at him with words. From the time they were little till now, there had been plenty of chances for Li Shiyu to be ruthless and do away with himpletely ...


    This was also why Li Yingjie had not rebutted his cousin¡¯s words, merely ring back ¡ª he did not want to put Li Shiyu on the spot 1 .


    "Furthermore, Li Yingjie is my younger cousin. As his elder cousin, giving a hand to treat him is an obligation. I can ensure that he fully recovers in almost half the time." Of course, this was based on the prerequisite that Li Yingjie had to endure through the intense agony of his body being modified and improved by the medical agents ... Li Yingjie would probably remember the experience for the rest of his life. A subtle smile appeared on Li Shiyu¡¯s lips.


    These words of Li Shiyu moved all of the first year students; even those members who had still been wary of Li Shiyu cast away their doubts at this time. Li Yingjie himself was convinced, but just as he was about to say he was willing, an ice-cold gaze swept over to look at him, instantly freezing him in ce, along with those words which were already at the tip of his tongue.


    How terrifying! Compared to Boss Lan¡¯s cold gaze, his elder cousin¡¯s res were really all too harmless. Li Yingjie swallowed the eptance he had been about to utter, hurriedly ducking his head and pretending that he did not know anything.


    Li Yingjie resolutely chose Boss Lan¡¯s side. Offending his elder cousin would just cause him to be cut by the other¡¯s venomous tongue a few times, or at most resulting in some minor scrapes, but if he made Boss Lan unhappy ... Li Yingjie shuddered internally. He still remembered not too long ago in thebat hall, he had seen Qi Long in a terrible state, crawling and staggering out with thest of his strength from abat room. Qi Long¡¯s opponent that day had been Boss Lan ...


    Out of curiosity over Qi Long¡¯s sorry state, Li Yingjie had asked Xie Yi, who was on friendly terms with everyone in the regiment, about it. Xie Yi had told him then that Qi Long had identally offended Boss Lan, so Boss Lan had decided to spar with Qi Long for a week 2 ...


    And sure enough, for that entire week, Qi Long had crawled out so pitifully from thebat room every single day. Li Yingjie absolutely did not want to be the second Qi Long, so he was determined to follow Boss Lan¡¯s lead.


    Obtaining Li Yingjie¡¯s cooperation, Ling Lan retracted her gaze in satisfacton. She, who had originally had a rtively so-so impression of Li Shiyu, was now looking at Li Shiyu with sparkling eyes, just like a starving fox setting its eyes on a piece of premium-grade marbled meat ... um, no, an extremely good coboration partner.


    With regards to the three people who had been heavily injured in the arena fights, Ling Lan was extremely distressed by it. This was because she knew very well that missing too many of the physical conditioning sses would affect their final physical conditioning results. If the three of them could not pass the assessment in the end due to their injuries here, even if this allowed the New Cadet Regiment to establish their foothold within the military academy, Ling Lan felt that it was rather not worth it.


    This was also why she had rushed over here to the treatment centre after epting a simple round of congrattions from the members of the New Cadet Regiment. She wanted to know the conditions of the three and their final recovery prognoses 3 . Along the way, having discovered the treatment estimations, Little Four had told her the time needed for the three boys to recover. Luo Lang would require one month, Li Yingjie two and a half months, while Qi Long would need a whole three months ... undoubtedly, the treatment time for all three of them were extremely long. This would be very disadvantageous to them in the following physical conditioning courses.


    Although Ling Lan had tried asking Little Four to find a solution, Little Four¡¯s answer was that there was no way. This made Ling Lan extremely unhappy. Therefore, the moment she had entered the treatment centre to find some seniors facing off against Li Yingjie and the others, Ling Lan¡¯s mood had be even worse, causing the cold air around her to be even colder by several degrees ...


    But her luck was unexpectedly great! Here she was worrying about her three followers¡¯ conditions, when someone had voluntarily walked up to her front door to offer a solution. Even in her overwhelming joy, Ling Lan had begun to work the little abacus inside her mind 4 , calcting how best to use the other to obtain the best benefits for her followers.


    Ling Lan held this strange stare on Li Shiyu for a few seconds ¡ª under this creepy gaze, the initially calm andposed Li Shiyu actually found cold sweat breaking out along his back, as if he had stepped into some sort of trap ...


    The corner of Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked up, and she suddenly opened her mouth to say, "Unfortunately, he already has a n!" Subsequently, Ling Lan, who had initially been five paces away, was suddenly right by Li Shiyu. She pressed down on Li Shiyu¡¯s shoulder with one hand and leaned in close to say softly by his ear, "Regarding the procedures and regtions on transferral of treatment, I know no less than you ..."


    Li Shiyu¡¯s expression changed, but before he could say anything, Ling Lan was already back in her original position, just as if she had never moved at all. This scene caused everyone in the treatment centre to be stupefied, also causing the eyes of Li Lanfeng, who had been standing next to Li Shiyu, to narrow.


    "Li Yingjie, are you willing to go with me?" Li Shiyu swiftly regained hisposure, and turned his head to ask Li Yingjie. Now the key was Li Yingjie¡¯s answer. If Li Yingjie agrees, there would be no problem.


    Li Yingjie had long made up his mind. Hearing Li Shiyu¡¯s question, he responded without even having to think, "I¡¯ll listen to whatever Boss Lan decides."


    "Have you forgotten that you are a Li family descendant?!" Li Yingjie¡¯s reply made Li Shiyu livid once more. When had this arrogant and annoying brat be so submissive?


    "No, he is still a descendant of your Li family, but he is also one of my n members," Ling Lan interrupted to say, "You know very well that I have the right to decide everything for him."


    "You ..." Li Shiyu was instantly left at a loss for words, because Ling Lan was right. Once a student joined a n, that student would no longer be solely representing himself. Instead, he now represented the n as well, which also meant that there were some things that Li Yingjie could no longer decide for himself.


    Li Lanfeng quickly stepped in to defuse the awkward scene. "Actually, everyone here is just trying to do the best for Young Master Yingjie. Regiment Commander Ling, Young Master Shiyu is the dux of the military medical research specialization. Speaking reasonably, only Young Master Shiyu has the right to use the best medicinal agents to treat Young Master Yingjie. Thus, letting Young Master Shiyu take charge of treatment, Young Master Yingjie has everything to gain and nothing to lose."


    Li Lanfeng did not wish for the two sides to fall out and be adversaries. If possible, he still wanted to coborate with Ling Lan. Moreover, he too was worried about Li Yingjie¡¯s injuries, and he also really did not want to hurt Li Shiyu¡¯spassionate heart filled with brotherly love ...


    "I know. However, I still have two n members who are very gravely injured. I wonder if Dux Li would be willing to lend a hand?" Ling Lan did not want to draw things out with the other either, and so directly put forward her request.


    "You think ultra-effective medical agents are that easy to obtain?" Li Shiyu¡¯s expression was very dark. "If Li Yingjie were not my younger cousin, I would never have offered."


    "What a good big brother!" Ling Lan lifted an eyebrow and nced at Li Shiyu, a half-smile on her face, as if she had seen through Li Shiyu¡¯s inner thoughts. This made Li Shiyu feel somewhat flustered instantly, somewhat unsure whether he had misconstrued what the other intended ...


    "What if I want you to treat all three of them no matter what?"


    "Are you threatening me?" Li Shiyu¡¯s eyes narrowed, a faint air of danger beginning to emanate from his body.


    The military medical students belonged to the neutral factions within the military academy; no individual or faction dared to offend them. After all, no one could tell whether they would ever be injured and fall into the other¡¯s hands. No one would y a fool with their life.


    "If you want to think so, you can!" responded Ling Lan evenly, "This would depend on how much you, as a good elder brother, are willing to do for your younger brother."


    Li Shiyu clenched his teeth so hard he almost shattered them. Who could have known that the boss Li Yingjie had acknowledged would be so shameless, actually using Li Yingjie as a bargaining chip to threaten him? He said resentfully to Li Yingjie, "This is the boss you want to follow? One who, for the sake of others, would be willing to sacrifice you?"


    Li Yingjie¡¯splexion shifted slightly, but very quickly returned to normal. He said, "They are my brothers too. For brothers, a little sacrifice is worth it. Besides, it¡¯s not like I can¡¯t be healed. It¡¯ll just take a little longer, just as if you had never appeared ..." The connotation of these words was that he would just pretend that Li Shiyu had never showed up, that he was willing to either share the blessing or suffer together with his brothers.


    These words moved the people of the New Cadet Regiment. Han Jijyun, Lin Zhong-qing, Xie Yi, and the others all began to look at Li Yingjie with new eyes.


    Frankly, Li Yingjie¡¯s reputation within the New Cadet Regiment had never been very good. After all, his character was already deeply rooted ¡ª his arrogant tone and haughty manner were rather irritating. But now, they were seeing Li Yingjie in a new light. Apparently, that annoying and arrogant punk was not a selfish person ¡ª he was in fact willing to sacrifice himself for his brothers. All this had just been hidden below that pompous appearance, unknown by others.


    Hearing Li Yingjie¡¯s reply, Li Shiyu was so angry that he almost blurted out 5 : You can bloody go live and die as you like! I don¡¯t want to treat you anymore!

 Chapter 269: A Twenty-four Filial Exemplars Dad!

    Chapter 269: A Twenty-four Filial Exemrs Dad!


    Trantor: ryuxenji, DRZ Editor: mjn0898, H2dH2mr


    However, his eldest cousin brother Li Mn¡¯s words surfaced within his mind. He had said before that Li Yingjie was not a bad person at heart, only being steered towards the wrong tracks by some people within the Li family. If possible, his eldest cousin brother still hoped that Li Shiyu could help Li Yingjie out, pulling him back onto the right path ...


    And now, this situation was proving his eldest cousin brother right. Someone who was willing to sacrifice himself for his brothers ¡ª how bad could his heart really be? Perhaps this was an opportunity. If he could improve his rtionship with Li Yingjie through this matter, perhaps he would be able to aplish what his eldest cousin brother had wished for ...


    Still, just thinking about this forced buy one get two free deal, Li Shiyu felt depressed. Just as he had mentioned previously, those ultra-effective medical agents were not things you could just pick up randomly. Even if he was the dux, requesting special restricted medical agents for three people was still a considerable challenge, requiring him to pull some strings ... honestly speaking, he did not really want to use up those connections at this time, because this was a safety line he had been keeping in reserve for his eldest cousin brother.


    "Of course, if you can heal thempletely within a short period of time, we, the New Cadet Regiment, including myself, will owe you one. You can call on this favour any time you like." Ling Lan was not purely pushing for Li Shiyu¡¯s help with threats; at the same time, she was also offering the price she was willing to pay. She did not want Li Yingjie to really lose this opportunity for enhanced treatment. "Of course, your request must be something we the New Cadet Regiment is able to fulfil."


    "New Cadet Regiment?" A thought shed through Li Shiyu¡¯s mind, but he soon sneered and said, "Do you really think you can guarantee the New Cadet Regiment will continue to exist?"


    Ling Lan replied calmly, "There will be no problems for at least two years¡¯ time. You can choose for us to repay this favour within these two years. Of course, if the New Cadet Regiment no longer exists by the time you submit your request, I, Ling Lan¡¯s promise still stands. You cane find me." For the sake of the future of these followers of hers, Ling Lan felt that paying this price was worth it.


    Li Shiyu fell silent, contemting whether this deal would be worth it. Right then, Li Lanfeng spoke up, "Young Master Shiyu, I believe Young Master Mn would also agree that you should treat Young Master Yingjie and his friends ..."


    Li Lanfeng sighed softly, his gaze a little unfocused, and as if speaking to himself, but also as if reminding Li Shiyu, he said, "You should know, this has always been something Young Master Mn admires ..."


    Li Shiyu¡¯s heart throbbed, and holding back that surge of sour-ache in his heart, he said loudly, "Alright, I agree." That said, he pushed forth two more requests for transferral of treatment on hismunicator. Several secondster, the notifications for approval came through once more.


    Seeing that her goal had been achieved, the tension in Ling Lan¡¯s heart eased and she breathed a silent sigh of relief. Very quickly, the staff members had used stretchers to send the three patients to the Military Medical Research Centre. Li Shiyu and Yun Xiu bade hurried goodbyes and left as well. After all, the injuries of the three were all rather severe ¡ª they needed to hurry back to the Military Medical Research Centre and carry out their new treatment ns.


    While the treatment centre was bustling with activity, Ling Lan led her posse to depart, and as she left, she coincidentally passed by Li Lanfeng¡¯s side. Ling Lan swept a disinterested nce at Li Lanfeng, and then they brushed by each other and went their separate ways ...


    This was Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng¡¯s first meeting. There was no conversation, no interaction between the both of them. Li Lanfeng might perhaps have retained a deep impression of Ling Lan, considering the possibility of a coboration, but Ling Lan only felt that this man was pretty decent, helping her out by speaking in her favour at that critical moment ... that was all!


    *********


    Meanwhile, on the distant Southcrest, where the headquarters of the 23rd Division was stationed, there were currently over a hundred different things still waiting to be done. Lacking high-ranking officers within his division, themander of the 23rd Division, Ling Xiao, not only had to fight and haggle with the other army divisionmanders to appropriate talent from their forces, he also had to work hard to smooth over those messes his own daughter was making ... such as that ship takeover incident!


    Speaking of that day, Ling Xiao had been in a video conference meeting with severalmanders of the other divisions. The agenda of the meeting was naturally to request support from the brother divisions in the form of high-ranking officers. Of course, these fewmanders were all part of the First Marshal¡¯s faction. Thus, they were willing to help support the establishment of an allied division within the same faction. However, Ling Xiao¡¯s appetite was truly too much ¡ª all the candidates he chose were among the most exceptional officers within their divisions. This made themanders somewhat unhappy, but they could not reject outright, and thus began these wrangling and fruitless negotiations ...


    In reality, this was just Ling Xiao testing the waters by throwing out an exorbitant price ¡ª he was actually waiting for the other side to bargain with him and provide a more reasonable counter-offer 1 . Only this way would he be able to know what the baselines of the othermanders were. Of course, in order to obtain more talented people, Ling Xiao had already set his mind to grind it out with them. Mind you, to swiftly establish a mature army division,rge numbers of excellent military officers were absolutely indispensable to form the backbone of the division. Once the skeleton structure was built up, filling it up with flesh and blood would be a much easier task.


    This was just the first step. Ling Xiao had also sent out transfer requests for some of the still surviving members of his original team in the 7th Division. Whether it would seed would still depend on whether the currentmander of the 7th Division was willing to let them go, as well as whether those old subordinates of his would be willing to relocate here to work under him again.


    However, just as the meeting had been going along swimmingly, a notification had popped up on Ling Xiao¡¯smunicator. After bending his head to nce at it, the initially smiling Ling Xiao had suddenly be serious, and the muscles of his face had even seemed a little stiff, as if he had received some great shock ...


    Ling Xiao suppressed his emotions, extremely apologetic as he set a new appointment to meet with the variousmanders againter on, and then he hurriedly ended the teleconference.


    This behaviour of Ling Xiao¡¯s made themanders feel somewhat uneasy, all of them wondering whether Ling Xiao had encountered some difficulty ¡ª had they went overboard in their bargaining, pushing the price down too low, thus making Ling Xiao sad 2 ? After all, Ling Xiao was still a young man who had just turned 40 years old. Ahem ahem,pared to those typicalmanders who were at least 60 to 70 years old, he was indeed rather young ...


    They reckoned Ling Xiao must be finding it tough ¡ª the 23rd Division sounded great in name, giving the impression that it was a regr army division, fully equipped with the various troops and facilities associated with the running of a proper division, but it was actually just an empty husk right now. The division wascking in both manpower and equipment ¡ª everything depended on Ling Xiao himself to gather resources and seek out good staff. Those of the other military factions were all watching coldly from the side-lines, just waiting for Ling Xiao to fail. If they of the same faction did not help out, who else woulde forward to help Ling Xiao?


    With that thought, what mental imbnce they originally still had settled down. It was actually just giving up a few more military officers after all ¡ª Ling Xiao¡¯s request was still quite reasonable ¡ª if each division transferred one or two exceptional officers from each troop type over, it actually would not affect the various army divisions much. Even though those officers were indeed quite outstanding, there were still a lot of other outstanding officers within their ranks; they would not miss one or two ...


    Themanders discussed things over in private, and ultimately decided it was better to give Ling Xiao a little face. If Ling Xiao did well, they would be well off too. Thus, when Ling Xiao reopened negotiations with them once more, themanders had be extremely generous. Basically, whatever Ling Xiao wanted, as long as it was not too unreasonable, they would agree. This made Ling Xiao exceedingly shocked and pleased. After all, every additionalpetent officer was a boon to the division. This meant that he would be able to train up even more excellent troops in-house, so the 23rd Division would be able to be battle-ready as swiftly as possible.


    However, in reality, thosemanders were all mistaken. Ling Xiao had not encountered any great trouble, nor had he be depressed over their haggling behaviour. The reason Ling Xiao¡¯s face had be so grim was because he had been petrified by the news about his daughter ...


    The fact that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had an entrance exam was known to him. After all, he too had lived through it. He had not told Ling Lan about it because he wanted to see how Ling Lan would react ¡ª you could consider this a test a father was setting for his daughter 3 .


    At most, Ling Xiao had thought that Ling Lan would lead her team to observe the proceedings coldly from the side-lines. That was what he had chosen to do when he had gone through the test in the past. Ling Xiao believed that based on the capabilities of his daughter and thosepanions of hers, obtaining the respect of the examiner-soldiers would be no problem ... but he would never have imagined that his daughter would be so wildly audacious that she would actually band the students on the ship together to assume control of the ship. And even more unexpectedly, she had actually bloody seeded ...


    Seeing this news, Ling Xiao chose to end his conference as soon as he could, and then ran off tough unreservedly at the heavens!


    At this moment, he could no longer maintain his trademarkposed smile. He was no longer that always smiling national idol Ling Xiao, the elegant and dashing General Ling Xiao ¡ª he was only a crazed dad taking pride in his daughter ... this was his daughter! Godd*mmit, this was his daughter! Well, alright, that was all Ling Xiao could think about. He was so proud of his baby daughter ¡ª as expected of a child of his, daring to do things even he had not dared to do ...


    However, after his wild bout ofughter, Ling Xiao began to frown and fret. Thisss was still smart enough to know that some of the things she did had been a little overboard, and could cause the soldiers who were testing them to be punished. Thus, knowing that she had made a mess, his daughter had sent word to her old man to help settle things for her. ording to Ling Lan, having held the empty title of ¡¯father¡¯ for sixteen years, it was about time for him to do something to live up to it ...


    What an unfilial daughter! Although Ling Xiao was muttering about how unfilial Ling Lan was on the surface, he was actually very pleased in his heart, because this was the first time Ling Lan had personally asked him for help to clean up her mess. Even though her tone was not that wonderful, Ling Xiao knew that this was Ling Lan taking the first step ¡ª she was actively trying to ept him as a father ...


    Understanding the deeper meaning behind this news from Ling Lan, Ling Xiao was instantly filled with motivation. He immediately passed on the task of recruiting and stealing talent over to his assistant, and then eagerly went off to clean up the mess his daughter had made.


    He first used his rank as general to brush aside the punishment order for the ship¡¯s captain, and then he requested a transfer order from military headquarters to bring in the spaceship and its entire crew, including the captain, into the 23rd Division. And after that, he immediately contacted the principal of the military academy to seal off all the results of the entrance exams this time, keeping it unannounced ... Ling Xiao knew very well that once it was publicized, Ling Lan¡¯s exceptional performance would draw the attention of military headquarters, including that of the various major army divisions. This was something he absolutely would not allow.


    Having done all this, Ling Xiao was still somewhat uneasy. After all, far away here at Southcrest 4 , it was very difficult for him to be on top of thetest news from the First Academy 5 . Therefore, he decided to personally go and check up on Ling Lan ¡ª only after he ensured there was no danger to his daughter would he be able to continue working on establishing the 23rd Division without worry.


    The reason why this sort of idea would ur to Ling Xiao was that not long after this, the 5th year senior cadets would be facing their first round of application assessments for enlistment into the various army divisions, and their 23rd Division would join this assessment system of the military academies for the first time. As one of the army divisions which would be epting cadets, he, as themander, would have to dispatch an assessment team to assess those students who applied for enlistment to the 23rd Division.


    Thus, Ling Xiao decided that this time, he would lead the team personally, though of course the assessment tasks would be delegated to his subordinate officers. His main mission would be to go check on and care for that peerlessly adorable baby girl of his ...


    Ling Lan? Adorable? Only a Twenty-four Filial Exemrs dad would consider a daughter with as much cool-ruthless-dominant swag as Ling Lan to be a peerlessly adorable girl ... it can only be said that when it came to Ling Lan, Ling Xiao¡¯s judgement just could not be trusted.

 Chapter 270: Setting a Trap?

    Chapter 270: Setting a Trap?


    Trantor: ryuxenji, DRZ Editor: mjn0898, H2dH2mr


    Concerning this order by General Ling Xiao, the high-ranking military officers already in ce were extremely puzzled. As themander, the highest ranking leader within the division, personally leading a team to oversee an exceedingly minor assessment was definitely beneath him.


    Although the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was a ce to revere in the eyes of the students from the other military academies, for the various army divisions, no matter how talented the students of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were, they still would not draw too much of the divisions¡¯ attention ... the several assessments conducted every year were just a routine job to the divisions, not given any special emphasis ...


    Of course, if an unmatched prodigy were to appear, the various divisions would most certainly change theirckadaisical attitude, sending out their highly capable men to lead their teams to try and snatch the student from the other divisions. If this had been the case, General Ling Xiao¡¯s decision to personally lead a team would still have some degree of reason to it. But this year, there had been no news of any exceptionally outstanding character within the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. As such, this trip of General Ling Xiao was truly not worth it in the soldiers¡¯ eyes. The general might as well remain in the base camp and continue negotiating with the othermanders for talent ¡ª he would probably gain more for his time that way.


    However, these men were all people who had been transferred over from various other divisions; they were not close confidants of General Ling Xiao. And so, though they might have objections towards this unexpected decision of General Ling Xiao, not many dared to say anything. And even those who wanted to object found themselves unable to say anything when faced with that warm and kindly smiling face of General Ling Xiao ... cough, cough, cough, saying no to that smiling face really required courage and determination.


    In the end, there was naturally no one who actually raised any objections; Ling Xiao extremely easily became the leader of the assessment team. This made Ling Xiao rejoice secretly ¡ª it looked like having no close confidants within the division actually had its good points ...


    Of course, Ling Xiao was still rational. He knew that using hismander¡¯s status to participate in the assessment was extremely inappropriate. Thus, he concealed his name and changed his surname, and rummaged up his past major general uniform for the trip. This made the officers of the 23rd Division let out a great sigh of relief ¡ª although it was still rather ostentatious for a major general to lead an assessment team, at least it was not too illogical. This would not humiliate the 23rd Division too much.


    When Lan Luofeng found out about Ling Xiao¡¯s decision, she was both happy and sad. Happy that Ling Xiao could go to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to visit their daughter Ling Lan personally and see how she was doing, but privately sad that her daughter could not regain her true female identity, instead needing to stay at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and impersonate a man, hanging out with all those men for at least another four years ...


    Having her emotions stirred up by all this, Ling Xiao was once again struck by tragedy. That night, he was once again chased out of the bedroom, forced to stay in his study for the entire night ... Of course, Ling Xiao put it nicely by iming he had work to do, but everyone here knows exactly what was going on.


    In the end, when the time came for Ling Xiao to go, Lan Luofeng decisively made Ling Xiao bring along several boxes worth of stuff, instructing Ling Xiao to make sure to hand them over to Ling Lan no matter what. As for how he could do that, that was not a problem Lan Luofeng had to worry about.


    Ling Xiao was incapable of denying Lan Luofeng¡¯s requests, so amidst bitter chuckles, he brought all of the boxes onto the military ship ... thus, there was now one more thing Ling Xiao had to worry about, and that was how he could deliver so many things to Ling Lan without drawing any attention!


    Right then, Ling Lan had no clue that her old man was actually abusing his authority to hide his identity ande to the military academy to conduct assessments. At the moment, Ling Lan¡¯s wrath had been incited by a sudden incident ...


    Due to Li Shiyu¡¯s intervention, Luo Lang, who originally would have needed at least one month to recover, was already spiritedly running about just after ten days.


    Still, Ling Lan was worried, so she conducted a thorough examination of Luo Lang¡¯s body 1 , and discovered that he was indeed fully recovered without any remnant problems. Even more shocking to Ling Lan was the fact that Luo Lang¡¯s physical constitution was actually much improved from its original baseline. This made Ling Lan curious about Li Shiyu, wondering how he had managed to repair Luo Lang¡¯s body so well ...


    Perhaps, Li Shiyu was someone she could coborate with! Ling Lan was extremely pleased with Li Shiyu¡¯s treatment methods. In order to ensure the lives and safety of her team, tying down a skilful military doctor was necessary 2 . Ling Lan decisively stretched her greedy hands out towards Li Shiyu ...


    At this moment, Li Shiyu, who was at the treatment centre researching Li Yingjie¡¯s and Qi Long¡¯s physical data, suddenly sneezed violently. This made the instructor beside him very worried ¡ª was his beloved disciple being tired out too muchtely, causing his immune system to be weakened?


    His instructor¡¯s concern made Li Shiyu somewhat uncertain himself, so he quickly ran a full-body exam on himself. The results showed that all his body levels were above average standards, indicating that he was very healthy. This made Li Shiyu extremely puzzled ¡ª why had he sneezed all of a sudden? As the dux of the military medical research specialization, he took every signal from his body very seriously ...


    However, since the exam said he was fine, being extremely busy, he very quickly cast this strange sneeze to back of his mind, once again immersing himself into the new treatment ns he had developed. He looked towards the two within the healing pods, mentally cackling in his heart. He would definitely let these two fellows have a good taste of the power of the gene agent S-modification!


    At this time, he could not help but regret that Luo Lang had recovered too quickly. He had not expected Luo Lang to react differently to the gene agent S-modification. This surprised him immensely ¡ª it was unfortunate that Luo Lang¡¯s wounds were not that serious, so one tube of the gene agent S-modification had healed him for the most part, giving Li Shiyu no chance to use a second tube on him, thus causing him to lose one experimental subject.


    Li Shiyu was on one side feeling sorry, while Luo Lang, on the other, was seeing the great benefits of that one tube of gene agent S-modification. Those training tasks which Luo Lang had been barely enduring before could actually now bepleted without him breaking a sweat. This let the various instructors in charge of physical conditioning set aside their worries. They had been afraid that Luo Lang would not be able to keep up after missing ten days of sses, affecting his final results in the end. Unexpectedly, after going through the arena fight, not only had Luo Lang¡¯s physical skills realm stabilised, his body constitution seemed to be much better than before. The instructors were thrilled by this ...


    Qi Long still had not recovered enough to return, Han Jijyun and Lin Zhong-qing were in different specializations, while Boss Ling Lan had already received an exemption for the physical condition assessments and so did not attend physical training courses. Thus, over these past few days, Luo Lang was basically going to ss and leaving ss with Xie Yi.


    On this day, Xie Yi and Luo Lang were just about to return together to the dormitories when Luo Lang was abruptly called out by a student on some matter. Initially, Luo Lang had wanted to ask Xie Yi to wait, but then, he suddenly received a notification from the treatment centre, telling him to hurry to the Military Medical Research Centre for a follow-up examination.


    Luo Lang found it a little strange ¡ª back when he had recovered, Li Shiyu had said with a constipated expression that ¡¯you can leave now, don¡¯te here anymore!¡¯. Why then would Li Shiyu call him back now for a follow-up?


    Luo Lang wondered about this for a moment, but still decided to go once. Regardless of whether there was a follow-up, he would be able to find out what was going on by going there. Thus, he said goodbye to Xie Yi and left on his own.


    Luo Lang came to the closest hover car stop near him and boarded a car. The military academy was just like a city of its own ¡ª relying on one¡¯s two legs to get to the centre would take one to two hours, so Luo Lang naturally chose the convenience of public transportation.


    The hover car brought him all the way to the gates of the Military Medical Research Centre. He had just disembarked when a blue-uniformed senior rushed forward to greet him, asking, "Luo Lang, right?"


    Luo Lang nodded and said, "Yes, that¡¯s me!"


    "Dux Li asked me to take you straight to the examination centre. Pleasee with me." The senior indicated for Luo Lang to follow him.


    Luo Lang did not think much of it, following the blue-uniformed senior for a distance, where they then saw a hover car parked not too far from them. The senior exined, "The examination centre is rather far. To save time, we¡¯ll take a hover car there."


    During the final stages of his treatment, Luo Lang had also been to the examination centre before. Thus, he knew that it was indeed quite a distance away, and so got into the car without any objection. The two of them split up to sit in the front and back row, with the senior seated in front. After the senior keyed in their destination into the hover car¡¯s A.I., the hover car swiftly raced off.


    However, very soon, Luo Lang noticed something strange. The scenery passing outside the window was extremely unfamiliar, not at all like the route he had taken to the examination centre previously. Luo Lang¡¯s heart clenched and he asked, "This road doesn¡¯t seem to be going to the examination centre."


    "Before going to the examination centre, I need to go to the dormitories first to collect an examination study report," said the blue-uniformed senior, turning his head back to smile apologetically, "This report has to be submitted to the examination centre today. I had originally nned to send it along with you, but I unexpectedly forgot to bring it with me when I left earlier. I¡¯m sorry for making you apany me for this extra trip, but don¡¯t worry, your scheduled examination time is half an hourter. My living quarters isn¡¯t far. We¡¯ll be able to rush back in time."


    Hearing this, Luo Lang replied, "So that¡¯s how it is. I understand."


    Though he said that, Luo Lang had already sensed something fishy about the situation. He began thinking back on the notification he had received earlier and this person who hade out to greet him. It was all actually quite puzzling ¡ª if he truly needed to have a follow-up examination, why would it be a staff member from the treatment centre who contacted him? Mind you, in order to track their recovery, Li Shiyu had taken down the contact numbers of all three of them, so Li Shiyu could have just sent the message to him personally ...


    Moreover, if he was supposed to go to the examination centre from the start, why didn¡¯t they ask him to go there directly? Why had they asked him toe to the Military Medical Research Centre first? The more Luo Lang thought about it, the more suspicious things seemed, so he said, "Why don¡¯t we do this, Senior? You go to your dorm to retrieve your report, while I¡¯ll head to the examination centre first. Maybe Dux Li has some instructions, so it would be better for me to get there earlier. There should be another hover car stop in front. You can just let me down there."


    The senior turned his head and said with a smile, "It¡¯s fine. Dux Li is not at the examination centre. This is just a routine examination. Once the report is out, it just needs to be sent to him."


    With that, Luo Lang could already confirm that the other was definitely not sent by Li Shiyu. This was likely a ploy by some person or faction against him. He sifted carefully through his memories of this period of time since entering the academy ¡ª he had always trailed Qi Long, desperately working towardspleting his physical training. He had no memory of offending anyone, so this scheme should not be directed at him personally ... could it be that there was some other faction who wanted to target their New Cadet Regiment, thus wanting to take him as a hostage to threaten Boss Lan?


    How could Luo Lang allow himself to be taken just like this? With that thought, he suddenly pointed towards the front, hisplexion paling dramatically as he shouted, "Senior, what¡¯s that?"


    The blue-uniformed senior quickly turned his head around to look, but saw nothing there. In his bewilderment, he suddenly felt a pain at the back of his head, his sight grew dark, and he fell over unconscious ...

 Chapter 271: Become Friends?

    Chapter 271: Be Friends?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898, H2dH2mr


    With a flip of his body, Luo Lang was at the front seat. He pulled out the information the other had keyed in earlier, trying to change their destination, but found that it had already been locked in by the other, with no way of changing it.


    Of course, this was just a measure which would work against regr cadets like Luo Lang who were not in the hacker specialization. Apetent hacker would still be able to crack this rtively basic lock, but unfortunately, Luo Lang did not have the skills on this front. He could only watch helplessly as the hover car flew towards the destination the other had set, unbelievably frustrated.


    Luo Lang understood that to stop the travel route was impossible, unless he used violent means to destroy the hover car ... but, extremely rationally, he rejected this idea, because the hover car was flying rapidly at an altitude of over 100 metres. The moment it was broken, he would plummet along with the car. At this height, no matter how confident Luo Lang was, he could not guarantee he would be able tond safely. If things did not work out, he might once again be gravely injured.


    Luo Lang really did not want to end up in Li Shiyu¡¯s hands again. Although the other truly had superior skills in treatment, his methods of tormenting others were also extremely masterful. Most importantly, ¡¯for your own good¡¯ was putting it nicely ¡ª you really had no way of resisting, and would even have to grudgingly thank him for the torment after the fact ...


    Besides that, Luo Lang also really wanted to know who the opponent was. An unknown enemy was most often the most fearsome and troublesome type. If he could find out some information on the opponent, it would undoubtedly be a great help to the New Cadet Regiment. More importantly, Luo Lang was also afraid that if he escaped this time, the opponent might turn their sights on the other members of the New Cadet Regiment. Other than Ling Lan, Qi Long, and Wu Jiong, Luo Lang¡¯s strength was obviously a bracket higherpared to the other members, and so his chances of escaping were also much better than any other member. For these reasons, Luo Lang decided to brave the tiger¡¯s den to probe the opponent¡¯s identity.


    Having made his decision, Luo Lang no longer concerned himself with the hover car. He tied up the unconscious blue-uniformed senior by his side using the other¡¯s belt ¡ª the binding method naturally being the one Ling Lan had taught them ¡ª and then dumped the other in the backseat. Then, he stared straight ahead with a grim expression, silently trying to memorize the path of the hover car.


    The hover car moved very swiftly. In less than 20 minutes, the hover car began to slow down from its initial rapid speed. Luo Lang readied his guard, because he knew he was about to arrive at the destination the opponent had set ¡ª the enemy was upon him.


    Although the journey had taken less than 20 minutes, with the hover car¡¯s speed, they were likely to have already travelled over several hundred kilometres, already very far away from the Military Medical Research Centre. The surroundings were extremely unfamiliar to Luo Lang ¡ª towering mountains and dense forest were all around them. Besides the wailing cry of some unknown beast, the surroundings were so silent that it was rather unnerving. Luo Lang used the optical supeputer of the hover car to zoom in on the environment, and found that other than mountains and trees, there was only more mountains and trees, no sign of human presence whatsoever.


    Luo Lang¡¯s brow began to furrow tightly ¡ª he had originally thought that the hover car would bring them directly to the opponent¡¯s main camp, or perhaps a temporary outpost. Unexpectedly, he had been brought to such a bleak and remote area; this left Luo Lang at somewhat of a loss.


    The hover car was slowing down more and more, even as its height was slowly descending. In the end, the hover car manoeuvred into a narrow gorge, and after passing through it, Luo Lang was greeted by the sight of an average-sized patch of grass. It was lush and verdant, with countless small blooms of myriad colours dotting this sheet of green, giving observers a sense of extraordinary beauty.


    At the edge of the grassy patch was a sea of trees. Luo Lang could hear the sound of a babbling brooking out from the trees, causing everything to seem that much more beautiful and harmonious. This made Luo Lang¡¯s initially high-strung vignce ease a little, but only for a split second ¡ª Luo Lang very quickly had his guard up high once more, no longer lingering in his appreciation for that patch of lovely grass. Instead, he paid close attention to the movements of the hover car beneath him.


    The hover car slowly moved onto the grass-patch and began to descend until it hadnded fully. After that, the hover car emitted a mechanical voice, "You have reached your destination. Please disembark."


    Following this announcement, the car doors swung open. Luo Lang did not choose to get off, instead turning on the A.I. again, trying to see if he could enter a new address. In this extremely foreign ce, Luo Lang¡¯s first move was to try to implement a n B ¡ª he wanted to set it so the hover car would automatically return from this ce back to the dormitories after waiting for 10 minutes.


    But very quickly, Luo Lang found that he had failed. The other had already thought of this possibility, and had programmed the A.I. to shut off on its own the moment the hover car arrived at its destination, switching into parked mode. It would not ept any new instructions from Luo Lang, so Luo Lang really had no choice but to remain.


    Seeing this, Luo Lang could not help but be chilled by the opponent¡¯s attention to detail. It should be known that the hover cars of the military academy would never turn off their engines. They were powered by photonic energy ¡ª whether it was sunlight or starlight, all of it would give the hover cars power. Therefore, the hover cars could theoretically continue driving on forever, unless some other mechanical issue urred or their A.I. programming malfunctioned.


    Luo Lang knew that this situation now meant that the opponent must have a high-level hacker on their side, one capable of modifying the operating system of the hover car¡¯s A.I., thus forcing the car to power down automatically when it arrived at its destination.


    This arrangement of the enemy forced Luo Lang to stay, because there was nothing at all around here 1 ¡ª no vige-houses, no stores, no hover car stops ... in other words, once someone came here, other than taking the hover car which had originally brought them here back, they would not be able to summon a new hover car over to pick them up, unless they used theirmunicators to request assistance from the academy mainframe ...


    Luo Lang was almost certain that hismunicator would be unable to contact the outside world by now. The opponent had nned things so thoroughly, so it was unlikely they would have missed such arge hole in their n.


    Sure enough, when he peeked down at hismunicator, hismunicator was disying an alert saying ¡¯signal disrupted, device out of contact¡¯. Who knew how long his device had been shing that alert ¡ª Luo Lang¡¯s attention had just been elsewhere, which was why he had not noticed till now.


    Luo Lang knew that a tough fight was sure to follow. The opponent had set such an borate trap to draw him here, they would not just want to meet him for a chat. He sighed silently, getting off the hover car with his sense on high alert, stepping foot on this lovely patch of grass.


    With his back to the hover car, he swept his gaze over the perimeter on all three sides before him. Seeing no one, he was frowning in puzzlement when he suddenly heard the sound of a hover caring from behind him. Luo Lang snapped his head around and saw three hover cars flying swiftly towards him. In the end, the three cars circled around to surround him before they slowly descended tond.


    Soon, 7 or 8 people had disembarked from the three hover cars. The person in the lead was dressed in a pressed white uniform, and he was smiling as he looked at Luo Lang. His figure was tall and stately, his face extraordinarily handsome ¡ª he definitely possessed the figure and appearance that Luo Lang dreamed of having ¡ª but his sparkling, flirty eyes disturbed Luo Lang. Those eyes just did not seem to fit the other¡¯s overall appearance somehow, resulting in a huge deduction in the overall sense of perfection.


    The other youths were all dressed in blue uniforms. They looked to be about twenty years old, definitely senior cadets of the military academy; it was just hard to tell which year exactly they were from. They stood around almost randomly, but still keeping Luo Langpletely within their circle.


    Luo Lang stared warily at the group. This behaviour of the other side let him know that these people were most definitely the ones who had tricked him here. The two sides stared at each other silently for 2 to 3 minutes, neither side saying a word.


    Luo Lang clenched his teeth. From the looks of it, the opponent was not nning to speak up first. Thus, he decided to take the initiative. Looking towards the obvious leader of this group, the white-uniformed youth, who must be a dux of who knows what specialization, he asked coldly, "Was it you who set up this trap to bring me here?"


    The white-clothed youthughed and pped his hands, "Bingo! How clever!"


    "Bringing me here, what business do you have with me? I think, I have never seen you before, so I should not have offended you somehow," Luo Lang said.


    The white-clothed youthughed again and said, "Haha, of course not! Actually, I just wanted to be friends with you."


    Luo Lang scoffed at these words, "Be friends? Using this kind of despicable method?"


    The white-clothed youth frowned, and said sullenly, "Could it be that Yong-guang 2 didn¡¯t tell you that I wanted to discuss something with you?"


    "Using a text message to trick me into going to the Military Medical Research Centre, then using the excuse of an examination at the examination centre to trick me onto a hover car and bringing me here by force. What do you think?"


    Hearing all this, the white-clothed youth said exasperatedly, "Yong-guang misunderstood my intentions! I just said that I especially admired your performance during the arena fight, actually being able to achieve an upset, defeating a stronger opponent. This deserves my respect. I most admire your type of resilient and tenacious spirit. So, I told him that if I had a chance, I¡¯d like to get to know you, maybe be friends or something ..."


    At this point, the white-clothed youth began muttering to himself, "Yong-guang clearly said that he could help me do that ... how did things turn out this way?" So saying, he abruptly raised his head and asked Luo Lang, "Where¡¯s Yong-guang? Let me ask him what exactly is going on? I had clearly asked him to invite you here. This ce is my favourite spot. I thought you might like it too, which is why I arranged to meet you here."


    The white-clothed youth¡¯s expression was earnest, as if the truth was just as he said. With that exnation, Luo Lang began to doubt whether things were really like that ¡ª was it this Yong-guang who had made a mistake?


    However, Boss Lan¡¯s cautionary words very quickly rang out in his mind. ¡¯When you are still uncertain whether an other is a friend or foe, you need to guard against the other as if they were an enemy ...¡¯


    Luo Lang¡¯s heart clenched, cold sweat breaking out along his back. Without knowing it, he had slowly been letting down his guard. He abruptly stared pratingly at the seemingly earnest face of that white-clothed youth, and said coldly, "No need. He is my hostage now. Why don¡¯t you tell me what you intend?"


    Luo Lang¡¯s wary gaze made the lips of the white-clothed youth twitch, his gaze quickly bing bleak as he said, "I really had no bad intentions." That said, he bowed his head somewhat mournfully.


    "If you have no bad intentions, then help me unlock the settings of the hover car. It¡¯s gettingte, I should go back now," responded Luo Lang coldly. No matter what the other said, he was determined not to believe it. Who would do such a bizarre thing as this just to make friends? It was suspicious however he looked at it.


    Resigned, the white-clothed youth said, "Okay. I really don¡¯t know how things turned out this way. All of this was done by Yong-guang. You need to wake Yong-guang up, he should be able to resolve this."


    Luo Lang peered intently at the white-clothed youth for a long moment. Then, without shifting his line of sight, his hand reached into the backseat of the hover car behind him, and smacked that person called Yong-guang awake.

 Chapter 272: The Mission of the New Cadet Regiment!

    Chapter 272: The Mission of the New Cadet Regiment!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Yong-guang moaned and opened his eyes. Waking to find himself all tied up, his face paled, but just as he was about to shout, he noticed hispanions standing right outside the car. Joy bloomed on his face as he cried out, "Elder Brother Xi, save me!"


    The white-clothed youth saw this and his face turned stony as he barked, "Yong-guang, I ask you. Didn¡¯t I say I wanted to be friends with Luo Lang? Asking you to help me invite him out for a meeting, why did you make such a mess of it?"


    Yong-guang¡¯s gaze flickered. He looked towards Luo Lang, then looked back at the white-clothed youth, and after some thought, he said, "Honestly, I had wanted to invite Luo Lang out properly, but thepanion by his side was very wary and cautious. Every time I tried to approach, that person would stop me. Even though I said I had no bad intentions, only wanting to get to know him, the other just would not believe me. In the end, I had no choice but to do things this way. I was originally thinking to exin the situation after we arrived at the destination, but I unexpectedly angered Luo Lang, who knocked me unconscious along the way."


    At this point, Yong-guang bowed his head dejectedly and apologised, saying, "I¡¯m sorry, Luo Lang, for misleading you."


    "All of this was really just your idea?" Despite the other¡¯s exnation, he did not manage to make Luo Lang rx his guard. Luo Lang¡¯s right hand was still gripping the other¡¯s neck securely ¡ª at any strange movement, he would be able to finish off the other instantly. This action of his was also a silent warning to the other people there to not move recklessly, for he had a hostage in hand.


    In response to Luo Lang¡¯s question, Yong-guang said, "Yes, I¡¯m from the hacker specialization, so I could only use a hacker¡¯s method to invite you out." Yong-guang was rather proud of his own methods, but very quickly deted again, "I was originally just thinking of using the Military Medical Research Centre¡¯s system to send you a message, but that system is just too hard to crack. In the end, I could only use the treatment centre¡¯s system. Luckily you did not suspect anything."


    Yong-guang¡¯s words exined why he had received the message from the treatment centre; this rather convinced Luo Lang of the veracity of his words. However, he also began chiding himself internally ¡ª it was just as Boss Lan had said ¡ª he was all a fighter¡¯s brawn and courage, without a strategist¡¯s mind 1 . He had not noticed such a simple and obvious w ... if not for the fact that the subsequent events had been too out of the ordinary, he might not have noticed right up till the very end.


    Luo Lang made a decision then and there that he would definitely go find Han Jijyun when he had a chance for some remedial lessons. Even if he could not be someone as astute as Han Jijyun, he just could not let an opponent use such a simple scheme to lure him out. This was too disgraceful! He could already foresee the teasing he would receive from hispanions when he returned.


    "That hover car is also your doing?" Luo Lang continued to ask.


    Yong-guang¡¯s downtrodden demeanour was swept away in an instant. Beaming with pride, he said, "Of course! All this is just a piece of cake 2 !" With regards to his own specialization, he was still very confident in his abilities.


    The other¡¯s reactions chipped away a little more of Luo Lang¡¯s scepticism. As if aware that the ice on Luo Lang¡¯s face was thawing, the white-clothed youth immediately spoke up to say, "You see, Luo Lang, I really had no bad intentions. I just felt that we would click, so I wanted to get to know you." Saying this, there was actually a trace of hurt on the youth¡¯s face.


    Seeing this, Luo Lang¡¯s heart could not help but soften, but Ling Lan¡¯s stern expression once more floated to the surface of his mind. That cold gaze of his pierced Luo Lang¡¯s inner heart, causing his heart to clench once more, causing him to once again harden his somewhat softening heart.


    When the white-uniformed youth saw mental rity reassert itself in Luo Lang¡¯s eyes once more, he could not help but jerk back, his initially wounded expression stiffening for just a moment ...


    Ling Lan, who was currently in the mecha world performing a mission, suddenly stopped moving, causing Little Four to ask in confusion, "Boss, what¡¯s wrong?"


    "My spiritual power has been stirred!" Ling Lan answered with a frown.


    "What happened?" Little Four was very shocked. He had not sensed any people with spectre abilities near them in the virtual world; it was impossible for anyone to have attacked Boss.


    "Could it be something from the virtual world?" Ling Lan asked Little Four. When it came to the virtual world, Little Four knew better than she did.


    "No, there are no spectres within a hundred square li of us. Unless this world has another entity like me around, but even so, it should not be able to escape my sensors," replied Little Four with confidence.


    Ling Lan¡¯s brow scrunched up even tighter. If it did note from the virtual world, then where had this attacke from?


    Right then, Ling Lan had already forgotten that, back during the grand armed melee, in order to protect Qi Long and the others, she had unleashed several strands of her spiritual power, lodging them within the minds of her team members. Back then, Ling Lan had been afraid they would get too caught up in fighting that they might make a wrong decision during a critical moment. Thus, she had left these spiritual power strands in their minds to jolt them into awareness again at those critical moments ...


    Originally, she was supposed to take those strands back once the grand armed melee ended. However, by virtue of the chain of events that had followed ¡ª her being targeted for an assassination, being seriously injured and unconscious and leaving for home, and then when she woke up, she was immediately taken in by Mu Shui-qing as a disciple to train in Divine Command ¡ª she had forgotten to seek out herpanions to reim those spiritual power reserves of hers.


    With the passage of time, these spiritual power strands had been absorbed by herpanions¡¯ spiritual power, bing part of them. However, there was an unintended benefit ¡ª whenever herpanions were attacked by a spiritual power user, Ling Lan would sense it. At present though, Ling Lan did not know about this, which was why she was extremely puzzled over the source of this attack.


    "I need to log off. Something just doesn¡¯t feel right." Ling Lan decided to listen to her gut, immediately logging off from the virtual world.


    ********


    Inside the vi of Ling Lan¡¯s team, one room on the third floor was specially used for the login pods to the virtual world. The moment Xie Yi returned to the team home, he immediately ran to the third floor. As long as it was not during meal time, Boss Lan, Luo Lang, and the others would be in the virtual world, and Xie Yi needed to find Boss Lan before Luo Lang heard of this matter to discuss how they could advise Luo Lang to ept the mission set by the military academy this time.


    It turned out that ten dayster would be the first assessment for the 5th year seniors who applied to the various army divisions for enlistment. It could be said that this would certainly affect the futures of those students, as well as affect the reputation of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    This was because those students who passed this first assessment would obtain the best resources the divisions had to offer and gain the best cultivation, and be deployed to the best troop for their development. Inparison, the assessments after that would not provide such great treatment anymore. This was why all the military academies would put their all into doing their best for this first assessment.


    The assessment teams sent by the various army divisions would not onlye to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, but would also set up station at several other military academies. Those locations would gather all the enlistment hopefuls from the other military academies for assessment ¡ª thepetition could be said to be extremely fierce. Thus, every year, the military academies ced the greatest importance on this very first assessment. It should be known that, in the past, the students of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would dominate half the passing group. This was why the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had always reigned supreme over the other military academies.


    The First Men¡¯s Military Academy naturally hoped to continue extending their reign of good repute, hence cing a high standard on all aspects of the assessment teams¡¯ visit. The school hoped to have everything as perfect as possible, so it could leave a good impression on all the assessment officers of the various army divisions, in hopes that the officers would be merciful during the assessment of their students. Meanwhile, the most essential piece was the weing reception ...


    As the First Men¡¯s Military Academy consisted entirely of manly men, the school could not do as other co-ed military academies did, sending out beautifuldies to receive the officers. This time, they received news that their sworn rivals, the Federal Co-ed Military Academy had sent out the so-called loveliest female squad to wee the officers. This made the top ranks of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy extremely agitated.


    If they still sent out some rough and hairy boys to wee the officers this time, with this stark contrast, would the examiners be irritated? Thinking that this could affect their cadets¡¯ results, their hearts were burning with desperation, as they racked their brains to think of a countern 3 . Heaven knows who suggested it, but someone mentioned that there were some among the boys who were graceful and beautiful too, such as the 1st year Luo Lang. (Due to his participation in the wagered fight, quite a few people knew of Luo Lang now. Even the top ranks of the school administration had caught wind of him.) The administratorstched onto this suggestion like their lives depended on it, swiftly settling on seeking out some of the more refined and gentle-looking youths to handle this matter.


    In the end, after some study, everyone decided that the 1st year freshmen were still the most suited for this job. The freshmen were innocent, not as slick as the older cadets ¡ª so if they really ended up making any faux pas, on ount of their young ages, those officers would likely be able to overlook it.


    Finally, this matter was handed over to the New Cadet Regiment to execute. Who asked Luo Lang to be a member of the New Cadet Regiment? Moreover, the New Cadet Regiment was the only organisation the freshmen of this year would acknowledge ¡ª who else would the administrators seek out if not them?


    Xie Yi had been called out by a student for precisely this reason. Their first year homeroom teacher had asked that student to pass on the word, calling Xie Yi to the homeroom teacher¡¯s office. (Ever since Qi Long and Li Yingjie had been injured, Xie Yi had temporarily taken their ce to be Wu Jiong¡¯s assistant, helping Wu Jiong to handle the matters of the New Cadet Regiment, which was why the teacher would seek out Xie Yi.)


    The moment Xie Yi arrived at the homeroom teacher¡¯s office, he saw Wu Jiong there as well, giving him a hint that this was likely regarding the New Cadet Regiment. Reality proved that Xie Yi was right. The homeroom teacher inly told them the intentions of the top ranks of the military academy, tasking the New Cadet Regiment with the job of receiving the examiners. Additionally, he kept subtly and pointedly bringing up how excellent Luo Lang was, strongly suggesting that it would be most appropriate for him to lead the weingmittee.


    Wu Jiong and Xie Yi could only smile wryly ¡ª the homeroom teacher¡¯s words had let them understand clearly what the top file of the military academy was after. They had set their hopes on the lovely androgynous face of Luo Lang ... However, Luo Lang had always hated others judging him by that feminine face of his. The two of them really had no idea what Luo Lang would do when he found out about the administrators¡¯ n. Would he go berserk and flip the principal¡¯s desk in anger?


    After that meeting, the two of them discussed things over, and felt that Boss Lan was likely the only person who could handle Luo Lang for this. Thus, Xie Yi had rushed back to the vi and straight up to the third floor to find Ling Lan.


    Xie Yi had just stepped into the login pod room when he saw Boss Lan¡¯s exclusive login pod swing open. Ling Lan sat up primly, prepared to climb out of the login pod.


    Seeing this, Xie Yi said happily, "Boss Lan, I was just looking for you to discuss something." That said, Xie Yi shuffled over to lift up Ling Lan¡¯s towel from the counter and passed it to Ling Lan.


    "What¡¯s up?" Ling Lan smoothly epted Xie Yi¡¯s offering of her towel, and began walking as she asked. She was moving towards the restroom to one side, prepared to wash up.

 Chapter 273: Where Is Luo Lang?

    Chapter 273: Where Is Luo Lang?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Xie Yi quickly hurried over and said, "It¡¯s like this ..." He exined the task the military academy had set for the New Cadet Regiment to Ling Lan, "The top rank of the academy has set their sights on Luo Lang, wanting Luo Lang to be in charge of the reception team. The intention being that those going to wee the examiners should be those who are more on the graceful and slender side."


    The hand Ling Lan was using to wipe her face with her towel paused for a beat, then swiped roughly once more as she said with a cold chuckle, "That bunch of top ranks must have something wrong with their brains. The assessment officers of the divisions are here to see brave and skilful warriors, not this superficial nonsense."


    Xie Yi nodded emphatically, "Right? Wu Jiong and I felt right then that something was off, but before we could refuse, the instructor had implied that this was a mission the New Cadet Regiment must carry out."


    "Unable to refuse?" asked Ling Lan, her eyebrows locking up. She really disliked this mission ¡ª Luo Lang would likely be extremely resistant to this mission as well.


    "If we could refuse, we would have pushed it off a long time ago. The instructor said that, as long as weplete this mission, the school will guarantee that within one year, no other faction will bother us." Xie Yi shared the benefit the school was promising as well, though this was of course still a type of threat.


    "Hmph, faking generosity by piggybacking others. They know very well that Leiting will help us settle everything in these two years. Actually just promising this, what great nning,"mented Ling Lan with a cold huff. She threw her towel into the washbasin and strode out of the washroom.


    Xie Yi hurriedly rushed forward to clean the towel in the washbasin a little, wringing it dry and hanging it back in its ce, as he replied, "Right? But with the school¡¯s promise, some factions might make less underhanded moves behind the scenes." Leiting would only help them resolve the conflicts on the surface, so the New Cadet Regiment would still have to handle any manoeuvres behind the scenes themselves.


    In this half a month after the wagered fight, there had indeed been no disturbances on the surface, but behind the scenes, the regiment members had still received taunting and bullying to a certain extent. It was just that the perpetrators seemed to have no clear connection to any of the factions, seeming to be acting purely on personal grudges. But Wu Jiong and Xie Yi knew very well that things were not that simple. Simply staying on top of all these misceneous trivial matters had given them a lot of stress. Thus, this vow of the military academy was still rather attractive for the New Cadet Regiment.


    "If our New Cadet Regiment is given a stable year¡¯s time, allowing the regiment members to sessfullyplete their final exams, in the second year, we will no longer have to be afraid," added Wu Jiong.


    This kind of backstage harassment might not bother the top ranks of the New Cadet Regiment much, but they were still extremely detrimental to the lower ranking members. Mind you, the first year was the most critical physical conditioning phase, which was of the utmost importance to every freshman. If they did not have a secure environment toplete these physical training courses, it might affect their final assessment results. This was why Wu Jiong and Xie Yi had agreed to the mission in the end ¡ª for the sakes of their regiment members, it was necessary for them to suffer some things.


    Ling Lan walked over to sit on a sofa at one side. As she listened to Xie Yi, she could not help but knock on the arms of the sofa, thinking for a long while before saying, "Looks like, Luo Lang will have to take one for the team." This statement sealed Luo Lang¡¯s tragic fate for the near future.


    At these words, Xie Yi¡¯s expression eased. He took a seat on the sofa beside Ling Lan¡¯s and sighed, "He¡¯ll just have to. For the sake of our New Cadet Regiment¡¯s future!" That said, he added obsequiously, "Of course, this matter still requires you, Boss Lan, to act. Luo Lang listens to you best."


    Ling Lan threw a cold nce at him in response, frightening Xie Yi so much that he quickly ducked his head, afraid to make eye contact.


    Frankly, they had only called on Boss Lan to act because they had no other choice. That punk Luo Lang may look as soft and gentle as water, but he was actually a firecracker, liable to explode with a tiny spark. If they tried passing on the news themselves, they might only manage to touch on the subject ¡ª before they managed to borate and rify the whole mission, Luo Lang might already have flipped the table in anger.


    However, Boss Lan was different. Luo Lang adored Boss Lan, and listened well to Boss Lan¡¯s words. If it came from Boss Lan, regardless of how unhappy Luo Lang was with the news, he would still obey docilely andplete the mission perfectly. This was why Wu Jiong and Xie Yi would seek out Ling Lan for help.


    At the heart of it, whether it was those of Ling Lan¡¯s team or those of the New Cadet Regiment, they all had a kind of unquestionable trust in Ling Lan. In their minds, as long as a task was taken on by Boss Lan, any challenge would no longer be challenging ... what blind confidence they had in Ling Lan!


    Seeing Xie Yi¡¯s cowed expression, Ling Lan turned her gaze aside and said dispassionately, "Only this once." Ling Lan did not wish for them to develop the habit of relying on her. There woulde a day when they would go their separate ways and fight on their own.


    At these words, Xie Yi finally smiled. With Boss Lan¡¯s promise, this matter was sure to go off without a hitch. He decided that he would inform Wu Jiong right after this, and ask him to select some of the more genteel looking freshmen with refined manners, to cooperate with Luo Lang inpleting this mission.


    At this moment, Ling Lan was also mentally considering what to do. She did not want to be a tyrant boss, assigning missions to her followers by force without caring what they thought. She wanted to ask Luo Lang¡¯s opinion ¡ª if Luo Lang was at all reluctant, she decided that she would go forth together with Luo Lang toplete this weing mission.


    Ling Lan knew very well that if she too was in the weingmittee, Luo Lang would definitely have no more mental resistance to the mission, and would instead follow her enthusiastically. Besides, as a girl, Ling Lan did not feel there was anything disgraceful about epting this mission 1 .


    Ling Lan would make this decision because she felt that she herself matched the conditions the top ranks of the academy had set for the weingmittee. With the union of her parents¡¯ strengths, when she looked into a mirror, even she could not help but be enchanted by her own lovely face ...


    Indeed, Ling Lan was pretty good-looking, and her slender frame had none of the bulky muscrity of the typical male. By all ounts, she indeed fit the criteria very well, but she had forgotten her own millennium-long unmelting ice block of a face, as well as her piercing gaze which chilled others to the bone. Just standing there, she exuded a boundless air of domination ... how then could she possess the gentle and amodating air the upper ranks of the military academy requested?


    It had to be said that Ling Lan was actually quite tragic ¡ª having such a lovely face, but no one dared to even look straight at her ... The domineering airing from her bodypletely overshadowed her unbelievably beautiful face. At first nce, all everyone could think was that this person was really cool, really strong, really dominant! Forever unrted to the phrases beautiful, pretty, or adorable ...


    After thinking about it, Ling Lan decided to first discuss things over with Luo Lang to see what the other thought. So, she asked Xie Yi, "Where¡¯s Luo Lang? Why didn¡¯t hee back together with you?"


    Xie Yi was taken aback. "Luo Lang told me he would leave first. Did he note back here?" He quickly stood up and ran to Luo Lang¡¯s login pod to take a look. There really was no one inside. Xie Yi instantly frowned and said, "This fellow, where has he gone?"


    Ling Lan also frowned. Luo Lang typically would not run around needlessly ¡ª could it be that something had popped up? Ling Lan rapped on the arm of the sofa once more and said, "Tell me the situation when youst saw Luo Lang."


    Xie Yi carefully recalled the scene for a moment, then replied, "I had originally asked Luo Lang to wait for me, because the homeroom teacher passed a message for me to meet him at his office. Luo Lang had said yes at first, but then, soon after, he said he had something to do and asked to leave first. Since I did not know what the homeroom teacher wanted, or how long it would take, I agreed. After saying goodbye to him, I went to the homeroom teacher, while Luo Lang left the training field."


    "Initially agreeing to wait for you, but then saying that he had something to do and leaving ... this means that within that brief window of time, there was a change in Luo Lang¡¯s state of mind," Ling Lan analysed.


    "Yes, I wonder if Luo Lang suddenly recalled something, or did something happen within that period of time to change his mind?" Xie Yi mused. Suddenly thinking of something, his face paled and he said, "Could he have been tricked away by that person?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s face darkened. "What¡¯s this?"


    Xie Yi quickly told Ling Lan all about the senior who had been constantly trying to find a way to approach Luo Lang over the past few days. Back then, he had already found the other rather fishy, which was why he had actively stopped him. However, the other¡¯s intentions were extremely concealed, so all he had were spections, hence he had not spoken to Luo Lang of it. At this point, Xie Yi was filled with regret. He should have warned Luo Lang earlier to be careful.


    "Luo Lang is not that foolish. A stranger would not be able to trick him away so easily. There must be some reason which he could not refuse ..." Ling Lan did not think Luo Lang was that gullible. Even if Luo Lang was indeed all dumb innards behind an intelligent face 2 , he still did notck basic judgment.


    "Wait here for a moment. I¡¯ll log onto the virtualwork to see if I can find any useful information." Ling Lan decided to depend on Little Four for this, lying back down into the virtual login pod. She was prepared to let Little Four use the virtualwork to look up the various surveince stations in the military academy, to see where Luo Lang had gone.


    Xie Yi nodded, settling down quietly onto the sofa. No matter how anxious he was, he did not make any sound. He knew what Ling Lan was heading into the virtual world to do ¡ª their entire team knew that Boss Lan was most likely also a very high-level hacker ¡ª perhaps Boss would be able to find some clue within the virtual world.


    ********


    Meanwhile, Luo Lang, who was facing off against a crowd, had not let down his guard due to the warning jolt he had received from Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power. After listening to what the white-clothed youth had to say, he contemted silently for a moment before replying, "I really want to believe what you¡¯re saying, but I cannot under these circumstances. If what you say is true, then unseal the hover car and let me go home."


    The white-clothed youth responded sadly, "Luo Lang, is it really impossible for us to be friends?"


    At these words, Luo Langughed. Thisugh was unbelievably lovely and charming, causing the white-clothed youth¡¯s gaze to darken briefly, bing deep and unfathomable, but his loss ofposure onlysted for a split second. Not thinking too much about this, Luo Lang missed this swift change.


    Luo Lang said amidst hisughter, "If you really want to be friends with me,e find me openly. I will not reject someone who sincerely wants to be friends."


    The white-clothed youth instantly broke out into a smile, making his face iparably sunny and bright. This caused Luo Lang¡¯s impression of him to rise by several notches once more. Still, even so, his vignce was not reduced ¡ª that cold and piercing gaze of Ling Lan¡¯s made him fear to rx.


    "Yup, I¡¯ll let Yong-guang unseal the hover car then. I¡¯lle find you tomorrow, is that okay?" said the white-clothed youth with his sunny smile, his tone extremely earnest and sincere. Perhaps he was too earnest, for no matter how one looked, he exuded an air of silliness.


    Luo Lang only continued to smile politely without saying a word, waiting for the other to fulfil his promise.

 Chapter 274: Tianji Mecha Clan!

    Chapter 274: Tianji Mecha n!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Yong-guang heard what the white-clothed youth said, and could not help but smile bitterly and say, "Being all tied up like this, how can I unseal anything? At least untie my hands." He turned his head to look at Luo Lang and said, "Since Elder Brother Xi has already said this, why don¡¯t you untie my hands so I can help you unseal the hover car?"


    The white-clothed youth¡¯s gaze settled on Luo Lang¡¯s body once more, filled with anticipation.


    Luo Lang hesitated briefly ¡ª he saw the three other hover cars not too far off and an idea sparked. "No need to unseal this one. Aren¡¯t there three perfectly fine cars over there? If you don¡¯t mind, let one of them take me back!"


    The white-clothed youth nodded at this and said "Don¡¯t mind, of course I don¡¯t mind! You can choose whichever of the three hover cars you like."


    Luo Lang smiled, but did not point out which car he wanted. He carefully lifted Yong-guang, using him as a hostage to block his body, carefully retreating. When he was not too far away from the three hover cars, he jumped backwards abruptly, leaping to the side of one of the hover cars. Pulling the door open, he continued to keep Yong-guang as a shield before him as he slowly retreated into the car.


    Luo Lang sat down, and seeing the other side still standing where they were without moving a single step, he could not help but rx. It looked like they truly had no ill intent ¡ª his tightly clenched hand loosened.


    Right then, Yong-guang, who had been docilely cooperative all this while, sensed the weakening of the grip around his neck. With a forceful twist of his body, he wrested free of Luo Lang¡¯s grasp, throwing himself bodily towards the ground ...


    Luo Lang was greatly startled, but just as he was about to lean out of the car to reach out for the other, he suddenly heard an extremely soft mechanical click. At the same time, a beam of silver light shed right in front of his eyes.


    Luo Lang felt an unprecedented sense of dangering right at him, and the muscles of his entire body tensed up. Many years of battle experience ensured he did not panic ¡ª with a sweep of his right leg, he kicked out at Yong-guang who was about to hit the floor, sending him flying into the air. Meanwhile, he used the rebound force of this kick to glide swiftly deeper into the hover car, trying to dodge that threatening silver light.


    Quicker than words could say, despite Luo Lang¡¯s nimble reflexes, he still did not manage to ovee the speed of the silver light. Luo Lang did not manage to dodge cleanly. The silver beam grazed Luo Lang¡¯s right shoulder, drawing a streak of blood, which swiftly dyed Luo Lang¡¯s green uniform red.


    Luo Lang ignored the wound on his arm ¡ª as he had glided into the hover car, he had hooked the car door with his right leg, shutting it, and Luo Lang then quickly pressed down the lock button from the inside, sealing the car. Other than the person inside, anyone outside who wanted to open the car would need to use brute force now.


    After doing all this, Luo Lang calmly activated the A.I. of the hover car. Right now, he prayed that he would be able to sessfully activate the hover car and escape from this ce before the opponent managed to destroy the hover car. By now, no matter how dumb Luo Lang was, he still knew he had fallen into the opponent¡¯s trap. That white-clothed youth had been lying through his teeth, and was certainly not as pure and earnest as he had portrayed himself to be. Luo Lang secretly hated himself for being taken in so easily by the opponent, actually beginning to like the other. That was why he had be distracted at the end, wasting all his efforts thus far, getting injured by the other¡¯s underhanded methods.


    Luo Lang decided to remember this bloody lesson ¡ª next time, he definitely would not make such an idiotic mistake ever again ...


    Outside the hover car, a youth dressed in a blue uniform, mostly shielded from view by the white-clothed youth, lowered his hands in frustration. In his hands was an extremely exquisite, well-crafted, pocket-sized crossbow, and that streak of silver light had been a pocket-sized bolt fired from the crossbow.


    He pulled back the crossbow, frowning as he said, "Elder Brother Xi, what do we do now?" Who could have expected that Luo Lang would be able to react so quickly even when he had attacked so abruptly, actually managing to dodge ...


    The white-uniformed youth red broodily at the tightly locked hover car, and sniffed coldly. "What else can we do? Smash it! I don¡¯t believe he can escape my grasp."


    He was standing at the fore, so he had seen very clearly. When the bolt had brushed by Luo Lang, some blood had been drawn, so the bolt must have injured Luo Lang. He believed that, based on thepound on the bolt, as long as the other was wounded, it would be enough to force the other to stay.


    "Yes, Brother Xi!" Receiving their instructions, the others began to move swiftly. They all ran towards the other two hover cars, taking out the metal bats they had prepared from within the cars. The military academy kept a close watch on firearms, forbidding students from using those highly vtile and damaging weapons outside of their sses. Thus, students would always use this type of metal bats in their personal scuffles.


    Seated inside the hover car, Luo Lang watched nervously as the A.I. booted up. He could already sense those people outside surrounding this hover car. Very soon, the nging sounds of impact rang out from all sides of the hover car. Luo Lang knew the opponent was trying to break the hover car by force, trying to keep him behind.


    Time was tight ¡ª Luo Lang was so nervous his forehead was sweating. His eyes were locked onto the screen of the optical supeputer; with all his attention focused on the screen, he neglected the trace of numbness that had appeared in his own right arm.


    When the supeputer finally disyed the notification to enter his intended destination, Luo Lang was overjoyed. As long as he managed to enter the address, he would be able to get the hover car to bring him away from this ce ... he was just about to lift his hand to key in the information when he found that he could not move his right arm. His heart clenched in fear, but before he could investigate why, he felt his vision blur, his head bing groggy and heavy.


    Not good! Ultra-effective anaesthetics! Luo Lang naturally knew what was behind this. It went without question that that silver bolt which had injured him must have had ultra-effective anaesthetic smeared on it, otherwise he would not have presented with its effects so quickly.


    Luo Lang unhesitatingly bit down on the tip of his tongue. Riding this violent jolt of pain, he collected his quickly dissipating consciousness. He had to key in the address he needed to get to in these final moments of awareness.


    His right arm was alreadypletely numb, so Luo Lang gritted his teeth, using momentous effort to raise his limp and weak left hand. He began to key in the address of his dorm, and then pressed the button to confirm. When he saw the A.I. disy the following message ¡ª Destination: XXXXX; please press ¡¯YES¡¯ to confirm, press ¡¯NO¡¯ to cancel ¡ª Luo Lang used almost all his strength to press down firmly on the ¡¯YES¡¯ button, and then he fainted dead away.


    ********


    In the virtual world, Little Four was disying every digital footprint Luo Lang had left after leaving the training hall one by one before Ling Lan.


    16:09, Luo Lang received a message from the treatment centre. Contents as below: Cadet Luo Lang, please present yourself at the Medical Treatment Research Centre this afternoon at 17:00 hours for a final follow-up examination. ¡ª¡ª Main Service Counter of the Treatment Centre.


    16:15, Luo Lang rode a hover car to the Medical Research Centre.


    16:52, Luo Lang appeared at the entrance of the Medical Research Centre and met up with someone in a blue uniform.


    16:58, Luo Lang went off with the blue-clothed person in a hover car; search for destination in progress ...


    At this point, Ling Lan¡¯s eyebrows were tightly knitted. "Which goes to say that we still can¡¯t find where Luo Lang is now?"


    "The hover car has been modified by a hacker. The destination keyed into it has not been recorded into the mainframe databank. For me to find out now, I need to find that hover car which Luo Lang took from all the surveince footage. This is a little harder and will take more time." With regards to professional questions, Little Four¡¯s answers were meticulous.


    "Alright, Little Four, take your time." Although Ling Lan was rather anxious, she did not want to show it and give Little Four too much pressure.


    Not too long after, Little Four chimed in again. "Lu Yong-guang, 3rd year elite student from the hacker specialization ..." Little Four had discovered the identity of that blue-uniformed person with Luo Lang.


    "Is he involved with any faction or group?" asked Ling Lan spiritedly.


    "ording to the data in the mainframe, he had joined the Tianji Mecha n." Little Four very quickly gave her an answer. The military academy mainframe which all hackers found so difficult to prate was just like his personal backyard in Little Four¡¯s eyes. He coulde and go as he pleased, and the information inside it was as if part of his home, free for him to take as he willed.


    "Tianji?" Ling Lan¡¯s brow furrowed at these words. Ever since Leiting Mecha n had lost in the wagered fight, the various factions had toned down significantly. They were afraid they would identally offend Leiting, giving Leiting some excuse to vent their anger on them instead. If this matter was really initiated by Tianji, why had they chosen to act during this sensitive period? Could they be trying to take advantage of the instability to knock down Leiting and be the number one faction themselves? Or was this perhaps a setup by some other faction, trying to pit the New Cadet Regiment against Tianji? So that faction could then benefit as the external third party as the two shed and weakened each other?


    There were countless suppositions in Ling Lan¡¯s mind. Although she could not be sure whether Tianji was the real culprit, she would not let the other go, so she asked, "Little Four, without affecting the search for Luo Lang, can you take control of all the surveince equipment inside the Tianji headquarters?"


    Little Four replied without skipping a beat, "Piece of cake. Leave it to me!" He had barely finished speaking when an additional window had appeared before Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. There was a garden, a living room, other rooms, and also various passages and corridors. Ling Lan knew that this was most likely the inside of the Tianji Mecha n headquarters. As expected, when it came to any surveince equipment being used in this era, Little Four really had no difficulty at all infiltrating it.


    Not every faction had a headquarters ¡ª only the organisations which ranked within the top four of the school ranking had this honour. The military academy would allocate official venues of different sizes to the groups ording to their ranking to be their headquarters. Therefore, every year, the various factions would be embroiled in a brutalpetition in order to win one of these four spots on the ranking.


    The Tianji Mecha n was the second major faction within the military academy, so the headquarters given to them was considerably huge. All the safety and security measures were done up extremely well, and from the video feed, Ling Lan could even see some patrols passing by every so often.


    However, Ling Lan was only perusing it cursorily ¡ª her main priority was still in waiting for Little Four toe up with his final tracking results.


    Time passed bit by bit. Not too long after, Han Jijyun and Lin Zhong-qin too had ended their physical training sses and returned. When they heard the news, Han Jijyun asked Xie Yi to contact Wu Jiong. They waited patiently in the living room, waiting for Ling Lan to exit from the virtual world.


    As the skies grew darker and darker, they began to be a little restless. Boss Lan had not logged off after so long ¡ª did this mean that he had not found anything useful in the virtual world?


    Xie Yi was the first to lose his patience ¡ª after all, Luo Lang hadst been with him. If he had only been more alert back then and cautioned Luo Lang, perhaps this kind of thing would not have happened. Filled with remorse, he suggested whether they should mobilise the New Cadet Regiment, sending everyone out to look for Luo Lang together.


    Wu Jiong was rather stirred by the suggestion ¡ª after all, he felt unsettled just sitting here doing nothing.

 Chapter 275: Act Independently!

    Chapter 275: Act Independently!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Han Jijyun was unexpectedly cool-headed, immediately shooting down the two¡¯s n.


    Han Jijyun believed that taking reckless action while the circumstances were still unclear would just scare off the viins before they could go after them, and may even make the situation worse. If the opponent became wary and transferred Luo Lang to an even more concealed area, it would make it even harder for them to find him. If this allowed the opponent to sessfully hide Luo Lang away for a month¡¯s time, even if they managed to find Luo Lang eventually, Luo Lang¡¯s future would already be ruined by the opponent. Rather than that, they might as well wait patiently for Boss Lan to emerge before making a decision.


    The final exams of the military academy every year were extremely stringent ¡ª skipping sses without reason for an entire month would cause a cadet to lose their study right. Many factions would use some underhanded means to steal talent for themselves ¡ª kidnapping was one of those methods, but it was used very, very rarely. After all, monitoring them all from above was the surveince team of the military academy, which kept watch on all the factions and organisations on record within the school. Other than those who were confident they could carry it off wlessly, the typical faction would not choose to use this method.


    The New Cadet Regiment group seated here already had an inkling that Luo Lang had most likely been kidnapped ¡ª they just did not know whether it was a personal act, or if some faction or group was behind it ...


    This matter caused the mood of the New Cadet Regiment group here to be a little low. Originally, they had all been the elite princes of the Central Scout Academy, growing up smoothly without much hardship along the way. Under Ling Lan¡¯s lead, they had not met many obstacles, and though they had been forced into a wagered fight the moment they had entered the military academy, even when everyone had not thought well of their chances, they had prevailed. They had managed to turn the tables around and defeat the Leiting Mecha n ...


    It could not be denied that they had begun to be proud, their confidence going off the charts, thinking that there were no factions which could prevent the New Cadet Regiment from rising to prominence. However, it was right at this time that Luo Lang had mysteriously gone missing from right beneath their noses. This was like a basin of cold water pouring down on them, causing them to understand that the waters of the military academy were still deeper than they realised. It was still much too early for them to strut around with their tails cocked up high.


    "Thump! Thump! Thump! ..." From upstairs, there came the rhythmic, hard sounds of boots striding across the ground, steady and powerful, causing the initially somewhat flustered hearts of those people seated below to settle down. Almost simultaneously, they all stood up and turned their heads to look. A familiar figure was walking down the stairs. Their gazes lit up instantly, the embers of hope flickering in their eyes.


    Ling Lan walked down the stairs with an ice cold expression. Seeing the lot of them, she instructed, "Wu Jiong, you all wait here. Pretend nothing has happened ..." Even though Ling Lan¡¯s tone was as dispassionate as usual, everyone there could sense the indistinct killing intent radiating from Ling Lan¡¯s body, a surge of chilly air prating straight into their hearts.


    Boss Lan was pissed! Everyone understood tacitly what this meant.


    Wu Jiong blinked nkly, but quickly figured things out and said, "Understood, Boss Lan!"


    Han Jijyun frowned, a trace of worry shing through his eyes, and asked, "Boss Lan, you n to act independently?"


    "Yes, I have already found Luo Lang¡¯s trail, but that location is unsuitable for group activity. Going alone, it¡¯ll be easier for me to rescue Luo Lang," exined Ling Lan.


    "Who¡¯s the opponent?" Xie Yi suddenly spoke up to ask, his eyes brimming with fiery anger.


    "The Tianji Mecha n!" Ling Lan bit out each word by word. Her suppressed rage exploded as she uttered these four words, and her right hand reflexively mmed down onto the handrail of the staircase. There was a snap, and the solid wooden railing was actually broken into two pieces by Ling Lan¡¯s angry palm.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s expression could not help but pale drastically at the sight. "Boss Lan, has Luo Lang been harmed?"


    Following this question, all the expressions of the others changed greatly as well. Several pairs of furious eyes stared at Ling Lan, hoping he would tell them the answer.


    Ling Lan gritted her teeth and said, "Not yet for now. But this does not guarantee that it won¡¯t happenter. Thus, I have to hurry over as soon as possible ..."


    Ling Lan nced at Wu Jiong, Han Jijyun and the others, and ordered, "Wu Jiong, Jijyun, I leave this ce to you two. No matter what happens, you two must hold the fort. Remember, our New Cadet Regiment knows nothing, and no one has gone out ... as for Luo Lang, he has only gone to the Medical Research Centre for an examination."


    After leaving her instructions, Ling Lan rapidly departed the vi without a backwards nce, very quickly disappearing into the night.


    Wu Jiong retracted his gaze, turning his head to ask Han Jijyun, "Han Jijyun, say, what do you think Boss Lan is nning to do?"


    Han Jijyun indicated for the rest to return to the main hall to sit on the sofa, asking Lin Zhong-qing to bring over a pack of cards for them to while away the time, then replied, "Tragedy is about to befall the Tianji Mecha n ..."


    "Huh?" Wu Jiong had only guessed that Ling Lan was nning to execute a solo rescue, so he could not understand why Ling Lan did not want to let others know that it was the Tianji Mecha n who had abducted Luo Lang.


    Han Jijyun merely shook his head, not nning to enlighten Wu Jiong. This made Wu Jiong restless, impatience and annoyance stirring in his heart, causing him to y his cards in a distracted manner.


    Xie Yi was in fact simrly uncertain, but he knew his ce and so did not think too hard on the matter. Thus, he was not as unsettled as Wu Jiong. In the end, it was still Lin Zhong-qing who could not bear to see Wu Jiong¡¯s sorry state, and could not help but hint, "If no one knows that Luo Lang was abducted by the Tianji Mecha n, then there will also be no way to prove that the one who wiped out the Tianji headquarters today is our Boss Lan ..."


    Wu Jiong¡¯s eyes lit up. "So that¡¯s how it is." However, he very quickly became despondent, pointing out the w in the logic, "But there are surveince equipment in every area of the military academy ..."


    Han Jijyun smirked coldly, "And how much of Boss Lan¡¯s methods do you know? If Boss Lan wants you to do this, then you do this. This won¡¯t be a mistake."


    Wu Jiong suddenly recalled their time on the spaceship ¡ª Boss Lan had sessfully taken control of the surveince equipment before then. His gaze brightened once more and he shouted, "I¡¯ve got it!"


    This cry drew the cold res of the other three there with him. Han Jijyun, in particr, looked at him disdainfully as he mocked, "If you understand, then be quiet about it. Do you want to draw everyone here and negate Boss Lan¡¯s alibi?"


    Wu Jiong did not be angry even though he had been mocked by Han Jijyun. Since his doubts had been answered, he could now y his cards with an easy mind ...


    ********


    Meanwhile, the moment Ling Lan exited the doorway, she asked Little Four within the mindspace, "Tianji headquarters, which way is it?"


    Little Four showed a map to her instantly, with an arrow marking Ling Lan¡¯s current location and a red g marking the position of their target. The information was clear with just one nce. He also spoke up to say, "I suggest you first take a hover car ride, and then choose a stop near them to get off. This way, you can save some strength and internal energy ..." Little Four knew what Ling Lan was going to do on this trip, so he wanted to help Ling Lan reduce the drain on her energy. After all, destroying a headquarters was aborious task ¡ª they should save whatever energy they could while they could.


    Ling Lan decided to listen to Little Four¡¯s advice. With just one step, she had travelled over 100 metres away, arriving at the closest hover car stop to her living quarters in two steps. Then, she waited for a hover car to arrive. Even if she would use her Qi-Jin sparingly for now, time was still of the essence. She did not hope to see Luo Lang being tormented at this final juncture.


    The hover car arrived quickly, and Ling Lan darted into it like a spirit. Before Ling Lan could key in anything, Little Four had taken the initiative to choose a stop about 1 kilometre away for Ling Lan, concealing hismand from the system at the same time.


    In the mainframe of the military academy, this hover car Ling Lan was riding was still an empty car floating around the school. Furthermore, the moment when Ling Lan had gotten into the car and the periodter when she got out would also be altered on the surveince records. Of course, Little Four¡¯s tampering was perfect ¡ª no one would ever notice any trace of modification ...


    Just like that, with no witnesses or material proof, Ling Lan left her own vi.


    ********


    In one of the rooms within Tianji headquarters, the white-uniformed youth suppressed the intense paining from his body, and swallowed the ultra-effective medication his subordinate had brought for him.


    "Brother Xi, are you alright?" A blue-uniformed person asked worriedly.


    "I bloody didn¡¯t expect that Luo Lang to have such powerful spiritual power, able to resist my ability," hissed the white-clothed youth sullenly, "Not only that, heshed back, wounding me."


    The other had clearly lowered his guard and believed his words ... why had he regained mental rity at the final moment? It was then that he had been injured ¡ª if he had not held back from showing any signs of pain, the other might have seen through his act immediately. And also perhaps because he had forced himself to tolerate that rebound force in silence, the injury he had received was 30% worse than it would have been originally.


    "Wait till I¡¯ve healedpletely. I¡¯ll definitely torment that fellow properly." A savage expression emerged on the white-clothed youth¡¯s face, utterly ruining his originally rather charming face, leaving behind only ugliness beyond measure.


    "Congrattions, Brother Xi. Not only have you obtained a beauty, you have also obtained a physical skills prodigy, adding yet another great helper for our Tianji Mecha n," Lu Yong-guang congratted at one side fawningly. This improved the white-clothed youth¡¯s mood greatly, the viciousness in his face fading considerably, morphing him back into a handsome, lively and sunny youth.


    "You performed well this time. Later, go to the contribution department and collect a 2nd-tier resource. I¡¯ll give you my warrant in a bit." His mood greatly improved, the white-clothed youth began to reward his underling who had performed well.


    "Thank you, Brother Xi. Thank you, Brother Xi!" said Lu Yong-guang with pleasant surprise. He had initially thought he would be lucky to get a 3rd-tier resource, but Brother Xi was unexpectedly so generous this time.


    A blue-clothed youth by Lu Yong-guang¡¯s side felt that this was not very appropriate, and was just about to speak up about it when apanion standing beside him tugged on his arm, signalling him to stay silent. The lord before them now was an obstinate and conceited person; he was not that just and righteous Lord Regiment Commander of theirs who was currently in Closed Door Meditation 1 .


    After basking in a round of ttery by Lu Yong-guang, the white-clothed youth abruptly thought of something and asked nervously, "You¡¯ve eliminated all signs, right? You¡¯re sure no one will be able to trace us back here?"


    Lu Yong-guang replied proudly, "Don¡¯t worry, Brother Xi, I¡¯ve handled everything. Even if the number one hacker, Lin Zhidong, gets involved, he won¡¯t be able to trace us anytime soon." That said, heughed and said, "That New Cadet Regiment has also shot themselves in the foot. After offending Leiting, you think Lin Zhidong will help them? Definitely not, and as for the others ... I believe no one will be able to crack my methods."


    Hearing these words of Lu Yong-guang, the white-uniformed youth rxed instantly and began tough. His doubts were gone ¡ª now, as long as he was given enough time, he would definitely be able to train that beauty well, so that the other would submit to him, body and soul, in the end.


    The white-clothed youth was so confident because his spiritual mutation was a type of magical hypnotism. He could easily obtain the favour of others with it. If he wanted the other to love him wholeheartedly, as long as he had enough time, he would seed. Just like with his previous lovers ... this was exactly how he had reeled them in, and even until now, they still thought they had been willing 2 .

 Chapter 276: Infiltration!

    Chapter 276: Infiltration!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    At the Tianji Mecha n headquarters, a shadowy figure dropped stealthily into the flower garden. At this particr time, thisnding spot was precisely the blind spot of all the patrols and sentries ...


    With just one step, Ling Lan slipped into the corridor of the garden. By this time, Little Four had long cooperatively manipted the surveince feed of the corridor. In the monitoring room, the monitoring staff could only see images from several seconds ago ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s speed was ghost-like, leaving only a streak of shadowed light as she passed through the dim lighting of the corridor. Crossing the corridor, she arrived at the foot of the main building. She did not choose to enter the hall, instead dashing over to a blind spot by a wall.


    Then, Ling Lan¡¯s hands could be seen to fly swiftly, aiming for the irregr spots on the wall, using them as makeshift handholds to pull her entire body up, crawling up the wall like a lizard in the blink of an eye to reach the fourth floor. At this moment, Luo Lang was stowed within one of the bedrooms on the fourth floor. She needed to rescue Luo Lang first before she considered anything else.


    Moreover, Little Four had already given her a view of the entire headquarters beforehand. Therefore, she knew that the 4th floor, which was where she was climbing to now, had a room with an unlocked window. She would be able to open it and enter from there, and there was coincidentally no one inside at the moment. This was undoubtedly a good opportunity which could shorten the time Ling Lan needed to infiltrate the base.


    Ling Lan came to that window, and lightly pushed it open. In the silent depths of the night, even the lightest creak would be striking. Ling Lan was extremely calm ¡ª without any hesitation in her movements, she opened the window just wide enough for her body and slipped into the room.


    Right outside the room was the main corridor ¡ª Little Four was already disying the image of the corridor outside for Ling Lan, notifying her of the closest patrol. They were still a distance away, so Ling Lan did not hesitate to open the door, just as if she were still in her own vi. She walked out tantly into the corridor, without any bit of the sort of wariness and care one should have when breaking and entering into someone else¡¯s home.


    Ling Lan had faith in Little Four¡¯s judgment, and Ling Lan did not have the time to spare anyway, because Little Four had told Ling Lan that someone with nefarious intentions against Luo Lang was already heading towards the bedroom Luo Lang was in. She needed to hurry.


    After travelling for a distance, Little Four suddenly warned her that there were two patrollers approaching from around the corner.


    With a fleeting step, Ling Lan was at the corner. Several nimble steps up the wallter, she had climbed up to the crossbeam, andid herself t over it. If someone came up from behind Ling Lan, Ling Lan¡¯s figure would be clearly exposed to the eye, but from the opposing direction, Ling Lan¡¯s body was entirely obscured by the crossbeam. It would be impossible for the iing patrollers to discover her presence behind the beam ...


    Perhaps the patrollers too did not expect that the impregnable headquarters 1 in their eyes would actually be infiltrated by an enemy, who had already gotten to the 4th floor. Mind you, security was strict on all floors below this one, so any intruder would typically not be able to get past the 2nd floor. Thus, they were somewhat ck, casually breezing past the crossbeam, never once considering to even lift their heads to look up 2 ...


    Ling Lan waited for the two men to pass below her, then quietly dropped back down to the ground. In order to eliminate anytent problems, her palms whipped down like knives, chopping onto the napes of the two men.


    The two men toppled as the chopsnded, and Ling Lan grabbed hold of a man with each hand. She then dragged them to the next equally empty room and tossed them into it.


    These were all just small fry, so Ling Lan did not intend to be too harsh on them. In the internal energy she had used during the hand chops, she had only included a little bit of her innate talent¡¯s special power. If the other did not manage to clear out that bit of special power, their progress would be greatly impeded ¡ª this was Ling Lan¡¯s punishment for their role as aplices to the viin 3 .


    After tossing them into the room, the remaining matters would be Little Four¡¯s responsibility. Little Four would lock the doors, and just as when they had been on the spaceship, before the morn of the next day, the men¡¯smunicators would be non-functional. Before Ling Lan hadpletely vented her rage, Little Four would ensure the men had no chance of contacting the outside world.


    After settling the two men, Ling Lan swiftly hastened towards her destination. Along the way, with Little Four¡¯s advanced warnings, in order to avoid detection by the enemy, Ling Lan employed sneak attacks to bring down all enemies in her path before they could notice her.


    Meanwhile, in the monitoring room, as Little Four had used a constant loop of false images to rece the video feed, those patrollers taken down by Ling Lan still appeared to be patrolling along their designated routes, again and again ...


    ********


    The white-uniformed youth finally felt the pain in his head leave him, his spiritual power recovering to his normal levels. He walked out excitedly from the infirmary in the base, prepared to properly enjoy the spoils of victory he had gained today. Thinking of that beauty finally capitting to pleasure under his body, his heart felt hot; it was as if he had not felt this excited in a long time.


    The white-uniformed youth was the dux of the starshipmand specialization, named Shi Mingyi 4 . He was one of the vice regimentmanders of the Tianji Mecha n. Technically, he was unqualified to take on a vice regimentmander role based on his abilities, but he just so happened to have a batch of faithfully loyal subordinates, one of whom was even the best mecha expert in the n beneath the regimentmander. Due to that subordinate¡¯s emphatic support, Shi Mingyi had be a vice regimentmander of Tianjist year.


    Since shouldering the role of vice regimentmander, Shi Mingyi had used the resources of the Tianji Mecha n quite often to seek out information on all the fair-faced youths in the various specializations. Of course, he was cunning about it ¡ª those with substantial family backgrounds, he would not dare to touch; he typically went after those frommon stock, or those students without very significant backgrounds. One after another over the past year, there had already been five or six youths who had fallen into his wicked hands. And now, these victims had all be team members in his fold, holding him in extraordinary love and admiration, loyal to a fault.


    It was also precisely for this reason that Shi Mingyi¡¯s fondness for men had not yet been exposed. Adept at deception, he used his trump card to gather a great deal of good favour among the regr cadets, setting himself up as a sunny, righteous, and honest person. He was the consummate good student in the instructors¡¯ eyes, the dux who the students respected, the just vice regimentmander of the Tianji Mecha n ...


    Moreover, Shi Mingyi knew very well where the secret of his sessid ¡ª apart from himself, no one else knew that his spiritual mutation was Hypnotism. No one other than his closest confidantes knew he liked men. On the outside, he buried this proclivity of his deeply. Even though all types of gorgeous young men were gathered by his side, due to his own handsome appearance, he fit in well enough that no one had ever thought anything of it ...


    As a vice regimentmander, Shi Mingyi had a personal lounge within headquarters, at the end of the 4th floor. Even though it was just a small bedroom of about 20 square metres, it was furnishedvishly, with the entire floor covered in shag carpeting.


    When one opened the door and entered the room, the first thing one would see would be a grand old-fashioned wooden armchair directly facing the doorway. However, this armchair was very strange, taller than regr chairs by 30 to 40 centimetres, almost at the height of a standard table. Who knows whether it was truly meant for sitting on or was just a decoration. Behind the armchair was a thick cloth curtain, hiding the scene deeper into the room from view.


    Shi Mingyi cast a careful nce out the doorway, confirming that there was indeed no one there before softly shutting the door behind him. After that, he deadbolted the door and set a protective passcode, assuring that other than himself, no one else would be able to enter his room.


    That done, he stepped past the armchair and parted the curtain. Inside, there was only a single circr waterbed, with chains as thick as one¡¯s thumb draping down from it on all sides, culminating in a strange aesthetic. Additionally, on the ceiling, a t and sparkling mirror was embedded, clearly reflecting everything on the bed.


    A youth in a green uniform was lying on the bed. On his delicate face, his eyebrows were knitted, his eyes closed tightly. It looked like he was deeply unconscious, but perhaps because there was some difort affecting his body, for hisplexion was pale, causing him to look even more pitiful and fragile. The sight of him almost caused Shi Mingyi to be consumed by the mes of lust ¡ª he wished desperately that he could morph into a ravenous wolf and gobble up this delectable youth instantly.


    This lovely youth on the bed was precisely the one Ling Lan had spent so much time and effort to find, Luo Lang.


    Besides therge bed, there was nothing else that could be seen within the room. The walls on all four sides were covered by thick, floor-length curtains.


    Shi Mingyi gulped, slowly walking over to sit on the edge of the bed. He gently stroked that exquisite face of Luo Lang, so enchanted that he almost did not want to stop.


    His fingers slid down slowly from Luo Lang¡¯s face to his neck, and then slowly unfastened the buttons on Luo Lang¡¯s uniform. He tugged open the top of the uniform forcefully, revealing the white shirt inside it, along with a faint trace of soft white skin.


    Right then, Shi Mingyi could hold back no longer ¡ª he ripped apart the white shirt impatiently, and with a tearing sound, the rest of the buttons were sent flying, and Luo Lang¡¯s lovely body was exposed just like that before Shi Mingyi. The two pretty pink nubs on Luo Lang¡¯s chest almost made Shi Mingyi salivate ...


    "Exquisite, truly exquisite ... who would have expected such an exquisite beauty to appear in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy? All those I have sampled before were just trash!" eximed Shi Mingyi, his fingers trailing down Luo Lang¡¯s chest. He revelled in the sensation he was receiving from his hand, feeling how smooth and warm the other¡¯s skin was, how supple ...


    Perhaps these touches made Luo Lang ufortable, for his brow creased even more noticeably. However, the effects of the anaesthetic were too strong; he stillid there unmoving.


    Shi Mingyi had initially nned to properly savour the other, but seeing the other unresponsive like a dead fish, he felt somewhat dissatisfied. After some thought, he tugged over a chain hanging by the head of the bed, and looped it around Luo Lang¡¯s left hand, securing it. Next, he pulled yet another chain from the other side and secured Luo Lang¡¯s right hand as well.


    Then, he pressed a button at the head of the bed, and the curtain on his left-hand side was pulled aside to reveal a cab. Inside the cab were countless sex toys, and even some SM equipment 5 , and there was of course several high-tech safes installed within it as well.


    Shi Mingyi pressed a finger onto the screen on one of the safes, and the initially dark screen lit up to disy a numbered keypad. Shi Mingyi deftly keyed in a string of numbers, and with a dull click, the door of the safe sprang open. There was a considerable number of medical agents inside it, as well as several one-use syringes.


    Shi Mingyi removed two tubes of agent from the safe, and then took out a one-use syringe set. He filled the syringe with one of the agents, walked over to Luo Lang, and injected its contents into Luo Lang¡¯s arm. This was closely followed by the next tube of agent, which he also injected into Luo Lang¡¯s arm.


    After doing all this, Shi Mingyi discarded the one-use syringe set into the rubbish bin. He then shut the safe, returned to the bed, and pressed another button. The curtains drew close once more, restoring the room to its original state.


    ===========================


    Very quickly, Luo Lang moaned and opened his eyes, and saw the white-uniformed youth beaming at him. Luo Lang¡¯s expression changed drastically, for he knew now that he had not managed to escape in the end, and had been abducted by the other.


    He struggled, then heard the clinking noisesing from above his head. Looking up, Luo Lang saw his hands bound in metal chains, and as the anaesthetic had not worn offpletely yet, he still felt weak and powerless.


    "Who are you? Which organisation are you from? Why did you capture me?" Luo Lang quickly calmed himself down and spoke up to ask. His voice was rather hoarse and weak ¡ª in Shi Mingyi¡¯s ears, it naturally had a particr vour of enticement.


    "Shi Mingyi, 4th year dux of the starshipmand specialization, and vice regimentmander of the Tianji Mecha n. And as for why I captured you?" Shi Mingyi smiled and reached out to stroke a hand over Luo Lang¡¯s face, expression besotted as he said, "That¡¯s because I like you ..."


    Luo Lang tried to evade Shi Mingyi¡¯s fingers in revulsion, but was unsessful. And then Shi Mingyi¡¯s words registered, causing him to freeze for a moment, but he quickly understood and yelled in rage, "Let go of me, you pervert!"


    "A pervert, is it? If I must be a pervert to like you, I will willingly sumb to this depravity!" Shi Mingyi¡¯s face shifted to reveal a bitter smile. This expression startled Luo Lang, but logic quickly reasserted itself as he scolded, "Of course you¡¯re a pervert, or else how could you do something like abduction?"


    Shi Mingyi¡¯s body jerked back as he pressed a hand to his forehead. He closed his eyes to rest his mind for a beat before opening them again. Right then, his initial seemingly earnest smile was nowhere to be seen ... there was only darkness and a trace of ruthlessness left on his face. "Still not working? Who could have expected that your spiritual power is this strong, actually repelling me once more, reflecting damage back at me. Looks like, I need to first let you taste the all-consuming pleasure of the body before you¡¯ll be willing to submit to me."


    That said, he began to take off his clothes. Luo Lang¡¯s irises contracted, and his pearl-white teeth bit down harshly on his own lips. He was trying to use pain to chase away the effects of the anaesthetic, desperately circting the Qi-Jin in his body, hoping that he would be able to recover enough Qi-Jin for a final suicide attack.


    Yes. Luo Lang was prepared to die with his enemy in his attempt; he would not suffer this humiliation ...


    Within the yawning emptiness in his body, Luo Lang suddenly sensed the presence of internal energy again. Pleasant surprise shed through Luo Lang¡¯s eyes, but very quickly, his expression changed once more, the initial paleness of his face being reced by a rosy flush.


    "Haha, you¡¯re feeling it now, right? This is some ultra-potent aphrodisiac. It will make you beg me to give it to you again and again, turning you into aplete slut ..." Shi Mingyi beganughing gleefully at the sight.


    He was just about to rip off the clothes on the lower half of Luo Lang¡¯s body when a frigid aura enveloped the entire room ...


    "How dare you!" A cial voice rang out by Shi Mingyi¡¯s ear, instantly dousing Shi Mingyi¡¯s zing fires of lust with a deluge of ice-cold water, cooling him down rapidly.


    Meanwhile, on the bed ... Luo Lang, who had been nning to kill himself along with his captor, had relieved joy shining from his eyes. His line of sight had coincidentally shifted to look up at the mirror on the ceiling, and from its reflection, he could see a stony and stately figure standing at the curtain by the door ¡ª it was Ling Lan!


    "Boss ..." Luo Lang cried out emotionally. His eyes turned red uncontrobly, as his heart full of rage, sorrow and despair instantly melted into a pool of tender emotions. So this was Boss, his boss that deserved his loyalty and trust ... he hade at this most critical moment to save him.


    Shi Mingyi whipped his head around in shock, and seeing that familiar figure before his eyes, his expression shifted as he called out, "Ling Lan! It¡¯s you ..." He reflexively looked towards the area behind Ling Lan. He had clearly set a passcode ¡ª didn¡¯t Lu Yong-guang say before that no one would be able to crack the lock, and would only be able to break down the door by force to enter? How then had the other snuck in without a sound? Without him sensing anything at all?


    "You¡¯ve made me angry ... you, have to pay the price for your transgressions!" Ling Lan¡¯s face was a sheet of ice, for she had seen Luo Lang¡¯s current state. The killing intent in her heart waxed thicker. The blood-soaked killing intent concealed deep within her body all this while abruptly exploded out into the room, instantly dominating the entire space.


    Qi Long, Luo Lang and the other littlepanions who had grown up alongside Ling Lan held special ces in Ling Lan¡¯s heart. Ling Lan took care of them like her own younger brothers ¡ª in fact, in Ling Lan¡¯s heart, they were even like sons to her ¡ª the emotions she invested in them were beyond the norm.


    Ling Lan¡¯s killing intent was extremely dense now, but she controlled it skilfully, not allowing any bit to leak out of the room. As the main target of the killing intent, Shi Mingyi instantly felt himself plunged into a crimson world. Countless knives of light and swords of shadow hurtled towards him ¡ª he felt himself being pierced by these countless phantom des, but also felt his limbs being sliced off bit by bit, his gut dissected, and his heart torn out, but he could not die. He watched helplessly as his body, his innards, were finally reduced to a puddle of bloody water, which then vanished without leaving a trace.


    This was not only physical agony ¡ª it was also a spiritual torment. There was a moment where he even wanted to end his life by biting his tongue off, unwilling to bear this endless suffering any longer 6 ...


    In reality, he had really bitten his tongue. However, perhaps because he did not have enough strength, or perhaps he did not really want to die in his subconscious mind, for although he had bitten his tongue, he had only wounded it and not severed itpletely. Still, this allowed him to stumble onto an escape by chance ¡ª the intense pain shook him out of the illusion of hellish torment, to return to reality.


    However, even so, the power which had crashed onto him from the start had still caused internal injury to Shi Mingyi. The moment he regained awareness, ance of blood spurted from his mouth, and his entire body wavered on his feet.


    At this time, Shi Mingyi could already tell that he was no match at all for Ling Lan. He had some understanding with regards to force of presence. He knew that it was one of the abilities one gained in thete stages of Qi-Jin. He had studied it and formed it himself ¡ª it would push a crushing pressure onto the intended target, effectively subduing them. He had never before encountered such a formidable embodiment of presence however. Its power was not only presented on a physical ne, but also on a spiritual one. If he had not stumbled onto a way out of its effect by chance, he might have been trapped in its endless torments until he died.


    Shi Mingyi knew that he had misstepped this time. Who knew that the seemingly easily bulliable Luo Lang actually had such a powerful boss behind him? Shi Mingyi did not want to die, so he decided to use hisst resort ...


    "Boss Ling, I think this is a misunderstanding." Shi Mingyi tolerated the pain in his mouth, forcing a stiff smile onto his lips.


    Ling Lan quirked a brow at these words. "Oh?" She had sensed a strange tendril of spiritual power trying to invade her spiritual domain.


    This should be a type of spiritual attack, but it was not one Ling Lan was familiar with. It did not cause any difort, and seemed exceedingly harmless. Of course, Ling Lan would not permit any strange spiritual power to just invade into her spiritual domain. With a swift spiritual shake, she crushed this cord of spiritual power.


    Sure enough, the moment Ling Lan destroyed this cord of spiritual power, Shi Mingyi¡¯s body jerked, his already pale face bing even paler, losing all trace of blood. She even saw the other¡¯s eyebrows lock tightly together, the muscles on his face spasming. It looked like the rebound force had been extremely powerful ¡ª the other had not been able to bear it without reacting.


    "Little Four, what spiritual power is this?" Ling Lan was curious, so she asked Little Four within the mindspace.


    Little Four immediately answered, "This is a type of mid-level awakened innate talent, Mesmerise!"


    Sensing Ling Lan¡¯s confusion, he exined, "It¡¯s actually what you call ¡¯hypnotism¡¯ in your world. With this ability, a person can beguile another to change how they view them ..." Little Four silently wiped off the cold sweat from his forehead ¡ª luckily, he still had nine instructors to be his solid backup, otherwise he would not have been able to borate anything on this kind of mysterious awakened innate talent ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s initially tepid face became frigid once more ¡ª this type of ability in the hands of such a scumbag ... how many innocent people had suffered at his hands? In an instant, Ling Lan decided to rid the other of this innate talent.


    Shi Mingyi found that his Hypnotism had backfired on him, and felt a surge of despair. He knew now that the other was most likely someone with a mental spiritual mutation, able to defend against this ability of his, just like Luo Lang. He was not content to just give up and be captured, so when he saw Ling Lan appear to be thinking about something, he leapt forwards with a spring of his right foot, pouncing towards Luo Lang on the bed, nning to grab Luo Lang to use as a hostage ...


    As long as Luo Lang was in his hands and the opponent became afraid to act, it would give him the chance to sound the rm in Tianji¡¯s headquarters and he would be able to live! Yes, he did not want to die ... because he had seen the boundless killing intent within the opponent¡¯s eyes!


    "You¡¯re asking for it!"


    Seeing Shi Mingyi try to grab Luo Lang in a final desperate bid for survival, Ling Lan growled furiously.


    Following this sound, Shi Mingyi¡¯s darting body crashed onto the ground. A powerful spiritual charge had been sent straight at his brain ¡ª he only felt his brain being struck harshly, and then there was a soft ¡¯st¡¯ as if his brain had split open, and he fell unconscious.


    Ling Lan¡¯s figure shifted and she was instantly by Luo Lang¡¯s side. She asked, "Luo Lang, how do you feel?"


    "I¡¯m okay, Boss! I just feel weak." Despite the red flush suffusing Luo Lang¡¯s face ¡ª the aphrodisiac in his body already beginning to show effect ¡ª because it was still in the early stages, he could still bear it. He was extremely ashamed about how he had been captured so easily, finally even needing to trouble Boss Lan toe save him.


    "Anaesthetic?" Ling Lan scanned Luo Lang¡¯s body, and found that the anaesthetic had already mostly run its course. As long as they waited patiently, Luo Lang would return to normal, but there was still another extremely strange agent within Luo Lang¡¯s body.


    "What is this?" Ling Lan was rather puzzled.


    "Boss, Luo Lang has been dosed with an aphrodisiac." Little Four had described Luo Lang¡¯s condition to the instructors of the learning space. When he had told Instructor Number Nine, she had kicked him right out of her space, while Instructor Number Five had only reacted with a sleazy and lecherous smile. Fortunately, Instructor Number Four had taken pity on him and secretly told him the answer ... but, what was this thing called an aphrodisiac? Little Four decided to rifle through his databases to find out.


    "What?! Aphrodisiac?!" The veins on Ling Lan¡¯s head popped out in anger. She swept a freezing gaze at the unconscious Shi Mingyi lying on the ground, and unhesitatingly lifted a foot to stomp heavily on the other¡¯s unprotected back. She ground her heel mercilessly into his back for a moment, and the cracking sounds of bones breaking could be heard. Shi Mingyi¡¯s backbone had been pulverized by Ling Lan 7 .


    "Is there an antidote? Little Four, search the scene." Ling Lan ordered as she broke the chains holding down the wounded Luo Lang.

 Chapter 277: How Dare You!

    <h4>Chapter 277: How Dare You!</h4>


    Very quickly, Luo Lang moaned and opened his eyes, and saw the white-uniformed youth beaming at him. Luo Lang¡¯s expression changed drastically, for he knew now that he had not managed to escape in the end, and had been abducted by the other.


    He struggled, then heard the clinking noisesing from above his head. Looking up, Luo Lang saw his hands bound in metal chains, and as the anaesthetic had not worn offpletely yet, he still felt weak and powerless.


    "Who are you? Which organisation are you from? Why did you capture me?" Luo Lang quickly calmed himself down and spoke up to ask. His voice was rather hoarse and weak ¡ª in Shi Mingyi¡¯s ears, it naturally had a particr vour of enticement.


    "Shi Mingyi, 4th year dux of the starshipmand specialization, and vice regimentmander of the Tianji Mecha n. And as for why I captured you?" Shi Mingyi smiled and reached out to stroke a hand over Luo Lang¡¯s face, expression besotted as he said, "That¡¯s because I like you ..."


    Luo Lang tried to evade Shi Mingyi¡¯s fingers in revulsion, but was unsessful. And then Shi Mingyi¡¯s words registered, causing him to freeze for a moment, but he quickly understood and yelled in rage, "Let go of me, you pervert!"


    "A pervert, is it? If I must be a pervert to like you, I will willingly sumb to this depravity!" Shi Mingyi¡¯s face shifted to reveal a bitter smile. This expression startled Luo Lang, but logic quickly reasserted itself as he scolded, "Of course you¡¯re a pervert, or else how could you do something like abduction?"


    Shi Mingyi¡¯s body jerked back as he pressed a hand to his forehead. He closed his eyes to rest his mind for a beat before opening them again. Right then, his initial seemingly earnest smile was nowhere to be seen ... there was only darkness and a trace of ruthlessness left on his face. "Still not working? Who could have expected that your spiritual power is this strong, actually repelling me once more, reflecting damage back at me. Looks like, I need to first let you taste the all-consuming pleasure of the body before you¡¯ll be willing to submit to me."


    That said, he began to take off his clothes. Luo Lang¡¯s irises contracted, and his pearl-white teeth bit down harshly on his own lips. He was trying to use pain to chase away the effects of the anaesthetic, desperately circting the Qi-Jin in his body, hoping that he would be able to recover enough Qi-Jin for a final suicide attack.


    Yes. Luo Lang was prepared to die with his enemy in his attempt; he would not suffer this humiliation ...


    Within the yawning emptiness in his body, Luo Lang suddenly sensed the presence of internal energy again. Pleasant surprise shed through Luo Lang¡¯s eyes, but very quickly, his expression changed once more, the initial paleness of his face being reced by a rosy flush.


    "Haha, you¡¯re feeling it now, right? This is some ultra-potent aphrodisiac. It will make you beg me to give it to you again and again, turning you into aplete slut ..." Shi Mingyi beganughing gleefully at the sight.


    He was just about to rip off the clothes on the lower half of Luo Lang¡¯s body when a frigid aura enveloped the entire room ...


    "How dare you!" A cial voice rang out by Shi Mingyi¡¯s ear, instantly dousing Shi Mingyi¡¯s zing fires of lust with a deluge of ice-cold water, cooling him down rapidly.


    Meanwhile, on the bed ... Luo Lang, who had been nning to kill himself along with his captor, had relieved joy shining from his eyes. His line of sight had coincidentally shifted to look up at the mirror on the ceiling, and from its reflection, he could see a stony and stately figure standing at the curtain by the door ¡ª it was Ling Lan!


    "Boss ..." Luo Lang cried out emotionally. His eyes turned red uncontrobly, as his heart full of rage, sorrow and despair instantly melted into a pool of tender emotions. So this was Boss, his boss that deserved his loyalty and trust ... he hade at this most critical moment to save him.


    Shi Mingyi whipped his head around in shock, and seeing that familiar figure before his eyes, his expression shifted as he called out, "Ling Lan! It¡¯s you ..." He reflexively looked towards the area behind Ling Lan. He had clearly set a passcode ¡ª didn¡¯t Lu Yong-guang say before that no one would be able to crack the lock, and would only be able to break down the door by force to enter? How then had the other snuck in without a sound? Without him sensing anything at all?


    "You¡¯ve made me angry ... you, have to pay the price for your transgressions!" Ling Lan¡¯s face was a sheet of ice, for she had seen Luo Lang¡¯s current state. The killing intent in her heart waxed thicker. The blood-soaked killing intent concealed deep within her body all this while abruptly exploded out into the room, instantly dominating the entire space.


    Qi Long, Luo Lang and the other littlepanions who had grown up alongside Ling Lan held special ces in Ling Lan¡¯s heart. Ling Lan took care of them like her own younger brothers ¡ª in fact, in Ling Lan¡¯s heart, they were even like sons to her ¡ª the emotions she invested in them were beyond the norm.


    Ling Lan¡¯s killing intent was extremely dense now, but she controlled it skilfully, not allowing any bit to leak out of the room. As the main target of the killing intent, Shi Mingyi instantly felt himself plunged into a crimson world. Countless knives of light and swords of shadow hurtled towards him ¡ª he felt himself being pierced by these countless phantom des, but also felt his limbs being sliced off bit by bit, his gut dissected, and his heart torn out, but he could not die. He watched helplessly as his body, his innards, were finally reduced to a puddle of bloody water, which then vanished without leaving a trace.


    This was not only physical agony ¡ª it was also a spiritual torment. There was a moment where he even wanted to end his life by biting his tongue off, unwilling to bear this endless suffering any longer 6 ...


    In reality, he had really bitten his tongue. However, perhaps because he did not have enough strength, or perhaps he did not really want to die in his subconscious mind, for although he had bitten his tongue, he had only wounded it and not severed itpletely. Still, this allowed him to stumble onto an escape by chance ¡ª the intense pain shook him out of the illusion of hellish torment, to return to reality.


    However, even so, the power which had crashed onto him from the start had still caused internal injury to Shi Mingyi. The moment he regained awareness, ance of blood spurted from his mouth, and his entire body wavered on his feet.


    At this time, Shi Mingyi could already tell that he was no match at all for Ling Lan. He had some understanding with regards to force of presence. He knew that it was one of the abilities one gained in thete stages of Qi-Jin. He had studied it and formed it himself ¡ª it would push a crushing pressure onto the intended target, effectively subduing them. He had never before encountered such a formidable embodiment of presence however. Its power was not only presented on a physical ne, but also on a spiritual one. If he had not stumbled onto a way out of its effect by chance, he might have been trapped in its endless torments until he died.


    Shi Mingyi knew that he had misstepped this time. Who knew that the seemingly easily bulliable Luo Lang actually had such a powerful boss behind him? Shi Mingyi did not want to die, so he decided to use hisst resort ...


    "Boss Ling, I think this is a misunderstanding." Shi Mingyi tolerated the pain in his mouth, forcing a stiff smile onto his lips.


    Ling Lan quirked a brow at these words. "Oh?" She had sensed a strange tendril of spiritual power trying to invade her spiritual domain.


    This should be a type of spiritual attack, but it was not one Ling Lan was familiar with. It did not cause any difort, and seemed exceedingly harmless. Of course, Ling Lan would not permit any strange spiritual power to just invade into her spiritual domain. With a swift spiritual shake, she crushed this cord of spiritual power.


    Sure enough, the moment Ling Lan destroyed this cord of spiritual power, Shi Mingyi¡¯s body jerked, his already pale face bing even paler, losing all trace of blood. She even saw the other¡¯s eyebrows lock tightly together, the muscles on his face spasming. It looked like the rebound force had been extremely powerful ¡ª the other had not been able to bear it without reacting.


    "Little Four, what spiritual power is this?" Ling Lan was curious, so she asked Little Four within the mindspace.


    Little Four immediately answered, "This is a type of mid-level awakened innate talent, Mesmerise!"


    Sensing Ling Lan¡¯s confusion, he exined, "It¡¯s actually what you call ¡¯hypnotism¡¯ in your world. With this ability, a person can beguile another to change how they view them ..." Little Four silently wiped off the cold sweat from his forehead ¡ª luckily, he still had nine instructors to be his solid backup, otherwise he would not have been able to borate anything on this kind of mysterious awakened innate talent ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s initially tepid face became frigid once more ¡ª this type of ability in the hands of such a scumbag ... how many innocent people had suffered at his hands? In an instant, Ling Lan decided to rid the other of this innate talent.


    Shi Mingyi found that his Hypnotism had backfired on him, and felt a surge of despair. He knew now that the other was most likely someone with a mental spiritual mutation, able to defend against this ability of his, just like Luo Lang. He was not content to just give up and be captured, so when he saw Ling Lan appear to be thinking about something, he leapt forwards with a spring of his right foot, pouncing towards Luo Lang on the bed, nning to grab Luo Lang to use as a hostage ...


    As long as Luo Lang was in his hands and the opponent became afraid to act, it would give him the chance to sound the rm in Tianji¡¯s headquarters and he would be able to live! Yes, he did not want to die ... because he had seen the boundless killing intent within the opponent¡¯s eyes!


    "You¡¯re asking for it!"


    Seeing Shi Mingyi try to grab Luo Lang in a final desperate bid for survival, Ling Lan growled furiously.


    Following this sound, Shi Mingyi¡¯s darting body crashed onto the ground. A powerful spiritual charge had been sent straight at his brain ¡ª he only felt his brain being struck harshly, and then there was a soft ¡¯st¡¯ as if his brain had split open, and he fell unconscious.


    Ling Lan¡¯s figure shifted and she was instantly by Luo Lang¡¯s side. She asked, "Luo Lang, how do you feel?"


    "I¡¯m okay, Boss! I just feel weak." Despite the red flush suffusing Luo Lang¡¯s face ¡ª the aphrodisiac in his body already beginning to show effect ¡ª because it was still in the early stages, he could still bear it. He was extremely ashamed about how he had been captured so easily, finally even needing to trouble Boss Lan toe save him.


    "Anaesthetic?" Ling Lan scanned Luo Lang¡¯s body, and found that the anaesthetic had already mostly run its course. As long as they waited patiently, Luo Lang would return to normal, but there was still another extremely strange agent within Luo Lang¡¯s body.


    "What is this?" Ling Lan was rather puzzled.


    "Boss, Luo Lang has been dosed with an aphrodisiac." Little Four had described Luo Lang¡¯s condition to the instructors of the learning space. When he had told Instructor Number Nine, she had kicked him right out of her space, while Instructor Number Five had only reacted with a sleazy and lecherous smile. Fortunately, Instructor Number Four had taken pity on him and secretly told him the answer ... but, what was this thing called an aphrodisiac? Little Four decided to rifle through his databases to find out.


    "What?! Aphrodisiac?!" The veins on Ling Lan¡¯s head popped out in anger. She swept a freezing gaze at the unconscious Shi Mingyi lying on the ground, and unhesitatingly lifted a foot to stomp heavily on the other¡¯s unprotected back. She ground her heel mercilessly into his back for a moment, and the cracking sounds of bones breaking could be heard. Shi Mingyi¡¯s backbone had been pulverized by Ling Lan 7 .


    "Is there an antidote? Little Four, search the scene." Ling Lan ordered as she broke the chains holding down the wounded Luo Lang.

 Chapter 278: Little Four Takes Action!

    Chapter 278: Little Four Takes Action!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Little Four saw many buttons at the head of the bed and so infiltrated into the system. Very soon, he had found that safe of Shi Mingyi¡¯s which contained so many agents. Opening it, he discovered that aside from the antidote for the anaesthetic, the other agents were all myriad types of arousal-enhancing agents, which were collectively known as aphrodisiacs.


    Little Four had already found the description of aphrodisiacs in his database. With a troubled expression, he said in the mindspace, "Boss, it seems like there are no antidotes for aphrodisiacs. The only antidote is to find him a woman ... but this whole academy is all boys, you are the only girl."


    Seeing Ling Lan sweep a fierce re in his direction, Little Four quickly ducked his head and muttered at his fingers, "Of course, if that¡¯s really out of the question, it¡¯s also fine to find a man for him ..." ording to the database, there were cases where men helped men to clear out the aphrodisiac, although, Little Four really did not understand why the antidote had to involve males and females ... the innocent Little Four still did not really understand what was meant by the carnal pleasures of love.


    "You can just stop giving those rotten ideas of yours," huffed Ling Lan in exasperation.


    Right then, Luo Lang struggled to sit up, and tolerating the difort of his body, he said to Ling Lan, "Boss, I¡¯m fine." Luo Lang did not want to hold his boss back at this dangerous moment.


    Ling Lan threw a nce at Luo Lang¡¯s trembling legs ¡ª in this state, could he really follow her to charge out of Tianji headquarters? Ling Lan did not think Luo Lang could really do it.


    Perhaps sensing Ling Lan¡¯s distrust, Luo Lang bit gently at his lower lip, face determined as he said, "Boss, believe me, I can do it!" He, Luo Lang, would not lose to anaesthetic, and he also would not lose to this ridiculous aphrodisiac ...


    Luo Lang¡¯s determination made Ling Lan sigh internally. Although Luo Lang looked like the most delicate one among all herpanions, the stubbornness and aggression in his bones were no less than Qi Long¡¯s ¡ª it could be said that the other members of the team were a bracket weaker than him in this respect. Ling Lan believed that if she really permitted Luo Lang to follow behind her, even if he pushed himself till he was littered with injuries, Luo Lang would still stubbornly keep pace behind her as long as he remained conscious. What a little fellow who tugged at one¡¯s heartstrings ...


    Ling Lan could only nod and say, "Understood!"


    Ling Lan¡¯s reply made a smile bloom on Luo Lang¡¯s face ¡ª Boss was still willing to believe in him ...


    Right at that moment, Ling Lan darted forwards, and before Luo Lang could react, she had already pinched the back of Luo Lang¡¯s neck forcefully. With a trace of iprehension in his eyes, Luo Lang fell unconscious.


    Ling Lan¡¯s left arm reached out and tugged, pulling Luo Lang easily into her embrace, her lips parted to say softly, "Silly little fellow, isn¡¯t it much more convenient if I carry you?" 1


    "Ah~ah~ah~ah~ah~! Boss, you actually gave away your first virgin hug to this brat Luo Lang!" Little Four went utterly berserk at this sight. I mean, this was Boss Lan¡¯s first hug! He had originally set it so that he, Little Four, would be the one to receive it ... why had this brat taken it away now? At this moment, filled with envy-jealousy-hate, Little Four was unbelievably resentful at how backward the technology of this world was, actuallycking any physical constructs which an intelligent bio-entity could inhabit and use. Otherwise, he would long have taken Boss¡¯s first hug for himself.


    "Shut your mouth. My first hug has long ago been given to Mum ..." Little Four¡¯s words rendered Ling Lan somewhat speechless. Wasn¡¯t her mum the first to hug her right after she was born? It should be ... right? Ling Lan was a little uncertain.


    "It doesn¡¯t count for the same gender. It must be for the opposite sex. The opposite sex, you hear me? And also, it must be you, Boss, who initiates the hug." Little Four objected stubbornly, insisting that Mummy Lan¡¯s hugs did not count.


    "Then, it still would not be Luo Lang. My first hug has already been taken by Dad," Ling Lan calmly revealed the truth to Little Four. The thing he was obsessing over had long been given out long ago.


    Little Four was stunned. "Howe I didn¡¯t know about this?"


    "At that time, you were alreadypletely bowled over by Dad ... you could see nothing else but him," said Ling Lan disdainfully. Every time Little Four saw Ling Xiao, he would be a crazy fan, with not one whit of the level-headedness so-called intelligent bio-entities should have. Ling Lan once again confirmed that this Little Four was definitely a factory reject.


    Ling Lan even suspected that Little Four had only been able to appear in the primitive Earth of her previous life because the person who had created Little Four had not been able to ept this wed product. Based on the ¡¯out of sight, out of mind¡¯ mantra, had that person thrown Little Four into a primitive dimension for him to live and die as fate decreed?


    Ling Lan felt that this hypothesis was very reasonable ¡ª when Little Four sensed Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts, he was sent spiralling into a tantrum. He vehemently objected to this preposterous theory, insisting that he, Little Four, was a special intelligence entity that was truly one of a kind among the celestial and mortal realm. He hoped that Ling Lan would properly cherish him, this omnipotent follower ...


    Of course, Ling Lan had already gotten used to this behaviour of Little Four¡¯s ¡ª when she was younger, she would still end up resorting to ¡¯domestic violence¡¯ out of sheer aggravation, but now, she had be extremely indifferent to it, calm and unruffled in the face of it. Ling Lan felt that Little Four deserved a lot of credit for her ckface-fu 2 being so strong; without his antics day after day, year after year, helping her to train up her heart and tolerance, she would not have been able to maintain it so well.


    Just like this, under Little Four¡¯s raging frenzy, Ling Lan hefted Luo Lang over her shoulder. As she left, she did not forget to stomp mightily several times over Shi Mingyi¡¯s body. Ling Lan was not purely venting her rage ¡ª these few stomps carried her unique Qi-Jin. It could be said that without some peerless expert¡¯s help in driving out this energy from the other¡¯s body, even if Shi Mingyi¡¯s shattered bones were treated and healed, he would not be able to stand up again.


    When Ling Lan left Shi Mingyi¡¯s room, Little Four subsided from his initial frenzied state into extreme calmness. Eyes bright, he asked, "Boss, can I act now?"


    They had nned things this way from the start ¡ª after they had rescued Luo Lang, all the surveince equipment within Tianji¡¯s headquarters, along with the exclusive mainframe belonging to Tianji headquarters, would be open game for Little Four. He could y with them however he liked ¡ª though of course, the condition being that whatever he did would not be traced back to the New Cadet Regiment ...


    "Yup, and don¡¯t forget to find out who were those involved in Luo Lang¡¯s kidnapping." Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked up slightly, her eyes endlessly cold, "Luo Lang¡¯s abduction never happened. You know what to do."


    "Kill them all?" Little Four was thrilled by these words ¡ª Ling Lan had always forbidden him from acting overtly in the virtual world; he had actually felt very constrained. Mind you, his greatest talentsid in the virtual world, where he could determine whether everyone lived or died ...


    "No, there¡¯s no need for that. Those scum are not worthy for my Little Four tomit this crime. You only need to crush their spiritual selves and that¡¯ll do ..." Ling Lan said to Little Four within the mindspace as she stroked his head tenderly, though the words she spouted were exceedingly vicious. Little Four might not understand yet, but at times, living was a fate worse than death!


    "Got it, Boss, leave it to me ..." Little Four cast down these words and then went off toplete his task and ¡¯kill¡¯ some people.


    Ling Lan stared at the spot in the mindspace where Little Four had disappeared. Her emotions were aplicated jumble ... she did not know whether this decision of hers was too cruel. After all, destroying another¡¯s spiritual self was equal to turning the other into an idiot. Shi Mingyi¡¯s brain-space had been crushed by her, so it was confirmed that he would be a handicapped idiot when he woke up again. She did not regret this, even thinking that leaving him with his life was already a mercy. However, those other people she had set Little Four after were only aplices. Other than participating in Luo Lang¡¯s abduction, they had not done too many bad things ...


    At this time, Ling Lan could feel Luo Lang¡¯s body on her shoulder bing hotter and hotter, and that trace ofpassion and hesitance in her heart vanished. Indeed, those people might have only been aplices, but if not for them, would Shi Mingyi alone have been able to capture Luo Lang? If Luo Lang was destroyed by this ...


    At this thought, Ling Lan could not stop herself from mming a fist into a wall. Her hidden energy flowed from her hand into the wall, spreading out into the surrounding area, creating countless cracks inside the wall. As Ling Lan¡¯s strength was released in an extremely skilful manner, there was not a trace of the internal damage on the surface of the wall.


    The coldness in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes grew thicker; she decided she would be true to her heart. She could not bear the oue of losing Luo Lang, and so could not find it within herself to forgive those people. Therefore, they needed to pay the price for this current situation.


    Those who harmed her brothers, she would make them pay the price in blood. If not, how could she face thoserades of hers who trusted her and loved her? For this reason, even if her hands became stained with blood and sin, she was willing to sully them.


    ********


    Right then, in the initially quiet monitoring room of Tianji headquarters, a shocked cry rang out suddenly, "What happened? Why is my screen here ck?"


    The staff on-duty within headquarters discovered the strange state of his monitoring channel, and instantly leapt up in shock.


    "Me too over here. The screen¡¯s ck too!" Another monitor shouted as well.


    "I can¡¯t see anything here now either!" The monitoring room was instantly in a state of panic.


    "Don¡¯t panic, check the mainframe system immediately," ordered the on-duty leader calmly.


    Following this order, everyone in the room began to move. They all attempted their own methods to try and connect with the mainframe system, but found to their dismay that nothing worked. They just could not contact the mainframe system ¡ª it was as if the mainframe had been sealed off.


    "Leader, I have no response here!" One team member shouted out, his face drenched with sweat.


    "Me too, over here, there¡¯s no way in!" Another team member lowered his hands in frustration. No matter how many times he tried to connect to the mainframe, the signals he sent were like rocks sinking into the ocean.


    "Not good, it¡¯s a hacker attack. Cut all connections with the mainframe. Activate the secondary A.I. system." The leader seemed toe to some conclusion, his face paling drastically. He hurriedly instructed his team members to cut off all headquarters¡¯ terminal connections with the mainframe which had been invaded. After that, he would be able to activate the secondary A.I. to take over all the surveince systems and safety measures within headquarters.


    "Yes, Leader!" The leader¡¯s orders rallied the team members¡¯ spirits. It was true that they had not run out of options yet ¡ª they still had the backup secondary A.I. system. As long as they could hold out for the duration of time needed for it to activate, they would be able to guarantee that Tianji headquarters remained properly safeguarded.


    However, after they had manually cut off the mainframe¡¯s electrical supply and activated the secondary A.I., they found that the situation remained unchanged. All of the equipment were still in a frozen state, unable to be used ...


    "Leader, what now?" One of the team members looked to be younger than the rest, and he actually began to sob uncontrobly. If any great incident urred while their systems were incapacitated, the consequences of failure would be too much for all of them to bear.


    "Relying on us alone will not be enough. Quickly, go gather all the hacker members in the n and get them toe here to the monitoring room ..." At this time, the team leader could no longer remain calm. Sweat poured from his forehead, dripping off it like rain.

 Chapter 279: Domain Master?

    Chapter 279: Domain Master?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Yes, Leader!" The team members quickly turned on their respectivemunicators, thinking to contact the hackers in their Tianji Mecha n. However, they soon found that theirmunicators were all dead.


    "Themunicators cannot make external contact ..." This realisation made the faces of all the team members change drastically. They, who had initially already calmed down after receiving their leader¡¯s orders, began to panic and lose control of themselves again,pletely at a loss on what they should do.


    This was not something any ordinary hacker could do ¡ª mind you, taking control of a student¡¯s personalmunicator was not that simple. The hacker would need to break through the defences of the S-tier mainframe of the military academy and obtain all its administrative rights; only then would they be able to control themunicators of the cadets. Could it be that the one attacking Tianji headquarters was a god-ss hacker?


    "How could this be?" The team leader jumped up in fright at his team members¡¯ words. He began examining hismunicator in disbelief, and found that it was truly as his team members had said ¡ª hismunicator waspletely unresponsive.


    "No. This type of ability, even if it were the number one hacker of our school, Leiting¡¯s Lin Zhidong, he would not be able to do this ... could it be that this attack is from the outside?" The team leader¡¯s face went dark at this thought. No matter how powerful an attack was from inside the school, it was still just inside the school ¡ª there would be no real harm to the military academy¡¯s mainframe. However, if the attack was an external one, their school would be in danger!


    He said anxiously, "You all continue trying to login to the mainframe, I¡¯ll go find the instructors ..." Such a formidable hacker attack ¡ª only the instructors would have the power to save them.


    That said, the team leader rushed out of the monitoring room, prepared to go find the instructors of the hacker specialization and report what was happening here. If his guess was right, this attack was very likely a sinister plot of an outside faction targeted at the military academy ¡ª their Tianji was just unluckily the spot they chose to infiltrate from.


    Meanwhile, at this time, with Luo Lang over her shoulder, Ling Lan was swiftly making her way across the 4th floor corridors. Every 20 to 30 metres, Ling Lan would smack a palm at the wall. This action seemed extremely casual, and did not appear from the outside to cause any damage to the wall.


    However, Ling Lan herself knew that the spots where she had chosen to hit were all the main structural points of support of this building. When she hade, she and Little Four had already discussed beforehand that Little Four would be in charge of destroying all the surveince facilities here, while she would demolish the entire building. She wanted the Tianji Mecha n to fall from their perch in the clouds into a pit of dust and ashes. Once they were no longer the lofty 2nd faction of the school, they would no longer have the wherewithal tomit any more dirty criminal acts.


    Besides, Little Four had already given Ling Lan the blueprints of this building before she had even entered it. On the map, he had even thoughtfully provided several spots which were most appropriate for Ling Lan to attack.


    After finishing with the 4th floor, Ling Lan immediately chose to go downstairs. After ambushing several patrolmen in the stairwell who were cking off with a cigarette break, she sessfully came to the second floor, and then continued with her demolition work.


    Right then, Little Four suddenly began to shout excitedly, "Boss, I¡¯ve found Lu Yong-guang!"


    After Little Four had destroyed the mainframe of the Tianji headquarters and all the surveince equipment, he had begun searching for those people who had helped Shi Mingyi abduct Luo Lang, and very quickly, he had found that the biggest culprit was Lu Yong-guang. If he had not used the treatment centre to send a fake message to Luo Lang, Luo Lang would not have gone there, and what happened next would never have happened.


    "Destroy him!" Ling Lan replied clinically. Having decided on her personal code of honour, Ling Lan¡¯s way of acting became even more cold and resolute.


    "Roger that, Boss!" answered Little Four excitedly. He could finally show off his amazing skills to his boss.


    The initially cute steamed bun-face of Little Four stretched as he opened his mouth wide. Two sharp fangs began to grow out from within it, and the area around his marble-round eyes began to turn bruised and mottled as his face became paler and paler, in stark contrast to his lips which were as vibrantly crimson as fresh blood.


    ¡¯Thwack!¡¯ A strong finger-flick sent Little Four¡¯s gruesome head bending back. Face dark, Ling Lan said, "What the hell are you doing? Who are you trying to scare with this demonic appearance?" Little Four appearing with such a demonic aura without any warning ... no matter howposed Ling Lan was, she could not help a shudder from coursing through her heart. D*mnit, since she was a kid, she had never liked watching horror films.


    Little Four was flicked back to his original form by Ling Lan ¡ª seeing Ling Lan¡¯s angry expression, Little Four quickly covered his head with his arms and scurried away, er, no, went off to carry out his task of ¡¯killing people¡¯ ...


    ********


    Right then, Li Lanfeng, who was in the military academy¡¯s virtual world revising his training courses, suddenly felt an extremely familiar yet horrifying energy explode within the virtual world. His spectre energy was ring violent warnings at him, and had automatically activated itself to form a powerful defensive shield.


    "This is spectre energy. How is this possible?" Li Lanfeng stared in the direction of where the explosion originated from, his face filled with disbelief. He knew very well that this energy hade from within the military academy, otherwise he would not have sensed it so acutely. This energy was something only spectres could sense ¡ª could it be that there was another spectre hidden within the military academy?


    An extremely cold and unfeeling face emerged in Li Lanfeng¡¯s mind ... could it be him? Only he had given Li Lanfeng the vibe that he could be kin, but Li Lanfeng just could not be sure. This explosion of energy ¡ª did it prove Ling Lan was also a spectre like him?


    Could that person be hispanion? At this thought, Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart pounded, so hard that it almost seemed as if it would leap out of his throat. His heart, which had been so lonely all this time, could not help but yearn for this, just like when he had encountered that rabbit seven years ago.


    ********


    Lu Yong-guang, who was in the virtual world searching for information, was currently ecstatic. He had obtained the 2nd-tier warrant of vice regimentmander Shi 1 as he had wanted. To get this, he had done quite a number of questionable things, but the rewards were bountiful. Lu Yong-guang felt that it was very worth it ¡ª heaven destroys those who do not look out for themselves, after all.


    This 2nd-tier warrant entitled him to withdraw a 2nd-tier resource from the Tianji Contribution Department. The types of 2nd-tier resource were abundant ¡ª in order to avoid wastage, he had decided to first do some research in the virtual world, so that he would be able to make the best choice and select a resource most appropriate for himself.


    Just as he was reading all the materials he had gathered with relish, he suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of danger rise within his heart. Before he could react, he felt a tremendous force steamrolling over his body ...


    Lu Yong-guang felt his consciousness fading, his vision bing blurry and unfocused, and then everything turnedpletely ck as he finally became fully unconscious.


    If there had been anyone by Lu Yong-guang¡¯s side, they would have found that Lu Yong-guang¡¯s body in the virtual world was slowly disappearing. This was distinctly different from the typical log-off process, where a person would turn into a sh of white light and disappear swiftly from the virtual world. Instead, this was a slow process ¡ª his body was disintegrating slowly, bing countless small particles which drifted into the air, finally bing a slight breeze within the virtual world to disappear without a trace.


    Meanwhile, Lu Yong-guang¡¯s real body, lying in a virtual world login device, never ever opened his eyes again. He had be a vegetable. Little Four hated how the other had abetted evil for his own greed, and thus had not shown any mercy. He had crushed the other¡¯s awarenesspletely, not even giving him the chance to live as a simpleton.


    As for the other people involved, Little Four still obeyed Ling Lan¡¯s directive. He only destroyed part of their brain region, leaving thatst thread of awareness. In other words, they would still wake up, but they could only live the rest of their lives as durds.


    When Ling Lan was about to finish her sabotage of the 2nd floor, Little Four returned to Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace afterpleting his tasks.


    "Boss, all done!" said Little Four smugly, his hand raised in a victory sign. However, he was still rather regretful that his boss had not been there to witness his great prowess in the virtual world. Little Four secretly decided that if there was a chance in future, he would definitely make sure Boss got to see how he killed and tormented those scumbags in the virtual world with her own eyes. He would let Boss truly understand the meaning behind his status of god of the virtual world.


    "Alright, now it¡¯s my turn." In the blink of an eye, Ling Lan returned to the central area of the 2nd floor. She raised one hand and shouted, "Domain, activate!" 2


    A half step to Domain was enough to allow her to activate her Domain for a few seconds. Although it might be ineffective in neutralizing opponents due to how briefly it could be used, it was more than enough to demolish this building which had already been structurally weakened by her ...


    Right then, the entire space about 10 metres around Ling Lan had be her Domain, and then Ling Lan could be heard to roar, "Explode!"


    Violent explosions answered her cry, beginning from the Domain area furthest from Ling Lan. Since the person controlling the Domain was Ling Lan, in order to guarantee Luo Lang¡¯s safety, Ling Lan had chosen the safest sequence of explosion.


    Following the activation of the first explosion, Ling Lan¡¯s figure was like a streak of light, passing by the corridors of the 2nd floor in a sh.


    At the end of the corridor was a window ¡ª right before she would crash into it, Ling Lan¡¯s readied palm pushed out forcefully, sending a surge of invisible energy at it, shattering the ss panes of the window into smithereens. And at the moment Ling Lan broke the ss, she leapt down from the second floor with Luo Lang. With a soft touch of her feet on a branch outside, she flew off in a sprint, leaving the Tianji headquarters without a sound, vanishing without a trace in an instant.


    Meanwhile, violent explosions began to rock Tianji headquarters. Several minutester, the entire Tianji building could no longer withstand the destructive power of the explosions, copsing in on itself, and the people on duty inside could be seen rushing out amidst horrified wails and howls.


    Of course, this did not ount for those who did not manage to escape in time. Those people were trapped within the ruins, but with the abilities of any student of the First Academy, even if they were trapped under rubble, they would not die.


    Ling Lan¡¯s use of the immense power of half step into Domain to blow up the entire building startled several old beasts 3 who had beenying dormant within the school all this time. They charged over to the scene as soon as they could, hiding in the shadows, trying to sense the remaining energy signature to try and see which tough customer had done this ...


    "Actually a Domain stage? This energy signature is very unfamiliar. I have never seen it before ... Hells, how did a foreign Domain stage master make their way randomly into the military academy?"


    When they confirmed the energy signature was unfamiliar, they could not help but look at one another, all of them equally shocked. They, who had always taken pride in the fact that the military academy¡¯s defences were no weaker than that of the Federation¡¯s military headquarters, felt deeply burned by this scene before their eyes.


    "Looks like, the other has already left." After closely investigating the scene, they did not sense any presence of the Domain master remaining in the area.

 Chapter 280: The Aftermath!

    Chapter 280: The Aftermath!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    These few old beasts were filled with worry, unsure whether this Domain master was still within the school nning his next act of destruction. What bothered them even more was ¡ª for what reason had the othere to the military academy to do such a thing? Also, were the defensive capabilities of the military academy really as foolproof as they had imagined? If it were, then how in the world had this Domain master gotten in?


    They just could not figure it out, and so one of them said, "Let us return and discuss this with the principal!"


    This suggestion was agreed upon by all those present. They might not be overly clear on what was going on in the academy, but the principal of the school should know better. Perhaps he would be able to give them an answer. They left as quietly as they hade ¡ª no one else at the scene even knew that some supreme strong masters had been there to investigate the scene.


    ********


    The emergency assistance system of the military academy was extremely efficient. It had not even been 5 minutes since the building had copsed when the first batch of relief workers had rushed to the scene, beginning to rescue the students trapped within the rubble ...


    Right then, Ling Lan, who was already far from the scene, was sitting with Luo Lang in a hover car, swiftly flying towards the destination that Little Four had set. At the very moment those old beasts had appeared, that was when Ling Lan had gotten into the hover car and left. If she had beenter by just one second, she might have been caught by those old beasts. No matter howposed she was normally, Ling Lan could not help but feel cold sweat running down her back at this time.


    It was unexpected that this seeminglyid-back academy actually had so many powerful masters holding the fort 1 . Luckily, she had escaped swiftly enough with Little Four¡¯s spot-on assistance ¡ª any bit of error, and she would have be a turtle in a jar 2 .


    Of course, Ling Lan had already taken precautions against this right from the start. She was well aware that there would definitely be some super strong masters holding the fort inside the military academy ¡ª even the Central Scout Academy already had a few Domain masters in-house, not to mention the First Men¡¯s Military Academy 3 . Thus, Ling Lan had made arrangements beforehand, choosing to begin running the moment the first explosion was set off. Reality proved that her decision was correct.


    Escaping by the skin of their teeth, Little Four breathed out a great gust of relief. With some remnant fear, he patted his little chest and said, "Gosh, Boss, that was too close! I can¡¯t believe we really managed to escape right under the noses of those Domain masters."


    "It¡¯s all thanks to you, Little Four, for finding the best escape path, as well as getting a hover car here in time." Ling Lan could not help but pat the hover car they were riding, filled with admiration at Little Four¡¯s urate calction ability.


    Even if she had run at full strength, without Little Four¡¯s wless coordination in getting this hover car here to cover them, she would not have been able to escape from the other side¡¯s powerful sensory range. She would certainly have left some energy vibrations of her own on the roads she travelled, and they would have been the evidence which would expose her.


    Praised by Ling Lan, Little Four joyfully pped his hands to his face and wriggled his bum, taking a good long while to calm down again. Then, he thought of those patrolmen who had been knocked unconscious by his boss, and could not help but ask worriedly, "Boss, will there be any problems with those people you knocked unconscious?" It was not that Little Four cared whether they lived or died ¡ª as an intelligent bio-entity, he had no feelings 4 ¡ª Little Four was just worried that his boss would be burdened by guilt if anything really happened to them.


    "They¡¯re fine. The supports of those areas where I stashed them, I did not sabotage. Even though the building copsed, those few rooms will be alright," replied Ling Lan evenly. Although she had destroyed the entire Tianji building in revenge, she would not let these uninvolved people die in the process. She was someone who clearly discriminated between justice and mercy.


    "Boss, you¡¯re really awesome! Actually nning so thoroughly." Little Four resolutely began sucking up, fully slipping into the role of a brown-nosingckey, fanning Ling Lan¡¯s mood even higher. It should be mentioned that, the moment Ling Lan seeded in destroying Tianji¡¯s headquarters, her mood had already be all kinds of amazing.


    In the meantime, those supreme masters of the school had already had a round of discussion with the principal, but still had not received a satisfactory answer. Very soon, another piece of news arrived ¡ª ording to the info they had gleaned from those members of the monitoring team of the Tianji Mecha n, before the building copsed, it was suspected that their Tianji headquarters had been hacked by an imperial level hacker.


    As more and more people were rescued out, a number of n members were found trapped in the wreckage who had had parts of their brains ravaged, leaving them as mentally-handicapped people. Among them, one member who was from the hacker specialization was gravely injured; he was reduced to a vegetable instantly. The Military Medical Research Centre determined that there was no possibility of him ever waking up again.


    The discovery of these people made the masters specte ¡ª in this incident, had there been a fearsome spectre involved as well? Three people with exceptional skills in their respective realms appearing at the same time at the military academy ... this possibility caused chills to run through those masters.


    Where in the world had these peoplee from? Which faction were they affiliated with? With their capabilities, they could have taken down the mainframe of the military academy if they wanted ¡ª why had they chosen to strike out at a group of a small faction within the school?


    For a time, all sorts of conspiracy theories ran rampant among the upper ranks of the military academy. There were even some who cast suspicion on the other military academies ¡ª they spected that the other schools were trying to affect their First Academy¡¯s results in the great assessment this time, and so had purposefully created this disruption. Those schools must have been trying to make the students panic and lose all mind to prepare for the exams, thus affecting the final test results and causing the First Academy to lose their secure spot at the top ...


    These spections received quite a significant degree of agreement from those of the upper ranks, leading them to spread their investigation out far and wide, indirectly helping Ling Lan out.


    Of course, there were still other possibilities being considered by the upper ranks of the administration, but no one even thought to consider the involvement of any cadets.


    In truth, there was indeed no one who would even suggest the possibility, for anyone who voiced this possibility would most probably beughed out of the room. Oh please, what do you take a Domain master for? And what of an imperial level hacker? How could a mere academy cadet be such a horrific existence? If they really were at that level, would they still need toe study at the military academy? They would have long been snatched away by the various army divisions ...


    As for the spectre? That was even more unimaginable. Mind you, anyone who possessed this kind of horrifying ability would have already been taken in as the secret weapon of the federal military since birth ¡ª how could they be hiding within the ranks of cadets in the academy?


    It had to be said that the upper ranks of the military academy were taking things a little for granted; sometimes, the truth just really happened to be those things that seemedpletely preposterous and impossible ...


    In order to settle the copse of the building this time and allow the students to prepare for the uing exams without any worries, the administration suppressed the entire incident. They also gave a usible exnation to those members of the Tianji Mecha n who had reported the attack by the imperial level hacker. They said that their investigations showed that this series of errors had urred because the military academy mainframe had malfunctioned.


    As for why the Tianji building copsed, they used the excuse of the building being too old, paired with ack of proper maintenance. Although this building had been built about 100 years or so ago, it should be known that the current passing standard of a building was at least 500 years. Using this kind of excuse, did it mean this building was constructed with tofu pulp?


    Regardless of whether the cadets believed it or not, or had anyints, the military academy stuck with their answer. The incident of the Tianji building copse was quelled just like that.


    Subsequently, the Tianji Mecha n suffered a great decline due to this incident. For a very long period of time, they did not recover. Meanwhile, the 3rd rank Wuji Mecha n and the 4th rank Doha Central Mecha n took advantage of the situation to challenge the Tianji Mecha n to a mecha n wagered fight, in order to fight for their ranking ... Lacking capable fighters, and with their morale low, the Tianji Mecha n lost both battles, aggrieved. They slid down from their position as 2nd faction straight to the 4th faction, bing theughingstock of the military academy for a stint.


    Under these circumstances, the Tianji Mecha n¡¯s Regiment Commander could only swallow this humiliation with silent resentment ... it was a shame that he did not know that the main culprit of Tianji¡¯s downfall was Ling Lan of the New Cadet Regiment ¡ª if he knew, he would most certainly have used all his strength for revenge.


    It should be said that Ling Lan¡¯s operation this time was very perfect. She had finished off every single person who had participated in Luo Lang¡¯s abduction, but the Tianji Mecha n had no clue that the source of all their woes was Luo Lang. She had kept Luo Lang out of this incident perfectly.


    All of Ling Lan¡¯s detailed nning was to protect Luo Lang. Even though Luo Lang had not suffered any significant damage, she did not wish for her beloved younger brother to be the sideshow of the military academy and be gossiped about. This would ce an unneeded burden on Luo Lang¡¯s spirit.


    Reality proved that Ling Lan¡¯s worries were not unfounded. After Shi Mingyi¡¯s innate talent had been destroyed by Ling Lan, those ¡¯lovers¡¯ of his who had been enthralled began to regain their rity of mind. When they recalled everything they had done, they were exceedingly appalled and regretful, as well as filled with a burning hatred for Shi Mingyi. If they had all been level-headed people with high tolerance and resilience, perhaps this matter would have blown over in silence. However, as luck would have it, there was a student with an extremely fragile soul among the group of victims. He could not take the humiliation, thinking that his life had been utterly ruined.


    That night, carrying an army knife he had created himself, he slipped into the treatment centre when the staff members were unguarded. He then dragged out Shi Mingyi from his healing pod and rapidly shed and hacked at him till he died beforemitting suicide. By the time a staff member found them, it was already toote.


    This incident raised a great uproar within the military academy, until the investigation team of the school found that student¡¯s suicide note and will in his dorm, thus revealing the truth of the matter. Subsequently, the spiritual mutation research instructor in the military academy specially looked up Shi Mingyi¡¯s spiritual mutation ability, and found that Shi Mingyi had the ability of hypnosis 5 .


    Only now did everyone see the true colours of Shi Mingyi. Because of this incident, the reputation of the Tianji Mecha n dropped once again ¡ª many members stated that they could not ept that one of their n¡¯s vice regimentmanders was a person like that, and chose to quit the mecha n. This was yet another nail in the coffin of the Tianji Mecha n.


    Of course, there were also some residual effects from these events. Among those ex-subordinates of Shi Mingyi, those of them who were good-looking were allbelled as ¡¯ brokeback 6 ¡¯, causing them to receive all kinds of strange looks within the academy. Other than one extremely tough and resilient cadet who managed to bear it all to graduate sessfully, the others all found various reasons to drop out and leave the school. It could be said that these excellent youths with their bright futures had all had their futures ruined by Shi Mingyi ...


    On the other hand, due to Ling Lan¡¯s conscientious nning, Luo Lang was not caught up in any of this. When Luo Lang regained his awareness, he was extremely grateful, and vowed silently to himself that he would repay Ling Lan¡¯s many instances of great kindness by dedicating his future to Boss Lan!


    Of course, all of this would ur only after Luo Lang was aware again. Right now, Ling Lan¡¯s great mood from demolishing Tianji¡¯s building was abruptly dampened, because she found that in the backseat of the hover car, Luo Lang¡¯s condition was deteriorating.

 Chapter 281: Resolution!

    Chapter 281: Resolution!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Despite being unconscious, Luo Lang¡¯s entire face was bing redder and redder, as his breathing became more and moreboured, and his body began to spasm. This meant that the aphrodisiac in Luo Lang¡¯s body was already in full swing.


    This caused the typicallyposed Ling Lan to be at a loss, unsure what she should do. Would dousing Luo Lang with cold water help? Having the barest knowledge of aphrodisiacs, Ling Lan could only be clueless 1 .


    Little Four could sense his boss¡¯s helplessness, and so quickly rushed off into the learning space to request assistance. Very soon, he returned to say happily, "Boss, Instructor Number One is looking for you."


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly instructed, "Little Four, take care of the hover car and Luo Lang ..."


    Before she was even done speaking, a ck vortex had appeared before her eyes, about to swallow her whole.


    F*ck, again?! Ling Lan¡¯s attention strayed for a split second, and she was pulled right into the learning space by Instructor Number One.


    ********


    This was Instructor Number One¡¯s personal space. It was forever shaded by cloudy skies, a teau shrouded in clouds at the peak of the tallest mountain. As usual, Instructor Number One was sitting on the teau in solitude, resting his eyes as he meditated.


    Ling Lan appeared out of thin air behind Instructor Number One. Seeing Instructor Number One¡¯s figure, Ling Lan called out respectfully, "Instructor Number One, greetings!"


    Only then did Instructor Number One open his eyes and say dispassionately, "So you¡¯vee!"


    Ling Lan could not help but grumble internally ¡ª how much faker could these words be? Instructor Number One was the one who pulled her in here ... was it possible for Instructor Number One to not know when she wasing?


    "I heard Little Four say that one of your friends has been dosed with aphrodisiac?" Number One spared no mind to Ling Lan¡¯s opinion, asking her about the situation without beating around the bush.


    "Yes, Instructor Number One, can this aphrodisiac be cured?" Hearing what he had to say, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up. Right, why had she forgotten toe ask the instructors in the learning space? Little Four¡¯s mind was still the quickest, thinking of this. Ling Lan firmly gave Little Four a mental thumbs up.


    "Aphrodisiacs have no antidote," replied Instructor Number One calmly.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze dimmed at these words ¡ª could she only watch as Luo Lang suffered?


    "However, that doesn¡¯t mean there is no solution," Instructor Number One continued to say. This caused Ling Lan¡¯s initially low spirits to perk up once more. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Instructor Number One, hoping that Instructor Number One would be able to tell her a good n.


    "Yourpanion¡¯s name is Luo Lang, right?" Instructor Number One did not seem to notice Ling Lan¡¯s impatience, actually beginning to stray from the topic.


    Ling Lan quickly replied, "Yes, Instructor Number One. What method exactly can we use to resolve the aphrodisiac in Luo Lang¡¯s body?" Please, the mes were alreadypping at their brows ... Instructor Number One, could you just be efficient and give a direct answer?!


    Instructor Number One¡¯s cold gaze swept over to stare at her, freezing Ling Lan¡¯s anxious impatience instantly, and her mind cleared.


    "Calmed down yet?" huffed Instructor Number One coldly, somewhat dissatisfied over Ling Lan¡¯s loss ofposure.


    "Sorry, Instructor Number One, I lost control of my emotions." Realising herpse, Ling Lan quickly bowed her head and admitted her fault.


    "Being concerned for apanion is not wrong, but remember, no matter when, you must keep calm. Otherwise, not only will you be unable to help your friend, you might even make things worse for them." Instructor Number One could understand Ling Lan¡¯s current anxious state of mind, but he could not condone it. On the battlefield, once one lost theirposure, not only would they destroy themselves, they would also drag their brother-in-arms down with them ¡ª this was uneptable.


    "Understood!" Ling Lan nodded. At this moment, her gaze was no longer lost and panicked; there was only cool rationality and determination in her eyes.


    Instructor Number One¡¯s icy stare was fixed on Ling Lan for several seconds. Under this stare heaped with pressure, Ling Lan did not retreat, staring right back at Instructor Number One with a steady gaze.


    "Remember what you¡¯ve said today!" Instructor Number One retracted his gaze in satisfaction, before continuing to say, "You¡¯ve forgotten that no matter how long you spend in the learning space, only a second would have passed outside. It won¡¯t dy you from saving your friend."


    Ling Lan bowed her head in shame; she had indeed forgotten about this. It was just as Instructor Number One had said ¡ª she had lost her mental bnce, her calm, and her judgment. This kind of weak disy was indeed worthy of a scolding.


    "I remember that, Luo Lang is the one who activated the innate talent Alter Ego, and has still not found a way to control it?" Instructor Number One saw that Ling Lan was already reflecting deeply on her mistake, and so continued with their previous topic.


    At this time, Ling Lan had already centred herself and was back to normal. She responded calmly, "Yes, Instructor Number One." This was also a problem that had been bothering her. She wanted to help Luo Lang, but really did not know where to start. It should be known that Luo Lang¡¯s innate talent was an excellent one, but it was just unfortunately out of control. It was like a double-edged sword; even as it cut the enemy, it would also cut its user. This was also why Ling Lan had always restricted Luo Lang from activating his innate talent before this. An unstable innate talent would not be acknowledged by either the military academy or the army divisions.


    "That is indeed a very good innate talent ..." At this point, Instructor Number One nced reflexively at Ling Lan, silently awed by how beloved Ling Lan was by the heavens. Even thepanions by her side had awakened such powerful innate talents. "If you want yourpanion to fully master this innate talent, this aphrodisiac incident is actually a great opportunity."


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze brightened at these words, but remembering the instructor¡¯s previous counsel, she took in a deep breath and suppressed the emotional surge she felt, merely asking calmly, "May I request Instructor Number One to rify?"


    Instructor Number One nodded silently ¡ª this reaction of Ling Lan pleased him greatly. Thus, he did not make things difficult for Ling Lan any longer, directly stating the solution, "Find an enclosed space and let Luo Lang activate his innate talent. Within his innate talent, there should be one Transcendent Cold personality. As long as this personality can be brought to the surface, the aphrodisiac issue will be resolved."


    "Extremely frigid?" Ling Lan was rather perplexed ¡ª how could this particr personality nullify the aphrodisiac?


    "In fact, this will let him cut off all the seven emotions and six desires 2 , leaving him in an extremely cold and rational mode. As long as he can stay in this personality until the aphrodisiac has run its course, yourpanion will have safely ovee this hurdle," replied Instructor Number One.


    "Will there be anytent issues?" Ling Lan asked after some thought. She did not wish for Luo Lang to have any remnant problems from this method.


    "No, but in the process of activating the personality, you need to make sure that yourpanion retains his rationality. If the wrong personality is activated, you will need to beat it back so that another personality can be activated. And this point will require your strength to enforce. Based on your capabilities at a half step to Domain, you should have no problems," exined Number One, "Remember, you must keep him conscious. If it¡¯s not an aware personality, you must beat it back, until yourpanion manages to master how to activate his personalities while retaining his awareness."


    "Understood, Instructor Number One. Is there anything else I should watch out for? If there is nothing, I would like to return now and resolve this as soon as possible," said Ling Lan with a grim expression. Right now, her mind was most concerned over the problem of Luo Lang and the aphrodisiac.


    "Go. Once you are done helping yourpanion,e back and seek me out ..." Instructor Number One waved his hand, and Ling Lan was sent out of the learning space. The dim space once again subsided into silence. Instructor Number One sighed, his gazeplex, before once more closing his eyes.


    Several secondster, a tear suddenly appeared three metres behind Instructor Number One. A ravishingly beautiful woman in a uniform walked out of the tear ¡ª it was Instructor Number Four. Glumly, she whined, "Big Brother, why won¡¯t you let me teach her about sex? This is obviously a great chance. Not only can she help clear the poison from herpanion, she can also learn what is meant by the weaponry of women ..."


    "Now is still not the time. Ling Lan¡¯s Dominance Dao is gradually entering an optimum state. We cannot cause her heart to waver," said Number One coldly, " Besides, Ling Lan doesn¡¯t have any need for this type of weaponry 3 . You are only asked to always be prepared, just in case she cannot regain her female nature in the future ..." At this point in his speech, Instructor Number One¡¯s forehead was tightly creased. Even though Ling Lan¡¯s progress on her Dominance Dao was astounding, in direct contrast, the gentle grace unique to women had slowly faded away ... could this be the price of walking the Dominance Dao?


    "That would be such a shame. Ling Lan has such great qualities," said Instructor Number Four with a forlorn gaze. The supple flexibility of Ling Lan¡¯s body was truly marvellous ¡ª this was closely tied to Number Nine¡¯s efforts in cultivating her. It would allow Ling Lan to require only half the effort for double the effect when learning the arts of feminine wiles. She was an absolute high-quality jade ... it was such a pity she had no ce in her life right now for these arts toe into y.


    "If Ling Lan had not proven sessful on the other fronts, I would not stop you. But reality shows that her future will be brighter if she continues to walk the Dominance Dao." Instructor Number One¡¯s tone held steely conviction. Ling Lan was undoubtedly his most prized sessor; there was no other.


    "Since you, Number One, have said so, what can I do? But, when Ling Lan is done with her Dominance Dao, you won¡¯t be able to stop me anymore from teaching Ling Lan the arts of female seduction." Number Four cast these words down sulkily and then returned to her own space.


    She had just known her debut was not going to be so early. She still had so many years to wait! She dearly wished Ling Lan could grow up quicker ¡ª it would be best if she could arrive at that age where her heart would flower into the spring of love ... at that time, that bloody big brother could no longer prevent her from teaching Ling Lan the methods of women.


    Seeing Number Four vanish from his space, Instructor Number One took in a deep breath, calming down his ruffled emotions.


    Truly amazing ¡ª actually stealthily performing the art of allure right in front of his face without disying any signs. If his will had not been strong enough, he might really have found it difficult to resist ... Instructor Number One thought about how Ling Lan would also possess this type of allure skill in the future, andbine it with her current cold-domineering-swag aura ... Number One¡¯s brow creased tightly once more. Alright, so he just could not imagine what that result would be like, but somehow it did not seem that it would turn out that lovely.


    "Forget it, let¡¯s worry about it when wee to it." Instructor Number One was unexpectedly disying some Ah-Q mentality 4 ¡ª because he too could not bear to refuse Instructor Number Four and her passion for teaching so many times. In future, Ling Lan would just have to bear with it.


    Without knowing it, Ling Lan had been sold out by the Instructor Number One she deeply revered. Even someone as cold and unyielding as Instructor Number One had no choice but to give way a little when faced with the extraordinary charm and allure of Instructor Number Four.


    ********


    Sure enough, Ling Lan was back in the hover car after only a second on the clock. Little Four said joyfully, "Boss, you¡¯re back? Have you found a solution?"


    Ling Lan nodded and said, "Yes, Little Four. Change destinations immediately. Head for thebat hall!" To find an enclosed space, the only option was the privatebat rooms at thebat hall. She did not forget to caution, "Little Four, do not leave any sign that we¡¯re going there."


    "Yes, Boss!" With that, the hover car silently changed directions and began flying rapidly towards thebat hall.

 Chapter 282: Bestial Personality!

    Chapter 282: Bestial Personality!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The hover car stopped not too far from thebat hall, and Ling Lan carried Luo Lang stealthily out of the car. Due to Little Four¡¯s intervention, this hover car had registered as an empty car on the academy mainframe all this while, going around the campus on its designated route. Just like that, Ling Lan snuck Luo Lang into thebat hall without anyone the wiser.


    Little Four had long found an empty privatebat room, so Ling Lan dashed straight into the room with Luo Lang over her shoulder and Little Four instantly sealed the doors shut behind them.


    Of course, on the records of the optical supeputer of thebat hall, the private room they were in was still listed as unupied. However, Little Four used some concealment methods to hide the room from being disyed among the other empty rooms. In other words, regardless of which list one looked in ¡ª upied or unupied rooms ¡ª they would be unable to find this private room Ling Lan and Luo Lang were in. Simrly, no one would notice one missing room among all the other hundred or so rooms, so this eliminated any chance of Ling Lan and Luo Lang being discovered.


    Knowing that Little Four had handled all the precautionary measures, Ling Lan set Luo Lang on the ground and reached out a hand to pat Luo Lang awake.


    "Boss, I feel terrible!" The moment Luo Lang woke up, he could feel his body burning up. He panted torturously, forcefully suppressing the need surging from deep within his body.


    Yes, he neededfort and relief, he wanted to take the person before him into his arms ... but this person was his most beloved and revered Boss Lan! Even if Luo Lang¡¯s whole being was screaming at him with want, he held himself back from pouncing at Boss Lan.


    Having impure thoughts about Boss Lan was an insult to his boss, Luo Lang felt. Of course, another reason was that Luo Lang believed pouncing forwards would be useless anyway ¡ª Boss Lan would surely smack him dead with one p ...


    Seeing that Luo Lang could still maintain some rationality even now, Ling Lan¡¯s heart eased. She had been most afraid that Luo Lang would have lost his mindpletely to the drug at this point, and so be unable to activate his innate talent.


    Ling Lan did not dare to dy; she quickly told the n to Luo Lang. Luo Lang¡¯s gaze brightened at her words ¡ª if he could solve hisck of control over his innate talent from this incident, his suffering would not have been in vain. So he said, "Do it. Boss, if I really lose my mind, hit me till I wake up ..."


    A trace of ruthlessness appeared in Luo Lang¡¯s eyes ¡ª he had always been willing to be harsh on himself. Even if his entire body became littered with wounds, he still wanted toplete this mission. How could he, Luo Lang, lose to such a trifle as this aphrodisiac?


    "Okay!" Ling Lan nodded solemnly in response. This moment did not permit her to be soft-hearted.


    Luo Lang pushed aside Ling Lan¡¯s hand which had reached out to help him up, climbing to his feet on his own waveringly. In order to hold back the roaring carnal urges within his body, his glossy red lips had been bitten through in several spots. Blood welled up from the wounds to flow downwards, falling onto smooth ivory skin to pool at the hollow of his neck, strangely beautiful in its own right. However, all of Ling Lan¡¯s and Luo Lang¡¯s attention was currently focused on receiving Luo Lang¡¯s personalities. Neither noticed the odd beauty of the scene.


    "Innate talent, activate!" Luo Lang used the remnants of his rational mind to activate his innate talent.


    Ling Lan saw the shaking figure of Luo Lang go still all of a sudden, and then a wild presence poured out from Luo Lang¡¯s body. This aura made Ling Lan frown slightly, a trace of disappointment in her eyes, because this was not the personality Ling Lan and Luo Lang were hoping for. However, Ling Lan¡¯s disappointment came and went in a sh. Luo Lang¡¯s innate talent was unstable ¡ª activating it for a specific personality was like drawing the lottery. If they had gotten it right in one go, now that would truly be miraculous.


    Luo Lang slowly raised his head. His initially clear eyes were now bloodshot ¡ª there was no longer any trace of Luo Lang¡¯s primary identity, only endless savagery and tant bestial desire remained in his gaze. He slowly opened his mouth wide, slipping out his tongue to lick at his bloody lips. This appearance clearly smacked of greed, but paired with Luo Lang¡¯s exquisitely beautiful face, the action actually gave Ling Lan a sense of flirtatious seduction.


    "F*ck!" Ling Lan could not help but curse internally. Who the heck was the real woman here?! The truly male Luo Lang doing such an erotic act ¡ª not only did it not cause revulsion in others, it even came off as extraordinarily mesmerising. At this moment, Ling Lan was hit hard by jealousy ...


    "Ah ..." Though Luo Lang¡¯s small face was currently as red as a plum, brimming with seductive allure, the sounding from his throat was the cry of a wild beast. That¡¯s right. This time, Luo Lang had awakened a bestial personality. It had no so-called rationality to speak of, only retaining the most basic bestial instincts.


    Luo Lang in this identity did not recognise any Boss Lan; he only wanted to eliminate this prey before him that made him feel threatened. Thus, he lunged forwards without hesitation, both hands reaching out savagely at what he felt were the fatal points of the other.


    Just as Ling Lan was about to activate her Domain and control Luo Lang, Ling Lan recalled Instructor Number One¡¯s reminder. She needed to beat back these uncontroble personalities of Luo Lang¡¯s. Erm ... beat back? Alright, she would just do it with her fists then.


    Ling Lan resolutely raised her fists and punched out fiercely, striking Luo Lang¡¯s thin andnky body full on.


    Luo Lang was sent reeling back with a ¡¯bam¡¯, his entire body crashing heavily to the ground.


    "The activation of the bestial personality has greatly increased the strength of Luo Lang¡¯s body. It¡¯s at least three times tougher than before. In the past, this level of power would have sent Luo Lang flying, but now, it is only enough to strike him down ..." Ling Lan looked at Luo Lang struggling up from the ground, and mentally began cataloguing the benefits this activated personality brought to Luo Lang. "Also, the endurance of his body has also increased by quite a bit. This punch of mine did not injure him."


    Luo Lang had already climbed up by this time, his lips curled in a growl in response to the pain of thatst hit, and then he leapt forwards once more. His speed and strength clearly showed that he was not at all affected by that first attack. It could even be said that the minor pain had made this personality of Luo Lang¡¯s even fiercer now.


    "Then, let¡¯s add on three times the strength. I don¡¯t believe I can¡¯t bring you down!" Ling Lan instantly increased the power behind her fists, once again sending a fist at Luo Lang and sending him flying. Yes, the horrific strength behind her fists this time had sent Luo Lang flying the moment the hitnded. Luo Lang was seen to crash into a wall and then slide down it to m into the ground.


    "Howl!" Pained cries spilled from Luo Lang¡¯s throat. This force had made him feel intense pain. Struggling, he tried to climb to his feet once more, his crimson eyes ring at Ling Lan before him, filled with brute ferocity and killing intent. The intense pain had caused Luo Lang¡¯s bestial instinct to be utterly berserk.


    "Still not submitting? Then I¡¯ll hit you till you submit 1 ." Ling Lan sniffed coldly and charged forwards with a clenched fist. Before Luo Lang could get up, she pressed Luo Lang into the ground and began pummelling him.


    Seeing this scene, Little Four¡¯s pair of little legs could not help but tremble violently ... Boo hoo hoo, Boss is really too savage! He is so scary 2 !


    This unending set ofbination punches made the savage light in Luo Lang¡¯s eyes fade, his crimson eyes actually revealing a trace of meekness, as if begging for mercy. Ling Lan paused with her fists held high, harrumphed coldly, and said, "Do you submit?"


    "Awoo!" A vaguely stubborn cry escaped Luo Lang¡¯s mouth. Ling Lan¡¯s eyebrow quirked, and she punched down once more, forcefully.


    "Hooowl!" Luo Lang¡¯s bestial personality finally gave up and begged for mercy. This cry was unlike the one before ¡ª it carried an undertone of fawning.


    An idea sparked in Ling Lan¡¯s mind. She stopped her punches and ordered, "Let the primary identity out to talk to me. And don¡¯t you dare slip away. Otherwise, every single time youe out, I¡¯ll beat you!"


    Ling Lan¡¯s warning snuffed out all thoughts the bestial personality had of running away. He howled several more times pleading for mercy, and very soon one of Luo Lang¡¯s eyes changed noticeably. The originally wild red of that eye gradually cleared up.


    "Ugh, it hurts ... Boss, I¡¯m back?" Sure enough, Luo Lang¡¯s primary identity had returned.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan sighed in relief, then said, "Your other bestial personality should still be here. Try and control him a bit."


    That clear eye of Luo Lang¡¯s revealed pleasant surprise, while the other crimson eye narrowed, as if nning to resist. Ling Lan raised her fist without hesitation and punched right at that crimson eye.


    "Ouch!" Luo Lang sucked in a cold breath. Ling Lan had not held back for this punch ¡ª the intense pain of it made both of Luo Lang¡¯s personalities moan in pain.


    "I¡¯ve said before, don¡¯t try to run. Actually daring to disobey my order." Ling Lan red fiercely at that ckened panda-eyed crimson eye. Her icy gaze made the bestial personality no longer dare to rebel, obediently signifying its submission.


    "Luo Lang, this is a good chance. Control it quickly," Ling Lan quickly instructed Luo Lang.


    How could Luo Lang not understand at this point? Ling Lan was helping him to subdue this bestial personality. Without even thinking about it, within his spiritual realm, Luo Lang¡¯s primary identity charged without hesitation at the bestial personality beside him ...


    The bestial personality instinctively tried to fight back but was paralysed by an invisible force.


    It turned out that Ling Lan knew the bestial personality was hiding within that one red eye of Luo Lang¡¯s, and so she had released a bolt of spiritual power to press down on Luo Lang¡¯s crimson eye. Of course, fearing that she would harm Luo Lang¡¯s primary identity, she had not dared to use a spiritual charge.


    Unexpectedly, this move of Ling Lan¡¯s had unintentionally helped Luo Lang out, allowing him to sessfully take control of this bestial personality.


    The two personalities fought and tussled within Luo Lang¡¯s brain. Due to the pressure from Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power as well as the deep-seated fear the bestial personality now had over Ling Lan¡¯s previous pummelling ¡ª it was fearful that it would be beaten even worse if it defeated the primary identity ¡ª the bestial personality¡¯s fighting spirit was obviously weaker than the primary identity¡¯s. Under this panicked anxiety, its resistance grew weaker and weaker. In the end, the primary identity subdued itpletely, making it fully submissive to the primary identity.


    Just like that, Luo Lang was fortunate enough to conquer his first secondary personality, Bestial Instinct 3 . Before he could share this joyful news with Ling Lan, regaining full control of his body, that burning desire within his body rolled over him once more, and this time it was even stronger than it had been at the start.


    If his body had not just been pummelled so hard by Ling Lan, his entire body¡¯s skin and muscles aching all over, he would not have been able to retain any bit of rationality. In a pained tone, Luo Lang said, "Boss, I¡¯ve subdued him, but I don¡¯t think I can bear any more ..."


    "Hurry and activate your innate talent again," Ling Lan¡¯s expression changed drastically at his condition, and she quickly urged him to continue with the n.


    "Yes, Boss!" Luo Lang decisively withdrew the Bestial Instinct personality and activated a different personality with his innate talent. Once a personality had been conquered, as long as the primary identity did not want it to emerge, then the personality would definitely not emerge.

 Chapter 283: The Target Appears!

    Chapter 283: The Target Appears!


    Following the emergence of Luo Lang¡¯s new personality, a wave of blood-tinged killing intent swept down on Ling Lan. Ling Lan was extremely familiar with this killing intent ¡ª it was the bloody intent umted after killing over hundreds of thousands of people ... could it be that the personality that Luo Lang had activated this time was a Killing Dao personality?


    Sure enough, when Luo Lang lifted his head to look up with half-lidded eyes, a sharp and cold bolt of killing intent shot towards Ling Lan. At the same time, Luo Lang¡¯s hands shifted into an attack stance ¡ª it was the One-Inch Punch that Luo Lang was so proficient in.


    "Looks like the rational ones are harder to deal with than those irrational ones." Observing Luo Lang¡¯s current stance which appeared to be without any notable weaknesses, Ling Lan could feel that things were now a little troublesome. This personality was giving Ling Lan a vague sense of pressure.


    D*mmit, no wonder Instructor Number One had said that she would be able to subdue these personalities with her strength at half step to Domain. If she did not have those 10 seconds or so of Domain ability, up against this Killing Dao personality, even if she was already at the optimal peak of Qi-Jin, she would still have to expend quite a considerable amount of effort to defeat him.


    As expected, when a follower was too powerful, the pressure upon a boss was great! Heaven knows what other personalities Luo Lang possessed ... in particr, that Transcendent Cold personality mentioned by Instructor Number One, was very likely not an easy one to get along with either. At this thought, Ling Lan felt her teeth begin to ache inexplicably. It really wasn¡¯t easy for her to be a boss ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s somewhat emotional musings made her initially seamless aura ease a little ¡ª anyhow, the Killing Dao personality felt that his chance had arrived. And so, Luo Lang could be seen dashing forwards like an arrow to arrive before Ling Lan¡¯s face, his long prepared One-Inch Punch striking out at Ling Lan from the most ufortable angle for her.


    This angle made it extremely hard for Ling Lan to block. If she chose to dodge, the Killing Dao Luo Lang would gain the upper hand. Then, even someone as powerful as Ling Lan would have a very hard time snatching back the flow of the fight anytime soon unless she immediately brought her Domain into y.


    Just as the Killing Dao Luo Lang thought he had seeded at his ploy, an extremely bizarre scene urred. Ling Lan¡¯s waist twisted abruptly, evading this killing move of Luo Lang¡¯s with an extremely exaggerated snake-like flexible move.


    Her supple and flexible body, which made Instructor Number Four salivate, hadpletely disyed its prowess here. Ling Lan, who was brimming with masculine strength, had still kept the physical flexibility and suppleness unique to women under Instructor Number Nine¡¯s careful tutge. She had even learned how to utilise this suppleness to its maximum effect.


    Having avoided Luo Lang¡¯s killing move, Ling Lan charged forwards to meet Luo Lang, sweeping out both her elbows to attack the other¡¯s chest.


    Luo Lang reacted swiftly ¡ª the moment his blow met air, he knew that things were bad for him. He rapidly retreated, but he still was not quicker than Ling Lan¡¯s attack.


    A ¡¯bam¡¯ rang out ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s elbows had struck Luo Lang¡¯s chest, pushing him back several paces. As a vital point had been hit directly, even though Ling Lan had already held back on her power, it was still enough to injure Luo Lang. A trickle of blood flowed out from the corner of Luo Lang¡¯s lips.


    "Killing Dao personality? I¡¯m someone who has fought my way out of the Killing Dao. Trying to beat me with the Killing Dao? In your dreams!" A cold smirk graced Ling Lan¡¯s lips.


    Perhaps the other powerful personalities would cause Ling Lan to hesitate and harbour reservations, but the Killing Dao personality was not among their ranks. Ling Lan, who could be considered an old hat at the Killing Dao, naturally knew everything there was to know about the Killing Dao. Not to mention that the killing intent emanating from Luo Lang¡¯s body right now was truly no match for the killing intent hidden deep within Ling Lan¡¯s body. In other words, Luo Lang¡¯s Killing Dao personality was still rather immature right now. Perhaps after Luo Lang has been through several battlefields and killed a few more people ¡ª perhaps then this Killing Dao personality would be much more developed.


    "Let me show you what a real Killing Dao is like!" An idea tumbled through Ling Lan¡¯s mind, and the blood-soaked killing intent deep within her body poured out in a torrent. The sheer thickness of it caused the temperature of the sealed room to plummet, also causing the expression of the Killing Dao personality opposite her to shift slightly, a trace of unconceble greed revealed in its eyes.


    As the Killing Dao personality was nourished by bloody killing intent, even as Ling Lan¡¯s substantial blood-soaked killing intent frightened it, it was also deeply attracted by it. Uncontrobly, it began to absorb Ling Lan¡¯s bloody killing intent, its expression carrying a trace of intoxication. Right then, even if he knew very well that consuming this blood-soaked killing intent might put him under the control of the other, the Killing Dao personality just could not resist in the face of this temptation.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan¡¯s brow quirked ¡ª she had caught on to the weakness of the Killing Dao personality. The corner of her lips tilted up, and she abruptly retracted all the blood-soaked killing intent she had released. The Killing Dao personality who had been blissfully absorbing the blood-soaked killing intent suddenly found that the killing intent was gone and could not help but blink nkly. After realising what had happened, he turned a dejected gaze upon Ling Lan, a type of speechlessint contained within it.


    That look actually reminded Ling Lan of those adorable puppies in the photos she had seen in her previous life. It was the look when those puppies had had their favourite toy snatched away ¡ª unbelievably moe no matter how you looked at it 4 .


    Suppressing theughter in her heart, Ling Lan stared coldly at the Killing Dao personality. Her entire demeanour screamed ¡ª I¡¯m not going to give it to you. What can you do about it?


    Motivation to kill shed across the Killing Dao personality¡¯s eyes. He really wanted to kill the other, snatch the other¡¯s bewitching blood-soaked killing intent for himself, and absorb itpletely. But very quickly, he calmed down. Just based on the other¡¯s blood-soaked killing intent which was a hundred times more potent than his own, as well as the other¡¯s previous bizarre evasion skills and efficient attack, he was still no match for him right now, much less talk of killing the other.


    Still, that thick and beguiling blood-soaked killing intent ¡ª he could not simply give up on it just like that ... the Killing Dao personality looked at Ling Lan with aplicated gaze, and finally opened his mouth to speak, "Unexpectedly, you are like me. And stronger than me!" A trace of yearning shed through the Killing Dao personality¡¯s eyes.


    "Do you want to advance?" asked Ling Lan with a quirked brow.


    "Yes!" replied the Killing Dao personality resolutely. If he could just continue to absorb that killing intent, he would definitely be much stronger.


    "If you¡¯re willing to submit to your primary identity, I¡¯ll allow you to fight with me once a week." Ling Lan offered her conditions.


    The Killing Dao personality¡¯s eyes revealed a trace of disdain ¡ª he felt that his primary identity was just too weak, not at all worthy ofmanding them, the secondary personalities. A weak primary and strong secondaries ¡ª this was the true reason why Luo Lang was unable to control his alter egos.


    "Are you unwilling? Then I will make it so your primary identity never ever activates his innate talent." A smirk hung on Ling Lan¡¯s lips. "Let you train your so-called Killing Dao on your own forever in that spiritual realm inside him. Perhaps you can also be strong that way," said Ling Lan sarcastically. Hells, these secondary personalities actually dared to look down on their primary identity. Did they not consider that they still needed the primary identity to activate his innate talent? What a bunch of simple-minded fools.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made the Killing Dao personality¡¯splexion pale ¡ª this was something he was truly afraid of. Although arge part of why they, the alter egos, were unwilling to submit to the primary identity was because the primary identity was too weak, at the same time, they were also very afraid that once the primary identity took control and had a choice, some of the more unsavoury personalities would no longer have a chance toe out. Thus, they collectively decided not to submit to the primary identity, choosing instead to fight for that one out of several tens or so chances 5 ofing out when the primary identity activated his innate talent.


    "Think carefully about it. A chance every week to get some fresh air, or to be trapped forever in the spiritual realm. Any smart person would know the right choice." Ling Lan was extremely calm. Right now, she had the initiative and power, so she was not afraid that the other would disagree. Since the alter ego wanted to be stronger, and it also knew that she, who was proficient with the Killing Dao, was an extremely great rival, the Killing Dao personality must know that it would require sparring with her to obtain experience in the Killing Dao.


    Furthermore, she still had an ultimate move up her sleeve ... that killing intent of hers was excellent nourishment for the Killing Dao personality. If the other was willing to ept her conditions, she would not mind feeding it once a week as well. After all, she could always gain more blood-soaked killing intent from the learning space, so she did not mind wasting this little bit of it 6 .


    Seeing the gaze of the Killing Dao personality begin to waver, Ling Lan decided to up the ante. She offered up her ultimate killing move. "Also, every week, if you behave well, I can give you some of my blood-soaked killing intent."


    The Killing Dao personality¡¯s eyes sparkled, "You¡¯re speaking honestly?"


    "Of course! A gentleman never goes back on his word ¡ª once a promise has been made, even a team of four horses cannot take it back 7 !" stated Ling Lan proudly, her chin lifted high. Would she, Ling Lan, lie to her own follower?


    "Deal!" replied the Killing Dao personality firmly. That final lure was too much for him, and besides, being able to get some fresh air once a week, it was worth it even if he had to submit to the primary identity.


    "Then let your primary identity out now," said Ling Lan.


    Very soon, Luo Lang¡¯s primary identity had emerged once again. This time, due to the Killing Dao personality¡¯s willing cooperation, it was extremely easy for Luo Lang to take control. It only took several seconds to seed.


    The moment Luo Lang took back his body, he could feel the fearsome power of the aphrodisiac. This time, he did not need Ling Lan to remind him ¡ª with the final bit of his rationality, he immediately activated the next alter ego.


    Just like that, Luo Lang activated his innate talent again and again, channelling his alter egos, while again and again, Ling Lan beat them into submission, tempted them with benefits, tricked them ... anything, as long as she could get these secondary personalities to agree to submit to their primary identity. Ling Lan could be said to have used up her bag of tricks. Again and again she redefined the baseline of her ethics, leading Ling Lan to silently sigh at how she really was not a good person ...


    Just like that, heaven knows how many alter egos she had helped Luo Lang conquer; Ling Lan was feeling rather numb by now. Faint traces of sunlight had begun to peek out from within the dark sky ¡ª it was getting ever closer to dawn. Observing from the side, Little Four could not help but be anxious.


    This was because, even with Little Four¡¯s help, it would be extremely difficult to sneak back to their living quarters without any trace during broad daylight. Little Four did not know whether he should manipte things to create the illusion that Boss and Luo Lang had left the vi early this morning toe train in thebat hall ...


    Alright, there was still that final bit of time. Little Four decided to wait a little longer in patience. If daylight truly broke, then he would ask his boss whether he should carry out his n.


    In the meantime, Luo Lang had activated yet another new personality. The emergence of the personality brought along a surge of ice-cold air, causing the temperature within the private room to drop noticeably.


    The arrival of this chill made Ling Lan¡¯s spirits rally ¡ª could it be that the Transcendent Cold personality she had been waiting for all this while had finally appeared?


    Luo Lang¡¯s cold and unfeeling gaze swept over, and when he saw Ling Lan, his brow furrowed and he said "So it¡¯s you."


    Ling Lan was taken aback ¡ª she had met this personality before? She abruptly recalled that this personality had appeared before not too long ago on the stage during the wagered fight with Leiting. He had been extreme in his cold rationality ¡ª paying the price of his own arm to perfectly ensnare the opponent, achieving an upset by defeating his stronger opponent from a weaker position. Undoubtedly, this was a personality who could be extremely cruel to himself for the sake of victory.


    "Severing one¡¯s seven emotions and six desires, only allowing oneself to retain endlessly cold rationality, and taking everything into consideration without qualms that could lead to victory ... you should be that Transcendent Cold personality." Ling Lan believed that the other was certainly the target she had been seeking. As expected, a tough opponent.


    "That¡¯s right. It¡¯s unexpected that you actually know all those details about me. Not simple at all ... no wonder the primary identity is willing to recognise you as boss," responded the Transcendent Cold personality dispassionately. Of course, a hint of contempt could still be discerned from his tone.

 Chapter 284: Scheming!

    Chapter 284: Scheming!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "I¡¯ve been looking for you for a long time," said Ling Lan coldly, "I think you should already be aware of the current condition of this body."


    "Seeking me out just for this?" The Transcendent Cold personality figured out why he had been brought out and could not help but scorn, "This kind of little problem, and he already can¡¯t take it? That¡¯s too disgraceful."


    Due to the effects of the aphrodisiac, even though Luo Lang¡¯s face had been punched till it was ck and blue, it was still flushed an eye-catching rosy pink. However, his eyes now were clear, as if not at all affected by the chaotic desire within his body. Sure enough, the Transcendent Cold personality possessed the ability to detach himself from all seven emotions and six desires, and was thus able to be so serene in the face of disaster.


    However, Ling Lan was beginning to get a vague sense that something was not right. She began to think back on how when each personality had appeared, those personalities had not lost control due to the aphrodisiac ¡ª they had not lost their minds and behaved wildly. Even when that mindless Bestial Instinct personality had appeared, what he had disyed had only been the basic instinct of a wild beast and nothing else ...


    Could it be that as long as another personality took charge, the effects of the aphrodisiac would actually be contained? In that case, why would Luo Lang suffer the ravaging of the aphrodisiac every time after he conquered those personalities? Ling Lan was rather perplexed.


    All these doubts merely shed through her mind ¡ª Ling Lan did not have the time to ruminate on them. Now, the most important thing was still helping Luo Lang to conquer this Transcendent Cold personality so that Luo Lang could fully ovee the effects of the aphrodisiac.


    Ling Lan did not think that the aphrodisiac of this future world would be so strong,sting over the course of an entire night. Every time they had switched alter egos, she had seen Luo Lang¡¯s agonised expression of forced tolerance in between. This made Ling Lan rather worried about Luo Lang¡¯s body. She wondered whether it was too much for him and had harmed the very foundations of his body ... she hoped that it was truly as Instructor Number One had said, that there would be no negative aftereffects!


    Ling Lan suppressed the worry in her heart and began to negotiate with the Transcendent Cold personality. "Speak. What would make you willing to submit to the primary identity?"


    It would be best if they could avoid a fight ¡ª whenever Ling Lan encountered a rational personality that couldmunicate, she would not resort to violence right away, instead going into negotiation mode first. Ling Lan herself was afraid that Luo Lang¡¯s body would not be able to withstand all this pummelling.


    "Submit? He¡¯s not worthy enough yet," Transcendent Cold responded icily.


    "Yet? Which means that it¡¯s possible in the future? Does this mean that you actually think well of him?" asked Ling Lan with a quirked brow.


    "He is our primary identity. Once he has be stronger than us, we will naturally submit to him," Transcendent Cold replied evenly. This was the truth. Luo Lang¡¯s innate talent was out of his control only because the primary identity was too weak, so the secondary personalities could not be med for running wild.


    "Why don¡¯t you all try submitting now? This is actually beneficial for you all as well," suggested Ling Lan.


    Transcendent Cold shook his head bleakly and refused, saying, "We have our pride. We only submit to the strong. If the primary identity never finds a way to be stronger than us, he will forever be unable to control us. This is the price he must pay. There are no shortcuts."


    "Is that so?" Ling Lan shot back with a half-smile. The reality before them now proved that shortcuts did exist ¡ª they just had not been discovered yet before this.


    Ling Lan¡¯s rebuttal made Transcendent Cold¡¯s breath choke. He fell silent for several seconds before opening his mouth to say, "Of course, it¡¯s not really that they don¡¯t exist. If there is a boss who gains the willing acknowledgement of all of the secondary personalities, we can listen to that boss¡¯s orders and recognise the primary identity as our main host."


    The Transcendent Cold personality stared coolly at Ling Lan and continued, "It seems that you have discovered this shortcut. Those subdued secondary personalities were most likely conquered by the primary identity in this way. If you defeat me, I too will be willing to submit to you. At that time, you can ask me to submit to the primary identity. I will be willing to obey."


    "So that¡¯s how it is." Only now did Ling Lan truly understand. Instructor Number One had suggested this method, not for her to seek out the Transcendent Cold personality, but for her to subdue each and every one of these alter egos to help Luo Lang gainplete control.


    "Who knows how many alter egos are left ... Do I have to keep fighting till thest one to end this?" Ling Lan muttered to herself, chuckling wryly internally. If luck would have it, she might just have to spend days here ¡ª this was truly an onerous task. That¡¯s why she had said that being a boss was not so easy ...


    "No need. As long as you defeat me, the other secondary personalities will acknowledge you too. Because I am the strongest one among all the alter egos." Transcendent Cold heard Ling Lan¡¯s mutters, and replied. Even though his tone was exceedingly cool and level, Ling Lan could still hear the pride and confidence of Transcendent Cold from his words.


    That aside, Transcendent Cold¡¯s words had also exined why Instructor Number One had said that she must seek out the Transcendent Cold personality. It looked like Luo Lang did not need him specifically to ovee the crisis of the aphrodisiac ¡ª rather, Ling Lan needed to defeat the other so Luo Lang could truly master his innate talent.


    This so-called chance was just Instructor Number One¡¯s excuse to get her to act. No wonder as time passed, Luo Lang¡¯s resistance to the aphrodisiac had seemed to get stronger and stronger. Unlike at the start when he had almost lost his reason, he had always been able to sessfully activate his innate talent, holding on till the emergence of the next alter ego. In fact, as he had been fighting, the aphrodisiac was already being diffused. It was as the Transcendent Cold personality had said at the start ¡ª the aphrodisiac within Luo Lang¡¯s body was just a trivial matter, because the drug was already nearing its end, and the effects were no longer that strong.


    At this thought, the tension in Ling Lan¡¯s heart eased. Since the aphrodisiac was no longer an issue, as long as she defeated this personality before her now andpleted the task of letting Luo Lang freely control his innate talent, she would have achieved a rousing sess.


    "Fine. Let me try then and see how strong exactly is this Transcendent Cold personality." Ling Lan calmly stretched out her right hand, signalling for the Transcendent Cold personality to make his move.


    This was the stance a superior used against an inferior ¡ª with regards to this, the Transcendent Cold personality did not feel offended or underestimated. This was because the moment he came out, he had sensed the horrifying strength hidden deeply within Ling Lan¡¯s body. He knew very well that this person before his eyes was not that opponent he had met that first time he had emerged. This opponent was much stronger, but that did not mean that he had no chance of winning.


    A mocking smile appeared on the lips of the Transcendent Cold personality. With a spring of his feet, his figure suddenly disappeared, and in the next second, his fist had arrived before Ling Lan¡¯s face. This speed of his had clearly broken past Luo Lang¡¯s original speed, hitting Luo Lang¡¯s physical limits ...


    "Good!" Ling Lan yelled out in approval. Her head tilted to one side, evading the punch, and her palm struck back without any hesitation, aiming for the only opening in this attack of Luo Lang¡¯s, the only fatal weakness ¡ª¡ª his chest!


    Ling Lan thought that Transcendent Cold would choose to evade, because if this palm strikended, based on the strength differential between Luo Lang and her, Luo Lang was certain to be heavily injured. Someone proficient inbat would not be so idiotic as to wee death ...


    However, Transcendent Cold¡¯s actions shocked Ling Lan ¡ª the other did not dodge, charging forwards fearlessly instead.


    "F*ck, a lunatic!" Ling Lan had not expected the other¡¯s actions, and since the other was charging forwards intentionally, Ling Lan¡¯s palm made contact with Luo Lang¡¯s chest in the blink of an eye.


    There was already no time to change moves ¡ª Ling Lan could only pull back the powerful internal energy behind her palm. Thus, despite striking Luo Lang¡¯s chest, as there was no internal energy behind it, her palm did not harm Luo Lang. But right then, there was a sudden twist ¡ª Luo Lang¡¯s other long readied fist with threeyers of One-Inch Punch struck out in a diagonal attack at Ling Lan¡¯s lower side.


    Stuck in the tail-end of her move, Ling Lan had no possibility of evading. Still, who was Ling Lan? The reflexes of one at the optimal peak of Qi-Jin was iparable to that of one at early stage Qi-Jin. Ling Lan¡¯s other hand swept down into a block and the two forces collided. Powerful forces erupted between the two of them.


    A ¡¯boom¡¯ of collision, and the two were thrown back uncontrobly. They each stumbled back several paces before finding their footing again.


    Even Ling Lan, due to insufficient preparation and a hasty block, now felt heated blood roiling in her chest, a surge of copper-sweet stench pushing at the back of her throat. It should be said that the heartless scheming of Transcendent Cold, in tandem with the threeyers of One-Inch Punch he used, had given Ling Lan a bitter taste of trouble.


    "Actually daring to use Luo Lang¡¯s life to trap me ..." Ling Lan¡¯s eyes turned bleak and cold, freezing air beginning to emit from her body. At this moment, Ling Lan¡¯s wrath had been piqued.


    She found that this Transcendent Cold personality before her was truly without all seven emotions and six desires, only retaining endless cold rationality. For the sake of victory, he had even factored Ling Lan¡¯s brotherly affection for Luo Lang into his calctions ... From the start, he had known that his attack would be fruitless, but he also knew that Ling Lan cared for his body very much and would not really want to hurt him, and this was his chance. Frankly, he had almost seeded. However, Ling Lan was just too strong ¡ª despite falling into his trap, she had still managed to withstand his attack by relying on her own superior strength.


    "If your heart had not had any reluctance, my n would not have seeded," said the Transcendent Cold personality, "Hence, this is not my fault."


    At these words, Ling Lan almost spewed out a mouthful of blood. So she was the only one to me for taking this hit? But thinking about it, what the Transcendent Cold personality was saying was not wrong either ¡ª if she had not been reluctant to harm Luo Lang, the other would not have been able to trap her.


    "How bloody despicable. Are you not at all worried I would just go through with it for real and kill you?" asked Ling Lan sullenly.


    "If that happened, then it would be my mistake. Death would be well deserved." The Transcendent Cold personality¡¯s expression was indifferent. In his mind, if his carefully thought-out n had not seeded, death would be a proper price to pay ¡ª there was nothing to argue about there.


    Facing this emotionless Transcendent Cold personality who only knew how to scheme, unafraid of death and impervious to ttery and petty tricks, Ling Lan felt somewhat like her hands were tied. Hells, this personality was just too troublesome to handle ¡ª did she really have to fight with lethal means?


    It had to be said that the Transcendent Cold personality had indeedtched onto Ling Lan¡¯s vital point. Ling Lan could not bear to harm Luo Lang ¡ª even though Luo Lang currently looked rather battered, his entire face a swathe of ck and blue, his body swollen red and bruised with no patch of unmarked skin, all of these injuries were only skin-deep. Luo Lang would only need to lie in a healing pod for one to two hours, and he would be back to normal. However, if Ling Lan had really been ruthless and injured Luo Lang grievously, Luo Lang may just have to return to the Military Medical Research Centre and would not have been able to be discharged for 10 days to half a month ... and this was why Ling Lan was now caught in a dilemma.


    "Boss, dawn is breaking. Should I create an illusion of you and Luo Langing out from the vi this morning toe spar at thebat hall?" Right then, Little Four, who could dy no longer, piped up with an alert within Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace.


    An idea sparked in Ling Lan¡¯s mind at these words. Yes, by creating this illusion, she would have a reason to send Luo Lang back to the Military Medical Research Centre to trouble Li Shiyu again ...


    She could say that, as they had fought, Luo Lang¡¯s old wounds had red up again. As his primary physician, Li Shiyu would need to take responsibility for this.

 Chapter 285: Completion!

    Chapter 285: Completion!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    At this thought, Ling Lan¡¯s lips could not help but curve up into a slight smile. Since she now had a way to resolve Luo Lang¡¯s injuries, then there was no reason for her to be merciful and hold back.


    Ling Lan sped her hands together tightly, her fingers emitting the sounds of cracking joints. This action made Transcendent Cold¡¯s gaze shift, because he had sensed that his initial ns were likely to be useless now ... still, could the other really bear to be vicious? If that was the case, then, for the primary identity to have acknowledged such a person as boss, wasn¡¯t he too bad at judging character and also too pitiful?


    Before the Transcendent Cold personality could ascertain Ling Lan¡¯s true thoughts, Ling Lan leapt forwards. This time, she was prepared to initiate attack. A fist was sent flying straight at Luo Lang¡¯s face. The force behind the punch was fierce and domineering ¡ª even before it could touch him, the Transcendent Cold personality could already feel the horrific power contained in the fist.


    His countenance shifted, and with a quick slide step, he dodged this attack of Ling Lan¡¯s.


    There was a loud boom as Ling Lan¡¯s fist struck the floor of the private room. The ground instantly split apart under the tremendous force.


    In fact, the private room was built with high-tech ultra-durable materials, capable of withstanding attacks of Qi-Jin below Domain stage. The effect being disyed right now was also a product of the technology ¡ª after 10 seconds, the ground would be restored to normal.


    Seeing this great crevasse appear on the private room¡¯s floor, the Transcendent Cold personality confirmed that this person across from him was now truly determined to be ruthless. At this moment, he could not help but scorn his own primary identity once more, thinking that his primary identity really had bad judgement. His boss must not care much for him at all; otherwise, how could he have switched over to be so vicious so easily? Damm*t, what a failure of a primary identity.


    Since he could no longer count on the other¡¯s mercy, the Transcendent Cold personality abandoned his original ns without any hesitation, beginning to look for other openings to exploit.


    Meanwhile, the two of them could be seen darting around each other, one attacking one evading, actually fighting on pretty even ground. It had to be said that Transcendent Cold was the strongest among all the alter egos because he utilised Luo Lang¡¯s physical body to its maximum ability ¡ª whether it was in terms of speed or power, he had pushed it to the limit. For Ling Lan to defeat the other, it was likely impossible within a short period of time.


    This was because the other was calcting the best evasion path for himself under his body¡¯s constraints. Transcendent Cold¡¯s formidable calction ability had allowed him to escape by a hair¡¯s breadth several times already.


    "Looks like it¡¯s impossible without using Domain," thought Ling Lan.


    Frankly, with Ling Lan¡¯s capabilities, it was not impossible to take the other down if she went all out physically. However, she did not dare to use all her strength at optimal peak Qi-Jin, much less the threefold version of One-Inch Punch. This greatly restricted Ling Lan¡¯s attack range, which was why Transcendent Cold could escape so many times.


    The strength Ling Lan was currently using was carefully calcted so that even if she hit Luo Lang, Luo Lang would only be heavily injured, but no great tragedy would ur. If she added an extra share of strength, she was afraid she might identally snuff out Luo Lang¡¯s little life.


    Right then, the Transcendent Cold personality was finding that even if he schemed a lot, it was futile against Ling Lan who was several times stronger than him. Once strength reached a certain degree, all schemes would be useless.


    The Transcendent Cold personality experienced the emotion called hopelessness for the first time ... however, it was not in his character to admit defeat just like that. So, he decided to trade injury for injury; this was an extremely helpless kind of ploy ¡ª if he was not at his wits¡¯ end, he would not resort to this willingly.


    Both fighters intended to bring this fight to a close ¡ª when Ling Lan attacked again this time, the Transcendent Cold personality did not dodge. He immediately raised his right fist and with a loud bellow, the 4th form of One-Inch Punch was executed without hesitation ...


    Seeing this, rage flickered in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. Without any hesitation whatsoever, she yelled out, "Domain, activate!"


    In the private room, a super mini Domain appeared, instantly wrapping around Luo Lang¡¯s entire body. In the midst of performing the 4th form of One-Inch Punch, Luo Lang was frozen in that stance just like that, suspended in the air, immobile.


    The smaller the Domain, the longer Ling Lan could maintain it. Of course, even with the smallest Domain, Ling Lan could only hold it for no more than one minute. As for this tiny Domain, Ling Lan could hold it for approximately 40 seconds. Although it was not very long, it was more than enough to subdue the Transcendent Cold personality.


    "D*mn it!" Ling Lan roared, her fist hurtling over to strike the immobile Luo Lang squarely. At the instant her fist struck, Ling Lan dismissed the Domain holding Luo Lang secure.


    Still, the Transcendent Cold personality no longer had any way of dodging her attack. The fistnded squarely and Luo Lang¡¯s entire person was sent flying to crash heavily against the wall of the private room and then bounce off it to crumple to the ground.


    A heaving sound, and Luo Lang was spewing out several mouthfuls of blood on the ground. Ling Lan had not held back in this strike; her finely calcted internal energy had been borne by Luo Lang in its entirety. It was unsurprising that Luo Lang had received severe damage.


    "Do you know? I really hate you right now. With Luo Lang¡¯s current abilities, using the 4th form of One-Inch Punch will cause the Qi-Jin in his body to run rampant. An unlucky chance could cause hisbat realm 1 to fall. The first time, on the arena stage during the wagered fight, you did not want to lose to an outsider and used it. Even though you paid the price of your right arm, I tolerated it ... but now, just because you did not want to lose to me, you chose to use this type of move that would deal 100 damage to the opponent but deal 1000 damage to yourself 2 . Are you a godd*mn bloody idiot? What Transcendent Cold? You are just a freakin¡¯ brainless blockhead! Calm and level-headed my ass!"


    Ling Lan, who was extremely incensed by the other¡¯s actions, had a stony expression on her face as she grabbed the Transcendent Cold personality off the ground and began rapping him smartly on the head with her fists, berating him fiercely all the way.


    This attitude of Ling Lan¡¯s made the Transcendent Cold personality instantly descend into a confused stupor. Perhaps, in his world, this type of fire-breathing dragon behaviour waspletely iprehensible ... wasn¡¯t he the one who had gotten injured? Why was the opponent so enraged? Perhaps he had been tricked from the start ... perhaps the other¡¯s affection for his primary identity was in fact sincere, and the other had not been utterly merciless?


    Taking stock of his own injuries, Transcendent Cold believed his judgment was urate. He should have been dejected by the discovery, because he had actually been fooled by the opponent and had lost his chance to win. But for some reason, his heart actually felt lighter, as if this was how things should be.


    Transcendent Cold¡¯s stunned gaze had never shifted from Ling Lan¡¯s face ¡ª fuming, Ling Lan did not have any patience to speak of. With an angry re, she said, "What are you looking at? Do you godd*mn submit or not?"


    "..." Transcendent Cold let his silence speak for him. He was already having his head rapped while he was in the other¡¯s hold ¡ª how could he not submit?


    Seeing Transcendent Cold¡¯s cooperative attitude, Ling Lan¡¯s mood improved. She patted Luo Lang gruffly on the head and said, "If you had just done so from the start, wouldn¡¯t things have been better?" Perhaps noticing the Transcendent Cold personality¡¯s dejected expression, Ling Lan added, "Also, I¡¯m your boss. What¡¯s there to be discouraged about in losing to your boss? How pathetic."


    He was pathetic? Well, at least he¡¯s still better than the primary identity, right ...? The Transcendent Cold personality could not help but scrunch his brow; he was unwilling to ept this critique. "But the primary identity being so weak, won¡¯t Boss look down on him?" Subconsciously, the Transcendent Cold personality had actually begun to worry about the ce his primary identity held in their boss¡¯s heart.


    "Why don¡¯t you let the primary identity out now?" Ling Lan sent another fist flying to beat away Transcendent Cold¡¯s gloomy emotions. Transcendent Cold did not want to suffer any more of Boss¡¯s fists, so he could only obediently let the primary identity out.


    "Boss, you¡¯ve settled yet another personality?" The moment Luo Lang came out, he asked happily. Gathering one personality after another under his control, Luo Lang could feel himself bing stronger. His innate talent was also beginning to feel increasingly easier to wield.


    "Yes, congrattions on escaping from your abyss of misery." Seeing Luo Lang appear, Ling Lan¡¯s initial wrathful expression calmed into cool stoicism once more, and her tone was as indifferent as it ever was. Luo Lang, as the primary identity, did not sense anything out of the ordinary, but the Transcendent Cold personality on the other side could sense the subtle change in Ling Lan¡¯s aura. It was still cold, her voice just as cool, butpared to when she had been fighting with him, her aura was actually considerably warmer. So apparently even this icy attitude of their boss would change when interacting with the different personalities.


    For the first time, the Transcendent Cold personality felt the emotion called jealousy. He actually began to feel envious of his primary identity, who was able to receive Boss¡¯s care and affection.


    Luo Lang was a clever babe ¡ª hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words, he instantly reacted with joy, "You¡¯ve found the Transcendent Cold personality?"


    "Hn. Go subdue it quickly. Your aphrodisiac is also mostly settled," said Ling Lan calmly.


    "Don¡¯t try to resist. A gentleman should never go back on his word!" Ling Lan¡¯s tone shifted abruptly, bing extraordinarily frigid. Transcendent Cold knew that these words were directed at him. He was just another personality in the same body, but the treatment he received was so different. This tone now and that tone earlier were so obviously worlds apart ... Transcendent Cold thought to himself dejectedly 3 .


    Luo Lang could not know Transcendent Cold¡¯s thoughts; heeding Boss Lan¡¯s words, he pounced at the Transcendent Cold personality beside him. The moment he touched the other, the primary identity could sense how powerful the other was. There were no openings for him to attack, so he could only stare at the other helplessly.


    "What an idiot!" Transcendent Cold saw this pathetic disy of the primary identity, and barked reproachfully. Still, he did not n to go back on his promise with Ling Lan. Thus, he could only suppress his spiritual power as much as he could, squeezing it down smaller and smaller, until the point where the primary identity could overpower him.


    The two personalities began to merge ¡ª the Transcendent Cold personality was experiencing everything the primary identity had been through, including those experiences as the other grew up and his bonds with thosepanions of his ...


    D*mmit, the primary identity was really too bloody weak. If he had been the primary identity, the prized seat of Boss¡¯s first follower would definitely belong to him 4 and not that simple-minded Qi Long ... Transcendent Cold thought moodily to himself.


    This time, the process of subduing the Transcendent Cold personality took much longer than with the other personalities. Day was upon them, and thebat hall was beginning to be crowded. Some were there to enter Closed Door Meditation and seek out insight, while others were there to practise theirbat arts. All the students selected their own private rooms and went off to do their respective things. There were also those students who had no sses today, who did not want to log on to the Mecha World, who hade to thebat hall looking for a spar or two.


    Finally, Luo Lang¡¯s tightly shut eyes opened. A gleam of cold light came and went, and then Luo Lang could be seen tough and say, "Boss, it¡¯s done."


    "How does your body feel? That is, the aphrodisiac ..." This was what Ling Lan was most concerned about.

 Chapter 286: Misdiagnosis!

    Chapter 286: Misdiagnosis!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "It doesn¡¯t feel that strong anymore. After subduing the Transcendent Cold personality, the effects have eased greatly. As expected, the Transcendent Cold personality is the sure-kill move against aphrodisiacs," reported Luo Lang excitedly in his cluelessness.


    At his side, Ling Lan¡¯s cold face could not help but quiver slightly. Fine, she was a bad person. She absolutely would not tell Luo Lang the truth ¡ª that, in fact, all his injuries this night were actually unnecessary.


    "How are your injuries?" Ling Lan asked, scratching the bridge of her nose, still feeling somewhat guilty.


    Luo Lang chuckled wryly, "Not very good. I¡¯m injured pretty badly. Looks like I¡¯ll have to go to the treatment centre for another round of treatment."


    "It¡¯s better to go to the Military Medical Research Centre," said Ling Lan.


    The smile on Luo Lang¡¯s face stiffened, as if thinking of something. Ling Lan raised a brow and asked, "Recalling that scumbag? Afraid now?"


    Luo Lang shook his head and said, "No, that scumbag has been handled by Boss. What do I have to be afraid of?" That said, a hint of coldness appeared on his face. "I believe that he must be wishing he were dead right now."


    Luo Lang had full faith in Ling Lan, believing that his boss would not let the other off so easily. Even though his boss might not have taken that pervert¡¯s life to minimise the outcry from this incident, his boss would definitely have used some other method to destroy the other, such as crushing the other¡¯s future ... this kind of revenge method was also something he approved of. Hating a person did not mean the other person had to die ... destroying that which he prized most ¡ª now that was satisfying.


    "Don¡¯t worry. He will spend the rest of his life in a daze. No one knows you had been abducted. You only made a visit to the Military Medical Research Centre, that¡¯s all ..." Ling Lan conveyed Shi Mingyi¡¯s final oue in a few short phrases, also telling Luo Lang that this incident would end here. There would be no continuation.


    "Thank you, Boss!" Luo Lang smiled brightly at these words. Despite the mottled bruises on his face, this smile lit up his lovely features, still making others feel that his smile was very beautiful.


    "It¡¯s prettyte. We should hurry to the Military Medical Research Centre. The earlier you¡¯re treated, the earlier you¡¯ll be back on your feet." Ling Lan indicated for Little Four to open the room door, prepared to take Luo Lang to the Military Medical Research Centre.


    Luo Lang¡¯s smile stiffened and he said with a grimace, "Boss, can we not go there?"


    "Why?" Ling Lan asked curiously.


    Luo Lang¡¯s body could not help but shudder a little, a trace of fear on his face as he said hesitatingly, "The medical agent Li Shiyu uses on us causes too much suffering?" He then proceeded to tell Ling Lan every single one of the effects the medical agent produced in their bodies. Ling Lan¡¯s eyes flickered in surprise, and even Little Four within the mindspace was gaping in shock ¡ª that medical agent Luo Lang was describing ... why did it sound so much like an enhanced version of gene agents?


    Could it be that Li Shiyu had used a medical agent with a simr makeup to gene agents? Ling Lan rubbed her jaw, her expression thoughtful. This would exin why Luo Lang¡¯s body had had a significant elevation in baseline. It would appear that that Li Shiyu was much more capable than she had imagined.


    "Little Four, tell me. Letting that Li Shiyu be the exclusive army doctor of our team, don¡¯t you think that¡¯s a good idea?" She could not let such a capable military doctor get away.


    A clear curve adorned Ling Lan¡¯s lips. Taken inbination with her calctive gaze, Little Four could not help but shiver and say hurriedly, "Yes, Li Shiyu is pretty good! Boss is wise!"


    After all, he did not even know Li Shiyu that well, so why should he care how things would turn out for him if he fell into his boss¡¯s hands? He only needed to keep his boss happy and that would do. Little Four decisively pushed Li Shiyu into the fire pit!


    Having resolved the issue of the team¡¯s military doctor 1 , Ling Lan carted Luo Lang off to the Military Medical Research Centre in a great mood. The moment they arrived at the doorway, they bumped into someone. Ling Lan nced nonchntly at the other, and her first thought was that the other seemed somewhat familiar.


    Of course, Ling Lan did not take it to heart. She was just about to brush by and enter the doors when that person greeted her on his own with a smile, "Morning, Junior Ling Lan!"


    Ling Lan had no choice but to stop. Even though Ling Lan appeared very aloof on the surface ¡ª her entire body emanating a cold air, and her demeanour seemingly extremely unapproachable ¡ª she was actually a very polite and courteous good child. Generally, anyone who greeted her in a friendly manner would not be spurned by Ling Lan.


    "Morning, Senior!" Ling Lan responded lightly.


    "Hoho, looks like Junior does not recognise me. I¡¯m Li Lanfeng of the 4th year Mecha Piloting Special ss. Last time, after your arena battle, we met at the treatment centre." Hearing Ling Lan¡¯s response, Li Lanfeng could tell the other did not know who he was. Thus, he introduced himself good-naturedly, also reminding the other when they had met.


    Ling Lan finally recalled who this person before her was. Back then at the treatment centre, he was the one who had spurred Li Shiyu with one phrase into taking over the treatment of her three brothers. At this thought, Ling Lan nodded and said, "So it¡¯s Senior Li. Hello."


    "Why has Juniore here today?" Li Lanfeng asked curiously. His gaze swept over to see Luo Lang, whose terrible condition was prefaced by swollen eyes and a bruised nose, and instantly cried out, "Eh, why is this junior in such a terrible condition?" He peered closely at the injured person for a long while then cried out again, "Isn¡¯t this Junior Luo Lang? Hadn¡¯t you already recovered a few days ago and had been discharged?"


    Luo Langughed awkwardly, and Ling Lan helped him to reply, "Today, we went out early to thebat hall for a spar, and found some minor problem with Luo Lang¡¯s body. So we¡¯re here to see Dux Li to figure things out."


    "I was just about to go see Young Master Shiyu myself. Let¡¯s go together," suggested Li Lanfeng, sensing Ling Lan¡¯s anxiety. And so the three of them strode together into the Military Medical Research Centre to seek out Li Shiyu.


    ********


    At this time, Li Shiyu was in the process of checking the data charting the stats of Qi Long and Li Yingjie from the night before. Seeing the numbers improve day by day, he let out an internal sigh of relief. It looked like the gene agent S-modification did indeed have a significant effect in increasing one¡¯s physical constitution. Even with regards to wound recovery, it had strengthened that by several folds ¡ª another ten more days or so, and Qi Long and Li Yingjie would probably be fully healed, ready to go back and continue attending physical training.


    Thus, he was in high spirits when he suddenly heard someone call out to him from behind, "Young Master Shiyu, hello!"


    Li Shiyu turned his head and saw that it was Li Lanfeng. He could not help but smile and say, "Lanfeng, so you¡¯vee." During this period of time, Li Lanfeng would pop by to visit him whenever he had the time; this had caused the rtionship between the two to be extremely close.


    However, Li Shiyu¡¯s good mood came to a screeching halt when he saw the person standing next to Li Lanfeng.


    "What are you here for?" Li Shiyu rolled his eyes at Ling Lan, his entire face darkening instantly. He was still bearing a grudge over the incident of Ling Lan threatening him.


    Ling Lan seemed oblivious to Li Shiyu¡¯s displeasure, saying calmly, "I¡¯vee here, to return Luo Lang to you." This statement caused Luo Lang, who was standing behind her, to blink nkly, extremely bewildered at why his Boss Lan would say such a thing.


    "Return? What do you mean?" Li Shiyu was simrly taken aback, staring at Ling Lan uprehendingly.


    "His old injuries have red up again. Who should I look for if not you?" The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked. Her cold gaze settled firmly on him, and that gaze was so sharp that Li Shiyu¡¯s heart skipped a beat or two.


    Luo Lang secretly wiped away the cold sweat which had sprung out from his forehead at these words. Boss, you¡¯re truly too ck-bellied ... actually daring to me these injuries on Dux Li.


    Li Shiyuposed himself, then rebutted fiercely, "How can this be? When he left, all his numbers were clearly as good as they could ever be ..."


    "But, he was really injured." Ling Lan pointed at Luo Lang, signalling for Li Shiyu to go and examine him.


    Li Shiyu stepped forward and felt Luo Lang¡¯s pulse. His expression changed instantly, and he hurriedly felt Luo Lang¡¯s chest, checking on his internal injuries, and then turned to re furiously at Ling Lan. "Why were you so vicious?"


    Ling Lan calmly tugged on her own sleeves to straighten them and replied coolly, "You think I would be so vicious while sparring with my own brother?"


    "Then where did these internal injuries of hise from? Are you saying that someone else assaulted Luo Lang?" Li Shiyu asked angrily, pointing at Luo Lang¡¯s chest.


    "Well, of course there was no assault. Early this morning, Luo Lang and I went to spar for a bit in abat room. We only exchanged a few moves and this was the result," Ling Lan replied calmly, "I only used the strength level Luo Lang was used to from before, but when I hit Luo Lang, he actually became so injured. This made me suspect that Luo Lang¡¯s body may not have been fully recovered to begin with, and you actually discharged him 2 ?"


    "Before he was discharged, I checked to make sure all of his stats were within normal standards before letting him go." Hearing Ling Lan questioning his professionalism, Li Shiyu red at her. This was something he could not ept.


    "I believe you, but I don¡¯t trust these machines." Ling Lan thumped a treatment device by her side, "Some injuries may have always been hiding within a patient¡¯s body, but those diagnostic devices may never find them. For example, Major General Bob of the Caesar Empire had simrly been deredpletely healed by the best hospital, but half a yearter, an old wound reared up again, and in the end he could not be saved despite emergency care ... or like with Governor Thira of the Ayin Alliance, who, also due to misdiagnosis, missed the best window of time for treatment and so had to retire prematurely. Even in our Federation, this type of misdiagnoses is not few in number ... do you need me to list out the examples? Li Shiyu, do you think you can say confidently and unreservedly that these examination devices are truly,pletely foolproof?"


    Ling Lan queried forcefully as she read out the name list of misdiagnosis cases that Little Four hadpiled. This caused Li Shiyu¡¯s face to flush and pale erratically, but he just could not find any words to rebut the other because everything Ling Lan had said was fact. Even his instructors would never dare to give an absolute guarantee.


    "But, the uracy of the machines is as high as 99.97% ..." Li Shiyu protested weakly. Although there was indeed the chance for misdiagnosis, the odds of it happening were just too low to consider.


    "So, there is still a 0.03% chance of error. Can you guarantee that Luo Lang does not fall into this category?" Ling Lan abruptly interrupted Li Shiyu, eyes trained intently on the other as she asked this question.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s mouth pped open and closed, but he found that he could say nothing definite. Even though he believed deep down that he had not misdiagnosed Luo Lang, when it came to medicine, there was indeed no way to guarantee a hundred percent safety.


    "I heard that, a truly exceptional military doctor is able to determine on his own whether a person has fully recovered, before matching his personal judgement with the output of the diagnostic machines. This basically eliminates all possibility of a misdiagnosis. I would like to ask ... Dux Li, are you already at this level?" Ling Lan was unrelenting, chasing Li Shiyu with another question.

 Chapter 287: Apprehension!

    Chapter 287: Apprehension!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Li Shiyu could only continue to remain silent, because his medical skills were indeed still not yet at that level. Typically, military doctors who achieved that stage were those who had been practicing for up to 20 years and more; only umted medical experience could allow them to do so.


    "If you cannot do that, then how can you argue with me that Luo Lang¡¯s injuries are not a rpse of his old injuries?" asked Ling Lan with a raised brow.


    Boss, you¡¯re so despicable! Little Four and Luo Lang saw Li Shiyu being questioned so harshly by their boss that he waspletely flummoxed, and they could only shake their heads mutely and sigh.


    So easily and casually shunting responsibility to the other, without having to owe the other anything to boot ... once more, it was proven why only Boss Lan could be their boss. Sure enough, Boss Lan was stronger than them on all fronts. Even in terms of despicableness, this was so.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s chest heaved up and down, making Ling Lan rather worried about whether he would pass out from anger. She could not help but begin reflecting on whether she had taken things too far ... (And you only know this now?) 1


    "Fine. Consider this asion my fault and just let Luo Lang return for treatment." Li Shiyu finally managed to suppress his anger and replied through clenched teeth. He red fiercely at Luo Lang, causing Luo Lang to feel a chill prate straight to his very bones.


    Seeing that stormy expression of Li Shiyu¡¯s, Luo Lang turned a pitiful look on his boss, pleading ¡ª could he not be treated by Li Shiyu again? Ling Lan pretended to see nothing, but she was cheering for Luo Lang inside her heart. In order to be even stronger, oh Luo Lang, why don¡¯t you just endure this suffering for a while? Ling Lan believed that leaving Luo Lang at the Military Medical Research Centre would definitely yield excellent results.


    After resolving the issue of Luo Lang, Ling Lan cheerfully left the Military Medical Research Centre. Seeing this, Li Lanfeng quickly said goodbye to Li Shiyu and left as well. He had borne witness to all of Ling Lan¡¯s cutting questions earlier and knew that Li Shiyu must be in a terrible mood right now. He was not going to stay and chance earning any spillover hate value.


    Li Lanfeng had not forgotten that he had entered together with Ling Lan ¡ª if Li Shiyu thought he was Ling Lan¡¯spanion, then it would be a tragedy 2 . Besides, he had some things he wanted to say to Ling Lan, so leaving now would be killing two birds with one stone.


    And so, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng left the Military Medical Research Centre together. After walking for a distance, Ling Lan halted abruptly. Lifting a brow, she turned to Li Lanfeng who had been trailing behind her all this while and asked, "Can I help you?"


    Li Lanfeng smiled and nodded. Taking a step forward, he drew closer to Ling Lan, causing Ling Lan to frown slightly. This was because she did not like strangers to get too close to her, but Li Lanfeng¡¯s following words made her forget all of this.


    "Luo Lang¡¯s injuries ... have something to do with the Tianji incident, right?" Li Lanfeng said under his breath so only the two of them could hear.


    Ling Lan shot a cool look at Li Lanfeng and asked in return, "The matter of Tianji ... I heard their headquarters copsed. The academy administration is investigating now; there¡¯s no official report yet. Pray tell how Senior Li came to this idea? Could it be that you have some insider information? Can you tell this Junior and clear my confusion?"


    "Shi Mingyi has be a vegetable ..." Li Lanfengmented with a half-smile, "Other people may not know where his predilectionsy, but I know very well. It¡¯s such a coincidence that Luo Lang¡¯s appearance is exactly the type that Shi Mingyi favours. I¡¯ve also found out that Luo Lang had visited the Military Medical Research Centre once yesterday afternoon. But I asked Young Master Shiyu and he knew nothing of it."


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression did not change at all at his words. As calm as usual, she replied, "Senior Li, baseless conjecture will only lead people to the wrong conclusion. If you want to know why Luo Lang went to the Military Medical Research Centre yesterday afternoon, I can give you an exnation."


    Ling Lan paused for a beat then continued, "In fact, since the beginning of yesterday afternoon, Luo Lang had felt something off about his body. So, after finishing the day¡¯s physical training courses, he hurried off to the Military Medical Research Centre, thinking to find Dux Li. However, our New Cadet Regiment suddenly received a mission from the administration of the military academy, and this mission was directly assigned by the upper ranks to Luo Lang by name. That¡¯s why we called Luo Lang to return, and this is also why Luo Lang had rushed back without seeing Dux Li."


    On this end, Ling Lan wasposedly spinning a believable tale for Li Lanfeng, while inside the mindspace, the flustered Little Four was hurriedly modifying information on the mainframe ording to Ling Lan¡¯s words. Who¡¯d have thought that even after she had wiped the te so clean, this Li Lanfeng before her now had actually still managed to pick at a corner?


    As expected of those within the military academy ... this seemingly harmless, genial, gentleman-like Li Lanfeng actually possessed such formidable deductive abilities ... quite frightening when he began to scheme. It was lucky that the other had not been more patient,ing to her immediately with just this bit of suspicion, thus giving her the chance to fill in all the gaps. Otherwise, if he had continued to investigate stealthily just like this, he might really find something incriminating. At that thought, Ling Lan could not help but feel some dyed fear, bing rather apprehensive towards Li Lanfeng.


    Once Little Four returned to confirm that he had settled everything, Ling Lan continued to say, "All of this should be recorded within the school mainframe. I believe that Senior Li has many talents in your camp, so you should be able to find the relevant records ..."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart clench ¡ª had he truly made a mistake?


    Just as Li Lanfeng was wavering in shocked indecision, Ling Lan advised him with a half-smile, "That¡¯s why, Senior Li, we need to learn how to fully understand the truth first beforeing to conclusions. Otherwise, it¡¯s very likely that we will bring unwanted trouble to ourselves and others. I believe Senior Li agrees with me, right?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s words were vaguely threatening, but Li Lanfeng did not mind at all, instead smiling to say, "I was just afraid that this matter really had something to do with Junior Ling Lan and your friends. You all have just offended Leiting, and now if you all offend Tianji as well, life will really be very difficult for you all in the military academy. But since this matter has nothing to do with you juniors, then I can stop worrying."


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words made Ling Lan¡¯s brow furrow lightly ¡ª what was the intention of Li Lanfeng telling her all this? Was he really just being nice?


    Li Lanfeng did not care what Ling Lan thought, directly bidding farewell to her. Before he departed, he left onest statement behind which could be taken as an expression of concern, or which may perhaps have some deeper meaning. He said, "Junior, your spiritual mutation is very powerful, but try to use as little of it as you can. You cannot be certain that there is no one else at this military academy with a spiritual mutation simr to yours ... be careful in all things!"


    That subtle smile Li Lanfeng directed at her before he left raised warning gs in Ling Lan¡¯s mind. What in the world had Li Lanfeng discovered? In her bewilderment, Ling Lan turned to Little Four to ask what he thought, but Little Four¡¯s answer only made Ling Lan even more confused.


    Little Four said that this Li Lanfeng overall gave him a sense of familiarity, but Li Lanfeng was keeping everything under a tight lid. The slight trace of aura he exuded seemed like someone they knew, but it was also somewhat foreign as well ... Little Four just could not tell who he was like right then; perhaps if they interacted with him a few more times, Little Four would be able to find something more useful ...


    Alright, since Little Four also had no good answers, Ling Lan could only push Li Lanfeng to the back of her mind for the moment. Besides, Li Lanfeng did not seem to have any bad intentions right now anyway, so Ling Lan decided not to waste too much effort thinking about him, because she now needed to begin working on the mission the New Cadet Regiment had epted.


    Although Luo Lang had returned to the Military Medical Research Centre to continue treatment, the selection of the honour guard to wee the examiners still had to proceed. Ling Lan brought Wu Jiong and Xie Yi along, and they began selection activities among the New Cadet Regiment. Over the course of a few days, they finally rounded up a full team of members who fit the criteria the school administration wanted.


    Subsequently, Ling Lan¡¯s team took charge of the training of this reception team. Those ceremonial tasks, such as lining up and weing procedures, were all handled by Wu Jiong, who was from a military elite family. Meanwhile, Ling Lan hung back till the end, where she then unleashed her horrifying force of presence upon them, letting these members ustom themselves to the feeling. Ling Lan believed that these examiners would certainly consist of battle-hardened soldier kings, so they would definitely carry a thick air of killing intent about them. If the members of the reception team could not get used to this type of oppressive killing intent, then no matter how perfect their preparations in lining up and weing the others were, the moment the members met the examiners, they would still be scared spineless by them and be unable to move. That would be too disgraceful for their New Cadet Regiment.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words received everyone¡¯s agreement. In particr, Wu Jiong was deeply moved ... No wonder every time he saw his father or his grandfather, he would be so afraid that he found himself stilling in fright. One look was enough to almost send him slumping to the ground in fear. This was probably the endless killing intent they had cultivated from their experiences on the battlefield affecting his mind and spirit.


    On Ling Lan¡¯s end, training for the reception was going on like a raging fire, while Luo Lang continued to endure the unbearably torturous treatment procedure under Li Shiyu. With regards to Luo Lang¡¯s return, Qi Long and Li Yingjie were filled with extreme schadenfreude.


    Frankly, when Luo Lang had left this abyss of misery so early, getting away from the research centre, the two of them had been rather disgruntled. Think about it ¡ª they had all been injured within the same trench 3 , so what right did Luo Lang have to escape so quickly while they had to continue staying here and suffer? Of course their feelings would be imbnced! Thus, when they found out that Luo Lang had returned, all their discontentment was cleared away.


    It could only be said that these two were the absolute worst of good friends!


    Another ten days went by, and Luo Lang finally recovered fully. Once again, he was discharged by Li Shiyu. Of course, before he was discharged this time, Li Shiyu ran countless examinations on him, even asking his instructor for a second opinion, because he was now extremely afraid that Ling Lan would continue extorting him.


    However, in the eyes of Li Shiyu¡¯s instructor, this action was somendable that he was touched. Look at this beloved disciple of his. How cautious and meticulous he was! As a military doctor, this was the correct attitude to have, being responsible for one¡¯s own patient till the very end ... and so the instructors¡¯ satisfaction levels towards Li Shiyu once again reached an all-time high, which was an unexpected boon for Li Shiyu. Who knows how Li Shiyu would feel about this when he finds out? Should he hate Ling Lan or be grateful to her for creating such a beautiful misunderstanding?


    Being discharged along with Luo Lang were Qi Long and Li Yingjie. Qi Long, in particr, had recovered astoundingly quickly. Although his injuries had been the worst among the three of them, his physical constitution was the best and his body¡¯s ability to absorb the medical agents was also very strong. Thus, the three of them coincidentally ended up recovering altogether to be discharged at the same time.


    When the three of them stepped out of the Military Medical Research Centre, they were so moved that they instantly hid their faces and cried. D*mmit, they were finally free of that hell!


    Even the typically upbeat and fearless Qi Long had been thoroughly traumatised by Li Shiyu¡¯s fearsome treatment methods, while Li Yingjie found fear growing within his heart. From this point on, he had an unshakeable psychological apprehension towards his cousin brother. In future, this would cause him to not dare to disobey Li Shiyu¡¯s orders at a critical moment ... 4


    It had to be said that Li Shiyu had indeed achieved his objectives through this move. He had established a ¡¯brotherly bond¡¯ with Li Yingjie, making them able to watch out for one another in the end. And though this bond was somewhat counter to his original imaginings, at the bottom of it, Li Yingjie would still listen to him now 5 .

 Chapter 288: The Assessment Team!

    Chapter 288: The Assessment Team!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The moment Luo Lang came out, he was whisked away by Wu Jiong to join the reception team. Initially, Luo Lang did not want to participate, but when he found out Boss Ling Lan was also part of the team, all his protestations died on his lips. Think about it. The boss was already doing it ¡ª how could the follower hide?


    Not only that, Li Yingjie, who had just escaped the abyss of misery with him, was also snatched up by Ling Lan to join. Even though he really wanted to object, when Ling Lan swept a cial stare upon him, Li Yingjie could only rub his nose and obediently ept his fate. Li Yingjie believed that Boss Ling Lan was still 100 times more brutal than his own second elder cousin brother.


    Just like that, after training for approximately three days, it was finally their time to debut. Ling Lan led a bunch of handsome youths with stately physiques to the only main road connecting the military academy to the outside world. There, they arranged themselves into a long line, whereafter they stood tall and unmoving. Dressed in the white and blue ceremonial military uniforms specially designed by the school, these youths appeared extraordinarily heroic with maximum visual impact, a real treat for the eyes of any observers.


    The administrators of the school who came to supervise were extremely satisfied by this. Of course, this was just the first step ¡ª whether these youths were just pretty on the surface, or were true gems, would still depend on their uing performance.


    The assessment teams from the various army divisions arrived one after the other to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. When they saw the reception team standing there in wee, they were all startled. When had the First Men¡¯s Military Academy begun doing such a thing as well?


    "Salute!" Ling Lan cried out, and all the members of the reception team lifted their heads and executed a cadet¡¯s salute almost simultaneously. The coordinated dance of their white gloves, along with their stern and serious faces, caused the initially indifferent attitudes of those from the assessment team to shift, bing serious and proper in turn. They reflexively lifted their hands to return a salute, before solemnly walking past the reception team towards the inner grounds of the school.


    As every assessment team walked by the reception team, though their attitudes were extremely solemn, it could not be denied that there was a trace of approval in their eyes. It looked like the performance of the reception team had indeed pleased them.


    Seeing this, the administrators of the school could not help but be secretly gleeful, certain that their decision back then was not wrong. These new cadets were surprisingly capable ¡ª doing things this way fully disyed the masculine force and daring of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Taking the members¡¯ handsome appearances and their youthful manners into consideration as well, even the most stubborn and bitter soldier could not help but find their mood lifted by such a sight.


    All the assessment teams were to arrive over the course of three days. The teams included the 23 permanent army divisions and 10 or so other independent armies. It could not be considered a lot, but it was not very little either ¡ª every single assessment team that passed by was greeted by the reception team as if they were facing a great enemy, with all of their strength.


    Perhaps the military academy¡¯s pretty boy strategy had seeded, for after the assessment teams arrived at the school, their attitudes did indeed seem much better than before during the previous years. This made the administrators of the school let out a great sigh of relief ¡ª it looked like they had done the right thing.


    Ling Lan snorted derisively at how the military academy rxed just like that. She did not believe that the assessment teams would show any mercy just because they now had a good impression of the school. When it was necessary to be ruthless, they definitely would not falter and show mercy. This was the base nature of apetent soldier. It could only be said that the school administrators had been away from the army for too long ¡ª they had already forgotten some things.


    However, Ling Lan would not go remind these administrators ¡ª after all, the cadets just needed toplete the task set by the military academy and that would be enough. As for the final oue, that had nothing to do with the new cadets at all; Ling Lan was perfectly happy to be a carefree bystander.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯sposure onlysted for the first two days. On the third day, when the representatives of the 23rd Division appeared, Ling Lan¡¯sposed face finally faltered.


    The 23rd Division was one of the new permanent army divisions of the Federation. When it had appeared on the name list of assessment teams, it had drawn the collective attention of all the instructors at the academy. Of course, it being the division of her own dad, no matter how cool Ling Lan acted, she could not help but specte who her dad had sent to take charge of the assessment this time. She naturally wished that a fair and unbiased team leader would be sent so that the 23rd Division could leave an excellent impression with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    However, when she saw one man stepping down from the special train from the spaceport, her initially unmoved ice-block face finally cracked, giving a violent twitch.


    That man who was intentionally pulling his army cap down with arge face-mask covering half his face ... even though he was dressed in a major general uniform, pretending to be aloof, how could this familiar presence fool her eyes?


    Ling Lan clenched her teeth internally. ¡¯Bloody hell, why is my idiot dad here?! What in the world is he nning?¡¯


    "Ah, it¡¯s daddy ... !!" In the mindspace, Little Four¡¯s eyes were spilling over with red hearts, squealing joyfully as he stared at Ling Xiao fanatically. He was instantly sent flying with a kick from Ling Lan. "You bloody keep quiet!"


    "Boo hoo hoo, Boss, I haven¡¯t seen daddy in so long. Why aren¡¯t we saying hi to daddy?" Little Four quickly scrambled back, crying as he hugged Ling Lan¡¯s leg, strongly requesting to go reunite with their daddy.


    "It¡¯s obvious from a nce that this idiot dad is here undercover. How can I go greet him?" Ling Lan stared speechlessly at that man who thought he was disguised so well, really unsure what she could say anymore.


    Luckily, the people by his side were intentionally blocking off the others¡¯ line of sight, and Ling Xiao himself was keeping a low profile, so his identity was not exposed.


    When the 23rd Division assessment team passed before Ling Lan, Ling Xiao abruptly stopped. His eyes, the only part of him exposed, were clearly smiling as he asked, "Both stance and ceremony are pretty good. Are you all freshmen?"


    Was he intentionally making conversation? Ling Lan mentally rolled her eyes dramatically at her dad, but asposed as usual on the surface, she saluted and replied, "Yes, Sir."


    Ling Xiao turned to look at the apanying administrators beside Ling Lan and said with augh, "Not bad! Having such ir even as freshmen. It looks like the First Men¡¯s Military Academy lives up to its name!" Ling Xiao¡¯s intention was absolutely to praise his own daughter, nothing at all to do with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    However, the administrators registered his words differently. Almost everyone felt that this was the representative of the 23rd Division expressing appreciation for the military academy, and this instantly injected joy onto their faces. It was wonderful! But of course they still acted humble on the surface, repeatedly saying ¡¯not at all, not at all¡¯.


    Mind you, even though the previous other divisions had reacted favourably towards the weing team, they had not said anything outright, maintaining the unassable dignity of an army division all the way. It was unexpected that the leader of the 23rd Division¡¯s team was so friendly ¡ª this made the 23rd Division¡¯s impression rise by several notches more in the administrators¡¯ eyes.


    At the same time, they were awed at how General Ling Xiao was truly General Ling Xiao ¡ª even a subordinate of his was so nice, causing others to feel as if visited by a balmy spring breeze. They began to n ¡ª since the 23rd Division thought so well of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, could it be that they would take in more cadets from the school this time? At that thought, the administrators¡¯ hearts heated up with excitement. They all prepared to return and pass on the word to all the instructors, telling them to encourage the students to apply for enlistment to the 23rd Division as much as possible ...


    This fondness the administrators had for the 23rd Division would continue on indefinitely after this. In future, every year, they would not forget to remind the instructors to encourage their students to choose enlistment with the 23rd Division as much as they could ...


    This was Ling Xiao¡¯s personal charisma ¡ª he would always breed a favourable impression in others¡¯ hearts, and they would then choose to follow him without even knowing it!


    "Wowowowow, Daddy¡¯s awesome!" Witnessing this scene, Little Four once again turned into a crazed fan, staring adoringly at Ling Xiao with his face cupped in his hands. At this moment, Little Four looked nothing like an intelligence entity 1 .


    Ling Lan stared up at the sky, speechless. She just knew that whenever Little Four met Ling Xiao, his systems would shut down and his higher functions would stop working. It looked like if she wanted to preserve Little Four¡¯s reliability, she would need to keep him away from Ling Xiao.


    "This youth is pretty good. While we¡¯re here at the military academy, is it possible to ask this student to apany us and take us around the school, so that we can better understand things?" Ling Xiao requested from the administrators smilingly as he pointed at Ling Lan. The administrators naturally moured to agree ¡ª didn¡¯t this mean that the 23rd Division¡¯s interest in the school was that much greater? This was a good thing! They must support this!


    This move of Ling Xiao¡¯s instantly threw Ling Lan¡¯s ns out the window 2 , causing Ling Lan to silently gnash her teeth. It looked like Little Four would be unable to help her for a long time after this.


    Just like that, within the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the first meeting between the Ling Xiao and Ling Lan father-daughter pair went by so unremarkably without drawing anyone¡¯s attention ...


    Oh, no, well that was not quite true. After the representative of the 23rd Division assessment team had walked a distance away, Luo Lang, who had been standing right beside Ling Lan, asked her softly with a face filled with confusion, "Boss Lan, you know that person?"


    Ling Lan quirked a brow, answering with just a look, as if asking why Luo Lang was asking this question.


    "I felt your aura be a little unsteady earlier ..." said Luo Lang uncertainly. Ever since subduing all his secondary personalities, Luo Lang¡¯s sixth sense had be extremely sensitive. He was now able to pick up the emotions of those he cared about, like how Ling Lan had obviously felt a little troubled earlier.


    "Tell you when we get back," Ling Lan replied lowly. Since her dad was here, she believed that her old man absolutely would not leave quietly without a trace ¡ª he would definitely cause some trouble. Moreover, she too wanted to let her dad meet thesepanions by her side. She wanted to tell her father that thesepanions were her most treasured brothers and that she hoped Ling Xiao would value them highly as well.


    At this time, Ling Lan still had not realised that her current actions were just like that of a child on the cusp of growing up seeking a parent¡¯s approval.


    Luo Lang nodded his head at her reply and said nothing more. This was because the weing ceremony had not ended yet ¡ª there were still a few more assessment teams from both the divisions and the independent armies about to arrive.


    Three days were enough to make even these youths with excellent physical constitutions feel thoroughly wrung out. When the administrators finally dered the end of their task, the youths all cheered wildly, extremely grateful that they had finally left this abyss of misery behind.


    Truth be told, even though the whole thing seemed to only be a few simple movements ¡ª standing at attention, lining up, and saluting ¡ª the mental pressure the youths were under belied their casual demeanours. These soldiers who were here for the assessment were all battle-hardened soldier kings from various battlefields ¡ª an oppressive cloud of killing intent hung around them, constantly challenging the psychological resilience of these youths at every turn.


    Facing these strong and formidable examiner-soldiers, the youths had been able to perform their duties so perfectly,posed and assured, unusually calm and undisturbed, all because of Ling Lan¡¯s daily bombardment with her own aura. This allowed the youths to be used to this type of killing intent within the shortest period of time possible.


    In the end, they had persevered andpleted their mission wlessly. At the same time, they had also left an extremely favourable impression with those assessment team representatives. This established solid foundations for their future development ¡ª no matter which army division they went to, as long as they mentioned being part of this year¡¯s reception team, those officers would view them with different eyes. It went without question that their future development would definitely not be too bad.

 Chapter 289: Missing His Son?

    Chapter 289: Missing His Son?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    It was worth mentioning that those excellent youths had still been frightened badly by that major general of the 23rd Division. The moment the other had appeared, they had sensed the horrifying force of presence emanating from that major general¡¯s body. It was almost enough to crumble theirposure instantly. If the other had not stopped to speak with Ling Lan, thus dissipating this pressure, they might not have been able to hold up for long.


    This also made them secretly admire the 23rd Division even more ... as expected of General Ling Xiao¡¯s man ¡ªpared to the other divisions, the 23rd Division¡¯s representative was clearly much more impressive. This caused these youths to revere the 23rd Division greatly ¡ª 4 yearster 1 , quite a number of students would choose the 23rd Division as their enlistment goal.


    This was certainly a beautiful misunderstanding. Just think ¡ª if the full force of Ling Lan¡¯s presence at optimal peak of Qi-Jin was unleashed, it would naturally exceed the pressure exerted by a regr officer. Besides that, the visiting officers were afraid to put too much pressure on the students, so they had all tamped down on their force of presence. Thus, these students had the false impression that the 23rd Division was much strongerpared to the other teams.


    Furthermore, Ling Xiao was a god-ss operator. Even if he was fully suppressing his presence, when the gap between the realms of two parties was too wide, mere proximity would be enough for the weaker party to feel a tremendous pressure. This was also why those students had felt the pressure so keenly. However, when Ling Xiao had spoken with his daughter, his mood had be joyful, which had subconsciously rxed his defensive aura, thus reducing that pressure by a significant amount. In fact, it was precisely this kind of moment that would be a prime opportunity to assassinate Ling Xiao. It had to be said that Ling Xiao¡¯s only two weaknesses were Lan Luofeng and Ling Lan.


    Thus, it wasn¡¯t that those other representatives were not strong ¡ª the father-daughter duo of Ling Xiao and Ling Lan were just too strong, which was why such a wondrous misunderstanding was created.


    After bidding farewell to the other team members, Ling Lan led Luo Lang back to their vi. Before Ling Lan could tell Luo Lang the truth, however, Ling Lan received a notification from the school administrators. The message said that there were representatives from the 23rd Division on their way to her vi for a tour.


    At the end of the message, the administrators did not forget to remind Ling Lan to try and find chances to extol the virtues of the school. If the academy did well, then everyone would be even better off.


    Ling Lan hung up the call with a frigid expression on her face, while the news made Han Jijyun and the others exchange looks. The assessment teams had nothing to do with them freshmen ... so why did this person from the 23rd Division want toe find them? Right then, they were a little blind, having forgotten for the moment that themander of the 23rd Division was Ling Lan¡¯s dad, Ling Xiao.


    Alright, since Ling Lan had never spoken much about Ling Xiao in front of them, as time went by, they had almostpletely neglected the fact that Ling Xiao was Ling Lan¡¯s father. This was a ssic example of missing something in in sight. It could only be said that, in their minds, Ling Lan was formidable enough in her own right to make them forget about Ling Xiao¡¯s existence.


    "Hells, what other tricks is that idiot father nning?" A grumpy Ling Lan could only wait in the living room for her dad to arrive, her expression frosty.


    Seeing Boss Lan shrouded in cold air, everyone knew that Ling Lan was in a bad mood. By now, Luo Lang could already confirm that his boss most definitely knew that major general back there.


    Among thoseing to the vi, other than the representative from the school administration, there were only 3 people from the 23rd Division. The leader was Ling Xiao, while the other two trailed behind him silently. When Ling Xiao stepped into the hall of the vi, the other two men automatically chose two strategic positions and nted themselves there.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan knew that these two must be her dad¡¯s personal bodyguards because of the positions they had chosen. One was at the window ¡ª the range of sight at the window was vast, allowing him to have a firm grasp of the situation outside. Meanwhile, the other was standing at a position that would be almost overlooked by all the people in the hall, but where all the people would be clearly captured by his gaze. In other words, any strange movements by the people within the hall would be seen by him. One obvious, one unassuming; one outward-facing, one internal ¡ª their cooperation was impable.


    Ling Xiao nodded at Ling Lan¡¯s group of six with a smile. Under the administrator¡¯s arrangement, he sat on a sofa in the hall and began chatting amicably with Ling Lan¡¯s group, getting a rough idea of their situation. Then, he conversed for a bit with the administrator, and finally, by his request, the representative from the administration had no choice but to leave reluctantly. Of course, when he left, the administrator did not forget to throw a pointed nce in Ling Lan¡¯s direction.


    Once the administrator was gone, there was only Ling Lan¡¯s team left in the vi and Ling Xiao¡¯s group of three. Only then did Ling Xiao drop his schrly gentleman demeanour, shaking out his arms as he leaned back into the sofa and grumbled, "Speaking with them, is really so tiring!"


    The way he was behaving, loose and rxed like he was in his own home, made the corners of the eyes of his two bodyguards twitch subtly. In their minds, they were probably howling: Sir, please maintain some bit of the decorum and dignity a general should have!


    Of course, this behaviour also made Qi Long and the others stare at one another, uncertain what they should do. If this were a proper conversation, they might still know what they could say, but this type of situation was beyond their expectations, so they really had no clue how to react anymore.


    Unanimously, they all turned to look at their boss Ling Lan. Ling Lan had his arms folded across his chest as he stared coldly at the other ... alright, Boss was definitely in a bad mood. They had better keep their distance.


    Surreptitiously, Han Jijyun, Xie Yi, and Lin Zhong-qing retreated several steps back in unison. Han Jijyun was a staunch brother, not forgetting to tug on Qi Long¡¯s arm to alert this rather insensitive fellow.


    Qi Long stared in confusion as the three put some distance between themselves and Boss Lan, but then he checked his boss¡¯s aura ... fine, he may be a bit insensitive, but his animal instinct let him understand that Han Jijyun and the others were acting appropriately. And so, he followed suit instantly to retreat, and holding true to the ideology of helping arade who had suffered with him before, he did not forget to alert Luo Lang while he was at it.


    Just like this, Luo Lang also realised the danger and retreated silently. These actions only took several seconds toplete ¡ª if one was not paying attention, the five of them would seem to have dashed back at about the same time.


    Perhaps the cold air around Ling Lan was rather aggressive ¡ª it took a while, but Ling Xiao finally discovered that his daughter did not seem to wee his arrival. He quickly stood up and said with an awkward smile, "Cadet, has our visit troubled you?"


    "What do you think? Sir Major General?" responded Ling Lan coolly. She could already predict that her initially peaceful and tranquil cadet life, would definitely be destroyed by her old man ... (Truth be told, Ling Lan¡¯s cadet life had never been tranquil from the start ... could this be considered Ling Lan wilfully trumping up a charge to condemn Ling Xiao?) 2


    Ling Lan¡¯s retort caused Lin Zhong-qing and Xie Yi to suck in a cold breath. Was it really okay to use this kind of hostile attitude when interacting with a major general from the 23rd Division?


    Only Han Jijyun seemed to have an inkling spark through his mind, but it went by so quickly that he could not grab hold of it. This made him crinkle his brow and descend into thought.


    Those two bodyguards of Ling Xiao also frowned at the same time ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s manner made them extremely angry. As Ling Xiao¡¯s personal bodyguards, they would not permit anyone to show any disrespect to their senior officer, especially since this senior officer was also the one they revered the most.


    The only one who was still as cheerful as ever was Ling Xiao; he did not mind Ling Lan¡¯s attitude in the least. In short, no matter what expression or motions his daughter did, in this father¡¯s eyes, they were all perfect and wonderful ... See, this is my daughter! Her proud bones would absolutely never break just from a show of greater power! As expected of a progeny of mine, Ling Xiao¡¯s! In the eyes of this twenty-four filial exemrs dad, his own child was absolutely faultless. If by any chance there was any fault, then it still must be the fault of other people.


    Thus, an internally gleeful Ling Xiao walked towards Ling Lan, all smiles as he opened his arms wide and said, "In short, for this duration of time at the academy, I¡¯ll be troubling you." Ling Xiao moved forwards, nning to use a passionate hug to convey how proud he was right now, as well as give an outlet for his full berth of fatherly love.


    This passionate action of Ling Xiao¡¯s made theplexions of Ling Lan¡¯s team of five pale. Having already retreated a distance away previously, they once again took several steps back right now in unison, putting even more distance between them and Ling Lan.


    They knew very well that their boss really hated any physical contact with strangers. Even with them, unless absolutely necessary, he would note close and touch them, much less this type of passionate embrace.


    Han Jijyun could not help but peek at Boss Lan who was emitting a steady flow of cold air, standing stiffly right ahead of them. He hoped his boss would be able to just tolerate this hug this time ¡ª after all, the other was a major general of the 23rd Division. If they offended the other ...


    Wait, something was not right. Wasn¡¯t the 23rd Division Ling Lan¡¯s father¡¯s division? Han Jijyun¡¯s brain finally seemed to figure something out. He turned his head to stare gobsmacked at that obviously affectionate major general, and a notion sparked through his mind ...


    Reality proved that Ling Lan would not resign herself to things she disliked. She abruptly raised a fist and ploughed it straight into the offending person¡¯s abdomen.


    A ¡¯bam¡¯ and Ling Lan sent her dad reeling back into the sofa with one punch. This extremely tant attack made the two men by Ling Xiao¡¯s side nch dramatically ¡ª they had nned to intercept the attack, but they had been frozen in ce by a tremendous force of presence at that instant.


    Bewildered, they stared at their senior officer, not even daring to struggle. This was because they were well aware who was the source of this force of presence ¡ª it was precisely their leader General Ling Xiao.


    Looking at Ling Xiao ying up how pitiful he was byying on the sofa cradling his stomach with a pained expression, Ling Lan blew on her own fists lightly and then asked coldly, "What are you doing here?"


    "I missed you," said Ling Xiao, his gaze sad and pleading. Despite appearances, he was actually extremely d in his heart, because this behaviour of Ling Lan¡¯s proved that his daughter had already recognised him even with his disguise. As expected of his daughter ¡ª what keen and discerning eyes 3 , able to see the truth with just one nce.


    "You actually abandoned the 23rd Division so irresponsibly toe here? Is that how amander should act?" Ling Lan¡¯s ice-block face finally cracked as she bellowed in a deep voice.


    Why had she thought that Ling Xiao was a responsible and good man worthy of trust? Sure enough, the idealised image in her heart was having a serious mismatch with reality. Ling Lan felt that she had been duped.


    This bellow stupefied Qi Long and the others. They stared in shock at that major general sitting on the sofa cradling his stomach, his eyes the only thing exposed on his face. So he was the gentle-mannered and refreshing-like-a-spring-breeze national idol, General Ling Xiao?


    Only Han Jijyun let out a soft sigh, thinking, ¡¯So it is him!¡¯


    "I missed my son, so what¡¯s wrong withing to visit him?" Since his charade had been exposed by his daughter, Ling Xiao no longer tried to pretend. He sat up properly on the sofa and tugged down that rather stifling mask, dering why he hade with bold righteousness.

 Chapter 290: Ling Xiaos Wish!

    Chapter 290: Ling Xiao¡¯s Wish!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Beneath the mask was, as expected, that handsome face which the entire Federation was crazy about. On it, was Ling Xiao¡¯s trademark smile, still as likeable and respectable as ever.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s words made his two bodyguards stare in shock at Ling Lan. Although they had always known General Ling Xiao had a child, they had not known the particrs, much less that he was studying at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. No wonder the general had randomly decided toe here this time ¡ª he was probably here to see his child.


    Realisation shed through the two bodyguards¡¯ eyes, and they turned unanimously to stare somewhere else, showing that they were unconcerned with their senior officer¡¯s private matters. But clearly, their ears were perked up high ¡ª deep inside, they were still very curious about how General Ling Xiao interacted with his son ...


    These straightforward words of Ling Xiao, filled with fatherly love, left Ling Lan somewhat uncertain on how to react. Mind you, when they had first met, Ling Xiao¡¯s demeanour had been extremely reserved. It should be said that, having been absent for the 16 years of Ling Lan¡¯s life when she had been growing up, Ling Xiao waspletely clueless about how he should express his fatherly love ... Equally flustered, both Ling Lan and Ling Xiao had been trying to adapt to their new roles, trying to ept each other¡¯s existence.


    Unexpectedly, after this time apart, seeing Ling Xiao again, her father had actually changed his original warm but reserved mannerpletely, bing extremely aggressive in his approach, all ¡¯I am your father so you must ept me¡¯ ... but this type of Ling Xiao was something Ling Lan was not ready for, so she actually did not know what to do anymore.


    She couldn¡¯t very well say coyly back that she did not need her dad to miss her ... right, this type of flirtatious conversation was really inappropriate between them. Therefore, Ling Lan could only react with silence!


    "You¡¯ve been gone for so long, we all miss you a lot. Also, your mum has been worried these days whether you¡¯re adapting well to life in the military academy, so when she found out about this opportunity, she asked me toe and see." Ling Xiao saw Ling Lan staying silent and felt that something was up, so after once more expressing how much he had missed his daughter, he decisively pushed the me 1 onto his wife. Before outsiders, ahem ahem, he still had to maintain his dignity as a general somehow.


    Ling Lan peered coldly at him, then replied evenly, "Tell mum that I¡¯m fine on all fronts here. And also, if you are missing your son, I rmend, father, that you go back and discuss things over with mum. Based on the current situation, the both of you could just birth another one. At that time, you won¡¯t have the free time for your mind to stray anymore."


    "Er ... that¡¯s a matter forter." Ling Xiao could only chuckle awkwardly at this reply of Ling Lan¡¯s which gave him no face, but he did not dare to say anything in return. Who asked him to owe his own daughter so much as a dad?


    The fact remained that it was all his fault ¡ª putting aside his disappearance for 16 years, why did he have to make such a huge blunder right after he returned? Actually sending his own daughter right into the great wolves¡¯ den of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy ... every time he thought of this, Ling Xiao could not help but stamp his feet and pound his chest, unbelievably frustrated and annoyed.


    Although Ling Xiao had received a blow from Ling Lan, his extraordinarily strong heart waspletely fine. He continued to carry out his n with determination. Yes, before he had to leave the military academy, he intended to capture the heart of his daughter and let her call him ¡¯daddy¡¯ with full sincerity, not this cold and emotionless address she was using now. Just imagining his daughter coyly and adorably calling him ¡¯daddy¡¯, he felt ardour and zeal coursing through his blood.


    Right then, Ling Xiao had conveniently ignored reality ¡ª would Ling Lan, with her typically cold-domineering-unruly swag, really morph into a delicate and cute persona and address someone coyly? Clearly, Ling Xiao¡¯s imaginings would absolutely never be reality ...


    Before Ling Lan, even Ling Xiao had to back off sometimes ¡ª his initially warm smile filled with boundless sunshine even seemed a little awkward now ¡ª but it was precisely this conciliatory andpromising disy of fatherly love which caused a multitude of feelings to well up in the hearts of Qi Long and the others. Some of them were even looking at their boss with admiration and reverence ¡ª as expected of their Boss Lan, even in the face of General Ling Xiao, he could be so collected and domineering ...


    Rting the rtionship between Ling Xiao and Ling Lan to their rtionships with their own fathers, all of them felt like crying. Why was Boss Lan¡¯s father, General Ling Xiao, so good-tempered, so warm and nice, and so tolerant? When they thought about their own dads back home with angry nted brows and full of criticism, they began to wonder whether they had been wild children randomly picked up from somewhere ... 2


    It had to be said that Ling Xiao¡¯s method of expressing his fatherly love had hurt the souls of these children.


    As a result, after reflecting on this pain, Ling Lan¡¯s band of littlepanions all decided that when they returned home, they would raise their gs and fight for independence, beginning their prolonged revolutionary life. This would also cause their fathers to stab knives at Ling Xiao¡¯s image in the dark depths of the night when no one else was around ...


    Against this move of Ling Xiao¡¯s, even theposed Ling Lan was helpless and relented. How could Ling Lan have known that this national idol, this supreme elite of the Federation, would actually be this thick-skinned? Ling Lan, who had always not been good at expressing herself, could only rub her nose at this time, keeping her silence once again. She couldn¡¯t very well heartlessly chase away her dad who had travelled all this way to visit her!


    At the heart of it, this behaviour of Ling Xiao¡¯s had still moved Ling Lan considerably ¡ª right then, she truly felt like she was a wild and unruly daughter being spoilt and pampered by her father.


    Who was Ling Xiao? He immediately sensed the softening of his daughter¡¯s heart and was instantly overjoyed, convinced that he had done the right thing.


    Honestly, regarding how Ling Lan had always been unwilling to ept him as her daddy, Ling Xiao had been very anxious despite feeling resigned to it. After saying goodbye to Ling Lan previously, he had constantly been thinking how he could resolve this distance between Ling Lan and him.


    Ling Xiao had never been a father before ¡ª so suddenly having a daughter emerge out of nowhere made him exceedingly flustered, unsure how tomunicate with her. Although Ling Xiao did not know what to do, he was someone who was willing to learn. Thus, even while he was working on establishing the 23rd Division, he had not forgotten to purchase lots of reading materials about parent and child rtionships from the virtualwork. Outside work, whenever he had the free time, he would hide away in his study and pore over these books diligently, trying hard to seek a solution to his problem ...


    After reading through countless books, he finally felt it was time to progress to the next stage. Thus, he had decisively grabbed the chance toe down here to the military academy and rushed over excitedly, prepared to sweep away this issue that had been guing him for so long in one concerted attempt. In short, he would definitely be the most perfect daddy in his daughter¡¯s eyes.


    Therefore, the moment they met, he had followed the instructions of the books: Fatherly love should not be hidden. It must be explicitly expressed, otherwise your child will not feel it and think you do not love him ... Only by letting your child feel your love will he ept you, and only then can you establish a close rtionship with your child ...


    Of course, when Ling Xiao read those books, he was absolutely ignoring that line of extremely small print at the bottom of the covers: This book is only suitable for use on babies aged 0-3.


    Ling Xiao felt as if he had gained something, which made him even more convinced of the efficacy of the books¡¯ guidance. All smiles, he looked towards the few youths standing behind Ling Lan and said kindly, "You all must be Ling Lan¡¯s good friends. It¡¯s a pleasure meeting you all for the first time. And also, thank you all for taking care of Ling Lan all this while."


    Ling Xiao¡¯s friendly manner flustered Qi Long and the others. Overwhelmed by this unexpected show of favour, they quickly replied, "Not at all, G-general Ling ..." Fine, having gotten used to the stern authoritative image of their own fathers, Ling Xiao¡¯s attitude of treating them like equals was undoubtedly a shock to them.


    Of course, at the same time, their expressions were dreamy. Even though they had long known that Ling Xiao was Ling Lan¡¯s father, they had never met him before. In their minds, Ling Xiao was still that national idol far away out of reach, their lifelong goal in their studies. And now, they had finally encountered their idol in the flesh in such close quarters.


    "You all are my son Ling Lan¡¯s good friends. Just call me Uncle Ling," said Ling Xiao with a wide smile. When Ling Lan heard this, the frost on her face thawed a little.


    Ling Xiao yelled a great big YES in his heart ¡ª sure enough, to be a qualified dad, one must treat the littlepanions who yed with one¡¯s child with a good attitude. This would make the child feel that they were respected, and they would just love you more and be even closer with you.


    "Yes, Un-uncle Ling!" They looked at that face of Ling Xiao¡¯s which was so youthful it could almost pass off as their own elder brother¡¯s, and once morepared it to the grizzled faces of their dads adorned with white sideburns, and were instantly tearing up inside. This cry of ¡¯uncle¡¯ was truly quite difficult for them. But they were well aware that these words of Ling Xiao meant that he had acknowledged them, epting them as Ling Lan¡¯s confidants.


    Watching Ling Xiao conversing with Qi Long and the others with full sincerity, his attitude warm and an easy smile on his face, Ling Lan stared up into the sky, utterly speechless.


    Ling Lan knew her dad¡¯s charisma was boundless, but this was truly too much. With just a simple exchange of words, he hadpletely taken Qi Long and the other four in under his spell. Seeing their faces filled with idolisation and adoration, Qi Long and the others might have already forgotten that they still had their boss by their side. This made Ling Lan feel a little wistful ¡ª as expected, she was still no match for her dad ...


    Even more frightening was the fact that, in the mindspace, Little Four had been screaming his adoration non-stop ever since Ling Xiao had arrived. He was making so much noise that her head hurt. Not only that, he was evenining that Ling Lan was not giving him a chance to talk with Ling Xiao. His various antics expressing his gloom and sadness almost made Ling Lan resort to domestic violence once more. Luckily for Little Four, after being tempered by Instructor Number Five¡¯s countless perverse training torments, Ling Lan still managed to restrain herself before she went berserk.


    Still, right after, Little Four was heartlessly thrown by Ling Lan into a small dark room, and the world was instantly peaceful and quiet again. Ling Lan felt refreshed and at ease down to her very soul.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s good mood soon turned sour again. This was because she could hear Qi Long and the others telling Ling Xiao everything that had happened ever since they had entered the military academy without any reservations. They told him how they had been pressed by the seniors since joining the school, forced to ept a wagered fight with Leiting, and how three members of the New Cadet Regiment had been injured heavily in the subsequent arena, requiring Boss Lan to use his mighty fist to settle the issue, etcetera etcetera ...


    Fine, telling him all this, so be it, but unexpectedly, that brat Luo Lang actually told Ling Xiao all about the incident with Tianji with a grieved expression on his face. When Ling Xiao heard that there were actually evil and maniptive students within the school that liked the same gender 3 , his initially warm and genial smile finally cracked ...


    With a ¡¯boom¡¯, the livid Ling Xiao pped a powerful palm down onto the only tea table 4 in the living room of Ling Lan¡¯s vi, pulverizing it into dust.


    "Bastard, how dare he!" Ling Xiao roared. His force of presence whipped free for an instant, and all the lights in the hall shattered with consecutive pops, plunging the entire vi into darkness.


    Apparently, his daughter, who was as lovely as flowers and jade, was still in so much danger even though she was disguised as a boy ...

 Chapter 291: Not Wronged!

    Chapter 291: Not Wronged!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Staring out into the pitch ckness before her, Ling Lan could no longer keep calm. Through gritted teeth, she said, "Dear father, are you nning to demolish our living quarters? And then let us sleep on the streets?"


    Ling Xiao¡¯s anger which had been about to explode deted rapidly under this question of Ling Lan¡¯s, scattering to the winds. The entire hall was eerily silent for a few seconds, and then Ling Xiao could be heard to say carefully, "This ... I really could not control it. I¡¯m sorry, son, I¡¯ll take care next time."


    Next time? There would still be a next time? Ling Lan felt her head start to ache. She had known that her dading here would definitely not be calm and peaceful, but it still should not be to the extent of breaking her house down, right?


    In a very bad mood, Ling Lan¡¯s entire body was giving out endless cold air, dropping the temperature of the room instantly by several degrees, making the others in the room shiver involuntarily in the dark.


    Ling Xiao naturally knew that this was a sign that his daughter was truly enraged now, and so he could only ask hesitantly, "Then, this ... what should we do?"


    "What to do? Of course we¡¯ll need to fix it? And also, father, do you expect me to fix it personally?" Ling Lan stretched out a porcin hand with a cold expression, waving it in front of her dad¡¯s face.


    Ling Xiao naturally could not bear for his beloved daughter to do this kind of rough work, and so he said quickly, "I¡¯ll fix it, I¡¯ll fix it ..." Taking care of one¡¯s daughter was the solemn duty of a dad, not to mention that this ident was his fault anyway ¡ª he could not shirk the responsibility.


    "Sir, let us handle it," His bodyguards quickly stepped up to volunteer. If they let General Ling Xiao do such menial things himself, they could forget going back and just kill themselves here and now for the crime of doing so.


    "Uh ... then I¡¯ll leave this to you both. Thank you for the trouble." Ling Xiao knew that if he insisted on doing it himself, these two bodyguards would definitely disembowel themselves and use their deaths to pay for the ¡¯crime¡¯. In order to save two lives, he could only let them help him.


    "We¡¯ll help too." Although the two men who had volunteered were bodyguards, the insignia on their shoulders clearly marked them as majors. How could Qi Long and the others just sit around and watch the two majors repair their things? They quickly leapt up to lend a hand.


    In the face of the students¡¯ eagerness, the two bodyguards naturally would not refuse. Just like that, the few of them begun to clean up the mess Ling Xiao had made. In fact, the vi had its own self-automated sweeper and cleaning device, but unfortunately, Ling Xiao¡¯s burst of power had also destroyed those things as well. Thus, the group could only do things manually unless they sought out someone from the administration toe solve this, but that would be even more troublesome.


    Once everyone had begun busying themselves with their respective tasks, all of them leaving the hall, Ling Xiao turned to look at Ling Lan and said, "Do you want me to do anything? Son?" Even though Ling Xiao really wanted to call his child ¡¯darling daughter¡¯, as level-headed and rational as he was, he would nevermit such a base mistake and bring possible trouble to his daughter.


    "What can you do?" asked Ling Lan with a quirked brow.


    "They¡¯ll probably apply for enlistment, right? Even if I cannot influence the other divisions, for the 23rd Division at least, I have the ability to refuse them," said Ling Xiao with a smile on the corners of his lips, still appearing as kindly and gentlemanly as ever. It was as if what he was saying had not one whit of personal motive leading to his abuse of power.


    Ling Lan decisively shook her head and said, "No need!"


    "Why?" Ling Xiao was shocked by her response. He was sure his daughter must be angry at those who bullied her, and he truly wanted to help his daughter vent some of her anger.


    "This is between us students. There is no need to escte things!" said Ling Lan evenly, "Besides, even if they managed to qualify for the 23rd Division and be my rivals in the future, I¡¯m not afraid of them now, and I won¡¯t be afraid of them in future either." Ling Lan stated all this with conviction, the confidence on her brow moving Ling Xiao greatly. Boo hoo hoo, my daughter is just too amazing, she is just too aspirational ...


    Inside Ling Xiao¡¯s mentalndscape, his Twenty-four Filial Exemrs dad mode was officially activated. He was all kinds of emotional inside, weeping freely and copiously. However, on the surface, he was asposed as usual. After a brief silence, he nodded and said, "That¡¯s how my son should be like. If they really apply for enlistment to the 23rd Division and pass, I¡¯ll take them all in, and as for the grudge between you and them ..." Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly, "I¡¯ll let you handle it personally."


    As if not sensing the sudden spike in the pressureing from Ling Xiao¡¯s body, Ling Lan continued to stand tall and replied steadily, "What I have said, I will do."


    Ling Lan¡¯s behaviour made Ling Xiao both proud and sad at the same time. He was proud that his daughter was so independent and strong, but also sad over all the hardship his daughter had had to suffer to support the entire Ling family for these past 16 years. If he had not disappeared for those whole 16 years, how could Ling Lan have turned out like this? Believing that she had to handle everything herself?


    At this thought, Ling Xiao was filled with regret. In a low voice, he said, "I¡¯m sorry, these past years have been hard on you."


    What these words were referring to, both Ling Xiao and Ling Lan understood very well without needing any further exnation. Ling Lan¡¯s heart throbbed, aplicated emotion stealing over her heart. For a moment, she did not know what to say, and the silence stretched out between father and daughter.


    Finally, Ling Lan raised her jaw and replied proudly, "I do not feel wronged. I feel that, this shall be one of the most colourful parts of my life. I am d that I could experience all of that."


    Yes, if she had not impersonated a man, would she have made friends with this bunch of steadfastpanions and be their boss, working hard and growing up together? At most, she would only have been able to be a girl much like Luo Chao or Han Xuya 1 , chatting about the things girls liked to chat about, fantasizing what their future husbands would look like 2 ... but was that sort of life really what she wanted?


    Ling Lan mentally shook her head. She had already gotten used to her current thrilling rollercoaster life with its dramatic ups and downs ¡ª a tranquil life would probably feel strange to her now. At the very least, she just could not imagine bing that kind of sweet and delicate girl like Luo Chao ¡ª bing a tomboy like Han Xuya was perhaps a more likely possibility. At this thought, she began to miss those two girls, wondering how they were doing at the Federal Co-ed Military Starship Navigation Academy ...


    "Alright, Ling Lan, You must remember what you¡¯ve said today. I, Ling Xiao, am proud of you." A trace of emotion brushed across Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes. With a daughter like this, how fortunate was he? If he could, he wouldugh wildly up into the skies, to better express the full swell of his happiness.


    "Father, I will not disappoint you." Ling Lan reeled back her nostalgic thoughts, speaking to Ling Xiao with a serious expression.


    Ling Xiao nodded in satisfaction, but his heart was weeping, ¡¯Daughter, if you switch that ¡¯father¡¯ into ¡¯daddy¡¯, I¡¯ll be even happier ...¡¯


    Right at that moment, the vi¡¯s hall was abruptly lit up. It turned out that Qi Long and the others had finished repairing a small part of the light sources. The greatest contributor was Lin Zhong-qing ¡ª he lived up to his role as the team¡¯s logistician, repairing all those devices at soonest notice. After that, under the intense repair work of these reactivated devices over the course of 10 minutes in the dark, Ling Lan¡¯s entire vi was once again restored to the light. Of course, not everything was as good as it had been previously, but at the very least, the lights were back on, and that was a good thing.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan felt that she could not keep her dad, this king of destruction, here any longer in order to save her vi from further catastrophe, so she said, "Father, the assessments begin tomorrow. You had better go back earlier and rest."


    Ling Xiao was touched. His daughter was really too considerate, fearing that he would be tired ... in any case, he would not admit that his daughter was sick of him and wanted him out of her house.


    Though he was touched, Ling Xiao could not bear leaving his daughter so quickly. He was just about to say that he was not at all tired when Ling Lan suddenly lifted a brow and sent an icy look straight at her father, saying, "Don¡¯t you think so too, my father?" In particr, the two words ¡¯my father¡¯ was greatly emphasised, pretty much squeezed out from between clenched teeth.


    Those phoenix eyes filled with an air of destion, the subtle warning in her words, that demeanour and tone, was exactly alike when Lan Luofeng was warning him.


    And so, Ling Xiao sumbed to tragedy, because he just godd*mn had no resistance at all to this kind of tone and demeanour ...


    In the end, Ling Xiao could only leave Ling Lan¡¯s vi with a bellyful of resentment and reluctance. Of course, when he left, he did not forget to remind his daughter to report to the assessment point bright and early tomorrow. For a week from now, all of Ling Lan¡¯s time had been imed by this shameless dad, Ling Xiao, and he seemed ratherfortable ordering his daughter around.


    After they had sent Ling Xiao off, Ling Lan let out a silent breath. Finally, this great bundle of trouble, her dad was gone ...


    When she turned around to see those countless pairs of starry eyes, Ling Lan¡¯s headache became worse. It turned out that her troubles were just beginning. She still had to settle these five obviously overexcited and curious little followers before her eyes.


    At this thought, Ling Lan could not help but sigh long and loud. Other dads helped their daughters settle problems, so why was it that when it came to her, she as a daughter had to clean up the messes her dad made? As expected, she was not a winner in life in this world. She was not a global sweetheart, a female lead showered with the love of the masses. This was why her life was so tragic, filled with trials and tribtions.


    ********


    After Ling Xiao and the two bodyguards left Ling Lan¡¯s vi, they very quickly arrived at the nearest hover car stop, and waited for the next hover car toe.


    At this time, one of the bodyguards suddenly spoke up, "Sir, Young Sir Lan is very strong." It was the one who had been closely watching Ling Lan and the others from his position in the corner of the hall all the while.


    "Don¡¯t call him Young Sir Lan. Just Ling Lan will do," replied Ling Xiao with a subtle smile, "In future, he will be a soldier just like you all. At that time, the both of you will be his senior officers."


    "Yes, Sir!" said the two bodyguards in unison. Respect shone from their eyes ¡ª General Ling Xiao was just this sort of person, treating every single soldier objectively without caring about their personal statuses.


    Soon, the hover car arrived, and the bodyguards opened the door to the backseat, and Ling Xiao boarded the car and sat down. Then, the bodyguards split up. One sat at the back with Ling Xiao while the other sat in the front and swiftly entered the address of their lodgings in the military academy, and the hover car sped off ...


    Seated inside the hover car, Ling Xiao still maintained that typical trademark smiling face of his, but the bodyguards by his side could clearly sense his unusually excellent mood.


    Ling Xiao was indeed very happy, because today¡¯s meeting had proven that Ling Lan¡¯s disguise was impable. After living with Qi Long and the other boys for so long, they had still not discovered that she was a girl. Just this ability alone would make it much harder for any outsiders to discover Ling Lan¡¯s secret; this caused a worry which had been weighing on him all this while to disappear.


    She only needed to endure for four years and it would all be over! When she reached her fifth year, he would definitely enlist his daughter into his army division and protect her from close quarters, and then provide her with a life that would truly belong to her ... Ling Xiao mentally clenched a fist and made a promise to himself.

 Chapter 292: Ambition!

    Chapter 292: Ambition!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Outside the regimentmander¡¯s office of Leiting headquarters, Lin Zhidong suppressed his urge to flee and forced himself to press the doorbell.


    "Who is it?" A cold voice came from within ¡ª it was the voice of the current regimentmander of the Leiting Mecha n, Qiao Ting.


    "Regiment Commander, it is I, Lin Zhidong." Lin Zhidong sucked in a breath and stated in a still rtively steady voice.


    "Come in!" At the same time that Qiao Lin¡¯s voice rang out, the room¡¯s door slid to the left. The first thing that came into Lin Zhidong¡¯s sight was a well-built youth with a stern and frosty expression seated on the sofa on the right ¡ª he was Qiao Ting.


    Meanwhile, on a sofa to his side, another youth was seated. His expression was sinister and he was clearly a little younger than Qiao Ting, and he was currently looking at Lin Zhidong with a wide smile. In fact, this person was actually seated in a position which was even more easily noticeable by anyone entering the room. However, Qiao Ting¡¯s aura was too powerful, unable to be ignored, which was why the first person Lin Zhidong saw was Qiao Ting.


    Seeing the other youth, Lin Zhidong¡¯s expression changed slightly, but he quickly recovered and forced himself to stay calm and walked through the doorway. As intelligent as he was, by now he had already realized that this youth must havee one step earlier to tattle to Regiment Commander Qiao. It looked like he would not be able to ovee this matter easily.


    "Sit!" Qiao Ting casually pointed at the sofa across from him, signalling Lin Zhidong to sit down and speak.


    Lin Zhidong sat down carefully, as if in the presence of a great enemy ¡ª this behaviour of his made a mocking smirk appear on the corner of the other youth¡¯s lips.


    "I heard Lin say that, a month ago, you initiated a wagered arena battle and lost?" Right then, two deep furrows had appeared on the stern-faced youth¡¯s brow. It was clear to see how bad his mood was.


    Lin Zhidong bowed his head, deeply ashamed. "I am sorry, Regiment Commander. I was careless."


    The youth who had tattled was Qiao Ting¡¯s younger brother, Qiao Lin ¡ª Lin Zhidong knew that no matter how he tried to exin, it would not stand up against one word from the regimentmander¡¯s own blood brother. The regimentmander most certainly had already formed his opinions beforehand, so he might as well admit the fault honestly ¡ª the regimentmander might be merciful this way.


    Qiao Ting said nothing. His right arm resting on the arm of the sofa, his index finger and middle finger were rubbing vigorously against his thumb ¡ª this was a habitual motion of his while in thought.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s silence made Lin Zhidong even more afraid to say anything; he could only watch silently as he waited for Qiao Ting¡¯s decision.


    "Freshmen?" Qiao Ting seemed to be inquiring, but also seemed to be talking to himself.


    "Yeah, it¡¯s that bunch of arrogant freshmen! Even creating a new cadet regiment. Who knows whether in their second year, after entering mecha piloting, this new cadet regiment will still be standing," Qiao Lin butted in with a face full of anger. He cast a cutting re at Lin Zhidong across from them and said resentfully, "And our Vice Regiment Commander Lin, before fully understanding the other¡¯s true strength, impulsively suggested a wagered arena fight, losing all our Leiting¡¯s face, even helping to boost the New Cadet Regiment¡¯s reputation ..."


    Lin Zhidong could only bend his head even lower, hunching into himself. Even if he knew Qiao Lin was saying all this because Qiao Lin was dissatisfied with his position, and so was intentionally mocking him, there was nothing untrue in what the other said. On this matter, his responsibility was indeed the greatest. His tactical error had caused Leiting¡¯s reputation to be greatly impacted ¡ª if not for the fact that the Tianji incident had coincidentally urred right after, drawing away the attention of the entire school, Leiting¡¯s situation would have been much worse than how it was now.


    "Zhidong, so hastily rushing into a wagered arena fight and submitting a wager to fully absorb the other side into our Leiting, was there some special reason behind this?" Qiao Ting stopped the motions of his fingers, peering intently at Lin Zhidong as he asked.


    Lin Zhidong looked up in astonishment ¡ª he had not expected Regiment Commander Qiao Ting to be willing to hear his exnations. This made Lin Zhidong feel extremely grateful, his loyalty to Qiao Ting increasing by a level higher. He nodded solemnly and said, "Yes, there is one very important reason. I believe that taking in the New Cadet Regiment would push the power of our faction one step further."


    "Even if we don¡¯t take in those punks, our Leiting will still be the number one faction in the academy." Qiao Lin did not believe Lin Zhidong¡¯s words at all, feeling that he was just making excuses.


    Lin Zhidong seemed about to say something but stopped. Seeing this, Qiao Ting said, "Just speak if you have something to say. Lin is my younger brother, he will not spread what we say here lightly." Hearing this, Qiao Lin sent a re in Lin Zhidong¡¯s direction, believing that Lin Zhidong was certainly doing this on purpose, trying to get his elder brother to think that he was unreliable.


    Lin Zhidong knew that this time, Qiao Lin had truly been offended. Still, Lin Zhidong could do nothing about it ¡ª who asked Qiao Lin to find him disagreeable? Till today, he did not know why this was so.


    Although Lin Zhidong felt that Qiao Lin was untrustworthy with secrets, since the regimentmander had spoken, Lin Zhidong could not continue to hedge. He passed a document he always kept on him over to Qiao Ting, and indicated for him to take a look.


    Qiao Ting flipped it open casually, and then he abruptly sat up straight, the expression on his face bing grim and focused. Meanwhile, from the moment his brother had flipped open the first page, Qiao Lin had scampered over to peek at the document as well, and when he saw the grading of ¡¯excellent¡¯ and ¡¯good¡¯ attached to row after row of names, he too was dumbfounded.


    Qiao Ting snapped the file closed and asked sternly, "Is this document true?"


    Lin Zhidong nodded heavily, "I retrieved it from the S-tier partition of the academy mainframe. There can be no error."


    Qiao Ting stood up, pacing back and forth a few times before turning his head to ask, "Who else knows of this information?"


    Lin Zhidong replied, "All the other vice regimentmanders of Leiting know, but I¡¯ve already told them clearly from the start that this information stays with us few. All of the documents were destroyed after they looked at it ..."


    "Good, well done!" Qiao Ting shouted abruptly, a slight smile finally appearing on his austere face. He paced back and forth animatedly a few times in the room, involuntarily clenching his fists in his excitement and said, "Their joining would not only advance our Leiting by a step, it might even allow us to be the true rulers of the entire military academy ..."


    Qiao Ting¡¯s words made Lin Zhidong excited as well. Worked up, he smiled and said, "Yes, that¡¯s what I thought back then, which was why I wanted to take in all these freshmen in one go before the other factions discovered this info ..." At this point, Lin Zhidong¡¯s smile vanished, his excitement and adrenaline fading, leaving behind only endless regret. "Unfortunately, in the end, I messed up. I did not fully understand the depth of the New Cadet Regiment¡¯s strength, thus helping them increase their reputation instead."


    Lin Zhidong¡¯s words made Qiao Ting¡¯s high spirits settle down as well. After some careful consideration, his mood turned up once more and he said, "No, the wagered fight this time did not turn out too terrible. Although Leiting¡¯s reputation has been damaged somewhat, the other side¡¯s wager has also given us another chance to integrate them into our ranks in the future."


    Lin Zhidong raised his head in confused shock, unsure why Regiment Commander Qiao Ting would say this. Was he just trying to console him?


    "No, this is not constion," said Qiao Ting, sensing Lin Zhidong¡¯s confusion, "Didn¡¯t we promise to help the New Cadet Regiment fend off all harassment from the other factions for two years? This means that, in these two years¡¯ time, the New Cadet Regiment will still be right under our watch and will not be consolidated into any of the other factions."


    "This wager gives us an excuse to pull the New Cadet Regiment under our wings, preventing any of the other factions from coveting them. Once the two years are up, that will be the chance for us, Leiting, to try our hand again!" Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes were filled with fire ¡ª just the information in this document alone was worth Leiting spending two years¡¯ time to wait and n.


    Just thinking about how he would have a chance to aplish such a great undertaking, Qiao Ting¡¯s face was flushed with vigour and excitement. Finally, he forcefully suppressed the emotional upheaval in his heart and turned to look at Qiao Lin, whose head was spinning in confusion from the other two¡¯s conversation, and warned the other, "Lin, everything that you¡¯ve heard or seen today, not one word can be leaked to the outside. Otherwise, don¡¯t me me for skinning your hide!"


    The unforgiving cold glint in Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes scared Qiao Lin so much that he shuddered, emphatically shaking his head and saying, "Never, never, I would never!"


    Qiao Lin did not dare to disobey ¡ª he knew well that his elder brother was an absolutely ruthless person when the asion called for it, so he would truly do what he dared to threaten. He really did not want to be skinned alive by his brother.


    "But two yearster, when you, Regiment Commander, enter an army division for your practical training, if the New Cadet Regiment produces another one or two genius mecha operators, I fear that our odds of winning a wagered fight will not be very high still." Having lost once, Lin Zhidong had be extremely cautious. Without Qiao Ting holding the fort, he still felt that it was rather risky.


    At these words, Qiao Lin said angrily, "Don¡¯t worry! Two years from now, I¡¯ll definitely be able to take on the heavy responsibilities of my elder brother and make Leiting even bigger and better!" Qiao Lin had always considered himself to be the next regimentmander of Leiting, so Lin Zhidong¡¯s words had once again pricked and irritated him. Yes, he disliked Lin Zhidong so much because the other did not take him seriously, thinking he was an incapable fool ¡ª but his mecha skills were clearly not bad, able to ce him within the top 5 in his ss ... Qiao Lin had never considered the fact that his mecha ss was not a special ss, merely a regr ss.


    "Lin, shut up!" Qiao Ting, who had always been gentle and courteous with his own younger brother, instantly berated the other angrily when he heard such foolish and self-deluded 1 wordsing from Qiao Lin.


    Qiao Lin heard Qiao Ting¡¯s angry roar and red back with an expression of stubborn indignation. However, his eyes were already turning red, a wounded sort of feeling expressed by his gaze.


    Seeing Qiao Lin like this caused Qiao Ting to sigh helplessly, "Mecha piloting is not as simple as you imagine it to be. When you advance to intermediate mecha warrior level, I¡¯ll bring you with me to a n battle and let you properly experience the depths of mecha piloting."


    He was the reason why Qiao Lin, who did not have much talent in the way of mecha piloting, had refused to listen to the advice of their family and had stubbornly insisted to apply for the Mecha Piloting specialization in the First Academy. Although his ability qualified him for the regr mecha ss, in the long run, it was impossible for him to develop to Qiao Ting¡¯s level. Still, Qiao Ting knew that Qiao Lin had not given up. He worked very hard ¡ª when no one was looking, he had always been training hard in his mecha control. Qiao Lin was willing to use hard work topensate for hisck of talent ¡ª this made Qiao Ting unable to say anything discouraging, only able to sigh in the end.


    Lin Zhidong wisely sidestepped this matter between the two Qiao brothers, pretending that he knew nothing. Afterforting Qiao Lin, Qiao Ting turned his head to say to Lin Zhidong, "Don¡¯t worry. We have to spend six years in the military academy. Even if we go off for practical training in an army division, we will still be military academy students and can still fight on behalf of Leiting."


    Lin Zhidong lifted his head in pleasant surprise, "Regiment Commander, you¡¯re saying that ..."


    "Yes, two yearster, I will return once more with my mecha battle squad and host this wagered fight!" After subduing the New Cadet Regiment, in his final year, he would utterly conquer the entire military academy and aplish his grand goal ofplete domination! Sheer naked ambition shed through Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes.


    Meanwhile, in the uing two years, the New Cadet Regiment would constantly be on Qiao Ting¡¯s mind, always within the sphere of his attention!

 Chapter 293: A Trap!

    Chapter 293: A Trap!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In Li Lanfeng¡¯s vi, three uninvited guests were there once again, and their expressions were extremely solemn. These three were Zhao Jun, Han Yu, and Wei Ji.


    Seated in the living room flipping through video data, Li Lanfeng saw them drop in suddenly for a visit and stared at them in confusion. He asked, "Why are your expressions so horrible? What has happened?"


    Zhao Jun¡¯s face was dark as he said, "ording to thetest news, the Thunder King hase out of Closed Door Meditation."


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s finger jerked to a stop in the middle of swiping across the screen, then resumed its motion without any fuss. He asked, "He advanced?"


    Han Yu sneered and said, "Yes, he has be the first genius mecha operator in our school who managed to advance to ace operator in his 4th year. Everyone is saying that he will be the next General Ling Xiao!"


    "This is a good thing. When the timees for us to apply for enlistment with the divisions, it won¡¯t be like this year where the divisions are being perfunctory, only sending some small fry to handle things," Li Lanfeng replied nonchntly.


    "Li Lanfeng, stop looking at that." Han Yu blocked the screen in Li Lanfeng¡¯s hands with a palm. Peering at Li Lanfeng, he said, "Don¡¯t you know what this means?"


    Li Lanfeng regretfully set the miniature disy in his hands aside, lifted his head, and said, "I know. The Thunder King¡¯s ascension to ace mecha operator means that he has truly be the number one within the military academy. We are no longer able to threaten his top position."


    "Not just that. I¡¯m also worried that he¡¯ll take the opportunity to dominate the entire school, perhaps even merging all the factions of the school together to be the true king of the military academy," said Wei Ji with a frown. His initial calm and unruffled air hadpletely disappeared at this moment ¡ª it was clear to see how great a blow the ascension of the Thunder King was to him.


    "He won¡¯t. He has just advanced to ace; his realm isn¡¯t stable yet. The Thunder King will not act against us so quickly." After some thought, Li Lanfeng outright denied this possibility.


    "There wille a day when his realm will settle. We all know that the Thunder King has wanted to be the military academy¡¯s true king for a very long time," said Han Yu worriedly.


    "King, is it ...?" This querying tone of Li Lanfeng was airy, and a chill seemed to envelop the other three, only for the sensation to vanish in the very next second. Startled, they stared at Li Lanfeng ¡ª he still had a smile on his face, and the warm air around his body had not shifted for even a moment; it was as if that brief sense of cold had just been their imagination.


    "If we want to stop him from bing the king of the academy, we can only be even stronger." Li Lanfeng did not seem to sense the other three¡¯s shock, directly offering his own opinion.


    "Although we have all advanced to special-ss operator, aside from Zhao Jun, Wei Ji and I are both newbie special-ss operators. Being able to stabilise this realm is already not easy, not to mention raising our level further. Probably only Zhao Jun has hope of advancing to ace operator, right?" Han Yu turned to look at the hulking physique of Zhao Jun with a hopeful expression, hoping that he would be able to hear some good news from him.


    Zhao Jun shook his head. "I¡¯ve not sensed the possibility of advancing to ace operator. For the near future, I can only solidify my own abilities as a special-ss mecha operator."


    Zhao Jun¡¯s words made disappointment emerge on Han Yu¡¯s and Wei Ji¡¯s faces. An ace operator who had stabilised his realm would be able to easily handle up to 5 or 6 special-ss operators. Even if their Wuji Mecha n sent out a team of special-ss operators to gang up on him, they would be no match for the Thunder King ... Furthermore, the Thunder King had other strong and powerful teammates by his side as well, and those people were also special-ss operators themselves.


    "I never said that ¡¯bing stronger¡¯ meant advancing to ace operator level. That¡¯s something that depends on serendipity which cannot be forced." Following their discussion, Li Lanfeng could tell that they had misunderstood his meaning, so he quickly spoke up to rify.


    "If we cannot advance to ace operator level, then how do we be stronger?" Han Yu¡¯s face instantly became grim and dark. He really hated this demeanour of Li Lanfeng¡¯s which seemed to say he had everything under control, as if indirectly showing them up as idiots. But it just so happened that they currently could not separate themselves from Li Lanfeng¡¯s strategic nning. Every time they sought out Li Lanfeng, Han Yu always felt as if his face as regimentmander was smacked thoroughly by Li Lanfeng.


    "Since we cannot beat him individually, we can only obtain victory through numbers." Li Lanfeng did not seem to sense Han Yu¡¯s displeasure, stillposed as he calmly stated his rmendation.


    "Numbers? Leiting is the number one faction in our school, and it also has the most members among all the factions. What numbers will we use to obtain victory?" Hearing what Li Lanfeng had to say, Han Yu¡¯s face turned even darker ¡ª was this Li Lanfeng messing around with him?


    "Leiting is indeed the faction with the greatest numbers in our school. None of our other factions can match up to it. But what if webined two factions together? Or perhaps even three or four factions?" Li Lanfeng felt that the current situation did not allow for units to battle individually anymore; it was time for the factions to work together to bring down Leiting.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words made Han Yu¡¯s and Wei Ji¡¯s eyes light up. Even as Han Yu was moved by the proposition, he could not help but hesitate a little. "Who knows if Tianji and Doha Central would be willing to coborate." If their three factions joined forces, even though the Thunder King had advanced to ace operator, Leiting still would not be able to eat them all.


    "If we want the Doha faction to work with us, I do have a n. Right now, Tianji is at their lowest. If both your factions challenge them at the same time, I believe that our rankings will go up a little. Once we be the second faction and gain Doha as an ally, we can work with some other factions. Even without Tianji, that will not affect our going up against Leiting." Li Lanfeng dutifully outlined his n to Han Yu. As for whether Wuji could climb over that necessary step, that would depend on whether Han Yu had enough resolution as a leader.


    Han Yu¡¯splexion was shifting rapidly ¡ª his eyes met Wei Ji¡¯s and there was an exchange of opinions. Li Lanfeng¡¯s rmendation had perfectly scratched the itch nestled deep within Han Yu¡¯s heart. He did not dare to oppose Leiting, but he had been eyeing Tianji¡¯s number two position for all this time. And now, with Li Lanfeng¡¯s reminder, he realised that it was truly a great opportunity to snatch the position of second ... he was moved!


    Finally, Han Yu stood up abruptly and mmed a heavy fist onto the tea table before him. Through clenched teeth, he said, "Let¡¯s do it."


    Having found some direction, Han Yu and Wei Ji quickly said goodbye to Li Lanfeng, while Zhao Jun nned to stay back for a while longer. ording to him, Han Yu and Wei Ji were going to busy themselves nning and arranging this matter, and these were things he hated the most, so they should leave him out of it. As long as they told him the time and ce of the operation once they were done discussing, that would do.


    Han Yu and Wei Ji did not force him, for they knew Zhao Jun was a fierce brute who was all brawn and little brain. And besides, they were indeed returning to look for the top ranks of the Wuji Mecha n to discuss things, such as how to best use this chance to join forces with Doha and push Tianji off its pedestal to obtain the number two position in one go. As such, Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng, as external coborators, were indeed rather unsuitable to be present at their meeting with the upper ranks of Wuji.


    Zhao Jun walked the two out of Li Lanfeng¡¯s vi and then returned to the living room. He peered intently at Li Lanfeng for several seconds and then asked, "You¡¯re really that nice?" Knowing how ck-bellied Li Lanfeng was so far and how he liked to entrap others, Zhao Jun just did not believe Li Lanfeng would be so generous this time and give out such a good suggestion freely.


    Li Lanfeng stretched leisurely, cast an usatory nce back at Zhao Jun, and said, "I¡¯ve always been very nice, okay?" He definitely would not admit that he was a ck-bellied fellow.


    "Always?" Zhao Jun¡¯s lips twitched. These words were just too fake!


    "Fine, I do indeed have some small ulterior motive. I want to know, when the Thunder King is still unable to be the true king of the military academy after advancing to ace operator level, will he be angry enough to vomit blood?" admitted Li Lanfeng with augh. He too felt that his previous words were too far off the mark.


    "Lanfeng, do you hate the Thunder King very much?" After a beat of silence, Zhao Jun suddenly spoke up to ask.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile stiffened as he turned back to ask incredulously, "Zhao Jun, why would you think that?"


    "Frankly, whether or not the Thunder King manages to consolidate all the factions in the school has nothing at all to do with us. We might be coborators with Wuji today, but we might not be tomorrow. We have had no issues in contention at all with the Thunder King, but every scheme of yours seems to be setting up roadblocks in the Thunder King¡¯s path to bing king ... I can¡¯t help but suspect your motives."


    Zhao Jun was very frank ¡ª he, like Li Lanfeng, was from a third-rate. It could be said that qualifying for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was definitely a one in a million chance. Therefore, besides them, no one else from their respectives had managed to get in ¡ª this caused them to feel like they did not belong to any of the factions. Many times, Zhao Jun felt as if Li Lanfeng was just ying with the world around him. With deft and skilful maniptions, he would incite conflicts between severalrge factions, like just now, especially hopeful that they would actually break out into a great fight.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s words made Li Lanfengugh once more. "I have no grudge against the Thunder King, but just imagine this ¡ª the Thunder King has everything within his grasp, but because of us small fishes from third-rates, his path to domination bes riddled with difficulties and challenges, so much so that he will not seed. Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s very interesting?"


    "You ..." Zhao Jun gaped at Li Lanfeng in shock. He had never known that Li Lanfeng was holding such thoughts.


    "I only want to prove that even if wee from third-rates, we can still stir up a storm of bloody trouble within this military academy ..." Even though I am still weak and vulnerable right now, I can still prevent that person from bing king ... The smiling Li Lanfeng adeptly secreted his true thoughts deep within his heart. There were some secrets that should never be shared.


    Zhao Jun could only shake his head in resignation at those words. "Alright, your words are convincing. I would also like to see if that Thunder King can ovee all the difficulties to climb to the pinnacle of the school." Watching the show and whatnot were the things he most liked to do 1 .


    Even though Li Lanfeng still had a smile on his face, there was an emptiness in his eyes, along with endless coldness.


    "I have another question. If we n to ally with other factions to go against the Thunder King, why do you want Wuji to go challenge Tianji? That¡¯s obviously against your original n." Zhao Jun very quickly came up with another question. He was not at all as simple-minded as Han Yu and the others thought he was ¡ª the things he needed to know, he picked up on them much better than Han Yu and the others would.


    "Compared to the Thunder King, you hate Tianji even more." Knowing Li Lanfeng too well, Zhao Jun stated his conclusion with conviction. "So, even if the timing is inappropriate, you still egged on Han Yu and the others to act against Tianji. Why is that?"


    "Have you not heard about the horrific incident which happened a few days ago?" Hearing Zhao Jun ask this question, Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile finally disappeared.


    "The murder of Shi Mingyi?" That was the first thing that sprang to Zhao Jun¡¯s mind.


    "Since Tianji had such a shameless and despicable vice regimentmander, it¡¯s about time they paid the price," said Li Lanfeng coldly. At this moment, he no longer had any trace of warmth around him ¡ª it was clear to see how deep his hatred of this sort of thing ran 2 ...

 Chapter 294: Top-Class Elite [belief]!

    Chapter 294: Top-ss Elite [belief]!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The enlistment assessments at the military academy officiallymenced; almost all of the attention of the cadets were drawn by this major assessment. As the leader of his assessment team, Ling Xiao had to be present for the first day at least. This made Ling Lan feel as if her time was her own again.


    These past few days, Ling Xiao had made Ling Lan bring him all around the school, his excuse being that he wanted to understand the conditions of his daughter¡¯s campus. Regarding this, Ling Lan was extremely disdainful of Ling Xiao ¡ª could it be that when her dad was giving this reason, he hadpletely forgotten that he himself had graduated from this very school 20 years ago ...?


    Of course, Ling Lan understood inside that this was just her dad finding opportunities to get closer to her ¡ª after all, having been absent for 16 years, whether it was Ling Xiao himself or Ling Lan, they both needed this kind of opportunity. Thus, Ling Lan may have been disdainful of hisme excuse, but she still dly epted this task and apanied her dad around the campus for the past few days. It should be said that the effect was still pretty good. At the very least, the two of them were no longer like they were before, awkwardly silent in each other¡¯s presence ¡ª now, they could at least find a few topics to discuss.


    However, having obtained half a day of free time, after eating lunch, Ling Lan was once again summoned by her dad¡¯s incessant pestering 1 . Apparently, after showing his face for courtesy¡¯s sake, Ling Xiao had excused himself and then came running back.


    Arriving at the ce Ling Xiao was staying, Ling Lan saw Ling Xiao standing at the doorway, casual and nonchnt, and then she looked back outside where the sun was zing brightly at the zenith of the sky, and instantly felt that going out at this time was really not a good idea.


    Seeing Ling Lan frown as she looked outside, Ling Xiao nced over as well, and then scratched his nose a little embarrassedly, "Er, it looks like it¡¯s rather hot now."


    With his mind filled with the thought of seeing his daughter again, things like the weather were not something Ling Xiao had considered. "Why don¡¯t we just rest for a bit inside?" Ling Xiao¡¯s temporary quarters was also a vi, and it was one that was even more luxurious than Ling Lan¡¯s.


    Although Ling Lan was not afraid of the heat, she too did not want to go out and be roasted by the intense noon sun for no reason, so she dly agreed. However, after she and Ling Xiao finished drinking their third pot of iced red tea, she began to think that it was rather silly for her and her dad to just keep drinking tea in silence like this.


    Ling Xiao seemed to have also noticed this, and this made Ling Xiao rather dejected. Over the past few days, he had already explored all the topics they could talk about, and now, he truly did not know what else to say. Was he really going to just go over all the questions he had asked in the past few days all over again? Would this cause his daughter to run away because she really could not take it anymore? Or perhaps she would blow her top and just send a fist flying at him?


    Seeing the ice in his daughter¡¯s eyes, Ling Xiao believed that it was far more likely for Ling Lan to dash away ... how could he willingly to let this hard-won opportunity to hang out with his daughter slip away like this? Ling Xiao began to think hard ¡ª what exactly could he ask her? A 16 years old girl should already be at the age when romantic passions begin to blossom ... should he ask Ling Lan whether she has anyone she likes or perhaps admires recently 2 ?


    Just as Ling Xiao was struggling with indecision, the long silent Ling Lan who had been stroking her teacup finally spoke up. "Father, do you have any virtualwork login pods here?"


    Ling Xiao was startled, but he quickly replied, "Yes, on the third floor!" In order to properly amodate the assessment officers of the divisions, all their amodations had been installed with virtual world login pods. This made it very convenient for the officers to log on to the virtual world during their spare time.


    Ling Lan ced her teacup back on the tea table, lifted her head to peer intently at Ling Xiao, and said, "Father, since you¡¯re free this afternoon,e with me to explore Mecha World."


    "Go to Mecha World?" Ling Xiao thought about it ¡ª ever since he had ascended to god-ss operator, he had not been there for a very long time, almost about to forget the youthful days he had spent there. He too had once been an obsessed member of Mecha World ... his heart moved as his interest was piqued. Of course, most importantly, this was a personal invite from his darling daughter ¡ª even if he had never ever been to Mecha World, he would still want to go take a look now.


    "Alright," Ling Xiao happily agreed. And so the father-daughter pair swiftly went up to the third floor andid down in two virtual login pods. Right before Ling Lan entered her pod, she did not forget to tell Ling Xiao that her username in Mecha World was [Lingtian First-String].


    "[Lingtian First-String]?" Ling Xiao stared at the closed hatch of the login pod beside his, and smiled contemtively.


    ********


    Meanwhile, at this time in Mecha World, in a sealed private mechabat room, two mecha were in the middle of an intense spar.


    One was a standard Federation advanced mecha, its body painted with traditional blue and white. Other than being equipped with some weapons of personal preference, almost no modifications had been done to it.


    In contrast, the other mecha was extremely unique in both form and colour ¡ª it was distinctly different from the blue, white, silver, or red basic colours of standard mecha, instead coloured ck, which was rather infrequently used within the Federation 3 . The mecha¡¯s entire outer frame, whenpared to the other standard advanced mecha, was obviously much taller and bulkier ¡ª just its four limbs alone were twice the size of the other mecha¡¯s, not to mention its equipped weapons, which all belonged to the higher tier of cold weapons. With just one nce, one could tell that this mecha was most definitely a closebat type.


    Anyone familiar with Mecha World would know that this type of unique mecha was certainly a special-ss mecha, and those who could operate them must certainly be special-ss mecha masters.


    Generally speaking, when an advanced mecha warrior encountered a special-ss operator, thebat would end in a one-sided win. In other words, the special-ss operator would definitely obtain the final victory, while the number of moves it would take would all depend on how great the gap was between the twobatants¡¯ skills.


    However, this fight was rather different. Although overall, it seemed like the advanced mecha warrior was indeed always at a disadvantage, they were only disadvantaged ¡ª the fight was not a clear one-wayndslide. Several times, there were indeed precarious situations where the advanced mecha operator was being suppressed by endless blows, almost unable to catch their breath, but in the end, the advanced mecha warrior still managed to push through.


    And so, the fight became a fight of endurance ¡ª in the end, what they werepeting on was neither their mecha control skills, nor was it the capabilities of their mecha, but rather the stamina of the operators.


    The two mecha shed once more in mid-air, causing a loud noise of collision. In closebat, the advanced mecha was obviously at a disadvantage ¡ª this could be seen from the distance the two needed once they sprang apart tond.


    After the attack this time, the two mecha did not continue to grapple with one another, instead facing off from a distance.


    "Huff huff huff ..." Due to the absence of outsiders, the two mecha had opened their publicms, and intense panting could be hearding from them channels.


    "D*mmit, Li Lanfeng, you freak," The first to recover from panting was the ck mecha, who could not help but swear as soon as he caught his breath. The speaker was none other than Zhao Jun, who had already advanced to special-ss mecha.


    "Hehe ..." chuckled Li Lanfeng weakly. The gap between levels was not so easily made up ¡ª he could make it so Zhao Jun could not defeat him, but that was already the extent of his abilities. This oue made him rather dejected ¡ª he was not at all pleased by this oue which would already be greatly astounding by anyone else¡¯s standards.


    "Wasn¡¯t I - almost - defeated - by you - a few times - back there?" Still panting heavily, Li Lanfeng spoke in fits and spurts. In terms of stamina recovery, he was no match for Zhao Jun and his type of physical constitution.


    "Tsk, didn¡¯t you manage to push through? Just like an unkible cockroach," grumbled Zhao Jun. Fighting with Li Lanfeng was always a frustrating matter for him. He kept having the sense that he could defeat the other, but he would always fall short by just that one breath. Quite a few times, the victory at-hand would just graze by him narrowly ... the disgruntlement he felt was no less than Li Lanfeng¡¯s.


    "How the heck did you train? Able to resist my special-ss operator attacks just as an advanced mecha operator, if you advance to special-ss operator, what am I supposed to do?" Zhao Jun felt that his position as number one mecha expert was being threatened ¡ª it looked like he would have to train harder now, so as to prevent himself from being out of a job once Li Lanfeng advanced.


    Zhao Jun was very rational. Ever since he had discovered how aberrant Li Lanfeng was, he had been determined to stick with Li Lanfeng. His brain was actually pretty good, but after being showed up many times by Li Lanfeng, he did not want to waste the mental effort anymore, so he had set himself the role of supreme thug ... er, no, make that supreme fighter. But now, he found that this goal was actually pretty tough to realise as well.


    "Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s still quite a block of time before I advance to special-ss operator level. By that time, I reckon you would already have touched upon the gates to ace operator level." Li Lanfeng had finally recovered enough to speak in proper sentences again. "So, you¡¯ll still be able to lord over me by a head. You¡¯ll be fine," consoled Li Lanfeng with a smile.


    "Are youforting me or mocking me?" Zhao Jun muttered back, discontent ...


    Right then, a bright red system notice startled everyone, as well as interrupted the conversation between the two.


    "Heavyweight news! The great top-ss mecha elite [belief] 4 has graced the mecha world with his presence. Does hising herald the sessive appearance of other top-level elites? It can be predicted that the mecha world will once again bear witness to great waves ..."


    "[belief]!" Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng shouted almost in unison. This name was just too familiar ¡ª this was the name of god-ss operator Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha. Despite not knowing what Ling Xiao¡¯s name in the mecha world was, the moment this name was linked to a top-ss elite, they could not help but suspect whether this person was Ling Xiao himself.


    "It has to be fake, right? How could General Ling Xiao have time toe to Mecha World?" Zhao Jun¡¯s face was filled with disbelief and he was the first to voice a denial. They were well aware that General Ling Xiao was currently establishing the 23rd Division, as busy as could be. Even if he had time, he would note to Mecha World, this sort of virtual world where youths made up the majority. If he wanted to find a PK partner, he would more likely go to a virtual simtion mecha battle stadium specially set up for the Federation military, where only military officers in service could enter.


    "I don¡¯t know, but these top-ss elites are basically all old beasts from ten or so years ago or perhaps even decades before that ... it could just very well be him." In contrast to Zhao Jun¡¯s disbelief, Li Lanfeng did not outright reject the possibility. Perhaps General Ling Xiao had been seized by whimsy and had decided toe back and indulge the nostalgia for his younger days. Who knows?


    Leaving aside Zhao Jun¡¯s and Li Lanfeng¡¯s uncertainty, everyone else in the mecha world had also been struck dumb by this heavyweight news. It could be said that the entirety of the initially raucous virtual world descended into a long moment of silence, while there were even some mecha operators who lost their lives 5 to the monsters they were battling due to the distraction. However, all of this was not a problem. Very soon, the mecha world was swept up inmotion once more ... people all turned to thepanions beside them and asked, who in the world was this top-ss elite [belief]?


    Several of those with quicker minds immediately logged onto the official website of Mecha World to look up information on [belief]. Unfortunately, they were disappointed. This was because the information of top-ss elites could only be essed by elites of the same level. All they obtained from their search was the response that their strength level was not high enough, hence they did not have enough clearance. Thus, they could not glean any clues from the website.

 Chapter 295: Winds Shadow!

    Chapter 295: Wind¡¯s Shadow!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan was oblivious to the things happening within Mecha World because this news had been announced a second before Ling Lan logged in, so she just so coincidentally missed this alert. If Ling Lan had known about it, she definitely would not bring her dad gallivanting all across the town ...


    Very swiftly, Ling Lan received a friend request from [belief]. Seeing that familiar name, Ling Lan could not help but sweatdrop. How much did her dad love this name really?


    After she epted, the other party instantly sent over a private chat request. When Ling Lan epted it, she heard her dad¡¯s warm voiceing through, "Ling Lan, where are you?"


    Ling Lan immediately told her dad her location ¡ª when she had logged off previously, she had been outside hunting monsters. Not because she wanted to collect any points from the monsters, but because in her mission to advance to advanced mecha warrior, she needed some items which would drop from these monsters.


    The route Ling Lan was taking was different from other people ¡ª she never ever looked for monsters to level up, instead mostly choosing to enter the arena fights for cross-level challenges to gain arge amount of experience points in one go. This was also why Ling Lan had been able to earn enough points to advance to advanced mecha warrior in such a short amount of time. Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s personal mecha control skills were already high enough in terms of standards, allowing her to bring out the greatestbat power of the mecha she piloted, which was why she could take this shortcut.


    If she had been like Qi Long and the others who had started from zero, she would have had to take her time and umte the fruits of hard practice. Thus, Qi Long and the others had spent a full three years to train up from trainee mecha to advanced mecha warrior. Meanwhile, at Ling Lan¡¯s speed, it would not be long before she caught up to Qi Long and the others. However, Ling Lan was nning to pause once she hit advanced mecha warrior level, because she wanted to lead Qi Long and the others personally at that point. Through verbal teachings, self-modelling, and sparring with them using mecha, she wanted to push them into mastering all the control skills of advanced mecha warriors so that they would be able to transition smoothly into the realm of special-ss operator.


    Well aware of the importance of foundational controls, Ling Lan did not want herpanions to fall into themon pitfall of neglecting those skills. Once they had all sessfully mastered those, at that time, it would finally be time for her to let them spread their wings and fly freely.


    This was because once one entered special-ss operator level, one¡¯s mecha piloting would begin to disy one¡¯s individual style and character. No one else would be able to help with the development of these control skills ¡ª one could only rely on oneself to contemte and seek insight. This was also the true reason why special-ss operators were also called mecha masters, while advanced mecha operators could only be called mecha warriors.


    However, entering special-ss operator level was still only the first step. Only by advancing into ace operator status could one prove that one¡¯s personal control style had matured and beplete enough to be considered a distinct style of its own. Many mecha masters had ended up being stuck at this level ¡ª many people would only be able to be half-assed special-ss operators for their entire lives, unable to push through to find a ce among the ranks of those who held true strength, ace mecha masters.


    ********


    It had to be said that Ling Xiao had left Mecha World almost twenty years ago, so he had to be rather unfamiliar with this Mecha World which had been updated countless times since then. Whatever the case, Ling Lan had to eliminate the monsters in the area she was in a whole 26 times before she saw Ling Xiao¡¯s mechanding beside her, fashionablyte.


    Ling Lan herself did not really care how long she had to wait; after all, she was still trying to get the mission item she needed to drop, so this was not a waste of her time. Still, when she saw Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha, her initially calm heart became unsettled, the corners of her eyes twitching noticeably.


    Damm*t, just how much of a showoff could her dad be?! Did he really not know how much attention operating such a bright and gleaming mecha ¡ª almost bright enough to make her blind ¡ª over would bring? Ling Lan sensed motion in the distance ¡ª it looked like her father¡¯s pretty mecha had drawn some attention.


    Ling Lan did not know that she had only guessed part of it ¡ª a greater reason was that this was a rtively low-level hunting ground. For such a high-end mecha to appear here was definitely unusual; thus, everyone could only think ¡ª could the person operating that mecha be that top-ss elite [belief] mentioned in the system announcement?


    Regardless of whether he was or not, they would not let go of any bit of possibility. Therefore, everyone who saw this mecha all headed after the mecha in the direction it was flying in, chasing after it. The fact that no one had chased up to Ling Lan¡¯s location was all thanks to how much the speed of Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha outstripped that of all of the mecha here.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha was indeed extremely perfect. It was neither a standard mecha nor a modified mecha, but a mecha listed by Mecha World as a top-ss redemption reward, an imperial mecha. This was the only top-ss mecha the people ying Mecha World could use points to redeem. As for the rumoured god-ss mecha, it could only be obtained bypleting a mission. And that mission had already been confirmed by the majority of people to be humanly impossible.


    There were six types of imperial mecha that could be redeemed, and Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha was one of those six types. Ling Lan had taken a cursory nce at it when she was redeeming her current mecha ¡ª it was called < Wind¡¯s Shadow 1 >. As its name implied, this was a mecha characterised by its speed. The entire mecha was uniformly white silver in colour, its form streamlined and elegant. Any equipment and structural design that could influence its speed had been discarded, leaving only those equipment and weapons which were necessary. It could be said to be a very extreme type of mecha.


    These kinds of speed-type mecha were generally built for long-range attacks. Ling Lan saw two long and thin particle beam long-barrelled guns 2 slung on its back, and knew her guess was not wrong. However, Ling Lan¡¯s gaze was then drawn by the two sword hilts sticking out at the mecha¡¯s waist. Based on the direction the hilts were facing, one could tell that they were not the general swords used by mecha. They were very likely short swords simr to high-frequency des, but since the mecha already had the standard equipped high-frequency des on it, Ling Lan could not understand why it would have more short swords with almost the same function equipped.


    Ling Lan very honestly voiced the doubts in her mind, and Ling Xiaoughed and replied, "This is the frightening aspect of this mecha. Everyone assumes that it¡¯s a long-range attack type mecha and so are usually on guard against long-range attacks, neglecting its ability to close in swiftly ..."


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up. "Father, you mean that, this mecha is an all-rounded mecha which is proficient at both long-range and close-range?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s offensive manoeuvres were inclined towards close-rangebat, but the designs of close-rangebat mecha were typically very bulky and heavy. This shed somewhat with Ling Lan¡¯s need for speed, and furthermore, Ling Lan was still a girl at heart, so she much preferred light, graceful, and elegant mecha over those great, hulking, towering types. This was why when she heard that this pretty mecha was also strong in close-rangebat, her heart was moved.


    "Yes, because it¡¯s extraordinarily fast, it can switch freely between close-range and long-range attacks, flustering the opponent. This is its strength, but also its weakness at the same time." Seeing that Ling Lan had great interest in this mecha, Ling Xiao began introducing it in more detail, "It requires its operator to satisfy three conditions. Otherwise, even if one has this mecha, they would be unable to use this mecha to its full capacity."


    "What three conditions?" Ling Lan was listening very carefully. Although she could not possess this mecha which she coveted right now, this did not prevent her from making this mecha her future goal; for things she needed to pay attention to, Ling Lan would take them extremely seriously.


    "One, the operator¡¯s reflexes must be exceedingly quick to be able to keep up with the speed of the mecha itself. Two, the operator¡¯s hand speed must reach a frighteningly high rate, otherwise they will not be able to execute any sequence of action transitions during high-speed movements. Three, the demand on the operator¡¯s physical condition is high. It should be known that executing action transitions at high speeds puts three to four times the burden on the body than piloting a mecha at regr speeds. Without a strong and stout physique, one can never operate this mecha well. Otherwise, the operator would be injured simply by making a few moves, to say nothing of operating this mecha into battle."


    Ling Xiao listed out each of the requirements to pilot this mecha, when in fact, he really wanted to say outright ¡ª Oh daughter, this mecha is not destined for you. A girl¡¯s body was just inherently weaker, unable to reach that level of toughness required even with stringent training.


    Ling Lan only nodded after hearing all this, though of course she did not forget to ask what Little Four, who was within a little ck room, thought about these conditions.


    Why was Little Four in a little ck room? Well, this had to be exined from the beginning. Every time they met with Ling Xiao, Little Four just could not keep hisposure. Therefore, whenever Little Four regressed into a mindless fan, Ling Lan would shut him up in a small ck room for a while so he could calm down. Of course, if Little Four behaved well, he would be let out again. Today, Little Four had once again lost control when Ling Lan had been drinking iced red tea with Ling Xiao in stilted silence. That was why he was currently stuck inside that small ck room, waiting for Ling Lan to show mercy again.


    Little Four was just being bored out of his mind in the little ck room when he heard Ling Lan¡¯s question. He instantly patted his little chest and guaranteed that as long as he, Little Four, was around, his boss could have as tough a body as she wished. She could control whatever , , or anything else she wanted.


    Little Four¡¯s answer made Ling Lan rx. She secretly set obtaining this mecha as the goal she would aplish within the next few years. Meanwhile, Ling Xiao thought his daughter had understood his intentions and received his counsel, and so rxed as well. Ling Xiao did not know that Ling Lan had indeed listened to him, but her choice waspletely contrary to what Ling Xiao was hoping for.


    Of course, Ling Xiao was not the type to take things for granted; he was about to personally ask what Ling Lan thought when he suddenly heard somemotioning from a distance. He could even vaguely hear someone saying ¡¯is it over there?¡¯ ... This made Ling Xiao hold back on what he had intended to say, turning to look in the direction of the noise with a troubled expression, uncertain what was going on.


    Ling Lan had also heard the voices and figured things out instantly. She said to her father, "Not good. Let¡¯s run."


    Huh? Run? Ling Xiao did not know why they had to run, but seeing that his daughter had already activated her mecha and was swiftly running towards a dense forest in the distance, he dared not tarry, chasing after her quickly.


    They had just dashed into the forest and concealed themselves when quite a number of mecha showed up in the initially endlessly empty grass fields. These were the people who had been attracted by Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha and had rushed here in pursuit.


    "It¡¯s not here either! Looks like this isn¡¯t the spot." Everyone saw the empty fields before them and turned to leave despondently.


    Even if there was the possibility of hiding in the dense forest ahead, everyone had naturally overlooked this avenue of thought. This was because they subconsciously believed that no one would do so and seek death. It should be known that the savage beasts in that dense forest were several times stronger than the savage beasts in the ins ¡ª even if it were a special-ss operator going in, they would being out horizontally 3 .


    Right then, they had all forgotten that the one they were seeking was a top-ss elite ¡ª how could he be afraid of these savage beasts? It could only be said that these people were fooled by their own preconceptions. They were all low-level mecha operators ¡ª even special-ss operators were existences that they had to look up to ¡ª so it was very likely that they just could notprehend what a top-ss elite truly meant.

 Chapter 296: Mecha Instructor!

    Chapter 296: Mecha Instructor!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Xiao and Ling Lan hid in the forest, coolly watching batch after batch of mechae and go. Even though they had to hide in the forest for up to an hour, there was not one trace of impatience on their faces. It could be seen that both father and daughter had extraordinarily strong patience.


    Ling Xiao nced at thepletely still Ling Lan in her mecha by his side and just knew that his daughter was extremely calm. The feeling called pride reared up in his heart once more ¡ª just this patience alone was not something an ordinary person could possess.


    Following the passage of time, their patch of grass finally regained its initial peace and quiet. Only then did Ling Lan move her mecha, and she could not help but say, "Father, you should keep a lower profile. Why don¡¯t you change to a slightly moremon mecha?" She did not want to keep hiding here in this dense forest, unable to go out.


    Ling Xiao was silent for a beat, then sighed and said, "This is already my worst mecha."


    In his virtual mecha hold, all the other mecha were even higher level than this one. One of them was even the so-called god-ss mecha he had obtained bypleting that horrific mission, while several others were exclusive special editions specially gifted to him by the Mecha World after he had created a few imperial level skills in the game. These were all representations of his personal identity ¡ª the moment he piloted those mecha out, just the fire phoenix logo on their chests alone would allow others to guess who he was ...


    Ling Lan was utterly speechless. The two of them once again descended into wordless silence. But then, right at that moment, Ling Lan¡¯s heart clenched, a sense of danger suddenly rushing into her. Without thinking, Ling Lan chose to leap up and dodge instantly. When she turned around, she saw Ling Xiao, who had initially been standing immobile beside her, slowly in the middle of resheathing the two short des of his mecha back at his waist. Meanwhile, on the ground beneath his mecha, two extremely ferocious-looking forest savage beasts wereid out.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan¡¯s heart was shaken ¡ª when she had sensed a threat earlier, she could only choose to evade. But Ling Xiao had been able to easily finish off these ambushing savage beastsing from behind him. From the two bodiesying on the ground, she could clearly see that there was only one point of fatal injury on them. In other words, Ling Xiao had instantly drawn his swords, both swords stabbing out to kill one savage beast each in the blink of an eye.


    This may seem like a simple thing, but to do it was certainly not easy. A savage beast¡¯s life force was extremely formidable ¡ª even if one struck a fatal weakness directly, their powerful vitality would still allow these savage beasts a chance to carry out a final counterattack. This was precisely why many people did not dare to attack these type of savage beasts at close range.


    However, all of this was no problem at all when it came to Ling Xiao. With clean and efficient moves, he had eliminated all danger.


    "When you strike their vital points, you must instantly sever their nerves and disable their reflexes in one go. This way, the savage beasts¡¯ ability to counterattack will be destroyed. However, this kind of ability requires tens of thousands times of training before you will be able to do it. It cannot be rushed," Ling Xiao knew what Ling Lan was bothered about and so spoke up to exin.


    Ling Lan nodded at his words. Her eyes shone vibrantly, because she had discovered that her father Ling Xiao was most likely the best instructor in this world to mentor her in mecha control.


    Though Instructor Number Three in the learning space was indeed very strong in terms of mecha control, because the world she lived in now was still different from the world the instructors hade from, there were still some aspects which Ling Lan found rather difficult while learning from him. It should be said that the control methods Ling Lan was learning were modified from the control methods of their world, based off the results of Instructor Number Three¡¯s analysis of this world¡¯s mecha. Despite being very high-level, those methods could not achieve true 100%patibility ...


    However, Ling Xiao was different. He was one of the top mecha operators in this world to begin with, and all the control methods he had learned were the umted results of this world over thousands of years. It should be said that Ling Xiao¡¯s control skills were the most appropriate for the mecha presently being used by the Federation, and he would be able to let Ling Lan truly understand the mecha of this world.


    Ling Lan was rather frustrated at this time ¡ª why had she not realised this over these past few days? Actually wasting so many days for no good reason. Knowing that her dad¡¯s time was precious, Ling Lan decided that she could not continue wasting it any further, so she said to Ling Xiao seriously, "Father, you should be free these few days, right?" Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were sparkling brilliantly, her eyes shining with boundless hope ...


    Could it be that his daughter had acknowledged his fatherly love? Ling Xiao was overjoyed ¡ª did this mean that his daughter was willing to ept him now and call him ¡¯daddy¡¯ affectionately? He quickly nodded repeatedly, "Yes, I¡¯m extremely free."


    "Then instruct me a little on mecha controls." Ling Lan¡¯s subsequent words made Ling Xiao¡¯s mood plummet from the heights of heaven straight down into hell. He was greatly depressed, tears all over his face inside.


    Oh daughter, daddy came all this way toe into the military academy undercover, just so I could establish a deep and meaningful father-daughter rtionship with you, not so I could PK with you and be your instructor ...


    But facing that bright-eyed gaze of Ling Lan¡¯s, Ling Xiao just could not say anything to refuse. He could only nod and say, "Okay."


    Hearing Ling Xiao agree, Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked up instantly. Even though Ling Xiao could not see his daughter¡¯s expression, for some reason, he just felt that his daughter was in a great mood. He could only smile wryly and console himself that he had finally done something that made his daughter happy, that all his efforts had not been for nothing.


    An excited Ling Lan waspletely an action-oriented Ling Lan ¡ª without saying anything more, she led her dad back to the city closest to them, Clear Winds City, running all the way. They came to the mechabat hall at the city centre, and found an empty private room and requested entry for a spar.


    Her entire mind filled with thoughts of learning from Ling Xiao, Ling Lan did not notice that when she and Ling Xiao had entered Clear Winds City, they had been noticed by those sharp-eyed people at the city gates. It could not be helped ¡ª Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha was just too unique; there was no way to conceal it. Some people were even quicker, instantly taking photos of the two of them flying across the city and uploading them onto the official website. The title of the post was naturally ¡¯Top-ss Elite [belief] Sighted¡¯.


    This news caused amotion instantly, the post scoring several billion hits within just a few minutes. When someone pointed out that the gleaming and eye-catching mecha in the photograph was the top imperial mecha in the mecha world, the entire mecha world was rocked to the core.


    For context, imperial operators were very difficult to see in the mecha world now. These top-ss masters were now all old men who had be famous a decade or even a few decades ago. They were all basically already living reclusively, rarely sighted. There was even a time when many people questioned whether there were any imperial operators existing at all within the mecha world. And this time, this photograph proved that the imperial operators of rumour truly did exist in Mecha World, and one had finally appeared.


    Everyone was worked up, especially since the post stated very clearly that the photo was taken at Clear Winds City. Having found some direction, the mecha operators all flocked towards Clear Winds City ... fortunately, Ling Lan and Ling Xiao were both moving extraordinarily fast, not meandering inside the city for long. They had directly headed straight into thebat room of the mechabat hall to fight, thus dodging this crisis, not being trapped by the mecha operators who had rushed over because of the news and jammed up the city.


    Nevertheless, the small little Clear Winds City had turned into a choked up hive of activity within the course of several minutes. Those outside could not get in, while those inside could not get out either, causing the entire city to be unbearably congested.


    ********


    Inside their own privatebat room, when Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng saw the news about the top-ss elite [belief] descending upon Mecha World, they no longer had the mood to continue sparring. They too wanted to see what the top-ss elite [belief] was like and so were preparing to go outside and try their luck.


    They had just left the private room on their end when Zhao Jun received a text message from a member of his team.


    Zhao Jun instantly stopped moving after he nced at the message, prompting Li Lanfeng to ask him curiously, "Why¡¯d you stop?"


    Zhao Jun smiled wryly and said, "It looks like we can¡¯t get out anymore."


    Ah? Taken aback, Li Lanfeng immediately used hismunicator to check, and after finding out about the situation, he too smiled bitterly and said, "Who would have expected that [belief] would actually be at Clear Winds City. I really don¡¯t know if we¡¯re lucky or unlucky ..." Lucky, because they were in the same city; unlucky, because they were trapped within thebat hall, unable to go out.


    "We just weren¡¯t destined to meet that elite," said Zhao Jun regretfully, "Since we can¡¯t go out, why don¡¯t we have another spar?" He had no intention of going out to crowd with the people outside.


    Li Lanfeng naturally agreed and said, "That¡¯s fine."


    Obtaining Li Lanfeng¡¯s agreement, Zhao Jun bent his head over hismunicator, connecting to the A.I. of the mechabat hall as he said, "Let¡¯s just go back to our previous room, 817." Even as he spoke, he keyed in the number ¡¯817¡¯, and without even noticing the alert tagged to the room, he clicked to enter.


    Seeing Zhao Jun¡¯s entire mecha suddenly disappear before his eyes, Li Lanfeng shook his head helplessly. Knowing that the impatient Zhao Jun must have already gone ahead to room 817, he quickly connected to the mechabat hall¡¯s A.I. as well and selected room 817 too, then chose to enter ...


    Li Lanfeng unintentionally saw that the number of the people in the room was 3 ... huh? What was happening?


    The next second, Li Lanfeng had entered room 817. In a corner of the room, he saw that familiar ck-coloured special-ss mecha of Zhao Jun¡¯s. Not only that, on the stage in the middle of the room, two mecha were facing off against one another. One was an extremelymon standard intermediate mecha, while the other was an extremely dazzling and beautiful mecha. With just one nce, Li Lanfeng could tell that this was the rumoured top-ss imperial mecha ...


    "What in the world is this?" Li Lanfeng was stunned by this scene before his eyes, and quickly sent a private message to Zhao Jun.


    Zhao Jun very quickly responded with a message of his own, "Shh, don¡¯t make a sound. That imperial mecha¡¯s operator is most likely [belief]. Let¡¯s observe quietly. Don¡¯t let them discover us and kick us out ..." Zhao Jun worked hard to shrink in on his own mecha. Right then, he truly wished that his mecha could instantly be tiny ¡ª best if it could be a speck of dust, invisible to the naked eye.


    Li Lanfeng saw Zhao Jun¡¯s actions and sweatdropped profusely. This fellow ... did he not know that no matter how much he tried to hunch in on himself, these two hulking mecha they were piloting just had no way of bing any bit smaller? This series of actions by Zhao Jun only made him even more conspicuous.


    ********


    "Do you know those two mecha?" Ling Xiao had long noticed these two mecha that had entered behind them, and he turned to ask Ling Lan about them.


    Ling Lan shook her head and said, "No, should we kick them out?"


    Even though she had left messages for herpanions, asking them toe to room 817 of Clear Winds City to observe the mecha fight between her and Ling Xiao, Qi Long and the others had soon responded with news that the entire traffic of Clear Winds City was already paralysed. They just had no way of getting there.

 Chapter 297: The Composition of a Battle Clan!

    Chapter 297: The Composition of a Battle n!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    For this reason, Qi Long was so frustrated he could almost bang his head into a wall, while Luo Lang was actually tearing up. The others were not reacting that much better either ¡ª after all, this was a mecha instructional fight from a god-ss operator! How lucky did they have to be to witness that?! But now they had to watch helplessly as this great fortune slipped right through their fingers, unable to do anything about it ...


    Ling Lan could only cate andfort them, promising that they would still have opportunities in the future. At that time, she would definitely inform them beforehand to enter thebat room in advance so they could observe. Only then did these bunch of mournful brats subside.


    It was precisely because of that that Ling Lan had not set a passcode on their room at the very first moment to restrict outsiders from entering. By the time she had settled herpanions, two strangers had already entered the private room.


    Ling Xiao was nonchnt about it. "No need. Since they have alreadye here, it can be considered that they¡¯re fated to see us. Besides, they don¡¯t know us. Let them watch a little, and if they gain some insight, that¡¯s their fortune." Ling Xiao was not someone who would stick to the beaten track 1 , otherwise he would not often invite others to PK with him at the military-exclusivebat fields. The stronger the Federation mecha masters were, the dder Ling Xiao would be. He was a pure-minded military man.


    "Since, father, you have said so, then let them stay." Ling Lan agreed with her dad¡¯s mindset. The mecha operators in Mecha World came from all the various star systems of the whole Federation. No one could tell who another was, or which they came from. If those spectators could gain something from this fight, it would indeed be a kindness on their part.


    Ling Lan recalled the first time she had entered Mecha World and met that cheetah mecha. They had not known each other, but had had a startlingly amazing rapport. During that time, if not for the other¡¯s constantpanionship and their mutual encouragement and supervision, perhaps she might not have been able to endure through that period of dry and monotonous foundational training.


    Ling Lan cherished this sort of heaven-given serendipity, and so did not want to stand in the way of it. Since her father was not opposed, Ling Lan decided to just let them watch. Of course, the prerequisite being that they knew their limits and did not disturb her and her father.


    ********


    On the stage, the two mecha that had been standing around casually began to shift. The intermediate mecha suddenly raised its hand to draw the long weapon from its back and got into an attacking stance, while the imperial mecha remained still and unmoving as before.


    At this point, Zhao Jun could not helpmenting surreptitiously, "Lanfeng, this match is probably going to end in one move. The gap between the strength of the two is just too wide. The intermediate mecha will definitely be unable to withstand an attack from the imperial mecha."


    "It won¡¯t end like that," Li Lanfeng responded confidently.


    "Ah? Why not?" Zhao Jun was boggled.


    "Just think, which imperial operator would have the free time to PK an intermediate mecha operator? I¡¯m guessing that thetter is just a disciple of the imperial operator, which is why the former woulde to instruct him a little," Li Lanfeng analysed, "In this match, the imperial operator will definitely control his strength, perhaps even sealing away some advanced control skills and killing moves."


    "In other words, this is an instructional fight." Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes brightened. Instructional fights were not only extremely useful to the one fighting, spectators would also learn quite a bit. However, Zhao Jun began worrying once more, carefully asking, "Lanfeng, do you think they¡¯ll chase us out? After all, this type of instructional fight is usually rted to some sect legacies and secrets."


    Li Lanfeng red exasperatedly at Zhao Jun, "You¡¯ve only now noticed this point? Still, it¡¯s been so long. Since they have not kicked us out, they are likely to have tacitly agreed to our presence here."


    "Ah? Really?" Li Lanfeng¡¯s words made Zhao Jun ecstatic.


    "Yes, of course, they could also have mistaken us for people they know, but that possibility is almost zero, so it can be excluded." Li Lanfeng knew well that it was indeed possible to conceal one¡¯s ID in Mecha World so that name cards would have to be exchanged before one¡¯s name would be revealed. However, this feature was ineffective against top-ss masters like imperial operators ¡ª that was a sign of respect and distinction Mecha World afforded to imperial operators. Thus, it was obvious that the other must know that the two of them were strangers.


    "I believe that, they have chosen not to kick us because they intend to give us a chance." Li Lanfeng felt that this was the likeliest possibility. Many top-ss masters believed very strongly in fate and serendipity ¡ª perhaps the other felt that he and Zhao Jun¡¯s stumbling into this room was fated, and so left them alone.


    "That¡¯s great!" Zhao Jun clenched his fists, exhrated. Li Lanfeng¡¯s words moved him greatly ¡ª if he could learn anything at all from this imperial operator, he would never ever forget this fated kindness for the rest of his life.


    "Our luck today is truly incredible ..." said Li Lanfeng with a sigh. Perhaps his destiny was not going to be as tragic as he had thought ¡ª would this be the turning point of his life?


    "Oh, they¡¯re starting!" cried Zhao Jun, instantly calling Li Lanfeng back from his scattered musings.


    On the stage, the two mecha divided by a great disparity in strength finally shed for the first time.


    Facing her unfathomable father Ling Xiao, Ling Lan chose to take the initiative and attack. She just did not have the confidence that she would be able to withstand her dad¡¯s powerful attacks, so she decided to take the advantage of striking first.


    Ling Lan could be seen to control her mecha to sprint forwards like a gust of wind, striking out towards Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha. When she was about 3 metres away, Regretless, which had been hanging low, was abruptly lifted up into a diagonal sh, drawing a streak of cold light through the air.


    This was a mid-range attack! While Ling Lan had been waiting, she had already considered things thoroughly ¡ª the only close-range weapons on her father¡¯s mecha were his short swords, so he did not have a long cold weapon like Regretless to fight against her. This undoubtedly gave Ling Lan a slight upper hand in terms of weapons, and this was also her only advantage.


    "Not bad!" Seeing his daughter choose to execute a mid-range attack with her long weapon, Ling Xiao unstintingly gave praise. Against such a formidable opponent like himself, with no chance of winning, Ling Lan could still identify and use her greatest advantage to strike out against a weakness of his ¡ª this was undoubtedly a testament to Ling Lan¡¯s levelheadedness and strategic mind.


    However, Ling Xiao was a god-ss operator after all. Moreover, he was operating a formidable imperial mecha ¡ª both in terms of control skills and in mecha advantage, his strength exceeded Ling Lan¡¯s by too much. The countern Ling Lan had worked so hard to execute simply would not work against Ling Xiao.


    With an elegant slide-step, Ling Xiao operated his mecha to twist to one side, dodging this streak of savage light. At the same time, the arms of his mecha folded firmly over the gleaming de, actually performing an empty-handed weapon grab with his mecha.


    Even though Ling Lan¡¯s attack was already so fast that it was almost impossible to catch with one¡¯s eyes, for Ling Xiao, it was still a little slow. He easily caught Ling Lan¡¯s Regretless between his palms.


    "Ling Lan, this move won¡¯t work against me," said Ling Xiao with a smile, "You¡¯ll need toe up with something else."


    "Father, don¡¯t get too careless now." The right arm of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha suddenly shook and pulled back, and Ling Xiao felt that long sword between his mecha¡¯s palms slipping away like a slippery fish, escaping from his tight sp.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s heart jolted and he instantly dashed back, once again pulling a distance away from Ling Lan.


    He stared curiously at Regretless in Ling Lan¡¯s hands and could not help but ask, "This weapon is very unique. What are its attributes?" This particr quality which let it escape was something even Ling Xiao had never seen before


    "Its special attributes are high tensile strength and sharpness," replied Ling Lan.


    Ling Xiao immediately opened up his mecha¡¯s palm, and an extremely faint line could be seen on it. This made even Ling Lan 2 exim in awe, for it should be known that the outer shell of an imperial mecha was so strong that even the Federation¡¯s strongest beam saber would not be able to leave a mark on it. Who would have expected this Regretless to be able to do so ...


    "This weapon is very powerful,"uded Ling Xiao.


    "This is the work of one of the seniors in the academy. As long as I keep it well, even when I upgrade to ace mecha, it¡¯ll still be useful," Ling Lan was indeed very fond of Regretless; her introduction of it clearly carried a trace of pride.


    "Once that senior of yours grows up and reworks this weapon two or three times, perhaps you might be able to use it for even longer," eximed Ling Xiao.


    "It can still be reworked two or three times?" Ling Lan was overwhelmed with curiosity ¡ª she had thought that all weapons were forged topletion in one go.


    "Of course. That¡¯s why a mature mecha battle n must have an outstanding mechanic. They can help a battle n¡¯sbat power rise vertically." Of course, once one reached imperial level and above, all this talk was just passing clouds.


    "Aren¡¯t mecha battle ns all made up of people from the mecha piloting specialization?" Ling Xiao¡¯s words confused Ling Lan. She had truly thought that mecha battle ns were organisations built by a group of people who specialized in mecha piloting.


    "Of course not ..." Ling Xiao replied, astounded. Could it be that Ling Lan did not know about this? However, after a beat, Ling Xiao figured it out. Generally, it was the father¡¯s job to teach about all this, but he had been missing for 16 years, and sinceing back, he had been bogged down with various official duties. Thus, he had not had any chances tomunicate properly with his daughter, much less even think about teaching her all this.


    Of course, if the student¡¯s father was not a mecha operator, hence not allowing them to receive such instruction from their father, when they advanced to the second year of school, there would be mecha instructors who would guide students in building their own battle ns or in choosing one to join. At that time, Ling Lan too would have learned about theposition of a battle n. However, right now, Ling Lan was still a first year, so she had yet to have a chance to learn any of this.


    At this thought, Ling Xiao apologised and said, "This is all my fault, not instructing you in these things in time." At the heart of it, it was still his own dereliction of duty as a father.


    "In fact, the members of a mecha battle n are not solely from the mecha piloting specialization. It can epass many specializations ¡ª it all depends on what route your battle n wants to take. Generally speaking, a battle n needs three types of mecha warriors ¡ª close-range,prehensive, and long-range ¡ª along with logistics and support units, which includes a repairman, a doctor, and a quartermaster, etcetera. Thus, at minimum, a battle n requires 6 people. However, this type of small battle n is inadequate to support the logisticsponent in the n for long, so now, a developed mecha battle n needs at least 12 people ¡ª 8 mecha warriors and 4 support personnel." Ling Xiao continued to exin, "With 2 warriors for each support personnel, a mecha battle n will be able to continue running smoothly. Each person in the n will be able to benefit and grow without any wastage."


    Support personnel required warriors to provide for them, otherwise they would not be able to procure any resources to improve their abilities. This was why smaller battle ns were gradually being eliminated. Of course, a battle n could also abandon logistics and support, but this type of battle n would definitely be unable topete with other ns which had better allocation of roles, so their elimination was also inevitable in the long run.

 Chapter 298: The Price of Fate!

    Chapter 298: The Price of Fate!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "In other words, if I want to lead mypanions further, I need to make sure to allocate my members¡¯ roles within the battle n in the most logical and perfect way?" Ling Lan scrunched up her brow. It looked like she had taken things too much for granted ...


    At this time, Ling Lan finally figured out some things she had always found puzzling before ¡ª why Lin Zhong-qing and Han Jijyun had chosen to apply for other specializations in the military academy even though their mecha control standards were not much lower than Xie Yi¡¯s, Luo Lang¡¯s, or the others. In Mecha World, they were all already at the level of advanced mecha warrior. It turned out that they were already familiar with theposition of a battle n, and so had made their choice early on for the sake of the future of their battle n. In contrast, as the boss, she had been rather muddled and clueless till now ¡ª though she had known subconsciously that they had done it for the team, she had not understood their motives as deeply as she did now.


    "This is absolutely necessary. For example, that senior who made this weapon for you would be a great candidate. You should know that for a person to create such an outstanding weapon, he must have reached the pinnacle in terms of his mastery of materials. He is most definitely a prodigy in engineering and modification. He¡¯ll be able to help you greatly by increasing your battle n¡¯s strength by onefold or even more," replied Ling Xiao, "If he hasn¡¯t joined any other battle n yet, I rmend you act quickly. This kind of prodigy is a truly rare and lucky find."


    "Hn, I¡¯ll have to think well on this." Regarding theposition of their battle n, Ling Lan still wanted to check in with Qi Long and the others first. After all, even if she wanted to expand the team and take in new people, Ling Lan still hoped to receive their agreement.


    Right then, Ling Lan could not help but think of that dux of the military medical research specialization, Li Shiyu. At first, she had only felt that the other¡¯s medical skills were amazing, which had moved her to establish a good rtionship with him in hopes that if her team members were injured in future, they would have a trustworthy doctor to rely on. Now, from the looks of it, she needed to change her strategy and redraw her ns.


    Ling Lan also recalled that the students studying to be military doctors typically would not join any battle ns, strictly holding onto a neutral stance. She reckoned that this dux, Li Shiyu, would also be the same. Ling Lan decided that no matter what, she must manipte ... er, no, force ... wait, that¡¯s not right either ... snatch him for her n! Ling Lan silently clenched her fists tightly. She could not let this type of prodigy slip away just like that from her hands.


    Li Shiyu, who had initially been not really all that important in Ling Lan¡¯s mind, had all of a sudden be Ling Lan¡¯s top priority target. Right then, Li Shiyu, who was still immersed in medical research in the Military Medical Research Centre, did not know that his future had already been decided for him by Ling Lan without him being the wiser! Let us take a moment of silence to mourn for him!


    "If you really want to establish a battle n, you indeed need to think well on this." When Ling Xiao had mentioned the first half of his sentence, he could already feel the endless cold air seeping out from within Ling Lan¡¯s mecha, and he smiled wryly.


    It was probably impossible for his daughter to cast aside those few littlepanions who had grown up alongside her. At this moment, Ling Xiao did not know whether to be proud or sad 1 ¡ª his daughter, who should have been a bundle of adorableness to be cosseted in the palms of his hands, had now be so cold, stern, and domineering, her boss aura even more formidable and fearsome than his had been while he had been thriving in the military academy back in his time ...


    Say, had his wife really given birth to a daughter? Ling Xiao was suddenly uncertain. He had the impulse to immediately contact his wife to confirm ¡ª back then, had she really given birth to a girl? Could it be that his wife had wanted a girl so much that she had forcefully decided to treat their son as a daughter?


    This notion was quickly dispelled by Ling Xiao because it was an absolutely impossible scenario. He was really too stupid to even consider it, certain to be chased out of the bedroom by his wife for half a year if he asked her ...


    "Of course, there are two ways the members of a battle n can join. One way is for them to be permanent members. These people must have gone through some testing and have earned your trust. And then there are some talents who may not be so reliable, who you can choose to sign on into your n temporarily. For example, you could take in some battle n members temporarily, just for these few years at the academy, and once you all graduate, the contract automatically ends."


    Ling Xiao shoved aside all those messy thoughts in his mind, continuing on with the previous topic and listing the rest of the key information about battle ns, "Aside from a few necessary permanent members, a typical battle n is primarily made up of contracted members, because no one can guarantee that in future, there won¡¯t be better team members whoe along. One more thing ¡ª permanent team members who are not united in spirit, who do not trust each other unconditionally, may very well choose differently when the timees to choose their army division in the future. This would not create much difficulty for those team members themselves, but for the battle n leader, the departure of a permanent member could be devastating. This would indicate that this team leader does not possess great leadership abilities and may also have problems with his judgement of character. In the army divisions, this would significantly impact that leader¡¯s future progress. Of course, this point won¡¯t influence you much. As long as you think they¡¯re alright, just take in whoever you want. You don¡¯t have to worry."


    Ling Lan would definitely be in Ling Xiao¡¯s army division in the future. As long as she did notmit any major fault, ascending the ranks step by step would certainly be no issue. Besides, Ling Xiao and Lan Luofeng were already in tacit agreement ¡ª they would gradually weaken the presence of the male Ling Lan, not allowing her to stand out too much in the division. Therefore, even if her battle n really split apart in future, there would not be much impact on Ling Lan¡¯s future.


    "A battle n usually only stabilises properly after the n has entered an army division. That¡¯s why the n leader who organised the n would mostly choose to have temporary contracts with the members, waiting to properly establish the battle n after he has chosen and entered an army division." Ling Xiao went through all the important parts of building a battle n.


    Ling Lan nodded pensively, and then Ling Xiao asked, "Right, are the specializations of all thosepanions of yours in Mecha Piloting?"


    "Hm, Lin Zhong-qing chose Logistics, Han Jijyun chose Starship Command, while Qi Long, Luo Lang and Xie Yi chose the same as me, Mecha Piloting." Ling Lan responded to Ling Xiao¡¯s question by listing out all the specializations of herpanions.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes sparkled at this response. Inside, he was happy for his daughter¡¯s sake ¡ª these little fellows had truly been aiming for the perfect establishment of a battle n. "Are Qi Long, Luo Lang and Xie Yi particrly strong in terms ofbat ability? And are their awakened innate talents more suited to mecha piloting?"


    "Yes,pared to Lin Zhong-qing and Han Jijyun, it is indeed so," Ling Lan nodded and said.


    Pleased, Ling Xiao nodded and said, "From the looks of it, your battle n is stillcking a strategic adviser, a doctor, and an engineer-mechanic. High level engineer-mechanics are generally in high demand. If you can¡¯t find a particrly exceptional one, I rmend you look for a skilled mecha repairman. That would be more useful than an average engineer-mechanic. The extra slots you have on your team can be filled with several other strong mecha operators."


    "There¡¯s no need to look for a strategic adviser. That¡¯s Han Jijyun¡¯s secondary specialization. He was already exceptionally gifted in that area, only choosing Starship Command for the future of the battle n," Ling Lan conveyed the situation with Han Jijyun to Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao found himself speechless. He really had no words to describe how lucky Ling Lan was. Actually having such an exceptional prodigy among thepanions she grew up with, able to take on two roles ... this way, the battle n would have one less support member to provide for, and the pressure would be much less. It could be said that inparison to other simr 12-man battle ns, Ling Lan¡¯s battle n would definitely be much stronger because of this 2 .


    "Ling Lan, you need to cherish thesepanions well. They¡¯re really very good," said Ling Xiao seriously. Since the members were giving their all to contribute to the formation of the battle n, as the n leader, Ling Lan needed to live up to their contributions.


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked up at these words, and she nodded solemnly and said, "Don¡¯t worry, father, they are the most important friends of my life. I will definitely treasure them."


    That said, Ling Lan¡¯s gaze narrowed in contemtion, silently considering a candidate for the engineer-mechanic of her team. No matter what, getting to know [No Mecha Unrepaired] in Mecha World was indeed a stroke of luck, plus the other was also from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy ¡ª he was truly the most suitable candidate. At first, she had only thought to establish a good connection with the other, but now, this idea of taking him in was indeed a good one. It would resolve the problem of finding an extremely important support member for her battle n.


    ********


    Right then, [No Mecha Unrepaired], who was in the Suncreed City Library engrossed in researching all sorts of blueprints and reference materials, felt a sudden chill go through his body. He lifted his head warily, silently observing the other fellow aficionados in the library who were simrly bent over their own blueprints and diagrams in focused study. After all, he had offended the Thunder King before; who knew whether the other would send people to trouble him here in Suncreed City ...


    He looked left and he looked right, however, no matter how he looked, he could see nothing strange ... could it be that he was too tiredtely, thus messing up his sense of perception? [No Mecha Unrepaired] decided to finish up with the diagram he was studying and then take a good rest so that he could avoid this sort of paranoia messing with his productivity ...


    ********


    At this thought, Ling Lan involuntarily turned her head to nce at the two people watching the fight. Could these two people also be serendipitous acquaintances for her? Ling Lan¡¯s mind stirred, and she turned to ask Ling Xiao, "Father, what are the IDs of those two mecha?"


    "Why do you ask for their IDs? Has something happened?" Ling Xiao frowned. He had allowed those two to spectate because he wanted to show them a kindness, but he did not want them to distract his daughter from learning.


    "No, I¡¯m just wondering whether they could be a fated connection for me. They could turn out to be a member of my battle n in future," said Ling Lan coolly, "Fated meetings are not so easy toe by; perhaps they should pay some price for this ..."


    Er ... is this his daughter? Isn¡¯t this too sly and cunning? Ling Xiao could not help but nce at those two innocent mecha who were still clueless about what was happening. In his heart, however, he firmly gave his daughter 32 thumbs ups 3 : D*mn, as expected of a daughter of mine, definitely never taking a loss if she can help it.


    "The ck mecha is called [Forge the Future] 4 , while the advanced mecha is called [Self-Defined Destiny] 5 ," Ling Xiao revealed their IDs to his daughter without any hesitation, using action to show his support for his daughter¡¯s decision.


    Seeing the two mecha on the stage stop fighting to turn and look at them one after the other, Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun felt their hearts skip a beat. Was the other side about to kick them out now? In his mecha¡¯s cockpit, Zhao Jun even began to pray with his palms held together: Oh God, please no!


    In the midst of Li Lanfeng¡¯s and Zhao Jun¡¯s worrying, the two mecha on the stage turned back in silent unison, and then the intermediate mecha suddenly leapt backwards, pulling away once more from the imperial mecha to put some distance between them. It looked like a new fight was about to begin.


    "That scared me! I thought we were really about to get kicked out of here!" Only then did Zhao Jun lower his palms with the sense of relief of a survivor, eximing to Li Lanfeng with some lingering fear.


    "For some reason, I still feel somewhat uneasy." Li Lanfeng did not know why, but a strong sense of danger was spreading within his heart.

 Chapter 299: Advanced Mecha Warrior?

    Chapter 299: Advanced Mecha Warrior?


    Trantor: DRZ Editor: H2dH2mr


    "What¡¯s wrong? Could it be that they truly intend to kick us out?" Zhao Jun, who had rxed, was once again anxious as he asked with a look of concern.


    "No, since they have yet to kick us out, I doubt they would do that after this. However, I have a hunch that we might have to pay a huge price if we continue observing ..." Li Lanfeng¡¯s voice was extremely soft, seemingly talking to himself. He was unable toe up with a reason at the moment as to why he had that hunch.


    "Even if we have to pay a price, are you willing to abandon this opportunity?" Zhao Jun did not believe Li Lanfeng was willing to take the initiative and leave.


    "Of course not. Even if I have to pay a huge price, I will still stay and observe." Li Lanfeng replied decisively and smiled bitterly afterwards.


    Being a number one elite family, the Li Family naturally had a few imperial operators serving them. However, no matter if it was his current identity or his other unpresentable identity, he did not have the right to obtain pointers from those people ... He was thus unable to reject the temptation before him, especially because he wanted to be a winner who could dictate his own destiny and that was why he was all the more unable to reject this opportunity.


    "Therefore, why should we think about the future? What we should do now, is to grasp the opportunity to observe and study what¡¯s before us." Zhao Jun smiled, being of the same mind.


    "You¡¯re right!" Li Lanfengughed soundlessly and started to reflect on his mentality of overthinking things. It was just that this bad habit had been ingrained in him from a young age and was impossible to correct even if he wanted to. Thinking of this, Li Lanfeng sighed softly and appeared at a loss.


    "Quick, take a look, the intermediate mecha is moving!" Zhao Jun¡¯s shout suddenly sounded beside his ears. Luckily they were using their privatems or else, with Zhao Jun making such a big disturbance, they would have definitely been chased out by the room¡¯s owner.


    Li Lanfeng hurriedly curbed his thoughts and focused on the arena. The intermediate mecha had indeed moved but it did not choose to attack immediately. Instead, it hopped around the imperial operator by the edge of the arena at high speed. Its speed increased to the point where the mecha¡¯s silhouette turned blurry.


    "How is this possible? This shadow slidestep is a technique only an advanced mecha warrior would know." Looking at this scene, Zhao Jun cried out in disbelieving surprise.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression instantly stiffened. Could it be that the operator of this intermediate mecha was an advanced mecha warrior? There were numerous techniques that could only be executed with apatible mecha, just like the shadow slidestep which was an exclusive technique of an advanced mecha. Did an intermediate mecha have the capability of allowing the operator to execute such a technique?


    For some reason, the rabbit mecha of that time surfaced in Li Lanfeng¡¯s mind at this moment. It had clearly been a trainee mecha, yet the other party had executed many movements which exceeded the limit of a trainee mecha, pushing the mecha to its extreme limits. Wait, it was to the extent of even exceeding the limit ... Could it be that this intermediate mecha operator was another outstanding aberrant operator?


    "No, it¡¯s impossible ... the rabbit mecha operator is unique and unmatched." Li Lanfeng shook his head and expelled the thoughts in his mind. He would never admit that someone could be mentioned on equal terms with the rabbit in his heart.


    Just as both spectators were bewildered, the intermediate mecha finallyunched another attack after circling several times around the arena.


    The shadow slidestep was simultaneously an evasion and confusion technique that would cause illusions to appear before the opponent. An afterimage of the mecha would be disyed through the external recording device, and although this would only cause several seconds of dy, it could perhaps lead to an important turning point to obtain victory during a high-speed mecha fight.


    Therefore, by the time Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng could see the attacking movement of the intermediate mecha clearly, it had already appeared behind the imperial mecha, and the sharp, shiny, ck tangdao in its right hand chopped down, making a sound of tearing through air. This showed that the attack was both powerful and fierce, but while facing this attack the imperial mecha did not move in the slightest.


    Even though Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng knew that it was impossible for the attack tond, seeing the intermediate mecha¡¯s tangdao about to chop down on the imperial mecha¡¯s shoulder made them involuntarily cry out "ahh!" in rm as the mecha was so close to danger.


    With a resounding ¡¯bang¡¯, the imperial operator merely leaned slightly to the side and, raising his right hand, stopped the tangdao that was about to strike the shoulder of his mecha. So it turned out that the beam shield on the imperial mecha had quietly activated while the tangdao had struck the beam shield, which generated a powerful rebound and directly sent the intermediate mecha bouncing backwards into the air.


    Both of them were under the impression that the intermediate mecha would retreat after having made an ineffective attack, but it suddenly rallied itself and renewed its onught. After the intermediate mecha was sent away by the rebound, its originally silent engine abruptly exploded with noise and using its thrusters as opposing force, it directly neutralized the powerful rebound force.


    The mecha¡¯s engine ceased once again after neutralizing the rebound force. Having maintained its position, the intermediate mecha suddenly began to rotate rapidly like a spinning top before following up byunching a fierce kick towards the imperial mecha below it.


    "Whirlwind Garotte!" Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng once again cried out in surprise as this was another advanced-level technique exclusive to advanced mecha warriors.


    Seemingly having anticipated this move, the imperial operator once again easily broke through the move. The operator was only seen to decisively raise both arms of his mecha, easily grasping firm hold of the intermediate mecha¡¯s powerful kick from among the flurry of afterimages of the spinning leg.


    There was a loud ¡¯bang¡¯ as the intermediate mecha was firmly smashed onto the ground and slid out several meters.


    The instant it was smashed onto the ground, even Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng, who were standing at the edge spectating the fight, could feel an intense vibration from where they stood. This terrifying impact caused their expressions to faintly change, believing that the advanced mecha warrior who had received the brunt of this force would not be feeling any better than what they imagined.


    Both of them were under the impression that the intermediate mecha would halt all its movements. Even if its body was sturdy, usually one would choose to lie down on the ground to recover their conditions for a few seconds upon receiving such a powerful blow. Unexpectedly, while the mecha was sliding out several meters and had yet to stop, it moved once again as its right hand suddenly mmed the ground and using the rebound force, the entire mecha soared into the air.


    At the same time, the mecha¡¯s engine turned on again and this time round, it took advantage of its speed to fiercely pounce towards the imperial mecha in a sh. The cold weapon in its hand carried the momentum of a violent storm as it chopped towards the imperial mecha. Seeing the intermediate mecha dashing around the imperial mecha, no one could guess at the intermediate mecha¡¯s direction of movement. This type of irregr movement style caused Zhao Jun¡¯s and Li Lanfeng¡¯s countenance to change once again.


    Currently, they were certain that the operator controlling the intermediate mecha was absolutely not an intermediate mecha warrior as they had previously believed and was undoubtedly an advanced mecha warrior. Reason being, this type of irregr movement style required the execution of numerous hand movements at a frightening speed in an instant; it was definitely not something an intermediate mecha warrior could aplish.


    Li Lanfeng could not help but think to himself, that if he were to operate this intermediate mecha, could he aplish those practically non-stop hand movements like the other party could? Considering the limitations of the intermediate mecha, Li Lanfeng realised that it would be very difficult. Perhaps he might be able to aplish it, but it would not be possible to perform it so brilliantly and smoothly and at the same time with such ease like the other. Did this mean that the other party¡¯s control skills were better than his?


    Thinking of this, Li Lanfeng felt faintly disappointed inside. Genius operators had appeared around him one after another ¡ª with his average control talent, would he truly be able to change his fate as he challenged heaven¡¯s will?


    "Hey, talent is indeed important, but foundations and hard work are of more importance than talent. If you were to train all levels of foundational controls to perfection, I believe that you will not be inferiorpared to those geniuses ..." The words left behind by that rabbit mecha surfaced once again in Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart and he was suddenly jolted to his senses. That¡¯s right, maybe he wascking in talent, but he would continue working hard and practice every foundational control skill until they became part of his instinct. Although the difficulty increased with each level, he had never forgotten the warning words of advice the rabbit had given him, and this had always been his psychological pir!


    "Rest assured, I will not be defeated by those geniuses. I will be more hardworking than them and when we meet, I hope I will no longer be looking up at you." Li Lanfeng secretly clenched his fists as his confidence, which had received a setback due to the intermediate mecha, once again recovered.


    He could lose to his rabbit friend, but he could not lose to others. Even if the intermediate mecha warrior before him had an aberrant talent in control, it could not cause his confidence to crumble.


    He would never lose to the other party!


    On the arena, the sounds of fighting had never stopped, and at times the rhythm of those sounds even seemed as if they were well nned and methodically arranged. Even though the battle was somewhat indistinct from Zhao Jun¡¯s and Li Lanfeng¡¯s perspective, they knew that the imperial operator had without a doubt intercepted all the advanced mecha warrior¡¯s irregr attacks.


    Just like that, the intermediate mecha continued tounch fierce attacks for approximately one minute. Although it might not seem long, Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng understood that during this one minute, the hand speed of the intermediate mecha operator had been in a state of high speed. Even Zhao Jun, who was ssified as a special-ss operator, could not help but tremble internally, hands starting to throb in pain as he imagined himself being the one doing the operating.


    These movements had high requirements of an operator¡¯s hand speed and for an ordinary intermediate mecha to execute those high-level techniques, it would require the operator¡¯s control skills to match. Therefore, Zhao Jun even suspected that the operator¡¯s hands were currently cramped and had be numb.


    When the intermediate mechanded, Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng could not help but breathe out, thinking that they should be able to rx and rest for a moment now. Unexpectedly, the intermediate mecha had justnded when it once again moved and executed a shadow slidestep, the exclusive technique of advanced mecha, while dashing towards the imperial mecha ...


    "What the f*ck, does he never get tired?" Zhao Jun could not help but curse. Could it be that the operator of the intermediate mecha was a robot?


    "What if the other party¡¯s true level is at mecha master level?" Li Lanfeng replied unperturbedly.


    From the control skills disyed by the intermediate mecha, Li Lanfeng did not think that the other party¡¯s real skills were only that of an advanced mecha warrior. He even believed that, perhaps, the other party might have already reached the level of a special-ss operator, or even possibly the level of an ace operator.

 Chapter 300: Ling Lan’s Mistake!

    Chapter 300: Ling Lan¡¯s Mistake!


    Trantor: DRZ Editor: H2dH2mr


    Although these conjectures caused difort in Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart and made him feel that the huge difference between them would be difficult to make up for, he would not disregard the other party¡¯s strength due to this.


    "It couldn¡¯t be ..." Zhao Jun replied in astonishment. When fighting against an imperial operator, even if it was just a guidance match, it was undoubtedly an insult towards that operator by using an intermediate mecha to take up the challenge.


    "Perhaps there might be a deeper meaning to it." Li Lanfeng touched his chin and started pondering.


    "What deeper meaning?" Zhao Jun asked in puzzlement.


    "Could using a lesser mecha to execute advanced-level techniques help inprehending those advanced-level techniques?" Li Lanfeng had indeed overthought things; he would alwayse up with some reasonings to convince himself, just like now. He decided to go redeem an intermediate mecha again after he finished spectating the fight, and experiment using advanced-level techniques on that mecha to see if it would be of help in improving his control over advanced techniques.


    Based on Li Lanfeng¡¯s current strength and hand speed, he had already achieved the standard to advance to special-ss operator level. The reason he had yet to advance was that he felt there were some fundamental movements that he was unable to execute exactly as he willed. He had always borne in mind the words that the rabbit mecha had consoled him with, so without perfecting those techniques, he was unable to convince himself to enter the next level.


    He had originally assumed that this problem was due to insufficient practice, but from the current situation, he felt that perhaps it might be because of hisck of thorough understanding and that it was time to change and try another method.


    At this moment, Ling Lan was unaware that her execution of techniques surpassing her level had caused Li Lanfeng, who was spectating the fight, to have a different train of thought, hence opening up a different type of training method. This fortuitous misconception gave him new insight towards foundational control.


    ********


    "Ling Lan, are you still not aware that there¡¯s a problem with your control?"


    Just as Ling Lan executed a shadow slidestep to continue attacking Ling Xiao, her father¡¯s indifferent voice suddenly sounded out in the cockpit. Ling Xiao¡¯s voice had always contained indulgence and acknowledgement, yet his current tone actually contained a hint of coldness and reproach.


    Hearing his words, Ling Lan was rmed, but her attack was already a nocked arrow that had to be released. Ling Xiao¡¯s counterattack was efficient this time ¡ª heunched a palm strike which, with a snapping sound, struck the crook of the arm of the mecha that Ling Lan was operating. It directly destroyed the mecha arm¡¯s control system, which basically meant that the right hand of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha had been crippled.


    With a ¡¯ng¡¯, the cold weapon Regretless in Ling Lan¡¯s hand dropped to the ground. The right hand which had lost control obviously did not have any means of holding onto that heavy weapon, and so the weapon was naturally dropped.


    Ling Lan immediately leaped backwards, increasing the distance between them, and quietly stood stationary while starting to decipher the meaning of Ling Xiao¡¯s questioning words.


    "Ling Lan, afterunching attacks for so long, haven¡¯t you noticed your problem?" Ling Xiao¡¯s voice once again rang out in the cockpit, asking the same question.


    "Is there a problem?" Ling Lan pondered aloud. Indeed, she had not noticed any problems with her own control. Although executing advanced-level techniques which were distinctive to advanced mecha on an intermediate mecha was quite strenuous, she had undoubtedly increased thebat power of the mecha several times over. Otherwise, based on an intermediate mecha¡¯s capability, it would have been impossible to exchange blows with an imperial mecha for such an extended period of time and she would have long been knocked down.


    "Are you thinking that you¡¯ve increased the mecha¡¯sbat power?" Ling Xiao could make out Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts at a nce and so bluntly asked her.


    "Yes," Ling Lan replied honestly.


    "But are things really what you believe them to be?" Ling Xiao¡¯s questioning stunned Ling Lan. Using higher level techniques would of course allow a mecha¡¯s power to be greater. Or was she mistaken?


    "What¡¯s the current damage level of your mecha?" Ling Xiao sighed and could not help but rub at his brow.


    As a father, he hadcked severely in fulfilling his obligations. If Ling Lan had not proposed to have him guide her in mecha piloting, he would not have known that his daughter¡¯s understanding of mecha piloting would have actually entered a diverged route. It seemed like there were too many things he had to learn to be apetent father. However, it was not serious as it was not considered toote for him to have realised this.


    Ling Xiao took a nce at the silent intermediate mecha disyed on his screen and felt certain. As long as Ling Lan realised her mistake, her control skills were bound to improve. Thinking of this, Ling Xiao could not help but feel proud once again. Take a look, this is my, Ling Xiao¡¯s daughter. Even though she¡¯s a female, she has still managed to inherit my exceptional control talent, and she¡¯ll definitely be the best female mecha master.


    Ling Xiao had high hopes for Ling Lan and believed that she would inevitably be an ace mecha master. Of course, under his wholehearted nurturing, it was not impossible for her to be the number one imperial operator in the Federation. Thinking of this possibility, Ling Xiao could not help but tremble. Despite being a god-ss operator, he was still so moved at the thought of possibly witnessing his daughter ascending to the pinnacle that he could not be calm.


    Alright, please forgive a father¡¯s feelings. Even if Ling Xiao was a god-ss operator, at this moment, he was still an ordinary father who dearly loved his daughter.


    Upon hearing Ling Xiao¡¯s words, Ling Lan did not dy in asking Little Four, who was currently in control of the mecha, about the mecha¡¯s condition.


    Little Four replied that although he had tried his utmost to maintain the mecha¡¯s bnce, its current damage level was already at 32.77% due to Ling Lan overextending the mecha by repeatedly executing advanced-level techniques. That was to say, if Ling Lan were to continue fighting in this manner, the mecha would only be able to sustain itself for another three minutes before it wouldpletely fall apart.


    "Damage level is at 32.77%." Ling Lan had not expected that the mecha¡¯s damage level would be so high. She somewhat dejectedly ryed this answer to Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao quirked his brows, somewhat surprised. He had assumed that, with Ling Lan frantically overextending the mecha, the damage level was sure to be more than 40%. Unexpectedly, it was only slightly over 30%. It seemed like his daughter normally took great care of her mecha and made sure that every function of the mecha was adjusted to near optimum levels, thus being able to keep the damage level this low.


    Ling Xiao was very satisfied by this. Only a mecha operator who truly cherished their mecha would be able to understand the significance of a mecha to an operator, and thus be able to bring out the true potential of the mecha without restraint. Without him having to bring this to her attention, his own daughter had been able to naturallyprehend this aspect. This proved that his daughter was a natural-born, outstanding mecha operator.


    Ling Xiao, who was filled with appreciation for his daughter at this moment, was not aware that his daughter was absolutely not as great as he imagined. The mecha¡¯s low damage rate waspletely due to Ling Lan¡¯s cheat, the omnipotent Little Four, who had done his utmost in preserving and maintaining the mecha. However, Little Four was exclusively Ling Lan¡¯s and could be considered as part of Ling Lan¡¯s ability, so Ling Xiao could not be considered to have been joyous for nothing.


    "ording to this damage rate, you¡¯ll only be able to continue for another three minutes. Do you perhaps think you can defeat me during those three minutes?" Even though Ling Xiao was very satisfied with his daughter, his tone was still cold. At this moment, he was not ying the role of a gentle father but a strict teacher. Since a problem with Ling Lan¡¯s mecha piloting had surfaced, then Ling Xiao needed to let Ling Lan understand her problem and keep it in mind.


    "No, I¡¯ve never thought so. Even if father were to abandon your defences and stand there like a sandbag for me to attack as I wish for three minutes, I would still be unable to defeat you." Ling Lan was clear about the difference in strength between her and Ling Xiao. She had merely had the extravagant hope ofnding an attack on him once ... only now did Ling Lan realize that her wish was actually so insignificant. From the start, she had been so oppressed by her father¡¯s powerful aura that she was somewhat breathless.


    "I was only hoping to let father witness the techniques I have mastered. Of course, were it possible, I very much wished tond a strike on you." Ling Lan honestly revealed her own thoughts.


    "Do you think you can achieve that?" Ling Xiao snorted and used the tip of his mecha¡¯s toe to point at his current position. Ling Lan subconsciously looked over, and what she saw caused Ling Lan to be transfixed. Her expression which had still been quite calm and collected suddenly froze.


    "Have you understood?" Ling Xiao asked coldly.


    "Yes, I was too egotistical," replied Ling Lan with a bitter smile; she saw that despite all her advanced attacks that she had racked her brains to think up, it had all been insignificant to her father Ling Xiao. Because from the start, the feet of Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha had never moved; he had stood there all along. Currently, he was still standing in the same spot and even his feet had not lifted once.


    "It¡¯s not a problem wanting to win, but the problem lies in you. After executing those ineffective advanced-level techniques, why did you obstinately persist in using them? You clearly knew that if you were to repeatedly execute those techniques, not only would it be a huge burden on yourself, it would be the same for your mecha ... Ultimately, there would have been no need for others to defeat you as you would have caused your own defeat. Is this something a qualified mecha operator should do?" Ling Xiao questioned with a grim expression.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s questioning caused Ling Lan to lower her head in shame. He was right ¡ª other than having talent and capability, a cool head could not becked as this was rted to the decision-making and methods of coping during a battle. A rash action could very well bring about an extreme crisis for a mecha operator and, at the same time, implicate theirrades. Earlier on, she had been too excited, agitated and rash. There had only been one thought in her mind at that moment and that was to sessfullynd a strike on her father as, after all, he was a god-ss operator ... In the world of mecha, a god-ss operator was equivalent to a god-like existence.


    "You¡¯ve forgotten something more important. In my legacy, I should have repeatedly emphasized that the foundation is of greatest importance for any techniques." Seeing that Ling Lan understood her own mistake, Ling Xiao sighed gently and his tone softened.


    "Wasn¡¯t I using the foundational controls for advanced mecha?" Ling Lan asked in astonishment.


    "Were they foundational controls? They should be a set of foundational controls built on other foundational controls, techniques specially developed for advanced mecha. If you were currently using an advanced mecha, I could have just barely agreed with your viewpoint. However, are you using an advanced mecha at this moment?" Ling Xiao once again answered her question with a question.


    Ling Lan was left speechless by Ling Xiao¡¯s questioning and knew now that her viewpoint had been wrong. Perhaps for an advanced mecha, the techniques she had used were more or less the same as foundation controls and not particrly difficult. However, when using an intermediate mecha, they were undoubtedly challenging advanced-level techniques and indeed could not be rted to foundational controls.

 Chapter 301: The Truth of Control!

    Chapter 301: The Truth of Control!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Seeing that Ling Lan hade to a realisation, Ling Xiao continued, "One more thing. In order for a mecha to disy greaterbat power, is it only possible by relying on those fancy and intricate moves? Ling Lan, have you ever thought about this question?"


    Ling Lan was stumped by these words. The higher the difficulty of the mecha controls, the harder it was for the enemy to fight against it. This was the universally epted standard of the mecha world ... but now, Ling Xiao seemed to be suggesting that the truth was not so. Could it be that the entire mechamunity was mistaken in their understanding? Or was it her father himself who was mistaken?


    Ling Lan instantly eliminated the possibility of her father being wrong. If her father was mistaken in his theoretical understanding of mecha, then how in the world had hee by his god-ss operator status? Thinking about the fewer than few god-ss operators within the Federation, Ling Lan could not help but think, Could it be that the official understanding of the mechamunity on mecha control was actually wrong, which is why there are so few god-ss operators? And my father just happened to understand it correctly, thus breaking the age record to be the youngest god-ss operator of the Federation ...?


    Considering this possibility, Ling Lan¡¯s spirits rallied. Did this mean that she was about to learn the truth of mecha control? No wonder it was said that truth was only essible to a chosen few 1 .


    Seeing the radiant light shining from Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, Ling Xiao knew his daughter had figured things out. He continued, "Have you heard of ¡¯keeping things simple¡¯? This phrase can also apply to mecha control."


    "Does it mean that, it is actually the simplest controls that have the greatest power?" asked Ling Lan with a quirked brow.


    "Hn, not quite. It should be more like, being able to control a mecha like your own limbs, using the least amount of effort to bring out the greatest efficiency of a mecha ¡ª that is what a true mecha operator needs to do." Ling Xiao shared his insights, "Those special moves which require tremendous effort with equally tremendous power are not unimportant, but they are just unnecessary outside of those life-or-death moments or some other critical juncture. Using them would just drain and damage your mecha for no reason. If you can use the simplest control methods to deal with an opponent, then why be so wasteful?"


    At first, when he had mbered out of the ck hole and had been faced with a sky full of enemies, he could only use grand and domineering top-ss techniques to frighten the enemy forces into submission. Reality had forced Ling Xiao to use those majestic moves exclusive to god-ss operators, but the associated massive drain had secretly made Ling Xiao wince as well. Even though god-ss mecha could replenish their energy from the stars automatically, after those two astoundingly powerful area-of-effect attacks he had performed, his god-ss mecha¡¯s energy bank had descended to a point where red warnings had been shing ... Still, as the Federation managed to obtain the ultimate victory in that battle due to this expenditure, Ling Xiao felt that the cost was worth it.


    However, this kind of operation was only applicable under that sort of critical scenario. If he had been facing a smaller group of enemies instead, Ling Xiao would never have made the same choice. Mind you, for a mecha operator, once their mecha¡¯s energy source waspletely drained or was destroyed, it would mean certain death. As such, this was not something a good mecha operator should do. A good mecha operator would do their best to protect themselves even as they dealt with the enemy. They would understand that they only had one life ¡ª only by keeping this life would they be able to kill more enemies.


    A sh of valour ¡ª Ling Xiao did not approve; a re of brilliance ¡ª Ling Xiao did not feel it was worth it. Only by extending one¡¯s life could one be considered a good mecha operator, though deserters naturally did not count.


    Thus, Ling Lan¡¯s fixation with chasing after grand and powerful controls had let Ling Xiao see Ling Lan¡¯s problem. This was amon issue with the Federation mecha operators ¡ª everyone felt that only the most powerful moves could represent the strength of a mecha operator, when in truth, this thinking was wrong. On the battlefield, the warriors who could survive till the end were often those mecha operators who seemed average in strength but had solid foundations. In the end, they would grow to be even stronger.


    Meanwhile, those prodigious mecha operators who caused others to be in awe of them, despite possessing countless grand and borate moves, would often die young on the battlefield. Chasing the problem to its roots, every single case could be chalked down to depletion of energy or mecha breakdown, which led them to be struck down by their enemies to sleep forevermore among the stars.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s words made Ling Lan begin to contemte deeply. Indeed, regardless of how strong the enemy was, preserving oneself was the most crucial thing. Seeking a moment of valour and glorypletely went against Ling Lan¡¯s original intentions. Ling Lan had only wanted to continue living on freely and safely; she did not want to let herself be a hero whose name would be carved on some memorial monument.


    Enlightened, Ling Lan said solemnly to her father, "I understand now. From now on, I will change my fighting style. Thank you, father, for your guidance." Mecha controls which would let her continue living on was what she truly needed, as well as being the most worthy of her time.


    Although her father had only said such a simple few sentences, those words had obviously included the insight Ling Xiao had gained over his 33 years of operating mecha, and so was extremely valuable. From them, Ling Lan could feel Ling Xiao¡¯s abundant fatherly love. This made Ling Lan feel extremely moved deep inside, but used to being cold and aloof, she just could not make herself do anything overly warm in response and thus could only sum up her emotions in a simple statement of thanks.


    "Alright, since you understand now, then show me your foundational controls properly. I hope you won¡¯t disappoint me too much." Ling Xiao naturally could feel Ling Lan¡¯s gratitude ¡ª he had a slight smile on his lips, but his tone was still stern and grim. At this moment, in order to ensure his daughter would continue to live on safely, he chose to be a strict teacher and not a kind father.


    "Yes, father!" Even as Ling Lan replied, she decisively used an advanced mecha repair kit on her mecha. After the repairs were done, the mecha¡¯s screen disyed that it was back at 100%. Even the right arm¡¯s control system which had been wrecked by Ling Xiao was restored to normal. Clenching and unclenching the mecha¡¯s right hand, Ling Lan found that there was no problem at all with its functioning; Ling Lan was extremely pleased.


    Fortunately this ce was the mecha world ... mecha were able to be repaired and adjusted to optimum condition in a short period of time without wasting time which could be spent on sparring. If this had been the real world, to repair a mecha and restore it to full fighting power would require quite a few hours, no matter how skilful the repair master was.


    Even as Ling Lan sighed internally over how convenient the mecha world was, she controlled her mecha to pick Regretless up from the ground and slung it back over her back. Then, she assumed the most simple and unbelievably familiar stance everyone who used mecha would know.


    ********


    The spectating Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun saw the intermediate mecha suddenly change its initial attack style ¡ª itsplex and dazzling advanced mecha skills and techniques were suddenly reced with simplicity.


    "Lanfeng, isn¡¯t this the basic assessment stance before entering Mecha World?" Zhao Jun stared at this stance which seemed so distant in memory and yet was so memorable, and could not help but ask dubiously.


    Li Lanfeng responded affirmatively, "Yes, it is!" The basic assessment moves were the mecha operation movements he was most familiar with. That was the set of moves he had trained to proficiency alongside the rabbit mecha. There had even been many times when the two had challenged each other to see who couldplete it faster and better. Who knew that many years after that, these basic assessment moves which could hardly be seen in Mecha World would appear right here before his eyes? This scene brought him back to that time, when he had been secretly watching the rabbit mecha train ...


    While Li Lanfeng was lost in his memories, the intermediate mecha moved. It used the most basic out-toed sprinting art ¡ª this was a type of high-speed sprinting method for mecha which was also extremely stable, a basic control movement that was able to support the body in executing any type of attack. However, in theter stages, after obtaining the better criss-crossed sprinting method as well as the more advanced Z-shaped body sh art, almost all the mecha operators would scorn the out-toed sprinting art for looking crude and ungainly. Moreover, its speed and evasion ability was also no better than the other two types of sprinting control skills, and so this most basic out-toed sprinting art was set aside.


    Later on, with the appearance of even more advanced skills like the Figure-8 Spin, Phantom Light Stream, Gamma Whirl, Light-and-Shadow Skim, and other high-speed flight evasion arts, this most basic out-toed sprinting art became utterly extinct among the advanced mecha warriors.


    "Impossible, how can his speed be that fast?" Zhao Jun suddenly shouted in shock, startling Li Lanfeng from his reverie. Li Lanfeng eyes focused as he looked over, and sure enough, even though that intermediate mecha was using the most basic of basics, the out-toed sprint, that speed was no lesser than what they could achieve using the criss-crossed sprint or the Z-shaped body sh art at present. It could even be said that the other was one level higher; this was another reason why Zhao Jun would exim in such surprise.


    "He¡¯s attacking now. It¡¯s the simplest bash attack." The intermediate mecha that had been running circles around the imperial mecha master suddenly drew close to the other, both fists efficiently striking out at the other¡¯s head without any bit of subterfuge.


    "Using such a simple attack, how could hend a hit?" said Zhao Jun irritably. The other could obviously execute much moreplex attacks, so why didn¡¯t he do so instead of using this type of attack method which was clearly not going to work?


    Sure enough, the imperial mecha lifted an arm and blocked the intermediate mecha¡¯s fists. But right then, the intermediate mecha¡¯s fists retracted the moment they touched the other, and immediately after, its feet kicked off the ground and swung powerfully at the other ... It looked like that tant dual-fist attack was actually just a feint ¡ª the true finishing move of the intermediate mecha was from its feet.


    "This is the basic stomping art! Hells, what exactly is he trying to do?" Zhao Jun could not help but wrap his arms around his head and wail. He wanted to see an instructional fight, not watch as an intermediate mecha disyed the basic assessment moves one after the other ... could that even be considered a real attack?


    Li Lanfeng, who had originally been responding to everything Zhao Jun said, was unusually quiet at this time. Within his cockpit, his expression was one of intense shock, filled with disbelief ...


    "This is the rabbit mecha¡¯s most habitual attack move. It¡¯s also something he created. Whenever he had something he couldn¡¯t resolve, he would default to using this move ..." Across the distance of 7 years, this familiar move emerged once more before his eyes ¡ª even as it made him emotional, he was filled with shock and doubt.


    ********


    Ling Xiao was rather taken aback by this unexpected kick of Ling Lan¡¯s because this stomping art was not an attack technique. Instead, it was a type of basic movement skill which worked together with the out-toed sprint to help shift directions and speed. Ever since the out-toed sprint fell out of favour, this stomping art had also been forgotten by the mecha operators.


    Ling Xiao did not find it surprising that Ling Lan would use the stomping art, but the fact that Ling Lan had actually made some improvements to it and integrated it into her attack did surprise him. He was even greatly pleased by it ¡ª this meant that his daughter¡¯s mastery of the basic controls had already reached an apex, otherwise she could not have evolved these basic moves so naturally into attack techniques. It looked like Ling Lan had taken his legacy to heart ¡ª she had learned the foundations extremely well, securing them solidly.


    "Not bad!" Ling Xiao did not hold back on giving his daughter praise, even as both his hands rose to meet Ling Lan¡¯s feet.

 Chapter 302: Seven Years Ago?

    Chapter 302: Seven Years Ago?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    There was a loud ¡¯boom¡¯ ¡ª due to the collision this time, the intermediate mecha was sent flying back. Meanwhile, Ling Xiao¡¯s body actually wavered slightly as well due to the astounding power behind this stomping art.


    "This is no ordinary stomping art ..." Ling Xiao was stunned. Could it be that his daughter had added some special technique into this stomping art?


    Before Ling Xiao¡¯s astonishment could fade, something even more surprising urred. The intermediate mecha actually flew backwards at a greater speed than that which it had used to attack Ling Xiao. In the air, Ling Lan flipped her body without trying to control the mecha, letting it careen as it would towards the walls of the private room ...


    "Ah ah ah, he¡¯s going to hit the wall!" Despite being extremely dissatisfied with how the intermediate mecha was using basic assessment moves to fight, when he saw the other leave his mecha alone to let it just hurtle towards a wall at high speed, Zhao Jun was instantly yelling out in concern.


    Only Ling Xiao and Li Lanfeng had a gleam of light run through their eyes at the same time, though the meaning behind each gleam was vastly different.


    Ling Xiao believed his daughter was not that weak ¡ª he believed that his daughter would not really crash into the wall. On the other hand, the name of a skill which belonged solely to the rabbit mecha he knew had floated into Li Lanfeng¡¯s mind: ¡¯Rabbit Sky Leap!¡¯ . Oftentimes when it had seemed like the situation waspletely out of control at high speeds, the rabbit mecha would use this move to turn things around.


    Sure enough, just as the intermediate mecha was about to m into the wall, Ling Lan, who had long been prepared, operated the mecha¡¯s two strong and powerful legs to kick out forcefully at the wall. There was a loud ¡¯boom¡¯, and the entire room suddenly began to shake violently, almost sending the spectating Zhao Jun¡¯s and Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha tumbling off their feet.


    Meanwhile, following this push off the wall, the intermediate mecha used this surge of rebound force to send its body shooting like lightning towards the imperial mecha standing in the middle of the stage ...


    Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng reacted quickly to steady their mecha. Once they were stable once more, they turned their eyes towards the stage again and saw the intermediate mecha zipping around like lightning back and forth across the private room.


    ng! ng! ng! ng! ... the powerful sounds of collision reverberated like the wild rain of a thunderstorm within thebat room. The two mecha sparred ¡ª one as quick as lightning, its movements almost untrackable, while the other was as steady as Mount Tai 1 , taking moves as they came, unmoving as a mountain 2 .


    "This is just the stomp technique, countless applications of the stomp technique ..." Zhao Jun peered closely for several 10 or so seconds, then felt his eyes were somewhat raw, with even a trace of pain. He could not help but raise his hands to rub at his eyes. It turned out that the speed of the intermediate mecha had already exceeded the capacity of Zhao Jun¡¯s motion vision ¡ª having stared intently at the screen all this time, he was now feeling rather overwhelmed.


    "Yes, it¡¯s the stomp technique ..." But this was no ordinary stomp technique, otherwise that imperial mecha would not have surreptitiously shifted its original stance. In contrast to Zhao Jun¡¯s carelessness, the conscientious Li Lanfeng had caught the shift. The imperial mecha, who had initially been standing straight with its legs together, had now spread its legs, and its knees were slightly bent. This was the specific stance of a mecha stabilising its lower body. It was clear to see that the intermediate mecha¡¯s stomp technique was dealing significant impact to the imperial operator, causing the other to have no choice but to use this most stable stance while defending.


    And the only one who could utilise the stomp technique so proficiently, in Li Lanfeng¡¯s memory, was the rabbit mecha and no other. Could it be that the rabbit he had searched for in these 7 long years was this intermediate mecha warrior before his eyes right now? 3 But based on the rabbit mecha¡¯s strength, he should not have remained stuck at intermediate mecha level ... One question in Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart seemed to have been answered now, but this answer merely spawned even more questions ...


    Just as Zhao Jun was kneading at his eyes and while Li Lanfeng was gued with questions, the intermediate mecha, who had been moving at high speeds all this while, suddenly dropped tond at a corner of the stage after one more violent sh with the imperial mecha. Due to its sudden stop from a high speed, the mecha was sent sliding forwards 5 metres or so before it found firm footing.


    Perhaps extremely used to this type of abrupt stop from high speeds, though the intermediate mecha slid for about 5 metres, its upper body did not waver at all. This proved that this amount of slide was within the intermediate mecha¡¯s calctions.


    Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun shared a look, unsure why the intermediate mecha had suddenly chosen to stop its attack when the situation was looking so optimistic. An idea sparked through Li Lanfeng¡¯s mind. He remembered the rabbit mecha saying once that this type of high-speed stomping actually put a great burden on mecha. Trainee mecha would not be able to withstand it for long ¡ª could it be that it was the same for intermediate mecha?


    Seeing this, Ling Xiao stood up from his defensive stance and said to Ling Lan with a smile, "Looks like you understand now."


    "Yes, thank you, father, for your guidance," replied Ling Lan gratefully. Thatbination of moves she had just performed was so familiar to her they were embedded in her marrow ¡ª it was no effort at all to execute, perhaps even casual and easy.


    Still, whether in terms of speed or attack power, that set of moves had not been any weaker than any of the other advanced techniques she had used previously. In fact, they could even be considered better, because she still had energy to spare in her controls, unlike before when even as she drained herself, her mecha was forced to operate over its capacity, damaging its lifespan.


    This also made Ling Lan realise on a profound level what Ling Xiao¡¯s words meant. Having understood, she stopped her attack, because she had already obtained what she wanted from this instructional fight. Missionplete, it would be a waste of time to continue fighting.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Ling Xiao¡¯s smile deepen. Ling Xiao knew very well that Ling Lan had achieved true understanding, once again proving that his daughter¡¯s learning ability was absolutely superior to others¡¯.


    "Your stomp technique should have been integrated with some other special technique. How did you think of it?" Ling Xiao was extremely curious. Mind you, those who had only begun to learn mecha control would just rotely follow instructions toplete the training exercises. Normally, they would never even think ofbining or improvising on any of these controls ... Ling Lan¡¯s ability to do so undoubtedly surprised Ling Xiao greatly, because even he had not been able to do so when he had been younger.


    "By coincidence. Back when I first started learning mecha control, I met someone else who had also just begun learning mecha control. The other was a control genius, able to execute each move to utter perfection. His results were very good; I was no match for him at first. This made me determined. Things he could do, what was stopping me from doing them too? So I thought hard on how to increase my mecha¡¯s speed, and worked hard to perfect my transitions between all types of actions. Without knowing it, I applied a leg technique from physical skills to my mecha control, and discovered that it actually produced a certain effect. And so, I began to experiment ..." Hiding part of the truth, Ling Lan told her father the story of her meeting with the leopard mecha 4 back then ...


    As Ling Lan was telling the story, she realised that arge part of her proficiency with the basic assessment controls should definitely be credited to the leopard mecha. The other¡¯spanionship had undoubtedly made that dry and routine training time of her life be considerably more interesting. Upon closer examination, of all the basic controls Ling Lan knew now, this set of basic assessment controls was the one Ling Lan was most adept andfortable with. This was why when Ling Xiao had insisted for Ling Lan to use basic controls, she had chosen this set without thinking. Reality proved that this was the set that had seeped into her bones, the set which had be part of her basic instinct, the set of basic controls that she had truly mastered.


    Understanding all this, Ling Xiao prepared to go offline. Although he did not care much about the enlistment assessment results of the military academy, as the head of the division¡¯s assessment delegation, he should still at least show his face and ask cursorily about the results at the end of every day. Otherwise, the administrators of the school might misunderstand and assume that the 23rd Division did not care at all about the First Men¡¯s Military Academy ... In order to sessfully ept his daughter into the 23rd Divisionter on, he needed to maintain a good rtionship with the school no matter what.


    After saying goodbye to his daughter, Ling Xiao instantly logged off from the private room. The next time he went online, his mecha would automatically appear within the main hall of the mechabat hall. If Ling Lan required instruction againter, he would not have to spend the effort finding his way here anymore ...


    Seeing the imperial mecha vanish, Li Lanfeng knew the pair was about to leave. Impulsively, he rushed forwards and connected to his generalms to say, "Hello, can you please wait a moment?"


    Ling Lan was just about to go offline ¡ª hearing this, she paused and raised her head to look towards the advanced mecha who had spoken.


    Seeing the intermediate mecha looking at him silently, Li Lanfeng hesitated for a moment, but then asked resolutely (because he did not want to miss another chance), "May I ask, 7 years ago, were you at the capital city of Azure?"


    Azure? The capital city?" Ling Lan¡¯s face was filled with confusion. Seven years ago, she had indeed let Little Four secretly bring her out into the virtual world, but back then, the ce she had asked Little Four to bring her to had been the capital city of Doha!


    "Uh, Boss ... I forgot to tell you. Back when you asked me to take you to the capital, I identally chose Azure ..." Little Four, who had been drawn out by the advanced mecha warrior¡¯s question, revealed his blunder to Ling Lan.


    At these words, Ling Lan instantly had her guard up. "How could he know that I was at Azure 7 years ago? Could it be that I was exposed somewhere?"


    Little Four became agitated by this supposition ¡ª that¡¯s right, back then, he and Boss had been undercover, so how could someone else have discovered this? Little Four quickly scanned the other¡¯s spiritual power ...


    "Hmm?" Li Lanfeng frowned lightly. He had sensed some strange disturbance in his surroundings, but could not say for certain what it was. Cautious and vignt, he immediately wrapped up his spiritual power with his spectre ability. Regardless of whether he was being paranoid, Li Lanfeng¡¯s first reflex was still to choose and protect himself.


    "Ah ... what a familiar energy signature!" Little Four sensed Li Lanfeng¡¯s spectre power and instantly eximed in shock. He swiftly dashed back into Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace and rummaged through his memory bank of energy signatures,paring them to the energy he had sensed. Soon, he had dug up the long-buried information of the leopard mecha, that is, the spectre whom they had met back then.


    "Boss, we¡¯ve bumped into an old acquaintance!" replied Little Four excitedly. Because Ling Lan had forbidden him from taking the initiative to venture out and test the spiritual power of others, Little Four had not noticed anything before this even though Li Lanfeng had already been standing there for a long while. Of course, this was also because Little Four had been busy helping Ling Lan control her mecha at the time, with no mind to spare.


    "Who?" asked Ling Lan, brow lifted in curiosity.


    "It¡¯s that leopard mecha! That spectre who watched the mecha fight with us!" Little Four responded enthusiastically.


    "So it¡¯s him ..." Ling Lan was floored. She had just been telling her father about him, and now he actually showed up? It appeared that she and this leopard were truly tied by fate.

 Chapter 303: Rabbit? Leopard?

    Chapter 303: Rabbit? Leopard?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Li Lanfeng waited with bated breath for the intermediate mecha¡¯s reply, but the other was unexpectedly silent. Thebat room was thrust into a still silence.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart drooped lower and lower as time passed ¡ª did this silence mean denial? Right then, an alert rang out suddenly inside his cockpit. Li Lanfeng clicked on the notification by reflex, and saw that it was an alert for a friend request. It was from someone called [Lingtian First-String], and there was a message included: Leopard, let¡¯s talk some other time.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart was instantly brimming with happiness. He tried to click on ¡¯ept¡¯ immediately, but his initially extraordinarily nimble hands and fingers, which could execute really challenging advanced mecha warrior moves, were suddenly weak and slow. He tried tapping the screen three times in session and actually failed every single time.


    Li Lanfeng took in a deep breath, and then steadying his right hand with his left, he firmly pressed the ¡¯ept¡¯ button.


    When he saw the name [Lingtian First-String] appear on his friends list, Li Lanfeng felt his entire body go weak, his eyes beginning to prickle with warmth. He quickly raised his head, holding back the tears of joy which had been about to flow out ...


    After searching for so long, he had finally reconnected this friendship which had been interrupted for 7 years! Dear Heavens, even though you were the one to condemn me to a Phoenix Thrall Fate, at this time, I still want to thank you. Thank you for giving me this chance!


    Zhao Jun saw the intermediate mecha log off without answering Li Lanfeng¡¯s question and was instantly livid. "F*ck, how could he be so cold and unfeeling? Is it really that hard to answer yes or no?" Of course, he was just grumbling for the sake of it; after all, to answer or not to answer was the other¡¯s right. Zhao Jun was just irritated on behalf of his good friend Li Lanfeng. Even though Li Lanfeng had never said anything about it to him, Zhao Jun still vaguely knew that Li Lanfeng had been looking for someone in the mecha world all this time over the past four years.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s disgruntled words shook Li Lanfeng from his joyful reverie. He quickly said, "No, Zhao Jun, he has already told me the answer ..."


    "Huh?" Zhao Jun was flummoxed. But he clearly had not heard the other say anything ...


    Li Lanfeng did not exin, only continuing on excitedly, "I¡¯ll tell you about itter. Let us go!" That said, he left the private room.


    Zhao Jun could only scratch his head helplessly. Since Li Lanfeng had said he would tell himter, then he had no choice but to wait forter. Although he really would like to know now, he could do nothing since his friend was very tight-lipped 1 . Fortunately, his patience had already been trained up by hanging out with Li Lanfeng over these past few years, otherwise he would certainly have been suffocated by his need to know. At this thought, Zhao Jun could only sigh softly and follow Li Lanfeng as he left the room.


    Once Ling Lan saw that the other had epted her friend request, she had logged off. It wasn¡¯t that she did not want to catch up with the other, but her father had just logged off to hurry to the assessment venue. It would not be appropriate for her to linger here; after all, officially, she was on duty to apany Ling Xiao.


    Later on, after saying goodbye to her father, Ling Lan returned to her living quarters. At this time, Qi Long and the other five were still not back from their training sses yet. Ling Lan did not wait for them, instantly logging onto Mecha World. Ling Lan believed that that stupid leopard must definitely still be in Mecha World waiting for her.


    Sure enough, the moment she was online, she received a voice message from [Self-Defined Destiny]. "Rabbit, where are you?" Damm*t, was she still a rabbit now? 2 In the past, she had already told him not to call her ¡¯rabbit¡¯, but this fellow just would not change ¡ª doing the same even now.


    Ling Lan could not help but roll her eyes. She really wanted to pretend she heard nothing, but she could hear the other¡¯s anxiety in his voice. Thinking about how they had not seen each other for 7 years and how it had indeed been extremely difficult for them to meet again, she decided to be merciful and forgive him this once. And so, Ling Lan replied coolly, "Leopard,e to the mechabat main hall."


    In less than a minute, she saw an advanced mecha entering the doors of thebat hall, sprinting over to her side. "Rabbit, I¡¯m here." The advanced mecha ostentatiously waved at her, but that special-ss mecha which had been with him was nowhere to be seen.


    "Leopard, why isn¡¯t your friend here?" asked Ling Lan curiously.


    "I did not know whether you would mind, so I asked him to go ahead," replied the leopard mecha, now [Self-Defined Destiny], with a smile.


    Ling Lan stared tly at [Self-Defined Destiny] ¡ª hells, did shee off as such a small-minded person? Besides, the leopard mecha was just some random stranger she had met in the virtual world ... what gave him the confidence to believe that she would rank him so important in her mind? That she would care if he had other friends? Hng hng, if he only knew she had countless littlepanions by her side she had grown up with, that five of them were as close and intimate with her as could be ...


    As expected, the leopard mecha had an uncanny rapport with her. As if sensing Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts, he hurried to exin, "I was thinking to introduce you to him after obtaining your permission ..."


    This greatly appeased Ling Lan¡¯s dragon heart 3 ¡ª so it was true that the leopard respected her immensely, just as he had back then. Nothing had changed.


    Thus, Ling Lan said, "It¡¯s really fine. In future, you can just bring anyone you want to."


    At these words, [Self-Defined Destiny]¡¯s smile deepened and he replied boisterously, "Understood!"


    Ling Lan rubbed her brow helplessly and asked, "How did you recognise me earlier?" This was a question both she and Little Four were wondering ¡ª after all, it¡¯s been 7 years and she had even changed her mecha; there was nothing of before. Although the other was a spectre, Little Four was certain that the other had not used his spectre abilities to check them out, so there was no reason for him to have identified her ...


    "Your stomp technique is no ordinary stomp technique. In every assessment, you would use it, how could I forget it?" replied [Self-Defined Destiny] with a smile, "If you stop using it, then I would have no way to recognise you anymore." [Self-Defined Destiny] could not help but rejoice in his heart that the other had coincidentally disyed these basic controls, allowing him to find the other.


    [Self-Defined Destiny]¡¯s words enlightened Ling Lan and Little Four instantly. So it had been Ling Lan¡¯s habitual movements which had exposed her.


    "I believe that, in this world, only you would know this technique. Seven years ago we lost contact, causing me to look for you for these whole seven years. And now I¡¯ve finally found you," sighed [Self-Defined Destiny].


    Ling Lan found herself rather embarrassed now. Over these past 7 years, she had never once logged onto Mecha World, instead spending her timepleting the learning space¡¯s missions or working on her father¡¯s legacy; [Self-Defined Destiny]¡¯s 7 years of effort could be said to bepletely futile.


    "Is that imperial operator from your sect?" [Self-Defined Destiny] asked curiously.


    "Er ... yes," replied Ling Lan after a brief hesitation. She was not purposefully trying to hide anything, but this was her first reunion with the leopard after so long, so there were some things that just could not be exined properly. Even though she and the leopard mecha shared a great rapport and she also greatly appreciated the friendship between them, he was still someone that she had met in the virtual world after all ¡ª Ling Lan could not treat him like how she treated Qi Long and her other real worldpanions and trust him fully. However, Ling Lan¡¯s reply was not a lie either. She had inherited her father Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy, so of course she belonged to the same sect as her father.


    "I had thought so with just one nce. Every move of that imperial operator was utilising the 4 simplest basic movements in defensive controls ¡ª block, push, obstruct, and hold 4 . Without using any bit of extraneous force, minimalist to the extreme ... it¡¯s like what you told me at the start. Completely mastering the basic controls and using them harmoniously, making them truly part of our natural instinct," eximed [Self-Defined Destiny] in awe.


    Ling Lan was startled by these words, and quickly asked, "Our fight, did you record it?"


    [Self-Defined Destiny] replied sheepishly, "I¡¯m sorry, without obtaining permission, I recorded it. If you mind, I¡¯ll immediately delete it."


    "No need. I only hope you can make a copy for me. I would also like to take a look." Even though Little Four had also recorded the fight, there were some things that just could not be seen clearly from a first-person perspective. Perhaps viewing the fight from a third-person perspective would allow her to see things clearer.


    "Okay." [Self-Defined Destiny] immediately sent the video file over to Ling Lan. When Ling Lan received it, she instantly opened it and began to watch it.


    Li Lanfeng saw [Lingtian First-String] be still and silent, and just knew that the other must be fully absorbed in watching the video. He smiled knowingly ¡ª he was just too familiar with this state of the rabbit. Oftentimes, when the rabbit had learnt a new movement or had a good idea or some insight, he would descend into this sort of acutely focused state, as if no one else existed around him. This brought Li Lanfeng back to the beginning ... every time this happened, he would always sit silently beside the rabbit mecha and wait patiently for the rabbit mecha to surface from his thoughts.


    After approximately 5 minutes, Li Lanfeng finally heard [Lingtian First-String] sigh and say, "As expected, from your perspective, his impressiveness is even more pronounced."


    Only now did Ling Lan feel how amazing her father Ling Xiao was. Now her father¡¯s basic controls were what could truly be called the best of the best. Even though it had only been the simplest of defensive motions, whether it was the timing of the interception or the motion itself, everything was perfectly calcted. Each defensive move had been applied when her power was at its weakest point. Moreover, each time, the hand motions of Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha had been extremely small ¡ª it was clear to see that the drain on the mecha¡¯s energy had been contained at the minimum baseline. Ling Lan believed that even if her father had been controlling a trainee mecha against her barrage of wild attacks, he would still be able to block and defend against them all using the least amount of energy.


    Her father¡¯s control was what could truly be called basic controls. Compared to her father, Ling Lan¡¯s basic controls were undoubtedly still much too fancy and borate;pared to her father, she still had a really long way to go.


    "The imperial operator is naturally very impressive. Basic controls are truly very interesting. In future, I must learn from you and use lower mecha to train my advanced mecha basic controls and techniques. This way, I should be able to experience more of the true essence of basic controls." [Self-Defined Destiny] stared at Ling Lan with starry eyes, as if saying, wasn¡¯t he such a smart cookie?


    Ling Lan could not help but sweatdrop, uncertain how she should respond. Was she supposed to say that she had only done so because she did not have enough points umted to redeem a better mecha?


    Still, thinking about it, using a lower mecha to execute advanced mecha techniques did indeed demand a lot from the operator. It was very challenging, which was not a bad thing for an operator, and may perhaps truly aid him in his development. At this thought, Ling Lan decided not to say anything. This was because she also really did not know how to exin to the other why she still did not have enough points to redeem an advanced mecha after these 7 years.


    Just like this, because Ling Lan did not know how to exin and also felt that this was harmless to the other, she chose to remain silent. This led Li Lanfeng to think that his assumption was correct, thus pushing him onto this path of no return, eventually leading to the creation of a legendary path belonging solely to himself ...

 Chapter 304: A Strange and Wondrous Misunderstanding!

    Chapter 304: A Strange and Wondrous Misunderstanding!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Right, do you have a battle n in Mecha World? I don¡¯t have one yet, so if you still have a spot open in yours, why don¡¯t you add me?" Li Lanfeng did not want to once again be passing strangers with his rabbit. He had not joined any battle ns thus far because ¡ª for one, he was afraid of exposing himself, and two, hadn¡¯t he been hoping for this precise scenario all this while? He only wanted to join the rabbit mecha¡¯s battle n, even if the entire battle n was made up of only the rabbit mecha ...


    "Uh, I¡¯m in the process of building one ..." Ling Lan had not expected that the leopard still had not joined a battle n after these 7 years apart. Could it be that he had not enrolled into a military academy that year, instead choosing to go to a co-ed general academy? Or was he perhaps just a casual 1 mecha operator? Otherwise, with the other¡¯s control skills, it was impossible that no one wanted him.


    Only military academies had battle ns, because all the cadets at military academies would eventually be Federation soldiers in future. The battle n a cadet establishes at school would be extended into the army divisions they enlist intoter and be expanded further there. In contrast, the students from a co-ed general academy may not necessarily be a soldier in future, hence they also did not have the right to form battle ns.


    Of course, this did not mean that these students had no chance of joining battle ns ¡ª some mecha operators who liked mecha piloting would just sign up to join some battle ns thatcked members. Of course, no matter how skilled these people were in control skills, they would never be permanent members of a battle n. The reason was simple ¡ª whether it was at present or in the future, they would never be military personnel. Only if they were willing to serve in the armyter on and became proper soldiers would they then have the right to be permanent members of a battle n.


    Ling Lan was well aware that many mecha battle ns in Mecha World were extensions of mecha battle ns in the real world. In saying this, [Self-Defined Destiny] was basically confirming that he was simrly without a battle n in the real world. This pretty much proved that [Self-Defined Destiny] was probably not a military academy student. Otherwise, with his abilities, even if he did not join any other battle ns, he was fully capable of making one of his own.


    Ling Lan, who was originally nning to ask which school [Self-Defined Destiny] was studying at, found herself not daring to ask now. She was afraid she would hurt the other¡¯s feelings. Based on the leopard¡¯s passion and seriousness in honing his mecha control skills, Ling Lan knew very well that, if at all possible, the leopard would definitely want to study at a military academy.


    "In the process of building?" Li Lanfeng was taken aback by Ling Lan¡¯s answer.


    Someone who could enter the virtual world to learn mecha controls 7 years ago should be about his age, or perhaps even a little older than him ... why had the other not built a battle n up till now? Could it be that the other was not a military academy cadet, or perhaps did not manage to enrol into a military academy to begin with and could only attend a general academy? And now he had be an official soldier so he could finally build a battle n?


    Li Lanfeng, who had wanted to ask the rabbit which school he was attending, hesitated. What if the other asked him the same question in return after? When the other found out that he was studying at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, would the other¡¯s heart be pierced through by a heavy arrow?


    "Then, when you build it, can you keep a spot for me?" After some consideration, Li Lanfeng decided not to ask this sensitive question, instead choosing to ask to join Ling Lan¡¯s battle n in a serious manner. In Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart, even if the rabbit was just a small foot soldier, he would still be willing to be a member of the other¡¯s battle n and follow the rabbit onto the battlefield to fight together.


    "Uh, okay, will you be a soldier in the future?" asked Ling Lan carefully. If the leopard had not given up, replying yes, she would save a permanent member¡¯s spot for him. Later, once he entered the military, he could join officially. If not, she could only regretfully give the leopard a temporary contract. Ling Lan needed to take responsibility on behalf of all of the other members of her battle n.


    Ling Lan¡¯s question stumped Li Lanfeng for a beat, but he quickly figured out the reason behind it and replied firmly, "Of course." As expected, the rabbit was currently a soldier! Li Lanfeng was d that he had not asked impulsively.


    "That¡¯s fine then. There¡¯ll be a spot for you in my battle n." Ling Lan let out a sigh of relief. She was well aware of the leopard mecha¡¯s raw talent and abilities in control ¡ª he was definitely no weaker than Qi Long. If the leopard could join, it would be much better than finding someone unfamiliar. She believed that Qi Long and the others would not dislike the leopard¡¯s character and temperament.


    For some reason, Ling Lan had boundless confidence in the leopard, believing that he could definitely obtain the acknowledgement of the other n members.


    "We¡¯ll go to the 23rd Division," cautioned Ling Lan. She did not know how old the leopard was, whether the other was already at the age of enlistment. In any case, she wanted to notify the other so he did not apply for the wrong division. Four yearster, when they went to the 23rd Division, even if the leopard was still a foot soldier, she could use her authority to transfer the leopard to her side so he could officially join her battle n.


    "Yes, understood," Li Lanfeng responded happily. He had originally nned to apply for enlistment at the 1st Division, but now decisively switched his goal for next year to enter the 23rd Division and then wait for his rabbit to find him.


    Thus, the both of them gingerly avoided asking about school, each thinking that they were right in their assumptions about the other. In this manner, they missed their earliest chance to truly discover the truth about each other ... it had to be said that Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng did indeed have amazing rapport with one another ¡ª even their misunderstandings synced up with one another.


    "That special-ss mecha friend of yours ... could it be that he also has no battle n? Won¡¯t he invite you to stay together?" Ling Lan recalled the special-ss mecha that had been together with [Self-Defined Destiny], which had also been very strong, and could not help but ask curiously.


    "He and I both do not have official battle ns, though he is temporarily contracted to a mecha battle n. The contract will automatically dissolve next year. If your battle n still has a spot at that time, please add him too. Of course, if you feel that that¡¯s inappropriate, you can first make a temporary contract. Like me, he¡¯ll also be a soldier in the future." Only then did Li Lanfeng remember there was still Zhao Jun to consider, so he quickly exined, suggesting a temporary contract on his own at the same time.


    Li Lanfeng knew well that he wanted to follow the rabbit mecha because of that wonderful affinity and rapport he had with the other, which was carved deeply into his heart to this very day. However, Zhao Jun had no ties whatsoever to the rabbit mecha ¡ª he could neither trouble the rabbit mecha nor decide Zhao Jun¡¯s future for him. After all, the rabbit could very well just be a small foot soldier, and based on Zhao Jun¡¯s current power level, he would at least obtain the rank of first lieutenant. Therefore, if Zhao Jun and the rabbit intended to coborate, signing a temporary contract would be beneficial for both sides.


    Li Lanfeng was not someone who needed to push all his friends into one n ¡ª he knew very well that interpersonal rtionships required affinity. He was certain that, for the sake of the rabbit mecha, he couldpromise and tolerate things that he typically would not tolerate. He had already made up his mind that, even if the rabbit¡¯s battle n consisted of a whole team of foot soldiers, he would still lower himself and curry favour with them in order to obtain their acknowledgement. This all stemmed from his determination to follow the rabbit which had been established 7 years ago. In the face of this type of conviction, all tribtions were but passing clouds.


    "Hn, let¡¯s talk about it when the timees. Right now, I have 5 otherpanions who should all be permanent members of the battle n in future. Adding you, there should still be a few slots for a 12-man team. Oh, there are also two others who I have my eye on, though I still haven¡¯t asked them whether they¡¯re willing to join ... if the n is still not full yet next year, ask your friend over to try out. If everyone is satisfied, then let¡¯s stay together." Ling Lan did not refuse Zhao Jun outright. After all, Zhao Jun was already a special-ss operator at present; meanwhile, the support member candidates of the n was pretty much settled, so all they needed to add were specialized mecha operators. Thus, Zhao Jun was undoubtedly extremely suitable.


    "Oh, alright!" answered Li Lanfeng immediately, decisively agreeing on behalf of Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun did not have a battle n for next year anyway, so it should not be a problem for him to hang out with Li Lanfeng for a bit. Hearing that the rabbit also had his eye on two other people, Li Lanfeng asked, "Who are the other two? Also people in Mecha World?"


    "One of them is called [No Mecha Unrepaired], from Mecha World. As for whether the other has an ID in Mecha World, I can¡¯t be sure. He¡¯s a genius here on our end," replied Ling Lan.


    "[No Mecha Unrepaired], this name is really familiar ..." Li Lanfeng paused over the name for a bit, then suddenly recalled it. Wasn¡¯t he that genius mecha engineer-mechanic who the Thunder King had his eye on? At the start, in order to get him, the Thunder King had gone so far as to seal off all the other¡¯s resources within Mecha World, causing the other to fail his assessment two years in a row. If the other had failed just one more time, he would have been expelled from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy ...


    "[No Mecha Unrepaired] is from the Mecha Engineering specialization in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy ..." muttered Li Lanfeng softly.


    "Oh, so you¡¯ve heard of him!" said Ling Lan in surprise, "Yes, he¡¯s that prodigy of the Mecha Engineering specialization in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. He was pressured by the Thunder King, and I just happened to help him out by escorting him to Suncreed City. I wonder if he would be willing to join my battle n."


    "So the one who helped him to Suncreed City was you ..." Li Lanfeng gaped at the mecha before him. The Thunder King had been livid over the matter, but no matter how much manpower or material resources he invested into finding the person who helped [No Mecha Unrepaired], he just could not find them. This forced the Thunder King to have no choice but to suck it up in silence ¡ª Li Lanfeng recalled how pleased he himself had been when he had found out about it back then.


    Sure enough, his rabbit was his god of luck. Even though they had not recognised each other yet back then, the rabbit had still helped him to inflict a round of torment on the Thunder King. Li Lanfeng stared at the intermediate mecha across from him with grateful eyes but kept this appreciation to himself.


    "I think he should be willing to join," said Li Lanfeng with a smile. The rabbit was the benefactor of [No Mecha Unrepaired] ¡ª this personal debt would have already made it hard for the other to refuse to begin with. On top of that, the rabbit was inviting him to join his battle n, which was also a form of acknowledgement as well as a form of assistance.


    Mind you, although all the other factions in the academy also coveted [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s engineering abilities, they did not dare to offend the Thunder King. Thus, no battle n had invited [No Mecha Unrepaired] into their ranks. Without the assistance of any battle n, even if he passed the assessment this year, the next few years would be very tough for him as some assessments would require the coboration of a battle n toplete ... the rabbit¡¯s invitation would definitely be a lifeline 2 which the other would never refuse.


    "I hope things turn out as you say." Ling Lan felt that it was about time for her to really build her battle n now. Even though she still could not officially set one up in the school, she could start testing things out in Mecha World, as well as let Qi Long and the others get to know the leopard a bit.


    Just like this, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng arranged a time for their next meeting in Mecha World and then respectively logged off.


    The moment Ling Lan logged off, she found that Qi Long and the others had returned. So, she called them all over and solemnly dered that, within Mecha World, she would officially establish their battle n ¡ª¡ª Lingtian!


    There was no helping it. This bunch of brats had long decided on this ostentatious name. Otherwise, why would they have chosen to style their usernames in ¡¯Lingtian XXX¡¯ fashion? If she did not give their battle n this name, this bunch of brats would definitely flip the table!

 Chapter 305: Interrogation!

    Chapter 305: Interrogation!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Late afternoon in Mecha World, Grandsweep City. This city was arge city filled with missions. Right now, quite a few mecha were sprawled about rxing at a wide za not too far from the city gates. There were also some who were standing around idly, resting with their eyes closed.


    These mecha were mostly advanced mecha, though there was also a small number of lower mecha and intermediate mecha among them. Some of them had perhaps taken some time from their afternoon toe here and rest, but many more were here to look forrades with aligned goals, or perhaps to wait to join any team preparing toplete missions butcked members. This could be their chance to join a battle n ...


    That¡¯s right. This was the assembly ground of unaffiliated mecha operators. Without a battle n, whenever they had free time, they woulde here to try their luck, to see if they had any chance to join some battle n. Even a temporary one would be better than not being part of any battle n. To be stronger, joining a battle n was a necessary choice. Upon sessfully obtaining an advanced mecha, to be stronger, one would need venture into even tougher areas toplete the missions there, and all of this came with the prerequisite of having a battle n ¡ª otherwise, you could not even ept these missions to begin with, and so would have no way of entering those treacherous areas.


    As mentioned previously, not everyone would be able to join a battle n, as establishing a battle n was the special right belonging only to military academy cadets or army men. Thus, the number of unaffiliated mecha operators in Mecha World was immense.


    In one corner of the za, a line of standard advanced mecha were seated in a row on the ground. They were all seated in the same position, their chins propped on their hands. Five mecha in the exact same stance stood out quite a bit ¡ª they were obviously part of the same mecha n. This caused the other surrounding mecha to stare from the corner of their eyes, filled with envy; quite a number of mecha even semi-casually strolled by before them, hoping to attract the five mecha¡¯s attention.


    This was because three mecha were all that was needed to form a mecha squad, while six mecha could form a miniature battle n. The unaffiliated mecha were all guessing whether the five mecha were looking for a final member before going for the mission to establish their battle n. Regardless of whether they were or they weren¡¯t, as long as the possibility existed, all the unaffiliated mecha hoped that the final lucky one would be themselves.


    Meanwhile, at this time, the privatems channel of the five mecha was extraordinarily lively.


    "Ah ah ah, why isn¡¯t Boss here yet?" [Lingtian Combat]¡¯s voice, that is, the hearty volume of Qi Long¡¯s throat, instantly drowned out the softer tones of the others¡¯ chatter.


    "Boss said 1300 hours 1 . Right now, it¡¯s only 1247. There¡¯s still 13 minutes left. What are you impatient about?" As his sworn brother, Han Jijyun, who was called [Lingtian Abacus] in Mecha World, rebuked without mercy. When would this fellow be just a little more calm andposed like Boss? Only knowing how to fool outsiders with that earnest and sincere face of his.


    "Can¡¯t you see I¡¯m just excited?! We¡¯re about to make a battle n now! I¡¯m really looking forward to it, and we¡¯re going to have a few new people too!" At this point, Qi Long suddenly began to snicker.


    This caused the faces of the others to spasm involuntarily. In particr, Li Shiyu¡¯s darkened expression emerged at the forefront of Luo Lang¡¯s mind. Once again, he could not help butment silently for Li Shiyu. Who asked him to catch the eye of their boss ... this was his fate!


    Luo Lang¡¯s mind began to rey that scene which had happened back at the Military Medical Research Centre ...


    ********


    Entirely shrouded in cold air, Ling Lan heaved Qi Long, who was typically loud and brash but was currently curled up into a miserable ball of pain, over a shoulder and charged aggressively towards the Military Medical Research Centre with Luo Lang and the others trailing behind her.


    Luo Lang and the others actually did not know why Qi Long had suddenly fallen ill, but Boss Lan had said that it was time to seek out Li Shiyu. On the way, they learned of Boss Lan¡¯s objective for this excursion. He was nning to break the unspoken rule upheld all this time within the military academy ¡ª the rule which stated that the students of the Military Medical Research specialization were not to participate in any faction so they could maintain their neutrality.


    Yes, Boss Lan, who was about to establish a battle n ahead of time in Mecha World, was nning to bring the dux of the Military Medical Research specialization Li Shiyu into his n. This seemingly impossible goal of Ling Lan¡¯s astounded Han Jijyun, Luo Lang, and the others. Yet, after their shock had faded, they were consumed with excitement. If Boss Lan actually seeded, this would definitely be a grand feat! Only Boss Lan would dare to even think of something like this and actually do it ... In their minds, as long as Boss Lan wanted to do it, nothing was impossible.


    It had to be said that Ling Lan¡¯s many grand achievements had filled Han Jijyun, Luo Lang, and the others¡¯ confidence in her to the brim. They believed that it was impossible for their Boss Lan to fail.


    Ling Lan strode right up to the doors of the Military Medical Research Centre, and without any pause to think, she sent the door flying open with a forceful kick.


    A loud crash rang out. This abrupt scene along with the sudden loud crash caused all the staff and students of the military medicine specialization to instantly cower down in fear. They had mistakenly assumed that the school was being attacked by an unidentified enemy.


    Luo Lang and the others following behind Ling Lan looked at the rampaging Ling Lan before them, who looked like he had crawled out from the depths of hell, and their bodies trembled uncontrobly. Despite knowing that the wrath of their boss was faked, right then, they too were affected by the heavy aggression seeping out from their boss¡¯s body, cold sweat breaking out along their back.


    In the Military Medical Research Centre, the only one still standing upright with a calm and fearless expression was their dux Li Shiyu. Expression stony, he stared at Ling Lan who had vandalised the doors of the centre and said through gritted teeth, "Ling Lan, are you insane? What do you take this ce for?"


    "Insane? You should rejoice that I¡¯m not insane, just a little bit angry ... or else, I won¡¯t be able to guarantee what I¡¯ll do. Li Shiyu, I trusted you, but how have you repaid this trust of mine? Once, twice, my brothers have been presented with problems because of your treatment. Shouldn¡¯t you be giving me an exnation? Hm?" said Ling Lan coldly. Her icy gaze and these words instantly doused the rage in Li Shiyu¡¯s heart.


    "What are you trying to say? What¡¯s happened this time?" said Li Shiyu with a slight frown, resigned. Right now, he rather regretted agreeing to rescue Ling Lan¡¯s brothers back then out of a moment of soft-hearted weakness. Now it seemed as if this punk hadtched onto him ¡ª whenever anything happened to Ling Lan¡¯s brothers, the other just loved toe and trouble him. In spite of Ling Lan¡¯s extremely discourteous attitude, Li Shiyu did not lose hisposure, still calmly asking Ling Lan about the situation.


    A trace of approval shed across Ling Lan¡¯s cool gaze. As a military doctor, one needed to be level-headed in extreme situations. Even when facing a teammate¡¯s doubts and critique, they must be able to calmly exin their thought process and the sequence of events. Only then would they be able to obtain their teammates¡¯ trust. Undoubtedly, Li Shiyu was doing this extremely well ¡ª as expected of a prodigy of military medicine. For him, expending all this time and effort was worth it.


    Ling Lan tamped down on the approval in her heart, and continued to say with a frigid expression, "Setting aside Luo Lang¡¯s rpse, I would never have expected the same thing to happen to Qi Long after his recovery. Dux Li, you owe me an exnation." Her words had barely faded when Ling Lan came to stand before Li Shiyu, where she then set down the suffering Qi Long and indicated for Li Shiyu to take a look.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Li Shiyu¡¯s fair face flush bright red instantly. This horrible junior actually doubted his treatment abilities again and again ... this was definitely an insult to his professionalism. No matter how calm andposed Li Shiyu was, he could not help but feel rage surging into his chest.


    Even so, Li Shiyu was unable to refuse Qi Long treatment. As long as a patient was before him, as a military doctor, he needed to cast aside all personal enmity and save the patient to the best of his ability. He quickly stepped forward and gripped Qi Long¡¯s hand, feeling at his pulse point. And then, Li Shiyu¡¯s countenance shifted slightly once more ¡ª he had actually sensed the customary reaction from using the gene agent S-modification they had developed from the reading of Qi Long¡¯s pulse. Cold sweat instantly broke out all over Li Shiyu¡¯s body ¡ª could it be that the gene agent S-modification still retained some problematic side issues? But their previous trials had not revealed any sign of this sort of situation?


    Li Shiyu was rather uncertain now. He immediately asked the staff toy Qi Long into a healing pod and treated Qi Long with special restorative agents. Initially shivering uncontrobly from the pain, Qi Long¡¯s tortured expression began to ease slowly after 10 or so seconds of this treatment. It looked like the restorative agent was effective.


    "I want to know. What medical agent did you give my brothers exactly? Why would such a situation ur?" Ling Lan saw Qi Long¡¯s condition turn for the better and the ice on her face thawed considerably. Her tone and demeanour when asking Li Shiyu this was clearly a little warmer.


    Li Shiyu was silent for a moment before he answered, "Once his condition is better, I will conduct aprehensive examination on him. Only at that time will I know what the true reason for this is."


    That said, Li Shiyu no longer paid any attention to Ling Lan. He immediately contacted the few specialization instructors he worked with. When his instructors heard of Qi Long¡¯s reaction, they were instantly anxious, agreeing toe over immediately so they could study this unique case together.


    Ling Lan heard Li Shiyu calling for his instructors toe study together, and despite being as calm as ever on the surface, her heart could not help but pound and feel ill at ease.


    Little Four sensed Ling Lan¡¯s concern and immediately piped up to reassure her, "Boss, please don¡¯t worry. I have found all their data on the gene agent S-modification. After purifying and improving the gene agents daddy secretly brought us this time, the medical properties of the agents are definitely the same as their gene agent S-modification. They will never discover or suspect anything." While saying this, Little Four¡¯s tone was extremely proud. With regards to the purification of gene agents, there was absolutely no one who could beat him, Little Four.


    Ling Lan rxed with Little Four¡¯s assured guarantee. Frankly, even if she was still worried, it was toote to do anything about it now. The arrow had already been notched and the bow pulled taut, they could only fire the arrow. At this point, even if their scheme was seen through by the opponent, they could only grit their teeth and lie all the way.


    Therefore, Ling Lan continued to stand there with a cold expression. Meanwhile, Luo Lang and the others were really unsure what was happening with Qi Long, so there was no expression other than worry on their faces. Li Shiyu, who had been silently observing them, felt fear creeping over him. Could it be that Qi Long¡¯s condition was real? Was it really the fault of their research centre?


    Very soon, the instructors had all arrived. In the meantime, Qi Long¡¯s condition had improved considerably; he was no longer in the agonizing pain he had been in at the start. Subsequently, the instructors began to do all sorts of tests on Qi Long ¡ª those who drew blood, drew blood, while those who ran numbers, ran numbers. The reports were out very quickly. They discovered that all the reactions Qi Long were disying were definitely in line with the customary reaction from injecting the gene agent S-modification.


    This diagnosis caused theirplexions to pale drastically. Could it be that this gene agent S-modification actually had atency period and would trigger and break out every so often? This was undoubtedly a very serioustent issue, proving that their gene agent S-modification was greatly wed.

 Chapter 306: Joining!

    Chapter 306: Joining!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The instructors were all silent in the face of these reports. They only began discussing the reports in hushed voices after a good long while. After conversing for a while with his instructors, Li Shiyu clenched his teeth and walked over to stand before Ling Lan and apologised, "Our medical agents have been used before by countless people, and none of them have ever presented with a situation like Qi Long¡¯s. This could very well be due to his special physical constitution. Still, whatever the case, this is our error. I¡¯m sorry, Ling Lan."


    "You can save the apology. All I want to know is whether this will cause problems for Qi Long in the future?" Ling Lan¡¯s cold gaze pierced right through Li Shiyu, as if warning Li Shiyu not to even think about bluffing his way through.


    "I don¡¯t know. Because this is a unique case, never having urred before, I cannot tell if Qi Long will present with a simr situation in future. What I can confirm is that this agent will not harm Qi Long¡¯s body permanently in any way. In fact, you could say that even if it acts up in the future, it will only bring benefits and no harm."


    Frankly, Li Shiyu really wanted to say ¡¯no, this is just an outlier case¡¯, but out of responsibility to his patient, Li Shiyu just could not utter those words. This was because he himself could not say for certain whether this situation of Qi Long¡¯s was just a one-time thing or if it would be a reurring issue all his life ¡ª after all, this condition of Qi Long¡¯s was truly just too bizarre; no one could say anything definite about it at present.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan¡¯s raging aura rose once more. She gripped Li Shiyu by the front of his white robe, pulled him close before her, and said with a murderous expression, "What do you mean by ¡¯will not harm him permanently in any way¡¯? What is this ¡¯every time it acts up it¡¯ll only bring benefit¡¯? Do you know that Qi Long will have to go onto a battlefield in future? If this kind of situation happens during regr times, we can still send him straight to a doctor for treatment. But what if it happens to break out during a battle? On the battlefield, any bit of error could cost him his life. Do you think that if this happens in that situation, Qi Long can survive?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s blunt questioning left Li Shiyu¡¯s mouth twitching helplessly. Indeed, the scenario Ling Lan had described could very well happen. If the agent acted up on the battlefield, the only fate that awaited Qi Long was death ¡ª the enemy would not wait for Qi Long to get over this brief period of incapacitation.


    Remorse sprang up in Li Shiyu¡¯s heart. Although his intentions had been good, thinking to give his younger cousin¡¯s friends a small boost in power, who could have expected that this agent would not be suitable for people of all physical constitutions ...? All their previous tests and trials had actually missed out on finding this w in the agent.


    At this time, one of the instructors walked over. Extremely apologetic, he said, "I am sorry. The reaction of this student to the agent is something we¡¯ve never seen before. This agent of ours has already been used on countless hundred thousands of people, and none have ever exhibited the side-effects this student has. This might be a special case, but it cannot be denied that this is an error on the part of our Military Medical Research Centre. We will take responsibility for it. Please raise any requests you may have as long as it¡¯s within our means."


    At these words, Ling Lan released her grip on Li Shiyu¡¯s chest and replied evenly, "Requests? I only have one request, and that is that my brother cannot lose his life because of this agent. As long as you all can resolve this, I can pretend as if nothing had happened ..."


    Ling Lan¡¯s request caused the instructor¡¯s expression to be troubled. "I am sorry. Cadet, right now, we have not yet developed an agent which can alleviate the symptoms of this reaction instantaneously. You might have to wait for some time ..."


    The instructor could not promise anything. After all, they had always thought that this reaction would only ur right after injection. Once the patient bore it till the end, the agent would be done with its work. They had never had to consider how to alleviate these reaction symptoms, because only by riding through this agonizing pain would the patient¡¯s body benefit fully. At most, they would just do as they were doing for Qi Long now, adding a little restorative agent into the mix to restore a little of the patient¡¯s stamina and spiritual power to help the patient hang on through the pain ...


    "How long do we have to wait? One year? Two years? Three years? Or perhaps five years? Ten years? Perhaps even longer?" A trace of mockery hung on Ling Lan¡¯s lips. The disdain in her eyes made the instructor somewhat disgruntled, but he had no way to rebut what Ling Lan had said. The instructors of the military medicine specialization had always based everything they said and did by the data ¡ª with regards to something they had yet to research, they truly could not give a specific time frame. It was as Ling Lan said; they might need 8 or 10 years toe up with an answer.


    "Could it be that you want my brother to constantly be under threat of death during this period while you all are researching a solution? Any unfortunate mishap, and he could be the first death caused by your agent?" asked Ling Lan with a sneer.


    "No, we have no intentions of letting that happen. If possible, we can give military headquarters a report so that Cadet Qi Long can be exempted from the battlefield and be a support staff officer ..." the instructor hurried to exin, stating a short-term suggestion they could think of.


    "Sir, do you know what our specialization is? We are from the Mecha Piloting specialization. The reason we chose this specialization is because we want to fight on the frontlines of the battlefield and not hide at the back like a coward. Your suggestion is without question an insult to both me and my brother," barked Ling Lan in response to his words.


    Ling Lan¡¯s furious demeanour deepened the instructor¡¯s remorse; he too felt he had misspoken. He quickly asked, "Then, what do you want?"


    Ling Lan swept an icy re around the Military Medical Research Centre, and everyone there instinctively ducked their heads, avoiding eye contact. At this moment, everyone present had be suppressed by Ling Lan¡¯s cold and domineering force of presence, including those rational-minded instructors.


    Then, Ling Lan was heard to say measuredly, "I hope for a military doctor who has graduated from the Military Medical Research specialization to join my battle n to watch over my brothers¡¯ physical condition in the long run. Because, after epting your treatment, other than the current patient Qi Long, there is still my other brother Luo Lang!" Ling Lan pointed at Luo Lang standing behind her and continued, "Right now, I cannot confirm whether the same condition will present itself in this brother of mine. After all, after undergoing treatment here, he has suffered a rpse before."


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze met Li Shiyu¡¯s as she spoke, and Li Shiyu¡¯s forehead creased slightly in a small frown. Regarding Luo Lang¡¯s injuries, Li Shiyu was extremely certain that the centre was not at fault. However, they did not have any persuasive proof otherwise at the moment, so they could only silently bear the me.


    "As Dux Li was the one who caused all this, being responsible for treating my two brothers, I hope for Dux Li to shoulder this responsibility and be a member of my battle n to watch over the wellbeing of my n members." Ling Lan finally revealed her true objective.


    "No, this is impossible. Cadets from the military medicine specializations are not allowed to join any battle ns. This is an academy regtion," the instructor refused vehemently. Mind you, all the students trained by the military medicine specializations in the academy would end up as outstanding elite doctors of the medical world. As such, they needed to be avable to serve the army as a whole and not be tied down to a small battle n ¡ª that would be such a huge waste of talent. Especially in the case of Li Shiyu ¡ª he was the most outstanding prodigy of their specialization. The instructors all had high hopes for him, hoping that he would ultimately be the greatest hand of god of the military medicine world one day. This prodigy they had invested so much time and effort in cultivating ... how could they bear to hand him over to some small battle n?


    "Sir, as far as I know, the academy does not have this rule in ck and white. At most, this is just a mutual agreement and tradition of this school. You should know that any rule that is not clearly stated is not invible. And the fact of the matter is that my two brothers have presented with problems at Dux Li¡¯s hands. ording to rule 68 subsection 21 of the academy¡¯s rules: when an idental incident urs (including events such as fights and tournaments, medical cases, risky research studies, etcetera), whoever is responsible for the damages will be the one held responsible for reparation. Based on this regtion, my request is not asking for too much." Ling Lan read the regtion Little Four had dug up for her, and then asked the instructor sharply, "Is the Military Medical Research Centre trying to brush off this responsibility? Or perhaps you all want to go against this regtion?"


    "No, that¡¯s not it. This ... this ..." Under Ling Lan¡¯s aggressive questioning, the instructor was actually rendered speechless. He looked at Li Shiyu, then looked back again at the dogged Ling Lan, and was instantly as anxious as an ant on a hot te 1 ,pletely at a loss what to do.


    The other instructors saw that things were looking bad ¡ª they quickly turned on theirmunicators and secretly contacted the faculty head of the military medicine specialization, hoping that he would hurry over and resolve this sudden incident. As Li Shiyu¡¯s instructors, they did not wish for Li Shiyu to be limited to developing in a small battle n.


    Right at that moment, Li Shiyu, who had been calmly contemting for a long while, suddenly shouted, "I, am willing to take responsibility!"


    Li Shiyu felt that Ling Lan was right. Leaving the matter of Luo Lang aside, Qi Long¡¯s condition today was indeed the fault of their Military Medical Research Centre. And since the one who had requested for Qi Long to be given the gene agent S-modification was him, Li Shiyu, he really had no grounds to deflect this responsibility.


    Of course, Li Shiyu had initially hoped to enter the best treatment department after graduating, to learn more about more obscure medical arts, treatments, and agents, and study them in depth. Because this way, he would have an even greater chance of curing that bizarre illness of his eldest cousin brother 2 . However, he did not want to evade responsibility. Since Qi Long had suffered as a result of his actions, he was willing to use his own future topensate for this burden of guilt.


    Li Shiyu mentally apologised to his eldest cousin brother in his heart, because this decision of his would undoubtedly cause his cousin to suffer for a little longer. Still, he believed that as long as he worked hard to learn and research, even though it might take him a little longer, he was still confident that he would eventually be able to fully cure that feeble body of his cousin. It was precisely due to this unshakeable confidence that Li Shiyu would shoulder this responsibility so readily.


    Hearing Li Shiyu¡¯s resolute answer, Ling Lan mentally pumped a fist in her heart with a loud cheer of ¡¯YES, Sess!¡¯


    After expending all that effort, she had finally snatched this prodigy for her battle n. Even though her methods were rather despicable, in order to guarantee the lives and safety of her brothers, she would even stoop to even more despicable means. Ling Lan did not regret her actions in the least. She was not a saintly matron ¡ª she could not care for the entire Federation army; she could only care for these brothers by her side.


    Thus, when Ling Lan looked at Li Shiyu, her gaze was cid and self-assured with not one hint of remorse within it. Ling Lan firmly believed that ¡ª Heaven destroys those who don¡¯t look out for themselves. This ssic line which had been preserved through the ages certainly could not be wrong.


    Soon after, the faculty head rushed over, only to hear that the two sides had alreadye to an agreement. Li Shiyu had agreed to join Ling Lan¡¯s battle n. The head was instantly racked with heartache. However, faced with a resolute Li Shiyu, he could not convince the other to change his mind. In the end, the faculty head could only plead with Ling Lan to promise that he would not leak the news of Li Shiyu joining his battle n. The faculty head did not wish for the other excellent students his specialization was cultivating with such care to be taken away by even more battle ns ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s objective had been achieved, so she naturally would not refuse this entreaty of the faculty head. She agreed without hesitation. Just like this, Ling Lan¡¯s battle n was the first ever to include a student from the military medicine specialization in its ranks, and it would also be the only battle n to possess a military doctor. Meanwhile, at this time, Li Shiyu was unaware, but the curtains of his very own legend were about to be raised 3 .

 Chapter 307: Battle Clan Members!

    Chapter 307: Battle n Members!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Although the other five members of Ling Lan¡¯s team were sympathetic towards Li Shiyu, who at present appeared to be extremely tragic and innocent in all this, they were still deeply impressed by their boss¡¯s grand feat this time. He had actually managed to tie Li Shiyu to their battle force.


    After all, having such an exceptional military doctor like Li Shiyu in their battle n meant their lives had an additionalyer of protection when they entered the battlefield. Ling Lan had undoubtedly given them an extra protective life-saving talisman. At this thought, Qi Long and the other four were filled with even more gratitude and respect for Boss Lan.


    As for the two other new members Boss Lan had mentioned, Qi Long and the others did not know much. They only knew that one of them was a mecha mechanic, while the other was a mecha operator who was a primary attacker.


    Just when the time was about to hit 1300 1 , Lin Zhong-qing, who had been observing the surroundings all this time, suddenly yelled out in thems channel, "Stop the chitchat. Boss ising!"


    The busily chatting group instantly fell silent, all of them turning their heads to look for the figure of their boss. Coming in diagonally from the right before them, three mecha were swiftly approaching. Two of the three were intermediate mecha, while thest was an advanced mecha.


    "Of the two intermediate mecha, one of them should be Boss¡¯s," remarked Lin Zhong-qing. As the one whomunicated most often with Boss Lan, he was well aware of the current level of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha.


    He had barely finished speaking when the three mecha came to a stop before them. The five of them received a private message from Ling Lan almost simultaneously, requesting for them to join her party. When Qi Long received the message, he immediately disbanded their previous party of five. Right afterwards, he received Ling Lan¡¯s party invitation.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] saw the standardised names with ¡¯Lingtian¡¯ before them ¡ª [Lingtian Combat], [Lingtian Abacus], [Lingtian Parcel], [Lingtian Razor] 2 , [Lingtian Substitute] ¡ª scrolling rapidly across his screen as they joined [Lingtian First-String]¡¯s battle n one after the other, and his heart was instantly ovee with emotion.


    Not too long ago, he had still been worrying over his future because he did not know whether he would be epted by any battle n. The grudge between him and the Thunder King had been major news at one point in Mecha World ¡ª skilled battle ns that knew about this past history would very likely be unwilling to ept him in order to avoid offending the Thunder King, who was powerful and influential inside Mecha World.


    Meanwhile, if he wanted to graduate from the military academy, he would need to join a battle n. Otherwise, he would not be able toplete those courses which required one. Just as he was at a loss, [No Mecha Unrepaired] had been surprised by [Lingtian First-String] initiating contact. The other had asked him outright if he would be interested to join the other¡¯s n.


    This was undoubtedly a straw to clutch at for [No Mecha Unrepaired]. His first reflex was to agree immediately, but luckily, he was still somewhat rational. After calming down, he began to consider the consequences of joining. He could not bring trouble to someone who had helped him before, even though [Lingtian First-String] was indeed very strong.


    Thus, [No Mecha Unrepaired] asked [Lingtian First-String] why the other had invited him to join. He also asked if [Lingtian First-String] knew the consequences of inviting him to join. This would certainly offend the Thunder King¡¯s faction and may impact the development of [Lingtian First-String]¡¯s battle n in the future.


    Unexpectedly, [Lingtian First-String] only responded with two words, "So what?"


    Even as [No Mecha Unrepaired] was touched by this, he was utterly speechless. He then asked [Lingtian First-String] ¡ª could it be that he did not want his battle n to develop properly? It should be known that with a powerful faction applying pressure on them and seeking trouble at every turn, perhaps even interrupting and obstructing them in all of their missions, the other¡¯s battle n would never be able to develop. The n would only be able to barely survive under the abuse of the Thunder King¡¯s faction ... [No Mecha Unrepaired] believed that this was not something [Lingtian First-String] wanted to see.


    To his surprise, [Lingtian First-String] did not answer his question, instead asking him in return whether he dared to fight with him.


    [Lingtian First-String] did not say that he was not afraid of the Thunder King, nor any other empty words like they would be fine as long as they distanced themselves from the Thunder King¡¯s faction. He simply asked [No Mecha Unrepaired] whether he would fight, proving that the other had long considered the severe repercussions of inviting [No Mecha Unrepaired] into his battle n. This meant that the other¡¯s invitation was not an impulsive act but a decision made after deep contemtion.


    Upon hearing this question of [Lingtian First-String]¡¯s, [No Mecha Unrepaired] no longer hesitated, agreeing readily. [No Mecha Unrepaired] still recalled how his tears had fallen uncontrobly at the moment he epted. Perhaps his heart had already be fatigued from resisting the Thunder King¡¯s faction alone for so long. The sudden appearance of a friend who was willing to fight by his side was like a shot of heart tonic to him ¡ª he had hope once again. [No Mecha Unrepaired] silently made a vow. If he and [Lingtian First-String] truly managed to ovee this hurdle, he would serve [Lingtian First-String]¡¯s battle n for the rest of his life. Onlyrades who were willing to share their burdens and brave trials together were worthy of a lifetime of dedication.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] was well aware that if no battle n invited him, he would ultimately only have two paths before him. One was to retain his dignity and drop out of school resentfully in the end, while the other was to bow his proud head, break his proud bones, and give up on his dignity to be a subordinate of the Thunder King ... of these two paths, he did not want either of them, and [Lingtian First-String]¡¯s invitation was undoubtedly a third path of salvation from a desperate situation ... Although the future of this third path was vague and uncertain, [No Mecha Unrepaired] was willing to take the risk and fight.


    "[No Mecha Unrepaired] shall be the future mecha mechanic of our battle n. From now on, if you all have any problems with your mecha, you can look for him directly," Ling Lan pointed at [No Mecha Unrepaired], who was lost in his thoughts, and introduced him to the others.


    "Oh, so you¡¯re that [No Mecha Unrepaired] who had been pressured so much by the Thunder King that you¡¯ve been driven to a corner ..." [Lingtian Substitute], who was Xie Yi, was the first to exim in realisation.


    As the public representative of the team dealing with external rtions, Xie Yi had always been collecting all information generated within the military academy. He naturally knew quite a lot about [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s matter, even knowing [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s true name in the real world. However, right now they were only a virtual battle n in Mecha World, and Xie Yi was unsure whether [No Mecha Unrepaired] was to be a permanent member or a member under temporary contract ¡ª so, before Boss Lan explicitly defined the other¡¯s status within the n, Xie Yi would still cautiously call [No Mecha Unrepaired] by his username in Mecha World.


    "Ah, you all know about that too ...?" asked [No Mecha Unrepaired] with a wry chuckle. He had not expected his story to have be so widespread.


    "Yes. Trapped in the newbie town for close to 3 years, never seeding in stepping out of the town by even one step ... your story has been widely discussed on the Mecha World official forums. I just happened to see it," replied Xie Yi with a smile.


    "Looks like, after almost 3 years, the Thunder King still has no intention of letting me be," said [No Mecha Unrepaired] with a troubled expression, "I¡¯m very grateful for [Lingtian First-String]¡¯s invitation to join your team. However, now that you all know as well that the Thunder King is still unwilling to leave me alone till today, once I join the battle n, great trouble is sure to follow. If you all disagree on my joining due to this, it¡¯s still not toote."


    "Why would we disagree? What Boss has decided, we will of course uphold," [Lingtian Razor], a.k.a. 3 Luo Lang, responded instantly.


    "[Lingtian First-String] is your boss?" [No Mecha Unrepaired] eximed in shock. He would never have guessed that [Lingtian First-String], who operated an intermediate mecha just like him, would actually be the boss of this bunch of advanced mecha warriors. However, [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s surprise quickly faded, because he recalled how astoundingly strong [Lingtian First-String] had been even when he had just been operating a rabbit trainee mecha. Perhaps the other had just not upgraded to a better mecha for some reason. [No Mecha Unrepaired] began to construct endless idealisations around [Lingtian First-String] ¡ª no one would be willing to believe that the formidable [Lingtian First-String] was in fact truly just an intermediate mecha warrior in Mecha World ...


    "This here is [Priceless Kinship], our future doctor," said Ling Lan tonelessly, pointing at [Priceless Kinship]; this introduction was much less meticulous and serious than when she had introduced [No Mecha Unrepaired].


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] took a peek at [Priceless Kinship], who was as silent as ever despite hearing [Lingtian First-String]¡¯s simple introduction. Even though he had rushed here together with the other, [Lingtian First-String] had not introduced them to each other prior to this. The whole way here, [Priceless Kinship] had not made a peep ¡ª he seemed rather cold and hard to get along with. [No Mecha Unrepaired] wondered silently whether the other was like him, only having been invited by [Lingtian First-String] to join the battle n recently. This was because the other¡¯s name was like his, not beginning with ¡¯Lingtian¡¯.


    In contrast to the enthusiasm with which they had weed [No Mecha Unrepaired], after hearing [Lingtian First-String]¡¯s introduction, the five other people there abruptly fell silent. After that, several muttered wees rang out within thems channel, sounding somewhat perfunctory, or perhaps dispirited and uncertain. And the final rather awkward wee came from [Lingtian Combat].


    "Brother Kinship 4 , this junior¡¯s body is in your care now. But please don¡¯t let any other idents ur ..." Closely following that wee was a short speech by [Lingtian Combat]. There was a trace of forced cheer in his tone and also a trace of lingering fear ¡ª this made [No Mecha Unrepaired] nce curiously at [Priceless Kinship]. Could it be that there was some deeper secret behind his joining?


    Hearing [Lingtian Combat]¡¯s words, the initially rather cold and detached [Priceless Kinship] instantly responded seriously, "I will not make the same mistake twice. Please do not worry." Towards the one he had wronged, Li Shiyu could no longer maintain his aloofness even though he was not particrly pleased with the n leader Ling Lan.


    At this moment, [Lingtian Abacus], a.k.a. Han Jijyun, seemed to sense the awkward atmosphere, and so quickly changed the topic to ask, "Boss, didn¡¯t you say there were three new recruits? Where¡¯s thest one?"


    Ling Lan replied, "I¡¯ve already notified him toe over."


    She had barely finished speaking when an advanced mecha could be seen flying here at high speed. It came to an abrupt stop before them without even slipping into a slide step from the inertia. This movepletely proved just how skilful the other¡¯s control was, causing the eyes of Qi Long, Luo Lang, and the others to light up. They could tell at a nce that the other¡¯s control was definitely first-ss ¡ª Qi Long, in particr, foundpetitive spirit ring up in his heart. He really wished he could fight one match with the other immediately to see who was stronger.


    Everyone in the party quickly saw a notification appear on their own mecha¡¯s screens: [Self-Defined Destiny] has joined team Lingtian.


    "[Self-Defined Destiny], another member of our battle n. A mecha operator, he is abat member," Ling Lan introduced. Everyone greeted [Self-Defined Destiny] warmly. Only Han Jijyun subtly quirked a brow even as he greeted the other, because he had sensed something different in the way his boss had introduced [Self-Defined Destiny]. Even though his boss¡¯s tone had been as dispassionate as usual, Han Jijyun had still picked up a subtle difference ¡ª this made Han Jijyun begin to take careful note of [Self-Defined Destiny].


    [Self-Defined Destiny] saw five others who had the same start to their names as [Lingtian First-String] and knew that these five people must be the most stable and permanent members of the Lingtian Battle n. He quickly greeted them warmly in return, though he was equally earnest in greeting [No Mecha Unrepaired] and [Priceless Kinship]. Since he truly wanted to integrate himself into the Lingtian Battle n, then he needed to establish a good rtionship with every member. On this front, Li Lanfeng did not dare to ck off.

 Chapter 308: Accepting a Mission!

    Chapter 308: epting a Mission!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In this first meeting, Qi Long and the other four as well as [No Mecha Unrepaired] all felt that [Self-Defined Destiny] was a pretty decent guy. His demeanour was warm and gentle, making others feel as if graced by a spring breeze. Only [Priceless Kinship], a.k.a. Li Shiyu, was still a little puzzled, because the other¡¯s aura gave him a sense of familiarity and affinity, just like how Li Lanfeng had made him feel back when they first met ...


    Li Shiyu could not help but mentally shake his head,ughing at himself for being a little too sensitive. Perhaps this person was just a pleasant-tempered person like Li Lanfeng, which was why he would give him this feeling of simrity ... Li Shiyu knew well that the reason he was so attuned to this sort of aura was that his eldest cousin brother radiated the exact same type of aura. His eldest cousin brother just could not be a mecha operator in reality like Li Lanfeng, nor could he enter Mecha World to be an advanced mecha warrior like [Self-Defined Destiny].


    Although Mecha World was a virtual world, its advancement levels also drew from the true physical condition of the yers in real life. If one¡¯s physical constitution in the real world did not meet the standards for advancement, one would also be unable to sessfully advance in the virtual world.


    Thus, Li Shiyu had never even considered the possibility that his eldest cousin brother might have entered Mecha World and be an advanced mecha warrior. This type of habitual thinking caused him to miss this earliest opportunity of discovering the truth. It was only many yearster when he woulde to realise that he had actually already touched upon the truth from the very beginning ¡ª he had merely brushed it aside.


    After the few of them got to know one another, Ling Lan led them in a sprint towards the manor of the city lord of Grandsweep City. That was the ce where one could ept the mission to build a battle n. Ling Lan wanted toplete this mission today.


    In the square, all the unaffiliated mecha operators watched as the team sprinted towards the city lord¡¯s manor, and they could pretty much confirm that the party was on their way to build a battle n. They could not help but sigh ... why could they not be one of the members in that party?


    One mecha operator who could not abide seeing others do well could not help but curse them silently in his heart, "I hope their luck is bad and they don¡¯t get a mission ..."


    In Mecha World, the mission to establish a battle n was not that easy to obtain. At present, the sources for these missions as posted on the official forums were truly all kinds of strange 1


    , different in so many ways. Some could be epted directly from the city lord, with some of those being received at the official hall of the city lord¡¯s manor. There was even one battle n which had been oddball enough to receive the mission from the janitor at the city lord¡¯s manor, while there were also ns that visited the manor multiple times to no avail ... not only that, the missions received also varied in difficulty. Some battle ns had a burst of great luck, managing to receive a supremely easy mission. It could be as easy as merely having to deliver a letter to obtain the n formation token, thus sessfully building one¡¯s battle n. In contrast, there were some missions which were loaded with challenges ¡ª they might not bepleted even after many attempts where the n members would be wiped out again and again.


    Thus from jealousy sprung hate ¡ª the unaffiliated yers without a battle n could not help but be resentful, hoping that these teams which qualified to establish battle ns would fail in their missions.


    After speaking with the mecha operator guarding the gates of the city lord¡¯s manor, they found out that only the team leader could enter to ept the mission. So Ling Lan asked the others to wait for her at the gates before speaking with the mecha operator once more to choose the option of establishing a battle n. The next second, she was transported into the city lord¡¯s manor. The moment one entered the manor, one would automatically be ejected from one¡¯s mecha to appear with one¡¯s regr appearance. Otherwise, therge hulking mecha would certainly have destroyed the city lord¡¯s manor.


    The location one was transported to was utterly random, just like the way one could receive a mission. The ce Ling Lan came to was a corridor. Ling Lan could not help but frown ¡ª the best spot to be transported to was the great hall of the manor. That way, it would be much more convenient to find the official hall or the city lord¡¯s office, and the sess rate of obtaining a mission would be much higher. In contrast, it was hard to tell with this corridor, because you would not be able to tell which doorway you should choose. This waspletely a test of luck.


    But was it truly just a test of luck? 2 Ling Lan did not rush to look for a way out, instead standing where she hadnded to think things through rationally.


    Common sense would dictate that there should not be that many restrictions in the way of forming a battle n. After all, the formation of a battle n would band unaffiliated mecha operators together, greatly cultivating the cooperation and rapport between mecha operators, which would bring more potential out of the mecha operators within a n. It could be said that for this type of battle n that was established early, when enlisting as a n into an army division, they could clearly skip the period new troops needed to limatise to work with one another. They could be an extremely efficient battle unit in a very short period of time.


    Without question, this was an excellent model to foster a nation of soldiers. At critical junctures, even themon public could swiftly turn into extremely capable old hands at fighting, equipped with the ability to work in groups to boot.


    In that case, why would such a brilliant model have so many restrictions ced on it? With even the process of epting the n-formation mission being so abstruse? Ling Lan could not help but recall the associated tests back during the enrolment for the scout academy and the military academy. A sh of insight coursed through her mind ¡ª could this also be a type of test? However, the ones being tested this time were them, the incipient n leaders ... what the Federation needed were exceptional leaders who could lead their team members to grow and develop together. Were they trying to weed out those applicant n leaders who did not have the ability and were only here muddying the waters, to prevent them from destroying the futures of their n members?


    Thinking about it this way, everything made sense ¡ª it could be exined why there were so many restrictions involved in the formation of a battle n now. Ling Lan even felt that those party leaders who were unable to obtain a mission were in fact not unlucky as most believed. After entering the city lord¡¯s manor, their choices and actions must have been evaluated by the mainframe of Mecha World and found unsuitable for the role of n leader. Perhaps that¡¯s how they lost the right to receive the mission?


    In other words, right when one entered the city lord¡¯s manor, the assessment for the party leader had already begun!


    At this point in her train of thought, Ling Lan could not help but sweatdrop. How much did this world love its hidden tests? Even when they were ying a game 3 , they could not avoid this hurdle ... Having reached this conclusion, Ling Lan naturally raised her guard up to 120%. After all, this would determine whether or not her battle n could be formed. Even if she did not do it for herself, she would need to take responsibility on behalf of her followers and friends!


    "Little Four, split the corridor into several smaller screens. Do not overlook any single small corner. I need to understand everything about this area," Ling Lan finally spoke up to give Little Four instructions.


    Without demur, Little Four broke the image of the corridor into countless smaller screens and disyed them on the screen of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha. Ling Lan began to study each picture carefully, clicking through them one by one. It didn¡¯t take long before she was done scrutinising all of the images.


    Ling Lan¡¯s brow scrunched up tighter and tighter because she could not see anything strange on any of the images. It should be said that the corridor was absolutely normal. There were only two doorways ¡ª one was behind Ling Lan, so it should be the entrance, while the other was at the end of the corridor, so it should be the exit ...


    Am I just overthinking things? Ling Lan could not help but wonder. Suddenly thinking of something, she abruptly clicked back to one of the images. It was an image of one corner of the corridor ¡ª right beside it was arge flower garden, and there was a gardener busy at work inside.


    For a person to randomly appear like that in the flower garden, just when she was looking to ept a mission, Ling Lan felt that this was very suspicious.


    "Little Four, this gardener, investigate them for me," Ling Lan instructed Little Four as she pointed at the sweat-drenched gardener.


    Little Four obeyed immediately, beginning to flip through and investigate everything he could about the existence of the gardener. In the end, he returned jubntly, eyes sparkling as he looked at Ling Lan, to say adoringly, "Boss, it¡¯s as you suspected. There is a huge problem with this person." If not for his boss sensing something strange about the situation, Little Four, who had not thought of taking the initiative to investigate, would havepletely missed this opportunity to discover the truth.


    At Little Four¡¯s response, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up. "It¡¯s good as long as there is a problem. Who is he exactly?"


    "He¡¯s no gardener. He¡¯s actually the lord of this manor, the city lord of Grandsweep City, Luo Yixuan," answered Little Four smugly. As long as it was something he wanted to find out, no matter how hard the Mecha World mainframe tried to conceal it, the information could never escape his keen fire-gold eyes 4 .


    "So, the n-formation mission should be on him." The corner of Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked. What a windfall ... her luck was truly pretty good! Still, the mainframe of Mecha World was really quite despicable, actually disguising a city lord as a gardener. If she had not carefully studied the situation in the corridor, perhaps she might have walked all the way to the end and went off to god knows where. It was likely that she would not have ever obtained a mission then.


    "For him to appear in this path you must go through to obtain a mission, Boss, and with the fact that he is the head here, that¡¯s probably close to the mark." Little Four agreed with Ling Lan¡¯s analysis, believing that the mission must be with the city lord.


    Since she had found her target, Ling Lan quickly walked over to the gardener¡¯s side and silently waited for the gardener to finish up what he was doing. Ling Lan¡¯s patience was excellent, and she believed it was better not to disturb someone as they were working.


    The gardener finished nting the tree sapling in his hands and was just turning around to pick up another sapling when he was startled greatly by Ling Lan standing behind him. His expression changed and he pointed at Ling Lan angrily and asked, "Hey, why are you standing behind me? Don¡¯t you know that¡¯s very frightening?"


    "Frightening? If you were a normal gardener, perhaps that might be true. But is Your Lordship really just an ordinary gardener?" said Ling Lan casually. Framed by that cold stony face of hers, it did note off very friendly. However, Ling Lan was oblivious about this, because her demeanour when speaking was always like this regardless of whom she was speaking with.


    "If I¡¯m not an ordinary gardener, then who am I? You impudent punk. I must go report to the city lord and chase you out ..." This seemingly impolite expression and tone of Ling Lan instantly drove the gardener to anger.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan¡¯s eyebrows lifted and the corner of her lips twitched up slightly. "Aren¡¯t you the city lord, Elder?" This expression of Ling Lan¡¯s was tant mockery in the gardener¡¯s eyes. It seemed to be saying ¡ª was there really any point in this idiotic charade?


    The gardener¡¯s expression instantly turned ugly as rage welled in his heart. Hells, this punk was truly too arrogant! Actually daring tough and mock me; not at all knowing how to respect his elders ... and so, his impression of Ling Lan dropped straight from neutral to a negative value.


    Poor Ling Lan had long be ustomed to sporting this frozen face of hers. In fact, that little tilt of her lips had been forcefully squeezed out by Ling Lan in hopes of improving the city lord¡¯s impression of her. She was hoping that this would prompt the city lord to swiftly assign her a mission, one that was not too hard. However, this effort of hers was destined to go to waste. Sometimes, the best intentions could in fact lead to even worse oues ... just as it was with the current Ling Lan.


    The gardener did not seem to want to give Ling Lan a mission. Even though Ling Lan had already uncovered his true identity, he still pretended he had heard nothing. He simply asked Ling Lan to leave the garden so she would not disturb his work.

 Chapter 309: SSS-Rank!

    Chapter 309: SSS-Rank!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Out of options, Ling Lan could only say outright, "City Lord Luo Yixuan, I am here to receive a n-formation mission. Let¡¯s not beat around the bush anymore and stop wasting each other¡¯s time."


    Hearing Ling Lan call out his name directly, the city lord Luo Yixuan knew for sure that his identity had been seen through by the other. Because to the general outside world, his information was only listed as the city lord of Grandsweep City; his full name would not be disyed. It was very likely that the other had found some other clue to his identity from some other source. This also made it so that he could not continue to hold back from giving out the n-formation mission.


    Yet he did not want to make things so easy for this arrogant and impolite punk. An idea struck him and he instantly brought out arge spin wheel and said coldly, "I can give you a mission if you want, but whether or not you can actually receive one will all depend on your luck."


    Ling Lan looked at that familiarrge spin wheel once more, but this time, its segments were not marked with various mecha but with various mission options for forming a n. More than half of the segments werebelled with the word ¡¯failure¡¯ outright ¡ª she could just tell that this was the city lord Luo Yixuan¡¯s doing. She thought back on the two times she had spun a rabbit mecha and could not help but cringe inside. What if her spinning luck was bad here ...


    Ling Lan was not really worried about the failures, because if she received a ¡¯failure¡¯, she could just wait till a weekter to try and receive a mission again. She nced briefly at that terrifying SSS-rank mission on one of the segments in the spin wheel and could not help but gulp silently. Hells, if her spinnded on that, it would definitely be even more tragic than getting a ¡¯failure¡¯. As far as she knew, no one had everpleted an SSS-rank mission up till now ... she did not want to spend her entire life struggling with this mission.


    "What? If you¡¯re afraid, you can just choose to give up directly and juste again next week," said the city lord Luo Yixuan coldly, arms folded across his chest.


    Damm*t, her luck could not be that bad all the time! Ling Lan would never choose to give up voluntarily; she decisively pressed down on the handle of therge spin wheel. The spin wheel began to spin rapidly ¡ª Ling Lan pressed her lips tightly together, praying in her heart for the SSS-rank mission to stay away ... and therge spin wheel finally stopped.


    Ling Lan first reflex was to stare down at her own hand. Her hand was obviously so white and soft ... why was her hand-luck so ck then?! She even began to curse herself ¡ª why did she even think about the SSS-rank mission while the wheel had been spinning? Didn¡¯t she know how the more she didn¡¯t want something, the more likely it was toe?


    Ling Lan had no tears even though she felt like crying. She could not help but sigh loudly at the skies. Reality proved that she was natural enemies withrge spin wheels ¡ª in the end, the needle firmly pointed at a mission of SSS-rank. Ling Lan¡¯s first thought was whether she should just choose to give up ande again next week.


    However, before Ling Lan could decide, the city lord, who had been equally stunned by the results, very quickly came to himself. Chortling sinisterly, he withdrew a token from a pocket and threw it into Ling Lan¡¯sp, and then ... he immediately ran away.


    Amidst the schadenfreude-filledughter of the city lord which had yet to fade, Ling Lan stared speechlessly down at the mission token in her hands, a green vein spasming uncontrobly at her temple ... no matter how much the city lord did not like her, he still could not be so irresponsible as to just dump the mission token on her and leave! At the very least he should give her a mission introduction and offer some useful tips or suggestions ... what an extremely irresponsible NPC! Ling Lan decided that she would definitely submit aint about this city lord of Grandsweep City. An NPC just could not be that shameless.


    With no other recourse, Ling Lan could only try to get more information from the token in her hands. She had just straightened the token when a notification popped up on her mecha¡¯s screen.


    "n-formation mission, mission ranking: SSS-rank. Mission content: A month ago, Fleet Swift Dragon, which is stationed at the Neb Boundary, sent over an extremely subtle S.O.S. As the message was too brief, the Federation military was unable to determine whether it was a mistake or a true request for assistance. Although headquarters sent a team over to investigate, they did not discover anything out of the ordinary. Despite everything looking normal, the Federation military is notpletely convinced. They have decided to secretly send an unofficial civilian expedition to look around the Neb Boundary to find out once and for all what the S.O.S. was about. Uponpletion of the mission, the Federation shall convey the official status of battle n on the expedition team. The team will from then on be granted the same rights and benefits as military troops of the same rank ..."


    "As expected of an SSS-rank mission. How troublesome." Reading the mission introduction, Ling Lan¡¯s mood became very horrible. This mission was not easy. One, the people they were supposed to contact were unclear. Two, the situation at the Neb Boundary was unclear. Three, as a civilian expedition party, entering a location controlled by the Federation military ... that was definitely seeking death. Any random person within a trained fleet would be able to drown their entire expedition team with just a mouthful of spit.


    Moreover, how they could covertly get to the Neb Boundary was also an extremely difficult matter. In short, this mission was already extremely tricky from the very beginning, and the further they progressed, the harder things would be. Also, Ling Lan did not believe that military headquarters would really just send them, this one team. It was highly likely that while they were acting, the military would also send another investigative team to secretly sneak into the Neb Boundary to investigate. At the bottom of it all, they were just the diversionary lure to draw away the guard troops of the Neb Boundary.


    "Perhaps, giving up would be better for us." Ling Lan felt that this mission was absolutely impossible at the level of her current party.


    Ling Lan was not someone who was blindly confident. When the difficulty of a mission was truly worlds apart from her team¡¯s capabilities, Ling Lan would rationally choose to give up. She did not want to lead herpanions into danger recklessly. Even though dying in the game would not lead to true death, Ling Lan was worried that this would instil the habit of risk-taking within herself. This character trait was undesirable as it could very well hurt everyone in the real world. Ling Lan was constantly on guard against it.


    Havinge to a decision, Ling Lan instantly threw the token onto the ground without any hesitation. In Mecha World, whether it was equipment, resources, medical agents, or materials, as long as it was dumped somewhere, the system would wipe it away with a refresh when time ran out. The same applied to mission tokens. As long as one chose to cast it aside, the mainframe would judge it as a mission failure ... then, she would be able toe back one weekter and ept a new mission. Of course, after failing, the one who epted the mission would have to pay some price; Ling Lan felt that this was still much more worth it than recklessly risking their lives.


    However, what happened next proved that Ling Lan¡¯s internal abacus was inurate. When Ling Lan chose to discard the token, the system actually notified her that the mission was already bound to her and could not be discarded ... in other words, the mission she had received was a deathmand that could not be refused.


    Seeing this notification, Ling Lan could not help but show a middle finger to the screen inside her cockpit. D*mmit, mainframe, you¡¯re just too shameless!


    However, since this was already done, Ling Lan did not waste time panicking or despairing. She decided to go back and discuss with herpanions how they wanted toplete this mission.


    Ling Lan very quickly returned from whence she came and was transported back to the gates of the city lord¡¯s manor. Back outside the manor, Ling Lan once again reappeared in her intermediate mecha. Seeing their boss reappear, Qi Long and the others asked Ling Lan excitedly whether she had received a mission.


    Ling Lan did not reply, instead asking them to move to a quieter location first. Only then did she share the details of the mission with them. When the others saw the contents of the mission, they instantly fell silent.


    Ling Lan smiled wryly. It looked like this mission had scared herpanions. She was just about to speak up and exin when Qi Long could be heard to roar excitedly, "Boss, you are just too awesome! Actually obtaining an SSS-rank mission that has not appeared in over several hundred years. I really just need to follow boss and there will be crazy awesome things to do ..."


    "Yeah! I can¡¯t believe that there¡¯s something so exciting to do again so soon!" Xie Yi was just as excited.


    "I had just been thinking that Boss would likely bring us an extremely high-level mission. Who would have expected Boss to dish out an SSS-rank mission just like that? My guts are still no match for Boss¡¯s," sighed Han Jijyun.


    Han Jijyun had always set figuring out Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts as his highest goal. However, reality proved that he had still failed this time. Boss was even more savage than he had imagined ... but this was their boss! Forever doing things others would not dare to do. Han Jijyun could not know that this mission was not something Ling Lan had asked for on her own initiative, but was rather something that had been forcefully thrown upon Ling Lan.


    "In any case, whatever Boss decides to do, I¡¯ll do." Luo Lang had no opinion whatsoever on this; he had long decided to follow his boss faithfully.


    "If it¡¯s a mission of this level, the resources I prepared previously will becking considerably. I¡¯ll need to go supplement them as soon as possible." At this moment, Lin Zhong-qing was already thinking about how he couldpensate for the ranking of the mission. He had no objections at all on epting this mission.


    Ling Lan stared at this group of audacious people and sweatdropped. Fine, she had forgotten that not many of herpanions were normal. Earlier when she had thought they had been scared stiff, her mind must have short-circuited for a moment to even consider it.


    Ling Lan turned her head to look at the other three silent people, thinking that these three at least must be shocked ... after all, those abnormal people like herpanions should still be the minority.


    And so Ling Lan addressed [No Mecha Unrepaired], saying, "[No Mecha Unrepaired], the mission this time is unexpectedly difficult. You can reconsider your invitation to join this battle n if you would like." [No Mecha Unrepaired] was after all not that close with them. If by any chance they did not manage toplete the mission, Ling Lan did not want to drag [No Mecha Unrepaired] down with them.


    "No, I want to join the battle n, and I also want to follow you all for the mission ..." At Ling Lan¡¯s words, [No Mecha Unrepaired] quickly responded emphatically, "I was just moved earlier that I actually have the chance to participate in an SSS-rank mission. This is just too unbelievable." [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s voice actually contained a trace of dreaminess.


    "An SSS-rank mission that one might only see once in several hundred years ... there is indeed a need to see this. Besides, I believe you all will need my treatment ability even more." [Priceless Kinship] deviated from his usual indifference, bing unbelievably enthusiastic. It was clear to see how much attraction the SSS-rank mission held for him as well.


    The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips could not help but twitch. Hells, what kind of members were these whom she had taken in?! Each even more abnormal than the one before, actually so eager to attempt a mission normal people would never dare to touch ... She could not help but look towards [Self-Defined Destiny]; her leopard should be a normal person, right?


    Li Lanfeng rubbed his jaw and asked with clear interest, "Say, do you all think that bypleting this mission, the reward we receive will also be of a legendary level?"


    "Legendary level?" Everyone sucked in a sharp breath ... within the mechams channel, Ling Lan could practically hear the endless dripping sounds of drooling.


    Ling Lan stared up into the sky, speechless. She really could not expect much of her team members. As members of a team led by an abnormal person (a freak), they really could never be normal either ...

 Chapter 310: Planet X192!

    Chapter 310: X192!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In Mecha World, for every ten major cities, there would be a sky metropolis connecting these ten major cities. As its name suggests, the sky metropolises existed in the sky. However, these sky metropolises were not for human inhabitation; they merely functioned as spaceports.


    Every day, there would be massive numbers of spacecrafts, military vessels, and cargo ships passing through these metropolises, departing from them or merely stopping by. Many lone wolves, expedition parties, and battle ns which needed to travel to distantnds for their missions would need to enter the sky metropolises to hitch a ride on a starship or some cargo ship. However, though battle ns could freely choose between military vessels andmon ships, regr lone wolves andmoner expeditions could only ride civilian spacecrafts.


    This was another reason why battle ns were so popr in Mecha World. After all, in Mecha World, 70% of ships were military vessels of the Federation. Furthermore, some military-governed areas could only be essed by military vessels ¡ª general civilian spacecrafts could not even approach. Oftentimes, the spots with the greatest profits were all located in those areas ...


    For instance, the base camp at the Neb Boundary where the Swift Dragon Fleet was stationed was an area where only military vessels were permitted to enter. This was also why they would find it troublesome ¡ª not yet having the right to board military vessels, they would never be able to get close to their destination by using civilian ships alone.


    In any case, today, the initially already extremely bustling sky metropolis was even busier than ever. This was because the once-a-seasonary remation activity was about tomence officially, and this was also the one and only time when ordinary lone wolves andmoner expedition teams could board military vessels.


    ary remation was an official activity organised by the Federation government. They would release some newly discovered wild and unexploreds to the public, allowing civilian individuals or groups to go explore and cultivate thend. If they discovered any resources beneficial to the Federation or any new biological organisms, the Federation would reward them with countless credits.


    Many troubled lone wolves or expedition teams that were not doing well financially had been able to revive due to this activity, bing famous people or renowned expedition teams in their own right. Therefore, thisary remation activity had be the premier shortcut for ordinary lone wolves or expedition teams to fame and fortune.


    "They only see the glory of sess but fail to see the consequences of failure. Tell me, these individuals or parties who go on this exploration ¡ª how many of them return alive?" As the person in charge of ferrying these adventurers this time, amanding officer could not help but sigh as he looked at the spirited civilian adventurers down below controlling their mecha to board the starship from the screen of his mainship.


    "This is their own choice. Perhaps this failure will let them understand what it means to act within one¡¯s means," responded an adjutant coldly from beside themanding officer. The adjutant did not think highly of these untrained civilian adventurers. If this were not an assignment, he would never have willingly made contact with these trash.


    "Oh you. You should not have these kinds of thoughts. Have you never heard the old saying of ¡¯prodigies sprouting from the civilian world¡¯?" said themander with augh, shaking his head.


    "That saying has long be obsolete. With the perfected system of the Federation now, any prodigies would have long been excavated for cultivation. Would they have been able to remain hidden until now?" said the adjutant scornfully. These trash which could not even form proper battle ns could only remain mediocre all their lives. "The only thing that perplexes me is why we have toe to this virtual Mecha World to do this mission. It¡¯s seriously aplete waste of our time."


    At his adjutant¡¯s words, the smile on themander¡¯s face vanished. Grimly, he said, "Because the Federation mainframe has sent an emergency notification to us. At the Neb Boundary of Mecha World, some strange phenomena has urred. Although it has tried its best to eliminate the problem, it has failed, and it simply cannot discover the reason for its failure."


    The adjutant¡¯s expression changed. "Could it be that our Federation mainframe has been invaded by an enemy nation¡¯s virus?"


    Themander nodded solemnly. "Highly possible. This is also why we have secretly entered Mecha World to rece these NPCs under the mainframe¡¯s arrangement. You should know that once the Federation mainframe is sessfully corrupted by a virus, the entire order of the Federation will utterly copse. At that time, we will be like deshelled turtles, helpless on the chopping block."


    "Are we enough to handle this?" The adjutant was rather concerned. After all, he was not a hacker who was proficient on this front ¡ª he really had no certainty in handling everything in the virtual world.


    "Don¡¯t worry. We are not the only ones who havee. There¡¯s still those top-ss hackers of the military. Headquarters has even sent out some of those top-level spectres this time ..." Aggression shed across themander¡¯s face. "Thinking to destroy our mainframe, don¡¯t they even dare think they will live to tell the tale."


    The adjutant could not help but clench his fists. As someone on the verge of breaking through the barrier of ace to advance to imperial operator, this was undoubtedly a great chance for him. He believed that if this was truly an attack by an enemy, they would certainly have top-ss operators as escort. Perhaps this was why headquarters had sent a prodigy like him on the verge of a breakthrough here right at this moment.


    ¡¯Ling Xiao, I will definitely be a legendary figure surpassing you!¡¯ Ambition red in the adjutant¡¯s eyes for a brief instant. That god-ss operator General Ling Xiao who had broken records multiple times hadpletely trodden other prodigies under his feet. No matter how outstanding they were, inparison to his records, they were all not even worth a mention. But all of that was in the past now ¡ª if he could advance sessfully this year, he would break Ling Xiao¡¯s record of being the youngest ever to be an imperial operator ...


    At this thought, the adjutant could not help but shiver in excitement. He would definitely pull Ling Xiao down from his godly pedestal!


    Among the crowd of mecha registering to board a starship was Ling Lan¡¯s party. Around them were all advanced mecha which had been modified, and there were even quite a few formidable special-ss mecha. In contrast, their team appeared extremely pdash. Qi Long and the other four of Ling Lan¡¯s original team, Li Lanfeng, and Li Shiyu were all using standard Federation mecha, while [No Mecha Unrepaired] and Ling Lan were using intermediate mecha which were one level below the others. Even though [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s mecha had obviously been modified quite a bit, no matter how well it was modified, it was still nothing before an advanced mecha.


    The level difference between mecha was not something which could be bridged with modification ... Of course, this was only referring to ordinary modifications. This may not necessarily be true of a mecha which had been modified by a master-level mechanic.


    That said, no one would believe that an ordinary expedition team whose advanced mecha were still just standard mecha would have intermediate mecha modified by a master-level mechanic ...


    "Combat, it¡¯s our turn." Ling Lan saw that it was finally their turn and quickly urged Qi Long on their partyms to go up and register. As her present mecha was still an intermediate mecha, she was really rather unsuited to be the party leader.


    "Got it, Boss!" Receiving his boss¡¯s reminder, Qi Long, who had been in a constant state of excitement, finally scrambled over to register. All this had been arranged beforehand ¡ª from the moment they set off on the mission, the public leader had been Qi Long.


    As Qi Long was registering, Han Jijyun finally voiced his doubts, "Boss, why won¡¯t you let us help you redeem an advanced mecha?"


    A lower mecha operator could of course pilot a more advanced mecha, but they would not be able to draw out the full power of the mecha and may even be unable to use it for long periods of time. This was because the more advanced a mecha was, the higher the demands it would ce on the operator¡¯s physical constitution and stamina. Some people have tried using advanced mecha as intermediate mecha warriors ¡ª 10 minutester, they would be utterly drained and no longer able to continue piloting the mecha. This stark truth dispelled all thoughts of any operator thinking to take a shortcut; they all practised honestly to advance.


    However, Han Jijyun and the others believed that with their boss¡¯s capabilities, even if he piloted a mecha at a higher level, he would be able to y around with the advanced mecha like it were his own arms. Thinking back on how terrifying Ling Lan¡¯s control skills were that year back then, after so many years, his skills could only have gotten better.


    "Because, this is more convenient for my mobility. No one will pay attention to an intermediate mecha. Besides, as far as I know, boarding details must match actual ranking, otherwise the mainframe will refuse boarding," exined Ling Lan calmly. She was too embarrassed to admit that she already had a secret weapon, although this secret weapon was not something she really wanted ...


    Han Jijyun was just about to say something when he heard Qi Long yelling in thems channel, "GO, GO, GO~" It turned out he had finished registering and was now urging them to get on the military vessel.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan said, "Let¡¯s board the ship." That said, she was the first to follow Qi Long to walk towards the boarding entrance of the military vessel. As these were all transport ships, after entering through the entrance, they saw an extremelyrge empty space. Right then, there were already quite a few mecha inside. They followed the order they entered to walk over to their exclusive secured seats.


    In order to ensure the stability of the mecha during transport, the hold of transport ships were all equipped with this type of mecha-specific secured seats. Once a mecha was buckled in, the mecha would not be able to move. Other than the transport ship activating the release of the secured seats, the mecha could only try to break free by breaking the seat with brute strength.


    Ling Lan¡¯s team walked over to their secured seats in an orderly manner, and then they all settled in to rest respectively. This so-called rest just meant they were sleeping in their respective cockpits. Once the ship left the spaceport, no one would be allowed to log off until they arrived at the next save point.


    Fortunately, this journey was not a very long one; it only took one night. Besides, Ling Lan and the others had already made the proper preparations. All of them had requested several days¡¯ leave from their instructors, and their virtual login pods were also properly filled with energy replenishing fluid, which should be enough to sustain them till they arrived at the new save point.


    This time, the destination the Federation had organised for theary remation activity was X192, which was not too far away from the Neb Boundary. Ling Lan was aiming to use the X192 as their springboard, so they would have the chance to enter the stationed camp grounds of the Swift Dragon Fleet at the Neb Boundary.


    Right then, they did not know that a bunch of people from the Federation military were also nning on doing the exact same thing.


    The night passed in silence. The transport fleet very quickly arrived at the Neb Boundary and began its descent towards X192.


    At the same time, relevant information on X192 was announced on the public channel of Mecha World:


    X192; Gravity 29.7, Strength of Maic Field 15e-18 te. Temperature: 56 1 . Normal Wind Strength level 12; Extreme Wind Strength level 19. Atmospheric Elements: Carbon Dioxide 87%, Hydrogen 3%, Chlorine 8%, Others 2% ...


    "F*ck, is there really life on this?" Listening to these details that were not at all suitable for human life, Qi Long asked hispanions as he adjusted the settings of his mecha to amodate for X192.

 Chapter 311: Abandon?

    Chapter 311: Abandon?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "So what if it¡¯s unsuitable for life? Remation is not for the sake of seeking lifeforms, but to find minerals and resources," said Han Jijyun coldly in response to Qi Long¡¯s question. He felt that this question of Qi Long¡¯s was really just too silly.


    "Alert. The starship shall enter the atmosphericyer in 10 seconds. Please ensure all anti-shock measures are in ce, please ensure all anti-shock measures are in ce ..." In the publicms of the mecha, the voice of the starship¡¯s JMC rang out.


    At the end of the 10 second countdown, all of the mecha operators in the transport hold could feel an intense quaking whichsted for over 10 seconds before the starship gradually stabilised again. At this time, all the mecha operators knew that they should have already passed through the atmosphericyer of X192 and were now truly within the airspace of the.


    Sure enough, the JMC¡¯s voice once again rang out in the publicms. This time, it was to notify them that in 1 minute and 30 seconds, the starship would officiallynd on the ground of X192.


    One minute and thirty seconds was not a very short period of time; it was enough for the mecha operators to make all necessary preparations fornding. Even so, when the countdown hit zero and the starshipnded heavily on the¡¯s surface, the intense vibrations still caused many mecha operators to feel their Qi and blood roil in their chests. Quite a few of the mecha operators did not manage to regain their equilibrium till several beatster.


    Ling Lan¡¯s original party of six did not react in any way. Under Ling Lan¡¯s tutge, even the one with the weakest physical constitution, Han Jijyun, was able to easily withstand the impact. Well aware of herpanions¡¯ conditions, Ling Lan skipped over them to ask [No Mecha Unrepaired], [Priceless Kinship], and [Self-Defined Destiny] how they were holding up.


    [Priceless Kinship] did not dy, instantly responding to say that he had no problem at all. Stopping to think about it, Ling Lan understood instantly. Li Shiyu¡¯s body could not be that weak ... he was the dux of the Military Medical Research specialization! Exceedingly intelligent, he would never allow his own body to be all that weak.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] was the second to reply. Just as Ling Lan predicted, he felt somewhat ufortable. However, after swallowing a tube of concentrated recovery fluid, he felt much better.


    The final one to answer was [Self-Defined Destiny]. Even though he said that everything was fine, what kind of ears did Ling Lan have? She could clearly hear that the other¡¯s breath was rather short ¡ª the violent vibrations earlier must have given [Self-Defined Destiny] some trouble despite him saying otherwise.


    This made Ling Lan frown slightly. She had only been mentally prepared regarding the slightly weaker constitution of [No Mecha Unrepaired]. After all, [No Mecha Unrepaired] was a support type researcher ¡ª it was natural for him to have some foundational difference from specialized mecha operators like them. Thus, for [No Mecha Unrepaired] to falter in situations like this was normal. However, things were different with [Self-Defined Destiny]. [Self-Defined Destiny] was a specialized mecha operator too ¡ª this was something the other had told her personally and she believed that the leopard would not lie to her. Besides, his control skills were more than sufficient to make him a specialized mecha operator.


    She would never, ever have considered that the leopard, who should have an amazing constitution based on her impression of him, would actually have a constitution roughly simr to that of [No Mecha Unrepaired]. This meant that the other¡¯s strength and stamina would not support drawn-out battle ...


    This forced Ling Lan to ponder calmly ¡ª could her old friend the leopard really be a permanent member of her n? Although Ling Lan had gotten along very well with the leopard, and she also greatly cherished the rapport between them, this did not mean that she would allow the other to drag down her entire n. She needed to think about the futures of thesepanions who had grown up alongside her.


    It had to be said that in Ling Lan¡¯s heart, the leopard was still not as important as herpanions. For herpanions, she could abandon her leopard.


    Sensing his boss¡¯s thoughts, Little Four hurriedly exined, "Boss, because the spectre¡¯s spiritual power is too strong, that is why the damage to his body is great. It¡¯s just like Boss in your previous world. Of course, with the gene agents, this world now has considerably improved on this front, but it still cannot fully cure the problem of the weakened constitution."


    Little Four was rather fond of this spectre with abilities simr to his. At the very least, the other gave him a sense of kinship, which was why he decided to speak up for [Self-Defined Destiny]. "Honestly, spectres should not be able to operate mecha. The fact that [Self-Defined Destiny] can do this is already extremely outstanding. Furthermore, having a spectre around is also very advantageous to the n. Spectres are very sensitive to the presence of other spectres; he will be able to protect the others in the n during critical moments."


    "Won¡¯t you be able to protect everyone?" Although Little Four¡¯s words moved Ling Lan a little, the problem of the leopard¡¯s constitution still made her feel extremely conflicted.


    "Of course I can, but Boss, there will always be times when you¡¯re alone, or when the team splits up to act. At those times, having an additional spectre will increase the safety rates for everyone on the team no matter how things are arranged," replied Little Four calmly. He did not believe that his boss would trivialize her n members¡¯ safety.


    As expected, Ling Lan paused after hearing what Little Four had to say.


    "Besides, it¡¯s not like the other¡¯s weak constitution is unchangeable." Little Four prepared his finishing move.


    "Oh?" Ling Lan was extremely interested. If the problem of the leopard¡¯s constitution could be resolved, she naturally did not want to abandon the leopard. After all, it was so rare to find a friend with such good rapport. Ling Lan treated Qi Long and her other childhoodpanions as followers and sons to be raised, while the leopard was the very first one to give her the feeling of having a friend. As such, Ling Lan treasured him greatly.


    "Boss, have you forgotten how your body recovered? As long as there are gene agents, once I¡¯ve modified them, the other will be able to absorb them endlessly. Combine that with your Qi exercises and the foundational physical skills of the learning space, and by applying all three methods simultaneously, this problem should be fixed in two to three years." Little Four reminded Ling Lan. How she had resolved her owntent issues would be how the other could resolve his owntent issues.


    "I¡¯ll have to think about this." Ling Lan nced at [Self-Defined Destiny] and cut short the topic. This was because all the mecha had already begun to leave their secured seats and were now lining up to walk out of the hold¡¯s door. There was one other reason why Ling Lan did not want to make a decision just yet. She wanted to first see if the leopard could actually gain herpanions¡¯ acknowledgement. If herpanions truly epted him, she would willingly help her leopard solve this problem.


    Everything would still depend on how the leopard performed in future! Ling Lan sighed internally and then led her party members to walk out of the hold doors.


    Right then, Li Lanfeng had no idea that he had almost been given three strikes 1 by his rabbit. As soon as he could, he downed some restorative agent, and very soon, his body had recovered. He quickly followed the other members of his party forward, rather frustrated with himself deep inside. He had not expected all the members of the rabbit¡¯s party to have such sturdy constitutions. Of all the members, his constitution actually ranked at the very bottom ... he silently clenched his fists tight, deciding that he would increase his nightly basic training by threefold. He definitely would not disgrace his rabbit.


    The moment they stepped out of the starship transport¡¯s hold, a wave of heat swept over them. Even though the temperature within their mecha cockpits had already been adjusted lower, they could still feel the difference from the temperatures of an inhabitable 2. On the respective screens of all the mecha in Ling Lan¡¯s party, an endless desert came into view. It was a swirling sheet of white with not a single speck of any other colour. After only looking at the scene for several seconds, they could already feel their eyes vaguely starting to prickle in pain.


    "Adjust the temperature of your cockpit. Lower it by 10 degrees. And set your visuals to infrared mode." Just when everyone was stunned, Ling Lan¡¯s voice rang out in their partyms.


    Used to obeying Ling Lan¡¯smands, Qi Long and the others quickly made the adjustments as instructed. Once they had adjusted the initial internal temperature of 25 degrees down to 15, they felt all the heat which had prated the cockpitpletely wiped away. Their cockpits once again returned to regr levels offort. Meanwhile, changing their screen disys to infrared mode eased the strain on their eyes. They no longer felt as if they were staring into a blizzard of white, and their eyes stopped hurting.


    Li Lanfeng had the utmost faith in his rabbit, so he did not think much of the other¡¯s immensely urate judgment. However, Li Shiyu and [No Mecha Unrepaired] could not help but feel a jolt go through their hearts. Their leader must know everything about mecha like the back of his hands; otherwise, he would not have been able to make such urate and precise judgments in a split second. [No Mecha Unrepaired] found his respect for Ling Lan deepening, while Li Shiyu too gradually began to acknowledge this Boss Lan who he had never thought well of, who liked to turnmon sense on its head.


    When they truly walked out onto the, they were shocked by the scene before their eyes. Those mecha that had walked out before them were currently struggling against the sands of the area. Many mecha had sunk into the sandy ground, while even more had no choice but to power up their engines to fly into the air and move forwards that way.


    "Warning. Do not use your engines for a long time. The temperature and atmospheric elements here will cause great damage to your engines." In the publicms channel, the JMC¡¯s anxious voice rang out once more in warning.


    He had barely finished speaking when in the skies not too far away, a loud boom rang out as a mecha¡¯s engine abruptly exploded. The strength of the explosion instantly sent the mecha careening to the ground. The entire mecha crashed into the sand and its massive body becamepletely buried within it. If not for the help of his party members, he would not have been able to resolve this dire situation on his own ¡ª all that would have awaited him was death.


    "Godd*mn, what a dangerous." Witnessing this scene, Xie Yi could not help but exim in the partyms. However, he was only eximing for the sake of eximing; he would not shrink back in fear because of this.


    "Let us go." Ling Lan¡¯s voice had yet to fade when she had already controlled her mecha to begin striding onto this patch of desert. But then, [Self-Defined Destiny] suddenly shouted, "Wait a moment!"


    "Hm?" Ling Lan controlled her mecha to dip her head at him, signalling for [Self-Defined Destiny] to exin why he had stopped her.


    "I think that it¡¯s better to first send someone to test things out," said Li Lanfeng with a smile, "I volunteer myself. As a new member, I hope everyone can give me a chance to perform." Li Lanfeng¡¯s words made the initially rather tense atmosphere of the team dissipate instantly. Qi Long even began tough uproariously, while there were several other soft giggles and chuckles that were almost inaudible ¡ª god knows who wasughing so secretly.


    The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked up; she was extremely in favour of the leopard¡¯s behaviour, so she said, "Alright, go." Ling Lan hoped the leopard would be epted by herpanions; thus, she naturally indicated her support of the leopard¡¯s request without any hesitation.

 Chapter 312: Robbery

    Chapter 312: Robbery


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Hearing [Lingtian First-String] agree, Li Lanfeng was exhrated. He breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself. This time, he must definitely perform well and not disgrace his rabbit. Li Lanfeng knew well that in order for him to find secure footing within the rabbit¡¯s team, relying purely on the friendship between himself and the rabbit would not be enough.


    Li Lanfeng operated his mecha to dash out onto the sands,nding in the endless desert which had already swallowed many mecha. Very quickly, the shifting sand beneath his feet had sucked in both of his mecha¡¯s legs. His mecha began sinking down at a rapid pace ¡ª at this speed, his entire mecha might bepletely buried a minuteter.


    "The default desert-mode setting of the mecha does not match up to the real conditions. The buoyancy difference is extremelyrge. The settings need to be altered. Change it to twenty. No. Thirty. Still not enough. Forty, that¡¯s a little too much ... correction. It should be 37 or 38. Confirmed as 38. Original mecha traction settingcking. Compensation coefficient at 10 results in sluggishness. Change coefficient to 9, sess. There is an error with the original granr load 1 . Increase load value to 20. Still wrong, increase to 25? Adjusted to 24, confirmed ..." In the partyms, [Self-Defined Destiny]¡¯s rapid-fire speech came through clearly, along with the faint sound of fingers moving at super high control speeds.


    This gave all the other members of Ling Lan¡¯s party a shock; they knew what this represented. Setting aside the brash and forthright Qi Long whose control was coarse and based solely on his instinct, even Han Jijyun with his formidable calction skills could not collect on-scene data and perform such urate corrections in such a short amount of time. Those rapid tapping sounds and swishing noises also meant that the other¡¯s finger-speed had currently achieved a frightening level.


    This caused Qi Long and the others to begin taking [Self-Defined Destiny], this person who had just joined them, seriously. Although they would never doubt Boss Lan¡¯s judgment, without experiencing it first-hand, they would never have known that this seemingly friendly and humble [Self-Defined Destiny] was also a control prodigy. As expected, those who Boss Lan took a shine to would never be simple.


    Still, after that first jolt of surprise, Qi Long and the others quickly calmed down. Without waiting for Ling Lan to give the order, they immediately began adjusting the settings of their mecha ording to [Self-Defined Destiny]¡¯s calcted adjustments. After applying all those settings, Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha had already pulled both his feet out from the shifting sands to stand up properly. He was now standing on the sands like it was solid ground and was waiting for them toe to him. This proved that those settings of his were absolutely correct.


    This scene also caused those mecha still struggling with the sand to stare, gobsmacked, but they soon figured things out and began manually adjusting their mecha settings as well. Still, the process was not as easy as they had assumed. Manual adjustment of settings required one to know all the settings of a mecha like the palm of one¡¯s hand; if one only had a half-baked understanding of the settings, they would never be able to aplish it to the degree that Li Lanfeng had.


    "Alright, let¡¯s move." Seeing this, Ling Lan no longer hesitated, instantly giving out the order.


    Following this cry, the eight mecha remaining on the tform shot out like cannonballs tond gracefully in the desert. After reuniting with [Self-Defined Destiny], they ventured off swiftly into the depths of the desert.


    This scene was captured by the surveince system of the starship and was swiftly transmitted to the starship¡¯s control room. The adjutant in the control room saw the performance of this team and a slight smile appeared on his face as he said, "Looks like it¡¯s not all trash. This team is still somewhat presentable, especially this mecha ..." The one he was pointing at was precisely the first one to go out into the desert to feel out the conditions, [Self-Defined Destiny].


    "That¡¯s why I said that civilian mecha operators may not bepletely worthless," responded themander with a serious expression, "Still, I keep feeling that the remation efforts this time won¡¯t go smoothly ..."


    The adjutant was taken aback. "Are you saying ..."


    "I just received a notification from the mainframe saying that not too far from us, there¡¯s something strange with X193. It¡¯s investigating what¡¯s going on right now. Once it has concrete news, it¡¯ll contact us again." Themander¡¯s brow was deeply furrowed. He had been studying all this time to try and figure out a way for them to get close to the base camp of the Swift Dragons, but all his mental efforts had been useless. He could only wait passively for the notification from the mainframe ¡ª this made themander who liked to have everything within his control uneasy; he did not like this feeling of having his actions dictated by someone else.


    "It looks like the mainframe is very afraid that there will be further issues this time ..." The adjutant¡¯s eyes narrowed as if thinking of something.


    "So we can only wait passively for the mainframe¡¯s notification now ..." said themander with a sigh. He was feeling increasingly uncertain about his mission.


    ********


    Seven days went by swiftly. Within these seven days, nothing much happened to Ling Lan¡¯s party. As Ling Lan was not here to cultivate the in search of wealth, she did not split her party into smaller exploration teams and spread them out as the other expedition teams did. The nine people of her party broke into three smaller teams and stayed in a triangr formation. All of them moved together within the same district, often checking in with one another. Even if there were some expedition teams who harboured ill intent, when they saw how many members Ling Lan¡¯s party had and how the party was in a triangr formation equally capable of offence or defence, they did not dare to act impulsively.


    The triangr formation was actually a basic Federation mecha formation ¡ª it was typically formed by three mecha teams at three points of a triangle moving as one. This type of formation allowed any one of theponent mecha teams to be the arrowhead of the entire team; it was one of the mostmonly used formations by the Federation mecha forces.


    Even so, the luck of Ling Lan¡¯s party was still pretty decent. Although they did not search arge area, they still managed to find some rare metals, as well as some unidentified minerals. They secretly noted all these. They would only need to pass this info on to the registration staff on the starship, and even if it did not yield arge sum in return, the reward would certainly be enough to supply enough power for their mecha for several months.


    Speaking of which, we should now talk about the usage of power in Mecha World and the various ways to obtain power. An active mecha, even if its user did not log in to operate it, would still have a basic amount of power drain. Thus, every mecha operator would have the daily pressure of collecting power. Power could be obtained bypleting missions or foraging in the wilderness, and it could also be purchased with credits in the power stores of Mecha World.


    Therefore, if they had not saved up enough power sources, mecha operators who had not logged in for long periods of time may very likely find that their mecha could no longer be activated for use the next time they logged in. Replenishing power which had been lost was even more expensive than stocking up to begin with. Thus, in Mecha World, the average mecha operator would normally only have one active mecha. Those operators who were slightly stronger would at most have one spare reserve mecha, because just one more mecha was beyond the means of the average mecha operator to support. The only exceptions were those people with great ability or those who had an abundance of credits.


    This was also why many mecha operators would do away with those mecha they had reced, trading them for some power supplies to keep. This was also why when Li Lanfeng had only redeemed another mecha when he was about to advance to intermediate mecha; a normal mecha operator just could not keep all the mecha they had ever redeemed on them.


    The reason the conditions were so strict was out of fear that the mecha operators would not be able to focus fully on training with the mecha they had in their hands. Mind you, the further things progressed, the finer the distinction of mecha categorisation became. For example, for intermediate mecha, just humanoid mecha alone had 5 types, and by the time it came to advanced mecha, there were 8 types of humanoid mecha. If operators could not concentrate on training with one mecha, even the most prodigious mecha operator would end up mediocre because of this. Thus, Mecha World had no choice but to use material pressure to forcefully eliminate the distraction for the mecha operators, making them calm down and train hard in the control skills for one mecha ...


    Consequently, in Mecha World, every mecha operator would have headaches over power supplies ¡ª Ling Lan and her party were no exception. They coulde out and do missions for so long all thanks to Lin Zhong-qing, who had done his duty as support logistician to conserve power all this time. However, this would only support them for another half a month at most, so any gains here would be a great boon overall.


    Just as they were nning to move on to the next district, they received an emergency alert from the military vessel¡¯s control centre. The alert stated that all the mecha operators were expected to rush back to the transport ship within 3 days because the transport ship would be leaving X192 at 12 noon sharp three dayster. As for the reason why, the military vessel¡¯s side simply said that there would be a violent elemental energy turbulence on X192 three dayster. This turbulence may very well destroy any and all mecha still remaining on the at that time.


    After discussing it over, Ling Lan¡¯s party decided to continue foraging for one more day before rushing back. Although they were only a day¡¯s journey away from the transport ship, Ling Lan did not like to cut things so close ¡ª she liked leaving some room for error in all things.


    A day¡¯s time passed quickly. After some minor organising of the resources they had gathered and recharging the power of their mecha, they operated their mecha to move towards the transport ship at full speed. But halfway through their journey, an ident urred before their eyes.


    There was a loud ¡¯BOOM¡¯ ¡ª straight ahead on the path Ling Lan¡¯s party was travelling on, the sound of a violent explosion rang out. This sound was clearly the result of a mecha using a cannon-type firearm.


    "Razor, lead your team over to take a look." Ling Lan frowned lightly. Using a cannon-type firearm on this was undoubtedly a very dangerous act. The atmosphere already contained hydrogen and chlorine; adding high heat would very easily result in self-destruction. If triggered by a cannon-type firearm, there was a high chance of a chain reaction urring, which could easily endanger the safety of her party if they were unlucky. In order to obtain a clear picture of the situation, Ling Lan instructed Luo Lang¡¯s team, which was currently the arrowhead of their formation, to go check things out.


    Luo Lang¡¯s small team consisted of Luo Lang, Xie Yi, and Li Shiyu, with Luo Lang as the interim head. Receiving his orders, Luo Lang led Xie Yi and Li Shiyu in a quick sprint forwards.


    Not long after, Ling Lan and the others received a shared video channel from Luo Lang¡¯s team. It turned out that about 1 kilometre ahead of them, there was a mecha team of 15 people who were currentlyunching a series of violent attacks at a small mecha team of only 5 people.


    If they guessed correctly, this should be a robbery in progress. This was amon scene duringary remation events ¡ª somerge expedition teams with bad reputations just loved to do such things, because robbing others at this time was much more profitable than foraging for themselves.


    It looked like that team of five was also the gutsy type, otherwise a fight would not have broken out. Many smaller mecha teams would choose to give up arge portion of their resources when faced with such unbeatable odds, choosing the option of safe return. But this team had not chosen to give in ¡ª despite seeing that they would never be able to survive, they had actually taken the initiative tounch a st cannon 2 . They were obviously trying to kill their opponents in a kamikaze attack, but their luck did not seem to be very good. The firearm had not ignited the elements within the air, so they were now being oppressed and beaten ¡ª it would not be long before they werepletely annihted.

 Chapter 313: Precious Power Source!

    Chapter 313: Precious Power Source!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Boss, what should we do? Should we wait or circle around them?" Luo Lang observed the happenings from a distance, making contact with the team at the same time.


    Ling Lan did not make a decision immediately, instead asking Qi Long, "Combat, what do you think?"


    The battle maniac Qi Long had long been driven stir-crazy by these past calm and uneventful days. The moment he heard Boss¡¯s question, he quickly replied, "Let¡¯s go straight through. If any among them are blind enough to dare rob us, let¡¯s just end them." These words were said with a great thuggish air, but it was also Qi Long¡¯s true opinion.


    "I think it is very necessary for us to hone our des 1 beforehand." As his sworn brother, Han Jijyun naturally had to show his utmost support for Qi Long¡¯s stand. Besides, he too felt that going through a battle would allow their team to be closer. After all, they had just added three additional people, so they had to adapt to the new additions¡¯ skills and work on their teamwork. Han Jijyun liked to have everything in hand.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] had no opinion on this matter, while Li Lanfeng¡¯s thoughts ran parallel to Han Jijyun¡¯s without any prior discussion. So, Li Lanfeng piped up in support, "Abacus speaks truly. We¡¯re working together as a team for the first time after all. There is indeed a need for a chance for a real battle. If there are any problems, we can then take some time to adjust before we get too deep into the mission. This will also be extremely beneficial to the future of our n."


    Lin Zhong-qing did not say outright whether he agreed or disagreed ¡ª he only told his boss that he had enough power blocks saved up to support this battle. Indirectly, he was also conveying that he too approved of this fight.


    Since everyone had the desire to fight, Ling Lan of course would not refuse. Thus, she ordered Luo Lang¡¯s team of three which was a distance away observing to stay put, saying, "Razor, wait till we get there, then we will move together."


    Ling Lan was afraid Luo Lang would act impulsively ¡ª even though the other side¡¯sbat power was just at the level of a typical civilian expedition team, their numbers were not few. For Luo Lang¡¯s team of only three people to go up against them was still rather dangerous.


    "Understood, Boss," responded Luo Lang firmly. He took Ling Lan¡¯s orders even more seriously than Qi Long did ¡ª Qi Long might still nod on the surface but disobey secretly, while Luo Lang would never disobey something he had promised his boss.


    Very soon, Ling Lan had led the rest of the team to Luo Lang¡¯s side. Then, she indicated for everyone to move forwards in their original formation, acting as if they knew nothing as they approached the heart of thebat. But secretly, everyone was already mentally prepared for battle. The moment they found the others¡¯ arrows pointed at them, they would swoop down upon them at lightning speed and destroy the other side.


    "Leader, there¡¯s a mecha squad iing." A sentry member noticed Luo Lang¡¯s 3-man team, and he quickly reported the sighting to his team leader at the heart of the fight.


    "How many people?" The team leader, who was currently using firepower to suppress their opponents, could not help but frown and ask.


    The opposing 5-man team, which was currently being pummelled by them and could only resist futilely, had long been their target. They had discovered them when the other side had managed to collect a rare and precious power source. The team leader knew very well what power sources represented. As long as they could possess this power source and hand it over to the military, they would be filthy rich overnight. Therefore, they had longin in ambush here, nning to kill the other party to snatch this rare and precious power source.


    Initially, they had thought that by surrounding the other side with 15 people, the other 5 would definitely meekly hand over the power source. Unexpectedly, these five people were all a bunch of tough customers, actually choosing mutual destruction and taking the initiative to use firearms. If not for their bad luck in failing to ignite the hydrogen and chlorine in the air, his team might probably have beenpletely wiped out.


    But other than the first person among them who had to retreat away from the fight after receiving heavy damage at the start, the other team members had reacted speedily. Now, under their frenzied attacks, they had very quickly finished off three of the five people, and the remaining two people would probably just take them another 2 to 3 minutes to handle ...


    Who could have expected that, just as they were about to reap the fruits of victory, some unforeseen guests would arrive. This spoiled the mood of this team leader considerably ¡ª he even felt rather vindictive, thinking to just annihte this troublesome mecha squad directly.


    "It¡¯s a 3-man formation." For some reason, the sentry seemed to have not seen the other six mecha on both nks behind Luo Lang, so he only reported Luo Lang¡¯s team of three.


    "Hmph, three people? They¡¯re bloody seeking death! How long before they run into us?" With a cold sniff, the team leader decided in his mind to stop these three impudent mecha. Perhaps they would be able to obtain some extra resources from the three.


    "I reckon there¡¯s still about a minute." The sentry gave a rough estimate based on his gauge of the speed of Luo Lang¡¯s team.


    "Okay. Don¡¯t stop them. Just let them through just like that ..." instructed the team leader through gritted teeth. He then turned to the attacking team members and ordered, "Everyone, beat them hard. Try your best to finish them off in one minute, our new prey ising."


    "Yeah!" "Roger that!" "Awesome!" "Watch me ..." Raucous hollers rang out from the teamms; it was clear to see that this was not a bunch of orderly civilised people.


    Subsequently, they no longer worried about limiting their power use. The cold beam guns in their hands rattled as cold beams poured out in a torrent, raining down in a sheet towards the heads of the surviving two opponents. Out of fear of igniting the elemental energy in the air, they had all chosen weapons using cold beams. This crazy wave of attack gave the remaining two mecha no chance to fight back; they could only turn their beam shields up to the max to try and hold off these attacks.


    The two of them knew what the final oue awaiting them was ¡ª once their mecha ran out of power, the beam shields would stop working. They would definitely be shredded by those cold beams and die here. The penalty for death in Mecha World was extremely brutal. Restarting not only wiped out the mecha you possessed, but the deduction of points was also astronomical. Lacking points after restarting, many mecha operators were even reduced to bing a lower mecha operator again ...


    "Big Brother, let me hold them off. Go find those neers quick and ask for help." These two had found out about the impending arrival of an unexpected team of mecha from the alerts of their mecha, so one of the mecha immediately shouted out a suggestion to the other mecha.


    "They¡¯re surrounding us on all sides. They have no intention at all of letting us run away. Second Brother, even if we die, we must die together, along with the rest of our brothers." said Big Brother with a tortured smile. Then, his face twisted into a scowl as he said, "However, I will not let them win." He rubbed a hand over the rare power source they had found inside his bag, a wild idea rising up in his mind.


    Big Brother abruptly spat out a mouthful of spit and said fiercely, "Second Brother, take a gamble with me. We must hold out until those people arrive ..." Big Brother¡¯s eyes were shadowed, a sort of savage wildness within them.


    Right then, the silhouettes of Luo Lang¡¯s team could already be seen. By the time both sides could see each other, the two trapped people were on the brink of running out of power.


    "Just a little short. Just 10 more seconds would do!" Big Brother yelled shrilly. He was not content to just die here like this.


    At that moment, Second Brother who had been shielding against the cold beams by his side suddenly opened his mecha¡¯s limbs and hugged Big Brother¡¯s mecha beside him tightly, covering the other¡¯s entire mecha beneath his own. All the cold beams focused on Second Brother¡¯s mecha, and 2 secondster, his flickering beam shield shattered, letting all the beams through to rain on the body of his mecha.


    "Big Brother, you must avenge us!" Amidst a tragic howl, Second Brother held on for another 10 seconds or so by relying purely on the inherent defence of his mecha¡¯s body. Finally, his mecha too broke down into countless fragments under the bombardment of cold beams.


    Big Brother¡¯s mecha was finally revealed. At the same time, the beam shield he had deactivated reappeared once more ¡ª he was preparing for his final stand.


    "Godd*mmit, actually letting him drag things out by 11 seconds." The team leader could not help but swear. Meanwhile, Luo Lang¡¯s team of 3 mecha was about to enter his team¡¯s shooting range in the very next second.


    "Old Lu, take two teams to deal with those three mecha. It¡¯s fine to just leave me four mecha." The team leader knew he could not dy any longer. If the neers initiated attack, even if they managed to take down the other¡¯s three mecha, they would still suffer losses. And he did not just n to rob these two batches of mecha; he wanted to gain even more.


    Old Lu had just pulled away two smaller teams of mecha from the main team when the staunchly defending Big Brother suddenly revved his engines. The loud roar of the engines caused everyone¡¯s face to change. And then, Big Brother operated his mecha to leap out, pushing the speed of his mecha to the max, flying swiftly towards Luo Lang¡¯s team.


    This unexpected scene stunned the team who was trying to rob him. By the time they came to their senses, the other had actually charged out of their barrier circle.


    "Godd*mmit, take him down!" The team leader bellowed furiously. This behaviour of the other had undoubtedly enraged him; right now, all he wanted was to finish off this detestable mecha before his eyes.


    The escaping mecha did not activate his beam shield and waste thatst bit of resources he had. He only pushed the engines of his mecha to the max, flying forwards desperately. This type of action was undoubtedly a form of suicide because the heat from the engines could very well ignite the energies in the air. If that happened, the final oue would be the self-destruction of his own mecha, and he would die at the scene. However, in Big Brother¡¯s heart, this kind of death was still much better than dying at the opponent¡¯s hands.


    Perhaps the Heavens took pity on him ¡ª his engine did not explode all the way through. Still, the cold beam guns chasing behind him had struck his mecha, causing his mecha to be riddled with holes from the shoulder down to his entire right arm. Luckily, these attacks had not struck his cockpit, otherwise he would have already been dead.


    Still, even so, Big Brother¡¯s mecha had still sessfully gotten close to Luo Lang¡¯s team.


    "Take this. This is the precious power source we found. Please help us take our revenge," shouted Big Brother loudly through his mecha¡¯s publicms. Using only the left hand of his mecha, he drew out something from his bag and tossed it at Luo Lang with all his might.


    The item flew like a cannonball towards Luo Lang, who reflexively caught it. Before he could even look at it, cold beams once again struck Big Brother¡¯s mecha from behind. This time, he could not escape ¡ª his cockpit was directly hit.


    The entire mecha blew apart with a loud boom, bing a pile of scrap metal to fall before Luo Lang, causing Luo Lang¡¯s brow to scrunch up tightly.

 Chapter 314: Rapport

    Chapter 314: Rapport


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Leader, no precious power source dropped. Looks like that thing has been transferred to them." One of the mecha had not waited for his leader¡¯s instruction to fly over to the remains of that opponent¡¯s mecha to do a swift check, and he then reported his findings in disappointment.


    In Mecha World, as long as a mecha and its operator were directly destroyed, all of the precious items, materials, weapons, equipment and so on belonging to Mecha World would definitely drop. Thus, just a quick check would be enough to tell whether or not the item they wanted had still been on the operator when he died.


    At this news, the team leader became livid. He instantly pointed a beam gun at Luo Lang¡¯s team of three and sneered, "Punk, hand over that thing quickly. Or else we won¡¯t be polite anymore."


    Without even ncing at the item in his hands, Luo Lang threw it into his mecha¡¯s bag and sneered back in return, "Since it hase into our hands, it won¡¯t be leaving them. I would really like to see how you all n to be rude to us." Since he knew Boss nned to teach the other a lesson anyway, Luo Lang naturally would not show the opponent any face.


    "You¡¯re really asking for it." The rage in the team leader¡¯s chest burned hotter ¡ª once, twice, these three or four puny kittens actually dared to bare their teeth against his threats. Even as he felt immensely frustrated, he also felt that this was a great loss of face. He decided that he would definitely torment these three arrogant punks before him to death and let them realise that they were not qualified enough to be arrogant just yet!


    Before he could say ¡¯kill them¡¯, the mecha responsible for sentry duty suddenly yelled out once again, "Leader, two more squads of mecha have appeared. There are six more in total ..."


    "F*ck!" The team leader could not help but curse internally. Still somewhat rational, he knew his team could not finish off nine mecha in one go without suffering any losses, so he instructed, "Warn those squads that we are fighting here. Tell them to circle around."


    This was a type of established convention within Mecha World. When two parties were in conflict and did not want any other parties to disturb them, they would arrange for sentry members to go alert uninvolved mecha teams passing by so they would go around them and avoid the area where they were fighting.


    After giving his instructions to the sentry member, the team leader then ordered all the other team members present, "Attack at full force!"


    The reason why the team leader would call his team members to attack without worry was that, in his mind, he had already assumed that these six mecha that had just appeared would definitely circle around them. Generally, an uninvolved party would never willingly stick their nose into trouble. However, he could never have expected that these six neer mecha were not uninvolved members at all ...


    He had barely given themand when, in that instant where his men had yet to pull the triggers in their hands, a long prepared Luo Lang moved one step before they could. He mmed two heavy fists into the ground and followed it up with a strong and powerful sweeping kick. The sand and rocks on the ground were instantly jolted into the air and then sent smashing down like a waterfall on the heads of those 13 mecha. For a moment, the two sidespletely lost sight of each other.


    Seeing the wall of sand and dirt flying at them, the opponents¡¯ first reflex was to dodge and wait for their vision to clear before attacking. However, they could never have imagined that Luo Lang¡¯s team of three who were clearly the underdogs, being outnumbered, would not choose to escape at this time, instead following up with another attack.


    The sand and gravel had yet to fully settle when the team leader heard three chilling cries ring out in his party¡¯sms, which were then swiftly followed by the sounds of mecha crashing heavily into the ground.


    These terrifying cries caused a tendril of fear to rise up within the team members¡¯ hearts. Instead of pushing the attack, they chose instinctively to defend. Their first thought was to first protect themselves well.


    Finally, the cascading waterfall of sand and dirt settledpletely and everyone could see clearly again. Only at this time did they discover that three of their teammates were already on the ground. Eye-catching crimson fluid was trickling out from the cockpits of those fallen mecha, staining the white sand beneath the mecha red ...


    Beside them stood those three neer mecha. In each of their hands was a standard high-alloy long sword that came equipped with every mecha. Blood still remained on their des, slowly sliding along the edge of their swords to drip to the ground. Everyone knew what this meant ¡ª those three teammates of theirs were definitely dead.


    Still off-bnced and frightened, they abruptly heard the other side¡¯s leader 1 sneer and say, "With just this much strength, actually daring to threaten to be impolite to us?" Luo Lang had initially thought that these people must be rather capable for them to dare way others to rob them in broad daylight ¡ª who knew they were actually so worthless? One attack had been enough to throw them into a state of disarray.


    At these words, the team leader almost bit through his tongue. Right then, he knew that these three were definitely iparable to that 5-man team they had pushed around earlier. He had likely stumbled upon a tough team this time. If he had only known earlier, he would have told the sentry to stop them and asked them to circle around.


    However, he knew that it was already toote now. He and the other side were already at the point of no return ¡ª one side had to die for the conflict to end. Setting aside the matter of the precious power source he craved in the other¡¯s hands, the three members who had been sacrificed in front of him needed him to stand up for them and avenge them.


    But before he could give any orders, six beams of light suddenly shot down from above, instantly striking six mecha whose operators did not have any time at all to react. Needless to say, these six mecha exploded simultaneously to be heaps of debris. In just a few seconds¡¯ time, the team leader¡¯s side was down by nine mecha. His initial grand team of thirteen mecha had been reduced to only four mecha in an instant ¡ª he had all but lost the upper hand.


    The team leader stared off despairingly into the distance, and he soon saw those six mecha he had assumed to have circled around descending like gods from the heavens tond before him.


    "Why did you all choose to get involved with this mess?" asked the team leader bitterly. He knew what his fate would be, but he just could not figure out why this would happen. Thus, he wanted to ask to find out, otherwise he would not be able to rest in peace.


    "It¡¯s not that we wanted to intentionally get involved in this messy situation ... we just could not be uninvolved, because you¡¯ve intercepted some of our team members," responded Ling Lan calmly. She had initially thought that the other side would give them some trouble, but things turned out unexpectedly easy. It looked like there was no further hope of training up her troops.


    "So that¡¯s how it is ..." The team leader finally understood the resulting despair of being overconfident 2 . His luck was truly too terrible, actually stepping on the tail of an extremely strong team.


    Just as everyone thought the team leader would just give up and surrender, unexpectedly, as his voice trailed off, the remaining four mecha who were still able to fight sprang into motion and began attacking ferociously. It looked like they knew their lives were forfeit, and so decided they might as well push forward without worrying about the consequences and take some of the enemies down with them.


    The ones they chose to attack were Ling Lan and [No Mecha Unrepaired] because among the nine mecha, the only two intermediate mecha were theirs. In the opponents¡¯ eyes, trying to kill advanced mecha warriors with just the four of them was rather difficult, but killing two intermediate mecha warriors which were lower level than them was still doable.


    However, they were doomed to be disappointed, because of the two mecha operators they thought were the easiest to handle, one just happened to be Boss Lan. She was the one Qi Long and the others recognised as the strongest ¡ª she was the horrifying boss who could crush them effortlessly even if she was controlling an intermediate mecha.


    Meanwhile, though the other person was also an intermediate mecha, the pilot was a genius mecha mechanic. The control skills of a mecha mechanic might not be too remarkable, but the mecha he piloted would definitely never be as simple as it appeared on the surface ...


    Ling Lan gracefully shed from side to side, drawing a swift streak of shadow through the air as she easily dodged these attacks. Meanwhile, [No Mecha Unrepaired] did not even move. He simply raised his mecha¡¯s right arm, and the thick and heavy armour at his elbow suddenly opened up like an umbre, instantly forming arge round shield. The surface of the shield was even emitting an indistinct sheen of light.


    The cold beams shooting at him were all blocked by the shield, not causing him any bit of trouble. Rather, after receiving these cold beams, that faint sheen on the shield actually intensified, bing gradually more opaque and visible.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan¡¯s eyebrows lifted slightly, barely able to conceal her surprise. This shield of [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s was not as simple as it seemed ¡ª as a genius mechanic, [No Mecha Unrepaired] did not waste that talent of his.


    Ling Lan and [No Mecha Unrepaired] had just dodged these beam attacks on their end when, on the other side, the team leader¡¯s party no longer had a second opportunity to attack. Four mecha were not at all enough to split among the other members of Ling Lan¡¯s team. Almost simultaneously, Qi Long, Luo Lang, Xie Yi, and Li Lanfeng moved ahead of the others and used their respective cold weapons to sh down the remaining four mecha efficiently. Even the strongest on the opponent¡¯s side, the team leader, onlysted one round under Qi Long¡¯s swift and powerful attack.


    It could only be said that this party which loved to rob others favoured ambushes and group attacks too much; they were extremely weak when it came to individualbat. This made thebat-loving Qi Long feel extremely unsatisfied, and he could not help but grunt peevishly, "F*ck, what trash. It¡¯s really no fun fighting them."


    "They are rather weak!" Ling Lan agreed with Qi Long¡¯s sentiments, but her eyes were sparkling as she looked in Li Lanfeng¡¯s direction. Their final attack earlier had undoubtedly pleased Ling Lan greatly. "However, we have still achieved one of our objectives. All of your attacks earlier were well-coordinated. Attacking all at once without actually ovepping in target. It¡¯s clear that you all have rather good rapport."


    A n was most afraid ofcking rapport, especially after the addition of new members. Ling Lan was not surprised by the fact that Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi worked together well, but Ling Lan was extremely pleased and satisfied that the leopard had been able to determine who the others were attacking instantly and choose the remaining target. The leopard truly had not let her down.


    "Not bad, [Self-Defined Destiny]! Next time, let us work together again!" said Qi Long with arge grin. He too had not expected [Self-Defined Destiny] who had just joined to actually work so well with them. This made Qi Long¡¯s impression of [Self-Defined Destiny] rise significantly.


    Luo Lang nodded in agreement with what Qi Long had said. Meanwhile, Xie Yi, who had initially been in the role of neer himself, had already been sympathetic towards [Self-Defined Destiny] to begin with, not as aloof as Qi Long or Luo Lang towards him. Hearing this, Xie Yi could not help but smile, feeling happy for [Self-Defined Destiny].


    "This was just a lucky coincidence. I just hope that we can have such great rapport next time," replied [Self-Defined Destiny] with a smile. Even though he said it was a lucky coincidence, that was not actually true. The reason he had managed to work so well with the other three was because he had already deduced the urate choice to make before he had attacked.

 Chapter 315: A Nature-Defying Existence!

    Chapter 315: A Nature-Defying Existence!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Although Li Lanfeng had not joined the rabbit¡¯s team for long, observant as he was, he had already gotten a pretty good understanding of the personalities and positions of the members in the team. In terms of mechabat, [Lingtian Combat] only submitted to the rabbit, and in truth, he was indeed the second seat in regards tobat within the rabbit¡¯s team. Despite being extremely covetous of this position, Li Lanfeng also knew that he could only continue to covet it for the time being. His capabilities might not be any weaker than the other¡¯s, but he just did not hold the same weight 1 as the other. From their conversation, he could tell that these people had grown up beside the rabbit; as ater, he did not have the right to grasp for this position.


    Li Lanfeng really wanted to stand by his rabbit, but he was not impatient. He would not impulsively offend the team members of the rabbit. He would slowly gather the team members¡¯ acknowledgement bit by bit and climb his way up to finally stand matter-of-factly by his rabbit¡¯s side. He would be the rabbit¡¯s undoubted best partner.


    Ever since Li Lanfeng had be old enough to think sensibly, he had only wanted to change his fate, but now he had finally found a new goal in life.


    "Boss, what should we do with these people?" Qi Long and the others looked at the remaining few enemies who were not dead yet but had already lost all will to fight, and then turned their heads to ask Ling Lan. Against these sorts of defenceless enemies, Qi Long found it somewhat difficult to take action.


    Ling Lan did not answer verbally, simply gesturing with a hand to have them killed without any hesitation, appearing unbelievably cold-blooded and ruthless. They were currently doing a covert mission, so they could not let any news of their real capabilities get out. No one could be certain whether the enemies had activated any recording functions ¡ª only by destroying the others¡¯ mecha and killing them all to let them resurrect at the save point could they eliminate this possibility.


    In Mecha World, other than the actual death itself being fake (those who are killed by spectre abilities though would truly die without any chance of revival), everything else would be realistic. In other words, if a mecha was destroyed and the operator died, any recordings they made of this battle would be gone. Even if these people went back to rant on the official website, no one would be able to tell which team it was which had killed them. Next time they met, the other would not be able to identify them either, because they were all basically just using standard mecha at the moment ...


    Qi Long and the others saw Ling Lan¡¯s hand gesture and understood what Ling Lan meant. Without saying anything more, everyone neatly destroyed their opponents¡¯ cockpits and began smashing up the mecha. Of course, this type of destruction could not directly destroy all evidence. Still, Qi Long and the others were not afraid. Once this remation event ended, even if anyone came here again, it would take at least three months. And three months¡¯ time would be enough for these mecha to run out of power. At that time, even if this fight had been recorded and someone really managed to get their hands on the wrecked remains of these mecha, they would not be able to restore the mecha and get the recordings intact.


    After all this was done, Ling Lan was about to tell them to continue moving when Luo Lang idly nced at the item he had received at the start of the fight and shouted out involuntarily.


    Everyone halted to look back in surprise at Luo Lang. Although Luo Lang looked sweet and gentle, his heart was extremely strong ¡ª he would never cry out over any small thing. For something to make Luo Lang lose control like this, it must be a great deal.


    "Boss, take a look at this." Luo Lang ignored everyone else¡¯s gazes, instantly handing over that precious power source in his bag to Ling Lan. Of course, he did not dare to toss it, instead being extremely careful as he passed it over.


    Ling Lan epted it, took a look, and was instantly stunned speechless.


    X192 high-zed nuclear power source: a power source exclusive to X192. Overall capacity 10 thermie 2 . Able to sustain activation of mecha below imperial level, and has the ability to self-recharge. Recharge factor: On X192, 10 calories per second. In star space, 8 calories per second. On others, between 2 to 5 calories 3 .


    This was an absolutely nature-defying awesome item! In awe, Ling Lan changed the privacy settings of the power source in her hands to share its details with the group. As expected, all her team members could not help but exim in shock as well ¡ª right then, everyone finally understood why Luo Lang had lost hisposure like that. Because when everyone saw the item, they too could not help but find their hearts pounding in excitement.


    It should be known that what a mecha feared most was running out of power. Once their mecha ran out of power, even the strongest operator would be a turtle in a jar waiting to be killed. And not only could this power source before them store such arge reserve of power, it could even automatically replenish itself over time. Even though the recharge rate was only several calories worthpared to its full ocean-like capacity and could pretty much be ignored ... for context, it should be known that the mostmonly used beam saber among Federation mecha only used 1 calorie per second ... Once one equipped this precious power source, one would pretty much have an inexhaustible mecha. Everyone knew what this meant.


    Among all the mecha in the Federation, only god-ss IN mecha possessed infinite mobility fittings ¡ª this was also why IN mecha had be the strongest god-ss mecha which drove all mecha operators wild.


    Therefore, Ling Lan believed that once this item made its debut in the world, it would definitely stir up a storm of carnage and blood!


    Ling Lan sighed softly and pushed down the frenzied cries of Little Four in the mindspace, then asked lightly, "This thing, what do you all want to do with it?"


    "Boss can just decide what we¡¯ll do." Qi Long was the first to answer. He was indeed very covetous of the item, but he knew it was not fated for him. Using it on an advanced mecha would just be a horrible waste of this precious power source ¡ª even he could not bear to see this pearl fall into dust.


    Han Jijyun sighed deeply as well and said in a restrained tone, "I think keeping it will be worth more than offering it up for contribution. I believe Boss can definitely be an imperial operator." Han Jijyun had full confidence in Ling Lan and believed that it was just a matter of time. If they gave it up here now, if they wanted to use this type of heaven-defying instrument suitable for imperial mecha in future, they would probably never have the luck to see one again.


    Hearing these words, Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze brightened and he stated firmly, "I agree with what Abacus says, Rabb ¡ª¡ª First-String can definitely be an imperial operator." In his excitement, he almost called out his forbidden address for Ling Lan. Luckily, he had caught himself in time.


    Even as Li Lanfeng was secretly rejoicing having escaped a round of beating by the rabbit, his heart was truly filled with confidence in Ling Lan.


    The conviction in Li Lanfeng¡¯s tone caused everyone around to nce at him. In particr, those who had grown up alongside Ling Lan, Qi Long and gang, found their impression of Li Lanfeng rising exponentially.


    It could not be helped; they were just like mindless fanatics when it came to Ling Lan. Meeting another mindless fan who idolised their boss just like them, it was exceedingly easy for them to mentally ept the other as someone on their side ... It had to be said that these words of Li Lanfeng perfectly scratched the right spot for the group; this helped him set down a sturdy foundation for him to sessfully be one of the team in future.


    Only Li Shiyu could not help but purse his lips. What virtues and abilities did this despicable and shameless Boss Lan have to inspire such adoration from these followers?! That even a strange mecha operator in Mecha World was so trusting of him? Li Shiyu felt his three outlooks of this world begin to distort ... till now, Li Shiyu still had not forgiven Ling Lan for her ck-bellied actions in the past.


    Of course, even if Li Shiyu was somewhat dissatisfied with Ling Lan, he too agreed with Han Jijyun¡¯s and [Self-Defined Destiny]¡¯s suggestion. He too believed that keeping the power source was the smartest option.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] was an obsessed mecha modifier to begin with. Seeing such a valuable power source, his heart was already pounding violently out of his control. If there came a day when he could personally modify an imperial mecha, his entire life would have been all worth it. Right then, [No Mecha Unrepaired] did not know yet that his wish would actuallye true in the near future ...


    Everyone thought that this heaven-defying power source should remain with them. Seeing that everyone was in ord, Ling Lan turned her head to say to Lin Zhong-qing, "Parcel, how much longer can those energy blocks of yours sustain us for?"


    "Easily 10 days," replied Lin Zhong-qing assertively after checking on the stores within his bag. In reality, if there was not the concern that arge battle could ur to drain their power, their stores couldst them for up to a month without any problems. However, Lin Zhong-qing liked to be conservative in his estimations, unwilling to cut the timing too close. If by any chance anything happenedter, he did not want them to be trapped in a dead end.


    "Besides, our yield this time is pretty decent. At worst, we can still trade them for up to another 10 days¡¯ worth of power supplies," added Lin Zhong-qing.


    With this answer, Ling Lan knew there was no longer any need to worry. She tucked the power source into her own mecha¡¯s bag and said, "In that case, I will temporarily take care of this precious power source. If anyone needs it in future, you can ask me for it."


    "Okay!" Qi Long was the first to yell out exuberantly. Perhaps when he advanced to ace mecha 4 in the future, he could maybe ask Boss to lend him the power source just for the heck of it. This power source would definitely allow an ace mecha to be in an unlimited mobility state; that would allow him to get an indirect taste of the ultimate advantage of a god-ss IN mecha.


    Just like that, under everybody¡¯s collective decision, this precious power source was retained. Ling Lan¡¯s group of nine no longer tarried, swiftly moving towards the assembly point the military vessel¡¯s control centre had notified them of.


    By the time Ling Lan and the others arrived at the assembly point, they found that there were already quite a number of mecha which had already returned. Of course, their conditions were not as good as Ling Lan¡¯s team ¡ª many of the mecha had not gained anything noteworthy. Expending so much effort for little to no gain, quite a few mecha were already grumbling at the redemption area that this was a wasted trip on their part.


    This sudden interruption to their remation process had indeed cut short their time so they were unable to venture further in their search for resources. Mind you, every previous remation event had alwayssted for at least a month. At some truly wild and deserteds which were extraordinarily massive, the event could even be extended for up to three months. Thus, the mecha operators¡¯ints did have some merit.


    At the redemption point, Ling Lan¡¯s team brought out all of themon material resources and minerals they had found over thesest few days ¡ª perhaps the military would give them somepensation for them. They had initially thought they might only get about 10 days¡¯ worth or maybe half a month¡¯s worth of power supplies in return, but the military actually gave them a month¡¯s worth of power supplies outright. It looked like the military actually felt rather guilty about cutting short the remation event as well, and so had applied some measures topensate the teams that had participated in the remation event.


    At 12 noon on the 10th day of their arrival on X192, all of the military vessels departed punctually, prepared to leave the gravitational pull of X192 to return to outer space.


    The mecha hold Ling Lan was in, which had been filled to the brim at the start, was now at least one-third less popted on this return trip. A significant number of mecha operators had not been able to adapt to X192¡¯s environment and had ended up resting forever on X192 as scrap heaps due to errors in their control methods. Of course, many more had been done in by other humans ... quite a number of mecha had encountered the same thing Ling Lan¡¯s team had when trying to return, bing someone else¡¯s prey. Of course, there were also those who managed to transform from prey to hunter, but this would all depend on the individual¡¯s skills.

 Chapter 316: Magnetic Storm!

    Chapter 316: Maic Storm!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The process of deorbiting from the went smoothly. When the JMC notification came over the officialms telling them they had officially entered starspace again, all of the mecha operators breathed a sigh of relief. Honestly speaking, they had also been afraid that the energy turbulence of X192 would ur prematurely and turn them into one of the scrap heaps on the. Even if they did not profit from this trip, being able to return with their lives was still good.


    However, they had not been happy for long when they felt the transport ship¡¯s system begin to disy signs of scrambling. The initially brightly lit illumination system of the transport ship actually began to flicker nonstop.


    "What the hell is going on? Why are we unable to control the illumination system anymore?" The operations staff in charge of this facility in the transport ship shouted.


    But before he could report this to the captain, another staff member responsible for a different system also cried out in shock, "Dead-ahead radar has stopped working. Not good, the port side has also stopped responding ..."


    "The surveince system is unstable. We¡¯ve got some white noise ..."


    Bad news rang out one after another in the control room. The captain broke out in cold sweat; without daring to dy, he quickly made emergency contact with the fleet¡¯smand ship. Only then did he find out that theirs was not the only transport ship to have these issues ¡ª all of the starships were experiencing these issues.


    However, they could not find the reason for it right then. Just when everyone was at a loss, someone noticed that the star map of X193 not too far from them was different from usual. A ring of violet haze had actually appeared around the typically dull and grey.


    This strange phenomenon made everyone take serious notice. After some specialists studied it, they discovered that that ring of violet haze was actually a maic storm, the very mention of which caused the expressions of the people to change, and this maic storm was currently spreading out at an extremely rapid pace.


    A maic storm was an extremely terrifying phenomenon. Anywhere it descends upon, everything there would be pulverized into dust, not a trace of it left behind. But even more frightening was the fact that this maic storm was unstable, liable to explode at any moment. When that happened, the maic storm would be a maic tsunami, sweeping out in an instant to consume everything in the surrounding spacepletely.


    Knowing a maic storm had formed over X193, themand ship ordered all the starships to ignore the disturbance to their peripheral systems and just drive forward at full speed to escape from the danger zone of the maic storm. Here and now, at this critical moment, the dual-system navigation of the starships showed their true value. With the malfunction of the auto-piloting system, at this time, the starships¡¯ captains true navigational ability was put to the test.


    This change in the starship was instantly sensed by Ling Lan within the transport hold. A strong sense of danger rose in her heart. Without even thinking about it, Ling Lan instantly let Little Four connect to the starship¡¯s mainframe and thus found out about the maic storm brewing not too far from them at X193.


    Although the transport ships drove forwards with all its power, trying to leave the range of the maic storm, the speed of the transport ships was obviously slower than the patrol ships escorting them, not to mention that of themand mainship in the lead.


    Little Four¡¯s knowledge of maic storms was obviously much deeper than those of the specialists here. He anxiously told Ling Lan that if his calctions were not wrong, the maic storm would erupt half an hourter. This half an hour was not at all enough for the transport ships to escape the danger zone of the resulting maic tsunami. In other words, if Ling Lan and the others waited patiently here in the transport ship, death would be inevitable.


    ording to Little Four¡¯s analysis, only themand mainship in the lead had any chance of escaping; even the patrol ships which were faster than the transport ships would not be spared ... of course, this all still depended on whether themand mainship would begin flying at full speed from this point on.


    In themand mainship, themanding officer received a newmand from the mainframe. His expression turned ugly, and there were signs of rage on his brow.


    Seeing this, his adjutant asked, "General, what has happened?"


    "The mainframe is asking us to go full speed ahead and ignore the other starships behind us," said themander in a deep voice after taking in a deep breath.


    "Why?" The adjutant asked in shock.


    "Because the maic storm will eruptpletely after half an hour. Other than our mainship, the other starships have no chance of escaping," said themander grimly.


    "Then let us follow orders. Perhaps this is the best oue the mainframe can see." A gleam shed through the adjutant¡¯s eyes but quickly vanished.


    "But there are several hundred thousand mecha operators in the transport ships. That¡¯s several hundred thousand lives there!" As amander, he could not abandon his own troops.


    "General, this is Mecha World, and we have a mission toplete. Even if this sacrifice were necessary in reality, we must still harden our hearts and do it," reminded the adjutant.


    "Ah ... look at me. I hadpletely forgotten," Themander pped his forehead, smiling wryly. Mecha World was truly too realistic, causing him to forget that he was only in a virtual world.


    Divested of his concerns, themander decisively gave themand to move forward at full speed. It was just as the adjutant had said. No matter what, he had toplete his mission ¡ª even if there were some sacrifices in the process, he could not falter. His only constion was that this was the virtual world, so he would not carry this regret with him for life.


    "Boss, terrible news! Themand mainship is already moving forwards at full speed. It looks like they have discovered the eruption time of the maic storm." Little Four, who had infiltrated the mainship¡¯sputers, sensed the change in the mainship¡¯s movements and immediately alerted Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan frowned at his words. She felt that they might have fallen into a scheme of the mainframe. Enraged, she raised the right arm of her mecha and broke the secured seat bindings holding it down. At the same time, she connected to the team¡¯sms and said coldly, "We¡¯ve been had. How despicable."


    "Boss, what¡¯s going on?" Ling Lan¡¯s words sent a jolt running through the hearts of all her team members, who quickly began asking her to exin.


    "This remation event was a lure. On themand ship, there are probably some people who have been officially dispatched to investigate the base camp of the Swift Dragons. Meanwhile, the rest of us are just sacrifices to give them a legitimate reason to get close to the base camp." Smiling coldly, Ling Lanid out her hypothesis. Everyone¡¯s face could not help but change after hearing what she had to say.


    "Our mission ..." As if thinking of something, Han Jijyun¡¯s expression became extremely pained.


    "It¡¯s like First-String said, that is likely also just an excuse. The mainframe had never put any hopes on us to seed from the very beginning," Li Lanfeng chimed in with a cold chuckle. "We¡¯re just cannon fodder. The mainframe is obviously ying a grand game of chess, and we are all just pawns in its game. The question is whether those people on themand ship are in the same boat."


    "Who shall be whose pawns is still uncertain." That said, Ling Lan flicked her left arm and broke the bindings on her left arm as well.


    This sort of unexined vandalism caused all the mecha operators in the same hold to nce askance at her. However, the gazes of some of the extremely bored mecha operators lit up in response. They too followed Ling Lan¡¯s lead and used force to break free from their secured seats. Having been secured in the hold for several days already, they were actually full of resentment inside. Since someone had started it, they were happy to follow suit. Being able to just move around a bit in the transport hold was still pretty good.


    "A path to survival must be created by one¡¯s own hands. We need to rush over to themand ship before the maic storm blows uppletely," Ling Lan stated her ns. Only by making their way there would they have any chance of survival. Fortunately, a mecha¡¯s short-distance speed exceeded that of the mainship¡¯s. As long as they did not drag it out too long, they would still have a chance of catching up.


    As for how they would enter the mainship, Ling Lan was not worried about that. Little Four, who had already gained control rights of the mainship, would surreptitiously open theunch ports for mecha for them to slip into the mecha hold ... of course, once they entered, they would certainly be discovered, but Ling Lan had no time to spare to worry about that right now.


    At Ling Lan¡¯s order, her team members wrenched free of their secured seats without hesitation. Li Shiyu cast a pitying look at the other mecha operators in the hold and sighed, "These people ... dying here is such a shame. Should we alert them?"


    "If we dy at all, we too might be one of their numbers. When we can¡¯t even save ourselves, don¡¯t bother with useless mercy," Ling Lan chided coldly. She did not have the heart of such a saintly matron; let her first secure the lives of herpanions before anything else was said.


    Li Shiyu was still rather tender-hearted ¡ª Ling Lan had great admiration for Li Shiyu, truly, because a doctor needed to have this sort of tender heart. However, a dutiful military doctor not only needed to have thispassion, they also needed to be rational and cold-blooded if the situation called for it. They needed to react to the circumstance and be decisive, not hesitant in making their decisions. Ling Lan felt that on this point, Li Shiyu was still not quite there yet.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words shocked Li Shiyu ¡ª he said nothing more, only quietly sticking to Ling Lan¡¯s side. He had recalled something his instructors had once said to him. A military doctor was not only a doctor, he was also a soldier. His instructor had once criticised him ¡ª on being a doctor, he was doing extremely perfectly, but on being a soldier, he was greatlycking. On the day he finally understood what it meant to be a soldier, then he would truly be a perfect military doctor. At first, he had been extremely perplexed, but Ling Lan¡¯s words just now had triggered some vague insight in him ...


    "What are you all doing? Breaking the secured seats ... do you not want your lives anymore? The unexpected turbulence from the high-speed flight will cause you all to be injured!" The JMC of the transport ship saw what was happening in the hold and could not help but shout in the publicms.


    Some of the other mecha who were just nning to forcefully break out of their secured seats as well instantly stopped their struggling at these words. Indeed, so what if they temporarily obtained their freedom? If they hit any turbulence, without the secured seats holding them, they were very likely to be thrown into the air and ricochet around the walls of the hold violently. Even with the protection of their cockpits, that could not guarantee they would be unharmed. They might as well meekly stay in their secured seats to ensure their safety.


    Thus, those mecha operators still in their secured seats no longer envied those mecha operators moving around freely. Meanwhile, those mecha operators who had already broken free were starting to regret their decision. If they truly encountered some violent turbulence after this, they who had already broken free might really receive heavy concussive damage. If that happened, their loss would outweigh the gains.


    Only Ling Lan¡¯s group of nine was unrattled. They pushed aside the mecha blocking them to reach the doors of the mecha hold and began thinking how they could swiftly break apart these doors.

 Chapter 317: Destruction!

    Chapter 317: Destruction!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Adjust mecha settings for outer space." Ling Lan rapidly changed the settings on her mecha, not forgetting to remind herpanions at the same time.


    "Yes, Boss!" At this time, everyone knew the situation was urgent so they did not chatter unnecessarily, calmly following Ling Lan¡¯s instructions. Very soon, the team had all set their mecha to outer space mecha mode. Receiving the OK from all her team members, Ling Lan abruptly pulled out Regretless.


    Behind her, [No Mecha Unrepaired] saw this familiar weapon in Ling Lan¡¯s hands and aplicated surge of emotion rose within his heart. This was the weapon which had almost ended his military academy life, but it was also this weapon which had brought him to this bunch of great friends. Even as he was proud of himself, he was also grateful for the trust [Lingtian First-String] had in him.


    Ling Lan¡¯s original n was very good ¡ª let Little Four invade the mainframe of this transport ship and open it automatically. But unexpectedly, after the appearance of the maic storm, whether out of panic or another motive, some unknown bastard had actually put the hold doors in lockdown. In other words, it was no longer possible to use the starship¡¯s automatic system to open these doors ¡ª only violence would do.


    "They want to destroy the hold doors and kill us all." One of those mecha who had broken their secured seats, only to regret it and me Ling Lan¡¯s team for their rashness, saw this action of Ling Lan¡¯s and put old grudges and new rm together. He quickly opened the publicms and yelled out to all the mecha operators present.


    This cry caused all the eyes of the mecha present to turn to Ling Lan¡¯s party. Seeing that they were indeed nning to destroy the hold doors, the mecha were instantly livid. Right now, the transport ship was travelling swiftly. Breaking the hold doors would undoubtedly disrupt the movement of the transport ship and may even create wild air flow in the hold and threaten the operators¡¯ safety.


    No one would be willing to see their safety threatened by another. This action of Ling Lan¡¯s undoubtedly raised the ire of the crowd ¡ª all of the mecha that could move turned with furious faces and began gathering around Ling Lan, looking like they were about to rip this intermediate mecha to shreds.


    "Anyone who dares disturb me, kill without mercy." Ling Lan did not even turn her head, but Little Four had already transmitted everything that was happening in the hold faithfully into her mind. The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips turned up into a subtle cruel smile as she coldly issued this bloody order.


    For the sake of her team¡¯s survival, she did not care about doing some brutal and inhumane things to these people who wanted to stop her. At this time, the blood-soaked killing intent she had gained through the endless killing simtions within the learning space burst forth.


    Everyone on her team sensed Ling Lan¡¯s endless killing intent, and the eight of them instinctively lifted the weapons in their hands and directed them at the mecha headed for them. With that, the tension grew between the two sides ¡ª it seemed like a great battle was about tomence.


    "Who¡¯d have thought that just a handful of advanced mecha would dare to fight against everyone in this hold? How audacious." A cold harrumph rang out from a corner, and then a special-ss mecha could be seen walking out.


    Qi Long could not help but scoff and then stand out. He was the second strongest on the team ¡ª with Boss focused on destroying the hold doors, this opponent could only fall to him. He did not feel afraid but was instead feeling rather exhrated. He had in fact long wanted to try fighting a round with a special-ss operator, just to see how much distance there was between him and them.


    Qi Long was not so swelled with confidence that he thought he could defeat a special-ss mecha. He only believed that his boss would definitely seed in breaking down the hold door before he was defeated and save him.


    It was precisely this sort of trust that allowed Qi Long to stand forward unflinchingly; of course, most of it was because this punk¡¯s desire forbat was zing high again.


    With a loud boom, the two mecha¡¯s short high-frequency des shed once, and then the two mecha brushed by each other. Surrounded by mecha, in consideration for their own safety, Qi Long and that special-ss mecha showed great restraint and used short swords in close-rangebat.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] brought out two guns but did not use them against the mecha operators in the hold. He turned around and said to Ling Lan who was just about to act, "Leader, let me go first."


    Ling Lan nced at the strangely shaped guns in [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s hands and knew that they must be things created by [No Mecha Unrepaired] himself. A thought sparked and she withdrew several steps, giving way to [No Mecha Unrepaired].


    For convenience of travelling, the team had not brought any weapons which could affect their mobility this time, such as heavy cold weapons or heavy cannons. This was also why Ling Lan had no choice but to handle the breaking of the doors personally. But now since [No Mecha Unrepaired] had weapons capable of destroying the hold doors, Ling Lan was happy to take a backseat.


    Two loud rumbles rang out ¡ª from [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s twin guns,ser cannon shots the size of bowls burst forth to crash heavily into the joints of the hold doors. The entire transport ship actually began to shudder due to the heavy collision.


    Quite a few mecha operators who had lost their secured seats were thrown to the ground by this abrupt great shudder. At the same time, this shudder had also affected the battle between Qi Long and the special-ss operator. The two of them began to waver on their feet, somewhat unsteady, but as they both had extremely strong sense of bnce and control, they managed to find their footing after just a moment. Still, due to this interlude, the two of them did not continue to fight. They faced one another in an impasse, neither willing to make a move recklessly.


    [No Mecha Unrepaired] disdainfully cast aside the two guns in his hands. Although this thing packed a decent amount of power, they were one-time use items. These were defects he had created back when he had been bored. As the conditions in the town then had not been sufficient, not possessing enough sturdy materials to create this sort ofser cannon guns, he had created the guns from substitute materials. Thus, this type of iplete one-use weapon had been created. [No Mecha Unrepaired] had not thought much of them, which was why he had thrown them into the recesses of his bag. If not for reorganising his bag before they had gone travelling, he would havepletely forgotten he had ever created such rubbish ...


    Although the power of theser cannon guns were formidable, the hold doors and its interlocking chain were made from ny-nineyers of the sturdiest high-density steel. Theser cannon guns had only sted off severalyers from its surface ¡ª this bit of damage was nothing to the ny-nine high-density steelyered doors and chain.


    The mecha operators in the hold had barely let out a sigh of relief when two more of the same guns had appeared in [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s hands once more in the very next second and were made to st at the doors once again. It should be said that [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s shooting skills were pretty good; the spot he hit was not one millimetre off from where his first shot hadnded, once again melting off severalyers of the door.


    By the time [No Mecha Unrepaired] brought out his fourth pair of guns, the faces of all the mecha operators in the hold changed. Hells, was this intermediate mecha warrior the Doraemon of legend 1 ? Did that bag contain a never-ending armoury of weapons?


    Frankly, things were not as outrageous as they believed. [No Mecha Unrepaired] had only made ten of these guns in one go back when he was bored. At most, he could only shoot five dual shots and then he would be out of ammo.


    However, the mecha operators there did not know this. They thought that if they just continued to watch as [No Mecha Unrepaired] continued his destruction, great cmity would befall them. They did not want to die due to the insane actions of these morons here. And so, all the mecha that could move leapt towards the hold doors almost simultaneously, trying to stop [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s violent vandalism.


    Having been long prepared, Li Lanfeng and the other five free members naturally would not let these mecha pass by their defensive line. Thus, a chaotic melee broke out within the hold. Fortunately, out of fear of the consequences of breaking the transport ship, everyone was using cold weapons. Of course, these mecha did not have many lethal or highly destructive firearms on them to begin with.


    In the midst of this chaotic battle, Qi Long and the special-ss operator continued to face off, their fight threatening to break out at any second ...


    The entire transport ship instantly became shaky due to the violent actions of the mecha within its hold. Meanwhile, the nebulous maic storm around X193 was bing increasingly unstable. Little Four, who had been monitoring its condition all this while, began to grow a little anxious because the condition of the maic storm was turning out to be much worse than he had reckoned ...


    When [No Mecha Unrepaired] was firing his fifth round, he gave notice for Ling Lan to take over.


    Ling Lan knew then that [No Mecha Unrepaired] must be out ofser cannon guns, but she was still extremely pleased that he had managed to destroy half the thickness of the doors and chain in such a short amount of time. This had undoubtedly saved her a lot of time, and what theycked most right now was time.


    After [No Mecha Unrepaired] had fired hisst round, Ling Lan stabbed Regretless at the joint of the doors in the very next second. Regretless¡¯ de was extremely sharp; it actually managed to pierce through a little. Just this little bit was enough to light up Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. It looked like the sharpness of Regretless was indeed special.


    Ling Lan pulled it back out again forcefully and stabbed it forwards powerfully once again. Finally, she felt as if she had pierced through, and she began pushing forwards with all her might. An ear-splitting crack rang out, and all the mecha operators who had been fighting stopped fighting in unnned unison, looking towards Ling Lan with shocked iprehension.


    Perhaps they had never expected Ling Lan to break the hold doors so rapidly. After this shocked pause, they quickly regained their senses, but just as they were about to leap forwards once more to stop the other, a rion voice rang out in the transport hold ...


    "If you all want to die, then just continue to stop us," said Li Lanfeng abruptly in a frigid tone.


    These words made everyone pause once again, stunned. They looked at one another, unsure what to make of these words by the opponent.


    "You think we¡¯re just fooling around? Who wants to die here? It¡¯s precisely because we don¡¯t want to die that we¡¯re doing this," Li Lanfeng continued to say.


    Han Jijyun frowned at these words, but his brow smoothed out again very quickly. He turned a deeply contemtive gaze on Li Lanfeng, as if thinking of something. Meanwhile, the others said nothing since Boss Lan was not doing anything to stop Li Lanfeng. Ling Lan did not care whether the truth got out or not ¡ª as long as her destruction was not hindered, [Self-Defined Destiny] could say whatever he wanted.


    The first to speak up in return was that special-ss operator facing off against Qi Long. Tone cold, he asked, "What¡¯s the meaning of this?"


    "ording to what we know, a maic storm has formed not too far from us, and our fleet is within the eruption zone of the maic storm." Li Lanfeng decisively announced this news.


    "What?" "Impossible ..." "You¡¯re bluffing." Li Lanfeng¡¯s words caused the mecha operators present to break out into disbelieving protests.


    The special-ss operator was undoubtedly a level-headed person, otherwise he would never have been able to advance to be a special-ss operator. It should be known that it was an extremely difficult matter to advance from advanced operator to special-ss operator.


    After a thoughtful silence, he asked, "How did you all find out?"

 Chapter 318: Entering the Mainship!

    Chapter 318: Entering the Mainship!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Because I am a hacker." Li Lanfeng did not hesitate to reveal his other identity to the crowd.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan¡¯s hands paused for a moment, but she soon continued chopping away determinedly. During this time, she had already destroyed almost half of the joint of the doors now, though Regretless¡¯ condition was also bing extremely bad. Still, Ling Lan could not afford the time to wince and worry about it ¡ª after all, when their lives hung in the bnce, all else was immaterial.


    "If you all do not believe us, you can ask the control room of this transport ship," suggested Li Lanfeng calmly, seeing that everyone was still sceptical.


    Quite a few mecha operators stopped moving and began to contact the control room of the transport ship for confirmation. Once they received confirmation, everyone began to panic.


    While the others weremunicating with the control room, the special-ss operator asked Li Lanfeng, "Even if a maic storm forms, a mecha would not be able to fly out of range based on its own power alone anyway. We might as well stay in the transport ship. It¡¯ll be safer that way."


    "Sadly, the transport ship¡¯s speed is too slow ..." Li Lanfeng only responded briefly to these words. As if thinking of something, the special-ss operator kept away the high-frequency de in his hands and said to Ling Lan who was still busily destroying the door joint, "I have a special-ss beam gun here. Perhaps that might help."


    Ling Lan decisively stepped away from the door, signalling for the special-ss operator toe forth. Every second saved would mean an extra measure of safety.


    The special-ss operator decisively unhooked the special-ss beam gun from his back and aimed for the joint which had already been half destroyed by Ling Lan. He shot a powerful st at it, not at all stingy with the energy of the beam gun. In just a short 10 seconds, he hadpletely unloaded all of the beam gun¡¯s power.


    At this time, the joint was already quite beaten up. Ling Lan was just about to move forward to resume her destruction when [No Mecha Unrepaired] suddenly said, "Let me try."


    Ling Lan was taken aback ¡ª this [No Mecha Unrepaired] still had a card up his sleeve? Looks like a mechanical genius truly could not be underestimated.


    Two missiles suddenly shot out from the head of [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s mecha ¡ª these were the anti-air interference missiles all mecha were equipped with. Their attack power was the worst among all of a mecha¡¯s weapons and equipment, so mecha operators generally very rarely ever thought about using them. These missiles were absolutely one of those things that had little value and yet was kept just in case 1 . It was very unexpected for [No Mecha Unrepaired] to choose to use them and attack.


    A trace of disappointment was revealed in the special-ss operator¡¯s eyes. Only Ling Lan¡¯s brow lifted, because she had seen very clearly that the missiles fired from [No Mecha Unrepaired]¡¯s head were absolutely not that regr type of interference missile. Despite appearing somewhat simr, Ling Lan¡¯s keen and discerning eyes had nevertheless instantly registered the difference.


    Sure enough, when the missiles hit the door joint, a tremendous st rang out once more,pletely drowning out the screams of those mecha operators who had already learned the truth.


    With this violent explosion, the hold doors finally broke apart with a cracking sound. Seeing this, Ling Lan resolutely kicked out a foot to send the hold doors flying.


    The air within the hold rushed out ¡ª quite a few mecha who were out of their secured seats were sent flying due to the loss of gravity, mming heavily into the roof of the hold. Unprepared, those mecha operators who had been standing near the doors were thrown out of the transport hold entirely, ending up in outer space.


    Ling Lan¡¯s group of nine had long been prepared. The moment the hold doors opened, they leapt out into space themselves. Witnessing that lovely violet ring of light that was bing increasingly vivid in colour, they knew that that was the maic storm that could reap all life within this area.


    "Activate all engines to their maximum. Move forwards at your mecha¡¯s fastest speed." Following this order, everyone on the team flew forwards at full speed, overtaking one transport ship after another.


    "That special-ss operator is following us," Xie Yi, who was bringing up the rear, alerted everyone on the team.


    "Don¡¯t mind him," Ling Lan said curtly. Seeing [No Mecha Unrepaired] gradually slowing down, she instructed Qi Long, "Combat, remember to help out [No Mecha Unrepaired]." Meanwhile, the others seemed to be doing fine on their own for now.


    "Little Four, how far away is themand mainship from us?" Ling Lan asked Little Four.


    Little Four answered, "Moving at full speed like this, we can catch up in 19 minutes and 47 seconds. However, let me remind you, Boss, that the maic storm might erupt prematurely."


    "What is your earliest estimation for that to happen?" Ling Lan¡¯s brow was deeply furrowed.


    "It¡¯s very likely to happen in only 18 minutes." Little Four directly revealed histest estimated time to Ling Lan. As this was the virtual world, Little Four was not overly anxious.


    What bloody rotten luck! Ling Lan could not help but swear when she heard Little Four¡¯s reply. Even though dying within the virtual world did not seem like a big deal ¡ª it would only cause them to drop some level points and at worst they would simply have to start over ¡ª Ling Lan did not want to give up just like that. In her mind, she was treating everything here as if it were real, just as she did with her assignments in the learning space. Only by using this sort of mindset to put pressure on herself could she find that single slim thread of survival in her missions andplete those seemingly impossible missions.


    One more point ¡ª Ling Lan also did not wish for herpanions to get into the habit of taking death lightly in the virtual world. Once they returned to reality and entered a real battlefield, this kind of mentality might carry over and bring them great disaster. Only by constantly being aware that they only had one life would they be able to maintain their vignce on the battlefield and keep on living well.


    Ling Lan believed that the reason why Mecha World was constructed so realistically and had such harsh punishments for death was inrge part in hopes that the mecha operators would cherish their lives in Mecha World. In truth, Mecha World had indeed seeded on this point. Unless absolutely unavoidable, no one in the game was willing to give up on their lives easily. This was also one of the reasons why Ling Lan had drawn the ire of the other mecha operators when she had been destroying the hold doors.


    "Right now, push all of your mecha into overdrive and activate the fastest theoretical speed of your mecha." Ling Lan decisively issued her newest order. Even if their mecha were utterly ruined by this, as long as they lived, all these losses would be worth it.


    "Yes, Boss!" No one raised any objections. They all carried out the order simultaneously, increasing the speed of their mecha.


    Meanwhile, Qi Long and Luo Lang did not require Ling Lan to remind them ¡ª one on the right and one on the left, they grabbed [No Mecha Unrepaired]. Revving their engines at the same time, they shot deeper into space like they were flying.


    Seeing this, Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze shed. He was quietly amazed at the great rapport between the rabbit¡¯s team members. This rapport was something he was incapable of at the moment, but he was not discouraged. One day, he would be able to do this too.


    Before Ling Lan had given her order, she had asked Little Four to send the flight path to themand mainship to everyone in the team. As long as they were not directionally challenged, they would not fly the wrong way.


    The special-ss operator following closely behind them saw Ling Lan¡¯s team speed up once more and could not help but curse silently. Without even having to think about it, he too elerated after them. Although Ling Lan¡¯s team had already been moving at full speed before this, for the special-ss mecha, keeping up with them had not pushed him to his limits yet then. But now, he could feel the strain, and there were even times when he was left behind by a significant margin when he could not react in time. He rejoiced internally over the fact that he was a special-ss operator ¡ª if he had still been an advanced mecha warrior, he might have already lost sight of the other side a long time ago.


    After flying at overcapacity for about 15 minutes, the whole team¡¯s mecha were all disying damage levels between 15% to 20%, but their speed was showing effect ¡ª they could already see the silhouette of themand mainship. The group could not help but be infused with joy. As long as they could get on board themand mainship, they would be out of danger.


    At the 17th minute, they arrived close to themand mainship. At this time, a mechaunch port on the tail piece of the ship silently opened up. If Ling Lan had not sent over thending point on themand mainship, they would never have discovered it.


    "[Priceless Kinship], go in first." ording to the team¡¯s flight position, Ling Lan called [Priceless Kinship] who was closer to the front to enter first.


    There was actually danger involved in being the first to enter, because no one could tell what the situation was like inside. However, when Li Shiyu received Ling Lan¡¯s order, without having to think about it, he instantly controlled his mecha to aim at theunch port and slid in like a cannonball. Sparks flew when both legs of his mecha made contact with the rails of theunch port. Apparently, in order to decelerate, Li Shiyu had used the bottoms of his legs to produce friction. However, they had initially been travelling over their limits so their speed was really just too high ¡ª even by doing so, Li Shiyu¡¯s speed was not decreased by much.


    Watching helplessly as his mecha was about to m into the second guard door, as if sensing danger, the guard door suddenly sprang apart. Li Shiyu slid in smoothly, and though his own condition was not that optimistic, he still paid attention to the situation behind him. He heard Ling Lan order [Lingtian Parcel] to prepare to jump in next.


    Very quickly, Li Shiyu had arrived at the third guard door. Just as if their entry was being observed closely, right as he was about to m into the third guard door, it once again sprang open.


    At this moment, Li Shiyu no longer had any way of keeping track of what was happening behind him. After the third door, they were in fact already in the inner section of the starship, which was where mecha were housed and also where they were prepped forunching.


    Sure enough, when he had zoomed past the third door, on his mecha¡¯s screen, he saw the bbergasted expressions of the staff members on both sides of theunch rails. Having received no notice about any of this, it was clear to see that the workers were extremely shocked by the sudden appearance of mecha sliding in from the other end of theunch tracks.


    Very soon, a greatmotion broke out on the scene. Many staff even leapt down from the mecha they were working on to rush over and try to see what was happening.


    At the end of the tracks was a protective air cushion and many cords of bungee rope to prevent mecha from being damaged. Li Shiyu crashed heavily into them but did not receive much shock from the impact.


    Without hesitation, Li Shiyu borrowed the rebound force of the bungee ropes to spring out from the cushion and swiftly dashed to an empty space on the right. He had not forgotten that [Lingtian Parcel] was right behind him ¡ª he had no intention of bing the other¡¯s ¡¯meat cushion¡¯ and end up with an internecine oue.


    At this time, the JMC in charge of themand mainship had connected to the publicms and was asking loudly, "Who are you? Where have youe from?" At the same time, Li Shiyu saw many of the staff members lifting the weapons in their hands, directing them nervously at Li Shiyu.


    "Not good, there are still more mechaing! Run!" Before Li Shiyu could reply, a horrible screeching noise could be hearding from theunch port. These staff members were quick on the uptake, figuring out that this mecha was not alone in stealing aboard their ship.


    The staff members knew very well that a mecha sliding through theunch port at high speeds could not be controlled. If they were not careful, it might simply crush them workers to death. To ensure their lives and safety, they had no more mind to bother with Li Shiyu. They all scattered to escape to safer territory.

 Chapter 319: Secret Weapon!

    Chapter 319: Secret Weapon!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The next second, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s mecha also crashed into the air cushion, and he reacted just as quickly as Li Shiyu to shift his mecha to one side because there were still 7panions waiting to enter behind him.


    As one mecha after another slid into the military vessel, with even [No Mecha Unrepaired] sliding in easily with Qi Long¡¯s assistance, Ling Lan¡¯s worry eased. As long as the military vessel flew for another few minutes, they would escape the danger zone Little Four had calcted.


    Seeing that her mecha¡¯s power was almost running dry, Ling Lan said to the final person by her side, [Self-Defined Destiny], "Leopard, you go first." Perhaps out of trust in the leopard¡¯s ability, Ling Lan had left [Self-Defined Destiny] forst.


    [Self-Defined Destiny] answered, "Okay." But before he could control his mecha to descend into the port, that special-ss operator which had tailed them all this way suddenly elerated wildly to overtake them and shoot into theunch port.


    "That special-ss operator is too godd*mn shameless." Seeing this, Li Lanfeng could not help but curse. Leaving alone the matter of following them here, the other should still have known to be courteous and stay in line. How could he be so shameless as to cut their line?


    Ling Lan frowned at this. That special-ss operator had unexpectedly snatched the perfect time to cut in ¡ª that was truly a perfect 10-second cut. What a shame, it looked like the leopard would have to wait a while now. Each mecha needed to take a 10-second dy from the previous one before sliding in, otherwise it would be too easy for a collision to ur. If unlucky, the operators involved could be heavily injured and may even die. Although Ling Lan too was extremely annoyed that the other mecha had done such a thing, she could not let the leopard do anything rash.


    So, Ling Lan said, "Leopard, wait another 10 seconds."


    The two of them continued flying at high speeds to keep up with the mainship, patiently waiting for the 10 seconds to pass. Seeing that the timing was almost right, Ling Lan was about to speak up to let [Self-Defined Destiny] slide into the port when Little Four suddenly cried out in the mindspace, "Boss, not good! The maic storm is about to blow!"


    "What?! Didn¡¯t you say it was 18 minutes? There¡¯s still several seconds on the clock!" Ling Lan¡¯s expression changed drastically at these words. She had never considered the possibility that Little Four¡¯s estimations would be off by a few seconds.


    Before Little Four could respond, a cacophony of the crackling sounds of maic disturbance could be heard within the cockpit. Sure enough, the maic storm had broken out, otherwise they would not have felt such a strong disturbance so far away from the centre of the maic storm.


    Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng turned their heads together to look, and they saw the deep purple ring-shaped haze in the distance bloom like fireworks. It exploded powerfully, spreading out into its surroundings like a purple sea of flowers, so lovely that it dazzled the eyes. It was hard to believe that such a beautiful scene existed in outer space.


    However, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng could not appreciate any of its beauty, filled instead with fear. They could see the ces where the purple sea engulfed had be barren ¡ª it was spreading at a rapid pace and had already begun consuming the transport ship which had fallen behind the most. The ship was turned into dust particles in the starry skies, leaving no other trace of its existence.


    "Rabbit, you go first." Ling Lan had yet to ask the leopard to go first when Li Lanfeng beat her to the punch. He shoved Ling Lan beside him with all his might towards theunch port of the starship.


    The power levels of their mecha were already at a critical red level ¡ª whether it was the maic tsunamiing from behind them or the power levels of their mecha themselves, neither allowed them to continue flying in space.


    Li Lanfeng believed that with the rabbit¡¯s control skills, even if the other was unprepared, the other would still be able to safely slide into theunch port. Li Lanfeng only had one thought in his mind at that moment. Even if he met his end here today, he could not let all the rabbit¡¯s previous efforts go to waste.


    Unprepared, Ling Lan had been sent hurtling towards theunch port of the mainship by Li Lanfeng¡¯s shove, but how agile were Ling Lan¡¯s reflexes? As she descended, she abruptly stretched out a hand and grabbed Li Lanfeng. Then, flipping through the air, she flew to the space above Li Lanfeng and lifted both legs to stomp forcefully on Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha ...


    This was the rabbit¡¯s ultimate move Li Lanfeng was most familiar with, the stomp technique, which was a refined version of Rabbit Sky Leap. Due to this stomp, Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha flew like a cannonball towards theunch port. He looked at the rabbit using the remaining thread of power he had to fly after his mecha, and his eyes could not help but be damp.


    Once again he had troubled the rabbit; once again, he was experiencing the pain of being weak.


    There was a type of despair in Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart. All these years, he had pushed himself desperately, tormenting himself to be stronger ¡ª although a part of it was because he wanted to overturn his fate, he knew that the true reason he wanted to be strong was so that he could one day stand confidently by the rabbit¡¯s side and be the rabbit¡¯s best partner. But now, from the looks of it, this was all just a joke. He was still all too weak ¡ª he still did not have the right to fight alongside the rabbit. The rabbit would probably disdain to even use him as a shield to deflect arrows ...


    Li Lanfeng hated how useless he was. He could only stare with wide eyes as the rabbit, who was getting further and further away from him, was chased by the purple wave, which kept getting closer and closer. It seemed as if the rabbit would bepletely consumed in the very next second ...


    Right then, Li Lanfeng¡¯s initially wide teary eyes abruptly grew asrge as dinner tes, his entire expression screaming disbelief.


    That intermediate mecha of the rabbit had suddenly changed into a beautiful and eye-catching mecha in an instant. Even the mesmerising purple sea of flowers behind it could not conceal the radiance of this mecha.


    Li Lanfeng was all too familiar with this mecha. It was precisely that imperial mecha that had been giving the rabbit an instructional fight back when he had first recognised the rabbit again. It was the only redeemable imperial mecha among the six models avable in Mecha World ¡ª¡ª !


    After switching her mecha, Ling Lan instantly activated all engines on her new mecha. For an intermediate mecha, the distance between her and Li Lanfeng would need 5 to 6 seconds to cover, but for the imperial mecha, just 1 second was enough to bring Ling Lan to Li Lanfeng¡¯s side.


    Ling Lan grabbed hold of Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha and said exasperatedly, "Bastard leopard, you¡¯ve bloody gotten worse than before. Are you trying tomit suicide?" She had only kicked the leopard ahead of her because she had the secret weapon her dad had passed to her to rely on, but this fellow actually did not understand the pains she had taken to save them both. That self-sacrificing behaviour of his almost infuriated her to death.


    Smiling, Li Lanfeng was just about to return a quip when he saw the purple flower tide looming above Ling Lan. He quickly shouted out, "Rabbit, be careful!"


    Ling Lan abruptly turned around and plugged in that precious power source they had obtained on X192 at the same time. The fingers on both hands flew across her mecha controls. Under this type of emergency situation, Ling Lan¡¯s hand speed once again broke through her initial speed limits.


    It should be said that due to controlling lower mecha, Ling Lan¡¯s hand speed had always maintained its original standards. Despite knowing herself that she had improved over these past few years, due to the constraints of the situation, Ling Lan had not known precisely how much she had improved. And now, on this imperial mecha, Ling Lan¡¯s restrained hand speed was finally fully unleashed.


    "Pulsing King Shield." Ling Lan chose to use an equipped ability exclusive to imperial mecha even as she shouted, "Leopard, hold on to me tightly!"


    Ever since Ling Lan had obtained , she had studied some of the special equipment of imperial mecha. Of course, her father Ling Xiao had also given her all of ¡¯s information. Combined with supplementary information from Little Four, it could be said that Ling Lan¡¯s understanding of was no less than those imperial mecha operators piloting .


    Pulsing King Shield was a powerful defensive equipment. Although it was iparable to the god-ss IN mecha¡¯s Divine Shield series, it was still a top-ss shield among all of the defensive equipment of the Federation. It was a great deal stronger than the typical protective multi-particle beam shields most military vessels were equipped with. Furthermore, the Pulsing King Shield was a defensive shield whose range could be freely modified under a mecha master¡¯s 1 control.


    Ling Lan not only wanted to protect herself and the leopard, she also wanted to protect herpanions who were already within the hold of the mainship. In reality, if this military vessel was consumed by this maic tsunami, even if Ling Lan possessed an imperial mecha, she would have no way of holding out till she arrived at the Swift Dragon base camp. This was the limitation of mecha ¡ª unable to fly for long distances.


    In front of the imperial mecha, a beam of white light rose into the sky, instantly forming arge barrier with a radius of several kilometres. Even though the Pulsing King Shield seemed extremelyrge, it could still only cover the tail end of the mainship. This was already the extent of Ling Lan¡¯s control; the scale of the Pulsing King Shield depended primarily on the operator¡¯s level. Ling Lan¡¯s true control skill level was not yet at imperial level; she was currently pushing herself to execute cross-level control. Therefore, some of the special functions of the imperial mecha were beyond her, unable to be performed ¡ª some elements of the Pulsing King Shield fell into this category.


    Honestly, for Ling Lan to be able to bring out a Pulsing King Shield with such a range was already extremely remarkable. Her control panel was already spattered with droplets of blood. Cross-level operation was not without its consequences. Ling Lan registered none of the tearing pain from her fingers ¡ª there was only one thought in her mind ... and that was that no one in their team could die here under this maic tsunami.


    A loud ¡¯boom¡¯ rang out as the Pulsing King Shield and the purple wave collided heavily. With a jerk, Ling Lan could not stop herself from spewing out a mouthful of blood, and the initially radiant Pulsing King Shield dimmed.


    Ling Lan bit down on her lips, using the intense pain to keep herself from fainting. She knew that every additional second she kept the Pulsing King Shield up for meant an additional guarantee for the lives of herpanions.


    At the moment Ling Lan had brought out the Pulsing King Shield, Li Lanfeng had obeyed Ling Lan¡¯s instruction to hold on tightly to Ling Lan¡¯s mecha. When the Pulsing King Shield and the maic tsunami collided forcefully, their two mecha had been swept back by the fearsome power of the maic tsunami to hurtle towards the tail end of the mainship.


    At that moment, Li Lanfeng was extremely calm. He only continued to keep a steady hold on his rabbit. Even if he would die like this with his rabbit in this maic tsunami, he still would not let go of his rabbit. Yes, he had already let go once on the friendship between him and the rabbit, so this time he would absolutely never let go again ...


    "Bang bang bang ..." Their mecha crashed right into the tail end of the mainship. As the primary point of the crash, Li Lanfeng spewed out a mouthful of blood right after the first collision. The violent crash had caused him to be severely injured, but still he clung tightly to the rabbit before him, tenaciously using his mecha as the rabbit¡¯s ¡¯meat cushion¡¯.


    The maic tsunami still came into contact with the tail end of themand mainship in the end, and the tail of the mainship began to emit violent sounds of explosion. Under the horrific power of the maic tsunami, even though Ling Lan had used all her strength in the Pulsing King Shield to counteract the force of the maic tsunami, it had still not been enough to prevent the ultimate fate of the mainship. The tail of the mainship was unable to escape wholly unscathed; over one-fourth of the ship was torn to pieces by the maic tsunami ...

 Chapter 320: Awakening!

    Chapter 320: Awakening!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    After who knows how long, Ling Lan muzzily woke up and was greeted to the sight of dim darkness. Ling Lan could not help but be taken aback ¡ª if not for the fact that she could feel the seatbelt strapping her in, Ling Lan might have thought that she was no longer in the cockpit of her mecha.


    Mind you, as long as there was someone in it, the cockpit of a mecha would always maintain a certain level of illumination unless something was wrong with the mecha; only then would this kind of situation ur.


    Ling Lan had just thought to move when she found her entire body beginning to ache terribly. With that, she knew that she had already been determined to be in a severely injured state by the mainframe of Mecha World. It made sense when she thought about it. Going up against a maic tsunami which was capable of swallowing everything in its path, being able to live was already a great blessing. Of course, this oue was also thanks to the impressive performance of the imperial mecha¡¯s defensive equipment.


    Forcefully suppressing the pain, Ling Lan reached out to press the activation button of the mecha based on memory.


    The resulting ¡¯beep¡¯ made Ling Lan¡¯s heart ease. This sound was like music from the heavens, for it meant that her mecha could still be used normally. Very soon, her screen had lit up, and she entered the mecha piloting system. At the same time, the cockpit became bright again, everything in perfect order. Apparently, the mecha had just entered standby mode because no one was piloting it to save energy. The moment the activation button was pressed, it had started up again instantly.


    Ling Lan did not concern herself with the situation outside. The first thing she did was to take out a tube of healing agent and p it onto her body. Only then did she feel her condition improving. This was the virtual world, so recovering was as simple and speedy as that. If this were the real world, based on the extent of Ling Lan¡¯s injuries, recovery would not be as simple.


    After sorting out her own body, only then did Ling Lan have any mind to spare to investigate her surroundings. She found that the surroundings of her mecha were just as dark as the inside of her cockpit before. She decisively turned on the external lights of the mecha. With that, she found that her mecha was currently floating in mid-air, and there were countless metallic scraps bobbing around her.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan was quite baffled. Where in the world was she? Thest thing she could remember was using the imperial mecha to block the maic tsunami and finally falling to crash into the mainship before falling unconscious. Could it be that the mainship had not escaped disaster in the end and had be debris in space? But if they were truly in outer space, it still would not be this dark!


    In endless space, there was actually a certain amount of light. This sort of pitch darkness would not happen, so Ling Lan decisively threw out this possibility.


    Just as Ling Lan was pondering this mystery, a voice choked with tears suddenly rang out in her mindspace, "Boss, you¡¯ve finally woken up! Boo hoo hoo, that¡¯s really great!"


    "Little Four ..." Ling Lan¡¯s forehead twitched involuntarily. She had only been unconscious and not about to die ¡ª now what reason was there for this behaviour of Little Four¡¯s?


    As if sensing Boss¡¯s displeasure, Little Four sniffled and said, "Boss, you¡¯ve already been unconscious for a whole night. No one was paying any attention to me. I was so scared!" For that night, it was like Little Four had been shut into an enclosed little ck room. The soundless world had almost driven him insane ¡ª it had reminded him of his time in Ling Lan¡¯s previous world. He had constantly been alone by himself waiting for Ling Lan to notice him, but unfortunately Ling Lan had only heard his voice right at the very end of her life there, making him wait for a whole 21 years.


    Little Four was afraid that things had returned to how it was before. Having gotten used to acting spoilt and fooling around with Ling Lan, Little Four could no longer bear to experience that loneliness of before. He believed that if something had truly happened to Ling Lan, his processing chip would certainly choose to self-destruct.


    "Don¡¯t be scared. Haven¡¯t I woken up now? You need to have faith in me, your boss!" Seeing this, Ling Lan¡¯s heart softened. Inside the mindspace, she lightly petted the emotionally wounded Little Four,forting him to ease his fears.


    "Yup yup yup, Boss is the bestest!" Little Four¡¯s tears had yet to dry and he was already smiling again. That appearance of his was simultaneously adorable and pitiful.


    At the sight, Ling Lan could not help but fall silent. She suddenly realised that Little Four was not an omnipotent intelligence entity. He was just like a real living person with his own emotions ¡ª joy, anger, sadness, likes and dislikes, and things that made him sad or afraid ...


    Ling Lan silently caressed Little Four for a while, finally getting him to calm down. After that, she tried to pilot her mecha to investigate the surrounding environment but found that her mecha was tied down by something. Ling Lan zoomed in on the image of where she was tied down, and only then did she discover that she was being held down by the tight embrace of the leopard¡¯s mecha. It was clear to see that the leopard had not eased up on his grip at all.


    Seeing the leopard¡¯s mecha currentlypletely still and silent, Ling Lan¡¯s heart stuttered and she shouted frantically, "Leopard, leopard ..."


    "He¡¯s fine, just unconscious." Having calmed down, Little Four saw Ling Lan¡¯s anxious demeanour and so told her about the other¡¯s condition.


    Ling Lan thought back to when the two of them had been thrown at the military vessel by the maic storm at the end ¡ª the force of their impact had been fully borne by the leopard ¡ª and she could not help but feel guilty. "He is only so terribly injured because he was protecting me ..."


    "If you hadn¡¯t blocked the maic tsunami before that, he would not have just ended up terribly injured butpletely destroyed. He should instead be grateful to you," responded Little Four, baffled at Ling Lan¡¯s reaction. In Little Four¡¯s eyes, [Self-Defined Destiny] ying the role as a cushion was the requisite cost for his survival. Why would Boss feel guilty and even feel grateful towards the other?


    Little Four¡¯s words rendered Ling Lan speechless. She did not know how to exin to Little Four that his perspective was not quite right ... knowing that Little Four was someone who only looked at pure cold logic, Ling Lan wisely did not continue discussing the issue. Instead, she connected to [Self-Defined Destiny]¡¯sms channel and began calling out to the leopard again and again.


    Ling Lan was well aware that she needed to wake the leopard up as quickly as possible, or else the other might die from his injuries due to not applying treatment in time.


    Perhaps her cries were effective, for not too longter, Ling Lan heard a slight groaning through thems. Ling Lan was overjoyed and quickly shouted loudly, "Leopard, leopard, are you alright?"


    "Cough cough, I¡¯m fine. Rabbit, it¡¯s fine as long as you¡¯re fine," the leopard finally replied. His voice sounded very weak ¡ª it looked like his injuries were extremely severe, probably even heavier than Ling Lan¡¯s had been. It made sense. Even though Ling Lan had received heavy damage when blocking the maic tsunami, she had been using an imperial mecha. The protection afforded to a mecha operator by an imperial mecha just could not be matched by an advanced mecha.


    In just a few moments, the leopard¡¯s voice began sounding more spirited. He too seemed to have picked up on the surrounding situation, and he asked Ling Lan, "Where are we right now?"


    "I¡¯m not sure either," said Ling Lan with a wry smile as she looked out at the pitch-ck space they were floating in.


    "I only know that we were hit into the inside of the mainship at the end. Who knows if we¡¯re still inside it now ..." said Li Lanfeng after briefly rallying his spirits.


    His words had barely faded when a corpse floated by the front of their mecha. It was dressed in the uniform of a mecha support staff of the mainship ¡ª they could clearly see the insignia pinned on his shoulder. It looked like they were indeed still inside the mainship. However, this also proved that this military vessel had already been pretty thoroughly broken.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan¡¯s heart sank. If the military vessel had truly beenpletely destroyed, just based on their mecha alone, it was impossible to fly to the base camp of the Swift Dragons. Could it be that after striving for so long, she would still end up with the oue of failing the mission with all of herpanions dead?


    "It¡¯s alright. Although themand mainship¡¯s condition is really terrible, its basic mobility is not broken. It is still in motion." Little Four could sense Ling Lan¡¯s worries and quickly rushed to reassure her, "However, Boss, you are now in the tail end of the ship which was utterly destroyed. They have already sealed off the doors of the airlock on this end, which is why this area is in this anti-gravity state."


    "Then, do you know the situation with Qi Long and the others?" Ling Lan began to worry about her otherpanions who had entered first.


    "I¡¯m not very sure. Everything in the tail end has been destroyed, so I also have no way of using the mainship¡¯s surveince system to find them," said Little Four regretfully.


    "Since we¡¯re fine, I believe they¡¯ll be fine too." Ling Lan still had a lot of faith in herpanions. In fact, that explosion at the tail end of the ship in those final moments was a death blow to those support staff members without the protection of mecha. They were basically all wiped out in that final explosion ¡ª the only ones who could survive were the mecha operators protected by the defensive power of their mecha.


    "Rabbit, I seem to feel like our position is shifting. Maybe that maic tsunami did not cause fatal damage to the mainship." Li Lanfeng seemed to have sensed something of the situation, and he quicklymunicated his findings to Ling Lan.


    "Yes. Let¡¯s figure out the situation first then find Combat and the others. After that we can arrange our next n of action." Ling Lan instantly made her decision. They would first look for their team members in this heap of ruins.


    The two of them operated their mecha to weave among the debris. Countless corpses floated by them ¡ª it looked like all these staff without any protective measures had been sacrificed during that maic tsunami. Despite knowing that all these staff members were just NPCs, Ling Lan could not help but have a heavy heart in the face of all this death. Still, Ling Lan very quickly rallied her spirits. She began to think about how this was perhaps even more advantageous for her team because everyone who knew they had stolen aboard the ship was now dead. Perhaps they could change their identities and stealthily infiltrate the ship as official mecha troops of the mainship.


    After a round of searching, they found no sign of Qi Long and the others. Ling Lan would rather guess that they had already entered the safe areas of the military vessel. What was more surprising to them was that when they happened to touch some standard Federation advanced mecha which were still functionally intact overall floating through the air, the system actually prompted them with a pop-up notification asking them whether they wanted to retrieve the mecha. This meant that these intact mecha could be freely taken by yers.


    Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng naturally would not let such an advantage pass by. It should be known it would require an extremely high amount of points at the redemption centre to redeem these mecha. Moreover, Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha was already running on empty ¡ª obtaining an advanced mecha with abundant power right now was undoubtedly a stroke of timely luck 1 for Li Lanfeng. Mind you, once one¡¯s mecha¡¯s power ran out, not only would the mecha be unable to move, the oxygen levels in the mecha¡¯s cockpit would not be able to be sustained for long either.


    The two of them chose two of the mecha in the best condition to keep in their inventories. It wasn¡¯t that they did not want to collect even more, but they would not be able to support the mecha even if they took more.


    Within a yer¡¯s inventory, each mecha would exhaust a set amount of power calories every hour. If a mecha was left unused in an inventory for a long time, it would still be a powerless empty shell of a mecha in the end. After that, it would merely be dead weight in a yer¡¯s inventory and increase a yer¡¯s fatigue level. This was also one of the methods Mecha World employed to prevent yers from umting too many mecha so that the yers would not end up unable to focus on training properly with one mecha.

 Chapter 321: Comradery?

    Chapter 321: Comradery?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Looking at the standard military-use advanced mecha they had obtained, the vague idea swirling in Ling Lan¡¯s mind abruptly came into focus. She quickly contacted Leopard andmunicated her idea to him.


    The moment Li Lanfeng heard her idea, his gaze lit up. He felt that it was an excellent n. Even as he signalled his agreement, he could not help but be secretly proud. See, this was his friend. What a bright and intelligent rabbit!


    The two of them instantly changed their mecha into the standard advanced mecha they had obtained from the ship. Only then did they operate their mecha to move to the airlock¡¯s doors and make preparations to sneak inside the mainship proper ...


    Just as Ling Lan was about to instruct Little Four to observe the surroundings near the doors of the airlock, to see whether there was anyone out and about, they suddenly sensed the travel speed of the military vessel slowing down. They could also hear the faint sounds of rms ring from the mainship proper.


    "What¡¯s going on, Little Four?" Ling Lan quickly turned to ask Little Four in the mindspace. Right now, Ling Lan was like a blind person ¡ª she was solely reliant on Little Four to obtain information on the outside world.


    Little Four answered immediately, "Boss, the radar has picked up the appearance of an unidentified flying object about 10 kilometres ahead of themand mainship. The entire ship is now in emergency mode. It isn¡¯t suitable for us to act at this time."


    Having heard what Little Four had to say, Ling Lan settled down to wait for a while. Meanwhile, Li Lanfeng too had figured out that something seemed to be happening inside the ship, so when Ling Lan suggested they wait, he was in full agreement, curious to see what exactly was happening ...


    ********


    At the distant base of the Swift Dragons, right after the eruption of the maic tsunami, an urgent notification came, requesting the Swift Dragon fleet to send a search and rescue team immediately to the surrounding districts of X192 to help the surviving soldiers and adventurers.


    In one of the rooms in themand centre at the Swift Dragon base, a man shrouded in shadows sat on a sofa. In a hoarse voice which sounded grating to the ears, he said to another man equally obscured by shadows, "D9, do you think this notification is fishy?"


    "D1, on the surface, this notification is exceedingly normal. Whenever an incident with great casualties ur, the mecha mainframe will definitely inform the closest fleet to send assistance. As far as I know, the maic tsunami of X191 is a natural phenomenon ..." Any natural disasters that happened in Mecha World was actually a realistic copy of natural disasters in the real world. In reality, on the fringes of the Chinese Federation in the real world, there had indeed been an eruption of a maic tsunami on one of thes. It was just that it had not been as violent and destructive as the one in Mecha World.


    At this point of the conversation, D9 paused, then continued in a dark tone, "That remation fleet should also be carrying out their mission right about now ..."


    "What you¡¯re saying is, it won¡¯t be a big problem?" Within the shadows where expressions could not be seen clearly, D1 asked in return with his usual emotionless voice.


    "Not quite. It¡¯s precisely because there¡¯s no problem at all that it is problematic ..." A mocking smirk appeared on D9¡¯s lips. "We¡¯re infiltrators. We cannot let down our guard. No one can tell whether the mecha mainframe has discovered something."


    "Then, pretend we did not receive the notification?" D1 followed up with this question.


    "Of course that won¡¯t work. At the very least we must act normal and send a search and rescue team over, otherwise the mecha mainframe will definitely be suspicious. We still need a little time before Project T can bepleted," refuted D9 directly, "The maic tsunami was so strong ... ording to the information we received, that remation fleet basically had no way of surviving ... Even if there are any lucky survivors, having them be under our guard will be more reassuring for us."


    That said, D9 added proudly, "The Swift Dragon base is already fully under our control. No one can carry off any petty tricks under our watch. If the mecha mainframe really tries anything and sends some people over, we will definitely discover them at soonest notice."


    "In that case, let¡¯s send a search and rescue team! I too do not want there to be any disruptions before Project T ispleted." In response to D9¡¯s words, D1 gave this order.


    On that very day, a patrol ship departed from the Swift Dragon base towards X192. Half a day and one nightter, when there was still two-fifths of the journey left toary sector X192, the ship encountered the sole remainingmand ship from the remation fleet.


    Themand mainship no longer had any strength to fight, so they instantly sent out a questioning signal through the publicms. The other side did not dy in responding with their identity. When the mainship found that the other ship was a rescue team from the Swift Dragon base, all of the surviving mecha operators and staff members could not stop from tearing up. Over this past half a day and one night, their minds had constantly tormented by worry ¡ª they did not know just how much longer the battered mainship they were on could hold out for, and none of them wished to end up as debris in outer space like the other ships had.


    Themander of the mainship and his adjutant looked at one another, their gazes aplicated mix of excitement and nervousness, and also a sort of stoicism. Still, very quickly, both their expressions turned as joyful as the other NPC soldiers below them.


    However, the adjutant was still young after all. His hand could not help but clench in nervousness ¡ª entering the Swift Dragon base meant their mission was about to officially begin.


    As the mainship really had no way of guaranteeing anyone¡¯s safety, after making contact with the base, the Swift Dragon fleet¡¯s rescue team began moving the people on the mainship to their military vessel.


    Meanwhile, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng took the chance while everyone¡¯s attention was drawn to the moving process to let Little Four silently open the airlock doors and snuck into the mainship. Using the route indicators Little Four gave, they very quickly arrived at the central mecha hall.


    Right then, the attention of everyone in the hall was gathered on the twounch ports in the hall. The surviving 50 to 60 mecha operators were currently lining up to exit from those two ports and move to the rescue ship. Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng quietly sauntered up to join one of the lines.


    The mecha operator who was originally thest in that line was startled by the sudden appearance of two new mecha and turned to give them a curious look. He was not suspicious, however ¡ª after all, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng were currently operating the standard advanced mecha exclusive to this mainship (the identifying logo of the ship the mecha belonged to was disyed on the mecha¡¯s chests). At most, he was only wondering why these two had been so slow. Still, this was their own personal business, so the mecha operator did not pay much mind to it.


    Seeing that this mecha operator was only looking at them but not asking any questions, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng breathed out a great silent sigh of relief. They knew their n to infiltrate had seeded. Very soon, they had been ejected from the mainship and were flying towards one of theunch ports of the Swift Dragon¡¯s patrol ship. Once they had safelynded in the other ship¡¯s mecha hall, under the instructions of the staff member there, they operated their mecha adeptly to enter the secured seat arranged for them. After that, they chose to remain in their mecha, silent, making no move to leave their mecha.


    The mecha operators of the Swift Dragon ship did not think much about the sight, because many of the mecha operators who had been transferred over were doing the exact same thing. The experience of escaping with their lives had tired out these mecha operators, and now they were safe, their high-strung emotions eased. Thus, after entering their secured seats, many of the mecha operators had instantly fallen asleep. Only a few mecha operators with bolder nerves had the mood to climb out of their mecha to interact with the staff members or mecha operators of the Swift Dragon ship.


    Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng both just seemed like another member of the sleeping group, so the staff of the Swift Dragon ship considerately left them alone. In truth, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng were actually having an intense conversation within their mecha.


    Initially, with Ling Lan¡¯s and Li Lanfeng¡¯s change in mecha, their original teamms had be unusable. But who was Little Four? He had instantly helped Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng to secretly establish a privatems channel for just the two of them.


    "Who knows if Combat and the others have also gotten aboard this ship? Would they also be here in this mecha hall?" Li Lanfeng swept one look around at the mecha which all looked the same and could not help but shake his head. He really had no way of finding the other members of their team from all these simr-looking mecha.


    "As long as they still live, we¡¯ll find them. There is no need to worry." On the other hand, Ling Lan was extremelyposed. She had great trust in Qi Long and the others. Having participated in an expedition team before, this kind of trivial matter would not trouble them too much. Besides, this was also a test for them ¡ª without her full protection, could they survive based on their own capabilities?


    ********


    Right then, in another mecha hall of the Swift Dragon ship, Xie Yi had already struck up a good rtionship with the staff members. All smiles, he rejoined his teammates and shared what news he had learned with them.


    Qi Long and the other six had not remained in their mecha, because they were currently dressed in the exact same piloting suit as the Federation NPC soldiers and not their own individualistic clothes.


    Fortunately enough, when the maic tsunami had caught up to the tail of the mainship and the explosion had broken out, with great teamwork and rapport, Qi Long and Luo Lang had grabbed hold of the special-ss mecha who had abruptly rushed in and put him right in front of their team to be their shield. The other had taken the majority of the force from the maic tsunami, allowing them to safely tide over this crisis. (Of course, Qi Long and the others did not know that the reason they managed to survive was also because Ling Lan had blocked off arge portion of the maic tsunami on the outside, otherwise just one special-ss mecha alone would not have been able to keep all of them alive ...)


    Of course, the end of the special-ss mecha was most tragic. He had been instantly destroyed by the force of the maic tsunami. This was still the result of the other not reacting in time, activating his defensive measures half a secondte. It was this half-second dy that had caused the mecha operator inside the special-ss mecha to be unable to endure the force of the maic tsunami, hence dying instantly.


    The ruthlessness of Qi Long and Luo Lang¡¯s decisive action caused the two new members, [No Mecha Unrepaired] and Li Shiyu, to quiver involuntarily in their hearts. In particr, Li Shiyu finally realised that this team he had joined not only had a shameless and ck-bellied team leader, even the team members were not very nice people ... if he had been in their shoes, he would never have been able to use an innocent person as a shield ...


    Still, Li Shiyu¡¯s rational mind acknowledged the fact that Qi Long and Luo Lang¡¯s decision had been correct, because their choice had allowed everyone in their team to survive. Li Shiyu did not forget that even as they had grabbed hold of the special-ss mecha, Qi Long had pushed him and [No Mecha Unrepaired] to the back of the pack, while the other three members had worked seamlessly with Qi Long and Luo Lang to shield the two of them. In other words, only after the five of them were dead would he and [No Mecha Unrepaired] have met any danger.


    After the fact, Li Shiyu¡¯s emotions were extremelyplicated. He was stunned and confused but also ashamed and guilty for the special-ss mecha, yet overall, he was mostly moved. At that moment, he really just could not berate Qi Long and Luo Lang for their ruthless decision ... perhaps this was whatradery meant! Li Shiyu¡¯s heart throbbed powerfully, and he found that he rather liked the feeling.

 Chapter 322: Anxiety!

    Chapter 322: Anxiety!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    For these reasons, Qi Long and the other six managed to survive. Even if they had been afraid, they had been thrown by the explosion right into the middle-back part of the mainship. Of course, they had been severely injured in the process. Here, the benefits of having Li Shiyu had to be mentioned ¡ª he had instantly brought out the special medical agents he had developed. Their wounds which would normally have needed one or two days to recover were all mostly healed after several minutes.


    Initially, Qi Long and the others had considered going to the tail-most end to look for Boss Ling Lan and [Self-Defined Destiny], but the remnant force of the maic storm and the low power of their mecha made it impossible for them to get close to the tail. Just as they were feeling helpless, [No Mecha Unrepaired] discovered a secret. The pilotless mecha around them could be imed by yers as long as the damage levels of the mecha did not exceed 40%.


    After discovering this secret, Qi Long¡¯s group of seven was both surprised and pleased. This discovery meant that they would be able to find a way to go to the tail end of the mainship to find Boss Lan. They looked around and found that there were ten or so mecha they could collect. Those mecha had not been damaged too badly by the maic turbulence. The seven of them picked the best seven mecha and changed into them. Then just as they were about to go to the tail, they heard a mecha operator who hade to check on the situation appear in the middle-back area of the starship.


    The maic tsunami had caused significant damage to the entire mainship. Not only were all of the staff members in the tail end dead, even some of the defenceless staff members and mecha operators outside of their mecha in the central areas of the ship had been killed by the explosive force of therge explosion. It could be said that the casualties were high.


    Although the control centre of the mainship believed that there were basically no survivors in the tail end, they still sent a small mecha squad to go investigate. When Qi Long¡¯s group had first sensed the appearance of the mecha squad, their first reflex was to hide. However, Han Jijyun had an idea ¡ª he instructed the team to go up and greet the mecha squad.


    Sure enough, when the mecha squad saw them, the other side was not at all suspicious. Instead, they almost cried out in relief and excitement. They had initially thought that the all theirrades in the tail end had died. They really did not expect to find any survivors ... this made them so ecstatic that they had no mind at all to bother asking for the survivors¡¯ team numbers or any other personal information.


    Just like that, Qi Long and the others were taken into the safe area of the mainship. When the staff there discovered that they were heavily bruised and injured, they were settled into healing pods for the night.


    Frankly, there was a fatal w in Qi Long¡¯s team¡¯s cover story. Their mecha control suits were not the formal military-use control suits. Instead, they were using civilian control suits that Mecha World had produced in the fashion of those military suits, so their suits were still somewhat different from the official mecha suits used by soldiers. However, they were very clever ¡ª they tore up the most questionable spots on their control suits. Qi Long in particr had almost overdone it to the extent that he was almost naked. At the same time, they were also ruthless enough to hurt themselves on purpose, staining whatever remained of their own control suits red. Their bleeding wounds caused the rescuers to pay no attention to their control suits, cing all their attention on the group¡¯s injuries. This allowed the group to safely ovee this most difficult hurdle.


    After a night of rest, they put on the military uniforms that had been specially brought over for them. As the living quarters of the soldiers had been at the tail end and so had also been blown up, all of their clothes and daily necessities were sure to be gone as well. The support staff of the mainship naturally had to think for their sakes. Not only did the staff provide them with military uniforms, they were also each given a standard official military-use mecha control suit. This made Qi Long and the othersugh silently to themselves, d that they were finally safe.


    Of course, there was one other reason why the mainship rescue logistics team was so quick to believe that they were mecha operators of the ship itself. The ship¡¯s JMC and the other staff members of the ship who were familiar with the operations of the tail end had all been killed in the explosion, every single one of them. This had contributed to the ease with which Qi Long¡¯s group of seven had infiltrated the mainship. The staff members instinctively believed that any mecha operators who were piloting mecha of their mainship must of course be one of their own.


    They truly did not believe that someone could sneak in without a trace. Therefore, no one doubted the origins of Qi Long¡¯s group. They were all just sincerely d that theirrades in the tail end had not beenpletely wiped out. The fact that there were survivors was afort to them as well.


    There was one more reason they had processed Qi Long and the others so hastily. The staff did not dare to meet the pleading and questioning eyes of Qi Long¡¯s team. After the rescue team had found Qi Long¡¯s group of seven, they had discovered that the air of the mainship was surging out at a dangerous rate. The mainship did not have enough power left to maintain the atmospheric bnce of the air within the ship. In order to ensure the safety of the people in the middle and front sections of the ship, themander had no choice but to stop the search and rescue efforts and close the airlock gate in the back half of the ship to prevent the air from continuing to leak out.


    Although Qi Long¡¯s group of seven had pleaded repeatedly for the search and rescue efforts to continue, insisting that there must still be other mecha operators alive in the tail end, the staff still did not manage to enter the tail end again in the end. Time waits for no man ¡ª they needed to do their duty by the remaining people. Thus, the airlock gates had to be sealed once more and the search and rescue efforts concluded prematurely.


    The hopeful expressions on the faces of Qi Long¡¯s team had made the search and rescue soldiers feel extremely guilty; they felt as if they had done wrong by theirrades in the tail end. So after putting them into recovery pods, the staff subconsciously began avoiding them. No one was willing to go verify their identity, because they were afraid that the other party would ask about the final oue of the search and rescue effort ... just like that, Qi Long¡¯s group once again evaded another possibility of being exposed.


    It had to be said that Qi Long and the others were very lucky. All of the surviving soldiers on the ship were grieving over the loss of about half of theirrades. Thus, they were exceedingly kind to the survivors, skipping over some of the typically necessary confirmation procedures. Meanwhile, when themander received the report regarding the surviving mecha operators of the tail end, he too did not think much about it. He only gave word for the staff to take extra care of them and that was it. This was because at that time, themander had been consumed with anxiety. How could he bring this battered mainship on itsst legs to the Swift Dragon base? Who knew how much longer this ship would hold out for?


    "The other party is indeed a rescue ship from the Swift Dragon base. We should be able to sessfully enter the Swift Dragon base now ... I just don¡¯t know how Boss and [Self-Defined Destiny] are doing right now. I wonder if they¡¯re safe ..." Xie Yi whispered, finding it difficult to keep his worry from showing on his brow. Who knew if Boss Lan had managed to survive that maic tsunami?


    "Don¡¯t worry. Who do you take Boss for? Since we all managed to survive, Boss most definitely survived as well," Luo Lang whispered back, his gaze filled with steel-like conviction. Luo Lang was the one with the greatest faith in Ling Lan. In Luo Lang¡¯s eyes, his boss would never be defeated, not even by such a horrific thing like the maic tsunami.


    Han Jijyun nodded and said, "Luo Lang is right. Boss will definitely be fine. Worrying about Boss¡¯s condition is not what we should be doing now. Rather, we need to figure out how to infiltrate the Swift Dragon base seamlessly before Boss finds us." Han Jijyun believed that the true challengey ahead of them. They needed to begin preparations early. "Once we settle down at the Swift Dragon base, I¡¯m sure that there will inevitably be a registration of the survivors of the mainship. Since we do not know the information of any members of the mainship we can use, at that time, we will definitely be exposed."


    "If only Boss were here. He is a hacker, so he would definitely be able to obtain the information of those mecha operators in the tail end and give us some suitable identities." A trace of regret shed through Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s eyes. He too had thought of this problem. As the mainship had been greatly damaged, most of themon soldiers had passed away in this maic tsunami. The staff on the ship had been so busy cleaning things up and keeping things together that they had not had the spare energy to properly vet the survivors. However, once everything had settled, both themander of the mainship and the leader of the Swift Dragon base would be sure to insist for proper checks to be carried out. As Han Jijyun said, their exposure was imminent.


    At this point, Lin Zhong-qing could not help but smile bitterly. Once again, he found that Boss Lan was truly an omnipotent existence for them. As long as he was around, any problem would no longer be a problem, able to be solved easily.


    "Speaking of hackers, I seem to have heard [Self-Defined Destiny] say before that he too is a hacker. If he were around, perhaps we could also have obtained that information ..." Xie Yi recalled what [Self-Defined Destiny] had said on the transport ship and remarked with some regret.


    "That¡¯s true! How unlucky. If he were here, we would be much safer ..." said Qi Long in frustration at those words, "If I had known earlier, I would have let [Self-Defined Destiny] enter the mainship first back then."


    "It¡¯s toote to say all this now. We might as well brainstorm and think about how we should deal with the situation." Li Shiyu interrupted Qi Long¡¯s tangent and reminded everyone to stop thinking about useless things.


    Han Jijyun nodded and said, "Dux Li is right. The two hackers of our team are not here, so it¡¯s pointless to think about ways to get the information via hacker abilities. Let¡¯s think of some other way."


    The group began to think hard, but unfortunately they could note up with a good method. Then, Xie Yi saw [No Mecha Unrepaired] staring nkly at a corner. The other was still a second year student in the military academy now due to being held back two years. He was Chang Xinyuan who had been forced into dire straits because he had caught the eye of the Thunder King.


    Xie Yi followed his line of sight but saw nothing there except a spider spinning a web ... he stared dubiously at [No Mecha Unrepaired] a.k.a. Chang Xinyuan and wondered ¡ª had the other thought of something?


    Chang Xinyuan seemed to feel the heat of Xie Yi¡¯s gaze, and he slowly came back to himself. He smiled embarrassedly and asked, "Xie Yi, you ... what¡¯s up?"


    "You were staring off into space. Have you thought of something?" asked Xie Yi curiously.


    Chang Xinyuan rubbed his head in embarrassment. "I just never expected that [Lingtian First-String] was actually that Boss Lan who defeated the Leiting Mecha n. And it¡¯s even more unexpected that I would join your battle n ... this makes me feel as if I am dreaming ..."


    Xie Yi was speechless. When they had first gotten out of their mecha, Chang Xinyuan¡¯s expression had been calm andposed. Xie Yi had thought the other had not recognised them and so they had not paid any mind to it. Unexpectedly, Chang Xinyuan knew all about their backgrounds but was only showing signs of it now. Had he just pretended too well ... or was his reflex arc just abnormally slow for him to only react now?


    Chang Xinyuan¡¯s words made the other people look at each other speechlessly as well. It had already been a full night since then! Friend, for you to exim about it now ¡ª isn¡¯t it a little toote?


    The prating gazes of the other six made [No Mecha Unrepaired] rather flustered. He once again rubbed his head and said, "Actually, I was just thinking about those words Boss Lan had said to us when we had departed." Unconsciously, Chang Xinyuan had adopted the address of Boss Lan from Qi Long and the others.

 Chapter 323: Clearing a Hurdle!

    Chapter 323: Clearing a Hurdle!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "What are you saying?" Qi Long rubbed his face roughly, suddenly finding that for someone with an impetuous nature like him, dealing with someone with such a slow reflex arc like [No Mecha Unrepaired] was really a kind of torture.


    "Boss Lan said that, if by any chance we got split up, we should use pre-arranged aliases to find one another ..." replied Chang Xinyuan.


    "So you¡¯re saying that Boss Lan will use an alias? Impossible. If Boss Lan really managed to infiltrate the Swift Dragon base, he would definitely use an identity of one of the fallen soldiers, otherwise the other side will see through him." Qi Long was the first to express disbelief. An alias would be easily exposed once the other side checked their databases.


    "But you all said that Boss Lan is a powerful hacker. Couldn¡¯t he have changed the database?" Chang Xinyuan did not know much about hackers, so he just shared what he believed.


    "How could a database be so easily changed?" Qi Long could not help but burst out into snickers. Even the strongest hacker would never dare to do any hanky-panky in the mainframe.


    "No, perhaps [No Mecha Unrepaired] is right ..." said Han Jijyun, interrupting Qi Long.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s words instantly shut Qi Long up. When it came to his sworn brother¡¯s judgment, Qi Long had full faith. Therefore, he could only rub his nose helplessly and say nothing more.


    "Boss Lan¡¯s hacking skills are very formidable. I believe that anyone who knows about Boss Lan¡¯s ability knows this." Han Jijyun¡¯s words received emphatic nods from Qi Long and the other three of Ling Lan¡¯s original team. In contrast to Li Shiyu and Chang Xinyuan who only knew Ling Lan for a short time, the four of them who had grown up beside Ling Lan were well aware of Ling Lan¡¯s exploits in terms of hacking.


    "Thus, who can say that Boss Lan really can¡¯t change the database of themand mainship?" At this point, Han Jijyun¡¯s eyes were shining, "I believe that Boss Lan would have already predicted our current circumstances. He will definitely add the aliases we agreed to in advance into the database, along with all the other relevant info."


    "Once we¡¯re at the Swift Dragon base, if someone actuallyes to check our identity, we just need to report the fake identity that has been arranged for us," Han Jijyun stated his decision.


    "What if team leader Ling did not manage to change it in time ..." Li Shiyu, who was not very clear on Ling Lan¡¯s abilities, was still rather worried. He felt it was somewhat inappropriate to use this kind of gambling-like method.


    "Since there is the possibility of exposure no matter what we do, we might as well take the gamble. I believe in Boss Lan," replied Han Jijyun with determination.


    His words drew the agreement of Qi Long and the other three original members. Seeing the determination in their eyes, Li Shiyu could only tuck away his doubts, sigh, and consent. Chang Xinyuan had no objections. As a mechanic who was focused on researching and modifying mecha, as long as the team has made a final decision, he would not have any opposing opinions.


    Just like that, another day and half a nightter, at 3 o¡¯ clock in the morning, the patrol ship safely arrived at the Swift Dragon base.


    The Swift Dragon base, which had long been informed, systematically ced all the personnel from the mainship in arge battalion. Qi Long and the others entered the base calmly under the direction of the military personnel of the Swift Dragon Base.


    They only took a few casual nces at the situation around them and then they stopped looking around. But those few nces were enough to shock them, because there was an on-duty soldier every one hundred steps within the Swift Dragon base. It looked like the Swift Dragon base was extremely strict in terms of manning the defences.


    This was extremely rare among the Federation forces that were highly reliant on technology. It should be known that military bases generally relied on hidden monitors with three hundred and sixty degrees of coverage as the main means of monitoring, and rarely employed so much manpower for defence.


    Qi Long and the others appeared unchanged on the surface, but they already had their guards up mentally. It would definitely not be easy to find their boss andplete the final mission under such strict defence. They were well aware that under the close supervision of these people, there were still countless invisible electronic monitoring devices watching them. If they showed any little w, they would be uncovered by the surveince personnel of the Swift Dragon base, and the consequences would be unthinkable.


    Due to the impromptu arrangement, the base was unable to provide excellent amodation for the survivors of the mainship. Regardless of military rank, all of the survivors were assigned ten to a room. Of course, for those top-ranking officers like themander of the mainship, the conditions were not as bad.


    Qi Long¡¯s group of seven was assigned along with three other strangers to a room to rest. They had only rested for a few hours, not fully recovered yet, when they were woken up by a knock on the door. It turned out that the Swift Dragon base¡¯s support staff were already here to register their information.


    Qi Long and the others shared a look. Han Jijyun signalled for them to continue faking sleep. One of the other three in the room opened the door, muttering angrily, and Han Jijyun perked his ears to listen carefully to their conversation.


    Hearing that it was someone here to register their information, the attitude of the person who opened the door was tempered. He stated his information ¡ª the logistics head of the Leiguang mecha squad of the Jinglong mainship from the Dragon River transport fleet, Yang Yilong!


    After the support staff of the Swift Dragon base keyed in his information, he smiled and said with a salute, "Hello, Second Lieutenant Yang, I¡¯m really sorry for disturbing your rest."


    Only then did Han Jijyun open his eyes to peek at the other¡¯s epaulette. It turned out the other was just a corporal ¡ª no wonder his attitude became so respectful. The status of a support soldier on a base was obviously iparable to the status of a support staff on a military ship. This was also why all soldiers yearned to serve on a ship, because the starting point of those who obtained a position on a ship was much better than those serving on the ground.


    At this time, the other people in the room had all been awakened as well. They rubbed at their eyes, yawning. Seeing this, the support staff walked over the closest bed from the door. Chang Xinyuan was the one lying there and he was currently rubbing his eyes. Seeing the staff approach him, Chang Xinyuan¡¯s palms could not help but sweat, and the hand rubbing at his eyes faltered for a moment.


    Noticing this, Han Jijyun, who was lying one bed behind Chang Xinyuan, quickly yawned and said, "Why don¡¯t you register me first? The quicker I¡¯m done, the quicker I can rest."


    The support staff of the Swift Dragon base quickly stepped forward in response to approach Han Jijyun.


    "I¡¯m Ji Yinglong, mecha member #5 of the Cheetah mecha squad of the Jinglong mainship from the Dragon River transport fleet," Han Jijyun calmly stated the alias they had set up. The reason he had pretended to be asleep at first was so that one of the other three strangers would register first. That way, he would be able to know the name of that mainship. Though this was not any great secret among the official soldiers of the mainship, as outsiders, they really did not know that information. Besides, he also wanted to know what the standard format of responding was.


    With Yang Yilong¡¯s answer as a temte, Han Jijyun knew how he was supposed to answer.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s reply caused Yang Yilong from the same ship to do a double take. He stared in surprise at Han Jijyun, but out of propriety, he did not speak up to question the other. He too could not be certain whether his own mainship had such a mecha battle n with such an unfamiliar sounding name.


    After obtaining Han Jijyun¡¯s response, the support staff of the Swift Dragon base entered the information into the query system of the base. Then, he saluted and said, "First Lieutenant Ji, hello."


    Han Jijyun merely saluted back calmly, but he was mentally shouting ¡¯YES¡¯ in his heart. As expected, Boss Lan had modified the database. Otherwise, the other would not have responded this way. With that, he was even more certain that Boss Lan had survived the maic tsunami and had safely made his way to the Swift Dragon base.


    Seeing Han Jijyun pass through sessfully, the others¡¯ hearts settled. Moreover, Han Jijyun¡¯s answer also showed them what they should say.


    Li Shiyu and Chang Xinyuan saw that Han Jijyun really managed to pass through the registration check and could not help but be greatly astonished. They now had a brand new understanding of Ling Lan¡¯s hacker abilities.


    Chang Xinyuan had originally already been extremely admiring of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha control skills. Now, he was even more awed by Ling Lan¡¯s hacker abilities. He, who had originally held out very little hope for the oue of this mission, now began to have some confidence. Perhaps they would really be able toplete this SSS-level mission no one else had ever aplished before throughout history ... At this thought, Chang Xinyuan¡¯s heart pounded, but he very soon pushed down this notion.


    Chang Xinyuan smiled wryly to himself. Hanging out with Qi Long and these other youths who were like young calves unafraid of tigers, he had unconsciously begun to lose his rationality, actually beginning to also have such unrealistic thoughts ... but, what if, really, by any chance, they really ... Chang Xinyuan took in a deep breath and firmly pushed all these distracting thoughts to the back of his mind. He knew very well that their mission had just begun ¡ª the hardest parts were still yet toe.


    Meanwhile, this was the first time Li Shiyu was seeing Ling Lan in a positive light. That initially thick-skinned and shameless Ling Lan in his mind, who loved to manipte others with petty tricks, began to have a positive image. Sure enough, to be an acknowledged boss, he must have his unique charm and capabilities ...


    After checking the information of everyone in the room and determining that there was no problem, the Swift Dragon support staff left the room. At this time, Yang Yilong loudly asked Qi Long, "Captain Luo (Qi Long¡¯s alias was Luo Ying), who¡¯d expect that you¡¯re actually member #2 of the Cheetah mecha team. That¡¯s the position of the team ace, you know!"


    Typically, #1 was the team leader, #2 was the main ace of the team, #3 was the secondary ace, #4 was a primary fighter, while #5 and beyond were indefinite. Those numbers could be support and logistics members, or they could also be primary fighters. Although Yang Yilong felt that the name of the Cheetah mecha team sounded very unfamiliar, he still expressed his admiration for Qi Long¡¯s position.


    Qi Long scratched his head in embarrassment and said with a smile, "I¡¯m no ace, our team leader is ..."


    His earnest face and this smile made him appear somewhat dopey, but gave others a feeling of extreme sincerity and trustworthiness. Yang Yilong could not help but find himself liking Qi Long.


    Yang Yilong exchanged a few more words with Qi Long. When he heard that they still did not know whether their team leader and their #7 member was dead or alive, he was instantly filled with pity. Seeing this, Qi Long angrily said that he believed that his team leader still lived. This heartfelt disy of Qi Long¡¯s absolute trust made Yang Yilong admire Qi Long even more. That little bit of doubt initially still present in his heart vanished without a trace at this performance of Qi Long¡¯s.


    When Han Jijyun saw this, he let out a quiet sigh of relief. When he had responded earlier, he had already been worried that the unfamiliar name of the mecha team would arouse suspicion in the minds of the mainship¡¯s members. Luckily, Qi Long¡¯s appearance was very handy for deceiving others. At the very least, judging from Yang Yilong¡¯s present expression, he had not be suspicious of them.

 Chapter 324: The Truth!

    Chapter 324: The Truth!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    At this time, in another room, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng who had already finished registering were currentlyid out on their beds, resting.


    Not too long after, Ling Lan received a text message. She flicked open hermunicator to look and was instantly immensely excited. In the very next second, she had extremely impolitely kicked at Li Lanfeng on the upper bunk.


    Feeling the forceing from his mattress, Li Lanfeng sat up in puzzlement. Before he could ask Ling Lan on the bunk below what had happened, Ling Lan said, "There¡¯s news of #2 and the others. Clean up quickly and let¡¯s go look for them."


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes lit up. He put on a jacket and then leapt off the bed to follow Ling Lan heading towards where Qi Long was staying.


    The reason Ling Lan received this news so quickly was not because of Little Four¡¯s abilities. Of course, if Qi Long and the others¡¯ information were to be registered, Little Four, who was already lurking in thework of the Swift Dragon base, would definitely be able to obtain the news at soonest notice. However, in order to let everything seem natural and above-board, when she had registered herself, Ling Lan had generously bribed the support staff of the Swift Dragon base. Of course, she had also let Li Lanfeng utilise that natural ability of his to gain favour with others and intensify the other side¡¯s good impression of them, thus sessfully securing the other¡¯s agreement to help them.


    In reality, right when Qi Long and the others¡¯ information had been registered, Ling Lan had already been notified by Little Four. However, Ling Lan had kept calm and continued toy on her bed as if she knew nothing. Only when she received the notification from that support staff did she pretend to be excited and take action.


    Of course, the other was not breaking any rules of the base by helping them. After all, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng were just trying to find theirrades who had gotten split up from them ¡ª it¡¯s not like they were trying to inquire about the secrets of the base. Moreover, right now within the Swift Dragon base, Ling Lan was not the only person who was doing this. Many other soldiers who had been separated from their original teammates for various reasons had simrly put forward such requests. Ling Lan had only included an additional minor reward when she had made her request.


    This reward was very simple ¡ª it was just a bottle of high proof liquor Ling Lan had on her for first-aid purposes. Under Little Four¡¯s assistance, Ling Lan had found out that this person¡¯s hobby was to drink.


    As for why Ling Lan would have such high proof liquor on her ... ahem, ahem, this was actually a remnant habit Ling Lan had brought over from herst life lying on her sickbed. Having gotten used to the idea that alcohol should be used on wounds to sterilize them, she really could not adapt to this world where no prep work was done, with healing agents being directly sprayed or applied onto open wounds and leaving it at that.


    Mentally, Ling Lan had always had some fear with regards to this sort of treatment method. What if, by any chance, there was tetanus or something simr about? Wasn¡¯t this just asking for trouble? Therefore, she habitually carried several bottles of high-proof liquor with her in her backpack. If she was injured identally, she would open one of the bottles to use the alcohol in it to disinfect the wound before spraying healing agents on it ...


    With regards to this habit of Ling Lan¡¯s, although Qi Long and the others were puzzled by it, they would never question her. They only spected secretly whether this was because their boss liked alcohol but was forbidden by his parents to drink ... could this be why he had sought out such an unreasonable reason?


    It could only be said that some things were already ingrained habits of Ling Lan¡¯s. It was impossible for her to change them in a short period of time. Thus, without her knowledge, Ling Lan had be someone who liked to drink in her team members¡¯ eyes 1 .


    Back when Ling Lan had brought out the liquor and handed it over as an incentive for the support staff, even Li Lanfeng could not help but sweatdrop silently and wonder if Ling Lan was an alcohol-loving rabbit ¡ª why else would he think of using alcohol as a bribe?


    Still, for whatever reason, overall, Ling Lan¡¯s reward had pleased that support staff greatly. Consequently, the other was extremely cooperative, almost notifying them at first notice. This led Li Lanfeng to once again be in awe ¡ª the seemingly random and reckless actions of the rabbit always seemed to end up being extremely effective.


    The two of them very quickly found the resting spot of Qi Long and the others and knocked on the door.


    The one who opened the door was again Yang Yilong ¡ª who asked him to be the one sleeping on the bed closest to the door? Opening the door, he saw two strangers, so he asked, "Who are you looking for?"


    "Is Luo Ying andpany here?" asked Ling Lan coldly. That icy gaze of hers made Yang Yilong feel a chill invade his heart ¡ª he quickly ducked back into the room and shouted, "Captain Luo, someone¡¯s looking for you."


    Hearing this, Qi Long¡¯s eyes lit up and he leapt off his top bunk to rush over with wide steps to the door. Seeing his boss¡¯s familiar face, he was instantly overwhelmed with emotion, "Leader, you¡¯ve finallye!"


    Qi Long¡¯s cry of leader made the other members inside the room leap up in excitement, all of them running over as well.


    Yang Yilong was astonished at the sight, but thinking of the impression that person at the doorway had given him, he understood why these mecha team members would be so worked up. Only someone like that could gain the allegiance of proud mecha warriors. With just one nce, Yang Yilong could tell that that team leader was most definitely a formidable warrior. This was because he had felt a simr pressure from the team leader of the Leiguang Battle n.


    Seeing his other twopanions peeking out from their beds, nonverbally asking who the visitor was, Yang Yilong silently indicated for them to remain silent and continue to sleep and not disturb the group.


    A mecha team leader was an existence high, high above them mecha support staff ¡ª he did not want to incur the displeasure of that team leader.


    Qi Long and the others hugged Ling Lan excitedly in session, and only then did they see the familiar smiling face standing by Ling Lan¡¯s side. Other than [No Mecha Unrepaired], all the others could not help but be taken aback, especially Li Shiyu, whose face actually stiffened noticeably for a brief moment.


    Seeing this, Li Lanfeng smiled wryly and said, "#8, for previously nning to try and snatch your position in the team from you out of envy, I¡¯m sorry. The crisis this time has let me understand that status, levels, and whatever are all not important. What¡¯s most important is mypanions. I hope you can forgive me."


    Li Shiyu only huffed at those words and turned his head aside without speaking. He knew his own expression had been slightly off ¡ª if some surveince device had just happened to record it, a w might have already been discovered. Li Lanfeng was undoubtedly trying to help him hide his slip inposure, but he was just unused to acting and really did not know how to handle the situation.


    Seeing this, Xie Yi tugged on Li Shiyu¡¯s arm and said, "All of us being able to survive is already a blessing. Why bother with things of the past? Don¡¯t you agree, #8?"


    Li Shiyu saw everyone looking at him with smiles on their faces and could only reply grudgingly, "Forget it. Let¡¯s not talk about past matters anymore."


    Only then did Li Lanfeng sigh in relief. He stepped forward to pull Li Shiyu into a strong hug and said, "Thank you, brother, for your tolerance and understanding ..." Only Li Lanfeng knew that he was not just putting on an act when he said this ... he truly hoped that, one day in the future, Li Shiyu could say these same words back to him. However, Li Lanfeng also knew that this was probably an impossible dream.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan pped her hands together forcefully and said, "It¡¯s great that you two have buried the hatchet. In future, we must be united. We shouldn¡¯t fight amongst ourselves anymore." Ling Lan¡¯s words marked the end of the matter, and the group happily weed Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng into their room.


    Meanwhile, Li Lanfengtched onto Li Shiyu and the two of them moved to sit on Li Shiyu¡¯s bed, where they began whispering to one another. It looked like they had truly buried the hatchet.


    Only Li Lanfeng himself knew that despite his seemingposure, he was actually greatly shocked. When he had first seen Li Shiyu, as good as he was at deception, he had almost slipped up and reacted. That bloody Ling Lan had not given him a heads up that his family¡¯s Li Shiyu had also joined the battle n.


    Seeing Li Shiyu¡¯s face filled with innocence, Li Lanfeng could not help but sigh internally. What in the world did their Li family owe Ling Lan? Not only had he joined, even Li Shiyu who should not have been able to join had joined ... still, he could not help but be smug deep inside. As expected of his rabbit ¡ª able to do what others could not.


    If he had the rabbit¡¯s help in the future, would he too be able to escape his so-called fate ...? Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze flickered but very quickly settled as he tossed aside this idiotic notion of his. He absolutely could not harm the rabbit. To go against the heavens and change his fate, a terrible price would have to be paid. Grandfather Zhuge had already stated this very clearly from the start. And this price, could very well be his life.


    Although Li Lanfeng was physically speaking with Li Shiyu, his mind was distracted in recalling when he and Ling Lan had first seen each other¡¯s true faces in this virtual world not too long ago.


    When they had arrived at the Swift Dragon base, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng naturally had to leave their mecha. Of course, they had it much easier than Qi Long and the others because in the virtual world, both Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng were miraculous beings. Because she had Little Four, Ling Lan could easily change her original civilian mecha suit into an official military mecha suit. Meanwhile, Li Lanfeng was a spectre, and though he could not directly change the fixed settings of the virtual world, he could apply a disguise to himself. Thus, when the two hade out from their mecha, their appearance was wless, no different at all from the other mecha operators.


    However, when Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng had met face-to-face for the first time after getting out from their mecha, Li Lanfeng had almost stumbled and revealed his true feelings. If not for the fact that his spectre abilities also hid his expression, his bbergasted expression would certainly have aroused suspicion in those around him.


    In contrast, Ling Lan¡¯s ice mask had long been formed, so it did not copse even when she had seen Li Lanfeng.


    "Boss ...!" Li Lanfeng bit back on the ¡¯Lan¡¯ that had been about toe out, stopping his outburst at only ¡¯boss¡¯, making it seem like he was just greeting his own team leader.


    "#9, keep up." Ling Lan¡¯s cial gaze had contained a hidden warning. Although others may not be able to see Li Lanfeng¡¯s true expression, perhaps because she was way too familiar with the leopard, Ling Lan had still sensed Li Lanfeng¡¯s loss ofposure.


    This gaze made Li Lanfeng¡¯s initially shocked and restless heart cool down instantly. He bowed his head and cuffed his own forehead lightly, chiding himself for his slip. They had both not known about the other, but Ling Lan had still been able to keep calm. In terms of mentality, he hadpletely lost to the rabbit who was younger than him by three years. This made him feel somewhat embarrassed.


    Right then, Li Lanfeng was not at all surprised at why Ling Lan could have logged onto Mecha World at just 10 years old back then. As someone who was able to create a simr disguise as him now, Ling Lan was undoubtedly a spectre just like him. And for spectres in the virtual world, all those so-called restrictions and limits were all inapplicable. None of it could prevent them from moving about as they wished. Thus, for Ling Lan to be able to enter Mecha World at just 10 years old waspletely believable.


    That said, Li Lanfeng could not help but sigh to himself. At 10 years old, Ling Lan¡¯s spectre abilities had actually been strong enough that he had not noticed a thing. No wonder they had had such affinity back then ¡ª even if he had entered the mecha training hall first, the rabbit had still always been able toe unerringly to the training hall he had chosen. Now, thinking back, Ling Lan must have used his own spectre abilities to find where he was.


    Was this proof that the rabbit had held him with just as much esteem as he had back then? Which was why the other had used spectre abilities to look for his position and stage a coincidental meeting?


    Li Lanfeng felt a surge of warmth in his heart. It looked like his friendship had not been one-sided back then. If he had only told Ling Lan bravely about his real identity back then, perhaps they would be bosom friends now and he would not be ranked behind the otherpanions of the rabbit.


    Right then, a trace of regret rose up uncontrobly in Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart. However, it was quickly throttled by him, because he did not think it was toote to change things.


    In this manner, although Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart had struggled a little, he still epted Ling Lan. After all, Ling Lan was younger than him by 3 years, while the rabbit had always been a formidable existence in his heart, a strong person he admired. As such, it was exceedingly normal for him to flounder a little to reconcile the difference between the two impressions. Still, these were all minor blips. Li Lanfeng would never bear to give up the rabbit he had missed for so long and had spent 7 years to find.


    Meanwhile, when Ling Lan found out the true identity of the leopard, her first thought was ¡ª sure enough, the leopard was very dangerous. Her second thought was ¡ª the leopard was truly not a good person!


    Still, Ling Lan did not mind. As long as the leopard treated her with sincerity and did not harm herpanions, she would not care what terrible things the leopard would do in the future. She would still be willing to save a spot for the leopard in her battle n.


    Of course, at present, this was all the weight Li Lanfeng had in Ling Lan¡¯s heart. In contrast, if Qi Long and the others nned to do something bad, Ling Lan would definitely roll up her sleeves and pitch in toe up with strategies to help them.


    Fine, our queen Ling Lan indeed did not have any so-called true sense of justice in her. She only wanted to take good care of these little followers who trusted her and were willing to follow her, as well as cultivate them to be strong people capable of holding their own in their respective fields.

 Chapter 325: The Mantis Stalking the Cicada!

    Chapter 325: The Mantis Stalking the Cicada!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The survivors of the mainship obtained the chance to rest at the Swift Dragon base. Given that the Jinglong mainship had no way to travel long distances, they could only wait for the Federation army to send a new military vessel to pick them up.


    After resting peacefully for three days and two nights, when the new mainship members heard that a new military vessel was about to arrive for them in two days, they were ecstatic. Even though they had been treated pretty well overall in the Swift Dragon base, they had still felt significantly restrained. The mainship members had been restricted to a small living area; for many other ces on the base, they simply could not even get close. This made the fleet soldiers who were ustomed to being able to freely move around to feel extremely inconvenienced.


    On this night, in a highly-defended area within the Swift Dragon base, several figures appeared silently not too far from the entrance. They lurked at the blind spot in the distance ...


    "You¡¯re sure this is the spot?" Someone who appeared to be themanding officer gestured as he asked the person beside him.


    This group of people were wearing advanced inductionbat clothing of the Federation military, which could buffer the human body from the outside air and perfectly camouge the soldiers ording to their surrounding environment. Once the soldiersid down and stopped moving, it would be nigh impossible for even the most advanced radar detectors, thermal monitors, and the human eye to discover them.


    The only reason we say ¡¯nigh¡¯ is because there is nothing which can be guaranteed to be foolproof ¡ª there would always be the possibility of what if.


    "Only this spot is most closely defended." The person beside the apparentmander returned a confident hand gesture.


    "Have all the surveince devices been blocked?" Themander turned to look towards another side, his gaze indicating that he wanted to confirm whether his men hadpleted the most critical step.


    There were actually three people on his other side. One of them, who seemed to be their head, saw the question in themander¡¯s eyes and nodded, signalling that it had been done.


    It could be seen from their faces that it had not been easy toplete this step. Other than the one who had nodded, whose condition still seemed fine, the other two people had faint tracks of sweat on their foreheads and their faces were extremely grim. It looked like the two of them had already put forth all their energy topletely block off all the surveince equipment and create false images.


    "How long can itst?" After seeing the other¡¯s response, themander then asked in a low voice.


    "At most for only one hour and a quarter more. If possible, please try toe out within an hour," said the head grimly. He had not expected the defences of the Swift Dragon base to be so tight ¡ª in particr, there was an abnormal number of all kinds of advanced surveince equipment. This had exceeded their estimation. If they had known earlier, they would have brought along the other two members of their team as well.


    "One hour, is it? There should be enough time." Themander mused a little and felt that it was not a huge problem. Honestly, even if the problem was huge, he still had to go inside and investigate. Hadn¡¯t they already spent so much effort all for the sake of finding out what the hell was happening in the Swift Dragon base?


    "Hollow Ground, I¡¯ll leave this to you," said themander decisively to one of the others. His attitude was obviously much gentler than before with the others. In the virtual world, he truly did not dare to offend this Hollow Ground.


    This man was outwardly different from others. His entire figure was enveloped in shadow, while his face was aplete fog of grey, his facial features forever indistinct. This was the appearance spectres held in the virtual world. They would never reveal their true face because as spectres, everyone who was an enemy would be out to kill them. This was because almost two-thirds of one¡¯s life was spent in the virtual world in this present world, and spectres were the terrifying group of people who were the only ones to hold the ability to decide true life and death in the virtual world.


    Mind you, even the mainframes of the various great empires that maintained the entire virtual world were incapable of doing this.


    Therefore, all the nations both loved and hated spectres ¡ª they wished to control the spectres in their borders, while they were extremely worried and jealous about the spectres of other nations. Besides spectres, equally feared by the enemy nations were those prodigiously gifted aberrant geniuses. These people, as long as their real identity was found out, if they were opponents, they would be prioritised for assassination, just like how Ling Lan had been attacked back when she had been younger ...


    "Don¡¯t worry, no one can hurt them while I¡¯m around." Hollow Ground¡¯s reply was brimming with confidence in himself. As one of the top elites in the central military spectre department, he had this confidence as well as his personal pride.


    Themander frowned at those words. He knew spectres were, as a group, all strange and abnormal people. Known as death gods in the virtual world, they always had a sense of superiority as they looked down with contempt on the masses. However, since they were all Federation soldiers here, themander did not take it to heart. He waved a hand at the men behind him, and two figures dashed out, using various areas of cover to hide themselves as they silently snuck over to an area not too far from the entrance.


    At the entrance were two sentry soldiers facing outwards. Their eyes were alertly scanning everything before them ¡ª the two men who had snuck over just happened to position themselves in those sentries¡¯ blind spots, thus avoiding detection.


    When they were only about ten meters away from the sentries, the two lurking men pulled out their weapons, which appeared simr to pistols, and aimed them at the two men on guard. Aware versus unaware ¡ª two muffled shots rang out as a cold light shed at the muzzle of each pistol, and the two men on duty were hit urately.


    The two sentries had no chance to react at all, instantly falling over. It turned out that the men who had snuck over were using the highest level Federation silent tranquillizer gun. Even a rtively stronger C-ss demonbeast in this universe would topple over from the anaesthetic in three seconds after being shot by this gun, not to mention these on-duty soldiers who werepletely iparable to a C-ss demonbeast. As long as their skin had been scratched, they would be instantly down for the count.


    Seeing that they had seeded, the two men silently dashed over to the opponents¡¯ sides and held them up, and then swiftly gripped their heads and twisted forcefully. There was a crack, and the necks of those sentries were broken with no fuss at all. The two men then carefullyid their two victims down on the ground, and without making any noise, they turned their head to signal behind them with a wave.


    Themander nodded at Hollow Ground and the other two men with him, then led the others to move stealthily over. Meanwhile, the one who had answered themander earlier, the head of the three men, followed themander as well.


    To enter, they had to go through an electronic door. This had to be cracked by a hacker, which was why the head had followed. That person¡¯s skill level was very high; he only took a few seconds to crack the electronic door. The door opened silently ¡ª the inside was extremely dark, but these people all had night vision goggles so their eyesight was not affected much by it.


    A warehouse came into sight. Inside it were stacks of military supplies. It looked like the other countless warehouses on the base, extremely normal. However, these people would not be discouraged just because of this surface appearance. They had specifically chosen this ce because neither hackers nor spectres could see this area clearly, unlike other ces where things could be taken in with one nce.


    Themander made a hand gesture beckoning his men in and they all entered in session. Everyone began to search the warehouse, hoping to find anything suspicious.


    About five minutester, one of their members suddenly waved to the others. It looked like he had found something. Themander immediately led the hacker with them over to the man and began to carefully examine what the other had discovered.


    The hacker touched the spot, closed his eyes, and began to examine it with his senses. Very soon, he opened his eyes and nodded to themander, confirming that this was the right spot.


    Themander waved his hand and everyone took cover, hiding in a circle around the hacker. Seeing that everyone had taken cover, the hacker took three brisk steps back, took in a deep breath, and closed his eyes as his hands made various different gestures. He murmured, and then a soft click could be heard ¡ª the ground silently opened up, exposing a dark hole only capable of letting one person through at a time.


    Themander looked at the hacker, and the hacker shook his head firmly, indicating that there was no perceptible movement below. Only then did themander signal for his subordinates to scout the way.


    After the first man went down the hole, the hacker¡¯s face became serious. Three minutester, he nodded to themander. This was to tell him that there was no problem below.


    Themander motioned for everyone to go down. Once thest person went down, the ground once again returned to normal. It was as if the ck hole did not exist, while the electronic door they had initially entered through closed again.


    In the meantime, of the three men left at the doorway, two of them had simted the uniforms of those officers on duty and taken up the sentries¡¯ spots at the door. It was just as if nothing major had happened here. And as the one protecting this area, Hollow Ground suddenly merged with the darkness, as if he had never been there at all.


    ********


    Right then, in a secret room in the control centre of the Swift Dragon base, eight ck-robed people had their eyes closed. D1 and D9 who had appeared at the start were among them, while the remaining six people appeared almost no different from them.


    "These tiny ants finally could not resist taking action." D9 suddenly opened his eyes and smiled sinisterly. He cracked his fingers, rather eager to indulge in a grand fight. After waiting for two days, this group of investigators sent by the Federation mainframe had finally shown themselves.


    In fact, the moment themand mainship had arrived at the Swift Dragon base, they had already been monitoring everyone from that ship and set aside a few key suspects. For this purpose, they had not hesitated to transfer several top-ss spectres over from their own country. They had to be sure they could keep these people here.


    They definitely could not allow the Federation to reim this sole foothold in the Federation which had taken them so much trouble to obtain. Moreover, their Project T was at its most critical period now ¡ª they could not afford the slightest bit of carelessness.


    As long as Project T seeded, the Chinese Federation would descend into chaos, and they would then be able to take advantage to take over the most central and resource-rich supreme nation in their gxy. In order to achieve this objective, their empire had spent countless generations worth of sweat and blood to onlyplete the early stage preparations of Project T ...


    "Who¡¯d have expected the other side to send so many people too. Tsk tsk tsk, three top hackers plus a top-ss spectre ... we¡¯ve managed to bait some big fish here." D1 was looking at those people sneaking up to that basement room where they had set up a trap. Right then, those people were slowly approaching ¡ª although they were extremely cautious, they had no idea that their every move was already being captured byprehensive surveince.


    "Keep a close eye on those other suspects." Seeing everyone bing excited, D1 could not help but warn coldly. He did not wish for them to seed here only to result in their most essential secret base being discovered, thus causing them to fall short of sess at this final stage.

 Chapter 326: The Oriole Comes From Behind!

    Chapter 326: The Oriole Comes From Behind!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Rest assured. D1, D2, and D3 are stationed there. If anything happens, they will inform us," a ck-robed person by D1¡¯s side calmly replied, "Moreover, two of our empire¡¯s top spectres are there looking out. Even if someone really reaches that area, the spectres can also eliminate them directly."


    "We¡¯ve already fished out the biggest fish, and I¡¯m sure the others don¡¯t have the ability to get there," another ck-robed man added.


    "Yes, D1, don¡¯t worry too much. You had better think about how we can handle these big fish instead. Say, it¡¯s been a long time since we hunted and killed any spectres of the Chinese Federation," said another ck-robed man with a dark smile.


    "D10 speaks truly. D1, let¡¯s show them some of our methods. Together, we can definitely toy with those few hackers until their heads spin." A ck-robed man began to cackle coldly in a corner. He was very interested in the prospect of messing with those top-ss hackers of the Chinese Federation.


    ********


    Meanwhile on the other side, Qi Long and the others, who had already fallen asleep, suddenly felt theirmunicators begin to vibrate. They leapt up and quickly put on their pre-prepared nightbat clothing. Not long after, they could see the doors of their living quarters swing open automatically. Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng were standing outside the door, fully armed.


    "Boss, we are ready," said Qi Long in a low voice.


    "They wouldn¡¯t wake up suddenly, right?" [No Mecha Unrepaired], a.k.a. Chang Xinyuan, pointed at the three NPC soldiers sleeping soundly inside the room and asked worriedly.


    "No, I¡¯ve already arranged it so that no one in this room will wake up until dawn. Even if they wake up, they will still think you all are sleeping in the room." Seeing Chang Xinyuan¡¯s concern, Ling Lan patiently exined. With the heaven-defying god of the virtual world Little Four around, Ling Lan truly wasn¡¯t at all worried that these NPCs would discover any ws.


    Ling Lan carefully scanned her team members and then said softly, "The operation this time is very dangerous and there may even be a risk to your life. It¡¯s not toote to back out now." Li Shiyu and Chang Xinyuan were members who had joined the n partway through after all ¡ª Ling Lan did not want to force them to brave danger against their will with the rest of her team.


    When she mentioned the risk to their lives, everyone was startled, but Qi Long and the others of the original team quickly regained theirposure. They had been braving life and death with Ling Lan since they were small, so they were not at all afraid of this. In contrast, a trace of confusion crossed Li Shiyu¡¯s and Chang Xinyuan¡¯s eyes. They did not know what Ling Lan meant when she spoke of this risk to their lives, because in the virtual world, even if they died, they would not really die. At most, their current avatar would just have to start anew and some of their time would be wasted.


    Only Li Lanfeng¡¯s countenance shifted subtly at these words. He had thought of something, and the gaze he directed at Ling Lan grew even more shadowed and firm.


    Everyone was silent. Although Li Shiyu was obsessed with military medical research, as intelligent as he was, he knew that these words of Ling Lan had actually been directed at him and Chang Xinyuan. Thus, he replied firmly, "Since I have decided to join the Lingtian Battle n, that means I am willing to brave life and death together with the Lingtian Battle n, both now and in the future."


    This response of Li Shiyu¡¯s had a double meaning ¡ª Ling Lan raised a brow in astonishment, pleasant surprise shing through her eyes. The other implication of Li Shiyu¡¯s words was that, even in the real world, he would still make the same choice.


    Chang Xinyuan nodded fiercely at Li Shiyu¡¯s response, indicating that he too felt the same way. Those who liked to tinker with mechanical research did not have such convoluted ways of thinking ¡ª he was not aware of the double meaning of Li Shiyu¡¯s words. He only felt that, since he had alreadye to do this mission, of course he would follow it through till the end. Besides, he also was not someone who would run away when the going got tough, otherwise he would not have stubbornly resisted against the Thunder King for as long as three years.


    "In that case, let¡¯s move." Seeing this, Ling Lan turned decisively and was the first to step into the heavy darkness of the night.


    Seeing this, the team members all silently followed suit and stepped out with determination. At this moment, they did not know that this step would bring them into a reign of carnage and bloodshed 1 as they followed their team leader through life and death situations, all the way till the very day their lives ended.


    As soon as they left the room, the door closed quietly behind them. Meanwhile, the three NPCs remained fast asleep ...


    Ling Lan was making her way towards the west corner of the base. In the daytime, this was where therge canteen the soldiers ate at was located. Whenever it was time for a meal, that area would be filled with human cacophony, but when night came, other than the warehouse area, it was the quietest spot in the base. No one would go there typically. No one knew that beneath therge canteen, there was actually a small secret base.


    No one was on duty to patrol the canteen, but Ling Lan had been alerted by Little Four that there were at least three top-ss hackers controlling countless surveince devices, both openly and covertly, to nket-scan 2 the surrounding area. In other words, even if an ant were to crawl by, those hackers would be able to spot it clearly.


    This way of doing things meant that almost no one would be able to slip by under their watch. Only if a top-ss hacker came and ripped the control of the surveince devices here from their hands would anyone be able to enter the area sessfully. But that way, they would definitely be discovered instantly. This was one of the reasons why D1 believed that their control of the area was foolproof.


    However, they could never imagine that there would be such a magical existence as Little Four in the world. He somehow managed to sessfully manipte things right under the noses of these three top-ss hackers, making it so that false images were sent to these hackers, tricking them into believing that everything in the area was normal.


    Ling Lan came to therge canteen and patiently waited for Little Four to respond. One minuteter, Little Four raised a ¡¯V¡¯ hand gesture high up into the air, butt wriggling wildly in exhration, and Ling Lan knew that Little Four had seeded.


    In her mindspace, Ling Lan instantly sent the smug Little Four flying with a flick of her finger. In order to prevent Little Four from making unnecessary mistakes out of pride, Ling Lan ruthlessly decided to crack down on such behaviour so that Little Four would never learn to becent.


    Ling Lan signalled for her team members behind her to keep up as she strode up the doors of therge canteen without any sort of concealment. The rest could not help but take fright ¡ª was it really okay to just strut up like that directly?


    Li Lanfeng looked at the unusually slender figure before him who walked with such sure steps and felt aplex mix of emotions stir in his heart. Compared to the others who knew very little about hacker abilities, Li Lanfeng was well aware that Ling Lan could be so bold because she had already taken control of all the surveince devices here. Able to aplish this in such a short amount of time, Ling Lan¡¯s hacker abilities were definitely no lower than imperial level.


    He thought of the rumoured imperial level hacker involved in that Tianji Mecha n Headquarters explosion incident ... that had most likely been Ling Lan himself. The stronger the rabbit was, the happier he should be, but there was a sense of danger in his heart that was growing thicker and thicker. It was as if the person he was chasing so desperately was getting further and further away from him.


    He definitely could not let the rabbit leave him behind! Li Lanfeng secretly gritted his teeth. In the past, he had been concerned over his body¡¯s condition, so he had always restrained himself somewhat while training his mecha control skills. Despite being pressured greatly by the Thunder King, he still had not changed his ways to recklessly increase his practice load.


    Li Lanfeng had always known what he should do; he would not easily change his n. But now, he had the urgent desire to be stronger. He felt that if he continued to dither around like this, there would eventually be a day when he would not be able to keep up with the rabbit¡¯s pace. The rabbit was very likely to get further and further away from him, and in the end, he would only be able to regretfully be a passing guest in the rabbit¡¯s life.


    He, Li Lanfeng, absolutely would not ept bing such a passing guest. No matter how important a passing guest he would be, he was disdainful of the very idea. This was because he wanted to have a longsting friendship with the rabbit, until both their heads were grey with old age. He hoped that at that time, they would still be able to drink wine together and reminisce,ughing together at the ups and downs they had shared up till then.


    This was a deep desire that had been born from the regrets of Li Lanfeng¡¯s heartache when he had lost touch with the rabbit back when he had been 13 years old. Now, seven yearster, God had given him the opportunity to re-establish this friendship, and he did not want to lose it again.


    The door was soon opened, and Ling Lan led her team members straight into the canteen. The entrance to the secret base was in the canteen¡¯s kitchte. The kitchte only served the highestmander of the base; even the chef was a close confidante of themander. In order to ensure the safety of themander¡¯s food and drink, unauthorised people were not allowed to enter the kitchte. This also worked well to protect the secrecy and security of the secret base.


    Ling Lan moved towards the kitchte like she was extremely familiar with the area. With regards to this, Qi Long and the others were already as used to it as they could be ¡ª they believed that all of this was merely due to Ling Lan¡¯s hacker abilities. Only Li Lanfeng lifted a curious brow. This was because he knew that hackers did not have the ability to locate an entrance instantaneously, nor did they have the ability to sense secrets remotely. Spectres too had some limits to their abilities ¡ª they could only use them at close range.


    Li Lanfeng did not know about the existence of Little Four. As an intelligence entity, Little Four was not bound by these restrictions of hackers and spectres, which led to Little Four¡¯s status as a one of a kind existence within the virtual world. Just imagine if all the hackers and spectres had the abilities Little Four did. If that was the case, this virtual world would truly be an utter mess.


    They had just entered the kitchte when the position of the head chef¡¯s station opened up to reveal an opening. Ling Lan jumped in without dy, for Little Four had already disyed the situation below into Ling Lan¡¯s mind in 3D.


    The opening and the ground below was about 20 metres apart. Ling Lan had no problems jumping this small bit of distance. With their boss as an exemr, Qi Long and the others leapt in without any hesitation. Li Shiyu thought about it then jumped in resolutely, while Chang Xinyuan hesitated briefly before jumping in. Meanwhile, Li Lanfeng wasst in line because as a spectre, he needed to constantly monitor the situation behind the group to ensure the safety of their rear end and see to it that they were not being followed.


    Although this action of Li Lanfeng was rather superfluous as Little Four already had everything in the several kilometres around them under his control. If anything stirred, Little Four would know immediately. Still, Ling Lan would not reveal this truth. For one, she needed to give Li Lanfeng a chance to perform so that he could integrate himself quicker into the team. On the other hand, there were some things that still needed to be covered up. After all, the existence of Little Four was just too bizarre ¡ª even if she were to admit it honestly, she still would not be able to properly exin the existence of Little Four. Therefore, she might as well tacitly ept this behaviour of Li Lanfeng, as well as let Qi Long and others be d for the addition of Li Lanfeng to their team. With an additional hacker in the team, their safety would be much better guaranteed.


    Without knowing it, Li Lanfeng was slowly being integrated into Ling Lan¡¯s team. Qi Long and the others were more or less beginning to realise the importance of having Li Lanfeng in the team. They no longer solely took Li Lanfeng as a temporary fighter (a temporary fighter¡¯s position was the lowest in a n, because they were receable at any time) but considered him as a true member of the n now.

 Chapter 327: Spiritual Share!

    Chapter 327: Spiritual Share!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    After walking for about a minute, Ling Lan suddenly stopped and motioned to indicate that there was someone ahead of them. The others who had be somewhat rxed due to the daring behaviour of Ling Lan were immediately cautious and alert.


    After some thought, Ling Lan decided to expose her abilities a little. Thus, she let out her spiritual power, spreading them out into eight feelers, and began to connect them to the spiritual power of Qi Long and the others.


    The spiritual power of those who had already awakened their innate talents was higher than those who had yet to awaken their innate talents, and Qi Long and the others of her original team already had some of Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power in their minds, so her spiritual power connected with theirs very easily. Meanwhile, [No Mecha Unrepaired] and Li Shiyu had awakened support innate talents and so did not have much attack power. Hence, even though Ling Lan had to spend a little more time, she still managed to connect with their spiritual power in the end.


    Only when she made contact with Li Lanfeng, her spiritual power was instantly consumed by the spectre power Li Lanfeng had ced around him earlier on as defence. Luckily, Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power level was extremely high and she had deep reserves, so she had not been harmed much even though some of her spiritual power was consumed. That said, suddenlycking a corner in her initially brimming spiritual power still made Ling Lan feel some difort. She frowned slightly, then swiftly circted her spiritual power to instantly refill the spiritual power that had been consumed.


    Ling Lan may not have been bothered much by the incident, but Li Lanfeng was instantly pale with shock and fear. He was well aware what his own power was ¡ª it was not typical hacker abilities like he had told Ling Lan but horrifying spectre power. The intrinsic nature of spectre powers was to consume and obliterate ¡ª if Ling Lan were to receive any longsting damage from this incident, Li Lanfeng would truly regret it for life.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart was filled with overwhelming regret. Perhaps he should have been honest from the start about what his true abilities were. That way, Ling Lan would not have rashly reached out and tried to connect with his spiritual power.


    "Rabbit, are you all right?" In his worry, Li Lanfeng forgot the warning from Ling Lan and called her by his usual address for her.


    Rabbit? This unusual address made the ears of all the others perk up high. Qi Long and the others shared a quick knowing nce. As expected, their boss was that rabbit mecha which had caused such a sensation back in the newbie area.


    In contrast, Li Shiyu and Chang Xinyuan were extremely confused. They really could not rte such a cute and harmless creature like a rabbit with Ling Lan.


    "I¡¯m fine!" Ling Lan, who had been at the head of the team, was instantly right at the back with Li Lanfeng. She pressed her index finger to Li Lanfeng¡¯s lips, her gaze sharp and cold in warning to Li Lanfeng to keep quiet. There were soldiers guarding the exit ahead and she was unsure whether they were NPCs or real people. If they were NPCs, Little Four could cover up everything that was happening here, but if they were real people, there was no way to guarantee 100% safety, so Ling Lan did not dare to be careless.


    Feeling the warmth of Ling Lan¡¯s finger on his lips, Li Lanfeng seemed to be shocked stiff. He could only stare dumbly at the cold face that had suddenly appeared in front of him and remain motionless.


    "Release your defence and make it easier for me to connect with your spiritual power." Ling Lan¡¯s voice rang out by Li Lanfeng¡¯s ear. The warmth of her breath caused Li Lanfeng¡¯s ears to slowly turn red, until it was actually bright crimson in the end.


    After alerting Li Lanfeng, Ling Lan extended a new cord of spiritual power once more to attempt to connect with Li Lanfeng¡¯s spiritual power. Meanwhile, pre-warned now, Li Lanfeng tried his best to restrain his active spectre power, which finally allowed Ling Lan to connect sessfully to his spiritual power.


    Soon, the situation behind the tunnel was faithfully reflected in the minds of everyone on the team. This was the exclusive special move of the Divine Command sect ¡ª¡ª Spiritual Share! Ling Xiao¡¯s battle n had been able to able to prevail for so longrgely because Ling Xiao had this ability too.


    After sessfully connecting to Li Lanfeng¡¯s spiritual power, Ling Lan used her spiritual power tomand, "Qi Long, Luo Lang, both of you move."


    Receiving their orders, Qi Long and Luo Lang immediately split from the group. Due to the Spiritual Share, they knew there were only two sentry guards beyond the tunnel and were also aware of the guards¡¯ every move. They controlled their steps to not make a sound and swiftly moved to the front of the tunnel toy down in ambush. They would wait to attack at the most appropriate time.


    Everyone¡¯s attention was on Qi Long and Luo Lang, so they did not notice Li Lanfeng at the rear silently holding his chest, as if trying to calm something.


    At the moment that Ling Lan had been close to him, Li Lanfeng, who had seen Ling Lan¡¯s face at close-range, suddenly noticed that the rabbit was actually very good-looking ... heaven knows whether it was out of fright or due to surprise, but Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart had actually pounded violently during that short moment, and his entire body temperature had risen by several degrees ...


    However, Li Lanfeng¡¯s self-control was excellent; he regained hisposure after just a few seconds. Just then, Qi Long and Luo Lang, who had long saved up their strength, caught the instant the two soldiers took their eyes off the mouth of the tunnel and charged out. Like two cheetahs that had been waiting to pounce, they abruptlyunched their attacks at their prey.


    The two of them used their left hands to press on their opponents¡¯ chests, and with their right hand, they plunged a miniature syringe at the necks of their opponents.


    The miniature syringes had been prepared by Li Shiyu, and the high-effect anaesthetic inside the syringes was also courtesy of Li Shiyu. But the conversion of amon syringe into an attack, a potentially lethal weapon at that, was indeed at the orders of Ling Lan. Ever since Li Shiyu had joined the team, Ling Lan had never even considered just letting Li Shiyu simply be a medical doctor. Instead, she made full use of Li Shiyu¡¯s medical knowledge and tasked Li Shiyu to develop all kinds of medical weapons that could increase thebat power of the team. For example, this miniature tranquillizer syringe which was simple to use and carry around.


    At the moment these two soldiers were pierced in the neck, their final oue was already decided. The anaesthetic that Li Shiyu specially developed was even stronger than those used in the tranquillizer guns of the military. Initially, Qi Long and Luo Lang had been fully prepared to cope with the opponents¡¯ desperate counterattacks ¡ª but unexpectedly, the moment the syringes pierced the opponents, the tense muscles of the other party suddenly ckened, and their opponents were unconscious right after that.


    Qi Long and Luo Lang carefully ced the two men to one side of the door, while the rest of the team, who had seen them seed via their mind-link, walked out from the tunnel. When Qi Long saw Li Shiyue out, a greedy expression appeared on his face. Inside their shared mindspace, he requested, "Senior Shiyu, this miniature tranquillizer syringe you¡¯ve created is really too useful! Prepare a few more for us next time, okay?"


    Powerfully potent, able to take the enemy down instantly, and small enough to carry around inrge quantities ¡ª these syringes would also be effective as hidden weapons. Qi Long was naturally greedy for this type of useful weapon that could be used from the shadows. Sadly, the anaesthetic in the miniature syringes could only be used once. To use them again, they would need to be refilled with anaesthetic. Moreover, Li Shiyu was rather reluctant to make these things, so each member of the team only had three miniature syringes. After those three were used up, they would have to see when Li Shiyu¡¯s mood was good enough that he would be willing to help refill them ... the soporific was controlled by Li Shiyu, so if he did not want to do it, no one could do anything about it.


    At Qi Long¡¯s request, Li Shiyu¡¯s fair face turned dark. D*mmit, he was a military doctor, a life-saving angel ¡ª not a devil who specialized in making these sorts of harmful weapons ...


    "Yes, Senior Shiyu, with your tranquillizer weapons, we won¡¯t need to kill others." Ling Lan lightly kicked the two unconscious soldiers lying on the ground. "You¡¯ve allowed us to avoid staining ourselves with this sin. I really don¡¯t know how we should thank you." Ling Lan was spouting these words of gratitude, but the gaze she directed at Li Shiyu was endlessly cold. It seemed to tell Li Shiyu that it was fine even if he did not want to make more ¡ª at most, these youths in their team would just have tomit sin much earlier and stain their hands with blood.


    Li Shiyu bit on his lip and looked at this bunch of innocent youths before him with hope shining from their eyes. His heart softened once more and he replied, "Understood. When I have time, I¡¯ll make more for you all. You can juste find me to refill them when you run out."


    Alright, Ling Lan hadpletely grasped the weakness of Li Shiyu¡¯s heart. Li Shiyu truly did not have the heart to let these junior brothers who had just joined the first grade to be exposed so early to killing and sin. This would ce great mental and spiritual guilt and pressure on them, which may lead them to be terrified and suffer from sleepless nights.


    Li Shiyu would never forget those few cases he had seen in the Military Medical Research Centre. Those cases had all been newbies freshly back from a battlefield. Unable to shake off the guilt they felt after their first kill, they had fallen into severe depression and some even disyed suicidal tendencies ...


    If only Li Shiyu had known that these first-year youths that were so pure and innocent in his eyes had already participated in a civilian expedition team and been exposed to killing long before joining the academy, he would certainly regret his decision. These youths had already been stained with blood, and their hearts had already be exceedingly strong and ruthless from their experience. It should be said that Li Shiyu was like a pure and kind-hearted rabbit. For the sakes of what appeared to be a group of rabbits in his eyes but who were actually wolves in rabbits¡¯ skins, he was altering his baseline again and again, repeatedly subverting his original three outlooks. Unconsciously, he was going down the path of evolving into a ck rabbit ...


    Li Lanfeng saw that Li Shiyu had once again chosen to concede, and he knew that this cute and pure younger cousin of his was almost gone. He had mixed feelings about this realisation, unsure what he should say. In the end, he could only sigh ...


    Li Shiyu¡¯s reply made Qi Long and the others yell out in excitement within their mindspace. Li Shiyu, who had initially felt a bit down forpromising his principles, found his gloomy mood lifting at the sight of his happy juniors.


    With her back to them, Ling Lan, who seemed to be studying the door before them, found the corners of her lips quirking up subtly. How is this Dux Li so easy to deceive? As someone from the same Li family, the leopard was obviously much more ck-bellied ...


    Little Four did not open the door, merely transmitting the situation behind the door faithfully into Ling Lan¡¯s mind. Of course, Ling Lan shared this information as soon as she could with the rest of her teammates, and the initially excited group instantly became sombre again, knowing that this would be a difficult hurdle. Because behind the door were another two soldiers staring intently at the door from about 10 metres away. The moment they opened the door, they would be discovered. And the distance of 10 metres was enough for the soldiers to react and sound the rm before the quickest attack of the team could reach them.


    "Boss, what should we do?" Everyone looked towards Ling Lan and waited for her instructions.


    If this were the real world, Ling Lan could have used a spiritual attack to knock down the opponents. But here in the virtual world, this killer move of hers is restricted. Just as Ling Lan was pondering how she could handle this perfectly, Li Lanfeng proposed, "Boss Lan and I are both hackers so we can apply some disguises." He pointed to the two soldiers who were lying unconscious and continued to say, "Two people from the team can pretend to be the guard soldiers standing at the door, while Boss Lan and I impersonate people from the base and go in. I think they will not doubt us right away, and as long as we can get close to them, Boss Lan and I will have the opportunity to take them out before they sound the rm."

 Chapter 328: Spectre!

    Chapter 328: Spectre!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s suggestion put a shine in the eyes of everyone on the team. Han Jijyun cast a searching look at Li Lanfeng, once again feeling that invisible pressure the other gave him.


    Ling Lan immediately gave her stamp of approval to Li Lanfeng¡¯s method. Qi Long and Xie Yi were the two brawniest people on the team and thus had the most soldier-like builds. The two of them quickly changed into the uniforms of the two soldiers and separated to stand on both sides of the gate. Other than Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng, the others all ducked into the tunnel again to hide with the twoatose soldiers.


    Under everyone¡¯s gaze, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng¡¯s initially ckbat uniforms slowly changed to look like the uniform of the soldiers on the base, exactly like the uniforms Qi Long and Xie Yi had put on. The only difference was their epaulettes ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s choice was a major¡¯s epaulette, while Li Lanfeng wisely chose to be a senior captain. He stood respectfully half a step behind Ling Lan.


    This move made Ling Lan¡¯s team¡¯s impression of Li Lanfeng rise once more. It should be said that Li Lanfeng was consistently building on his favourability rating among Ling Lan¡¯s team members, and he was achieving his goal handily.


    When everything was ready, Ling Lan instructed Little Four to open the door. After the doors opened, Ling Lan proudly strutted through the doorway, while Li Lanfeng followed behind her solemnly and respectfully.


    Meanwhile, Qi Long and Xie Yi were standing straight on both sides of the door with their backs to it. They both executed an exemry military salute at the same time, only putting their hands down again after Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng had passed by. All of it looked exceedingly normal.


    The two soldiers on the other side of the door were taken aback by the sudden opening of the door and the two officers who had randomly walked through. They shared a doubtful nce because they had not received any news from above that someone would enter the secret base at this time.


    However, the salutes and respectful behaviour of the two sentry guards at the door made these two soldiers afraid to judge rashly. Perhaps there had been some emergency so those above had not had time to inform them. Still, carrying out their duty as guards, one of the men yelled out, "Password!"


    Li Lanfeng had already walked through the doors with Ling Lan at this time. When he heard the soldiers ask for a password, his heart skipped a beat and his steps slowed involuntarily. Only Ling Lan¡¯s pace remained steady. As if not at all affected by the other side asking for a password, she continued to walk forwards confidently, even raising her head to look at the two men before her with an extremely cold gaze.


    "Hn, well done," Ling Lan finally spoke up, praising the two soldiers lightly. This made the two men frown, and as Ling Lan took one more step forward, the faces of the two men were about to change drastically when she continued to say, "The password ..."


    Hearing the mention of the password, the tense expressions of the two men eased for a moment, and it was at this precise moment that Ling Lan pounced forwards like a cheetah with her entire body, instantlying right up to the two men.


    She opened her hands wide and flicked them forcefully. Two gleams of cold light shed through the air, and then with a shake and a clench of both her arms, two almost invisible thin ropes flew out from her wrists to instantly loop around the hands of the two soldiers. With a forceful tug, the men were dragged away from their initial position.


    Ling Lan¡¯s attack had seemedplicated, but it had beenpleted in an instant. The attack hade too suddenly ¡ª those two men did not have any time to react and were pulled right into the air. Ling Lan¡¯s hands pulled downwards, and the two men who had been about to collide with one another in the air abruptly changed directions to fall towards the ground. With a quick dash, Ling Lan was below them, and she caught the two men securely.


    By this time, the two men were already long unconscious. Ling Lan quietly set them down on the floor.


    Only then did Li Lanfeng reach Ling Lan¡¯s side. Seeing how much Ling Lan¡¯s speed and mobility surpassed his, Li Lanfeng felt a deep sense of frustration. Whether it be in terms of mecha controls or physical skills, he was considerably worse than the rabbit. It looked like, for him to achieve his dream of fighting by the rabbit¡¯s side, he would need to work much harder.


    "Just now you had obviously already hit them with the tranquillizer needles. Why did you still pull them out of their positions?" Even though Li Lanfeng¡¯s speed was no match for Ling Lan¡¯s, his vision was excellent. He had managed to see all of Ling Lan¡¯s moves in their entirety during that instant.


    Ling Lan did not reply, only motioning for Li Lanfeng to go check out the area where the two men had been standing. Li Lanfeng walked over suspiciously, but when he bent down to take a closer look, his expression changed. It turned out that the rm activation device was right where the two men had been standing.


    Though the two men had seemed to be standing firmly at their posts, in fact, they had each only been standing with one foot t on the ground. The ankle of their other foot was in the air. In other words, their weight was only on the first half of their foot, while their ankle was held off the ground. The moment they noticed anything odd, they need only step down fully and their ankle would trigger the rm instantly.


    This kind of setup was extremely covert and not easily discovered. It could even guarantee that even if the sentry guards did not react in time and were killed, without the conscious thought to keep their ankles up, the guards¡¯ feet would certainly step down as their bodies lost bnce. The rm would still be sessfully triggered.


    Seeing Li Lanfeng return with a face full of bted fear, Ling Lan silently swiped the cold sweat from her forehead. Frankly, she too had not known the rm was set up in such a way beforehand. If Little Four had not discovered it and alerted her in time right before she attacked, Ling Lan would definitely have fallen for the trap. Even if she managed to kill these two people, they still would not have been able to avoid triggering the rm. In the end, they would have been forced to run away and return empty-handed.


    Seeing that Ling Lan had sessfully defeated the two guards inside, Qi Long and the others hurried over. When they saw how the rm here was set up to be triggered, they too were struck with sympathetic fear, eximing that this setup was truly too insane. On the other hand, Chang Xinyuan was extremely interested in the setup. Heid right down on the ground to examine it closely, muttering to himself, as if calcting something.


    They did not linger for long. Despite Chang Xinyuan¡¯s reluctant gaze, Ling Lan led her team to continue moving deeper into the base. This particr hurdle had indeed been rather challenging, but after that, things became much easier. Perhaps the senior officer of the secret base ced a lot of trust in this rm setup of theirs, for the following few checkpoints were not as crazy andplicated. Ling Lan¡¯s team smoothly made their way to the centre of the base.


    Ling Lan led her team members to this area and then stopped moving, because if they moved any further, they would enter the range of the spectres¡¯ monitoring. Little Four had long reported to Ling Lan that there were two spectres overseeing the area. The moment they entered within the spectres¡¯ range of detection, they would be ruthlessly attacked and obliterated. Moreover, at this time, Ling Lan had no idea how she could exin to her team members how she had known there were spectres here.


    Only spectres could sense another spectre ¡ª as for who sensed who first, that would depend on whose spectre abilities were stronger. Furthermore, hacker abilities and spectre abilities were two diametrically opposite abilities 1 , which made it almost impossible for both to awaken in the same person at the same time. Even if there was an ident and someone managed to awaken these two abilities that could not coexist, they would still be unable to make those two kinds of abilities strong together.


    Because the more powerful the abilities grew, the greater the friction between the two powers would be. The Federation had conducted an experiment once where they had made someone who had awakened both these talents to train them both up equally. In the end, the final oue was that the bearer of the abilities was unable to withstand the build-up of friction between the two powers. His brain had been crushed under the explosive force caused by the shing of the two powers, and he was reduced to a vegetable, never waking up ever again.


    From then on, the Federation set the restriction so that even if someone awakened both these abilities, they could only choose just one to develop 2 . This information had been carefully conveyed to the students by the instructors of the scout academy around the time their innate talents began to awaken. As such, Qi Long and the others would be well aware of this fact, so she had no way of exining why she could possess such powerful hacker abilities and spectre abilities at the same time. It could only be said that Little Four¡¯s existence was just too formidable beyondprehension. Ling Lan could not find a reasonable exnation even if she wanted to.


    Right then at that moment, Li Lanfeng, who had been rather subdued due to his shock at the extent of Ling Lan¡¯s skills, suddenly became focused and his expression turned rather grim. As if sensing something, he immediately cut off his spiritual connection to Ling Lan. Under everyone¡¯s stunned gaze and Ling Lan¡¯s quiet realisation, an extremely dangerous aura silently seeped out from his body and began to slowly spread.


    Everyone felt this aura that made them ufortable and sensed their own spiritual power beginning to shudder violently. At the point where they felt as if their spiritual power were about to be consumed by this aura, Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power abruptly surged up and spread out to swiftly wrap around the spiritual power of the seven others in the team.


    Ling Lan¡¯s protection greatly stabilised the spiritual power of the seven people. Everyone was still unsettled by the experience; only Han Jijyun stared grimly at Li Lanfeng, as if thinking of something.


    At this moment, Li Lanfeng had no mind to consider the situation of hispanions. He had sensed two dangerous presences ahead, simr to his spectre powers, though they seemed slightly weaker than him since they had yet to notice his presence.


    Still, Li Lanfeng¡¯s brow remained locked tight. The other side had two people, so Li Lanfeng could not be certain whether he could go up against both of them and keep everyone in the team safe. Afraid that the other side would discover his presence, he swiftly tamped down on his spectre power. With a grave expression, he turned to look at Ling Lan and said softly, "Rabbit, there are two spectres inside. They are very strong. The moment we enter their surveince range, we will be attacked. Our lives are likely to be threatened."


    Against just one, Li Lanfeng had the confidence to defeat the other with just a bit of luck. But with two, Li Lanfeng could not be too sure. After all, the spectres inside were just slightly weaker than him. If the two of them had good rapport and worked together, even if he wanted to protect everyone in Ling Lan¡¯s team, he was afraid he would miss something and expose a weakness to be caught by the enemy.


    Initially, Li Lanfeng had suspected that Ling Lan too possessed very strong spectre abilities. However, as Ling Lan¡¯s hacker abilities had been showcased more and more, Li Lanfeng no longer had much hope for Ling Lan¡¯s spectre power. The things that Ling Lan and the others knew, Li Lanfeng knew as well. Although hacker power and spectre power could exist simultaneously, they could not grow strong together.


    Perhaps Ling Lan had possessed both these abilities at the start, but he must have chosen to develop his hacker abilities rather than his spectre abilities. Li Lanfeng felt that this was a bit of a shame because almost all spectres were under the control of the Federation military. As the first heir of the Li family, Li Lanfeng naturally could not be a puppet of the military. Thus, when his grandfather had noticed how unique Li Lanfeng¡¯s spiritual power was, suspecting that he might be one of those rumoured spectres, his grandfather hadpletely sealed away all news of this. This was why Li Lanfeng had not been discovered by the military.

 Chapter 329: Volunteering to Fight!

    Chapter 329: Volunteering to Fight!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    All these years, Li Lanfeng had not met any other of his kind in the virtual world. This had made him feel rather lonely, and this was also why he had taken an interest in Ling Lan even before he found out Ling Lan was the rabbit. Thinking that the other might have spectre abilities, he had been curious and wanted to find out more about him.


    "You are not a hacker but a spectre, right?" Just as the otherpanions were astounded by what Li Lanfeng had said, Han Jijyun suddenly asked softly.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s words surprised the rest of the team. They all knew what spectres represented in the virtual world. No wonder they had felt as if a great catastrophe was upon them just now. The dangerous aura they had sensed at that time was most likely spectre power.


    Li Lanfeng nodded and said apologetically, "Yes, I¡¯m a spectre. In order to hide my powers, I lied to you all. I¡¯m sorry!"


    "I knew this already. You all also know there are hardly any spectres in the civilian world. For the leopard¡¯s personal safety, I did not allow the leopard to speak of this," said Ling Lan suddenly, "I hope that this matter ends here. If anyone else finds out the leopard is a spectre, his life will be in danger."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused everyone¡¯s heart to clench. Indeed, spectres had always been the primary targets of assassination by the enemy nations of the Federation. As long as a spectre¡¯s real identity was exposed, their enemies would kill the spectre at any cost. This was also why the Federation military had brought all the spectres in their borders under their control. The Federation needed to protect these spectres, though of course part of the reason was also that they were afraid the spectres not under their control would cause some horrific massacre in the virtual world.


    In the virtual world, spectres were synonymous with death gods. With the exception of other spectres, no one else could stand up against spectres. Even the most powerful warrior in the real world or the most authoritative leaders and high-ranking officials were like powerless and defenceless babies before a spectre in the virtual world, helpless if the other intended to kill them.


    Thus, the authorities in every nation both loved and feared spectres. They loved spectres because they could be weapons to threaten the enemy nations with, but they were also afraid the spectres would turn on them and harm them. This had also brought about the tragedy of spectres never ever having any freedom in their lives. No authority would be willing to let these frightening beings that could endanger their lives in the virtual world run around unchecked. For their own safety, they inevitably chose to control, or even ruthlessly obliterate these spectres!


    "Yes, Boss!" Everyone on the team understood what Ling Lan was saying. Besides, Li Lanfeng had chosen toe clean, which was practically cing his life in their hands ¡ª this was the trust he had in his teammates. Qi Long and the others were extremely moved by this. It was from this point on that Qi Long and the others truly took Li Lanfeng as their ownpanion. He was no longer just a friend of the boss who had joined them halfway, as a member whose status was yet to be determined as temporary or permanent.


    Han Jijyun threw aplex nce at Li Lanfeng. He mentally apuded Li Lanfeng¡¯s decisiveness in using all he could to obtain the acknowledgement of hispanions, allowing him to integrate into the team at a very fast speed. At this time, he had a hunch that Li Lanfeng might be the strongest rival for his position in the team ...


    Han Jijyun silently clenched his fists and told himself that he needed to work hard. He absolutely could not lose to Li Lanfeng, this member who had only joined them along the way. He, Han Jijyun, would not give up on the role of military strategist!


    Hearing Ling Lan speak up in his defence, Li Lanfeng was extremely grateful. He knew very well that he had never told Ling Lan he was a spectre.


    This should be what the books call a ¡¯bosom friend¡¯ ¡ª at critical moments, the other would help him, ept him, and defend him. Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart pumped violently once again, a sort of indescribable warmth rippling within it.


    Just as everyone was deciding whether or not to continue with the mission, Ling Lan asked Li Lanfeng with a serious expression, "Leopard, can you withstand the attacks of two spectres?" Only spectres could fight against another spectre¡¯s abilities ¡ª despite having the virtual god Little Four and so being not at all afraid of the spectres, Ling Lan still needed to ask Li Lanfeng this question. After all, on the surface, Li Lanfeng would be the one fending off the spectres.


    Li Lanfeng considered the issue seriously and then replied, "In terms of pure defence, there should be no problem. It¡¯s just that there are quite a few members in the team. Once we spread out, I¡¯m afraid I might slip up and the opponent might jump on that chance." The connotation was that resisting was not a problem, but their numbers were a little too many since his defence area was not very wide. Once anyone went out of this range of his, he would not be able to guarantee the safety of all the members of the team.


    This was the statement Ling Lan was waiting for. She decided to let Qi Long and the others wait here while she and Li Lanfeng went ahead to check things out.


    This decision received firm opposition from the rest of the team; they insisted that they wanted to follow Ling Lan in. They also promised that they would listen to orders and stick closely to Li Lanfeng without veering even one step away.


    Li Lanfeng saw that none of the team members wanted to retreat and was instantly filled with pride. He spoke up to say, "Rabbit, I will do my best to protect them. Just let theme."


    Ling Lan figured there should not be any big problems since there was still Little Four as backup, so she nodded and agreed.


    Ling Lan led the way to thergest door. In fact, they all knew that they had been heading downwards all this while ¡ª who knows how deep they had travelled. But upon seeing thisrge door, every member of their group believed they were already at least 200 to 300 metres deep underground.


    Ling Lan then used Spiritual Share to disy the situation behind the door to all the team members. It was no longer just a few soldiers protecting this door but a medium-sized team of about 15 people.


    On both sides of the door were two iron walls, each with three beam machine guns jutting out from shooting ports aimed at the doorway. And at the end of the iron walls, about 30 metres from the main door, six armed soldiers were each holding a heavy firearm and staring vigntly at the door. There were also three more people hiding in blind corners of the iron walls. They really did not need to worry about those three men though ¡ª as long as they did not reveal themselves, they would not be able to attack the group anyway.


    Moreover, Ling Lan and the others were not afraid that they would activate some rm device either, because once they entered, the spectres would notice them anyway. Thus, they would be exposed regardless of whether the rm was sounded.


    That aside, other than the spectres, they now also had to make preparations to handle an unforeseen enemy ¡ª mecha warriors. From the image transmitted via Ling Lan¡¯s Spiritual Share, they could see that the area behind the door was vast. There was a space of about 50 metres from ground to ceiling. This proved that not only would ground infantry be present; there might also be mecha operators.


    The group set aside those potential enemies for now as they began to analyse how they should deal with the current situation. The six beam machine guns were definitely for Boss Lan to deal with ¡ª only Ling Lan had the skill to shoot a hidden weapon urately into the shooting ports to finish off the six shooters inside.


    Meanwhile, Li Lanfeng had to deal with the two spectres. Once they entered, he would have to put all his strength into that, so he would not be able to spare a hand to help with the physical fighting. Therefore, the others would have to deal with the six soldiers with heavy firearms at the front on their own.


    Qi Long and the other four of the original group were naturally alright with this. Having grown up under Ling Lan¡¯s tough love, even the weakest Han Jijyun was not weaker than the others by much. The key was what they would do for the sixth soldier. After all, each of them could only handle one person ¡ª that final additional person would be left out, giving him a chance to fire at them.


    Qi Long gave it some serious thought and felt there was still a pretty good chance of sess. He was just about to say that he would also handle thatst person when Li Shiyu, who had been quietly observing from the side, suddenly volunteered, "That sixth person, leave him to me."


    This was the first time Li Shiyu had taken the initiative to do something. This surprised everyone, causing them to all turn to look in Li Shiyu¡¯s direction. The intent gazes of the team members disconcerted Li Shiyu, whose fair face was instantly painted with a flush.


    "Senior Shiyu is from the military medical research specialization. Won¡¯t yourbat ability be a little weak? If there¡¯s an injury or an ident, the loss to the team will be significant. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea." Xie Yi was the first to object. If they were injured, they still had Li Shiyu to help patch them up, but if Li Shiyu was injured, they would be helpless to do anything about it if it were serious.


    Xie Yi¡¯s words made everyone nod silently in agreement, believing that letting Li Shiyu handle the final sixth soldier was not very appropriate. Chang Xinyuan¡¯s mouth twitched, about to volunteer himself when Li Shiyu retorted coldly, "Although I¡¯m a military doctor, mybat skills are not at all weak."


    Li Shiyu¡¯s typically calm eyes were currently zing with the mes of anger ¡ª Xie Yi¡¯s words had made him feel insulted. His expression was proud and confident as he retorted. This expression was very familiar ¡ª when Li Yingjie was disying his proud and haughty side, this was the expression he wore. This caused Qi Long and the others to turn their heads away, unable to look straight at Li Shiyu. As expected of a member of the Li family ¡ª that pride and arrogance were in their very bones.


    "Ahem ahem, actually, Young Master Shiyu¡¯sbat ability is very good. Our Li family puts great focus on cultivating its inheritors¡¯bat skills from young. Based on what I know, Young Master Shiyu¡¯sbat ability is significantly stronger than Young Master Yingjie¡¯s," Li Lanfeng suddenly interrupted to say with a smile. Though his expression seemed endlessly sincere, as if trying to exin on the behalf of Li Shiyu, for some reason Ling Lan felt a dissonance in his bearing and could not help but feel goosebumps rising all over her body.


    "Since we¡¯re all from the same team, just call me Shiyu in future," said Li Shiyu earnestly to Li Lanfeng, casting a grateful nce at the other. Li Shiyu frankly loathed the address of ¡¯young master¡¯. However, previously in the military academy, he could not reject the title directly because this was after all tied to the pride and status of his identity as a direct descendant of the Li family. But now, since they had be battle nrades, Li Shiyu felt that this address was no longer necessary nor appropriate.


    Li Lanfeng smiled widely in response and said with a nod, "Alright then, Shiyu."


    When he said this, Ling Lan keenly picked up on Li Lanfeng¡¯s buoyant mood.


    Seeing Li Shiyu¡¯s eagerness to fight and with Li Lanfeng speaking up in support, Qi Long and the others could not find a good way to refuse. So they all turned to look towards Ling Lan, waiting for their boss to give the final word.


    Ling Lan nodded and said, "Since Senior Shiyu is sure, then it¡¯s decided." Her expression turned stern and she added, "Qi Long, Luo Lang, Xie Yi, Han Jijyun, Lin Zhong-qing, Li Shiyu. The six people at the front are up to you all. You mustplete your duty."


    "Yes, Boss!" "Yes, Leader!" Even though they all responded slightly differently, the timing of their responses was synchronous. Li Shiyu was currently still unable to call Ling Lan ¡¯Boss¡¯ like Qi Long and the others.

 Chapter 330: The Lingtian Battle Clan in the Eyes of Chang Xinyuan!

    Chapter 330: The Lingtian Battle n in the Eyes of Chang Xinyuan!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Right then, Chang Xinyuan, who had been standing to one side without finding an opportunity to interrupt, suddenly said, "Wait a minute, I have some things to give you all."


    Chang Xinyuan then took out six round metal discs which looked like palm-sized hand mirrors from his bag. He tossed them to Qi Long and the other five and exined, "These are miniature beam shields I created. The power they contain is only able to withstand one heavy artillery attack. Bring them along with you. Although they aren¡¯t that good, they should still be able to y a protective role at critical moments."


    Chang Xinyuan then exined how to use the miniature beam shields. The appearance of this unexpected piece of equipment delighted everyone; any extra bit of protection was naturally good. They had alreadye so far in this mission ¡ª the hope of sess was in sight; no one wanted to just die and be respawned back at the start.


    Qi Long thumped Chang Xinyuan¡¯s shoulder enthusiastically, loudly praising how awesome Chang Xinyuan¡¯s little invention was as he did so. The strength behind the thumps almost threw Chang Xinyuan to the ground. Qi Long then requested for Chang Xinyuan to make more of these useful and easily portable small beam shields whenever he had the time. It would be best if each of them could have ten or more of these.


    With regards to this rather outrageous request of Qi Long¡¯s, Chang Xinyuan was not at all angry. Instead, he was very happy, breaking out into arge grin. For Qi Long to say this meant that he, Chang Xinyuan, was useful to the team ¡ª the members of the team needed him. This was a greatfort to him.


    Along the way, Chang Xinyuan had realised that every member of Ling Lan¡¯s team was very strong. Whether it was in terms of mecha operation or physical skills, they were much stronger than the average battle n, so much stronger than him. This made Chang Xinyuan feel rather inferior and he had even begun to wonder whether he could remain in the n and actually be a true member.


    The brotherly bond among the members of Ling Lan¡¯s team made Chang Xinyuan, who had always been alone, endlessly envious. It could be said that Chang Xinyuan had joined Ling Lan¡¯s team at the start out of ack of options ¡ª he had no other choice. If he had passed off the chance to join Ling Lan¡¯s team, he might very likely have had no other opportunity to ever join a battle n after that. The cruel truth of the situation pushed him to take the gamble. When Ling Lan had received that SSS-rank mission, he had indeed hesitated. However, Chang Xinyuan was not a person who would give up at the first sign of difficulty, otherwise he would not have resisted the Thunder King¡¯s oppression for three years. In the end, he chose to fight along with Ling Lan and the others.


    Over this duration of time doing the mission together, he hade to understand the deep bond among the team members. Boss Lan was very cold and somewhat domineering (this was just Chang Xinyuan¡¯s perception. Ling Lan was actually not domineering at all, she was just used to keeping a ckface), so it was rather stressful trying to get along with him. At times, just making eye contact with Boss Lan would cause him to have difficulty breathing. He knew that the truly strong would always have a type of aura about them. However, he had never encountered someone like Boss Lan who gave him such heavy pressure. If the Thunder King had exuded the same type of feeling as Boss Lan back then, he probably would not have been able to hold out and would have long chosen to capitte.


    But this domineering, cold, and ruthless Boss Lan would forever stand right at the front of the team and shield them from the wind and rain at the most critical moments. Just like when the maic tsunami had hit, Boss Lan had decisively stayed right till the end to ensure all of them safely entered the mainship first. That time, Boss Lan had almost died in the maic tsunami.


    Chang Xinyuan was well aware that Boss Lan was not just acting. He was very strict with Qi Long and the others¡¯ training, perhaps even somewhat brutal about it ¡ª he was absolutely a harsh taskmaster. Many times, Chang Xinyuan himself felt that Qi Long and the others were not going to survive. But then, he also saw more than once how Boss Lan would seek out Li Shiyu whenever he had the time to discuss how they could improve the physical constitutions of the team members, along with their endurance and resistance to blows. And all of this was so they continue to stay alive and well, whether it was in Mecha World or in the real world when they fought on a real battlefield in the future.


    Boss Lan was a responsible boss and an even morepetent parental battle n leader. Following such a boss, he would never have to worry about being pushed out someday to be a sacrificial scapegoat. Alright, the bits and pieces which had happened over this period of time had caused him to be like Qi Long and the others, beginning to idolise Boss Lan ...


    Meanwhile, Qi Long and Luo Lang were the primary and secondary fighters of the team, the strongest in the team in both mechabat and physical skillsbat, but of course they were iparable to Boss Lan. Back when the New Cadet Regiment had fought against Leiting in the arena, they had been two of the five representatives. Among them, Luo Lang defeated the third strongest in Leiting, while Qi Long fought on even terms with the second strongest of Leiting, only losing unfortunately in the end. All this information had been conveyed to him by Li Shiyu. He had put his entire mind into modifying mecha back then so he was not very clear on the various things that had happened in the military academy, including that arena battle.


    Xie Yi was very warm and passionate. He was the first among the old members of the team to take the initiative to get to know Chang Xinyuan better. Friendly and cheerful, they got along very well. But Xie Yi¡¯sbat ability was not weaker than Luo Lang¡¯s by much. Typically, in battle ns, the main and secondary fighters would be stronger while the rest of the fighters would be a bracket lower. However, in Ling Lan¡¯s battle n, almost everybody¡¯s strength levels were very close. With Xie Yi¡¯s strength, even if he might not be able to be the primary fighter in another battle n, he more than qualified to be a secondary fighter. But in Ling Lan¡¯s n, due to the fiercepetition with rivals as plentiful as clouds, Xie Yi could only be one of the two wings of the team.


    Han Jijyun normally looked very austere, as if hard to get along with, and his eyes always shone with a calctive light. Chang Xinyuan had always felt rather nervous around these kinds of strategist-type people, afraid to approach them. But whenever Boss Lan was absent or sitting idly by, Han Jijyun would automatically take responsibility for themand of the team, develop tactics, and make arrangements to keep the team operations running smoothly.


    During the time they had lost contact with Boss Lan, Han Jijyun had proved that he was well qualified for the role. Back when they had no way of obtaining certain news regarding Boss Lan, he was the one who daringly decided to use the set of false data they had agreed on at the start. Despite part of it being due to Chang Xinyuan¡¯s suggestion, after learning more about hacker abilitiester, Chang Xinyuan had greatly admired Han Jijyun¡¯s boldness and decisiveness, as well as the other¡¯s deep and unwavering faith in Boss Lan ...


    Meanwhile, Lin Zhong-qing was usually very in and unobtrusive, perhaps even a little like an invisible person, always silently doing his things. At first, Chang Xinyuan had somewhat overlooked him. But then, the team went on the move. Every time Boss Lan wanted an update on the materials remaining for the team, he would definitely ask Lin Zhong-qing. This let Chang Xinyuan know that Lin Zhong-qing was the head logistician of the team.


    The facts proved that Lin Zhong-qing carried out his role as logistician perfectly. Whenever the team needed something, he would be like the legendary Doraemon, bringing out resource after resource to meet the needs of everyone on the team. It was clear to see that he had a very thorough understanding of each and every member of the team, knowing what they might need. In particr, what surprised Chang Xinyuan was that although he, Li Shiyu, and Li Lanfeng had just joined the team, Lin Zhong-qing had been able to figure out some of their habits within this short amount of time. From there, he had actually been able to also prepare some of the materials they needed ...


    Li Shiyu had joined the team with him, but the other was already familiar with Qi Long and the others. At first, when Chang Xinyuan had not known their true identities, he could still tell they already knew each other in real life just by their interactions. Li Shiyu was somewhat aloof ¡ª this may just be the characteristic of a dux. Chang Xinyuan did not think there was anything wrong with it; it was normal for those with talent to be a little prideful. Perhaps because he too was a researcher like himself, Li Shiyu was also very straightforward and innocent, maybe even a little soft in Chang Xinyuan¡¯s eyes. That was why he was always unknowingly falling for Boss Lan¡¯s verbal maniptions, having to follow whatever Boss Lan said in the end.


    Perhaps finding Li Shiyu a little pitiful, Chang Xinyuan often chatted with the other. Perhaps because they were both neers to the team, or perhaps because they were both researchers, and maybe also because the other could sense his benign intentions, the two of them got along very well, always having something to talk about. This was also how he had found out more about Qi Long and the others. During their conversations, they would often talk about their teammates as well as their exploits and achievements.


    The one Chang Xinyuan could not puzzle out was Li Lanfeng. The other had a great attitude, often seen with a warm and gentle smile. He was always extremely respectful towards everyone in the team and seemed easy-going. However, Chang Xinyuan just did not dare to get too close to him. For some reason, the other felt unsafe, without the sense of stable security Li Shiyu gave him. This might be because Li Lanfeng was a spectre, having an innate dangerous air about him. Chang Xinyuan could only use this reason to reassure himself.


    In short, Chang Xinyuan had been very happy during this period of time spent with the team. Having been oppressed by the Thunder King for three years, constantly lonely and depressed, Chang Xinyuan treasured the happiness he felt in this brief period of time. He could not bear to lose this again ¡ª he really wanted to join the team and be a permanent member, not just a passing guest. Thus, Chang Xinyuan had spent these past few days in a daze, afraid that his hopes would be nothing but a mirage 1 .


    This was also why Qi Long¡¯s outrageous request had made him so happy ¡ª it had made him feel just a bit more integrated into the team. In his joy, Chang Xinyuan¡¯s thoughts shifted to the six shooters Boss Lan was going to handle. The best hidden weapon for the task would undoubtedly be the miniature tranquillizer shots Li Shiyu had made. Chang Xinyuan remembered very well that Boss Lan had already used up two as they had passed through the tunnel earlier. Right now, he must only have one left on him.


    At this thought, Chang Xinyuan quickly brought out the three tranquillizer shots given to him from his bag, passing them over to Ling Lan as he said, "Boss Lan, I remember that you only have one left. To take out those six men, you¡¯ll need another five. I won¡¯t be using these 3 of mine. Why don¡¯t you take them, Boss?"


    Chang Xinyuan¡¯s words alerted everyone and they all quickly began rifling through their bags to see if they had any more, all of them wanting to give theirs up for their boss to use.


    Ling Lan speechlessly epted the three tranquillizer shots Chang Xinyuan had handed over. She could not tell them that, as long as she had the materials, Little Four could instantly create countless tranquillizer shots for her ...


    Li Lanfeng had just taken out his own set of tranquillizer syringes and was about to hand them over when Li Shiyu beat him to it.


    "Here, leader, I won¡¯t be using these things. Take it." Li Shiyu decisively passed his three miniature tranquillizer syringes to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan only took two of the three in his hands and said lightly, "In a bit, you¡¯ll need to use it."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words gave Li Shiyu pause, but then Qi Long came up to circle an arm over Li Shiyu¡¯s neck and said with a smile, "For those six people we have to deal with, if we want to take them down instantly, we can¡¯tck this creation of yours, you know."


    Qi Long¡¯s reminder enlightened Li Shiyu. He no longer pressed the matter, taking back thatst syringe in his hand. He mped it tightly between two fingers, prepared to use it when they attacked.

 Chapter 331: The Existence of a BUG

    Chapter 331: The Existence of a BUG


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Seeing how well the members, both old and new, were getting along, Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked up slightly. Then, her expression turned stony as she ordered, "Get ready to move."


    Everyone immediately stood up, their initially rxed and smiling faces turning serious and focused in an instant. The initially rxed atmosphere was swept away immediately.


    Li Lanfeng once again looked admiringly at Ling Lan. He had joined many battle ns before temporarily, but Ling Lan¡¯s battle n was the most efficient. When it was time to rx, they rxed, but the members would never drag the rest of the team down at critical moments ¡ª the transition between moods was perfect. Like now, the moment Ling Lan gave amand, no matter how rxed they had been before, the members could instantly enter battle mode. This waspletely the type of mentality and experience only veteran soldiers could have, yet this bunch of youths three years younger than him had actually managed to attain them. This made Li Lanfeng once again feel the threat ¡ª if he did not work hard to be stronger, he would be left behind by these people if he wasn¡¯t careful.


    Even as Li Lanfeng felt the pressure, he was grateful. Luckily he had found the rabbit early and was able to join his battle n. He believed that as long as they strive to be strong and continue to grow, the Lingtian Battle n would definitely be one of the strongest battle ns in the Federation. He had faith in Ling Lan, he had faith in himself, and he had faith in these youths.


    Even if he really did meet that so-called king in the future ... he just did not believe that with the help of the rabbit and these youths, he would still be subject to such humiliation ... Li Lanfeng clenched his fists tight. He would definitely go against the heavens and change his fate!


    Once everything was ready, Ling Lan led her team members to split up and hide themselves on both sides of therge door, and then she instructed Little Four to open the door.


    The door swung open abruptly, stunning the people inside. Ling Lan¡¯s team hiding in the wings charged out like ferocious tigers under Ling Lan¡¯s battle cry, each leaping towards their respective targets.


    Ling Lan took the lead, three miniature syringes in each hand, leaping out in tworge steps. With a stomp of her right foot, her entire body flew into the air. In mid-air, she swung both her hands vigorously, and the six miniature tranquilizer syringes flew out like rays of light, shooting right at those six shooting ports.


    Ling Lan was very confident that she would not miss, because she had already used the guidance ability of her spiritual power to align the six miniature tranquilizer syringes to follow the route she wanted so that the syringes would unerringly strike the shooters hiding within the iron wall.


    Six cries of pain rang out and then the sounds abruptly cut off. Why had there been a reactionary sound this time when using the syringes? It was because the openings of the ports were truly too small ¡ª in order to ensure she hit the opponents, Ling Lan had chosen their most fragile parts to target: their eyes. Who asked the shooters to have their eyes wide open, staring through their gun scopes? ording to the flight path, the eyes were the easiest spot to target and hit.


    Six miniature syringes struck and shattered the gun scopes, and then ruthlessly pierced the eyes of those shooters. Eyes were the most sensitive among the human organs, with the most rapid reflex nerves. That was why the shooters had time to cry out before the anaesthetic could take effect. Still, it was only for that brief moment ¡ª Li Shiyu¡¯s intensified anaesthetic was truly too overbearing. Additionally, the eyes were the closest to the brain ¡ª the opponents were almost instantly put down, which was why the screams had been abruptly throttled.


    At the same time, Qi Long and the other five following behind Ling Lan overtook her when she leapt up into the air to throw the syringes, instantly sprinting forwards about 30 metres, where they then fiercely leapt at those six soldiers armed with heavy firearms.


    "Enemy attack!" Seeing six people charging at them, even the dullest soldier knew that these people must be enemies and not friends. One of the men quickly raised his voice to shout, simultaneously raising the heavy firearm in his hands to aim it at the six iing people, preparing to shoot. Although heavy firearms were powerful and fiercely overbearing, it was not so convenient to use them. Using them were by far not as agile as using beam guns, which was why Qi Long and the others had dared to charge in so directly. They were banking on striking with haste before the enemies could rally and shoot.


    At the moment Qi Long and the others attacked, deafening sirens tore through the vast and empty space. The entire centre of the base was dominated by this screeching sound. Ling Lan¡¯s group knew well that this was definitely the work of those three soldiers hiding in those blind corners. Only they would have had the time to go do such a thing. However, they did not mind. Once they had entered this location, it was impossible for their presence to remain hidden.


    Qi Long and the other five¡¯s attack speed was extremely quick. Before those soldiers could pull on the trigger of their heavy firearms, Qi Long andpany¡¯s attacks had already arrived. Qi Long¡¯spany knew that the situation was critical, so they used their strongest killing moves from the get-go.


    Savage fists flew through the air, leaving explosive sounds in their wake which indicated that should those fistsnd, severe injury was certain even if death was avoided. Seeing their own heads about to be struck by these heavy blows, instinct made the six soldiers choose to dodge instead of counterattacking. However, even though they managed to dodge the punches, they still did not manage to avoid the needles held between the fingers of Qi Long¡¯spany.


    Just a simple graze as the points of the needles broke the skin on their cheeks, and their face was instantly bleeding. However, this sort of minor injury was nothing in the eyes of professional soldiers. They were just about to lift their weapons and retaliate with fire when they found that their own arms were beginning to feel weak. Moreover, they actually felt no pain from their wounds ...


    Was it poison? No, it was an anaesthetic. They felt their entire body beginning to grow numb until they could no longer move ... at this time, the men saw those six opponents lift up their hands to jab firmly downwards.


    Yes, jab. Because they could see clearly then that the opponents were holding miniature syringes in their hands. When the syringe jabbed into them once again, in the very next second, they had descended into darkness ...


    Li Shiyu looked at the people who had initially been standing in their way finally falling down unconscious after being hit by his anaesthetic. He found that it was even easier and more convenient to deal with one¡¯s enemies using medication rather than actualbat ... he subconsciously looked down at the emptied syringe down in his hands, contemtive. Perhaps he should change hisbat style. The results were the same ¡ª the enemy would be downed either way ¡ª so why shouldn¡¯t he make his life easier? Perhaps he should try and apply more of what he had learned into his fighting?


    Li Shiyu did not have more time to think beyond that; a dangerous aura suddenly surrounded them. Perhaps having experienced it before, or perhaps because their spiritual power had be familiar with Li Lanfeng¡¯s spectre power ¡ª this time, when Li Lanfeng activated his spectre power, Qi Long and the others did not feel particrly frightened.


    The next second, Li Lanfeng¡¯s body suddenly jerked. Even though Qi Long and the others could not see nor feel anything, they knew that the enemy spectres had most likely tried to attack them while Li Lanfeng had protected them.


    ********


    In the central district of the base, within a beautifully decorated andfortable hidden room, two ck-robed men were sitting with their eyes closed. The body of one of the men swayed violently as a muffled groan emerged from his mouth. Face pale, he opened his eyes and growled, "That bastard D2. Didn¡¯t he say that the people sent by the Federation to investigate, including their spectres, had all been drawn over to the trap? Why is there an attack here with such a powerful spectre?"


    At these words, the other man opened his eyes in shock. "Carter, you failed?" He had not participated in that attack just now because there were only nine people involved. He thought that hisrade would be able to finish off the group of attackers easily, but hisrade had unexpectedly failed. Moreover, hisrade seemed to have been at a disadvantage against the opponent spectre.


    "Yes, the opponent spectre is stronger than me. My attacks were intercepted by him. Pete, let¡¯s work together this time. We must make sure they do not return from this attack."


    "Okay!" Pete¡¯s and Carter¡¯s strength levels did not differ by much. Since the opponent was stronger than Carter, he would not be able to handle the opponent alone either. Still, he believed that as long as the two of them worked together to attack, they would definitely be able to bring down this strong spectre of the Federation.


    Just thinking that they would be able to kill a powerful spectre filled Pete with excitement. This would mean unparalleled merit! Perhaps his military rank would be pushed higher by this exploit ... Pete¡¯s eyes gleamed with greed.


    Pete was this confident because the two of them had been partners for over 10 years already, so their rapport was excellent. There had been quite a few singled out and isted spectres who had already died at their hands. Pete did not think that this spectre would be able to withstand their joint attack.


    ********


    Seeing Li Lanfeng standing still, his expression grim, Qi Long and the others could tell the brutal battle between spectres had already begun. Even within Li Lanfeng¡¯s protective range, Qi Long and the others could still feel a sort of invisible pressure as their spiritual power was suppressed by a strange energy. It was extremely ufortable. As time went by, the faces of Qi Long and the others began to pale. Even though Li Lanfeng was doing his best to hold the other spectre back, a little of the other spectre¡¯s power had still seeped out from under his interception.


    And this little bit of spectre power was enough to make them feel the danger. It was as if something was about to devour their souls. Chang Xinyuan, whose spiritual power was rtively weaker, began to cradle his head with a pained expression, slumping to sit on the ground.


    Only a little spectre power had leaked ¡ª this was not a direct attack ¡ª and it was already so painful and unbearable. Only now did Qi Long and the others genuinelyprehend the true horror of spectres. Sure enough, within the virtual world, spectres were death gods. This type of attack on their very soul was something they had no strength to resist.


    Seeing that everyone had experienced the horror of spectres, only then did Ling Lan activate her spiritual power to protect the spiritual power of Qi Long and the others. With the additional protection of Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power, colour returned to Qi Long¡¯s and the others¡¯ faces.


    The reason why Ling Lan had not used her spiritual power to protect them to begin with was so that Qi Long and the others could trulyprehend the horror of spectres. This was so that they would not think that spectres were beings they could fight against in future. Before they achieved imperial operator status, anyone would be defenceless babes in front of spectres, freely avable for ughter.


    Ling Lan remembered very well that her dad had said that the existence of spectres was like a type of BUG in the virtual world. Only imperial operators who knew how to manifest their spiritual power outside their body had the ability to resist. However, not all imperial operators knew how to project their spiritual power because the projection of spiritual power was one of the necessary conditions for advancement to god-ss operator status. Therefore, god-ss operators had no fear of spectres, because they too were god-like existences.

 Chapter 332: The Aberrant Modification Innate Talent!

    Chapter 332: The Aberrant Modification Innate Talent!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Boss, your leopard seems to be in bad condition." Following Li Lanfeng¡¯s great battle with the two spectres, Little Four very quickly found their hiding ce by tracking the other side¡¯s spectre power. However, in the meantime, after sessive confrontations, Li Lanfeng who had been fighting on his own was gradually put at a disadvantage ¡ª the situation looked somewhat precarious.


    "How much longer can he hold out for?" Ling Lan¡¯s brow creased. The opponent spectres were unexpectedly strong. She had not thought the purely defending Li Lanfeng would be worn down so quickly.


    Little Four rolled his eyes dramatically at Ling Lan. How could a confrontation between spectres be as simple as his boss assumed? Although Li Lanfeng¡¯s spectre powers were strong, he did not have any true battle experience after all. His methods of resisting were extremely rudimentary, which was why he was being worn down so quickly. Otherwise, with Li Lanfeng¡¯s power, which was stronger than the opponents by a bracket, he could have easily held an undefeatable situation with his full focus on defence.


    "The main reason is that he does not have enough experience, never having fought other spectres before. Plus, those two people are working together very well, which is why your leopard is being foiled at every turn. Still, your leopard is very smart, actually correcting his mistakes in battle and developing his own defensive manoeuvres. Although the situation is rather worrying, to defeat him, those two people will still have to put in quite a bit of effort," reported Little Four to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan frowned at those words. She was somewhat unsure whether to let Little Four help the leopard to handle those two spectres or to just continue waiting here patiently and let the leopard gain as muchbat experience as he could against other spectres.


    "Little Four, what is the situation in the base? Is the other side redirecting arge number of ground troops over?" Ling Lan asked Little Four. If arge number of ground forces was mobilised, she would need Little Four to help out then. After all, their numbers were too few ¡ª they had no way topete with the entire Swift Dragon fleet. Time was of the essence, they could not afford to waste any bit of it.


    "Ah, I was just about to tell Boss the news!" replied Little Four suddenly, "The Swift Dragon base has not been rmed. Other than alerting those within the basemand, there has been no other disturbance here. Moreover, the people alerted are not the highestmanding officers of the Swift Dragon base."


    "Looks like there is indeed some problem with the Swift Dragon base. Who knows which faction these people are from ..." Ling Lan silently mused to herself. Trying to kill them right as soon as they arrived, the spectres here are very likely not actually from the Federation military. Perhaps they had been sent by a hostile nation, or perhaps they were from some of those terrorist organisations rebelling against the Federation.


    They must definitely be afraid of exposing themselves, and so did not dare to cause too great of a ruckus. This was also why the Swift Dragon base had not been alerted ¡ª they were afraid that the mainframe would discover a problem (they must not yet know that the mainframe is already aware that there is a problem here).


    And the purpose of this trip by Ling Lan¡¯s team was to find out what exactly had happened at the Swift Dragon base. To make sense of this, it was necessary to uncover the backgrounds of these mysterious hackers and spectres. Thinking about it, the true intention behind the mainframe¡¯s assignment of this mission was probably to figure this out ...


    "Also, those military investigators sent secretly by the mainframe have already been lured to a trap and have already begun fighting. That¡¯s why there won¡¯t be any other spectres appearing here temporarily," Little Four suddenly interrupted Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts to say, "However, there¡¯s some bad news. Although there hasn¡¯t been muchmotion outside, two of the threerge mecha troops protecting this base is on their way here now. I estimate that they will be here in one minute."


    With a ¡¯thwack¡¯, Ling Lan, who was utterly infuriated at this news, instantly flicked a forceful finger onto Little Four¡¯s forehead. "You rotten Little Four, why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier?"


    Little Four cradled his aching head and whined, "Isn¡¯t it still in time, telling you now?"


    Although what Little Four said was still rather reasonable, Ling Lanpletely ignored the pouting Little Four in her mindspace. This Little Four ... treat him a little better and his skin would begin to itch with the urge to do off-key things. She must treat him a little harshly for him to be a bit more reliable ¡ª Ling Lan truly suspected that Little Four had some masochistic tendencies in his bones.


    Ling Lan decisively cast thoughts about Little Four to the back of her mind as shemanded everyone in her team, "All members, enter your mecha and prepare for battle!"


    Ling Lan¡¯smand was very abrupt, but Qi Long and the others of the old team were already used to this sort of behaviour from Ling Lan. They instantly unleashed their mecha. Li Shiyu and Chang Xinyuan had only joined the team recently after all, so they were stunned for a moment, slower than Qi Long and the others by a beat. However, their reaction was still pretty quick, releasing their mecha right after Qi Long¡¯s group of five.


    Meanwhile, Li Lanfeng, who was tenaciously fighting against the two spectres, was thest one to let out his mecha. Defending with all his strength, only when he could ensure no disruption to his duty did he allow himself to let out his mecha.


    They had just gotten into their mecha when the ground began to quake violently. Only then did they realise why their boss had asked them to get into their mecha. These intense vibrations proved that quite a number of mecha was rapidly approaching them from not too far away. Following the gradually intensifying quaking of the ground, everyone prepared themselves for battle. They each pulled out their cold weapons with their right hands, while their left hands raised their beam guns. The moment Ling Lan gave themand, they would fire.


    After about 30 seconds, around 20 mecha appeared ahead of them in an arc formation. Ling Lan calmly observed the distance between the iing enemy and her team, silently calcting the best time to attack.


    Just when they were about 10 metres short of entering each other¡¯s shooting range, Ling Lan shouted loudly, "Fire!"


    Following thismand, everyone raised their beam guns, aimed at their respective targets, and pulled the trigger. Eight beams shot out from the guns at almost the same time in an attack towards the distant enemy.


    "Activate beam shields!" Seeing the opposing mecha firing, the invading mecha from the base all activated their beam shields to block. Their numbers were obviously two or three times greater than their opponents. Even if the opponents were attacking them, there were not enough beams to hit all of them. And even if they were hit, the shot mecha might only be hit by just one beam. If any of them were hit twice in a row, then they could consider themselves terribly unlucky today.


    Furthermore, their beam shields could withstand three beam attacks without sustaining any damage. Thus, none of these mecha chose to dodge, charging ahead fearlessly instead. They were prepared to overwhelm the opponent with their numbers and utterly destroy these terrorists who had invaded the heart of their base.


    Then there was a loud ¡¯boom!¡¯ and one of the mecha from the mecha horde from the base suddenly exploded. The tremendous explosion even caused coteral damage to the mecha of hisrades around him. Right after that, not too far off, yet another mecha exploded in a simr manner, just not as frightening as the explosion of the first mecha had been.


    "What¡¯s going on?" This question emerged suddenly in the minds of all the other mecha operators of the base. However, time did not allow them to think any further on it. On the battlefield, death was extremelymonce. Thus, they merely carried their doubts in silence and continued to charge forwards.


    Ling Lan stared, somewhat dumbfounded, at Chang Xinyuan. The mecha Chang Xinyuan was operating now was not a standard Federation advanced mecha; he had chosen to operate his own intermediate mecha. Having been modified by Chang Xinyuan, although this mecha did not seem very different on the outside, its internal weapons system had already been changed significantly. Ling Lan had already witnessed this back when they had been trying to destroy the door of the transport ship¡¯s hold.


    Ling Lan knew that Chang Xinyuan¡¯s innate talent in modifying mecha was very strong, which was why he had garnered the Thunder King¡¯s attention so much that the other had not hesitated to use threatening methods to try and force Chang Xinyuan to join him. Ling Lan had been under the impression that she already had a good grasp of Chang Xinyuan¡¯s abilities, but now, from the looks of it, she had still been underestimating his modification innate talent.


    Ling Lan had never expected that Chang Xinyuan was not only good at modifying mecha, he was equally aberrant at modifying weapons. It was previously shown that he had modified the interference missiles in the mecha¡¯s head portion, transforming them from weak ¡¯ chicken ribs 1 ¡¯ into extremely powerful heavy-artilleryser cannon shots. Although Chang Xinyuan had categorised those projectiles as immature modifications due to the limited firing range, in Ling Lan¡¯s mind, those shots were absolutely a horrific trump card to pull out when circumstances called for it.


    Just imagine, when a mecha draws into close-range to fight, no one would ever think to defend against those interference missiles from the head of that mecha. This was because even if they were struck by interference missiles, at most their mecha would be left with several faint and negligible scratches. The mecha would not be significantly damaged, let alone the mecha operator sitting inside it.


    Therefore, no one would be on guard against interference missiles. Then, imagine if, at that time, aser cannon shot were to be unleashed suddenly from the head of that mecha ... The power of aser cannon is several tens or even hundreds of times stronger than that of an interference missile. Undoubtedly, even if the mecha on the receiving end of aser shot head-on would not bepletely destroyed in the st, the concussive force from the resulting st would be enough to give them a whole lot of trouble 2 ¡ª even if they did not die, they would still be half-dead. Thus, the range problem Chang Xinyuan was regretful about was not a problem at all in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes.


    However, back then, the situation had been pressing, so Ling Lan had not had a chance to discuss this with Chang Xinyuan. Ling Lan had believed that that was already Chang Xinyuan¡¯s most outstanding design, but unexpectedly, Chang Xinyuan had given her a great surprise. The one behind the first explosion of the enemy mecha was precisely this Chang Xinyuan who looked like he had the poorestbat capacity.


    They were all using beam guns, but Chang Xinyuan¡¯s beam gun was not shooting the standard white beams. Instead, the beam from his gun had a thread of strange purple light running through it. This beam instantly eliminated the energy powering the beam shield and caused the mecha it hit to explode violently. Even at the time of explosion, Ling Lan could see slight traces of purple light within the mes ...


    Meanwhile, the explosion of the other mecha was the result of Ling Lan and her original team members working together. Qi Long and the other four had not chosen to shoot randomly, choosing instead to attack the one target Ling Lan had selected. Struck by six beams at the same time, that mecha¡¯s beam shield had no way of holding out. The natural oue of this was the explosive destruction of that mecha.


    Battlefields were constantly changing ¡ª it did not allow for any distraction among the participating fighters. No one else noticed the strange power of Chang Xinyuan¡¯s beam gun other than Ling Lan. Qi Long and the others were merely secretly d that their first attack had been so lucky as to eliminate two mecha. This was extremely advantageous to them.


    The fight had just begun and the other side was already down two mecha. Both the team leaders and the team members on the other side returned fire indignantly. Beams shot out simultaneously from both sides, butpared to the other sides¡¯ brute force approach, Qi Long¡¯s group nimbly evaded the beams heading for them with agile and intricate steps.

 Chapter 333: A Weakness Appears!

    Chapter 333: A Weakness Appears!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The steps Qi Long and the others used to evade were not movements that Li Shiyu and the other newer members were familiar with. Only the eyes of Li Lanfeng, who was still fighting the enemy spectres, lit up when he saw those moves. He had seen the rabbit use moves simr to these 7 years ago while they were practising for the assessment. It looked like these techniques must be unique arts from the rabbit¡¯s sect. Since Qi Long and the others could learn them, did this mean that he would also be able to learn these movester on?


    The reason why Li Lanfeng would be so taken by this set of steps was that each of the stepping points in the set was exceedingly strange,pletely going against conventional logic andws of inertia. Oftentimes, ces which you did not think was possible to get to, you would be able to get there urately using this set of footwork. This type of utterly unpredictable evasion method would cause all the enemies¡¯ attacks to strike air.


    Just like Li Lanfeng predicted, this set of footwork which Qi Long and the others were currently disying was indeed taught to them by Ling Lan. However, it was not like Li Lanfeng believed ¡ª these steps were not an exclusive art of Ling Lan¡¯s sect but were something Ling Lan had learned in the learning space. It was also the most basic evasion footwork for mecha avable in the learning space.


    This set of basic evasion footwork from the learning space had been derived over the umted tempering of time. Each step in the set was the fruit of concentrated effort from countless mecha operators within the Mandora star system over tens of thousands of years. Ling Lan had tested it ¡ª as long as one mastered this set of evasion footwork, learning any of the other so-called advanced evasion techniques of the Federation after that was extremely easy.


    Having discovered the benefits, Ling Lan naturally did not forget about herpanions. After obtaining permission from Instructor Number Three, she taught this set of footwork to Qi Long and the others. In order for them to integrate this footwork into their instincts, Ling Lan used extremely brutal and punishing training, just like Instructor Number Three had within the learning space, to force Qi Long and the others to rapidly be used to the steps.


    Simrly, Qi Long and the others also thought that these steps were part of General Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy. After all, only a god-ss operator could have such a strange and inexplicable set of footwork.


    Li Lanfeng had already been obsessed with this wondrous set of footwork of the rabbit¡¯s ever since he first saw it seven years ago. Now, seeing that there was the possibility of learning it, he was instantly thrilled. This surge in emotion spurred his initially suppressed spectre power to expand rapidly in reaction, instantly flinging off one of the spectre powers attacking him fiercely.


    "Pfft!" In the hidden room, one of the ck-robed men suddenly threw up a mouthful of blood.


    "Pete, what happened?" Seeing this, Carter¡¯s expression changed drastically.


    "The opponent spectre¡¯s power suddenly became stronger. My attack was reflected back at me, so I suffered some injury." Pete rubbed at his brow with his fingers, beginning to soothe his somewhat chaotic spectre power after suffering from the counterattack.


    "Could the opponent be ying around with us?" Carter¡¯s expression fluctuated uncertainly. The power of a typical spectre was stable and would not suddenly increase by so much at once. The only exnation he could think of was that the opponent had not been going all-out from the start.


    Carter¡¯s words made Pete¡¯s expression change as well. "Then what do we do?" If the other was truly ying a pig to eat a tiger, then they were truly in a very bad position. No one wants to die, even if these people were spectres who had always been reaping the lives of others.


    "D*mn, how much longer will they need to handle things over at the trap?" said Carter angrily. In order to ensure their safety, he had immediately contacted D2 who had been holding the fort at the heart of the base, telling him to inform D1 to send another spectre over to help as soon as possible.


    D2 had responded quickly, telling Carter that there was a great fight around the trap at the moment. The enemy spectre there was extremely powerful, so they needed two spectres working together to kill the other. It would be difficult to pull either spectre out for the time being, so he could only ask that they continue to hold on.


    D2¡¯s words implied that both sides were simrly fighting just one enemy spectre, so why did they need an extra hand when killing the enemy spectre at the trap was only a matter of time? In particr, the part where he told them to continue holding on was obviously tinged with contempt. This made Carter so angry he could feel the rage swell in his chest. In the end, he could only grit his teeth and say that they would take down the enemy spectre on their own, as long as the mecha warriors could handle all the other small fry; the connotation being that these mecha warriors sent by D2 were truly too weak.


    These two were so at odds because spectres and hackers belonged to two separate systems inpetition with one another, neither willing to back down. Spectres have always considered themselves the gods of the virtual world, able to dictate the life or death of everyone in the virtual world. Meanwhile, hackers were just an inferior bunch of rebels, unstable elements in the virtual world.


    In contrast, hackers believed that they themselves were the true masters of the virtual world. They could alter the virtual world with their abilities, even turn the entire virtual world on its head. In their eyes, spectres were just a bunch of demons lurking within the virtual world, a bunch of revolting, dark stinkbugs that made them feel afraid even as they were filled with disgust ...


    Carter angrily cut off his call with D2. If their superiors had not ordered their group of spectres to listen to the orders of the hackers from group D, he would have long have given the other a taste of what¡¯s what.


    Knowing that they would not be getting any reinforcements, Carter and Pete held an emergency discussion and then decided to y it a little safer. This time, they would not attack one after the other, but instead attack together. Their original strategy of attacking one after the other was to not give the opponent any time to rest ¡ª it was a n to exhaust the stamina of the other spectre. However, now, in view of the unfathomable power of the opponent, they decided it would be better to attack together for the sake of safety.


    Thus, the two of them attacked Li Lanfeng at the same time. Thisbined spectre attack almost broke Li Lanfeng¡¯syered spectre power defensive shield. He had initially been able to operate his mecha to dodge the enemy mecha¡¯s beam attacks, but now he could no longer spare the effort to do so. Against the simultaneous forceful attack of two spectres, Li Lanfeng needed to use all his strength to withstand it ...


    During this time, as Qi Long and the others were dodging, they had managed to take down another three mecha by working together. Compared to how easy things seemed to be for Qi Long and the original team members, Li Shiyu was obviously struggling a lot more. He was hit several times by the enemy¡¯s beams, but luckily it was only one or two beams each time. With the protection of a beam shield, he had not taken any damage.


    However, the situation soon took a turn for the worse. Li Lanfeng¡¯s strange behaviour had been noticed by quite a few of the enemy mecha. In contrast to the other unhittable mecha who were evading their attacks so mysteriously, Li Lanfeng¡¯s almost immobile mecha was an obvious sitting target. They all knew to go after the weakest link 1 , and so all the attacks of these mecha began to congregate onto Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha.


    As he was the closest to Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu was the first to see the threat to Li Lanfeng. He rushed forwards without hesitation to use his own mecha as a shield.


    "Hells!" Qi Long and the others too became aware of the problem now. They all began to gather around Li Lanfeng, and this odd shift brought the attention of all the remaining enemy mecha who had initially been oblivious to the weakness of their team. The number of beams attacking Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha increased even more ¡ª with this, even Qi Long and the others had no choice but to control their mecha to block some attacks and try to divert attention. The team was put into a passive position.


    Ling Lan was just about to order Little Four to help Li Lanfeng finish off those two spectres when Chang Xinyuan operated his mecha to rush and stand before Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha, shouting, "You all go and finish off the other mecha, I¡¯ll protect Li Lanfeng."


    Following this cry, Chang Xinyuan¡¯s mecha suddenly transformed from a humanoid mecha into arge pot lid 2 . Therge pot lid abruptly stretched and covered Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha entirely ...


    "Holy crap, Chang Xinyuan, what is this thing?!" Qi Long saw the other¡¯s mecha transform into this extremely ck,rge pot lid and could not help but exim in shock.


    "One of my immature designs. I¡¯m not very good at mecha piloting, so I was afraid of pulling down my battle n in future. That¡¯s why I designed this most defensive solution. I call it Divine Turtle Shield. It¡¯s used to attract the enemy¡¯s fire, allowing my other teammates to attack freely ..." exined Chang Xinyuan, "But for now, I can only make this pot lid shape. It¡¯s rather far still from my original idea of a turtle¡¯s shell, and even its defensive strength is not at the standard I would like."


    "How long can it hold out for?" Ling Lan asked as she continued to fire her beam gun. She pulled her trigger consecutively, attacking a particr mecha ten times in session at the exact same spot, finally destroying that mechapletely.


    "It¡¯s able to block the simultaneous attacks of 10 beam guns for 10 minutes. The other side has approximately 20 mecha left. I should still be able to hold out for 5 minutes." Hearing Boss Lan ask about his shield, Chang Xinyuan quickly answered without daring to include any irrelevant chatter. Facing Ling Lan, Chang Xinyuan was still rather timid.


    "Good! Chang Xinyuan, mark this down as a merit for yourself. Lingtian Battle n, follow me!" With no more worries holding her back, Ling Lan gave this direct order and then charged on her own out into the fray.


    Ling Lan was not a person who liked to attack passively; she liked taking the initiative. Since Li Lanfeng was being protected by Chang Xinyuan and would not be in any danger for the next five minutes, she decided to go head to head with the enemy. Only in this way would they be able to hinder the other side¡¯s unbridled attack on Li Lanfeng so Chang Xinyuan would be able to hold out for even longer.


    As for those two spectres, Ling Lan was prepared to let Li Lanfeng continue ying with them, with Little Four acting as an alert guardian. Ling Lan felt that it was worth taking the risk if Li Lanfeng could gain a little more experience. After all, a battle between spectres was not so easy toe across.


    Howling exuberantly, Qi Long and the others charged out after Ling Lan. Finally, the des of the two sides shed, and the enemy mecha¡¯s thoughts of steamrolling their opponent by relying on their numbers were thoroughly crushed by Ling Lan.


    In order to bring her fullbat power into y, Ling Lan was using the standard Federation advanced mecha which was at the same level as the enemy mecha. Meanwhile, Ling Lan¡¯s true level had long been at mecha master level though Ling Lan was unsure whether she was in special-ss level or already in ace level. This was because she had promised her father before that before she managed to gather enough points in Mecha World to redeem an equivalent mecha, she would not cross-levels to operate a more advanced mecha.


    Of course, when Ling Xiao had found out that the mission she had received this time was an SSS-rank mission, in order to ensure Ling Lan¡¯s safety, Ling Xiao had handed his own imperial mecha to her and permitted her to use it at critical moments. Thus, finally operating a more suitably advanced mecha, Ling Lan¡¯s sealed powers were beginning to manifest. Like a wolf let loose into a flock of sheep, she began her wild massacre.


    A sharp roundhouse kick sent the 4 or 5 mecha around her flying. And as they were iling around defenceless, she raised the beam gun in her right hand and sent a barrage of shots firing at those mecha¡¯s cockpits.


    Her super strong close-rangebat skillsbined with perfect and urate marksmanship caused three mecha to explode in an instant. Ling Lan¡¯s super strong attack power bbergasted the surrounding enemy mecha. In unnned unison, they actually stopped their attacks to stare dumbly at that fearsome mecha standing tall within the raging mes and thick smoke.

 Chapter 334: An Intense Battle!

    Chapter 334: An Intense Battle!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In another hidden room, D2 was directing the hackers as they put their full effort on carrying out project T. Witnessing this scene unfold, D2 could not help but cry out, "He cannot be just an advanced mecha warrior! He must be an ace mecha master ..."


    Sitting beside D2, cold sweat poured from D3¡¯s forehead as he urged D2 anxiously, "Quick, inform D1 to send our ace operator over. Otherwise, relying on these mecha warriors alone, we won¡¯t be able to stop him."


    D3¡¯s reminder abruptly jolted D2 to awareness. Project T was just a little short of sess now ¡ª if the opponent managed to break into this area, all their previous efforts would be for naught. Thus, they quickly contacted D1, but the news they received in return was that the fight at the trap area had fallen into a stalemate. An ace operator who was infinitely close to breaking through into imperial status had appeared there as well, and their ace operator was currently already engaged in battle there.


    "We need to stall." Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s team finish off another 4 or 5 mecha, D2 knew he could not afford to hesitate any longer. He decisively sent the remaining two mecha teams over.


    "How much longer will it take to seed?" D2 asked one of his subordinate hackers who was carefully channelling his hacker power into a ck box inside the hidden room after the mecha teams had left at a sprint towards the battlefield on his orders.


    "It has already entered the propagation stage. Based on this speed, we need at least one more hour for proper formation." The subordinate hacker wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead and answered softly.


    "Can¡¯t you speed it up at all?" When D2 heard they would still need an hour, he frowned.


    "No more than we have. Any faster and it¡¯ll be dangerous. They will devour our power, all of it ..." When the subordinate hacker heard the request to speed up, his face instantly changed. He had been there during the research process of the T-virus. Previously, someone had once tried to speed up the cultivation process by sending great amounts of hacker power at it, but in the end, he had been consumed mercilessly by the T-virus. That person¡¯s final oue had been death.


    His subordinate¡¯s reminder calmed D2 down. He too knew of that incident that year and knew the cultivation of the T-virus could not be rushed. He could only hope that everything would turn out well ¡ª as long as the cultivation seeded, they could then leave the virtual world and quietly wait for the victory the T-virus would deliver to them. The Chinese Federation would be their prize.


    "Boss, they¡¯ve sent another two mecha teams over." The mecha teams¡¯ movements naturally could not be concealed from Little Four who was closely monitoring the secret base. This time, Little Four had learned from his previous mistakes ¡ª he immediately reported this to his boss so that his boss would not flick him in the head and bully him again.


    "D*mmit, forcing me to go all out." Ling Lan ced all of the energy blocks she had in her bag into the standard Federation advanced mecha she was currently piloting. If not for the fact that crossing levels to operate a higher level mecha was a great burden on the body, Ling Lan would have liked to use the imperial mecha more. Its standard-equipped six-tube maglev 1 cannon would need only 3 to 4 shots to finish off all these mecha operators.


    Ling Lan sighed internally. For now, imperial mecha could only be ast resort, not to be used unless absolutely necessary. She knew well that based on her current level of strength, she could only operate an imperial mecha for 5 minutes. Beyond 5 minutes, her body would not be able to endure the tremendous feedback force generated by cross-level mecha operation and would copsepletely.


    Doing such an idiotic thing in the enemy¡¯s main camp was utter suicide ¡ª Ling Lan would definitely not let herself fall into such a desperate situation just to show off momentarily.


    Ling Lan had just filled her power up to the brim when she felt a faint vibrationing from the ground. It went without saying that the final two mecha teams of the heart of the secret base were rushing over. Ling Lan¡¯s team needed to finish off these enemy mecha before them now before those mecha arrived. Otherwise, with the addition of 20 or more mecha, they would not be able to hold out no matter how strong their control skills were.


    "The enemy is sending reinforcements. Hurry up and kill off these mecha." Ling Lan connected to the team¡¯s dedicated channel and issued a decisive order. (Little Four had created this dedicated channel for the nine of them at the moment they had boarded their mecha.)


    Everyone knew the situation was critical and that they needed to go all out. Like Ling Lan, they plugged in the spare energy blocks they had in their bags, making sure their mecha were fully charged. In the uing battle, they would no longer try to save power by sealing away some of the advanced techniques that consumed a lot of energy.


    Qi Long and the original four plus Li Shiyu each controlled their own mecha and began sprinting. They weaved left and right as they ran so that the enemy could not predict their route, and so could not hit them with beam guns. Furthermore, this kind of airy and mobile running method made the enemy unable to determine which target they were aiming for ...


    All the enemy mecha became nervous, because any of their remaining group of 18 mecha could be the attack target of the six iing opponents. Suddenly, the figures of the six fluttering mecha vanished ... Oh, no, not vanished, rather, the six were drawing indistinct ephemeral streaks of light through the air. This was the advanced technique only advanced mecha warriors could learn ¡ª Light-and-Shadow Slidestep.


    There were two types of footwork techniques for advanced mecha warriors. One was the Z-flicker, which was in fact what Qi Long and the others had been using at first, while the other was the Light-and-Shadow Slidestep they were disying now. The reason why they had chosen to use the Light-and-Shadow Slidestep in this final attack with unnned synchronicity was because the technique not only functioned to increase speed but also had the effect of confusing the enemy. It would cause a disyg on the external cameras of enemy mecha, making it difficult for the enemy to determine their true position and attack timing.


    Of course, experienced advanced mecha warriors could make judgements based on pure experience and would not be fooled by the Light-and-Shadow Slidestep ... however, these mecha operators before them now were not truly controlled by humans but were true NPCs. Right after engaging them inbat, Qi Long and the others had already figured this out.


    In the settings of the mainframe, these NPCs only had 20% probability of not being confounded. In other words, the likelihood of them being confounded was rather high. Meanwhile, Qi Long and the others ignored these NPC mecha¡¯s wild beam attacks. The next second, they were already before their respective target mecha, ruthlessly lifting up their cold weapons to swing it down savagely at the opponent.


    The beam shields of mecha could be said to be specially designed to deal with a variety of energy weapons such as beam guns ¡ª against cold weapons which were pure physical violence, beam shields were rather weak.


    Five mecha were subject to fierce chops by Qi Long¡¯s group. The strikes instantly broke through the energy of the beam shields and the powerful force behind the blows mmed into the enemy mecha. The intense collision between weapon and mecha instantly created a string of sparks.


    Qi Long and the others had not been attacking mindlessly ¡ª the areas they had chosen to attack were the various joints of the mecha. In order to maintain the flexibility of mecha, the defensive strength of certain areas needed to be sacrificed during the manufacture of mecha. For instance, at the shoulders, the neck, the hips, the arms, the ankles, the knees and so on. Their chosen target areas made their attacks effective immediately, directly destroying a part of the mecha.


    Only one mecha managed to dodge the crisis this time. It had fallen into the 20% chance of not being confounded ¡ª it could be said that mecha had been extremely lucky. The one who failed was Luo Lang and this made Luo Lang rather displeased, unable to figure out why he was the only one so unlucky.


    Luo Lang gritted his teeth and followed up with another attack. Since he had failed, he would just have to make up for it. He did not believe that the enemy would still be so lucky to fall into that 20% the next time he attacked.


    Luo Lang was full of confidence for his attack this time, but when he found that he had once again struck air, his entire pert face became flushed red with anger. D*mmit! Even if his appearance was a little feminine, that didn¡¯t mean others could look down on him like he was a girl!


    Fuming, Luo Lang followed up with another Light-and-Shadow Slidestep. It looked like Luo Lang had decided to challenge the mainframe till the end. He just did not believe this NPC mecha warrior would truly be so lucky and avoid being confounded three times in a row ...


    Dreams are beautiful but reality is cruel ¡ª Luo Lang¡¯s confidence-filled third attack was once again evaded by the NPC. Right then, Luo Lang could not stop himself from cursing, "Bastard ..."


    ********


    Meanwhile, Ling Lan, who was attacking with both hands, had also been using the Light-and-Shadow Slidestep. Against real people, this technique more or less had its weaknesses, but against NPCs, it was extremely effective and was one of the primary techniques for all yers. The cold weapon she was using right now was the wondrous weapon Regretless that Chang Xinyuan had forged. The special sharpness Regretless possessed was disyed to maximum effect by Ling Lan at this moment.


    With a swing to the left and a sh to the right, Ling Lan instantly split open the outer shell of two mecha before her. She felt that the tough outer shell of mecha was not as sturdy as she had imagined ... her swings had sliced through easily, chopping right into the cockpit of the mecha.


    The cockpit of a mecha was its most deadly weakness because the operator was housed within it. Whether it was an NPC or a real human pilot, once the mecha¡¯s cockpit was struck, the mainframe would judge that a devastating blow had been struck to the mecha. Sure enough, the mecha exploded and on Ling Lan¡¯s screen, the notification window indicated that the enemy mecha had been utterly destroyed.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan could not help but blink, stunned, ncing over at Regretless in her hand in disbelief. She had always known Regretless was sharp, but she had not imagined that it was this sharp. A standard advanced mecha in Mecha World actually could not even hold up against even one of its attacks.


    Right then, an enemy mecha behind Ling Lan saw that Ling Lan had stopped moving after destroying two of hisrades. Thinking that he had a chance for revenge, he swiftly raised the cold weapon in his hands and swung it fiercely at the back of Ling Lan¡¯s head.


    Ling Lan, who had the entire situation in hand, thrust Regretless backwards without hesitation. This move was so concealed and sudden that the other mecha had no time to react, instantly pierced through the cockpit by Regretless.


    The highly raised cold weapon in that mecha¡¯s hands was now powerless to chop downwards. Executing a scorpion kick 2 , she kicked out powerfully, sending that mecha flying to crash into the back of another mecha who was desperately attacking Chang Xinyuan¡¯s pot lid with its cold weapon. The sudden attack from behind him did not give that mecha any time to react. He stumbled forwards uncontrobly, falling onto Chang Xinyuan¡¯s pot lid mecha, his attack interrupted.


    He was just about to struggle his way up from Chang Xinyuan¡¯s pot lid mecha, when two huge sets of teeth appeared on both sides of the pot lid to bite down mercilessly on that mecha. As the pot lid waspletely swarmed by enemy mecha, no one saw when the centre of the pot lid suddenly split open slightly to form a round hole. Then, a beam twined with purple shot out at the mecha caught in the grasp of the teeth, sting a hole of about 50 centimetres in radius through the mecha. The spot it sted though was precisely the cockpit of the mecha. And thus, the enemy mecha fell to Chang Xinyuan¡¯s pot lid mecha ...

 Chapter 335: Destroy Them All!

    Chapter 335: Destroy Them All!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    As for that mecha which had been sent flying by Ling Lan¡¯s kick, after its collision with its allied mecha, it had bounced back to crash into the ground and had not gotten up again after that.


    If anyone was paying attention, they would see a long and t opening at the heart of the mecha¡¯s cockpit. Blood was dripping slowly from it, gradually staining the ground below it red ...


    Having eliminated both mecha on her end, Ling Lan saw Luo Lang¡¯s third failure and decisively raised her right arm and shot a torrent of beams from her beam gun at his opponent, striking that mecha at its knee.


    The knee was the weakest point of defence in a mecha. Hit so suddenly by Ling Lan¡¯s attack, it instantly burst into a small shower of sparks, and the mecha¡¯s evasive movements slowed.


    At this moment, Luo Lang, who had still not given up, used the Light-and-Shadow Slidestep for the fourth time, swinging the cold weapon in his hands angrily at his opponent¡¯s neck. Perhaps because its knee was already broken, causing the mecha to be unable to retain its bnce, and also because Luo Lang¡¯s angry swing had an unusual amount of power behind it, the mecha was instantly sent crashing to the ground by the blow.


    Luo Lang was unforgiving once he gained the upper hand. Once again he raised his cold weapon and began shing it down again and again like a wild thunderstorm down at that mecha on the ground, so mad and violent that it seemed like he wanted to dice the mecha up into a heap of scrap metal. Perhaps even the NPC mecha did not want to suffer such abuse, finally deciding to self-destruct. Fortunately, Luo Lang had good reflexes and managed to avoid the resulting explosion and did not receive much damage.


    However, this scene just made Luo Lang even angrier. He truly felt that the mainframe was absolutely picking on him. None of the others¡¯ opponents had self-destructed, while his had just happened to choose to try for mutual destruction? Once more he charged forwards, kicking out fiercely at the burning scrap heap. That bundle of scraps was sent flying, and by sheer unfortunate coincidence, it was flying in Ling Lan¡¯s direction ...


    At this time, Ling Lan was fighting with two other mecha. Her Regretless was shing violently with the cold weapon of one mecha, while on her right, another mecha¡¯s cold weapon was shing down ferociously at Ling Lan¡¯s head. It wasn¡¯t that Ling Lan did not have any room to dodge to, but it just so happened that the ming bundle of scraps Luo Lang had kicked had appeared at the spot she would have dodged to.


    Luo Lang¡¯s initially towering rage was instantly doused by this scene. He felt a chill shoot into his bones and there was only one thought in his mind ... he was dead meat. He jerked and shouted, "Boss, dodge!"


    Facing this dilemma where either choice would result in a hit, Ling Lan just calmly kicked out against the mecha on her left who had been crossing des with her, sending the other stumbling back a step. Then, with a spin of Regretless, she smacked that ming ball of scraps and sent it flying towards that mecha which had stumbled back from her kick. That enemy mecha had not expected the fireball flying towards his opponent to suddenly fly at him instead; he was hit directly. The great force behind the crash made him stumble back uncontrobly for another 4 or 5 steps before he managed to catch himself.


    Although Ling Lan had dodged this flying ident, she now had no time to avoid the other mecha¡¯s overhead strike. But then, something miraculous happened. Borrowing the force of the smack she gave to the fireball, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha slid in the opposite direction for about one metre, and this one metre allowed her to narrowly escape that fierce sh by the enemy mecha.


    After evading the attack, taking advantage of the other mecha being caught in the tail-end of its attack, Ling Lan executed a flick and swish ¡ª with a cold sh of light, Regretless lopped off the enemy mecha¡¯s right arm. Ling Lan¡¯s attack did not stop there. Right afterwards, she pushed off her right foot and her entire mecha leapt into the air till she was about 7 to 8 metres off the ground. There, she lifted her right leg high before kicking out in a downwards side kick.


    A loud ¡¯bang¡¯ rang out as her right kick struck the mecha which had lost its right arm. The great force applied from above it sent the mecha crashing to the ground ...


    As Ling Lan¡¯s mecha descended, Regretless drew a lovely arc through the air. In the end, with its tip pointed downwards, it stabbed right through the mecha¡¯s cockpit. This series of actions werepleted in the blink of an eye ...


    When Luo Lang saw that Ling Lan had avoided the flying ident he had kicked over, he instantly let out a sigh of relief. But before he could rejoice for long, he heard Ling Lan say cially, "Luo Lang, when we return, private room training for a week!" As she said this, Ling Lan was coldly pulling Regretless out from the enemy mecha¡¯s cockpit.


    "Ah ..." Luo Lang groaned. He had only been venting a little ¡ª who knew things would end this way? One week of training in a private room, under Boss Lan¡¯s savage treatment ... would he survive?


    "Not continuing to fight yet? Do you want private room training for two weeks?" Before Luo Lang¡¯s groan had fully faded, Ling Lan¡¯s icy voice had risen eerily in the team¡¯sms once more. Thus, Luo Lang¡¯s initial mournful groan instantly became a savage howl as he leapt like a rabid wolf at one of the final remaining mecha.


    Qi Long and the other three had just finished off their own opponents when they heard Ling Lan¡¯s warning words to Luo Lang. Cold air seeped into their hearts and without even thinking about it, they too quickly leapt savagely towards those few remaining mecha ...


    Boo hoo hoo, Boss, we¡¯re performing so well. Don¡¯t take out your anger on us please. If you want to hold private room training, please just take the main culprit Luo Lang. Please don¡¯t involve us.


    The brutality of private room training was to the extent that the faces of Qi Long and the others would drain of colour at the mere mention of it. In order to avoid letting themselves experience such deep and enduring pain again, Qi Long and the others pushed themselves to their maximumbat power, beating their opponents sopletely that they could not resist at all ...


    Right then, Li Shiyu had also confronted thest enemy. Baffled, he nced at Qi Long and the others, unsure why they were acting like they had ingested some high-effect stimnts. Their battle power now was at apletely different level from before ... could it be that there was some hidden secret behind private room training? Perhaps it would be helpful for his research into developing the potential of the human body so he should find team leader Ling to discuss it properly? This was what Li Shiyu thought.


    Qi Long and the other few fighting to the best of their ability suddenly felt a chill rise from within their very bones ... was their boss truly thinking about throwing them all into private room training? At the thought of this possibility, they began fighting even harder, wishing they could kill off all the mecha before them immediately so they could tell Boss that they definitely did not need to go back for some private room training.


    Their ramped up performance let Qi Long and the others finish off their respective opponents within one minute. Seeing their initial numbers, which had been several times more than the invaders, instantly decimated by these enemies who had invaded the secret base, that mecha which had been sent stumbling away from Ling Lan due to its collision with the fireball could only stare in frozen fear as Ling Lan stalked towards him with a bloody Regretless in her hands ...


    Gripping his weapon tightly, he stared with red eyes at the demon that had killed almost half of their mecha in an instant. Seeing the other getting closer and closer, he finally roared angrily and turned to run ...


    "Hah? Actually choosing to run?" Ling Lan was stunned. She had initially thought NPC soldiers were all set by the mainframe to fight to the death. Unexpectedly, there were some who would react like real people and choose to run. At this time, the reinforcements the enemy had sent had already appeared within their visual range, the vibrations of the ground bing very intense ... an extremely subtle sneer appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s lips. With a swing of her right arm, Regretless flew like a bolt of cold light to pierce through that escaping mecha.


    "Ahh ..." The NPC operating this mecha let out a terrible scream. His body had been cut into half by that fearsome demon-sword. In the throes of the soul-consuming pain, he could see his internal organs spilling out from therge gash at his waist, apanied by a fountain of blood ...


    Blearily, he looked at the allied troops only 500 to 600 metres away from him. He really wanted to tell them to run quickly ¡ª this group of people were demons and not something they could fight ... but he could no longer make any sound. He could almost see what the final oue of theserades would be. Like them, these new troops would drink their fill of regret and be lost souls ...


    A squelch rang out suddenly by his ears. He stared helplessly as that demon-sword which had cut him in half left his cockpit. He knew that the demon must havee to retrieve his demon-sword. He really wanted to grab the sword, hoping to stop the demon from continuing to harm his allies with it. He used thest bit of his strength to stretch out his right hand ...


    Could he not catch the sword? He watched as the demon-sword disappeared from sight and left his cockpitpletely. Dejected, he raised his right hand and found that his five fingers were gone ... it turned out that he had actually managed to touch the demon-sword just now!


    As expected of a demon-sword! In the end, he swallowed hisst breath gripped by this final shock. Even in death his eyes remained open!


    After retrieving Regretless, Ling Lan looked at thest two mecha teams approaching them rapidly and coldly gave her orders to the team, "Destroy them all!"


    ********


    In the distant Caesar Empire, in an experimental hall of a military secret base, everyone was closely observing the thirty or so virtual login pods in the hall. Although they were trying their best to maintain their calm, they could hardly conceal their nerves and excitement.


    ording to the estimated time, after just a few more minutes, their n was going to seed. And the result of this sess was something that would drive the entirety of Caesar wild ¡ª it would allow the Caesar Empire to be the hegemon 1 of the sr system at once. Ever since the Chinese Federation had caught up to them 5000 years ago, they had lost the sole position of hegemon and could only share that honour with the Chinese Federation. It should be known that in the history of the Caesar Empire, they had ruled this star system for a whole 7000 years.


    How could they allow outsiders to sleep at their bedside 2 ? They had already tolerated the Chinese Federation for 5000 years ¡ª now they could finally get rid of their rival and taste their heart¡¯s desire.


    "Beep beep beep ..." Two of the login pods suddenly emitted emergency sounds. This likely meant that either something had happened to or there was some danger to the people inside those pods.


    This situation made the faces of everyone in the hall change as they rushed towards those two virtual pods. The pods were quickly opened and the nutrient fluid inside was quickly drained away. However, the people inside who should have woken up remained unresponsive, lying inside with their eyes closed as if they were deeply asleep.

 Chapter 336: Tricked!

    Chapter 336: Tricked!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Seeing this, a lieutenant general with two stars on his shoulder, the person in charge here, immediately instructed medical specialists to step forward and check on the men. Two medical professionals in white coats, each holding a small portable instrument, went over respectively to one of the virtual pods.


    The instruments were soon connected to the men lying inside the pods. Looking at the data reflected by the instrument, the expressions of the two experts became darker and darker. In the end, they could only stand up, shaking their heads, and tell everyone that the brains of the two people in the pods werepletely destroyed. In medical terms, brain death. Even though their hearts were still beating, they were actually already dead.


    "How can this be? They are elites from our bureau. They cannot be dead. You must have made a mistake." Hearing the professionals¡¯ deration, a major general of around 40 years of age could not help but point fingers.


    "Wilson, calm down!" The lieutenant general barked, shocking Major General Wilson out of his rage. He squatted down with his hands around his head, muttering uncontrobly under his breath, "What in the world could have happened? Why are Pete and Carter dead? Could it be that the Chinese Federation has discovered our plot?"


    "Didn¡¯t D1 say that everything was going well?" As if thinking of something, Wilson suddenly jerked his head up to stare sharply at someone in the crowd. It was a middle-aged man who was also at the rank of major general.


    "Although D1¡¯s group has sessfully infiltrated the virtual world of the Chinese Federation, there are many limitations. We cannot transmit any messages, and so can only wait for them to send someone back to find out anything about what¡¯s going on. Thetest news we have is from two days ago, when they suspected that the Chinese Federation had sent someone over to investigate. In order to ensure the sess of the n, they requested the help of some spectres ..." That major general was frowning as he gave a brief exnation to Wilson.


    Major General Wilson wanted to retort, but at this moment, the lieutenant general walked over and patted him on the shoulder infort and said, "Even though Pete and Carter are dead, this does not mean the project will not seed. For the Empire, some sacrifices are necessary. Let us wait another 5 minutes and we will know what the results are."


    The lieutenant general¡¯s words of constion made Wilson stop talking, merely waiting patiently for these final 5 minutes to pass. He too wished that the project would seed so that Pete¡¯s and Carter¡¯s sacrifice would be worthwhile.


    ********


    Meanwhile, in the virtual world, D2, who was holding the fort in the secret research centre of the Swift Dragon base, saw the two mecha teams he sent finally manage to stall the invading enemy at the central square of the base. He temporarily rxed but kept a close eye on the surveince monitors of the central square to observe the situation between the two fighting parties, and he did not forget to ask his subordinate hacker about the progress of the evolution of the T-virus.


    As the time ticked closer and closer to thepletion stage, while that invading mecha team still continued to tussle with the two mecha teams of the secret base, only then did D2¡¯s heart finally settle ...


    After this period of fighting, six of the nine mecha which had snuck in had already been taken down, while there were only five more mecha left from the two mecha teams sent. Both sides were scarred from the battle. D2 did not care. After all, the mecha teams protecting the secret base were all the original mecha teams from the Swift Dragon base and had nothing at all to do with them.


    D2 only cared about whether the mecha teams couldplete their task of holding back the invading mecha until the T-virus was sessfully cultivated. And now, it looked like the mecha teams were performing pretty well, sessfullypleting the task they had been assigned.


    At this time, even if the other party managed to finish off these final five mecha, they would no longer have time to rush over and stop their operation. The scene of him bing the primary hero of the Empire rose in his mind¡¯s eye. He was receiving the Supreme Medal of Honour from the Great Emperor and enjoying the frenzied adoration of his fellow countrymen in front of the House of Parliament ...


    ********


    In another hidden room, the two spectres who had been fighting all this while with Li Lanfeng were already panting heavily with exhaustion. They had almost used up all of their spectre power but still had not been able to break the other¡¯s defences.


    "What¡¯s going on? Why is the opponent getting stronger as we fight? At first, there would still be some fluctuations in his defensive power, even some openings. Why has it be so strong and imprable from half an hour before? We¡¯ve been attacking for so long and there¡¯s no effect at all?" Carter asked Pete who was beside him as he panted. This truly did not adhere to themon sense of spectre battles.


    Pete initially had not thought much about it, but when he heard Carter¡¯s question, a jolt ran through his heart. He was just about to say something when his heart began to pound in a warning from their spectre abilities. Their faces changed drastically and they hurried to pull back the spectre power they were using to fight the opponent, but it was toote.


    A powerful, overwhelming surge of energy wrapped their spectre powerspletely and then pulverised it. They could only hear their own spiritual power being squeezed like a water balloon and then there was a pop ... and then there was no more.


    No one saw as their bodies became tiny particles slowly dissipating into the air. This meant that their consciousness had been sessfully erased.


    "Boss, missionplete!" Little Four reported smugly to Ling Lan after returning to Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace.


    In fact, from half an hour ago, Little Four had silently begun intercepting the attacks of the two men. Li Lanfeng had been rather baffled by this, wondering why those two spectres attacking him had suddenly disappeared. Because Little Four¡¯s energy was too powerful yet very hard to detect, Li Lanfeng did not discover the truth.


    Ling Lan rubbed Little Four¡¯s head in satisfaction and looked towards the doors, asking, "Little Four, is this the ce?"


    "Yup, they¡¯re right inside. I sensed a familiar energy from inside. If Boss had not stopped me from going in, I would have long gone to find out what that energy is," grumbled Little Four.


    "I¡¯ll bring you in immediately and you¡¯ll finally find out what the final answer for this mission is." Ling Lan instructed Little Four to prepare to open the door. Right then, Ling Lan had already kept away her mecha, while the other eight members of her team, who had simrly kept away their mecha, were hiding behind both sides of the door. They were already holding onto their ownser weapons, prepared to rush in at first notice to take control of the situation inside instantly.


    "4 minutes and 30 seconds to go for the T-virus to mature," said that hacker subordinate who had been in charge of cultivating the T-virus all this while, sounding pleasantly surprised as he looked at the data reflected on the screen. Previously, they could only make rough estimates, but now, they could really determine the exact time the T-virus would be born.


    When D2 and D3 heard this news, they instantly ran excitedly to the screen monitoring the cultivation of the T-virus to wait together for thest four minutes or so till the T-virus came into the world. Right then, the doors which had been shut tightly all this time were suddenly flung open. Before they could even react, a team of warriors dressed in nightbat clothes suddenly charged into the room with shortser handguns aimed at them, shouting, "Don¡¯t move!"


    There were a few people in the room who had quick reflexes ¡ª they were just about to pull their own guns when the well-prepared opponents shot them in the arm, preventing their resistance. D2 saw that they had no chance at all, and so indicated for everyone to calm down.


    The situation was very quickly controlled. At this moment, crisp footsteps could be hearding from the doorway and then a person with a cool demeanour surrounded by cold air walked through it. His cold gaze swept dispassionately over them and actually made their hearts quiver unexpectedly.


    "Boss, taskplete!" Qi Long waved hisser handgun excitedly at Ling Lan. Whether it was in the real world or here in the virtual world, they would neverck for this kind of thrilling battle following Boss. Qi Long felt that he had truly fallen in love with this type of exciting lifestyle.


    D2 saw the final person who walked in and knew that he had been tricked, because this person was that strongest mecha warrior still fighting with the mecha teams of the base on the monitor screens right now.


    D2 and D3 reflexively nced at each other, knowing that they needed to dy. Even if they all died here, they needed toplete their mission.


    "Who are you people? What are you doing here?" Turning back to face the invaders, D2 pretended he knew nothing and acted just like an NPC would, asking in a shocked manner.


    He only received silence in response, however, as Qi Long and the others naturally would not say much with their boss around. As for Ling Lan, right then, her attention had been pulled away by Little Four in the mindspace.


    The moment she had entered this hidden room, Little Four had suddenly be extremely excited and had actually ignored her original warnings to run out. In the virtual world, Little Four could roam freely, unlike in the real world where he could only follow Ling Lan.


    One secondter, Little Four returned, his expression pleased and surprised, and he could not conceal his excitement as he said, "Boss, I¡¯ve discovered something great!"


    "Oh? What is it?" asked Ling Lan calmly.


    "Boss, it¡¯s incredible. I never expected this world to actually have such a thing." Little Four¡¯s expression was dreamy. Till now, he could notprehend why this thing would appear here. Logically, with this world¡¯s technology, this thing should never be here.


    "What in the world is this thing?" Ling Lan sweatdropped. This Little Four seemed to be so astounded by this thing that he was ungrounded,pletely out of sorts.


    "It¡¯s a type of virus, right over there. They seem to be in the process of cultivating it. This type of virus is really too famous in our Mandora star system. Back then it almost destroyed our great virtual world and killed off all of us intelligence entities. Luckily, we had a powerful mainframeputer so in the end we managed to resolve the situation." Little Four¡¯s proud tone had a trace of cold fear running through it, as if extremely afraid of that virus.


    Ling Lan looked in the direction Little Four had pointed out. D2 and D3 saw Ling Lan¡¯s line of sight turn towards the T-virus and were startled. Their bodies jerked involuntarily but they forcefully suppressed the reflex. They were well aware that they could not be too impetuous, or else the other side would be suspicious. They just needed another three minutes or so for the tides to turn and for sess to fall to them.


    Ling Lan walked over and one of the hackers tried to stop her from approaching. But before he could do anything, he had been pushed aside by Luo Lang who had been following right behind Ling Lan.

 Chapter 337: T-Virus?

    Chapter 337: T-Virus?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Only then did Ling Lan move forwards to find arge disy screen before her. On it, countless codes were shing by swiftly, and right at the top, there was an image of a cocoon. It was pulsing violently like a heart as a string of numbers counted down beside it.


    Ling Lan tapped on that image and asked Little Four, "Is this it?"


    "Yup, it¡¯ll be born in another three minutes or so. I did not expect your technology here to actually be able to cultivate thervae of this virus. It¡¯s truly amazing!" eximed Little Four.


    "How harmful is this virus?" Ling Lan thought of theputer viruses back in her previous world ¡ª those viruses would always cause various kinds of problems for thoseworks that got infected ¡ª and she could not help but ask worriedly.


    "It would cause the virtual world here to copse, but it will still be a baby when it¡¯s born and can only do so much. Once it matures, it¡¯ll be able to consume some of those people with low spiritual power ..." Little Four told Ling Lan about the harm the virus could cause. "In fact, once matured, it can be called an artificial virtual version of a spectre. As long as someone has less spiritual power than the virus, it will consume them."


    "This thing is truly vicious!" Ling Lan¡¯s brow furrowed and she mmed a heavy fist onto that image. "It looks like there¡¯s an organisation that wants to destroy our virtual world and even kill the people of the Federation ... what is this virus called, and do you have a way to resolve it?"


    "We call it the Doomsday Flower on Mandora, because its matured form really resembles a flower," said Little Four proudly, "We sessfully cleared it out on Mandora. In my databases, I naturally have the solution for it, not to mention that it still hasn¡¯t even been born yet."


    "Then help me destroy itpletely. This type of malicious virus should not exist in this world," said Ling Lan, tone tinged with revulsion.


    "Got it, Boss. I¡¯ll handle it immediately." Ling Lan had given her orders, so of course Little Four would carry them out perfectly. In the next second, Little Four had once again disappeared from Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace. Ling Lan knew that Little Four must have gone to wipe out that Doomsday Flower virus.


    Ling Lan believed in Little Four. Since Little Four said there would be no problems, then there would certainly be nothing to worry about, so she set this matter aside. She walked over to a chair by the side and sat down. Seeing this, Luo Lang automatically moved to stand behind Ling Lan. Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze flickered, and he also walked over ...


    He would not hand over the position beside the rabbit to anyone! Li Lanfeng wanted to proim this point to everyone from this point onwards.


    Ling Lan was not at all concerned over Li Lanfeng¡¯s and Luo Lang¡¯s actions. Settled in her seat, she tapped on the armrest and suddenly raised her head to look at D2 and asked, "Which faction are you all from?"


    When Ling Lan had pounded the image of the cocoon earlier, D2 had been extremely nervous, afraid that the other would notice something and think of a way to destroy it. Although there were still 3 minutes before the virus would be done and D2 did not believe the other side would be able to do anything to destroy the T-virus in this short duration of time, for safety¡¯s sake, he still did not wish for the opponent to notice anything.


    Now, seeing Ling Lan leave the virus alone to turn around and ask him this insignificant question, his heart rxed. His mind spun quickly and he decided to chatter aimlessly with the other for a while and distract them in these final three minutes.


    Having made up his mind, D2 calmly replied, "I¡¯m of course someone from the Swift Dragon base. Who the hell are you people? Why did you sneak into our base?"


    Ling Lan raised an eyebrow and she pped her hands slowly, saying, "Stop acting. You and I are both real people. Just looking at your outfits I can tell you all are a bunch of hackers. The mainframe already knows something is up here, which is why it sent us over to investigate. I don¡¯t want to hear you all say any more nonsense. If you don¡¯t want to talk, that¡¯s fine, I¡¯m sure I can find someone who¡¯s willing to tell me."


    At this point, Ling Lan turned her head slightly to the side and said to Li Lanfeng who was standing beside her, "Leopard, if he doesn¡¯t want to speak, you can ..." Ling Lan made a swiping motion across her neck.


    Li Lanfeng knew what Ling Lan truly meant with this gesture. He definitely wanted him to use his spectre abilities to kill the other party for a cautionary effect.


    Beside Qi Long, controlling the scene along with him, Li Shiyu could not help but frown slightly when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s gesture towards Li Lanfeng, a sense of aversion rising in his heart. However, he resolutely turned away and hardened his heart. Li Shiyu knew that they could not be merciful with their enemies at this time. And wasn¡¯t it the opponent who had sent two spectres to attack them from the start to kill them all? If Li Lanfeng had not been a spectre and protected them, they would probably all be dead by now.


    Although Li Shiyu was ratherpassionate, he understood well when he could be merciful and when he could not.


    Qi Long and the others had no objection to the proceedings ¡ª back when they had only been ten, they had already witnessed Ling Lan piloting a mecha to kill enemy mecha operators before their eyes. They had long be ustomed to Ling Lan¡¯s ruthlessness, and besides, they had been taught from young that they needed to show no mercy to their enemies.


    D2 did not understand the deeper meaning behind Ling Lan¡¯s warning. Stubbornly, he shouted, "You thugs, don¡¯t expect to make me submit! I will definitely report this to the senior officer and have him send soldiers over to kill you all ..."


    At this point of his speech, Ling Lan said nothing, only coolly making the kill gesture to Li Lanfeng.


    This was Li Lanfeng¡¯s first time killing anyone ¡ª whether it was in the real world or in the virtual world, he had never killed anyone before this. Li Lanfeng was under extreme mental pressure, but he did not want the rabbit to be disappointed in him. And so, with a clench of his teeth and a hardening of his heart, he circted his spectre power and leapt ferociously towards the enemy. As someone who wanted to change his fate, if he could not do something small like this, how could he talk about going against the heavens? Perhaps because he was clenching his teeth so hard, his entire mouth was filled with the stench of blood ...


    D2 abruptly felt a powerful surge of energy rolling over him, and his initially vigorous spiritual power was instantly sent scattering under this force.


    He saw his own body start to disappear slowly ¡ª not in the white light which marked a departure from the virtual world, but in a gradual dissipation into countless tiny particles of light.


    He stared in horror at Li Lanfeng, and with his final bit of consciousness, he croaked out, "Spec ..."


    After this final utterance, D2¡¯s entire being dispersed into the air, instantly vanishing into nothing. At this scene, D3 stumbled a great step backwards in shock and horror. If they had not been invaders and thus were not able to go offline from this Swift Dragon base, they would have definitely chosen to leave this ce as soon as they could. This was because, before spectres in the virtual world, they were like a bunch of defenceless children without any ability to fight back.


    Ling Lan watched dispassionately as D2 disappeared and then turned to look at D3, asking calmly, "Are you willing to talk? Or perhaps you want to be like him?"


    At these words, D3 nodded his head emphatically, showing that he was willing to cooperate. He instinctively looked towards the cultivation area of the T-virus. Due to D2¡¯s stalling, he only needed to dy the opponents for another one minute or so and everything would work out. At that time, he would definitely avenge D2.


    "Where are you all from?" Ling Lan continued to ask.


    D3¡¯s gaze flickered and then he answered, "We¡¯re from the anti-government freedom army."


    "A terrorist organisation?" The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips curled up in a subtle sneer and she once again gave the kill signal to Li Lanfeng.


    D3 shouted out in terror, "I¡¯ve already answered. Why do you still want to kill me?"


    D3¡¯s terrified question did not garner Ling Lan¡¯s reply. Ling Lan merely flicked her fingers and Li Lanfeng resolutely ran the other over with his spectre power. Swiftly afterwards, D3 followed in D2¡¯s footsteps and disappeared from this virtual world. If he were still conscious, he would probably be regretting his decision ...


    "Is it possible for a small terrorist organisation to have so much financial and material resources and manpower to cultivate such a terrifying virus?" said Ling Lan coldly. Her gaze turned to that hacker who had been cultivating the T-virus. "Tell me, isn¡¯t that so?"


    That hacker¡¯s face paled at these words. He found that this cold youth before him seemed to know everything ¡ª it was a suicidal act trying to deceive the other.


    "If you know, why aren¡¯t you trying to stop it? In another minute, it¡¯ll be born. At that time, the virtual world of the Federation will copsepletely. When you all no longer have a centralisedmand system, you all will not be able to resist our forces ..." The hacker finally could not help but blurt out in his shock.


    "Hn, you¡¯re very honest. I like that very much." Ling Lan nodded and continued, "But how would you know that I didn¡¯t stop it?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made the hacker¡¯s expression change once more, but he quickly calmed down. He just did not believe that the other would have a way to resolve the virus that even they had no way of controlling 1 .


    "From what you¡¯ve said, it proves that you all are from some other country. I just need to look at which countries¡¯ troops are moving unusually in real life and I¡¯ll have a list of candidates." Ling Lan could almost guess the truth from what the other had inadvertently revealed. "I know you do not believe what I¡¯m saying, so let¡¯s do as you wish and just wait for the rest of the time needed for the virus to form. How much time is needed? One minute, or ten more seconds or so?"


    "It¡¯s 57 seconds," The hacker blurted out.


    "Fine, then I¡¯ll give you all those 57 seconds. Let us see whether things will turn out as you all have predicted, that our Federation¡¯s virtual world will truly be ruined by that virus," replied Ling Lan evenly.


    Seeing Ling Lan¡¯sposed attitude, the emotion named panic inevitably rose within the hacker¡¯s heart. Did the opponent truly have a solution to this virus? No, they had researched so hard for 16 years before seeding by chance just once. Even they themselves had not been able to develop a solution ¡ª how could the oblivious Huaxia Federation 2 have the ability to stop the evolution of the T-virus?


    Fifty-seven seconds went by quickly. The T-virus the hackers had been eagerly anticipating did not bring any effect ¡ª the virtual world they were in did not change in any way and was still functioning normally.


    That hacker could not help but lunge to stand before the screen of the cultivation area. There, he found that the original shing codes and the cocoon image which represented the T-virus had already disappeared. The screen was a white nk, as if the T-virus they had cultivated had never existed in the first ce.


    "What happened? How could the T-virus fail? This is impossible, impossible ..." The hacker could not stop himself from shouting. Sixteen years of painstaking research, sixteen years of long days and sleepless nights, and in the end, all of it was but a dream ... when they woke up, there was nothing there. He just could not ept it; his emotions were thrust into instant turmoil.

 Chapter 338: Confession!

    Chapter 338: Confession!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "So worked up? He really won¡¯t be a very good source of information then. Since he¡¯s useless now, then let¡¯s send him off on his final journey," said Ling Lan lightly to Li Lanfeng, turning back to look at him.


    Li Lanfeng, who had already killed two people, was rather numb by now. Receiving Ling Lan¡¯s order, he did not even stop to think ¡ª once more he unleashed his spectre power and obliterated this hacker.


    The other hackers saw how cold and ruthless the other side was, clearly showing themselves as the type of people who would kill without batting an eye. In addition, the T-virus they had pinned so much hope on had mysteriously vanished, so their hearts had abruptly lost a major supporting pir. Consequently, quite a few men actually could not help but slump to the ground.


    "Now we can have a proper inquiry. Qi Long, bring the others to me one by one for me to ask them some questions, and then we canpare their answers. Anyone who dares to lie, we¡¯ll kill ..." Ling Lan¡¯s sharp gaze swept over the dozen or so hackers present and gave Qi Long her orders.


    Qi Long acknowledged the order and asked the other members of their team to separate the hackers to begin the one-on-one questioning, preventing them from having any chance of colluding. At this time, one of the hackers suddenly turned his head to look at Ling Lan and asked, "If we tell the truth, can you guarantee that we will live?"


    These words made the eyes of the remaining hackers light up, and they turned nervously to stare at Ling Lan, anticipating her reply.


    Ling Lan nced coolly at the other and the corners of her lips tilted up slightly. This nomittal half-smile made these hackers feel a chill permeate their hearts ...


    Ling Lan tapped her fingers against the armrest. Each tap prompted the hearts of these hackers to jump violently in response, till Ling Lan finally said, "If you all want to live ... that all depends on how you all perform." That said, she did not give the hackers any other chances to speak. With a wave of her right hand, she motioned for Qi Long and the others to continue their questioning.


    Seeing Qi Long and the others begin to busy themselves with their assigned task, Li Lanfeng, who was standing beside Ling Lan, did not go over to help. He leaned over and asked Ling Lan quietly, "If they all really speak the truth, are we really going to let them go?"


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and asked, "What do you think?"


    Li Lanfeng frowned and replied, "Letting them go just feels wrong somehow. But we also have no way to keep them here forever ..."


    Ling Lan pinched her left index finger reflexively with her right hand, her gaze shadowed with deep darkness. In the end, a gleam of ruthlessness shed through her eyes and she said decisively, "They¡¯ll need to remain here forever ... I cannot let them take any information about us back with them!" Ling Lan knew well that this decision of hers was extremely harsh and brutal, meaning the end of the lives of these dozen or so people right here. These people might not have done any great harm to the world and were perhaps justmon soldiers who were loyal to their home country. However, in order to protect these members who followed her, she could not avoid but be an executioner now.


    Ling Lan was well aware that their appearances had been modified by Little Four to look different from their original forms. However, even so, she was not confident that this could withstand the intensive investigation of a nation, or perhaps even that of many nations ¡ª there was always the possibility she might miss something. She could not let crisis befall herpanions.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words shook Li Lanfeng badly. He understood what Ling Lan was trying to say ¡ª whether or not the other party cooperated, Ling Lan was going to kill them.


    Li Lanfeng was a smart person ¡ª he instantly understood why Ling Lan had made this decision. They were still a group of cadets. Right now, they were now still extremely weak and vulnerable. Without the protection of the military, if they were discovered by the enemy, their final oue would inevitably be death. Regardless of which country these people were from, they could not let these people go. Moreover, they also could not take the initiative to request Federation military protection. If the Federation learned of their existence, especially about him, Li Lanfeng, the government would certainly never allow him to continue living freely on the outside. Spectres were not allowed to be free of the military¡¯s control.


    Li Lanfeng knew very well that if not for him, Ling Lan could have just reported this matter to the Federation military. The outstanding performance of Ling Lan¡¯s team this time would definitely amaze the military; this group of prodigies were sure to shine in the future. Entering the military system early to be given focused cultivation by the military, the futures of Ling Lan¡¯s team would only be better and not worse. It could be deduced that Ling Lan had given up on the honours and resources within easy reach, choosing to conceal this matter instead, all because of him, Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart felt a little hot. Looking at the cold as ice and seemingly emotionless Ling Lan who was actually very kind, his heart, which had initially been wavering at the thought of having to kill so many people, became instantly steady. The rabbit was willing to bear this sin for him ... then how could he be so weak?


    "Leave it to me." The hesitation in Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze was swept away and a savage light silently surfaced within his eyes. He could not let the rabbit¡¯s consideration go to waste. In terms of ruthlessness and decisiveness, he was still too far from the rabbit. If he wanted to be apanion who could fight beside the rabbit, he would need to make his heart be much fiercer and harder.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s reply made Ling Lan raise her eyebrows, a trace of surprise shing through her eyes. Ling Lan knew very well that this was Li Lanfeng¡¯s first time killing people, because when he had killed the first man, she had clearly seen Li Lanfeng clench his fists tightly, and she had even heard the other bite down so hard that his teeth sounded like they would break.


    Ling Lan had thought that Li Lanfeng would need a period of psychological adjustment. Even she herself, when she had killed someone for the first time in the learning space, had almost broken down mentally and had thrown up almost all of her guts ...


    However, the treatment provided by the learning space was not psychological counselling but endless ughter. It made you kill until you were numb to it. Every time Ling Lan thought back on this, she could not help but feel some lingering fear and silently rejoice that she had been mentally strong enough, that she had not been driven insane by the torment.


    Ling Lan¡¯s initial n was to let Little Four wrap things up and kill all of these people after she had led the team away from this ce. However, when Li Lanfeng had taken the initiative to ask about Ling Lan¡¯s ns, an impulse had made Ling Lan admit her real thoughts to the other. She had indeed wanted to see how far the leopard could go. Would he be unable to understand her decision? Or would he refuse to take action out ofpassion ...


    Ling Lan had considered many possibilities, but she had never expected Li Lanfeng to be able to adapt to the psychological pressure of killing so quickly and actually volunteer to execute this task himself. Ling Lan was well aware that Li Lanfeng was speaking honestly. He had instantly abandoned his weakness to be decisive and ruthless. Ling Lan was silently awed by Li Lanfeng¡¯s performance; there were indeed those who were born for the darkness ¡ª this leopard was truly not a good person ...


    Even as Ling Lan was silently eximing in her heart, she was extremely happy to hand over the task of cleaning up to Li Lanfeng. After all, it was always nice to have someone who was willing to share some of the pressure. Just imagine, taking the lives of so many people at once ... even Ling Lan who had been trained by the learning space to be extremely ruthless could not bepletely calm.


    Very soon, Qi Long and the others brought the confessions of those ten people over. Ling Lan rapidly scanned through the confessions and then pointed out seven of the ten people and said with a cold smile, "Seeking death on your own? That¡¯s fine. Leopard, satisfy their wishes."


    Havinge to a realisation, Li Lanfeng would no longer hesitate. Ling Lan¡¯s voice had barely faded when his spectre power poured out and easily erased those seven people. Just like with D2 and D3, they became energy particles of the virtual world.


    Seeing how ruthless Ling Lan was ¡ª giving a kill order without even asking anything ¡ª the remaining few people despaired, no longer holding any wishful hopes of survival.


    Ling Lan stared with interest at the faces of the remaining few and then said with a quirk of her lips, "You all still at least said some things that were true, unlike those seven who were spoutingplete nonsense. Now, I¡¯ll give you all one more chance. I hope that this time, you all won¡¯t let me down."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused the despairing eyes of those few people to once again ze with the desire to live. Being led away for questioning once more, they were extremely cooperative this time, to the extent that they even volunteered some information which Qi Long and the others had not thought to ask for.


    By Ling Lan¡¯s side, Li Lanfeng asked curiously, "Were all those seven people truly lying?"


    Ling Lan replied evenly, "How could that be? It¡¯s not like I verified anything ... but there is always the need to sacrifice some people to make sure the remaining people no longer dare to conceal anything."


    Only then did Li Lanfeng understand that Ling Lan had simply chosen those seven people randomly, using their lives to terrify the remaining survivors intopliance. It could be imagined that the confessions this time would be even more valuable. Li Lanfeng could not help but feel a pang of dejection course through his heart. He had initially been extremely confident in his strategic mind, but it seemed like he was no match for the rabbit in this as well ...


    The new confessions were out very quickly. Ling Lan browsed through them rapidly and was satisfied. She could already confirm that these people were from the Caesar Empire. Back when she had first heard of the Caesar Empire, she had already felt that this empire was definitely not as friendly as it would seem on the surface. No one would be so magnanimous as to share their spot as hegemon, which was especially true for a nation as strong as the Caesar Empire ...


    Now, from the looks of it, her first impression had been right. In order to deal with the Huaxia Federation, the Caesar Empire had put in quite a bit of effort. Spending 16 years to sessfully cultivate the embryo of a T-virus, they were truly tenacious.


    "Who¡¯d have expected it to be Caesar? Many soldiers in our Federation think well of the Caesar Empire. Fighting against the Twilight Empire all these years, Caesar has always supported us on the surface." Han Jijyun was the one who had brought the information over. Having looked through this info a step before Ling Lan, he could not help but sigh.


    "For a small empire with only 1% of ourary domain to fight us for so many years is impossible without the backing of these great nations." Ling Lan flicked the papers in her hand and said with a cold smile, "Plus, the profits of war are what theserge nations like to earn most."


    Just like those great nations in her precious world, in order to restrain the development of other nations, there were all kind of measures executed both in the open and behind the scenes, such as helping other smaller nations go up against those countries which were rising in power. The methods of the Caesar Empire were truly cut from the same cloth as those great nations back then ¡ª as expected of the descendants of one of those great nations.


    Han Jijyun dipped his head in deep contemtion at those words. He felt that what Boss Lan said made a lot of sense. Even though the Federation was so powerful and possessed such vast territory, it was still taxing to fight a war on three sides, and this was still with the concerted efforts of the Federation. As far as he knew, the Twilight Empire was not stable internally. It was constantly gued with civil unrest, so from where did it get the financial and material resources to fight such a long protracted war with the Federation? It stood to reason that there must be other nations involved.

 Chapter 339: Flaws!

    Chapter 339: ws!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Han Jijyun thought back on his youth 1 ¡ª every time he heard his father speak of the Twilight Empire, there would always be a sort of banked rage on his father¡¯s face. Back then, he had not understood why the Federation was willing to fight such a long protracted war instead of just finishing off those smaller empires ... looking back on it now, he had truly been rather naive. This enduring war between the Federation and the Twilight Empire was not purely between the Federation and Twilight ¡ª it also involved those great nations hidden behind Twilight ...


    "How godd*mn despicable!" Having figured things out, Han Jijyun finally could not stop himself from swearing. This caused Qi Long who hade over with him to stare in surprise. He had never expected the typically calm and astute Han Jijyun to ever behave so agitatedly.


    In order to salvage the image of his sworn brother in Boss Lan¡¯s eyes, Qi Long quickly changed the topic and asked, "Boss, we¡¯ve already received the answer for the mission. When do we leave?"


    They had managed to obtain unexpected information from these people¡¯s confessions about why the distress signal sent by the Swift Dragon base at the start had so quickly disappeared.


    When the hackers from the Caesar Empire had sessfully taken over the Swift Dragon base, they had not ounted for the presence of an NPC senior officer in the base who had actually evolved to have some sense of autonomy. When the hackers managed to rece the mainframe and gained administrative control of the Swift Dragon base, this evolved NPC immediately discovered the discrepancy due to this sense of autonomy. However, as it was only in the early stages of its evolution, it did not know how to act covertly. It had sent a direct distress signal to the mainframe and was instantly discovered by the hackers controlling the base. The hackers had killed the signal as well as the NPC involved.


    Still, the mainframe was the mainframe after all. Even though the hackers had sessfully infiltrated the Swift Dragon base and perfectly blinded the mainframe¡¯s search, the mainframe had still sensed something off about the situation. That¡¯s why it had repeatedly issued themand for the military and even yers to go investigate. Due to multiple previous failures with nothing to show for it, the mainframe had upgraded the mission to investigate the Swift Dragon base into an SSS-rank, while dispatching an elite investigative team from the military at the same time ...


    Coincidentally, Ling Lan had tried to ept a mission to establish her battle n at this time and just so happened to offend the city lord of Grandsweep City at the same time. The city lord had seen this new SSS-rank mission issued by the mainframe and this had given him the idea of using arge spin wheel. He had hoped to teach Ling Lan a lesson by saddling Ling Lan with this impossible mission. Therefore, there were many reasons which hade together to make it possible for Ling Lan to ept this mission. There was a share of luck and serendipity involved. It¡¯s hard to say whether Ling Lan¡¯s luck had been amazing or horrible.


    Ling Lan had also flipped to the part of the confessions regarding the distress signal by now. She searched through her bag for the mission token and saw that the vivid bright red words disying the SSS-rank mission had turned orange. Taking it out to take a closer look, a notification entered her mind¡¯s eye:


    n-formation mission, mission ranking: SSS rank. Mission content: A month ago, Fleet Swift Dragon, which is stationed at the Neb Boundary, sent over an extremely subtle S.O.S.. As the message was too brief, the Federation military was unable to determine whether it was a mistake or true request for assistance ...


    Mission progress: The relevant proof has been obtained. As long as this proof is brought back to Grandsweep City and submitted to the city lord, the mission will beplete. Warning: The person holding the proof must return alive and submit the proof personally to the city lord of Grandsweep City. If the person dies along the way, you will fail the mission!


    Receiving direct confirmation from the mission token itself, Ling Lan was very pleased. Hadn¡¯t they weathered all the difficulties toe to the Swift Dragon base just for this? They had finally found the answer and could return now.


    Ling Lan flicked the confessional papers in her hand in satisfaction and began to consider how they could return to the central district of Mecha World without any fuss. After some thought, she could not help but look in the direction of the investigation team sent by the Federation military which had been ambushed ...


    She abruptly stood up andmanded, "Let us go!" Since they had already obtained what they wanted, there was no point in staying here any further.


    Qi Long and the others acknowledged the order in unison, and Ling Lan walked right out the door without sparing another nce at those bound hackers. It was as if she had forgotten all about them.


    Seeing Boss Lan leave without saying what to do with these people, Han Jijyun could not help but frown slightly. However, out of his deep respect towards Ling Lan, he did not say anything and merely followed Ling Lan out the door. Han Jijyun felt that just leaving these hackers like this was not very appropriate, but he could not think of a good solution himself ...


    Qi Long and the others did not think as much, dutifully following Ling Lan out. Meanwhile, Li Shiyu was the secondst to leave. He looked at thest one in the room, Li Lanfeng, and his mouth twitched. He had a vague idea of what the final oue of these people would be, but he also really did not know what he could say. In the end, he could only let out an almost inaudible sigh before turning on his feet to leave the room.


    The remaining seven or eight hackers in the hidden room could not help but feel a surge of happiness when they saw the cold and ruthless lead youth leave the room without giving any orders on dealing with them. But after that, they saw that the final person left in the room with them was that spectre who had already killed so many of theirrades, and their hearts froze up in fear.


    One of the hackers seemed to realise something ¡ª his expression changed drastically and he screamed shrilly towards the door, "You said that if we told the truth you¡¯d let us go! You¡¯re going against your word! Bastard! Demon ...!"


    His wailing made the others realise what wasing as well. They began to struggle ¡ª if their hands and legs had not been tied securely by Qi Long and the others with a special method which could not be unravelled, all of them were likely to have leapt over to attempt a suicidal attack and bring Li Lanfeng down with them. This was because they already knew what the other was nning to do to them; the other had never ever intended to let them live ...


    Just like that hacker had said, that cold-faced youth was a demon who had crawled out from hell. Not a single person would dare to kill off so many of Caesar¡¯s top hackers just like that ¡ª even those great marshals of the Huaxia Federation would have chosen to tolerate this affront, too afraid of war officially breaking out with Caesar to actually give such a ruthlessmand.


    "If you all want someone to me, then me your country. Why did it have to turn its greed towards the Huaxia Federation ..." Li Lanfeng too understood Caesar¡¯s n. If Ling Lan had not been able to sessfully stop the T-virus, their Federation would have descended into a chaotic mess. The mes of war would have spread across the entireary sector of the Huaxia Federation, and all its citizens might have be ves from a dead nation. Li Lanfeng did not really believe that these hackers were trulypletely innocent,pletely meless, in all of this. This made his heart incredibly resolute.


    And so, amidst their howling cries, Li Lanfeng unleashed the full extent of his spectre powers, obliterating the consciousness of all the remaining hackers. Seeing all of these people¡¯s figures be countless white dots slowly dissipating into the virtual world, a petrified expression appeared on Li Lanfeng¡¯s face. Despite building himself up in his mind to be cold-blooded and heartless, telling himself he needed to be ruthless and firm, his heart still felt heavy and unanchored after truly killing all these people. It was because this was the first time Li Lanfeng had killed anyone, and he had ended up killing nearly 20 people at that. No matter how determined he was, he still felt a little overwhelmed by such a massive number.


    Spectre powers could really kill people invisibly ... Li Lanfeng felt as if his two hands were already stained red with a thick coat of blood, unable to be washed clean ever again.


    When they heard the screams and wails crying out ¡¯demon¡¯ from within the room, the rest of the team who had already walked out the door realised what the oue of those hackers was. Han Jijyun¡¯s expression shifted slightly before settling into calm. Once more, he looked towards Ling Lan at the head of the team, and the heat in his gaze ran even hotter. He found that their Boss Lan had unconsciously be even more formidable ¡ª this was not only reflected in terms of capabilities and skills, but was also reflected in terms of mentality.


    Han Jijyun knew very well that Ling Lan¡¯s decision was absolutely correct. By doing this, he had put a proper end to things, ensuring the team¡¯s safety for the future ... no one knew they hade here, so the Caesar Empire would never suspect that the ones who had ruined their ns were actually just a bunch of cadets. In contrast, even though he knew deep down that these people could not be allowed to live, he just could not make the decision to kill all of them.


    When Qi Long and Luo Lang heard the shouts of the hackers, they merely pursed their lips heartlessly and thought that those men deserved it. They trusted their boss and also felt that it was not a shame for these people who wanted to invade their Federation to die. Alright, soing from a military family, they had an innate hatred toward invaders.


    Only Xie Yi¡¯s and Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s pupils contracted sharply when they heard the screams. The two of them shared a look and when they looked back at Ling Lan once more, their admiration carried a kind of fear. It looked like this decision of Ling Lan¡¯s had shocked them considerably.


    When Li Shiyu heard these cries, his body trembled. Looking at the firm footsteps of Ling Lan walking at the front, he finally could not take it anymore and was about to speak when Chang Xinyuan, who had been observing him closely, stopped him by tugging sharply on his arm. Li Shiyu turned back to look at Chang Xinyuan in confusion, and Chang Xinyuan shook his head firmly.


    Li Shiyu clenched his fists and pushed down thepassion in his heart. He reminded himself repeatedly that he could not afford to be soft-hearted ¡ª he absolutely could not be soft-hearted ... the intelligent Li Shiyu knew rationally that Ling Lan¡¯s decision was not wrong, but his heart had still been shaken by those terrible cries.


    At this time, he once again recalled his mentor¡¯s words, saying that hecked the heart of a soldier. Back then, he had still been unable to fully understand those words, but now he knew. Compared to thesepanions, he indeedcked a soldier¡¯s heart. He did not possess the decisiveness and ruthlessness a soldier should have ...


    "Shiyu, the Li family needs your efforts in the future. I have faith in you but also worry about you. Your heart is too kind. This is both your strength and your weakness ..." These words that his eldest cousin brother Li Mn had said to him from his sickbed rang out once more by his ear, "One day in future, when you feel that this is your weakness, you must stay by the side of the person who makes you feel that way and learn from the other, until you master what you need to learn."


    So, eldest cousin brother, you had long known what my weakness was. You just could not bear to speak up and hurt my pride, right? And so you had tried to counsel me subtly, telling me to learn well to get rid of this weakness, right?


    Li Shiyu abruptly bowed his head, the sweetness in his heart oveid with a strong tang of sourness. His eldest cousin brother was wise and astute beyond imagining ... was this proof of the saying that ¡¯ those who are too insightful are sure to be hurt 2 ¡¯? So God would not allow this kind of person to exist in the world?


    At this thought, Li Shiyu¡¯s eyes were suffused with a wave of tenacity and self-confidence. He would definitely get rid of his weakness and then fulfil his heart¡¯s desire ¡ª he would snatch his eldest cousin brother back from the hands of God! For this objective, he would not falter even if he had to descend into the demonic pits of hell.

 Chapter 340: Mutual Destruction!

    Chapter 340: Mutual Destruction!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    At the main gates to the warehouse of the secret base, the two Federation hackers who had been impersonating guards by the gates were now slumped on the ground, unmoving, lying in a dark corner not too far from the gates. Meanwhile, Hollow Ground 1 , who had been protecting the gates while merged with the darkness, could no longer conceal his figure at this time. He fell over to sit within a dark corner. Under his blurred features, only he knew how tortured his expression was ¡ª he had already been holding on for almost two whole hours ...


    Right then, about 20 to 30 metres away from Hollow Ground, two ck-robed figures suddenly emerged from the darkness. Their appearance resembled Hollow Ground¡¯s, features blurred out while their entire bodies were swathed in their ck robes.


    The moment Hollow Ground saw these two appear, he knew that they must be the two spectres he had been battling for close to two hours. Who knew which faction they were from, and why they had infiltrated the Swift Dragon base.


    "So this is a top-ss spectre from Huaxia ..." One of the ck-robed figures stared down at Hollow Ground before them and finally said. The other¡¯s voice sounded mechanical, harsh and unpleasant. This odd sound was of course due to modification by the other side and was not the other¡¯s real voice. For self-protection, spectres would applyprehensive wless disguises to themselves.


    Hollow Ground did not answer. Right then, his teeth were gritted as he fought back valiantly against the spectre power attacks of the two figures. If this had been a solo operation, upon finding out that he was up against two spectres of equal power as himself, he would definitely have chosen to escape. However, he could not do so now. Not only were there two hackers here, there was still a team of hisrades investigating the secrets of the warehouse behind him. He could not abandon hisrades just for his own survival ...


    "You still refuse to give up even now. Struggling so hard ... you¡¯re probably doing this for the men behind you, right?" said one of the ck-robed men with a soft sigh, "I can tell you in advance that, just like you, they won¡¯t be able to live ... there is no so-called secret inside at all. This is just a trap specially set up for you all."


    Hollow Ground jerked his head up at these words, ring angrily at the two smug spectres with clenched teeth. Frankly, when he had been attacked by the two spectres at the start, he had already had the faint inkling that this was likely a trap meant for them. However, he had still held hope that there might truly be a secret here which necessitated the presence of two guardian spectres.


    "You¡¯ve also reached the end of your rope. Your tenacious spirit is worthy of our respect, which is why we¡¯vee out to meet with you now." The tone of the spectre who first spoke was tinged with admiration. "It was our honour to be able to fight against a spectre of your calibre."


    The battles between spectres were very brutal. It meant the death of one side or the other, or perhaps even the death of both sides involved. Still, this did not affect their respect and admiration for their opponent. Logically, with Hollow Ground¡¯s level of spectre power, he could have at most withstood one hour of their continuous attacks. However, Hollow Ground had obstinately held out for almost double that time. This sort of tenacity and indomitable spirit had earned the admiration of these two spectres.


    Frankly, their Caesar Empire had never been able to figure out how some Huaxia Federation soldiers who were obviously not that strong would suddenly break out withbat power multiple times their personal baseline during critical moments. Such as this spectre before them who had managed to hold out for twice the amount of time.


    When Hollow Ground heard this, realisation shed across his eyes. No wonder his opponents had chosen to appear so suddenly before him. His emotions wereplicated; in the end, he could only sigh and say, "In the end, I¡¯ve still lost."


    He was well aware that he was at the end of his rope and would not be able to hold out for much longer. In contrast, the other side were still pretty spry as the two men had worked together to attack, each taking some time to rest and recuperate. Hence, their spectre powers were still abundant ¡ª the final oue was clear.


    The other ck-robed spectremented with some pity, "From the moment you stepped into the Swift Dragon base, we were destined to fight to the death. If possible, could you tell us your code name?"


    "I can¡¯t have my name end up as your trophy. I cannot let my country lose face this way." Hollow Ground grinned wryly as he responded. Without showing any outward signs, hepressed all of his remaining spectre power and then unleashed it in one st towards one of the men. Even if he died, he would pull one of them down with him ...


    Hollow Ground¡¯s spectre power and one of the opponent spectres¡¯ power suddenly shed violently. Although there was nothing visible in the virtual world, one of the ck-robed spectres heard a loud explosion right by his ear. The forceful collision of power caused his entire consciousness to shudder, feeling as if it would be sent scattering.


    Seeing this, the other ck-robed spectre¡¯s face paled drastically. He reacted quickly and acted decisively to send his spectre power over to help hispanion intercept part of the attack. The two of them had always been partners, so they understood and were well familiar with each other¡¯s spectre power. At this most critical moment, he swiftly merged his own spectre power with hispanion¡¯s, and parried that most intense blow.


    The ck-robed person who had been caught unprepared by Hollow Ground¡¯s spiritual power attack was sent stumbling back three paces to fall over. Seated on the ground, he could not help but throw up a mouthful of blood. Meanwhile, the other ck-robed figure was left trembling, his face flushing red and white. However, he soon recovered and seemed to have not taken any damage.


    Hollow Ground had made his final attack. Seeing it sessfully intercepted by the opponents, he could only nce longingly with regret at this virtual world. His entire body was slowly turning into countless white spots, beginning to drift and scatter apart ... perhaps when he had first epted the mission, he had never expected that he would lose his wings 2 here. The only pity was that he actually did not know who was responsible for his death and so could not notify hispanions to help take revenge on his behalf.


    The two ck-robed spectres saw Hollow Ground¡¯s figure vanishingpletely to be one with the virtual world. Only then did they sigh softly and rx. The injured ck-robed person chuckled wryly and said, "Reiter, who knew his death blow would be so powerful? If you hadn¡¯t helped me block in time, I would have been injured terribly even if I didn¡¯t die."


    "Witt, you must have been distracted during our lessons," Reiter could not help but scold when he caught his breath.


    "Huh?" Witt turned to look back at his friend in confusion.


    "The instructor mentioned very clearly in ss that the spectres of other countries all have their own unique characteristics in battle. For the spectres of the Huaxia Federation, we must be especially careful of their final attack right before death. When they have failed, the Federation soldiers are particrly fond of mutual destruction tactics." Reiter recited what the instructor had said back then.


    After listening to what Reiter had to say, Witt stuck his tongue out in dyed fear. He had indeed lost focus for a bit during their sses, but he had not expected to miss such an important piece of information 3 . This had almost caused him to drink the fruits of regret right here ¡ª luckily his partner was on point and had saved his life.


    While Reiter had been speaking, he had also used his spectre power to erase the two hackers lying on the ground. Without Hollow Ground¡¯s protection, these two unconscious hackers could no longer be saved. Just like Hollow Ground, they turned into white spots which vanished into the air.


    In the headquarters of the National Security Agency of the Huaxia Federation, ring rms rang out abruptly from within one of the rooms. Complexion draining of colour, the staff member monitoring to one side quickly leapt towards three virtual pods which were shing with red lights ...


    ********


    "We¡¯ve finally finished off this spectre. It actually took us close to two hours. How shameful. Witt, quickly rush over to the heart of the secret base now and help Carter¡¯s group deal with the spectre there." Reiter had received D1¡¯s notification a long while back and knew that the spectre at Carter¡¯s side was even stronger than the one here. The two of them were fighting neck-and-neck with the enemy spectre, both sides unable to do anything about the other, locked in a stalemate. Thus, Carter had specially requested Witt¡¯s help. If not for the fact that the battle here was also at a critical juncture, Reiter would have long sent Witt over to help.


    "D1 has not received any more messages from D2. Carter¡¯s side has probably already gotten things under control over there. There¡¯s not much point for me to go over there. I might as well follow you and go handle that team of small fries below." Witt was rather reluctant. He was afraid that he would rush over only to find that Carter and his team had already handled the enemy. Not only would he have travelled all that way for nothing, he would not even obtain any of the battle merits on this end.


    Reiter red at him in exasperation and scolded, "Asshole, go if I tell you to go. What are you thering on about?" Seeing the obvious reluctance on Witt¡¯s face, Reiter¡¯s heart abruptly softened and he said, "Don¡¯t worry, if there¡¯s nothing for you to do there, I¡¯ll share half of the merits I earn here with you."


    Reiter naturally knew what Witt was worried about, so he shared his ns directly to assure the other. The team below had no spectres protecting them, so no matter how good they were at fighting, there were still like defenceless babes in his eyes. They were likembs for the ughter, not posing any difficulty at all for him as a spectre ¡ª he did not mind sharing this kind of effortless battle merits with his partner.


    "Reiter, you¡¯re the one who said it. Don¡¯t you dare go back on your wordter! I¡¯ll go immediately," said Witt happily. Without waiting for Reiter to respond, he disappeared into the darkness of the night, zooming towards the heart of the secret base. Although they could move through the skies and the earth in the virtual world like gods, moving much more rapidly than normal people, it was instinctive for them to move in the cover of shadows.


    Reiter saw Witt rushing off impatiently and could only shake his head helplessly. Witt¡¯s personality was still a touch too impetuous, but he was still young. With a few more years of instruction, all of this would no longer be a problem. Subsequently, he entered the gates, tracking the path taken by the investigation team of the Huaxia Federation ...


    He needed to finish off these people before Carter¡¯s side wiped out those invaders on their end, otherwise he would be the butt of their jokes. Having designed such a perfect trap and still needing so much time to finish off these people ¡ª if word got out about this, he wouldn¡¯t be able to show his face 4 ...


    ********


    Ling Lan had not walked very far with the rest of the team when Li Lanfeng caught up to rejoin them. Ling Lan swept a nce over Li Lanfeng ¡ª although hisplexion was a little pale, his expression wasposed and steady. Ling Lan knew that the leopard would be able to ovee this hurdle with his own strength. She felt extremely relieved inside and no longer worried over the matter.


    When Ling Lan¡¯s team had entered the secret base, due to the continuous battles they had to fight, it took about one and a half hours for them to reach their destination. On their way out, even though there were still quite a lot of soldiers in their way, because the soldiers¡¯bat power was considerably worse than Ling Lan¡¯s team¡¯s, the return journey did not take them as long. They were back at the mouth to the tunnel in less than 20 minutes.

 Chapter 341: The Sleeping Baby!

    Chapter 341: The Sleeping Baby!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    At this time, Little Four who had left Ling Lan to go wipe out the T-virus returned, suddenly appearing within Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace.


    Ling Lan saw Little Four¡¯s reappearance and knew that he must have finished clearing out the T-virus. Still, the potential harm the T-virus could inflict on the Federation¡¯s virtual world was too great, so Ling Lan could not help but ask, "Have you cleared out that T-virus, that Doomsday Flower?"


    Little Four grinned widely, nodded and said, "Yup yup, all done."


    "You¡¯re sure that the T-virus won¡¯t appear again in the virtual world?" Ling Lan asked again, still worried.


    "Yup yup, as long as Boss does not want to see it, the T-virus will not appear here." Little Four blinked his clear ck eyes guilelessly and replied with a sure expression.


    Only then did Ling Lan rx. She did not notice when Little Four bowed his head to hide a smile.


    Of course Little Four would smile sneakily ¡ª he had only said that the T-virus would not appear again if Ling Lan did not want to see it. If Ling Lan wanted to see it again one day, the T-virus could appear any time she wanted it to ...


    That¡¯s right. He, Little Four, had transferred that T-virus, a.k.a. the Doomsday Flower, into the learning space for focused cultivation. Little Four felt that there was no such thing as good or bad when it came to viruses. It all depended on who the user was. Besides, it wasn¡¯t easy for him to see something rted to the Mandora star system ¡ª Little Four could not bear to erase it just like that ...


    Mind you, the instructors in the learning space were unwilling to talk to him much due to his young age, and Ling Lan had so much to do in her daily life that she did not talk to him very often either. Meanwhile, in the virtual world, other than that little optical supeputer on that spaceship, he still had not encountered another self-aware intelligence entity in this entire virtual world ... yes, Little Four was feeling lonely.


    Little Four left Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace excitedly toe to a sealed space within the learning space in the next second. There, a baby was sleeping deeply suspended in the air. The baby¡¯s body was connected to countless white and ck lines whose ends disappeared into the endless darkness of this space. There was no visible end point.


    Little Four¡¯s figure shed once more and he was right by the baby¡¯s side in the air. He curiously reached out a finger to touch the other¡¯s soft cheek. Disturbed, the little baby¡¯s pretty brow scrunched up, and its bright red, little lips pouted angrily. It looked like he hated having his sleep disturbed by others.


    "Little fellow, sleeping like a dead pig. Being able to continue living, you need to thank your Elder Brother Little Four, you know? Yup, I was the one who saved you, so I should be the one to name you. What should I call you? Little Doom? Little World? 1 Nope, Little World sounds too much like my name Little Four 2 . That name was given to me by Boss. It¡¯s my exclusive title!" said Little Four, riled up. His eyes spun and then with a trace of cheekiness he said, "I¡¯ve decided. I¡¯ll call you Little Blossom 3 ... Little Blossom, you need to grow up quickly and wake up. Stick around with meter on and I guarantee you¡¯ll be treated well. Remember that I¡¯m your big brother in the future. You must call me Big Bro Little Fourter on!" announced Little Four gleefully.


    The sleeping baby did not know then that even before he had woken up, he had already been given an extremelyme name by the naughty Little Four. Only when he grew up did he learn how horrible this name was and lodged a firm protest with Boss Lan. Only then did he manage to retrieve his dignity and gain a new name.


    Little Four looked at the sleeping baby, his mood buoyant. He nodded happily, knowing that he would have a friend in the future ...


    Little Four was lost in the wonderful daydreams of his beautiful future when he suddenly raised his head and frowned. At that instant, he had sensed a spectre that should have been at the trap rapidly approaching his boss¡¯s location.


    Little Four¡¯s figure flickered and he instantly returned to Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace to immediately report his findings to Ling Lan.


    After finding out, without even having to think about it, Ling Lan sent Little Four out to kill that person. After killing more than a dozen people, Li Lanfeng was drained in both mental energy and spectre power. Ling Lan did not want to tire him out any further and risk unnecessaryplications.


    Witt, who was hurrying over, suddenly felt a chill run through his body. And then, an overwhelming cascade of familiar yet horrifying spectre power rolled over him. Despite his fast reflexes, allowing him to speedily whip out his own spectre power to defend himself, the power gap between the two was just too wide. His defence only made that wave of energy pause for a brief moment, and then his consciousness was crushed beneath it.


    He seemed to feel his soul splitting apart, and then his vision cked out and he was no longer aware of anything. He had no chance to see his own body slowly bing white dots to disappear from this virtual world, just like Hollow Ground.


    Meanwhile, somewhere else, the spectre Reiter who was calmly approaching his target, the investigation team, suddenly found his own spectre power vibrating violently. This was a warning sign. He stopped abruptly and after using spectre power to protect himself, he began to test his surroundings. He found nothing, however. Puzzled, he shook his head and could only continue to move forwards, but his demeanour was obviously much more cautious than before.


    When Little Four reported back to Ling Lan that he had already handled that spectre, Ling Lan¡¯s team had already arrived at the exit.


    Ling Lan swept a nce over all her team members and then took out that confession from her bag, intending to pass it to Li Lanfeng. "Leopard, safeguard this data. Remember, you absolutely cannot die this whole trip back. You must live to hand this over to the city lord of Grandsweep City, or else the mission will fail."


    Li Lanfeng was taken aback by these words. He did not expect Ling Lan to choose him to shoulder this great responsibility. From the very start of the nning of this strategy, it was clear how important this role was. Li Lanfeng had always thought that this role was certain to be for Qi Long or Luo Lang, because they were the second and third strongest respectively in the team. At the same time, they were also childhoodpanions of the rabbit, so in terms of trustworthiness, they should be at the top of the list.


    But now, this task had been entrusted to him. Li Lanfeng could feel the full extent of the rabbit¡¯s trust in him. This moved him greatly. He secretly took a deep breath and then very calmly reached out a hand to ept the data file. Li Lanfeng was now certain that his importance was definitely not much lesser than that of Qi Long, Luo Lang, and the others in the rabbit¡¯s heart. He must live up to the rabbit¡¯s feelings for him.


    Frankly, Li Lanfeng was overthinking things. Ling Lan had chosen Li Lanfeng because she felt that he was a crafty person with a scheming mind and a bellyful of murky water. Furthermore, his mecha control skills were as good as Qi Long¡¯s. No matter how you looked at it, he was from the stock of scourges whose misdeedssted for thousands of years 4 . She believed that even when it was ¡¯game over¡¯ for the rest of the team, Li Lanfeng would still be able to live on with vim and vigour 5 . However, this still indirectly disyed Ling Lan¡¯s great faith in the leopard ¡ª Li Lanfeng had not been moved for nothing.


    Ling Lan then turned to look at Qi Long and instructed seriously, "Qi Long, after this, you lead the team members to provide full protection to the leopard. Even if you all die in battle, you cannot let the leopard die."


    Qi Long¡¯s expression turned solemn. "Yes, Boss!" Qi Long and the others knew very well that the true challenge would only start after this.


    "After that, we will move as nned. We will split our forces in two." As Ling Lan signalled with her gaze for her team to move out, she also instructed Little Four within the mindspace, "Carry out the original n."


    Receiving his orders, Little Four immediately rubbed his palms together and got to work. Killing spectres had only been a temporary job ¡ª now, it was finally time for him, Little Four, to really showcase his skills.


    ********


    In one of the dormitories of the makeshift camp amodating the survivors of the Jinglong mainship, a soldier was constantly looking at themunicator in his hands. Suddenly, an expression of pleasant surprise appeared on his face and he quickly lifted his head to meet the nervous expression of thepanions by his side and said, "There¡¯s news! Themanding officer has seeded on their end and has asked us to start moving to take control of the military ship and wait for their return."


    At these words, a member of the group who looked to be the leader immediately nodded his head and gave the order. "Good, then let¡¯s start acting ording to the original n."


    These people immediately sorted out their weapons and quietly left the camp grounds, sneaking their way towards the spaceport of the military vessel. Their objective had been determined early on ¡ª the patrol ship which had brought them here in the first ce. ording to their n, when themanding officers came back, they would also sneak into this military vessel, and before anyone in the Swift Dragon base discovered them, they would start the ship and leave this ce.


    Ling Lan, who had long sussed out their n, decided to take advantage of the situation and let her team sneak onto the ship in question as well. This way, with these people from the military as their shields, no one would discover their movements.


    Qi Long and the others soon left the canteen ¡ª they had to rely on themselves after this. Ling Lan watched them leave and sighed softly. A data file suddenly appeared in her hands ¡ª it was that confession she had given Li Lanfeng.


    The almighty Little Four had already made a perfect copy of the document. Ling Lan would not put all her eggs in one basket ¡ª she had entrusted Li Lanfeng with a copy but had also kept a copy for herself. As long as one of them stayed alive, this mission could bepleted. This way of doing things was actually against the rules, but with Little Four making adjustments behind the scenes, everything became reasonable and eptable.


    Ling Lan once again kept the document away. She had divided their forces for two reasons. One, she wanted topletely eliminate the hidden threat. She could not let any of the people from the Caesar Empire who had infiltrated the base go, because she could not let any hidden dangers that could threaten her team members in any way to remain. Two, she needed to rescue those Federation investigation team soldiers who were entrenched in trouble. She still needed to use them as shields to deflect attention from her team.


    Little Four simted themanding officer¡¯smunication signal, and after rying news to those people holding the fort back in the camp, he left Ling Lan to go kill off those hackers hiding in themand centre.


    In the meantime, with Little Four providing cover, Ling Lan made her way to the warehouse at top speed. Although there was still one spectre there, having figured out how to control her spiritual power, Ling Lan had the ability to protect herself. Therefore, she was not afraid, and this was also why Little Four felt reassured enough to leave his boss.


    In a hidden room of themand centre, 8 ck-robed hackers were staring at the time on the screen before them with ashen faces. The initial estimated time for the sessful activation of the T-virus had already exceeded 20 minutes ¡ª they had already made the preparations to celebrate their triumph, but reality had intruded to p them in the face. The virtual world of the Federation was still operating normally with no sign at all of anything wrong.

 Chapter 342: Mutated Spiritual Self!

    Chapter 342: Mutated Spiritual Self!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    D1 and the others were not just sitting around idly. They had been constantly trying to contact D2 and D3 inside the secret base but were unsessful till the very end. Despite the good newsing again and again from the warehouse, their mood was steadily bing worse.


    They already had a vague sense that something was wrong ¡ª it was likely that an incident had urred at the secret base. Every time they considered this possibility, their hearts were filled with regret ¡ª why had they been so preupied with the victory at hand that they had not immediately transferred the spectres on the other end over to help when D2 had requested assistance?


    They were even more frustrated and hateful that the Federation army had yed a good move by using diversionary tactics to split their forces, destroying their initial sure-win scenario.


    "Say, do you think something happened to D2 and D3?" asked the youngest in the group, D10, unable to bear the depressed atmosphere.


    The only response he received, however, was silence. Seeing everyone¡¯s mood bing worse and worse, D1 rallied his spirits and retorted loudly, "Impossible! We just talked to them half an hour ago. D2 said everything was normal then, that the invaders had been sessfully intercepted by the mecha teams, while Carter and Pete had also gained the upper hand."


    "Then why hasn¡¯t the T-virus broken out yet?" D10 finally voiced the question in everyone¡¯s hearts. ording to D2¡¯s report half an hour ago, the T-virus should have already erupted 20 minutes ago. Why was there still no sign of it now?


    D10¡¯s words caused D1 to fall silent again for a few seconds before he opened his mouth again to rasp hoarsely, "Perhaps, some mutation urred when the T-virus broke out. After all, we have only seeded once. No one knows what kind of situation might turn up during itsplete formation. Or perhaps the virus has a certain incubation period after breaking out and will not immediately manifest itself ..."


    D1¡¯s words caused the others to take heart ¡ª indeed, just because there was no sign now did not necessarily mean they had failed. They might as well continue trying to establish contact with the secret base. Perhaps they would be able to get in touch with the people there right in the very next second and obtain some great news. Who knew?


    Seeing everyone cheered up, D1¡¯s mood lifted a little as well. He continued to say, "Just now, I¡¯ve contacted Reiter. He said he has already sent Witt over. With that, we should find out very soon what has happened on D2¡¯s end, and why we suddenly lost contact."


    After all, this was not their own country¡¯s virtualwork. As intruders, there was just no way for them to takeplete control. Almost every day, there was the risk of them losing contact amongst their separated groups. It was just that the disconnect had neversted so long before, previouslysting for at most a few short minutes. D1 reflexively nced at the procedural activation key he had pre-programmed. He really hoped he would not have to use it ...


    Their hopes rekindled, D1¡¯s group continued to try and find out what was going on with the secret base but they still failed. Not long after, they felt a horrifying wave of energy suddenly descend on their heads. Before they could react to it, that wave of energy had crashed down mercilessly.


    When D1 sensed that energy wave, his face changed drastically, and he eximed in shock, "Spectre ... this cannot be!"


    D1 initially thought that the Huaxia Federation had only sent one spectre this time, so they had purposefully lured that spectre and the Federation investigative team to the trap they had set up in advance. After that, they deployed two spectres of their own with the focused task of intercepting and killing that spectre.


    When they had seen the other party walking into their trap without suspecting a thing, D1 and the others had barely had any time to rejoice when they had received D2¡¯s urgent notification. They found out that the secret base had been invaded by another unidentified team and there was another powerful spectre with the invaders. This fact had soured D1¡¯s mood greatly ¡ª he had not expected ws to actually appear in such a foolproof n as theirs.


    However, D1 had not been too concerned. To ensure the security of the secret base, he had kept two spectres there to hold the fort. D1 felt that it should definitely be no problem for two spectres to handle just one enemy spectre.


    That¡¯s right. This time, in order to ensure the sess of project-T, the Caesar Empire had not only dispatched 30 top-ss hackers, they had also generously sent four top-ss spectres to handle that spectre the Huaxia Federation would send.


    D1¡¯s nning was actually ideal. Both spots had two spectres in ce ¡ª they would definitely be able to kill off the two spectres the Federation had sent. What he had never imagined was that they would seed at the trap but for the secret base area to end up in a deadlock. In this situation where they had the great advantage of 2 versus 1, it was unexpected for the other to be able to hold them off and hold them at a deadlock. It was even more unexpected that he had actually lost contact with D2 and D3 at thest minute.


    Frankly, he had already sensed that something was not right, but he also did not want to think or admit that they might fail. Deep down, he still hoped that everything was progressing as nned at the secret base, that this was just normal connection failure and that no idents had urred. However, when this great wave of spectre power emerged, D1 knew then that the secret base must be finished.


    D1 was not just a simple hacker ¡ª at the same time, he had also awakened spectre powers. However, he had chosen to develop his hacker powers because he did not want to lose his freedom. Perhaps he was naturally extraordinarily gifted ¡ª his spectre power did not stop evolving despite his choice. He had achieved breakthroughs twice on that end, advancing to advanced level, only one step away from bing a top-ss spectre.


    This had always been his secret. He knew that if the Empire military ever found out, he would definitely lose his freedom to be an experimental subject. Therefore, he had always sealed his spectre power away, only revealing his superior hacker abilities.


    This was why D1 had still been able to speak even under the wave of horrifying spectre power. Due to the seal, he had a certain degree of resistance against spectre power attacks.


    Still, even so, D1 could not escape this full-powered attack of Little Four¡¯s. D1 knew very well that under this horrifying spectre power, his spectre power could only provide some instinctive protection for a moment. Soon, just as if surrendering to one¡¯s own king, it would automatically release its defence to wee death.


    Inspiration sparked through D1¡¯s mind and he instantly realised that this spectre power was definitely not any so-called top-ss existence but an existence that had gone beyond top-ss. It was perhaps at the rumoured spectre king level, or perhaps even at the level of spectre god which had never before appeared in the virtual world ... These hypothetical types of existences had been mentioned in some of the research books he had read back when he had been studying about spectres.


    D1 watched helplessly as his group D members became white dots and vanished from the virtual world. If not for his spectre powers providing some instinctual token defence, he would probably have already disappeared without a trace like his otherpanions by now. But even so, he knew he did not have much time left. He saw his own two feet begin to fade away into white spots to vanish into the air ...


    "Are you a spectre king, or a spectre god?" asked D1 fearlessly. The ck robe concealing his figure had already been stripped away by that horrific wave of spectre power, revealing his original appearance. He was about 24 to 25 years old with handsome features, golden hair, sapphire-blue eyes, and sharply-defined features. These were all characteristics of Caesarians 1 ...


    "Eh? Actually still alive?" Little Four, who had initially assumed the sure-death of everyone with one strike, could not help but exim at seeing one of his targets still alive. The next second, Little Four appeared before the eyes of D1. The appearance of Little Four, who looked just like a 5 to 6-year-old boy 2 with a little pigtail braid sticking up from his head along with a chubby little figure and short limbs, made D1 stare at him in disbelief.


    "How could the Huaxia Federation have a being like you?" It was obvious at a nce that Little Four was a Huaxian 3 . Although D1 knew that the one who had attacked them must be a spectre from the Huaxia Federation, he was dumbfounded upon seeing Little Four¡¯s childish appearance, unable toprehend the situation. This was because at Little Four¡¯s apparent age, even the most talented spectre would have only be at the stage of awakening. Typically, a newly awakened spectre could only be at a trainee level ¡ª being able to advance straight into lower level would already mark one as an extremely aberrant existence, while advancing to intermediate level would mark the possibility of one being a spectre king ...


    But no matter how aberrant a child was, it was impossible for one to immediately step into spectre king realm. D1 smiled bitterly ¡ª could it be that the Huaxians¡¯ luck was not yet at an end, which was why they could be so lucky as to possess this kind of natural king? D1 could only think so in the end.


    Little Four did not answer D1. He only prodded D1¡¯s body and obtained the other¡¯s data. "You¡¯re so strange. Actually having both hacker power and spectre power existing within you at the same time, with both powers achieving quite a high level." Little Four naturally knew that the coexistence of spectre power and hacker power in this world was forbidden territory.


    "I don¡¯t know why either." Seeing Little Four acting like a little grown up, D1 found the situation hrious and actually broke out intoughter. Perhaps knowing he was going to die soon, D1 no longer suppressed himself. He might as well be himself without any restraints andugh if he felt likeughing ...


    "Hmm, there is a need for research." Little Four looked at D1 and perhaps the other¡¯s handsome appearance gave Little Four a favourable impression, for Little Four instantly came to a decision. Little Four reached out a firm little hand towards D1¡¯s brain.


    D1 stared in stunned astonishment as Little Four¡¯s hands sunk into his brain, and then he felt his soul being grabbed. It was as if his soul was being forcibly extracted from his body, or perhaps like his body was being torn apart ...


    "Ah ...!" The intense pain made D1 scream involuntarily, his entire body beginning to shake violently.


    However, the agony made his mind extremely clear. In his mind, he had thousands of questions ¡ª what was this child nning to do to him? Why did he hurt so badly? Why could the other¡¯s hand sink into his brain like this ... but he would not have the chance to ask these questions. By the time Little Four¡¯s hand pulled back from his brain, D1 had lost consciousness, falling into darkness. His entire body suddenly shattered with a cracking sound, turning into countless white dots to disappear into the air.


    All of Little Four¡¯s attention was on his right hand. He did not notice the little finger of D1¡¯s right hand twitching right before D1 lost consciousness. Somewhere in the distance, a hidden instation silently activated.


    Little Four opened his right hand. In his palm was a bundle of pure energy, shining with an indistinct white light. Little Four studied it closely and very quickly found that within the white-coloured light, there were several strands of gold that were easily overlooked, much finer than silk threads ...


    "Yup, as expected, his spiritual self is really rather abnormal. Looks like before Little Blossom wakes up, I won¡¯t be that bored anymore." The corners of Little Four¡¯s lips curled upwards involuntarily, his eyebrows bowed in a happy curve. It looked like he was in a great mood. "Consider yourself lucky, meeting me, Little Four, in a good mood, giving yourself a chance to live ..."


    As he muttered to himself, Little Four pressed that spiritual self onto his body, where it was then absorbed by Little Four to disappear without a trace.

 Chapter 343: Use!

    Chapter 343: Use!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Perhaps Little Four was very happy with the day¡¯s harvest, or perhaps Little Four wanted to rush back to help his boss earlier ... in any case, he did not check the scene properly before hurriedly leaving the scene. He did not discover a hidden secretmand being sessfully transmitted.


    Right then, Ling Lan had already rushed to the warehouse doors. Along the way, she had moved ording to the route that a clone of Little Four had plotted out for her, making her way unimpeded to her destination.


    "After this, there are still several traps, but the Federation investigation team has already destroyed them. We can just move ahead at full speed. One more thing. One of the enemy spectres is already close to the investigation team." Little Four¡¯s clone, who had initially been reporting coordinates and real-time situations suddenly became talkative.


    Ling Lan calmly raised a brow. "Little Four, you¡¯re back?"


    In the mindspace, Little Four¡¯s initially robotic expression copsed and he said sullenly, "Boss, how did you know?"


    Little Four had deliberately kept quiet when he had returned, wanting to see when Boss would notice he hade back. He did not expect to be caught out the moment he opened his mouth. This made Little Four feel very hurt.


    "Your clone doesn¡¯t say any nonsense," Ling Lan responded evenly. Although Little Four had many clones, his clones were all very mechanical. They were like programmes with specific settings, meticulously carrying out their tasks. Only Little Four¡¯s true body would possess strong emotions which were very obviously reflected in his tone of speech.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words dealt a double blow to Little Four. So it turned out his clones were thatme ¡ª from tomorrow onwards, he must improve his clones¡¯ intelligence ...


    "Finished off all those people?" Ling Lan asked Little Four as she continued to move forwards at high speed.


    At this question, Little Four was instantly revived in full spirits. He lifted a victory ¡¯V¡¯ sign up high and said excitedly, "Of course, with me, Little Four, in charge, sess is naturally guaranteed."


    "Found nothing unusual?" Little Four was often careless, so Ling Lan could not help but check with him again.


    Little Four thought of that spiritual entity he had put in a secret room in preparation for research and wondered whether that was considered something unusual. However, since Boss had asked him to erase everyone, that spiritual self he had extracted should be his spoils of victory ... it should be fine not to tell Boss about it. Little Four hesitated for a moment but eventually decided that he would report to Boss after his research bore some fruit. Besides, he had already defied his boss in secret so many times already ¡ª one more time wouldn¡¯t hurt.


    Thus, Little Four decisively shook his head and said, "Nothing unusual."


    Ling Lan trusted Little Four very much. Thus, hearing Little Four say so, she did not inquire further. Ling Lan knew that time was tight ¡ª since Little Four was already back, she immediately headed deeper into the warehouse at her greatest speed. In other words, she was charging towards the troubled investigation team.


    All the way, not a single NPC soldier showed up to intercept her. There were countless corpses lying beside each checkpoint ¡ª it looked like the investigation team was very thorough, making sure not to leave any loose ends, which saved Ling Lan quite a bit of trouble.


    When they had two checkpoints left to go, Little Four suddenly reminded, "Boss, the spectre has already met up with the team. It looks like he is about to begin attacking them. Do you want me to immediately go over and kill the enemy?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s footsteps paused abruptly but instantly resumed again. Maintaining her original speed, she continued moving towards the two parties. She was silent for about 20 seconds before responding, "No need. Wait for me to arrive at the destination, then we¡¯ll see."


    Indeed. If Little Four took action, they could indeed easily rescue all these people, but how would they exin things after rescuing them? Little Four¡¯s actions would undoubtedly tell the investigation team that there was still an unidentified third party at work in the Swift Dragon base. They would definitely report this to military headquarters when they returned, and even if they knew that the third party were allies and not enemies, the Federation military would still want to investigate things thoroughly.


    Ling Lan did not have the confidence to keep everything under wraps in the face of a full-force investigation by the military. Moreover, she also did not trust the mainframe of Mecha World. If the Federation military tried to obtain information from it, the mainframe might just hand over their mission details to the military ...


    Well, even if the Federation military discovered anything, it would not be a big deal. Ling Lan believed that her father Ling Xiao would definitely suppress the matter ¡ª he would never allow the military to disrupt their regr military academy life. Still, Ling Lan was afraid that the traitor lurking within the higher levels of the military administration would leak their information to the Caesar Empire. The set-up which had trapped Ling Xiao those many years ago had let Ling Xiao confirm that there was a traitor within military headquarters. On this, Ling Lan agreed whole-heartedly.


    If Caesar really learned of their involvement, she and herpanions would definitely be swept into an endless chain of threats and attempts on their lives. Caesar would definitely never let them go for destroying the perfect set-up they had painstakingly arranged over the span of a whole 16 years. Just imagine. If it had not been for Ling Lan¡¯s group, Caesar would have already obtained the fruits of sess.


    Ling Lan had indeed rushed over with the intent of rescuing these Federation soldiers, because Ling Lan had been using them from the start.


    The moment Ling Lan had arrived at the Swift Dragon base, she had already asked Little Four toprehend the full situation at the base. They had discovered that there was a bunch of people from a powerful but unidentified faction within the base, who had sessfully reced the mainframe in taking control of the highest clearancemand rights of the Swift Dragon base. In other words, the Swift Dragon base was an NPC base controlled by the mainframe in name only. In fact, these NPCs were now already subordinates of the opponent; the mainframe¡¯s authority had been superseded.


    Meanwhile, Little Four had also discovered five spectres lurking within the base. Among them, one was part of the investigation team sent by military headquarters, while there were as many as four from the unidentified faction. This situation as reported by Little Four had made Ling Lan¡¯s heart heavy with worry. The presence of spectres meant that their mission this time had be extremely dangerous ¡ª any unfortunate slip might result in them losing their lives. Even though she had Little Four, this nature-defying protective talisman, around, she still could not dare to guarantee she would be able to protect all her team members wlessly.


    Spectres were known as ¡¯death gods¡¯ in the virtual world. Their abilities indeed defied nature and were terrifying. Any bit of negligence and you would be caught ¡ª they could instantly destroy a yer¡¯s brain region. Those who were turned into idiots but kept their lives could still be considered lucky; many more would be directly reduced to brain-dead vegetables with no hope of waking up again for the rest of their lives.


    So, despite having located their secret base on the first day, Ling Lan had not dared to act impetuously. Four spectres and close to thirty top-ss hackers. Even though Little Four had assured her that it was no problem, Ling Lan still did not dare to take risks with the lives of her team members.


    Even if Ling Lan had no other strengths, patience was her most prominent character strength. Without full confidence to ensure safety, Ling Lan would strongly suppress the urge to act and pretend she knew nothing. Thus, she had calmly waited at the Swift Dragon base for several days.


    Until tonight, when the opportunity finally came. The investigation team the Federation military had sent finally could not restrain themselves any longer and had prepared a night-time excursion to investigate. At first, Ling Lan thought the investigative team would be choosing to enter the secret base her team had found. But unexpectedly, the other team had been sessfully lured away by the enemy to a different location, which was the warehouse base that Little Four had long discovered was a trap.


    Ling Lan knew that if these people fell for the trap, it would be hard to say what the oue would be. Over there, there had been more than ten top-ss hackers monitoring the areaprehensively, and three strong and powerful mecha warriors and two spectres waiting on full alert. The moment the unwitting investigation team was ambushed, they would have been likely to bepletely wiped out. Back then, Ling Lan had had the impulse to go inform the other, but in the end, Ling Lan calmed herself down. She chose the cold-blooded option of observing from the side-lines, because she needed to take responsibility for the safety of herpanions.


    Despite her rational decision, Ling Lan still felt a little guilty with regards to these soldiers. Thus, once she had finished her own mission, she decided to rush over to rescue them out. Of course, another main reason for this was that she still needed the team to be her team¡¯s shields.


    Still, rescuing these people needed to be done under the precondition that her team would not be exposed. If rescuing the other team would increase the danger to her own team, Ling Lan would absolutely choose to continue observing from the side-lines. This was why when Little Four suggested she go ahead first to kill the enemy and save the team, Ling Lan had coldly rejected the proposal.


    Ling Lan pushed her speed to the limit. It had to be said that the virtual world of this world had been simted to be as realistic as possible, faithfully reflecting real-world physiques inside the virtual world. Ling Lan¡¯s strength at a half step to Domain let her move through the virtual world like the wind. Leaving behind but a fleeting shadow, she had disappeared from sight.


    About 40 secondster, Ling Lan silently arrived at the ambush point. Although the opponent had a number of hackersprehensively monitoring each corner, with Little Four¡¯s cover, Ling Lan naturally would not be discovered.


    Ling Lan was very surprised; only the three guarding the door were dead. The other people were all still alive and ounted for, but their situation was bad. Every one of them had been isted and surrounded by enemies. Ling Lan quickly understood the enemies¡¯ intent. They had not chosen to kill the team because they were waiting for their spectre toe erase the men directly. The people from the Caesar Empire were simrly afraid that when these people died in the virtual world and reappeared at a resurrection point, they would report to the Huaxia Federation and give the Federation time to prepare.


    When the investigation team of the Federation saw the enemy¡¯s spectre appear, they understood what the enemy was nning. Several warriors tried to kill themselves but were stopped by the enemies surrounding them. They had no chance tomit suicide even if they wanted to now.


    Seeing this, themanding officer grimaced. "We¡¯ve been tricked. Still, I cannot understand, Whether or not we get resurrected, it will still expose the fact that something has gone wrong at the Swift Dragon base. At most, you all can only dy things for several days." The moment they died, it would prove that the Swift Dragon base had been invaded by some unidentified faction with spectres in tow. This was because only spectres could obliterate a yer¡¯s brain. The military would definitely dispatch countless spectres over at first notice to hunt and kill these invaders, unless the enemy managed topletely retreat from the base over the next few days.


    "Just a dy of a few days will be enough. One more thing ¡ª preventing your suicides is not because we¡¯re afraid of you all going back to report. All your resurrection points have already been set to the Swift Dragon base anyway. We just don¡¯t want to bother with the time and effort needed to go erase you all at the resurrection point." Reiterughed when he heard what themander had to say, following up with an exnation as to why they had prevented the other from killing themselves.


    Themanding officer¡¯s expression changed at these words and he quickly looked up the relevant details. Sure enough, a few days ago, when they had firstnded at the Swift Dragon base, the system had sent a notification telling them that their resurrection point had automatically been changed to the Swift Dragon base. In other words, even if they hadmitted suicide, they would still be unable to return to Mecha World¡¯s central district. They would still be resurrected here in the Swift Dragon base.

 Chapter 344: Rest In Peace!

    Chapter 344: Rest In Peace!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Themanding officer knew very well that in Mecha World, there was no login point at the Swift Dragon base. In other words, as long as they were still in the Swift Dragon base, they would have no way at all of leaving the virtual world, let alone report to military headquarters. It looked the other¡¯s true intention was indeed not to stop them from reporting but to kill off all of them.


    "You all are going too far," said themanding officer through gritted teeth. He knew that the odds were truly stacked against their side this time ¡ª their only hope was that the enemy only had one spectre ...


    Reiter did not get angry in response; they had nned to turn the Huaxia Federation upside down to begin with. Right then, he was still preupied with thoughts of the secret base. After all, it was already time for the T-virus to break out yet there was still no unusual signs. This made him rather anxious. Thus, he did not want to speak any further with thismanding officer of the Federation. Circting his spectre power, he poured it out in a torrent at the other ...


    Seeing that things were going south, themanding officer quickly shared a look with an extremely in-looking warrior, and then the two of them leapt up. One of them spun into a whirlwind sidekick, while the other let go a flurry of kicks in the air, and they actually managed to send the people surrounding them flying. The next second, they came to the side of an army clerk who had been taking notes all the way and did not seem like he had a lot ofbat power and took up protective stances on both sides of him.


    In a world invisible to normal humans, two powerful forces collided forcefully. The bodies of Reiter and that clerk shuddered in unison.


    Reiter¡¯s expression changed. "Spectre." Who would have expected that there would still be another spectre in hiding within the Huaxia Federation team? If he had not arrived in time, the people ambushing on their own side might have been in danger.


    The clerk said nothing, only staring coldly back at Reiter. From their one sh, he had understood that the other¡¯s spectre power was probably stronger than his by a hair. A trace of regret shed across his eyes. If he had known the other side had spectres, he would have long killed off all these enemies when they had surrounded his team. In order to figure out the backgrounds of the enemy, they had chosen to tolerate and hold back temporarily. But from the looks of it now, that had been a huge miscalction.


    For the mission this time, in order to guarantee sess, military headquarters had sent two spectres on the mission, one overtly, the other covertly. The exposed spectre was Hollow Ground, while the hidden spectre was him, impersonating an army clerk among the investigation team. With the exception of themanding officer and his adjutant, no one else, not even Hollow Ground, knew of his true identity.


    The reason he had been tasked as the hidden spectre was that his spectre powers were rather unique and special. As long as he did not use his spectre power, his entire aura would be just like a regr person¡¯s ¡ª no one would sense anything strange about him. It should be known that all spectres carried a trace of danger on their aura to some extent. Spectres were extremely sensitive to this trace on the auras of other spectres, so the moment another spectre came within the range of their senses, they would very quickly detect the presence of kin. This special trait of his allowed him to y the role of hidden spectre on many a mission, and this time was no exception.


    Thus, when they discovered the enemy was a spectre, themanding officer and his adjutant had quickly rushed to the hidden spectre¡¯s side. Indeed, his spectre power was still pretty decent, but his physical attack capabilities were just like other spectres ¡ª terrible.


    "I just want to know ... what has happened to our people at the gates?" asked the clerk hoarsely, a hand pressed to his chest, trying to calm the roiling blood and qi within it. Seeing the other rush in from the outside, he already had an inkling that something had gone wrong. Hollow Ground was most likely in trouble, but he still hoped that Hollow Ground was safe and had not died in battle.


    Reiter chuckled in response and said, "Since I¡¯m here, what do you think happened to thoserades of yours?"


    The clerk¡¯s expression turned grim. "Hollow Ground, he is very strong." The connotation being ¡ª trying to trick me? No way.


    "Oh? So he was called Hollow Ground?" A mocking smirk appeared on Reiter¡¯s lips. "He refused to reveal his code name to the very end, saying that he could not disgrace his country ..."


    "Bullshit, Hollow Ground can¡¯t be dead," retorted the clerk. Hollow Ground was one of the top ten spectres of the Federation ¡ª how could he fall so easily here?


    Seeing this, Ling Lan had an idea. She asked, "Little Four, can you imitate the energy signature of other spectres?" Every spectre had a unique aura due to the signature of their spectre power ¡ª those familiar to it would very easily recognise a spectre by it, so there would be no incidents of idental injury.


    "Of course I can." Little Four pursed his lips, thinking that Boss was truly underestimating him too much by asking this question.


    "That¡¯s great then. Wait for a moment. When you hear mymand, immediately imitate Hollow Ground¡¯s energy signature and take the opportunity to kill the Caesar hacker." Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up, her n taking form. "Of course, make it look like a mutual destruction scenario."


    Little Four¡¯s eyes lit up at these words. This was a game he had never yed before. He quickly nodded, indicating that he would do everything his boss said.


    Meanwhile, Reiter could see that his opponent was shaken. His gaze shed and he decided to continue agitating the other, because a spectre who had lost hisposure would very easily reveal some weaknesses ...


    "All alone, he is very strong, but our side has more than one spectre." Reiter smiled cidly. At these words, the clerk¡¯s face paled. This was the potential scenario he had been most afraid of. One spectre alone would definitely not have been able to defeat Hollow Ground.


    Taking advantage of this window of time while the opponent was still riled up, Reiter once again slyly sent a quick bolt of spectre power at the opponent in a sneak attack. However, Reiter was disappointed ¡ª though the clerk looked like he was not using his spectre powers, he had actually been on guard all this time. Sensing the opponent¡¯s spectre power attacking, his own power rose up to meet it instinctively.


    Yet, the clerk knew that dragging things out like this with pure force would not end well for them. Even as he blocked the other spectre¡¯s attack, he threw a pointed nce at themander, signalling for the other to find a chance and escape immediately ...


    These two attacks had given Reiter a pretty good idea of the opponent¡¯s strength, which was a hair weaker than his. Still, to finish off the opponent, he would first need to exhaust the other¡¯s spectre power ¡ª this would be a drawn-out battle of attrition. At this thought, Reiter began to regret sending Witt back to the secret base so soon ...


    There was still no news from the secret base thus far (Reiter did not know that the mediating contact, D1 and his team, had already been wiped out by Little Four). Reiter began to feel anxious. He knew very well what they hade here to do. If something happened at the secret base, the loss would not be mitigated even if he killed off everyone here.


    Reiter¡¯s thoughts settled ¡ª he would not waste any more time. Mature and experienced spectres all had their own trump cards. For example, the trump card of hisst opponent, Hollow Ground, had been that final deathblow. Simrly, as the team leader of the spectres in this operation, he too had his own trump card.


    And so, Reiter¡¯s spectre power, which had already been stronger than his opponent by a little, suddenly became several times stronger. This took the clerk by surprise ¡ª with an involuntary grunt, he spewed out a mouthful of blood and his face turned as white as paper. This caused the expression of themanding officer standing by his side to shift. Themander threw a look at his adjutant and the adjutant immediately grabbed hold of the clerk and began running towards the outside of the enemy¡¯s enclosure with themander right behind them.


    At the same time, some of their other team members suddenly broke free of their restraints and began attacking wildly. These actions flustered the people surrounding them, afraid that if they identally killed the opponents, they would die and resurrect elsewhere on the Swift Dragon base and cause further trouble for them.


    Seeing this, Reiter shouted, "Impudence!" An overwhelming wave of spectre power rolled out to smash these Federation soldiers trying to make theirst stand.


    The clerk gritted his teeth and used the final bit of his spectre power to spread out a defensive shield to protect these braverades of his.


    The power of the two spectres shed violently once more and the clerk could not stop himself from throwing out mouthful after mouthful of blood. He could already feel his defensive shield about to be crushed by the opponent. At that time, it would be time for all of them to die. He was still too weak ...


    A deep surge of regret and unwillingness rose within the clerk¡¯s heart. If only he were as strong as Hollow Ground, perhaps then he would have been able to protect all these people and let them live. He could almost hear the sounds of shatteringing from his defensive shield. Just as he was about to give up hope and just wait for death to descend ...


    "Little Four, do it now!" Seeing this, Ling Lan ordered decisively.


    A powerful surge of spectre power appeared suddenly to intercept the other spectre¡¯s power. The clerk¡¯s gaze brightened ¡ª it was Hollow Ground!


    Hollow Ground sessfully blocked the opponent¡¯s attack; when Reiter sensed this familiar power signature, his expression changed drastically and he was screaming in his heart that this was impossible.


    Yes, he had clearly seen the other be white spots to vanish in the virtual world. He had confirmed that the other¡¯s consciousness had been erased under his and Witt¡¯sbined power ... so why then would the spectre power belonging to Hollow Ground appear here at this time? He could not understand it. He was afraid. But he would no longer have any chance to ask any questions, because even as that wave of power blocked his attack, it leapt at him in a counterattack.


    The strength behind the counterattack did not feel that strong, but Reiter found that his own spectre power was rapidly fading away. He was pushed back again and again, till he was actually being overpowered by the other¡¯s power ...


    This made no sense 1 ! This was Reiter¡¯s final thought, because this change had urred within the blink of an eye. Before Reiter could react, he had been erased by this seemingly unimpressive spectre power ...


    Everyone present saw the initially forceful and imperious Reiter suddenly explode into white spots that rapidly disappeared. The faces of the Caesarians changed; Reiter¡¯s sudden death let them know that things were not good. In contrast, this scene was like a shot of heart tonic to the soldiers of the Huaxia Federation, and they found their battle prowess magnified by several multiples ...


    Only the clerk had a sorrowful expression on his face. He could sense that as the enemy spectre¡¯s power had dissipated, Hollow Ground¡¯s spectre power had also begun to dissipate.


    From the spectre power of Hollow Ground that had yet to dissipate from the air, the clerk could almost feel the other¡¯s dense reluctance to die, as well as his relief that hispanions were safe and unharmed. The clerk was well aware that Hollow Ground had only died because thatst attack was Hollow Ground¡¯s final trump card. The trump cards of Federation spectres were basically all methods of mutual destruction. This was rted to the unyielding character of the Huaxian people ... Hollow Ground must have already been on hisst legs 2 after going through consecutive battles, yet he had still rushed over to save them. In the end, he had even sacrificed his life to save them.


    Hollow Ground, rest in peace! The clerk closed his damp eyes, pushing down the grief in his mind.

 Chapter 345: Ultimate Weapon!

    Chapter 345: Ultimate Weapon!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    When the clerk opened his eyes again once more, there was no longer any trace of sorrow within his eyes. All that was left was an endless coldness. Since Hollow Ground had left his hopes of life to them, then he would have toplete the mission Hollow Ground had handed to him ¡ª he would protect his team members and make sure they escaped from this ce.


    The clerk stared coldly at the enemies who were beginning to panic. Ignoring his injuries, he forcefully circted his spectre power which was nearly exhausted to wipe out all the enemies¡¯ consciousness. Let these people be sacrificial offerings for Hollow Ground ...


    However, forcefully overdrafting his spectre power made the clerk pay a heavy price. For some time after this, he would not be able to use his spectre power at all. Still, the clerk felt that it was worth it!


    Seeing the clerk kill off all of the enemies, themander and his adjutant instantly breathed a mental sigh of relief. Looking at their other team members who had survived with them, they had a strong sense of having evaded a disaster. However, their mood became heavy again very soon, because the clerk told them that he was unable to use his spectre power for the time being. In other words, he could no longer protect them, so it would probably be dangerous to continue staying here. No one could tell whether that unidentified faction had any other spectres with them after all.


    As such, themander quickly decided to withdraw his entire team. On the way, they did not forget to send a message to their waitingpanions about the n to control the starship ¡ª they would follow their original n to escape from the Swift Dragon base.


    Although they were not sure where this unidentified faction hade from, they already knew that the Swift Dragon base was now under the enemy¡¯s control. Their mission was pretty muchpleted. Furthermore, themander was afraid that there were still other spectres in the base. In order to protect the lives of his team members, he needed to bring his team members to escape from this ce as soon as possible.


    Little Four, who had been secretly monitoring them all this while, immediately intercepted the message they sent and fabricated an ¡¯order received¡¯ message from the targeted waiting team in response to themander¡¯s message.


    Meanwhile, at this time, at the spaceport of the Swift Dragon base, the Federation soldiers who had already taken action earlier had taken control of the starship without any difficulty. They did not know that they had aplished it so easily because Little Four had already finished off all the top-ss hackers from Caesar controlling the base. Otherwise, even though they still had a hacker providing cover by creating false information, they would have still been discovered by the enemy hackers controlling the base.


    They waited patiently for themander¡¯s arrival on the starship; they had sent the news of their sess to themander when they had taken control of the ship. However, themander¡¯s team seemed to have encountered some difficulty, for he only sent a message telling them to wait patiently before going silent. This made the waiting team begin to feel a little uneasy.


    Sure enough, it was not long before they noticed that the defence of the Swift Dragon base had suddenly tightened up. The guards of the base had begun closely examining the NPC survivors at the temporary camp. This made them even more anxious and worried. They were anxious that they were about to be exposed, and they were also worried that it would be infinitely more difficult for themander¡¯s team to sneak back to the starship.


    However, after waiting for about half an hour, themander sent another message: ¡¯ Already here. Open the emergency ess. Let us board. ¡¯ The arrival of this news was an instant relief to the waiting soldiers.


    Themander¡¯s team silently boarded the starship; the entire process was so smooth and unhindered that they almost could not believe it. Many times, it had clearly seemed as if the other party was about to discover them, but then the other side would be strangely drawn away by something to head in another direction instead. Puzzled, they could only believe that their luck today must be off the charts allowing them to sail through danger again and again.


    In order to ensure security, the Federation soldiers who were there earlier had already killed off all the NPC soldiers guarding the starship. This allowed themander¡¯s team to instantly rx once they boarded. They did not hesitate to go directly to the main control room of the starship. With the limited amount of manpower they had, they could only focus on getting the starship safely started; they had no mind to bother with the other areas of the ship.


    Anxious to rejoin hisrades, themander did not notice that not long after they left the emergency ess, the ess opened again silently. Ling Lan, who had been following them all this way, quietly slipped into the starship.


    Little Four mastered the entire starship instantly and very soon found the hiding spots of Qi Long and the others.


    Without hesitation, Ling Lan walked towards Qi Long and the others¡¯ hiding ces. Her arrangements had been set ¡ª now, she only needed to wait patiently for these Federation soldiers to start the starship and bring them back to the central district.


    On the way to reunite with Qi Long and the others, Little Four did not forget to brag about his achievements in the mindspace. Themunications between both the Federation parties were actually fake ¡ª Little Four had intercepted all messages on both ends before sending them out at the perfect timings, leaving no signs of his involvement.


    The moment themander arrived at the control room, without giving himself time to catch his breath, he had already begun instructing his team members to take over the operations of the various key procedures of the starship. Once everything was prepared, he gave the order to start the starship.


    While the starship was still, the NPCs of the Swift Dragon base had not noticed anything amiss here. But when it was suddenly activated, the loud roar of its engines and the energy response it gave out instantly startled the calm spaceport into wakefulness. Everyone in the Swift Dragon base knew immediately that their starship had been hijacked by an unknown faction.


    This made the administrators of the Swift Dragon base extremely angry. They decisively dispatched the armoured missile troops of the base to bombard the starship, trying to destroy the ship before it fully activated.


    Everyone in the starship stared nervously at the activation progress of the starship. For the starship tounch and fly, it needed to gather 100% of its power, and the prep time for this was a full three minutes. Everyone knew that these three minutes would very likely determine whether they would be able to escape from the Swift Dragon base.


    "Commander, they¡¯ve fired the attack missiles," reported a team member, having seen the warning sign on the screen of the radar he was monitoring.


    "Activate the defensive shield first," said themander through clenched teeth in the end, after considering several options in his mind in quick session.


    "Yes!" Another team member in charge of operating the defence system decisively turned on the defensive shield. The power store which had been shored up to 10% dropped in one go to rock bottom again. In other words, the starship had to start shoring up energy all over again.


    Still, themander¡¯s directive was correct. Activating the beam shield prevented the many missiles from destroying the main body of the starship. But even so, the explosive force of the missiles shook the starship around enough to make the people inside stagger.


    In the #3 mecha hold of the starship, Ling Lan¡¯s team were already seated in the standard mecha of this starship within secure seats. The anti-shock system of the mecha themselves was also much more stable than that of the starship, so despite feeling the vibrations, they were not as thrown by it as the people in the control room.


    Seeing this, Qi Long¡¯s loud voice rang out again in the team¡¯sms. "D*mn, this mission is just too exciting! Whether going or returning, it¡¯s all so thrilling!"


    "If it wasn¡¯t thrilling, would it be called an SSS-rank?" responded Han Jijyun lightly, leaving Qi Long speechless.


    Several soft snickers could be heard within the channel ¡ª it was Xie Yi, Lin Zhong-qing, and the others. To make Qi Long shut up, other than Boss Lan, only Han Jijyun could do it.


    The others were still alright, but Chang Xinyuan was rather nervous. He could not help but ask, "We¡¯ll be fine, right?"


    Ever since Ling Lan had brought up the fact that if they died here, they would revive within the Swift Dragon base and not the central district, Chang Xinyuan had been afraid he would die here due to the little bit of mecha control skills of his that were utter rubbish. That would hold the team back, forcing Boss Lan and the others to turn back to save him.


    "Yes. The defensive shield has already been activated. The anti-aircraft missiles of the base won¡¯t do much damage to the starship," replied Ling Lan evenly. Little Four was faithfully reflecting everything that was happening in the control room to her mindspace.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made everyone on the team calm down. They knew that it was not as simple as Boss Lan had said to escape from the Swift Dragon base. Every base possessed ultimate weapons to deal with starships and powerful mecha ¡ª their only hope was that the suprememander of the Swift Dragon base would choose not to utilise those weapons out of concern that there might be soldiers from the base on the starship.


    Finally, the starship¡¯s power gauge was full. Themander shouted joyfully, "Start moving at low speed!"


    Amidst the echoes of this order, the team member in charge of operating the starship slowly lifted the head of the starship and the starship slowly rose into the air.


    At this time, witnessing this scene, themand team of themand centre turned to look anxiously at the suprememander of the Swift Dragon base, awaiting his final order.


    The suprememander calmly zoomed in on the image of the starship and then mmed a hand onto the screen. He ordered, "Activate the ultimate weapon, the maic energy beam cannon."


    At thismand, everyone¡¯s expressions shifted. Even though some still felt it was rather inappropriate, in the strictly hierarchal NPC world, the lower level officers did not dare to voice any objections.


    By this time, the starship had already pulled several hundred metres away from the ground. As long as it could rise up to a height of 2000 metres, it could shift from low speed to high speed and leave the gravity pull of the base¡¯s to truly enter outer space. Only at that time would they truly be safe. Everyone in the starship¡¯s control room had cold sweat pouring from their foreheads. This was generally the most dangerous period for starships ¡ª this was the moment where starships were most easily struck by weaponry attacks from the ground.


    Suddenly, the team member monitoring the surrounding situation yelled out in horror, "The base has activated its ultimate weapon! We¡¯ll be shot down ..."


    Themander rushed over when he heard this. On the edges of the base, he saw what had seemed to be arge but normal, barren mountain suddenly split open, a massive cannon barrel slowly rising from its depths. Although only its head was currently visible, themander could tell what it was with just one look. His face instantly drained of all colour.


    If the starship was destroyed, even though they would not really die, with their resurrection point set to the Swift Dragon base, it would not be long before they were certain to be the prisoners of the opponent. Themander did not have the confidence to sessfully lead his team in escaping death for the second time. By the time headquarters noticed anything wrong and sent more people to stage a rescue, it would still be a monthter at the very quickest ... if the unknown enemy still had spectres hidden within the secret base, they might really end up losing all their lives here.


    At this time, the adjutant who had been standing quietly behind themander all this time suddenly spoke up to say, "I¡¯ll go."

 Chapter 346: Death Descends!

    Chapter 346: Death Descends!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Themander understood what the adjutant meant and immediately retorted, "No, that¡¯s too dangerous." Even though the adjutant¡¯s strength was infinitely close to imperial level, he had still not reached it after all. Relying on the defensive shield of an ace mecha alone against the base¡¯s ultimate weapon would at most buy the starship another ten to twenty seconds ...


    "We can¡¯t just sit here and wait for death. If we can earn a bit more time, then we need to fight our hardest for it," argued the adjutant passionately.


    "But, if anything happens to you, you will have no choice but to remain at the Swift Dragon base." Themander told the adjutant the likely oue of his actions.


    "That¡¯s still better than having everyone remain here. If by any chance something happens to me, as long as you all live to return, then you¡¯ll be able to submit a timely report. That will make it much faster for a rescue team to be sent ... I believe that I should still be able to hold out for a short three to four days," said the adjutant with a determined air. It could not be denied that he possessed the self-confidence and pride of an ace mecha operator deep in his bones.


    Themander cast a silent look at the adjutant, then nodded solemnly and said, "Fine. Go and make your preparations. I¡¯ll let the members of team C act as your personal JMC to guide your movements." At this point, themander paused for a moment before adding a final statement, "Take care!"


    The adjutant saluted respectfully. "Yes! Sir!" Done speaking, he resolutely turned to leave the control room of the starship. As he turned, all the members of the control room, including themander, silently saluted him. This was a sign of respect as well as a blessing for arade.


    Meanwhile, on Ling Lan¡¯s end, she had received news of the activation of the Swift Dragon base¡¯s ultimate weapon at first notice. This made her mood turn extremely grim, for every base had its own ultimate weapon whose power was exceedingly horrifying. It was thest resort to protect a base ¡ª a sure-kill weapon against starships and powerful mecha. No matter how strong the starship¡¯s energy shield was, it would at most be able to endure one strike from this weapon. After that one strike, the starship¡¯s umted power would bepletely depleted. It could be imagined that a starship without an energy shield would be a tant sitting duck ¡ª any slightly powerful weapon would be able to riddle the starship with holes.


    This development had pushed Ling Lan¡¯s team into a dire situation. The moment they died, their mission would be judged as a failure. Moreover, the key thing was that they could not leave the Swift Dragon base either if that happened, and so would have no way of returning to the real world. Sure enough, an SSS-rank mission was extremely insane. Even the ultimate weapon of a base had been brought into y.


    Seeing the adjutant volunteer, an idea sparked in Ling Lan¡¯s mind. She said to Qi Long, "Qi Long,ter, no matter what happens, you must bring the team back alive to the central district andplete our mission."


    Qi Long did not understand why his boss was saying this, but whatever Boss said to do, he would of course do his best to do. Thus, he acknowledged the order seriously.


    Li Lanfeng was stunned by Ling Lan¡¯s words, but he quickly figured out the other¡¯s intent. With a shift in his expression, he said, "Rabbit, you¡¯re going out?" Instantly, Ling Lan¡¯s half-dead, battered appearance after he had intercepted the maic tsunami with an imperial mecha appeared in Li Lanfeng¡¯s mind¡¯s eye, and Li Lanfeng felt his heart shudder.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words instantly enlightened the other members of the team about what Ling Lan was nning to do. They all immediately spoke up in protest ¡ª they did not want to lose contact with Boss again.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan cast a cold nce at everyone and then said calmly, "Obey my orders!"


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s tone of voice was extremely calm, her team members still felt a chill permeate their bodies. This cooled their ardent spirits instantaneously ¡ª their courage frozen in its tracks ¡ª and they did not dare to object any further.


    Only Li Lanfeng was not frightened into silence by Ling Lan. Perhaps due to his exceptionally strong mental fortitude, or perhaps out of courage due to his deep concern, he once again spoke up to say, "Rabbit, if you want to go, I¡¯ll go with you." He absolutely would not leave the rabbit behind and escape on his own.


    Ling Lan merely controlled her mecha to reach out its right hand and tapped Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha lightly on its head. "Leopard, you are still too weak. If you want to help me, improve your strength first. Otherwise, following me will just hold me back. Also, I have faith in you. Don¡¯t let me down."


    That said, Ling Lan walked out of her mecha¡¯s secured seat and let Little Fourmand the transport system of the ship to move her mecha to theunching device of the ejection port.


    Li Lanfeng was saddened by Ling Lan¡¯s words. So he was actually that weak in his rabbit¡¯s heart and was holding the other back? These words were truly quite hurtful ... he sat within his cockpit and clenched his fists, cursing his infirm body for the first time.


    No, he could not be discouraged just like that. Next time, he must make the rabbit understand that he, Li Lanfeng, was capable enough to fight by his side. Li Lanfeng touched the document in his bag. Since he could not help the rabbit at his current level of strength, then he could not disappoint the rabbit any further. He must live to hand this document over to the city lord of Grandsweep City andplete the rabbit¡¯s n-formation mission.


    When she found out that the adjutant had already been ejected sessfully, Ling Lan then let Little Four arrange for her to be ejected by the starship¡¯sunch system. Of course, due to Little Four¡¯s interference, the figure of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha did not appear on therge disy screen of the starship control room. This was also why Ling Lan dared tounch herself into space so tantly; her movements would never be discovered by these Federation soldiers.


    Finally, the base¡¯s ultimate weapon was revealed in its entirety. Viewing the image Little Four transmitted over, Ling Lan could not help but feel frightened. Just looking at its outer appearance, one could tell that this was a powerful ultimate weapon. Its ferocious form and its muzzle, which was several tens of metres wide in radius, were signs of how horrific the energy it would st out was sure to be. A maic storm was scary because its associated energy turbulence was too vast and enduring, while an ultimate weapon was horrifying because it focused all its massive power onto a single point. This allowed it to very easily wipe out a target it had locked onto.


    "Based on the outer shape of this weapon, I¡¯ve found some relevant data. It¡¯s part of the Federation ultimate weapon series: a maic energy beam cannon! It has powerful attack capacity ¡ª capable of smashing through all of its target¡¯s external defence systems, and at the same time, the terrible maic energy it carries can destroy the internal systems of its target." Little Four immediately told Ling Lan all about the ultimate weapon of the Swift Dragon base, giving Ling Lan a good idea of what to expect.


    "What a troublesome thing." Ling Lan frowned. Such powerful energy ... if they relied on the Pulsing King Shield of her imperial mecha, they could actually still withstand it. The problem was that the weapon possessed maic energy capable of destroying a mecha¡¯s internal system as well. This would affect the power circtory system in the mecha. An imperial mecha without power support would actually be no different from the average mecha.


    She nced at the x192 high-zed nuclear power source equipped on the imperial mecha and hoped it would be reliable enough to withstand an attack from the maic energy beam cannon.


    Right then, the starship had sessfully climbed up to about 1500 metres. Meanwhile, the ultimate weapon, the maic energy beam cannon, had finally stored up enough energy as well to reveal its savage side. A maic energy beam shot out from the base, aimed right for the starship suspended in the air.


    "Concentrate all power on the point being attacked!" bellowed themander. At this moment, he had lost his usualposure. If this ultimate weapon was too strong, they might not even be able to withstand one blow.


    The maic energy beam mmed heavily into the defensive shield of the starship. The power of its ststed a whole 20 seconds. During these 20 seconds, the starship was shaken violently by the powerful energy attack. Everyone in the control room was almost thrown to the ground. However, these soldiers were all battle-hardened warriors. They clutched tightly to the control panel before them, and thus were not sent tumbling by the violent vibrations.


    Twenty secondster, when the final bit of the beam from the maic energy beam cannon faded away, only then was it discovered that the starship remained high up in the air, but its appearance was battered and dark. The dull and bleak looking outer hull of the starship proved that the starship¡¯s power had been utterly depleted; it could no longer maintain its energy shield.


    The high-ranking officers in the control room of the base could not help but cheer at the sight. A smile appeared on the suprememander¡¯s face, and then he ordered decisively, "Let the armoured missile troops continue to attack."


    When the armoured missile troop on the ground received thismand, they once again fired their missiles. But very quickly, they found that their attacks were futile. An ace mecha had appeared beneath the starship, and it was striking down any missiles that were attacking the starship. Before the missiles could reach the starship, the mecha had already shot them down.


    When themand centre heard this news, everyone waited for the suprememander¡¯s orders.


    The suprememander frowned as he looked at the grandstanding ace mecha in the sky and then also looked at the starship struggling desperately to replenish its power. He gave a decisive order. "Fire the second round of the maic energy beam cannon!"


    When the starship¡¯s main control room saw the ultimate weapon of the base begin to sh and umte light again, the men¡¯s faces turned terribly pale. "Sir, they¡¯re preparing to fire the second round. Are we done for?"


    Seeing that the starship had only recovered 17% of its power, despair was present in everyone¡¯s hearts. A full 100% power level had only been barely enough to block the attack of that maic energy beam cannon. However, the result of all that effort was still an inevitable 13% damage done to the starship. Fortunately, the crucial flight system of the starship had not been destroyed; this was their good fortune.


    "Speed up power umtion. We can only gather up to 50% power. Whether or not we reach the required altitude, we¡¯ll have to switch to high-speed operation." With a grit of his teeth, themander prepared to take this final gamble. He looked at the ace mecha struggling to defend the starship ¡ª he would ce his hopes on the other, hoping that the other would be able to help the starship obtain the final bit of time to umte power.


    Everyone stared nervously at the team member in charge of reporting on the progress of the power umtion. They could only hope that they could hit 50% power before the ultimate weapon fired its second round.


    "Power umtion at 20% ... 25% ... 30% ... 35% ..." When the team member reported till 35%, the muzzle of the base¡¯s ultimate weapon finally erupted in a dazzling ze of sparks. In the eyes of everyone on the starship, these sparks were undoubtedly the flowers of death here to collect their lives.


    "No ...!" Heaven knows who yelled this. Everyone instinctively held on tightly to the control panel before them and closed their eyes, waiting for death to descend upon them.

 Chapter 347: Ace Operator!

    Chapter 347: Ace Operator!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The adjutant was busy striking down those missiles when his mecha suddenly emitted an emergency rm. He found that the maic energy beam cannon was preparing to shoot once again and unleash its second powerful energy beam.


    "For the honour of the Huaxia Federation!" mouthed the adjutant silently. This was the only phrase the Huaxians knew to say on the battlefield ¡ª this was a disy of their strong attachment to their country, as well as a heartfelt exnation of their final decisions.


    A savage light appeared in the eyes of the adjutant. He operated his mecha and pushed it to its maximum power, bringing out the ace mecha¡¯s most powerful beam shield as he resolutely went up to meet this overbearing beam cannon.


    Five seconds ... ten seconds ... the adjutant let out a great roar in his cockpit. He tolerated the intense agony the strong maic energy wrought upon his body, watching calmly as the power of his mecha dropped rapidly until it was finally empty ... only 23 seconds had passed.


    What a pity! Before his mecha waspletely consumed by the maic energy, the adjutant only hoped regretfully in his heart that the starship would be able to hold out on its own for the final 7 seconds it needed to gather power.


    The adjutant had no way of seeing the final oue. His mecha, with him inside, waspletely devoured by the maic energy beam, instantly turning into a cloud of gas to disappear into the air. Right then, Ling Lan, who had been hiding to one side but was long prepared, controlled her imperial mecha to instantly leap forwards and take the adjutant¡¯s ce, blocking the remaining maic energy beam directed at the starship.


    This time, Little Four expended his greatest disguising ability to make Ling Lan¡¯s imperial mecha look like the adjutant¡¯s ace mecha. Whether it was in the starship¡¯s control room or at themand centre of the ground base, all they could see was an ace mecha holding off the maic energy beam cannon¡¯s attack. When the beam energy ran out, what was revealed in the aftermath was still that extremely battered yet surviving ace mecha!


    "He did it!" themander could not help but shout in exhration at the sight of the resilient ace mecha. No one wished for therades by their side to die, even if they were in the virtual world.


    ********


    On a hill at the edge of the Swift Dragon base, an ace mecha was standing there looking out into distant space at the ace mecha that had held off the attack of the maic energy beam cannon. He said in a cold tone, "That starship is most probably carrying the enemy that gave D1 no choice but to activate the ultimate weapon system."


    "Senior Colonel, you¡¯re right. I¡¯ve observed the other people staying at the Swift Dragon base. They are all NPCs. The investigative soldiers the Huaxia Federation sent are definitely on that ship." The person on the other end of thems channel confirmed the thoughts of the ace operator.


    "nning to leave the Swift Dragon base just like that? In your dreams." Killing intent shed through the ace operator¡¯s eyes as he sneered and said, "Send me into the sky. I want to greet that ace mecha, and finish off that starship along the way."


    "Yes, Senior Colonel!" With that shout, a hole suddenly opened under the spot where the ace mecha was standing. The mecha dropped instantly as if swallowed by the earth.


    But very soon, a tube coloured like the hill rose diagonally from the ground, and several secondster, a muffled sound rang out. That ace mecha was instantly sent shooting into the sky like a cannonball.


    When the senior officers in themand centre of the base saw this, some of the officers were baffled. Where had this unexpected ace mechae from? At that moment, the suprememander of the Swift Dragon base could be heard to exin, "This is our ace mecha."


    The suprememander¡¯s words calmed everyone down and they waited patiently for the final oue. The power of the maic energy beam cannon was indeed very strong, but its energy consumption was also very horrific. If there were other ways to finish off these invading enemies, they would happily save energy resources and not shoot a third round of the maic energy beam cannon.


    ********


    "Boss, an ace mecha ising." That mecha had just beenunched when he had been noticed by Little Four who was monitoring the whole scene, and Little Four quickly informed Ling Lan.


    "Godd*mmit, how could there be an ace mecha in the Swift Dragon base?" This kind of small base generally had an advanced mecha at the most. This inexplicable appearance of a mysterious ace mecha made Ling Lan feel that trouble wasing.


    "It¡¯s not an NPC." Little Four only had time to say this before that ace mecha was already by Ling Lan¡¯s side and was fiercely leaping at her.


    Little Four¡¯s warning made Ling Lan¡¯s heart clench ¡ª if the other wasn¡¯t an NPC, then he must be a real person. Moreover, soldiers of the Huaxia Federation would never attack a teammate without reason, so this ace operator was very likely from Caesar.


    With a ¡¯bang¡¯, Ling Lan swiftly drew the beam saber on her back and parried the opponent¡¯s fierce attack in time.


    "Boss, do you want me to kill him?" asked Little Four in a cold voice, killing intent shing through his eyes.


    Ling Lan controlled her mecha to kick out savagely. Seeing this fierce kicking at him, the opponent became wary and quickly dodged. The two mecha once again pulled apart from one another, but both sides knew very well that this distance was nothing for ace mecha ¡ª they would be able to reach their opponent within the blink of an eye.


    Ling Lan was guarding carefully against the other but had begun plotting in her mind. If Little Four could act, they could indeed finish off the opponent easily. But the problem was that there was still a spectre on the ship. The moment Little Four used his spectre-like powers, the other would notice it. This would be arge w because ace operators just could not be spectres; therefore, it would be very easy to guess that there was the presence of a third faction at the Swift Dragon base. This way, her ideal n would be broken ¡ª it would bepletely pointless to try and use the Federation soldiers as her team¡¯s shield.


    Ling Lan absolutely would not allow her team members to be exposed. Thus, she decisively rejected Little Four¡¯s offer and prepared to resist on her own.


    In truth, Ling Lan was extremely confident in herself. With the imperial mecha she was controlling now and her control skills that were no lower than an ace operator¡¯s, she was still pretty confident she could win this match. Her only concern was that she could not fight in an imperial mecha for over 5 minutes. Otherwise, her body would not be able to withstand the feedback force from the cross-level operation.


    Furthermore, because she had blocked the maic energy beam cannon, she had already wasted about a minute of that time. Thus, she needed to finish this fight and destroy the other mecha within 4 minutes. Ling Lan¡¯s eyes glinted with a cold light, nning inside her heart on how she could end the fight quickly.


    Ling Lan saw Regretless lying silently in her bag and an idea shed through her mind. She immediately instructed Little Four on what he needed to do next ...


    Very soon, the two mecha once again collided forcefully together. This time, Ling Lan was the one to initiate the attack ¡ª she did not have much time left and could not afford to wait. It should be said the skills of the two operators were about equal ¡ª the collision of their beam sabers created countless sparks. Whether it was the mainship or the basemand centre, everyone was closely watching the fight of the two ace mecha.


    The intense battlested for less than a minute. Perhaps due to exhausting too much energy from blocking the maic energy beam cannon¡¯s attack previously, the thruster on one side of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha suddenly exploded. From the dazzling sparks and the apanying thick ck smoke, one could tell that the mecha had received pretty significant damage. As expected, without an engine on one side to provide counterbnce, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha instantly lost its centre of bnce and actually began to tumble over.


    But Ling Lan did not give up ¡ª she activated her mecha¡¯s secondary thruster and tried to regain the bnce of her mecha. However, how could the opponent pass this chance by? That ace mecha suddenly flipped to face downwards and then revved its engines to actually begin speeding towards Ling Lan.


    Seeing this, while maintaining the bnce of her mecha, Ling Lan gritted her teeth and pulled out her beam saber to meet the fierce thrust of the other¡¯s beam saber.


    With a ¡¯boom¡¯, the two beam sabers collided fiercely. One was buffed by the gravitational force of moving downwards, while the other was held up by an awkward, forced lift of the arm. The gap between the strength behind the two swords waspletely disyed by the beam sabers.


    Due to the opponent¡¯s great strength, Ling Lan could no longer hold on to her beam saber. It was sent flying by the opponent, and the beam saber fell from the skies to stab heavily into the ground.


    Witnessing this scene, those Federation soldiers watching closely from the military vessel¡¯s control room turned pale. Some of them could not help but exim in shock and leap to their feet.


    Having sent the opponent¡¯s weapon flying with one move, the ace operator was exhrated. Without hesitation, he grabbed onto the Huaxian ace mecha, who was currently preparing to shoot its beam gun to try and stop him from approaching, enduring two shots from the opponent. The beam saber in his right hand stabbing forwards viciously towards other¡¯s cockpit ...


    "Sess!" The ace operator saw his beam saber piercing through the other¡¯s cockpit like slicing through bamboo and was overjoyed. He knew he had won, but before he couldugh out in celebration, he suddenly felt a chill run through his body. And then, intense pain shot straight into his heart, causing him to yell out involuntarily.


    "What¡¯s happening?" The ace mecha looked nkly at the ck cold weapon that had appeared without warning in his cockpit. That weapon had sliced his body into two, and his entire cockpit was sttered in blood.


    For some reason, the ace operator really wanted to deride the virtual world of the Huaxia Federation for being too realistic and bloody. This bit was really not good ¡ª they should learn from Caesar and make things more mild and pleasant. Even he, a battle-hardened warrior, felt somewhat queasy at the sight. He could almost really feel his waist being chopped in half ¡ª if this had happened to a newbie, that person would most likely be useless after this ...


    A life countdown began in the virtual world. The ace operator smiled wryly to himself and pressed a button to rey thest few moments. Only then did he discover that when he had pierced the other¡¯s cockpit, this ck cold weapon had suddenly appeared in the opponent¡¯s initially empty right hand. Because the other¡¯s hand was positioned perfectly at a blind spot of all his cameras, he had not noticed. This was why he had found the attack baffling.


    "I forgot that the Huaxians favour mutual destruction the most," said the ace operator in frustration. With its control systems destroyed, his mecha could no longer remain airborne and it plummeted without warning.


    On his disy screen, the ace mecha operator saw his opponent¡¯s mecha falling faster than his own, and a satisfied smile appeared at the corner of his lips. At least he would dieter than the other. By the time they revived, he would definitely find the other for a rematch ...


    Ten seconds or soter, that Huaxian ace mecha mmed into the ground first. Right afterwards, he too mmed into the ground, and subsequently, a massive explosion rocked the ground. The fallen mecha were instantly sted into dust ¡ª it was no longer possible to distinguish who was who ¡ª and at the same time, the Caesarian ace mecha operator¡¯s final bit of awareness was consumed.

 Chapter 348: Escape in High Gear!

    Chapter 348: Escape in High Gear!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    When the Caesarian ace operator regained consciousness once more and opened his eyes, he had already returned to the resurrection point of the Swift Dragon base.


    The resurrection point of the Swift Dragon base was actually arge room. Normally, the room doors were tightly shut and the NPC soldiers would never enter this area. This was because the mainframe had set it so that resurrection points were considered safe spots. Anyone who resurrected here would never be discovered by the NPC soldiers as long as they did not exit the doors.


    The Caesarian ace operator stood up feeling regretful but found that there was someone peeking around the room doors ... ck hair and yellow skin, it most definitely had to be that Huaxian who had died alongside him. He decisively drew the dagger at his calf and leapt over.


    Hearing the whistle of the wind, that person rolled forwards and evaded his strike. The man turned to look at his attacker and his irises contracted. "Caesarian." He was the adjutant who had died by the force of the maic energy beam cannon. Having juste out of the resurrection point, he had had no choice but to stick around the area due to the patrolling guards of the base outside the doors. Of course, he also did not know what had happened outside.


    "This time, you will still die by my hand!" The ace operator from Caesar pounced as he cried out gleefully.


    The adjutant was taken aback by those words, and then as if figuring something out, his gaze narrowed as he once again dodged the other¡¯s attack. Tone hateful, he asked, "The maic energy beam cannon, you all were the ones who arranged its activation?"


    The Caesarian ace operator sneered with a de in his hands. "Looks like you aren¡¯t stupid. Indeed, if we hadn¡¯t changed the settings, how could the suprememander of this base mobilise the base¡¯s ultimate weapon for just a small starship?"


    It turned out that that final message sent out by D1 was primarily to the suprememander of the base. It ordered the other to kill off all invaders at any cost. Of course, once the ultimate weapon was mobilised, those final members of Caesar still hiding on the Caesarian spaceship would able to find out in time that something had gone wrong.


    If Little Four had been a little more careful back then, he would have noticed in time. With Little Four¡¯s capabilities, he could have changed this orderpletely, perhaps even uncover the hidden Caesarian spaceship based on the clues obtained from the message. Then, he would have been able to find the Caesarians hiding aboard the ship and silently annihte all of them, truly wrapping up all loose ends.


    Then, Ling Lan and the others, including the Federation soldiers, would not have been thrown into this current predicament. They would not have had to tide through difficulty after difficulty; they would definitely have been able to easily depart from the Swift Dragon base ... it could only be said that Little Four, who had learned something of human emotions, had also picked up some of the weaknesses of humans at the same time. For example, carelessness, or the tendency to hide some little secrets he felt were not very important and would not affect therger picture ...


    The Caesarian ace operator¡¯s words caused an expression of realisation to appear on the adjutant¡¯s face. He had in fact been puzzling over the matter all this while ¡ª the ultimate weapon would typically not be mobilised unless the survival of the base was threatened. They had only hijacked a ship and tried to flee the base ¡ª this would not affect the safety of the base at all, so the ultimate weapon should not have been activated.


    Taking the other¡¯s exnation into consideration, everything made sense now. The adjutant looked sullenly at the Caesarian before him and responded belligerently, "I will not die a second time by your hand." The maic energy beam cannon was too powerful for him to resist, so he had noints about dying to it, but he definitely would not die at the hands of an equally human enemy.


    The two of them confronted each other in a stalemate for several seconds, and then they suddenly leapt at each other. The adjutant pulled out a short dagger from behind his waist in an instant, stabbing it viciously at the opponent.


    "ng ng ng ..." Cold weapons shed again and again. Both of them being ace operators, their physical skills were equally good. They were actually fighting on even ground ¡ª it would be hard to determine a winner anytime soon.


    Excitement bloomed in the eyes of the Caesarian ace operator. As expected, the one who dared to pull a mutual destruction move on him was an extremely formidable adversary. Due to Ling Lan¡¯s ingenious scheme, the Caesarian ace operator could never have known that he had actually misidentified his opponent.


    Meanwhile, because the adjutant had stayed in this room all this time after reviving, he was not very clear on some things that had transpired. He hated the other side for mobilising the ultimate weapon and stranding him at the Swift Dragon base, and after finding out that this was all a nefarious scheme of Caesar, he had taken the other to be an enemy right away and could not wait to kill the other.


    In this manner, for various reasons coupled with some clever maniption from Ling Lan, her hand in the matter waspletely concealed. Until the very end, the Huaxia Federation and the Caesar Empire never discovered that there had been the involvement of a hidden third party between them.


    ********


    After finishing off the Caesarian ace operator, Ling Lan finally let out a breath of relief. In truth, that final scene had all been an illusion by Little Four. The so-called explosion of the engine and the mecha losing control were all fake ¡ª even the beam saber had been intentionally discarded by her to fool the opponent. The scene of plunging his de into Ling Lan¡¯s cockpit the other saw was naturally also an illusion. It was impossible for an ace mecha¡¯s beam saber to pierce through the cockpit of an imperial mecha. The other¡¯s beam saber had only grazed by the waist of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha, not harming Ling Lan¡¯s mecha one bit.


    In the end, taking advantage of the moment the other had let down his guard in joy, Ling Lan had equipped Regretless, which she had long kept on standby, to pierce through the other¡¯s cockpit. Regretless¡¯s unique sharpness once again showed its prowess ¡ª the outer shell of the ace mecha had no way of stopping Regretless. The de pierced cleanly through the cockpit to kill the opponent instantly.


    However, this bout of control, fighting, and calction had indeed tired Ling Lan out to the extreme as well, and her stamina was also at its limit. Ling Lan knew that she needed to return to the starship as soon as possible, otherwise, her body would not be able to take it if she continued to operate this imperial mecha.


    When they saw their team¡¯s adjutant choosing mutual destruction with the enemy, all the Huaxian soldiers in the control room of the starship closed their eyes in pain ... in order to live so they could return and report this situation to military headquarters, they had no choice but to abandon theirrade who had given his life to win them this opportunity. This feeling was very painful to them. Their only constion was that they were currently in the virtual world. As long as there were no spectres, theirrade would only be temporarily trapped here without any danger to his life.


    Right at this moment, a team member who had been keeping his post and monitoring the progress of the power umtion all this while suddenly shouted, "Reporting to themander! Power at 50%!"


    At these words, themander¡¯s eyes sprang open and forcefully suppressing his worry for his adjutant, a trace of resolution shed across his eyes. He instantly gave the order, "Shift to high gear immediately!"


    Subsequently, the team member in charge of speed control firmly pushed the speed dial to its maximum setting.


    "Order received. Shifting starship operation from low gear to high gear ... warning, actual height is insufficient, gravitational force is toorge. Starship may be damaged. Warning, insufficient power. High gear can only be sustained for 7 minutes. Please choose carefully, please choose carefully ..." The starship¡¯s A.I. processed the actual situation and made a determination, instantly issuing an emergency rm alerting the starship operators that shifting speed settings now was a mistake and was extremely dangerous.


    The team members that were in charge of shifting speeds lifted their heads to cast a panicked look at theirmander when they heard this alert from the A.I.. After all, they were not specialized starship operators. Encountering this sort of unanticipated situation, they were flustered, unsure what they should do.


    Themander pped his hands fiercely together and said firmly, "Shift to high gear. We¡¯ll take the risk." If he continued to dilly-dally, once the enemy fired the third round of the maic energy beam cannon, they would truly be doomed. He definitely must not waste this time the adjutant had sacrificed his life to give them. He must lead his team members back to the central district sessfully and report the situation to military headquarters in time. This way, he would also be able to save the adjutant faster ...


    "Confirm shift to high gear. Countdown begins now. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, shift to high gear sessful. Beginning power drain countdown. 420, 419, 418 ..." The A.I. executed themand to shift to high gear. The moment time was up, the initially slowly climbing starship suddenly sped upwards at high velocity like a propelled arrow.


    Because they had not achieved the minimum required height to switch to high speed, under the opposing forces of gravity and the propulsion force of the engine, a part of the armour on the tail part of the starship was ripped off to fall from a height of 1800 meters ...


    However, the starship still flew on tenaciously. As a plume of smoke curled around its tail, it prepared to break through the atmosphericyer to enter outer space!


    "Commander, now what?" As the starship suddenly elerated, zooming towards the skies above, the calibrating maic energy beam cannon instantly lost its target. The officer in charge of attacking this time immediately reported this to the suprememander of the base.


    The suprememander wordlessly put down his pr telescope. The power of the maic energy beam cannon was indeed very horrifying, but once a target entered higher airspace, especially at the extreme high speeds of the starship in question, it was very hard for the cannon to do anything. In the end, he could only say regretfully, "Forget it. Formally seal away the ultimate weapon. Consider them lucky this time, actually managing to escape from the Swift Dragon base."


    "Yes! Commander!" The officer responsible for the maic energy beam cannon immediately arranged for the cannon to be sealed and put away.


    After this remark, the suprememander stubbornly raised his pr telescope again to stare out at that starship that was about to fly out of the atmosphericyer. An idea sparked through his mind and he set the telescope down. Turning to the officer beside him, he said, "New orders. All able fighting crew of the Swift Dragon base are to assemble immediately and board their ships. Thirty minutester, we will officially take flight and give chase to our warship that has been taken hostage. We must destroy it within the range of the Neb Boundary."


    "Yes, Sir!" The adjutant by his side instantly epted the order and turned to disseminate this urgent call to arms.


    Several secondster, an ear-splitting emergency rm red out across the entire base. In all the encampments, the base¡¯s DMC¡¯s voice rang out, "Emergency notice. All able warriors of the Swift Dragon fleet, please assemble at your respective warships within 30 minutes. Thirty minutester, the fleet will officially set off ... Emergency notice. All able warriors of the Swift Dragon fleet, please assemble at your respective warships within 30 minutes. Thirty minutester, the fleet will ..."


    The entire Swift Dragon base began to bustle with activity as all of the warriors rushed towards the respective warships they were assigned to. Thirty minutes was extremely tight; they had not a moment to lose.

 Chapter 349: Never Letting Go Again!

    Chapter 349: Never Letting Go Again!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The suprememander of the base saw all the soldiers below beginning to move and only then did he turn to leave themand centre. Coming to his personal office, he acted ording to his original setting and sent a situation report to the Mecha World mainframe, detailing all the orders he had given in response as well. However, the transmission channel had already been altered by the Caesarian hackers so that his report would be sent directly to the mainframe of the spaceship hidden on the base. Meanwhile, the Federation mainframe remained oblivious to everything that was happening here.


    ********


    The starship had sessfully shifted to high speed and was temporarily out of danger, but this risky order of themander left Ling Lan in a sticky situation. When themander hadmanded for the ship to shift into high gear, Little Four, who had immediately grasped the information, had quickly passed on the bad news to Ling Lan.


    If Ling Lan had not been too far away from the starship, the amount of time left would have been enough for Ling Lan to board the ship again. However, it just so happened that back when Ling Lan had been fighting the Caesarian ace operator, in order to finish the other quicker, she had purposefully pretended to lose control to trick the opponent. At present, she had already fallen to about an altitude of 800 metres, almost a whole 1000 metres away from the starship¡¯s altitude of 1700 metres.


    This distance cut Ling Lan¡¯s time extremely short. She operated her imperial mecha to fly at high speed towards the starship, trying tond within the ship while it still had not officially entered high gear. But just as Ling Lan was about to sessfully enter aunch port of the starship, the ship managed to activate high gear and shoot forwards like an arrow, leaving Ling Lan to pounce onto empty air. The ship instantly pulled a considerable distance away from Ling Lan.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan clenched her teeth and decisively pushed the imperial mecha to its maximum speed, which was the mecha¡¯s overdrive. Overdrive mode was typically in a sealed state and would not be readily activated, because running in overdrive was a great burden on a mecha¡¯s engines. The energy consumed per second was no less than when firing a heavy energy projectile cannon. Not only that, overdrive would also take a high toll on the operator¡¯s body.


    The reason Ling Lan had not activated overdrive mode from the start was because she was afraid her body would not be able to bear it. At the same time, she was cing her hopes on the long shot that she would be able to sessfully board the starship by only using high speed. Unexpectedly, all of her cautions was for naught in the end. However, presented with the dire situation of having to stay behind at the Swift Dragon base if she did not use overdrive, Ling Lan naturally would not hesitate any longer!


    She needed to board the ship sessfully before the starship broke through the atmosphericyer. Otherwise, based on the mecha¡¯s power and mobility alone, she would not be able to escape the gravity of the to fly into outer space. Even though Ling Lan was currently piloting an imperial mecha, it was still out of the question unless Ling Lan was controlling a god-ss mecha. Frankly, even if an imperial mecha could fly into outer space, Ling Lan¡¯s current level of strength and physical constitution would not allow her to sustain long periods of cross-level operation anyway ...


    This time, Ling Lan¡¯s caution taught her a bloody lesson. She understood now that she needed to apply her full strength in all things from now on and not put her hopes on luck and chance, otherwise she might have to pay an even greater price.


    Time was running out bit by bit. Ling Lan¡¯s mecha came closer and closer to the starship. 100 metres, 50 metres, 30 metres, 20 metres, 10 metres ... she saw the number countdown of the 5-minute limit she set for herself to operate in overdrive dwindling smaller and smaller, and cold sweat poured uncontrobly from her forehead. For the first time, she felt how truly helpless she was.


    She clearly only needed to speed up a little more to wrap her hand around that handle at the outermost edge of the finalunch port of the starship, but no matter how hard she tried, she just could not close that final bit of distance. Meanwhile, the x192 high-zed nuclear power source had also begun to emit the red lights warning that its power was about to run out ... could it be that she was still going to fail in the end and be unable to leave the Swift Dragon base? A bad feeling coursed through Ling Lan¡¯s heart.


    What made Ling Lan even more nervous was the fact that she had begun to feel pain in her body. It started with minor cramps, which slowly turned into an acute ripping sort of pain. It looked like the feedback force of cross-level operation had already seriously impacted her body, and with the passage of time, her condition was only getting worse.


    Just as Ling Lan was beginning to despair, a voice suddenly rang out in her mecha¡¯sms, "Rabbit,e on!"


    Ling Lan¡¯s spirits rallied. She raised her head and saw the figure of a familiar mecha appear at the tail end of theunch port. It was the leopard ¡ª with one hand on the handle, he reached his other hand out towards Ling Lan, attempting to grab hold of her mecha.


    Seeing the leopard, Ling Lan¡¯s heart fluttered and she stretched out her right arm with determination. Herpanions had not abandoned her, so why was she giving up hope? Without fearing the acute paining from all over her body, Ling Lan pushed her mecha¡¯s engines till they were working on overload. Ling Lan¡¯s mecha¡¯s speed boosted even further and her hand came closer and closer to the leopard¡¯s outstretched hand. Five metres, three metres, one metre ...


    "Argh ..." Ling Lan let out an unwilling scream. The x192 high-zed nuclear power source finally fizzled out ¡ª Ling Lan pushed forwards at that final moment, reaching out with a desperate hand, and the two mecha¡¯s fingers were linked for a moment before slipping apart. Ling Lan¡¯s mecha lost all mobility and fell out of her control ...


    "Rabbit ..." Ling Lan could almost hear the leopard¡¯s mournful wail. She had failed, hadn¡¯t she? However, as long as the leopard passed the document to the city lord of Grandsweep City, their mission would beplete. Even if she remained at the Swift Dragon base, it would not affect the formation of the n.


    Ling Lan closed her eyes, resigned, and just as she was about to give up, she suddenly felt her mecha being grabbed hold of by some external force, stopping it from falling. Stunned, she opened her eyes and found that the leopard had already grasped her mecha¡¯s right hand with both of his hands ...


    "Rabbit, I will never let go again," said Li Lanfeng with a smile. His words had a double meaning ¡ª even as he said this to Ling Lan, he was also saying this to himself. He would never again let go of this friendship like he had seven years ago due to misceneous reasons.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words puzzled Ling Lan. She saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s hands wrapped around her own right hand and could not help but feel her heart skip a beat. Could it be that the leopard had jumped off the starship? Deciding not to leave for her sake?


    Ling Lan¡¯s emotions were instantly in turmoil. For the first time, someone was willing to brave danger for her ... but Ling Lan¡¯s sentimentality onlysted for a moment. Cool logic once again reasserted itself, and she instantly realised that the two of them were not falling rapidly but had been tethered by some force and was flying swiftly upwards with the starship.


    Ling Lan turned to look unerringly behind the leopard and saw that the two legs of his mecha were currently caught securely in the hands of Qi Long¡¯s mecha ...


    "Yo, Boss, it¡¯s rare to see you in such a predicament." Qi Long¡¯sughter rang out in Ling Lan¡¯sms, and Ling Lan¡¯s heart rxed as joy stole over her. Even though she was brimming with emotions, ustomed to being as cold as ice, she could only respond dispassionately, "Yes, are you very satisfied by this?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s cool demeanour strangled Qi Long¡¯sughter, and he felt a chill invade his heart. He could not help but shudder ¡ª if his hands had not remained steady, this shudder may have spelled great trouble.


    Qi Long was silently regretful ¡ª how could he forget that his boss was a cold and ruthless person who would take revenge for the slightest grievance? Qi Long could already foresee that when they got back, he would be captured by his boss for some brutal torment in the private training rooms ... Boo hoo hoo, his little life was surely forfeit.


    "Boss, even in such a predicament you are still the most handsomest boss!" Qi Long tried to salvage the situation and alter his impending tragic fate. He feebly tried to suck up to his boss, but in his panic, his skill at ttery fell short of its usual standard, actually missing its markpletely 1 .


    "Ho ho, so I am the most handsome when I¡¯m in a sorry state like this, eh?" The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips tilted up subtly as she responded levelly, though she was actually in a very happy mood. These were herpanions ¡ª at crucial moments, they would run over to protect her ... Alright, at this moment, the leopard¡¯s figure had once again been relegated to the recesses of Ling Lan¡¯s mind.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Qi Long almost want to p himself. Why was he so stupid? Actually reminding Boss about what he said wrong to begin with ...


    In the end, it was still Han Jijyun who took pity on his sworn brother and tugged Qi Long away, helping him out by saying, "Quickly, everyone help out and pull Boss back in."


    It turned out that all the other members were here as well. Luo Lang and Han Jijyun were right behind Qi Long, each with one hand holding onto Qi Long firmly. Meanwhile, Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing were standing behind Luo Lang and Han Jijyun and holding onto them in turn.


    Why had they appeared here at this opportune moment? The facts of the matter were ...


    Before the starship had shifted into high speed, while Ling Lan was working hard to approach and board the starship, Little Four had been secretly controlling the starship and had surreptitiously opened theunch port at the tail end. The Federation soldiers in the ship¡¯s control room werepletely ignorant of this series of actions, but Qi Long and the others who had been waiting all this while in the hold at the tail end immediately noticed. They saw theunch port which had been shut all this time finally open up, and it went without saying that it was definitely their boss returning.


    But before they could rejoice, the subsequent events not only caused Ling Lan to miss the chance to board the ship, they also left Qi Long and the others dumbfounded. The starship had suddenly shifted into high gear and sent the unprepared group tumbling. Fortunately, they had all still been in their mecha, so even though they had been thrown about terribly and things had been a little awkward, they had not incurred any great injury. Any minor injuries they had suffered had been quickly handled by Li Shiyu.


    By the time they had stabilised their own mecha, they discovered that they could see no sign of Boss. Qi Long and the others knew then that their boss must not have caught up to the ship in time. They were instantly filled with worry and anxiety, but they also did not know what to do at that moment in time.


    And then, Li Lanfeng, who had been silent all this while, suddenly retrieved the document from his bag and handed it to Qi Long, saying, "Qi Long, I want to go check things out at theunch port. It may be dangerous over there ... I¡¯ll leave this document in your care."


    Qi Long immediately refused and said, "This is a task Boss entrusted to you. I cannot go against Boss¡¯s orders. Besides, I should be the one to go through the tail-end¡¯s passage."


    Qi Long¡¯s direct refusal made Li Lanfeng fall silent. He merely shoved the document at Qi Long outright and before Qi Long could react, Li Lanfeng had already turned away and left.


    By the time Qi Long realised what had happened, Li Lanfeng had already disappeared through the first set of doors leading to the tunnel. Speechless, he held onto the document and nced over at his surroundingpanions, and then he decisively shoved the document at the still stunned Chang Xinyuan.


    This move of Qi Long¡¯s startled Chang Xinyuan, who instantly asked in a panic, "Why ... give it to me?"

 Chapter 350: Flee the Base!

    Chapter 350: Flee the Base!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "You, have the worst control skills out of the entire team. As a safety precaution, you just stay put and guard these documents properly. If, in this situation, you still mess up and get yourself killed, your sorry ass had better not even dream of joining us, the Lingtian n," Qi Long threatened aggressively.


    This speech left Chang Xinyuan burning with embarrassment. He meant to snap back but found that Qi Long¡¯s words rang true, and at that moment he was actually left dumbstruck.


    As soon as Qi Long was done speaking, without even considering how Chang Xinyuan would react to his words, he gestured with a wide sweep of his hand for his teammates to leave the mecha hold and then sprinted towards theunch port. Qi Long was actually feeling agitated and worried, not knowing what fate had befallen his boss. He had long thought of travelling to the tail end of the ship to check out the situation for himself, but s, Li Lanfeng had beaten him to the punch...


    At this thought, Qi Long started to grumble about Li Lanfeng in his heart. This fellow really knew how to put on a hell of a show, never missing an opportunity to increase the Boss¡¯s awareness of him. Although Qi Long had some quibbles with Li Lanfeng, deep in his heart he held great admiration for him, because only someone who truly held Boss Lan in such high esteem could have this calibre of performance.


    The minute Qi Long moved, Luo Lang, Han Jijyun, and the others followed suit. In fact, if it had not been for Boss Lan¡¯s previous instruction for them to obey Qi Long¡¯s orders the whole way, they would have rushed to the tail end of the ship long ago, unable to contain themselves.


    Thest one to leave was Li Shiyu, who, before he left, shot a nce at the stupefied Chang Xinyuan who was frozen in ce. Sighing softly, he changed directions to walk over to Chang Xinyuan¡¯s side, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Don¡¯t overthink it. Qi Long¡¯s orders are out of consideration for you. Just trust him and follow his orders. In fact, I think he¡¯s right, your control really is a little weak. At the tail end, if there is any danger, it will be difficult for you to even protect yourself. So you might as well stay put here and protect this vital document well."


    Chang Xinyuan cast a mournful eye at Li Shiyu. Was this how a teammate from the same battle n was like? Could he not pick at the scabs on his soul? Could they still get along with each other happily? Chang Xinyuan suddenly found that Li Shiyu, who seemed like such a kind-hearted, nice guy, absolutely had the potential to be a ck-bellied person.


    Li Shiyu could not know theints Chang Xinyuan had in his heart, because right after he was done speaking, he had swiftly chased after Qi Long and the others. Frankly, even though he did not like Ling Lan that much, Ling Lan¡¯s actions all this way had still obtained his acknowledgement. He too did not want anything bad to happen to this team leader who looked out for his team members at every turn. Thus, he was also nning to go check things out at the tail end with the rest.


    Only Chang Xinyuan was left in the entire mecha hold. He looked down at the document in his hands and sighed in resignation, then carefully tucked the document away in his bag. Like Li Shiyu had said, this document was vital ¡ª it would determine whether their team would be able to sessfully establish a battle n, so there was no room for error.


    Chang Xinyuan knew deep down that Qi Long words had not been out of contempt for him, otherwise the other would not have ced such an important mission item in his care. In fact, Qi Long¡¯s distribution of tasks was extremely appropriate considering the situation. Someone from their team had to live to submit the document andplete the mission, and for safety reasons, this person needed to remain in the mecha hold and avoid danger.


    Although Chang Xinyuan had not joined the team for long, he could clearly see the deep bonds between Qi Long and the others and Boss Lan. Their rtionship was not the typical friendship andradery between team members, but was more simr to the blood ties of family. Chang Xinyuan believed that if Boss Lan met with any misfortune and ended up stranded at the Swift Dragon base, Qi Long and the others would likely choose to leave the ship and remain at the Swift Dragon base as well even if they would die for their choice. They would want to go through thick and thin with their boss ...


    At this point, Chang Xinyuan could not help but envy the deep brotherly bonds between Boss Lan and Qi Long and the others. If possible, he too wanted to be a part of that, advancing and retreating alongside Boss Lan and Qi Long and the rest. However, having the worst mecha control skills, he had ultimately been selected by Qi Long to be the one to stay here to ensure the mission would bepleted. And there was nothing at all he could say to argue against the decision.


    This was because Chang Xinyuan was well aware that the Swift Dragon base was rife with danger. Now exposed, deep within the Swift Dragon base, they would definitely have to fight ferociously and cut a path of blood through the base to have any chance of survival. Thus, those who followed Qi Long must be very good atbat, otherwise it would be pointless to go and they may even create trouble for Boss Lan. Chang Xinyuan was very clear on this point. This was why he had remained silent and had resigned himself to epting Qi Long¡¯s arrangement in the end, bing the person left behind to safeguard the document.


    Frankly, Chang Xinyuan was unwilling, because he did not want to be the member left behind. This made him feel very useless.


    "Weakest control skills, eh? If I want to stand next to Boss Lan and not get tossed aside, only relying on my modification innate talent is far from enough. I must be stronger, and be like Lin Zhong-qing and Li Shiyu. Even as a support member, I have to be the most formidable one ..." Chang Xinyuan clenched his fists silently, determination shing in his eyes. Never again would he be so naive as to truly believe, as he did before, that modification was everything.


    Having maintained a breakneck speed the whole way, Li Lanfeng was the first to reach theunch port at the tail end. As he reached the mouth of the port, the scene that unfolded was that of Ling Lan piloting a mecha, desperately trying to catch up to the starship. At present, he was about 10 metres away and looked like he could board sessfully soon enough. However, Li Lanfeng then noticed that Ling Lan¡¯s mecha¡¯s power supply seemed slightly unstable, as if it was almost depleted. The mecha was also unable to maintain a steady speed, speeding up and slowing down erratically, which prevented Ling Lan from closing the gap.


    Thus, despite his delight at seeing the rabbit here, Li Lanfeng could not help but feel his heart in his throat, fearing that the rabbit would not catch up in the end. With a nce at the outer area of theunch port, he realized that the outermost rim was lined with handles, probably support structures to help mecha flying at high speed tond quickly on the starship. As he brought his mecha to the entrance, it was promptly sucked out of the starship by a tremendous force. In that instant, he gripped tightly on to one of those handles, simultaneously activating the adhesion mechanism on his feet to secure his mecha¡¯s position.


    Having done all that, Li Lanfeng activated hisms link and roared, "Rabbit,e on!" as he daringly stretched his body out, right hand outstretched to its limits, reaching with all his might for Rabbit¡¯s mecha, so close yet so far.


    The rabbit must have heard him, because Li Lanfeng saw him stretch his own right hand towards him, intent on catching Li Lanfeng¡¯s hand ...


    The two great metal arms were inching closer, but just before they could catch each other, the roaring engines of the rabbit¡¯s mecha suddenly died. Even though the rabbit had put all his energy into a final surge forward at that final moment, allowing them to link fingers, the immense weight of the mecha and the recoil from the high-speed flight was not something their fingers could bear. Their fingers were only linked for a moment before they were instantly flung apart.


    As Li Lanfeng witnessed the rabbit¡¯s mecha stalling and about to plummet, without even thinking about it, he mmed the controls causing the mecha to leap forwards, bursting out from the starship¡¯sunch port to tightly sp the right arm of the rabbit¡¯s mecha the second before it started to fall ...


    "Rabbit, I will never let go again," was all Li Lanfeng remembered saying with a smile. He knew the true meaning behind his words ¡ª Seven years ago, he had chosen to abandon the rabbit, but from now on, he was never letting go again!


    Just as Li Lanfeng thought that he and the rabbit would fall down to Swift Dragon base and have to brave life and death together, he felt his mecha being tethered by a great force. His and the rabbit¡¯s mecha were suspended below the starship and were quickly being lifted upwards. It turned out that at that crucial moment, Qi Long and the others had made it in time to catch his mecha by the feet with lightning speed.


    Like links in a chain, Qi Long¡¯s mecha was tightly held onto by Luo Lang and Han Jijyun, while behind them were Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing. The four of them each had one fist firmly wrapped around one of the support handles on theunch port walls, forcibly negating the downward momentum of Li Lanfeng¡¯s and the rabbit¡¯s mecha.


    Han Jijyun was about to signal for all of them to haul Li Lanfeng and Rabbit back to the starship when Li Shiyu appeared as well. With his help, Qi Long was finally able to pull Li Lanfeng back on board, ultimately seeding in dragging Ling Lan back onto the starship.


    Ling Lan, who had only just narrowly escaped disaster, had just entered the starship when she barked out, "To the hold, now!" She charged ahead, leading the n members back to the mecha hold in the tail end, acting on Little Four¡¯s information that the starship was about to breach the atmosphericyer. For any of the unsecured and underpowered mecha, remaining in theunch port at that moment would be absolutely suicidal.


    Everyone stampeded towards the mecha hold as Little Four swiftly closed seal after seal behind them. When Chang Xinyuan, who had been waiting safely in his secured seat, saw Boss Lan make it into the mecha hold ahead of the rest, he was ovee with emotion. He instantly cried out, "Boss Lan, you¡¯re back!"


    Before Ling Lan could reply, the starship started to shudder violently. Except for Chang Xinyuan, who was untroubled due to his being firmly nted on the secured seat, everyone was sent stumbling by the violent vibrations.


    "Fall t!" Everyone¡¯sms channels rang with the sound of Ling Lan¡¯s sharpmand, and they immediately got into a prone position. The cacophony of mecha nging against mecha ensued in the hold. If the entire starship hadn¡¯t already been quaking uncontrobly, the noise they made would definitely have caught the attention of the Federation soldiers in the main control room.


    At that very moment in the main control room, all the Federation soldiers were anxiously hunched over and gripping the control panel before them. The juddering from breaching the atmosphere was extremely powerful ¡ª people of lower physical fitness stood no chance of adapting to it. Of course, the reason they suffered so greatly was because the starship did not have sufficient power. In order to ensure that the starship could sessfully break out of the Swift Dragon base¡¯s atmosphericyer, they had no choice but to conserve every ounce of energy and that meant not activating the starship¡¯s anti-shock mechanisms, which left them no choice but to grit their teeth and persevere through it all.


    Close to 5 minutes of violent juddering almost caused all of the Federation soldiers in the main control room to be severely injured enough to spew blood. Finally, the starship wrested free of the base¡¯s gravity, sessfully leaping into outer space. Only then did the violent shaking stop, bing iparably stable. Sensing that the situation was now stable, the Federation soldiers stood up straight again. However, theirplexions were very pale ¡ª the intense tremors may not have hurt them seriously, but their bodies had still been unable to bear the shock well. They would probably need a stretch of time to recover from this once they returned.

 Chapter 351: Mission Reward!

    Chapter 351: Mission Reward!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Themander suppressed the roiling blood and qi in his chest and took in a deep breath beforemanding once more, "Shift to low gear immediately." He still remembered that the ship was running low on power ¡ª it wouldn¡¯t do to exhaust all their power. Although they had alreadye out to the starry skies, temporarily escaping the Swift Dragon base, themander knew that in outer space, the Swift Dragon fleet still had several ships on duty patrolling the area. If they happened to bump into those ships by chance, as a ship without power, they would definitely be at the other¡¯s mercy. Having gone through so much trouble to escape from the Swift Dragon base, he did not want to die here now and be stranded back at the Swift Dragon base again.


    The team member responsible for shifting gears immediately pulled the speed control back to low gear. The starship¡¯s power had already fallen to 70% at present ¡ª if they had been a minute slower in charging through the atmosphericyer, they would most likely have been dragged by gravity back to the Swift Dragon base due to running out of power. Just entertaining the possibility sent chills down everyone¡¯s spines.


    Shifting to low gear, the starship began to slowly cruise through the starry skies, umting power as it went along. They needed to store up 100% power as soon as they could, and then leave this ce at high speed. As themander waited for the power to umte, he could not help but pray that their luck would hold out so they would not bump into any of the patrol ships of the Swift Dragon base. Of course, he also hoped that the ships on the ground would not ascend so quickly; otherwise, up against the dozens of warships of the Swift Dragon fleet, they would have no chance at all of escaping.


    It should be said that the luck of themander¡¯s group was decent. Before they were at full power again, they were not discovered by any of the Swift Dragon patrol ships. About 10 minutester, the starship was back at 100%, and then it flew rapidly towards the central district.


    Twenty minutester, the Swift Dragon fleet sessfully rose into the air. Thirty military vessels of various sizes made up the Swift Dragon fleet. The fleet began to search for clues to the whereabouts of the hijacked starship. Unfortunately, they found nothing useful. This frustrated the fleet¡¯s captain ¡ª as long as a ship had been through the area, it would definitely leave some trace of energy behind, but there was nothing of the sort in thisary sector. It was as if the starship that had lifted into the air thirty minutes ago had never existed.


    With no clues, the Swift Dragon fleet could only resort to the crude method of searching in the general direction of the central district. This slowed them down significantly, allowing the starship moving in high gear to pull further away from them.


    The primary hero who had obscured their tracks from the Swift Dragon fleet was Little Four. Without requiring any instruction from Ling Lan, Little Four had scrambled the locations the starship had passed through. In other words, it would be impossible for the devices on the warships to track their flight path.


    This was part of Little Four¡¯s abilities. He could render advanced high-tech equipment useless or mess up their readings. Of course, he could only affect the Swift Dragon fleet¡¯s devices so thoroughly because Ling Lan¡¯s group was currently in the virtual world. If this were in the real world, Little Four might not be able to achieve such a godly effect.


    With Little Four helping from the shadows, the starship would detect the enemy¡¯s presence before it could encounter any patrol ships of the Swift Dragon fleet. Thus, themander had enough time to employ evasion measures to avoid the enemy¡¯s detection. Themander was rather baffled ¡ª why would the radar scanner on this ship be better than those of the other ships in the same fleet? ¡ª but unable to find an answer, he could only ascribe it to their luck being better in the end. Their radar had just functioned at its maximum capacity right whenever they needed it to.


    In this manner, the entire journey was fraught with tension but there was no actual danger. The starship finally left the Neb district and entered the nextary sector. Although they had yet to arrive at the central district, this still proved that they had sessfully escaped the pursuit of the Swift Dragon fleet. The Swift Dragon fleet did not have the authorisation to enter anotherary sector.


    However, it was simrly very dangerous for them. After all, the warship they had appropriated to bring them here was also a ship belonging to the Swift Dragon base. Still, those Federation soldiers in the main control room specially sent here by the mainframe had a special way of contacting the mainframe. The moment they were out of the Neb Boundary, which was no longer under the mainframe¡¯s control, they were able to make contact with the mainframe.


    After receiving news, the mainframe arranged for them to enter the central district via a special flight route, green-lighted the whole way through to bring them straight into the district. If not for this approved special flight route, as they continued flying forwards, they would have been mercilessly shot down if they were detected by any patrolling fleet. The Federation soldiers naturally would not do such a stupid thing.


    Finally, the starship safely arrived at the central district,nding in one of the¡¯s cities at the outermost region of the central district. As long as they touched down here, they would be able to log out of the virtual world and report directly to military headquarters about the situation at the Swift Dragon base. Perhaps out of their urgency to report, the soldiers disembarked and left in a hurry without carefully inspecting the insides of the ship.


    Ling Lan¡¯s group took the chance to slip out from the starship. They were dressed in the standardbat uniform of the Federation, disguised as NPCs. Under Little Four¡¯s guidance, they evaded all the surveince systems of the spaceport, silently left to the military spaceport, and returned to the city.


    The moment they entered the city, it was back to a world of mecha. This made Ling Lan feel that they had truly returned to Mecha World ... Ling Lan¡¯s team of nine swiftly changed into their individual mecha and joined the bustling crowd of mecha. Ling Lan and the others pretended to sightsee in the city, and then they drifted naturally over to a transportation array. Selecting the city they wanted, they left the area. They did not leave any trace to show they had ever been to this city, because all of their figures along the way had been wiped off the surveince systems by Little Four.


    They finally arrived at Grandsweep City and Ling Lan retrieved the document from [No Mecha Unrepaired]. Although she had her own copy, things that should be covered up should still be properly covered up. Getting to the city lord¡¯s manor of Grandsweep City took a little time, and upon arriving there, they once again sought out the city lord.


    The city lord of Grandsweep City thought that Ling Lan was here to plead with him to revoke the SSS-rank mission. Besides that, he already had a bad impression of Ling Lan from the start, so his attitude was extremely cold and unfriendly.


    Ling Lan was not someone who liked to make nice with people. In the learning space, everything the instructors taught was all based on true strength. Therefore, she too did not waste time with any nonsense, directly shoving the document in her hands to the city lord. Er ... that attitude really could not be called respectful ...


    This behaviour of Ling Lan¡¯s was obviously rather impolite in the city lord¡¯s eyes. His brow furrowed, but before he could speak, he felt an alert being transmitted from his hand ¡ª he was holding a key item which marked thepletion of the SSS-rank mission. The city lord¡¯s expression shifted and he read intently through the document in his hands. Only when he was done did he lift his head to look at Ling Lan again. There was shock in his gaze, as well as some unconceble excitement.


    This expression of the city lord¡¯s finally vented the frustration Ling Lan had carried all this time. It looked like what her instructors had said was right. As long as you had enough strength, even those people who looked down on you at first would still change their opinion of you in the end. And when your strength was far greater than the other¡¯s, you would not need to go curry favour, for others woulde running to curry favour with you.


    The city lord of Grandsweep City pushed down theplex jumble of emotions in his heart and quickly submitted this document up to the Mecha World mainframe. After receiving confirmation that there was no mistake, the initially austere expression of the city lord¡¯s instantly cleared up to be cheerful and affable, and he said, "[Lingtian First-String], you are truly a hero among youths. You¡¯ve performed well. You are the first in Mecha World history toplete an SSS-rank mission. I am proud of you ..."


    As expected, the city lord¡¯s originally disdainful expression had changed; his entire persona was much more enthusiastic and friendly now. Seeing this, Ling Lan¡¯s lips tilted up at the corners. Even though her expression was as stoic as ever, she still patiently listened and waited for the city lord to finish his spiel.


    The reason why Ling Lan applied patience to finish listening to the city lord was out of consideration for what had happened before. When she hade to ept the mission previously, she had only received the ultra-rare SSS-rank mission that only appeared once every hundred years because she had not gotten along well with the city lord of Grandsweep City. Ling Lan suspected that the difficulty of the mission and the mission rewards were very likely to be somewhat rted to the impression the issuer of the mission had of her. Of course, Ling Lan believed that under the mainframe¡¯s monitoring, the main rewards would not be skimped. Still, there was sure to be some additional optional rewards that might be held back if the other was in a bad mood. If that happened, Ling Lan would be really depressed. Mind you, this SSS-rank mission had really been treacherous, almost costing them their lives toplete. Any bit of extra reward would be great.


    Finally, the city lord of Grandsweep City finished his lengthy speech of encouragement, and only then did Ling Lan calmly reply, "Many thanks, City Lord. May I trouble you to bestow our final rewards?"


    Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s calmposure in the face of praise, the city lord was filled with even more joy and fondness for Ling Lan. His impression of Ling Lan had truly taken a 180-degree turn ¡ª hepletely forgot how he had made things difficult for Ling Lan back then, beginning to think of himself as Ling Lan¡¯s sponsor. He had already discerned how extraordinary the other was from the start, which was why he had given him this SSS-rank mission. This oue proved that he had judged astutely to identify this hero among the masses! The city lord was internally smug ...


    Since this was a talent he had discovered and cultivated, how could he let the other suffer any indignity? The city lord of Grandsweep City had taken Ling Lan in as one of his own, so he decided he would give the other a great advantage. After contemting for a moment, he announced the final reward.


    Reward 1: One n-formation certificate. Bring this certificate to the city hall to register and your battle n will be sessfully formed. Due to perfectpletion of the SSS-rank mission, the battle n shall be instantly upgraded to five stars from the initial zero stars. Starless battle n: 6-12 n members; 1-star battle n, 6-18 members; 2-star: 6-24 members; 3-star: 6-30 members; 4-star: 6-38 members; 5-star: 6-50 members.


    Reward 2: Due to perfectpletion of the SSS-rank mission, 1 Hero¡¯s Heart Emblem (level 1) is awarded. This emblem needs to be activated by the n leader. Once activated, thebat power of the entire n will be increased by 10% for a duration of 10 minutes. Cooldown period: 7 days!


    Reward 3: Every member of the n can redeem a mecha above special-ss and below ace-ss for free. Condition: The n member must meet the requirements to pilot the mecha to be redeemed. Time limit: Unlimited!


    Reward 4: Ability to ept any mission in Mecha World (all level restrictions voided); penalty for failure cut by half!


    Reward 5: Select any 10 mecha essories or weapons from the warehouse of the city lord of Grandsweep City, as well as 10 super energy blocks, 10 mecha modification materials, and 10 other associated materials ...


    Reward 6: Freely choose any of the unimednds within Grandsweep City to be the battle n¡¯s main camp, which will be instantly upgraded to a 1-star camp. Twenty NPC guards gifted as a bonus, along with 4 defensiveser cannons.


    Reward 7: One challenge exemption token. Allows user¡¯s n to be exempted from being challenged by other battle ns for one year in Mecha World ...


    At one nce, Ling Lan could tell that the first four rewards must have been awarded by the mainframe. They were truly generous. Meanwhile, the final three rewards should be personal rewards given by the city lord of Grandsweep City. It looked like her patience earlier had paid off.


    Ling Lan was not moved much right now by some of the other things the city lord had gifted them; she was all but drooling over those 10 super energy blocks. Don¡¯t me Ling Lan for being shallow ¡ª it was just that the mission this time hadpletely wiped out all of the energy blocks the team had umted. Without these energy blocks, it could be foreseen that all the members of the team would be kept wildly busy trying to earn more energy blocks in the uing days. If not, they would not even be able to start their mecha.


    Just one mission was enough to render Ling Lan¡¯s team this poor! At this thought, Ling Lan¡¯s heart wept!

 Chapter 352: Operation Kill the Fledgling!

    Chapter 352: Operation Kill the Fledgling!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In a vast hidden chamber, on threerge screens asrge as the walls they were affixed to, nine stern-faced old men dressed in military attire were gathered. The atmosphere seemed rather tense.


    "Sixteen years and after spending uncountable manpower and resources, the final oue is a crushing defeat. Not only that, we, Caesar, have lost over 30 top-ss hackers all at once, as well as 6 top-ss spectres," said a grim-looking general on the screen with a document in his hands, tone displeased.


    "I can only say that the Huaxians are just too sly, secretly sending over so many spectres, ruining our project-T in one fell swoop. Meanwhile, as our men were caught unprepared, they were almost utterly annihted. If we hadn¡¯t had another hidden team lurking there, we might not have learned of what had transpired there even now." A general with a kindly appearance on the screen could only smile bitterly and say.


    "ording to information from above, Huaxia 1 did not escape unscathed. One of their top-ss spectres ranked in the top ten was sacrificed in this campaign ..." another cold-faced general interjected.


    "But our Caesar lost four top-ss spectres ..." the expression of a general on a different screen instantly turned dark at these words, "One Huaxian spectre is not at all enough topensate."


    "Yes, and there are still those 30 top-ss hackers to ount for. This campaign has almost gouged us deeply. The next time there is a virtual war, it would be very easy for us to fall into a passive position. We can¡¯t just forget this grievance," said a general from the side in agreement.


    "We must make the Huaxians pay!" hollered a general at the outermost edge, face flushed with anger.


    "We must make the Huaxians pay!" Another general on the same screen agreed.


    "We must make the Huaxians pay!" Very soon, all of the generals were in ord.


    In the centre screen, the oldest general who had been silent all this while plucked the pipe he had been smoking from where it was perched on the corner of his lips, and finally said, "It¡¯s about time for those allies of ours who want to share a piece of the pie to contribute something now. We must give the smug andcent Huaxia a bloody lesson."


    "ording to thetest news from the intelligence bureau, a prodigy mecha operator has appeared in Huaxia¡¯s First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Some time ago, he managed to advance to ace operator status at just 19 years of age. He¡¯suded as the seconding of Ling Xiao ..." At this time, a general shared thetest news he had obtained with the others.


    "Ling Xiao!" When the present generals heard Ling Xiao¡¯s name, their gazes instantly became dark. Several were even gnashing their teeth as they muttered Ling Xiao¡¯s name repeatedly. It was clear to see that these generals were extremely fearful of Ling Xiao.


    "We can¡¯t let Huaxia have another Ling Xiao, otherwise our Caesar will truly be down against Huaxia by a head." A general finally voiced the hidden thoughts of all the generals there.


    Ling Xiao was the youngest operator to ever advance to god-ss, and then he had also obtained the most well-bnced IN god-ss mecha which was considered the most powerful IN mecha by all the nations. From then on, anyone who understood the intricacies of IN god-ss mecha knew that the strongest person in the human world in future would definitely be Ling Xiao without a doubt. This was also the major reason why they had conspired with other nations sixteen years ago to eliminate Ling Xiao. They could not allow Ling Xiao to grow further and be the strongest in the world. Caesar, which considered itself the strongest nation, just could not allow the strongest person to belong to another nation. That would be an absolute disgrace to them.


    Unfortunately, all the effort and maniption they invested had still been unable to eliminate Ling Xiao. Now, it would no longer be as easy to harm Ling Xiao as it had been at the start. The day Ling Xiao would be the strongest was within sight ¡ª despite their reluctance, they could only ept this fact. Still, one Ling Xiao was already the limit of their tolerance. The title of ¡¯second Ling Xiao¡¯ had undoubtedly triggered the neuroses of the Caesarians ...


    "Since Huaxia has destroyed so many of our high-end talents, we must destroy their future hope!" The oldest general in the centre screen gripped his pipe, a ruthless smile appearing on his face. "The First Men¡¯s Military Academy of Huaxia ... Hmph, did the Huaxians really think they could conceal him away so perfectly?"


    The old general¡¯s words made the eyes of all the other generals light up. Unified in their decision, the nine great generals very quickly formted their revenge plot. They called this action n ¡ª¡ª Operation Kill the Fledgling!


    ********


    Right then, the Huaxia Federation was unaware that danger was about to befall the First Men¡¯s Military Academy which they had always taken so much pains to keep concealed and secreted away. Military headquarters knew the Swift Dragon base had been upied by an unidentified faction, and that there were even many spectres there. In order to ensure the stability of the virtual world, Huaxia had dispatched a fleet along with as many as ten spectres, with three of those being spectres ranked in the top ten. With themander who had escaped from the Swift Dragon base leading them, they had hurried towards the Swift Dragon base.


    But during this period ofing and going, the Caesarians lurking in the Swift Dragon base had managed to retreat. Only after finding the surviving adjutant did they learn that this group of people hade from the Caesar Empire. The Huaxia Federation was livid. They raised a serious protest to Caesar, but the Caesar Empire denied all allegations, brushing it all off as nder. They had never sent any hackers or spectres to invade the virtual world of the Huaxia Federation.


    The two nations began to quibble on the diplomatic front ¡ª and while the attention of everyone in the Huaxia Federation was focused on the diplomatic byy between the two nations, several countries had begun to move surreptitiously.


    All the turmoil urring on the diplomatic front did not affect the enlistment assessments of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. After a week of tests, the assessment at the military academy was nearing its conclusion. Each of the various great army divisions was making their final candidate choices. The number of people taken in by each division was not much ¡ª in order to obtain the best and most suitable talented cadets for their divisions, the assessors had no choice but to consider their options again and again.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s 23rd Division assessment team finally came to a consensus and passed a final shortlist of names to Ling Xiao. Ling Xiao browsed through the list casually, and then said, "That¡¯ll do."


    "General, don¡¯t you want to think on it a little more?" The adjutant by his side finally could not hold back from asking.


    Ling Xiao cast a puzzled nce at him and then asked with a smile, "Adjutant Qiao, what do you think? It¡¯s okay, we can study this together."


    Ling Xiao was not that type of strict general ¡ª constantly smiling and affable, his subordinates always felt as if greeted by a spring breeze while with him. Even as they idolised him, they were not afraid to speak their minds.


    Adjutant Qiao daringly flipped to one of the pages of the list and pointed out several names. He reminded softly, "These few people, not too long ago with Young Master Lan ..." Ling Xiao peered at him with a half-smile, causing adjutant Qiao to turn red and quickly change his form of address, "With Ling Lan ... they had gone up against each other in a wagered arena fight. They were defeated by Ling Lan¡¯s group. One of the members of their n had initially applied for enlistment with our division, but ended up missing the assessment this time due to severe bodily injury. ording to Major Qin Feng who assessed them, he inadvertently overheard them discussing their intentions to take revenge against Ling Lan."


    Ever since knowing that Young Master Lan was the general¡¯s son, these assessment team members who hade here with the general had long taken the effort to learn all they could about everything that had happened since Young Master Lan had entered the school. When they found out that the first year New Cadet Regiment led by Young Master Lan had defeated the higher grade Leiting Mecha n, which was also the number one faction in the military academy, in a wagered fight, they could not help but be proud. As expected of the son of their god-ss operator General Ling Xiao ¡ª already so strong at such a young age.


    Ling Lan had been fully epted by them ¡ª this made their hearts lean infinitely towards Ling Lan¡¯s side. Even if Huo Zhenyu and his group were indeed some rare talents, the very idea that those boys were nning to retaliate against Ling Lan several yearster made the men rather unhappy. If not for their ethics as soldiers preventing them from being biased and abusing their power, they would have long swept those boys out from the list.


    In the end, they still included them in the final shortlist, but they still felt disgruntled about it. This was also one of the reasons why Adjutant Qiao had brought the issue up with General Ling Xiao.


    At these words, Ling Xiao could not help butugh, "Isn¡¯t this great?"


    Ling Xiao¡¯s words left Adjutant Qiao speechless, unsure what his general meant by them.


    "I¡¯m still afraid that when Ling Lan joins my divisionter on, you uncles will take care of him too much. Without any challenge orpetition, he might be ck," mused Ling Xiao, "With these people around, it¡¯ll make things a little more difficult for him. A greenhouse cannot foster strong sprouts 2 ."


    After saying this, Ling Xiao nced at the adjutant with a half-smile and added, "In our 23rd Division, there is no such thing as privilege or status. No matter who they are, everyone has to start from the beginning and go through all the necessary tests and trials. No one is exempt. If these people truly have the skills, then cultivation should be given as appropriate. Don¡¯t manipte things in any way. If in future, Ling Lan is really bullied by them, that would just prove that he isn¡¯t strong enough. What right does he have to say anything if he loses?"


    Adjutant Qiao was startled by the knowing look in Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes; it was as if he had been seen through. His back was instantly coated in cold sweat, and he could only console himself desperately by telling himself that he was overthinking things. Hearing what Ling Xiao said, he quickly nodded repeatedly in agreement, no longer daring to say more.


    After obtaining Ling Xiao¡¯s final approval, Adjutant Qiao swiftly departed from Ling Xiao¡¯s living quarters to hand the list over to the military academy. Tomorrow, this name list would be announced along with the name lists of all the other divisions on the official web page of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. This also marked the end of their assessment tasks here. After one rest day, they would leave the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Ling Xiao watched indifferently as the adjutant left, a trace of coldness in his eyes. When he turned to return to his room to rest, he found his official bodyguard, Lin Zhengnan, staring at him with a serious look on his youthful face. His gaze was filled with rage and disapproval. At the sight of him, Ling Xiao could not help but quirk a brow and ask, "Lil¡¯ Lin, you have something to say?"


    "Adjutant Qiao¡¯s behaviour earlier was obviously fishy. Why do you still trust him this much, General?" Being able to be Ling Xiao¡¯s personal bodyguard was his luck and fortune. Since he was small, he had always idolised Ling Xiao, wanting to be Ling Xiao¡¯s left or right arm, his most trusted subordinate.


    Many times, Lin Zhengnan could tell that Adjutant Qiao¡¯s actions were obviously intended to mislead Ling Xiao, trying to get Ling Xiao to do something disreputable, such as abusing his power for personal reasons. Young as he was, he could no longer refrain from speaking up and asking the general he revered like a god about the matter ...

 Chapter 353: A Fathers Responsibility!

    Chapter 353: A Father¡¯s Responsibility!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Xiao could not help butugh at Lin Zhengnan¡¯s words. He did not respond until he passed by Lin Zhengnan on his way to his room. Reaching out a hand to ruffle the other¡¯s hair, his tone was fond but resigned as he said, "Brat, you¡¯re oversimplifying the issue ..."


    The young were truly hot-blooded and saw things in ck and white. But in the field, how could things be that simple? In the past, he too had not wanted topromise and go with the flow, but the oue of that was a whole 16-year separation from his family. At this thought, Ling Xiao¡¯s brow furrowed slightly ... but if they still believed he was the same Ling Xiao as before, then they would be mistaken!


    Behind him, Lin Zhengnan touched his own hair in stunned amazement. He never expected his beloved and revered sir general to actually rub his head so affectionately. Excited, he looked respectfully at the figure of Ling Xiao in the distance; he did not notice that passing cold glint in Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes.


    Outside the room, a hidden guard concealed in the shadows saw the interaction between Ling Xiao and Lin Zhengnan, and a trace of envy shed through his eyes. He too was an admirer of Ling Xiao 1 . As for Lin Zhengnan¡¯s idiotic behaviour, the hidden guard could only sigh internally though he was also happy for Lin Zhengnan. Only General Ling Xiao would have the good temperament needed to amodate Lin Zhengnan¡¯s brash and blunt character. If it had been any of the other generals, Lin Zhengnan would definitely have been mercilessly kicked aside, because he was sure to cause trouble someday.


    After returning to his room, Ling Xiao sat alone quietly on his sofa. His mind, however, was busy recalling the things his daughter had told him two days ago, as well as that confession document she had secretly sent to him. Every time he thought of these things, his heart would clench with fear. If anything had happened, he would have lost his daughterpletely.


    Back when he had first heard that Ling Lan had received an SSS-rank mission, he had only been astonished at his daughter¡¯s horrible luck. Unwilling to see the defeated expression of his daughter after failing, and also because he wanted to increase his daughter¡¯s chances of sess, he had gifted his only transferrable imperial mecha to Ling Lan, just in case.


    If he had known earlier that the Swift Dragon base had been sessfully infiltrated by people from the Caesar Empire, he would definitely have stopped his daughter from going on that godd*mn mission. Fortunately, there had still been an investigation team sent by the Federation military travelling along with them, and the team not only had top-ss hackers but also several top-ss spectres. They seeded in drawing the attention of the Caesarians, so his daughter had managed to take advantage of that.


    It had to be said that his daughter¡¯s luck at epting missions was really terrible, but her luck in recruiting talent was off the charts. She had actually managed to recruit a spectre hiding in the civilian world and a top-ss hacker (Ling Lan had told a small lie here) ¡ª and on top of that, her entire team was basically made up of advanced mecha warriors, and so possessed decentbat power. Under such dire circumstances, they had still managed toplete the mission sessfully. They had obtained detailed information on the enemy, and had even managed to help the Federation investigation team from the shadows to wipe out all the Caesarian spectres. After that, they had also sessfully snuck into the escape ship to return with the Federation soldiers.


    When Ling Lan had told him these things, Ling Xiao was actually extremely proud, but he was also filled with fear. If anything had gone wrong at all, the result would have been utter annihtion. Even Ling Xiao could not help but admire the sheer audacity of his daughter.


    Still, the oue of the entire adventure was perfect, and the rewards they received upon itspletion was also substantial. For his daughter¡¯s battle n to leap up in one shot from starless to 5-star, it could be said to have ¡¯ascended the skies with one step¡¯. This rank within Mecha World was absolutely enough to ce them within the top 100 battle ns.


    Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s battle n was currently no match for those battle ns at the topmost level. After all, those battle ns were all ns of old beasts that had been established for several decades already. Ling Xiao¡¯s battle n used to be one of them, but now, unfortunately, those n members of his from back then had all either died in battle or had left the Federation. Ling Xiao¡¯s battle n now merely had the empty title of battle n; it was no longer a true battle n.


    After finding out about all this, Ling Xiao had asked Ling Lan to utterly bury this incident at the bottom of her mind and tell no one. This was not only for Ling Lan¡¯s protection but also to protect that civilian hacker and spectre that had slipped past the military¡¯s radar.


    At the same time, this incident made Ling Xiao realise that his daughter¡¯s ability to attract trouble was several magnitudes greater than his own. Back when he had done this n-formation mission, he had at most caused a great furore in an enemy nation¡¯s territory, hacking up some ace operators and calling it a day. In contrast, his daughter had actually directly obliterated a whole batch of the Caesar Empire¡¯s top-ss hackers and spectres ... the Caesar Empire must really be feeling the pain of their losses this time.


    It looks like he¡¯ll have to have to be even stronger, or else he may really be unable to protect this powerful daughter of his who seems capable of even provoking the heavens! At this thought, Ling Xiao could not help but smile. So this was the duty of being a father ¡ª it was troubling but also so sweet and blissful that he weed it willingly.


    Over these past two days, Ling Xiao had seemed to be idling about doing nothing, appearing unbelievably casual and at ease, but he had in fact begun secretly investigating the movements of the Caesar Empire with the secret forces of the Ling family. At the same time, he had also ordered the 23rd Division to closely monitor the movements of the various army divisions of Caesar. Unfortunately, nothing useful hade out of all this over thest two days. This made Ling Xiao feel rather uneasy. Understanding how the Caesar Empire operated, he knew that the other party absolutely would not take this affront quietly and let it go. They would definitelye for their revenge ...


    Even though Ling Lan had told him that her team¡¯s involvement had not been exposed during the fight with Caesar, Ling Xiao was still worried that the powerful intelligence bureau of the Caesar Empire would still be able to dig up information on his daughter ...


    "Leaving tomorrow? If only we were staying for a couple more days." Ling Xiao suddenly felt that he did not have enough time. If he had a few more days here, he could perhaps be able to create some defences. At this thought, he could not help but sigh silently. "I hope I¡¯m just worrying for nothing."


    The night passed without a word. Early the next day, all of the students of the military academy were eagerly refreshing the official forums of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. They wanted to get first-hand information on the results of the division assessments ...


    Even the freshmen were included in this frenzy because for the top three of each division¡¯s recruits, the video of their assessments would be publicised. This could perhaps give them juniors some experience. Though they knew that this was likely just their own wishful thinking ¡ª every year¡¯s assessment was not the same ¡ª the juniors of the lower years still held onto that sense of ¡¯what if¡¯ and would go watch these assessment videos.


    "Congrattions, Boss Huo!" Qiao Ting, who had already managed to get onto the official forums, sent a congrattory message to Huo Zhenyu at first notice. Although he was rather surprised by the other¡¯s choice of enlisting with the 23rd Division and not the 1st Division as the other had previously determined, Boss Huo had still be the top recruit of the 23rd Division. As expected of their Leiting¡¯s previous regimentmander.


    "Many thanks, Junior Qiao." Huo Zhenyu was also extremely happy with his results. At the same time, he saw that the others of his battle n had also seeded in getting into the 23rd Division. This meant that aside from the injured Nie Feng-ming who was still in recovery, every other member was in. By next year, once Nie Feng-ming seeded in enlisting as well, their entire battle n would beplete.


    "It¡¯s just that we¡¯ve lost the arena fight against the New Cadet Regiment, so in future, Junior Qiao will have to clean up the mess." After some thought, Huo Zhenyu added, "Beware of the regimentmander of the New Cadet Regiment, Ling Lan. He is really very strong."


    "I believe that, when ites to mechabat, I will not lose to anyone," responded Qiao Ting solemnly. He knew Boss Huo was speaking out of good intentions, worried about the future sh between Leiting and the New Cadet Regiment. Therefore, he too answered Boss Huo seriously, telling the other that he had nothing to worry about.


    Huo Zhenyu was silent for a moment before answering, "Junior Qiao, it¡¯s good that you are confident." He had no way of telling Qiao Ting that the feeling Ling Lan gave him was one of unfathomable depth. In the end, all he wanted to say was reduced to just this ¡ª even as he acknowledged Qiao Ting¡¯s statement, he was trying to give himself some confidence.


    ********


    Meanwhile, in Ling Lan¡¯s vi, Qi Long and the others were also refreshing the forums. Of course, their attention was focused on the 23rd Division because that was their boss¡¯s father¡¯s division and was likely their future destination.


    "Aaaaaaaah, I did not expect Uncle Ling to take in Huo Zhenyu¡¯s gang ..." Qi Long was the first to see the results, instantly clicking onto the 23rd Division to see its final eptance name list. Those few familiar names sent him howling uncontrobly.


    As Ling Xiao was Boss Lan¡¯s father, even though Ling Xiao¡¯s actual age was much younger than their own fathers, they still chose to respectfully call him Uncle Ling. Lying on the sofa, reading the information on the various open and hidden factions within the Ling family her father had given to her, when Ling Lan heard the address of ¡¯Uncle Ling¡¯, her stony, cold face could not help but spasm. Alright, just imagining it ¡ª her father¡¯s young face really shed with this title of ¡¯uncle¡¯.


    "What¡¯s so surprising about that? Other than being no match for our Boss Lan, Huo Zhenyu¡¯s physical skills are the best in the whole military academy." Seeing these results, Han Jijyun was not surprised.


    "I just can¡¯t figure out why he chose to enlist with the 23rd Division," said Qi Long as he rubbed his head, baffled. From the gossip Xie Yi had gathered, Huo Zhenyu was an admirer of the First Marshal ¡ª he had long ago sworn to apply for enlistment with the 1st Division.


    "Perhaps because themander of the 23rd Division is Uncle Ling Xiao," remarked Luo Lang, face filled with admiration. "In future, I too want to apply for the 23rd Division ..." That said, Luo Lang suddenly realised that his boss had not stated which division he would be applying to yet. So, he quickly asked his boss, "Boss, will you apply to the 23rd Division?"


    Ling Lan turned off the virtual screen in her hands and said evenly, "Why wouldn¡¯t I? It¡¯s always good to have someone covering for you."


    Ling Lan knew well that even if she chose to apply for the other divisions, her father would definitely use his authority to override her choice and bring her to the 23rd Division anyway. As such, why should she go against her dad¡¯s wishes and waste the effort? Besides, she was not against going to the 23rd Division.


    "Then it¡¯s settled. We¡¯ll all apply to the 23rd Division together," said Luo Lang excitedly. His words made all thepanions by his side nod emphatically; they had long decided that they would follow Ling Lan. Moreover, Ling Xiao was already their idol to begin with ¡ª they were very willing to go to the 23rd Division.


    Luo Lang¡¯s excitement had just peaked when his mood dipped. Frowning in worry, he wondered aloud, "Who knows how the three new members will choose?"

 Chapter 354: Enemy Invasion?

    Chapter 354: Enemy Invasion?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Li Lanfeng will definitely go to the 23rd Division. I¡¯ve already spoken with him," answered Ling Lan immediately. "As for Li Shiyu, as long as Qi Long¡¯s issue isn¡¯t resolved, he doesn¡¯t have a choice."


    The others could not help but spare a handful ofpassionate tears for Li Shiyu at Ling Lan¡¯s words. Thus, the poor Li Shiyu had sold off his entire life to the Lingtian Battle n ... he had no more so-called freedom to speak of.


    Hiding at one side, Qi Long secretly swiped away the cold sweat on his forehead, self-hypnotising himself inside, ¡¯It¡¯s none of my business. All of this is Boss¡¯s idea ..." He still remembered that back when he had suffered that ¡¯rpse¡¯, Boss had secretly injected him with a shot before it happened. There was absolutely something fishy about that shot.


    "As for Chang Xinyuan, we can just ask him the next time we meet. Even if he is unwilling, there¡¯s still a few years¡¯ time for us to trick him into following us." Ling Lan stroked her chin, thinking about that mecha modification prodigy. Yup, she absolutely could not allow him to just slip away like that.


    Trick? The moment Ling Lan said this, all of the other people in the vi acted simrly. They all lifted their heads to look up at the ceiling, pretending they had not heard anything. They were a proper battle n, definitely not some human trafficking syndicate ... uh, although a few of the n members were indeed tricked into joining, overall, those were still the minority, right ...? Everyone was justifying things to themselves, cautioning themselves that they absolutely could not be led astray by their boss.


    Near the evening, Ling Lan walked out from the vi on her own. Qi Long and the others were still in their sses and had yet to return. Ling Lan had decided to go to the port to send her dad off so that he would not misunderstand things and mope again.


    Ling Lan knew very well that Ling Xiao hade all this way in disguise to the military academy primarily because he was worried about her and so wanted toe see for himself how she was doing. Although Ling Lan felt that Ling Xiao¡¯s actions were unnecessary, she could not deny that she was deeply moved by it. She had profoundly experienced the bottomless love and eptance Ling Xiao had for his daughter. Even though they had missed spending the first sixteen years of her life here together, Ling Xiao was currently investing so much more than Ling Lan in their rtionship. It should be said that Ling Xiao was scoring passing marks in taking on his role as a father.


    Spending thesest few days together in the military academy had let Ling Lan gradually integrate her image of the Ling Xiao in the legacy space with this Ling Xiao in the real world. If Ling Lan had not been so used to having her ckface on by now, and if Ling Xiao¡¯s face had not looked so ridiculously young, perhaps Ling Lan would have already fulfilled Ling Xiao¡¯s wish by calling him ¡¯daddy¡¯. As for right now ...


    Ling Xiao¡¯s assessment team was almost the final team to leave the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. There was quite a crowd that hade to send them off. Some were the upper-year cadets who had been enlisted into the 23rd Division, such as Huo Zhenyu andpany, while there were also quite a number of lower-year cadets who admired the 23rd Division. These younger students hade over in between sses in hopes of making a stronger impression on the assessors.


    While they knew that the assessors would be different every year, what if these officers happened to be the assessors again several yearster ...? They were unwilling to back down even just for this miniscule bit of hope.


    This was still the first time that Huo Zhenyu had seen the leader of the 23rd Division¡¯s team. During the assessment period, this leader had not appeared at any of the assessment fields. Even the inspection tasks had only been handled by him at the end of the day after all the assessments had ended. Since Huo Zhenyu had decided to go to the 23rd Division, he naturally wanted to know more about it. He wanted to know what kind of leader this major general was ¡ª perhaps he would be able to see some shadow of General Ling Xiao from the other.


    Huo Zhenyu believed that a leader under General Ling Xiao must have something special about him.


    The major general looked very young ¡ª even therge face mask which almost covered his entire face was unable to conceal this fact. He led his team to the special military port for the 23rd Division, but unlike the other assessment teams, he did not walk straight into the military vessel. Instead, he stood to one side, as if waiting for someone.


    The other assessment team officers did not seem surprised by this. The major general had barely halted when they all spread out to stand in groups of two or three around him, where they then began chatting with one another. The mood was extremely casual and light-hearted.


    Huo Zhenyu did not think much of it at first, but he soon noticed the intricacy behind the men¡¯s positions. Those officers may seem as if they were standing around randomly to chat, but that was not true. They had imperceptibly surrounded the major general, and the direction and angle of each person¡¯s position were different. It could be said that everything in the surroundings would fall into the eyes of at least one of the officers ¡ª not a single blind spot existed.


    Huo Zhenyu was rendered speechless with astonishment. Who would have expected the leader of the 23rd Division to have such strong leadership skills? This scene had not urred with any of the other assessment teams ¡ª even the leader of the teams might not be able to inspire such obedience from the proud and stubborn officers under their lead.


    It could not be denied that even as Huo Zhenyu was astounded, he was secretly pleased. It was always better being able to join a united division rather than a divided army division which was prone to in-fighting.


    Right at this time, Huo Zhenyu saw a very familiar figure strolling over. It was Ling Lan who had defeated him on the arena stage. Ling Lan bypassed the fence to walk straight towards the men of the 23rd Division. It looked like his target was that major general.


    Huo Zhenyu was startled by this and he began to feel nervous for Ling Lan¡¯s sake. These officers of the 23rd Division may seem nice and friendly, but they were actually really hard to get along with. He had once tried to build some rapport with them but had failed miserably. The mocking gazes of those men had stopped Huo Zhenyu from seeking them out to talk again.


    Huo Zhenyu thought that Ling Lan would be stopped by the surrounding officers before he could even get close to the major general, but unexpectedly, Ling Lan had just approached when the officer closest to him had smiled and given way to him. This scene made Huo Zhenyu¡¯s pupils contract. It went without saying that Ling Lan must know that major general.


    As Huo Zhenyu had put his full focus on the assessment, he had not paid attention to the other things that had happened within the school. Thus, he was unaware that Ling Lan had led the New Cadet Regiment to form a weingmittee for the assessment teams, or that Ling Lan had been singled out for admiration by the head of the 23rd Division during the weing ceremony ...


    Huo Zhenyu¡¯s gaze dimmed slightly. Would the fact that Ling Lan knew the major general affect his future retaliation n? However, Huo Zhenyu soon smiled, fighting spirit aze in his eyes. This was even better. If Ling Lan truly enlisted with the 23rd Division because of this, perhaps their revenge plot could be executed several years ahead of schedule.


    "You¡¯ve finallye! I thought you wouldn¡¯t even be willing toe see me off." Even though Ling Xiao¡¯s face waspletely obscured by therge face mask, the humour in his eyes could not be concealed. It was clear to see that Ling Lan¡¯s arrival had pleased Ling Xiao¡¯s dragon heart greatly.


    "Well, I forgot to ask you, Father, to pass on a message. Tell Mummy to not worry, I¡¯m doing well here." Ling Lan reflexively scratched her nose, ignoring the hope in Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes, once again pretending not to see anything like an ostrich. Alright, just let her continue working at it!


    Ling Xiao seemed to pick up on Ling Lan¡¯s embarrassment. He reached out a hand to tap Ling Lan lovingly on the forehead and said with a smile, "Got it. I¡¯ll pass on your message, my ¡¯son¡¯!" That said, Ling Xiao turned to leave and board his ship. Frankly, Ling Laning to send him off personally was already enough to satisfy him. As for calling him ¡¯daddy¡¯, he was not impatient; there was still time. One day, he would let his daughter call him ¡¯daddy¡¯ from the heart.


    Ling Lan looked at Ling Xiao¡¯s stalwart back and then decisively fell into a cadet¡¯s salute, mouthing silently, "Daddy, bon voyage!" Although that cry of ¡¯daddy¡¯ was not voiced, the love and respect she held in her heart for Ling Xiao could not be denied.


    The assessment team of the 23rd Division very quickly followed their leader onto their ship, and the ship soon took off. Just like that, other than Qi Long and the other few knowing that Ling Xiao had visited the military academy, no one else had a clue that the national idol and god-ss operator General Ling Xiao had even graced the First Men¡¯s Military Academy with his presence.


    Only after Ling Lan saw the warship fly away from the port did she put down her hand and turn away from the port. On her way back, she saw Huo Zhenyu standing right across from her, staring at her with a serious expression.


    "Senior Huo, what¡¯s up?" asked Ling Lan lightly.


    "Are you going to the 23rd Division in future?" asked Huo Zhenyu.


    "Yes!" answered Ling Lan resolutely.


    "Good. Four yearster, I will wait for you at the 23rd Division. At that time, we shall fight to clear the grudge between us." Huo Zhenyu¡¯s eyes were filled with fighting spirit as he issued his challenge.


    "Sounds good to me!" Ling Lan decisively pped her hand against the other¡¯s outstretched palm, indicating that she had epted Huo Zhenyu¡¯s challenge.


    After striking palms, the two brushed by each other, leaving for their respective destinations without a backward nce. However, they both knew that they needed to begin preparing now for the battle four years from now.


    Very soon, night descended. Ling Lan and the others finished dinner and then after another round of training, they each went off to rest.


    At this time, the fleet of an unidentified faction had snuck into the skies of the they were on and were slowly making their silent way towards the ... even more frighteningly, heaven knows what method they used to interrupt the satellite surveince of this plot of sky. Not a single person nor piece of equipment discovered their presence.


    A patrol ship was conducting its routine patrol and inspection around this area and found nothing unusual. It was just about to send this news down to the mainframe below when it found that it could not send out any messages.


    "That¡¯s strange, why wasn¡¯t there any signal five times in a row?" The operator in charge of message transmission had tried sending a message 5 times consecutively, but the optical supeputer always ended each attempt with a notification of failure. This surprised the operator, causing him to shout out involuntarily. Although there had been times before when the message transmission would fail due to an unstable signal, it would typically only happen just once or twice and never more than three times. For this transmission to fail 5 times in a row was absolutely an abnormal urrence.


    Thems leader in charge of this area immediately came over to investigate. Sure enough, as the operator had said, there was no indicator of any signal at all being picked up by the device. He quickly said, "Which satellite are you connected to?"


    "JX-12," responded the operator instantly.


    "Change to JX-07 for me," ordered the team leader.


    "Yes! Sir!" The operator immediately switched to contacting the satellite JX-07 but soon found that JX-07 was equally out of contact. "Sir, we can¡¯t connect to JX-07."


    "Try the other satellites!" Cold sweat began to bead up on the team leader¡¯s forehead; he had sensed that something was up.


    The operator tried again and again to connect to the other major satellites in this section of space but found all his efforts futile. "Sir, it¡¯s still not working."


    "Could it be that the ship¡¯smunicator is broken?" asked the team leader.


    "No, the results of the device¡¯s self-check is normal 1 !" responded the operator immediately.


    At these words, the team leader suddenly recalled a war of information that had taken ce in the Federation 20 years ago. This kind of scenario had urred then as well. His face changed drastically and he said, "Could this be an enemy invasion?"

 Chapter 355: Ambush?

    Chapter 355: Ambush?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Just then, the surveince radar operator announced with a shout, "Unidentified flying objects detected, number, preliminary estimation neen."


    This announcement caught the captain¡¯s attention and he promptly ordered, "Get me visual, maximum magnification."


    The person manning the scanner screens, upon receiving the coordinates provided by the radar operator, began searching and quickly located the targets, and then began zooming in. Soon, an image appeared on the main screen in the control room. What first appeared as neen ck dots expanded gradually until rough silhouettes could be discerned. Despite the low resolution, everyone could see that the outlines of these unknown flying objects belonged to warship-ss vessels.


    Civilian and military ships were vastly different and could be easily distinguished based on their outlines. At the sight that greeted them, everyone felt rmed. These mysterious warships, where had theye from and why had they never received any warning of any warships approaching their sector?


    "Send the signal, request ID," the captainmanded through gritted teeth. He had a bad feeling about this, but hoped against hope that this fleet would turn out to be friendly.


    "Alert ground control, report status," the captain prepared for the worst, directingmunications personnel to brief the ground-level defensive troops on the situation.


    "Sir, we¡¯ve lost contact with ground control, the satellites are all dead," themunications team leader paled visibly as he informed his captain of the harsh reality of their situation.


    Hearing this, the captain stood up fiercely and bellowed, "We must re-establish contact. This is definitely an enemy attack!" It was clear as day to the captain that this was undoubtedly an enemy offensive. Their only hope was to report this situation to the ground troops, otherwise ... the thought gave the captain chills, and he broke out in cold sweat.


    If the enemy ambush seeded, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, situated on Newline directly below, would be done for!


    The signalman, having tried repeatedly to contact the other fleet to no avail, anxiously asked the captain, "Sir, the other side is not responding. Your orders?"


    Acting on a sh of insight, the captain clenched his jaw andmanded, "Alter course immediately, turn ny degrees, full speed ahead!"


    On receiving the order, everyst technical operator in the main control room leapt to action. The patrol ship executed a wless 90-degree turn, tracing a beautiful path against the sea of stars, then sped away towards the west. The vice-captain, standing beside the captain, could not help but ask softly, "Captain, is this really for the best?" The crime punished most severely by the Federation military was that of fleeing without even putting up a fight. If the military found out, the captain would surely be court-martialled.


    "There are 19 military vessels in the enemy fleet, engaging them head-on is suicidal. I cannot allow my subordinate brothers to die in vain. Besides, we have a more important mission, which is to make contact with the ground troops and warn them of the impending danger. To do all this, we must survive! Even if it means getting court-martialled, I will have no regrets." With determination in his eyes, the captain went on, "Vice-captain, if Newline is ambushed, all the instructors and students at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy will be doomed ..."


    "No matter which faction the enemy is from, I fear their goal is to sever the Federation¡¯s production line of future soldiers. The faculty at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy is the cream of the Federation¡¯s crop, we absolutely cannot allow the enemy to seed," said the captain in steely tones.


    By now, the fleet of 19 warships had discovered the fleeing Federation patrol ship. The supeputer of the leading warship outputted a warning message: "ONE PATROL SHIP IDENTIFIED AHEAD, TARGET LOCKED FOR PURSUIT. PLEASE ISSUE NEW ORDER - PURSUE/IGNORE?"


    In response to this news, the fleetmander decisively ordered, "Ignore it, proceed ording to n." Did that patrol ship think running westward would ensure their safety? The fleetmander shed an icy smirk, clearly contemptuous.


    As if on cue, two more fleets of warships suddenly appeared from either side, one with nine ships and the other, thirteen. Despite the emergency change of course, the Federation patrol ship was headed straight for the 13-ship fleet.


    "Curses! Fire the cannons!" Realizing they had already fallen into the enemy¡¯s trap, the captain knew they had no chance, but a savage fire burned in his eyes. "Even if we die, we¡¯re taking some of the bastards with us!" screamed the captain.


    The patrol vessel finally fired its main cannon, the missile¡¯s brilliant, glimmering tail arcing across the starry skies in an instant, barrelling straight towards one of the warships. Faced with the patrol ship¡¯s surprise attack, the warship moved to avoid it. Wherever the missiles scratched the sides of the warship, the once-glowing beam shields suddenly darkened ...


    With just one more shot, perhaps they really could have dealt the enemy a terrifying blow, but the patrol ship never got the opportunity to do so. The enemy fleet never gave them any chance; they were faced with the overwhelming cannon fire of the enemy salvo. With missiles nketing the sky before them, even though the patrol ship tried desperately to dodge and weave with their beam shields turned up to maximum power, they could not hope to win. BOOM! The patrol ship was sted by multiple missiles. The ship blew apart in an instant, the ship and its crew swallowed by a sky-piercing, fiery explosion, like a fireworks disy. The next moment, all that was left were debris in the emptiness of space.


    "Reporting! One patrol ship destroyed in the east!" the fleet entering from the east wasted no time in reporting to the main fleet. Following that, the western fleet also reported that the patrol ship that had tried to flee had been destroyed by them. All told, they had destroyed two patrol ships.


    The fleetmander received the two fleets¡¯ reports and nodded in satisfaction. "The three patrol ships mentioned in our intelligence have all been destroyed, and the signals from the satellites in the area have also been silenced. It¡¯s time we made our next move. On my orders, let Operation Kill the Fledgling officially begin!"


    Following themander¡¯s order, the three fleets merged into one massive fleet. All the warships positioned themselves in the airspace above the First Men¡¯s Military Academy on Newline and began opening theirunch ports. Soon, innumerable ck metallic spheres dropped speedily down towards the ...


    "This technology granted by the Twilight Empire ain¡¯t bad at all. We¡¯re undetectable by radar, and on top of that, it¡¯s the dead of night. I think by the time the anti-air ground troops realize it, our men will havended. What happens next will be a test of the strength of our forces," said themander-in-chief, unable to suppress a gloating smirk as he watched the metallic spheres popte the skies above the First Men¡¯s Military Academy like spring rain.


    "Indeed, Commander, this time, we shall teach the Huaxians a bloody lesson!" haughtily replied the adjutant by themander¡¯s side, his eyes glinting with vengeance and bloodlust. The blood of the Caesar Empire must never be spilled in vain!


    ********


    "Boss, wake up! Boss, wake up!" Ling Lan woke with a start but kept her eyes closed, maintaining the pretence of being in deep sleep while activating her spiritual power. Quickly probing the state of the room and finding everything normal, no threats present, only then did she ask mentally, "Little Four, what is it?"


    "I just lost contact with every satellite around the all of a sudden. This is highly unusual," Little Four hurriedly briefed Ling Lan of the situation.


    "Can¡¯t you just re-connect?" Ling Lan was shocked to hear this.


    "I can¡¯t reach them. I¡¯ve already activated all the radars on the ground and all the monitoring equipment in the academy ... I haven¡¯t found anything unusual yet, but something just feels off, like something bad is about to happen," Little Four replied anxiously. "I learnt about a simr incident recorded in the academy mainframe¡¯s database, this could be an attack on ourmunications system by an enemy nation ..."


    "Blindfolding us to keep us in the dark about the situation in the outside world ... Could they be nning an ambush?" Ling Lan furrowed her brow, her mind shing back to the events at the Swift Dragon base. Could this have something to do with that? Could it be that she had made a mistake somewhere and the enemy had discovered them?


    On hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words, Little Four¡¯s eyes lit up and, nodding away, he said, "Yup, yup, their objective is most likely to pull off an ambush!"


    Ling Lan made a snap decision and instructed Little Four, "Little Four, immediately report any changes in the situation to me, especially anything transpiring in the skies. You haven¡¯t forgotten what happened six years ago, right?" Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but recall the incident on Demonbeast, where the Twilight Empire had managed to pull off an airborne offensive.


    Ling Lan thought so, because the First Men¡¯s Military Academy in its current location was closely monitored by the ground forces, which made it impossible for any enemy nation to sessfully invade it withrge armies. Instead, they had employed such extravagant tactics as to create a total transmission lockdown, showing that their ambush this time was no petty skirmish. Since a ground invasion was impossible, a direct approach from the air was very likely. This was precisely why Ling Lan had especially notified Little Four to observe the skies.


    As soon as Ling Lan was done instructing Little Four, her eyes sprang open, and with a shove of her right hand, she leapt down from the bed. She rapidly put on the academy uniform, opened the door to her room, and in a few steps, she arrived at the room closest to hers.


    Ling Lan did not choose to knock politely, instead kicking the door in with a ferocious stomp.


    With a violent "BANG!" Ling Lan blew the doorway open, the door itself crashing into the room from the force of the kick.


    A crack was heard as the door was smashed to smithereens by some force mid-flight, the aftershocks sending the splinters exploding outward.


    The first thing Ling Lan saw was a fist, and then someone on the bed somersaulted to the floor. Qi Long, who was naked above the waist and wearing only a pair of boxers, had one hand against the ground, poised like a cheetah waiting for any opportunity to strike.


    Ling Lan nced coolly at the sculpted, powerful body of Qi Long and his rippling muscles, and suppressed her envy. She said emotionlessly, "Enemy invasion, prepare forbat!" Such a formidable physique would never be hers in this lifetime, thought Ling Lan regretfully.


    The tension Qi Long felt upon his rude awakening had abated when he saw that his own boss was the one standing in the doorway, but at his boss¡¯s words, his heart started racing again. He stood up quickly and, retrieving the academy uniform hanging by the bed in one fluid motion, dressed rapidly before catching up to Ling Lan, asking anxiously, "Boss, what happened?"

 Chapter 356: Tampering?

    Chapter 356: Tampering?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m only guessing that the military academy is probably being targeted for arge-scale enemy attack right now," said Ling Lan as they walked. Very soon they hade to the door of Luo Lang¡¯s room, and without even thinking about it, Ling Lan once again whipped out a savage kick to send the door flying open. However, the door opened to an empty room.


    Just then, a person suddenly leapt out from the side, striking out ferociously at Ling Lan¡¯s face. Ling Lan calmly raised her right hand and caught the attacker¡¯s powerful fist with a palm.


    "Boss, it¡¯s you!" Luo Lang saw that Boss Ling Lan was the one who had seized his fist and instantly let out a sigh of relief, crying out in joy. Apparently, the ruckus from Qi Long¡¯s room had startled the sleeping Luo Lang awake. He had thought that something was wrong and so had swiftly put on his clothes and hid behind the wall right by the door. When his door had been kicked open, he had then charged out to punch the intruder.


    Ling Lan let go of Luo Lang¡¯s fist, and casting down a cold nce, she said, "Luo Lang, keep up!"


    Luo Lang retracted his hand. Seeing the grim look on Ling Lan¡¯s face, he knew something had happened. Silently, he followed his boss, though he surreptitiously poked Qi Long beside him. Qi Long turned his head and mouthed silently, "Enemy invasion!"


    Luo Lang¡¯s gaze turned cold. For his boss to be so concerned, this enemy invasion must be noteworthy. His thoughts ran along the same line Ling Lan¡¯s had, thinking of the events that had transpired at the Swift Dragon base. Could it be that the events there had caused them to be discovered?


    However, looking at his boss¡¯s frigid expression, Luo Lang did not dare to ask any questions. Coming to the second floor, Ling Lan gave a signal to Qi Long and Luo Lang, motioning for them to split up and wake up Han Jijyun, Lin Zhong-qing, and Xie Yi respectively.


    Very soon, everyone was awake. Fully dressed in their uniforms, they gathered at the living room downstairs. Ling Lan was seated primly on the sofa, deep in contemtion. Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing reflexively nced at one another and saw the confusion in each other¡¯s eyes. They had only been woken up by Luo Lang and Qi Long without being told what was going on.


    Han Jijyun walked down the stairs with a thoughtful expression. Coming to stand before Ling Lan, he waited for his boss to give him a definite answer.


    "At present, our ground control has lost all contact with all the satellites in the space above this. It has been as long as 5 minutes." Ling Lan swept her gaze over everyone present and told them about the present situation.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words gave everyone a shock, particrly Han Jijyun and Luo Lang. Aware of the importance of intelligence, they knew very well what this represented.


    "It¡¯s an enemy invasion!" concluded Han Jijyun with conviction. Luo Lang nodded in agreement; he hade to the same conclusion as Han Jijyun. In contrast to Ling Lan¡¯s uncertain spection, Han Jijyun and Luo Lang were obviously much more certain.


    "My guess is the same. And I think the invasion will being from outer space." Ling Lan reflexively looked out at the starry sky outside the window. Wasn¡¯t the pitch darkness of the night sky a perfect setting for an air invasion?


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused everyone¡¯s expression to change. If things were really as Boss had said, then their First Men¡¯s Military Academy was in danger. Boiling over with anxiety, Xie Yi blurted, "Boss, then what should we do?"


    "I have already taken control of the ground radar as well as all of the aerial monitoring equipment of the military academy. The moment I notice anything, I will sound the rm of the entire academy," Ling Lan told herpanions of her ns.


    "Why not just sound the rm now? This will make it easier for the ground forces to have time to put up their guard," asked Han Jijyun, puzzled.


    "Unfortunately, there is nothing strange in the radar or the surveince equipment. Without proof, their first response would be to suspect that the academy mainframe has been hacked. Then, they might put in all their effort to investigate this matter. The potential loss outweighs the potential gains; I don¡¯t want to have this backfire on us to the enemy¡¯s gain," Ling Lan shared her concerns.


    If the ground forces turned all their attention internally as a result, Ling Lan would surely regret it endlessly. Initially aiming to disrupt an enemy¡¯s invasion but ending up creating an even better opportunity for the invasion instead, Ling Lan would not do such a stupid thing ...


    "But losing contact with the satellites is a fact. As long as they learn of this, they should be wary." Han Jijyun could not understand why his boss was worrying like this. From his perspective, the matter was simple. As long as the ground forces knew that they had lost contact with the satellites for several minutes, they would certainly think of the possibility of an air invasion.


    After listening to Han Jijyun¡¯s words, a bitter smile appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s lips. "What if, the equipment disys of all the ground devices connected to the satellites still show that everything is normal?" Only a fearsome existence such as Little Four could experience first-hand the truth that they had lost contact with the satellites; meanwhile, all the equipment were showing that everything was fine, and even the top-ss hackers could sense nothing wrong. This was also why Ling Lan was forced to wait for something concrete to happen.


    These words of Ling Lan finally caused theplexion of theposed Han Jijyun to change. "Boss, are you saying that there is no indication on the ground equipment about the loss of connection? But the fact is that we¡¯ve already lost contact with the satellites?"


    Ling Lan nodded and said, "Yes. Only hackers who have reached a certain level would be able to notice the problem." If Little Four had not loved to roam and wander about so much, he might have overlooked the problem as well ...


    Han Jijyun¡¯s entire face turned grim. "Who would have expected the enemy to go to such expense to aplish such a thing? Rumour has it that only imperial level hackers and above can do something like this ... although our military academy has cultivated many hackers, it has never once produced an imperial level one. Even in the entire Federation, the number of imperial hackers can be counted on one hand. It is to be expected that the ground forces will never notice that the satellites have been tampered with."


    Tampered with? Han Jijyun¡¯s words caused Ling Lan¡¯s mind to jolt, an idea appearing in her mind¡¯s eye which would resolve their current passive situation. Ling Lan excitedly called out to Little Four, "Little Four, can you fabricate an image of the satellites transmitting?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Little Four roll his eyes and he said with a pout, "Boss, you¡¯re underestimating me too much. This kind of thing, I can do it even with my eyes closed." Was it necessary to ask him about such a simple thing? When would his boss have a little more faith in him?


    "That¡¯s good ..." Little Four¡¯s words sent a bolt of glee through Ling Lan¡¯s heart. She began instructing Little Four on what he had to do. As Ling Lan borated, Little Four¡¯s gaze became brighter and brighter ¡ª in the end, he patted his chest and told Ling Lan to leave it all to him.


    After epting Ling Lan¡¯s arrangements, Little Four vanished. As if letting down a great burden, Ling Lan¡¯s mood became instantly much more rxed. She thought about it for a bit and then said to Lin Zhong-qing, "Contact Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu, and Chang Xinyuan immediately. Let the three of them gather here at our ce right away."


    After that, she told the others, "You all, immediately contact all the team leaders of the New Cadet Regiment. Tell them about this news!" At this point, Ling Lan suddenly got up from the sofa and walked over to the window to stare up at the endless night sky. After several seconds of silent contemtion, she said icily, "Tell them to gather all their team members, be on standby, and be prepared to fight!"


    "Yes, Boss!" Everyone sprang into motion.


    ********


    About five minutester, the initially still and silent school suddenly rang with the ear-splitting screech of an enemy invasion rm.


    When Ling Lan heard the rm rip through the night air, the corners of her lips tilted up despite herself. If the enemy truly thought they could easily consume this entire school, then just let them try ...


    Qi Long and the others, who had been sitting to one side quietly, leapt up at the cacophony and asked, "Boss, has the enemy been sighted?"


    Ling Lanposedly sat on the sofa, shook her head and said, "No!"


    "Then this rm ..." Qi Long was confused now. They had all heard the conversation between Boss and Han Jijyun ¡ª Boss had clearly said that he would only sound the rm once the enemy had been sighted.


    "I was indeed the one who sounded the rm," replied Ling Lan calmly.


    "Didn¡¯t you say that without any proof, the ground forces will not believe it?" asked Han Jijyun, bewildered, unsure why his boss had suddenly changed his mind.


    "They can tamper with the disys, but we can also tamper with the disys." Ling Lan¡¯s lips pulled into a cold curve.


    Ling Lan¡¯s reply made everyone¡¯s eyes light up; all of them knew what Ling Lan meant. Indeed, if the other side could make it so the satellite disys registered everything as normal, then they too could make it so that the satellite disys indicated some problem ... most people were just trapped by fixed ideas, believing that attack methods could only be used on an enemy. Sometimes, for the greater picture, these methods could also be applied to one¡¯s own side.


    Han Jijyun cast a searching nce at theposed Boss Lan before him, his heart maxed out with admiration 1 . While they were still thinking within the box, Boss Lan had already thrown the box wide open ¡ª his every action was already beyond any fixed boundaries of thinking. Whether something was good or bad, he could take and use it, as long as the final oue was advantageous to their side.


    Other than that, there was one more thing. Han Jijyun had always thought Boss Lan was just a top-ss hacker, but now it looked like he should already be at the level of imperial-ss hacker ... as expected of their boss, still as unfathomable even when it came to other domains.


    "Enemy invasion, enemy invasion, all ground troops aremanded to enterbat mode. All anti-air cannons on the ground to be aimed towards the sky. Prepare to fire ..." Themander of the ground forces had received the images sent by the satellites and had instantly broken out into cold sweat. He immediately ordered the ground forces to begin moving. The sudden appearance of countless starships in the images as well as those golden metallic eggs spewing from the ships proved that this was a fearsome aerial invasion. Thank god for the timely images sent by the satellites, otherwise they would have been finished over here.


    "Reporting to the chief. There is no sign of any unidentified flying objects in the sky on the radars. Everything is normal." Very soon, all the radar surveince centres sent over thetest updates; they had not discovered anything wrong in the skies above. This situation bewildered themander ¡ª what in the world was going on? Why didn¡¯t the ground radars pick up anything as indicated by the images from the satellites? Where exactly was the problem?


    "Chief, do you still remember the Demonbeast invasion incident in that top-secret military report 6 years ago?" The adjutant by themander¡¯s side found the situation equally puzzling, but his gaze suddenly lit up at this recollection and he quickly alerted themander.


    Themander came to a realisation and hurriedly ordered the staff officer beside him, "Quickly. Get me the information on the invasion of Demonbeast six years ago."

 Chapter 357: Arrangements!

    Chapter 357: Arrangements!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    It took only a few seconds for the information on the Demonbeast invasion to be disyed on therge screen of themand centre. When themander saw that familiar egg-shaped object, he was instantly enlightened. Rage burned brightly in his heart and he cursed out loud, "Godd*mmit, it¡¯s those f*cking Twilightians again."


    "Chief, ording to the data, the metal of the eggs can avoid radar detection ..." The adjutant managed to find the info he wanted with a quick skim of the data. It looked like he had remembered correctly ¡ª radars were useless against these egg-shaped metal objects.


    "So that¡¯s how it is. Issue the order ¡ª do not trust the radars, use infrared telescopes to search the skies." Themander had also seen that piece of information. mming a palm down hard on the surface before him, hemanded angrily.


    "Yes! Chief!" The officers below themander acknowledged his order and passed on his instructions. While the anti-air ground cannoneer troops were watching the skies intently, the team leaders of the New Cadet Regiment were leading all their team members to gather before Ling Lan¡¯s vi.


    Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu, and Chang Xinyuan were thest to arrive as their amodations were the furthest away from Ling Lan¡¯s vi. When they saw the crowd gathered in the little garden before the vi, even as they were astonished, they could feel the potential power behind Ling Lan.


    As soon as they entered the living room, they saw twenty people either standing or sitting all around the room. When he saw these people, Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze flickered subtly. He recognised all these people ¡ª the Wuji Mecha n had collected detailed information on the New Cadet Regiment previously. These people were all the team leaders in the New Cadet Regiment, and were likely to be the leaders of battle ns in the future. For now, they were all members of Ling Lan¡¯s New Cadet Regiment.


    Ling Lan was currently seated on the sofa. Seeing Li Lanfeng and the other two arrive, she merely gave them a look signalling them to go find Qi Long. Li Lanfeng and the others knew that Ling Lan was in the middle of a discussion with these people, so they made no sound, silently moving to Qi Long¡¯s side.


    Qi Long saw theming and then told them about the situation. Li Lanfeng was shocked by the news ¡ª after receiving the text toe, he had been rushing over when he had suddenly heard the sound of sirens, so he knew something major must have happened, but he had never expected that things would be so serious.


    However, Li Lanfeng quickly pushed the shock to the back of his mind. He focused his attention on Ling Lan, wanting to know what Ling Lan was discussing with the team leaders. After listening for a while, Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression became more and more grim. He did not expect the rabbit to be so daring, actually setting his sights on the mecha storehouse during such a dangerous moment.


    "Clearly, the uing battle will be a mecha battlefield. We are personally too weak to stand against mecha. We have no way at all to resist, to protect ourselves. So, we need to obtain weapons equal to the enemy¡¯s," stated Ling Lan coldly.


    "Boss Lan, it¡¯s not that we don¡¯t trust your judgment, but we have never used real mecha before, especially those members of the lower ranks. Some have only begun learning how to operate mecha in Mecha World. They will not be able to put up any fight at all." At this time, one team leader shared the real situation of the members below him. His words received the agreement of quite a number of the team leaders, because they too had a significant number of members like that under them.


    "Is that so ...?" Ling Lan frowned at those words. Because all her team members could operate mecha, she had temporarily forgotten that not every team was as fearsome as her team 1 . After some thought, Ling Lan said, "It¡¯s my mistake ... then let¡¯s do this instead. We¡¯ll split into two groups. Those who have confidence in their skills cane with me, while those who cannot operate mecha yet will form another team ..."


    Here, Ling Lan paused. Very soon, she handed out a document to all the team leaders and pointed out a spot marked with a red star. "The other team will go to this location. It is the most secure anti-air stronghold of the military academy. Once they are inside, they will not have to worry about their safety any longer."


    It was naturally Little Four who had found this safe anti-air base as well. Right after they had arrived at the school, Little Four had already mapped out every single nook and cranny of the campus, whether it was open or hidden away. The school had around thirty anti-air facilities, but only three were the best in terms of sturdiness and safety. The one Ling Lan had marked out was the one closest to them out of the three.


    Seeing this map, Wu Jiong was startled. He lifted his head to stare at Ling Lan, wondering ¡ª could it be that Boss Lan¡¯s hacker powers were already so strong that there was nowhere in this school which was barred to him? Coming from a military family, he knew very well that this map was definitely a confidential document. For Ling Lan to have gotten his hands on it within such a short time frame, he must have used some extraordinary means.


    As if noticing the suspicion in Wu Jiong¡¯s eyes, Li Lanfeng, who had been closely observing the proceedings all this while, quickly spoke up, "This map was given to Boss Lan by me."


    Li Lanfeng may have been too concerned about the rabbit and had not taken the time to reflect on the matter. Since these team leaders were all part of the New Cadet Regiment, they should already know a thing or two about the regimentmander Ling Lan¡¯s abilities. When he had spoken up, there had only been one thought in Li Lanfeng¡¯s mind, and that was that he must help the rabbit hide his secrets ...


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words made a trace of surprise sh across Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, but when she saw the worry contained in Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes, she instantly understood why Li Lanfeng had said what he had said ...


    The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked up slightly, her heart suffused with pleasure. So it turned out that it felt pretty good to have someone worry for you. Basking in the enjoyment of this feeling, Ling Lan did not say anything to refute Li Lanfeng¡¯s statement. She leaned back on the sofa with a half-smile, waiting to see how Li Lanfeng would flesh out his lie.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s unexpected interjection made Wu Jiong turn his head to look at him in surprise. When he saw Li Lanfeng, his brow furrowed noticeably.


    In contrast to Ling Lan and Qi Long who only focused on their own matters, Wu Jiong was clearly more like a true regimentmander. Over this period of time, he hadpletely grasped the information of the high-level people associated with the various major factions, and Li Lanfeng was one of them. Wu Jiong remembered very clearly that Li Lanfeng was the primary strategist of the Wuji Mecha n. Even though the Wuji Mecha n had taken in a new strategist this year, threatening his position within the faction, it could not be denied that the Wuji Mecha n¡¯s dominance over the Central Academy faction to stay in third ce these past few years was definitely due to this person¡¯s strategies.


    As a newborn faction, the other factions of the military academy were all rivals of the New Cadet Regiment. As such, this person should be someone on the opposing side, so why had he shown up here? With an expression filled with wariness, Wu Jiong asked coldly, "As the strategist of the academy¡¯s number three faction, the Wuji Mecha n, I¡¯d like to know why you chose to hand this map to our regimentmander."


    Wu Jiong had no doubts that this map had been submitted by Li Lanfeng. As the primary strategist of the Wuji Mecha n and a senior cadet who had hung around the academy for four years, it was still very possible for the other to obtain a top-secret map like this one.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s questioning caused Li Lanfeng to instinctively shift back into his initial character role. With a slight smile on his face, he said, "Because I have already left the Wuji Mecha n and intend to join under Boss Lan¡¯s banner. And this map is my entrance submission. Boss Lan, isn¡¯t that so?" Li Lanfeng cast his gaze at Ling Lan, a subtle sense of pleading in his eyes, as if hoping for Ling Lan to work with him here.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan nodded slightly and said, "Yes, it is indeed as he said." As expected of a ck-bellied fellow, liesing so easily to his lips ... Ling Lan found that she really did not know Li Lanfeng. Still, Ling Lan believed that Li Lanfeng¡¯s sincerity in wanting to join her battle n was indisputable, even while he remained unaware of her true identity. This was why Ling Lan still chose to believe in Li Lanfeng even after learning of his true identity.


    Wu Jiong was sceptical over Li Lanfeng¡¯s words, because no matter how you looked at it, the bright future of the Wuji Mecha n as one of the top three factions in the school was obviously much more attractive than the uncertain fate of the New Cadet Regiment. An intelligent person typically would not abandon Wuji and choose the New Cadet Regiment, and Li Lanfeng was precisely one of those most intelligent people.


    Wu Jiong was not satisfied with Li Lanfeng¡¯s exnation, but seeing howposed Ling Lan was, he put aside the suspicions he harboured in his heart. Wu Jiong believed that since Ling Lan dared to take in Li Lanfeng, he must have some n in mind. Perhaps there was some deeper meaning behind all this ¡ª Wu Jiong did not want to ruin Boss Lan¡¯s great n by doing anything unnecessary.


    However, Wu Jiong still could not help making a slight threat, "I hope you manage to do what you say ... don¡¯t disappoint Boss Lan." Strategists or whatever are the worst ¡ª they are all a bunch of inscrutable people with bellies full of plots and schemes ¡ª Wu Jiong was rather leery of people like that.


    In response to Wu Jiong¡¯s threat, Li Lanfeng retained his usual smile just as if he had heard nothing, asposed as ever. This discouraged Wu Jiong somewhat ¡ª as expected, the other was not someone easy to handle.


    At this point, Ling Lan could tell that this matter hade to a close. Not having to exin the source of the map made things considerably easier for Ling Lan. With a stern expression, she ordered all the team leaders, "Tally up the numbers immediately. Five minutester, I want to know the final name lists for both groups."


    "Yes, Regiment Commander!" replied everyone respectfully.


    Five minutes went by quickly and the name lists were submitted. At this time, ten or so kilometres away from the academy, a sudden loud roaring of artillery firing could be heard, the sh from the shots lighting up the initially dark night ...


    Everyone in the living room, other than Ling Lan, instantly leapt towards the windows. Looking up into the sky above, they saw that countless metal eggs had appeared. This scene caused all their faces to change. Although they trusted Boss Lan¡¯s judgment, really seeing it was another matter. When the night sky had been cut by the res of artillery fire, what came into sight was a sky full of metal eggs, shocking them all to the core ... war had truly descended upon them.


    Ling Lan calmly scanned the two lists in her hands and then pping her hands together, she said loudly, "Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie!"


    Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie had been rendered dumbstruck by the scene in the sky; suddenly hearing Ling Lan shout out their names, they shivered and quickly replied, "Here!"


    "You two, immediately lead the second team to the anti-air stronghold." Ling Lan handed the second name list to Wu Jiong.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s gaze flickered but he did not reach out to take the list, as if somewhat hesitant to ept Ling Lan¡¯s orders. Ling Lan continued to say, "You both should know where the mecha storehouse is. We will wait for you two there. I cannot trust anyone else with this second group."


    When Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie heard this, they were instantly filled with the feeling that it would be worth dying for someone who understood them. Wu Jiong nodded emphatically as he epted the name list and replied, "Boss Lan, Yingjie and I will definitely make sure to escort them safely to the anti-air shelter."


    Beside him, Li Yingjie also patted his chest in agreement that they would definitelyplete the task given to them sessfully.


    Alright. This was the first time Li Yingjie, who liked strutting around causing trouble, had been entrusted with such an important task. In his excitement, his admiration for Boss Lan grew. Sure enough, Boss Lan was still the person who knew him best ... it actually felt so amazing to be trusted.

 Chapter 358: This is Real Battle!

    Chapter 358: This is Real Battle!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Okay, then I¡¯ll leave everything to you both," said Ling Lan solemnly before turning to look at Chang Xinyuan to say, "Chang Xinyuan, you follow them!"


    Chang Xinyuan¡¯s expression changed and he asked, "Why, Boss Lan?"


    "This is a real battle. Your mecha control skills will not keep you alive on the battlefield." Ling Lan did not care about protecting Chang Xinyuan¡¯s feelings, bluntly telling him the reason for her order. This was not Mecha World, where Chang Xinyuan had his own modified mecha; all the mecha in the mecha storehouse would be standard mecha. Like Ling Lan had said, to survive the battlefield, they would need to rely on their own control skills and techniques.


    Ling Lan¡¯s merciless words made Chang Xinyuan lower his head in shame. Ling Lan saw the dejected Chang Xinyuan and gave a mental sigh. It looked like she would not be able to set aside the role of spiritual life coach anytime soon. Thus, she said, "There will be many more opportunities to fight. Train your control skills up well after this so that, at that time, you will be able to move alongside us."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words of reassurance did not make Chang Xinyuan feel much better. He clenched his fists tight with his head bowed, an uncontroble sense of disappointment and rage in his heart. He was disappointed because he was being left behind again ... this was already the second time, and the reason for both times was the same ¡ª his mecha control skills were not up to par.


    He knew that the support members of other battle ns typically would not go to the battlefield personally, using their talents to serve their battle ns from the rear instead. However, he did not want to be that type of support member. He wanted to be Lin Zhong-qing, or Li Shiyu, or Han Jijyun ¡ª they were all support members, but theirbat prowess was formidable enough that he looked up to them. The more time he spent with them, the more keenly he felt his ipetence. The modification innate talent he was so proud of had no ce at all here ... yes, he was angry at his own helplessness. If he had just spent a little more effort in the past to train up his mecha control skills, perhaps he would not have had to be left behind now.


    However, this was thest time. He absolutely would not allow Boss Lan to leave him behind for the third time! Chang Xinyuan made this solemn vow to himself. Then, he lifted his head decisively to look at his boss and say firmly, "I will no longer be the weak link, Boss Lan. I will do what I say."


    Even Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie standing to one side could feel Chang Xinyuan¡¯s determination, and they found their admiration growing even more for Ling Lan¡¯s ability to attract talent. Those who Boss Lan took in, no matter how useless they were at first, would soon go through tremendous changes, and this was something they could not replicate.


    Chang Xinyuan¡¯s words made Ling Lan¡¯s heart move. She nodded seriously and said, "I believe you!" Ling Lan was more than d to see a team member want to be stronger.


    Right after that, Ling Lan turned to look at Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie and said, "Take action immediately. If the enemy manages tond sessfully and get into the school, you all really won¡¯t be able to move anywhere anymore." The dormitory district was equipped with a full defensive beam shield. Once it activated due to artillery fire, those within the district would not be able to get out anymore, unless this defensive shield was broken by external forces.


    Ling Lan did not think highly of this defensive beam shield. In her eyes, this was a design failure, which forced the students inside to be turtles in a jar. The moment the defensive beam shield was shattered, those cadets made to remain within the dormitory district would be served up to the enemy on a tter. This was also why Ling Lan had asked the students of the New Cadet Regiment to relocate to the anti-air shelter.


    "Yes, Boss Lan!" Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie knew that time was short. Without further dy, they immediately went outside with Chang Xinyuan and led the second group swiftly away from Ling Lan¡¯s vi, sprinting towards their destination.


    Following the departure of group two, the New Cadet Regiment which originally stood at near 300 members suddenly lost about half their number. Only about a little more than 100 members remained, and most of them were ex-students of the Central Scout Academy. They had fought alongside Ling Lan during the grand armed melee, as well as hijacked a spaceship with her. Now, under Ling Lan¡¯s lead once more, they were about to break into the military academy¡¯s mecha storehouse and engage in real mecha battle much earlier than expected. Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers ¡ª they were not afraid to fight; thoughts of the uing battle made them immensely excited instead.


    It should be known that only cadets with exceptional results would have the chance to board real mecha and battle with them in their third year at the academy. Otherwise, they would only be able to use real mecha in their fourth year. But now, under Ling Lan¡¯s lead, this moment was brought forward by two to three years. They were even heading straight into the actualbat stage! This once again reinforced the notion that if they followed Boss Lan, they would definitely have lots of thrills to sink their teeth into 1 and would be able to do some things they would never have dared to even dream of on their own ...


    Ling Lan looked around at these unusually excited faces and was secretly rather worried. Being too excited was not a bad thing, but they could not lose their calm. In particr, all these people had followed her since the Central Scout Academy days. Every time she pushed to do something outrageous, these schoolmates would support her without any hesitation or regret. It could be said that without their support, the grand armed melee back then would never have beenunched at all. And without their full cooperation, taking control of the spaceship would not have gone so smoothly.


    This time, she had boldly chosen to break into the mecha storehouse. Although a part of it was indeed a matter of personal safety ¡ª in the face of an overwhelming horde of enemy mecha, only mecha could provide Ling Lan with a sense of safety ¡ª arger part was because she truly wanted to give these schoolmates who trusted her an extra measure of protection and the ability to truly decide their own survival. This way, she hoped that after tonight, she would still be able to see these schoolmates tomorrow ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s entire aura unfolded as her ice-cold gaze swept dispassionately over the gathered people. Everyone there felt the icy de of her gaze scrape across their skin, a chill rising from within them, and their initially restless excitement instantly cooled down.


    Seeing the rity and level-headedness in everyone¡¯s eyes once again, only then did Ling Lan say slowly, "I repeat once more that this is a real battle, not a game. It is not the virtual Mecha World where you can revive again after dying. The enemy we are about to face are real enemies. They are experienced battle veterans, they are fearsome executioners. If we die, it will be true death. There is no second chance ... even so, will you all still follow me to the mecha storehouse and operate mecha to fight the enemy to the death?"


    "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Ling Lan¡¯s words caused everyone¡¯s blood to boil. They seemed to have returned back to the time of the grand armed melee ... Ling Lan had asked something simr back then. That year, the same words shouted by the hundred thousand or so students of the 7th grade at the same time had seemed much more grand and impressive ...


    "Then, I¡¯ll set the battle n. Everyone, listen closely." Ling Lan once again circted her spiritual power, funnelling her words forcefully into the spiritual well of these hundred or so students. "We will move and fight in small units. Remember, do not fight alone. Always keep in mind that while we fight for ourselves, we are also fighting for therades beside us. And onest thing. That is, we muste back alive!"


    When Ling Lan roared out that final phrase, she used her strongest burst of spiritual power yet. She was about to lead her schoolmates in breaking into the mecha storehouse to fight with the enemy, all so that the students would live and be stronger ¡ª she did not want them to die here.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words rallied the spirits of the cadets. The words e back alive¡¯ was imprinted deeply in their minds. At the same time, they nced in unnned unison at thepanions by their sides and their initially somewhat uneasy hearts settled. At the sight of their friends, their agitation and uncertainty silently faded away. Boss Lan was right ¡ª they still had theirrades beside them; they were not fighting alone!


    Just like that, Ling Lan led the hundred odd students away from the dormitory district in a rapid sprint towards the mecha storehouse about 10 kilometres away. In the meantime, far away in the opposite direction of their route, the endless roar of artillery fire sounded, apanied by the asional burst of fire illuminating the night sky.


    As the ground forces had been unable to locate their targets with the radars, they could only rely on manual infrared telescopes to search out the enemy. After waiting patiently for more than 10 minutes, those airborne visitors they had waited so long for finally appeared in the sights of their infrared telescopes ...


    "Chief, there¡¯s news! Countless unidentified objects have really appeared in the air above ..." The ground control headquarters, which had been waiting for news all this time, finally obtained the verification they needed.


    "Son of a b*tch. Those f*ckers have finallye." Themander brusquely tore off his cap and threw it onto the ground. He tugged on his sleeves and then bellowed, "All artillery units, prepare to fire. Once the enemy is within range, shoot without mercy!"


    "Yes, Chief!" Themander¡¯s words were very quickly transmitted by his subordinate officers. After some thought, themander added, "Let the ground mecha forces prepare for battle. Those metal eggs must all contain mecha. Any mecha fortunate enough to survive andnd are to be swiftly handled by the mecha teams."


    Themander¡¯s orders were quickly passed on to the ground mecha troops. The mecha troops had long made preparations for battle. Receiving this order, they immediately dispersed with a column of troops making up eachbat unit. Based on the information they had received from above, the metal eggs were raining down from all over, so no one would be able to tell which nook and cranny might have an enemy mecha which hadnded sessfully. Therefore, they had no choice but to spread out and search for those enemy mecha that had been lucky enough to evade the artillery fire.


    Meanwhile, at this time, the starships in the skies had no idea that the secret invasion n they had believed to be so wless had been exposed by the presence of a miraculous intelligence entity. It had created some false information, allowing the ground forces to react in time and make the appropriate tactical arrangements ...


    Finally, the metal eggs entered the range of the ground artillery. All of the cannons opened fire simultaneously, and the darkness of the night was suddenly ripped asunder by countless streaks of zing fire as projectiles struck the first batch of metal eggs closest to the ground ...


    After being struck by artillery fire, the metal eggs abruptly split open, dropping three or four mecha from within it ... some of the mecha still seemed fairly intact, but some had been instantly destroyed by the force of the artillery fire.


    Although the metal eggs had the ability to hide from radars, there was a condition. The items loaded inside the eggs could not have any energy responses, otherwise this concealment ability would be disrupted. Thus, all of the mecha contained within the eggs were turned off. The operators inside had nned to only activate their mecha in the final 100 metres before theynded and break out of the egg¡¯s shell then ... mecha which were stripped of their defences were fragile. If a vital point was hit, it too would not be able to withstand a single attack from a normal cannon.


    "What is going on here? How did the ground forces learn about our sneak attack?" The situation below was very quickly grasped by the fleet in space. Themander-in-chief could not help but growl furiously when he saw the tragic scene urring below.

 Chapter 359: Requesting Backup!

    Chapter 359: Requesting Backup!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "The situation is unclear right now. In any case, it¡¯s already been confirmed that the ground forces below are prepared ... I¡¯m afraid our ambush n has been exposed." The adjutant could not help but swipe the cold sweat from his forehead as he said to themander-in-chief.


    Themander-in-chief breathed deeply a few times before quashing the rage beating at the walls of his chest. He knew that anger would not help anything ¡ª since it was certain that their sneak attack had failed, then they could only proceed with brute force! Coming to a decision instantly, he ordered, "Notify the men below. Let all mecha activate in advance. Break the shells now and attack!"


    His orders were transmitted to the metal eggs and those eggs which had yet to enter the range of the cannons suddenly burst open. From within them, activated mecha emerged to descend swiftly, zooming towards the ground.


    "Godd*mmit, these cannons can¡¯t prate the beam shields of the mecha," said amanding officer, frustrated. He had observed this scene from a watchtower with an infrared telescope. Initially, he was hoping to destroy a few more of these metal eggs so that there would be fewer enemy mechanding on the¡¯s surface. The fewer the better, but now it looked like things would not be that easy. The enemy was very alert ¡ª seeing that their sneak attack had failed, they had immediately switched to a direct attack.


    Following the appearance of the mecha, the initially silent radars suddenly began screeching. Countless dots representing the enemies¡¯ mecha popped up all over the radar disy. By this point, everyone now knew that those metal eggs must have some radar-shielding functions. It was lucky that themander had been astute enough to see through the ruse and had told them to give up on the radars in favour of infrared telescopes instead. Although their search range would be limited by 7 to 8 times less, at least they had not been blind anymore and had been able to locate the invading enemy ...


    The first few enemy mecha were already close to the ground. Just as they were rejoicing over their fortune in evading the cannonfire, they were struck in quick session by several beam shots. A few unprepared enemy mecha died instantly, exploding. It turned out that the mecha columns waiting on the ground had all fired when they saw the enemynd, weing these enemy mecha with their beam guns.


    Soon, the ground mecha forces and the enemy mecha descending from the skies began to fight. The mes of war very rapidly spread to the ground ¡ª when an errant missile fired by god-knows-who shot into the dormitory district of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the already startled awake district was instantly enveloped by a localised beam shield ... those inside could note out, while those outside could not go in either. Unless the administration of the academy decided to override and get the mainframe to turn it off or an external force destroyed the shield, the shield would stand. If thetter happened, it would pretty much spell the loss of the Federation. The final oue would be theplete annihtion of all the students in the dormitory district ...


    Themander of ground control saw the dazzling beam shield appearing suddenly behind the ground troops, and he could not help but be greatly annoyed. Wasn¡¯t this just setting up a clear target for the enemy? Telling them: quick,e attack this spot ... Which idiot had designed this procedure? Although it must have been out of good intentions 1 , in the darkness of the night, set against such a chaotic andplicated attack situation, this was an absolutely foolish and reckless response.


    Worried, themander could not help but growl angrily at the officer beside him, "Godd*mmit, let the frontline warriors hold off the offence! We must not let the enemy¡¯s attacks reach the dormitory district of the military academy ..."


    The future seedlings of hope of the Federation were there. Any students who could enter the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were sure to be the top talents of the Federation. Every single one was an elite with great potential which they could not afford to lose.


    Right then, Little Four was still trying to make contact with those out of reach satellites, but unfortunately, till now, he had had no luck at all. He could not find any bit of signal from the various major satellites; this made him feel rather discouraged. He understood that the moment he left the virtual world and had his signal jammed by the enemy, he would be worthless ...


    Luckily, he had perfectlypleted the task his boss had assigned to him. He had taken the images from the invasion of Demonbeast 6 years ago and modified them to fabricate an image of the attack tonight. Then, faking a satellite transmission, he had sent the images to the intelligence department of ground control, giving the ground troops enough time to prepare. Watching those enemies descending from the skies being caught off guard by the ground forces, Little Four was pumped up. At the same time, he found his admiration for his boss growing even further, even thinking for a moment that his boss was a god, being able to guess so urately how the enemy was invading!


    Frankly, Little Four was overthinking things. Ling Lan had only hoped for the ground forces to be prepared, and the invasion of Demonbeast 6 years ago just so happened to be an air invasion as well, which fit the situation tonight very well. Thus, Ling Lan had made an impromptu decision to borrow the images from then. In fact, Ling Lan had no idea who the invading enemy was tonight or how they were attacking. It should be said that Ling Lan¡¯s luck was extraordinary ¡ª the images she had asked Little Four to send just so happened to match the truth. This great stroke of luck deftly concealed any sign of her interference. In the post-war analysister on, both the Federation and Caesar woulde to the same conclusion, believing that Caesar¡¯s satellite shielding technology was not sufficiently advanced, thus allowing one of the satellites to capture and transmit the images of their sneak attack ... the difference, however, was that the Federation would be relieved and gleeful about this point, while Caesar would be frustrated that the w in their technology had appeared at such a critical moment.


    Still, as the battle progressed, the enemy adjusted to the situation and the inherent uncertainty of battle began to reveal itself. The fighting soon spread across the ground, and massive numbers of casualties began to appear among the ground forces. Meanwhile, an endless stream of mecha continued to descend from above ... this made Little Four feel somewhat unsettled.


    At a loss, Little Four could only run back to ask for his boss¡¯s opinion, taking the opportunity to update his boss on the current battle situation as well. Frankly, as they were moving, when Ling Lan had seen the dormitory district suddenly be a shining beacon, she had sensed that the situation might soon be unfavourable for the Federation. Now, hearing Little Four¡¯s report, she knew that if the satellites continued to be sealed away so reinforcements could not be summoned in time, it would be very difficult for the ground forces to hold out for long on their own. Ling Lan was well aware of the power of a mecha. It was impossible to destroy even just amon lower mecha without suicidal-style attacks from a whole column of warriors 2 .


    They needed to send out the news of the attack here as soon as possible. Ling Lan made a split decision to use the emergency helpline her father had given to her before he had left 3 . Ling Lan and Ling Xiao were all disciples of the Divine Command Sect. As a sect specialising in the cultivation of spiritual power, they naturally possessed a way to request for backup without the need for advanced high-tech signals.


    Before Ling Xiao had departed from the academy, because he just could not push aside his worry, he had deposited a cord of his spiritual power within Ling Lan¡¯s mind. If Ling Lan found herself in any danger, she would only need to shake and detonate Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual power. No matter how far away Ling Xiao was, he would be able to sense a disturbance in his spiritual power. Even though he would not be able to know the specific details, this strange urrence would be enough to let Ling Xiao know that Ling Lan was in danger.


    Ling Lan decisively shook and detonated Ling Xiao¡¯s cord of spiritual power. Her body jerked and her face turned pale. Detonating spiritual power stored within one¡¯s mind would deal a certain amount of damage to the bearer; this was also why Ling Xiao had emphasised that this method should only be used when she felt the situation was extremely dire ... the strange shift in Ling Lan¡¯s condition drew the attention of herpanions. Qi Long asked quietly, "Boss, are you alright?"


    "I¡¯m fine. We should increase our pace. Time is running out," said Ling Lan calmly, forcibly suppressing the difort she felt in her spiritual power. After that, her speed picked up once more.


    Seeing Ling Lan speed up like nothing was wrong, herpanions let out a sigh of relief and rxed. They sped up after Ling Lan. Only Li Lanfeng frowned as he stared at Ling Lan¡¯s still paleplexion, a trace of worry shing across his eyes ...


    Right then, on the military ship of the 23rd Division¡¯s assessment team, seated on the captain¡¯s seat, resting, Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes suddenly sprang open. He shot up in his seat, his initially mild and gentle aura turning cold in an instant. This caused the nonchntly chatting officers by his side to fall silent instantly, turning to stare in bewilderment at this usually always mild-mannered sir general.


    Ling Xiao had no mind to keep up appearances at this time, because he had sensed a sudden tug on his spiritual self. This meant that the spiritual deposit he had left in Ling Lan¡¯s mind had been hit and dispersed by someone.


    "Contact the First Men¡¯s Military Academy immediately. Find out what¡¯s going on there ..." ordered Ling Xiao with an icy expression. Without a smile on his face, Ling Xiao actually looked a lot like Ling Lan ¡ª as expected of a father and a daughter.


    "Contact established. The other party has responded that all is as usual," the operator responsible for externalmunications quickly replied.


    Ling Xiao frowned when he heard this. If Ling Lan had detonated the spiritual power he had left in her mind, that must mean that some huge problem she could not handle on her own had cropped up where she was ... he immediately tried to connect to Ling Lan¡¯smunicator but only received a busy signal in return.


    A cold glint passed through Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes, and he attempted to contact the old principal of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, but still, all he received was just a busy signal.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s gaze had be extremely shadowed by this time. He lifted his head to order once more, "Submit a request to the other side. Tell them we will be arriving at Newline tomorrow and to please allow us safe passage."


    The operator was taken aback, but he very quickly transmitted Ling Xiao¡¯s words over to the other side. A few secondster, the other party responded and the operator immediately reported, "General, the other side answered that Newline is currently off-limits to all visitors. The ban will only be lifted three dayster. They hope we will cooperate and change our flight n or wait for the ban to lift."


    "Something has really happened." By now, there was no longer any doubt in Ling Xiao¡¯s mind. His request had only been a probe ¡ª having just departed from Newline themselves, he naturally knew there was no so-called ban order for Newline.


    "Activate aunch port immediately. I¡¯m going to pilot over to Newline." Ling Xiao leapt to his feet and rushed anxiously toward the hold doors. His daughter¡¯s life was in danger ¡ª how could he just sit here as a father? He needed to get over there as soon as possible. The speed of a god-ss mecha was 4 times faster than a warship, and when pushed to high gear, it could go up to as much as 7 times faster.


    "General, that¡¯s too dangerous!" Hearing what Ling Xiao nned to do, Adjutant Qiao became flustered. He quickly rushed over as well to advise Ling Xiao against this n of action.


    Ling Xiao snapped his head around to re fiercely at Adjutant Qiao, causing the other to cower instinctively. "This is an order!" Leaving these four words behind him, Ling Xiao vanished through the hold doors ...


    "Domain ..." The highest ranked officer on the ship, a senior colonel, broke the shocked silence of the subdued crowd. Adjutant Qiao looked at the senior colonel and then looked at the rest of the crew, then, with a firm step, he once more chased after the general. As the adjutant to the general, he had to stop the general from taking this personal risk.

 Chapter 360: The Mecha Storehouse!

    Chapter 360: The Mecha Storehouse!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Adjutant Qiao¡¯s departure made a subtle sneer tug at the corners of the senior colonel¡¯s lips, a trace of mockery shing through his eyes. The general had already dered that this was an order, yet this Adjutant Qiao was being so obtuse ¡ª it looked like once they returned, Adjutant Qiao would probably be dismissed from service. The senior colonel walked over to the JMC¡¯s position and watched as the JMC carried out his guide duties and swiftlyunched with the general inside. drew a trail of stars across the starry skies as it flew off in the direction of Newline. In just a few seconds, they could no longer see any sign of its figure ...


    On the screen, all that remained was the dejected Adjutant Qiao.


    "Sir, what do we do now?" As the person holding the highest rank after the general, he was originally supposed to be the true leader of the assessment team, so the other officers naturally turned to him for direction.


    "What to do? Of course we will follow the general to Newline. Also, send a report to the Federation mainframe about Newline being in danger," ordered the senior colonel. They could not let the general fight solo; they needed the mainframe to deploy a strong fleet over to assist as soon as possible. Although the senior colonel had faith in the general, it was always good to y it a little safe.


    The senior colonel¡¯s words were greeted with enthusiastic agreement by the other officers. Thus, the military ship swiftly sent a report off to the Federation mainframe, changing directions at the same time to follow after Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha, flying rapidly towards Newline ...


    ********


    After rapid marching for more than 10 minutes, Ling Lan and her group of about 100 New Cadet Regiment members finally arrived at the exclusive mecha storehouse of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. The storehouse stored various mecha of different grades, to be used during the practical training of control skills of the cadets. Usually, these mecha would be sealed away in the storehouse and could not be easily essed by the students.


    "Boss, the storehouse doors have been broken open already. Someone has entered before us." Moving ahead of the others, Qi Long had led several others from Ling Lan¡¯s team to scout ahead. They were the first to make contact with the main doors of the mecha storehouse and had immediately noticed that the doors which should have been shut tight were actually utched and remained half-opened. Seeing this, Qi Long quickly ran back to where Ling Lan was to report this situation to her.


    Ling Lan was taken aback by the news. Frowning, she thought, ¡¯Could it be that someone had decided to do the same thing I was nning to do?¡¯


    This spection of Ling Lan¡¯s was based on the fact that the mecha within the mecha storehouse were all trainee mecha for students and not proper battle mecha. The weapons equipped on these mecha were only the most basic types, which had a much lower damage output than true battle mecha. Generally, soldiers would not choose to use mecha from the academy storehouse to fight. Furthermore, all the academy instructors had their own personal mecha and so would note to retrieve any mecha from here either. The only possible candidates remaining were the academy cadets.


    Ling Lan could not help but be curious over the student who hade to the same conclusion she had. Who were they? If she could befriend them, Ling Lan would not mind getting to know the student whose mind had walked the same path as hers.


    As she was unsure about the situation inside the storehouse and was afraid that their entry would cause the party before them to misunderstand, Ling Lan asked the team leaders to pass on the word ¡ª when they entered the storehouse, the team members were to maintain silence and make as little noise as possible.


    The storehouse doors were shoved wider by a few of them, and then the New Cadet Regiment began to slip inside in an orderly manner. The moment they entered the storehouse, they saw countless tall and formidable steel mecha standing before them. Everyone felt their heart rate pick up ¡ª they would soon be able to touch and use these greatbat weapons.


    Ling Lan nced at the mecha right at the frontmost end of the storehouse and saw that they were all trainee mecha from the major three categories 1 . Besides the requisite cold weapon, trainee mecha were not equipped with any long-range firearm. Ling Lan decisively turned away from these mecha ¡ª trainee mecha were just going to be sitting ducks; using them on the battlefield was just asking to die. She motioned for the New Cadet Regiment members to follow her onwards.


    Because she had investigated beforehand, Ling Lan was well aware what level the members of the New Cadet Regiment who followed her were at in terms of control skills in the virtual world. Those trainee mecha operators and lower mecha operators had already been removed by her; all who remained were intermediate mecha operators and above.


    It wasn¡¯t that Ling Lan looked down on those lower level students, but thebat power of a lower mecha operator was just too weak in a real battle. The death rate for low-level mecha operators was as high as 80%. Even though the 20% who managed to survive were likely to be strong fighters in their own right, the key point was that they needed to survive first.


    Ling Lan felt that unnecessary death should be avoided. It would be best to wait for these students¡¯ skills to advance further before letting them go out and fight. That way, more would survive and the future would be just as lovely.


    Therefore, in order to ensure their safety, Ling Lan decisively removed those lower level mecha operators from her group, only keeping those members who were at the level of intermediate mecha operator and above. This was another reason why this New Cadet Regiment group had suddenly shrunk by over 200 people. Those mecha operators who were able to be intermediate mecha operators in such a short amount of time were all certain to be outstanding in terms of talent and heart. As long as these people were baptised by war, they were sure to grow even faster!


    The mecha storehouse was pitch dark and silent. They could not see the figures of those who had entered before them. When the first person of their group stepped into the mecha storehouse, the sensor light turned on automatically. The initially dark mecha storehouse was instantly bathed in bright light.


    Although this situation startled the mentally unprepared students, they remembered Boss Lan¡¯s instructions and did not utter any sounds of shock. After that, seeing how steady their schoolmates were, they very quickly regained theirposure. In the vast mecha storehouse, only the orderly sound of the New Cadet Regiment¡¯s footsteps could be heard.


    Ling Lan led the way at a clipped pace for about 3 minutes, skipping past all the lower mecha sections along the way, and soon, they had arrived at the intermediate mecha section. Finally seeing some mecha which had several more types of long-range and close-range weapons, Ling Lan halted in satisfaction.


    "Schoolmates, those who have already achieved intermediate mecha warrior status in Mecha World, please choose a mecha you are familiar with." ncing at the time on hermunicator, she instructed, "Remember, you all only have ten minutes to get used to your mecha. Once time is up, you all will be led out by your respective team leaders. Overall, we return to that same idea ¡ª keep your calm when you sight an enemy. Be mindful of teamwork; don¡¯t rush into the fray on your own. Also, work hard to return and see me again alive!"


    "Yes, Regiment Commander!" Ling Lan¡¯s words reverberated in the silence of the storehouse, stoking the excitement of the near 80 students, causing them to shout loudly in response 2 .


    With a wave of Ling Lan¡¯s right hand, these people swiftly boarded the mecha they aimed for respectively. Those mecha were the ones they were endlessly familiar with inside Mecha World. Of course, the mecha in Mecha World and the actual machines were sure to have some differences, but it was overallrgely the same. Familiarising themselves with these mecha was not a very difficult thing ¡ª this was also why Ling Lan had only allocated them 10 minutes to adjust.


    Of course, no one was dumb enough to go and select an unfamiliar mecha. Everyone understood that even if there were mecha much better than the one they piloted, they still could not choose it now. They would only be able to bring out the full capabilities of a mecha they were familiar with, and whether they could do so would be the key determining whether they lived or died on the battlefield.


    Students who could make it into the Central Scout Academy were originally already an outstanding bunch, and among them, those who could even consider going into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were the most exceptional of the group. They did notck rationality orposure, so they knew what they should do.


    Watching as these people began busying themselves adjusting to the real world mecha, Ling Lan nodded silently. She turned her head to look at the remaining students by her side. There were only 35 left. Other than her team¡¯s own 7 members, there were 28 other members. Twenty-one of these were the team leaders of the various teams in the New Cadet Regiment.


    As expected of those capable of being team leaders, they were all the most exceptional of the lot. Of the 27 teams within the New Cadet Regiment, only 6 team leaders were not yet at this level. Meanwhile, of the remaining 7 advanced mecha operators, 4 were members of Wu Jiong¡¯s team, which included Ye Xu, while the other 3 were from Li Yingjie¡¯s team. Without question, Wu Jiong¡¯s and Li Yingjie¡¯s team members were obviously stronger than those of the other teams.


    Ling Lan mentally acknowledged the strength of Wu Jiong¡¯s and Li Yingjie¡¯s teams, but unbeknownst to her, in the eyes of the members of those two teams, Ling Lan¡¯s team was strong beyond understanding.


    When they saw the seven people following closely behind Ling Lan as they walked over together to the advanced mecha section, their expressions could not help but shift, a trace of shock and awe appearing in their eyes. They were naturally astounded by the fact that all of the members of Ling Lan¡¯s team had actually managed to achieve advanced mecha warrior status. (At present, they still did not know about the three new members of Ling Lan¡¯s team, and so thought that Ling Lan¡¯s team still only consisted of the original six 3 .) At the same time, they were utterly convinced ¡ª sure enough, Boss Ling Lan was Boss Ling Lan. Even the members under him were strong beyond reason. It made sense if you think about it. Boss Ling Lan was already so strong ¡ª if a team member was too weak, what right did he have to follow Ling Lan?


    Just like that, Ling Lan led the 35 students into the advanced mecha section. Two more minutes passed and Ling Lan quickly urged the remaining members to board their selected mecha. The time this group had to adjust to the real mecha was only 8 minutes. As they wanted to meet up again with the members at the intermediate mecha section, they could only take 2 minutes out of their allocated adjustment time. That said, those who had advanced to advanced mecha operator at this age were all the extremely talented prodigies of mecha control. Eight minutes for them to familiarise themselves with real mecha was definitely no problem at all.


    After settling all of this, Ling Lan ordered Little Four to contact Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie to tell them which section toe to. He sent the exact coordinates of their location in the storehouse to the two, preventing them from wasting time. After all, they too needed some time to adjust to the mecha ¡ª each extra second of adjustment time meant an increase in the chances of survival.


    Fortunately, the direction of the anti-air shelter was roughly the same as the mecha storehouse, just at a slightly different angle. As Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie had left ahead of this party, they were not slowed down by much. Based off their reply, they had just arrived at the storehouse. At their speed, they should catch up within three minutes.


    Ling Lan calcted for a moment ¡ª with Wu Jiong¡¯s and Li Yingjie¡¯s skills, the remaining 5 minutes¡¯ time was sufficient for them to adjust to real advanced mecha. At this thought, she rxed and gave her team a heads up. She was nning to go to a secret room Little Four had discovered. That room was deeper into the storehouse, in the innermost area of the advanced mecha section. From the outside, it looked like they were already at the end of the section, but in truth, there was a whole new world behind that wall.

 Chapter 361: Kings of Massacre!

    Chapter 361: Kings of Massacre!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan¡¯s curiosity was piqued because, thus far, she had yet toe across a single person (or group) who had hit upon the same idea as she had but acted before she did. She did not notice any human figures within the storehouse, and neither was there any sign of mecha having been flown out. Thus, Ling Lan concluded that the other party was very likely still inside the secret room.


    Ling Lan wondered why the other party had disregarded the advanced mecha all around them, instead choosing to enter that secret space. Was it that the secret space had some secret stashed within it? Could it be that it contained a special-ss mecha or something even superior to that?


    Even though Ling Lan felt that it was impossible for the military academy to possessbat mecha as terrifying as ace mecha, Ling Lan¡¯s curiosity could not be satisfied without taking a peek at what could be inside.


    Since she was alone, Ling Lan unsealed all restrictions on her speed. If anyone had been next to her, they would have sensed that Ling Lan¡¯s movements were as fast as the wind. There was no way an average person¡¯s vision could keep up with her speed; all they might have sensed would have been a shadow flickering before their eyes, but in the next second, she would have disappeared without a trace.


    Very soon, Ling Lan arrived at the end of the mecha hold, and the sight that greeted her was that of a broad wall. The average person arriving at this point would conclude that this was the end of the line and turn back. Ling Lan, however, strode forward and put her hands on the wall. Then, she bent her legs into a half-squat and, locking herself firmly into a horse stance while sinking her qi into her core, she forcefully moved both hands towards the right. On the petite forearm that peeked out of her sleeve, there appeared, shockingly, several bulging veins, a testament to the degree of force that Ling Lan was applying.


    The ¡¯ga-ga-ga¡¯ of gears locking teeth could be heard as the whole expanse of white wall was unbelievably shifted over a metre by Ling Lan through brute force, revealing a tunnel into which Ling Lan immediately darted. With a p, the white wall returned to its original position, looking once more like the unremarkable, seamless white wall it had appeared to be at the start.


    "How dare they break the electric motorization systems inside!" Ling Lan exhaled as she darted into the tunnel. She only had to exert that much force because whoever had entered before her had dared to sabotage the electric motorization systems, probably to avoid detection. This had left Little Four no opportunity to put his skills to use, so relying on Ling Lan¡¯s brute force had been the only way to enter. If not for the fact that she had achieved half step to Domain, attempting to disce this entire stone wall weighing over 100,000 catties would have really been a tall order.


    However, after entering the tunnel, Ling Lan¡¯s progress was exceptionally smooth, as the sabotage of the electric motorization systems had left the few other traps useless. After a minute and a half of quick running, Ling Lan came to the end of the tunnel where she was greeted by the sight of a tall, wide, thick and heavy steel b of a door. Just as Ling Lan picked up her pace to get to it ...


    "Regiment Commander, are we really going to activate these mecha? If we¡¯re discovered by the military academy surveince team, we¡¯re gonna get severely punished, possibly even expelled from the academy!" A shrill, panicky voiceing from the other side of the door was clearly projected into Ling Lan¡¯s ears.


    Owing to the extreme destructive power of mecha, the military academy had always regted them strictly. Unless a situation called for the need to pilot one, students were normally forbidden from interacting with the mecha freely. Now that the other side obviously intended to seize the opportunity amidst the chaos to take possession of mecha, the timid among them would inevitably be on tenterhooks.


    Ling Lan instantly stalled her footsteps upon hearing this, her expression bing wary. It looked like it was not going to be one person or even a few, as she had imagined, but a whole crowd to match her group in numbers.


    "The military academy sounding the emergency rm signalling an attack with no warning, that¡¯s not normal. To get a handle on the situation, I sent Xiao Yan to steal the ground troops¡¯ intelligence ... you¡¯ve all seen the information, it¡¯s grim out there. It could well be that a huge fight is about to go down. If we can¡¯t pilot the strongest mecha here, what¡¯s likely is that we will be the enemy¡¯s cannon fodder and I absolutely will not stand for it," said a cold, self-important voice. It was evident from the speaker¡¯s steely tone that they felt extremely pessimistic that the oue of this battle would favour the ground troops.


    "When that happens, let alone the academy surveince team, not even the military academy is guaranteed to survive," the frigid voice continued to exin.


    The others fell silent at this speech, neither denying nor affirming it. It seemed like the military academy¡¯s strict rules still filled many of them with dread.


    Just then, a boorish voiceined, "The regimentmander brought us here because he trusted us, and what he¡¯s saying is the in truth. Don¡¯t you get it? If things go south, the regimentmander will bear even greater responsibility. If the regimentmander¡¯s not even scared, what are you all afraid of? Anyways, I don¡¯t want to die, nor do I want to be a captive of the enemy. Regiment Commander, I¡¯m right behind you."


    At the end of these words, many of them cheered loudly, quickly raising the morale and quashing the others¡¯ doubts. Ling Lan wondered, was the speaker just a mouthpiece for that regimentmander? Or did they truly put that much faith in their regimentmander?


    "Since no one has any further objections, let¡¯s get into the mecha right away. We leave from thisunch port in three minutes," the cold voice ordered without giving the others another chance to voice their opinions.


    "Yes, Regiment Commander ..." they responded in chorus, but then one voice abruptly raised a question. "Regiment Commander, aren¡¯t you going to inform Boss Huo and the others to join us?"


    This gave Ling Lan a surprise; it seemed that these people were very likely of the Leiting Mecha n, which would make their regimentmander none other than the infamous Thunder King.


    If it turned out to be that Thunder King ... Ling Lan¡¯s gaze cooled slightly. It looked like she would have to be more cautious when she fought Leiting in the future. This Thunder King was an astute judge of circumstances. She had only dared to act because she had confirmation from Little Four. However, the Thunder King could only have acted after the rm had sounded, boldly ordering his subordinates to steal the ground troops¡¯ intelligence, and then using extremely sparse information to determine the possible oues and taking the appropriate course of action ... even Ling Lan would hardly dare to be as decisive as the Thunder King without Little Four¡¯s help, possibly needing to ponder it a little more first. Ling Lan sensed the difference between herself and the Thunder King in terms of judging circumstances, acknowledging her inexperience.


    As expected, one who could dominate the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was no fool! Ling Lan¡¯s gaze took on a sombre cast. The Thunder King, whom she had not thought much of previously, was now firmly noted by her.


    "What we¡¯re doing now vites school regtions, so naturally the fewer who know about it the better. We¡¯re all people most trusted by Boss ... If anyone else is informed about this, if news of it leaks by ident and the academy surveince team finds out, they wille and stop us. When that happens, not a single one of us will get mecha." This answer to the earlier question did note from the cold voice, but the boorish one which had first supported that leader.


    The Thunder King did not exin anything, appearing to tacitly agree with what the boorish voice had said ... Ling Lan could not help but furrow her brow briefly, disapproving of the Thunder King¡¯s response. Ling Lan believed that if a team was unable to endure through thick and thin together, it would only breed distrust and envy amongst themselves ¡ª by then there would be no need for such a team. If it couldn¡¯t be helped, one could take the blunt approach, and take those who were deemed unfit to be in the team and expel them ... A leader allowing such distrust and envy to develop within his team, in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, was a failure.


    The exnation given by the boorish voice must have been epted by the rest since no more talk was heard after that. Very soon, Ling Lan heard the sound of several mecha activating. Ling Lan listened closely for a while, then cross-checked Little Four¡¯s notes on the mecha andrgely concluded that the mecha activated by these people were all special-ss mecha.


    Special-ss mecha, despite being only half a level above advanced mecha in name, were as different as the sky from earthpared to advanced mecha due to this simple half-level. Operators of special-ss mecha were already at the level of mecha master, whereas operators of advanced mecha could only be mecha warriors. If they were to enter a squad, an advanced mecha warrior¡¯s highest military rank would be senior captain while a special-ss mecha master¡¯s rank would at least be major.


    The knowledge that there were actually special-ss mecha behind the metal door made Ling Lan secretly happy. Being able to operate a slightly better mecha would allow her to more fully realize herbat ability, which was undoubtedly the best for her.


    Even in her delight, Ling Lan did not forget to count the number of mecha that had been activated, eventually discovering that there were, in fact, no small number of men inside; fifteen by her estimates. Yet Ling Lan could not be certain if the Thunder King was among them. After all, it was rumoured that the Thunder King was already at ace level ... Ling Lan was unsure if this military academy¡¯s storehouse contained the battlefield¡¯s Kings of Massacre ¡ª ace mecha.


    Just then, a mecha that sounded different from the rest was suddenly activated. Hearing that, Ling Lan¡¯s expression was initially of surprise, followed quickly by joy, because she could tell that this new mecha activation sound most likely belonged to an ace mecha.


    Could it be that, inside this military academy¡¯s storehouse, there really were ace mecha, the battlefield¡¯s Kings of Massacre? At this thought, Ling Lan¡¯s heart surged. Even Ling Lan could not resist the temptation of a chance to operate the battlefield¡¯s Kings of Massacre.


    Ling Lan¡¯s re of excitementsted for only a moment. She quickly calmed down and began withdrawing her presence, even activating her innate talent to cause her body to be as cold as ice, practically wiping out her original body heat.


    Ling Lan had not forgotten that there were many kinds of automatic scanning features equipped on an ace mecha, one of which was thermal scanning. Once anything was discovered by the mecha, it would proactively warn the operator. This was also one of the reasons why ace mecha could be the kings of the battlefield.


    Of course, the various fittings on imperial mecha and god-ss mecha were definitely more powerful than those on an ace mecha, but it was precisely because they were too powerful, their destructive power too terrifying ¡ª it was said that even one attack by an imperial mecha would be able to turn an area several hundred li in circumference into a wastnd, not to mention the capabilities of god-ss mecha which represented the ultimate might of a nation ¡ª that unless it was a matter that shook the very foundations of the country, they could only be used as a force for deterrence and would not really be deployed as the main force in a battle ...


    All this was because even though humans had built weapons with such terrifying destructive power, they were also frightened of the weapons¡¯ might at the same time. In order to restrict other nations from deploying these terrifying weapons, all gctic nations in the human world entered into an agreement that, on the battlefield, it was absolutely forbidden to allow those ultimate weapons above the level of ace mecha to show up ...


    This was why ace mecha were known as the Kings of Massacre ¡ª they were the most powerful weapons allowed on the battlefield. It could be said that the number of ace operators and the extent of their abilities would determine the final victor or loser in a war.

 Chapter 362: Thunder King Qiao Ting!

    Chapter 362: Thunder King Qiao Ting!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan carefully controlled her body temperature. At this time, she was quite grateful that her innate talent was Ice Affinity, allowing her to make her body temperature match the temperature of the surroundings or even lower. If she had not had this ability, her only option right now would have been to retreat out of the tunnel immediately.


    "Eh?" A surprised cry suddenly rang out from behind the metal door. This gave Ling Lan a fright as she thought she had been discovered.


    This surprised cry was even louder than the voices of conversation prior to this. Ling Lan knew that the other must have been using the speakers of the mecha so that all the other mecha masters could hear him. This was the reality without the presence of cheat code Little Four ¡ª members from different battle ns could not use the n-specificms channel tomunicate. This proved that these people were not all from the same battle n.


    "Regiment Commander, what¡¯s wrong?" Hearing this startled cry, everyone inside the room reflexively paused, and someone soon spoke up to ask.


    "I found that there is quite a crowd now in the advanced mecha section at the front of the storehouse. Quite a few mecha have already been activated," their regimentmander replied. It looked like after he sessfully activated the ace mecha, he had discovered the situation in the mecha storehouse under the sensor prompting of the mecha A.I..


    "Actually having the same idea as us? Looks like quite a few people havee to the same conclusion as you, Regiment Commander, not optimistic about the oue of this battle," someone suddenly eximed.


    "The military academy is air of crouching tigers and hidden dragons 1 ¡ª for someone to think the same as me is not unusual," responded the regimentmander dispassionately. This injected exnation from the side dampened his curiosity quite a bit. Moreover, those others were only within the mecha storehouse area and had only gotten as far as the advanced mecha section at most. It could be imagined that these people were not very high level in terms of mecha operation. If they were already at the level of special-ss operator, they should have managed to make their way to this area.


    With this thought, the regimentmander tossed his discovery of these people to the back of his mind. He paused and then asked those present, "Are you all ready? If everything is ready, I¡¯ll activate theunch port tunnel now."


    "Regiment Commander, I¡¯m OK!"


    "Regiment Commander, I¡¯m ready."


    "Regiment Commander, everything is good to go."


    Soon, there was a messy chorus of responses. Seeing everyone give the OK, the regimentmander activated theunch port.


    Ling Lan sensed that the regimentmander¡¯s attention was no longer on the outside, so she silently asked Little Four whether he could project the situation inside to her. Little Four told her it was no problem ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s current level of spiritual power was enough to support this distance of long-range infiltration. Not long after, a video feed of the situation inside was disyed in Ling Lan¡¯s mind-space.


    Inside the metal doors, it was still an extremely vast mecha storehouse. To both sides of the doors were many neat rows of ck mecha. Although there were some minor alterations in particr spots on these mecha, overall, they werergely the same. Each mecha gave off a strong sense of fearsome power.


    Ling Lan did a rough count. Each side had about 80 mecha, so there were about 160 mecha total. It could be guaranteed that in the entire academy, there were actually not that many students who had already achieved special-ss operator status. Based on a distribution of one person per mecha, there would at most be 160 people or so. Besides, the military academy would of course prepare a few extra just in case. Otherwise, if someone suddenly advanced to special-ss operator status, without a special-ss mecha to match, the title of First Men¡¯s Military Academy would truly be a joke.


    Ling Lan was now well aware that this type of ck mecha that differed from the standard Federation mecha was actually the Federation¡¯s special-ss mecha. At special ss, mecha would begin to disy signs of personalisation. This was because at this stage, the skills and techniques of operators would shift from the original regted movements into their own personalised style of operation. However, at this point, their style would not be properly developed yet. As regr advanced mecha could only ept standardmands, they could not satisfy the demands of an operator¡¯s personalised operation style. Yet an ace mecha provided too much freedom in its controls that a special-ss operator who had just stepped into the world of personalised operation would not be able to handle it well.


    Under these circumstances, in order for these exceptional control seedlings to smoothly break through and advance to ace mecha master status, after much dedicated research and design by several generations of mecha engineers, the Federation finally created this sort of special-ss mecha to bridge the gap between advanced mecha and ace mecha. Thus, special-ss mecha were notpletely outside the scope of standardised mecha, but at the same time, they also possessed some individualistic characteristics like ace mecha.


    Back during the assassination attempt on Ling Lan when she was six, that team of ck mecha which had appeared to help her was in fact a Federation mecha battle n of special-ss operators. However, up till now, Ling Lan still had not been able to find out who it was exactly who had helped her.


    Ling Lan saw these tall and mighty mecha, and she understood why this secret storehouse needed to be installed with aunch tunnel of its own. The passage she had entered to get here did not have enough height or room to let these mecha walk out.


    Of course, what made Ling Lan drool with want was not these mecha; right across from the metal doors stood a row of just five mecha. Each of these mecha looked different, possessing clearly unique characteristics of its own. One of these mecha had already been activated at present and had been piloted out of its original fixed secured dock.


    Ling Lan saw a long-rangeser gun, which was about two-thirds the mecha¡¯s height, slung across the mecha¡¯s back, as well as a standard beam gun equipped on the mecha, and she knew that this mecha was primarily a long-range attack type.


    That aside, theunch port the other had mentioned was to the right-hand side of the metal doors. There was a circr tunnel there with enough space inside to amodate four mecha. Right now, the ess door to the tunnel had been opened. A special-ss mecha at the forefront walked through it and the ess door was quickly shut. When the three warning lights over the door all turned green, a deep, dull sound could be heard ...


    "Boom!" Ling Lan felt a strong shockwave rush over her where she stood. Immediately afterwards, the mecha inside theunch port wasunched high up into the air by arge force, springing up several dozens of metres in one shot. In the instant it wasunched into the air, the mecha¡¯s engines began to roar. Borrowing the force from theunch and the power of its thrusters, the mecha instantly shot out from theunch port tunnel to fly above the military academy ...


    It looked like the people of Leiting were already familiar with this type ofunch system. They walked into the port one by one to beunched into the skies. The final one to enter the port was the regimentmander controlling the ace mecha. Recalling the rumours she had heard a while back, Ling Lan could already confirm that this regimentmander must be the Thunder King Qiao Ting who had sessfully advanced to be an ace operator.


    For some reason, after Qiao Ting had entered the tunnel, right when the automatic doors were about to close, the head of his mecha abruptly turned to look in the direction of the metal doors. This unexpected action startled Ling Lan ¡ª had the other sensed her?


    Very soon, the automatic doors slid shut and she could no longer see the silhouette of the mecha. As expected, a few secondster, Qiao Ting wasunched out of the port like the other special-ss operators. Only then did Ling Lan rx.


    Still, just to be sure, Ling Lan quietly waited for about a minute before approaching the metal door. Little Four checked and found that the electrical systems of this metal door had not been tampered with. Perhaps after reaching this point, the other party had been afraid that theunch port inside the room would be affected if they destroyed the systems here. Thus, they had chosen to enter normally without applying brute force.


    As long as the systems were working normally, Ling Lan could just walk in easy as a breeze with the help of the cheat code Little Four. As she passed by the special-ss mecha, she found herself feeling somewhat regretful that none of the New Cadet Regiment members had reached the level of special-ss operator. She suddenly thought of that special-ss operator friend of the leopard ¡ª if he joined her team, then he would have been able toe operate these mecha.


    Ling Lan¡¯s aim right now was naturally not the special-ss mecha; her objective was those few ace mecha. Being able to operate an ace mecha in real life was something Ling Lan had been dreaming of. Back then on Demonbeast, the mecha Ling Lan had been operating was actually not an ace mecha but a special-ss mecha.


    In the military, special-ss mecha were lumped together under the term ace mecha, with only the words ¡¯secondary¡¯ or ¡¯substitute¡¯ added to the title. Those three ¡¯ace¡¯ mecha she had finished off then had also only been special-ss operators of Twilight. After a period of baptism in war, special-ss operators would gradually form and perfect their individual operation style and techniques, which would allow them to officially ascend to ace operator status. This was why they were called ¡¯substitute aces¡¯ by the ground forces.


    It should be said that Ling Lan was very lucky that she had not truly encountered true ace operators back then. Otherwise, with her barely formed operation style, even if she had only been up against one battle-experienced ace operator, she would have been hard-pressed to win, not to mention that she had been up against three mecha operators back then.


    Since Qiao Ting had taken one of the ace mecha, there were only four mecha remaining. Still, Ling Lan was transfixed by them, staring at them with abnormal excitement.


    Aside from appearing humanoid like the other mecha, the leftmost mecha had two wings sprouting from its back at a diagonal angle. Based on Ling Lan¡¯s knowledge, this should be a transformer-type mecha. In other words, it would be a humanoid mecha at close range, and transform into a flying mecha when attacking at long range. It could be considered one of the more bnced mecha.


    This mecha¡¯s specialty was speed. None of the other ace mecha here would be able to match it in terms of speed; even its close-rangebat manoeuvres would be based on speed. However, what would showcase its speed best was when it transformed into its aviation mode. At that time, putting its entire power into it, at top speed, it would be able to draw away or pull in close in an instant.


    This would guarantee that an enemy would be unable to ditch it regardless if they were close-range mecha or long-range mecha. At the same time, this speed was also a means of protection. Whenever its operator found themselves on the losing end, they would be able to pull away swiftly and escape from the opponent¡¯s attack range. If amon mecha were to meet this type of mecha in battle, it would be destroyed by it without having any chance to counterattack at all. As for its long-range capabilities, other than that long-range humanoid mecha Qiao Ting had piloted away, only the bestial mecha known as the might have some advantage against it.


    The second mecha in the line-up was precisely the mecha that was just mentioned previously. It was the mecha that might overpower the transformer ace mecha by a head in terms of long-range attacks ¡ª the bestial ace mecha <King of Ground Combat

 Chapter 363: !

    Chapter 363: !


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    This kind of mecha disyed the characteristics of its bestial form, possessing four thick and strong limbs. The power these limbs could produce were explosively strong ¡ª in close-rangebat, its power wouldpletely overwhelm humanoid mecha. As for what kind of bestial form it would take, that depended on the operator¡¯s preference. This mecha before Ling Lan was in the form of a kingly lion.


    The only shoring of this bestial mecha was that it could not enter high altitudes or outer space ¡ª the thrust force of its engines would only allow it to fight at a maximum altitude of 50 metres. However, by abandoning high-altitude flight, its ground attack capabilities were greatly increased. It had powerful strength at its disposal in close-rangebat ¡ª a humanoid mecha would have no way of standing up against the impact of its charges. The only thing capable of putting up some resistance were humanoid ace mecha which specialised in close-rangebat.


    With regards to long-range attack capability, two long-rangeser cannons hung on the bestial mecha¡¯s back. The range of these long-rangeser cannons far exceeded that of ordinary beam guns and long-rangeser guns. Thus, when it came to long-range attack distance, before a humanoid mecha could attack it, this mecha would already be able to attack first.


    Although this bestial mecha was very formidable in both close-rangebat and long-rangebat on the ground, hence its name of , there still were not many ace operators who would choose it. This was because, just like its title said, it was only the king of groundbat. Nowadays, a majority of battles were conducted in outer space or high up in the air. On these two fronts, this bestial mecha was significantly limited. The moment it entered those types of battlefields, it was certain to be crushed by humanoid mecha.


    The third mecha in the line had been the long-range attack mecha that Qiao Ting had taken. Although its shooting range was less than bestial mecha¡¯s, it was greater than other types of ace mecha. Especially in a space battle, no mecha couldpete with its long-range attacks, and at the same time, it was also second in terms of speed, only slightly weaker than the transformer mecha ¡ª no other mecha couldpare. This type of mecha boasted the second-best survival rate (the first being transformer mecha) and it was also the second-best at aplishing tasks. In terms of overall strength, this mecha ranked first.


    The fourth mecha had obviously thicker limbs than other humanoid mecha. There were two swords attached to its back ¡ª one was a heat-based weapon, a beam saber with powerful energy, while the other was a cold weapon, a broadsword which could deal the strongest physical damage. Just by looking at it, one could tell that this was a mecha specialising in close-rangebat, otherwise it would not have been equipped with two melee weapons.


    Let¡¯s leave the beam saber aside for the moment and just look at that broadsword. With a de width of about a metre and a centre thickness of about 50 centimetres, it was clear to see that this was definitely an extremely heavyweight cold weapon, unparalleled in its dominance. One swing of this sword would be able to break the outer shell of a mecha, as long as enough force was put behind it. Because the equipped defence for mecha in general were beam shields, the defence threshold of mecha against firearms was the highest, while their defence threshold against cold weapons was the weakest. This was also why cold weapons had not been eliminated from the arsenal of mecha.


    The close-range mecha was the strongest when it came to close-rangebat. On the ground, the difference between its strength and bestial mecha was pretty much negligible. It onlycked long-range attack capabilities, but if it managed to get close in the skies or in space, victory was basically determined. Thus, a close-range mecha on the battlefield would oftentimes receive the most battle des. However, its survival ratings were also the lowestpared to other ace mecha. Still, as long as its operator lived, this type of mecha was also usually the main mecha type to advance to imperial level. For this reason, the Federation soldiers called it the !


    Ling Lan fell deeply in love with this mecha at first sight ¡ª her eyes shone with an intense need to possess it. She desperately wanted to board this mecha. This was closely rted to how much Ling Lan loved close-rangebat; even in mecha, Ling Lan still preferred fighting at close range.


    However, Ling Lan suppressed her bucking enthusiasm to look over at the fifth mecha. The fifth mecha was very strange. Mecha usually sported a suspension system on their backs for the purpose of hanging various long-range or close-range weapons. But this mecha did not have that. Its back was directly affixed with a thick and sturdy round metal object, somewhat reminiscent of a turtle¡¯s shell. However, this turtle shell had several additional pipes running across it horizontally and vertically, spread out across the shell like green veins. Ling Lan counted closely and found that there were three on each side, six pipes in total, while two more ran across the top, bringing the grand total of pipes to eight.


    At first, Ling Lan was rather bewildered, unsure what kind of ace mecha this was. Luckily, Little Four swept in to help once more, instantly searching out a simr mecha type from his databases. Only then did they learn that this type of mecha was called an artillery type mecha. It could be said that this type of mecha was equivalent to a small mobile attack bastion. Its firepower was the most powerful among all the ace mecha. The eight artillery barrels could automatically adjust themselves to lock on to a target and shoot. Basically, even an ace mecha would find it difficult to fend against the simultaneous fire of its eight barrels. This type of mecha was suitable forrge-scale space battles. Each time it attacked, it would be able to annihte arge batch of enemy mecha, hence it was also known as the .


    But it also had a fatal weakness ¡ª because of its own burdened weight, its speed was the worst among all the ace mecha, making it very easy for an enemy to draw close. Once it let an enemy get close, especially if it were the which was an ace mecha just like itself that managed the feat, its end would pretty much be decided. Thus, once it moved, it needed another ace mecha or eight special-ss mecha to apany it and protect it. That is, those escort mecha would need to step in at critical moments to intercept other ace mecha from getting close.


    Ling Lan decisively cast aside the fifth mecha from consideration. Ling Lan was not at all interested in this type of mecha which relied on its configuration and build to win; only those mecha that required control skill would make her feel challenged. Ling Lan decisively returned to stand below the fourth mecha. Leaping upwards, she used both her hands and legs at together to climb swiftly up the mecha and pulled the lever to open the cockpit.


    A click rang out as the cockpit was opened, and an opening that would allow easy ess to an adult was revealed. Ling Lan bent over to take a quick look inside before jumping in, where she then immediately sat down.


    Ling Lan closed the cockpit doors and the lights dimmed. Immediately after that, Ling Lan pressed on the activation button of the mecha. The cockpit lit up once more, and at the same time, in the control seat, a safety belt popped up automatically to bind Ling Lan¡¯s body securely. This was to prevent the intense vibrations from piloting the mecha from harming the operator.


    ¡°A.I. activated. Checking in progress. Please wait! The estimated time for this check is two minutes. If emergency activation is necessary, please press the emergency activation button.¡± The mecha A.I. followed its procedural settings, voicing out the notifications to alert the operator.


    This was the first time Ling Lan was using this mecha, and the situation was not urgent, so she naturally chose regr activation. This time, she was going forth into a treacherous battlefield where the chances of survival were slim, so it was necessary to guarantee as much safety as possible. If she missed out on discovering any hidden problems on the mecha just because she wanted to save these two minutes, it would be toote for Ling Lan to cryter if anything happened.


    Ling Lan was a calm and rational person; she naturally would not allow herself to be put into such a dangerous position. She patiently waited for the two-minute activation check to run its course, and only after confirming that everything was normal with the mecha did she begin operating it.


    ¡°Little Four, from now on, begin taking over for the A.I.. We must not let theputer retain any battle data of me in the following battle.¡± Mecha possessed auto-saving functions. For one, its recordings were used as proof of an operator¡¯s battle merits, and two, it was also useful in helping mecha mechanics adjust and modify mecha based on an operator¡¯s habits to make a mecha more in line with the needs of its operator.


    Of course, the recording function of the military academy mecha was to facilitate the instructors of the academy in checking the control skills of the cadets. If there were any ws or weaknesses captured in the video, the instructors would be able to immediately correct the students and fix those issues.


    Ling Lan knew very well that when the fighting ended and the military academy¡¯s monitoring systems came back online, it would definitely investigate these mecha which had been used in the battle. And these saved recordings of the fight would be the evidence they would pore over. Ling Lan did not wish to expose herself to the administrators of the academy. Even if it was just as Ling Xiao¡¯s son, she did not want that to happen.


    Just imagine, even someone as powerful as her dad Ling Xiao had been unable to resist the schemes and backstabbing from within the military itself. If the military found out that Ling Xiao¡¯s son was also a mecha piloting prodigy like him, Ling Lan did not believe that those people who had set up Ling Xiao would be content to sit back. If by any chance they felt that they could not allow Ling Xiao and his child to continue growing, not only would she be in danger, Ling Xiao¡¯s safety may also be put at risk.


    Ling Lan naturally knew that Ling Xiao was very strong, but she did not believe that Ling Xiao had enough power to fend against treachery from those who may be friends. This recent period together had let Ling Lan know that Ling Xiao was someone who treasured emotions deeply. Unless he was absolutely certain that the other had truly betrayed him, Ling Xiao would not actively suspect his friends.


    This was a strength of Ling Xiao but also a weakness ¡ª even as Ling Lan respected Ling Xiao for it, she could not help but worry for him. Thus, till now, she still did not dare to let Ling Xiao know of her true strength and abilities. She was worried that in his joy, Ling Xiao would run and tell his so-called friends about it ¡­


    At the heart of it all, Ling Lan was still concerned about the high-ranking person hidden within the depth of the military who had almost killed Ling Xiao. Being able to arrange all of that so naturally, without ws, Ling Lan believed that only the few great marshals or the great generals would be able to do so. It may even be the result of several people working together ¡­ so, even if Ling Xiao was extremely trusting of the First Marshal, Ling Lan was actually very suspicious of the other deep inside.


    ¡°Got it, Boss!¡± Little Four responded excitedly when he heard Ling Lan¡¯s instructions, as she had always restricted Little Four from interfering with matters of mecha; now, she was finally letting him help. This made Little Four feel that he was truly able to help Boss now ¡­ did this mean that he was well-deserving of his position as number one follower now?


    Little Four carried this smug happiness and excitement with him as he took over the administrative rights of the mecha¡¯s A.I.. The first step would be to screen the recording function of the mecha.


    Little Four understood that his boss did not intend to turn off the recording systempletely, otherwise Ling Lan could just have turned off the system herself without needing him to step in. Ling Lan had ordered him to get involved because she wanted to utilise Little Four¡¯s ability to create false images, to let the mecha indicate that no one had piloted the mecha. In other words, no one would be able to discover from the recording system that this mecha had ever been used in this battle.

 Chapter 364: Prepare to Fight!

    Chapter 364: Prepare to Fight!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Having resolved this concern, Ling Lan decided that she would let loose in this battle. She sent out a mass text to all her team members, telling them that she was going to act alone from this point on. She tasked Qi Long with the responsibility of leading the team members into battle, and specially pointed out to him that if he were to encounter any issues he could not resolve on his own, he could look for Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun for advice.


    The partnership of Qi Long''s brawn and Han Jijyun''s brain had been intentionally cultivated by Ling Lan. However, when Ling Lan was sending off the text to Qi Long, she suddenly thought of Li Lanfeng. Over this period of interaction, Ling Lan had a good look at Li Lanfeng''s abilities, and she found that he had some strengths Han Jijyun did not. If Han Jijyun could be said to be a wise man on the path of righteousness, then Li Lanfeng was the mastermind on the path of grey areas and side channels. Li Lanfeng would often think of some ns that Han Jijyun would never have considered. On the battlefield, there was no doubt that Li Lanfeng was more likely to keep the team alive.


    At this thought, Ling Lan had decisively added Li Lanfeng''s name to her instructions. Ling Lan believed that with both Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun helping Qi Long to strategize, there would be no problem at all for the team members to survive this battle.


    Li Lanfeng had only needed 2 to 3 minutes time to familiarise himself with the advanced mecha he had chosen. This was because he had already used real mecha before, a year ago. Thus, he was not troubled by the difficulties of adjusting from virtual mecha to real mecha like the other New Cadet Regiment members.


    This was likewise for Li Shiyu; the difference between those with experience and those without was clearly evident at this moment. However, because the two of them were there, whenever Qi Long and the others had anything they did not understand, they could quickly receive an answer. This cut short the time they needed to figure things out by trial and error, allowing them to grasp the controls of their mecha faster than other people.


    The team members received Ling Lan''s message at almost the same time. Seeing that Ling Lan wanted to act alone, though Qi Long and the others had been mentally prepared for this, they still could not help but feel somewhat dejected. After all, with Boss around, they would feel that much more reassured.


    Right after that, Qi Long conveyed Ling Lan''s decision to Li Lanfeng, telling him that he was to work with Han Jijyun to help him arrange the team''s battle strategy. When Li Lanfeng heard this, he was very moved but also felt deeply downhearted.


    Ling Lan''s decision let Li Lanfeng feel how much Ling Lan trusted him, letting him know that his rabbit sincerely cherished him. But he still felt crestfallen, because when it came time to truly go onto the battlefield, he still was not qualified enough to stand by Ling Lan''s side. Obviously, this arrangement of Ling Lan''s was inrge part due to the fact that they were currently unable to keep up with him.


    Perhaps, the rabbit''s control technique was already at the level of special-ss operator ... Li Lanfeng recalled his good friend Zhao Jun telling him that in a hidden room deep within the storehouse, there was a space dedicated for the storage of special-ss mecha. Perhaps the rabbit had gone there. He felt a little regretful ¡ª if he had known in advance, he would not have been so stubborn about sticking with his foundational controls, refusing to advance to special-ss together with Zhao Jun. If he had given up on his principles then and advanced to special-ss operator, perhaps he would have had the chance to fight by the rabbit''s side in the present situation.


    Inexplicably, every time Li Lanfeng was by the rabbit''s side, he would feel very rxed. The looming destiny of his that was pressing down and suffocating him felt less heavy in the other''s presence. He even got the feeling that changing his fate was not as hopeless as it seemed. Having borne the burden of his fate alone for twenty years, he too had moments when he felt tired, unable to cope and desirous of rest, so he especially treasured and yearned for this feeling.


    Li Lanfeng did not want to take even a half step away from the rabbit. He felt that if he let the rabbit leave his life once again, he would really be crushed by this fate of his.


    "I mustpletely master these basic controls as soon as possible ..." Li Lanfeng''s low spirits onlysted for a brief instant. He had very quickly remembered that the rabbit was very particr about the basic controls ¡ª looking at Qi Long''s and the others'' controls, it was clear that their foundations were all very solid. If he had chosen to take the shortcut back then, the rabbit definitely would not have reacted favourably. Li Lanfeng secretly tamped down on his insecurities and silently warned himself to never ever cross over into the forbidden territory of the rabbit ... However, in order to make up the gap between himself and the rabbit, Li Lanfeng decided to double the practice load of his already doubled practice load on the basics ...


    While Li Lanfeng was tangled up in his own thoughts, the time limit Ling Lan had set for them to adjust to the real mecha crept up upon them. Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie, who had arrived a few minutester than Qi Long and the others, also seized thisst bit of time to activate their selected advanced mecha and tested them out to adjust properly.


    Seeing that the time limit had psed, Wu Jiong controlled his mecha to make a hand motion at Qi Long''s and Li Yingjie''s mecha, asking whether they were to go out now.


    Qi Long and Li Yingjie both responded with affirmative gestures. Just like that, the three of them led the thirty or so advanced mecha to head out of the mecha storehouse. When the mecha in the intermediate mecha section saw the regimentmanders and team leaders walking out in their advanced mecha, without needing any orders, they fell into line behind their respective team leaders to move forwards in an orderly manner.


    Perhaps because 100 or so mecha were walking out of the warehouse at the same time, a minor quake actually ran through the ground as they moved. However, the fighting had not spread to this area yet, so there were no enemies around to notice and discover this batch of mecha walking out from the storehouse.


    All the team leaders did not say much, only reminding their team members to choose their pre-set frequencies as their teamms channel tomunicate. Before they hade here, they had already discussed what they should do.


    Very soon, all of the mecha had arrived at the open grounds outside. Qi Long issued amand, and the various teams dispersed swiftly, each moving in a different direction.


    As the only non-ex-Central Scout Academy team there, it was clear to see that Gao Jinyun''s team was rather strong since they were able to keep a full team together. However, Gao Jinyun looked over at the 30 or so advanced mecha in the distance and then looked back at the intermediate mecha he was piloting, and he could not help but feel rather disheartened.


    Gao Jinyun had been convinced to submit by Ling Lan''s unfathomable strength and daring strategy during the operation to take over the ship of the military academy. After entering the academy, he was even more set in his determination to follow Ling Lan and had joined the New Cadet Regiment. Of course, part of the reason he had first joined was out of some minor intention to lean back against a big tree and enjoy its shade 1 . However, following the results of the wagered fight with Leiting, Gao Jinyun had thoroughly thrown aside that little bit of selfish motive, deciding to follow Ling Lan with his full heart and soul.


    Gao Jinyun was a proud person. Originally from Doha as well, although he had not been able to get into the Central Scout Academy, he had still been one of the strongest in his own scout academy. He thought that even if he could notpare to those few regimentmanders of the New Cadet Regiment, he should at least not be that much weaker than the other team leaders. But today, he was once again dealt a mental blow. Who would have expected those team leaders from the same scout academy as Ling Lan to be so strong? In such a short amount of time, they were now able to operate advanced mecha? ( Gao Jinyun did not expect the other side to have broken past the barrier at 13 years old to enter the virtual world and begin learning mecha controls early 2 . This was definitely a beautiful misunderstanding.)


    "Sure enough, there will always be a mountain higher 3 . I was still overconfident before." Gao Jinyun chuckled bitterly inside his heart. This experience had smacked him awake, clearing his mind ¡ª even though he had been the strongest in his own scout academy previously, here at the First Men''s Military Academy which gathered all the best and brightest, he was still greatlycking ...


    However, Gao Jinyun would not just admit defeat like this. He decided that he would work harder to train up his mecha controls and chase up to those team leaders as soon as possible. Losing to Boss Lan, Gao Jinyun was resigned to it. Losing to those other regimentmanders, he could still justify to himself that those were after all the regimentmanders. But losing to those other people who were team leaders like him, Gao Jinyun could not pardon himself. He still remembered the grand ambitions he had back when he had managed to enrol into the First Men''s Military Academy ¡ª he had been determined to be part of the most outstanding batch of people within the military academy.


    Just as Gao Jinyun was brimming with fighting spirit, a sound startled him out of his thoughts ...


    "Third Elder Brother, are we really going to operate mecha into battle?" One of the members of his team asked with a dreamy expression on his face.


    "Godd*mmit, don''t use the external speakers, use the teamms." Gao Jinyun could not help but scold when he saw his team member making a mistake. Luckily, this was not yet at the war zone, otherwise this behaviour of his team member would absolutely have been akin to asking for death.


    As they still were not a battle n, they did not have an exclusive private battle nms channel protected by a password. Their so-called teamms was just them choosing tomunicate on the same radio frequency without any security measures, so it would be very easily cracked by hackers. Still, the situation was urgent, so they could only make do for now.


    Amidst the panicked noises of the team member in question, he finally switched his voice output over into the teamms channel. Only then did Gao Jinyun breathe a sigh of relief, but his brow soon scrunched up in worry again.


    His team member''s immature performance made him concerned. At this moment, he felt a little regretful for not removing one member whose control skills were still not very well developed just so he could keep his team in formation. Mind you, Ling Lan''s original requirement was for team members proficient in controlling intermediate mecha and above. Only such members were qualified to follow him onto the battlefield and engage in mechabat.


    "Xiao Jiang, you aren''t fully proficient in your control skills yet. Once we start fighting, first protect yourself well. Only attack from long-range when you find appropriate timings." After some thought, Gao Jinyun came up with this arrangement. Since he had already led his member here, he needed to take responsibility for him.


    "Okay, Third Elder Brother." Xiao Jiang heard Gao Jinyun''s arrangements and his nervousness abated. Honestly speaking, he really wasn''t confident at all in piloting a mecha into close-rangebat.


    Gao Jinyun set up every member''s position and then led his members in a sprint towards the battlefield. Knowing his own team was rtively weaker, Gao Jinyun did not bring his team to the dormitory district which was a chaotic mess, swarming with enemies. Instead, he led them in the opposite direction.


    It should be said that there was nothing wrong with Gao Jinyun''s decision. After all, the more chaotic an area was, the easier it was for idents to happen. However, he just did not consider that those enemy mecha who appeared to be fighting alone were often those formidablebat experts filled with confidence in their own skills, which was why they dared to go off on their own to begin with ...


    "Third Elder Brother, there is an enemy mecha ahead. Our scanner feedback indicates that it''s an advanced mecha!" The team member in the lead who was responsible for scouting ahead suddenly warned the team.


    Gao Jinyun had only received the news and had yet to make a decision when the enemy mecha noticed them and came charging over ferociously. Gao Jinyun knew that in terms of speed, intermediate mecha were no match for advanced mecha. If they chose to run, they were likely to be taken down one by one by the opponent. As such, they might as well fight with their lives on the line ¡ª perhaps by relying on teamwork, they might be able to bring down this enemy mecha.


    These thoughts went by in a sh through Gao Jinyun''s mind. He firmly dered, "Prepare to fight!"

 Chapter 365: The Owner of the Giant Sword!

    Chapter 365: The Owner of the Giant Sword!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    With tacit understanding and rapport, the team members got into their positions. With Gao Jinyun as point, they formed a diamond array, the beam guns in their right hands raised in unnned synchronicity. In Mecha World, every time they fought, they had always worked together this way. Habit became nature ¡ª in the real world, in this first real battle, all of them chose to fight using this formation they were most familiar with.


    "Fire!" shouted Gao Jinyun, taking the lead in pulling the trigger of his beam gun.


    Six beams were fired altogether at the enemy mecha ¡ª if this were Mecha World, up against the mecha in the game system, at least one or two of their beams would have hit their target. But right now, the opponent they were up against was an advanced mecha warrior with a wealth of battle experience. Facing off against this type of straightforward beam shots, the veteran enemy mecha operator could dodge all six shots easily.


    The opponent executed some graceful Z-shaped footwork, evading five of the shots in an instant. The only one he could not dodge was the shot by Gao Jinyun, because Gao Jinyun had fired his shot based on predictive movement trajectory. This was considered one of the more advanced techniques of intermediate mecha operators ¡ª he had calcted the reactions the enemy might make and then fired at a position the enemy was likely to move into to evade. Thus, the enemy mecha did not manage to evade Gao Jinyun¡¯s shot.


    After evading five of the shots, the enemy mecha found that one beam was bloody irritatingly shooting at the position he had evaded into. As dodging required some adjustments, it was impossible to dodge once more, so the enemy mecha instantly activated its beam shield to bear the brunt of Gao Jinyun¡¯s beam attack. After that, it leapt aggressively at them, prepared to finish off these small fries at close range.


    Seeing their first attack dodged so easily by the enemy, some of the team members could not help but be flustered. Gao Jinyun yelled, "Continue shooting!"


    This cry calmed the team members down instantly. They listened to their leader and pressed down forcefully on the firing button in their hands. Beams poured in a torrent from the muzzles of their guns, hurtling towards the enemy mecha ...


    This round of frenzied attacks was effective, causing the enemy mecha to be wary and choose to dodge, stopping his frontal attack. He could see that although this group of intermediate mecha¡¯s behaviour seemed rather green, their teamwork and rapport were unusually good. This frustrated him, and in the end, he could only choose to dodge.


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s team witnessed as the enemy mecha took several back leaps while evading, swiftly pulling away from them. In the blink of an eye, the enemy mecha had been swallowed by the night, disappearing without a trace.


    Seeing this, Gao Jinyun lowered his beam gun in confusion. Based on the opponent¡¯s abilities, no matter how fiercely they attacked, they would have been merely dying the inevitable. If the opponent had wanted to push forwards anyway, he would have been able to, although that would have damaged the other¡¯s mecha somewhat ...


    Could it be that the enemy was afraid of his mecha being damaged without there being anywhere to conduct repairs? Thus, worried that this would then affect him inbatter on, he had chosen to retreat? Gao Jinyun felt that this was a likely possibility. After all, this was their home territory.


    "Third Elder Brother, I can¡¯t believe we actually sent him running. So that¡¯s all there is to an advanced mecha ..."mented one of the clueless team members.


    "How could that be? If he really wanted to finish us off, he would have been able to achieve it with just some minor price. The opponent decided to avoid the confrontation probably because he did not want to pay anything ..." rebuked Gao Jinyun. When he mentioned ¡¯not wanting to pay any price¡¯, a sh of insight passed through his brain and his initial confusion was suddenly given an answer. He shouted anxiously, "Everyone turn on your radar! The enemy could still be here ..."


    He had barely finished speaking when Gao Jinyun sensed a strong force rushing at them from his right side. His mecha was ring an rm as soon as it picked up the attack ¡ª even as Gao Jinyun yelled for his team members to run, he quickly operated his mecha to shove and kick aside two of his team members with a hand and a leg respectively.


    A tremendous ¡¯boom¡¯ rang out and the beam that had appeared so suddenly struck the activated beam shield of Gao Jinyun¡¯s mecha. Gao Jinyun saw his mecha¡¯s energy block exhaust half of its power to resist this attack and found himself both shocked and distressed.


    It looked like the power of the advanced mecha¡¯s beam gun was significantly higher than theirs as intermediate mecha. If an intermediate mecha¡¯s beam gun struck another intermediate mecha¡¯s beam shield, it would at most take off 20% power from the energy block of the shielding mecha ... there was no way so much power would be drained by just one shot like this. Gao Jinyun knew that if he was hit once more, his mecha¡¯s power would bottom out. If that happened, he would only be able to helplessly await death.


    Gao Jinyun had yet to get over his fright when the enemy attacked once more. However, this time, because thepanions by his side had already dodged clear, Gao Jinyun no longer needed to just take the enemy¡¯s attack by force as before to protect them. Although Gao Jinyun was only an intermediate mecha warrior, his control skills were still very solid and the best in his team. He operated his mecha to execute a figure-8 dodge, and the beam shot by just like that ...


    However, this was just an attack the opponent was using to fool Gao Jinyun ¡ª just as Gao Jinyun evaded the beam, he heard his team members cry out in horror in the teamms, "Leader, watch out!"


    Some of the team members with faster reflexes were pulling on the triggers of their beam guns rapidly, shooting desperately at the skies above him, as if attempting to prevent something ...


    Gao Jinyun felt a sense of rm. Right then, he could finally feel the threating down on him from above his head. He rapidly turned his mecha¡¯s vision to look up and saw that the enemy who had vanished earlier was now right above his head, swinging a gleaming cold weapon down on him mercilessly.


    If he had not moved from his current position, it would not have been impossible to avoid this attack, but his mecha was already in motion from trying to evade that second beam attack. Due to the problem of inertia forcing thepletion of the motion, Gao Jinyun was unable to instantly stop his mecha to make an emergency change in direction and execute a new evasion manoeuvre. In other words, the present Gao Jinyun could only helplessly watch his mecha get cut down by the enemy.


    Right at this critical moment, Gao Jinyun clenched his teeth and resolutely turned the defensive value of his beam shield up to its maximum. Even though beam shields had terrible defence against cold weapons, at this moment, Gao Jinyun could only gamble on this.


    The cold weapon was about to strike Gao Jinyun¡¯s mecha when a loud ¡¯ng¡¯ rang out. Gao Jinyun reflexively closed his eyes, waiting for the intense pain of severe injury to register with his body, but he soon found that he was feeling nothing at all.


    With lightning speed, Gao Jinyun opened his eyes, only to see that the advanced mecha bearing down on him earlier was now already 10 or so metres away from him. Right then, the opponent had his head lifted slightly and was looking up at the air to the right of Gao Jinyun. The cold weapon in his hands that had almost shed Gao Jinyun had been broken into two pieces. The break in the weapon was t and even, as if having been sliced clean through by some overpoweringly sharp weapon 1 .


    In the next second, Gao Jinyun found the answer. Twenty metres or so on his left side, a giant steel sword about ten metres tall and one metre wide was nted diagonally into the ground. It looked like the opponent¡¯s cold weapon had been sliced in half by the flying interception of this big sword. Seeing this, what else was there for Gao Jinyun to learn? He was sure that he had been saved by the owner of the giant steel sword ...


    Not too far away from the giant steel sword, Gao Jinyun also saw his three team members reacting just like the enemy mecha, staring dumbly at the sky above him to his right ...


    Realisation settled in and Gao Jinyun quickly turned his view to that spot in the air to his right and saw a mecha hovering there. At a nce, Gao Jinyun could recognise that this was definitely a Federation ace mecha. As a mecha operator whose ambition was to be an ace mecha master, Gao Jinyun was naturally familiar with all the various types of ace mecha avable within the Federation. And how could he not recognise this he was so obsessed over?


    In his joy and surprise, Gao Jinyun could not help but be a little puzzled as well. As part of the ace mecha troops, the strongest force on Newline, why weren¡¯t they protecting the students at the most critical area at the dormitory district? Why would this ace mecha be here at such a non-central fighting area?


    "Ace operator! From the military? No, there is no military marking on your mecha, only the emblem of Huaxia¡¯s First Academy. If I¡¯m not mistaken, you should be a cadet ..." That enemy advanced mecha operator suddenly turned on its voice speakers and began speaking to the ace mecha in the air. His Chinese sounded extremely awkward to the ear, his tone strange and stiff ¡ª it was clear to see that he was not a Huaxian.


    The ace mecha in the air did not say anything to enlighten the enemy mecha; he only stared stonily at the other.


    The enemy mecha did not care that the ace operator had not replied. He was only excited at his unexpected great luck in locating the mission target so quickly. If he could eliminate the other, when he returned, he would be a national hero.


    Perhaps emboldened by the honour and glory within his grasp, the enemy mecha became very talkative. He continued to say, "As far as we know, in your Huaxia First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the only one who has advanced to ace mecha status recently is someone called Qiao Ting, alias Thunder King. He¡¯s another aberrant prodigy after Ling Xiao and could be said to hold the hopes of the masses ... this person should be you!" At this point in his speech, the enemy mecha clicked his tongue regretfully, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, what a shame. There cannot be the emergence of another Ling Xiao in Huaxia."


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s gaze flickered ¡ª was the ace operator who saved him truly the Thunder King? If so, he would truly be put in a tough spot. Gao Jinyun knew very well that when he had made the decision to follow Boss Lan, he would eventually go up against the Thunder King one day.


    "Are you finished?" The ace mecha in the air finally spoke. His icy voice was so cold that it almost seemed like it could freeze everything in its surroundings.


    When Gao Jinyun heard this voice, his irises contracted and his face was filled with disbelief ... but soon, his expression turned ecstatic, and his mouth involuntarily split open in a very wide grin. By the time Gao Jinyun managed to rein in his emotions to look up once more at the ace mecha in the sky, his eyes were filled with worship, respect, and admiration, along with joy and happiness that just could not be concealed.


    "If I say that I¡¯m finished, what are you going to do?" The enemy mecha¡¯s tone was mocking. An ace operator who had advanced within a military academy, who had never seen real battle nor shed any blood, was, in his eyes, just like a newborn chick, nothing to be afraid of. He believed that, with his decade of battle experience, finishing off such a rookie would be a breeze.


    Moreover, while they had been speaking earlier, he had already sent news to his team that the Thunder King Qiao Ting had been sighted here. Thus, his team members should be rushing here soon as well. It turned out that his talkativeness had just been a cover for him to find a chance to send his teammates a message. At the same time, it also worked to buy time so that his teammates could hurry over.

 Chapter 366: An Awesome Boss!

    Chapter 366: An Awesome Boss!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Since you¡¯re finished, then let me send you to the afterlife 1 ." As the ace operator said this in an icy tone, his mecha suddenly moved, his left hand drawing the beam saber from its back as he leapt towards the enemy mecha, de shing.


    The enemy mecha quickly operated his mecha to take several steps back, dodging the saber. Attacking from a higher vantage point, thus adding the force of gravity to its own strength, the ace mecha¡¯s power right then was not something an ordinary advanced mecha could withstand. Even though the enemy mecha had some contempt for his opponent, he still did not dare to be too careless. An ace mecha was an ace mecha after all ¡ª the superiority of its mecha level was still something he needed to take into consideration.


    However, the subsequent scene almost caused the enemy mecha to explode from anger. The other had charged down so rapidly from the sky, appearing as if about to attack, but the intended target had not been him at all. Instead, the other had been aiming for that giant steel sword nted in the ground behind him. The ace mecha swooped down fast and low when it was about 3 metres from the ground, and then it was back in the sky in an instant. At this time, that giant sword had been added to the ace mecha¡¯s right hand.


    The ace mecha¡¯s right hand gently tilted the giant sword around, checking it, and seeming extremely pleased, he slung the beam saber in his left hand back onto his back and said, "Against you, just this weapon is enough." These words almost made the advanced mecha operator blow his top. To rely on this type of strength-based cold weapon as his weapon, it basically meant that, in the other¡¯s eyes, he was not at all worthy of being called an opponent. It was implied that he was just cannon fodder that could be simply kicked around. On the battlefield, strength-based giant weapons were convenient weapons that could help mecha save power and at the same time be used to clear rabble soldiers swiftly and efficiently.


    "You ¡ª you¡¯re seeking death!" The advanced mecha only had time to say this much before he was interrupted by the other¡¯s high-speed attack.


    Perhaps because the ace mecha¡¯s attack speed was too fast, or perhaps the advanced mecha was so angry that his reflexes were slowed ¡ª whichever the case, by the time the advanced mecha could react, the ace mecha¡¯s giant sword was already right before his face.


    Without any time to evade, he had no choice but to raise both hands and forcibly push them out towards the iing de. Following this push, the advanced mecha was sent stumbling a step back ...


    "Screeech ..." Where the two shed, dazzling sparks were unleashed, almost blinding the spectating Gao Jinyun and his team. By the time their vision recovered, the two fighters had already swept by each other. The ace mecha was currently gripping the giant sword with both hands in a reverse grip, the tip of its sword seemingly pointed steadily at the advanced mecha¡¯s back.


    Meanwhile, the advanced mecha appeared unusually battered ¡ª its beam shield which had initially been glowing with a pearly white sheen was now dull and dim. Both the mecha¡¯s arms had been chopped off, revealing stumps at its elbows. The exposed circuitry was still crackling with sparks, proving that this amputation had just urred.


    "How can this ... be possible?!" The advanced mecha warrior forced these words out, toneced with agony and disbelief. Even for an experienced ace mecha, to finish him off should take up a little more time than this ...


    "You talk too much ..." The ace mecha¡¯s tone was as cold and indifferent as ever. With thisment, the ace mecha suddenly pulled back the giant sword whose point had been resting on the advanced mecha¡¯s back.


    While the ace mecha had stayed in position, Gao Jinyun andpany had not been able to see clearly what was going on. But once the ace mecha pulled back its sword, everyone understood why the advanced mecha had reacted the way he did.


    After the giant sword was drawn back, the advanced mecha which had seemed to only have had its arms chopped off suddenly had two strong jets of blood spurt out from both the front and back of its cockpit. Only now could Gao Jinyun and the others clearly see that the giant sword had not just been held at the advanced mecha¡¯s back as they had thought but had already pierced through the advanced mecha warrior¡¯s cockpit. Just looking at the width of that giant sword, they knew that the advanced mecha warrior inside the cockpit must have already been cut into two by the giant sword. There was definitely no chance of survival.


    "... Luck is ... too bad ..." The advanced mecha warrior used up thest of his life to squeeze out these final four words.


    His luck was indeed too bad, because the one he had bumped into was not that Thunder King Qiao Ting who did not have any true battle experience. Instead, his opponent was Ling Lan, who had been whipped and tormented into shape by the learning space for a whole sixteen years, who had grown up tested by countless experiences of dire life-or-death situations.


    Seeing the ace mecha efficiently finish off that advanced mecha, aplicated expression passed over Gao Jinyun¡¯s face. However, he was soon overtaken by happiness, but just as he was about to say something, the ace mecha addressed him first.


    "Gao Jinyun, your team is not suited for independent action. Quickly bring your team about two kilometres ahead to the right. Coordinates xx, yy 2 . We have other teams there. Go join them and then move together."


    At these words, Gao Jinyun¡¯s expression turned serious and he replied, "Yes, Regiment Commander!"


    "Also, after meeting up with that team there, leave this area quickly, the further the better. Don¡¯te back for any reason." The initially calm tone of the ace mecha suddenly became stern, his tone carrying steel that could not be disobeyed.


    Gao Jinyun was taken aback by these words and did not agree immediately. Instead, he asked seriously, "Why, Regiment Commander?"


    "The enemy is about toe here soon. That enemy mecha earlier has most likely sent out news to hisrades that the Thunder King Qiao Ting is here." The ace mecha told Gao Jinyun about his spections.


    Gao Jinyun was also an intelligent person. The moment he heard this, he immediately understood what the ace mecha was nning to do. His expression changed drastically and he said, "Regiment Commander, for you to remain here and deal with them alone is much too dangerous!" Fighting here all by himself against so many enemies drawn here by the news was truly too reckless ¡ª for the sake of the New Cadet Regiment, he needed to stop the regimentmander.


    "This is some rare practical battle experience, how can I miss it? Besides, as long as there are none of our people around, I won¡¯t have any worries holding me back. Even if I can¡¯t beat the enemy, with this mecha, running away will be an easy matter. You don¡¯t have to worry," answered the ace mecha.


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s bellyful of protests was instantly left stoppered at his throat. He found that the other was speaking the truth ¡ª without them holding him back, it would be a piece of cake for his amazing regimentmander to escape from the attacks of a bunch of advanced mecha by relying on this ace mecha. Right then, Gao Jinyun had not considered the possibility that the enemies who woulde might be ace mecha instead. If that was the case, even if his regimentmander was controlling an ace mecha, escape would be very difficult.


    Gao Jinyun, who did not have much battle experience, did not think of this possibility at all. He felt that what his regimentmander had said made sense, and so agreed and quickly led his team members away from the area, heading swiftly towards the destination his regimentmander had given.


    While Gao Jinyun had been speaking with the ace mecha, Gao Jinyun¡¯s team members were actually left utterly confused by the conversation. They all thought that the ace mecha was the regimentmander of the Leiting Mecha n, Thunder King Qiao Ting, and so found it rather strange that their team leader was calling the other regimentmander. Still, the Thunder King was the regimentmander of the Leiting Mecha n, so it was not actually wrong to address him as such ... they just wondered when their team leader had built such a rtionship with the Thunder King, actually getting the Thunder King to step up and save them, who even went so far as asking them to join up and cooperate with a team under him ...


    Could it be that their boss had secretly betrayed Boss Lan to follow the Thunder King instead? More than one team member thought of this possibility, and even as they were overwhelmed with shock, they also felt rather indignant. This was because they still admired Boss Lan greatly. That regimentmander of theirs who was so powerful he could defeat a senior cadet from Leiting, the number one physical skills expert in the academy. They believed that as long as Boss Lan was given enough time to grow, he would definitely be the second Thunder King ...


    "Third Elder Brother, how did youe to know the Thunder King?" Finally, one of the youngest team members could not hold back any longer, asking the question on all their minds.


    Gao Jinyun was stunned. "Thunder King? I¡¯ve heard of him but I don¡¯t know him."


    "Then why are you following his orders to meet up with his people and work together?" That team member felt even more dissatisfied at this response. Was he still nning to deny it even now? Did their Third Elder Brother actually consider them as his brothers or not?!


    "Follow his orders?" As Gao Jinyun was still worrying about whether Boss Lan would remain safe in the ensuing battle, he was not fully paying attention, so his responses and reaction to his team members¡¯ questions were obviously a little offbeat and slow. Only when he heard this question did he finally sense something wrong about the scenario ¡ª it seemed like his team members had misunderstood.


    Concentrating, he immediately understood the root of the misunderstanding. Gao Jinyun instantly smiled wryly and said, "You all think that that ace operator just now was the Thunder King Qiao Ting?"


    "Wasn¡¯t it? The only one who has advanced to ace operator in the academy, who else could it be but the Thunder King?" asked another team member, confused.


    "Yeah, didn¡¯t that enemy advanced mecha also say that he was the Thunder King?" someone else brought up more evidence.


    Gao Jinyun heard what his team members had to say and sighed, saying, "Yes, everyone thinks that in the First Academy, only the Thunder King has advanced to ace. So no one would imagine that some people are born aberrant, as existences that you can neverprehend ... I can only say that we are very lucky to have followed the right boss. The New Cadet Regiment will definitely be one of the strongest factions in the military academy."


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s words caused some of the team members to bepletely bewildered, unsure what their team leader was trying to say. Those who were more quick-witted, however, immediately realised the meaning behind Gao Jinyun¡¯s words. One of the ones who had figured things out blurted out in shock, "Third Elder Brother, are you saying that that ace operator ... is our regimentmander Boss Lan?"


    This question rendered all the team members speechless. The team which had been moving along quickly yet in an orderly manner suddenly began to disy some signs of disarray as some team members forgot about the controls in their hands. Two or three of the mecha bumped into each other, almost causing some of them to fall over.


    However, though Gao Jinyun¡¯s team only consisted of intermediate mecha, the team members¡¯ control skills were still very solid. It did not take the team long to restore order and pick up their speed again as they continued to move closer to the coordinates they had been given.


    After marching in silence for ten seconds or so, a team member finally began howling with pride and excitement in the teamms channel. "AAAAAAAAH, our regimentmander is actually an ace operator too! He¡¯s only a first year! A first year! Aaaaaaaaaaah ...!" The loudness of his voice almost broke the eardrums of the other members, yet no one said anything to rebuke him, because what he was saying was exactly what they wanted to say too!


    Hells, their regimentmander was just too awesome! It¡¯s just like their team leader had said ¡ª they had followed the right boss!

 Chapter 367: Making Mischief!

    Chapter 367: Making Mischief!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    It should be said that Gao Jinyun¡¯s team was truly very fortunate. In their critical moment of danger, Ling Lan had arrived in the nick of time.


    Speaking of which, how had Ling Lan known toe here? When Ling Lan hadpleted her preparations in the hidden room, she had entered theunch port tunnel, and then, using the ejection force of theunch port, she had activated her engines to fly out of the storehouse into the air outside.


    That moment was also coincidentally when Qi Long and the others of her team were leading the 100 odd mecha operators of the New Cadet Regiment out of the mecha storehouse. Ling Lan looked out at the entire military academy from her bird¡¯s eye vantage point and, using Little Four¡¯s ability, she opened up multiple channels showing different viewing angles in an attempt to get aprehensive grasp of the entire battlefield.


    Before determining for sure whether the people of the New Cadet Regiment could handle this battlefield, Ling Lan was not going to participate in the fighting directly. Her first responsibility in this battlefield was to ensure the survival of as many members as possible. Ling Lan was well aware that the mortality rate was most often the highest at the start of a battle. Once a fighter had adapted to the battlefield, they would not die so easily.


    Ling Lan knew that if she wanted her party members to grow up and increase their strength, they would need to rely on their own strength to fight. Thus, Ling Lan would not act like an old mother hen and watch over her faction members till the end. Once they had safely gotten through this most dangerous period of adjustment, Ling Lan would let gopletely and let her faction members fight to secure their own survival.


    The existence of two Ling Lans, from her life experience of two worlds, had caused Ling Lan¡¯s personality to be veryplicated and filled with contradictions. She had the gentlepassion and considerate heart of her previous world within her, but she also possessed the cold-blooded ruthlessness and resolve forced upon her by the learning space of this world ... she could not bear for the innocentpanions by her side to be sacrificed pointlessly, but she was also ruthless enough to leave herpanions in a desperate situation so they would have an opportunity to break past their limits and find their own path to survival.


    At this time, the fighting was already in full swing in the entire campus area on Newline. The battlefield which had initially started more than 10 kilometres away from the school had now spread all the way inside the military academy. The mes of war had been kindled at every corner of the military academy, with the dormitory district being the area which saw the most fighting. Almost half of the ground forces were tied up there, with an equallyrge number of enemy mecha attacking, almost more than half of the total invading mecha force.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan¡¯s brow furrowed slightly. This situation proved that the objective of these mysterious enemies was indeed like she had deduced ¡ª they were aiming for them cadets. The only thing she could not be sure of was whether this sudden and unexpected attack was specifically targeting her team.


    A cold gleam appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. If her team had truly been exposed, then she would have no choice but to let her dad step in. The 23rd Division would be the best protective umbre for her team. Ling Lan believed that Ling Xiao would definitely be able to protect them till they grew up enough. At that time, they would no longer be helpless targets for the enemies to ughter as they liked. If any enemies wanted to deal with them then, they would have to stop and consider whether they could afford to pay the price.


    Ling Lan had just thought of a response n if things really ended up developing into a worst case scenario when, before she could breathe out, her attention was drawn by one of the panels on her mecha¡¯s screen. It was the team led by Gao Jinyun ¡ª they were in danger.


    As expected, it was not that easy for a team made up of only intermediate mecha to survive the battlefield. If they had had an advanced mecha to lead them, then this kind of situation where they were rendered helpless would never have happened ... Ling Lan decisively pushed all of her thrusters to send her mecha flying like a streak of light towards Gao Jinyun¡¯s team.


    Although the mecha Ling Lan was currently piloting was not the fastest among all of the ace mecha, its speed was not just one or two times faster than an advanced mecha¡¯s but was in fact up to five or six times faster. Of course, Ling Lan could also push the speed to the maximum because her body was currently extremely tough,pletely able to withstand the feedback force brought on by the movement of the mecha. If this had been her body from three years ago, things would probably not have been as easy.


    And the results were just as we all were witness to ¡ª at that most critical moment, Ling Lan managed to rescue Gao Jinyun in the nick of time, and then finished off the enemy advanced mecha in one move.


    After sending Gao Jinyun andpany off, Ling Lan switched her mecha¡¯s battle mode from close-rangebat mode to night-cloak assassination mode. This was directly reflected in the mecha¡¯s appearance ¡ª the energy beam shield of the mecha which had initially been glowing softly instantly turned dark as pitch. The entire mecha no longer emitted any bit of light, merging as one with the darkness of the night ...


    The ace mecha which had been hovering in the air all this while vanished just like that. Ling Lan was not at all arrogant. Not knowing what level of enemies would being here, she would not stand here tantly and be a convenient target for the enemies to attack.


    A minuteter, in the distant night sky, framed by the mes of war, the indistinct silhouettes of five mecha appeared.


    "This should be the ce. The coordinates M03 gave us is right around here." The five mecha seemed to be unrted, but they were in factmunicating with one another in their teammlink.


    "Three minutes ago, M03 fell out of contact. I¡¯m afraid something has happened to him. Everyone, be careful."


    "Yes, M01," responded the other mecha in unison. M01 was likely to be the leader of this team.


    Very soon, they discovered mecha M03 on the ground. They immediately flew over andnded. Three of the mecha stood guard as one of the remaining two mecha rushed over to M03¡¯s side and squatted down beside the prostrate mecha to check on its condition. Meanwhile, thest mecha looked as if he were just standing around, at ease with his hands hanging loosely by his sides, not at all on guard, but an experienced mecha operator would be able to tell that the mecha¡¯s current stance was actually the best stance for counterattacking. This was because two extremely short long-range power beam guns 1 were strapped to the outsides of the mecha¡¯s thighs.


    Mecha equipped with this kind of weapon suspension system were known as sharpshooters. Just when you believed that the other had no weapons in their hands and let down your guard, the other could give you a fatal shot. Within 0.01 seconds, the other could draw the long-range beam guns from their thighs and strike your mecha¡¯s vital points. This type of mecha had one other name, and that was ambusher!


    "M01, M03¡¯s mecha has been pierced through the cockpit by someone with one blow. M03 died instantly from the resulting injury ... based off the extent of damage on the mecha, they might have fought for quite a while before it happened. Otherwise, the arms of M03¡¯s mecha would not have been chopped off. Preliminary spection is that after M03 had his arms chopped off, he was then stabbed through the cockpit without being able to put up any resistance." The mecha examining M03¡¯s mecha quickly reported his analysis to M01.


    "M05, do you know what weapon the opponent used?" The one operating the sharpshooter was the team¡¯s leader, M01. After listening to M05¡¯s report, he immediately followed up with this question.


    "Based on the marks left on the cockpit, it¡¯s an overbearing cold weapon. It gives off a very simr feel to the giant sword of the among the ace mecha." M05 carefully examined the breaks at the front and back of the cockpit ¡ª those huge diamond-shaped holes inevitably brought to mind that giant and domineering weapon.


    "Didn¡¯t the intelligence report say that the mecha the Thunder King was proficient at was the long-range < King of Star Space 2 >?" M01 could not help but frown when he heard M05¡¯s report. Although the two were both ace mecha, the control style of these two mecha belonged topletely opposite ends of a spectrum, with there being a great distance between the two mecha¡¯s techniques. Typically, mecha operators who were proficient on one front were very unlikely to be able to operate mecha with apletely different and opposing style. The long-range and the close-range fell precisely into this scenario of diametrically opposed control styles.


    "Could it be that there is another ace mecha operator?" M01¡¯s question caused M05 to jolt, and this question slipped out from his lips.


    "We do not know what exactly happened here three minutes ago, so anything is possible," replied M01 calmly. At the same time, he turned his radar scanner on to its maximum setting. Regardless of whether it was the long-range or the close-range , if they were ambushed by the opponent, things would not go well for their team.


    Compared to M03¡¯s arrogance, M01 was obviously much more cool-headed and self-aware. Facing an unseen enemy, he brought all of his focus to the fore, fearing an ambush by the opponent.


    Suddenly, his radar picked something up. He instantly drew the two guns by his thighs to shoot frenziedly at a particr corner. Meanwhile, the three mecha standing watch at the edges of the scene reacted swiftly as well. They followed M01¡¯s lead to aim at that spot and began to shoot their beam guns just as wildly.


    After a round of attacks, the grass in that area had beenpletely destroyed by the powerful beam energy to turn into a pile of ashes. Within the ashes, the hilt of a burnt beam saber 3 could be seen. It turned out that the energy reaction on the radar previously had actually been emitted by the beam saber.


    "That beam saber is M03¡¯s." M05¡¯s vision was sharp. Although the beam saber¡¯s hilt had already been struck so much that it had been deformed, its original form almost indiscernible, M05 had still noticed the remains of the owner¡¯sbel on it.


    "That¡¯s strange. Why would the beam saber suddenly give off an energy reaction? Could it be that someone activated it just now?" asked M01 with a frown. A beam saber needed a person to activate it ¡ª it should be said that a beam saber hilt lying on the ground would never give off any energy waves without it being used by someone. But then, if someone had activated it, M01 did not believe that there was anyone fast enough to dodge his sharpshooting and escape his attack range in that brief instant.


    M05 also could not figure out this issue that had stumped M01. He could not help but shudder and ask timidly, "Could it be a ghost?"


    "How could that be possible?!" barked M01 angrily in return. Several millenniums of scientific research had proven that ghosts were merely figments of the Huaxians¡¯ imagination ¡ª they did not exist.


    M05 too felt that he was being ridiculous, and so he did not dare to say anything more. Perhaps the beam saber¡¯s switch had been defective and had let some energy leak out.


    Right at this time, M01 sensed the radar responding again, highlighting the spot right behind M05. M01 shouted, "M05, move!"


    M05¡¯s reaction was swift ¡ª he immediately threw himself to one side ¡ª and M01 timed things masterfully. M05 had barely moved aside to reveal an opening when the beam gun in M01¡¯s hand let loose a deluge of shots. This time, the three other team members behind M01 did not manage to keep up. Only after M05 had dodged asidepletely did they follow up with their own attacks, shooting at the same area M01 was shooting at.


    Very soon, this round of attacks ended. This time, there was a beam gun lying there in the aftermath, a ckened lump alreadypletely deformed from the barrage of attacks. M01¡¯s expression shifted at the sight, because he realised that this beam gun was also a weapon of M03¡¯s ... could it be that M03 could not rest in peace and so was trying to give them some hint? Or perhaps someone was using M03¡¯s things to cause mischief?


    "Bastard, don¡¯t try to use these kinds of tricks to scare us! Bloodye out and face us if you have any godd*mn balls!" M01 suddenly switchedms channels to connect to his external speakers and shouted.

 Chapter 368: Power Gap!

    Chapter 368: Power Gap!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    However, all that answered M01 was silence. Although M01 did not believe in ghosts, this situation before him now which could not be exined by logical reasoning andmon sense was making him feel rather unsettled and creeped out.


    "Ah ..." A horrified cry suddenly rang out in the team¡¯smlink. M01¡¯s heart clenched and he whipped his head around. However, all he saw was one of the three guarding members pointing at M05 lying on the ground ... even without seeing the other member¡¯s facial expression, M01 could feel the fright and panic of the other.


    M01 felt that something was not right, because M05 still had not gotten up from the ground after this much time. This was definitely not normal. He stepped forward and squatted down, flipping M05¡¯s mecha around. Only then did he discover that the seemingly perfectly intact mecha had actually had its cockpit pierced by a short and sturdy high-frequency de right through a vital point on the mecha¡¯s front.


    Meanwhile, a pool of blood had begun to spread out on the ground the mecha had been lying on. That team member who had screamed must have seen the spreading pool of blood ...


    "Bastard,e out!" At this point, what else was there for M01 to figure out? He abruptly stood up and began shouting out at the still silence around them. There was definitely no such thing as ghosts ¡ª all of this was just a deliberate ploy of the enemy. Using those things to draw their attention, the enemy had then taken advantage of their distraction to kill the unprepared M05. And all of this had happened right under their noses.


    It had to be said that the enemy¡¯s ploy was extremely clever. Even now, M01 still could not figure out what method the enemy had used to set it so that the beam saber and beam gun would release some energy response at those specific moments. M01 knew well that it was impossible for someone to activate the power switches at those two locations without being seen, yet at the same time, there was no other setup to show any hidden maniptions. This kind of arrangement that could not be unravelled bymon logic had sessfully captured their attention, causing them to neglect the unprepared M05. This had given the enemy the opportunity to kill M05 without any sign.


    Undoubtedly, their enemy was an experienced assassin. M01 was instantly suspicious, wondering whether this person was not that Thunder King Qiao Ting like M03 had reported. Qiao Ting¡¯s talent and potential may be extremely aberrant ¡ª otherwise he would not have been able to advance to ace operator ¡ª but this kind of richbat experience was not something a cadet could have.


    "We¡¯ve been duped! Looks like the opponent used the Thunder King as bait to draw us here to kill us one by one," said M01 through gritted teeth. However, he then instantly backtracked and denied his own words, "No, they do not know our target is the Thunder King Qiao Ting, so they could not have made this sort of arrangement. Unless our ns have been leaked ... also, if this was really a trap, they could not have just arranged for one person to lie here in ambush."


    Although M01 had been thrown off a little by the situation before his eyes, he still managed to retain enough of hisposure to think things through. He was able to tell that there should only be one enemy hiding here in ambush, but this enemy was very strong and very dangerous.


    "This should be a coincidence ..." Suddenly, M01 thought of Thunder King Qiao Ting¡¯s mentor, Tang Yu, that prodigious talent who was known as the ¡¯Versatile Ace Master¡¯. Could it be him?


    At this thought, M01 could not help but shudder. An experienced ace mecha master like Tang Yu waspletely iparable with a newbie like Qiao Ting ¡ª for them alone to go up against an experienced ace mecha master like that was an absolutely suicidal endeavour. He knew he could not afford to hesitate any longer. He immediately transmitted the news that Tang Yu could be here to centralmand, hoping to receive backup as soon as possible.


    "Boss, I¡¯ve obtained their signal source ..." Ling Lan, who had been hiding in the shadows, still and quiet like a ferocious beast on the hunt, preparing to deal death with one blow, stared coldly at the roaring M01 not too far from her. When she registered the excited yells of Little Four in her mindspace, she could not help but clench her fists. She knew that the wait was over ¡ª it was now time to kill her prey.


    It turned out that all of this was part of Ling Lan¡¯s and Little Four¡¯s meticulous n to obtain the enemy¡¯s signal source. Little Four and Ling Lan did not believe the enemy was like them,pletely unable to contact the outside world. Sure enough, all of this had pushed M01 in his panic to directly make contact with the enemy¡¯s centralmand on a starship in space, letting Little Four obtain the other side¡¯s signal source.


    Having obtained the signal source, Little Four was no longer contained on the ground. He had beenpletely unleashed to be a free-flying king of virtual signals 1 .


    After M01 had sessfully sent out his message, he had just rxed a little when he saw a familiar thermal reaction appear once more at one point on his radar. M01¡¯s hand paused, a tendril of doubt coursing through his mind ¡ª could it be that the enemy was trying to trick him again and assassinate another one of his team members when he turned to deal with the source of the thermal reaction?


    Doubt rose in M01¡¯s heart, causing his movements to slow, so he did not attack the thermal reaction point as swiftly as he had the previous two times. Right at that moment, from the spot where the heat had been picked up, which was on the left side of the dense forest behind them, a mecha shot out,ing to the area behind M01 in the blink of an eye ... yes, the enemy¡¯s target was not M01 but the three members guarding three different directions at his back.


    Without M01¡¯s guidance, the three members were not at all on guard against that particr spot. When they noticed the mecha leaping at them ferociously, their only response was to pull the triggers of their beam guns desperately, trying to use overwhelming firepower to force the opponent back ...


    But, all of this was in vain ¡ª the mecha¡¯s figure shimmered, and the entire mecha drew a streak of shadow through the air. Their seemingly dense and concentrated firepower merely struck virtual impressions the opponent left behind. Between blinks, that enemy mecha was already before them.


    "Bang bang bang!" Three loud collisions caused M01¡¯s heart to jerk. This was followed by three terrible screams in M01¡¯s teammlink. These three almost simultaneous screams caused M01¡¯s gun hand which was aimed at the opponent, about to shoot, to tremble ...


    He who had never missed before, perhaps due to this tremble, actually shot wide ... after that mecha achieved his objective with one strike, he suddenly leapt backwards, retreating back into that dense forest, disappearingpletely from M01¡¯s radar once more ...


    M01 looked out at the surroundings before him ¡ª there was nothing but the sound of the wind and the distant sounds of cannonfire. There was no other sound in this patch of dense forest ... his entire body felt cold, a chill prating deep into his heart. Here at this ce, with M03 as the first to go down, four more of his team members were now lying on the ground ... Of the initially ratherplete 6-man team, he was now the only one left.


    He involuntarily turned his gaze to those three team members of his who had just lost their lives, and his irises contracted. Those three team members had truly died in such a pitiful way. They had had no so-called chance at all of fighting back before they had been crushed alive by the opponent¡¯s sheer brute strength. The cockpits of those three mecha were now deeply caved in ¡ª M01 did not have to look closer to know that the men inside were now probably ground meat by now. Even if the damage was not to that extent, there was still absolutely no chance of survival.


    The way they died proved the enemy had killed them without having to use any advancedbat techniques. By relying only on his mecha¡¯s inherent superiority and his horrifying giant sword, he had easily killed those three team members. By this time, M01 had confirmed that that mecha was indeed an ace mecha. Although it was not one with the military¡¯s powerful configurations, being merely a trainee mecha of the academy, due to the sheer prowess of its operator, this mecha with its basic configuration had still disyed formidablebat power ¡ª¡ª the was truly strong and terrifying, striking fear into his heart.


    The gap between their strength and that of this ace mecha master was really too wide. A surge of bitterness rose in M01¡¯s heart. He knew well that if the enemy wanted to kill him, just another two forceful attacks would be enough to finish him off. The moment the enemy managed to get close, he was sure to have no hope of survival.


    M01 stared at the unresponsive radar and a futile hope actually fluttered in his heart. He hoped that the ace operator had already left ... for the first time, this kind of cowardly notion entered his mind on the battlefield. Before this, no matter how perilous the situation, he had never ever feared for his life like this. M01 knew that he had already lost. Facing that ace operator once more, he most probably did not even have the courage to stake his life in battle anymore. Even now, he had the urge to run away ¡ª it was only the pride of a warrior which kept him in ce to await his final oue.


    "Have you cracked the other¡¯s signal?" Once again concealed, Ling Lan calmly observed her prey who had lost his calm as she questioned Little Four within the mindspace.


    "Already cracked!" Little Four raised both his arms to express his excitement. "He actually thought that, Boss, you are the ace mecha instructor Tang Yu ... believing that Qiao Ting is somewhere here as well, he has already requested reinforcements from their centralmand."


    Hearing the name Tang Yu, an image of the referee instructor who had been vaguely biased towards her side on that arena stage emerged uncalled in Ling Lan¡¯s mind¡¯s eye. He had not favoured the Leiting Mecha n just because he was Thunder King Qiao Ting¡¯s instructor. It should be said that the New Cadet Regiment¡¯s triumph in that battle was inrge part also due to his consideration for them.


    "Does this mean that the other side will also be sending masters here as well?" Ling Lan¡¯s expression turned grim. She naturally wanted to fight against skilled masters, but if a group of masters came, she would not be able to continue with her original n of waiting here for rabbits to fall into her snare 2 .


    "It must be, but I¡¯ve already obtained the signal source of theirmunications. I¡¯ll keep an eye on them and will definitely figure out how many people the other side has sent here," responded Little Four confidently. He would not let his boss fall into danger!


    "That¡¯s good. Since everything is settled, it¡¯s about time for me to finish off this fellow." Little Four¡¯s reply caused Ling Lan to rx. Since she had already received the answer she wanted, then there was no longer any need to keep this enemy before her alive ... Ling Lan decisively brought out her giant sword and pointed it straight at the enemy who was still trying to locate her.


    M01 stared at his radar with mixed feelings, unsure whether he wanted there to be a response on the radar. Right at this moment, several energy responses appeared on the radar at the same time. These few points were all close to him, and there were even three points that were right by his side. This sudden situation made him raise both his guns in a iling panic. Aiming for those few spots, he began shooting with both hands, madly sending a flood of beam energy pouring out from the guns in his hands ...

 Chapter 369: Team-Ms Annihilation!

    Chapter 369: Team-M¡¯s Annihtion!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The beam shots hit the ground surfaces of those areas which had registered a response on the radar, sending clumps of dirt and clouds of dust into the air. It had to be said that M01¡¯s reaction speed was extremely fast ¡ª even though he had lost his calm, his solid foundational skills still let him strike out at those energy response spots in the blink of an eye ...


    After one round of attacks, there was still no sign of the ace mecha. Before M01 could let out a sigh of relief, a strong gust of wind came up from behind him. His heart skipped a beat, and before he could operate his mecha to dodge, he felt his back being struck by a heavy force and he could not help but spurt out a mouthful of blood.


    M01 clenched his teeth against the pain. He urgently controlled the mecha to roll forwards with the momentum of the blow, and at the same time, he drew out a tube of medicinal agent from a slot inside the cockpit. Flicking the cap of the tube open with his right thumb, he poured the agent down his throat.


    Even if he had not seen any sign of the opponent, this tremendous force alone let him know that the one who attacked him was most certainly that unseen ace mecha. As expected, the other was not nning to let him go.


    M01 knew that he most likely would not be able to leave Newline alive as thatst strike had dealt severe damage to his internal organs; unless he immediately escaped from here to find an army doctor, then maybe he would still have some hope of survival. However, M01 knew that the powerful ace mecha would never let him escape. Since death was certain, M01¡¯s initial fear was swept away as he prepared himself for onest desperate gamble.


    This was why he had used the powerful painkiller formted by the military. This would guarantee that he would not be paralysed by pain, allowing him to execute the following controls before his life was exhausted. This analgesic agent was a type of medical agent their country had concocted to bring out one¡¯s life energy in one final burst. It was meant to let warriors with no chance of survival to go out in a ze of glory, burning up thest of their life to kill off more enemies ... every warrior who was sent out to battle would have a tube of this agent with them.


    "If you want to kill me, you¡¯ll need to pay the proper price!" roared M01 in his cockpit. He flipped his mecha around and rose to a half-kneel, then raising both his hands, he aimed for the ace mecha ... eyes red, M01 pulled the triggers of both hisser beam handguns. The speed at which he pulled the triggers was three times faster than usual ¡ª it looked like under thesh of both the medical agent and his despair, histent potential had all been unleashed.


    M01 naturally did not dare dream that these attacks would destroy the enemy mecha. An ace mecha was not something their energy weapons could destroy. He only wished to leave some damage on the enemy mecha before he died. That way, it would help therades from their reinforcements take down this despicable enemy ... yes, M01 had pinned his hopes on hisrades. Thus, he wanted to help hisrades relieve as much pressure as possible before he died.


    But how could things turn out as M01 wished? That ace mecha¡¯s response instantly crushed M01¡¯s barely regained confidence. That ace mecha did not care at all about M01¡¯s resistance ¡ª facing the twoser beam guns about to fire, the opponent simply swung the great sword in his hands ...


    The giant sword flew out of the other¡¯s hands and hurtled through the air. Just as M01 pulled on the triggers, the sword had already arrived before him to slice at his two arms wielding theser beam handguns ...


    There was a loud ¡¯snap¡¯ and M01 did not see beams pouring out from the handguns in his mecha¡¯s hands as he expected. Instead, he saw two arms suddenly fly into the air ¡ª he stared wide-eyed at that pair of arms, which held his twoser beam handguns. They drew a graceful arc through the air beforending heavily onto the ground ...


    Before he could shake himself from his confused shock, his mecha¡¯s screen was abruptly covered by a dark shadow. His vision in the cockpit was entirely blocked off, and soon after, he sensed a tremendous force mming into his cockpit once more. This time, he was not as lucky as before to retain his awareness despite his injuries; he was instantly struck unconscious by this force, his entire being plunged into darkness ...


    Even if M01 was still alive after this attack, having lost consciousness meant that he would no longer have the chance to wake up ever again.


    Watching the final enemy mecha copsing heavily to the ground, Ling Lan smoothly pulled up the giant sword nted in the ground beside her. Without any hesitation, she instantly stabbed the sword through the other¡¯s cockpit ...


    The sword slid in, and then Ling Lan could clearly see blood spurt out from the cracks in the cockpit. The glow of the enemy mecha¡¯s defensive beam shield gradually disappeared, dimming into darkness, and Ling Lan knew that both the man and machine of this enemy mecha before her eyes was gone.


    "Opponent¡¯s death verified!" As expected, the A.I. of the ace mecha coldly announced the death of the enemy. Only then did Ling Lan pull out her sword from the cockpit. Reflexively, she lifted her head to look towards the battle-lit night skies. A cold smirk appeared on her lips, and with a flicker, her figure disappeared within the dense forest.


    Little Four had just alerted Ling Lan to the approach of three mecha from three kilometres away. The group consisted of one ace mecha and two special-ss mecha. This was very likely an ace mecha squadron led by an ace main and two special-ss secondaries.


    Meanwhile, at this moment, Qiao Ting¡¯s group who had moved off ahead of Ling Lan did not linger in the skies above the mecha storehouse to protect their team members as Ling Lan had done. With a clear focus, they moved west, preparing to join the fight in the most battle-intense dormitory district.


    Of course, Qiao Ting¡¯s group did not choose to enter the frontlines, aiming tond instead at the rear end of the ground forces. This was because they knew that on a merciless battlefield, unidentified mecha would be considered by both sides as part of the enemy forces by default. They were not arrogant enough to believe that they would be able to survive thebined attack of both sides.


    Sure enough, Qiao Ting¡¯s group had just begun their descent when they received a warning from a mecha column that had temporarily stopped for adjustments. Qiao Ting responded quickly, immediately reporting their status as cadets. As they were indeed piloting trainee mecha of the academy, they were finally allowed tond under the close supervision of the ground mecha team.


    Just as Qiao Ting¡¯s team was feeling restless and uneasy, Qiao Ting received a video call request. He immediately epted the call, and a person instantly appeared on his mecha¡¯s screen. It was his instructor, Tang Yu.


    When Tang Yu saw Qiao Ting, he let out a quiet sigh and said, "Qiao Ting, so it is you. Why have you brought your people here in mecha?"


    Qiao Ting primly gave a cadet¡¯s salute to Tang Yu and then said respectfully, "Although we¡¯re only cadets, we too can fight. So we¡¯vee, prepared to raise weapons and protect our academy."


    Qiao Ting¡¯s reply made Tang Yu¡¯s eyes sh with a trace of approval. Able to keep calm in moments of crisis and choosing to go to the mecha storehouse to obtain trainee mecha ¡ª this action was undoubtedly correct. Leaving aside whether theirbat skills would be at all effective in this cruel battle, their choice at least gave them some means of protecting themselves. Compared to those students trapped in the dormitory district now, reliant on the forces outside to protect them, Qiao Ting¡¯s team was perhaps much more likely to survive this battle.


    At this thought, Tang Yu looked back at the dormitory district behind him with concern. Although both sides were still stuck in a stalemate at present, their side was already stretched to their limits. Not only had the ground forces been dispatched, even all the instructors of the military academy had stepped up to fight. In other words, they had nothing left in reserve, but they had no idea whether the enemy had any reinforcements left ...


    Tang Yu could not help but look up at the endless starry sky above. If the enemy still had any fighting strength left in reserve, the oue of this battle would undoubtedly be their defeat. Perhaps they instructors would still be able to rely on the superiority of their mecha and temporarily escape with their lives, but the students in the dormitory district behind them would definitely be destined to die ... seeing how the enemy was throwing their full force at the dormitory district, even the stupidest person could tell that the enemy¡¯s objective was precisely the students behind them ... would the Federation truly lose several generations worth of capable fighters because of this?


    Tang Yu was extremely anxious but he still appeared as calm as usual on the outside. Before things became truly dire, he absolutely would not reveal his anxiety and affect the confidence of these excellent children before him. Thus, he ordered, "Qiao Ting, lead your team members to move alongside us. After this, follow our orders."


    Even if they did not manage to protect all the cadets in the end, he still wanted to safeguard these excellent seeds before him now ... Tang Yu vowed in his heart. This was why he had asked Qiao Ting¡¯s team to move with them ¡ª if things really took a turn for the worse as he imagined, he and the other instructors would do their utmost to protect Qiao Ting and these other excellent talents, giving these excellent seeds a better chance at survival.


    "Yes, Sir!" Qiao Ting immediately agreed to Tang Yu¡¯s orders. Qiao Ting was well aware that,cking experience, they were indeed in need of experienced instructors to provide practical guidance. This would make it easier for them to adapt to the cruel realities of battle.


    Just like that, Qiao Ting¡¯s team followed Tang Yu and the other instructors into battle. The instructors were primarily special-ss operators with a small portion being ace operators. Some, like Instructor Tang Yu, were top-ss ace operators. On the battlefield, Tang Yu could fight on even ground with two to three regr ace operators ¡ª in the past, before the number one ace operator Senior Colonel Qi had advanced to imperial status, he had even been able to handle four to five ace operators simultaneously on his own.


    Though they were all ace operators, there was still distinction within the ranks. Of course, this distinction was due to the umtion of battle experience and had very little rtion to control techniques. This was also why ace operators who had gained their advancement inside a military academy like Qiao Ting would be looked down upon by those battle-experienced advanced mecha warriors. Although many of the ace mecha operators who had advanced by this route had very high-level control skills and techniques, due to ack of true battle experience, there had been numerous cases where battle-experienced advanced mecha warriors had set up traps and sessfully turned the tables on these ace operators and killed them.


    Thus, levels were actually not that important ¡ª the most important thing on the battlefield was whether you could grasp every opportunity avable to kill your opponent and survive.

 Chapter 370: The Team Members Arrive!

    Chapter 370: The Team Members Arrive!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In the meantime, Gao Jinyun had led his team swiftly towards the spot Ling Lan had pointed out to him and met up with another team from the New Cadet Regiment making their final adjustments before battle. The two teamsbined, and when the team leader of the other team heard that Ling Lan had instructed them to leave this area quickly, he did not dare to tarry. The two teams swiftly packed up and sprinted off in the opposite direction of where Ling Lan had been.


    The two team leaders knew very well that their regimentmander¡¯s fight was not something they could get involved with. In order to not create trouble for their regimentmander, it was better for them to stay farther away. Of course, they were also afraid that they might bump into some formidable foe who had gotten slightly lost if they stayed too close to their regimentmander¡¯s location. That would be a terrible tragedy.


    Just like that, the two teams rushed away, pulling a greater distance away from Ling Lan. Only when they felt a little safer did they slow their steps and prepare to take a breather and gather themselves. Just then, they noticed altogether at the same time that there was an energy reaction marking unidentified mecha on the radar. The two teams immediately shifted into battle mode, prepared to fight tenaciously against this unidentified mecha squad when they found that it was a false rm.


    Apparently, this mecha team that had shown up out of the blue was Qi Long¡¯s group. They had just finished fighting with two advanced mecha that had gotten stranded off on their own and were cleaning up when they had abruptly stumbled upon more than ten mecha behind them. They too had received a bit of a fright, thinking that they had been surrounded by the enemy.


    When the two sides discovered that it was just others from their own faction, they rxed. Gao Jinyun saw that Qi Long¡¯s team consisted entirely of advanced mecha, and he also saw how they had swiftly and efficiently defeated two enemy advanced mecha. This sparked an idea in his mind. Gao Jinyun thought, though their teams¡¯ levels were overall too low to be of any help to Boss Lan, Qi Long¡¯s team was apletely different matter. A team of advanced mecha warriors should be able to help Boss Lan out.


    Thus, Gao Jinyun quickly ryed Boss Lan¡¯s situation to Qi Long¡¯s team, pointing out as well that Boss Lan could be in danger and may have been surrounded by the enemy.


    This news shocked Qi Long¡¯s team and they unanimously decided to rush over to their boss¡¯s location. All the members believed that since they were members of Ling Lan¡¯s battle n, of course they had to brave danger and death alongside their n leader.


    Just like that, Qi Long¡¯s team hurriedly bid farewell to the two teams there and began rushing towards Ling Lan¡¯s location ...


    ********


    Right at that moment, the ace mecha squad that had charged over after receiving their orders finally arrived at the coordinates team M had reported.


    "This should be the spot." Three mecha came to an abrupt stop in the air above the given coordinates. One of the special-ss mecha in the groupmented as he scanned the still and silent circr area below.


    "It looks like team M has beenpletely wiped out. We¡¯vee toote." The other special-ss mecha quickly zoomed in on the empty area below. On his mecha¡¯s screen, the condition of the ground below was now clearly disyed. There were several dull-coloured mecha down on the ground, as well as cockpits spattered with blood, a sign that these mecha had all met a bad end.


    The moment their squad had received their orders from centralmand, they had immediately altered their route to head here instead of towards the dormitory district. It had only taken them a short two minutes or so, but they were still toote.


    "Could it be that the enemy has already run away?" The special-ss mecha who had first spoken looked at his unresponsive radar and suggested this possibility.


    "No, the enemy should still be nearby," said the thus far silent ace mecha right at the front.


    "Sir, how can you tell?" The special-ss mecha who was wondering whether the enemy had run away could not help but ask curiously in response to his team leader¡¯s statement.


    "Because all the way here, I had opened my mecha¡¯s radar scanner to its maximum range. During this time, there has been no sign of any energy leaving the area. So the only remaining possibility is that the opponent is still here," the ace operator analysed calmly. "For the enemy to be bold enough to stay back, he must have something up his sleeve. Be on your guard."


    The ace operator¡¯s words caused his two secondaries to be wary, and they quickly replied, "Understood, sir!"


    "This present situation confirms that the other is skilled in concealment and assassination. He probably intends to separate us and kill us off one by one ..." the ace operator added after a brief pause. "That being the case, you two remain in the air and maintain full sceneprehensive monitoring. I¡¯ll go down on my own to check things out."


    "Yes, sir!" The two secondary mecha operators knew that they had no ce to intervene in a battle between battle-experienced ace operators. Therefore, rather than getting in the way down below, they might as well stay up here to monitor the situation ¡ª if anything unexpected happened, they would be able to alert their team leader in time.


    After arranging all this, the ace operator piloted his mecha to descend slowly onto the circr open space below. As soon as hended, the ace operator understood why team M had beenpletely wiped out in such a short duration of time. This terrain was just too suitable for concealed attacks. The surrounding circle of tall and dense forestry allowed mecha to lurk among the trees easily. As long as the enemy turned off their mecha, another mecha¡¯s radar would not be able to pick up its energy output. On top of that, team M¡¯sbat power was just too weakpared to that of the opponent¡¯s. For an enemy familiar with this terrain, capitalising on it to conduct ambushes and finish off team M would be way too easy.


    At this observation, the ace operator could not help but sigh under his breath. If he had been team M¡¯s leader, he would never havended straightaway. Instead, he would have hovered in the air and destroyed the dense forest in the surroundings first ¡ª no matter what, it was necessary to ruin this disadvantageous terrain.


    Having looked over the terrain, the ace operator roughly knew how team M had been killed, but he still did not jump to any conclusions, carefully checking the conditions of all the mecha remnants of team M. When he saw that all signs of severe damage were on the mecha cockpits, his heart clenched.


    It looked like the enemy was an extremely level-headed person and was ruthless in his attacks ¡ª almost every mecha he examined had been killed in one hit. Also, the weapon the enemy used was a giant cold weapon. This type of weapon was extremely overbearing ¡ª ace operators generally could not use this type of weapon with ease, but this person obviously could. The other¡¯s attacks had been extremely precise, clean and efficient ¡ª he was certain to be someone who had mastered this type of weapon ...


    The ace operator began to rifle through his mind, searching through all the information he had on the Huaxian ace operators staying on Newline. However, he could not find any ace operator that truly fit these conditions ... after turning it over in his mind, only the elite ace Tang Yu known as the ¡¯Versatile Ace Master¡¯ could possibly do such a thing. It looked like the intelligence team M had obtained right before they perished had been urate. Other than Tang Yu, there really was no one else here who could utilise a giant cold weapon with such proficiency.


    "Sir, mecha energy detected about 10 kilometres away. Numbers at 1, 2, 3 ... 7. There are 7 mecha in total." Right then, one of the secondary mecha responsible for wide-range scanning reported loudly in the teammlink.


    "Enemy mecha? Allied mecha?" In order to prevent an ambush from the lurking enemy mecha here, the ace operator had narrowed his radar¡¯s range to its smallest and most urate range. Hence, he had not noticed this situation which had popped up 10 kilometres away. At his subordinate¡¯s words, his brow furrowed. Could it be that centralmand had sent another squad here to investigate? This displeased him. Did centralmand think he alone was no match for Tang Yu? As an ace operator, he had his pride. He did not want other people to interfere when he fought with an opponent of equal strength.


    "They¡¯re enemy mechaing from within the military academy." At his leader¡¯s question, the secondary knew he had not exined clearly enough. They had not received any news that any of theirrades had gone that deep into the enemy territory in that direction, so for so many mecha to appear all at once from that end, it was very unlikely that they were allied mecha.


    "Prepare for battle!" Receiving this answer, the ace mechamanded with a sneer.


    With that many mechaing over, it was almost certain that it would be a team of small fry. They definitely could not be an ace mecha squad, because ace mecha squads were always set with an ace mecha as primary and two special-ss mecha as secondaries. Of course, every army had its own trump card ¡ª the strongest ace mecha squad would have ace mecha as both its main and secondaries. Whenever this type of squad was dispatched, it would mean the battle had reached the most critical point, where victory and defeat were about to be determined ...


    Moreover, from the intelligence reports he had received, there was no such ace mecha squad on Newline, whether it was in the ground forces or within the school¡¯s ranks. Therefore, for so many mecha toe at once, it was likely that these were all advanced mecha, or perhaps mostly advanced mecha with a few special-ss operators among them. This was the situation at best. With regards to this kind of enemy, no matter how many came, he was not at all concerned. On the battlefield, an ace mecha was definitely a top-level existence which could stand a head above the crowd.


    "Boss, Qi Long and the rest of the team areing." Little Four had also picked up the voices of Qi Long and the other team members. He could not help but holler in excitement in Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace, but then, his face fell and his little brow scrunched up in a frown.


    These underlings were disobeying orders toe here ... wasn¡¯t this just ruining his and the Boss¡¯s ns? This was so unreasonable! Little Four puffed up his cheeks in exasperation.


    Little Four¡¯s alert made Ling Lan rub her forehead in consternation. It went without saying that Qi Long and the team must have met up with Gao Jinyun and found out about her situation here. Although she felt that she would not be able to fight as freely as she would have liked with Qi Long and the others here, it could not be denied that she was actually quite happy deep inside. The actions of her team meant that they really valued her ¡ª regardless of the danger, they wanted to fight by her side. Having such loyal and steadfastpanions willing to brave thick and thin, life and death, together ... what did she have toin about?


    "Boss, what now? Should I send them a text telling them to turn back?" Little Four was actually very d that Qi Long and the others wereing, but thinking that this development could spoil his boss¡¯s ns, he could not help but feel a little down.


    "No need. Let theme. They can help me handle those two troublesome special-ss mecha in the air." Ling Lan quickly made her decision.


    Perhaps, this was a chance for Qi Long and the others to grow. Mind you, fighting against special-ss mecha would not give Ling Lan much experience, but it would be a rare opportunity for Qi Long and the others to gain practical experience. Although it would be a little risky, danger often went hand in hand with opportunity as it was able to force out thetent potential hiding within a person. Besides, Ling Lan was extremely confident that Qi Long and the others would grasp this opportunity well.

 Chapter 371: Ace VS Ace!

    Chapter 371: Ace VS Ace!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Little Four, pay attention to Qi Long and the others¡¯ location. When they are 3 kilometres from us, let me know." Aftering to a decision, Ling Lan began to arrange things. "Also, listen for mymands after this."


    "Understood, Boss! Emergency activation, right? Little Four will make sure to activate it sessfully in the shortest time possible," Little Four epted her orders.


    Destroying team M and instant activation of mecha ¡ª all of this was possible due to Little Four¡¯s optimization of the mecha¡¯s systems. Under emergency activation, the mecha practically booted up in less than a second. If the Federation mecha researchers ever found out about this, they would be absolutely gobsmacked. They had already been researching this issue for several generations, but still they had not found a way to push an ace mecha¡¯s emergency activation period below three seconds ...


    The anxious team of Qi Long¡¯s moved quickly. Under the full speed of the mecha, ten kilometres were swiftly covered within three minutes.


    "Three unidentified mecha discovered. Two in the air, one on the ground." Qi Long¡¯s team, which had just entered the three-kilometre boundary, heard the warning from their mecha¡¯s A.I.. Due to the power difference between the mecha, only now did they learn of the enemy mecha¡¯s presence.


    "Zoom in!" At first notice, they all chose to first identify whether those mecha were friend or foe. When they zoomed in to see the outer appearance of those three mecha, they all became tense. Sure enough, those mecha were enemies, and the one on the ground was actually an ace mecha. Even the two mecha in the sky were one level above their own mecha, both being special-ss mecha.


    "Qi Long, what do we do now?" Han Jijyun¡¯s expression turned grim at the sight of those three mecha. He was the first to speak up and prompt Qi Long ¡ª at critical moments, Han Jijyun habitually defaulted to letting Qi Long decide.


    "I want to continue pushing forwards. Since we already know Boss is ahead, no matter how dangerous it is, I still want to go over there and see what¡¯s going on," Qi Long said as he looked at those three mecha. Despite knowing that he would most likely meet a bad end if he continued pushing forwards, he could not allow himself to retreat since he knew Boss was there.


    "You all can do as you like!" Qi Long had decided to take the risk, but he would not drag hispanions together unwillingly. He would let them make their own decisions.


    "I will go with you," said Li Lanfeng without hesitation. He had already vowed that he would never abandon the rabbit ever again ¡ª no matter how dangerous it became, even if he had to pay with his life, he would not go back on his promise.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words had barely faded when all of the others spoke up to say that they woulde along as well. They were not timid people ¡ª many years of friendship had prepared them to share one fate with theirrades.


    However, Li Shiyu, who had been swindled and pressured into joining the n, remained silent. When everyone turned to look at him, he only replied evenly, "I need to take responsibility for my patient. Wherever Qi Long goes, I go ..."


    "Good brother!" Qi Long said gratefully to Li Shiyu. Just as he was about to lead the way forwards, a message suddenly appeared on the team¡¯s mecha screens.


    "It¡¯s Boss!" Qi Long shouted in excitement. The message was sent by Ling Lan via Little Four¡¯s abilities. Ling Lan instructed Qi Long and the rest to attack the two special-ss mecha in the sky, while she very explicitlybelled the ace mecha as her prey.


    "Boss has given us our assignment. We mustplete it!" said Qi Long in high spirits with a swing of his fist. Up against two special-ss mecha, perhaps they might have a chance.


    "Yes!" Ling Lan¡¯s appearance instantly gave the n members great mental support. With different voices but one mind, they replied confidently. Their initial hesitance and uncertainty were swept away, and even as their gazes became steady, a measure of ruthlessness appeared within them. They drew the weapons from their mecha¡¯s backs ¡ª a beam saber and a beam gun.


    Their initially slowed steps sped up once more, and very soon they had emerged in front of those three enemy mecha.


    "It¡¯s a group of advanced mecha, and academy training mecha at that." After taking a closer look at Qi Long¡¯s team¡¯s mecha, one of the secondary mecha in the sky could not help but spit.


    The ace operator responded calmly. "That¡¯s fine. Our mission is to eliminate Qiao Ting, along with all of the cadets here. Since we haven¡¯t found Qiao Ting yet, then let¡¯s just kill these cadets first. It¡¯s all the same."


    Students in the military academy who could achieve advanced mecha warrior status must also be extremely talented in terms of mecha piloting. The ace operator knew that if these students were allowed to grow unchecked, as long as they did not die, they would one day be ace operators themselves ... so, the ace operator was very happy to eliminate these cadets who might be their future opponents.


    As Qi Long¡¯s group of seven was charging straight at him, the ace operator thought they would be attacking him directly. However, around the 1000 metre mark 1 , those mecha suddenly revved their thrusters to sweep up from the ground into the air, leaping towards his two wingmen instead ...


    Was it because they had discovered he was an ace operator and so did not dare to attack him? Still, even if they decided to change targets, did they think he would just sit still and not follow them to attack? As expected of a group of academy cadets without any battle experience, actually leaving their backs exposed to an enemy ... the ace operator sneered as he unhurriedly removed the high-precisionser sniper rifle from his back. That¡¯s right, he was an excellent sniper ¡ª he specialised in killing from a distance.


    The ace operator quickly raised his sniper rifle to aim at the cockpits of one of the mecha ...


    Right then, the A.I. of Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s mecha suddenly red a warning rm. "Danger! Mecha has been targeted. Please evade immediately ..." If this were any other time, Lin Zhong-qing would definitely have begun evasion procedures immediately, but recalling that Boss Lan had said to leave the ace operator below to him, Lin Zhong-qing gritted his teeth and ignored the A.I.¡¯s warning. He continued to use his fastest speed to fly in a straight line towards his target.


    It wasn¡¯t that Lin Zhong-qing did not want to evade, nor did he trust Ling Lan blindly, but the moment he moved to avoid being targeted, Luo Lang, who was before him, would definitely be the enemy¡¯s target instead. It had to be said that the sniping trajectory chosen by the ace operator was just too precise ¡ª with one attack, he was aiming for two people at one time 2 . Whether to protect himself or to protect a teammate, it was all up to the target. No matter which choice his target made, the ace operator would not miss.


    Seeing the cadet show no signs of evasion, the ace operator¡¯s eyes held a trace of pity as he said, "You¡¯ve got guts. Shame ..." Just as he was about to pull his trigger, a long, giant object came hurtling at him from the side, ramming into the sniper rifle in his right hand ...


    With a loud bang, the powerful blow jostled the grip of the mecha¡¯s right hand, causing the sniper rifle to fall to the ground. The ace operator reacted quickly. With a twist of his body, he instantly moved over 10 metres away from his original spot. At this moment, he was already facing the direction the attack hade from. A military academy trainee ace mecha had appeared where he had been standing, casually catching the giant sword which had yet to fully hit the ground.


    "So you are here." The ace operator stared at his opponent and said through the external speakers, "Lieutenant Colonel Tang Yu?"


    The ace mecha¡¯s question confirmed Ling Lan¡¯s suspicion that the enemy had mistaken her for Tang Yu. Ling Lan naturally would not take the effort to correct this misunderstanding ¡ª she would be able to gain practical experience and there would be someone else to take the heat for her ... what else could she ask for?


    And so, Ling Lan remained silent. Whether or not the opponent was certain in his assumptions, she herself would not expose her identity.


    "Who¡¯d have guessed that the elite ace of Huaxia would be stuck here in this small little military academy to be an instructor? You Huaxians really know how to waste talent." Ling Lan¡¯s silence did not dampen the interest of the ace operator, who once again spoke up to mock his opponent.


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips thinned in displeasure. Why did the enemies in this air invasion have so much to say? The first advanced mecha warrior she had encountered had been a chatterbox, and this ace operator now was not much better ... Ling Lan did not want to waste any time, because she knew her team members were engaged in a tough fight right now. She needed to swiftly finish off this ace operator so she could go assist her team members.


    With that, Ling Lan elerated, leaping forwards in an oblique arc. She was before the ace operator in the blink of an eye, and the giant sword in her hands swung in a narrow trajectory, aiming straight for the opponent¡¯s waist.


    Against another ace operator, she could not use the giant sword the same way she had with the advanced mecha, brainlessly plying brute force. The defence threshold of an ace mecha¡¯s outer shell itself, as well as the anti-shock systems inside, would reduce the giant sword¡¯s blunt force as much as it could, so she could not achieve a one-hit kill. Therefore, Ling Lan did not expect to defeat the other in one blow ¡ª her aim was to throw the enemy¡¯s mecha off-bnce so that she would have the opportunity to execute somebo attacks after this.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s ns fell through ¡ª an ace operator was an ace operator after all. Right at the moment the giant sword was about to hit, the opponent smacked the t of the de with his palms. Pushing back from this smack, and engaging his thrusters, the mecha slid back several metres.


    Meanwhile, the giant sword was forced to pause for a brief moment due to the force of the smack. Although it continued to swing forwards the very next second, this brief pause was enough for the opponent to find time to evade the strike.


    When this attack of Ling Lan¡¯s struck air, with a swift shake of the right wrist of her mecha, Ling Lan pulled back the giant sword once more. By this time, the opponent had already drawn a beam saber from his back, which was now emitting powerful waves of energy. Seeing this, Ling Lan decisively hung her giant sword back on her back and switched to a beam saber as well.


    The giant steel sword was indeed overbearing and powerful during attacks ¡ª it did not fear shing against other steel weapons or mecha. However, it was useless against these energy-based swords, because the high electrical charge emitted by the energy swords would easily erode the internal structure of the giant steel sword. Once the energy absorption became too much, causing the inside of the sword to overheat, the steel sword would definitely lose its initial hardness and perhaps even be melted down by the energy sword. This was why Ling Lan had switched to a beam saber ¡ª she could not bear to see such a powerful cold weapon go to waste like this.


    "Bam! Bam! Bam!" Consecutive sounds rang out as the two mecha shed. The beam sabers met again and again, violently, each collision sending countless electric sparks flying. It looked like the two were fighting evenly, none able to get one up over the other ...


    Meanwhile, in the air, the two secondaries of the ace operator had already been separated from each other by Qi Long¡¯s team of seven. Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi were surrounding one special-ss mecha, while Li Lanfeng and the other three were attacking the other mecha.

 Chapter 372: Crisis!

    Chapter 372: Crisis!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Qi Long¡¯s team distributed themselves this way because Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi already had great rapport in their attacks. Although Li Lanfeng¡¯sbat ability seemed better than Xie Yi¡¯s, in this kind of fight where teamwork was crucial, he might not work as well as Xie Yi with Qi Long and Luo Lang.


    Another point was that although there was only one other mecha remaining for the rest of their team to attack, thebat ability of the other members was considerably lower than Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi. Thus, the other group of four needed a powerful lead attacker to fend off the opponent. As a senior cadet with obviously much more mecha piloting experience than the others, Li Lanfeng was undoubtedly the best candidate. Inparison, even though Li Shiyu was also a senior, as he had specialized in military medicine, he only merited a passing grade in terms of mecha piloting. Thus, he was not suited to take up the responsibility of being the lead attacker.


    Due to those various reasons, the seven people very naturally split into these two teams. Qi Long¡¯s group kept their opponent busy with their teamwork, while Li Lanfeng¡¯s group relied primarily on Li Lanfeng to hold off the enemy as the other three members coordinated themselves to attack.


    In terms of danger, Li Lanfeng¡¯s group was without a doubt in more danger despite having an extra member. Not yet used to working with one another, every time they made a mistake, it was all thanks to Li Lanfeng¡¯s desperate efforts that they managed to salvage the situation. As a result, it was not long since the battle started when Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha was scored with two deep gouges from a beam saber ...


    As the battle dragged on, due to their great rapport, Qi Long¡¯s group of three were acting as one, so their opponent was unable to find any openings anytime soon and could only continue to struggle with the three. However, on Li Lanfeng¡¯s side, their opponent had managed to find a weakness in their teamwork.


    "Jijyun, dodge quickly!" Suddenly, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s shocked voice rang out in Ling Lan¡¯s team¡¯smlink. Qi Long¡¯s hands could not help but slow for a brief moment ¡ª if Luo Lang and Xie Yi had not moved in time to cover for him, a w might have opened up in their teamwork ...


    Ling Lan was currently exchanging blows with her opponent; she had just dashed backwards in preparation for her next attack when she heard this horrified shout. She quickly lifted her head to look over and saw Li Lanfeng pilot his mecha to m Han Jijyun¡¯s mecha out of the way in mid-air as he forcibly received the opponent¡¯s beam saber attack.


    "Zing ..." The beam saber struck the mecha and countless sparks were sent flying. The power behind a special-ss operator¡¯s beam saber was not something an advanced mecha¡¯s beam shield couldpletely deflect. The beam shield¡¯s power suddenly dimmed ... Li Lanfeng was just about to use his own beam saber to parry the other¡¯s beam saber away when, taking advantage of Li Lanfeng¡¯s attention being turned to his weapon, the enemy lifted his leg and kicked down savagely.


    With a loud "boom", the special-ss mecha¡¯s right leg struck the chest of Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha with great force, instantly sending Li Lanfeng crashing towards the ground.


    Perhaps due to the tremendous force behind the blow, Li Lanfeng temporarily lost the ability to control his mecha. Li Lanfeng¡¯s mechapletely lost bnce as he plummeted towards the ground. Within the blink of an eye, he had crashed into the ground with a loud boom, sending up a nket of dirt and dust into the air at the same time ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart clenched at the sight ¡ª could the leopard havee to harm?


    After that special-ss mecha kicked Li Lanfeng to the ground, he did not stop his attack there. He coldly lifted the beam saber in his mecha¡¯s left arm and aimed it at the mecha lying on the ground, ready to send the other to hell ...


    Realising what was going to happen, Li Shiyu and Lin Zhong-qing pounced frenziedly towards the special-ss mecha from both sides. Meanwhile, Han Jijyun, who had been thrown quite a distance away from the push earlier, clenched his teeth and pulled the trigger on his beam gun desperately, trying to use his attacks to hinder the other from attacking.


    Seeing how critical the situation was, Ling Lan quickly shifted on the balls of her feet and controlled her mecha to retreat rapidly, preparing herself to rush to Li Lanfeng¡¯s aid. But how could her opponent just let Ling Lan do as she wished? Moreover, he had the upper hand right now, so of course he had to stop Ling Lan from heading over to assist. Rather speedily, he flew over and blocked Ling Lan and said in a cold tone, "Don¡¯t forget, I am your opponent."


    Ling Lan looked at the enemy blocking her way and her expression turned cold. The killing intent in her eyes shone clearly for the first time since the fight began ... no one could see but within her cockpit, Ling Lan¡¯s body was now enveloped by a thick miasma of blood-red killing intent. The killing intent spread rapidly and had soon even leaked out to the outside.


    The ace operator across from her suddenly felt a chill run through his body. Before he could figure out the reason behind it, Ling Lan¡¯s attack was already at his face.


    This time, Ling Lan¡¯s attack was even fiercer and even more domineering. In the fight before this, Ling Lan had only been using 60 to 70 percent of her power to attack. In other words, she had held back at least 30 percent of her strength as a reserve for defence. But now, in order to finish off the opponent quickly, Ling Lan no longer held anything back and was attacking with her full strength. Either the opponent died or she died ¡ª this was a path of no return.


    Sensing the clear difference in his opponent, the ace operator¡¯s bearing turned grim and serious as well. He did not dare to spare any mind on anything else now, putting his entire focus into countering Ling Lan¡¯s attack. Still, a question shed across his mind ¡ª for Tang Yu to be so concerned over that mecha, could it be that the one piloting it was his student Qiao Ting?


    At the thought of this possibility, the ace operator was moved. After fending off one of Ling Lan¡¯s attacks, riding the momentum, he moved back several steps to pull a distance away from Ling Lan. He then swiftly connected to his team¡¯smlink and said to his two secondaries, "Do your utmost to destroy that mecha on the ground. That is very likely to be Qiao Ting."


    There was no rule that the ace level Qiao Ting had to operate an ace mecha ... they might have been limited by this fixed mentality.


    At their superior¡¯s words, the two secondaries were taken aback, but they trusted their team leader very much. If their team leader believed this was so, then that mecha could truly be Qiao Ting.


    Once again evading those annoying advanced mecha, the two special-ss mecha raised the beam guns in their hands almost simultaneously to aim at the mecha on the ground and pulled the trigger ... two beams rent the air as they shot downwards, flying right at the mecha lying on the ground.


    "Leopard! Dodge quickly!" Ling Lan, who was once again shing with the ace operator, had still been keeping an eye on Li Lanfeng¡¯s situation. When she saw the two beams flying at Li Lanfeng, her eyes were wide in anger and concern as she yelled loudly.


    "Pew pew!" The two beams hit the ground, once again sending up countless amounts of dust and dirt. For some time, all the mecha¡¯s screens were obscured, preventing them from seeing the situation on the ground clearly. No one could tell whether those two beams had actually struck Li Lanfeng.


    The ace operator¡¯s heart was filled with joy at the sight. He felt that the other most definitely did not have any chance to avoid the sts. Besides, he also had faith in the shooting skills of his team members ¡ª they definitely would have shot urately at the other¡¯s cockpit. The cockpit was the most defensibly weak area on a mecha 1 , and there was just no way a mecha without the protection of a beam shield would have been able to withstand two beam shots.


    The ace operator stayed back, waiting for the dust to settle so that he could enjoy the fruits of victory, when he abruptly found that the enemy before him had not be at all flustered by this turn of events. In fact, the other had even be even more focused and centred ...


    The opponent had controlled his mecha to retreat swiftly, pulling about 10 metres away from the ace operator. The ace operator thought that the opponent was nning to run over to the advanced mecha¡¯s side to attempt a rescue, but just as he was about to charge over to intercept the opponent, he found that the other was merely pausing for a moment before leaping back at him at high speed.


    The ace mecha¡¯s gaze narrowed. This kind of nearly dy-less operation not only had high requirements in terms of control skills but also ced a great burden on the operator¡¯s body. This type of manoeuvre pushed great feedback force on the operator ¡ª thus, in order to protect themselves, if the situation was not critical, most people would not resort to this.


    Before the ace operator could do anything, he was rendered dumbstruck once more because the other¡¯s silhouette had disappeared from his mecha¡¯s screens ...


    No, it could not be said that he had lost sight of the other ¡ª rather, the other had suddenly split into two shadowy figures which were now gliding towards him from both sides. Briefly stunned, the ace operator¡¯s expression changed rapidly immediately afterwards. He had realised that what the other was disying was a top-level technique of ace operators. It was the Shadow Clone technique which even he was not sure he could pull off.


    Of these two shadowy figures, one was real while the other was fake. He needed to determine which was which in an instant ¡ª if he judged wrongly, he was sure to receive a serious hit.


    The ace operator gritted his teeth. He did not choose any one side to attack, instead controlling his mecha to retreat swiftly. He did not like to gamble, especially this sort of gamble which relied solely on luck. Hence, he chose to retreat.


    The ace operator thought that as long as he backed off quick and far enough, he would definitely be able to crack the opponent¡¯s move. Unexpectedly, after retreating as far as 20 metres, the two shadows were still trailing him without any sign of dissipating ¡ª he was still stuck in the same predicament as before.


    "This is impossible!" eximed the ace operator. No matter how skilled an ace operator was, they would still only be able to maintain a shadow clone for up to 10 metres or so. However, the opponent had managed to double the distance ¡ª this made it impossible for the ace operator to keep hisposure any longer.


    Just then, he heard a great force m into his mecha¡¯s right-hand side. His mecha which had still been moving backwards swiftly waspletely thrown off-bnce by this sudden impact, causing it to tumble out towards the left side ...


    The ace operator knew he had been struck by the enemy. He was silently grateful that he had increased his mecha¡¯s beam shield to its maximum defence value right before the attack had hit when he had felt something off about the situation. This meant that even though his mecha had been forced to take a blow from the other¡¯s beam saber, the defensive power of his beam shield had been able topletely neutralise the energy attack, ensuring that his mecha remained undamaged. As long as he could stabilise his mecha quickly, he would still be able to regain control of the situation ...


    However, before the ace operator could fully appreciate his relief, his mecha¡¯s A.I. began to re a loud warning. "Warning, mecha¡¯s right side severely damaged. Right side mobility reduced by 40%. Defence of damaged area reduced by 80% ... Warning, damaged area cannot withstand a second attack!"


    "What in the world is going on?" As the mobility of his mecha had been damaged on the right side, the ace operator was unable to take control of his mecha and stabilise himself as easily as he had imagined. Instead, he continued to tilt and fall towards the ground ¡ª in the next second, he might just crash.


    The ace operator was still an ace operator after all; even in this unexpected situation, he still managed to calmly change his control method. He shifted so that his left arm would hit the ground palm-first, then pushed off it to send his falling mecha springing up into the air once more ...

 Chapter 373: Mutual Destruction!

    Chapter 373: Mutual Destruction!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    If his opponent had been a mecha operator with normal control skills, or perhaps just an inexperienced ace operator, perhaps the ace operator would have been able to salvage the situation. However, his opponent was neither. Skills? Ling Lan had that in spades. Experience? After many years of torment by the learning space, even the greenest of newbies would have be a veteran mecha operator.


    Just as the ace operator bounced his mecha back into the air, his back was struck heavily once again. This time, the blow was even heavier than the one before, instantly knocking his mecha down hard onto the ground, giving him no more chances to get up again.


    "Boom!" Therge body of the mecha crashed into the ground, sending clouds of dust into the air ... this loud noise drew the attention of the mecha fighting in the sky. Looking down, the two special-ss mecha were instantly dumbfounded. They could not help but cry out, "Leader!" and their movements inevitably slowed down.


    Leaving aside Li Shiyu, Han Jijyun, and Lin Zhong-qing for the moment, along with the special-ss mecha they were fighting, Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi with their great rapport saw their opponent¡¯s movements slow down and almost simultaneously realised that their chance hade ...


    Qi Long was the one who reacted the quickest. Possessing Animal Instinct, this fellow noticed the opponent¡¯s opening almost immediately. He was the first to pounce, his beam saber striking out fiercely at the other¡¯s slowed beam saber. Due to being distracted, the special-ss mecha¡¯s beam saber was directly pushed aside by Qi Long¡¯s forceful de. Before the other could regain his bearings, Qi Long¡¯s beam saber was already shing out viciously at the other¡¯s wide open chest area ...


    "Zing ..." The piercing sound of a beam saber shing against a mecha¡¯s beam shield rang out. Sparks flew where the two met.


    That special-ss mecha¡¯s expression changed the instant he was hit. He was a little panicked, but when he saw his mecha¡¯s beam shield holding out in defence, he instantly calmed down. He saw his opponent desperately steadying his beam saber, holding it by force against his beam shield to try and exhaust his mecha¡¯s power. He knew this was his chance to counterattack! A ruthless light appeared in his eyes. He controlled his mecha¡¯s right hand to swing his beam saber savagely at his opponent ...


    There was a "boom" ¡ª the beam saber was intercepted before it could hit. Another mecha had charged over as well to use his beam saber to block his own beam saber. Not only that, the other also raised his other hand to aim right at his cockpit ... the beam gun in his opponent¡¯s hand which he had thought nothing of previously now loomedrge in his vision, a sight to inspire terror.


    The muzzle of the gun shed with a white light, and his mecha was struck heavily. Although a special-ss mecha¡¯s beam shield was stronger than an advanced mecha¡¯s ¡ª one beam shot would not do any damage to his mecha ¡ª but the opponent obviously would not just shoot once. If he could not find a way to break free from these two enemies, the final oue would certainly be his beam shield running out of energy resulting in his death.


    No one wanted to die, and he was no exception. He knew that only by elerating to retreat and breaking free of their hold on him now could he have any chance of surviving. Thus, he engaged all his thrusters, pushing his speed to the maximum ¡ª he just needed one second topletely escape from their attacks ... right as the mecha¡¯s speed indicator showed a shift to overdrive, his mecha hurtled backwards abruptly ... he saw his mecha escaping the other¡¯s beam saber ¡ª even if the opponents pushed their engines to pursue him, the difference between their mecha levels made it impossible for them to match his speed.


    The special-ss operator finally let out a sigh of relief. He knew the danger had almost passed. As long as he could avoid this crisis, he would definitely kill these few bastards ... right then, the back of his mecha was suddenly struck by a great force, stopping the mecha retreating in overdrive in its tracks. At this moment, the beam saber he had just pulled away from once again struck his mecha, while the other opponent¡¯s beam gun was triggered one more without mercy ...


    "Awesome, Xie Yi!" Qi Long could not help but shout. It turned out that Xie Yi had been piloting his mecha to attack from behind when he suddenly saw the opponent retreating in overdrive. He immediately changed his movements to use his side to ram into the opponent, stopping the special-ss mecha from retreating any further ...


    Trapped in a pincer attack, no matter how much power the special-ss mecha¡¯s beam shield had, it could not hold up against the frenzied attacks from the beam sabers and beam guns of the group of three. In the end, the mecha¡¯s beam shield dimmed and then disappearedpletely ...


    Qi Long decisively cast aside his own darkened beam saber, his hands swiping down to grip the two high-frequency des that had sprung out from the sides of his mecha¡¯s thighs. Then, he fiercely plunged the two high-frequency des into the opponent¡¯s cockpit ...


    No longer defended by a beam shield, even the cockpit of a special-ss mecha was unable to prevent a high-frequency de from stabbing through ...


    "Ah ..." screamed the special-ss operator. Qi Long¡¯s attack was very urate, directly piercing through a vital point. The special-ss operator knew he was unlikely to escape death. With a savage grin, he ruthlessly pulled up the self-destruct system of his mecha ...


    Qi Long¡¯s Animal Instinct was very sensitive. As soon as the opponent pulled up the self-destruct system, he sensed danger and quickly shouted, "Run!"


    The three boys scattered in three different directions. They had just flown away when that special-ss mecha exploded. The explosion created by the self-destruct sequence of a special-ss mecha was unlike that of a normal mecha ¡ª although the three boys had instantly dialled their beam shields to their maximum defence value, the shields were still unable to fully neutralize the force of the explosion. The three mecha were instantly thrown off-bnce, spinning out of control to crash into the ground below.


    Xie Yi took the worst hit. Because he had been immobilizing the opponent, he had had the least time to dodge and run. As such, he had been exposed to more of the st force than the others, instantly being thrown by the explosion into the forest. Only after crashing into and snapping severalrge trees did he fall to the ground ...


    Even though their method had been mutually damaging, Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi had still finished off their opponent in the end. Without Li Lanfeng, the remaining three in the other group ¡ª Li Shiyu, Lin Zhong-qing, and Han Jijyun ¡ª attacked the other special-ss mecha from two sides. Their situation was tough, perhaps even somewhat perilous ¡ª if Ling Lan had not managed to strike down the ace operator, causing their opponent to pause in his attack out of shock, they would not have been able to stop to catch their breath.


    This fight had shown them that there was still a huge gap between them and an experienced special-ss operator. If not for Li Lanfeng¡¯s efforts to protect them from the start, perhaps the three of them would have already had to withdraw from the battle. Even so, their primary attacker Li Lanfeng had still been struck down ...


    Li Shiyu looked at the special-ss mecha before his eyes and mentally cursed his own helplessness. He could not save his eldest cousin brother, and now he also could not save another Li family member, Li Lanfeng 1 . If only his mecha control skills were stronger, then Li Lanfeng would not have been ... Li Shiyu¡¯s only wish now was that the two beam shots had not struck Li Lanfeng, even though the chances of this wishing true were miniscule ...


    Simrly, Han Jijyun, who was panting heavily in his cockpit, was currently cursing himself during this short period of rest they had gained. At the heart of it, Li Lanfeng had fallen to save him. The one who should have been thrown to the ground was actually him ¡ª thosest two beam shots should also have been his to bear. However, Li Lanfeng had taken his ce to suffer all this. If Han Jijyun could be said to have harboured some doubts still about Li Lanfeng¡¯s motives for joining the New Cadet Regiment, he no longer felt the same way about it now. Which idiot would be so stupid as to manipte his way into an opponent¡¯s faction and then selflessly sacrifice himself for the sake of his opponent? He had truly misunderstood Li Lanfeng, thought Han Jijyun with regret.


    Meanwhile, Lin Zhong-qing kept a watchful eye on the special-ss mecha. Even as he was recovering his strength, he asked himself silently: if he was faced with the same situation, would he have been able to make the same choice as Li Lanfeng?


    Lin Zhong-qing found that he could not answer yes without hesitation ¡ª this made him feel somewhat ashamed. Li Lanfeng had just joined the team, but he was already able to treat the other team members as his own brothers, willing to sacrifice himself to protect them. Inparison, he had followed Boss Lan for so long in this team, but he still could not be sure whether he could do the same ... was this the difference between him and Li Lanfeng? The other was truly a selfless and sincere person, just as sunny and warm as his smile. He was kind and friendly, definitely not at all a person like himself, who hade out from a ck-hearted, scheming, dark and sinisterboratory, could hope topare to ...


    How enviable!


    Lin Zhong-qing thought with a bitter smile. The feeling Li Lanfeng gave off waspletely different from Boss Lan. Without having to say a word, Boss Lan already would have an overbearing aura just sitting in silence. One gaze from Boss Lan was enough to make others cower; his dominance was unparalleled. He gave courage to those who followed him, secure in his strength. His followers would not cower, retreat, or hesitate, and of course, they never felt lost. He was like a steady rock in a roiling sea ¡ª by his side, there was nothing to fear and nothing to worry about. As long as they followed him loyally, Boss Lan would lead them to a grand new world. This was the power of a hegemon, causing others to inevitably believe in him, entrust their dreams to him, and follow in his footsteps.


    In contrast, at first sight, Li Lanfeng already came off as the older brother living next door. It was impossible to reject his warmth and friendliness ¡ª his ever-smiling face made others inevitably think fondly of him. Unconsciously, he would have silently obtained your trust, gaining the status of an important friend or rtive in your mind ... like now, even though he had not had much interaction with Li Lanfeng thus far, he had already fully epted the other as a friend. Of course, the other¡¯s actions had indeed left him with no objections.


    Some people were heaven-blessed to be liked by others, such as this Li Lanfeng!


    These thoughts went by in a sh across Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s mind, and the temporary break was quickly over. Just when Qi Long¡¯s team of three had begun their fierce attack on their special-ss operator opponent, the special-ss operator fighting Li Shiyu¡¯s team saw that his teammate was in a tight spot and wanted to go and help. However, how could Li Shiyu and the others allow the other to do so? Without even having to think about it, they charged over to block the special-ss mecha ...


    Li Shiyu and the other two did all they could and finally managed to dy the special-ss mecha for about ten seconds. And these ten seconds were enough to pronounce the end of the other special-ss mecha.

 Chapter 374: He’s Still Alive!

    Chapter 374: He¡¯s Still Alive!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Witnessing his teammate die via self-destruction, the remaining special-ss mecha finally went berserk. His eyes turned crimson as he stared at the three advanced mecha in front of him who had prevented him from going to the aid of his friend. The killing intent in his heart rose to an apex ¡ª he must definitely kill this rabble and avenge hisrade!


    Anger could produce two different effects in humans. One was the loss of rationality due to extreme rage, causing an inability to fully utilise one¡¯s truebat power. This type of rage effect was a negative influence and was something mecha operators should strive to avoid. Meanwhile, the other effect was a manifold increase in one¡¯sbat power, and this type of effect was called outburst. When a mecha operator achieved special-ss operator status, they would definitely go through the cultivation of this type of outburst ...


    Thus, this special-ss operator¡¯sbat power grew exponentially under the force of his rage. This caused the already struggling Li Shiyu, Han Jijyun, and Lin Zhong-qing to be dragged into an even more dangerous situation ...


    "Be careful, Li Shiyu ..." Seeing Han Jijyun get thrown aside by the opponent¡¯s attack, Li Shiyu was just about to step in when he heard Lin Zhong-qing yell from one side.


    Only then did Li Shiyu notice that the special-ss mecha had at sometime, somehow, appeared right before his face. Perhaps his attention had been on Han Jijyun, distracting him from noticing the opponent¡¯s movements in time. In spite of Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s loud warning, he found that he already had no time to evade ...


    Li Shiyu gritted his teeth and turned his beam shield¡¯s defence to its maximum value, preparing himself to take the opponent¡¯s attack by force ...


    With a "bang", Li Shiyu felt his mecha being struck by a tremendous force. His entire person was sent flying out to the side ¡ª the juddering mecha which hadpletely lost its bnce due to the collision made Li Shiyu¡¯s vision ck out for a brief moment.


    However, Li Shiyu had been secretly injecting himself with modified gene agent these past few years, so though his physical constitution was still iparable to the odd child Qi Long¡¯s, it was still better than average. He recovered after just half a second. Off-bnce, Li Shiyu did not panic. He calmly moved his fingers, operating his mecha, attempting to regain control of his mecha as fast as possible.


    Li Shiyu knew well that only if he managed to regain control of his mecha would he have any chance of counterattacking. As Li Shiyu calmly focused on his controls, he did not forget to nce every so often at the situation outside of his mecha. He needed to know what was going on ¡ª was the enemy nning to follow up with more attacks?


    During one nce, his hand abruptly stuttered. His initially calm eyes turned red in an instant, and he actually felt his eyes grow wet. A mecha was fending off the special-ss mecha with a beam saber ...


    Li Lanfeng! He was still alive! This was great! For the first time, Li Shiyu felt that happiness was such a simple thing!


    Right then, on the ground, the ace operator who had received a heavy blow to his back heard his mecha¡¯s A.I. emit another loud warning. "Warning! Damage to mecha¡¯s main drive systems at 60%. Danger, danger! Please retreat immediately, please retreat immediately!"


    When the ace operator heard the A.I.¡¯s warning, he pounded the control panel before him in frustration. Just then, his heart clenched violently as an unprecedented sense of danger settled over him. Cold sweat poured from his forehead instantly. Perhaps due to the pressure of this life-or-death situation, the rate of his fingers dancing over the controls exceeded his initial limits in that instant ...


    The ace mecha lying on the ground suddenly rolled away, causing Ling Lan¡¯s forceful stab with her giant sword to miss. The giant sword easily pierced up to two metres deep into the ground. And this was still after Ling Lan had pulled back her strength, otherwise the sword might have gone in all the way to the hilt.


    Having narrowly escaped, the ace operator looked up at the only special-ss mecha remaining in the sky and knew that the other mecha had most likely met an unfortunate end. He smiled wryly and said, "You¡¯ve long known that those two shots did not hit your student." Otherwise, the opponent could not have been so calm and collected. In contrast, he had rxed too soon at that moment. This was one of the reasons behind his failure. At the thought, the ace operator¡¯s heart was filled with regret ¡ª if only he had been able to keep calm and focused back then as well, the oue might have been very different.


    Right up till this point, the ace operator still believed that his opponent was the Federation¡¯s elite ace Tang Yu, while the one piloting that advanced mecha which had fallen was Qiao Ting.


    Ling Lan did not reply, merely pulling the giant sword out from the ground. As she did this, her icy gaze did not shift at all from the ace mecha lying on the ground. Before utterly destroying the other, Ling Lan would not let down her guard; Ling Lan would notmit such a rookie mistake.


    "Your students are really good. Who¡¯d have guessed that the three of them could work so well together that they managed to take down one of my men? That¡¯s a special-ss operator, you know, a whole level higher than your students ... and I too have lost at your hands. You are truly an elite ace of your Federation. I have lost." The ace operator was not at all bothered by Ling Lan¡¯s cold indifference. He continued to ther on, appearing as if he had already given up and was nning to surrender without putting up a fight.


    Seeing this, a thought shed through Ling Lan¡¯s mind. She rested the giant sword in her right hand on the ground and put her left hand on the hilt as well, as if using it as a crutch, seemingly announcing that she no longer nned to fight ...


    The initially tense atmosphere disappeared all at once due to Ling Lan¡¯s actions. Unexpectedly, it was at this moment that the ace mecha suddenly leapt up to lunge fiercely at Ling Lan ... it turned out that everything he had just said and his entire demeanour had all been an act to get Ling Lan to lower her guard. Since they hade to participate in the invasion of Newline, they had already been prepared to sacrifice their lives in service of their country. Even if he failed, he would aim for mutual destruction instead of just surrendering meekly.


    Faced with the enemy¡¯s sudden attack, Ling Lan was not at all flustered or taken by surprise. Her seemingly rxed actions were actually just to y along with the opponent¡¯s act ¡ª from the very beginning, she had never intended to let any of these enemies go ... she would never show mercy to anyone who tried to harm herpanions.


    Already gripping the hilt of her giant sword, her two hands abruptly lifted and the giant sword sprang up to sh violently with the opponent mecha once more. After staying locked together for several seconds, the two fighters sprang apart again ...


    No, it should be said that the opponent mecha was flung back by the giant sword. Meanwhile, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha backed off rapidly under the force of her thrusters, pulling over 10 metres away from the enemy in an instant ...


    "Boom!" A massive st rang out. The ace mecha Ling Lan had flung away from her exploded, breaking into countless pieces flying through the air.


    It turned out that the opponent knew very well that he no longer had any chance of victory. However, he also did not want to simply be killed by the opponent, so he had chosen to self-destruct, intending to take Ling Lan along with him. Fortunately, Ling Lan had sensed the danger right away and even as she flung the opponent away from her, she had engaged her thrusters to send her mecha flying back swiftly, thus evading this crisis.


    Still, the concussive force of an ace mecha¡¯s self-destruct was iparable to that of a normal mecha. Despite retreating swiftly to pull a distance away at first notice, escaping the most dangerous st zone, Ling Lan still had not been able topletely escape the explosion. The st had still injured Ling Lan. She felt as if her chest had been struck by a heavy boulder, the coppery taste of blood rising up at the back of her throat. Involuntarily, Ling Lan opened her mouth and blood spurted out, staining the bright screen before her red ...


    "Boss, are you alright?!" Seeing Ling Lan injured, Little Four cried out in panic.


    Ling Lan immediately circted her qi and ran through the qi exercises, and soon, the heavy feeling in her chest and sense of nausea faded. Her whole body rxed and she could tell that it had only been a minor internal injury, nothing serious, so she reassured Little Four by saying, "I¡¯m fine. It was just some residual st force. I actually feel much better after throwing up some blood."


    Little Four instantly calmed down after hearing Ling Lan¡¯s answer. Having caught her breath, Ling Lan looked up into the sky once more ...


    "Are Qi Long and the others alright?" Ling Lan naturally knew that Qi Long¡¯s group of three had been sent flying by the st of the special-ss mecha¡¯s self-destruct. Although Little Four had already reported back then that Qi Long and the others were fine, Ling Lan was still rather worried. However, back then she had been in the midst of fighting with the ace operator and had not had the time to ask Little Four for details. Now, she finally had the time to spare.


    "They¡¯re fine. They¡¯ve only been dazed by the st ..." Little Four had already entered their mecha¡¯s systems to examine the condition of Qi Long¡¯s group. Xie Yi was in the worst condition, but it was all just external injuries so there was no risk of death. As such, Little Four did not pay any more mind to the three boys. Instead, what Little Four was more interested in now was Li Lanfeng who was currently fighting in the air. "Boss, your leopard seems to have advanced a level."


    What is this ¡¯your leopard¡¯? Ling Lan threw a cool nce over at Little Four, warning him to watch his words, but unfortunately Little Four could be rather slow on the uptake sometimes ... he did not notice Ling Lan¡¯s cold and cutting gaze at all, still continuing to say with a dumb and innocent expression, "His control skills are now much more impressive than before. Looks like the life-or-death situation earlier has triggered histent potential, spurring an advancement. As expected, he is just like you, Boss, a freak. If he weren¡¯t family, he wouldn¡¯t have entered through the same door 1 , eh?" mused Little Four.


    Those people who could sessfully bring out theirtent potential and advance in a life-or-death situation would undoubtedly all be aberrant talents. This kind of advancement was much rarer than normal advancement ¡ª the insight Li Lanfeng would gain from this experience would be much greater and much deeper than if he had advanced normally. It could be said that for anyone who advanced from insights gained during a life-or-death situation, advancing to the next level after this was pretty much guaranteed. In other words, as long as he gained enough experience, Li Lanfeng was sure to at least be an ace mecha master in future. Oh, how much envy did this bring to those mecha operators who found themselves stuck all their lives at special-ss ...


    Originally, when Ling Lan heard that Li Lanfeng had advanced, she was very happy, but that final phrase of Little Four¡¯s made her somewhat annoyed. Ling Lan unceremoniously flicked a forceful finger at Little Four¡¯s forehead and said scornfully, "Where did you learn such inappropriate words?" Did this little fellow not know that that saying originally referred to husband and wife?


    Being flicked out of the blue, Little Four guilelessly rubbed his forehead. He blinked his big eyes mournfully, unsure why his boss was abusing him again now.


    This pitiful appearance of Little Four¡¯s made Ling Lan rather speechless. Fine, getting angry at this fellow was a waste of energy. He must have just picked up the phrase from some random ancient text and started using it without fully understanding it ...


    Ling Lan decided not to argue any further with Little Four. She peered intently at the mecha¡¯s screen, which was focused on Li Lanfeng and the special-ss mecha¡¯s fight. After observing several exchanges between the fighters, she said approvingly, "You¡¯re right, Little Four. In that life-or-death situation earlier, he really managed to advance. Perhaps this was why he managed to escape those two shots ... what a shame that he¡¯s piloting an advanced mecha. If he were piloting a special-ss mecha now, this would not be the current situation." Although Li Lanfeng was keeping up with the special-ss mecha¡¯s attacks, the gap between the two mecha had still put Li Lanfeng at a disadvantage so he could only defend passively.

 Chapter 375: A Physical Constitution Problem?

    Chapter 375: A Physical Constitution Problem?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Even so, it¡¯s not easy for the opponent to kill him. Your leopard can still hold out for quite a while. Moreover, there are no other enemies around. This is a good opportunity to let your leopard fight a bit more. Perhaps this will make it easier for him to find his own control style."


    Since there were no other enemies nearby, Little Four also became rxed. Holding a lollipop he had whisked out from god knows where, he licked it as he gave his opinion. Little Four, who had constantly been exchanging ideas with Instructor Number Three, seemed to have the ir of a mecha instructor about him at the moment. Of course, one would first have to overlook the lollipop in his hand and that stumpy body and immature face.


    Ling Lan fully agreed with Little Four¡¯s suggestion ¡ª this was undoubtedly an opportunity for the leopard to once again raise his abilities. She decided to stand by and watch for the moment, and so instructed Little Four, "Little Four, monitor our surroundings closely. If any enemies approach, notify me immediately." That said, Ling Lan clenched her fist around the giant sword in her hand. If any enemies really approached, she would have to attack to guarantee herpanions¡¯ safety.


    In response, Little Four patted his chest and promised to take care of everything.


    Ling Lan thought about how Little Four would make some careless mistakes from time to time, but he had never disappointed her when it came to the big things. So, she rxed and left him to it. She piloted her mecha to execute a swift sh move, and her mecha disappeared on the spot. In the next second, she had appeared next to Luo Lang, who had been the closest to her previous location.


    Although Little Four had repeated once more that Qi Long¡¯s team of three was fine, having only been knocked out by the st, Ling Lan was still concerned and wanted to check on them personally.


    Meanwhile, at this moment, the five-mecha fight in the skies had in fact already be a showdown between Li Lanfeng and the special-ss mecha. Li Shiyu, Han Jijyun, and Lin Zhong-qing could do nothing to interfere in the fight. They could at most look on from afar and find some opportunities to shoot their beam guns to assist Li Lanfeng.


    This development was partly because the opponent¡¯s strength had multiplied due to his rage-induced outburst, so the boys could not go up and block as they had before. If they tried to block or intercept the enemy, they would definitely be shaken off by a forceful de. In terms of power, they were already unable to fight against the special-ss mecha now.


    Another reason for this development was that the returned Li Lanfeng had simrly gone through a vertical increase inbat power. Even though he was piloting an advanced mecha, he was not losing to the other by much in terms of strength and technique. Many times, when the other boys had identally stumbled into danger, it was all thanks to Li Lanfeng that they managed to escape unscathed. These urrences let them know that they should no longer get involved in this fight.


    After fighting with the other for about 2 minutes, Li Lanfeng finally got used to the opponent¡¯s attack power and tempo, and the situation began to take a turn for the better for him. This caused the three boys observing from the side-lines to feel some relief ¡ª they had been very afraid that Li Lanfeng would end up in a perilous situation at any moment while fighting solo against the special-ss operator, so their hearts had been lodged in their throats all this while.


    The moment Ling Lan came up to Luo Lang¡¯s mecha, she saw that its beam shield had buffered the st of the special-ss mecha¡¯s self-destruct, so much so that its glow was almost imperceptible, making the entire mecha look dull. The outer shell of the mecha was covered in countless scars, some shallow some deep. Some of the scars had even gone so deep that she could almost see the intricate gears and circuits peeking out. However, most fortunately, there was no fatal damage around the most defensibly weak cockpit area. Ling Lan¡¯s tense emotions eased; she knew Luo Lang was in no big trouble.


    Just then, Little Four, who had been monitoring the aerial fight all this while, turned with bright eyes to Ling Lan to report that Luo Lang was stirring within the cockpit.


    Ling Lan immediately connected to Luo Lang¡¯smlink and shouted, "Luo Lang, it¡¯s me, Ling Lan. Please respond."


    "Boss ..." After calling out several times, Luo Lang¡¯s feeble voice finally responded from the other end of the line.


    "Are you injured? Do you need Li Shiyu to treat you?" asked Ling Lan worriedly.


    "It¡¯s fine, Boss. Before we left, Senior Shiyu had already given us several emergency healing agents just in case. I¡¯ve just taken some, and I feel much better now." Luo Lang¡¯s voice was much stronger than before, proving that his condition was indeed improving.


    Receiving confirmation that Luo Lang was fine, Ling Lan was just about to go check on Qi Long who was about 50 metres away when she saw Qi Long¡¯s mecha sit up abruptly.


    A frisson of happiness passed through Ling Lan¡¯s heart and she was by Qi Long¡¯s side in the very next second. "Qi Long, how do you feel?"


    Little Four had said Qi Long¡¯s injuries were roughly the same as Luo Lang¡¯s. Now, from the looks of it, the aberrant physical constitution of Qi Long¡¯s was no joke. Luo Lang¡¯s injuries had to be treated slowly by the emergency healing agents, while Qi Long¡¯s condition was obviously much better even without taking them.


    Sure enough, Qi Long¡¯s reply proved this point. "I¡¯m fine, Boss. I was just dazed for a bit. My body isn¡¯t injured at all." Qi Long¡¯s loud and powerful voice proved that he was still hale and hearty ...


    "Since you¡¯re fine, let¡¯s go check on Xie Yi together. I think that Xie Yi is injured pretty badly this time," said Ling Lan to Qi Long. She was much more worried about Xie Yi. The two of them quickly entered the forest and found Xie Yi who had been sted through several towering trees by the st.


    As it turned out, Ling Lan¡¯s prediction was not wrong. Xie Yi was truly the one in the worst condition. Having been the closest to the self-destructing mecha, he had received the most st force from the explosion. Right after that, his mecha had gone through several consecutive collisions with the trees, causing it to be extremely battered. The entire mecha no longer sported any bit of the glow from its beam shield. The mecha¡¯s whole body was a dull sheet of grey.


    Besides that, there was no way the mecha itself could have remained intact. Its left arm waspletely broken at the shoulder, revealing various broken wires underneath, sparking in the air, while its right leg had been pulverized into dust by the explosion. Meanwhile, the cockpit was already pitted with dents, and there was a deep gouge starting from its edge moving up diagonally ...


    Following the path of that frightening gouge on the cockpit, Qi Long¡¯s face paled drastically and he immediately controlled his mecha to squat and then swiftly opened his mecha¡¯s cockpit door. He could not wait for thending tform to descend; Qi Long chose to leap down directly from the cockpit.


    Landing on the ground, Qi Long rolled with the momentum to release the residual force safely. Then, he sprang up from the ground and using all of his limbs, he climbed up to Xie Yi¡¯s cockpit.


    The cockpit passcode for all members of a team was the same. The reason for that was precisely just in case this kind of situation urred where a teammate needed help. Qi Long mped his fingers down on an area to the left of the cockpit, and then pulled with force, prying a small metal cover loose to reveal a numerical keypad. He swiftly keyed in a string of numbers and then with a ¡¯click¡¯, the internal lock of the cockpit opened. The cockpit hatch automatically sprang open soon after, revealing an opening wide enough for an adult to enter.


    Qi Long immediately ducked inside and not long after, he had brought Xie Yi out in his arms. Xie Yi was currently unconscious, traces of blood at the corners of his mouth, a sign that he had thrown up blood from his injuries. It looked like he had sustained some pretty serious internal injuries.


    "What¡¯s Xie Yi¡¯s condition?" asked Ling Lan worriedly at the sight.


    "Not too bad. He has just suffered some internal injury. I¡¯ve already fed him Senior Shiyu¡¯s emergency healing agents. He should be fine." Qi Long¡¯splexion had regained some colour. When he had first entered the cockpit and saw Xie Yi pale and barely breathing, he had almost been scared out of his wits. He had truly been afraid that this cheerful punk who had been with them for over three years would leave them just like that.


    However, Senior Shiyu¡¯s emergency healing agents were really amazing. Only a few seconds after pouring them down Xie Yi¡¯s throat, Xie Yi¡¯splexion had improved considerably and his breathing had also stabilised. It looked like they needed to have a good, long talk with Senior Shiyu in the future, thought Qi Long as he nced at Li Shiyu in the air, who was still trying to find some opportunity to shoot.


    Knowing that Xie Yi was fine now, Ling Lan rxed and gave Qi Long instructions to take care of Xie Yi.


    "Got it, Boss," answered Qi Long gravely. He walked back to his own mecha and boarded the elevation tform. He carefully carried Xie Yi into his own mecha and buckled him in securely in the auxiliary seat.


    After settling all of this, only then did Qi Long close his cockpit and activate his mecha to rise up into the air again. Qi Long was well aware that from this point onwards, he was not only fighting for himself anymore; he was also fighting to protect Xie Yi. He needed to ensure that his mecha was not taken down because other than himself, Xie Yi was inside his mecha as well.


    "Xie Yi, we must survive," said Qi Long under his breath, a savage light in his eyes. Rather than speaking to Xie Yi, he was saying this more for his own benefit.


    Focused on his own controls, Qi Long did not notice the unconscious Xie Yi emit an almost inaudible sound of agreement in response ¡ª¡ª hn!


    After Xie Yi was transferred to Qi Long¡¯s mecha, Ling Lan felt much more reassured. Having handled the matter of Qi Long¡¯s team of three, Ling Lan finally turned her full attention to the still fighting Li Lanfeng.


    "Eh? Actually fighting evenly with the other now?" Ling Lan was rather stunned. When she had gone to check on Luo Lang, Li Lanfeng was still at a disadvantage, only able to defend without being able to counterattack.


    "Yeah, Boss, your leopard is truly very talented in mecha piloting. He has adapted very quickly to his new abilities after advancing and has forced out the full potential of the advanced mecha," exined Little Four upon seeing his boss¡¯s surprise at the scene. He had been keeping an eye on Li Lanfeng¡¯s fight all this while.


    "Hn, the leopard¡¯s mecha control talent is indeed excellent." From the start, Ling Lan had already known this. When the two of them had practised their basic controls together, she had obtained so much extra practise time due to the cheating device, the learning space, but in the end, her results had only been that little bit better than the leopard¡¯s. If she had not had the extra buff of this cheat, perhaps she would have already lost to the leopard back then.


    Little Four heard Ling Lan echo his words and instantly smiled widely. However, he soon scrunched up his little dumpling face again. Eyebrows knitted in puzzlement, he said, "However, your leopard seems to have some problems with his physical constitution."


    Ling Lan quirked a brow. "What do you mean?"


    "Your leopard¡¯s stamina seems like it¡¯ll be depleted soon ... he can at most fight for another 2 minutes." Having monitored him all this while, Little Four was very clear about Li Lanfeng¡¯s current condition.

 Chapter 376: Dont Lose to Yourself!

    Chapter 376: Don¡¯t Lose to Yourself!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Little Four¡¯s words made Ling Lan frown. Indeed, in the virtual world, when they had been doing the n-formation mission, she had also noticed this weakness of the leopard¡¯s. The leopard¡¯s physical constitution seemed to be even weaker than the average person¡¯s ¡ª what exactly was the reason for this?


    It should be known that in the current Federation, even for those with the most average constitution, if they received gene agent of grade C and above, they would be able to fight for at worst half an hour using normal standard mecha in an intense battle. However, from start till now, the leopard had only been fighting for at most 10 minutes or so ...


    Furthermore, the leopard was only piloting an advanced mecha at present. The feedback force of standard mecha of advanced level and below (this included advanced mecha) had very little impact on a trained operator¡¯s body. It was not like with a mecha of special-ss and above ¡ª because of the introduction of an operator¡¯s uniquebat style, the feedback force would fluctuate depending on the power of thebat mode ... this was why the higher the level of a mecha operator, the greater the demand upon the operator¡¯s physical constitution.


    If they did not resolve this issue, even if the leopard possessed the control prowess of an ace operator, he would still be unable to pilot an ace mecha ... considering this possibility, the furrow in Ling Lan¡¯s brow deepened.


    Right then, in his cockpit, Li Lanfeng was already drenched in sweat. His body was soaked as if he had just stepped out of a bath. As the cockpit had the function of automatically regting the humidity and temperature within the cockpit, even as Li Lanfeng sweated, his sweat was evaporating, causing the entire cockpit to be muggy with steam. He was panting heavily, his mind and spirit beginning to tire. Not just that, even his body was bing weak and fatigued. Thest few minutes of high-intensity operation andbat had drained his stamina rapidly, even exceeding his initial expectations.


    "Damm*t!" Li Lanfeng could not help but curse. Having fought till this extent, he really did not want to lose now due to ack of stamina. He was never more resentful of this broken body of his. If he had the choice, he definitely would not have chosen to be a spectre. He would rather have possessed a healthy body and be an exceptional mecha operator. That way, he could have be a free warrior, forever standing by the rabbit¡¯s side to follow him and protect him ...


    "Is this the end?" Li Lanfeng began to feel his hands losing control. There were several moves he tried to execute, but his fingers just would not listen to him any longer and had gone on strike. He reflexively looked towards the bottom of his screen. In a window there, a mecha was silently watching his fight right now.


    Li Lanfeng knew that that was the mecha being piloted by the rabbit. The outer appearance of the mecha was so familiar that he could recite all its innerponents and equipment and all the applicable essories for it. This was because that mecha was one of the ace mecha types he desired the most ¡ª¡ª the ! Who would have expected his rabbit to already be at this level ...


    A trace of bitterness coursed through Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart. It made sense when he thought about it though. Seven years time ... with the rabbit¡¯s unique heaven-given talent in mecha piloting, how could the other just be as he appeared in Mecha World, just a low-level intermediate mecha warrior?


    "The rabbit is getting further and further away from me ..." Li Lanfeng was suddenly and fiercely crestfallen. Did he really have the right to stand by the rabbit¡¯s side? Perhaps this was all just a fanciful fantasy of his, perhaps he was just indulging in daydreams, when in fact, he was not at all worthy ...


    Just as Li Lanfeng was about to despair and give up, the rabbit¡¯s cool voice suddenly rang out from his mecha¡¯smlink. "Don¡¯t lose to yourself."


    Don¡¯t lose to yourself ... this phrase reverberated like thunder in Li Lanfeng¡¯s ears. He was transported back to when he and the rabbit had first met ¡ª back then, they had been training every day in their dry and boring basic control drills, forever running, dodging, flying ... even the most tenacious person would have times when they would falter and be frustrated. Even someone as calm as the rabbit had at times descended into an irritable funk, and at those times, the rabbit would let out a great roar, "Damm*t, don¡¯t lose to yourself, you weakling!"


    After that, the rabbit would train even harder to carry out those basic drills, and he in turn would be inspired by the rabbit¡¯s actions to persevere, continuing to train alongside the rabbit. Perhaps that phrase was what the rabbit used to motivate himself, but Li Lanfeng took those words as a warning from the rabbit for him. Over these past few years, whenever he found himself restless and impatient and about to give up, this phrase would naturallye to the forefront of his mind. This phrase spurred him to continue pushing forwards, causing him to never dare give up no matter how difficult the situation was.


    Seven yearster, hearing this phrase straight from the rabbit¡¯s mouth once again, Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart pounded violently. Warmth surged across his body, and he felt the fatigue he had been shoving aside being chased away by this wave of warmth, his entire body filling up with energy ...


    "Yes, how can I lose to myself? If I myself admit defeat, what right do I have to speak of changing my destiny to stand proudly by the rabbit¡¯s side?" Li Lanfeng spurned his own weakness. His initially dazed eyes instantly became focused once more, and his slowed fingers picked up their pace once again, bing even faster than before. In the end, they moved so quickly that they could not be seen clearly ¡ª onlyyer afteryer of afterimages could be seen, like illusionary flowers slowly blooming.


    The two mecha had been fighting on even ground, but from the moment Li Lanfeng considered giving up, Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha had be passive inparison, no longer putting up a good fight. Instead, he had slowly been pushed to a disadvantage, soon only able to defend on all sides without being able to return any attacks of his own.


    Although Li Shiyu, Han Jijyun, and Lin Zhong-qing did not know why Li Lanfeng had gged all of a sudden, bing so flustered in battle, they could tell from the situation that Li Lanfeng was probably in trouble. Their hearts sank, and their initially rather ordered shooting also started to be rushed and disorganised.


    The special-ss mecha fighting against Li Lanfeng was an experienced mecha master. When he saw his opponent suddenly stop attacking, he quickly realised that the other might be running low on stamina. Although this situation was rather abrupt so he was somewhat unprepared, he trusted in his own judgment. He did not lose this chance to intensify his attacks.


    Despite going fully on the defensive, after resisting against the special-ss operator¡¯s frenzied attacks for over ten seconds, Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha finally could not hold out any longer. His entire mecha was shuddering from the opponent¡¯s attacks, looking as if it were on the verge of copsing soon. Li Shiyu and the other two watching from the side-lines were anxious but could not think of any way to help Li Lanfeng in his predicament. They could only shoot desperately in an attempt to pull Li Lanfeng back from the brink of defeat ...


    "This ends here!" Under the opponent¡¯s frenzied attacks, Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha finally exposed a fatal opening under duress. The special-ss operator had been waiting for this moment ¡ª seeing the opening, a cruel sneer appeared on his lips. He raised his beam saber mercilessly and shed down viciously at Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha.


    "Watch out!" The other team members could only cry out in warning. Meanwhile, Li Shiyu was so horrified that he could not help but close his eyes. He could not bear to see Li Lanfeng ¡ª a teammate, his friend, also a descendant from the same Li family ¡ª die here in front of his eyes ...


    "Bang!" Two beam sabers collided forcefully, sending countless sparks into the air. The initially gging advanced mecha had managed to react swiftly in this most critical juncture. His speed had certainly exceeded his previous top speed by at least twofold ¡ª it was due to this that Li Lanfeng had managed to block that dangerous blow to save himself.


    "That¡¯s amazing, Senior Lanfeng!" Qi Long and the others watching the fight instantly cheered in excitement at the sight.


    Hearing everyone¡¯s cheers, Li Shiyu quickly opened his eyes. Seeing Li Lanfeng unharmed, he instantly let out a sigh of relief. For that split second earlier, Li Shiyu had truly been ovee by despair.


    "Even if I run out of stamina and be unable to continue fighting, I must defeat the opponent. I will use facts to tell the rabbit that I, Li Lanfeng, am no weakling." Boundless fighting spirit zed in Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes ¡ª the hesitation and discouraged emotions he felt previously had disappeared. With a loud shout, he pushed his engines to their maximum power and charged right at the opponent with the intent to ram into the other ...


    "Goddamm*t," the opponent could not help but curse, seeing this reckless attack of Li Lanfeng¡¯s. At the same time, he controlled his mecha to dodge ¡ª he had no intentions of dying along with the enemy while he still held the upper hand.


    If possible, he hoped to swiftly escape after sessfully killing the other ... he had not forgotten that there was still an ace mecha watching hungrily below; his team leader had died at the other¡¯s hand. Now, he only hoped that that closebat ace mecha did not have enough power to fly into the sky.


    The special-ss mecha¡¯s ideas were solid. He nned to evade Li Lanfeng¡¯s reckless charge and then counterattack, but he did not expect that after he chose to evade, all the advantage he held previously was gone in a sh.


    Li Lanfeng watched as his opponent dodged and his eyes shed with a cold glint. He revved his engines and changed directions abruptly, sticking close to the opponent mecha like a shadow ¡ª there was no sign of his previous stiff and mindless charge. With that, the special-ss operator realised that he had been tricked. The other¡¯s fierce and seemingly mindless attack was just a feint ¡ª the other¡¯s true goal was to use it to regain the initiative in this battle.


    In this manner, Li Lanfeng sessfully stuck close to the special-ss mecha and began to rain down blows with his beam saber on his opponent. Perhaps it was because his hand speed had increased via a breakthrough, pushing his mecha¡¯s attack pace much higher than his previous top speed ¡ª right then, the special-ss mecha was taken off guard, flustered at the sudden change. All the special-ss operator could see at that moment were the shadows of beam sabers, and he could only block and defend with all his might.


    Although the special-ss mecha was in a tough spot right then, he had a wealth of battle experience to fall back on. He knew that he was in great danger at the moment, so even as he dealt with the rain of attacks, he turned the power on his mecha¡¯s beam shield to the maximum setting. That way, even if he missed any of the opponent¡¯s attacks, the heightened defence value of the beam shield would still be able to easily withstand the attack.


    With a loud ¡¯bang¡¯, the special-ss operator felt a tremendous force strike his cockpit. The resulting violent vibrations felt like a boulder crushing his chest, and the operator¡¯s vision turned ck as a surge of blood rose from the back of his throat ...


    With an audible cry, the special-ss operator threw up the blood in his mouth forcefully, staining the control panel before him red.

 Chapter 377: Ling Lans Choice!

    Chapter 377: Ling Lan¡¯s Choice!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    But it was precisely because he threw up this mouthful of blood that the special-ss operator¡¯s mind began to clear. When he was fully aware again, his first response was to retreat swiftly in an attempt to escape the other¡¯s attack range. Until now, he had not figured out how that attack hade about. This was definitely not something a regr beam saber attack could do.


    The special-ss operator was truly blind because he was in the thick of it all; in contrast, the members of Ling Lan¡¯s team who were watching from the side-lines could see clearly. While the special-ss operator had had his full attention on defending against Li Lanfeng¡¯s beam saber, Li Lanfeng had surprised the other by executing a knee strike with his mecha. The knee had struck the special-ss mecha¡¯s cockpit with the powerful force of a mecha behind it.


    If not for the gap in the mecha levels, as well as for the special-ss mecha¡¯s beam shield neutralizing arge part of the force, the special-ss operator would not have just ended up throwing up a mouthful of blood. He would probably have been gravely injured already. However, the attack hadnded on a vital point of the mecha, with the cockpit directly receiving the brunt of the attack. Even though a special-ss mecha¡¯s defenses were several times stronger than that of a regr mecha, this great force and the resulting intense vibrations had still inflicted some internal injury on that special-ss operator.


    The special-ss operator desperately wanted to pull away and recover from his current passive situation, but having gained the advantage, how could Li Lanfeng let the other side seed? With rekindled confidence, Li Lanfeng went all out into the fight. Even if this advanced mecha he was piloting broke down due to overload, he would still make sure that this special-ss mecha before him was struck down.


    In order to aplish this objective, when Li Lanfeng saw the opponent retreat quickly, he too pushed all his engines to their maximum capacity to keep up with the opponent. With regards to mecha piloting, this type of behaviour was absolutely forbidden. Pushing the engines to maximum power meant that the mecha was being overburdened. Running on overcapacity, even the most advanced mecha would only be able to sustain itself for a short three to four minutes. Once its limits were exceeded, the mecha would inevitably be damaged. The longer the mecha operated on overload, the greater the extent of the damage, until the point where the mecha might break downpletely duringbat ...


    However, to pilot a mecha till it was overloaded was not such a simple thing. If one¡¯s hand speed could not keep up, even if an operator wanted to operate on overcapacity, it would merely be wishful thinking. In the past, Li Lanfeng could barely raise all the power aspects of his mecha to their full 100% value. But this time, due to the life-or-death situation, he had broken through his own limits, which included the limits on his hand speed. Therefore, at this moment, he had truly unleashed 120% of the mecha¡¯s capacity, which was theoretically the greatest overload value achievable.


    Sure enough, under Li Lanfeng¡¯s full-force operation, despite the level gap between the two mecha, Li Lanfeng managed topensate for it by running his mecha in overcapacity.


    And so, two mecha could be seen to fly at extreme speeds in the air, not much distance at all between them. One mecha was desperately backing away, while the other was hot on its tail.


    Not only that, even while he pursued the opponent, Li Lanfeng did not forget to swing his beam saber wildly to attack. Li Lanfeng did not know how long this sudden surge of energy wouldst, but he knew that once it ran out, he would no longer have any more stamina to continue operating the mecha to fight ...


    "Your leopard is an absolute maniac." Little Four finally could not help but exim. The other was already obviously out of strength, but relying purely on willpower and an unwillingness to lose, he was holding out, and his offensive power seemed even stronger than before.


    "Hn, I never expected that he would actually have the same berserk air like Qi Long." Qi Long was a battle maniac ¡ª as soon as he enteredbat, he was very easily stoked into a manic state of excitement. Endless energy would surge up from within his body in that mode ¡ª even Ling Lan would have to expend a great deal of stamina to defeat Qi Long. She had initially thought that Qi Long was the only oddball in this regard, but now, seeing Li Lanfeng¡¯s unstoppable courage in pushing forwards, that dogged desire to finish things, he really seemed to disy some signs of Qi Long in his berserk mode ...


    Ling Lan could not help but shake her head in silence. What was up with these people she had taken in? The leopard had clearly looked like a gentle and graceful, mild-mannered and cultured person ¡ª who would have guessed that he would have a crazed zeal for battle no weaker than Qi Long¡¯s? Just imagining the future when she might end up leading a group who would turn into battle-crazed maniacs the moment they began fighting, Ling Lan felt her temples twitch violently ...


    Ling Lan very quickly threw this image aside ¡ª let her cross that bridge when she came to it. It had to be said that, at times, Ling Lan truly embodied the Ah-Q mentality.


    However, Ling Lan soon thought of the leopard¡¯s physique which was weaker than the average person¡¯s and her joyful spirits sank. If she could not solve this problem, no matter how good the leopard¡¯s control skills were, he would still be unable to operate an ace mecha. Ling Lan was well aware that the feedback force an ace mecha plied upon an operator¡¯s body was absolutely not something the leopard could withstand in his current state.


    Perhaps Little Four had used the term ¡¯your leopard¡¯ too many times ¡ª under the subtle influence of repetition, Ling Lan had unconsciously begun calling Li Lanfeng her leopard as well,pletely forgetting to correct Little Four¡¯s wrong phrasing ...


    It had to be said that habit was a scary thing. It could make others ept things naturally, without questioning it. By the time one noticed, the habit would have already been ingrained, and there would no longer be any way to resist or discard it ...


    While Ling Lan was worrying about Li Lanfeng¡¯s physical constitution, in the aerial battlefield, the special-ss operator had already pushed his mecha¡¯s engines to their maximum value, but he was still unable to get away from the other¡¯s pursuit. Moreover, as he was fully focused on trying to get away, in a moment of distraction, the special-ss operator was actually struck forcefully several times by Li Lanfeng¡¯s wild attacks.


    The power of the mecha¡¯s beam shield was being drained at a rapid rate as it fought off the opponent¡¯s attacks ¡ª when it looked like the mecha¡¯s remaining power would not be sufficient to maintain the maximum defence value of the beam shield any longer, the special-ss operator knew that he had been forced into a corner and had no choice but to fight back soon. Otherwise, he would end up crashing when the opponent¡¯s attacks whittled away all of his mecha¡¯s power. At that time, his only oue would be death.


    "Argh!" The special-ss operator unleashed an angry roar; this dire situation gave him no choice but to fight for his life. He decisively stopped trying to escape ¡ª gripping his beam saber tightly with both hands, he aimed urately for the opponent¡¯s iing beam saber and swung his own de out to meet it.


    The two beam sabers met with a loud bang. Perhaps both parties had used the full force of their mecha behind their blows, for the massive force of the collision caused the two beam sabers to present signs of distortion in that instant, and energy sparks were sent flying in all directions. In this patch of night sky, those sparks were like radiant fireworks, lighting up the night sky instantly.


    Before the res could dissipate, another loud ¡¯bang¡¯ rang out once more. This sound was several times louder and crisper than the sound of the beam sabers shing previously ¡ª the two mecha had mmed into each other at this time.


    Even Li Shiyu¡¯s group of three who had been chasing after the two fighting mecha could feel the violent shockwaves from the collision of the two mecha. It was clear to see how strong the impact of the collision was.


    The two fighting mecha were locked for several seconds and then they leapt back to instantly pull more than 30 metres apart. This was the inevitable oue of inertia from the collision. The special-ss mecha which already had a great deal of its power exhausted by its beam shield had be entirely dull after this collision. However, the condition of Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha was not much better. His beam shield had been amped up to its maximum defence value as well during the collision. And even though the defence value of his beam shield had not been drained before the impact, due to the gap between their mecha levels, this one violent collision had been enough topletely exhaust the power of Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha¡¯s beam shield. Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha was simrly dark and dull.


    Having been flung back, the special-ss operator relied on his solid control skills to stabilise his mecha. When he saw the opponent¡¯s mecha also lose the protection of its beam shield, he was ecstatic. He knew that this was his chance! So, he decisively raised the beam saber in his hands and piloted his mecha to charge manically at the off-bnce advanced mecha, shouting, "Go to hell!"


    Seeing this, Ling Lan¡¯s expression shifted. She decisively drew a beam handgun from the back of her waist and aimed right for that special-ss mecha leaping at Li Lanfeng.


    Although Ling Lan was piloting a closebat ace mecha, this did not mean that her mecha was not equipped with any long-range weapons. That said, the long-range weapons of a closebat mecha were neither those specialised long beam guns nor the even longer range beam sniper rifles long-range attack mecha had; rather, closebat mecha were equipped with beam handguns which had rtively shorter range. Still, a short-range beam handgun was enough to cover the distance between her and that special-ss mecha right now.


    Although Ling Lan could be said to favour closebat, her long-range shooting skills were equally good. She might not match up to the level of those aberrant marksmanship prodigies who were masters of long-range attacks, but Ling Lan was still a shade better than the average shooter.


    However, right when Ling Lan was about to shoot, her gaze shed and her trigger finger froze. Highly familiar with closebat techniques, she had noticed that Li Lanfeng¡¯s seemingly off-bnce mecha had actually shifted into a very familiar motion ¡ª his mecha¡¯s left hand was reaching slightly forward while the entire mecha seemed to be leaning to one side ...


    Empty-Handed Weapon Grab 1 ! Of course, the stance Li Lanfeng was using was a modified version, but the discerning eyes of Ling Lan could still see the underlying true form. No matter how much he had changed the stance, its origins were unchanged. It looked like Li Lanfeng was prepared to make his final move.


    At this sight, Ling Lan actually had two options. One was to proceed and shoot anyway ¡ª a mecha without the protection of a beam shield would require only three consecutive beam shots to eliminate. If those three shots hit, she would certainly be able to prate the special-ss mecha¡¯s cockpit and end this fight instantly. The other option was to trust that the leopard would be able to finish his final attack, though in Ling Lan¡¯s opinion, the probability of the leopard seeding was at most only 60% ...


    If this were still the Ling Lan of the previous world, she would definitely have chosen to proceed and shoot. She definitely would not have taken the gamble ¡ª her mother hen personality made it a habit for her to gather up the people she treasured under her wings for protection. But in this new life, having gone through the various insane torments and trials of the learning space, Ling Lan had learned to be cold and ruthless, unfeeling and decisive. These two conflicting notions spun through Ling Lan¡¯s mind, and then she decisively chose the second option. As long as there was more than half the probability, Ling Lan would dare to take the risk. She believed that if the leopard seeded, he would once again grow even stronger and get even closer to bing an ace operator.


    Even though Li Lanfeng¡¯s life would be threatened, cold rationality told Ling Lan that, for the sake of the other¡¯s future, this bit of risk was still worth it ...

 Chapter 378: The Attribution of Victory!

    Chapter 378: The Attribution of Victory!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan¡¯s decision was made in a split second, and then the special-ss mecha¡¯s beam saber was striking out in a savage stab at Li Lanfeng¡¯s cockpit. Every mecha operator knew that once an opponent¡¯s cockpit was destroyed, it would mean the end of a battle and the clinching of victory.


    "Dodge!"


    "Watch out!"


    "Danger!"


    Observing the fight, the other members of Ling Lan¡¯s team could only yell helplessly in fright. Qi Long and Luo Lang were not good at long-range attacks, so they could only stare helplessly from the ground below, unable to do anything to help.


    As they both favoured closebat, their skills and techniques werergely intended for closebat ¡ª they had not paid much attention to long-range attack skills. Right now, they finally regretted their decision. They finally understood why Boss Lan had casually reminded them every so often not to neglect their long-range attack skills even if they wanted to focus on closebat ...


    It turned out that when apanion¡¯s life was in danger, every extra skill or technique might be the key to turning things around to save thatpanion ... like now, if only they had some long-range attacks to rely on, they would have long started shooting frenziedly to help Li Lanfeng against the enemy.


    Li Shiyu, Han Jijyun, and Lin Zhong-qing too felt their helplessness keenly at this time. If only their mecha control skills were slightly better, they would not have been left so far behind. Furthermore, they also felt that there was something wrong with their teamwork. For example, when they had begun chasing after Li Lanfeng, they had not thought to spread themselves out. Now, all bunched up together, they found that their shooting trajectories were blocked by Li Lanfeng ...


    In other words, even though they had the ability to shoot, they still did not dare to shoot now. This was because they just could not guarantee that they would not hit Li Lanfeng, who was closer to them, first before they could even hit the special-ss mecha.


    Everyone could only stare with wide eyes as the enemy¡¯s beam saber pierced towards Li Lanfeng¡¯s cockpit ...


    "Swoosh!" This was the sound of a beam saber piercing through a mecha. Li Shiyu¡¯s group of three following behind Li Lanfeng saw a beam saber suddenly appearing at his back through his body. They all felt despair creep over them ¡ª had that mild-mannered, forever smiling nice guy lost his wings here?


    Only Ling Lan, who had been observing the fight from the ground below, calmly lowered the raised right hand of her mecha, unhurriedly controlling the mecha to holster her beam handgun back at her waist.


    Ling Lan had just finished this motion when the two stationary mecha in the air suddenly moved. Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha abruptly raised a leg and mmed a powerful kick at the special-ss mecha sticking closely to him.


    The special-ss mecha was sent flying backwards by Li Lanfeng¡¯s kick, back arching to face the skies, but it still made no motion to resist. Those with sharp eyes could see that a sword hilt-like object was protruding from his cockpit, and at the back of the mecha¡¯s waist, an indistinct light was flickering ...


    The special-ss mecha soaring through the air was not moving; under the influence of Newline¡¯s gravity, the entire mecha began to plunge towards the ground. Right at that moment, that hilt-like protrusion on his cockpit suddenly dropped off, and the flickering light at the back of his waist was snuffed out at the same time.


    Without the hilt-like object in the way, a dark round hole was revealed in the mecha¡¯s cockpit, tunnelling right through to the other side ...


    A loud ¡¯boom¡¯ rang out as the special-ss mecha crashed heavily into the ground, sending clouds of dust and dirt into the air. Perhaps because the special-ss mecha¡¯s construction was extremely solid, it still remained in one piece after the impact.


    At this time, the watching crowd finally realised that the winner of this fight was actually theirpanion Li Lanfeng and not the enemy special-ss mecha as they had thought.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s group of three, which had been hurrying desperately after Li Lanfeng, unwilling to give up hope, were instantly overwhelmed with joy at the oue. They were just about to fly over to congratte Li Lanfeng, the clear victor of the battle, when Li Lanfeng, who had been proudly hovering in the air, suddenly lost control of his mecha, which immediately began to plummet.


    This unexpected development took the ecstatic team members by surprise. Their expressions changed drastically once more as they leapt forwards in unnned unison ... the ones in the air hoped to halt the falling mecha, while the ones on the ground hoped to catch the mecha before it could hit the ground ...


    Still, it was undeniable that, being so far away, it was almost impossible for them to aplish their objectives. Even so, they did not give up, still pushing their engines to their limits ...


    Mentally prepared, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha had flickered right at the moment Li Lanfeng had lost control of his mecha, disappearing from its original position ... the next second, she had appeared right below Li Lanfeng. With a great leap, her mecha flew over 10 metres into the air, just in time to catch Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha by the waist ...


    When the other members of Ling Lan¡¯s team saw this scene, their hearts rxed. They had actually forgotten that there was still Boss Lan standing guard below. Everyone slowed their mecha to a stop.


    Only Little Four was driven up the wall by the sight. What the hell was this?! A hero rescuing a damsel in distress? A damsel rescuing a hero in distress? Or was it a hero saving another hero in distress? Or should it be a damsel rescuing another damsel ... aaaaaaah, his core chip was quickly being overloaded by this iputable question!


    Little Four suddenly froze, internal systems hanging, his entire body going ck, gaze nk. However, he reflexively saved a copy of this image, storing it directly in his databank. When his core chip resumed normal functioningter, he would continue processing this question.


    "Leopard, how do you feel?" Ling Lan efficiently hugged Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha close as she controlled her mecha intonding softly with almost no tremors at all. Feet securely on the ground, she quickly connected to Li Lanfeng¡¯smlink and asked worriedly.


    Even though Ling Lan¡¯s tone of voice was as icy as ever, Li Lanfeng could still hear the deep well of concern concealed within it.


    Li Lanfeng could not help but smile happily, warmth spreading through his heart. His rabbit truly cared a lot for him, otherwise he would not have rushed so quickly over to save him before he could hit the ground ...


    Due to the fierce battle, the metal half-mask concealing Li Lanfeng¡¯s upper face all this time had already slipped off. If someone had been able to see the radiant, heartfelt smile on his face right now, and if their resistance was a little low, they would have found their hearts captivated, regardless of whether they were male or female.


    "I¡¯m fine!" replied Li Lanfeng, smiling. His eyes felt a little hot, and he raised his hands to wipe away the sweat flowing down into his eyes. Even such a simple movement was very difficult for Li Lanfeng right now ¡ª he felt as if his two arms no longer belonged to him.


    "Your mecha has no more power to fight." Ling Lan swiftly examined Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha; the grey and dull outer shell of the mecha made her frown. In this kind of dangerous battlefield, it was very dangerous without the protection of a mecha ... Ling Lan instantly made her decision. "Later,e sit inside my mecha."


    "Ah, oh, okay!" Ling Lan¡¯s words startled Li Lanfeng, but he quickly caught himself and answered ecstatically. Did this prove that his performance this time had gained the rabbit¡¯s approval? At this thought, Li Lanfeng¡¯s entire being thrummed with excitement. His body, initially so tired that he could not even lift a finger, seemed to be infused with a second wind.


    He picked up the metal mask and ced it back on his face. When Ling Lan ced his mecha onto the ground, he opened the hatch of the cockpit and climbed outboriously. Of course, his movements now were not as neat as usual, perhaps even appearing rather awkward, because he had half-crawled half-stumbled out of his cockpit.


    He then climbed up from the ground and inched step by step to the feet of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha. This would have been an extremely simple set of movements under usual circumstances, but now, Li Lanfeng only managed it via a Herculean effort.


    Li Lanfeng had just arrived at the feet of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha when the boarding tform of the mecha settled onto the ground almost at the same time. Li Lanfeng smiled wryly ¡ª it looked like the rabbit was well aware of his current condition, able to estimate his arrival time so precisely. Although Li Lanfeng was somewhat frustrated and embarrassed by this, his joy and gratefulness quickly chased thoseplicated emotions away ... he took in a deep breath and then stepped firmly onto the tform.


    The tform rose slowly, and before it even arrived at the cockpit, Li Lanfeng could already see Ling Lan standing outside the cockpit, stretching a hand out towards him ...


    The corners of Li Lanfeng¡¯s lips quirked and he ced his hand firmly into Ling Lan¡¯s hand. Ling Lan¡¯s fingers were rather cold, but his palm was very warm. This warmth made Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart thump and settle ¡ª so, it felt this safe being held tightly by someone one trusted ...


    Just as Li Lanfeng was wrestling with his emotions, a powerful tug came from Ling Lan¡¯s hand. The next second, his entire body had been pulled by the other into the cockpit and thrown into the auxiliary seat ...


    "Sit tight!" ordered Ling Lan. Her cool gaze swept over Li Lanfeng, as if displeased at Li Lanfeng¡¯s dilly-dallying. This gaze made Li Lanfeng shiver, his mind jolting to rity in an instant. Those pointless musings in his heart werepletely swept away. He did not dare to dy any further, hurriedly buckling himself into the auxiliary seat with the seatbelt.


    Boo hoo hoo, he really did not want the rabbit to think of him as a burden !!! 1 Somewhat jittery, Li Lanfeng could feel none of his body¡¯s pain or difort. He was obviously much more agile when buckling himself in. Sure enough, when one¡¯s attention was diverted, there would be a painkilling effect.


    Seeing Li Lanfeng¡¯s quickened motions, Ling Lan closed the cockpit, satisfied, and activated her mecha. She had really been rather annoyed looking at the leopard¡¯s slow movements earlier; she truly was an impatient person ... it looked like she really needed to think of a n to help the leopard solve the problem of his physical constitutionpletely soon, thought Ling Lan.


    As there were no other enemies around, Ling Lan did not ask Little Four to employ emergency activation, choosing to activate the mecha normally. Two minutester, the mecha¡¯s regr activation waspleted.


    This was already Little Four dying things as much as he could bear. Otherwise, for the A.I. that had been optimized by Little Four, even regr activation would definitely bepleted within one minute. However, this speed would have been much too shocking and suspicious. Even an imperial mecha could notplete regr activation within one minute. Although Ling Lan trusted the leopard, the existence of Little Four was just too bizarre to exin. So, in order to avoid trouble and also to protect Little Four, Ling Lan still chose to cover things up a little.

 Chapter 379: The Truth is Revealed!

    Chapter 379: The Truth is Revealed!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Having activated her mecha, Ling Lan very quickly contacted the rest of the team and made the subsequent arrangements. Ling Lan felt that continuing to remain here was much too dangerous. After all, two batches of enemies had fallen here ¡ª if another batch of enemies came, they definitely would not be just one lone ace mecha squad anymore. It was very likely that two, or even three or more, ace mecha squads would arrive.


    Ling Lan had the confidence to go up against one ace operator, but Ling Lan was unsure whether she could take an additional ace. Moreover, she was also not the only one here now ¡ª there were still the other members of her team to ount for. Ling Lan needed to take responsibility for her team members¡¯ safety. After careful consideration, Ling Lan decided to retreat with her team and avoid the keenest edge of danger for the moment!


    Meanwhile, at that moment, in the centralmand centre of the starship fleet in space, two battlefield reports had been delivered to themander ...


    "You¡¯re saying that there have been reports from both locations that Qiao Ting has appeared?" Themander looked at the two locations on the map which were over ten kilometres apart and could not help but frown.


    "Yes, Commander. On one end is news sent by team-M ¡ª preliminary estimation is that the elite ace Tang Yu is bringing Qiao Ting along with him. It¡¯s only the two of them, and at present, it has been confirmed that one of the mecha is an ace trainee mecha of the military academy ... meanwhile, the other report came from the dormitory district. Our mecha troops there have discovered a batch of military academy trainee mecha among the ground forces. A majority of those trainee mecha are special-ss mecha, with just one of them being an ace mecha ..." The adjutant had pored over the information in detail the moment he had received the reports. Upon themander¡¯s questioning, he quickly spoke up to exin.


    "Actually having two ace trainee mecha appear at the same time ... could it be that two ace operators have emerged within the First Men¡¯s Military Academy?" Themander-in-chief stared at the two reports, his forehead scrunched up even tighter.


    "Unclear. The Huaxians have always been wily. This could just be a smokescreen, a ploy by the instructors, or there really could be two students who have managed to advance and the school had intentionally suppressed this information." The adjutant shared his spections with themander.


    "It looks like we can¡¯t pass on either of these two points. Regardless whether it is true or false, these trainee mecha need to bepletely wiped out." A cold glint shed through themander¡¯s eyes; he had not forgotten the ultimate goal of this operation.


    "That location of team-M, since there are two people, send two ace mecha squads over ..." Themander first gave this order.


    Thinking of something, the adjutant quickly notifiedmander, "Sir, before I reported to you, I had already sent an ace mecha team over."


    "So what¡¯s the current situation?" asked themander with a raised brow.


    The adjutant¡¯s expression was unsightly. "We still have not received any confirmed updates."


    "How long has it been since the team was deployed?" Themander¡¯s face turned grim.


    "It¡¯s already been 10 minutes." The adjutant too felt that things were not looking good for there to be no news after so long.


    "It looks like they¡¯ve probably met a bad end at that spot ..." themander¡¯s eyes shed. "It is very likely to be a trap ... but even if it¡¯s a trap, I still want this trap to be a conquest of ours. Send two more ace mecha squads to that location. We mustpletely eradicate the people lying in ambush there."


    "Yes, Commander!" the adjutant replied immediately.


    After issuing this order, themander walked over to the battle map disy, and the adjutant quickly hurried after him.


    Themander peered intently at those spots marking the areas where the battle was most intense, and after a thoughtful pause he said, "The dormitory district ... is the area with the greatest resistance. The bulk of our forces as well as the forces of our allies are caught up here ... Adjutant Gare, is the battle still deadlocked?"


    "Yes, Commander. The defending troops of Newline have already figured out our objective. They have ced all their martial forces at the dormitory district. Our previous few batches of mecha warriors suffered major casualties because the other side was ready for us. We¡¯ve lost many people and are currently disadvantaged in terms of numbers. Although we¡¯ve tried forcing our way through many times, the other side has been able to resist tenaciously." The adjutant reported the situation at the dormitory district to themander.


    Themander-in-chief once again picked up the reports the staff officer had brought him earlier and his brow scrunched up once more. "The ground artillery is too dense and ournding points are too concentrated ... can¡¯t we disperse ournding points further away?"


    The adjutant chuckled wryly and said, "The only safending point on Newline is this spot at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. The other undeveloped primal areas are all ssified as treacherous terrain. This was specially highlighted during our briefing with the intelligence bureau. Ournding points must not exceed the range of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy at all costs. Otherwise, the lives of our warriors will be in danger ..."


    Before themander could say anything, the adjutant added, "The facts prove that the information given to us by the intelligence bureau is urate. One of our allied mecha squads made an impromptu alteration to theirnding point to avoid the dense cannonfire, going beyond the safe areas we had marked out ... those people are still MIA 1 now. After repeated consideration and deduction, the final conclusion we arrived at is that the entire team was annihted ..."


    The adjutant¡¯s words made themander¡¯s facial expression change; the adjutant¡¯s expression had twisted as well as he said all this. He paused for a beat and then continued, "Just now, I have carefully studied the briefing file sent by the intelligence bureau again and found that those areas are all forbidden grounds. They are left there by the Huaxians for operators of ace level and above to attempt a breakthrough."


    Themander-in-chief¡¯s gaze narrowed in interest. "So the Huaxians have found such a great spot! No wonder they would often produce top-ss operators after a stretch of time. Moreover, with these forbidden grounds protecting the, with only the First Men¡¯s Military Academy situated here, this is a great way of savingbour and resources while providing peace of mind."


    With regards to the Huaxians¡¯ great luck, themander-in-chief was truly filled with envy-jealousy-hate! After a few seconds of silent contemtion, he finally made a decision. "Adjutant Gare, notify those below. Mobilize the ultimate tool."


    The adjutant raised his head, gaping with disbelief. The ultimate tool was something that was only allowed to be mobilised when the fleet was facing total annihtion. He did not expect themander-in-chief to vite this principle, actually ordering its mobilization while they were still attacking. If news of this ever leaked to the outside world, themander-in-chief would definitely receive censure from all sides, and may even be court-martialled.


    "Time is of the essence. Do not forget what our primary objective is." Themander-in-chief was not at all surprised by his adjutant¡¯s reaction. If possible, he too did not want to mobilise this ultimate n. However, the bestid ns of mice and men often go awry 2 ¡ª the sneak attack they had thought foolproof ended up being discovered by the ground forces of the enemy, resulting in mass casualties on their end, pushing the entire battle into a deadlock.


    Themander-in-chief knew very well that the longer the battle dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for them. At present, their satellite signal jamming technology could only hold out for four hours. As soon as the interference ended, they would be facing enemy reinforcements on all sides ...


    In the surrounding star space, themander-in-chief knew that there were fourrge Huaxian fleets prowling about. They were only able to cause trouble here for so long because the fleets did not know that Newline had been invaded. Once the interference time ended, the ground forces would be able to connect to their satellites again and transmit a distress signal. Those four fleets would definitely rush here at top speed to provide assistance. At that time, they would have to pay a heavy toll to escape, having no choice but to cut a bloody path through the enemies. And this was something themander did not wish to see.


    "Also, I¡¯ve found out that those allied forces outside have already begun to distrust us." A trace of frustration shed through themander-in-chief¡¯s eyes. "In order to salvage the situation and appease them, we need to do something impactful to let them know that everything is still within our control!" Besides, he was not at all nning to return fruitless. He was a staunch champion of the hegemony of the Empire ... even if he would be court-martialled, he still wanted toplete this mission for the empire.


    The adjutant became very serious in reaction to themander-in-chief¡¯s words. He too knew that those words spoken by the allied forces outside were indeed not very pleasing to the ear, some seeming to even suspect that the empire was purposefully using the allied troops as sacrificial pawns. Themander-in-chief had chosen this drastic step inrge part to shake off this bad name.


    Coming to terms with themander¡¯s decision, the adjutant quickly stood to attention and epted the order. "Yes, Sir! I¡¯ll immediately notify those below!"


    Themander-in-chief waved a hand, gaze shadowed as he looked down at the verdant below. He had already revealed all his cards ¡ª he hoped that this time things would turn out to his satisfaction.


    Subsequently, order after order was sent out from themand centre. Countless starships once again deployed countless mecha troops ¡ª among them was the secret weapon which themander-in-chief had called the ultimate tool ...


    In themand centre of the ground forces, when themander there received reports of more enemy mecha descending from space, his expression changed drastically, "Issue themand. Hold on no matter what." He tore his army cap from his head in a pique. The back of his crisp-pressed military uniform was already soaked with sweat ¡ª it was clear to see that the strategic nning over this period of time had already wrung him out mentally.


    "Are we still unable to contact the fleets at the other sectors?" Watching his orders being conveyed one by one down the line by the adjutant staff officer by his side, he could not help but look towards the soldier in charge ofmunications who had not stopped trying to establish contact with the other fleets.


    "We can¡¯t send any signals out. We can only passively receive signals from the satellite." Thems soldier was in a simr state as themander. The anxiety and stress over this period of time had also caused his uniform to be soaked through with sweat.


    "It looks like the other is using a signal jammer. The only lucky thing is that they only managed to jam outgoing signals and not shut us downpletely." Themander had actuallye to this conclusion a long time ago, but he had just been holding on to thatst bit of hope, unwilling to resign himself to the situation. At the thought of the opponent¡¯s jamming technology being just that bit stronger ... the already sweat-soaked military uniform was saturated even more with a new torrent of sweat from the resulting fear. Themander was well aware that if that had been the case, they would certainly be deader than dead right now, to say nothing of putting up any resistance and counterattacking.


    "Commander, thetest news from the frontlines say that this batch of mecha are mostly ace mecha and special-ss mecha." Without waiting for themander to finish being thankful, the news his subordinate brought made themander¡¯s heart sink.


    Themander knew very well that they had only been able to hold out for so long because the first few batches of enemy mecha invading from the skies werergely intermediate mecha and advanced mecha, with only the rare few ace mecha scattered among them ...


    "It looks like the enemy has pulled out all the stops now." Themander clenched his teeth and ordered, "Let the special-ss mecha task force holding the fort ¡ª all the mecha of special-ss and above ¡ª engage the enemy in battle."


    He had way too few ace operators on hand ... now, he could only rely on special-ss operators to use their lives to fend off the enemy. Hopefully, they would not have to wait till all their forces were wiped out for the reinforcements to arrive. A glimmer of pain passed through themander¡¯s eyes. In order to protect those students behind them, he had no choice but to make this painful decision.

 Chapter 380: Break Apart!

    Chapter 380: Break Apart!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    As Tang Yu¡¯s group, which had been providing support to the frontlines from the back via long-range attacks all this while, consisted of either ace or special-ss mecha, they received news of the new batch of iing enemy mecha a step earlier than the other regr mecha.


    Tang Yu swiftly locked onto an enemy mecha and zoomed in onto its image on his screens. When he saw the familiar outer forms of the mecha, Tang Yu¡¯s face paled involuntarily. He then quickly chose another few mecha from the iing enemy team at random, zooming in on them in session, and found that a majority of these enemy mecha were ace mecha and special-ss mecha, at a ratio of 1 ace to 4 special-ss mecha ... their numbers were as high as 500 mecha!


    Tang Yu knew that this was likely the enemy¡¯sst resort, a signal that the final showdown of this battle was about to begin!


    "Instructors of the academy at special-ss operator status and above, draw in towards my location immediately ..." As the instructor with the highest military rank, Tang Yu was decisive, instantly connecting to the internalmlink of the military academy instructors to issue this order.


    The instructors, who had initially been scattered around the campus, heard Tang Yu¡¯smand and quickly stopped shooting, operating their mecha in Tang Yu¡¯s direction. In less than a minute, these experienced instructors had all assembled by Tang Yu¡¯s side.


    Tang Yu shared the news he had received with all the instructors, splitting the instructors into several teams at the same time. He also told them that as soon as these enemy mecha entered the lower air range of Newline, they needed to surge forth and meet the enemy.


    On the ground, the ones defending the dormitory district were all the armoured ground forces of the Federation. As soon as the mes of battle spread out to scorch the ground, the first ones to suffer would be these warriors. This was why Tang Yu had decided to bring the battlefield into the air. Moreover, the dormitory district was right behind the armoured forces ¡ª inside were all those defenceless academy cadets. For the sake of the students¡¯ safety, Tang Yu would not allow a mecha fight to break out there.


    All the instructors knew that this was an extremely unfavourable battle for them, because the number of ace operators among the ground forces defending Newline was just too low. Even if they counted themselves in as well, their numbers were still a tad weaker than that of the invading enemy.


    Right at this moment, Qiao Ting, who had also rushed over and was now aware of the situation, asked anxiously, "Instructor Tang Yu, what should we do?"


    "Continue to work with the ground forces and provide long-range assistance!" Tang Yu did not dare to let Qiao Ting fight with them ¡ª once they went up against the enemy crowd of ace mecha, even he would not be able to guarantee his own safety, much less Qiao Ting¡¯s. For the students¡¯ safety, he felt that it would be better to keep them behind the lines of the ground forces.


    Tang Yu¡¯s order was not received well by Qiao Ting. He was an ace operator himself! He should be a bit stronger than the instructors who were still special-ss operators, right? If they could fight, then why couldn¡¯t he go too? He was about to argue his case when Tang Yu barked, "Qiao Ting, obey my orders!"


    Familiar with Tang Yu¡¯s character, Qiao Ting knew that Tang Yu had already made up his mind not to let him onto the battlefield. Continuing to plead was pointless, so he gritted his teeth and said sulkily, "Roger that, Instructor Tang Yu!"


    The enemy¡¯s descent was not fast but it was not slow either ¡ª five minutester, the first of the enemies officially entered the lower airspace of the. Seeing this, Tang Yu ordered, "Attack!"


    Command issued, Tang Yu was the first to charge into the fray. He revved his main engine and piloted his mecha to soar into the sky. Behind him, the instructors all swooped towards the descending enemies under his lead. Two batches of mecha ¡ª one from above, one from below ¡ª finally met in the air, 100 metres off the ground, and began their fight ...


    "Regiment Commander, what should we do now?" Seeing that Qiao Ting had not followed his instructor¡¯s orders to retreat to the backline of the ground forces, still standing rooted in ce, a member by his side could not help but ask.


    "At this kind of dangerous moment, how can we hide behind our instructors?" said Qiao Ting, pumped up. "I want to fight! I want to protect our academy! Those who want to fight, follow me. Those who want to obey the instructors and stay here can stay. I will not force anyone!"


    Qiao Ting¡¯s words caused his team members around him to fall silent. At this time, Qiao Ting¡¯s most loyal defender stood out once more in support to say, "The regimentmander is right. Now is the most critical moment for our military academy. How can we be cowards and hide behind the instructors? I will go with the regimentmander."


    Seeing the other members continue to remain silent, his tone was scornful as he said, "Have you all forgotten the oath you swore before the military g when you first entered the military academy? Those who don¡¯t even have the guts to protect their own academy are not worthy of piloting mecha!"


    Many of the members were unable to ept this usation; provoked, they all spoke up, "I¡¯ll go!" "Me too!" "And me!" Eleven members shouted in near unison.


    In the end, there were only three left who still remained silent. Qiao Ting asked them coldly, "You all n to stay behind?"


    After another beat of silence, one of the three finally opened his mouth. "Instructor Tang Yu told us to stay here. I think we should listen to the instructor. The first lesson we learned was to obey orders from our superiors and not to act on our own impulses."


    Qiao Ting¡¯s gaze narrowed at these words, his entire aura turning frigid. The other regiment members sensed something strange in the air; just as one of the other members were about to try and counsel those three, Qiao Ting said, "In that case, you three can stay here." That said, he turned and said to the twelve members who wanted to go with him and said, "The rest of you, follow me!"


    As soon as he finished speaking, Qiao Ting was the first to pilot his mecha in a sprint towards the inner regions of the military academy. The twelve members dared not say anything, immediately controlling their mecha in pursuit. Very soon, Qiao Ting¡¯s group of 13 had been swallowed by the night, leaving the range of the dormitory district.


    The three people left behind watched as Qiao Ting¡¯s figure disappeared. The mecha who had responded to Qiao Ting suddenly slumped as tension bled out of its frame, almost losing his footing. The other two reflexively tugged on his arms to support him, thus preventing the other from falling down.


    "Just now, I really thought the regimentmander would fly off the handle," said the unsteady member with a wry smile.


    "Me too!" The two mecha supporting him had felt the same.


    "I¡¯m worried whether the regimentmander is just biding his time to deal with uster 1 ?" asked one of the mecha worriedly.


    "If we are all still alive then, definitely. The regimentmander will never let us go for defying him. However, if we are lucky enough to survive, I n to quit Leiting." That member who had spoken up against Qiao Ting said determinedly.


    His words shocked the other two mecha beside him. Mind you, once someone quit from Leiting, they would be viewed by the whole Leiting Mecha n as deserters. They would definitely find their every step constricted within the military academy.


    "The exams that need to be taken have all been taken anyhow. At that time, I¡¯ll just request to be sent to some unexplored territory for practical training. By the time I return, it would already be time to enlist ..." That person was not making this decision blindly. He had long prepared for this eventuality; this was also what had given him the courage to defy Qiao Ting¡¯s order.


    "The regimentmander will go to the Third Division. This is already something that has been finalised. He¡¯s entering directly, exempt from being assessed. I heard this was approved personally by the Third Marshal," eximed another regiment member enviously. This was definitely a glorious matter. It was said that only General Ling Xiao had ever enjoyed such a distinction back in the past. Back then, it had been the Second Marshal, now the First Marshal, who had taken a shine to General Ling Xiao and personally appointed and approved his enlistment into his own army division without going through the regr assessments.


    "You can¡¯t enlist with the Third Division anymore. You might not even be able to enlist with any of the divisions on friendly terms with the Third." Even as cadets, they knew that the army divisions had their respective factions. Once Qiao Ting established himself in the Third Division, if they enlisted with any other divisions within the same faction, their lives would not be easy.


    "I will enlist with the 23rd Division," dered that person with conviction. "I¡¯m uncertain about the other divisions, but the 23rd Division, General Ling Xiao¡¯s division, will definitely have nothing to do with the Third Division. Besides, Boss Huo and his gang are also at the 23rd Division. Perhaps the regimentmander might be the second General Ling Xiao in future, a true elite among elites, but I still think following Boss Huo is a much more reassuring and secure decision."


    Regiment Commander Qiao Ting was just too proud ¡ª once he had made a decision, he was not able to ept any advice or dissent from others. Even though this could be taken as the confidence a sessful person needed to have, he felt that Qiao Ting was overconfident. This meant nothing good for the future development of the regimentmander, and this was also why he had used Instructor Tang Yu¡¯s orders as a legitimate excuse to refuse to follow Qiao Ting.


    His words made the other two fall into silent contemtion. A few secondster, one of them said with a wry smile, "Let me see for a while longer. After all, that¡¯s all things that haven¡¯t happened yet. Let¡¯s just focus on how to survive right now."


    His words were extremely reasonable. The three of them no longer had any mood to chat. If they did not manage to survive this battle, all talk of the future was moot. Very soon, they had piloted their mecha back to the rear of the ground forces. They began to carry out their previous duty ¡ª shooting their beam guns from far away, helping to keep the enemies attacking the forces at the front at bay.


    As they fought, the other member who had not uttered a peep all this while secretly connected to themlink of the member who had said he wanted to enlist with the 23rd Division and said, "When you apply for enlistment with the 23rd Division, let me know."


    Hearing this, the member who had argued back against Qiao Ting smiled. It looked like he was not the only one who saw the problem with Qiao Ting ...


    Right then, on Qiao Ting¡¯s end, he was swiftly leading his twelve members in a sprint away from the dormitory district. Qiao Ting was confident, but he also knew that they were surrounded by enemy mecha. For them inexperienced cadets to find a lucky break in the chaos was impossible. If they wanted to make any impact with theirbat power and have a fighting chance as cadets, they would need to get further away from the main battlefield.


    Qiao Ting believed that there were sure to be scattered enemy mecha at the other areas of the military academy. And Qiao Ting¡¯s target was precisely these isted enemy mecha ¡ª this was also why he wanted to bring his twelve members away for a change of battlefield.


    Unknowingly, the mecha team Qiao Ting was leading and the mecha team Ling Lan was leading in retreat right at that moment were actually travelling on the same route. However, one was moving closer to the dormitory district in order to ensure their safety, while the other had chosen to distance themselves from the dormitory district in order to gain battle merits ...


    The battle continued to rage on, and seemed to be intensifying as the fighting progressed. Both the warriors of the Federation and the instructors of the academy werepletely embroiled in the whirlwind of battle. Other than fighting, they could only fight and fight and fight some more. As long as they did not die, they continued to fight without stopping. No one could tell when this battle would end ...

 Chapter 381: General Ling!

    Chapter 381: General Ling!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    From the time they had discovered the aerial invasion till now, two hours had psed unknowingly. The night was still very dark, and the enemy still had not been able to break through the defensive line of the ground forces. Meanwhile, the enemies who had just appeared had not made much impact due to the desperate resistance from all the special-ss mecha of the Federation forces. The battle was once again mired in a deadlock.


    Themander of the ground forces had grown numb in the face of wave after wave of casualty reports. He went from deep heartache to unfeeling numbness, because he himself had no idea whether he would share the same fate as many of these warriors, sacrificed in the battle on this ...


    "Look, what¡¯s that up above ...?" A staff officer suddenly cried out in surprise. He was the one tasked with monitoring the battlefield, and right now, his eyes were riveted on therge screen on the wall of themand centre.


    At this cry, themander quickly raised his head from the mass of reports before him, and his eyes immediately noticed two radiant mecha almost bright enough to dazzle his eyes in the air above the dormitory district. That familiar form caused him to lose control and shout, "Godd*mmit! They actually dare to vite the terms of the joint deration!"


    Right then, on the battlefield, almost everyone had noticed the two mecha hovering in the air. The mecha¡¯s outer forms were just toorge and bright ¡ª it was practically impossible to miss them. It was like someone had hit the pause button on the initially fierce battlefield; both sides stopped fighting in unnned unison.


    Imperial mecha were forbidden from appearing in regr battlefields, but now two had inexplicably appeared in the airspace above Newline. They stood tall and proud as they looked down on the battlefield below.


    When the enemy fighters saw the emblem on the chests of the two imperial mecha, they instantly emitted an earth-shattering cheer. In contrast, the defensive troops of Newline, all of the Federation warriors including the academy instructors, were swamped by an emotion that felt a lot like despair.


    Tang Yu had just destroyed an ace mecha when he heard the horrified gasps of the other instructors around him. And right after that, the entire battlefield descended into a kind of cold stillness. Bewildered, he lifted his head, and when he saw the two mecha hovering in the air, his pupils contracted, and his hands which had been busy operating his mecha stiffened ...


    Tang Yu reflexively shot a nce at the dormitory district ¡ª he could almost see what the final fate of the people remaining here would be already. He suddenly thought of something and swiftly checked the location of his pet disciple Qiao Ting. Unexpectedly, he found that the other had already departed the range of the dormitory district and was heading into the depths of the military academy.


    Tang Yu could not help but feel both shocked and delighted. Shocked that Qiao Ting had not obeyed his orders, acting on his own to leave the protected area ... if anything had happened, he would not have been able to rush over in time to help. Delighted because, even though Qiao Ting had disobeyed him, he had made a fortuitous mistake in leaving the dormitory district. Perhaps this way, he may have a chance of surviving.


    Yes, Tang Yu did not believe that they would be able to survive the attacks of an imperial operator. It was foreseeable that anyone who remained in the dormitory district, whether it were soldiers or instructors, or even those students under the protection of the beam shield, would be unable to escape death in the end.


    Having no other recourse, Tang Yu¡¯s gaze turned cold as he made an instant decision. He would lead all the instructors here and try their best to hold these two imperial mecha here as long as possible, giving Qiao Ting¡¯s group more time to run away.


    The two imperial mecha saw that the entire battlefield had frozen for several seconds at their emergence, bing deathly silent, and their hearts were filled with pride and satisfaction. They stared with cool disinterest down at the people below ¡ª the Huaxian ground forces and the ace operators in their ranks were like nothing more than ants in the imperial mecha¡¯s eyes.


    At this moment, one of the imperial mecha asked the other tonelessly, "What have you found?"


    "I see two batches of baby catfish 1 trying to meet up, hehe ..." the other imperial mecha suddenly cackled.


    "Is it the target?" The imperial mecha who had first spoken could not help but raise an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. He did not expect to be so lucky, discovering their target right from the get-go.


    " Most probably 2 . Those baby catfish are all trainee mecha of the academy. Two of them are even ace trainee mecha. They should be the two targets centralmand has assigned to us. Parker, I¡¯ll leave this end to you. I¡¯ll go handle those little catfish, and once I¡¯m done, we can return." The other imperial mecha could not help but lick his lips in anticipation. Compared to being a humanoid cannon without any need for skill or technique, he still much preferred teasing baby catfish and having some fun.


    "Don¡¯t go overboard." The imperial mecha which had first spoken could not help but warn the other. It seemed like the two imperial mecha had a good rtionship.


    "Chill, chill. When have I notpleted a mission?" replied the other imperial mecha. Immediately after, he had operated his mecha to disappear into the night sky ...


    Tang Yu, who had been closely observing the two imperial mecha all this time, saw one of them abruptly disappear and his heart clenched. "Where did he go?"


    Before he could search for the other¡¯s tracks, the remaining imperial mecha suddenly drew a giant cylindrical weapon almost as tall as the mecha itself from behind it. Tang Yu¡¯s face changed drastically at the sight and he shouted, "Dodge!"


    As an elite ace, Tang Yu had veryprehensive knowledge of the imperial mecha he would be using once he advanced. The weapon the opponent had brought out was precisely the most powerful and horrifying beam energy weapon imperial mecha had ¡ª¡ª Line of Oblivion! As long as one was hit by the weapon, even an imperial mecha of the same level would only be able to survive by exhausting all of its power on its King Shield. Any mecha below imperial mecha absolutely could not survive a blow from this weapon. The only way to escape was to leave the attack range of the Line of Oblivion, which was why Tang Yu had immediately yelled out for his side to run.


    "Boom!" The round cylinder in the imperial mecha¡¯s hands suddenly shot out a violet-ck beam. At the moment it discharged, even a mecha as powerful as the imperial mecha could not keep its bnce ¡ª the entire mecha was sent flying backwards; it was clear to see how powerful the kickback of this cannon was.


    Thanks to Tang Yu¡¯s warning, all the Federation mecha in the air swiftly flew out of the trajectory of the beam. Still, even so, several mecha who did not react fast enough were grazed by the violet-ck beam. Even this tiny bit of contact was enough for the power contained by the beam to blow these mecha apart, turning them into hunks of debris before being vaporized to disappear without a trace into the air.


    This one shot of the imperial mecha¡¯s cannon had been targeting the armoured ground forces fighting against the enemy mecha. Just one shot, and a circr ck space appeared right in the centre of the neat rectangr formation of the armoured troops. Those troops standing within the circle had been swallowed by a wave of ck, simrly disappearing without a trace ...


    "This is too horrific. We have no way of resisting this!" At the sight, one of the staff officers in groundmand was unable to take the pressure and copsed to his knees, wailing. Although imperial mecha were unable to determine the oue of a battlefield outright like god-ss mecha, the ground forces of the Federation which were already at a disadvantage just had no spare energy to resist against the enemy mecha anymore after receiving this devastating blow.


    This spineless behaviour of the staff officer would normally have drawn the scorn and rebuke of others, but everyone in themand centre had been shocked dumb by this strike. Themand centre was extraordinarily silent, desperation and despair spreading out like a shroud.


    The imperial mecha saw that he had managed to wipe out almost one-sixth of the armoured ground forces with just one shot and nodded in satisfaction. "Truly impressive. This is the true value of us imperial operators ..."


    After saying that, the imperial operator stabilised his mecha and raised the cylinder once more. This time, he was aiming for the area several li behind the armoured troops, the radiantly shining dormitory district ...


    "What a great target!" The imperial operator licked in his lips excitedly. As long as he utterly destroyed that area, their mission would be halfpleted. How funny that these Huaxians, thinking they were so smart, had created such a district-wide beam shield. This saved him a lot of effort, allowing him to find the target he wanted to hit so easily. It was just so bloody convenient.


    Tang Yu, who had just led the instructors to evade the trajectory of the beam, saw where the cylinder was aimed at and could not help but cry, "Stop! Bastard!" He operated his mecha over in an attempt to prevent the attack, but it was already toote. The opponent pulled the trigger and another violet-ck beam shot out from the cylinder ...


    "Boom!" The violet-ck beam struck the beam shield of the dormitory district without mercy. The beam shield shattered instantly, but the beam was not weakened significantly. In the next moment, it sted its way into the dormitory district. Many buildings were immediately consumed by the violet-ck beam, and one-tenth of the initially lovely and tranquil dormitory district was gone.


    Witnessing this, tears formed in Tang Yu¡¯s fierce gaze. Right when the beam struck its target, he could almost see the cadets inside being vaporised in the spray of dust and ash, and his heart twisted with anguish.


    "Ain¡¯t this ce big ..." The imperial mecha grumbled, before once again lifting its cylinder to aim at the dormitory district, preparing to fire the second round of the Line of Oblivion.


    "Stop, godd*mmit!" Tang Yu became frenzied. Without hesitation, he made his mecha leap towards the imperial mecha. Even though he knew this was suicidal, he just could not stand idly by and watch as the children died here ...


    "How impudent!" The imperial mecha saw an ace mecha charging like a reckless fool at him, trying to stop him from firing the Line of Oblivion. Sneering, he pulled the trigger, sending another violet-ck beam shooting out of the cannon to barrel towards Tang Yu¡¯s mecha ...


    "Major Tang Yu!" the instructors all shouted in horror. Everyone there knew that as soon as the Line of Oblivion hit, Tang Yu was very unlikely to survive. Just as the violet-ck beam was about to consume Tang Yu¡¯s mecha whole ...


    With a loud "boom!" the violet-ck beam was abruptly stopped in its tracks by a powerful wave of energy. The beam then quickly dissipated, and amazingly, Tang Yu¡¯s mecha reappearedpletely undamaged. What in the world had happened?


    Even Tang Yu himself was equally stunned and confused. He had charged forwards, ready to sacrifice himself, hoping that he could exhaust as much of the power behind the Line of Oblivion¡¯s attack as possible so that the dormitory district below would receive less damage. Unexpectedly, in that split second before he would have been struck by the attack, a pale blue beam had suddenlye from a distance to intercept the Line of Oblivion, saving him.


    He instinctively looked in the direction where the pale blue beam hade from. In the night sky above, a mecha was flying here at high speed. A few secondster, the mecha appeared before everyone¡¯s eyes ...


    Tang Yu teared up when he saw this mecha. Like a bullied child who had finally caught sight of a dependable adult, he could not help but cry out, "General Ling!"


    Tang Yu had shouted this through his mecha¡¯s loudspeakers, so everyone on the battlefield heard this cry loud and clear!

 Chapter 382: Daddy is Here!

    Chapter 382: Daddy is Here!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The words ¡¯General Ling¡¯ reverberated like thunder across the entire battlefield, jolting everyone¡¯s hearts. The two sides which had been at each other¡¯s throats abruptly stopped fighting, looking up at the mecha which had appeared so unexpectedly.


    This mecha was much bigger and grander than the imperial mecha. The imperial mecha, which was already one size bigger than regr mecha, was just like a petite maiden, appearing extremely feeble inparison. It possessed a ssic and simple outer form unlike other mecha. The zing phoenix totem on its chest and the five stars symbolizing its nationality emzoned on its right arm could be clearly seen by everyone present.


    All of this stirred up everyone on the battlefield. The warriors of the Huaxia Federation were shouting in excitement, uncoordinated chants of ¡¯General Ling¡¯ slowly merging into a unified chorus ... they were suffused with joy, and there were even many warriors who had tears streaming down their faces as they cheered.


    In contrast, the mes of arrogance stoked by the reinforcement of the imperial operator were instantly dampened. Some mecha operators were even so terrified that they began to retreat ¡ª it was clear to see how nerve-wracking the emergence of this mecha was to them.


    If it could be said that the battlefield had previously been plunged into silence by the appearance of the two imperial mecha, then the appearance of this mecha had caused the entire battle to freeze. The enemies, in particr, were scared stiff.


    This was because everyone knew the identity behind this mecha who had suddenly descended upon the battlefield to block the imperial mecha¡¯s horrific attack. He was one of the twelve god-ss operators of the Federation, the god-ss operator termed to be the strongest in the future ¡ª he was one of the ten great generals of the Huaxia Federation, Ling Xiao!


    Ling Xiao¡¯s reputation did not only echo throughout Huaxia; he was an awe-inspiring existence across the whole world. The enemies knew very well that the moment they made any wrong move, Ling Xiao would definitely eliminate them in a heartbeat. Against such an ultimate weapon, they had no chance of victory.


    In the groundmand centre, themander there gave himself a hard p as soon as he saw Ling Xiao suddenly appear. The sharp pain woke him up, and he beganughing wildly even as his eyes began to redden. Mumbling to himself, he said, "General Ling has reallye. He¡¯s here, he¡¯s here ... victory will inevitably be ours, the Huaxia Federation¡¯s!" That final phrase was shouted at top volume. It was clear to see how much he had struggled and suffered in the battle thus far. And now, he could finally let it all out.


    This cry of his jolted all the other staff in themand centre out of their stunned stupor. They immediately began to dance and cheer ¡ª within the span of a few short minutes, they had risen from the pits of despair to having hope again. Several officers with weaker hearts even slumped to the ground, unable to get up in the interim as they both cried andughed in relief.


    Rushing onto the scene, Ling Xiao¡¯s gaze had turned instantly to where Ling Lan lived on campus. When he saw thick clouds of smoke billowing from the dormitory district and the chaos and destruction within it, his gaze turned cold as he realised he had still been a step toote.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s heart was filled with frustration and anxiety; he did not know whether his daughter was alright. Though typically calm, he finally could not suppress the killing intent in his heart. Without hesitation, he raised the gun in his hands and aimed it at the imperial mecha who had caused this terrible scene.


    He absolutely would not allow this imperial mecha who may have harmed his precious daughter to escape his grasp. He would make the other pay the price in blood!


    "Ling Xiao, you cannot do this." The imperial operator sensed a great threat; he knew that the other¡¯s killing intent had been invoked. Once one entered the imperial realm, they would be able to sense an opponent¡¯s killing intent.


    The imperial operator knew very well that he was no match for a god-ss operator. Against a god-ss operator, other than rivals of the same rank, the only other way to deal with them was to rely on a considerable number of fearless imperial operators to employ mutual destruction methods ... perhaps then there would still be some chance of injuring the other. Take a good look ¡ª that¡¯s only to injure, not destroy. At their level, no miraculous cross-level upset was possible.


    "If you kill me, you¡¯ll vite the international joint deration," barked the imperial operator.


    "Since the moment you first chose to open fire and shoot, you have already lost the right to say that to me," replied Ling Xiao coldly. Anyone who dared touch his daughter should be prepared to die.


    Ling Xiao pulled the trigger without hesitation, and a pale blue beam shot out from the muzzle of the gun, heading straight for the opponent¡¯s mecha.


    The imperial operator instantly kicked his mecha into sh evasion. In the blink of an eye, the imperial mecha had already dashed several hundred metres from his original location. Everyone on the ground saw the imperial mecha evade the beam Ling Xiao had shot. However, just as the Federation warriors were about to sigh and the enemy cheer, the very next second, everything changed. Everyone stared in silent stupefaction at the imperial mecha, unable to make any sound.


    The right arm of the imperial mecha which had already shed a hundred or so metres away had actually been destroyed. That massive Line of Oblivion which had been hoisted on his right shoulder slipped due to the loss of support to crash heavily into the ground, making a loud crash.


    What in the world had happened? Very soon, some of the mecha operators with quick minds quickly realised that the imperial mecha¡¯s right arm must have been destroyed by that beam Ling Xiao had shot. But, how had the beam which had already been evaded still manage to strike the imperial mecha¡¯s arm?


    Almost everyone was unable to figure it out,pletely baffled, because they did not believe that their eyes could have been mistaken. Only Tang Yu¡¯s gaze shed, a trace of confusion on his brow despite having some vague sh ofprehension that he just could not put words to.


    Only the imperial operator who had been shot knew exactly how he had been hit. When the opponent had fired, he had used the highest form of shooting skill ¡ª¡ª Temporal Shadow!


    Temporal Shadow was actually a form of illusion ¡ª that is, the speed and the beam of light seen by the attacker were in fact all fake. In other words, when Ling Xiao had shot, the opponent had already fallen victim to a kind of misperception; this was an ability that only god-ss operators could possess. The imperial operator only understood because he had once received some guidance from a god-ss operator in his own country. The imperial operator felt that he might have already been hit even before he evaded ¡ª it¡¯s just that he had only noticed it after he evaded.


    This was a god-ss operator ¡ª he had no way to resist! The imperial operator finally experienced the same helplessness ace operators felt when they faced him ... Before he could regain his mental bnce, a dark shadow had already appeared in front of him.


    Pow pow pow pow! Four beams of cold light shed by and in the next second, the imperial mecha¡¯s sole remaining left arm had been sliced cleanly off. The final blow of the sword pierced mercilessly through the imperial mecha¡¯s cockpit. With Ling Xiao¡¯s capabilities, he could certainly have finished off the opponent in one blow. However, it would be hard to quell Ling Xiao¡¯s rage with just one blow ...


    The imperial mecha, who had strutted around proudly, terrorizing the entire battlefield, was eliminated so efficiently ¡ª everyone present at the scene was gobsmacked. Although they had always known that god-ss mecha were ultimate weapons of the human world, that was after all just a legend. Many warriors would never witness a god-ss mecha operator in battle all their lives, and so they would never trulyprehend what that description truly meant. Right then, after truly seeing a god-ss operator in action, they finally understood why only god-ss mecha were called the ultimate weapons of the human world ... the imperial mecha which had so frightened them was nothing before the god-ss mecha. Like any other mecha before a god-ss mecha, its existence was at the level of an ant.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s rage was not appeased by destroying one imperial mecha; in the next moment, he had already appeared in the air above the armoured troops.


    "Activate Divine Punishment system!" His own daughter¡¯s life hung in the bnce because of these intruders. Ling Xiao¡¯s heart was surging with killing intent ¡ª without hesitation, he unleashed the god-ss mecha¡¯s most fearsome weapon, the Divine Punishment system.


    "Command received by , Divine Punishment activated!" In less than a second, twelve beautiful wings unfurled from god-ss mecha ¡¯s back ¡ª the wings absorbed energy rapidly, reaching its peak level in the blink of an eye.


    "Fire!" Ling Xiao said icily as he pressed the trigger in his hands without mercy. Twelve beams of light swept towards the enemy formations held off by the armoured troops, leaving white spots in everyone¡¯s vision for several seconds ... when the light faded and everyone¡¯s vision returned to normal, twelvenes of white space had been carved into the ground. In the spaces, there was no longer any sign of mecha, not even debris ¡ª it was as if the mecha had been instantly vaporized.


    This devastating firepower once again drove the point home on why god-ss mecha were called the ultimate weapons of the human world ¡ª nothing could stand in the way of this power.


    One round of Divine Punishment had almost wiped out half of the enemy mecha; the entire enemy camp suddenly appeared so empty and insubstantial. Ling Xiao¡¯s rage was only slightly alleviated; ending his attack, he once more teleported to hover in the air and decisively took charge of the general military-widemlink and ordered, "All forces, attack! Clear the battlefield!" Since they dared to invade, then they should be prepared to die ¡ª Ling Xiao had never intended for any of these enemies to leave the alive.


    "Yes, sir!" At Ling Xiao¡¯smand, all of the Huaxian soldiers responded spiritedly. They had been lifted from despair to hope over the course of a few minutes, and had now seen the budding fruit of victory from the heights of hope. Right then, they were fully motivated ¡ª the frustration from fighting at a disadvantage,pletely overpowered, had finally disappeared. All of the warriors were bursting with energy, leaping towards those remaining enemy mecha like a pack of hungry wolves ...


    While everyone charged at the remaining enemies, only Tang Yu flew towards Ling Xiao, shouting, "General Ling, there is still one more imperial mecha. He has already infiltrated the military academy ..."


    Ling Xiao had already been nning to go check on Ling Lan in the dormitory district. Hearing what Tang Yu said, his heart clenched ¡ª for the other imperial mecha to let go of the obvious battle merits here to secretly infiltrate the school, what exactly was the other after?


    Ling Xiao had the same thought as Ling Lan. The very first thing that came to mind was ¡ª could it be that his daughter¡¯s actions at the Swift Dragon base had been exposed? However, Ling Xiao very quickly eliminated this possibility. Although he had been staying at the military academy for the past period of time, he had still remained well-informed of the situation on the outside. There had been no sign at all that the Caesar Empire had sensed anything new ...


    Suddenly, Ling Xiao¡¯s face shifted subtly, and in the very next second, he had vanished from Tang Yu¡¯s sight. Only his words echoed in the air, "Leave it to me!"


    Ling Xiao unstintingly expended his mecha¡¯s power to utilize the Divine Wind system. Just a moment before, he had received a message from his daughter. The message consisted of only a set of coordinates, along with one word: Help!


    Ling Xiao was consumed with worry and rage ¡ª he could almost guarantee that thatst bloody imperial mecha must be at those coordinates!


    "Lan-er, hold on for another 5 seconds. Daddy will be there soon~!" Ling Xiao was very confident that he would definitely be able to rush to the scene within 5 seconds using the Divine Wind system. However, he also knew that, up against an imperial mecha, 5 seconds could very well already decide whether his daughter would live or die ...

 Chapter 383: A Game!

    Chapter 383: A Game!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    After the other imperial mecha abruptly left the dormitory district, it arrived at an area several kilometres away several secondster, where it then intercepted the Thunder King¡¯s gang which had been sneaking away from the dormitory district.


    Seeing this enemy imperial mecha which had suddenly appeared before them, even the confident Thunder King Qiao Ting instantly lost hisposure. His first reaction was to lead his team members to run in a desperate bid for escape.


    "What a bunch of limp eggs!" said the imperial operator scornfully. He looked towards the distance ¡ª on the escape path this group had chosen, a team of eight mecha was heading right towards them in this direction ...


    "Perhaps, I can y a fun game." A creepy smile emerged on the imperial operator¡¯s lips; this was his favourite game.


    Havinge to some decision, the imperial operator did not choose to destroy the Thunder King¡¯s group directly. Instead, he tailed them like an unshakeable shadow, slowly yet surely. At the same time, he enforced signal interference onto this sector, making it impossible for the two mecha teams to discover each other¡¯s presence beforehand with their radars ...


    "Eh?" The imperial operator suddenly cried out in surprise. He had noticed the eight mecha rushing here suddenly stop ¡ª could it be that they had sensed something? The imperial operator immediately denied this possibility, because the interference function of an imperial mecha was unable to be cracked by mecha other than god-ss mecha.


    "How troublesome!" The other party¡¯s subsequent actions puzzled the imperial mecha and soured his mood. He could not help but curse and mutter under his breath before disappearing in a sh.


    Running for their lives, at the brink of despair, the Thunder King¡¯s group suddenly found that the imperial mecha chasing after them all this while had suddenly vanished. Unable to help themselves, all of the mecha fell to their knees ¡ª the only one who managed to stay on his feet was the Thunder King ...


    "He¡¯s letting us go?" Qiao Ting asked disbelievingly. Had that butcher¡¯s knife hanging high above their heads truly just gone away? The Thunder King really wondered if he was dreaming.


    "That person is gone. He must have decided to let us go," answered one of his team members, panting. He was very grateful to keep his life ¡ª when they had been running earlier with the imperial mecha hot on their tail, he had really thought that they were all done for.


    "Boss, while that person is away, let us quickly leave this ce!" Another member was still extremely frightened. Even though his stamina was almost depleted by their desperate dash for survival earlier, he still felt that it was better to leave this dangerous location as soon as they could.


    "Then, where should we go? We have no idea where the enemy has gone. What if we just happen to choose the same direction that person is heading towards? Isn¡¯t that just asking for trouble?" Yet another member nced at his radar and saw that everything was empty on it. This meant that there were no other mecha within a ten-kilometre radius of them, making it seem as if this spot was very safe. However, the more things appeared this way, the harder it felt for him to make a decision.


    "Let¡¯s just go back to the dormitory district. There are Federation troops there, and Instructor Tang Yu is there too." Someone suggested that they head back from whence they came. In their minds, Instructor Tang Yu was the strongest ¡ª perhaps he could protect them. Besides, there was both power and safety in numbers.


    "No, I believe that it would be even more dangerous there. Didn¡¯t you see how all the enemies focused their attacks there? I¡¯m wondering whether that imperial mecha has gone over to reinforce the forces at the dormitory district. If he has really gone there, even if Instructor Tang Yu is there, he won¡¯t be able to handle it," said Qiao Ting with a bitter smile. Even though Instructor Tang Yu was a king of aces, against an imperial operator, he was equally vulnerable.


    Of course, although Qiao Ting did not want to go back for the reason he had mentioned, there was still another reason for his resistance. He had domineeringly led his group of twelve away earlier because he had wanted to earn battle merits and establish himself ¡ª if he ran back now with his tail between his legs, Qiao Ting felt that it would be just too great a loss of face. He did not want to go back and be the butt of jokes for those three members who had refused toe with him.


    "Yes, the regimentmander is right." The member most supportive of Qiao Ting once again jumped out to back Qiao Ting¡¯s decision.


    "It¡¯s better for us to continue moving forwards in this direction. If the imperial operator was nning to head this way anyway, I really can¡¯t figure out why he would choose to disappear on his own. Wouldn¡¯t it have made more sense to keep following us?" Qiao Ting bit out, then finally chose to continue with his previous course.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s words were undoubtedly logical. Moreover, he was also the regimentmander, so even if some of the members had some reservations, they could only tag along since the majority agreed with their leader ...


    Meanwhile, on Ling Lan¡¯s end, her team had been charging at high speed towards the dormitory district when she suddenly stopped. As soon as Ling Lan stopped, without her having to say a word, the rest of her team members tacitly stopped moving as well. They silently spread out around Ling Lan ¡ª highly used to working together, they knew what to do. They believed that their team leader would not have stopped for no reason; he must have noticed something.


    Ling Lan had stopped because, inside her mindspace, Little Four had suddenly shouted a warning that there was an enemy ahead and that this enemy was actually an imperial mecha!


    This news stunned Ling Lan. She immediately chose to stop her mecha, turning in her mind to ask Little Four what exactly was going on.


    Little Four was also very distressed. Hands wrapped around his head, he said in disbelief, "I also can¡¯t figure it out. Doesn¡¯t this world have a joint deration that mecha above ace level are not allowed to appear on a battlefield?"


    "Boss, we better change directions and run! The other has most likely already noticed us ..." Little Four had some shielding ability, but he was not confident that his shielding would work as wlessly against an imperial mecha. He immediately suggested that his boss temporarily run away to avoid the enemy.


    "Okay!" replied Ling Lan decisively. She signalled for her team members to follow her, turning 90 degrees left in a swift escape ...


    Backtracking along their original route, they would certainly bump into the unidentified enemy ¡ª Ling Lan naturally did not want to take the risk. Also, if they turned right instead, they would indirectly shorten the distance between them and the imperial mecha ¡ª Ling Lan did not want to chance it. Only by turning left and heading up could they put as much distance as they could between them and the imperial mecha.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s team had not even flown this way for 10 seconds when Little Four yelled out, "He¡¯s found us! He has given up on his original prey and is rushing towards us ... estimated time of arrival, 10 seconds!" This final phrase was said with a whine, because Little Four really could not think of any way for them to escape from the demonic clutches of the imperial operator.


    Ling Lan gritted her teeth at those words, once again putting the brakes on her rapid sprint. She abruptly turned her head around to shout, "Prepare to fight!"


    This cry of Ling Lan¡¯s instantly caused her well-trained team to stop and turn around like Ling Lan to get ready to face the enemy. At the same time, they took the weapons hanging on their backs into their hands.


    Just when they had finished doing all this, in the night sky above them, a huge mecha appeared out of thin air. Its glorious and lovely chassis made everyone¡¯s face change. Familiar with mecha of every level, they naturally recognised that this was an imperial mecha.


    At the same time, they also understood now why Boss Lan had asked them to prepare for battle. Before an imperial operator, it was utterly impossible to escape by running. As such, they might as well choose to fight ¡ª even if they died, they would at least die with some dignity.


    "How interesting, actually able to choose death so calmly ..." Seeing how this group made apletely different decision from the previous group, the imperial mecha was exhrated. The more he saw how brave and upstanding they were, the more he felt like abusing them. He wanted to see what these people would choose to do in the face of death ¡ª would they heroically leap to their death, or would they betray their principles to live?


    "I will give you all one chance to live. Go back to the path you all were using previously, and you will encounter a group of people with 13 mecha. As long as you all kill everyone in the other group, I¡¯ll let you all go!" The imperial mecha suddenly turned on its external speakers to tell Ling Lan¡¯s team.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze narrowed. "If I¡¯m not mistaken, that group must be from our side. You want to see us fight amongst ourselves?"


    Apuse rang out from the other¡¯s speakers, and the imperial operator¡¯s sinister voice quickly followed, "You¡¯re very smart! Yes, indeed, I really want to see you all fighting and killing each other. And this just so happens to be your only chance to survive. Refuse, and the oue for both your teams is death, though you will all just die at my hands."


    "Of course, you can also choose to sacrifice yourself. Lead your team to meet the other group andmit suicide, and I can also let those people go," suggested the imperial operator with a smile. He was just like Satan, spreading the seeds of temptation which you could not refuse.


    Ling Lan fell silent. All of a sudden, she did not know how to choose ¡ª the opponent had given her a reason she could not refuse. Just as Ling Lan hesitated, Little Four¡¯s despairing face was suddenly painted with pleasant surprise. He shouted loudly, "Boss, Daddy¡¯s here!"


    "I agree!" Ling Lan¡¯s heart surged with joy as she replied decisively. Ling Lan was neither nning to kill the other team to survive, nor was she nning to lead her team to kill themselves. She was only trying her best to drag things out. Since she knew a saviour hade, it would really be too stupid to die here out of carelessness.


    As Ling Lan replied, she did not forget tomand Little Four inside the mindspace, "Little Four, quickly think of a way to send dad a message so he cane save us!"


    "The other team is heading here right now. I¡¯ll give you all 10 seconds. If you all still have not met up with them after 10 seconds, I will destroy all of you, because you are all trash unworthy of ying this game." The imperial operator did not do as Ling Lan wished and give her more time ¡ª instead, he gave Ling Lan¡¯s team yet another rule to follow, giving them no choice but to work hard.


    "I¡¯ll begin the count now ... 1 ..." The imperial operator did not give Ling Lan¡¯s team any more time to prepare, beginning to count the moment he finished issuing his newest rule. When Ling Lan heard ¡¯1¡¯, she was the first to turn her mecha and rush back in their original direction.


    No matter what the situation would be like 10 secondster, she needed to make full use of these 10 seconds to do as the other had said. Her only hope was that Little Four could make contact with her father as soon as possible ...


    Seeing their boss charging out like a ferocious tiger, Ling Lan¡¯s team responded swiftly. All of them also operated their mecha to follow after their boss ...


    "What a bunch of obedient children! Things are gonna be fun now!" The imperial operator licked his lips in excitement at the sight, cackling maliciously. A secondter, that grand and lovely imperial mecha once again vanished from the sky, leaving no trace behind.

 Chapter 384: Little Fours Mistake!

    Chapter 384: Little Four¡¯s Mistake!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Movement!" Qiao Ting¡¯s group, which was rushing towards Ling Lan¡¯s group, suddenly felt vibrationsing from below their feet.


    Everyone became nervous ¡ª because their radars were still nk, they had no idea what exactly was behind these vibrations.


    The vibrations were gentle at the start, but several secondster, they became more and more intense. Qiao Ting¡¯s group knew that something was about to appear before them soon.


    "Godd*mmit, our radar scanning functions have all stopped working." Only now did Qiao Ting¡¯s team realise this fact. However, they did not know that this was a result of the imperial operator blocking all the signals within this sector. If Ling Lan had not possessed the oddball Little Four, she too would have been just like Qiao Ting¡¯s team,pletely oblivious to the others¡¯ presence till they actually bumped into them.


    "Prepare to fight!" Qiao Ting instantly gave his orders. No matter what appeared, preparing to fight would never be wrong. Of course, Qiao Ting could be certain that it definitely was not that imperial operator who was creating such an intense vibration. Ruling out the threat of that imperial operator, Qiao Ting behaved calmly and rationally.


    "Yes, Regiment Commander!" Qiao Ting¡¯sposure calmed the rest of his team down as well. They all drew the weapons from their backs, preparing to meet these unexpected enemies. Of course, it was also possible that theers were friendlies, but having been frightened by the imperial operator previously, their nerves were taut and they did not dare to take things lightly.


    As the point man of the team, the mecha standing right at the front was the first to see the outer forms of the neers. Pleasant surprise shed through his eyes and he hurriedly reported on his teammlink, "The outer form of the mecha has been confirmed to be trainee mecha from the academy. Level: advanced, 5 mecha! Oh, another has appeared, and that mecha is ¡ª¡ª an ace mecha!"


    When the other team members heard that the other party was operating advanced trainee mecha of the academy, their hearts settled. However, when the point man added thatst bit in a tone a whole octave higher, everyone was stupefied ...


    This was because everyone knew that, in the entire military academy, only their regimentmander, Thunder King Qiao Ting of Leiting, was qualified to operate ace mecha. They had not heard of any other person in the academy capable of piloting ace mecha so far. Could it be that the one piloting it was an instructor?


    That was their first thought, but this notion was quickly overturned. All of the ace level instructors in the academy had their own personal ace mecha ¡ª they would never choose to pilot this type of ace trainee mecha which was obviously weaker than military-use ace mecha on all fronts.


    Could it be that the person inside was operating it beyond their true level? Excluding operation by an instructor, this was the only other possibility they could think of. However, after observing that ace mecha¡¯s movements, they once again ruled out this spection. That ace mecha¡¯s movements were natural, without any sense of stiffness or choppiness. This meant that the operator inside was operating it with ease, and this was absolutely not something someone operating across levels could do. Cross-level operation was very taxing and difficult ¡ª every step would drain a tremendous amount of the operator¡¯s mental strength and physical stamina. As such, it would be impossible for the mecha¡¯s movements to seem so smooth and natural.


    Before Qiao Ting¡¯s team coulde up with a reasonable exnation, the two sides were finally facing each other in the blink of an eye. About 100 metres or so away, the other party suddenly stopped, and the six mecha faced them from that distance without approaching any closer.


    Just as Qiao Ting was about to initiate conversation and ask the other group some questions, a ripple appeared in the air above them, and that missing imperial mecha once again appeared before Qiao Ting¡¯s group.


    Seeing this familiar imperial mecha, the faces of Qiao Ting¡¯s group instantly turned pale. Even Qiao Ting could not help but feel his heart drop, yelling internally that they were all done for. Who could have guessed that they were still unable to escape from the enemy¡¯s demonic clutches in the end? Could it be that they were really about to die here today?


    As Qiao Ting and the others could not help but be swamped with despair, the imperial operator hovering in the air suddenly spoke, "Both teams, Listen well. As long as you can kill everyone in the other team, then you will have earned the right to continue living. Otherwise, I will personally take action, and at that time, no one from either team will be spared."


    Qiao Ting¡¯s pupils contracted at these words. He had not expected the imperial mecha to have brought the other team over here because he wanted to see them fight among themselves. Although he was unsure who exactly was piloting the other ace trainee mecha, there was no doubt that the members of that team were cadets just like them.


    The two teams were originally trustworthyrades from the same side who could entrust their backs to each other, but now they were being forced to fight each other to the death ...


    Did he really have to kill them? Qiao Ting¡¯s heart was conflicted ¡ª if there was any hope of surviving, of course he did not want to die. He believed that his team of 13 would definitely be able to obtain victory against the other¡¯s group of 6, because aside from the one ace mecha, the other 5 in the other group were only advanced mecha. Meanwhile, on Leiting¡¯s side, other than his own ace mecha, the others were all special-ss mecha. Whether it was in terms of numbers or level of mecha, his team had the absolute upper hand.


    But for the sake of survival, were they really going to kill their own schoolmates, their futurerades? Qiao Ting shivered violently. He could not imagine staining his hands with the blood ofpanions. If he truly did so, how would he be any different from an inhuman beast?


    "There are things a person must do, and there are things a person must never do!" "Since you¡¯ve already decided to be a mecha operator, you must be prepared to sacrifice yourself." Instructor Tang Yu¡¯s austere voice rang out suddenly in his mind¡¯s ear, and Qiao Ting jolted to awareness.


    Yes, if they really did as the imperial operator said and chose to fight to the death among themselves just to survive, even if they were fortunate enough to survive in the end, their beliefs and principles would have been ruthlessly crushed in the process.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s gaze turned from confusion to rity, from hesitation to determination ... finally, after several seconds of silence, Qiao Ting spoke up to say, "I refuse!" Although Qiao Ting was extremely proud and self-assured, and loved to be in control ¡ª a genius who could stoop to some dirty means in order to achieve his objectives ¡ª he would never trade arade¡¯s life in order to ensure his own survival.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s resolute refusal made a trace of admiration sh across Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. His refusal was equivalent to giving up on his own life. No matter how one looked at the situation, Qiao Ting¡¯s side was sure to win if the two teams fought.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s words made the members of his team cry out in shock, but they very quickly settled down again. Perhaps the imperial operator¡¯s suggestion had indeed caused the hearts of some of Qiao Ting¡¯s members to waver, but when Qiao Ting firmly refused, though they felt a little disappointed, they were mostly more relieved.


    If Qiao Ting had chosen to kill the other team, it might really have been possible for all of them to survive, but they would certainly have been mentally and spiritually tormented after the fact. They may even have had to worry whether, one day in the future, Qiao Ting might also sell them out for his own benefit.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s words caused the imperial operator¡¯s eyes to turn cold. Furious, he raised the gun in his hand and aimed it at Qiao Ting, sneering as he said, "You actually dare to refuse me?! I am very angry. In that case, let me start with you!" That said, he pulled the trigger and a powerful beam was fired from the muzzle.


    Seeing this, Qiao Ting quickly operated his mecha to evade, but the speed of the other¡¯s attack was extremely fast. This speed greatly exceeded the shooting speed of an ace mecha¡¯s beam gun, taking Qiao Ting slightly off-guard. Despite trying his best to dodge, he still only managed to move the vital points of his mecha out of the danger zone. Just as the shot looked like it would hit Qiao Ting¡¯s left leg, a whirling giant metal sword suddenly appeared before him, perfectly ced to block that beam attack.


    There was a loud ¡¯boom¡¯ and the giant sword ttered to the ground. At this time, the giant sword no longer looked anything like a giant sword. Though the giant sword, which was several times sturdier than the outer shell of a mecha, had managed to block that beam, the immense power behind it had still melted the giant sword down into arge metal block. Some tiny holes could even be seen in the metal block.


    The power of the beam finally dissipated, and Qiao Ting looked down fearfully at the giant metal sword which had fallen at his feet ... oh, no, now, it could only be called arge metal block; only the two ends retained some impression of being a sword. He knew that if not for the abrupt appearance of this giant sword, that attack just now would definitely have damaged his mecha. If he was truly unlucky, the attack may even have endangered his life.


    Qiao Ting could not help but look towards the other trainee ace mecha with gratitude in his eyes. The other¡¯s actions had also made his stance clear ¡ª he too did not want to fight and kill schoolmates andpanions.


    Sure enough, Qiao Ting received amunications request from the other immediately after. Although Qiao Ting did not know how the other managed to connect to his team¡¯smlink, it was all unimportant as long as they couldmunicate and confirm their partnership in fighting against the enemy.


    Ling Lan briefly exined the situation to Qiao Ting, and after confirming their partnership, she turned anxiously to ask Little Four whether he had managed to contact her father.


    In the mindspace, Little Four was simrly anxious, his back drenched with sweat. Knowing that his and Boss Lan¡¯s life were at stake, Little Four, who should not have known what nervousness was, actually could not control his own emotions. The core chip which gave him life once again entered a high-temperature state ...


    "Boss, I¡¯m still unsessful. The security procedures of the god-ss mecha are too powerful; I cannot infiltrate the other¡¯s mainframe anytime soon," replied Little Four quickly, wiping away the sweat on his forehead.


    "All you have to do is send a distress message to dad!" When Ling Lan heard what he said, her initially sweaty forehead instantly beaded up with even more sweat. Who knew that Little Four would make such a mistake at this critical moment, actually choosing such a difficult path. Just think, the mecha her dad was operating was a god-ss mecha ¡ª if the mainframe procedures of a god-ss mecha were so easy to crack, would it still be a god-ss mecha?


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused Little Four to freeze, abruptly realising what a stupid thing he had been trying to do. Yes, didn¡¯t he just have to send their coordinates and the news that they were in danger over to daddy? There really was no need to actually talk to the other ...


    Little Four had tried to hack into and take over the other mecha out of habit to connect to the other¡¯smlink andmunicate directly; he hadpletely overlooked the fact that he could have just sent a message over to Ling Xiao to ask for help ...


    "Boss, I¡¯ll send the message immediately." Little Four did not dare to meet Ling Lan¡¯s eyes in his shame and frustration. Boss must definitely be annoyed with him now ¡ª why had he been so stupid? Little Four¡¯s heart was a in of darkness ¡ª the initially bright and lovely future looked so dark and lifeless all of a sudden. He might be kicked off his number one follower¡¯s throne by Boss because of this.

 Chapter 385: Immortal Bird Ling Xiao!

    Chapter 385: Immortal Bird Ling Xiao!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Even though Little Four was in low spirits, he still sent their coordinates and the word ¡¯HELP¡¯ over to Ling Xiao. Then, he notified Ling Lan before he fell silent.


    Little Four was self-reflecting ¡ª ever since he had experienced so-called human emotions, he had no longer acted like before under his initial settings and procedures, where he served the host he was contracted to ording to the rules set by the learning space. Many times, even though he was meant to obtain his host¡¯s agreement before acting, he had still chosen to decide things on his own.


    In the past, it was fortunate that there had been no great problems, but this most recent mistake ¡ª just because he skipped asking his boss first, he ended up doing a stupid thing, dying any rescue they could receive ¡ª could have ended up killing his boss ... Little Four was truly racked with guilt. He decided that from now on, he would check in with his boss more often; he could not continue acting recklessly anymore.


    As Ling Lan wrapped up her conversation with Little Four, the imperial operator, having seen his attack interrupted by Ling Lan¡¯s giant sword, was instantly in a horrible mood.


    "Damn, actually daring to fight back? Die!" Enraged, the imperial operator once again raised the gun in his hands, but this time, he was aiming at Ling Lan. Compared to Qiao Ting, he now hated this person who had ruined his attack even more. He felt as if his pride as an imperial operator had been vited ¡ª he needed to kill the other to let everyone know that the pride of an imperial operator should never be vited.


    "Attack together!" Ling Lan naturally would not just wait around to be killed; she chose to defend by attacking. Among everyone on the field, only she and Qiao Ting could perhaps offer some resistance; sending anyone else would be a death sentence. Thus, this cry of hers was directed at Qiao Ting.


    When he was up against a terrifying imperial operator on his own, Qiao Ting was perhaps at a loss due to the power gap, bing a sitting duck due to overwhelming fear and despair. But now, with an allied peer beside him to fight alongside him, the proud Qiao Ting would never allow himself to lose against the other.


    After calling out to Qiao Ting, Ling Lan instantly charged over. Her speed was very fast ¡ª she was almost by the imperial mecha¡¯s side in the blink of an eye. Even though her giant sword was gone, she still had a beam saber, which she swung viciously at the other.


    On the other side, Qiao Ting leapt up at almost the same time, revving his engines to shoot up into the sky. The two beam guns on his back suddenly appeared in his mecha¡¯s hands, and Qiao Ting pulled on the triggers in a frenzy. Countless beams poured out of the two guns in an instant, raining down like a meteor shower at the imperial operator.


    Facing the foolish resistance of the two, the imperial operator startedughing at the apex of his rage. "Petty tricks! You¡¯re just asking for death!" The initially hovering mecha suddenly disappeared only to appear again 30 metres away in the next second, easily resolving Ling Lan¡¯s and Qiao Ting¡¯sbined attack.


    Not only that, his disappearance caused all of Qiao Ting¡¯s beam attacks to fly towards Ling Lan. Seeing his own attacks about to hit apanion by mistake, in his great horror, Qiao Ting cried out hoarsely, "Dodge!"


    "What a dumb pig of a teammate!" Li Lanfeng, who was seated beside Ling Lan, could not help but grouch. Firing long-range attacks against an imperial operator specialising in long-range attacks; Qiao Ting¡¯s brain must definitely have be scrambled from being shot at.


    Ling Lan said nothing; seeing the rain of beams heading for them, she did not panic. Calmly, she operated her mecha into some quick evasion manoeuvres, at the same time turning the power on her mecha¡¯s beam shield up to its maximum setting. As long as the same weak spot was not hit again, being at the same level, her ace mecha¡¯s beam shield would still be able to block these beam attacks.


    Of course, Ling Lan did not n on getting hit if she could help it. If she were hit, even if her mecha would be fine, its power would be greatly drained. And because Ling Lan had been continuously battling, her ace mecha¡¯s power was already running low. Therefore, she had no choice but to be careful and use the remaining power sparingly.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mecha actually left a trail of shadow in the air from moving so quickly ¡ª the beams hurtling at her passed through the afterimages to fall to the ground, sting dust and dirt into the air.


    Just as Ling Lan evaded the shots, Qiao Ting did not even have the time to breathe a sigh of relief before the imperial operator¡¯s attacks hade swiftly and silently.


    It turned out that after the imperial operator had shifted 30 metres away, both Ling Lan and Qiao Ting was now within his shooting range. Seeing those two small fishes upied with each other, the imperial operator slyly raised the beam gun in his hands and pulled the trigger twice in quick session.


    He wanted to finish off these two small fishes in one go ¡ª he, who was an expert in long-range attacks to begin with, was a master at changing the direction of his shots without having to pause.


    Ling Lan and Qiao Ting suddenly felt a deep chill prate their very bones ¡ª this was a danger rm that only ace operators possessed. The both of them knew that the most dangerous moment was upon them ...


    Ling Lan quickly located where the danger wasing from ¡ª perhaps spurred by the life-or-death situation, the speed of Ling Lan¡¯s fingers once again exploded forth, bing so quick that her fingers were no longer visible. Li Lanfeng felt as if even his eyes could no longer keep up ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s mecha began to spin ¡ª due to the extreme speed, manyyers of afterimages of the mecha appeared. This scene bbergasted the twelve Leiting mecha, because they knew this was the most advanced of ace mecha evasion techniques ¡ª¡ª Shadow Slip! Even Qiao Ting could not pull off this technique perfectly, unable to execute it with such precision and uracy.


    Meanwhile, Qiao Ting swiftly moved his mecha back, raising the two guns in his hands to shoot frenziedly at that beam heading straight for him. Here, Qiao Ting¡¯s long-range uracy was on full disy. Even though his mecha was retreating at high speed, every shot from both his left and right hand struck true. When the beam was only 10 metres or so from him, it was finallypletely neutralised by the beam attacks of his two guns ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s evasion was effective as well. The beam heading for her brushed through one of the afterimages of her mecha to hit the ground, instantly sting a 10-metre wide ditch into the ground. It was clear to see how powerful the beam had been ¡ª even an ace mecha would not have had fared well against it.


    Looking at the responses of the two, although Ling Lan¡¯s method seemed to be more dangerous, in truth, Qiao Ting had had a harder time of it than Ling Lan. Because in that instant, to ensure that every single shot of his guns would strike the enemy¡¯s beam, Qiao Ting¡¯s mental and physical focus had been raised to their limits. Thus, as soon as he cancelled out the enemy¡¯s beam attack with the power of his own attacks, his entire body was already drenched with sweat, and he could feel that his two arms were stiff and numb.


    Seeing how both his attacks had been sessfully evaded by these two insignificant small fries before him, the imperial operator was almost dizzy with anger. He felt that this was a disgrace! Thus, he drew another gun from behind him. This gun¡¯s muzzle was wider than his first gun, and its rear end where the energy block should be inserted was also two to three times thicker.


    When Ling Lan and Qiao Ting saw this gun, their faces changed drastically. They knew what it was ¡ª it was the most powerful long-range weapon with thergest attack scope imperial mecha possessed. When it was fired, its beams would present in the shape of a fan. Against this weapon, neither Ling Lan¡¯s evasion technique, Shadow Slip, nor Qiao Ting¡¯s power neutralization approach would work. That was because those two methods were ineffective against this type of area-of-effect weapons.


    What worried Ling Lan even more was that no one knew exactly where the beams fired by this gun would go. The unknown and uncertain quality of this weapon not only put Ling Lan and Qiao Ting in great danger, it also drew the spectating members of their two teams into danger as well.


    After the imperial operator brought out this weapon, a cruel smile bloomed on his lips. Right now, he no longer had any mind to y around ¡ª he only wanted to annihte all of these cadets; only then would his bellyful of rage be appeased.


    "Go to hell!" The imperial operator pulled on his trigger forcefully, firing not just once but many times. Due to the high speed, those beams actually merged into a semicircle, which charged relentlessly towards Ling Lan and Qiao Ting, as well as the other team members below them.


    "Dodge!" Ling Lan and Qiao Ting shouted almost simultaneously. Compared to Qiao Ting, Ling Lan was even more anxious. After all, Qi Long and the others of her team were only piloting advanced mecha ¡ª even if they were merely brushed by these power beams, they would certainly lose their lives in the destruction of their mecha. The power behind this imperial mecha¡¯s weapon was just too strong ¡ª even an ace mecha, using all of the power at its disposal, would probably only be able to withstand one of its beam attacks, not to mention advanced mecha which were considerably weaker than ace mecha.


    Everyone was evading as best as they could, but the level gap of the mecha still put quite a number of the boys into a desperate situation. Ling Lan flew with all her might towards the advanced mecha closest to her ¡ª she could not save everyone, so she could only focus on saving the member closest to her.


    It could not be denied that Ling Lan¡¯s heart was tinged with regret right now. If she had known that the enemy this time was so formidable, perhaps she should have just made everyone hide within the air raid shelter ...


    There was a loud ¡¯boom¡¯ as a pale blue beam abruptly intervened, striking those scattered beams and causing them to dissipate instantly. Not only that, the power behind the pale blue beam was not whittled much by the exchange, continuing to fly through the air to hit the ground, where it then carved out a ditch of about 50 metres. Several team members close to that spot ¡ª whether it was from Ling Lan¡¯s team or the Leiting Mecha n ¡ª were sent tumbling by the violent tremors caused by the beam striking the ground. Those whose control skills were a little weaker were even sent flying by the aftershock.


    Seeing his sure-kill attack being ruined by a measly little beam, the imperial operator¡¯s face changed. He turned to seek the source of the attack and saw a ripple appear in an initially empty bit of space in the air, and then, arge and simplistic mecha was revealed.


    Behind its back, twelve majestic wings were spread out gloriously, beautiful and dazzling. A fiery red phoenix was dancing in mes on its chest, marking the operator¡¯s identity, and the golden five-star emblem on its right arm dered which nation he hailed from ...


    This unbelievably familiar mecha caused the imperial operator¡¯s heart to turn cold. All top-ss operators had a dossier with detailed information on all of the god-ss operators of every nation. The outer appearance of this mecha and the totem on its chest ... he would never mistake it. From the country designated as the Huaxia Federation, the presumed strongest god-ss operator for the next 100 years ¡ª¡ª the Immortal Bird Ling Xiao!


    The imperial operator was petrified, and other than Ling Lan, everyone else in Ling Lan¡¯s team and all of Qiao Ting¡¯s group were simrly stunned.

 Chapter 386: Li Lanfengs Illness?

    Chapter 386: Li Lanfeng¡¯s Illness?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Li Lanfeng, who was sitting beside Ling Lan, looked at that magnificent giant mecha in the night sky in dazed shock, unable to react for a long moment. Reflexively, he clutched Ling Lan¡¯s arm and stammered, "Ling ... Ling ... G-General Ling Xiao!"


    Seeing her father appear like a deity before her at this most critical moment to rescue everyone, Ling Lan was simrly overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement. At the same time, she was also extremely proud. See, see, this was her father! In every child¡¯s heart, their father should be the greatest. Despite having lived two lives, Ling Lan was no exception to this young daughter mentality.


    However, when Li Lanfeng clutched her arm, all of Ling Lan¡¯s excitement and proud happiness fled. She frowned slightly, ncing at therge hand on her arm. Say, she really did not like others touching her body ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s cold gaze swept harshly over Li Lanfeng, rife with warning, hoping that Li Lanfeng would move away his disturbing hand.


    Li Lanfeng may have been too overwhelmed with emotion; typically extremely observant, he was now unbelievably dense and slow. He did not notice the great distaste in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes and continued to grip Ling Lan¡¯s arm as he gushed, "That¡¯s General Ling Xiao! He¡¯s one of our Federation¡¯s twelve god-ss operators, and also the publicly acknowledged strongest god-ss operator in the world. He¡¯s the mecha operator I idolise the most ... who could have guessed that General Ling Xiao would actually show up here to save us? I must be dreaming ... Rabbit, Rabbit, I¡¯m too excited ..."


    Li Lanfeng could only repeat how excited he was non-stop to the rabbit; this moronic behaviour left Ling Lan speechless. She once again peered at thatrge hand on her arm and then looked at the dreamy expression on Li Lanfeng¡¯s face and his obviously fanatic behaviour ... alright, in view of how much the other adored her father, she would tolerate this!


    While Ling Lan was bitterly enduring Li Lanfeng¡¯s endless fanboy chatter about General Ling Xiao¡¯s greatness, on the outside, Ling Lan¡¯s team and the Leiting group were all watching that majestic mecha hovering in the air with emotional faces. Some of them were so moved that they made mistakes in their control, causing their mecha to lose bnce and stumble and fall.


    However, all this were just trivial things. Everyone knew that the arrival of the god-ss operator General Ling Xiao meant that they were all safe now. Well, with the exception of that grandstanding imperial mecha who had been trying to toy with them.


    The imperial operator was currently staring in panic at Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha; he knew he was in danger now. An imperial mecha was indeed much stronger than an ace mecha, able to bully and kill an ace mecha without too much trouble, but this only applied to ace mecha. Against a god-ss mecha, his fate was exactly like if an ace mecha was up against him ¡ª there was no room at all for resistance.


    When he saw Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha once again raise the beam gun in his hands emotionlessly, his expression changed drastically and he immediately activated his external speakers to shout, "Immortal Bird Ling Xiao, please do not take action. As long as you let me go, I will immediately retreat from this battle."


    "Let you go? When you were fighting against these cadets, did you ever think of letting them go?" replied Ling Xiao icily. Even though Ling Xiao¡¯s reply sounded even and impassive, Ling Lan could still hear the deep rage embedded within it. That mild-mannered and kind father of hers who did not seem to understand the meaning of anger could actually lose his temper like this?


    Ling Lan was very intelligent ¡ª she quickly figured out why Ling Xiao had be so angry. It was all because of her! Everyone had their own personal buttons which should never be pressed, and one of Ling Xiao¡¯s buttons was her, Ling Lan.


    What a fearsome daughter-con! Even as Ling Lan sighed at the realization, a warm current flowed gently through her heart. The corners of her lips suddenly quirked upwards, cracking her typically frozen and emotionless face, and this curve was spreading wider and wider ...


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s full attention had been on Ling Xiao, but when he felt the cold aura by his side suddenly turn warm, he turned around in confusion. Thus, he happened to see that once in a blue moon warm smile of Ling Lan¡¯s, and the sight was like an arrow to his heart.


    "Thump! Thump! Thump!" Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart pounded heavily within his ribcage. He reflexively pressed a hand to his chest ¡ª could it be that his illness was acting up again? Ever since he had listened to the rabbit seven years ago and begun working hard on his basics, his body had been gradually getting better. The intense pain where he felt as if his heart was about to burst had also slowly lessened until it no longer acted up at all from four years ago. But today, why did he once again have that same sort of feeling?


    Could it be that this was an underlying problem that would re up when his stamina was depleted? After thinking it over long and hard, Li Lanfeng could onlye up with this possibility. He hurriedly closed his eyes, no longer daring to look, repeatedly telling himself that he needed to be calm and not get too worked up. Li Lanfeng still remembered that every time his illness red up, he would always rely on self-abuse to distract himself from the paining from deep within him. However, he did not want the rabbit to see this side of him. Although he knew that the rabbit would not look down on him for it, he still did not want to appear weak before the rabbit ...


    Very soon, his heart stopped its wild and fierce beating, slowly calming back down. Only when his emotions had settledpletely did Li Lanfeng open his eyes. His forehead was already coated in sweat ¡ª just that brief urrence had been enough to scare Li Lanfeng greatly.


    By now, Ling Lan had returned to her usual demeanour. When a change hade over Li Lanfeng, Ling Lan had immediately sensed it. She had instantly turned to retrieve a restorative agent, but when she saw that Li Lanfeng seemed to have it under control, she decided to wait and observe a little longer; no matter how good a medicinal agent was, ingesting too much of it would result in a certain degree of drug tolerance. Ling Lan did not wish for herpanions to overuse medicinal agents and meet a tragic end because they were unable to achieve adequate recovery during critical momentster on.


    When she saw that Li Lanfeng¡¯s condition was slowly recovering, Ling Lan rxed. However, she was once again reminded of Li Lanfeng¡¯s fragile physical constitution. She made up her mind that, once the battle on Newline was over, the first thing she needed to do was to improve Li Lanfeng¡¯s physique. She could not allow her team to have a member with a frail and sickly body.


    While Li Lanfeng had almost gotten himself into trouble on their end, on the outside the imperial mecha had been rendered speechless by Ling Xiao¡¯s question. Ling Xiao had never considered letting this executioner who had almost harmed his daughter go, and so was not nning to hear any exnations the other could provide. He had barely finished stated his question when he pulled the trigger in his hands without any hesitation. A powerful beam of pale blue light was fired from the muzzle of the beam gun, shooting straight for the imperial operator.


    The imperial operator was startled and quickly operated his mecha to evade. At the same time, he turned on hismunicator to try and contact hispanion, wanting to call the other over to help. However, when his mecha¡¯sputer provided feedback that the other party was unreachable, the imperial operator knew that he was in deep trouble.


    Ling Xiao was not at all surprised that this attack of his was sessfully evaded by the enemy. He had not intended for this shot to kill the enemy to begin with; instead, he had been trying to get the opponent to move further away from his darling daughter¡¯s mecha.


    Although there were two ace trainee mecha below, knowing his daughter well, Ling Xiao naturally knew that his daughter was most definitely piloting that closebat mecha. And that mecha just so happened to be within the attack range of that imperial mecha. Even as confident as he was, in this kind of scenario, Ling Xiao¡¯s first decision was to first save his daughter from any danger ¡ª killing the enemy could wait 1 .


    At this thought, Ling Xiao could not help but shake his head in silence. If he could help it, he would have wanted his precious daughter to choose a safer long-range attack mecha. With the addition of their Divine Command Sect¡¯s spiritual power control, that mecha could definitely be a horrifying mobile attack bastion. Its formidable firepower would guarantee that other mecha would not be able to get close to it, ensuring its survival ability on the battlefield. Although this choice was off the track of bing a god-ss operator, Ling Xiao had never intended for Ling Lan to be a god-ss operator anyway. This was not only because Ling Lan was a girl ¡ª physical constitution pretty much made it impossible for a girl to be a god-ss operator ¡ª but more because Ling Xiao knew very well just how much pain and suffering was involved in ascending to god-ss status. He could not bear for his daughter to experience it.


    This shot of Ling Xiao¡¯s had indeed achieved his objective. The imperial operator had no clue that the Federation¡¯s strongest god-ss operator would value an ace mecha below them so highly ¡ª if he had known of Ling Lan¡¯s identity, he would definitely have risked great injury to obtain Ling Lan as a hostage no matter what.


    However, other than Ling Lan¡¯s original team members who already knew of Ling Lan¡¯s and Ling Xiao¡¯s rtionship, most outsiders did not know anything about this. This once again let Ling Lan sail through a crisis safely.


    The imperial operator¡¯s retreat put more distance between him and Ling Lan, and Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha once again disappeared, only to immediately appear before Ling Lan¡¯s mecha. ¡¯srge bodypletely obscured Ling Lan¡¯s mecha behind it, and only at this moment did Ling Xiao¡¯s heart finally settle.


    "You can still move, right?" asked Ling Xiao all of a sudden.


    "Of course, even another fight would be fine, as long as no such monster like an imperial mecha appears," Ling Lan knew that this question was directed at her, so she instantly replied.


    Ling Lan¡¯s answer obviously did not hold much awe or deference, which caused Li Lanfeng in the same mecha to be stunned once more. He stared nkly at Ling Lan, wondering how Ling Lan could use this type of attitude in responding to General Ling Xiao.


    "Monster? To use this term on an imperial mecha, you think too highly of him." It was unexpected for the generally mild-mannered Ling Xiao to spout this kind of sharp and mocking words. "Let me show you how, before a god-ss mecha, all other mecha are ants."


    His words had barely faded when Ling Xiao suddenly disappeared from before Ling Lan and he reappeared almost instantaneously beside the imperial mecha. This was the god-ss mecha¡¯s Divine Wind system in action, truly achieving theoretical instant teleportation.


    The god-ss mecha was a multi-faceted mecha. In other words, it was a legendary mecha whose long-range ability and close-range ability were equally optimized. Compared to the other god-ss mecha which were geared more towards closebat, was more bnced on all fronts. This was also why was renowned to be the strongest god-ss mecha.


    Thus, Ling Xiao not only had great long-range attack capabilities, he was equally formidable in close-rangebat. There was a gleam of cold light, and one of the imperial mecha¡¯s arms was sliced right off. It fell to the ground heavily, creating a shallow ditch with its impact.


    "Hmm? Your evasion technique is not bad." Ling Xiao was rather surprised. He had originally intended for this sword to directly pierce the other¡¯s cockpit. He was well aware that it waspletely impossible for a normal imperial mecha to escape his attack with his speed. Unexpectedly, the opponent¡¯s evasive manoeuvres had exceeded the theoretical limits of imperial mecha.

 Chapter 387: Unfilial Daughter!

    Chapter 387: Unfilial Daughter!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Although the imperial operator had managed to pull a distance away from Ling Xiao and evaded Ling Xiao¡¯s sure-kill hit, he was still so nervous that his head was covered in sweat. Earlier, he had thought he was going to die for sure ¡ª Ling Xiao¡¯s speed had just been too fast; he could not keep up with the other¡¯s pace at all. But right at that border of life-or-death, his anchored spiritual power had miraculously loosened and he had undergone a breakthrough. At the moment when the sword would hit him, he had managed to increase his mecha¡¯s speed by several times, dodging that sure-kill hit with the barest of margins.


    However, he was still a little toote. Even though he had avoided his vital points from being hit, he was unable to avoid the attackpletely. In the end, he lost the left arm of his mecha, but the imperial operator was already very satisfied with this oue. After all, he had still managed to survive the attack of a god-ss operator.


    Still, the imperial operator was not foolish enough to believe that he could fight toe-to-toe with a god-ss operator just because he had achieved a breakthrough in his spiritual power. Even though this breakthrough had elevated his mecha control skills by another level, making it so that he could wield all aspects of his imperial mecha even better than before, at the heart of it, he was still just an imperial operator. He had not advanced to god-ss, and no matter how strong an imperial operator became, he would still be no match for a god-ss operator ...


    Thus, there was only one word in his mind ¡ª "RUN"! Only by sessfully escaping from this god-ss operator¡¯s hands would he have any future to speak of. This unforeseen improvement in his abilities made him even more eager to find a way to save himself ...


    Of course, these notions merely passed through the imperial operator¡¯s mind in a split second. In the eyes of the spectators, as soon as the imperial mecha¡¯s arm had been efficiently chopped off by Ling Xiao, the imperial mecha had instantly chosen to turn and run, flying off at top speed in an attempt to escape. The imperial mecha seemed to be desperate to run away ¡ª he pulled out all the stops on his engines, and his mecha actually shot away like a beam of light, instantly escaping over a kilometre away.


    The imperial mecha¡¯s flustered demeanour as he escaped shocked Ling Lan¡¯s and Qiao Ting¡¯s teams greatly. Just think ¡ª not too long ago, before Ling Xiao had arrived, how arrogant and haughty the imperial operator had been towards them, treating them as if they were merely a group of ants whose lives were his to snuff out as he wished. Unexpectedly, the imperial mecha who had frightened them so much was actually so pathetic once he was up against General Ling Xiao, only managing to resist for one round before turning tail to run.


    Everyone stared fervently at the grand and mighty mecha of Ling Xiao¡¯s hovering in the air. When would they be able to reach the level of General Ling Xiao, able to scare the wits out of the enemy just by showing his face?


    Qiao Ting¡¯s emotions were running high ¡ª he could not help but clench his fists. Having been called the second Ling Xiao all this while, would he be as great as General Ling Xiao in the future and be the thirteenth god-ss operator of the Federation?


    "I will definitely seed!" Qiao Ting vowed to himself in silence, a glimmer of ambition passing through his eyes.


    Seeing the imperial mecha choose to run away in the end, Ling Xiao could not help but snort, his eyes brimming with cold intention. If anyone could see Ling Xiao¡¯s expression now, they would certainly be shocked that the always gentle and mild-mannered General Ling Xiao could have such fearsome killing intent. Ling Xiao was not a saint ¡ª the moment the opponent¡¯s butcher knife had ever threatened the life of his darling daughter, Ling Xiao had never even considered letting him leave with his life.


    The air beside Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha twisted once more and the massive mecha actually disappeared mysteriously right before the crowd¡¯s eyes. In the midst of everyone¡¯s bewilderment, Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha had already appeared a kilometre or so away to block off the imperial mecha¡¯s escape route.


    With all of its engines engaged at maximum power, the imperial mecha¡¯s speed was already at the limits of an imperial mecha. Three secondster, the mecha had already gotten several kilometres away from where Ling Xiao was. On his mecha¡¯s screens, there was no sign of Ling Xiao¡¯s massive mecha in pursuit. The imperial operator¡¯s anxious heart finally settled somewhat. Did this mean that he had already managed to escape?


    However, before he left Newline for good, the imperial operator would not believe he was truly safe yet. The Divine Wind system of god-ss mecha was a heaven-defying existence ¡ª if he did not run far enough, he would be easily caught up to by the god-ss mecha using its Divine Wind system.


    The imperial operator did not slow down his speed, instead pushing his mecha¡¯s engines desperately to continue powering forwards. At the same time, he did not forget to send an emergency alert to hispanion, the other imperial operator remaining at the dormitory district, to tell him that Ling Xiao was here and to retreat quickly and stop bothering with those Federation troops. The imperial operator knew well that the appearance of a god-ss operator meant that they had no chance of winning this battle anymore. He believed that the Empire¡¯smander-in-chief would also agree with their decision; several thousand ace operators were not as important as one imperial operator.


    Right then, this imperial operator did not know that hispanion had already died by Ling Xiao¡¯s hand, that this alert he just sent would never ever be received by the other.


    Just then, directly ahead of the imperial mecha, the air suddenly warped to suddenly reveal arge mecha in his path. The other¡¯s appearance was too sudden, and the imperial mecha was travelling at its top speed ¡ª the ten or so metres between them was not enough for the imperial operator to make any adjustments to his controls to alter his flight path. He could only watch helplessly as his mecha barrelled straight towards Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha.


    "Bastard!" The imperial mecha knew that a collision was inevitable. A ruthless light appeared in his eyes, and he quickly turned his mecha¡¯s beam shield up to its maximum defence setting. Instead of decreasing the power of his engines, he revved them even higher, pushing his mecha¡¯s speed another notch higher to send his mecha hurtling towards Ling Xiao like a terrible metal missile.


    At thest moment, the dire situation made the imperial mecha decide on an internecine oue ¡ª even if he died, he would bring Ling Xiao along with him!


    The opponent¡¯s decision merely caused a trace of derision to appear in Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes. He did not dodge, only stating calmly, "Divine Shield system!"


    received hismand and instantly activated the Divine Shield system. The already radiant and beautiful mecha was suddenly covered by a pale blue light all over its body, instantly illuminating the darkness of the night even further ...


    A tremendous ¡¯boom¡¯ rang out as the two mecha collided head on! The intense shockwaves caused by the collision could even be felt by Ling Lan and the other cadets several kilometres away. On the screens of their mecha, the image of the two mecha colliding was yed faithfully. Even though their speed was iparable to that of a god-ss mecha, the capture function of their cameras was still extremely powerful, recording this thrilling scene with great precision.


    This scene caused everyone¡¯s expression to change drastically. Despite knowing in their hearts that General Ling Xiao was sure to be fine, they could not help but worry whether General Ling Xiao would sustain some injuries due to this devastating collision.


    Perhaps the heavens wanted to test the hearts of these cadets even further, for before their initial worry could subside, the imperial mecha abruptly exploded. Boom boom boom! Consecutive explosions rang out and the entire night sky was instantly a nket of smoke. Ling Lan and the rest could only see several fireballs continuing to burn within the thick smoke, which then swiftly plummeted from the skies to crash heavily into the ground.


    Some of the fireballs crashed on dry grass, and very soon, the ground was ame. From a tiny ember, the mes grew till it was a roaring ze wreathed in thick smoke, where it then finally began to spread rapidly across the ground ...


    However, right then, no one was paying any attention to the situation on the ground. Ling Lan and the rest were staring anxiously out into the air, waiting for the smoke of that imperial mecha¡¯s self-destruction to dissipate. Finally, General Ling Xiao¡¯s once again emerged before the group. The mecha hovered in the air, steady and immovable. The bright blue glow surrounding its outer shell waspletely unchanged, and the twelve wings behind it were just as radiant and eye-catching as they were at the start.


    All this proved that the impact of an imperial mecha¡¯s intentional collision and the force from its self-destruction was not enough to cause any damage to a god-ss mecha! Everyone present could not help but be astounded at the sight ¡ª as expected of the acknowledged strongest ultimate weapon of the human world. Imperial mecha one level lower than it was nothing before it.


    "So this is god-ss mecha!" They all looked at the god-ss mecha with impassioned eyes. All their awe and exmations were finally condensed into this one sentence. ¡¯s monstrous power had been deeply reflected in their hearts; it became their lifelong goal from this point onwards.


    Very soon, Ling Xiao operated his mecha to return to Ling Lan. He slowly descended to the ground, looking down at the mecha his daughter was piloting as he did so, and his heart twinged in pain.


    The outer shell of the ace mecha Ling Lan was piloting was currently covered in scars. These battle scars proved that his baby daughter had experienced several battles already within this period of time. His precious daughter who should have grown up wilfully beneath his wings, had to act like a man because of him and rely on her own skills to seek survival on the cruel battlefield ...


    This was all because of his ipetence as a father! If only he had not fallen for that trap 16 years ago, then his precious daughter would not have had to live such a hard life. For the first time, Ling Xiao registered deeply that he had done something wrong. He even imagined what if he had rushed here only to find that his daughter had already met some great misfortune ... Ling Xiao could not help but shudder. He absolutely could not allow such a thing to happen, or else he would never be able to forgive himself for the rest of his life.


    "General Ling Xiao, so d to meet you!" Ling Xiao¡¯s silence made Ling Lan feel rather awkward, and she also did not want to have an emotional father-daughter reunion right here on this brutal battlefield, so she took the initiative to set the scene.


    "General Ling Xiao?!" The way Ling Lan had addressed him caused all of the self-remonstration deep in Ling Xiao¡¯s heart to scatter. He felt his teeth and gums aching, wishing dearly that he could grind them against something ... was he only going to hear his daughter call him ¡¯General Ling Xiao¡¯ after rushing here over several hundred thousand li? This unfilial daughter!


    Is it so difficult to call me ¡¯daddy¡¯ just once? Ling Xiao forcibly suppressed the urge to blurt out this question with much effort, stiffly turning it into a different question. "Hn, can you still continue to fight?" He could not bear to push his daughter; after all, he was the one who owed his daughter, having been absent for 16 years of her life. The time before them was still long ¡ª one day, he would have his baby daughter willingly call him ¡¯daddy¡¯! Ling Xiao vowed silently to himself.


    "Of course!" Ling Xiao¡¯s question made Ling Lan sigh in relief. She had really been worried that Ling Xiao would be displeased with her form of address and expose their rtionship ... alright, Ling Lan was still somewhat unustomed to having such an awesome and impressive dad. Sometimes, when a father was too outstanding, it was a lot of pressure on the child.

 Chapter 388: Weak!

    Chapter 388: Weak!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan¡¯s team members who knew about General Ling Xiao¡¯s rtionship with their boss also knew that this father-son pair was rather strange in their interactions. They definitely did not give off the typical intimate feeling other father-son pairs did. Therefore, the members were not too surprised by their boss¡¯s impassive reaction.


    Meanwhile, Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu had no clue about Ling Lan and Ling Xiao¡¯s rtionship. Even though they were rather surprised at how Ling Lan could keep so calm in the presence of the military¡¯s idol General Ling Xiao, when they considered how Ling Lan was perpetually cold and unemotional, they no longer thought anything of it. They just took it as a personality issue of Ling Lan and did not suspect anything else.


    Ling Lan¡¯s calm and toneless response was followed by a beat of silence ¡ª Ling Xiao suddenly did not know what kind of attitude he should use when treating his baby daughter now. If he used the tone of a superior speaking to a subordinate, even if he could bear to do so, if his wife Lan Luofeng found out, he would definitely meet no good end ... if he acted a little more intimate, he wondered whether this would irritate his daughter, because his daughter¡¯s behaviour indicated that she did not want to reveal their rtionship and expose her identity.


    Ling Xiao once again felt it profoundly ¡ª it was truly very difficult to be a satisfactory father for a daughter 1 ...


    Right at that moment, Qiao Ting on the other end had also operated his mecha over, bringing his faction members in tow. He came up to stand beside Ling Lan and said excitedly, "General Ling Xiao, hello. I am a 4th-year cadet of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, Qiao Ting. It¡¯s nice to meet you." His words were simr in meaning to Ling Lan¡¯s greeting at the start, butpared to Ling Lan¡¯s cold indifference, Qiao Ting¡¯s tone of voice was obviously much warmer and more excited.


    Ling Xiao turned his head to look at this ace trainee mecha who hade forwards uninvited. He knew that this must be one of the outstanding students of the military academy ¡ª mind you, for a 4th-year cadet to have already advanced to ace operator status was extremely rare, as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. And so, he operated his mecha to give Qiao Ting a nod in response.


    This attitude of Ling Xiao¡¯s was exceedingly normal. Even though Qiao Ting was an outstanding cadet, Ling Xiao had seen more than his fair share of this type of talent. At his current level, Qiao Ting was not yet able to gain Ling Xiao¡¯s acknowledgement. As one of the twelve god-ss operators of the Federation, one of the ten great generals, Ling Xiao¡¯s standards were undoubtedly very high.


    However, having aparison, Qiao Ting did not think so. They were both cadets piloting trainee mecha, but Ling Xiao¡¯s attitude when treating the other ace operator was obviously warmer. This made Qiao Ting feel a little unhappy; he felt he was being treated coldly. In the military academy, the instructors had high hopes for him and the other students gathered around him like stars around the moon. Thus, he naturally felt that he had the right to garner the same treatment as the other ace operator ...


    Ling Xiao naturally knew nothing of these little thoughts running through Qiao Ting¡¯s mind. Right then, his daughter was the only thing he could see. If not for the strangers around, Ling Xiao would have directly pried Ling Lan¡¯s mecha open so that he could see for himself that his daughter was truly safe and unharmed. However, Ling Xiao was after all Ling Xiao. He knew that in this situation, he could not do as he wished. In order to find out his daughter¡¯s true condition, Ling Xiao decided to put a swift end to the battle.


    Thus, he said, "After regrouping, head for the dormitory district immediately!" That said, Ling Xiao¡¯s giant mecha once again disappeared from the group¡¯s sight, leaving no trace behind. If not for the roaring mes left behind by the fall of the imperial mecha, everyone could have imagined that General Ling Xiao¡¯s presence here had merely been a wishful dream.


    Seeing Ling Xiao leave, Ling Lan let out a mental sigh of relief. At this time, Little Four finally leapt out from the little ck room he had been confined to and shouted indignantly, "Boss, you¡¯re a coward! Not even daring to call out ¡¯daddy¡¯! I look down on you!" It turned out that Ling Lan was afraid that Little Four would be too excited at seeing Ling Xiao and affect her emotional bnce, and so had shut Little Four up in that little ck room when Ling Xiao had approached her.


    Ling Lan said helplessly, "This is a battlefield. It¡¯s not appropriate for me to call him that here."


    "I¡¯m not listening, not listening! You¡¯re just afraid and cowardly! Are you ashamed of having Ling Xiao as your daddy?" Little Four covered his ears, showing that he would not ept any of Ling Lan¡¯s exnations. Instead, he continued to question Ling Lan with an even angrier tone.


    "How could I be ashamed of that? I¡¯m very proud to be Ling Xiao¡¯s daughter! I¡¯m just more afraid that I¡¯ll disgrace Ling Xiao," Ling Lan told Little Four bitterly, her expression a little lost.


    The reason why she could ept the virtual world Ling Xiao was that she understood that that Ling Xiao was fake ¡ª it was only a remnant spiritual imprint. Thus, she could let her emotions run free and call the other ¡¯daddy¡¯ without reservations, and the other¡¯s reaction was just as she had expected, immensely happy and content. And that was all ¡ª things ended there, and there was no future to worry about.


    But now things were different. The present Ling Xiao was a real person. He had feelings, he possessed all seven emotions and six desires ¡ª he might ept her now with his selfless fatherly love, but he could also be disappointed in the future, and be angry and hate her ... Ling Lan was afraid that once she epted Ling Xiao, she would be weak and start hoping for even more.


    Over these past 16 years, in order to support the burden of the entire Ling family on her shoulders, Ling Lan had already learned how to be strong and independent, ustomed to handling everything on her own. Ling Xiao¡¯s return changed everything she had already gotten used to, and this made Ling Lan somewhat panicked.


    What flustered Ling Lan even more was Ling Xiao¡¯s full berth of fatherly love. He disyed it so obviously, and the enthusiasm and intensity of it were so distinctly different from her father¡¯s demeanour in her previous life; her past father¡¯s eyes had always been full of fatigue and weariness. This was another reason why Ling Lan had been avoiding the issue, unable to examine her true emotions too closely.


    Yes, it wasn¡¯t that Ling Lan did not want to ept Ling Xiao; she was just afraid that one day in the future, those love-filled eyes of Ling Xiao would also end up filled with distaste and weariness ... Ling Lan did not want to experience that kind of hurt ever again. It was just as Little Four had said ¡ª weak, she pushed away Ling Xiao¡¯s overflowing fatherly love again and again, even though she knew that her response would hurt Ling Xiao a little.


    "Like this, can I be a daughter Ling Xiao would be satisfied with?" Ling Lan asked Little Four with a sad smile. Already trained to be a cold-blooded and ruthless killer by the learning space, she could no longer be that soft and gentle, sweet and adorable little girl in Ling Xiao¡¯s mind¡¯s eye.


    Little Four was taken aback by Ling Lan¡¯s question, and then his entire face copsed into a deep frown. He found that what his boss had said was not wrong. Already used to seeing his boss¡¯s cold, fierce, and domineering demeanour, Little Four really could not imagine her acting like a petite and sweet young miss instead. Thus, Little Four consoled her with a face full of regret, "Boss, my condolences!"


    Ling Lan wordlessly flicked Little Four¡¯s forehead and then ignored Little Four¡¯s woeful eyes of condemnation. Somewhat dejectedly, she said, "I can only take things one step at a time. If ..." She did not finish her sentence. One day, if she managed to ovee the barriers in her heart, perhaps she would be able to call Ling Xiao ¡¯daddy¡¯.


    Ling Lan very quickly gathered her emotions. Turning to check on her team, after she found that they were all unharmed, she moved to lead her team back to the dormitory district. Ling Lan knew well that her father must have already gone ahead to wrap things up there.


    Just then, Qiao Ting, who had simrly finished settling matters with his team, called out to her, "Please wait!"


    "Something the matter?" Ling Lan paused and turned her head to ask. At the critical moment, Qiao Ting did not choose to abandon hispanions and subordinates ¡ª this had turned Ling Lan¡¯s impression of Qiao Ting favourable.


    "May I ask, which year and specialization you are from?" Qiao Ting really wanted to know who this other ace operator was. Who exactly was this person who had also managed to advance to ace operator like him?


    Qiao Ting¡¯s question caused Ling Lan to quirk a brow, but she did not answer.


    Ling Lan¡¯s silence made Qiao Ting even more unhappy. His frustration and disappointment at being treated coldly by Ling Xiao rushed to his head and he found himself blurting out, "Do you know General Ling Xiao?" Or else why would General Ling Xiao treat you so warmly yet treat me with such cold indifference? This was the only reason Qiao Ting coulde up with during this short period of time.


    Ling Lan could not help butugh at his question. No matter how cool she had tried to y it, Ling Xiao¡¯s behaviour had still raised some gs. For some reason, Ling Lan suddenly felt really happy ¡ª though initially she had not nned on answering, her good mood prompted her to ask in return, "Could it be that you don¡¯t know General Ling Xiao?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s question rendered Qiao Ting instantly speechless. Mind you, in the Federation, aside from those newborn children who knew nothing, as long as one was a mentally aware Huaxian, there was no way one did not know General Ling Xiao. As such, Qiao Ting¡¯s previous question was a rather silly one.


    Qiao Ting was just about to change the phrasing of his question when he heard Ling Lan say evenly, "General Ling Xiao ordered us to head to the dormitory district immediately. I think that, General Ling Xiao probably would not want us to dawdle."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused Qiao Ting¡¯s heart to clench in fright. He swallowed his questions and looked searchingly at the ace trainee mecha before him for a moment before turning to order his faction members to head swiftly for the dormitory district.


    Watching the disappearing figures of Qiao Ting¡¯s group, Li Lanfeng, who had been silent all this while, asked, "Rabbit, are we leaving it like this?" Qiao Ting¡¯s previous overbearing and impolite behaviour had seriously ruffled Li Lanfeng¡¯s feathers ¡ª though of course this was also because Li Lanfeng already had some negative bias against Qiao Ting to begin with, so all of Qiao Ting¡¯s improper behaviour was magnified endlessly in his eyes.


    "We¡¯ll sh again in the future. Leiting will not forget the grudge established this year. In at most two years¡¯ time, they will challenge us again." A smirk appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s lips. Qiao Ting¡¯s refusal to act against hispanions had indeed improved Ling Lan¡¯s opinion of him, but she also deeply disliked the inherently overbearing and haughty side of him.


    It should be said that Ling Lan had also cultivated a robust air of dominance from her training in the learning space. However, her dominance was deeply embedded in her bones and was not waved about on the outside. As such, regarding Qiao Ting who was equally dominant, she naturally felt slightly repelled ¡ª this was perhaps the logic behind the theory of keeping kings away from each other 2 .


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Li Lanfeng recall that time a while back when the New Cadet Regiment had gone up against Leiting in an arena battle. He knew that Leiting would definitely enact their n for revenge when the time was right, and so he said, "When it¡¯s time for the mecha fight, count me in."


    Ling Lan was surprised. "Aren¡¯t you part of Wuji?"


    Li Lanfeng chuckled and said, "We¡¯re just coborators. Wuji will not befortable letting us external allies join them." Just like Zhao Jun, who was also excluded from the group. Li Lanfeng rubbed his jaw as he suddenly thought, ¡¯ Perhaps next year, he could also lure Zhao Jun over ... 3 ¡¯


    Zhao Jun, who was currently hiding in the dormitory district, suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He anxiously checked his surroundings, but other than cadets, he could only see more cadets. There was no sign of any danger at all. He scratched his head in confusion, unsure where that sense of danger hade from ...

 Chapter 389: Li Yinfei!

    Chapter 389: Li Yinfei!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    By the time Ling Lan and the others arrived at the dormitory district, the entire battlefield had already entered the end stages of clean-up. Ling Xiao, hovering in the air, was like arge mountain to the invaders, pressing down on them till they could not even breathe. On top of that, if anyone tried anything, a beam from Ling Xiao would strike them down mercilessly, killing them instantly.


    This type ofbat power had sapped away all the fight in the intruders. The only reason why they had not put down their weapons and surrendered yet was that they still held on to thatst thread of hope in their hearts. They were praying that their fleet in space would descend on Newline to shoot Ling Xiao down and rescue them.


    Of course, they were disappointed in the end, because the ground forces sent them the images captured by their satellite after their signalmunications were restored. These images showed them that theirst hope was currently under attack on all sides, surrounded by the four Federation fleets which hade to provide reinforcements, unable to even protect itself. Thus, they stopped hoping for a miracle, put down their weapons, and surrendered to be prisoners of the Huaxia Federation.


    Without the help of a starship, mecha of imperial level and below had no way of breaking free of gravity by themselves to return to space. 1 Therefore, if they did not surrender, their final oue would be to die here on the battlefield. Not everyone could view death with equanimity. Thus, when the first personid down his weapon, everyone else followed suit, which finally marked the end of this battle sparked by an air invasion.


    The ground forces very quickly took the prisoners who had surrendered into custody, and then they began clearing up the battlefield as they searched for any survivors. Meanwhile, after a brief period of panic and chaos, the dormitory district also began their own rescue efforts under the lead of the instructors. That shot by the imperial operator had caused a great number of casualties among the cadets. For a time, the entire military academy was plunged into a sad and depressing atmosphere.


    The fighting on the ground hade to an end, but the fighting in space was still in full swing. The four fleets had arrived so quickly at Newline all because of Ling Xiao.


    As Ling Xiao had piloted to rush towards Newline, he had also sent out a request for assistance to the fourrge fleets. Although Ling Xiao had not known for sure back then what exactly was going on on Newline, with how Ling Lan had notified him, Ling Xiao believed that the situation on Newline must already be very bad. At first, Ling Xiao had suspected that the horrifying demon beasts around Newline had begun to rampage, so he had wanted to let the fourrge fleets help evacuate the cadets from the to ensure their safety.


    This was truly a stroke of luck ¡ª as soon as Ling Xiao arrived in the space of Newline, he noticed countless unidentified starships and immediately knew that this must be an invasion. Ling Xiao thought of the four fleets on their way, and since he was also very worried about his daughter¡¯s safety, he decided to ignore these starships, sneaking by right under their noses to fly into Newline. It had to be said that god-ss mecha were indeed truly frightening. They were able topletely conceal their own signals and images, preventing them from being picked up by the radars of many starships; thus, he was able to sneak into Newlinepletely undetected.


    The final oue was that the enemy starship fleet was totally annihted under thebined attack of the four Federation fleets. Even though some of the starships managed to escape from the blockade to run from the Newline sector, they were chased down in a frenzy by the fourrge fleets.


    It had to be said that the invasion of Newline, which was an attempt to kill off the Federation¡¯s future seeds of hope, had utterly crossed the line of all of the upper echelons of the Federation. Whether it be the government or the military, no matter which faction they were from, they all issued the kill order. Even though the factions harboured all sorts of conflicts of interests, they still shared themon goal of protecting the future of the Federation. Therefore, everyone chose the same way of handling things, and that was to use bloody means to keep the surrounding countries in line via fear, telling them that the Huaxia Federation was not as easy to provoke as they thought.


    In the end, this invasion ended with theplete annihtion of the intruders. However, the casualties of Newline were severe enough to shock the Federation government and the military. Over half of the ground forces were sacrificed in the battle, and almost all of the various mecha squads were crippled by their losses as well. What saddened them even more was that out of a hundred thousand cadets, eight thousand had died in this battle. These cadets had all been excellent seedlings for the various military positions in the future, but before they could even debut on the battlefield, they had already lost their wings here in the military academy. This was their fault as the older generation.


    For such arge fleet to have infiltrated the Federation deep enough to seek out ande to Newline, there was no doubt that something must have gone wrong with some departments within the Federation. The price paid in blood spurred the government and the military to no longer take things easy ¡ª the president and the three grand marshals of the military signed a joint order to clean out the spies and secret agents hiding within the ranks. Even some parasites who had disregarded national interests for their own personal gain were also cleared out in the process.


    This operation was called Operation Bloodstain. The severity of the methods employed left those spies and secret agents fortunate enough to escape discovery frightened and jumping at shadows, not daring to act any further in the interim. This allowed the Federation to have unusual smooth-sailing in the subsequent battles for revenge, and the Federation quickly harvested the fruits of triumph in battle.


    Of course, regarding Ling Xiao¡¯s appearance at Newline, military headquarters had many questions. After all, Ling Xiao should have been busy establishing the 23rd Division several thousand light-years away ¡ª why had he appeared at Newline at that time? However, Ling Xiao¡¯s appearance had been extremely timely, and hismand to gather the fourrge fleets had also been extremely urate. This had salvaged the situation, preventing the Federation from a loss of at least five generations of potential talent.


    This result was a great relief andfort to the president and the three grand marshals of the Federation; as such, the feat certainly qualified as extraordinary merit. However, they still summoned Ling Xiao back for an inquiry. When they found out that Ling Xiao had snuck into the military academy undercover out of worry for how his son was getting along in the school, they all burst out intoughter.


    Theyughed at Ling Xiao for being overly attached to his son, but were also very d that Ling Xiao had rushed over to Newline because of that. The president and the three great marshals were well aware that if Ling Xiao had not been there, this invasion would definitely have ended up in favour of the enemy. At that time, what they would have received would have been news of theplete annihtion of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. And the result of this oue would inevitably have been their resignation, for only that would be able to extinguish the rage of the people.


    Still, even with Ling Xiao¡¯s involvement, the casualties among the cadets had reached as high as eight thousand ... Luckily, the government¡¯s crisis unit was very efficient, adeptly turning the public¡¯s focus onto the enemy, with especial emphasis on the several thousand prisoners they had captured. When they found out that many nations had participated in this air invasion, there was an immediate public outcry. The voices of anti-war sentiment instantly vanished without a trace, and the public enlistment rate which had been steadily declining by the year increased by leaps and bounds within that month.


    The president and the military were instantly relieved. Subsequently, in order to pacify the angry public, the president and the three great marshals finally came to a consensus ¡ª they gave the order tounch a full offensive on the Dun Alliance, which was the weakest nation among the members of the invading enemy alliance the Federation had been able to identify through their investigation.


    Perhaps afraid that the Federation would expose their doings and affect their grand image of being a supreme nation, the Dosa Empire 2


    unexpectedly kept their silence in the face of the Huaxia Federation¡¯s attack on Dun. Meanwhile, though the Huaxia Federation clearly knew that the primary culprit was the Dosa Empire, out of fear that the entire human world would be once again dragged into a world war as soon as their two nations shed, the Huaxia Federation chose once more to endure this slight, determined to extract their pound of flesh from Dosa¡¯s aplices instead.


    Just when the Federation retaliated against Dun, "Tranquil Night", a requiem for the innocent cadets who had died in the battle, spread rapidly from within the virtual world. Perhaps because the lyrics resonated with the sorrow in the hearts of the cadets and those family members who had lost someone in the battle, and also due to its sad melody which carried undertones of strength and resilience, the singer of said song instantly became the favourite singer of the academy cadets ...


    Without support from the Dosa Empire, and without internal spies to leak the military tactics of the Federation, the Federation¡¯s attack on Dun proceeded smoothly. One monthter, the Dun Alliance was utterly razed and Dun was officially imed as Federation territory. This victory caused the Federation to descend into wild celebration, and the lingering grief from the air invasion was significantly eased.


    In the meantime, after a month¡¯s time, not only was the rage of the military and the public slowly subsiding, within the restored First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the initial grief and rage suffusing the campus were slowly fading back to calm. The anger, fright, and worry in every students¡¯ eyes were also gradually settling into calm as well, and smiles began to appear on the cadets¡¯ faces again.


    "Boss, great news! Great news!" Early in the morning, Xie Yi flew down the stairs with a face full of excitement. He should have just gotten up and must not have taken the time to wash up, for his entire appearance was extremely dishevelled. Xie Yi did not notice Ling Lan scrunch up her brow slightly at his appearance as he shouted at her loudly in excitement over the breakfast table.


    Ling Lan was unimpressed by his fervour. She lifted the white napkin by her side to dab at her lips before setting it down on the table. Only then did she look up to nce sharply at him.


    At his boss¡¯s cold and fierce gaze and expression, Xie Yi instantly woke up from his buzzing excitement. He swiftly lowered his head, no longer daring to make such a fuss.


    Witnessing Xie Yi being shut down, Qi Long, who was sitting at one side, began to snicker. Han Jijyun wordlessly nudged him, reminding him to leave Xie Yi some face, while Luo Lang threw a cold nce over at Xie Yi like Ling Lan had ¡ª whatever Boss disliked, he disliked as well.


    As for Lin Zhong-qing, he did not raise his head but continued to focus on his breakfast. It had nothing to do with him after all; Xie Yi had brought this all on himself. Fine, when it was just them on their own, Ling Lan¡¯s team was not as united and loving as they appeared outside. Whenever there was a chance, the members would absolutely step on each other while they were down.


    "Tell me then, what exactly is this great news that has gotten you so excited," said Ling Lan calmly when she saw that Xie Yi had been sufficiently cowed.


    Hearing this, Xie Yi knew that his boss was not truly angry, and his interrupted enthusiasm reared up once again. "Boss, Li Yinfei ising to our school!"


    "Li Yinfei?" Ling Lan¡¯s brow furrowed. Who was this again 3 ?


    "What?! Li Yinfei ising? Is that for real?" Before Ling Lan could recall who this person was, Qi Long had already eximed in excitement, "Xie Yi, how did you find out about this?"


    "Just now I went onto the academy forums, and the moment I logged on, I saw this news. Everyone is excited by it right now." Sensing a fellow fan, Xie Yi¡¯s excitement was further amplified.


    Han Jijyun and Luo Lang shared a look, also unable to recall at that moment who this Li Yinfei was that had Qi Long and Xie Yi so excited.


    Beside them, Lin Zhong-qing set down his chopsticks and said softly, "Tranquil Night!"


    "Ah, it¡¯s her?!" Luo Lang cried out instantly. Just recently, he had also been very obsessed with this song.

 Chapter 390: Decadent Voice!

    Chapter 390: Decadent Voice!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Han Jijyun also came to a realisation. It had to be said that ¡¯Tranquil Night¡¯ was indeed a divine song ¡ª its singer, Li Yinfei, had instantly ascended from being an unknown singer to soulful diva. Her rise had truly been meteoric. Even more admirable was the fact that she had purely intended to sing a requiem tofort the souls of the fallen, and thus had never revealed her true face to the public. She was only known by her voice for now.


    "Why did she suddenly choose toe to our school?" Han Jijyun was also extremely curious about Li Yinfei.


    Xie Yi replied, "A while back, wasn¡¯t the Federation citizens mouring for Li Yinfei to show her face? Due to public pressure, Li Yinfei¡¯s managementpany finally chose the First Men¡¯s Military Academy as the performance venue for the debut of Li Yinfei¡¯s true appearance. That¡¯s why, the ninth day of the next month is the time when Li Yinfei will take the stage in person at the military academy. We¡¯ll be the first men to ever see her true face ...!" Xie Yi could not hold back his excitement at this point and began to howl like a wolf.


    His words received Qi Long¡¯s hearty agreement. So, in no mood to continue eating, Qi Long left his half-eaten breakfast to run upstairs to log into the virtual world and started looking up any news he could on Li Yinfei.


    Qi Long and the others¡¯ conversation enlightened the initially befuddled Ling Lan. She had heard ¡¯Tranquil Night¡¯ before, and it was indeed an excellent song. Little Four had once analysed it before, and hade to the conclusion that the singer must be someone with an awakened innate talent. The talent she had awakened should be Decadent Voice ¡ª it could make it much easier for her to bring the audience into the emotional realm of any song she sang ¡ª so Li Yinfei¡¯s sess was to be expected. Of course, both the melody and lyrics of the song were equally worthy of being considered ssic. Thebination of these multiple factors culminated in the legend of Li Yinfei.


    "What a bunch of green youths," sighed Ling Lan mentally. Although ¡¯Tranquil Night¡¯ was indeed extremely mellifluous and touching under the entuation of Li Yinfei¡¯s Decadent Voice, as Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power was extremely strong, she was not as affected and was not as crazy and obsessed with the song as Qi Long and the rest.


    Very soon, under Qi Long, Xie Yi, and the others¡¯ eager anticipation, Li Yinfei¡¯s first live concert officially opened at the academy¡¯s stadium. Qi Long and Xie Yi made an executive decision ¡ª without notifying their boss, they bought tickets for the entire team. It should be known that Ling Lan had no interest at all in going to the concert with a bunch of men to idolise a female singer ...


    Of course, after Qi Long and Xie Yi did such a stupid thing, they were also afraid that their boss would settle the score with themter. Thus, they cunningly argued that this was a team activity for Ling Lan¡¯s team, and that the both of them would sponsor the funds for it. As the boss, Ling Lan needed to take the lead and participate as well so that she did not hurt the team members¡¯ fragile little hearts.


    Ling Lan thought about it and found that she had nothing much to do on that day; furthermore, she had yet to see what a live concert in this world was like. Out of curiosity, she agreed to lead the team to experience the concert in person.


    It had to be said that Qi Long and Xie Yi had carried out their n well. Heaven knows what methods they used, but they had actually managed to obtain great seats in the fifth row right in front of the stage. Meanwhile, the few rows before them were taken up by the top ranking people of the various major factions in the academy. Thunder King Qiao Ting of the Leiting Mecha n had also shown up and was seated in the second row.


    As for the first row, it was of course filled up by the top brass of the academy along with the instructors. Li Yinfei¡¯s decision to hold her first live concert at the military academy was extremely weed by the administrators. After all, everyone knew that the song ¡¯Tranquil Night¡¯ had been specially produced for the innocent cadets who had died in the invasion. Li Yinfei¡¯s choice to hold the concert here showed her respect for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Ling Lan had just taken a seat when Li Lanfeng, who had been following right behind her all this while, reacted the swiftest, immediately snatching one of the seats beside Ling Lan. Luo Lang was not to be outdone. Although he was a step slower, he still managed to snatch the other seat beside Ling Lan. Thus, the two of them were like the door gods Heng and Ha 1 , securely framing Ling Lan on the left and right.


    Although Qi Long and the rest also wanted to sit beside Ling Lan, being a beat slower than Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang, they could only rub their noses in resignation at this result and sulkily choose some other ce to sit.


    Only Li Shiyu and Chang Xinyuan were trailing behind the team with morose faces. The both of them were obsessed with research and had no interest in whatever so-called singer. They felt that, instead of being so idle as toe here and waste time, they might as well have stayed in their ownbs and continued to work on their own topics of research.


    However, Ling Lan had said that this was a n event and no one was allowed to be absent. Hence, the two of them had no choice but topromise and pry themselves out of theirbs for this excursion. Still, even so, brimming with reluctance, they had naturally dragged their feet till they were at the very rear of the team. Only after everyone had taken a seat did they settle down in the two outermost empty seats. However, they were soon engrossed in their own research again. Even though they had left theirbs and the environment here was indeed rather terrible, this would not affect their calctions of certain forme ...


    The whole audience waited eagerly for Li Yinfei to take the stage. Finally, the time came and all the lights turned dim. Everyone involuntarily began to scream and cheer in loud fervour, because they all knew that the concert was about to officially begin ...


    ¡¯On one particr tranquil night¡¯ ... a clear voice softly crooned in therge stadium. With no lights, in a shroud of darkness, this voice sank even more deeply into everyone¡¯s souls. The initially passionate cheers began to decrease in volume, until the scene was finallypletely silent. Led by the singing, all of the cadets were brought back to that night once more, that intense and violent battle, and the helplessness they had felt at the time once again descended upon them. The entire venue became still and silent ¡ª everyone was silently mourning their innocent schoolmates andpanions who had died that night ...


    "Listening to Li Yinfei sing live, it¡¯s even clearer how powerful the other¡¯s Decadent Voice is." Little Four finally could not help but emerge to say. He had never seen such a powerful manifestation of innate talent powers before; it was actually able to control the emotions of the entire audience of forty to fifty thousand people.


    "It is indeed very powerful. There¡¯s really no way to defend against this Decadent Voice!" Although Ling Lan knew the other was using an innate talent, she still felt that Li Yinfei¡¯s singing was very beautiful, making her unwilling to resist. This feeling made Ling Lan frown silently. If someone used this type of ability to try and influence her decisions, would she fall for it?


    "Because Decadent Voice is not an attack-type ability, she belongs to the natural series of power users. As long as the user has no evil intentions, no one would bother defending against it." Little Four was pulling up all the relevant information in his databases as he exined, "Just like your leopard. He also has a simr type of innate talent, which will cause others to unconsciously think well of him. As long as he doesn¡¯t have any evil intentions against you, everything¡¯s fine."


    Little Four¡¯s words made Ling Lan turn reflexively to look at Li Lanfeng, only for her to find that Li Lanfeng¡¯s brow was tightly furrowed, as if he didn¡¯t really like Li Yinfei¡¯s singing. What was up with that? Ling Lan was extremely puzzled. Mind you, even Li Shiyu and Chang Xinyuan who had been mired in their research at the start had been involuntarily pulled out of their research the moment Li Yinfei had started to sing. They were now just as enraptured by the singer¡¯s Decadent Voice as the others.


    Ling Lan¡¯s puzzlement was immediately picked up by Little Four. He too felt it was rather strange, so he began searching manically through his databases again. Three secondster, he finally found a so-called research hypothesis. "Boss, ording to the databases, simr innate talents might repel each other. Li Yinfei¡¯s Decadent Voice and your leopard¡¯s innate talent might be somewhat different, but their final manifestations are extremely simr. Could it be that their innate talents have this sort of mutually repelling nature?"


    "Highly probable. Well, that¡¯s fine. At least if we ever meet this kind of person again, there will be someone on the team who can keep a clear mind." Ling Lan believed this was a good thing. She did not want to have her emotions affected without clear reason, to the extent that she might even change her decisions unwisely. At this point, Ling Lan suddenly recalled when her dad had firstid eyes on the leopard. The corners of her lips curved involuntarily, and there was a trace ofughter in her eyes.


    No matter how powerful one¡¯s innate talent was, there would always be someone who would not be taken in by it. Li Lanfeng¡¯s innate talent made others rx their guard unconsciously around him and feel like getting closer to him, but this innate talent was utterly useless against her dad Ling Xiao, and even had a reverse effect. Compared to the others, like Li Shiyu and the rest of her team, her dad was able to treat them kindly and agreeably. However, when it came to Li Lanfeng, her dad¡¯s face had been an icy tundra, and he hadpletely ignored Li Lanfeng. This hurt Li Lanfeng considerably, unsure what he had done to displease General Ling Xiao ...


    Could it be that her dad also had a simr awakened innate talent as the leopard? So the two of them sensed some mutual rejection? Considering the fact that her dad was a national idol, Ling Lan felt that this hypothesis was very likely to be true ...


    Right then, Ling Lan could not know that Ling Xiao did not like Li Lanfeng purely because Li Lanfeng had crawled out from Ling Lan¡¯s mecha at the time they had first met. No father would not react well to a boy who had randomly appeared by his daughter¡¯s side and seemed intimate with her.


    "Actually, this type of ability only carries a hint of suggestion. It won¡¯t really cause any dramatic influential effect. Otherwise, the Federation government would not just let these singers and performers with these innate talents move around freely. It¡¯s clear to see that the government considers these people safe 2 ." Little Four used the facts to inform his boss that the powers of these individuals were not as formidable as she thought they were.


    "War will always bring great harm, and these innate talent users can help console the sorrow of the masses. The Federation needs them." Little Four¡¯s exnation let Ling Lane to an understanding immediately. She knew why the government would promote these singers and performers ¡ª they could skilfully dampen the public¡¯s anti-war sentiments. It should be said that the methods of the Federation government in this time was already very sophisticated. It made full use of every person in its reach, making it so that everyone served the machinations of war.


    At the end of the lovely yet mournful ¡¯Tranquil Night¡¯, the cadets were still immersed in their emotions when, suddenly, amp lit up in the centre of the stage, and a graceful silhouette slowly rose from a tform in the centre. It went without saying that this was the singer everyone had been waiting for, Li Yinfei. Everyone was instantly shaken out of their stupor and began to scream and shout uncontrobly. The initially calm cadets reverted to their original age at this time, bing wild and fanatical.


    "Thank you, everyone, foring to see my concert. I¡¯m very happy. I had originally only wanted to give the souls of those innocent cadets who had died some peace andfort, which is why Iposed this song ¡¯Tranquil Night¡¯. I never expected this song to be so loved by you all. I¡¯m grateful for the support and attention. Next, I would like to dedicate a new song of mine to all of you ¡ª¡ª ¡¯Never Give In!¡¯"


    Li Yinfei¡¯s voice was extremely lovely, soft and gentle with a trace of warmth running through it. Even a sad song like ¡¯Tranquil Night¡¯ still held that share of irrepressible warmth despite its deep sorrow. Of course, right then, without the sad tone from the first song in her voice, the warmth in Li Yinfei¡¯s voice was all the more apparent.

 Chapter 391: The Same Face ...

    Chapter 391: The Same Face ...


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Apanying Li Yinfei¡¯s voice, all the stage lights turned to focus on her body, allowing everyone to see Li Yinfei¡¯s figure clearly. However, this was soon followed by deep sighs from the entire venue. It turned out that Li Yinfei¡¯s face was currently covered by a thin veil through which only a pair of exquisitely charming nted almond-shaped eyes could be seen. The y of lights and shifting of emotion in those eyes actually conveyed an erotic allure ¡ª even without having seen her face, everyone could tell that this Li Yinfei was most certainly a stunning enchantress.


    When the song "Never Give In" began to y, Li Yinfei once again touched the hearts of the cadets. This song was extremely powerful and Li Yinfei sang it with passion, as if telling the cadets that the enemy¡¯s invasion would never break the Huaxians¡¯ iron bones 1 . Stirred up by the singing, everyone present rose to their feet. All the cadets clenched their fists emotionally, loudly joining in when the line ¡¯never give in¡¯ appeared in the chorus segments.


    By this point, no matter how thick Ling Lan was, she knew that this Li Yinfei was bound to be part of the military. Otherwise, it was unlikely that both her songs would cater so closely to this battle of the military academy. The military had truly nned this well ¡ª Li Yinfei¡¯s arrival and these two songs would inevitably fan the cadets¡¯ hatred towards the intruders to an extreme. It could be conceived that all the cadets here would be the central supporters in fighting back against these intruders in the future.


    Right at that final moment, at the crescendo of the song, Li Yinfei ripped off the veil on her face, revealing her peerless face ... all of the cadets who had been loudly singing ¡¯never give in¡¯ earlier abruptly fell silent. In that instant, they had truly been shocked silent by Li Yinfei¡¯s peerless beauty.


    This was Li Yinfei ¡ª leaving aside her enthralling voice, she also possessed a peerless face capable of bewitching the masses!


    Li Yinfei¡¯s true appearance stunned everyone present. In the second row, Qiao Ting, whose face was initiallyposed, felt his heartbeat speed up when he saw Li Yinfei¡¯s true face. He could not suppress a surge of desire in his heart, thinking, "This is a woman worthy of me. I must get her!"


    Li Yinfei¡¯s peerless beauty simrly startled Ling Lan. As another girl, Ling Lan had actually been attracted for a moment by Li Yinfei¡¯s face as well. However, Ling Lan was a girl after all, andbined with all the insane torments of Instructor Number Five in the learning space, Ling Lan¡¯s heart had been trained to be extremely tough and cold. She would not be easily bewitched.


    After calming down, when Ling Lan once again gazed at Li Yinfei¡¯s face which was beautiful enough to topple cities, she noticed that that face made her feel somewhat ill at ease. Even though it was exquisitely beautiful, exquisitely alluring, even worthy of being called peerless and unmatched, for some reason, Ling Lan just felt that there was something off about it. There was just some natural grace missing ¡ª what exactly was this about?


    Ling Lan¡¯s brow was lightly furrowed. Just as she was mulling over the issue, Li Lanfeng by her side suddenly began trembling uncontrobly. Not only that, his two hands, which he had ced on top of his knees, also began to tremble uncontrobly ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart clenched. She could not help but recall the air invasion when Li Lanfeng had been sitting in the auxiliary seat of her mecha and what had happened then. Could it be that some issue had cropped up again with the leopard¡¯s worrying physical condition?


    Concerned, Ling Lan could not help but extend her right hand to hold Li Lanfeng¡¯s trembling hands. This move made Li Lanfeng jerk in surprise. He whipped back his head to look at Ling Lan, his red eyes actually filled with despair, pain, and even a trace of insanity. That look was as if he had been abandoned by the entire world ...


    "Leopard, are you alright?" asked Ling Lan with a serious expression, having sensed something wrong with Li Lanfeng.


    Ling Lan¡¯s question seemed to have rescued Li Lanfeng from being drowned in his own world ¡ª his gaze quickly cleared up. Regaining hisposure, Li Lanfeng flipped his hands to grasp Ling Lan¡¯s right hand. He sped it tightly, as if holding on to a life-saving piece of straw, unwilling to let go. The force of his grip actually made Ling Lan feel a hint of pain.


    Ling Lan had always hated skin contact with others. She was just considering whether to fling off Li Lanfeng¡¯s hands when she registered that Li Lanfeng¡¯s palms were coated with sweat. She then thought about Li Lanfeng¡¯s wild and desperate gaze previously and her heart softened involuntarily.


    Thinking about it, she was currently a boy, so it was perfectly normal for a malepanion to hold her hand every once in a while. Furthermore, Li Lanfeng really seemed to need somefort from apanion right now ... alright, she would just take it as her good deed for the day and contribute her right hand to provide somefort for the other. It¡¯s not like her hand would lose any flesh because of this. So thought Ling Lan with full Ah-Q spirit 2 .


    In this way, Ling Lan forced herself to ignore Li Lanfeng¡¯s grasping hands. She continued to stare expressionlessly at the stage, studiously researching the problem she had just discovered ... erm, well, that was the problem with that Li Yinfei. So unnaturally beautiful, was there really nothing wrong with her?


    Perhaps Ling Lan¡¯s focus was fully on Li Lanfeng, so she did not notice something else happening at the outermost edge of their row of seats. Li Shiyu, who had initially been fully enraptured by Li Yinfei¡¯s voice, currently had an unbelievably horrified expression on his face. This horror was definitely not because of the other¡¯s peerless beauty, but looked more as if he had seen a devil ...


    With a tter, Li Shiyu could not help but leap up from his seat, startling Chang Xinyuan who had been just as dazzled by Li Yinfei¡¯s appearance as the rest. When Chang Xinyuan saw Li Shiyu¡¯s horrified expression, he instantly knew something was wrong. Quickly casting Li Yinfei¡¯s appearance to the back of his mind, Chang Xinyuan asked Li Shiyu in concern, "Shiyu, what¡¯s going on?"


    Li Shiyu¡¯s right hand rose sharply to cover his mouth, as if afraid that he would scream despite himself. With much effort, he finally calmed himself down, put down his hand, and said in a hurry, "Xinyuan, I¡¯ve suddenly remembered something important I have to do. I need to leave immediately. Later, please help me request a leave of absence from the leader."


    Li Shiyu¡¯s grim expression let Chang Xinyuan know that the other must have some serious matter to attend to, so he quickly nodded and assured the other that he would pass on the message. After that, Li Shiyu no longer had any patience to remain at the concert venue. He hurriedly ran out of therge stadium.


    As soon as he left the stadium and came outside, the refreshing breeze that swept by instantly helped to clear Li Shiyu¡¯s shaken mind. As the attention of everyone in the military academy was on Li Yinfei¡¯s concert right then ¡ª if they were not at the venue watching it live, they were in their dorm rooms connected to the virtual world to watch the live broadcast ¡ª there was not a single person outside the stadium.


    With lengthened strides, Li Shiyu very swiftly made his way to an area popted by trees, an absolutely quiet ce. He could not wait to enter a string of numbers into hismunicator. He had never taken the initiative to contact that number over these past four years, but the number had been stored deeply in his heart all this time, never forgotten.


    "Yu-er, I never expected that there would evere a time when you would contact me on your own volition. Have you thought things through and are now willing to ept grandpa¡¯s arrangements to be the first inheritor of the Li family?" On the virtual screen of Li Shiyu¡¯smunicator, a dignified old man suddenly appeared. His initially stern face actually carried a trace of a smile ¡ª it looked like Li Shiyu¡¯s taking the initiative to call had pleased him greatly.


    However, Li Shiyu had no mind to appreciate the old man¡¯s feelings. Seeing the other, he shouted angrily, "Grandfather, what exactly is going on with that Li Yinfei?"


    "Li Yinfei?" The old man¡¯s pleased expression abruptly turned cold. "You¡¯ve seen her?" As if suddenly thinking of something, realization emerged on the old man¡¯s face. "That¡¯s right, she¡¯s currently holding a concert at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. It¡¯s normal for you to have seen her."


    "Who is she exactly?" Li Shiyu bit out, pushing the question out word by word from the between his teeth.


    The old man said dismissively, "A branch descendant of the Li family. ording to hierarchy, she can be considered your younger cousin."


    "What I¡¯m asking is how that face came about." The old man¡¯s diffidence broke Li Shiyu¡¯s control over his emotions and Li Shiyu could not help but growl.


    This question made the old man¡¯s face turn stern and forbidding. "Is this the attitude you should have when speaking with your grandfather?"


    Li Shiyu closed his eyes and fiercely swiped a hand over his face. Then, taking in a deep breath, he pushed down his growing anger before opening his eyes once more. By then, his eyes no longer held any of his previous rage, having be much calmer than before. "I apologize, grandfather, that was my transgression. But please, can you tell me, what¡¯s going on with that face of Li Yinfei¡¯s?"


    Li Shiyu¡¯s behaviour gentled the old man¡¯s attitude considerably, and he answered lightly, "That face ... is anything wrong with it?" as if he did not understand Li Shiyu¡¯s meaning.


    "Grandfather!" Li Shiyu cried out loudly once more, "You clearly know ... clearly ..." Somewhere where the old man could not see, Li Shiyu¡¯s low hanging left hand had already balled up into a fist. Perhaps from using too much strength, the veins were actually bulging on the back of his hand. It was clear to see how angry Li Shiyu was at this moment, but because the other party was his grandfather, he had no choice but to tolerate it.


    "Clearly know what?" asked the old man in return. Just when Li Shiyu¡¯s tolerance was about to run out and he was going to explode in anger, the old man added, "Are you trying to ask why Li Yinfei looks exactly like your eldest cousin brother Li Mn?"


    This question made Li Shiyu calm down instantly. "I want to know why you¡¯re doing this."


    "Why are you asking me this?" The old man¡¯s expression turned indifferent once more.


    "Without your approval, Li Yinfei could never have appeared in the public eye, much less be a singer. In order to secure the status and dignity of the family head, the Li family would never allow someone with an appearance simr to the family head to show their face to the world." Li Shiyu understood the Li family too well ¡ª Li Yinfei looked so much like his eldest cousin brother and so should never exist. Even if she was allowed to exist, she should still have been forced to change her face ¡ª this was a sign of respect towards the family head from the main branch as well as the inheritor.


    "Li Mn is currently still not the family head," replied the old man after several seconds of silence.


    "But eldest cousin brother is the first in line to inherit," growled Li Shiyu once more. Just because of his body, his cousin could not be strong, and so they felt they could just step all over his cousin¡¯s dignity like this? For the first time, Li Shiyu began to hate the Li family as a whole. Towards that Li Yinfei who possessed his eldest cousin brother¡¯s face, the intention to kill stirred in his heart ...


    "Don¡¯t do anything stupid. The matter of Li Yinfei was approved during a meeting of the family elders. Even I had no way of preventing it," barked the old man, seeming to sense the killing intent in Li Shiyu¡¯s heart.


    "No way?" Li Shiyuughed scornfully. If grandfather truly wanted to stop this from happening, how could he have no way? Li Shiyu was all too familiar with the methods his grandfather could employ.

 Chapter 392: No Longer Li Mulan!

    Chapter 392: No Longer Li Mn!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Li Shiyu¡¯s extremely obvious mockery caused the old man¡¯s expression to stiffen, but he very quickly recovered hisposure. The two of them faced each other in silence for several beats, and in the end, the old man sighed, a trace of fatigue appearing on his face. Softly, he said, "Even though I¡¯m a grandfather to the both of you, I am also the family head of the Li family. I need to take responsibility for the entire Li family."


    The meaning of the old man was apparent ¡ª even though he was the biological grandfather of Li Shiyu and the others, he could not disregard the interests of the Li family as a whole and do as he liked. As such, he had no choice but to make some concessions.


    The old man¡¯s demeanour caused Li Shiyu¡¯s heart to clench. As if sensing his grandfather¡¯s helplessness in the face of the pressure exerted by the elders of the Li family, Li Shiyu¡¯s expression turned cold and foreboding. "The council of elders, is it?"


    "Don¡¯t me them. They are also doing this for the future of the entire Li family n. The condition of your eldest cousin brother¡¯s body is truly too horrible, and besides ..." Here, a trace of regret could be seen on the old man¡¯s stern face.


    Unfortunately, no matter how much the old man wanted to exin, Li Shiyu had already convicted the elders in his heart. He instantly interrupted to say, "Grandfather, there¡¯s no need to say any more. I understand everything. One day, I will definitely ..." Li Shiyu stopped there, cutting off the call with his grandfather. For the first time, a trace of bloody killing intent appeared in his eyes.


    Li Shiyu had never wanted to take anything to the extreme and leave no room for manoeuvring ¡ª there had always remained some bit of light in his heart, some kindness andpassion. This was his strength but also his weakness. This was why he had been able to reject the proposition of bing the first inheritor out of the sense of kinship in his heart for the sake of his eldest cousin brother. And this was also the main reason why Ling Lan had been able to entrap him into joining her n.


    But this time, the matter of Li Yinfei had directly shattered the pure innocence he held deep in his heart. He finally understood that without power or authority, once one lost all use and value, the family would mercilessly cast one out ... for the first time 1 , he hated deeply. He hated those elders who had heartlessly abandoned his eldest cousin brother and made the decision to humiliate and degrade his cousin. Also for the first time, he thought of taking revenge ... he absolutely would not forgive those elders.


    The old man looked at the disconnected call signal on the device in his hand and could not help but shake his head, sigh softly, and say, "Oh Shiyu, you¡¯re still much too young."


    After hanging up, Li Shiyu could not hold back the roaring mes of rage within him. He quickly rushed back to his ownboratory and shut himself inside, staying secluded within it for over a month.


    Li Shiyu knew very well that this action of the council of elders meant that his eldest cousin brother had thoroughly lost all favour within the Li family. Right now, he must be having a very difficult time in the Li family, unable to do anything. If their grandfather could not resist the pressure from the council of elders in the end, giving up was only a matter of time. He needed to speed things up. Even if he could not develop a form that couldpletely resolve his eldest cousin brother¡¯s constitution problem, he still needed to at least find some medicinal agent that could alleviate his cousin¡¯s condition so that he could help his cousin tide through this crisis as much as he could ...


    Leaving aside Li Shiyu¡¯s burning anxiety, on Li Lanfeng¡¯s end, his heart which had initially turned ice-cold with despair had finally recovered due to the warmthing from Ling Lan¡¯s palm. His initially trembling body gradually calmed down as well and his eyes became clear, his entire being appearing unbelievably calm.


    Ling Lan had initially wanted to ask if Li Lanfeng wanted to go out to take some fresh air, but she was stopped by the cold, piercing gaze Li Lanfeng was directing at Li Yinfei.


    Li Yinfei was still singing ¡ª the better Li Yinfei sang, the more worked up the stadium was, and the colder Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze became.


    It had to be said that in order to build Li Yinfei¡¯s image as a soulful songstress, her managementpany had indeed invested a lot of money. All five songs she sang this night were ssics in their own right though the melodies epassed various styles, mesmerising all the cadets as they listened. Of course, Li Yinfei¡¯s peerless beauty had to be given arge half of the credit. Due to the advent of gene agents and other reasons, everyone in this era, regardless of gender, was all pretty good-looking. However, it was still rare to find one such peerless beauty like Li Yinfei in the span of a hundred years.


    This concert announced Li Yinfei¡¯s sess. After being broadcast via the virtual world, her singing voice and her appearance made her be the idol of the hundreds and thousands of soldiers of the Huaxia Federation, turning her into one of the most famous soulful singers. Also because her songs were almost all revolving around themes of war and the military, she had arge number of fans among the troops, bing another national military idol following Ling Xiao.


    During the concert, Ling Lan was constantly worried about Li Lanfeng¡¯s physical condition, afraid that he would not be able to hold out till the end of the concert. However, as time went on, Li Lanfeng¡¯s condition seemed to improve, and by the end, he looked no different than he had at the start. Even so, the perceptive Ling Lan had still sensed that Li Lanfeng now had an additional air of determination about him.


    As soon as the concert ended, Li Lanfeng quickly bade goodbye to Ling Lan, as if he had some urgent matter to attend to. The moment Li Lanfeng left, Chang Xinyuan came over to tell Ling Lan about Li Shiyu leaving partway through the concert. This piqued the curiosity of the other team members, and someone voiced the spection whether Li Yinfei had anything to do with Li Shiyu and Li Lanfeng. After all, they all shared the surname Li, right?


    Of course, this question was very quickly flicked aside by everyone. Even if Li Yinfei had some rtion to Li Shiyu and Li Lanfeng, so what? Xie Yi and Qi Long may like Li Yinfei¡¯s songs, but that was all. They had no thoughts of anything beyond that. Fine, Qi Long and Xie Yi were still young, and having been pressured by Boss Ling Lan all this while, bing strong had been the only thing on their minds. They still had not reached the point where they started thinking about love.


    That said, the outgoing Xie Yi still could not repress his curiosity and sought out Li Yingjie to ask about the matter. However, Li Yingjie¡¯s response was pure confusion; he had no clue at all who this Li Yinfei was. Still, Xie Yi¡¯s question did stir up some doubt in his mind ¡ª Li Yinfei¡¯s name was indeed really like someone from their Li family.


    Xie Yi was filled with contempt for Li Yingjie¡¯s reply. Heughed at Li Yingjie for not even being able to tell for sure whether someone belonged to his family, greatly infuriating Li Yingjie. Subsequently, Li Yingjie, who never really paid much attention to the chaotic family affairs of the Li family before this, finally made the decision to take any chances he hadter on to get a proper list of all the descendants of the Li family branch members so that this bastard Xie Yi would not look down on him again ...


    Li Yingjie could never have known that this query by Xie Yi would spark his motivation like this and actually set him on the path to discovering a great secret in the future ...


    ********


    As soon as Li Lanfeng returned to his living quarters, he entered his room and closed the door behind him. After ensuring that everything was secure, he dialled his grandfather. On the virtual screen of hismunicator, the figure of an old man appeared. It was the same old man who had spoken with Li Shiyu earlier.


    When the old man saw Li Lanfeng, the indifference he had sported while speaking with Li Shiyu melted away to be reced by a slightly bitter smile. He sighed and said, "Shiyu has already contacted me. I was just thinking when you would call me as well. Who knew you had such patience, only calling me after so long ..."


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression was frigid as he cut in to say, "Grandpa, Li Yinfei, if I¡¯m not mistaken, should be your doing, right?" Compared to Li Shiyu, Li Lanfeng understood his grandfather better.


    The old man¡¯s smile disappeared instantly, and his face turned unbelievably stern and serious. "As expected of the inheritor I have invested so much into to cultivate, figuring things out immediately."


    "This is because I know too much about your methods, grandpa. I can even deduce that your exnation to Shiyu must be that it was the decision of the council of elders. The poor Li family council of elders, once again bing your scapegoat." Li Lanfeng¡¯s taunting was even more obvious than Li Shiyu¡¯s. The expression on the old man¡¯s face turned unbelievably awkward;pared with Li Shiyu¡¯s gullibility, this grandson of his was as wily as a ghost ¡ª nothing could be hidden from him.


    Li Lanfeng ignored the embarrassment of the old man and continued to ask, "I just want to know, grandpa, why did you do this?" Li Lanfeng¡¯s current tone of voice was so cold that there was almost no warmth at all to be found in it.


    "I need to have more than one n ready." The old man¡¯s eyes turned sharp and prating. "I will not allow my grandson to fall to the Phoenix Thrall Fate. If things trulye to that point, Li Yinfei will be your recement."


    The old man gave Li Lanfeng a direct answer. For this matter, he had plotted over the course of several years. After much trouble, he finally found Li Yinfei who resembled his grandson as much as 50 to 60% among the Li branch family descendants. The most important thing was that both of Li Yinfei¡¯s parents were dead, so he could control everything about her. Over these past few years, he used thetest alteration technology the Li family had at its disposal, and after many experiments, he finally seeded in making Li Yinfei resemble his grandson up to 90%. Adding on some application of make-up, at one nce, aside from temperament, Li Yinfei was almost indistinguishable from his grandson ...


    The old man¡¯s answer caused Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart to seize in pain. At the heart of it, he was still too weak. That was why his grandfather did not believe he could truly defy fate and change his destiny, thusing up with this humiliating n for him to escape from his Phoenix Thrall Fate.


    "I understand ..." Li Lanfeng closed his eyes with a heavy heart, hiding the pain he felt inside. Even his closest rtive did not believe in his efforts ¡ª how would he be able to prove himself? Moreover, this decision of his grandfather¡¯s meant that he would never be able to show his real face in public anymore in the future.


    He thought of the rabbit ¡ª he had once thought hopefully that, after a few more months, on his 20th birthday, he would be able to stand before the other with full honesty and tell him the whole truth ... but now, all of that was no longer possible. He could only continue to live on under the identity of Li Lanfeng, and this may be how it would be for the rest of his life.


    The old man seemed to sense Li Lanfeng¡¯s grief. He sighed deeply and said, "Sinful things must be given up."


    Li Lanfengughed tragically. So his grandfather had felt that his looks were a sinful existence? How ridiculous. If the Phoenix Thrall Fate was all because of his face, then wouldn¡¯t ruining it be enough? Why bother going through the extra trouble of manufacturing this Li Yinfei? At the heart of it, his grandfather was just trying to fool himself.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯sughter finally subsided. His eyes sprang open, sadness shing briefly in the depths of his gaze as he peered intently at the old man for a moment before saying, "Grandpa, this is the final time I¡¯ll be contacting you. From now on, I am no longer Li Mn but Li Lanfeng ... and I can only be Li Lanfeng!"


    Hearing this, the old man¡¯s body jerked and his eyes swiftly turned red. His mouth twitched soundlessly, but in the end, he merely nodded resolutely and said, "Li Lanfeng, look out for yourself!"


    The old man pressed the button to end the call and then stared nkly at the now dark virtual screen. Only after a good long while did he stir to say faintly, "I can only do this much. After this, it¡¯s all up to you, Mn!" Having said that, his entire frame copsed. His back bent uncontrobly into a curve, and he was no longer as confident and unshakeable as he had appeared to his two grandsons on the screen.

 Chapter 393: The Lingtian Mecha Clan!

    Chapter 393: The Lingtian Mecha n!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Time flew, and a year¡¯s time was over just like that.


    This entire year, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had seemed extremely peaceful and uneventful. That air invasion of the academy a year ago had put a damper on the initially tense andpetitive atmosphere of the academy. Those 8000 cadets who had died in the battle hade from multiple factions, which almost epassed all the factions in the military academy. Certain factions were hit particrly hard and were devastated by the loss of members.


    Under this sort of slump, all the factions were in no mood to fight over anything. They all took the time to rest and recuperate, biding their time. The New Cadet Regiment was probably the faction which lost the fewest members in the air invasion incident. With the exception of a minor few who had died in battle with the enemy, Ling Lan¡¯s decisive arrangements had allowed most of the members to survive the crisis.


    It could not be denied that those New Cadet Regiment members who had survived the battlefield found their mecha control skills improving on a vertical line within this one year. Quite a few intermediate mecha warriors sessfully advanced to advanced mecha warrior level, but since they had not officially gone through a mecha practical training session, the academy instructors did not know about it yet. It could be imagined that when the members of the New Cadet Regiment finally entered their mecha practical training courses, they would certainly shock the entire military academy.


    Sessfully entering the second year meant that the New Cadet Regiment had said goodbye to the chapter of their lives as newbies ¡ª they would now officially enter the formal courses of their chosen specialization. This also meant that they now had the right to establish mecha ns that the academy would recognise.


    Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, as well as the other team leaders of the New Cadet Regiment all felt that it was better to establish a mecha n earlier rather thanter. By taking advantage of this time when the old factions had not fully recovered, the New Cadet Regiment would be able to set down secure roots within the military academy.


    Ling Lan agreed with them, and so not long after the start of the second year, she submitted the application for the establishment of the Lingtian Mecha n to the military academy. This application shocked all of the factions in the academy, and many were even of the opinion that this reckless behaviour of the New Cadet Regiment was bound to be thwarted. This was because the establishment of a mecha n required the applicant group to pass an assessment by the academy mainframe.


    Just think ¡ª even if the freshmen had started training their mecha control in Mecha World as early as they could in their first year, one year¡¯s time was only enough at most for these freshmen to achieve intermediate mecha warrior status. Moreover, this was only something extremely talented students could achieve. Meanwhile, the virtual battle ns created by the mainframe as the opponent in its assessment would at worst consist of advanced mecha warriors but were more likely to be all special-ss operators. Although the result of the assessment was not determined by winning or losing, how many seconds could a team made up of intermediate mecha warriorsst under the attack of the mainframe¡¯s special-ss mecha operator battle n?


    However, the final oue left everyone bbergasted ¡ª the Lingtian Mecha n passed the academy mainframe¡¯s assessment in one go. Everyone wanted to know the content of the assessment, but the Lingtian Mecha n cruelly set their assessment as a top secret document. Even the academy¡¯s principal himself could not ess the battle logs of this assessment; only high-level administrators of the military at the rank of general and above would have the authorization to view them ... but would the generals even care to pay any attention to a minor mecha n formation assessment within a military academy?


    And so, this assessment became a secret, sealed away for many years. Until that time in the future when Ling Lan had already be a king in her own right ¡ª only then did she draw the interest of the high-level people in the Federation military, who then looked up the assessment records. Only then did theye to understand that King Ling had already been crazily overpowered even back during her time at the military academy ...


    After the Lingtian Mecha n was officially established, the various smaller teams within the mecha n began submitting their applications one after the other in close session to the academy mainframe to form their own battle ns. The establishment of a battle n also required a mainframe assessment, and the missions given to the various potential battle ns were not necessarily the same. Ling Lan had originally already established the Lingtian Battle n within Mecha World; after she submitted her application, she actually did not need to take an assessment for the academy mainframe immediately approved it.


    This made Ling Lan suspect that Mecha World, which allowed the public to enter and practise their control, was in fact overseen by the military. And that mainframe of Mecha World was very likely the mainframe of the military itself. In reality, the fact that the military academy¡¯s mainframe was a split segment of the military mainframe itself was an open secret in the military academy.


    Of course, there was one other reason for this spection of Ling Lan¡¯s. The rank of her approved battle n in the real world was exactly the same as the one in Mecha World, instantly leaping up to 5-star.


    This coincidencepelled Ling Lan to be suspicious ¡ª how else would this 5-star ranking havee about? Could it be that the military academy¡¯s mainframe just happened to suffer a seizure and specially decided to gift her such a grand present? It was impossible just thinking about it.


    After the battle n was established, the original Lingtian Battle n members immediately joined again. However, there was one unexpected guest. When Li Lanfeng joined this time, he dragged his good friend Zhao Jun along.


    In all honesty, Zhao Jun had not actually wanted to formally join the Lingtian Battle n. He had only wanted to sign a one-year temporary contract, but who was Li Lanfeng? His heart set on helping his rabbit increase the strength of his battle n, Li Lanfeng naturally would not let this super-valuablebat warrior Zhao Jun go.


    Thus, under Li Lanfeng¡¯s purposeful verbal provocation, Zhao Jun was unable to resist and issued a direct challenge to the n leader Ling Lan, setting a wager for their fight along with it. If Ling Lan could defeat him, he would join the Lingtian n and pledge his loyalty as a member of Lingtian without any reservations.


    Zhao Jun was a confident person ¡ª among the cadets, only about 50 or so had managed to advance to be special-ss operators, and Zhao Jun¡¯s battle strength had always been in the top three of these 50 or so special-ss operators. Additionally, even adding in the one and only cadet who had advanced to be an ace operator, the Thunder King Qiao Ting, Zhao Jun¡¯s ranking in terms of battle strength had never dropped out of the top five. This was also why even though he was not someone from Wuji, the Wuji Mecha n still had no choice but toy down their pride and seek him out for a partnership.


    As Zhao Jun was from a third-rate, he had very weak backing, and though he himself had no mind to take power and wield authority, he was still an ambitious person who did not want to randomly join some unproven,me battle n. He wanted to be a member of some legendary battle n ¡ª therefore, for him to submit, the n leader needed to have strength on par with the Thunder King Qiao Ting at least. Of course, because of Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun also hated Qiao Ting with a passion, which was one reason why Zhao Jun had not joined the Leiting Mecha n.


    With regards to Zhao Jun¡¯s challenge, Ling Lan naturally was not afraid. Over this past year, unlike Qi Long and the rest, Ling Lan had not had to attend physical fitness sses during the day; her entire focus had been on training her mecha controls in Mecha World. Her efforts over the year had raised her status in Mecha World from intermediate mecha warrior to ace mecha master, finally reflecting her true strength in the real world.


    Thus, as soon as Ling Lan logged into Mecha World and operated an ace mecha onto the arena stage set up for the both of them, Zhao Jun knew that he had lost. Reality proved that Ling Lan¡¯s ace operator status was not just for show ¡ª her control skills were so powerful that it was scary. Zhao Jun only managed tost 20 moves under Ling Lan before he was KO-ed by a sword right through his cockpit.


    This kind of power thoroughly convinced Zhao Jun. After he logged off the virtual world, he shook Li Lanfeng in excitement, asking him how in the world he had found such an aberrant n leader. Just think ¡ª Thunder King Qiao Ting had only broken through to ace operator status in his fourth year, but Ling Lan was currently only a second year, so he had beaten Qiao Ting by two years. Do not underestimate these two years ... the younger the age, even the difference of one month was enough to disy the difference between the talent and potential of two people. Zhao Jun knew very well that Ling Lan¡¯s future was certain to be even better than Qiao Ting¡¯s. If Qiao Ting could be said to be the second Ling Xiao, then Ling Lan was very likely to achieve bing the first Ling Lan.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Zhao Jun who was now somewhat hysterical from excitement and found himself rather speechless. Frankly, he had been able to tell with a nce that Ling Lan had already taken it easy and shown some mercy during the fight with Zhao Jun in order to leave him some face. Otherwise, based on Ling Lan¡¯s methods, Zhao Jun would never have been able tost more than 10 moves against her. Li Lanfeng had no idea how he could tell Zhao Jun this ¡ª if he stated it bluntly, would Zhao Jun crumble from the shock and fall into a slump?


    Besides, his rabbit had already be an ace operator in the first year. If he told Zhao Jun this, would his good friend be stunned silly from the overwhelming shock?


    After musing about it for a long while, Li Lanfeng decided that in order to preserve the sanity of his good friend and save him from losing himself due to shock, he would mercifully keep the truth concealed for now. Li Lanfeng felt that he was truly such a kind person ...


    In this manner, Zhao Jun was whole-heartedly convinced into joining the Lingtian Battle n, and so within the early days of its establishment, the Lingtian Battle n already had 10 members. Of course, there were still many waitlisted members yet to be added to the ranks. When the first year ended, Han Jijyun and Luo Lang went back home once, and they returned with several strong requests from various people.


    It turned out that Luo Chao, Han Xuya, and the original members of team 072 all sent word that they would officially join the Lingtian Battle n once they entered an army division. In particr, Han Xuya threatened Ling Lan with extreme violence that he was not allowed to say no!


    Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s ns to go to the 23rd Division had been conveyed by Luo Lang and the others to the members of team 072. Aside from a few with excellent grades who decided to apply for enlistment to the 23rd Division along with Ling Lan and the rest at the First Academy in their fifth year, the others could only wait till they properly graduated before applying.


    Ling Lan naturally would not refuse these scatteredpanions of hers who wanted to reunite with them. Rather than taking in some unfamiliar outsiders, Ling Lan was more willing to trust thesepanions who had grown up together with her. Right then, Ling Lan was also secretly rejoicing that they had managed toplete that SSS-rank mission back then, promoting the n¡¯s level up to 5-star right away so they could take in so many more people. Otherwise, she would have had to start worrying over these next few years how she could raise the level of her battle n as soon as possible to amodate thesepanions.


    Having settled the matter of these outsidepanions, Ling Lan began to fret over the current internal members. Ling Lan had no need to concern herself over Qi Long and the other four of her original team ¡ª many years of cultivation and training had already ensured that theirbat power and rapport with one another were outstanding.


    However, the newly joined Chang Xinyuan was a huge problem. Even though he was extremely hardworking and tenacious, his mecha control talent was truly not that great. Over this past year, although Qi Long and the rest were still advanced mecha warriors, they had already touched the doorway to bing special-ss operators. They were now just waiting for a lucky chance, like when Li Lanfeng had encountered during the air invasion, to break through into the ranks of the special-ss operators.


    For an intermediate mecha warrior to advance to be an advanced mecha warrior, there was no need for any special insight. As long as they obtained enough experience and trained their control hand speed up to a certain standard, they would sessfully advance. Basically, there wasn¡¯t any particr threshold in advancing from intermediate mecha to advanced mecha.

 Chapter 394: Leitings Letter of Challenge!

    Chapter 394: Leiting¡¯s Letter of Challenge!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    But such a simple thing became extremely difficult when it came to Chang Xinyuan. His hand speed was stuck at the highest intermediate value ¡ª just a one-second improvement would be enough to judge him ready to advance. However, it was precisely this one second that left Chang Xinyuan helpless and floundering.


    When Ling Lan found out that Chang Xinyuan was unable to break through to gain that one second on his hand speed no matter how hard he practised, she knew that Chang Xinyuan had encountered a bottleneck in his talent. This was not something that training could ovee ¡ª he needed a chance for a breakthrough, and Ling Lan herself did not know where this chance woulde from. When Chang Xinyuan learned of this situation, he was greatly impacted, and fell into a depressed mood for a time. Luckily, the other members of the n often sought him out to ask him to do things, using the business of modification to help Chang Xinyuan forget this mental blow. Only this helped save the team¡¯s prodigy mechanic.


    Chang Xinyuan¡¯s problem was only waiting on an opportunity, and even though the chances of this opportunity urring seemed infinitesimal, it was at least still possible.


    In the n, Li Shiyu¡¯s mecha control talent was clearly pretty good, but his whole focus was on the research of medicine. If Ling Lan had not given a strictmand that all members of the n had to train their mecha control for no less than two hours every day, Li Shiyu most probably would not even go practise his mecha control.


    Although Ling Lan felt it was a bit of a pity that Li Shiyu was wasting his mecha control talent like this, she understood that everyone had their own goals and pursuits, so it was not her ce to interfere with Li Shiyu¡¯s personal choice. Fortunately, due to the mandatory two hours of practice every day, Li Shiyu¡¯s mecha control did notg behind the others by too much. Even though he was still an advanced mecha warrior, he had still risen from the primary stage to the middle stage. As long as Li Shiyu did not give up and stop practising, he should enter thete stage of advanced mecha warrior level in a few months, so Ling Lan was quite reassured by this.


    Having been through an air invasion, Ling Lan knew very well that on the battlefield, all those below special-ss operator level were just cannon fodder. To ensure the survival of as many team members as possible, she needed to make them all advance to special-ss operator level before graduation to be safe.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha control ability was the strongest in the n aside from Ling Lan. Moreover, like Qi Long, he was an obsessed fanatic of mecha control, and having participated very often in mecha battles while he was with the Wuji Mecha n, his battle experience was also a bracket higher than Qi Long and the rest. Thus, Ling Lan felt he was very reliable ¡ª she believed that even if the other members in the n made a mistake and dropped the ball 1 during a critical moment, Zhao Jun would never do so.


    Sometimes, trust did not need a long time to develop. Zhao Jun¡¯s personality made Ling Lan ept him very quickly ¡ª it could not be denied that the fact that Zhao Jun was Li Lanfeng¡¯s friend was a major factor. In short, Zhao Jun had been deemed a trustworthy person by Ling Lan, but of course, to truly be integrated into the Lingtian Battle n, Zhao Jun would still need to work hard.


    What Ling Lan was really worried about was still the leopard Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng¡¯s physical constitution issue was actually hidden very deeply ¡ª other than Ling Lan, none of the other members in the n knew about it. Even his good friend Zhao Jun only had some inkling of it and not a very clear one at that.


    Since Ling Lan had already decided to establish a battle n, she naturally would not permit any weakness to appear in her battle n. She found an opportunity to meet up with Li Lanfeng to discuss the issue once. Perhaps Li Lanfeng had a sort of irrational blind trust in Ling Lan, for when Ling Lan asked him about his physical condition, Li Lanfeng did not hide anything, directly revealing the true situation to her.


    The truth was as Ling Lan had imagined. It was indeed because his spiritual power was too strong for his body to handle that Li Lanfeng had this sequ 2 , just like Ling Lan in her previous life. The lucky thing was that this world had gene agents as well as all types of physical skills to improve one¡¯s physique, ensuring that Li Lanfeng did not have to die young as Ling Lan had in her past life. Still, even so, his body had never truly been well, forever hovering in a state of extreme weakness.


    Reasonably speaking, Li Lanfeng¡¯s body did not permit him to walk the path of a mecha operator ¡ª when Ling Lan had asked Li Lanfeng why he had chosen this apparently suicidal path, Li Lanfeng had been silent for a good long while, as if having something difficult to divulge. In the end, he had only said bitterly that he wanted to be someone strong who could truly control his own destiny.


    When Li Lanfeng had said these words, his eyes clearly held a trace of uncertainty, but there was even more determination in them. Perhaps, he had decided to walk this path with no guarantees only because he did not want to sumb to fate ... even if he had to pay with his life, he wanted to fight just once at least.


    Seeing this kind of Li Lanfeng, Ling Lan could not help but think of her own situation. Although she had been forced from the beginning to disguise herself as a man, all her subsequent actions, all of her efforts, were they not all for the sake of controlling her own destiny?


    Ling Lan empathized. She thought about Li Lanfeng¡¯s identity ¡ª he was even worse off than her as he was only a branch family descendant of the Li family. Although she was unclear what kind of family n the Li family was, having read all types of novels in her previous world, Ling Lan could imagine what it was like. For a branch family descendant to obtain true speaking rights and be a free person, they needed to gain strength beyond the family n¡¯s control. Otherwise, they would only be tools of the family n and may even be a sacrificial victim for the family when necessary.


    Having reached an understanding in her heart, Ling Lan decided not to ask Li Lanfeng anything more. After all, that was Li Lanfeng¡¯s private affairs ¡ª Ling Lan did not want to pry at the other¡¯s wounds. However, Ling Lan was filled with admiration for Li Lanfeng¡¯s stubborn determination and courage to be strong enough to decide his own fate even if he died. Sure enough, someone she acknowledged would never be a coward!


    Since Li Lanfeng had the courage, Ling Lan herself would spare no effort to help her good friend. She meticulously developed a set of fitness training programs for Li Lanfeng, and she also unstintingly taught her Qi exercises to Li Lanfeng. However, it was not as effective as Ling Lan had imagined. Compared to when Ling Lan had started practising it in her mother¡¯s womb, there did not seem to be much effect when the already 20 years old Li Lanfeng practised it.


    Still, Li Lanfeng was extremely lucky. With the modified gene agent Li Shiyu provided, Little Four improved it to raise the purity of the agent to 100%, allowing Li Lanfeng¡¯s frail body to fully absorb it. Li Lanfeng¡¯s body gradually began to improve, and his tenacity in practising the Qi exercises slowly began to show effect. The gradual improvement of his body left Li Lanfeng overjoyed. There was finally hope that this illness guing him for these 20 years would be cured.


    After a year of effort, though Li Lanfeng¡¯s physical constitution still could notpare to the tough and sturdy build of an average mecha operator, he was at least no longer that sickly weakling he was before who could only handle intense mecha operation for 10 minutes. The duration Li Lanfeng could sustain in high-intensity mechabat increased from the initial 10 minutes to 20, and if he was in a better state, that time would be extended. And this new time was already enough to sustain him through a small-scale mecha fight.


    This also meant that from now on, Li Lanfeng would no longer be the battle n¡¯s weak point in the many mecha fights toe. Ling Lan was very satisfied with this result.


    Although the Lingtian Battle n had misceneous problems here and there, overall, the battle n was still developing in a healthy direction. Meanwhile, the Lingtian Mecha n was also gradually stepping onto the right track under thebined efforts of the various team leaders under its banner. Right at this juncture, a letter of challenge suddenly descended upon the Lingtian Mecha n, breaking the peaceful status quo of the entire military academy.


    ********


    In Ling Lan¡¯s vi, all the regimentmanders and team leaders of the Lingtian Mecha n were gathered. They were all here for the same thing ¡ª to decide how they would deal with the letter of challenge from the Leiting Mecha n.


    Yes, this letter of challenge was from the strongest faction in the academy ¡ª¡ª the Leiting Mecha n!


    The letter of challenge being passed around was made of paper. Of course, the true letter of challenge had already been submitted digitally to the academy mainframe by the Leiting Mecha n. As the regimentmander of the Lingtian Mecha n, Ling Lan had received a notification from the mainframe at the earliest notice. However, the Thunder King had been extremely provocative. He had specially produced a physical paper letter of challenge and had personally sent someone to deliver it to the second year dormitories and hand it over to the public regimentmander Wu Jiong.


    Wu Jiong was well aware that the purpose of this action was so that the other party could announce to the entire academy that Leiting had chosen to enact their revenge now for their defeat in that arena battle a year ago.


    Wu Jiong understood what the other¡¯s intention was, but he still had no choice but to bite the bullet. The Lingtian Mecha n had just been established ¡ª if they avoided the challenge now, the Lingtian Mecha n would inevitably be theughing stock of the entire school, let alone being able to rise and develop any further after this.


    After all the team leaders had taken a look at the letter of challenge, the letter once again returned to Wu Jiong¡¯s hands.


    When Wu Jiong saw thatrge signature at the end of the letter of challenge once again, he could not hold back the rage in his heart any longer. He hissed angrily, "I had thought that the four major factions had suffered heavy losses during that air invasion incidentst year and needed to rest and regroup, and so would not have any time to spare on us. Which is why I had wanted to take advantage of this lull to quickly establish our mecha n early and use this time to grow our faction. Who knew that this Qiao Ting would see through our n and issue this letter of challenge while we still have not secured our standing ... he is obviously nning to crush us with one strike andpletely scatter our mecha n. How despicable!" That said, unable to rein in his anger, his right hand mmed down on the armrest of his chair, the force of which instantly caused numerous cracks to appear in the armrest.


    Standing not too far behind Ling Lan, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s face could not help but twitch, heart aching as he calcted in his mind ¡ª Hells, 3000 credits gone just like that ...


    Wu Jiong¡¯s words also ignited Li Yingjie¡¯s rage. He was a haughty person to begin with and was not as reserved as Wu Jiong; he instantly raged openly, "That bastard Qiao Ting! Knowing that we do not have an ace operator, he actually has the face to challenge us personally. For the sake of victory, he really doesn¡¯t care about losing face anymore 3 ."


    Seated across from Li Yingjie, when Qi Long heard Li Yingjie¡¯s yelling, a smile appeared on his face. It seemed as if he fully approved of Li Yingjie¡¯s words, but only he knew that he was smiling because Qiao Ting was about to be a victim of his own cleverness. Thinking victory was at hand, yet not knowing that the opponent he was about to face, Qi Long¡¯s boss, was already an ace operator as well. If it could be said that the other had some chance of winning a year ago, now, Qi Long really did not think Qiao Ting had any chances of winning left.


    Li Yingjie¡¯s words resonated with everyone present. The other team leaders also began to grumble and roar, scolding Qiao Ting for his shamelessness.


    Only Gao Jinyun sitting in the periphery of the circle did not join in, instead sitting quietly as he contemted something with a solemn expression ... right at that moment, Ling Lan¡¯s initially closed eyes sprang open to sweep a cool gaze around the circle. Her pressing gaze instantly stopped all the angry mutters and bellowing in the room.


    Cold sweat beaded the foreheads of everyone present ¡ª Boss Lan¡¯s force of presence was bing stronger by the day. Now, just one nce was enough to make them sense danger, and on top of that, it was as if the surrounding temperature had be frozen.

 Chapter 395: Gao Jinyuns Suggestion!

    Chapter 395: Gao Jinyun¡¯s Suggestion!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Gao Jinyun, what do you think?" Into the cold silence, Ling Lan finally opened her mouth, but unexpectedly called out Gao Jinyun.


    This caused Wu Jiong sitting by her side to raise his brows in surprise. Li Yingjie was at first rather puzzled, but he quickly turned to stare curiously at Gao Jinyun, wanting to know what about this person had gained Boss Lan¡¯s approbation.


    Ling Lan¡¯s direct callout stunned Gao Jinyun, but he was instantly taken by wild joy. In contrast to the other team leaders who did not know Boss Lan¡¯s full strength, having been saved by Ling Lan once before, he naturally knew how powerful Boss Lan was now. Everyone felt that the Lingtian Mecha n was sure to lose, but he did not agree. Leiting, who did not understand Boss Lan¡¯s full strength, was sure to once again lose to the Lingtian Mecha n ...


    And now, for Ling Lan to personally ask his opinion, did this mean he had sessfully entered Boss Lan¡¯s esteem? The very thought energized Gao Jinyun, but still, he knew deep down that if he could not say anything constructive or insightful now, he was likely to waste this opportunity.


    Therefore, Gao Jinyun forcefully repressed the excitement churning within him and considered the situation carefully for a moment before saying measuredly, "Regiment Commander Ling, since you¡¯ve asked for my opinion, then let me say a little about this. If I say anything wrong, I beg the pardon of the regimentmanders and team leaders here."


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s demeanour was very humble, greatly improving his impression in the eyes of the team leaders present, eliminating the possible friction which might have arisen from envy. Wu Jiong¡¯s eyes shed at his words ¡ª he had not expected that there would be such a capable team leader in the mecha n who was not from their academy; he had neglected this possibility.


    After Gao Jinyun finished setting the scene, he finally exined his view. "Indeed, the Leiting Mecha n is very strong, and moreover, their regimentmander, Thunder King Qiao Ting, is the only publicly known ace operator in the military academy among the cadets ..." At this point, Gao Jinyun nced reflexively at Boss Lan, but he very quickly reeled his gaze back and continued to say, "But I don¡¯t think our Lingtian Mecha n has no chance of winning at all."


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked. This Gao Jinyun was an interesting character, because he did not announce to the others that she was an ace operator. Instead, he used his words so adeptly ¡ª anyone who knew what¡¯s what would understand the hidden meaning behind Gao Jinyun¡¯s words.


    Sure enough, when Ling Lan¡¯s team members heard what Gao Jinyun said, they smiled lightly in unnned unison; it looked like they had all caught the connotation of Gao Jinyun¡¯s words.


    Even though the others could not grasp the true meaning of Gao Jinyun¡¯s words, their spirits rallied when they heard that their mecha n was notpletely sure to lose. Li Yingjie was particrly impatient, instantly speaking up to ask, "What do you mean?"


    "Over this period of time, I have seriously studied the mecha battles between mecha ns. Although there are no restrictions whatsoever with regards to the team leader, there are limitations on the number of team members and their levels. Especially for challenge battles where senior cadets are up against cadets junior to them, the restrictions are even greater."


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s reminder sparked Wu Jiong¡¯s memory and he instantly understood what the other was getting at. He nodded emphatically and said, "Gao Jinyun is right. I actually forgot that challenge fights had these regtions." Wu Jiong rapped his own head in frustration, smiling wryly as he said, "In order to eliminate vicious predatorypetition among the mecha ns, especially when ites to seniors against juniors, the mainframe has set up some protective rules in favour of the disadvantaged party. As soon as it discovers that the skill level between the two parties involved in a challenge diverges by too much, making the match-up extremely unequal, the mainframe will instantly determine that this is malicious predatorypetition and dere the challenge invalid. Of course, this mainframe protective measure for the lower grade cadets can only be applied three times 1 . However, every time a challenge is denied, a new challenge can only be issued three monthster. If the strength of the battle n the Leiting Mecha n sends out against us exceeds our level by too much, the mainframe¡¯s protective regtions will be triggered. With that, we¡¯ll still have about a year¡¯s time to grow. This is a route we can properly utilise ..."


    As the team leaders seated here had never encountered a battle between mecha ns before, they did not know all these things. They all quickly spoke up to urge Regiment Commander Wu Jiong to exin how they could get the mainframe to determine this challenge as maliciouspetition.


    Wu Jiong thenid out the rules in detail. It turned out that when upper year cadets challenged lower year cadets, other than the team leader¡¯s level being unrestricted, the overall strength of the other members participating in the fight could not exceed the challenged lower grade n¡¯s overall strength by too much. If not, the challenge would be deemed as unfair and be voided. Of course, how much the overall strength needed to exceed to be considered maliciouspetition was not something Wu Jiong, who had never been in a mecha challenge fight himself, knew for certain either, because it was not stated clearly in the rules. In the end, it would all still depend on the final submitted name lists from both sides.


    While everyone was discussing how best to utilise the mainframe¡¯s protective rules, Gao Jinyun coughed sharply to draw everyone¡¯s attention before saying loudly, "I want to add that there are three tiers for mecha fights. A 12-man fight, a 24-man fight, and a 50-man group battle. Boss Lan, it seems like the tier of the battle is up to the challenger to decide, right?"


    Ling Lan nodded in response to Gao Jinyun¡¯s question, indicating that he had it right.


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s brow furrowed as he sighed and said, "This way, we¡¯re rather disadvantaged. The initiative is in the hands of the opponent. If we could have chosen the tier, our chances of winning would be higher."


    "Oh? Setting aside how the opponent will choose, tell me your thoughts." Ling Lan raised a brow. She had always thought that Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun from her own team were already very rare military strategistbat types ¡ª unexpectedly, this team leader who was not from the Central Scout Academy seemed to be no weaker than the two of them in terms of strategizing. This piqued Ling Lan¡¯s interest; she now wanted to see how far Gao Jinyun could go.


    Ling Lan was not only focused on cultivating her own battle n, she was also cultivating some allied teams at the same time. Whether in military administration or on the battlefield, having the support of some dependable allies would invariably make her path smoother and more stable. Thus, she viewed Wu Jiong¡¯s team with high regard and also employed both carrot and stick with Li Yingjie. Since they were all from the Central Scout Academy, Ling Lan did not wish for Li Yingjie to slow everyone down.


    However, if Gao Jinyun also showed promise, Ling Lan would not hesitate to cultivate him as well and be generous with her trust. In contrast to Wu Jiong and the others who may have some nepotism mentality, Ling Lan did not distinguish between main or side branches when it came to people. As long as someone had the skills and had a passable personality, Ling Lan definitely would not discriminate against them due to their birth or background.


    The moment Ling Lan said this, everyone was gobsmacked, and Gao Jinyun himself was staring with both shock and joy at Ling Lan. Although Ling Lan¡¯s gaze was as cid as ever, the encouragement within her eyes was clear. This moved Gao Jinyun considerably, and his body actually began to tremble uncontrobly.


    Several of the other team leaders were even staring at Gao Jinyun with envious eyes. These words from Boss Lan pretty much confirmed that Gao Jinyun had truly entered Boss Lan¡¯s scope of attention. As long as Gao Jinyun did not do anything wrong after this, his team would definitely receive focused cultivation from Boss Lan. It could be predicted that Gao Jinyun¡¯s team would be one of the strongest teams aside from those battle ns of the regimentmanders in the faction.


    Gao Jinyun clenched his fists tightly, telling himself to calm down. The more exciting the situation was, the more he could not afford to make any mistakes. He took a deep breath and let his emotions settle a little before saying, "Regiment Commander, this is what I think. If we get to choose, we must choose the 12-man challenge fight. Even though our overall strength cannotpare to Leiting¡¯s, when ites to elite fighters, we¡¯re actually not much weaker than Leiting."


    Initially, they had thought that Gao Jinyun would say something mind-blowing, but he had unexpectedly said this. Even if everyone had confidence in themselves, they still felt that there was quite a bit of a gap between their strength and that of the elite battle ns of the Leiting Mecha n. One of the team leaders even retorted, "Team leader Gao, as far as I know, Leiting has 15 special-ss operators at the very least. Even though we have the confidence to say that we can achieve that same level two to three yearster, right now, we¡¯re still mostly advanced mecha warriors. There¡¯s no way we canpare to Leiting¡¯s special-ss operators in terms of strength."


    Questioned, Gao Jinyun¡¯s expression held no trace of panic. Instead, with a face full of determination, he said, "I know, but I also know that the opponent cannot send all of their special-ss operators onto the field, or else this challenge fight will not be approved by the mainframe."


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips curved up slightly once more at these words. As she expected, Gao Jinyun had also noticed this point ¡ª he was a seed deserving of cultivation.


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s resolute words made the eyes of everyone present light up. That¡¯s right, if the opponent sent out all their special-ss operators, adding on the leading ace operator, this challenge fight would just bepletely thrown out. To protect the freshmen, the mainframe would definitely reject this challenge fight. Everyone now understood what Gao Jinyun was saying when he mentioned the elite fighters. If the opponent lowered their requirements and chose advanced mecha warriors to represent them, Lingtian would still be able to put up a fight.


    "The most important thing now is how we can hide our strength from the opponent. If Leiting finds out how strong we are and arranges their troops in formations specifically suited to counter us ..." At this point, Gao Jinyun¡¯s face turned grim. "The situation will not be optimistic for us. Only if Leiting is uncertain to the depths of our true strength will we have a chance to win."


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s words made a calm settle down on the entire venue. Some team leaders seemed to have thought of something, a trace of frustration appearing on their faces. It looked like their strength levels must have been scouted out by Leiting quite recently.


    Li Yingjie¡¯s expression was also extremely unsightly. He recalled a scene in Mecha World where he had been provoked by some people. Back then, he had not been able to hold back his temper and had fought with the opponent several times in the arena. Although he had defeated the opponent multiple times and had obtained quite a lot of victory spoils, thinking back on the incident now, it was truly too fishy. It looked like he must have fallen for Leiting¡¯s trap.


    Ling Lan swept a swift gaze around the hall, taking stock of everyone¡¯s countenance, thus gaining a rough idea of which people had been scouted out. Then, she said, "Looks like, some of you already sense that something is wrong. Still, even if Leiting has discovered your true strength, the impact on this mecha battle will not be too significant, so you all don¡¯t have to be too upset."


    Even though Ling Lan¡¯s tone was cold, her words proved that she was not angry. This let those self-recriminating team leaders, including Li Yingjie, put aside some of their worries. Having been sounded out by the enemy, they were indeed very angry, but they were even more afraid of Boss Lan¡¯s anger.

 Chapter 396: Stepping Stone and That Chicken!

    Chapter 396: Stepping Stone and That Chicken!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Gao Jinyun¡¯s proposal is very urate. The 12-man mecha fight is indeed the most advantageous for us. Inparison, the 50-man n fight is the most disadvantageous because although we have already established our mecha n, we have never experienced arge-scale mecha fight. I believe that in Mecha World, the most you all would have encountered would have been a 24-man cooperative battle, and many of you would probably only have experienced a 6-12 person mini battle n mission, right?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s question received nods from all corners of the room. Indeed, these team leaders¡¯ strength was not sufficient for them to participate inrge-scale team missions. In this regard, they truly had no experience.


    "If Qiao Ting simply needs a victory to wipe away the disgrace Leiting suffered when they lost to us, he should choose the safer option of the 50-manrge-scale n fight. However, as far as I know, Qiao Ting is a very aloof and confident person, perhaps even somewhat arbitrary and wilful. Using this sort of safe method to defeat us, for him, may be a disgrace in and of itself."


    At this point, Ling Lan paused, then continued to say, "The reason he has decided to challenge us now is ¡ª one, he is indeed afraid we¡¯ll use this time to fully develop our n, and two, their fifth-year division assessment is about to start. Qiao Ting is probably thinking of using this challenge fight before the assessment to carve his name gloriously upon the military academy¡¯s historical list of honour ... in order to achieve this objective, Qiao Ting is unlikely to choose even the 24-man battle; he will only choose the 12-man battle which can best showcase individual ability."


    After saying all this, Ling Lan did not seem to feel any pressure at all. She nonchntly tugged at the cuff of her right sleeve, her expression unperturbed as she continued to say, "As for special-ss operators, he will not send them. The members who will fight alongside him should all be advanced mecha warriors. This challenge fight is his personal exhibition, and those members are just there as a backdrop to his strength."


    Stating this, the corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips curled slightly into a mocking smirk. An enemy who thought highly of himself was in fact the easiest to handle ¡ª she had always thought that Qiao Ting might be her greatest enemy and obstacle to dominating the military academy, but now, from the looks of it, he might be the easiest one to handle. Hopefully, after this battle, Qiao Ting would not give up on himself from the shock! It was not easy for Ling Lan to find a rival on par with her ¡ª she still wanted to y some more.


    "Ah, is he looking down on our Lingtian Mecha n?!" Ling Lan¡¯s words stirred up everyone present; their faces were flushed with indignant rage, and quite a few actually broke out swearing. If things really turned out as Ling Lan had said, Qiao Ting¡¯s decision absolutely meant that they were nothing in Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes.


    Observing the frothing indignation of the people before her, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes closed once more and she showed no intent of saying anything more. Xie Yi, standing to one side, knew that his boss was not interested in exining things any further, so he quickly stepped in to add on behalf of his boss, "Everyone, have you all paid attention to that bit of gossip recently?"


    Xie Yi was unsure why, over the course of this past year, his boss had be more and more reticent. Boss would onlymunicate with them with his gaze and his actions, but the effect was quite good ¡ª the team members could almost always understand what their boss was trying to convey. However, even as team rapport improved, the pressure the team members felt increased ordingly. They just could not tell when they would fall out of favour with the boss ... oh, how uneasy it made them feel.


    Xie Yi¡¯s words gathered the entire group¡¯s attention once more. Right now, Xie Yi was no longer simply a member of Ling Lan¡¯s team but also its external rtions officer. What Xie Yi said was very often the intent of Ling Lan¡¯s battle n as a whole, so they could not take him lightly.


    Just as everyone was confused, uncertain which bit of gossip Xie Yi was referring to, Xie Yi borated, "I hear that Qiao Ting has been trying hard to chase the soul singer Li Yinfei recently, but Li Yinfei has made a high-profile announcement that her future partner shall be an indomitable king. Only if one can fulfil that criteria would that person be qualified to pursue her. In order to be a king in Li Yinfei¡¯s eyes and be qualified enough to pursue her, Qiao Ting must use exceptional results as proof. He wants to be the king of the academy, and the one stain on his kingly image is precisely our newly established Lingtian Mecha n. In order to prove publicly that he is truly the king of the academy, he can only use an overwhelming victory to clear away the shame from his faction¡¯s previous defeat. As such, he can only challenge us in the way Boss Lan has exined. Ah, how beauty leads one astray ..." said Xie Yi gleefully with a dramatic sigh, causing many of the seated members to chuckle despite themselves.


    Right then, at the bend of the staircase leading up to the second floor, a dark figure was standing within the shadowed recesses of the corner. When he heard what Xie Yi said, his body actually shuddered, but he very quickly stood straight and steady again, as if that briefpse was all just an illusion.


    "Just obsessed with that face? It looks like my spections are correct. Qiao Ting really is that despicable king ..." A trace of disgust shed across the ck figure¡¯s eyes, killing intent right on its tail, but the disgust and killing intent soon dissipated to be reced by sheer bitterness. What means could he, who was still a special-ss operator, have to deal with the other? He was still too weak.


    Very soon, the ck figure recovered from the mental shock and his gaze became determined once more. He believed that as long as he followed the rabbit¡¯s arrangements and continued working hard, he would be strong one day, strong enough to match Qiao Ting¡¯s strength. At that time, he would personally end this evil fated bond.


    Xie Yi waited for everyone¡¯sughter to subside before continuing to say, "Of course, Qiao Ting has a wonderful n. Personally put an end to the grudge between us, take the prized throne of the king of the academy and, with this air of majestic authority, sweep right into some army division to gain loads of des. And then, riding this momentum, he will rise higher and higher to finally be the veritable king of Mecha World and win the heart of the great beauty Li Yinfei. It cannot be denied that Qiao Ting has an ideal n in ce, and he views our Lingtian Mecha n as a solid stepping stone ... However, our Lingtian Mecha n is no sandbag which he can push around as he likes 1 ..." At this point, Xie Yi¡¯s smile disappearedpletely and a trace of iciness could be seen on his face; it actually resembled the cold air of Boss Lan somewhat.


    So after following Boss Lan for so long, one would also inherit this special ability of Boss Lan¡¯s. Even the ever-smiling Xie Yi could make others feel so cold the moment his expression turned stony ... the group snuck a nce at the frozen face of the person sitting in the main chair, the expressionless Ling Lan, and once again confirmed that Boss Lan was truly unmatched in dominance. Her influential power was just too great.


    These words of Xie Yi¡¯s finally let everyone understand why Boss Lan would conclude that Qiao Ting would choose the 12-man battle mode when challenging them. Everyone could not help but be filled with admiration. Wu Jiong was the one who felt this most profoundly. His gaze was filled with admiration and respect when he looked at Ling Lan, but it also carried a trace of frustrated disappointment.


    The more he spent time with Ling Lan, the more he felt that Ling Lan was unfathomable. After establishing the Lingtian Mecha n, Wu Jiong knew very well that though Ling Lan was the first chair in their mecha n, she actually did not handle anything ¡ª the true manager of the Lingtian Mecha n was him, Wu Jiong. But when the Leiting Mecha n had issued their letter of challenge, filling him with panic, Ling Lan had calmly collected data and intel on Leiting and Qiao Ting. He hadpletely overlooked some of these news and gossip which had seemed disjointed and unrted, but Ling Lan had been able to find some clues from all of it, swiftly grasping the key points to determine the possible behaviour of the opponent. Obviously, in terms of gauging the big picture, he was still no match for Ling Lan.


    At this thought, Wu Jiong could not help but nce at Gao Jinyun, who had by now resumed his usual humble manner. This person had always been extremely low-key and unobtrusive, so low-key that they had all overlooked him. Yet, despite not actively managing the n, Boss Lan had been able to see his strengths with just one nce, only choosing him among all the others to speak. This astute vision was equally worthy of Wu Jiong¡¯s admiration and envy ¡ª in terms of mining talent, he was also no match for Boss Ling Lan.


    Wu Jiong could see very clearly that the interaction between Ling Lan and Gao Jinyun had not been a pre-nned thing. The pleasant surprise and excitement on Gao Jinyun¡¯s face could not have been faked. Unless Gao Jinyun was a natural actor whose acting skills had already achieved wless perfection, there was no way his reaction could be that real.


    His father had spoken truly ¡ª following an exceptional person would indeed let him learn many things he never knew before, ande to recognise weaknesses he had not noticed in himself previously ... but, father, when someone was so strong that one could only look up at them, how could he find the courage to oppose the other? Wu Jiong could not help but smile wryly ...


    The Lingtian Mecha n came to a consensus; they could only wait to see what Qiao Ting would do now. As expected, Qiao Ting did not give the Lingtian Mecha n too much time to prepare. The very next day, the Lingtian Mecha n had already received a notification from the academy mainframe. It was truly as Ling Lan had predicted. The Leiting Mecha n had chosen the 12-man mecha challenge fight, and the leader of the representative team was Qiao Ting.


    At the bottom of the notification from the mainframe was a reminder for the Lingtian Mecha n and the Leiting Mecha n to make sure and submit the official name list of their participating members to the mainframe three dayster.


    In reality, when Ling Lan had judged that Qiao Ting would choose the 12-man challenge fight, she had already had a name list in mind. However, she had not announced the list because, for one, she wanted to wait and see if she had missed anything. And secondly, she also did not want Leiting to somehow find out about this list and make some adjustment specifically countering it.


    Since Qiao Ting was nning to use the Lingtian Mecha n as his stepping stone to crowning himself king, then he should not me her for nning to use the Leiting Mecha n as her mecha n¡¯s ¡¯chicken¡¯ in a lesson to strike fear into the ¡¯monkeys¡¯ of the military academy 2 .


    ********


    In the headquarters of the Leiting Mecha n, Qiao Ting seemed to be waiting for something. Finally, someone rushed in from outside. Seeing this person appear, Qiao Ting¡¯s initially tense expression eased slightly.


    "Did you manage to get the participating name list of the Lingtian Mecha n?" asked one of the people standing beside Qiao Ting hurriedly. As a confidant of Qiao Ting¡¯s, he knew very well what Qiao Ting wanted to know most right now.


    "No, the name list is being held by their regimentmander. Even the team leaders below are not sure who will be fighting in the end. But what we can confirm is that all of the regimentmanders will be participating, and the remaining few slots should be selected from among the various team leaders." The neer wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He had not been able to obtain the true name list even after using about three days¡¯ time. This made him feel rather timid, worried whether his regimentmander would me him for this.

 Chapter 397: Choosing A Mentor!

    Chapter 397: Choosing A Mentor!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Qiao Ting could not help but frown at these words. It looked like the Lingtian Mecha n was on guard against spies after their name list.


    However, Qiao Ting¡¯s brow soon smoothed out again. For the Lingtian Mecha n to ce so much importance on their name list, so afraid that it would be leaked ... that was a sign of low confidence; this was a good thing. Moreover, even if he did not know the contents of the opponent¡¯s name list, as long as he was here, even if all the members he brought with him were intermediate mecha warriors, victory would still belong to the Leiting Mecha n. It looked like this match just meant way too much to him, causing him to be somewhat unsettled.


    Seeing that the regimentmander was not angry, the neer instantly rxed. He quickly took out a chip and hand handed it over, saying, "This is the intel we¡¯ve managed to gather on the various regimentmanders and team leaders of the Lingtian Mecha n over the past few days. The ones marked with red dots are those we reckon could be on the representative name list."


    Someone beside Qiao Ting quickly reached out to take the chip and then handed it respectfully to Qiao Ting. Qiao Ting epted the chip and aligned it with hismunicator to scan it, thus copying over all the contents of the data chip.


    Soon, from Qiao Ting¡¯smunicator, a virtual screen sprang out before Qiao Ting¡¯s face, and the information contained in the chip was fully disyed on the screen.


    The first name on the list was Ling Lan. However, all aspects after Ling Lan¡¯s name were filled with question marks 1 ¡ª in the end, as the final conclusion, there was only one hypothesis, specting that the other might be an advanced mecha warrior, or maybe even a special-ss operator.


    "This is the intel you all have gathered?" Looking at the page full of question marks, and that unverified spection, Qiao Ting¡¯s face turned dark as he snapped out the question.


    The neer wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead and hurried to exin, "Regiment Commander, it¡¯s like this. The first regimentmander of the Lingtian Mecha n has always acted on his own. Our people have no way of obtaining any urate information on him from others. However, we still managed to get some detailed info on the other regimentmanders and team leaders. Our hypothesis is also based on the other regimentmanders and team leaders, so there is a certain factual basis for it."


    Qiao Ting sniffed coldly before looking down at the intel again. Sure enough, other than Ling Lan, there were more or less some concrete stats for the other members. Hence, he set aside his dissatisfaction and began perusing the information intently.


    Right after Ling Lan was information on the three regimentmanders, Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and Qi Long. The datapiled was fairly specific ¡ª their personality, attack specializations, etcetera were all listed out one by one. This included their mecha level, which was stated clearly as advanced mecha warrior. Of course, exactly which stage of the advanced mecha warrior level they were at was unable to be determined since the intel people had never fought them personally before.


    Looking at this list, Qiao Ting was extremely satisfied. All the regimentmanders of the Lingtian Mecha n were advanced mecha warriors, and a majority of the sixteen team leaders under them were also advanced mecha warriors, with only four or five being intermediate mecha warriors ¡ª these numbers werepletely iparable with those of the Leiting Mecha n. This revenge fight would undoubtedly be Leiting¡¯s triumph.


    However, this name list equally startled Qiao Ting. After all, the regimentmanders and team leaders of the Lingtian Mecha n were all still cadets who had just entered their second academic year. For them to be able to advance to advanced mecha warrior level at this age meant that they were absolutely prodigious characters with abnormal mecha piloting talent. What¡¯s more frightening is the fact that the Lingtian Mecha n had not just one or two, but a whole bunch of them ... Hells, who would have expected the Central Scout Academy of Doha which had been quiescent these many years to actually produce such a mass burst of talent this year, producing so many geniuses in one go.


    If the Lingtian Mecha n was given a little more time, perhaps the Leiting Mecha n would really be no match for them anymore. Qiao Ting secretly rejoiced, even more determined in his heart to utterly crush the Lingtian Mecha n in this revenge match ...


    "Looks like, it is necessary to add on some wagers!" Qiao Ting finally realised personally why his vice regimentmander had decided to risk that wager back then for these people. In order to utterly eliminate the threat to the Leiting Mecha n¡¯s im to supremacy, they could onlypletely absorb the other party into their ranks.


    "Aside from this regimentmander of the Lingtian Mecha n being somewhat problematic, the others are all nothing to worry about." Qiao Ting¡¯s initially stern face finally cracked a smile ¡ª it looked like he had indeed been worrying too much.


    "Just send the original name list as nned!" Qiao Ting finally made his decision. At his order, his confidant beside him immediately sent the pre-set name list over to the mainframe.


    "Even if everyone participating are advanced mecha warriors, those I¡¯ve chosen for our side are all advanced mecha warriors at the peak stage, just one step away from entering special-ss operator level. Lingtian Mecha n ... even without me taking action, my team members will be enough to make you all choke." A smug smile hung on the corners of Qiao Ting¡¯s lips.


    ********


    "Boss, Leiting¡¯s name list is out." Little Four, who had been closely monitoring all activity of Leiting¡¯s side instantly managed to grab a copy of the battle name list Leiting had submitted to the mainframe.


    In the middle of researching to decide which mentor she should choose, Ling Lan heard Little Four¡¯s cry and a smile appeared on her lips. As expected, Leiting had been unable to hold back. "Let me see."


    Little Four immediately disyed the name list in Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace. Scanning the name list, Ling Lan nodded. It was as she expected ¡ª Qiao Ting truly wanted to emphasize his individual prowess in this revenge match.


    "Even though they¡¯re all advanced mecha warriors, these operators have already advanced into that level for over 2 years. Whether in terms of mecha controls or battle experience, they outss our team members by a lot." Little Four instantly gathered all data he could find on everyone on the name list, and he could not help but warn Ling Lan, tone serious.


    "With two special-ss operators, Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun, in the lead, even the most experienced advanced mecha warriors will end up as cannon fodder in this battle," said Ling Lan with a cold smirk. "Send over the name list we have settled on now as well then."


    Qiao Ting, when you find out that we actually have special-ss operators on our name list, will you regret deciding too hastily? A smile tugged at the corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips; she really wanted to see Qiao Ting¡¯s face change in colour ...


    It turned out that this time, Ling Lan had chosen purely based on ability, without fearing any possible ims of nepotism. She had ced the strongest eight in her own battle n into the name list, adding on Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie who were both at thete stages of advanced mecha warrior. Aside from the middle stage advanced mecha warrior Ye Xu, the final name on the list was the unexpected Gao Jinyun, who had only just entered advanced mecha warrior level.


    The reason why Ling Lan had given up on picking other stronger candidates in favour of Gao Jinyun was that she wanted to see for certain what Gao Jinyun¡¯s skills were like in terms of mecha. Gao Jinyun may have passed in terms of strategizing, but his personal level of strength was equally essential ¡ª Ling Lan needed to conduct further observation.


    Both sides had only sent in their n¡¯s name list at almost the final moment of the time limit. As for when the fight would begin, that was not something they could control. The challenge time would be determined by the mainframe, which would only inform the two parties a week before.


    After sending in the name list, Ling Lan stopped worrying about it. As for whether or not the opponent would manage to obtain their name list and figure out even more of their strength before the fight, Ling Lan very shamelessly threw the problem over to Wu Jiong to handle. Ling Lan believed that if she had to personally handle everything herself, that would absolutely be a sign of ipetence (Ling Lan would forever use brilliant methods to disguise herzy nature).


    After setting aside the matter of the challenge fight, Ling Lan once again turned her focus on choosing a mecha piloting mentor. The two months of mecha piloting theory and knowledge ss wasing to an end. From next month onwards, the cadets would have to follow a mecha mentor in practical mecha training. And now, an application to request one¡¯s choice of mentorid before Ling Lan.


    Yes, the cadets had the right to apply for any mentor they liked ¡ª they could choose and order up to three mentor candidates they most wanted to follow for their practical training. However, the application did not mean that they would definitely get the person they wanted. The instructors would also browse through the applications to select the students they wanted to take in as well. If the first-choice instructor refused, the application would automatically appear within the consideration pile for the second-choice instructor. And if the second-choice instructor refused, the application would then move on to the third instructor.


    Although it looked like the application process was extremely ideal and fair, it should be known that every instructor had limited student slots. Very often, these instructors would have already filled up all their slots after the first batch of applications. Therefore, the possibility of being selected by one¡¯s second or third choice mentor was infinitesimal, unless the first batch of students was trulycking ... this also resulted in many students missing all three instructors they requested for, only to be saddled with the tragic oue of being randomly assigned a mentor by the mainframe.


    Thus, the cadets attached great importance to the application of mentors. In order to ensure that they managed to follow an instructor with an operation style simr to theirs, the cadets would have already begun studying the various mecha instructors in the academy from the time they first started school. They did not go after the strongest, only aiming for those most suited for themselves ...


    At present, Ling Lan had alsoe to the time to choose a mentor. This troubled Ling Lan greatly, for Ling Lan truly loved closebat mecha down to her very bones. However, the military academy only had one ace operator mecha instructor specialising in closebat, and this one and only ace operator instructor just so happened to be a master of berserker attack methods, which was theplete opposite of Ling Lan¡¯s fine-tuned and delicate style of operation. If she chose this instructor, it was very likely they would butt heads, for any instructor would be unhappy with his own student not learning his style and instead choosing to do things their own way.


    Ling Lan involuntarily looked at the number one instructor on the ranking list, Tang Yu. This was an elite mecha operator whom everyone in the academyuded as a mecha professor. He was undoubtedly one of the strongest mecha instructors in the academy, because he had a thoroughprehension of every type of ace mecha. Even though he was most proficient at long-range attack, his closebat abilities were also very powerful, and because long-range attack required a great attention to detail, Tang Yu¡¯s operation style was extremely meticulous and delicate, belonging to the same category as Ling Lan¡¯s style.


    "Instructor Tang Yu, eh?" Ling Lan frowned lightly. If Tang Yu had not just finished mentoring Qiao Ting, Ling Lan would not be so troubled. Ling Lan truly did not want to have anything to do with Qiao Ting ...


    "Oh, forget it, let¡¯s look for someone else." Ling Lan still decided to give up on that option in the end 2 , thinking to just randomly choose another from among the other instructors. After all, she was already learning mecha piloting from Instructor Number Three in the learning space now, so the practical training mentorship in the academy here was not as crucial to her as it was for the other students.


    At this time, Little Four who had remained silent all this while could not help but speak up, "Boss, if Instructor Tang Yu is the best one, then why won¡¯t you choose him?" Little Four just could not ept his boss learning from a subpar instructor; that would be such a disgrace to his boss.

 Chapter 398: The Problem of Dao!

    Chapter 398: The Problem of Dao!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Thunder King Qiao Ting is Instructor Tang Yu¡¯s favoured disciple. If not too long after this, Qiao Ting loses at our hands, Instructor Tang Yu might hold a grudge." In response to Little Four¡¯s question, Ling Lan randomly made up an excuse.


    "That¡¯s impossible! ording to the data I gathered, Instructor Tang Yu has never taken in any disciples in the academy. Even Thunder King Qiao Ting is only a normal student of his," argued Little Four, "Besides, Instructor Tang Yu has stated clearly that he hopes to see his students surpass himself, each generation being stronger than the one before it. If you defeat Qiao Ting, Boss, Instructor Tang Yu will only be happy and not angry."


    "Is that so ..." Ling Lan once again turned her thoughts to Instructor Tang Yu. If that was the case, applying for Instructor Tang Yu should not be a problem. Although Ling Lan seemed to treat others very coldly, she was actually very respectful of everyone, especially those who had cared for her before. She was afraid that if she really applied for Instructor Tang Yu to be her mentor, and if Tang Yu happened to plead for mercy on Qiao Ting¡¯s behalf, though this would not shake her decision, she would still feel some guilt towards Instructor Tang Yu. This was something she did not want to see happen, which was also one of the reasons why she did not want to apply for Instructor Tang Yu.


    "Also, Instructor Tang Yu is a mecha operator who daddy really appreciates." Little Four¡¯s face was shining ¡ª the moment they brought up Ling Xiao, Little Four would be unable to control his emotions;pared to Ling Lan, he seemed even more like a child of Ling Xiao¡¯s.


    Little Four¡¯s words reminded Ling Lan that when her dad had left Newline after the battle back then, he had mentioned Instructor Tang Yu, saying that he was a true teacher. From his words, it looked like Ling Xiao was very much in favour of Ling Lan learning from Instructor Tang Yu.


    "So father approves of him as well?" Ling Xiao¡¯s silly grin filled with indulgent love and affection surfaced involuntarily within Ling Lan¡¯s mind. Faced with this kind of doting dad, Ling Lan could not find it in herself to refuse. Sighing softly, she decisively chose Instructor Tang Yu and sent out her application.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s opinion was really hard for her to refuse. Ling Lan felt that it was bing increasingly difficult for her to resist that powerful fatherly love of Ling Xiao¡¯s. Even when Ling Xiao was not by her side, that full berth of fatherly love would always appear in full force around her. Yep, the traitor Little Four was the culprit behind this. He was constantly whispering by her ear about how good Daddy Ling Xiao was and how it was oh so difficult to forget how good he was ...


    At this thought, Ling Lan threw a fierce re at Little Four. This re frightened Little Four ¡ª who knew what Boss had caught him doing wrong this time? Alright, Little Four had recently been hanging out most of the time in the virtual world; the bad things he had done were truly too many to count, even he did not dare to think too closely about it ...


    Having decided on Instructor Tang Yu, Ling Lan did not bother with choosing a second or third-choice mecha mentor. If Tang Yu refused, it did not really make much difference to Ling Lan which mecha instructor was assigned to her. Subsequently, all that was left was to wait for the mainframe¡¯s notification to see if her application would be approved by Instructor Tang Yu.


    Afterpleting the most pressing task for a second-year student, Ling Lan left the virtual world, returning to her room to rest. However, she had justin down when a powerful suction force pulled her consciousness into the learning space. By now, Ling Lan was extremely calm in the face of such things. Every time her instructors wanted to see her, they would pull this stunt. The only thing uncertain was who had initiated it this time.


    By the time Ling Lan became aware again, her eyes were greeted by a in of clouds. Looking at the white clouds surrounding her, Ling Lan did not even have to think to know that this was Instructor Number One¡¯s ce ¡ª¡ª Mountain¡¯s Peak.


    Ling Lan unhurriedly took control of her body and stepped out into the air. Finally, when she caught sight of a square tform below, Ling Lan descended lightly to touch the tips of her feet to the ground beforending firmly without making a sound.


    "Recently, are you finding your force of presence harder and harder to control?" Right then, Instructor Number One was seated on arge rock with his back to Ling Lan. Without turning his head, he asked her this question.


    "Yes, Instructor Number One." Ling Lan looked at Instructor Number One, who was about three metres away from her, and suddenly sensed a massive wave of pressure pressing down on her. This pressure was much greater than any she had felt before, making her feel as if she could not handle it and was about to be forced to her knees.


    But Ling Lan would not submit ¡ª she abruptly let out the force of presence within her in one powerful burst, pitting it against the formidable pressure Instructor Number One was plying upon her.


    Instructor Number One¡¯s pressure was like waves at high tide, each wave heavier than the one before it ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s forehead began to bead up with cold sweat, with more and more beads appearing by the moment. Her entire face turned pale and a trickle of blood suddenly flowed down from a corner of her initially tightly sealed lips ... but even so, Ling Lan¡¯s body still stood tall and steady with no sign of submitting.


    "As expected!" said Instructor Number One all of a sudden. Following this remark, the overwhelming pressure instantly disappearedpletely. Taken by surprise, Ling Lan was thrown off-bnce by the sudden shift and almost stumbled and fell. Luckily, Ling Lan had nimble reflexes and adjusted quickly ¡ª even though her body tilted forwards a little, she still managed to keep her footing.


    "Your force of presence is too intractable, willing to break rather than bend ..." said Instructor Number One faintly. His tone carried some trace of emotion, some approval as well as some regret.


    "Isn¡¯t this good?" Ling Lan¡¯s forehead was scrunched up tightly. She could hear the regret in Instructor Number One¡¯s tone ¡ª it looked like there must be some problem with her force of presence now.


    "It¡¯s not bad, it¡¯s just ... you have forgotten you are a girl ..." said Instructor Number One with a wry smile. If Ling Lan were a boy, this sort of presence would not be a problem at all, but she was a girl. A girl¡¯s body was ¡¯yin¡¯ in nature, and intractability was a ¡¯yang¡¯ trait 1 . This kind of presence which was contrary to the body it inhabited would inevitably cause the inherent nature of the body to reject and resist it. This was also why Ling Lan had found it so difficult recently to control her force of presence, letting it leak out all too often.


    "How troublesome." Instructor Number One¡¯s exnation caused Ling Lan¡¯s frown to deepen. She had never imagined that the reason she was unable to control her force of presence was actually because her body had begun to reject it internally.


    Mind you, in the recent past period of time, the reason she had be increasingly untalkative was that she had been putting all her effort into suppressing her body¡¯s force of presence. As soon as she started to speak, her aura would fluctuate and even show signs of erupting. At that time, she might very likely injure thepanions by her side identally, and this was not something Ling Lan was willing to see ...


    "At the heart of it, it¡¯s still the fault of the Dao you have chosen. You should know that your Dao depends fully on self-exploration. There is no prior experience for you to reference. It¡¯s normal for there to be some deviation," Instructor Number One continued to exin.


    "I think, Instructor Number One, you must have some way of resolving this." Ling Lan looked at Instructor Number One with steady eyes. Since the other had already diagnosed her problem, then he must have some solution. Ling Lan had the utmost faith in the omnipotent learning space and the omnipotent Instructor Number One.


    Seeing the dependency on Ling Lan¡¯s face, Instructor Number One could not help but shake his head and smile bitterly in his mind. This Ling Lan was really bing more and more shameless. Still, he could not ignore this beloved disciple of his. Instructor Number One could not help but feel that Ling Lan had only turned out this way due to them instructors spoiling her ... though Instructor Number One just could not figure out how in the world they had spoiled her to this extent, considering how everyone had obviously been so strict with her.


    After a moment of silence, Instructor Number One said, "I do have a n. There are two choices. The first is for you to give up on the Dao you are walking now, choose some other Dao which suits you and already exists, ept the experience of your predecessors, and thus improve and transform your force of presence. This is the safest and also the easiest way 2 . I suggest you choose this one." Instructor Number One bluntly gave his rmendation.


    After hearing all this, Ling Lan brushed off this option without any hesitation. "This, I will not choose." Since she had already decided to walk her own Dao, she had never once thought of giving up halfway.


    "You¡¯ve thought it through? You should know that the second method may very well cause all your previous efforts to go to waste, and it may even cost you your life." When Instructor Number One heard Ling Lan¡¯s reply, he immediately appeared right before Ling Lan in the very next second. His cold and piercing eyes stared intently at Ling Lan, as if trying to see for certain whether Ling Lan¡¯s heart was as firm and steady as her tone.


    Ling Lan did not hesitate to meet Instructor Number One¡¯s gaze, dering resolutely, "Yes. Even if I fail in the end, I will not regret it!" She was indeed very afraid of dying, but she did not want to give up on her beliefs due to this fear. This was the only thing she had learned over these past several years in her second life here.


    "Good. Well said!" A glimmer of an approving smile finally appeared upon Instructor Number One¡¯s cial face. "Ling Lan, listen well. The second way is to stay firm and unyielding. Since the two sides are repelling each other, you need to force them closer and make them merge."


    "Stay firm and unyielding? Force them close to merge them?" Confusion appeared for the first time in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes.


    "Just like how fire and water are mutually ipatible, but you will need to make it so that each has some of the other within it," A flippant voice rang out behind Ling Lan, and Ling Lan¡¯s initially steady body trembled minutely. The next second, Ling Lan had already turned around, bowed her head, and shouted, "Instructor Number Five, hello!"


    Seeing Instructor Number Five appear, Instructor Number One once again dashed back to the top of therge rock, sat down, and closed his eyes, no longer caring about Ling Lan and the uninvited Instructor Number Five.


    At the sight, Ling Lan knew that the following task of exining would be taken over by Instructor Number Five now. She raised the questions she had in her mind, "Can water and fire coexist? I have never seen something like that exist, unless there are other intermediary substances present ..."


    "No no no, little Ling Lan, just because you¡¯ve never seen it before doesn¡¯t mean it doesn¡¯t exist," said Instructor Number Five, shaking a finger as he replied with a close-eyed smile. Just then, he suddenly turned his head to look up at the empty skies around the cloudyer and shouted, "Number Nine,e out! I know you¡¯re there."


    Following this cry, Number Nine¡¯s cold huff could be heard, and then a pair of ivory white palms suddenly appeared to pry the sky among the clouds apart, revealing a ck space. In the next moment, Instructor Number Nine had walked out from the ck opening toe and stand before Ling Lan.


    "Ling Lan, long time no see." Instructor Number Nine¡¯s body was as cold and frigid as Ling Lan remembered, but her gaze could not conceal her affection for Ling Lan. Ling Lan¡¯s heart throbbed, and her eyes actually turned slightly red. Ever since Instructor Number Nine had finished instructing Ling Lan in top-level physical skills, she had never again appeared before Ling Lan. If she calcted the time, it had been about three years since they had seen each other ¡ª Ling Lan had really missed her.


    "Instructor Number Nine, I am really very happy to see you," said Ling Lan respectfully, holding back the emotional upheaval in her heart.

 Chapter 399: Personal Testimony!

    Chapter 399: Personal Testimony!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "I am also very happy. You are bing stronger and stronger ..." said Instructor Number Nine approvingly.


    Ling Lan was just about to reply when Instructor Number Five coughed loudly. Ling Lan and Instructor Number Nine turned in unnned unison to re at him.


    Instructor Number Five rubbed his nose guilelessly and said, "I¡¯m only reminding you all that right now, the pressing matter is to first resolve little Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence problem. Time waits for no man ..."


    At these words, Instructor Number Nine cast a piercing nce at Number Five. Number Five could only wave his hands again and again in response to the rage in her gaze, indicating that he had spoken unnecessarily. Perhaps it was true that every object has its counter ¡ª Number Five¡¯s perversity made all the other instructors wary, keeping a safe distance from him whenever possible. Even Number One could do nothing to handle Number Five. But Number Nine was not at all afraid of Number Five. She was the only one who could show any signs of temper towards Number Five, but Number Five was helpless against her, never ever having dealt viciously with Number Nine ...


    However, Number Five¡¯s reminder also let Number Nine know the mission she was called here for. She said to Ling Lan, "Ling Lan, first take a look at my ability."


    She had barely finished speaking when five clusters of blue me appeared on Number Nine¡¯s fingers. The mes that should obviously be producing heat, were paradoxically radiating a biting chill.


    Ling Lan was startled. She could not help but reach out a hand to try and touch the blue mes on Number Nine¡¯s fingers, but she was quickly stopped by a sharp admonishment from Instructor Number Nine. "Don¡¯t touch. It will consume any kind of energy, including your spiritual self."


    Ling Lan shrunk back, quickly pulling her hand back. Instructor Number Nine was not like Instructor Number Five whose words were always a mixture of truths and lies ¡ª if Instructor Number Nine had said so, then it truly meant that these blue mes could indeed do all of that. Consuming any type of energy ... this was really too horrifying.


    Seeing that Ling Lan was no longer nning to move, Number Nine continued, "This is my awakened talent. The element I awakened is actually like yours, a water-based element, but a deviation of it. It¡¯s just that the talent you awakened was Ice Affinity, while mine was Ice mes."


    "Ice mes?" Ling Lan was puzzled. She knew that water had three states ¡ª gaseous, liquid, and solid. Its solid state was the basis of her variant innate talent series of ice. Its gaseous form typically pointed to steam or fog series of talents, while its liquid state was the water element¡¯s mostmon form in innate talents. However, she had never heard before that the water series of innate talents still had a variant branch called Ice mes.


    "When I first awakened my innate talent, it was not in this form." Seeing the confusion on Ling Lan¡¯s face, Number Nine¡¯s cold and serious face actually held a trace of a smile. This slight smile lit Number Nine up, making her iparably bright, which caused Number Five¡¯s eyes to flicker with a strange light as well.


    "Ah ..." Number Nine¡¯s words werepletely beyond Ling Lan¡¯s expectations; when she had awakened her innate talent Ice Affinity, it had immediately already presented as ice.


    In the face of Ling Lan¡¯s astonishment, Number Nine did not say anything to exin, only asking Ling Lan to look closely at the blue mes on her fingertips. As Ling Lan watched, those blue mes radiating an intense chill actually began to change in colour, from blue to pale blue to finally be transparent mes. And then, the mes gradually turned yellow, deep yellow, orange, red, deep maroon, and then, they finally turned into pitch-ck mes. What shocked Ling Lan even more was how the temperature of the mes changed as their colour changed ¡ª from extreme cold, the temperature of the mes rose slowly until they finally became sizzling hot. Especially when they turned ck, Ling Lan actually could not resist that heat that seemed as if it could burn away everything. She could not help but take three steps back ¡ª only then did she manage to tolerate that pressing heat.


    "Instructor Number Nine, what exactly is going on here?" This was definitely not the water element ...


    "You can feel it, right? That¡¯s right, I actually have two awakened elements. What I awakened was both water and fire, elements that were universally acknowledged as mutually ipatible. From the very beginning after awakening these elements, my instructor judged that I would never be a Domain master, because these two elements I awakened countered each other and could not coexist. If I pushed on and levelled them up, as soon as the two elements shed within me, my oue would inevitably be death bybustion ..." Number Nine recalled how she hadpletely lost all confidence when she had first heard her instructor¡¯s judgment back then. If not for Number One, she might no longer exist right now.


    Mandora ... thepetition was too fierce. If one could not be strong, one could only be eliminated ¡ª this was something a high-achiever like her could not abide.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up at her words. "So, Instructor Number Nine, you managed to find the secret to mix fire and water in the end?" Ling Lan knew very well that Instructor Number Nine was a Domain master now.


    "Yes. Number One told me that since the heavens have allowed these two opposing innate talents to awaken in one body at the same time, then there must be a way for the two of them to coexist. The heavens would not push a person to despair. No one had managed to do so before only because they had not found the correct method, not because it was impossible. You must understand that existence is reason enough." Number Nine passed on Instructor Number One¡¯s words back then to Ling Lan. Though Number Nine¡¯s telling of it was hazy and ambiguous, Ling Lan felt an idea spring to mind. Wasn¡¯t this the Taoist theory from her past life: the paths of life number fifty; the heavens spawn forty-nine, while man seeks the final one 1 ? This meant that, no matter the circumstances, the realms of chance would forever leave a thread of hope for survival.


    Number Nine did not know whether Ling Lan understood her meaning, so she continued to say, "From that time on, I began to research how I could get water and fire, these two mutually ipatible elements, to coexist. In the process, I was hurt many times, almost entering the gates of hell. Until one time, I turned my water element by force into extreme cold air ..."


    "Cold air?" Picking up on the strange phrasing, Ling Lan instantly felt that this might be the key point.


    Number Nine¡¯s eyes revealed her satisfaction at Ling Lan¡¯s agileprehension, forever able to grasp the key points so quickly. With a smile in her eyes, she nodded and said, "That¡¯s right. In fact, for water to turn into a gaseous state, there are two ways. One is to use high temperatures to turn it into steam, while the other is to rely on extreme cold to turn water which has already crystallized into ice to vaporize into gas. This type of gas is the ¡¯cold air¡¯ I mentioned ..."


    Ling Lan naturally understood this point, so she nodded.


    Instructor Number Nine saw Ling Lan nod and knew that Ling Lan had indeed understood. And so she went on to say, "After I changed my water element into extreme cold air, I tried inserting that cold air into fire. You should know that when fire burns, it will produce heat, and cold air canpress this heat indefinitely ..."


    "Isn¡¯t this another contradiction?" asked Ling Lan, frowning.


    "Yes. One side is producing heat while the other side is trying to remove the heat. It looks like they cannot coexist, but what if the temperature of the me turns cold as well?" Number Nine seemed to be interested in assessing Ling Lan¡¯s ability to think. She did not state the answer directly, instead throwing the question to Ling Lan.


    "Generally speaking, as long as the core heat of the me is maintained, in theory, the me would not disappear," replied Ling Lan after some thought. "However, till now, there has been no consensus on how much heat is needed to maintain the me. Many scientists even suggest that negative temperatures can also maintain a burning me, but this theory is currently unsubstantiated with actual numbers and is merely an exploratory theory." Ling Lan found the relevant theoretical discussion within her mindspace. As she spoke, her eyes became increasingly brighter, until she cried out joyfully in the end, "Could it be that Instructor Number Nine has truly found that data point where negative temperatures can sustain a burning me?"


    Instructor Number Nine nodded in satisfaction. "Yes. When I tried to lower the temperature of the me, as soon as the temperature became low, the me would be weaker and weaker until it finally fizzled out and died. However, I sensed that this might be the way out for me. After six years of repetitive research, I finally managed to turn the me cold so that it no longer possessed the heat of fire. And when fire turns cold, it means that its friction against water had been reduced to the lowest point. Right after that, I spent another five years¡¯ time to finally fuse that water-based cold air into the cold me. I just did not expect that the sessful merging of water and fire would actually turn into Ice mes capable of consuming every type of energy ... this thing, even I find it a little horrifying." At this point of her narration, Instructor Number Nine could not help but smile wryly.


    At first, she had simply wanted tobine water and fire so she could sessfully advance to be a Domain master. But by sheer fluke, her merging had resulted in an extremely horrifying killing move, forcing her to think twice every time she wanted to use her innate talent. Because once she used it, this meant a battle to the death with the opponent. Mind you, the moment Ice mes came into y, there would be no survivors.


    "I¡¯m telling you all this just so you know that in this world, there are no absolutes. Just like in the case of your overly intractable aura ¡ª even though its trait is directly contrary to the nature of your body, that does not mean that there is no way to resolve this. Perhaps it will be very difficult to achieve a state where body and aura be one, but I believe that as long as you have patience and research meticulously, once you find themon ground between the two, that will be when you will be able to fully resolve this issue." Instructor Number Nine finally divulged her aim. She had shared her personal testimony so that Ling Lan would not be discouraged and be impatient, but seek a solution slowly.


    "Thank you, Instructor Number Nine!" Ling Lan was deeply touched, once again thanking Number Nine sincerely. If even the most difficult and ipatible water and fire could coexist, then there should absolutely be no reason why the problem of her body and aura could not be resolved.


    "Little Ling Lan, now you understand, right? If you want to walk your own Dao, then you¡¯ll need to depend on your own strength to solve this problem. None of us can help you." At this time, Instructor Number Five who had been acting as wallpaper all this while chimed in with a wide grin.


    "Many thanks, Instructor Number Five." Ling Lan turned her head to thank Instructor Number Five, butpared to the thanks she had uttered to Number Nine, this one was obviously less heartfelt, almost causing the smile to drop off of Instructor Number Five¡¯s face.


    "Ling Lan, since you already understand, then go back! Like Number Five said, everything depends on you now." Number Nine saw Number Five¡¯s face stiffen, and afraid that he would bear a grudge towards Ling Lan, she quickly urged Ling Lan to leave the learning space. That appearance of guarding one¡¯s child made Number Five roll his eyes mentally ... was he truly such a petty person? Eh? It looked like he really was! Sure enough, the one who knew him best was still Lil Sis Number Nine! Number Five stroked his jaw as he smiled pensively.


    Seeing Number Five reveal such an eerie smile, Number Nine sensed the danger even more keenly. She absolutely would not allow Ling Lan to once again suffer Number Five¡¯s torments. Thus, she decisively shoved Ling Lan, and Ling Lan immediately felt her consciousness cking out ...


    "Little Ling Lan, remember, the key to resolving this is the Dao you choose. Figure it out quickly. What is your Dao exactly?" In a whirl of chaos, Ling Lan seemed to hear Instructor Number Five say this right by her ear. This surprised Ling Lan ¡ª when had Instructor Number Five be so kind?


    After what seemed like a long time but also seemed like just a blink of an eye, Ling Lan once again regained consciousness. By then, she had already returned to the real world. She nced down at the time disyed on themunicator on her wrist. Yep, it was still the same time she had left ¡ª only 10 seconds had psed since she had been whisked away.

 Chapter 400: Plan to Create a God!

    Chapter 400: n to Create a God!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Beep beep beep!" Early in the morning, the still asleep Han Yu was suddenly startled awake by the alert ringing from hismunicator by his pillow. Eyes closed, he rummaged around his pillow and got his hands around the culprit which had disturbed his sleep. Only then did he open his eyes ...


    Seeing a familiar name on the screen, Han Yu sobered up. He quickly sat up and clipped themunicator onto his wrist and pressed the button to connect the call.


    Wei Ji¡¯s figure appeared on the virtual screen. He was frowning and his expression was extremely grim. "Han Yu, did you know that early this morning, the mainframe announced some news?"


    "I slept verytest night because I was preparing the documents needed for enlistment. If you hadn¡¯t woken me up, I would still be sleeping!" Han Yu could not help but yawn. Them fifth-year cadets were all busy recently preparing to apply for enlistment, and so were almostpletely oblivious to anything happening outside their windows.


    "This past year of peace in the academy ising to an end!" said Wei Ji solemnly.


    "What happened?" Wei Ji¡¯s expression caused Han Yu¡¯s expression to turn serious as well. Han Yu knew very well that, as the vice regimentmander of Wuji, the other would not havee to disturb him so early in the morning unless something big had urred.


    "Leiting has made a move." Wei Ji told Han Yu the news he had learned this morning.


    Han Yu reacted immediately. "The Lingtian Mecha n? Leiting¡¯s revenge match?" It looked like the Leiting Mecha n was truly vicious. Taking advantage of this time while the other party had yet to secure stable footing and were still weak to utterly crush the other.


    "Yes. The mainframe has announced this news to every student early this morning. The challenge fight will be a weekter, starting at 1 p.m. sharp. I think you should have received it too," Wei Ji added.


    Han Yu immediately began scrolling through the news on hismunicator, and found that half an hour back, he had indeed received an alert from the mainframe. It looked like the academy was also taking this challenge fight extremely seriously, otherwise they would not have issued this school-wide announcement.


    "Eh? Leiting has chosen the 12-man small-scale mecha fight? Isn¡¯t this obviously giving the Lingtian Mecha n a chance?" Han Yu saw the associated details of the challenge fight and could not help but be surprised.


    "Look at who is leading the team," Wei Ji reminded.


    "Qiao Ting, haha, looks like Qiao Ting has decided to be ruthless. He won¡¯t be happy unless he haspletely destroyed the Lingtian Mecha n," said Han Yu gleefully.


    Han Yu also hated the Lingtian Mecha n with a passion right now, because Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun had refused to coborate with Wuji again at the start of this academic year. After some investigation, he had found that this had something to do with the Lingtian Mecha n. Although he could not be sure whether they had really joined the Lingtian Mecha n, the very thought of the possibility was enough to incite Han Yu¡¯s envy and hatred.


    Indeed, Han Yu had cultivated a strategist-type character like Zhou Ya specifically because he wanted to weaken Li Lanfeng¡¯s prestige within the Wuji Mecha n. He always remembered what the previous regimentmander had said ¡ª people not belonging to their own faction were not deserving of trust. However, he had not finished wringing Li Lanfeng of all his worth; he truly could not bear to let such an excellent strategist leave Wuji like this ... at the bottom of it all, Zhou Ya was still a little weaker inparison.


    What made him even angrier was the fact that when Li Lanfeng had withdrawn and left, he had actually taken Zhao Jun with him. This infuriated Han Yu, as he believed that Li Lanfeng had dealt him a blow in secret. It should be known that Zhao Jun was their number one fighter in the Wuji Mecha n. Every time they had a conflict with the other factions, Zhao Jun was an indispensable mainstay of their mecha n ...


    Thus, Han Yu hated Li Lanfeng, and this hatred was then extended to the Lingtian Mecha n which Li Lanfeng was hanging around so much. If the Leiting Mecha n could deal a devastating blow to the Lingtian Mecha n, he, Han Yu, would be happy to see it.


    Han Yu had thought things through. If the Lingtian Mecha n was thoroughly beaten by the Leiting Mecha n, he would definitely lead some people to seek out Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun. Then, with an absolutely haughty and condescending attitude, he would dispense his mercy upon them. However, at that time, their rtionship would no longer be that of coborative partners but of master and servants.


    "No matter what the oue of this match is, it can be predicted that from now on, our academy will be dragged into power disputes among the various major factions once more." The actions of the Leiting Mecha n definitely would not stop there. After being a rival of Qiao Ting for four years, Wei Ji was extremely familiar with the other¡¯s ambition. If Qiao Ting could make all the factions in the academy submit to his before he applied for enlistment, he would be able to justifiably be the king of the military academy. This would be of great benefit to his future development.


    If he had possessed Qiao Ting¡¯s current level of strength and ability, with the power of his faction, he, Wei Ji, would have probably found it hard to resist this temptation ...


    "We should also make some preparations. Perhaps after a period of time, we too will receive a letter of challenge from Leiting," said Wei Ji with a sigh. Without Zhao Jun around, their confidence was flimsy in going up against Leiting. Mind you, in their mecha fights with Leiting in the past, even though Zhao Jun was a level below Qiao Ting, he was one of the only three people who could withstand more than twenty moves from Qiao Ting. Of the other two, one was the regimentmander of Tianji, while the other was the vice regimentmander of Dwotong. In terms of mecha operation, both he and Han Yu were weaker than these three by a good margin.


    "How terrible!" Han Yu had also thought of this. He mmed a vicious fist down on the edge of his bed, his hatred for Li Lanfeng rising once again. "Next week when the challenge fight begins. Don¡¯t forget to remind me to go watch it together." Han Yu had to personally witness the downfall of the Lingtian Mecha n ¡ª only with that would his rage be vented.


    Due to Li Lanfeng, the Lingtian Mecha n thus became an innocent target for Han Yu to vent his anger.


    "Who knows if the Lingtian Mecha n will choose to make the fight public? If they choose a closed fight, we won¡¯t be able to spectate even if we want to," said Wei Ji with a frown. The numbers of the challenge fight were chosen by the challenger, but the choice for the fight to be opened or closedid with the side being challenged. Wei Ji was afraid that the Lingtian Mecha n would refuse to make the fight public in order to save face. If that happened, they would not be able to spectate the fight.


    "I don¡¯t think that will be the case this time ..." Han Yu¡¯s face was suffused with schadenfreude. "If that were true, why would the academy mainframe go as far as to make a campus-wide announcement? I suspect that the administrators of the academy are also thinking of using this challenge fight to restore the academy¡¯s morale. After a year of low spirits within the school, I think those old men are unable to hold back anymore." Han Yu had not been the regimentmander for Wuji for two years in vain ¡ª he did have some understanding of certain motives and strategies of the academy administrators.


    Wei Ji¡¯s gaze lit up at these words. Indeed, the academy mainframe¡¯s announcement of the fight was indeed different from how things had been handled previously. It really looked like Han Yu was right ¡ª the academy administrators might very well be nning to use this challenge fight to rekindle the aggressivebative atmosphere of the military academy. In that case, they absolutely would not allow this challenge fight to end so quietly and unremarkably.


    "The decision is no longer in the hands of the Lingtian Mecha n." Wei Ji could not help butment silently for the Lingtian Mecha n ¡ª it looked like in order for the academy to regain its liveliness, the academy administrators were going to sacrifice the Lingtian Mecha n without any hesitation.


    "Qiao Ting ... his luck is amazing!" said Wei Ji, enviously. All conditions were in ord, everything favourable to Qiao Ting had been gathered ¡ª if he could not be the king of the military academy under these circumstances, then he would truly be unworthy of the care and attention the academy administrators werevishing on him.


    ********


    In the principal¡¯s office of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the seldom-seen principal finally appeared in this private office of his. His hair was white as stork feathers and his face was red and rosy, his entire person seeming very kind and friendly. However, his eyes were lively and spirited, and at times would even shine with a keen light. Overall, although the principal was already over 120 years old, he did not look the least bit decrepit.


    In this era, following the rise in individual strength and development, the human lifespan had long ago broken past the age barrier 10,000 years ago. Now, living to the age of 200 was a sure thing barring any idents. Those with superior strength could even live up to 300 years. Although the principal¡¯s actual age was already over 120, his body was as strong as that of a 50 to 60-year-old man. Killing a level three demon-beast with his bare hands was still absolutely nothing to him.


    Right then, he was looking intently at a proposal submitted by the vice principals and the faculty heads of the school. They were hoping he would approve their proposal and use the principal¡¯s authority to dere the challenge fight between the Leiting Mecha n and the Lingtian Mecha n as an open fight.


    After perusing the proposal carefully, the principal said, "With regards to the rights and obligations of the two parties in the challenge fight, the mainframe has already outlined the rules. Unlesspletely necessary, it¡¯s better not to change anything."


    The eight people seated on the sofas in the principal¡¯s office nced at one another at the principal¡¯s words, and in the end, one of them spoke up to exin, "Principal, it¡¯s like this ..." That person spilled their thoughts and suggestions, and ended with, "The cadets now arecking a pursuable goal. Although General Ling Xiao is the national idol, a legend of our Federation, it is precisely because he is too strong that the cadets cannot convince themselves that they can ever achieve what General Ling Xiao has. Therefore, our academy needs to produce a new idol for them, a new legend closer to the cadets, one who is within reach and who may even make them feel as if, as long as they work hard, they too could reach his level ..."


    "The air invasion incident a year ago has still affected our students¡¯ morale. We need to make them forget about this and restore the fine tradition of our First Men¡¯s Military Academy ¡ª the fierce and aggressivepetition system!" Another person quickly chimed in in support. "So, this challenge fight is a perfect opportunity. It needs to be open to the entire academy for viewing so that the students¡¯ battle spirit and bloodlust will be roused!"


    After hearing what they had to say, the principal mused silently for several seconds, then said, "Are you all nning to use this challenge fight to create a legend?"


    The group became still, sharing looks. They knew that it was impossible to hide anything before the experienced and astute principal. As such, all of them nodded honestly, confirming the principal¡¯s spections.


    "The person you all have chosen is Qiao Ting?" A glimmer of light shed past the principal¡¯s eyes.


    The principal¡¯s words received nods from around the room once more. Qiao Ting was originally already the only fourth-year cadet who had managed to advance to ace operator level ¡ª it was clear to see that the other¡¯s skill in mecha operation was abnormally strong. He was known within the school as the second Ling Xiao and had even received the favour of the Third Marshal now ¡ª his reputation within the academy was unmatched. As the top person in the academy, who else could they choose if not him?


    The principal fell silent once more. Several seconds passed, as if he were analysing the pro and cons of the proposal, and in the end, he nodded and said, "Alright. Since everyone seems to be in agreement, I approve your proposal. I will use my authority as principal to set this match as an open fight. However, I must remind you all. Don¡¯t think that everything will turn out as you wish. Man can n, but it is up to the heavens if those ns bear fruit. There are no absolutes. I hope that when the timees, you all do not regret your decision this day!"


    "Of course not!" they replied, different voices in unison. Overjoyed, they felt right then that the principal was obviously worrying for no good reason. If a newly established mecha n could defeat a senior mecha n led by an ace operator ¡ª now that would be a true joke!


    Seeing that these people were not taking his warning to heart at all, the principal was not angry. Meanwhile, having achieved their objective, the crowd quickly bid farewell to the principal and left his office.


    In the end, only the principal was left alone in his spacious office. He sat behind his office desk and lifted that proposal once more to browse through it carefully. Finally, his lips twitched and a snicker escaped him.


    This bunch of fools ... actually not taking the time and effort to properly understand the data on the members of the Lingtian Mecha n. The regimentmander of the Lingtian Mecha n, Ling Lan ¡ª that son of Ling Xiao who filled Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes with unconcealed pride ... how could he be mediocre? Knowing Ling Xiao, he knew very well that for Ling Xiao to take so much pride in him, Ling Lan¡¯s strength must not be simple. Ling Lan may even already be among the ranks of the ace operators. Would someone as aberrant as this be so easily defeated?


    His subordinates¡¯ n to create a god ... heaven knows who the created god would be in the end?


    The principal walked over to the window to look out over the entire academy below. A slight smile pulled involuntarily at the corner of his lips.


    The First Men¡¯s Military Academy may be very interesting! Oh, Ling Xiao, who could have guessed that time would pass so quickly. The time has actuallye for your son to show off his talent ... I hope he will not disappoint us!

 Chapter 401: Honest Confrontation!

    Chapter 401: Honest Confrontation!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In a blur, three more days passed. In another three days, it woulde time for the battle between the Lingtian Mecha n and the Leiting Mecha n.


    Everyone thought that Lingtian would definitely seize the time left to practise their mecha n¡¯s teamwork, but found instead that all the regimentmanders and team leaders of the Lingtian Mecha n, including Ling Lan, acted just as before, attending sses like normal. It was as if they were not at all worried about theing grand battle that would determine whether their mecha n lived or died.


    This behaviour of the Lingtian Mecha n puzzled all the other major factions greatly. Even Qiao Ting was unable to figure out what the Lingtian Mecha n was plotting with this.


    Frankly, Ling Lan had not assembled all the members participating in the battle for team training because she really did not want their participant name list to be exposed prematurely to the Leiting Mecha n. However, she did not waste these three days. Whenever Ling Lan was free, she would work with Little Four in her mindspace to simte the battle between the Lingtian Mecha n and the Leiting Mecha n.


    After three days of repeated simtion, basically all of the formations Qiao Ting could use as well as all the possible flukes and coincidences that could ur on the various members involved had been recorded down. If any of these situations appeared in battle, Ling Lan would have a countermeasure at hand.


    Of course, Ling Lan did not believe that her battle team would be any weaker than the team Qiao Ting was sending. However, in order to guarantee victory, she still made sure she was fully prepared. Ling Lan knew very well that, in a fight, there were just too many factors that could change the course of the battle. Ling Lan did not want to lose this match because she had overlooked any of these factors. Since the members of the Lingtian Mecha n had chosen to put their faith in her, then she must lead the Lingtian Mecha n to the summit ¡ª only then would she live up to this heavy burden of trust.


    On this day, Ling Lan still went to school on time. She had long made the decision that she would only gather the participating members on thest day before the battle and hold their one and only teamwork practice then. Ling Lan was so bold because she believed that these people she had chosen were all talented prodigies in mecha control ¡ª just one practice would be enough.


    The morning¡¯s theory sses were soon over. Following the end of ss, lunch time arrived. When the bell signalling the end of ss rang, the students respectfully bid farewell to their instructor and then some of the starving students rushed out ahead of the pack ...


    "Boss Lan, ss is over." Seated beside Ling Lan, Luo Lang shifted closer to whisper softly to Ling Lan, even as his hands deftly helped her pack up her things.


    Hearing Luo Lang¡¯s words, Ling Lan opened her half-closed eyes. During the lesson, she and Little Four had been conducting another round of simtion.


    Right at that moment, a youthful and tall youth suddenly appeared at the doorway. He merely peeked through the doorway, and when he saw Ling Lan, his eyes lit up. He quickly knocked on the door, announcing his presence, drawing the attention of the students who had yet to leave the ssroom.


    "Ah, isn¡¯t that that unlucky Chang Xinyuan?" The students could not help but whisper to one another at the sight. The news of Leiting¡¯s oppression of Chang Xinyuan had long since spread throughout the whole military academy ¡ª many of the new students greatly admired Chang Xinyuan¡¯s courage, but of course there were also many who felt that Chang Xinyuan was foolish for not knowing his own strength, actually daring to defy Qiao Ting. He had almost been expelled from the academy for it.


    Still, it could not be denied that Chang Xinyuan was extremely lucky. At that critical final juncture, he had actually chanced upon a mecha expert who was willing to help him escape from the misceneous obstacles set up by the Leiting Mecha n. In the end, he had fortunately managed to extend his military academy life.


    However, a majority of the cadets were still not optimistic about Chang Xinyuan¡¯s future. Even if Qiao Ting left the academy today, as long as Leiting was still the number one faction in the academy and as long as Qiao Ting did not retract his decision to hinder Chang Xinyuan, Chang Xinyuan¡¯s subsequent academy life would still be rocky. His final oue might still very well be expulsion from the school. No one believed that Chang Xinyuan would still be so lucky to meet some powerful mecha n again next time which would help himplete those harder team missions in Mecha World ...


    For such a controversial person to suddenly appear before them, the second-year Mecha Piloting Special ss students naturally could not help but talk.


    "Boss Lan, are you free right now?" Chang Xinyuan did not seem to hear the susurration of voices in the ssroom. Hisplexion remained steady as he shouted out towards Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan nced at Luo Lang beside her and found that he had finished packing up for the both of them. So, she turned to nod at Chang Xinyuan and then stood up and walked out of the ssroom.


    Luo Lang quickly followed, and seeing this, Qi Long and Xie Yi also tagged along without hesitation. When Ling Lan arrived at the doorway, she said to Chang Xinyuan, "Let¡¯s go!"


    Chang Xinyuan turned aside to let Ling Lan¡¯s entourage walk first, and only then did he trail after Xie Yi to depart the 2nd-year Mecha Piloting Special ss ssroom.


    As soon as Ling Lan¡¯s group left, the entire ssroom became a raucous mess. Everyone else remaining could not suppress the busybody within them, turning to ask the other members of the Lingtian Mecha n still in the ssroom why Chang Xinyuan would seek out Ling Lan.


    "Wu Jiong, why do you think Chang Xinyuan came to look for Boss Lan?" Ye Xu could not help but be puzzled by what he had seen. In his eyes, Boss Lan and that unfortunate soul 1 Chang Xinyuan could not be connected in any way, but somehow, these two people frompletely different worlds obviously seemed to have some connection.


    It turned out that Ling Lan had not revealed the member name list of the Lingtian Battle n to the other regimentmanders of the Lingtian Mecha n. For one, the Lingtian Mecha n had been converted from the New Cadet Regiment, so the members inherently held some antipathy towards the senior cadets. Ling Lan felt that before things became stable, this was better kept as a secret. Secondly, all of the battle ns within the Lingtian Mecha n never had to submit their detailed name lists to the mecha n to begin with. Every n leader only needed to report the number of members they had ¡ª they did not even have to report the members¡¯ names or mecha levels for the record. The reason for this was both to ensure the autonomy of the battle ns, as well as to prevent the other factions from getting a clear read on the true capabilities of the Lingtian Mecha n.


    Wu Jiong said somewhat contemtively, "Perhaps, Chang Xinyuan is trying to seek asylum." An individual had no way of standing up against a group ¡ª if Chang Xinyuan was smart, even if he was unwilling to submit to Qiao Ting, he would still need to find some solid backing to help him withstand Qiao Ting¡¯s oppression.


    "It looks like Chang Xinyuan would also like to take a gamble and fight. Right now, in the entire academy, other than our Lingtian Mecha n who has the courage to fight against the Leiting Mecha n, which other faction would dare to shelter him?" From behind Wu Jiong, a mocking and haughty voice rang out.


    Wu Jiong turned his head with a half-smile on his face to say to the person behind him, "Who¡¯d have guessed that even you would understand this?"


    Li Yingjie red angrily at Wu Jiong in response. "What? You think I¡¯m an idiot?"


    Wu Jiong smiled and said nothing, but the ridicule in his eyes was obvious. This made the rage in Li Yingjie¡¯s heart build up, and he smacked a fierce palm down onto the table before him, bellowing, "Before this, I just did not want to stoop to your level!"


    "I know. Before this, you believed that your strength was enough to settle everything, so you never had to worry about plotting or scheming." Seeing Li Yingjie puff up like an angry cat 2 , Wu Jiong quickly raised his arms in the universal sign of surrender and tried to console the other.


    "You better know it!" Li Yingjie lifted his head haughtily ¡ª he felt from the very bottom of his heart that Wu Jiong spoke truly. If not for the fact that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had gathered all of the aberrant prodigies under one roof, piling up the pressure on Li Yingjie, he would not have had topromise and consider things a little more thoroughly when doing things. This kind of mentally-taxing thing was something he really disliked. He loved speaking with his fists the most, using pure brute strength to beat down those people who had anything bad to say about their Lingtian Mecha n.


    Ye Xu looked at the prideful and prickly Li Yingjie and suddenly dipped his head, his shoulders shaking uncontrobly. Catching sight of this, Wu Jiong surreptitiously kicked Ye Xu, asking him to get a hold of himself.


    With great effort, Ye Xu finally managed to suppress hisughter and raised his head to say to Wu Jiong, "Leader, I have some matter to attend to so I¡¯ll head out first. Please continue your conversation without me." In order to avoid being found out, Ye Xu decided that he should just retreat.


    Wu Jiong quickly said, "Ye Xu, I have something about the battle n to discuss with you. Li Yingjie, excuse us for now, let¡¯s talk next time."


    Taken aback, Li Yingjie nodded woodenly and said, "Okay, got it."


    After Wu Jiong and Ye Xu left the ssroom, Li Yingjie suddenly realised something and burst out howling, "Wu Jiong, you bastard, actually mocking me. Stand where you are ...!" That said, he charged out of the ssroom after them ...


    In the Mecha Piloting Special ss, several other Lingtian Mecha n members could only shrug in response to the questioning gazes of the other students. These kinds of scenarios often urred between Regiment Commander Wu and Regiment Commander Li. However, their rtionship was not negatively affected by this, instead bing much more harmonious than with others who kept up a polite facade. This once again proved that verbal sparring was sometimes an effective method to improve friendships.


    "Qin Yi, in your Lingtian Mecha n, for two of the regimentmanders to interact like this ... isn¡¯t that a problem?" One of the students beside Qin Yi could not help but ask. He was used to seeing the other factions having a strict hierarchy and being wary of outsiders. Even if there were any dissent among the leaders and they could not get along, they would not show it so obviously in front of others. They would always present a harmonious and united front to outsiders, putting on fake smiles. This type of outright taunting among the leaders of the Lingtian Mecha n was so fascinating inparison ...


    As Qin Yi packed up his things, he smiled and said, "What problem is there? With Boss Lan on top watching over things, nothing¡¯s going to go wrong under him. Besides, who among us doesn¡¯t know what Regiment Commander Li is like? Hisck of tact and straightforwardness is an open secret in our n. Even he himself is aware of this."


    "Also, the other regimentmanders of our Lingtian Mecha n may perhaps have some friction with one another, but as soon as Boss Lan gives an order, we will not forget that we are all one n. This is trust and friendship which has been built up over ten years. It will not break apart so easily because of all this ..."


    How could the Central Scout Academy students forget the grand feats they had managed to achieve time and time again under Boss Lan¡¯s lead? And now, they were about to face a new challenge head on ¡ª a fight against the strongest faction in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. The Leiting Mecha n was finally going to be their next target ¡ª it was exhrating just thinking about it. Which freshman organisation would dare to oppose the strongest senior faction right at the start of school? And yet their New Cadet Regiment had managed to do so. Which newly established mecha n would dare to fight against the strongest senior mecha n? Their Lingtian Mecha n had dared to do so ... Every decision of Boss Lan¡¯s ushered in a new record, and Qin Yi believed that this trend definitely would not stop here.

 Chapter 402: Mecha Modification!

    Chapter 402: Mecha Modification!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Looking at the confident andposed Qin Yi, it was as if he were not at all concerned about the fight with Leiting in three days¡¯ time ... this person talking to Qin Yi was not a member of the Lingtian Mecha n, and he suddenly had the urge to join. Although everyone believed that the Lingtian Mecha n was sure to lose and that they would soon be a joke of a mecha n ¡ª being the n with the shortest lifespan in the whole of academy history ¡ª when this youth saw the calm and unruffled demeanour of the Lingtian Mecha n members, he felt that the oue might not be as horrible for Lingtian as everyone was imagining.


    However, this was just a momentary impulse ¡ª very quickly, he had calmed down again. He smiled at Qin Yi, then moved back to his own seat. Still, he had mentally made a decision ¡ª if the Lingtian Mecha n really managed to ovee this crisis brought on by Leiting, he would join the Lingtian Mecha n without any hesitation. No matter how badly he would be oppressed by Leiting in future because of this, he would still persist in following the Lingtian Mecha n.


    ********


    After leaving the ssroom with Chang Xinyuan, Ling Lan did not know about these things that happened behind them, not to mention that there would be people who would choose to join the Lingtian Mecha n over this.


    Right then, Ling Lan¡¯s group was rushing to therge canteen for lunch. Along the way, she was finding out what Chang Xinyuan had sought her out for.


    The canteen had a mass eating area, and it also provided several private rooms for capable students who wanted a quiet area to iste themselves and rest. For ease ofmunication, Ling Lan naturally chose a private room. Everyone in their group had just sat down when the other members of the team arrived one after another. It turned out that, along the way, Luo Lang had already informed the other team members to hurry over for a group meal.


    Of course, Luo Lang had taken the effort to do so because he needed to inform Lin Zhong-qing about the gathering. As the head of support for the Lingtian Battle n, he managed all of the credits the team owned. If they wanted to enjoy a good meal, how could they exclude Lin Zhong-qing?


    In less than five minutes, everyone had arrived. Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu, and Zhao Jun were the quickest to arrive ¡ª as fifth-years, they did not have many sses to begin with, and they had only been preparing some documents for their applications for enlistment in their respective dorms.


    Seeing that everyone was here, after asking what everyone wanted to eat, Lin Zhong-qing dragged Xie Yi and Luo Lang along with him to ce the group¡¯s orders. The private rooms of the military academy did not have any service staff ¡ª the students needed to go out and order whatever they wanted to eat and carry it in themselves.


    Fortunately, tea and water were provided in the room. Li Lanfeng did not dare to put on any airs of being a fifth-year senior ¡ª he diligently stood up and poured tea for everyone. For the sake of the rabbit, he would make nice and curry favour with the rabbit¡¯s team members ...


    Chang Xinyuan picked up his teacup and took a sip, settling his mind before saying to Ling Lan, "Boss Lan, do you still remember that ace mecha you passed to me six months ago?"


    Ling Lan, who had just raised her own teacup, paused abruptly and then nodded in sudden realisation.


    On a particr day six months ago, Ling Lan had just advanced to ace operator status when Chang Xinyuan had suddenly contacted Ling Lan to tell her that he was studying theposition of ace mecha. Although he had already grasped everything in theory, without a physical mecha for him to take apart and analyse, there were some things he just could not figure out. Hearing that, Ling Lan instantly lent the ace mecha she had just received from the mainframe for her sessful advancement to Chang Xinyuan for his research.


    Ling Lan knew very well that only bybining theory and practice could one truly master the knowledge one learns. Chang Xinyuan, who had been stuck at the peak stage of intermediate mecha for all this time, would never have had the chance to obtain an ace mecha with his own power.


    The conditions for redeeming an ace mecha were extremely strict ¡ª only those who had achieved an equivalent rank or above could redeem one. Oftentimes, a mecha mechanic would have extremely weak mecha piloting abilities, and thus would not be able to obtain the mecha they needed to tinker with on their own. This was also why a mecha mechanic would join a powerful battle n ¡ª if they wanted to progress further, without a battle n to help them obtain higher-level mecha, their modification skill development could only stagnate.


    Of course, Ling Lan was so generous in lending Chang Xinyuan her mecha because she had enough confidence in herself. Taking part in cross-level challenges all the way, she had managed to earn a veryrge amount of points, enough to let her redeem yet another ace mecha. So, even if Chang Xinyuan was unable to put the mecha he borrowed back together after taking it apart, it would not influence Ling Lan¡¯s subsequent ns.


    Just like that, that ace mecha was loaned out for over half a year. It had been so long that Ling Lan had already forgotten about it. Now, when Chang Xinyuan brought it up again, she was finally reminded of the matter. Ling Lan quickly asked, "You¡¯ve already gotten a thoroughprehension of the internal structures of ace mecha?"


    Chang Xinyuan nodded emphatically and said excitedly, "Yes, that mecha was right by my side every day. If I were not able to master itsposition like this, that would truly be a shame." Saying this, Chang Xinyuan once again marvelled at his great luck in meeting such a good leader as Ling Lan. Just think, which battle n leader would be so generous as to outright give a support mechanic an ace mecha just for research purposes? It was already not bad if a leader would even give you the time of day!


    "Honestly, I was already pretty much done studying it about three months ago. For thesest three months, I¡¯ve been researching how I could make necessary modifications to an ace mecha ..." Chang Xinyuan pushed aside his feelings to say.


    These words shocked the other team members who were drinking tea. Qi Long, in particr, could not stop himself from spewing out the tea in his mouth he had yet to swallow ...


    Han Jijyun levelled a vicious re at Qi Long ¡ª seated right across from Qi Long, he was unfortunately sprayed with a faceful of tea ...


    Qi Long quickly put down his teacup and pulled some tissue paper from the table top, offering it with an apologetic smile to Han Jijyun, mouth spouting a continuous stream of apologies. It couldn¡¯t be helped. At this time, he could only humble himself and beg for his sworn brother¡¯s forgiveness.


    In the midst of pouring tea, when Li Lanfeng heard Chang Xinyuan¡¯s words, he quickly set down the teapot, plopped himself down beside Chang Xinyuan, and asked with surprise, "For real? I¡¯ve never heard that an ace mecha could be modified. Aren¡¯t mecha mechanics only able to modify mecha of special-ss and below?"


    Chang Xinyuan was originally a mild-mannered and reserved person, but when a professional problem was posed, he was extremely solemn. Li Lanfeng¡¯s words were obviously tinged with doubt ¡ª this offended him, and his expression darkened as he retorted, "ording to whom? In theory, as long as a mechanic¡¯s modification skills continue to develop, even a god-ss mecha is not beyond the scope of modification."


    "But there has never been any cases of a modified ace mecha before in the Federation." In the face of Chang Xinyuan¡¯s anger, Li Lanfeng acted guilelessly ¡ª he was merely stating the truth. It was still possible to see some partial modifications on special-ss mecha, but ace mecha had always been limited to the five great unified models of the Federation. At most, individual ace mecha only differed in colour, and there might be some changes to the weapons equipped on them ...


    "Truth is, when ites to mecha at ace level, it is indeed already very difficult to make any modifications. Having been thoroughly researched and experimented on by countless generations of Federation people, these mecha are already pretty much perfect. Any unwise alterations would instead decrease the functional capacity of the mecha, and so it¡¯s not really worth the trouble." Li Lanfeng¡¯s innocent-looking face and his very realistic words swiftly calmed Chang Xinyuan down.


    "But in Mecha World, the possibilities are endless. There are some materials and weapons we would never dream of which can be found in Mecha World, and these can allow mechanics to break free from reality to conduct modifications on even higher level mecha." Chang Xinyuan finally revealed the reason why he was able to modify ace mecha.


    It should be said that Chang Xinyuan was truly very, very lucky. Afterpleting a triple-S modification assignment, he had received a very generous reward from the mainframe. The reward included materials which only existed in legend in the real world and were extremely precious. It was all due to these materials that he was able to satisfy all the requirements needed to modify ace mecha.


    Chang Xinyuan¡¯s words made everyone fall into silent contemtion. Indeed, Mecha World was a virtual world. For example, even when it came to mecha operation, many ultra-difficult flying manoeuvres that were likely to result in a crash in the real world enjoyed a certain sess rate inside Mecha World. Because there was no need to fear death, every mecha operator dared to attempt it. Even if they failed, they would at most lose a significant number of points ¡ª they just needed to start over again. It was also the existence of Mecha World which allowed mecha controls in the real world to diversify. Many moves which had been tried and tested in Mecha World by operators until their sess rate achieved a certain guarantee would slowly surface in reality ...


    Thus, if the possibility for breakthroughs existed for mecha controls, then it of course made sense that other specializations also shared this feature. Seated at one side, Li Shiyu began pondering deeply. Perhaps he should shift his medical research into Mecha World too; there were all sorts of miraculous agents in Mecha World which might help him find a cure for his eldest cousin brother¡¯s constitution problem faster ...


    Right then, Han Jijyun finally finished wiping away all traces of the tea Qi Long had spit all over his face. Only then did he have the heart to ask a question that had been bothering him. "But why have we never seen modifications of ace mecha in Mecha World before this?"


    Everyone else agreed with his point, because regardless of whether it was in reality or the virtual world, they had really never seen any modified ace mecha before.


    Chang Xinyuan was stunned at his words. Thinking about it now, he too had never seen a modified ace mecha before in the virtual world ... did that mean that none of the other mechanics had ever discovered that ace mecha could actually be modified?


    "Could it be because of fixed thinking? No, no ..." Chang Xinyuan shook his head sharply. As a brilliant mechanic, one would never set restrictions on one¡¯s imagination. A mechanic¡¯s thoughts must be free to wander ¡ª this was the firm t of mechanics. Then, how could so many mechanics and those grand masters involved in more advanced research have overlooked this point? At this time, Chang Xinyuan suddenly thought of the outer appearance of the ace mecha he had modified, and in a sh of insight, he figured it out ...


    "Is it because when we see modified mecha in Mecha World, we subconsciously believe that those cannot be ace mecha, and so take them to be mecha of other levels?" asked Chang Xinyuan, beside himself at the epiphany.


    Chang Xinyuan¡¯s words were like a bolt of lightning, blowing apart the constrained mindset of all the others there. Yes, ace mecha which had been modified were sure to look different from the initial ace mecha. At one nce, there would be no way at all for them to know if they were ace mecha, so they might have directly assumed those mecha were special-ss mecha or even mecha below that ...


    Everyone was stunned by the possibility. Ling Lan had noticed the shift in Chang Xinyuan¡¯s expression throughout, and a thought tumbled through her mind. She asked, "Chang Xinyuan, have you seeded in your ace mecha modification?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s self-assured andposed demeanour astounded Chang Xinyuan. In shock, he said, "Boss Lan, how did you know?"

 Chapter 403: Black!

    Chapter 403: ck!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Only if your modification was sessful would you know that the outer appearance of a modified ace mecha is different from that of official ace mecha. Only then would you realise this issue," exined Ling Lan indifferently. This kind of demeanour where it seemed like everything was ording to n received the deep admiration of the battle n members ¡ª as expected of their Boss Lan; nothing could be hidden from him.


    Chang Xinyuan nodded, thoroughly convinced. "Boss Lan, you¡¯repletely right. I have indeed finished modifying the ace mecha sessfully. Today, I¡¯m just here to tell you this news. I would like for you to go online to test it out so I can conduct a data assessment and make some final adjustments to the mecha." At this point, Chang Xinyuan scratched his head bashfully, bing somewhat embarrassed. "Although I think that I¡¯ve modified it sessfully, without feedback from an operator, I can¡¯t be sure whether my modification is truly sessful."


    "Then what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s all go take a look!" Qi Long was the first to leap up in excitement. This was the first time he would see a modified ace mecha! It was truly too exciting!


    Qi Long¡¯s words received hearty approval from everyone. At this moment, Lin Zhong-qing, Xie Yi, and Luo Lang had finally brought all their food over. Before they could even set down the dishes, everyone was rushing at them like hungry wolves.


    The three of them did not have enough time to react before the dishes had been snatched away, leaving them with only therge empty trays in their hands. They stared at each other in bewilderment, eyes filled with iprehension. It had only been several minutes and theirpanions had be so hungry to this extent?


    Frankly, after learning the truth, the members did not wish to waste time eating here. If they hadn¡¯t had to eat lunch to replenish their strength, they would have long left the canteen to return to their respective dorms and logged in to the virtual world ...


    Even though he was eating rapidly, Han Jijyun still maintained his usual graceful air. Catching sight of the dumbstruck three at the door, he sighed softly inside his heart and said, "Eat quickly. Later, log onto the virtual world. There¡¯ll be a great surprise."


    Beside Han Jijyun, Qi Long raised his head at Han Jijyun¡¯s words to nod emphatically at Lin Zhong-qing, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi, confirming that his sworn brother was telling the truth. His gaze was obviously telling them that they would regret it if they missed out.


    Although Lin Zhong-qing was unsure what the so-called surprise Han Jijyun had said could be, he also knew that for theirpanions to be so worked up, the surprise must not be some trivial thing. And so, he threw Xie Yi and Luo Lang a pointed look, and then turned into a ravenous wolf like the others to join in the scramble for the food.


    In less than three minutes, they had finished off the meal. In contrast to the others¡¯ messiness, Ling Lan was the mostposed, but moving the swiftest, she had certainly been the one to eat the most ... this caused the team members¡¯ eyes to express an extremely mournful sort of gaze. Boss, when can you share this ultimate skill with us? Speaking of which, they still were not full yet ...


    Soon, the battle n members assembled at top speed in therge main base camp of the Lingtian Battle n in Mecha World. As they had aplished an SSS-rank mission, the Lingtian Battle n possessed their own camp grounds. And in order to support the intensive cultivation of Chang Xinyuan, Ling Lan had spent an exorbitant amount of financial and materials resources to build a mecha modification research centre for him in the camp.


    As soon as everyone entered the research centre, they were automatically discharged from their respective mecha. In the spacious and empty research centre, there was no sense of crowding even though there was suddenly ten more people within it. The crowd had yet to get over their shock at how vast the research centre was when their attention was drawn to the grand and mighty-looking mecha standing tall in the centre of the space.


    This mecha was currently still in the original steely-grey colour of mecha steel, and because Ling Lan¡¯s original choice was a closebat mecha, Chang Xinyuan¡¯s modification direction was also heavily focused on closebat. The whole mecha¡¯s appearance had be extremely ferocious ¡ª in contrast to the typically graceful long lines of ace mecha, this mecha had veered away from this characteristic to pursue a sort of ultimate barbarism. In particr, the mecha¡¯s arms and legs were obviously much thicker.


    "Holy sh*t, this form, so powerful, I like!" The moment Qi Long set eyes on it, he was utterly besotted by the mecha. Red hearts bloomed in his eyes as he rushed forwards uncontrobly to stroke the mecha carefully, as if he were caressing the body of the woman he loved. That intoxicated expression on his face prompted goosebumps all over the others¡¯ bodies.


    Qi Long, who had been chasing in Ling Lan¡¯s footsteps all this time, had also inherited Ling Lan¡¯s style when it came to mechabat and operation. He preferred thrilling and dangerous closebat attacks, so he had no defence at all against this type of powerful closebat oriented mecha.


    Zhao Jun and Qi Long¡¯s feelings for the mecha were almost identical. If not for the fact that he had only joined the n not too long ago, Zhao Jun most probably would have added one to the number of people molesting the mecha. Luckily, in order to retain his good impression in his n leader¡¯s eyes, he managed to restrain himself. Of course, it was worth mentioning here that the primary hero which had enlightened Zhao Jun in time to stop him frommitting such a mistake was Li Lanfeng¡¯s unmerciful stomp from beside him. It had almost fractured the bones in the back of Zhao Jun¡¯s foot.


    The others, such as Luo Lang, also revealed envious looks. However, though Luo Lang was envious, he was not as worked up as Qi Long and Zhao Jun. This was because he knew that closebat mecha had nothing much to do with him. He knew his own body well ¡ª although it looked like it was simr to Boss Ling Lan¡¯s body type, slender and lean, in terms of strength, his body was considerably weaker than his boss¡¯s. If not for Li Lanfeng still being worse off than him, Luo Lang would have even suspected whether being part of a pair of twins had affected his constitution ...


    Seeing how fascinated everyone was with his modification, Chang Xinyuan was unbelievably excited. He said to Ling Lan, "Boss Lan, because I didn¡¯t know what colour you like, I haven¡¯t painted the outer armour of the mecha yet. Now you just need to say the word. What colour would you like it to be? Or perhaps you would like abination of colours?"


    Ling Lan had been studying the outer appearance of the mecha. Sure enough, the modified mecha looked very different on the outside from normal ace mecha. If Chang Xinyuan had not said that this mecha had been modified from her ace mecha, she would probably have been unable to determine the level of this mecha at short notice. When she heard Chang Xinyuan¡¯s question, an idea sparked in her mind and she said, "ck will do."


    "ck?" The other members of the battle n could not help but exim at Ling Lan¡¯s choice. Even Chang Xinyuan was gobsmacked ¡ª the Federation military had regted that ck was the specified colour for special-ss mecha. Generally, modified mecha, unless they were special-ss mecha, would avoid this colour and choose some other hue.


    "Won¡¯t that be interesting? Since no one believes that ace mecha can be modified, then let¡¯s just use the colour set for special-ss mecha and fool Leiting into thinking that it¡¯s a special-ss mecha," said Ling Lan coldly. Herposed demeanour belied how cunning and sneaky her words were; this was obviously a scam ...


    "What a great idea." Li Lanfeng was the first to step up and express approval for the n. The fellow was a ck-bellied sort to begin with, liking to snare and set up others, and this decision of Ling Lan¡¯s was obviously meant to trick Qiao Ting, so of course he would approve with his entire being.


    Frankly, Ling Lan¡¯s meaning was already very clear ¡ª all those who were not the slightest bit slow-witted in the team quickly picked up on the subtext, and their eyes began to shine. Although Chang Xinyuan was focused on research so he was much more naive than the others, he had also picked up on Ling Lan¡¯s obvious connotation. Additionally, he had suffered so much at the Thunder King¡¯s hands, so now that he found that his modified mecha could be used to trick the Thunder King, he was instantly pumped up. Loudly, he replied, "Understood, Boss Lan, leave it to me. I definitely won¡¯t let the other suspect that this mecha isn¡¯t a special-ss mecha." Thrumming with excitement, he immediately went to his experiment panel and began to mix and test colours ...


    The others surrounded him with interest, putting forth suggestions to Chang Xinyuan to try and make this mecha look as much like a special-ss mecha as possible, with no care about whether the nonsense they were spouting would bother Chang Xinyuan.


    Ling Lan saw the excitement and enthusiasm in everyone¡¯s faces and once again found herself astonished at how unpopr the Thunder King was. There were so many people here who wanted to see him stumble ¡ª being too arrogant truly resulted in bad oues ...


    Only Zhao Jun did not join the crowd surrounding Chang Xinyuan. He nced at the calm andposed Boss Lan, and then turned his gaze towards Li Lanfeng who was busy helping Chang Xinyuan with a face full of scheming intent. He finally understood why Li Lanfeng had wanted him to join Boss Lan¡¯s battle n. Hells, these two were birds of a feather! In contrast to Li Lanfeng¡¯s obvious surface cunning and sneakiness, Boss Lan was the true master of ck-bellied masters ... right then, Zhao Jun profoundly realised that this seemingly cool and aloof Boss Lan was someone he absolutely could not offend.


    Chang Xinyuan had a thorough understanding of all aspects of knowledge with regards to mecha ¡ª even with so many inept advisers 1 interfering with his work, it took less than 20 minutes for him to finish formting that ck dye used for special-ss mecha; all that was left was the actual production.


    Setting down the work in his hands, Chang Xinyuan asked Ling Lan to board the mecha and test it out for fine-tuning adjustments. Over the course of half a day, Ling Lan basically obtained a preliminary understanding of this modified mecha.


    This mecha almost abandoned all long-range power ¡ª only the most basic long-range weapons were retained. However, its closebat capabilities were much enhanced. The strength of its arms was now 1.5 times stronger than before. Do not underestimate this tiny 0.5 increment ¡ª the moment mecha shed in actual battle, if the opponent really believed this mecha was a special-ss mecha, or even if they knew the truth but was unprepared for this extra 0.5, this additional strength would be enough to strike the opponent¡¯s weapon from their hands. At that time, how could a weaponless mecha still be taken as a serious opponent? This would pretty much decide the final victory.


    Not just that, the mecha¡¯s mobility had also seen a breakthrough improvement. Although its outer form was savage and fierce, the mecha¡¯s mobility and adaptive ability had be nimbler than other ace mecha, perhaps even exceeding that of the most agile speed-type ace mecha. Ling Lan found that other than the requisite main engine and two secondary engines, Chang Xinyuan had added an additional row of miniature auxiliary engines at the back of the mecha. Though the thrust of these engines was very small, they could still assist the mecha in making fine adjustments during high-speed movement.


    In the past, there had been others who had suggested simr designs, but the research had ground to a halt due to theck of appropriate miniature auxiliary engines. After Chang Xinyuan hadpleted that triple-S modification mission, the most valuable among the misceneous rewards were these legendary miniature auxiliary engines. They had allowed him to sessfully upgrade the closebat ace mecha¡¯s mobility and made it even more responsive. This would undoubtedly allow Ling Lan to design and execute countless super challengingbination moves other mecha could not, perhaps even producing more powerfulbo attacks.

 Chapter 404: Betrayal!

    Chapter 404: Betrayal!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Overall, Chang Xinyuan¡¯s modification was sessful. However, to truly dig out the full potential of this mecha, one day was not enough. Ling Lan knew that she had to take some leave now even if she did not want to. In order toplete the final adjustments on the mecha as soon as possible, she would need to hole up with Chang Xinyuan in their battle n¡¯s mecha modification research centre for thesest three days.


    In this manner, aside from Ling Lan, who took a sudden leave of absence, the other members of the Lingtian Mecha n continued to attend sses as usual. Of course, Li Lanfeng bravely volunteered to be Ling Lan¡¯s sparring opponent. And so, every day, he was abused so terribly one could hardly bear the sight of it, and yet, he took joy in it and showed no intentions of retreating. This resilience caused Qi Long and the others to be profoundly awed ¡ª they who had been tormented by Boss Lan all this way knew very well how gruelling it was on both mind and body to be Boss Lan¡¯s opponent ...


    On thest day before the great fight, the thus far calm Lingtian Mecha n finally stirred. All of the regimentmanders and the various team leaders requested leave from their respective instructors. As the mecha battle between Lingtian and Leiting had already been set as an open fight, the administrators of the academy gave the green light to both mecha ns, requesting the instructors to cooperate fully. Thus, the instructors gave them no trouble; everyone had their leave requests approved.


    Right then, Qiao Ting, who was in the mecha training hall in Mecha World training on his own, suddenly received an emergency call from outside. With a flicker of his mind, Qiao Ting logged off.


    Outside the virtual login pod, his confidant was already waiting. The hatch to his pod had just opened when his confidant attentively offered him a towel.


    "Have you received proper news?" Qiao Ting epted the towel and asked lowly.


    "Yes, Regiment Commander, we have obtained the actual participant list of the Lingtian Mecha n." The confidant¡¯s expression was rather grim. They had always thought that the representatives of the Lingtian Mecha n would consist of only the regimentmanders and some of the team leaders, but unexpectedly, the other side had sessfully epted two fifth-year cadets into their fold with none the wiser. And one of them was ranked within the top five of the campus-widebat power ranking. This made his heart feel somewhat heavy.


    "Anyone we did not expect?" Qiao Ting walked into the washroom, and seeing his confidant¡¯splicated expression in the reflection of the mirror, he knew that something hade up.


    "Yes, I¡¯ve already sent the detailed name list to yourmunicator, Regiment Commander. Take a lookter and you¡¯ll understand," said the confidant.


    Qiao Ting nodded in response. Washing his face, he sobered up a little more, and he then turned on hismunicator and clicked on the Lingtian Mecha n name list his confidant had sent to him.


    The first on the list was, without question, the number one regimentmander of the Lingtian Mecha n, Ling Lan. He would also be the leader of the battle team this time.


    The second was Qi Long. This was also someone they had managed to predict. Since the other was strong enough to be the second regimentmander of the Lingtian Mecha n, he must certainly be the second strongest under Ling Lan.


    The third and the fourth also did not deviate from their predictions, being the third regimentmander Wu Jiong and the fourth regimentmander Li Yingjie. All four main regimentmanders of the Lingtian Mecha n would be participating in this mecha fight. It looked like the other side was going to give their all in this challenge and was not at all nning to just submit and admit defeat.


    At this point, Qiao Ting was smirking in his mind. This was the best ¡ª for the Lingtian Mecha n to try their hardest only to be crushed easily by his hand ... only this way could his strength be proven!


    However, the subsequent names on the list made Qiao Ting frown. They were not the team leaders Leiting had expected. Other than Luo Lang whom he had some memory of due to his involvement in the previous New Cadet Regiment fight, the other names were all rather unfamiliar to him. Qiao Ting very quickly realised that these people should be members from Ling Lan¡¯s battle n.


    At this point, Qiao Ting found his estimation of Ling Lan rising considerably. Knowing to set aside the stronger team leaders in favour of his own battle n members with better internal rapport ¡ª this would undoubtedly let the battle team learn how to work together within the shortest amount of time, and would also increase thebat power of the battle team. It was a masterful decision.


    Even though, other than the five or six names they had managed to guess, the other names within the first ten names on the list had surprised them, Qiao Ting still did not feel pressured. Even if the opponent¡¯s battle team had better rapport because of this, these people were after all still freshmen. Their mecha control skills and experience were totally iparable to that of the members representing Leiting. Qiao Ting could notprehend why his confidant would reveal such a grave expression.


    However, Qiao Ting soon learned the reason. Seeing the final two names on the list, even someone asposed and confident as Qiao Ting could not help but be shaken.


    "Zhao Jun, Li Lanfeng!" Qiao Ting shouted. "Aren¡¯t they part of Wuji? Why have they gone to Lingtian now?"


    Although Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun had already refused Han Yu¡¯s invitation at the start of the academic year, this news had been kept under wraps by Han Yu all this while. Despite his anger and hatred of the two, Han Yu also did not want his rivals to find out about this news and somehow manage to recruit those two into their ranks. This was also why Leiting had remainedpletely oblivious about this.


    In the military academy, even though there was the possibility of members switching factions, this mostly urred among the lower ranks. The true upper ranks of the factions would never have cases where members transitioned to other factions. Furthermore, Zhao Jun was a primarybat force of Wuji, while Li Lanfeng was the head adviser of Wuji ¡ª in Wuji, they held absolutely key positions. Normal people would never willingly let go of the power they wielded, and even if the conflict they had with the faction was too deep and they really wanted to leave, the faction would also use any means at their disposal to stop it from happening.


    It should be said that the true details behind Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun¡¯s coboration with Wuji were unknown by the other factions, which was why such a misunderstanding could ur. From the start, Li Lanfeng had taken advantage of Wuji¡¯s desperation to retrieve its position as the number three faction. In negotiations with Wuji, he had ensured that the conditions set were advantageous to himself. Therefore, there was nothing at all within their contract which Wuji could use to restrict Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun from leaving. This was also why although Han Yu was filled with rage and frustration, he could only watch helplessly as the two left.


    "Who¡¯d have expected them to actually have something like this up their sleeves?" Qiao Ting frowned slightly. It looked like his n to finish off the Lingtian Mecha n in a split second had been foiled. With Zhao Jun there, he would certainly have to put in some actual effort. And with the addition of that wily and resourceful Li Lanfeng, who liked to scheme and set up traps in secret, this fight would probably not be as simple as he had imagined it to be.


    "Call all the members to assemble. We need to make some arrangements," ordered Qiao Ting decisively.


    Although the Lingtian Mecha n had managed to get Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng, making this fight a little more difficult, so what? With him, Qiao Ting, around, victory was certain to belong to Leiting, certain to belong to him, Qiao Ting!


    Still, he wanted to aplish a beautiful win. He wanted to win cleanly and efficiently, and as such, he needed to make some preparations. Qiao Ting had chosen this time to challenge the Lingtian Mecha n because he wanted to use his strength to shock all the factions in the academy into submission ¡ª he would tell them with his victory that the king of the military academy had appeared.


    "Yes, Regiment Commander!" Seeing the bright gleam in Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes as well as the unrestrained ambition within them, the confidant was once again deeply moved by his regimentmander. This was the strong person he had chosen to follow ¡ª only someone like this had the right to his submission.


    "Also, get someone to notify the person who leaked this name list to us. As soon as the battle ends, give him the elevated position of first line team leader!" Qiao Ting did not mind giving the person who betrayed their original leader what they wanted. He was even more unafraid that this kind of person would do the same to him in future, because he believed that as long as he was strong enough, no one would ever dare to betray him.


    "Yes, Regiment Commander. I will notify him," replied the confidant, head bowed. A swift sh of envy passed through his gaze ¡ª he had not expected just the simple leak of a name list like this could a first line team leader position in the Leiting Mecha n. That person who had betrayed his mecha n was truly wise. Instead of staying put in the Lingtian Mecha n with its uncertain future, he might as well take a gamble ¡ª now, his gamble had paid off in the form of a meteoric rise.


    ********


    On Ling Lan¡¯s end, after leading away the 11 people participating in the fight, they entered abat training hall in Mecha World, heading straight for a pre-booked private room to conduct some final adjustments. Meanwhile, the other team leaders opened another private training room under Ling Lan¡¯s instructions and held a practice session of their own.


    Over the course of the day, all 11 participants finally understood Ling Lan¡¯s instructions thoroughly. Only then did Ling Lan dismiss everyone, and the next time they gathered would be at the life-or-death fight against the Leiting Mecha n tomorrow.


    After watching the other team leaders leave Mecha World one after another, Ling Lan led the 11 participants to leave as well, returning to the real world.


    By the time she opened her virtual login pod, the other five in her vi had already sat up. Qi Long was the first to jump out of his pod to say, "Wu Jiong just told me that he¡¯ll being over here soon with Li Yingjie."


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes flickered at these words, but she only nodded and said, "Understood." That said, she walked out of the virtual login pod room to return to her own bedroom and took a good shower. Refreshed, only then did she go down to the hall below.


    Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie had already arrived; they must have sprinted straight for Ling Lan¡¯s ce immediately after logging off. Li Yingjie brought over some freshly-brewed coffee and poured each of them a cup. Then, again from the kitchen, he brought out a cup of in water for Ling Lan.


    Wu Jiong lifted his coffee cup and took a sip. The bitter vour quickly spread across his tongue, as bitter as his current mood.


    "Coming here so urgently, has something happened?" Ling Lan drank a sip of her water, ced her cup down, and then asked with a calm expression.


    "Our name list has been leaked," said Wu Jiong bitterly, a trace of pain shing through his eyes.


    Ling Lan inteced her fingers and, after a few beats of silence, she asked, "Who is the traitor?"


    Wu Jiong reflexively looked towards Li Yingjie. At this moment, Li Yingjie still had not touched his cup of coffee ¡ª his face was dark, hands sped tightly. His long and slender fingers were almost digging into the back of his hands, his entire person trembling uncontrobly.


    "It¡¯s one of Li Yingjie¡¯s." It was clear with one look ¡ª what else was there for Ling Lan to figure out? She had initially thought that those who might waver would be those not from the Central Scout Academy, but unexpectedly, it was one of their own who had stepped wrongly.


    "I did not think he would do something like this ..." Li Yingjie suddenly lowered his head. Even though they could not see his expression, they could hear the pain in his voice, like that of a cornered animal. Even the most arrogant and overbearing person would be gravely hurt when they were betrayed by someone they trusted; they may even be unable to bear it.

 Chapter 405: The Battle Begins!

    Chapter 405: The Battle Begins!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Li Yingjie¡¯s dispirited appearance caused the hall to fall silent again. In contrast to Wu Jiong¡¯s concern, Ling Lan¡¯s expression was indifferent. She only tapped on the cup in her hands, as if considering something.


    Not long after, Lin Zhong-qing reappeared from the kitchen where he had been clearing things up. He came to stand before Li Yingjie and ced a cup of ice water which was still radiating cold air onto the tea table. Compared to before, Lin Zhong-qing seemed to set the cup down rather heavily ¡ª the sound of the cup mming onto the tea table was loud and jarring.


    "You too areughing at me, aren¡¯t you?" Li Yingjie was startled by this noise. He jerked his head up and red at Lin Zhong-qing with red-rimmed eyes, expression stubborn as he snapped this question at the other.


    With a tray in his hands, Lin Zhong-qing cidly leaned over to collect that cup of hot coffee in front of Li Yingjie. He did not get angry, only tossing out the following statement. "What is there tough at? Judging by your previous methods, I¡¯m not surprised that someone would betray you."


    These words of Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s hit Li Yingjie right where it hurts; Li Yingjie became livid, the sadness and frustration shrouding his heart being chased away in an instant. Pointing indignantly at the coffee in Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s hands, he yelled, "Even though I used some bad methods in the past to bully you, you can¡¯t take my coffee away! Also, you are actually giving me ice water on such a cold day? Are you abusing your position to take revenge 1 ?"


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s lips quirked at these words. He pointed at the cup of ice-cold water and said coolly, "I think, that it¡¯s best for you to use this to cool down a little right now. So there¡¯s been a traitor. Is that worth bing so mncholic 2 ? Seeing you like this ... you¡¯re really not at all like the Li Yingjie who only knows how to bully me and push me down."


    That said, he did not even turn his head back to look at the other as he stormed back to the kitchen with a stony expression. That manner showed clearly that he was not at all taking the now furious Li Yingjie seriously.


    Li Yingjie had always been arrogant ¡ª even though the traitor had appeared from his team, indeed dealing him a heavy blow, and from young, he had eaten crow many times by Ling Lan¡¯s hand ... overall, his life had been smooth sailing. He was loved by his family and constantly praised by his subordinates ¡ª this had cultivated his haughty and arrogant temperament. Now, actually being mocked by someone he used to look down on, he felt greatly insulted and could not stand it.


    Therefore, he actually ignored Wu Jiong and Ling Lan, charging after Lin Zhong-qing impulsively into the kitchen, thinking to argue with Lin Zhong-qing until he saw reason. Did this godd*mn Lin Zhong-qing not have any bit ofrade-likepassion? Striking a man when he¡¯s down 3 ... that, that, that¡¯s just too bloody despicable!


    Wu Jiong stared in astonishment at Li Yingjie who had still been moping in self-recrimination and frustration a while ago. Now, he was actually spiritedly chasing after someone else into the kitchen and had begun an intense debate with Lin Zhong-qing. He looked towards Ling Lan who was sitting on the sofa, his expressionpletely nonplussed. He had just been thinking how he could console that punk just a moment ago!


    Ling Lan narrowed her eyes slightly, set down the cup in her hands, and said calmly, "Li Yingjie¡¯s matter, let¡¯s not bother with it. I believe he knows where his problem lies." Otherwise, Li Yingjie would not have been so shaken. He actually knew very well where his problemy; he just did not want to admit it.


    Wu Jiong had also calmed down now. He nodded and said, "Makes sense. I just don¡¯t know whether this incident will affect tomorrow¡¯s battle." Wu Jiong could not help but worry.


    "No matter. The reason why I did not want the name list exposed before the fight was to avoidplications. Frankly, even if Leiting knows now, it won¡¯t be an issue." The true killing blow had never been the name list to begin with. Ling Lan had only been misleading the opponent with a smokescreen of carefully cultivated truth and omissions, letting Leiting truly believe that Lingtian¡¯s trump card was the two unexpected additions on the name list.


    After hearing what Ling Lan had to say, Wu Jiong¡¯s heart finally settled. Boss Lan would not make a promise unless everything was within his control.


    Wu Jiong and Ling Lan continued to discuss things they had to note for tomorrow¡¯s battle. When they suddenly noticed that Li Yingjie¡¯s initially loud and energetic voice in the kitchen had gone silent, the two of them turned with surprise to look in the direction of the kitchen. Then, they saw Li Yingjie huffily scrubbing a cup in his hands with a clean rag, the force with which he was doing so making it seem as if the cup was his archenemy.


    Wu Jiong felt that that cup seemed extremely familiar. He reflexively looked down at the coffee cup in his hands and immediately realised what it was.


    "Wu Jiong, do you still want more coffee?" Lin Zhong-qing noticed Wu Jiong¡¯s nce at his cup and briskly walked out of the kitchen with the coffee pot to ask seriously.


    "Uh, uh, um, okay ... er, that, just a little." Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s sudden question made Wu Jiong respond reflexively. He thrust out the coffee cup in his hands only to find that he had barely taken two sips from his cup. It was still almost full, and so, he could only quickly amend his answer.


    Lin Zhong-qing did not seem to notice Wu Jiong¡¯s embarrassment. He very carefully poured a little more coffee into Wu Jiong¡¯s cup and then carried the coffee pot back to the kitchen ...


    "I¡¯m done cleaning this. Like this, you can finally give me coffee now, right?" Li Yingjie saw Lin Zhong-qing return and quickly raised the spotless cup he had wiped, showing Lin Zhong-qing that he could pour him some coffee now.


    Lin Zhong-qing cast a cold nce at him and put the coffee pot back on the shelf, saying coldly, "If you want to drink, pour it yourself!"


    "Why? Wu Jiong is a regimentmander, and I¡¯m also a regimentmander. Why can you pour for him but not for me?" Li Yingjie was enraged once more.


    "You were the one who made a mistake. Do you still have the right to get others to pour coffee for you?" Lin Zhong-qing calmly dropped this sentence and then stopped paying any more attention to Li Yingjie. Li Yingjie was flushed to his roots with anger; his hands were balled up into fists and he looked like he was on the verge of punching Lin Zhong-qing.


    "This logistics head of yours has finally gotten his revenge." At this point, Wu Jiong could not help but shake his head andment with a wry smile, feeling somewhat speechless at how Li Yingjie was mindlessly serving himself up for this abuse.


    Ling Lan raised her head to look at Wu Jiong and said evenly, "Zhong-qing is not taking revenge."


    Wu Jiong was bewildered. Ling Lan said with a half-smile, "What? Don¡¯t you feel how Li Yingjie has turned back into the Li Yingjie of before? Arrogant, overbearing, somewhat unreasonable?"


    Wu Jiong was enlightened. He cast a searching look at Lin Zhong-qing who was still ignoring Li Yingjie in the kitchen. Once again, he found that, in terms of understanding people, he was truly no match for Boss Lan. In his eyes, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s behaviour had obviously been meant to taunt and mock Li Yingjie, revenge for Li Yingjie¡¯s oppression of him in the past. However, after Boss Lan¡¯s hinting, he realised that Lin Zhong-qing was just goading Li Yingjie to motivate and encourage him so that the disheartened and lost Li Yingjie could be revived.


    It made sense when he thought about it. If Lin Zhong-qing were really so petty and short-sighted, how could he be worthy of following Boss Lan till now? He had still underestimated Lin Zhong-qing.


    Leaving aside the sense of failure in Wu Jiong¡¯s heart, Li Yingjie was feeling as if he and Lin Zhong-qing were truly archenemies in their past life. Their enmity must have carried over into this life, dictating that they could not coexist peacefully for even one day. Worked up by Lin Zhong-qing almost to the point of exploding, it was lucky that he still remembered that he was in Boss Lan¡¯s territory. He finally managed to control his anger with much effort, and only then did he leave Ling Lan¡¯s vi with Wu Jiong, expression still indignant.


    Right then, Li Yingjie could only think that he absolutely could not let Lin Zhong-qing look down on him. He, Li Yingjie, was naturally born as an arrogant person ¡ª hells, wasn¡¯t it just one traitor? He would let the other know that betraying him, Li Yingjie, would result in no so-called future.


    Thus, he must win in the big mecha fight with Leiting tomorrow. He would let the other know that, if they wanted to make the Lingtian Mecha n disappear, if they wanted to see Li Yingjie out of sorts and miserable ... there was absolutely no way!


    Li Yingjie, who had always been somewhat breathless from the oppression of Thunder King Qiao Ting, actually managed to sweep away the burden in his heart due to this betrayal and Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s goading. Right now, Li Yingjie had once again reverted to that fearless and arrogant ¡¯I¡¯m number one¡¯ mode ¡ª the Li Yingjie now would be able to rip a chunk of flesh off even someone as powerful as Thunder King Qiao Ting out of sheer fearlessness.


    A night passed in silence. The time soon arrived at one in the afternoon. The military academy made the unprecedented decision of dering the day a school holiday, allowing all the students to spectate the mecha fight between Lingtian and Leiting. The instructors of each ss even set an assignment for the students to write a reflection after viewing the fight ...


    The mecha fight between Lingtian and Leiting was a virtual battle. As such, the venue was in Mecha World. However, this match was set as an internal event by the mainframe, which only allowed peopleing from login points in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to enter and spectate.


    In Mecha World, both Leiting and Lingtian were already primed and ready. They were only waiting on the mainframe¡¯s notification to enter the map of the mecha fight.


    In order to ensure fairness, the mecha fight¡¯s battlefield map would be randomly selected by the mainframe. Therefore, neither team knew which map they would be fighting in. Compared to the Lingtian Mecha n, Leiting was obviously more confident in this regard. After all, having been through countless virtual mecha fights, they had a pretty decent understanding of all the various maps of Mecha World. It could be said that, from the very start when both teams entered the map, they would definitely have an advantage over the Lingtian Mecha n in deciding how to adapt and handle the situation.


    In the waiting room of the 12 participating members of the Lingtian Mecha n, when Ling Lan operated the mecha Chang Xinyuan had modified to appear before the group, those who did not know the full story were filled with awe. Just as Ling Lan and her team expected, Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and the others all thought that Ling Lan¡¯s mecha was a special-ss mecha. Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and the rest were both admiring and in awe that Ling Lan was the first to be a special-ss mecha master in the Lingtian Mecha n. As expected, Boss Lan was the strongest of them all.


    As the Lingtian Mecha n now had three special-ss operators on the roster, Wu Jiong and the rest found themselves a lot calmer. Although Ling Lan had always stressed that Lingtian was not certain to lose in the fight against Leiting, they had still been uneasy deep inside. Now, they finally felt a little more confident.


    The only one who was calm was instead Li Yingjie. Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s goading might have worked too well ¡ª Li Yingjie¡¯s eyes were filled with fighting spirit, as if nning to use strength to prove that he, Li Yingjie, would never be beaten down.


    Very soon, everyone received the alert from the mainframe. Three minutester, they would be automatically pulled into the battlefield by the mainframe.


    Ling Lan swept a cold gaze around at the 11 people in the room and said, "Later once we get in, if everyone is together, split up into the teams as we arranged previously before acting. If we¡¯re split up, the first thing is to hide yourselves well. I¡¯ll find a way to contact you all. At that time, it¡¯s highly likely that you all will have to team up with the three people closest to you. Team coordination might not be as good, so be mentally prepared, everyone."


    Ling Lan¡¯s warning made everyone¡¯s heart clench, but they immediately replied, "Roger, Boss Lan."

 Chapter 406: Hidden Machinations?

    Chapter 406: Hidden Machinations?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Three minutes passed swiftly. Everyone felt themselves being tugged by a powerful force into a ck hole ¡ª the power behind the pull made everyone groggy, unable to maintain their rity of mind for a beat.


    Only Ling Lan was an exception. She had long gotten used to this sort of pulling force and so still retained her mental awareness. Compared to the brute pulling force of the learning space, this tug by the Mecha World mainframe was clearly much gentler.


    As soon as Ling Lan entered the battle map, without any dy, she was conscious and aware.


    Every mecha which entered the map had 10 seconds of protection time ¡ª the entire mecha would shine with a white light, marking its invincibility. This was also an example of Mecha World¡¯s fairness mechanisms. After all, the time everyone needed to adjust to this pulling force varied ¡ª some only needed two to three seconds to adjust, while others might need seven or eight seconds. Perhaps some might even need over ten seconds to regain their consciousness, but for those people, the mainframe would judge them as unworthy to operate mecha. For them to be killed in a sneak attack after ten seconds were up was perfectly eptable.


    Because the moment one¡¯s mecha operation level entered lower mecha operator tier, one would require the support of the minimum level of spiritual power. Those who regained their rity of mind slower were typically the type to have extremely low spiritual talent. With little potential to develop, it was pretty much a deration that your future in mecha operation was unpromising.


    Taking advantage of her mecha¡¯s invincible state, Ling Lan quickly scanned her surroundings. This was arge mapbining both a desert and an oasis ¡ª other than some small shrubs, there were no so-called majestic trees or mountain rocks for mecha to hide.


    With unhindered yellow and green as far as the eye could see, as soon as a mecha approached, it would be very easily discovered. It should be said that there was very little chance of a mecha executing a sessful sneak attack. Thus, to arge extent, this map was more suited for those mecha with vast experience and adequate strength.


    "This map ... is advantageous for the Leiting Mecha n." The cadets spectating the fight saw the map disyed before their eyes, and all of them came to the same conclusion. Anyone who understood the Leiting Mecha n knew that this time, Qiao Ting had brought experienced senior cadets with two or three years¡¯ worth of mecha battle experience with him. As such, how could the Lingtian members who had just started using mecha for not too longpare?


    Even those who mentally supported Lingtian could not help but swear and be rmed when they saw this map. Lingtian was just too unlucky for the mainframe to actually draw this map.


    At this time, in one of the VIP rooms inside the military academy, arge screen was broadcasting the fight. Inside the room, there were about 20 people watching the screen avidly. When this map appeared, quite a few of them smiled, but there was also a small number who frowned.


    "Tang Yu, what do you think?" asked an old man sitting beside Tang Yu. He was the principal of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, and was presently attending this viewing arranged for the administrators and the mecha instructors.


    "Principal ... this map ... did the academy really not have a hand in this?" asked Tang Yu with a grim expression.


    "I only set it so that this match is an open fight," replied the principal calmly. "But you know that the authority to designate the battle map does not lie solely with me."


    Tang Yu did not answer, but a trace of disgust shed through his eyes. Hidden machinations ... regardless of the oue, this was a disgrace to them mecha operators.


    "Are you not happy about this? Leiting¡¯s regimentmander, the team leader of his side in this match, Qiao Ting, is the student you are so proud of, isn¡¯t he?" said the principal jokingly.


    "Ling Lan, Qi Long, Luo Lang, Wu Jiong, and Li Yingjie will likewise be my students starting next month. I believe that three yearster, they too will be students I will be proud of ..." Tang Yu suddenly turned his head, quirked an eyebrow, and said, "Besides, this time, all the students I¡¯ve epted are from the Lingtian Mecha n, unlike the previous batch where, out of the five students I took in, only Qiao Ting was from the Leiting Mecha n. Five versus one, don¡¯t you think I should stand on the side of the Lingtian Mecha n more?"


    "Are you trying to protest the injustice being done to your students now?" The principal¡¯s lips curved into a smile. This was why he admired Tang Yu the most. Qiao Ting had been with him for three years ¡ª undoubtedly, Tang Yu should favour Qiao Ting more ¡ª but this did not mean that he could ept this sort of secret maniption. It was unconscionable even if his student would be the one to benefit.


    "I just want to see a fair and exciting match," answered Tang Yu. "However, I don¡¯t think the Lingtian Mecha n will really be so helpless." Thinking back to one year ago, in order to obtain victory, these children had managed to stand their ground on the arena stage with their steadfast determination despite the multiple wounds they received. Their tenacious spirit had earned Tang Yu¡¯s approval and respect, which was why he had ignored the objections of the school administrators and broken the faction bnce by insisting on epting five students from the same n.


    "I also do not think that Lingtian will lose just because of a map." The principal surprisingly agreed with Tang Yu¡¯s words, shocking Tang Yu into whipping his head around to stare at him.


    The principal smiled meaningfully, a subtle gleam in his eyes. Tang Yu¡¯s heart clenched; it looked like the principal was nning to use this match to do something ... he turned his gaze back to therge screen in front, his heart heavy.


    Ling Lan waited as her ten seconds of invincibility passed by. During this time, within the range of her radar, Ling Lan did not pick up anyone other than herself. It was as Ling Lan expected; she and Little Four had guessed correctly. This mecha fight which the academy attached such great importance to was indeed unlike previous mecha fights where both teams were given time to assemble and prepare before hashing it out in proper teams. It would not be so simple.


    "Little Four, can you find the coordinates of the other members? And contact them as well?" Seeing this, Ling Lan immediately asked Little Four.


    This map which seemed disadvantageous to the Lingtian Mecha n was instead most advantageous for them with the omnipotent cheating device Little Four on their side. In contrast to Leiting¡¯s true situation of fighting blind and solo, with Little Four¡¯s help, the Lingtian Mecha n could locate their ownpanions within the shortest amount of time.


    "No problem!" responded Little Four. Once they entered a virtual world, he would be an omnipotent god with everything under his control. This was also why he especially loved virtual worlds.


    "Also, get me the enemies¡¯ coordinates as well," added Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan stood in ce as she calmly waited for Little Four to find what she asked for.


    Meanwhile, all the cadets spectating the fight had already chosen the viewing perspective they wanted to view this sensational battle from.


    There were three viewing angles to choose from ¡ª Challenger view, Defender view, and God view.


    Viewing from Challenger view was, indeed, choosing to watch from the challenger¡¯s perspective. In this fight, that would be Leiting¡¯s battle team. Those who selected that viewing angle would be offered the selection of Leiting¡¯s 12 mecha. They could then freely choose whichever they liked and view the battle from that mecha operator¡¯s perspective, and could even experience the coping ability and mecha control ability of the operator second-hand.


    Almost more than half of the cadets chose Challenger view, and 70% among these chose the ace mecha Thunder King Qiao Ting was piloting. To the cadets, this was a rare opportunity for them to experience the control methods of an ace operator and learn from it. They just could not resist this temptation.


    Meanwhile, those who chose Defender view, that is to view the battle from the Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s perspective, simrly had 12 mecha to choose from. However, those who chose the Lingtian Mecha n were very few. Other than those members of the Lingtian Mecha n who were not participating and those other freshmen factions who were supporting the Lingtian Mecha n in secret, there were not many others.


    Those who chose to view from Lingtian¡¯s perspective were also not as concentrated under one operator. Instead, the viewing distribution was quite spread out, but overall, those who chose to view from the team leader Ling Lan¡¯s perspective was still the majority. After all, the team leader should be the strongest one in the battle team, and the Federation had always taught the students to honour the strong.


    Aside from that, those who chose God view, which was in fact the full map perspective, could choose any of the 24 mecha to zoom in on. Of course, even after zooming in, their viewing angle would still be that of an outside observer, able to take in the entire scene as well as the distribution of the other mecha on the map. That said, it would not shift automatically like the other viewing angles, but relied on the viewer to search and adjust on their own.


    All of the cadets entered the match under their respective viewing angles ...


    "Boss, I¡¯ve found it!" Little Four projected the locations of the members he had gathered into Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace. Twelve green dots appeared, the one marking her position closer to the right side of the map. Of course, Little Four did not forget to mark down Leiting¡¯s coordinates as well with red dots.


    This time, the mainframe had scattered the members of both teams as expected. From the distribution of green and red dots, the two sides were interspersed all over the map. Each member not only hadrades by their sides, they also had enemies around them. This also showed that, if Little Four did not exist, whether the members of either team would encounter friend or foe would have depended solely on luck.


    "Little Four, send all members the coordinates of our members and our opponents, and choose an assembly point nearest to the members and tell them to focus in on it at the same time," ordered Ling Lan. Being able to gather before the opponent could would give Lingtian a huge advantage. "Also, help me find Qiao Ting¡¯s position."


    Right now, the most important thing was to iste and neutralize Qiao Ting. As long as Qiao Ting did not have the chance to attack her members, Ling Lan believed that even if they met the other members of Leiting, it was not impossible for her members to win.


    "Found it, Boss." Little Four quickly highlighted Qiao Ting¡¯s position. Ling Lan¡¯s forehead scrunched up ¡ª it turned out that she was very far away from Qiao Ting¡¯s position; they were almost onpletely opposite ends. If she wanted to meet Qiao Ting, she would need to cut through many other members of Leiting first. Simrly, for Qiao Ting to fight her, he would have to go through some trouble as well.


    It looked like the mainframe did not want the two team leaders to meet so quickly, and so had positioned the both of them so far from each other ...


    "Is this so that Qiao Ting has more chances to show off?" sneered Ling Lan. It looked like the mainframe was still biased towards Leiting. Lingtian¡¯s three special-ss operators were all very far away from Qiao Ting and were spread out at three distant points. Judging by the distance, by the time they rushed over to Qiao Ting¡¯s area, Qiao Ting would have had more than enough time to defeat the other members of Lingtian.


    "In that case, let¡¯s see who¡¯ll remain till the very end." Ling Lan decisively scrapped her initial ns. Since the mainframe intended for Qiao Ting to shine, then she would just let Qiao Ting show off a little. Besides, Ling Lan also hoped that her team members could go up against an ace operator once. This was also a type of experience ¡ª even if they would be badly defeated in Mecha World, it would still be worth it.

 Chapter 407: Lingtian No.7!

    Chapter 407: Lingtian No.7!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Having obtained the coordinates from Little Four, the Lingtian members changed their initial cautiousness and all began to move. This made those cadets who had chosen Defender view and God view to cry out in surprise.


    "Unexpectedly, the Lingtian Mecha n has actually started to move." The first-years who had just entered the school and the second-years were all exhrated at this development. Compared to the Leiting Mecha n, the first and second years liked the New Cadet Regiment turned Lingtian Mecha n better. The deeds of the New Cadet Regiment motivated these juniors to arge degree. So juniors too could fight back when they were oppressed and even obtain sess.


    In contrast to those joyful first and second years who were unable to control their emotions, the third-, fourth-, and fifth-year senior cadets were silently shaking their heads. They all felt that the members of Lingtian were still a little too inexperienced, actually acting blindly before figuring out the true situation.


    Those cadets who had chosen God view were well aware that there were one or two Leiting members around the locations of the Lingtian members. If the Lingtian members identally entered the range of Leiting, they might really be taken by surprise and be attacked by the opponent. This scenario was extremely disadvantageous to the Lingtian people.


    However, the performance of the Lingtian members after that left the senior cadets bbergasted, because they found that the two or three mecha closest to one another were actually sprinting in unnned unison towards the same spot. Of course, those who could notice this were all those who had chosen God view. Using their bird¡¯s eye view to analyse the situation, they knew that as long as these Lingtian members did not change course, they were sure to bump into each other eventually ...


    Of course, as there were Leiting mecha around their meeting point as well, Lingtian might already encounter these opponent mecha even before they met up with their teammates. After all, no one could be certain whether the Leiting people would unintentionally move to the spot they were converging towards.


    "D*mn, is Lingtian cheating?" Those who witnessed this scene all eximed. They could notprehend the situation ¡ª if they weren¡¯t cheating, how could the Lingtian Mecha n head in the same direction so urately, two to three of them simultaneously at that?


    Those cadets quickly submitted their suspicions to the mainframe, and the mainframe rapidly returned with a response. It turned out that the Lingtian battle team possessed a powerful piece of equipment which could pinpoint the coordinates of their own members and disy it to all the members. This was why the Lingtian mecha battle team could respond so swiftly and move unerringly in the same direction.


    Of course, this was the answer Little Four had supplied to the mainframe. After all, this was an open fight ¡ª some things needed to be given a proper exnation. Fortunately, Chang Xinyuan had already modified Ling Lan¡¯s mecha in advance, so Little Four used his own simtion methods to add this legendary heaven-defying equipment of Mecha World to this modified mecha. It was a member-locator that only powerful ns of star-rank 1 and above could equip.


    "F*ck, the Lingtian Mecha n has prepared really well for this showdown!" Many old yers of Mecha World had heard rumours of this equipment before, a legendary n equipment that only super strong ns of star-rank and above had the right to equip. Rumour had it that it was extremely difficult to get one ¡ª not only were the tasks that needed to be done extremelyplicated, it was impossible toplete this mission without a certain level of strength.


    Who would have expected the newly established Lingtian Mecha n to be so lucky? Actually possessing such a nature-defying treasure. The senior cadets did not believe that Lingtian was capable of earning this equipment from a direct mission. It was far more likely for them to have obtained it by sheer overwhelming luck during a reward lottery draw for some random mission.


    Afterpleting a Mecha World mission, the methods of choosing a reward were all kinds of strange ¡ª it was not unheard of for some super lucky people to receive legendary equipment or weapons. Thus, the cadets did not suspect anything, only envious of Lingtian¡¯s tremendously great luck.


    It looked like this match would not be the one-sided fight they imagined! Right then, all the spectators changed their original opinion in silent unison. This shift in attitude stirred up the excitement of the senior cadets who had initially been forced intoing to spectate despite theirck of interest. They liked watching suspenseful fights, and not those kinds of boring fights where the oue was already known before the fight even began.


    Soon, the silence of the venue was broken by some of the spectating students. They actually could not help but cry out ¡ª it turned out that, on the way to its destination, the number seven mecha of the Lingtian battle team had very unfortunately stumbled upon the number nine Leiting mecha. However, as the distance between the two mecha was more than 3 kilometres (the maximum range of an advanced mecha¡¯s radar was 3 kilometres), they were both oblivious to the presence of the other.


    Still, the spectators quickly found out under the mainframe¡¯s hinting that it would only take a few seconds for the two to get within 3 kilometres of each other. At that time, they would inevitably discover each other¡¯s presence.


    ¡¯It looks like the exciting first match is about toe.¡¯ Those who had selected God view clenched their fists in excitement, thinking to themselves.


    Sure enough, several secondster, almost simultaneously, both mecha received warning alerts from their respective mecha¡¯s radars that an unidentified mecha had appeared around 3 kilometres from where they were.


    Both operators chose to zoom in on the captured image of the other mecha, and when they saw that the other mecha was emitting the light sheen marking a different faction, they knew for certain that the other mecha was an enemy.


    Lingtian No.7 did not decrease his speed ¡ª still travelling at high speed, he controlled the hands of his mecha to pull a quick draw from behind the mecha¡¯s shoulders. Then, with a beam gun in his left hand and a beam saber in his right, he was prepared for battle. Likewise, on the other end, Leiting mecha No.9 had also discovered the enemy and was making battle preparations of his own. Other than one standing still in ce while the other was moving at high speed, both mecha¡¯s battle prep actions did not differ by much.


    "Who¡¯d have expected that the Lingtian Mecha n members could also react so quickly ..." From the time they each registered the presence of an unidentified mecha, to the time they confirmed whether the other was friend or foe, bothbatants¡¯ reaction time was almost the same. This drew shocked exmations from the spectating cadets once more ¡ª it was very unexpected that these rtively green Lingtian members were performing much better than they had imagined.


    ********


    In one of the VIP rooms of the military academy, Tang Yu saw this scene and the light in his eyes brightened. He could not stop himself from turning on themunicator on his wrist to begin searching for the information on this Lingtian Mecha n number seven member.


    The students might mistakenly believe that the reaction times of the two were roughly the same, but as an instructor, Tang Yu could see things much clearer. The Lingtian member was able to execute the same battle prep as the Leiting member who had been standing still while moving at high speed, and his actions were clean and efficient, with no sign at all of any dy and stiffness. Undoubtedly, the control skills of the Lingtian No.7 was definitely a bracket higher than that mecha operator of Leiting¡¯s. For a junior student to carry off this series of movements much more perfectly and swiftly than a senior, the mecha operation talent of this Lingtian No.7 was most certain to be at the level of a prodigy. Tang Yu could not help but be interested at the prospect of a promising student.


    "Lingtian No.7; Name: Lin Zhong-qing. Status: Free Commoner. Age: 17. Physical skills: Advanced level Refinement stage 2 . Mecha Piloting Level: Advanced; Intermediate to Advanced advancement results, excellent!" Frankly, there was not a lot of info that could be obtained using this type of simple search ¡ª for truly detailed information, one would need to receive clearance to browse the restricted files of the military academy.


    However, this simple information was already enough for Tang Yu. He could barely restrain his excitement as hemented, "It is really unexpected that, other than those five in the Lingtian Mecha n, there is still such an excellent member." Able to level up to advanced-ss operator at age 17 and have his advancement results judged as ¡¯excellent¡¯ by the Mecha World mainframe, this meant that the other¡¯s basic controls must be extremely solid. This would definitely be a great advantage to his future development. What surprised him the most was the other¡¯s status as freemoner. The averagemoner¡¯s mecha piloting talent would not be that good ¡ª it looked like this was probably some form of gic mutation.


    This reminded Tang Yu of himself. Even though he was not amoner but a citizen, which was a rank higher thanmoner 3 , his sess at bing an elite ace could also be ascribed to gic mutation. He had the sudden impulse to take Lin Zhong-qing as a student as well ¡ª he wanted to see if Lin Zhong-qing could be an ace operator like he had, perhaps even surpass him.


    "You are willing to give up one of the other five?" asked the principal.


    At his words, Tang Yu smiled wryly and sighed. Although he really wanted to, he could not give up any of those five he had chosen from the start. Those five children who were about to be his students were all very gifted in mecha piloting, not at all weaker than this Lin Zhong-qing and perhaps even better. "There are just too many prodigies with mecha piloting talent in this year. I wonder which mecha mentor he will choose?"


    Tang Yu felt that such an excellent prodigy must be from the Mecha Piloting specialization. Furthermore, only those from the Mecha Piloting specialization could choose a mecha mentor at the start of their second year. The other specializations had to wait till the second semester of the academic year to begin their mecha study, and then, it would only be an elective for them. Thus, mecha mentors did not pay much attention to these students.


    Curious, Tang Yu typed in the query to search for Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s mecha mentor on hismunicator, but he received an unexpected response ¡ª unable to find any relevant answers. This shocked him, because he knew that all of the mentors for the students of the Mecha Piloting specialization had already been confirmed. He had originally wanted to find out who was the mentor of Lin Zhong-qing so he could advise that instructor to properly cultivate Lin Zhong-qing. After all, even he was tempted to teach this kind of prodigy; he would not want to see such a gifted child be ruined from a mentor¡¯s neglect.


    "How can this be?" Tang Yu could not help doubting this answer. The principal suddenly thought of something and prompted Tang Yu, "Try checking what specialization the other is in."


    The principal¡¯s suggestion made Tang Yu pause in mute shock for a moment, but he soon began to search for Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s specialization. The answer was revealed very quickly, and this answer left Tang Yu instantly dumbfounded as he stared nkly in disbelief at the words ¡ª¡ª Mecha Logistics! This specialization which everyone thought only rubbish students would take up was an absolutely rubbish specialization on the outermost fringes of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy 4 .


    The principal saw Tang Yu¡¯s stunned reaction and was instantly curious as well. He took a peek and was instantly dumbfounded as well. Such a talented genius in mecha piloting was actually a student specializing in Mecha Logistics ... this could not be true, right?! This made even the generallyposed principal feel unsettled.


    "I think, our First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s method of assigning specializations is very wed. Principal, you should really think of a good way to solve this issue," said Tang Yu, looking up with a grim expression.


    Mind you, the application requirements for the Mecha Logistics specialization in terms of results and physical fitness had always been very low. Perhaps, this Lin Zhong-qing had been assigned to Mecha Logistics by the mainframe due to a problem with his results (because Mecha Logistics was really too horrible an option, almost no one would select it by choice, so the academy mainframe had no choice but to forcefully assign it to students based on results).


    Furthermore, the Mecha Logistics specialization had very low requirements on mecha control skills as well; students need only pass. All of the mecha instructors werepletely perfunctory in their teaching when it came to the Mecha Logistics students. It could be predicted that, if Lin Zhong-qing continued to remain in Mecha Logistics, his mecha piloting talent would definitely go to waste, and this was something he could not allow.


    The principal nodded in agreement. He too was deeply grieved that such a prodigy of mecha piloting had been shunted into Mecha Logistics by mistake. "When this match ends, let¡¯s look for him and ask him about this. If he agrees, we can make an exception for him to transfer into the Mecha Piloting specialization ..." Since the administrators had collectively pleaded with him to make an exception previously to use his authority as principal to set this mecha fight as an open fight, then those people should have no reason to object if he used his power now to let one student transfer to a specialization better suited for him.


    "If possible, I would like you, sir, to allow another exception. I want an additional student slot." Tang Yu was very satisfied with the principal¡¯s decision, and at this time, he also put forward this request earnestly.


    The principal smiled wryly. "Even you cannot bear to see such talent go to waste and are willing to break convention, how can I refuse your request?"


    With the principal¡¯s promise, Tang Yu could finally put aside his worries to focus his full attention on the incipient battle between Lingtian No.7 and Leiting No.9.

 Chapter 408: Reversal!

    Chapter 408: Reversal!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    At this time, Lingtian No.7 was just like a ferocious beast which had broken out of its cage. Facing the more experienced Leiting No.9, he showed no hint of fear. The speed of his mecha¡¯s sprint did not slow down at all due to the emergence of the enemy ¡ª those with keen eyesight could even tell that Lingtian No.7 had actually be faster and nimbler than before.


    Meanwhile, after preparing his weapons, Leiting No.9 saw Lingtian No.7 charging at him fearlessly. This move clearly carried a whiff of taunting ¡ª this made Leiting No.9 rather angry, thinking that he was being looked down on.


    So that he would not lose in terms of force of presence, Leiting No.9 did not hesitate to send his mecha sprinting towards Lingtian No.7 as well. Bothbatants chose to speed towards each other ¡ª about 10 secondster, they finally entered the effective range of their respective long-range attacks.


    The hearts of the audience were raised in suspense, all of them wondering which side would react faster and be the first to open fire. "Leiting is attacking." Now, from the looks of it, Leiting No.9 had more experience in attacking while running, thus managing to beat Lingtian No.7 to the punch. He aimed the beam gun in his right hand at Lingtian No.7 and pulled the trigger.


    A powerful beam of energy burst out from the muzzle to hurtle wildly at Lingtian No.7.


    "Ah, watch out!" In the audience, in contrast to theposure of the seniors, the new students as well as those who were concerned for the Lingtian Mecha n could not help but cry out.


    Right then, the attention of the entire audience, both juniors and seniors, was focused on Lingtian No.7. If Lingtian No.7 could not find a way to handle this shot properly, whether or not he was hit, he would still be forced into a passive position. Then, it could be expected that Leiting No.9 would inevitably be the final victor in this sh. On the mecha battlefield, being the first to gain the upper hand would basically determine the final ownership of victory, unless the power gap between the opponents was really too wide.


    "Alright!" The entire audience burst out in wild apuse and cheering.


    This was because Lingtian No.7 had handled the attack beautifully, leaving everyone speechless with amazement. Lingtian No.7 did not panic and choose to use his beam gun to fire back in an attempt to neutralize the other¡¯s attack, nor did he let himself be forced into a passive defensive position by swerving to avoid the opponent¡¯s attack. He had calmly controlled his mecha to execute an evasion manoeuvre, allowing that beam to brush past him mere millimetres from the outer shell of his mecha. The beam struck the ground and sent up a spray of dust and dirt, instantly making his figure hazy.


    Seeing the other¡¯s figure suddenly being partly concealed by the dust and dirt in the air, Leiting No.9 paused for a beat but did not give up on his offence. He predicted the possible angles the opponent might dodge to and frantically shot a cascade of beams from his gun.


    "Bang bang bang!" Consecutive gunshots sent even more dust and dirt into the air, and Lingtian No.7¡¯s figure was nowpletely obscured. The Leiting mecha found that its attacks were ineffective and only then did he begin to feel that something was not right. He immediately retreated, thinking to pull some distance away. While he could not be sure of the opponent¡¯s position, pulling a sufficiently safe distance away was one of the best ways of protecting oneself.


    Unfortunately, he had still reacted toote. He had just mobilized his mecha when a shadow abruptly appeared on his left. By the time he could see clearly, he found that that Lingtian Mecha No.7 had alreadye up beside him. There was a cold sh of light, and the opponent¡¯s beam saber came at him from a position he could not block, stabbing in at a strange angle ...


    "What¡¯s going on? How could he have appeared before me in an instant?!" Although Leiting No.9 could not believe what he was seeing, he still operated his mecha calmly. He pushed his mecha¡¯s engines to maximum power, attempting to evade at top speed and dodge this unexpected attack from the opponent.


    Those who are closely involved cannot see clearly 1 ¡ª Leiting No.9 had not been able to see Lingtian No.7¡¯s movements, obscured by dust as the other was, but the spectating cadets could choose to erase all visual obstacles and had seen Lingtian No.7¡¯s actions without any obstruction. Just as Leiting No.9 had been using his beam gun to attack, Lingtian No.7 had suddenly performed a movement that could not be exined by normal logic. The strange and unsettling footwork he executed allowed a certain distortion to appear in the area around Lingtian No.7, and in the very next second, he had already appeared at the opponent¡¯s side, creating an illusory sort of teleportation effect.


    "This is the nature-defying technique that advanced mecha warriors are most unlikely to master ¡ª Erratic Flicker!" Everyone was shocked; some cadets who recognized this technique could not help but exim.


    Compared to the misceneous footwork that advanced mecha warriors practised, such as Figure-8 Step, Z-shaped evasion, or whatever else, this Erratic Flicker was a top-ss technique which advanced mecha warriors dreamed about. To carry off the Erratic Flicker, one needed to bepletely proficient in all of the basic steps, perhaps even to the point where they had be instinct. But this was still not enough ¡ª Erratic Flicker also required extremely highprehension and perceptiveness. Without this type of innate intuition, no matter how thoroughly one mastered those basic moves, they still would not be able to convert these into the Erratic Flicker.


    The evolved version of the Erratic Flicker was the Irregr Flicker 2 , which was an important milestone to advance to ace operator status. Consequently, in the world of mecha operation, there is this one saying ¡ª if you have mastered the Erratic Flicker, you basically already have half a foot inside the realm of ace.


    Unfortunately, a majority of advanced mecha warriors were often unable to master this nature-defying technique. There were even many mecha operators who had entered special-ss operator level who would not dare to say for certain that they had mastered this top-ss skill. This was also why the number of ace mecha masters were so few. To arge extent, many excellent seedlings were wiped out on this point.


    This was also something that could not be helped. If one was unable to master the Irregr Flicker, even if they were allowed to move on and pilot ace mecha, once they arrived at the battlefield, an operator who could not execute an Irregr Flicker was pretty much just there to die. Therefore, in the world of mecha operation, there was no such thing as making do. The advancement of each level had stringent requirements ¡ª an operator must achieve the regted stats, or else they would never be permitted to advance.


    Tang Yu saw this move of Lingtian No.7¡¯s, and his eyes once again shone with an unnatural brightness. If the principal had not already agreed to his request to take on another student, at this moment, he was likely to cast aside his earlier reservations and abandon one of his initially determined students just so he could take in this Lingtian No.7.


    No matter how gifted a prodigy of mecha piloting was, if they did not have formidable intuition, their future development would also be hindered in the end by the barriers of advancement. For this Lingtian No.7 to be able toe so far, he must have already entered Mecha World at thirteen to train in mecha controls. By all calctions, for him to have mastered the heaven-defying Erratic Flicker in these 4 years¡¯ time, it was clear to see that his intuition andprehension skills were truly outstanding. And this aspect was even more precious than his talent in mecha piloting, which was yet another reason why Tang Yu was greatly moved.


    "ng!" Mecha and beam saber collided violently. Leiting No.9 felt his mecha judder violently, and the lights in his cockpit dimmed for a moment before being restored to normal again almost instantly.


    Experienced as he was, he could immediately confirm that he had been hit. His evasion manoeuvres had not helped him to escape the opponent¡¯s strange and sneaky attack. What¡¯s fortunate was that he had activated his mecha¡¯s beam shield even as he had dodged. Under the protection of the beam shield, the opponent¡¯s saber had not caused much damage to his mecha.


    However, this did not mean that he was out of danger. Even though he was piloting his mecha in a swift retreat, the opponent was on his tail like a shadow. The other¡¯s beam saber was still viciously pressed to his mecha¡¯s cockpit, drastically whittling away the power of his beam shield. As soon as his mecha¡¯s beam shield ran out of power, that beam saber would pierce through his cockpit without mercy. At that time, he would certainly face death and dismissal from the field.


    "Warning! Mecha¡¯s power only enough to hold out for 10 seconds. 10, 9 ..." The A.I. began to report the time frame left for the remaining power the mecha had. Leiting No.9 did not dare to gamble that the opponent¡¯s saber would run out of power before his beam shield. He could only elerate further to try and distance himself from the opponent¡¯s unrelenting beam saber, as only then could he salvage the situation.


    Just one move had been enough to turn the tables in this fight. Leiting No.9 had seemed to have grasped the upper hand at the start, but anyone with a discerning eye could now see that the one who was in a passive and desperate state was him and not Lingtian No.7.


    "Who would have guessed that Lingtian No.7¡¯s close-range offensive capabilities would be so strong?" At this point, the spectating cadets could not help but sigh in awe. This was because, judging from the external appearance of Lingtian No.7¡¯s mecha and the equipment he carried, he was more inclined towards long-range attacks. This was also why the spectating cadets had believed that this would be an intense long-range battle at the very beginning.


    The spectating students naturally did not know that this was because this Lingtian No.7 had been following a closebat maniac of a boss all this while. The long-range attackers in the team such as Lin Zhong-qing and Han Jijyun, after over a year of ruthless torment under Ling Lan¡¯s hands, had all seen their closebat skills improve tremendously. Their closebat standards were not much weaker than those actual closebat mecha operators ¡ª it could even be said that they were even better in terms of closebat reflexes.


    It couldn¡¯t be helped ¡ª up against their boss, Lin Zhong-qing and Han Jijyun had had no chance at all to execute any long-range attacks. Boss Lan¡¯s speed was just too fast ¡ª no matter how much distance they put between them and their boss, their boss would have caught up to them in the blink of an eye to attack from close range. In this kind of situation, they could only weave around their boss in close range. This was also one of the reasons why Lin Zhong-qing and the others who favoured long-range attacks would have such high closebat standards ¡ª after so much torment, it was impossible for their closebat skills not to be strong.


    Under this desperate situation, Leiting No.9¡¯s forehead was already dripping with sweat. He revved the engine of his mecha in a frenzy, pushing it to the extreme. Not just that, his two secondary engines also began to roar. The mecha¡¯s engines suddenly revved beyond capacity, causing the mecha¡¯s speed to go up a notch. Lingtian No.7 did not seem to have taken this into consideration, his reaction a beat too slow. Leiting No.9 sessfully pulled a distance away, escaping the threat of Lingtian No.7¡¯s beam saber ...


    Leiting No.9 saw that he had managed to pull away, but before he could breathe out a sigh of relief, his mecha¡¯s A.I. suddenly emitted a jarring rm. "Warning, evade! Warning, evade ...!" Shocked, Leiting No.9 looked at the indication on his mecha¡¯s screen. His mecha had actually been locked onto by the opponent¡¯s long-range weapon. The fine hairs on his body stood up as his fingers danced madly in an attempt to evade this great crisis.

 Chapter 409: Disciple!

    Chapter 409: Disciple!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Being locked onto meant that Leiting No.9¡¯s mecha had already been fixed as a target for Lingtian No.7¡¯s long-range weapon. If he could not break free of the opponent¡¯s target-lock before the other fired, Leiting No.9¡¯s mecha was sure to be hit. And with the 17% power he had left, even if Leiting No.9 activated his mecha¡¯s beam shield, it would not be enough to withstand one long-range attack from a mecha of the same level.


    Right then, Leiting No.9 realised that he had been set up by the opponent from the start. Even his desperate retreat had been calcted ¡ª it was not that the opponent could not chase after him; the opponent had long decided how he would deal with him next.


    "Boom!" Lingtian No.7 calmly pulled the trigger. The beam gun in his hand released a powerful beam of energy in Leiting No.9¡¯s direction.


    Leiting No.9¡¯s eyes bulged, perhaps out of anger, and there was actually a trace of redness in them. He yelled, "Dodge, d*mmit!"


    The battle had just begun ¡ª he did not want to be the first person to fail and leave the scene. Furthermore, he could not ept leaving after beingpletely dominated by the opponent. When he had first seen Lingtian No.7, he had thought that he would be able to finish the other off easily. The opponent¡¯s reckless manner in charging at him drew his contempt, leading him to believe that this operator who was an advanced mecha warrior like him was just an impulsive boor. How could this kind of simple-minded mecha operator be his opponent?


    Yes, from the beginning, he had underestimated his opponent. He had loosened his guard, and so had not taken time to seriously n and strategize during the fight, only blindly attacking from long-range. Even when his first shot had struck air, he had just assumed that the opponent had gotten lucky, and he had not chosen to pull away as soon as he could. This was his greatest failing, and his subsequent attacks had been an even greater disy of idiocy. His foolishness had given the opponent the opportunity to draw in close ... all the advantage he had at the start was lost in one go, and he was thrust into a dire situation in the blink of an eye.


    Leiting No.9 was filled with regrets ¡ª if he could do it all again, he definitely would not let the opponent draw so close, because he was a long-range attacker ...


    A loud "Kaboom!" rang out. Lingtian No.7¡¯s beam shot unerringly struck Leiting No.9. Despite his desperate struggles, Leiting No.9 had not been able to salvage the situation. His entire mecha exploded instantly, bing countless ming parts in the air, scattering in different directions.


    At the moment his mecha exploded, Leiting No.9 was dered dead by the mainframe and chased out of Mecha World. He needed to wait for the penalty for death to pass before he could log into Mecha World again and choose a new mecha and start over.


    "F*ck, from discovery to the end of the fight, it only took a little more than a minute? Isn¡¯t that way too fast?" The spectating cadets were all gobsmacked. For context, it should be known that a fight between mecha of the same level was unlikely to be ended without at least 10 minutes to half an hour. After all, both sides were of about roughly equal strength, it was very difficult for either side to defeat the other.


    Of course, if the winner of this fight had been Leiting No.9, the cadets might still have been able to justify it. Lingtian No.7 was a junior after all, without much battle experience. If he had panicked, it would have been no surprise for him to be killed in a split second. However, it was precisely the newly established Lingtian Mecha n which had won this first encounter ... the cadets really could not find any reason which could help them make sense of this reality.


    Just as the cadets were mired in confusion, seated in the VIP viewing room, Tang Yu¡¯s eyes held a trace of a smile. He could see things very clearly ¡ª Lingtian No.7 had been able to finish this match so swiftly because he had utilised the opponent¡¯s psychology well. It should be said that, from the very moment the two sides had met, Lingtian No.7 had already beenying his trap.


    "This fight was well done." The experienced principal naturally could see the intricacy of this fight as well. A gratified smile appeared on his face ¡ª he was extremely pleased that such an outstanding student with both brains and brawn had emerged from the academy.


    "Yes. Almost taking all of the opponent¡¯s possible reactions into consideration ... Leiting No.9 underestimated his opponent from the very start. Of course, this effect was partly encouraged by Lingtian No.7 on purpose. Lingtian No.7 ... truly a mecha operator with a tactical mind," said Tang Yu, smiling as well.


    At this time, he had already decided that regardless of whether Lingtian No.7 could transfer to the Mecha Piloting specialization in the end, he would still train this talented youth. The other¡¯sbat style was really very simr to his; for the first time, the notion of taking in a disciple stirred in Tang Yu¡¯s heart. Yes, the present Tang Yu not only wanted to take Lin Zhong-qing in as a student, but even wanted to make the other his true disciple so he could eventually inherit his mantle.


    "You¡¯ve really been tempted." Tang Yu¡¯s expression caused the principal to chuckle knowingly. Ever since Tang Yu had transferred to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to be an instructor, even though he had taken countless gifted students under his tutge, he had never ever considered taking in a true disciple. And now, the other had obviously been tempted. This made the principal extremely happy. It should be known that it was extremely difficult to find a true disciple that one found suitable. Not only did the candidate have to be talented, they had to catch the instructor¡¯s fancy, and there was also an element of serendipity to it all.


    Even if Tang Yu had felt that Qiao Ting, Ling Lan, Qi Long, and the rest were all abnormally gifted prodigy mecha operators, because he had not felt a sense of affinity with any of them, he had not been moved to take them in as true disciples. Only Lin Zhong-qing had caught Tang Yu¡¯s eyes, prompting him to start thinking about taking the other in under his sect for focused cultivation.


    "Hn. I think, if I have such a disciple, my master will also be happy for me." The principal¡¯s words made Tang Yu¡¯s expression even warmer. Since he had been moved, then he should immediately take action. Otherwise, this disciple he had decided on might be snatched away by someone else if he dyed. Tang Yu had noticed that Lingtian No.7¡¯s exceptional performance had already drawn out admiring gazes from quite a number of the instructors around him ...


    "Haha, then I should congratte you." Seeing that Tang Yu was about to obtain a satisfactory disciple, the principal was also very happy for this disciple of his old friend. Frankly, for a period of time, the principal had been very worried for Tang Yu. He was afraid that the knowledge and techniques of Tang Yu¡¯s sect would be lost due to Tang Yu¡¯s high standards. Mind you, someone as exceptional as Qiao Ting had still been unable to move Tang Yu. The principal had even believed at one point that there would never be a child who would move Tang Yu in this world. Unexpectedly, several years after that, this person had still finally appeared, and his appearance was so sudden but also so matter of fact.


    Lingtian No.7 finished off Leiting No.9 so simply, and then, amidst the audience¡¯s exmations, he continued to pilot his mecha to head towards his original intended destination. Very soon, he met up with two other members of Lingtian. Unlike Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s misfortune, the other two Lingtian Mecha n members hade here unhindered, without encountering anyone from Leiting. After the three of them met up, they seemed to have a brief discussion, and after another minute of rest, the three mecha arranged themselves in a triangr formation, chose a direction, and departed swiftly.


    This purposeful assembly of Lingtian was urring at the other ces as well. Due to the actions of Lingtian, there was now a higher chance of them encountering Leiting mecha on thisrgeposite map of desert area and oasisnd. In the next ten minutes or so, several shes between Lingtian and Leiting broke out all across the map.


    Both teams incurred losses in these shes, but overall, Leiting¡¯s losses were a little greater. In these fights, they lost five members while Lingtian only lost three.


    "I didn¡¯t expect the fighting to be so intense right from the start." The spectating cadets felt their blood begin to boil with excitement. Originally, a majority of students had favoured the Leiting Mecha n, but now they also began taking a shine to the Lingtian Mecha n. There were even many people who changed their minds and began hoping that the ultimate victors of this match would be the Lingtian Mecha n.


    Of course, they knew that this was just wishful thinking. With the ace operator Qiao Ting in their ranks, Leiting would be able to turn things around even if Qiao Ting was the only one left on their side in the end. There was still no one in Lingtian capable of contending with Qiao Ting¡¯s strength ¡ª even their three special-ss operators would not be able to change this oue.


    Despite knowing that Leiting was certain to win, what could have changed the minds of the spectating cadets so drastically within these ten minutes? This was because in the fights within these ten minutes, the Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s members performed much better than the members of Leiting. The three members of Lingtian who had been defeated and forced to leave had thoroughly convinced the spectating cadets with their indomitable spirit.


    These three members who had been ¡¯sacrificed¡¯ could not actually be said to be defeated. Two of the three had taken down their opponent with them under disadvantaged conditions, so Leiting had not gained anything from their defeat. What was even more surprising was that, though the participants were all advanced mecha warriors, anyone who paid attention could tell that this third member of Lingtian was clearly the weakest of the 24 people on the field. And his luck was even worse ¡ª the Leiting member he encountered was very experienced; among the 12 members of Leiting on the field, his strength ranked in the top 5. With such arge gap between the two, everyone thought that the Leiting mecha would defeat this member easily.


    However, under this sort of obvious disadvantage, the Lingtian member had actually fought till the opponent¡¯s mecha had been half-damaged. Although he was still defeated in the end and had been unable to take the Leiting member down with him, all the spectators knew that the opponent was no longer able to continue fighting. A half-damaged mecha would be easily eradicated by any single member of Lingtian on the field. In other words, although Leiting officially only lost five members on the scoreboard, in reality, they had lost six members. That one lucky survivor was actually just a participant in name now, unable to contribute anything for his team, and he may even be a burden on his team.


    "The members of Lingtian are too savage." The spectating cadets were thrilled by Lingtian¡¯s methods and tenacity in taking their opponents down with them even if they perished, but at the same time, they also viewed it with trepidation. On the battlefield, this kind of opponent was the worst kind to encounter ¡ª even if one¡¯s strength was a hair better than the opponent, there was no guarantee of winning unscathed.


    In the meantime, the moment he had entered the map, Leiting¡¯s team leader Qiao Ting had done exactly as Ling Lan had, carefully observing the terrain around him. When he found that it was an endless desert in interspersed with grasnd, he felt a thrill of joy pass through his heart. He was well aware how advantageous this map was to them seniors. It could be said that they had used this map many times before and basically knew which areas had traps, which spots would prompt idental situations, and which areas made good hiding ces ... this made him even more confident of victory.


    However, his good mood was quickly interrupted. One minuteter, he was notified by the mainframe that the Leiting Mecha n had already lost one member, dropping their member count from 12 to 11.

 Chapter 410: Discovery!

    Chapter 410: Discovery!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Qiao Ting¡¯s heart clenched, and his first reaction was to check on the Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s numbers. The other side still had 12 people. His brow furrowed as he wondered whether his team members were just unlucky enough to bump into one of the three special-ss operators of Lingtian.


    Qiao Ting was not particrly frustrated or regretful that one of his members had fallen ¡ª on the battlefield, anything could happen; luck was also a major factor. Still, for one of his members to be done in by the opponent in just one minute, Qiao Ting was rather disgruntled. He felt that even if his team member was only an advanced mecha warrior, they should still be able to hold out for at least two to three minutes. Being finished off in less than a minute was like a p in the face for him.


    Right then, Qiao Ting still did not know that his team member had only encountered an advanced mecha warrior of Lingtian¡¯s. He had only been defeated so swiftly because he had underestimated his opponent and fallen for the other¡¯s trap. On the other hand, it was fortunate that he did not know this, otherwise he would have definitely blown his top.


    Qiao Ting knew the importance of morale; he could not allow the morale of Lingtian¡¯s battle team to ze higher from this. Thus, he decided to take action and begin searching for opponents. He wanted to eliminate a few members of Lingtian to push down the other side¡¯s numbers and suppress their morale.


    However, this map was too vast ¡ª Qiao Ting could only choose a random direction and skim across thend rapidly as he used the radar of his ace mecha to scan his surroundings.


    The radar on an ace mecha was two ranks higher than that of an advanced mecha¡¯s. It could pick up conditions within 5 kilometres. Qiao Ting believed that as soon as they were discovered by his radar, Lingtian¡¯s members would never be able to escape his grasp. In terms of speed, advanced mecha were utter trash before ace mecha.


    Just as Qiao Ting was conducting his search, the situation shifted drastically. The numbers on both sides began to change constantly ¡ª for almost every two or three minutes that passed, Qiao Ting would receive another notification that a Leiting member had been defeated and eliminated from the field. Ten minutester, Leiting was actually down 5 members, his team¡¯s overall member count dropping to 7, almost half of their initial number.


    Luckily, Lingtian had also suffered some losses in these ten minutes, losing three of their own. Still, Qiao Ting¡¯s mood had already been significantly soured. It was very obvious that in the frontal shes between the two teams thus far, Leiting was now at a disadvantage.


    "Bloody Lingtian." At this point, Qiao Ting could no longer maintain hisposure. He could not help but curse.


    Right then, a warning rang out from the A.I. of Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha. "Beep! Caution, three unidentified flying objects discovered ahead!"


    This alert made Qiao Ting¡¯s spirits rally. Perhaps because the map was toorge, and Qiao Ting¡¯s luck also did not seem very good, within these ten minutes, Qiao Ting had not encountered a single Lingtian mecha, nor had hee across any of his teammates. Qiao Ting was rather disappointed by this. Even though he really wanted to hack and sh at the opponent to suppress the other side¡¯s morale, he was truly helpless against the empty vastness of this map.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s first decision was to close the distance between him and the three unidentified objects. Clearly disyed on his mecha¡¯s screen, from about 5 kilometres away, three mecha were approaching him in a triangr formation. The three mecha¡¯s bodies were exuding the red light marking an enemy faction, and Qiao Ting was extremely familiar with one of the mecha. From its appearance alone, Qiao Ting could tell that it was an old rival of his, that boorish special-ss mecha operator Zhao Jun. There were two other advanced mecha behind him; it looked like the three mecha had formed a battle column.


    Seeing this, Qiao Ting vaguely understood how his team members had been eliminated within such a short amount of time. They were very likely to have been surrounded and beaten to death by the opponent¡¯s greater numbers. Rage surged in Qiao Ting¡¯s heart. The mainframe was obviously biased towards the Lingtian Mecha n for this scenario to happen. It was likely that some of the Lingtian members may have already been grouped together when they first spawned on the map.


    "Hmph, how despicable! Thinking to use this kind of method to prevent me, Qiao Ting, from bing the king of the military academy? No way!" Rage zed in Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes. He felt that this was an obstacle the academy had intentionally set in his path. He had no idea that the side that had truly been favoured by the mainframe was his Leiting. However, no one could have foreseen that Ling Lan would have the heaven-defying cheating device Little Four, forcibly turning Lingtian¡¯s disadvantage into an advantage, causing the scales to tip in favour of Lingtian.


    Furious, a trace of coldness emerged in Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes. Since everyone was against him, then he would have to pull off an even more impressive performance. He would use true strength to tell everyone that no one would be able to stop him, Qiao Ting, from bing the king of the military academy.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s killing intent-filled eyes fell upon that ck special-ss mecha in the lead on his screen. As long as he eliminated Zhao Jun, the only one in Lingtian capable of withstanding ten to twenty moves under him, this match¡¯s final oue would basically be determined.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s aberrant control talent had indeed been the main reason he had been able to be the first student of the military academy to advance to ace operator at his age. However, his ability to control his emotions was also arge factor. Regardless of the fury in his heart, after Qiao Ting became determined to eliminate Zhao Jun, his entire being became unbelievably cool and collected. This was a point that Tang Yu greatly admired in Qiao Ting. To develop into a strong person capable of holding one¡¯s ground, though talent was extremely important, rationality, mental fortitude, and urate battle judgment were even more important than raw talent. Without those other qualities, even the most aberrant prodigy would be shot down on the battlefield due to sheer blind recklessness.


    Qiao Ting did not choose to rush forwards immediately. Instead, he sneakily closed in on Zhao Jun, carefully maintaining a 4-kilometre distance between them to travel in sync with the other. The search limit of a special-ss operator¡¯s radar was 4 kilometres ¡ª as long as he kept a distance of 4 kilometres between himself and Zhao Jun, the other would never be able to discover him.


    Qiao Ting was so careful because he wanted to confirm that there were no other Lingtian members around. Qiao Ting still remembered a case study Instructor Tang Yu had told him once. He did not want to fall into a trap of Lingtian¡¯s out of impulsiveness; it had to be said that Qiao Ting was extremely careful.


    It turned out that in the history of mechabat, there had been such an example ¡ª an ace mecha of some nation had once encountered a team full of advanced mecha warriors from an enemy nation. Based onmon sense, even though the side with the advanced mecha warriors had greater numbers, due to the natural suppression of mecha levels, as long as the ace operator handled things properly, he could definitely break the other side¡¯s battle formation apart and obtain victory in the encounter.


    However, the oue was theplete opposite. Perhaps that ace mecha too believed that victory was assured, for he underestimated the battle fervour of these advanced mecha warriors, identally falling into the other side¡¯s ploy and ending up heavily surrounded. The ace operator thought that even if he could not kill all of the advanced mecha warriors around him, it should still be extremely easy for him to run away in his mecha. But unexpectedly, some of the advanced mecha warriors had chosen a horrific method to prevent his escape ¡ª self-destruction!


    Yes, those advanced mecha warriors had not cared about their so-called lives, each of them throwing themselves forward one after another. They did not even choose to attack, nor did they dodge ¡ª they did not use any beam gun or beam saber, simply using their mecha¡¯s two arms to grab hold of the ace mecha desperately. Right after that, they would self-destruct ¡ª even if they were hacked to death while holding onto the ace mecha, they would make sure to press their self-destruct button in time. Whether or not it was of any use, they wanted to leave some bit of damage on the opponent.


    This was how this group of advanced mecha warriors used thebined power of their self-destructs to exhaust the power of the ace mecha¡¯s powerful beam shield. In the end, the final oue was that the ace mecha was forcibly kept in ce by those advanced mecha warriors using that brute self-destruct method. At the end of it all, just like those advanced mecha warriors who had self-exploded, he became a speck of dust in the starry skies.


    The example of this fight struck fear into the hearts of all ace operators. Fortunately, not all advanced mecha warriors could view death likeing home, so such an urrence of trading their own lives for the life of an enemy was notmonce. Unless death was truly inevitable, only then would most advanced mecha warriors choose to do such a thing. However, also due to this case study, all ace operators became exceedingly cautious. When battling advanced mecha warriors, they would be wary of letting themselves be surrounded, afraid they would also fall victim to that self-destruction method.


    Qiao Ting had learned of this case study right after he had advanced to ace operator level. Tang Yu had made him watch the recording of said battle in order to let him understand that, on the battlefield, ace operators were not the only ones who could contend with ace operators.


    Only the Huaxia Federation had a recording of that battle, because that group of fearless self-sacrificing advanced mecha warriors was one of the toons of the Huaxia Federation. Meanwhile, that unfortunate ace operator was from the Caesar Empire. Out of this toonprising of 30 advanced mecha, only 7 survived. In order to take down that one ace mecha, the Federation paid the price of the lives of 23 advanced mecha warriors, clinching the victory of that battle. And the recording of the battle was captured back then by these 7 survivors.


    This battle was the pride of the Huaxia Federation, but was also the sorrow of the Huaxia Federation. This was because at that time, the Huaxia Federation had considerably fewer ace operators than the Caesar Empire. It couldn¡¯t be helped ¡ª in order to obtain the final victory, The Huaxia Federation could only resort to this type of methods to plug the gap. However, this also caused the Federation to sacrifice countless advanced mecha warriors. At one point, even the mid-range forces were rather thin, and had required a whole 20 years for the deficit in manpower to bepensated.


    This was also why the Federation took it so seriously whenever they discovered any promising sprouts who showed possibility of advancing to ace. After that historic battle, the Federation had no longer wanted to revisit the grief of using numbers to bridge the gap of power ever again.


    Qiao Ting was also afraid that Lingtian would choose to use such methods against him. After all, in Mecha World, death was not true death. If the Lingtian battle team really wanted to obtain the final victory in this challenge fight, Qiao Ting believed that this was the only avenue they had.


    Thus, although Qiao Ting really wanted to finish off Zhao Jun, he still had to be on guard against the other in case he used such a method against him. If he identally fell into the opponent¡¯s trap, became surrounded, and was then finished off by the opponent under such despicable methods, he, Qiao Ting, would never be able to live it down.


    Qiao Ting followed Zhao Jun¡¯s group of three for approximately a minute, and finding no other Lingtian people around, his heart settled. He could basically confirm that the other had set no traps for him now. But just as he was about to make a move, Zhao Jun¡¯s group suddenly changed directions. Taking a sharp right angle, they rapidly pulled a distance away from him. Their abrupt actions made Qiao Ting¡¯s heart skip a beat ¡ª had he been exposed?

 Chapter 411: Inscrutable!

    Chapter 411: Inscrutable!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Qiao Ting immediately refuted his own spection. As he had been tracking the data produced by his mecha¡¯s A.I. all this way, he was sure the distance between his mecha and Zhao Jun¡¯s had not ever fallen below the 4-kilometre limit keeping him out of the range of detection of Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha. In real life, perhaps due to various reasons, the data collected by mecha fluctuated erratically, so there was the possibility of an error leading to exposure. But in Mecha World, the data was set to be dead-urate. As long as one did not go against the data given, there should be absolutely no chance of being discovered.


    Qiao Ting made a decision instantly. He quickly sped up to follow them, wanting to see what exactly had made Zhao Jun change directions so abruptly. At the same time, he had already made up his mind to eliminate Zhao Jun ¡ª he did not n to wait any longer.


    Even though Zhao Jun¡¯s group of three had pushed their mecha¡¯s engines to their respective limits, the two advanced mecha had still dragged down Zhao Jun¡¯s speed. Qiao Ting quickly caught up to them in his ace mecha. If not for the fact that Qiao Ting wanted to find out what Zhao Jun was doing and so was still keeping 4 kilometres away for now, at this time, Zhao Jun¡¯s group might have already been facing Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha.


    Not too long after, Qiao Ting discovered the reason why Zhao Jun had suddenly changed directions. Ahead of Zhao Jun, that is, within the 5-kilometre range of detection of Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha, the A.I. once again sounded an alert, notifying him that there was an unidentified flying object there.


    Qiao Ting immediately zoomed in and saw that this mecha which had just appeared was actually from Leiting¡¯s battle team. It looked like Zhao Jun had discovered the other¡¯s presence and so had changed course in preparation to attack this mecha.


    Qiao Ting was just thinking to speed up and rescue his team member when an idea shed through his mind. He gave up on elerating, choosing to maintain his speed instead as he moved forwards. He continued to maintain 4 kilometres between himself and the three mecha of Zhao Jun¡¯s group, trailing them as they sprinted towards that team member of his. Because he knew who the other was, Qiao Ting did not hesitate to send a heads up to that team member.


    That member of Leiting had actually noticed Zhao Jun and the othersing for him as well by this time. When he saw that the one in the lead was a special-ss operator, he knew that he was no match for the group and had quickly turned tail to run. This was also why Zhao Jun¡¯s group was pushing their engines so far in pursuit. Since they had found prey, they naturally could not let their prey escape from right under their noses.


    As he was running, the Leiting member suddenly received an alert from his mecha¡¯s A.I., conveying a message from a teammate. His heart leapt in joy, and even as he continued running at top speed, he rapidly skimmed the message. When he saw its contents, his heart settled and he abruptly stopped running to turn around, calmly waiting for the three mecha of Zhao Jun¡¯s group to catch up to him.


    As Leiting¡¯s member had stopped running, Zhao Jun¡¯s group managed to catch up to the other a few secondster.


    "D*mn, you run fast!" Zhao Jun¡¯s group surrounded the Leiting member immediately. At the same time, Zhao Jun¡¯s loud voice rang out from his mecha¡¯s loudspeakers, his tone mocking as he said, "Why don¡¯t you continue running? You really think I can¡¯t overtake you?" If not out of consideration for the two fellows behind him, he would have long caught up to the other.


    "I¡¯m too unlucky today, actually bumping into you. However, Zhao Jun, aren¡¯t you stooping too low? Actually joining a tiny, insignificant freshmen mecha n. Isn¡¯t this a waste of your talent? If you just don¡¯t have a good ce to go, as long as you quit this battle, I can rmend for our regimentmander to take you in as a member of Leiting. How¡¯s that?" The Leiting member was not flustered, actually speaking up to negotiate with Zhao Jun.


    "Don¡¯t. This lord 1 is very happy throwing my weight around in this freshmen n. I¡¯m provided with good food and drink and treated well. Since I can be a lord, why should I make myself suffer by submitting myself to be Qiao Ting¡¯s underling?" Even though Zhao Jun¡¯s expression was not visible, the smugness in his tone caused the other two Lingtian members with him to sweatdrop endlessly.


    "Luo Lang, has this person always been this arrogant?" Throwing his weight around? Hells, what did he take the Lingtian Mecha n for? Li Yingjie was very dissatisfied with the other¡¯s words 2 .


    Luo Lang pursed his lips in thought, silent for a moment before replying, "Leave it. This person is especially stupid. He speaks without the words going through his mind. If you take him seriously, you¡¯re just torturing yourself." The connotation being that Li Yingjie should just let the words pass and not take it to heart.


    Zhao Jun was a member of the Lingtian Battle n, arade of Luo Lang¡¯s, so Luo Lang could not sell him out and tell Li Yingjie the truth. In fact, in the team, before Boss Lan, Zhao Jun was as obedient as a harmless cat ... how could he be arrogant?


    Leiting¡¯s member still seemed to have more to say, but Zhao Jun had no interest in thering on with him any further. With a cold huff, he said, "Stop your chattering. Young Brother Li, Young Brother Luo, why aren¡¯t you all attacking? Do you still want such a master as myself to take action for this kind of minor character?"


    Zhao Jun¡¯s apparent tone of ordering underlings around made Li Yingjie¡¯s chest feel stuffed up with annoyance. Luo Lang too was extremely speechless. Could it be that, out of Boss Lan¡¯s sphere of influence, this Zhao Jun was finally exposing his true nature?


    "You ..." Li Yingjie only submitted to Ling Lan. Even though he knew Zhao Jun was a special-ss operator, this fact could not make him lower his head to the other. He could not suppress a sound of indignation, but he was stopped by Luo Lang before he could say anything more. "Li Yingjie, leave it. Let¡¯s go!" After saying that, Luo Lang drew the beam saber from his back and operated his mecha to leap at the opponent.


    Li Yingjie saw that Luo Lang had already begun to move ¡ª in order to work together with Luo Lang, he suppressed the rage in his heart, merely throwing a fierce re at Zhao Jun before pulling the beam saber from behind him and charging out as well.


    This advanced mecha warrior of Leiting seemed to be very strong; Li Yingjie and Luo Lang actually were not able to gain the upper hand with their joint attack. Instead, there were even times when the two of them fell out of sync and disrupted the other¡¯s attack, leading to several asions where they ended up attacking each other, giving the opponent a chance to turn around and beat them back. For a while, both sides were actually evenly matched in a tough battle.


    "F*ck, how stupid, Little Li, what are you hacking at? Are you trying to cut the enemy or your ally? Little Luo, can¡¯t you see where your teammate is? Actually blocking your own teammate¡¯s attack, are you a spy sent by the enemy?" Watching the terrible rapport between his tworades, Zhao Jun¡¯s anger was stoked and he began muttering out loud, pointing out their mistakes.


    The cadets who witnessed this scene could not help but break out into an uproar. The Lingtian battle team had undoubtedly performed extremely well in the past ten minutes ¡ª whether it was the members who had died or those who had won, their skills in mecha control had been vividly disyed, almost indistinguishable from that of old veterans. Those members¡¯ excellent performances had increased the anticipation of the spectating cadets towards the other members of the Lingtian battle team. But now, the terrible performance of these two members greatly disappointed the audience.


    "So not all of the Lingtian Mecha n members are good. Some are just here to make up the numbers." The disappointed cadets began to criticize the Lingtian Mecha n harshly. It could not be helped ¡ª when expectations soared too high and were crushed, the sudden drop from that height would always seek an outlet to regain psychological equilibrium.


    "That¡¯s strange. Why are Lingtian No.4 and Lingtian No.5 performing so badly?" Likewise, the school administrators and instructors were also shaking their heads, finding both these participants¡¯ performancecklustre. In contrast, Instructor Tang Yu frowned, puzzled. After some thought, he searched for information on the two, and when he saw their details, he was even more bewildered.


    Lingtian No.4; Name: Li Yingjie. Status: Elite family descendant. Age: 17. Physical skills: intermediate level Qi-Jin stage. Mecha Piloting Level: Advanced; Intermediate to Advanced advancement results, excellent!"


    Lingtian No.5; Name: Luo Lang. Status: Military family descendant. Age: 17. Physical skills: intermediate level Qi-Jin stage. Mecha Piloting Level: Advanced; Intermediate to Advanced advancement results, excellent!"


    These two boys had not performed like thisst year! Tang Yu had a very deep impression of these two, especially Luo Lang. That ruthlessness that he had turned on himself had sent chills into Tang Yu¡¯s heart ¡ª how could this kind of person allow himself to perform so badly ...?


    Tang Yu¡¯s gaze turned to several hundred metres behind Zhao Jun. An idea shed across his mind, and his expression could not help but shift slightly.


    The change in Tang Yu¡¯splexion was noticed by the principal beside him, who then asked curiously, "Tang Yu, what have you discovered?"


    "I¡¯m wondering whether those boys are plotting something!" Tang Yu pointed with a wry smile at the mecha only they could see, which was hiding about 100 metres behind Zhao Jun. It was Qiao Ting who was quickly slinking forward.


    "These boys look like trash at a nce. What could they possibly be plotting? Qiao Ting¡¯s performance this time can pretty much be called perfect ¡ª while the attention of the Lingtian members is all on this other Leiting member, he fired some radar interference missiles and has silently snuck up to lurk behind Lingtian. I think that these three members of Lingtian will soon be battle points for Qiao Ting. It can be predicted that the upper hand Lingtian has established since the beginning will all be gone after this encounter." One of the administrators to one side had overheard the conversation between Tang Yu and the principal, and was extremely dismissive of the idea. Qiao Ting¡¯s current performance pleased them greatly ¡ª the candidate they had chosen for their God-building project was truly exceptional.


    After saying all this, the administrator smiled ingratiatingly and said, "A renowned teacher produces aplished students! The student Qiao Ting whom Instructor Tang Yu has raised is indeed impressive!" At the end of his speech, he did not forget to give a big thumbs up, and then turned to tter the principal, saying, "Principal, this is all the result of your sagacious guidance."


    While the principal only nodded and smiled, making it hard to tell his true thoughts, Tang Yu was obviously less experienced in dealing with this type of situation. At the administrator¡¯s words, his brows knitted together and he rebutted immediately, "Qiao Ting is still very young and inexperienced. Faculty Head Lin, you think too highly of him."


    As intelligent as Tang Yu was, he already had a vague sense of what the administrators were aiming to do. With regards to that, he did not approve. Knowing Qiao Ting well, he truly believed he had to take responsibility for Qiao Ting¡¯s future; he needed to let the confident and somewhat domineering Qiao Ting experience more setbacks for his sake.


    Trying to show favour but receiving a cold reception in return, this Faculty Head Lin was rather upset. His smile faded and he harrumphed softly before turning away to speak with the other administrators instead. Even half a phrase is too much when two people don¡¯t see eye to eye 3 ¡ª this Faculty Head Lin no longer had any interest in talking with Tang Yu.


    "You don¡¯t think Qiao Ting will do well in this encounter?" asked the principal with a kindly smile.


    "I have full confidence in Qiao Ting¡¯s capabilities, and also think that Zhao Jun, Lingtian No.4, and Lingtian No.5 cannot handle him on their own. However, I do not believe that Lingtian No.4 and Lingtian No.5¡¯s strength is as terrible as they are portraying right now ... If Qiao Ting truly underestimates these two because of this, I think that Qiao Ting may not get what he wants. It¡¯s hard for me to foresee clearly." Tang Yu frowned. Just as he said, he really could not figure out what the three members of Lingtian were trying to do.


    "Since you can¡¯t foresee it, then just continue watching ..." Unlike Tang Yu, whose attention was all on Qiao Ting, the principal¡¯s gaze drifted towards the opposite direction of Qiao Ting¡¯s position, his lips slightly turned up in a knowing smile.

 Chapter 412: Tricked!

    Chapter 412: Tricked!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Qiao Ting stared at Zhao Jun¡¯s group of three surrounding his team member with cold eyes. Lingtian No.4 and Lingtian No.5¡¯s control skills could only be described as passable ¡ª Qiao Ting reckoned they were not from the same team before this and so had nothing much in terms of rapport. This was also why his team member had not been put at a disadvantage even though he was up against two opponents. Meanwhile, Zhao Jun was also trying to instruct them. Even though his tone was terrible, he was not taking any action, and everything he said was targeting his two teammates¡¯ mistakes.


    Seeing that Zhao Jun¡¯s attention was fully engaged on the three fighting mecha, Qiao Ting knew that his opportunity hade!


    Qiao Ting was confident that he could defeat Zhao Jun easily even in a frontal attack and obtain victory. However, he would need to spend more time to do so. Qiao Ting did not want to waste any time, so he chose a method which could kill the enemy in one move ¡ª while Zhao Jun was distracted and unprepared, he wouldunch a sneak attack and kill him instantly.


    Caught off-guard, a special-ss mecha would bepletely unable to withstand even one attack from an ace mecha, and this was precisely the ultra-effective attack Qiao Ting was aiming for.


    On the battlefield, Zhao Jun¡¯s group of three were currentlypletely oblivious to the iing danger, but the spectating cadets could see very clearly that Qiao Ting had already silently drawn his beam saber and was coiled like a hunting cheetah preparing to strike.


    That special-ss mecha of Lingtian¡¯s was in danger! This conclusion surfaced in everyone¡¯s minds. Against an ace operator¡¯s sneak attack, they just could not see how apletely unprepared special-ss mecha could survive.


    It could be said that the key moment determining the ultimate oue of this fight was about toe ...


    Right at this moment, Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes lit up. Having long been prepared to attack, he suddenly burst forth from his hiding ce like a hunting cheetah, the beam saber in his hands shing right at Zhao Jun¡¯s back, aiming for the most defensively weak cockpit area.


    "Ah!" Even though the spectating cadets had known this wasing, Qiao Ting¡¯s sudden action still made them cry out involuntarily. Zhao Jun had his back to Qiao Ting, and Qiao Ting¡¯s speed was already at the limits of what an ace mecha could achieve. He could truly be described to be moving as fast as thunder, as quick as lightning. It could be seen that Qiao Ting had no intentions of giving Zhao Jun any little chance of surviving. Was Zhao Jun really about to be finished off by Qiao Ting in one move?


    The supporters of Lingtian could not bear to watch; they could not help but close their eyes. If Zhao Jun was kicked out of the match like this, there would be absolutely no chance for Lingtian to obtain victory after this. Everyone knew very well that Zhao Jun was the strongest one in Lingtian.


    "Zng!" This was not the sound of a mecha being pierced but the sound of two energies of equal strength shing. Those who had closed their eyes opened their eyes again in surprise, only to see incandescent sparks blooming between the two mecha, so blinding that white spots appeared in the vision of the spectating cadets. The whole scene was a bright sheet of white.


    Luckily, the adaptive ability of the cadets¡¯ eyes was very strong. One to two secondster, they had all regained their vision. Only then could they see the scene clearly.


    As expected, Zhao Jun had not been killed by Qiao Ting in one blow. He still had his back to Qiao Ting, but his mecha was lowered in a half-kneel, shrinking his body height down by half. Furthermore, this action also allowed the half-drawn beam saber on Zhao Jun¡¯s back to perfectly intercept the attack Qiao Ting hadunched at his cockpit.


    The feedback from his mecha made Qiao Ting pause for only a moment. He knew that his attack had not seeded as he had hoped ¡ª though he had no idea why Zhao Jun could block his strike so coincidentally, he also knew that he still had the upper hand. The opportunity could not be missed ¡ª without any hesitation, he raised his beam saber and swung it forwards viciously once more.


    This attack came hard and fast ¡ª Zhao Jun, who still had not fully drawn his beam saber and had his back to Qiao Ting, had no time at all to try blocking Qiao Ting¡¯s attack with his beam saber again. Everyone thought that even if Zhao Jun did not die this time, he would certainly be heavily injured. The beam shield of a special-ss mecha could notpletely offset the power behind an ace mecha¡¯s beam saber. At that time, not only would Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha be damaged, but, at the same time, the intense shockwaves brought by the beam saber would also injure the operator¡¯s body.


    Just as Qiao Ting¡¯s attack was about to seed, he suddenly sensed danger. Without conscious thought, the beam saber in his hands suddenly changed directions, giving up on his attack on Zhao Jun to sweep out at his right nk ...


    "Zng!" His beam saber shed with another beam saber, once again sending out countless electrical sparks into the air. Meanwhile, Zhao Jun took this opportunity to operate his mecha to flip backwards, and after bracing his mecha with one arm on the ground, he sessfully rolled out tond securely. With that, Zhao Jun was now facing Qiao Ting directly. Qiao Ting¡¯s n to kill him in one move had failedpletely.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s face was stormy ¡ª he had not expected his sure-kill sneak attack to fail. This made him very unhappy. If he had known this was how things would turn out, he might as well have attacked the other directly from the front from the very start. Even if that would have required more time, he still would not be as annoyed as he was now.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s frustration passed quickly. His gaze then turned swiftly to his right ¡ª it was this person¡¯s perfectly-timed attack which had allowed Zhao Jun to get away. However, after ncing over, he was taken aback. The one who had attacked him turned out to be that unimpressive Lingtian No.5. Qiao Ting had not thought much of the other two mecha with Zhao Jun, but it was precisely this inconspicuous mecha operator who had sessfully taken him by surprise. The other¡¯s timing had been impable, giving him no choice but to give up on attacking Zhao Jun to save himself.


    It should be known that even for ace mecha, the beam shield protecting the cockpit was still the weakest. As long as it was hit directly, the energy shockwaves would still leave him injured. Lingtian No.5 had been aiming straight for his cockpit in his sneak attack, which was why Qiao Ting had had no choice but to save himself.


    This outstanding attack from Lingtian No.5 gave Qiao Ting the inkling that something was not right. He immediately looked towards his team member and found that the other was in a terrible situation. Against Lingtian No.4¡¯s attacks alone, his team member was reduced to pure defence with no room for counterattacking.


    Right now, Lingtian No.4 was showing none of the previous clumsiness he was showing earlier. With just one nce, Qiao Ting could tell that this Lingtian No.4¡¯s strength was greater than his team member¡¯s. Qiao Ting¡¯s thoughts stirred and he instantly realised that he had been tricked.


    Qiao Ting was furious that he had been set up. Tone icy, he asked Zhao Jun, "I would like to know. How did you know I was here?" They could only have set this up if they had discovered his presence.


    Zhao Jun waved the beam saber in his hands, smiled, and said, "Actually, from the very moment you began following us, we already knew."


    Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes turned cold. Zhao Jun¡¯s answer was clearly just humouring him; it looked like the other would not be telling him the truth. "Since you don¡¯t want to tell, then leave it. Just with the three of you, even if you¡¯ve set a trap to lure me out, so what? The oue will not change. You will all die here." Qiao Ting coolly announced his verdict for the three members of Lingtian. He had barely finished speaking when he had moved toe right up to Zhao Jun. Even though Qiao Ting was proficient in long-range offence, as Instructor Tang Yu¡¯s student, his closebat abilities were not that weak either.


    "Bring it!" Facing Qiao Ting¡¯s frontal attack, Zhao Jun hollered, raising the beam saber in his hands and moving forwards to meet the other. Zhao Jun was a closebat mecha operator to begin with, so he had the utmost faith in his own closebat ability. Even up against an ace operator one level higher than him, as long as his own mecha had enough power, he was not afraid.


    "Zng, zng, zng ..." The two beam sabers met several times in session, sending sparks flying everywhere. The intense bursts of light when they shed left the eyes of many of the students watching the fight aching. Still, even so, they could not bear to turn their eyes away, because they could not know whether the fight would end in the very next second. Because anyone with eyes could see that after exchanging several blows, Qiao Ting had gained the upper hand. The power differential in mecha levels and control ability had still pushed Zhao Jun into a disadvantaged position. As the power levels of Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha drained rapidly, this disadvantage grew bigger and bigger. It was entirely possible that he would be defeated by Qiao Ting and eliminated in the very next second ...


    "Beep!" The thus far silent mainframe suddenly emitted an alert once more. Qiao Ting nced at his system notifications reflexively, and found that the section marking his battle team¡¯s numbers had gone down by one again. At present, the number of active members left on his team had be 6.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s heart clenched. He quickly turned to look at where his team member had been fighting earlier. This one nce made Qiao Ting¡¯s expression change drastically.


    His team member was already down on the ground, a beam saber slowly being pulled out from the team member¡¯s cockpit. The one holding the beam saber was not Lingtian No.4 but Lingtian No.5, the one who had attacked him earlier. It looked like while he had been trading blows with Zhao Jun, Lingtian No.5 had chosen to go back andbine forces with Lingtian No.4 ...


    The rage in Qiao Ting¡¯s heart surged ¡ª the Lingtian battle team¡¯s persistent face-smacking fuelled abnormal hate in Qiao Ting. The powerful killing intent he felt pushed his finger-speed to rise once more, truly reaching the speed an ace operator should have. Perhaps Qiao Ting had felt that victory was at hand and had still somewhat underestimated his opponents, for he had not truly shown the standards an ace operator should have up till now. This was another reason why Zhao Jun had been able to hold out for so long.


    With the increase in his control finger-speed, the beam saber in Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha¡¯s hands also began to move a level faster. It swung at Zhao Jun like a thunderstorm ¡ª this kind of wild and frenzied attacks ced several times more pressure on Zhao Jun. He could only parry desperately, hoping that he would be able to endure and survive these intense attacks.


    The spectating students could only see a sea of sword-light at this point. Zhao Jun¡¯s ck mecha waspletely obscured by the light of the beam sabers. The students did not know what would happen; they could only open their eyes wide and wait for the light to fade to witness the final oue.


    Only several keen-eyed instructors and several powerful administrators were able to see what was happening through the light. Right then, the light representing the power behind Zhao Jun¡¯s beam saber was already extremely dim, and the beam shield on his mecha was only glowing very faintly. This meant that the power supply of Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha was about to bepletely exhausted by Qiao Ting¡¯s frenzied attacks. In perhaps another two or three attacks, Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha¡¯s power would be finished ¡ª at that time, the inevitable oue awaiting Zhao Jun was a merciless killing, defeat, and elimination.


    "As expected, a special-ss operator has no way of resisting against an ace operator." Some of the administrators rxed at this point, unable to stop themselves fromughing. When they had first realised that Qiao Ting had been tricked, they had been afraid that Qiao Ting would drop the ball at this critical moment. But now, from the looks of it, their worries were unfounded. How could an ace operator be defeated by these measly small fry?

 Chapter 413: Self-Destruct!

    Chapter 413: Self-Destruct!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Just as Zhao Jun¡¯s life was hanging in the bnce, Lingtian No.4 and Lingtian No.5, who had already sessfully killed off the other Leiting member, suddenly attacked at the same time. Coming in from the top and bottom at very tricky angles, their beam sabers stabbed viciously at Qiao Ting.


    In the face of their sudden attack, a sneer appeared on Qiao Ting¡¯s lips. Compared to the start, he was already extremely vignt against these two Lingtian members. As such, how could he be unprepared for their sudden attack?


    Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha suddenly twisted in a bizarre fashion, and the two attacking beam sabers grazed by the sides of his mecha without damaging him at all. At the same time, his beam saber turned away from attacking Zhao Jun to pierce towards one of the other two mecha at an unimaginable angle extremely quickly ...


    Qiao Ting¡¯s attack was too abrupt ¡ª his beam saber broke through the protective beam shield of the mecha to sink directly into the opponent¡¯s cockpit ...


    The severe pain of his body being stabbed almost made Luo Lang unconscious. Luo Lang gritted his teeth and with a full-body jolt, his initially watery and bright eyes had turned cold and ruthless. Right then, he almost seemed to not feel the agonizing pain his body was in.


    "Hmph, actually pushing me out to suffer on your behalf at this critical moment. Primary identity, you are just too irresponsible." As Luo Lang muttered to himself, he decisively pressed the self-destruct button on his mecha. Then, he reached out with both hands to grip the beam saber piercing him firmly. The energy radiated by the beam saber instantly seared Luo Lang¡¯s hands, but Luo Lang did not seem to feel it, just as if this body was not his.


    Meanwhile, at this time, Qiao Ting was trying to pull out his beam saber from Lingtian No.5¡¯s cockpit. However, when he tugged, he actually did not seed. Could it be that the beam saber was stuck?


    "Luo Lang ..." Seeing Luo Lang pierced by the beam saber, Li Yingjie screamed in horror.


    "Run!" Luo Lang¡¯s icy voice came through his mecha¡¯smlink. Suddenly realising something, Li Yingjie¡¯s face paled and he began retreating swiftly.


    "Damm*t, you little punk Luo, wait for me!" Zhao Jun had also heard Luo Lang¡¯s voice. What else was there to figure out? It looked like Luo Lang was prepared to carry out Ling Lan¡¯s second battle tactic now ¡ª who asked them to be the first to encounter Qiao Ting?


    Even a little junior four years younger than him was unafraid; how could he shrink back? Zhao Jun clenched his teeth ¡ª taking advantage of the time Qiao Ting was struggling to pull out his beam saber and was unable to attack, he decisively threw aside his beam saber that was almostpletely drained of energy and dove forwards fiercely to wrap his mecha around Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha.


    Qiao Ting saw the two of them unwilling to back off no matter what, and in his shock and consternation, a notion suddenly crossed his mind. His expression changed drastically ¡ª decisively casting aside the beam saber in his hands, he pushed his mecha to maximum power, trying to escape Zhao Jun¡¯s entanglement. At the same time, he dialled his ace mecha¡¯s beam shield to its maximum setting ...


    Quicker than words could say, before Qiao Ting could wrest free of Zhao Jun¡¯s grip, two loud explosions rang out in quick session. Luo Lang¡¯s mecha and Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha had exploded, and the massive energy produced threw the white sand below them into the air. Within the range of 100 metres, the entire area was shrouded by white sand, so the spectators could not see what was happening inside.


    "Bang, bang, bang!" In this kind of uncertainty, the sounds of violent collisions rang out once more from inside the sphere of swirling sand. Then, a mecha suddenly flew out from the sands. Its body was emitting trails of dense smoke, and the initially gleaming mecha was not rather dull. There were also many scars now on the initially smooth outer shell. It was Qiao Ting¡¯s ace mecha. Having lost the original weapon he had been attacking with, the beam saber, Qiao Ting substituted it with a beam gun. He pointed it at the swirling sands and pulled the trigger, sending a beam of energy bursting out from the muzzle.


    Immediately after, another mecha also flew out from the sandy sphere. Up against the shoting at his face, the other mecha did not choose to dodge but faced it head-on. This mecha was the third Lingtian mecha, the only surviving Lingtian No.4.


    "This fellow is asking for trouble!" Seeing this idiotic behaviour of Lingtian No.4, the spectating students could not help but grumble angrily. They were not looking down on Lingtian No.4 ¡ª it was just that the fierce performance of the other Lingtian members had drawn the spectating students involuntarily over to Lingtian¡¯s side, so they did not want to see Lingtian No.4 be sacrificed for nothing.


    The beam shot struck Lingtian No.4 as expected, and his mecha¡¯s beam shield became dim instantly. Everyone knew that if he was hit one more time, Lingtian No.4¡¯s mecha would not be able to take it; at that time, the operator would perish along with the mecha.


    "Dodge quickly, you bastard!" The spectating cadets yelled as they clenched their fists, hoping that Lingtian No.4 would not be impulsive and protect himself well before thinking of some other way to attack Qiao Ting ...


    Unfortunately, the spectating students¡¯ wish did note true. Lingtian No.4 seemed to have lost his reason after his two teammates had self-destructed; berserk, he was like a moth to a me, charging fearlessly at Qiao Ting ...


    Qiao Ting¡¯s face revealed his contempt for this kind of brainless behaviour. He operated his mecha to retreat even as he calmly pulled the trigger in his hands. Just one more shot, and this Lingtian No.4 would end up exactly like the other two, killed by him and ejected from the field.


    The beam gun once again released a bright beam of white light which hurtled towards Lingtian No.4. Just as everyone thought that Lingtian No.4 was sure to die, suddenly, from the skies above the two fighters, a beam of light came down and intercepted the beam about to strike Lingtian No.4. The two beams offset each other and finally dissipated into the air.


    Of course, as the two beams were dissipating, there was still some leakage of energy. If Lingtian No.4 had waited a bit for the energy to fadepletely, he would be fine, but Lingtian No.4 did not consider this at all. Instead, he sped up to leap at Qiao Ting ¡ª as his mecha passed through the area where the beams met, the ambient energy once again brought harm to the mecha. The initially already very dim beam shield becamepletely dark due to Lingtian No.4¡¯s actions, leaving his entire mecha a sheet of grey ...


    "Even if I, Li Yingjie, am defeated and have to leave the field, I will still rip a piece of flesh from my opponent first!" Li Yingjie saw that a teammate had arrived and beganughing arrogantly. He decisively activated all the engines of his mecha, pushing them to their limits.


    The mecha was thrown into overdrive, drawing a trail of shadow through the air as it leapt onto Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha. Due to overdrive, the already extremely battered body of Li Yingjie¡¯s mecha could not take any more and began to disintegrate. Some of the outer armour actually fell off the mecha¡¯s body, dropping down from the sky. Even without receiving any external attack, Li Yingjie¡¯s mecha would not hold out for more than a few seconds beforepletely disintegrating ...


    As soon as Qiao Ting saw what Li Yingjie was doing, how could he not know what the other was thinking? He was just about to push his mecha to maximum speed in preparation to dodge Li Yingjie¡¯s suicidal attack when, at this moment, from the skies above him, a string of beam shots rained down on his head. Facing these overwhelming wave of beam attacks, Qiao Ting had almost no chance of avoiding them. He could only choose to return fire to try and counteract these attacks, but this decision made itpletely impossible for him to also escape Li Yingjie.


    In the next second, Li Yingjie had wrapped himself securely around his mecha¡¯s right leg. Qiao Ting¡¯s face changed and he quickly turned his gun to aim at Li Yingjie who was hugging his thigh. Even if his mecha would be hit by a shoting from above, he still needed to first get rid of this Lingtian No.4 which was threatening his mecha.


    "No.11, the rest is up to you!" Even as he shouted, Li Yingjie pressed the self-destruct button on his mecha. And though that Lingtian mecha that had just appeared did not respond verbally to his cry, the beams pouring forth in a torrent from his gun was a clear response to Li Yingjie¡¯s words.


    As Qiao Ting¡¯s beam shot struck Li Yingjie, a tremendous ¡¯boom¡¯ rang out at the same time. Li Yingjie¡¯s dpidated mecha was instantly reduced to a fireball; the incredible force of its explosion distorted the air.


    At this time, all the spectating students were silent. They did not know whether the explosion was a result of Li Yingjie¡¯s sessful self-destruct or a result of Qiao Ting¡¯s attack. Still, whichever it was, they were now filled with admiration for Lingtian, this newly established mecha n. Who could have guessed that the Lingtian battle team which no one thought had any chance of winning could fight back to this extent? One special-ss mecha and two advanced mecha actually managed to push Qiao Ting into such an awkward and dishevelled state. This was something that had never urred ever since Qiao Ting had be an ace operator.


    "Ah, look, Thunder King¡¯s mecha!" Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha finally flew out from the cloud of smoke and fire. His mecha¡¯s appearance at this time shocked the spectating students to their core. The lower half of Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha¡¯s right leg had beenpletely blown off and was no longer there.


    "Lingtian No.4, he managed to self-destruct in time!" The supporters of Lingtian cheered. Lingtian No.4 had really managed to do as he had said before he left the field. He had indeed ripped off a chunk of Qiao Ting, bringing the lower half of the other¡¯s right leg with him in a glorious withdrawal.


    "Warning, warning! Mecha has already been destroyed up to 15%. Defensive power decreased by 15%. Flight speed decreased by 12%. Please adjust mecha¡¯s bnce parameters immediately ..." The A.I. of Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha red several urgent warnings. Face dark, Qiao Ting swiftly operated his mecha to perform bncing and repair procedures. At the same time, he also needed to dodge that Lingtian No.11 who was still attacking him. The other was another old rival of his, the original head strategist of the Wuji Mecha n, the fifth-year Li Lanfeng.


    "Unexpectedly, the Lingtian battle team members also know about that battle case!" At this moment, in the audience, Tang Yu¡¯s expression wasplicated. He looked at the dishevelled Qiao Ting on the screen and sighed softly. Compared to Leiting, the Lingtian battle team had prepared much better for this battle. All their members knew very clearly what they had to do ...


    "It looks like Lingtian is nning to use this tactic to handle Qiao Ting." A satisfied smile appeared on the principal¡¯s face. It should be said that this tactic of Lingtian¡¯s was pretty good ¡ª it was the only tactic that could let them defeat Qiao Ting at present.


    "Heaven knows how they learned of this tactic,"mented Tang Yu with a bitter smile. Mind you, this battle case had always been kept sealed away by the Federation; only ace operators and above had the clearance the view it ...

 Chapter 414: Missions Exchanged!

    Chapter 414: Missions Exchanged!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Cough, cough, cough!" Tang Yu¡¯sment made the principal erupt into a sudden burst of coughing. The principal could not help but think silently whether Ling Xiao had secretly given his son a private lesson? Thinking about it, it was very likely. The principal decided that he must help cover up for his close friend, and so he said vaguely, "Don¡¯t underestimate the Lingtian Mecha n. Many of the memberse from military families or elite families. They probably knew about these things long ago."


    The principal¡¯s words made a lot of sense to Tang Yu. He had seen Wu Jiong¡¯s and some of the others¡¯ data before, and they were indeed from military families or elite families. As such, it was not impossible for Lingtian to have learned of this battle case from them. And so, Tang Yu set aside the doubts in his heart and continued to watch the fight closely.


    ********


    Meanwhile, Ling Lan was hurrying towards a target. This time, not only had the mainframe cast Qiao Ting far, far away from the others, it had also cast Ling Lan far, far away from the others as well. Although Ling Lan¡¯s mecha had been able to deceive everyone¡¯s eyes, it had not been able to fool the mainframe which had control over all the data. In order to ensure fairness, the mainframe had treated Ling Lan like it had Qiao Ting, throwing the both of them to the outermost reaches of the map, far away from the centre of battle.


    This action of the mainframe¡¯s had thrown all of Ling Lan¡¯s original ns out the window. This time, in order to handle Qiao Ting, Ling Lan had designed two tactics. The first tactic was for her to keep Qiao Ting busy while her team members boldly spread out to wipe out the rest of the Leiting battle team. After that, they would regroup with her and they wouldy siege to Qiao Ting to finish him off together.


    Of course, Ling Lan also knew that things might not go as smoothly as she imagined. So, she had created another supplementary tactic. This was their second tactic ¡ª if she was unable to meet Qiao Ting within the shortest amount of time, then, those members closest to Qiao Ting should move up to gang up against Qiao Ting if none of the other Leiting members were around. As the power difference between the other Lingtian members and Qiao Ting was veryrge, Ling Lan instructed her members to self-destruct if they had no other option, using this method to cause some damage to the other.


    The reason for this arrangement was out of sheer helplessness on Ling Lan¡¯s part. Frankly, the moment they encountered Qiao Ting, due to the power gap caused by their mecha levels and strength difference, her members would not be able to escape even if they tried to run. As such, they might as well take a gamble and fight ¡ª perhaps then they might stand a chance. Of course, there was another advantage to this decision. That was, her team members would have an opportunity to fight with an ace operator. The experience of trading even just one move with a powerful opponent was much more effective than arduous training ¡ª Ling Lan did not want her team members to miss this chance.


    You say that Ling Lan is also an ace, so wouldn¡¯t fighting with her also give the team members the same benefits? Well, that would make sense, but the fact was that this was not the case. Perhaps in the team members¡¯ hearts, Boss Lan was just too strong. Her oppressive force of presence crushed any bit ofpetitive spirit they might have when they were up against her. Therefore, fighting with Ling Lan not only brought no benefits to the members, it may even be detrimental to the members¡¯ morale, which made the potential gains not worth the loss.


    This was also why they hade up with these two tactics. Regardless of which they chose, the team members would have the chance to trade blows with Qiao Ting. The only difference was that one would let them go up against him earlier, while the other would let them go up against himter. It had to be said that in order to let herpanions develop faster, Ling Lan had put a lot of thought into creating these tactics. She had even asked Little Four to dig out that battle case sealed away by the military academy so that she could watch and analyse it together with her team members for one full day.


    When one learned that the power gap between themselves and an ace operator was not insurmountable, and thene to understand that no matter how strong an opponent was, they were not unbeatable ... these insights would allow herpanions to truly be strong. And this was the true intention of the two tactics Ling Lan had crafted.


    Ling Lan knew that the distance between her and Qiao Ting was too far, so the first tactic waspletely impossible. Thus, she decisively highlighted Qiao Ting¡¯s coordinates to all her members. When the team members saw Qiao Ting¡¯s coordinates, they knew immediately that they were going with the second tactic. This was also why Zhao Jun, Luo Lang, and Li Yingjie had appeared at Qiao Ting¡¯s location, and it was also why Li Lanfeng had managed to rush over in time.


    Ling Lan allowed her team members to grapple with Qiao Ting as they liked; in the meantime, she was also rushing swiftly towards the centre of the map. Of course, her mission and that of her members had now been exchanged. The task of her members to eliminate the members of Leiting in the first tactic now fell to her. In order to let her team members concentrate on Qiao Ting, Ling Lan would be seeking out all the scattered members of Leiting on the map and eliminating them one by one.


    If at the end, Qiao Ting still managed to survive despite the Lingtian members¡¯ suicide campaign, then she, Ling Lan, would wrap things up and put an end to the so-called indomitable legend of Qiao Ting.


    Of course, Ling Lan was hopeful that her team members would be able to hold out till the end and wait for her to join them after she had wiped out all the small fry of Leiting.


    At this moment, Ling Lan¡¯s cold gaze was already locked onto a random Leiting member 3 kilometres away, who was stillpletely oblivious that he had been targeted.


    "Good control skills. An experienced veteran. Unfortunately a little careless." Zooming in on his image, Ling Lan judged the other¡¯s abilities. At the same time, Little Four rapidly mapped out the route the other was taking.


    Ling Lan did not choose to attack from the front. This would startle the other and may cause him to run, lengthening her hunt time. Thus, Ling Lan chose to ambush the opponent by rushing before the other to lie in wait along the path he would take.


    Watching as the opponent sprinted over cluelessly, Ling Lan calmly operated her mecha. A vortex force appeared under her mecha¡¯s feet, creating a deep hole in the desert sand below. Her mecha then sunk into the hole silently, descending into the white sands until it waspletely hidden from view. When the desert once again resumed its original appearance, even the energy reaction of the mecha vanishedpletely, not a trace of it to be found ...


    Although a majority of the spectating students¡¯ attention had been drawn to the fighting on Qiao Ting¡¯s end, there were still quite a number of people watching the team leader of Lingtian closely. Witnessing this scene, they were somewhat puzzled, unsure why the Lingtian team leader would choose to hide himself there.


    And ording to the mainframe¡¯s boration, they knew that Ling Lan had already turned off the mecha¡¯s engines. It would be impossible for another mecha to discover the mecha hidden below the desert sands by relying on radar searching.


    Just as everyone was boggled by this inexplicable development, on the screen, a Leiting mecha suddenly appeared in the area where Ling Lan was hiding. The audience eximed in shock ¡ª at this moment, they finally understood why the Lingtian team leader had chosen to hide here. Without question, his target was this Leiting mecha.


    As the Leiting mecha drew closer and closer to the ambush point, the audience could not help but feel their hearts creeping up their throats. Some of the students even cried out uncontrobly, "Don¡¯t go there!"


    Unfortunately, their warnings would never be transmitted into the battlefield. That Leiting mecha continued to run obliviously towards the ambush point ...


    "Swoosh!" A blinding ray of light suddenly shot out from the desert floor!


    The Leiting mecha¡¯s feet had barely stepped onto the ambush point when this ray of light had shot out to pierce straight through the Leiting mecha¡¯s cockpit.


    This attack hade too suddenly ¡ª the Leiting mecha had no chance at all to react. That ray of light pierced into the cockpit without meeting any resistance, and in the next second, the white sands below had suddenly surged up like a wave to crash towards the Leiting mecha.


    A loud ¡¯boom¡¯ rang out ¡ª the Leiting mecha was thrown to the ground by the overwhelming wave of white sand. Everyone was shocked awake ¡ª only now did they realize that the mecha of the Lingtian team leader which had been hiding beneath the desert had long vanished.


    They quickly started to search but soon found that the Lingtian team leader¡¯s mecha was already 1 kilometre away. After seeding in one strike, he had not dithered, moving right away to leave the scene.


    "Clean and efficient, not draggy at all." The encounter on Ling Lan¡¯s end had also been disyed by the mainframe onto therge screen used by the VIPs. Right then, the screen was split into two sections ¡ª one was disying the fight on Qiao Ting¡¯s end, while the other was focused on Ling Lan.


    "It looks like this team leader of Lingtian is very careful, afraid that the opponent might choose to self-destruct before death. So he chose to leave immediately after his attack seeded," the principal could not help but nod and smile at the sight.


    "Yes. This also means that he has the utmost confidence in his own attacks, knowing that the opponent would have no chance of surviving." Tang Yu was very admiring of Ling Lan¡¯s calmness, decisiveness, and efficiency. This was how an excellent mecha operator should behave, never leaving an opponent any shred of a chance. In this regard, Ling Lan did much better than Qiao Ting.


    "It looks like the task distribution in the Lingtian battle team is very clear. The strongest team leader handles the Leiting members while the other Lingtian members use self-destruct methods to drag Qiao Ting down. The oue of this challenge is probably hard to predict now." The principal¡¯s words caused the expressions of the administrators beside him to turn ugly. They were intelligent people ¡ª of course they could tell that this tactic had wiped away all of Leiting¡¯s advantage, even drawing the ace operator Qiao Ting into danger.


    "Principal, you speak truly. However, Leiting¡¯s situation is not that bad. As long as Qiao Ting calms down, even though his mecha is now missing half a leg, special-ss mecha would still be no match for him due to the disparity in mecha levels." Tang Yu stated matter-of-factly. Qiao Ting appeared to be in an awkward situation, mecha damaged and all, but he had not actually sustained any major injury. As long as he could avoid being caught in further self-destructs by the Lingtian members, it was not impossible for him to win.


    "Let¡¯s continue to observe. This fight is very interesting. It¡¯s really true that, on the battlefield, anything is possible." The principal¡¯s words left everyone silent. Some began reflecting on themselves ¡ª had they really taken things too much for granted?


    ********


    Qiao Ting swiftly examined his mecha and found that there were not any huge problems with it. Only then did he rx and begin properly engaging in long-range attacks with Li Lanfeng. Because the damage on his mecha had affected his mobility and bnce, at first, Qiao Ting was being overpowered by Li Lanfeng in their fight. However, Qiao Ting was still an ace operator after all ¡ª his adaptability was very strong. It did not take too long for him to recalibrate himself. Having grasped the new parameters of his mecha, Qiao Ting once again took the initiative on the field. The twobatants weaved and dodged, dashing and fluttering swiftly through the air.


    Very soon, Li Lanfeng was being suppressed by Qiao Ting and was falling into a disadvantaged position. With the passage of time, he was finding it harder and harder to fight back. In the end, Li Lanfeng had no choice but to defend as he evaded the other¡¯s attacks, only able to counterattack once or twice with great difficulty.


    Qiao Ting once again imed an overwhelming advantage in the fight; the administrators of the academy could finally breathe easier. However, they did not dare to fully rx ¡ª a special-ss operator was not like an advanced mecha warrior who could only wait to be killed when facing an ace operator. The defence of a special-ss operator¡¯s beam shield, as well as its power reserves, were formidable. Even an ace mecha in perfect condition would still need to expend quite a bit of effort to wipe out a special-ss mecha.

 Chapter 415: The Slowest Member!

    Chapter 415: The Slowest Member!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Ah!" The spectating students suddenly cried out in surprise, because behind Qiao Ting, three more mecha had appeared ¡ª Lingtian No.3, Lingtian No.6, and Lingtian No.7. It was Wu Jiong, Xie Yi, and Lin Zhong-qing! After receiving Ling Lan¡¯s orders, they had gathered together and then raced desperately towards Qiao Ting¡¯s coordinates to carry out the tactic they had agreed upon from the start. They would use tactic number two, that is, the one they had named the ¡¯Swarm Tactic¡¯ to pull Qiao Ting off his high horse.


    As they were rather far away from Qiao Ting¡¯s location, even though they had engaged all the engines on their mecha to fly at high speed, they were still the third batch to arrive.


    At this time, following the departure of Zhao Jun, Luo Lang, and Li Yingjie, the Lingtian battle team only had six people left on the field.


    Meanwhile, in another direction, a mecha was running speedily over the ground. When he saw on his screen that all his remaining teammates on the field had already arrived at the spot Boss Lan had pointed out, he was very frustrated. "F*ck, they¡¯ve all arrived! I¡¯m actually thest one!"


    He was Lingtian No.2, Qi Long. Originally, his position was actually even closer than Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s group to Qiao Ting¡¯s coordinates. However, as a lover of closebat, in order to increase the closebat abilities of his mecha, Qi Long had asked Chang Xinyuan to modify some local aspects of his mecha, sacrificing a portion of the mecha¡¯s speed. For this reason, he had ended upgging behind to be the one and only member yet to arrive.


    "There¡¯s still 3 kilometres from here to my destination. Based on my mecha¡¯s speed, I should arrive there three minutester." Once again checking against the new coordinates Boss had sent, Qi Long found that he would soon arrive. His tense expression eased and he wiped the sweat from his forehead, continuing to pilot his mecha forwards.


    However, he had not gone far when the A.I. of his mecha sounded a warning, alerting him of the presence of an unidentified flying object 3 kilometres away on his radar. Looking towards that unidentified flying object, Qi Long could not stop himself from cursing his luck. Apparently, that mecha had been diagonally to the rear of his position. If he had just been a tad bit faster, he might have crossed paths with the other without either of them being the wiser.


    Qi Long¡¯s gut feeling was that this was certain to be a Leiting mecha. When he zoomed in to check, it was just as he expected. That mecha had also noticed Qi Long, and just as if he had been pumped up with stimnts, the opponent elerated to charge in Qi Long¡¯s direction. As things were, Qi Long could no longer avoid the other even if he had wanted to. Qi Long could not help but swear silently, "F*ck, I¡¯m just so bloody unlucky!"


    Qi Long was not afraid that he could not match the Leiting member; he just really wanted to rush over to Qiao Ting¡¯s area as soon as possible so his team couldy siege on Qiao Ting with as much firepower as possible, thus carrying out his boss¡¯s second n to the best of their abilities. As such, he did not want to waste time fighting with other Leiting members. However, since he could not avoid it now, although Qi Long was rather disgruntled, he still drew his weapon and made proper preparations for battle.


    Frankly, there was a reason why that opponent mecha had be so excited at the sight of Qi Long. He had actually met Wu Jiong, Lin Zhong-qing, and Xie Yi¡¯s three-man mecha column first, but as clever as he was, he knew that he was absolutely no match for three opponents, so he had turned without hesitation to flee. Honestly, when he had made that decision, he had not really believed that he would be able to escape the opponents¡¯ group attack. However, unexpectedly, the opponents acted like they had not noticed him, showing no signs of pursuing him to kill him. Instead, they merely continued flying rapidly in the direction they had initially been headed towards.


    Even as the Leiting mecha rejoiced at his luck, he could not help but be a little curious, wondering what exactly those three Lingtian mecha were up to. Just as he was debating whether or not to follow them in secret, he actually discovered another mechaing from another direction. This mecha was also a Lingtian mecha, and the direction it was heading in was the same as the three mecha before it.


    He may not dare to confront three mecha, but one mecha alone, and just an advanced mecha like his as well? The Leiting member believed that he was sure to win. He thought to himself that he may perhaps be able to find the answer he sought from this lonesome Lingtian mecha.


    Very soon, the two mecha were facing each other. Unlike the other, Qi Long did not have a beam gun in one hand and a beam saber in the other. Instead, he only carried a giant sword made of steel. Due to the weapon¡¯s great size and weight, Qi Long¡¯s mecha seemed incredibly clumsy and slow, and its speed naturally would be no match for the Leiting mecha¡¯s.


    Qi Long did not mind the decreased speed of his mecha. A worshipper of Boss Lan, he had also learned to love fighting with steel-made giant cold weapons. Thus, in the Lingtian Battle n, he was the only one who, like Ling Lan, chose to use cold weapons in battle. And just like Ling Lan, he also wielded these cold weapons with great proficiency.


    Seeing that the Lingtian participant was using a giant cold weapon which slowed his entire mecha down significantly, the Leiting member could not help but view the other with contempt.


    Although giant cold weapons had greater destructive power than heat-based weapons, their heavy weight and massive size prevented mecha from attacking at high speeds. If bothbatants were slow-moving closebat mecha, perhaps these weapons might have some astounding effect, but against speed-type mecha, they were pretty much useless because they would be easily dodged by the opponent.


    And this Leiting member just so happened to be piloting a speed-type mecha. Speed being one of his primary strengths, a slow and clumsy closebat mecha would never be able to hit him. This was why he looked down on Qi Long, but at the same time, he was delighted at bumping into a mecha weak against his own. The victory of this encounter was sure to be his.


    Now more confident, the Leiting member charged forwards with his beam saber and beam gun. As soon as Qi Long entered the attack range of his beam gun, he pulled the trigger without any hesitation, sending a cascade of beam energy at the opponent. Since the opponentcked speed, these barrage of beam shots should be able to hit the other. Once the other¡¯s beam shield ran out of power, he would be able to clinch the victory of this fight even before the other could get close.


    After a round of frenzied shooting, it was unclear whether the opponent was just too lucky or if his shooting had been off the mark, but the Leiting member found to his great surprise that none of his long-range attacks had caused any damage to the opponent ...


    "F*ck, why are my hands so stiff today?" The Leiting member was rather annoyed. Still, he did not think much of it, merely figuring that his hands had not warmed up yet and so had lost their normal uracy. He saw that his beam gun was not doing any good, plus the two of them were about to enter closebat range anyway, so he put the beam gun back to its original ce. Then, he focused on driving his mecha forwards at Qi Long with his beam saber in hand.


    "Heh, perfect." Qi Long was just growing frustrated at his mecha¡¯sck of speed, worried that the opponent would keep up the long-range attacks and choose to keep his distance. If that had happened, he would have been stuck in a stalemate with the other, and this match would be a battle of endurance to see whose power would run out first. And this was something that Qi Long absolutely did not want to see happen.


    Qi Long was tangled up in worry inside, but when he found that the opponent was not doing as he had expected but rather taking the initiative to attack instead, he was overjoyed. As soon as the opponent was within closebat range, Qi Long believed that he would definitely be able to finish off the other within a matter of seconds.


    The speed of the Leiting member¡¯s iing beam saber was very fast ¡ª the light and quick sword allowed the opponent to stab out several times in just one second. The spectators could only see Lingtian¡¯s mecha being surrounded by the light of the beam saber in an instant ...


    No one believed that this clumsy Lingtian mecha couldpletely evade so many beam saber attacks ¡ª everyone felt that he would at least be hit several times. Even the attacking Leiting member believed so in his heart. Whenever his beam saber struck the opponent, the power of the opponent¡¯s beam shield would be drained, and as soon as the power of the opponent¡¯s beam shield ran out, the very next second would the opponent¡¯sst.


    However, the subsequent scenario went beyond everyone¡¯s expectations. The weighty giant steel sword which everyone originally believed would slow the Lingtian mecha down actually produced a streak ofyered images within the span of a second. And then, the violent sounds of collisions rang out ...


    These sounds made rms ring in the Leiting member¡¯s mind. They were not the sounds of a beam shield¡¯s power being drained, but was the sound of something solid hitting another solid object. He was just about to pull back to see what was going on when ... the giant de which had been shrouded by afterimages suddenly disappeared from his sightpletely!


    An unprecedented sense of danger sparked in the Leiting member¡¯s mind. Frightened, he piloted his mecha to move back swiftly, but it was toote. He only saw a cold light sh across his eyes, and immediately after, he felt his mecha being struck by a tremendous force. The tremendous force threw his mecha out of his control, and it began to fall backwards. Besides that, the tremendous blow had also createdrge vibrations which were so strong that his shock-dampening devices inside his cockpit were all ineffective. He felt a sharp pain in his chest and a mouthful of blood shot out of his mouth ...


    Before he could recover from the pain, another forceful blow struck his mecha again. This time, the blow struck his cockpit directly. The horrifying blow dealt great damage to the already weakened cockpit whose defence was at its lowest point. The operator inside felt as if a mountain had crashed on top of him; his vision turned ck. By the time he was conscious again, he found that he was already back at the login point of the virtual world. He quickly browsed through the notifications he had received from the mainframe and found that the mainframe had dered him dead and kicked him out of Mecha World around 10 seconds ago. Now, he could only wait for the death penalty period to pass before he could apply for a new trainee mecha and start anew.


    "The opponent¡¯s physique is absolutely at the level of a monster,"mented the Leiting member with a rueful smile. Although it looked like they were each operating their respective mecha to fight, in truth, the actions executed by the mecha would be fed back to the operators themselves. For the opponent to be able to pull off such terrifying attacks with that giant cold weapon and bear the feedback force generated by it, his physical constitution must definitely be extremely aberrant ...


    Having finished off his opponent, Qi Long happily slung the giant steel sword back on his mecha¡¯s back. Then, without dy, he continued to use his damnable speed to rush as fast as he could to his destination. From start to end, this fight had still wasted three minutes of his time 1 . If only he had not bumped into the other, he would have already arrived at his destination ...


    Even though Qi Long had obtained victory here, he was not very happy. He was very afraid that by the time he got there, the fighting would already be over. Regardless of whether Qiao Ting had been finished off by his teammates or if his teammates had been wiped out by Qiao Ting instead, either oue would make him very unhappy.

 Chapter 416: A True Ace!

    Chapter 416: A True Ace!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    On his end, Qiao Ting had just managed to suppress Li Lanfeng, but before he could think of a way to finish off the other once and for all, he suddenly felt his heart clench, a strong sense of danger rushing over him. He decisively stopped attacking Li Lanfeng and operated his mecha to rise rapidly into the air ...


    Qiao Ting¡¯s intuition was undoubtedly urate. He had just left his original position when three beams of light struck right there.


    Qiao Ting quickly zoomed out his mecha¡¯s screen and only then did he notice that several hundred metres behind him, heaven knows when, another three Lingtian mecha had appeared.


    Seeing this, Qiao Ting felt the faint stirrings of regret in his heart. If you recall, back when he had tried to ambush Zhao Jun, he had fired a radar disruption missile. Indeed, this radar disruption missile had caused the radars of Zhao Jun¡¯s group to lose their functionality, but within the same area, the radar in his own mecha was equally affected by the missile. This was why he had not noticed Li Lanfeng, nor had he discovered the unexpected arrival of these three mecha.


    Now, in retrospect, this decision of his back then was just digging a pit for himself. Keep in mind that the mecha he was operating was an ace mecha which had a radar search range of 5 kilometres. If he had not fired that missile at the start, with his search range of 1 to 2 kilometresrger than the Lingtian mecha¡¯s, how could he have been taken by surprise again and again by these Lingtian mecha?


    The ones who had failed in their sneak attack were Wu Jiong, Lin Zhong-qing, and Xie Yi. Seeing Li Lanfeng fighting alone and catching sight of the thick smoke down below as well as the remains of mecha scattered on the ground, and then looking over at Qiao Ting to see that his mecha was missing half a leg, they had a good idea of what had happened. Their teammates who had arrived before them had most probably used the tactic Boss Lan had designed, and bringing that piece of Qiao Ting with them as their spoils of war, they must have been defeated and ejected from the field.


    The three of them did not dare to hesitate. As the primary mecha, he was the first to pounce with his mecha, while his secondaries Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing followed close behind. Meanwhile, at that moment, due to the assistance of Wu Jiong¡¯s trio, Li Lanfeng had finally managed to catch his breath. He likewise operated his mecha forwards, the initially snuffed out beam gun in his hands lighting up once more to attack Qiao Ting.


    "Godd*mmit!" Seeing Lingtian about to attack as a group once more, Qiao Ting carefully evaded Li Lanfeng¡¯s beam attacks while flying swiftly in a particr direction at the same time. He did not want to be surrounded again and be forced to endure the opponents¡¯ self-destructs and add even more wounds on his mecha.


    Seeing Qiao Ting choose to flee, Wu Jiong and the others were surprised, but they immediately revved their engines to fly after him. Even though Qiao Ting¡¯s speed was very fast, perhaps the damage on his mecha had still affected his speed ¡ªbined with the fact that Wu Jiong and the rest did not hesitate to overload their engines, Qiao Ting was actually unable to lose them for a while.


    In this manner, chasing and running, this stalemate continued for two to three minutes. The extended pursuit made many of the spectating students think that this might be a match of endurance now. Perhaps they could only wait for one side¡¯s mecha topletely run out of power before this boring chase war would end.


    The cadets were dissatisfied by this ¡ª they wanted to see a fierce battle, and not this kind of boring chase which carried some element of luck. Qiao Ting¡¯s active retreat also tarnished the glow of his previous glorious image as an unbeatable legend; he was swiftly losing his shine. In contrast, the Lingtian Mecha n which had always presented a brave front had earned the goodwill and favour of many of the cadets.


    Even the spectating administrators in the VIP room were extremely unhappy at this moment, thinking that Qiao Ting¡¯s performance was indeed toome, upsetting their ns. However, they still did not give up hope. They were waiting for Qiao Ting to turn the tables around and carry off an exciting reversal from his dire situation right now ...


    Just as everyone was starting to feel bored, thinking that Qiao Ting would continue to run, Qiao Ting did something that shocked everyone. He suddenly stopped his rapid flight and almost without pause, he flew in the opposite direction, charging ferociously at the chasing four Lingtian mecha.


    This action may seem extremely simple but was actually very hard to do. To suddenly stop while one was moving forwards at a rapid pace required one to withstand the inertia of the movement ¡ª only then would one be able to stop instantly. On top of that, aftering to a stop, to shift and fly in the opposite direction was several times harder than just pulling off an emergency stop. The average ace operator whose skills were still far from perfect would never dare to attempt this, because it was all too easy to lose control of one¡¯s mecha this way, and might end up pushing one into a desperate situation instead.


    This movement was considered a super hard double-S rank ace mecha control technique which only elite aces had the guts and qualifications to use. Even among the ace mecha instructors within the military academy, only the elite ace mecha master Tang Yu could do it. The other instructors would never dare attempt it normally, because they had no way to guarantee that they would pull it off sessfully.


    This action made instructor Tang Yu¡¯s eyes glint, a faint satisfied smile appearing on his lips. This was the first time he had expressed any satisfaction at Qiao Ting¡¯s performance ¡ª only a Qiao Ting like this deserved to be called his proud student.


    "You¡¯ve taught him well. Qiao Ting is finally about to disy his skills." The principal¡¯s eyes were sharp. Qiao Ting¡¯s previous performance had at most been at pseudo-ace level. But the appearance of this technique was enough to prove that Qiao Ting was now truly entering the mindset of an ace operator.


    "Qiao Ting¡¯s weakness is that he¡¯s too slow to warm up. The fact that he¡¯s able to enter the mindset of an ace operator so quickly this time should be all thanks to the repeated oppression of the Lingtian Mecha n ... the victory of this challenge fight now looks like it may really belong to Leiting." Tang Yu had not been certain of the oue of the fight at first because he was well aware of Qiao Ting¡¯s weakness. Although Qiao Ting was already an ace operator, he could not immediately enter the mindset of an ace operator. At most, he could only enter a pseudo-ace state, which was just a little higher than special-ss, but he would not be able topletely overpower a special-ss operator ... this was why Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng could wrangle with Qiao Ting for so long.


    Mind you, a true ace operator could easily kill a special-ss operator in a matter of seconds.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s sudden change of direction this time turned him from a fugitive to an attacker; he charged towards the four mecha who had been pursuing him. Wu Jiong was at the fore of the group. Originally, among the four mecha, Li Lanfeng was piloting a special-ss mecha, which was also a speed-type mecha, so he should have been the one in the forefront. However, because he was a long-range attacker, he had not forgotten to attack Qiao Ting during the pursuit. This was also why Qiao Ting had not been able to st away and escape at full speed; he needed to watch out for Li Lanfeng¡¯s beam attacks.


    This had also led to Wu Jiong taking the lead among the four mecha, followed closely by Li Lanfeng, Xie Yi, and Lin Zhong-qing. Therefore, when Qiao Ting abruptly changed directions to attack them, Wu Jiong naturally became his first target.


    Perhaps this action of Qiao Ting¡¯s was too sudden, or perhaps the distance between the two was too close ¡ª whatever the case, when faced with Qiao Ting¡¯s sudden attack with his beam saber, Wu Jiong had no time at all to take any defensive action. The only thing he could do was to turn the power on his mecha¡¯s beam shield to the max, hoping that it would be able to withstand the other¡¯s sudden attack.


    There was a soft "Swoosh!", and the glowing beam shield on Wu Jiong¡¯s mecha turned dark. Those with keen eyes could clearly see that Qiao Ting¡¯s beam saber had sliced cleanly through Wu Jiong¡¯s cockpit, achieving a one-hit kill!


    Qiao Ting¡¯s sudden outburst-like reversal left the spectating cadets gobsmacked. Some seniors who understood just how difficult the moves Qiao Ting had just executed had been could not help but be serious ¡ª this was how the Thunder King should perform.


    "Regiment Commander Wu!" Xie Yi cried out in shock. He had never expected that the third strongest from the Central Scout Academy, Wu Jiong, would be killed instantly, unable to withstand even one attack from an ace operator. He finally understood the meaning of Boss Lan¡¯s words right before the challenge fight. When they were up against a true ace operator, do not even think about exchanging blows with the other. Instead, they should think about how they could sessfully self-destruct as soon as they made contact, so they could just deal even the slightest bit of damage to the other ...


    The gap between them and an ace operator was just toorge ¡ª though it looked like just a gap of two levels, this gap was the difference between heaven and earth.


    Wu Jiong was killed on the spot; without any chance at all to self-destruct, he had been defeated and kicked out of the field. In intense pain, Wu Jiong was sent out of Mecha World by the mainframe. At the login point, Wu Jiong could not help but crouch on the ground 1 . He was extremely frustrated ¡ª at that instant, why had he chosen to adjust his beam shield to the maximum instead of cleanly pressing his self-destruct button?


    "Truly, if you don¡¯t listen to Boss Lan, you will make mistakes ..." said Wu Jiong with a bitter smile. He knew that he had chosen as he had back then because he still had that bit of ambition andpetitive spirit in his heart. He had hoped to prove to Boss Lan that he was not as weak as Boss Lan thought he was. However, reality proved that he really was as weak as Boss Lan thought ...


    Wu Jiong was expelled from the fight without achieving anything, and his elimination had left Qiao Ting an opening in Lingtian¡¯s encirclement. Qiao Ting did not push his advantage to chase victory, instead choosing to continue flying forwards to flee.


    This time, however, Qiao Ting managed to shake off Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing. Although Li Lanfeng continued to stick close behind him, he had still fallen quite a distance behind Qiao Ting. After all, flying backwards after an emergency stop was something only an ace operator could do; it was not that easy for the three from Lingtian to change directions.


    Li Lanfeng moved the swiftest ¡ª he used a horizontal-8 turnabout manoeuvre to turn his mecha around. Meanwhile, Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing had to make arge loop to turn their mecha around, and this was another reason why they had fallen so behind.


    The chase began again, but this time, none of the spectators had any more objections about Qiao Ting¡¯s actions. They knew very well that Qiao Ting could switch from running away to massacring his opponents at any time; it was all a matter of whether he wanted to or not.


    "Actuallying back here. How lucky for me!" Rushing here with all his might, Qi Long had been very irritated to see his target originally going further away, as this would dy his reunion with his teammates even further. But unexpectedly, the target had turned back not too longter. This made Qi Long ecstatic ¡ª judging by the speed of the opponent, he should be able to join his teammates about a minuteter.

 Chapter 417: Prioritizing Personal Interests!

    Chapter 417: Prioritizing Personal Interests!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Very soon, Qiao Ting had returned to where Zhao Jun and the others had set him up at the beginning. He noticed that Li Lanfeng had pulled quite a distance away from the other two Lingtian members, and a cold smirk tugged at the corners of his lips.


    The reason he had not pressed his advantage but chose to run instead was that he did not want to fall into the opponents¡¯ encirclement again. He hoped to destroy the formation of these Lingtian mecha with his speed. It should be said that, based on the current situation, Qiao Ting had achieved his objective.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s attitude had changed from his restless ambition of before to caution. The Lingtian Mecha n still had five members ¡ª if he was tricked by the opponents again and fell into effective self-destruct range, even he would not be able to confirm whether he would be able to hold off the frenzied actions of five mecha with this battered ace mecha of his. Qiao Ting had instigated this challenge fight to obtain unmatched glory; he did not want to be a stepping stone to fame for the Lingtian Mecha n. He absolutely would not allow such an oue to ur.


    His previous mistakes had already caused him incredible grief, thus Qiao Ting absolutely would not permit himself tomit the same mistakes. Therefore, Qiao Ting had deliberately plotted to turn the situation around to his advantage.


    When Qiao Ting saw that he had already destroyed Lingtian¡¯s encirclement formation, he consciously slowed his mecha, creating the impression that his mecha was running low on power, and waited for Li Lanfeng to approach.


    With regards to the three Lingtian mecha chasing him, the special-ss operator Li Lanfeng was undoubtedly the biggest threat. He wanted to eliminate Li Lanfeng, then the remaining two Lingtian advanced mecha would be not much threat at all.


    Qiao Ting waited for Li Lanfeng to catch up to him, but reality made him frown. It turned out that, even as he decreased his speed, the other was also decreasing his speed. Only then did Qiao Ting notice that Li Lanfeng was constantly maintaining the distance he needed to attack him from long range.


    "He really is a wily and difficult character to deal with." Qiao Ting was very annoyed. Li Lanfeng had always appeared in their circles as a cunning and scheming persona, which led many to overlook his mecha piloting skills. Qiao Ting was no exception, but after today¡¯s fight, Qiao Ting could clearly feel that the other was even harder to handle than Zhao Jun. This was because the other knew very well how to protect himself ¡ª it was very hard to trick or bewilder him with tactics since he was so proficient in them himself. Like right now, Qiao Ting had intended to draw the other in, but Li Lanfeng had prudently noticed his n at soonest notice ...


    Knowing that his n had failed, Qiao Ting could only give up on his original objective. Hepared the distance between Li Lanfeng and the two other opponents behind him, and an idea emerged in his mind.


    Qiao Ting did not hesitate to once again disy that super technique of stopping suddenly and then flying inversely. His mecha abruptly switched directions to leap at Li Lanfeng, the beam saber in his hands stabbing right for the other¡¯s cockpit. The whole attack screamed ¡¯if you won¡¯te to me, then I¡¯lle to you¡¯.


    Although Qiao Ting¡¯s actions were rather sudden, the always vignt Li Lanfeng was long prepared for this. Seeing the opponent pounce at him, Li Lanfeng decisively revved all his mecha¡¯s engines, forcibly sending his mecha shooting several metres up into the air, narrowly dodging Qiao Ting¡¯s savage attack. At the same time, the beam gun in his hand once again unleashed countless beams at Qiao Ting passing by below him.


    Li Lanfeng thought that Qiao Ting would definitely turn back to attack him after this attack of his missed, but the following scene surprised Li Lanfeng greatly. Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha suddenly twisted so that all the beams Li Lanfeng had shot struck air, and then, the very next second, Qiao Ting was already 100 metres or so behind him.


    "Irregr Flicker!" Li Lanfeng, who had fought with his rabbit before, naturally knew that this was a hallmark evasion technique of ace operators. Li Lanfeng had initially been prepared for his beam attacks to miss. What surprised Li Lanfeng was that Qiao Ting actually chose to bypass himpletely to expressly target Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing ...


    "Not good! I fell for it!" Li Lanfeng immediately figured it out. The objective of Qiao Ting¡¯s attack this time was actually not him but Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing behind him. If Qiao Ting killed Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing without any trouble right before him, Li Lanfeng would definitely feel unworthy of all the trust the rabbit had in him.


    In fact, whether or not the team members¡¯ self-destructs could deal heavy damage to Qiao Ting depended, to arge extent, on Li Lanfeng running interference by bombarding Qiao Ting with long-range attacks. When designing the tactic, Ling Lan knew very well howrge the gap between the team members and Qiao Ting was ¡ª if there was no expert coordinating with them to run interference, there was almost no chance for the team members to get close to Qiao Ting and self-destruct by themselves.


    As such, the heavy responsibility of running interference on Qiao Ting fell to the one most proficient at long-range attacks who had also already advanced to special-ss operator, Li Lanfeng. This was also why Li Lanfeng had been so careful to maintain his distance from Qiao Ting all this while.


    Li Lanfeng naturally did not want to disappoint Ling Lan. Without having to think about it, he instantly followed Qiao Ting, the beam gun in his hand shooting countless beams at the other, hoping to cause enough trouble to Qiao Ting that he would give up on his attack.


    "ck, ck, ck!" Right then, Li Lanfeng suddenly felt the beams die out from his gun¡¯s muzzle. He realised that the energy block of the beam gun was almost empty.


    One misfortunees in the wake of another 1 ¡ª unbelievably frustrated, Li Lanfeng knew that every second counted in the fight right now. He decisively pressed down a button on his control panel, and then a block-shaped object suddenly sprang out from a random slot on the waist of Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha to fly into the air.


    Quicker than words could say, his mecha¡¯s hands, which should have been unwieldy, performed nimbly at this moment to tug forcefully at the back of his beam gun. A block-shaped object fell out from the area, and at the same time, the other block-shaped object just happened to fly up to the level of the mecha¡¯s chest. With a smooth grab, the mecha¡¯s left hand caught the block-shaped object, and then with a flutter of the mecha¡¯s fingers, the block-shaped object was instantly plugged into the back section of the beam gun, recing the previous block-shaped object.


    This seemingly extremelyplicated series of actions was actuallypleted within the blink of an eye. Equipped with a new energy storage unit, the beam gun once again lit up and sent countless beams flying wildly at Qiao Ting.


    Perhaps he was in too much of a hurry, or perhaps Li Lanfeng was not at all concerned whether or not he would hit his teammates with friendly fire right now, for the overwhelming cascade of beams rained towards Qiao Ting¡¯s, Xie Yi¡¯s, and Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s mecha without distinction at this moment. At the sight, the audience¡¯s hearts were in their throats. They were shocked and bewildered ¡ª could it be that this special-ss mecha was willing to sacrifice his teammates for the sake of the ultimate victory?


    "As expected, Li Lanfeng is a selfish person who prioritizes personal interest over all else. In order to obtain victory, he doesn¡¯t care at all whether his teammates would die for no reason ..." The Regiment Commander of the Wuji Mecha n, Han Yu, was also watching this match. When he saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s current ruthless attack method, a mocking smile appeared on his face as he spoke to Wei Ji sitting beside him.


    "He is an excellent strategist. In his opinion, everyone participating in this fight is working towards the goal of the ultimate victory. As long as victory can be assured, he does not care how many are sacrificed in the process. I thought you had already known this a long time ago, which was why you have been so wary of him all this time." Wei Ji raised an eyebrow at Han Yu¡¯s words. From the very first year they had met Li Lanfeng, he had already gotten a vague sense of Li Lanfeng¡¯s style of doing things. Even though it was a rather heartless style, this character trait was undoubtedly perfect for a schemer. That was why Wei Ji did not hate Li Lanfeng like Han Yu did, and even respected him a little for it.


    "Yes. It¡¯s precisely because I know what kind of person he is that I could not trust him with Wuji¡¯s future. I¡¯m truly afraid that he will sell out Wujipletely one day for his own ends." Having said all this, Han Yu¡¯s eyes turned cold and forbidding. He was extraordinarily vignt when it came to Li Lanfeng; he just could not shake the feeling that this person was filled with a bellyful of calctions featuring Wuji.


    "Let¡¯s not talk about his character. It seems we have underestimated his mecha control skills. Who knew he was this strong? That series of actions is not something any ordinary special-ss operator can do,"mented Wei Ji with a sigh.


    That rapid action of switching out the energy block of his beam gun had seemed so simple, but it was actually not easy. Mecha were mecha, after all. Even if one could control mecha like one¡¯s own limbs, when it came to this sort of detailed control, many mecha operators would not be able to do as Li Lanfeng had done. Fine control was an extreme test of an operator¡¯s abilities. From his control over these fine details, it could be seen that Li Lanfeng¡¯s control had truly reached a level where man and machine were united as one. Only that way could he have carried off those actions so naturally.


    "He was dyed for close to two years on advanced mecha warrior level. Looks like it was because of this." Han Yu now finally understood why Li Lanfeng had persisted on not advancing to special-ss operator for so long.


    "This kind of person who is very clear on his own goals ... would he really serve a newly established mecha n loyally and obey the orders of a second-year?" After several seconds of silent contemtion, Wei Ji suddenly asked Han Yu.


    It wasn¡¯t that they did not want Li Lanfeng in their n, but after spending a full three years on him, they had still been unable to get Li Lanfeng to serve Wuji with undying loyalty. This was also why Han Yu had no choice but to use some methods to suppress Li Lanfeng¡¯s reputation within the n while simultaneously fostering a new strategist to diminish Li Lanfeng¡¯s importance to Wuji.


    "Of course it¡¯s impossible. He must have some motive for joining the Lingtian Mecha n. It¡¯s just that we can¡¯t tell what it is right now," replied Han Yu with conviction. "At present, the Lingtian Mecha n will be happy to have two extra special-ss mecha operators in the n, greatly increasing the strength of their mecha n. But in future, there¡¯ll be a time yet when they¡¯ll be crying. Li Lanfeng, that fellow ... Hmph!" Han Yu had always thought badly of Li Lanfeng; he did not believe that Li Lanfeng would truly join the Lingtian Mecha n out of sheer kindness.


    In battle, Li Lanfeng did not know that his previous n¡¯s leader, Han Yu, was casting all sorts of malicious spection on the reasons behind his joining the Lingtian Mecha n. However, even if Li Lanfeng knew of it, he would merely haveughed it off. The ties and emotions between him and the rabbit were absolutely not something someone like Han Yu could understand.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s unexpected ruthless actions stunned the spectating cadets and threw Qiao Ting into a dilemma at the same time. If he continued to attack Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing, he would undoubtedly receive the full force of Li Lanfeng¡¯s wild barrage of beam attacks alone. In that case, although he would be able to eliminate two of the opposing team¡¯s members, he might also end up with a certain degree of damage to his own mecha. Was this really worth it? Qiao Ting involuntarily hesitated at this time.

 Chapter 418: All Alone!

    Chapter 418: All Alone!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    This brief moment of hesitation by Qiao Ting, however, gave the initially helpless sitting ducks Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing a chance to counterattack.


    The two of them were ecstatic ¡ª they did not hesitate to pilot their mecha to charge fiercely at Qiao Ting. Even though they too might face that wave of beam energy Li Lanfeng had shot in this direction if they moved forwards, this still could not stop them from doing so.


    Lin Zhong-qing and Xie Yi were well aware that up against a powerful ace operator, they were incapable of taking any blows from the other, much less counterattacking. Wu Jiong, who was stronger than them, had already proved this point. Once they hesitated and wavered, they may likely die in vain, unable to even use self-destruction to ply some damage on the opponent.


    Thus, when they saw a chance to approach Qiao Ting, the two of them naturally had nothing to fear. Even as they charged towards Qiao Ting, they each pressed the self-destruct buttons of their mecha.


    Witnessing all this, inside the VIP room, Tang Yu could not help but sigh and say, "Qiao Ting, he is too indecisive." At the critical moment, Qiao Ting had still been too cautious. With his abilities, if he could have just been a bit more resolute, quickly drawing his beam saber to attack Lingtian No.6 and Lingtian No.7, he could definitely have killed those two instantly. Then, Lingtian No.6 and Lingtian No.7 would never have had the chance to get close to Qiao Ting, and so they would not have been able to use self-destructs to harm Qiao Ting.


    The keen-eyed Tang Yu had seen through Lingtian No.6 and Lingtian No.7¡¯s ns with just one nce. Unfortunately, Qiao Ting had hesitated at that key moment. This hesitation that should not have appeared gave the initially hopeless Lingtian No.6 and Lingtian No.7 a chance to self-destruct.


    "Qiao Ting is likely to suffer some trouble now." The principal too could see very clearly. Compared to Tang Yu, he was even more objective. From the very start, Qiao Ting had actually held the absolute upper hand, but after time and time again of mistakes in decision making during battle, his advantage had been whittled away bit by bit. If Qiao Ting continued to make mistakes after this, he might really lose all of his advantages as an ace operator. In terms of taking control of therger picture, he was undoubtedly somewhatcking.


    "If Qiao Ting still cannotmit fully here, this match is likely to be treacherous for him," said Tang Yu, frowning. Even though he could not see as clearly as the principal had, he still knew that Qiao Ting¡¯s advantage was steadily decreasing. If he did not put his full effort into the fight now, the oue would really be unpredictable.


    "Qiao Ting probably didn¡¯t think that that Lingtian No.11 would be so ruthless." The principal found an excuse for Qiao Ting¡¯s mistake. At this point, the principal could not help but shake his head and say, "To tell the truth, this No.11¡¯s method¡¯s are a little over the top. In order to attack Qiao Ting, he doesn¡¯t even mind doing so at the expense of his teammates." Being retired, the principal especially treasured those old battlerades of his, and so found this sort of behaviour rather uneptable.


    "If Lingtian No.11 had not done as he did, Lingtian No.6 and Lingtian No.7 would, without question, have been killed by Qiao Ting and directly eliminated." Tang Yu held an opposing view, however. "Since the oue would be the same either way, he might as well push it to the limits. Perhaps then, his teammates¡¯ deaths would not be as worthless."


    "Also, principal, this is the virtual world. Death isn¡¯t really death here." Tang Yu reminded the principal that the virtual world was still fundamentally different from the real world.


    "I¡¯m only afraid that these children will develop a habit here, that for the sake of victory, they would be willing to sacrifice anything that can be sacrificed ..." Even though thepetition in the academy was fierce, it was still not a true battlefield after all. If someone could already be so cold and ruthless here, then would they be even more callous and unfeeling on a real battlefield? The principal could not avoid worrying about this.


    "Sometimes, sacrifice is unavoidable even if it is undesired," said Tang Yu. The principal¡¯s words had caused Tang Yu¡¯s eyes to darken, revealing a glimpse of a deep well of pain, as if he were recalling something unpleasant.


    Tang Yu¡¯s strange state jolted the principal to awareness. He quickly changed the topic by saying, "Matters of the future, no one can tell what will happen. Let us just continue watching. Who knows? Perhaps, these children will bring us some pleasant surprises." The principal somewhat med himself for speaking too thoughtlessly and identally prodding at the deeply hidden wound in Tang Yu¡¯s heart.


    Tang Yu only nodded in silence. At this moment, he really had no more interest in talking.


    During the conversation between the principal and Tang Yu, Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing had died by self-destructing as Tang Yu and the principal had foreseen.


    It should be said that the boys had achieved their objective, though imperfectly. Although Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing had been charging at Qiao Ting at full speed, Qiao Ting was Qiao Ting after all ¡ª his reputation as the top person in the military academy was not just for show. His control skills were indeed outstanding ¡ª despite the short distance which did not allow him topletely evade the two opponents sudden charge, his improvised reactionary operation had still let him sessfully avoid Xie Yi¡¯s charge, and Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s charge had only brushed his mecha a little.


    If Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing had not chosen to self-destruct, their attacks could have been said to be perfectly counteracted by Qiao Ting. However, Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing had already been determined to self-destruct from the start, so the moment they brushed by Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha ¡ª just as they were about to face Li Lanfeng¡¯s beam attacks head on and bring about a scene of death by friendly fire ¡ª the two of them sessfully self-destructed.


    Two loud explosive booms rang out. Xie Yi¡¯s and Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s mecha exploded at the same time on both sides of Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha. The great force generated by the two explosions instantly shook Qiao Ting unconscious. Without anyone to pilot it, his mecha instantly lost control and began to plummet towards the ground head first.


    In the air, Li Lanfeng saw this and his heart leapt in joy, for he knew that Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing had seeded with their self-destructs. He quickly operated his own mecha to fly down as well, his beam gun shooting without hesitation at the out of control ace mecha.


    Bang, bang, bang! There were several consecutive sounds of beams hitting mecha. If the beam shield of Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha had not maintained a certain degree of energy protection throughout all this, his mecha would have likely incurred a considerable amount of damage from these few shots. Still, these few shots had caused the beam shield of Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha to turn dim all of a sudden. As long as Li Lanfeng continued shooting, a few more shots would probably break the beam shieldpletely. At that time, an ace mecha with no defences would not be able to withstand a blow from any weapon.


    Qiao Ting was after all the most outstanding talent in the military academy in recent years ¡ª he could be termed aberrant both in terms of spiritual power and physique. It took only the blink of an eye for him to regain consciousness. When he found that his mecha was in freefall and saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s tenacious pursuit from above, he did not panic even in the face of such a desperate situation. His first choice was not to try and rein in his out of control mecha. Instead, he raised the beam gun in his hand, aimed it at Li Lanfeng, and calmly returned fire.


    "Bang, bang, bang!" Although bothbatants were proficient at long-range attacks, Qiao Ting¡¯s skills in this respect were even more impressive than Li Lanfeng¡¯s. With just three shots, Li Lanfeng was forced to evade and the beam attacks from the gun in his hands were interrupted. This let Qiao Ting breathe a sigh of relief ...


    "Warning, mecha entering into low altitudes of less than 100 metres. There is a risk of crashing. Now 90 metres, 80 metres ... 50 metres, 40 metres, 30 metres! Danger! Danger! Please raise mecha¡¯s altitude immediately ..." Qiao Ting had barely just finished dealing with Li Lanfeng¡¯s attacks when a new crisis involving his mecha came to his attention. The mecha¡¯s A.I. was screaming urgently, alerting Qiao Ting that, once the mecha passed the 30-metre limit without raising its altitude, it would be impossible to avoid a crash.


    "Rise up for me!" Qiao Ting temporarily stopped attacking Li Lanfeng to turn his full focus on operating his mecha. Engaging all the engines on his mecha, Qiao Ting fingers flew, changing the fixed coefficients of his mecha.


    The plummeting mecha finally came to a sudden stop at an altitude of 20 metres ¡ª the incredible power of the engines pushed the mecha which had been calibrated to suit low altitudes in a desperate attempt to defy gravity. The deep rumble of the engines reverberated throughout the entire venue ¡ª as the mecha was very close to the ground, the airflow bursting out of the engines actually sent sand and dirt spraying up into the air. Very soon, the dust had spread, turning the airspace of about 20 to 30 metres high into a world of swirling sand, so turbid that no one could see what was going on inside clearly.


    Finally regaining control of his mecha, Qiao Ting divided his attention between operating his mecha in a slow ascent and pulling the trigger of his beam gun to keep Li Lanfeng, who was still attempting to attack him, at bay ...


    The mecha finally managed to reach an altitude of 50 metres, escaping from the risk of crashing. All mobility functions of the mecha were back to normal. Qiao Ting felt pained as he looked at that 30% damage indicator ¡ª the self-destructs of those two punks earlier had still ended up dealing quite a bit of damage to his mecha.


    Qiao Ting was filled with hate, which deepened to loathing with regards to Li Lanfeng in the air above him. If not for the other¡¯s wide-scale attack heedless of friend or foe, Qiao Ting would not have hesitated and given those two mecha the chance to self-destruct. Qiao Ting med his error in judgment on Li Lanfeng¡¯s insanity. He decided that before thest two members of Lingtian arrived, he would first finish off this sticky-candy of an opponent, Li Lanfeng.


    Just as Qiao Ting was about to take action ¡ª "Beep!" "Beep!" "Beep!" ¡ª three sounds marking notifications from the Mecha World mainframe rang out in quick session. Qiao Ting reflexively swept a nce over the notifications panel, and the contents of the notifications almost made him spew blood and die right then and there. It turned out that his only remaining three team members had been sessfully taken out by Lingtian within thest few seconds. In other words, he, Qiao Ting, was the only representative left for Leiting. He was now truly all alone.


    In contrast, the Lingtian Mecha n still had three members to its name. Qiao Ting felt rage crest in his heart ¡ª he had initially thought that this would be a one-sided fight, but now the oue was reversed where it was them, Leiting, who were being beaten badly. Even he was somewhat messed up, and this made hate rise in Qiao Ting¡¯s heart.


    With a face full of killing intent, Qiao Ting looked towards Li Lanfeng who had been keeping his distance. This sudden burst of cloying killing intent chilled Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart, though he had sensed even stronger killing intenting from Ling Lan before. He knew for certain that the following fight would not be ordinary ... he clenched his hands hard over his beam gun, his entire being alert for what was toe.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha suddenly warped in the air, and in the next second, he was already by Li Lanfeng¡¯s side. At this key moment, Qiao Ting had abandoned the long-range attacks he was most proficient in and had chosen to use his rtively weaker closebat skills instead to engage the enemy. This unexpected move caused everyone in the audience to exim, unable to understand Qiao Ting¡¯s decision right then.

 Chapter 419: Empty-Handed Weapon Grab!

    Chapter 419: Empty-Handed Weapon Grab!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Only Tang Yu alone could not help but cry out in approval, "An urate decision."


    From Lingtian No.11¡¯s performance so far, his skills obviously marked him as a special-ss mecha master with a proficiency in long-range attacks. Although Qiao Ting could rely on even better long-range attacks to defeat the other, that would no doubt make this a protracted battle, a great waste of time. Moreover, Qiao Ting¡¯s current condition, both in terms of the state of his mecha and the state of his mind, would not allow for a protracted battle. His only option was to defeat the current opponent as quick as possible so he could have as much time as possible to rest. Hopefully, he would be able to regain his optimum state to deal with the other two Lingtian members who had yet to show themselves.


    Tang Yu believed that Qiao Ting himself was aware that one of the two remaining members was the main regimentmander of the Lingtian Mecha n, one of the three special-ss operators of the Lingtian Mecha n. Since the other was able to be the regimentmander of the Lingtian Mecha n, his capabilities definitely could not be underestimated. If Qiao Ting could not face the other at his best, then it would not be so easy to defeat the other.


    Of course, Tang Yu had cheered for Qiao Ting¡¯s decision to engage in closebat not just because of that. Tang Yu knew his student very well ¡ª although Qiao Ting had chosen an ace mecha geared for long-range attacks, in truth, his closebat skills were exceedingly strong, even better than some of the average closebat mecha masters. It could be said that Qiao Ting was an all-rounder who could fight at both long range and close range; so, for him to use closebat against Lingtian No.11, a long-range expert, was undoubtedly the best choice.


    Truth be told, Tang Yu also did not believe that there would be another in the academy like Qiao Ting, a mecha master proficient in both long-rangebat and closebat. Take this Lingtian No.11 for example.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s sudden change in attack style indeed caught Li Lanfeng by surprise. This attack was undoubtedly very abrupt ¡ª the beam saber appeared in an instant right before Li Lanfeng¡¯s face. Li Lanfeng did not have time to dodge, much less draw the beam saber from his own back to block. In a sh of inspiration, he decisively flung the beam gun in his right hand out to meet that iing beam saber.


    "Pow! Swoosh!" The beam gun and the beam saber collided, emitting a soft sound. Immediately after, the beam saber¡¯s greater energy instantly cut right through the beam gun. Lacking any beam shield defence, the beam gun naturally could not withstand the beam saber¡¯s attack, splitting into two halves.


    Although Li Lanfeng had lost a beam gun, he had also managed to resolve this sudden one-hit kill attack of Qiao Ting¡¯s. Li Lanfeng took advantage of Qiao Ting¡¯s ending momentum; before Qiao Ting coulde at him with a new attack, he grabbed the opening to dash away at top speed in his mecha. Swiftly pulling a distance away from Qiao Ting, he drew the beam saber from his back at the same time so he was no longer unarmed.


    "This Lingtian No.11 has extremely exceptional reflexes." The principal¡¯s eyes shone at the sight. These reflexes alone was enough to prove that this Lingtian No.11 was a good potential sprout for closebat ...


    On the tail of the principal¡¯s delight was disappointment. Such good candidates for closebat, and they just had to go and choose long-rangebat. Lingtian No.11 was one, and Qiao Ting was another ... the students now all tended to choose speed-type mecha or long-range mecha in order to ensure their own safety. In contrast, closebat mecha with the highest offensive power but also high risk were being chosen less and less.


    "Who¡¯d have guessed that there would not be just one genius ..." Tang Yu¡¯s gaze wasplicated at this moment. Honestly speaking, he did not want to see his student Qiao Ting, whom he had so painstakingly cultivated and was so proud of, to lose the challenge fight, but the performance of so many of the Lingtian members had made him sit up and take notice. Each of them had their unique points of brilliance, making him yearn to teach them, and one of them had even made him decide to take him in as a true disciple. As such, he also did not want to see them return in defeat.


    "Cough!" Tang Yu could only sigh in the end. Troubled either way, he could only force himself to watch as a neutral bystander and wait patiently for the final oue to emerge.


    Qiao Ting saw his carefully nned blow strike air and was frustrated. Unwilling to lose his initiative, he quickly chased after Li Lanfeng and once again swung his sword out angrily.


    Li Lanfeng did not hesitate to meet him with his own beam saber. Countless sounds of beam sabers shing rang out, and the audience could only see a dancing light show. The forms of the beam sabers were almost indiscernible ¡ª it was clear to see that the attack speed of bothbatants had reached a fever pitch, so quick that others could no longer see the exchange of blows clearly.


    "Boom!" A dead beam saber suddenly flew out from the sphere of light. As the attack speed of bothbatants had been too fast, none of the spectators knew whose beam saber exactly had been sent flying ...


    Of course, many people were leaning towards the idea that it was Li Lanfeng. After all, Qiao Ting was an ace operator ¡ª no matter how damaged his mecha was, it should still be impossible for him to be disarmed of his beam saber.


    The audience¡¯s eyes were discerning. Indeed, the one who had his beam saber sent flying was truly Li Lanfeng. Facing a now unarmed Li Lanfeng, Qiao Tingughed coldly and once again swung the beam saber in his hands. This attack was even fiercer than those before ¡ª it was clear to see that Qiao Ting had no intention to let Li Lanfeng continue living.


    With no other tools at his disposal to intercept this blow, Li Lanfeng looked like he was about to be pierced by Qiao Ting¡¯s beam saber. Right at this critical moment, Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha suddenly sank down low, both his mecha¡¯s arms rose up, and his palms pped together.


    The beam saber was caught between the mecha¡¯s two palms. Where the two met, dazzling electrical sparks bloomed. With that, Qiao Ting and Li Lanfeng were stuck in a deadlock in the air.


    "Empty-handed weapon grab!" The spectating students eximed collectively. Even the spectating instructors could not help but leap to their feet in shock. This move was considered an extreme skill of mecha control; not any ordinary mecha master could master this move.


    "How can this be possible? Even Qiao Ting was unable to master this move." Tang Yu was equally astounded. The ¡¯empty-handed weapon grab¡¯ was one of his favoured special moves; unfortunately, even Qiao Ting, the student he was proudest of at present, had not been able to learn this move. This was because this move not only had high demands on mecha piloting talent, it also required perfect mastery of the mecha basic controls. However, most operators typically did not like wasting time on the basic controls. Even Qiao Ting had only trained up his basics till they were excellent enough before moving on. This was why Tang Yu had not been able to pass on this technique thus far, but unexpectedly, he had seen it executed by this Lingtian No.11 today.


    "Lingtian No.11. Name: Li Lanfeng. Status: Elite family descendant, age 20. Physical skills: Early stage Qi-Jin; Mecha Piloting Level: Special-ss, Advanced to Special-ss advancement results: Excellent." The excited Tang Yu immediately searched for Lingtian No.11¡¯s information, and discovered that the other was actually from the same year as Qiao Ting.


    "I actually missed such an outstanding student," said Tang Yu with a regretful expression.


    "It should be said that our academy is filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons. There are just too many exceptional seedlings of this type," consoled the principal.


    The principal¡¯s words improved Tang Yu¡¯s mood. Tang Yu thought about the six new students he would be taking ¡ª although Lin Zhong-qing had not officially be his student yet, in Tang Yu¡¯s heart, he was already his disciple ¡ª and he believed that they would not be worse than this No.11.


    In mid-air, Qiao Ting and Li Lanfeng were stuck in a deadlock. And then, right at this moment, Qiao Ting suddenly felt his heart clench, an unprecedented sense of danger stealing over his heart.


    Could it be that Li Lanfeng was about to self-destruct as well? Qiao Ting could not confirm where the danger wasing from, and just as he was hesitating over whether he should just let go of the beam saber in his hands and run ...


    "Ah! Down below!" Spectators see a game better than its yers ¡ª the spectating cadets who had chosen God-view could all see where the true source of danger to Qiao Ting was.


    Apparently, right below the pair in the air, on the dust submerged ground, a mecha had snuck in. He suddenly rose into the air, his cold weapon glinting with cold light as he raised it high and stabbed it insidiously at Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha suspended in a deadlock with Li Lanfeng in the air.


    Fortunately, Qiao Ting was high up enough that, at the final moment, he finally saw where the true danger was. This unexpected attack chilled everyone¡¯s hearts and also frightened Qiao Ting enough to make him break out in cold sweat.


    Qiao Ting decisively let go of the beam saber in his hands and piloted his mecha to forcibly shift a metre away in parallel. This one-metre distance let him avoid the crisis of having a sword shoved up his chrysanthemum, but even so, that giant de still scraped across his mecha, sending up countless sparks to blind everyone.


    An approximately 2-inch deep gouge appeared starkly on the outer armour of Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha. If not for the substantial thickness of the steel of an ace mecha¡¯s body, this gouge might have directly ruined the mecha¡¯s body.


    Qiao Ting narrowly survived this crisis, and one more of the final remaining three Lingtian members on the field had appeared. Except for the regimentmander of Lingtian, Ling Lan, who had not appeared yet, the others had all appeared before Qiao Ting.


    "Good, I didn¡¯te toote." Qi Long seeded in one strike and then immediately retreated to one side. His mecha hovered in the air, that giant sword over one shoulder, as he spoke loudly to Li Lanfeng.


    "A bitter and I would not be have been able to hold on anymore." Li Lanfeng was d that Qi Long hade in time. A littleter and he would not have been able to hold Qiao Ting off anymore ¡ª at his level, an ace operator really was not someone he could contend with.


    "Sorry about that! My mecha¡¯s speed is low. I was already moving as fast as I could." Qi Long was rather embarrassed. In order to make up for it, he raised the giant sword in his hands suddenly and said, "After this, watch me."


    Qi Long had hardly finished speaking when he shook his giant sword and charged ferociously towards Qiao Ting.


    Compared to Li Lanfeng¡¯s speed, Qi Long¡¯s speed was truly like that of a tortoise. Qiao Ting¡¯s face expressed his contempt, and with a slight shift, he had dodged Qi Long¡¯s charge. As Qiao Ting moved, he pulled out his backup weapons, two high-frequency des, aimed them at Qi Long, who was about half a body length past him, and attacked.


    With a loud "bang", the high-frequency des struck Qi Long¡¯s giant sword ... no, it should be said that they were blocked by Qi Long¡¯s giant sword. Although high-frequency des were extremely destructive, they could not disy their power before Qi Long¡¯s massive cold weapon. The only thing they left on the giant sword inmemoration was a shallow scrape across the body of the giant sword. It was likely that when the weapons had collided, the high-frequency des¡¯ energy had caused a little bit of damage to the surface of the sword¡¯s giant de.


    "This fellow¡¯s physical constitution must be at monster level." Qi Long had only swung his giant sword twice, but the principal could already tell Qi Long¡¯s base stats.


    "Yes, this fellow is a closebat oddball genius. It¡¯s a shame that in order to raise its strength, the mecha¡¯s speed is a littlecking." Tang Yu had also identified the weakness of Qi Long¡¯s mecha.

 Chapter 420: Chang Xinyuans Revenge!

    Chapter 420: Chang Xinyuan¡¯s Revenge!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Thinking to contend with Qiao Ting, looks like this brat won¡¯t be doing well." If his speed couldn¡¯t keep up with Qiao Ting¡¯s, even having all the strength in the world would be useless. The principal¡¯s face revealed some regret ¡ª it was so hard to finally find someone who chose closebat, but he turned out to be such an extreme person.


    Tang Yu¡¯s gaze, however, was on Li Lanfeng, who was calmly observing all this from the side-lines. Compared to this Lingtian No.2 who had just appeared, Tang Yu felt Lingtian No.11 deserved more attention ¡ª as long as this person was around, Tang Yu could not be certain that Lingtian No.2 would be unable to threaten Qiao Ting like the principal had said. The cool-headed ruthlessness Lingtian No.11 had disyed previously in battle made Tang Yu concerned despite himself.


    The principal had also noticed the focus of Tang Yu¡¯s attention. He cuffed his own head in a slight reprimand and said with a wry smile, "Ok, fine, I actually forgot about this person. Looks like I spoke too early. As long as that monster brat has this teammate around, it¡¯s hard to say for sure that that brat won¡¯t be any threat to Qiao Ting."


    Qiao Ting patiently exchanged two or three blows with Qi Long and felt that he had thoroughly figured Qi Long out. The other¡¯s closebat skills were very strong, but he was disadvantaged by the speed of his mecha. If this fellow before him had been operating a special-ss mecha, perhaps the danger to him would be far greater, but for now ... Qiao Ting did not think that this Lingtian No.2 would have any chance to get close to him and sessfully self-destruct like the other members of Lingtian had.


    Havinge to a decision, Qiao Ting did not hesitate any longer. Facing yet another of Qi Long¡¯s naively fearless attacks, a faint sneer emerged on Qiao Ting¡¯s lips. He abruptly raised his finger-speed ¡ª on his control panel, his fingers were no longer visible on his hands, reced byyers of blurred shadows. That¡¯s right, Qiao Ting was nning to directly kill off this newly arrived Lingtian No.2. For this purpose, he had brought out his highest finger-speed, sending the high-frequency des in his hands spinning into a wild dance ...


    Right then, even the spectators could not see clearly where Qiao Ting¡¯s attacks would reallynd. Just when everyone believed Lingtian No.2 was done for, in a swathe of shadows, the nging of collisions could be heard ...


    Qi Long, who seemed to be moving in slow motion, actually managed to block all of Qiao Ting¡¯s attacks. All the spectators just could notprehend what they had seen ¡ª how the hell had this Lingtian No.2 known for certain where Qiao Ting was going to attack?


    No one knew that Qi Long¡¯s innate talent was Animal Instinct; his beast-like intuition could help him determine where the true danger wasing from even if his eyes could not. Already used to relying on this instinct of his, Qi Long did not hesitate to swing his sword towards the spots his intuition dictated.


    "D*mmit!" Qiao Ting saw all his attacks being blocked miraculously by Lingtian No.2. Foiled once more, Qiao Ting could no longer suppress the rage in his heart. This rage made his hand speed jump once more, and the already stacked afterimages of his fingers actually turned into nothingness.


    Qi Long suddenly felt a frisson of danger sh through his heart. Without conscious thought, he instantly piloted his mecha to dodge. At this time, the weakness of the speed of his mecha was officially exposed ¡ª although Qi Long¡¯s reaction time was swift, he was still unable topletely evade Qiao Ting¡¯s unexpected attack due to the drag of his mecha¡¯s speed.


    There was a massive "boom", and the remaining right leg on Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha kicked out savagely at Qi Long¡¯s waist. The powerful force behind the kick sent Qi Long¡¯s mecha flying ¡ª Qiao Ting was just about to chase his advantage and follow up when a sense of danger crept over his heart once more. His leaping mecha jerked to a sudden stop. Not just that, Qiao Ting¡¯s entire mecha tilted backwards, the two high-frequency des in his hands raised high in a cross.


    "Thunk!" A muffled sound rang out in the air. The spectating cadets could even see the range of the energy shockwaves the mainframe had specially simted for this collision. Four high-frequency des shed fiercely, causing the entire space around them to be distorted ...


    It turned out that Li Lanfeng, who had merely been watching all this while, had finally made his move. While Qiao Ting had been concentrating on dealing with Qi Long, Li Lanfeng¡¯s attack came silently out of nowhere. If Qiao Ting had not been an ace operator, without the unique danger senses ace operators had, perhaps Li Lanfeng¡¯s sneak attack would have worked.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s attack was seen through by Qiao Ting and failed. However, due to his interference, Qi Long escaped with his life. Anyone with eyes could see that if Li Lanfeng had not acted then, Qi Long, who had already lost his bnce, would definitely have died under Qiao Ting¡¯s purposeful pursuit.


    "This Lingtian No.11 ... his judgment is impable," Tang Yu could not help but praise. Even though he was still quite a distance away from Qiao Ting in terms of strength, perhaps even iparable to those other senior cadets in the academy who had long advanced to special-ss operator status, this precise judgment of his had made him the one and only member who had managed to wrangle with Qiao Ting for so long on the field. It could even be said that those Lingtian members from before were able to harm Qiao Ting with their self-destructsrgely because he had sessfully interfered with Qiao Ting¡¯s judgment.


    "An assassin-type mecha master, no, he should also be a strategist-type mecha master. With such a person in a battle n, the n¡¯s survival rates on the battlefield will be significantly increased." The principal¡¯s expression was solemn, but his eyes could not hide his delight. He was very happy for the son of his old friend for obtaining such an outstanding member.


    It should be known that, other than a powerful leader with great leadership, a perfect battle n also needed various other roles to be filled. A strategist-type mecha master was in fact the second most important character for a battle n to have ¡ª even more important than the typically most valued primary fighter mecha. Unfortunately, many battle ns these days tended to overlook this, blindly looking for powerful mecha masters to fill their ranks. They did not understand that a truly strong battle n was not powerful just because of itsbat power, but because each of the positions and roles within the battle n were filled well and could work together seamlessly.


    While Tang Yu and the principal were astonished at Li Lanfeng¡¯s brilliant performance, the other spectators were not thinking so deeply. Although they too were amazed at how urately Li Lanfeng had timed his attack, they only felt that Li Lanfeng must have noticed the danger Qi Long was in and had acted at this moment to save him. Perhaps even they would have been able to do that if they had been the one on the field.


    It had to be said that the students¡¯ vision was so much weakerpared to that of the principal and Instructor Tang Yu. The students could not see at all that it really was not as simple a thing as they believed to grasp the timing of an attack so urately. Moreover, Li Lanfeng¡¯s attack had contained a certain degree of stealth ¡ª it was clear to see that Li Lanfeng had prepared well for this attack; he had not acted hurriedly just because Qi Long was in danger.


    However, Qiao Ting was after all Qiao Ting. An ace operator was indeed very formidable ¡ª he had still managed to break Li Lanfeng¡¯s near perfect attack.


    After Li Lanfeng had failed in his attack, everyone thought that he would retreat quickly to maintain his distance from Qiao Ting like he had before.


    However, they were mistaken once again. This time, Li Lanfeng did not choose to withdraw ¡ª from both sides of his mecha¡¯s rib area, two chains suddenly shot out at Qiao Ting¡¯s two thighs.


    "There it is!" Chang Xinyuan, who had been watching the fight from the audience seats all this while, saw this scene unfold, and his face flushed with joy. He could not help but clench his fists briefly. Even though he had not been able to go on the field to fight against Leiting personally due to his level being too low, Chang Xinyuan had not sat idly by while the others fought against this Thunder King Qiao Ting who had oppressed him for four years and had almost forced him to drop out against his will.


    When Li Lanfeng hade to him the night before the challenge fight and had asked him to design something for him, Chang Xinyuan had beenpletely unable to refuse. The two of them had spent the whole night researching and had finally designed these two chainsing from the mecha¡¯s rib area. These two chains were not offensive weapons ¡ª they were only capture devices, like how asso had been created in order to capture wild horses. These two chains designed by Chang Xinyuan and Li Lanfeng were created precisely for the purpose of capturing Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha.


    The second tactic that Ling Lan had created received Chang Xinyuan¡¯s full acknowledgement. He too felt that only this tactic would give them a chance to win this challenge if they were going to rely on their advanced mecha warriors. However, to deal the greatest amount of damage to Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha, they would need to stick as close to the other as possible when they self-destructed. But Qiao Ting just so happened to be an ace operator ¡ª he would never give the Lingtian members the chance to get close. Perhaps out of his disdain for them at the start, they might be able to take advantage of that and seed, but after Qiao Ting suffered some losses at their hands, it would be absolutely impossible to once again get close to him.


    In order to solve this problem, Chang Xinyuan and Li Lanfeng hade up with this idea. In order to catch Qiao Ting by surprise, this design had only been implemented on Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha. After all, Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha was a special-ss mecha ¡ª if he managed to stick close to Qiao Ting and self-destruct, the damage dealt to Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha would also be the highest value possible.


    And now, this modification which had taken the two of them a whole night to create had finally appeared on the battlefield. Chang Xinyuan¡¯s emotions were running high, but he also had mixed feelings at this moment. If Boss Lan had not invited him to join the Lingtian Battle n, he would never have had the chance to use his own designs, his own modifications, to sessfully take revenge on Qiao Ting. Once, Chang Xinyuan had believed that it was almost impossible for him to seek revenge on Qiao Ting.


    The two chains from Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha had truly appeared rather suddenly and bizarrely ¡ª after all, standard mecha could never have something like this. Qiao Ting had neglected this possibility ¡ª by the time he noticed them, the chains had already wrapped themselves around both legs of his mecha. Besides that, both chains actually ended in curved hooks. After wrapping themselves around Qiao Ting¡¯s legs, they automatically hooked themselves on his thighs with a snapping sound, securely fastened.


    Seeing this, what doubts could the spectators have? "Lingtian No.11 is about to self-destruct!" In near unison, the spectators cried out. The Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s self-destruct tactic was disyed in all its glory now.


    "D*mn, you actually still had this trick hidden away." Qi Long had finally regained control of his mecha at this time. When he saw this unexpected attack from Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha, he instantly understood what this was. Extremely pleased and surprised, he threw away the giant sword in his hands and lunged.


    This was such a great opportunity! If he did not rush over to self-destruct now, then it would truly be a disgrace to the hellish training his boss had given him all these years. Qi Long was well aware that the opportune window to self-destruct was fleeting ¡ª there was no time at all for him to hesitate.


    Trapped securely by Li Lanfeng, unable to break free immediately, Qiao Ting saw Qi Long charge right up to him to hug him close, and Qiao Ting was livid, shouting, "Let me go!"


    This was the first time Qiao Ting had felt so humiliated. The rage and frustration of knowing that he actually had the strength and skills to finish off all the enemies before him, but could only wait for this tragedy to happen because he had been trapped by the opponent due to his own carelessness, was almost enough to make him faint.

 Chapter 421: Tactical Genius!

    Chapter 421: Tactical Genius!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Qiao Ting is done for!"


    Seeing Qiao Ting being surrounded by the two mecha, all the spectating students thought the same. Those supporting the Leiting Mecha n felt overwhelmed with despair. Up against a pincer-style self-destruct attack from an advanced mecha and special-ss mecha, even an ace mecha probably could not withstand the horrific force produced. Not to mention, Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha had already received damage many times prior to this from the repeated tactical self-destructs of the Lingtian members ...


    Quicker than words could say, two intense explosions rang out on the battlefield.


    The three entangled mecha were instantly turned into a humongous fireball due to this massive explosive force. After that, this giant fireball smashed into the ground, sending up a spray of sand as well as quite a significant number of broken mecha parts and armour fragments.


    Only after the yellow sand had settled did the spectating students see that a deep pit of about 10-metres deep and 100-metres wide had appeared in this desertnd. And right in the centre of the pit, there was a lump of still burning wreckage ...


    "Qiao Ting is not dead!" Heaven knows who yelled out. All the spectators pinned their stares on the burning wreckage, their hearts beginning to race and they could not help but hold their breath, waiting for the mainframe to announce the final verdict.


    The mainframe indicated that Leiting still had one member left active; this proved that Qiao Ting currently still had not died and been kicked out of the battlefield. Everyone began to guess at Qiao Ting¡¯s current condition ¡ª was he already so severely injured that he was merely holding onto hisst breath, or had he been lucky enough to survive with some strength to continue fighting?


    "Lingtian and Leiting ... now it¡¯s finally one on one." The spectators noticed how many people Leiting had left, but they also noted Lingtian¡¯s information. They discovered that there was also only one person remaining in the Lingtian Mecha n, and that was that regimentmander of Lingtian¡¯s who had been eliminating all the other Leiting members elsewhere, who had never faced Qiao Ting thus far in this fight.


    The spectating cadets began to murmur in discussion. Li Lanfeng¡¯s and Qi Long¡¯s sessful self-destructs must have dealt heavy damage to Qiao Ting. Furthermore, Qiao Ting had already been damaged from the sessive self-destructs of the other Lingtian members before ... after all that, would the present Qiao Ting be able to match up against Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander who was still in peak condition?


    "Say, do you all think Qiao Ting will lose to Lingtian?" Right then, most students were not optimistic about Qiao Ting¡¯s and Leiting¡¯s chances. This waspletely opposite to what they had all believed at the start.


    This question spread across the entire venue, making the entire stadium noisy. Many people even predicted that Qiao Ting was truly doomed this time, because they believed that no matter how strong a mecha was, it was impossible for it to be unscathed after suffering the self-destructs of a special-ss operator and an advanced mecha warrior at the same time. Perhaps, Qiao Ting was already supremely fortunate for keeping his life ¡ª it was very likely that Qiao Ting¡¯s ace mecha had already lost allbat capability.


    Of course, many of the senior cadets were still very supportive of Qiao Ting and the Leiting Mecha n ¡ª they still believed that the ace mecha operator Qiao Ting would not be taken down by this kind of barbaric self-destruct tactic of Lingtian¡¯s. Qiao Ting would definitely counterattack from these desperate depths and wrest victory back from the jaws of defeat.


    Unconsciously, for the first time, phrases to do with ¡¯defeat¡¯ or ¡¯desperation¡¯ were used on the unbeatable myth of Qiao Ting. This showed that the seniors were actually uncertain too. They did not want to see the juniors sessfully oveing the seniors; they wanted to retain the suppression of seniors on the juniors. However, the reality was brutal ¡ª Qiao Ting had not projected his usual aggressive and domineering manner. Instead, he was being suppressed by the junior students. Now up to this point, the situation was extremely unfavourable ¡ª this caused the seniors who were supporting Leiting to be unable to keep calm.


    Just when everyone was deep in discussion, that hunk of steel in the crater shuddered and then sprang into the sky. This action dislodged the ming debris surrounding its core, and as the debris was shed to fall back into the crater below ...


    Finally, the core revealed itself ¡ª it was Qiao Ting¡¯s ace mecha. However, at this time, this originally majestic ace mecha was incredibly dpidated. Strictly speaking, it could not even be described as humanoid anymore.


    Its entire right arm had been sted offpletely, revealing sparking wires of all sorts, and its head had also been half ruined by the explosion, leaving only half a face behind. Lower down, both legs werepletely gone, and on its chest area, an extremely thick steel te had been shattered. Several pieces had chipped off to expose the countless intricate wiring and parts behind it.


    The only thing worth being thankful about is that the waist area where the cockpit was located was surprisingly not much damaged. This was also why Qiao Ting had been able to survive and why his mecha was still able to move around freely. After all, the cockpit was the true lifeblood of a mecha ¡ª as long as the cockpit was fine, even the most broken down mecha would still have some fight left in it.


    "It¡¯s Qiao Ting! As expected of an ace mecha. Actually able to endure even after suffering all those self-destructs." The spectating students could not help but be envious. The sheer strength of an ace made their eyes burn with want. And many students who had already achieved advanced mecha warrior level and above secretly vowed to themselves that they would definitely advance to ace operator level. Ace mecha were clearly divine protective artefacts!


    At this time, the administrators still did not know that their original god-creation n to motivate the students to grow stronger and be more passionate in their mecha studies hade to fruition, albeit not in the way they had intended. Under the frenzied self-destructs of Lingtian, Qiao Ting had persevered, inspiring the students.


    This disy reminiscent of an undying cockroach gave students a much deeper understanding of ace mecha. They clearly realised now that, on the battlefield, only ace mecha could guarantee one¡¯s survival. For the sake of their own safety, the students were eager to obtain their own ace mecha before entering an army division. This would push them to begin training their mecha control skills fervently, setting off a tenacious mecha training craze in the military academy.


    This craze would not die down in the following few years. This made the First Men¡¯s Military Academy have a constant string of Qiao Ting¡¯s record being broken in those years ¡ª every year, there would be one to two students who seeded in advancing to be ace operators.


    The most horrifying would be Ling Lan¡¯s year ¡ª there were actually as many as five people who managed to advance to be ace operators. The moment this number emerged, the entire Huaxia Federation was astounded. This also reaffirmed the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s spot as the number one military school in the Federation.


    Qiao Ting piloted his mecha to fly in the air. He swiftly checked on the condition of his mecha, and as he scanned down the A.I.¡¯s report, a trace of bitterness could be seen on his face. His mecha¡¯s condition was really as bad as he imagined it to be; its overall damage rate was already up to 48%. The mecha¡¯s initially abundant energy had also been drained significantly in order to protect the mecha¡¯s main core ¡ª there was only 30% left. Meanwhile, in terms of weapons, aside from that single high-frequency de in his left hand, he had nothing else.


    Qiao Ting looked at the high-frequency de in his hand and found that it was already very beat up due to the explosions and probably could not be used as a weapon anymore. He rapidly scanned his surroundings and soon discovered a beam saber which had belonged to god knows who lying about 300 metres away. Qiao Ting¡¯s heart was seized by joy. He operated his mecha over and with a quick swoop, at the same time he let go of his high-frequency de, he picked up the beam saber from the ground.


    Beam saber in hand, he checked its remaining power and found that it was still quite sufficient. Qiao Ting¡¯s heart settled ¡ª even if Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander Ling Lan appeared now, with this beam saber, he had the confidence to fight the other.


    "Even with a half-destroyed mecha, I will let everyone in the academy know that defeating me, Qiao Ting, is impossible." Qiao Ting gripped the beam saber in his hands tightly, swearing determinedly in his heart. After fighting for so hard and so long, now there was only one enemy left, Qiao Ting would not allow himself to lose this challenge fight at thisst moment and be someone else¡¯s stepping stone.


    Honour could only belong to him, Qiao Ting! Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes carried a touch of cold as he thought about the yet to appear Lingtian regimentmander, Ling Lan. He could not hide the ill feeling he had towards the other ¡ª for destroying the glorious image he had painstakingly cultivated, he would never let the other go.


    Qiao Ting forced down the killing intent in his heart and swiftly conducted some minor adjustments and repairs on his mecha. He was very thankful that this was Mecha World where he could use some emergency means to improve his mecha¡¯s condition.


    Focused on his mecha, Qiao Ting did not notice right then that several hundred metres behind him, a ck mecha had already silently appeared in mid-air and appeared to be looking at him with an indifferent expression.


    "Ah, he¡¯s here!" The spectators noticed and eximed in unison.


    In contrast to the sorry state of Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha, the mecha of the Lingtian regimentmander seemed so bright and perfect, as if he had never been fighting at all.


    "I just went back to review Lingtian No.1¡¯s battles. Holy sh*t, they were all one-hit kills! That final fight, against three Leiting mecha, wow ... it was still a one-hit kill?! How can this be? How did he do it?" The students who had been following Qiao Ting¡¯s fight all this time only thought of looking up the Lingtian regimentmander¡¯s fights now. When they viewed that final fight, they saw how the other had eliminated three Leiting members simultaneously with one move. This godly battle record was unbelievable. Even Qiao Ting had been unable to aplish that when he had been up against three Lingtian members on his end who were operating advanced mecha just like the Leiting members.


    "Watch closely. He did not face them from the front. This Lingtian regimentmander is very sneaky. Every fight was an ambush, where he hid from the opponent and assassinated them with a sneak attack ..." Those students who had studied Ling Lan¡¯s fights carefully could not help but speak up to remind those eximing students.


    Chided, those students began reviewing the fights again from start to finish and found that it was indeed as those people had said. The Lingtian regimentmander was just too sly, often hiding in ces no one would have considered. In particr, in thatst fight, he had actually boldly impersonated a destroyed mecha and faked thick columns of smokeing out from his mecha¡¯s body. This had drawn the three Leiting members over to investigate, clueless and unsuspecting, where they were then killed off by the Lingtian regimentmander.


    "He is a tactical genius!" Observing Ling Lan¡¯sbat style, Tang Yu and the principal thought long and hard, and this was the only answer they coulde up with.

 Chapter 422: Trust!

    Chapter 422: Trust!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan had used the simplest and most energy efficient way to eliminate those Leiting members. However, thinking back on Ling Lan¡¯sbat style, everyone was confounded, because no one could see anything from Ling Lan¡¯s fights. The spectators had only seen how cunning, sly, and imaginative Ling Lan¡¯sbat tactics had been ...


    "His control skills should be equally strong, otherwise he would not be able to do this much that perfectly," said Tang Yu, somewhat tentatively. Even though he knew Ling Lan was a special-ss operator, he could not tell which stage of special-ss Ling Lan was at.


    "Interesting as expected." The principal chuckled. This style was really like Ling Xiao¡¯s ... back then, that fellow Ling Xiao had been just as unpredictable. When Ling Xiao had first joined the army division, even the principal had not been able to figure out which level Ling Xiao was at. All of the information everyone knew about Ling Xiao was merely surface details and could not be taken to be fully urate ...


    "The second Ling Xiao ... other than his son, who else could do this?" These words of the principal were practically mumbled through closed lips ¡ª even seated beside him, Tang Yu could hardly hear him. Tang Yu raised his head curiously and asked, "Principal, what did you say? Are you talking to me?"


    "Nothing. I just think that this match is very interesting. Our military academy really has a lot of good seedlings." The principal burst outughing at his words ¡ª to ensure the safety of his good friend¡¯s son, he could not tell Tang Yu the truth.


    Tang Yu nodded in agreement ¡ª this year was indeed rife with talent, almost dazzling his eyes with it all. Unfortunately, in order to guarantee the proper cultivation of the students, the academy had regted that each instructor could take in no more than 5 students. And he, due to Lin Zhong-qing, had already asked the principal to make an exception for him once; he could not be greedy anymore.


    Although Qiao Ting did not notice Ling Lan¡¯s appearance immediately, Qiao Ting was after all an ace operator. Very soon, he discovered Ling Lan¡¯s presence several 100 metres away. He whipped around, and when he saw the perfect, gleaming appearance of the special-ss mecha, which was somehow fearsome and formidable at the same time, he could not help but shout through clenched teeth, "Ling Lan!"


    Ling Lan looked at the beat up, no longer humanoid mecha of Qiao Ting and said with a cool expression, "I did not expect that after our members¡¯ consecutive self-destructs, your mecha can still hold on. Colour me surprised."


    Frankly, after resolving those final three Leiting members, Ling Lan had rushed to the scene. However, in order not to affect Li Lanfeng and Qi Long, she had been observing this fight from about a kilometre away.


    Of course, Ling Lan could have chosen to join the fight. With her abilities, she definitely could have killed Qiao Ting off and weed victory together with Li Lanfeng and Qi Long. However, Ling Lan did not want to do that, because she wanted to see how her leopard and the follower she had painstakingly cultivated would perform. Moreover, she hoped that the both of them would gain something from their fight with Qiao Ting.


    It had to be said that Ling Lan was a worrier. She had taken Li Lanfeng and Qi Long to heart, so she wanted to increase their strength to the best of her ability. As such, she was willing to drag out the fight and even forsake the favourable scenario to her team at this moment in time, all so that Li Lanfeng and Qi Long would have the chance to truly exchange several moves with Qiao Ting.


    Reality proved that Ling Lan did not make a mistake. Li Lanfeng¡¯s performance amazed her; she had not expected her leopard to actually keep what she had said offhand so close to his heart ...


    That had been during the time after the enemy air invasion on the academy ...


    Not having to attend sses, Ling Lan was rather bored, so she had put all her attention onto Li Lanfeng and his physical constitution problem. During that period of time, Li Lanfeng finally experienced the Boss¡¯s exclusive hellish training Qi Long and the others had mentioned. Every day, he would be trained by Ling Lan until he copsed from exhaustion.


    In contrast to Qi Long and the others¡¯ attitude of avoiding it as much as they could, Li Lanfeng was happy to experience it. Every time, he was practically crawling as he left the virtual login pod, but the next day, he would still appear in full spirits before Ling Lan. This made Ling Lan suspect at one point whether Li Lanfeng was a masochist, but Li Lanfeng¡¯s indefatigable performance had also given Ling Lan a deep taste of the pleasure Instructor Number Five felt when training others ...


    Sure enough, tormenting others was really very interesting! Of course, every time Ling Lan felt this way, she would crush the feeling mercilessly, not allowing it to flourish. She would then chastise herself sternly that she absolutely did not have that perverse mentality of Instructor Number Five ¡ª she was only so strict with her leopard all for his own good.


    Finally, after some agonising torment, Li Lanfeng¡¯s physical constitution took a turn for the better and was now already extremely close to that of the average mecha operator. But if it came to a high-intensity battle, his stamina would still be stretched rather thin.


    Ling Lan was not too concerned about this, however, because she knew that this constitution problem was not something that could be resolved in just a day or two. Back then, she had also spent a whole three to four years¡¯ time to fully resolve thetent issues caused by her excessive spiritual power. For Li Lanfeng to have aplished this much in several months¡¯ time, Ling Lan felt that he had already done very well.


    Ling Lan may not be anxious about the matter, but Li Lanfeng was. That said, he was not rushing to solve everything in one go and eradicate his constitution problempletely. This was because Li Lanfeng knew very well that this problem could not be solved in a short period of time. Now, with Ling Lan¡¯s help, he had almost resolved the constant threat of his body breaking down which had gued him for many years. Just this point alone was enough to satisfy him.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s anxiety was revolving around the uing Leiting vengeance match. He was afraid that his stamina problem would hold the others back. To that end, he had once asked his rabbit how he could do better on the battlefield.


    Frankly, whether Li Lanfeng performed well or not did not matter much in therge scale of things for Ling Lan. However, when she saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes shining brightly, eager to perform well, Ling Lan just could not bear to speak honestly.


    In the spirit of not harming an old friend, Ling Lan considered things seriously and then said to Li Lanfeng that, if he wanted tost longer in battle, he would need to treasure every bit of his stamina. He could not throw his stamina around profligately like that stamina monster Qi Long; he needed to carefully calcte every move he made and strive to make sure his every attack was effective.


    Ling Lan¡¯s advice made Li Lanfeng feel rather lost. So, Ling Lan kindly hinted to Li Lanfeng that if he could not be a berserk warrior, then he should be a swordsman or an assassin ...


    These words of Ling Lan¡¯s had left Li Lanfeng in deep contemtion. On her end, Ling Lan had promptly forgotten about it after saying it, not taking the matter to heart. But today, seeing Li Lanfeng¡¯sbat style, he hadpletely walked onto the path Ling Lan had outlined for him and he had performed outstandingly.


    Ling Lan was greatly moved by this. She was touched over Li Lanfeng¡¯s trust in her ¡ª it was due to this trust that he would take her words so seriously and even change hisbat style ordingly ... Li Lanfeng¡¯s outstanding performance proved that he had put in a lot of effort in secret to research these things and had not just changed things blindly. In order to aplish his mission, Li Lanfeng had even quietly sought out Chang Xinyuan to design this trap together. It had to be said that this idea of Li Lanfeng and Chang Xinyuan¡¯s worked wonderfully in tandem with her nned tactic. Ling Lan could not help marvelling at their creativity and innovativeness.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s performance had exceeded Ling Lan¡¯s expectations, but Qi Long¡¯s performance had not disappointed Ling Lan either. Lurking, grasping the timing to attack, and other aspects, Qi Long had done all those things well. The only pity was that his mecha¡¯s speed was just too weak. If the speed of Qi Long¡¯s mecha could have been increased by just a hair, perhaps she would not even have had to take part in this final fight. Li Lanfeng and Qi Long might have been able to finish off Qiao Ting on their own.


    Such a shame ... Ling Lan felt rather regretful. She was not Qiao Ting; she did not really care whether she could be in the limelight. Compared to all this, she was more concerned over her members¡¯ performance ¡ª if Qi Long and Li Lanfeng had been able to eliminate Qiao Ting on their own, she would have been even happier.


    Ling Lan decided that she would definitely increase the speed of Qi Long¡¯s mecha and make Qi Long a closebat king with both speed and power.


    At this moment, Qi Long, who had already been ejected from the field, suddenly felt a chill run up his spine. He could not help but shiver and immediately circte his Qi-Jin to chase the chill out even as he muttered in confusion, "That¡¯s strange. Where is this cold feelinging from?"


    Qi Long did not know that his boss could not tolerate his tortoise speed and was already nning to "torture" him well ...


    Opposite her, Qiao Ting did not know that Ling Lan was feeling regretful over the fact that her leopard and follower had not been able to finish him off themselves. When he heard Ling Lan¡¯s disdainful words, he almost exploded in anger. When had he, Thunder King Qiao Ting, ever been looked down upon by a mecha newbie who had just risen to their second year and had yet to even touch real mecha?


    "Just those rookie team members of yours ... even though they used this type of despicable self-destruct methods, they won¡¯t be able to defeat me. In this military academy, no one can defeat me. No one," dered Qiao Ting vehemently, eyes bloodshot. He, Qiao Ting, was an undefeated king!


    "Is that so?" Ling Lan could not help but raise her eyebrows at his words. Looking at Qiao Ting¡¯s battered mecha, Ling Lan did not know where the other¡¯s confidence wasing from. Even if her mecha was mistaken to be a special-ss mecha,paring her almost undamaged mecha to Qiao Ting¡¯s dpidated mecha, anyone with eyes could see that the odds were on her side.


    "Honestly, dying at my members¡¯ hands would have been luckier for you." Ling Lan studied Qiao Ting carefully before speaking again. Her voice was as cold as ever, but all the spectators could hear how seriously she meant what she said.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused an uproar among the audience. Even though Ling Lan¡¯s chances looked better, Qiao Ting was still the acknowledged number one in the academy after all. As long as he could still operate his mecha, no one could be certain that they would be able to defeat him. Ling Lan¡¯s words were obviously rather arrogant and presumptuous, raising the hackles of many in the audience. In particr, the administrators of the academy undoubtedly felt as if Ling Lan¡¯s words were smacking them in the face.


    "This punk ..." The principal could not help but shake his head. He had originally thought that this child had inherited Ling Xiao¡¯s low profile manner, but now, from the looks of it, Ling Lan was still a little too young and unbridled.


    In truth, the principal was ming Ling Lan unfairly. Ling Lan had really meant no disrespect to Qiao Ting with her words, nor had the words contained any so-called arrogance. The fact was that Ling Lan was merely speaking the truth. If Qiao Ting had died under the consecutive self-destructs of her members, he would still have been able to use the excuse that Lingtian¡¯s tactics had been too despicable. However, if he died at her hands without being able to resist, Qiao Ting would have no excuse, and Ling Lan truly did not want to deal such a heavy blow to the prideful heart of this aberrant talent.

 Chapter 423: Not Much After All!

    Chapter 423: Not Much After All!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Shut up." How could Qiao Ting know the truth of Ling Lan¡¯s words? He was thoroughly enraged by these seemingly disdainful words. Pointing his beam saber angrily at Ling Lan, heughed wildly and said, "Hahaha ... if you want to kill me, just you all, Lingtian, are not qualified enough."


    "Not qualified enough?" Ling Lan was unconcerned that she was being looked down on, but she would not allow herpanions and teammates to be looked down on. She could not help but sneer at Qiao Ting¡¯s words, and she then slowly pulled out a weapon from behind her back. Just like that, a sword-type cold weapon that was even bigger and even heavier than Qi Long¡¯s had been emerged before the crowd.


    Ling Lan held the sword with one hand, and with an easy swing, a strong gust of wind was produced out of nowhere. This scene astounded all the spectating cadets and caused Qiao Ting¡¯s gaze to narrow as well, his expression turning even grimmer.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression was nonchnt as she held this giant cold weapon. She said measuredly, "Who exactly is not qualified enough? Let¡¯s battle it out."


    "My pleasure," responded Qiao Ting coldly, beam saber in hand. For his dreams, for his ambitions, he could not lose here.


    After saying that, Qiao Ting faced Ling Lan from a distance. Neither side made a move, merely hovering in the air like two statues.


    The spectating students all knew that bothbatants were looking for openings in the other¡¯s defence. As soon as one found a chance, a grand fight would begin ...


    Five seconds, ten seconds, thirty seconds, one minute, three minutes, five minutes ... time passed bit by bit, and the two still did not make a move. Just as everyone was about to lose their patience, the twobatants finally moved.


    Almost at the same time, the two mecha rushed at each other. Perhaps because they had had plenty of time to prepare, their speeds were like light, suddenly crossing paths then suddenly breaking apart again. The spectating students did not even actually see the two of them move. All they saw was a beam of cold light and a beam of white light shining against one another and then disappearing abruptly ... by the time they could see the two mecha clearly again, the twobatants had already crossed each other and swapped positions.


    The only change was that they were now back to back instead of facing each other. The two mecha still maintained their attack stances, each holding their respective weapons ...


    "Is it a draw?" The spectators could not tell. They all began discussing with the people around them, trying to figure out the result of thatst exchange. Unfortunately, the people around them were simrly in the dark. Equally confused, they never managed to find a proper answer.


    "Ah, they¡¯re moving!" Someone yelled out, drawing everyone¡¯s attention back to the battlefield.


    Ling Lan could be seen slowly sliding the giant sword in her hand back into the sheath slot on her mecha¡¯s back. With an audible ¡¯click¡¯, the giant sword slid back into ce.


    Following this sound, Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha which had been suspended in the air, still and silent, suddenly broke apart ... only then did the audience see that Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha had actually been forcibly split in half, and the split even epassed Qiao Ting¡¯s cockpit.


    It turned out that, when the two mecha had attacked as they passed each other, Ling Lan had instantly split apart Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha and its cockpit, defeating Qiao Ting in one blow without giving him any chance to fight back.


    "Thunder King Qiao Ting, not much after all!" Ling Lanmented coldly. She turned her head around to watch dispassionately as Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha broke apart to fall to the ground.


    This image was etched into everyone¡¯s minds ¡ª a ck mecha with its back to the crowd, hovering in the air. Its head was turned around slightly, and the faint blue light shining from the mecha¡¯s eyes seemed to look down at everyone, announcing that the new king had arrived.


    "Beep!" All the spectating students received this notification alert from the mainframe. It officially dered the end of the match, for Leiting¡¯s headcount of remaining members had changed from 1 to 0.


    The entire venue exploded with noise. This reality sent the entire academy into a frenzy ¡ª the number one of the military academy, the one and only ace operator Qiao Ting, had really been defeated. And the one who had defeated him was actually a junior cadet who had just entered their second year.


    The mainframe quickly announced that the Lingtian Mecha n had obtained the victory of this challenge match. When the members of the Lingtian Mecha n saw this result, they all leapt up in exhration. Some of them were even moved to tears. Before the big fight, none of them had dared to imagine that they would really be able to obtain victory. The only reason they had not chosen to withdraw from the n was that they did not want to submit to an older faction, just as it had been back during their days at the Central Scout Academy, when they had rather instigate a grand armed melee than submit to the 10th graders.


    "Your juniors performed very well ..." In another viewing room, someone said to another, "Unfortunately, they established a new mecha n. If they had joined the Dwotong faction, the position of number one faction would have been at our fingertips." These people were part of Zhang Jing-an¡¯s group, part of the number four faction in the military academy, the Dwotong Mecha n 1 .


    Zhang Jing-an huffed coldly at the other¡¯s words and said, "Stop dreaming. That person, Ling Lan, cannot be taken down by anyone." In the past, Zhang Jing-an had tried, only to be crushed so badly by the other that he had no face to continue staying at the Doha Central Scout Academy. He had only been able to slink away to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to lick his wounds. Now, the number one of the military academy, Qiao Ting, had also wanted to bring Ling Lan to heel, and he had likewise been beaten so badly by the other that he had lost all direction ...


    "An instant kill! Qiao Ting has disgraced himself big time this time." Recalling the past, Zhang Jing-an indeed felt very humiliated. However, inparison to the current Qiao Ting, he felt his experience was really nothing after all, and so his mood improved considerably.


    "Yes, Qiao Ting can be said to have thoroughly flipped his boat in the gutter this time. He¡¯s lost all the honour and prestige he had worked so hard to build up these past four years." The person beside him agreed wholeheartedly. His eyes did not hide any of his own ambition. "Perhaps, this will be our chance ..."


    "Don¡¯t act rashly. Tianji and Wuji still haven¡¯t acted. Our Dwotong should not stick our necks out first," said Zhang Jing-an in warning. He did not want to pit himself against Ling Lan once again; that fellow is really too unfathomable ...


    Unfortunately, the other person did not seem to take Zhang Jing-an¡¯s words seriously. Seeing this, Zhang Jing-an¡¯s mouth twitched, but he held himself back in the end and did not say anything more to dissuade the other.


    Zhang Jing-an did not continue to dissuade the other because he was about to apply for enlistment with the army divisions, so he had already officially stepped down as the regimentmander of the Dwotong Mecha n. The newly appointed regimentmander was not from the Doha Central Scout Academy, and so he did not know Ling Lan¡¯s true capabilities. No matter how formidable he painted Ling Lan to be, the other would not believe him. As such, he might as well let the other experience Ling Lan¡¯s fearsomeness for himself ¡ª that would be much more persuasive.


    Everyone was excited over Lingtian¡¯s upset win over Leiting, and they were especially filled with envy-jealousy-hate when it came to Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander, Ling Lan ... because Ling Lan was the one who had dislodged the undefeated legend from his high horse, and on top of that, he had aplished a one-hit kill on Qiao Ting. This was an unrealizable dream for all of the cadets, but Ling Lan had realized it.


    "Is Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander really very strong?" This was the question in all the cadets¡¯ hearts. If he was not strong, then how had he managed to kill the half-crippled Thunder King in one second? Even half-crippled, the Thunder King was still the Thunder King ...


    Right then, the VIP viewing room was alreadypletely silent. Lingtian¡¯s sessful reversal made the expressions of the administrators turn very sour. If they had known this would be the oue, they would not have requested for the principal to make this an open match. This way, they might still have used their authority to dere this match null and void, but everything was irrefutable now.


    After all, Qiao Ting¡¯s defeat had been before the eyes of all the cadets; the oue could no longer be changed. Their initial ns were nowpletely dashed. Besides that, Qiao Ting, whom they had carefully cultivated over the past four years, had utterly lost his value due to this defeat. What was even more worrying was that this loss had caused Leiting to lose their title as number one faction of the military academy. Three monthster, the Federation would be holding the All Federation Military Academy Grand Mecha Tournament. If they really sent the Lingtian Mecha n which had gained the position of number one faction by defeating Leiting here today to represent the academy, would this cause the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to be the bottomst school, thus bing theughingstock of the entire Federation?


    The administrators were distraught at the very thought ¡ª they very quickly gathered together once more to begin discussing how they would resolve this issue. In the end, they decided they would let Tianji and Wuji, part of the top three factions, to take turns to challenge the Lingtian Mecha n within these three months, and strive to pull the Lingtian Mecha n down from that top spot.


    This fight had pretty much exposed the full strength of the Lingtian Mecha n. If Qiao Ting had not been overconfident and had sent a few more special-ss operators onto the field, the oue might have been different ... at this thought, the administrators were extremely upset, bing displeased with Qiao Ting¡¯s arrogance and overconfidence.


    The only two who were not part of the plotting were Tang Yu and the principal ¡ª they were currently deeply stunned. In those final moments of the match, they had discovered a secret. In that final sh between Ling Lan and Qiao Ting, everyone had been fooled by the outer appearance of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha. They believed that Qiao Ting had only been killed instantly by Ling Lan¡¯s special-ss mecha because Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha had been too severely damaged.


    However, all of this could not deceive the keen eyes of these two people. The two of them shared a nce, a look in their eyes that only the two of them understood. Everything that Ling Lan disyed in that moment where she had killed Qiao Ting proved that the mecha she was operating could not be a special-ss mecha. Whether it was in terms of explosive power or in terms of attack force, special-ss mecha could never achieve those stats.


    Although special-ss mecha and ace mecha seemed to just be one level apart, in truth, the difference between all aspects of performance of the two level of mecha was like heaven and earth. Truth be told, even the most beat up ace mecha could not have been destroyed instantly by a special-ss mecha. If ace mecha could be so easily defeated and destroyed, it would not have be the king of the battlefield.


    To be able to achieve a one-hit kill against an ace mecha, only another ace mecha could do so. As such, without a doubt, Lingtian No.1, that is, the mecha Ling Lan was operating, was definitely no special-ss mecha but a true ace mecha.


    The principal and Tang Yu had discovered Ling Lan¡¯s secret, but they both decided in unnned unison to keep silent. They were well aware of the parable of how the tallest tree in the forest would be destroyed ¡ª in order to protect this aberrant talent, they must bury the truth of the matter deep in their hearts.


    "Tang Yu, that kid Ling Lan, I¡¯ll leave him to you," said the principal solemnly to Tang Yu. In the military academy, the only one he could trustpletely was Tang Yu.


    Tang Yu nodded gravely back and said, "Understood, principal. I will protect him well." Advancing to ace operator level in his second year ... Tang Yu knew that as soon as this news got out, it was not impossible for another enemy nation air invasion to be drawn to the school. The Federation¡¯s nemeses would never allow another Ling Xiao to appear in the Federation.

 Chapter 424: You Are Destined to Be My Stepping Stone!

    Chapter 424: You Are Destined to Be My Stepping Stone!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    In the Leiting Mecha n¡¯s headquarters, there were currently quite a few people morosely gathering up their things. They all needed to move out of this ce by 2 p.m. this afternoon.


    ording to the academy¡¯s duel regtions, if a lower level mecha n managed a reversal in a challenge duel, all the benefits the higher level mecha n enjoyed would be transferred to the winning mecha n. Therefore, this mecha n headquarters, thergest in the military academy which represented the number one faction, would no longer belong to the Leiting Mecha n but would officially be the headquarters of the Lingtian Mecha n.


    To that effect, the time given to the Leiting Mecha n to pack up and leave was just three days, and today was precisely the third day.


    Very soon, the time was close to 2 p.m. Many of the already packed n members were about to leave when one Leiting member, hefting his things up in his arms, swept a look around this ce they had spent so many years in, and a crestfallen expression appeared on his face as he sighed and said, "Who¡¯d have expected that we would one day leave this ce in disgrace? I always thought that this would always be the ce for us to grow before we graduate from the military academy."


    At his words, hispanion by his side could not hide his bitter smile as he said, "Yes, our Leiting has always been the strongest mecha n in the academy all these years, standing proud above the rest ... sadly, we actually lost in a situation where we most could not afford to lose. The decision of the regimentmander this time ..." At this point, he suddenly mmed up, merely shaking his head. In fact, he was extremely dissatisfied with the arrangements of the regimentmander this time. He felt that Regiment Commander Qiao Ting had been too reckless in his overconfidence. If the Leiting Mecha n had sent out all of their best elites, how could their Leiting have lost? Then, they would not have had to leave the headquarters so pathetically today.


    "The regimentmander was indeed rather rash this time." Another member by their side could not help butment when he overheard their conversation. If Qiao Ting had not been the one and only ace operator in the academy and thus had great repute within the Leiting Mecha n, perhaps his misstep and defeat this time would have been enough for his subordinates to impeach him.


    "Shh, don¡¯t say anymore. The people from Lingtian are here." Another member leaving together with them saw that there were people entering from the main doors now and quickly spoke up to warn them to mind their words.


    His reminder silenced everyone instantly. Everyone¡¯s attention turned towards the main doors to focus on the group of youths stepping into the hall right at that moment.


    There were about 15 to 16 of them, and most of them had excited smiles on their faces. It was clear to see that these hot-blooded youths were overjoyed and somewhat worked up over springing straight up to be the strongest faction of the academy in one bound. These half-grown youngsters were still rather immature and unpolished ¡ª they had not learned yet how to hide their emotions well. These radiant smiles were frankly rather irritating to the eyes of the Leiting members who had yet to leave the headquarters; animosity quickly brewed within their gazes.


    "Hmph, what a bunch of petty victors. Hopefully they won¡¯t be slinking out of here in shame in just a month." A fiery-tempered Leiting member could not help but sneer at this time.


    The military academy had ruled before that every mecha n would have the right to challenge another mecha n once per year, and any mecha n could only be challenged once a month. This year, Leiting had already used up their challenge for this vengeance match, so they had no more chances. However, the members of Leiting believed that the other factions in the academy definitely would not give up this opportunity to be the first faction. A monthter, there would inevitably be another mecha n which would challenge Lingtian ¡ª it was just unclear which of the remaining three mecha ns of the top four, Tianji, Wuji, or Dwotong, would be the first to challenge Lingtian.


    "Perhaps, they will create the record for shortest tenure as the number one faction in the academy," said another Leiting member mockingly. His words made many of the other Leiting members¡¯ lips curl up in disdainful smirks. They had already forgotten that the ones who had pulled them off their divine pedestal was precisely this Lingtian Mecha n they were so disdainful of.


    The youths at the door did not care at all about the hostile stares. Despite their excitement, their gazes filled with the eagerness to explore their new headquarters, they did not continue to move forwards. Instead, they stopped at the door, looking around from time to time, as if waiting for someone.


    One of the most eye-catching was an iparably beautiful teenager. Each move and each smile of that teen were unequivocally breath-taking ¡ª even though the Leiting people were filled with animosity towards the Lingtian people, they could not deny that they had indeed been mesmerized by the youth¡¯s beauty. If they had not known that all students epted by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had to be male, there would certainly be a significant number of people who would be wondering right now whether the youth was a crossdressing female. Although the chest area was very t, in this militaristic society right now, it was not umon for girls to be less endowed in this respect.


    Suddenly, that lovely youth¡¯s subtle smile bloomed into arge smile, a smile so radiant that it dazzled the senses, causing everyone present to instantly lose themselves in it for a moment ...


    "Boss!" A warm voice apanied by a warm smile ¡ª many of the Leiting boys dearly wished that this cry was for them.


    But very quickly, everyone was dealt a cold awakening. An austere youth stepped through the doors of the number one faction under the respectful gazes of the other Lingtian youths toe into the main hall. As soon as he entered the hall, the ambient temperature in the room instantly plunged to freezing point.


    "Boss!" When the Lingtian youths saw this austere youth, they instantly greeted him with respectful expressions.


    The cold-faced youth swept an icy gaze over them and then nodded slowly in acknowledgement. This action appeared somewhat perfunctory, but the youths did not seem to feel that way. Rather, their uptight expressions actually rxed considerably following the youth¡¯s actions.


    This was the response they expected from their boss ¡ª if the expression or motion had been any different, they might perhaps be terrified, wondering whether they had done something wrong and if their boss was about to deal with them.


    Those Leiting members who had initially stared at the Lingtian group with contempt instantly tucked away the sneers on their faces at the entrance of this person. They had not forgotten that it was this person who had unseated their Thunder King from his throne.


    That¡¯s right, this frigid teenager was our main protagonist Ling Lan. She was here today to ept the handover of the number one faction¡¯s headquarters. As soon as the transfer was done, the Lingtian Mecha n would officially be the number one faction of the military academy. Of course, to secure this position was not easy ¡ª they would have to ept and weather the consecutive challenges of the other factions in the academy in the subsequent few months, but what Ling Lan feared least was challenge.


    Three people trailed behind Ling Lan; they were the three other regimentmanders of the Lingtian Mecha n, Qi Long, Wu Jiong, and Li Yingjie.


    Wu Jiong followed Ling Lan into the hall and took a look around. Not seeing the person he was looking for, he quickly stepped forward toe up to Ling Lan¡¯s side and said with a soft chuckle, "Boss Lan, Qiao Ting isn¡¯t here yet." Wu Jiong wondered if Qiao Ting was too embarrassed toe earlier.


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked. "When 2 o¡¯clockes, he will definitely appear." The academy would not permit its rules to be broken ¡ª no matter how much Qiao Ting resisted, he would stille to carry out this responsibility at that final moment.


    "When Qiao Ting challenged us, he must never have imagined this moment. He¡¯s definitely too embarrassed toe early, hahaha ..." Li Yingjie heard the conversation between Wu Jiong and Ling Lan, and he chimed in with smugughter.


    In contrast to Wu Jiong¡¯s and Ling Lan¡¯s restrained manner, Li Yingjie¡¯s voice was obviously much louder. Those Leiting members who had yet to leave the hall were all enraged by his arrogance ¡ª some of them even looked about to charge over to punch him, but they were held back by theirpanions. All of a sudden, the atmosphere of the entire hall was tense.


    Ling Lan and Wu Jiong sweatdropped. This Li Yingjie was an absolute troublemaker ¡ª they were here to ept the transfer of the headquarters and not to instigate a fight ...


    Trailing behind themzily, Qi Long sensed the sudden shift in the hall¡¯s atmosphere and his spirits rallied instantly. He looked around with lively eyes, his earlier indolencepletely swept away. He licked his lips and said excitedly, "Boss, is there going to be a fight?"


    Bored as he was, he had not paid any attention to Ling Lan and the others¡¯ conversations and so did not really know what was going on. However, his beast-like instinct had alerted him to the potential of a fight.


    Wu Jiong could no longer maintain his initially serious expression at Qi Long¡¯s words. His facial muscles twitched, and he sent a intive gaze at Ling Lan, obviouslyining to Ling Lan for assigning him two such offbeat partners ...


    Whether it was with the New Cadet Regiment back then or the Lingtian Mecha n now, Ling Lan had always held aissez-faire attitude as a general. All n internal affairs were handled by Wu Jiong, Qi Long, and Li Yingjie. Unfortunately, the haughty Li Yingjie would stir up some trouble every so often, and when he could not settle the matter himself, Wu Jiong and Qi Long would be dragged in as well to help him clean up the mess. On the other hand, although Qi Long did not cause as much trouble as Li Yingjie did, he was perpetually at thebat arena. To ask him to handle the affairs of the faction ... fine, to pry him out of thebat arena was even harder than directly asking Boss Lan for help in Wu Jiong¡¯s opinion.


    Then again, to ask Boss Lan for help ... Wu Jiong felt that he really had no way of withstanding that piercing gaze capable of freezing a person to death. Every time he had no other choice but to seek Boss Lan out to resolve a problem, Wu Jiong felt that his lifespan had been reduced by at least five years. So that he did not die before his time, he decided that it was better for him to just put in the extra effort himself.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s mournful gaze was resolutely ignored by Ling Lan. She pretended that she did not know anything ¡ª she would not step into this stinking puddle of water 1 .


    Right at that moment, the elevator at the end of the hall suddenly dinged. The elevator doors opened, and a handsome youth with chiselled features appeared before the crowd. His initially domineering and confident brow now carried a touch of gloom, his entire being seeming somewhat diminished. He was the present regimentmander of Leiting, Qiao Ting.


    When he saw Ling Lan standing by the doors, his gaze flickered and he hesitated for a moment. But he quickly shook it off and strode out of the elevator toe before Ling Lan.


    The two of them faced each other. Even though Ling Lan was half a head shorter than Qiao Ting, she did not lose to the other in terms of force of presence. Rather, the sharp chill surrounding Ling Lan was even more evident through the encounter ¡ª for a brief moment, the other people there even had the impression that the Thunder King was being suppressed by Ling Lan.


    At this sight, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes narrowed. Her already cold and expressionless face became even more forbidding. Those who understood Ling Lan well would know that this was an indication that Ling Lan had be even more serious and vignt.


    The two youths did not say anything, merely staring at each other in silence for one to two minutes. The atmosphere in the entire hall was unbelievably heavy ¡ª some people with lower tolerance found their bodies beginning to tremble, pressed so far by the two¡¯s auras that they were on the verge of breaking down.


    Just when everyone thought that the two youths would continue their silent confrontation indefinitely, Qiao Ting spoke up first. "You havee." Perhaps only Qiao Ting knew the full meaning behind these simple three words.


    The moment Qiao Ting opened his mouth to speak, the heavy atmosphere was swept away. Those who were on the brink of copse due to the pressure from the two youths abruptly felt the pressure ease and were revived.


    "I havee," replied Ling Lan, likewise three words in return. Perhaps only Ling Lan herself understood the true meaning behind these three words as well.


    Qiao Ting raised his eyebrows slightly at her words and said calmly, "Follow me." Having said that, he turned to leave, unconcerned whether Ling Lan and the rest could keep up.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s attitude made the expressions of the Lingtian members change. Rage rose in many of their eyes, but all of this died away under Ling Lan¡¯s cool gaze. Everyone could read the meaning in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes ¡ª she was telling all of them to be quiet and to let her handle this.


    After settling her faction members with her gaze, Ling Lan walked after Qiao Ting with steady footsteps.


    The two of them entered the elevator and when the elevator doors closed, everyone left behind released a sigh of relief in unnned unison. Qiao Ting and Ling Lan¡¯s forces of presence were just too powerful ¡ª being in the same room with them was really too stressful.


    ********


    In the elevator, the two youths continued to be silent. Ling Lan looked at the shing numbers of the elevator, waiting for the final floor they would reach. Right at this moment, Qiao Ting spoke up unexpectedly, "Next year, I will not lose again."


    Ling Lan nced over at him in surprise, but before she could say anything, the elevator dinged and they had arrived at their destination floor.


    Qiao Ting did not require Ling Lan to respond to his statement; he had only wanted to tell Ling Lan his determination. When the elevator doors opened, Qiao Ting immediately walked out of the elevator.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan quirked an eyebrow. She had not expected that Qiao Ting would actually think to fight her again in the academy. Although the military academy was a six-year system, all cadets would typically leave the academy in their final year. They would either enter an army division for practical training, or sign up for an adventuring group to participate in interster expeditions to gain practical experience ¡ª almost no one would continue to remain at the military academy. These words of Qiao Ting was clearly intended to tell Ling Lan that, next year, he would still be at the military academy to fight her again.


    Ling Lan did not understand why Qiao Ting would want to do this. She seemed to remember that Qiao Ting had already caught the Third Marshal¡¯s eye and would be joining the Third Division this year. It went without question that early admittance into an army division would be extremely beneficial; to Qiao Ting¡¯s future development. Now, in order to fight her again, Qiao Ting was actually nning to dy his enlistment ... was this truly necessary?


    Ling Lan was rather puzzled, but she did not pause her footsteps. Following closely behind Qiao Ting, they soon arrived at the central control room of the building. Qiao Ting pushed the door open, and Ling Lan saw that there was one other Leiting member still seated in front of a control panel in the central control room.


    "Regiment Commander, you¡¯re here." When that person saw Qiao Ting, he immediately leapt to his feet. Catching sight of Ling Lan standing behind Qiao Ting, his eyes turned dim, and there was even a trace of indignation contained within them.


    It looked like the people of Leiting still felt resentful that their headquarters had been taken by Lingtian. They were not convinced of their defeat, believing that their regimentmander had just taken the enemy too lightly. Along with other misceneous reasons, Lingtian had just had the luck of the devil that day.


    Qiao Ting was well aware of this sentiment in his people. In fact, he too was unconvinced by his loss. However, a defeat was a defeat ¡ª Leiting¡¯s loss of the title of number one faction had already be fact and was not something they could shy away from. "Prepare transferral procedures."


    That person¡¯s face stiffened, and with a trace of unwillingness, he once again sat back before the control panel and began the operations to execute the transferral procedures.


    Soon, Qiao Ting had wiped all the fingerprints belonging to the current regimentmander of the mecha n from the headquarters¡¯ systems. After Ling Lan¡¯s fingerprints were sessfully input into the system, the new owner of the headquarters would be the Lingtian Mecha n.


    Watching as the optical supeputer dered thepletion of the procedure, Qiao Ting zoned out for the first time. He quickly got a hold of himself, however, and turned his head to say to Ling Lan, "Regiment Commander Ling, I hope that you will be able to hold onto this ce for this year. Don¡¯t make me have to fight an extra challenge." Clearly, Qiao Ting did not think much of the Lingtian Mecha n.


    Ling Lan snapped her head around, her gaze piercing straight through Qiao Ting as she answered coldly, "Don¡¯t worry. Before I graduate, this ce will only belong to the Lingtian Mecha n. No other mecha n will be able to touch it." Ling Lan absolutely would not allow anyone to look down on herpanions or her faction. Her gaze pressed down on Qiao Ting as she said with full conviction, "I, Ling Lan, will be waiting for your challenge!"


    Ling Lan¡¯s attitude was clearly telling Qiao Ting that, she, as the winner, was king, while Qiao Ting, as the loser, would be the challenger in a year¡¯s time.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words and her overbearing aura whipped up the hate in Qiao Ting¡¯s heart. He clenched his fists tightly, his fingers almost breaking the skin of his palms ...


    Ling Lan did not seem to be satisfied, for she continued to bear down on Qiao Ting, saying, "This academy has only one king, and that is I, Ling Lan. Three days ago, you lost to me, and in future, you also will not win. I will use the truth to tell you that you are destined to be my stepping stone."


    When the words ¡¯stepping stone¡¯ were uttered, Qiao Ting could no longer tolerate the situation. He threw an angry punch at Ling Lan.


    With a ¡¯smack¡¯, Ling Lan stopped Qiao Ting¡¯s fist with an open palm. Two unseen forces collided fiercely, sending the Leiting member seated at the control panel flying outwards to crash into the floor.


    That member climbed up with difficulty, a trickle of blood flowing down from the corner of his lips. He stared in horror at the two people still connected by a palm and a fist. His physical skills were already at the peak stage of Refinement, yet he had still been sent flying and had suffered some minor internal injury just from being in the range of the aftershock of the two hidden forces at y. Just how strong were these two¡¯s physical skills?!

 Chapter 425: Domain!

    Chapter 425: Domain!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Peak top-level Qi-Jin!" Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes glinted with a keen light. A year ago, he had already known about Ling Lan¡¯s physical skills stage 1 . Back then, he was not confident whether he could beat Ling Lan in physical skills, but now, he had a good fighting chance.


    "I¡¯ve said that you will never ever win!" A smirk appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s lips. She had barely finished speaking when she unleashed her full force of presence, and a powerful and chilly pressure instantly nketed the entire control room. Qiao Ting felt the temperature of the central control room dropping drastically; an inescapable chill invaded his heart, and he felt as if his four limbs were about to be frozen stiff.


    It was then that he saw a thinyer of ice actually appear on his fist touching Ling Lan¡¯s palm, and the ice was slowly winding its way up his arm ...


    Seeing this, Qiao Ting frowned and he did not hesitate to unleash his own force of presence as well, trying to prevent thatyer of ice on his fist from spreading any further. However, he soon found that when his force of presence encountered the ice, it seemed to sink like a stone into the ocean, disappearingpletely without a trace.


    Why wasn¡¯t it working? A notion shed through Qiao Ting¡¯s mind. His expression changed drastically and he shouted in disbelief, "Domain? That¡¯s impossible!"


    Qiao Ting could not be med for his disbelief ¡ª insight alone was not enough for one to be a Domain master. Even the most prodigious talent would need to umte countless years of actual battle experience and endure many trials and tribtions before they might grasp the profound secrets of Domain by sheer serendipity, to finally join the ranks of these top-ss experts. In over several hundred thousand years of Huaxian history, there had never been anyone who managed to enter the stage of Domain below the age of thirty. No matter how talented Ling Lan was, how aberrant, without the umtion of real and substantial experience, he should not have been able to enter that enviable realm at the young age of seventeen. Even Qiao Ting himself who had just entered the peak of Qi-Jin would not dare to im that he would be able to enter that realm ten yearster ...


    Qiao Ting did not know then that although Ling Lan appeared to only be 17 years old, due to the learning space, she had already lived through multiple hardships and had been through countless massacres. The experience she had umted through all that was definitely no less than several decades of an average person¡¯s life.


    Seeing the shock on Qiao Ting¡¯s face, a trace of pity appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. She said softly, "Anything that is impossible will be possible when I¡¯m involved."


    Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes narrowed at her words. He understood her meaning ¡ª his spection was actually confirmed to be fact. An unnameable emotion rose in his heart, and Qiao Ting was left dumbstruck for a long while.


    But then, Ling Lan¡¯s next words jolted him back to awareness. "You should feel blessed, because you are the first person to experience my Domain!"


    "Domain, activate!" Ling Lan was doing this on purpose. The activation of one¡¯s Domain could be done silently, but Ling Lan was intentionally using a verbalmand to deal Qiao Ting another blow. When she had first met Qiao Ting earlier, his reserve and low profile had raised gs in Ling Lan¡¯s mind.


    Qiao Ting was a prodigy ¡ª Ling Lan knew very well that if she did not have the learning space and the careful guidance of the learning space¡¯s instructors, without that cheat code, her current abilities would definitely not be at Qiao Ting¡¯s level. This kind of peerless prodigy with talent, skill, and diligence had unfortunately be her opponent. And now, he had learned forbearance and knew how to endure for the sake of future vengeance. Ling Lan knew this was not a good thing just thinking about it. If the other was given ample time to grow, when he came after her again in the future, it would be a tragedy waiting to happen.


    Ling Lan was well aware that to live on securely, she would need to nip this threat in the bud. Therefore, Ling Lan had turned on the aggression, thinking topletely curb Qiao Ting here. She wanted to make it so that Qiao Ting would be gued by psychological demons and would no longer have the courage to challenge her again!


    Following this cry of Ling Lan¡¯s, Qiao Ting felt as if he had been encased in ice. He even had the illusion that his blood had be frozen in his veins!


    "No, I cannot be frozen in ce. I want to move, I have to move!" Qiao Ting was a prideful person ¡ª how could he so easily bow down and submit? He was screaming internally as he forced his arm back strenuously through sheer willpower ...


    Looking at the contorted expression of Qiao Ting who still refused to submit despite the toll on his body, a trace of acknowledgement shed across Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. Although Qiao Ting was too forceful and overbearing, he still had the integrity of a Huaxian soldier embedded in his bones ... Ling Lan found this kind of Qiao Ting admirable. Her initial ns of crushing the other changed instantly ¡ª she pulled back slightly on the force of her Domain, letting Qiao Ting sessfully pull his fist away from her palm.


    "Wah ..." Although Ling Lan had eased up on the strength of her Domain, allowing Qiao Ting to pull back his fist, the gap between Domain and Qi-Jin was just too wide. In order to resist the binding power of Ling Lan¡¯s Domain, Qiao Ting had still exhausted too much of his own strength, causing himself to take internal damage. He could not stop himself from spewing out a mouthful of blood.


    Seeing Qiao Ting slip out of her control with his own strength, Ling Lan quickly retracted her Domain and then stared at the other with cold eyes. Since Ling Lan had decided to show the other some mercy, she did not press any further.


    After escaping from the restriction of Ling Lan¡¯s Domain, Qiao Ting stumbled back several steps. Perhaps the binding force had disappeared too abruptly ¡ª Qiao Ting was not fully prepared; his retreating footsteps appeared rather unsteady. After falling back four to five steps, Qiao Ting found his footing and pressed his right hand lightly to his chest. He tolerated the intense pain shooting through his body, his gaze bing dull, with even a trace of despair in them ...


    Could it be that this world truly had such an aberrant existence? An unmatched prodigy who had reached Domain at 17 years old ... could he really defeat him? Doubt shed through his heart, but very soon, Qiao Ting had regained hisposure. He thought of how this was not the Huaxia of old, when physical skills were dominant ¡ª it was now the era of mecha dominance, and he was the only fourth-year cadet to have advanced to ace operator, a feat which wasparable to that of the Huaxian legend Ling Xiao. Even if Ling Lan was abnormally gifted in physical skills, in terms of mecha, he, Qiao Ting, was still the strongest one!


    Qiao Ting¡¯s heart settled and the light in his eyes was rekindled. Then, he suddenly thought of how Ling Lan was already a special-ss operator ¡ª it was hard to be sure whether the other would not advance to ace in two years. At this thought, Qiao Ting was even more apprehensive of Ling Lan, and the gaze he directed at the other became dark and inscrutable.


    Ling Lan may not have fullyprehended Qiao Ting¡¯s entire thought process, but she still had a pretty good guess. It was not to say that Ling Lan was good at reasoning and deduction; rather, Little Four had applied 360-degree monitoring on Qiao Ting, capturing every single change in his expression without errors. Furthermore, Little Four had many expert advisers behind him (Instructor Number Five was the primary force) ¡ª very quickly, they had managed to deduce Qiao Ting¡¯s true thoughts via analysis, and Little Four had then conveyed these results to his boss. Of course, Little Four very shamelessly took credit for all of the work without revealing that he had other advisers behind him.


    Seeing Qiao Ting regain his confidence, Ling Lan sighed mentally, unsure whether to be relieved or concerned. Ling Lan was appreciative of Qiao Ting¡¯s resilience. After some thought, she said, "In future, if you¡¯re ready, you cane find me at any time."


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s tone and expression were still endlessly cold, Qiao Ting could still sense that Ling Lan was not being as overbearing as he had been at the start. Qiao Ting¡¯s heart was aplex myriad of emotions at this realisation. It was unexpected that there woulde a time when he, Qiao Ting, would be oppressed by another ... was this karma for when he had been the oppressor?


    Qiao Ting chuckled dryly but quickly rallied himself. He looked at the Leiting member lurking in a corner and said, "Let¡¯s go!"


    That member hurriedly ran over, his expression one of great relief at being spared. Earlier, when Ling Lan had unfurled her Domain, even though he had not been within the range of the Domain, he had still felt a destructive wave of energy. He had almost thought he would die here ... now, hearing that his regimentmander was going to lead him away, he rushed over quickly, not daring to tarry. That speed was as if there were evil ghouls on his tail ¡ª in the blink of an eye, he had run out of the central control room.


    Before Qiao Ting left, he nced one more time at Ling Lan, his gaze extremelyplicated ... after cooling down, he realised that Ling Lan had shown mercy just moments back.


    Under Qiao Ting¡¯s lead, the Leiting members quickly departed from the headquarters. Meanwhile, the already ready Lingtian members surged into the headquarters representing the number one faction as soon as the Leiting people left. And the namete hanging high over the door also changed from Leiting to Lingtian at this moment!


    "Qiao Ting ..." Li Lanfeng stared at Qiao Ting¡¯s departing figure, his brow furrowed. He hade a littlete ¡ª he had only arrived in time to see Qiao Ting leading his people away. Apprehensive of Qiao Ting all this while, Li Lanfeng paid a lot of attention to every move of Qiao Ting¡¯s. It could be said that he understood the other very well.


    Although he had only caught a nce of the other, the sensitive Li Lanfeng had still sensed the change in the other. How should he put it? The past Qiao Ting was extremely imperious and domineering, prideful and self-centred ¡ª his entire being shone so brightly that others did not dare look straight at him. Though this kind of person would draw the adoration of some people who worshipped strength, it would also incur the dislike or even revulsion of some others. Although Qiao Ting had been very strong all this while and had bested everyone by a head, Li Lanfeng had not felt that Qiao Ting was really unassable. It was notpletely impossible if he wanted to oppose the other. However, the Qiao Ting who had just left ... although his force of presence was as strong as ever, it was no longer so keen and sharp that it would irritate others. It seemed as if he had learned how to temper it ...


    Carrying some bit of worry, Li Lanfeng arrived at the office resting room of the regimentmander of the mecha n, only to find Ling Lan standing before a floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the scenery of the military academy.


    "Rabbit, what are you looking at?" When it was just the two of them, Li Lanfeng would intimately call Ling Lan ¡¯rabbit¡¯. This made him feel closer to Ling Lan. It could not be denied that Li Lanfeng had his own selfish wish. He did not want to just be a normal member of Ling Lan¡¯s battle n, so he constantly tried to highlight the uniqueness of his existence before Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan did not answer, merely staring coldly at the scene below. Li Lanfeng walked over and followed the line of her sight and saw that she was actually looking at Thunder King Qiao Ting. Even though Qiao Ting had led his men away from the headquarters of the number one faction, they were now standing at a hover car stop several hundred metres away and was facing off against another group.


    "Those are the vice regimentmanders of the Leiting Mecha n," Li Lanfeng thought that Ling Lan might not know what was going on, so he took the initiative to exin.


    In fact, Ling Lan had long known who those people were. From the very moment she set eyes on them, Little Four had already reported the details of these few people.

 Chapter 426: The Possibility of Collaboration?

    Chapter 426: The Possibility of Coboration?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyesight was very good; he could see how worked up and indignant those people were from here. Li Lanfeng could not help butugh at their expressions. "It looks like the Thunder King won¡¯t be having an easy time of it for the near future. His subordinates have started to grow some ulterior motives."


    "Hn." The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked. Seeing her opponent in trouble, she was undoubtedly in a good mood, and so deigned to give Li Lanfeng a verbal response.


    "This is also a result of him being too overbearing in the past, leaving no room for dissent. So, as soon as he tripped up, the dissatisfaction of all those he had oppressed is breaking out now." Li Lanfeng was rather gleeful at the other¡¯s misfortune. With a half-smile, he peered at Ling Lan and said, "I had originally thought it would be a long time before I could see the Thunder King so down on his luck. Who would have guessed that that wish would be realized so soon?"


    Hearing Li Lanfeng¡¯s somewhat loaded words, Ling Lan cast an assessing nce at him and said with some realisation, "Leopard, you hate the Thunder King?"


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes narrowed and he was silent for several seconds before saying with a soft sigh, "Yes, I hate him. Such a proud elite. Both in terms of talent and physique, he is so outstanding that it¡¯s sickening. No matter how hard I work, I¡¯ll never be able to chase up to him ..." At this point, Li Lanfeng seemed to lose focus a little. All the reasons he had mentioned were all just surface reasons ¡ª Li Lanfeng had no idea how to broach the true reason for his hatred, that seemingly absurd reason that even he could hardly believe in ...


    Picking up on the displeasure in Li Lanfeng¡¯s tone, Ling Lan thought about how Li Lanfeng had just pushed his body out of the danger zone, and she was instantly filled with understanding. She recalled how she could not help her jealousy in her previous life whenever she saw someone else with a strong and healthy body ¡ª back then, she had even cursed the heavens and hated the people around her at times. Why could they possess healthy bodies and spirits while she could only lie there in bed every day, grappling with death?


    Perhaps out of sympathy for having shared the same affliction, or perhaps because she could empathize, Ling Lan felt that she could understand Li Lanfeng¡¯splicated psychological state at this moment. Thus, she patted Li Lanfeng¡¯s shoulder consolingly and said firmly, "I believe that, in a few more years, you will definitely not be weaker than him, and you may even be stronger."


    Ling Lan¡¯s actions and the sincerity and conviction behind her words warmed Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart. This was probably what the books called a bosom friend, right? Someone who would trust him without having a reason to, who would stand unwaveringly by his side no matter what happened ... Li Lanfeng felt heat run through his entire body ¡ª at this moment, the usual tendrils of cold air emanating from Ling Lan felt so refreshing to Li Lanfeng.


    Ling Lan cast a dubious nce at Li Lanfeng, unsure why the other¡¯s ears had suddenly flushed so red. She started thinking back on what she had said ¡ª could it be that he had be so moved and excited by her encouragement?


    It looked like the leopard was someone who liked to hear kind words of encouragement. She needed to note this down ¡ª it might be a good way to spur the leopard forwards in future. Ling Lan stroked her jaw as she thought about this.


    Li Lanfeng was still very good at controlling his emotions; he calmed down again very soon. When he saw Ling Lan staring at the Thunder King and stroking her jaw thoughtfully, an idea sparked in his mind. Thinking of the change he had sensed in the Thunder King, he said with confidence, "Rabbit, are you staring at the Thunder King because you¡¯ve also noticed the change in him?"


    Thunder King? Ling Lan was just nning how she could heap some tough training on Li Lanfeng in the uing period of time to raise his physical constitution even more as much as possible when she registered what Li Lanfeng asked, and her heart clenched in shock ... cough, cough, always thinking about how she could torture her friends ¡ª it was rather inhumane of her no matter how she looked at it!


    Ling Lan was afraid her dark intentions would be discovered by Li Lanfeng, so she quickly gathered up her thoughts. Switching tracks smoothly into Li Lanfeng¡¯s topic, she replied, "Hn,pared to three days ago, he is indeed a little different now."


    Since the topic of conversation had turned to the Thunder King, Ling Lan began to seriously recall some of the things which had happened during the fight with him. A new idea suddenly appeared in her mind; eyes glittering, Ling Lan asked Li Lanfeng seriously, "Leopard, setting aside your subjective opinions for now, objectively speaking, what is Qiao Ting like?"


    Li Lanfeng frowned at her question, not really willing to answer it. However, since his rabbit had asked, no matter how much he disliked to do so, he would answer the question seriously.


    "Qiao Ting was extremely forceful and overbearing in the past. Always determined to do things his way, he was rathercking in leadership ability. The creed he lived by was the survival of the fittest, where strength determines everything, so the strong should rule. Ever since he became the regimentmander of Leiting, Leiting¡¯s power structure has basically been distributed ording to strength. It should be said that this is another version of fairness and justice ... but an excellent faction should not look at pure strength alone." At this point, Li Lanfeng paused for a moment before continuing, "If we only consider strength, Leiting is the indisputable number one faction in the military academy. However, in terms of n battles, whether it is the second faction Tianji or the third faction Wuji, who I used to be part of, those other two factions are all a little better than Leiting at n battles. Unfortunately ..."


    "Unfortunately. Tianji and Wuji are bothcking a Thunder King!" Ling Lan finished his sentence.


    "Yes, we did not lose to the Leiting Mecha n but to Thunder King Qiao Ting," said Li Lanfeng, nodding with a bitter smile. Teamwork was indeed very important for a n, but before absolute strength, even the strongest n could only submit. Qiao Ting, who was forever a level higher than the others, was an obstacle which no faction had ever been able to ovee. " Thus, he was called Thunder King, and not just because he¡¯s from Leiting 1 ."


    "No matter which faction the Thunder King was in, he would have been given the title of a king. If it had not been Thunder King, it would have been Sky King or Earth King." Ling Lan acknowledged Qiao Ting¡¯s strength.


    "Yes. It is precisely this kind of brilliant prodigy who people look up to. But sadly, he hasn¡¯t had very good luck." Li Lanfengughed. Looking intently at Ling Lan, he could not hide how proud he felt. "He just had to meet you. He may be a rare talent which only pops up every hundred years or so, but I believe that you must be a peerless aberrant which only emerges every once in ten thousand years."


    Perhaps Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze was too passionate, for Ling Lan actually felt a little embarrassed. After all, some of her strength could be said to be a product of cheating, while Qiao Ting was the one who had truly fought for every bit of his achievements. Being worshipped by an oblivious good friend like this ... wasn¡¯t this just too brazen and shameless?


    In fact, Qi Long and the rest also worshipped Ling Lan immensely, but because they had encountered Ling Lan, who already had a strange auntie mentality at that time, while they were so young, Ling Lan felt that she was so much older than these little brats. If she could not handle them, then that would be a horrible disgrace. As such, Ling Lan could ept the idolization of Qi Long and the other children with ease. In contrast, Li Lanfeng had joined herter on, and he had always acted extremely mature and reliable, giving Ling Lan the feeling that he was a peer. Therefore, Li Lanfeng¡¯s worship made Ling Lan feel rather flustered and ufortable.


    Li Lanfeng did not sense Ling Lan¡¯s shyness ¡ª this was all thanks to Ling Lan¡¯s perpetual and unchanging ice-block of a face; almost no emotion could be discerned from it. He retracted his heated gaze and continued on to say, "However, though that Thunder King has superior strength, he also has quite a few weaknesses. His aloof personality and insistence to do things his way makes it impossible for him to work with others well. And on top of that, his wilfulness and methods of oppression to get his own way also lost him the support of a considerable number of regr faction members. The previous few years were all smooth sailing, so the problems between him and those below him were not obvious ... but the defeat this time haspletely brought out all the hidden conflicts within the n ..."


    At this point, Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression turned solemn. "Just now when I saw Qiao Ting, I felt that this defeat may not be apletely bad thing for him. He seems to have learned some tolerance ..."


    "You are very perceptive ..." Ling Lan indicated for Li Lanfeng to look out the window. Li Lanfeng saw that although Qiao Ting was being taunted and provoked by his subordinates, he did not get angry. Instead, Qiao Ting listened calmly with a stony expression. If not for the deep furrow of his brow, one could almost assume there was no confrontation between the two sides. It really seemed like Qiao Ting had learned how to be tolerant.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s brows knitted together at the sight. "As expected, Qiao Ting has grown even more. Who knows how far he¡¯ll go? With such an opponent, it looks like things will be rather troublesome."


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked up at his words. "Isn¡¯t it more interesting this way? Some appropriate pressure can prompt us to improve. Qiao Ting is a good rival." The Thunder King¡¯s strength may perhaps spur on the growth of Qi Long and the others, including the leopard before her ¡ª Li Lanfeng.


    "However, before Qiao Ting bes a troublesome opponent for us, perhaps there is the possibility of a coboration." After saying this, Ling Lan stepped away from the window to sit back before her office desk.


    Coboration? Li Lanfeng ran some swift calctions in his head and figured out the deeper meaning behind Ling Lan¡¯s words. "You¡¯re saying that Qiao Ting might leave Leiting to join Lingtian?"


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s mood was suddenly horrible, a great sense of danger stabbing him straight in the heart. Could it be that he was going to have yet another rival? Qi Long alone was enough to make him feel suffocated from the pressure, and now Qiao Ting, who was stronger than Qi Long, was going toe? When would he earn the right to stand by his rabbit¡¯s side and truly be Ling Lan¡¯s right hand who could be trusted and depended on?


    Ling Lan cast a cold nce at him, and Li Lanfeng shuddered, crushing his wandering thoughts. "How can that be? I only mentioned the possibility of coboration. Have you forgotten? Three monthster, the All-Federation Military Academy Grand Mecha Tournament will be starting. This year, I do not intend to continue remaining as number two."


    The All-Federation Grand Mecha Tournament was held once every three years. As per the First Men¡¯s Military Academy regtions and tradition, the battle team representing the school every time were always members from the number one faction of that year. This had also led to a frustrating consequence. Despite having assembled all the most outstanding talents in the entire Federation, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s representative students had only performed on equal ground with the other outstanding students from the other military academies. ording to Ling Lan¡¯s intel, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had already obtained second ce for seven consecutive years in the mecha tournament.


    "You¡¯re saying that ... you want to break past the current faction boundaries and choose the strongest few students from every specialization in our academy as representatives?" Ling Lan¡¯s words made Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes light up. If this move of Ling Lan¡¯s seeded, then it would definitely be a great pioneering achievement for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    "Yes, since we¡¯re representing the academy as a whole, then why should only members from one faction be representatives? This is unfair for those exceptional students belonging to other factions. They have the right to shine as well in the grand mecha tournament."


    "The administrators of the academy had originally intended for Qiao Ting to win first ce in the mecha tournament. If they know your ns, they will definitely support it fully," said Li Lanfeng with a smile.


    "I¡¯m not doing this for them, but because I want everyone in the Federation to know that the strongest military academy is our First Men¡¯s Military Academy!" A glint of ambition shone in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. Those rules which she disliked ... she shall destroy them personally!

 Chapter 427: Caught Out!

    Chapter 427: Caught Out!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    After the headquarters of the number one faction was transferred to Lingtian, Ling Lan did not do as everyone thought and remain in headquarters. Instead, she passed on everything regarding Lingtian and the new headquarters to Wu Jiong, and then continued on with her usual simple ssroom-dormitory two-venue lifestyle once again.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s peaceful life was about to end ¡ª the second-years¡¯ first mecha practical training lesson was finally here. Ling Lan received the time and venue for their meeting from hermunicator, and then led Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi over together.


    The mentor Qi Long and Luo Lang had chosen was Tang Yu, the same as Ling Lan, while the mentor Xie Yi had chosen was also one of the top instructors in long-range ace mecha. The meeting time and ce was exactly the same for all four of them, so they boarded a hover car together to head to their destination.


    The location of the practical training was, as everyone had predicted, thatrge mecha storehouse they had snuck into during the enemy air invasion back then. Today was the first practical training lesson for the mecha piloting department. Along the way, Ling Lan¡¯s group met quite a few other students headed the same way.


    Once they entered the storehouse, they saw quite a number of students already waiting there. This was the junior mecha area, but Ling Lan and the rest were already advanced mecha warriors, so their sses would not be held here.


    Under the envious gazes of the students here, Ling Lan¡¯s group of four moved ahead to the advanced mecha area. Once there, they saw Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, as well as the other team leaders who were already at the level of advanced mecha warrior. Of course, there were also a few unfamiliar faces who were probably promising neers from the other factions.


    At this moment, the crowd was looking up excitedly at the tall and majestic row of advanced mecha before them. They were rubbing their palms together in eagerness, wishing they could board the mecha immediately and have a good go operating one. Although the members of Lingtian had already ridden mecha before during the enemy air invasion, they had had to be sneaky while doing so after all. Moreover, the situation that night was tense, so their nerves had been tightly strung ¡ª and the moment they had left the storehouse, they had been embroiled in bitter battle, constantly afraid that they would die inbat at any careless misstep.


    Today was the day they would truly get to enjoy the joy and excitement of piloting mecha; they were that close to pouncing forwards to touch the mecha they favoured.


    "Boss!" A familiar voice cried out from behind Ling Lan. Ling Lan turned in surprise. "Lin Zhong-qing, why are you here?" Lin Zhong-qing was in the Logistics specialization ¡ª ording to Ling Lan¡¯s intel, the mecha practical training lessons of the students of that specialization would be dyed till their third year.


    Lin Zhong-qing was also very puzzled at this moment. "I¡¯m not sure myself. I just received a notification just now, telling me toe here immediately to report for ss." That said, Lin Zhong-qing stretched out his right wrist to disy the notification on hismunicator.


    Ling Lan nced at it and saw that it was no different from the notification she had received. A thought struck her and she said, "It¡¯s probably a good thing."


    Lin Zhong-qing smiled at her words. "Yep. When I saw you, Boss, I felt that it couldn¡¯t be a bad thing."


    Ling Lan was just about to say something when her ears twitched ¡ª she peered at the excited crowd and decided to just let it go.


    Several secondster, they heard the ¡¯p, p, p¡¯ of apuseing from behind them. The group was startled and quickly turned around to look for the source of the sound. There was now a group of instructors standing behind them, and Tang Yu was in the lead, currently pping his hands together in a slow measured pace. The pping sounds they had heard had been produced by Tang Yu.


    Qi Long could not help but blink nkly at the sight. His Animal Instinct actually had not alerted him to the presence of the instructors ¡ª it looked like the instructors¡¯ methods were truly special. Wu Jiong frowned as well. The vignt senses he had trained from young had failed to pick up the instructors¡¯ arrival; this frustrated him.


    "Ling Lan, Qi Long, Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, Luo Lang, and also Lin Zhong-qing. All of you follow me!" Tang Yu was the first to speak. He motioned for Ling Lan and the other five toe with him, and when Ling Lan turned her head to look back, she saw that the other students were also following the other instructors away.


    Tang Yu led Ling Lan¡¯s group of six to an extremely quiet ce and then said, "You six will be learning from me from now on." When he saw Qi Long and the others staring at Lin Zhong-qing with curiosity, he exined, "Lin Zhong-qing is a student I epted under special circumstances. He will study with you all in future. I hope that you all will learn from one another and improve together."


    "Yes, sir!" Qi Long and the rest answered loudly, happy for Lin Zhong-qing.


    Even Ling Lan could not stop her lips from quirking up into a slight smile. For Lin Zhong-qing to have caught Tang Yu¡¯s eye was undoubtedly his luck; Ling Lan¡¯s heart lightened at this turn of events. It should be known that Lin Zhong-qing had sacrificed his passion to choose the Logistics specialization instead for the sake of the battle n. Ling Lan had always felt rather sorry on behalf of Lin Zhong-qing ¡ª Lin Zhong-qing was extremely gifted in mecha piloting, but that talent was wasted in service of the others. Now, having obtained Tang Yu¡¯s favour, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s future in mecha piloting was boundless.


    After giving this instruction, Tang Yu instantly went into their lesson for the day. He first asked Qi Long, Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, Luo Lang, and Lin Zhong-qing to choose the advanced mecha they wanted, and then he uploaded a document on mecha controls which matched the mecha type they chose onto theirmunicators.


    After that, he asked them to board their mecha and to work on matching their control panel to the contents of their respective documents. He requested that they swiftly learn the relevant control buttons and control stick of the mecha they had chosen within half an hour.


    Seeing the five youths enter their mecha and begin studying and familiarizing themselves with them, Tang Yu then turned to Ling Lan and said, "You, follow me."


    Tang Yu led Ling Lan into the deepest area of the storehouse. Ling Lan knew Tang Yu was nning to bring her into that hidden room to choose a special-ss mecha to operate.


    Sure enough, Tang Yu opened the secret door and walked into that hidden room to arrive at the special-ss mecha area. However, Tang Yu did not stop here as Ling Lan had expected. He walked right through the special-ss mecha area, going further into the room to stand before those five different types of ace mecha.


    Ling Lan followed close behind him, but was silently surprised, unsure why Tang Yu would bring her here. Could it be that the other had noticed her ruse in hiding her true mecha level?


    "The mecha you chose in Mecha World all lean towards closebat, but, in the real world, I hope you will choose a little more carefully. Even though closebat mecha are extraordinarily powerful, reigning in the top ranks of ace mecha in terms ofbat power, the risk of danger is correspondingly high. On the battlefield, the mortality rate of closebat mecha is also the highest."


    Tang Yu¡¯s warning made Ling Lan raise a brow and she asked in return, "In the Federation army, which type of mecha operator is the majority?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s question made Tang Yu pause for a beat, a little stunned, but he soon smiled faintly and replied, "It¡¯s closebat mecha operators."


    "As you have mentioned, sir, since the mortality rate of closebat mecha operators is the highest, then why does everyone still choose closebat mecha?" Ling Lan continued to ask.


    Tang Yu said in response, "I think you know what the answer is."


    "Because closebat mecha are also called guardian mecha. They are the first line of defence protecting one¡¯s teammates. That¡¯s why I want to guard those who have put their faith in me," Ling Lan said all this lightly, but her tone could not hide the determination in her heart.


    For the sake of those childhood friends who had grown up alongside her and believed in her with all their hearts, for the sake of her littlepanions who did not mind sacrificing their own interests to choose other specializations in order to help her obtain the greatest advantages ... Lin Zhong-qing was one, Han Jijyun was another, and then there were the others, such as Luo Chao and the rest in the federal co-ed military academy, as well as that Li Lanfeng who trusted her and was willing to fight by her side ...


    All of this trust weighed heavily on Ling Lan, so she did not dare to rx. In this world where war could break out at any time, she needed to grow strong enough to protect them all.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Tang Yu¡¯s eyes shine with a brilliant light, a satisfied smile appearing on his lips. He had asked many other students this question before, and every student¡¯s answer had been different. Each of those answers had their own charm and radiance, but Ling Lan¡¯s answer was undoubtedly the one which pleased him the most thus far. Only by having people to safeguard would one be unafraid of sacrifice and choose closebat mecha which were known as mecha of death.


    "Since you understand the meaning behind closebat mecha, then I¡¯ll hand this life-risking closebat mecha to you," said Tang Yu with a smile, pointing at the ace mecha right in the middle.


    "That¡¯s an ace mecha." Instructor Tang Yu¡¯s unexpected arrangement surprised Ling Lan.


    "Isn¡¯t your level in Mecha World at ace operator?" Tang Yu peered at Ling Lan with a half-smile.


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart dropped ¡ª having sessfully deceived all the instructors and students in the academy, she had not expected to be caught out by the keen eyes of Instructor Tang Yu.


    "Rest assured. This matter is only known to me and the principal. While you stillck the ability to protect yourself, the matter will stop here with me and the principal," added Tang Yu. He could understand what Ling Lan was thinking. Even though the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was tightly defended, after the enemy air invasion incident, even the principal could not be certain whether the academy would once again see another enemy invasion if the news of Ling Lan bing an ace operator as a second-year was exposed. The principal could not take the risk, and he did not intend to gamble.


    "Thank you, sir." This decision of Tang Yu¡¯s and the principal¡¯s was undoubtedly meant to protect Ling Lan. Ling Lan could feel their kind intentions and epted it dly, and so she earnestly thanked Instructor Tang Yu.


    "Once you¡¯ve entered ace level, there¡¯s nothing much for me to teach you. Every ace operator has their own unique control methods, and this depends on your own study. I won¡¯t keep you by talking any further. If you have anything you don¡¯t understand or anything that confuses you, you cane find me to discuss it. Perhaps my experience can provide you with some tips." At this point, Tang Yu could not help but smile wryly and grumble, "Who¡¯d have guessed that there would be a student even I, Tang Yu, can¡¯t teach? Taking you in as a student gives me no sense of achievement at all."


    Ling Lan could only listen awkwardly. At this time, she was immensely grateful for her ice-block face for hiding her true thoughts. It was thoroughly unexpected that Instructor Tang Yu, who was so mature and steady in her mind, would also have such a childish side to him; her impression of him was crumbling.


    Tang Yu did not know that his image in Ling Lan¡¯s mind was in jeopardy ¡ª he asked Ling Lan to board her ace mecha and study on her own. Just like he had said, at ace level, he did not have anything much to teach Ling Lan. And so, he left the hidden room. Compared to Ling Lan, the other five outside was a greater concern for him.


    Hence, Ling Lan was left alone to research control methods that would belong to her exclusively. In the meantime, Qi Long and the rest were pushed into gruelling trials and tribtions ¡ª every day, they were tortured by Tang Yu till they were half-dead. However, the results were excellent. Not long after, Qi Long¡¯s hand speed gradually increased till it was infinitely close to special-ss operator level, and his operation began to show signs of Qi Long¡¯s unique style ¡ª Brutal Violence.

 Chapter 428: Dwotong and Tianji!

    Chapter 428 Dwotong and Tianji!


    Trantor:ryuxenji | Editor: H2dH2mr


    The days passed by amidst the hard work everyone invested in their studies, and three months were over. In these three months, it had not all been smooth sailing. The newly established Lingtian Mecha n which also managed a reversal to be the number one faction had constantly been the centre of attention for all the cadets. Unsurprisingly, the Lingtian Mecha n received two more challenges during this time from other factions in the academy. These challenges were respectively from the number four faction, the Dwotong Mecha n, and the number two faction, the Tianji Mecha n.


    The Dwotong Mecha n was the first to step out and challenge Lingtian after Lingtian¡¯s defeat of Leiting. The moment this challenge fight was initiated, there was a great upheaval within Dwotong. It should be known that, in the Dwotong Mecha n, there was a portion of members who were students of the Doha Central Scout Academy. Also, the Lingtian Mecha n just so happened to be a mecha n which consisted primarily of students from the Doha Central Scout Academy, while the four main regimentmanders were all from the Central Scout Academy. In contrast with Dwotong which gathered students from all scout academies on Doha, the ¡®purer¡¯ Lingtian Mecha n gave these Central Scout Academy students a greater sense of rtability.


    Thus, when Dwotong issued its letter of challenge this time, the seniors in the faction who had graduated from the Doha Central Scout Academy were infuriated. They rose up in indignation and demanded that the regimentmander of Dwotong would take the initiative to give up on this challenge. Unfortunately, the current regimentmander of Dwotong, Gu Jinxing, who had seeded Zhang Jing-an, was not from the Central Scout Academy. He rejected the demand without any hesitation ¡ª this move thoroughly enraged the members who had graduated from the Central Scout Academy, and the conflict among the members began to intensify. Dwotong began to break apart from within.


    When the challenge against Lingtian was just about to start, the seniors who had graduated from the Central Scout Academy made a move which bbergasted all the cadets ¡ª they collectively withdrew from the faction. This move reduced Dwotong¡¯s numbers by almost one-fifth, also causing Dwotong to fall to the dusty depths from their position in the top four. Both in terms of numbers and strength, Dwotong was now pretty much equivalent with the other middling factions.


    Meanwhile, those Central Scout Academy students who had left Dwotong unsurprisingly all joined the Lingtian Mecha n. This boosted the strength of the Lingtian Mecha n greatly, and those other factions which had still considered Lingtian¡¯s sess a consequence of sheer dumb luck at the start now no longer dared to underestimate them.


    ¡°Gu Jinxing ¡­ Jinxing, cautious-action, caution in acting1 ¡ª Gu Jinxing really does not live up to his name.¡± Zhang Jing-an, who was currently devoting all his attention into his enlistment applications, broke out into a cold smile when he heard the news from a member of his battle n. He said, ¡°Ling Lan¡¯s group is not so easy to deal with. He is really quite stupid, actuallypletely oblivious to the other side¡¯s tactic.¡±


    Zhang Jing-an¡¯s words confused his n member. Seeing this, Zhang Jing-an could not help but shake his head, sigh, and say, ¡°Our Dwotong iscking a good strategist. It¡¯s likely that even Wuji, Tianji, and Leiting have seen and understood what Lingtian was doing. Timely provocationbined with emotional investment, and then by pushing things to a head, under this entire series of calction, Dwotong can be considered done for. That fellow Ling Lan ¡­ his methods are as vicious as ever. Either he does nothing, or else once he acts, it¡¯s like a thunder strike. This kind of person is very scary as an opponent ¡­¡±


    His team members were rather disgruntled. ¡°Even so, our Dwotong is overall still stronger than Lingtian. Our Dwotong has over two thousand members, while Lingtian won¡¯t have even a full thousand even if they add in those members of ours who quit to join them ¡­ our Dwotong still has the better chance of winning in the challenge fight.¡±


    Zhang Jing-an chuckled dryly. ¡°How can it be that simple? I can bet with you that the final oue will be Lingtian¡¯s victory.¡± This fellow Ling Lan had never ever lost before ¡­ unless he gave up on purpose.


    Just as Zhang Jing-an predicted, the final victor was the Lingtian Mecha n. Even though Dwotong¡¯s regimentmander Gu Jinxing had learned from Leiting¡¯s example and gave up on the elite 12-man team format to choose the 50-man mecha battle, Dwotong¡¯s fate was even worse than Leiting¡¯s. At least Leiting and Lingtian had fought till both sides had only one man left standing. At the time Dwotong¡¯s team waspletely eliminated, Lingtian¡¯s side still had seven people remaining.


    The remaining seven included all the four regimentmanders without exception, and the two senior special-ss operators Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng. No one was overly surprised that these six had remained till the end ¡ª after all, the strength of these six had already been acknowledged by the cadets. What truly surprised the audience was the seventh survivor on Lingtian¡¯s side. It was not one of the team leaders of the various battle ns in the Lingtian Mecha n, nor was it any of the primary fighters in the various battle ns. It was one of the secondary fighters in Ling Lan¡¯s battle n ¡ª that enchantingly beautiful, delicate and slender Luo Lang.


    But when they thought back on Luo Lang¡¯s performance during the fight, everyone could see how reasonable it was for him to have survived. When Luo Lang got into the groove of fighting, he was extremely tenacious and was also willing to be ruthless at the same time, not only towards others but also towards himself. Many times, when he was forced into a disadvantageous situation, just as everyone believed he was sure to lose, he would fight his way out with frighteningly explosivebat power that verged on the edge of harming himself in the process. That attitude of never giving up gained the admiration of everyone there.


    Dwotong¡¯s fragmentation before the battle and their defeat in the battle was a wake-up call to all those mecha ns that were thinking of taking advantage of Lingtian. Though there had been an element of luck involved in Lingtian¡¯s victory over Leiting, in reality, Lingtian¡¯s strength was not as weak as these other factions had believed. Additionally, after taking in one-fifth of Dwotong¡¯s men, it could be said that Lingtian was now fully qualified to rank among the rest of the top-line factions.


    Under these circumstances, the third ce Wuji silently retreated. Han Yu was wary of Lingtian¡¯s soaring power, and was also apprehensive over Li Lanfeng¡¯s scheming ways. He was certain that Li Lanfeng had a hand in orchestrating Dwotong¡¯s tragic oue.


    After much consideration, Han Yu decided to give up on this chance to represent the First Academy in the Grand Mecha Tournament. Of course, the reason Han Yu could give up so easily was that he had long heard that even if their Wuji defeated Lingtian, in order to ensure the best team represents the academy at the Grand Mecha Tournament, the school administrators would still specially arrange a fight between Wuji and Tianji. The final victor of that match would be the faction which would really represent the academy.


    The academy administrators definitely wanted to choose the strongest faction in the team to represent the academy. If Leiting had not lost to Lingtian so publicly, thus preventing the administrators from enforcing any hidden maniptions, they would not have had to back down and make do with Tianji. Han Yu was a clever person ¡ª he was not willing to benefit Tianji with the fruits of his efforts.


    Sure enough, after confirming that Wuji had given up on challenging Lingtian, Tianji issued their challenge. The challenge mode they chose was like Leiting, the 12-man elite team battle. However, unlike Qiao Ting¡¯s self-centred and overconfident approach, Tianji chose to send out a whole team of special-ss operators as its representative, the strongest 12 Tianji had to offer.


    Before the challenge fight, everyone thought that Lingtian¡¯s good fortune was about to be ended here ¡ª this time, Lingtian would lose for certain. After all, Lingtian only had three special-ss operators ¡ª Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng, and Zhao Jun ¡ª and no matter how strong the others were, they were still only advanced mecha warriors. 3 versus 12 ¡­ no matter how you looked at it, the Lingtian Mecha n had no chance of winning. But the results made everyone¡¯s eyes fall out of their sockets2 ¡ª the final victor was still Lingtian. Moreover, there were two members who survived the battlefield: Ling Lan and Zhao Jun.


    It should be said that this challenge fight was not as one-sided as everyone had assumed. Even though nine of Lingtian¡¯s members were advanced mecha warriors, those nine people worked together extremely well. The battle had not started for long before they had managed to group themselves into three team formations. Inparison, the Tianji members reacted much slower ¡ª not only did they not get into formation sessfully, three of their number had been taken out by Lingtian¡¯s formations not too long after the start of the battle. If the regimentmander of Tianji had not picked up on how bad the situation was and ordered all his members to retreat and regroup, Lingtian might have had even more members survive till the end of the battle.


    It was only after Tianji had assembled themselves into formation that Lingtian found themselves caught in a precarious situation. The nine advanced mecha were sessfully killed by Tianji, but the members of the Lingtian Mecha n were extremely ferocious ¡ª even when they died they did not forget to pull their enemies down with them. In the fighting, Tianji also lost two mecha.


    However, even as the nine advanced mecha of Lingtian were being besieged and killed, Lingtian¡¯s one and only formation made up of special-ss mecha simrly revealed its fearsome side, sessfully killing off the opponent¡¯s mecha formation it encountered.


    At this time, Tianji¡¯s upper hand waspletely gone. 4 against 3 ¡ª although Tianji had one extra member, in this situation where both sides were special-ss operators, that one additional member was not enough to decide the ultimate victor yet. In the end, the two teams simply ended up pitting blunt force against blunt force ¡ª the 7 mecha shed in a melee battle. In order to protect Ling Lan, after he defeated one mecha, Li Lanfeng used his battered mecha to bring down another mecha in mutual destruction.


    Meanwhile, Zhao Jun engaged the regimentmander of Tianji in a bitter fight with his strength as the second rank in mecha. Of the three Lingtian special-ss operators left, Ling Lan, the weakest one in the audience¡¯s eyes, ended up having the easiest time of it. He fought against another special-ss operator from Tianji who also was not very strong for up to several hundred rounds.


    Finally, half-crippled, Zhao Jun found an opening in the other¡¯s defence and defeated his opponent. It could be said that Zhao Jun and the regimentmander of Tianji were about equal in strength ¡ª it would not be surprising for either side to win; it all just depended on who was luckier that day. And in this battle, Zhao Jun¡¯s luck was indisputably better than that of the Tianji regimentmander as he had managed to catch the other¡¯s weakness a step earlier.


    At the same time that Zhao Jun defeated the regimentmander of Tianji, Ling Lan also sessfully killed her opponent, clinching the final victory for Lingtian. In contrast to Zhao Jun¡¯s beaten up mecha, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha was almost undamaged, only slightly drained of power.


    The spectators were very curious about this because, during the battle, Ling Lan¡¯s opponent had previously managed tond a hit on Ling Lan. When struck by mecha of the same level, even the sturdiest mecha armour would also inevitably be scarred. With this question in mind, everyone began rifling for information on Ling Lan¡¯s mecha, and only then did they discover that Ling Lan¡¯s mecha was a modified mecha.


    Of course, all they could find out was the line saying that it had been modified; as for more detailed information, they could not find anything. The mainframe had to protect the privacy of its users.


    However, just this point alone was enough to make the cadets think they had found the answer. They believed that Lingtian was just too lucky in having managed to recruit the modification prodigy Chang Xinyuan, thus obtaining such a tough and fearsome modified special-ss mecha. As a consequence of this battle, Chang Xinyuan¡¯s reputation unexpectedly soared within the military academy ¡­


    This was notably the first time that a mechanic who could modify special-ss mecha had appeared in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. As such, Chang Xinyuan shot to fame overnight, bing the most sought-after person in the area. Many factions all began to inquire about the nature of the contract Chang Xinyuan had signed with the Lingtian Mecha n. They were hoping that Chang Xinyuan had only signed a temporary coboration contract with Lingtian so that they would have a chance to bring this future maestro of mecha modification into their fold ¡­

 Chapter 429: Invitation!

    Chapter 429: Invitation!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    For context, it should be known that an exceptional mecha engineer could add severalyers of protection to a mecha operator¡¯s mecha. To be blunt, a mecha engineer would give mecha operators better rates of survival ¡ª this was why outstanding mecha engineers were enthusiastically sought after by mecha battle ns, making them hot pursuit targets of all battle ns.


    However, everyone was destined to be disappointed. Annoyed by all the attention, Chang Xinyuan simply announced that he was already a fixed member of Lingtian. That meant that unless the battle n he was in was destroyed, it was impossible for Chang Xinyuan to transfer to a new battle n.


    Tianji¡¯s defeat rendered the academy administratorspletely speechless, and it also made all the other factions which were already wary of Lingtian even more apprehensive. Lingtian¡¯s defeat of Dwotong could still be said to be a confluence of luck and circumstances in Lingtian¡¯s favour, but their defeat of Tianji was achieved through a straightforward show of strength. The number of mecha experts within Tianji was just slightly less than that in Leiting ¡ª even the number three faction, Wuji, had had no choice but to coborate with Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun topete with Tianji; it was clear to see how deep Tianji¡¯s power reserves went.


    Yet, it was precisely this kind of mecha n, one that even Wuji found difficult to deal with, which had lost in such a clear-cut manner to Lingtian. This was absolute proof that Lingtian was not a mecha n which was surviving by luck; Lingtian had truly risen by its own power.


    ********


    Southcrest:


    In the Strategic nning Division of the 23rd Division, He Xuyang 1 , who had secured the position of head adviser to General Ling Xiao, unexpectedly received an invitation letter from his subordinates. When he opened and read it, a slight smile appeared on his face. He did not detain the invitation as he would typically, instead sliding it smoothly into the pile of documents to be sent over to General Ling Xiao for perusal.


    This move surprised his deputies. It should be known that there were almost over a dozen of these kinds of invitations every month, but General Ling Xiao had long ago instructed that they should refuse all of them. The workload involved in establishing the 23rd Division was massive ¡ª General Ling Xiao just did not have the time and leisurely mood to deal with these sorts of boring gatherings or events.


    "This ... will it be okay?" When the second adviser Tong Zhiying 2 saw He Xuyang pick up the stack of documents with the invitation within it, ready to go to General Ling Xiao¡¯s office, he could not help but ask and give a cautious reminder. Even though General Ling Xiao was always extremely friendly and affable, Tong Zhiying, as He Xuyang¡¯s partner, did not want to see himmit any mistakes that might cause him to be reprimanded by General Ling Xiao.


    He Xuyang smiled at Tong Zhiying and exined, "This one is different ..."


    Tong Zhiying¡¯s heart clenched and he quickly nodded to show he understood. He did not ask any more questions, but turned his gaze back onto the document in his own hands. Those who had managed to climb up so far to get to a position like his were all very cautious and discreet people ¡ª they knew not to casually ask about secrets they should not know.


    He Xuyang¡¯s smile deepened ¡ª this was also something he greatly appreciated in Tong Zhiying. In addition, the other was exceptionally skilled. He Xuyang was very happy to be partnered with him. However, regarding matters which concerned Young Master Lan, before General Ling Xiao announced their rtionship to the public, He Xuyang decided he had better still keep everything secret.


    That¡¯s right, this very different invitation had something to do with Young Master Lan. Half a monthter, the highly anticipated All-Federation Military Academy Grand Mecha Tournament would begin. On each asion, themanders of every army division would receive an invitation card to attend and view the grand tournament. The 23rd Division, as a newly established standing army, had also received an invitation this year.


    And the reason He Xuyang treated this invitation so seriously was that he had heard General Ling Xiao inadvertently bring up the topic a few days ago. He had mentioned that Young Master Lan, who was only in his second year, had already created history in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. He had led his n in a victorious upset over the original number one faction in the academy and had then moved on to sessfully defend his faction¡¯s new position, thus clinching the representation rights for this Mecha Grand Tournament.


    An excellent adviser needed to understand the mind of their leader. He believed that General Ling Xiao would definitely want to observe his son¡¯s outstanding performance with his own eyes. General Ling Xiao should be extremely willing to see this invitation letter.


    "Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong!" Ling Xiao, who was focusing intently on a document in his hands, heard the alert of the door and softly called out, "Enter!"


    The voice-activated door opened automatically following Ling Xiao¡¯s call, and He Xuyang strode through it holding a tall stack of documents.


    Ling Xiao saw that great stack of documents in He Xuyang¡¯s hands and kneaded his forehead in consternation, saying, "Why are there so many documents every day? Are you all cking off and bringing all sorts of nonsense documents to me as well now?"


    He had clearly instructed his men to only bring those extremely critical and vital documents to him for approval ¡ª all other documents could just go to his three chiefs of staff to deliberate and decide on.


    He Xuyang speechlessly put the stack of documents down on General Ling Xiao¡¯srge desk. Recalling the documents piled up as high as a mountain on his own office desk, He Xuyang said sullenly, "General, our Strategic nning Division is so filled with documents that we hardly have anywhere to stand anymore. If you still have anyints at this point, don¡¯t me all of us in the Strategic nning Division for going on strike!"


    He Xuyang¡¯s words reminded Ling Xiao of the cluttered and hectic environment of the Strategic nning Division ¡ª everyone there worked as if they were fighting a war. Ling Xiao could not help but shudder just thinking about how dizzying the constantly shifting environment was over there. Fine. He Xuyang¡¯s threat had a lot of weight behind it ¡ª if the Strategic nning Division really went on strike, his 23rd Division was sure to be dead in the water 3 .


    Thus, Ling Xiao could only point at those documents and ask, "What are these documents?"


    "These are the letters of appointment we¡¯ve drawn up for thetest batch of officers. Please review them. And this is the proposal to set up a Special Forces team ... after collective discussion, the Strategic nning Division has decided that it is necessary to have one. Also, this one is ..." He Xuyang handed over the documents one by one, exining their contents as he did so. In the end, he took out an invitation and said, "This is the invitation for a special guest viewing of the Mecha Grand Tournament. They want to know if you will be attending, General."


    Ling Xiao¡¯s head was already spinning from the great stack of documents earlier. He did not hear what He Xuyang said clearly, only catching the words ¡¯invitation¡¯, so he quickly spoke up to refuse, "Like before, refuse them all."


    However, He Xuyang did not take back the invitation card as Ling Xiao had expected, instead opening it and cing it right on top of the document Ling Xiao had been looking at. This move stunned Ling Xiao who did not know how He Xuyang could be this daring ...


    But Ling Xiao was well aware that He Xuyang would never do such an audacious thing for no reason. Thus, doing so, he had to have his reasons. Consequently, Ling Xiao turned his attention to that invitation:


    "Respectfully inviting themander of the 23rd Division, General Ling Xiao, to attend the 279th Military Academy Mecha Grand Tournament. The time will be ..."


    "The Military Academy Mecha Grand Tournament will be starting in just half a month?" said Ling Xiao as he lifted the invitation, his face filled with pleasant surprise.


    "That¡¯s why I wanted to ask you, sir, if you would be attending," said He Xuyang helplessly. He still remembered how General Ling Xiao had specially disguised himself and went undercover as an assessment officer to sneak into the First Men¡¯s Military Academyst year just to see Young Master Lan. Now that there was an officially endorsed chance to see Young Master Lan, he just could not believe that General Ling Xiao would be able to let it go by.


    Sure enough, General Ling Xiao replied firmly, "Attend, I must attend! And I¡¯ll bring my wife with me."


    He just knew that this invitation was special! He Xuyang nodded calmly, replying that he would return a letter of confirmation to the military. Only then did he sedately bid farewell to General Ling Xiao and take his leave.


    Hmm, perhaps he should also take a vacation and go with General Ling Xiao to the Mecha Grand Tournament. Speaking of which, he had not seen Young Master Lan for almost half a year ... that icy youth who had such a distinctly different aura from General Ling Xiao and yet was equally charismatic. The chief of staff He Xuyang thought to himself as he walked out of General Ling Xiao¡¯s office.


    ********


    At this moment, Ling Lan, who was deeply engrossed in her closebat ace mecha training, had no idea that her old man had already decided to attend the Mecha Grand Tournament, or that he would bring her mum along as well to meet her. After close to half a month of operating and researching with a real mecha, Ling Lan now finally understood that operating a real ace mecha was not so simple. Real-world operation was still somewhat different from operation in Mecha World ¡ª ultra-difficult mecha moves that could be executed smoothly in Mecha World were not so easy to pull off in the real world due to the limitations of her physical body.


    Of course, this was not to say that Ling Lan could not do them ¡ª however, after she executed those moves, Ling Lan¡¯s body would incur varying degrees of internal damage. Ling Lan felt rather helpless on this matter. The difference between the physical constitutions of men and women, which she had never taken to heart initially, had finally reared its ugly head when it came to ace mecha operation. Ling Lan had cultivated a tough constitution almost on par with Qi Long¡¯s through the use of countless gene agents and practice of her Qi exercises. And yet, a w had still been exposed during ace mecha operation.


    "It looks like the physical differences due to gender are not so easily resolved." No wonder there were no female mecha operators who managed to climb to the top in this world ¡ª the difference in gender also meant a difference in physical endurance; a female¡¯s body was still a little weaker. Ling Lan knew that if she wanted to progress further and advance to imperial level, or even that supreme god-ss level, she would need to find a way to break through the limitations of her body. Otherwise, everything would merely be empty talk.


    "Maybe, this is what Instructor Number One was talking about, because my body is ipatible with the Dao I¡¯ve chosen to walk. Perhaps when my body and my Dao bepatible, then the physical issues restricting my progress will no longer exist." Ling Lan had this feeling in her heart. Even though she was rather anxious inside, Ling Lan knew rationally that hurrying was pointless. To solve these issues, she needed a serendipitous chance. Unfortunately, this chance was not so easy toe by.


    "Beep, beep, beep!" While deep in thought, Ling Lan suddenly heard hermunicator ringing. She opened the device and nced at it, and found that it was actually Wu Jiong calling her. Surprised, she epted the call and immediately heard Wu Jiong yelling on the other end, "Boss Lan, are you free?"


    ncing at the time disyed on her mecha¡¯s screen, Ling Lan saw that it was already a little after three o¡¯clock. Considering that there wasn¡¯t much time before ss would end, she said, "What¡¯s up?"


    Wu Jiong received the implicit permission to go on and said, "If you¡¯re free, Boss, I¡¯ll call all the team leaders of the battle ns in the regiment, as well as all the outstanding student members of the various major specializations in the regiment toe to headquarters for a meeting ..."


    Ling Lan frowned and asked, "A meeting?"


    As if picking up on the displeasure in Ling Lan¡¯s tone, Wu Jiong hurriedly exined, "Boss, could it be that you¡¯ve forgotten that, yesterday, the school administrators have already handed over the representation rights of the Mecha Grand Tournament to our mecha n? Qi Long, Li Yingjie and I have discussed things at length yesterday and think that it is very hard to determine who should be the representatives, so we want to open a meeting and brainstorm together."

 Chapter 430: Target for Collaboration!

    Chapter 430: Target for Coboration!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "So it¡¯s about this matter ..." Ling Lan thought of her original decision, and so she said, "That¡¯s fine. Inform the rest. Tonight at six, we¡¯ll have a meeting." It was about time for them to know what she was thinking.


    "Alright, Boss Lan," replied Wu Jiong happily, pleased at obtaining a concrete time. They only had one week to confirm their name list of a hundred people. Even though that was not a lot, to choose among all the exceptional talents of all the various specializations in the academy who would also be willing to join Lingtian ... Wu Jiong still felt the time was a little tight.


    Very soon, night came, and Ling Lan arrived at the headquarters of Lingtian. She had just stepped through the doorway when one of the reception staff in the main hall of headquarters saw their regimentmander arriving. He reacted swiftly, charging over to the elevator as quick as he could and attentively helped Ling Lan press the button to call the elevator.


    Ling Lan nodded gently at that member in thanks, and when she saw the doors of the elevator open, she stepped into the elevator and turned around to press the button for the floor she wanted to go to.


    The elevator doors had barely closed when Ling Lan, with her exceptional hearing, heard excited voices piping up outside, "Heavens, I¡¯ve finally seen the legendary first regimentmander! Boss Lan is just too cool!" This was obviously a member who had just joined Lingtian; the older members would certainly have seen Ling Lan before.


    "Lil¡¯ An, you are just too goddamn fast. Actually getting the chance to interact with the boss close up!" said another member, tone jealous as he looked at the youth still standing by the elevator doors.


    "Big Brother Lou, did the regimentmander nod at me just now ...?" That person standing by the elevator did not seem to be able to trust what he had seen; his tone was filled with dreamy wonder.


    "Yes! Boss Lan is very cold, you know? And he actually responded to you this time. You¡¯re really such a lucky devil ..." said the one called Big Brother Lou enviously.


    "Yeah, yeah, we all saw it! Boss is so cool and so cold ... just a glimpse of him is enough to give me chills. But he actually nodded to you ... you¡¯re so lucky!" All of the members in the hall were filled with envy-jealousy-hate ¡ª they could barely restrain themselves from beating up that obviously over-excited fellow. D*mmit, why had they been just that beat slower than him?


    The ruckus in the hall made Ling Lan sweatdrop ¡ª she had never expected her simple polite nod to create such a stir among these members. Could it be that she was usually too aloof?


    Ling Lan was unaware that, because she had always thrown all the matters of the faction to the other three regimentmanders to handle, she did not appear in front of others very often. The chances were infinitesimal for a regr faction member to see her ¡ª this had made her the most mysterious regimentmander in the minds of the faction members. Furthermore, she had led Lingtian to create one miracle after another which had also made her be the idol of her faction members; thus, the regr faction members could not help but be thrilled to catch sight of her.


    As soon as Ling Lan neared the doors of the conference room, she could hear how noisy it was inside. The atmosphere seemed to be very lively. Ling Lan shoved the door open and saw that all of the upper ranks of Lingtian were already here. They were all seated around the conference table, engaged in lively discussion, and some were even bantering yfully with those they were familiar with. Catching movement at the door, the members in the room collectively turned their heads, and when they saw that it was their regimentmander Ling Lan, the room instantly fell silent. Subsequently, they all quickly stood up from their seats, bowed their heads, and shouted, "Boss!"


    Ling Lan found herself sweatdropping ¡ª even though Qi Long and the others had always called her Boss, they were the littlepanions who had grown up beside her. They had only started calling her that as a joke, and now they merely continued calling her that because it had be a habit over time which was why she had just let it be. But in the present, these team leaders were all people who had joined their groupter on ¡ª some of them were even members who had only joined the group after they had entered the military academy. Being called ¡¯Boss¡¯ by so many people gave Ling Lan the strange impression that she was the head of a heinous and deplorable mafia group!


    "Just call me ¡¯regimentmander¡¯. You don¡¯t have to call me ¡¯boss¡¯." Ling Lan decided that she needed to fix the group¡¯s skewed perspective and salvage her glorious regimentmander image. As she said this, she swept a cold gaze tinged with threat around the room in hopes that everyone would not make the same mistake in address again.


    Perhaps the threat in Ling Lan¡¯s gaze was too intense ¡ª under Ling Lan¡¯s forceful stare, the members once again lowered their heads and replied, "Yes, Boss!"


    Ling Lan was speechless ¡ª did this really count as agreement?! Why were they still calling her ¡¯boss¡¯?! Ling Lan looked at the three people who were standing by the door to wee her. Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie were working partners, so she could not pressure them; thus, she turned a fierce re on Qi Long, hoping that this fellow would be sharp enough to figure out what she wanted and get everyone to change their form of address and call her ¡¯regimentmander¡¯ instead. She had established a mecha n, not a mafia society ...


    Qi Long bore the brunt of his boss¡¯s mean re and asked tentatively, "Boss, can we start the meeting?"


    Fine, Qi Long, you¡¯re strong. Actually not folding to my threat ... I¡¯ll deal with you when we return! Ling Lan gnashed her teeth silently, though she only nodded coolly on the outside.


    Seeing Ling Lan nod, the group let out silent sighs of relief. It could not be helped. The pressure of Boss Lan¡¯s gaze was just too formidable ... Qi Long was still the man! Everyone secretly cast respectful gazes at Qi Long. Meanwhile, Qi Long surreptitiously wiped the sweat from his forehead. Thinking about it, over this recent period of time, Boss¡¯s force of presence had be even stronger ¡ª even he who spent so much time by Boss¡¯s side was feeling the pressure.


    Ling Lan walked into the conference room under the apaniment of the three boys. Qi Long rushed one step ahead to pull out the chair at the head of the conference table and invited Ling Lan to sit. After Ling Lan took her seat, she swept another cold gaze over the high-ranking members in the room before saying, "Sit!"


    "Yes, Boss!" Receiving Ling Lan¡¯s order, the group sat. However, the atmosphere at this moment was no longer as raucous as it had been before Ling Lan entered the room. Instead, there was a still silence.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze swept across the room and she found that other than the team leaders of the various battle ns and the four regimentmanders, Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun were also in attendance as the strategists of Lingtian. Li Shiyu, as the dux of the Military Medicine specialization, and Chang Xinyuan, as a prodigious mecha engineer, were also here. Meanwhile, as the primary offensive force of Lingtian on the surface, Zhao Jun had also been specially invited to join the meeting.


    Lin Zhong-qing was the note-taker for the meeting, responsible for taking the minutes and keeping track of the agenda; he was sitting slightly behind Ling Lan. As for Luo Lang and Xie Yi, they were pitifully delegated as tea-boys, making sure to keep the cups of the people attending the meeting filled ...


    All in all, everyone in her battle n was here in the conference room, with no exceptions ... Ling Lan cast a pensive look at Wu Jiong.


    Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s eyes turn to him, Wu Jiong coughed and said, "Since Boss is here, let¡¯s officially proceed with the agenda of the meeting. Yesterday, the administrators of the academy have officially announced that the representation rights of the Mecha Grand Tournament this time will be given into the full responsibility of the Lingtian Mecha n. All of us know that though the Mecha Grand Tournament is known as the Mecha Grand Tournament, it is actually apetition with multiple events which span almost all of the specializations in the military academies. However, our mecha n has just been established, and a majority of our members are second-years. Not only are our members spread thin across the various specializations, even if we manage to scrounge up enough talent from all the specializations, those members also would not have four years of learning experience. For them to handle thesepetitions is likely impossible ..."


    Wu Jiong¡¯s words made the hearts of all the battle n leaders sink. Li Yingjie then added to what Wu Jiong had said, "The representatives for thest tournament was the Leiting Mecha n. Even a mecha n with such a long history and substantial reserves had chosen to give up on several of the less popr specializations when theyposed their representation name list, because they did not have any members in those specializations within their faction ... that said, because Leiting had an overwhelming advantage in a few of their strong suits, despite giving up on several events, Leiting still managed to obtain second ce in the end. If our results are terrible this time, I¡¯m afraid our Lingtian will be themon target of hatred for all the cadets in the academy."


    Everyone understood what Li Yingjie was implying. Although the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was always rife with internal conflict, all the cadets attached great importance to the reputation of the military academy. If Lingtian suffered a great defeat in the tournament this time, not only would the poprity and prestige Lingtian had earned this past three months through the challenge fights be wiped away, in future, Lingtian would not be able to develop well after as well. Lingtian may even fall apart due to this and be a mecha n which onlysted for one year in the military academy.


    Seated right after Qi Long were the Lingtian strategists Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun. Li Lanfeng saw that everyone was mute, so he concluded the topic by saying, "I have here a listing of all the events in the mecha tournament. I¡¯ll pass it out to everyone and you all can take a look." After saying that, Li Lanfeng passed out the document. He then waited for everyone to at least skim through it once before continuing to say, "Frankly, some of the smaller events are not very important. The really essential event is thest one. This event contributes half of the point value for the tournament. It can be said that, if we manage to win this event, even if we don¡¯t obtain first ce, second ce will be certain."


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words drew everyone¡¯s attention to the final event. That event was listed as ¡ª Integrated Team Battle Royal!


    In the Integrated Team Battle Royal, each team would have 120 members participating. The representing teams from all military academies in the Federation would be ced on the same map to fight it out in a time-limited battle royal. The time limit would be set as 3 days, or 72 hours.


    Li Lanfeng continued his analysis. "This battle royal does not only challenge a team¡¯sbat power. There will be all kinds of sustained damage, double-crossing, schemes and maniptions aplenty. It can be said that the tactics will be endless ¡ª the 120 members of each team will not be from just one specialization. The team will be an amalgamation of all the specializations, thus representing the strength of the military academies in its truest sense. It is precisely due to this reason that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy hase in second for seven consecutive tournaments. Everyone knows that the specialization distribution of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s representative team is too narrow and focused. Our academy basically only sends mecha operators."


    "From the looks of it, to get good results, just relying on us alone is impossible," said one of the team leaders of a battle n under the Lingtian Mecha n.


    "Yes. For a 120-man team, it would be best for there to be 5 strategists to coordinate operations." Han Jijyun confirmed what that team leader said and borated, "And right now, the only people in Lingtian who can hold the position of strategist are Li Lanfeng and myself. We¡¯recking three more people. To win the tournament, we must gather a whole set of 5 people."


    "Unfortunately, for the role of strategist, as soon as any sign of a person who can take on such a role reveals itself, some mecha n will whisk them away. To start looking now will probably be very difficult," said Gao Jinyun with a deep frown. "Could it be that we¡¯ll have to steal one from the other mecha ns?"


    "Even if we want to steal someone, the other mecha ns won¡¯t let them go." A team leader by Gao Jinyun¡¯s side immediately shot down that idea.


    "Not stealing, but coborating!" said Ling Lan abruptly.


    Wu Jiong said dubiously, "Boss Lan, you mean for us to coborate with the other mecha ns?"


    Ling Lan nodded and said, "Yes, send out invitations to all the major mecha ns. We¡¯ll draw the talent we need from them and carry out a school-wide coboration! And our first target will be Thunder King Qiao Ting!"


    Everyone in the conference room was stupefied by Ling Lan¡¯s words. Coborate with Thunder King Qiao Ting? Had they misheard?

 Chapter 431: Goading Qiao Ting!

    Chapter 431: Goading Qiao Ting!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Thunder King Qiao Ting had been having a hard timetely. Even though he knew that he would certainly receive some k after his defeat at the hands of Lingtian, he had not expected the impact of the defeat to be so significant. He was so affected by it that he could hardly bear it.


    Those vice regimentmanders of Leiting who had been so reverent to him before were now flippant and disrespectful, tantly and subtly conveying their wish for him to abdicate his position on his own. Even those major battle n leaders he had personally cultivated had also begun to be disobedient behind his back. In the eyes of the regr members, Qiao Ting had even perceived some discontent and distrust.


    Was losing such an unsalvageable catastrophe? Qiao Ting was a proud person ¡ª since Leiting could no longer abide him, he simply resigned from his post as the regimentmander of Leiting. If not for the fact that he still wanted to represent Leiting to fight against Lingtian again next year and wash away this debt of shame personally, he definitely would have quitpletely and left Leiting ...


    However, Qiao Ting did not expect that things did not end with his resignation from the post of regimentmander. Very soon, a rumour spread across the campus, saying that while he had been the regimentmander of Leiting, not only had he oppressed the talented juniors in his faction, keeping them from being able to shine, he had also abused his authority to practise nepotism. The rumours also said that he was very high-handed,pletely suppressing all views which opposed his own, causing the Leiting Mecha n to be constantly filled with anger and resentment.


    Under the purposeful instigation to spread the rumours, Qiao Ting¡¯s reputation continued to fall. Now, every time Qiao Ting stepped outside, he could feel the scornful gazes of the people around him, many of which were also tinged with schadenfreude.


    Qiao Ting was not a stupid person. After some quick investigation, he found out that this was the handiwork of the current regimentmander of Leiting. Qiao Ting did not feel much anger, only some disappointment. In order topletely supnt him, the other had actually employed such an underhanded method. How could someone like this lead Leiting to greater heights? Thinking about that cold regimentmander of Lingtian¡¯s with his outstanding abilities, Qiao Ting began to fear for Leiting¡¯s future.


    At the thought of Ling Lan, Qiao Ting¡¯s feelings were extremelyplicated. Not only because of his defeat at Ling Lan¡¯s hands, but also because of Ling Lan¡¯s ability to subdue her subordinates. Ling Lan¡¯s actions and behaviour were actually very much like his own, domineering to the extreme ¡ª and yet, his own subordinates were only loyal and obedient on the surface, having their own private schemes and plots in secret, while those other regimentmanders of Lingtian were serving under Ling Lan whole-heartedly. Regardless of any mistakes Ling Lan maymit, or however great the losses those mistakes may cause to Lingtian, Qiao Ting believed that those regimentmanders would only me themselves for their shorings and not harbour any resentment towards Ling Lan.


    Was this the difference between a king who had created his own kingdom and a king who was only defending the kingdom his predecessors had handed down? Truth be told, Qiao Ting was very envious of Ling Lan. He envied how the other could make decisions so wilfully, never ever being checked by anyone. In contrast, even at his most glorious hour, he still had to bend andpromise for the sake of therger picture. If possible, Qiao Ting too wanted to be like Ling Lan and be a king who had forged his own kingdom, with everything within his control.


    Qiao Ting did not know that although Ling Lan was the first regimentmander of Lingtian, Ling Lan had always been a free-rein general who had left everything in the faction to be handled by the other three regimentmanders. This attitude of absolute trust 1 was also the main reason why Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and the others were so loyal in their support of Ling Lan ... since you trust me so, I will return it a hundredfold.


    Despite the rumours circting around the campus, Qiao Ting carried on as usual. When his mecha group training was over, he led his battle n to the canteen for food. As soon as he entered the canteen, as other times before this, the noisy canteen abruptly fell silent before bursting into susurrations of whispered discussions. Many people began hissing into another¡¯s ear 2 ¡ª the heat of the rumours around Qiao Ting had not dissipated yet.


    With his sensitive hearing, Qiao Ting naturally could not avoid hearing some of those rumours about him. However, having already heard much prior to this, he was now immensely calm. Expressionless, he strode into therge canteen, found an empty table, and sat down.


    "Boss Qiao, let me bloody go teach them a lesson." One of the members of Qiao Ting¡¯s battle n was not as calm. Face filled with indignation, his fists were clenched in anger as he asked if he could go educate those juniors who did not know how to respect their seniors. Knowing Boss Qiao well, they knew that a majority of the rumours flying around were false.


    "What¡¯s there to teach? This world, has always been a world where the winners reign. Since I¡¯ve lost, it¡¯s normal to beughed at," replied Qiao Ting calmly. In the past, he had always been arrogant and domineering, but because he was standing at the peak, even if there were those who disliked him, they would keep it concealed and not show it outright. But now, he was a tiger who had tumbled down from his mountain ¡ª it was perfectly normal for those people who were dissatisfied with him to take the opportunity to stomp on him a few times. If he became angry at all the people who did so, he would not be able to continue living properly. Qiao Ting smiled self-deprecatingly. These three months had smoothened out some of his sharp edges; he now knew how to reconcile things with himself.


    "So what? Boss Qiao, you¡¯re still the strongest mecha operator in the academy!" Prevented from venting his frustration on those students, the team member could only sit down huffily as he grumbled.


    Qiao Ting did not say anything. So what if he was the strongest mecha operator in the academy? Everyone could only see his current sorry state now ¡ª when would they even think about the strength he possessed? It was funny to think about: an ace operator like him actually beingughed at and mocked by these weaklings who were not even special-ss operators themselves. However, it did not matter anymore. As long as he could endure past the Mecha Grand Tournament, the enlistment for army divisions would open up. When his battle n passed the assessment, they would be able to leave the military academy, and then everything here would no longer have anything to do with them.


    Perhaps because the gazes of everyone were just too irritating, Qiao Ting¡¯s battle n had no interest in lingering. After scarfing down their lunch, they prepared to leave the canteen. The group had just reached the door when arge group of people streamed in. The one at the head of the group was a cold-faced youth in a white uniform. It was Ling Lan shrouded in cold air.


    How Ling Lan became the dux of her specialization for the second-years was actually quite a funny story. As she had been absent from all the physical conditioning courses in her first year, Ling Lan was actually not qualified to be the dux. In the end, Qi Long, who had the best grades, was chosen to be the dux, but Qi Long immediately went to meet the instructor and declined the position. This was because he did not think he could beat his boss. After the first-ranked Qi Long rejected bing the dux, the instructors had no choice but to offer the position to Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and the rest, in order of their ranking. Unfortunately, Wu Jiong and the rest also refused to be the dux ...


    In the end, all of the top-ranking students had refused the position, because all of these students were members of the Lingtian Mecha n. If their own boss did not be the dux, how would they dare to take the position?


    This caused the instructors of the second-year Mecha Piloting specialization to be teased by the other instructors,ughing at how no one was willing to be the dux of the second-year Mecha Piloting specialization. This annoyed the instructors of the Mecha Piloting specialization, and so they made a shocking decision. They threw the treasured position of dux to Ling Lan who had no achievements to her name. Since all those students believed that Ling Lan was deserving of the dux position, as instructors, who were they to refuse?


    In this manner, Ling Lan became the only student to be dux without any actual results, once again making history. Even though this was history that Ling Lan had had no intentions of making.


    When Qiao Ting saw Ling Lan, his footsteps paused. The two of them drew closer, and just as they were about to brush by each other, Ling Lan suddenly halted, and Qiao Ting reflexively stopped as well.


    The two of them faced each other. This unusual scene caused the entire canteen to fall still and silent. Everyone had their eyes pinned on the doorway, unsure what would ur between Ling Lan and Qiao Ting ...


    "Senior Qiao, how have you been recently?" Ling Lan was the first to speak.


    Qiao Ting smiled coldly, asking, "Why? Are you here tough at me as well?" Senior Qiao? It looks like the other already knew he was no longer the regimentmander of Leiting.


    "What is there tough about, Senior Qiao?" asked Ling Lan with a raised brow as ifpletely clueless as to what Qiao Ting was alluding to.


    Qiao Ting did not reply, but his expression turned even colder. He was the hot topic all over the academy right now ¡ª it was unbelievable that Ling Lan truly did not know anything about the rumours.


    "It¡¯s so rare for our academy to produce an ace operator. I really don¡¯t know what there is about you, Senior Qiao, for others tough about," said Ling Lan casually,pletely ignoring the stony expression on Qiao Ting¡¯s face.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Qiao Ting¡¯s gaze narrow. He peered intently at Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, trying to discern the true meaning behind Ling Lan¡¯s words. Unfortunately, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were clear and untroubled, extremely calm ¡ª there was no hint of anything untoward within them.


    Since he could not tell what Ling Lan was plotting, and because Qiao Ting did not want to y around with Ling Lan, he asked directly, "You specially stopped here not simply just to chat like this with me, right? Speak, what do you want?"


    Ling Lan did not bother with courtesies either; she stated her purpose outright, "Senior Qiao, I would like to coborate with you."


    "Coborate?" Qiao Ting was both stunned and amused. "You think that we can still work together?" Having pulled him down from his pedestal in the clouds and ground him into the mud, causing him to lose all face ... this person actually dared to suggest a coboration? Did he, Qiao Ting, look like an idiot?


    "Why not?" asked Ling Lan brusquely.


    "You tell me, would I help a person who has made me lose everything? Do I look like a fool?" asked Qiao Ting, livid.


    "Help me? Senior Qiao, you think too highly of yourself." Ling Lan¡¯s countenance turned dark, and the temperature in the canteen instantly dropped by several degrees, causing everyone to shiver.


    "If it¡¯s not helping you, are you saying that it would be helping myself?" said Qiao Ting with a sneer. Unlike the others, the cold air emanating from Ling Lan did not affect Qiao Ting at all.


    "Exactly so!" said Ling Lan bluntly.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes narrowed into slits, a dangerous breath of aura rising up from him. These absurd words of Ling Lan had indeed enraged Qiao Ting.


    "If we be the champions of the Mecha Grand Tournament, it will definitely be very beneficial to your development in the army. Senior Qiao, shouldn¡¯t you consider coborating this once?" Ling Lan was not at all afraid of Qiao Ting¡¯s rage; she calmly stated her stance.


    As soon as these words were out, all those who caught what they had said could not help but inhale sharply. They looked towards Qiao Ting, waiting for his answer. If it were them, they would not be able to resist this temptation ...


    Taken aback, Qiao Ting was silent for several seconds as if pondering the deeper meaning behind Ling Lan¡¯s move. Not long after, he asked, "Why me?"


    Ling Lan responded evenly, "I do not want to continue being the perpetual number two. Since this is a matter concerning everyone in the academy, why should Lingtian shoulder the entire thankless burden ourselves?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s words rendered Qiao Ting briefly speechless, but Ling Lan had not expected to receive an immediate answer from Qiao Ting anyway. She said, "There¡¯s still five days¡¯ time. I hope that you can give me a good answer in the end." Done speaking, Ling Lan moved to pass Qiao Ting.


    At this moment, Qiao Ting suddenly asked, "If I don¡¯t ept?"


    Ling Lan swung her head around and her gaze pierced right through Qiao Ting, making his heart clench.


    "Could it be that after losing once, Senior Qiao has lost his ambition and drive? Or perhaps, you¡¯re afraid that you will lose in the Mecha Grand Tournament as well and lose face in the outside world too?" A trace of disdain pulled on the corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips as she said this pointedly.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes narrowed again at these words, rage zing in his eyes. It looked like Ling Lan¡¯s words had aggravated him.


    "Me? Afraid of losing? Ling Lan, are you looking down on me?" Qiao Ting bit out word by word. From his tightly clenched fists, it was clear to see that he was indeed furious.


    "In that case, it¡¯s settled!" Ling Lan¡¯s brows lifted up as she replied with a half-smile. And with that, she led the Lingtian members into the canteen.


    The members by Qiao Ting¡¯s side waited till Ling Lan¡¯s group had moved further away before saying ecstatically, "Boss Qiao, that¡¯s awesome! This is a great chance. If we can be the champions of the Mecha Grand Tournament, when we return, there definitely won¡¯t be anyone who would continue nattering on about us. Even when we enter an army division, this result would gain us the attention of the upper ranks of the military."


    Qiao Ting smiled wryly and shook his head without responding verbally to the member who had spoken.


    That member¡¯s expression changed. "Boss Qiao, can it be that you¡¯re nning to refuse?" But this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!


    Qiao Ting sighed and said, "No, I¡¯m just frustrated that I fell for Ling Lan¡¯s goading. That punk ..." Unconsciously, he had let the other grasp the initiative, and he himself had jumped into the trap identally.


    At Qiao Ting¡¯s words, the member thought back on the earlier conversation and came to a realisation.


    Qiao Ting turned his head to look at that dazzling cold youth ¡ª he believed that for as long as the other was around in the academy, the position of number one faction would never fall to another. Leiting was likely to have difficult days ahead of them in the future.


    ********


    After Ling Lan¡¯s group left Qiao Ting, they immediately walked upstairs and entered a private room. Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun, and the rest were already waiting there. After Ling Lan had taken her seat, Li Lanfeng said with a smile, "Congrattions on obtaining Thunder King Qiao Ting."


    Ling Lan nced at Li Lanfeng, and her prating gaze almost wiped the smile from Li Lanfeng¡¯s face. Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile dimmed as he asked, "Did I say something wrong?"


    "Hn. Don¡¯t smile if you don¡¯t feel like smiling." Ling Lan frowned slightly. "Too fake." Why was Li Lanfeng acting like this? Recalling that Li Lanfeng had mentioned hating the Thunder King before this, Ling Lan consoled him by saying, "Leopard, Qiao Ting is just working with us. After the coboration ends, we will still be rivals. We will never be friends."


    At these words, Li Lanfeng instantly broke out into a true smile. Ling Lan sighed softly ¡ª this was how Li Lanfeng should be, like the normal Li Lanfeng. It looked like Li Lanfeng really hated the Thunder King ¡ª who knew what had transpired between them in the past ... Ling Lan decided to let Little Four investigate the matter.


    "Why did you choose to goad him?" Regaining his usualposure, Li Lanfeng piped up to ask. Earlier, due to this goading tactic, Qiao Ting¡¯s depressed mood had lifted considerably. Once Qiao Ting bucked up, he would definitely grow rapidly ¡ª for them who could only be his opponents, Qiao Ting¡¯s elerated growth was extremely disadvantageous.


    "With a rival like this, won¡¯t it be very interesting?" Ling Lan¡¯s eyes glittered. "Besides, I think, for an exceptional ace operator like the Thunder King to grow up as soon as possible, it should not be a headache for us, but for our enemy nations!"


    Li Lanfeng jerked and cold sweat beaded on his forehead. His eyes were shadowed and hard to read. In the end, he sighed and said softly, "Rabbit, I was wrong."


    Even if the Thunder King could be that destined king of his, how could he plot and scheme to destroy the other just because of that?


    "Rabbit, train me hard! I want to be strong!" Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes zed with fighting spirit. The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips curled upwards. The way he was right now was just like the leopard of old ...

 Chapter 432: Two Girls!

    Chapter 432: Two Girls!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Qiming was a third-rate with very limited resources. Originally, Qiming was not called Qiming, but Bizarre. This was because the weather changes on the were extremely hard to predict. The changes were bizarre and woulde on suddenly without warning ¡ª one might even experience all four seasons in a single day. However, this type of bizarre weather conditions had caused the natives living here to have extremely sturdy bodies. Through scientific research, specialists had discovered that the bizarre climate of Qiming contained a strange type of maic field. This maic field had subtly enhanced the physiques of the people living here.


    This discovery made many of the physical skills experts of the Federation very curious. They all came over to experience it for themselves and after living in the area for a time, they found that it was indeed somewhat effective. Especially when one was stuck at a bottleneck, under the influence of the maic field, they could better sense the possibility of a breakthrough. When this hypothesis was proven, a significant number of physical skills masters who had encountered bottlenecks would specially make a trip there and stay for a period of time to look for the catalyst to break through. Over the past few decades, there had indeed been quite a number of physical skills masters who had broken through their bottlenecks this way. In their great joy, all these physical skills masters spoke up to say that this was their ce of enlightenment ... over time, this became known as ¡¯enlightenment¡¯, hence Qiming 1 .


    However, due to its changeable weather and scarce resources, other than those physical skills masters searching for a catalyst to break through, no one else was drawn to Qiming; thus, Qiming had always been very quiet. That said, this silence would be shattered every three years because the All-Federation Military Academy Grand Mecha Tournament was held on Qiming, and this year was the year when the 279th All-Federation Military Academy Grand Mecha Tournament would be hosted.


    A month or so ago, almost everyone in the Federation was busy over one thing ¡ª fighting to obtain a viewing ticket for the Mecha Grand Tournament. There were too many monks and very little porridge 2 ¡ª if one was just a tadte, they would only be able to watch the live broadcast from their own homes. No one who had the means wanted to miss this opportunity to view the future of the Federation with their own eyes, and this caused the price of the limited few viewing tickets in the ck market to rise again and again, even setting a new record. The tickets for this year¡¯s event were so highly sought after because the cadet who was known as the second Ling Xiao was very likely to appear ... everyone wanted to get a personal glimpse of the future god-ss operator as he grew.


    As the time to the tournament drew ever closer, Qiming became increasingly livelier as well. The area around the stadium where the tournament would be held had already been turned into a lively marketce by now. There were specialties from variouss on sale ¡ª the merchants were very clever and nned to use the Mecha Grand Tournament to earn a hefty sum.


    One day away from the start of the tournament, the participating students from all of the military academies were basically already on Qiming. At 12 midnight today, the spaceport of Qiming would officially be closed. In the following two weeks¡¯ time, unless it was a military operationing from the highestmand, the spaceport would not open up for any spacecrafts. This was in order to protect the students participating in the tournament. After all, this tournament would gather all of the most outstanding cadets of the Federation in one ce ¡ª the Federation could not afford to lose them.


    ********


    In the enclosed amodation area of the participating students, two girls came to the registration hall. One was delicate and graceful, while the other was handsome and robust. One intense, one fragile, their temperaments were distinctly different yet the two fit surprisingly well together.


    These two girls with distinctly different temperaments that somehow enhanced each other¡¯s radiance instantly attracted the attention of the students from some academy currently registering in the hall ...


    "Oh wow, I never expected to see such superb goods at the Mecha Grand Tournament." A frivolous-looking young man¡¯s eyes lit up at the sight of the delicate young girl, his greedpletely unconcealed. "She¡¯s even 30% prettier than the school beauty of the art institute next door."


    "By the looks of their uniforms, they should be students from the Federal Co-ed Military Academy." A friend by that person¡¯s side seemed to know the uniforms of the various military academies very well, instantly able to guess which academy the two girls were from.


    "Co-ed Military?" The frivolous youth rubbed his jaw contemtively and said, "Other than our three major men¡¯s military academies, only the Co-ed Military Academy is worth watching ... Ah Li, go and find out who the primary force for the Co-ed Military Academy is this time. It would be best if you could obtain detailed information on him ... perhaps, we¡¯ll have the chance to sample the women of the Co-ed Military Academy." After saying that, the frivolous youth sniggered creepily ¡ª he had managed to get his way more than once using this kind of ploy.


    ********


    The two girls saw the students from some military academy busy with their registrations, and the delicate girl shyly tugged on the arm of the handsome girl beside her, asking her wordlessly to wait.


    The handsome girl could not help but roll her eyes at this, but nevertheless, she obediently stopped walking and waited for those people to leave the hall. Only after that did the handsome girl pull the delicate girl by the hand up to the registration area and say to the staff there, "Big Brother, can we trouble you with something?"


    The two girls were truly too dazzling; the staff member had also noticed them earlier. Seeing the handsome girl talk to him, his face was instantly flushed with pleasure as he said, "What is it? As long as it¡¯s something I can help you both with, just ask."


    The handsome girl nudged the delicate girl, indicating for her to speak. The delicate girl¡¯s face turned red instantly and she lowered her head. Her bashful demeanour showed that she had absolutely no intentions of speaking. The handsome girl could only sigh helplessly ¡ª she was trying hard to cultivate her good friend¡¯s interpersonal skills, but unfortunately, after more than a year, she still was not seeing any results. Resigned, she had to speak on their behalf. "Big Brother, I would like to know if the First Men¡¯s Military Academy hase."


    The staff member shook his head in response. "No."


    "No? Big Brother, are you sure you aren¡¯t mistaken? Do you want to check your records again before answering?" The handsome girl was very disappointed at his reply. Doggedly, she continued to ask, and her brusque attitude made the delicate girl¡¯s face turn even redder. The delicate girl pulled hard on her handsome friend¡¯s arm, trying to remind her friend to keep calm. At the same time, she did not forget to smile apologetically at the staff member.


    The handsome girl¡¯s interrogation had initially made the staff member a little angry, but when he saw the delicate girl¡¯s smile, his heart melted. He could not help but exin, "I have been keeping a close eye out for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, because the rumoured second Ling Xiao is from that academy, so I would not have remembered wrongly. But, you don¡¯t have to worry. There are still 8 hours before the spaceport closes. The participating students from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy are probably still on their way, and they should make it in time."


    "Thank you!" The delicate girl shed a grateful smile and thanked the staff member sweetly. This put the staff member in an even better mood and after some thought, he suggested, "Why don¡¯t you all leave a message? When I meet the First Men¡¯s Military Academyter, I¡¯ll pass on your message."


    The handsome girl immediately nodded in approval and said, "Tell them that Luo Chao and Han Xuya are here, and for them toe find us quickly." If theirmunicators had not been disabled as soon as they entered Qiming, preventing them from contacting the outside world, they would not have had to resort to such a stupid method to look for Boss Lan and the others.


    The staff member smiled and said, "Got it. Why don¡¯t you all leave a note too?"


    Han Xuya and Luo Chao shared a smile and, in the end, Luo Chao was the one who bashfully picked up a paper and pen to leave a note. Only after that did they say goodbye to the staff member and went off to wait patiently for Boss Lan¡¯s group to arrive.

 Chapter 433: The First Mens Military Academy!

    Chapter 433: The First Men¡¯s Military Academy!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Night had descended, and the staff members at the registration hall who had been bustling around all afternoon could finally rx. The spaceport was about to close; almost all of the participating schools had already arrived ...


    That staff member who had promised to pass on a message for Luo Chao and Han Xuya picked up the paper note in the drawer of the counter, his expression troubled.


    "Big Brother Xu, why haven¡¯t you gone to eat?" It was already time for them to eat, so they were preparing to leave the hall. The one called Brother Xu sighed and said, "You all go ahead. Let me stay here alone."


    That person saw the note in Brother Xu¡¯s hand and winked at him, saying, "So it¡¯s all because of the obligation those beauties entrusted to you, Big Brother Xu!" He did not forget to knock shoulders with Brother Xu after saying this.


    Big Brother Xu shoved the other, annoyed, and said, "Don¡¯t talk nonsense. Just go away and eat."


    Seeing the other grinning cheekily as he packed up his things to leave with the crowd, Big Brother Xu thought for a moment and said, "Help me buy a takeaway meal." Since he had made a promise, he would fulfil it.


    "Got it, got it. I won¡¯t bother you from carrying out the duty a beauty has requested of you." That person waved and said nonchntly.


    Big Brother Xu smiled helplessly ¡ª even though the beauties were part of the reason, it was still mostly because he did not want to break a promise.


    Soon, the hall had be silent and only Big Brother Xu was left sitting in the working area. He opened hismunicator and began to browse through the relevant information on the year¡¯s Mecha Grand Tournament.


    "So it turns out that other than Qiao Ting from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the Second and Third Men¡¯s Academies are not willing to just roll over either. They¡¯ve actually sent out sixth-years who have also achieved ace operator level ... looks like this tournament will be a sh among tigers and dragons 1 .


    "Even the Federal Co-ed Military Academy those two girls are from has a pretty good team leader. Lin Xiao 2 ... I remember him. Eh? Not even indicating his mecha level. Thest tournament, he had participated as well. Back then, as a third-year, he was already a special-ss operator. Now that he¡¯s a sixth-year, he can¡¯t have stopped at special-ss operator, right?" Big Brother Xu¡¯s eyes were pensive. He still remembered Lin Xiao, mostly because this name sounded so simr to that of his idol Ling Xiao¡¯s. It had made an impression on him.


    "The tournament this year will be really interesting. These academies ... in order to suppress the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, they have actually sent out sixth-year students. It¡¯s been many years since sixth-years have appeared in this tournament. I had almost forgotten that military academies are run on a six-year system," muttered Big Brother Xu to himself.


    "Which academies have sent sixth-years, Big Brother? Can you tell me about them?" Suddenly, a voice rang out by Big Brother Xu¡¯s ear. Brother Xu¡¯s heart clenched in fright and he snapped his head up, only to see arge head before his eyes. It was pillowed on the registration counter, staring at him with curious eyes.


    Brother Xu calmed himself and only then noticed that two people had abruptly appeared out of mid-air in the hall. One of them was the handsome youth before him, staring at him curiously, while the other had his back to him and was looking at the door as if waiting for something.


    "Hey, Big Brother, I¡¯m asking you. Which schools have sent sixth-years? Tell me quickly please," The handsome youth shed a wide grin, so sunny that it could not be refused.


    Big Brother Xu said, "It¡¯s the Second and Third Men¡¯s Academies, and also the Federal Co-ed Military Academy." As soon as he said it, Big Brother Xu was rather annoyed at himself. How could he have just blurted this information out just like that? With a wary gaze, he asked carefully, "Who are you? Why are you here?"


    That youth once again shed a hearty smile and replied, "Sorry to disturb you, Big Brother. I¡¯m called Xie Yi, and I¡¯m from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy." He stood upright and when he saw Big Brother Xu¡¯s attention flit to the person behind him, he raised his right hand and pointed with his thumb at the youth there and said, "That fellow is called Luo Lang. Big Brother, you can just ignore him. Whenever my boss isn¡¯t around, that punk is always such a tight-lipped gourd."


    Subsequently, he asked, "Big Brother, how should I address you?"


    The youth¡¯s sunny and open smile, as well as his respectful attitude, set a good impression in Big Brother Xu¡¯s mind. Big Brother Xu returned a smile of his own and said, "I¡¯m called Song Yanxu. You can just call me Big Brother Xu."


    "Okay, Big Brother Xu." Xie Yi was not shy, immediately adopting the new form of address.


    "You all are from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Have you all registered?" asked Song Yanxu as he turned on the optical supeputer.


    "The First Men¡¯s Military Academy? So you¡¯re here!" Before Xie Yi could reply, Song Yanxu suddenly eximed. He had just realised that the people before him were from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Song Yanxu quickly took out the paper note he had been entrusted with previously and passed it to Xie Yi, saying, "In the afternoon, two girls were here looking for you guys from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. They even left a note. Take a look and see if you know them."


    Puzzled, Xie Yi epted the note and when he opened it, he cried out in surprise, "Ah, it¡¯s from little sisters Luo Chao and Han Xuya!"


    He had barely finished speaking when the note in his hand was whisked away by a slender hand. After he took the note, Luo Lang swiftly skimmed through the message and he could hardly contain the shock he felt inside, "They are actually participating in the Mecha Grand Tournament too ..."


    Reflecting back on when he had contacted Luo Chao a while back, she had indeed seemed very timid and evasive, extremely strange. Back then, Luo Lang had assumed that his little sister was just shy, but now things made sense ¡ª his little sister must have been trying to hide this from them to give them a surprise. Hehe, after being apart from him for more than a year, she had be rather audacious, actually daring to fool even him ...


    Luo Lang was annoyed. Setting aside the note in his hands, he stepped forwards into the light and pushed Xie Yi to one side to speak to Song Yanxu who still had his head bowed as he worked. "Big Brother Xu, did they leave any other messages?"


    Song Yanxu raised his head at the question and when he saw that familiar face, he perked up and said happily, "You¡¯vee at the perfect time! The people from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy are already here. I have just handed over your note to them." He pointed at Xie Yi and added, "He¡¯s from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. You can ask him about it."


    When Xie Yi heard this, he instantly burst outughing. Meanwhile, Luo Lang was apoplectic, his entire face turning bright red. Aaaaargh, he was a man, a man, a man, A MAN!


    Xie Yi¡¯sughter startled Song Yanxu, and when he saw that the familiar face before him was not sporting a bashful smile but fuming rage, he felt that something was not right. And then, when he saw that the other¡¯s uniform was exactly the same as Xie Yi standing beside him ...


    "You ... you ... you¡¯re male?" Song Yanxu pointed at Luo Lang in shock, his face a picture of disbelief.


    Xie Yi slung an arm over Luo Lang¡¯s neck and exined with a smile, "Yes, he is my brother, also a student of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, called Luo Lang. The one you saw, Luo Chao, is this fellow¡¯s twin sister, yo."


    Only then did Song Yanxu believe it. He could not help but say under his breath, "How eerie. How could he look exactly like his younger sister? Not at all like a man?"


    Although Song Yanxu had been speaking extremely softly, who was Luo Lang? Of course he heard everything loud and clear. His eyebrows rose sharply, but just as he was about to explode in anger, Xie Yi, who had also heard what Song Yanxu had said, quickly stepped in to stop him. "Boss will be here soon. Don¡¯t cause trouble."


    Only then did Luo Lang rein in his anger. He hated most when others said he looked like a girl ¡ª if not because he did not want to cause trouble for his boss, he definitely would have challenged the other to a duel.


    Sure enough, not too longter, footsteps could be hearding from outside the hall. The noise suggested that the number of people was considerable.


    The one in the lead was a dashing youth dressed in a white military uniform. His almond eyes were sharp and prating ¡ª he was definitely someone who did exactly as he said. Song Yanxu knew that only duxes had the right to wear this colour. Moreover, the bearing of this person and the reverence the others around treated him with all marked this person as the primary force of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Song Yanxu stood up and asked loudly, "From the First Men¡¯s Military Academy? Pleasee and register."


    At his words, the white-clothed youth led his entourage right towards him. Xie Yi smiled at the sight and brought Luo Lang with him to retreat to one side, giving way to the other.


    "Excuse me, how should I address you?" asked Song Yanxu respectfully.


    "Qiao Ting!" replied the young man crisply. Immediately after, he drew a namete out of his pocket and handed it to Song Yanxu.


    Song Yanxu epted the namete and scanned it with the optical supeputer, and theputer instantly registered the information in the namete. As expected, this youth was the rumoured second Ling Xiao, Qiao Ting. His mecha level was ace, and he was also the primary power candidate of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    After Qiao Ting was done registering, Song Yanxu handed him a room card. This would be the ce Qiao Ting would be resting at for the next half a month. This also meant that Qiao Ting was done with his registration procedures. Those following behind Qiao Ting immediately took out their respective nametes and handed them to Song Yanxu for registration as well. This was a necessary procedure ¡ª if they did not register, they would lose the right to participate in the Mecha Grand Tournament.


    There were 20 people who hade along with Qiao Ting. As Song Yanxu was the only one left to handle their registrations, he was so busy that his head was spinning, and his forehead was soon dripping with sweat. After much effort, these people were finally all done registering. Only then did he remember that the two who had first arrived still had not registered yet. He was just about to call them over when he saw Qiao Ting pass by those two ...


    Xie Yi and Luo Lang did not behave respectfully like the others; instead, their expressions were carefree and rxed. Xie Yi even greeted the other casually, "Senior Qiao, hello~"


    Song Yanxu could only stare nkly at the sight. The primary force of an academy was the strongest person in said academy, and he would be used to the respectful behaviour of those following him. Xie Yi and Luo Lang¡¯s rather casual and irreverent demeanours surprised Song Yanxu, and so he swallowed his words to call them over, nning to let the situation y out a little further.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s steps halted when he heard the greeting. He turned his head to look at Xie Yi and Luo Lang, but he did not seem at all angry at their demeanours, nor did he ignore them. Instead, he actually took the initiative to say, "Your boss is right behind me. He¡¯ll be here soon ..."


    Your boss? Could it be that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had sent two factions this time? And these two factions did not get along with each other? Song Yanxu was curious now. Even those not from the academy itself knew the rules of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Every Mecha Grand Tournament, the ones sent to represent would inevitably be the mecha n which had earned the title of number one faction within the academy.


    "Thanks, Senior Qiao!" Xie Yi thanked Qiao Ting with a smile. Qiao Ting was about to say something more when he noticed arge batch of First Academy studentsing up behind him. So he stopped and merely nodded to Xie Yi before saying, "We¡¯ll head off first."


    Done speaking, Qiao Ting led his group out of the hall, while Xie Yi and Luo Lang turned to ce their attention on the people who had just walked into the hall. They were the battle teams from Tianji and Wuji. The battle teams each took up one side of the hall ¡ª the two sides stood very far apart, so it was clear at a nce that the group was made up of two different parties.

 Chapter 434: Very Ugly, Very Scary?

    Chapter 434: Very Ugly, Very Scary?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    This time, Tianji and Wuji had 12 member slots each. As per Boss Lan¡¯s request, they had brought the strongest 12 special-ss operators from their respective mecha ns. The regimentmanders of both mecha ns arrived before Song Yanxu at the same time, one on the right, one on the left, neither willing to give way to the other.


    Song Yanxu surreptitiously wiped away the sweat beading up on his forehead. He nced to the left and then to the right, before asking cautiously, "Which of you shalle first?"


    Han Yu coolly nced sideways at Tianji¡¯s regimentmander, Mu Shaoyu, who looked back at him just as coolly. Fiery sparks flew between the two, but neither made a move to answer Song Yanxu¡¯s question. For a moment, the hall became extremely still and silent.


    The silent confrontation between the two made the cold sweat spring out even faster from Song Yanxu¡¯s forehead. He could not help but curse internally, ¡¯Hells, what is this bunch of First Men¡¯s Military Academy students nning to do? Are they going to fight? Why don¡¯t they show any intention of working together?¡¯


    Song Yanxu believed that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy definitely would not be able to aplish any good results under these circumstances. He silently med the primary force Qiao Ting for not leading his team well, for not resolving these conflicts in his team in time and allowing this issue to worsen.


    The situation in the hall was deteriorating, and just as the two seemed about to blow, Xie Yi, who had been watching coldly from the side-lines, suddenly spoke up to say, "How about we let Regiment Commander Mu go first?" He could not bear to see Song Yanxu be dehydrated from sweating too much due to the stress of being stuck between the two regimentmanders. Besides, Song Yanxu had been kind enough to pass on a message for Luo Lang and Han Xuya, so he should give him a hand no matter what.


    Mu Shaoyu and Han Yu both turned to look at Xie Yi at the same time, trying to figure out the deeper meaning behind Xie Yi¡¯s words. Xie Yi only smiled and shrugged, looking for all the world as if he was just trying to be helpful. Han Yu was greatly frustrated, but he merely sniffed coldly and turned his head away, no longer holding Mu Shaoyu¡¯s gaze. This was an indirect acquiescence of Xie Yi¡¯s suggestion.


    Seeing this, Mu Shaoyu stepped forwards matter-of-factly. Even though Tianji had lost to Lingtian, it was still originally the number two faction after all. How could he allow Wuji, whose ranking was behind Tianji, to be a step before him? No matter what, the dignity of Tianji had to be maintained.


    After Tianji had registered, Mu Shaoyu nodded at Xie Yi in thanks for helping him out and also in acknowledgement of the favour. He then side-eyed Han Yu once more before leading his group away from the hall. When Han Yu finally finished registering with the rest of the Wuji group, he red at Xie Yi and harrumphed coldly, a sign that he would remember this slight. Only then did he haughtily lead the Wuji group away from the hall.


    "What kind of people are they ..." said Luo Lang, mouth thin, very displeased by Han Yu¡¯s attitude towards Xie Yi.


    "It¡¯s fine. With Boss around, he won¡¯t be able to pull anything," replied Xie Yi with a grin. He did not mind Han Yu¡¯s attitude at all, especially for the duration of this Mecha Grand Tournament.


    Mind you, even though the public leader of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy team was Qiao Ting, in reality, the true leader was Ling Lan. Although Han Yu had qualified to be a representative here at the Mecha Grand Tournament, whether or not he actually got to represent the First Academy in battle still depended on whether Boss allowed it or not. With the decision-making power in the hands of his boss, as long as Han Yu wasn¡¯t retarded, he definitely would not cause trouble for Xie Yi during this period of time; therefore, Xie Yi was very calm.


    "I really cannot understand why Boss decided to give some spots to those mecha ns below ..." Luo Lang had been puzzled by this all this while ¡ª the honour and glory obviously belonged to their Lingtian.


    "Think about it. How many special-ss operators have we brought this time?" Xie Yi cackled. "We¡¯ve pretty much brought the whole pot. I¡¯m really looking forward to that final battle royal involving all the academies. If they knew that their opponents are almost all special-ss operators and top-ss experts from the various specializations, I wonder what their expressions would be like ..."


    Luo Lang imagined that scene and a smile pulled at the corners of his lips. "That should be fun!" This smile instantly caused his entire being to dazzle brightly, and Xie Yi reflexively turned to look elsewhere ... hells, why was this punk so beautiful when he smiled? He was fast unable to hold on.


    Right then, anotherrge group of people entered through the doorway again. One of those in the group was extremely familiar to Xie Yi. He instantly let out a sigh of relief and rushed forward to greet the other, calling out, "Senior Zhang, you all havee. That was pretty quick." He was saved! He finally had a proper reason to distance himself from Luo Lang and rescue his heart which was on the brink of an ident.


    The one who had just arrived was the previous regimentmander of Dwotong, Zhang Jing-an. He was leading a battle team from his own faction as well as those other participating students from the other minor factions. Although there were not that many people from each faction ¡ª with some only having one or two ¡ª when taken in total, they had slightly greater numbers than the two teams which hade before them, making up approximately thirty people.


    Zhang Jing-an saw Xie Yiing up to greet him and he cast a reflexive nce around the currently empty hall, then said somewhat pointedly, "They¡¯ve all left?"


    Xie Yi smiled, nodded and said, "Yes, those from Leiting and Wuji have already finished registering and went off to their own amodations to rest."


    Hearing this, Zhang Jing-an turned to say to the regimentmanders of the other factions, "Let¡¯s quickly handle our registrations too then. Regiment Commander Ling¡¯s group will being soon. Let¡¯s not hold up the line."


    The regimentmanders nodded and quickly led their men over to the counter to register.


    Only then did Zhang Jing-an turn to say to Xie Yi, "This time, thanks to Regiment Commander Ling¡¯s faith in me, he gave me an additional eight slots, but unfortunately my faction cannotpare to Leiting, Tianji and Wuji ... some of the members are a bitcklustre ..."


    Xie Yi smiled and said, "Senior Zhang is worrying too much. Our Boss Lan has said that there is no need for the strongest, just the most suitable. Senior Zhang¡¯s battle n is one of the teams with the best teamwork in our academy. Our Boss Lan trusts in you all."


    Zhang Jing-an smiled at those words and could not help but sigh in admiration. "Rascal. You¡¯re really good with words, and strong too. No wonder your regimentmander let you be the one to greet and handle us."


    Xie Yi hurriedly said in a humble manner, "That is just Boss Lan being trusting. I¡¯m not that amazing."


    Xie Yi¡¯s attitude of being immune to all ttery made Zhang Jing-an shake his head, silently admiring of how Ling Lan had been able to excavate so many talented people.


    This group of people led by Zhang Jing-an all had pretty good rapport with one another; everyone got along rather well. Song Yanxu sighed softly at this, finally feeling like this was a true team. Those in thest batch of people had almost given him the impression that they were two teams with different affiliations which hated each other.


    While Song Yanxu was busy processing all the registrations, his colleagues came back from their meal. When they saw so many people in the hall, they knew that a new military academy must have arrived, so they quickly rushed forwards to help with the registering.


    With the reinforcement of 10 more staff, the staff very quicklypleted everyone¡¯s registration. Right at that moment, 40 more people surged in from the doorway. The one in the lead was also a youth dressed in a white uniform. The moment he stepped into the hall, the temperature instantly dropped, and the initially noisy hall became silent immediately.


    Song Yanxu suddenly felt a chill surround his body and could not stop himself from shivering.


    Xie Yi and Luo Lang had been leaning on a wall, waiting all this time for the crowd to finish their registration. When they saw the new arrivals, their eyes instantly lit up and they rushed out to stand before the cold-faced youth and called out respectfully, "Boss!"


    The cold youth nodded at Luo Lang and Xie Yi, and then turned to look at Zhang Jing-an to ask him calmly, "Senior Zhang, your registrations are done?"


    Zhang Jing-an quickly replied, "Yes, Junior Ling, we are all done." Zhang Jing-an¡¯s reply instantly shook the people in the hall from their stupor. They hurriedly made way, allowing Ling Lan and the people she brought here to move forwards and register with the staff members.


    Ling Lan¡¯s arrival made the regimentmanders from the mecha ns of various sizes feel the pressure of a mountain upon them; thus, they all quickly bid farewell to Ling Lan and led their team members in a swift departure from the hall.


    Ling Lan saw Zhang Jing-an and friends running out of the hall like demons were chasing after them, and found herself extremely speechless. She turned her head to ask Wu Jiong, "Am I very ugly? Very scary?" Even though thisdy 1 always has a cold face, thisdy¡¯s genes are absolutely top of the line. Both daddy Ling Xiao and mummy Lan Luofeng were super good-looking and elegant ... did those boys have to run away in such fear as if they had just seen a ghost?


    Wu Jiong threw a quick nce at Ling Lan and then immediately lowered his eyes. Boss Lan should have pretty good looks, right ...? Wu Jiong actually could not imagine what Ling Lan truly looked like. Only Ling Lan¡¯s prating gaze remained in his memory, as well as that silent prating chill ... seriously, who would dare to study Boss Lan¡¯s looks so closely? One look was enough to make a person retreat three feet.


    Sensing Boss Lan¡¯s cold and prating gaze sweep sharply pass his face, Wu Jiong tolerated the chill which seemed to slice him right to the bone. With effort, he gathered his thoughts to reply, "How can that be? Boss Lan is handsome and majestic, unparalleled in your dominance ..."


    Why was the cold intent in Boss Lan¡¯s eyes growing thicker? He had clearly only said good things ... Wu Jiong could not know that all the things he had said were indeed good things when used to describe boys, but when used to describe girls, those words were actually rather horrible.


    Wu Jiong felt that he really might not have a chance to participate in the Mecha Grand Tournament if things went on like this ¡ª just as he was about to be killed on the spot, Qi Long spoke up and rescued him. "Boss, your force of presence is too strong. When you stand beside people, they feel really pressured, like a mountain is pressing down on them. Normal people can¡¯t take it."


    When Ling Lan heard this, the cold air around her dissipated a little. Wu Jiong cleverly started nodding his head in agreement. "Yes, Boss Lan, those able to stand firmly by your side must already have physical skills at our level."


    Ling Lan¡¯s brow furrowed ¡ª just as Instructor Number One in the learning space had said, her force of presence was bing stronger and stronger, even already at the critical point. Sometimes, there were even signs of her losing control over it. But, even after such a long time, she still had not been able to find the catalyst to merge her force of presence with her own body. This made her wary of disying her physical skills, afraid that she may lose control and end up doing something she would regret greatly.


    Coming to terms with the answer, Ling Lan gave up on pressing Wu Jiong any further. Standing behind her, Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze shimmered ¡ª he had not forgotten that smile so lovely that it could fell cities and nations. However, this was his secret ¡ª he would not share it with others.


    Ling Lan¡¯s arrival made Song Yanxu and all the other staff members there rally their spirits; they focused on registering all the people who hade along with Ling Lan. It was only after sending Ling Lan off that they breathed a sigh of relief. Some of them even slumped over in their seats, their limbs limp and powerless. Only then did Song Yanxu realise that he had actually forgotten to speak more with Xie Yi and Luo Lang; he did not even know when they had finished their registration procedures ...


    "Ling Lan eh? That person¡¯s force of presence is really strong, even stronger than that of their primary force Qiao Ting. It would¡¯ve been hard to breathe even for someone standing far away to one side." Song Yanxu looked down at Ling Lan¡¯s information recorded on the optical supeputer and muttered to himself, "Only a special-ss operator?" His tone was full of doubt.

 Chapter 435: Provocation!

    Chapter 435: Provocation!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    At this time, in the amodation area assigned to the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, a boy rushed into the living quarters of his regimentmander. This boy was Ah Li, who had been attracted by Luo Chao and Han Xuya, and who had also been dispatched by his regimentmander to scout for information.


    "Regiment Commander, I¡¯ve found it. The leader of the First Co-ed Military Academy 1 this time is Lin Xiao." When he saw his regimentmander, Ah Li immediately reported the news he had gathered.


    Speaking of his regimentmander ... in their Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, he was a famous figure. He was the tacitly acknowledged number one in their academy, the one who had sessfully advanced to ace operator in his fifth year ¡ª Jiang Shaoyu. By all ounts, for his regimentmander to have advanced to ace operator at such an age was also outstanding, belonging to the ranks of the cream of the crop. Unfortunately, he was outshined by Qiao Ting of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy by a head ¡ª who let the other manage to advance in his fourth year? That allowed Qiao Ting to recreate Ling Xiao¡¯s record of advancing to ace operator level as a fourth-year cadet, making the people of the Federation call him the second Ling Xiao. In this way, Qiao Ting hadpletely stolen the thunder of his regimentmander 2 .


    This time, Jiang Shaoyu had been willing to lead the representative team into battle partly because he wanted to take the chance to defeat Qiao Ting. Jiang Shaoyu wanted to use the truth to tell the other that, even if Qiao Ting had been lucky enough to advance to ace level in his fourth year, he would never be the number one of the military academies.


    "Lin Xiao, what a familiar name." Hearing this name, Jiang Shaoyu, who had been half-reclining on the sofa, sat up straight. He opened hismunicator and began to search for information on Lin Xiao, and only afterwards did he say with a tone of realisation, "So it¡¯s him. In thest tournament, he also joined the Mecha Grand Tournament. It¡¯s unexpected that he would join again this time and be the team leader to boot."


    Jiang Shaoyu chuckled coldly. Lin Xiao was just like him; they were both sixth-year students. In thest tournament, when they had still been third-years, the First Co-ed Military Academy had made an exception for Lin Xiao due to his extraordinary mecha piloting talent, allowing him to represent the school in the tournament. Meanwhile, although Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s piloting talent had been no weaker than the other¡¯s, he had not earned the right to participate due to the intensepetition in his military academy. He was still rather sore over the fact.


    " Three years ago, he was already a special-ss operator 3 . Now that these three years have passed, if his talent is truly as strong as they say, he should already be an ace operator ..." Jiang Shaoyu may be jealous and resentful of Lin Xiao, but this did not affect his judgment. "It looks like this Lin Xiao will also be a formidable opponent in our way to the top this time. We must pay some special attention to him."


    "Noted, Regiment Commander. I will keep an eye on it," replied Ah Li immediately. His mecha piloting skills were average, but he was very skilled in collecting intel. The regimentmander had deliberately wasted a member slot to bring him along, just so he could utilise this specialty of his. He naturally could not let his regimentmander down.


    Jiang Shaoyu trusted in Ah Li¡¯s abilities; thus, he put the matter of Lin Xiao to one side and then nced meaningfully at Ah Li. Ah Li immediately picked up on what his regimentmander wanted and quickly reported what his regimentmander was most eager to know. "Those two girls from before ... the strong and handsome one is called Han Xuya, a second-year Mecha Piloting student. The sweet and delicate one is called Luo Chao, a second-year Starship Navigation student."


    "Why are second-years being allowed to participate in the Mecha Grand Tournament now?" Jiang Shaoyu rubbed his jaw in confusion. Mind you, with the exception of truly outstanding students, those who earned the right to participate in the Mecha Grand Tournament were typically almost all students in their fourth year and above.


    Ah Li had gathered his intel well ¡ª he immediately exined, "That Luo Chao is extremely outstanding. Thepetition she will be participating in is the Starship Navigation contest. As for Han Xuya, I heard that Luo Chao had personally sought out Lin Xiao to ask for a member slot for her ..."


    Ah Li thought about the gossip he had inadvertently overheard ¡ª it appeared that there was a lot of internal disagreement as well over the participation rights of these two girls. Even in casual conversation, the members of their academy had not forgotten to grumble about it.


    "Ah Li, say, do you think Lin Xiao is also interested in that Luo Chao, which is why he did this?" A lewd smile appeared on Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s lips. He had the feeling that Lin Xiao must definitely be like him in having an ulterior motive towards Luo Chao.


    Ah Li thought about that delicate and beautiful face of Luo Chao¡¯s which inspired care and affection, and he said somewhat uncertainly, "Perhaps."


    "Right, have you found out why they were at the registration area?" Jiang Shaoyu moved on to ask.


    Ah Li said regretfully, "I couldn¡¯t find out anything on that. The staff members of the registration hall are very tight-lipped. They wouldn¡¯t tell me anything no matter what I tried." Ah Li could not know that the staff at the registration hall were definitely not as professional as he imagined ¡ª the key reason why he did not seed was that he was not a beautiful girl, so he did not have that instant-kill effect that Luo Chao had ...


    "Continue to observe their actions closely. If they go out, remember to notify me." Jiang Shaoyu was not disappointed in these results. He gave the instruction for Ah Li to continue following the two before sending Ah Li away.


    ********


    The next day, which was also the final day before the Mecha Grand Tournament would begin, the marketce around the tournament area entered its first peak in activity. The entire ce was bustling and hectic ¡ª there were people everywhere one looked. Even a few cadets who would be participating in the tournament could not help but be curious and take some time out of their busy schedules to browse the market, nning to try and find a bauble or two.


    Meanwhile, after Luo Lang and the rest were done registering that night, Luo Lang had gone with Qi Long and Han Jijyun to look for his sister at the First Co-ed Military Academy area and told the two girls where they were staying and their room numbers. Therefore, early this morning, Luo Chao and Han Xuya, who had long wanted to go browse the marketce, hade to the living area of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, nning to seek Boss Lan and the other boys out to be their escorts 4 .


    The arrival of the two pretty sisters in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy area which was filled with only boys naturally caused amotion. However, when the boys heard Han Xuya say that they were here to find Boss Lan, the ardour of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy students was instantly extinguished. They did not have the guts or the confidence to try and steal Boss Lan¡¯s women, unless they had strength at the level of Qiao Ting ...


    Implicated for no reason, Qiao Ting wanted to state that he had no interest at all in younger sisters ¡ª the one he liked was the Federation¡¯s goddess of healing, Li Yinfei. As such, he definitely would not ever sh with Boss Lan over this.


    Frankly, the shy little Luo Chao had not wanted toe find Boss Lan directly ¡ª she felt that this was way too stressful. However, Han Xuya believed that if Luo Chao continued to be shy like this, she definitely would not be able to break through to that thousand-year-old iceberg Boss Lan. For the sake of her sworn sister¡¯s happiness, Han Xuya ultimately decided to ignore Luo Chao¡¯s wishes and dragged Luo Chao by her little hand right up to the door of Boss Lan¡¯s room.


    "Xu ... Xuya, are ... are we really ... going to knock on the door?" Luo Chao was already so frightened that she could not speak properly. Even though she liked Boss Lan, when faced with that cold face of Boss Lan¡¯s, she still could not help being timid! Aaaaaah!


    "Luo Chao, do you not want to be Boss Lan¡¯s girlfriend? If you continue to hold back like this, Boss Lan will one day be snatched away by someone else," said Han Xuya in frustration.


    "Who will ... snatch?" Han Xuya¡¯s words made Luo Chao¡¯s small face turn white. Helplessly, facing her fingers, she retorted weakly, "Boss Lan is attending the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. There are no girls."


    Han Xuya scoffed and flicked hermunicator open with a snapping sound. A virtual screen appeared on hermunicator and, on the screen, a seductive and enchanting woman was disyed, so beautiful that it dazzled the senses. Luo Chao looked at the picture and said somewhat uprehendingly, "Xuya, why are you showing me this picture?"


    "Li Yinfei, the Federation¡¯s soul songstress, also the Federation¡¯s goddess of healing. Last year, she performed at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, and she has also announced before that her future husband must be a king among men." Han Xuya quirked an eyebrow at Luo Chao and said with a smirk, "You think Boss Lan cannot be a king in the future?"


    Luo Chao¡¯s lips trembled and her face paled even further, no longer sporting any trace of colour. Han Xuya felt rather sorry at the sight, but thinking about Luo Chao¡¯s personality, if she did not force Luo Chao this time, Luo Chao definitely would not take the initiative to step forwards. For the sake of her good friend¡¯s future happiness, she needed to harden her heart and give Luo Chao a good hard shove.


    "If you still don¡¯t take the initiative, by the time Boss Lan bes a king in future, do you think you can still beat Li Yinfei? That¡¯s a national goddess! ording to my cousin brother, Boss Lan has a liking for Li Yinfei!" Han Xuya dealt another heavy blow, shattering that final bit of assurance Luo Chao was harbouring.


    Although Luo Chao¡¯s face was as white as paper, her initially unsteady gaze suddenly became steady. She was silent for several seconds, and then she finally made up her mind and said softly, "I ... I won¡¯t hold back anymore."


    Only then did Han Xuya close the virtual screen, satisfied. With a jerk of her chin, she motioned for Luo Chao to go knock on the door.


    Right then, Luo Chao and Han Xuya did not know that while they had been talking outside the door, someone had coincidentallye to look for Ling Lan as well. When he was about to turn the corner into the corridor, he had heard the voices of the two girls before he had made the turn. He had instinctively shrunk back to hide behind the wall and in doing so had overheard their conversation.


    "Rabbit likes Li Yinfei? How can that be?" Li Lanfeng¡¯s face was a picture of disbelief as he tried to digest this piece of information he had just heard. He had spent so much time together with Ling Lan, but he had never heard Ling Lan even mention Li Yinfei¡¯s name.


    Who were these two girls? Luo Chao? Xuya? From their conversation, Li Lanfeng quickly deduced their identities. They should be Luo Lang¡¯s sister, Luo Chao, and Han Jijyun¡¯s younger cousin sister, Han Xuya. And when Han Xuya said that she had gotten this news from her cousin brother, she must have meant Han Jijyun. Could it be that the rabbit had told Han Jijyun about this?


    At the thought, Li Lanfeng felt extremely lost and bitter. So he still could notpare to those littlepanions who had grown up alongside the rabbit ¡ª that¡¯s why the rabbit would rather tell Han Jijyun and the rest but not him ... Li Lanfeng could not help but split hairs 5 , his heart growing colder and colder, his mind turning dark and nk as he felt as if he was being abandoned by his rabbit ...


    "Ding dong, ding dong!" Ling Lan, who was currently practising her Qi exercises on the balcony, heard the doorbell ring. She walked into her room, pulled her uniform from its hangar and put it on, and only then did she walk to the door and open it.


    Ling Lan was dressed in a sharp pressed white uniform ¡ª the moment she appeared before Luo Chao and Han Xuya, the two girls felt an invisible wave of pressure pressing down on them. Even the bold and audacious Han Xuya could not help but shudder, feeling her legs grow a little weak. She silently gulped, trying to give herself courage.


    Luo Chao was in an even worse state. Her initially pale little face was now flushed a brilliant red and looked as if it would catch fire in the next moment. Han Xuya was both surprised and resigned at Luo Chao¡¯s state. She was surprised that Luo Chao was not at all afraid of Ling Lan, but she was also resigned to see that as soon as Luo Chao saw Boss Lan, Luo Chao¡¯s soul had beenpletely sucked away, leaving her only capable of blushing.

 Chapter 436: Shopping!

    Chapter 436: Shopping!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Ling Lan was surprised to see who was outside her door. She asked, "How did you alle here?" She leaned slightly to one side, motioning for the two girls toe in.


    Han Xuya saw that Luo Chao waspletely immobile now, so she decisively grabbed Luo Chao¡¯s hand and pulled her into the room.


    Only then did Ling Lan close the door, turn around, and ask, "What would you all like to drink?"


    Ling Lan was very happy to see Luo Chao and Han Xuya again. She actually really wanted to have several good girl friends to gossip with and talk about feelings and so on ... though looking at the current circumstances, this wish was impossible to realize.


    Face red, Luo Chao stuttered, "A-anything is f-fine, Boss Lan."


    However, Han Xuya did not stand on ceremony. "I want to drink Aimuro juice." Aimuro was an extremely rare and precious fruit, and so the juice extracted from it was also extremely expensive. Hence, Han Xuya was normally reluctant to drink it, but she had no need to be polite with Boss Lan here; after all, Boss Lan was the second generation of a top-level military family in the Federation ¡ª the amount of pocket money he had must be staggering ...


    At this notion, Han Xuya felt resentment stir in her heart. Why were Boss Lan¡¯s parents so willing to give him so much credits, while her parents were so calctive? Every time she went to them to ask for some pocket money, they would even ask her for a full ounting of her expenses. Her heart ached just thinking about it.


    Han Xuya came to the profound realisation that, sure enough, other people¡¯s parents were always the best.


    Just as Han Xuya believed, Ling Lan did not care at all about that amount of credits. Leaving aside the credits her parents gave to her, her omnipotent Little Four could already help her earn countless credits in a never-ending supply ¡ª no matter how she spent, the credits never ran out.


    In this way, under Luo Chao¡¯s reticent shyness and Han Xuya¡¯s decisive help when she could not take her friend¡¯s timidity anymore, Ling Lan finally figured out why the two girls hade looking for her. She considered how she really had nothing much to do today anyway, and so agreed to go shopping with them.


    They had yet to leave the house, however, when Ling Lan¡¯s doorbell rang again. Ling Lan opened the door to see Li Lanfeng standing there, and she asked curiously, "Leopard, what¡¯s up?"


    Li Lanfeng nced into the room and saw the two girls sitting on the sofa in the rabbit¡¯s room. Li Lanfeng had not forgotten what they had said earlier, about how Luo Chao really liked the rabbit. He wondered if she had already confessed. It was rather unexpected that his rabbit was younger than him by three years, and yet the peach blossoms were already blooming everywhere in his vicinity 1 . This left an astringent taste in Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart ¡ª even he himself did not have a girlfriend yet; this was a little disgraceful ...


    "You have guests?" Li Lanfeng tried hard to tamp down on the rising sourness in his heart and pretended as if he had just caught sight of the girls, his face filled with surprise.


    "Yes, my two sisters. We¡¯re going to go shop at the marketce," said Ling Lan breezily.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression turned pleased at those words. "What a coincidence. I too was about to ask you to go shopping together. Why don¡¯t we all go together?"


    Ling Lan considered it and agreed. She felt that she might be too busy to handle both girls ¡ª it would be safer with Li Lanfenging along as well. Ling Lan did not forget that Luo Chao¡¯s outstanding beauty was just like Luo Lang¡¯s, capable of causing trouble on the scale of Helen of Troy.


    By the time Ling Lan andpany departed, however, the group was no longer just the four of them because they had bumped into Qi Long as they were leaving. When this fellow Qi Long heard that Boss was going shopping, he was instantly ecstatic. He very quickly summoned arge group of people, so in the end, it became a trip involving the entire Lingtian Battle n. The twelve members rushed towards the marketce in high spirits.


    *******


    Meanwhile, on the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s end, after receiving news that Luo Chao and Han Xuya were going shopping with a group of people from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, Jiang Shaoyu also led his own battle n out after them ...


    As they had much more people now, Lingtian split into two groups. Luo Chao and Han Xuya were with Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng, Luo Lang, and Zhao Jun 2 , while Qi Long¡¯s group included Han Jijyun, Lin Zhong-qing, Xie Yi, Chang Xinyuan, and Li Shiyu.


    Compared to Luo Chao¡¯s group which was nning to shop around aimlessly, Qi Long¡¯s group was much more purposeful. As the team¡¯s specialised researchers, Li Shiyu and Chang Xinyuan would instantly buy anything which would be beneficial to their research, while the head logistician Lin Zhong-qing would not forget to gather useful resources for his battle n. Luckily, Ling Lan was prepared for this. Before the two groups went their separate ways, she transferred arge bulk of credits to Lin Zhong-qing. That figure was enough to make even Lin Zhong-qing, who managed the finances of the Lingtian Battle n, to tremble, feeling as if he would be ttened by the sheer weight of all those credits. It was clear to see howrge this sum of credits was.


    As Ling Lan¡¯s team browsed the stalls,pared to the impatience that gradually surfaced on Luo Lang¡¯s and Zhao Jun¡¯s faces, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng were much moreposed. They sat in a rest area, patiently waiting for Luo Chao and Han Xuya to finish trying out clothes.


    When Luo Lang could take it no longer, he stared across the street with stars in his eyes. There was a mecha equipment store there and he really wanted to go take a look.


    "Boss, I¡¯ll be going over there to take a look. I¡¯ll be right back," Luo Lang finally spoke up to say. He no longer wanted to apany his younger sister while she shopped for clothes.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes lit up at his words and he quickly joined in to say, "I¡¯ll go too."


    Ling Lan waved nonchntly. "Go!" And then, Zhao Jun and Luo Lang could be seen running over to the store like they were being chased by demons.


    Ling Lan found it rather funny and turned to ask Li Lanfeng sitting beside her, "Leopard, is apanying girls to buy clothes such an unbearable thing?" Although Ling Lan did not have the chance to personally try on these pretty outfits before her eyes, she was happy just looking at them. That was why she did not find waiting for the girls tiring at all and was instead happy to do so.


    Li Lanfeng seemed to be in a bit of a bad mood. He said lowly, "If you value the girl, then no matter how you apany her, you will feel happy ... Rabbit, that ... girl inside, do you value her a lot?"


    Ling Lan smiled and replied, "They are my dear little sisters. How can I not value them?"


    Are they really just little sisters? If they were just little sisters to Ling Lan, then why couldn¡¯t Luo Lang endure it? And Luo Lang was even Luo Chao¡¯s actual biological brother ... Li Lanfeng cast a searching look at Ling Lan, trying to judge the truth of Ling Lan¡¯s words. Truth be told, Li Lanfeng did not really wish to see Ling Lan have a girlfriend right now. He just had the feeling that the friendship between Ling Lan and himself was still a distance away from his ideal; thus, Li Lanfeng did not want for a girlfriend to pop up and influence Ling Lan right at this critical period.


    ********


    In the fitting room, blushing, Luo Chao was holding onto a gauzy dress Ling Lan had chosen for her,pletely zoned out. Seeing this, Han Xuya nudged her helplessly and said, "Don¡¯t just stand there. Change quickly and go out to dazzle the hell out of Boss Lan."


    Han Xuya¡¯s words made Luo Chao¡¯s face turn even redder, but she was at least aware again now to begin changing her clothes. As she changed, Luo Chao suddenly turned to ask Han Xuya, "That Big Brother Li ... doesn¡¯t he seem to dislike me?"


    Taken aback, Han Xuya asked urgently, "Did you sense something?"


    Luo Chao frowned as if trying to recall something. "Every time I try to talk to Boss Lan, he always interrupts and changes the topic. He seems to have something against me."


    Han Xuya¡¯s expression turned serious as she began thinking back on everything that had happened along the way here. She found that it was really as Luo Chao had said ¡ª whether intentionally or not, that person called Li Lanfeng had been subtly trying to exclude them from their conversations. If Luo Chao had not brought it up, Han Xuya might not even have noticed.


    However, that Li Lanfeng had been constantly smiling, and when he spoke to them, his tone had always been gentle and polite. He had not shown any sign of disliking them ¡ª could it be that they were just being overly sensitive? Han Xuya voiced this possibility and Luo Chao bit her own lip, unable to tell for sure. They could only decide to continue observing the situation.


    ********


    Very soon, they were done changing and they walked out of the fitting room. The customers browsing the racks in the store saw a seductive witch and an ethereal fairy step out, and their eyes lit up instantly.


    Han Xuya pulled the bashful Luo Chao right up to Ling Lan and then asked directly, "Boss Lan, are we pretty?"


    Truly, humans were visual animals ¡ª even though Ling Lan was a girl like them, she was still stunned by the beauty of Han Xuya and Luo Chao. She nodded and praised, "Not bad, the clothes suit you both very well."


    Luo Chao¡¯s face was extremely red, but she could not conceal her joy at these words. Her lips curved up into a small smile.


    Li Lanfeng also smiled and said, "Yes, these two little sisters are really great beauties. They look lovely no matter what they wear." The sincere praise made Luo Chao and Han Xuya feel rather ashamed ¡ª it looked like they had misunderstood this Big Brother Li.


    Just as Luo Chao and Han Xuya were preparing to change back to their own clothes and pay for their selections, a greatmotion suddenly broke out from the store across the street. Quite a few customers ran out from that store in a panic. When Ling Lan saw this, her expression changed. She had not forgotten that Luo Lang and Zhao Jun had gone over to that store.


    "Leopard, you stay here and protect Luo Chao and Han Xuya. I¡¯ll go over there to check things out." Ling Lan was decisive. She summarily entrusted Luo Chao and Han Xuya to Li Lanfeng, and then with a quick dash, she had disappeared from the store.


    "Where is Boss Lan going?" Han Xuya saw Ling Lan disappear before their eyes and quickly turned to ask Li Lanfeng.


    "He has gone to the other side to take a look. Go pay for your things first. We¡¯ll talk moreter," instructed Li Lanfeng. The smile that had been on his face had disappeared and there was a trace of grimness in his expression. Just now, he had sensed some discement in the airing from the other side ¡ª it looked like a fight had broken out there and the physical skills levels of the people involved were not low. He wondered if it could be Luo Lang and Zhao Jun.


    ********


    After leaving the women¡¯s clothing store, Luo Lang and Zhao Jun had run straight for the mecha equipment store. As this market was a temporary one, itsyout was rather chaotic. You might have just passed a small eatery, only to find a weapons store next door selling guns and ammunition. For instance, this mecha equipment store they just entered was surrounded by either clothing stores or jewellery stores, which were all somewhat incongruous with a mecha equipment store.


    The items in the equipment store were varied andprehensive. There were energy packs, medical packs, weaponry bags, and even quite a lot of precious materials from variouss. These materials could be used to modify mecha and could also be used to forge weapons; as such, there were quite a number of cadets inside this store.


    As the Mecha Grand Tournament used real mecha 3 , everyone wanted to find equipment that could strengthen their mecha¡¯sbat power before the tournament began. This was also why equipment stores were the prime target for cadets to visit.


    Luo Lang looked at a cold weapon in the store in surprise. The weapon actually looked extremely simr to Regretless which Boss Lan used inside Mecha World. The long, narrow, and thin pitch-ck de raised concerns about whether the 7-metre sword would hold up in battle.


    "This sword, it¡¯s so familiar!" Following Luo Lang¡¯s line of sight, Zhao Jun also caught sight of the sword and, like Luo Lang, he was also extremely surprised.


    Luo Lang could not stop himself from walking to stand right below the giant sword to try and see what material was used to forge it. He found that the material was not one he knew.


    A shop helper standing to one side saw how interested Luo Lang was in the giant sword, and so he approached him to introduce it, saying, "This sword is called Firmament 4 . It is made from a newly discovered material. Don¡¯t look down on it for its long and narrow de as it is actually very sturdy. And this Firmament has a special characteristic ¡ª the de has a certain degree of flexibility."

 Chapter 437: Harassment!

    Chapter 437: Harassment!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    "Flexibility?" Luo Lang was even more surprised by this new fact. He knew that his boss¡¯s Regretless also possessed a certain degree of flexibility.


    "Yes. If you are interested, sir, you can open up the protective cover and test it out personally," suggested the shop assistant.


    Luo Lang nodded and the shop assistant turned off the protective cover. Under the prompting of the shop assistant, Luo Lang pressed down on the body of the sword and sure enough, the sword bent a little under the force of his fingers. When he stopped pressing down, the de bounced back to normal.


    "It¡¯s a good weapon. How much for this Firmament?" Luo Lang¡¯s first thought was that this sword was very suitable for his boss and so he inquired about it.


    "Because its material is rare and precious, it is several times more expensive than normal cold weapons." The shop assistant disyed the price of Firmament to Luo Lang, and Luo Lang¡¯splexion changed. This was not just a matter of ¡¯several times¡¯ ... that price ¡ª even if he added up everything he owned, he still would not be able to buy the hilt of the sword.


    Resigned, Luo Lang said, "Hold onto this sword for me for now. Wait for a moment and I¡¯ll bring someone over to take a look. If he¡¯s satisfied with it, we¡¯ll buy it."


    The shop assistant smiled and replied, "Alright." This kind of situation was not umon ¡ª many interested customers were defeated in the end by this astronomical price, but many of them would still leave this request behind. Unfortunately, none of them had ever returned to purchase the sword.


    "What does the beauty want? Perhaps I can be of assistance." Right at this moment, a voice rang out from behind Luo Lang.


    Luo Lang instantly frowned. He turned his head and saw a young man with a rather flirty expression on his face smiling at him. It was the team leader of the team from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, Jiang Shaoyu.


    Luo Lang¡¯s brow furrowed, a trace of anger passing swiftly through his eyes. If Boss had not cautioned him not to cause trouble, he definitely would have taught the other a lesson then and there. Luo Lang could tell from the other¡¯s actions that this was definitely yet another person who had taken a liking to his looks.


    Luo Lang red scathingly at Jiang Shaoyu and made a move to leave, nning to bring Boss over to buy Firmament. He was just passing by Jiang Shaoyu when Jiang Shaoyu actually reached out his right hand all of a sudden to try and grab Luo Lang¡¯s right wrist.


    With a slide step, Luo Lang evaded the other¡¯s lecherous hand 1 , red at him, and said, "What are you trying to do?"


    Zhao Jun had also figured out that the other did not have any good intentions. He took a brisk step forwards to stand beside Luo Lang, ring coldly at Jiang Shaoyu. Zhao Jun¡¯s move was a signal for the boys behind Jiang Shaoyu toe closer as well, and they quickly surrounded Luo Lang and Zhao Jun.


    "What? You want a fight?" Zhao Jun was furious and looked like he was going to charge forwards and brawl if things deteriorated any further. This was perfectly in line with his burly and irritable public image.


    A mocking smirk hung on Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s lips. This kind of muscle-headed, simple-minded person was nothing to worry about. He sent a nce at the team member beside him who immediately understood what he wanted. That team member led six people to push closer towards Zhao Jun, attempting to separate Zhao Jun from Luo Lang.


    Seeing this, Zhao Jun did not hesitate to meet them, and in the back and forth of battle, he was unwittingly drawn away from Luo Lang¡¯s side.


    Luo Lang was extremely surprised that Zhao Jun had been sessfully drawn away. Even though Zhao Jun had not joined Lingtian for more than half a year, Luo Lang, who trained with him very often, knew that this fellow was not that simple. If you really took him for a brawny hot-tempered simpleton, you would definitely die cluelessly by the other¡¯s hand ... that fellow was really very ck-bellied.


    Sure enough, when Luo Lang nced at Zhao Jun, he caught a quick surreptitious look in return from thetter. With that, Luo Lang knew that the fellow had to be plotting something and so did not bother worrying about him any further.


    Having gotten rid of the person in his way, Jiang Shaoyu was in a good mood. He consoled Luo Lang with a bright smile, saying, "Little beauty, don¡¯t be mad. Your big brother here just wants to be friends with you 2 ."


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s sudden politeness was definitely not because he had suddenly had a fit of conscience and was nning to let Luo Lang go. Rather,pared to that delicate and bashful look of Luo Chao¡¯s, Luo Lang¡¯s face was currently flushed red from anger and his eyes were zing as well, making him shine radiantly. Luo Lang looked just like a proud blooming red rose, stealing Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s breath away.


    His heart was beating wildly ¡ª even a veteran yboy like him could not resist that soul-stealing allure of Luo Lang¡¯s, and he found himself drunk on it. Though he had initially only had ns to fool around with the other, for the first time, he had the desire to chain the other within his embrace forever. He wished for this dazzling woman before him to only bloom before him.


    "Be friends?" The corners of Luo Lang¡¯s lips turned up slightly, a trace of killing intent seeping out from his narrowed eyes. Luo Lang most hated people whose hearts turned ugly due to his face.


    "Yes, as long as you give this elder brother a chance, I will definitely satisfy you." Perhaps Jiang Shaoyu had been mesmerized by Luo Lang¡¯s appearance, for he actually did not notice Luo Lang¡¯s swelling rage that was about to blow or his uncontroble killing intent. He even spoke up once more to tease the other, his words somewhat unclean and lewd. Done speaking, he fearlessly stepped forwards and reached out his right hand again, trying to touch Luo Lang¡¯s pert face to sample the other¡¯s soft tofu.


    "How dare you!" Pushed beyond the boundaries of tolerance, Luo Lang finally acted. His right fist shot out at Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s face, charged with the strength of the peak level of early stage Qi-Jin.


    Jiang Shaoyu was the number one of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, after all, so he was able to react instantly to Luo Lang¡¯s sudden outburst. His lecherous right hand changed directions midway to meet Luo Lang¡¯s angry fist.


    A loud ¡¯boom¡¯ rang out! Two powerful hidden forces shed head to head. Due to the powerful concussive force generated by the sh, the surrounding people found themselves unable to keep their footing. Those people surrounding Zhao Jun were forced by the pressure of these two hidden forces to take several steps back, distancing themselves from Luo Lang and Jiang Shaoyu. Meanwhile, when he felt the powerful concussive force, Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes flickered. Then, he pretended like he too was unable to bear the force and stumbled back several steps along with Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s men.


    Luo Lang and Jiang Shaoyu forcefully exchanged blows, and the two of them wavered simultaneously, though their feet remained nted firmly on the ground. Luo Lang¡¯s brow furrowed ¡ª he had not expected this person before him to have equally strong physical skills as himself, and the other may perhaps even be a little better. It should be known that he had been the one to initiate the attack while the other had only reacted hastily to block it, yet the oue was a draw ... this made Luo Lang cautious; he could not flip his boat in the gutter once again. Last year, he had fallen for another¡¯s schemes and that experience had been lesson enough for Luo Lang.


    "Qi-Jin stage?!" Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s smile had faded as well. He could never have imagined that a girl he had inadvertently taken a shine to would have such strong physical skills,pletely inconsistent with her soft and gentle appearance.


    "Aren¡¯t you the same?" Luo Lang smiled grimly but did not continue to attack. Instead, he swept a swift nce around the store to see whether the opponent still had any hidden tricks lying in wait.


    Right then, there were not many people in the store anymore. Luo Lang and Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s exchange and the resulting concussive wave had shown that the people in the store that these two were definitely masters at Qi-Jin stage. In order to avoid being injured in the crossfire, the customers in the store had all run out. Other than those people who hade with Jiang Shaoyu, those who still dared to remain behind were all those who were very confident in themselves, masters in their own right. As for the staff of the store, they had long hidden themselves away from the fight.


    The reason why no one had stepped up to discourage the fighting was that all the merchandise of the store were already being protected by protective covers. Unless thebatants hit a cover directly, the shockwaves alone would not damage the items.


    "How interesting. Who would have guessed that the girl I fancy would actually turn out to be a Qi-Jin master." Jiang Shaoyu licked his lips in excitement, growing ever more interested in Luo Lang. Thinking about it, he had never fooled around with a Qi-Jin stage woman before ... the more he thought about the prospect, the more excited he became.


    "Girl?" Luo Lang was stunned for a moment, but he was soon so angry that his pert face was bright red. He had initially thought the other was bent and had only been attracted by his face ¡ª he had not expected that the other hadpletely mistaken him for a girl. Wasn¡¯t this just another way of saying that he, Luo Lang, was like a girl? It was definitely an insult to him.


    Livid, the momentum of Luo Lang¡¯s peak early stage Qi-Jin was finally unleashed in its full glory. Being the closest to him, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s face could not help but change. He had never expected Luo Lang¡¯s force of presence to be this strong ...


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s gaze flickered and then he suddenly shouted, "All together now!" And then, he was the first to leap at Luo Lang. When he attacked this time, not only was Jiang Shaoyu using his full strength, he was also being extremely ruthless. He needed to take this girl away with him before thew enforcement team of the marketce arrived on the scene; otherwise, he would need to wait for another chance to obtain the other. And now that the other had already suffered this encounter, she would probably stay cloistered within her school¡¯s amodation area until the end of the tournament. In the amodation areas, surveince was very tight, so it would be impossible for him to act.


    Of course, he was not afraid of being too harsh in his attack and harming the other too much ¡ª a Qi-Jin stage master had extremely high endurance and resilience. At the same time, their recovery ability was also extremely robust, and with the addition of current technology, as long as the other still had a breath left within them, it would be possible to save them.


    Perhaps Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s members had constantly been involved in this sort of shenanigans, for when Jiang Shaoyu gave the order, none of them hesitated at all. Even those who had been keeping Zhao Jun busy turned to leap at Luo Lang as well, nning to strike him down and cart him away.


    "Bam, bam, bam!" Those men leaping towards Luo Lang were suddenly smacked onto the ground. Those close by turned around to look and found that Zhao Jun, whom they had neglected, was standing over the men. He had efficiently struck them down within the span of several seconds.


    Jiang Shaoyu and Luo Lang once again engaged in battle. This time, the two of them were unable to retain their footing. Both of them stumbled back several steps, though Luo Lang had to retreat three steps more than Jiang Shaoyu. This proved that Jiang Shaoyu was stronger than Luo Lang.


    "Early stage advanced level Qi-Jin." Luo Lang swallowed, trying to calm the roiling qi and blood in his chest. He stared at the other darkly ¡ª the opponent was several realms higher than himself; he waspletely suppressed by the other.


    Jiang Shaoyu did not respond but instead looked towards Zhao Jun, who was not too far from them, with a shadowed expression. "Qi-Jin? I did not expect yourpanion to be this strong. He seems a little bit stronger than you." His members were basically all at the peak of Refinement, just one step away from entering Qi-Jin. For him to defeat them so readily, Zhao Jun had to be at Qi-Jin stage, and the ease with which he did so made Jiang Shaoyu reckon that he must already be at the middle stages of Qi-Jin. The only question was which minor ranking he was at.


    At these words, Luo Lang answered proudly, "As my teammate, being strong is a must."


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s heart sank. The other¡¯s assured demeanour showed that she was not lying. He did not expect this hulking fellow beside Luo Chao 3 to not be her escort but a teammate from the same battle n. From this, it could be predicted that her other teammates would definitely be not much weaker either. If her teammates managed to rush over here in time ...

 Chapter 438: Peerless Prodigy!

    Chapter 438: Peerless Prodigy!


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s eyes narrowed and he ran through some quick calctions mentally. Should he just give up now? But when he looked at that proud and lovely appearance of Luo Lang, his heart itched something fierce. He could not bear to just give up on such a delectable girl. Perhaps hoping for some lucky break, he instantly came to a decision. He shouted to the members still standing, "Number 3!"


    This cry startled Zhao Jun and Luo Lang, but before they could figure out what Jiang Shaoyu meant when he called out this number, they saw Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s group whip out spherical objects from the bags at their waists.


    As soon as Luo Lang and Zhao Jun saw this, they knew that something was not right. These things were sure to be bad for them. The two shared a nce and then leapt in silent rapport towards the respective opponents they had targeted, trying to stop them from carrying out their next move.


    Despite how quickly Zhao Jun and Luo Lang reacted, they were still not faster than their opponents. Before the two could reach them, their opponents flicked the item in their hands and a column of green smoke was sent straight at them from the spherical objects. Zhao Jun and Luo Lang did not have time to dodge and plunged head first into the smoke.


    The two of them smelled a light fragrance and, in the next second, their heads began to swim.


    A soporific? Shocked, the two of them decisively moved to bite down on the tips of their tongues, thinking to use the sharp pain to chase away their dizziness. They soon found that it was useless, however, because they had already lost their strength. Their entire body felt weak, so weak that they could not even move their jaw to bite down.


    "Crap!" The two of them were extremely frustrated at this moment; they did not expect that they would still fall for the opponents¡¯ scheme. Just now, they had still been too careless.


    "Grab them both." Jiang Shaoyu saw the two of them finally sumb and fall over, and his lips pulled up into a satisfied smile as he gave orders to his men.


    "Yes, Leader!" The team members immediately moved forwards to do as their leader had said when a white light suddenly shed across their eyes. After that, they felt themselves being struck by a massive force and were sent flying back uncontrobly to crash heavily to the ground.


    Some of the weaker members instantly spewed blood from their mouths, their entire bodies slumped on the ground, unable to stand up for that moment.


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s eyes narrowed and the smug smile on his face stiffened. A white-clothed youth was currently already standing right in front of Zhao Jun and Luo Lang. His face was cold and emotionless, and when his cid gaze swept over to look at Jiang Shaoyu, Jiang Shaoyu actually felt a chill creeping over his heart. Due to his arrival, the temperature of the entire mecha equipment store instantly dropped several degrees and those people still within the store could not help but shiver.


    "You ... are nning to take my people?" The other spoke. His cold voice, cold gaze, and cold expression seemed calm, but Jiang Shaoyu could still sense the turbulent storm underneath the calm surface. An unprecedented sense of pressure descended in the ensuing silence.


    Jiang Shaoyu was able to be the number one in the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy and the leader for the representative team of his school to this Mecha Grand Tournament because he was a steady and determined person. Although Ling Lan¡¯s unexpected appearance had caused him to waver, he had soon regained hisposure and had begun to study this new opponent, trying to figure out his stats and considering how he should handle him.


    White was an umon colour for uniforms among the military academies of the Federation, and the other¡¯s uniform was very well made, so it definitely would not be some ordinary uniform ... a notion sparked through Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mind. He had thought of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. A dux would be chosen from every year of students from every specialization and white was the exclusive colour for the uniforms of those duxes. Jiang Shaoyubined this knowledge with the information he had received, about how Luo Chao had gone shopping with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy ...


    Jiang Shaoyu could pretty much guarantee at this point that this austere youth was most likely a student from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. However, this person did not look at all familiar, so he could not be the well-known Qiao Ting. Could he be the dux of some other specialization?


    This spection calmed Jiang Shaoyu considerably. Even though he kept feeling as if he had overlooked something, he still had a lot of confidence in himself. He definitely would not allow someone to interfere and make him lose face, so he said with a sneer, "This is a matter between myself and the First Co-ed Military Academy. Are you, a dux from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, also going to try and be a hero and meddle in this matter?"


    If Qiao Ting was the one who had stepped in, he might perhaps have given Qiao Ting some face. But as for this punk who hade from god knows where ... did he think that he could swagger around as he liked just because he was a dux from the First Academy? Hmph, he was thinking too highly of himself and looking down on others too much!


    "The First Co-ed Military Academy?" Ling Lan¡¯s eyes narrowed, and the temperature around her dropped several more degrees. She smiled coldly and said, "I did not know myself ¡ª when had my team members entered the Co-ed Military Academy?" After bullying her people, the other actually dared to fabricate lies and find unreasonable excuses? Even though the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had been suppressed by the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy for seven consecutive tournaments, this did not mean that they from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were pushovers!


    By this time, Ling Lan had also been able to determine which school the opponents were from based on their uniforms. The other side was behaving in such an arrogant and audacious manner, likely inrge part due to their academy¡¯s results for the past seven tournaments. Their heads were swollen beyond belief.


    Hearing what Ling Lan said, Jiang Shaoyu sneered back just as coldly and pointed at Luo Lang, saying, "This sweet and delicate little beauty ... is also from your First Men¡¯s Military Academy? I never knew that men¡¯s academies were taking in females now."


    Only then did Ling Lan understand what thismotion was all about. She threw a nce at that troublesome face of Luo Lang and sighed mentally. No wonder he had been mistaken for a girl. This fellow had unexpectedly grown to look more and more like a girl as the years added up ¡ª he was so enchanting that it was hard to distinguish whether he was male or female ... no, to be urate, the more one looked at him, the more one would think he was a girl.


    Ling Lan felt deeply hurt by this. Say, why had no one ever mistaken her for a girl? Er ... well, these words were slightly skewed. She was a girl to begin with, so the question should be ¡ª why the hell did everyone just ept that she was a boy? She could be considered quite lovely, right? Ling Lan had the utmost confidence in the genes of both her parents ...


    "D*mmit, who¡¯s a girl now?" Right then, Luo Lang and Zhao Jun who had been slumped on the ground suddenly stood up. Luo Lang cursed darkly and then turned his head toin piteously to Ling Lan, "Boss, you didn¡¯t have to be so harsh in giving us the antidote. "


    He gritted his teeth and bore the pain as he plucked a miniature syringe from his neck. Apparently, while Ling Lan had been rushing forwards to prevent their capture, she had not forgotten to shoot out two miniature antidote syringes to clear the drugs from the system of the two boys on the ground.


    Likewise, Zhao Jun deftly plucked the syringe from his neck. At this moment, his expression was stony ¡ª he felt very humiliated that he had actually been caught by the opponent¡¯s scheme, and in front of his own n leader to boot!


    Ling Lan could not bear to look directly at that pitiful look of Luo Lang¡¯s ¡ª she turned her head away and said coldly, "If you have any objections, you can go discuss them with our n doctor personally."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Luo Lang¡¯s pitiful expression vanish instantly, and his face even looked a little twisted. The present Senior Li Shiyu was no longer that nice guy senior who had first joined the battle n. Under constant exposure to his boss, Li Shiyu had already been stained absolutely ck and had be corrupted. He, who had originally only known to focus on creating good medicine of healing, had now also begun to manufacture poisonous agents. Luo Lang recalled how he had been tormented savagely with agents once when he had offended Senior Li Shiyu by ident, and he could not stop his body from trembling ... he absolutely would not go and seek out Senior Li Shiyu!


    Luo Lang abruptly turned his head to stare at Jiang Shaoyu. Since he did not dare to argue with Boss, then he would need to find some other ce to vent his emotions. This person who had mistaken him for a girl was definitely a very good option for a punching bag ¡ª he turned fully to face Jiang Shaoyu and asked fiercely, "Actually saying this lord is a girl, hells, which part of this lord looks like a girl, huh?!"


    At his words, an answer surfaced unbidden in Ling Lan¡¯s and Zhao Jun¡¯s hearts. ¡¯Other than that extra bit you have below, everything else is like a girl.¡¯ Luckily, Luo Lang could not know what his boss and teammate were thinking, otherwise he would definitely ... challenge Zhao Jun to a duel. Boss was naturally excluded ¡ª Luo Lang did not want to die just yet.


    Luo Lang¡¯s furious demeanour made a trace of wondrous appreciation pass through Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s eyes, but Luo Lang¡¯s words quickly snuffed that appreciation out. He had finally found what was off about the situation. Only now did he notice that the uniform Luo Lang was wearing was certainly not the uniform of the First Co-ed Military Academy. Although it was different in colour from the uniform on Ling Lan¡¯s body, it was in the exact same style. This meant that this beautiful and eye-catching girl before his eyes was in fact a boy, a student of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Even though Jiang Shaoyu had noticed the problem, he still could not believe it. After all, this person before him looked exactly like the Luo Chao he had seen yesterday at the registration hall. Doggedly, he asked, "Are you not the second-year student from the First Co-ed Military Academy, Luo Chao from the Starship Navigation specialization?"


    The moment he said this, the three of Ling Lan¡¯s group finally understood what all this had been about. So this person had mistaken Luo Lang for Luo Chao, leading to this mess.


    "Hells, you actually dare to lust after my little sister? You¡¯re asking for it!" When Luo Lang learned that the other¡¯s intended target was his precious little sister instead of him, he was instantly consumed with rage. Without thinking, he threw a punch at Jiang Shaoyu.


    Right then, Luo Lang¡¯s only thought was to beat this scum before him to death. Compared to being mistaken for a girl, this matter drove him crazy even more. How could he allow the little sister he kept cradled in the palm of his hands 1 to be coveted in such a lewd way by an outsider?! In Luo Lang¡¯s mind, the only one who could give Luo Chao happiness was his boss.


    Jiang Shaoyu saw the other¡¯s angry fisting right at him and without thinking, he met it with a punch of his own. There was a ¡¯bam¡¯, and the two of them were sent stumbling back again respectively once more. Luo Lang¡¯s anger-infused attack actually did not benefit Jiang Shaoyu any, but simrly, Luo Lang had not gained the upper hand either in the attack. Their exchange ended in a draw.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s feet shifted slightly, but Ling Lan suddenly stretched out an arm to stop him. She said softly, "You go finish off those small fry. Leave him to Luo Lang."


    Zhao Jun nodded. He had initially been nning to help Luo Lang out a bit as, after all, the opponent was two ranks higher than Luo Lang ¡ª he was definitely no match for the opponent in a one-on-one fight. However, since the n leader seemed to have a n, Zhao Jun gave up on his original intention. He believed that with the n leader as backing, Luo Lang would definitely be fine.


    Setting aside his concern for Luo Lang, Zhao Jun turned to leap at the team members of Jiang Shaoyu. Zhao Jun had not forgotten how he and Luo Lang had been cornered by underhanded means earlier. This grudge had to be avenged.


    Seeing Zhao Jun leap at them like a ferocious tiger, the remaining seven people nced at each other and then, gritting their teeth, they surged up to meet him. Despite knowing the opponent was formidable, since their team leader had not said they could leave, as members of his team, they could only bite the bullet and push forwards.


    On Zhao Jun¡¯s end, due to his strength exceeding the opponents by such a significant margin, he was handling all the attacksing at him with ease despite being besieged from all sides by the other party. If not for the fact that these people worked well together, forcing Zhao Jun to look harder to find any openings, Zhao Jun would probably have brought these people down a long time ago.


    Ling Lan saw that Zhao Jun was doing fine on his own, so she turned her full attention onto Luo Lang¡¯s fight. Right then, Luo Lang had already traded several blows with Jiang Shaoyu. Although Luo Lang¡¯s rage was off the charts, the gap between him and his opponent¡¯s physical skills stage was still slowly pushing Luo Lang into a disadvantageous position, and the situation was bing increasingly unfavourable for him.


    Ling Lan was not anxious, however, because Luo Lang still had an ace in the hole. As soon as he activated his innate talent, Luo Lang¡¯s strength would increase exponentially. The battle would only be truly decided then.


    Sure enough, after Luo Lang and Jiang Shaoyu exchanged a few more blows, Jiang Shaoyu felt that victory was within his grasp. But then, he suddenly felt his heart skip a beat as a powerful sense of danger swept over him. Jiang Shaoyu reacted swiftly ¡ª he decisively discarded the advantageous situation at hand and slid back, instantly pulling several metres away from Luo Lang.


    With a loud ¡¯boom¡¯, Luo Lang¡¯s fists mmed into the ground. The ground caved in, creating a deep pit of about a metre wide. Not only that, with the pit as the centre point, a spider web of cracks spread outwards across the ground. This obviously massive disy of strength not only caused Jiang Shaoyu¡¯splexion to pale in shock, but even the face of the store owner was white as a sheet. He now realised that his store may very well be destroyed at the hands of these two people.


    The store owner¡¯s reaction was caught unerringly by Ling Lan. Her body shook minutely and the hems of her crisp uniform suddenly swayed a little despite there being no wind. Those people still inside the store immediately felt the surrounding temperature plunge to freezing point. They all began circting their internal energy, and only then did they manage to banish the chill from their bodies.


    Among them was a middle-aged man who had been observing things from the side-lines. His eyes suddenly narrowed as a trace of shock coursed through them, his gaze fixed on Ling Lan who currently had her back to them.


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s expression was currently extremely grim. The Luo Lang before him was alreadypletely different from how he was before. His initially lively pretty face had lost all colour now and seemed frozen in ice. His entire being radiated cold air, not much different from the white-clothed youth standing not too far behind him. What scared Jiang Shaoyu even more was the palpable sense of danger coiled around this practically emotionless Luo Lang.


    "So he has finally activated his innate talent. I did not expect Luo Lang to choose this personality." Ling Lan had thought that Luo Lang would use the Savage personality which had the highestbat strength ¡ª although the Transcendent Cold personality was also a decent choice, it would not be enough to raise Luo Lang¡¯s strength up to the level of his opponent. If Luo Lang wanted to defeat the other, he would have to pay a price.


    Jiang Shaoyu felt Luo Lang¡¯s force of presence grow stronger and stronger until it was almost equal to his own. The sudden increase in the other¡¯s realm confused and frightened him; he could not tell how far his opponent could raise his realm. Still, though he was hesitant to gamble, he finally could not hold back anymore and attacked.


    Seeing Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s attacking at him, Luo Lang merely peered at him calmly before raising a fist and punching it out fiercely to meet the attack.


    The two boys¡¯ fists once again collided and were held frozen like a tableau for several seconds, and then the two boys were sent hurtling backwards in opposite directions. Strangely enough, after flying back several metres, they seemed to be caught by something, losing all momentum to fall directly to the ground.


    When the middle-aged man saw this, the shock in his eyes was unmistakable, and his mouth twitched uncontrobly. Although he did not speak, and the people beside him could not know what he had wanted to say, the middle-aged man was well aware that he had been about to say ¡¯Domain¡¯. Only a Domain ability could seal Qi-Jin capable of affecting the store within a specified range.


    There were not many Domain masters in the Federation ¡ª what shocked him so much was the apparent youth of this young man before his eyes. Judging from the youth¡¯s appearance, he was definitely not yet 20 years old, and the record for the youngest person in the Federation to have broken through to Domain was a 23-year-old. And now, the reality before him was telling him that this record had once again been broken. Another peerless prodigy had appeared in the Federation.

 Chapter 439: Satisfied?

    Chapter 439: Satisfied?


    Trantor: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr


    The moment Jiang Shaoyunded, his expression changed subtly. While he had been in the air earlier, he had felt a barrier intercept his flight. Although that barrier was extremely gentle and had not harmed him, there was no doubt that a master had stepped in then. For the person responsible to have changed this area into a cage without him noticing, they were most certain to be a Domain-level master.


    Jiang Shaoyu swept a cautious gaze around the equipment store. When his eyesnded on Ling Lan standing not too far from them, he directly looked past her, putting his focus on those people hiding in the corner. A stern-faced middle-aged man with glittering eyes caught his eye ¡ª at his level, he actually could not tell what level the other was at. Could it be him?


    Right then, Jiang Shaoyu was no longer as confident andposed as before. He did not know which side this Domain master was on, so his heart began to beat erratically.


    At this time, he suddenly saw that middle-aged man turn his gaze to the white-clothed youth standing not far from them, and his lips moved as if he was saying something to the other. Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s heart clenched in fright. He could almost confirm from this that the middle-aged man should be on the other¡¯s side. If he really hurt the beautiful youth before him by ident, he could imagine that things would not end well for him.


    Having secured his position as number one in the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, Jiang Shaoyu was not a simple-minded person. He came to a quick resolution. When he saw his opponent prepare to attack, he immediately blocked with his hand and shouted, "I admit defeat."


    Unfortunately, his opponent was Luo Lang under the control of the Transcendent Cold personality. This Luo Lang was not someone who would make any half-hearted efforts. Since he had already shed with the opponent, how could he rest without determining who was the winner once and for all?


    Jiang Shaoyu saw that the other¡¯s footsteps did not even pause at his words and his heart sank. He felt that he had truly been too impulsive this time. Before obtaining a full picture of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, he had recklessly challenged them upfront. Sure enough, lust truly clouded the mind ... for the first time, Jiang Shaoyu felt remorseful ¡ª he had truly brought a knife down upon his head due to his desires.


    Resigned, Jiang Shaoyu once again traded a move with Luo Lang. This time, as he had been forced to react hastily, he was sent reeling back a few more steps than Luo Lang; he only stopped when he bumped into the boundary Ling Lan had set.


    Ling Lan, who had been observing the fight coolly all this while, suddenly raised her eyebrows, and her gaze carried some deeper contemtion when she looked at Jiang Shaoyu. Just now, her Domain had been attacked, but unfortunately, the strength of the attacker was too weak inparison to her own and had been unable to break her Domain.


    Apparently, Jiang Shaoyu had only looked like he had been forced back so many steps by Luo Lang¡¯s Qi-Jin. In reality, he did not have to retreat that far. Luo Lang¡¯s activation of the Transcendent Cold personality may have made up the difference between their realms, but with regards to reserves of internal energy, Luo Lang was still weaker; thus, even though Jiang Shaoyu had lost the initiative, Luo Lang still would not have been able to suppress Jiang Shaoyu to this extent.


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s performance waspletely so he could use Luo Lang¡¯s attack as cover to try and escape from the Domain. When he had been about to bump into the barrier, long prepared, he had circted his Qi-Jin and mmed it into the barrier. Unfortunately, the barrier was much more solid than he had expected ¡ª his Qi-Jin attack had not even caused a ripple in the barrier. His Qi-Jin had been absorbedpletely in an instant and he had been blocked, still within the barrier.


    By now, Jiang Shaoyu knew that even if he took the initiative to admit defeat, neither Luo Lang before him nor the Domain master helping Luo Lang from the shadows would let him go. Terrified, a savage gleam entered Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s eyes. Since the opponent was unwilling to let him go, then he would exact some price from them at all costs.


    In renewed ruthlessness, Jiang Shaoyu no longer drew back. He unleashed his full force of presence, putting his all into the battle with Luo Lang.


    As expected, at full power, Jiang Shaoyu immediately recaptured the flow of the fight, overpowering Luo Lang. However, as time went by, the situation seemed to be slowly tilting back towards Luo Lang. For the Transcendent Cold personality, the weaker his position, the harder he fought back ¡ª meanwhile, unable to take down his opponent after so long, Jiang Shaoyu was finally starting to show signs of impatience ...


    There was a loud ¡¯bang¡¯! The two boys shed once more, but this time, the two boys did not separate instantly like the previous few times. They remained with their hands touching, standing motionless.


    However, those with keen eyes could see clearly that, this time, Luo Lang had not used a fist but a palm. His left palm was sping Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s fist, and this was one of the reasons why the two of them had not sprung apart like before.


    A trickle of blood suddenly flowed down from the corner of the immobile Luo Lang¡¯s lips. In order to hold the other in ce, Luo Lang had received the full brunt of the opponent¡¯s Qi-Jin and so had inevitably incurred some internal damage.


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s face changed abruptly as the injured Luo Lang did not seem to feel the pain of his body ¡ª his palm holding Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s fist captive was still strong and steady. Luo Lang¡¯s suddenly raised his long prepared right hand, and a fierce fist was sent hurtling towards Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s face. Jiang Shaoyu seemed to catch the sound of the fist cutting through the air. He knew that if he was hit by this punch, he would definitely be struck unconscious.


    Jiang Shaoyu was caught by Luo Lang so he could not dodge. He could only fight back with force ¡ª his left hand clenched into a fist and he threw it out decisively.


    Fist met fist and the forces behind them grappled with each other for several seconds. Having had time to prepare, Luo Lang had used his full strength in his punch, while Jiang Shaoyu had countered hastily and so could only manage to use 70% of his power in his own punch ...


    The oue had been decided the moment Luo Lang decided to receive some damage to engineer this scenario. The two fighters were suddenly thrown apart, flying backwards. There was more blood trickling down from Luo Lang¡¯s lips now, but Jiang Shaoyu could not control the roiling copper scent in his chest ¡ª he spewed a mouthful of blood in mid-air before crashing heavily onto the ground to slide several metres, only stopping when he reached the barrier.


    Luo Lang¡¯s condition was not much better than Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s. Afternding, he staggered back several steps and then, no longer able to stay upright, he copsed to sit heavily on the floor.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan knew the oue had been decided, so she dismissed her Domain. Jiang Shaoyu, who had been half leaning against the barrier, suddenly felt the barrier disappear from his back. His body fell backwards beyond his control, and he quickly put his hands out to prop himself up, narrowly avoiding smashing into the ground again.


    Luo Lang wiped away the traces of blood from his lips as he struggled to his feet. Then, he slowly walked over to stand before Jiang Shaoyu and said coldly, "Remember, I¡¯m called Luo Lang. Don¡¯t even think about touching my little sister. If there¡¯s a next time, I¡¯ll kill you."


    When Luo Lang said this, his eyes were all too calm and still, an extreme form of indifference within them. This gaze chilled Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s heart ¡ª he clenched his fists tightly as he stared steadily at Luo Lang without saying a word. As the number one of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, he had his pride. He would not permit himself to yield.


    Luo Lang did not care about Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s attitude; he had merely said what he did to convey his determination. As for whether the other was willing to listen, that was not part of his considerations. And so, as soon as Luo Lang¡¯s words faded, his expression had begun to change. His eyes, which had been emotionless and as calm as water, suddenly became lively again, and the cold air surrounding his body disappeared instantly. He had be his usual self again.


    Luo Lang slowly made his way back to Ling Lan¡¯s side. Ling Lan greeted him with a raised brow and asked lightly, "Satisfied?"

 Chapter 440: A Special Guest Arrives!

    Luo Lang smiled, abnormally beautiful, causing many of those lingering in the equipment store to be instantly stunned at the sight. He nodded and said, "Satisfied, Boss." There was nothing more satisfying than being able to personally handle a person who had been eyeing him and his sister with lustful intent.


    "That¡¯s good." Only then did Ling Lan turn her head to say to Zhao Jun, who had long beaten the other members of Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s team unconscious, "Let¡¯s go."


    Zhao Jun shook out his arms, his face regretful as he said, "That really wasn¡¯t much of a fight. Next time, Luo Lang, let¡¯s trade?"


    "Next time?" Luo Lang¡¯s face darkened instantly. D*mmit, did this fellow still want him to be osted and hit on again?


    Seeing Luo Lang¡¯s stormy expression, Zhao Jun knew he had said the wrong thing. He quickly added, "What I¡¯m saying is, next time we fight against injustice, let me fight with the stronger ones first." That said, Zhao Jun once again emphasized his words to express his pure and unsullied heart, "That¡¯s fighting against injustice, you hear!"


    Luo Lang huffed coolly ¡ª although he was not too happy with Zhao Jun¡¯s exnation, he still decided to let it go. Zhao Jun surreptitiously wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, rejoicing over his luck in oveing this hurdle. This punk Luo Lang was great in every way ... but he was just too sensitive when it came to this point. As long as something touched on this hot button even just a little, he would go berserk.


    Ling Lan was just about to lead Zhao Jun and Luo Lang away from the equipment store when a few more people walked through the door. In the lead was Li Lanfeng, and there were two beautiful girls trailing behind him.


    Luo Chao quietly peeked out from behind Li Lanfeng and when she saw Ling Lan, her face instantly flushed bright red. This left Ling Lan rather speechless ¡ª it had already been so many years ... when would this littless Luo Chao learn not to blush?


    Luo Chao did not know about Ling Lan¡¯s dismay ¡ª as soon as she had set eyes on Ling Lan, her heart had begun pounding and her face had begun to burn. In order to let her heart feel a little better, Luo Chao did not dare to look at Ling Lan anymore. She could only turn her gaze away, and when she saw Jiang Shaoyu half-lying immobile on the ground, she asked her brother in confusion, "Big Brother, who¡¯s that? What has happened?"


    Luo Lang immediately blocked Luo Chao¡¯s view and said with an expression of disgust, "Just some scum. Don¡¯t bother about him. Let¡¯s go."


    Luo Chao¡¯s soft and sweet voice made the pensive Jiang Shaoyu raise his head sharply. He saw Luo Chao, with that face which was identical to Luo Lang¡¯s, and his heart was instantly ovee with chagrin. Even though those two had identical faces, their temperaments were distinctly different and were extremely easy to tell apart. Why had he been so blinded with lust and desire that he had not been able to see the difference? Why had he been so sure that the person he saw was Luo Chao and had made a move so hastily? If he had only been a little calmer, perhaps he would not have ended up in such a sorry state.


    Luo Lang was about to drag his sister away with him, but he had only taken two steps when he suddenly recalled that he still had something to tell his boss. He quickly called out to Ling Lan to stop her, "Boss, wait."


    Ling Lan turned her head to look calmly at Luo Lang and waited for him to exin.


    Luo Lang dashed over to Firmament¡¯s side and beckoned Ling Lan over with a wave, wanting her toe over and take a look.


    The moment Ling Lan walked over, she was instantly stunned. She had not expected that there would be a sword in the real world with the exact same form as Regretless which Chang Xinyuan had forged in Mecha World. All that was unclear was whether this sword only resembled Regretless in form, or whether it was simr even in terms of creation materials andposition.


    Luo Lang was very swift ¡ª seeing that his boss was indeed interested in Firmament, he quickly called over a shop assistant hiding at a corner and asked him to open the protective cover so his boss could examine the item.


    From the earlier battle, the shop assistant already knew that this youth who was as pretty as a flower was a Qi-Jin master. How would he dare to hesitate? He quickly ran over and opened the protective covering.


    Ling Lan reached out her hand to touch Firmament, and she could the softness and flexibility of its body. Next, she also looked at the information booklet beside it and learned that this Firmament actually had characteristics extremely simr to those of Regretless in Mecha World. She was overjoyed at this discovery ¡ª it should be known that she was already used to using Regretless; if she could obtain a cold weapon like Regretless in the real world, even if she encountered an elite ace, Ling Lan would have the confidence to fight it out.


    As for the steep price of Firmament, Ling Lan was not at all concerned. She might perhapsck other things, but credits was certainly not one of those things. Who asked her to have the incredible cheat code Little Four to help her manage her finances? Over these past ten years or so, that ount which Little Four had specially set up for her now contained an astronomical amount of wealth. Furthermore, her parents would transfer a humongous amount of credits to her every year. Just those credits given by her parents alone would be enough for her to purchase this Firmament.


    Ling Lan paid without any fuss and then she asked the equipment store to deliver Firmament to the mecha storehouse specially set aside for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. The staff member there in charge of maintenance andmissioning would help her to install Firmament onto her mecha; she did not have to worry any further about this.


    Only after settling all of this did Ling Lan lead Luo Lang and the others away from the equipment store. After they left, Jiang Shaoyu could finally breathe a sigh of relief as he slowly climbed up from the ground. He did not show any expression of rage or hatred, merely calmly waking up those members of his who were unconscious and then leading them awkwardly away from the equipment store.


    Jiang Shaoyu did not forget that that Domain master was still inside the equipment store staring coldly at him. He was afraid that if he revealed any bit of resentment, the other would be angered and destroy himpletely.


    After leaving the equipment store far behind him, Jiang Shaoyu finally could no longer feel any eyes on him. Only then did he truly rx. He turned his head to nce back at the equipment store and a trace of killing intent shed across his eyes. This grudge would definitely be avenged. In that final battle royale ... if anyone was identally killed in the chaos, no one could be med.


    ********


    The middle-aged man waited for everyone to leave before departing from the equipment store as well. Beside him, his friend saw him looking contemtively in the direction Jiang Shaoyu had left in and he could not help but ask curiously, "You ... are interested in those people?"


    "They¡¯re all Qi-Jin stage students. How can I not be interested? Who knows how many surprises they will be able to give me in the physical skillspetition this time," answered the middle-aged man seriously. If that person participated, perhaps the entire Federation would be shaken.


    "Haha, I had forgotten that you¡¯re the physical skills referee for this year¡¯s tournament. So, how is it? Are you now interested to take in a disciple?" asked his friend with augh.


    "Take in a disciple? I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m not qualified ..." muttered the middle-aged man to himself. His voice had been too soft for his friend to hear clearly and so that friend asked, "Elder Brother Qian, what did you say?"


    "Nothing. Perhaps you should watch this Mecha Grand Tournament well. You might be greatly surprised," said the middle-aged man to his friend seriously. Right then, the middle-aged man did not know that this Mecha Grand Tournament would indeed shock and surprise everyone, but just not in the way he was imagining ...


    ********


    In the depths of the night, Ling Lan was diligently browsing through the files that Little Four had found for her on all the participants from the various military academies. After a long while, she tapped on one of the virtual images and said, "Perhaps, this will be a good thing. It¡¯s about time they learned how to stand on their own."


    Meanwhile, the spaceport, which had already been closed for a day, suddenly received a military signal code requesting entrance to the spaceport. The staff immediately checked the code and found that the encrypted code contained a permit to enter the port. Without any further dy, the staff immediately opened the passageway to allow the military vessel to fly into the spaceport.


    On his screen, the staff member responsible for monitoring the docking of the military vessel could clearly see a totem of a phoenix wreathed in mes emzoned on the head of the ship. And beside the totem, two Arabic numerals were printed boldly ¡ª¡ª 23. He instantly leapt to his feet in excitement, almost sending his chair crashing to the ground, startling the people around him in the process.


    Before those people could ask him what was going on, he had already begun shouting loudly, "General Ling Xiao ... it¡¯s General Ling Xiao¡¯s vessel!"


    His cry sent everyone in the control room into a tizzy; quite a few people even fell off their seats. They quickly cut all their video feeds to the military vessel, and when they saw that totem that was so familiar it could not be more familiar, as well as that number ¡¯23¡¯ which represented the number of the army division, they all could not help but scream uncontrobly.


    The ruckus in the control room also startled the supervisor of the spaceport. When he learned that General Ling Xiao¡¯s vessel had alreadynded inside the spaceport, this supervisor was simrly so overwhelmed by emotion that he did not know what to do, almost pping himself to convince himself that this was not a dream. Fortunately, he managed to retain hisst bit of rationality and immediately led his deputy to rush towards the spaceport navigation area, intending on personally weing General Ling Xiao.


    In order to ensure the safety of all the honoured guests of the Mecha Grand Tournament, the Department of National Security had not given Qiming the detailed name list of all the attending guests; instead, they had only provided them with a special safe passage passcode signal source to verify if a guest was legitimate. The staff on Qiming were not able to guess who the guests were from these coded signals and so they could only wait patiently until the guests arrived to be enlightened.


    In fact, on this day, the Qiming spaceport had already received quite a number of distinguished guests. Of the twenty-three standing army divisions of the Federation, although manymanders had note to attend, the divisions had at least sent their vicemanders or one of the sumanders in their division. There had also been several extremely famous imperial operators who had arrived, and even the vice president of the Federation had long arrived three days ago. It could be said that these staff members were already used to the shock of it all and were not as excitable as before.


    But all of this waspletely useless when it came to Ling Xiao. Ling Xiao was not only the only divisionmander in attendance thus far, with the highest status, he was also the national idol Ling Xiao, the immortal battle god. He could be said to be the spiritual support of the entire Huaxia Federation, which was why the staff of the spaceport hadpletely lost control due to Ling Xiao¡¯s arrival.


    The supervisor of the spaceport rushed at soonest notice to the navigation area and waited for General Ling Xiao to disembark from the military vessel. The first toe out were six senior colonels. Their eyes were shining with an intense light ¡ª even though they had reined in their force of presence, the people waiting below to wee them could still feel an invisible pressure pressing down on them. After they came down, they spread out to cover six directions, subtly blocking off all the people waiting in the navigation area.


    The supervisor knew that these six people were certain to be General Ling Xiao¡¯s personal guards ¡ª since they had alreadye out, this meant that General Ling Xiao would soon appear. At this thought, the supervisor¡¯s heart began to pound.


    However, the next person toe out from the ship slightly disappointed the supervisor because it was a major general. He stood at the door of the ship, looked down to survey the situation for a bit and found everything normal, before turning back into the ship.


    Soon, another figure appeared at the ship¡¯s door. The supervisor fixed his gaze on the person and saw that it was General Ling Xiao this time. General Ling Xiao was dressed in a sharp-pressed general¡¯s uniform, and there was a warm and gentle smile on his handsome face, weing to others like a spring breeze. The supervisor¡¯s pounding heart instantly calmed down considerably at the sight of this smile.


    Everyone was waiting for General Ling Xiao toe down from the ship when General Ling Xiao suddenly turned around and reached out his left hand at the same time to hold onto another person¡¯s right hand. A slender and graceful figure slowly appeared at the door ¡ª she had a noble and elegant air, her beautiful face adorned with a soft smile as she stared with deep affection at the man standing beside her. The two of them looked extremely young, as if time had not left much of a mark on them. The handsome man and the lovely woman were like a jade couple.


    Everyone knew that this had to be General Ling Xiao¡¯s wife, Lan Luofeng. The true love between General Ling Xiao and his wife was something every girl in the Federation dreamed of.T/C: Lol, such fan boys.i.e. a perfect couple.

 Chapter 441 Respective Plans!

    The curtains were finally lifted on the All-Federation Military Academy Grand Mecha Tournament. First up was the grand opening ceremony at the main stadium at 9 o¡¯clock. This opening ceremony would be broadcast live on the all-federation intearywork ¡ª both the military and the organisers on Qiming took it very seriously.


    After waking up early in the morning, Ling Lan washed up and then began circting her Qi to warm and nurture her body. Over these past two months, the hidden injuries she had received from training with real ace mecha would heal much faster every time she practised her Qi exercises; thus, whenever Ling Lan was awake and had nothing better to do, she would circte her Qi to take care of her injuries.


    However, one monthter, Ling Lan discovered the true profundity of the Qi exercises. In the process of healing, her physical constitution was slowly bing even stronger, though the effects were infinitesimal. If Ling Lan had not noticed how she was gradually receiving lighter injuries from her training with real mecha as time went by, perhaps she would havepletely overlooked it, ending up unable to discover this deep secret of the Qi exercises.


    This made Ling Lan prize the Qi exercises even more, no longer just practising them only for the sake of treating her injuries. Anytime she was free, she would sit and go through them. Ling Lan¡¯s tenacity was rewarded well. Ling Lan felt that the resilience of her body bing better and better, and so her body¡¯s ability to endure the feedback pressure from mecha operation was also bing stronger and stronger. Naturally, she did not forget to share this discovery with Li Lanfeng; after all, he needed the help of the Qi exercises even more than she did. As long as Li Lanfeng kept up with the exercises, his frail body on the brink of copse would no longer be a problem he would have to worry about.


    After a few circtions, Ling Lan saw that it would soon be the assembly time as notified by the organisers, and so she left her room and slowly began making her way to the assembly point.


    The assembly point was at therge square in the middle of the amodation areas. Ling Lan had only just arrived at the fringes of the square when she could see that there was already arge group of people gathered there. Ling Lan looked around casually and found that almost all the cadets from the various participating military academies were already here. This made it difficult for her to pinpoint where the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was gathering for a moment.


    However, Ling Lan was not troubled by it for long. Qi Long, who had long arrived at the square, had immediately sensed his boss¡¯s position the moment Ling Lan hade within range. He quickly turned his head and raised his right hand to greet his boss, to show that they were over here.


    Qi Long¡¯s loud greeting naturally startled some of the other military academy cadets around him. However, after a quick nce at Ling Lan, they no longer dared to look at him.


    Ling Lan did not hesitate to head over instantly. Many people were already gathered at Qi Long¡¯s side ¡ª they were all participating students from the First Academy. Ling Lan took a look around and found that not only Qiao Ting¡¯s group was here, but even the rest from the other factions, Tianji, Wuji, Dwotong and so on were all present. Rather, because she had aimed to arrive right on the dot, she ended up being thest one to arrive.


    Still, no one would dare to grumble about it. In fact, many of the youths believed that Ling Lan should be thest one to arrive anyway. Qiao Ting¡¯s gaze wasplicated as he looked at Ling Lan. He sighed mentally ¡ª unexpectedly, unconsciously, the regimentmander of Lingtian, Ling Lan, had already gained prominence in the hearts of the students of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. How easily did this be a matter of fact ... he had strived so hard for four years to obtain this, yet the other had done it so easily ... a bitter feeling tinged with resentment towards fate rose in Qiao Ting¡¯s heart ¡ª Ling Lan may very well be his rival for life.


    As soon as Ling Lan arrived, Wu Jiong who had been coordinating everyone quickly came forward to report to Ling Lan. "Boss Lan, the staff have just notified us that our First Men¡¯s Military Academy had been arranged for bus no.397. Now we¡¯re just waiting for the other cadets to leave first."


    "397?" Ling Lan was taken aback. "So, we¡¯ll be the finale?" Don¡¯t me Ling Lan for her surprise ¡ª although the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was ranked as the number one military academy in the Federation, it had stille in second ce for seven consecutive Mecha Grand Tournaments. Ling Lan felt that this kind of results should have made it unlikely for them to be the final ones to take the stage.


    "Yes, when I received the notification earlier, I almost did not believe it as well. But then, I thought about it a bit more ..." Wu Jiong nced towards Qiao Ting not too far away from them, smiled and said, "Maybe it¡¯s because of him."


    Ling Lan¡¯s mind contemted the idea for a moment and she felt that Wu Jiong¡¯s judgment was not wrong. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy had been given the special honour of being the finale this time probably because of Qiao Ting ¡ª after all, he was known to be the only one after Ling Xiao who had managed to be an ace operator in his fourth year at a military academy. Both the military and the organisers on Qiming were pinning high hopes on Qiao Ting; as such, they did not dare to disgrace Qiao Ting in any way at this time.


    Qi Long did not care at all about whether they were the finale or not. With a hint of reluctance, he asked Ling Lan in a soft whisper, "Boss, are we really going to let Qiao Ting be the team leader during the opening ceremony?" The team leader would be the one to bear the school g during the opening ceremony. Every cadet viewed this position as a mark of honour, which was why Qi Long felt rather unwilling to let it go to Qiao Ting. His boss was clearly the true leader ¡ª why did Qiao Ting have to be one to enjoy the limelight?


    "Isn¡¯t that fine? He¡¯s a primary force in this Mecha Grand Tournament. It makesplete sense for him to bear the school g," said Ling Lan nonchntly. Compared to fame, she would rather have obscurity. Her gender had determined that she would not be able to walk into the public eye.


    Qi Long was still rather disgruntled because, in his heart, Boss was the greatest. Although Qiao Ting was an ace operator, his boss was one too! Moreover, his boss was a supreme genius who had managed to advance to ace level in just one year at the military academy ¡ª this was not something someone like Qiao Ting couldpare with. However, Qi Long also knew that his boss would not change his mind once he had decided on something, and so Qi Long sullenly shut up.


    When 9 o¡¯clock came, the square began to bustle. One by one the hover buses arrived at the square, picking up batch after batch of students. Under the arrangements of the staff, everything proceeded in an organised manner and with the passage of time, the number of students in the square gradually dwindled. Around 10 o¡¯clock, it was finally the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s turn. They were the only ones left at the square by this time.


    Qiao Ting reflexively nced over at Ling Lan, and when Ling Lan nodded at him, Qiao Ting sucked in a deep breath and shouted, "Let us board!" After saying that, he was the first to step onto the no.397 hover bus.


    The First Men¡¯s Military Academy lined up ording to their faction ranks, boarding the bus in an organised manner. Thest group to board the bus was Ling Lan¡¯s team. When the final person, Xie Yi, had boarded, the no.397 hover bus left therge square, flying towards the main venue.


    ********


    At this time, three middle-aged men were standing in a corner of therge square. There were several other people behind them as well, and all of them were watching as the First Men¡¯s Military Academy moved. The middle-aged man on the left said to the one in the middle, "Old Zhou, what do you think about the First Men¡¯s Military Academy this time round?"


    The man in the middle merely huffed coldly without replying. The eyes of the man on the left flickered; displeased with the non-answer, he once again said provocatively, "I heard that your team leader this time suffered a loss at the other¡¯s hands, and the one he was disgraced by was just some nameless small fry. It looks like for you all to get first ce this time, it¡¯ll be a little risky ..."


    The other¡¯s gleeful tone of schadenfreude sessfully provoked the man in the middle. He sneered and mocked back, "Old Wu, I heard that many of the team leaders in the Mecha Grand Tournament this time are ace operators. You all better prepare properly ... don¡¯t let your ranking drop from the top four to outside the top ten and disgrace all the men¡¯s academies." He turned his head to look at the man on the right who had been quiet all this time and asked, "Right, Old Cao?"


    The man on the right had a nice guy face. With a wide smile, he said, "Now that you¡¯ve mentioned it, Old Zhou, I really feel the pressure." He then looked at the man on the left, sighed and said, "Old Wu, looks like we¡¯ll need to keep an eye out for each other and share a helping hand so we don¡¯t lose face when the timees."


    Old Cao had barely finished speaking when Old Zhou¡¯s face turned ck. Meanwhile, on the left side, Old Wuughed ¡ª Old Cao was willing to help him both implicitly and explicitly, so of course he was d.


    The dark-faced Old Zhou smiled coldly. "Old Cao, don¡¯t take care of others so much that you suffer instead." His tone carried a vague hint of threat ¡ª without the help of his school, did they really think it would be so easy to ce well?


    In order to contend with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, their three military academies had tacitly cooperated with each other in the final battle royal for the past few tournaments, working together to eliminate the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Things should have been the same this year as well, but unexpectedly, the third ce First Co-ed Military Academy and the fourth ce Third Men¡¯s Military Academy were actually having second thoughts and had begun ostracizing his military academy now. Could it be that they were dissatisfied because his academy had taken first ce for four consecutive tournaments, not giving way to either of the other two?


    It turned out that these three men were actually all from the top four schools, the three other military academies besides the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Old Zhou in the middle was from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy which had obtained first ce for many consecutive Mecha Grand Tournaments. Old Wu on the left was from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy which had ced fourthst tournament, while Old Cao on the right was from the First Co-ed Military Academy which had ced thirdst tournament. This time, they had rushed here to therge square together just so they could check out the students who were representing the First Men¡¯s Military Academy this year.


    Old Cao did not seem to pick up on Old Zhou¡¯s threat; still smiling calmly, he said, "How could that happen? No matter how strong the opponent is, we¡¯ll still need to work hard and not let others pull one over us."


    Old Zhou¡¯splexion improved a little at those words ¡ª Old Cao had obviouslypromised a little with his reply. Truly, if he did not bare some teeth, they would not behave.


    After Old Wu heard these words, he nced at the agreeable Old Cao and became pensive.


    The three men saw that there was nothing left here for them to do, so they bid each other farewell. Then, leading their own assistants, they all went their respective ways.


    On the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy end, the assistant behind Old Zhou said with a worried expression, "Faculty head, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy ... what did they mean? Could it be that they don¡¯t want to work together anymore?"


    Old Zhou smiled coldly and replied, "It¡¯s fine. Leave them be for a bit. Thepetitions at the front depends on themselves. It won¡¯t be that easy for them to obtain good results. By the time the marks are tallied up, even if they don¡¯t want to work with us, they¡¯ll still have to. I don¡¯t believe that they would be willing to give up their current positions."


    Only then did the assistant breathe a sigh of relief ¡ª the faculty head was still more impressive, knowing to leave the line long to nab bigger fish.


    Meanwhile, on the First Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s end, there was also a conversation going on. However, Old Chao was no longer smiling at this moment, and his assistant was equally indignant. "The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy actually dared to do such a thing ... do they really think we will still want to work with them?"


    Old Cao sneered and said, "Really thinking that we, the First Co-ed Military Academy, are made from glutinous rice?! Actually daring to target our female students ... what bastards." The incensed nice guy could not help cursing, "If not for the people from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, our Starship Navigation prodigy would probably have been ruined just like that, and they actually acted like nothing had happened. They¡¯re really going too far! This time, even if our results leave us at the bottom, we will pull the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy off their pedestal. We will let them know that we, the First Co-ed Military Academy, have our pride and temper!"¼ÈÉú褺ÎÉúÁÁ: This original saying here doesn¡¯t have a proper English equivalent. It¡¯s from the ¡¯Tale of Three Kingdoms¡¯, famous words from a character called Zhou Yumenting his fate at being born in the same era as the brilliant tactician Zhuge Liang, forever outssed by the other. The saying literally trantes to ¡¯Since you¡¯ve given birth to Yu, then why did you give birth to Liang¡¯. Here, the author is drawing a parallel between Qiao Ting¡¯s feelings towards Ling Lan and how Zhou Yu felt in the past about Zhuge Liang.The author actually does use ¡¯glutinous rice¡¯ here. The intended meaning is that the SMMA was treating the FCMA like they are soft and squishy, i.e. weak and easy to bully.

 Chapter 442 Opening Ceremony!

    When Old Cao¡¯s assistant heard this, he instantly said happily, "Overseer, if that bunch of brats know your intentions, they¡¯ll definitely be over the moon. Luo Chao was almost ruined this time, and those stinky brats almost exploded from the anger. They¡¯ve long been howling that we should show the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy what¡¯s what."


    Old Cao smiled at his words, nodded and said, "That¡¯s what our students should be like. If they can¡¯t protect their own brothers and sisters, then what use do they have for bing strong?"


    While this side was nning to deceive and trip up the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, on the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s side, Old Wu was asking his assistant, "Ah Qi, tell me, what do you think the First Co-ed Military Academy is nning?"


    His assistant Ah Qi replied, "On the surface, they seem like they intend to coborate with us. Like us, they seem to have some beef with the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. But after Faculty Head Zhou of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy said what he said, Overseer Cao seemed to have retreated."


    "Retreated?" Old Wu frowned. "That fellow Cao Yongyu ... although he looks like a really nice guy, very agreeable and open to discussion, we have really never been able to gain any advantage when dealing with him. This kind of person ... would he really just give up because of one statement from Zhou Yuanyi?" He did not believe it.


    His assistant Ah Qi also became thoughtful. Then, suddenly thinking of something, he said in a low voice, "Sir,st night, I heard some news from the grapevine. Perhaps it has something to do with this ..."


    Old Wu¡¯s eyes lit up and he quickly motioned for Ah Qi to borate.


    "The team leader of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy shed with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy all because of a girl. And that girl is from the First Co-ed Military Academy, a Starship Navigation prodigy whom they are specially cultivating ..."


    Old Wu was surprised. He had thought that the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy and the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had shed in the marketce because they just could not see eye to eye. Unexpectedly, there was this extra element to it ... Old Wu suddenlyughed and said, "So that¡¯s how it is, so that¡¯s how it is. Looks like our chance hase. Watch them closely. Once the results for the earlierpetitions are out, we can study the situation better and decide who we should choose as our final partners to work with. It¡¯s about time for the perennial fourth ce to move up a little." A sh of ambition coursed through Old Wu¡¯s eyes.


    At this moment, Ling Lan and the rest had already arrived at the main venue,pletely oblivious to the dark currents surging behind them. They were nervously lining up to enter the venue ¡ª as thest participating group to take the stage, everyone could take pride in this honour they had been given.


    Qiao Ting epted the school g which had been prepared by the staff members, gripping it firmly. This school g which represented the military academy he came from ... he had looked at it for five years, and he had never ever felt like it had any particr meaning. But here and now, the school g was actually heavy, giving him a sort of invisible pressure. He suddenly felt that the treasured throne of king of just his military academy, which he had desired for so long, was actually such a trivial thing ...


    "My world should not be limited to a small military academy. It should epass the entire Federation, no, the whole universe!" A bright me rose in Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes. He felt as if he was being remade from the inside out, and the bottleneck of his initially frozen and unmoving peak of advanced level Qi-Jin actually began to show signs of loosening ...


    Ling Lan sensed the change in Qiao Ting¡¯s condition. She threw a startled nce at the other, thinking that the other was bing stronger both in terms of force of presence and confidence. She frowned lightly, but the furrow of her brow quickly smoothed out and her eyes soon became tranquil again.


    No matter how strong the opponent was, she was not afraid of any challenge!


    The pride in Ling Lan¡¯s heart surged and her force of presence began to shake violently. This instantly startled the students who had been caught up in their nervous excitement ¡ª the powerful pressure gave them no room to think of anything else. They could only grit their teeth and resist the oppressive pressure with all their might. As they were now putting their full attention on this, their initially stiff movements and restless minds due to their nerves instantly became much more natural and calm.


    Qiao Ting sensed the pressureing from Ling Lan and turned to nce at her. His gaze became even more determined ¡ª losing once did not mean losing for a lifetime. He would definitely be stronger than Ling Lan!


    The subtle byy between Qiao Ting¡¯s and Ling Lan¡¯s force of presences was instantly noticed by the spiritually-aberrant Li Lanfeng. He looked at Qiao Ting then looked at Ling Lan, and his gaze turned solemn. Whether it was Qiao Ting, who he viewed as his greatest opponent in this life, or Ling Lan, his most important confidant, they were both constantly improving. In that split second back then, he had felt the two of them bing even stronger than before.


    Sure enough, it was not so easy to alter one¡¯s destiny. He needed to work much harder! Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze turned cold and he began to silently practise the Qi exercises.


    Ever since Ling Lan had told him that as long as he was persistent with his efforts in practising these Qi exercises, his terrible physical constitution would be inherently changed and may even be resolvedpletely, he had practised the exercises whenever he could. After close to a year of relentless study, he had finally achieved a state where he did not even need to sit down and meditate to circte his Qi and go through the exercises. Now, he could even practise the Qi exercises while exercising. Although the effects were not as great as when he was meditating, the effects were still noticeable after umtion over time. Based on his current progress and efficacy, his constitution problem which originally would have required five to six years to resolve may be resolved a year or two faster.


    Of course, he had also shared the results of his research with Ling Lan. And as expected, his rabbit was unbelievably aberrant, only taking one month to achieve what he had spent a year to do. At this thought, Li Lanfeng felt both proud and somewhat put out. He was proud of Ling Lan being so outstanding, but put out just thinking of the gap between himself and the other. However, Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart was strong ¡ª he was not discouraged by Ling Lan¡¯s aberrant abilities. If he could notpare to the other in terms of talent, then he would use hard work to make up the difference.


    Li Lanfeng could never have imagined that Ling Lan had a cheat that allowed her to extend her practice time several times over. As such, whether it was in terms of talent or hard work, Li Lanfeng was doomed to chase after Ling Lan his entire life.


    "Boss, retract your force of presence quickly!" Inside Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace, Little Four was panicking. He had not forgotten that Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence was currently extremely unstable ¡ª this was also why Qiao Ting had been able to provoke Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence so easily.


    Ling Lan, whose force of presence had already reached a critical point, was at risk of losing control at any moment. If his boss¡¯s force of presence was allowed to escte freely, the possibility of losing control would be infinitely increased ¡ª Little Four did not dare to risk it.


    Little Four¡¯s words sent a jolt running through Ling Lan¡¯s heart ¡ª she too had recalled her problem, so she quickly suppressed her force of presence which was on the verge of rampaging. The team members who had been resisting the pressure with all their might suddenly felt the burden ease, and their bodies became much lighter. They silently breathed a sigh of relief and finally rxed. Right then, they no longer felt as nervous and tense as they had at the start, bing much calmer andposed. They nced at Ling Lan gratefully ¡ª they had been able to regain their usual state of mind all thanks to the pressure of Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence. They thought that Ling Lan had been trying to help them.


    This was undoubtedly a beautiful misunderstanding. Without her conscious knowledge, Ling Lan had once again made her image be even greater than before.


    At this moment, at the rostrum area, Ling Xiao, who was chatting happily with his dear wife Lan Luofeng, suddenly frowned, but his expression was soon rxed again. Lan Luofeng, who had been peering at the entrance all this time, did not notice Ling Xiao¡¯s shift in expressions. She was extraordinarily excited; tugging on Ling Xiao¡¯s sleeve, she kept asking, "Have theye? Have theye?" Why hadn¡¯t she seen any sign of her baby daughter after so long? Where had the First Men¡¯s Military Academy gone? Why weren¡¯t they here yet?


    Ling Xiao quickly reassured her. "Soon, soon. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy is typically saved for thest. Now that the other schools have alle out, it should be their turn soon."


    Although Ling Xiao was all smiles, his smile did not reach his eyes. Just now, he had sensed Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence and, powerful as he was, he had instantly sensed something wrong with it. He was very worried and also somewhat crestfallen at the same time ¡ª even when his baby daughter was having problems, she still did not want to seek him, her father, out to help her solve her problems. Undoubtedly, he was too ipetent as a father.


    "Thest to take the stage is the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy is one of the strongest military academies in the Federation, with a long history of cultivating countless talents ..." Following the appearance of another participating school team, the host of the main venue began to announce the name and background of the next school to take the stage, providing a brief introduction as well.


    When Lan Luofeng heard that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was about to appear, she instantly stood up in excitement. Her sudden move greatly surprised the other special guests. Smiling wryly, Ling Xiao quickly stood up as well to apud the entrance of the participating team from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. This move enlightened the surrounding people ¡ª General Ling Xiao had graduated from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. No wonder his wife was so worked up ...


    Ling Xiao¡¯s follow-up action perfectly exined his wife¡¯s excitement, and the virtual screens on all four sides of the main venue also began disying the pping figures of General Ling Xiao and his wife. This worked up the audience, and they began shouting fervently, submerging the entire venue in a sea of cheers.


    In the lead, when Qiao Ting saw Ling Xiao standing on the rostrum, he clenched his hands over the staff of the g he was holding, holding back the excitement in his heart. Ling Xiao was his idol as well as a target he wanted to surpass. In this tournament, he had to perform well and let General Ling Xiao know that he would be the next Ling Xiao.


    When Qi Long and the others who knew the truth saw General Ling Xiao and Lan Luofeng, they peeked at their boss in unnned unison. Subsequently, they instantly felt a subtle drop in the temperature around their boss.


    The student representatives of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy saw their senior General Ling Xiao standing and apuding for them and were instantly overwhelmed with emotion. For a moment, the team was at risk of being thrown into disarray ¡ª if Ling Lan had not huffed coldly, startling them back to awareness, the boys might have lost control and disgraced themselves despite regaining their calm previously under the pressure of Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence.


    Ling Lan managed to rein in the situation with some effort, and then she stared speechlessly at the smiling handsome man who was apuding them passionately. This old man of hers ... always unconsciously giving her some trouble.


    After that, Ling Lan looked over at the obviously excited Lan Luofeng, and her brain began to ache. Mind you, her mum was the person she most did not know how to handle ¡ª if her attitude was just the least bit off in any way, she would instantly be treated to a shower of tears ...


    Leaving aside Ling Lan¡¯splicated feelings, after walking once around the stage, they were finally led to the area designated for them by a staff member. Only then did Ling Xiao and Lan Luofeng sit down again. Because of this, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy very quickly drew the envious gazes of countless other cadets around them. That was General Ling Xiao, their idol! Why couldn¡¯t General Ling Xiao be their senior? In their envy, countless cadets could not help crying internally, unbearably indignant.×ÜÎñ: Actually, the term here trantes literally to ¡¯general affairs¡¯, which in Chinese, can be used to refer to the head of general affairs in an organisation. This doesn¡¯t work in this context, hence ¡¯overseer¡¯.

 Chapter 443 Half Step to God-Realm?

    Once the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s debut ended, this marked the end of the Mecha Grand Tournament¡¯s opening ceremony. Everyone patiently waited for the next event.


    At this time, at the centre of the main venue, 100 arenas of equal sizes slowly rose up from the floor. The appearance of these arenas represented the official start of this Mecha Grand Tournament, and the first event to take the stage was the traditional item ¡ª physicalbat.


    "Now, may the participating members of each school advance to the arena number as indicated by the organisers for the scheduled match-ups!" prompted the host.


    Seated in his own ce, Qi Long suddenly felt hismunicator vibrate. He opened it and saw that a message from the organisingmittee had been delivered. He was actually arranged to be the first to fight at arena 17, and he was also the first one from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to fight in the physical skillsbat to be up.


    He quickly informed his boss and then rushed over to arena 17 to prepare for his match.


    This time, there were five people from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy who were participating in physicalbat. The other four were from Leiting, Tianji, Wuji, and Dwotong respectively.


    Wu Jiong watched worriedly as Qi Long went to his arena and asked uneasily, "Qi Long going up ... will it be okay?" The physical skillspetition of the Mecha Grand Tournament was a ce where all the best and brightest of physical skills prodigies of the Federation were gathered. There was even one military academy specializing in physical skills, whose specific purpose was to cultivate physical skills prodigies. Although Qi Long¡¯s physical skills were very strong, he was still somewhatcking whenpared to these prodigies among prodigies.


    At this thought, he could not help but cut a nce at Ling Lan. "Boss Lan, the one best suited for the physical skillspetition in our Lingtian is actually you. Why did you choose to send Qi Long instead of going yourself?"


    Ling Lan nced calmly at Wu Jiong and said, "Qi Long¡¯s physical skills just happens to be at a bottleneck. Apetition like this will be very beneficial in spurring a breakthrough. Also, don¡¯t you think it would be bullying the others too much if I went up there?"


    Even though not many knew about her breakthrough to Domain, even when she had been a half step to Domain, she was already unbeatable to anyone below Domain stage. Fighting against these people at Qi-Jin stage would indeed be rather unsporting. Of course, Ling Lan would not really mind this ¡ª the true reason why she was not participating was her problem with her force of presence. She was afraid that in the arena, any slip in her control might end up in disaster. But all of this was not something Ling Lan could tell Wu Jiong and the others. She could only bear it in silence and send Qi Long in her ce, feigning some high-mindedness in the process.


    Wu Jiong decisively turned his head aside ¡ª sob, sob, sob, Boss Lan, you¡¯re really too much! Wasn¡¯t he being just a little selfish, wanting his own academy to obtain a few extra first ces? Did he deserve such contempt?


    Fine ... here was yet another clueless child who had been deceived by Ling Lan!


    Qi Long¡¯s luck was excellent; his opponent could be considered a weaker one. Without expending much effort, Qi Long defeated his opponent and sessfully advanced to the next stage. Perhaps because the opponent was too weak, Qi Long did not seem to have had enough fun fighting, so he was clearly rather moody when he returned to the group.


    However, Qi Long¡¯s task for the day was done after his match ended. Now he just had to wait for the second day ¡ª once all the participants who advanced to the next round were determined, the mainframe would randomly assign them new opponents. Whether or not Qi Long could progress further would still require some luck. Only if he did not get matched up against those hot favourites to be the winning candidate would he have any chance.


    Although the first rounds for the members from Leiting, Tianji, Wuji, and Dwotong had yet to happen, Ling Lan did not n to continue waiting. If those four participants could not even get past the first round, then they really would not be qualified to be the representatives of the four major factions; as such, Ling Lan was not too worried.


    Just like that, Ling Lan led her people from Lingtian as well as the other members who were not interested in watching the rest of the fights to leave the main venue. After that, she turned down Qi Long and herpanions¡¯ suggestion to go y at the entertainment establishments around the amodation area, returning alone to her own room.


    Ling Lan was so decisive in refusing herpanions¡¯ invitation because she was 80% sure that her father Ling Xiao would definitelye looking for her right after she left the main venue.


    Sure enough, not too long after she returned, Ling Lan heard a knock at her door. As soon as Ling Lan opened the door, she saw the smiling face of her dad who had been leaningfortably against the door frame, waiting for her to open the door.


    Ling Lan could not help but quirk her lips at the sight and say in a slightly mocking tone, "Father, isn¡¯t your 23rd Division still not yet established? You actually have the free time toe attend the opening ceremony of the Mecha Grand Tournament?"


    Ling Xiao burst out into heartyughter at her words, reaching out a hand to ruffle Ling Lan¡¯s hair. His tone was somewhat resigned as he said, "What, daddy hase all the way here to cheer for you and you¡¯re stillining?"


    "But why did you bring mum as well?" When Ling Lan brought up Lan Luofeng, she lost her usual cool; her demeanour carried a trace of helpless irritation. Of course, Ling Lan was still very calm and settled outwardly, but who was Ling Xiao? Just from the minute changes in Ling Lan¡¯s tone, he noticed something.


    Even as Ling Xiao was surprised by it, he could not help but be jealous. He was surprised that his cold-faced daughter would be as helpless as he was when handling Lan Luofeng. At the same time, he was also jealous of the lofty position Lan Luofeng held in Ling Lan¡¯s heart ... the address of ¡¯mum¡¯ was enough to prove the deep bond between mother and daughter. Just thinking about how Ling Lan still had yet to call him ¡¯dad¡¯, Ling Xiao¡¯s heart was instantly bitter and sour. Honestly, all those years ago, he really had not intended to abandon his wife and daughter ... when exactly would Ling Lan forgive him and be able to truly ept him?


    Ling Xiao quickly cast aside these depressed feelings, rallying his spirits to answer Ling Lan. "When your first year ended, you only sent a message home saying that you were staying at the academy and would not go home. Your mum missed you a lot. So, knowing that you will be participating in this Mecha Grand Tournament, you think she¡¯d have let this chance go?"


    Ling Xiao decisively threw all responsibility over to his wife ¡ª he absolutely would not ever admit that he hade because he missed his daughter too much.


    Ling Lan thought back to when she had video-called her mum. Recalling her mum¡¯s crazed expression back then, Ling Lan was instantly left speechless. Alright, this was all her own fault!


    "Where¡¯s mum?" Ling Lan saw that there was no one behind Ling Xiao, so she knew that the ce for their reunion was definitely not going to be here.


    "At the teahouse in the special guests¡¯ rest area!" A trace of a smile appeared on Ling Xiao¡¯s lips. He was relieved that Ling Lan was able to immediately grasp his true intention ining here.


    "Then, father, please lead the way," said Ling Lan, resigned. Since she could not escape, she might as well go over earlier to avoid her mum exploding from the umted resentment. At that time, Ling Lan would only suffer even more.


    However, Ling Xiao did not move. He instead continued to lean against the door frame as his smile slowly dimmed. Then, he merely looked calmly at Ling Lan ¡ª his piercing gaze made Ling Lan¡¯s heart clench and she felt a powerful pressure pressing down on her, once again stirring up her force of presence.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s force of presence was only shed for a moment and the pressure vanished after that light touch. Ling Lan breathed a sigh of relief and immediately reined in her wild and unruly force of presence with all her might. The effort of it made countless beads of sweat emerge on Ling Lan¡¯s forehead; it was truly exhausting.


    Seeing this, Ling Xiao frowned deeply. Ling Lan¡¯s condition was worse than he had imagined. He immediately discarded his initial ns and said, "Let¡¯s go to thebat room here."


    There were many leisure facilities in the amodation area so that the participating cadets could have a ce to rx outside of thepetitions. This included a gym for the students to release any pent up frustrations, as well as facilities such asbat rooms.


    Ling Lan knew that Ling Xiao had noticed her problem ¡ª they were likely heading to abat room so he could fully explore the issue. Thus, she did not refuse, immediately bringing Ling Xiao to the service counter to request abat room.


    Of course, at the service counter, Ling Lan became unable to sense Ling Xiao for a period of time. It looked like Ling Xiao did not want to be discovered by anyone and had hidden away for the moment. Unfortunately, with Ling Lan¡¯s current level of strength, she was actually unable to grasp Ling Xiao¡¯s presence when he truly intended to hide. She had even tried asking Little Four to use the surveince equipment here to search for him, but she was still unable to find any trace of Ling Xiao. This left Ling Lan in awe ¡ª a god-ss operator truly lived up to its reputation as the ultimate fighting force of the Federation. Even the virtual god Little Four could not grasp Ling Xiao¡¯s movements fully.


    Ling Lan opened thebat room, and as soon as she entered, Ling Xiao abruptly appeared inside. Almost at the same time, several soft poofs could be heard inside the room. Startled, Ling Lan understood what had happened after a brief pause. Probably, at the moment Ling Xiao had appeared, all the surveince devices in the room had been instantly destroyed by Ling Xiao¡¯s force of presence.


    Although this might cause Ling Lan some minor trouble, as she would have topensate for these broken devices, this little bit of trouble was nothingpared to Ling Xiao being discovered. Ling Lan immediately shut the doors to the room. From this point on, no one would be able to enter as long as she did not exit the room, and so no one would be able to discover Ling Xiao here.


    "Come, Lan-er, let¡¯s spar." To fullyprehend the extent of Ling Lan¡¯s problem, Ling Xiao would need to have a proper fight with her. As soon as Ling Xiao finished speaking, he did not hesitate to throw a punch at Ling Lan.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s speed was too fast ¡ª Ling Lan only saw Ling Xiao raise his hand and the next thing she could see was his fist already right before her eyes. There was no longer any possibility of Ling Lan lifting a hand to block, so she could only lean back and raise both her hands at the same time, crossing her arms to withstand this seemingly heavy punch ...


    With a ¡¯bam¡¯, Ling Lan was sent stumbling back several steps from the force of the blow and only then did she manage to catch her footing. Ling Xiao remained motionless, however, retracting his fist in an easy manner just as if he had not been using his full strength in thatst punch.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes narrowed. That attack had shown that her dad¡¯s physical skills level was at Domain, both in terms of strength and speed. Moreover, his Domain was absolutely unlike her own rudimentary Domain that had yet to fully develop but was instead a full-fledged perfect Domain. The distance between their realms left her unable to see the other¡¯s actions clearly; she could only defend passively.


    Meanwhile, after retracting his fist, Ling Xiao¡¯s expression was rather bemused. He had sensed a trace of a familiar air in thatst attack. He was quite shocked, somewhat disbelieving, but he could not suppress the wild joy surging in his heart. His daughter ... had she truly entered that stage as he thought?


    Ling Xiao stared in surprise at his daughter standing not too far away who was currently holding a defensive stance. He smiled slightly and said, "Lan-er, if you have truly reached that level, then disy your full ability."


    The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked. As expected of her old man ¡ª just a little contact with her Qi-Jin and he had already discovered her secret. This also proved that her father had also achieved that level. Ling Lan believed that Ling Xiao¡¯s Domain realm surely exceeded hers by a great margin. Just standing there, he already gave her a sense that she could never win against him, a feeling that she could only look up to him ... Ling Lan could not help but specte ¡ª could her dad have already reached the extreme limits of Domain and had entered that half-god state ... half step to God-Realm?


    She thought about the top-secret file on Ling Xiao which Little Four had decrypted ¡ª his physical skills level had always been marked with a question mark. The military had previously spected that Ling Xiao might be at the early stages of Domain, but now it looked like they had still underestimated her father Ling Xiao.

 Chapter 444 Ling Lans Crisis!

    Since Ling Lan now knew her father¡¯s strength, she did not hesitate to unleash her Domain. The attribute of Ling Lan¡¯s Domain was ice ¡ª as soon as her Domain was activated, the temperature in thebat room plummeted, and a whiteyer of frost even appeared to cover the ground.


    "The innate talent you awakened is Ice Affinity, so your Domain also inherited this energy potential and manifested with the element of ice?" Ling Xiao silently probed the energy of Ling Lan¡¯s Domain ¡ª without a doubt, the ice element inside it was very rich. The more powerful her Domain became, the lower the temperature within her Domain would be. When it dropped to a certain degree, her Domain may even be able to freeze any opponent within it, allowing her to win without having to fight the opponent directly.


    Although the ice series was rather cold, it was still a variation of the water series. As a girl, it was undoubtedly extremely appropriate that Ling Lan had awakened a water-type innate talent.


    Ling Xiao had just begun to rx when his brow immediately furrowed once more. Following the activation of the Domain, Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence had also begun to spread out from her body. The force of presencepatible with the ice element should be a calm and stable one, but Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence seemed rather berserk, and there was an overbearing dominance behind it. This waspletely opposite to the cool calmness of the ice element ...


    Ling Xiao finally understood what was wrong with Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence ¡ª thrown together with a Domain whose power it was ipatible with, how could the two coexist in one body ...? This discovery made Ling Xiao break out in cold sweat. If they could not solve this problem, Ling Lan would one day be torn apart by these two mutually ipatible forces.


    "Domain, activate!" Ling Xiao did not hesitate to activate his own Domain and wrapped Ling Lan within it, including her Domain and her somewhat rioting force of presence. He could not allow Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence to burst out, otherwise they would really have a problem on their hands.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s Domain had unfurled without a sound ¡ª one could almost overlook its presence. However, thebat room which had be extremely cold due to Ling Lan¡¯s Domain was now slowly seeing an increase in temperature. Soon, the air was enveloped in warmth sofortable that it gave people the urge to give up on all resistance and made them rather drowsy.


    As soon as Ling Xiao activated his Domain, Ling Lan had sensed a warmthing right at her. Like a spring breeze, it started to weaken her will to fight and she found herself bing lethargic. Ling Lan knew that something was not right, but her heart just could not summon up the will to resist.


    With a soft crack, Ling Lan¡¯s Domain crumbled. This oue stunned Ling Lan ¡ª she had not expected her Domain to be so fragile, only managing to hold out for several seconds under Ling Xiao¡¯s Domain.


    This discovery made Ling Lan feel a little discouraged. She lost all thoughts of fighting back and was just about to admit defeat when her suppressed force of presence suddenly erupted. The raging force of presence was unyielding and forceful ¡ª under the influence of this force of presence, Ling Lan¡¯s deste mood was sessfully chased away, and she was abruptly jolted to awareness.


    She had actually fallen under the influence of Ling Xiao¡¯s Domain unknowingly, losing her usual indomitable spirit and choosing to give up and surrender ... Ling Lan was shocked by Ling Xiao¡¯s Domain ¡ª what exactly was the power behind her dad¡¯s Domain? Why was it so strange?


    However, Ling Lan did not have time to ponder this question, because she found that a true crisis had appeared!


    Strictly speaking, Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence was Ling Lan¡¯s Dao. Her Dao was the Dominance Dao, so she was destined to be domineering and unyielding. Ling Xiao¡¯s Domain had just so happened to possess the ability to dispel one¡¯s willpower ¡ª this had definitely vited the very roots of Ling Lan¡¯s Dominance Dao. It felt that it had been provoked, and so it overpowered the control of its master Ling Lan to begin striking back on its own initiative.


    Thus, even though Ling Lan was now sober again, she found that she had lost control over her own force of presence. She could only passively feel as her force of presence erupted uncontrobly, surging forwards madly to meet the pressure exerted by Ling Xiao¡¯s Domain.


    Meanwhile, on Ling Xiao¡¯s end, when he had activated his Domain, Ling Lan¡¯s initially still somewhat obscured force of presence waspletely revealed, so Ling Xiao could finally experience the source of Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence. ¡¯This force of presence is so unyielding and is shot through with toughness and dominance ... strange, how in the world did Lan-er cultivate such a force of presence?¡¯


    A girl¡¯s body was inherently weaker physically ¡ª even if they became strong, their force of presences would still lean towards being steady and calm. It should be impossible for a girl to develop such an overbearing and aggressive force of presence. Mind you, among all the force of presences possible, a dominant one was the hardest to control ¡ª even Ling Xiao himself did not dare to walk this path. Ling Xiao was astonished at Ling Lan¡¯s daring, but was also deeply worried. The path of dominance was not easy.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s thoughts went by in a sh and under the pressure of his Domain, Ling Lan¡¯s Domain did not manage to hold out for more than a few seconds before crumblingpletely.


    Without the resistance of Ling Lan¡¯s Domain in the way, Ling Xiao could better feel the violent fluctuations in Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence. He immediately sensed something wrong and chose to press down on Ling Lan¡¯s extremely unstable and vtile force of presence. He did not want to hurt his daughter, merely hoping that Ling Lan¡¯s unstable force of presence would settle down under his pressuring and stop threatening to explode. At the very least, he was hoping that nothing bad would happen before he could think of a way to help his daughter solve this issue once and for all.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s decision was undoubtedly sound, a product of proper deliberation. However, Ling Xiao had still underestimated Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence. Despite the care he took when applying pressure, Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence had still sensed the act and had felt offended enough to go on a rampage.


    The shift in Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence made Ling Xiao¡¯s face change drastically. He could feel the rioting of this force ¡ª it was rampaging around within his Domain with several times its original strength, causing Ling Xiao¡¯s initially rock-solid Domain to begin shaking in an instant.


    "Hng!" The outburst of her force of presence made Ling Lan emit a muffled sound of pain, and a trickle of blood instantly flowed out from the corner of her lips. The abrupt growth in the output of her force of presence had also exceeded the capacity Ling Lan¡¯s body was able to withstand. She was suffering the reaction force of her force of presence, incurring severe internal damage from it. Besides that, under her clothes, the skin all over Ling Lan¡¯s body was beginning to crack. Blood began to ooze from these cracks, and Ling Lan¡¯s white uniform was soon stained red.


    Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s condition getting worse and worse, Ling Xiao was frantic. Right then, he no longer had any of the calmposure General Ling Xiao should have ¡ª sweat poured from his forehead like rain, quickly making his hair wet, and then soaking through his cor. If there had been someone else there, they would even see that Ling Xiao¡¯s body which was initially as steady as a mountain was currently trembling uncontrobly.


    Ling Lan was naturally also very anxious in this kind of situation. She had just begun circting the power in her body, thinking to use that to suppress her force of presence when her already untamed force of presence pulled an unexpected move in its disobedience. It bucked Ling Lan¡¯s consciousness straight into the learning space, making her lose all control over her physical body.


    ********


    "Boss, what do we do now?" Little Four could clearly see Ling Lan¡¯s strange state. When he saw Ling Lan¡¯s consciousness appear in the learning space, Little Four knew things had escted beyond their control. He was so frantic that he was running around in circles ¡ª if Ling Lan could not control her body, she would not be able to rein in this berserk and rampaging force of presence. In the end, Ling Lan¡¯s body would definitely break down and she would die.


    His main body, the learning space, would not lose anything from Ling Lan¡¯s death. At most, the explosion of the force of presence would just wipe out all of the learning space¡¯s power, so the worst case scenario would be that the learning space would fall into hibernation. As long as he was given time, he would eventually revive and then move on to seek his next host.


    However, Little Four did not want that. He was already deeply bonded to Ling Lan. He wanted to be Ling Lan¡¯s most beloved follower ¡ª he could not ept Ling Lan¡¯s disappearance; just the thought of it made Little Four crazy. This was the first time he was feeling this way ... was this fear?


    Ling Lan did not respond to Little Four¡¯s words. She tried desperately to connect with her body again, to no avail. It was like her physical body on the outside had no connection with her at all ¡ª this made Ling Lan both shocked and afraid. As she watched her body deteriorating, she could not help but feel despair rising up within her. Was her second life about to end after only a short 17 years?


    "Hmph!" Suddenly, an icy harrumph sounded out by Ling Lan¡¯s ear. This cold sound pierced right to Ling Lan¡¯s heart, scattering all thoughts of despair. With a jolt, Ling Lan¡¯s initially lost and helpless eyes instantly became strong again. Before the final oue was decided, how could she despair?


    Ling Lan could not resist turning back to look at the door the sound hade from, feeling immensely grateful. How could she not know that that cold huff hade from Instructor Number One? Just when she was about to give up out of despair, Instructor Number One had acted to spur her on.


    ********


    Meanwhile, at this time, in one of the spaces in the learning space, the instructors who were initially scattered in around in different spaces had already gathered together in Instructor Number One¡¯s space. All of them were exuding various degrees of worry ¡ª Ling Lan was their collective disciple. She was the disciple whom they were the proudest of over all the others they had taught before; thus, they did not wish to see their beloved disciple die as her body broke down ...


    Number Nine was the first to break under the pressure and speak up. Anxiety writ all over her brow, she asked Instructor Number One, "Big Brother, will Ling Lan be alright?" So consumed with worry, she identally reverted to her old way of addressing Instructor Number One.


    Number One cast a cold nce at Number Nine. Number Nine¡¯s initially iparably ice-cold face was already cracking right now. He sighed softly ¡ª this younger sister of his was only cold on the surface. In reality, her heart was softer than anyone else¡¯s and when it came to Ling Lan, Number Nine was the most concerned and most sincere among all the instructors.


    When Number One, who had originally nned to stay silent, saw Number Nine being like this, he could only speak up to say, "This will depend on how Ling Lan chooses. This is her crisis, but it is also her chance. If she grasps it well, the problem that has been guing Ling Lan all this time will be resolved easily."


    At this point, Instructor Number One¡¯s gaze turned distant and vacant. It was as if he was looking at the situation outside, but he could also be looking at nothing at all.


    "Ling Lan has lost control of her body. No matter what she¡¯s thinking, it won¡¯t help." Number Five had lost his usual smile at this moment. His eyebrows drew close together, locking a strand of worry between them. "Also, Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence haspletely erupted. Even if Ling Lan regains control of her body, she won¡¯t be able to fully suppress it."


    It was nice to say that humans would always beat the odds, but this needed to be established on the premise that the odds were not beyond one¡¯s limitations. Ling Lan¡¯s current situation had long exceeded the bounds of what she could endure. Instructor Number Five had always been an ardent proponent of excavating the limits of the human body, but right now, even he was not optimistic about the situation.Ó­Èжø½â: I really like the original phrasing here, but it doesn¡¯t carry over very well. Literally, ¡¯part smoothly before the de¡¯, describing how a problem is solved easily in due course.

 Chapter 445 Ling Lans Fulcrum!

    Number Five¡¯s words made the hearts of all the other instructors sink. They once again looked towards Instructor Number One, hoping that he coulde up with a good way to help resolve Ling Lan¡¯s crisis.


    Instructor Number One did not reply. He merely raised his right hand and shed the air with his index finger. An image instantly appeared before the group ¡ª there was nothing in the image but a lone figure. It was Ling Xiao who was currently desperately thinking of a way to help Ling Lan ovee this crisis.


    "He is Ling Lan¡¯s fulcrum in this situation!" stated Number One calmly.


    Number Two, who had been hiding in Number One¡¯s shadow all this time, suddenly half-emerged from within the shadows. His eyes were glittering and he eximed with a hint of urgency, "This person¡¯s spiritual power is very strong!" Only he, who was equally a powerhouse when it came to spiritual power, could truly sense just how powerful the other was. This made Number Two have the itch topete with the other.


    "Not only that, but his strength is also extremely great. At least, he¡¯s stronger than me." Number Nine had also regained herposure by this time. She too had sensed the immense power concealed within the figure in the image ¡ª she lost inparison.


    Instructor Number Five¡¯s hunter heart was pleased at this discovery. He could not help licking his lips, saying excitedly, "I really want to try fighting him. It¡¯ll definitely be fun." Between the both of them, who was stronger?


    At this, Number One turned to look at Number Five and said lightly, "You ... are still no match for him!"


    Number One¡¯s words made Number Five¡¯s expression change, stubbornness and disbelief on his brow.


    "His Dao is already mature and is already touching on God¡¯s Domain. As long as he is given time, he will be able to enter the world of gods," exined Number One. Only he could clearly sense the other¡¯s level; this person hid his capabilities very deeply ... Number One could not help but rejoice for Ling Lan. Ling Lan¡¯s problem was already extremely serious ¡ª despite already having warned her, Number One knew that there was only a one in a million chance for Ling Lan to resolve this problem on her own.


    If there was a master with their own Dao by her side to help her, Ling Lan¡¯s chances of oveing her crisis would be significantly increased. Although all the instructors had their own Dao, they could not materialize in the real world, so they could not be of any help in this regard. Hence, Instructor Number One had had no choice but to hope that Ling Lan could be self-sufficient and find that one in a million chance to resolve her own crisis.


    But no, things had changed. A Dao master had really appeared in the real world and was even now helping Ling Lan wholeheartedly. Instructor Number One could finally rx ¡ª even if he could materialize outside, it would not be much better than what Ling Xiao was already doing.


    Number One¡¯s words made Number Five¡¯s heart clench as he knew very well what God¡¯s Domain meant ... his gaze on Ling Xiao became solemn ¡ª he did not expect that he would miss that. This man was very good at hiding things; he only exposed things he wanted to expose.


    Meanwhile, the other instructors were all reassured upon hearing that Ling Xiao was so strong. They now pinned their hopes on Ling Xiao, hoping that he would not betray their expectations to help Ling Lan.


    On Ling Xiao¡¯s end, he hade up with a response n in the short amount of time he had. In order to avoid any errors, Ling Xiao¡¯s brain was running in overdrive, calcting the pros and cons of every possible n he could think of, as well as considering the potential issues Ling Lan might have in any scenario and the solutions for them.


    The matter of utmost urgency was for him to suppress the rampaging force of presence. He could not allow it to continue expanding ¡ª once it exceeded the critical point of Ling Lan¡¯s ability to withstand it, Ling Xiao knew what the oue would be. Death by explosion ... How could he let his precious daughter meet that kind of end? He absolutely would not allow it.


    Coming to a decision, Ling Xiao did not hesitate any further. The mild and gentle air of his Domain was swept aside, turning into a force with an edge of sharpness. This was Ling Xiao¡¯s deeply hidden secret ¡ª when he had advanced to Domain, he had activated a dual Domain ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s overbearing force of presence was once again pressured and pushed back by Ling Xiao¡¯s all-epassing honed power. Still, the force of presence born of the Dominance Dao was after all the most unreasonable and unruly of all force of presences ¡ª how could it be willing to lower its head so easily? Additionally, Ling Xiao was afraid that his sharp aura would harm Ling Lan¡¯s roots, so he did not dare to apply his full strength. This also gave Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence some breathing room and so, the two sides ended up in a stalemate.


    Still, this had managed to temporarily stall the crisis of Ling Lan dying by body-explosion. Her force of presence which had been swelling dangerously all this while had finally been halted in ce.


    At this moment, a keen light shed through Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes and he barked sharply, "If not now, when?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes had been closed ever since she had lost control of her force of presence. Ling Xiao had guessed that Ling Lan might have already lost consciousness. He was well aware that it was only by Ling Lan¡¯s own personal efforts that this crisis could be resolved; thus, he needed to wake Ling Lan up and make her aware again to work together with him and bring the berserk force of presence under control.


    This loud cry was infused with Ling Xiao¡¯s massive spiritual power. It instantly broke past the seal of the force of presence to prate deeply into Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual power was undoubtedly formidable ¡ª inside the learning space, Ling Lan could clearly hear his cry. With a shift of her mind, she immediately circted her spiritual power maniacally.


    The massive spiritual power involved made Little Four, who had been standing beside Ling Lan, retreat several steps uncontrobly until he was forced into a corner. The sudden outburst of Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power shocked Little Four greatly ¡ª he tried his hardest to draw closer to Ling Lan, but was unable to do so no matter what he tried.


    Just as Little Four was about to panic, he suddenly jolted and his tense expression eased. He stopped trying to approach Ling Lan, merely standing to one side observing her, ready to act at a moment¡¯s notice.


    Ling Lan¡¯s burst of spiritual power had managed to break past the dominant force of presence¡¯s blockade. Her physical body which had originally beenpletely out of reach was finally responding to her again, albeit weakly. Ling Lan knew the opportunity could not be missed. She shouted, "Little Four, break the seal!"


    Little Four seemed to have received some form of instruction before ¡ª as soon as Ling Lan spoke, he knew exactly what he should do. He immediately unsealed that excess portion of Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power he had previously sealed away. With the addition of this spiritual power, Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power was doubled, bolstering the spiritual power which had broken through the dominant force of presence¡¯s blockade.


    Perhaps due to the intense wrangling between Ling Xiao and the force of presence, the unruly dominant force of presence could not spare any effort to deal with Ling Lan. Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power very quickly broke through even more of the blockade, and she could now sessfully sense her body.


    Ling Lan was ecstatic ¡ª she too knew very well that only she could save herself. Only by mastering her body would she be able to ovee this crisis. Thus, she put her heart and soul into infusing her entire body with her spiritual power.


    Soon, she could feel the torso of her body, and this was followed by her arms and thighs, sensation slowly spreading outwards until it reached her fingers and toes ... as soon as Ling Lan had fully grasped her body, she could feel a bone-deep pain cascading over her.


    "This feeling is so familiar." Her body felt as if there were countless hands digging into her flesh and tearing her apart, exactly as she had once felt in her previous world. Even though the pain was excruciating, Ling Lan smiled.


    The sensation of pain meant that she had truly regained control of her own body.


    Unfortunately, her gruesome expression did not be much better due to her smile. Witnessing Ling Lan¡¯s terrible state, Little Four began crying in fear. "Boo hoo hoo, Boss, are you okay?"


    This familiar scene made Little Four recall Ling Lan¡¯s previous life. He was afraid that Ling Lan would end up as she had in her previous world, her body breaking downpletely under the untenable pressure. Now, he did not have the ability to give Ling Lan a second chance at life again ¡ª back then, it was a total confluence of luck and circumstances which had allowed that, and now, he had nothing.


    Little Four¡¯s terrified look made Ling Lan¡¯s heart ache ¡ª she was just about to console him when she ran out of time. Back in full control of her body, her consciousness was pulled back into her body and so she left the learning space.


    Standing in ce, Ling Lan suddenly spewed a mouthful of blood with a cry and only then did she slowly open her eyes to see Ling Xiao standing before her with a very nervous expression. She blinked.


    Ling Lan returned to her physical body with her powerful spiritual power, which her already battered body found very difficult to bear. Her inner organs were injured once again, resulting in that spurt of fresh blood. However, Ling Lan reacted swiftly, instantly sealing away that excess portion of spiritual power again, stopping her body from continuing to receive damage.


    The intense pain rendered Ling Lan unable to speak for a moment. In order to reassure her dad, she could only blink her eyes at him.


    Seeing this, Ling Xiao knew Ling Lan was back in control of her body, so he shouted, "Compress your force of presence as much as you can, I¡¯ll help."


    At his words, Ling Lan desperately pulled back on her force of presence, attempting to suppress it. However, how could her force of presence give it a rest just like that? It refused Ling Lan¡¯s suppression, instead bing even wilder and more violent. Just when Ling Lan was feeling helpless against it, a powerful surge of sharp intent smashed into her force of presence, causing the zing wild force of presence to instantly dete a little.


    Ling Lan had been a physical skills master to begin with, and coupled with her innate talent Profound Insight, she immediately knew that this was the best chance for suppression. She once again mobilized her spiritual power, and borrowing Ling Xiao¡¯s power, she began topress her force of presence ...


    Ling Lan alone, relying solely on her own strength, was not at all up to the task of fighting against her vtile force of presence. But things were different now ... Ling Xiao¡¯s strength was frightening ¡ª if he had not been afraid of harming Ling Lan, the domineering force of presence would have long been suppressed by him. Now, as Ling Lan slowlypressed her force of presence, Ling Xiao¡¯s suppression over the dominant force of presence also grew increasingly stronger. In the end, all of the force of presence was sessfully pressed back into Ling Lan¡¯s body.


    But they had only gotten to the most critical point. The inherent attribute of Ling Lan¡¯s body waspletely opposite to that of the roused force of presence. This eliminated the possibility of a natural fusion ¡ª the only hope for the two to coexist harmoniously was via the application of brute force ...


    In contrast to Ling Lan¡¯s bewilderment, the worldly Ling Xiao was well aware of this point. He also knew that although this moment was a crisis for Ling Lan, it was also a pivotal turning point for her. As long as she grabbed this chance properly, her problem could be fully resolved.


    He was unwilling for this chance to slip by, so he yelled loudly, "Lan-er, use your spiritual power to beat your force of presence into submission!" Thatrge reserve of spiritual power Ling Lan had brought along with her when she returned previously had given Ling Xiao a glimpse of sess!


    With Ling Xiao¡¯s guidance, Ling Lan now knew what she should do. She instantly unleashed her spiritual power ¡ª now that she had a purpose, without any hesitation, she directed all of her spiritual power at that unruly and rebellious force of presence within her body that was still trying to wrest free of her control.


    "Spiritual charge! Spiritual charge! Spiritual charge! ..."


    In order tobat the raging force of presence in her body, Ling Lan used multiple spiritual charges to attack it, trying to subdue it a little.


    Sure enough, after all these blows, the vtile force of presence had be much quieter. However, Ling Lan felt even more threatened than before in her heart ¡ª it was as if the force of presence was just lying in wait to begin its next onught.


    Without question, Ling Lan¡¯s intuition was very strong. After carrying out multiple spiritual charges, when she could no longer push on due to the great drain on her spiritual power, the force of presence found its chance to counterattack. Taking advantage of this instant, the force of presence surged up violently and began to throw itself around to ravage Ling Lan¡¯s body, causing the wounds on her body to split open once more, her blood pouring out like a river.


    "Godamm*t!" Ling Lan¡¯s terrible condition made Ling Xiao livid. His powerful spiritual power once again enveloped Ling Lan.


    "Lan-er, rx your mind!" Ling Xiao¡¯s words prompted Ling Lan and she obediently rxed her spiritual power, and then she could feel a powerful surge of spiritual power merging with hers.


    "Spiritual fusion!" Only someone from the Divine Command Sect could do this. Ling Xiao and Ling Lan were all from the Divine Command Sect, so their spiritual power could fuse together.


    After Ling Lan received the reinforcement of Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual power, she immediately began counterattacking wildly, pushing her force of presence to one area. As shepressed it more and more, the energy of her force of presence became ever more condensed. In the end, it was actuallypressed into countless small balls, distributed in various parts of her body.


    Ling Lan knew sess was at hand ¡ª as long as she put in just a bit more effort, she would be able topletely master this dominant force of presence. Sensing Ling Lan¡¯s hopeful feelings, Ling Xiao once again strengthened the pressure of his spiritual power.


    "Poof, poof, poof, poof ..." Ling Lan heard countless sounds like this ring out all around her body. After that, she felt a lightness spread through her body, suffusing it with energy, and the initially tearing pain also began to ease. She naturally began to circte her Qi and go through her Qi exercises, beginning the process of treating her ravaged body.


    Ling Xiao saw Ling Lan close her eyes once more, and all traces of the initially rampaging force of presence disappeared from Ling Lan¡¯s body. Still concerned, Ling Xiao used his spiritual power to check once more, and when he saw that Ling Lan was only fortifying her realm and treating her wounds, he instantly let out a sigh of relief.


    Originally, Ling Xiao was nning to wait for Ling Lan to wake up, but it wasn¡¯t too long before themunicator on his wrist began to vibrate. Ling Xiao looked down and immediately frowned; he knew he could no longer continue waiting. He knew that if he did not take Lan Luofeng away from that teahouse where they were supposed to meet at soon, someone might be suspicious. His secret guards had sent him news that there were already many people eyeing the teahouse, just waiting for a chance to enter and investigate.


    Ling Xiao nced silently at Ling Lan for a moment, and only after that did he open the doors of thebat room and walk out, closing the doors again behind him. As long as there was someone in thebat room, it would not be able to be opened from the outside. Hence, Ling Xiao was not at all worried for Ling Lan¡¯s safety.


    Just like this, Ling Xiao disappeared from the amodation area. Not muchter, the very popr figure Ling Xiao led Lan Luofeng away from the teahouse to return to their living quarters ...


    Lan Luofeng was extremely angry at Ling Xiao¡¯s failure to bring Ling Lan back. She had sat around idly for half a day waiting and in the end, she still had not been able to catch sight of Ling Lan. If she had not been afraid of exposing her daughter, she definitely would have blown her top right then and there ...


    After they returned to their residence, Lan Luofeng began interrogating Ling Xiao on the reason why their daughter had note. Ling Xiao was afraid that Lan Luofeng would worry, so he casually said that he had been testing Ling Lan¡¯s strength by sparring with Ling Lan in abat room. Then, under his pressuring, Ling Lan had identally advanced levels. In order not to affect Ling Lan¡¯s advancement, he had locked Ling Lan in thebat room, which was why he could not bring Ling Lan to meet her at the teahouse.


    When Lan Luofeng heard this, she was instantly enraged. Alright, so the one who had prevented mother and daughter from meeting was this wicked man before her eyes ... also, her child was a lovely daughter and not a tough son. Was great strength so necessary?!


    In short, the infuriated Lan Luofeng pounced on Ling Xiao and threw a flurry of wild punches and kicks at him. Ling Xiao was afraid that he would hurt Lan Luofeng by ident, so he did not dare to use his internal energy to defend himself. And so, General Ling Xiao, who had not been injured for a long time, was finally injured.


    The next day, when General Ling Xiao was attending an event, the corners of his lips would twitch subtly every time he moved. Under the dashing and majestic general¡¯s uniform he was wearing, countless bruises were hidden, too ghastly to look at ...T/C: Hmm, so we finally get in-text proof that Ling Xiao is actually better than Ling Lan at the whole low-key thing. :p

 Chapter 446 Her Little Friends ...

    Ling Lan opened her eyes to find thebat roompletely dark, and her father Ling Xiao had already long disappeared.


    ncing at the time on hermunicator, Ling Lan found that it was already 1 a.m. of the next day. She had not expected to have used almost a full 12 hours immersed in her Qi exercises.


    Ling Lan immediately used her spiritual power to examine her body and found that even though she had used a rather long time, the effects were substantial. The countless horrifying wounds previously littering her body were nowpletely healed. The scabs over some of the wounds were already beginning to peel off ¡ª the speed of this recovery was at least 20% better than conventional healing agents.


    Joy gripped Ling Lan¡¯s heart ¡ª this would undoubtedly save her the step of going to Li Shiyu for medical agents. Once she visited Li Shiyu, her whole team would know about her injuries, and Ling Lan did not want to see her team members¡¯ worried faces.


    Just as she was rejoicing, a bloody and rancid smell invaded Ling Lan¡¯s nostrils. She looked down and saw that her white dux uniform had already turned dark crimson-ck from all the blood, and the rank smell was wafting off her clothes. Ling Lan¡¯s brow wrinkled in revulsion. Not in the mood to continue staying here, she immediately opened thebat room¡¯s doors and departed.


    At this moment, Ling Lan only wanted to return to her living quarters and take a good shower so she could be clean again.


    To avoid others from noticing her strange condition, Ling Lan used her force of presence to envelop the thick scent of blood wafting off her, keeping it from spreading. Then, she swiftly slipped past the guards and staff members on duty, quickly making her way to the amodation area assigned to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Right when she was about to reach her room, however, Ling Lan¡¯s footstep faltered. Her gaze flickered and the corners of her lips tilted up. She took a deep breath, pushed down the emotion that had risen up in her, and only then did she walk forwards with steady steps. Turning the corner, she saw a group of people, either sitting, squatting, or standing, gathered at her door. Ling Lan could clearly see the anxiety and worry on all of their faces.


    These were her little friends ¡ª constantly concerned about her! Ling Lan¡¯s heart was filled to the brim with warmth, and her eyes turned red beyond her control. Still, the strong Ling Lan very quickly calmed herself down again, bing that cool and collected, imprable Boss Lan in their eyes once more.


    Li Lanfeng and Qi Long turned their heads almost simultaneously. Li Lanfeng, because of his extraordinary spiritual power allowing him to sense a change from a greater distance, and Qi Long, because of his Animal Instinct telling him at soonest notice that something was there.


    They turned and saw Ling Lan standing in the distance looking at them and perked up in joy. However, they soon noticed Ling Lan¡¯s outfit which was drenched in blood, and their expressions changed drastically. Qi Long was further unable to stop his powerful force of presence from ring. His heart was unbelievably anguished ¡ª who the hell had hurt his boss? He dearly wished he could get his hands on them and tear them apart. The livid Qi Long did not consider this: before an opponent that had managed to harm the formidable Boss Lan, how could he match up?


    Qi Long¡¯s shift in demeanour alerted the others. They all looked at Qi Long, and when they saw Qi Long staring off somewhere with an anguished expression, they were startled and quickly turned to follow his line of sight. When they then saw Ling Lan standing there in her bloody clothes, all their faces paled.


    Before they could cry out, Ling Lan had instantlye up to Qi Long¡¯s side. She pressed down on Qi Long¡¯s shoulder lightly with her right hand and said softly, "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m fine."


    Ling Lan¡¯s calm tone eased the tension in Qi Long¡¯s heart, and the oppressive aura around him dissipated.


    Li Lanfeng did not believe Ling Lan¡¯s words at all ¡ª for his white uniform to be so red, how much blood exactly had Ling Lan bled? How could he really be fine? He reached out a hand to grab hold of Ling Lan as she moved to walk past him and said, "This ... what in the world has happened?"


    Ling Lan nced at her hand sped in Li Lanfeng¡¯s, and her heart warmed upon seeing the unconcealed care and concern in his eyes. She squeezed his hand in reassurance and said, "Some minor issue came up as I was going through a breakthrough. It¡¯s resolved now."


    Everyone gaped at Ling Lan¡¯s words, and Qi Long said excitedly, "Boss, you¡¯ve had another breakthrough?" Qi Long knew that his boss had already sessfully advanced to Domain, but he had heard that it was still unstable. Was Boss saying that his Domain was stable now?


    Ling Lan knew what Qi Long was asking, and she found that he was right to think what he was when she stopped to think about it, so she nodded at him. This good news was greeted by irrepressible cheers from everyone there. The stronger Ling Lan was, the prouder they were, because Ling Lan was their boss!


    Themotion finally drew the attention of a staff on duty outside. He came over and shouted at them, "It¡¯s already sote, what are you all making so much noise for?" He saw so many people standing together and was instantly nervous. "What are you all nning to do? Why are you all not resting at thiste hour?"


    Han Jijyun stepped out from the crowd and replied, "We¡¯re only studying tactics. We¡¯ll be going back to rest soon."


    With that, the staff member rxed, and then he urged everyone to go back to their own rooms as soon as possible. Ling Lan told the others that they could discuss things further tomorrow via her spiritual power and only then did everyone disperse. Ling Lan had already slipped into her room right before the staff member had approached them.


    She had no intention of letting the staff member notice her strange condition. Although she could probably exin it away, it was always better to be cautious and not take unnecessary risks. Ling Lan did not wish for word about this to spread.


    The next day, everyone came to Ling Lan¡¯s room, and only after hearing an abridged version of events from Ling Lan were they finally fully reassured. After that, they all charged towards thepetition hall. Today, the physical skillspetition would continue, and some of the other specializationpetitions would also be starting, such as the mecha repair and modificationpetition, the military doctor first-aidpetition, and the starship navigationpetition ...


    Eachpetition attracted countless spectators. Meanwhile, the Lingtian Battle n would be splitting up on this day, because of the fights taking ce today; four of the ten people in the battle n would bepeting at the same time.


    Besides Qi Long who would be resuming his physical skillspetition, Chang Xinyuan would be participating in the repair and modificationpetition, Li Shiyu would be participating in the military doctor first-aidpetition, and Han Jijyun would be participating in the starship navigationpetition.


    Although the repair and modificationpetition was called ¡¯repair and modification¡¯, the main thing being tested in thepetition was still repair and maintenance, rather than modification ability. Thepetition required contestants to identify the source of a mecha¡¯s malfunction as quickly as they could,e up with a repair n, and then use the shortest amount of time possible to fix the mecha. Of course, on top of the basic repairs, if a contestant could make appropriate modifications to improve the mecha¡¯s performance and functionality, their score would be significantly boosted.


    There were a total of three people from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy participating in thispetition. Aside from Chang Xinyuan, one of the other two contestants was a mecha engineer from the Leiting Mecha n, while the other was a mecha engineer from Tianji. However, in Ling Lan¡¯s opinion, among the three, Chang Xinyuan was the strongest and the most likely to be champion. A mecha engineer who could modify an ace mecha ... Ling Lan just could not imagine Chang Xinyuan losing.


    For the military doctor first-aidpetition, Li Shiyu was their representative. As military doctors in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy could not join any faction, for the past few tournaments, thispetition had always been left without a representative from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, considered one of the abandoned events. This time, however, Li Shiyu from Ling Lan¡¯s team was mercilessly flung out to represent the school in this event.


    When Li Shiyu found out about this, oh how he resented it! Just imagine ¡ª he, a dux of the Military Medical Research specialization, actually being relegated to participate in this first-aidpetition which involved very little skill ... it was really such a disgrace to him. However, under Ling Lan¡¯s high-pressure manoeuvring, Li Shiyu could only bite his little handkerchief with teary eyes and mournfully resign himself to his fate.


    Having decided to participate in thispetition, Li Shiyu naturally could not let the first ce fall to anyone else. If he lost, wouldn¡¯t that be an even greater loss of face for him as a dux?


    Meanwhile, the starship navigationpetition Han Jijyun was participating in was the one with the most uncertain chances of winning. Moreover, their little sister Luo Chao would also be participating in this event under the banner of the First Co-ed Military Academy. In this event, the clever Han Jijyun did not think that he would be able to match Luo Chao. That shy girl who had awakened a navigator¡¯s talent could be said to be heaven-blessed with regards to this event.


    Of the remaining six people of Ling Lan¡¯s battle n, Ling Lan was nning to go support Qi Long at thebat arena. Li Lanfeng was somewhat reluctant to part from Ling Lan, but he also wanted to go cheer for his brother. He was very conflicted, but in the end, he still decided to go to Li Shiyu¡¯s side ... after some thought, Zhao Jun went to Chang Xinyuan¡¯s event. A mecha engineer who could modify an ace mecha ¡ª no matter what, he needed to score some affinity points with the other.


    Meanwhile, Xie Yi, Lin Zhong-qing, and Luo Lang decided to go support Han Jijyun, though of course Luo Lang was more likely to be supporting his sister. As for Xie Yi ... he might be going for Luo Lang¡¯s sister¡¯s sake, or perhaps for Luo Lang¡¯s sake? Only Lin Zhong-qing was truly there to support Han Jijyun whole-heartedly. He still remembered that Han Jijyun had been a great help in bringing him on board to follow Boss. He was grateful for that, so within the battle n, he had the best rtionship with Han Jijyun.º¬ÀáÒ§×ÅСÊÖ¾î: This is in reference to the stereotype of how traditional Chinese maidens react when they feel aggrieved.T/C: Lololol, the author reveals her fujoshi side once again. It¡¯s cool, it¡¯s cool, I ship this too. :p

 Chapter 447 Not That Complicated!

    The second day of the Grand Mecha Tournament passed without any great fanfare. In the physical skillspetition, Qi Long encountered a master in the morning who was from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. The other¡¯s physical skills were at the same realm as his ¡ª peak of middle-stage Qi-Jin.


    This match was obviously going to be a battle of endurance. However, Ling Lan was not worried ¡ª the years of training under her had given Qi Long stamina several times greater than that of the average person¡¯s. It could be said that Qi Long was the most unafraid of a battle of endurance.


    However, the final oue was somewhat beyond Ling Lan¡¯s expectations. Perhaps due to his boss personally being there to watch him fight, Qi Long seemed like he had been hit up with a shot of adrenaline ¡ª his originalbat style carried an extra edge of fervency. On the field, Qi Long came out of the gate aggressive, charging at the other with a wild barrage of attacks, taking the opponent by surprise and pushing the other into a passive position.


    Qi Long¡¯s attacks were too ferocious and unreasonable ¡ª as the opponent struggled to handle them, he identally exposed an opening. Qi Long¡¯s awakened innate talent was one with the strongest instinctual sense, Animal Instinct. He instantly leapt on the opening, immediately KO-ing the opponent and clinching the victory.


    This match from start to finish took very little time. This left the audience, who had been expecting a close fight extending several hundred or even several thousand moves before the oue would be determined,pletely blindsided. Even the referee responsible for their arena did note back to himself in time to announce the oue after Qi Long sessfully KO-ed his opponent. In the end, after running out of patience, Qi Long had to call out to the referee to shake him out of his stupor.


    Qi Long sessfully moved on to the third round, and the afternoon ushered in a new round of knockout fights. This time, his opponent was a little weaker than him. Nevertheless, Qi Long did not lower his guard just because the opponent was weaker. He rallied his focus and went all out from the very start of the match, not giving his opponent any chance at all. In the end, he defeated his opponent without any surprises and advanced to the fourth round.


    Done with his fights for the day, Qi Long walked off the arena stage to see Ling Lan nod at him. He released a great sigh of relief ¡ª this meant that his boss was still satisfied with his performance today. He was truly afraid that if Boss was the least bit displeased, he may be dragged off for another round of extreme training ... just thinking about that terrifying whatchamacallit, Qi Long could not help but shudder.


    "Congrattions on entering the top 200 of physicalbat!" Ling Lan watched as Qi Long walked over to her side, and although she was rather surprised at his trembling, seeing how energetic he was, Ling Lan decided to ignore it and just congratte him.


    Hearing this, Qi Long rubbed the short hair on his head sheepishly and shed a silly grin.


    Ling Lan said nothing else on this topic, instead bringing up the situation of the other members contesting today. The first one she mentioned was Qi Long¡¯s good bromance partner, Han Jijyun. "Han Jijyun has also passed the preliminaries and has entered the top 50 name list. However, his cing is rather far back, 42 or 43 I think, much worse than how Luo Chao did. Luo Chao¡¯s preliminary results ced her in third, so she¡¯s in the top three ..."


    "Wha ¡ª Luo Chao¡¯s that strong? Jijyun actually lost to her?" asked Qi Long in shock.


    "Don¡¯t look down on Luo Chao. Her innate talent was born to do this. When encountering problems in space, she is able to make the best decision instinctively, while Jijyun needs to rely fully on his brain to analyse and calcte the best option. In terms of speed, he¡¯ll of course be no match for Luo Chao," exined Ling Lan. "Also, I don¡¯t think girls are inherently any weaker than boys. Sometimes, girls are even stronger!" As Ling Lan said this, she stared pointedly at Qi Long.


    This stare made Qi Long¡¯s heart clench in fright. He began to reflect ¡ª had he ever said something wrong sometime, somewhere, which had given his boss the mistaken impression that he looked down on girls?


    After thinking for a good long time, Qi Long still could not figure out when he had made such a mistake. Just as he was flustered and unsure what to do, a spark of light coursed through his brain ...


    Could it be that Boss had be angry because he had made light of little sister Luo Chao earlier? Qi Long felt instantly enlightened. Luo Chao was a childhood friend of theirs, and ever since their time at the scout academy, there was already something brewing between Boss and Luo Chao.


    Qi Long believed he had found the answer ¡ª he silently reminded himself that he needed to be nicer to Luo Chao from now on, so that when she became their sister-inw in the future, she would note after them to settle old ounts. At that time, if she whispered rumours to Boss in bed and got Boss to personally teach them a lesson, they would definitely meet a tragic end.


    Ling Lan did not know that Qi Long was actually building a ship for her and Luo Chao in his head right then, his mind patching ideas together and making such random conclusions that god knows where it was veering off to. She saw Qi Long bowing his head without saying a word and assumed that he was concerned for his sworn brother Han Jijyun, so she did not continue this thread of conversation. Instead, she began speaking of the others. "Just now, Li Lanfeng has just sent news that thepetition on Li Shiyu¡¯s side has ended. The first ce of the first-aidpetition is already officially ours, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s."


    At this point, Ling Lan¡¯s lips could not help but quirk up in a small smile. She had had full confidence in Li Shiyu, but she really had not expected that the other would win first ce this easily. ording to Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu had ended thepetition in just one round. His first-aid n and the speed with which he executed it had astounded all the referees. "Five different afflictions of different degrees on different patients, and he only used three minutes to finish treating everyone. On top of that, the methods he chose to use were deemed as the most optimal by all the referees."


    "Five people? Three minutes? Holy sh*t, was he injected with stimnts?" Qi Long was bbergasted. He knew that Li Shiyu¡¯s medical skills were impressive, but he had not expected that they were this impressive. The gold standard of Federation military first aid was one person in five minutes, and Li Shiyu actually managed to treat all five people in less than the time it usually took to treat one.


    "It¡¯s because Li Shiyu streamlined the first aid steps to their limits. It was also because of this that the referees decided there was no point in continuing on with thepetition." When Ling Lan thought about how such an amazing person had been hoodwinked by her into her battle n, she could not help but preen.


    Qi Long was also thankful that his battle n had such an amazing doctor ¡ª in future, their lives would undoubtedly be much safer.


    Ling Lan then moved on to speak about Chang Xinyuan. "Chang Xinyuan has also advanced to the next round in his event. ording to Zhao Jun, Chang Xinyuan may be hiding part of his skills. His score right now is roughly in the middle of the pack."


    "Old Chang, that fellow ... he¡¯s used to being cautious. It¡¯s probably a leftover effect from Qiao Ting¡¯s oppression. He really dislikes being in the limelight; it makes him feel unsafe." Qi Long and Chang Xinyuan were already on very good terms ¡ª because Chang Xinyuan was older than Qi Long by several years, Qi Long was used to calling him ¡¯Old Chang¡¯.


    "Hmm, this is a problem. This is also why I wanted Chang Xinyuan to join thispetition. He needs to ovee this issue, or else he won¡¯t be able to be strong." Ling Lan was well aware of Chang Xinyuan¡¯s problem as well, and she now shared her reasons for making him join thepetition with Qi Long.


    "He will definitely be able to do it." Qi Long had faith in Chang Xinyuan.


    "Hopefully," replied Ling Lan. She then lifted her head and looked around. There were still matches ongoing, so she asked, "Qi Long, do you still want to watch any of the fights?" Since Qi Long¡¯s matches were over, Ling Lan was nning to return to the amodation area. Even though her force of presence problem had been resolved, she still needed to continue working hard; only by doing so would she be able to freely circte and use the force of presence she had brought into submission.


    "Nah. There are still 200 people to go! Who knows who my opponents will be? I might as well go back to rest and gather my strength to prepare for tomorrow¡¯s fights," said Qi Long without any fuss. He did not want to waste time here.


    "Very well then. Let¡¯s go!" Ling Lan and Qi Long left thebat hall. On the way back, Qi Long finally mustered up the courage to ask something that had been bothering him deep inside for a long time. "Boss, why are you not participating in any solo events at all in this tournament, only joining for the team battle? You should know that, whether it is physical skills or mechabat, no one can match you, not even Qiao Ting." Qi Long¡¯s confidence in Ling Lan was a full hundred percent. He did not believe that there was any cadet who could rival his boss.


    Ling Lan cast a cold nce at Qi Long, instantly sending the courage Qi Long had just scrounged up packing.


    Frankly, Ling Lan¡¯s nce had just been a curious nce with no special meaning. Qi Long was just jumpy because he had been subjected to too much of Ling Lan¡¯s special brand of pressure.


    After thinking it over, Ling Lan said, "Physical skills ... with you, it¡¯s enough! For mecha, Qiao Ting will take champion with no problems, and it¡¯s good to let Zhao Jun out to experience the fighting styles of high-level experts ..." In order to maintain her glorious image as boss, she could only continue to feign high-mindedness and pretend her decisions were purely from a selfless standpoint.


    "Most importantly, I¡¯m setting my targets on the final battle royal, and when everyone thinks Qiao Ting is the main person to watch out for ..." Here, Ling Lan stopped talking, closing her mouth. But Qi Long could already see the deeper meaning behind Ling Lan¡¯s words. He was instantly thrumming with excitement. So that¡¯s how it was! Boss was hiding behind everyone for the sake of that final grand massacre! As expected of his boss ¡ª from the very start, his boss must have already nned things this way.


    In the following days, some of thepetitions ended, while others started. The widely-anticipated mechabat event also kicked off on the seventh day of the Grand Mecha Tournament. Like the physicalbatpetition, each academy had five entry slots. For the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, aside from Qiao Ting, the Lingtian Battle n sent out Zhao Jun. This decision did not surprise the other participating students, because on the surface, the strongest in terms of mechabat in the Lingtian Mecha n was Zhao Jun.


    Tianji and Wuji each sent out their regimentmanders, and Ling Lan gave the final entry slot to Zhang Jing-an. After all, he was from the Central Scout Academy, and since Zhang Jing-an¡¯s strength was not bad, Ling Lan could openly open this backdoor for him.


    Other than the starship navigationpetition, Han Jijyun also participated in the tactical nningpetition. Besides him, Li Lanfeng had also entered thepetition. Both of them were sessfully shortlisted into the top 50 name list ¡ª Han Jijyun was in the top 10, while Li Lanfeng was somewhere in the 30s, which rather surprised Ling Lan. Li Lanfeng was born to do this ¡ª in contrast, Han Jijyun was a little predisposed to using more forthright ns when strategizing, often overlooking more subtle and sneakier schemes ...


    Afterwards, Ling Lan asked Li Lanfeng why the results had turned out as they had, and Li Lanfeng had only smiled without saying anything ... in the end, under the pressure of Ling Lan¡¯s prating gaze, Li Lanfeng said helplessly, "I¡¯m just following in your footsteps. In the final fight, when all their attention is on Han Jijyun ..."


    When she heard this, Ling Lan could only scratch her nose, speechless. Her reasons for not participating in the otherpetitions were definitely not asplicated as Li Lanfeng made them out to be. It¡¯s just her force of presence acting up, alright? She just needed to focus on internal cultivation for a while, okay? Of course, she did not deny she had factored that point into her considerations, but that was something she had only thought of after she knew that she could not afford to participate in any individual events.´µ¸öÕíÍ··ç: Literally, ¡¯blow a pillow wind¡¯; meaning pretty much as tranted within the text. A reference to how it is said that people are more open to suggestion after intercourse ...

 Chapter 448 Single Mecha Combat!

    As time went by, the results of the variouspetitions were revealed.


    Other than the early procurement of first ce in the first aid event, the nextpetition to end was the starship navigation event Han Jijyun was participating in. Although Han Jijyun¡¯s final ranking was only 27th ce, it was still a significant improvement from his 43rd cing at the start of thepetition.


    As one of the only two second-year students participating in the starship navigationpetition, Han Jijyun¡¯s results were undoubtedly something that one could be proud of and was worthy of praise. However, it just so happened that there was Luo Chao too in the tournament this year. Everyone heaped their praises on this little girl instead because, as a second-year student herself, Luo Chao¡¯s performance was breath-taking in the finals. If she had not rxed in that final critical moment, which had allowed the contestant right behind her to overtake her starship at thest second, perhaps she would have made history as the first second-year to be champion. In the end, she could only regretfully be second ce.


    However, Luo Chao was not too disappointed. She hade to participate in the tournament primarily because she wanted Boss Lan to see how much she had grown. Of course, she still was not at the peak perfection of her growth yet, but she believed that as long as she continued to work hard, there would be a day when she would be the most excellent ship captain of the Federation. Then, she would be able to navigate a ship for Boss Lan and her big brothers and keep them safe.


    The other events also ended one after another. In physical skillsbat, Qi Long was stopped at the top 8, but he gained much from his participation. The stubborn bottleneck frustrating him all this while had finally loosened ¡ª as long as he went back and put some effort into it, he should be able to break through his current realm and enter the early stages of advanced level Qi-Jin.


    Meanwhile, of the other four participants with him, one ended in the top 100, one in the top 50, one in the top 16, and thest one actually ended up in the top 4. Unfortunately, in the finals, he encountered a sixth-year top-ss master whose physical skills were already at a very high peak and could only ept his defeat with regret. That top-ss master finally nabbed first ce with no trouble at all.


    Still, the collective score of the five contestants was considerable. In total, their score ced them in third ce among all the military academies for physical skills. As such, Ling Lan was not disappointed by these results.


    After several rounds ofpetition, Chang Xinyuan was slowly breaking free of his mental block ¡ª after every round, his ranking would shift a little forwardspared to before. By the time the final round came, he had sessfully created an advanced mecha with an elegant outer form based off extremely reasonable design principles. After deliberation, the referee team dered Chang Xinyuan as the champion of thepetition, leaving Chang Xinyuan weeping tears of joy.


    Close after that was the tactical nningpetition. Han Jijyun managed a turnaround, his final results cing him in the top 3 in third ce. The first and second ce went to the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy respectively. Han Jijyun did not feel at all disgraced in losing to the contestants from these two esteemed academies.


    That aside, Li Lanfeng¡¯s final ranking was 13th ce. This ranking would his academy a pretty decent amount of points, and would also lead the other academies to underestimate him at the same time. With that, he was extremely satisfied at achieving what he wanted.


    During this time, Ling Lan had already secretly met up with Lan Luofeng under Ling Xiao¡¯s lead. She had felt Lan Luofeng¡¯s almost overflowing maternal love from her endless nagging concern ¡ª even as Ling Lan was touched, she surreptitiously sent a pleading look to her dad for help ... Boo hoo hoo, one year away from mum and she had be even naggier than before ...


    Finally, Ling Lan could feel the spirit of rebellion rearing up within her. Her rebellious phase hade sote though ... she was almost 40 now if she added up both her lifetimes. At this thought, Ling Lan was truly chagrined ¡ª she really did not live up to her mental age.


    She knew that Ling Xiao would only leave after the battle royal, so Ling Lan repeatedly reassured Lan Luofeng that she would definitely make time toe see her for the duration of the Grand Mecha Tournament; only then did she manage to convince Lan Luofeng to let go. When Ling Lan left, she spoke to her dad, hinting for him to work harder to get her mum pregnant earlier, so that she could be free ...


    Immediately after throwing out these hints, Ling Lan brushed her hands of the matter and ran away without taking any responsibility, leaving behind a gobsmacked Ling Xiao. His cheeks and the tips of his ears quickly flushed red ¡ª for the first time, he felt embarrassed in front of his daughter.


    Unfortunately ... Ling Xiao sighed deeply, but his expression soon eased out again. He had no more regrets in this life since he had this daughter Ling Lan.


    By the seventh day of the grand tournament, the misceneous specializationpetitions were all consecutivelying to an end. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy was pretty much dominating the rankings. After taking everything into ount, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s total score put it in first ce for the moment. However, The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, Third Men¡¯s Military Academy, and First Co-ed Military Academy were close behind it. The total points of all four academies were extremely close, merely a few points separating them from each other ...


    All eyes were on the mechabat event which was about to officially begin. If any of the other three academies could be the final victor of the mechabat event, they would be able to break the current status quo and be the front-runner in one fell swoop.


    Having said that, there is a need to exin the point distribution of the various events in the Grand Mecha Tournament. First off, on the final day of the tournament, the most important battle royal will ount for half of the overall points. In other words, even if a school was at the bottom of the barrel in terms of points before the battle royal, as long as they became the final victor in the battle royal, they would still be able to achieve an upset and win the whole tournament. Simrly, even if a school was at the head of the rankings with their previous score, if they did not do well in the final battle royal, they would also be plummet from the clouds into the mud below.


    As for the remaining half of the points, the mechabat event took up another half of this half. This was also why there was so much attention on the mechabat tournament. And this huge share of points was again split into two parts ¡ª single mechabat and group mechabat (five-person teams).


    The first to be held was single mechabat. Both the mechabat events, single and group, would be using real mecha. This added a very real element of danger, and blood was certain to be shed at every tournament during the mechabat events and the final battle royal. There had even been one year when the blood had flowed like a river, the wings of many outstanding talents broken right here in the tournament.


    Some had suggested for the tournament to use virtual mecha instead, but the military had rejected the proposals in the end. The military felt that if a contestant could not even protect themselves in this type ofbatpetition intended for training purposes, then they certainly would not be able to survive in a cruel battlefield. As such, those cadets might as well just wash out of the military system. (The Grand Mecha Tournament typically resulted in severe injuries or disabilities ¡ª though there had of course been deaths as well, those were much rarer. After all, everyone knew to hold back a little in the tournament. Moreover, the Federation¡¯s greatest medical team would be on standby throughout the entire tournament. If any idents urred, the team would also be able to mobilise as quickly as possible to rescue the wounded.)


    The high-profile ace operator Qiao Ting finally appeared before the public ¡ª not only would he be participating in the single mechabat event, he would also be participating in the group mechabat event. Generally, the fivebatants a military academy would send for the single mechabat event would often also be the five members participating in the groupbat event. After all, these would be the school¡¯s strongest five ... but there were also exceptions. For example, this year, when the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had submitted their registration form, the reception staff had at first thought that he had misread it.


    In thepetition this time, Qiao Ting had two mainpetitors. Namely, Lin Xiao, who was suspected of being an ace operator, from the First Co-ed Military Academy, and Jiang Shaoyu, a confirmed ace operator from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    It should be said that the organizers had arranged things very well. The three ace operators would not meet right from the start. The mechabatpetition was split into 4 blocks, and the three ace operators were in three separate blocks. Only when they entered the top 4 would they have any chance of shing, of course with the premise that they were not unexpectedly eliminated from thepetition earlier on.


    The single mechabat event wouldst for a total of three days. The first two days would be knockout matches among the contestants within the four blocks. The winner of each of the four blocks would then move on to the top 4 and engage in battle on the third day. And after the single mechabat event ended, the group mechabat event would begin, and it would likewise go on for three days.


    Zhao Jun, who had been pushed by Ling Lan into participating in the single mechabat event, had luck which was off the chartspared to the other participants from the First Academy. During the draw, he did not pull any of the three blocks hosting one of the three ace operators. Instead, he pulled the only block filled will just special-ss mecha, which was the block predicted by all of the audience to be the mostpetitive area with the most brutal fighting.


    And it was indeed so. This block did not have an ace hanging over them, so everyone believed that they had a fighting chance to be the winner. This caused everyone in the block to fight to the end, unwilling to back down. Every mecha seemed almost berserk when they fought, and this block was the one which incurred the highest number of injured operators as well as the worst injuries. The emergency medical team on site was thrown into a chaotic rush to handle all the injuries, running themselves ragged to save these gifted talents.


    In this wild massacre, Zhao Jun disyed his prowess, bringing down opponents left and right to finally secure a ce for himself in the finals of this block, and then obtain the one and only non-ace position in the top 4 of the event. This result was met with the envy-jealousy-hate of the other three contestants from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy ¡ª they had just been unlucky, pulling the other three blocks. Without any doubt, when they had encountered the respective ace operators in their blocks, they had lost cleanly.


    After the sessive battles, Lin Xiao of the First Co-ed Military Academy, who had initially been hiding his true abilities, was proven to have indeed already advanced to ace. He entered the final top 4 without any problems, and Qiao Ting and Jiang Shaoyu soon followed him as well, clinching the top 4 slots of their respective blocks.


    On the final day of the single mechabat event, the top 4 contestants arrived punctually at the mechabat field. At this point, they still did not know who their opponent of the day would be. The referee on the field first made them each choose a ball from four balls rolling around quickly within a device. The person who got the same number would be their opponent for the first match. The winners of those two first matches would then move on to the final match to determine the first and second ce, while the losers would fight topete for third and fourth ce.


    The first to step up and choose a ball was Jiang Shaoyu. Qiao Ting heard Zhao Jun take in a deep breath beside him ¡ª although their two mecha ns were rivals in the First Academy, they wererades right now, so Qiao Ting felt that he needed to show some concern. He asked in a low voice, "How are you? Nervous?"


    Zhao Jun licked his lips and said with barely repressed excitement, "No, I¡¯m just thinking ... who¡¯ll be my next opponent?"


    "Is there someone you want to fight?" Qiao Ting had noticed the deeply hidden excitement in Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes. At that moment, he recalled how Zhao Jun had not shown any fear either when the other had fought him back then, so why would he fear another now? Qiao Ting could not help admiring the other, thinking to himself, ¡¯This fellow Zhao Jun is really pretty good.¡¯


    "Yep, that one on the stage," said Zhao Jun without any hesitation whatsoever as he pointed at Jiang Shaoyu.


    "Why him?" asked Qiao Ting, boggled. Compared to Jiang Shaoyu, Lin Xiao looked easier to handle.


    "Because, he attacked Luo Lang before." Zhao Jun¡¯s reply was simple. His gaze narrowed and a tendril of killing intent seeped out. Since the other dared toy a hand on his teammate, then even though he knew he was no match for that guy, he still wanted to leave some mark on him ...The author does not give the actual stage name here, but based on the greatmotion every time Domain is mentioned, I¡¯m guessing that this fellow mentioned here must still be at most in the topmost level of Qi-Jin and not Domain yet, otherwise there would be moremotion from the audience.T/C: Oh dear ... it sounds like the Ling couple are unable to have more children for some reason. Hmm.

 Chapter 449 Admitting Defeat!

    Qiao Ting could sense the rage in Zhao Jun¡¯s heart, and he knew the reason for it. The incident involving Luo Lang before the start of the tournament ... as long as one had the interest, it was easy to find out about it. What Qiao Ting had not expected was that Zhao Jun would take this slight against a teammate to heart so much after only having joined Lingtian for just a short couple of months. Was this another one of Ling Lan¡¯s unknown abilities?


    Qiao Ting nced at Zhao Jun with a troubled gaze, his emotions a ratherplicated mess. He could not tell if he was admiring or jealous of Ling Lan ...


    Right then, Jiang Shaoyu had already chosen one of the balls. Holding onto it, he did not look at it any longer than necessary before turning around to walk back to his original position. He had yet to stop walking when the referee had already called up the second person to draw ¡ª it was Zhao Jun!


    Zhao Jun took a deep breath and stepped forwards. As he brushed by Jiang Shaoyu, he sent a fierce re at the other. Jiang Shaoyu saw Zhao Jun¡¯s hostile gaze and was instantly aggravated. He had not forgotten that this person had been there at the scene when he was at his most humiliated.


    A savage air gripped him by the heart, and Jiang Shaoyu could hardly repress the killing intent that surged up in response ... he clenched his fists so tightly that his fingers almost gouged into the flesh, and the sharp pain helped him to calm down.


    By then, Zhao Jun had already turned his gaze away. With a cold huff, he walked past Jiang Shaoyu toe before the choosing station and picked a ball. Jiang Shaoyu slowly turned his head to stare at Zhao Jun¡¯s back as he walked away and his eyes revealed a brief sh of killing intent.


    He hoped that the ball Zhao Jun had chosen would have the same number as the ball he had chosen. He would be extremely d to fight with the other now, not only because Zhao Jun was the weakest and would ensure him a sure pass, but also because he wanted to deal with this detestable person and collect some of the interest on his debt of humiliation.


    After Zhao Jun had made his choice, the third to pick was Lin Xiao, and the final person was, as everyone expected, Qiao Ting. After the four youths had made their choices, the referee asked them to press down on the power switch of the small balls at the same time.


    As soon as the four boys pressed down, a gash suddenly appeared on the upper part of the ball. A beam of light shot out from each of the balls to form a virtual screen. The four virtual screens were not nk ¡ª they each held a number and the audience could see at a nce what the pairings would be for the semi-final matches.


    Amidst the cries of surpriseing from all around, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s expression was dark. He threw a sullen nce at Zhao Jun who was standing in a row with him and mused moodily that the other was pretty lucky to have escaped.


    Meanwhile, Zhao Jun was also somewhat regretful that his opponent would not be Jiang Shaoyu. He looked at his opponent for this round and sighed mentally. It looked like if he wanted to fight with Jiang Shaoyu, he could only hope that Jiang Shaoyu would lose. This was because his opponent was an old rival that could not be more familiar to him ¡ª¡ª Qiao Ting! He knew very well that he was definitely no match for Qiao Ting.


    That¡¯s right. In the semi-finals, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was confronted right off with an internal sh, both surviving candidates forced to fight each other.


    In contrast to the audience¡¯s surprise and regret over it, the spectating Ling Lan felt that this was an extremely reasonable arrangement. Among the four, Zhao Jun¡¯s strength was clearly one level lower. No matter who was matched with him, the opponent would almost be guaranteed a win. And now, by pitting the strongest against the weakest, and leaving the two otherbatants with roughly equivalent strength to battle things out, no one couldin that they were unlucky ... everything would be determined by true strength ¡ª whoever was stronger would be able to progress further.


    As the number above Zhao Jun¡¯s and Qiao Ting¡¯s balls was the number one, they were of course the first to fight. The four boys went backstage where Qiao Ting and Zhao Jun boarded their mecha before operating their mecha to enter the field.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha was a long-range attack ace mecha. The Federation public was long ustomed to the various forms of mecha ¡ª the moment Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha appeared, passionate cheers rang out across the hall. Everyone knew that Qiao Ting of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had managed to advance to ace in his fourth year, bing the second peerless prodigy to do so after General Ling Xiao, but they did not know which mecha Qiao Ting had chosen to master. And now, the answer was finally revealed before the audience. Although Qiao Ting¡¯s choice was different from the bnced mecha General Ling Xiao had chosen, this did not hinder the adoration and anticipation the people held for him.


    Meanwhile, on the other end, Zhao Jun had also operated his mecha onto the field. When he saw all the cheers going to Qiao Ting, he could only grin helplessly. However, it was also at this moment when he understood even better why Ling Lan had chosen not to participate in the single mechabat event. A fourth-year ace was already enough to send these people so wild ¡ª if the world knew there was another person who had broken General Ling Xiao¡¯s advancement record, achieving the level of ace in his second year, the entire Federation, perhaps even the entire human world, would certainly be shaken to its core ...


    At this thought, Zhao Jun could not hold back a shiver, his heart clenching with fear. In order to prevent the Federation from gaining an extra ultimate weapon, the enemy nations would definitely send countless assassins over to target Ling Lan. And in response, to protect Ling Lan, the Federation would likely have to draft him into the army immediately and put him under protection in hiding. At that time, his team leader would have absolutely no freedom to speak of. Only after he had grown up to be the newest ultimate weapon for the country would he be able to regain his freedom. This was still the best case scenario ¡ª if the team leader never managed to advance to god-ss operator level for his entire life, did that mean that he would be locked up in some base all his life until he died? This was probably not an oue his team leader wanted.


    Zhao Jun was chilled ¡ª he had to keep the knowledge that Ling Lan had already sessfully be an ace deep at the bottom of his heart and never ever reveal it ...


    After receiving confirmation from bothbatants that they were ready, the referee responsible for this match raised the green g in his right hand up high. As soon as he swung the g down, the fight would officially begin.


    Everyone stared at the green g of the referee, waiting for it to swing down. When it finally did and Qiao Ting was just about to charge over to attack, Zhao Jun on the opposite side did something beyond everyone¡¯s expectations. Without hesitation, he lifted both arms of his mecha over his head ...


    Seeing what Zhao Jun had done, the referee¡¯s green g had barely swung down when the red g in his left hand was hastily raised. The referee waved the red g vigorously ¡ª this announced that Zhao Jun¡¯s and Qiao Ting¡¯s fight needed to be suspended.


    It turned out that Zhao Jun¡¯s action was the designated motion in mechabat tournaments which signified surrender. In apetition, if anyone did this action, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the referee would wave a red g to dere a time-out. Next, an inquiry would be held with the mecha operator who had carried out the action to check if they had truly intended to surrender. If not, the operator who had done the action would have points deducted. This point deduction would be very steep, instantly taking off about one-third of the total marks.


    Mechabat was an event where taking down your opponent was the way to win, but sometimes, due to equivalent levels of strength, the battle might end up in a protracted stalemate. If an oue had to be decided within a short period of time, there was little choice except to make it a death match and make bothbatants put their lives on the line. Although the Grand Mecha Tournament¡¯s touted slogan was ¡¯true battle¡¯, it was after all just a domesticpetition. The Federation¡¯s military did not intend for outstanding Federation talent to wither and die here, and so they had set up this point deduction system to determine the final oue in cases such as the one mentioned previously.


    Every mecha would have 100 points at the start of a fight. If the opponent scored an effective hit on you, a corresponding number of points will be deducted from your mecha ... the one whose score drops to zero first would lose. The referee would then end the fight and dere the results of the match.


    Thus, as soon as Zhao Jun pulled this pose, although the referee was rather taken aback, he had still reacted swiftly to put up the red g in his left hand. Seeing the red g signal from the referee, Qiao Ting immediately stopped all motion to attack and waited for the referee to proceed with the following procedures.


    The referee quickly connected to Zhao Jun¡¯smlink, and after receiving confirmation from Zhao Jun that he was indeed admitting defeat, the referee immediately announced the end of the match. Zhao Jun had forfeited, so Qiao Ting would be moving on to the finals without having to fight.


    After returning backstage, Qiao Ting grumpily controlled his mecha to the secured seat the JMC pointed out. He locked his mecha safely into the seat, and only then did he walk out of his cockpit and use thending cable to descend to the ground.


    On the other side, Zhao Jun was doing the same. Qiao Ting removed his safety helmet and stood frowning as he waited for Zhao Jun to approach him. When Zhao Jun finally came up to his side, Qiao Ting asked with a dark expression, "Why didn¡¯t you fight?" Even though he had full confidence in himself, winning without a fight rubbed Qiao Ting the wrong way ¡ª he felt patronized.


    Zhao Jun heard the muted resentment in Qiao Ting¡¯s voice and secretly rolled his eyes. Who would have expected the outwardly dominant and unreasonable Qiao Ting to be so just and forthright internally? Even winning without having to fight made him feel ufortable ... Zhao Jun could not help but think of his own team leader and his style of only focusing on the results without caring too much about the process. Yep, his boss would probably go further ¡ª following him was truly the right choice.


    At this moment, Zhao Jun admired his good friend¡¯s eye even more for being so discerning in selecting a team leader. Oblivious to the fact that Li Lanfeng had already known Ling Lan from a long while back, Zhao Jun was once againpletely fooled by Li Lanfeng, thinking that the other had asked him to join Lingtian purely for his own benefit ... even though that was certainly the truth, it also could not be denied that Li Lanfeng did have some selfish motives as well in doing so. He wanted to increase the strength of his rabbit¡¯s battle n. It just so happened that his arrangement benefitted both sides


    Qiao Ting¡¯s aggressive gaze let Zhao Jun know that it was impossible not to answer. Helplessly, he replied, "Since I know I can¡¯t beat you, why should I reveal my trump cards for others to see?" Zhao Jun shrugged. He looked towards Jiang Shaoyu and Lin Xiao, who were currently heading into the tunnel leading to the field, and continued, "Thing is, I want to keep a small surprise for one of those two. So I don¡¯t want to reveal too much."


    "Jiang Shaoyu?" Zhao Jun¡¯s exnation dispersed Qiao Ting¡¯s dissatisfaction. He recalled what Zhao Jun had said to him previously, and was enlightened.


    "Yeah. Now, I really wish the First Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s Lin Xiao will work a little harder and defeat Jiang Shaoyu so that I¡¯ll have a chance to fight him." Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes narrowed into slits. He was filled with fighting spirit to face Jiang Shaoyu. Perhaps he too wanted to tell his teammates that he was already one of them, so he could not bear to see a teammate of his being insulted ...


    Just then, themunicator on Zhao Jun¡¯s wrist began vibrating violently. He lifted it to see and instantly began chuckling. It was a message from Li Lanfeng.


    "Did somethinge up?" asked Qiao Ting.


    "Yes. The regimentmander is looking for me. Qiao Ting, I¡¯ll be heading off first." Outside, Zhao Jun had always called Ling Lan ¡¯regimentmander¡¯.

 Chapter 450 Lin Xiao vs Jiang Shaoyu

    After saying goodbye to Qiao Ting, Zhao Jun hurriedly made his way to the backstage conveyor belt, which would bring him directly to the exit. As soon as Zhao Jun arrived outside, he found Li Lanfeng waiting for him, seeminglypletely at ease.


    "Lanfeng, why is the team leader looking for me? Why did he ask me toe out from backstage? I was thinking to finish watching Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s fight." Before Li Lanfeng could speak, Zhao Jun had already blurted all the questions that had been running through his head ever since he had seen the message.


    A slight smile appeared on Li Lanfeng¡¯s lips and he said, "The team leader wants you to sit beside him to watch the fight together. He might have something to say to you." Regarding why Ling Lan was calling Zhao Jun over, Li Lanfeng had some idea. It would be a good chance for Zhao Jun to improve his strength.


    Li Lanfeng was well aware of Ling Lan¡¯s control skills ¡ª an ace would have much to impart. On top of that, Ling Lan also had an imperial instructor (Li Lanfeng still did not know Ling Lan¡¯s real identity) ¡ª Zhao Jun would definitely be able to save himself from many detours if he received some guidance from Ling Lan.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words made Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes light up. As familiar with Li Lanfeng as he was, he could glean something from his friend¡¯s demeanour ¡ª something good would definitelye out from this trip.


    Thus, he happily followed Li Lanfeng to the exclusive viewing area of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. When she saw Zhao Jun arrive, Ling Lan motioned for Zhao Jun toe sit beside her.


    As soon as Zhao Jun sat down, he saw many team members looking at him in envy. He waspletely nonplussed by this, wondering what in the world was going on. Right at this moment, his team leader beside him prompted, "Senior Zhao, please watch the fight closely!"


    This cry made Zhao Jun¡¯s heart jolt, and he faintly felt cold sweat breaking out on his back. Of course, Zhao Jun was feeling somewhat guilty because he had indeed been distracted and had not seen what was happening on the field. He had not expected that brief loss of attention to have been caught by his keen-eyed team leader.


    Zhao Jun quickly turned his eyes back onto the field, showing that he was already fully focused on the mecha fight between Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu now. Only after sensing his team leader¡¯s cold gaze turn away from him did he surreptitiously wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, sighing internally. No wonder Qi Long and the others said that Boss Lan¡¯s force of presence was very powerful ¡ª one cold stare was enough to give them shivers. So it was really true. What¡¯s funny was that he had actually not taken it seriously when he had first heard about this. He had thought that Qi Long and the others were exaggerating, but now it looked like they werepletely right. Their team leader¡¯s force of presence and the de of his gaze was truly formidable. He reckoned that his team leader must have been showing him some face previously by not presenting his force of presence so aggressively ... at this thought, Zhao Jun was instantly crying inside ¡ª was it toote for him to withdraw now?


    Ling Lan did not know that her special effort to convert her force of presence into sound to make sure Zhao Jun watched the fight properly would make hime to such a realisation. This was also a result of Ling Lan¡¯s increasingfort with using her force of presence. Compared to how her force of presence had been constantly leaking before, her force of presence now was extremely reserved. But as soon as it was presented, the pressure it exerted would be several times greater than how it was originally. Even Zhao Jun who did not feel that pressured before could now feel the powerful pressure of Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence.


    The moment he focused, Zhao Jun was pulled fully into Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha fight.


    Lin Xiao¡¯s ace mecha was a winged transformer mecha, an improved mecha based off a bnced fixed-type mecha. However, it was not like a fixed-type mecha, which had absolute bnce in both long-range and close-range attacks. Instead, it leaned towards long-range attacks, but unlike mecha exclusively specializing in long-range attacks, closebat was not a significant weakness. The closebat ability of this type of mecha was undoubtedly much stronger than long-range mecha, but it was still weaker than a true bnced mecha.


    In contrast, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha surprised everyone. He was operating the mecha with the highest death rate, a closebat mecha. Although the mecha¡¯s long-range abilities were weak, it was the indisputable king of closebat.


    Two such distinctly different mecha led to the current deadlock on the field. Lin Xiao was extremely cautious ¡ª seeing that the other was piloting a closebat mecha, he had instantly kept a distance from the start. The hands of his mecha each held a long-range beam gun, and he used a continuous stream of firepower to keep Jiang Shaoyu suppressed below, keeping him from moving forwards and freezing up his opponent¡¯s advantagepletely.


    This situation greatly frustrated the ill-prepared Jiang Shaoyu. Opportunity was fleeting ¡ª having already been pushed into a passive situation, it was now very difficult for him to turn things around. If he wanted to obtain victory, he needed to get close to the other; otherwise, under the suppression of his opponent¡¯s firepower, he would probably be stuck in this situation till the end of the match. Although he was still dodging beautifully at present so Lin Xiao¡¯s beam attacks had not given him any injury whatsoever, the opponent had alsopleted his ideal setup, perfectly keeping him suppressed within the range of his beam attacks, rendering him effectively immobile.


    Following the passage of time, perhaps Jiang Shaoyu had be impatient ¡ª a control error caused his mecha¡¯s evasion movements to slow for a beat, and a spot on his mecha¡¯s thigh was actually hit twice in a row ... if Lin Xiao managed to hit the same spot another two times, that thigh would definitely be sted off, deducting the opponent¡¯s score by arge half and bringing victory within grasping distance.


    Seeing this chance as well, the audience instantly perked up, beginning to feel nervous. They looked at Lin Xiao of the First Co-ed Military Academy, silently wondering if he could grasp this opportunity.


    Lin Xiao too saw this opportunity ¡ª his mind stirred, but he instantly repressed his eager heart, steadily maintaining the frequency of his beam attacks. His shots formed a perfect circle,pletely trapping Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha but not specifically attacking any part.


    Opportunity was fleeting ¡ª Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha once again regained his evasion momentum, and many in the audience found themselvesmenting the missed opportunity. At this moment, Ling Lan suddenly asked, "Senior Zhao, if you encountered this opportunity, what would you do?"


    Those Lingtian members who overheard this question instantly perked up their ears to hear Zhao Jun¡¯s answer. While Zhao Jun had still been on the field, they had already heard Boss Lan ask Li Lanfeng to call Zhao Jun over in order to study the methods of the twobatants on the field in this match, in preparation for tomorrow¡¯s fight.


    They naturally did not want to miss this chance to learn as, after all, this was a fight between two ace operators ¡ª if they could hear something from Boss Lan¡¯s and Zhao Jun¡¯s discussion, they would benefit greatly.


    After some serious thought, Zhao Jun replied, "I would do as Lin Xiao did. Choose to give it up!"


    At his reply, Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked up slightly. She was very pleased with Zhao Jun¡¯s response ¡ª just as Leopard had said, Zhao Jun may look like a rough brute, brash, straightforward, and impulsive, but his mind was actually very meticulous and he would not make decisions lightly.


    "That weakness appeared too abruptly. Anyone who can keep calm will not fall for it." Ling Lan revealed what she thought. Many who had been fooled by Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s ploy only now realised that that opening was actually just a lure.


    "But this does not exclude the possibility that it is a ploy within a ploy ..." Zhao Jun did not echo agreement with Ling Lan¡¯s judgment, however. The opening was very sudden, true, thus making it very suspicious ... but what if the opponent had truly made a mistake and had simply decided not to hide it out of fear that his opponent might jump on it? He shook his head and added, "It cannot be determined. More observation is necessary."


    "Yes, whether it is true or false, to be safe, it is better to be patient. Judging by the situation on the field, the advantage is already on Lin Xiao¡¯s side. Giving up on this opportunity will not make Lin Xiao lose his upper hand, so it is right for him to be patient and not charge in blindly. If he falls for a trap, his advantage would bepletely lost. Jiang Shaoyu can afford to gamble, but Lin Xiao cannot." Ling Lan did not object to Zhao Jun¡¯s judgment; this caused the Lingtian members to feel like they were listening to all this while blinded by fog. Until now, there were still some who just could not figure out whether this opportunity was fake or real.


    Qi Long was also watching the fight intently at this time. There was no confusion at all on his face because his Animal Instinct had not given him a strong urge to attack. This meant that that opportunity was not trustworthy.


    Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun were calm as well. As strategists, they were originally the suspicious sort. Before they could confirm things 100%, they absolutely would not make any decisions lightly. Like Lin Xiao, they would choose to ignore the opening and maintain the current advantage to wait for a better opportunity.


    Luo Lang was theplete opposite of them. His expressions varied greatly ¡ª one moment he¡¯d be calm, then he¡¯d be excited, then impatient, then contemtive ... everyone in Ling Lan¡¯s battle n knew that this fellow had most likely activated his innate talent inside, arbitrarily switching between his various personalities to try ande to a cohesive judgment on the situation on the field. As long as this innate talent of Luo Lang¡¯s was utilized well, not only would hisbat power during battle be explosively increased, during normal times like this, it could also help with battle analysis. Using the different perspectives of the various personalities to dissect a situation would give one a fuller picture with little chance of error.


    The others all had their own opinions to varying extents. True battle between aces was not so easy to decipher ¡ª anyone who had the chance to view one would certainly gain something from it.


    Jiang Shaoyu saw that the weakness he exposed did not work, and he could not help but curse within his cockpit. After a bout of venting, Jiang Shaoyu calmed down. He knew that he had been a little too obvious with that opening ¡ª anyone who was cautious would not have acted lightly. And this Lin Xiao just so happened to be a cautious person ...


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s eyes turned in his sockets, and an idea sprouted in his mind. Initially, his right hand had been holding a beam saber, while his left hand held a beam handgun often used by closebat mecha. The shooting range of a closebat mecha¡¯s beam handgun was no match for the range of a long-range mecha¡¯s beam gun. This was the main reason why Jiang Shaoyu had been totally suppressed in terms of range in this battle with Lin Xiao.


    Jiang Shaoyu knew he could not continue being passive like this. With a sudden twist of his body, he unleashed a wild flurry of shots from the beam handgun in his left hand. This time, he was no longer aiming for uracy, chasing speed instead. A continuous stream of beams poured out, and though a portion flew wide, a majority of the shots met the beamsing from Lin Xiao and neutralized them. This gave Jiang Shaoyu a chance to breathe, and then with a great swing, the beam saber in his right hand was sent flying out of his hand.


    The beam saber cut through the air, hurtling at Lin Xiao at an incredible speed.


    Lin Xiao¡¯s mecha was more of a long-range type to begin with, so its speed was among the fastest among ace mecha. He easily avoided the beam saber and the frequency of the attacksing from both his hands was not interrupted at all.


    The beam saber brushed by Lin Xiao¡¯s mecha tond heavily on the ground, sending up some dust and dirt. Just as everyone was astounded at this move by Jiang Shaoyu, many of the spectating First Men¡¯s Military Academy students sat up straight, eyes shining, Ling Yu and Zhao Jun not excluded. They all knew that Jiang Shaoyu was probably about tounch his counterattack.


    Sure enough, Jiang Shaoyu was finally doing something different. This new action caused astonished cries to ring out across the audience seats. It turned out that after discarding his beam saber, Jiang Shaoyu had drawn a backup beam gun from the secured dock on his back. The counterattack method he had chosen was his weakness ¡ª¡ª long-range attack!At first, I was confused about who Li Lanfeng is referring to here, but then I recalled how Li Lanfeng was reunited with his rabbit. Here¡¯s a refresher: Ling Lan was sparring with her dad when LLF and ZJ stumbled into their room. Ling Xiao was in an imperial mecha then, so it makes sense for Lanfeng to assume Ling Lan is getting pointers from an imperial instructor.

 Chapter 451 Brutal and Savage Revenge!

    Most people felt that this move of Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s was suicidal ¡ª using one¡¯s weakness topete against another¡¯s strength ... it would be strange not to lose.


    However, as soon as Jiang Shaoyu attacked, the situation on the field was unexpected. With a gun in both hands, Jiang Shaoyu was shooting at a rate not much lower than Lin Xiao¡¯s, and his marksmanship was very good too. Every beam shot collided with one of Lin Xiao¡¯s ¡ª an opening began to appear in the encirclement of beams restricting Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s movements ...


    "Holy sh*t, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s long-range skills are pretty strong too!" Quite a few people eximed when they saw this. Mind you, mecha operators who were proficient at both closebat and long-rangebat would typically choose a bnced mecha to fully apply their all-rounded capabilities. They would not do as Jiang Shaoyu had, abandoning one of their strengths to focus on just one strength.


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s counterattack was effective; he was no longer fully suppressed by Lin Xiao as before. The situation began to look increasingly promising for Jiang Shaoyu, and just when everyone believed that Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s chance wasing ...


    That chance really came! Perhaps seeing how he was fast losing his absolute advantage, Lin Xiao panicked. He suddenly lost control of his initially very steady and rhythmical shooting. He pulled too fast on the trigger of his beam gun and actually ended up shooting several nks, and the opening which Jiang Shaoyu was ripping through his encirclement became evenrger due to this mistake.


    Chance! A cold gleam shed through Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s eyes. His fingers flew, and all the engines on his mecha were instantly revved to their fullest, pushing his speed to the maximum limit. Although this kind of operation would cause wear and tear on the mecha¡¯s engines due to being pushed beyond capacity, Jiang Shaoyu could not bother about this anymore at this moment. Opportunity was fleeting ¡ª if he did not grab this chance and continued to wait, perhaps he would not get another one. At that time, it would most likely be impossible to turn things around anymore.


    The speed of Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha broke past the limits of a closebat mecha, instantly drawing close to Lin Xiao. Meanwhile, Lin Xiao naturally did not wish for his advantage to end here. He too revved all his engines, retreating desperately, but he was still slower than Jiang Shaoyu by a beat ¡ª the distance between the two of them was eaten up in an instant.


    At this time, Lin Xiao lost the distance he had maintained while suppressing Jiang Shaoyu through long-range attacks. In other words, his initially formidable and threatening long-range attacks were nowpletely useless. In the blink of an eye, the twobatants had switched over from long-range attack mode to closebat mode.


    "Lin Xiao¡¯s in danger now!" Seeing this, everyone felt that things were not looking good for Lin Xiao. Once things shifted to closebat, although a bnced mecha is also strong, it still would not be able to beat a true .


    This was a battle between aces ¡ª even when one side seemed to have an overwhelming advantage, before the fight truly ended, no one would dare to say that victory was certain. Lin Xiao had had the upper hand all this while, but now he had be the disadvantaged party in the blink of an eye.


    At this point, Ling Lan frowned slightly, a trace of contemtion coursing through her eyes ... had Lin Xiao truly made a mistake?


    Right then, the two mecha on the field were still engaged in a pursuit, one chasing while the other ran, but now the roles had been reversed. The initial pursuer was now the one being pursued, the initial prey now bing the hunter.


    Lin Xiao did not forget to keep shooting with the guns in his hands as he retreated to prevent Jiang Shaoyu from getting closer and pulling him into a close-range grapple, but Jiang Shaoyu was not someone so easily deterred. His predictive ability was very strong, and the evasion footwork he was employing was also one of the advanced footwork at ace level. Lin Xiao¡¯s shooting did not give Jiang Shaoyu much trouble, and the distance between the two of them continued to shrink ...


    "What do you think? Senior Zhao?" Ling Lan suddenly turned her head to ask Zhao Jun.


    "As soon as the distance is closed and the fight moves into close-rangebat, the chances of Lin Xiao losing will be much higher. Now it all depends on whether Lin Xiao can pull away again." Zhao Jun simrly did not think well of Lin Xiao¡¯s chances ¡ª challenging a closebat mecha with closebat was really unlikely to end well unless you were piloting a closebat mecha yourself.


    "Jiang Shaoyu can conceal his abilities. What do you think about Lin Xiao? Can he or can he not do so too?" asked Ling Lan instead, clearly showing that she did not agree with Zhao Jun.


    "Conceal? Can or cannot?" Zhao Jun was also a clever person. Enlightened, he said in shock, "Leader, you¡¯re saying that Lin Xiao¡¯s true strength is not actually long range but closebat?" If things were really as his team leader had judged, then this match would really be too interesting.


    Finally, Jiang Shaoyu caught up to Lin Xiao. Jiang Shaoyu saw as the distance between himself and Lin Xiao shrunk, and a savage smile appeared on his face. He swung the mechanical beam gun in his right hand fiercely, intending to m the other with it hard.


    The beam gun whistled through the air ¡ª everyone in the audience could hear the sound clearly through the top-notch audio system in thebat stadium. Their hearts were raised up high in suspense ¡ª with this amount of power behind it, if struck, even an ace mecha would not be able to fully offset the violent concussive force caused by the impact. The mecha operator inside the cockpit would certainly be injured gravely, incurring terrible internal damage.


    Quicker than words could say, just as everyone was worrying for Lin Xiao, a loud ear-shattering ¡¯bang¡¯ rang out. The two mecha had finally made contact for the first time in the fight.


    Those with keen eyes could already tell that Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s attack had not worked. At the critical moment, Lin Xiao had used the beam gun in his hands to sessfully intercept his opponent¡¯s heavy blow.


    The two mecha were instantly sent flying backwards away from one another after the violent collision. At the same time, both their mecha each had an item fly off from them. Two loud booms, and those two items cut a lovely curve through the air before crashing heavily onto the ground, smashing open a shallow pit while sending arge spray of dust and dirt into the air.


    Apparently, the beam guns of thebatants had been flung out of their hands due to the collision.


    The audience had yet to see what had fallen onto the ground when the two mecha which had been flying backwards once again traded moves in the air. It turned out that as they were flying backwards, they had respectively drawn a cold weapon from their backs and had swung it without any hesitation at the other.


    If either side had only been a beat slower, one of them would definitely have been able to hit the other with their cold weapon due to its length and weight. If the opponent was unlucky, he might have been struck at the waist where the cockpit was ¡ª then, not only would the opponent have suffered concussive damage, his score would also have been deducted by one-third. A strike to the cockpit was considered a very effective attack, thus garnering the highest point deduction on an opponent.


    The two of them moved almost simultaneously, and so the two giant cold weapons shed violently. The resulting force sent both cold weapons bouncing back and at the same time, their already stabilized mecha were once again sent spinning out of control. Only after shooting back several dozens of metres did the two manage to regain full control of their mecha again.


    The two mecha faced each other from a distance of 200 metres. This bit of distance could be covered by the speed of a mecha in an instant, but the two fighters did not move recklessly. Thatst sh had made both of them keenly aware that the opponent before them was undoubtedly the strongest they had ever encountered thus far. The oue would be decided in a split second; a reversal could ur at any moment.


    The two youths vigntly held their cold weapons up, keeping their eyes on the other as they waited patiently, each trying to find an opportunity.


    The audience which had beenpletely spellbound by the thrilling fight earlier abruptly came to their senses. They began to exim,


    "Who¡¯d have guessed that Lin Xiao¡¯s closebat skills are not at all weaker than Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s!"


    "Jiang Shaoyu was not the only one hiding his abilities, Lin Xiao was too!"


    "Things will be interesting now. Both of them are good at closebat, so even if the fight is now in closebat mode, the oue will be hard to predict."


    With the disy of just those two moves, those with discerning eyes could already tell that though Lin Xiao¡¯s mecha looked like it was more geared for long-range attack, in reality, his closebat ability was several degrees better than that of the average closebat mecha. By this point, everyone understood that both Jiang Shaoyu and Lin Xiao had been concealing part of their abilities.


    At this moment, Ling Lan turned to Zhao Jun and said, "Pay more attention to Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s movements. He may be your opponent."


    Zhao Jun was taken aback by her words. He could only see that the two people on the field were evenly matched ¡ª it was very hard to predict who would win or lose; both sides still had hopes of winning. It all depended on who was better at grasping the opportunities they had, and who was more stable and able to keep their weaknesses shielded.


    Seeing the doubt and surprise in Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes, Ling Lan exined, "Jiang Shaoyu was too impatient when turning the tables around. He did not think through why the consistently calm and collected Lin Xiao would make such a low-level mistake ..."


    Only then did Zhao Junb through his memories, and indeed, even though Jiang Shaoyu had broken Lin Xiao¡¯s suppression, Lin Xiao was still the one with the upper hand. Lin Xiao¡¯s personality was cautious to begin with ¡ª he definitely would not waver so easily ...


    Zhao Jun said in shocked realisation, "Was it all a setup by Lin Xiao?"


    "Exactly so. Lin Xiao seems like he wants to use the opponent¡¯s most confident point to defeat him ..." Ling Lan stroked her jaw. This behaviour was actually very brutal and savage ¡ª by unfortunate happenstance, the opponent¡¯s confidence may bepletely crushed. Unless against an especially hated person or for the sake of revenge, the average person would never resort to such means ...


    A sh of insight sparked through Ling Lan¡¯s mind. Could this be because of Luo Chao? Although Luo Lang had been the one harassed, anyone who was interested could easily find out the truth of the matter and who Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s true target was. Luo Lang had just be a decoy shield due to a misunderstanding.


    A subtle smile hung on Ling Lan¡¯s lips. She really admired a senior who would openly seek revenge when his junior sister had been wronged, not to mention that the junior sister in question was a close childhoodpanion she had grown up with. Lin Xiao¡¯s current scheme was something Ling Lan was very d to witness.


    Sure enough, the following situation turned out as Ling Lan had expected. Lin Xiao¡¯s closebat abilities were extremely solid, and his mentality was extremely calm and logical. Against Lin Xiao¡¯s sure and steady way of fighting, Jiang Shaoyu had no chance at all. In contrast, Jiang Shaoyu became increasingly anxious and impatient. It should be known that although three ace operators hade to participate in this tournament, their proficiencies were not the same. He, Jiang Shaoyu, was operating a closebat mecha, so his closebat ability was definitely outstanding and noteworthy, Qiao Ting operated a long-range mecha, so his proficiency was undoubtedly in long range, while Lin Xiao operated a bnced mecha, so he should be about equally good in both. However, this bnce also signified mediocrity ¡ª Lin Xiao should neither be able to beat him in closebat nor beat Qiao Ting in long-rangebat. Originally, although he took this fight against Lin Xiao seriously, he had still believed that it would not be a difficult matter to defeat the other. As soon as he managed to get close, victory would be his.


    But reality had now given Jiang Shaoyu a direct p in the face. In his strongest suit, closebat, his opponent was no weaker than himself ¡ª instead, he was the one losing confidence as the fight went on. He could stillprehend why he was weaker than the other in long range, but if he could not beat the other in closebat either, then what face did he have as a closebat operator?

 Chapter 452 A Shameless Person?

    Jiang Shaoyu did not want to lose face. He desperately wanted to use his greatest strength to defeat his opponent. Even if he could not do it in one move, he also hoped to strike his opponent so that even as the opponent¡¯s points were deducted, he would be able to prove to the audience that he was still stronger in terms of closebat.


    Perhaps due to the pressure or perhaps due to Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s desperation to obtain results, this mentality made Jiang Shaoyu lose his cool. His movements turned rough and choppy, no longer as fine and rhythmical as before. Anyone with eyes could see that his operation was starting to veer out of control, no longer as perfect as it had been at the start ...


    Lin Xiao observed the changes in Jiang Shaoyu and his gaze flickered. He knew that his opportunity woulde soon. Lin Xiao did not move immediately ¡ª he only had one chance. He needed to act at the moment he had the best shot; otherwise, he would rather wait than be as impulsive as Jiang Shaoyu.


    "Hehe, Jiang Shaoyu is probably going to lose now." Zhao Jun could also see the signs now and he could not but break out into a wide grin.


    "Hn, from the looks of it now, out of the three ace operators, Jiang Shaoyu is the weakest. That Lin Xiao is very strong and he also knows how to hold back ... he will probably give Qiao Ting a lot of trouble." Ling Lan really quite admired this cadet who had a name which sounded so simr to her dad¡¯s ¡ª his skills were great both in long range and close range. A bnced mecha was truly most suitable for him.


    Moreover, he did notck cunning either. He had intentionally disguised the outer shell of his mecha to give others the mistaken impression that his strong suit was long-range offense and that his closebat was slightly weaker. This had lured the opponent in to attack his perceived ¡¯weak point¡¯ ¡ª¡ª closebat. Now, this arrangement of his was indeed proving wondrously effective ¡ª well, at least, Jiang Shaoyu had tragically fallen for it. Without these elements of disguise, Jiang Shaoyu would certainly have been warier; he was not that easy to fool.


    On the field, the two fighters exchanged several more blows in mid-air, their mecha trading positions several times. Following the passing of time, Jiang Shaoyu, unable to find any opportunity to attack, became even more restless and agitated. His brain ran hot, and he actually abandoned defence to attack with full force. Every swing of his mecha¡¯s arms with his cold weapon became heavy and powerful, but his speed dropped noticeably. In aiming for a one-hit kill, he caused his mecha to lose its agility. At this moment, Lin Xiao, who had been waiting all this time, knew that his true opportunity had arrived. He finally made his move!


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s ended histest round of ferocious attacks, and just as he was about to start the next round, Lin Xiao, who had been on full-defence all this while, actually disappeared from sight while Jiang Shaoyu was distracted preparing his attack. Jiang Shaoyu was first startled and paused for a beat, but immediately after, rms red loudly in his mind. He silently knew that things were not good ¡ª without conscious thought, his fingers flew reflexively over his mecha¡¯s controls, instantly bringing his hand speed to its limits. He needed to pilot his mecha away from here, or else he would be in danger.


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s intuition was not wrong, but though he tried his hardest to escape the crisis, Lin Xiao had already waited so long for this opportunity, so how could he let Jiang Shaoyu escape so easily?


    "Boom boom boom boom ..."


    The engines of Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha had just begun to re, his mecha¡¯s body yet to escape from range, when Lin Xiao suddenly descended from above, his attack already a step ahead ...


    "Was that space flicker just now?" The spectators cried out in shock. They had seen Lin Xiao¡¯s actions clearly ¡ª at the moments Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s attack had slowed, he had suddenly dashed to the area above Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s head. This flicker movement was a technique that only ace operators could perform. It was called ¡¯space flicker¡¯, a weaker version of teleportation. As the technical skill required to perform it was very high, many operators who had just advanced to ace level could not learn this technique.


    However, these were not the only exmations. Closely following that, the voices rose once more, "Ah, it¡¯s a mecha chainbo!"


    In close-range mechabat, a mecha chainbo was the technique that could best showcase an operator¡¯s control skills and explosive power. The more skilful the operator was, the higher thebo chain they could perform ¡ª rumour had it that a god-ss operator had once managed abo chain of 128 hits, instantly defeating his opponent who was also a god-ss operator.


    "Three hits ... five hits!" By the time Lin Xiao reached five hits, everyone was on their feet in excitement. For the average mecha warrior, a 3-hit chain was already the limit, while a mecha master might be able to do another one or two hits more. Still, five hits was a tipping point ¡ª there were very few normal mecha masters who could go beyond five hits. Once someone went over the five-hit mark, that meant that that person¡¯s future was limitless.


    Under the anticipatory gazes of everyone in the audience, Lin Xiao finallypleted the sixth hit in his chain. When the loud ¡¯bang¡¯ rang out once more, everyone could not hold back their cheers. Meanwhile, Lin Xiao reached his limit at this time and hisbo chain finally ended. After taking Lin Xiao¡¯s 6-hitbo, Jiang Shaoyu not only did not manage to escape Lin Xiao¡¯s attacks, he was defeated instantly by thisbo chain. Six effective attacks instantly reduced Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s points to zero ¡ª even though Jiang Shaoyu still had the ability to fight, the referee would not give him the chance to do so anymore.


    Sure enough, when the referee saw that Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s points had been reduced to zero, he decisively raised his red g and announced the end of the match. On the screens on all four sides of thebat field, Lin Xiao¡¯s victory was announced.


    With regards to this result, no one had any objections. Although bothbatants had been ace operators, Lin Xiao¡¯s control skills and mentality had been shown to be better than Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s.


    Afterpleting his 6-hitbo chain, Lin Xiao sat panting in his cockpit. His initially serious face was now adorned with a wide smile. He wasn¡¯t just d that he had obtained the victory in this match ¡ª because victory was already within his expectations ¡ª what truly pleased him was that he had actually managed to break through his limits in this fight. For the first time ever, he had managed to up hisbo chain to six hits. Undoubtedly, he had once again achieved a breakthrough while putting his all into the fight.


    Ling Lan saw the final oue, and it was as she had expected. She turned to look at Zhao Jun and asked, "Senior Zhao, what do you think of your opponent now?"


    Zhao Jun¡¯s mouth split into a grin. "Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s heart will have an opening remaining. I¡¯ll be able to use that in the afternoon."


    Ling Lan nodded, but then shook her head. "It¡¯s true that there will be an opening, but you are not Lin Xiao, so you won¡¯t be able to use it."


    "Why?" Zhao Jun frowned, somewhat puzzled.


    "Because you are still a special-ss operator," answered Ling Lan levelly.


    Zhao Jun fell into a thoughtful silence, head bowed. Then, as if figuring something out, he raised his head and asked, "Is this because he has a psychological advantage? So he won¡¯t be as caught up in insecurities as he was during his fight with Lin Xiao, making it hard to pick on this weak point of his?"


    "Not only does he have a psychological advantage, but he also has the strength to back it up. Even though Jiang Shaoyu will be off his game due to this loss here, it is still very easy for him to defeat you," added Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words deepened the furrow between Zhao Jun¡¯s eyebrows. Well, that was true ¡ª although special-ss operators and ace operators were both operators, the distance between the two was like heaven and earth; this gap was not so easily bridged.


    "Is there no way at all?" mused Zhao Jun regretfully.


    "To win will be difficult, but to achieve an internecine oue is not impossible ..." Ling Lan gave Zhao Jun a great surprise.


    As soon as Zhao Jun heard this, he was invigorated. He quickly said, "Leader, tell me quickly ... uh, no, it¡¯s Boss, Boss! Tell me quickly!" In order to obtain Ling Lan¡¯s battle sutra, Zhao Jun¡¯s expression was sycophantic, and he had even shamelessly begun calling Ling Lan ¡¯boss¡¯.


    To one side, Li Lanfeng had been listening to their conversation silently, and now he could not help but cover his face in shame, almost hoping he could dig a hole to bury himself in it. Sob, sob, sob, this shameless Zhao Jun ... I really don¡¯t know him ...


    Meanwhile, the other Lingtian members were instantly left dumbstruck in the face of such shameless behaviour from Zhao Jun. Some members who still retained some degree of rationality, like Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi, swiftly bounced at least three metres away from Zhao Jun, looking for all the world like he was a stranger to them.


    This behaviour of Zhao Jun likewise hit Ling Lan like a lightning bolt. The n she had thought of had already been by her lips, about to be spoken, but now it slid back down her throat. She decided that she would not say anything for now and let Senior Zhao stew for a while to console her poor frightened little soul.


    Zhao Jun waspletely oblivious to the disdain and avoidance of hispanions in reaction to his behaviour. Yup, well, even if he had sensed some of it, his heart right now was filled with that method Ling Lan had mentioned; he had no mind at all the care about teaching those disrespectful juniors a lesson. He ignored the increasingly cold aura emanating from Ling Lan, happily circling around her and calling her ¡¯Boss, Boss¡¯ over and over again. He waspletely clueless to the fact that the more ingratiating he was with his behaviour, the more unlikely he was to get what he wanted.


    Meanwhile, at this time, in the VIP room of thebat stadium, all of the special guests attending the Grand Mecha Tournament were pretty much watching the fight inside.


    Seated beside Ling Xiao was the vice president of the Federation. He looked at the winner¡¯s name disyed on therge screen and could not help butugh and say teasingly, "Oh, Ling Xiao, do you have any thoughts about this person¡¯s name?"


    Ling Xiao and the vice president held the highest status in the military and the government respectively among all the special guests. Though all the other guests appeared to be watching the match intently or conversing in low voices with the people next to them, in truth, they were constantly observing the actions of the two men. When they heard the vice president¡¯s teasing remark, their ears instantly perked up ¡ª they wanted to know whether this cadet would be especially valued or disliked by General Ling Xiao due to his simr sounding name. Ling Xiao¡¯s attitude would determine how they would treat this cadet in the future.


    "He¡¯s not bad!" Ling Xiao said with a smile. "The name Ling Xiao really is very popr in the Federation, I see. Vice President, in this regard, you can¡¯t match me ..."


    Ling Xiao¡¯s smug boasting made everyone there smile knowingly. Several high-ranking officers of various army divisions now viewed the outstanding Lin Xiao with greedy eyes, nning to report this person to theirmanders immediately after the tournament ended so that the officers sent to assess cadets would work hard to secure Lin Xiao for their respective divisions when they went to the First Co-ed Military Academy.


    After Ling Xiao finished speaking, he turned his attention back to the field. Everyone assumed that he was watching the two fighters on the field ¡ª only he himself knew that he was looking for his daughter. Unfortunately, there were hundreds of thousands of people in the audience ¡ª it really was not that easy to find his daughter in the crowd.


    The end of Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s match signalled the end of the single mechabat matches in the morning. At 2 o¡¯clock in the afternoon, the rest of the matches would be held to determine the final cings of the fourbatants.


    The audience in thebat stadium began to exit in an orderly manner. They needed to take the time for lunch before returning to watch the afternoon matches. The afternoon matches were sure to be even more exciting than the morning matches ¡ª after all, theing matches would decide the first and second ce, and even the match to determine third and fourth promised to be a view-worthy fight.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan stood up. Meanwhile, Zhao Jun still had not been able to receive the answer he wanted from Ling Lan. He saw Ling Lan stand up and quickly hurried to follow suit ... when the other members saw this, they could only smile wryly and stand up as well. Li Lanfeng¡¯s feet were a little unsteady ¡ª standing on swaying feet, he felt deep regret for the first time for knowing such a shameless person like Zhao Jun.


    Ling Lan did not know that when she stood up, Ling Xiao who was still in the VIP room suddenly turned to look in her direction as if guided by some supernatural sense. When he saw that familiar silhouette, the smile ying at the corners of Ling Xiao¡¯s lips deepened, and only then did he stand up to say goodbye to the other special guests. Ling Xiao had honestly sat around here idly for half a day all for the sake of this one glimpse of his daughter.

 Chapter 453 To Gamble or Not to Gamble?

    Ling Lan led the people of Lingtian out of thebat stadium. They were just passing by the mouth of the passage to the backstage when they heard a round of joyful cheers. Ling Lan turned at the sound and saw a group of cadets standing there. Lin Xiao, who had just won over Jiang Shaoyu, had just walked out of the passage ¡ª he should be the reason for these cheers.


    Li Lanfeng, who had been watching Ling Lan closely all this while, saw Ling Lan¡¯s attention drawn by those cadets, and so spoke up to exin, "These people are the participants from the First Co-ed Military Academy. They should be here to wee back their team leader Lin Xiao."


    Ling Lan nodded lightly in response. She of course knew they were from the First Co-ed Military Academy, because she had seen two familiar figures among the crowd ¡ª Luo Chao and Han Xuya. However, the attention of the two girls was on Lin Xiao, so they had not noticed the arrival of Ling Lan¡¯s group.


    When Lin Xiao came out, he had turned to Luo Chao and Han Xuya and said something. With her skills, Ling Lan could naturally hear everything he said loud and clear. Lin Xiao said that no one would still be able to strut around arrogantly after bullying someone from the First Co-ed Military Academy ... this sentence left the students of the First Co-ed Military Academy beside themselves with excitement, their eyes filled with respect for Lin Xiao. Even the always shy Luo Chao also cast a grateful nce at Lin Xiao.


    The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked upwards and she did not stop, passing by the First Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s people just like that. In her mindspace, Ling Lan instructed Little Four to help her send a short message to Luo Chao.


    Luo Chao suddenly felt her wrist vibrate, and when she raised her hand to look, she found a message notification waiting for her. She opened the message and her face flushed red, a sweet, shy smile appearing on her lips.


    "Little Sister Luo Chao, you have a good senior!" The message only contained this brief sentence, and the sender was Ling Lan.


    She had not expected that the always cold and indifferent Boss Lan would actually care about her this much! Luo Chao¡¯s heart began to throb, and she could not help but think shyly ¡ª was her crush of many years finally being reciprocated?


    ********


    In the afternoon, thepetition continued. The first to be held was the match to determine the third and fourth ce. Zhao Jun and Jiang Shaoyu each piloted their mecha onto the field.


    Jiang Shaoyu still had not recovered from his loss in the morning. He was rather unfocused ¡ª in his mind, he kept seeing scenes from his fight with Lin Xiao in the morning, all the way up till when he had been KO-ed by Lin Xiao¡¯s 6-hitbo chain, and he was immensely frustrated inside. During lunch, his instructors had already helped him analyse the reasons behind his defeat. He had lost in terms of patience ¡ª he had not been calm enough, a little too impatient, and had thus fallen for Lin Xiao¡¯s scheme. If he had only been a little calmer, a little more patient ... then perhaps the oue might have been very different.


    Even now, Jiang Shaoyu still could not ept the reality of his loss to Lin Xiao. In his mind, only Qiao Ting from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was a worthy opponent.


    The referee¡¯s green g swept down, signalling the official start to the fight.


    As the g fluttered down, Zhao Jun sprang out like a tiger let out of its cage, pouncing at his opponent several hundred metres away. He pushed all the power of his engines into speed, hurtling straight for Jiang Shaoyu in a dark streak of light.


    Although there were also different types of special-ss mecha, these types were not as extreme in their specializations as ace mecha. Despite having certain strength biases, special-ss mecha were overall still quite bnced. Thus, when Zhao Jun pushed his engines to the maximum, his speed was not significantly slower than closebat ace mecha. In fact, it could even be said that he was faster by a hair.


    This move of Zhao Jun¡¯s drew shocked gasps from the audience. This was because, for the sake of this speed, Zhao Jun had sacrificed activating even the most essential beam shield protection. This meant that if he was identally hit by a stray beam, his defenceless mecha would certainly be immediately KO-ed out of the match. Moreover, his opponent was Jiang Shaoyu ¡ª his match in the morning had proven that his long-range attacks were no less impressive than his closebat skills. This action of Zhao Jun¡¯s was clearly too reckless ...


    Everyone believed that this match would set the record for being the fastest to end ¡ª would it be 10 seconds, or 5? If Zhao Jun was unlucky, the match could even end in 3 seconds.


    However, everyone soon saw that reality was not turning out as they expected. With this great opportunity right before his eyes, Jiang Shaoyu seemed stupefied. He actually did not manage to lift his gun in time ¡ª by the time he raised his gun, Zhao Jun was already less than 50 metres away. With the mecha¡¯s speed, this 50 metres would be closed within two steps.


    Only at this time did the fearlessly charging forwards Zhao Jun release a sigh of relief. It was as Boss Lan had predicted ¡ª Jiang Shaoyu had not taken him seriously because he was underestimating him; this had given Zhao Jun the chance to get close.


    Zhao Jun was a closebat specialist as well, though he was no match for Jiang Shaoyu even in closebat. Still, it was much betterpared to his long-range attacks ¡ª with hisme marksmanship, he would definitely get the crap shot out of him by Jiang Shaoyu.


    Jiang Shaoyu was awoken by the re of rms from his mecha. One look and cold sweat instantly broke out all over his body. It was lucky he had awoken in time, or else, just half a secondter and he might have been subject to a sessful blitz attack by Zhao Jun.


    Why were these people all so annoying! Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s rage burned. He snapped up his beam gun and pulled the trigger on Zhao Jun who was sprinting right at him. Since you want to die, I¡¯ll grant you your wish.


    With the pull of the trigger, the muzzle of the gun glowed brightly, a sign that a beam was about to be fired. Just then, a long and narrow ck sword suddenly sliced down diagonally, stabbing straight into the muzzle of the beam gun.


    "Boom!" An explosion rang out, followed by a column of dark ck smoke. At this time, the two mecha were already in a standoff. Part of the audience had naturally caught what had happened, but there were some who had been unable to see clearly and were left boggled as to what could have happened. Had Jiang Shaoyu really been hit by Zhao Jun?


    Just as everyone was wondering, the two mecha suddenly leapt back from each other. Only when the two mecha were fully disyed before the crowd once more could the audience tell where the explosion hade from.


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s left arm was now a scarred mess. Half of the mecha¡¯s palm had been sliced clean off, only leaving a thumb behind. Electrical wires were left exposed to the outside at the broken edge, and some of them were still sparking.


    The crowd gasped in shock once more ¡ª they had not expected Zhao Jun¡¯s reckless charge to work. He had actually managed to ambush Jiang Shaoyu! In that state, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s left hand was pretty much unable to hold anything anymore ¡ª in other words, Jiang Shaoyu was now down by one hand, and hisbat power would be decreased by three tiers because of it.


    Jiang Shaoyu looked at the upper right corner of his screen, at the ¡¯100¡¯ there representing his points. The number suddenly began to scroll backwards rapidly ¡ª Jiang Shaoyu knew that this meant his points were being deducted. When the opponent¡¯s sword had jammed the muzzle of the beam gun, the beam energy could not be fired and had actually exploded within the gun. It was a shame for him that the energy block of the beam gun waspletely full ¡ª the explosion instantly ignited the power left in the energy block. The force of the resulting explosion had been so powerful that it had instantly made waste of his mecha¡¯s left palm.


    His point tally finally stopped scrolling, and the ring number ¡¯70¡¯ sent pricks of pain stabbing into Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s eyes. Unexpectedly, his little distraction had actually been taken advantage of so thoroughly by the opponent tounch a sessful blitz attack, resulting in such a huge deduction right off the bat, almost one-third of his total points. This made him feel ashamed ¡ª he had actually been harmed by a special-ss operator. The thread of reason in his mind was fraying ¡ª he wanted to kill the other, he must kill the other ... Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s eyes began to turn red as a thick killing intent emanated from him.


    Zhao Jun had managed tond a hit in one attempt ¡ª his heart was inexplicably exhrated, and his admiration surged so high that he wanted to prostrate himself at Boss Lan¡¯s feet. It turned out this entire series of actions had all been directed by Ling Lan. Ling Lan had predicted that the opponent would be unable to focus at the start due to his loss in the morning as well as his natural disdain of Zhao Jun as an opponent. Thus, using the theoretical top speed of a mecha right at the start to draw close to the opponent for a blitz attack had a good chance of seeding. Of course, this so-called top speed referred to abandoning everything else on the mecha to funnel its entire avable power into speed ...


    At first, Zhao Jun was not too sure about following Boss Lan¡¯s proposal ¡ª he just felt that it was too risky. If there was just the slightest bit of error, he would be KO-ed right out of the match and be the person to be eliminated from a match in the shortest amount of time in tournament history. That would be such a loss of face!


    Noticing Zhao Jun¡¯s doubts, Ling Lan had merely said lightly, "If you don¡¯t take the risk, you will definitely lose. Take the gamble, and there is the possibility of a draw." Yes, at most, Zhao Jun could only push this match to a draw. The difference between their mecha¡¯s levelspletely threw out any possibility of victory for Zhao Jun. No matter how much he schemed and plotted, it would all be for the sake of just a draw.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words enlightened Zhao Jun. Yes, if he did not gamble, based on his strength, losing was just a matter of time even if he fought with his life. As such, he might as well take the risk ¡ª wasn¡¯t a loss the worst thing that could happen?


    In reality, Ling Lan had created this n with an estimated sess rate of 70%. In Ling Lan¡¯s opinion, as long as the odds were at 50% and above, it would be a gamble worth taking. In order to increase the chances of sess, Ling Lan had even lent her newly bought Firmament to Zhao Jun. The typical giant swords used by mecha were all the broadsword type, heavy and solid, thus making them unsuitable for more agile and dexterous attacks. However, Firmament was extremely unique ¡ª it was a fine sword and had extremely high resilience, allowing it to do things a typical broadsword could not.


    So that Zhao Jun would be able to pinpoint the perfect timing to intercept, after they had eaten their lunch, Zhao Jun had been dragged by Ling Lan over to a mechabat hall for some urgent training. The main purpose of the session was for Zhao Jun to familiarize himself with Firmament. The way to use Firmament was different from that of other ordinary giant swords ¡ª in order to avoid any mistakes, this impromptu training was necessary.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s efforts had now finallye to fruition, and in the most perfect way. In order to ensure sess, Ling Lan and Zhao Jun had analysed all the possible reactions of Jiang Shaoyu in detail,ing up with counterns for each alternative. Who would have guessed that they would not need to use any single one of those in the end?


    Right then, Zhao Jun¡¯s heart was running hot ¡ª he may be able to make history by proving that there was the possibility of a tie in a battle between an ace and special-ss.


    However, Zhao Jun did not have the time to really think about all these random things right now. He was staring at Jiang Shaoyu with his full attention, not daring to miss anything. Boss Lan had said that once Jiang Shaoyu was injured, he would definitely go berserk. It could be predicted that the following attack would be an overwhelming one, and Zhao Jun¡¯s task was to tide over this round of attacks no matter what. When Jiang Shaoyu found that he was unable to bring Zhao Jun down, his morale would fall, and that moment would be Zhao Jun¡¯s chance.


    Sure enough, Zhao Jun found himself faced with a barrage of wild attacks. The enraged Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mind was fixated on the thought of killing his opponent. Furthermore, the oppression of the level difference allowed Jiang Shaoyu to attack without having to worry about so-called skill or technique. He attacked by relying solely on the brute force of his mecha itself, sending punch after heavy punch at his opponent. Zhao Jun desperately protected his most vital spots, slowly being pushed back by Jiang Shaoyu. He looked bitterly at his slowly dwindling points and sweat flowed uncontrobly from his forehead ...T/C: Actually ... aren¡¯t they using real mecha now? Losing is not the worst that could happen. Death is. (Or disability, depending how you look at it.)

 Chapter 454 Punishment and Equal Placement prelude !

    Just as Zhao Jun felt that he was unable to hold on any longer, he suddenly felt Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s attacks slowing down. Zhao Jun instantly felt the pressure ease, and he managed to catch a break.


    He then reacted quickly, knowing that this had to be the chance Boss Lan had mentioned. Without stopping to think about it, he leapt, raising Firmament in his hands to sh forcefully at the opponent.


    Jiang Shaoyu saw Zhao Jun charging over without fear of death again and he sniffed coldly. The difference in their levels made it extremely easy for him to handle the attacks of a special-ss operator. Seeing Firmamenting at him, he casually operated his mecha to lift his own cold weapon to meet the other¡¯s attack.


    "ng!" Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s giant sword collided with Firmament, but the results were not as Jiang Shaoyu expected. The swords did not repel each other, but instead became locked tight, unable to part.


    At this sight, Jiang Shaoyu stared nkly and then tugged hard to try and bring his sword back. However, he found that when his giant sword returned, that long and narrow sword of the opponent¡¯s followed it too. Jiang Shaoyu suddenly sensed danger and without conscious thought, he kicked out a leg at Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha that hade even closer following behind Firmament.


    "Bang!" "Snap!" Two sounds rang out almost simultaneously.


    When Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s kicknded on Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha, the head of Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha suddenly split open to reveal to openings, revealing the two interference missiles contained inside.


    Due to the force of this kick, Firmament finally detached from Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s giant sword, and Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha was sent flying back.


    Excitement was writ across Zhao Jun¡¯s brow. He stared at the screen ¡ª when the value for the best shooting range Boss Lan had told him arrived, he would be ready to press theunch button.


    "Pow" ¡ª two interference missiles shot out from the head area of the mecha, flying straight for Jiang Shaoyu.


    Interference missiles were a type of missile meant to draw away and confuse tracking missiles. They were useful when fighting against starships, but in a battle between mecha, these missiles were almost never used by mecha operators. This was because interference missiles did not have much lethal power. Even if a mecha did not evade them and allowed them to hit it as they liked, the mecha would be leftpletely unharmed by just relying on the defensive power of its beam shield.


    Thus, when Jiang Shaoyu saw that Zhao Jun was actually shooting interference missiles at him from close range, his first thought was: Is the opponent stupid? His second thought was: The opponent really is stupid. His third thought was: The opponent is an absolute f*cking idiot.


    Faced with these two interference missiles, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s expression was disdainful and he made no move to dodge them. He wasn¡¯t an idiot himself ¡ª why should he be scared by these harmless interference missiles? Instead, he raised the giant sword in his hands and flew forwards, thinking to take advantage of this moment to strike the opponent.


    Right when the interference missiles were about to hit Jiang Shaoyu, however, an unprecedented sense of danger welled up in his heart. At this moment, Jiang Shaoyu did not have time to think ¡ª he trusted in his intuition. Without any hesitation, he abruptly swung the giant sword in his hands at those two interference missiles he had been ignoring.


    If there was danger about, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s intuition believed that it must being from these two interference missiles he had been ignoring!


    Two loud rumbling explosions rang out.


    The giant sword struck one of the interference missiles and the missile exploded upon contact. However, the other missile avoided the sword¡¯s interception to fly straight at Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s chest.


    Under this great looming sense of danger, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s finger speed reached his limits. At thest minute, he managed to tilt his mecha to the side, avoiding a strike to the chest, but the missile still struck his mecha¡¯s left shoulder. Right after that, the second interference missile exploded.


    The explosive power of the interference missiles was beyond his expectations ¡ª Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha was instantly sent flying back several hundred metres from the st. The massive blow caused the blood to roil in his chest, leaving his chest feeling heavy and making him nauseous. If not for the protective mechanisms inside the cockpit, as well as his own tough constitution, the force of this st would likely have been enough to injure him badly.


    However, the mecha Jiang Shaoyu operated was not so lucky. The left arm had beenpletely blown off by the interference missile ¡ª even the defensive power of an ace mecha was unable to withstand against this explosive force.


    The horrifying destructive power of the interference missiles which went against allmon knowledge caused a rare lull to roll over the audience. It took several seconds for a loud roar to rise up as the venue was filled with the raucous expressions of disbelief. The interference missiles which had been fired from the head of Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha had blown apart all everyone¡¯s expectations ¡ª there were even a few missile experts in the crowd who leapt to their feet in excitement.


    With regards to the weapons stored in the head of mecha, these experts naturally wanted to add some power to the missiles there while retaining the interference function the missiles were meant to serve. However, due to the low weight bearing capacity of the head area and the very limited amount of physical space, both the factors of mass and weight had put an end to all possibility of enhancing the offensive power of the missiles. They had not expected a new possibility to rise in this area where they had already given up. This excited them greatly, and they could not wait for the match to just end so they could grab hold of that special-ss operator and properly take apart his mecha to properly see what in the world those interference missiles were.


    When Chang Xinyuan heard the spectators around him all discussing what those interference missiles could be, he smiled so smugly that his eyes were slits. He had originally thought that he had created some useless things, but surprisingly, under Boss Lan¡¯s arrangement, those trash had actually be treasures, managing to achieve an unexpectedly great lethal effect in mechabat.


    At this thought, Chang Xinyuan felt somewhat regretful. Such an unexpected sneak attack had still been dodged by Jiang Shaoyu. If the opponent had been struck dead-on in the chest, the entire power system of his mecha would have been destroyed, making it a true killing move!


    However, Chang Xinyuan¡¯s regrets very quickly disappeared. On the field, having lost his left arm, Jiang Shaoyu had insult added to injury ¡ª his giant sword suddenly broke with a loud ¡¯snap¡¯, right in the middle. The top half of the de fell heavily to the ground below, sending up a spray of dust.


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯splexion paled greatly at the sight and he stared in shock at the remains of his giant sword in his mecha¡¯s right hand, unusually confused. Even now, he still could not understand how the rather harmless interference missiles could suddenly be so powerful. It was beyond his imagination. Two interference missiles ¡ª one destroyed his left arm, while the other destroyed his sword ... could it be that the Federation had developed some new range of interference missiles? And the opponent had just been lucky enough to get his hands on some?


    Jiang Shaoyu naturally could not obtain an answer, because these interference missiles had been created by Chang Xinyuan of Ling Lan¡¯s battle n. Chang Xinyuan had always considered these missiles his failed products, and so he had never spoken of them to outsiders. If Ling Lan had not seen the value these modified missiles had, they would probably still be buried somewhere in Chang Xinyuan¡¯s workshop.


    Seeing the oue, Zhao Jun was also sighing in regret in his heart. Two ultra-NG missiles, and in the end, he had only managed to destroy one of the opponent¡¯s arms. By Boss Lan¡¯s estimates, the best oue was destroying half of the opponent¡¯s mecha.


    Jiang Shaoyu could notprehend why things had turned out this way, but he was aware enough to know that he had lost face big time now. A grand ace operator actually being pushed to such a sorry state by a special-ss operator. Even though he had previously managed to deal considerable damage to the opponent¡¯s mecha with his powerful torrent of blows, leaving the opponent¡¯s mecha covered in scars, the opponent had still retained the overall integrity of his mecha on the surface. In this aspect, he had lost to the opponent.


    The cheers of the crowd were clearly for the opponent, Jiang Shaoyu knew. He felt a strong sense of shame ... with a ¡¯snap¡¯, in his brain, a cord called ¡¯rationality¡¯ broke. With reddened eyes, Jiang Shaoyu stared at the mecha before his eyes, and his mind had only one thought in it ¡ª kill him ... he must kill the opponent! Only then could he wash away his disgrace!


    Jiang Shaoyu violently threw aside that broken half sword left in his hands, and then his mecha¡¯s right arm reached behind his back to pull out the handle of a beam saber. As soon as he flicked the switch, the beam several metres long instantly extended from the handle. At the same time, his mecha¡¯s engines began to rumble loudly and in the next second, his mecha streaked forwards like a beam of light, barrelling straight towards Zhao Jun who was several hundred metres away ...


    "So quick!" Everyone eximed. This was the true power of an ace. Before this, due to being absent-minded, Jiang Shaoyu had not really disyed the strength an ace operator should have. This was also why Zhao Jun had been able to withstand the opponent¡¯s wild blows earlier.


    "If Jiang Shaoyu had used the strength he is now disying from the start, Zhao Jun would most likely have already lost by now," said Li Lanfeng with a sigh, seated beside Ling Lan. Though he said this, he was honestly happy for his good friend over his good luck.


    Ling Lan nodded in agreement. Frankly, the n she had designed for Zhao Jun actually had a w.


    Enraging the opponent could indeed make the opponent lose his cool and cause his strength to decrease, but there were actually two other possible oues. One was that despite the anger, the opponent would still be able to control his emotions and retain his originalbat power, while the other was the one Ling Lan most did not wish to see. Out of anger, the opponent may instead dig deep and unleash histent abilities, making hisbat power burst past his limits.


    Fortunately, Jiang Shaoyu had not turned out to be that type of oddball, allowing Zhao Jun to aplish his goal despite the most dangerous of margins, iming one of the opponent¡¯s arms. However, at this moment, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s strength had been restored to its original standards. Zhao Jun¡¯s luck hade to an end ¡ª the match would be over soon. Ling Lan came to a conclusion.


    From the audience¡¯s perspective, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha hurtled like lightning towards Zhao Jun. And from Zhao Jun¡¯s own perspective, he only saw a sh and the opponent was already right before him, the other¡¯s beam saber mercilessly piercing straight for his cockpit ...


    This scene made Zhao Jun¡¯s face change drastically. He quickly operated his mecha to turn to one side, and the opponent¡¯s beam saber scraped across his mecha¡¯s outer armour. The power of the beam saber exceeded the maximum tolerance of Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha¡¯s beam shield, hence leaving a noticeable scratch on the mecha¡¯s armour.


    Everyone gasped in shock. Seated in the viewing area, Ling Lan¡¯s frigid and stony expression also shifted beyond her control. Her eyes narrowed as rage shed through them.


    "Zhao Jun, it¡¯s time to admit defeat," muttered Ling Lan silently, rather anxious inside. It could not be avoided ¡ª she had an extra burden of worry this time; she did not wish for any of her members to meet with any idents in this tournament.


    Having avoided that killing blow, Zhao Jun heard the feedback given by the mecha¡¯s A.I. and his initially enthusiastic expression froze. A surge of rage spread uncontrobly within him. Thatst blow was certainly no mistake or a simple slip of the hand ¡ª it was intentional; the opponent wanted to kill him ...


    Zhao Jun might appear to be a savage brute, the perfect picture of a thug ¡ª while he had been with the Wuji Mecha n, he had also been mistaken for a simple-minded battle freak ¡ª but in reality, he had a set code of conduct. He would repay the tiniest drop of kindness with a fountain, and collect a skull for the grievance of a broken tooth. If Jiang Shaoyu intended to be underhanded, Zhao Jun naturally would not just take this in silence.


    Seeing Jiang Shaoyu charging to attack him once more, a cold gleam shed through Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes. His fingers began to dance fervently and his mecha moved. Firmament was gripped firmly in his right hand as his arms spread out slightly, and the tip of the de dipped down to a 45-degree angle.³¬¼¶NgÅÚ: Seriously, that¡¯s what the author calls them here. I guess that¡¯s the name Chang Xinyuan gave them?µÎˮ֮¶÷µ±ÒÔӿȪÏ౨,¶Ï³ÝÖ®³ð±ØÐëͷ­³¥»¹: Lovely metaphor. I had fun tranting this. Basically, to repay any kindness with greater kindness, and to return any offence with greater vengeance.

 Chapter 455 Qiao Tings Innate Talent!

    Just as Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s beam saber was once again turned towards Zhao Jun¡¯s cockpit, his arm abruptly jerked upwards. Inside his cockpit, Zhao Jun roared in anger. Firmament darted out in a dark streak of light, drawing a half-circle in the air, its de driving up from the base of the opponent¡¯s leg towards the opponent¡¯s cockpit ...


    "Ah ..." Zhao Jun¡¯s decision to not avoid the opponent¡¯s attack in favour of an internecine oue made everyone in the audience cry out in shock. Some of the more timid female audience members were even so afraid that they covered their faces with their hands, shielding their eyes in fear of witnessing a tragedy.


    When Ling Lan, who had already been extremely worried to begin with, saw this scene y out, her face changed drastically and she rose to her feet. Right then, she was unbelievably shocked and angry. She had always thought that Zhao Jun was a calm and discerning person, and thatbined with his four years of mechabat experience, he would not make any errors in judgment. Unexpectedly, he too had bouts of irrationality, actually disregarding his own life and safety like this ...


    Right at that critical moment, a mecha suddenly descended from the skies above. It appeared in an instant above the two mecha, immediately pressing the two mecha which were about to destroy each other onto the ground.


    A loud ¡¯boom¡¯ rang out, and the entire stadium was shaking uncontrobly due to the force behind it. Dust and dirt spread out everywhere, but because there was a shield separating thebat field from the audience seats, the audience was not affected by the dust and dirt.


    Only after the dust had cleared could the crowd see that a dazzling mecha was half-kneeling on the field. That mecha was slightly bent over, both arms stretched down to hold both Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s and Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha firmly against the ground.


    Meanwhile, Jiang Shaoyu and Zhao Jun were like tworge tortoises, pathetically pressed t on the ground. They appeared to still be struggling, trying to climb off the ground, but their opponent¡¯s strength was just too much for them. Regardless of how they resisted and pushed back, it was all to no avail. Their struggling merely made them look even more like fat tortoises.


    The sudden appearance of the dazzling mecha finally put a stop to this match which might have ended in bloodshed. The audience instantly released a collective sigh of relief. Ling Lan, who had stood up straight in her shock and anger, also calmed down in the face of this scene and sat down again.


    However, Ling Lan was still frowning deeply, her anger not at all appeased by Zhao Jun¡¯s escape from danger. Her eyes narrowed briefly as rage coursed through them. She decided that a whileter, she would find a chance to bring Zhao Jun to abat hall once and let him have a personal taste of the terrible consequences of being rash and irrational.


    At this time, everyone had recognised that the dazzling mecha was one of the five imperial mecha the Federation had previously announced. As such, there was no doubt that the operator of the mecha must be an imperial operator. They were stunned that an imperial operator would appear here, but at the same time, they rejoiced. After all, top-ss operators above ace almost never appeared in this kind ofrge events.


    Gradually, the whispered discussion coalesced into a uniform cheer of ¡¯imperial¡¯, a testament of the reverence and love the people of this world held for top-ss masters, which was arguably greater than that of some entertainment superstars.


    By the time the audience¡¯s passion calmed, the audience could guess the reason behind this imperial operator¡¯s appearance. After all, the Grand Mecha Tournament brought together all the most outstanding cadets of the Federation. In order to ensure their safety, to make sure that no one with ill intentions would harm them, as well as to prevent any tragic idents from urring during the tournament, the military had specially sent a few imperial masters to monitor the event. Especially since there were three ace operators participating in the tournament this time, the number of imperial operators sent here had even been increased by a few more.


    In fact, the military was also extremely afraid that any carelessness might result in the loss of the talents of the Federation. Mind you, every single prodigy was a treasure to them.


    After confirming that the two of them would not continue attacking each other, the imperial mecha released its hold on the two mecha and stood up.


    As soon as Jiang Shaoyu and Zhao Jun regained their freedom, they instantly climbed up from the ground, ring fiercely at each other though the other would not be able to see it. Only then did they stand meekly before the imperial operator, waiting for his verdict.


    Ever since they broke the rules of the tournament, they had already been mentally prepared to be disciplined.


    "Jiang Shaoyu, Zhao Jun, for viting the associated rules of the tournament, and for the severity of the transgression, after deliberation of the panel, your punishment is as follows. An instant deduction of 100 points in this tournament! When the team battles begin, Jiang Shaoyu is banned for five rounds, Zhao Jun is banned for three." After he received the final verdict of the judging panel, the imperial operator coldly announced the punishment the panel had decided to dole on the two boys.


    When Jiang Shaoyu heard the verdict, hisplexion paled. He was the absolute main force for his academy in the group mechabatpetition. This five-round ban would be an absolutely subversive blow to his academy. That is to say that, before his team entered the top ten, he would not have any chance to be on the field. To win, it would all depend on his teammates¡¯ efforts then. If they lost before that point, this would mean that his journey here in this year¡¯s tournament would end, and he could only wait till the battle royal on the final day to be involved again.


    Jiang Shaoyu did not want things to be like this ¡ª he had led his team here to get the title of champion for both the single mechabat and group mechabat events, and not just for a simple excursion. Although bing the champion of the single mechabat was now out of reach, he still had not given up on the group champion title.


    Under this heavy blow, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mind finally cleared. Recalling how he had struggled so much against a special-ss operator, he was immensely frustrated and upset, hating how badly he had performed in this match. He had lost his usual standards, falling for the opponent¡¯s schemes again and again, bing aughing stock ...


    On this end, Jiang Shaoyu was mired in chagrin, but Zhao Jun on the other side seemedpletely unaffected. This was because, in the uing group mechabat event, he was never the primary force to begin with. He was a substitute for that event, the extreme sixth man ¡ª whether or not he would even get a chance to take the field was debatable.


    In this manner, as the two contestants were both docked 100 points, this meant that Zhao Jun and Jiang Shaoyu were eliminated from the match at the same time. After extended discussion, the judging panel ruled that Jiang Shaoyu and Zhao Jun would both share third ce, while the fourth ce would be left empty ...


    Learning of this oue, Zhao Jun whistled loudly at the skies with a wide grin. He had originally just nned to leave several scratches on the opponent¡¯s mecha armour to vent some of his fighting spirit as well as pay back a little of the grudge on Luo Lang¡¯s behalf; now, not only had he destroyed one of the opponent¡¯s arms, he had also ruined the other¡¯s sword. He had truly overachieved in this task. Most importantly, his ranking was the same as the opponent ¡ª the thought of being equal to a special-ss operator would definitely disgust the other ... this was stating that he, as an ace, was actually no different from a special-ss operator. This was an absolute stinging smack to the face, a handful of salt thrown onto the wound in the opponent¡¯s heart.


    At this moment, Zhao Jun¡¯s admiration for Ling Lan was indescribable. The n of action Boss Lan had created for him had considered all possible responses of the opponent, not at all weaker than a scheme hatched by Li Lanfeng. Moreover, as an operations expert, Boss Lan¡¯s n was even more suitable for a mecha operator, direct yet amazingly effective. Compared to Li Lanfeng¡¯s convoluted plots, Zhao Jun much preferred Boss Lan¡¯s ns.


    Very quickly, the two of them had gone backstage and disembarked from their mecha tond on the ground. Qiao Ting nodded at Zhao Jun in greeting, expressing his approval. Zhao Jun¡¯s performance at fighting Jiang Shaoyu to a draw both surprised and pleased him. After all, the point difference between third and fourth ce was still quite significant, and Qiao Ting naturally hoped that their school would rack up more points ¡ª this would be very advantageous to their final ranking.


    Lin Xiao also walked up to Zhao Jun to offer his congrattions. After all, wresting a draw from an ace operator was an achievement Zhao Jun could be proud of. Jiang Shaoyu saw how Lin Xiao and Qiao Ting were pretty much ignoring him, and the humiliation he felt became even heavier. He huffed coldly and stormed out of the backstage. As for Lin Xiao and Qiao Ting¡¯s match after this, he was already in no mood to watch it.


    Very soon, the staff informed Lin Xiao and Qiao Ting to get ready; it would soon be their turn to fight. Lin Xiao breezily bid farewell to Zhao Jun and left. Zhao Jun looked at Lin Xiao¡¯s back as he left, and then turned to nce at Qiao Ting and said, "Qiao Ting, that fellow is very strong in closebat. If he gets close to you, it¡¯ll be very disadvantageous for you. Be careful."


    "Yes, I know!" replied Qiao Ting, but when he turned to leave, he said lowly, "Thank you!" After experiencing failure, betrayal, and being ostracized, Qiao Ting had be very humble and low-key. This made Zhao Jun hate him less, and so he was willing to talk a bit more with Qiao Ting and remind him to watch out. If this had been the previous Qiao Ting ... Zhao Jun would not have said anything even if he was going to be beaten to death.


    Finally, the two contestants operated their respective mecha onto the stage that was now theirs. Qiao Ting watched Lin Xiao slowly approaching and he also operated his mecha to move forwards. Reflexively, he nced at the sitting area of the other participants. He knew that Ling Lan would inevitably be there watching this uing match ...


    Qiao Ting clenched his fists and took in a deep breath, casting aside all the stray thoughts in his mind. Right now, his opponent was Lin Xiao ¡ª even though Lin Xiao was very strong, being an all-rounder and so countering him to some extent, Qiao Ting was still unafraid. He would use the victory of this match to tell everyone that he, Qiao Ting, was unafraid of anyone¡¯s challenge when it came to mecha control. He was still the number one of all the military academies!


    Qiao Ting knew very well that only Ling Lan was an exception. Ling Lan was a psychological demon in his path to bing strong ¡ª only by defeating the Lingtian Mecha n the other led would he be able to set aside his fixation on Ling Lan and focus on bing stronger. Otherwise, unable to rid himself of distraction, he would not be able to progress far on this road, and that was something that he absolutely would not allow.


    The referee checked in with both contestants, and finding them ready, he waved the green g in his hand.


    At the very moment the referee¡¯s g moved, Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha slid back several hundred metres, pulling away from Lin Xiao. Lin Xiao was indeed strong at both closebat and long-rangebat, but in terms of long-range attacks, he was definitely not as good as Qiao Ting who specialized in long-rangebat. Qiao Ting¡¯s mentor, the elite ace Tang Yu had said before that Qiao Ting was a natural-born sniper king. His innate talent allowed him to be unlike other long-range mecha operators who needed a certain amount of time to lock onto their targets and make adjustments when shooting; Qiao Ting could almost lock onto a target instantly ¡ª one nce was enough for him to lock on and shoot.


    In fact, Qiao Ting¡¯s closebat skills were also good, but ever since he had awakened this instant targeting innate talent, under the guidance of his mentor, he had given up on closebat to focus on long-rangebat. Qiao Ting¡¯s decision was undoubtedly correct ¡ª his singr focus had allowed him to enter ace level a step ahead of everyone else. Moreover, this focus had also given him a much deeper and more profound understanding of the nature and intricacies of long-rangebat. As such, with regards to long-rangebat, he had travelled much further and deeper than any of his peers ...

 Chapter 456 Quandary and Decision!

    Qiao Ting wanted to distance himself and enter long-rangebat mode. Lin Xiao, who had done his research on Qiao Ting, did not want to let him do as he wished. As soon as Qiao Ting moved, Lin Xiao reacted quickly, moving along with him. Of course, Lin Xiao did not retreat but moved forwards instead, and his speed was not much slower than Qiao Ting¡¯s.


    Lin Xiao¡¯s long-range attack was also very strong and so he would be able to hold his own in a long-range showdown. Thus, even if he could not obtain victory at that time, he could at least remain undefeated till the end of the match, and then the final oue would be determined by the points each contestant still had at that moment. However, Lin Xiao knew that his chances of winning with this option were not high. Showcasing his long-range attack skills in front of an opponent whose long-range skills excelled over his own was foolish ¡ª from the perspective of the judges, the decision would be obvious. Without question, the victor would be Qiao Ting.


    There was not a single contestant who had fought his way to the finals who did not want to reach the very top. No one would choose an option which they knew for certain would end in a loss for themselves. Likewise, Lin Xiao would not choose that way either. In the afternoon, before the match, he had consulted with his instructors, and they all felt that there was no chance in long-range mode; his only opportunityid in closebat.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s specialization in long-rangebat was no secret. His closebat skills could be said to be good too, but whenpared to a true closebat specialist, his skills were really nothing much. And Lin Xiao¡¯s closebat abilities were really pretty close to that of a closebat specialist ¡ª if the fight was brought into close range, Lin Xiao believed that Qiao Ting would definitely be no match for him.


    The key was whether he could drag the fight into close range, just like how Qiao Ting¡¯s victory would depend on whether he could put some distance between them to attack from long range.


    Both their objectives were very clear ¡ª one wanted a long-range fight, while the other wanted a close-range fight. And so the two of them were in a deadlock, one flying away at top speed, while the other chased him fervently. Originally, Qiao Ting¡¯s long-range mecha should have had a certain advantage in terms of speed, but Lin Xiao¡¯s mecha just so happened to have been modified to improve its speed; thus, Qiao Ting was unable to wrest free of the other anytime soon. After flying four to fiveps around the field, this stalemate remained unbroken ... neither side could do anything to the other.


    On their sixthp, Qiao Ting sighed internally. Truly, this Lin Xiao was not that easy to handle, but he had long made provisions for this type of situation ... in mid-flight, he drew a shortpact gun from the fixed slot at the back of his waist and took aim at Lin Xiao who was still flying desperately after him.


    It was a beam handgun, a standard weapon for closebat mecha. Its range was extremely limited, only suitable for close-range shots, barely usable in mid-range, andpletely useless at long range. It was a gun so normal that people tended to overlook it, but it now left Lin Xiao in a quandary.


    The distance between Qiao Ting and himself was precisely the optimal shooting range for this beam handgun. Although the range of a beam handgun was short, its power was decent. In particr, the beam handguns exclusive to ace mecha had even greater power ¡ª if someone was hit continuously for three seconds by the gun, their beam shield would be overwhelmed and their mecha would show signs of damage. Six seconds of consecutive shooting would deal irreparable damage to a mecha.


    "Hells, why would a long-range shooter have this trifle of a handgun for closebat mecha with him?" Lin Xiao was taken by surprise. He had never imagined that Qiao Ting would have such a weapon on him, which was why he had dared to chase after him without any worry ... he just could not understand why Qiao Ting would choose to equip this closebat weapon, a beam handgun which even he did not think much of before this match, as one of hisbat weapons.


    It should be known that for the mechabat events, both for single or group, the equipment and weapons on a contestant¡¯s mecha were unknown before they went up onto the field. Only in the final 10 minutes before the match would the participants decide on the final selection of weapons they would equip and let the staff members help them organise everything within that time. In other words, this beam handgun of Qiao Ting¡¯s had never ever appeared in all of the hypotheticalbat scenarios Lin Xiao had simted.


    To advance or to retreat? Lin Xiao gritted his teeth and pushed his engines to the maximum setting. Following this operation, his mecha¡¯s speed surged once more, and his mecha leapt at Qiao Ting with an audible swoosh.


    Lin Xiao¡¯s decision was to advance because he was well aware that if he retreated, he would no longer have any hope of bing champion. He was unwilling to ept this oue, so he decided to fight for it.


    With the surge in his mecha¡¯s speed, Lin Xiao once again shortened the distance between him and Qiao Ting. However, this speed was achieved by running his engines to overcapacity and so would notst for long. He needed to get close enough to Qiao Ting before his engines reached their limits; otherwise, defeat would still be the oue that awaited him ...


    Right at this moment, Qiao Ting finally pulled the trigger and a beam of light shot straight for Lin Xiao. Lin Xiao calmly moved his fingers ¡ª with his full concentration put into it, Lin Xiao¡¯s hand speed was also pushed to the limit. ording to his operation, his mecha began shing to the left and right without any system to it. This was the Irregr Flicker which only ace operators could learn. However, Lin Xiao had yet to master it ¡ª at times, between flickers, some traces of his figure could be still be seen.


    The irregr flicker made Qiao Ting unable to grasp Lin Xiao¡¯s movements; his beam shots all struck air. Meanwhile, Lin Xiao was once again drawing closer to Qiao Ting. Seeing this, Qiao Ting¡¯s brow furrowed. He suddenly changed his shooting style ¡ª his hand which had been holding down the trigger began to twitch sporadically.


    At this time, the beam he fired was no longer an unceasing stream of light but cluster after cluster of beam bullets. Qiao Ting¡¯s hand speed also reached a limit and over the span of several seconds, he had used up all the power inside his beam handgun. But the results were evident ¡ª in the air, a massive of beam projectiles had appeared. Front and back, left and right, from all directions, at almost the same speed, these projectiles were raining down on Lin Xiao ... Qiao Ting did not give Lin Xiao any room to evade. Either Lin Xiao backed off, or he would have to rely on his mecha¡¯s beam shield defence to forcibly withstand these attacks.


    No, it should be said that Qiao Ting¡¯s objective was for Lin Xiao to eat these attacks, because Qiao Ting knew that Lin Xiao would definitely not choose to retreat. And so, Lin Xiao had no other choice.


    Sure enough, Lin Xiao instantly activated his beam shield, his mecha charging into the web of beam projectiles. The projectiles struck home with muted thuds, and Lin Xiao¡¯s initially radiant beam shield instantly dimmed ...


    After its energy had been drained, a beam shield needed one second to replenish its power. This was why Lin Xiao dared to forcefully receive Qiao Ting¡¯s attacks. As long as the attacks did not break through the beam shield instantly, no matter how much power was drained from the beam shield, the beam shield would be back to normal in the next second. And in this one second, Qiao Ting would not be able to shoot any more beams at him because the opponent¡¯s gun had already been utterly drained of power.


    Lin Xiao was well familiar with the characteristics of a beam shield, and so was Qiao Ting. He had so willingly exhausted all the power from his beam handgun to create this beam, so how could he not have a follow-up move prepared? It should be said that that seemingly pointless beam had already served its purpose.


    When the beam projectiles hit Lin Xiao, Qiao Ting operated his mecha to m its left hand on an ejection instation on its waist. An energy storage unit sprang out and at the same time, the mecha¡¯s right hand deftly swiped at the button at the bottom of the gun, and the drained energy storage unit fell out abruptly ...


    The mecha¡¯s right hand then dipped with the handgun, urately catching the new energy storage unit, letting it slot neatly into ce within the gun. The mecha¡¯s left hand followed immediately, pping over the rear end of the gun, locking in the energy storage unit with a click.


    Quicker than words could say, in less than a second, Qiao Ting was done recing the handgun¡¯s energy block. This series of actions were clean and efficient, each action flowing into the next as smoothly as water ... the audience could not help but cry out in shock and surprise. There was no doubt that this disy of Qiao Ting¡¯s involved a high level of technical skill. On the battlefield, this technique would allow Qiao Ting to live longer than other people.


    After recing his handgun¡¯s energy storage unit, Qiao Ting did not hesitate to pull the trigger of the gun once more, sending another wave of beam projectiles towards Lin Xiao, who still had not fully recovered from thest round of explosions.


    "Goddammit! It was a trick!" When the First Co-ed Military Academy students saw this scene, they were instantly pounding their chests in frustration. At this moment, anyone could see the purpose behind Qiao Ting¡¯s creation of a beam despite having to drain his gun¡¯s power; he had been trying to force Lin Xiao to back off ...


    At this moment, Lin Xiao could also tell that the momentum was gone. Frankly, from the very moment he had not taken the beam handgun into ount, he had already been forced into a passive position. He just had not wanted to admit defeat, and thus had walked step by step into Qiao Ting¡¯s set-up. He could only choose to retreat now, to free himself from the attack range of the beam projectiles. The beam projectile clusters finally ended up hitting the ground. The ¡¯pow, pow, pow¡¯ sounds rang out everywhere, as the strikes sent clouds of dust and dirt into the air. By the time everything settled, the ground was already covered in potholes of various depth.


    Meanwhile, Lin Xiao¡¯s retreat had allowed Qiao Ting to pull away once more. By the time Lin Xiao dodged the beam clusters and began giving chase once more, Qiao Ting had already achieved the distance he wanted.


    With an audible ¡¯ck¡¯, Qiao Ting drew a huge, long gun from his mecha¡¯s back with his left hand. This was his personal gun ¡ª¡ª a ballistic sniper rifle. It was his key weapon to win this match. At the same time, his mecha¡¯s right hand holstered the beam handgun back in the dock at his waist.


    With a great swing of his mecha¡¯s left hand, Qiao Ting¡¯s gun flew into the air, and his mecha quickly followed it up into the skies as well. With a p, he caught the rifle in both hands, steadied it on his shoulders, and aimed for Lin Xiao in the distance.


    The appearance of this rifle made Lin Xiao¡¯s expression change drastically. He had worked so hard to ward off this gun but in the end, the gun had still appeared.


    Lin Xiao smiled bitterly inside his heart, but he still operated his mecha to fly forwards rapidly ¡ª no matter what, he needed to rush forwards in time. As long as he managed to get within 500 metres of the gun, the ballistic sniper rifle would lose its power. Then, he would still have a chance.


    However, how could Qiao Ting let Lin Xiao have his wish when he had already obtained what he wanted? Holding the ballistic sniper rifle steady, he kept his sights on Lin Xiao and calmly pulled the trigger. Without much pause, he sent three consecutive shots at his opponent.


    From taking aim to shooting, Qiao Ting¡¯s speed was so fast that Lin Xiao waspletely flustered and caught off-guard. Although Qiao Ting¡¯s data had clearlybelled him as a long-range mecha operator, the deepest secret had still remained unknown to the public. No one knew his innate talent was Instant Lock-on; thus, every person who went up against Qiao Ting would be stunned by his super-fast sniping speed.


    Could it be that Qiao Ting had fired these three shots blindly? This was Lin Xiao¡¯s first reaction, but he instantly rejected the idea after that. How could Qiao Ting, such an outstanding person who had been able to ascend to ace level in his fourth year, make such a rudimentary mistake?


    Lin Xiao did not believe it, nor would the audience believe it. Indeed, their judgment was correct. These three shots of Qiao Ting had truly not been indiscriminate wild shots. As the three shots loomed ever closer to him, Lin Xiao realized this profoundly.


    And so, he once again faced another quandary which needed him to make a final decision!½´ÓÍǹ: The author actually uses the phrase ¡¯soy sauce gun¡¯ here. Think of it as a condiment -- soy sauce is not necessary for a meal; it¡¯s just something extra which won¡¯t even be missed much even if it¡¯s not there. (Disimer: This is by no means what I actually think of soy sauce. Soy sauce is mmmm.)

 Chapter 457 Difficult to Let Go!

    A ballistic sniper rifle was not a beam energy gun; it would not fire beams but solid bullets. However, these bullets were not low-powered gunpowder bullets but extremely horrifying maic burst energy bullets. The maic energy had been sessfully condensed into the bullets, and once a bullet hit its target, due to the high-speed collision, the maic burst energy inside would smash through the protectiveyer of the bullet and cause a violent burst of maic energy.


    If the power of the explosion exceeded the defensive capabilities of a mecha¡¯s beam shield, then tragedy would befall the operator. The maic energy was especially powerful against metal ¡ª as soon as it came into contact with the outer armour of a mecha, it would ravage the electrical wiring inside it, causing the control systems of the mecha to malfunction and thus leading to the defeat of the mecha operator.


    Qiao Ting was clearly well aware of the power of a ballistic rifle ¡ª Lin Xiao was likewise well aware, and he naturally would not allow Qiao Ting to hit his mecha if he could avoid it. However, he found that evading was really very difficult because only one of the three shots was targeting him; the other two shots had sealed off his escape paths on the left and right. If he did not dodge, he would be hit, but if he dodged to either side, he would also be hit. The only directions he could choose to escape from were up or down ...


    Should he go up or should he go down? Lin Xiao knew that he only had one chance. Qiao Ting¡¯s limit was most probably four shots ¡ª if he had the ability to fire five shots instantly, he definitely would not have just fired these three shots. If he had shot all five straight away, Lin Xiao would have had no other option but to admit defeat.


    Lin Xiao knew that as soon as he chose the wrong direction, he would lose the match. He did not expect that the time to determine the final oue woulde so soon ¡ª he had initially thought that, at worst, he would be able to hold out till the time limit for the match almost ran out. This Qiao Ting ... he had still underestimated him.


    Since it was a gamble either way, then he would just have to see how lucky he was. Qiao Ting¡¯s hands were very steady, so there was no way to tell from them whether Qiao Ting was going to shoot up or down. Moreover, the two of them did not have time to hesitate.


    Lin Xiao finally made his choice. Just as his body moved upwards, Qiao Ting also fired his fourth shot.


    Right at this moment, rms rang in Lin Xiao¡¯s mind. Without conscious thought, his fingers reached out for the on-off button for his mecha¡¯s engines. Perhaps due to the pressure, his fingers actually vanished from sight for a moment as they moved and by the time they reappeared, one of his fingers was already pressing down on the button and the engine instantly shut down.


    The initially rising mecha dropped without the support of its engines and immediately after that, the engines rumbled once more. In the process, the engines had been recalibrated to zero level, so Lin Xiao rode the momentum to push the engines to push him down even further. With the addition of the engaged thrust of the engines, Lin Xiao¡¯s mecha plummeted even more rapidly.


    Turning off the engines had both a good side and a bad side. The good side was that one did not need to shift gears to move in the opposite direction, so not only could one save the time needed to change gears, this also would not cause much damage to the engines. If not absolutely necessary, a mecha operator would never switch so rapidly between opposing thrust forces. The bad side was that once the engines were turned off, the initial high-gear power supplied to the engines would be abruptly cut off and drop to zero instantly. When the engines were activated once more, due process would have to be taken to restore the engines to its initial high-powered state.


    But at this time, turning off the engines was really the most suitable choice. Due to gravity, the mecha had already been falling rapidly, so when the engines were activated once more, the speed of Lin Xiao¡¯s descent instantly reduced the restoration process of the engine in building up momentum, sending it directly into a high-powered state.


    Of course, the main purpose of shutting off the engines was to cut short the time needed to switch directions. In a situation where every second counts, where one¡¯s life hung in the bnce, being able to shorten the time by even just 0.01 seconds could turn the whole situation around.


    "Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong!"


    Four bullets grazed by Lin Xiao¡¯s mecha, hitting the boundary shield and emitting loud explosions.


    Everyone could see the fourrge circles of light that had appeared on the shield in the wake of these explosions. The audience members directly facing these light circles were terribly shocked ¡ª their faces were pale as they wiped away the cold sweat on their foreheads, and only at this time did they notice that their legs were also weak from the fright.


    When they had seen those four bullets heading straight for them, at that instant, they experienced the terror of impending death. Their hearts had stopped beating for about three seconds ... luckily, the boundary shield had held up, intercepting all the force of the bullets. Thus, their hearts resumed beating again, and they felt as if they had been resurrected.


    Frankly, the audience members had just been scaring themselves. Any firearm that could appear on the mechabat field here would definitely have been subject to six thorough examinations by the organizers before being approved. As such, the audience¡¯s safety was assured ¡ª the force of any firearm on the field would never be able to ovee the defensive shields in ce and harm the audience.


    Although Lin Xiao had managed to avoid the crisis of being hit by those bullets, he was still in peril. His mecha was plummeting rapidly ¡ª if he could not stop his mecha before it hit the ground, he would have to bear the brunt of the collision. Even with the protection of the cockpit, the resulting intense concussive force would certainly leave him dizzy and disoriented.


    If he were not in the middle of a match, this might perhaps not be an issue; but now, there was still an eager Qiao Ting beside him, ready to pounce ... he absolutely could not make any mistakes!


    Lin Xiao pulled on his mecha¡¯s control stick with all his strength, cutting straight from a rapid descent to the maximum elevation thrust. This type of control method was extremely damaging to a mecha¡¯s engines ¡ª if unfortunate, the engines might even explode from the strain. However, at this moment, Lin Xiao had no mind to take all this into consideration. With a twisted expression, he yelled, "Get up now!"


    To pull a mecha up from a steep descent was one of the most difficult manoeuvres in mecha control. This was also why Lin Xiao had chosen to move up at first ¡ª changing directions after elevation was much easier inparison to going down first. As for descending, due to the effect of gravity, it was difficult to adjust directions quickly. The engines would have to first offset the pull of gravity before they could perform the operator¡¯s intended action. The time needed to offset gravity could very well leave him open to another snipe attack from Qiao Ting ...


    Sure enough, Qiao Ting¡¯s snipe attack came once more, but this time, four bullets came hurtling at him at the same time. It looked like Qiao Ting also knew that this was his best opportunity and so he was giving it his all, no longer holding back.


    The audience could also tell that the match had reached its key moment. They kept their eyes glued to the field, waiting for the next scene to develop. Would Lin Xiao be the one to escape sessfully in the end, or would Qiao Ting¡¯s four shots prove effective?


    "Bong! Bong! Bong!" Three shots exploded on the boundary shield as Lin Xiao dodged them.


    Close after that, another ¡¯bong!¡¯ rang out, but this time, the explosion urred at the right leg of Lin Xiao¡¯s mecha. All of the audience cried out at this development ¡ª even as they were d for Qiao Ting, they also felt sorry for Lin Xiao. This scene caused the expressions of the First Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s students to change. They all knew that Lin Xiao was in trouble now. The exact same scene, however, was greeted with cheers by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s students as they jumped around for joy. This sessful hit meant that Qiao Ting had gained the upper hand.


    Although the team members here representing the First Men¡¯s Military Academy came from various mecha ns within the academy which were constantly fighting with each other trying to assert their dominance, right here and now, they were one team. They were all sincerely happy at Qiao Ting¡¯s sess and shared the pride and glory of the moment.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s attack did not end there ¡ª he did not ease up on his advantage, calmly pulling his trigger once more. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Four consecutive booms marked four more shots from his ballistic sniper rifle ...


    On his end, Lin Xiao was already in a very bad state. Warnings red in a continuous stream from his mecha¡¯s A.I. ¡ª that final bullet had struck his mecha¡¯s right leg and, in the subsequent explosion, the control systems of his mecha¡¯s leg had been immediately destroyed. Although the systems of the others parts had not been affected, his overall bnce was thrown off due to the malfunction of the systems of his right leg. To resolve this problem, Lin Xiao needed to instantly recalibrate his bnce system ...


    However, Qiao Ting did not give him the chance, once again firing four bullets at him. At this point, Lin Xiao knew his defeat was certain. Off-bnce and dependant on his engines to merely stay suspended in the air, there was no more time for him to operate his mecha to dodge.


    Lin Xiao was a decisive person. Since he knew it was futile to struggle any further, he immediately raised both his hands to signify his surrender. The referee had been closely monitoring the proceedings and so immediately raised his red g. With that, the imperial operator watching the fight from an extremely high altitude instantly dived down and intercepted the four bullets headed for Lin Xiao with four shots of his own, setting them off before they could reach Lin Xiao ...


    Lin Xiao¡¯s surrender meant that Qiao Ting was now officially the king of the single mechabat event for this tournament. When Qiao Ting received the championship trophy signifying this special honour, he suddenly found that he was not as happy as he had expected to be ... as he walked down the podium to meet his team members, he saw Ling Lan¡¯s group leaving, and he abruptly understood.


    In that fight with Lingtian, his ace mecha had be broken and battered from the self-destructs of the Lingtian members before he had shed with Ling Lan, and thus had been on itsst legs. However, even so, he still could not let go of the fact that he had been finished off by Ling Lan in one move. Only by fighting Ling Lan once more and dealing the other a clean defeat would he be able to return to how he used to be ...


    Once again looking down at the trophy in his hands which represented the rank of top person in mechabat, Qiao Ting then threw it aside carelessly to an admiring team member beside him. With that, he started to walk out of thebat stadium without a backwards nce.


    "Boss Qiao, your trophy ..." The team member scrambled to catch the unexpected trophy thrown at him, calling out bemusedly to Qiao Ting who had already moved further front.


    Qiao Ting turned his head and said lightly, "If you like it, you can have it."


    "Ah ..." Not only was this team member left gaping in shock, but the other members were gobsmacked as well. This was proof of one¡¯s status as the number one in mechabat at the military academy level ¡ª how could it be given away so flippantly?


    Though the typically domineering Qiao Ting did not like exining himself, he had a soft spot for this group of members who had not abandoned him when he was at his lowest. Sensing his team members¡¯ disbelief, he thus added, "Not being able to be the number one of my own academy, then what use is there in gaining countless number ones outside?"


    Qiao Ting¡¯s words reminded his team members of their defeat at the hands of Lingtian. Reflexively, they turned to look at the figures of the Lingtian group disappearing in the distance ... it was as Boss Qiao had said. Without defeating that group, no matter how much glory they earned, they would be unable to cover up the fact that they had lost to someone else. At this thought, their initial joy and exhration disappeared. That trophy which they had admired so much earlier had now lost the appeal it had at the beginning.


    Just like this, Qiao Ting¡¯s group also left the venue. However, every member now had a clear goal in their hearts. They would defeat the Lingtian Mecha n properly once, and then move on to defeating the Lingtian Battle n once. And so, the two battle ns embarked onto the path of mutual rivalry ...The author actually uses this sound effect with English text in the raws.

 Chapter 458 Goal!

    The single mechabat event finally ended with Qiao Ting obtaining first ce. This oue was within most people¡¯s expectations ¡ª since Qiao Ting was known to be the second Ling Xiao, then he should of course be an undefeatable presence among his peers like Ling Xiao.


    However, the audience¡¯s enthusiasm for morepetition was not dampened by much due to the end of this event, because the even more thrilling group mechabat event would begin the following day.


    Compared to the single mechabat event which represented personal glory, the administrators of all the military academies were much more invested in the group mechabat event. This was because thispetition was the one that truly reflected the strength of a military academy. After every tournament, those academies which ranked higher in the group mechabat event would be able to receive even more resources from the Federation, as well as gain a higher rate of applications from top-notch scout academy students. Therefore, the group mechabat event was one of the most intense events of the entire tournament. Although it could notpare to the chaotic state of the team battle royal, it was not weaker by much ...


    The group rounds were run on a best of five system, first to win 3 matches wins. Each academy could send a total of six participants, five regr members and one substitute member. Unlike with the other events, where the substitute member could sub in at any moment, in the group mechabat event, the substitute member functioned as a true substitute. Only if a regr member was injured severely enough during the fights that he could not continue on would the substitute be able to rece said member and participate in the matches on his behalf; otherwise, the substitute member would not even have the chance to take the field.


    Generally, the five regr members participating in the group event would be the same five members who had participated in the solo event. However, this tradition was broken this year. In the name list submitted by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, Zhao Jun, who had obtained third ce in the single mechabat event, should have been a regr member, but he was instead relegated to being the most powerful substitute which had almost no chance of taking the field. Moreover, his slot was reced by an unfamiliar name ¡ª¡ª Ling Lan!


    The staff member in charge of registration at first thought that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had made a mistake, and so had specially contacted their chaperoning instructor. When asked, the instructor had smiled wryly and replied that everything listed was as it should be. Even as the staff member was stunned by the answer, he was also curious, wondering what kind of sacred being this Ling Lan was to be able to rece Zhao Jun.


    Due to the principle of confidentiality, the staff member did not speak of this issue to anyone else. Thus, the next day, when all of the participants from the various academies took to the field, the audience on the side of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy burst into amotion ...


    Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu, who were also regr members for this event, were equally taken by surprise. In particr, Han Yu cast a pitying nce at Zhao Jun standing behind them. In the hands of a n leader who was so jealous of talent, how could Zhao Jun do well? At this thought, Han Yu¡¯s intentions of recruiting Zhao Jun back stirred once more.


    Only Zhang Jing-an was unmoved because he knew very well that Ling Lan had always been very aberrant. Back in the scout academy, Ling Lan had already been able to give them seniors a serious beating as a seventh-grader. If Ling Lan had be mediocre after entering the military academy, only then would he have truly been shocked ...


    As for Qiao Ting, whether it was Ling Lan or Zhao Jun, they were just his temporaryrades in this event. As long as they did not hold him back, he did not care about the details. Of course, deep down, he trusted Ling Lan even more than he trusted Zhao Jun. Ling Lan¡¯s figure as he instant-killed him was deeply etched into Qiao Ting¡¯s mind, and it was a scene that he was constantly working on washing away.


    Meanwhile, in the VIP area, Lan Luofeng, who had only attended the opening ceremony before hiding away all this while in her amodations, finally reappeared in public. In high spirits, she was holding Ling Xiao¡¯s arm as she stared at the field, trying to locate her baby daughter among the crowd of 2000 people.


    That¡¯s right, the only thing that could draw Lan Luofeng out to attend was her dear and adorable daughter Ling Lan. She had long known that Ling Lan would be participating in the group mechabat event, so she had been waiting for thispetition to arrive. Only at this time could she openly watch her daughter and cheer for her.


    At this thought, Lan Luofeng could not help but resent Ling Xiao beside her again. If this bastard had not acted so wilfully, how could she have been separated from her daughter? Having to be so sneaky even just to meet up with her ... at this painful thought, Lan Luofeng did not hesitate to reach out her other hand to give her husband¡¯s waist a savage 360-degree pinch-twist. That one pinch did not seem to appease her enough; Lan Luofeng gave Ling Xiao several more hard pinches.


    Ling Xiao was in the middle of exchanging a few casual words with the other guests beside him. The corners of his eyes twitched, but he managed to endure the pain and maintain the kind smile on his face. Only after he finished his conversation did he turn around like nothing was wrong, gently grab hold of the jade hand still wrestling with the soft flesh at his waist, smile and say, "Luofeng? What¡¯s wrong?"


    Lan Luofeng red at him and moved her lips silently. From the shape of her lips, Ling Xiao managed to make out the word ¡¯daughter¡¯, and he realised that his wife must have recalled the stupid thing he had done with regards to their daughter again. His smile instantly turned bitter and he scratched his nose helplessly, saying nothing further.


    What else could he say? Lan Luofeng wasn¡¯t wrong toin ¡ª he was the one who forced his daughter to continue hiding her gender, and though he was not the one who made it impossible for Lan Luofeng to visit her daughter openly ... who asked Ling Lan to be his daughter? He still needed to take the me for it and, at the root of it all, he was still at fault anyway for cing Ling Lan in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. He really did have to tolerate Lan Luofeng¡¯s anger.


    On the first day, the morning matches were to determine the top 200. Aside from a few exciting match-ups, most of thepetition was nothing really worth watching. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy easily advanced to the next round ¡ª Han Yu, Zhang Jing-an, and Mu Shaoyu alone were enough to handle their opponents. Even as this disappointed Lan Luofeng, who had been eagerly anticipating her daughter¡¯s grand debut, she was alsoforted. After all, if her daughter did not have to go out onto the field then she would not be hurt. Compared to seeing her daughter perform well, Lan Luofeng was definitely more invested in making sure her daughter did not get hurt. Thus, Lan Luofeng very quickly adjusted her emotions and continued to watch the afternoon¡¯s matches.


    The afternoon matches were to determine the top 100 from the top 200. The opponents of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were also not very strong ¡ª even though Han Yu had some trouble in the first match, fighting his opponent till the end of the time limit to win by point advantage, the subsequent two matches were clean victories by Zhang Jing-an and Mu Shaoyu. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy once again advanced to the next round and yet again, Ling Lan did not have to take to the field.


    Still, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy sessful advancement into the top 100 made Lan Luofeng very happy. Ling Xiao was quick to grab hold of the opportunity to be all lovey-dovey with his wife. Ever sinceing to Qiming, it had dredged up all the ¡¯old grievances and new grudges¡¯ of Lan Luofeng. And so, Ling Xiao suffered a tragic fate ¡ª having to sleep consecutive N-nights on the sofa.


    The next day, Lan Luofeng¡¯s face was glowing with bliss when she arrived at thebat stadium. With just one nce, Ling Lan could tell that her mum, this not-that-old flower, had been well nurtured by her dad and was now radiating her beauty again ...


    Thepetition today was much busier than it had been yesterday. In the morning, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy only had one match, which would let them move from the top 100 to the top 50. This time, their opponent was a military academy from the first-rate Tongli. Among all the military academies of the Federation, this academy could rank within the top 30. As such, their team members were notparable to those from the lower-ranking academies; all five of their representatives were special-ss operators.


    The match order of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s members had never changed. By the time Han Yu began fighting with the first opponent, everyone knew that things were going to be a bit troublesome this time. The opponent was applying the principle of Tianji¡¯s horse-racing ¡ª the first fighter from the opponent¡¯s team was very strong; Han Yu was actually being suppressed.


    Seeing this, Qiao Ting frowned lightly and said to Ling Lan beside him, "Say, do you think this is their strongest candidate? Or is he just the third strongest?"


    Qiao Ting had seen how terrifying Ling Lan¡¯s abilities were from the two rounds of thepetition yesterday ¡ª Ling Lan was like an encyclopaedia; no matter how weak and unremarkable the opponent was, he could spout data on them like reading off the back of his hand. This led to Qiao Ting and the others turning to Ling Lan by habit to ask whenever they had any questions about the opponents.


    Ling Lan replied calmly, "This person entered the top 50 in the singlebat event. There is one other in their team who also entered the top 50, but stopped at the top 32, and the other two are out of the top 100 ..."


    Qiao Ting picked up on Ling Lan¡¯s tone and knew she had something more to say. The furrow of his brow deepened ¡ª if Han Yu lost this match, they might really be in trouble. "The final person ... is he in the top 16?" If thatst member was in the top 16, Mu Shaoyu¡¯s match would be a little precarious.


    "Oh, not to that extent. Their best candidate ranked 19," replied Ling Lan. Mu Shaoyu let out a sigh of relief when he heard this ¡ª Mu Shaoyu had ranked 13 in the single mechabat event, so he was still a steady bracket above the other.


    Han Yu¡¯sbat style had probably been thoroughly analysed by the opponent ¡ª although the two fighters were about equal in strength, caught off-guard, Han Yu finally lost the match. The spectators were bbergasted at this opening loss on the part of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. In their opinion, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy should have been triumphant all the way, fighting their way through their opponents unchallenged into the finals, to finally be champion of the group mechabat event. That was the way to truly live up to their reputation of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Han Yu¡¯s defeat made him extremely frustrated. He had made it into the top 32 in the singles event, but had now been defeated by someone who ranked lower than him. He felt greatly humiliated, but Ling Lan and the others did not go over to console him. Someone who could be the regimentmander of a mecha n would certainly have the ability to self-regte his emotions.


    Due to Han Yu¡¯s loss, Zhang Jing-an was clearly much more cautious in the second match. However, no matter how cautious he was, he could not hide the change in his expression when he discovered who his opponent was. His opponent was not the candidate who was in the top 50, but was instead the one who ranked 19.


    "Looks like they¡¯ve given up on the third match." The unexpected appearance of this person here in the second match caused the people of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to frown. What in the world was the other side aiming for? Even if the opponents won this match, there would be no one else capable of rivalling Mu Shaoyu on their side for the third match.


    Standing beside Ling Lan, Zhao Jun seemed to have figured out something. He could not help but chuckle and say, "Boss Lan, they seem to have set their sights on you. That top 32 candidate will probably be arranged to fight in the fourth match."T/C: Lol, Ling Lan is such a troll; not even telling her own side.The implication here being that Ling Lan would snatch the spotlight from the talented people in her n and try to suppress them.T/C: Eh-hm, one needs to have some cultivation in Gutter Dao to really understand what¡¯s going on here. Consider this a gentle shove in that direction. ¡¯Well nurtured¡¯ indeed. Let¡¯s just say Ling Xiao did not sleep on the sofast night. :3ͬÀí: There¡¯s seriously no cool English equivalent I can think of for this one. Roughly, it trantes to ¡¯Same Reason/Logic/Truth¡¯. I briefly considered  Equalogic¡¯, but editor-H (probably wisely) voted to keep Tongli. :p

 Chapter 459 A Strange Injury!

    Ling Lan fully agreed with Zhao Jun¡¯s spections. She nodded and said, "This battle n is pretty good. For the next round, we should also make some changes." Tongli¡¯s targeted and purposeful line-up reminded Ling Lan that a fixed and unchanging order would make it very easy for others to pick out a w. Although they had strength, they would not be able to fend against endless schemes and calctions.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s words pulled Qiao Ting¡¯s attention back, and he turned an odd gaze at the few Tongli cadets who were standing not too far backstage watching the fight closely. He did not know whether to give them props for their bizarre way of thinking or offer them a moment of mournful silence.


    Although Qiao Ting did not think that he had truly lost to Ling Lan in that challenge fight, having exchanged one proper blow with Ling Lan, he knew well that Ling Lan¡¯s mechabat arts were extraordinary. Whether in terms of speed, technique, or judgment, Ling Lan had achieved the pinnacle of a special-ss operator ¡ª and this was why Ling Lan had been able to finish him off in one move.


    These were the results of Qiao Ting¡¯s repetitive study of the battle recording of their fight. He believed that Ling Lan¡¯s control ability was actually even stronger than Zhao Jun who seemed stronger than Ling Lan on the surface. It was also this analysis which made Qiao Ting mentally view Ling Lan as his greatest rival ¡ª just think, had he been as strong as the other back when he was in his second year?


    Of course, without advancing to ace, no matter how powerful or talented one was, everything would be but a passing cloud. Qiao Ting knew he would continue to keep a close eye on Ling Lan, waiting to see if this aberrant who had already advanced to Domain in physical skills at age 17 would be just as aberrant when it came to mecha piloting.


    On this end, while Qiao Ting was thinking that the Tongli people were asking for trouble, on the other end, Han Yu, who did not know Ling Lan¡¯s true strength, was bing anxious. He could not help but begin to resent Ling Lan, silently ming the other for coveting the honour associated with the group battles and forcing his way in to make up the numbers, pushing Zhao Jun aside. If not for that, they would never have been put into such a passive state ...


    At the thought that they might be ended here in the top 100, bing one of the most unexpected losers of thispetition, Han Yu could not help but think viciously ¡ª wait till they got back to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy ... let¡¯s see how this Ling Lan was going to exin this! At this moment, Han Yu had forgotten that it was because he had lost that first match which he should not have out of carelessness that things had be so passive for them ...


    Sensing the discontent in Han Yu¡¯s eyes, a trace of a malicious smile appeared on Qiao Ting¡¯s lips. He was not so nice that he would help enlighten his old rival ¡ª let him stew in his worry for a while.


    Ling Lan chose to ignore Han Yu¡¯s displeasure and Qiao Ting¡¯s indifference; right then, she was reading through a long document in her mindspace. It was the detailed information she had asked Little Four to gather on all the participants of Tongli.


    "It should be this person ..." said Ling Lan, pointing at one of the names in the document; she had finally found what she was looking for.


    At her side, Little Four was rather curious. He stretched tall on tiptoe, trying to see who exactly his boss was referring to. Unfortunately, even after 17 years, he was still a little beansprout ¡ª his height was not even at the level of Ling Lan¡¯s waist; no matter how high he stood on tiptoe, he was still unable to see.


    Looking up to see that sheet of white paper high above his head, Little Four suddenly hated himself. Why did he have to turn the data into paper documents? If he had just disyed it on a virtual screen, wouldn¡¯t he be able to see it then? Right then, Little Four was filled with infinite regret, but he also did not dare to make an executive decision to change formats ¡ª he was afraid that his boss would once again shut him up in that small ck room, oh that small ck room.


    Ling Lan had long noticed Little Four¡¯s behaviour and was snickering in her heart, but she decided not to make things difficult for him. She dipped the paper low, bringing it right before Little Four¡¯s eyes, pointed at one of the names and said, "Him."


    Little Four reflexively read it out loud, "Du Yuang, specialization: Military Strategy. Ranked 7 in this tournament¡¯s tactical strategypetition ... this result is not that good, even losing to Han Jijyun ..." At this point, Little Four was still befuddled, unsure why his boss had gone to the trouble of searching for this specific person among the list of more than a hundred people.


    Little Four¡¯s dazed look made Ling Lan smile fondly, and she exined, "This match today, Tongli¡¯s line-up was probably by this guy¡¯s arrangement. I have to say that this battle n is very good, almost allowing the other side to achieve an upset ..."


    Little Four understood then. Abruptly amused, his eyes crinkled into a straight line as he smiled widely, and somewhat smugly with a touch of schadenfreude, he said, "Sadly, he bet on the wrong person."


    Ling Lan did not reply, merely rubbing Little Four¡¯s head. She ignored Little Four¡¯s resultant protests and instructed, "In short, send a copy each of this person¡¯s information to Jijyun and Leopard. Tell them to watch out for him. During the team battle royal, this person might bring us some trouble."


    After settling all this, Ling Lan turned her attention back to the field. At this moment, Zhang Jing-an¡¯s situation was not looking good; he was fighting under the opponent¡¯s suppression. This fighter was truly Tongli¡¯s ace-in-the-hole ¡ª Zhang Jing-an, who was also a special-ss operator like him, was still no match for him.


    "Senior Zhang is about to lose," said Ling Lan evenly. She reckoned that there would be just a few more moves before the oue was decided; based on Zhang Jing-an¡¯s condition, he would at most be able to withstand another 10 moves.


    Qiao Ting nodded and said, "Yes, it¡¯s just uncertain how many more moves he¡¯ll be able to take. The opponent is very strong ... his ranking of 19 was probably because he was matched against an ace operator early and was defeated prematurely. His strength is about the same as Zhao Jun¡¯s. He could have easily made it into the top 8. Zhang Jing-an¡¯s loss is not unfounded."


    Ling Lan was rather taken aback by Qiao Ting¡¯s words. She had thought that Qiao Ting, an ace operator like her, would also be able to estimate how many moves were left before the oue of the match was revealed. Surprisingly, that was not so. Qiao Ting was able to foresee the final oue, but he could not determine how many moves would be used ...


    Just as Ling Lan was puzzling over this conundrum, things abruptly changed on the field after the two mecha had exchanged another 7 blows. Zhang Jing-an, who had only been disadvantaged all this while without showing any signs of being defeated yet, suddenly dodged a little too slow and was struck right in the chest by the opponent¡¯s cold weapon. The tremendous force behind the blow sent Zhang Jing-an flying.


    Thrown through the air, Zhang Jing-an had yet to stabilize his mecha when the opponent had already pounced after him like a fierce predator. Three consecutive hits instantly sent Zhang Jing-an¡¯s mecha crashing into the ground below ...


    Ten moves! In the end, the moves needed to determine the oue was as Ling Lan had predicted ¡ª only ten moves! Why could she make such an urate judgment call when Qiao Ting could not? Ling Lan thought hard on this and was suddenly struck by a fit of inspiration. She had thought of her innate talent Profound Insight. Could that be the answer?


    Thinking closely about it, that was the only possibility. This made Ling Lan begin to take this innate talent very seriously ¡ª she had initially thought that Profound Insight was just an ability that allowed her to hone in on an opponent¡¯s weakness, but now from the looks of it, she had underestimated this innate talent. Profound Insight probably still had some other wonderful uses for her to uncover ... perhaps, she should really put some serious effort to study it now.


    ********


    In the learning space, Instructor Number One was seated in quiet meditation on a mountain peak. When he sensed Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts, he opened his eyes and a cold gleam shed through them. Immediately after, he huffed coldly before closing his eyes in meditation once more.


    Instructor Number One was actually very displeased that Ling Lan was only just showing interest to understand her innate talent Profound Insight now. He had already told Ling Lan much earlier before that the Profound Insight innate talent was one of the best of all innate talents, so how could it be limited to the insignificant ability to identify weaknesses like the lower level innate talents such as Animal Instinct?


    However, Instructor Number One was also satisfied that Ling Lan had been able to notice this point so quickly despite her disinterest. Once Ling Lan had fully mastered Profound Insight ... Instructor Number One did not dare to chase this thought any further ¡ª she would definitely be an absolutely terrifying existence.


    After the threebo hits, Zhang Jing-an¡¯s points had already been deducted till zero. The referee immediately raised his red g to prevent the opponent from moving forwards and attacking again. Ling Lan and the rest waited for Zhang Jing-an to operate his mecha to stand up so that the referee could announce the results.


    Several secondster, Zhang Jing-an still had not moved from where he had crashed onto the ground. Ling Lan¡¯s and Qiao Ting¡¯s expressions changed.


    The referee on the field had also noticed this, and he quickly connected to Zhang Jing-an¡¯smlink and called out to him urgently. Then, he could vaguely hear moaninging from the other end and immediately knew that the situation was not good. He quickly called for the medical team.


    The medical team immediately rushed onto the scene with several high-level hackers in tow. Zhang Jing-an seemed to have already fallen unconscious and was unable to open his own cockpit, so the hackers were needed to crack the code on the cockpit doors to open them before the medical team could hoist Zhang Jing-an to help him.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan informed Little Four to lend a hand. After the hackers had begun hacking, Little Four slipped in and broke the code, springing the doors open.


    Zhang Jing-an was pulled out ¡ª his entire body was limp like a lump of mud. The primary doctor stepped forwards to examine him, and his face changed drastically. He immediately ced Zhang Jing-an into the pre-prepared healing pod and swiftly contacted a transport machine on standby outside the stadium toe and move the healing pod out.


    Thepetition was dered suspended for an indefinite amount of time. This notification let Ling Lan and the others know that something major must have happened. In the live broadcast they were watching backstage, when Zhang Jing-an was rescued out of his mecha, his injuries seemed off, as if several magnitudes more severe than they had imagined.


    Worried and suspicious, they watched the video images of the three-hitbo again and again ¡ª the opponent¡¯s attacks had been very clean, and there was nothing wrong with the area he had attacked either, fully avoiding the cockpit ... then why was Zhang Jing-an so heavily injured? This matter was just too strange; they could not figure it out.


    Ling Lan instructed Little Four to secretly sneak into the militaryms channels and make sure he found out what this matter was all about.


    Everyone was patiently waiting for the results of the examination ¡ª when Zhang Jing-an¡¯s opponent, that Tongli trump card, returned backstage, he too had a look of bewilderment on his face. He could not understand how Zhang Jing-an had been injured so gravely either. The initially bustling backstage had now fallen still and silent. Everyone was waiting for news, eager to know what in the world had happened.


    "Ah, it¡¯s General Ling Xiao!" In the silent backstage, someone cried out, startling everyone. Amotion broke out as everyone rushed to the big screen to see General Ling Xiao¡¯s glory for themselves. The initially heavy atmosphere was swept away in an instant.


    Ling Xiao had not walked down to thebat field alone. The vice president of the Federation was with him, but everyone¡¯s attention was all on Ling Xiao, so the vice president very tragically became part of the background. Expressions grim, they walked up to Zhang Jing-an¡¯s mecha where Ling Xiao then jumped straight into the cockpit with a powerful leap. When he came out from inside, his expression had turned extremely dark ...


    He said a few brief words to the vice president and thetter¡¯s expression changed dramatically, a picture of disbelief. Very soon, the two of them re-entered the cockpit together, and when they came out again, the vice president¡¯s countenance was even three degrees darker than Ling Xiao¡¯s.


    Soon, all of the academies participating in the group mechabat event were notified that all of the actual mecha being used in thepetition would be inspected by military specialists. Only after they were verified to be safe would the mecha operators be allowed to board them and use them in thepetition!


    As soon as this notice was released, there was an uproar! Everyone understood now what had befallen Zhang Jing-an!

 Chapter 460 Fatherly Love Like a Mountain!

    When they received this notification, Qiao Ting¡¯s brows knitted together. After musing over it for a moment, he turned to look at Ling Lan and said, "Regiment Commander Ling, judging from this notification, there must have been some problem with the safety of Zhang Jing-an¡¯s mecha. Could the monitoring system have beenpromised? Or is it the control system? Or perhaps ..." Qiao Ting¡¯s expression turned grim and his voice dipped low. "Was there a problem with the mecha itself to begin with?"


    By this time, Ling Lan had already obtained the conclusion Ling Xiao and the vice president hade to from her connection with Little Four. Suppressing the rage within her, she replied coldly, "Perhaps. Those are all possible!"


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Qiao Ting turn serious. He was just about to continue discussing the topic with Ling Lan when, right then, the people around therge screen began yelling, "General Ling Xiao, General Ling Xiao ising ..."


    Ling Lan and the others looked over and saw from the video feed that Ling Xiao and the vice president were walking over here shoulder to shoulder. There were also quite a number of officers trailing behind them. Among them, Ling Lan saw a familiar face ¡ª it was that secret service secretary He Xuyang, who had now be Ling Xiao¡¯s 23rd Division¡¯s first adviser.


    This He Xuyang should have already passed Ling Xiao¡¯s tests to be one of his confidants; otherwise, Ling Xiao would not have brought him with him to Qiming. Meanwhile, that Adjutant Qiao who Ling Xiao had once brought with him to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was nowhere in sight this trip. It looked like there must have been something wrong with that Adjutant Qiao ... the only question was whether her dad had put him on ice or if he had already utterly dealt with the problem.


    By this time, that group had alreadye to the mouth of a passage. This passageway was very familiar to everyone watching the video feed; it was the passage to the backstage area they were at.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mind stirred as she began guessing silently as to why her dad would be headed here. Could it be because she was here? Ling Lan felt that this was truly possible.


    As soon as Ling Xiao¡¯s group entered the backstage, no one there dared to move rashly, afraid to offend General Ling Xiao in any way. Even if they had dared to make any strange moves, the guards who had stepped in ahead of Ling Xiao would definitely have intercepted them. Everyone looked at Ling Xiao with reverent gazes, eyes tracking his every step.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s destination was very clear. Without any hesitation, he headed straight for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s area. No one was surprised by this move of Ling Xiao¡¯s. It was someone from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy who had been injured; it made perfect sense for Ling Xiao to go over and provide some reassurance. Moreover, General Ling Xiao was an alumni of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy ¡ª it was reasonable for him to go over and show some concern for his juniors.


    The vice president smiled gently and kept pace with Ling Xiao as they made their way over to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s side. The vice president¡¯s destination this time was the First Men¡¯s Military Academy anyway ¡ª he needed to show some care on behalf of the government.


    Watching as Ling Xiao slowly approached, Qiao Ting and the rest were extremely excited. When Ling Xiao was finally before them, the five of them instantly snapped to attention and raised their hands in a sharp salute, shouting in unison, "General, good day!"


    Ling Xiao returned a salute with a serious expression. When he put down his right hand, his expression instantly gentled and he said kindly, "That student just now ... though he is injured badly, he will definitely recover with the healing capacity of the Federation. Do not worry."


    "Thank you, General!" responded the group in unison, hearts settling at Ling Xiao¡¯s words.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s first remark was to inform them about Zhang Jing-an¡¯s condition ¡ª Qiao Ting and the rest were silently grateful for General Ling Xiao¡¯spassion. Knowing what they were most worried about, he had instantly provided them with an answer.


    General Ling Xiao¡¯s gentle gaze swept over the five youths there, pausing for a beat on Ling Lan before swiftly turning to the next youth in line. In the end, Ling Xiao¡¯s gazended on Qiao Ting and he said, "You. You should be Qiao Ting, right?"


    "Yes, General!" Qiao Ting was ecstatic ¡ª he had not expected General Ling Xiao to know his name. Suppressing his brimming emotions which were about to overflow, Qiao Ting forced himself to be calm and replied.


    "I saw you fight in the singles event. Not bad. Keep up the good work!" praised General Ling Xiao.


    Qiao Ting immediately replied, "Yes, General!" He really did not expect General Ling Xiao to not only know his name, but to also go so far as to praise him. Qiao Ting was rather thrown off-bnce by this ¡ª he desperately restrained himself, barely able to keep his emotions in check.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s gaze then moved onto the Ling Lan and the others, and he asked with a smile, "Who¡¯s up for the next match?"


    Mu Shaoyu raised his hand excitedly and shouted, "Reporting to the general! That would be me!"


    Ling Xiao looked at Mu Shaoyu and his first adviser He Xuyang instantly shifted closer to whisper in his ear. After He Xuyang had stepped back into ce, Ling Xiao nced at Ling Lan standing beside Mu Shaoyu with a smile in his eyes.


    ¡¯Truly, a tiger does not father hounds!¡¯ thought He Xuyang. He still remembered that Young Master Lan was only just a second-year cadet. For him to be able to participate in the group mechabat event as a second-year, Young Master Lan¡¯s mecha piloting talent must not be weaker than General Ling Xiao¡¯s by much.


    General Ling Xiao smiled, nodded and said, "Mu Shaoyu, is it? You all have already lost two matches so far. If you lose, the other two after you will not be able to take the field, you know. So that you aren¡¯t med by them, you need to work hard."


    Ling Xiao¡¯s slightly teasing words helped to ease Mu Shaoyu¡¯s nervousness considerably. He loudly replied, "General, I guarantee that I¡¯llplete this mission!" He turned his head to look at Ling Lan and Qiao Ting, and lifted his chin to say confidently, "I¡¯ll definitely let them take the field."


    Ling Xiao looked over at Ling Lan, his eyes filled with a kind and loving humour. This look almost made Ling Lan think that Ling Xiao would call her ¡¯my child¡¯, but unexpectedly, Ling Xiao merely said, "Fight well!"


    Ling Lan was the calmest among the five youths. In response to that, she replied, "Yes, General!"


    Her cold face was an emotionless mask ¡ª Ling Xiao was rather discouraged by this. How could his daughter be so calm and collected? Although the others were trying their best topose themselves, it was obvious at a nce how they really felt. Only Ling Lan had not revealed any bit of emotion whatsoever, leaving Ling Xiao floundering as to how she felt. Did his arrival not make his daughter excited at all? Ling Xiao had a bellyful of resentment at the thought.


    Seeing that Ling Xiao was done speaking, the vice president followed up with his own words of concern. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy group could feel the care from both the military and the government.


    At this time, the two specialist mecha safety surveyors that had been transferred here urgently arrived backstage, and they began inspecting the mecha of the two mecha operators about to take the field. Seeing General Ling Xiao and the vice president there, they immediately came over to report. Subsequently, under General Ling Xiao¡¯s instruction, they respectively inspected Mu Shaoyu¡¯s mecha as well as the mecha of the third participant from the Tongli military academy.


    As the backstage began to bustle with activity, the vice president was just about to suggest they leave when Ling Xiao suddenly turned his head and asked the five students of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, "Who will be fighting after Mu Shaoyu?"


    Ling Lan could not help but sweatdrop when she heard this. Hells, she did not believe that her dad had not managed to get his hands on their participant name list. However, she knew that this was probably her dad trying to find a way to speak with her, so she raised her hand and said, "Reporting, Sir, that would be me."


    Receiving the answer he wanted, Ling Xiao turned to the vice president and said, "Sir Vice President, I really want to take a look at the cockpits of the mecha of the other participants. Why not take this opportunity to look at this student¡¯s mecha as well?"


    The vice president¡¯s face turned stern at his words and he replied, "Suits me."


    Even as Ling Xiao¡¯s and the vice president¡¯s words stunned Ling Lan, she felt a surge of warmth suffuse her heart. Ling Xiao¡¯s visit backstage was not only to see her but, more importantly, to inspect her cockpit. Ling Lan knew that Ling Xiao was concerned and ill at ease, unwilling to leave his daughter¡¯s safety in the hands of others. He wanted to inspect her mecha personally, and in order to achieve this objective, he had racked his brains, patiently waiting for the most opportune timing.


    Ling Lan pressed down the warmth in her heart and led Ling Xiao and the vice president to the mecha she was going to operateter.


    For this fight, Ling Lan had not chosen an ace mecha but a special-ss mecha which wasprehensively bnced, unlike the typical closebat mecha she favoured. Ling Lan had her own reasons for choosing this mecha. Over this period of time, she had organized the legacy information she had received from her dad in the virtual space. She found that, on the battlefield, the more cards someone had up their sleeves, the easier it was for them to survive. This prompted her to reflect upon herself, wondering if she was too biased towards closebat and had neglected her long-range skills.


    Putting one¡¯s full focus on one aspect would indeed allow one to reach a pinnacle much easier; besides that, many people who ambitiously tried to develop both sides often ended up moving towards mediocrity, lost among the masses. In human history, with regards to mecha, of all the people who had managed to ascend to god-ss operator status, Ling Xiao was the only one who operated a bnced-type mecha!


    Not everyone was Ling Xiao! Ling Lan too had this self-awareness. She would not be so bold as to think she could do as her dad had and be proficient at everything. She was only nning to train up her long-rangebat skills a little more so that it could be one of her reliable cards in a crucial moment.


    It was precisely this consideration which made Ling Lan choose this bnced mecha. There was no problem in terms of operating it ¡ª in the learning space, Instructor Number Three had not simply made her pilot just one series of mecha. She had had training in all the mecha types ¡ª it was just that her talentid in closebat, so her long-rangebat paled inparison. In Ling Lan¡¯s battle n of ten, Ling Lan¡¯s long-range abilities could at most rank her at number five ... Li Lanfeng, Han Jijyun, and Lin Zhong-qing were all better than her, and even Li Shiyu, who did not focus much on mecha piloting, was better than her by a hair in long-rangebat.


    Ling Lan¡¯s long-rangebat skills were only better than Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and Xie Yi, who specialized in closebat, as well as Chang Xinyuan, whose piloting talent was terrible to begin with. As for Luo Lang, it depended on which personality he had activated at the time ¡ª if the personality in control was one suited for long-rangebat, then his long-range skills would also be stronger than Ling Lan¡¯s. Thus, Ling Lan¡¯s talent in long-rangebat could only be considered above average, absolutely nowhere close to top-notch.


    However, giving up just like that was not like Ling Lan. She decided to spend a little more time training up her long-rangebat skills. No matter what, she would make it so that she could squeeze into the top three of her battle n ...


    When Ling Xiao saw this mecha, he looked at Ling Lan contemtively. Ling Lan noticed the satisfaction and smugness in her dad¡¯s eyes, and she instantly realized something and began screaming in her heart. ¡¯Oh Dad, get over yourself! Me choosing a bnced mecha has nothing at all to do with you!¡¯


    Did Ling Xiao really have nothing to do with it? In the mindspace, Little Four cheekily morphed into Ling Xiao¡¯s image and asked in a stern tone.


    Also inside the mindspace, Ling Lan rolled her eyes at this and with a flick of her finger, she made Little Four turn back to his original form. Fine. So there was that little bit of connection. After all, she had inherited Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy. Ling Lan admitted this honestly.


    The news that Ling Xiao would be personally inspecting Ling Lan¡¯s mecha thrilled everyone. They all gathered close ¡ª if Ling Xiao¡¯s guards had not stopped them, they would most probably havee right up to the bottom of the mecha.


    Ling Xiao spent more than 10 minutes inside the cockpit of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha. This duration greatly exceeded the time the experts used to inspect mecha. The specialists who were inspecting Mu Shaoyu¡¯s mecha were already done with it and had moved on to inspect Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha.


    When Ling Xiao finally climbed out of the cockpit, his face was somewhat pale. This instantly made the vice president anxious and he asked, "General Ling, is there a problem?" The malfunction of one mecha could be exined as an error, but one more malfunctioning mecha would be a dereliction of duty. That would definitely cause a great upheaval within the entire Federation in both the military and political world.


    Ling Xiao shook his head and said, "No big problems, just some minor issues." As soon as Ling Xiao said this, the staff member in charge of this mecha found sweat beading his forehead. However, he did not dare to wipe the sweat away ¡ª he quickly rushed over to stand before General Ling Xiao, bowed his head and took the me. "General, I did not do a good job."


    "This doesn¡¯t have much to do with you." Ling Xiao¡¯s words lifted the staff member¡¯s heart from hell up to heaven. He raised his head in pleasant surprise. Ling Xiao did not notice this. He pointed at some parts of the mecha and began describing the problems.


    The staff member quickly opened hismunicator and began taking notes. The issues Ling Xiao pointed out werergely effects of wear and tear, which would affect the performance of the mecha. Of course, there were also a few very hidden spots which, if not discovered in time, would have caused some insensitivity in the controls of the mecha. However, these had nothing to do with the main focus of the inspection this time as they would not threaten the life of the operator inside the cockpit.


    Hearing Ling Xiao¡¯s detailed narration on the issues down to the smallest screw, all the people at the side stared with envy-jealousy-hate at the owner of this mecha ¡ª Ling Lan, who was currently standing behind Ling Xiao with aposed expression. Everyone was thinking: why couldn¡¯t it have been their mecha that was chosen for inspection by the general? Who would have guessed that General Ling Xiao¡¯s inspection would be so thorough, not even letting a single minor issue go?


    On the surface, Ling Lan was as calm as ever but in truth, when she heard Ling Xiao listing out the issues of her mecha one by one, her heart throbbed once more ¡ª¡ª was this what was meant byparing fatherly love to a mountain?


    Ling Lan was well aware that Ling Xiao had not simply conducted a surface inspection, but he had also used his spiritual power to envelop the entire mecha, which was how he had managed to ferret out all these little problems. This method was a huge drain on Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual power ¡ª no wonder his face had been that pale when he had exited the mecha cockpit. At the same time, Ling Lan was silently shocked at the frightening realm her father¡¯s control over his spiritual power had reached. Even she had not noticed him using his spiritual power.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s abundant berth of fatherly love made Ling Lan¡¯s self-erected barrier abruptly copse. If they had not been in a public ce, Ling Lan believed that she would have easily called out ¡¯daddy¡¯ at this moment.


    Unfortunately ... Ling Lan¡¯s gaze flickered. She finally reined in the shifting warmth in her heart, once again reverting back to the usual cold and seemingly emotionless Ling Lan.


    If Ling Xiao had known right then that he had missed the chance to be called ¡¯daddy¡¯ by Ling Lan because this was the wrong ce and time, he would certainly be pounding his chest in frustration. However, it was also fortunate that he did not know so it did not affect his mood. With a serious demeanour, he instructed the backstage staff to fix each and every one of those problems.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s serious attitude spurred everyone into nervous action. The problems that originally would have taken one to two hours to fix werepletely resolved within half an hour. After Ling Xiao once again entered the cockpit for a reassessment, when he came out, he nodded at the staff to show that everything was fine now.


    Having obtained General Ling Xiao¡¯s approval, all of the staff members could not help but break out into celebratory apuse. This shook Ling Xiao out of work mode and a smile appeared on his lips. Now that the mecha was free of possible issues, Ling Xiao let out a sigh of relief.


    However, this joyous atmosphere was soon broken by the news that the specialist inspecting one of the mecha of the Tongli Military Academy had found some problems with it. When Ling Xiao and the vice president heard the news, their expressions changed. Sharing a quick nce, they walked over to that mecha.


    After listening to the specialist¡¯s report, Ling Xiao boarded the mecha to recheck it, and when he came out, he nodded at the vice president to show that the specialist¡¯s inspection results were not wrong. The vice president¡¯s countenance darkened instantly. He knew that this was most likely a case of collusion between officials and businessmen, a major incident of corruption, bribery, and dereliction of duty.


    "General Ling Xiao ... this matter, can you leave it to us government officials to resolve?" The vice president waited till General Ling Xiao alighted from the mecha before pleading softly.


    At this moment, there was no sign of Ling Xiao¡¯s previous warmth and gentle manner. He nced at the vice president, his gaze so sharp that sweat began to run from the vice president¡¯s forehead. The vice president then heard Ling Xiao reply coldly, "I will need to report this matter to the First Marshal. I beg your pardon, Vice President." Just thinking about how many of hisrades, who were fighting with their lives on the line on the battlefield, could have lost their lives due to this, Ling Xiao¡¯s rage burned. He would not let this rest.


    The vice president knew that his request had been a little too much, so he could only nod bitterly and say, "As you should, as you should. I did not think it through. I beg your forgiveness, General Ling Xiao."


    Only then did Ling Xiao¡¯s tense expression ease and he said sincerely, "Vice President, we can only do things by the book. What happens next is not something we can meddle with."


    The vice president smiled wryly at those words. Compared to Ling Xiao, he was much more worried. If this matter was not handled properly, the government this round may very well have to resign collectively ... he hoped that the skies would not be torn asunder by this!


    After settling the concern in his heart, Ling Xiao led his men away from the backstage. Meanwhile, the vice president returned to his amodations with a mind full of worries. At this time, how could he still have the heart to continue watching the group mecha fights? He needed to convey this news at soonest notice to the president.


    As for Ling Xiao, he returned to the rostrum area and nodded lightly to the worried Lan Luofeng. Only then did Lan Luofeng rx ¡ª if Ling Xiao said that everything was fine, then everything was sure to be fine. With regards to mecha, Lan Luofeng had the utmost trust in Ling Xiao.


    In the meantime, Ling Xiao¡¯s first adviser He Xuyang was already on the road back to their amodations. He had been sent by Ling Xiao to report what had happened here to the first marshal. As for what would follow, it was just as Ling Xiao had said ¡ª those were not things he could control. Of course, if someone was found to have engaged in malpractices for selfish ends, he, Ling Xiao, would not mind intervening ¡ª the mecha defence systems which could impact the survivability of a warrior absolutely could not be allowed to be treated lightly by anyone.


    Very soon, the group mechabat event resumed, and Mu Shaoyu operated his mecha onto the field. His opponent from the Tongli Military Academy was significantly weaker than him, so it only took a few moves before the opponent could hardly fight back under Mu Shaoyu¡¯s attacks. After resisting for ten more moves or so, the opponent felt that he could not go on and so immediately found time to make the motion for surrender. The referee immediately waved his red g and ended the match.


    The Tongli team backstage did not show any signs of disappointment at this loss for Tongli. Instead, they seemed even more eager and energetic in their preparations for the fourth match. This also confirmed that the opponents were indeed hedging their victory on the fourth match. They were putting their hopes on defeating Ling Lan who had not participated in the single mechabat event, but had unexpectedly shown up to participate in the group event.


    Zhao Jun was the only one backstage who knew Ling Lan¡¯s true strength ¡ª his boss was a bona fide ace operator! Even if he was operating a special-ss mecha, a special-ss operator would still be no match at all for him.


    By this time, Ling Lan had already boarded her mecha and was conducting her pre-match checks. She found that after Ling Xiao¡¯s repairs and adjustments, her mecha¡¯s functions had be one to two points more responsive ¡ª it could be said that its responsiveness had doubled, skirting around the edges of the limits of special-ss mecha, just a hair¡¯s breadth away from an ace mecha. Ling Lan was filled with silent admiration ¡ª her dad¡¯s mastery over mecha had already reached an amazing pinnacle. Only with that was he able to instantlye up with the best modifications for this mecha on the spot.


    Yes, modification. Although Ling Xiao seemed to have only been recing the worn parts of the mecha without touching on the roots of the mecha itself, it was precisely these unassuming small parts which had brought earth-shaking changes to Ling Lan¡¯s mecha. It was not at all overboard to say that this was a modification.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mind stirred and she immediately asked Little Four to record down the process of Ling Xiao adjusting the mecha as well as all the parts he had highlighted for fixing. She then sent the information to Chang Xinyuan ¡ª she believed that this might be a chance for Chang Xinyuan to evolve.


    Finally, Ling Lan¡¯s match began. Lan Luofeng, who had been awaiting this moment for so long, could not help but grip the sleeves of Ling Xiao¡¯s clothes tightly. Her grip was so forceful that Ling Xiao was almost pulled into her arms.


    Ling Xiao sped Lan Luofeng¡¯s hand which was holding onto his sleeve and pressed down lightly. Lan Luofeng raised her head, her eyes filled with worry. Her daughter was actually going to operate a mecha to fight with another mecha operator ...


    Ling Xiao consoled her in a low voice, "Luofeng, it¡¯ll be fine. Believe in her." Under Ling Xiao¡¯sforting words, Lan Luofeng gradually rxed and looked towards thebat field. One of the mecha operators operating a special-ss mecha there was her daughter Ling Lan ... she should probably be the first ever female mecha operator to participate in the mechabat tournament. Lan Luofeng felt both proud and sorrowful. If at all possible, she did not want to see this scene.


    ********


    The mecha the Tongli operator was piloting was a closebat mecha, while Ling Lan was piloting a bnced mecha. The spectators could not help but begin guessing if this would be a mixed battle of long range and close range, or if it would just be a direct all-out closebat match.


    In fact, Ling Lan really wanted to push for closebat immediately and KO the opponent cleanly. However, she still pressed down this notion of hers, deciding to first try long-range attacks.


    When the referee waved the green g, before the opponent could react, Ling Lan had already operated her mecha to retreat several hundred metres. This extreme speed made everyone cry out in shock ¡ª they all turned to look at the referee¡¯s g, trying to determine if this action of Ling Lan¡¯s was a foul.


    This was because there had been contestants before who had moved before the referee had waved his green g and dered the start of the battle. In the end, those contestants had been judged to havemitted a foul and were deducted a whole half of their points. Not only that, the match had been restarted and those contestants were warned that if they made the same foul again, they would be judged to have lost instantly.


    The referee panel monitoring the match very quickly gave their verdict ¡ª all of the referees on the panel judged that Ling Lan¡¯s operation was legal and within the rules. When the referee on the field received the referee panel¡¯s conclusion, he immediately waved his green g around to indicate that everything was fine with the match ¡ª Ling Lan¡¯s operation had not broken any rules.


    The audience apuded enthusiastically at this oue. With just this move alone, Ling Lan had shown that her control skills were not mediocre. As expected, someone from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy could not be much worse than the other representatives from the school even if he had not participated in the solo event. Ling Lan¡¯s remarkable operation skill standards immediately dispelled the doubts the people had against her. She was able to participate in the group mecha fights due to her own strength and not because of anything else.i.e. iste him and only give him menial tasksHeavy, strong, and reliable.i.e. things would not escte beyond their control.

 Chapter 461 Ling Lans Operation Type?

    The two fighters on the filed werepletely oblivious to the situation involving the audience and the referee panel. This impressive bit of operation by Ling Lan had left her opponent, the Tongli mecha operator, scrambling. His first reflex was to chase after his opponent ¡ª he could not let his opponent pull away till the optimum distance for long-range attacks.


    However, he was already a stepte. Even though he tried his hardest to make up for it, he found that no matter how hard he tried, the distance between them just kept growing. The inherent difference between the speeds of their mecha gave him no chance at all ...


    The Tongli mecha operator only chased for a few seconds before he realised this. He immediately slowed down and began to think about how he could deal with the opponent¡¯s long-range attacks.


    In truth, in a mechapetition, the chances would always be equal regardless of whether one excelled in closebat or long-rangebat. For a long-range attacker to obtain a safe distance within a match to conduct long-range attacks, they would need to find opportunities to pull away from their opponent and extend the distance between them. On the other hand, if a closebat mecha operator did not want to passively react to long-range attacks, they would have to try their best to prevent the opponent from pulling away right from the start.


    And now, in this current situation, the Tongli mecha operator had lost the first opportunity to do so. He could only hope that the Tongli strategists were correct in their spections that the opponent¡¯s skills were just average ¡ª then, he might still be able to salvage the situation and turn things around, otherwise ... the oue would be unpredictable.


    Ling Lan finally pulled away till the optimum distance for long-range shooting. Without any hesitation, she drew a giant gun from her back ¡ª it was a long-range long-barrelled beam gun.


    Without any special weapons, such as Qiao Ting¡¯s ballistic sniper rifle, the standard equipped weapon of long-range mecha would be the long-barrelled beam gun. It was characterized by its long range, but its weakness was that its firepower was a little weak. To break through the beam shield of a mecha at the same level, it would need at least 5 seconds of shooting time ... and this was a difficult thing to achieve. Normally, those who could be special-ss mecha operators all had very good operation abilities ¡ª they would not so easily let someone else shoot at them for five seconds or more.


    However, Ling Lan was not at all concerned about this. If she had wanted to use a long-range gun with greater firepower, she had plenty of ways to obtain one. Her greatest objective in using this gun was to train her long-range skills further. Even if firepower was a problem that would stop her from defeating the opponent quickly, she was not bothered by it.


    Ling Lan decisively steadied the long-barrelled beam gun in her mecha¡¯s hands and aimed at the opponent who was currently trying to use irregr movements to try and disrupt her shooting.


    Judging by the speed of the opponent¡¯s mecha, she only had a chance for three shots before the opponent would pass over into close range and the target-locking function of this long-barrelled beam gun would be rendered useless. At that time, if she still wanted to shoot, she could only rely on pure instinct.


    A ¡¯beep¡¯ indicated that the long-barrelled gun had locked onto the target sessfully. Ling Lan did not hesitate to pull the trigger, and a powerful beam shot out of the muzzle of her gun towards the opponent.


    "Fixed-point shooting?" This motion of Ling Lan¡¯s made everyone exim. Fixed-point shooting was not any advanced shooting technique; it was a basic technique that every mecha operator would know. The more advanced a mecha was, the harder it was to see these kinds of basic techniques being used. The average mecha operator believed that these basic techniques were no longer enough to cope with the more difficult mechabats.


    Just before the beam was about to hit the opponent, as if being refracted, it suddenly grazed by the mecha¡¯s side. Anyone could have predicted this oue ¡ª as expected, basic techniques werepletely useless in a battle between special-ss operators. The audience could not understand why a student participant from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would use such a technique ... could it really be that he had just paid lip service and was here to get a share of the glory? Was the remarkable operation previously just a misperception on their end? Or was it just a sh in the pan?


    ¡¯This ... it¡¯s not just Irregr Dash. Instead, it¡¯s more like Irregr Flicker.¡¯ Ling Lan was not at all anxious at her missed shot. She calmly analysed the situation and instantly saw that the opponent¡¯s footwork was not what it seemed. ¡¯Tsk, well, it can¡¯t be considered a true Irregr Flicker either. I can only say that it¡¯s something in between the two. This Tongli student is no slouch either, eh? Actually already beginning to learn the advanced footwork that initially only ace operators can learn. Unfortunately, the lock-on function is already useless against this kind of footwork which is bordering on Irregr Flicker.¡¯


    "Beep beep beep ..." Sure enough, the lock-on alert of the gun kept ringing to signal that the long-barrelled gun could not lock onto the opponent. It would probably be pointless to shoot again this way.


    Ling Lan hesitated for a moment, and the opponent took this chance to once again draw even closer. Ling Lan was rather chagrined by this ¡ª she had initially had the opportunity for two more shots, but now, due to her hesitation, she had only one shot left. If she hesitated any further, the chance to take thisst shot may be lost as well.


    Ling Lan was the type of person to be even more focused and settled the more critical a situation became. Having just one final shot left, she entered into a state with no distractions whatsoever. Fully focused, she stared at the opponent ¡ª the target-lock was now useless, so she needed to rely on her own judgment to decide when to shoot ...


    Ling Lan began calcting frantically inside ¡ª the opponent¡¯s speed, possible flight paths, as well as his operation habits ... only by factoring in all of this would she be able to predict the opponent¡¯s potentialnding point, and that would be the spot she would shoot at.


    There!


    While Ling Lan was still calcting, she suddenly felt as if she could see a target point. Without conscious thought, she instantly pulled her trigger ...


    "Boom!" The beam hit the opponent urately. The powerful suction force of the beam made it hard for the opponent to move for some time. However, how could a special-ss operator be stuck for long by this? At the fourth second, the opponent managed to operate his mecha free of the attack radius of the beam. Although he had broken free of the beam, his initially bright outer shell had already be somewhat dull and dark due to the steep drain on his beam shield¡¯s power to deal with the attack.


    "Awesome!" The audience pped and cheered ¡ª how contemptuous they were at the start was precisely how thrilled they were now.


    Being able tond a sessful hit on an opponent with the basic technique fixed-point shooting ... thispletely overturned the people¡¯s general knowledge! Mind you, in all of the previous mechabatpetitions, no one would use fixed-point shooting. Even if someone had used it, no one had seeded before.


    In general, in order to maintain their distance from a closebat mecha, long-range mecha operators would always utilise the tactic of shooting while moving. And while they were moving around, it was impossible to shoot urately, so the mecha operators would use ranged attacks to intercept their opponent. Or they might do as Qiao Ting had and use advanced shooting techniques to seal off their opponent¡¯s paths of escape, leaving their opponent with no ce to hide. The audience was used to seeing advanced techniques being used this way, so when they suddenly saw a basic technique being effective on thebat field instead, everyone¡¯s interest was raised ...


    Ling Lan¡¯s sess in using a basic technique to strike the opponent with one shot caused the two imperial operators monitoring the field to nod silently, bing very interested in Ling Lan. This achievement proved that Ling Lan had already attained a pinnacle in her foundational controls. Oftentimes, only when one arrived at thete stages of ace level did one learn of the importance of the basics. Unfortunately, at that time, it was already futile to consider starting over. Without solid foundations, their futures were limited, and even if they managed to advance to imperial level, they would still be the worst among the imperials.


    Ling Xiao felt pride spring up within him at this scene. His daughter truly did not disappoint him. The essence of his legacy had beenpletely mastered by her ¡ª only wless foundations could support the construction of towers reaching up to the skies ...


    This scene also made Lan Luofeng very excited. She did not know anything about foundations or no foundations ¡ª no matter what, her precious daughter had managed to hit the opponent. That was the most important thing!


    She tugged on Ling Xiao¡¯s hand and asked somewhat iprehensibly in her excitement, "Lan-Lan has hit the opponent! Why hasn¡¯t the opponent been dered the loser? Why does the fight have to continue?"


    "This one shot is not enough to deduct the opponent¡¯s points to zero," exined Ling Xiao, feeling rather regretful. If the shot had been able to hold the opponent down for just one more second, this match would have been over.


    After her hitnded, and once Ling Lan saw the opponent escaping from the attack range of her beam shot, she did not even keep her gun, instantly piloting her mecha to dash backwards.


    "Good timing!" One of the imperial operators in the air above who had still been able to maintain hisposure could not help but exim in surprise when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s move.


    "And it¡¯s also seamless control. The shift between the two actions has almost zero excess," added another imperial operator with an equally amazed tone. This unknown boy below from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was impable both in terms of timing and operation ¡ª he was even more precise in his movements than the widely-known Qiao Ting. Right then, the imperial operators were somewhat envious of this mecha operator¡¯s instructor ... that person must be very proud to have such a student.


    They did not know that this aberrant Ling Lan was not the product of one person. She was the oddball result of thebination of the rich experience of Ling Xiao¡¯s legacy, the Divine Command techniques from the Divine Command Sect, and the prolonged and extensive training of the learning space.


    At this moment, at the rostrum, even the outwardlyposed Ling Xiao could not help but cheer loudly in his heart. Ling Lan¡¯s operations were even more refined that they had been a year ago, already showing signs of her own operation style. This style was still in its embryonic stages though, not yet matured. Once it fully matured, perhaps his daughter would truly have the chance to touch upon the realm of imperial level.


    Sensing Ling Xiao¡¯s excitement, Lan Luofeng shot a puzzled look at him. In Lan Luofeng¡¯s eyes, Ling Lan¡¯s motions to escape were not as dashing and beautiful as her shot which had hit the opponent. She had no clue that that series of actions was an embodiment of perfection in the eyes of a top-notch mecha master.


    The situation on the field also began to worry the Tongli students backstage. They found that the person they had targeted as a soft persimmon was in fact not soft at all and was in fact rather prickly and hard to handle. Right then, they could only hope that theirpanion on the field would do a little better and chase up to the opponent to drag him into a close-range fight, and thus win the match.


    They never imagined that Ling Lan could also be a closebat expert. He was already so amazing at long range, if he was also amazing at closebat ... even though the opponent was operating a bnced mecha, Tongli vehemently refused to entertain this conjecture in a very ostrich-like manner.


    Qiao Ting too witnessed Ling Lan¡¯s series of actions and his expression became shadowed. He found that Ling Lan existed to rain blows on his self-esteem. This long-range basic attack was even more solid than his own ... godd*mn, was this still a closebat operator?


    He could not help but turn his head around to look at Zhao Jun and ask, "Your regimentmander ... is he really operating a closebat mecha?" They must have been lying to him, right? In truth, Ling Lan was actually a long-range expert?


    Zhao Jun stared nkly at therge screen ¡ª Boss Lan¡¯s series of long-range operations had also deeply shaken him. When he heard Qiao Ting¡¯s inquiry, he nodded after some hesitation, saying uncertainly, "He should be. I¡¯ve never seen him operate any other mecha other than closebat mecha before."


    Zhao Jun was rather confused himself. He really did not know anymore what type of operator his Boss Lan was. Could it be that Boss Lan was in fact aprehensive operator? He had just hidden this fact all this time? Just considering the possibility sent chills running down his back and Zhao Jun shivered. Hells, this was too terrifying! The closebat skills of a bnced operator actually being stronger than them pure closebat operators ... how were they supposed to continue living?¿ª¿ÚÃŶƽð: Literally, ¡¯open (his) mouth to be coated in gold¡¯.At first I did not understand this, butbined with the reading of what follows, I think the beam attack here is a continuous one. So, when the opponent was hit, he was pinned down in ce as the beam continued to whittle away at his beam shield¡¯s reserves.i.e. bury their heads in the sand and hope the problem goes away.

 Chapter 462 Naming —— Ling Lan Shooting Art!

    "Hmph, he hid that real deep. He¡¯s probably really an operator of a bnced mecha," snarked Han Yu, a quick sh of envy passing through his eyes. He was secretly hateful that such excellent long-range control talent did not belong to himself ¡ª Han Yu was a long-range mecha operator; he knew in his heart that Ling Lan¡¯s operation was better than his by not just a little bit.


    However, right then, Ling Lan, who was rapidly flying backwards, was contemting another matter. She was wondering what that target point she had seen earlier was all about. Ling Lan was well aware that that target point had not been something she had managed to calcte and deduce on her own. It had appeared out of thin air in her mind, just as if someone had specifically told her about it and was just waiting for her to carry it out.


    Could this also be an ability of her innate talent Profound Insight? This was the first thing that came to Ling Lan¡¯s mind, and her intuition would not be wrong.


    In truth, Ling Lan was still unclear what the innate talent Profound Insight was truly capable of. In the past, during closebat, Profound Insight was able to prate and see the opponent¡¯s fatal weakness at a nce. While watching from the side-lines, it could clearly determine the oue of a battle, and now, if she was not wrong in her spections, Profound Insight could urately predict effective target points for long-range attacks ...


    Ling Lan decided to try it once more and see if her spections were correct. At this time, she was flying at high speed to pull away from the opponent, and then, with a sudden twist, she turned to face her opponent. Her mecha¡¯s engines abruptly shifted from forward thrust to reverse thrust. Although this operation was extremely damaging to the engines, it helped Ling Lan maintain her original speed and flight path, allowing Ling Lan to swiftly enter attack mode.


    Right then, Ling Lan had cut loose ¡ª in order to prove her spections as soon as possible, she did not care if she had to pay some price. Facing that Tongli mecha chasing after her, Ling Lan¡¯s gaze once again turned ice-cold. She had entered an extremely cold and focused mode ¡ª this was an ability she had obtained after going through countless massacres inside the learning space.


    Her mind was cleared of all distractions; the opponent¡¯s mecha was all she could see ... Ling Lan¡¯s finger moved. A string of operations was carried out under her hands, dazzling everyone¡¯s eyes with their speed. At one point, her fingers actually disappeared under theyers of afterimages.


    All of the audience could see the right arm of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha hitching up and flicking down, and that low-hanging giant long-barrelled beam gun drew a semi-circle through the air under the mecha¡¯s arm movements. Immediately after, her mecha¡¯s left hand lifted up.


    With a ¡¯pop¡¯, the giant gun¡¯s lower half was hitched up by the mecha¡¯s left arm and its muzzle pointed straight at the mecha running towards her.


    Will it be a ranged interception? Or perhaps, like Qiao Ting, Ling Lan would disy advanced target-locking arts and seal off all of the opponent¡¯s possible avenues of escape? When everyone saw this, they began guessing at Ling Lan¡¯s next attack. In rapid flight, the gun art that could be disyed were limited to just a few.


    Ling Lan aimed at the opponent but did not shoot blindly, nor did she try to calcte or deduce anything. She only concentrated and stared intently at the opponent¡¯s mecha, just waiting for that sudden chance to appear.


    "Right there!" Several secondster, as expected, Ling Lan saw an extremely clear shooting trajectory. This was not the result of careful calction; she had just been able to see it just like that. For no reason whatsoever, and a reason just could not be found, she had simply been able to see it.


    Without any hesitation, Ling Lan pulled the trigger. Whether or not this opening was urate, the facts would have to prove it. This shot was of the utmost importance.


    A beam shot out from the muzzle, so dazzling that it seemed almost able to split the air above thebat field into two parts.


    Ling Lan constantly adjusted her shooting position and the target point of her beam shot in ordance with the opponent¡¯s movement. All this showed that Ling Lan¡¯s attack method was still that basic technique ¡ª fixed-point shooting.


    Everyone was in an uproar. The reason why fixed-point shooting was called fixed-point shooting was that it was used to attack an opponent during situations of absolute stillness, with a fixed and urate target-lock to ensure a one-hit kill. On the battlefield, it was the best ambush method.


    Due to its ambush-like qualities, fixed-point shooting was actually not suitable for a mechabat match. Ling Lan¡¯s previous sessful shot with it had already wowed the audience, and now, this current shot had once again shattered the people¡¯s understanding of fixed-point shooting. Could it be that fixed-point shooting could also be effective while on the move?


    Several experienced mecha operators could not help but shake their heads, thinking that Ling Lan had let the previous sess go to her head. Actually audacious enough to try creating a new record and a new form of gun art ... but how could those things be so easy to achieve?


    "What a nonsense move!" The two imperial operators monitoring from above instantly swore out loud at Ling Lan¡¯s unreasonable actions. Ling Lan¡¯s previous outstanding performance had earned Ling Lan their admiration, but his deluded efforts to break the mould now by using apletely unsuitable gun art to deal with his opponent made them very angry and disappointed.


    Witnessing this, Ling Xiao could not help but clench his fists tightly. He knew his daughter, so he believed that Ling Lan definitely would not do anything crazy for no reason ¡ª she must have some degree of certainty for her to have done this. Some hard to conceal pleasant surprise in his eyes, he waited to see the final oue ...


    No one believed that Ling Lan could hit the opponent ¡ª that finalnding point of the beam she was shooting was obviously wide from the perspective of the onlookers.


    "Ah!" At this moment, the audience burst out into exmations.


    The Tongli mecha operator who had obviously been travelling along a safe flight path had suddenly changed the direction of his mecha¡¯s flicker movement and had actually ended up crashing into the range of Ling Lan¡¯s beam. This suicidal action left everyone in the audience gaping in astonishment.


    The Tongli mecha operator had just finished his flicker action when he suddenly found that he had charged right into the path of a beam attack. His mecha was instantly consumed by the brilliant beam of light.


    "Ah!" The Tongli mecha operator could not help but scream in shock. Being hit under this type of circumstances, caughtpletely unprepared, anyone would have panicked like him.


    "Boom!" The mecha exploded with great force.


    Although the Tongli mecha operator had tried his best to change his mecha¡¯s flight path once more to escape the range of the beam attack, unfortunately, when he had jumped into the target zone of the beam attack, his motion was still in progress. To abort the halfplete action, a newmand had to be given to first clear the originalmand. Only after the firstmand had been erased could the system ept a new motionmand. Not just that, when aborting an iplete action, regardless of how fast an operator¡¯s hand speed was, a special-ss mecha would still have some freeze time, and the transition to the new action would also require some buffering time. This series ofplicated controls was impossible for a special-ss operator toplete in just five seconds. And so, the Tongli special-ss operator was doomed to tragedy!


    "It hit?"


    "It hit!"


    The audience members scrubbed at their eyes vigorously, unable to believe what they had just seen. The dissipating smoke and half-destroyed mecha turned their disbelief into eptance.


    With a great furore, everyone took to their feet. Could it be that they would have the honour of bearing witness to the naming of a new mecha technique? They could not help but be excited ¡ª mind you, thest time a technique had been named after its creator was over 50 years ago. It had been so long that the people of the Federation had almost forgotten that the Federation still had this naming channel for newly created skills and techniques.


    In the Federation, there were two types of naming with regards to mecha techniques. One was for official skills and techniques developed by the Federation military Mecha Skills Research Department. These techniques would all be given an official name, such as Fixed-point Shooting, N-point Blockade, Chain Combo Art, etcetera etcetera. And the other type was for those techniques which had been created by an individual mecha operator. If these techniques were proven to be fully developed and effective inbat or battle, the skills would be named after their creator. Examples of these include the Thomas Fullspin, Yelu Semi-Flight, Louis Double-Cut, etcetera etcetera ...


    And now, Ling Lan had created mobile fixed-point shooting ¡ª building a new gun art on top of the original fixed-point shooting. ording to Federationw, the name of this technique would carry her name.


    Sitting beside Ling Xiao was the attending military representative, the main organizer for this Grand Mecha Tournament. He abruptly stood up and said emotionally to Ling Xiao, "General Ling, a new technique ... a new technique has appeared! I ... I must report this to headquarters!"


    Ling Xiao suppressed the exhration he was feeling, smiling gently as he nodded and said, "Well, congrattions. You all have a new personal-name technique." Personal-name techniques were in fact also a means to disy the might of a nation ¡ª it signified that the Federation was filled with talent. The military would certainly use this opportunity to glorify their nation to the rest of the world.


    Even as he felt proud of his daughter, Ling Xiao was silently mourning this new headache. The more famous Ling Lan was, the harder it would be for him to free Ling Lan from her current identity. Ling Xiao smiled wryly ¡ª he really wasn¡¯t sure whether his blunder in sending his daughter to study at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was doing her a service or harming her?


    Watching the military representative hurry off excitedly to report to his superiors, Ling Xiao began to fret over how he could protect his daughter. He felt that things were spinning further and further out of his control, yet he was filled with joy and pride inside. He even thought that, if he was given the chance to do it all again, he would still choose to let his daughter study at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, otherwise his daughter¡¯s exceptional control talent would have been wasted.


    This kind of thinking made Ling Xiao feel rather guilty. He carefully peeked at Lan Luofeng, hoping that she had not noticed his little selfish thought.


    At this moment, however, Lan Luofeng waspletely lost. She had not understood the conversation between Ling Xiao and that military representative. The fact was that she really did not understand much about mecha even though she had married a god-ss operator.


    "What¡¯s going on? What is personal-name naming?" Lan Luofeng would always ask directly if there was something she did not understand. This was also one of the things Ling Xiao liked about her ¡ª she would not pretend to be more knowledgeable than she really was.


    "Thatst attack by Lan-er has created a new shooting technique, which is why this technique will be named after her. It¡¯ll be called ¡ª Ling Lan Shooting Art!" Ling Xiao¡¯s gaze shone with pride. This was his daughter! How lucky was he!


    "Ah!" Lan Luofeng covered her mouth in her joy and surprise. She stared disbelievingly at Ling Xiao, and when Ling Xiao nodded once more to confirm, Lan Luofeng started shaking Ling Xiao in her excitement. If not out of consideration for the time and ce, she would definitely have leapt up to scream and shout.


    Ling Xiao smiled as he embraced Lan Luofeng, letting the other calm down in his arms. He looked towards Ling Lan still floating in the air, and the growing smile at the corners of his lips could not be suppressed.


    Backstage, Qiao Ting and the rest were gobsmacked. Zhao Jun pped himself harshly and then asked Qiao Ting non-stop, "Am I dreaming? Am I dreaming? Qiao Ting, that¡¯s a new technique, right? Right? Right? Right?"ÂÒµ¯ÇÙ: The phrase here is actually derived from the Chinese 4-character idiom ¶ÔÅ£µ¯ÇÙ, which means to ¡¯y a lute before a cow¡¯. Basically, doing something nonsensical and pointless, a waste of effort. Here, the author shortened it to just ¡¯randomly ying a lute¡¯.

 Chapter 463 Qiao Tings Plans!

    Qiao Ting took in a deep breath and looked searchingly at Ling Lan on the field. He then said in a low voice, "You¡¯re not dreaming. That technique ..." It should count as a new technique. Qiao Ting did not voice it. He was afraid that if he did, he would not be able to maintain his nature.


    That was personal-name naming! It was something all mecha masters dreamed of obtaining, but how many people would ever truly earn this honour? Throughout human history, techniques that fell under personal-name naming numbered less than sixty, and most of them were from the early days of mecha development ...


    Excluding those people, in the past thousand years, only a small number of 12 people have attained this honour sessfully ... how lucky was Ling Lan? Having done what countless people could not, even if that technique could not be widely promoted, it was still envy-jealousy-hate inducing for Ling Lan to have an exclusive technique belonging to him! Qiao Ting could not suppress the tendril of bitterness that welled up in his heart. This era should have been his, but Ling Lan¡¯s performance today was enough to put them equal ground. Profoundly, he wondered why fate had chosen to give birth to both of them in the same time frame.


    Meanwhile, on the field, the referee saw the Tongli mecha being destroyed in one shot by Ling Lan and his expression changed greatly. He quickly waved his red g vigorously, suspending the fight, and then piloted his mecha over quickly to check on the condition of the Tongli mecha.


    Stunned, Ling Lan lowered the gun in her hands. If a quick sh of thought had not struck her at that instant when she had taken the shot, making her subconsciously raise her gun¡¯s muzzle by a few inches, she would absolutely have hit the opponent¡¯s cockpit directly. That shooting trajectory she had visualized was not merely an effective path to hit the opponent ¡ª it was a fearsome trajectory which would have resulted in a one-hit kill.


    Ling Lan was instantly gripped by a pang of bted fear; the sweat on her back felt cold. If she had not had that sh of insight and made some minor adjustments at the instant, perhaps her opponent might be dead right now.


    "Profound Insight is one of the top-ss innate talents in the Mandora star system. It is the best innate talent for mecha piloting. Cherish it, and use it well." The words Instructor Number One had said to her that year once again rang out by Ling Lan¡¯s ear.


    "Instructor Number One, before this, I have probably disappointed you!" thought Ling Lan with a dry mental chuckle. She had never really paid much attention to this innate talent of hers, thinking that it only provided a little more uracy to her piloting through its predictive ability. Thisckadaisical attitude towards it had made her neglect Profound Insight, thus wasting a lot of time ... still, Ling Lan¡¯s frustration onlysted for an instant. She very quickly rallied herself, thinking, "Luckily, it¡¯s not toote. I will definitely master all of the abilities of Profound Insight."


    Just solely excavating that little bit of its abilities had already proven to be so heaven-defying ... Ling Lan had the feeling that perhaps this Profound Insight innate talent was the true cheat she had been given in her transmigration, the true foundation which would allow her to stand at the pinnacle of strength in this world.


    When the referee came up to the Tongli mecha, he found that the upper half of the mecha had already been battered by the beam shot, bing extremely dpidated, but the cockpit area was perfectly untouched. This meant that the situation was not too terrible; the referee¡¯s heart settled. That scene just now had caught everyone off guard ¡ª even if someone had had the heart to help and save the Tongli contestant, they would not have made it in time.


    The referee instantly made contact with the mecha operator inside the cockpit, and when he heard the other respond back that he only had some minor injuries and that everything else was fine, the referee instantly let out a sigh of relief. Only then did he announce the end of this mecha fight, with the winner being Ling Lan of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Leaving aside the fact that the Tongli mecha was no longer fit for battle, even if the mecha had beenpletely undamaged after thatst encounter, that shot of Ling Lan¡¯s alone was enough to reduce the opponent¡¯s points to zero.


    After his initial surge of emotion, Ling Xiao calmed down, and confusion settled in. That shot of Ling Lan¡¯s ... the execution of it was incongruent with her actual age and experience. Logically, Ling Lan should not have been able to make such an urate prediction ¡ª it should have been impossible for that sure-kill trajectory to be discovered by anyone below imperial level ...


    Predictive judgement was a skill which mecha masters had to learn, but the extent to which the ability can stretchpletely depends on the mecha master¡¯s own strength and experience, and of course a keen intuition was also indispensable. Ling Xiao believed his daughter¡¯s intuition was not weak ¡ª he had already known this from when he had sparred with her before ¡ª but Ling Lan logically should not have been able to achieve such a step at her current level of strength and experience.


    How had Ling Lan, his baby daughter, discovered this trajectory? Was it luck? Or had she really seen it? For some unknown reason, Ling Xiao believed deep down that his daughter must surely have seen it. It looked like his daughter still had secrets unknown to him ...


    A subtle smile appeared on Ling Xiao¡¯s lips ¡ª he was not nning to delve any further into the matter. No matter what secrets his daughter was keeping, he did not care, unless his daughter herself was willing to tell him. The parenting bible had clearly stated that one of the taboos was trying to dig into all the secrets of one¡¯s child and trying to control them. This would make a child very resentful, angry, and unhappy ¡ª the child may even be hateful of the parent, affecting the rtionship between father and son (father and daughter).


    As a wise and intelligent father, he would never make such a low-level mistake! Ling Xiao thought proudly.


    Ling Lan returned victorious and was weed back by four gazes filled with envy-jealousy-hate from the other contestants of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Ling Lan smiled bashfully and alighted using the elevator tform.


    Striding up to the four people, Ling Lan looked at Qiao Ting and said calmly, "Toplete the mission, it all depends on you now, Senior Qiao."


    Qiao Ting stared at her meaningfully and said in a tone steeped in connotation, "I will not lose!" He moved past Ling Lan to the area below his ace mecha and stepped onto the elevator tform before finally walking into his cockpit.


    Right then, Qiao Ting already knew that Lin Xiao or Jiang Shaoyu or whomever were all not the people he needed to watch ¡ª his greatest rival in this life was this currently still inconspicuous Ling Lan, whose name would spread far and wideter on following the creation of this shooting art. Actually, from the start, from the moment Ling Lan had turned Leiting on its head, they were destined to be lifelong rivals.


    As soon as Qiao Ting left, Mu Shaoyu smiled, raised a big thumbs up, and said in a low voice, "Regiment Commander Ling, awesome!"


    Mu Shaoyu¡¯s words made Han Yu beside him harrumph coldly before turning to walk away. Mu Shaoyu could not help but smirk coldly and say, "Don¡¯t worry about him. This fellow¡¯s pettiness is acting up again." As a long-time rival, Mu Shaoyu knew Han Yu too well ¡ª Han Yu had always thought that his mecha control was better than Ling Lan¡¯s, but reality had just pped him in the face. Among the six people who were participating in the group mechabat event, other than Zhang Jing-an, Han Yu had proven to be weakest of the bunch. He found this hard to swallow right at that moment.


    "It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ve only defeated a top 32 opponent. It¡¯s nothing worth mentioning," replied Ling Lan nonchntly. Ever since she had stolen Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun from Wuji, her rtionship with Han Yu could not be described as friendly. If her own regiment members had been stolen away by another regimentmander, Ling Lan believed that she too would not be big-hearted enough to still y nice with the other.


    "Not worth mentioning?" Mu Shaoyu gaped. "Regiment Commander Ling, you are the first to have created a mecha technique in over 50 years. I believe that from tomorrow onwards, no no, maybe from now onwards, you will be renowned throughout all of human society."


    "Created a technique? Renowned throughout all of human society? What does this have to do with me?" Ling Lan frowned and cast a cold nce at Zhao Jun, asking him what Mu Shaoyu really meant. Was he actually mocking her?


    Zhao Jun quickly exined, "As long as a heretofore unseen technique appears, if it was created by an individual, the technique would be named after the individual. Boss Lan, that shot you sent at the opponent as you were flying will be named after you, Boss ..."


    In the mindspace, Little Four abruptly pped a hand to his head. He seemed to have, probably ... forgotten to tell his boss about this.


    As Zhao Jun exined, his entire face was filled with envy and respect. Them cadets were at most fighting to be the number one within their respective academies. Creating a new technique? That was not something they even dared to think of. In their minds, this was something much too distant from them and so had nothing to do with them. Who could have guessed that his n leader Ling Lan would actually manage to do this right before their eyes? And so easily too!


    "Ah, is that a new technique?" Zhao Jun¡¯s words surprised Ling Lan.


    "Isn¡¯t it?" Zhao Jun was dumbfounded. It was obviously a new technique, right? He had not seen wrong, Qiao Ting had not seen wrong, none of the others had seen wrong.


    "What do you say?" Ling Lan cast a cold nce at him. This Senior Zhao ... did he not learn his basic controls properly? She had obviously just used the fixed-point shooting technique in basic controls, so what did this have to do with a new technique?


    "..." Zhao Jun became rather flustered by Ling Lan¡¯s oppressive gaze. Could it be that he had really made a mistake? He asked carefully, "That ... ah, Boss Lan, may I ask, what technique did you use earlier?" Feeling tentative and unsure, Zhao Jun actually began speaking more formally.


    "Fixed-point shooting. You really couldn¡¯t tell?" Ling Lan was even more worried now, which made the chill surrounding her body be even colder. It looked like Senior Zhao Jun¡¯s basic controls were really not solid enough. She needed to think of a way to help him fix that as quickly as possible.


    The higher her level, the more Ling Lan understood the deeper meaning behind her dad¡¯s legacy which had emphasized the importance of the basic controls. This was because once one had entered ace level, the basics were the key to advance to the next realm. And yet, after one had entered ace level, one¡¯s personal operation style would gradually begin to form. By the time they reached thete stages of ace realm and wanted to advance to the next realm, the mecha master would find that this problem was an obstacle restricting their advancement. At that time, it would already be toote to turn back and train up their basic controls. Having already formed their own operation style, they would not be able to develop their basic controls any further. Only if their brains were switched so they would forget their own style, then perhaps there would still be a chance to do so.


    Ling Lan had alreadye to a decision in her mind ¡ª before Senior Zhao Jun left the academy, she would use basic controls to have a few good spars with him. She had to make sure his foundations became a little more solid.


    Zhao Jun could not know that just by asking such a simple question, he had signed himself up for a great amount of torment under Ling Lan¡¯s hands before he would enlist into an army division. He would be tortured so badly that he would almost lose all confidence to even board a mecha to fight ever again ...


    Right then, still blissfully ignorant, Zhao Jun once again asked tentatively, "But fixed-point shooting can only be used in a stationary state. Fixed-point shooting while running, is it still fixed-point shooting?"


    "Isn¡¯t it essentially still the same? I merely applied it more flexibly," answered Ling Lan blithely. "It really isn¡¯t a new technique!"


    When Instructor Number Three had been teaching her, he had said so very clearly ¡ª there was no technique which would never change. Only by incorporating techniques into real battle would techniques be truly useful. She had merely adapted a stationary fixed-point technique for use during motion ¡ª there was no difference in the nature of the technique.


    If this counted as a new technique, Ling Lan really did not know how many new techniques she had then. Basically, with the guidance and assistance of Instructor Number Three, she was now able to make some changes to every single basic technique.


    Sensing that his boss was speaking the truth as Ling Lan was so calm and indifferent towards the whole new technique naming business, Zhao Jun found himself awed and speechless. The great and supreme honour of having a technique named after him was actually unable to move Boss Lan ... he really did not know what else could sessfully crack Boss Lan¡¯s ice-block face.


    In truth, all of the members of the n secretly wished to see this happen. They were even betting with each other, betting to see who would be the first to see Boss Lan¡¯s expression change. Just now, he had really thought he was about to win ... but reality proved that he had still underestimated Boss Lan and had been gleeful for nothing.


    On this end, Ling Lan and Zhao Jun were discussing about whether the technique was or was not a new technique, while on the other end, Qiao Ting was already operating his mecha onto the field as prompted by the staff.


    Ling Lan and the rest saw this and turned their attention to thebat field. As for whether that move of Ling Lan was considered a new technique, there was actually no need to argue over it ¡ª in the end, the final decision would depend on the military. If the military felt that it was, then it was; if they felt it wasn¡¯t, then it wasn¡¯t.


    In reality, among the general public, there were many extremely unique and dangerous mecha techniques spread around in secret. Due to some problems and ws here and there, or perhaps some doubts with regards to their safety, these mecha techniques had all been unable to receive official military recognition in the end and had been relegated to pseudo-techniques.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s opponent was the weakest of the Tongli mecha operators ¡ª the oue of this match was already clear even before it started. If not for the fact that giving up without a fight would disgrace their military academy, the Tongli mecha operators might have just chosen to raise their hands up and surrender right at the start.


    The match officially began with the downward swing of the referee¡¯s green g. Qiao Ting instantly pulled away from the opponent ¡ª his speed wasparable to Ling Lan¡¯s, leaving the audience eximing in awe. Only some top-ss operators noticed that there was still some gap between the reaction speed of the two.


    Likewise, Qiao Ting himself noticed it too. After he pulled away, the corners of his lips tilted downwards in disappointment. At the instant when he had moved his fingers to control his mecha, Qiao Ting already knew he had still been a beat slower than Ling Lan. It was not that he did not want to start piloting from the very moment the g swung down, but his fingers had still slowed a little beyond his control in the instant that he had intended to move. And this brief pause had made him slower than Ling Lan by 0.1 seconds.


    With regards to mecha piloting, even the difference of 0.01 seconds was enough to change the tide of a battle. What more this dy of 0.1 seconds? This amount of difference in their reaction times was enough for him to die more than a dozen of times.


    At this moment, Qiao Ting deeply admired the strength of Ling Lan¡¯s heart ¡ª how bold did this person have to be to dare to execute such seamless operation right on the line? Was he not afraid ofmitting a foul?


    Qiao Ting¡¯s opponent did not hurry to chase after him when Qiao Ting pulled away. Instead, he stood his ground, calmly waiting for Qiao Ting to pull away till the optimum long-range attack distance for him, looking for all the world like he was resigned to his fate.


    No one boo-ed him for his decision, because the audience was well aware that up against an ace operator several times stronger than him, even if he chased after the other with all of his might, he would not be able to close the distance. At most, he would only be able to buy himself some time; the oue would not change. In that case, he might as well wait calmly and use these brief few seconds to properly think about how he would handle whates next.


    As soon as he achieved the distance he needed for his long-range attack, Qiao Ting drew a long-barrelled gun from his back. This gun was not Qiao Ting¡¯s favoured weapon, the ballistic sniper rifle, but the same weapon Ling Lan had used, the standard equipment of long-range mecha: a long-range long-barrelled beam gun.


    With a snap, the long-barrelled gun arced through the air to hitch securely on his shoulder, held up by his left hand, sight aimed at the opponent.


    A "bang", and a beam shot out from the muzzle. From setting the gun into ce and aiming to pulling the trigger, the entire series of actions had beenpleted in just two seconds. Qiao Ting almost gave his gun no time to lock onto the target ...


    This time frame startled cheers out of the audience. Compared to Ling Lan, Qiao Ting¡¯s actions had been even more well-practiced andpact, his posture was more elegant and natural, and the time he used was so short that it made the people¡¯s eyes bulge.


    With a boom, the beam uratelynded where the Tongli mecha had been standing, instantly creating a shallow pit. As with Ling Lan¡¯s first shot, the Tongli mecha master urately dodged this shot.


    When Zhao Jun saw this, his expression shifted and he whispered to Ling Lan, "Boss Lan, Qiao Ting seems to be replicating your movements."


    Right then, Ling Lan was standing before therge screen and watching the match with her arms folded across her chest. When she heard what Zhao Jun said, she nodded calmly and said, "Hn. The same fixed-point shooting, from taking aim to shooting, this shot of his took at least one second less than mine did. In terms of long-range, he is indeed better than me." Ling Lan was not afraid to face the truth. If her innate talent Profound Insight had not been so nature-defying, she would still be unable topete against these aberrant prodigies with long-range innate talents at long range.


    Zhao Jun chuckled, not at all taking Ling Lan¡¯s words seriously. Frankly, Zhao Jun did not think Ling Lan was weaker than Qiao Ting by much. Speed did not mean anything ¡ª managing to hit the target was what really mattered.


    After evading this first shot, the Tongli mecha operator did not act like his teammate had and try to close the distance between him and the opponent. Instead, he continued to stay in ce, cautious, waiting for Qiao Ting¡¯s next attack.


    He knew very well that even if Qiao Ting¡¯s closebat abilities were very bad, with the distance between their mecha now, he had no chance at all of winning. In that case, he might as well maintain this distance and carefully deal with the opponent¡¯s long-range attacks. Perhaps that way, he might still be able to hold out for some time.


    The Tongli mecha master¡¯s thoughts were quickly seen through by Qiao Ting. He frowned lightly and shook his gun¡¯s muzzle, and then ... "Bang! Bang! Bang!" Three shots rang out.


    These three consecutive shots of Qiao Ting¡¯snded in sequence at different positions. The first shotnded where the Tongli mecha operator had been standing at the start, and the subsequent two shotsnded where the Tongli mecha operator had moved to after he had dodged that first shot.


    The Tongli mecha operator could only keep dodging, dodging, dodging. His figure shed three times in quick session, but he was unknowingly moving forwards as he dodged.


    Some of the top-ss mecha masters could already see the real purpose behind Qiao Ting¡¯s three shots at this time. They felt speechlessly amused at Qiao Ting¡¯s youthfulpetitiveness, and some were shaking their heads, thinking silently that he was still too young, not able to keep himself grounded.


    On the rostrum, Ling Xiao saw this and quirked an eyebrow. Was this a challenge towards his daughter? He looked at Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha with interest and wondered how exactly this youth who was known as the second Ling Xiao would perform.


    After the Tongli mecha operator evaded those three shots, before he had a chance to stop to catch his breath, Qiao Ting had followed up with another three shots, forcing the Tongli mecha operator to dodge once again.


    These three shots of Qiao Ting still did not manage to hit the opponent, but the Tongli mecha operator was again forced to fly forwards because of the three shots. Unconsciously, he had already moved forwards by 300 metres.


    After once again safely dodging the three shots, the Tongli mecha operator had already sensed that thesest six shots of Qiao Ting¡¯s were different from his first shot.


    That first shot had obviously been intended to hit the opponent, and so it was outstanding in terms of both speed and uracy. However, the subsequent six shots after that were not intended to hit the opponent ¡ª they were meant to force the opponent to a specific target point. The Tongli mecha operator was not stupid ¡ª how could he miss the meaning of these six shots of Qiao Ting?


    A strong sense of humiliation jabbed at his heart. The Tongli mecha operator was infuriated and also extremely aggrieved. The power difference between them left him no choice but to move ording to the opponent¡¯s ns ...


    Fine, since you want to do things this way, then let me see if you, Qiao Ting, can also carry off an attack like the one your teammate had. The Tongli mecha operator no longer wanted to be forced by Qiao Ting. He decided to go for broke and, as Qiao Ting wished, he piloted his mecha to fly forwards at a frenzied pace. Perhaps his fury had reached its limits because, despite operating his mecha in a rage, his mecha¡¯s speed did not decrease but seemed instead to be even a level higher than before.


    Seeing this, a satisfied smile appeared on Qiao Ting¡¯s lips ¡ª this was what he wanted.


    Yes, Qiao Ting wanted to reproduce the move Ling Lan had used to defeat her opponent. He wanted to tell Ling Lan that, whatever the other could do, he could it too.


    Just when the opponent was about to enter close range, at that final shooting point within long range for fixed-point shooting, Qiao Ting finally fired that shot he had long had ready.


    With a boom, a bright beam of light leapt at the opponent. The Tongli mecha dodged with all its might, but the beam still managed to hit it ... however, the opponent soon broke free, though the power of his mecha¡¯s beam shield had been drained considerably, the shield bing dull and lightless.


    "Sure enough, Qiao Ting is trying topletely reproduce your attack methods. After this, it should be that running fixed-point shooting of yours, Boss Lan. I wonder if he¡¯ll seed." Zhao Jun¡¯s expression was rather grim ¡ª regardless of whether Qiao Ting¡¯s running shot worked or not, his behaviour could bebelled as provocation.


    "This shot ... Qiao Ting held back." Ling Lan saw things differently than everyone else. Her eyes were telling her that Qiao Ting had not gone all out. Perhaps Qiao Ting did not want to end the match like this ¡ª like Zhao Jun said, Qiao Ting wanted to try that in-motion fixed-point shooting of hers.


    When she was done speaking, Ling Lan turned back to look intently at the screen. Zhao Jun did not dare to say anything more, afraid to disturb Ling Lan. Zhao Jun did not know that Ling Lan seemed very focused on the match, but she was actually analysing everything she had just seen in her mind. Were all these information also given to her by her innate talent Profound Insight?


    As soon as Qiao Ting¡¯s shot ended, as expected, he did exactly as Ling Lan had, turning around to fly swiftly forwards. This obvious movement clued the audience in as to what Qiao Ting was nning to do. In the resultingmotion, they eagerly anticipated the oue ¡ª could this number one of the military academies replicate his teammate¡¯s attack?


    Was iting now? When the Tongli mecha operator saw the opponent turning to glide swiftly away, he clenched his teeth and slowed down. Even though he was very angry, he still remembered what his teammate had said after his match. He had said that the reason he had been hit by that shot was that he had been flying too fast. By the time he noticed he had flown into the range of the beam shot, there was already no more time for him to change his motions. If he had been a little slower, perhaps the oue would have been different.


    He would learn from this lesson of his teammate. Since the opponent wanted to try that move, then he might as well slow down his speed. He too wanted to know whether Qiao Ting could still hit him after he slowed down.¼ÈÉú褺ÎÉúÁÁ: This saying has been brought up before in chapter 441. Please refer to the footnote there if you need it. The whole Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang rivalry thingy.Å£: It might amuse some of you to know that the word used here is literally ¡¯cow¡¯ or ¡¯bull¡¯, as in the animal. It¡¯s Chinese ng to use this word as an adjective when someone does something particrly impressive. Don¡¯t ask me why.

 Chapter 464 Give Up!

    "Could it be that everyone from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy knows this move? Or maybe this move was created by Qiao Ting to begin with? And that person just used it first?" In the audience, some people had begun their wild spections, contemting this possibility. They felt that their guess was very likely to be true ¡ª after all, Qiao Ting was the number one of the military academies, and he was also the supreme prodigy known as the second Ling Xiao. It was much more convincing for him to be the creator of this new technique rather than that unknown youth earlier.


    Of course, they also did not dare to im their conclusions were true just like that ¡ª their spections had to be established upon the premise of Qiao Ting¡¯s sess in executing this move.


    When the distance between the twobatants was once again stretched far enough for fixed-point shooting, Qiao Ting operated his mecha to turn around swiftly. This series of operations were almost identical to Ling Lan¡¯s in the previous match ...


    The seamless operations left the audience gasping in awe and also made the top-ss mecha masters nod silently in approval.


    Even one of the two imperial operators monitoring the match from up above could not help but praise, "This kid¡¯s pretty good. Almost copying the previous one¡¯s movements exactly without making any mistakes."


    "Not bad. The title of second Ling Xiao, he¡¯s still worthy of it." The other person seemed to be a little pickier with regards to Qiao Ting; his tone was extremely indifferent.


    Hispanion¡¯s words surprised the first imperial operator who had spoken. "Ah, so he¡¯s the one!" General Ling Xiao was renowned throughout the entire Federation. Ever since that imperial operator had returned to the Federation and found out that it had such an amazingly talented god-ss operator, he had been filled with admiration. "Speaking of General Ling Xiao, I heard that there is no technique he doesn¡¯t know. They say he¡¯s apleteprehensive talent."


    Hispanion was stunned by his words. "You ... do you not know that General Ling Xiao¡¯s innate talent is Duplication?" In the Federation, this was practically an open secret.


    In response, that imperial operator said somewhat embarrassedly, "You¡¯ve forgotten where I¡¯m from."


    Hispanion was suddenly enlightened, recalling the other¡¯s background. He said apologetically, "Sorry, I had forgotten you are from the Lawless Lands."


    The Lawless Lands was one of the three ungoverned zones at the fringes of human-popted star systems. It was hundreds of thousands of light-years away from the Federation. The resources there were extremely scarce and the climate was frightful, even worse than that of fourth-rates which had beenbelled by the Federation as possessing the worst living conditions for human beings. Without a certain level of strength, it was impossible for someone to live there.


    The Lawless Lands was a ce of sin. Aside from the rare aborigines, all who stayed there were criminals and fugitives from the various nations.


    At the Lawless Lands, war and strife reigned all year round ¡ª different factions warred with each other, vying for their own territory. There, ace operators were asmon as dogs. Anyone who was not an ace just could not survive, and only imperial operators could live like actual people, obtaining a secure ce for themselves.


    Of course, once someone in the Lawless Lands seeded in ascending to imperial operator level, they would have the chance to start anew and choose their future path again. They could choose to return to the world of human order (war criminals and refugees mostly chose this option), and their past crimes would be wiped clean. Of course, they could also choose to continue remaining in the Lawless Lands (the aborigines mostly chose this option) and be a duke in their own right.


    That imperial operator was originally a deserter from the Federation. When he had advanced to imperial level, he had chosen to return to the Federation and be a member of the foreign deterrent forces of the military. However, when he had run away to the Lawless Lands back then, Ling Xiao had not been born yet, and there had always been an embargo on news and material goods enforced by the various human nations against the Lawless Lands. Thus, it was impossible to hear news of Ling Xiao there. The imperial operator had only heard bits and pieces of General Ling Xiao¡¯s exploits after returning to the Federation, and so he really did not know some of these open secrets.


    Hispanion¡¯s apology swept away the imperial operator¡¯s awkwardness. He continued to say, "Duplication for an innate talent ... that¡¯s insane! So this innate talent can fully duplicate an opponent¡¯s techniques after seeing it just once?"


    "Yes, you can say that. That¡¯s why everyone says that he knows every technique. Even for those he doesn¡¯t know, he just needs to see others perform it once and he¡¯ll know them," said hispanion in an envious tone.


    It should be known that the average mecha master needed multiple rounds of tough training to fullyprehend and master an advanced technique and make it their own. In contrast, this innate talent of Ling Xiao was like a cheating device, greatly shortening the time needed to limatize. As long as Ling Xiao wanted a skill, just observing it once would do. What¡¯s even more frightening was the fact that video recordings of many of the existing present-day mecha techniques could be found in the virtual world. Therefore, as long as Ling Xiao wanted, there really was no technique he could not obtain.


    Of course, this did not rule out the fact that some secluded elite families would have their own secret techniques. These definitely could not be found in the virtual world, but they had to be very careful and remember to never disy these skills before General Ling Xiao, otherwise these top-secret techniques which symbolised the sect and family n would be General Ling Xiao¡¯s too.


    "Perhaps, this is also why General Ling Xiao was able to ascend to god-ss," said the imperial operator from the Lawless Lands enviously. At their level, they could already tell what their limits were. They had already exhausted their potential to be imperial operators, and so they were destined to be imperial operators for life now. Not fated to be god-ss operators ... it had to be said that this was their regret.


    The two of them only chatted casually a bit more before their attention was drawn to Qiao Ting¡¯s strange condition.


    In mid-flight, Qiao Ting had adjusted his shooting direction several times, and just when everyone thought he was about to shoot, he did not move, holding back. From the time he had turned to fly in the opposite direction till now, three minutes had passed. In contrast, from turning around till shooting, Ling Lan had only used one minute. There was no doubt that the time Qiao Ting was using had already exceeded Ling Lan¡¯s by double the amount ...


    Qiao Ting¡¯s gaze was tightly locked onto the opponent within the sight of his gun; he could almost see the chance to shoot again ... his finger could not help but twitch, but in the end, he still eased the pressure off his finger and endured, once again choosing to give up.


    He clearly felt that there was a chance, but he did not have the courage to take the shot because he was not 100% certain, no, he was not even 50% certain he would seed. Otherwise, with more than half the chances, he would have been willing to take the gamble. Only at this time did he know that he had still underestimated this seemingly simple mobile fixed-point shooting ...


    "Should I give up now?" Sweat started to flow down from Qiao Ting¡¯s forehead, sliding over the curves of his eyebrows to drip down along the bridge of his nose ... he, who had always been confident, began to doubt himself for the first time. Could he really recreate that move of Ling Lan¡¯s? Perhaps he should have used a more stable shooting art toplete this sure-kill.


    "No, I cannot give up! Once I give up, that would mean I have admitted defeat to Ling Lan!" Another stubborn voice in Qiao Ting¡¯s mind leapt out to stop him.


    "If you cannotplete that move, you would still have lost to Ling Lan!" Rationality once again calmly asserted the facts. "In that case, you might as well do what you should."


    "Should I really just end things like this?" Qiao Ting was very reluctant.


    "Even a decade is not toote for a gentleman to take revenge, and besides, your true battle with Ling Lan is a yearter. Why are you in such a hurry to suppress the other now? Envy will not let you improve ..." Rationality once again won the upper hand. Qiao Ting¡¯s gaze settled and he made his decision.


    "The time is fast approaching 4 minutes. Compared to that teammate of his, he has already used almost three minutes more. It looks like that mobile fixed-point shooting has stumped him," the imperial operator from the Lawless Lands could not help but grin and say. Qiao Ting¡¯s abnormal state naturally could not fool the eyes of the two imperial operators up above.


    "He is still a little too young and wilful, thinking that his control skills cannot be weaker than the other, conceitedly thinking to replicate the other¡¯s special technique. Unfortunately ... this special skill is not something one can learn with just one look. Even if he knew all the numerical data and operation methods, to perfectly execute it would still require countless practice runs," hispanion sighed and said, shaking his head. Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha operation innate talent was indeed very outstanding, but that alone was not enough. The only question now was whether this Qiao Ting would realize this in time ¡ª the imperial operator hoped that Qiao Ting would not disgrace the title of ¡¯second Ling Xiao¡¯.


    "There is only one General Ling Xiao!" said the Lawless Lands imperial operator. Simrly, he too was not optimistic about Qiao Ting¡¯s decision to replicate the move.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s hesitation was very quickly discovered by the audience members. They all began discussing among themselves ¡ª some who had initially thought that the mobile fixed-point shooting was created by Qiao Ting had also decisively discarded this notion at this time. Right then, they were no longer concerned with the final oue. Instead, what they wanted to know was whether Qiao Ting would take that shot at the end and whether that shot would seed.


    Qiao Ting had been a decisive person from the start ¡ª he only hesitated out of self-doubt for an instant. Once his mind was firm once more, he no longer hesitated. He quickly changed his shooting stance. This shift threw the audience into an uproar ¡ª they had not expected Qiao Ting to choose to give up after hesitating for up to 4 minutes.


    "Good. Daring to ignore any taunting and giving up decisively to choose the most urate method of attack ... this Qiao Ting¡¯s future is immeasurable."


    Unlike the audience, the eyes of the top-ss mecha masters in attendance as well as the representatives from the various army divisions lit up. The current Qiao Ting,pared to before, had grown again in terms of mentality. Moreover, within this extremely short time frame, he had been able to decisively make the most urate judgment. Even if he was put into a battlefield, he should be able to live a little longer than others.


    The Federation truly valued ace operators, but they valued this kind of ace operator who could live longer even more. This was because only ace operators who survived could climb even higher and higher peaks to be the Federation¡¯s ultimate weapon and be a deterrent against other countries.


    Without question, this performance of Qiao Ting¡¯s had proven that he was likely to be this type of person. Several army division representatives even decided that they would return to report to theirmanders to fight for Qiao Ting to join their divisions.


    Qiao Ting very quickly corrected his stance and once again reverted to his most proficient attack method. That feeling of having everything within his control returned, and he quickly took aim at the opponent, locked on instantly, and pulled the trigger.


    "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" Almost without any pause, four shots were fired simultaneously. In the end, Qiao Ting had still chosen his best advanced shooting art ¡ª¡ª the N-point Blockade.


    The N-point Blockade could fire up to nine bullets simultaneously, sealing off all possiblending points of the opponent at the same time. To begin with, this shooting artbined with the extraordinarily powerful ballistic sniper rifle was a match made in heaven, capable of instantly strangting the opponent in its web. Now, executed with a long-range long-barrelled beam gun, although its power had been reduced by n-levels, it was still exceedingly easy tond hits on the opponent and deal damage with this technique.T/C: It¡¯s a Sharingan!!¾ý×Ó±¨³ðÊ®Ä껹²»Íí: As tranted. A gentleman should be patient in seeking revenge, waiting till the perfect time to catch his target unawares.

 Chapter 465 A Bizarre Line-Up!

    The Tongli mecha operator had not expected Qiao Ting to not disy mobile fixed-point shooting in the end and choose instead to use his best shooting art, so the Tongli operator¡¯s slow speed made things even easier for the N-point Blockade. The Tongli mecha operator was unable to dodge these four shots ¡ª three beam projectiles sessfully hit his mecha one after the other, causing his beam shield to once again be dull and dim.


    Before the Tongli mecha operator could recover from the shots, Qiao Ting pressed his advantage by suddenly bringing his mecha into a rapid stop in the air with only a slight shake to show for the strain. Qiao Ting quickly counteracted the issue with his controls. And then, he once again changed his shooting stance, and a powerful beam shot out from the muzzle of his gun, heading right at the opponent.


    "Fixed-point shooting!" This stance that Qiao Ting had shifted back into right before shooting was all too familiar to the crowd, causing almost all of the spectators to exim in surprise.


    Having already been hit by three shots from the N-point Blockade, the Tongli mecha operator had yet to stabilise his mecha when he was struck by this powerful beam. With a loud boom, his mecha¡¯s beam shield was instantly destroyed by the beam. Without the protection of a beam shield, the mecha suffered an intense explosion and a thick cloud of smoke rose into the skies.


    The referee quickly waved the red g in his hands, suspending the match. In his anxiety, he was also quietly taken aback at how ruthless the students of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy could be, actually blowing up yet another mecha. He could only hope that this time, the Tongli cadet was also safe and unharmed.


    After checking on the mecha, the referee sighed in relief. Like his teammate earlier, Qiao Ting¡¯s final attack had only struck the opponent¡¯s head and not the cockpit. After the referee made contact with the contestant inside the mecha, the contestant¡¯s safety was confirmed.


    "Who¡¯d have expected that after Qiao Ting had given up on mobile fixed-point shooting, he would still use fixed-point shooting to finish the match? Looks like he¡¯s very persistent ..." Zhao Jun was amused.


    Ling Lan also smirked silently at those words. She had not expected Qiao Ting to be so persistent, really. Although his provocative actions were very annoying, Ling Lan did not have any strong negative feelings towards Qiao Ting. Just as with the previously arrogant and haughty Li Yingjie, even though she felt that he was rather troublesome, she still did not hate or dislike him.


    The referee very quickly dered Qiao Ting the winner. Overall, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy defeated the Tongli Military Academy with a score of 3-2 and advanced to the next round.


    With the end of this round¡¯s matches, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy moved into the top 50. However, the morning¡¯s matches were not done yet. After this, there was still an additional round for thepetitors to advance from the top 50 into the top 32. However, not all the military academies would participate in these extra advancement round matches. The military academies in the top 10 of thest tournament would directly advance to the top 32 in this tournament, unless any of them were unexpectedly eliminated during the top 50 advancement round.


    Consequently, not long after, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was once again informed by the organizers that they had sessfully advanced to the top 32. This meant that their morning matches were done; now they only had to prepare for the top 32 into 16 round.


    Right then, Qiao Ting had already operated his mecha to return backstage. He returned the mecha to its spot and then walked out of the cockpit, stepping onto the elevator tform to slowly descend to the ground. Expression stern, he walked over, and when he passed by Ling Lan, he gave her a deep stare.


    Ling Lan thought Qiao Ting had something to say, but surprisingly, Qiao Ting just walked on by with that one look, moving over to a chair in a corner to sit down.


    That Tongli mecha operator whose mecha had been destroyed by Qiao Ting had also returned from the field. Of course, he had only returned in person as his mecha had already been broken by Qiao Ting and had been taken directly to the repair shop. When he saw Qiao Ting sitting in the corner, he could not hold back his immense frustration and so he scoffed loudly and said, "Hehe, this match was really too godd*mn irritating! Clearly not one¡¯s style, yet insisting on doing things that way, clowning around in front of a true expert ... this is a self-inflicted loss of face!"


    He seemed to be talking about himself, but anyone with a clear mind could tell who he was alluding to. Everyone could not help but turn to look at Qiao Ting in his corner, wanting to see how he would react.


    Qiao Ting did not seem to have caught the other¡¯s allusion, still remaining seated, his expression cial. Compared to these trivial sarcastic remarks, Qiao Ting was more concerned about having been shown up by Ling Lan in long-rangebat. This had put him in a very bad mood.


    If Ling Lan had shown this strength in closebat, Qiao Ting would not have felt this way, but this had just so happened in long range. Qiao Ting had been very confident that there was no one in the military academies who could rival him in long range. When he found that Ling Lan¡¯s skills in long range were no weaker than his, even good enough to forge a special move when he could not, his initial sense of superiority was blown to pieces and he found that he could no longer maintain hisposure.


    Han Yu nced over at Qiao Ting with schadenfreude in his eyes. He was very happy to see Qiao Ting fail to reproduce Ling Lan¡¯s attack method and lose face. In the same year as Qiao Ting, he had been so frustrated from being suppressed by him for five years. Just seeing Qiao Ting suffer and lose face gave him a sense of catharsis.


    Meanwhile, Mu Shaoyu looked contemtively at Qiao Ting and then nced at Ling Lan ¡ª he decided to maintain the high ground and not get involved in this mess.


    Zhao Jun was grinning widely. With his tough and built appearance,bined with his smile, he really had the look of a silly giant, looking for all the world like he did not have a single deep thought in his head. This appearance of his made quite a number of people think that he might really not have understood the allusion that had been made.


    Only Ling Lan turned a piercing cold gaze over when she heard this!


    The Tongli mecha operator had originally wanted to throw another verbal jab at Qiao Ting, but Ling Lan¡¯s sudden and unexpected cold nce made him shudder violently. Ling Lan could already control her force of presence freely, so although she still gave others a very cold impression, she already no longer gave others the same oppressive feeling as before. This was also why she had been overlooked at one point during the tournament.


    However, Ling Lan had threaded this stare of hers with her force of presence, stabbing directly at the other¡¯s mind, inflicting terror so the other no longer dared to say anything more.


    The other observers were waiting for the Tongli mecha operator to continue mouthing off, but unfortunately, after just that one opening salvo, his expression had changed and he had suddenly fallen silent. The observers felt it was a bit of a shame ¡ª they had wanted to see some drama unfold.


    With nothing to see, the crowd¡¯s attention dispersed. Only then did Zhao Jun¡¯s smile retract, and then he asked quietly, "Boss Lan, why did you help?" This was clearly a chance to deal Qiao Ting a blow ¡ª why did Boss Lan want to prevent it?


    Ling Lan nced coolly at Zhao Jun and said, "We¡¯re representing the First Men¡¯s Military Academy!" That said, she turned and walked away.


    This statement jolted Zhao Jun¡¯s heart. He was abruptly enlightened, and cold sweat broke out all over his body ... his apprehension towards Qiao Ting had made him forget that right now, he and Qiao Ting were not opponents butrades-in-arms. When arade had been insulted by someone else, he had just stood on the side-lines and watched ¡ª this hadpletely tarnished the term rade¡¯. Zhao Jun felt very ashamed.


    Standing to one side, Mu Shaoyu had also heard what Ling Lan had said. He too was stunned to awareness, and like Zhao Jun, he was silently ashamed at himself. Watching Ling Lan¡¯s upright back, his emotions wereplicated. He had not expected that he would lose to a junior three years younger than him in terms of magnanimity.


    Likewise, Han Yu had also heard Ling Lan¡¯s words. His expression changed, and even as he felt frustrated and regretful, he also could not help but begin envying and hating Ling Lan. Who was Ling Lan to say this? They were the seniors, the seniors! Did he think they did not already know this?! Did they need him to teach them this? Unable to face the darkness in his own heart, he could not help but push the me onto Ling Lan and get angry at her instead.


    Qiao Ting had also heard every single word Ling Lan had said. He snapped his head up and looked towards Ling Lan¡¯s back, his gaze dark and difficult to fathom. After a good long while, he sighed heavily and said with a wry smile, "Having such a junior is really an unpleasant thing!"


    Qiao Ting¡¯s dejected mood aftering off the field waspletely gone. He stood up and prepared to leave, and as he passed by Zhao Jun and Mu Shaoyu, Mu Shaoyu suddenly called out to him, "Qiao Ting, sorry for earlier."


    Qiao Ting nced at him calmly and asked, "Sorry? What for? We¡¯re not gossiping aunties. Why should we quibble with others?" He had not been bothered by the opponent¡¯s words to begin with ¡ª this type of low-level methods ... he, Qiao Ting, did not think much of it.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s words made Zhao Jun and Mu Shaoyuugh, and there was a sense of the tension of unresolved emotions dissipating. At this time, Han Yu also walked over and with a hint of pride on his face, he said, "Qiao Ting, during this time, I am no longer the regimentmander of Wuji!" The connotation being that he would cooperate in ying the role of being purely a member of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy for this duration of time.


    Although Han Yu¡¯s attitude was not the best, his words truly showed that he was willing toy aside all grudges for now to work together. This result pleased everyone else there ¡ª the rather motley group which struggled to cooperate thus far had finally stepped onto the right track.


    Ling Lan did not know that her offhand remark would lead the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to be united like never before; she had set down solid foundations for the final battle royal.


    Very quickly, the afternoon arrived. Qiao Ting, Ling Lan, and the rest once again came to thebat field to wait for the organizers to announce the name list for the matchups of the top 32. The announcement time was set as 1 p.m. ¡ª Ling Lan peered at the time disyed on therge screen and saw that there was still about half an hour before then.


    As all the participating students of the top 32 round hade to the backstage to wait, the initially empty and spacious backstage was now rather crowded. In particr, it was packed threeyers thick on top of another threeyers thick before therge screen.


    "Ah ah! We still came toote," said Mu Shaoyu regretfully, looking at thatrge pile of people before the screen. He really did not have the confidence to squeeze his way through that many hulking stout men.


    Nonchntly, Zhao Jun said, "We¡¯ll definitely find out what the results are eventually. We don¡¯t have to rush it down to this minute and this second."


    Ling Lan had even less interest to go squeeze with the crowd and be squished ¡ª she immediately sought out an empty corner and sat down. With Little Four around, even if she did not stand watch in front of therge screen, she would still be able to get the match-up lists at soonest notice.


    Seeing Ling Lan find an empty spot and sit down, Qiao Ting also found a spot three seats down from her and sat down. Seeing that both their public leader and secret leader had chosen to sit down and wait, the other three very quickly found seats as well and sat down.


    Soon, half an hour had passed. In their drowsiness, they heard someone shout out, "The name list is out!"


    In her seat, Ling Lan was resting with her eyes closed, utterly still, just as if she werepletely unmoved by this, her expression calm and centred. This patient and unruffled demeanour affected Zhao Jun and the others as well ¡ª they saw that the area around the screen was even more crowded now due to that shout, and so they did not stand up either. They decided to wait till the crowd dispersed before going to take a look.


    In reality, Ling Lan did not move because she had already received the match-up list. Little Four was as reliable as always, stealing a copy of the name list as soon as it came out.


    The First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s opponent was the military academy from Tianyu. The Tianyu Military Academy was ranked number 32 in the entire Federation, thus making it the weakest among all of the military academies, even worse than the Tongli Military Academy. For them to win three matches against the super strong First Men¡¯s Military Academy ... hehe, unless the First Men¡¯s Military Academy dropped the ball themselves, it would bepletely impossible. It should be said that as soon as the match-up list was out, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy already had half a foot into the top 16.


    On the other end, when Jiang Shaoyu from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy found out who his academy¡¯s opponent was, his brow furrowed lightly. Their opponent was the rank 22 academy whose mecha operators were all pretty strong. He would have to think well on the matches to win three of them.


    Jiang Shaoyu had been feeling very stressed in the past few rounds; having been banned for five rounds, he was very afraid that his academy¡¯s team would encounter a strong team early on. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy had been thoroughly studied by the other schools, but they still managed to enter the top 32 with little trouble due to their formidable strength. In contrast, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy had had to take great pains to change their line-up ande up with versatile arrangements to avoid pitfall after potential pitfall, shakily making their way into the top 32. There had even been a few matches where there was a certain element of luck to their victory, making Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s heartrate swing high and low, enduring quite an ordeal. Without him to hold the fort, the strength of the other mecha operators of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy was just too average, not much different than that of the other military academies. This was another reason why the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy was finding it difficult to advance.


    Jiang Shaoyu then went on to inquire about the opponent of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. When he learned that it was the Tianyu Military Academy, he could not help but envy and hate the First Men¡¯s Military Academy for their amazing luck, actually being matched against the weakest academy of the top 32. Barring any idents, they were almost confirmed to advance into the top 16.


    Reality turned out as Jiang Shaoyu had predicted. Against Tianyu, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy won a clean set of three straight matches to advance to the top 16. It should be said that this kind of oue did not surprise the audience. What did surprise the audience was that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s thus far fixed and unchanging battle line-up had changed.


    The first to fight had actually been Qiao Ting. When therge screen disyed the pair for the first match, the appearance of Qiao Ting¡¯s name had gobsmacked the entire audience. In everyone¡¯s impression, Qiao Ting had always been the one to hold the fort and fightst. They had never expected to see the day where he would y the role of vanguard.


    As Qiao Ting being the first to take the stage had shocked the audience so much, whoever took the stage after that could no longer shock the audience as much. Even though the second to take the field was Ling Lan, and the third was Zhao Jun, and the two of them were nothing to sneeze at, the audience was still not as stirred up after that.


    For this round, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had seemed to be using a regressive line-up, with the strongesting out first and the weakesting outst. In the eyes of the audience, this kind of arrangement was an extremely retarded move. If not for the fact that the members of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were overall stronger than the opponents by a head, this kind of retarded arrangement might have caused them to be eliminated right in the top 16 round.


    The afternoon matches did not end there ¡ª once the top 16 were determined, the round for the top 16 into the top 10 began immediately after. First, the 16 remaining academies were matched up to fight to determine the top 8. From there, the losing 8 academies would again fight against one another until the final 2 spots in the top 10 could be determined.


    This time, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s opponent was the Federal Defence Military Academy which was part of the top 10 in the past. Compared to the Tianyu Military Academy, the Federal Defence Military Academy was much stronger. Due to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy line-up in theirst round, after much consideration, the Federal Defence Military Academy decided to arrange their line-up in the following sequence of strength: 5, 1, 2, 3, 4.


    However, the line-up of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had changed again this time. The first to fight was Mu Shaoyu ¡ª with his strength at the top-level of special-ss operator, he felt no pressure at all against his opponent who was someone who had just advanced to special-ss operator level. He managed to gain the upper hand right from the start, and after 30 plus moves, he hadpletely whittled away all of the opponent¡¯s points to clinch the opening victory.


    Many of the audience believed that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had regained their reason and would now arrange their line-up in a logical order, but the second person to step out once again upended this view ¡ª Qiao Ting had been sent out again!


    This unexpected opponent here left the Defence Academy students beating their chests in frustration ¡ª their second fighter was the one they had pinned their hopes on to win their first match for them; he was the strongest special-ss operator in their military academy. However, even the strongest special-ss operator had no chance of winning against the ace operator Qiao Ting.


    Here, the Defence Academy cadets were even a little suspicious ¡ª while they had been arranging their line-up, had there been a First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s spy by their sides who had stolen this intel for the opponent? Of course, this was impossible. The Defence Academy cadets were well aware that this was just a spur of the moment insight on the part of their opponents. It could only be said that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was just too lucky (having calcted things so urately?).


    Having lost two matches in a row, the Federal Defence Military Academy had their backs to the wall now. Their only hope was that the third person to fight for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would be their weakest member ¡ª this way, they could still win one match with their second strongest operator and save some face. However, reality was cruel. When Zhao Jun stepped up, they knew that their hopes were dashed.


    Zhao Jun, who was a special-ss operator endlessly close to breaking through to ace level, the third rank of the single mechabat event ... how could he be someone the second strongest of their military academy could defeat? Sure enough, once the two contestants started fighting, the Federal Defence operator waspletely suppressed by Zhao Jun. After struggling to hold out for around 10 moves, he was defeated by threebo hits from Zhao Jun.


    Just like this, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy won three straight sets, easily entering the top 10. This also pushed the Federal Defence academy who was initially part of the top 10 into the extra round, where they would have to fight with the other 7 military academies who had lost to fight for the finalst spots in the top 10.


    However, another military academy that was initially considered no weaker than the First Men¡¯s Military Academy unexpectedly lost as well, and that was the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. This was the fifth round of Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s ban ¡ª as long as his academy could weather this round, Jiang Shaoyu would be able to officially take the field for the rest of the tournament.


    But the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s luck seemed to end here. Their opponent was the 7th strongest in thest tournament ¡ª their individual mecha¡¯s strengths might perhaps not be as good as Qiao Ting¡¯s or Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s or Lin Xiao¡¯s, but their overall strength was rather substantial. All six participating members were all at the top tier of special-ss.


    Although Jiang Shaoyu tried all kinds of methods to hold out for five rounds, his school still lost with a score of 2-3 in thistest round, resulting in the greatest upset this tournament thus far. Fortunately, they still had the opportunity to participate in the additional round to fight for the final two spots in the top 10 along with the other 7 defeated academies. In all this bad news, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy still had the constion of one piece of good news ¡ª Jiang Shaoyu would be able to officially take to the field again in the extra round. This significantly increased the chances of their school advancing into the top 10.


    It should be said that Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s ban had lifted at a very timely moment. In the extra round, due to the presence of Jiang Shaoyu, after several tough matches, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy obtained one of the final two tickets into the top 10 along with the Federal Defence Military Academy.


    The finalisation of the top 10 also marked the end of the second day of the group mechabatpetition. The night passed in silence, and then it was the third andst day of the group mechabatpetition. On this day, the top 10 military academies would decide the final champions and runner-ups, as well as the rest of the ranking. The top 10 academies were rubbing their metaphorical palms in anticipation, prepared to go all out to bring honour to their school.


    In the morning, the top 4 would be decided. The original top 8 would be paired up topete against one another, with the winners bing the tentative top 4. At this time, the two academies who had obtained the final two spots in the top 10 would be able to challenge any of the defeated four academies. If they seeded in their challenge, they would be able to continue on to challenge one of the top 4, and if they seeded in that challenge as well, they would rece their opponent to be a top 4 candidate.


    Likewise, if any of the four defeated academies managed to defend and hold their ground against that first round challenge, they would also earn the right to challenge any of the top 4 academies again. If their challenge seeded, they too could rece the opponent as one of the top 4. Thus, a first round win here at this stage of thepetition did not mean that the winner would be able tough till the end.


    Very soon, the top 8 into top 4 matches begun. The closer to the end of thepetition, the narrower the gap between the strengths of the respective academies became. It was possible for either side to win or lose. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s opponent was the Jingan Military Academy, ranked number 6.


    The Jingan Military Academy was very strong, but when they found out that their opponent was the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, their expressions became very troubled. No matter when, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was not an opponent any military academy would like to meet early on in thepetition.


    It could not be helped. In terms of mecha piloting, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was clearly a head above all of the other military academies. Even though the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had always ended up ranking second in the Grand Mecha Tournament overall, they had still never lost the championship position in the mechabatpetition for both single mechabat and group mechabat. This also showed that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was holding absolute dominance in the arena of mechabat.


    The Jingan Military Academy did not pull anything strange in their line-up. They arranged their members from the weakest to the strongest in ascending order. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s strange and unfathomable line-ups in the previous two matches had made the Jingan Military Academy give up any thoughts of trying to take advantage of an opportunistic line-up.


    Backstage, the five members of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were huddled up together. With a sour expression, Mu Shaoyu asked, "Are we still going to continue using this method to arrange our line-up?"


    Zhao Jun grinned and said, "Mu Shaoyu, don¡¯t you think this is very interesting?" Zhao Jun was very willing to y along with this; he felt that this way of arranging their line-up was very fun.


    Han Yu¡¯s expression was filled with displeasure, just eager to get on with things. He tugged harshly on his own sleeves and said impatiently, "Hurry up, hurry up! It¡¯s almost time to submit our line-up!"


    Qiao Ting frowned at Ling Lan and asked, "Will it be fine?"


    Ling Lan quirked a brow and answered calmly, "We just need to win three matches." The implication being that she did not really care.


    Qiao Ting red pointedly at Ling Lan ¡ª this idea had been his to begin with, and now he was acting like all this had nothing to do with him ... it was really quite irritating. Qiao Ting turned to look at the other three there and said, "Let¡¯s do it!" He definitely would never admit that he too found this way of arranging their line-up rather exciting.


    "Ping, Ling, Pang, Lang ¡ª¡ª Cai!" Following this cry by Mu Shaoyu, the five of them put out their hands!


    "Haha, this time, I¡¯ll be the first to fight!" Zhao Jun raised his scissors-hand up high,ughing gleefully. The other four had actually all chosen to throw paper this round, and so he had managed a one-hit kill.


    "Tsk, this guy is just too lucky, getting to be among the first three to fight for three times in a row!" Han Yu was unbelievably annoyed. He had already been unable to fight for two rounds already and was about to be bored to death. Tenaciously, Han Yu rolled his sleeves up high, and with the air of a gambler intent on turning things around, he shouted, "Once more!"ûÐÄû·Î: The original phrase here is ¡¯no heart no lungs¡¯, which can sometimes mean someone doesn¡¯t have any feelingspassion, but here I took it to mean that Zhao Jun looked like he had no depth, an empty big well-built husk of a body.ÐÄÐØÆø¶È: Literally ¡¯heart and chest capacity and general air of bearing¡¯. Generally used to refer to one¡¯s ability to be a bigger person. I like this definition by the Merriam-Webster dictionary for ¡¯magnanimity¡¯ which exins the concept being conveyed here pretty well IMO. "Loftiness of spirit enabling one to bear trouble calmly, to disdain meanness and pettiness, and to disy a noble generosity."ÌìÓîÐÇ: Well, if I had to trante it out, this would be  Skyworld¡¯, which is ... meh. So, I chose to leave it in pinyin.Think of this like the utterance for a kids¡¯ game, like ¡¯iniminimainimo¡¯ or ¡¯kazam, wkazoo¡¯, etc. It doesn¡¯t particrly mean anything.

 Chapter 466 Where Is Your Moral Integrity?

    The four of them once again put their hands forwards. Han Yu stared with red eyes at the scissors his hands had formed, so angry that he wished to just chop it off. Why did you y scissors? Why did you y scissors? Damm*t, couldn¡¯t you have stretched out three more fingers? His entire face a rictus of violent fury, passers-by who inadvertently looked in their direction were instantly sent scurrying back three feet away in fear ...


    ¡¯My luck is just too horrible!¡¯ Han Yu was so frustrated he was gnashing his teeth. The other three had all yed rock; he was the only one to y scissors. ording to the rules, he was instantly relegated to the final spot, bing thest person to fight this round. It sounded great, as he would be the finale act, but the problem here was that the four people before him were all like godd*mn bloody wolves and tigers ... would they even give him the chance toe out and fight? Would they? Would they? Would they?! Even thinking with your butt you would know that this was absolutely impossible.


    "This round doesn¡¯t count!" All worked up, Han Yu demanded this oue be repealed. Having lost so badly, he had long stopped acting like a gentleman who would never regret a y he had made.


    Mu Shaoyu and Qiao Ting, who had been standing beside Han Yu, did not hesitate to grab Han Yu when he disyed such petty behaviour. They summarily tossed him out of their circle ¡ª since you have lost, then scram and stay at the side and be quiet. What do you think you¡¯re doing bbering nonsense here?


    They were not so stupid as to let apetitor who had already been defeated have a second chance to overturn the results.


    Zhao Jun, who already had the right to the opening fight in hand, consoled him with some unholy glee in his tone, "Oh Han Yu, let it go. You¡¯ll still have a chance next round!" This sort of insincere constion was like sprinkling salt on an open wound, instantly enraging the already sullen Han Yu. With a roar, he leapt at Zhao Jun.


    The two of them did not use any physical skills, relying solely on the strength of their bodies to grapple with each other. That stance and that momentum ... it was truly the epitome of ssical wrestling.


    Qiao Ting, Mu Shaoyu, and Ling Lan all wore calm expressions,pletely indifferent to the ruckus beside them. The gazes of the three were extraordinarily cold, radiating with powerful fighting spirit. No one was willing to give up on the two slots left among the first three to fight in this round. They all knew that no matter who would be the first three to fight, those three would definitely not show any mercy and give the two members after them the chance to take the field ...


    "Ping, Ling, Pang, Lang ¡ª¡ª Cai!" shouted the three of them in unison, ying their hands at the same time ...


    Draw!


    Draw!


    Draw!


    Ten consecutive draws were enough to show how fierce the battle was among the three. None of them were willing to ease up and take a step back.


    "Senior Qiao, you are the number one of our military academy. You are most suited to be thest to fight." After a long fruitless struggle, Ling Lan threw a cold nce over at the stern-faced Qiao Ting beside her and began to prod at him verbally. In order to obtain victory, Ling Lan had made a sneaky move!


    "Yeah, Qiao Ting, you¡¯ve already fought for two consecutive rounds already. You can¡¯t keep all the good things for yourself ¡ª that¡¯ll incite the wrath of the heavens! It¡¯s time you take a rest. It¡¯s our turn now." Mu Shaoyu¡¯s eyes lit up at Ling Lan¡¯s words and he immediately jumped on board to put pressure on Qiao Ting.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s gaze narrowed at their words, revealing a sh of coldness. He asked in return, "Junior Ling, as a junior, you should know how to respect your elders. How can you fight with your seniors?!"


    "Yes, yes, Junior Ling, just cede these two matches to your seniors, okay?" Mu Shaoyu also felt that what Qiao Ting said made sense, so he instantly jumped ship to stand on Qiao Ting¡¯s side, turning against Ling Lan.


    Fight, fight! Only this way would he be able to sneak profit amidst danger and obtain a spot among the first three to fight ... Mu Shaoyu¡¯s eyes glittered, glee blooming in his heart as he did his best to fan the mes between his other twopetitors.


    Qiao Ting and Ling Lan had already locked horns ¡ª their sharp gazes shed against the other¡¯s, neither willing to back down.


    Just as Mu Shaoyu thought that the two would definitely decide a winner between the two of them, they both suddenly turned to look at him and shouted in unison, "Rock!"


    Mu Shaoyu¡¯s reflexes were extremely fast ¡ª without conscious thought, his hand had already stretched out to obediently y rock.


    Looking down at the paper Qiao Ting and Ling Lan had both yed, Mu Shaoyu was livid. He pointed a shaking finger at the two of them, looking to be on the verge of fainting as he said, "You two actually tricked me! That¡¯s too shameless!"


    Sob sob sob ... and these two were their public and internal regimentmanders too! Where was their moral integrity? Where, where, where?! Mu Shaoyu was bawling in his heart, silently berating himself for having such quick reflexes, identally falling for their trick just like that.


    "Idiot!" Qiao Ting and Ling Lan nced coldly at Mu Shaoyu, scorn in their eyes. With that standard of his, actually thinking to fan the mes between them and benefit from their discord?


    Mu Shaoyu was an old rival of Qiao Ting¡¯s, so Qiao Ting was naturally well aware of Mu Shaoyu¡¯s strengths and weaknesses. As for Ling Lan, after this period of observationbined with the data Little Four had gathered, she too had learned of Mu Shaoyu¡¯s characteristics. Qiao Ting and Ling Lan both knew very well that, among the three of them, the easiest person to handle would be Mu Shaoyu. If the two of them really went after each other, it would definitely end with an internecine oue, which would just ultimately benefit Mu Shaoyu.


    The two of them were intelligent people ¡ª of course they would not give Mu Shaoyu the chance to profit from their discord. When the two of them had locked gazes, they had alreadye to a mutual agreement to work together and trick Mu Shaoyu.


    Reeling back their disdainful gazes, their eyes met once more as they focused on the final battle between themselves.


    Qiao Ting and Ling Lan werepletely ignoring him now. Knowing that the oue had already been set in stone, Mu Shaoyu mournfully squatted in a corner in the backstage area,forting his poor little wounded soul. He silently bit on his little handkerchief, poking at the ground grumpily, thinking: Viins, viins, they¡¯re both viins ...


    Ling Lan and Qiao Ting¡¯s contest proceeded in a tense silence. Together, they threw out their hands and both of them yed rock ...


    Ling Lan raised her head and said, "Senior Qiao should y paper!"


    Qiao Ting¡¯s eyebrows lifted ¡ª when did this Junior Ling be so kind, willing to let him win?


    And then Ling Lan continued to say, "I¡¯m very interested in scissors!"


    D*mn you and your scissors ¡ª aren¡¯t you just trying to beat me? Qiao Ting replied with a stony expression, "Well, I like to y rock!" Got you! Punk!


    Ling Lan raised her head to look calmly at Qiao Ting, her eyes so bright that Qiao Ting¡¯s heart was already shouting that things were not good ...


    "Senior Qiao is too kind. Actually, I like ying paper!" And with that, Ling Lan did not wait for Qiao Ting to respond, immediately walking over to the staff member to report their line-up for this round.


    "This punk!" Qiao Ting¡¯s teeth were aching from his frustration. He was so bloody irritating! Actually setting up a verbal trap ... just a moment of inattention and the other had taken advantage of it. Still, he was still part of the first three to fight, so Qiao Ting wasn¡¯t all that displeased. He just felt that it was a shame that he had not managed to suppress Ling Lan a little.


    Seeing that Ling Lan had gone up to submit their line-up, Han Yu, who was already tired from fighting, finally stopped, and Mu Shaoyu had also recovered from the mental blow he had received to stand up once again. The two of them shared amiserating look, mourning their misfortune together. They knew very well that they would not have any screen time again this round. The three people before them ... leaving aside Qiao Ting, who needed no mention, even if they did not want to admit it in their hearts, they had no choice but to acknowledge that the other two were indeed stronger than they were by a little. It was a very remote possibility for them to make a mistake and lose ...


    Just like that, amidst the sorrows of Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu, the curtains rose on the matches between the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and the Jingan Military Academy ...


    On therge screen, the names of the first pair to fight appeared. When they saw Zhao Jun¡¯s name, the Jingan Military Academy could not help but curse mentally. What in the world was up with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s line-up? Sending their second strongest to fight right off the bat?


    In the audience¡¯s eyes, Ling Lan, who had been hiding her true strength all this while, ranked third or fourth among the five representatives of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy for this group mechabat event. They believed that she was only a little stronger than Han Yu, at about the same level as Mu Shaoyu but weaker than Zhao Jun by a little. And of course, she could not bepared at all with the ace operator Qiao Ting.


    This misperception of the audience was due to Zhao Jun performing so well in the single mechabat event, forcing a draw with an ace operator at just special-ss operator level himself. This result was just too shocking, leading everyone there to believe that Zhao Jun as a special-ss operator was an existence who had no rival below ace level. As such, it madeplete sense for Zhao Jun to be considered the second strongest in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy after Qiao Ting.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s appearance crushed the hopes of the Jingan contingent for the first match. How could theypete against someone who could force a draw with an ace operator? With this fearful mentality before the fight had even begun, the Jingan mecha operator behaved extremely cautiously from the very beginning of the match. Initially quite strong, he actually only managed to disy 70 to 80 percent of his true strength due to this negative mindset.


    This caused the difference between Zhao Jun and him to be highlighted even more starkly. Zhao Jun, who had initially intended to have a grand all-out fight, efficiently struck the opponent¡¯s cold weapon from his mecha¡¯s hands after only 20 moves, easily obtaining the first victory of the round.


    Having lost the first match, the Jingan Military Academy could only ce their hopes on the second match. For this match, they hoped that Qiao Ting would be the one to appear because they had ced their second weakest member there in hopes of wasting the strength of the strongest mecha operator of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Then again, they also hoped that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would send out someone of average strength so they could win a match first ...


    After a 15-minute recess, the darkrge screen finally lit up again to disy the following words: "The First Men¡¯s VS Jingan ¡ª 2nd match: Ling Lan VS Zhu Jing."


    "It¡¯s Ling Lan! That super newbie who created a new technique!" The appearance of Ling Lan¡¯s name caused amotion among the audience. The response of the audience was even more passionate than when Zhao Jun had taken the field ¡ª it looked like the appearance of a new technique had indeed earned Ling Lan some degree of fame within the Federation.


    The Jingan Military Academy saw who the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had sent and their hearts sank. Compared to Ling Lan, they really wished that it could have been Han Yu or Mu Shaoyu instead, because they were very familiar with those two, having studied their operation style and attack methods very thoroughly, even having conducted targeted training with them in mind. Up against them, Jingan was confident that there was the possibility of victory ...


    But this Ling Lan was very mysterious ¡ª he had not participated in the single mechabat event, and in the group mechabat event, he had onlye out to fight two times thus far. These two times had shown Jingan his excellent long-range skills as well as his perfect foundational attacks ... but that was all!


    Everyone knew that a special-ss operator could not only have mastered some basic attacks; they must have some sure-kill special techniques which were a mark of being a special-ss operator ... this was undoubtedly a dangerous thing. If they did not know what special moves the opponent was proficient in, they would not be able to prepare any special defences. Therefore, it would be very easy for the opponent to flip the tables on them at a critical moment. This was another reason why Jingan was so apprehensive of Ling Lan.


    "I hope Zhu Jing can perform well and win us this match!" Jingan¡¯s strongest mecha operator, who was also their representative team leader, finally ced their hopes on Zhu Jing. If Zhu Jing could sessfully take this match, then they would have hopes of obtaining the final victory.»ðÖÐÈ¡Àõ: Cutely enough, the original phrase here is ¡¯to steal chestnuts from within a fire¡¯.T/C: Oh dear, I sense a g here. The g of misfortune. Prepare yourself, Mu Shaoyu ...ÓæÎ̵ÃÀû: The original phrase here is from a short parable. The full phrase being ðÖ°öÏàÕù,ÓæÎ̵ÃÀû. Literally tranted, the full phrase goes ¡¯when the snipe and mussel fight, the fisherman profits¡¯. In the parable, a snipe and a mussel were fighting, because the snipe wanted to eat the mussel and the mussel naturally did not want to die. Neither wanted to give way, so they were locked in battle together when a passing fisherman came by and caught them both.


    Mu Shaoyu was nning to be the fisherman in the story, but snipe Ling and mussel Qiao were just too smart for him. Lol.Please refer to chapter 446 for a review of this saying. It was used in rtion to Li Shiyu there.

 Chapter 467 The Incident of the Yang Chun Noodles!

    Zhu Jing was a long-range attacker. Because he was familiar with all methods of long-range operation, he was even more aware of how impressive Ling Lan was. Although Ling Lan had shown very little in her two matches, Zhu Jing could already tell that Ling Lan was definitely a formidable opponent.


    However, despite taking Ling Lan very seriously, Zhu Jing did not think he had no chance of winning. No matter how perfect the other¡¯s basic controls were, that did not mean that they would be able to seriously contend with advanced techniques.


    Advanced techniques were developed from basic techniques ¡ª birthed from basic techniques, their power was several, perhaps even several multiples of ten, times stronger than that of the basic techniques. This was also why mecha operators would often abandon basic techniques in theter stages to focus on studying advanced techniques to form their sure-kill techniques.


    In mechabat, the ones who most often survived were those who had more advanced techniques under their belt. From this, it could be seen how important advanced techniques were to mecha operators.


    Zhu Jing felt that those advanced techniques he knew would be enough for him to contend with his opponent.


    Under the guidance of the staff, the two contestants walked out onto the field from two separate passages.


    Seeing the two mecha appear on the field, the audience broke out into raucous cheers. After checking to see that both contestants were ready, the referee swung his green g, signalling the official start of the match.


    As soon as the green g moved, the two mecha zoomed backwards almost simultaneously. Zhu Jing was piloting a long-range mecha, so he naturally wanted to attack from long range. Meanwhile, although Ling Lan was piloting a bnced mecha, she intended to hone her long-range operation, and so ended up sharing amon goal with Zhu Jing to bring the fight into long range. This made the atmosphere less tense than it had been in Zhao Jun¡¯s match.


    Right then, the top-ss mecha masters watching the fight could not help but frown as they observed Ling Lan¡¯s operation. They found that Ling Lan had not disyed that wonderful on-the-line operation she had performed yesterday. Even though her speed was still very fast, those with keen eyes could still see the difference.


    Ling Xiao had been watching the field all this while with a slight smile, and at this moment, his smile became even more noticeable ...


    Last night, after the matches for the day had ended, as soon as the joyful Lan Luofeng had returned to their living quarters, she had stared mournfully at Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao very resolutely turned to leave. As a general and a god-ss operator, how could he lose to his wife¡¯s harmless gaze?


    "Hubby~!" The undting tones of this cry made Ling Xiao¡¯s body shudder uncontrobly. The gaze on his back was searing, causing cold sweat to break out all over his body, but he was still determined to pretend he had not heard anything.


    Knowing Lan Luofeng well, Ling Xiao knew what would be waiting for him if he turned his head. Lan Luofeng would definitely make an extremely difficult request that he just could not refuse ... experience told him that he must muddle through this somehow!


    "Ling Xiao!" Seeing that being sweet and petnt was not working, Lan Luofeng instantly morphed into an angry lioness and roared angrily. Hells, so brave now, eh? Daring to ignore me?!


    Ling Xiao rubbed his forehead helplessly. After a brief hesitation, he finally turned around and asked with a wry smile, "Luofeng, did you want something?"


    "I want to see Lan-er!" Hands on her hips, Lan Luofeng put forward her request imperiously like a queen.


    As expected! Expression gentle, Ling Xiao coaxed softly, "Okay, okay. Wait till after the battle royal and I¡¯ll find a chance for you two to meet."


    "I mean that I want to see her right now!" How could Lan Luofeng let Ling Xiao muddle his way through this? Just as Ling Xiao knew her well, she too knew what Ling Xiao was plotting under that gentle smiling face of his.


    "Lan-er must be tired after today¡¯s fights. Let¡¯s not disturb her and let her rest ..." Ling Xiao¡¯s face was a picture of concern as he attempted to shake Lan Luofeng¡¯s resolve.


    "That¡¯s why I want to see Lan-er. Every time Lan-er is tired, she will always want to eat the Yang Chun noodles I make!" Lan Luofeng secretly crossed her fingers in her heart ¡ª please forgive her for stealing Auntie Nan¡¯s credit, but she was the one who had instructed Auntie Nan to cook it anyway, so it was not too much to ask for some of the credit, right?


    Cook Yang Chun noodles?? When he heard this, Ling Xiao almost did not manage to keep the smile on his face ... thinking about the n-times Lan Luofeng almost burned the kitchen down ... Ling Xiao thought to himself, ¡¯Wife, could you be any more fake?¡¯


    Knowing that her excuse was untenable, Lan Luofeng decided she might as well go for broke. "In any case, I want to give our daughter a bowl of Yang Chun noodles no matter what! If you can¡¯t get it done, then don¡¯t even think about stepping one foot into the bedroom!"


    This move again? Godd*mmit, this was the move he was afraid of! Resigned and helpless, Ling Xiao could only agree!


    Of course, Ling Xiao also believed that, with his skills, smuggling a person over was still doable.


    However, in truth, Ling Xiao was not only smuggling a person over, but he was also bringing along a bowl of Yang Chun noodles which Lan Luofeng imed to have made. As for who was the one who had truly made the bowl of Yang Chun noodles ... erm, the truth of the matter was only known by the Ling Xiao couple themselves!


    ********


    Ling Lan took a soothing shower and loosened her joints, and then she finallyid down on her bed to rest. But only several minutester, Ling Lan suddenly sprang nimbly off the bed and with a quick dash, she was standing behind the door ...


    "It¡¯s me!" Her father Ling Xiao¡¯s voice rang by her ear, and Ling Lan instantly rxed. She quickly opened the door and after a streak of shadow dashed past her, she immediately shut the door after it.


    "Thiste, father, why are you ... mum!" Ling Lan¡¯s initially calm voice turned into a cry when she saw the woman inside Ling Xiao¡¯s arms. She was startled!


    "Hi, Lan-er!" In Ling Xiao¡¯s embrace, Lan Luofengzily lifted the bag in her hands, shaking it softly in Ling Lan¡¯s direction. A smug smile hung on her lips as she said happily, "I¡¯ve brought you Yang Chun noodles!"


    Yang Chun noodles?? Wasn¡¯t that the noodle dish that her mum just could not learn no matter how hard she tried to teach her which had be a specialty of the housekeeper Ling Nanyi in the end?


    "I made it, you know!" Lan Luofeng jumped out of Ling Xiao¡¯s arms and pulled Ling Lan by the hand to sit down on the sofa. She carefully opened the bag to reveal a piping hot bowl of Yang Chun noodles ...


    Ling Lan cast a critical eye over the bowl of Yang Chun noodles ¡ª it really looked pretty good. However, her mum was a culinary killer ¡ª even pigs would turn their snouts up at the things she made ... with a solemn expression, Ling Lan epted the chopsticks Lan Luofeng passed over, and under Lan Luofeng¡¯s enthusiastic urging, she finally gathered her courage enough to pick up a strand of noodle and then, with the determination of staring death in the face, she took a bite.


    Eh? Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up and she looked down at the Yang Chun noodles before her with astonishment. It tasted very good! Even better than the noodles housekeeper Ling Nanyi made. There was a unique vour to it ¡ª so warm, like rippling sunlight, making her feelpletely rxed.


    "Mummy, you made this?" Ling Lan could not help but be suspicious. When had her mum transformed from a culinary killer to a master chef of an imperial kitchen?


    At this time, Lan Luofeng¡¯s eyes had narrowed into a single line. When she heard Ling Lan¡¯s question, she nodded excitedly once more. "Yes! Isn¡¯t it very delicious? I tasted it too and was very surprised. For the first time mak- ... er, making such a delicious taste!"


    First time making it? Ling Lan had caught Lan Luofeng¡¯s slip. She was sure that this bowl of Yang Chun noodles had not been made by her mum. Even if her mum had been sent back to the forge to be remade, she would not have been able to turn into a culinary master ¡ª she just was not born with any talent in cooking. Ling Lan involuntarily turned her gaze to Ling Xiao ¡ª perhaps her father could give her some hint.


    Ling Xiao shiftily avoided Ling Lan¡¯s searching gaze, the fingers of his right hand unconsciously rubbing against each other ...


    Ling Lan noticed that the pads of Ling Xiao¡¯s shifting fingers were somewhat red, as if they had been scalded ... Ling Lan decisively turned her head to ce her attention back on Lan Luofeng. She did not dare to confirm her suspicions. If it ever got out that a god-ss operator¡¯s precious hands which were used to operate a god-ss mecha were scalded while cooking noodle for his wife and child, would she and her mother be the public enemies of the entire Federation?


    Contemting the possibility, Ling Lan shuddered. Once again, she was sure that she really did not know anything at all ... yup, and as for this bowl of Yang Chun noodles before her which was the evidence, she would demolish it with relish.


    Ling Lan suddenly lifted therge bowl and the chopsticks in her right hand flew. Within the span of several seconds, the Yang Chun noodles had beenpletely gobbled down, with not even a single drop of soup remaining. She burped loudly before setting down therge bowl in her hands.


    Catching sight of the still smugly smiling Lan Luofeng, Ling Lan was crying in her heart. Oh mum, this time, your daughter was perceptive and caught this early,pletely destroying all the evidence. Next time, you must definitely remember to never let dad cook. That¡¯s just asking for some major trouble!!!


    How could Lan Luofeng know about the mental anguish Ling Lan was going through inside? When she saw that her daughter had finished all of the noodles, she threw a smug look at Ling Xiao. Ling Xiao saw it and a fond and deeply affectionate smile spread all the way to his eyes. There was also a trace of satisfaction in his eyes so subtle that it was almost imperceptible.


    Since Ling Lan was done eating, Lan Luofeng sped Ling Lan¡¯s hands and began nattering on ¡ª of course, everything she said was centred around her care and concern for Ling Lan. She told Ling Lan not to be reckless in the tournament and to be careful and so on. Ling Lan listened to it all patiently, assuring her mum every once in a while that she would do as she said.


    Ling Xiao looked at the mother-daughter pair before him and his smile deepened even further. He wished dearly that he could move forwards to envelop these two people he loved most in a hug, to convey his happiness and contentment. Ling Xiao had never ever been disappointed that Ling Lan was not a boy ¡ª even if he had no other children in this life, he would never regret it.


    In the end, Lan Luofeng was finally satisfied with her nagging. Before saying goodbye, Ling Xiao said seriously to Ling Lan, "In a battle not involving life-or-death, there is no need to push things to the limit. Leave yourself some hidden trumps. That is what a mecha master should do! Today, you shone too much."


    Ling Xiao¡¯s words made a jolt run through Ling Lan¡¯s heart. She thought about how she had indeed kept nothing back in her efforts to prove the limits of her long-range capabilities. With a serious expression, Ling Lan said, "Father, don¡¯t worry. I will take care!"


    When he heard this, Ling Xiao was reassured. He brought Lan Luofeng away again with him from Ling Lan¡¯s amodations. No one knew that General Ling Xiao had ever visited the amodation area of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy more than once.


    The noise of the audience brought Ling Xiao out from his memories ofst night ...


    "Lan-er, looks like you¡¯ve already figured things out!"


    Ling Xiao looked down with satisfaction at the two mecha dashing in two opposite directions at roughly equal speeds. In this match, Ling Lan had remembered what he said and held back!


    Ling Lan¡¯s restraint also gave the audience the mistaken impression that the standards of the two mecha operators on the field were simr. Some of the special-ss operators and ace operators were even beginning to suspect that Ling Lan¡¯s brilliant on-the-line operation yesterday was just a lucky fluke. Of course, there were also those with keen perception who would not underestimate Ling Lan just because she had shown some restraint ...Ñô´ºÃæ: Yang Chun noodles is basically in noodle soup. It is a basic soy sauce and chicken broth based noodle dish, and was traditionally served without any toppings at all.This is referring to Ling Nanyi, the chambein¡¯s wife.T/C: I bet all my spirit stones on Ling Xiao being the one who made it.T/C: Lessons on being low-key from Daddy Ling. Please note. :3

 Chapter 468 Miscalculation!

    Very soon, the two mecha had pulled the required distance away for long-rangebat. The seemingly rxed atmosphere at the start vanishedpletely at this moment. Everyone sat up straight in their seats, waiting for the first attack from either one of thebatants!


    Zhu Jing abruptly raised the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle in his hands ¡ª this was an extremely special long-range sniper rifle which was capable of instant kills. The weight of the gun was three times heavier than that of the average long-range long-barrelled beam gun. Any long-range mecha operator with a slightly weaker physique would not be able to use this heavy fellow.


    The M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle¡¯s bullets were made with concentrated Ng gunpowder, and its firing mode was set to a double-shot setting. As long as the bullets managed to make contact with a mecha, they would explode violently. The shock wave generated by the explosion of just one bullet was enough to destroy the defence of a beam shield. The double-shot setting was just so the mecha master using an M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle could achieve a one-trigger kill.


    Of course, at present, the bullets in the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle had already been substituted with extremely low power hollow bullets which would not cause any dangerous damage. However, as soon as the opponent was sessfully hit, the referee would not hesitate to dere an end to the match.


    Ever since Zhu Jing had advanced to special-ss operator, when he had chosen the long-range weapon he wanted to specialize in, he had chosen this extraordinarily heavy and powerful M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle which also had an extraordinarily powerful recoil as well. He had dared to select this weapon because he was confident that his built physique would be able to fully withstand the M9 sniper rifle¡¯s kickback when it was fired.


    In reality, Zhu Jing¡¯s body was extremely strong and tough. When he had first been assessed, his physical constitution had been graded as an S+, so he was naturally suited to be a closebat operator. In the end, when it hade time for him to decide his future path, he had chosen long-range mecha. His instructor had been unable to understand until he had chosen the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle as his specialized long-range weapon. Only then did his mentor discover that Zhu Jing had not wasted his exceptional physical constitution. Instead, with this constitution, he was better able to bring out the potential power of the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle.


    Under the careful guidance of his mentor, Zhu Jing had gained a profound understanding of how to use the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle. His mentor had once asserted that as long as he continued to work hard, Zhu Jing could certainly be the most outstanding assassin in future!


    And right now, this future assassin had finally spread his fangs in an attempt to devour his opponent in his first fight ...


    "Boss, this is an M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle!" At this point, Ling Lan¡¯s initially silent and seemingly standardized mecha A.I. suddenly spoke with Little Four¡¯s voice.


    Ling Lan had just lifted her long-range long-barrelled beam gun to take aim ¡ª Little Four¡¯s sudden interjection caused her actions to slow for a moment, and so her gun did not stop at the most optimum position. Ling Lan quickly rushed to remedy that, even as she asked, "Little Four, why are you here?"


    "It¡¯s an M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle!" Little Four had no mind to answer Ling Lan¡¯s question right now, merely repeating his warning shout at her. Little Four could not be med for worrying ¡ª that was a horrifying sniper rifle notorious within the Federation for its ability to instantly destroy mecha.


    "I know!" replied Ling Lan calmly.


    "One shot can kill us!" Little Four was very nervous, afraid that his boss did not know how scary that weapon was. One moment of distraction and it would be ¡¯Game Over¡¯.


    "I know!" Ling Lan repeated calmly once again.


    Ling Lan¡¯sposed behaviour calmed Little Four down. "Boss, you¡¯re not nervous?"


    "Nervous about what? The Grand Mecha Tournament would never allow an overly powerful weapon to appear on the field. Since this weapon is here, then the bullets inside must have already been adapted ..." exined Ling Lan.


    "Oh, that¡¯s true!" Little Four was enlightened.


    "Besides, even if it¡¯s real, so what? You should know that we¡¯ll one day go onto a real battlefield. There, there¡¯ll be all kinds of things, quite a number of them even more frightening than this weapon. If we¡¯re afraid now, then how can we survive the battlefields then?" asked Ling Lan. "So, we¡¯re fortunate to be able to encounter these kinds of weapons beforehand!"


    As Ling Lan spoke, she continued moving her fingers unhurriedly, carrying out a whole series of operations. She adjusted her long-range beam gun to aim straight for the opponent ...


    In this match, Ling Lan decided that she would listen to her dad and restrain herself a little. She no longer took the initiative, choosing to defend passively instead even though this mode was unlike her usual personality.


    When Little Four heard what Ling Lan said, he instantly fell silent. At this time, the A.I. began reporting the numerical data after Ling Lan had applied her adjustments. The moment Ling Lan heard the mechanical tone of voice, she knew Little Four was not in control of the mecha anymore. Ling Lan did not stop to worry about Little Four sudden appearance and disappearance, and this nonchnce was also what caused her to overlook the changes in Little Four. Little Four was acting less and less like an intelligence entity, and more like a real growing child. He was now showing signs of possessing the seven emotions and six desires, as well as personal thinking and judgment ...


    Zhu Jing spent some time calibrating his M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle ¡ª this was yet another w of this weapon other than its clunky weight. The time needed to calibrate it was longer than that which was required for the average long-range gun. This also proved that the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle was more suited for covert assassinations and not open upfront battle.


    "That Ling Lan of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy is just waiting for the Jingan mecha operator to attack. Isn¡¯t he being too overconfident?" The audience saw that the already prepared Ling Lan was not taking the initiative to shoot, instead choosing to wait patiently for her opponent. This rather contrary behaviour made the audience break out into murmured discussion.


    Ling Xiao helplessly put his palm to his forehead, feeling that things were not good. Wasn¡¯t his daughter holding back too much now?


    Right at that moment, the situation abruptly changed. Just when everyone believed that Ling Lan would wait for her opponent to start shooting first, Ling Lan, who had been still all this while, suddenly pulled her trigger. A beam of light shot straight at the opponent ¡ª it was Ling Lan¡¯s memorable fixed-point shooting.


    This attack came on too suddenly ¡ª everyone looked towards Zhu Jing, waiting to see what he would do. Would he be hit or would he dodge the attack sessfully?


    Zhu Jing¡¯s mecha suddenly shifted to one side, instantly drawing out a stack of afterimages!


    "Light-and-Shadow Skim!" Those in the audience who knew their mecha techniques could not help but cry out. This was an advanced technique that only advanced mecha warriors could learn. It and Irregr Dash were the two top-tier footwork operators below ace level could learn.


    The evolved version of Irregr Dash was the Irregr Flicker that only ace operators could learn, and likewise, the Light-and-Shadow Skim also had its ultimate version ¡ª¡ª Unshakable Shadow. This version was said to have even higher requirements ¡ª one had to at least be at elite ace realm to learn it.


    In short, this Light-and-Shadow Skim was an extremely remarkable evasion footwork. Zhu Jing performed it perfectly, allowing him to easily escape Ling Lan¡¯s shot.


    Zhu Jing did not just end things by defending. When his mecha¡¯s figure was finally restored from the countless stacked shadow images, he pulled the trigger on his gun.


    "Bang, bang!" Two shots rang out. Due to the M9 projectile sniper rifle¡¯s powerful recoil, Zhu Jing¡¯s mecha was sent tilting back beyond his control, and the muzzle of his gun was also driven up a little as well.


    The entire audience held their breath as they stared at the field, wanting to know the oue of this shot. Had the shots hit the opponent, or had they been dodged?


    Ling Lan calmly observed the opponent¡¯s movements, and at the very instant the opponent made his shot, Ling Lan once again entered that mysterious world where she could see the two bullets suddenly slow down, allowing her to clearly see their trajectories ...


    "Right there!" Ling Lan saw a way to handle them, a chance to evade. She quickly pulled her trigger!


    A "bang" rang out, and Ling Lan returned from the mysterious world back to reality. The bullets regained their regr speed, and at the same time, the beam gun in Ling Lan¡¯s hands fired a dazzling beam of light, which met one of the bullets head-on.


    Amidst the energy of the beam, the bullet melted swiftly, finally ending up as a drop of liquid metal to dissipate into the air without a trace. Meanwhile, the other bullet brushed past the range of the beam shot to fly straight at the chest area of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were as calm as water. Her fingers danced, bing countless blooming flowers on her control panel. Under her control, her mecha swiftly dragged out a streak of residual shadow towards the right ...


    "Boom!" A loud explosion rang out as Ling Lan sessfully evaded that bullet. The bullet had exploded after striking the earth below, sending up arge spray of dust and dirt, blocking the audience¡¯s view for a time.


    When the dust settled, the audience could see that where Ling Lan had been standing initially, there was now a deep pit. It was obvious how powerful the bullet was still despite having been adapted for the tournament.


    "After testing, that explosive power reaches up to 30 TNT. If we¡¯re hit by two consecutive bullets, the mecha¡¯s beam shield will be on the brink of copse." Little Four¡¯s voice rang out from the A.I. once more.


    "Understood!" Ling Lan replied calmly.


    "Boss, that explosion has caused your points to be deducted by 20." Little Four immediately alerted Ling Lan after secretly stealing thetest intel on the referee panel¡¯s ruling.


    Ling Lan was at first taken aback, but she immediately realised the reason for this penalty. The bullets had been adapted to lower their power, so her mecha had not been affected by the explosion at all. However, in reality, the bullets would generate an explosive force of 60-70 TNT, so her mecha had not dodged far enough to escape the st radius.


    If the explosion was judged ording to real-world standards, her mecha would definitely have been damaged severely. Even if the defensive power of her mecha¡¯s beam shield was not destroyed, it would still probably be on the verge of copsing. Thus, the referees all agreed that that bullet of Zhu Jing was considered an effective attack, so it was reasonable for Ling Lan to have points deducted for it. She had forgotten to take that into ount.


    Ling Lan felt somewhat regretful ¡ª she had initially nned to win the match without losing any points at all, but now it looked like there was no hope of that anymore. She once again lifted her beam gun and aimed at Zhu Jing. Although Zhu Jing¡¯s gun was n-times more powerful than her own, the time needed for her to calibrate her gun was significantly shorter. This was her advantage.


    Ling Lan had taken so long to prep her first shot only because she was trying to show restraint, and at the same time, she had also thought to catch Zhu Jing off guard with an unexpected attack. That was why she had waited so long, only to shoot right before the opponent himself was about to shoot.


    However, the oue was not perfect. The opponent was someone who was well-prepared ¡ª even as he had been calibrating his gun, he had been keeping his guard up against her. In that case, Ling Lan might as well dispense with these pointless psychological tactics. She had decided to attack with full force!Ng»ðÒ©: Still no idea what Ng stands for. This is the second time we¡¯ve seen it in conjunction with weapons, the other time being the name of the modified missiles Chang Xinyuan made. ¡¯Nitro-glycerine¡¯ perhaps? Hmm ... but then again, nitro-glycerine gunpowder? *headdesks*

 Chapter 469 52 Shots?

    It was not difficult to defeat an opponent ... the difficult thing was how one could do so inconspicuously. Her dad¡¯s warning had been on point ¡ª before she had grown up enough to deal with all schemes and plots, she needed to conceal herself appropriately.


    Even though she had already had a turn in the limelight due to the matter with the new technique, the fame gained from having a skill named after her would not harm her much, because that technique of hers had only been a minor adaptation on top of a foundational skill. This was just a manifestation of proficiency through practice ¡ª not enough to prove that she was remarkable enough that others needed to be apprehensive of her. Compared to Qiao Ting¡¯s advancement to ace level in his fourth year, that was just a minor thing.


    Of course, if someone found out that she had advanced to ace level in her second year, the countries that were eyeing the Federation predatorily would most certainly send out countless killers after her to snuff out this future star in the cradle.


    Ling Lan was lucky ¡ª right now, she could still mingle around freely within her military academy without anyone the wiser. This waspletely thanks to Ling Xiao ¡ª Ling Xiao had protected her very well so that no one knew she was his child. This proved that Ling Xiao had not suffered for no reason eighteen years ago. While she had been growing up, Ling Xiao had already be strong enough to protect both his wife and daughter.


    With such arge and towering tree to shield her from the elements, Ling Lan would be able to live freely and vivaciously. Even if there were some slip-ups every once in a while, Ling Xiao would be there to help her smooth things over. In fact, if Ling Xiao had not intervened, she would have long been exposed before the masses. How could such impactful news as hijacking a military vessel be so easily suppressed? All of this had been settled by Ling Xiao, allowing her to remain concealed among the crowd ...


    Although Ling Lan was unclear on the details, unsure what Ling Xiao had done behind the scenes, she could still fully appreciate the love Ling Xiao had towards her and the pains he had taken to keep her safe. And so, she naturally had to listen to Ling Xiao ¡ª even as she won, she needed to make it so that others would not be able to distinguish anything from her victory.


    Having made her decision, Ling Lan resolutely pulled the trigger of the long-barrelled beam gun in her hands. Beam after beam of light was sent shooting out at very clever timings, forcing Zhu Jing to run about desperately. Although he had trained how to adjust and calibrate his gun while moving, Ling Lan¡¯s shots were even quicker, interrupting him every single time.


    "Crap!" Zhu Jing once again gave up on fixing the aim of his gun, evading yet another shot by the opponent. He knew that he could not continue on like this ¡ª he did not want to be chased all around the field by the opponent until the end of the match. Even if his first shot had been judged effective, he could not be certain that the referee panel would award the victory to him in the end. In order to be certain of victory, he needed to hit the opponent one more time.


    "Tess, calcte the opponent¡¯s gun¡¯s power usage!" After evading the shot, Zhu Jing calmly ordered his mecha¡¯s A.I..


    "Yes! Captain!" replied the A.I. icily. Very soon, several secondster, after Zhu Jing had evaded yet another shot, his A.I. reported back. "Till present, the opponent has fired 27 shots. Calcting based on a rate of 8 calories per shot, in theory, the opponent can still fire another 22 to 23 shots ..."


    "Theoretically close to 50 shots?" Zhu Jing frowned. He was not pleased with the numbers reported by the A.I.. The opponent had only used about half of his power thus far ¡ª he would still have to dodge for a good long while to exhaust the opponent¡¯s remaining power reserves. Was there no better way?


    After some careful thought, Zhu Jing found that there really was no other way. The opponent¡¯s speed was very fast, and his operations were pretty much perfect as well, with almost no w to be found. Shot followed shot, connecting almost seamlessly ... right then, Zhu Jing was silently admiring of how the opponent¡¯s basic controls were honed to the extreme, endlessly close to perfection. There was practically no hope for him to find an opening there.


    In that case, then let him try his best to exhaust the opponent! Zhu Jing was confident that with his control skills, he would be able to exhaust the power of the opponent¡¯s gun. At that time, it would be his turn to counterattack.


    After shooting four or five consecutive shots, Ling Lan noticed Zhu Jing¡¯s strange behaviour. The opponent was no longer trying to adjust his gun, putting his full focus into dodging instead. A spark of insight shed through Ling Lan¡¯s mind, and she instantly knew what Zhu Jing was nning.


    A slight smile appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s lips ¡ª perhaps this would be her chance to defeat the opponent!


    "Little Four, how many more shots can the energy storage unit inside the gun support?" Compared to the mecha¡¯s A.I., Ling Lan trusted Little Four¡¯s judgment more.


    "Approximately another 25 shots!" Little Four¡¯s spirits rallied when he heard Ling Lan¡¯s question. Ever since Boss had said that she wanted to get used to the mecha A.I.¡¯s of this time period, she normally did not let him take over for the mecha A.I. to work with her. This left Little Four sad and bored ¡ª he actually wanted to do something practical to help his boss too!


    "How many shots in total?" Ling Lan continued to ask.


    Little Four replied gleefully, "After my optimizations, the time needed for the A.I. program for hand-area sensing has reached optimum levels. Each shot would only consume 7.27272727272727 ..."


    "Stop. Just tell me how many shots I can fire altogether." Ling Lan sweatdropped. She had not asked for such a detailed breakdown, right?


    "... you can go up to 55 shots!" Little Four said petntly to his fingers. He had said so much all because he wanted to show off a little in front of Boss, to let her know that that rubbish mecha A.I. was no match for him, this clever intelligence entity. With such an excellent him, Little Four, around, what use was that rigid program?


    Fine, Little Four was actually filled with resentment towards Ling Lan¡¯s decision to use A.I. instead of him ¡ª this was obviously depriving him of his joy of living!


    "A typical mecha master can only fire 46 shots. These extra 9 shots are enough!" Ling Lan did not know what Little Four was thinking; when she learned that her long-barrelled beam gun could shoot an extra 9 shotspared to others, her mind instantly hatched a plot.


    There was no change in the situation on the field ¡ª Ling Lan continued to fire shot after shot at the opponent, while Zhu Jing continued to concentrate on dodging ...


    "How many shots have been fired?" Quite a few top-ss mecha masters had already realised Zhu Jing¡¯s objective. They were keeping count of Ling Lan¡¯s shots, knowing that the moment Ling Lan¡¯s beam gun ran out of power would be the moment Zhu Jingunched his counterattack. Many believed that that would be the critical moment when the oue of the match would be decided.


    "46 now. It looks like the energy block in the gun of this mecha operator from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy is about to run out soon!" The mecha masters all had excellent memories ¡ª they very quickly came up with the detailed numbers. Everyone¡¯s spirits rallied and they focused even more intently on the match. This was because the energy block of Ling Lan¡¯s gun might bepletely drained right the very next second.


    Mind you, the energy storage unit of a standard long-barrelled beam gun equipped on special-ss mecha was not constant in the number of bullets it could support. There was a certain degree of variance involved, typically between 46 to 54 shots.


    This difference of 8 shots was influenced by many factors, such as the quality of the energy storage unit itself. The better the quality of the energy storage unit, the more likely the energy it stored would reach the upper limits. The basic amount a standard energy storage unit could store was 400 calories, but in reality, energy storage units could never hit this number. Even the most perfect top-quality energy storage unit could only store between 380-390 calories.


    Aside from this, a mecha operator¡¯s control standards and the programming of a mecha¡¯s A.I. would also affect the energy consumption of an energy storage unit. Imprecise controls would cause each shot to drain even more energy than usual. And then, there were the issues with the A.I.¡¯s system responsiveness to ount for. No matter how good your operations were, if your A.I. was unreliable ... that would also result in a certain amount of power drain to the beam gun.


    A qualified special-ss mecha master could fire 46 beam shots as a basic standard. Beyond that, whether an operator could use the power in an energy storage unit to fire more beam shots would depend on how skilled the operator was, as well as how well-maintained their mecha was.


    Of course, the theoretical maximum of 54 shots was almost impossible for anyone to achieve ... perhaps the 12 god-ss operators could do it, but they would never lower themselves to operate a special-ss mecha.


    "ck!" On the field, Ling Lan¡¯s long-barrelled gun suddenly jammed. This sound made everyone sit up straight and exim, even as they peered eagerly towards Zhu Jing on the other end of the field. Everyone knew that the opportunity Zhu Jing had been waiting for was here!


    This sound also made the expressions of the members of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy waiting backstage change. Even though Mu Shaoyu and Han Yu were lined up behind theirrades, waiting for their chance to take the field, they did not really wish for theirrades before them to fail ...


    On the rostrum, Ling Xiao¡¯s brows raised at the sound. He did not believe that Ling Lan wouldmit such a low-level mistake and lose track of the power consumption of the gun in her hands. Therefore, the greatest possibility here was that his daughter was plotting something ... Ling Xiao cast a sympathetic nce at Ling Lan¡¯s opponent.


    Zhu Jing had been waiting for this chance all this while ¡ª when he heard this sound, his eyes shone with fervent joy! His fingers danced, and his mecha which had been evading at high speed all this time suddenly jerked to a stop, and his initially low-hanging M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle was raised up once more to aim at Ling Lan.


    Meanwhile, at that moment, the arm of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha pped down sharply at its waist and a new energy block sprang out from the secured dock there!


    "Emergency Wartime Power Recement Technique!" Seeing Ling Lan use this move, everyone became worked up. Every second counted now ¡ª if Ling Lan could rece her energy storage unit a step ahead of Zhu Jing, then the oue would still be unpredictable, but if Zhu Jing was a step quicker, then this match would end with Ling Lan¡¯s defeat.


    The energy storage unit bounced out of the secured dock, and the left hand of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha swept downwards to grab it. Right at this moment, perhaps out of nervousness or perhaps just due to a control error, Ling Lan actually missed the grab ¡ª the energy storage unit slipped through the gaps between the mecha¡¯s left hand to fall towards the ground.


    "Ah!" Witnessing this, everyone cried out in shock. Meanwhile, when Zhu Jing saw this, his heart settled ¡ª he put his entire focus on adjusting his gun, prepared to give Ling Lan one final attack.


    There was a loud "boom"! Zhu Jing, who had just finished calibrating his gun and was about to shoot, had yet to pull the trigger when the screen of his mecha turned ck. Immediately after, he felt a tremendous explosion rock the outside of his mecha, and his entire mecha spun out of his control.


    His mecha¡¯s A.I. was instantly ring with loud rms, prompting him to swiftly eject himself from his cockpit ...


    Zhu Jing mmed a hand onto his control panel in anger. Extremely unwillingly, he pressed the button to eject himself from the cockpit. Even now, he still had no idea why his mecha had suddenly exploded. Could it be that his mecha had malfunctioned? He recalled the Zhang Jing-an incident a few days earlier and the little bit of news that had been revealed after that. Everyone was wondering if some problem had been found with this batch of mecha with regards to safety.


    Meanwhile, on the field, Ling Lan calmly lowered the long-barrelled gun in her hands. Right as Zhu Jing had been focused on adjusting his aim, she had already been prepared tounch her sure-kill technique ¡ª One-Point Sustained Shooting. One-Point Sustained Shooting could barely be considered an advanced technique. It was extremelymon, a rtively low-difficulty technique that almost all advanced mecha warriors knew. But at this moment, before thepletely unguarded Zhu Jing, it had worked perfectly, instantly destroying Zhu Jing¡¯s mecha.


    "His limit was not 46 shots. How many shots were in that final One-Point Sustained Shooting?" Everyone was eximing in shock ¡ª had there been 5 shots or 6 shots in that string of shots? If there had been 6 shots, then Ling Lan would have made 52 shots in total. Even though it was not the theoretical maximum of 54 shots, this was still not a number the average mecha operator could achieve ...


    The two imperial operators monitoring the match from the air hesitated. One of them asked, "There were 6 shots, right? Why do I feel as if something is off ..."


    The other imperial operator re-watched Ling Lan¡¯s final attack again and again on his screen and finally confirmed, "There were 6 shots. Maybe there was just a problem with the lighting. That final shot wavered a little, so many people did not manage to catch it." He had only managed to confirm it after lowering the brightness on his screen.


    "Then there¡¯s no mistaking it. 52 shots! This number is truly astounding. It should be almost close to perfect!" eximed that first imperial operator in awe.


    "Yes, ording to the top-secret files of the Federation military, only General Ling Xiao has managed to get so close to the perfect number with 53 shots. There are a few others more who managed 52 shots, but they are all extremely exceptional mecha prodigies!"


    "In fact, from the perfect operation of that kid from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, we should have known that he absolutely would not have only been capable of 46 shots. We were all fooled by him! What a sneaky fellow!" said the other imperial operator gruffly. When Ling Lan had failed to catch hold of the energy storage unit earlier, he had really been shocked. After all, having seen Ling Lan perform so well just yesterday, he did not wish to see him lose.ÌØ˹: I can¡¯t figure out what this could be referring to, so I just took it to be the name Zhu Jing gave to his mecha¡¯s A.I.

 Chapter 470 Ling Xiaos Pride and Troubles!

    The imperial operator¡¯s words received his partner¡¯s approval. Ling Lan¡¯s amazing performance had moved the two initially unperturbed and indifferent imperial operators, making them reconsider taking in students themselves. Yes, maybe next time, when the First Men¡¯s Military Academy took in new students, they could go over there to see if there were any good seedlings ...


    In the meantime, a heated debate of whether 51 shots or 52 shots had been fired had broken out among the audience. Ling Xiao, who had been quietly seated at the rostrum, showed no change in his expression, but those familiar with him realised that the corner of his lip was slowly but surely tilting upwards, the smile on his lips bing increasingly tangible. This meant that he was in an extremely good mood ...


    Of course Ling Xiao would feel good, because he had seen ¡ª and he was the only one who had seen ¡ª that there was a trick behind Ling Lan¡¯sst shot. Using a special-ss mecha, she had sessfully gone beyond the boundaries of her level to pull off a skill that could only have been executed by an ace mecha ¡ª Synchronous Shooting!


    Synchronous Shooting was a skill that allowed an operator to shoot two beam shots at the same time. Besides the muzzle of the gun being lighted up just that little bit more while shooting, the posture and shooting frequency looked exactly as when shooting an ordinary single beam shot. As such, Synchronous Shooting was one of the hardest long-range offensive skills to detect. It was just so stealthy that even the most experienced mecha masters could not confirm for sure whether someone was actually performing Synchronous Shooting or just shooting a single shot. This was also one of the reasons why Synchronous Shooting managed to be an ace level top-ss skill. It was just too hard to deal with ¡ª truly a technique that just could not be effectively defended against.


    Another reason Synchronous Shooting managed to be a top-ss ace level skill was that it was very difficult to execute. To sessfully use Synchronous Shooting, a mecha master¡¯s hand speed needed to be at the peak of ace level. Without that level of hand speed, the mecha master would not be able to perform Synchronous Shooting even if he wanted to. Of course, even with the required hand speed, the skill might still fail. The mecha¡¯s A.I. must also be reliable ¡ª even a dy of 0.01 second could cause an attempted synchronous shot to end up as two ordinary beam shots.


    Ling Lan¡¯s sess made Ling Xiao feel both proud and a little helpless at the same time. His daughter seemed to have already entered the rebellious phase his parenting book had mentioned.


    Ling Xiao had long known that Ling Lan had already advanced into ace level. Still, executing Synchronous Shooting with an ace mecha versus executing it with a special-ss mecha were twopletely different concepts. With a special-ss mecha, the demands on Ling Lan¡¯s finger speed was much more stringent, because the A.I. of a special-ss mecha was a hair weaker than the A.I. of an ace mecha. Do not underestimate this thin hairs-breadth of difference ¡ª it required an operator to pay several magnitudes the cost to execute an ace technique.


    Since Ling Lan managed to sessfully execute Synchronous Shooting, in the end, her One-Point Sustained Shooting had sessfully fired 7 beam shots. In other words, Ling Lan had fired 53 shots in total and not the 52 or 51 shots as everyone else believed. This number had drawn even with the record set by Ling Xiao in the past. How could Ling Xiao not be proud? This amazing genius mecha operator was none other than his very own daughter! Who said girls could not match up to boys? Ling Xiao believed that his daughter would definitely create a miracle!


    However, after the pride he felt subsided, Ling Xiao began to fret. For his daughter¡¯s own safety, he had advised her to show a little restraint. On the surface, Ling Lan had indeed seemed to have listened, but in actual fact, this move had disyed her rebellious streak ¡ª even if she had to show restraint, she would show it in her own domineering way!


    Right then, Ling Xiao¡¯s thoughts could not help but stray. Was his daughter trying to prove to him that she was no longer the child that needed him to protect her from the winds and rains? That she had grown up enough to independently face the storms of the outside world?


    Thinking of this possibility, Ling Xiao suddenly felt a little crestfallen. The absence of 16 years was not that easy to make up for, especially now when he hade to the realisation that his daughter increasingly did not need him anymore. This fuelled his fury against the people that sabotaged him, for making him miss the most precious childhood period of his daughter.


    "It¡¯s about time to collect some of the interest on the grudges of that time!" A cold glint shone in Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes. There was a brief trace of killing intent, but between blinks of an eye, Ling Xiao had returned to his usual kindly demeanour, still as mellow as jade and as smiley-faced as ever.


    Ling Lan saw the opponent eject sessfully out of his cockpit and instantly rxed. That final Synchronous Shot had been unintentional. At that time, while she had been focusing on the operations for One-Point Sustained Shooting, she had actually entered a rare state of harmony between man and nature ¡ª this state had reached a peak during her sixth shot, sting through the bottleneck on her finger speed that had already been stalled for a full half a year to enter a whole new stage.


    And it was at precisely that moment when she had naturally performed Synchronous Shooting ... in the end, she had seeded ¡ª that extra beam shot had been like the final straw that had broken the camel¡¯s back, causing the opponent¡¯s mecha, which should only have been half-destroyed in the attack, to bepletely destroyed.


    Fortunately, she had been shooting at the upper half of the mecha then, giving the opponent time to eject out of his mecha. It was a truly a great blessing that tragedy had been avoided!


    Seeing that the other was alright, Ling Lan calmly instructed Little Four to handle any evidence which could easily expose her secret and her strength. For instance, her long-barrelled beam gun and her energy storage unit had to be destroyed ¡ª if it was ever discovered that there was still enough calories inside for two more beam shots, she would definitely be pushed to the forefront of danger. At that time, even her father Ling Xiao would probably be unable to ensure her safety.


    Little Four was very efficient, instantly destroying the electrical circuits of the energy storage unit. He also applied a little cover-up to make the energy storage unit look like it had shorted due to having been overdrawn on calories. At the same time, he also modified the saved records on the A.I.. Data on Ling Lan¡¯s operations would be saved on the A.I. ¡ª this was initially a function meant to help mecha operators review their own operations to identify their shorings and fix them, but it was now a potential source which could expose Ling Lan¡¯s true strength. Little Four naturally would not overlook it.


    Little Four only needed one or two minutes to deal with all of these things. The reason why he even needed that much time was that it was a little more troublesome to edit the saved records on the A.I. and still keep things reasonable. If he could have just formatted it to wipe everything, he would have been done in just one second. However, if he really did that, it would be too conspicuous and would have certainly aroused suspicion even if there had not been any suspicion to begin with.


    Still, a minute or two was not very long ¡ª by the time Ling Lan¡¯s mecha was descending slowly towards the ground, Little Four had already reported back to Ling Lan that everything was OK.


    When Ling Lan alighted from her mecha, Zhao Jun raised two thumbs up high, cheering for her. Fifty-two shots! That was the number which almost every special-ss long-range operator aimed for. Unfortunately, this number was not so easily achieved. Those who managed it and survived till now were all imperial operators of the Federation without any exceptions, and some had even achieved god-ss status ...


    Qiao Ting looked at Ling Lan striding over to them and his fists clenched so tightly that his fingernails were practically digging into his flesh. Despite that, Qiao Ting felt no pain, only a powerful sense of danger creeping over his heart. He even wondered if such an outstanding person would enter ace level earlier than he had ...


    Thinking of the possibility, it was like a fire was burning in his chest, leaving him feeling extremely ufortable. He took in a deep breath to suppress the agitation within him ... perhaps after he returned from this tournament, he should really contemte how he could best conserve his power calories while shooting so he could increase his number of shots to the utmost limits!


    "I will not lose!" Qiao Ting once again threw down these words like a promise to himself before boarding his mecha and preparing for his match. This left Ling Lan quite speechless. It seemed as if every time she returned victorious, Qiao Ting woulde and throw this phrase at her. How proud did this Qiao Ting have to be to be so tenacious in his desire to beat her? Even willing to go to the extent of replicating her attack methods topete against her? Should they not walk their own paths like the saying ¡¯let the four winds blow as they will, I will remain standing steadfast still¡¯?


    The Jingan Military Academy had lost the second match as well now, and in such a miserable way to boot. Even though Zhu Jing had not been injured because he had ejected himself in time, after a staff member had examined Zhu Jing¡¯s mecha and dered that there was nothing wrong with it, the expressions of the Jingan contingent turned sour. They felt as if they had been given a big hard p ...


    In particr, after seeing how he had been defeated from a rey, Zhu Jing found himself gnashing his teeth in anger towards Ling Lan. He felt that he had lost too pathetically ¡ª it had just been an oversight which had led to him falling for the opponent¡¯s plot. He had not been on guard, which was why he had been defeated by the opponent¡¯s sneak attack.


    "Although our defeat is already a foregone conclusion, we cannot let the First Men¡¯s Military Academy defeat us in straight matches. No matter what, we need to at least win one match!" encouraged the team leader of the Jingan Military Academy.


    Since they had already lost two matches before Qiao Ting had appeared to represent the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, this meant that they no longer had any chance of winning the round. This was because they had no one capable of contending with Qiao Ting, so their only wish now was to win a match or two before being defeated to save some face as the 6th rank. Otherwise, if they were defeated in straight matches, then they would be no different from those other military academies who had been defeated by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy prior to this. Those schools had just been unlucky enough to meet the First Men¡¯s Military Academy a little earlier ...


    However, this wish of theirs was instantly crushed when they saw that Qiao Ting was the third contestant. As the third member of Jingan walked onto the field, hisplexion was green. If at all possible, he really did not want to take the field just to be tormented by Qiao Ting. The gap between their levels gave him no room to put up a fight ... he could only hope that Qiao Ting¡¯s fighting spirit was not too intense so that he would be able tost a little longer and not lose too much face.


    Perhaps triggered by Ling Lan¡¯s 52 shots (Because no one had even considered the possibility of someone using a special-ss mecha to execute the top-ss ace level technique Synchronous Shooting, and after factoring in the judgment of the two imperial operators monitoring the match, the referee panel had determined that Ling Lan had fired a total of 52 shots in the end.), Qiao Ting¡¯s desire to attack was overwhelming. As soon as the match began, he pulled away at top speed, and when he had gained enough distance, he immediately used two advanced techniques to finish off his opponent.


    This match broke the record for the shortest time taken by a long-range operator to end a fight. Long-range operators were unlike closebat operators who could sh at the first instant to decide the oue. They needed to first pull a certain distance away before they could carry out their attacks. This also resulted in the time needed for a long-range operator to finish a match being longer than that needed by a closebat operator. Even such an outstanding long-range ace operator as Qiao Ting who was a head above most others would never be able topete against the record time of a closebat operator in defeating an opponent.


    However, all of this was not enough to affect Qiao Ting from being the most popr contestant in this tournament. Even though Ling Lan had managed to obtain the excellent results of 52 shots, she was outshined instantly by this new time record of Qiao Ting¡¯s.


    Ling Lan was extremely pleased by this oue. She suddenly found that this seriouspetitiveness of Qiao Ting was actually pretty good for her. At critical moments, he could totally be her shield to deflect attention, allowing her to hide behind him.


    "Perhaps, I can try provoking Qiao Ting a bit more? And let him perform a little better?" Ling Lan stroked her jaw as she thought to herself.


    The First Men¡¯s Military Academy defeated Jingan in three straight matches, letting them move on into the tentative top 4. Meanwhile, at the same time, the three other mecha fights to determine the top 4 were being held at three other mechabat fields. After Ling Lan and the others had stared for a period of time at therge screen backstage, they received news on it that the First Co-ed Military Academy had also defeated their opponent to be the second to enter the tentative top 4. This was closely followed by the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s advancement. The difference between the two academies¡¯ victories was only about 2 to 3 minutes.


    The battle for the final slot into the tentative top 4 was rather intense. Since the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy had lost prematurely and was not part of the top 8 this year, this had caused the initial solid past rankings of the top 4 to lose one of its corners. This also pitted the original number 5, Qiguang, and number 7, Yaohuang, against each other. Neither side was willing to give up on this chance to progress; the round was fought till the final fifth match. In the end, the 5th-ranking Qiguang won by a slim margin by the referee panel¡¯s ruling to advance into the tentative top 4.


    After the top 8 military academies had fought, the two resurrected academies, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy and the Federal Defence Military Academy, respectively challenged the initially 9th and 8th rank schools. Having already lost one round previously, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy was no longer as arrogant and conceited as it had been at the start. In order to guarantee their victory, they had cautiously chosen to challenge the weakest academy among their avable opponents, the ranked 9th military academy which they had the most confidence to defeat.


    It should be said that Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s re-entry had caused the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s strength to rise on a vertical axis. Fighting as a resurrected wildcard, they quickly defeated the 9th-ranking military academy in three straight matches to rece the other in the top 8. Meanwhile, the Federal Defence Military Academy shed with the original 8th-ranking academy, but they were not as lucky ¡ª after five tough matches, they had still been defeated in the end.


    And so, the defeated Federal Defence Military Academy and the initial 9th-ranking academy that had been defeated by the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy would be fighting next for the 9th and 10th position in the rankings of this tournament. If there were no surprises, these two schools which were ranked 9th and 10th in previous tournaments as well would retain their original rankings. This was still an eptable oue for both military academies.


    Meanwhile, at this time, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy which had been resurrected joined the other 3 schools which had lost to the tentative top 4 academies. Just as with those other academies, they now had a chance to challenge one of the top 4.


    The former 8th-ranking school which had been defeated by the First Co-ed Military Academy naturally chose to challenge the 5th-ranking academy. Among the tentative top 4, they were theparatively weakest one.


    However, even though the 5th rank¡¯s strength was weaker than that of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy, and the First Co-ed Military Academy, the academy was still not weak enough for the 8th-rank to ovee. After fighting 4 matches, the 5th-rank had already managed to win 3 matches, securing their position in the top 4.


    Immediately after was the 7th-rank¡¯s challenge. Aside from being unable to challenge the opponent which had already defeated them, the 5th-ranking military academy, all the other military academies in the top 4 were viable options. After some consideration, the 7th-rank chose to challenge the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. Of the remaining three academies they could pick, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy was undoubtedly the weakest one ¡ª one should always choose the softest bone to chew on.


    However, the 7th-rank still lost their challenge. The Third Men¡¯s Military Academy may not have an ace operator holding the fort like with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, and the First Co-ed Military Academy, but their five representative mecha operators were all equally powerful, all of them at the peak of special-ss. The 7th-rank still was not strong enough to snatch three matches from these five opponent members.


    Next, the 6th-ranking Jingan Military Academy which had been defeated by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy chose to challenge the 5th-ranking academy. The two schools were very close in ranking, and their strength levels were extremely simr as well. Perhaps feeling repressed from being bullied by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy earlier, the Jingan Military Academy exploded with great ferocity, struggling against the opponent for all five matches to finally wrest victory from the jaws of the opponent. They won their third match by a narrow margin and sessfully reced their opponent in the tentative top 4.


    However, their luck ended there. The resurrected Second Men¡¯s Military Academy chose to challenge them immediately after. Perhaps Jingan had used up all their strength in the previous challenge round, or perhaps they lost confidence at the thought of facing the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy which had the ace operator Jiang Shaoyu leading them ¡ª in this match-up, Jingan lost to the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy in three straight matches. The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy efficiently dispatched the Jingan Military Academy and took their ce in the tentative top 4.


    With that, all the matches in the morning were done. The official top 4 had been decided. They were still the same few schools who had dominated the past tournaments, unshakeable by thunder or lightning. They were respectively the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy, and the First Co-ed Military Academy.


    After a short break at noon, the matches resumed in the afternoon. At this time, whether it was the live audience on Qiming or the rest of the Federation public who were at home watching the live broadcast, all of their attention was on thebat field. They were all eagerly anticipating the uing semi-finals and finals.


    The feelings of the four academies waiting backstage for the final match-up list to be revealed were all different. The five members of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were as steady as Mount Tai, extremely at ease. No matter which opponent they drew, they had the confidence to defeat them and advance to the finals.


    As for the other three academies, they were all gued with worry at the moment. Their greatest concern was, of course, meeting the First Men¡¯s Military Academy early. Leaving aside the fact that the First Academy had the publicly acknowledged number one of all the military academies, the ace operator Qiao Ting ¡ª below him, there was still Zhao Jun, who had managed to force a draw against the ace operator Jiang Shaoyu; Ling Lan, who had perfect basic controls, created a new personal-name technique, and achieved an almost perfect shot-count; Mu Shaoyu, who had already achieved the peak of special ss; as well as Han Yu, who was still able to overpower 80% of the special-ss operators in this tournament despite being slightly weaker than his teammates. Not a single one of them would be easy to handle.


    All three schools knew that if they were to encounter the First Men¡¯s Military Academy in the semi-finals, that would certainly spell tragedy for them. And even if they managed to crunch down this hard rock by some lucky fluke and advance to the finals, they would definitely be too exhausted topete with their opponent in the finals. Some members of these respective academies even began praying silently that any passing gods or spirits would help them out ¡ª please, please, please do not let them meet the First Men¡¯s Military Academy in the semi-finals ...


    No matter how worried they were, the destined time woulde eventually ¡ª one academy was destined to be the sacrifice on the First Academy¡¯s altar this round ...


    When the final match-up listings appeared on therge screen, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy could only bemoan their horrible luck this year. Actually already matched up against the killer First Men¡¯s Military Academy in the semi-finals!


    Ling Lan and her team continued to use the same method, ying ¡¯rock, paper, scissors¡¯ to decide their line-up. This time, Han Yu finally achieved a revolution and snatched up the right to fight first. Mu Shaoyu also performed well, nabbing the second slot following Han Yu, while Zhao Jun would be fighting third. In the final showdown between Qiao Ting and Ling Lan, Qiao Ting managed to narrowly beat out Ling Lan to obtain the rights to fight fourth. Hence, Ling Lan could only resign herself to being thest to fight, holding the fort for her team.


    In reality, Ling Lan and the rest all knew that Han Yu¡¯s chances were not good in the first fight. After all, his opponent was also a long-range fighter who was already at the peak of special ss, which was a small rank higher than Han Yu¡¯s own realm. Unless Han Yu managed a sudden breakthrough during the fight, there was almost no chance of him winning the match.


    In spite of this, Qiao Ting, Ling Lan, and the rest of the team still entrusted their hopes to Han Yu, wishing he would perform well in his fight. However, hopes were just hopes in the end ¡ª reality was harsh and cruel. Han Yu was suppressed by his opponent from the very start of the match. Bothbatants being long-range fighters, Han Yu was so outssed that he could only exhaust himself running around the field with no way of even fighting back. Still, this was also the match that showed the audience how skilful Han Yu was in evasion manoeuvres. Despite being chased around so badly by the opponent, the opponent only managed tond a handful of effective attacks on him.


    One attacking while the other dodged, the two fighters eventually used up all of the time allocated for the match. Unsurprisingly, Han Yu lost due to a lower points total than his opponent at the end. Han Yu knew very well what the oue would be even before the referee panel made their call ¡ª after greeting Ling Lan and the others when he returned, he shuffled off to sit in a corner, staring soullessly into the distance.


    Even though Han Yu¡¯s personality was a little irritating, Qiao Ting and the others could see that, other than those first few matches where he had performed badly due to looking down on his opponent, he had always tried his best after that whenever it was his turn to fight. This included thisst match. Although he had still been defeated in the end, Han Yu had still managed tost till the time limit ran out with a handicap of being one rank weaker than his opponent. It was clear to see how resilient he was and how hard he was trying.


    Thus, when Han Yu behaved oddly after returning, Zhao Jun and Mu Shaoyu were rather worried. As Mu Shaoyu had to prepare to fight next, he could only push aside his concern for the moment, boarding his mecha to make some final adjustments.


    Zhao Jun hesitated for a moment, but then walked over to Han Yu¡¯s side. He wanted to ask him how he was doing. After all, he had worked under Han Yu for four years before this ¡ª even though their rtionship had been more one of mutually using one another, they had still been working together for a long time. There was some bond there, so he should still check in on the other for a bit.


    Zhao Jun had just reached out to shake the other when another hand acted faster than his. Before he could even touch Han Yu, that hand grabbed hold of Zhao Jun¡¯s wrist.


    Zhao Jun felt his hand go numb, and his hand was rendered immobile. He turned his head in shock, only to see that the one who had stopped him was in fact Boss Lan.


    "That fight just now has inspired Regiment Commander Han," said Ling Lan as she released Zhao Jun¡¯s hand.


    Zhao Jun was astonished. "Boss Lan, are you saying that Han Yu ... has received some insight?" Even though Zhao Jun asked this question, he did not expect to receive an answer. This was because he knew that Ling Lan would never lie. If Boss Lan said Han Yu was processing some insight, then Han Yu was most certainly in the process of enlightenment.


    Right then, Zhao Jun could not help but feel envy-jealousy-hate stir in his heart towards Han Yu. How blessed was he to gain this opportunity for insight? Zhao Jun thought of himself and was instantly tearing up inside ... why couldn¡¯t he be that lucky? Everyday yearning for an epiphany yet never ever receiving one ¡ª that solid barrier blocking him from advancing to ace level all this time ... when would it loosen up?


    Knowing now that Han Yu was busy with his insights, Zhao Jun did not try to disturb him anymore. Fifteen minutester, it was Mu Shaoyu¡¯s turn to take the field!Èζû¶«Î÷Äϱ±·ç. ÎÒ×Ô¿ùÈ»²»¶¯: This phrase is abination of lines from two separate Chinese poems "ÌâÖñʯ" by Ö£ÛÆ and "Î÷½­ÔÂ.¾®¸Ôɽ" by ëÔó¶«. I will not go into those two poems here as that would end up as a whole essay. The original Chinese actually names the four winds ¡ª East, West, South, North ¡ª but IMO it flows better in English to condense them into ¡¯the four winds¡¯.


    As for the meaning, it refers to how people should keep to their own principles regardless of the pressures exerted by the outside world. Here, Ling Lan is saying that they should just walk their own paths without worrying about each other. She is boggled at why Qiao Ting is so persistent in their rivalry.Fun fact: The Chinese way of saying this is ¡¯to shave (someone) bald¡¯. Leave them no face! Take all of their hair!i.e. very secure in their positions.·­ÉíÅ©Å«°Ñ¸è³ª: Literally ¡¯break free from serfdom to sing songs (of freedom)¡¯. Han Yu managed to ovee his fate of being oppressed thus far. :p

 Chapter 471 Zhao Juns Predicament!

    For the second match, both mecha which took to the field were bnced special-ss mecha. The two contestants had also participated previously in the single mechabat event, both having managed to make their way into the top 16 there. With roughly equivalent strength levels, it was possible for either side to win.


    The First Men¡¯s Military Academy attached great importance to this match. If they lost another match, the situation would be grim for them; there would be no room at all for error in the following three matches. On their end, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy viewed this match with even more importance. If they managed to win this match as well, their chances of advancing to the finals would be significantly increased ... as long as there was a chance, no one would be willing to give up, and the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy was no exception.


    As both contestants were bnced mecha operators, the audience began guessing before the match began ¡ª what mode of attack would the two choose? Would it be long range or closebat? Or perhaps first closebat then long range?


    At the instant the referee swung his green g, the two mecha leapt out like tigers out of cages, charging ferociously at the opponent.


    In unnned unison, both fighters had chosen closebat!


    With a ng, the weapons in their hands shed.


    There were two major types of attack weapons ¡ª one was energy-type weapons like beam sabers, while the other was traditional cold weapons. When bothbatants chose to engage in close range, the weapons they chose was also exactly the same: traditional cold weapons.


    As soon as the match began, the series of movements both mecha made ¡ª from drawing the cold weapons from their backs to shing violently against each other ¡ª were a blur in the eyes of the audience. Many of the spectators were yelling in excitement, awed at the shocking speed of both fighters¡¯ operations.


    Of course, these only applied to the average audience members; those truly top-ss operators werepletely calm inparison. Although the operations of both the fighters on the field were a little better than the average mecha operator, this disy was still not enough to amaze them. Only something like Ling Lan¡¯s on-the-line operation could move them.


    "ng! ng! ng! ..."


    On the field, the twobatants were attacking each other fervently. The noise of shing cold weapons rang out again and again ¡ª this intense scene left the audience staring with wide eyes, afraid that they might miss the definitive moment when the oue would be determined if they even blinked.


    Backstage, Qiao Ting, Ling Lan, and Zhao Jun stood to the right of therge screen, opposite the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy members who were standing to the left of the screen. They were staring intently at the video feed being yed on the screen, mentally analysing the winning chances of both sides.


    After staring at the screen for a long time, Zhao Jun felt that his eyes were a little dry and aching. He reeled in his gaze, nning to take a break, and this was when he saw that Ling Lan actually had her eyes closed. He instantly blurted out in surprise, "Boss Lan, you aren¡¯t watching?"


    Zhao Jun¡¯s question drew Qiao Ting¡¯s attention and made him turn his gaze around to look at Ling Lan as well. His eyes were questioning too.


    Ling Lan replied evenly, "It¡¯s nothing much. I just feel that Regiment Commander Mu will win and so did not continue to watch."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made the members of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy across from them re angrily at her. The fighting on the field was clearly on equal ground right now, and that punk actually dared to conclude that they would lose just like that ... this was really testing their tolerance! If not for the fact that they were not allowed to fight backstage, they would definitely have charged over to teach that punk with that irresponsible mouth a hard lesson.


    The members of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy fumed to themselves. They did not know that this rather cold-looking and somewhat unremarkable ¡¯punk¡¯ was actually a super strong fighter with physical skills already at the Domain level. If they knew, they probably would not have dared to have such thoughts ¡ª it could only be said that ignorance breeds fearlessness.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes light up. In the Lingtian Battle n, Ling Lan had never ever said anything useless. Since Boss Lan said Regiment Commander Mu would win, then he was certain to win. (Here was yet another person who had been sessfully hoodwinked by Ling Lan ...)


    In contrast, Ling Lan¡¯s exnation left Qiao Ting blinking nkly. He peered dubiously at Ling Lan, unsure whether Ling Lan was just saying this to deal a mental blow to their opponents backstage, or if she truly felt that Mu Shaoyu would win.


    Qiao Ting looked back at therge screen sceptically. On the field, the two contestants were still fighting on equal ground ¡ª anyone could win, anyone could lose ... he really could not see any sign that Mu Shaoyu was going to win yet.


    Qiao Ting carried this sense of uncertainty as he continued to watch the fight unfold. Fifty moves went by, then 100 moves ... when the fight was close to 150 moves, finally, the opponent made a mistake. Mu Shaoyu did not let this opportunity slip by ¡ª a round of forceful attacks instantly beat the opponent into a defensive position with no more room to fight back.


    This scene left Qiao Ting gaping in astonishment as he turned to look at Ling Lan. "You really saw thising?"


    Ling Lan nced at Qiao Ting and said calmly, "How could that be possible? It was just a randomment."


    No matter how heaven-defying her innate talent of Profound Insight was, it still could not help her see the oue of a close fight like this more than 100 moves before the deciding moment. She had only felt that Mu Shaoyu had been radiating an extremely tenacious fighting spirit when he had left for the field. With that attitude, it would be hard for him to lose!


    A randomment? Boss Lan, that¡¯s too irresponsible of you! Zhao Jun was crying inside when he heard these words. Mind you, when he had first heard what Ling Lan had said, he had really believed in it!!


    "Even being so urate with just a randomment?" Qiao Ting did not believe it.


    Ling Lan nced coldly at Qiao Ting and said sarcastically, "Could it be that you want Regiment Commander Mu to lose?"


    This question stabbed deep into Qiao Ting, leaving him speechless. That was true ... they couldn¡¯t very well disparage themselves and say one of their own would lose, right? Annoyed, Qiao Ting turned back to look at therge screen, mentally berating himself for being so careless that he was fooled by Ling Lan!


    Even as they were talking, the fight on the field was reaching its end. Mu Shaoyuunched into another round of powerful attacks, striking the body of the opponent¡¯s mecha repeatedly, instantly reducing the opponent¡¯s points to zero.


    When the field referee received the judgment of the referee panel, he decisively stopped the match. Mu Shaoyu obtained the victory for this match, and the overall score was now 1 to 1.


    The leading team leader of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy ¡ª that is, the strongest of the five representing members ¡ª could only shake his head at the oue. It was a pity his teammate had made some mistakes that he shouldn¡¯t have, allowing the opponent to grab hold of the opening to win the match. If not for that, the oue of this match would probably only have been decided when the time ran out.


    He nced over at the three representatives of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy who had yet to fight and clenched his teeth. He would be the one to fight in the next match, and he hoped that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would not be sending out Qiao Ting ...


    As the line-up of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was extremely bizarre with no logic to be found behind its arrangement, it was impossible to deduce what the opponent¡¯s final line-up would be. He had decided to ce himself for the third matchrgely because he was betting that the opponent would not send Qiao Ting out to fight among the first three. That way, they would be able to directly win three matches to advance to the finals.


    At this thought, the team leader once again thought to himself what a pity it was. If they had only won the second match, then he would have the confidence to win the third match as long as his opponent was not Qiao Ting!


    "Leader, the contestant for the third match from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy hase out. It¡¯s Zhao Jun!" The super substitute on the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy side who would likely have no chance to fight had been observing the First Men¡¯s Military Academy all this while. When he saw Zhao Jun board his mecha in the final 10 minutes before the fight to calibrate his mecha, his expression shifted and he immediately alerted his team leader.


    "So it¡¯s him!" The leader¡¯s face turned serious. Even though he was confident that he could win against any of the others aside from Qiao Ting, among the remaining four, Zhao Jun was the one he was most wary of. He had not forgotten how Zhao Jun had seeded in forcing a draw with the ace operator Jiang Shaoyu in the single mechabat event. Although there had been an element of luck involved there, Zhao Jun¡¯s own solid mecha control skills were also one of the reasons for his sess.


    Perhaps that Ling Lan would have been easier to deal with! The team leader thought to himself with some regret. However, his morose mood soon shifted into happiness ¡ª his match-up against Zhao Jun was actually very advantageous to their Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. As long as he defeated Zhao Jun, no matter which of his two remaining teammates was matched against Ling Lanter, there would be hope of victory.


    Though that Ling Lan had been able to sessfully add some ir to the basic techniques, sessfully defeating opponent after opponent, those victories had all been achieved through some element of surprise ¡ª his opponents had only lost due to being caught off-guard. If one was on guard against them, could these basic techniques triumph over advanced techniques? Especially if it came to those special-ss techniques which were even one level higher than that?


    At this thought, a smile appeared on the team leader¡¯s face. He could almost see the scene where they sessfully advanced to the finals ... with regards to the line-up arrangement this time, the heavens were undoubtedly on their side.


    Meanwhile, on the other side, Qiao Ting saw the team leader of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy boarding his mecha and his expression shifted. "Who¡¯d have expected it to be him ¡ª¡ª Zhou Chao-Ling!"


    Qiao Ting had a very deep impression of Zhou Chao-Ling ¡ª the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had once had a practice spar with the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy, and back then, Qiao Ting had led the Leiting Mecha n against the mecha n led by the other in a team battle. At that time, he had already been a special-ss operator for quite a long time, while Zhou Chao-Ling had only just advanced to special-ss operator level.


    By all ounts, a special-ss operator who had just advanced should show some signs of instability every so often while operating his special-ss mecha. However, the other had not seemed to have this problem ¡ª his controls were so stable that he did not seem like a newly advanced special-ss operator, instead appearing extremely solid and reliable. What was even more memorable for Qiao Ting was Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯sposure and self-assuredness. Even though he had clearly known back then that he was no match for Qiao Ting, he had not lost his mental bnce. Throughout the entire fight, his calm heart had allowed him to make almost no mistakes. In the end, if not for Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s realm being a littlecking, leaving him unable to urately determine the exact target-point of Qiao Ting¡¯s sure-kill technique, Qiao Ting was unsure whether he would have been able to win that spar.


    In Qiao Ting¡¯s opinion, if Zhou Chao-Ling had been able to advance to ace level before the Grand Mecha Tournament, the opponent he most worried about in this tournament would probably not be Lin Xiao of the First Co-ed Military Academy but this Zhou Chao-Ling instead.


    The change in Qiao Ting¡¯splexion was noticed by Ling Lan. A thought stirred, and she quietly instructed Little Four to look up the detailed data on Zhao Jun¡¯s opponent. She swiftly browsed through it and, seeing his achievements all these years, her countenance slowly turned grim ... what a truly troublesome opponent!


    Mu Shaoyu, who had been in a state of excitement ever since the end of his fight, also saw Zhou Chao-Ling boarding his mecha in the opponent¡¯s area. Without a doubt, he would be the third person to fight. Mu Shaoyu¡¯s heart sank and his mood instantly fell. Moodily, he said, "F*ck, why is it him? Zhao Jun¡¯s luck is really too horrible."


    Some information appeared in Mu Shaoyu¡¯s mind: Zhou Chao-Ling, special-ss operator (peak); 5th rank in single mechabat; team leader of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy!


    "Zhao Jun is not necessarily going to lose." As Qiao Ting said this, he sent a pointed look at Ling Lan. His gaze was clearly telling Ling Lan that one should leave some wiggle room when speaking and not act as if one knew everything with full confidence and mislead others. It looked like he still could not let go of how he had been fooled by Ling Lan during Mu Shaoyu¡¯s match.


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips quirked up almost imperceptibly, and with a lift of her brow, a powerful surge of domineering presence swept towards Qiao Ting. With conviction, she said, "Zhao Jun will win!" As Zhao Jun¡¯s boss, even if the final oue was aplete and utter mess of a defeat, at this moment, she would still firmly support her follower.


    As soon as Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence spread out, Qiao Ting¡¯s force of presence was triggered as well. The two powerful forces pushed against each other between the two of them. Mu Shaoyu, who was standing in that vicinity, quickly stepped away, face paling slightly.


    He stared at the two equally powerful people before him and felt a little crestfallen. He had initially thought that one Qiao Ting was already a rare one-in-a-century prodigy ¡ª who could have guessed that a junior three years younger than him would be able to match Qiao Ting so closely ... Mu Shaoyu believed that, based on Ling Lan¡¯s outstanding control skills, he would have no trouble at all advancing to ace level while he was still in the academy. The only question was whether he would advance in his fourth year like Qiao Ting, or would it happen in his fifth year?


    Mu Shaoyu never even considered whether it could be in his third year because he did not think someone could do what even General Ling Xiao had not been able to achieve. This once again proved that Ling Xiao had already be a legend under the Federation military¡¯s purposeful branding and promotion.


    Qiao Ting and Ling Lan were still very rational and knew how to restrain themselves. After a brief sh, their forces of presences were swiftly reeled back and tucked away. Meanwhile, at this time, Zhao Jun¡¯s fight was about to kick off.


    From his mecha¡¯s viewing screen, Zhao Jun saw that his opponent was Zhou Chao-Ling and he was thoroughly excited. What this fellow Zhao Jun loved most was to fight against expert fighters. He felt that only by fighting against other experts would he be able to more quickly raise his own strength. He was also not afraid of losing, believing that failure was the mother of sess ¡ª as long as he learned from the cumtive experiences of these failures, he would one day win everything back. Therefore, he was not at all afraid of fighting with an ace operator. Even though he knew that he was sure to lose, he would still fight a great and vigorous battle ¡ª even if he lost, he still wanted to leave some mark on his opponent. This was another reason why he had managed to force a draw with Jiang Shaoyu.


    Zhao Jun and Zhou Chao-Ling were both closebat type special-ss operators who operated closebat mecha. Everyone knew that this match was sure to be like the second match, an intense closebat match. Compared to long-rangebat which really tested the operators¡¯ skills and tactics, closebat was undoubtedly much more straightforward and exciting to watch, better able to work up the audience. Therefore, even before the match had begun, the audience was already getting pumped up in their seats.


    Immediately after the referee swung his green g down, Zhao Jun and Zhou Chao-Ling instantly shed. Right at this moment, the calmer members of the audience could see the difference between this match and Mu Shaoyu¡¯s. Both matches had been closebat matches, and the fighters in both matches had also started right off by drawing the cold weapons from the secured docks at their backs to sh with each other. However, the time Zhao Jun and Zhou Chao-Ling used was even shorter ¡ª some of the audience with weaker vision did not even manage to catch when they had moved.


    "ng!" The collision of the cold weapons caused a loud noise, sending out countless sparks at the same time. The sheer volume of the sound almost deafened the audience sitting right at the front. The fearsome power sh in a true closebat match was not something bnced mecha could truly demonstrate. Only closebat mecha could truly reach this level of ferocity ¡ª just this one sh had shown everyone the clear difference.


    "Boom!" Zhao Jun and Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s fearsome power which could rip each other apart worked up the already immensely excited audience even further ¡ª no longer able to control themselves, they shouted loudly, cheering for both mecha operators on the field.


    "Equally matched!" Backstage, Mu Shaoyu was staring intently at therge screen. When he saw this scene, he could not help but yell excitedly. In terms of power, Zhao Jun had not lost to the opponent.


    "Both of them have disyed the greatest power value of closebat mecha. In terms of operation, Zhao Jun has not lost!" The austerity in Qiao Ting¡¯s face eased slightly ¡ª initially, he had been worrying that Zhao Jun would lose out to the opponent by a hair in terms of operation, but now from the looks of it, he had been worrying too much.


    Ling Lan, however, was frowning. This frown was extremely subtle, so subtle that no one had noticed it, thinking that Ling Lan was just wearing her typical ice-block face.


    "Boss, you¡¯ve noticed it too? The power Zhao Jun is pulling out from his mecha is 30kN less than his opponent." On the mechabat field, there were all sorts of high-tech instruments which would collect data on every move of the two mecha on the field and send it over to the referee panel to be used as evidence for their judgements. Little Four had hidden a clone of himself there so that as soon as any new information appeared, he would be able to receive it at first notice.


    "How high have they reached in terms of power?" asked Ling Lan.


    "Zhou Chao-Ling: 1857kN, Zhao Jun: 1827kN. After calcting based on the power form conversion ... after 37 moves, the arms of Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha will be afflicted with some wear and tear issues due to this power difference. With further shes, the abrasion will be worse and may damage the body of the mecha ..." Little Four was very responsible ¡ª not only did he tell Ling Lan the gap between the two fighters power output, but he had also calcted the problem that would eventually arise from it.


    "Before his mecha¡¯s body is ruined, how many moves can he hold out for, approximately?" asked Ling Lan.


    "In theory, at most 93 moves, but in reality, this number might be reduced by about 10 moves," said Little Four somewhat uncertainly after some calctions.


    "In other words, Zhao Jun only has 83 moves to find an opening." Ling Lan¡¯s expression turned solemn. She had not expected this Zhou Chao-Ling to have concealed his strength so well, thus being overlooked by everyone. In fact, the level of his mecha operation was just a line away from that of an ace operator¡¯s. If Zhao Jun wanted to win, he would have to do so before his mecha was destroyed. That meant that he would need to find an opening to KO his opponent within 83 moves.


    Only by KO-ing the opponent would he be able to win ¡ª gaining the upper hand in 83 moves would not be of any use. Once Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha started malfunctioning, an experienced special-ss operator like Zhou Chao-Ling would never let this kind of opportunity slip by. Of course, this also required Zhao Jun to notice the problem before his mecha actually began to malfunction. Otherwise, if he waited till the time his mecha red an rm, the damage would have already be fact ¡ª Zhao Jun would have no way to do anything about the situation.


    On the field, Zhao Jun was still shing violently with the opponent. At first, he did not notice anything amiss, thinking that he was fighting on even ground with the opponent, but with each seeding collision, Zhao Jun slowly began to sense that something was not right. After each collision, the two fighters would always be repelled back by the resulting concussive force generated between them. At first, Zhao Jun had been sent back about the same distance as the opponent, but this distance slowly grew. After about 50 moves, the distance Zhao Jun was repelled back each time had exceeded his opponent¡¯s by over 2 to 3 metres.


    At this time, how could Zhao Jun still not realise? In this sh of sheer power, he had lost to the opponent. At this moment, he suddenly recalled something that had happened when he had been sparring with Boss Lan.


    A jolt of fear coursed through his heart and cold sweat immediately sprang out on his forehead. He immediatelymanded his A.I., saying, "Dawn Light, conduct a quick check on the mecha¡¯s condition."


    "ng!" The two fighters once again shed in mid-air and this time, Zhao Jun was pushed back even further. The cold sweat on Zhao Jun¡¯s forehead pooled together to flow down his face in rivulets. He anxiously waited for his A.I. to respond while preparing himself for the next confrontation.


    "Beep, checkplete. Varying degrees of damage detected at the mecha¡¯s right shoulder, elbow, and wrist. The same areas on the left arm are also beginning to show simr signs of damage." Finally, after 5 seconds, his A.I. provided an answer. Just as he had predicted, the joint areas of his mecha¡¯s upper limbs were starting to show signs of wear and tear.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s heart sank and he asked, "How many more moves can the mecha sustain?"


    Dawn Light continued to calcte and was faster to respond this time, only taking 3 seconds. "The theoretical estimate is approximately another 50 moves!"


    "50 moves, eh? There¡¯s still time." After hearing his A.I.¡¯s answer, Zhao Jun¡¯s heart settled. Even though he was already stuck in this predicament, the situation was not so terrible yet that he had no recourse. As long as he could keep a level head, he would still have a chance.


    The average audience member still had not noticed that the situation was already unfavourable for Zhao Jun now. They still believed that the two fighters were tied in terms of strength, and that a proper final oue would only be determined at the end of the match via referee panel decision.


    Some of the top-ss mecha masters in the venue could see a little clearer, however. Notably, those of imperial operator level and above already had a pretty good grasp of the overall situation at this point. The imperial operator from the Lawless Lands hovering at high-altitude airspace to monitor the matches could not help but praise, "I had originally thought that the one with the best basic controls is that Ling Lan, but that Zhou Chao-Ling is surprisingly as good. His foundations are really solid. As long as nothing goes wrong, he¡¯s sure to win this match."


    Hispanion, however, was silent. The imperial operator was rather surprised by this and could not help calling out to him, "Tian Xuan, Tian Xuan, what¡¯s wrong?"


    The imperial operator called Tian Xuan heard hispanion¡¯s call and immediately replied, "Ren Ji, I just feel that Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s operation methods seem very familiar. I¡¯m trying to recall where I¡¯ve seen it before." He had barely finished speaking when he suddenly seemed to have remembered. "Ah, it¡¯s him!"


    "Who?" asked the imperial operator called Ren Ji.


    "You¡¯ve never met him before, but you should have heard of him. The Bull, Zhou Yuan-qing!"


    Ren Ji¡¯s eyes lit up. "One of the 28 Constetions of the Federation imperial operators."


    With a wistful expression, Tian Xuan said, "20 years ago, I heard he adopted a baby with extremely good talent potential. Looks like it¡¯s probably this Zhou Chao-Ling. Zhou Chao-Ling, Zhou Chao-Ling ... pfft!" After repeating Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s name a few times, Tian Xuan burst outughing.


    "What? Is there something wrong with this name? I think it¡¯s pretty nice." Ren Ji was leftpletely bewildered by hispanion¡¯s sudden fit ofughter. He really could not see what was so funny about this name.


    "Ha, the Bull really knows how to hold a grudge. Even when naming his child, he did not forget to include a reminder to surpass General Ling Xiao!" The imperial operator called Tian Xuan finally exined his fit ofughter. Zhou Yuan-qing was from the same generation as Ling Xiao. Incredibly talented, and extremely outstanding, he should have been the focus of everyone¡¯s attention ¡ª but as luck would have it, there was Ling Xiao. All the talents of that generation had been overshadowed by the unbelievably aberrant talent of General Ling Xiao and so were never able to receive the fame they would have received otherwise!Öܳ¬Áè: This fellow¡¯s name is rather interesting. ÖÜ (Zhou) is the surname, so let¡¯s just leave that aside. But his given name ³¬Áè (Chao-Ling) can mean ¡¯to ovee/surpass Ling¡¯, with the ¡¯Ling¡¯ character being the same one as our main character¡¯s surname. I wonder if there¡¯s some story behind this name ...The author uses ¡¯KN¡¯ in the raws as a unit of energy here, but when I looked energy units up, what came up as a possible reference is kilonewton, which is represented as ¡¯kN¡¯.³¿¹â: A really sweet name for his mecha¡¯s A.I. IMO.T/C: Lol. I called it. Totally felt Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s name was strange.

 Chapter 472 Seed?

    At this time, Ling Xiao, who was seated at the rostrum, had also found something familiar in Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s operation methods. A nostalgic smile appeared on his lips. He had not known that that rival who had beenpeting against him all this while had a descendant of his own now. Even more unexpected was the fact that their rivalry would actually reappear more than twenty yearster.


    Even though Ling Lan and Zhou Chao-Ling had not actually shed personally yet, like him back then, Ling Lan had be the leader of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy contingent, while Zhou Chao-Ling had also inherited his father¡¯s role to be the leader of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy contingent, both of them fighting for the honour of their respective academies!


    "Looks like Lan-er¡¯s teammate is going to have some trouble," thought Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao knew very well that no matter how many fancy advanced techniques a mecha operator used, the pressure heaped upon the opponent could never match the kind of pressure caused by simple movements that had been honed to such precision that they were impable. Both Zhou Yuan-qing and Zhou Chao-Ling were people with thetter operation style. In the past, Zhou Yuan-qing had really given Ling Xiao a lot of trouble ¡ª till today, Ling Xiao still did not want to ever fight Zhou Yuan-qing again.


    In fact, Ling Xiao¡¯s own operation style also fell into this category. It was just that Zhou Yuan-qing¡¯s style was characterised by its simplicity and clean practicality, while Ling Xiao¡¯s style leaned towards the graceful perfection of flowing water. Ling Lan had been influenced by Ling Xiao, so her operation style also had the same tendency.


    On the field, Zhao Jun¡¯s and Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s movements were extremely fast and fierce ¡ª in a very brief period of time, they had already exchanged another 6 blows. Zhao Jun still had not figured out how he could turn things around.


    "How annoying!" It wasn¡¯t that Zhao Jun did not want to change his movements and try something new, but the opponent was not giving him any chances to do so. Whenever he was about to try something, the opponent would leap forwards again. To avoid being pushed into a passive position, he had no choice but to dodge ¡ª even though he knew shing against the other forcefully was a problem, he could only grit his teeth and surge forwards.


    "Toot, toot, toot!" The A.I. of Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha once again rang an alert. "Right shoulder joint damage increased by 0.7%! umted damage at 5.6%!"


    From the initial 0.3%, the damage to his mecha was increasing as the number of moves increased. He estimated that when the damage exceeded 10%, the rate of damage would elerate further. He did not have much time left. Zhao Jun understood that if he continued to let the opponent drag things on like this, he was certain to lose.


    "What should I do? What the hell should I do?" Zhao Jun¡¯s mind was a muddled mess. The opponent was clearly not that strong, and his mecha operation was just steady and unassuming. Although the techniques the opponent was using were also some advanced techniques, those techniques were not special ace-ss techniques like the ones Qiao Ting and Lin Xiao had used which dazzled the eyes and inspired envy. Some of the techniques used were even ones that were not as good as his own ... but it was precisely these unassuming advanced techniques and unremarkable mecha operation which were slowly destroying his mecha bit by bit, pushing him into such a dire predicament.


    "This situation ... why does it feel a little familiar? Zhao Jun, don¡¯t panic. Think slowly. You still have time!" Zhao Jun kept having the feeling that something was about to burst forth from his mind, but because he was just so anxious and tense, the thought was always just out of reach ...


    "ng!" Weapons shed once again. Perhaps because Zhao Jun was rather distracted, his reaction time was slower by a beat. The area where his weapon and the opponent¡¯s met was not the position with the most of his force behind it. After the powerful collision, Zhao Jun was sent flying back 3 metres further than before ...


    "Zhao Jun, what are you thinking?" A cold huff roared through Zhao Jun¡¯s mind.


    Ling Xiao, who had initially been leaning easily against the back of his chair, suddenly sat up straight. He quickly sent out a burst of spiritual power and then retracted it just as swiftly. At this moment, his back was already drenched with cold sweat. Ling Xiao had never expected that Ling Lan would be so audacious ¡ª here in the tournament where countless masters were watching, she had actually dared to send a spiritual charge towards her currently fighting teammate ...


    Luckily, he seemed to be the only one who had sensed it, and he had also quickly sent out a surge of spiritual power of his own as cover-up. Even if anyone sensed anything, they would just think that he was the one behind the charge ... although this would tarnish his image somewhat since this action could after all be mistakenly construed as cheating ... Still,pared to his daughter being exposed, Ling Xiao would rather ept this kind of disreputablebel.


    Sure enough, his daughter was here to collect debts! Even as Ling Xiao sighed, heplied willingly.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s strange behaviour was noticed by Lan Luofeng sitting beside him; she turned her head to cast a questioning look at him. Seeing this, Ling Xiao pressed down gently on Lan Luofeng¡¯s hand. Lan Luofeng understood implicitly that this was not the time to ask questions, so with a soft smile, she turned her head around to resume watching the match.


    On this end, Ling Xiao was helping to wipe up after Ling Lan, while on another end, after Ling Lan had sted out that spiritual charge, herplexion became very pale. To prate the defences of the cockpit, Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual charge had used up almost nineyers of her spiritual power.


    "Zhao Jun, the rest is up to you now!" thought Ling Lan.


    Due to his operation error, Zhao Jun had been sent flying back much further than his opponent. With this, even the regr audience member could now tell that something was not right.


    "Just now ... I wasn¡¯t mistaken, right? Zhao Jun is at a disadvantage now?" The audience members could not help but rub at their eyes. They were having trouble wrapping their minds around it ¡ª Zhao Jun was someone who had forced the ace operator Jiang Shaoyu to a draw! Someone able to force a draw with an ace actually not being able to beat a special-ss operator? Perhaps this special-ss operator was special?


    Some of the more anxious among the audience struggled with this point and so they immediately began looking up information on Zhou Chao-Ling. They found that he was actually the fifth rank holder of the single mechabat event, just one rank behind Zhao Jun ...


    Dearie, just how low-key and unassuming were you that even your excellent results in ranking fifth were overlooked by the audience? The audience¡¯s faces were filled with disbelief as they looked over this information. They had not expected that such a top master had been hiding right under their noses, stronger than even Zhao Jun whom they had assumed was the strongest special-ss operator in this tournament.


    They then found the details on Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s performance during the single mechabat event. When they learned that he had lost to the number one Qiao Ting, which was why he had not been able to advance into the top 4, they could only sigh at his bad luck. If he had been as lucky as Zhao Jun and had been arranged into that segment with no ace operators, perhaps the oue would have been different. Whether or not Zhao Jun could have nabbed third ce in that situation was questionable.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s error in the fight caused two distinctly different atmospheres to appear among the two military academies backstage. The Third Men¡¯s Military Academy was naturally overjoyed ¡ª if their team leader defeated Zhao Jun, they would only have to defeat that Ling Lan as well to advance to the finals. Who said that their Third Men¡¯s Military Academy was just an essory? As long as they had equivalent strength among their members, so what if their opponent had an ace operator? So what if the opponent had the number one strongest in their ranks?


    The three people on the First Men¡¯s Military Academy side were also watching the fight closely. Other than Ling Lan being cold-faced as usual, Qiao Ting and Mu Shaoyu¡¯s expressions had turned extremely grim when they witnessed Zhao Jun¡¯s error. Mu Shaoyu was even wringing his hands in agitation, and then he turned to ask Qiao Ting uneasily, "Is Zhao Jun really out of options?"


    Qiao Ting did not reply, but his tightly knitted eyebrows were proof that he was not optimistic about Zhao Jun¡¯s chances. Zhou Chao-Ling was a very cautious and meticulous person. It was practically impossible to hope for him to make a mistake ... but for Zhao Jun to wrest free of this predicament on his own ¡ª Qiao Ting felt that it would be very difficult.


    Not receiving an answer from Qiao Ting, Mu Shaoyu found his gaze involuntarily drifting towards Ling Lan, in hopes that Ling Lan would be able to give him some confidence. After all, Zhao Jun was a member of Lingtian now. Fully preupied with seekingfort, Mu Shaoyu did not notice Ling Lan¡¯s unusual pallor, which made thetter seem even colder than usual.


    Sensing Mu Shaoyu¡¯s gaze, Ling Lan opened her initially closed eyes and said calmly, "Zhao Jun still has a chance!"


    She had already done what she could ¡ª the seed was already nted. Whether or not it would sprout smoothly in this match would all depend on Zhao Jun¡¯sprehension.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Mu Shaoyu¡¯s heart settle, and he turned back to continue watching the match on the screen intently. Right then, Mu Shaoyu was not aware of how Ling Lan had been able to calm him with just one simple deration. Unconsciously, he had already acknowledged Ling Lan¡¯s status and had given the other his trust.


    ********


    At this moment, after hearing that cold huff, Zhao Jun¡¯s vision turned blurry and when he could see clearly again, he had already arrived at a sealed mechabat room ...


    "What¡¯s going on?" Zhao Jun was stunned. "Wasn¡¯t I fighting in a mechabatpetition? Why am I here? Also, that voice just now really sounded like Boss Lan."


    Just when Zhao Jun thought of Boss Lan, an extremely familiar mecha appeared in thebat room. It was precisely that closebat ace mecha which Ling Lan operated.


    "Boss Lan, what are you doing here? And why are you using an ace mecha? Didn¡¯t you say that you wanted to hide properly?" asked Zhao Jun, concerned.


    He was in full agreement with Ling Lan¡¯s decision to conceal her full strength. He really could not imagine what kind of uproar it would cause if the world knew that there was someone who had broken Ling Xiao¡¯s record and had be an ace operator in their second year. (With the exception of those littlepanions of hers who had grown up alongside her, Ling Lan had told all the other friends who had joined them afterwards that she had only advanced to ace level in her second year.) He could even predict that an incident like the air invasion of the military academy would happen once again, not to mention all the assassins that would be sent over from the various nations.


    Unfortunately, Ling Lan did not react or respond to Zhao Jun¡¯s questions. Instead, she charged at Zhao Jun ferociously, shing at Zhao Jun with her sword.


    Zhao Jun hurriedly operated his mecha to dodge the attack, but how could he move faster than Ling Lan? The sword struck the body of his mecha forcefully, and the massive force behind the blow sent his mecha hurtling back to crash heavily against the hard walls of thebat room, which he then bounced off to m into the ground. Zhao Jun felt pain throughout his whole body and nausea churned in his chest. There was also a bloody taste in his mouth, making him feel rather ill.


    Before Zhao Jun could pry himself off the ground, a forceful swirl of wind came rushing at him. With a rapid flying side kick, Ling Lan sent Zhao Jun flying through the air once again ...


    "Chainbo!" Zhao Jun was thrown into the air, and Ling Lan piloted her mecha close after him. The cold weapon in her hands struck Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha without any hesitation. "1, 2, 3, 4 ..."


    The powerful impact made Zhao Jun spit out a mouthful of blood, and he pressed down desperately on the call button to shout, "Boss Lan, it¡¯s me! I¡¯m Zhao Jun!"


    This strength of Boss Lan was definitely not at the level of an ordinary spar ¡ª Boss Lan waspletelying at him with true force. If things continued this way, he would definitely die at Boss Lan¡¯s hands. This was not an oue he could ept ¡ª dying this way would be too worthless and a terrible shame. He would not ept it!


    "Zhao Jun, what are you thinking? Don¡¯t you know that, once we enter battle mode, no matter where or when, we are archenemies!" Ling Lan¡¯s icy voice rang out by Zhao Jun¡¯s ear once more, filled with fierce killing intent. Zhao Jun knew that Boss Lan was speaking from the heart at that moment!Excluding the empty 4th rank.Note: The truth is that she was already an ace in her first year.

 Chapter 473 Six-Chain Combo

    "Five, six!" When Ling Lan counted to six, thebo had finally ended!


    After taking Ling Lan¡¯s final hit, Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha plummeted into the ground as he spat out another mouthful of blood. He felt like he was going to die. He had always known that Boss Lan¡¯sbo could go on for more than five hits, but no one really knew how many exactly, the reason being that Boss Lan would never show it to herpanions during bouts among themselves. He didn¡¯t understand why at the time; instead, he believed that she was keeping it as a trump card, without wanting to reveal it. Now he understood that the reason why Boss Lan did not use it was because somebody would die the moment it was used.


    Zhao Jun thought he was going to draw hisst breath, but unexpectedly his vitality was very strong; despite being so close to death and in so much pain, he didn¡¯t faint and was able to survive.


    When Zhao Jun regained consciousness, he saw Ling Lan¡¯s figure, so tall and domineering as if looking down on the world. This made him feel like an insignificant ant ready for Ling Lan¡¯s executioner¡¯s de.


    This feeling pained Zhao Jun¡¯s heart deeply and a strong sense of humiliation rushed to his head! He suddenly had an epiphany. It seemed like his abilities didn¡¯t even enter Boss Lan¡¯s eyes. He was probably onlypelled to ept Zhao Jun into his battalion because of his old friend Li Lanfeng! He hadn¡¯t thought that he would one day need connections to get into a battalion because of his inadequate abilities! This humiliation made Zhao Jun almost bite off his tongue.


    "Ohhh!" Zhao Jun screamed angrily.


    No, I will not allow anyone to look down on me. Even if I¡¯m from a third-rate and not as talented as Qi Long, I will use my abilities to let Boss Lan know that other than him, I am the second strongest in the squadron. I will not lose to Qi Long!


    Zhao Jun¡¯s unwillingness to give up made him forget the immense pain. Piloting his mecha, he quickly sprang up to his feet. His left hand suddenly gripped his sword which was previously only held with his right. Wielding the sword with both hands, he abruptly directed it straight towards Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan had stopped attacking entirely after the sixbo attack, merely watching coldly from the distance. Perhaps Ling Lan was being generous. It was because she thought that after the fifth hit, Zhao Jun would no longer be able to fight.


    When she saw Zhao Jun clenching his weapon readying for more, she swung therge sword in her right hand and said coldly, "Not going to give up? You want to fight back? That¡¯s too bad. You will never be on par with me!"


    Zhao Jun didn¡¯t really hear what Ling Lan said. He just silently looked at his opponent, gripping his cold weapon. It seemed that after a single second, his flickering emotions became calm and at peace.


    Maybe Ling Lan was in his line of sight or maybe she wasn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t hear, see or feel anything, as if he had lost his five senses and turned into a statue¡ªhe began to forget who he was. His entire body and mind became unreactive, his mind finally goingpletely nk.


    Zhao Jun had entered a mysterious world of his own and this seemed to onlyst for an instant, but also felt like thousands of years.


    Zhao Jun, who had gone into a meditative state, did not realize that the intensity of his aura was rising boundlessly. He moved, his fingers suddenly beginning to dance about. In the beginning, he could still see his fingers turning into afterimages, but afterwards even those afterimages had disappeared. Yes, that¡¯s right¡ªZhao Jun¡¯s fingers had vanished. It seemed that his fingers¡¯ speed had surpassed the limit of special-ss mecha operators, the level of "Shadow", and reached the level of "Void" which only ace operators could achieve.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha shot towards Ling Lan like a cannonball! He yelled, "Chainbo!"


    Only chainbos could spell trouble for the formidable Boss Lan; though, his chainbo could only go up to four hits. Whether he could manage the fifth hit depended on his condition, but this couldn¡¯tpare to Boss Lan¡¯s six-chainbo. However, this was his strongest attack!


    Zhao Jun knew very well that other high-level skills and special techniques would not affect Boss Lan. Having battled with Boss Lan so many times, what hadn¡¯t he used before? He still got beaten in the end, didn¡¯t he?


    "Come, let¡¯s go!" called out Ling Lan upon seeing Zhao Jun executing his chainbo, and she operated her mecha to engage using a chainbo.


    "ng! ng! ng! ng! ng!" Five consecutive and loud sounds of cold weapons shing rang out. Without thinking, Zhao Jun was even able to easily perform a five-hitbo. He felt that this wasn¡¯t his limit and continued to move his fingers, and he managed to perform an unprecedented sixth strike.


    "ng!" The sixth hit was sessfully performed. Ling Lan also used her own sixth hit to block!


    But no, this wasn¡¯t his limit¡ªZhao Jun¡¯s fingers continued to operate without hindrance, as he performed his seventhbo hit!


    "Boom!" Zhao Jun¡¯s huge sword struck Ling Lan¡¯s mecha, sending it flying with a tumultuous force. Just when Zhao Jun wanted to follow up with an attack, his vision blurred and he returned back to the arena.


    That mysterious room disappeared along with Boss Lan who he was in battle with. He only saw Zhou Chao-Ling on the opposite side who was preparing for the next round of attacks.


    "Beep, beep, beep!" The A.I. of Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha alerted him of the condition of the mecha, "Damage to the joint on the right arm has increased by 1.6%! Now at a total of 11.3%!"


    "I see, the damage to the joint has already passed 10%. I can¡¯t waste anymore time." Although Zhao Jun didn¡¯t really understand what had happened just now, he knew that he had achieved a breakthrough in that mindspace. However, he didn¡¯t know whether it could be used in realbat.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s fingers moved simrly to how they did in the mindspace, dancing around rapidly, changing from fingers clearly visible to afterimages, then from afterimages toplete disappearance.


    His mecha was previously holding the sword with both hands at the hilt, but suddenly its left hand moved up one meter; this stance resembled how Japanese samurai would hold their swords. However, the left hand of Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha was not holding the sword, but was making a fist to lock it in ce.


    This change made the audience scream excitedly, "Zhao Jun is going to make a move!"


    At that moment, almost every audience member knew that Zhao Jun was in trouble. If he wanted to change his fate, he needed to change. They were all waiting for Zhao Jun to change the pace and now, their wait had paid off.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s odd way of handling the sword made Zhou Chao-Ling freeze in ce. He had initially wanted to go up to him and attack, but he suddenly slowed his advance. Being very careful, he decided to see how the situation yed out and then decide how he would continue to fight. He already had the advantage. Zhou Chao-Ling didn¡¯t want his opponent to get the upper hand because of his own carelessness.


    Just then, Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha suddenly began to charge forward. At maximum speed, his mecha appeared as though it was a beam of light, arriving before Zhou Chao-Ling in an instant. That speed had reached the highest speed limit of a special-ss mecha and this made Zhou Chao-Ling fail to react in time.


    Zhou Chao-Ling was not worried; he led his fingers into a swift dance, making his mecha dart around. His opponent was quick, not giving him enough time to umte power into his mecha¡ªif he was to fight in this moment, he would be the one disadvantaged. Zhou Chao-Ling wouldn¡¯t make the mistake of taking his opponent head-on.


    The two looked as though they were going to pass by each other after Zhou Chao-Ling evaded Zhao Jun¡¯s sudden attack, but the left wrist of Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha suddenly twisted. The cold weapon of his mecha suddenly shifted from a shing stance to a horizontal stabbing stance.


    "Ah!" This unforeseen change made the audience gasp.


    Just as Zhou Chao-Ling was about to be struck by therge sword, he lived up to his name by easily operating his mecha despite the danger hanging over his head. While his fingers danced, the cold weapon in his mecha¡¯s hand blocked!


    "ng!" There was a resonant sh. Zhou Chao-Ling had managed to use the bottom of his sword to block the sudden stabbing attack from Zhao Jun.


    However, it was still blocked in a hurry and so he could not neutralize the full force of Zhao Jun¡¯s attack¡ªhis mecha was sent flying by the stab, flying backwards at great speed. Because of this, however, Zhou Chao-Ling was able to leave Zhao Jun¡¯s closebat range. This gave a Zhou Chao-Ling a short breather.


    However, it was too early for Zhou Chao-Ling to feel relieved. As he started to think about bncing his mecha, he saw Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha turn ominously. It was able to neutralize the inertia, turning ny-degrees and heading directly for him!


    This made the audience cry out, many among them looking at Zhao Jun in shock. What was that move? How could he almostpletely offset the inertia? Was this an invention of Zhao Jun? Could it be that another personal-name technique had appeared?


    This also caused a brilliant gleam to sh in the eyes of Ling Xiao who was sitting on the chairman¡¯s podium. He had already tried his best to develop this type of mecha movements which ignored inertia. Although he had made some progress, it had not be a systematic program. He hadn¡¯t thought that a cadet would make his theories into reality...


    Ling Xiao began to analyze Zhao Jun¡¯s movements mentally where countless detailed data and information went through his mind. The gift of Duplication was quite an anomaly. He only had to take one look and he would then be able to find the underlying key points.


    No longer troubled by inertia, Zhao Jun did not need time to recover anymore. Zhao Jun¡¯s next attack had already arrived before Zhou Chao-Ling could bnce his mecha.


    "Mecha chainbo!" Everyone all began cheering once Zhao Jun¡¯s attack began. They all knew that in one-versus-one battles, Lin Xiao from the First Co-ed Military Academy was able to sessfully perform a six-chainbo. How many hits, then, would this special-ss operator, Zhao Jun, be able to achieve? Three, four or five hits?


    No one thought he could manage to reach six hits because anything above the five-hit chainbo technique could only be performed by ace operators.


    "ng! ng! ng! ng!" Four consecutive sounds of cold weapons striking one another rang out. Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s ability to adapt was very strong¡ªhe had blocked Zhao Jun¡¯s four-hitbo attack. He hoped that thebo would stop there because he knew he was already at his limit.


    Unfortunately, his hopes were shattered as Zhao Jun moved on to the fifth strike of hisbo! Zhou Chao-Ling bit down hard and wielded his weapon with difficulty.


    "ng!" Following a loud sh, Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯srge sword was flung away. Although he had lost his weapon, Zhou Chao-Ling was still able to block Zhao Jun¡¯s fifth consecutive strike.


    Zhou Chao-Ling took a breather, thinking to himself, ¡¯A five-hitbo is the limit for a special-ss operator. There¡¯s no way he can manage a sixth strike.¡¯


    Right at that moment, Zhao Jun performed the sixthbo hit that no one expected. The entire audience stood up at the sight of this, wearing faces of astonishment, looking at the arena. Zhao Jun and a six-chainbo? Was this real?


    The reality of it was as they saw¡ªZhao Jun had indeed performed a sixthbo hit. At that moment, Zhou Chao-Ling was helpless as Zhao Jun struck him with great force, sending his entire mecha straight down to crash against the ground with great impact.

 Chapter 474 Advancement Into the Finals

    Zhao Jun had wanted to repeat the seventhbo strike he had managed in his mindspace, but unfortunately his finger shook and slowed down after inputting half of themands. The fluid feeling he felt vanished instantly and the seventhbo strike failed.


    Although Zhao Jun felt that it was a pity, at the same time he didn¡¯t have any regrets. He was already very satisfied that he was able to perform a six-hitbo attack, as this meant the barrier blocking him from reaching the title of ace operator had been broken. If he could stabilize his performance of the six-hitbo attack, he would be able to be an official ace operator after returning to the military academy.


    The seven-hitbo was not sessful and did not manage to deal the opponent a heavy blow before he plummeted to the ground. This did not discourage Zhao Jun, however; he quickly operated his mecha to dive down at top speed, pointing his weapon at Zhou Chao-Ling who was on the ground, stabbing straight down.


    Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s fall had made him dizzy, making him unable to grasp the current situation in the arena. However, his subconscious sensed danger, and without thinking he performed a barrel roll. With this, he managed to dodge Zhao Jun¡¯s attack from above.


    Although Zhou Chao-Ling was able to dodge fast, Zhao Jun was also able to change his moves quickly¡ªhe instantly went from a stabbing motion to a shing motion, shing violently towards the mecha rolling away.


    "ng!" Zhao Jun¡¯s sword shed the opponent, the force so great it caused Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s mecha to be flung up into the air.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s assault did not end there, but further continued. One quick step and he had arrived below Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s mecha. Zhao Jun operated his mecha to fly upwards and once he was close enough, his two legs began spinning like a whirlwind, aiming towards Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s mecha and kicking repeatedly with great force...


    "Advanced skill¡ªWhirlwind Kick!" Audience members familiar with mecha skills screamed, unable to contain their excitement.


    This kick not only stunned Zhou Chao-Ling who was in the mecha, but also caused his mecha to be kicked into the air. Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha quickly rotated and flew upwards. At the same time, both of its arms instantly reversed the grip on the sword, changing its direction.


    "Special technique¡ªTwisting Strike!"


    Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha began to spin around Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s mecha at high speed. The ear-piercing, wailing screech of metal rang throughout the whole arena. Those who had poor physical abilities could not handle this noise, all of them plugging their ears and making a grimace.


    Right then, the barrier around the arena shone brightly. Those who paid attention saw that there was a new barrier that was formed in front of the original barrier. It was because of this new barrier that the ear-piercing screech suddenly seemed to sound very far away¡ªit was no longer ear-piercingly painful.


    Twisting Strike was a special technique. Its destructive power was clearly greater than high-level techniques. When Zhao Jun finished the technique, everyone could see that the outer shell of Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s mecha had be battered, electrical sparks sputtering from some of its parts. It appeared that the mecha¡¯s circuitry had already been damaged by Zhao Jun¡¯s Twisting Strike...


    Just when Zhao Jun was about to mount his next attack to increase his odds of winning and to knock out Zhou Chao-Ling for good, the main referee, who realized Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s situation, raised up a red g to indicate a time-out.


    Zhao Jun thought it was a shame. It was obvious that victory was at hand, yet it was ruined by the main referee. He angrily put away his cold weapon, hovering in the air and quietly looking at Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s mecha fall from the sky; it fell to the ground once again, creating a cloud of dust.


    The main referee made a quick dash and appeared beside Zhou Chao-Ling¡¯s mecha. He attempted to contact the operator inside, but there was no response, which startled him.


    He immediately told both the technical team and medical team outside of the arena to move in for rescue. This made the crowd restless. Was it going be another case like Zhang Jing-an¡¯s?


    Technical hackers quickly broke the passcode lock to the operator cockpit and opened it, after which the army physician jumped straight inside. Thirty secondster, the army physician stuck his head out and informed the others that the operator inside was not badly hurt. The reason they had not been getting a response from him was that therge vibrations from thest strike had unfortunately made him lose consciousness.


    After hearing the news, everyone was relieved. Although everyone knew that anything could happen during thepetition, they hoped everything could still be safe, the reason being that all of the cadets attending thepetition were geniuses chosen by the Federation government¡ªlosing a single one of them would be cause for dismay.


    However, Zhou Chao-Ling was not capable of continuing to battle in his current state, and thus victor of this battle had to be Zhao Jun. Starting from the beating drums and waving gs from the beginning of the battle, to Zhao Jun¡¯s major disadvantage in theter shes, and then to the sudden explosiveness and sessful disy of a six-hitbo attack, and finally to the huge turnaround¡ªZhao Jun performance was undoubtedly brilliant.


    Zhao Jun made his way to the backstage of the arena, full of excitement. His victory against Zhou Chao-Ling definitely made him happy, but what made him even happier was that he had sessfully advanced to the level of ace operators.


    "Congrattions!"


    "Congrattions!"


    Qiao Ting and Ling Lan spoke one after the other with congrattory tones. Qiao Ting spoke just like anyone else would, while Ling Lan was very indifferent. Both of their attitudes made Zhao Jun¡¯s excited mood evaporate into thin air... Hmph, the feeling of sess from advancing to ace operator didn¡¯t seem like much with these two geniuses around him.


    Fortunately, there was still Mu Shaoyu; he was able to bring up the saddened mood. "Zhao Jun, you slimy bastard, you managed to soar up to ace operator level. Your luck defies thews of nature!" Mu Shaoyu¡¯s face was full of admiration and envy.


    Normal mecha operators who reached the next level usually would choose a quiet ce to continue exploring the sensation of having advanced. Breaking through to the next level duringbat was extremely dangerous. Usually, at the moment of the breakthrough, mecha operators who were in the state would be unable to feel the outside environment¡ªthis would allow an opponent a chance tond a decisive death blow. Even if they did not die, they would be stopped by their opponent, and they would then be brought out of that state of ascension and would never have the chance to advance to the next level.


    Zhao Jun began to feel pleased with himself, scratching his head andughing like an idiot. As expected, advancing to ace level was a feat that would make others envious.


    However, if someone knew Zhao Jun well, they would know that he had some hidden suspicions masked by his idioticugh. He had a feeling that the death match between him and Boss Lan in the secret room was an imagination formed by his own mind. Only, why would he have been imagining a fight with Boss Lan? Shouldn¡¯t it be his old opponent Qiao Ting?


    Furthermore, his way of advancing to ace level was different from the way the instructors had taught. Leveling up during battle was only because of the opponent¡¯s relentlessness, bringing about a life-or-death situation to trigger the advancement. It was impossible that there would be an imaginary battle in his mind to cause the level up... This was also why he was able to sessfully advance. Since he did not have a breakthrough during the battle in the real world, the loss of senses of the environment around him was also not in the real world. It was possible that he had felt the power for a very long time, but in the real world it could have been only a tenth of a second. Or maybe he had never stopped at all?


    This was very odd. Zhao Jun could not make heads or tails of it. He subconsciously nced towards the indifferent Boss Lan who was standing beside him. He suspected whether it was Boss Lan who had a hand in all this. He didn¡¯t know why, but he still felt that Boss Lan had something to do with it. During the battle with Zhou Chao-Ling, he heard a cold groan. No matter how many times he thought about it, it was for sure Boss Lan¡¯s voice...


    Zhao Jun was full of suspicion, wanting to ask Ling Lan for answers; however, he knew that right now was not the time for seeking answers. Zhao Jun was very sure that if people knew Ling Lan had the ability to help others advance to the ace level, this news would be even worse than Ling Lan bing an ace operator during her second year. It would definitely be very troublesome.


    Producing ace operators was something the Federation government had never achieved in thest thousands of years. If Boss Lan really had this ability, the military would take control of him even if he was a monster of a genius operator. For the Federation, the value of an imperial ss operator or a god ss operator couldn¡¯t bepared to millions of ace ss operators. Ace operators were the soul of the battlefield.


    Although Zhao Jun looked like a boorish fellow, his thoughts were very detailed and careful, not careless and impulsive. Letting go of his suspicions, he intended to find a safe time and ce to ask about this in private.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s victory brought the score of the round to 2-1, with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy in the lead. The faces of those from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy turned green as they felt depressed from Zhao Jun¡¯s good luck. He was certain to have lost, yet he unexpectedly advanced to ace level and performed a six-hitbo¡ªthis negated the advantage Zhou Chao-Ling had and thus enabled him to sessfully make aeback.


    "Even though we lost, we must still do well in the next two matches!" The members of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy encouraged each other. Even though they knew they were not a match for Qiao Ting, they still wanted to finish all five matches with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to not soil the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s name.


    However, when they saw Qiao Ting walk towards the mecha holding area and prepare to board his mecha into battle, the expressions on the faces of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy dropped. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy wasn¡¯t even going to give them the chance at a fifth match. Once Qiao Ting came out, who could go against him?


    As expected, Qiao Ting easily defeated his opponent with three rifle shots in the fourth match and won the round. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy advanced to the finals with a 3-1 score. They still had to wait for a winner to be decided between the First Co-ed Military Academy and the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, after which they would begin the finals for first and second ce.


    The First Co-ed Military Academy and the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy quickly finished their round. Compared to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s oddball rankings and battle formation set up, these two military academies were much more organized.


    As trump cards, Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu were scheduled for the fifth match. The arrogance of being ace operators made them unable to go into battle first and what¡¯s more, Jiang Shaoyu wanted to carry out his revenge. The four matches before theirs were evenly matched, pretty much organized by strength levels, other than a few changes.


    It should be said that these two military academies were not much different in strength levels. The first four matches ended with two wins and two losses to each side respectively, reaching a draw. In the end, it would be the two ace mecha operators battling for the win. Both Jiang Shaoyu and Lin Xiao, after facing each other in the single mecha battle semi-finals, faced each other again in the group mecha battle semi-finals. This time, however, the oue of their battle would not only decide their fate, but also which of their military academies woulde out on top.


    This time, Jiang Shaoyu was determined to not be bewitched by Lin Xiao like he was in the previous match. The thought that his opponent¡¯s closebat abilities were not strong had made him careless and this had given his opponent an opportunity which lead to his defeat.


    At the same time, Lin Xiao was not naive enough to use the same trick to confuse his opponent. Since everyone¡¯s closebat ability was the strongest, there was no need to be secretive about it. Once the match started, he would simply take a closebat stance and fight like they had never fought before.

 Chapter 475 The Third Match!

    The both of them were ace operators, equally matched in skill, but they still needed to determine a winner in the end. After battling hard for many rounds, both of them wanted to end it. In unnned unison, they both used their most powerful offensive skill.


    "Whirlwind Strike!" This was Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s ace sure-kill technique.


    "Rippling Strike!" This was the ace top-ss skill Lin Xiao had been keeping as a trump card.


    A mecha could be seen beginning to rapidly spin while holding its weapon, while the cold weapon held by the other mecha began spinning furiously. One used their entire body with mountainous force, while the other¡¯s terrifying destructive force was derived from rapid rotations, aiming to scratch the surface and create an opening¡ªboth weapons finally struck each other!


    "Bang!" Arge shockwave shook the arena, ripples even forming on the transparent barrier surrounding it. From this, it was apparent that the impact was truly powerful.


    In the space above the arena, however, the two cold weapons respectively wielded by their owners withstood each other. The two mecha looked as though they were frozen in time, neither of them moving an inch!


    Boom! Arge shattering sound erupted in the arena. The audience was surprised, not knowing where that sound hade from. Just as they were all still making guesses about it, a series of shattering sounds erupted in the stadium. This time, somebody suddenly shouted out in shock, "Quick, look at their cold weapons!"


    That shout drew the audience¡¯s attention to focus on the cold weapons of the two mecha. Those with keen observation immediately figured out where the shattering sound hade from¡ªit was from where their cold weapons had shed. Cracks actually appeared on the des and following the sharp shattering sounds, more and more cracks formed... The great force born from ace level techniques had utterly shattered both mecha¡¯s cold weapons.


    After a "Crack!", both mecha¡¯s cold weapons could not hold their original shape and shattered into pieces, and not only that, the arms of their mecha also fell apart simultaneously.


    The two arms of Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha holding his sword began to crumble. While the same was happening to Lin Xiao, his situation was a bit betterpared to Jiang Shaoyu, the reason being that he was wielding his sword with one hand; thus, only his right arm was breaking apart.


    This basically determined the final winner. After bothunched strikes at one another, the resulting great force destroyed both arms of Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha, whereas Lin Xiao was lucky enough to still have his left hand intact. Without both arms, Jiang Shaoyu could no longer use his left hand to hold a gun and match Lin Xiao in a long-range battle. Although Jiang Shaoyu had tried his best to dy the match until the end of the time limit, he would ultimately still lose to Lin Xiao due to the scoring.


    Jiang Shaoyu lost to Lin Xiao again. This meant that in terms of mecha piloting, Lin Xiao was indeed more capable than Jiang Shaoyu, and that was why he was able to defeat his opponent twice and win.


    Just like that, the finals opponent for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy became the First Co-ed Military Academy. This result made the two girls, Luo Chao and Han Xuya, feel conflicted regarding the two academies¡ªthey didn¡¯t know if they should be cheering for their own military academy or cheer for Boss Lan. In the end, Luo Chao decided to be a bit selfish and cheered for her Boss Lan! It was a pity for those seniors, who were just heartlessly abandoned by their two juniors, Luo Chao and Han Xuya.


    However, before the finals, the battle for the third and fourth ce had to be fought. This battle was between the two schools with no chance or luck in getting into the finals, the Second and Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. Since their strength levels was on par with each other, they also fought hard for five matches, and because of the destruction of his mecha¡¯s arms from the previous fight, Jiang Shaoyu had to use the reserve mecha. Zhou Chao-Ling managed to only keep the match at a draw, most likely because theck of time had led to the reserve model not being calibrated to the best possible condition. It could also be that after losing to Lin Xiao, his mentality was wavering, in addition to his careful and solid control of the mecha. This had resulted in the match remaining at a draw until the end of the match.


    Neither of themnded a decisive blow. No points were deducted as both their mecha operation had been near perfect. Their scores were the same at the end; however, military academy rankings were unlike single battles, as they could not end with a draw. In the very end, the official could only ask the teams to draw numbers out of a bag to determine the winner.


    It should be known that Jiang Shaoyu was extremely unlucky in this tournament¡ªhe picked a number first, yet he managed to pick out the smallest number. Just like that, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy was deemed victorious for this match, taking third ce, while the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy unexpectedly fell to fourth ce, reaching an all-time lowpared to thest 30 years. It had to be noted that in many of the previous years, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy had always ced in second ce in the group tournament.


    After losing the group matches, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s overall score dropped to fourth ce. If they did not manage to turn things around in the next day¡¯s battle royale, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy may again produce the lowest overall score ever. This made both instructors and cadets of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy feel suffocated¡ªmind you, they had been nning on taking first ce.


    After the matches determining the third and fourth ce came to an end, the backstage began to be busy. After 30 minutes, the final group matches for the title of first and second ce that everyone was awaiting would begin.


    But a new round of battles for who goes in which match ensued in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s group.


    "Let¡¯s use the same tactic?" Mu Shaoyu said while readying his fists.


    Han Yu, who had already woken up from his meditative state, said, "Of course!" The good luck they had was not easy toe by. They must seize the moment and use it to their advantage.


    Zhao Jun was also full of confidence. He hadn¡¯t missed out on any matches since they started using rock-paper-scissors to determine the match lineup. He had a feeling that his luck would be very good this time as well.


    Qiao Ting nced at Ling Lan and softly asked, "How about it?"


    "Sure!" Ling Lan said indifferently.


    The five of them formed a circle once again and began to y rock-paper-scissors to see who would win.


    "Hahaha, like I said, my luck is overflowing in this tournament! Thanks guys, looks like I have taken the first match!" Zhao Junughed hysterically, his eyes full of pride. He had once again taken down four people with a single rock.


    "Mother, your luck is f***ing off the charts today. " Mu Shaoyu angrily bumped Zhao Jun with his shoulder. Zhao Jun didn¡¯t react in time and was bumped out of the circle. He wanted to stand firm right after, but suddenly his knees felt weak, causing him to kneel down and drop heavily to the ground. He began to curse loudly, gritting his teeth from the pain.


    Mu Shaoyu and Han Yu began tough hysterically after seeing Zhao Jun¡¯s situation, pointing and screaming out that he was getting what he deserved for his prideful behavior.


    Ling Lan flicked the lowered finger on her right hand and coldly looked towards Qiao Ting who was beside her. Qiao Ting coolly turned his head away but, unfortunately, the red spot behind his ear had exposed his embarrassment¡ªnot only had Ling Lan secretly done something, even the proud Qiao Ting had not managed to reign in his depressed feeling, which was why he had also quietly punished the overly prideful and arrogant Zhao Jun.


    Of course, he had faced the consequences of his actions. Ling Lan nced disdainfully at Zhao Jun who had already gotten up and begun to rub his knees¡ªto think he had the audacity to show off in front of her.


    The four of them ignored Zhao Jun and started the next round of rock-paper-scissors. This time, Mu Shaoyu was tossed out.


    Mu Shaoyu crouched down and held his head in frustration in the face of this result. ¡¯Why did I use paper? If I had used rock, then wouldn¡¯t the second round have been mine for the taking?¡¯ This time, he had ended up the one to hold the line in the fifth match. Just the three of them, Ling Lan, Zhao Jun and Qiao Ting, would be able to savagely acquire three wins even without Han Yu. What would he be doing if he went after them?


    While Mu Shaoyu was flooded with regret, the others had determined a winner after starting a new round. Qiao Ting calmly took back his fist, but revealed a bit of joy between his brows. "Thank you for giving me the second match!"


    Han Yu angrily took back his scissors and faced Ling Lan who had also lost from using scissors.


    After a few seconds, the match was decided¡ªHan Yu looked at his palm as if he was about to gobble it up. Ling Lan said coldly, "Captain Han, thank you for your generosity."


    Just like that, the order in which the contestants from First Men¡¯s Military Academy would be going into battle was established. First match: Zhao Jun; Second match: Qiao Ting; Third match: Ling Lan; Fourth match: Han Yu; Fifth match: Mu Shaoyu!


    Time passed by very quickly and the half hour quickly passed. The matches between the First Men¡¯s Military Academy versus the First Co-ed Military Academy had begun.


    It was the first match; Zhao Jun was up. Whether it was the audience or their opponents, they had all given up on trying to figure out what order they would send out their members into battle. Who knows who they¡¯ll be sending out, so they thought. Even Qiao Ting could appear in battle in any of the first three positions. Anything can happen right?


    Although Zhao Jun had advanced to ace operator level, the mecha he brought was a special-ss mecha and that being the case, he could only use the special-ss mecha. However, a special-ss operator operating a special-ss mecha and an ace operator operating a special-ss mecha were twopletely different concepts. No matter if it was speed or power, ace operators could operate the special-ss mechas to their limit.


    The First Co-ed Military Academy sent out their fourth strongest member for the first round, a special-ss top-level operator with capabilities simr to that of Zhao Jun. He didn¡¯t really inconvenience Zhao Jun that much and was easily defeated. Zhao Jun took the first match without any issues.


    The First Co-ed Military Academy wasn¡¯t ready to give up just yet because, in reality, they were more happy than regretful. Although they did think that it was a pity that their fourth strongest had be a sacrifice for Zhao Jun, the result of having used a somewhat weaker member to make the First Men¡¯s Military Academy expend their second strongest yer was doubtlessly a good one.


    After ten minutes of intermission, the second match of the finals began. Qiao Ting went out onto the arena which made everyone restless again. Although the audience didn¡¯t care about what order the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had set up, was it really wise to send out their strongest member into the second match?


    For the First Co-ed Military Academy, this was like being wild with joy after striking gold, the reason being that they sent out their weakest member for the second match. Using their weakest member to expend the opposing side¡¯s strongest ace operator was a wonderful thing for them. Even if they had gone to great pains to formte a n, the result may not have been as good as this. There was even a member who pped himself hard in the face to see if he was dreaming.


    Naturally, no issues cropped up in the ensuing fight¡ªQiao Ting easily defeated his opponent and took the second match!


    The First Men¡¯s Military Academy had taken the first two matches. Now they would be able to be the crowned champions of the group tournament after winning the next match, but the audience didn¡¯t couldn¡¯t see it happening. Some people even frowned at the result, as the First Academy¡¯s two strongest ace operators were already expended. There was still three matches left¡ªcould the other members of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy really be able to take one of the remaining three matches?


    It should be known that among the three people left from the First Co-ed Military Academy, there was not only an ace operator, but also two other simrly capable special-ss peak-level operators. By contrast, the three members left in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were the weakest three. If the order of the next three matches was weakest versus strongest... then the situation would not look well for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    "The third match is the most important one!" Everyone held the same thought in mind.

 Chapter 476 The Secret of Rock-Paper-Scissors?

    If the First Men¡¯s Military Academy followed through to win this third match, then first ce would belong to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy; however... if they suffered a setback instead, the morale of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would be affected. The result was hard to determine.


    In the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s audience area, Qi Long and the others were waiting for the third match to begin. Seeing how everyone was growing somewhat bored, Lin Zhong-qing took out a bag of goodies from his backpack and handed it to Xie Yi who was sitting beside him.


    Xie Yi opened the bag and saw that it contained sunflower seeds to help pass the time; these were great for keeping one upied during these dull moments. Very quickly, the members of the Lingtian Battle n divided arge portion of those seeds amongst each other. Lin Zhong-qing also didn¡¯t forget the other teams and handed out another three to four bags.


    While everyone was munching on sunflower seeds, they began to discuss who would be the next one from their academy toe out onto the arena.


    "Boss said it before, they determine the order by rock-paper-scissors. Since luck is the main factor, you really can¡¯t predict the oue," Luo Lang said amongst all the discussion.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s hands, which were peeling sunflower seeds, slightly shuddered¡ªis it really just luck? He wondered, his mouth revealing a small smirk. If Rabbit did something, it couldn¡¯t be so simple, right?


    Sitting beside Li Lanfeng, Han Jijyun noticed the former¡¯s odd behavior. He quickly shot a nce towards Li Lanfeng, knowing fully well that Li Lanfeng had also realized the secret behind the ordering after having watched many matches. Other than the fixed sequence in the beginning, the ordering through pure luck using rock-paper-scissors still followed a certain pattern.


    Zhao Jun was obviously on the brink of advancement, so the continuous fighting was benefiting him and thus, Zhao Jun always came out in the third match. This was the work of both Qiao Ting and their boss.


    Han Yu was not very capable; therefore, they cut down his appearance in the matches. Mu Shaoyu¡¯s strength wasn¡¯t bad, so he would have more of a chance to be in the first three matches than Han Yu. The three that had gone a long way since the beginning of the finals, Zhao Jun, Ling Lan and Qiao Ting were the three strongest individuals from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Their chances toe out and do battle were the highest. It was obvious that the order decided by the rock-paper-scissors arrangement was, in reality, not really determined by luck.


    Han Jijyun was very impressed with Li Lanfeng right now. He had known since he was very young that his Boss Lan would not do something so immature¡ªthere had to be a hidden meaning to all this¡ªso when the Boss had said they would decide using rock-paper-scissors, he had thought long about this decision, as to why he would be use this method.


    Every time they finished determining the order, he had always carefully examined it and now he was finally able to understand something. He hadn¡¯t thought that someone like Li Lanfeng, who joined them afterwards, also knew so much about the Boss... He really was looking out for the Boss if he coulde to such a conclusion as well.


    Han Jijyun would not exclude anyone who looked out for the Boss. A thought shed in Han Jijyun¡¯s mind, and he said, "Senior Li Lanfeng definitely knows who will be the next person on the lineup."


    Han Jijyun¡¯s words made everyone quickly direct their eyes towards Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng turned his head towards Han Jijyun, his hands shaking. Han Jijyun¡¯s eyes were bright as day, his pupils dted, almost separating them from his sockets. This wasn¡¯t the expression of a prankster, but one of sincerity...


    Li Lanfeng immediately knew of Han Jijyun¡¯s intentions¡ªthetter wanted to give him a chance to prove himself in order to improve his standing with the other teammates, to prove that he was apetent strategist.


    Li Lanfeng smiled. Only he knew of the excited expression he had under his masked expression. He calmed himself down with great effort. He couldn¡¯t waste the chance that Han Jijyun had given him. He pulled himself together, pumping his fists together and coughing once. This made those who were waiting for the answer to shoot a bunch of cold, sharp nces at him.


    Li Lanfeng did not dare to hesitate any longer, otherwise he would be making everyone angry. He said, "If my guess is correct, Boss Lan will be the oneing out to fight."


    "Why is it Boss?" Luo Lang, unlike the others who were deep in thought, asked in confusion.


    Seeing this, Xie Yi held his forehead andughed bitterly. Compared to those intelligent individuals from the other teams, Luo Lang, being in this team, was really a newbie at this.


    Li Lanfeng looked towards Han Jijyun and smiled. "Junior Jijyun understands this as well." Since Han Jijyun gave him a chance to show off, he had to return the favor and give Han Jijyun a chance as well.


    And of course, Han Jijyun understood Li Lanfeng¡¯s intentions. He didn¡¯t object to it and began to exin, "In this match-up, Boss Lan and the others probably want to show how domineering the First Men¡¯s Military Academy is, and take first ce by defeating the opponent in the first three rounds. Therefore, the order in which they appear will definitely be the strongest individuals from our military academy. Since both Zhao Jun and Qiao Ting have been sent out, then the third match will definitely be our boss."


    After hearing this, Luo Lang was still quite perplexed. He asked, "Didn¡¯t they say they would decide by rock-paper-scissors? Then why is it definitely going to be Bossing out for the third match? The other two have a chance too." After saying that, he whispered, "Luck isn¡¯t something that you can determine."


    Xie Yi could no longer stand Luo Lang¡¯s newbie remarks and quickly added, "We are probably basing it off luck, but with Boss¡¯s capabilities, luck is not even in the equation."


    Right then, Luo Lang had a realization. This was true. For monsters like their boss, whether they came out to fight or not, luck would not be an issue¡ªit was up to whether their boss wanted to or not.


    Seeing that Luo Lang hade to an understanding, Xie Yi silently wiped away a streak of cold sweat. Luo Lang finally stopped his continued humiliation of the team and Xie Yi... ¡¯Ugh? What just happened?¡¯


    The First Men¡¯s Military Academy predicted that the next toe out would be Ling Lan. Shortly after, the third match was about to begin.


    Therge screen showed a fewrge characters. "First Men¡¯s VS First Co-ed, Third Match: Ling Lan VS Ye Feiyang!"


    Seeing those words, Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun both smiled, now knowing that their predictions had been urate.


    The crowd in the bleachers once again erupted into heated discussion after the information of the yers who would be in the third match was announced.


    "Ye Feiyang is the second strongest special-ss top-level operator in the First Co-ed Military Academy, only weaker by a bitpared to Lin Xiao. Looks like the First Co-ed Military Academy made a good choice!" said those who were in favor of the First Co-ed Military Academy.


    "Ling Lan should be considered the third strongest in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, only behind Qiao Ting and Zhao Jun. This match still has something going for it." Due to Ling Lan¡¯s previous performances, many members of the audience were looking forward to how she would do.


    "Although that Ling Lan¡¯s basic training is perfect, looking at his previous opponents, they wereparatively weaker. This time he probably won¡¯t be as lucky with this opponent!" There were some who looked down upon Ling Lan.


    In the First Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s side of the bleachers, Luo Chao¡¯s face suddenly turned bright red after seeing the names on the big screen; she was unable to contain her admiration.


    Han Xuya made a face upon hearing the seniors sitting around her saying that there was a chance they would be able to take this match. She lightly nudged Luo Chao and whispered, "Hey, Senior Ye doesn¡¯t stand a chance right?"


    Although Han Xuya wasn¡¯tpletely certain of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha operating capabilities, like everyone else, she believed that Ling Lan was a special-ss operator. However, from her childhood, her image of how Ling Lan was invincible was etched in stone for her. She had always believed that Boss Lan was invincible amongst those of the same level.


    Luo Chao carefully nced at the seniors around her and upon seeing that their attention was not on her, she quickly nodded her head. Truthfully, from how Luo Chao saw it, Boss Lan would not lose even if Senior Lin Xiao went up to fight, and the one currently on the field was Senior Ye¡ªhe was pretty much just delivering himself on a tter for Ling Lan.


    Luo Chao began to feel pity for Senior Ye who was amiable and caring to them. Boss Lan would hopefully go easy on him since he was their senior.


    Luo Chao suddenly felt sorry towards her own military academy and seniors for having such thoughts. She felt guilty, which made her already red face turn even redder, and she subconsciously began to y with her fingers. She would rather have her senior lose and not Boss Lan who took care of her when she was little.


    Luo Chao bit her lip and decided she was going to be selfish this time. She... would only cheer for Boss Lan.


    Right then, the two mechas of the contestants entered the arena. They were none other than Ling Lan and her opponent Ye Feiyang.


    Ye Feiyang¡¯s mecha was the same as Ling Lan¡¯s¡ªboth were bnced-type mecha! Following Ling Xiao¡¯s advancement to god-ss, there had been an exponential increase in mecha operators choosing bnced-type mecha for use. This made the not so valued bnced-type mecha instantly be the Federation¡¯s most popr type.


    After the main referee in the center of the arena made sure the twopetitors were ready, he waved the green g in his hand and then the match officially began.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t really change her battle strategy, still going with her choice of long-range attacks. After the green g was waved, she flicked her fingers a few times, then began to quickly operate her mecha. From the perspective of the normal audience members, it felt as if Ling Lan¡¯s mecha had rapidly flown backwards at the same time the green g was waved.


    In the eyes of top-level operators however, Ling Lan had taken a dy of milliseconds to move after the g was waved and thus hadn¡¯t performed a good g-speed control. Going by this, it seemed that her g-speed control from before was only by pure luck; the top-level operators all made this conclusion. Only Ling Xiao¡¯s face had a smile growing.


    Ling Lan¡¯s opponent, Ye Feiyang, also made a simr disy. Once Ling Lan moved, he moved as well, operating virtually at the same time Ling Lan did, minimizing his starting movement dy as much as possible, and this made the eyes of those top-level operators light up. They guessed there were many talented individuals in this year¡¯s tournament.


    Ye Feiyang didn¡¯t choose to move back like Ling Lan, but instead closely followed after Ling Lan in the same direction. He wanted engage in closebat with Ling Lan.


    Ye Feiyang was someone who always came prepared¡ªother than Qiao Ting, Ye Feiyang had studied the battle recordings of the other four contestants because those four were likely to be his opponent.


    Among those four, Ling Lan was the one whom he had paid most attention to as she operated a bnced-type mecha just like he did. After careful study, he couldn¡¯t deny that Ling Lan was pretty much invulnerable when it came to long rangebat. He wasn¡¯t confident that he would be able to take the win if they fought a long-range battle.


    When he was forming his battle strategy, Ye Feiyang decided to try to stay as close as possible. Although using bnced-type mecha required strong skills in closebat and long-rangebat, people would always have their own preferences. Lin Xiao, for example, favored closebat more and was weaker in long-rangebat. Simr to Lin Xiao, Ye Feiyang was also slightly better at closebat than long-rangebat... Since Ling Lan¡¯s long range abilities were that strong, it wouldn¡¯t make sense if his close rangebat was even stronger. Ye Feiyang didn¡¯t believe that Ling Lan could be such a monster and firmly believed that Ling Lan¡¯s skill in closebat was weaker than his own. He hoped to use his strong suit instead of his weaker side, not giving the opposition any chance at long-rangebat.


    In the bleachers of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, Qi Long watched the two mecha, one running and one chasing. He nudged Han Jijyun who was beside him with his elbow. "Jijyun, I¡¯m seeing correctly right? That guy from the First Co-ed Military Academy wants to engage in closebat with Boss Lan?"

 Chapter 477 A Great Move!

    ¡¯Is that guy crazy? The worst thing that could happen if hepetes with Boss in rangedbat is that he could get hit and lose all his points. The only thing that could be even worse than that is probably the shots being too strong, identally destroying his mecha, but that wouldn¡¯t bring harm to himself as long as he operates well. When ite to closebat, though...¡¯


    Qi Long¡¯s body shook violently as he thought back to that time when he was beaten to a pulp. He firmly suppressed that thought, holding it back¡ªhe really didn¡¯t want to bring up that memory again.


    Qi Long¡¯s words made Han Jijyun¡¯s hands shake, so much so that he couldn¡¯t hold the sunflower seed in his hand and let it fall. At that moment, Han Jijyun¡¯s teeth began to ache. Seriously, he really didn¡¯t want to recall the experiences of doing closebat with Boss Lan, alright?


    Looking around him, he saw that everyone else had terrified expressions. It seemed that because of Qi Long¡¯s statement, they had all gone back to those horrific times. Luo Lang¡¯s reaction was the most exaggerated, holding himself with his arms and shaking violently, his handsome face turnedpletely pale.


    Aside from Qi Long, Luo Lang had taken the hardest beating by Boss Lan because thetter wasn¡¯t too fond of Luo Lang¡¯s delicate and beautiful appearance, always wanting him to be stronger. It was a shame that after so many years, Luo Lang had ended up bing more delicate and beautiful each time he was beaten by Boss Lanpletely unlike Qi Long who looked like he was evolving into a wild beast. This had made Boss Lan disheartened and helpless, always thinking that she wasn¡¯t beating him hard enough, and so she would then proceed to beat him even harder.


    "Do you guys think we should give a heads up to the medical team to let them be ready at a moment¡¯s notice?" Li Shiyu said weakly. After experiencing closebat with Ling Lan, Li Shiyu had immediately initiated research for a psychological and emotional medicine to prevent his team members from identally being beaten to insanity by Boss Lan.


    "Probably won¡¯t need it, right? Boss Lan knows when to stop," Chang Xinyuan, who had joined the gangter and still had high hopes for Ling Lan, said with uncertainty.


    Knew when to stop? Was their boss capable of this? Qi Long and the others looked at the sky, baffled. It was probably better if they directly contacted the medical team rather than hoping their Boss would limit himself.


    In the arena, Ling Lan and Ye Feiyang were flying rapidly, one after the other. Ling Lan¡¯s mecha¡¯s speed had already reached the limit of special-ss operators, but unfortunately she still couldn¡¯t throw her opponent off her tail. This meant Ye Feiyang¡¯s control of his mecha was simrly remarkable, as expected from the second strongest individual from the First Co-ed Military Academy.


    Of course, if Ling Lan really did want to lose him, she could do it. It was just that if she did that, she would have exposed her real operating potential. Ling Lan didn¡¯t forget that the imperial operators hidden above them, along with the the referee team monitoring the match, were all top-ss operators. She didn¡¯t have the confidence that she would be able to conceal anything in front of them.


    "Man, so troublesome!" Ling Lan thought, frustrated. She had originally wanted to use this chance in the team battles to practice her long-range operating skills. Unfortunately, this guy, Ye Feiyang, clearly wanted to fight a close-up battle with her until the very end.


    She favored closebat more, but it was just as she said: it was annoying! She was so familiar with closebat that she was afraid that she might go berserk, performing top-level techniques that she shouldn¡¯t perform and exposing her actual level of control¡ªtoo many people had found out about it already. In the beginning when she was battling with Qiao Ting, she hadn¡¯t managed to keep her secret from the principal, and her mentor, Tang Yu. She really needed to be extra careful as she couldn¡¯t let anymore people find out.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t a stubborn person who would decide to do something as they would want all the time. Since fighting at long range was out of the question, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t force the issue but instead choose to meet the demands of closebat from her opponent.


    Ling Lan made a decision and instantly operated her mecha to perform a 180-degree spin, and at the same time her mecha¡¯s engine which was rapidly propelling her forward stoppedpletely. In addition to that, at the moment she span around, with her right hand she took out a beam saber from behind her, while with her left she took out a beam handgun holstered by her waist.


    Ling Lan had originally wanted to continue to fight using long-range attacks, so the equipment she had on her were mostly prepared for long-range purposes. The two weapons she had drawn were the only two standard equipments on bnced-type mecha that could be used in closebat.


    "Ling Lan changed up his strategy first. It seems the opponent is pressuring him, forcing him to give up on the long rangebat that he is more adept in and choose the other side¡¯s desired mode ofbat. Looks like Ling Lan is going to be passive." After seeing Ling Lan¡¯s actions, the audience all sighed internally, worrying greatly about Ling Lan¡¯s prospects in this match. This added more uncertainty to whether the First Men¡¯s Military Academy could take first ce or not.


    Ling Lan¡¯s decision also attracted Qi Long and the others¡¯ attention. Qi Long even yelled out, "Boss really did choose to fight in close quarters."


    "Do you guys think Boss will use everything at the beginning and violently beat his opponent to a pulp?" Qi Long asked, his expression full of interest.


    "No way!" Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng said simultaneously. They looked at each other and smiled seeing how they had bothe to the same conclusion.


    "Why? Boss¡¯s closebat skill is so overwhelming," Qi Long asked in disbelief.


    Han Jijyun didn¡¯t say anything in exnation to his sworn brother, but instead made a ¡¯please¡¯ gesture towards Li Lanfeng¡ªit seemed he wanted to hear Li Lanfeng¡¯s thoughts first. Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t as modest and directly said, "Boss Lan has been hiding his prowess for so long, so he wouldn¡¯t give it all up just because of this match." Li Lanfeng knew Ling Lan well. When it came to enduring, no one couldpare with Ling Lan.


    "Then we were simply worrying for nothing just now?" Qi Long said with regret.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t answer this time, instead turning to Han Jijyun and hinting to him that he should answer. Han Jijyun didn¡¯t give any excuse to not answer. He exined, "Your worries weren¡¯t unnecessary. We were just saying that Boss Lan would not go full throttle right at the start to destroy the opponent. We didn¡¯t say that he wouldn¡¯t destroy his opponent."


    "Ah?" Qi Long turned his head and immediately understood. "Are you guys saying that Boss will destroy his opponent at the end and take the match?"


    "Correct." Han Jijyun nodded firmly.


    "If it¡¯s like that, then we should bet on it. We¡¯ll bet on how many hits Boss Lan uses to defeat his opponent," Xie Yi said with arge smile on his face.


    "How are we betting?" Qi Long seemed to also be quite interested in this.


    "Within 10 hits, return is 10-fold; Within 20, return is 5-fold; Within 30, return is 2-fold; Within 50, 1 to 1!"


    "You don¡¯t have a choice of more than 50 hits?" Chang Xinyuan asked confusedly.


    When Luo Lang heard this question, heughed coldly. "With Boss Lan¡¯s capabilities, 50 hits is the limit no matter how much he tries to conceal it!" At this, Xie Yi nodded firmly in agreement. When it came to talking about battle strength, Luo Lang¡¯s intelligence increased at an exponential rate¡ªthere was no way he would be wrong.


    "I bet 10 hits! 10,000 credits!" Qi Long said instantly. He was quick to start because he wanted to make Han Jijyun give up on his attempt at stopping them from betting. They already knew that there wouldn¡¯t be a hard beating in the beginning, so why would he be so confident in betting on 10 hits? It was clearly impossible.


    Han Jijyun asked confusedly, "How do you have so much credits?" That¡¯ll end up in a terrible loss, Han Jijyun thought. He shouldn¡¯t put this month¡¯s added meal allowance into the pool.


    In Ling Lan¡¯s battalion, every member would give a certain amount of credits to Ling Lan. Qi Long and others were already in the habit of giving up all of their allowance. Ling Lan would give all this money to Little Four to organize. A portion of the money went to Lin Zhong-qing for the battalion¡¯s logistics and supply fund, and there was also an additional portion set out for extra meal allowance to increase the team member¡¯s nutrition intake. Of course, if there was the need to purchaserge weapons or other necessities, they could ask Lin Zhong-qing. If they still didn¡¯t have enough money, then Lin Zhong-qing would ask Ling Lan to add more funds.


    In response to his swornpanion¡¯s question, Qi Long whispered something in Han Jijyun¡¯s ear. Han Jijyun¡¯s serious expression suddenly changed, then he pointed at Qi Long with horrified look and said, "You..."


    Seeing that his sworn brother was going to blurt out his secret, Qi Long covered Han Jijyun¡¯s mouth with lightning speed, talking in a whispering voice, "Shhhh, don¡¯t say it out loud!" If Boss knew he had participated in a bet, he would definitely get his ass kicked.


    Of course, Qi Long hadn¡¯t just randomly ced a bet. He only made bets on Ling Lan¡¯s matches because he knew their boss was amazingly capable. He would win the bet every match, and although betting on the number of hits had a lower betting win rate, it would still definitely be a win for him. Not once had Qi Long considered the possibility of their boss losing.


    Qi Long making his bet made the rest of the team members be more interested. Luo Lang chose 20 hits. ording to Boss¡¯s habits, giving up 10 hits would be the utmost limit, then he would finish off the opponent within the next 10 hits. 20 hits was definitely the utmost limit that Boss Lan could endure.


    As for Li Shiyu and Chang Xinyuan, they chose within 50 hits, both staking 2,000 credits each. Lin Zhong-qing chose 30 hits after carefully thinking about it and believing that that was the safest bet, simrly betting 2,000 credits. Only Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t bet. Xie Yi, of course, wouldn¡¯t let these two get away so easily; he persisted in trying to convince them to participate, saying it was a team build exercise and that was why they shouldn¡¯t miss out.


    Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun looked at each other and said virtually at the same time, "30 hits!" Han Jijyun wagered 5,000 credits, while Li Lanfeng wagered 1,000 credits, the lowest amount out of the rest.


    After hearing Li Lanfeng¡¯s bet amount, Han Jijyun looked at Li Lanfeng. The both of them smiled simultaneously before returning their attention to the arena.


    Right then, the two mecha in the arena were not fighting. It turns out that after Ling Lan¡¯s mecha suddenly turned and stopped, she had floated in mid-air waiting for Ye Feiyang, but Ye Feiyang was unsure of what to do. Although his decision was rtively decisive, the inertia from the sudden stop made him move forward for more than 10 meters, leaving the distance between the mecha to be less than 50 meters. The two mecha faced each in the air and the atmosphere of the whole arena became tense. No one knew whether these two mecha would make a move on each other in the next second.


    Ten seconds passed. One minute passed. Three minutes passed. The two mecha still didn¡¯t move an inch. The audience members began discussing among themselves due to the long wait. They couldn¡¯t understand why these two were looking at each other for so long, as it just didn¡¯t make sense. In the other matches, weren¡¯t all of them diving straight into fighting after engaging in closebat?


    Some brilliant mecha operators did realize what was happening because both of their defenses were impossible to breach, meaning that the both of them hadn¡¯t found a chance for an opening. Now, they had to keep enduring, waiting for an opportunity.


    "Tsk, another weakness!" Ling Lan was getting restless. During this time, she had not seen just one of the weakness her opponent had involuntarily exposed, but she controlled herself to not take action, the reason being that these openings were hidden too deep and weren¡¯t something a special-ss operator should be able to to see¡ªLing Lan had no choice but to let them go.


    Just when the audience was at the limits of their patience, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up because she saw an opening that a special-ss operator could see, so she took action. However, the way in which she acted was surprising, yet also seemed logical. It was how Ling Lan should have acted anyways.


    In fact, the method of attack Ling Lan had acted upon was not closebat based¡ªshe had ultimately fired her short-range beam handgun.


    Short-range beam handguns were suitable for mid to short range attacks, as it had a short range but was quite powerful. For closebat mecha, short-range beam guns were a bit useless, but for someone like Ling Lan who had strong long-range capabilities, this short-range beam gun was precisely the weapon that she used the most smoothly.


    The facts above was what the audience had thought to be true.


    However, once Ling Lan attacked, her actions seemed to prove another thing¡ªwhen a gun was shot consecutively to create an area of effect attack, the tricky angles that the beams shot out at would seal all possible routes of evasion for the opponent.


    One had to admit that Ye Feiyang was very skilled at operating. Although he was in a somewhat difficult position, he still managed to dodge Ling Lan¡¯s consecutive beam shots. Ye Feiyang was unwilling to be passive like this, so he operated his mecha with great effort, using spontaneous, lightning fast footwork with the goal of closing the gap between the two mecha in order to seal the opponent¡¯s beam gun. But of course, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t an idiot. She knew what her opponent was trying to do, but to make sure she kept her prowess hidden and to also leave some dignity for her opponent, she dodged quickly instead.


    Just after these seven to eight attacks, Ling Lan got an unexpected feeling. He had only given up a small opening, yet Ye Feiyang was able to use that to sessfully move close to her. Since Ye Feiyang was prepared for closebat, his choice of weapons was also of the close-range type. The weapon in his right hand, unlike those long andrge weapons that others were fond of, was an odd short sword used in closebat.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up at this development. She was very familiar with this weapon. It was exactly the weapon that she was best at, but one that she also sealed away. Ling Lan subconsciously looked at her opponent¡¯s empty left hand...


    "Bzzz!" The two mecha¡¯s beam saber and short sword finally shed for the first time. The collision of the two different weapons created a fury of sparks in the air, the beam saber¡¯s high temperature was eating away at the short sword. It could be seen that after one hit, arge ck spot appeared on the once polished surface of the short sword. However, both contestants knew very well that it merely looked serious¡ªall one needed to do was take a cloth and wipe the ck mark off, and the short sword would then be as good as new.


    "Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz!" The sound of the beam saber and short sword shinging in one after the other. The battle between Ling Lan and Ye Feiyang was extremely fast-paced, and this made the audience members instantly shift from their initially bored state to a very tense mood. Many those watching even almost forgot to breathe, worrying that a single breath could disturb the performance of the contestants in the arena.


    The two of them shed for around five to six hits. When their weapons shed again, the audience could not hold in their excitement and began to cheer. As bystanders, they saw at an angle that Ling Lan could not see¡ªYe Feiyang had secretly taken out a sharp spike by his mecha¡¯s waist. He nned on forcefully stabbing the right shoulder of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha when Ling Lan used her whole body to defend against his short sword.


    Ye Feiyang was a dual-wielding operator! After seeing this, the audience came to a sudden realization. The reason Ye Feiyang didn¡¯t choose a long weapon and went with a short sword was because he was a dual-wielding operator. He hid the other cold weapon in the very beginning in order to use it when he got the chance.


    The attack came too suddenly, and it was also something no one could have seening. Everyone believed that once Ling Lan was struck, the engine on her right side would produce a loud exploding sound; this would be the result from operating over the limits. Using the great force generated by the right-side engine, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha moved the attacked side of the body and performed arge sidestep. Ling Lan dodged timely enough for the spike to only scratch the surface slightly.


    However, it was possible that Ling Lan¡¯s focus was all used on this right-side dodge. The left hand of her mecha holding the beam gun suddenly lost control and released its grip, the short-range beam gun dropping down.


    Ling Lan¡¯s reaction was very timely. She quickly reacted, grabbing the short-range beam gun once again. However, she had ended up grabbing the gun backwards in her haste; the entire barrel was facing upwards.


    "That was a mistake!" The audience sympathized with what urred. Just then, maybe it was because the way she had grabbed it, but the short-range beam gun suddenly shot a beam of light from the barrel. The beam coincidentally hit the left wrist of the hand that Ye Feiyang was holding the spike and striking forward with.


    The attack was so strange and sudden, simr to his own, that Ye Feiyang was not prepared. This made it seem as if Ye Feiyang hade in to make his attack only to just to get hit.


    "Boom!" A small explosion sounded out at Ye Feiyang¡¯s wrist. This was a long range shot by Ling Lan and the defense energies of the wrist joints were the weakest. One shot destroyed the wrist¡¯s operating wiring system, making the left no longer able hold the spike, instantly falling to the ground.


    "It wasn¡¯t a mistake!" Those who thought she had made a mistake saw this development and instantly changed their views on her actions. However, the top-ss operators weren¡¯t swayed by the sess of the shot, but instead began to frown. They were specting whether that shot was calcted or if it happened just by chance. After some spection, most of them believed it to be a mistake because if it was calcted, then that would mean Ling Lan knew beforehand that the opposition would attack her in the way he did. With that knowledge, she would have been able to perform this sequence of operations to achieve this result. However, even they hadn¡¯t known beforehand that Ye Feiyang was a dual-wielding operator.


    It was because dual wielding operators came solely from the top-level elite Ye family. Even the top-level mecha operators from the army who could dual-wield were either descendants of the Ye family or had joined as one of their officials. This guy Ye Feiyang was undoubtedly a descendant of the Ye family. It was just that they hadn¡¯t figured that out in the very beginning.


    Dual-wielding was not actually using two cold weapons at the same time, but rather using them in unison. Paired with it came a set of mecha dual-wielding techniques, which allowed the cold weapons the user wielded be 1+1 > 2, even increasing the power many more times over. This was why dual-wielding was a technique that only the Ye family had ess to, unlike those techniques which anyone could use easily.


    Ling Lan¡¯s attack made the referee team busy. It was, of course, an effective attack; they should make the proper deductions for it. However, they wanted to rify whether Ling Lan¡¯s attack was a mistake or not because this affected how the contestant would be judged on their overall performance.


    The referee team overall score would be written into the contestant¡¯s file and used as a reference to determine the officer rankings when they entered the army, and thus they had to be very careful about it.


    One hit destroyed the opponent¡¯s left hand and derived the opponent of their ability to hold a weapon with their left hand. This result had basically reduced Ye Feiyang¡¯s battle strength by half. No matter if Ling Lan did it intentionally or it was all luck, the current situation on the arena was without a doubt greatly in Ling Lan¡¯s favor.


    Having his left hand suddenly destroyed, Ye Feiyang was unusually frustrated. He was so confident with himself that he didn¡¯t believe that this hit was all by Ling Lan¡¯s design; he believed that it was a matter of luck. He could only be frustrated that his luck was so terrible.


    However, Ye Feiyang didn¡¯t let up after losing his left hand. Although dual-wielding gave him confidence that he would be able to take the match, he also believed that even with one weapon, he could take down this opponent in front of him who was weak in terms of closebat.


    These consecutive face-offs gave Ye Feiyang confidence boosts one after the other. The two of them fought through another 6 to 7 hits. Ling Lan was slowly losing and was now was being pushed to a corner.


    This also proved that Ling Lan was indeed weak in closebat. The audience was not surprised at the fact. If Ling Lan was equally outstanding in long range and close rangebat, they would have been truly shocked and surprised, perhaps thinking that it was theing of another Ling Xiao. And that was why Ling Lan¡¯s current performance made them feel that it was normal.


    Despite seeing that Boss Lan had already traded over 10 blows and already losing all of his credits, Qi Long was not nning on giving in. He asked, "Xie Yi, how many hits has it been?"


    "It definitely passed 10 hits already," Xie Yi, who was watching the battle excitedly, replied with a face of irritation. He wasn¡¯t thinking of the how he had hosted the betting game.


    "It¡¯s already been 20 hits. If no issues arise, then Boss Lan will finish the opponent within 10 hits," Han Jijyun exined kindly.


    "You¡¯re that sure that Boss will defeat his opponent within 30 hits?" Qi Long asked angrily in response. He had lost the bet and so had Luo Lang. If the number of shes went over 30, then Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng would also lose the bet. It was possible that the winners would be Li Shiyu, Chang Xinyuan and the rest.


    "Most definitely. Boss was never very patient in closebat. It¡¯s just as Luo Lang said¡ªit will be really hard for Boss to endure up to 20 hits. 30 hits was a number that I came up with because of Boss¡¯s impressions of the First Co-ed Military Academy. The seniors take care of Luo Chao and Han Xuya, so he has to give them some dignity because of that. However, 10 more hits would be Boss¡¯s limit, even though his acting seems perfect right now." Han Jijyun said this with confidence because Li Lanfeng looked at it the same way, which emboldened him.


    In the arena, Ye Feiyang attacked more ferociously after seeing that his opponent was being pushed back. He wanted to keep up the advantage and not give his opponent any chance to recuperate.


    Ye Feiyang consecutively attacked three more times in following. Ling Lan could only block strenuously. Due to the powerful blows dealt by the opponent¡¯s short swords, the energy of her beam saber had depleted very quickly¡ªthe light of the beam saber began to flicker, showing the sign that it was running out of energy.


    Upon seeing this, joy shed in Ye Feiyang¡¯s eyes. Without a beam saber, how could anyone be able to go against him? He revved his engine once again and rushed rapidly towards his opponent.


    "Bzzz!" The two¡¯s beam saber and the short sword shed again. This sh depleted the beam saber¡¯sst bit of energy and the de of the saber suddenly disappeared, only leaving a lonely hilt. With no de to stop it, the opponent¡¯s short sword came straight for Ling Lan.


    "Goodness, Ling Lan¡¯s going to lose!" The audience began cheering. They couldn¡¯t think of anything that could turn this situation around for Ling Lan who no longer had a beam saber.


    "He blocked it!" Just when everyone was in despair for Ling Lan, however, she was able to quickly throw away the hilt in her hand and hold onto the wrist of her opponent¡¯s sword arm. Just like that, the two mechas were suddenly in a deadlock.


    However, this deadlock onlysted for a moment¡ªLing Lan tossed up the short-range beam gun that she had been holding backwards, her left hand following and catching the gun. She didn¡¯t make a mistake this time, urately holding the beam handgun in her hand, and in the next moment, without anyone being able to react, a powerful beam of light struck near Ye Feiyang¡¯s shoulder.


    Her beam saber had run out of energy, but everyone had forgotten that the short range gun in Ling Lan¡¯s hand still had ample amounts of energy. She caught Ye Feiyang¡¯s right wrist, making him unable to dodge. This beam ststed three whole seconds which directly destroyed Ye Feiyang¡¯s least defended right shoulder joint, paralyzing his entire right arm.


    With this, both arms of Ye Feiyang¡¯s mecha were practically destroyed. Seeing this, the main referee hesitated as to whether he should stop the match because right now, Ling Lan was benefiting from the situation. He couldn¡¯t think of any ways for Ye Feiyang to turn this situation around.


    Everyone thought that Ling Lan would continue to attack with the short range beam gun. She only needed to deal two more effective hits to make Ye Feiyang¡¯s score fall to zero. They believed that after shooting off a couple of sts, the winner of this match would be Ling Lan. However, Ling Lan next move stunned everyone¡ªshe tossed up the short-range beam gun in her hand, and then she held up her mecha¡¯s fists and swung them towards her opponent...


    Close quarters hand to handbat? Wasn¡¯t this giving away victory to the opponent? The audience didn¡¯t forget that even though the opponent had lost the use of his right arm and his left wrist no longer functioned, his two legs were still undamaged. Ye Feiyang still had a chance to turn this around if it came to hand to handbat.


    "Oh, it¡¯s a chainbo technique!" When Ling Lannded a punch and then immediately followed by a swirling kick, everyone knew that this was not just any attack. This was what closebat mecha operators described as the most basic skills, but it referred to the same top-level technique name as chainbo. Everyone was on the edge of their seats because after two hits, the opponent¡¯s points would be deducted to zero, with no chance of turning it around. Everyone only wanted to see how many hits Ling Lan¡¯s chainbo could go up to. ording to a special-ss operator¡¯s capabilities, the maximum would only be five hits.


    "Three, four, five!" Ling Lan indeed sessfully performed five hits, reaching the maximum chainbo for special-ss operators. Of course, that wasn¡¯t her limit, but Ling Lan made it seem so.


    Although Ling Lan seemed to be weaker than her opponent in closebat, always being pushed back, the five hit chainbo in the end was quite aggressive and bold, leaving her opponent in the dust. They did not know whether that Ye Feiyang had fainted from Boss Lan¡¯s five hitbo.


    "29 hits!" Li Lanfeng said after seeing Ye Feiyang¡¯s mecha being beaten down from the sky by Ling Lan. He knew the conclusion had presented itself¡ªRabbit had won. He began to smile.


    "Why did Boss do something so unnecessary and use a chainbo when two shots would have done the job?" Luo Lang asked, perplexed.


    "That¡¯s because Boss was holding it for too long. He¡¯s invincible in closebat, yet he still has to make people believe he isn¡¯t that strong. If he didn¡¯t let it out, he probably would have died of frustration. What¡¯s more important, chainbos are techniques that are most tormenting to people. Boss would not like his opponent be finished that easily," said Qi Long,ughing maniacally.


    "Boss used the five-hit chainbo to prove that he is also exceptional in closebat. Being pushed back in the beginning was because the opponent was stronger than him. Boss really did make a great move this time," Han Jijyun said after figuring out the reason Ling Lan did what she did.


    Boss knew very well of what it meant by not going overboard. Enduring for too long would also cause others to suspect something. Using a five-hitbo to prove his exceptionality and at the same time show off his young and passionate side. This was the kind of attitude that was very in tune with what an exceptional academy student should have. This way, Boss would not be an unexpected member of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy where geniuses were everywhere.

 Chapter 478 Guest Award Presenters!

    The main referee quickly waved the red g signaling the end of the match after Ling Lan¡¯s five-hitbo; he had already received the match results from the referee team. Ling Lan¡¯s five-hitbo had directly reduced the opponent¡¯s score to zero. There was no doubt as to who the winner was.


    The First Co-ed Military Academy had lost the third match as well. At this result, the students of the First Co-ed Academy wore sorrowful looks on their faces. Their opponent had managed to snatch three matches to take the win, while their strongest team leader Lin Xiao still hadn¡¯t even gone out to battle. This gave them the illusion that they had more strength to expend.


    Lin Xiao saw the result and smiled grudgingly. "In reality, the purpose behind the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s lineup order was very defined¡ªto use their strongest to take the first three matches. We were too conservative in that aspect, so losing was on us as well."


    Lin Xiao had unwillingly epted the result. The other side had to have so much confidence to have done something like that. If it was him, he wouldn¡¯t have dared, which was why their lineup had given the opposition an advantage and thus losing him his chance to participate.


    At the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s audience area, Mu Shaoyu let out a sigh of relief after seeing Ling Lan finally win this match. If Ling Lan had lost, it would have been risky to depend on Han Yu and himself to win the next match. He wasn¡¯t underestimating themselves, but just that the opposing ace operator Lin Xiao gave off a lot of pressure.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s luck really wasn¡¯t bad! "Who knew that Ling Lan would be able to grab onto the opponent at a crucial moment, giving him the chance to determine the winner with one shot! So lucky!" Mu Shaoyu eximed.


    Zhao Jun pouted upon hearing this¡ªwas it really luck? He believed that Boss had definitely done it on purpose.


    Who knew Boss Lan was such an amazing actor that he was able to act like a mecha operator who had seemed to be pushed back so naturally. If he had always been pummeled by Ling Lan, he probably wouldn¡¯t have been fooled by Boss Lan, but to Zhao Jun, however, Boss Lan¡¯s performance was unexpected. He had initially thought that Boss Lan would beat the opponent to a pulp, but now it looked like his thinking had been too simplepared to Boss Lan. Boss Lan wasn¡¯t that impulsive¡ªhe clearly knew what would benefit him the most.


    Qiao Ting stared at Ling Lan¡¯s face that disyed on the big screen and suddenly frowned, his eyes showing a hint of confusion. In reality, he had a sneaking feeling that Ling Lan did not perform to his best. The memory of that time when Ling Lan had easily pummeled him with one strike was still fresh in his mind... Back then, Ling Lan¡¯s aura was extremely intimidating, which him the feeling of being unable to fight back... Was it because his mecha was so damaged at the time and thus he couldn¡¯t fight back?


    Qiao Ting couldn¡¯t find an answer right away. He could only put this uncertainty in the back of his mind. Maybe after one year or so, he would be able to find the answer during another bout with Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan¡¯s win meant that the mecha group battle matches were over; however, Ling Lan and the others still couldn¡¯t leave the arena because there was an award ceremony. All of the top four winners had the chance to go up on the stage to receive an award.


    Each team went up one by one to receive their awards. The first award to be presented was fourth ce, then third, then second. The guest who presented the awards for them was going to be the the vice president of the Federation.


    It finally got to the turn of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy who ced in first ce. Their five members lined up and walked on stage. Right when they had stopped and stood on the stage, the host announced that the guest who would be handing out their award would be General Ling Xiao.


    The crowd erupted at this announcement.


    Upon hearing that the guest to hand them the award was Ling Xiao, Ling Lan¡¯s heart began to race. She remembered that the guest presenter would normally still be the vice president. Had Ling Xiao requested this sudden change-up? Ling Lan¡¯s hairs shot up at the thought. Knowing that her father would always take opportunities to validate his own existence in front of her, he definitely could have made such a request.


    Hearing this announcement, Zhao Jun who was standing beside Ling Lan became excited. "Boss Lan, it¡¯s, it¡¯s, it¡¯s General Ling Xiao..."


    "Calm your a** down! Don¡¯t make me look bad!" Ling Lan reprimanded coldly while rolling her eyes.


    It wasn¡¯t like her father grew an extra head or something¡ªdid he have to be so excited? But this was because she couldn¡¯t understand the feeling of meeting your idol in person. Zhao Jun was unfortunately reprimanded.


    Seeing how Boss Lan¡¯s expression was so calm and collected, Zhao Jun felt ashamed of himself, feeling as though he was bringing down the team. He inadvertently turned his head towards the other three and saw that Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu were just like him, their faces red with excitement. Although Qiao Ting was trying his best to remain calm, him taking deep breaths and squeezing his fists showed that he was not actually calm.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s feeling of embarrassment instantly evaporated. Man, guess it wasn¡¯t that he had made them look bad, but actually because their Boss Lan wasn¡¯t human¡ªthat¡¯s why he could ignore someone like Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao quickly walked up onto the stage, with his first adviser He Xuyang walking alongside him. For Ling Xiao¡¯s own protection, staff members were not allowed to get close to him. They could only hand the trophies to He Xuyang, then have He Xuyang pass them on to Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao was very handsome and was someone who always had a smile on their face. He gave off an aura of warmth, which made the anxious feelings of the boys dissipate.


    Ling Xiao walked straight forward to stand before Qiao Ting who was the first in the line. Right when Ling Xiao stopped, Qiao Ting, still trying his best to contain himself, gave a cadet¡¯s salute to Ling Xiao. Thetter smiled and returned it with an army salute and then turned around, and took the trophy and certificate He Xuyang passed to him. He carefully handed them to Qiao Ting and then said, "Qiao Ting, keep up the good work! I look forward to seeing your performance once you enter the army!"


    "Yes, General!" Qiao Ting said, immediately standing up straight, full of excitement. If he wasn¡¯t already arranged to be in the third division, he really would have wanted to sign up for the 23rd Division and sessfully be General Ling Xiao¡¯s subordinate.


    Ling Xiao then handed awards to Mu Shaoyu, Han Yu and Zhao Jun, giving them each some words of encouragement¡ªand now it was Ling Lan¡¯s turn.


    Ling Lan gave her father a cadet¡¯s salute with a straight face and Ling Xiao returned an army salute. He handed the trophy and certificate to Ling Lan who respectfully received them.


    Right then, Ling Xiao said smiling, "Son, your performance wasn¡¯t bad. Keep up the hard work!"


    S... son!!! Ling Xiao actually announced their rtionship without caring that Qiao Ting and the others were around. Ling Lan became stupefied.


    Ling Lan¡¯s facial expression made Ling Xiaough, his smile now even bigger. He suddenly made an "Ah" sound and said with frustration, "I was so excited that I forgot that I promised you I wouldn¡¯t talk about this!" Ling Xiao turned his head towards Qiao Ting and the others who were shocked, smiled weakly and said, "You guys gotta help keep it a secret, okay?"


    "Oh oh oh..." The four of them subconsciously nodded. Qiao Ting was the first to return to himself and earnestly replied, "Yes, General!"


    After saying that, Qiao Ting nced at Ling Lan with eyes filled with astonishment and sudden realization. Ling Lan was this outstanding despite being at such a young age. It turned out that his father was the god-ss operator Ling Xiao. Ling Xiao probably went through countless means in order make Ling Lan stronger.


    At that moment, Ling Lan felt her teeth itch. She had even deliberately withheld this information from the members of the team she had joined afterwards, but it was all for naught now that her father had made such a blunder. Now, even if it wasn¡¯t brought up and discussed openly, the information that Ling Xiao was her father would still spread through the higher-ups of all mecha ns. It would be the military academy¡¯s hidden and unpublicized secret.


    Ling Lan was so angry that she began grinding her teeth, then squeezed out one sentence, "Father, you can leave now."


    Such an impolite tone made He Xuyang who was standing on the sideugh out loud. Young Master Lan was still the same as before, not leaving General Ling Xiao with any dignity.


    Ling Xiao shot a nce towards him. He Xuyang quickly readjusted his demeanor, pretending he hadn¡¯tughed just now. When Ling Xiao turned back to Ling Lan, there was a look of aggrievement in his eyes. He had only just wanted to be identified as Ling Lan¡¯s father in front of everyone. And also, my baby girl, when are you going to call me "Daddy"?


    Seeing how Ling Xiao was just shamelessly standing in front of her, Ling Lan felt helpless. "You are a freaking General! A General! Can¡¯t you maintain your general-like demeanor? What is that saddened expression for? I¡¯m not like Mom. I don¡¯t submit to this crap!" Ling Lan thought.


    Ling Xiao and Ling Lan looked at each other straight in the eyes, neither willing to give in. Ling Xiao stood by Ling Lan for so long that it led to those below the stage break out in discussion, not knowing what was happening on stage.


    Ling Lan was so angry she bit her tongue. Her dad was crafty enough to threaten her to only leave the stage when she called him dad... She squeezed out another sentence, "Daddy, you can go now."


    Ling Xiao smiled with satisfaction, then left the stage together with He Xuyang. With staff members leading the way, Ling Lan angrily marched down the stage. She would definitely get back on the loss she suffered this time! Ling Lan decided that tonight, she would find Lan Luofeng and cry to her. She needed Ling Xiao to understand that the ultimate weapon was in her possession.


    Compared to Ling Lan¡¯s upset feeling, Zhao Jun had an expression of someone who was just dreaming¡ªhe pretty much walked off the stage on all fours. Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu were also so mesmerized that they were bumping into each other. Theirical behavior made the audience erupt inughter; however, this was understandable since Ling Xiao was the idol of everyone in the Federation.


    "Hey guys, what do you think General Ling Xiao said that made Zhao Jun and the others behave in such a poor manner?" Chang Xinyuan asked curiously in the spectator area. He believed that Zhao Jun would not have behaved like that just from meeting General Ling Xiao.


    There were a few people who knew that Ling Xiao was Ling Lan¡¯s father. Looking at each other, they guessed it was probably that General Ling Xiao had disclosed this information at the podium, which was why Zhao Jun, Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu were behaving unusually. Although Qiao Ting didn¡¯t make a mistake, he still appeared to be a bit absent minded, like he was surprised by something. They couldn¡¯t think of anything else aside from this information that could surprise them to this extent.


    However this information was Boss Lan¡¯s personal information. If Boss Lan didn¡¯t say anything then they couldn¡¯t reveal this secret to the other three who did not know of it.


    Li Lanfeng was someone with keen senses¡ªhe instantly became aware of their exchanges through their lines of sight. He thought for a moment before asking Han Jijyun, "Can¡¯t say it?"


    Han Jijyun was silent at first, but then said, "It is Boss Lan¡¯s information. We can¡¯t really say anything."


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes lit up. Han Jijyun¡¯s words actually gave him a clue. "General Ling Xiao and our Boss Lan both have the surname "Ling". Is there a connection between Ling Xiao and Boss Lan?"


    Han Jijyun didn¡¯t answer, but silence was also a way of answering. Li Lanfeng¡¯s thought process opened up. "Of course there¡¯s many types of connections. It could be a nephew from the n or a nephew born from a cousin¡¯s family. However, although these rtionships would surprise people, they wouldn¡¯t give such a shock to the point where they forget themselves... I remember that General Ling Xiao got married a year before he was deployed. If you calcte the year and time of his "death", then it¡¯s very possible that he had a posthumous child. If that was the case, then that child would be the same age as Boss Lan..."


    Han Jijyun smiled weakly and thought, "Li Lanfeng, can¡¯t you just be a little less smart?"


    "What could shock Zhao Jun and the others..." Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes lit up. "It could only be that Ling Xiao is Boss Lan¡¯s father!" he said without hesitation.


    Han Jijyun softly pulled on Li Lanfeng and whispered, "Don¡¯t anyone else know until Boss Lan allows it."


    Li Lanfeng nodded prudently and said, "I know!" If other people knew Ling Lan was Ling Xiao¡¯s child, those who were jealous of Ling Xiao might bring harm to Ling Lan in order to hurt Ling Xiao. Li Lanfeng would not do anything that might possibly bring harm and danger to Rabbit.


    Han Jijyun looked deeply into Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes and saw his discreteness and honesty, showing that Li Lanfeng¡¯s words came from his heart and were not just for show. Han Jijyun let out a sigh of relief. Good thing he hadn¡¯t made a huge mistake¡ªLi Lanfeng was definitely a trustworthy individual.


    At the same time, Qiao Ting and the others returned to the backstage and slowly began to calm down. In unnned unison, they all managed to think about a certain research report that the Federation had publicized.


    Han Yu¡¯s expression wasplicated. He was both envious and admiring of Ling Lan¡¯s terrifying figure. However, slowly, his expression became clear. Although he didn¡¯t have such a powerful background like Ling Lan, he would not stop marching onwards. This was something that Ling Lan wanted to have but would never be able to acquire.


    His expression when he nced at Ling Lan again was that of sympathy. They had hopes of advancing to imperial ss or even god-ss, but Ling Lan¡¯s fate had already been determined¡ªace operator was the endgame for the child of a god-ss operator. Even if they used secret techniques and remedies to make her stronger, she would still only be a fake imperial operator at the elite ace level who would have a name with a nice ring to it.


    Han Yu thought he had found out what the answer was; he believed that the reason Ling Lan was able to advance so quickly was because of secret techniques and secret medications. His previous worries vanished. Now, his rival was only Qiao Ting, while Ling Lan was just something of the past.


    Qiao Ting also thought about this issue. His will to fight dwindled instantly. He had spent almost a whole year of timeparing himself with someone who didn¡¯t have a future. Perhaps he should be preparing for the third division¡¯s examination where his future rival would be, in the army and not the academy.


    Mu Shaoyu pitied Ling Lan. He had originally thought that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would have a second Qiao Ting, but now it seemed that wasn¡¯t going to happen.


    It was only Zhao Jun who, after calming down, first thought about whether there was something wrong with those research results. Having battled with Ling Lan, Zhao Jun fully understood how scary Ling Lan was¡ªhe didn¡¯t believe that ace-level was Ling Lan¡¯s limit.


    A person like that had never appeared before, but that didn¡¯t mean that they wouldn¡¯t appear in the future! It was too early to judge the situation. There was a hint of disdain in Zhao Jun¡¯s expression when he imagined the day when Boss Lan became a powerful force to be reckoned with, or like General Ling Xiao, bing an IN-mecha god-ss mecha operator¡ªthis would surprise everyone to the point where their eyeballs would fall out of their sockets. Zhao Jung grew excited thinking of this possibility, and he felt that joining the Lingtian Battle n would give color his life in different ways. He was now somewhat looking forward to life in the army.


    The winners were warmly weed by those from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Since all five of them had their own little groups, they were going to celebrate separately.


    Ling Lan used some of her free time to visit Zhang Jing-an, who was still in the medical treatment center, to give him his trophy and certificate.


    Zhang Jing-an well on the way to recovery, but it would require at least six months for him to get back to his peak condition. However, the military had made a special exemption and relieved him from this year¡¯s military evaluations topensate Zhang Jing-an. This meant that out of the 23 different divisions, Zhang Jing-an could choose to go to any of them after his injuries healed and receive the best treatment possible after entry. He had pretty much benefited from the ident.


    Upon leaving the medical treatment center, Ling Lan was stopped by members of the Lingtian Battle n who had been hiding around the main entrance. The members specially gave their congrattions to Zhao Jun and Ling Lan. Of course, there were other members not from the n as well. Luo Chao and Han Xuya hade after facing the sorrowful faces of their seniors. When Luo Chao arrived, her face was full of guilt, feeling that she wasn¡¯t caring for her own seniors.


    Han Xuya, on the other hand, was smiling without a care in the world. She firmly believed that she was a part of the Lingtian Battle n and that she would be with Boss Lan and the others forever. Since it was like this, then the Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s seniors were only considered passersby in her life. Why would she make herself feel ufortable for these passerbys? It should be known that Han Xuya was someone who knew how to live. A girl who always had a smile on their face would be happy for the rest of her life.


    Ling Lan saw that it was all people she trusted, so she took the opportunity and told everyone in the team about how Ling Xiao was her father. Those who didn¡¯t know this were utterly shocked. Chang Xinyuan was the dumbest one. He hadn¡¯t thought that the short life-saving branch he had unwillingly held onto was, in fact, a strong and unmoving tree that reached the clouds.


    Li Lanfeng had already guessed as much, but it felt different hearing this information from Ling Lan. Li Lanfeng was a bit excited. Didn¡¯t this mean that Ling Lan viewed them as brothers and unlike Qi Long and the others?


    Without speaking for the entire night, the next morning Ling Lan and Qiao Ting followed the information of a notice to arge meeting hall. There were many sitting inside, all of them representatives from military academies waiting topete in the tournament.


    The battle royale that everyone viewed as most important event, which would make up half of the overall score, was going to begin. First, all of the academies would gather together and pick out the location of their base in the battle royale.


    The battle royale was a "defense and invasion of terriories" ultimate battle. The participating military academies could be the opposition or could be allies¡ªit was based on choice. For the base location, only the team that picked it out would know the actual ce. Whether a base could be defended to the end all depended on the performance of the contestants.


    Of course, sessfully defending the base was only a passing grade. How can I take over the opposition¡¯s base? This was what everyone participant needed to think about. If they wanted to gain points, then they had to break through more bases without losing their own. The ranking would be based on how many bases were taken over by each team. The higher the rank, the higher the score.


    Thus, it was normal that those who were allies just a second ago could turn into the enemy in the next. Simrly, those who were the enemy could turn around to be an ally.


    The field of a battle royale was ever changing. It tested the teams¡¯bat ability, strategy, foresight and quick adaptation. It also tested emotions and trust, as suspicion and betrayal would all be present. It could be said that battle royales were merciless¡ªone could only trust oneself.


    At the end of the meeting hall there wasrge screen, which showed the scaled down map of this battle royale. There wasnd, water, forest, desert, grasnds, hills, valleys, tundras and mountain peaks.


    There was a small stand in front of therge screen. On the stand, there was a small screen that only the person who drew the straw would be able to see. There were two buttons at the bottom of the screen. One was "Start" and one was "Confirm". First, the person drawing would hit "Start" which would cause the map to begin to split into many different numbers and spin quickly, and then by hitting "Confirm" they would choose a number from the pool. That number would then be the participating military academy¡¯s base camp location.


    Of course, the base camp would only be known by the person who drew it. After everyone had a chance to draw, therge screen would show a one minute time limit for bits of information about other teams. This way, everyone would be able to remember their own area along with the other teams who resided around their area. This was to prevent some military academies from not being able to find any other team¡¯s base camp, as well as to give more pressure and apply more difficulty to the defenders of the base camp.


    The one who went up to draw for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was Ling Lan. She pressed down on the button and the numbers in middle of the screen flew around rapidly, but Ling Lan was still able to clearly see all the numbers. Every number had letter in front of it. Using only a few seconds, she saw letters G, S, P, Q, D. Ling Lan began to quickly specte that those could indicate the area or the type of terrain.


    If the letters indicated which area, then there would be no point because no knew how the hosts had sectioned off the different areas. However, if it referred to the type of terrain, then it could be possible to use the letter to find out. Ling Lan had an idea and made a decision. She put her hand on the "Confirm" button, her eyes staring closely at the numbers that were still flickering around on the little screen.


    "It¡¯s this one!" Ling Lan finger moved, but perhaps it was too fast¡ªher finger had seemed as though it hadn¡¯t even moved.


    The flickering on the small screen stopped and a number showing "G17" appeared. Ling Lan smirked. Whether she was right or not, she had already done what she could.


    After one second, the small screen returned to its original condition. Ling Lan left afterwards, returning to her own seat. Qiao Ting didn¡¯t even ask Ling Lan what the result of the draw was, as he knew very well that once Ling Lan had walked off the stage, the battle royale had already begun. There could be many traps set up by the hackers all around them. Once they started talking to each other, it was possible that the information would leak.


    Not long after, everyone had all finished drawing their locations. The map on therge screen suddenly broke into many small pieces, some having numbers and some not.


    Ling Lan knew that the ones that had information were drawn by the military academies as their base camps. Those that didn¡¯t have numbers were not drawn and were thus not upied. These were considered to be territories that could be taken to yield some points. Although they would not give as much points as breaking through a base camp, they could be easily taken over without any danger. In order to gain the most amount of points, these unupied areas would be given up so easily. Ling Lan simrly did not want to give them up.


    Ling Lan quickly skimmed the map, her eyes stopping at the continuous mountain range. The mountain range was split into around 25 to 26 areas. The letter in front was as Ling Lan had spected and indeed started with a "G". G17¡¯s location wasn¡¯t too bad. It was in the inner parts of the mountain ranges. There were only three military academies¡¯ base camp that were close to them. Ling Lan quickly memorized all this.

 Chapter 479 Commander!

    "Boss, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve already memorized all of it!" Little Four spoke suddenly, making Ling Lan¡¯s heart skip a beat.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes began to move away from the mountain ranges and while doing so she said, "Little Four, don¡¯t bother me. I want to know how much I can remember in one minute."


    Little Four understood and no longer made any noise, silently waiting. Regardless if Boss could remember or not, if there was a need, he woulde out and help.


    After one minute, the images on therge screen had disappeared. Ling Lang closed her eyes, reviewing and reinforcing what she had memorized in the past minute. Ling Lan decided that she would only rely on her own strength to solve problems unless she had no other way. She wanted to experience what she had learned and obtained from before and use it in the uing battle royale.


    The announcer hosting the drawing process announced that the drawing ceremony had concluded and then gave notice regarding certain rules during the battle royals, such as that everyone would have a chance to use 50 million credits for supplies and weapons. They could go to the weapons and supply warehouse and give an application for weapons and supplies. Of course, the applications had to be in by 2:00 p.m. This chance would be defaulted if the application was given after 2:00 p.m.


    And at 3:00 p.m. exactly, the teams that would be participating along with their weapons and supplies would be flown out by a supply ne to the battle royale¡¯srge map area.


    Teams had to find their exact base camp location before 12 o¡¯clock midnight. If the camp was not found, then the team would lose their chance to participate in the battle royale. No one knew where the supply ne would leave them in the end. Maybe they would meet up with other teams before they can find their base camp location.


    Ling Lan and Qiao Ting recorded all of this on theirmunicators. After waiting for everything to be ready, they quickly left the meeting hall. The two walked side by side, not really talking as they walked. This made the representatives from the other military academies feel at a loss. Originally, they had wanted to find some hints from their conversation, but they didn¡¯t think that these two were so careful that they didn¡¯t even speak a single word.


    Ling Lan and Qiao Ting took a hover car and went back to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s dormitory district. The two of them didn¡¯t rest and went right for the meeting room in the dormitory district. Earlierst night, Ling Lan had notified all the members to gather here at 9:30 and it was now almost 10:00. The rest had probably already arrived.


    When they arrived at the door, Ling Lan stopped her footsteps and moved aside to let Qiao Ting go in first. It was only after hearing those inside greeting him with "Boss Qiao" that she walked into the meeting room.


    "Boss!" the members of the Lingtian Mecha n quickly stood up and yelled in unison.


    "Captain Ling!" greeted a representative from a smaller faction. Seeing Ling Lan walk in, he stood up to show his respect and admiration.


    Qiao Ting, who had already walked beside the Leiting members, heard these greetings being called one after another. He looked at Ling Lan with aplicated expression, envious of the current Ling Lan. Silently, Ling Lan had be the leader in the eyes of the smaller factions. If he didn¡¯t know that Ling Lan didn¡¯t have a future, he probably would be more afraid of her. She would maybe have even be his worst nightmare.


    Qiao Ting put away this small uneasiness and thought to himself that he shouldn¡¯t let Ling Lan affect him anymore. His future was with the army and not with a small military academy.


    Ling Lan softly nodded her head towards the representatives of the smaller factions. She saw that Xie Yi had already pulled out the chairman seat that was in middle, acting very much like a servant. Ling looked towards Li Lanfeng who was sitting on the side, who nodded to her softly. It looked Xie Yi¡¯s actions were discussed by them beforehand.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t hesitate and walked straight towards the seat, and sat down with heavily. She knew that once she sat down, she would not give up on the role ofmander for the team! However, she hadn¡¯t originally thought of giving up the role. Once the battle royale began, the team could only have onemander, and Ling Lan didn¡¯t really want to bet her hopes on someone else. Compared others, she trusted herself more.


    After Ling Lan sat down, she faced the members that were still waiting and said, "Sit!"


    This was an obvious announcement of power and status which made Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes freeze up. Han Yu¡¯s expression became cold at this, his eyes showing a sh of discontent, and even Mu Shaoyu was stunned. Perhaps they hadn¡¯t thought that Ling Lan would be so forceful. They had originally thought that everyone would push the role around a bit and then ultiumately choose someone that everyone favored. Amander along with simr status vicemandersbined would have been alright.


    However, seeing how Ling Lan had presented herself, it appeared like she wanted to have full control, unwilling to give any power to the others. This made the Leiting, Tianji and Wuji teams feel a bit of discontent. The meeting room began to erupt in whispers, but the representatives from the small factions remained silent.


    Ling Lan knew that some of these people might refuse to ept her leadership. Her cold re began to scan those people who would otherwise refuse toply, releasing more of her aura.


    Those who were originally discussing felt the boundless tension from Ling Lan gaze and aura, and slowly quieted down. In the end, the whole room was silent like it was frozen in time.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan stopped her gaze and turned her head to Qiao Ting, telling him, "Senior Qiao. If we want to win the battle royale, then we can¡¯t have too manymanders. I will bravely shoulder the authority ofmander."


    Qiao Ting¡¯s mouth moved slightly but didn¡¯t make a sound. Qiao Ting couldn¡¯t refuse since Ling Lan asked him directly, the reason being that the chance to be in the tournament had been acquired by Ling Lan¡¯s Lingtian Mecha n. If Ling Lan wanted the authority ofmander, it was perfectly logical and made sense.


    However, Qiao Ting refused to ept it in his mind. He was clearly the number one and strongest student in the academy, so why couldn¡¯t he be themander?


    The role ofmander for the battle royal team was very important. He would have the performance of the battle royale, along with the other contestants, written into his file. When he entered the army and advanced in rank, these would all be used for reference. If it was possible, no one would give up on this opportunity.


    The vice-captain of Qiao Ting¡¯s didn¡¯t want themander position given to others. He knew that his captain couldn¡¯t really say anything, thus he spoke up and said, "Captain Ling. I think who gets the role ofmander should be discussed amongst everyone first. If there were those who refused toply to orders, then there would be a problem."


    After hearing that, Ling Lan looked down and didn¡¯t say anything. She put her finger on the table and began to tap.


    Tap! Tap! Tap!


    The tapping sound was loud due to the empty meeting room, giving a lot of pressure to Leiting¡¯s vice-captain. The smiling face he had beforehand had turned stiff due to the sound.


    Right when the vice-captain didn¡¯t what to do, Ling Lan raised her eyes and asked coldly, "Then, who do you want to nominate?"


    "Our Boss Qiao!" Leiting¡¯s vice-captain eximed. He had been almost crushed by the pressure in the atmosphere. Although he had originally intended to talk in circles, upon hearing Ling Lan¡¯s question, he decided to just blurt out what he was really thinking.


    Ling Lan shot a nce at Qiao Ting with a half smile. That nce made Qiao Ting feel ashamed of himself. He didn¡¯t think that his vice-captain would throw him on the table like that without using any tact.


    Leiting¡¯s vice-captain knew that he had already said what he thought, so he no longer needed to keep it in and said, "Our Boss Qiao is, needless to say, without a doubt the strongest. For the role ofmander, there¡¯s no one else more fitting."


    Li Lanfeng chuckled softly at these words. "Themander¡¯s strength isn¡¯t really important. What¡¯s important are the strategic arrangements."


    "Boss Qiao has led us to fight in so many mecha battles; his experience was plentiful. He¡¯s a much better choice for themander role than those who have no experience." Leiting¡¯s vice-captain said after ncing meaningfully at Ling Lan.


    "No experience? If he had no experience, could he beat Boss Qiao? Isn¡¯t that right Boss Qiao?" Li Lanfeng said jokingly. He cleverly threw the question back to Qiao Ting, making it difficult for him, as he really had lost to Ling Lan¡¯s tactics and tricks.


    Being pushed around by Li Lanfeng¡¯s words, Qiao Ting helplessly said, "Yanchi stop, we¡¯ll listen to Captain Ling¡¯s orders." Qiao Ting had no choice but to speak so. Losing to Ling Lan was the truth, which made him unable to deny it. However, after speaking that sentence, it meant that he no longer had a chance to get the role ofmander.


    Qiao Ting sighed internally. It was a shame the people he took with him didn¡¯t have a strategist amongst them, otherwise it wouldn¡¯t have been this easy for Li Lanfeng¡¯s words to make it so they just hand over the role ofmander.


    Seeing how Qiao Ting was like a bird that just lost its feathers, Han Yu¡¯s eyes lit up. Right when he wanted to speak and contest for the role ofmander, Zhang Jing-an¡¯s little team¡¯s vice-captain spoke first, "Our Captain Zhang wants me to say something on his behalf. Our team fully supports Captain Ling to be themander!"


    Following this, as if they had agreed on it beforehand, the other leaders of the small factions all spoke, all of them saying that they supported Ling Lan as themander. Seeing this, Qiao Ting knew that Ling Lan had already reached mutual understanding with these people. Having fully prepared everything, they would not let them have a chance of even getting near the role ofmander.


    He had lost again! Qiao Ting gazed faintly at Ling Lan. Although Ling Lan¡¯s mecha piloting days were at an end, with that brain of his that thought of everything, he would still be an exceptional strategist in the future.


    This time, other than Leiting who put their heads down, only the two mecha ns, Tianji and Wuji hadn¡¯t said anything. Everyone focused their sights on Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu in unnned unison.


    Mu Shaoyu saw the situation and knew that the opportunity was gone, so he gave Ling Lan what she wanted and said, "We were only able to participate in the mecha tournament due to Captain Ling Lan¡¯s tailwind, so if he bes the battle royale¡¯smander, Tianji doesn¡¯t have a problem with that."


    Hearing that, Ling Lan nced at Mu Shaoyu. Mu Shaoyu was someone who knew when move forward and when to take a step back. No wonder he could stand so long and firm on the second most influential individual in the military academy. His personality was also very open and very likable. Overall, he wasn¡¯t too bad. It was just too bad that the people he knew had problems, recruiting a degenerate into Tianji who almost ended Luo Lang... Ling Lan had originally wanted to start from Tianji after the mecha tournament, but now it seemed that Wuji was more suitable for her to weed out the bad seeds.


    Ling Lan had never given up on her desire of controlling the school by her own hand. She had only wanted to wait until the mecha tournament was over to continue that big project.

 Chapter 480 The Mighty and the Overbearing!

    Seeing that the Wuji n had changed their tone and supported Ling Lan, Han Yu knew that his own disapproval had no affect. He could only angrily say, "Wuji also supports Captain Ling!"


    As Han Yu finished, Ling Lan quickly sat up. She nced sharply towards all the team members and said, "I want thismander role not for the authority and power, but because I want to lead everyone to be the battle royale¡¯s big winners!" She turned her head towards Li Lanfeng and said, "Lanfeng, take out the ns that you guys discussed and hand them out to each team leader!"


    Li Lanfeng nodded and looked towards Han Jijyun, who took out a backpack from behind him and from it, a stack of files. Luo Lang, Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing walked up to help Han Jijyun distribute these files to each team leader.


    Before the team leaders could start reading, Ling Lan warned them, "Don¡¯t take photos of these files, don¡¯t input them into yourmunicators. You can only remember it in your mind! After reading, destroy it immediately. It¡¯s entirely possible that this ce is already under the surveince of hackers. We can¡¯t let our guard down."


    Ling Lan sent out her aura with her guard up, following which there was a chain of booming noises of something exploding in the meeting room¡ªck smoke suddenly rose from the different corners of the meeting room. The expressions of all those present quickly changed. Who would have thought that there were so many wiretaps in this meeting room? It seemed that as Ling Lan had predicted, the other military academies had made their move on them.


    Those members who had still been unwilling to ept Ling Lan asmander all looked at Ling Lan again, their eyes teeming with a hint of respect. Being able to figure out the movements of the enemy, perhaps this was the kind ofmander capable of leading them to victory.


    During all the explosions, Li Lanfeng¡¯s ears had moved slightly and he had nced towards Han Jijyun with a look of surprise only to see that thetter was equally surprised. Luo Lang and the others stood calmly, their eyes filled with respect for Ling Lan. It was only Chang Xinyuan who had his head down, very focused on ying with his fingers.


    As someone who was bad at acting, in the end he had listened to Li Lanfeng¡¯s orders and put his head down until the meeting ended, the only reason being that he was the one who made these things that Boss Lan destroyed...


    Because of what just happened, everyone present didn¡¯t dare to take things lightly. After they opened the files and memorized the content, they immediately destroyed them. As those who had managed to be a team leader, they would definitely have a few tricks up their sleeves.


    Qiao Ting opened the files. The contents of the documents make his eyes flicker. He hadn¡¯t expected for Ling Lan¡¯s appetite to be so huge... He looked at Ling Lan with confusion before closing his hands and instantly, the files in his hands were reduced to dust, slowly seeping out from between his fingers and finally falling to the ground.


    It was always when he wasn¡¯t paying attention to her that Ling Lan would show off yet another inhuman ability for him to admire. It reignited something that he had originally decided to no longer care about.


    "As for the other 50 million credits, I thought it would be best to do it this way." After Ling Lan said this, everyone¡¯s focus shifted. This concerned just how much weapons and supplies their little teams would be distributed.


    "First, Captain Qiao Ting¡¯s 24 man battalion, 8 million credits!" Ling Lan shot a cold stare at Qiao Ting. Qiao Ting nodded as he was very pleased with this number, pretty much taking one sixth of the entire pool. It also met the need of the amount of people in his team. Ling Lan¡¯s distribution was very fair.


    Since the strongest team, Qiao Ting¡¯s battalion, didn¡¯t have issues, then the rest definitely wouldn¡¯t have any either. Wuji and Tianji were simr to Qiao Ting¡¯s battalion. 4 million credits were given to the 12 man battalions. Zhang Jing-an¡¯s team wasposed of 11 people. Without Zhang Jing-an as the main powerhouse, giving them 3.5 million was being nice to them. All the other mecha teamsbined into aposite team of 24 people and got 6.5 million, making them very happy.


    Although they had 24 people as well, they could notpare with Qiao Ting¡¯s 24 man battalion in strength nor level. They believed it was fair that they got 1.5 million less.


    And this difference in 1.5 million made members of Qiao Ting¡¯s battalion feel very satisfied. When they looked at Ling Lan, their eyes showed their respect towards her. Overall, this distribution made everyone happy. Qiao Ting saw that everyone¡¯s expressions were lighting up and bing happy, and he suddenly felt shocked. With no one the wiser, Ling Lan had already managed to draw all the members of the battalion to her side. He looked at Ling Lan again, still doubting his own judgement. Was Ling Lan really not his equal?


    "Lingtian Battle n¡¯s distributed credits is 4 million. All the distributed credits are to be used for the battalion¡¯s weapons and equipment. The rest will be given to Lin Zhong-qing and the other logistics personnel to trade for other supplies, including the food and energy storage units that we will need during the battle royale."


    "We don¡¯t need to exchange for argend-based weapon?" Han Yu asked with a frown after hearing Ling Lan give the details.


    "For mobility reasons, I disapprove exchanging for these types of weapons," Ling Lan answered inly.


    "Why?" Han Yu asked, suddenly standing up with discontent. If they wanted to defend the base camp, these weapons were a must. In past years, every military academy would choose a few area of effect heavy defensive cannons and set them in the base; otherwise, with just 120 people, some having to split up and try to take over other bases, there would no way for them to go against invaders from other military academies.


    It should be known that taking over another base camp would yield a lot of points, but this was assuming that their own base camp was safe and sound. If their own base camp was taken by others, even if they had taken over many other teams¡¯ bases, it would all be for naught. The rules of the battle royale were brutal¡ªif their base camp was taken, they would immediately be eliminated. Many military academies were even afraid of sending out a battalion to attack other base camps, instead choosing to defend until the very end. If your camp was safely defended, you would receive points. Although the points would be much lower than that of taking over a base camp, at the least they wouldn¡¯t be eliminated and still get points, right?


    In reality, many of the academies had this kind of thought process. Managing to stay in the battle royale at the end and acquiring the bare minimum score would raise their ranking. In contrast, for the academies who wanted pick a fight, they were more likely to be kicked out of thepetition and without the minimum score, they would rank close tost ce.


    That was why, out of the members who were present, Han Yu wasn¡¯t the only one showing disagreement¡ªthe other battalions¡¯ team leaders all showed a hint of hesitation.


    Faced with Han Yu¡¯s questioning, Ling Lan only threw a cold re towards him in response, making Han Yu¡¯s heart skip a beat. Han Yu understood that the current Ling Lan was not the same Ling Lan who just went with the flow during the team battle. The Ling Lan right now, whether it was his stare or aura, was now apanied with a strong and shapeless force. This gave him a misconception of how he felt. He was openly questioning themander¡¯s orders in front of themander. If this was in the army, it would definitely not be allowed to happen.


    Han Yu¡¯s angry facial expression began to slowly disappear as Ling Lan red at him. He forcefully calmed himself down and thought about the next time he would ask a question. On the side, one of the team leaders from the team that wasbined opened his mouth and said, "Captain Ling, is it because there¡¯s some difficulty with the credits? If that¡¯s the case then my battalion can take a bit less. The base camp should be prioritized over other things."


    After that statement, many of them looked towards Ling Lan, including Qiao Ting. Ling Lan¡¯s answer could affect the amount of credits they get in the end. Qiao Ting¡¯s group weren¡¯t that naive. If the distributed credits were taken from one team, there was no way the others would be able to keep all that they were distributed.


    Ling Lan began mming the table as everyone looked at her, her face coldly ring at Han Yu. It looked as though she was thinking of whether to ept this suggestion from this team leader...


    Slowly, everyone understood what Ling Lan¡¯s expression meant. Ling Lan wasn¡¯t even thinking about this issue¡ªshe was thinking of whether she should punish Han Yu.


    At this moment, Han Yu had also realized why Ling Lan had been silent. His face instantly turned green and he felt a sense of humiliation. This Ling Lan, who was only a second year junior, dared to have this kind of thought? He wanted to flip the table and shout angrily, but Ling Lan¡¯s cold expression was secretly telling him that she was waiting for him to flip out. Having just acquired the authority of amander, she really needed a scapegoat to reinforce her iron will, to show the other sheep in the herd.


    Han Yu¡¯s chest heaved up and down numerous times. He grit his teeth as hard as he could and didn¡¯t shout out angrily. He knew what would happen if he really did flip out¡ªLing Lan would definitely cancel his chance to participate in the battle royale, make him stay in the dormitory district all by himself and wait for the final result.


    If that happened, then he would definitely be theughing stock of all the students of the academy. He couldn¡¯t give Ling Lan the chance to do this. No way! Finally, Han Yu calmed down, his eye filled with a deep, dark hatred. If they lost the battle royale because of this, then he would make sure Ling Lan gets payback, to wash away the humiliation he experienced today.


    Seeing that Han Yu finally understood her role, Ling Lan then coldly said, "Han Yu. This time, because it was the first, I can tolerate the fact that you went against the rules! But remember, this is thest time!"


    Han Yu chewed on his gums so hard that they were even making sounds. Everyone realized that from the moment they epted Ling Lan as themander, Ling Lan was themander. If one questioned themander, even in the military academy, it was considered to be a huge issue. Ling Lan had the power to punish Han Yu¡¯s disrespect. It wouldn¡¯t have been overboard if she had kicked him out of the battle royale.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s gaze narrowed. He hadn¡¯t thought that after taking the role ofmander, Ling Lan would be so forceful,pletely different from the easy discussion they had previously. She also did not hesitate to lose Han Yu, a valuable asset, in order to force them to submit. This kind of lighting fast means made those who initially didn¡¯t really think much of Ling Lan to be fearful of her.


    Normally, this manner of doing things was undoubtedly too forceful and could make people unhappy; however, at this moment, it was surprisingly suitable for the situation. A battle royale was a merciless battlefield¡ªif one couldn¡¯t have full control, there would be no way to achieve a good result, and this was also the reason why the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had never tried to change the fact that even though they knew the mecha teams that they sent to apply for the major tournaments had ws, this was never changed. They were afraid that in the final battle royale, there would be too many mecha teams and thus wouldn¡¯t be able to bemanded all together. And this would be worse than missing out on all the major tournaments.


    "I didn¡¯t really want to discuss it because those of you who have a brain only need to think to know why," Ling Lan said and then looked around at the others, the ones who had initially showed feelings of discontent. Under Ling Lan¡¯s gaze, these people felt a sense of embarrassment which made them involuntarily lower their heads.


    "In the file, regarding members banding together. The seventh part discusses this point." Ling Lan called to their attention.

 Chapter 481 Forming an Alliance with a High-Five

    At that moment, the team leaders who had gone through the file suddenly remembered the seventh part that they had read suddenly reached a revtion. This time, whether it was those team leaders who questioned Ling Lan¡¯s abilities, or those who had trusted Ling Lan along with the other team members, all of them now had nothing to say.


    Zhang Jing-an¡¯s vice captain saw the situation and promptly said, "Captain Ling, our battalion will wholly obey yourmands." That statement made the two other team leaders from the other mecha n to each dere that they were also willing to obey all of Ling Lan¡¯s orders.


    Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun looked at each other right then. All of the remarks made by Zhang Jing-an¡¯s vice captain were always in favor of Boss Lan. If they still didn¡¯t know that Zhang Jing-an had already formed a partnership with their boss, then they wouldn¡¯t be fit to be the Lingtian Battle n¡¯s strategists.


    Seeing the situation, Qiao Ting felt uneasy. He knew that his chance at the role ofmander waspletely shattered. The silence and the giving in from before, was caused by Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng¡¯s double teaming in the conversation, causing him temporarily give in. Another reason was that he had wanted to see whether Ling Lan would be able to control this group. Qiao Ting had intended on showing his hand once he found out that Ling Lan could not control these unruly individuals from the different teams, at which moment he would have be a prime candidate formander.


    Unfortunately, the final result made him truly helpless. The means which Ling Lan used were more forceful and decisive than he thought. Faced with Han Yu¡¯s questioning, she didn¡¯t choose to just let it go but instead chose to toss him away and make him obey. With that, not only did she hold down Han Yu¡¯s fury, but at the same time she also frightened the rest of the team leaders and members. No one dared to make any morements about Ling Lan¡¯s choices, making it so her orders would be obeyed without question. It really was killing two birds with one stone!


    Seeing that everyone was finally seeing her as themander, Ling Lan closed the discussion. She let all the team leaders to go to the weapons warehouse to choose the weapons needed for their own respective teams. She handed her namete to Lin Zhong-qing. After the other team leaders finished picking out their weapons, she would then tell Lin Zhong-qing to use her own namete to confirm. Ling Lan was the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s real team leader. When they registered, they used her namete to acquire the proof and the 50 million credits.


    Just when Qiao Ting stood up and was about leave, Ling Lan suddenly turned around and said to him, "Captain Qiao, please stay."


    Qiao Ting slowed down and then nkly seated himself again, waiting for what Ling Lan was going to say.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t say anything, but instead she asked Han Jijyun to take out a piece of paper and a pen and began to draw on the paper. After around three minutes, Ling Lan then raised her head and said to Qiao Ting, "Captain Qiao, can youe over and check this for me?"


    Qiao Ting was confused. He walked forward and found out that Ling Lan had drawn the data which had been disyed on therge screen for only one minute at the drawing ceremony. Ling Lan had drawn about 70% of the map. Some of the parts, he hadn¡¯t even noticed. He hadn¡¯t thought that Ling Lan remembered it all.


    "Help me add on to it!" Ling Lan said, passing him the pen in her hand.


    Qiao Ting raised his head and asked in confusion, "Why would you want me to add to it?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze met Qiao Ting¡¯s and she replied with a question, "Then Captain Qiao, you didn¡¯t memorize the map?"


    Qiao Ting became silent once again. He hadn¡¯t thought that his actions had been transparent to Ling Lan, which gave him the feeling that he was restrained by Ling Lan. Qiao Ting took a deep breath and let out the small hint of defeat in his heart. He took the pen and wrote down the ces that he remembered that didn¡¯t ovep that in which Ling Lan had memorized. Just like that, the entire map was around 80%plete.


    Seeing Qiao Ting put down the pen, Ling Lan nodded, saying, "Although the map isn¡¯t finished, it is still enough for us to use."


    Qiao Ting almost spat out blood. This was considered to be unfinished? If Ling Lan didn¡¯t remember 70% by herself and with the 10% that didn¡¯t ovep with Ling Lan¡¯s memory from the 30% that he remembered, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to finish almost up to 80% of the map. He believed other than their First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the other academies most definitely did not have a map that was almostplete.


    Ling didn¡¯t pay attention to Qiao Ting¡¯s depressed look. She turned her head towards Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun and instructed, "Make 10 copies of this map on the double. I have uses for them."


    "Yes, Captain!" Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng immediately nodded in response. Because of Ling Lan¡¯s change in role, the two of them set aside the casual way they addressed other normally and switched to the battalion¡¯s standard form of address.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes showed a tint of happiness. Han Jijyun and Leopard really had situational awareness¡ªthey knew what was the best thing to do was. After taking up the role ofmander for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the old bandit-esque title of "Boss" was no longer suitable.


    On the side, Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun were busy making maps, while on the other hand, Qiao Ting left with his team members. He needed to make sure to choose a good 8 million worth of weapons. This was going to affect their battalion¡¯s battle strength, thus Qiao Ting couldn¡¯t be careless about it.


    Very quickly, those in the meeting room had all left, leaving only those from Ling Lan¡¯s battalion. Seeing that there were no outsiders left, Chang Xinyuan immediately loosened the tension in his body, letting out the air he had been holding inside and flopping onto the chair. Man, he had been suffocating to death.


    Li Lanfeng was still drawing the maps when sensed Chang Xinyuan begin to move, which made him think of something. He stopped drawing, turned his head and asked, "Chang Xinyuan, about those things, how many did you make?"


    "10. What? Is there a problem?" Chang Xinyuan asked in confusion. Weren¡¯t they just destroyed? Why was Li Lanfeng making a big deal out of it?


    "That¡¯s not right. I heard twelve exploding sounds." Li Lanfeng said, his expression frozen in ce. He turned towards Han Jijyun who was beside him and smiled coldly, saying, "Looks like there really were other academies making a move on us. If I find out who they are, I will use them to warm up in the battle royale," he said with killing intent.


    "If my guess is correct, one of them should be the Co-ed Military Academy," responded Ling Lan who was sitting on the chairmen seat,zily holding up her cheek.


    Li Lanfeng said with surprise, "Rabbit? How do you know?"


    Ling Lan shot a cold nce towards Li Lanfeng. Didn¡¯t this guy know that she didn¡¯t really like the nickname Rabbit?


    When she saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes show a hint of happiness and joyfulness, she was surprised and suddenly thought it was pretty funny. She didn¡¯t think that wise andposed Leopard would have such a childish side to him. Calling her "Rabbit" just to prove their rtionship was different from others?


    "Yeah, no matter what, she was still someone who cared deeply for her friends. If her friends liked it, then she will just let it slide. She won¡¯t lose anything just from someone calling her ¡¯Rabbit¡¯!" thought Ling Lan.


    Han Jijyun, however, seemed to have thought of something. He frowned, his gaze stiff. "Perhaps Luo Chao¡¯s lot couldn¡¯t keep their mouths shut?"


    Han Jijyun still remembered that during the celebration for winning the the team battle, Boss Lan had reminded them of the time and ce of today¡¯s meeting. At that time, Luo Chao and Han Xuya were both present and they had also heard that information.


    "Yes! Han Xuya has too careless a personality and might not have cared about this. However, that intelligent Luo Chao would definitely have done her best to fulfill her duty and bring that information back with her." Ling Lan was not surprised. She gave an ambiguous smile and said, "If the Co-ed Military Academy didn¡¯t make any moves, then I would have been disappointed."


    Ling Lan¡¯s words put Han Jijyun at a loss. What did Boss Lan mean? Did Luo Chao betray them? But there was no hint of anger in Boss Lan¡¯s words. What was going on?


    When it came to his friends, Han Jijyun¡¯s brain always seemed to be as if clogged and slower to react.


    On the other hand, Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes lit up and he said, "Rabbit, you¡¯re saying Luo Chao understood what you meant and you deliberately handed them the information of the meeting for them to hear?"


    Ling Lan nodded and said, "Yeah. Although little Luo Chao is very shy, in terms of brains, she is not worse than Jijyun." There was a hint of pride in the way Ling Lan spoke¡ªwho said we girls aren¡¯t as good as guys?


    Little Luo Chao? Such an intimate way of calling her! And there was also that a prideful tone. No matter which angled one viewed it from, it seemed like he was showing off... Li Lanfeng remembered that Ling Lan had voluntarily gone clothes shopping with Luo Chao before... (Ling Lan, are you really just going to avoid Han Xuya?) He had even chosen clothes for her. A boy that was willing to do this for a girl... Other than boyfriend and girlfriend, what other kind of rtionship could it be?


    After thinking about this, Li Lanfeng thought to himself, "Rabbit is this young and already has a girlfriend. Then how does he expect us 20-year-olds to live?" Okay, Li Lanfeng was a bit envious. He thought, "Does Rabbit not know that he needs to be respectful to his elders? Seniors should have girlfriends before the juniors! That¡¯s the right way!"


    Han Jijyun didn¡¯t know of Li Lanfeng¡¯s thoughts, but because of Li Lanfeng¡¯s reminder, he quickly understood¡ªeyes lighting up, he smiled with a hint of happiness and said, "Boss, were you nning on striking a partnership with the First Co-ed Military Academy?"


    "I¡¯m not the one who wanted to, but them instead!" Ling Lan replied inly. Regardless of whether they formed a partnership, the final result for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy wouldn¡¯t change. The only reason why she was willing to give the First Co-ed Military Academy this chance was because it was Luo Chao and Han Xuya¡¯s academy. Ling Lan didn¡¯t mind giving them a hand.


    Of course, they needed to be honestly willing to form a partnership. If the other side wanted to use them, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t be so nice even if Luo Chao and Han Xuya was with them.


    Han Jijyun wanted to keep asking questions, but Ling Lan suddenly raised her head towards the door of the meeting room. She gestured "do not enter" with her hands and softly said, "Speak of the devil."


    Han Jijyun¡¯s expression changed upright and returned to his serious expression. Li Lanfeng quickly put away the maps that he and Han Jijyun were drawing. After cleaning up, they saw at the entrance that a small head had peeped in. Seeing how Ling Lan and the others were all there, she immediately showed signs of joy on her face, a timid smile quietly forming on it¡ªshe was none other than Luo Chao.


    "If there the guests are here, why don¡¯t they juste in?" Ling Lan said indifferently.


    "Haha, congrattions Captain Ling on defeating the rest to be the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯smander!" Immediately, a candidugh erupted outside the door. Luo Chao then made way and a tall figure appeared at the entrance which slowly walked into the meeting room. It was none other than the First Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s team leader, Lin Xiao. If there were no issues, Lin Xiao would be themander of this year¡¯s battle royal for their military academy.


    "You¡¯re satisfied with what you heard and saw right?" Ling Lan raised her brow indifferently, instantly exposing what they had done.


    Lin Xiao¡¯sughter was suddenly brought to a halt, and he was now feeling slightly awkward. He hadn¡¯t expected that this second year student, a junior called Boss Lan by Luo Chao¡¯s lot, wouldn¡¯t leave him with any dignity. He thought about the scene he saw earlier. Seeing as how even Qiao Ting, who was the First Military Academy¡¯s top student, was treated in such a harsh manner, then it wasn¡¯t a surprise that he would treat him the same. Heughed weakly in his mind. It looked like the negotiations with the other party wasn¡¯t going to be that easy.


    Lin Xiao was, of course, a remarkable person, being able to be themander of the First Co-ed Military Academy¡ªhe kept a straight face and replied, "Well that was because Captain Ling wanted us to listen."


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t say anything, but merely nced coldly towards Lin Xiao, and the two of them silently looked at each other for two to three minutes... In the end, it was Lin Xiao who gave in, the reason being that Ling Lan¡¯s calm and collected expression showed that she didn¡¯t care what they came to do. In other words, it meant that in terms of needing a partnership, the First Co-ed Military Academy was more urgent. Since their side needed something from the other party, Lin Xiao could only give in.


    "He really is a difficult person to deal with. No wonder he managed to hold down the academy¡¯s top student Qiao Ting and be themander of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy..." Lin Xiao thought to himself with admiration. He had lost this round. He had fallen straight into the other side¡¯s hands from the moment he walked in here.


    No, perhaps he had already fallen into this trap after Luo Chao gave him that informationst night. Unfortunately, even if he knew he was walking into a trap, he would stille by on his own ord in order to beat the Second and Third Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    "This time I came here to talk to Captain Ling about forming a coboration." Lin Xiao went straight to the point. He turned around towards Luo Chao who had followed him inside, smiled and said gratefully, "Of course, I have to thank my junior Luo Chao for creating this connection between us."


    Lin Xiao¡¯s words instantly made Luo Chao blush. She shook her hands and said, "Senior Lin, don¡¯t thank me. I was just following my boss¡¯s orders." After saying that, Luo Chao looked at Ling Lan, her eyes filled with a hint of affection. This look of hers made Ling Lan feel very helpless. Who said Luo Chao was a scaredy cat? Ling Lan was already behaving very coldly, but Luo Chao still managed to like her and not be scared off.


    Luo Chao¡¯s nce caused Lin Xiao¡¯s smile to dull somewhat. When he looked at Ling Lan again, the sincerity in his eyes had lessened and had a faint hostility to it.


    Ling Lan frowned upon seeing this situation. It seemed that Lin Xiao had some feelings for Luo Chao... The way Ling Lan looked at Lin Xiao suddenly became more serious, almost as though she were scrutinizing him.


    Upon founding out that there was some other guy coveting her little sister, Ling Lan instantly turned into a beast protecting her young. She really did think that Luo Chao was too young. She shouldn¡¯t just be deceived by men like that... This Lin Xiao actually used his status as senior to get close to Luo Chao¡ªhow shameless! Ling Lan was inclined to start a fight and teach Lin Xiao a lesson, letting him know that Ling Lan¡¯s little sisters were not so easily coveted.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression was growing increasingly vicious and her aura was also seeping out. Being at the center of the pressure, Lin Xiao instantly felt a strong, shapeless force striking at him without any remorse... In order to protect himself, Lin Xiao¡¯s aura also erupted and fought against the force like his life depended on it. The more he fought, the more he felt that his opponent had unfathomable power, causing countless droplets of cold sweat to form on his forehead. He realized at that moment why Qiao Ting had chosen to give in¡ªthis Ling Lan, his physical abilities were too strong.


    Seeing how Lin Xiao could no longer hold on, Ling Lan withdrew her aura. Right then, Lin Xiao had a face full of sweat. Luo Chao saw this and quickly gave him a tissue, her eyes filled with a hint of pity. Senior Lin was too stubborn¡ªhe was just looking for trouble when he decided to sh with Boss Lan¡¯s aura.


    Lin Xiao suddenly blushed after seeing Luo Chao¡¯s eyes show a hint of pity. It was no wonder that no matter how well he behaved and performed, Luo Chao would not bat an eye. If she had someone beside her that was this talented, she probably wouldn¡¯t even give others a second look. He felt somewhat at a loss. To him, Luo Chao was really cute. He was infatuated with her, whether it was her timid smile or her warm voice. It was unfortunate that someone like her wouldn¡¯t be his.


    He looked again towards the cold expressionless face of Ling Lan. Lin Xiao sighed internally. With someone this strong, Lin Xiao didn¡¯t believe that he had hopes of winning her over. Although it was a bit of a waste, Lin Xiao was someone who could move on. If there was no chance, then he would just put his feelings down and never think of them again.


    He changed his stance and spoke to Ling Lan again, "I came here this time to talk with Captain Ling about a partnership." The war on love could wait, as right now he hade here to talk about their military academy¡¯s future for this year¡ªhe couldn¡¯t make any mistakes here.


    Seeing his expression be clear, Ling Lan felt some admiration towards Lin Xiao at that moment. Her impression of him improved as well, so she decided to no longer make it hard for Lin Xiao and said, "Partnership. Sure. However, whether we can or cannot coborate is based on how sincere you guys are."


    It was with apparent confidence that Lin Xiao took out a paper-like object from his pocket and handed it to Ling Lan. Ling Lan opened it, her lip raised, and then she shook her head at Lin Xiao, indicating that this was not enough.


    "This is only part of it. If you agree to the partnership, we will give you the other ones as well," said Lin Xiao.


    At that, Ling Lan turned towards Li Lanfeng and signaled him toe over. Li Lanfeng joyfully hopped beside Ling Lan, who then asked Li Lanfeng to bring his ear down. She then softly instructed Li Lanfeng with a few words, at which Li Lanfeng nodded to show that he understood.


    Upon receiving Ling Lan¡¯s orders, Li Lanfeng quickly took out a piece of paper and sat on the side of the table in the meeting room. He drew up a part of the map that they had drawn earlier.


    After Lin Xiao saw this, his expression changed slightly, the reason being that the map Li Lanfeng had drawn was the same as the one that he had showed Ling Lan. Moreover, Li Lanfeng had drawn five or six more districts than they had. This meant that this portion of the map that he had brought, Ling Lan¡¯s group had as well¡ªthat was why Ling Lan had shaken her head, indicating that it wasn¡¯t enough. Indeed, the things that other people have could originally be worth a lot, but now it was worth nothing at all.


    Lin Xiao bit his lip and took out three pieces of paper and passed them to Ling Lan. This was already 70% of the amount that they had been able to memorize and jot down, while their entire map was only around 45%. If his deputy wasn¡¯t a genius at memorization, there would have been no way for them to memorize this much. He hoped that these three pieces of paper would satisfy Ling Lan, or else they would be in a rough spot.


    Ling Lan opened it and took a look. The first two pieces made her frown, making Lin Xiao heart drop to the ground. When she looked at the third piece, however, Ling Lan became silent, making Lin Xiao jolt up. Just when he thought that something was going to happen, Ling Lan shook her head to indicate that it was still not enough.


    Lin Xiao¡¯s expression shifted and anger reared inside him for a second. Ling Lan was too insatiable¡ªhe did not believe that all three maps had no use to him.


    Ling Lan saw the dissatisfied look on Lin Xiao¡¯s face. She didn¡¯t say anymore, turning her head and ordering Li Lanfeng, "Lanfeng, draw the C-area and D-area maps for Captain Lin!"


    Li Lanfeng quickly drew out both the C-area and D-area maps. The two maps Lin Xiao had given them werecking and the markings they had made were unclear. However, the one Li Lanfeng had drawn wasplete, which meant that Ling Lan could confirm that they already had these two maps and they were moreplete than Lin Xiao¡¯s. Now that Ling Lan asked him to draw it out, it was instead favorable for Lin Xiao¡¯s side.


    "Inside here, there is only this T-area map that we are missing 50% of." Ling Lan moved the three pieces of paper in her hands and acknowledged the fact that there was information that was useful to them. "However, this map only counts as half of a kind gesture. If you want to form a partnership with us, just half is not enough."


    Lin Xiao¡¯s eyes lit up. He looked at Ling Lan, wanting to determine whether what she said was true or not, while Ling Lan looked at him earnestly. In reality, if she really wanted a fullypleted map, she didn¡¯t even really need to bargain with them¡ªshe would only need to ask Little Four for it.


    Even for that T-area map, Lin Xiao¡¯s group had only drawn portion of it and some parts were missing, but it was just that she and Qiao Ting remembered the least about the map of the T-area, which was why she epted their kind gesture.


    "We shouldn¡¯t be bargaining and haggling now. I know you have some maps in your possession. You can¡¯t possibly take them all out. Is it one, two or three?" Ling Lan paid attention to Lin Xiao expression as she was speaking. When she said two, Lin Xiao¡¯s eyebrows twitched a bit. She then knew that the maps that their rival had was around 60%. Although this amount of information could notpare to theirs, it was still very surprising. It was likely that the Co-ed Military Academy had an individual who was proficient at memorization, or else there would have been no way for them to memorize this much.


    "If I take all of it out, will Captain Ling agree to the alliance?" Lin Xiao was not tempted by Ling Lan¡¯s words. He didn¡¯t want to show all of his cards and receive nothing in return in the end.


    "Of course, ourmon enemy is the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. Yes, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy, too." Ling Lan pointedly looked at Luo Chao who was standing on the side.


    Lin Xiaoughed weakly. Even if he knew he didn¡¯t have a chance with Luo Chao, being her senior, he had to help her get rid of the foul taste in her mouth and let Jiang Shaoyu know that the First Co-ed Military Academy was not to be messed with.


    "I hope Captain Ling will not go back on your word. Also, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy is our opponent!" Lin Xiao said without hesitation, shooting a nce at Luo Chao. This was thest thing that he could do for Luo Chao, so he had to finish it in order to hold a memorial for the feelings he was going to lose.


    "Done!" Ling Lan sprang to her feet suddenly, her facepletely serious and her hand raised.


    "May our partnership prosper!" Lin Xiao also raised his hand, gave Ling Lan a high-five, and thus a promised partnership that would go down in history books was formed.

 Chapter 482 A True Battle Royale

    In the outer space of Qiming, a fleet ofrge starships was slowly moving. The fleet was mainlyposed of cargo ships. Of course, there were also escort ships and destroyers on the surrounding them. The cargo ships were not holding army personnel or army supplies, but all the military academy participants of the mecha battle royale instead. Ling Lan and the others from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were amongst those people.


    Of course, a single cargo ship didn¡¯t house only one military academy; there were at least 20 military academy teams within one. In the cargo ship that Ling Lan and were in, there were four military academies squeezed together.


    This also made the atmosphere in the cargo hold very tense. Four academies, each holding a corner, all taking precautions against each other.


    All the members of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were in a sharp battle formation. Taking point was Qiao Ting¡¯s 24 man battle team with mecha that all had the same color, looking at the other three military academies menacingly. This was also the biggest reason why the atmosphere in the cargo hold was so tense.


    Behind Qiao Ting¡¯s battle team, there were special-ss mechas which protected both nks that had Han Yu leading the Wuji battle team and Mu Shaoyu leading the Tianji battle team with one on either side.


    In the middle of this protective zone between these three teams were ten cargo mecha holding all the different types of supplies that belonged to them, as they didn¡¯t have anyrge weapons. Additionally, they had already distributed arge portion of the supplies and weapons before boarding the ship. Using ten of the cargo mecha for the rest of the supplies was more than enough.


    Even more so, after Chang Xinyuan and the other genius mecha engineers had altered the transport mechas, the weight they could hold was increased to more than twice the original amount; thus, these 10 transport mechas were not only just transports used for logistics, but also weaponized mechas that had firepower. This made it so that the participants of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy did not waste a single mecha operator in terms of logistics¡ªthey really managed to make it so the whole n could all fight together.


    Furthermore, Ling Lan had taken the rest of the n members to the backline. At a nce, it could be seen that other than a few advanced mechas mixed in, the rest were all special-ss mechas. Having this much power, the other three military academies that only had advanced mechas became fearful of them.


    And it was in this tense atmosphere that Ling Lan¡¯s little team was video chatting in a rxed manner.


    "Actually, I still haven¡¯t figured it out. Aren¡¯t they just taking us to where therge map was? Why would they need such arge fleet?" asked Chang Xinyuan. He was finally able to ask the question that he was puzzled by. Obviously, transportation within the surface would be faster than travelling through space. The cost was also lower. Why would the host choose such a difficult way over an easy one?


    "Who knows, maybe they want us to know what it¡¯s like to be in a real cargo starship," Luo Lang guessed without a care in the world.


    "It can¡¯t be that simple!" Han Jijyun didn¡¯t think that was the case. "When we knew that we were to board a starship, I was already thinking about why the host party had done this..."


    "Then did you find out anything?" Qi Long asked curiously. He had always trusted Han Jijyun regarding these kinds of matters that tested one¡¯s intelligence.


    Han Jijyun shook his head regrettably. "I don¡¯t know... or rather, I can¡¯t make out a reliable answer." Han Jijyun still thought there was something to this arrangement, but it was as if there was a haze covering the answer, making him unable to see it clearly. He didn¡¯t want to give up and so asked Li Lanfeng, "Senior Feng, what are your thoughts about it?"


    Li Lanfeng frowned. He sighed and said, "Actually, I¡¯ve also been thinking about this issue."


    "What issue?" asked Han Jijyun, unusually anxious as his eyes lit up.


    Strategists were all like this. Once they realized a problem was not as simple as it looked, the feeling of being unable to figure it out would make them feel terrible, leading to poor appetite and sleep. They had to fully figure out the problem in order for this to stop, which was why Han Jijyun instantly became excited upon hearing that Li Lanfeng had possibly made a breakthrough.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze turned towards Ling Lan who had been silent this whole time and said softly, "The order that Boss Lan gave earlier when we were boarding the starship, you guys haven¡¯t forgotten it yet, right?"


    At Li Lanfeng¡¯s words, everyone recalled the scene of the time when they were boarding the ship...


    At the dock, when the First Men¡¯s Military Academy came to board the ship, they saw a massivelyrge cargo ship. Everyone could not control themselves and scream, "Wow! This is our Federation¡¯srge cargo starship, huh? It really is magnificent. Just think how many people can live in there."


    "ording to data, just the number of reserve army personnel in arge cargo ship reaches ten thousands. Adding the other types of soldiers, the total wouldn¡¯t be less than one hundred thousand people," exined someone who was familiar with starship data to the others.


    Just when everyone was shocked by the size of the starship, they heard Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice from the teammunication channel. "New orders: All teams, immediately acquire your weapons and supplies from the logistics personnel. Location: XX.XX. Do not bete!"


    After this order was issued, those who were still in conversation instantly began to get busy. All of them ran towards the location Ling Lan had given them and found the logistics team, led by Lin Zhong-qing, to get their supplies.


    They had originally decided to distribute the supplies when they arrived at their destination, but now it was suddenly decided to do so early. Although many of them didn¡¯t understand why, getting their share of the supplies (energy storage units, food, weapons, etc.) early still made them happy.


    Of course, the reason why they had to wait for them to distribute the weapons and supplies was that the 50 million credits worth of weapons and supplies would be sent to them in the docking area when they boarded the ship, given to all the academies at that time; thus, early distribution would be impossible.


    Ling Lan¡¯s sudden order made the members of First Men¡¯s Military Academy who were at the dock turn upside and busier like ever before, and this made passersby look down on them. Who knew that the students of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would not care about their dignity just to grab weapons and supplies, loudly going about distributing supplies at the boarding dock¡ªthis kind of behavior was indeed a shameful disy.


    Right then, Qiu Yue, who was themander-in-chief responsible for the transportation this time, was sitting beside the window sipping a cup of tea while looking down at all that was happening on the boarding docks. In front of him, on themander¡¯s seat that was supposed to be his, was a man of iparable handsomeness, sitting there casually.


    "Eh? Why is the seventh boarding dock so busy? Did something happen?" As themander-in-chief responsible for the transport fleet, he would be wholly responsible if any mishaps urred during the transport mission.


    The handsome man in front of him heard this and lifted his brows, pointed directly at the starship¡¯s A.I, and in response the A.I. said, "Commander-in-Chief Qiu Yue, please state yourmand."


    The handsome man looked at Qiu Yue silently while holding in a smile. Qiu Yue walked up to the A.I. and said, "I want an image on the number seven boarding dock. I want to know what happened there."


    "Yes!" Following that, arge screen quickly appeared on the virtual screen of the A.I.. The image of seventh boarding area appeared clearly before the two of them.


    Qiu Yue saw a mecha n that appeared as though they were in a messy fight, but in reality they were systematically distributing weapons and supplies. Randomly tapping on one of the mecha, enhancing and zooming in, he could see the emblem of the military academy on its chest. He said in surprise, "It¡¯s the First Men¡¯s Military Academy?"


    He turned around to the handsome man, his face showing a faint smile. "Ling Xiao, these are our juniors. Who knew that they would distribute the supplies and weapons right at the start. Do you think they¡¯ve figured something out?"


    Ling Xiao picked up the teacup beside him. After taking a sip, he then said ambiguously, "Maybe they have, or maybe they haven¡¯t."


    "You¡¯re saying this is luck? Then their luck is pretty good. If they had waited until arriving at their destination to distribute supplies then, heh heh..." Qiu Yue¡¯s smile was clearly filled with schadenfreude. He suddenly thought about the reason Ling Xiao mentioned just now as to why he hade to the tournament. Now understanding, he asked, "Isn¡¯t your son only 17 years old? How did he get a chance to participate in the grand mecha tournament?" Even Ling Xiao could only participate when he was in his third year.


    Ling Xiao held his own forehead gently with his right hand. A smile showing on his face, he said without reservation, "Yeah, second year and already advanced to special-ss operator. Not only that, he is also this year¡¯smander for the battle royale!" Regarding Ling Lan¡¯s advancement to ace operator, Ling Xiao still didn¡¯t really want to have too many people know.


    "Holy sh*t, a second year can be amander. I remember that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy sent an ace operator right? Your son was able to pressure someone like that and get the role ofmander. He¡¯s even more overpowering than you. Ling Xiao, you¡¯ve got someone that can take over for you!" Qiu Yue¡¯s eyes were green with envy. He continued in a depressed tone, "I didn¡¯t think that out of all of us, the first to have a son would be you. I always thought that you would be thest one to get married and have a family. At that time, pretty much all the girls liked you. We all thought you had trouble choosing one."


    That was part of Ling Xiao¡¯s era. In that year¡¯s mecha tournament, Ling Xiao led the First Men¡¯s Military Academy like they were invincible and pretty much got all of the first ce rankings in the tournament. In the end, their score was so high it was terrifying, making a record that pretty much no one could beat.


    Too bad that was thest of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s glory days. After Ling Xiao left the academy, they were pressured by the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy for three consecutive years, bing the perpetual second ce. This made those who came out from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to reminisce even more of the glory during Ling Xiao¡¯s time...


    "What do you mean trouble choosing? I was innocent, alright!" Ling Xiao nced at his good friend, warning him not to speak so carelessly. His wife hade onto the starship with him¡ªhe would be troubled if she had a misunderstanding.


    "Alright, alright, I know you¡¯re afraid of your wife. I won¡¯t say it then!" Qiu Yue put his hands up in surrender, showing that he understood. See, this was what it meant by heroes having short tempers and always thinking about rtionships. So what if Ling Xiao was well known? He still had to hide his tail and listen when went home. Truth be told, Ling Xiao¡¯s tragedy was also why these old friends of his were afraid of taking someone as their wife. They were afraid of bing the next Ling Xiao.


    "This is called sentiments, understand? You bunch of single people definitely won¡¯t be able to understand the joy from within," Ling Xiao said, his tone disdainful. Those who didn¡¯t walk the same path couldn¡¯t share in the experience. The feelings between him and Lan Luofeng could not be understood by these yers who had never experienced true love.


    "Okay Little Moon Moon, I have to go back and see my wife." Ling Xiao stood up and put on the military cap beside him.


    "F***er, don¡¯t call me Little Moon Moon!" Qiu Yue yelled furiously. It had been so many years, since Ling Xiao¡¯s ¡¯death¡¯, that he had heard that name he hated to the bone. Hearing it again now made him feel the anger he felt from before, making him lose the demeanor of amander, instantly losing control of himself.


    In the adviser room beside them, He Xuyang and the starship adviser were drinking tea and conversing. Suddenly, he raised his head like a fox and asked, "Hmm, did you hear anything just now?"


    "... No!" That was definitely not theirmander¡¯s voice! The adviser denied it without hesitation.


    "Oh, I guess I heard wrong then." He Xuyangughed. Little Moon Moon? Starship Commander Qiu Yue? His face held the a trace of smile. He didn¡¯t expect that Major General Qiu Yue to have this kind of nickname. Hehehe, their general was really too evil!


    "Haha, just like before, you explode when called by that name." Ling Xiaoughed with nostalgia.


    "If you say it again, you¡¯re no longer my friend!" Qiu Yue yelled angrily.


    "Alright, since you¡¯ve already said so much, I¡¯m not going to say it anymore," Ling Xiao shrugged indifferently and said. He fixed his military cap and got ready to leave.


    "What the f***, you¡¯re leaving already? Then why did I ask you toe here?" Qiu Yue¡¯s face was full of irritation. After finding him, he had only talked to him for a few seconds and yet he was getting ready to back to his wife? Really? Hoes before bros.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s footsteps suddenly stopped. He hesitated before saying, "I know you¡¯re responsible for the transport. That¡¯s why I came to see you. I also wanted to ask whether you¡¯d like toe to the 23rd Division."


    Upon hearing this, Qiu Yue was so excited he almost spilled the tea in his hand. He suddenly walked up to Ling Xiao in one stride and punched his shoulder with great force. His eyes filled with tears, he said, "Man, I was already waiting for your invitation when you established the 23rd Division. I waited one year without anything happening. I thought you had already forgotten old friends like me."


    "How could that be? It¡¯s only been 17 years and people change. Many of my friends were all holding high positions of authority, which made me cautious. They would not have wanted to start from scratch with me again." Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t not care about this. This was also why he had thought over this matter for over a year before making the decision to look for them again.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s words made Qiu Yue¡¯s smile disappear. Like the former, he felt that between the two of them, many people had changed. He could only sigh internally. Seventeen years, enough to change some people and some things. How many people still remembered the promises they once made in their youth?


    "Stop sighing. I was already satisfied when you were willing toe. Wait for my orders for the transfer." Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t sense Qiu Yue¡¯s feelings of loss, smiling as he walked out of the control room. He suddenly thought of something, turned his head to Qiu Yue and said, "Oh yeah, about my son. Please take care of him during all this!"


    "Don¡¯t worry!" Qiu Yue waved his hand at Ling Xiao to let him not worry. After Ling Xiao left, he smiled devilishly, "Oh I will take very good care of him. Yes, find a difficult spot to throw them off..."


    "Distributing the weapons and supplies to each member ahead of time. I believe Boss Lan figured out something," Li Lanfeng said without hesitation.


    Everyone looked at Ling Lan, waiting for her response.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t answer but instead turned to Li Lanfeng and said, "You should exin why I distributed the supplies and weapons right at the beginning. I think you should have an answer already."


    "I can only think of one possibility, which is that this trip isn¡¯t as simple as it looks. Maybe there will be sudden changes in the middle of things," Li Lanfeng said what he had thought.


    "Then when we boarded the ship, the test of the battle royale had already begun?" Having experienced the military academy¡¯s assessment, Han Jijyun¡¯s eyes lit up as he thought of this possibility.


    Ling Lan nodded and said, "Jijyun is right. I specte that the battle royale had already begun when we were drawing for base locations. I can¡¯t think of any reason why the host would let them get their location safely. If the battle royale was only about defending and attacking base camps, then it wouldn¡¯t be a super battle that takes up half of the points of the mecha tournament.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused a thought to sh across the minds of Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun. They eximed at the same time, "It¡¯s strategy!"


    With a face full of excitement, Han Jijyun said, "Right now, what¡¯s being tested is our level of strategy, to see if we are able to see what they have nned. The 50 million credits at the beginning was also testing your overall amount, nning, and strength of the logistics and even mechanics were calcted into it. No wonder it¡¯s a battle royale. It practically includes the aspects of all the military academy¡¯s majors."


    "This also tests Starship Navigation. Is this fleet really going to fly along Qiming? I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the case." Ling Lan spoke out the result that she and Little Four had spected. This made the team¡¯s members eyes all light up brightly.


    "Jijyun, because your talents do not lie in being a navigator. When you enter the transport hold and your line of sight is obstructed while not having radars to help you, there will be no way for you to know the direction in which the fleet is flying. But I¡¯m sure that Luo Chao definitely discovered this issue. I just hope that she can let Lin Xiao know in a timely manner so they won¡¯t suffer any losses due to being unprepared." Ling Lan naturally hoped that the First Co-ed Military Academy would be as strong as they could be since they were allies.


    While Ling Lan was making guesses, on the First Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s side, Luo Chao felt that there was a problem with the trajectory the starship was flying towards. They seemed to have left Qiming and arrived at an unknown location. In the books that she had studied, this unknown location didn¡¯t even exist.


    Luo Chao quickly reported this issue to Lin Xiao. Lin Xiao was very trusting of Luo Chao. He made everyone line up and began to distribute weapons and supplies within the cargo hold. Seeing this, the other three academies cleverly began to distribute weapons and supplies just like the First Co-ed Military Academy. However, some of the special weapons they put together and didn¡¯t distribute...


    Just like that, they flew for a bit more than an hour. While all the cadets were still unaware, the starship fleet originally flying together had split up and flew towards different parts of the mysterious.


    "Beep, beep, beep!" After another 20 minutes passed, the rm in Ling Lan¡¯s supply cargo bay red suddenly. They heard the person in charge of this supply cargo bay, the JMC, suddenly scream out, "Third cargo bay, please be advised. Third cargo bay, please be advised. We are under attack! We are under attack! Please make an emergency drop in 3 minutes! Please make an emergency drop in 3 minutes!"


    This announcement shocked everybody, and even Qiao Ting felt cold sweat for a moment. After JMC¡¯s announcement, the cargo bay door that was sealed shut suddenly opened. Due to the sudden opening of the cargo bay door, those who were close to it were sucked out and began to quickly drop downwards toward the ground...


    "Little Four, give a me sitrep!" Ling Lan ordered Little Four without panicking.


    "We¡¯ve arrived at an unknown!" Following Little Four¡¯s voice, a pitch-ck appeared inside Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape. As the image drew nearer and she dove into the atmosphere, Ling Lan discovered that the was fully enveloped in darkness¡ªshe couldn¡¯t see anything even with her aberrant vision.


    "How could this have happened?" The expression of Ling Lan, who had been so calm, shifted at this moment.


    "The below has no sources of light, or rather, its atmosphere has blocked off any light from entering, which is the cause of this¡¯splete pitch-ck state," Little Four added.


    "I¡¯m not sure if our lighting equipment will be enough," Ling said to Lin Zhong-qing as she looked at this dark and lightless.


    "Every mecha operator can equip two, leaving 80 left," Lin Zhong-qing answered instantly like a human calctor.


    "Two each is a bit too few." Ling Lan frowned. She hadn¡¯t expected that the lighting equipment she had prepared for two nights would not be enough as they had arrived on a that was totally enveloped in darkness.


    "Boss, don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s still daytime on this," said Little Four after feeling Ling Lan¡¯s worry. "But it¡¯s just that daytime is shorter than night time."


    "Specifically?" Ling Lan asked sharply.


    "Daytimests only for 8 hours, while nighttime continues for 16 hours."


    "The night¡¯s too f***ing long. Theck of light is still quite significant." Ling Lan frowned. She had miscalcted on this part.


    Right then, the starship¡¯s JMC began to countdown thest three minutes. When he counted to zero and they still hadn¡¯t left the cargo bay, the door would close and those who didn¡¯t go down would instantly lose their chance to participate. "180, 179, 178..."


    Faced with pitch darkness, the cadets who couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of the situation at the bottom began to hesitate as to whether they should listen to the JMC¡¯s orders. There were even many people yelling that they needed to work together and not jump in head first. If there was danger at the bottom and they couldn¡¯t see it, then wouldn¡¯t they be as good as dead? These words made many people waver. Just when no one could decide on what to do, Ling Lan opened themunication channel for all teams and gave her second order, "All units move out!"


    She knew that all humans felt fear and thus she controlled her mecha to walk up to the cargo door first. She looked down at the rich darkness that was like a terrifying beast that could swallow everything up. Ling Lan encouraged herself a bit before quickly catapulting her mecha out and rapidly descending upon the¡¯s surface.


    "Little Four, analyze all of this¡¯s data!" In this situation where everything was unknown, Ling Lan decisively chose Little Four to analyze it instead of the mecha¡¯s A.I.. Unlike thetter, she trusted Little Four more.


    "Light Source: 0; Air Composition: 67% Carbon Dioxide, 30% Oxygen, 3% Other; Wind speed: Level 7; Gravitational pull..." A string of data quickly shed onto the mecha¡¯s data screen. Ling Lan sent this data directly to all the team members of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. She hoped that this way, those who jumped with her wouldn¡¯t have problems because they got the wrong data and operated incorrectly.

 Chapter 483 Signal Flare Gather Up

    After Ling Lan ejected, Qi Long and Luo Lang followed suit and catapulted out of the cargo hold.


    Three mechas plummeted rapidly and were instantly swallowed by the darkness from below. None of them had realized that the starship had already entered this¡¯s atmosphere.


    "Holy sh*t, what is this gravity?" The speed of the drop was so much faster than what it would be in normals. Qi Long and Luo Lang became shocked upon seeing the increasing velocity of the drop theputer screen was disying.


    Right then, their mechas received a bunch of this¡¯s data from Ling Lan. They didn¡¯t even give it any thought and began moving their fingers and change the mecha¡¯s data in order to adapt to this unknown.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s expression changed instantly after seeing that Ling Lan was the first to leave the cargo hold. He hadn¡¯t been as decisive as Ling Lan in that moment¡ªhe had hesitated... This gave him the feeling that he had lost Ling Lan in some way.


    "Let¡¯s go!" Qiao Ting clenched his fists and ordered his team members. He had lost to Ling Lan once, but he couldn¡¯t lose a second time, a third, or even more.


    Qiao Ting quicklymandeered his 24-member battalion and catapulted out of the cargo hold in a matter of seconds. If Ling Lan¡¯s actions were surprising, then Qiao Ting¡¯s actions had shocked everyone.


    Right then, the JMC announced again, "Those who do not jump within the three minute limit will be eliminated from the battle royale. As a reminder, the cargo door will close in two minutes and 40 seconds."


    The other three military academies heard this and became hurried, knowing that they didn¡¯t have any time to waste. Theirmanders announced at that moment to make all the supplies up for grabs so that the team members could what they needed before jumping down. How much they would be able to take before the cargo door closed would depend on how fast they are.


    Compared to theplete disarray of the other three military academies, because they had already taken the supplies they needed, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy began to jump down one by one systematically. In one minute, many had already jumped. Lin Zhong-qing, who was originally conversing with the n, gave a sign to the other team members who hadn¡¯t jumped yet that only they understood. He then led the transport mecha logistics team and began their descent...


    "Beep beep beep! Beginning countdown to closing the cargo door. 100, 99..." Right then, the JMC made another announcement and began to remind them that the cargo doors would be closing soon.


    "Those members who have their supplies need to jump. Let the the other team members in the back get their supplies..." The respectivemanders began giving orders. Although they tried to do their job as well as they could, the whole situation was still in utter chaos.


    Some people wanted to squeeze in to get their stuff, while others were trying to squeeze out. In that moment, they somehow managed to block each other¡¯s paths.


    "73, 72, 71..." The countdown continued to decrease. Themanders were burning with anxiety, but didn¡¯t know how to resolve the issue.


    "Captain, we can only let them eject out first. For the weapons and supplies, we can only let the transport mecha logistics team bring as much as they can," said the strategist hurriedly, after seeing how the situation was out of control.


    Those who could bemanders were all outstanding individuals, and this captain saw it as well. It would have been a good thing if the members of the teams had enough time and could take supplies with them; however,pleting the distribution process in a time crunch was definitely impossible. He thus decisively gave an order and said, "All members, stop getting supplies and eject now!"


    Thismand instantly gave everyone a direction to follow. Those who were on the outside were no longer trying squeeze into the back. They turned around and ran towards the cargo door, quickly ejecting.


    "17, 16, 15..." The countdown was getting closer and close to the end. At that moment, all of the military academies had ejected 70 to 80 percent of their forces, only leaving behind some logistics transport mechas. The transport mecha didn¡¯t even stop to think and randomly grabbed a few unopenedrge boxes and threw them onto their backs, quickly ejecting...


    "7, 6, 5, 4..." When thest logistics transport mecha had ejected, the operator of the mecha thought he saw something on the corner of the screen in his mecha. It felt like something was moving... But in the next second, the downward eleration made him toss that thought into the back of his head. He nervously began collecting data and adjusting the mecha¡¯s data to adapt to the¡¯s conditions.


    "3, 2, 1..." When the countdown reached one, the arms of four mecha had grabbed on to the target they had already set their eyes on and sessfully ejected it out of the cargo door.


    "0!" The countdown ended, and the cargo door closed tightly with a loud bang. The now empty cargo hold was a mess with more than half the untaken supplies lying on the ground. This showed that these military academies would have a hard time in the next 78 hours (Battle Royale: 72 hours + Finding their headquarters: 6 hours).


    Qiu Yue, who was paying close attention to the seventh ship¡¯s third cargo, saw the movements of the four mechas at the end. His eyes lit up as he ordered, "Rewind it 5 seconds!"


    The A.I. rewinded the scene and showed the video of what happened in thest 5 seconds of the countdown. When thest mecha had ejected, four mechas that were hiding the corner quickly sprung out and ran towards where the other the three military academies had put their supplies. Their purpose was very clear¡ªthe arms of their mecha moving forward, each of them grabbing 4rge boxes and then ejecting from the cargo door.


    Qiu Yue paused the video right at where they were picking up the boxes, zoomed and enhanced the image. Although the image wasn¡¯t very clear at such fast speeds, the emblems on their chests were still somewhat visible. Having graduated from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, Qiu Yue was very familiar with his school¡¯s emblem. In that moment, he determined that the mechas were from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    "Holy sh*t, a bunch of crazy people!" They had even waited until the end just for some supplies. He really didn¡¯t know whether to praise them or criticize them. If they were unlucky, they would have lose their chance to participate in the battle royale.


    Although Qiu Yue was screamingly internally, he still smiled. He appeared very impressed with the courage of those four people.


    "Since yourmander is Ling Xiao¡¯s son, he could probably help you guys get over all difficult situations." Qiu Yue thought to himself. It was true¡ªthe location where he had arranged for the seventh starship¡¯s cadets to eject out was the most troublesome ce on this. If they were unlucky, there would be no way to reach the required location in six hours...


    "Don¡¯t let me down boys! Although it will be difficult, as long as you guys figure out the mysteries of the, then maybe you will be able to get there in one hour. Don¡¯t let your eyes deceive you." Qiu Yue thought, full of expectation. He sincerely wished Ling Xiao¡¯s son could inherit Ling Xiao¡¯s wisdom and resourcefulness¡ªLing Xiao wasn¡¯t only just a god-ss operator.


    "Wind Speed: level 12. With this level of wind, even if we controlled our mechas to the best that we could, we still wouldn¡¯t be able to guarantee where we wouldnd." Ling Lan did not frown upon seeing the wind speed and level report from Little Four, but she was a bit worried. In a battle royale, the worst thing to happen was team members separating from each other. And along with the opponents who ejected at the same time, if a team member was alone and they encountered an opponent¡¯s main forces, they would have a big problem.


    Right then, Little Four suddenly reported, "All data bing stable, wind speed has decreased, gravity is increasing... Boss, we are probably going tond on the ground of the soon."


    Ling Lan saw that it was still total darkness all around her, without a speck of visible light. This made her unable to specte what the situation at the ground was like. She instantly made a decision, quickly ordering Little Four, "Shoot out hover res!" At the same time, Ling Lan¡¯s fingers moved furiously. Using the different types of data that Little Four had analyzed, she adjusted the settings of the mecha once again, making the mecha¡¯s drop speed gradually slow. In the end, she sessfully changed the situation from dropping down to hovering in mid-air.


    "Boom, boom, boom" Following three exploding sounds, three purple colored res shot up into the sky in an instant, hovering over Ling Lan¡¯s mecha. In this thick and rich darkness, these three res seemed so bright and eye-catching, making them unable to be ignored.


    Qi Long and Luo Lang had ejected from the ship just a second after Ling Lan. They suddenly saw what looked like three points of purple lights in mid-air, far from where they were. They instantly felt a bit delight.


    When they were dropping down, their mechas was within the strong winds. They had been worried of being blown away from the original location by the whirling winds and being unable to see the res and find the base location if they got blown too far from their Boss. It turns out they were only blown a bit off-course, not too far from their boss¡¯s location. The two of them happily controlled their mechas and flew towards the light.


    It should be said that it was Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng, along with three other strategy high-ranking specialists, who arranged this idea. The final document had covered pretty much everything, listing every possible situation, including how the team would assemble in total darkness.


    Thus, when Ling Lan shot out the three res, the team members who saw the res knew what it signified¡ªbright purple color meant that they needed to immediately hover in the air because there could be danger on the¡¯s surface. Three res meant the person who shot it was the highest ranking officer, themander. At the same time, the three res also told them Ling Lan¡¯s location which was in the middle of the three res. And the most important meaning of the these res was to assemble!


    Qiao Ting, who was a bittepared to Qi Long and Luo Lang, also saw the three bright purple res. He didn¡¯t hesitate and headed straight towards that direction and shot out a bright purple and a green re. Simrly, what he did was to respond to Ling Lan¡¯s res. Shooting up the simr purple color re was to tell Ling Lan that he had received the message. The green re was reserved for Qiao Ting. At the same time he was also gathering his team members while notifying Ling Lan of his identity.


    After the other captains saw these res, they began to do the same. Instantly, a few more purple colored res shot up into the sky once again. However, along with these purple colored res, there were res of other different colors. Instantly, the brightened ck sky in the night became oddly beautiful.


    The team members who were not blown too far away and could see the res instantly became full of energy and operated their mechas towards the res that belonged to their respective teams.


    "Are those guys the First Men¡¯s Military Academy? How are they this prepared?" The members of the other academies, who were in between all this, saw the scene and began to turn green with envy. Compared to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s systematic approach and readiness, they were chasing their own tails and did not know what they should be doing next.


    However, mecha operators who had a brain would operate their mechas away from the areas illuminated by res¡ªthey knew very well that once they entered those areas, they would be alone and be trophies for the other team. They would definitely not make such a newbie mistake.

 Chapter 484 The Yin and Yang Sea!

    Ling Lan was waiting for her team members to gather up, not just blindly waiting. She took out a long-range beam rifle, aimed it at the ground below her and fired without specific purpose.


    A beam of light shed across the night sky, descending from the sky.


    "Bang." A muffled sound followed. The beam that had hit the ground did not make a loud sound. That bright light of the beam had vanished instantly, without a trace, like it had been swallowed up by something.


    "This feeling. There isn¡¯t any ground below us.." Ling Lan frowned. Her expression became grave and she asked Little Four, "Little Four, regarding that shot just now, did you find out anything from it?"


    "The reaction of the beam seems to show that it is highly likely for there to be some sort of liquid down below." Since they were 200 to 300 meters above the ground, the pitch-ck darkness was giving Little Four a lot of trouble in obtaining data using only the mecha¡¯s long range video recording gear.


    "Boss, there¡¯s a mecha approaching." Just when Ling Lan wanted to take a closer look, however, Little Four suddenly warned her of something happening.


    "Boss!" After reaching the distance where the team¡¯smlink started to work, Ling Lan heard a familiar rooster-like scream; only, that voice was colder than the usual right now.


    "It¡¯s Luo Lang!" Ling Lan smirked. She didn¡¯t think that the first toe find her was going to be Luo Lang. However, when she thought about Luo Lang¡¯s voice just now, she knew that he had kick-started his extremely calm personality. When Luo Lang used this personality, his mecha operating abilities shot up exponentially, directly advancing to the special-ss operator level. This made it understandable as to how he had been able to find this ce so quickly.


    "Boss, I¡¯ming." Although Luo Lang was operating an advanced mecha, his speed had reached the fastest level that advanced mecha could achieve¡ªthere wasn¡¯t much of a differencepared to special-ss mecha.


    "Luo Lang, I¡¯m going to go down and take a look at the situation. I¡¯m leaving this ce to you." Ling Lan flung these words at Luo Lang and then controlled her mecha to rapidly descend.


    Upon hearing this, Luo Lang quickly took out a beam saber and a short range beam gun from his back. In this darkness, the beam sabers which gave off light were more suitable than cold weapons. Of course, this meant they were effective in close rangebat, but beam sabers were not suitable at this time; although beam sabers could light up a 40 to 50 meters area around the wielder, it would also make them a target for a sneak attack. Having activated his calm and collected personality, Luo Lang wouldn¡¯t make such a low-level mistake.


    Luo Lang¡¯s expression became very calm, being carefully guarded in all directions. Boss Lan¡¯s simple orders, in reality, meant that he had put his life in Luo Lang¡¯s hands; thus, even the Luo Lang who had activated his calm and collected personality still felt immense pressure.


    Even so, however, he would not allow himself to fail the trust Boss had in him! In the cockpit, Luo Lang clenched his fist tightly.


    Suddenly, he felt movement from the his right sideing from the thick darkness. He didn¡¯t even stop think and raised his beam gun and took a shot.


    "Holy sh*t, murder!" Qi Long had just arrived, but before he could take a break, he felt a great catastrophe approaching. His finger speed definitely broke his own record at that moment, and it was because of this mystical reaction speed that he was able to dodge the shot that came out of nowhere.


    It was only now that Qi Long discovered there had been mecha hidden in the darkness less than 100 meters from his location.


    Hearing the loud voice that suddenly erupted in the team channel, Luo Lang knew he had made a huge mistake¡ªhe had shot at his teammate. He put away the gun and said coldly, "Oh, Qi Long, it¡¯s you."


    "Luo Lang... ugh. Even if it¡¯s you, Luo Lang, why didn¡¯t you say something before shooting?" Qi Long also put away the weapon in his hand upon seeing a familiar face. He moved his mecha before where Luo Lang was hovering.


    "Why didn¡¯t you say something when you wereing?" Luo Lang asked coldly. His words almost seemed to contained a trace of me.


    Qi Long rubbed his nose for a bit before saying embarrassedly, "I... I was in a hurry."


    "You deserved it!" Luo Lang nced at Qi Long with a disapproving look. Qi Long shouldn¡¯t think that he was the Luo Lang with the original personality, believing whatever he said.


    Qi Long speechlessly rubbed his nose again, then changed the subject and said, "What¡¯s wrong? Is Boss not here?" He had actually wanted to give Boss a surprise, thinking he was the first to arrive. He didn¡¯t think that the first to arrive was Luo Lang, and it was even the Luo Lang who had activated his cold personality. This was a really hard personality to fool.


    Luo Lang didn¡¯t answer but instead pointed below himself. Qi Long was no idiot; he thought about the order given through the bright purple re that Boss had shot out. He knew that there was something wrong at the bottom and it was most likely dangerous.


    Since Boss didn¡¯t tell them to go down, Qi Long wouldn¡¯t make a decision on his own. He waited with Luo Lang and was also alert towards his surroundings.


    Ling Lan, who had flown her mecha straight down, took out the beam saber from her back and switched on its power. The beam saber instantly shined with a brilliant light and instantly illuminated the area in a 40 to 50 meter radius around her.


    With this small amount of light, Ling Lan continued to descend and finally drew near to the "ground". The "ground" was t and so clear that it began to reflect the light from the beam saber, and this white light blinded Ling Lan¡¯s eyes.


    Without Ling Lan¡¯s orders, the mecha¡¯s screen instantly lowered its brightness; Little Four had put up a shield against the reflected light so that Ling Lan¡¯s eyes would no longer be affected.


    Ling Lan flew above the "ground" towards one direction and found that the surroundings were all this kind of "ground". She couldn¡¯t tell the end of it.


    Ling Lan stabbed hard at the "ground", but her beam saber met no resistance, going straight through the "ground" up to the sword hilt.


    Ling Lan quickly brought it back up. The originally t "ground" began to slightly stir, slowly shaking.


    "One-sixth of the the beam saber¡¯s energy was instantly depleted. This water is very odd," Ling Lan said to herself upon seeing the warning on the screen that had shown the beam saber¡¯s energy consumption.


    "It is water and this water may have a corrosive effect, or the ability to drain energy." Ling Lan quickly put back the beam saber behind her and at the same time took out a cold weapon, arge sword.


    Ling Lan gripped therge sword and used its tip to flick at the endless amounts of liquid below her. She then took out a light source and lit up therge sword¡¯s tip, and found drops of water falling from it one by one. However, the sword was still the same as before, without any damage.


    "Maybe the corrosive nature of this water is ineffective against the material of therge sword. However, what¡¯s more likely is that perhaps this is some mysterious substance capable of draining energy." If it really had a corrosive nature, the host of the mecha tournament probably wouldn¡¯t have had the guts to throw it down at this location. With so many mecha dropping down, who knew what would happen.


    Ling Lan fell into brief contemtion. Just when she wanted to return to the previous location where she had shot out the res, however, the originally pitch-ck darkness where she could not see even her own hands slowly became lit up.


    "Little Four, why do I think the night is getting brighter?" Ling Lan asked.


    "Really?" At Ling Lan¡¯s observation, Little Four remembered and began to search through the data he had collected. Indeed, visibility was improving. "It looks like daytime is approaching."


    "Not sure how long it is until daytime. We probably only have less than six hours left until it reaches midnight at our origin point, Qiming."


    "Yes, only 5 hours and 41 minutes left," Little Four responsibly reported the correct time.


    "Then we need to find ournding location as soon as possible, or else we won¡¯t be able to decide which direction we should go." If this area wasn¡¯t ake, then it was a sea. She picked out a mountain range, but this was theplete opposite of that. Unfortunately, although Ling Lan thought about it for a long time, she still couldn¡¯t manage to figure out whichke or sea she was at.


    Following this small exchange of words, the night continued to fade until daytime quickly arrived.


    This time, Ling Lan was able to see clearly. This area that they were dropped off at was indeed a vast sea of water and this sea was very odd. One side was full of fog and dark clouds, making it hard to see what was inside, while the other side was very clear in contrast. Ling Lan could even somewhat see that there were multiple mountain ranges close to each other at the end of sea.


    "Yin Yang Sea!" Ling Lan automatically remembered the name of this sea that was written on the map. Half of this sea was clear as far as the eye could see, and the other half always had a dark and rainy weather without many days of sunlight. This was the reason why it was called the Yin Yang Sea.


    "Looks like the foggy and cloudy side here is the Yin side of the sea and that other side should be the Yang side of the sea. Although the sun hasn¡¯te out yet, if we want to get to our destination, we can just move along the Yang side of the sea and go around those mountains," Ling Lan thought to herself.


    "Little Four, give me the map for the Yin Yang Sea," Ling Lan ordered.


    Very soon, the detailed map of the Yin Yang Sea appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s mind space. It was very clear that their headquarters location was very close to the Yang side of the sea. Taking a look at the distance and measuring the time, it would take them around one and a half hours to get there. Ling Lan thought about this and felt relieved. She began to patiently wait for everyone to gather up.


    With daytime approaching, those other academies that didn¡¯t have a direction or knew what they were doing began to actively gather up their respective team members. On Ling Lan¡¯s side, although most of her team members had gathered to their respective factions, there were still a few people who hadn¡¯t reported in. The other battle team¡¯s team leaders didn¡¯t sit around either and sent out their subordinates to form search teams.


    Thest few to arrive were Li Lanfeng and the others. They came towards Ling Lan¡¯s side with their faces full of smiles. They gestured "we won" with their hands at Lin Zhong-qing, who was currently reporting on the amount of supplies used. Lin Zhong-qing saw this and became pumped up.


    The reason why they had been sote in meeting up with the main force was that they had gone to find Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s logistics mecha team and give them the supplies they had snatched up at the veryst second. The four who had waited until the end to snatch supplies was indeed none other than Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun, Han Jijyun and Xie Yi.


    This idea had been proposed by Li Lanfeng in thest three minutes before dropping off. Han Jijyun had agreed, and Zhao Jun and Xie Yi voluntarily joined in. In the end, they had perfectly executed andpleted the undertaking of this creative idea, sessfully snatched some supplies and ejected.


    After going through the stolen goods, it became clear that everything these four had brought with them was very useful. Some were even stuff that they had not exchanged for, which benefited them greatly. This made them feel great about themselves.

 Chapter 485 Little Fours Origin?

    The team leaders of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy all had the same paper map, arge map that reached 90%pletion. Not only did Ling Lan find out where they were situated, but these team leaders had also figured it out. It should be said that the mecha operators from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy who were participating were each mecha n¡¯s best batch of operators. Not long after, everyone had returned to their respective teams without leaving anyone behind.


    The team leaders from each team gathered beside Ling Lan. During the search for members who had strayed off course, they had discussed what they should n on doing next. They believed that they should go along the Yang side of the sea and find their headquarters location as soon as possible, so as toplete the mission that would decide whether they met the prerequisite conditions in order to participate in the battle royale.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t have any problems with this idea. When thest member had returned to their team, Ling Lan gave an order to fly towards the direction of Yang side of the sea.


    The other military academies were silently watching the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s movements. When they saw that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy choice of direction was the same as theirs, they stopped hesitating and all flew towards the Yang side of the sea at top speed. This allowed them to quickly pass by and be one step ahead of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, who were maintaining a slow flying speed.


    This action of theirs, in the eyes of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, made them feel that they were being taunted. The team members who were angered were about to elerate and pass them. At that moment, however, Ling Lan, who had been looking forward this whole time, saw that this sea which gave off a warm and calm feeling had suddenly be oddly twisted.


    Something was wrong! Ling Lan felt that something wasn¡¯t right and quickly ordered, "Stop flying!"


    Ling Lan¡¯smand made everyone stop the engines of their mecha and hovered in the air. The other academies¡¯ mecha teams hadpletely disappeared from their sights due to them stopping.


    "F*ck, how are those guys so fast?" Seeing the opponents from the other academies disappear, many of the team members who were ready fight became greatly irritated. They were dissatisfied with Ling Lan¡¯s spontaneous order.


    Qiao Ting made his mecha hover in the sky and frowned at Ling Lan. He asked mockingly, "Captain Ling, is there a problem?"


    "Yes, there definitely are some problems." Qiao Ting hadn¡¯t expected his question to be answered and confirmed, which surprised him. "What¡¯s the problem?"


    "Wait a sec. Let me study it for a bit," Ling Lan answered.


    Ling Lan opened her eyes as wide as possible and looked towards the calm sea that went for a thousand miles, trying to find the reason that had made her think that there was something wrong. After ncing for around one minute, the calm Yang side of the sea still didn¡¯t change. It was as though the twisted image Ling Lan saw from before was an illusion. But was it really an illusion?


    Just when Ling Lan became frustrated, the image of the calm and mirror-like Yang side of the sea became twisted for a moment once again. This time, because Ling Lan was 100% focused, she saw it more clearly than the first time¡ªsomething was definitely wrong!


    But what kind of problem was it? While the gears in Ling Lan¡¯s head turned rapidly, she didn¡¯t forget that she had asked Little Four to analyze this matter with her. Little Four¡¯s calction abilities were, of course, terrifying, stronger than hers by hundreds or even thousands of times. It would be a waste if she didn¡¯t use him for some hardbor.


    "Boss, I justpared all the different data from this Yang side of the sea. I found that the air humidity is much higher than the part of the sea where we dropped down from." Little Four hadpared the data of both parts and found an anomaly.


    Humidity? Ling Lan stared nkly for a moment, but quickly reacted to this information. She happily held up Little Four¡¯s head in her mindspace, kissed him hard on the forehead and said, "Little Four, you really are my good Little Four. You found out what the problem was. I almost got tricked by this Yin Yang Sea."


    Little Four became giddy from Ling Lan¡¯s sudden but warm kiss. Hisputer processing chip was burning up, with only one phrase repeating in its code: Boss kissed me! Boss kissed me! These three words were infinitely repeating, instantly taking up all of his processing space, and almost made him die on the spot.


    In the learning space, Instructor Number One suddenly opened his eyes. His originally calm and unmoved expression changed for the first time. He held out a finger, pointed it at the air and drew. A ck line appeared out of nowhere in the wake of his finger. Number One used both hands to pull at the ck line and the image of Ling Lan mindspace appeared before him.


    Number One put his hand through the image, grabbed Little Four and tugged hard¡ªthe Little Four in Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace vanished into thin air. Ling Lan, who was using all of her power to determine the situation, didn¡¯t really care that Little Four had disappeared, the reason being that when Ling Lan didn¡¯t need Little Four, he woulde and go mysteriously. Perhaps this time he had gone off to y around somewhere.


    Number One grabbed Little Four and in the next second, they came to a world full of ice and frost. Little Four¡¯s entire body emitted a copious amount of steam after being hit by the cold air, and his previously burningputer chip on the verge of dying finally had its temperature dropped down by a bit...


    Right then, up above in the air of this world of frost, eight openings suddenly ruptured the sky, and in the next second, eight instructors hade to this world. Although Number Nine¡¯s expression was still as cold as always, her eyes could not hide the fact that she cared for Little Four, and she asked, "Are you okay, Your Majesty Number Four?"


    "He¡¯s alright, but..." Number One frowned. "It might no longer be suitable for His Majesty Number Four to be with Ling Lan."


    "Why?" Number Three asked, not understanding why.


    "Of course a mecha man with a body full of muscles wouldn¡¯t understand this point," Number Five sneered.


    Number Three didn¡¯t get angry. He smiled and asked in response, "Yeah, I don¡¯t understand. If you do, then why not exin it to me?"


    Number Five instantly felt difficulty in exining. Although he had a vague grasp as to what the reason was, it was still somewhat hard for him to exin clearly.


    "This is a kind of influence. I¡¯m not sure if it has any connection with spiritual power. I should study it further," Number Two quietly talked to himself on the side.


    "It looks like my future student has greattent abilities. Despite not having the charm of a woman, she still made His Majesty Four lose his bearings and almost break down."


    Number Nine stared at Number Four, ring exasperatedly at her. "Number Four, what nonsense are you talking about? His Majesty Four has only reached adolescence. How can he understand these things?"


    "Maybe our Majesty Four was born a pervert." Number Four covered her mouth andughed.


    The eyes of Number Six, Number Seven and Number Eight lit up at that moment. They looked at each other, then Number Six said, "If His Majesty Four is not suitable to be in contact with Ling Lan, then shouldn¡¯t the three of us go in His Majesty Four¡¯s ce? It is just that we haven¡¯t met Ling Lan before."


    Hearing this, Number Four became impatient, saying, "I haven¡¯t seen Ling Lan before. I can go in His Majesty Four¡¯s ce."


    Number Seven smiled and said, "The three of us are skilled in different fields of expertise, which satisfy Ling Lan¡¯s respective needs. The important point is that we three look exactly the same and can switch whenever we want without Ling Lan bing suspicious. Number Four, you can¡¯t do something like this."


    Number Four was dismayed. What Number Seven had said was the truth. If they reced Little Four, they could only use the outer storage analysis system. Only His Majesty Four could use the core as they could not operate cross-level.


    Little Four woke up and heard the instructors discuss the matter about taking his ce. He instantly became worked up and yelled, "No, I want to be with Boss!"


    "Your Majesty Four, you almost died just now," Instructor Number One said sternly. "If theputer chip¡¯s temperature rises too high, it will be destroyed. You know what that will result in even without my saying anything."


    Little Four embarrassedly lowered his head before Number One¡¯s critical gaze. He said quietly, "I only got a bit excited."


    Without waiting for Instructor Number One to continue reprimanding him, Little Four raised his head and said earnestly, "I will control myself in the future. I will not let myself be in danger again, so please just let me be with Boss."


    Number One¡¯s expression was very grave. Little Four¡¯s expression had gone from anticipant to sobbing uncontrobly. The sad look on his face made Number Nine be soft-hearted. She looked towards Number One and said, "Little Four knows his limits now. You should just let His Majesty Four stay with Ling Lan." The close rtionship that Little Four and Ling Lan had formed over so many years made her unable to bear separating them.


    Number One instantly shot a cold nce at Number Nine, who became shocked and immediately lowered her head¡ªthe way she had addressed Little Four as ¡¯Little Four¡¯ was out of line.


    Number Five saw this and his heart ached suddenly. He quickly said, "Number One, what Number Nine said isn¡¯t wrong. His Majesty Four has followed Ling Lan for more than a decade and she evolved to a level that would have otherwise taken hundreds of years. As long as His Majesty Four knows how serious this is and controls himself, he would be getting more good than harm from following Ling Lan. If you look at this way, then it¡¯s worth it."


    Little Four gave a powerful nod at Number Five instructor¡¯s words. That expression of longing on his face made Instructor Number One¡¯s mouth twitch. If he continued like this, would it really be good for their originally evolved, intelligent and brilliant Majesty Four?


    "Alright, I¡¯ll give you onest chance!" Number One said helplessly, defeated by Little Four¡¯s cuteness. Since meeting Ling Lan, he felt that he was bing more and more helpless...


    "Thank you, Instructor Number One!" Little Four was so happy he jumped up. In the next second, now returned to normal, he went back into Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace.


    "Ugh..." Number One looked at the empty spot in front of him and inwardly sighed helplessly. He hadn¡¯t told Little Four that the child in the little ck room had woken up, and didn¡¯t have to ask whether they should go care for it a bit. "Yeah, no need to hurry. I¡¯ll do it next time."


    A thought rose in Number One¡¯s mind and he flicked his finger, and Little Blossom who was in the little ck room felt dizzy, falling back to a deep sleep. Before falling asleep, Little Blossom screamed internally, "F**k, I just woke up!"


    Little Four immediately started sobbing after reaching Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace and seeing her still silently thinking about the results.


    He hade close, so close, to being separated from his boss forever... Bah, no, it was more like the story of the cowherd and the weaving girl, looking and crying helplessly at each other from across the Milky Way... Ah, that wasn¡¯t right either. He and Boss weren¡¯t in that kind of rtionship! Little Four suddenly pulled at his hair and discovered that his vocabry was so limited. He was actually unable to find a suitable phrase to describe the feeling of despair he had experienced.


    Who cares! Little Four quickly wiped away his tears. He leaped towards Ling Lan and held onto her thigh, crying, "Wah wah wah, Boss, I need to be protected."


    Being jumped on by Little Four finally woke up Ling Lan who had still been in deep thought. Ling Lan¡¯s hairs immediately stood on end upon seeing the annoying Little Four holding onto her thigh. Without thinking, she flicked her finger at Little Four¡¯s forehead, saying, "Little Four, what the f**k are you doing?"

 Chapter 486 The Mirage City Under the Sea!

    Little Four¡¯s forehead was hurt from the flick. He became more afraid and sobbed. "Boss, just now, I almost became unable to see you again."


    Little Four¡¯s words dumbfounded Ling Lan. She waited for Little Four¡¯s exnation, but he only held onto her thigh and didn¡¯t say any more.


    Sensing Little Four¡¯s fear, Ling Lan softly caressed his hair and said, "Little Four, you have to remember that if you suddenly vanish one day, I will definitely find you. Definitely!"


    Ling Lan¡¯s serious tone pacified Little Four¡¯s fearful heart. Little Four¡¯s emotions slowly calmed down. He nodded and answered softly, "Okay, I believe you Boss!"


    After she caressed Little Four¡¯s head for a little longer and felt that his emotions were returning to normal, Ling Lan instantly pushed him away and left her mindspace in a sh. She rejoiced that all of this had happened in her mindspace. No matter how many things happened in her mindspace, only one or two minutes would have passed in the outside world.


    Little Four instantly felt hurt after seeing the empty mindspace. Wah wah wah, this little brother was definitely brought up by the step-mom, otherwise Boss wouldn¡¯t have tossed him aside so heartlessly.


    After leaving the mindspace, Ling Lan immediately told everyone what she had discovered. "Logically, the always sunny Yang side of the sea rarely sees rainfall, so its humidity should be lower than the Yin side of the sea. However, as luck would have it, the humidity is higher than the humidity of the location where we had dropped from..."


    Those who could participate in the mecha tournament were all talented and intelligent people. They knew that the humidity of rainy ces was definitely higher than that of sunny areas. Qiao Ting nodded and said, "Regarding this point, it indeed doesn¡¯t make sense."


    "Is it possible that before we dropped down, a thunderstorm had just urred in this area?" Someone brought up a very usible situation that could have happened.


    Everyone looked at Ling Lan in unnned unison, waiting for her answer.


    "Yes, of course, there is that possibility. In order to see if that is true or not, I have decided to wait for half an hour," Ling Lan spoke out her decision. "Looking at the current intensity of the sun, the humidity may decrease in half an hour. This way, just like what that team member said earlier, it would be very possible that a thunderstorm had passed before we arrived and the humidity in the air had not dissipatedpletely. However, if the humidity remains the same and doesn¡¯t decrease, then this sea..."


    "This sea could be a trap." Qiao Ting understood the meaning behind Ling Lan¡¯s words and immediately said, "I agree to wait!"


    "I also agree!"


    "Agreed!"


    ...


    All the team leaders had agreed to wait for half an hour. ording to the map, if everything went ording to n, the Yang side of the sea was half an hour away from their headquarters¡¯ location. That was why they had 30 minutes to waste.


    Just like that, all the members of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy silently waited and 30 minutes quickly passed by. Many people were monitoring the humidity levels and they found that the humidity in the air did not decrease during this time, but slowly increased instead.


    Qiao Ting saw this situation as well. He raised his head and looked at the zing sun that was almost above his head. His said worriedly, "What is happening? Why did a situation like this ur?"


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t answer, but instead, she asked him, "Captain Qiao, I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯ve heard of The mirage city under the sea?"


    Ling Lan¡¯s words stunned everyone present. The Mirage City Under the Sea, or Mirage City for short, was a natural phenomenon that resulted from the refraction of light beams, a mirage created from the light from objects of the ancient Earth refracting light through the atmosphere.


    Ever since the resources on ancient Earth were all used up and ultimately became a barren, they could only gain knowledge of this mysterious phenomenon through books. They had not witnessed the real thing before, which made them forget about it, and so they would hardly ever think towards this idea. Mirage City was way too far away in the past to them.


    "You¡¯re saying that the Yang side of the sea is possibly fake and is like a Mirage City?" Qiao Ting¡¯s face was full of surprise. Something that had disappeared from ancient times had somehow reappeared on this unknown? Could it be true?


    "Yes, that¡¯s the only way to exin it." Ling Lan was a 21st century Earthling in her past life, although she could only stay in the hospital and not go outside because of her body. However, as someone who enjoyed surfing the Inte and finding out everything about Earth, Ling Lan yearned to witness the phenomenon of Mirage City with her own eyes. That was why when Ling Lan saw that the data was not corrting to what she was seeing, the first thing she thought to was the Mirage City.


    "Then where is the real Yang side of the sea?" asked someone who was confused.


    Ling Lan turned to look behind her. Right then, she could still see that it was hazy and cloudy. She pointed towards that direction and said, "My guess is that this Mirage City is like a reflection of a mirror. It is very likely that the real side lies before it."


    Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up and he said, "You¡¯re saying that the Yin and Yang side of the sea that we see are all fake. They are all Mirage Cities, like mirrors reflecting each other. So the area where we thought was the Yin side of the sea is the real Yang side of the sea?"


    "What I guessed is as you say. Whether that¡¯s the case or not, we will have to return to the original location to know. If we get closer to the Yin side of the sea and the humidity decreases, then my guess would be correct," Ling Lan answered.


    The team members heard the conversation between the captains. Ling Lan¡¯s spections made them very confused, but this could not stop the admiration they felt towards Ling Lan. God, how much must Captain Ling know to be able to specte and think of a legend like the Mirage City phenomenon?


    Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun were beside Ling Lan. After hearing Ling Lan¡¯s conjecture, they felt both proud and embarrassed. They were proud because of the remarkable person before them was the boss that was leading them forward. The stronger and more aberrant their boss was, the more they found it an honor. However, they could not refrain from feeling embarrassed. It should be known that this job should have been done by them, as it was the responsibility of strategists, yet in this case, they had let their boss do all the work.


    Both of them felt a sense of crisis. At this rate, their positions as strategists wouldn¡¯t be guaranteed anymore. The two of them couldn¡¯t help but smile weakly in their mind. With an aberrant captain who was notcking in mental and physical strength, there was a lot of pressure on those who, like themselves, used their brains.


    Ling Lan¡¯s conjectures received everyone¡¯s approval. When Ling Lan gave the order to return to where they started, not only did no one resist, but some even jokingly said they wanted to go back to experience the uracy of her hypothesis themselves.


    In reality, Ling Lan guesses were on point for everything. The closer they moved towards the Yin side of the sea, the lower the humidity level became. With this, Ling became more certain of her judgment. She ordered all her team members without hesitation to closely follow their teammates who were in the front. She went head first into the white fog, which prevented one from even seeing their own hands.


    Visibility in the fog was greatly lowered. In the event of dangers within the fog, Ling Lan and the others did not fly too fast. Every mecha operator was closely watching the teammates that were in front of them, not daring to lose focus. They were afraid that one mistake would make them lose sight of their teammate. When surrounded by fog, the most terrifying thing was to lose sight of one¡¯s teammates.


    They flew for about two to three minutes when Ling Lan suddenly found that the fog that she could clearly see earlier, had suddenly clearedpletely. Having now escaped the foggy area, Ling Lan saw that she was in the middle of the zing sun. The strong sunlight shined on the mecha. Even Ling Lan, who was in the cockpit, could feel the warmth of the sun.


    "Wow, this is the real Yang side of the sea!" The teammates who came out after her excitedly screamed upon seeing the sea with the sun shining brightly before them.


    At that moment, Qiao Ting had also led his team out of the fog. He had been monitoring the humidity levels the entire time and when they had entered this area, the humidity had dropped again to a new low. It was just as Ling Lan had guessed¡ªthis was the real Yang side of the sea.


    "We managed to find the right ce... those other contestants from the other military academies who flew into the Mirage City in front of us... won¡¯t they be screwed?" Han Yu, who had been doubtful this whole time, also acknowledged Ling Lan¡¯s judgment. He thought about the cadets from the other military academies who went head first into the fake Yang side of the sea and instantly felt a sense of schadenfreude.


    "Hopefully they will realize it soon; otherwise, if they reachnd on the Yin side of the sea and then turn around,ing back will be impossible without at least 12 hours." Mu Shaoyu looked at the map in his hands and sighed.


    Thending point on the Yin side of the sea was located exactly opposite to the map of the battle royale. At this distance, even for ace operators, six hours wouldn¡¯t be enough for them toe back in time.


    After seeing the sea on this side, Ling Lan¡¯s lip curled slightly. She gave herself a pat on the back for the urate hypothesis. Despite her confident behavior, in reality, she had still been feeling somewhat anxious before seeing this oue.


    "All units assemble. Each team is to take a roll call. If all members are ounted for, then we will move forward at full speed." Ling Lan quickly gave a new order. All teams had counted their own team members and reported to Ling Lan. In the end, they made sure that there was no one missing from the group.


    Now without worry, Ling Lan led all her team members to advance at maximum speed. After flying tirelessly for a little over an hour, they finally saw the shoreline of the Yang side of the sea. The cluster of mountain ranges worked people up and excited them, the reason being that the headquarters location which belonged to them, the Area G17, was situated on a mountain not far from the mountain ranges they were seeing.


    Qiao Ting and the others saw the mountain ranges and instantly let out a sigh of relief. Going through that sort of long-distance flying in a seemingly endless sea would cause one to be greatly exhausted. Upon being able to seend, the group¡¯s spirits were lifted and they seemed to be slightly less tired.


    Ling Lan and her group should be the first group to get close to this area. They flew over the mountain ranges, but didn¡¯t find any cadets from the other military academies. Very soon, they found the Area G17 that belonged to them and put the beacon that represented their headquarters in a random corner.


    Right then, thousands of miles away, on the 5 by 7 meter humongous screen in the main security room of the mecha tournament¡¯s battle royale, the light of the Area G17, which was originally among the grayed out areas of therge map, lit up.

 Chapter 487 - Lets Play Something Stimulating

    <h4>Chapter 487: Let¡¯s y Something Stimting</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The waiting referees suddenly grew excited. The main referee looked at the time on themunicator on his wrist, smiled and said, ¡°The first to reach their base camp, using 1 hour and 59 minutes. The amount of time they took is pretty short, but unfortunately, they still didn¡¯t manage to beat the shortest time record.¡±


    Upon hearing that, one referee couldn¡¯t help but argue, ¡°General Ling Xiao made a record of 1 hour and 37 minutes back then. That is already infinitely near the fastest theoretical speed. How can anyone be able to break this record?¡±


    The main referee thought about it and believed it to be true. If someone really did break the shortest time record General Ling Xiao had created, then that would be a surprise. The main referee and the others didn¡¯t know at the time that if Ling Lan hadn¡¯t waited 30 minutes to make sure of her predictions, it was possible that Ling Lan¡¯s group could have beaten Ling Xiao¡¯s record and made a record of their own.


    Tossing aside the small suspicions in his mind, the main referee turned his head and asked the referee in charge of monitoring signal transfers, ¡°How long until we know which military academy is at G17?¡±


    ¡°The A.I. is now receiving the beacon¡¯s signal. It is at 90% right now. The answer will be known soon enough,¡± the referee reported as he continued to watch the progress bar go up.


    A ¡°beep¡± sounded right as he finished speaking¡ªthe signal received had reached 100%. Following that, the Area G17 which had lit up showed a familiar academy emblem. ¡°It¡¯s the First Men¡¯s Military Academy!¡±


    ¡°Holy sh*t, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy is pretty strong this year. Their score from before already left the other military academies behind by arge margin. As long as their performance in the battle royale isn¡¯t too bad, this year¡¯s first ce should theirs. Heh heh heh, it¡¯s been almost 7 times, right? The first ce that was far out of their reach for more than two decades should return to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy now,¡± one referee eximed.


    Right then, another referee seemed to have realized something andughed out loud. Everyone looked towards him with surprised looks, not knowing what he wasughing about.


    That referee quickly exined, ¡°I just thought it was a coincidence that two decades ago, General Ling Xiao led the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and obtained the most glorious first ce. Two decades have passed, and General Ling Xiao hase to visit the mecha tournament and as luck would have it, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s performance is remarkable beyondparison. Doesn¡¯t this mean that General Ling Xiao is the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯sdy luck? If he¡¯s around then everything will go smoothly, right?¡±


    These words that held a bit ridicule made everyone smile inside. However, it was just as what that referee had said¡ªit was really a coincidence. After the tournament in which General Ling Xiao had made a glorious achievement, Ling Xiao didn¡¯t appear in the seven tournaments that followed. The performance of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was always poor and they were pressured into second ce for seven straight seasons by the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. This time, however, General Ling Xiao came and from the start of the tournament, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s performance was overwhelming and suppressed the other military academies. And now, they were also the first ones to reach their base camp location, giving themselves more time to organize the defenses of the camp. The future prospects of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy in the battle royale were looking good.


    Right then, noises suddenly came from the outside and someone repeatedly eximed, ¡°General Ling Xiao¡¯s here.¡±


    Everyone in the main monitoring room was very surprised. Although everyone knew General Ling Xiao would visit the main scene, everyone still believed that the busy General Ling Xiao would onlye to watch in theter parts of the battle royale. They hadn¡¯t thought that General Ling Xiao woulde when the tournament hadn¡¯t really started.


    Soon, the people in the monitoring room saw General Ling Xiao, who was full of energy,ing in with a beautiful woman. They were none other than General Ling Xiao and his wife, Lan Luofeng.


    The two¡¯s love story was always relished by others. Lan Luofeng used to be the person whom all the women in the federation were jealous of. Now that they had seen the actual person, many of the female officers who were present felt better. They kicked themselves for not being the woman who was standing beside General Ling Xiao.


    Of course, there were many officers who came along with General Ling Xiao, such as lieutenant Qiu Yue, the first advisor of the 23rd Division, He Xuyang, other representatives from other divisions, and also the representative belonging to the Federation¡ªthe Vice President.


    Everyone moved in front of therge screen with the help of the person in charge from the organizers. Ling Xiao saw the only area that was lit up and seeing the familiar school emblem, he smirked. He hadn¡¯t thought that his own daughter would have arrived at their headquarters location this quickly. He uncontrobly nced at Qiu Yue, who stood beside him, with a hint of disdain in his expression.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s nce made Qiu Yue scratch his nose awkwardly. On their way here, he had told Ling Xiao about how he tossedmander Ling Lan into the Yin Yang Sea. He had no choice but to do so, as he was worried that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would not be able to see through the mysteries of the Yin Yang Sea, fail to discover the real path and get regrettably eliminated. That was why he had wanted to give Ling Xiao a heads up, in case he got mad at the end.


    As for Ling Xiao, he was very satisfied with the performance of Ling Lan¡¯s group. On the side of First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s cadets, once they arrived at the base camp, they began to get busy. Everyone split the work and cooperated, while Ling Lan specially called for the modification team. Led by Chang Xinyuan, they began to modify some of the lighter weapons. It was because of this group of people that Ling Lan had forgone exchanging for heavy weaponry at the beginning, choosing instead the light and easy to carry weapons. With these mechanics, their headquarters would not becking in weaponry.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t rest either. She asked Lin Zhong-qing to take out the light sources and handed 100 of them to Qiao Ting. Light sources were very useful in dark environments and could be used to illuminate areas. After Qiao Ting received the light sources, he quietly took his team and left.


    ording to the original n, Qiao Ting¡¯s 24-man team was responsible for being the vanguard. They were to take over other areas, regardless of whether there were people there or not, and gain as many points as possible. On the other hand, the defense of the headquarters was the responsibility of Ling Lan, Han Yu, Mu Shaoyu and the other teams.


    After seeing Qiao Ting¡¯s team off, Ling Lan decisively connected to Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu¡¯sm-link. ¡°Captain Mu, Captain Han, I need to talk to you guys. Pleasee over.¡±


    Upon hearing Ling Lan¡¯s summons, the two teams that were just patrolling and looking at the situation of the area quickly came over.


    Seeing that Ling Lan hade out of her mecha, the two of them did the same as well. Ling Lan gave out two pieces of paper which she had prepared earlier, one to Mu Shaoyu and one to Han Yu.


    After the two of them each took a piece of paper, their eyes showed a hint of confusion, not really understanding what it all meant.


    ¡°You guys can look at each other¡¯s,¡± Ling Lan prompted them.


    The two of them instantly had a thought and exchanged their pieces of paper. They simultaneously read the details of the piece of paper they were handed and saw that Mu Shaoyu¡¯s piece had G14 written on it, while Han Yu¡¯s piece had G20 written on it.


    The two of them had now gained some understanding of the papers¡¯ meaning, but they were still slightly confused. They looked towards Ling Lan, waiting for her exnation.


    Ling Lan opened the map in her hands and signaled the two toe closer. She pointed at the two areas that were between the Area G17 and a few others and said, ¡°These areas are actually, as I remember, all uninhabited. I don¡¯t want our headquarters to be exposed in front of everyone. The two areas that I just gave you are very good ces for providing us with cover...¡±


    Ling Lan quietly exined her thoughts to Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu. The two of them nodded as they listened, their eyes lighting up increasingly. Ling Lan¡¯s arrangement was evidently a strategy of a city within a city, in order to prevent others from finding the location of their headquarters.


    ¡°In the mountain areas, we have three opponents. One is at G6. Captain Mu Shaoyu is responsible for that side. One is at G12, which is close to the side that Captain Han Yu is responsible for.¡± Ling Lan pointed towards the areas that were somewhat far from where they were and told them where the enemies were lurking. She then also pointed towards the furthest corner of the mountain ranges that were very far from them. ¡°And there¡¯s this one, at G2. This one doesn¡¯t really matter because here, here, and here, all have military academy headquarters. They have to face these opponents before they can expand towards our side.¡±


    Mu Shaoyu and Han Yu felt that Ling Lan¡¯s analysis of why the third opponent would not be a problem was very urate. Firstly, they were too far away from thempared to the Area G6 and G12 which were much closer. Secondly, the military academy in Area G2 was really unlucky. In the four areas that were adjacent to them, other than G1 being uninhabited, the other three areas, P3, P4 and P5, were all unlucky and became a headquarters for the military academies. The military academy in these four areas would either form a temporary alliance and expand outwards together, or fight each other until the strongest was left, taking over all four areas.


    However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that they would be able to sessfully form an alliance. Other than that area where they were all squished together, the rest was arge portion of uninhabited areas. They would definitely not be able to maintain their alliances. It would only be an illusion and the end result would definitely be of one betraying the other and stabbing each other in the back, leaving only one team in the end.


    Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu left with their orders and began to build headquarters outside the real headquarters in order to confuse the other military academies. As for what the headquarters would be, Ling Lan did not concern herself with it. It would have impossible for Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu to have each be a leader of the four great factions if they didn¡¯t have anything up their sleeves. Ling Lan always used the people that she trusted and never those that she didn¡¯t. She notified Lin Zhong-qing that as long as their requests were not too overboard, he should fully satisfy the needs of the two faction leaders.


    After organizing everything, she saw that Qi Long¡¯s bunch had alreadye beside her. Qi Long was even low spirited and discouraged.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    ¡°They all went out. But as for us, are we really just going to sit in headquarters and wait for others to attack? That¡¯s so boring.¡± Qi Long wanted to go out and fight. For him, being on the defense was not as thrilling as being on the offense.


    ¡°When I finish arranging everything, I will take you guys out to walk around,¡± Ling Lan said speechlessly. She knew these guys couldn¡¯t take just sitting around. This was fine since she hadn¡¯t been intending on defending their base camp to the death, to begin with.


    Ling Lan pinched the object in her bag. They could lose everything if she was wrong, but as for everything they stood to gain... Ling Lan¡¯s mouth curled slightly¡ªshe had already made up her mind.


    In a battle of life or death, her will to gamble was still this strong! Just let all her team members y something stimting with her then!

 Chapter 488 - The Fifth House?

    <h4>Chapter 488: The Fifth House?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    In the monitoring room, all the referees and the staff members were staring at therge screen before them as the territory marked by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy expanded slowly...


    ¡°Area number 20 has been lit up... G14 as well. Looks like the First Men¡¯s Military Academy split their forces, went on the offensive in multiple directions and snatched up all the surrounding unupied areas. The zones they control have already expanded to 11 areas.¡± A referee was jotting down the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s achievements. Of course, this wasn¡¯t the final result¡ªafter upying those areas, they still had to defend them during the 72 hours starting from the officialmencement of the battle royale.


    Right then, Ling Xiao and others walked towards the middle of the monitoring room to the life-like map on the table. The tall mountains, flowing rivers, fields, and forests were all scaled down andpacted in a model and ced onto this table.


    ¡°The First Men¡¯s Military Academy has pretty much taken over the rear half of the mountain ranges. Actually, it is because they drew a good location. There are pretty much no opponents near their headquarters. The ones closest to them are at Area G6 and G12 on their left and right sides. They can be more at ease since the Yin Yang Sea is behind them. This is a natural defensive line. Other than the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, none of the other military academies can sessfully pass through there. This makes it so they have very little pressureing from their rear,¡± one division representative said while looking at the model and analyzing the advantages held by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. After saying that, he raised his head and looked towards Ling Xiao, who was focused and looking at the terrain. With a hint of provocation in his tone, he said, ¡°General Ling, your juniors seem to have pretty good luck this time.¡± He implied that the great results achieved by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were all due to luck.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s expression froze slightly. Soon after, his lips curved into a faint, shallow smile and he said, ¡°Yeah, who knew they would be this lucky. To be able to cross the Yin Yang Sea and be the first to reach their headquarters.¡±


    Hmph! Was the Yin Yang Sea that easy to cross? He dared to say that his daughter was lucky? Motherf****er! This was a show of strength!


    Ling Xiao¡¯s words were clearly sarcastic, causing the division representative to suddenly freeze up. In the end, he awkwardly smiled, thinking to himself, ¡°Didn¡¯t they say Ling Xiao had a good temper? Howe he¡¯s being like this now?¡±


    On hearing Ling Xiao¡¯s words, He Xuyang revealed a hint of a shallow smile. It was as expected¡ªYoung Master Lan was the General¡¯s own flesh and blood! He would not let anyone nder her that easily!


    Sensing that Ling Xiao was a bit unhappy, the mecha tournament host¡¯s representative grudgingly shot a nce at the division representative who did not know his ce. Man, did they really think that General Ling Xiao was the same lieutenant from before who would take orders from them? He quickly smiled, and to smooth things over he said, ¡°Luck is also a type of strength. Three hours have almost passed and the only one to reach their headquarters is the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. You can tell that this year¡¯s participating cadets are very strong. I heard that there was someone considered to be second to General Ling, called... Qiao something?¡± He turned around towards his assistant beside him.


    The assistant reacted quickly and instantly answered, ¡°Qiao Ting, the cadet who advanced to an ace operator in his fourth year.¡±


    The host representative nodded and said, ¡°Yes, yes, yes, that¡¯s him. Speaking of him, it reminds me that you, General Ling Xiao, created a record when you advanced to an ace operator at the beginning of your fourth year in the academy.¡±


    Ling Xiao smiled humbly and said, ¡°You¡¯re mocking me right? I know that there were secretly many cadets who advanced to an ace operator during the fourth year. Now that I think about it, I was still young back then and only knew how to show off.¡±


    ¡°Hmph, if you guys knew that my daughter advanced to ace in her first year, you would be so surprised your jaws would drop, right? But I¡¯m not going to tell you!¡± Ling Xiao thought to himself proudly.


    The host¡¯s representative naturally didn¡¯t believe Ling Xiao¡¯s words and continued topliment him. ¡°General Ling is being too modest. There were definitely some who advanced close to the end of their fourth year, but you were the only one who advanced at the beginning of the fourth year, General Ling.¡± After saying this, the representative tapped his head exaggeratedly and said, ¡°Oh right, now there¡¯s this Qiao Ting. Why else would he be considered a second General Ling?¡±


    The host¡¯s representative thought that the reason Ling Xiao was paying close attention to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was because of the second Ling Xiao, Qiao Ting. His words were, at the same time, intended to praise Qiao Ting and make Ling Xiao happy.


    One of the people who came with Ling Xiao was the representative from the third division. Upon hearing all this, his eyes lit up and a feeling of joy shed in them. His assignment during this mecha tournament was to observe Qiao Ting¡¯s performance. As it was already decided internally that Qiao Ting was going to join the third division and be a subordinate of the Third Marshal, he was of utmost importance to the Third Marshal. If Qiao Ting really could be a second Ling Xiao and ultimately be a god-ss operator, their strength would be greater than the Second Marshal¡¯s faction and maybe even on par with the First Marshal¡¯s faction.


    Wasn¡¯t the only reason why the First Marshal could control the military of the Federation for more than a decade was because he had Ling Xiao, a young and promising god-ss operator whose future was boundless? If it wasn¡¯t for the coincidence of Ling Xiao¡¯s ¡®sacrifice¡¯ that gave the First Marshal¡¯s faction a chance to use public opinions to make both the military and public angry, making their two factions have no choice but to give up on thepetition, it would not have been so easy for the First Marshal¡¯s faction to take control of the military to this day.


    In the end, they had waited until the impact of Ling Xiao¡¯s ¡®sacrifice¡¯ had reached its lowest stage and the position of the First Marshal had be unstable. It was right that time, however, that Ling Xiao coincidentally ¡®revived¡¯. Upon the return of Ling Xiao, whose battle level was already known by the public, thousands came to see him. This made the weakened influence of the First Marshal¡¯s faction return to their peak, and the seat of the First Marshal became stable once again...


    If Qiao Ting could be like Ling Xiao in terms of quick growth, in six years he would be able to sessfully advance to god-ss. That would be the day when the third faction would retaliate. The third division representative¡¯s smirk became more pronounced. It was as though he could see the proud day when they achieved this goal in the future.


    The host¡¯s representative¡¯s words only made Lin Xiao smile a bit just for show. He knew of Qiao Ting because his own daughter wanted to lead her team topete in the mecha tournament. Children who walked thousands of miles would make their fathers worry for them! It was thus only natural that Ling Xiao needed to know about those members from Ling Lan¡¯s team. Ling Xiao paid a bit more attention to Qiao Ting because he was a genius above all others in every aspect, and was listed by intelligence officers as the number one cadet; however, that was it.


    Right then, the staff in the monitoring room suddenly said, ¡°A second military academy has appeared.¡±


    As soon as he finished, another person said, ¡°A third one has appeared as well...¡±


    ¡°A fourth is there as well...¡±


    ¡°Ah, another area has been lit up. A fifth one...¡±


    On therge screen, numerous areas were lit up at the same time. Originally, only the G district had color and the other parts of the map were grayed out, but now the map finally had many colorful parts that were full of life.


    ¡°Finished receiving signal from Area P47. It¡¯s the First Co-ed Military Academy!¡± Area P47 was near the middle of therge map in grasnds. This location was both good and bad. It was good because no matter which side they headed towards, the Co-ed Military Academy would be able to take over arge area. It was bad for the same reason¡ªthere were enemies all around them. Plus, in grasnd areas, there weren¡¯t any ces to hide in the environment. The headquarters in this area was the hardest to defend.


    If they wanted to defend this area, they would need manpower to do so. This way, the number of people that the First Co-ed Military Academy could send out to go on the offensive would be less. The rules of the tournament were for them to first defend their own headquarters and then think about other things. This was why the First Co-ed Military Academy urgently needed to form an alliance with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Even if the First Academy didn¡¯t help them, it would still be good if there was one less strong opponent like them.


    ¡°Area Q9¡¯s signal has been fully received. It is the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy...¡± The area where the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy was in was a hilly area. If they nned well, it would be a ce that would be easy to defend and hard to attack. They were in a better situationpared to the Co-ed Military Academy, but it was just that hilly areas were at the southwest corner of therge map; if they wanted to attack other areas, they would first need to fight through the hilly areas in the southwest corner. Just like what was said before, the hilly areas were all easy to defend and hard to attack. That was why in order for the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy to walk out of the hill areas, they had to attack one area at a time like screwing a corkscrew. If they wanted to conquer arge area, it would be much harderpared to the First Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s Area P.


    ¡°Area S33¡¯s signal has been fully received. It is the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy.¡± Almost at the same time, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy closely followed the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy in upying their own headquarters as well. The forest was a ce that they could easily hide in. Finding opponents hidden in a forest would be very difficult to do. If the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy wanted to ovee the opponents around them, they would have it easier than the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy in Area Q.


    ¡°Area S9 has also been lit up. We don¡¯t know which military academy acquired the fifth cement,¡± excitedly said the referee who was receiving the signal of Area S9. Currently, the top four academies had all sessfully lit up their areas. Other than the First Men¡¯s Military Academy being the first by a mile, the other three military academies had lit up their locations within seconds of each other. Was this Area S9 taken by one of the top ten military academies? Or was it a ck horse hidden among the military academies? Since they could keep up so closely with the three military academies and pretty much upying their area at the same time, their strength was probably no less those three academies... The referee stared at the percentage of the signal being received, wanting to know the answer as soon as possible, looking forward to seeing who the fifth military academy was.


    The others had raised their heads with interest upon hearing about the fifth military academy that had joined in at the same time as the other three.


    ¡°It¡¯s showing up. It¡¯s... how is it the First Men¡¯s Military Academy!¡± The referee had seen that 100% of the signal was received and had suddenly be focused, but when he raised his head to take a look, his expression changed instantly.


    The emblem that showed up on the big screen, after Area S9 was lit up, was of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    His surprised voice made the entire monitoring room immediately fall silent. Everyone looked at Area S9 which represented the territory of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy with dumbfounded looks.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up and he quickly walked towards Area S9 which was shown on the model on the table. He frowned and looked at Area S9, and then looked again at the G district that had all been connected together. He then said, ¡°The First Men¡¯s Military Academy didn¡¯t just split their forces towards the left and right. At the same time, they sent out another team and came to the S district.¡±


    ¡°They split their forces this much? How many people are left in their headquarters? Are they abandoning their base?¡± a division¡¯s representative said surprisedly with a face full of disbelief.

 Chapter 489 - Deeper Meaning!

    <h4>Chapter 489: Deeper Meaning!</h4>


    With regards to such a bold and reckless operation by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the expressions of those in the monitoring room were not approving. Only a few frowned and thought more deeply about the point of this operation.


    Ling Xiao was one of them. He put his hand on his chin and looked at the scaled down model of the map of the terrain and entered deep thought.


    ¡°Area S9 is the intersection between the forest area and grasnd area, as well as the center of the forest area. A special-ss mecha¡¯s radar is probably capable of covering two-thirds of this area. For an ace mecha, it could cover 100%...¡±


    Ling Xiao thought deeply as to the intentions of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. ¡°Sending out a team to Area S9 which is far away and lighting it up just for conquering the area? That doesn¡¯t make sense. If Area S, Q, and M wanted to attack Area P, they must pass Area S... but Area P is where there are the most number of headquarters. When the battle royale starts, this ce will definitely be a location everyone will fight for and will be the most brutal battlefield. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy which was originally in Area G could have just sat back and watched the show, yet they want to tread in these muddy waters instead.


    ¡°Logically, the main forces would defend the base camp, since the headquarters is the crux of the battle royale. If a fight broke out in Area S, their headquarters would definitely not be able to send reinforcements. And relying on the mecha operators split off from the main group to defend the area is pretty much impossible. Since that¡¯s the case, then why would theye to light up S9 and do something meaningless?


    ¡°Lan¡¯er won¡¯t have missed this point, so then why would she arrange this? Could it be that there¡¯s someone who refused toply with Lan¡¯er¡¯s decision and the result was that they moved out without permission?¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s brows immediately formed a frown upon thinking of this possibility. He thought about Qiao Ting, the person who was nicknamed the second Ling Xiao. Was it him?


    However, in the private meetings between father and daughter in the past few days, Ling Lan¡¯s expression was as light as the wind. It was possible that she already had these issues under control. The frown on Ling Xiao¡¯s brows slowly eased. He was very confident in his daughter. Ling Lan¡¯s capability was not to be looked down on since she was able to take care and look after the Ling family during the 16 years that he had ¡®sacrificed¡¯ himself for the country.


    ¡°Since there¡¯s definitely no one going off on their own, then this operation was arranged by Lan¡¯er, or was approved by her...¡± Ling Xiao spected and came to this conclusion as his eyes lit up. His own daughter would not make a move blindly¡ªthere was definitely more to this matter than meets the eye.


    Ling Xiao scanned the map on the table once again, imprinting all the terrains of each area into his eyes and going through them in his mind once again.


    ¡°No!¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes suddenly narrowed and he said, ¡°This is a defensive checkpoint! Lan¡¯er wants to block off all teams from Area S. Since they have to protect their headquarters, the number of forces they can send out for an attack can¡¯t be that much... If they send a strong team to stay in this location and mount a sneak attack, the probability of sess is very high. If the team leader is Qiao Ting, then not only does the sess rate increase exponentially but at the same time, Area S would be the best shield for them.¡±


    Ling Xiao lips showed a hint of a smile. He was already certain that the battle team which lit up Area S9 was the team led by Qiao Ting. And only he could make the best possible result out of this maneuver. This move that Lan¡¯er had arranged was indeed amazing, as even he could not contain his surprise.


    Right when Ling Xiao predicted what would happen, the other audience members and referees, who had doubts about the move the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had made, had already switched to Area S9 on the big screen.


    They could see that there were many mechas flying about in Area S9. Some were patrolling, some were resting and some were waiting for orders. In the resting area, there was a certain mecha that took away everyone¡¯s attention, and it was none other than one of the three ace mecha which had appeared in this tournament. It was one of the strongest ace mecha¡ªQiao Ting¡¯s long-range mecha.


    ¡°It¡¯s Qiao Ting. Qiao Ting isn¡¯t defending their headquarters? They¡¯ve gone mad.¡± Everyone saw this situation, looks of iprehension on their faces.


    The First Men¡¯s Military Academy was already at the right ce and right time, but as luck would have it, problems arose in the arrangements of their forces. They lost the opportunity they had and squandered the great situation they were in. This made them feel sorry for them, but also expected them to do better.


    It should be known that, in order to defend the headquarters well, the best battle team of the military academy and their mecha operators would stay and defend the camp and would not leave rashly; after all, the headquarters was the crux of the battle royale. If the headquarters were taken by others, the territories that were snatched up would instantly be nothing. Their score would be zero and they would be instantly eliminated. No military academy dared to bet on that oue, and this was why the forces that attacked were always the secondary battle team, leaving the defense to the strongest first battle team.


    ¡°No, this is a good n,¡± someone said, stating an opinion opposite to the general consensus. Everyone looked at that person with shocked expressions, and they found out that the speaker was He Xuyang, who was standing beside Ling Xiao with a face full of smiles.


    Everyone reflexively looked towards Ling Xiao and saw that he was holding hisughter; he was not against what his staff officer had said. Everyone instantly calmed down. Those who could be high ranking officers in the army were not idiots. They began to fall into deep thought and contemte why He Xuyang had said what he did.


    The vice president of the Federation wasn¡¯t really knowledgeable about the mecha battle team¡¯s strategies. Not knowing anything, he simply asked, ¡°Staff Officer He, can you exin to me? I don¡¯t have an understanding of these things.¡±


    He Xuyang looked at Ling Xiao, who nodded lightly in response, then He Xuyang answered, ¡°Where is the location of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy? Other than us, the spectators who know for certain, the other military academies don¡¯t have a clue. If Qiao Ting is holding his ground in Area S9 and the other academies saw him there, what would be their first thought?¡±


    Many people came to a realization at He Xuyang¡¯s reminder, and someone yelled, ¡°Area S9 is their headquarters.¡±


    He Xuyang¡¯s smile grew wider at those words. ¡°Yes. The other military academies will definitely think that Area S9, with Qiao Ting holding it, will be the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters. If my guess isn¡¯t wrong, Qiao Ting¡¯s mission there is to block off the battle teams who try to move into Area S from Area P and proceed with something simr to a ughter.¡±


    Hearing that, the vice president instantly breathed in a mouthful of cold air and said, ¡°Isn¡¯t this going to make everyone angry? Does the First Men¡¯s Military Academy not fear the other military academies forming alliances?¡±


    He Xuyang smiled and said, ¡°This the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s goal. Since Area S9 is the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters, they will definitely want to form alliances and eliminate the strongest opponent. However, after using so much effort to take Area S9, they¡¯ll find that they only took down an uninhabited area...¡±


    He Xuyang¡¯s words made the others want to know the final result. After attacking Area S9, all of the allied military academies would have fits on the spot. The fruits of theirbor, after investing so much effort and perhaps even taking painful losses, would only be something that was worthless and could be easily tossed aside¡ªthey would definitely feel bad about it.


    ¡°Sacrificing their strongest team and individual in order to draw everyone¡¯s attention, is this worth it? And once those who had realized the truth find out where the real headquarters of the First Men¡¯s Military Academyy, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy may not have the ability to defend.¡± Many people acknowledged this move made by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy; however, there were still those being stubborn because they hadn¡¯t seen through the n themselves and felt embarrassed. Thus, they would not admit to the excellence of the cadets.


    ¡°Since it¡¯s an uninhabited area that can just be tossed aside, Qiao Ting¡¯s group will not defend it to their death.¡± He Xuyang mentioned casually, a hint of disdain shing across his eyes. ¡°As long as Qiao Ting isn¡¯t dumb and leaves after dying as much as he can, just some special-ss operators will not be enough to keep an ace operator from going, unless there is another ace operator...


    ¡°As for finding the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s real headquarters... within 72 hours... Haha!¡± He Xuyangughed lightly twice and did not continue to speak. The meaning of his words was very clear. Finding their real headquarters would be impossible, as time moved forward and would not pause for anything.


    He Xuyang¡¯s expression made the officer who had differing opinions feel embarrassed. He nced at the silent Ling Xiao and suppressed the anger rising up from his chest...


    One of the officers who were also deeply in thought like Ling Xiao was at the beginning saw this situation and sighed silently. That officer who had differing opinions was brought along by him. This person was actually an idiot, and it just happened so that he was narrow-minded and tended to be envious of those who were capable. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that this guy was the brother-inw of the deputy division officer, there would have been no way for him to get to the position he had now. This time around as well, he had used his connection with the deputy division officer in order toe to the mecha tournament. However, he was always someone that started up sh*t. It was so embarrassing and it would be hard to exin this incident to the higher-ups when they returned. Thus, the officer exined, ¡°What staff officer He means is that even if the headquarters in Area G was found, the other military academies would not have enough time to find out which one is the real headquarters. And on top of that, 72 hours would not be enough for them to search one by one.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± The officer with differing opinions asked confusedly.


    Man, idiots were really idiots. Could they at least try to pretend to be smart? He still had to ask about such a simple situation. Now everyone definitely knew that he had brought a big idiot.


    The leading officer felt the ridicule in the gazes of those around him, making him feel very embarrassed. He still had to respond despite this, however, as there was no way he could offend this narrow-minded person. Thus, holding back his embarrassment, he replied, ¡°There are already 11 districts lit up in Area G and they are already connected with each other. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy will definitely defend on the area¡¯s periphery and create a city within a city. Even if they can¡¯t defend these locations, they can fight and retreat and that would be enough for them until the battle royal is over.¡±


    After saying this, he could not suppress an inward sigh. Everyone being people all the same, these young cadets coulde up with such an outstanding defensive n, while this idiot who was almost 40 years old didn¡¯t understand anything. He could barelypare to even a finger of these cadets.


    The idiot officer could only pout about it and stop talking after hearing the answer. At that moment, he was already feeling the nces of ridicule from those around him, inwardly hating them for it. He hated He Xuyang, who didn¡¯t give him any respect and only threw an expression of ridicule at him. At the same time, he also hated the officer who tried to get him out of the situation. He decided that when he went back, he would tell his brother-inw about this officer who made him look bad. He would ask his brother-inw to send this officer to the poorest borders to defend the territories there.


    After hearing He Xuyang and the officer¡¯s exnations, the Federation¡¯s vice president immediately understood. His eyes showed a bit of excitement and he said, ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. Looks like the First Men¡¯s Military Academy will have no problem taking first ce in the tournament. General Ling, I want to congratte you in advance. Your juniors¡¯ performance seems to be very exceptional.¡±


    Ling Xiaoughed and said, ¡°Mister Vice President, you shouldn¡¯t say that. The battle royale hasn¡¯t ended yet. Anything¡¯s possible!¡±

 Chapter 490 - Gemini?

    <h4>Chapter 490: Gemini?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    It was 11 o¡¯clock on Qiming. On this unknown, although it was daytime, the real situation was very bad. One second it was sunny as summer¡¯s day and the next, it was thunderstorms and hurricanes. The dark weather conditions and pouring rain made visibility on the monitors of the mecha drop quickly. It was pretty much the same as that night when they could not even see their own two hands.


    Or perhaps, the weather was too severe. In the originally busy airspace above Area P, one could not even one mecha flying about.


    Boom! Boom! Boom!... Among the sound of the pouring rain hitting the trees and the ground, there seemed to be some muffled sounds of engines mixed in. Perhaps the pouring rain was cutting off the noise, or perhaps these engines were on low gear. It was as though the engine sounds were there one second and gone the other, making it difficult to tell whether they were as actually engine sounds or not...


    A few secondster, a team of mecha appeared which continuously moved above Area P at a constant speed. The route they traveled was very clever,rgely evading the area of the headquarters and passing by uninhabited areas.


    Staring at the screen of his mecha, Xie Yi could not see anything but the fog and rain, not even the teammates in front of him. Although he knew they were in front, he still could not see any trace of them. The only thing that gave him the feeling of their presence was the shing green signal lights on the radar which represented his teammates, proving that he was not alone in this thunderstorm...


    The silent environment, coupled with the sense of loneliness brought by the inability to see his teammates, made Xie Yi, who always enjoyed being busy, feel a little annoyed. Finally, after a few minutes, he could not handle such a dull atmosphere and whispered, ¡°Man, this f**king weather is really f**king annoying!¡±


    ¡°Although the outside environment is indeed a bit bad, in the mecha, other than the impact on our visibility, there aren¡¯t any big problems.¡± A gentle voice rang in the team¡¯smunication channel; it was the always good-tempered Li Lanfeng.


    Xie Yi heard this and his face instantly became red. It turned out that he had just forgotten to temporarily turn off his microphone, and his impatient voice was heard by the entire team... He had been trying to maintain the image of a sunny boy, but it waspletely ruined! Xie Yi was very annoyed.


    ¡°Yeah, and because of this weather, the mecha flying above Area P have obviously be much less than before. This helps us pass without too much interference. I think this is good luck for us. This rain is really good.¡± Luo Lang¡¯s soft voice rang in the team channel. ¡°Xie Yi, be more patient. You¡¯re not like this normally,¡± Luo Lang said with a hint of iprehension in his tone. Perhaps to Luo Lang, the image of Xie Yi¡¯s character as a sunny and reliable individual was deeply embedded. Comparing that image to the current Xie Yi, who was being impatient, Luo Lang could not ept the change in such a short amount of time.


    ¡°Huh? I just like it to be a bit lively. The silence was killing me, making me feel very ufortable and a bit irritated. I am really sorry everyone,¡± Xie Yi quickly exined and apologized. He had to restore his image, and he could not let Luo Lang and the others be disappointed.


    ¡°It indeed gave me an illusionary feeling when no was speaking. It was as though I was thest person left in the world,¡± Qi Long inserted loudly.


    ¡°It¡¯s so silent that it¡¯s suffocating,¡± Xie Yi said,ughing weakly.


    Right then, Ling Lan, who was at the front, heard all this and had a thought: was it possible that Xie Yi, who was always sunshine and rainbows, had a story?


    Perhaps Luo Lang felt that Xie Yi was sensitive to the silence and thus spoke out without any topics in mind, ¡°Boss, is it alright if we just leave the base camp like this?¡± Alright, in reality, he was also feeling somewhat uneasy.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. There are the other mecha teams who worked together and formed two teams of special-ss mecha battle teams. In addition, there¡¯s also the logistics team formed by Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, Ye Xu and Lin Zhong-qing. Furthermore, there¡¯s also Jijyun defending the base camp and forming ns and strategies. As long as our opponents are not ace level operators, this setup is enough to handle them,¡± Ling Lan responded.


    ¡°Jijyun¡¯s luck sucks so bad!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words made Qi Long sigh.


    There was a hint of a smile in Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression, a sense of self-satisfaction shing across his eyes. This time, Li Lanfeng had actually used some little tricks. Using his talents, he had forcefully influenced Han Jijyun¡¯s spections. This was how he had won over him and made him stay at headquarters.


    He wasn¡¯t sure if Han Jijyun had realized the truth by now; however, no matter how angry he was, or if he called Li Lanfeng despicable, Li Lanfeng would still have done the same. He didn¡¯t want to miss a chance to move out with Rabbit. This was Li Lanfeng¡¯s obsession. He had almost lost all possible opportunities to be together in this lifetime when he missed out thest time, so this time he didn¡¯t want to miss out.


    As the strategists of the Lingtian n, either Li Lanfeng or Han Jijyun needed to stay back to defend the headquarters. Since Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t want to stay, then that only left Han Jijyun.


    This time, there were only six members working together with Ling Lan: Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun, Qi Long, Luo Lang, Xie Yi, and Li Shiyu.


    Han Jijyun was tricked by Li Lanfeng into defending the base camp, while Chang Xinyuan needed to lead the modification team to modify the different types of weapons at headquarters. They were so busy that even if Chang Xinyuan had wanted to follow Ling Lan and the others, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to. As for Lin Zhong-qing, he was responsible for the logistics and resources for the entire team and was also not able to follow Ling Lan. This made them feel regretful, as they knew that it would be much more exciting and stimting going out with their boss rather than defending the base camp.


    When they had almost flown past Area P to reach Area S, Luo Lang asked confusedly, ¡°Boss, isn¡¯t our target Area P this time?¡±


    ¡°No!¡± Ling Lan responded decisively.


    ¡°Then which territory?¡± Luo Lang asked again.


    ¡°We¡¯re heading to Area S first!¡± Ling Lan answered for all her teammates.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t Qiao Ting responsible for Area S?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words made Li Lanfeng be suddenly confused. He remembered that the n he and the other advisers had thought up was that Qiao Ting would be fully responsible for Area S. Was it because Rabbit feared that Qiao Ting didn¡¯t have enough manpower? That was why they hade to help him?


    However, if a battle broke out which even the 24-man special-ss mecha team led by Qiao Ting couldn¡¯t resolve, then the seven of theming to help would not make a difference. Even though Rabbit and Qiao Ting were both ace operators, Ling Lan was operating a special-ss mecha as she was hiding her true abilities. Additionally, their team wasposed of both special-ss operators and advanced operators, an odd bunch with varying capabilities. Compared to Qiao Ting¡¯s team, they were too inferior.


    ¡°Qiao Ting is still responsible for Area S. I just want to pass by Area S,¡± Ling Lan exined.


    ¡°Pass by?¡± Luo Lang showed a confused expression, while everyone else began to enter deep thought. Other than the normal Luo Lang, who was a bit simple-minded, the others were not simpletons; they all had their own ideas.


    ¡°Is it Area Q? Or M?¡± The map of the battle royale appeared in Li Lanfeng¡¯s mind. He recalled the other military academies that he told Ling Lan to keep in mind. Suddenly, Area Q, where the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy was situated, appeared in his mind. Li Lanfeng immediatelyughed and said, ¡°Are we going to Area Q for the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy?¡±


    Li Lanfeng words made Ling Lan¡¯s lip curl slightly¡ªshe was very pleased. She found that Li Lanfeng was well aware of her thoughts, able to guess it correctly 8 or 9 out of 10 times. It seemed that Li Lanfeng was sincere in forming the close rtionship they had during their younger years, or else he wouldn¡¯t know her this well.


    She felt pity towards him when she thought of the fact that due to his strong spiritual power, his body was as weak as it could possibly be. The results of the recovery method were not as good as when it was during Ling Lan¡¯s childhood, as Li Lanfeng¡¯s body had grown up in all aspects. If he wanted to recover to the best physical condition, he might need five to six years, or even ten. Ling Lan had only just found out about this problem. If Li Lanfeng¡¯s goal had not been to be a strong mecha operator, a slow recovery wouldn¡¯t be a problem, but it just so happened that Li Lanfeng¡¯s goal was very clear and that was to be a mecha operator. This made the ten year recovery period seem way too long.


    The best time for a mecha operator to advance was exactly around 20-30 years of age. If Li Lanfeng could only reach the peak of his physical condition when he became 30 years old, then he would have actually missed the best time for him to advance. This would affect the future in ways that would be possibly huge...


    ¡°Looks like I need to use some time and effort to resolve the issue of his physical condition before Li Lanfeng reports to the army!¡± Ling Lan thought to herself.


    At this moment, Ling Lan had really put Li Lanfeng¡¯s dilemma into her heart. Li Lanfeng¡¯s whole-hearted, sincere service and outstanding performance in the past year or so was finally rewarded. This made him the first person to be included in Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts other than Qi Long and those others who had grown up with Ling Lan. It was something to be happy about.


    Zhao Jun heard Li Lanfeng¡¯s cry of triumph, frowned and said, ¡°Didn¡¯t we say that we were letting the First Co-ed Military Academy handle the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy?¡± When Ling Lan and Lin Xiao had agreed to the alliance, Zhao Jun, who had been present at the scene, heard everything clearly. If Boss Lan suddenly went back on his word, wouldn¡¯t that make the First Co-ed Military Academy unhappy? Wouldn¡¯t that destroy the alliance between the two?


    Ling Lan heard this and her lip curled once again. ¡°When I said that I agreed, I meant I agreed to the alliance. I didn¡¯t say I would give them the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy,¡± Ling Lan said inly.


    How could Ling Lan let the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy go? Those who dared toy a finger on her, whether they were younger brothers or sisters, would all have to pay dearly. It was the same with what happened at Tianji¡¯s headquarters, and this time the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy was going to be the same as well. When the mecha tournament started, Ling Lan had already made up her mind that she would not let the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy get even one point in the battle royale. Yes, she had made up her mind very early on. She was nning on eliminating the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy from the battle royale, and this was also one of the reasons why she went from the far north to the south that was thousands of miles away and not for the actual score or strategy.


    Ling Lan was this kind of person!


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made everyone remember the image of the discussion from before. Indeed, just as Ling Lan had said, she didn¡¯t promise the First Co-ed Military Academy anything. Saying ¡°agreed¡± could have been understood as she promised or it could be understood that she only agreed to the alliance.


    As expected, Boss was ck-bellied! Qi Long and the others felt that they needed to have their guards up. They decided that in future when they listened to Boss, they had to be wary in case Boss sold them out while they counted the money she earned.


    Upon hearing that they were going to attack the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, Zhao Jun suddenly became excited. If they could really bring down the headquarters of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, then that would be a feat that could shake and encourage their members. He didn¡¯t forget that they had been pressured into second ce for the past 7 tournaments by the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. This kind of humiliation had already been deeply rooted into the bones of all the cadets at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    However, after his excitement faded and he calmed down, Zhao Jun hung his face down. There would be at least 5 to 6 mecha teams defending the Second Academy¡¯s base camp with the ace operator Jiang Shaoyu as their leader. Could they really take it down with just the seven of them?


    Heughed weakly and said, ¡°Boss, just the seven of us are going to attack the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy? Isn¡¯t... isn¡¯t this too difficult?¡±


    Ling frowned at that and said, ¡°Actually, I was always annoyed about one thing, which is: why are everyone¡¯s sights directed towards mecha battles?¡± Ling Lan touched the small item in her pocket once again. She indeed wanted to try out whether her idea would work or not.


    ¡°You¡¯re saying, we go in without mechas? That¡¯s... that¡¯s too dangerous.¡± Knowing Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng instantly understood what Ling Lan was nning, and he was vehemently opposed to it.


    Why did the battle royale be a mecha battle? Well, that was because, in mecha battles, there were mecha to protect people, which made it harder for operators to be harmed or to die. However, as soon as they left their mechas behind and used their physical bodies to go in and fight, not only would they not be able to go against any type of artillery or weapons, without the protection of the mechas, even the environment of the would make it hard to move forward.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get your panties in a bunch. If it wasn¡¯t perfectly safe, I wouldn¡¯t do it,¡± Ling Lan quicklyforted Li Lanfeng after sensing his care and worry.


    As expected, it wasn¡¯t a good thing when someone knew too much. Just one little hint and Li Lanfeng was able to find out! Ling Lan was pleased, but also felt annoyed. She was proficient in satirizing others, notforting them...


    Ling Lan words only made Li Lanfeng sigh internally. He knew that once Rabbit had decided on something, he would not change his mind, and furthermore, there was the fact that he was an expert in the field of physical skills. The influence of the environment on these experts was very minimal. Even if they went against special-ss operators where high-level field experts couldn¡¯t win, they would still be able to escape without any issue. In reality, even if he opposed the idea, he would not have any strong reason to go against Ling Lan¡¯s decision.


    The seven of them arrived at a corner in Area P which was close to Area S. Ling suddenly stopped her mecha and said, ¡°Find a ce to hide immediately. Deactivate your mecha. If I don¡¯t move, no one else is allowed to move.¡±


    With that said, she was the first to move her mecha down to the ground and found a tall towering tree surrounded by lush foliage to hide by. Qi Long and the others reacted very quickly; all of them quickly found ces that suited them and at the same time, they turned off the engine of the mechas, and silently hid.


    Ten minutester, a mecha team could be seen moving in from the southeast.


    This surprised Qi Long and the others who were hiding on the side, even Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng. They were all using special-ss mecha, yet how was it that Ling Lan discovered this mecha team and they didn¡¯t? Was it because Ling Lan¡¯s special-ss mecha was different from theirs? Or maybe Ling Lan had other secrets?


    All these questions shed through Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun¡¯s minds. They quickly focused on using their physical skills to decrease their body temperature to the lowest possible degree that they could endure, and their heart rate also began to drop likewise. A mecha with its engines off didn¡¯t have any istion barriers or protective equipment. The body temperature and the energy created from the blood flow of mecha operators would easily be located by a mecha¡¯s heat sensor. In order to avoid being exposed, lowering one¡¯s body temperature and heart rate was what each mecha operator needed to be capable of.


    It was a good thing that the physical skills of this group weren¡¯t too bad. They pretty much all controlled their body temperature and blood flow speed. Of course, it was possible that these mecha didn¡¯t have heat sensors, or perhaps they had only turned on their radars. The radar of mecha was very sensitive to mecha engines and as luck would have it, it was not effective in detecting human bodies... In short, this team of mecha didn¡¯t discover them. They hovered around the airspace above them, then flew away.


    Ling Lan¡¯s group didn¡¯t move and remained as they were, not moving a muscle. After around ten minutes passed, the mecha team which had left earlier returned. This time, they went around a few times, and then they slowly flew in the direction where they hade from.


    Ling Lan¡¯s patience was very good. She merely waited patiently and 10 minutes had passed. Then 20 minutes. Then 30 minutes. The others who were waiting almost lost their patience. If they didn¡¯t see that Ling Lan was still hiding in the same corner without moving an inch, Qi Long and the others would have thought Ling Lan had already left.


    Another 10 minutes had passed. Xie Yi, who was greatly opposed to this silent and lonely atmosphere, wanted to hit the ON button for his mecha¡¯s engine. Right then, Ling¡¯s cold words suddenly rang out in his mind, ¡°If I don¡¯t move, no one else is allowed to move!¡±


    Cold sweat suddenly began to drip down from his forehead and he forcefully withdrew his finger. The feeling of frustration present in him became reced by calm once again.


    ¡°Looks like Boss has already found out.¡± Returning to his normal self, Xie Yi still didn¡¯t understand something. He immediatelyughed weakly. ¡°Maybe I should find Boss Lan and have a discussion about it, and hope that he has a way to solve my issue.¡± Despite having spent all this time pretending to be sunny and happy, he still couldn¡¯t fool himself in the end.


    Xie Yi was once again envious of Luo Lang. There were so many different personalities inside Luo Lang, yet he was still able to keep the original persona so clean and uncontaminated. For Xie Yi, this was considered a miracle. As for himself, he was affected despite only having one extra personality and as time passed, this issue was bing increasingly severe.


    Back in the days when he enjoyed following Luo Lang around, seeing him smiling happily and living recklessly, while still being happy no matter if he was humiliated or insulted, had made Xie Yi feel that his problem was not serious at all. He felt that he could ovee the other side of himself that was affecting him. He felt that there was still much hope for him in the future...


    Yes, he liked the simple Luo Lang. He desired to be like Luo Lang, to be unaffected and to be himself. It could even be said that Luo Lang was the reason that he had continued to endure until now.


    ¡°I won¡¯t give in!¡± Luo Lang¡¯s reckless smile once again appeared in Xie Yi¡¯s mind. Xie Yi clenched his fists firmly. If Luo Lang could do it, then he could do it as well.


    In Xie Yi¡¯s mind, he could lose to anyone other than Luo Lang. If he couldn¡¯t even beat the soft and delicate Luo Lang, then how would he be able to have the dignity to stay in Boss Lan¡¯s battle team?


    Everyone had their own bottom line and Luo Lang was the bottom line which Xie Yi would not bow down to...


    Perhaps it was because of Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual charge or because Xie Yi¡¯s will to fight had once again begun to burn inside him, but the severely depressing emotions affecting Xie Yi were fading. Xie Yi recovered his initial endurance...


    10 minutes passed by quickly once again. Right then, the pouring rain had been slowing down and after 2 to 3 minutes, the sky was no longer filled with rain, but terrifying hail instead.


    The temperature instantly fell from the heat of a hot summer to the chill of the coldest of winters. Since they didn¡¯t turn on the engines of the mechas, the equipment for maintaining a constant temperature could not be turned on either. The temperature inside their mecha dropped at an rming rate, instantly falling to negative 15 degrees or so. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but frown. Her talent was Ice Affinity. No matter how low the temperature was, it would not affect her. However, her teammates were not the same.


    Qi Long¡¯s physique was sturdy, which Ling Lan was not worried about. Zhao Jun was simr and would probably be able to endure this little bit of cold. Luo Lang had multiple personalities. If he couldn¡¯t handle it, then he could activate his other personalities to withstand it. Xie Yi¡¯s physique wasn¡¯t bad either. Even if it meant he had to suffer a bit, it would not affect him that much. And as for the military medic Li Shiyu, he definitely had a way to protect himself against the cold. Li Lanfeng was the one who worried Ling Lan. With his body, could he really withstand such low temperatures?


    Ling Lan unconsciously rubbed her fingers together, considering whether they should keep waiting or not. This was a sudden situation which made her hesitate. Should she persist on her original decision, or risk moving out for the sake of Li Lanfeng¡¯s health?


    Just when Ling Lan was hesitating and couldn¡¯t make a decision, Little Four suddenly said, ¡°Boss, do you still remember the introduction regarding Qiming?¡±


    ¡°I remember. The unique thing about Qiming is it can let you experience all four seasons in a single day.¡± When she first came across this information, she was surprised by it and was also looking forward to experiencing it for herself. However, during the time that they had been on Qiming, the temperature had always stayed around 20 degrees. The weather was so nice that she had forgotten that Qiming had this characteristic.


    ¡°I now suspect that we¡¯re still on Qiming,¡± Little Four said.


    Ling Lan became surprised at his words and she asked, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that the trajectory and coordinates were not of Qiming?¡±


    ¡°Yes, the coordinates and the route of the starship all left the known coordinates of Qiming. However, in the records of the Mandora star system, there was once an odd. It was called Gemini!¡±


    ¡°Gemini? That Gemini which is part of the 12 horoscopes?¡± The always calm and collected Ling Lan became astonished after hearing what Little Four said. Gemini. Wasn¡¯t that a legendary horoscope? Was there really a named Gemini in the real world?


    Little Four understood what Ling Lan was saying. He quickly shook his head and said, ¡°Boss, it¡¯s not the Gemini stated in the horoscopes. Well, it¡¯s actually kind of right. You could say that in the vast universe, if there are twos where their weather, resources, organisms and other things are practically identical, to an extent that is more than 99%... These twos would then be called Geminis.¡±


    After Little Four spoke to this part, he found that he had missed out something important and quickly added, ¡°And these twos are on the same star map. They are either beside each other or connected to each other. That way they will be Gemini or fake Gemini.¡±


    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s possible that we are on Qiming¡¯s Gemini? Little Four, open the location of Qiming on the star map,¡± Ling Lan ordered quickly.

 Chapter 491 - Weakness?

    <h4>Chapter 491: Weakness?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Very soon, a star map appeared inside Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace. Ling Lan first found the adjacent side of Qiming and then arge asteroid belt. There was no space for arge to reside there. And on the side of Qiming, in front of it was Youming, on its left was Zhiyuan, and on its right was Shiqiu. it was only the part behind Qiming that hads that were light-years away from it. It was so dark as if there was a ck hole in that part of the star map. No matter how Ling Lan looked at it, it looked somewhat odd.


    ¡°This location behind Qiming isbeled a ce where star tidal waves form, forbidding any ships froming near...¡± Ling Lan saw thebel on the star map. She no longer had anything she didn¡¯t understand. ¡°The Gemini of Qiming is behind it.¡±


    If she didn¡¯t have Little Four reminding her, she would definitely have been tricked by the star map and thought that this area was the star tidal wave area. After thinking about how the Gemini was covered in dark fog, without any light sources seeping out, even if starship fleets were to pass by, they would need to go near the¡¯s atmosphere and would not be seen. Even if the direction was wrong and they got close by ident and was sucked in by the atmosphere, the starship fleets would assume that it was the gravitational pull of the star tidal waves. Their first thought would be to escape the gravitational pull and not go along with the pull andnd...


    ¡°Looks like the Federation has many secrets.¡± Ling Lan thought back to the time when she was still in scouts corp. She hade in contact with threes that were notbeled on the star map. Maybe there were mores that were hidden away just like this. It was just that they, asmoners, did not know.


    Thinking about the fact the Federation would publicizes that adventurers had found each decade and made people oddly amazed, this was perhaps a means used by the Federation to make everyone believe that the government was working hard in expanding the universe of the human race and finding more resources to expand the Federation.


    ¡°It¡¯s behind Qiming, then that means it is connected. It¡¯s a real Gemini and not an adjacent fake.¡± The results of Ling Lan¡¯s final spection made Little Four so happy that he began to smile, which made his two eyes became two crescent moons.


    Little Four couldn¡¯t help but be happy. Geminis were a wondrous existence. Even in the Mandora star system, with a history of billions of years, they had only managed to find one Gemini. They didn¡¯t think that there would be this wondrous existence in such a low level-one or two evolutionary gxy.


    Little Four¡¯s mouth uncontrobly moved a bit. In end, he still couldn¡¯t hold it in and told the real secret of the Geminis to Ling Lan¡ªin the mecha history of the Mandora star system, there was a mystical, powerful and terrifying mecha. Its main material could only be forged on the dark of the Geminis.


    ¡°I should still wait a bit! Wait until the Boss bes even stronger, thene here and find that legendary material!¡± Little Four thought.


    Ling Lan returned to her calm state due to Little Four¡¯s interruption. Her previous hesitation changed into strong resolve. She remembered that she had told Lin Zhong-qing to exchange for more temperature-control medication in order to handle the odd weather and temperatures on Qiming. She remembered that these things were in the personal resources that were given to everyone. Li Lanfeng was a smart person. He would definitely have thought about all this to resolve the issue at hand.


    When Ling Lan stopped worrying, she began to judge herself at the same time. If amander was to lose their cool and make an incorrect decision, then not only would it bad for her, but also for the team members that had put their trust in her...


    Li Lanfeng! Li Lanfeng! Ling Lan bit her lip. This was the first time that she clearly saw what her weakness was. For the people who looked as though they were soft and delicate, Ling Lan could not be ruthless towards them. She would be irresolute and hesitant. It was like this with Luo Chao and also with Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Looks like I still need to go into the learning space to train.¡± Ling Lan silently made a decision. Now that she had be the leader of these friends of hers, she would not allow herself to have this weakness and put her and her friends in danger.


    The now calm Ling Lan decided to keep waiting. The clock had already reached midnight on Qiming at that moment. The military academies that had more or less constructed their headquarters had begun to send out some battle teams to go into the surrounding areas to investigate.


    The battle royale had a rule that before midnight, other than taking over uninhabited areas, the headquarters of the military academies were not allowed to be attacked. The time of the attack had to be after midnight. This rule was to make sure all the military academies had time to build their headquarters. At the same time, it was also to give all the cadets some time to rest...


    Although it was already time when they could begin their attack, this was not the optimal time that Ling Lan was thinking about. Thus, she chose to remain at the same spot, not moving an inch. Before Area S and Area P became a battleground, Ling Lan would not move no matter what.


    Those who followed Ling Lan were pretty much all the members who trusted Ling Lan the most. Other than Qi Long, Luo Lang and Xie Yi whom she had grown up with, Li Lanfeng was even more of a strong supporter of Ling Lan. Ever since Zhao Jun joined the battle team, after being beaten up by Ling Lan many times, he also admitted to her superiority. The only person that was suspicions of Ling Lan was Li Shiyu. However, he was someone who was patient, and since the teammates beside him were not moving, he, of course, wouldn¡¯t move either.


    Very soon after, the mecha of these seven were nketed by a sheet of snow. Even if someone was toe close now, they would think that they were some rocks covered by the snow...


    While Ling Lan was waiting patiently for the best possible time to move out, in Area S9, Qiao Ting was preparing to move out. Amidst the swirling white snow, he made his mecha fly up into mid-air and stared at the mecha¡¯s radar. The radar on ace mechas was able to cover a small portion of Area S and Area P.


    Very soon, there was finally some movement in Area S. The headquarters in Area S had sent out a 24-man mecha battle team.


    ¡°All team members, ready to move out!¡± Qiao Ting decisively opened the team channel and ordered.


    ¡°Yes, Captain!¡± All the members began to move out. Engines began to roar, whether it belonged to patrol personnel or mecha that were resting about. All the mechas flew rapidly into the air and gathered around Qiao Ting.


    ¡°Captain, is something happening?¡± The information that Qiao Ting¡¯s ace mecha¡¯s radar could discover may not be able to be discovered by special-ss mechas. Qiao Ting¡¯s vice-captain began to ask about the situation once he was beside Qiao Ting.


    ¡°There¡¯s a 24 man battle teaming from Area S to Area P.¡± Qiao Ting told everyone what he had discovered.


    ¡°Haha, we¡¯re really lucky. The battle royale just started and we got a battleing.¡± The team members were itching to start. This was the first battle for many members. They had been spectators for the past 15 or so days and this had made them itch for a battle, unable to wait for a fight against their opponents to satisfy their craving.


    Qiao Ting scanned the circle of battle-ready members around him and reminded, ¡°Our mission is very important. Everyone must be careful and not stray from the team.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Captain!¡± They replied with gratitude. They felt the concern in Qiao Ting¡¯s voice.


    Seeing that the opposition had chosen their direction to move in, Qiao Ting calcted that they could stop them right before they reached Area P. He thus ordered, ¡°Move out!¡±


    With that order given, he operated his mecha and was the first to fly out. His team members followed him in an orderly fashion. Their formation did not change during the tense march. They all made sure they had the best distance apart from each other and was organized and in an orderly fashion.


    This proved that Qiao Ting¡¯s team was a mature battle team. Qiao Ting was also an exceptional team Captain, which was why they could achieve this kind of result.


    The other 24-man team quickly discovered Qiao Ting and the others; however, they didn¡¯t try to hide and continued to fly in the same direction. Since they had moved out at this time, they would probably be offensive members and was a team solely for attacking cities.


    There was an unspoken rule in the battle royale, and this rule was that a battle would not easily start between offensive teams. Everyone wanted to bring down the opponent¡¯s headquarters and gain enough points; thus, these attacking teams would usually have a temporary coboration and attack another military academy¡¯s headquarters together. Unless they met up with a military academy that they had a grudge against, in which case it was possible that they wouldn¡¯t see eye to eye and break out in a bloody battle. However, the possibility of this was very small. It would mostly be both sides bing more careful and both retreating.


    Maybe the opposition was thinking the same, which was why they wanted to meet up and see if the two sides have a chance to merge.


    The two battle teams were getting closer and closer. Through the team¡¯sms channel, Qiao Ting ordered, ¡°Prepare short-range weapons! Ready for battle!¡±


    Many clicking sounds followed, as every mecha of Qiao Ting¡¯s team took out their short-range beam guns from their backs and held them in their hands, readying up and waiting for Qiao Ting¡¯s final order.


    Finally, the opposition could clearly see the mecha that wereing towards them. He was shaken upon seeing that Qiao Ting was the one leading the team and felt happy. He was surprised that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had sent out Qiao Ting as captain of the attacking team, not worrying about their own headquarters. At the same time, he was also happy. If he could form an alliance with Qiao Ting and attack the base camps that were not that strong, then it would be a sure win. He didn¡¯t that his luck would be this good...


    The captain leading the group made a request to talk with Qiao Ting. Qiao Ting¡¯s lip showed a hint of a cold smirk as he agreed to the captain¡¯s request.


    ¡°Captain Qiao, we are of the Feihong Military Academy. We don¡¯t see you as our enemies. If possible, I would like to talk to you.¡± The opponent¡¯s attitude was lowered and his tone was very sincere. If Qiao Ting hadn¡¯t already epted Ling Lan¡¯s mission, perhaps he would have agreed to give them a chance.


    ¡°What do you want to talk about?¡± Qiao Ting replied just for show. While the two captains had been conversing, the two teams had drawn nearer to each other.


    ¡°I want to talk about the possibility of an alliance.¡± The Feihong Military Academy¡¯s captain was slightly anxious. They were, after all, a mid to low ss military academy. Would Qiao Ting refuse because he looked down on them?


    ¡°An alliance?¡± Qiao Ting pretended to think about it. The captain of Feihong battle team suddenly felt his heart being pulled up as he nervously waited for Qiao Ting¡¯s final answer. Right then, the distance between the two of them had reached the range of short-range beam guns.


    Seeing this, Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes lit up and he ordered coldly, ¡°Fire!¡±


    The members of Qiao Ting¡¯s team, who had already readied their guns, all pulled down on their triggers at Qiao Ting¡¯s order. There were 24 guns shooting out 24 illuminating flowers that moved towards the opponents in unison.


    ¡°Despicable!¡± Qiao Ting¡¯s team¡¯s sudden attack made the Feihong Military Academy¡¯s battle team cry out tragically. Although they had thought of taking precautions, the suddenness of Qiao Ting changing from thinking about the alliance in one second, to ruthlessly ordering an attack in the next made them unable to react. There had been no indication at all, which made the Feihong Military Academy¡¯s mecha operators unable to react, and they were all hit by the beams shot from the guns of Qiao Ting¡¯s battle team.

 Chapter 492 - Only Life and Death, No Good and Evil

    <h4>Chapter 492: Only Life and Death, No Good and Evil</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    It was a good thing that the members of Qiao Ting¡¯s team had all remembered the rules of the battle royale and did not shoot at the opponents¡¯ cockpit; otherwise, this round of unexpected beam attacks would have clipped a good portion of Feihong Military Academy¡¯s battle team members.


    However, even so, red lights began to sh on many of the opponent mecha¡¯s screens. The A.I. began to repeatedly give the announcement, ¡°You have died!¡± This announcement meant that that team member was eliminated. These mecha operators were so angry that they smashed the controls in the cockpit. The battle royale had just begun and they got eliminated before they did anything... Qiao Ting was so despicable. He even attacked other attacking teams... Was he not afraid that he would anger everyone?


    Still angry, theynded their mecha on the ground and waited for the staff members of the battle royale to send transport to take them to the resting area. They decided that once they went back, they would watch Qiao Ting¡¯s group and see what happened to them in the very end.


    Qiao Ting confused the opponent and took the enemy by surprise. However, as those who were able to be the attacking team, the other side¡¯s captain and some of their members were all quite capable. They reacted quickly and sessfully dodged this round of treacherous sneak attacks.


    Seeing this, Qiao Ting swung his right arm with great force. His team members saw this motion. All the closebat mecha, including bnced mecha, switched their weapons and held up cold weapons. They all moved towards the few mecha that were left.


    At the same time, the long-range mechas quickly changed to their specialized sniper rifles, and they aimed towards the few special-ss mechas that were still struggling after being surrounded.


    Although those remaining mechas of Feihong Academy used kamikaze methods to try and bring down some of their opponent¡¯s mecha, this was still a one-sided battle. How could the long-range mecha armed with sniper rifles, who were watching them from the very beginning, give them a chance tomit kamikaze? When they saw the opponents¡¯ irregr movements, they instantly pulled the trigger and hit them, regrettably eliminating them from the tournament.


    Qiao Ting saw that all the mechas hadnded on the ground. He pulled out his short range beam gun and shot once towards an empty field not far from those mechas. This shot instantly melted the thickyer of snow on the ground. Not only that, but it also left a hole that was burnt ck.


    The expression of the captain from Feihong changed after seeing this. He heard the A.I. finally say the phrase, ¡°You have died.¡± His feigned death and defeat was seen through by the enemy. Qiao Ting used thest shot to tell him that in the face of a real enemy, Qiao Ting would shoot again at the cockpit in order to make sure the enemy was dead.


    He had originally wanted to take the mecha¡¯s wreckage to their headquarters to tell hismander who had ¡°killed¡± them. Qiao Ting¡¯s shot deprived him of that chance. Having ¡°died¡±, he would now be taken to the resting area by the staff members of the tournament. At the same time, all of his forms ofmunication were closed. He could only silently wait for the battle royale to end.


    ¡°I hope themander and the others will quickly discover Qiao Ting¡¯s despicable behavior.¡± The captain of Feihong Military Academy¡¯s team held only one hope.


    After shooting thatst shot, Qiao Ting put away his beam gun with satisfaction. Their first battle was perfect. Other than one closebat member who was hit by one opponent that was ¡°dying¡± and had their mecha damaged by 30%, all the other members did not sustain any damage and were still at 100%.


    ¡°Little Lu, how long will it take to repair your mecha a bit?¡± Qiao Ting asked the member who had their mecha damaged.


    Little Luughed weakly in response and said, ¡°Captain, it¡¯s very difficult to recover to 100% with only the A.I.¡¯s self-repair function. It can probably only repair to around 90% in the end...¡±


    The systems that were affected were slowly restored by the A.I. However, the A.I. wouldn¡¯t be able to repair the outeryer of the mecha. Seeing this, Little Lu sighed and said, ¡°If only that Chang Xinyuan had joined our battle team in the beginning.¡± A small problem like this, with an outstanding repair mechanic, was something could be easily solved.


    The only reason Qiao Ting used Leiting methods to try and make Chang Xinyuan join his team was that he saw the monstrous talent Chang Xinyuan had in regards to repairing and modifying mechas. He was scared that this genius would be taken by others; thus, he had used that method to announce he was determined to take Chang Xinyuan in, preventing the other teams from daring to touch Chang Xinyuan. Qiao Ting originally thought that Chang Xinyuan would submit to him, but he didn¡¯t think that someone would throw a wrench in the works. Ling Lan disregarded his pushiness and immediately took Chang Xinyuan as his own subordinate.


    What bothered him more was that Chang Xinyuan was willing to join the newly formed Lingtian Battle n with an unknown future, instead of his own battle n...


    Little Lu¡¯s words made Qiao Ting¡¯s expression change a bit. He was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly said, ¡°Little Lu, are my methods too pushy? It annoys people right? That¡¯s why I can¡¯t get the people that I want, right?¡±


    Little Lu immediately shook his head at this and said, ¡°I don¡¯t think so captain. You are our captain. Being a bit pushy is a must.¡±


    Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes were darkened and could not be lit up easily. The depressing atmosphere made Little Lu, who was standing beside Qiao Ting, feel pressured as sweat dripped down his back. He silently sent a message to his vice-captain toe and save him.


    ¡°Captain, all our members have rested up. What is our next move?¡± the vice-captain asked, waving towards Little Lu at the same time, telling him to find a chance to get away.


    Little Lu surreptitiously operated his mecha and dashed away from Qiao Ting¡¯s side. Little Lu, now returned to the team, silently let out a sigh of relief. When the captain had asked him whether he was pushy and annoying, Little Lu¡¯s heart had almost stopped beating... Wuwuwu. Was it possible that the captain knew he hated him before? That¡¯s why he gave him a warning? Little Lu began to have a bee in his bo. He decided that in the future, he would no longer say bad things about the captain behind his back.


    Little Lu used the vice-captain¡¯s interruption as a chance to get away. Qiao Ting didn¡¯t even react. After thinking deeply for a few seconds, he raised his head and asked his own vice-captain, ¡°Vice-Captain Zhou, do you think Ling Lan is someone who is pushy and domineering?¡±


    Vice-Captain Zhou became dumbfounded and didn¡¯t know why Qiao Ting suddenly asked about Ling Lan. However, he still thought about it seriously and then replied, ¡°Commander Ling Lan is very cold. I remember his cold nce. That feeling was like being cut open by a cold knife. Cold and painful with a lot of pressure. It was an aura that had a feeling that those who obeyed would prosper and those who were against him would perish. He is pushy.¡± Vice-Captain Zhou¡¯sst few words were said without hesitation.


    ¡°Simrly, I¡¯m pushy and domineering. Why is he sessful, but I am a failure?¡± Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes showed a bit of confusion. They were at the same level. They both controlled a strong mecha n, but Ling Lan was able to do anything he wanted. Every single thing was in ordance with his wishes. On the contrary, once Ling Lan had appeared, Qiao Ting kept suffering setbacks. This made him suspect that Ling Lan was an obstacle he couldn¡¯t ovee in his lifetime.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s words surprised Vice-Captain Zhou. He quickly said, ¡°It¡¯s not like that captain. A moment¡¯s sess or failure doesn¡¯t mean that it is for life. Captain, your future will definitely be better than Ling Lan¡¯s.¡± Vice-Captain Zhou¡¯s were eyes filled with confidence. He was Qiao Ting¡¯s most dedicated supporter. He believed that Qiao Ting would be just like General Ling Xiao and create miracle after miracle. The future would inevitably be Qiao Ting¡¯s.


    Vice-Captain Zhou¡¯s words shook Qiao Ting, making his eyes be clear. He was moved by the full trust his vice-captain had in him. At the same time, he also silentlyughed weakly. Even though he kept telling himself that Ling Lan, being the child of a god-ss operator, had no future, the things that Ling Lan had done recently had hit him pretty hard. However, in his mind, he still couldn¡¯t let go of the fact that Ling Lan was the opponent that he had to surpass in his lifetime.


    ¡°Looks like I have to beat him once. Then I can be free for real.¡± Qiao Ting sighed heavily. He finally understood his thoughts. Since Ling Lan had unconsciously be his inner demon, then he had to defeat this inner demon.


    ¡°Ling Lan! I¡¯ll wait for you in the army. The time you join the army will be the time of our rematch!¡± Qiao Ting had already made up his mind. He couldn¡¯t let Ling Lan affect the speed of his progress. He would not be affected and keep going forward. In the future, when they both joined the army, he would find a chance to resolve this link between Ling Lan and him.


    Now that he had resolved his worries, Qiao Ting focused and prepared the next n of action. He quickly led his team members away from their current location. They circled above Area P and came to a different spot. In order to try their best to confuse the other military academies, the attack just now had to seem as if it had nothing to do with them


    Not long after, the members of Feihong Military Academy, who were defeated by Qiao Ting, were taken to the resting area by transport ships. The surrounding areas of the other military academies only got wind that one team suffered a sneak attack and lostpletely, but as for who did it, no one knew. After receiving this information, themander of the headquarters of Feihong Military Academy situated in Area S was very angry. He swore to find those sneaking bastards and torture them to vent his anger...


    In the monitoring room, they saw Qiao Ting use the psychology that their opponent would want to form an alliance to get a close enough range where the Feihong Military Academy had no guard up. They perfectly performed a sneak attack on the opponents and took down a 24-man mecha team with only one of their own mecha damaged. This made the monitoring room instantly became silent.


    ¡°Qiao Ting. How could he do this?¡± an officer said suddenly, expecting better from Qiao Ting.


    ¡°They even attacked an attacking team. That¡¯s shameless.¡± Many of them were discontent with Qiao Ting¡¯s decision and believed that it wasn¡¯t right.


    ¡°In order to win, they¡¯ve lost sight of what is called a bottom line,¡± everyone said criticizingly.


    ¡°I remember that in rules of the battle royale, other than yourself, everyone else is an enemy. Why would you need a bottom line when you go against enemies?¡± Someone raised a counter-argument.


    ¡°But the main part of the battle royale is to fight for territories and not to destroy your enemies,¡± rebutted someone.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t destroying the enemy readying you for taking territories? If there¡¯s no opponent, then those territories would be free to grab at any time. They didn¡¯t go against the rules of the battle royale.¡± In no time, the monitoring room had split into two groups. These two groups, one for Qiao Ting¡¯s methods and one disagreeing, began arguing nonstop.


    Finally, the argument fell onto Ling Xiao. The two sides could not argue anymore and all turned to ask General Ling Xiao to see what he thought.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s lips showed a faint smile as he inly and softly said, ¡°I only know that on the battlefield, there¡¯s only life or death and no such thing as good or evil.¡±


    If one was to talk about good or evil on the battlefield, it would be considered a joke. You are only a person if you can live! Even if you be a piece of sh*t, it wouldn¡¯t matter if you died right? Who would care?

 Chapter 493 - Diverting Troubles Away?

    <h4>Chapter 493: Diverting Troubles Away?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Xiao¡¯s words made the monitoring room quiet down, and the person who had disdained Qiao Ting¡¯s behavior suddenly felt awkward. Since this was the Federal Military Academy¡¯s battle royale, these people had not been regarding the battle royale as a real war. That was why they paid attention to these subtleties and forgot the cruelty of real war.


    Ling Xiao saw that everyone had understood this point, and once again smiled warmly and looked at the big screen. This allowed the officers in the monitoring room to breathe a sigh of relief, and they were grateful that General Ling Xiao left them with some dignity.


    At this time, Ling Xiao was thinking about where his baby girl was. He didn¡¯t believe that his valiant daughter would stay in the base camp... This was why parents were the ones who understood their children best!


    Now that Qiao Ting had won his first battle, the next step was to lead his team to go around to the other side of Area P. They used the same method to finish the other military academies¡¯ assault teams on that side...


    The actions Qiao Ting took caused those in Area P and S to be scared by the sigh of the wind. The rumor that there was a covert operations team lurking around the borders of Area S and P had quickly spread through the base camps within these two areas. In order to make sure their borders were safe, some military academies sent out battle teams to begin to form teams and carry out a search. Qiao Ting saw that the situation had be difficult for them, thus he retreated with his team back to Area S9. He nned to move out after the rumors dissipated.


    A 24-man mecha team was slowly flying above in the air; they were the patrol team from the nearby headquarters. They knew that there were attackers in the area, thus they were carefully patrolling around the perimeter of the headquarters to try and find some sort of clue. However, after searching for around one hour, they didn¡¯t really find anything odd.


    Upon seeing the circr field below them, surrounded by towering trees, one of the leaders of the patrol battle teams used their radar to carefully search around the perimeter. Finding that everything was normal, he said to another battle team¡¯s team leader, ¡°Brother Luo, why don¡¯t we rest up a bit here?¡± Nervous and high-focused patrol work made mechas use up a lot of energy. They had to replenish their energy all the time and eat every 2 to 3 hours.


    The one called Captain Luo seemed to have the same idea and said, ¡°Sure, Brother Hu.¡± He then immediatelynded his mecha slowly on that circr field.


    The circr field was veryrge. It didn¡¯t feel crowded even after the 24 mecha hadnded. The two teams formed two obvious square formations with one on each side, and the two team leaders were at the front of their teams, creating a pointed corner, taking over the center of the circle. This kind of formation was both for defensive positioning and easiermunication.


    Although the two teams that were from different military academies had temporarily formed an alliance to find the mysterious assassins, they were still wary of each other. No one knew if the other side would suddenly betray and attack them.


    After the two teamsnded and rested up, their members all used their time to eat in order to replenish their expended energy. The battle royale had already begun. No one knew what could happen the next second, thus they needed to take breaks when they could.


    ¡°Brother Luo, who do you think attacked the assault teams of those military academies?¡± Captain Hu chewed on his food as he asked Captain Luo, who was in front of him.


    Captain Luo replied, ¡°I¡¯ve looked at the area where Qiulin Military academy was ambushed. That area is an uninhabited area. There aren¡¯t any military academy headquarters there...¡± He faltered for a moment and his expression became slightly serious as he continued, ¡°My guess is that the ones ambushing people are also an assault team.¡±


    ¡°Man!¡± Captain Hu inhaled a breath of cold air, finding it unbelievable. ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Who would have the audacity to do that? It would make everyone angry.¡±


    Captain Luo¡¯s expression darkened a bit and he said, ¡°I hope that¡¯s the case. However, I don¡¯t think that, aside from assault teams, other battle teams would be so far away from their headquarters.¡±


    Captain Hu moved his lips and began to calm down from his previous surprise. He felt that Captain Luo¡¯s logic made sense about the ambushing team being able to quickly and sessfully perform an attack while not giving any chances for the other battle teams to react. Perhaps they took advantage of the fixed mindset that assault teams would not attack other assault teams, sessfully ambushing them when they had their guard down.


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then we have to find the culprits quickly. Otherwise, with them hiding around nearby, the next victims could very well be us.¡± After saying that, however, Captain Hu suddenly became frightened. He looked at Captain Luo, who was in front of him, and thought, ¡°Are they that team?¡±


    Captain Hu secretly put his guard up. He couldn¡¯t have expected that after saying what he said, Captain Luo also became alert and put his guard up at the same time. It was just as Captain Hu said; no one knew who the culprits were. As such, there was a possibility that the temporary allied battle team could be the culprits.


    His guard up, Captain Hu carefully asked, ¡°Brother Luo, which academy¡¯s assault battle team do you think is capable of doing this?¡±


    Captain Hu words made Captain Luo stare nkly into space for just a moment and lifted his worry. The members of Wufeng Military Academy who were standing before him had a ranking that was over 200, simr to their own Zheli Military Academy. They would definitely not be bold enough to do something like attacking assault teams. He also felt the distrust from the other side, thus he had a thought and said, ¡°Even if it was a sneak attack, an assault team able to bring down Qiulin Military Academy, whose ranking is within 100, is definitely not weak. It would be impossible unless they were from the top 50 academies.¡±


    Upon hearing Captain Luo¡¯s words, Captain Hu came to a sudden realization and immediately dropped his guard significantly. He quickly expressed his agreement, ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking.¡±


    Seeing that his point of view was approved and agreed upon, Captain Luo wanted to say more. He continued and said, ¡°Actually, I¡¯m leaning more towards the top 10 military academies. No, no, it should be the top 4. During each year¡¯s battle royale, weren¡¯t the top 4 military academies the ones who fought the mostpetitively?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but I didn¡¯t hear about anything like this happening before.¡± Captain Hu wasn¡¯t convinced.


    ¡°If they were pushed to the extreme, they might take that risk,¡± Captain Luo said coldly.


    Captain Hu¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. ¡°You have an idea on who the suspect is?¡±


    ¡°Which one of the top 4 academies is the closest to here?¡± Captain Luo asked instead of answering.


    ¡°Area P47 has been confirmed to be the First Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s headquarters. Area S9 is suspected to be the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters. Area S33 has already been confirmed to be the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters. The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters has yet to be known. It¡¯s likely that they are not within Area P and S.¡± Captain Hu spoke to him with familiarity.


    ¡°Who would have known that 3 out of the top 4 were squished together. Our luck really sucks. We actually picked out the most intense andpetitive battlefield.¡± Captain Luo heaved a long sigh. Right now, he just wanted for these three military academies to not form alliances and first take out military academies like his own...


    After thinking about it, Captain Luo gave his answer, ¡°The sneak attack was definitely from one of these three military academies. I believe that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy are most likely to be the culprits.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


    ¡°The First Men¡¯s Military Academy was pushed into second ce by the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy 7 times in a row. They definitely want to retake their previous glory. With this much pressure, doing something like this isn¡¯t impossible,¡± Captain Luo exined his thoughts. ¡°The Third Men¡¯s Military Academy is the same. Having held 4th ce since the beginning of time, they definitely want to change it up. And if they were to do something like this, then the first suspects would be the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s location makes it easier for thempared to the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s.¡±


    ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy is more likely to have carried out the sneak attack?¡± Captain Hu asked with surprise.


    ¡°Not necessarily. It¡¯s possible that the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy will frame the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.¡± Captain Luo smiled ambiguously. ¡°It¡¯s also possible that the First Co-ed Military Academy secretly sent out one team.¡±


    ¡°I have to return soon and ry this to themander.¡± Captain Hu made a decision right then. No matter which military academy had done it, it wasn¡¯t good news for the military academies which were lower in rank like themselves. They needed to find a solution as soon as possible.


    ¡°Yes, I have to inform mymander of this as well. If we want to defend ourselves against these top 3 military academies, military academies like our own must stick together and cooperate,¡± Captain Luo reminded.


    Captain Hu¡¯s expression showed a hint of deep thought. It was possible that this idea was the best solution for going against the top military academies. Captain Hu¡¯s train of thought began aligning with Captain Luo¡¯s without him realizing it. Captain Luo¡¯s smile grew bigger upon seeing that Captain Hu didn¡¯t say anything.


    The two captains who wanted to report to their respectivemanders as soon as possible could no longer calmly eat their food. They quickly led their team members to leave this area and moved towards their headquarters.


    Once they left the boundary of the area, they saw a huge sand mound behind a particr towering tree. It suddenly moved as the thickyer of snow instantly cracked open and revealed the dark metallic surface inside.


    The dark metal suddenly stood up and the snow all fell to the ground. It revealed its actual appearance¡ªit was a special-ss mecha.


    Once there was movement here, the other quiet and secluded areas began to show activity as well. The six mecha that had been separated quickly rallied towards the mecha which had stood up first.


    ¡°Boss, are we moving out?¡± Qi Long asked excitedly. He had already beenying there for almost 2 hours. He was going mad from having justin there.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s right thumb and index finger quickly rubbed together. This was a small movement she made when she was deep in thought. ¡°Li Lanfeng, Qiao Ting is probably going to be exposed. Can you think of some solution to this?¡± Being exposed too early on would affect Ling Lan¡¯s uing ns. She was not going to allow that.


    Li Lanfeng became surprised at her words and he asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    Ling Lan informed Li Lanfeng of the conversation between the two team leaders which Little Four had recorded.


    Li Lanfeng eyes suddenly shed and he decisively said, ¡°Move our misfortune onto others!¡±


    ¡°The Third Men¡¯s Military Academy!¡± Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng simultaneously spoke the answer out loud. Ling Lan¡¯s lips perked up slightly. Li Lanfeng had had the same thought as she did.


    ¡°You make the n!¡± Since Li Lanfeng wanted the strategist position, she was giving him that chance.


    ¡°Yes, Captain!¡± Li Lanfeng happily replied. This was the first time during an operation that Ling Lan had asked him to form a n. Normally, Ling Lan would always decide on her own n of action and then let him and Han Jijyun add in the details.


    Li Lanfeng knew that this was Ling Lan giving him a chance. Feeling grateful, he silently clenched his fists¡ªhe had to perform well and absolutely not tarnish the trust and support Rabbit had for him. Let¡¯s go Li Lanfeng!

 Chapter 494 - Fallen into a Trap!

    <h4>Chapter 494: Fallen into a Trap!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Inside the forest of Area S, a 12-man mecha team was carefully moving through the forest in order to make sure they were not caught out, while simultaneously investigating the surrounding area.


    ¡°Stop, hide!¡± The front line member suddenly gave a signal. Everyone rapidly operated their mecha and darted into the rock formations within the forest that could hide the mechas.


    A few secondster they sighted two smoke-emitting, wrecked advanced mechas. They were flying through the air unsteadily; it was likely that they had reached their limit. These two mecha were falling towards them.


    Although the operators of those two mecha were trying their best to make an emergencynding, the damage to their mecha was likely too severe and thus they unable to control the direction; they were unable to avoid breaking a few branches from the towering trees of the forest as theynded. They took a hard fall into the thick snow mounds and slid out many meters away.


    One of the mechas abruptly smashed into one of the towering trees and stopped sliding, while the other had lost control even more and was spinning around in the snow before it was stopped by therge and thick snow mounds.


    The two mecha that felly in the snow silently. Smoke rose out from the mecha and shot towards the sky.


    The captain of the battle team hesitated a bit and then decided to help them. In a battlefield, even if it was the enemy, it would be morally justified for them to help them. Especially now, the opposition wasn¡¯t really an enemy.


    He carefully operated his mecha to walk towards them, slowly moving closer to the mecha nearest to him that was stopped by the tree.


    When he had approached to around 10 meters away from the mecha, its externalmunication channel was switched on. A morbid coughing sound came out from the mecha.


    The captain was worried and quickly asked, ¡°Do you need any help?¡±


    The operator inside was finally able to stop coughing and gave a word of warning instead of requesting aid, ¡°Run. They¡¯reing.¡± At the end of those words, there was another bout of loud coughing...


    The captain heard this and was surprised. Was it that group of assassins? He quickly asked, ¡°Who are they?¡±


    ¡°The First Men¡¯s Military Academy!¡± the voice of the mecha operator inside the advanced mecha angrily screamed out.


    ¡°It¡¯s them!¡± This answer did not surprise the captain. He hadmunicated with the other military academies and deduced that the assassins were either from the First Co-ed Military Academy, First Men¡¯s Military Academy or Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy was the most suspicious, but they didn¡¯t have any hard evidence. Everyone couldn¡¯t make a decision to attack the First Men¡¯s Military Academy together.


    ¡°How are you right now? Can you still provide support? If you can, then I¡¯ll take you back to our headquarters. As long as you can prove the attackers are from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, we will help you take revenge,¡± asked the captain with care while telling the person his thoughts at the same time.


    ¡°No problem, I can still support!¡± the advanced mecha operator quickly replied. ¡°I won¡¯t let them go that easily. Only Little Wu and I are left from our battle team... Ah, is Little Wu alright?¡±


    The captain quickly said, ¡°Wait here, I¡¯ll send someone to check.¡±


    ¡°Hurry. When we were running away, the people from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were right behind us. It¡¯ll be bad for us if they catch up,¡± the advanced mecha operator said hurriedly. He wanted to leave right this instant.


    The captain became nervous after hearing this and asked, ¡°How many people do they have?¡±


    ¡°24 people,¡± replied the advanced mecha operator.


    They actually had two battle teams. The 12 people that they had would definitely not be able to go against two teams. The captain made a decision right then that they would leave right after they checked up on that mecha operator called Little Wu.


    While they were waiting, the captain didn¡¯t forget to ask about the situation of that advanced mecha operator. ¡°Can you still operate your mecha?¡±


    The advanced mecha operator mmed down hard on his control panel and said, ¡°My mecha¡¯s beyond repair. It¡¯s really annoying!¡±


    Upon hearing that, the captain hesitated a bit; however, the situation did not allow him to think for too long. He needed to take this operator back to prove the identity of the assants, and thus he ordered one of his team members to give a co-pilot seat to that operator.


    ¡°Captain, the advanced mecha operator hit his head and is unconscious and bleeding, but it¡¯s not fatal,¡± reported the member who had gone to check on the other mecha.


    ¡°Okay. When you move him into the cockpit, we¡¯ll head back,¡± ordered the captain quickly.


    ¡°Yes, Captain!¡±


    The other members took the unconscious mecha operator and put him into a co-pilot seat. The captain turned around and asked the mecha operator who was in better shape, ¡°Which academy are you guys from?¡±


    This was because both of them were wounded everywhere; their protective suits were already drenched in blood, which made the logo that represented their military academy be unclear and hard to make out. It made it difficult for them to know who they were at the time.


    ¡°We¡¯re from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy,¡± the advanced mecha operator said embarrassedly.


    The captain was horrified. The Third Men¡¯s Military Academy was also one of their suspects...


    ¡°Ah!¡± One of their small team¡¯s members was heard suddenly screaming on the team¡¯smunication channel. The captain knew something was wrong. He heard another member scream into the channel, ¡°They are...¡±


    A bang sounded on the channel and the member¡¯s screams came to an abrupt stop. Right then, the captain did not know anything. He furiously screamed out, ¡°Despicable!¡±


    ¡°Captain, be careful!¡± screamed the members who were terrified all of a sudden.


    Their surrounding area was suddenly engulfed by multiple beams of light. Seven beams of light came shooting towards them. This sudden attack caught them with their pants down¡ªall seven of their mecha were hit. The A.I. of their mecha decided that the mecha operators had been immediately killed in action and turned off all of the mecha¡¯s functions, engaging lockdown mode.


    After losing all of their functions, the mecha fell down towards the ground. Although the operators were not harmed, they were unable to contact each other. They were also unable to open their cockpit and go outside. They could only wait for the staff members of the tournament to unlock their mecha in order to reacquire their freedom.


    The opponent¡¯s attacks did not stop. The second round of beam attacks poured towards them. Although they were hit by the first round of fire, the 3 mecha that remained had some time to dodge the iing attack. Other than the captain, the other two were not so lucky after dodging; they were simultaneously hit by multiple shots. They met the same fate as their teammates from before. The A.I. dered that they were killed in action and thus they fell into the snow like the rest.


    The captain knew that he would definitely ¡®die¡¯ if he stayed there. After dodging the second round of beam shots, he operated his mecha to dart towards one direction. As long as he got into the deep forest area, it would be very difficult for beamfire to hit him because the trees would provide natural cover. This was his only chance to escape. He had to bet on this move.


    Perhaps his thoughts of escaping were too intense, as the speed of the captain¡¯s fingers had surpassed his usual limit, increasing by one level. He was full of focus and somehow made his piloting meld with his mecha, allowing him to dodge the next round of fire.


    He was close to escaping the ambush area. The captain thought to himself, ¡°Faster! Faster!¡±


    He made an irregr move and instantly shed behind a towering tree. Right when he had escaped the ambush area¡ªbefore he could celebrate¡ªhis mecha was struck by a huge force, pushing his mecha back into the ambush area.


    Following a ¡°bang¡±, his mecha smashed onto a towering tree and bounced onto the ground. The captain felt blood gushing out from his chest, and he uncontrobly spat out a mouthful of blood.


    He looked up in front of him. A special-ss mecha was standing there with arge cold weapon in its hands, pointing slightly downwards. It was this weapon that had pushed him back and cut off the only chance he had to escape.


    The mecha turned towards him. Its two dark eye sockets seemed to be mocking him, pitying him and not caring about him all at the same time. The captain looked at the chest area of the mecha with his bloodshot eyes and saw the emblem of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy shining clearly on the mecha.


    The captain quickly pushed down the publicmunication button and screamed using all of his strength, ¡°The culprits are the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy!¡±


    That sound soared through the sky. The opposing forces were surprised and quickly yelled out, ¡°Advance!¡±


    Six beams of light hit the mecha without a hint of mercy. The A.I. instantly dered the mecha operator had ¡®died¡¯. The captain looked on as the light inside his mecha instantly disappeared and his cockpit was plunged into pitch darkness. His eyes were red with anger and his thoughts full of hate. ¡°I will never forget how the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy humiliated us today.¡± Because of his carelessness, his team members had ¡°died¡± here frustratingly. He could not help but me himself.


    After defeating this 12-man battle team, the advanced mecha operators who took over the opposing mecha opened the cockpit. They hit the ¡°concede¡± button on their way out and saw that the opposing mecha were locked up. They then confidently returned to their own advanced mecha.


    The mecha that had been smoking suddenly had no more smokeing out. The two mecha that had looked like they were wrecked beyond repair somehow easily stood up from the snow.


    ¡°They¡¯re almost here. Let¡¯s go!¡± quickly ordered the special-ss mecha operator who had destroyed the captain¡¯s mecha, looking towards the sky on his left.


    A few secondster, a battle team of mecha arrived at this location. They saw the mecha slumped around, making their expressions change immediately.


    ¡°Little Cao, go take a look. Which military academy are these guys from?¡± ordered the team captain, raising a brow.


    ¡°Yes, captain!¡± Little Cao quickly operated his mecha tond on the ground. He put his head down and carefully looked at the logo on the chest of the mecha and answered, ¡°Captain, it¡¯s a 12-man battle team of Changkong Military Academy.¡±


    ¡°There are signs of a battle here. Looks like it was a sneak attack. Is it the same rumor that was spread earlier about those attacks?¡± analyzed the captain after careful observation.


    ¡°Just now, I think I heard someone scream out ¡°Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡±, which is why we came looking...¡± The captain thought back to the possible voice he heard earlier. He felt that there was something wrong.


    ¡°Captain someone¡¯sing towards us!¡± the member in charge of surveince warned.


    The captain looked at the radar and saw that there many mecha quickly advancing towards them. ¡°Looks like they know that something has happened here.¡± Suddenly, he seemed to have realized something and his expression immediately changed. ¡°Shit, we¡¯ve fallen into a trap!¡±

 Chapter 495 - Closely Linked!

    <h4>Chapter 495: Closely Linked!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    He quickly ordered his team members, ¡°We¡¯re retreating!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not getting away that easily!¡± A cold roar rang from the air, and an ace mecha instantly appeared before them.


    ¡°Qiao Ting!¡± eximed the captain with a gloomy expression.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think that the battle team attacking other assault teams was from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. You guys really had a good idea and even believed that you could put the me on us, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy!¡± Qiao Tingughed coldly and said.


    ¡°If I said that we stumbled on this situation, would you believe us?¡± interrupted the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s captain as he bit his lip. When he had taken his battle team to where the battle had taken ce, they were already made the primary suspects... However, he still wanted to try his best to rify because this really had nothing to do with them. The me was too unjust and frustrating.


    Of course, Qiao Ting believed him. He clearly knew who the real culprits were, but right then he needed to throw the me onto the opponent; thus, he smiled coldly and said, ¡°Then do you think I should believe you or not?¡±


    The captain was silent for a few seconds. In the end, he helplessly sighed and said, ¡°No!¡± Heughed bitterly and continued, ¡°But even if you don¡¯t believe me, I will still say that the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy has no connection to this.¡±


    ¡°Do you think that just saying you guys have no connection to all this can erase the fact that you guys may have done this?¡± A voice sounded from behind him. The captain looked back and saw that during the conversation between him and Qiao Ting, many battle teams of other military academies had already surrounded them.


    The captain saw this situation and was extremely frustrated. He shouldn¡¯t have used his time to talk to Qiao Ting and try to exin the truth; he should have covered for his teammates as they left this area when Qiao Ting hade to them. Now, his fatal mistake hadnded him and his team in a dangerous situation. If would not be easy for them to leave now.


    ¡°Then what do you guys want?¡± the captain asked, biting his lips.


    ¡°You guys trapped and harmed our team members. You want us to just let you go? No way!¡± said a member of one of the military academies that were attacked.


    Hearing that, the expression of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s captain changed instantly. ¡°This wasn¡¯t done by us. I hope you guys can give us some time to prove our innocence.¡±


    These words instead made everyone who was presentugh coldly. Their attitude clearly showed their firm belief in them being the culprits. The captain of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy felt his heart drop into his stomach. He knew that this time it was impossible to escape.


    Right then, these military academy¡¯s battle teams were no longer interested in hearing the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s empty and weak exnation. One of the military academies¡¯ battle team leader apologetically said to Qiao Ting, ¡°Captain Qiao, we made a mistake before and thought it was you guys. Please forgive us.¡±


    Qiao Ting coldly replied, ¡°Our headquarters still need me to defend. Since I¡¯ve been cleared of my innocence, please allow me to bid farewell.¡± Before other party could say anything, he turned towards his team members and ordered, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    Qiao Ting led his 24-man battle team and instantly left the area, appearing like he was deeply angry with the fact that these military academies thought he was the main culprit.


    One military academy¡¯s captain saw this and could not suppress a sigh, saying, ¡°We were too impulsive. We interrogated Captain Qiao before finding out the truth about the situation... It¡¯s no wonder Captain Qiao is angry!¡±


    ¡°I hope Captain Qiao won¡¯t have any opinions about us because of this issue,¡± one battle team member said worriedly. In the end, if Captain Qiao intended on teaching them a lesson and let the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s battle team attack their headquarters...


    Everyone shuddered in fear at this thought. They all decided to resolve the issue of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy and afterward find Qiao Ting to exin their thoughts. Even if they couldn¡¯t form an alliance, they didn¡¯t want Qiao Ting to think of taking revenge against them and in the end, be the target of their attack.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s departure caused these military academies¡¯ alliances to have reservations. This, however, made the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s captain surprised and happy. If Qiao Ting was present, they would have had no chance of escaping, but now there was a slim chance.


    At the moment Qiao Ting left, along with how the battle teams that surrounded them rxed, the captain quickly yelled, ¡°Run!¡±


    He was the first to operate his mecha towards the escape route that he had already found. All the members of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy were very experienced mecha operators. After the captain gave the order, they all operated their mecha and followed in the direction the captain had charged towards.


    With two hundred or so mechas around them, if they were to scatter, they would be taken down in one hit. Instead, it would be better if they followed their captain in bing a sharp, pointed knife and cutting open an opening, allowing them to escape sessfully.


    The Third Men¡¯s Military Academy was without a doubt the best. The captain of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy was a top tier special-ss operator. He lifted up therge sword in his hand. One backward spin caused the two mecha in front of him to dodge to the side. In the instant that they dodged, he operated his mecha and broke through the encirclement.


    Following him were the three mecha that had reacted the fastest and broke through the encirclement with their captain. However, their good luck was only for the four of them. The others were cut off by the military academy alliance battle teams who had reacted.


    The area instantly had beams of light flying around, mechas dancing about and cold weapons shing hard against one another. Some were trying their best to find a chance to escape, while others were trying to mercilessly destroy that hope and keep those who were trying to escape in this area. They fought admirably for their beliefs. They couldn¡¯t back down and also couldn¡¯t give up anything. In this situation, the battle became more and more brutal.


    Very quickly, mecha dropped down onto the ground one after another. These were the mecha operators who lost their battles and were eliminated from the battle royale. In the end, not one of the 20 mecha escaped. And on the side of the military academy alliance, 5 mechas were shot down and were eliminated. 13 other mecha also paid a price in suffering damage.


    Three kilometers away from the battle, Qiao Ting operated his mecha to hover in mid-air, carefully watching the intense battle that was going on over on the other side. The corner of his mouth perked up a bit with a smile. The battle between the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy and the military academy alliance made them all suffer losses. This announced that Area S and P officially entered into the battle royale period. It was a good time for them to profit from all the chaos.


    ¡°Boss Qiao, do we want to keep the few that escaped alive?¡± reminded Qiao Ting¡¯s vice captain. The direction in which they had escaped was towards them. If they wanted to block them off, they would definitely be able to take down the fish that slipped through the.


    ¡°Let¡¯s take a look for now.¡± Qiao Ting stopped his team members from acting rashly.


    The captain of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy led the three team members who were lucky enough to escape and ran as fast they could. They were about to breathe a sigh of relief after seeing that there weren¡¯t anyone chasing them down when they saw countless mecha appear in front of them. The one leading them was Qiao Ting, who had just left the scene moments before.


    The captain¡¯s expression changed instantly. ¡°You¡¯re going to add insult to injury?¡±


    Qiao Ting looked at him indifferently. ¡°Do you and I have any conflict or interests?¡±


    The captain¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Of course we don¡¯t. If Captain Qiao is willing to show mercy, I will report this to ourmander and maybe we could have a chance to cooperate.¡±


    ¡°Cooperate?¡± Qiao Tingughed coldly. ¡°Can those who are proficient in evil schemes and ns be trusted?¡±


    The captain¡¯s expression turned serious and he said without hesitation, ¡°I will give Captain Qiao an answer for this.¡± If he found out who f***ed them in the back, he would tear them to shreds.


    Qiao Ting immediately waved his hand. The members who were originally blocking their way moved aside and created an opening.


    The captain gratefully cupped his hands towards Qiao Ting and rapidly led his team to go through that opening.


    ¡°We¡¯re letting them go just like that?¡± After getting a taste of sweetness from sneak attacks, the vice captain felt reluctance as he watched the four mecha that were almost out of sight. It was a shame they couldn¡¯t take them down.


    ¡°Keeping them alive and letting them return could perhaps have an effect that we didn¡¯t foresee... Maybe we can still use the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy once more.¡± Qiao Ting had a n in his mind. The curve at the corner of his mouth became more pronounced.


    He originally thought that Ling Lan had given him this mission to make it difficult for him. When he took on the mission, he almost had a fallout with Ling Lan. However, this mission was definitely unable to bepleted by the small 24-man team. Even as an ace operator, he would not be able to do it.


    However, Qiao Ting had his own pride. He didn¡¯t want to give Ling Lan a chance to look down on him. That was why he put up with it and took the mission, and prepared to put all of his efforts through. Even if he didn¡¯t finish the mission, he would try his best to draw out the time and support the others until the end of the battle royale.


    However, after today¡¯s scene, the whole situation hadpletely turned around. Originally being in a precarious situation, they instantly had the chance to grab hold of the entire situation. No matter if it was the military academy alliance or the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy, they would try their best to get close to them both. This gave Qiao Ting leeway to strategize. He created an even better condition for their own battle team to finish their mission.


    He really had underestimated Ling Lan. Ling Lan wasn¡¯t someone who would be jealous of those who had skills and give them a mission that was seemingly impossible. In reality, he had it nned all along. Who knew that he was able to make the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy be their scapegoat. This move of his was f***ing amazing.


    After being amazed, Qiao Ting¡¯s fear of Ling Lan became even deeper. The more he came to know about Ling Lan, the more he felt that Ling Lan¡¯s ability was unfathomable... It was a good thing that his mecha operating abilities were already set in stone without a chance to progress further, or else he would definitely not eat and sleep well knowing that there was such a strong rival close to him. It would give him a feeling of why god made him so excellent, but then made someone who was perfect... After thinking about this point, Qiao Ting could not help but be a bit happy.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Since everything was now resolved, he only needed to patiently wait. He was going to wait to see which one out of the military academy alliance or the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy would give him the most benefits. Then it would be the time he moved out.


    Just like that, Qiao Ting led his team members and returned to Area S9. Area S9 had now been confirmed because of Qiao Ting. The two military academies in the adjacent areas now believed Area S9 was the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters.


    The referees and military officers in the monitoring were stupefied after seeing the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s move. Were these guys really military academy students? They were just like experienced army soldiers who had gone into battle hundreds of times.


    ¡°Finding a scapegoat, sh*t. This move made by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy is pretty nasty. This way the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy has be an insignificant rat on the streets.¡± One of the officers who seemed to have connections with the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy shook his head andughed bitterly. The Third Men¡¯s Military Academy was exiled by all the other military academies. In the times to follow, they would not have a good time.


    ¡°Ah, all their moves are inter-connected.¡± He Xuyang was silently praising this move. As onlookers, they saw everything more clearly than the students who were participating in the battle royale.

 Chapter 496 - Everyone guessing?

    <h4>Chapter 496: Everyone guessing?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    While the military academy alliance had gone to Area S9 to look for an answer from Qiao Ting, a battle team from Changkong Military Academy had been attacked 4 to 5 kilometers away from them; this instantly got rid of any suspicion everyone had towards Qiao Ting. It was instead the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy, who had just arrived at Area S9, that was pulled to the scene upon hearing a scream of frustration. They were then caught red-handed by Qiao Ting...


    Every step was calcted very cleverly and didn¡¯t allow for the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy a chance to exin themselves, making them take on the me.


    Afterwards, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy made another mistake. It had to be said that Qiao Ting¡¯s timing for leaving the scene was very clever. If Qiao Ting had remained there, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy would not have tried to fight when they had no chance to escape. If they were willing to take the me, the situation would have probably been unsolvable. However, Qiao Ting¡¯s decisive timing to take his leave let the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy see a silver lining of escape. Since they had the chance, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy would not let themselves be taken that easily; they also had their own pride. This was what caused the battle that happened afterward.


    Just like that, one side wanted to escape and one side wanted to keep them there. Both sides began a cruel and terrible battle. Even now, the truth was no longer the most important thing. Now that both sides had taken losses, they would never have the chance to shake hands and talk about peace. The Third Men¡¯s Military Academy would now be unable to clear their wrongful guilt. They would fight until one of them was eliminated.


    What was more amazing was that the quartet from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy who was able to somehow escape had bumped into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, and just when they were feeling despair, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy let them go. This would definitely make the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy feel deep gratitude towards the First Men¡¯s Military Academy...


    He Xuyang couldn¡¯t control himself andughed softly, saying, ¡°Qiao Ting intentionally yed nice in order to make the First Men¡¯s Military Academy be a superpower between the other two sides. No matter which side wants to draw in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, they will have to put out enough benefits for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Who knew that the real benefactors of this situation would be the ones who were the culprits. It¡¯s simply amazing.¡±


    Hearing this, Ling Xiao smiled softly and said, ¡°Qiao Ting¡¯s timing of advancement and retreat were well controlled. He is an exceptional team leader!¡±


    He Xuyang lifted his brow and interjected, ¡°I wonder who formed this n? We can¡¯t look down on military academy students now.¡±


    Ling Xiao calmly replied, ¡°Yeah, who knows. However, it is definitely someone from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.¡± Ling Xiao said this very indifferently, but his expression of happiness on the corner of his lips was bing more pronounced.


    ¡°However, General, there¡¯s something I can¡¯t get my head around. Why did the members from Changkong Military Academy, at thest second, say without hesitation that the ¡®killers¡¯ were from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy?¡± He Xuyang tossed out a question that he couldn¡¯t figure out.


    Upon hearing He Xuyang¡¯s question, the officers who had been focused on Ling Xiao and He Xuyang this whole time seemed to have been woken up. They all began to discuss this question. It had to be said that Ling Lan¡¯s group had thought about the details very well. The logo that could show their true identity had been hidden through their methods. It was like painting some dark colors on the chest te area of the mecha where the logo was to hide 70%-80% of it, making it difficult to see what it really was. This way, it would be impossible for others to acquire their real identity.


    Ling Xiao didn¡¯t answer and only nced at He Xuyang with a half-smile. He Xuyang instantly stopped trying to get an answer from Ling Xiao. Knowing Ling Xiao, it meant that the question he had asked was prohibited and he didn¡¯t have the authority to know.


    He Xuyang thought to himself, ¡°Looks like this definitely has something to do with Young Master Lan!¡± It was only when it came to issues concerning Young Master Lan that the General would be this careful.


    During the discussion, one officer brought up this line of thought, ¡°Was it because that when they first talked to each other, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had introduced themselves as the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy? Thus when they were attacked, because of their angry emotions, the victims subconsciously decided that they were the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy?¡±


    Most people did not really agree with this opinion. They rebutted, ¡°Those who can participate in the battle royale are people who have strong wills. They wouldn¡¯t be misled by words. They were so sure of themselves was probably because they had something that proved the opponent¡¯s identity.¡±


    ¡°But what was it exactly? Only the person who saw it would know.¡± Everyone wanted to find the reason, but they all failed. This made them want to know the truth even more.


    While everyone was thinking their tops off, looking for the answer, Ling Xiao who was sitting on the side took a light sip of the hot tea he held in his hand. He seemed to not really care about what everyone else was caring about.


    In reality, the only person in the monitoring room who knew the answer was Ling Xiao.


    ¡°Little Lan probably used her spiritual power when they took out Changkong¡¯s team leader. She probably gave the opponent a subconscious thought, misleading them from the real truth...¡± He didn¡¯t expect that Ling Lan had coordinated her spiritual power and mecha operating skills seamlessly. This made Ling Xiao surprisingly happy. There was another mistake that was clearly on purpose. This mistake was giving the opponent time to speak out the so-called ¡®real culprits¡¯.


    ¡°Strategy and skills are both really good. They were used all in the right ce. Compared to before, Little Lan has learned to be both hard and soft at the same time and is no longer stubborn. She has be even more powerful!¡± Ling Xiao was very proud. He wanted to tell the whole world that Ling Lan was his daughter...


    <i>Daughter... </i>Ling Xiao¡¯s smugness was instantly cleared away as he calmed down, feeling a touch of bitterness in his heart. In order to receive his daughter¡¯s consolement and to not be discovered by others, he couldn¡¯t publicize his rtionship with Ling Lan right now. He needed to wait patiently. Three more years. After three more years, his precious daughter would be able to stand beside him in front of the whole world.


    At that moment, Ling Lan¡¯s 7-man team had already gone deep into Area S. Luo Lang had a mind full of questions that were unanswered. Finally, during their resting time, he asked Ling Lan, ¡°Boss, we¡¯re just going to leave like that?¡± Didn¡¯t they say that they were going to resolve the issue of Qiao Ting being exposed? They were done after only taking down one team from Changkong Military Academy?


    Hearing this, Ling Lan coldly red towards him. ¡°What else do you think we should do?¡±


    Luo Lang scratched his head. He couldn¡¯t think of any reasons to do more, but just doing this still seemed like it wasn¡¯t enough.


    Seeing how Luo Lang¡¯s expression was still full of confusion, Li Lanfengughingly said, ¡°In reality, we didn¡¯t really have to do much. Qiao Ting just needed a chance, and we took out Changkong Military Academy and gave him that chance. Qiao Ting wouldn¡¯t miss out on using it.¡± Although he was fearful and on guard against Qiao Ting, Li Lanfeng had to acknowledge that Qiao Ting was greatly capable in regards to both power and strategy.


    Luo Lang was still unclear about some points. Ling Lan stopped Li Lanfeng from exining in further detail and tossed out a few words, ¡°Qiao Ting knows how to utilize this situation to his advantage. For someone who can be the captain of Leiting, he¡¯s not a simpleton.¡±


    ¡°We didn¡¯t tell Qiao Ting, so how would he know how to utilize it?¡± Luo Lang was still worried. <i>Was this kind of guessing game really going to be sessful?</i>

 Chapter 497 - Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 497: Attack!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°You think Qiao Ting is the same as you?¡± Ling Lan red coldly at him. Luo Lang instantly became sad, saying, ¡°Wu wu wu, Boss thinks I am stupid.¡±


    After Ling Lan saw that everyone had filled up their stomachs, she said, ¡°Let¡¯s continue!¡±


    ¡°Yes, Boss!¡± Everyone quickly responded. They were afraid that if their movements were too slow, they would be the next ones to be looked down upon by Boss after Luo Lang...


    The seven of them continued to move very fast. Xie Yi elerated his mecha, surreptitiously drew near Luo Lang and whispered, ¡°Luo Lang, regarding the things you were worried about earlier, Boss and Qiao Ting definitely have a mutual understanding on this kind of stuff.¡±


    Luo Lang felt petnt and thought to himself, <i>¡°Everyone is doing their own thing and doesn¡¯tmunicate. I was only afraid that the other side would miss something and miss the good chance that we had created.¡±</i>


    After a while, Xie Yi thought to himself, ¡°You should just focus on being the battle team¡¯s vice-general!¡± As expected, this Luo Lang was only suitable for hard manualbor and not good in using his brain.


    ¡°You also think I¡¯m stupid?¡± Luo Lang became angry and began to sharpen a sword in his mind to use on this punk. This shameless punk who hade into their team uninvited actually dared to look down on him?


    ¡°No!¡± Xie Yi answered crisply. In his mind, however, he felt a bit vain and so added, ¡°I want to say that no matter who youpete with, you shouldn¡¯tpete with Boss. You will feel that there is no hope in life... which is why, you should be the vice-general.¡±


    Xie Yi words made Luo Lang be silent. Only a few secondster, Luo Lang proudly snorted, then elerated and shed to the front, creating distance between him and Xie Yi. This action that made it seem as if he was strangers with Xie Yi confused him. Why had Luo Lang be angry again? He didn¡¯t offend him right?


    The small sparks flying over on this side were not noticed by the others who were moving forward at top speed. Everyone flew for another 10 or so minutes. When they hade close to Area M, Ling Lan stopped abruptly and waved her hand. Everyone immediately stopped flying and went to their respective positions. With Ling Lan as the center, they assumed a formation that was safe for both offensive and defensive battle.


    Not long after, there was anothermotion on the other side of the forest. Many mecha were darting through the forest skillfully,ing closer and closer towards Ling Lan¡¯s position.


    Everyone¡¯s expression became serious. It seemed like they wereing for them.


    The radar on a mecha could discover flying objects up to a three kilometer radius. Normally, it if wasn¡¯t included in their mission goal, assault battle teams would find a way to avoid other battle teams when they saw them on the radar. If the opposition didn¡¯t see them as an enemy, they would change their direction mutually after stopping briefly. Right now, however, the other party wasing straight towards them, which clearly meant they were going be trouble.


    ¡°Little Four, zoom and enhance!¡± At Ling Lan¡¯s orders, the screen on the mecha instantly pulled up the image of the map within a 2 to 3 kilometer radius. A 24-man mecha battle team was approaching their position at rming speeds.


    Little Four was very thoughtful; he put up screenshots of the logos on the chest te of those mecha on the two sides of the screen.


    ¡°The Federal Defence Military Academy and the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy...¡± Ling Lan frowned slightly.


    ¡°Looks like they formed an alliance before the battle. It wasn¡¯t just us and the First Co-ed Military Academy who formed one. The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy has also found their ally military academy. We just don¡¯t know who else they have allied with.¡± Ling Lan was surprised. As expected, those who could be themanders of the top tier military academies were real pieces of work.


    ¡°Also, for them to have been able to enter Area S9 so quickly, it looks like the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy split their army up right before entering the map area. As for the Federal Defence Military Academy, if I remember correctly, their headquarters is in Area M67, not too far from Area S. The people from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy probably rested at the headquarters of the Federal Defence Military Academy and moved out together.¡± Ling Lan thought in detail and predicted the opposition¡¯s arrangements to a certain extent.


    ¡°And now, them brazenlying towards us means that they¡¯ve found out that we¡¯re just a small battle team of seven. They could definitely take us out easily... Looks like those whoe don¡¯t have good intentions and those who don¡¯te have good intentions!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s lip perked and showed a hint of a cold smile. She hadn¡¯t expected that she would be viewed as a soft bone for others to chew on.


    ¡°Get ready for long-range attacks!¡± Ling Lan immediately ordered.


    The formation that had Zhao Jun as the vanguard instantly changed. Zhao Jun sidestepped, changing from the vanguard to the left wing. Xie Yi and Li Lanfeng, who was in the back, immediately went forward and stood at the front of the team to be the two vanguards. Li Shiyu, who was in the middle-rear, darted to the right and became the right wing. And Qi Long and Luo Lang, who held the line, split to the two sides, bing Zhao Jun and Li Shiyu¡¯s secondary wing.


    Ling Lan¡¯s position didn¡¯t change. She was the center point in thest formation and was still the center point now. It was just that this point was considered to be closer to the back, bing the formation¡¯s only person to hold the line. The whole formation was in the shape of a fan. Qi Long and the other five formed a semi-circle, all of them looking in the direction they were responsible for. Ling Lan was the center point of the this semi-circle.


    They used this formation because the radar showed that the opposing formation was also the fan formation. They needed to use the same formation to defend against attacks from all possible directions.


    ¡°Haha, did we scare those seven small fry?¡± One of the mecha operators from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy said with uncontroble excitement upon seeing their target halting at their position.


    ¡°Maybe they think we¡¯re friendlies.¡± The mecha operators from the Federal Defence Military Academy didn¡¯t think too badly of their opponent.


    ¡°From the rumors that we heard, some of the military academy in Area S and P have formed an alliance. We need to get into the action quick, or else we won¡¯t have a chance to meddle with those two areas when themander arrives,¡± said another mecha operator from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, frowning.


    The situation was beyond what they had thought in the first ce. In this battle royal,pared to ones from before, alliances were being formed more quickly between all the military academies. If Area S and Area P seeded inbining into one group, they would end up creating a terrifyingly strong army. If people like them that were from other areas wanted a piece of the pie, they wouldn¡¯t have the chance.


    However, everyone knew that Area P was the most valuable area; it housed almost half of the military academies¡¯ headquarters. This was an endless treasury for obtaining arge amount of points. Even if the the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy had arge amount of time to fully take over Area Q and Area M, the points that they gained in the end would only equal the amount of points for a small corner of Area P.


    This was also why they were hurriedly moving into Area S. The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy needed to set foot into Area S and P while all other military academies were allying with each other, in order to create a good condition for them to march into Area P fair and square.


    ¡°We¡¯re really going to go against those seven? Maybe we should find them ask them for some information about the situation.¡± One of the mecha operators from the Federal Defence Military Academy was not inclined to blindly start a battle without any information.


    ¡°You see, what alliance would want a battle team that couldn¡¯t even manage to muster up 12 people? They will definitely be our spoils of victory.¡± The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s battle team team leaderughed coldly after hearing all that.


    These words made the others agree. They were able to agree so quickly on attacking this seven man team was because of this reason.


    This allied battle teamposed of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy and Federal Defence Military Academy had perhaps let their guard down because they had the advantage in numbers. Although the opposing formation was both offensive and defensive shown on the radar, no one would think that the seven man battle team would not fear death and actively attack in such a precarious situation.


    The 24-man team had entered the range of long-range attacks. Ling Lan didn¡¯t order her group to shoot. She knew very clearly that before the two sides be actual enemies, the first attack was the most important. Ling Lan¡¯s goal was to bring down seven mechas from the opposing side in the first attack¡ªthis would further their cut down the opponent¡¯s number of mecha and bring them closer in range with their own.


    Thus, she had to wait for the most suitable time to attack...


    As the two sides got closer and closer to each other, Ling Lan heartbeat became faster and faster. This time, if she miscalcted by even a little bit, their small team of seven would be met with disaster. Not only would they be eliminated from the battle royale, but this oue would also affect the entire First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Ling Lan rummaged through her pockets and again squeezed the thing that could decide their entire team¡¯s fate. She bit her lip. Since there was going to be battle no matter what, then she didn¡¯t have the luxury to be irresolute and hesitant.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression suddenly turned ice cold, and her whole body emitted cold air. If it wasn¡¯t for the cockpit¡¯s temperature control setting, it was possible that the entire cockpit would have been frozen up. However, activating the ice affinity also made Ling Lan as calm as ever, no longer having any fluctuations in her heart.


    Waiting was tough. Only a few seconds had passed yet Ling Lan forehead had already formed rivulets of sweat. The sweat trickled down Ling Lan¡¯s forehead, going between her brows, around her nostrils and into the cor of her shirt; Ling Lan¡¯s protective vest quickly became drenched. Fortunately, the protective vest had a drying function and quickly dried up the sweat...


    Ling Lan, who was fully focused, went into the fantasy-like world once again. Three of the mecha that were originally flying extremely fast suddenly slowed down their pace. All their movements were clear as day. The operating speed of the opponents automatically appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s mind. She could even see the rhythm and points of how they were operating.


    ¡°Weakness! Weakness! Weakness!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes clearly looked at the three mecha that gave her three chances to take shots. Her talent Profound Insight had worked its magic once again, and this time, its usefulness was shown through these three mechas...


    ¡°A3, A4, A5 are mine!¡± After Ling Lan gave the order, the three mecha, piloted by Li Lanfeng, Xie Yi and Li Shiyu, that were originally responsible for these three mechas, moved their guns slightly.


    ¡°A6.¡±


    ¡°A7.¡±


    ¡°A8.¡±


    The three of them all indicated out loud the mechas that they were going to attack. This was to remind others to not ovep their attacks.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take B8.¡± Zhao Jun saw that he didn¡¯t get a piece from the first row of the enemies, thus decisively choose a target from the back.


    ¡°Attack!¡± Finally, Ling Lan gave the order to attack.


    The seven of them fired the beam guns in their hands at the same time. Ling Lan¡¯s muzzle shifted in an instant and a beam of light poured out. After leaving the muzzle, it somehow split in mid-air and became three beams of light and flew towards the opponent three mecha.


    Actually, this was just an illusion. In reality, Ling Lan had instantly shot out three shots. It was only because the speed of firing was so fast that it gave off the sense of one beam splitting into three...


    This odd scene made the three mechas that were being attacked unable to respond. No, actually, it was more like that the attack by Ling Lan¡¯s seven man team was not in their expectations. A sudden attack like this didn¡¯t give them a single chance to dodge.

 Chapter 498 - Close Range Combat!

    <h4>Chapter 498: Close Range Combat!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Boom, boom, boom... the beams all made their mark on the respective mecha they had targeted. Due to Ling Lan decision in attacking from a distance where the power of the beam gun was at its strongest, in addition to the analysis of power of the mecha in ordance to the cockpit¡¯s endurance, this round of simultaneous shots made the A.I. of the opposing 9 mecha instantly consider the mecha as ¡°destroyed¡±. The A.I. of the mecha forcibly shut off and the 9 mecha all dropped towards the ground.


    ¡°Assholes!¡± The two captains who were in the rear were so angry their eyes were red upon seeing this scene. They didn¡¯t think that the 7-man team that they were facing didn¡¯t give a shit about dying. Facing their 24-man battle team, they didn¡¯t even think about retreating and even proactively attacked first.


    The vision of their members were blocked by the members in front and in addition to the sudden development, they didn¡¯t see that they had already lost 9 members in this round of attack. Upon finding out they had been attacked, they could only give out an order in anger and frustration, ¡°Return fire!¡±


    Like that, the remaining 15 mecha all took out their beam guns and shot at the opposition. Perhaps because the return fire was rushed, many shots ended up missing. They weren¡¯t like Ling Lan¡¯s small team who had already locked on to the target that they were going to shoot at.


    However, many beams of light had hit the opposing mecha. Right when they were hit, the left arm of their mecha erupted out a light screen that guarded their front side. When the beams hit these force fields, the force fields only fluctuated a bit, then the beams disappeared without a trace. The beams that they had shot out didn¡¯t do any damage to the opposition.


    ¡°It¡¯s modified mecha!¡± One member said with surprise upon seeing this situation.


    This discovery made the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy and the Federal Defence Military Academy¡¯s allied battle team be flustered. Modified mechas were considered luxurious items in the Federation. It would strengthen and toughen a part of ofmon mechas. Some mecha modification masters could even increase the performance levels exponentially. The force field that the opposing side had was without a doubt made for beam gun attacks.


    None among military academy students would use modified mechas. This wasn¡¯t because they didn¡¯t have the money, but because the military academies didn¡¯t allow modified mecha from outside the academy. However, creations by those taking the modification major within the academy were allowed to be used. However, the modification ideas that students brought up as research topics usually existed only in the virtual world. Perhaps it was also that some theories and data were not applicable onto real mecha. After all, the students were still young, their theories and research would have inadequacies here and there, and would be unable to be transferred to the real thing.


    Although they couldn¡¯t use modified mechas, the students still clearly knew the strength and power of modified mecha. In mecha history, there once was a special-level modified mecha that had shot down five ace mecha in battle. Although there were many reasons the ace mecha were shot down, and there might have even been the factor of luck, the ability of the special-level modified mecha was pretty much simr to ace mecha; otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t have been able to continuously take down and destroy five ace mecha.


    This was also the reason which made the alliance members of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy and the Federal Defence Military Academy be flustered. The seven mecha in front of them were three special-ss mecha and four advanced mecha. After taking into ount modifications, they were equivalent to a battle team consisting of four ace mecha and 3 special-ss mecha. What were ace mecha like? One ace mecha could exhaust a full 12-man team of special-ss mecha, not to mention three. Could they really take them down?


    This was also the reason why Ling Lan had been confident in starting a battle with the opposition. With this card that they had up their sleeve which could guard against long-range attacks, Ling Lan was confident in bringing down the enemy numbers to the same as their own before getting into close-rangebat.


    ¡°Calm down! Attack! Attack!¡± The two team leaders from the alliance were both yelling into theirmlink channels. Right at that moment, if there were to be even the slightest of flustered movements among their side, then that would spell catastrophe for them. They were regretting their decision right then. Why were they so careless? Why didn¡¯t they think about why a 7-man team that couldn¡¯t even form a full team dared toe towards them. They had definitely had something up their sleeve, and they even neglected this point.


    However, it was like they were riding a tiger and unable to climb down. Both sides would only be able to rest once one side was eliminated. The only choice was to tough it out and take out the opposition, or else the result they faced in the end would be defeat and elimination. This wasn¡¯t what they wanted and was not something they were willing to ept.


    After the orders were screamed out by the alliance team leaders, their team members instantly woke up. They shot beams out wildly in an attempt to get the enemy side¡¯s force fields to reach their maximum absorption capacity. They knew very clearly that if they didn¡¯t break the force field, they would have no way of dealing with them.


    After turning on their force fields, Ling Lan¡¯s small team also pulled on the triggers of their beam guns to retaliate. Compared to the opponent¡¯s random shooting, Ling Lan¡¯s small team paid more attention to uracy. They were so confident only because of the beam absorption shield that Chang Xinyuan had made specifically for them. It could definitely protect their mecha.


    Both sides were fighting viciously. Ling Lan¡¯s side still remained unscathed, while on the other hand, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy and the Federal Defence Military Academy alliance lost four more mecha. One of the two mecha were taken down by Ling Lan alone.


    Talent in profound insight once again showed its strong power when random shots were bouncing around. Whichever mecha Ling Lan¡¯s eyesid upon, then that mecha¡¯s weakness would appear before her eyes. Thus, Ling Lan only shot out two shots and was able to acquire sess.


    ¡°F**k. Give up on long-range and get ready for closebat!¡± The two team leaders of the allied battle team were both smart people. Failing to get any results even after having shot so many beam attacks towards the other side, they quickly realized that the beam guns had probably been rendered useless. If they wanted to turn the situation around, then they could only bet on their closebat abilities to stand their ground.


    Seeing that the opposition had switched to closebat weapons, Ling Lan calmly ordered, ¡°Get ready for closebat!¡±


    With that said, Ling Lan¡¯s little team instantly equipped the cold weapons from their backs. Because Ling Lan liked usingrge cold weapons as closebat weapons, the other members of the little team all had a cold weapon in their hands. Even long-range mecha were the same.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be responsible for C3, C4, and C5; Zhao Jun is responsible for B5, and C6; Lanfeng is responsible for B7 and C7; the rest are free-for-all!¡± The opponent had 11 mecha left. In the two rounds of beam gun attacks, Ling Lan saw through each mecha¡¯s overall strength from theirunch timing and movements. Thus, she arranged a formation that was suitable for the rest of the mecha.


    C4 and C5. One was from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy and one from the Federal Defence Military Academy. They were also the strongest in their battle team. It didn¡¯t even need to be said that both of them were definitely the team leaders of these two teams. In order to make sure none of her own team members would be eliminated, she had to first take down these two strongest individuals. However, this wasn¡¯t enough. So that most of her own team members could engage in one-on-one battles, she had to intercept one more person. Thus, at the same time, Ling Lan took on the member that was beside these two.


    Zhao Jun was now an ace operator, but his mecha was disadvantaging him. Ling Lan didn¡¯t dare to assign three people to him. Instead, she assigned the two special-ss operators, B5 and C6, to him.


    However, even if she and Zhao Jun took on 5 people, the opponents would still number one more than them. Ling Lan had no choice but to let thest special-ss operator, Li Lanfeng, take him on. However, Li Lanfeng physical constitution was on the weak side and had problems with endurance. The opponents that were allocated to him was one special-ss operator and one advanced mecha operator. However, even if it was like this, Ling Lan still couldn¡¯t help but worry whether Li Lanfeng could actually take on the arduous task...


    The 4 mecha leftover wasprised of two special-ss operators and two advanced mecha operators. If Qi Long and the others couldn¡¯t think of something to take them down, or even ended up eliminated, Ling Lan would definitely find them afterwards to sit down and have a ¡°talk¡±.


    Ling Lan¡¯s allocation was very clear. Qi Long and the other three all found the opponents they were responsible for.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be responsible for B2!¡± Qi Long was eyeing a special-ss operator with strong abilities. Having reached special-ss operator level himself, he really wanted to do battle with another special-ss operator once in order to confirm his real potential.


    Because Qi Long only had sessfully advanced to special-ss before the beginning of the tournament when the military academies had set out, there wasn¡¯t enough time for him to be familiar with the new special-ss mecha. Thus, he couldn¡¯t help but operate his own advanced mecha and participate in the tournament. This was something that Qi Long regretted, hating himself for not advancing earlier.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be responsible for C1!¡± Li Shiyu said quickly. He had his eyes fixed on thest special-ss operator. He had already reached the peak of advanced mecha operators. Having touched upon special-ss operator level, inparison to Luo Lang and Xie Yi, he was more suitable in taking on a special-ss operator.


    Luo Lang also had his eyes on C1, but after seeing that Li Shiyu had already taken that one, he chose an advanced mecha operator at random. Xie Yi had some wisdom. He knew that among the seven of them, his capabilities were the weakest. Even the opponent that his teammate had chosen was of simr strength to himself. It was even possible that age and experience made them more of a seasoned veteran. They needed to use their maximum effort to fight them off.


    Hearing Li Shiyu proactively go head to head with that special-ss operator, Ling Lan raised her brows a bit. Her ideal match-up was that Luo Lang was more suitable to face that special-ss operator. It wasn¡¯t because Luo Lang¡¯s operating skills were better than Li Shiyu, but because of Luo Lang¡¯s innate talent. Once he activated his innate talent talent, it would increase the ability of Luo Lang¡¯s mecha operating skills...


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s thought only shed through her mind. Since the members had already made their own choices, as the team leader, the only thing she should do was to put 100% trust in her team members. She should trust that they would definitely be able to do the job right.


    Finally they arrived in the range for closebat. Ling Lan roared, ¡°Move in!¡±


    Already with targets in mind, Ling Lan¡¯s group morphed into fierce beasts after hearing the orders and viciously jumped towards their opponents.


    Ling Lan was originally in very back of the battle team, but her speed was the fastest out of the seven of them. After one stomp, Ling Lan¡¯s entire mecha suddenly flew up into the sky and went past Xie Yi and Li Lanfeng who was in front. It was like a tigering down a mountain, flying towards C3, C4 and C5, the three people who were in the rear line of the opponent¡¯s side.


    C4 was the team leader of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. When he saw that it was a special-ss operator that came towards them, his desire to do battle instantly was set ame. He roared, ¡°He¡¯s mine!¡±


    C3 and C5 heard this and moved their mecha, preparing to pass by Ling Lan¡¯s sides. Therge sword in Ling Lan¡¯s hand suddenly shook and a horizontal sh followed, sending a strong shockwave that quickly spread towards both the left and right sides.


    ¡°Bang! Bang!¡± C3 and C5 hurriedly put up the weapon in their hands and blocked that sudden wave of light, making two loud noises.


    They were originally going to fly past Ling Lan¡¯s mecha, but instead they were sent flying back a few steps from Ling Lan¡¯s strong sword strike. They looked at the special-ss mecha in front of them with surprise. They hadn¡¯t expected that this insignificant special-ss mecha was going to intercept all three of them. Two of the three were team leaders. Was this guy crazy? Or was he nning on sacrificing himself to give the other members a chance to escape?

 Chapter 499 - Crisis!

    <h4>Chapter 499: Crisis!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    On the other side, Zhao Jun had intercepted B5 and C6. Li Lanfeng intercepted B7 and C7. Qi Long and the other three each faced the opponents they had chosen.


    The team captain of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy instantly became angry after seeing that his opponent had intercepted both C3 and C5. Was he looking down on him? He angrily said, ¡°You guys go. I¡¯ll take care of him.¡± After saying that, he operated his mecha and darted towards Ling Lan. He was ready to teach a lesson this person who seemed to look down on everyone.


    C4 was full of pride and didn¡¯t want to cooperate with someone else to take down one opponent. As the second strongest mecha operator in the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, he thought that no one was on his level except for the three ace operators, including some others who were at the peak of advancement from special-ss operator, such as the strongest special-ss operator from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy, or Zhao Jun who had already reached ace operator level but had no choice but to use a special-ss mecha.


    The special-ss operator in front of him who was not even known was the same as the others.


    C3 and C5 knew of C4¡¯s character and knew that he didn¡¯t want them to have a hand in this; thus, when they saw C4 move in and was about to get in range with the opponent, they decisively operated their mecha and flew towards Ling Lan¡¯s sides. They were about to go around her once again. They weren¡¯t ready the first time and were knocked back because they looked down on the opponent. This time, they were fully focused and used all their strength. They believed that they would definitely be able to move past the opponent and join the battlefield.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Ling Lan lifted herrge sword and intercepted C4¡¯s attack. However, it was as though she judged her opponent¡¯s strength incorrectly causing her mecha to tilt backwards uncontrobly...


    Seeing this, C4 was greatly happy. Right when he wanted to continue attacking and finish his opponent off, he felt a forceing from the mecha¡¯s abdomen area. The mecha could not be controlled and was flying backwards.


    The severe shaking made C4 feel that blood wasing up from his chest. If it wasn¡¯t for the cockpit¡¯s defensive function, even though his physical constitution was also monstrous, a strike like that would have been enough to harm him. But even so, this strike made the A.I. determine that the mecha was damaged severely. The power level dropped by 30%.


    Self created mecha skill¡ªRabbit Sky Leap! This was Ling Lan taking the area of effect physical skill Rabbit Sky Leap and making it into the mecha skill Rabbit Sky Leap. This was three times stronger than a normal stomp. However, it was this kind of power that could do damage to mecha. This move was probably a mecha skill that was named after her...


    Ling Lan hadn¡¯t really fallen down. While she was flying backwards, she forcefully stabbed therge sword in her right hand into the ground. The 10 to 15 meter long sword de was instantly stabbed half its length into the ground. Finding bnce by using the sword, the body of the mecha stood up once again. Right after, she sidestepped and held the hilt of therge sword with both hands. Using the sword as a pivot point, her two legs flew upwards and forcefully swept towards her right.


    ¡°Bam!¡± Another loud sound followed. C5, the Federal Defence Military Academy¡¯s battle team team leader who was going around from the right, was sent flying back forcefully by this sudden kick from Ling Lan. Ling Lan¡¯s stance didn¡¯t change, moving swiftly using the sword as the center and went 180 degrees. The entire mecha looked as though it was out of control, tossing itself rapidly towards her left. In an instant, her mecha reached C3 who had been trying to find a path around her.


    ¡°Bam!¡± There was another sound. The oue met by C3 and C4 was not so different from C5. They were all sent flying back from the side kick. The three of them pretty much fell to the ground simultaneous and on the same spot.


    At the same time, Ling Lan used the forced she kicked C3 with and performed a backflip. Her mecha once againnded on the ground. She slowly walked towards where she had left herrge sword. She grabbed the hilt, pulling it out with great force. Therge sword was instantly taken out from the ground.


    The three allied battle team members, who quickly stood up, were now maintaining a defensive stance. They cautiously watched this in-looking special-ss mecha that was in front of them. The outer appearance of this mecha was the same as theirs. They were all real life models specifically used for military academies. In this mecha tournament that had more than of it including special-ss mechas, it wasmon enough for people to simply disregard.


    But it was this ordinary special-ss mecha that had defeated them in one move. Although the three of them hadn¡¯tbined their attacks and were defeated one by one, the feeling of being defeated in a single move them didn¡¯t sit well with them. Especially C4 and C5. As the battle team¡¯s team leader for their military academies, they felt disgrace for being defeated by someone who wasn¡¯t even well known.


    They subconsciously looked at the logo on the chest of their opponent. It seemed as though there was something painted on it. The image was there one second and gone the other, unable to be seen clearly by others. This was possibly an ident, or it could also be on purpose. Nevertheless, they could not determine at this moment which military academy this 7-man battle team was from.


    However, this didn¡¯t hinder them from determining the strength of the opponent. The opponent¡¯s closebat ability was very strong. They were pushed back in two consecutive hits and one was the same result when they were fully focused. This proved that in terms of closebat, the strength of the opponent had already surpassed them. If they wanted to defeat the opponent, they wouldn¡¯t be able to do it with just one person...


    C4 surreptitiously signaled to C3 and C5. It meant that they would attack together. C3 and C5 nodded, showing that they understood. The opponent¡¯s attitude was very clear. If they wanted to go past him, then they had to defeat him.


    C4 became the temporary captain. He looked towards the opponent and, holding in the shame in his heart, yelled, ¡°Attack!¡±


    The three of them suddenly split up; they went up, left and right. They pounced towards Ling Lan from three different directions.


    Ling Lan¡¯s lip showed a hint of a cold smirk. The thing she feared the least was being attacked from all sides. It would have been a headache for her if they had one person keep on her heels, while the other two circled around her from two different directions and ran. Their decision was just what she wanted.


    ¡°Boom! Boom! Boom!¡± The three¡¯s weapons made contact. Ling Lan retreated as she blocked, blocking their attacks one by one. The three saw that and became happy, which lead to them attacking Ling Lan more ferociously.


    In that second, Ling Lan was being pushed back by the three of them. She could only block passively, unable to proactively attack. However at the same time, the three of them were kept busy by her, and not given a chance to leave Ling Lan¡¯s side.


    At this moment, there were 6 pairs of mecha fighting to the death in the battlefield behind Ling Lan.


    Luo Lang¡¯s situation was the best out of the six of them. Having operating capabilities that was slightly better than his opponent , he was at a slight advantage and pushed his opponent to their limit. However, it wasn¡¯t easy to change the advantage to a victory in such a short time. The opponent¡¯s endurance was strong. Knowing that his capabilities were not as good as his opponent, he used all of his strength to defend. The opponent knew well that they outnumbered them. They just needed to drag it on until the opposition was defeated, then they would be able to join forces and attack together and victory would still be theirs.


    Facing an opponent that had a clear objective, and one who wasn¡¯t fighting blindly and impulsively, Luo Lang would either have to drag it out until the opponent could no longer endure the pressure from his attacks and be defeated, or he could choose to find a chance for a one hit-kill, striking down the opponent.


    Luo Lang chose thetter because there was someone in the team whose situation was dire... Luo Lang could wait, but his teammate could not.


    Luo Lang instantly wore a cold expression. The extremely calm personality was the most suitable for operating mechas. This personality appeared in an instant.


    Xie Yi¡¯s situation was pretty good as well. The opponent was an advanced mecha operator. Their operating skills were on par. The only thing Xie Yickedpared to his opponent was experience. This also showed in the beginning of the battle. When the battle began, Xie Yi was at a disadvantage. However, Xie Yi got used to it and brought the fight to a stalemate.


    Ling Lan¡¯s hellish training finally brought about its power. How could someone break from high pressure attacks from their opponent when they got back up after being beat down by Ling Lan¡¯s shower of attacks that felt like a thunderstorm?


    Xie Yi endured the time he couldn¡¯t adapt at the beginning and began to show his capabilities. As time passed, his battle was bing easier and easier, and the situation was bing more advantageous for him. At this moment, Xie Yi was at a slight advantage. He was the second team member in Ling Lan battle team who got an advantage.


    Other than Luo Lang and Xie Yi, the situations of the other four people in the team weren¡¯t so perfect. Because of his mecha holding him back, Qi Long was being pressured by his opponent. However, Qi Long¡¯s operating capabilities and vision range was already at special-ss level. Additionally, he was used to being pinned down by Ling Lan¡¯s attacks. Even if at the moment he looked like a small boat traveling in a stormy sea that would be destroyed, Qi Long was in reality the one in the least danger out of all of them. It wouldn¡¯t be easy for the opponent if the opponent wanted to take him down.


    In Ling Lan¡¯s mind, Qi Long was the one person that she was the least concerned about in the battle team. To use Ling Lan¡¯s words to describe the situation, even if they were to toss Qi Long into mountains, tundras, and deserts, this guy would still endure it and live on.


    Zhao Jun seemed to be having a hard time because he had to go against two operators who were at the peak of the special-ss level. Having his focus split between two made him get hit many times, and his mecha had taken some damage. However, Zhao Jun was still at the level of ace operator; while he was hit a few times identally, he dodged the ones that went for vital points. Most of the attacks had just scratched him. This kind of exterior damage wasn¡¯t going to damage the mecha too much. The power of the mecha didn¡¯t decrease.


    After a bit of fighting, Zhao Jun had gotten used to thebined attacks of the two people. Although the situation wasn¡¯t the best, as he was pressured by the joint attacks of the opponents making him unable to counterattack in such a short amount of time, it was still impossible for the opponent to defeat him.


    Even though the situation seemed dire, Zhao Jun hadpleted the task Ling Lan gave him. The two special-ss operators were being stalled by him.


    The person that was in the most trouble was the ¡®Li¡¯ family¡¯s brothers. Whether it be Li Shiyu or Li Lanfeng, they were both in a crisis at this moment.


    Of the two mecha that Li Lanfeng faced, one was a special-ss operator and the other a advanced mecha operator. Looking at it, it seemed that it wasn¡¯t too bad. However, because the two opponents attacked him together, it was the same as Zhao Jun¡¯s situation. Li Lanfeng was being pressured by the two opponents. However, Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha operating skills were opposite of his teammates. The others leaned on offensive power while Li Lanfeng was really strong in terms of defensive power.


    This was because of Li Lanfeng¡¯s spiritual power. He could always find best point to intercept an opponent¡¯s attack. Thus, every time the opponents attacked, Li Lanfeng could parry them. His mecha wasn¡¯t damaged like Zhao Jun, but knowing Li Lanfeng¡¯s weakness, his teammates knew that Li Lanfeng could not endure a battle that was dragged on for too long...


    In reality, in themlink channel of the team, the sound of heavy breathing could be repeatedly heard. This proved that Li Lanfeng¡¯s stamina was running out. It was possible that Li Lanfeng would not be able to endure for much longer.

 Chapter 500 - Mutual Understanding!

    <h4>Chapter 500: Mutual Understanding!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Compared to Li Lanfeng¡¯s silent crisis, Li Shiyu¡¯s crisis was more obvious. Although Li Shiyu had already touched upon the area of special-ss operators, he still wasn¡¯t a special-ss operator in the end. At the same time, he was operating an advanced mecha that was weaker by one level. Not long after pairing off with a special-ss operator, Li Shiyu was in a crisis.


    Advanced mecha operators and special-ss operators¡ªalthough the difference between them wasn¡¯t asrge as ace operators and special-ss operators, there was still some difference. This difference was magnified in battle. Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t dodge once again and the opponent¡¯s beam saber hit his mecha¡¯s right arm with great force.


    A force field instantly appeared and deflected the beam saber. Li Shiyu wiped away the cold sweat he had shed just now. He was rejoiced that he had asked Chang Xinyuan for some contraband beforeing into the battlefield, especially the force field that was from the original team. It was also because the two of them had a very good rtionship that Chang Xinyuan installed another one for him. On Li Shiyu¡¯s mecha, both the left and right arms had one installed. It was the extra force field that saved him this time.


    However, with Li Shiyu tricks on used up, his situations was bing more and more dangerous.


    Li Shiyu once again exhaustedly blocked three attacks from the opponent. The nervousness and using up all of his strength made his fingers shake uncontrobly. He felt the numbness and sorenessing from his fingers. Li Shiyu knew well that this was the result of overusing his fingers. He didn¡¯t know how long he would be able to endure. It was possible that he would lose the ability to operate the mecha in the next second.


    ¡°I see. This is the capability of a special-ss operator. Even though I¡¯m close to advancing, the difference between me and my opponent is still huge. I probably can¡¯t even block 50 hits. I¡¯m not sure how many hits I¡¯ve blocked up until now. Was it 30?¡±


    Li Shiyu¡¯s mind was now in chaos. The shadow of defeat made Li Shiyu anxious. In reality, Li Shiyu hadn¡¯t hoped to win against the opponent, but he had thought that he would be able to endure for certain amount of time. He didn¡¯t think that he had miscalcted the strength of special-ss operators... this miscalction would not only have be faced with the crisis of failure, but at the same time it would bring catastrophe to the others in the team.


    Reality was very harsh. The captain went against three special-ss operators, two of whom were captain-level mecha experts. Zhao Jun intercepting two top level special-ss operators was already his limit. Li Lanfeng was also dragging his weak body and fighting the death against his two opponents. The others in the team were all using all their strength to fight with their opponents... If another enemy appeared, they would definitely break the team and destroy theirst hope.


    ¡°I will take my teammates into the future and create countless moments of sess and glory. I will not allow failure to appear. Senior Li, do you know what it means to fail in the battlefield? It means death! That is a result that we cannot ept!¡±


    Li Shiyu suddenly remembered a time when Ling Lan was beating on the team members and almost took half their life spans. He had gone to find Ling Lan to find out why after he was given first aid and this was what Ling Lan had told him:


    ¡°If I¡¯m harsh to them now, they¡¯ll live longer in the future!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression at the time was deeply serious. Even if she was med by them, she would not back down. Li Shiyu still remembers how they had parted on bad terms afterwards!


    Li Shiyu always thought Ling Lan was too ruthless, training the team members as if they were enemies, his methods so brutal to the point of being unbearable to write them all down. Li Shiyu was against this, defied it even. This was also why he was the one who drank Ling Lan¡¯s poisonous tea the least.


    Now, however, Li Shiyu realized that his mistake was beyond wrong. Qi Long¡¯s operating skills had been weaker than his own back then, but not only did he sessfully advance to special-ss operator as of present, he could also operate an advanced mecha and be on par with the opponent using a special-ss mecha. Furthermore, Li Lanfeng, who could only endure 10 minutes of intense fighting before, had managed hang in there to this moment while being sandwiched by two people. Even though he was breathing heavily, he didn¡¯t lose any ground against the opponents.


    While everyone was sessfully holding their opponents at bay, he was the only one losing. Other than being attacked without the chance to fight back, he was backed up into a corner. He could lose and be eliminated from the battle in the next second. It was even possible that because of his failure, the entire team would face extermination...


    Li Shiyu was regretting it all in this moment. He didn¡¯t regret that he went to battle as a special-ss operator¡ªhe only regretted not joining Qi Long and the others in the beginning to ept Ling Lan¡¯s brutal training regiment. Maybe then, the situation now would have turned out differently.


    ¡°Dodge!¡± Suddenly a scream went through themlink channel of the team. Li Shiyu immediately woke up from his thoughts and saw therge sword of his opponent special-ss operator almost about to strike his chest area. If he was hit by this, just with the opponent¡¯s positioning, it would be either the mecha bing half broken or being determined to be eliminated. No matter which oue it was, it would be a nightmare for Ling Lan¡¯s team either way.


    A loud boom! This was the sound of cold weapons striking each other and not the sound of them hitting mechas. Everyone¡¯s attack seemed to slow down in an unnned unison where all their focus was on Li Shiyu.


    They saw a special-ss mecha appear bside Li Shiyu, and therge sword in its hand blocked the sword strike that was about to hit Li Shiyu.


    ¡°Lanfeng!¡± Li Shiyu looked at the person who saved him from trouble with surprise. His face was full of disbelief. The Li Lanfeng who couldn¡¯t even protect himself actually came to his aid...


    ¡°Shiyu, don¡¯t forget the promise you made to that certain someone!¡± Li Lanfeng said angrily. In order to save Li Shiyu, the angry Li Lanfeng had operated to his limit in an instant, causing damage to his body greatly. Blood dripped out of the corner of his mouth uncontrobly.


    Those words of his were like thunder that struck Li Shiyu¡¯s heart.


    ¡°Brother, what¡¯s your dream?¡± A young Li Shiyu was looking at Li Mn in front of him, teeming with respect. That unparalleled face that made him want to see but did not dare to look at made Li Shiyu¡¯s little heart always beat intensely for a few beats.


    Li Mn smiled faintly making Li Shiyu smile as well. His face uncontrobly blushed and his heart beat faster uncontrobly once again. It was as though it would jump out of his chest the next second.


    ¡°Dreams, huh?¡± Li Mn¡¯s expression was a bit nk. He looked at the endless ocean outside of the window. ¡°I really want to go out and see the world. What else could be out there other than this endless sea? I want to be an exceptional mecha operator even more. To be able to operate the mecha and fly freely in the stars... freedom... free...¡± Li Mn¡¯s expression was sad because this was a dream that he could never make into reality.


    Li Shiyu felt a pain in his heart. He suddenly screamed out, ¡°Brother, you can definitely do it. I will travel the world and help you find medicine that can cure your condition. Then you will be able to operate a mecha and be a mecha warrior.¡± The young Li Shiyu still didn¡¯t know back then that a medicine that could cure his cousin did not exist in this world. He was merely thinking innocently that since they world was so big, he would eventually find medicine that would be effective.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s words made Li Mn turn around, his eyes filled with tenderness. He took out his pale white hand, softly flicked Li Shiyu¡¯s forehead andughed, saying, ¡°Alright, but if you want to travel the world, you have to be a strong mecha operator.¡±


    Li Shiyu instantly thumped his own chest and said confidently, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, brother, I will definitely be the strongest mecha operator!¡±


    ¡°The strongest? That goal is pretty amazing. You¡¯ll be going through a lot of hardships then. Are you not afraid?¡± Li Mn smiled as he asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid! I will definitely be the strongest mecha operator! Definitely!¡± Li Shiyu was worked up. Why did his eldest cousin brother not believe him? Was he someone that people couldn¡¯t trust?


    ¡°Okay, I will wait until you be the strongest mecha operator. My future is in your hands,¡± Li Mn responded while smiling. The strongest? Not everyone was Ling Xiao.


    Li Shiyu felt his eldest cousin brother¡¯s perfunctory attitude. He suddenly took out his tiny hand and said seriously, ¡°Brother, let¡¯s make a promise. When I be the strongest mecha operator, I will travel the world and find the medicine that can cure you.¡±


    Li Mn saw Li Shiyu¡¯s serious expression and the casual smile he was wearing gradually vanished. A few secondster he asked, ¡°You really want to make a promise?¡±


    Li Shiyu nodded forcefully. ¡°We definitely have to make a promise. I, Li Shiyu, will do what I promise.¡±


    Li Mn stared at Li Shiyu earnestly. Li Shiyu met his eldest cousin brother¡¯s eyes without hesitation, showing his seriousness.


    Li Mn finally smiled once again. He took out his right hand and said, ¡°Okay, then let¡¯s promise.¡±


    Li Shiyu carefully formed an oath with Li Mn and set their promise in motion... After many years, when he understood that there was no medicine in this world that could cure his eldest cousin brother, his thoughts changed. He entered the military medicine major in order to do self-research and create that medicine.


    Yes, the promise from then was five years ago. It had been tossed aside into a corner andpletely forgotten by him.


    ¡°The strongest mecha operator?¡± Li Shiyu clenched his fists, his eyes reddening. He had actually forgotten the promise he had made with his eldest cousin brother. He actually forgot!


    ¡°How can I lose here? How would I be the strongest mecha operator if I can¡¯t even defeat the special-ss mecha operator in front of me? How would Iplete the promise I made with my eldest cousin brother...¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s eyes instantly became clear. ¡°Forget the mistakes of the past. If I lose, then it would be adding oil to fire. I will not allow it.¡±


    Li Shiyu¡¯s fingers suddenly danced around. With the emotion of regret, frustration and agitation, Li Shiyu¡¯s fingers moved faster and faster. In the end, he broke through the limit of advanced mecha operators and his fingers seemed to be leaving behind afterimages. It was indeed the speed of special-ss operators where the fingers reach shadow level.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    Li Shiyu blocked the sneak attack from the advanced mecha operator who was trying to hit Li Lanfeng. While Li Lanfeng was busy helping, intercepting and splitting his focus to face special-ss operators¡¯ attacks, from a undetected position, a sword was silently stabbed towards Li Lanfeng.


    Li Shiyu, who woke up in a timely manner, blocked the almost effective hit in a timely manner.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    Another block. This time it was Li Lanfeng. He once again helped block Li Shiyu¡¯s opponent¡¯s attack. While Li Shiyu intercepted the advanced mecha and unable to take into ount of other things around him, a sword attack came towards him from the opponent.


    Li Shiyu and Li Lanfeng helped each other intercept attacks. The original one-on-one fights had now became a two-man cooperation. The two of them had never coborated before, but at this time, as if it they had a surprising mutual understanding of each other. This made their three opponents helpless to do anything to them in that moment.


    Li Shiyu went through dangers and more dangers, making it out of his biggest crisis. The situation was once again stable. However everyone knew that the stalemate would onlyst for a moment. It would definitely be broken eventually, but it was merely unknown as to whether Ling Lan¡¯s team or the allied battle team was going to break the stalemate.

 Chapter 501 - Sure-kill!

    <h4>Chapter 501: Sure-kill!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    As expected, after being in a stalemate for a while, the situation was broken. The one who broke the stalemate was none other than Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan, who was originally being pressured, swung her sword with full force and sent that regr member back a few steps. Right after that, she kicked twice in mid-air and kicked back the attacks of the two team captains.


    This created a chance for Ling Lan to counterattack. She stretched her left and right hands backward and therge sword in her hand began to move at a great speed. The attack was like a tidal wave,ing at the three of them continuously...


    After the captain from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy blocked Ling Lan¡¯s three attacks, he discovered that he actually didn¡¯t have any more chances to counterattack. The situation where they were originally pressuring Ling Lan through their 3-man cooperation was now actually turned on himself instead.


    He quickly stared at the two beside him and discovered that their situation was the same; they could only passively defend for themselves. He was very surprised as this was a truly odd situation. Logically, while Ling Lan was attacking another person, the other two that were left alone should be able to use this chance to perform a sneak attack. Also, he felt that his opponent was obviously attacking someone else, but when he attacked, it was as though the one being attacked was himself. He could only passively change his attack to a defensive move... It was as though he was the opponent¡¯s puppet, under control and only able to move with the opponent.


    ¡°It¡¯s rhythm!¡± The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s captain was, after all, full of experience and immediately understood what was going on. The three of them were moving to the opponent¡¯s rhythm, thus they could only follow the rhythm of the opponent. This was also the reason why they were being pressured.


    ¡°We have to break the opponent¡¯s rhythm!¡± thought the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s captain decisively. He prepared to get out. Only getting out would get him out of the rhythm of the opponent. Then he would be able to clearly see the rhythmic movements of the opponent, find a chance to interfere and break it.


    Right when he wanted to move his mecha and get out of Ling Lan¡¯s attack range, however, he discovered that he couldn¡¯t move. Swords came from all sides and it was as though his mecha was locked in ce. No matter where he darted towards, he could only block and be unable to counterattack. He didn¡¯t even have a chance to retreat.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening? I can¡¯t even retreat?¡± The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s captain could not think too deeply in this tense moment. He could only use themlink channel of the team to remind the two he was cooperating with. ¡°Retreat, then find a chance to attack again.¡±


    The Federal Defence Military Academy¡¯s captain was also an experienced captain; he understood right after he heard those words. But right when he wanted to get out and retreat, he discovered that swords were surrounding him from all sides. No matter which direction he turned to, they were all locked down. It was the same as the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s captain. The only option he had was to block.


    The ordinary member also felt the same. This member yelled, ¡°Captain, I can¡¯t retreat. I¡¯ve been locked down.¡± Compared to the calmness of the two team captains, this member was obviously not as calm.


    All three of them were locked down? How was that possible? There was only one possibility that a mecha would be locked down and unable to counterattack in close rangebat. That possibility would be that the opponent had used a chainbo attack and enveloped their opponent in their attack range. This was the specialty of chainbos and was also why the chainbo was considered the sure-kill technique for ace mecha operators in closebat.


    The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s captain thought of this point and his expression changed greatly. He screamed, ¡°Chain Combo technique?¡±


    No, this wasn¡¯t possible. Chainbos would only appear in a one-on-one as a sure-kill technique in closebat. He had never heard that someone could sessfully perform a chainbo while they were facing more than one person...


    The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s captain¡¯s was currently in a fit of chaos. He couldn¡¯t believe his own guess, but he had to admit that this guess was possibly the truth. If that wasn¡¯t the case, then he wouldn¡¯t be able to exin the reason why the three of them were locked down at the same time.


    The three of them became flustered because of the possibility of a Chain Combo technique. How could Ling Lan pass up on a chance like this?


    ¡°Ahh!¡± The member who was least capable was the first to be unable to endure. After being hit three times by Ling Lan in an instant, his entire mecha was sent flying by the force of the attacks and struck a towering tree with great force. He bounced off the tree and fell to the ground. Perhaps the force was too strong as he bounced on the ground a few times and then showed no signs of movement after that.


    Ling Lan ignored that member. Now with one less opponent, Ling Lan¡¯s attacks were now more bloodthirsty and ruthless.


    ¡°Bang! Bang! Bang!¡± In the blink of an eye, there were continuous sounds of therge sword striking a mecha. The two mecha suddenly flew backwards. Ling Lan wasn¡¯t going to stop. She operated her mecha and followed them with a whirlwind strike. The firmament brought about a whirlwind and struck the two of them with great force.


    This attack made the two mecha go in two different directions and plummet into the ground. The intense force made the mecha slide many meters out and leave a deep sliding mark on the ground.


    Captain-level special-ss operators were not as easy to go against as standard special-ss operators. After being hit consecutively, the mecha were still struggling to get back up...


    ¡°Crash!¡± A dark sh came down from the sky and stabbed through one the neck area of one the mechas that was still trying to get up. This nailed the mecha on the ground and instantly stopped its movement.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s mecha came down from the sky with the right hand of her mecha open and forcefully smacked down the other mecha that tried to get up and fight.


    ¡°Crack!¡± A crack sounded out. The five fingers of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha had exerted force. The incredible force broke the operating system on the neck of the mecha and destroyed thest hope of survival for the opponent.


    All of this had actually happened across the span of seconds. By the time her opponents reacted, Ling Lan had already finished off the three of them. She walked towards the mecha that she struck with her sword from the sky, gripped it by the hilt, and cooly and slowly pulled out the sword from the mecha¡¯s neck.


    This scene made the all of the allied battle team members terrified. This scene made the members of Ling Lan¡¯s team be excited. It was as though they had taken steroids as they proceeded to attack their opponents crazily.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang!¡± The first to decide their battle was Luo Lang. Luo Lang had already held the upper hand, to begin with. Now, adding on the activation of the calm personality, he was at an even greater advantage. The opponent, on the other hand, was immediately broken mentally due to how Ling Lan had easily defeated her three opponents in what seemed like a god-like mode. That change in mentality allowed Luo Lang to easily defeat his opponent.


    Just when Luo Lang had decided his battle, Xie Yi also achieved a result of his own. The mental endurance of advanced mecha operators were obviously weaker than that of special-ss operators. After discovering the truth that the cooperation of the three strongest, including the captains, had been easily defeated by their opponent, Xie Yi¡¯s opponent also became anxious and lost control. Xie Yi would definitely not pass on such good chance. He attacked consecutively a few times, defeated his opponent and was victorious.


    Luo Lang took care of his opponent. Right when he was getting ready to help Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu, he heard his boss¡¯ voice telling him to stop as he moved his feet. ¡°Luo Lang, wait!¡±


    The gaze of the very calm Luo Lang turned towards Ling Lan and he asked softly, ¡°Are we not going to help them intercept one opponent?¡± The situation seemed dire as the two of them were facing three opponents. Even the Luo Lang that had activated the very calm personality could not help but worry about the possible scene of the two of them losing and bing eliminated. Logically, they should go help them intercept one opponent to decrease their burden.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression was extremely calm, as though she wasn¡¯t even a little bit worried. ¡°Don¡¯t be hasty. Keep watching.¡±


    Luo Lang put back his weapon and returned to Ling Lan¡¯s side. He looked on coldly just like Ling Lan.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you give a helping hand when Li Shiyu was in the most danger?¡± Luo Lang asked without holding anything back. Although the normal Luo Lang respected Ling Lan very much, Luo Lang¡¯s other personalities did not have this simr feeling. They even dreaded it. Perhaps they were not convinced when they had lost to Ling Lan. The extremely calm personality¡¯s attitude wasn¡¯t very friendly when he talked to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t answer Luo Lang. In reality, when Li Shiyu was in danger, Ling Lan did want to help him get out of the situation. However, in the instant she was about to move, she had discovered that Li Lanfeng, who wasn¡¯t far from Li Shiyu, had made a move. Trusting him fully, Ling Lan resisted the impulse to move in. Ling Lan knew clearly that in order for her members to make progress, she had to let fend for themselves...


    Ling Lan was someone who could endure much. Even though she clearly knew that Li Shiyu would be eliminated if Li Lanfeng¡¯s assistance failed, and the whole team would face the possibility of elimination, Ling Lan would still choose to trust in Li Lanfeng¡¯s trust in Li Shiyu.


    There was a ruler in Ling Lan¡¯s mind. Even if Li Lanfeng failed to save him, she still had a chance topensate for it... No, even if there wasn¡¯t a chance topensate, she could still take the loss. Truth be told, Ling Lan indeed hoped to attain the highest glory in the mecha tournament. However, whenpared to the chance for growth for the members of her team, Ling Lan would not hesitate to choose thetter.


    Ling Lan bet a lot this time and also bet decisively. Even if she knew clearly, her choice would decide the result for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. She still did so, made this choice that was clearly selfish, but Ling Lan did it calmly and without regret.


    Heaven destroys those who don¡¯t look out for themselves! For the future of her own team members, she would have to let the First Men¡¯s Military Academy down. Ling Lan silently apologized to the others who were fighting bravely. She was indeed a mortal, unable to be noble and selfless.


    ¡°With your capabilities, there were chances for you to move in.¡± Compared to the normal Luo Lang¡¯s slow-wittedness, the extremely calm personality of Luo Lang clearly knew the strength of the person beside him.


    ¡°I can¡¯t live for you guys,¡± Ling Lan finally opened her mouth and said.


    Upon hearing this, Luo Lang¡¯s entire body shook. The extremely calm personality of Luo Lang instantly disappeared and the normal Luo Lang appeared. ¡°Boss, I will try my best. I will definitely try my best.¡± His eyes were sparkling like nothing in this world. Those eyes and that expression was like a cute dog hoping to beplimented. This made Ling Lan¡¯s lip instantly twitch. Okay, she still felt that conversing with the extremely calm personality had meaning. Now, she felt that she was luring an underage child. She felt full of guilt!


    Xie Yi finished off his opponent and instantly let out a sigh of relief. He saw that Ling Lan and Luo Lang were watching from the side. He quickly ran over and said, ¡°Boss, I have finished my mission. I would like to return to the team!¡±


    Ling Lan lightly nodded towards Xie Yi. Xie Yi saw this and was greatly happy. Did this mean that Boss was very pleased? Luo Lang saw this and couldn¡¯t hold back augh. ¡°You only defeated an advanced mecha operator. Why are you so happy?¡±


    ¡°No matter what my opponent was, I was the winner and that¡¯s that.¡± Xie Yi didn¡¯t care at all. He red at Luo Lang, smiling and said, ¡°Luo Lang, remind me, wasn¡¯t your opponent also an advanced mecha operator?¡±


    Luo Lang snorted. He said with a proud expression, ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m excited. I¡¯ll let you know when I defeat a special-ss operator next time.¡±


    Luo Lang¡¯s proud appearance made Xie Yi¡¯s heart flutter. This kind of Luo Lang really made him want to tease him more times. Right when Xie Yi wanted to continue talking, a draft of cold air came from beside him. He shuddered and heard Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice ring in the teammlink channel, ¡°Shut up and watch!¡±


    ¡°Yes, Boss!¡± The two of them quickly stood upright and did not dare to be impudent again.


    The three of them quietly watched the ongoing battle. Ling Lan was ready to act whenever. No matter who was in danger, she would move in.


    After a few more hits, another person finally finished their battle. The third person who finished their battle came as a surprise to Xie Yi and Luo Lang. However, after thinking more in detail, it was logical. The person was Qi Long.


    In reality, the moment Ling Lan defeated her three opponents, including the two captains from the allied battle team, the whole situation of the battlefield had instantly changed. Zhao Jun, who was originally being pressured, was the first to turn the situation around. This was because Zhao Jun¡¯s opponent, the two special-ss operators, had instantly lost their will to fight after seeing their two captains ¡®die¡¯.


    While facing three people, Ling Lan could instantly kill three people. This kind of terrifying capability shook them. This made them think that if they continue to fight, they would end up the same as their team leaders. From the direction that the seven-man team hade from, they had discovered that the objective of the opponent was Area M. Their own headquarters was in Area M, thus making them unable to let their guard down.


    They believed that they had to return to their headquarters and tell theirmander that there was a terrifying battle team heading there. This battle team seemed to be really weak, without enough members. Their members¡¯ strength levels were uneven with three special-ss operators and four advanced ss operators. A team that seemed to be easily swallowed up, yet their team captain could instead easily swallow up three special-ss operators...


    Thinking to this point, they were more in a hurry to leave this ce. They didn¡¯t want end up the same way as their two team captains. The battle royale had only just started and they didn¡¯t want to simply lose and be eliminated like this.


    It was this kind of thought process that made Zhao Jun¡¯s two opponent stop with full-on attacks. They began to restrain themselves and look for a chance to run away. This was also the crucial reason why Zhao Jun managed to recover and turn the situation around.


    In fact, the two special-ss operators¡¯ decision wasn¡¯t a mistake. Their mistake was that they looked down on Zhao Jun and looked down upon Ling Lan. They thought they would have a chance to escape. Their restraint gave Zhao Jun a chance to breathe. Being an ace operator now, he was disadvantaged by his own mecha, or he wouldn¡¯t be in such a difficult position from only two special-ss operators.


    If he wasn¡¯t being pressured, it meant that he had the chance to counterattack. How could an ace operator whose finger speed had reached the level of void be considered to be on the same level as special-ss operators whose finger speed levels were on the level of shadow? Once Zhao Jun¡¯s finger speed increased, he would be able to push the power of the special-ss mecha to the closest limit it can get to an ace mecha.


    Thus, Zhao Jun¡¯s chain of strong attacks had lead to the the two of them being caught with their pants down. When they blocked this round of attacksing from Zhao Jun, they gloomily realized that that even if they wanted to leave, they couldn¡¯t do so anymore. It was now their turn to be pressured and pushed back by Zhao Jun.


    They were pressuring Zhao Jun in the beginning, but now the tables had turned and they were now the ones being pressured. Zhao Jun had turned from a bullied character into the master. He now began to bully his two opponents. Zhao Jun was now at an advantage in the situation. That was why Luo Lang and Xie Yi thought that the third person to finish off their opponent would be Zhao Jun.


    Who knew that Qi Long would emerge with a new force. Having been pressured the whole time, he decisively activated his Animal Instinct. Animal Instinct was considered a low-level talent out of most talents that awakened. However, it was valuable because it was most suitable for operating mecha. It enabled the ability to instinctively sense opportunities and ws. It was considered to be the beginner-level of Profound Insight, the simpler version. This was also why the talent of Animal Instinct was considered to be a low-level talent, but was still valued highly by countless mecha masters and army higher-ups.


    Unfortunately, no matter how low-level Animal Instinct was, there were still a very few number of people who awakened the talent within the Federation. In order to increase the strength of mecha operators, the army specially researched Animal Instinct. They invented a type of pseudo Animal Instinct, awakened manually which was considered the awakening of the legendary sixth sense.


    In order to be stronger, many mecha operators epted the hellish mode of training. Some were sessful, while some failed. Those who failed could end up disabled, but those who were sessful would no doubt be a strong mecha operator. There was no halfway result.


    When Qi Long, who had the level of special-ss operator, operated the advanced mecha to its limit, along with his Animal Instinct, he was able to sense danger and opportunities beforehand. Even when he made some mistakes which caused him to lose control, he quickly got used to it. He somewhat sensed his opponent¡¯s weaknesses. The talent of Animal Instinct was still too low-level. It was unlike Profound Insight which let Ling Lan clearly see where the weaknesses were and where the chances were. Animal Instinct only gave the person a reminder. Whether they could grab on to that chance would have to based on the person themselves.


    In reality, Qi Long always trusted his gut feeling and was also good at grabbing hold of this feeling. There were many times that he had used this talent of his to avoid a crisis and be victorious. This time, Qi Long did the same. When felt there was a chance, he would decisively attack.


    Perhaps Qi Long¡¯s attack was too unexpected, or perhaps his opponent didn¡¯t think that he would be able to see through the weakness of his attack. The opponent who didn¡¯t react timely was took a full hit from Qi Long¡¯s attack and his mecha was instantly heavily damaged.


    Qi Long saw that one hit hadnded and decided that he had to keep going while he had the upper hand. He caught on to the opponent¡¯s weakness once again, attacking consecutively and heavily for a few times. Finally, he broke the opponent¡¯s mecha and took the victory in the battle.


    Qi Long had won. Right when he wanted to go to Boss¡¯ side to report, he felt his fingers were in indescribable pain before he could even operate his mecha. He instantly held his hands and screamed in agony. Receiving no kind of operation, the mecha immediately fell down, making Luo Lang and Xie Yi extremely surprised and terrified. They both darted towards Qi Long and asked loudly what had happened.


    While Qi Long furiously shook his hands that were trembling uncontrobly due to overexertion, heforted Luo Lang and Xie Yi telling them he was alright. After a while, he finally felt his fingers were his again, and then he operated his mecha towards Ling Lan. He happily said, ¡°Boss, I did it.¡± He had managed to use an advanced mecha to defeat a special-ss mecha. He didn¡¯t let Boss down.


    ¡°Not bad!¡± Ling Lan responded inly. Qi Long smiled even more happily. He knew that Boss¡¯ ¡°not bad¡¯ actually meant ¡°very good¡±! It was just that Boss didn¡¯t like to praise people. Those of them who followed Boss all knew that. For example, this ¡°not bad¡± was the bestment they had gotten in all these years. Qi Long thought to himself in happiness.


    Perhaps Qi Long¡¯s victory had irritated Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun¡¯s attacks became more ruthless. His two opponents seemed tomunicate with each other, and then they bit their lip and attacked Zhao Jun crazily.


    Seeing this, Zhao Jun was surprised. The way his opponents were acting was going to cause damage to both sides. This made Zhao Jun, who had victory in his grasp, hesitate a bit. His originally fierce attacks instantly slowed down.


    Right then, the two opponents had originally seemed to be going all-out, when one suddenly went right while one went left to dart behind Zhao Jun. Seeing this, Zhao Jun was instantly short on breath. He only realized now that the crazy all-out attack was all faked. The two of them had been trying to confuse him. Their real objective was to leave this ce.


    Zhao Jun operated his mecha and instantly went to block them off. However, because he was slow by one step, he could only choose to intercept one direction. If he was to hesitate again now, it was possible that he wouldn¡¯t be able to intercept even one.


    Seeing that Zhao Jun had chosen his direction to intercept, the special-ss mecha operator running away to this direction knew that he didn¡¯t have a chance anymore. He screamed, ¡°You need to get out!¡± He pounced onto Zhao Jun, thinking that he had to keep his opponent busy to create a chance for his teammate to escape.


    Right then, he had already forgotten that there were many ¡®enemies¡¯ beside them, watching them with eagle eyes.


    Seeing that there were someone who wanted to escape, Xie Yi screamed. Right when he wanted to move in and intercept, a dark sh shed before his eyes. He saw Boss Lan¡¯s Firmament stabbing towards the neck area of the opponent¡¯s mecha like a flying sword.


    Normal dull swords possibly couldn¡¯t break through the outer protective shell of mecha. However, Firmament was different from otherrge swords. The biggest advantage it had was its sharpness. In addition to the maximum power Ling Lan had used from the special-ss mecha, it was a sure-kill with one sword strike. The mecha from before proved this point and now another mecha proved this point once again.


    In the cockpit, that allied battle team special-ss operator saw that he was just about to leave the lion¡¯s pit and get into the deep forest. He felt extremely happy. However, right then, he suddenly felt that the mecha was struck by a strong force at the top. The next second, the entire mecha had lost control. Without the ability to operate the mecha, the pilot could only watch his mecha flop forwards and hit the ground with great force. In the end, he heard the A.I. announce that he had been defeated and eliminated, then his entire cockpit became pitch-ck.


    Even now, he still didn¡¯t know how he was defeated and who defeated him. Clearly no one had caught up to him, so how could he have been eliminated? No one could answer his questions at this time. He could only wait until the end of the battle royale and find out the truth from watching the recording of the tournament.


    However, he knew one thing and that was their allied battle team had beenpletely decimated. Although there were still three members who were battling, he believed that the seven-man team who hadn¡¯t lost a single member would easily take down his remaining three teammates.


    Ling Lan instantly took care of that opponent that thought of escaping. With only one opponent left, Zhao Jun didn¡¯t give the opponent any more chances. He attacked consecutively and defeated the opponent mecha.


    Zhao Jun retrieved Ling Lan¡¯s Firmament with a face full of irritation. He walked towards Ling Lan and held up Firmament to return it to her. He then said, ¡°Sorry Boss. I made a mistake back there.¡±


    Ling Lan picked up Firmament, waved it around coolly and hung the sword on the secured dock on her back. Then she coldly said, ¡°When we go back to the academy, you¡¯re training in the secret room for a week!¡±


    Man, he had fumbled at a crucial moment. If she didn¡¯t give him something to be scared about, he wouldn¡¯t know how pain feels like. Let¡¯s see if they dare to fumble again next time.

 Chapter 502 - Persistence!

    <h4>Chapter 502: Persistence!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Yes, Boss!¡± Hearing this, Zhao Jun shuddered and responded with a face full of agony. One week? Was he going to live after that?


    After that, Ling Lan walked past Zhao Jun in satisfaction and stared with great focus at Li Shiyu and Li Lanfeng who were still fighting a hard battle.


    Seeing that Boss¡¯ focus was no longer on himself, Zhao Jun groaned. He held his head and squatted down. His repeatedly said to himself, ¡°I¡¯m going to die. I¡¯m going to die.¡±


    Qi Long, who had already recovered a bit of energy, stood up, walked towards Zhao Jun, patted him on the back andughingly said, ¡°Bro, my condolences.¡± Here, we should excuse Qi Long¡¯s schadenfreude. It should be known that the person who was beaten up by Boss most badly was Qi Long. If Qi Long was considered to be second in terms of being beaten up the most badly, no one would dare to im to be the first. Now, there was finally someone else going to hell with him. This made Qi Long feel that this world had tossed out other people as well. This allowed him to find bnce in his mentality.


    ¡°Qi Long, you...¡± Zhao Jun pointed a finger at Qi Long, not knowing whether tough or cry. The bastard was pouring salt on his wound. He didn¡¯t have anything like Qi Long¡¯s monstrous physique, being able to hover on the edge of death only to revive in the next second.


    ¡°My condolences!¡± Luo Lang said this very sincerely. In reality, Luo Lang was indeed very sincere. This kind of sincere behavior did even more damage than Qi Long¡¯s, almost making Zhao Jun¡¯s heart stop and die.


    ¡°Heh heh, my condolences!¡± said Xie Yi as he also patted Zhao Jun¡¯s shoulder, adding another kick to Zhao Jun¡¯s depressing heart. Zhao Jun was angry and was getting ready to discipline these juniors who didn¡¯t respect their seniors. Right then, Ling Lan let out a ¡°Hmph¡±.


    Everyone instantly became quiet. Zhao Jun angrily squatted there and mumbled, ¡°I won¡¯t get angry, I won¡¯t get angry...¡±


    With Boss Lan beside him, he really didn¡¯t dare to get angry. He was afraid that if by any chance he made Boss angry, the original punishment of one week would turn into two weeks. If he wasn¡¯t lucky, it might turn into a month. He would definitely die in there and be unable toe out.


    Moving away from Zhao Jun¡¯s anger, Li Lanfeng and LI Shiyu¡¯s situation wasn¡¯t looking good right then. Li Lanfeng felt that he had already reached his limit. There were many times that he made operating mistakes due to hiscking physical condition. It was all Li Shiyu using all of his might topensate for him.


    The feedback force from mecha operating was pushing Li Lanfeng¡¯s body to its limit. Right now, countless small cuts were forming in all the muscles in Li Lanfeng¡¯s body. Fresh blood had painted his protective suit red...


    Were they going to lose? Li Lanfeng felt increasingly numb. It was as if his entire mind was evaporating. It was as though in the next second, he could close his eyes and faint... Li Lanfeng bit his tongue furiously. The extreme pain instantly resuscitated his consciousness that was close to breaking.


    ¡°No, I can¡¯t lose! If I lose, then what qualifications would I have to fight side by side with Rabbit?¡± Li Lanfeng seemed to see Rabbit¡¯s disappointed expression and the silhouette of him walking further and further away from him.


    ¡°I won¡¯t let Rabbit down! I won¡¯t!¡± Li Lanfeng screamed in his mind. Fighting alongside Ling Lan was Li Lanfeng¡¯s biggest obsession. At this moment, this obsession made Li Lanfeng revive once again and reignite his will to fight.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng, hold on! We can¡¯t give up!¡± Li Shiyu, who was beside Li Lanfeng, hurried to encourage Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng¡¯s previous operating made him understand clearly that the former had reached his limit.


    As he was so focused, Li Shiyu didn¡¯t know that his teammates had already finished their battles and were watching from the side. He didn¡¯t want them to lose and bring about a catastrophe for the team. Thus, when he was encouraging Li Lanfeng, he was also encouraging himself.


    ¡°Of course!¡± Li Lanfeng pretty much used up all of his body¡¯s strength to squeeze out these two words.


    ¡°Even if we go down, we still have to go down slower than the enemy. Rabbit, I understand the meaning of that statement now.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression went cold instantly. Now, he no longer had any warm feeling to him, only a boundless killing intent.


    His two hands that were previously practically empty of energy and numb with pain suddenly began to rapidly dance about. His fingers appeared to create afterimages, like flowers in fantasies that slowly bloom. However, this scene quickly disappeared and Li Lanfeng¡¯s fingers suddenly disappeared along with it. All that could be visible were the lines of red blood marks appearing one after another on the white and silver colored control panel before him. In the end, the entire control panel became painted in a deep blood red color. It was a terrifying scene.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s operating went from the shadow level of special-ss operators into the void level of ace operators. Operating above his own level had repercussions; the price he had to pay was that his fingers had be torn apart.


    However, operating above his level had a huge effect. Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha suddenly turned in mid-air and instantly escaped the encirclement of the three people, fully disappearing from the opponents¡¯ screens. In the next second, he appeared behind the advanced mecha operator and silently stabbed using therge sword in his hand.


    These movements could only fool advanced mecha operators. The two special-ss operators saw them very clearly. They uncontrobly screamed, ¡°Quick, dodge!¡±


    However, the target of Li Lanfeng¡¯s attack was the advanced mecha operator who was the weak link. How would he let the opponent just escape like that? Although the advanced mecha operator used all his might to operate his mecha to dodge to the side after his teammates had reminded him, Li Lanfeng had already guessed that the opponent could move in reaction. He urately stabbed through the abdomen of the opponent using hisrge sword. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the battle royale restricted attacking cockpits, this sword strike would most definitely have stabbed through the advanced mecha operator¡¯s cockpit and killed him instantly.


    However, even so, the A.I. determined the advanced mecha operator was killed instantly by Li Lanfeng. The mecha instantly became locked up and smashed into the ground.


    After taking care of one advanced mecha operator, Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t feel rxed. The two special-ss operators that were left were their real opponents. That advanced mecha operator was actually the one out of the three opponents who was the least threatening.


    Li Lanfeng only took care of this advanced mecha operator because he was easier to take down. He took him down with one hit and created a feeling of terror in order to make the two special-ss operators have feelings of doubt.


    Once they had doubt, they would be more careful and hesitate. Li Lanfeng¡¯s final objective was to make them hesitate.


    It should be said that Li Lanfeng¡¯s sudden explosive power did indeed surprise the two special-ss operators. Just think: a person that was pressured by them to the point where they couldn¡¯t even counterattack suddenly exploded and instantly killed one of their teammates. No matter how one looked at it, it was very odd. Additionally, they discovered that the ¡®enemies¡¯ around them had actually defeated their teammates. They were like prey that was being eyed by tigers at this moment. This made the two of them think a lot.


    If it was as Li Lanfeng had predicted; the two special-ss operators had begun to be very careful. No, beyond that, they did not have the will to continue to fight and find a chance to escape. This instantly took the pressure off a bit for Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu. The two of them then began to slowly move in to counterattack.


    The two special-ss operators didn¡¯t hesitate for too long. When they blocked Li Shiyu and Li Lanfeng¡¯s first attack, it was as though they had discussed it beforehand; they both found a direction to run towards. Of course, the directions they chose to escape from was directly opposite from where Ling Lan andpany were waiting. They didn¡¯t want to run into the trap themselves. In their minds, they thought that they would able to sessfully retreat if they escaped their opponents¡¯ range of attack...


    They had underestimated Li Shiyu and Li Lanfeng, and had also underestimated Ling Lan andpany. They had only just shed away when Li Shiyu and Li Lanfeng chased towards the direction they were heading towards, as if they had already known beforehand where they would try to escape to.


    One of the special-ss operators saw a shadow sh in front of him. He saw Li Lanfeng appear on the path of the direction he was escaping towards.


    ¡°How is this possible?¡± As a fellow special-ss operator, he dodged, but how could the opponent be one step ahead of him? He was confused and didn¡¯t understand, but he didn¡¯t have time to think deeply. He could only bring up therge sword in his hand and ruthlessly attack the opponent.


    Since his n was seen through and he was now blocked by someone, he could only force his way through.


    On the other side, although Li Shiyu¡¯s reaction was very fast, his mecha was only an advanced mecha. He was one level below the opponent. The opponent quickly stretched out the distance meters ahead of him.


    Right then, Zhao Jun who was still angrily squatting this entire time suddenly heard Ling Lan yell, ¡°Go make up for your mistake for me!¡± In the next second, someone had kicked his mecha in the butt. His entire mecha flew up and went towards Li Shiyu.


    ¡°Boss, murder!¡± Zhao Jun scrambled and operated his mecha. Its engine instantly activated. Due to the force behind Boss¡¯ kick, Zhao Jun quickly turned the engine to the maximum and passed Li Shiyu and flew towards the opponent that was just about to escape into the deep woods.


    ¡°Shit!¡± Seeing Zhao Jun chasing, Li Shiyu was very angry. He hurled therge sword in his hand towards his opponent.


    A ¡°bang¡± urred. Therge sword actually hit the opponent, making him stumble. His entire mecha shook and fell down. However, the operating skills of that special-ss mecha operator were very strong. He instantly bnced the mecha and continued to run towards the deep forest.


    ¡°Bang!¡± A powerful sound rang out. Li Lanfeng and his opponent had shed swords. The two of them both retreated a few meters back. Ling Lan frowned a bit. Her fingers moved a bit, but she gave up in the end.


    It was because when Li Lanfeng stood firm, he ruthlessly pounced towards the opponent. He used this attitude to tell Ling Lan that he would take care of this opponent himself. Even if Ling Lan felt that it was inappropriate, she still chose to respect Li Lanfeng¡¯s decision.


    ¡°Bang!¡± This sound was the sound of Zhao Jun intercepting the special-ss operator. This sound meant that that special-ss operator who wanted to escape no longer had any chance to do so.


    ¡°Bang! Bang! Bang!¡± Li Lanfeng and the opponent rammed against each other many times. Finally, he rammed his opponent¡¯s sword out of his hand. Having been operating at a level higher, Li Lanfeng had used his special-ss mecha to its limit. This wasn¡¯t something that operating levels of special-ss operators could deter. Losing therge sword meant that the opponent had no chance. Indeed, Li Lanfeng used this chance to perform a chainbo and knocked out the opponent on the fourth hit.


    When Li Lanfeng defeated his opponent, Zhao Jun also defeated thest opponent. This 24-man versus 7-man battle seemed to have a huge difference in strength. In the end, however, the result was Ling Lan¡¯s seven-man team being victorious. This result caused all the officers and referees in the monitoring room to go into an uproar.

 Chapter 503 - Taken Advantage Of vs Being Taken Advantage Of!

    <h4>Chapter 503: Taken Advantage Of vs Being Taken Advantage Of!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°This is unbelievable!¡± The vice president was surprised at this oue. Although he wasn¡¯t capable of bing an outstanding mecha master due to talent, having studied the basics of operating, he knew clearly that what had happened was a miracle¡ªfacing three times the amount of opponents, defeating the 24-man battle team and not losing a single member out of the 7-man team.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s right hand that was set down danced around for a bit. He said while smiling, ¡°Mr. Vice President, this is really nothing. This seven-man team winning this battle is actually more because of luck. If something like this were to happen again, the result may be very different.¡±


    The vice president grew more interested upon hearing this. He quickly asked why Ling Xiao would make such an assumption.


    Ling Xiao answered, ¡°Actually, the biggest problem of the 24-man team was that their team leaders had issues.¡± He listed out his thoughts, ¡°Firstly, the team leaders underestimated their opponents. They also affected their other team members to simrly underestimate their opponents. This was also the reason why many of their mecha were shot down in the initial exchange. This is actually the main point that affected the battle. If they hadn¡¯t underestimated their opponents and were more careful, the seven-man team wouldn¡¯t have had any chance.


    ¡°Secondly, the mentality of the team members were not up to standard. When they saw that their opponents had modified mechas, they became flustered and let the opponent shoot down a few more mecha. This lead to the difference in the number of mecha between the two sides to be very small.


    ¡°At the end, although many of their mecha operators attacked under cooperation, they are still allied battle teams. They are members of different military academies. They didn¡¯t really trust each other and so they were unable to entrust their backs. They were still on guard even in the middle of their cooperation. Although it seemed as though it was 2 vs 1 and even 3 vs 1, in reality, it was just a changed up 1 vs 1. It isn¡¯t hard to understand how the seven-man team defeated them.


    ¡°Regarding these three points, as long as they hadpensated for one them, the oue of this battle would have definitely been different.¡± Ling Xiao stopped for a few seconds, ¡°That¡¯s why I said the seven-man team was very lucky. All these reasons caused this victory. If had met up with a team from one military academy, the result would not be like this.¡±


    Ling Xiao¡¯s words made everyone present agree and nod their head. Seeing this, Ling Xiao let out a sigh of relief. He silently wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead¡ªhe had finally managed to decrease the influence of this matter to the lowest.


    When it came to his beloved baby daughter, she would either not do anything, or do something that would shake the heavens. It was the same when she arrived at the military academy, and even more so now. Even if he was Ling Xiao, he was still having trouble enduring it all.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s simple and clear exnation made the vice president¡¯s surprised heart calm down a bit. Ling Xiao was famous for being fair and just, never lying. He would definitely not be wrong. Thus, he nodded and said, ¡°I also thought that this luck is too much, or it¡¯s as though...¡± It was scary. It was as though he had been seeing another Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao smiled and didn¡¯t speak. Now he had to firmly attribute Ling Lan¡¯s performance to luck. He only hoped that his own image he had spent many years creating would grant his excuses more credibility.


    Although Ling Xiao had continued to downy Ling Lan¡¯s team¡¯s performance with his words, in reality, deep in his mind, he wanted to tell everyone proudly that the leader of that team was his daughter. It was his daughter... With a daughter like this, he felt that this life was so worth it.


    The division representatives on the sides all had perplexed expressions. Many of them quietly ordered their officers to find out detailed information on the small 7-man team. They, of course, believed what Ling Xiao had said, but luck was also a form of strength. For those seven to have been able to create this ssic scene of defeating more with less, they were definitely exceptionally talented individuals. These representatives actually had a missioning into the mecha tournament, and that mission was to try their best to dig out talents in order to increase the strength of their respective divisions.


    Many of the division representatives looked upon the calm and collected General Ling Xiao with fear in their eyes. They all sincerely hoped that the performances of the cadets just now did not catch Ling Xiao¡¯s eye, or else they wouldn¡¯t be confident that they would be able to go against the idol of the entire army. At this moment, they fully understood the incredible charm of the idol. The exceptional seeds in their divisions would show a face of respect when hearing about Ling Xiao. These representatives believed that if Ling Xiao were to change up his division, there would be many people in their own divisions answering the call to go into Ling Xiao¡¯s.


    Fortunately, Ling Xiao was a just person and never thought of using such methods. They couldn¡¯t help but be happy.


    Perhaps Ling Xiao¡¯s words had affected the judgment of the referee team. The referee rewound the scene many times to study it and came up with the same judgment as Ling Xiao. They believed that such a surprise effect was indeed due to many coincidences and luck-based elements. In short, the things they analyzed from all the details seemed to be logical and proven.


    Ling Xiao didn¡¯t look at these theories and data. As long as the referee team acknowledged what he had said, he didn¡¯t care about the reason used to prove this point.


    At this moment, Ling Lan appeared beside Li Lanfeng after seeing that both Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun had sessfully defeated their opponents one after another. She was just in time to intercept Li Lanfeng, whose mecha was falling forward because it had lost power and could not be controlled.


    ¡°How are you doing?¡± Ling Lan asked while frowning. Her voice was colder than normal.


    Li Lanfeng knew that Ling Lan was angry, but he didn¡¯t know why he felt amazing. He coughed heavily and replied after a while with great effort, ¡°I¡¯m not going to die.¡±


    ¡°You were messing around again.¡± Even if Ling Lan was angry, that had been Li Lanfeng¡¯s choice. His path to advancement could not be stopped by Ling Lan.


    Li Lanfeng smiled and looked at Ling Lan. He finally felt that this person beside him was no longer that far away. Li Lanfeng, who had used up all of his physical and spiritual energy, fainted amidst this feeling of satisfaction.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression changed instantly. She quickly discovered this situation since she was using her spiritual power to monitor Li Lanfeng¡¯s condition. She quickly yelled, ¡°Come over here quick to save him Li Shiyu!¡±


    After saying this, Ling Lan operated her mecha andid Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha on the ground. She quickly opened the door of the cockpit and jumped right in. She got to Li Lanfeng¡¯s cockpit. She found the passcode lock on the side of the cockpit door and quickly inputted a long string of passwordbinations. After a sound of a lock opening, Li Lanfeng¡¯s cockpit was opened.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t hesitate and went straight in. She first saw the bloodied control panel and her expression changed greatly. She turned her sights to Li Lanfeng in the seat. She found that Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes were closed shut and his breathing was slowly bing weaker. Ling Lan was mortified. She quickly unbuckled Li Lanfeng¡¯s safety belt and took Li Lanfeng out of the cockpit...


    Li Shiyu had already retrieved the first-aid box and arrived. He saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s unconscious condition in Ling Lan¡¯s arms and was also mortified. He quickly walked up and held Li Lanfeng¡¯s right wrist to feel his pulse. He found that his pulse was bing weaker and weaker and knew that the situation was dire.


    He quickly took out the emergency medicinal agent and pried open Li Lanfeng¡¯s mouth, wanting to pour it into his throat. However, it seemed as though Li Lanfeng was in too much pain as he was gritting his teeth very firmly; the medicine was unable to be administered by mouth in that instant.


    ¡°Use a needle!¡± Ling Lan saw this and calmly reminded.


    Li Shiyu quickly turned around, his fingers dancing about quickly as he immediately prepared an emergency shot. At the same time, Ling Lan unzipped Li Lanfeng¡¯s protective suit and found that it had already been painted red by the blood on the inside. They couldn¡¯t see even one piece of muscle that wasn¡¯t damaged. The broken muscles and blood made for a motifying sight and made Ling Lan frown uncontrobly.


    Li Shiyu took the needle, his left index finger quickly pressed on Li Lanfeng¡¯s arm. After that, the needle had already urately gone into the blood vessel and a dose of emergency medicine was shot into Li Lanfeng¡¯s body. Very quickly, the originally disappearing pulse and breathing began to be stronger. This made Li Shiyu and Ling Lan instantly let out a sigh of relief.


    Li Shiyu saw that Li Lanfeng life was no longer in danger, so he took out the support analysis machine and began to analyze the condition of Li Lanfeng¡¯s body. He found that his condition was very bad. All of the motor functions of his body had broken down. He could only rest. In other words, Li Lanfeng no longer had the chance keep fighting.


    After finding out everything about Li Lanfeng¡¯s injuries, Li Shiyu then systematically gave Li Lanfeng shots that could heal him. When Li Lanfeng became stable, he would then report this situation to Ling Lan.


    ¡°With the medicine that we prepared, are you certain that you can cure Li Lanfeng?¡± After hearing about the situation, Ling Lan thought about it for a bit before asking Li Shiyu.


    ¡°Yes, but during the recovery time, Li Lanfeng can¡¯t operate a mecha. Otherwise, the recoil from the mecha will destroy Li Lanfeng¡¯s muscles again. It will be hard to control if that happens.¡± Li Shiyu was very confident in himself, but he spoke out his own worries. He then added, ¡°Actually, the best choice would be to send Li Lanfeng to the area for those who are eliminated and let the medical team of the tournament treat him from all aspects. If they were tobine treatment pods with other treatment, then he would need only 2 to 3 days to fully recover.¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t say anything. After a few seconds passed, Ling Lan then asked, ¡°You mean that if you were the one who treated him, it would take more than two to three days?¡±


    Li Shiyu smiled bitterly and said, ¡°Without the treatment pod¡¯s vacuum sealed anti-bacterial treatment, even if my medicines are amazing, the potency of the medicine would not be utilized to its full potential. If nothing went wrong, he would need a week¡¯s time to fully recover. However, with this kind of weather...¡± He frowned and looked at how the snowy weather from hours before had now changed into mid-summer. It was so hot that it felt that each breath could burn up. This kind of extreme change in weather was definitely not fit for the injured to nurse their injuries.


    ¡°Would there be any unchangeable after-effects to Li Lanfeng¡¯s body if we dy the time of treatment?¡± Ling Lan looked at Li Shiyu seriously. She had to know about this point very clearly.


    ¡°That won¡¯t happen,¡± Li Shiyu said firmly.


    Ling Lan got the answer she wanted. She then let Li Shiyu bandage up Li Lanfeng¡¯s injuries. Li Shiyu was very fast. A few minutester, he had finished bandaging up Li Lanfeng¡¯s entire body.


    Seeing that the treatment was done, Ling Lan walked out and picked up Li Lanfeng, who was now in deep sleep. She looked at Li Shiyu, who was now organizing the first-aid kit, thought for a bit and said, ¡°Both you and Li Lanfeng operate bnced mecha. You will operate Li Lanfeng¡¯s special-ss mecha.¡±


    These words dumbfounded Li Shiyu. He suddenly raised his head and looked towards Ling Lan. However, because of the sun, he couldn¡¯t see Ling Lan expression. He only felt that Ling Lan was staring down at him with a heavy look, making him feel extremely pressured.


    ¡°Why?¡± Li Shiyu bit his lip and asked.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you advance to special-ss operator? And Li Lanfeng can¡¯t operate a mecha anymore. Then you will take Li Lanfeng¡¯s ce. This is the best arrangement,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡°How did you know I advanced to special-ss operator?¡± Li Shiyu himself didn¡¯t think that he would advance to special-ss operator during battle. Originally, it was most dangerous to advance during battle. It was easy to be interrupted and even be killed while an individual was still getting used to the feeling of advancement. However, he was very lucky as due to Li Lanfeng¡¯s help, he had sessfully gotten past the most dangerous moment of advancement.


    ¡°If you hadn¡¯t sessfully advanced to special-ss operator, how could you have consecutively helped Li Lanfeng get away from danger? Two special-ss operators are not individuals that can be held back by one advanced mecha operator.¡± Having been watching the entire battle, of course she hadn¡¯t missed the energy spike during the moment Li Shiyu had advanced.


    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for Li Lanfeng, you wouldn¡¯t have even had a chance to advance. Thus, you should continue to battle in Li Lanfeng¡¯s ce!¡± After saying this, she kicked the ground and her entire body flew up into her cockpit.


    Following a clicking sound, the cockpit door was then closed. She ced Li Lanfeng in her passenger seat. Right when she buckled him in firmly with the safety belt, she heard Qi Long ask worriedly, ¡°Boss, is Li Lanfeng alright?¡± Seeing that Ling Lan had taken him into his own cockpit, they knew that Li Lanfeng situation was dire.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, he¡¯s just in a state of recovery and can¡¯t operate a mecha anymore,¡± Ling Lan responded calmly.


    Perhaps Ling Lan¡¯s tone was too calm, as Qi Long and the others instantly calmed their anxious thoughts. They thought that Li Lanfeng had only been slightly injured¡ªthey didn¡¯t know that Li Lanfeng had been on the brink of death.


    ¡°Boss, are you going to take Li Lanfeng and continue the mission?¡± Xie Yi asked confusedly. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we leave him here and let the staff members send him to the area for those who are eliminated?¡± Having been injured, wouldn¡¯t it be better for the staff members of the mecha tournament to treat him?


    ¡°In my team, I won¡¯t let anyone be left behind.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice rang in everyone¡¯s ears. ¡°I never took the battle royale as a game. To me, this is a battlefield.¡±


    Everyone shook. They didn¡¯t think that Ling Lan would take the battle royale so seriously, to the point that he would consider the tournament to be a real battlefield. They felt ashamed of themselves. Compared to their boss, their thoughts were considered ying around. They always felt that this tournament was a tournament that didn¡¯t have any possible dangers.


    ¡°I will not give up on any member of my team. I also hope you guys remember that in any situation, you shouldn¡¯t abandon your teammates. I believe that Li Lanfeng wants to greet the victory of the battle royale together with us.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words shook everyone. Xie Yi felt even more ashamed of himself. Wasn¡¯t what he suggested the same as leaving Li Lanfeng behind? After going to the elimination area, Li Lanfeng would be treated, but in reality, it would also mean that Li Lanfeng had been eliminated and sent out of the battle royale.


    Li Shiyu looked at Ling Lan¡¯s mecha that had already risen up into the air. Suddenly, he felt that he was really lucky to have joined Ling Lan¡¯s team. With a responsible leader like this, its team members would definitely achieve greater heights than others. He didn¡¯t hesitate any longer and jumped into Li Lanfeng¡¯s cockpit. When he saw the control panel that was painted red by Li Lanfeng¡¯s blood, he thought of Li Lanfeng¡¯s bloodied fingers when he was bandaging him up.


    Li Shiyu used his hand to wipe the control panel and his fingers immediately became stained by the thick blood. ¡°In order to save me, you injured yourself to this degree without care. Why would you do that?¡±


    Li Lanfeng gave him a familiar feeling. Familiar to the point that he could almost believe it was ¡®that person¡¯. If he didn¡¯t clearly know that that person could never operate a mecha, he would have impulsively taken down Li Lanfeng¡¯s mask just now to see what his real face looked like...


    ¡°Is it really as you said? That by being with him for too long, I end up subtly sharing the same temperament as he?¡± Li Shiyu began to wipe at the control panel and quickly returned it to its original silver-white color.


    ¡°However, why would you know my promise with him? Is it possible that you guys are so close that he would tell you about this?¡± Li Shiyu tightly held the cloth in his hand. ¡°Or maybe, you are him...¡±


    Li Shiyu closed his eyes. ¡°No, I can¡¯t guess randomly without evidence. He wouldn¡¯t lie to me, he wouldn¡¯t lie, he wouldn¡¯t.¡± After feeling that he had calmed down, he then opened his eyes and smiled bitterly. ¡°Whenever Ie across matter that involves him, I can¡¯t keep calm. Maybe I¡¯ll find Li Lanfeng and talk to him. Perhaps, there are some questions he will be able to give me an answer to. That¡¯ll be better than just thinking randomly.¡±


    Li Shiyu took a deep breath and tossed Li Lanfeng¡¯s matter to the back of his mind. He went back to getting used Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha. He had to thank the fact that he operated bnced mecha and that he talked to Li Lanfeng about operating every day. Also, he had entered Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha and watched him operate it first-hand before. All of this allowed him to get used to it quickly.


    It should be said that in terms of mecha operating, the members of the Li family were very talented. After around 10 minutes, Li Shiyu had grasped around 70-80% of Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha. He was already carrying out some of the basic operations smoothly.


    Right then, Ling Lan and the others were modifying their mecha. They had to thank Chang Xinyuan; he had invented a paint that could instantly cover up mecha. At this moment, Ling Lan and the others wereparing the logo on the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s logo in order to recreate them.


    Actually, all of mecha used for all the military academies had all the same shapes and colors. The only difference was the logo on their chest and Ling Lan was recreating said logo.


    Ling Lan¡¯s situation was constantly being shown on a small window on the screen in the monitoring room. The other people¡¯s attention was probably drawn towards the battles of other military academies. Ling Xiao, who was watching Ling Lan all along, seemed to not care on the outside, but in reality, he was constantly paying attention to what his own daughter was doing.


    When he saw that his daughter had picked up a boy like a princess, he almost lost control and crushed the teacup in his hand¡ªman, he dared to take advantage of his daughter!


    Ling Xiao definitely didn¡¯t see that it was his daughter that held the boy like a princess and not his daughter being held up like a princess. In short, in Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes, it was his daughter that was taken advantage of and not his daughter taking advantage of someone else.


    Forget the fact that Ling Xiao was really angry. The odd movements of Ling Lan¡¯s team were quickly noticed by the others. One of the division representatives yelled towards the staff member for the big screen, ¡°Zoom and enhance the image of that seven-man battle team.¡±


    The staff member quickly turned the image to Ling Lan andpany. The big screen was instantly filled by Ling Lan¡¯s team.


    ¡°What are they doing climbing onto their mechas? Can you zoom towards the chest area?¡± Because of the big screen, everyone saw Ling Lan¡¯s odd movements and instantly became curious.


    The image zoomed in again and finally focused on the chest area. A familiar logo came into view.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the logo of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy? Aren¡¯t these guys from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy? Were we wrong and these guys are actually from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy?¡± Some people were confused by all this.


    Yes, although they had cooperated with Qiao Ting the first time and helped relieve him of any suspicion, that didn¡¯t mean that they were from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. The original logo had been covered up, to begin with; there wasn¡¯t any clear evidence that could tell them their identity. They didn¡¯t want to just ept that fact. Perhaps it was allied forces as well. Many military academies and referee began to rethink the situation.


    ¡°No, it can¡¯t be the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. That logo is a fake.¡± Although the imitation was very simr, the material was different. If they looked closely, there would be a difference. Some of the people who had sharp eyes were able to see this difference.


    ¡°Fake? Holy sh*t. Don¡¯t tell me they¡¯re trying to sneak into the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters. Who are these people? Isn¡¯t this a bit too brave?¡± Many people were amazed at this fact, and even more people became more interested in this 7-man battle team. Without a doubt, they had an exceptional strategist with them.


    Upon seeing this scene, Ling Xiao instantly cheered up... However, in order to sessfully sneak in, just having the logo wouldn¡¯t be enough. ¡°What else does my daughter have up her sleeve?¡± Ling Xiao thought curiously.


    ¡°General, that seven-man battle team is led by Young Master Lan, isn¡¯t it?¡± He Xuyang saw that most of the crowd had been drawn towards the 7-man battle team. They didn¡¯t pay attention to them, thus he tilted his body to Ling Xiao and whispered in his ear.


    Ling Xiao frowned as though he was asking. ¡°How do you know?¡±


    He Xuyangughed silently and said, ¡°Young Master Lan¡¯s way of operating actually has simrities to you.¡± It wasn¡¯t clear as to why the people here hadn¡¯t discovered this point.


    Ling Xiao smiled and nodded lightly to confirm He Xuyang¡¯s guess. He Xuyang had received an answer that satisfied him. He sat up and thought, ¡°Young Master Lan is really strong! The general actually has someone to inherit his will.¡±


    By the time Li Shiyu had pretty much grasped how to handle Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha, Qi Long and the others had reached the end of the needed time for modifications. Ling Lan was now modifying the logo on Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha because she was quick and had already finished the logo on her own mecha long ago. When Ling Lan finished, she knew that everyone was ready and quickly led the five mecha away from their position.


    Very quickly, the staff members moved to the scene. One of the staff members ran towards the advanced mecha that Ling Lan had left behind. He examined it carefully, but afterwards discouragingly reported to the monitoring room. ¡°They destroyed all the logos on their mecha. There¡¯s no way for us to determine which military academy they¡¯re from. The A.I. has been locked up and the data has been erased. There¡¯s no way to find anything regarding the seven-man battle team.¡±


    Everyone who heard the report from the staff member were all nodding in admiration.


    ¡°They really are very careful. They even didn¡¯t leave behind any information in the mecha they abandoned.¡±


    ¡°Impressive, really impressive. They even thought of a small detail like this. Their captain isn¡¯t just brawns and no brains.¡±


    ¡°It could also be that they have an amazing strategist. However, we shouldn¡¯t underestimate these cadets.¡±

 Chapter 504 - Despicable?

    <h4>Chapter 504: Despicable?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°There so many monsters among this year¡¯s academy students. We originally thought that Qiao Ting was monstrous. We didn¡¯t that there were actually more. Just looking at their strategies, we know that there¡¯s definitely an impressive individual in there. We just don¡¯t know which military academy they¡¯re from.¡± Many of the division representatives said this with regret. If they knew exactly which military academy that individual was from, they would able to try tactics to recruit them.


    Qiao Ting was indeed very monstrous, but he had already been drafted into the Third Division. The others could only watch, unable to do anything. Now that they saw many exceptional students, these division representatives all began to move about.


    The monitoring room was disrupted by the exceptional performance of Ling Lan¡¯s team. In the area between Area S and P of the battle royal, Qiao Ting waited for an hour and finally greeted the people they were going to ally with.


    ¡°Who knew that we could actually cooperate for once.¡± Lin Xiao looked at Qiao Ting, the representative of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. He thought about the magic of fate.


    ¡°I also didn¡¯t think that amander like yourself isn¡¯t defending his own headquarters,ing here instead to discuss matters of cooperation.¡± Qiao Ting was also surprised by the representative that the First Co-ed Military Academy had sent. He now really wanted to know how Ling Lan had discussed everything with the Co-ed Military Academy to actually make them put importance on their alliance.


    ¡°You came, so it¡¯s no surprise that I came here,¡± Lin Xiao smiled modestly and said.


    ¡°I¡¯m not themander,¡± Qiao Ting said, brow raised and expression disapproving.


    Lin Xiao felt that he couldn¡¯t follow up with anything after Qiao Ting said those words. In reality, he still hadn¡¯t figured out why Qiao Ting would have given up the position ofmander to Ling Lan. Although Ling Lan was indeed very exceptional, Lin Xiao believed Qiao Ting was even more exceptional.


    Thus, heughed and changed the subject, saying, ¡°Why did you use our signal to tell me toe and meet up with you?¡± Qiao Ting had used the signal that Lin Xiao and Ling Lan had previously set up formunication purposes.


    Qiao Ting calmly replied, ¡°We may have a third party joining our alliance.¡±


    Lin Xiao frowned. Just for this? Was it really necessary to use the signal? It had made him put down everything he was doing and bring his team with him. Lin Xiao felt discontent, but he didn¡¯t show it and only calmly asked, ¡°Who is it?¡±


    ¡°The Third Men¡¯s Military Academy.¡±


    Lin Xiao was shaken. ¡°It¡¯s them? You¡¯re willing to cooperate with them? All three of us are rivals in thispetition, you know,¡± he said in disbelief.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you guys allied with us right now?¡± Qiao Ting nced at Lin Xiao with a half-smile. In the beginning, he didn¡¯t think that the military academy that they allied with was the First Co-ed Military Academy.


    ¡°That¡¯s because I don¡¯t want to worry about anything to focus on going against the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy.¡± Lin Xiao was straightforward. If Jiang Shaoyu hadn¡¯t fantasized about Luo Chao, he wouldn¡¯t have lowered himself to ally with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. As an ace operator, he had his own pride. It was only that...pared to Luo Chao¡¯s importance, he would be willing to give up on this pride temporarily.


    ¡°Then we have more of a reason to ally with the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. You wouldn¡¯t have to worry anymore and we will have what we want as well.¡± Qiao Ting told Lin Xiao his n, and thetter¡¯s eyes lit up. He discovered that Qiao Ting¡¯s idea was pretty good and the hope of sess was very high. The Third Men¡¯s Military Academy had always wanted to get rid of their ¡°ten thousand year fourth ce¡± name. If the three of them cooperated and took care of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, the rest would be able to be ced in the top 3. This alone would be enough to lure the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    ¡°Are you going to to the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy to convince them?¡± Lin Xiao couldn¡¯t help but look forward to it.


    ¡°Convince? Do I really need to that? If the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy is smart, they wille to us.¡± Qiao Ting told Lin Xiao about what had happened to the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy during the past few hours.


    Lin Xiao heard all this and couldn¡¯t help but bite his tongue. The Third Men¡¯s Military Academy was too bold and reckless... Wait, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy didn¡¯t have the daring resolution to make all the military academies in Area S and P their enemies. Even if the First Co-ed Military Academy would not dare do something so bold and reckless, they definitely wouldn¡¯t do a stupid thing like this. The only possibility was that they were set up by someone else.


    ¡°Who did it behind their backs? So despicable!¡± Lin Xiao asked with schadenfreude. A question that he could think of would definitely have been thought of by Qiao Ting.


    Qiao Ting didn¡¯t answer; he only gave a deeply meaningful smile. Lin Xiao was stunned and pointed at Qiao Ting, saying, ¡°You guys...¡±


    Qiao Ting took a deep breath before speaking, knowing fully what the finger pointing meant. ¡°Yeah, those guys who did it behind their backs are indeed despicable.¡± Qiao Ting felt so f**king amazing to be able speak openly about how Ling Lan was despicable.


    Lin Xiao understood, took a deep breath and nodded. ¡°Yeah, they really are shameless.¡± Since he had proactively asked them to form an alliance, all of the benefits of the Co-ed Military Academy was squeezed out by Ling Lan. Thinking about it now, Lin Xiao¡¯s chest was still kind of hurting. It seemed that that guy was indeed shameless.


    The two of them let out the frustration in their hearts in unnned unison. They shared a look once again and felt better about each other.


    However, Lin Xiao quickly thought of the drawback of forming an alliance with the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. ¡°If we do ally with the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy, we will be making enemies of the allied battle team of both Area S and P. Is it really worth it?¡±


    ¡°If we don¡¯t make them our enemies, then whose headquarters are we going to attack?¡± Qiao Ting nced at Lin Xiao proudly, his eyes full of confidence. The only reason he agreed to take his team ande out wasn¡¯t to carry out Ling Lan¡¯s orders, but to take the territories personally and prove his capabilities at the same time. It was also to make the First Men¡¯s Military Academy have the highest cumtive score and take the champion of this year¡¯s battle royale.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s words made Lin Xiao smile. If he wanted to swallow up all of Area S and P, the strength of their two academies would slightly off. However, when adding on the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy... it would be enough. Thus, Lin Xiao said, ¡°Then we¡¯ll wait until the Third Men¡¯s Military Academyes knocking on the door of their own ord.¡±


    Hearing this, Qiao Ting¡¯s lips showed a slight smile. He looked towards the sky and thought to himself, ¡°Ling Lan, even when ites to strategy, I will not lose to you.¡±


    Qiao Ting had continued to warn himself that Ling Lan shouldn¡¯t be the rival that he should be paying attention to. However, the arrangements that Ling Lan had made that seemed to be messy yet contained deeper intents uncontrobly made Qiao Ting feel dreadful once again. He couldn¡¯t control it and made Ling Lan into his rival once again.


    Qiao Ting and Lin Xiao began waiting for the representative from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy toe to them to talk about cooperation. At that moment, Ling Lan¡¯s team had passed Area S and was heading towards Area M. Only by going through Area M would they be able to to get into Area Q. Ling Lan target was none other than the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters that was situated in the center of Area Q.


    Although there weren¡¯t as many military academies that picked out Area Mpared to Area P, there were still around 20 or so military academy powers in the area. Even if Ling andpany were very careful, they would still encounter battle teams in this area.


    Here, one had to praise the modification made by Ling Lan on the logos before they set out. Using the identity of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, it helped them move through smoothly. Many of the battle teams that they had bumped into saw that it was the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy and didn¡¯t do anything to intercept them. Some even enthusiastically asked which of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s battle teams they were.


    With Little Four¡¯s help, Ling Lan had already find out the name of the allied battle team that they had defeated, and thus she wasn¡¯t flustered. She immediately gave up the name of the allied battle team. Ling Lan¡¯s calm and collected behavior, of course, didn¡¯t cause these battle teams to suspect anything. Just like that, they slowly crept their way through Area M and slowly got closer towards Area Q.


    While Ling Lan appeared carefree on the outside, she was not so on the inside. She had discovered that the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy had formed a huge alliance with the other military academies in Areas Q and M and were defending these two areas like they were digging for gold. Ling Lan spected that once this alliance had readied their rear lines, they would send out most of their forces to attack Area S and P... Of course, Area P was the real golden territory. Only there would they understand the idea of those who win will be kings and those who lose will be peasants.


    Ling Lan deceived another battle team and passed by them. They flew on for another half an hour. She looked at the map and found that their location was on the edge of Area M, it wouldn¡¯t be long until they reached Area Q. Seeing the target headquarters drawing increasingly nearer, Ling Lan let out a small sigh of relief.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy also had such an exceptional strategist. The formations of all the military academies in Area M pretty much made it impossible for any battle teams from Area S to get sneak in. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that she came prepared beforehand, it was possible that they would have been found out the moment they entered Area M.


    Nevertheless, the path they had taken to this point had been a perilous one for Ling Lan because some of the battle teams were actually 24-man teamsprised of top-level special-ss operators. If they had been found out, even if Ling Lan could escape, the other team members in her team would have definitely all been taken down. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t risk that happening.


    However, luck was not always going to follow Ling Lan. When Ling Lan and the others were just about to enter Area Q, a 12-man battle team of all special-ss operators headed towards them. They heard the other party yell from afar, ¡°Which battle team are you?¡±


    Ling Lan calmly replied, ¡°XX battle team!¡± They didn¡¯t keep on asking. Right when Ling Lan thought that she sessfully deceived a team once again, she suddenly discovered that the flying speed of the other party had elerated many times over. The originally far distance instantly became very close.


    Ling Lan quickly ordered, ¡°Prepare to fight!¡± Ling Lan felt that they had definitely made a mistake, but Ling Lan couldn¡¯t figure it out right then. What made them slip up? Hadn¡¯t it been all unicorns and rainbows up until now?


    Hearing her order, Qi Long and the others quickly took out their respective beam guns and cold weapons from the mounts on their back, holding one in each hand. They waited for Ling Lan¡¯s final order.


    ¡°Are we going to attack first or wait?¡± Ling Lan hadn¡¯t decided yet. He heard Little Four scream out, ¡°Boss, look here.¡±


    An image appeared on the mecha screen. Many mecha were hiding in the desert below. Ling Lan¡¯s expression changed slightly and she quickly asked, ¡°Little Four, what are the coordinates for the image?¡±


    Little Four answered confusedly, ¡°It¡¯s the desert below you.¡±


    Ling Lan nced at the radar area and discovered that aside from the battle team that was flying towards them, no other battle team had appeared. Ling Lan didn¡¯t need to think to know that the mecha hiding in the desert had definitely turned off their engines; only by doing this would the mecha be undetectable by the radar.


    This made Ling Lan terrified. She had almost fallen into a trap just now. If Little Four hadn¡¯t reminded her of this, once they chose to attack, they would not have been able to go back. When faced with being surrounded from both the inside and outside, even if it was Ling Lan herself, she wouldn¡¯t have enough confidence to make sure she could escape.

 Chapter 505 - Infiltration!

    <h4>Chapter 505: Infiltration!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan¡¯s team patiently waited for that battle team toe closer. They seemed to be calm on the outside, but inwardly they were nervous and cautious. Ling Lan had already told her team members about the countless mecha hidden around them. Everyone knew that danger was just around the corner.


    Right when that 12-man team of special-ss operators drew near, the team leader coldly asked, ¡°Who are you guys?¡± The smallest team around here was a 12-man battle team. Ling Lan only had six mecha. That was why they felt something was weird.


    Ling Lan calmly replied, ¡°We bumped into a battle team that was hidden. We fought a huge battle and although we won, a few of our members paid the price.¡± Ling Lan suffused a good amount of spiritual power in those words to increase her persuasive ability.


    It had to be said that it was safer for Ling Lan tobine spiritual power and persuasionpared to using only spiritual power to affect the opponent. This wouldn¡¯t get rid of someone¡¯s suspicions and make them feel a discrepancy, but instead slowly weaken an individual¡¯s suspicions and in the end, make them naturally let go of such thoughts.


    There were too many people here. Ling Lan didn¡¯t have the certainty that she could affect everyone with her spiritual power. In order to not raise the suspicions of the others nearby, she could only be more careful. Even if she knew that talking more with the other party would increase the chance of being exposed, Ling Lan felt that she couldn¡¯t take that risk.


    Sure enough, Ling Lan answer made that team leader¡¯s suspicions decrease greatly. In reality, he was only wondering why there would be a broken team in the area between Area Q and M. It should be known that the patrolling battle teams around them were all full teams. This was also the reason why he stopped Ling Lan and not because he really suspected they were the enemy.


    Hearing Ling Lan¡¯s answer, that team leader was surprised. He quickly asked, ¡°Where? Which military academy did you guys bump into?¡±


    Ling Lan responded coldly, ¡°Please forgive me for not being able to inform you of that location before I report it to mymander. In truth, I¡¯m not sure who the opponents were!¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s answer angered the other side, but there were no problems with her words. Usually, when something like this happened, they would naturally make a report to their ownmander first, and then let him decide whether or not to tell the allied military academies. His question was indeed over the top.


    ¡°Haha, as expected of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. Very disciplined,¡± the team leader said grudgingly. He felt that he lost some pride. ¡°However, we¡¯re all friends here. Some information should be shared, right?¡±


    Ling Lan hesitated slightly, as though she was struggling with the thought. After a while, she replied, ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to tell everyone. It¡¯s just that I really don¡¯t know which military academy the opponent was from. At the border of Area S and M, we found a suspicious team who hid their identity. When we went up to ask them about it, they suddenly attacked us. If it wasn¡¯t for that, our battle team wouldn¡¯t have been lost so many people,¡± Ling Lan responded as she bit her lip.


    The team leader looked at the 5 mecha that were following behind Ling Lan. Two special-ss mechas had scratch marks on the outer mecha shell. Three advanced mechas also had a few scratches and kinks. His eyes immediately shed with a hint of disdain. Only a battle team that was this inferior could be sessfully sneak attacked by opponents. If it were his battle team, he would not have lost a single mecha and would have been able to let the opponent onlye not be able to leave at all...


    Having underestimated Ling Lan, he wasn¡¯t interested in asking more questions. As for the team that had entered the border, it was probably a battle team from Area S. Battle teams from Area S had already probed Area M many times. Not only had the team in front of him bumped into them, other allied battle teams had also bumped into them. All of them had losses or victories.


    Thus, he said, ¡°In that case, I won¡¯t hold you from returning to your headquarters to report to Alliance Chief Jiang.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for understanding!¡± Ling Lan let out a sigh of relief. She looked at the other party and made a hand sign to her team to move out. She then led her team members and quickly flew towards Area Q. Since they were discovered by a battle team and passed open space at the same time, Ling Lan no longer hid. They proudly flew towards the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters.


    Seeing the figures of Ling Lan¡¯s battle team disappearing into the distance, one of the members of that team leader¡¯s team asked, ¡°Captain, are you not going to remind them? If they go back, they will definitely not have a good time.¡± When they hade here, they received a new order. That order was that battle teams were restricted from getting close to the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters.


    ¡°This matter is rted to the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. What does it have to do with us?¡± the captain smiled coldly and said. That beat-up battle team didn¡¯t show him any respect, so why should he remind them? Also, that guy Jiang Shaoyu was delusional to think that he could control the entire alliance. That would depend on whether they agree or not. He was very happy to see instability within the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. This would make it so Jiang Shaoyu wouldn¡¯t have the energy to deal with them.


    The captain knew very well that even though they were allied forces, they still were cautious of each other. They were scared that they would be stabbed in the back by the allies. In the face of personal interest, who knew what the other could do. There wasn¡¯t anything like a gentlemen¡¯s promise here.


    This team leader didn¡¯t think that his carefulness had actually helped Ling Lan. It had to be said that although Jiang Shaoyu had unified Area Q and M on the surface, in reality, all the allied battle teams had their own ns. They weren¡¯t truly cooperating and because of this reason, a little pest like Ling Lan had sessfully sneaked through to their central area. They would hide and deal a crippling blow to the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Ling Lan ran like mad all the way, got out of the encirclement and wiped away the cold sweat she had. That moment just then was the most dangerous time Ling Lan had experienced during the infiltration. However, they had unexpectedly and easily passed it. Ling Lan rejoiced greatly, but still felt terrified after the fact.


    ¡°Captain, we¡¯re getting close to the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy,¡± reminded Li Lanfeng. He was sitting in Ling Lan¡¯s mecha¡¯s passenger seat, looking at the map to find the direction, and he found that the target was very close.


    ¡°Lanfeng, what should we do next?¡± Ling Lan turned around and asked. Since she wanted to develop Li Lanfeng, Ling Lan would let him perform at all times.


    ¡°We must find a ce to rest up,¡± Li Lanfeng said. ¡°Our mecha have already been active for 18 consecutive hours. Everyone¡¯s tired.¡±


    Ling Lan nodded in agreement. ¡°You¡¯re right. Just tell me any rmendations you have.¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled and replied, ¡°My suggestion is that we should take over the headquarters of a weaker military academy as our headquarters in Area Q.¡±


    ¡°Why not let us find a remote area as our area to rest?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know much about the situation in Area Q. Also, no one knows whether the areas that are considered to be uninhabited actually have people upying them or not. Even if there weren¡¯t people there, if a battle team suddenly appears, it would be very unexpected. Instead, it would be better to take over a headquarters and hide in the shadows of the light.¡± Li Lanfeng spoke out his reason.


    Ling Lan was satisfied. She used her fingers and started drumming on the control panel. She calmly asked, ¡°Which one did you choose?¡±


    These words of Ling Lan made Li Lanfeng let out a sigh of relief. When Ling Lan had asked that question just now, it was without a doubt a test for him. Now it seemed that he had passed. Li Lanfeng was filled with joy. He decisively pointed towards an area on the map and said, ¡°Right here.¡±


    ¡°Jianqiao Military Academy?¡± Ling Lan had already clearly seen the area that Li Lanfeng had chosen. Her lips perked up. ¡°Not bad indeed.¡±


    Jianqiao Military Academy¡¯s rank in all of the military academies was on the lower side. In Area Q, they weren¡¯t the worst of the allied forces. Those who were of the lower-middle tier were not really valued by the allied forces. Additionally, they would also not be like the worst one that the allied forces would watch all the time to make sure they don¡¯t fumble the ball. Li Lanfeng¡¯s choice was made after deep and prepared thinking.


    Having been acknowledged by Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng¡¯s lips involuntarily showed a hint of a smile.


    Since they had decided, Ling Lan let the others and silently changed their direction, now flying towards Jianqiao Military Academy, which was a few hundred yards out from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. And at this time, night fell and went into the 16-hour night-time.


    Themander who stayed behind to protect Jianqiao Military Academy was frustrated. He didn¡¯t think that Jiang Shaoyu would be so unreasonable and force all the allied forces to send out 80% of their headquarters¡¯ battle strength to participate in the patrol work of the entire Area M and Area Q. Looking at the two 12-man battle teams that were left in the headquarters, along with some logistics personnel, andparing this to the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters that had fiveyers of military strength defending it, along with Jiang Shaoyu in the center, he became even more frustrated.


    ¡°Only the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters is important? Are we, the other allied military academies¡¯ headquarters, unimportant and can be tossed aside whenever?¡± themander thought angrily. If a battle team were to infiltrate right now, even if it were a 12-man battle team, it would still be a destructive blow to Jianqiao Military Academy. Their academy wasn¡¯t greatly capable. They had barely assembled a 12-man special-ss operator battle team, but it was sent out by Jiang Shaoyu, leaving only these 2 weak and broken teams... Each battle team only had four special-ss operators while the others were advanced mecha operators.


    Themander felt sadder and sadder as he looked at them. He believed that unless there were no enemy battle teams that would infiltrate their headquarters, they would definitely have no way of fighting back. Those assault battle teams were all merciless fellows.


    Just like that, themander went through the daytime while being angry and frustrated. Seeing that night had fallen, the captain ordered the logistics personnel to turn on the light sources. In order to make sure they were safe, they made the headquarters light up as though it was daytime. However, it was because of this that the light sources were used up. There weren¡¯t enough light sources for the battle teams to move around to every corner of the headquarters. The two battle teams huddled up in the middle of the headquarters and didn¡¯t set up any patrols around the perimeter. Of course, looking at the strength they had left for defending their headquarters, they couldn¡¯t really spare too many people to do something like that.


    ¡°It¡¯s snowing again.¡± Before the sun went down, it was still a hot summer climate. After sunset, it went into dark winter and snow began to fell. Themander could not help but sigh. This crazy weather was really making it hard for them.


    He looked at the logistics head and asked, ¡°Do you think we should make some hot soup and let everyone drink some to warm their stomachs?¡± Although there were temperature controls in the mecha cockpit, people shouldn¡¯t stay in mecha for 24 hours. Otherwise, the mecha operators could feel sluggish due to the cramped space and this could even easily lead to a poor state of mind, such as depression and frustration. Thus, during the course of the day, they would always set a time for the mecha operators to leave their mecha and rest up.


    The logistics head nodded his head and replied, ¡°This idea is very good. We didn¡¯t hear anything odd from Area M during the day. Area Q has Area M guarding it, so we actually aren¡¯t in too much danger. We¡¯ll just let the two teams get off and eat one at a time. Nothing big will happen.¡±


    ¡°I know. This is also why Jiang Shaoyu demanded us to send out 80% of our military strength to patrol the two areas. Although I¡¯m really angry, I had a reason to not go against him. Compared to Area M, our Area Q is much safer,¡± said themander. Although it wasrgely because they couldn¡¯t defend against the overpowered Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, this reason was also part of it. A lower ranked military academy like them would be satisfied as long as their own headquarters didn¡¯t get taken.


    Just like that, the two mecha teams were informed that they could eat a hot meal. They were all so happy. No one wanted to just chew on buns as they were tasteless. It was a disgusting nutrient solution... After entering the battle royale, they had been eating this for every meal. They had already gotten tired of it.


    Just like that, the members of one of the battle teams, who were originally in the mecha, came down to rest. When Ling Lan heard Little Four report this situation to her, she actually had a strange thought that she could actually be the main female lead for once.


    Ling Lan was originally worried about how to deal with the two battle teams. Although the two battle teams wereposed of a mixture between special-ss operators and advanced mecha operators, their numbers were way more than theirs. Ling Lan was confident that they would definitely achieve victory from her team member¡¯s hard work. However, her objective was to not alert the surrounding powers and silently finish the job. This was the certain way of realizing the goal of taking down the headquarters secretly.


    She hadn¡¯t expected that the other side would make a decision like this right when she had started worrying. This was like someone giving you a pillow when you wanted to sleep. It was so lucky that it was not so different from the set-up of a supposed main female lead in a novel.


    Ling Lan would not give up such a good opportunity. She quickly led her team members and infiltrated Jianqiao Military Academy¡¯s headquarters. Although Area Q¡¯s headquarters was considered to be easy to defend and hard to attack, this also required that the other party had more than enough strength to defend. Right now, the headquarters that had pretty much zero defensive power, which allowed them to easily infiltrate into the heart of headquarters.


    Of course, it was this easy only because Little Four had disrupted the radars of the opponent¡¯s mecha. This was also why Ling Lan dared to openly take her team members into the center of the headquarters.


    ¡°12 mechas; four special-ss mechas and eight advanced mechas. You guys all choose your own opponents.¡± Ling Lan looked at the defended position up ahead and the mecha and informed her team members.


    Qi Long was the first to scream out, ¡°That special-ss operator B1 is mine.¡± Qi Long said this without holding anything back after setting his eyes on one special-ss operator.


    Ling Lan snorted coldly. ¡°What I want is an instant kill. Change your target.¡± This situation was differentpared to thest time; they had to end it quickly. She couldn¡¯t let Qi Long be headstrong.


    Qi Long looked at that special-ss operator with regret, but had no choice but to chose the two advanced mechas that were closest to him. ¡°Then I¡¯ll take B2 and X1, these two advanced mecha.¡±


    Ling Lan calmly said, ¡°I¡¯ll only give you one minute. If you pass that time limit, every second will equal one day¡¯s of training in the secret room.¡±


    Qi Long groaned instantly, ¡°Boss, you¡¯re too cruel.¡±


    ¡°You can choose to give up and only face one,¡± Ling Lan said coldly. For someone like Qi Long, she had to pressure him. The more he was pressured, the more likely it was for him to be sessful.


    Qi Long wasn¡¯t someone that would admit defeat. Hearing Ling Lan words, he immediately replied, ¡°Okay, one minute. I don¡¯t believe that I won¡¯t be able to do it!¡±


    After he said this, everyone else looked at Qi Long with sympathetic looks. This guy had fallen into Boss¡¯ trap. They could all foresee the miserable result Qi Long was going to face when he returned. However, they wouldn¡¯t be good Samaritans and remind Qi Long. They wanted to watch the scene of Qi Long¡¯s miserable experience.


    Li Shiyu wasn¡¯t cruel enough, however; he was afraid that Qi Long would say something more and result would be even more miserable. Thus, he said, ¡°Give that B1 to me.¡±


    Li Lanfeng could not help but cover his face. He nced at Li Shiyu. His dumb little brother helping was worse than not helping. It was obviously pouring salt on Qi Long¡¯s wound.


    Seeing Qi Long looking at Li Shiyu resentfully and Li Shiyu with a baffled expression, Xie Yi held in hisughter and said, ¡°Give D1, that advanced mecha, to me.¡±


    Luo Lang also felt the odd atmosphere between Qi Long and Li Shiyu. He followed up after Xie Yi and said, ¡°I¡¯ll be responsible for F2, that advanced mecha.¡± Since they needed to end the battle as quickly as possible, Luo Lang and the others didn¡¯t choose opponents whose strength was above their own.


    Zhao Jun thought it over and said, ¡°I¡¯m confident that I can take down a special-ss mecha within one minute.¡± His words meant that he didn¡¯t have the confidence that he would be able to defeat two mecha within a short amount of time. If he was operating an ace mecha, he would perhaps be willing to try.


    Everyone looked towards Ling Lan. There were still two special-ss mecha as well as four special-ss mecha. These numbers made up half a battle team. Even someone like Boss Lan would probably have a hard time defeating them.


    Li Lanfeng was frustrated. If he could operate a mecha, he could at least intercept one special-ss mecha or perhaps one the advanced mecha. That way, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t need to be responsible for so much. Once again, Li Lanfeng felt his uselessness. He always felt that he was pulling Ling Lan¡¯s leg.


    Li Shiyu worriedly said, ¡°I think I can be responsible for another advanced mecha.¡±


    Zhao Jun followed up, saying, ¡°Then I¡¯ll be responsible for two more advanced mecha.¡± How could an ace operator like him lose to Li Shiyu who had only just advanced to special-ss level?


    ¡°No need. Li Shiyu you are still responsible for B1. Zhao Jun, you¡¯re responsible for the special-ss mecha, N1. At the same time, you will aid Li Shiyu. Leave all the other ones to me,¡± said Ling Lan calmly as she clenched the Firmament in her hand. Although there would be some difficulty involved, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t someone who would retreat from difficult situations.


    ¡°Yes, Captain!¡± Zhao Jun heard Ling Lan¡¯s order and his eyes shed. Was Boss Lan this strong? He suddenly thought of the proud and aloof Qiao Ting. If he knew Ling Lan¡¯s real potential, would he still remain as proud?


    Ling Lan made a signal and they quickly moved silently towards their targets.


    At that moment, the 12-man battle team that was defending in all directions were all looking forward to a bowl of hot soup. They didn¡¯t know that the time of their demise was upon them.


    ¡°Who knows when Little Shu and the other¡¯s will finish eating and rotate shifts with us?¡± One member licked his lips. Ever since they came into the battle royale, it was the first time he was going to have a hot meal. He had been about to puke from eating nutrient solutions.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. That Little Mo even provoked me earlier saying that we were going to eat cold food. Made me so angry,¡± another member said angrily. Although they were of the same military academy, each battle team still had a rivalry rtionship and would definitely have a little friction between the two of them.


    ¡°Captain Feng won¡¯t take too long. Don¡¯t worry guys.¡± The captain heard the murmurs of the team members and spoke tofort them. In reality, he also wanted to immediately go into the resting area and eat a hot meal. Unfortunately, he had lost a bet with Captain Feng just now. He could only let his team members endure it for the time being.


    At that moment, Ling Lan was staring at the mechas that guarded different directions. Although there were just about only short and thin trees in Area Q, it wasn¡¯t like there weren¡¯t any towering trees. There was a dense forest area in the center of Jianqiao Military Academy¡¯s headquarters. This allowed those mechas that were guarding the center point to safely hide within it. However, at the same time, this gave the attacker ces to hide. Attackers like Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan discovered that these people weren¡¯t very alert, so much so that some of the mecha operators were just ying around and didn¡¯t actually pay attention to their surroundings. This made Ling Lan overjoyed. Theirck of attention undoubtedly brought about a huge convenience for Ling Lan. She was now more confident in instantly taking down six mecha.


    Right then, two mecha suddenly turned around and left the area within Ling Lan¡¯s line of sight. Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up and her fingers danced around quickly. Her mecha instantly pounced towards the two mecha from behind a towering tree.


    These were two advanced mecha. The distance between them was a bit close. Originally, Ling Lan was worried that when she was taking care of one mecha, the other mecha would discover her. Now, if they didn¡¯t see Ling Lan at the beginning, Ling Lan was certain that she could instantly kill these two mecha.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mecha¡¯s speed was very fast. In the blink of an eye, she appeared before one of the mecha. Firmament, held in her hand, shed horizontally towards that mecha.


    Shing! The sharp edge of the Firmament easily tore open the opponent mecha¡¯s neck. She didn¡¯t need to cut it fully; she only needed to damage the operating system of the mecha then let the A.I. lock up and determine that the mecha was killed instantly.


    Now, because Ling Lan¡¯s speed was really fast and silent, adding on Little Four disrupting the radar, the teammate closest to this mecha actually didn¡¯t realize anything. After taking care of this mecha, Ling Lan used her the tip of her feet to push against the ground. The mecha had already changed its direction and pounced towards that mecha that was closest to the one that was taken down.


    Shing... another advanced mecha was killed instantly before they realized what had happened. Ling Lan fixed her eyes on the third mecha... Only using a few seconds, she silently took care of the four advanced mecha. There was no difficulty in going against advanced mecha for Ling Lan whose finger speed had already reached the peak of ace operators.


    Ling Lan now changed her target to the two special-ss operators who were left. When she took care of the first special-ss mecha, the sounds made by Qi Long and the others rmed another special-ss mecha.


    That special-ss mecha quickly called to the members of the team, but found that there wasn¡¯t anyone replying. Right then, he knew that something was wrong. He decisively pushed down on the sound amplification button and screamed at the top of his lungs, ¡°Enemy attack!¡± At the same time, his mecha was suddenly struck and uncontrobly fell towards the ground.


    Right when that special-ss operator¡¯s finished screaming, he discovered that his cockpit had turned pitch-ck. He had already been locked in the cockpit. He thought back to a few seconds ago, but couldn¡¯t confirm whether he had sessfully sent out the message that they were being attacked.


    Ling Lan walked towards the mecha that had fallen and slowly pulled out her Firmament. She had sensed the action the opponent was about to take. She hadn¡¯t stopped to think and flung her wrist, tossing the Firmament from her hand, severing the opponent mecha¡¯s operating system right before he could sessfully send out his voice.

 Chapter 506 - Submission!

    <h4>Chapter 506: Submission!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    At this moment, all the other team members had finished their battle. Everyone looked at Qi Long begrudgingly. The one who had made a huge ruckus and woken up that special-ss operator was indeed Qi Long. It was because Qi Long wanted to take care of his opponents within one minute. It was the result of Qi Long using his full strength, which made it impossible to bring the noise to a minimum. This was also the reason why he was discovered by the opponents.


    Ling Lan put the Firmament on her back and coldly asked, ¡°Qi Long. How long did you take for those two mecha?¡±


    Qi Long knew he was in trouble. He didn¡¯t dare to conceal anything, and replied with a face full of pain, ¡°1 minute 17 seconds.¡±


    ¡°When we return, you¡¯re going into the secret room for a month,¡± Ling Lan said determinedly.


    ¡°Why, only 17 seconds. That¡¯s seventeen days.¡± Qi Long stomped his foot.


    ¡°You alerted the opponent. You have to be punished,¡± Ling Lan said coldly. He had almost caused the entire n to fail. If she didn¡¯t punish Qi Long, she wouldn¡¯t be able to face her terrified little heart.


    Upon hearing this, Qi Long immediately lowered his head and dared not to speak again. He was afraid that if he spoke further, Boss would increase the punishment exponentially. He had already experienced this kind of result many times while growing up. Having learned his lesson, he would definitely not let the month be two months or even three months. That would really be considered inhumane.


    After taking care of this battle team, Ling Lan¡¯s team carefully and cautiously hid their mecha. They looked towards the temporary tent the Jianqiao Military Academy had set up for resting at the center of the headquarters. They originally thought that the noise that Qi Long had made would alert the people inside, but they discovered that the other side hadn¡¯t moved at all. It was probably because of the peace they had up until now, as well as the allied patrol pattern of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy that made the Jianqiao Military Academy numb to danger.


    ¡°There¡¯s a total of 22 people in there.¡± As the scout, Luo Lang didn¡¯t need Ling Lan to order him and immediately turned on the thermal detector and determined the exact number of people in the tent.


    ¡°Zhao Jun, you support. Everyone else, we¡¯re battling using physical skills.¡± Ling Lan instantly came to a decision. She was the first to open her cockpit and jump out.


    Everyone was hot on her trail and all flew to the ground. Zhao Jun looked on as Ling Lan led Qi Long, Luo Lang, Xie Yi, and Li Shiyu into the tent like monkey demons. He felt really miserable. Why did he leave him here to support? He wanted to fight toooooo.


    Li Lanfeng enviously looked at the silhouettes of Qi Long and the others. He really hoped that he was the one who was following Ling Lan.He took a look at his own weak and entirely bandaged body and couldn¡¯t help but sigh.


    Going against 22 people who weren¡¯t really on guard didn¡¯t give Ling Lan and the others any pressure. It was just that Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi were brutal enough. They defeated a bunch in just a few seconds. This made Li Shiyu, who was extremely nervous, discover that he had nothing to do after he had knocked out only one opponent and was getting ready to go onto the next. He deeply felt that this team that he was in, whether it was its captain or its members, was made up entirely of a bunch of brutal individuals.


    Ling Lan ordered her team members to lock the stunned opponents into their mecha, and then they searched around many times. After confirming that there weren¡¯t any more enemies, they all breathed a sigh of relief.


    Seeing the hot meals that the Jianqiao Military Academy had made, they were wild with joy. Although the nutrient solution¡¯s taste was pretty good thanks to Boss¡¯ modifications, they had already consumed it for many meals and couldn¡¯t take it anymore. Especially when it came to a glutton like Qi Long, his eyes were glowing green upon sighting the food.


    Ling Lan picked up Li Lanfeng who was still in the mecha. Although Li Lanfeng wanted to walk himself, Ling Lan nced at him and made him not dare to say anything that objected to her picking him up. ¡°Wuwuwu, Rabbit¡¯s cold eyes are so cruel!¡±


    Of course, Zhao Jun was still miserably guarding the mechas cautiously. Zhao Jun hid in the mecha and bit on his little handkerchief. ¡°Wuwuwu, is it really okay for you guys to bully the new guy? That¡¯s despicable right?¡±


    Now content with a full belly, Ling Lan made Qi Long switch ces with Zhao Jun, asking him toe down from his mecha to rest up. When Zhao Jun finally ate the hot food he had been waiting for, he instantly cried tears of joy. He felt so happy and he finally felt alive again.


    ¡°Cough...¡± Li Lanfeng coughed uncontrobly. Ling Lan looked at Li Shiyu. Li Shiyu felt his pulse and calmly said, ¡°It¡¯s alright. It¡¯s just the temperature inside the tent is lower than the cockpit. Li Lanfeng¡¯s body can¡¯t get used it quickly.¡±


    ¡°Do you want to go back to your mecha to rest?¡± Ling Lan asked with care. Li Lanfeng¡¯s injuries were severe. Ling Lan had taken it to heart all along. She was afraid that his injuries would worsen.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s alright. If I can¡¯t even get used to a temperature difference like this, how would I be able to go on the battlefield in the future? The conditions there won¡¯t have the same conditions we have here.¡± Li Lanfeng raised the bowl of hot soup in his hand. Being able to drink a bowl of hot soup right now made his body and soul feelfortable.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t oppose Li Lanfeng. It was just as Li Lanfeng had said. Right now, they were in the mecha tournament¡¯s battle royale. It was only simting some of the environments on the battlefield. In reality, it wasn¡¯t difficult because their supplies and everything were fully prepared. If it was something he couldn¡¯t handle now, Li Lanfeng would definitely not be able to go onto a real battlefield.


    Li Lanfeng drank a bowl of hot soup and felt much better. He then took out the map and spread it out on the ground. He pointed at the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy on the map and said, ¡°Captain, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy is here. They are around 147 kilometers away from us. It would take around 7 minutes to reach it with an advanced mecha¡¯s speed. There¡¯s only half the time left until the battle royale ends and that is 36 hours. I suggest that we hide here and wait for the very end. We attack when the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s defense is at its weakest.¡±


    ¡°How will that happen?¡± Ling Lan asked inly.


    ¡°When Jiang Shaoyu leaves, that will be our opportunity to strike,¡± Li Lanfeng said without hesitation.


    Ling Lan lips perked up a bit and nced towards Li Lanfeng. ¡°You¡¯re that confident that Jiang Shaoyu will leave the headquarters?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve carefully studied Jiang Shaoyu before. He is a strong-headed person who likes to perform. How can he give up on attacking to sit calmly in his headquarters?¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s mouth showed a smile with a hint of confidence. ¡°He will definitely lead a team and move out.¡±


    ¡°What do you think he will do?¡± Ling Lan showed a hint of praise in her tone. Li Lanfeng¡¯s prediction was the same as her own. Now full of expectations, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but increase the difficulty for Li Lanfeng. She wanted to know whether or not Li Lanfeng could predict the timing at which Jiang Shaoyu would move out.


    ¡°After 12 hours, I believe, Jiang Shaoyu will use thest hours of daytime, which is thest 24 hours, to attack Area S and P,¡± Li Lanfeng said decisively.


    Ling Lan went silent for one second. Jiang Shaoyu was a rash person... When he found out that something had happened in Area S and P, could he really be patient enough to wait until thest 24 hours? However, moving out after 12 hours would not bring about any danger to them if anything happened during that time. Li Lanfeng¡¯s judgment was very urate. Thinking to this point, Ling Lan nodded and said, ¡°Then we move out after 12 hours.¡±


    Luo Lang saw that Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng had decided on the time to move out. Knowing that they had 12 hours to rest up, he was instantly overjoyed. He looked at the receiver in the tent and smilingly took out a transmitter from his pocket. ¡°Then I¡¯ll make this headquarters into ours first.¡±


    Right when he moved, he heard the sound of a hidden weapon flying towards him. Luo Lang promptly dodged and caught the hidden weapon¡ªit actually turned out to be arge metal pot. He immediately jumped up, eximing, ¡°Hot, hot, hot!¡± Therge pot was tossed between both of his hands. It wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t want to throw it on the ground, but because Luo Lang clearly felt the information that was being sent by Ling Lan¡¯s ice-cold re. If he dared to throw it down, he would definitely be dead.


    In this situation, even if Luo Lang felt like it was burning, he still wouldn¡¯t dare to throw it down easily. He could only change his hand to save the two hands that were being burned to a crisp.


    Finally, therge pot was no longer hot, and Luo Lang then slowly put down therge pot. His looked at Ling Lan with grief and said, ¡°Boss, why did you throw a big steel pot at me.¡± That brutal steel pot was actually kicked towards him by Ling Lan.


    ¡°Turn on your calm personality.¡± Ling Lan red at him coldly. As expected, it was better for the normal Luo Lang to appear during normal times.


    ¡°You need something from me?¡± Luo Lang was very obedient. Right when Ling Lan finished speaking, he turned on his extremely calm personality.


    ¡°Save some intelligence for your original personality,¡± Ling Lan said inly.


    The extremely calm personality¡¯s eyes lit up and showed a hint of dread. He hadn¡¯t expected that the boss of the original personality actually knew the secret of this talent.


    ¡°Next time, I don¡¯t want to see such a dumb Luo Lang.¡± Ling Lan pointed her finger at the extremely calm personality. ¡°Don¡¯t try to provoke me. When I defeated you guys, it was to increase Luo Lang¡¯s strength. It wasn¡¯t to let you guys take abilities from the original.¡± Right when Ling Lan finished, a powerful wave of spiritual charge made the extremely calm personality shake. His face was pale, and his eyes were no longer calm. They actually showed fright, as though he had seen a ghost.


    ¡°If I can defeat you guys, then I can easily get rid of you guys! There¡¯s a limit to my patience.¡± Ling Lan red coldly at the extremely calm personality. The killing intent that was held up in her body was released. The thick killing intent made the extremely calm personality be even paler. He even felt that Ling Lan¡¯s expression that was full of killing intent was enough to swallow up this personality of his. What was this power that made the extremely calm personality be this surprised and frightened?


    ¡°I understand,¡± replied the extremely calm personality as he bit his lip.


    ¡°Call me Boss!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes coldly red at him, her aura increasing once again. It pressured the extremely calm personality, making him unable to stand and uncontrobly kneel down.


    ¡°Yes, Boss!¡± replied the extremely calm personality with a pale expression.


    ¡°You understand what to do, right?¡± Ling Lan stared at him and continued.


    ¡°Yes, I know. I will discuss this with the other personalities.¡±


    ¡°Discuss?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes narrowed and her killing intent shed by in an instant. The extremely calm personality suddenly felt his heart be cold as ice. He discovered that the original¡¯s boss really wanted to get rid of them, the personalities, and was not just saying it to scare him.


    ¡°I will notify them. We will definitely be able to do it.¡± As expected, the extremely calm personality was extremely calm. He instantly made a decision and decided topletely submit to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes sparkled, the look in them switching between killing intent and hesitation. Luo Lang¡¯s talent was a double-edged sword. Although it could increase Luo Lang¡¯s capabilities, the original could easily be controlled by those other personalities... Perhaps getting rid of Luo Lang¡¯s talent was the safest choice for him.


    How could the extremely calm personality not notice Ling Lan¡¯s hesitation and killing intent. He immediately said, ¡°Give me another chance. We will crown the original as king.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s sudden pressure on Luo Lang¡¯s different personalities made everyone at the scene nervous. They knew that what Ling Lan was doing had meaning, and thus they just watched silently on the side. They didn¡¯t dare to make any noise to interrupt Ling Lan and Luo Lang.


    Ling Lan started at the extremely calm personality for a few seconds. When the extremely calm personality almost couldn¡¯t handle it, Ling Lan finally said, ¡°I hope you guys can do what you say. You can go back now.¡±


    Upon hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words, it was as though the extremely calm personality was reborn and he instantly disappeared. Luo Lang saw that he was kneeling, scratched his head, suddenly realized something and his expression changed a little bit.


    ¡°Do you know what happened?¡± Ling Lan asked indifferently.


    Luo Lang¡¯s face color changed for a bit. After a while, he replied, ¡°Thank you, Boss. I understand.¡± He looked at the transmitter in his hand andughed coldly. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that you discovered it, Boss, I would really have be an idiot. Those guys, they actually...¡± The anger on Luo Lang¡¯s face showed only for a second. They had actually silently taken way the intelligence that was his and he actually had no idea.


    ¡°It¡¯s because you¡¯re not strong enough yet. If you were strong enough, you would be king,¡± Ling Lan said coldly.


    Luo Lang nodded his head with great force. ¡°I will definitely be stronger Boss. I will, definitely.¡± His right hand instantly clenched together and the transmitter in his hand was crushed into pieces. The beautiful face of his showed a smile wrought with anger. It looked so demonic that it made it hard for others to look straight at. This made many of the onlookers involuntarily turn their eyes to the side...


    If he had put the transmitter onto the receiver, all of the military academies in Area Q and Area M would know that Jianqiao Military Academy was taken over. He had almost done something so idiotic like exposing themselves just now... Luo Lang¡¯s eyes went cold from the thought. These personalities really did need a beating.


    At the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, Jiang Shaoyu received a new report. He looked at and frowned, saying, ¡°I didn¡¯t think that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the First Co-ed Military Academy and the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy would form an alliance. They are now clearing the headquarters of the other military academies in areas S and P.¡±


    Upon hearing Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s words, one of the captains beside him worriedly said, ¡°What do we do, Commander? Are we going to give up on Area P?¡±


    ¡°Give up? If we wait until they take down Area P entirely, even if we swallow up Area M and Q, our cumtive score would still not as much as theirs. How could us, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, be fourth ce?¡± Jiang Shaoyu denied that possibility.


    ¡°However, with our strength, if we wanted to go against the cooperation of the three military academies, it would be very difficult,¡± another captain smiled bitterly and said.


    ¡°And their headquarters are all in Area S and P. Even if we wanted to set up a sneak attack, we wouldn¡¯t have the chance,¡± said one captain who was going through the information on the report. He felt great dismay. How was it that those three academies were so lucky as to actually be ced into the two dream areas.


    ¡°They¡¯re all in Area S and P? No, that¡¯s not right...¡± Jiang Shaoyu seemed to have remembered something. He asked his deputy, ¡°Zhuge, where is that map that we drew earlier?¡±


    Zhuge smiled and set the mentioned map out in front of everyone. He pointed at Area G17. There, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was indicated.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± One captain looked at the marking on the map and looked at the report in their hands. It was clearly written that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was in Area S and the one guarding it was Qiao Ting.


    ¡°It¡¯s just a game of hide and seek. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy created a fake headquarters in Area S to fool everyone. The real headquarters was hidden by them. The person who came up with this n is a genius. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that we remembered the real location of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, I would perhaps have been fooled as well.¡± Zhuge¡¯s eyes showed some surprise. He was very curious as to whom had created this n. It was definitely an insanely good move. Even he hadn¡¯t thought of this.


    Jiang Shaoyu looked at Area G17 and immediatelyughed out loud, saying, ¡°A divine blessing from the heavens. I didn¡¯t think that Qiao Ting would be so daring and actually leave his headquarters.¡±


    Zhuge was not surprised. He smiled and asked, ¡°Commander, are we preparing to attack G17?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re the one who knows me best, Zhuge. Since they created a fake headquarters, I believe the defenses of the real headquarters in G17 won¡¯t be too strong. This is our chance. As long as we take down the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, all the points they have gained will be given to us. We will not give up first ce to anyone,¡± Jiang Shaoyu said coldly. The previous tournament games had made them lose a lot of their dignity. From the very beginning, he had thought to take revenge for the embarrassment incurred through the battle royale.


    Zhuge nodded and gave Jiang Shaoyu another piece of paper. Jiang Shaoyu opened this and his eyes showed that he was overjoyed. ¡°So you¡¯ve already arranged it, Zhuge.¡±


    ¡°Yes. When I received word that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was in Area S, and with Qiao Ting defending it, I created this n and hoped could be of use to themander.¡±


    ¡°Of course it¡¯s useful. It¡¯s amazing. Your n is to keep most of the military strength of the three big military academies in Area P... Hehe, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡ªI will let them fallpletely from the heavens. It¡¯s too bad that we made it easy for the First Co-ed Military Academy,¡± Jiang Shaoyu said with regret.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have a choice. The First Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s headquarters is in the center of Area P. Our guys have no chance of getting close to there. I hope those allied forces are good enough and can take down the First Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s headquarters.¡± It wasn¡¯t because Zhuge didn¡¯t want to swallow up all three big military academies, but because the First Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s location was at an advantage. No matter how he thought about it, it wouldn¡¯t be sessful. It would even affect the other two ns. In the end, he had no choice but to give it up. However, although he said this, he still didn¡¯t think that the allied battle teams would seed.


    ¡°We can only do it this way. However, having the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy as trophies will be more than enough.¡± Jiang Shaoyu wasn¡¯t too greedy.


    Immediately moving out was better than just thinking about it. Jiang Shaoyu couldn¡¯t wait any longer. He quickly gathered up the battle teams, splitting them into going towards two directions. One direction was on the surface,posed of ten or more battle teams who would move towards Area S. Their target was the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters.


    The other half of battle teams was led by himself to quietly sneak into Area S. They prepared to go around Area P at the border and move into Area G.


    ¡°It is indeed a good n. The real headquarters of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy has been exposed. It looks like the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy will face the most difficult time in this battle royale.¡± Those in the monitoring room who had discovered Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s movements began to worry for these two military academies.


    ¡°I think that I¡¯m more worried about the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy,¡± said one officer. He pointed at the headquarters of the Jianqiao Military Academy. Although it was still the Jianqiao Military Academy¡¯s headquarters on the surface, everyone in the monitoring room knew that it had already been taken over by that small mysterious team.

 Chapter 507 - Crisis!

    <h4>Chapter 507: Crisis!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Qiao Ting and the others were resting at the temporary camp. During this time, they had pretty much cleared out most of the headquarters in Area P. The ones that were left were some of the military academies that were their subordinates. Although the three academies had formed an alliance, in reality, the alliance was most likely made up of 15 to 16 military academies. This was also the reason why they could so easily clear out the two areas.


    Qiao Ting was leaning on his control panel with his eyes closed. He was considering whether to go take a look in Area M now that Area P was stable. At that moment, he suddenly heard a beeping alerting from his cockpit. He opened his eyes and looked. It seemed that his mecha had received a request for a call.


    Qiao Ting nced at the screen. This signal was the emergency signal of the three academies that they had previously agreed upon. He slightly raised his brows at this. What had happened to make them this anxious? He didn¡¯t hesitate and pressed down the button to receive the call.


    ¡°Qiao Ting, we need back up here. Please send a few battle teams toe help me.¡± The mecha¡¯s screen showed a familiar figure. It was none other than the allied Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯smander, Yuan Su.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Yuan Su¡¯s anxiousness surprised Qiao Ting. He immediately sat up straight.


    ¡°The members who were defending Area M just sent a report. The allied forces of Area Q and M sent 14 battle teams to attack us in the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters. If we only relied on our own defensive power, it¡¯s possible that we won¡¯t be able to hold.¡± Yuan Su smiled bitterly as he said this. Although he knew the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy would not let go of their Area P and S, he hadn¡¯t thought that the opposition would do something so grand and so fast, pretty much catching them with their pants down. Also, with the opposition doing something like this, they were clearly not going to be cat-fighting like children. Rather, they were truly intent on taking down their headquarters and acquiring the victories the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s men had worked for.


    Although they werepetitors, Yuan Su didn¡¯t really harbor too much malice towards the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. The only reason he had allied with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy was to gain points and put an end to their curse of getting fourth ce in the tournament every time. He didn¡¯t really want to make an enemy of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. However, he was fully angered by what the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy was doing.


    ¡°Okay, I understand. Have you contacted anyone from the First Co-ed Military Academy?¡± Qiao Ting asked with a serious face.


    ¡°I¡¯ve contacted them, but in order to defend Area P, Lin Xiao can¡¯t lead a team himself. He did, however, inform two battle teams from Area S to change course and defend with us.¡± Yuan Su informed Qiao Ting of Lin Xiao¡¯s arrangements.


    ¡°Understood.¡± Qiao Ting hung up the video call, then pressed the team channel button and ordered, ¡°All members, assemble!¡±


    With this order, all of the members of Qiao Ting¡¯s battle team immediately turned on their engines and operated their mecha to where Qiao Ting was. His team was stillposed of 24 people because all of them were special-ss operators, and they had enough supplies and medicinal agents ready. Not one of them had been eliminated.


    ¡°Captain, are we going out to attack a headquarters?¡± the vice-captain asked excitedly. He had originally thought that there wouldn¡¯t be anything for them to do.


    ¡°No, we¡¯re going to Area S33,¡± Qiao Ting replied as he turned on his engine.


    The vice-captain was surprised. Wasn¡¯t that the headquarters of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy? Was the captain preparing to attack an ally?


    As though he had sensed his vice-captain¡¯s surprise, Qiao Ting nced at him with a half-smile and said, ¡°Yuan Su sent a call for help. The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy gathered up 14 battle teams to attack them. We¡¯re going there to help.¡±


    The vice-captain instantly had a head of cold sweat and said, ¡°I see, I see!¡± How could he suspect that the captain would attack allies? The captain was an honest person... Of course, leading them to do sneak attacks on the battle teams in this area didn¡¯t count.


    When all the members got ready to leave, the vice-captain looked at the encampment they had stayed in for almost two days. He couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°If we¡¯re leaving, what are we doing about this temporary camp?¡±


    Qiao Ting said indifferently, ¡°It¡¯s only a temporary gathering stop. Whoever wants it, they can take it.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t Commander Ling tell us to create a fake headquarters to fool the other military academies? This...¡± The vice-captain was a bit hesitant.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. The headquarters in the surrounding areas have already been pretty much all cleared out. Area P also has Lin Xiao defending it. He will defend against those military academies who are trying their best to defend their own headquarters. No one will attack our camp and they don¡¯t have the strength to do that either,¡± Qiao Ting exined inly. ¡°On the other hand, if Area S33 is taken by the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, not only would it hurt our alliance, it would also officially allow the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy toe into Area S and P. That would be a huge problem for us. I will definitely not let that happen.¡±


    If they won, the battle royale¡¯s final oue would be pretty much set in stone. If the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy won, then it was possible that the entire situation of the battle royale would change and everything would be difficult to tell.


    The vice-captain understood Qiao Ting¡¯s exnation. Qiao Ting had to go to Area S33. He needed to make sure the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy didn¡¯t fall, or else their First Men¡¯s Military Academy would be passive. The advantage that they had built up in the beginning could be all for naught and the result would be unpredictable.


    And at this moment, while everyone in Area S and P were focused on Area S33, Jiang Shaoyu silently led six 12-man battle teams through Area S into Area P. They went around the furthest border and rapidly flew towards Area G.


    In the monitoring room, starting from the noisy discussions to total silence, they were all making predictions. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡ªwhich one of them would be the first to be dealt a crippling blow? On the surface it looked like the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy was in the most danger, but everyone knew that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy were the ones who were in real danger.


    Right then, Ling Xiao frowned a bit. He knew very clearly that the battle strength of the defending forces for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy wasn¡¯t enough. Six battle teams were enough for the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy to take their headquarters down.


    He nced at Jianqiao Military Academy in Area Q. Now the only hope was for Ling Lan to be one step ahead of Jiang Shaoyu, take down their headquarters and eliminate the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. Perhaps this was the way to avert this crisis. Of course, they had to hope that Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s battle team didn¡¯t have allied forces, or everything would be unpredictable...


    ¡°Qiao Ting has moved out. The direction he¡¯s heading towards... is the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. Not good. Looks like the First Men¡¯s Military Academy is in danger.¡± The people in the monitoring room had all been waiting for Qiao Ting to make a move. They wanted to see if he was going to return to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. When they saw that the direction Qiao Ting was moving towards was Area S33, their expressions all changed instantly.


    At this moment, the people in the monitoring room was no longer able to predict the final oue. The future of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, who were originally leading and looking to be in great shape, became murky and unknown because of the sneak attack n of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy that hade out of nowhere. It was possible that if they were unlucky, they would be eliminated before the end.


    ¡°This time, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy made a mistake. How are they so confident that their headquarters wouldn¡¯t be known by anyone? There was a huge possibility of exposing the territory of their real headquarters during the one minute memorization time on the day of drawing lots,¡± someone said regrettably.


    ¡°The First Men¡¯s Military Academy was too confident and reckless.¡±


    ¡°Theirmander is still too young and naive. If Qiao Ting had taken up that mantle, something like this wouldn¡¯t have happened.¡± Many were criticizing Ling Lan as themander and believed that her arrangements had many ws.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s finger drummed on the table. He didn¡¯t believe that his daughter would be so daring and not think that someone may have memorized the real location of their headquarters. Nevertheless, his daughter had still done she did. What was the reason that made her so daring?


    Was there a secret in that headquarters and was impossible to breakthrough? That was the only thing that could exin his daughter¡¯s arrangements... For the first time, Ling Xiao felt that he actually couldn¡¯t see through what Ling Lan was thinking.


    He Xuyang¡¯s expression was very serious. He thoughts about all the details, but still felt that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was fraught with grim possibilities.


    ¡°A battle has begun in Area S33.¡± While they were worrying about the oue of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, on the other side of things, the 14 battle teams of the Area Q and M alliance had gone against the border defenders of Area S33. They pulled up the screen of the battle.


    Yuan Su was angry and frustrated after seeing the border defense battle team being pushed back one by one. The opposition was slowly closing in on the center location of their headquarters. Although he had found many helpers, they were still a little far away and wouldn¡¯t be able to arrive in a short time.


    He knew that he couldn¡¯t let them just do what they want; thus, he led all the battle teams that were defending the headquarters to meet with the opposition. With that, the sky above Area S33 had engines sputtering, countless beams of light flying around. Mecha were being hit one by one, falling down from the sky. There were ones from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy and also the Area Q and M alliance.


    Yuan Su took care of one mecha. Before he could take a breather, two more mecha pounced on him. The number of mecha in the Area Q and M alliance¡¯s battle team was one third more than the defending mecha of Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. This made the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy instantly fall into a hard battle. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that offensive battle teams who were on the offensive joining in one by one, it was possible their situation would have been worse.


    ¡°Another mecha team is here.¡± The Third Men¡¯s Military Academy discovered countless mecha approaching their position on the radar.


    ¡°It¡¯s... a battle team from the QM alliance!¡± Seeing that it wasn¡¯t their own reinforcements, the faces of everyone in the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy turned pale. Another five to six battle teams were more than enough to fully break the thought of fighting back for the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s mecha operators.


    ¡°Our reinforcements are almost here. Everyone, don¡¯t give up,¡± Yuan Su yelled and woke up his shaken teammates.


    ¡°Attack faster. Take down the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters before their reinforcements arrive.¡± The Q and M alliancemander gave a new order.


    Although the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy used all their strength to fight back, they were still short on half the number of peoplepared to their enemy. This made them slowly retreat. With the reinforcements of the opposition joining in, the mecha operators from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy had more and more ¡®die¡¯. The capabilities of the mecha operators in the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy were solid. Even if they ¡®died¡¯, they would also take one foe with them, or they would cause extreme harm to an opponent, making the QM alliance¡¯s battle team lose many mecha operators as well.


    However, these losses were worth it for the QM alliance¡¯s battle team. It was because they saw the hope of victory. Right when they were preparing to continue attacking, 5 beams of light suddenly shot towards them from afar. These beams came to them without a sound. Other than one missing, the other four urately hit 4 mecha. The mecha were instantly hit and fell towards the ground.


    And at this time, a sparkling mecha appeared in front of everyone. The mecha operators from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy, who were still alive, instantly changed from their originally low and stagnant states to excitement after seeing this mecha.


    ¡°It¡¯s Qiao Ting. Captain Qiao Ting is here,¡± the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s men yelled out happily. Hope suddenly emerged in their hearts, making their strength increase ten-fold. Fighting back in this state, they injured and destroyed some of the mecha from the QM alliance that weren¡¯t prepared.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Commander Yuan, I¡¯mte.¡± The air was filled with Qiao Ting¡¯s deep voice, and closely following his words was the uniform sound of mecha engines roaring from afar. 23 mecha were quickly flying towards them. This was probably the reinforcement battle team Qiao Ting had brought.


    ¡°No, you¡¯re right on time.¡± Yuan Su smiled coolly. He hadn¡¯t thought that Qiao Ting would personally lead the team toe aid them. He couldn¡¯t help but be very grateful.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s 24 mecha joined in. Although the defending mecha still had a disadvantage, the only ace mecha in the entire battle was more than enough topensate for that disadvantage.


    Right when themander of the QM alliance was hesitating whether to keep on attacking or not, the roaring of mecha engines sounded from afar. It was another 24-man battle team that appeared before everyone. The leader saw the confrontation between the two sides and said, ¡°Commander Yuan. After receiving ourmander¡¯s order, I, Ai Song, have led my team here to report in.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great! Please thank Commander Lin for me!¡± Yuan Su immediately smiled upon seeing that their battle strength was increased again. At this moment, he felt that allying with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy had been a great choice. They were friends who were worth trusting. In their most dire time, they didn¡¯t abandon them. Furthermore, Qiao Ting had left the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters and personally led a team here. He would remember this act of kindness in his heart.


    The QM alliance saw that the First Co-ed Military Academy had also sent a battle team here, and knew that they had lost their opportunity. He quickly yelled, ¡°Retreat!¡±


    ¡°You want to leave? No way!¡± How could Yuan Su be someone that was willing to be taken advantage of? Seeing that the QM alliance wanted to escape, he immediately ordered every member to chase them. Seeing this, Qiao Ting and Ai Song followed as well.


    After chasing for a few kilometers, Qiao Ting stopped Yuan Su. They were too far away from the headquarters. It wouldn¡¯t be good if the QM alliance went past their defenses.


    Having already let out his anger and frustration, Yuan Su calmed down as well. He knew that Qiao Ting¡¯s worry was correct, and thus he led his members and the allied battle teams and returned to his headquarters.


    The QM alliance¡¯s battle team was chased to the border of Area S that was closest to Area M. They stopped moving after they discovered the opposition didn¡¯t keep chasing. Themander of the alliance ordered everyone to rest up. As for himself, he took out a piece of paper from his pocket. He opened it and took a look. His expression showed a hint of a smile. The situation they were in right now was all predicted by their head strategist, Zhuge. Now their objective wasn¡¯t to take down the headquarters of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. Instead, they were supposed to drag on the fight with the reinforcements at this location in order to cover Alliance Chief Jiang¡¯s movements.


    ¡°Now it looks like the crisis of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy has been temporarily resolved.¡± The people in the monitoring room saw this and knew that the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy, who seemed to be in the most danger, had now turned into the one in the least danger. Instead, it was the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy whose situations were unclear and unpredictable.


    Yuan Su, Ai Song, Qiao Ting and the others had quickly gotten reports of the surrounding areas from other team members while they were temporarily resting in the headquarters. Yuan Su instantly became angry. ¡°Those bastards just won¡¯t let go.¡± It seemed that in Area S, near the border of Area M, the QM alliance¡¯s battle team was gathering and resting up. They were undoubtedly going to continue attacking.


    Yuan Su swore furiously to let out his anger. Then he respectfully said to Qiao Ting, ¡°Captain Qiao, it seems that I will have to dy you for a bit. Will it affect your duties at your headquarters?¡± As long as Qiao Ting defended with them, no matter how many people the opponent gathered up, he had the confidence that they would be able to hold their headquarters.


    ¡°You guys are in the territory in Area S that¡¯s closest to Area M. If your location is lost, then it¡¯s possible that it will be hard for us to defend as well. Instead, it¡¯s better that we work together and block off the QM alliance right here with our cooperation.¡± Qiao Ting stated his stance on this. He was, of course, not going to tell Yuan Su the real truth that his headquarters was actually not in Area S.


    ¡°Looks like this QM alliance¡¯s battle¡¯s biggest objective is to keep Qiao Ting on a leash and help Jiang Shaoyu in the meantime. Killing two birds with one stone; doing two things at once. The little guy who made this n is pretty amazing.¡± The people in the monitoring room began to analyze the deeper meaning of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s decisions andplimented them on it. They were graduallye to look down upon the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, even though their performance in the beginning was very outstanding. Now, however, they had already forgotten that they had also praised the surprising strategy used by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Time was slowly running out. By the time Jiang Shaoyu had led his team to appear in Area G, Jianqiao Military Academy¡¯s headquarters was still oddly silent. It was as though that mysterious team didn¡¯t have the interest in continuing to battle and was waiting for the end of the battle royale.


    ¡°You have entered our skies. Please leave immediately or we will fire.¡± Right when they entered Area G7, they heard the mecha patrolling this area give them a warning.


    ¡°Alliance Chief Jiang, what should be done?¡± Of these 6 battle teams, two were battle teams from the alliance. Seeing they were discovered, they were a bit uneasy.


    ¡°Forge onwards!¡± Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s eyes burned with passion. Since they had already gotten into Area G, he didn¡¯t think of hiding from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s patrol search. Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s order prompted the six battle teams to pounce onto the patrol battle team. Long range personnel did long range and closebat personnel did closebat.


    The patrol team discovered that the people who wereing towards them were not friendly. Additionally, their number of mecha was far greater than their own. They quickly turned around to run, but because the opponent had so much firepower, they instantly lost 3 to 4 mecha. However, the captain wasn¡¯t bad. At the same time as he was dodging the beam attacks, he was sending out the information about being under attack to the rear lines.


    ¡°Beep, beep, beep!¡± Wu Jiong was in his mecha, monitoring the whole situation of Area G17. Suddenly, he received a message. He opened it and his expression instantly changed. He immediately pushed own the button for the entire team and ordered, ¡°All battle teams, prepare for battle!¡±


    After that, he operated his mecha and came to the headquarters. He jumped out the moment the cockpit opened and with a sh of light, he dashed into the tent.


    Han Jijyun was studying a map. Hearing someonee in, he asked without raising his head, ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Enemies are attacking us,¡± Wu Jiong answered anxiously.


    ¡°They¡¯re finally here. I¡¯ve been waiting for so long already.¡± Han Jijyun raised his head, his lips showing a hint of a cold smile.

 Chapter 508 - Real or Fake!

    <h4>Chapter 508: Real or Fake!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    In reality, Ling Lan didn¡¯t naively believe that they could conceal the real location of their headquarters from everyone. Just like how Ling Lan could remember the countless locations of the other military academies¡¯ headquarters, their own headquarters¡¯ location could also have been memorized by others.


    Thus, even though Ling Lan had arranged many ns at the beginning that were capable of fooling others, the defenses of the headquarters in Area G17 was definitely not as weak as people had thought.


    Jiang Shaoyu was very happy to see that with one round of attacks from his side, they had sent the patrol battle team from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy crying home to their mothers. He happily and proudly said, ¡°Move in!¡±


    Right then, whooshing sounds suddenly came from in front of them¡ªit was the sound of missiles being shot out.


    Hearing this, Jiang Shaoyu looked towards that direction. He saw missilesing straight at them covering both the earth and sky. That missile was what mecha operators feared and dreaded the most. He said in surprise, ¡°Armor piercing missiles?¡±


    Why did the First Men¡¯s Military Academy have this type of missile? From what he had seen, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had clearly chosen only mecha weapons, equipment and other necessary supplies. They hadn¡¯t applied for any of these armor-piercing missiles that were specifically meant for dealing with mecha.


    The power of armor-piercing missiles was very strong; one armor-piercing missile was enough to destroy one special-ss mecha. Even when it came to an ace mecha, once they were hit, they would suffer severe damage. Of course, the armor piercing missiles used in the battle royale had their power reduced by 5 times the original power. Even if they were hit, it could only harm the outer shell of the mecha and not hurt the operator. However, the mecha¡¯s A.I. would determine the damage on the mecha based on the real power of the armor piercing missiles to determine whether the mecha was damaged or destroyed.


    Armor-piercing missiles were very powerful, but their price wasparatively more expensive. One small missile needed 200 prestige points(this was the price in the battle royale as well). The expensive price had made countless military academies helplessly look upon it. Even if they were to exchange for it, it would be to only exchange for one or two to satisfy themselves.


    However, for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the number of missiles used in this round of attacks was definitely enough to deplete all the prestige points they were given. It was something that couldn¡¯t be exined.


    The team members that Jiang Shaoyu had brought saw what were shot out towards them. Before Jiang Shaoyu gave an order, they all fired their beam guns to intercept the iing projectiles, trying to detonate these armor-piercing missiles to avoid getting harmed themselves.


    They managed to sessfully intercept this round of missiles, but with great difficulty. Before Jiang Shaoyu and the others could take a breather, they heard the sound of a new round of missiles being fired. As expected, countless missiles flew towards them from the sky, making Jiang Shaoyu and the others unable to do anything else but continue to intercept them.


    Just like that, they were fully focused and had intercepted 4 to 5 rounds of missile fire. But it was then that Jiang Shaoyu finally came to a realization; something as expensive as armor-piercing missiles would definitely not be so easily wasted by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Furthermore, the number of missiles were way beyond the amount of money that was given to them. Were these missiles not actually armor-piercing missiles?


    ¡°Little Tao, go closer and detonate one.¡± Jiang Shaoyu had his suspicions. He now sent out a member to check whether they were really armor-piercing missiles.


    A special-ss mecha operator came out from the crowd and rapidly flew towards the missiles. Jiang Shaoyu was very cautious, but he still let the other team members detonate these missiles. The missiles were quickly cleared with only three left. Right then, Little Tao had already gotten to around one kilometer in distance from a missile. Jiang Shaoyu then ordered, ¡°Shoot.¡±


    Little Tao didn¡¯t think and instantly fired a shot from the beam gun in his hand and detonated one of the missiles. He then reported, ¡°The mecha didn¡¯t detect any energy changes.¡±


    ¡°Continue advancing!¡± Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s eyes lit up and ordered Little Tao to continue to get close to the missiles.


    Han Jijyun, who was on the ground and monitoring the air, saw this scene, following which he immediately pushed down the button to talk and ordered, ¡°Ready the armor-piercing missiles.¡±


    ¡°Alright.¡± Li Yingjie excitedly rubbed his hands together and yelled, ¡°Brothers, it¡¯s our time to shine!¡±


    This time, Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s only had two mecha teams and one logistics team participating in the battle royale. Ling Lan¡¯s team had already left their headquarters. Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie, who were left at the headquarters, had formed a mixed battle team. They were a battle team entirelyposed of advanced mecha operators. They had all been onlookers in the Grand Mecha Tournament and even in the battle royale, they could only stay in the headquarters and do some patrolling and help the logistics team. This made Li Yingjie, who loved to perform, feel that his talents were not used to its full potential.


    ¡°Yes, vice-captain!¡± The members were all in good spirits. They picked up the real armor-piercing missiles that had been in the back the whole time and loaded them onto theuncher.


    On the end, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s team member Little Tao got close once again. He detonated one iing missile from 300 to 400 meters away. ¡°The energy level appears to be really weak. Multiplying it by five wouldn¡¯t make it something that we should worry about.¡±


    ¡°Man, they¡¯re actually fake.¡± At this moment, Jiang Shaoyu didn¡¯t know anything. He had actually been blocked by these fake armor-piercing missiles. ¡°Let¡¯s not care about them. Advance.¡±


    Jiang Shaoyu was very frustrated. He thought that he had investigated the supplies exchanged by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. He didn¡¯t find out if they had exchanged any armor-piercing missiles. Then why didn¡¯t he suspect something was up early? He had actually wasted so much time.


    Little Tao was now darted towards thest missile. The missile hit his mecha and instantly exploded. ¡°Energy levels are extremely low. They won¡¯t be able to get through a light shield. The power of these missiles is approximately zero.¡±


    The information Little Tao sent back proved Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s guess. As expected, these missiles were only meant to scare, and they were actually scared just then.


    Little Tao¡¯s words made the other mecha operators rx a bit. Following Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s lead, everyone moved forward at top speed, rapidly flying towards Area G17.


    ¡°Shu Shu Shu...¡± Countless missiles appeared in the sky. Jiang Shaoyu and the others didn¡¯t stop to intercept them, but instead moved even faster and went into the missiles.


    ¡°Boom, boom, boom...¡± The sounds of explosions rang through the sky. The mecha operators of Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s group discovered that the missiles indeed didn¡¯t do any damage to their mecha. They then became even more daring.


    ¡°Boom!¡± This explosion sounded a bit odd. After crashing into a missile, one mecha suddenly lost control and fell towards the ground. No matter how the other team members called out to him, they didn¡¯t receive any response. Before the remaining operators could react, countless sounds of explosions rang out making more than 10 mecha instantly lose control and plummet towards the ground...


    Seeing this, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s expression changed instantly, and it was at that moment that one missile headed towards him. He fired straight forward and detonated the missile before it hit him. The huge energy from the explosion made the A.I. of Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha show a warning message, which told him that the mecha had taken damage. The energy of the mecha¡¯s light shield was all used up and required an energy storage unit recement.


    ¡°They¡¯re armor-piercing missiles!¡± Jiang Shaoyu screamed angrily. He hadn¡¯t thought that after 4 to 5 rounds of fake missiles, the opposition would actually fire real armor-piercing missiles. While their guards were down, they had lost 14 mecha in an instant.


    ¡°Piece of sh*t. That¡¯s what you get for attacking our headquarters.¡± Li Yingjie was very happy at seeing the results of this round of missile fire.


    ¡°Continue to fire fake missiles,¡± Li Yingjie continued to order. ¡°Each armor-piercing missile is very precious. Without my orders, no one is allowed to use them.¡±


    The First Men¡¯s Military Academy originally didn¡¯t have armor piercing missiles. However, before Zhao Jun and the others were forced to get out of the starship, they had snatched 4 boxes of supplies. One of the boxes had contained these valuable weapons. There were only 15 armor-piercing missiles. Adding on the armor-piercing missiles from Lingxing that the First Co-ed Military Academy had transported after Qiao Ting led his team and cleared the headquarters of Area S and P, they had almost 30 armor-piercing missiles in their headquarters. It was a shame that after only one round, they had used up more than half; there were only a bit more than 10 left. Li Yingjie had to use them carefully.


    ¡°Vice-captain, they stopped again,¡± a team member told Li Yingjie.


    Li Yingjie mocked, ¡°It would be strange if they didn¡¯t stop.¡± Did they want to take another round of armor-piercing missiles?


    Jiang Shaoyu and the others were unclear whether the missiles the opposition were firing were real or fake. In order to ensure their own safety, they had no choice but to stop and face the missiles.


    ¡°These modification mechanics that we have are so f***ing genius. They actually managed to imitate the real thing and create fakes in such a short time,¡± one member said excitedly as he fired a fake missile.


    ¡°It was still done by them from doing overtime. Fortunately, other than the necessary supplies and weapons, themander also got many modification equipments,¡± one member said with admiration.


    ¡°I remember a certain someone was still very against this,¡± one member beside him said.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m only a small, itty bitty member, while Boss Lan is themander. The real visionary.¡± The member that was called out wasn¡¯t angry, replying in a cute manner instead.


    His words made all the team members smile on the inside. Indeed, every decision made by Boss Lan wasn¡¯t something that they could hope to understand.


    Hearing all of them speak words of worship towards Ling Lan, Li Yingjie didn¡¯t feel any shaking in his heart. He had been hurt all the way starting from the time of his childhood until now; he had already fully given up onpeting with Ling Lan. A normal person like him would definitely not be able topare to a monster like Ling Lan. It was probably better for him to just focus on studying on how he would be the next head of the Li family.


    In the following few rounds of fire, Li Yingjie only shot out two real armor-piercing missiles. However, because Jiang Shaoyu was very cautious, he didn¡¯t leave out a single missile and thus the attack wasn¡¯t sessful. This time, Li Yingjie didn¡¯t dare to waste more and switched to only fakes to block off the opponent.


    ¡°Beep, beep, beep!¡± Han Jijyun, who had been observing the situation of the battle all this time, suddenly received a call. Han Jijyun pushed down one of the buttons and heard Wu Jiong¡¯s voiceing from the other end. ¡°Han Jijyun, we¡¯ve arrived at the position.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± Han Jijyun replied seriously. He pushed down the rest of themunication buttons one by one. Like Wu Jiong, they all reported that they had arrived at their positions. Hearing this, Han Jijyun¡¯s serious and cold expression finally showed a hit of joy.


    This was the n that he had meticulously prepared for the attackers. ¡°Jiang Shaoyu, have a taste of this!¡±


    Aftering to know that everyone was ready and good to go, Han Jijyun saw that the opponent was defending with their lives and knew that it would be impossible to use armor-piercing missiles to decrease the number of the enemy mecha now. Thus, he pushed down the button formunicating with Li Yingjie and said, ¡°Li Yingjie, stop shooting fake missiles. Begin n B.¡±


    Hearing this, Li Yingjie immediately told the members to decrease the shots of fake missiles and in the end, make it seem like they had fired out all of their fake shells. When everyone stopped firing, Li Yingjie took the team members and the fake shells along with the ten armor-piercing missiles and silently went into the rear line.


    ¡°Commander, the opposition has stopped firing shells.¡± Seeing that the opponent no longer shot any missiles towards them, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s men finally got a breather.


    Jiang Shaoyu was an oversuspicious person. It was also because of this over the top suspicion that he didn¡¯t lose any more mechas in the rounds that followed. Two armor-piercing missiles that were among the fakes were destroyed. Seeing that the opponent didn¡¯t fire any more shells, he still chose to wait. At the same time, he sent a battle team forward to investigate.


    However, it was possible that the opposition really didn¡¯t have any more shells left. When that one battle team moved forward and didn¡¯t bump into any other obstacles, Jiang Shaoyu felt reassured and led the rest to follow. They went past Area G7, G9, and G11, and got close to G17. He had still yet to see the opposition shoot out more of their missiles, making Jiang Shaoyu feel fully relieved.


    His guess was that those fake shells were probably made by the modification mechanics from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy when they had just entered the map. Other than that, there would have been no way for them to have infinite missiles. And those armor-piercing shells were the same. 17 to 18 were probably the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s limit.


    However, not long after, Jiang Shaoyu was in a crisis once again. While they were flying about, suddenly all of their mecha red a warning, ¡°Mecha has been locked-on, please take evasive maneuvers.¡±


    Jiang Shaoyu was surprised. He nced at the radar and discovered that the area that showed an empty space, suddenly had countless spots appear from all sides. They had actually fallen into an encirclement.


    Jiang Shaoyu wasn¡¯t an idiot. He instantly understood that these mecha that were lying in ambush had probably turned off their engines, which was why there hadn¡¯t been any energy signatures enabling them to go undetected by the radar. He had also done something simr in Area Q and M. He didn¡¯t expect that he would get a taste of his own medicine at this moment.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang...¡± Countless beams of light were shot over from all sides. Surrounded, Jiang many members of Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s battle team were hit and dropped towards the ground. In front of them, Li Yingjie had used fake and real shell to intercept them, giving the mecha operators in the surrounding areas enough time to reach the ambush positions. In other words, this was all of the battle strength of the forces defending the headquarters. Han Jijyun wanted to let them have a taste of their own medicine and at the same time destroy any chance they had of getting away.


    ¡°Who¡¯d have known that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy left such an amazing strategist back in their headquarters. This series of strategies are enough to cause the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy to lose many mecha operators.¡± Those in the monitoring room had originally thought that those who were left defending the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would not be able to defend against the six battle teams of Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. Now it looked like that wasn¡¯t the case. The fake and real armor-piercing shells in the beginning had made Jiang Shaoyu lose a bit more than a single battle team. Also, they were now surrounded, so they were now left with a lot less mecha operators than they had in the beginning. It was hard to determine the oue... If Qiao Ting had been there to defend the headquarters, Jiang Shaoyu would have had no chance at all.


    ¡°Looks like we were still underestimating the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. They aren¡¯t as blind and egotistical as we thought. These arrangements that they made all were made with much thought,¡± said an officer who favored the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    ¡°Well, now it¡¯s up to Jiang Shaoyu. An ace operator won¡¯t be taken down by a small ambush like this.¡± The people who were on the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy side, of course, stated an opposing opinion.


    ¡°Even if they can¡¯t take down Jiang Shaoyu in the meantime, they can still take down those people that he brought. It will be hard for Jiang Shaoyu to fight by himself.¡±


    ¡°As long as there¡¯s one battle team left, with Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s capabilities, it would be enough to take down these defending battle teams. Then, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters would be in Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s pocket.¡±


    The two sides were not reaching an agreement. One of the people suddenly turned around and asked Ling Xiao, ¡°Mr. General, what¡¯s your opinion?¡±


    Ling Xiao smiled lightly and said, ¡°We¡¯ll have to see if Jiang Shaoyu can endure this round of attacks. If he defends against it, then Jiang Shaoyu will win. If he can¡¯t, then the First Men¡¯s Military Academy will win.¡± Ling Xiao words were right on point. The critical point was the battle after the sneak attack.


    Jiang Shaoyu was indeed Jiang Shaoyu; an ace operator wasn¡¯t something to be taken down by a sneak attack. He didn¡¯t hesitate and dove head first into the battle. He couldn¡¯t hesitate now. He would only have a chance if he broke through the encirclement.


    The battle team that Jiang Shaoyu had brought with him were their strongest mecha operators, including the two allied battle teams who were also carefully selected. It seemed that Jiang Shaoyu had thought that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters was determined to be theirs.


    Thus, even though the beamsing from all sides made them bewildered them, causing them to lose many mechas, the mecha operators who calmed themselves down saw Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s movements and immediately followed suit. This showed that they had a strong mutual understanding of each other.


    Just like that, with Jiang Shaoyu as an arrowhead, the rest of the mecha operators darted to that direction as they intercepted the beam attacks. In that instant, they lost many mecha again, but because of this decisive move, it allowed them to sessfully open up a hole and get out of the encirclement.


    Han Jijyun calmly pressed down on the button to talk and said, ¡°Li Yingjie, fire the armor-piercing missiles.¡±


    Following that, Li Yingjie and the others, who had fallen back towards Area G17, fired out thest 10 armor-piercing missiles and countless fake shells.


    ¡°Whoosh...¡± The sound of countless missiles roared in the sky once again. Before they could get a breather after just breaking through the encirclement, missiles came shooting towards Jiang Shaoyu and the others from all directions.


    This time, Jiang Shaoyu faced two difficult choices. If he was to intercept the real and fake shells, he wouldn¡¯t be able to intercept the countless mecha chasing them from behind and their beam attacks. If he was to fully defend against the forces who were chasing them, they would have to take the shells in front of them head-on. It was just that he didn¡¯t know how many real armor-piercing shells were among the missiles.


    He couldn¡¯t hesitate anymore. Jiang Shaoyu bit his lip and ordered, ¡°Fully block the forces chasing us.¡± This also meant that he had chosen to face the missiles head-on.


    ¡°Boom, boom, boom...¡± Following the exploding sounds of countless shells hitting mecha, ten mecha were again destroyed in this barrage. Seeing that he had lost ten more members, Jiang Shaoyu almost spat out blood.


    When he chose to not intercept the missiles in front of them, he was gambling that the opposition didn¡¯t have that many armor-piercing missiles, but it was too bad¡ªhe lost the bet.


    One round of shells had just exploded, yet another round of whooshing of countless missiles were heard once again. This time, Jiang Shaoyu didn¡¯t want to bet on it and told his team members to clear these shells. Although the members were performing unorthodox movements to dodge the countless beam attacks from behind them while they were clearing the shells in front, a few mecha still didn¡¯t manage to dodge the attacks and were destroyed.


    However, after analyzing the energy signature of the explosions, they were fooled again. This this, there weren¡¯t any real armor-piercing shells.


    Jiang Shaoyu was going to be driven insane by the real and fake missiles. He roared, ¡°We don¡¯t care anymore, we¡¯re going ahead!¡± He didn¡¯t believe that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would have that many armor-piercing missiles.


    This time, Jiang Shaoyu had bet correctly. Seeing that the opponent didn¡¯t care for their shells anymore, Li Yingjie no longer fired any more fake shells, but instead made all the members fire heavy shells. Although their power wasn¡¯tparable to armor-piercing shells, it was still better than the fake shells that had no power at all. Causing some damage to the opponent was better than nothing.


    However, with this, Jiang Shaoyu was clear that the opposition definitely didn¡¯t have any more powerful weapons such as armor piercing shells, or else they wouldn¡¯t have just given up like this.

 Chapter 509 - Ignored!

    <h4>Chapter 509: Ignored!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Jiang Shaoyu finally managed to escape the situation of being under a pincer attack, and the situation instantly improved for him; however, at this moment, his six battle teams had been reduced to 33 people. Two of the allied battle teams were practically disabled. Of the four battle teams that he had brought with him, only his battle team still remained nearly intact. The other teams were halved and had also lost many capable mecha operators.


    However, bad luck finally changed to good luck; Jiang Shaoyu had actually discovered a location that was most suitable to use a choke point. He decisively led the rest of the remaining mecha operators to rush towards that location and set up a formation to intercept the forces chasing them from behind.


    Just like that, the forces that were chasing after them didn¡¯t dare to make a move. The firepower of more than 30 people was still very strong. The two sides were at a stalemate once again.


    ¡°We can¡¯t keep going like this. We can¡¯t be held back here anymore.¡± Jiang Shaoyu knew clearly that he had to be fast and ruthless after leading his team to attack the First Men¡¯s Military Academy this time; otherwise, if Qiao Ting realized that his own headquarters was under attack and came back, it would be difficult to take down their headquarters.


    ¡°Captain, you take a portion of people and leave this ce to me,¡± Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s vice-captain said to him decisively.


    Jiang Shaoyu bit his lip and said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll leave this ce to you.¡± In order to make sure they blocked off the forces chasing them from behind, Jiang Shaoyu didn¡¯t take his own battle team. He instead took the 10-man battle team that was pieced together from the broken battle teams. They abruptly turned around and rapidly flew towards Area G17.


    ¡°Jiang Shaoyu split up his forces.¡± Seeing Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s movements, Wu Jiong immediately contacted Han Jijyun.


    After Han Jijyun received this information, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh and think, ¡°The people left to defend the headquarters was still not enough. If we had another two battle teams joining the ambush, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy wouldn¡¯t have had so many people escape the encirclement.¡± As Han Jijyun looked towards the southeast, his eyes showed a hint of anxiety.


    Mu Shaoyu and Han Yu, who had participated in the ambush with Wu Jiong, saw that Jiang Shaoyu had split his forces, and they were greatly surprised. Han Yu quickly said, ¡°How about Mu Shaoyu and I both take two teams and go around the two sides to intercept them?¡±


    The ambush ring¡¯s temporarymander was Wu Jiong, that was why Han Yu told his idea to Wu Jiong.


    ¡°No need. We will deal with these people first.¡± Wu Jiong immediately stopped him from doing what he was going to do.


    ¡°But back at headquarters, other than the logistics and patrol teams, there aren¡¯t any more official battle teams. They will definitely not be able to go against Jiang Shaoyu,¡± Han Yu said anxiously. If Jiang Shaoyu broke through to their headquarters, they would lose outright.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, Boss Lan has already made preparations. We just need to take care of these wings of Jiang Shaoyu,¡± Wu Jiong said calmly.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s calmness made Han Yu quickly calm down, while Mu Shaoyu¡¯s eyes lit up upon hearing those words. As if he were on to something, he asked, ¡°Did Commander Ling have a n?¡±


    Wu Jiong didn¡¯t answer, but merely pointed at the 22 people that were left by the opposition and said, ¡°Our mission is to deal with these people. This time, we cannot let them escape our clutches again.¡± He continued to tell Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu his n. The two of them nodded, took their battle teams and each chose a direction and quickly left.


    Before leaving, Han Yu didn¡¯t forget to threaten Wu Jiong, ¡°Wu Jiong, you better pray that nothing happens to headquarters, or else I will definitely find you to settle the score.¡±


    Although Wu Jiong was very worried, he still trusted Ling Lan very much. He said without hesitation, ¡°Captain Han, you won¡¯t have that kind of chance.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a promise!¡± Han Yu pointed his finger at Wu Jiong, twirling it around to show that a promise was made between the two of them. Han Yu thought that if they were really eliminated by the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, while he didn¡¯t have the capabilities to seek out Ling Lan for revenge, it was still possible for him to vent on Ling Lan¡¯s little underling.


    Wu Jiong had finally managed to send Han Yu out with great difficulty. Looking at his figure disappearing into the distance, Wu Jiong couldn¡¯t help but silently shake his head. ¡°How much resentment does this Captain Han have against their Lingtian battle n? He¡¯s trying to find a chance whenever he can to take revenge on them.¡±


    Just like that, Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu¡¯s two battle teams suddenly flew out a few kilometers from both the left and right side. Once they got out of the radar range of the intercepting forces Jiang Shaoyu had left there, they changed their flight direction and went around behind the forces that were intercepting them.


    The vice-captain, who was left to intercept the enemy, couldn¡¯t help but be surprised at the fact that the two battle teams of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had suddenly left. He silently thought about what they were up to. Were they going to chase down the captain? At this thought, he couldn¡¯t help but be anxious. It was a shame that the three battle teams that the opposition had left there had crazy firepower, making them unable to move for the time being. With no other choice, he could only contact Jiang Shaoyu and told him about the two teams that were chasing them.


    Jiang Shaoyu did not worry like the vice-captain upon hearing this information, however; he even believed that it was more beneficial for them that the opposition had split up their forces. Since the other side had sent out two battle teams to chase after them, the number of opponents at the vice-captain¡¯s location was likely to only be around 30 mecha. Undoubtedly, this would lessen the pressure on the vice-captain, who was left behind to defend that spot.


    When Jiang Shaoyu heard that there were 5 or 6 advanced mecha among the 30 mecha that were left to go against the vice-captain, he believed even more that this was an opportunity for the vice-captain and the others. Jiang Shaoyu shared his thoughts with the vice-captain and told him to find a chance to take care of the 30 mecha and then regroup with him.


    Jiang Shaoyu was very confident in his battle team¡¯s capabilities. The mecha operators that he had brought were all special-ss operators who were carefully selected and at their peak. The number of special-ss operators on both sides did not have much of a difference; it was possible that they could win due to the levels of the mecha.


    In order for his team members to catch up, Jiang Shaoyu instantly slowed down his speed. Additionally, he wanted to use this chance to take down the two mecha teams that were chasing them. Before attacking Area G17, if he could deplete most of the defending strength of their headquarters, it would be very beneficial for them, the attacking side.


    Around 10 minutester, Area G17 came into sight; however, they still didn¡¯t see the two battle teams appear.


    Right then, Jiang Shaoyu suddenly received an emergency voice call from the vice-captain. Right when he hit the receive button, he heard the scream of the vice-captain from the other end, ¡°Captain, we¡¯ve fallen into a trap.¡± Along with his voice, there were also countless sounds of explosions and the shing of cold weapons.


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s instantly felt his heart dropping to his stomach. He yelled, ¡°Vice-captain, what happened?¡±


    ¡°Those two battle teams went behind us and surrounded us. Bastards...¡± Jiang Shaoyu heard the vice-captain speak half a sentence, but then heard a scream right afterwards. No sound was heard after that.


    Jiang Shaoyu still didn¡¯t really understand at the time. It was possible that the 22 mecha he had left behind to intercept the enemy had all been lost.


    He hadn¡¯t thought that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would be this daring. They actually didn¡¯t care that they were closing in on their headquarters and only wanted to take down the 22 mecha that he left to intercept the forces that would chase. It was also his own poor judgment that let the opponent catch them with their pants down...


    ¡°F**k!¡± Jiang Shaoyu angrily swung therge sword in his hand, which sent out arge shockwave and cut down a small tree ten meters away from him.


    Jiang Shaoyu couldn¡¯t help but be angry. He had brought 72 people with him, and everything had been going smoothly until they entered Area G, but they consecutively suffered setbacks outside of Area G17. In the end, he only had 11 mecha left including himself. Jiang Shaoyu felt that this was a humiliation like never before. If he lost to Qiao Ting, he would perhaps be able to find some excuse. Right now, however, the enemy¡¯s headquarters didn¡¯t have Qiao Ting, only some ordinary special-ss and advanced mecha operators. Yet it was these ordinary mecha operators that had caused him to suffer great losses.


    ¡°Commander, what should we do now? Maybe we should return to Area P and rest up?¡± Out of the 10 mecha that were left, 7 were from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, while the other three were part of the allied battle team. At that moment, the three from the allied battle team had thoughts of retreating.


    ¡°Since we¡¯re already here, we should go see the headquarters of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy for ourselves. I am not willing to stop here.¡± Jiang Shaoyu held down his anger and told them his decision with a solemn face.


    Perhaps the temptation of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters was too great; the three from the allied battle team, who had originally wanted to retreat, now also had no more opinions¡ªthe 11 mechas rapidly flew into Area G17.


    Area G17 was very quiet, showing no signs of a headquarters. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Jiang Shaoyu was very confident in his map, he would have likely started to have suspicions as to whether the reports were urate.


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s 11-man team began to carefully investigate. Finding a hidden beacon in the vast mountain ranges and lush forests was a very difficult thing to do.


    ¡°Han Jijyun, they¡¯ve entered Area G17. What should we do now?¡± At the top of one of Area G17¡¯s mountain ranges, Li Yingjie looked at Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s battle team on the screen. He couldn¡¯t help but be anxious and began asking Han Jijyun, who was beside him.


    Han Jijyun didn¡¯t answer, but merely looked calmly at the mecha¡¯s screen. He stared at the radar without blinking even for a second, as if he was waiting for something.


    When Li Yingjie saw that Han Jijyun didn¡¯t pay attention to him, he instantly screamed out in frustration, ¡°F**k, I don¡¯t care anymore. I¡¯m taking a team with me to intercept them.¡±


    Han Jijyun turned his gaze at that and asked with hesitation, ¡°How are you going to intercept them?¡±


    Li Yingjie was dumbfounded. He angrily pulled at his own hair and yelled out, ¡°Then what do we do? Are we going to just watch as Jiang Shaoyu takes down our headquarters? And be the first out of the top 4 military academies to be eliminated?¡±


    Han Jijyun didn¡¯t answer. He tucked his lips and stared at the radar once again.


    ¡°Say something. If you don¡¯t say something, I¡¯m really going to go. Even if we have to use kamikaze measures, we have to intercept the opponent.¡± After saying that, Li Yingjie didn¡¯t care anymore and pushed down the button for his team¡¯smlink channel and ordered, ¡°All members, prepare for battle!¡±


    ¡°Yes, captain!¡± All of the members replied with excitement. At the same time, they cracked their knuckles. As the mixed logistics and patrol team, they were the weakest battle team in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy; however, they weren¡¯t cowards that would just run when they saw a strong enemy. Everyone knew clearly that as long as they mobilized to intercept the enemy, they only had one option to take and that was kamikaze. Otherwise, with their mecha and their operating capabilities, they would definitely have no chance.


    They still remembered Boss Lan using this method when he had led them in thepetition against Qiao Ting¡¯s battle team. Using it had changed the oue of the entire match.


    ¡°We still have time. We still have a chance. A chance.¡± Cold sweat was forming on Han Jijyun¡¯s forehead. Was it possible that the other side had run into a problem?

 Chapter 510 - A Difficult Situation!

    <h4>Chapter 510: A Difficult Situation!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Li Yingjie couldn¡¯t wait any longer. He once again gave an order to his team members, ¡°Examine your equipment!¡±


    After giving this order, the impatience on Li Yingjie¡¯s face instantly vanished and became very cold. He carefully examined the equipment on the mecha, especially the mirror shield Chang Xinyuan had prepared for them in the very beginning. As the individuals who possessed the weakest capabilities, they had long understood that, in the most critical moment, they could use this powerful shield to take down the battle team attacking them using the self-destruct function.


    Everyone was calmly examining their equipment. The self-destruct function of the mecha was actually removed, but the A.I. could simte the energy from self-destruction; thus, it would be an effective attack.


    ¡°Number 1, examinationplete!¡±


    ¡°Number 2, examinationplete!¡±


    ... Very soon, every member had finished examining their equipment. Li Yingjie decisively ordered, ¡°Fly!¡±


    Engines instantly roared, and 10 or so oddly shaped transport mecha along with 4 to 5 advanced mecha slowly rose up into the air. Li Yingjie only rejoiced at the fact that transport mechas were not too slowpared to advanced mechas. This let him feel more assured of being able to sessfully close in on the enemy.


    Han Jijyun saw that Li Yingjie didn¡¯t care about his own safety and was preparing to fight, he had no choice but to follow. Since his friends wanted to fight, Han Jijyun wouldn¡¯t withdraw either.


    ¡°Commander, mechas have appeared.¡± The vanguard mecha responsible for searching in the front was the first to discover Li Yingjie and the others.


    Jiang Shaoyu was surprised. Seeing 15 shing red dots on his radar, he immediately zoomed in and saw the oddly shaped mecha. He couldn¡¯t help but surprisedly ask, ¡°Sh*t, what are those?¡±


    ¡°Captain, they are transport mecha.¡± One member recognized them.


    ¡°Looks like the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters indeed doesn¡¯t have any more mecha. They actually even sent out transport mecha.¡± One of the members of the allied battle team saw these mecha and felt that it was a pleasant surprise.


    Seeing this, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s eyes shed ruthlessly and he said, ¡°Take these crappy mecha as interest first!¡± He jumped out and pounced towards Li Yingjie¡¯s medley of troops.


    Right when the two sides were getting increasingly closer and were nearly at the point crossing swords with one another, a beam of light broke through the sky from the heavens above and shot towards Jiang Shaoyu.


    Jiang Shaoyu immediately felt that great danger was approaching. He reacted by operating his mecha to dodge, and the beam of light grazed past Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha. But despite it merely being a graze, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha¡¯s light shield¡¯s energy had already been depleted by one-third of its limit.


    Jiang Shaoyu watched in surprise as he saw a mecha appear behind him out of thin air. The colors of the mecha¡¯s exterior was a color that he couldn¡¯t be more familiar with; it signified that the mecha was at the same level as his ace mecha. Was it possible that Qiao Ting had arrived here?


    That was the first thing that Jiang Shaoyu reflexively thought of, but he immediately overruled it, and this was because he clearly saw that this ace mecha wasn¡¯t the long range mecha that Qiao Ting usually used. It was instead a bnced mecha...


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s face instantly became red. He already knew whose mecha it was¡ªit belonged to Lin Xiao, who had defeated him in the semi-finals of the singles mecha tournament and advanced to the finals.


    ¡°Lin Xiao, why are you here?¡± Jiang Shaoyu bit his lip and asked. This Lin Xiao, why did he always disrupt his calctions? He had done so during the singles tournament and he was doing the same now while Jiang Shaoyu was attacking the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t know? The First Co-ed Military Academy has already formed an alliance with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Since you attacked our allied military academy¡¯s headquarters, we would naturally have toe help to defend it,¡± Lin Xiao responded inly.


    After that, Lin Xiao turned around to look at Han Jijyun, and said in an apologetic tone, ¡°Sorry I¡¯mte. I let you guys wait for too long.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re notte at all. Just on time,¡± Han Jijyun replied calmly. It was as though his forehead full of cold sweat a moment ago had been an illusion.


    ¡°This was what you arranged,¡± Lin Xiao said with praise. Although he had moved as fast as he could upon receiving news of the attack, if not for the ns set by Han Jijyun and the others dragging things out, it was possible that it would have been toote by the time he arrived.


    At this moment, Lin Xiao couldn¡¯t help but silently admire Ling Lan. How much confidence and trust would someone need to leave the safety of the headquarters to these mecha operators who were not worth mentioning? However, it was none other than these individuals who had performed so spectacrly. Even he couldn¡¯t help but praise the fact that Ling Lan¡¯s subordinates could have so much up their sleeves.


    Jiang Shaoyu was thoroughly angered by Lin Xiao and Han Jijyun conversing as if no one was around. Jiang Shaoyu screamed out, ¡°You bastard!¡± The next second, he held up his sword and swung it towards Lin Xiao.


    Seeing this, Lin Xiao showed a hint of a smile. The reason he had ignored Jiang Shaoyu was actually to make him mad. Truth be told, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s closebat abilities were in fact very strong. Although Lin Xiao was confident in his own closebat abilities, closebat mecha held an advantage in itself. If he allowed Jiang Shaoyu to remain calm, Lin Xiao couldn¡¯t be certain of being able to take down his opponent.


    Lin Xiao was someone who was good at ying mind games, so he set a trap from the very start and naturally, Jiang Shaoyu fell into it without realizing it.


    Lin Xiao quickly drew hisrge sword and battled fiercely against Jiang Shaoyu. Both of them were ace operators. It wasn¡¯t possible to decide victory within a short period of time as they both possessed very high operating skills...


    The 10 mecha that were following Jiang Shaoyu saw that Lin Xiao had onlye by himself, and got the idea of helping Jiang Shaoyu. But right when they were about to silently fire beam shots and perform a sneak attack to interfere, arge group of mecha appeared on the radar. It seemed that Lin Xiao wasn¡¯t the only one that came; he had also brought arge force with him at the same time, which wasprised of battle teams from the First Co-ed Military Academy and from the allied military academies as well.


    This made them not dare to move carelessly. A few secondster, therge force of mechas had arrived at this location, and this made the 10 mechas not dare to move even more.


    The situation was bing good for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. While everyone in the monitoring room all believed that the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy was going to fail outright, Ling Xiao, who had been smiling the whole time, changed his expression and began look serious. Not only him, but He Xuyang also began to frown.


    ¡°General, I know that there¡¯s definitely something wrong here. However, I can¡¯t seem to understand how the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy can turn this around in their favor.¡± He Xuyang¡¯s sharp eyes and wit let him see clearly that Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s anger was all an act; otherwise, how could each strike of his be so clean?


    ¡°His allies aren¡¯t only just beside him.¡± Ling Xiao reminded softly.


    He Xuyang instantly understood; it turned out that the danger wasing from there.


    ¡°Ah, why is Area G2 sending out mecha battle teams? What are they going to do?¡± While everyone had turned their focus towards the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, one quiet and overlooked area unexpectedly came out of its shell, silenting crawling out with seven battle teams.


    ¡°Their direction¡ªArea G10 and onwards. Final destination: Area G17!¡± Quickly following their movements, the monitoring room finally managed to analyze their final destination.


    ¡°Are they the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s allied forces?¡± someone asked confusedly.


    ¡°Wait, enhance the image.¡± Suddenly, someone found a point of suspicion and immediately made the staff member zoom in on the seven battle teams.


    These battle teams finally came onto the big screen. When they zoomed in on the logos on their chest, everyone finally realized the problem; these seven battle teams were actually not from one military academy but were allied battle teams.


    ¡°When did Area G2 have allied battle teams?¡± someone asked in surprise.


    This military academy in Area G2 was not well known at all. Everyone had overlooked them, which was why no one knew that there was actually an alliance that had sessfully formed right before their eyes.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know what this allied force is going to do or if they have any rtionship with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy...¡± Everyone all felt that the situation was bing confusing and they didn¡¯t understand it anymore.


    ¡°General, it looks like there won¡¯t be ally reinforcements but iing enemies instead,¡± He Xuyang whispered to Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao nodded lightly and said, ¡°Yes, if they were on the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s side, to begin with, they wouldn¡¯t have remainedpletely still when Jiang Shaoyu invaded. Now it seems this allied force is possibly rted to Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s side.¡± Ling Xiao clenched his fists. He didn¡¯t think that his daughter¡¯s headquarters would go through such perils. They had barely gotten past their first hurdle, yet now it seemed that a second one wasing their way...


    At that moment, 12 hours had already passed and the sky was bing brighter. Another bright night was upon them...


    Having rested up, Ling Lan¡¯s seven-man team finally moved out. Everyone entered their respective mecha, slowly left Jianqiao Military Academy¡¯s headquarters and moved towards the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t hide, but instead proudly and openly led her members and flew through the areas. During their flight, they didn¡¯t see many patrol battle teams. There were only a few battle teams here and there. Compared to 12 hours ago, the difference was like heaven and earth.


    Ling Lan knew why this was the case, as Little Four had told her the reason behind it. The countless battle teams that Jiang Shaoyu had gathered had split into two forces; one was to be led by him to attack the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, while one was to surround the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. It was because of this that Qiao Ting was held down at the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy and was unable to return to the headquarters to defend it.


    The patrol battle teams didn¡¯t have any will to do anything because the entirety of Area Q had be empty. When they saw Ling Lan and the others, they weren¡¯t interested in asking where they were going and what they were going to do. After all, the logo on their chests already revealed their identities, and the headquarters of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy was not too far from them. They didn¡¯t want to make the people from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy angry.


    It should be said that here, they were sneaking past the patrol team right under their noses. The patrol team felt that the headquarters of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy was right there, so there would naturally be no issues.


    This allowed Ling Lan and the rest of her team to move in extraordinarily smoothly. When they had reached thest ten kilometers, Ling Lan suddenly gave an order that surprised her team: she had decided for them to leave their mecha and prepare to infiltrate the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy on foot.


    Although Ling Lan had an omnipotent weapon like Little Four¡ªwho could render the radar of enemy mecha ineffective, making it so that the mecha Ling Lan operated could move about undetected by radar and only be detected by sight¡ªLing Lan still wanted to use only her own strength to finish her mission while making sure of their survival.


    Without using Little Four, their mechas wouldn¡¯t have an equipment jamming function. Once they got close to the enemy headquarters, they would definitely be discovered by the mecha operators who were defending it, at which point they would have to fight hard to get inside.


    If Ling Lan were alone, she would have forced a fight. Even if she couldn¡¯t seed, she could still safely get away with her capabilities; however, having teammates changed the story. If they became surrounded, they may not be able to escape.


    Ling Lan was a responsible person. Since she had led her team members out here to do battle, she wanted all of the members she brought with her to watch the end of the battle royale with a smile on their faces.

 Chapter 511 - Turncoat?

    <h4>Chapter 511: Turncoat?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Area G17.


    Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu had exchanged blows again. Lin Xiao saw that the allied battle teams had arrived and immediatelyughed out loud, saying, ¡°Jiang Shaoyu, you¡¯ve lost.¡±


    Including Jiang Shaoyu, there were 10 mecha in total on his side, and they had already be surrounded by the mecha battle teams that Lin Xiao had brought. His expression immediately as he bit his lip and said, ¡°Lin Xiao, you think I¡¯ll just give up like this? In your dreams! Your dreams!¡±


    Thosest words were screamed out angrily by Jiang Shaoyu. He furiously asked, ¡°Lin Xiao, alliances are all the same, so why did you choose the First Men¡¯s Military Academy? You clearly know that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s leader this time in the battle royale isn¡¯t Qiao Ting, but a second-year cadet who isn¡¯t well known... You actually believe in a second-year cadet instead of me.¡± It seemed that Jiang Shaoyu had gone to find Lin Xiao before the lots-drawing stage of the battle royale to discuss an alliance. Unfortunately, Lin Xiao didn¡¯t even listen to him and refused.


    Hearing this, Lin Xiao smiled coldly and replied, ¡°When you have perverted thoughts about my female junior, do you think there would be a chance that we would cooperate with you? That¡¯s hrious.¡±


    ¡°Just because of a small issue like that? You would rather cooperate with a boy that still feeds on breast milk instead of cooperating with me?¡± Jiang Shaoyu was very frustrated. He never thought what he did was wrong. It wasmon sense and universally epted that all¡¯s fair in love and war.


    ¡°A small issue?¡± Lin Xiao instantly squinted, a dangerous gleam of coldness filling his eyes. ¡°All the members participating in the Grand Mecha Tournament are considered my limbs. You even dare to touch my arms and legs and still hope I would look past it and ally with you? You¡¯re out of your mind!¡±


    Limbs? It turned out they weren¡¯t clothes! Han Jijyun¡¯s lips perked up a bit. He felt amused that Lin Xiao was using a word that was self-deceiving.


    Lin Xiao¡¯s unreserved words made Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s face be red and green at the same time. He didn¡¯t think that his idental episode of perversion would have actually had such a huge effect. The original opponent that he chose to ally with would refuse his request right away. It should be known that, in the previous years, the only reason the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy was able to ce higher than the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was that the First Co-ed Military Academy was always their ally.


    ¡°I see. That¡¯s why you were always against me. It was like this during the singles tournament and now it is the same in the battle royale.¡± Jiang Shaoyu finally understood.


    ¡°Let me tell you something else. I¡¯m the one who proactively brought up the alliance with the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. For that, we, the First Co-ed Military Academy, gave up a lot of our benefits,¡± Lin Xiao inly exined the truth. ¡°The reason why we paid such a big price for this alliance was for a promise from Commander Ling.¡±


    ¡°What promise?¡±


    Lin Xiao smiled and answered, ¡°To leave you to me.¡±


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s heart fell to his stomach. He finally understood that he had been fooled by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy.


    ¡°So you guys deliberately allowed Qiao Ting to go to Area S, weakening the defensive strength of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters!¡± Jiang Shaoyu was so angry that he bit his lip.


    ¡°Yes. Otherwise, a turtle like you wouldn¡¯t havee out of your turtle shell Area Q ande here,¡± Lin Xiao said with a smile. Even now, he still feel admiration for Ling Lan¡¯s decisiveness and ruthlessness when devising this n. Ling Lan dared to use her own headquarters as bait. However, it should be known that if something had gone wrong in one part of the n, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters would have be the trophy of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Right then, Jiang Shaoyu suddenlyughed and said, ¡°The n indeed very perfect, but do you guys really think you carry it out without any risk failure?


    Hearing this, Lin Xiao stared nkly and asked, ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°What I mean is¡ªf**king attack!¡± Jiang Shaoyu suddenly gave an order to attack. The 10 mecha operators he had brought with him didn¡¯t react. Among the allied battle teams Lin Xiao had brought, two battle teams suddenly turned on them. They took up their weapons and attacked the mecha beside them.


    This scene of them fighting each other caused the expressions of Han Jijyun and the others to instantly change, while it made the 10 mecha operators from Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s side be surprised and happy. They didn¡¯t think that they would actually turn the tables in a situation where they had their backs to the wall. They were so excited that they wanted to raise their hands and scream towards Jiang Shaoyu, ¡°Long live themander.¡±


    However, the next second, their hearts were ice-cold once again. They thought this surprise attack was going to be 100% effective, but it wasn¡¯t effective at all.


    It seemed that the people in Lin Xiao¡¯s battle team were prepared beforehand¡ªthey actually attacked the opponents at the same time. Not only did they get nothing out of the surprise attack, but they were also counter-attacked by the opposition and lost many mecha in that instant. The battle that originally could have been turned was now once again under the control of Lin Xiao¡¯s men.


    Jiang Shaoyu screamed out in disbelief, ¡°How did you know that they¡¯re our people?¡±


    ¡°Before, I didn¡¯t really notice since they had been cooperating with us, the First Co-ed Military Academy, for a very long time and could be considered as a brother-academy. However, people can change, especially after cooperating with you guys for many years. These two military academies that I had brought along were always moving out with you guys in previous years...¡± Lin Xiao smiled coldly as he spoke. ¡°After the passing of those years, I didn¡¯t know whether or not you guys had made any private arrangements, so we had to make assumptions. It was a good thing that Commander Ling reminded me before the battle royale. In the end, it seemed that I was defending my headquarters before, but in reality, I was digging through these military academies. I wanted to see which of these military academies had betrayed us and allied with you guys. Good thing the situation wasn¡¯t too serious. There weren¡¯t too many military academies that betrayed us. Other than these two that were confirmed, there was also one that was suspicious. We sent them to where the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy was and let Qiao Ting watch over them. Even if they really were your men, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything sneaky under his watchful eye.¡±


    Hearing Lin Xiao¡¯s words, Han Jijyun and those from Lingtian Mecha n couldn¡¯t help but feel proud and pleased. It seemed that theirmander had actually arranged so much without their knowledge.


    Jiang Shaoyu almost exploded with anger. It turned out that all of his actions was seen through by the opponent, while he was still proudly announcing his ns, thinking that everything went ording to his calctions.


    Right when Han Jijyun and the rest of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy thought everything was in their control, Han Jijyun received a new report. His expression changed instantly, and he immediately ryed it to Lin Xiao. ¡°Commander Lin, I have just received information that 7 battle teams have appeared in Area G13.¡±


    Lin Xiao frowned and asked, ¡°Do you know which military academies they belong to?¡±


    ¡°Feiyi Military Academy, Hengguang Military Academy, Hesen Military Academy...¡± Han Jijyun read out the names of 4 to 5 military academies. These military academies were ranked towards the end and were very invisible. Lin Xiao and the others would definitely have not given them any notice. However, it was none other than these unnoticed military academies who gathered up seven allied battle teams and gave heavy pressure to Lin Xiao.


    Jiang Shaoyu mind shed upon hearing this. He remembered that strategist Zhuge¡¯s words before he set out. Zhuge said that in case he was blocked during his attack on the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, there would be some helping to aid him. He hadn¡¯t cared for those words as he was proud and thought that he would be able to sessfully take down the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters with only the six battle teams he had brought along, but now it looked like the help was pointing to the guys that were nowing.


    ¡°Commander, sometimes even small insignificant pests and random soldiers can be the key chips in determining a win or loss. Don¡¯t look down on them!¡± Strategist Zhuge¡¯s words rang by his ear at that moment, and Jiang Shaoyu felt very grateful to his strategist. It was possible that this help would turn the whole battle around.


    Jiang Shaoyu burned with confidence once again. He faced the sky andughed, saying, ¡°Lin Xiao, you guys aren¡¯t the only ones who can be calcting and strategical. We can be as well!¡±


    Lin Xiao¡¯s expression became cold. He decisively ordered, ¡°Attack!¡± If Jiang Shaoyu lost right here and now and got eliminated, whether or not those seven battle teams were Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s reinforcements wouldn¡¯t matter because they would only be able toe and not leave once they arrived.


    Everyone knew this clearly, including Jiang Shaoyu. He, of course, hoped that he wouldn¡¯t be defeated when there was hope to get out of this dangerous situation; thus, he screamed out, ¡°Hold out until the end. Reinforcements are on their way. Victory will be ours. Glory will be ours.¡±


    Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s men all held up their weapons and begun fighting to the death with the opponents who were beside them. No one was going to give up. No one was willing to give up victory to the other side. The battle became more intense and brutal. A mecha would drop down every other minute, eliminated.


    Area G13.


    Wu Jiong, Han Yu, Mu Shaoyu and two other mecha teams had forced a mixed battle team and had already begun their fight with the seven battle teams that had moved towards them. However, the situation wasn¡¯t in their favor. After fighting repeatedly, although they had swallowed up the mecha operators that Jiang Shaoyu had left to defend the area, Wu Jiong and his team had also paid a hefty price. Every battle team was missing members here and there. Thus, while it seemed as though they had a difference of two battle teams, in reality, they had a difference of three battle teams. This gave them immense pressure. Many of the mecha operators even had two opponents.


    The situation in Area G13 was dire. In Area G17, Lin Xiao and the others were at an advantage. Han Jijyun knew that the battle at Area G13 was tough, thus he sent Li Yingjie and his team, who couldn¡¯t join the battle, to go help them.


    Everyone watching the situation from the monitoring room found it very interesting to see the First Men¡¯s Military Academy going through hardships one by one. They all kept saying that they shouldn¡¯t underestimate cadets in this day and age. The series of calctions and ns shown by the cadets made these old veterans, who had real battle experience, have a hard time keeping up. There were many ns that they couldn¡¯t even understand. Even if they had participated in the battle royale themselves, it was possible that they would have fallen into a trap as well.


    Ling Xiao leaned back on his chair at an angle, looking as though he wasn¡¯t worried about the First Men¡¯s Military Academy at all. Only He Xuyang knew that General Ling Xiao was worried; his right hand that was on the chair¡¯s armrest was silently tapping against it. This was General Ling Xiao¡¯s habitual movement when he was in deep thought.


    ¡°General, it¡¯s alright. Young Master Lan is sessfully progressing.¡± He Xuyangforted softly.


    Ling Xiao red at He Xuyang, who was suddenly surprised by this. He didn¡¯t think that the warm-hearted General Ling Xiao could wear such a cold and sharp expression.


    ¡°Chief of Staff He, in battle, we can¡¯t use emotions. We must consider everything realistically,¡± Ling Xiao said, pointing out his thoughts indifferently. This made He Xuyang regret saying something pointlessly without evidence, afraid that General Ling Xiao was worried. His action indeed put a bad reputation on the seat of the Chief of Staff.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, General!¡± He Xuyang took a deep breath, lowered his head and apologized.

 Chapter 512 - Talent!

    <h4>Chapter 512: Talent!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°You and I both know that, from this situation, even if Ling Lan is able to sessfully eliminate the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, in the end, these allied forces of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy will still be able to break through the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters and eliminate them.¡± Ling Xiao softly spoke out the reality. This was also the reason he was worried.


    He Xuyang was silent. Ling Xiao¡¯s spection was the same as his own. He looked at the scene of Lin Xiao battling in Area G17 and softly said, ¡°The only hope now is that the allied forces of Young Master Lan can pick up some ck.¡±


    ¡°Allies? I don¡¯t think they can be trusted. Who knows when they may stab you in the back?¡± Ling Xiao said with a sigh.


    He Xuyang expression changed slightly. ¡°You think the First Co-ed Military Academy will turn around and betray them?¡±


    Ling Xiao shook his head and said, ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant. I just meant that if you lean on a mountain, the mountain topples. If you lean on water, the water flows away. If you lean on someone, that person may run away. It is better to trust yourself. It is safer and more reliable!¡±


    He Xuyang nodded. Ling Xiao¡¯s words were logical. Only, was it possible to resolve the crisis only by relying on the people from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy?


    Area Q.


    At this moment, Ling Lan was silently leading her five team members in the direction of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s injuries were too severe, and they also needed someone to defend the mecha, so Ling Lan had left him behind. This result made Li Lanfeng feel sad. The feeling of being abandoned made him thirst for power even more.


    The six of their group, including Ling Lan, silently sneaked into the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters. The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters was located around a hilly forest area that blocked off any wind from getting in. From a bird¡¯s-eye view, there was nothing around aside from the forest. However, when looking up from below, people would be able to clearly see the sky and know what was happening. This was also why Area Q was easier to defend and harder to invade. It was pretty much impossible for anyone to n a sneak attack. It could only be taken down by attacking it upfront and bit by bit until reaching the center.


    However, this environment wasn¡¯t advantageous for mechas. However, it was different for Ling Lan and the others who hade after leaving their mecha behind. These bushes and vines under in this lush forest were the best ces to hide in in sight.


    Ling Lan¡¯s area of effect powers had already begun. A draft of cold air silently covered up their presence within the forest and bushes. Even if enemy mecha had heat detectors, they wouldn¡¯t be able to detect them. Only bying to this location and feeling it for themselves would they then perhaps be able to feel that something was off. However, this wasn¡¯t possible. No one would not use mecha and investigate outside the headquarters physically.


    After going past a patrolling mecha team that was passing by, Ling Lan calcted that the opposition had already flown out of the one-kilometer range of the heat detectors. Then she led her team members out of the bushes and tree and continued to sneak in.


    Just like that, Ling Lan hid here and there. Although she wasted a lot of time, after 3 hours, they finally got close to the center location of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Ling Lan waved her hand, and her other team members tacitly found their own hiding spots. Like a clever cat, Ling Lan reached the final circle of trees in the very heart of the headquarters.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t stick her head out, but instead began to use her spiritual power. She turned her spiritual power into a few thin lines, which were then made to silently move towards the center area.


    The center of the enemy headquarters was arge t field, which was exactly as Ling Lan had guessed. The only thing that Ling Lan regretted was that this field was way too t; it actually didn¡¯t have any sort of forest or bush. There was pretty much no hope in sneaking in sessfully with the mecha that were on patrol watching them. There might be some opportunities to be found if they waited for night to fall; however, morning had juste a few moments ago. They would have to wait for another 6 to 7 hours for night to fall again.


    Unfortunately, Ling Lan didn¡¯t have that much time. Little Four had already given her a live broadcast of the serious situation in Area G17. If she wanted to get out of this situation, she had to take down the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters as soon as possible. Once the opposition was eliminated, the pressure in Area G17 would decrease.


    ¡°Area G2... I still made a mistake.¡± Ling Lan silently sighed. The lesser opponents that she had ignored at the beginning had now be the most important piece in turning around the entire battle. As expected, she shouldn¡¯t underestimate any opponent that could bring about problems for her.


    Ling Lan put her frustration into the back of her head. This was a lesson for her, a lesson that might even make Ling Lan pay a hefty price. However, because of the mistake that she made today, Ling Lan would no longer underestimate any weak and unrted individuals and passersby in the future.


    After understanding the whole geography of the headquarters, Ling Lan quickly backed up to where her team members were.


    ¡°There isn¡¯t any ce to hide, and there are still six mecha patrolling the center area. We can¡¯t get close to the tent on the inside.¡± Ling Lan used hand signals to tell her team members the current situation.


    ¡°What do we do now? Wait for night?¡± Zhao Jun asked using hand signals. They didn¡¯t have a cheating machine like Little Four, so they naturally didn¡¯t know about the danger their own headquarters in Area G17 was.


    ¡°We can¡¯t wait. I¡¯ve received information that Jiang Shaoyu has led the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy to attack Area G17.¡± Ling Lan told this information to her team members, whose expressions changed instantly. They didn¡¯t think that something big had actually happened without them knowing.


    ¡°We must attack as soon as possible. We need to take down the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters before they take ours.¡± Qi Long forcefully used hand signals to express that they had to attack.


    The other five also made the same signals. They were all rmending that they attack right away.


    Ling Lan went silent. If they were in mecha, she wouldn¡¯t care about attacking up front since they would have the mecha to protect them; even if they were hit, they wouldn¡¯t be in any danger. Right now, however, they had onlye physically. If they were discovered, ended up facing mecha and were attacked, they might pay the price with their lives. This wasn¡¯t something Ling Lan wanted to see.


    Ling Lan fell into deep thought for a few minutes. She thought of a few ideas but shot them down one by one. She was very frustrated that there wasn¡¯t actually any way to make sure it was perfectly safe.


    She looked towards Li Shiyu and used hand signals to ask, ¡°Do you have any strong medicines that can break through a mecha cockpit¡¯s protection and knock out the mecha operator inside?¡±


    Li Shiyu rolled his eyes and stared at her. He used his hands to say, ¡°If there was a medicinal agent like that, then who would need mecha operators. I could just toss in a knock-out missile and control the entire situation of a battle.¡±


    It seemed that she was being whimsical! Ling Lan remembered that some talents could bring about this kind of result, such as hypnosis or the like. She looked around and discovered that the talents of her members were not of this kind. Her gaze ended upnding on Zhao Jun. This guy had joined the teamter than everyone else, and she actually didn¡¯t know what talent he had awakened. Thus, without being hopeful, she asked, ¡°Zhao Jun, what talent did you awaken?¡± If someone could be a special-ss operator, then they would have awakened a talent.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s face froze. He went silent for a few seconds before he then dispiritedly used his hands to say, ¡°Decadent Voice¡±.


    Everyone held their hands to their mouth to quickly muffle theugh that was about toe out. They didn¡¯t expect that a big, strong man like Zhao Jun had actually awakened such a soft and beautiful talent. It was hrious.


    Zhao Jun stared angrily at them. He had known that these people would make fun of him if they found out about his innate talent; thus, when he joined the battle team, he didn¡¯t really bring this up to anyone¡¯s attention.


    ¡°Decadent Voice!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up. This talent was made for this predicament. Was she really the female lead that God was looking over? She had just asked indifferently and actually got an answer to solve the problem.


    Ling Lan immediately used her spiritual power and told Zhao Jun her thoughts about how to use Decadent Voice.


    By using spiritual power tomunicate, even if someone was close by, they wouldn¡¯t be able to hear the sound of themmunicating. As long as there wasn¡¯t anyone whose spiritual power was above Ling Lan¡¯s in the surrounding area, no one would be able to discover the waves of spiritual power. This type ofmunication was most definitely the safest at this time and ce.


    Zhao Jun wore a bitter expression, nodding as he listened. In the end, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes and activated his innate talent.


    After doing so, he felt an energy force that attempted to enter the depths of his mindspace. Zhao Jun didn¡¯t panic; he knew that this was Boss Lan¡¯s spiritual power. He broke through all the protection in his mind in order to aid Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power in getting into his mindspace.


    ¡°Zhao Jun, what ability does your Decadent Voice lean towards?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s voice rang in Zhao Jun¡¯s mind.


    Zhao Jun replied using his consciousness, ¡°It¡¯s different from Li Yinfei¡¯s charming ability. My voice will make people feel sluggish and slow.¡±


    ¡°That is a good ability.¡±


    ¡°How is that a good ability? I can¡¯t use it when I operate a mecha and it can¡¯t be improved in any way,¡± Zhao Jun said with regret. When he had awakened his innate talent, he was really hoping it was something that would go well with mechas. He didn¡¯t expect that he would get this ability, which made him very disappointed. In the end, he ended up never mentioning what his innate talent was to others. Even Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t know this information. If Boss Lan didn¡¯t ask, he would have brought this information with him to the grave. In reality, Zhao Jun admired Qi Long¡¯s innate talent, Animal Instincts, the most. That talent was almost made for mecha operators.


    Ling Lan humphed coldy, which made Zhao Jun¡¯s heart instantly tighten up, and the embarrassment he originally felt regarding his talent instantly disappeared. Now that Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power was inside Zhao Jun¡¯s mindspace, he could clearly feel Ling Lan¡¯s discontent.


    ¡°No talent is useless. It¡¯s the same even with Decadent Voice that people think is of the entertainment category.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice rang in Zhao Jun¡¯s mindspace.


    ¡°What do you mean you can¡¯t use it for operating mechas? I have actually never understood why the Federation categorized talents. Entertainment, logistics and support, intelligence, beast-like physical skills... In my eyes, any talent can be used on mecha operating,¡± Ling Lan said without hesitation.


    This theory wasn¡¯t only in her thoughts because it was at the same time one of the learning space¡¯sws. In the learning space, the only difference between talentsid in the degree of power, and not whether they were useless or not.


    Ling Lan words made Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes light up. He asked excitedly, ¡°Boss Lan, you mean that my Decadent Voice can be used in operating mecha?¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± Ling Lan retorted.


    ¡°How do I use it? Boss Lan, tell me quickly,¡± Zhao Jun said hurriedly.


    ¡°When operating your mecha, you can activate your talent and let your voice affect the opponent, causing them to feel tired. You didn¡¯t think of this possibility?¡± Ling Lan responded with another question.

 Chapter 513 - Disguise!

    <h4>Chapter 513: Disguise!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Zhao Jun¡¯s excitement instantly turned cold. ¡°Then I would have to do two things at once. I can¡¯t operate the mecha and sing at the same time.¡± Zhao Jun¡¯s face fell after saying this. He couldn¡¯t imagine that other than being a tone-deaf man, he would also have to sing at the top of his lungs and lose all his pride in the process.


    ¡°Why do you have to sing? Is there a rule that says you have to sing to use your Decadent Voice? You can¡¯t use normal conversation?¡± Ling Lan asked again.


    ¡°Talking?¡± Zhao Jun¡¯s spirit was shaken once again.


    ¡°Yeah. As long as you keep talking, you don¡¯t have to think and just speak whatever, then let infuse your talent into your words,¡± Ling Lan rmended.


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. Howe I didn¡¯t think of this?¡± Ling Lan prompt had made Zhao Jun finally realize it. He had found a path that was suitable for him, and this would allow him to be a terrifying killing machine in future battlefields and make opposing countries fear him. He would also get the alias, ¡°The Reaper¡±.


    ¡°Of course, you¡¯d have to think about it yourself since the talent is yours.¡± At this moment, Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that the conversation they had unintentionally would break Zhao Jun out of his shell and in the end make him be a god of killing on the battlefield.


    ¡°I understand, Boss!¡± Zhao Jun said excitedly. He had surreptitiously changed the way he addressed her, and this meant that he had truly recognized Ling Lan as his real boss and was not just calling her Boss Lan out of respect.


    It seemed like the two of them had conversed for some time, but because they were in the mindspace, in the eyes of Qi Long and the others, Boss Lan and Zhao Jun had only gone silent for a few seconds, following which they heard Zhao Jun sing softly with his eyes closed.


    Zhao Jun had never tried to use his talent through speaking; thus, Ling Lan still let him use his own way to do it.


    Not a single word of his singing was on beat and note, making Qi Long and the others feel irritated. They subconsciously shut out this irritation and the sound disappeared slowly. As they stared nkly into space, their cognitive reaction actually bing sluggish, they suddenly felt as if their minds were given a prod and they woke up. It turned out that Ling Lan saw that they were being affected as well, so she used her spiritual charge to wake them up.


    Zhao Jun had hardly ever used the ability of his innate talent and hadn¡¯t learnt to control it, which led to his Decadent Voice being unable to differentiate between friend and foe, affecting everyone.


    Ling Lan carefully used her spiritual power to make the energy from his Decadent Voice expand towards a certain direction. It had covered almost the entire center location.


    The movements of the mecha that were originally patrolling around suddenly grew slowed and in the end, they made a pose towards one direction and stopped moving.


    ¡°This is a good opportunity.¡± Being able to multi-task, Ling Lan immediately instantly waved her hand upon seeing the situation, telling her team members to begin the operation. She first dragged Zhao Jun along and jumped out from the bushes and forest. Theynded on the ground and darted into a tent.


    Qi Long and the others followed them inside. Their luck wasn¡¯t bad because the tent Ling Lan had chosen was the tent for supplies. There was only one person responsible for the distribution of supplies, and he was currently leaning on a box with his eyes closed due to Zhao Jun¡¯s ability.


    Ling Lan took a miniature tranquilizer dart and shot it towards him, instantly knocking the other party out cold. After discovering the power and convenience of the tranquilizer darts, everyone in Ling Lan¡¯s team had enough of them in their bags. In addition, Li Shiyu was very obsessed with making these tranquilizer darts. In short, these weapons would never go out of stock.


    Ling Lan had naturally chosen this tent for a reason; it was close to ten other tents and it had only one person inside along with countless boxes which made for good hiding ces.


    Right then, Zhao Jun took a deep breath. Singing was really something that was difficult for him. In order to achieve the maximum effect, he held his breath and sang with a single breath.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s singing had stopped, and the mecha operators outside seemed like they had awoken as they continued their original movements. Since Ling Lan and the rest of her team were quick and took only a few seconds moving into the tent, the mecha operators ignored this dy in time.


    Right then, one team of people were walking towards this tent. Hearing the sounds, Ling Lan waved her hands. Out of the six of them, Xie Yi was the one whose physique was most simr to the person who was responsible for distributing supplies. He quickly took of that person¡¯s clothes and put them on himself. The others all hid in the back, with Qi Long holding on to that person that they took the clothes off from. He darted behind a box in the corner and hid.


    A few secondster, the curtain at the entrance of the tent was lifted up, and seven or eight people immediately entered. One of them mumbled, ¡°This weather is really unpredictable. It was so hot I was dying just a moment ago and now it¡¯s so cold that I can¡¯t take it anymore.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s already day 3, and you¡¯re still not used to it?¡± apanion asked in surprise.


    ¡°You know that Ie from me. No matter how hot it is, I will be able to endure it. However, once it gets cold, my body will automatically reject it,¡± the first speaker replied with a bitter smile.


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s right. Actually, if you said that earlier, you could have just stayed in the resting area and note out here. These supplies can actually be taken just by the rest of us,¡± hispanion said with concern.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. The more I stay still the colder it gets. It¡¯s better if a move a bit. It¡¯ll feel better,¡± the first speaker said indifferently.


    At this moment, Xie Yi had his head down and was leaning towards a box as though he was very tired and had fallen asleep.


    The person leading the group saw this and was not happy. He said, ¡°This guy Zhou Jiyun used his connections to get himself an easy job and actually decided to just bezy.¡±


    One person beside him said with a hint of jealousy, ¡°It can¡¯t helped that he¡¯s someone from the Zhou family, a top ss elite family. Themander had to give it to him for their sake.¡±


    His words made the other people show an expression of envy and jealousy. The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy and the top ss elite family had an agreement. Although they would supply much battle strength for the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, their special privileges were still there.


    The leader of these people let go of his discontent and walked forward. He bent down to nudge Xie Yi¡¯s shoulder and yelled, ¡°Zhou Jiyun, wake up.¡± Not all those who were from the Zhou family were exceptional and outstanding. For example, this person that was in front them was useless beyond the scope of useless. He had gotten this close to him yet he could actually still be fast asleep and not wake up. He was really slow in reacting.


    Just as this thought crossed through his mind, he saw a silver sh in front of his eyes. He felt a slight sting on his forehead and then he instantly went unconscious.


    Xie Yi used his right hand to push against that person¡¯s chest to make sure he didn¡¯t fall over, while he used his left to show he wasn¡¯t happy being woken up, immediately pushing away the hand that the other party had ced on his shoulder. He mumbled, ¡°Who is it?¡±


    The people in the back didn¡¯t feel anything wrong. Right then, Xie Yi immediately grabbed hold of the unconscious person¡¯s shoulder, bit his lip and said, ¡°You again!?¡± Then he turned around to tackle him onto the ground, holding up his right hand and getting ready to beat him up.


    Since Xie Yi had blocked off the vision of the people in the back, they didn¡¯t discover that theirpanion was already unconscious. They saw that Xie Yi was about to beat him, so they quickly ran up to stop him...


    Their attention was all on Xie Yi. Seeing this, Ling Lan and the others, who were hiding elsewhere, each shot out one miniature tranquilizer dart. Ling Lan shot three of them consecutively and took down the rest of the members of this group in an instant.


    Seeing that his team had taken down all them, Xie Yi stood up. Ling Lan waved her hand, signaling for everyone to change their clothes, and they immediately found the most suitable clothes that fit for themselves and changed into them.


    Everyone quickly changed. Although Ling Lan was leaning towards a more slim and small body figure and if she chose a small size to wear, it would be still too big for her. However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that this was an issue because there was someone who had a bigger issue; the clothes didn¡¯t fit Luo Lang when he wore it, and this immediately made him make a face. He wore a seemingly bullied expression which made everyoneugh.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know how to feel. She didn¡¯t whether she should be grateful or hateful regarding Luo Lang¡¯s existence. While helping her hide her gender, he had also simultaneously reminded her that she didn¡¯t really have the beauty and tenderness of a young teenage girl.


    In the end, everyone decided that Luo Lang would walk in their middle, in case someone found out that their clothes didn¡¯t fit. Everyone also took some things from the tent and walked out towards the other tents, brash and forthright. They even conversed amongst themselves as they went. This extremely normal scene make the patrol mecha operators in the entire area nce at them before looking elsewhere in the next second.


    The mecha operators definitely didn¡¯t imagine the possibility of others sessfully sneaking in when they had surveince in the entire area. They also didn¡¯t think that such intruders would be so daring and change into their uniforms right under their noses.


    Every time they went past a tent, Ling Lan would use her spiritual power to investigate it. When she discovered that the tent didn¡¯t contain the beacon, she would then turn towards another tent. After continuing to walk like this, they finally found their objective and Ling Lan was delighted. She was about to lead her team members in that direction and had yet to get close, when suddenly the curtain of a tent beside them was opened. One person peeked out, saw their backs towards them and yelled, ¡°Why are you guys going to the Commander¡¯s quarters? We¡¯re waiting for you to bring the ingredients to make some food.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s hand shook slightly and one tranquilizer dart was surreptitiously shot out. Qi Long, who was in the rear-line, tacitly jumped towards the door and held up the person who was falling out of the tent. He softly said, ¡°Why are you yelling? There¡¯s a situation in the supplies area. We¡¯re afraid that it¡¯ll be leaked and wanted to surreptitiously report it. If you want to know, thene with us...¡±


    ¡°... It¡¯s that Zhou Jiyun...¡± Qi Long deliberately said this in a lowered voice. Amidst his mumbling, he clearly disclosed this part. The conversation they heard at the supply area revealed that it seemed this Zhou Jiyun wasn¡¯t very liked by his team.


    As expected, the other people in the tent, who had looked towards the guy who had yelled at the tent entrance, heard Qi Long¡¯s indistinct words and understood. It was possible that Zhou Jiyun had offended someone again. However, in the past, people were still willing to endure it. Now that themander had left, without themander¡¯s pressure, some couldn¡¯t take it anymore.


    These people instantly looked away, but their ears perked up. They were trying to clearly hear Qi Long and the others¡¯ conversation. They wanted to know how they were going to take revenge on Zhou Jiyun.


    When they looked away, Qi Long dragged that guy out of the tent entrance and drew down the curtain as he left in order to block off their line of sight.

 Chapter 514 - Sharpen Your Swords!

    <h4>Chapter 514: Sharpen Your Swords!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Xie Yi walked beside Qi Long without making a sound, and then the two of them held the unconscious person, one on each side, and dragged him towards themander¡¯s tent. Qi Long continued to softly speak, ¡°The situation¡¯s like this...¡±


    Afterwards, Qi Long¡¯s voice became even softer and only a few words of bribery and corruption could be heard, making those in the tents want to go out and listen to what was being said clearly.


    However, after thinking that Strategist Zhuge was in themander¡¯s quarters, they instantly put that thought behind their head. They didn¡¯t want to see that smiley face of his. In a friendly atmosphere, he could make someone homeless and bankrupt without that person seeing through his calctions...


    Ling Lan saw there were only three people inside. She didn¡¯t pause to think, simply lifting up the curtain and walking in.


    The one closest to the door was a guard of some sort. Ling Lan quickly nced towards him. Her Qi-Jin had just reached the primary stage of activation.


    The other party saw that someone actually walked in without reporting first. He immediately became angry and said, ¡°Who is it? Being so disrespectful to the rules.¡±


    Ling Lan was very calm. ¡°I have urgent news that I need to report,¡± she said with a serious face.


    This made the anger of that person settle down a bit. He turned around and looked inside.


    Inside the tent were two people, who had been looking at and studying a map. One of them had heard themotion at the tent entrance and he had instantly frozen up. In contrast, the other person raised his head, smiled carelessly and said, ¡°Little Gao, it¡¯s alright. Let hime over here.¡±


    Little Gao¡¯s expression calmed down and he pointed towards Ling Lan, saying, ¡°You go and report!¡± He then pointed at Qi Long and the others and said, ¡°You guys stay here and don¡¯t move.¡±


    Ling Lan used her right hand to give a quick signal to her team members behind her. The smiling individual saw this and didn¡¯t overlook this small action, his expression changing instantly.


    Right then, the person who had frozen up suddenly opened his mouth and tried to scream, ¡°Enemy attack...¡±


    Unfortunately, before he could scream out, his eyes rolled backwards and he fell to the ground. The person beside him quickly looked at him and discovered that there was half a needle sticking out from his neck area. That person¡¯s expression shuddered again.


    It turns out that Ling Lan had shot a miniature tranquilizing dart at him the moment he was about to call for help.


    Little Gao saw this scene and was instantly stupefied. Right when he realized it was an enemy attack, Qi Long and Luo Lang moved together, one on the right and one on the left, each one of them stabbing a tranquilizer dart into that person¡¯s neck area.


    The person who had looked at Ling Lan and the others with a smile didn¡¯t change his expression. He sighed softly and said, ¡°I have always schemed against others, but I didn¡¯t think that our own headquarters would be in other people¡¯s ns. Which military academy are you guys from? Wait, don¡¯t tell me yet. Let me take a guess.¡±


    He fell into deep thought for a few seconds before saying without hesitation, ¡°You guys are from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and you should be theirmander, Commander Ling, right?¡± The other party¡¯s memory was definitely good. He had instantly spoken out Ling Lan¡¯s identity.


    Ling Lan looked at him indifferently and said, ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right. What is your name, senior?


    That man smiled bitterly and said, ¡°Zhuge Jingming!¡±


    ¡°Empyreal Zhuge!¡± Ling Lan said calmly. ¡°I¡¯ve heard so much about you!¡±


    ¡°Your tone doesn¡¯t sound like you¡¯ve heard of me.¡± Zhuge Jingming shook his head and smiled bitterly. Was he mocking him?


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think that you guys would be so daring as to attack the headquarters after leaving your mecha behind. Do you guys not fear death?¡± Zhuge Jingming could not understand the madness of the six people standing in front of him. This move of theirs, in his eyes, was without a doubt the same as suicide.


    ¡°That¡¯s because no one thought that anyone would march to their death. Thus, we are able to stand here right now,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    Hearing this, Zhuge Jingming¡¯s eyes instantly flickered. He continued to sigh and said, ¡°That¡¯s true. In the battlefield, people will do anything to win. Life isn¡¯t the only thing that is important. I was wrong. I didn¡¯t look at the battle royale like it was a real battlefield. You, on the other hand, believed it to be a real battlefield. That¡¯s why you won.¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t say anything and only looked around in the tent. She immediately discovered theuncher. Right when she moved towards it, Zhuge Jingming said, ¡°The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy is already your trophy. There are still 10-15 hours left of the battle royale. You probably aren¡¯t in a hurry, Commander Ling. On the other hand, I have a question that I would like to ask Commander Ling. I¡¯m not sure if Commander Ling could help me with my inquiry?¡±


    Ling Lan coldly nced at Zhuge Jingming, her re piercing into his heart. ¡°I know you¡¯re trying to drag this out.¡±


    Hearing this, Zhuge Jingming he feeling he got from that cold re from before instantly disappeared. He smiled bitterly once again with an innocent expression and his hand open as he said, ¡°The Zhuge Family focuses on developing cognition. In terms of physical skills, we only need to make sure our body is healthy. You guys are all strong individuals and should clearly be aware of the real level of my physical skills. I can¡¯tpare to any of you guys since I¡¯m only at the Manifestation level. Even if I wanted to turn the situation around, I wouldn¡¯t have that capability.¡± Zhuge Jingming¡¯s expression and words were all sincere, making people involuntarily want to trust him.


    At that moment, Ling Lan had already walked up to theuncher. She took out theuncher that belonged to the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯smander and looked at it in detail. She then asked, ¡°This is Jiang Shaoyu¡¯suncher, right?¡±


    Zhuge Jingming knew that he couldn¡¯t deceive Ling Lan, so he nodded and said, ¡°Of course, Commander Ling. You know very well that the headquarters requires themander¡¯suncher to be activated.¡±


    Hearing this, Ling Lan¡¯s lips perked up. She slowly exerted some power from her finger and thatuncher was instantly crushed into dust. In the end, Ling Lan flicked her finger softly, removing the residue from her finger onto the floor and leaving no traces.


    This scene made Zhuge Jingming¡¯s eyelids jump. He didn¡¯t know what the other¡¯s action meant. Was it done to scare him?


    Ling Lan then turned around towards Zhuge Jingming. Wearing a half-smile, she said, ¡°There¡¯s still some time. I¡¯ll listen to your question.¡±


    Zhuge Jingming was extremely happy. The reason he had wanted to ask a question was to buy time. It had already been 12 hours since Jiang Shaoyu had led his team out. If everything had gone well, he was probably already attacking the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters. These people in front of him might not know of this situation, and thus they had a chance to turn things around.


    Zhuge Jingming focused and calmed himself. He slowly said, ¡°I want to ask about how you guys snuck through Area Q. Don¡¯t tell me you guys came here without mecha from the beginning. Even if you were to rush, you would still not have been able to arrive here by now.¡± Although he was trying to drag out the time, Zhuge Jingming still wanted to know the answer to this question, which was why he had simply asked outright.


    ¡°There¡¯s something called a disguise. Just like how we are now,¡± Ling Lan responded calmly.


    ¡°But we have ways of telling you apart. Even if you somehow managed to get past one checkpoint, you couldn¡¯t possibly get past so many of the other ones.¡± Zhuge Jingming didn¡¯t believe Ling Lan¡¯s words.


    ¡°There¡¯s also something called information!¡± Ling Lan nced at Zhuge Jingming. That piercing cold expression of hers frightened Zhuge Jingming. He kept feeling that his thoughts were being read by the opponent... How was this possible! At a certain distance, even mecha would not be able to get information from thousands of miles away.


    Although Zhuge Jingming was telling himself to not get worried, Ling Lan¡¯s nce had been too intense. It made him involuntarily close his eyelids in order to block off the eyes that looked through into his soul.


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips perked up a bit and showed a hint of a mocking expression. She took out something small that she had brought with them all the way here and at the same time said, ¡°There¡¯s also something called loopholes! They won¡¯t disappear after a n is made.¡± After saying that, her finger pressed down and the item she took out was put into the receiver.


    Ling Lan action caused Zhuge Jingming¡¯s expression to change slightly, and his heart instantly felt it was like being submerged in water.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I still haven¡¯t pushed down the button to turn it on. You still have time.¡± Ling Lan nced at Zhuge Jingming indifferently. That nce of hers was emotionless, seeming as though Zhuge Jingming didn¡¯t exist in the eyes of his opponent.


    This feeling of being looked down upon made Zhuge Jingming feel extremely humiliated. From his birth, he was the prodigal son. He was expected to inherit the next generation of the existence of the God Machine. Up until now, his life had been entirely smooth sailing. He was valued by his family and friends, and even the proud Jiang Shaoyu had no choice but to yield to him... This had made Zhuge Jingming be conceited, believing that there was no one in the world that would look down upon him.


    However, all of this was overthrown by Ling Lan. It wasn¡¯t that Ling Lan was looking down on him, but it was the fact that she had totally disregarded him. Zhuge, the God Machine that everyone respected, was the same as an average person in the eyes of the other. No matter if it was the feeling of glory given to him by his family, or his own dignity, they were both extremely hurt by this.


    Zhuge Jingming could not help but hate the cold young man standing in front of him. Why did he look down on him...? Why him... Why...


    ¡°Because you¡¯re my prisoner and I¡¯m a guest, and I will be the master of this ce.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice pierced Zhuge Jingming¡¯s heart, which caused his originally chaotic expression to instantly clear up, and he started to have cold sweats. Without realizing it, he had actually fallen into the trap of hate in his heart.


    Zhuge Jingming looked at Ling Lan with aplicated expression. He didn¡¯t know whether to hate the other for letting him fall into the trap of hate in his own heart, or be grateful that he helped him out of the trap.


    ¡°Ask your question. You have onest chance.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t look at Zhuge Jingming. She stared at the receiver, took out her right hand and pushed down the button that had lit up. The corner of her lips showed a hint of a smile, but it vanished instantly. ¡°Don¡¯t waste any more time. Think carefully on what you really want to ask.¡±


    Zhuge Jingming took a deep breath and cleared all the chaotic emotions out of his head. Now he was still the amazing strategist Zhuge. He calmly asked, ¡°I just want to know¡ªwhy didn¡¯t you send out Qiao Ting? You should know clearly that without an ace operator defending it, your headquarters won¡¯t be safe and can possibly be lost.¡±


    Ling Lan looked at Zhuge Jingming with interest upon hearing his question. She slowly said, ¡°If I didn¡¯t send out Qiao Ting, would Jiang Shaoyu have dared to lead battle teams himself to attack the headquarters of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy?¡±


    These words surprised Zhuge Jingming. He sprang up, his expression changed, and he said, ¡°You knew that Commander Jiang would attack the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters?¡±


    ¡°I also know that the reason you were trying to drag things out was to wait for Jiang Shaoyu to sessfully take down our headquarters and eliminate us invaders. This way, not only does it eliminate us, but it also saves your own headquarters.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s spoke out Zhuge Jingming¡¯s n with one statement.


    Zhuge Jingming could no longer keep his calm expression. He discovered that he had been stripped fully naked to stand before his opponent. All of his motives werepletely transparent without anything covering them.


    ¡°Well, if that¡¯s the case, then why would you put on an act with me?¡± Since he already knew, why would he waste her time with him? Was it because he knew that Jiang Shaoyu wouldn¡¯t be able to take down his headquarters? What kind of trump card did the other have in order to be this calm?


    Zhuge Jingming thought long and hard. A thought shed through his head and he yelled, ¡°Lin Xiao. It¡¯s Lin Xiao!¡± Yes, they could send allied forces to attack the opposition, then the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would also be able to ask for reinforcements from allied forces. He had actually forgotten about the other ace operator, Lin Xiao.


    Zhuge Jingming was very frustrated. However, he quickly thought about the n he made afterwards, the n that even Jiang Shaoyu didn¡¯t know about. It was only meant as a safety precaution or a way to turn around the situation. As long as Jiang Shaoyu stopped Lin Xiao, they would definitely still have a chance. Zhuge Jingming¡¯s confidence returned a bit.


    ¡°You¡¯re waiting for Area G2 right?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words made Zhuge Jingming¡¯s heart, which had managed to calm down, once again shake violently. He looked at Ling Lan dumbfounded with an expression of disbelief. Why, why would he know about the n he made as a precaution? Area G2 was clearly hidden very well.


    ¡°It was a good n,¡± Ling Lan praised him softly.


    Zhuge Jingming was indeed a great strategist. This time, both sides hadn¡¯t nned for their respective opponent¡¯s hidden killing move, so it counted as a tie. Ling Lan thought to herself that perhaps Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun should go against Zhuge Jingming more in the future. With an opponent as strong as this, they would improve even quicker.


    ¡°You guys also nned something to go against Area G2 as well?¡± Zhuge Jingming asked, unwilling to give up. If it was like that, he would have lost more than he could lose.


    ¡°No, not really,¡± Ling Lan replied honestly. A mistake was a mistake. Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t make excuses in order to hide it.


    Zhuge Jingming was surprised. He quickly looked towards Ling Lan with a frown. He began to think what the opponent had actually used to go against his n.


    ¡°Don¡¯t waste your time. I didn¡¯t do anything. The battle teams you arranged in Area G2 have indeed made a big mess out of my headquarters. My men are fighting a hard battle and practically half the members at headquarters are eliminated.¡± Ling Lan told Zhuge Jingming the situation at her headquarters. Her tone sounded as though they were two very calm people who knew each very well, having a conversation about something that had nothing to do with them.


    Ling Lan¡¯s demeanor made Zhuge Jingming feel extremely confused. If the situation was as he said, why was this person not the least bit worried?


    ¡°Now, things have reached the point where the members at headquarters have to fight a losing battle. Only under the pressure of life and death will they have an opportunity to evolve... No matter if it¡¯s the ones who are eliminated or the ones who are left, they all have a chance to grow stronger.¡± Ling Lan spoke calmly, telling the other why she was cooperating with him to drag out the time.


    ¡°You actually used our men as sharpening stones for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.¡± Zhuge Jingming suddenly understood. What kind ofmander would do this? This was so crazy. In order to have a chance to be stronger, he wouldn¡¯t care to bet the safety of his headquarters on the line. Did the first ce of the Grand Mecha Tournament not attract him?


    ¡°I naturally want first ce, but that isn¡¯t my only goal. I hope that those following me can all be stronger. This is what I can give them in return for their trust in me. And for me, this is the only thing I can give in return.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression was sincere. As more and more people ced their trust in her, she was also trying her best to repay for this trust. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t just take and not give back.


    ¡°If you were to lose, even if you were berated by them, you would still give them enough time to be stronger?¡± Zhuge Jingming looked at Ling Lan as though he was looking at a crazed man. Only crazy people would use their pride and glory to let others have a chance to be stronger.


    ¡°One person standing at the peak will feel the cold bitterness of loneliness!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression became wispy. She didn¡¯t want to be the only person standing at the peak in the future, looking down below with a lonesome face. That wasn¡¯t something she needed. Thus, she didn¡¯t choose the Sovereign Dao, or the Holy Dao, and chose the Dominance Dao that she herself created. The path she took was actually the one that was in her heart.


    Those who strategized did not need to speak too clearly. Zhuge Jingming had already understood the meaning of Ling Lan¡¯s words. His expression was veryplicated. Finally, he sighed deeply and said, ¡°I admire you! However, aren¡¯t you afraid that while speaking to me, yourmunicator would suddenly show the information that you guys have lost and are eliminated?¡±


    Ling Lan nced at Zhuge Jingming with a half-smile and replied, ¡°Why should I be afraid?¡± After that, she pushed down the button that was lit up. ¡°But to be honest, I am actually afraid...¡± If she didn¡¯t have Little Four surveying the whole area, she would naturally not have had the courage to waste time like this with Zhuge Jingming. She knew very well that antagonist boss characters all usually ended up with the tables being turned against because they spoke too much... Right now, she was like a f**king antagonist, Ling Lan thought to herself depressingly.


    Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s action, Zhuge Jingming thought he was going to feel despair, frustration and pain. He didn¡¯t think that when he saw Ling Lan push down on the button, he actually let go. It was as though he was a prisoner on death row, waiting for the guillotine hanging above him. The waiting was torturous and painful. However, after the guillotine dropped, after knowing that he was cut down, he would then be set free.


    Yes. Speaking with this person who seemed to have everything within his control had slowly broken down his confidence bit by bit. Before he could be totally defeated, he had gotten away from the other¡¯s clutches. He was lucky!


    Area G13.


    Coming as reinforcements, Li Yingjie and the others saw that Han Yu, Mu Shaoyu and Wu Jiong were all in the middle of tough battles.


    At this time, mecha on both sides had fallen down to be eliminated. Overall, the opposition had lost more mecha. It was, of course, due to the fact that this time, the team that Ling Lan had led consisted of the logistics transport team along with Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie¡¯s mixed battle team, while the rest were all battle teams. The rest were the top special-ss operators of the military academy¡¯s mecha team. Their capabilities were stronger than the mixture of the advanced and special level mecha battle teams. Even if it was 2 to 1, they would not lose right away. This allowed them to endure for a very long time.


    However, as time went on, the situation was bing less and less in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s favor. Although the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had mecha operators with stronger capabilities, the number of enemy mecha was enough topensate for this. Very soon, the situation took a turn for the worse. The mecha on the side of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy began to fall in increasing numbers.

 Chapter 515 - Pressure!

    <h4>Chapter 515: Pressure!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Seeing that the situation was no longer looking good, Li Yingjie immediately ordered, ¡°Sh*t. Advance forward. Keep the opponents upied and relieve some pressure for our brothers.¡± After saying this, Li Yingjie turned on the mirror beam shield. He turned his engine up to the highest setting and his mecha shot out like a cannonball, darting straight towards one of the mecha.


    ¡°AHH.¡± The operators of the 15 oddly shaped transport mecha all screamed out angrily and followed their captain in pouncing on the enemy.


    Although the operators of the logistics mecha team were all advanced mecha operators, they were neither impulsive nor blinded by anger. The opponents that they chose were also advanced mecha operators. While relieving pressure for theirrades, they also wanted to battle until the end of the battle royale at the same time.


    With Li Yingjie¡¯s 15 mecha joining in, Wu Jiong, Han Yu, Mu Shaoyu and the others instantly felt their pressure decrease by a great deal. The two sides fought brutally. One side knew clearly that if they got through these people blockading them, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters would be in the bag. The other side knew even more clearly that if they didn¡¯t block them off, they would all be eliminated once the headquarters was broken through. This was an ending that they could not ept.


    It should be said that the people of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were ready to risk everything. Although the transport mecha retained some power, it was undoubtedly not enough whenpared to real battle mecha. It was necessary for the piloting skills of the mecha operators topensate for this point; however, even an advanced mecha operator participating in the Grand Mecha Tournament would be among the most exceptional mecha operators. In the transport battle team that Li Yingjie had brought, other than Li Yingjie who could still go against an opponent, the others were somewhat all in a crisis.


    Gao Jinyun was one of the team leaders of the Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s battle teams. Although his operating abilities weren¡¯t bad, if he weren¡¯t part of Lingtian Mecha n, he wouldn¡¯t have had a chance to be even a transport mecha operator.


    When he find out that he had been enlisted as a mecha operator for the logistics and transport mecha team, he was undoubtedly very excited. He was very grateful to Ling Lan and rejoiced at the fact that before getting admitted to the academy, he had decisively followed Ling Lan on the battleship to take it down. That was the proudest and smartest decision he had made in his life; it had given him the opportunity he was having right now which everyone admired.


    Gao Jinyun knew that his operating capabilities counted among the lowest group out of all the members that hade to participate in the battle royale; thus, every time he received a mission to transport supplies, he was very careful in not making a mistake and making Boss Lan look bad.


    In reality, when Li Yingjie had ordered them to fight the enemy, Gao Jinyun knew of the oue that awaited himself. The difference in mechas¡¯ capabilities between the two sides, in addition to the simr levels of mecha operators, they really didn¡¯t have any hope of winning... But even so, all the members, including Gao Jinyun, had decisively raised their beam sabers and pounced towards the opponents.


    Everyone knew that in this time of crisis, only by giving their all would they then be able to protect their headquarters!


    Once Gao Jinyun came face to face with his opponent, he knew the situation wasn¡¯t looking good for him. Although the other party was also operating an advanced mecha, his opponent¡¯s capabilities had without a doubt reached the peak of advanced mecha operators and only needed to progress a bit more to be a special-ss operator. Against a mecha operator of this level, he wouldn¡¯t have a chance of winning even if he were to operate the best advanced mecha, not to mention the fact that the transport mecha he was operating had poor equipment and weapons.


    It was just as he had predicted. After ten rounds of attacks, he was pressured from all sides, dangering from every corner. Gao Jinyun felt that he might be struck down by the opponent in the next second.


    ¡°Ah!¡± A familiar voice screamed out in themlink channel of the team. Gao Jinyun knew who it was; it was the leader of another team, Wu Fei, who also belonged to the Lingtian Mecha n. Recently, they had been moving together day and night, and had be very familiar with each other. Wu Fei, who was close to Gao Jinyun in operating skills, could hold on no longer and was sessfully struck down by his opponent.


    This made Gao Jinyun feel as though he was a fox mourning for the death of a hare. He thought to himself, ¡°Will I also end up like that? Defeated and eliminated by my opponent?¡±


    Right then, the image of Ling Lan coldly ring at him appeared inside Gao Jinyun¡¯s mind. That cold re was apanied with a hint of regret and disappointment...


    Gao Jinyun thought back to the excitement he had felt when he was called out by Boss Lan. The members of his team had prepared a special celebratory party to send him off after hearing this news and at that time, he had told his team members that he would definitely return the kindness that Boss Lan had shown him.


    Was he going to return that kindness like this? How truly idiotic! Gao Jinyun stared ahead in anger, hating his weakness. He would not be defeated like this. Even if he were defeated, he would take his opponent down with him! Otherwise, how would he repay the trust and the chance Boss Lan had given him? He would stay loyal to the very end¡ªhe couldn¡¯t let Boss Lan down!


    ¡°Sh*t, even if I lose, I will take down the opponent with me. Self-destruct!¡± Gao Jinyun yelled angrily. He pulled on the mecha¡¯s engine throttle and using the fastest speed possible, he operated his mecha to ruthlessly crash into his foe.


    Although transport mecha could not bepared with actual battle mecha in all aspects, they were stronger than battle mechas in one aspect; they could carry more supplies. These transport mecha were modified to resemble heavy tanks, which meant that the weight of these mecha was heavier by 2 to 3 timespared to battle mecha. Once they elerated and crashed into something, the powerful force would make battle mecha back up and not dare to face them head-on.


    As expected, Gao Jinyun¡¯s rushing movement made his opponent back off and dodge to the side. He was preparing for Gao Jinyun to use all of his strength and then attack.


    Seeing this, Gao Jinyun¡¯s eyes lit up and knew this was his chance. He followed through and attacked the opponent furiously because Gao Jinyun knew clearly that once this chance passed, he wouldn¡¯t have any more.


    The time passed by quickly. One decision could be a fate-changing decision. Gao Jinyun¡¯s opponent suddenly discovered that after he dodged backwards, he no longer held the advantage he had from the start. The one being pressured now was actually himself.


    However, this mecha operator was an individual with plenty of experience. His emotions kept in check, he didn¡¯t worry but instead, he calmed himself and defended with all his might. Even though Gao Jinyun¡¯s attack was insane, he still managed to block it and didn¡¯t give Gao Jinyun any chances.


    As expected, those participating in the Grand Mecha Tournament weren¡¯t there just for show! Gao Jinyun silently praised and admired the opponent¡¯s performance. He didn¡¯t realize that his operating speed had advanced beyond his original limit and entered the next level. This made him jump straight from middle-level in the advanced ss to the peak. If he could sessfully stabilize his advancement, he would definitely have a chance to break through into the level of special-ss operator after one year. If he was lucky, he too would be able to join the ranks of special-ss operators.


    Gao Jinyun put all of his efforts into the fight. He only had one thought and that was to crash into the opponent. This was the only chance he had to win this battle.


    ¡°Bang!¡± A loud collision could be heard¡ªGao Jinyun had finally crashed into his opponent.


    After Gao Jinyun crashed into him, the opponent¡¯s expression changed slightly. Although he had throttled his mecha¡¯s engine to its limit, he discovered that the full force from the opposition¡¯s crash made his mecha unable to fully take on such arge impact. Finally, after holding on for a few seconds, his mecha lost control and was knocked back with a great force.


    ¡°Sh*t! What¡¯s happening?¡± The mecha operator who lost control couldn¡¯t help but swear under his breath. It had seemed that the opposition¡¯s speed was clearly slow enough for him to dodge. Why did he make a mistake just now and fail to dodge the attack?


    This mecha operator didn¡¯t expect that Gao Jinyun would improve during the battle; thetter¡¯s finger speed had broken through into a new level. This also made the mecha operator have a bad judgment call and was also the reason why he could dodge many times before but not this time.


    Seeing that his opponent¡¯s mecha had lost control and was sent flying, Gao Jinyun was overjoyed. He didn¡¯t hesitate to lift up his beam saber and stab ruthlessly in his opponent¡¯s direction. The beam saber struck the chest area of the opponent.


    ¡°Bzzz!¡± The beam saber and the beam shield¡¯s violent collision created a slew of sparks, and the energy of the shield and saber began to deplete rapidly. The mecha whose energy was depletedst would be the victor.


    The two mecha created a beam of light in the sky. Right when the beam saber was about to deplete into nothingness and Gao Jinyun felt hopeless, the force blocking his weapon suddenly instantly vanished, and the beam saber easily stabbed through into the opponent¡¯s mecha. A fleeting momentter, a force flicked his beam saber out of the mecha. Gao Jinyun knew that this was the support safeguard mechanism that the mecha were equipped with for the battle royale.


    As expected, Gao Jinyun, whose beam saber was ejected, saw that his opponent¡¯s mecha was already falling to the ground from the sky. Gao Jinyun held onto his beam saber that was nearly depleted of energy and suddenly fell into a nk daze.


    Did this mean that he had won?


    It was a good thing that Gao Jinyun woke up from his trance quickly. He was still in the middle of a battle and couldn¡¯t afford to nk out for even a second.


    After calming down, Gao Jinyun couldn¡¯t tell what victory tasted like. He quickly reced the energy unit of the beam saber in his hand, feeling silently grateful to the logistics division at the same time.


    It should be known that these energy units were found by the logistics members after expending a great amount of time. They had picked them out from among tens of thousands of energy units, and every one of these energy units all contained the theoretical peak amount of energy they could carry. It was because of this that he was able to have a bit more energy than his opponent and manage to endure until the end and acquire victory.


    Details determined victory or loss! Gao Jinyun suddenly remembered that when Boss Lan was preparing the supplies, he had especially made sure of this point. Gao Jinyun was now full of confidence. With a Boss who even thought of the smallest details, how could they lose here?


    Gao Jinyun was undoubtedly lucky. He had saved himself along with taking down his opponent, but his other team members weren¡¯t as lucky. However, the angry shout Gao Jinyun had made through the team¡¯smlink had woken up many members that were under pressure and evoked their will to not give up. Since it was going to be a losing the battle, then they couldn¡¯t just lose without making something of it.


    The members who clearly knew there was no hope chose to use a suicide attack in the end¡ªself-destruct! (The self-destruct mechanism in the battle royale is just a simtion. Once they press down on the self-destruct button, the A.I. of two opposing mecha will simte the real energy levels of a self-destruct attack based on the distance and angle between the two. The A.I. will then make the final call as to who won, and the result won¡¯t actually be that of a real gruesome self-destructing suicide.)


    As one mecha after another among the logistics transport mecha chose to self-destruct, taking down 4 to 5 mecha operators from the opposing side, the members from the other battle teams were also moved by their actions. Even the logistics transport team performed so valiantly, so how could they, the real battle team members, lose to theirrades?


    Thus, seeing that there were no more mecha that could fight, they all followed the transport team¡¯s footsteps. One after another, mecha dropped to the ground. Each mecha operator who was eliminated also took a trophy with them when they left in the end.


    On the ground, Chang Xinyuan was leading nine modified mecha and watching the situation above Area G13.


    He saw the mecha of familiarrades drop one by one. Before dropping down, they ruthlessly held onto an opponent and pushed down the self-destruct button. Chang Xinyuan¡¯s blood boiled and he couldn¡¯t help but want to also go up there and fight. Even if he wasn¡¯t on the same level, he still wanted to be beside hisrades. Even if it was self-destructing, he would try to take one with him... He thought of the scene from before, of Boss Lan leading his battle team to fight against Qiao Ting¡¯s. His teammates had used this move back then to take down an ace operator.


    The numbers of both sides were decreasing, but the opposition had two times their numbers, after all. Even if the First Men¡¯s Military Academy put forth all their efforts, they wouldn¡¯t be able topensate for this difference.


    ¡°Captain, the situation is bing increasingly disadvantageous,¡± one of the members worriedly reminded Chang Xinyuan. Right then, there were only 13 mecha that were still fighting for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, while the opposition had around 20. The opponents held a definite advantage in numbers.


    ¡°What you do you think we should do? We¡¯ve already sent out those who can fight, aside from our team,¡± Chang Xinyuan said with a sigh.


    Even after being beaten up by Boss Lan, Chang Xinyuan had only sessfully advanced to advanced mecha operator after the new year. However, only top-level special-ss operators remained on the battlefield. Even if they were to help, it wouldn¡¯t make a difference for them. They would have to worry about whether they would make it harder for theirrades and disrupt them.


    It seemed that they would have to study hard for mecha piloting in the future!


    Chang Xinyuan once again felt the bitterness of being unable to do anything. In reality, Chang Xinyuan¡¯s growth was very quick. He had gone from middle-level mecha operator to middle-level advanced mecha operator in less than a year. Compared to his battle team, his rate of development was definitelyparable to those exceptional mecha operators, but he had ended up harboring a misconception only because Ling Lan¡¯s battle team was entirely made up of aberrants; he believed that he hadn¡¯t improved and was holding back the team.


    Thus, after this Grand Mecha Tournament ended, two masochists would appear in Ling Lan¡¯s battle team. One would be Li Lanfeng, who wanted to be stronger, while the other would be Chang Xinyuan, who believed he was always the one holding everyone back.


    However, the masochistic behavior of these two crazy individuals would also make the other members of the team feel a sense of danger; thus, they would create a new wave of studying and training, and Ling Lan¡¯s team would grow quickly as a group from thepetitive atmosphere. This was why Ling Lan¡¯s team would be ahead of the other battle teams. This would all be exined in greater detailter.


    Chang Xinyuan¡¯s question caused the other members to instantly be at a loss for words. Although they had modified their mecha to the point of being amazingly overpowered, their operating abilities could not bepared to that of those battle mecha operators. Thus, they could only watch with concern and yet not be able to do anything.


    ¡°Are we really going to just watch as these assholes take down our headquarters?¡± One member angrily smacked his head. He had always thought that researching modifications was enough. However now, he was regretting the fact that he didn¡¯t spend enough time practicing mecha piloting. If he had done so, he would have been able to fight side by side with hisrades at this moment...


    Today¡¯s battle changed the mentality of these mechanics who were obsessed with research. After going back, they would train hard in operating skills and identally be the mechanics of the battlefield. It was also because they came to understand the concept of battle that they became able to invent countless strong weapons and modified mecha. This led to them bing the mechanical masters of the Federation, and their inventions would make countless soldiers crazily pursue and admire them.


    Chang Xinyuan silently looked at the sky in Area G13 and instantly pushed down on Han Jijyun¡¯smunication button. ¡°Strategist Han, Area G13¡ªwe have 12 mecha and the enemy has 18 mecha!¡±


    Hearing this information, Han Jijyun frowned. He was silent for a bit before replying, ¡°I understand.¡± After that, he said, ¡°You guys return to headquarters.¡± Chang Xinyuan and the others¡¯ mecha operating levels were not high, so they would be just handing themselves on a silver tter to the opponents if they joined the fray.


    ¡°We, the mechanics battle team, would like permission to fight!¡± Chang Xinyuan didn¡¯t take the order but instead gave his own request.


    ¡°No, your mission is to modify and not fight!¡± Han Jijyun didn¡¯t even think before rejecting him.


    ¡°When all of our battle members have been eliminated, what would be the use of leaving us mechanics here?¡± Chang Xinyuan asked emotionally. ¡°Don¡¯t forget¡ªalthough we¡¯re mechanics, we are also mecha operators!¡±


    On the other side of themlink, Han Jijyun didn¡¯t make a sound. A few secondster, Han Jijyun deep voice was sent through. ¡°I understand!¡±


    ¡°Captain, can we join the fight?¡± one mechanic asked with a tone of pleasant surprise.


    Chang Xinyuan replied with a smile, ¡°Yes! Strategist Han has allowed us to go to our ¡®death¡¯.¡± Chang Xinyuan spoke the truth. He was an advanced mecha operator, while some of his team members were worse than him and there was even one that was only a middle-level mecha operator. This operator was also the lowest level mecha from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy in the entire Grand Mecha Tournament.


    ¡°Haha, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy does not have cowards!¡± one member eximed excitedly.


    ¡°Although our capabilities are the worst, that doesn¡¯t mean we will really just watch or give up our lives.¡± Chang Xinyuan passed on the n that he had came up with to his team members. There was detailed data on the n along with the trajectories and directions to use.


    The others were all individuals who were used to looking at ns, so their eyes instantly lit up upon seeing it. One of them couldn¡¯t help but excitedly say, ¡°Captain, you¡¯re amazing. You actually calcted these things. This way, we may actually have a chance to achieve something.¡±


    Chang Xinyuan¡¯s eyes were shining brightly. While he was watching the battle at Area G13, he hadn¡¯t been simply watching. He would definitely give an unforgettable beating to these opponents that had dared to attack their headquarters.


    Area G17.


    Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu were in the midst of fighting, unable to break away from each other. They both knew that their battle was the most important part of this situation; they didn¡¯t dare to loosen up. Furthermore, their strength was on par with each other and they were familiar with each other¡¯s attacks as well. They couldn¡¯t do anything to each other in such a short amount of time.


    However, the people that they had brought with them had already stopped battling. It wasn¡¯t because they had suddenly be friendly with each other, but because both sides had many people be more or less eliminated; only some mecha operators had managed to stay alive. They had all taken damage and could no longer do battle, only able to eye their respective opponents and wait patiently for theirmanders to determine the victor.


    Han Jijyun hung up Chang Xinyuan¡¯s call and his heart felt heavy. A moment ago, he couldn¡¯t help but agree to Chang Xinyuan¡¯s request; however, he knew clearly that Chang Xinyuan¡¯s team was going to their ¡®deaths¡¯. He no longer had any more battle teams that he could use, and this made Han Jijyun feel like a housewife without rice to cook. Even if he had ns, he wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything.


    ¡°It would good if the Boss was here!¡± Han Jijyun, who was now on the verge of being broken by the pressure of losing the battle, couldn¡¯t help but think of Ling Lan

 Chapter 516 - Ascension!

    <h4>Chapter 516: Ascension!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The battle in Area G13 finally reached its end when Mu Shaoyu took down one special-ss operator with a suicide attack. The whole of Area G13 was now a deste wastnd; countless trees on the ground had been pulled up from their roots, and the fireballs that fell into them had identally set aze some easily mmable bushes. The smoke from the mes rose and engulfed the entirety of Area G13.


    In the midst of the ze, the scene of countless mecha dropping from the sky could be clearly seen. From a bird¡¯s-eye view, it seemed as though Area G13 was littered with mecha, and this showed just how brutal the battle had been.


    There were only three special-ss mechas hovering about in the air. When they looked at the countless mecha below them that were all eliminated, they were all silently happy that they weren¡¯t among them.


    They didn¡¯t stop and quickly flew towards their destination, Area G17.


    Right then, one mecha operator of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, who had been watching Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s battle, suddenly operated his mecha to fly towards the center of the headquarters.


    This unprecedented scene surprised those who were watching them closely. Right when they were going to move their mecha to intercept, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy and their allied battle teams crazily attacked them. Being intercepted, they could only watch as that mecha left their encirclement.


    ¡°In your dreams!¡± Lin Xiao, who was in a heated battle with Jiang Shaoyu, saw this scene and suddenly jumped backwards. He lifted up his beam gun and shot out a beam of light towards that mecha.


    The beam quickly shot towards the backside of that mecha, but right then, another beam appeared to intercept Lin Xiao¡¯s attack in a timely manner.


    ¡°Jiang Shaoyu!¡± Lin Xiao yelled while biting his lip. If the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters was taken down, how could he face Ling Lan as an alliance member?


    ¡°The First Men¡¯s Military Academy has run out of soldiers. As long as I keep you here, no one will be able to save the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Even though the three of you guys formed an alliance, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy still belongs to the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. In the future, Lin Xiao, you should make sure to find better allies. Hahaha!¡± Jiang Shaoyuughed hysterically. It was as though he had already seen himself walking up to the top of the victory stage.


    Han Jijyun was very far away from the battlefield in Area G17 because his mecha¡¯s level was on the low side(advanced mecha). No matter if it was Lin Xiao¡¯s men or Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s men, they were all special-ss operators. If he were to join the fray, he wouldn¡¯t be able to help and would have to worry about Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s men sneaking up on him.


    At that moment, he saw one mecha from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academye out of the encirclement. He didn¡¯t even think before darting towards it. He wanted to try to intercept the opponent so that the First Co-ed Military Academy could arrive in time.


    Unfortunately, this mecha operator¡¯s goal was very clear; how could he let Han Jijyun slow him down? He performed a simple 360 degree turn and passed around Han Jijyun, while thetter watched as that mecha flew further and further away from him.


    Han Jijyun wasn¡¯t going to give up. He bit his lip and gave chase. Lin Xiao¡¯s men had alsoe to chase but they were blocked off by Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s men. Now with one less mecha on Lin Xiao¡¯s side, Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s men could still block off Lin Xiao¡¯s men. This was the decision and n thought out by Jiang Shaoyu after careful and detailed thinking. Now it looked like he had seeded.


    At that moment, in the center of the headquarters, Chang Xinyuan¡¯s team was almost done getting ready for battle.


    ¡°Captain, 3 mecha have reached the center area from the southwest direction! I¡¯m certain they are attackers from the opposing alliance.¡± The member who was responsible for surveying the air above them saw that three red dots appeared on the mecha¡¯s radar and immediately reported it to Chang Xinyuan.


    Right when wanted to give an order, the patrol member yelled out, ¡°Captain, another mecha has appeared from the southeast direction!¡±


    ¡°Zoom in and see if it¡¯s a friend or foe.¡± The southeast was Jiang Shaoyu and Lin Xiao¡¯s battlefield.


    The member immediately zoomed in and clearly saw the logo on the opponent¡¯s chest te. ¡°It¡¯s the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy!¡± Right when he said that, another member yelled out, ¡°There¡¯s another mecha... it¡¯s Strategist Han¡¯s!¡±


    Chang Xinyuan¡¯s expression was cold. ¡°Looks like that mecha managed to get out of the encirclement. Sh*t. We¡¯ll ignore him for now. Our priority is to take down the three mecha from the southwest direction. All members, move out!¡± The attack he had nned could only be effective once; thus, Chang Xinyuan naturally chose to target the three special-ss mechas.


    ¡°Yes, Captain!¡± Six mecha had been fiddling with their rocketunchers in the central area, but upon hearing Chang Xinyuan¡¯s orders, they all began to move about. They operated their mecha and moved to the locations drawn on the map. They set up the rocketunchers towards the sky ording to the direction and angle written on the map.


    At that moment, the member responsible for monitoring shed droplets of sweat which trickled down his forehead. Whether the attack would be effective or not would depend on the uracy of his monitoring on the enemies¡¯ location and the timing of the attack.


    ¡°Coordinates: XX.XX. Prepare!¡± After seeing that the opponents had almost reached the coordinates of their attacks, he immediately gave an order.


    The six mecha operators all held the trigger of the rocketuncherswith their finger, waiting for thest call to fire, at which they would pull on the trigger and fire the rockets they had prepared beforehand.


    ¡°Fire!¡± Seeing that the opponents had reached their attack coordinates, the monitoring member screamed out the call to attack. The six members decisively pulled down on the trigger...


    Six rockets shot up into the sky and followed the trajectory and angle based on the n. At that moment, the three mecha, unaware of all this, had entered the trajectory of these six rockets. It was as though the three mecha were willingly ramming into the rockets.


    Right when the three mecha had reached the designated location, their mechas¡¯ A.I.s sounded a loud warning sound, ¡°Dodge! Dodge! Dodge!¡±


    Right when they wanted to operate their mecha to dodge the rockets, they discovered that they had nowhere to dodge to¡ªthe six rockets had blocked off all possible routes of evasion. In the blink of an eye, the six rockets hit the three mecha and exploded, making these mechas plummet into the ground head first.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Seeing that the attack was a sess, everyone all screamed out in excitement.


    ¡°Dodge!¡± Chang Xinyuan screamed. It turned out that after their rockets attack was sessful, the mechaing from the southeast had sighted them and fired his beam gun.


    Perhaps they had be too excited, or perhaps the opponent¡¯s attack was too sudden; two of their mecha were quickly shot down and eliminated. Chang Xinyuan quickly turned on the engine of his mecha and pounced in the opponent¡¯s direction...


    Right when that mecha wanted to continue attacking, he saw another advanced mecha moving towards him with a death wish. He coldly snorted, didn¡¯t even dodge and moved his mecha away as that mecha was about to crash into him..


    The outer shell of an advanced mecha was notparable in toughness to that of a special-ss mecha. It didn¡¯t matter whether the opponent dodged or not; the advantage was on his side, but it was just that he had miscalcted. Perhaps other advanced mecha were definitely less tough than special-ss mecha, but Chang Xinyuan¡¯s mecha was different. In order to make sure of his safety during the battle, he had modified his mecha¡¯s outer shell to be as strong as a tortoise shell. Even if he bumped into a special-ss mecha, Chang Xinyuan was confident that he wouldn¡¯t lose to the opponent.


    It was this confidence that allowed Chang Xinyuan crash into the opponent without a care in the world. When they finally collided into each other, that special-ss operator knew that his opponent really had a death wish and wanted to crash into him.


    ¡°Boom.¡± A loud crash sounded out and the two mecha crashed into each other with great force! The special-ss operator thought that the opposing mecha would be damaged greatly from this. However, he didn¡¯t expect that the opposing mecha didn¡¯t have a single scratch. Instead, after this crash, the originally damaged areas of his mecha had be more severe.


    Seeing that crashing into him had an effect, Chang Xinyuan was overjoyed. Once again, he ruthlessly moved his mecha towards his opponent. Other than the tough outer shell of his mecha, Chang Xinyuan really didn¡¯t have any other way of intercepting this special-ss operator.


    Having learnt his lesson, the special-ss operator wasn¡¯t going to fall for the same trick twice; he operated his mecha to dodge. The difference between advanced mecha and special-ss mecha was put on disy at this moment. Although Chang Xinyuan had used all he could topensate for his speed, he was still slower by one levelpared to the opponent.


    ¡°Bang!¡± A sh from a beam saber came from behind. The special-ss operator was greatly surprised and immediately operated his mecha to dodge. Then he discovered that Han Jijyun, who had been following him from behind, had arrived...


    ¡°Strategist Han, let¡¯s team up and take him down.¡± Chang Xinyuan saw that Han Jijyun had arrived and calmed down. Han Jijyun also had the same thought. Right when the two of them wanted to team up and take down the opponent, that special-ss operator turned around and ran.


    The special-ss operator knew clearly that he couldn¡¯t be slowed down by the other party. He didn¡¯t know how long hismander would be able to slow down Lin Xiao and his men; he needed to quickly get to the center area of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and take down the headquarters.


    Han Jijyun and Chang Xinyuan saw their opponent had run away, and they knew clearly what he was thinking. The two of them set the speed of their mecha to the maximum and gave chase. They had to stop the opponent from getting what he wanted.


    In the midst of this chase, something that surprised them happened. The special-ss operator that was immediately about to reach the center location suddenly dropped toward the ground.


    The two of them looked at each other, not knowing what had happened. They were afraid that it was a trap and carefullynded their mecha on the ground. Chang Xinyuan¡¯s was tougher, thus he went to examine the fallen mecha.


    At the same time, the same thing happened where Lin Xiao was. The mecha of Jiang Shaoyu, who was fighting fiercely against him, dropped down...


    ¡°The mecha don¡¯t have any reaction on their battery. It¡¯s just like locked mechas that are eliminated,¡± Chang Xinyuan said to Han Jijyun after examining it.


    Han Jijyun thought long and hard and suddenly his eyes lit up. ¡°Do you think that it¡¯s because Boss has already taken down the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy?¡±


    Chang Xinyuan¡¯s eyes flickered. He quickly nodded and said, ¡°That should be the reason. Otherwise, there¡¯s no other way to exin why the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s mecha suddenly dropped down and was eliminated.¡±


    Right when they were in the middle of being overjoyed, Han Jijyun saws a short silhouette dart towards one of the tents in the center area.


    ¡°Sh*t!¡± Han Jijyun screamed out.


    A mecha dropping didn¡¯t mean that the mecha operator had ¡°died¡±. He had actually forgotten to check the area. Han Jijyun quicklynded his mecha. The cockpit was opened abruptly and Han Jijyun darted into that tent with lightning speed.


    Inside the tent, one mecha operator was standing in front of the receiver. He heard movement behind him and turned around. Seeing Han Jijyun, he immediatelyughed and said, ¡°I¡¯m very lucky and you¡¯rete!¡±


    The opponent had already pushed down the button and was waiting for the signal to fully cover up the original signal, after which the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters would be their trophy.


    Han Jijyun felt his heart drop. He quickly pounced towards the opponent, throwing a punch. Although his physical skills were notparable to Qi Long, Luo Lang and the others, he had sessfully reached the beginner level of Qi-Jin after training with Boss...


    The opponent decisively met his punch with a punch of his own. Boom! Arge force almost copsed the entire tent.


    The opponent couldn¡¯t take the power that came from Han Jijyun and was knocked back by three steps and almost fell on the receiver. The opponent looked at Han Jijyun with fear. He didn¡¯t expect that someone as young as he had actually reached the level of Qi-Jin. This made it so that he, who had only gotten halfway to reaching the level of Qi-Jin, was unable topare with Han Jijyun.


    He quickly looked at the screen of the receiver and saw the information shown, his eyes now showing extreme happiness. It seemed that the signal covering the original signal had reached more than 90%. Even if he was defeated, Han Jijyun wouldn¡¯t be able to change the oue of being eliminated.


    Finally, the receiver showed that it was 100%plete. That personughed hysterically and said, ¡°Haha, we¡¯ve broken through the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.¡± The First Men¡¯s Military Academy that was on a pedestal had finally been eliminated by the alliance of these low-level military academies.


    Han Jijyun was already beside him, he believed that Han Jijyun was eliminated and did not pose a threat to him; he didn¡¯t defend himself. But then he suddenly saw a silver line sh before his eyes. He turned around dumbfounded, and said with great difficulty, ¡°You... you... broke the rules!¡±


    After saying this, he became unconscious. It turned out that he was put to sleep by Han Jijyun¡¯s tranquilizer.


    ¡°I also hope that I have broken the rules. Unfortunately, in mymunicator, I didn¡¯t receive a report of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy being eliminated,¡± Han Jijyun walked towards that person and said softly. He lifted his head and looked at the receiver showing 100%pletion and instantly fell into deep thought.


    A few secondster, Han Jijyun took off the receiver from the beacon that belonged to that special-ss operator and put his own receiver on top. He pushed the button once again and covered up the opponent¡¯s signal once again. Quickly, the receiver reached 100% and Area G17 became the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s territory once again.


    ¡°It turns out Area G17 is no longer the headquarters.¡± Han Jijyun¡¯s eyes showed a hint of confusion. He knew that this was something his boss had done, but he didn¡¯t know how he had done it.


    In the monitoring room, they all thought that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had been eliminated, but they discovered that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was still in the game. Many of the officers were dumbfounded and screamed out, ¡°How is this possible?¡±


    Wasn¡¯t Area G17 the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters? Why were they not eliminated since the opponent had taken over it?


    ¡°Staff members, immediately search for the real location of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters.¡± Unable to exin the situation, these people naturally wanted to find out the answer.


    After receiving the agreement of the person in charge of the Grand Mecha Tournament, the staff members finally began to search for the real headquarters of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    ¡°It¡¯s here!¡± A few minutester, the staff members finally found the location of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters. ¡°It¡¯s in Area Q9!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not possible. Area Q9 is the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters. How could it be the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s?¡± After this answer was given, everyone in the monitoring room was in an uproar, showing expressions of disbelief.


    Ling Xiao discovered that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy hadn¡¯t be eliminated after Area G17 had been taken, and then he had started to think about why. And upon hearing that their real headquarters was in Area Q9, he instantly came to a realization. ¡°I see!¡±


    ¡°Lan¡¯er! You managed to discover what I had missed before! You have surpassed me in this aspect! I¡¯m proud of you!¡±

 Chapter 517 - Winning Gambit!

    <h4>Chapter 517: Winning Gambit!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Let us turn the time back a few minutes prior.


    In the headquarters of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, Ling Lan and Zhuge Jingming were having a sh with words. Knowing that her headquarters¡¯ battle team had already gone all out, Ling Lan decisively pushed down the button on the beacon after her conversation with Zhuge Jingming.


    Ling Lan calmly looked at the notification on the small screen of the beacon. When the notification showed that it had reached 100%, a line of words showed up as she had expected.


    ¡°Would you like to set this location as your new headquarters?¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips showed a hint of a smile and the worry on her mind finally lifted. She had won her gambit!


    The headquarters was, as expected, did not always stay in one location and could be changed. The battle royale was deemed to be a real battlefield from the start, and in a real battlefield, how could a headquarters be fixed at one location? This was without a doubt contradictory...


    In addition to the fact that she had discovered she could light up the map, it didn¡¯t matter whether there was anything inside the beacon. This meant that they could take the beacon and run away... Thus, she thought that she would use this beacon to light up a new map. What kind of situation would make her choose a new headquarters?


    In order to prove her idea, Ling Lan decided to gamble.


    She knew clearly that if she lost, she would have be a sinner in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy! It was even possible that she would have been expelled. However, for Ling Lan, that price wasn¡¯t too much to pay, and this was because she was a woman. If she really had lost the gamble and was expelled, she would have been able to use the circumstance to disappear from the public. That would havepletely gotten her out of the difficult situation where she was living as a man and woman at the same time.


    However, if she seeded... she believed that the cadets who had participated in this year¡¯s tournament would receive evesting glory that would make their futures bright and allow for endless possibilities of growth.


    It would not be a bad thing for her or the others if they won or lost, so Ling Lan would naturally not be reserved and decide to gamble. Now it looked like everything had reached the end!


    Ling Lan took a deep breath and pushed down the button for confirmation.


    Right then, all of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s people received a notification: ¡°Your headquarters has been sessfully taken down by an unknown army. All your members have been determined to be eliminated!¡±


    Everyone in the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy screamed out in agony, but their screams were toote. Their mecha were instantly locked up by the A.I.. Those who were on the ground were a bit luckier, while the ones in the air were in trouble; they fell straight down from the sky. It was a good thing that the A.I. only locked down the operating mechanisms of the mecha. The defensive mechanism and power were still intact, making sure they weren¡¯t harmed when they hit the ground.


    There were also those who had left their mecha to rest. They also received this notification in theirmunicators and was told to stay where they were. If they moved even a bit, a special surveince drone made formunicating with the outside would not hesitate to shoot out tranquilizing darts to put them to sleep.


    Thus, no one dared to move. This also ensured that those who were eliminated wouldn¡¯t try anything and mess up the rest of the battle royale.


    Yuan Su, Qiao Ting and the others, who were fighting against that allied battle team of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, discovered that all of the mecha that belonged to the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy had dropped down. Seeing this, they were all smart enough to know what had happened. This was definitely because the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters had been taken down.


    Yuan Su couldn¡¯t control himself andughed, saying, ¡°Hahah, Jiang Shaoyu, Jiang Shaoyu, you actually thought you could take down my headquarters. In the end, it¡¯s your headquarters that¡¯s been taken down. This time, I¡¯ll see if you dare to boast in front of me again.¡±


    In this year¡¯s tournament, Jiang Shaoyu had made himself the boss. He was always teasing and mocking Yuan Su, who was the thousand-year fourth ce, and this had led to Yuan Su harboring a deep hatred for him. Now, seeing that the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy had been eliminated, he had tough out loud and let out his frustration and anger.


    Qiao Ting and Yuan Su were both outstanding leaders. While the opponent¡¯s allied forces were in a fit of chaos, they set out battle teams to counterattack. The allied battle team¡¯s forces mentality was wavering because of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s unexpected elimination. They didn¡¯t have the intention of fighting anymore and instantly broke down.


    The reason that they were no longer willing to keep fighting was that they were worried about their own headquarters. Even the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters had been taken down; how then could their headquarters be defended?


    Now they didn¡¯t have the thought they had at the beginning to get a high score. They only wanted to return to their own headquarters to protect it. Now, they only hoped to be not eliminated. Thus, they retreated back into Area Q and M, and returned to their own headquarters to defend it to their death until the end of the battle royale.


    In Area G17, Jiang Shaoyu was in a fierce battle with Lin Xiao. Suddenly, he lost control of his mecha and the A.I. announced without remorse: ¡°Your headquarters has been sessfully taken down by an unknown army. All members are determined to be eliminated!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not possible!¡± Jiang Shaoyu roared angrily. Victory was at hand, yet why was his own Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters taken down when he hadn¡¯t even taken down the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s?


    Unfortunately, even if Jiang Shaoyu didn¡¯t agree with the result, there was no turning back. His mecha dropped from the air and crashed to the ground in Area G17.


    Right when Lin Xiao struck with his sword, he shed the air instead. He looked at Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha going out of control with surprise. There was another mecha that also fell at the same time as Jiang Shaoyu. Lin Xiao didn¡¯t understand why. After his team members reported to him that Jiang Shaoyu¡¯s mecha indeed had no more power and waspletely locked, Lin Xiao understood what had happened to Jiang Shaoyu...


    ¡°The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters has been broken through? Who has the ability to get into the deepest parts of Area Q?¡± Lin Xiao thought to himself. He didn¡¯t know why, but Ling Lan¡¯s cold face appeared inside his mind...


    After taking down the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters, themunicator in Zhuge Jingming¡¯s hand also received the short message at the same time. He sighed in his mind. ¡°They were still slower just by a bit.¡±


    He couldn¡¯t help but raise his head and look at Ling Lan, who was calmly sitting on a chair as though she was thinking about something. Zhuge Jingming felt a fit of rage rise up from within him. Although the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy had lost, was the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters still impregnable? Right then, he really hoped that the allied force that he sent would be able to sessfully take down the opponent¡¯s headquarters. He wanted to see if the other side could remain this calm after finding out they themselves were eliminated.


    Unfortunately, as time passed, Ling Lan¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change. It seemed that his allied forces hadn¡¯t brought about any crisis for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    At that moment, Zhuge Jingming didn¡¯t know that the allied forces that he had sent had, in reality, sessfully taken down Area G17. Unfortunately, Area G17 was no longer the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters. Taking down Area G17 was like taking down an uninhabited area, which only yielded some points. It wasn¡¯t enough to eliminate the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Ling Lan was able to see what was happening in Area G17 because of Little Four.


    ¡°Little Four, this time, I almost took a fall in Area G2. If didn¡¯t win the gambit, we would now have been eliminated.¡± Inside her mindspace, Ling Lan had a cold expression and was looking back on her mistake.

 Chapter 518 - Addiction!

    <h4>Chapter 518: Addiction!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Boss, I should have reminded you.¡± Little Four hung his head in shame. It was his job to advise her as an assistant, yet he had been negligent.


    ¡°That¡¯s why we must remember this lesson. In the future, we need to supervise each other. No matter who makes a mistake, the other will help them find out what it is.¡± Ling Lan smiled at Little Four. Only in her mindscape would she let herself loose and keep acting as a boss.


    Ling Lan¡¯s curved eyes and expression stupefied Little Four.


    Little Four¡¯s dumbfounded look made Ling Lan¡¯s mood even better. She flicked her finger and said, ¡°Dummy, what are you looking at?¡±


    Little Four yelped and rubbed his forehead. He looked at his boss with saddened eyes, criticizing her ruthlessness. Wuwuwu, his forehead was definitely red from Boss¡¯s flick. It was so painful.


    By the time the pain had finally faded away and Little Four looked at Boss, she had already returned to wearing her cold facial expression. He regrettably said, ¡°Boss, you need to smile more. You looked pretty when you smiled just now.¡±


    Ling Lan gulped and asked, ¡°Pretty? How so?¡± Would people suspect that she was a female because of this?


    Little Four began to look for all types of descriptive words. ¡°Just... just... let me look through the database. Yes, yes, yes, I¡¯ve found adorable, alluring, angelic, bewitching, charming, cute, dazzling, divine, elegant, exquisite, fair, foxy, gorgeous...¡± Little Four read out the words that described beauty one by one.


    ¡°Stop! Stop! Stop! It can¡¯t be that exaggerated, right?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t what to say. If she had indeed grown up to be like that, her friends would have already suspected her to be a woman, right?


    Little Four looked at Ling Lan nkly. Were this these kinds of descriptions exaggerated? But why did he feel that it was very proper? When Boss smiled a moment ago, even an intellectual entity such as himself had 70% of his energy sucked out of him. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Boss had flicked him, he may have just shut down right away.


    Little Four¡¯s nk expression made Ling Lanugh out loud. As expected of small children. They always said exaggerated things. She took out her hand and rubbed Little Four¡¯s hair and asked with a smile, ¡°Little Four, just tell me this. When I smile, would people suspect me to be a girl?¡±


    Little Four thought for a moment carefully and shook his head without hesitation. ¡°No, not really. When Boss smiles, you give off the feeling of a father.¡± It was the same kind of warmth that would make people want to dive into.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan told herself that she couldn¡¯t smile randomly. Although it wouldn¡¯t make people suspect her as a female, it still wouldn¡¯t be a pleasant thing if people found out her rtionship with Ling Xiao. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to be the Federation¡¯s point of focus because of this.


    It may have been the Federation¡¯s higher-ups wanting to protect Ling Xiao¡¯s bloodline, or to weaken Ling Xiao¡¯s influence in the army after Ling Xiao had unfortunately ¡°sacrificed¡± himself. No matter who it was, whether it was the Ling family or others, they were all told to not speak a word of her birth. Ling Xiao¡¯s bloodline was not publicized, and thus the public would definitely not know.


    Afterwards, when Ling Xiao was ¡°revived¡±, it was by pure luck that Ling Lan was mistakenly put into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. In order for Ling Xiao to protect Ling Lan, he did even more to make sure this information didn¡¯t get out. In the end, other than those who knew about it in the past, the matter was told only to some of Ling Xiao¡¯s trusted friends.


    This was also why no matter how outstanding Ling Lan¡¯s performance was in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, no one would connect her with Ling Xiao. In addition, there was a theory that the descendants of a god-ss operators wouldn¡¯t be very talented. This gave Ling Lan anotheryer of safeguarding.


    In the eyes of the instructors and cadets of First Men¡¯s Military Academy, Ling Lan was worse than Qiao Ting, who was another person that would be the king of the academy. How could someone as strong as him be useless and talentless?


    This kind of thought process caused everyone to stray further and further away from the truth. If Ling Xiao or Ling Lan didn¡¯t publicly announce it, no one would connect the two of them together.


    After conversing with Little Four, the frustration in Ling Lan¡¯s heart had vanished. Her expression toughened up.


    Everyone made mistakes. Mistakes weren¡¯t scary, but it was scary to not admit to one. Ling Lan was someone who liked to summarize everything. She knew that making a mistake meant she needed to correct it. This was also the reason why she wanted to quickly grow in the learning space. She would definitely not make the same mistake the second time. It was this aspect of Ling Lan that the instructors of the learning space admired.


    After criticizing herself, Ling Lan stood up from her seat. Right when she wanted to give out an order, themunicator on her wrist began to vibrate. She looked down and a hint of surprise shed in her eyes for a second.


    When she hit her head again, Ling Lan had already returned to being calm. She ordered Zhao Jun, ¡°Send out the signal re and let Li Lanfeng proceed with step two of the n.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Boss!¡± Zhao Jun took the order and walked out of the tent. A few secondster, a silver re rose from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters.


    In the outskirts of the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, Li Lanfeng, who was being cautious of his surrounding, saw this signal re and heughed out loud. The re signified that Ling Lan and the others hadpleted their mission.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s excitementsted only for a moment before he quickly calmed down. He took out a medicinal agent from the storage box in the cockpit, and he opened and drank it; it was a painkiller agent for quickly getting rid of pain. A few seconds after drinking it, it would numb all the pain in the body, and the effect wouldst for half an hour.


    ording to the n, after Ling Lan took down the headquarters, he would return to Jianqiao Military Academy¡¯s headquarters and make it their territory. This would make all the headquarters in Area Q fear for their lives, fear that they would be the next to be eliminated. This way, they would ce their forces in their own headquarters, while Ling Lan¡¯s group would be able to stay safely in the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters.


    As expected, ten secondster, the extreme pain he felt from just moving slightly had vanishedpletely. Li Lanfeng controlled his excited mood and sat on Ling Lan¡¯s control seat.


    Ling Lan seat had her own scent. A lightly cold scent seemed to slide into Li Lanfeng¡¯s nose. He couldn¡¯t control himself and took a deep breath and he felt his heart was being satisfied. It was as though Ling Lan was beside him, looking at him with an encouraging expression.


    Li Lanfeng felt that he had grown slightly closer to Ling Lan. He should be the first person to operate Ling Lan¡¯s mecha(although it was only a temporary mecha). He looked at the control panel in front of him. A few hours ago, it had belonged to Ling Lan, but now his fingerprints would be left on the control panel...


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s fingers touched the first button for operating. His heart couldn¡¯t contain his excitement and thumped furiously, and his whole body became hot. He didn¡¯t know why but in his mind, an image of Ling Lan actually appeared which taught him how to operate the mecha step by step. Ling Lan¡¯s presence was everywhere, and it was as though he was in his arms. The warmth this feeling brought was enough to make him be intoxicated.


    ¡°This kind of feeling is addictive. Why should I share it with others!¡± Li Lanfeng eyes became cold. He instantly pulled on the engine throttle. The mecha¡¯s speed suddenly increased and flew towards the Jianqiao Military Academy¡¯s headquarters like a beam of light.


    Among the allied forces that were heading back to their headquarters, Jianqiao Military Academy¡¯s men suddenly had the same thing happen to them as the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. Everyone knew that another headquarters had been broken through in Area Q.


    ¡°Quickly, everyone get back to headquarters!¡± Everyone rushed back. On the other side, the allied battle teams that were responsible for patrol were all called back by theirmanders to return to their own headquarters and defend them to their death.


    It was because an unknown force was moving about Area Q that these military academies could only defend their headquarters. They were afraid that they would be the next trophy.


    Elsewhere, the military academies in Area M weren¡¯t having a good time. The Third Men¡¯s Military Academy, who had already recovered, formed a new allied force with Qiao Ting¡¯s battle team and the First Co-ed Military Academy. They began their attack on Area M.


    They breezed through the area. In order to meet up with Ling Lan, Qiao Ting used his fastest speed and led his team into Area Q. He went to Area Q9, to the original Second Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters. The military academies who were in the middle of battle didn¡¯t know that this headquarters had already be the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s headquarters.


    After meeting up with Qiao Ting, Ling Lan didn¡¯t just defend. Instead, she had Qiao Ting clear out the surrounding areas. Ling Lan knew clearly that the best defense was offense.


    The end of the battle royale was drawing increasingly closer. All the military academies that were scared by an ace operator like Qiao Ting didn¡¯t dare to move. They only defended their own headquarters to the death. At that moment, the alliance was only a name. No wanted to leave their headquarters to help their allies defend their headquarters.


    Having sessfully disbanded the alliance in Area Q, Ling Lan took down two more small military academies afterwards.


    Finally, the battle royale came to an end. The military academies that had sessfully defended their headquarters let out a sigh of relief. They didn¡¯t imagine that Ling Lan, who looked as though she was calm and indifferent, had also let out a sigh of relief.


    Although they had managed to change their headquarters, they had ended up with enemies all around them. Qiao Ting was fierce, but their numbers were still too little. If the enemy headquarters in the area had cooperated and used numbers to exhaust Qiao Ting¡¯s battle team, it was possible that this headquarters would have been in great danger.


    Of course, Ling Lan could have moved headquarters again, but she didn¡¯t want to be a hobo and run for her life. She remembered that her own father was watching... Although Ling Lan didn¡¯t say it, in reality, she really did see Ling Xiao as her father and didn¡¯t want to let him down.


    In the monitoring room, everyone jumped up upon seeing that the battle royale had ended.


    ¡°Quick, let us look at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s score.¡± They all hurried the staff members to calcte the score. As the huge winner of this year¡¯s battle royale, everyone wanted to know what their final score was.


    ¡°Their overall final score is 17,894!¡± Everyone gasped after this number appeared.


    ¡°They actually took more than half of the points for the battle royale. How is this possible?¡± The First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s performance was outstanding. It was far too excessive that they had managed to gain almost 60% of the total points that could be earned.


    ¡°The detailed data hase out.¡± Therge screen showed the scoring by the mainframe for each part of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s score.


    The details in the front were all within everyone¡¯s predictions. When they got to thest one, everyone¡¯s suspicions were lifted. ¡°Not being restricted by the conditions of the battle royale, finding out the secret behind the true headquarters, and sessfully moving their headquarters once. Bonus points: 10,000! (Only valid on first discovery).


    Everyone knew why such a high and unimaginable score had appeared for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡ªthe First Men¡¯s Military Academy was the first to discover the secret behind the headquarters and sessfully moved once. That was why they had earned so many bonus points.

 Chapter 519 - Daddy!

    <h4>Chapter 519: Daddy!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Who would have thought the battle royale had such a secret hidden in it. Great Marshal Yun actually deceived us for so many years.¡± One officer scratched at the table begrudgingly. Back in his time, if he had known that a headquarters could be moved elsewhere, his headquarters would not have been taken down by another military academy.


    Great Marshal Yun, full name Yun Chongtian, was the most well known Great Marshal in history. At the same time, he was also the one who created the Grand Mecha Tournament. In the beginning, Yun Chongtian had deliberately created a bunch of rules and restrictions that clouded one¡¯s logical thinking, and this had made everyone think that a headquarters¡¯ location was to be set in stone. However, they didn¡¯t expect that they were all yed by Great marshal Yun.


    ¡°Did everyone forget the final words of Great Marshal Yun? In the battle royale, there is no difference in strength. As long as you put in an effort, anything is possible!¡± Ling Xiao inly reminded everyone. The rules and regtions created by Great Marshal Yun at the beginning were all meant to mislead everyone; it was all a cover for his final statement. It was just that everyone, including Ling Xiao himself, had mistakenly thought that Yun Chongtian¡¯s final statement represented his hope in the cadets. They didn¡¯t expect that this was the real rule that Yun Chongtian had set for the battle royale.


    At that moment, the cadets who were still in the battle royale had received a location for them to gather up. Everyone headed there.


    By the time Ling Lan had led Qiao Ting and the others to the gathering point, the officers and staff members who had been watching the battle royale had arrived there much earlier. Upon seeing the members of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy arrive, they all pped their hands in apuse.


    Ling Lan descended from her mecha and was instantly dumbfounded at this scene. She saw Ling Xiao standing before her with Lan Luofeng behind him. Compared to Lan Luofeng pping excitedly, Ling Xiao was much calmer. His lips showed a smile and he pped slowly, but the pride and approval hidden in his eyes were clearly felt by Ling Lan, and she suddenly felt warm. It seemed that her performance hadn¡¯t disappointed her father.


    Seeing Ling Lan and the others walk towards them, the vice president quickly walked up. He held Ling Lan¡¯s right hand with a sincere attitude and said, ¡°Ling Lan, right? Your performance was phenomenal. Congrattions on getting first ce in the battle royale and at the same time, first ce in the overall ranking for this year¡¯s Grand Mecha Tournament.¡±


    The vice president didn¡¯t feel the hidden killing intent behind him in Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes... ¡°Tthis old fart actually dares to take advantage of my daughter!¡±


    Ling Lan gave a salute and pulled her hand out of his clutches. ¡°Thank you very much, Mr. Vice President!¡± Her cold expression paired with her cold tone caused the smile on the vice president¡¯s face to freeze. ¡°This Ling Lan is really calm and collected. Shouldn¡¯t he be excited?¡±


    Afterwards, Ling Lan decisively walked in front of Ling Xiao and saluted him, saying, ¡°Thank you, General, foring down here yourself.¡± This suddenly calmed down Daddy Ling Xiao¡¯s frustrated heart.


    ¡°This kid actually ignored me!¡± The vice president was secretly frustrated. He believed that Ling Lan only wanted to please Ling Xiao while ignoring him.


    Qiao Ting knew about Ling Xiao and Ling Lan¡¯s rtionship. He knew that the situation was bad when he saw the expression on the vice president¡¯s face; thus, he saluted and said, ¡°Mr. Vice President, youing here yourself terrifies me.¡± Qiao Ting¡¯s honestly terrified expression made the vice president¡¯s mood change for the better. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy didn¡¯t just have one Ling Lan. This Qiao Ting was even more exceptional and was the first candidate they were going to rope in. Having locked onto his target, the vice president tossed Ling Lan into the back of his mind.


    As a government organization, the president and vice president didn¡¯t really have much power. With everyone enlisted in the army, the military was the ruling power. Everything that the government did was to serve the army. No one wanted to be the major-domo. As the highest power of the government, they also wanted to hold actual power, but in order to do that, they would need to hold military power. As luck would have it, however, the army and government were two different organizations, making it so they were unable to meddle.


    In order to achieve their goals, they had no choice but to secretly rope in individuals from all divisions who had potential and were younger. They hoped that after a few years passed, these people would hold military power over most of the middle to lower tier army forces and in the end, be used by them. This was the real reason why the vice president didn¡¯t care about the long-distance traveling and came to the Grand Mecha Tournament. It was because the Grand Mecha Tournament could allow cadets to show off for a short amount of time. They would definitely be pirs that would hold uprge army divisions in the future, and these were the individuals that they needed to desperately rope in.


    Seeing that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had the vice president and General Ling Xiao greet them personally, the other military academies couldn¡¯t help but be envious and jealous. However, when they thought about the new score that was publicized, of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy breaking the record with a terrifying new historical achievement, the other military academies were soon in no mood to do anything... They had shown their strength and their treatment from the higher-ups was owed to the truebat they had undergone. The other military academies didn¡¯t have the right to be jealous of them.


    After returning to Qiming, they had another award ceremony for both the battle royale and the overall score. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy was without a doubt first ce. In second ce was the First Co-ed Military Academy, and in third ce was the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    The previous year¡¯s first ce, the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, did not get any points because they were eliminated prior to the end of that battle royale. Counting only their points from before, their overall score had dropped to below the 20th rank. This made Jiang Shaoyu not have the dignity toe out and receive their award. He simply called in sick and in the end, let their strategist Zhuge Jingming lead their team to the podium.


    The awards were quickly distributed. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s team that Ling Lan had led became the most exceptional team. Based on the sessful change of headquarters and Ling Lan¡¯s exceptional performance in the matter, she was considered to be the most outstandingmander. Qiao Ting was awarded the most outstanding mecha operator and battle team leader. The most outstanding logistics team was also awarded to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. In the battle royale, no matter if it was modifications or transporting of supplies, the logistics division that Lin Zhong-qing was responsible for had performed exceptionally and was acknowledged by most of the referees.


    However, the title of most outstanding strategist was somehow given to someone else. Zhuge Jingming from the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy had received the award. Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng had both actually performed very well; however, Zhuge Jingming¡¯sst move in Area G2 was too good and was life-threatening to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. If Ling Lan hadn¡¯t sessfully moved their headquarters, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would definitely have been eliminated. The referees believed that their arrangement was a god-like move and was too amazing. That was why Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun lost to him.


    Seeing the looks on Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun¡¯s faces turn depressed, Ling Lan coldly said, ¡°It¡¯s only one loss. There will be many chances in the future to regain what you have lost today.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s words shook Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng, and their expressions quickly returned to normal; however, there was killing intent hidden in their eyes as they looked at Zhuge Jingming.


    Zhuge Jingming¡¯s most outstanding strategist awardforted the now hurt Second Men¡¯s Military Academy. However, it made Jiang Shaoyu jealous and hate him. A crack instantly formed in the rtionship between Zhuge Jingming and Jiang Shaoyu.


    Facing all of this, Zhuge Jingming was still as calm as always, and it was his friend who felt very worried instead. After all, they were all fifth-year cadets and were about to sign up for a division. For the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy, they would usually cooperate with the Second Division, Ninth Division and Seventeenth Division. These divisions were all under orders of the Second Great Marshal. The Second Division was the head of the three divisions and Jiang Shaoyu was already going to the Second Division by default. If Jiang Shaoyu caused him trouble, it would be disadvantageous to his growth in the future no matter which division Zhuge Jingming entered.


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to apply for divisions this year.¡± Zhuge Jingming finally told everyone his decision.


    ¡°Why?¡± his friend asked in surprise.


    ¡°The most outstanding strategist? Haha!¡± Zhuge Jingmingughed bitterly. Getting this award made him doubt himself. Ling Lan, the one who got the most outstandingmander, was the actual person who should have gotten his award as well. He knew clearly that, all of his ns in the battle royale had been seen through by the other party. He lost to the opposition and didn¡¯t have anything to me it on.


    ¡°I need to go back and activate the N-mindspace,¡± Zhuge Jingming said sternly.


    ¡°You¡¯ve gone mad!¡± his friend yelled out. He was also part of the Zhuge family and understood what the N-mindspace meant¡ªthat was something that could easily kill someone and only had sess rate of only 30%. If it wasn¡¯tpletely necessary, the people from the Zhuge family would not activate the N-mindspace.


    ¡°If I don¡¯t activate it, I will definitely not be able to win against him.¡± Zhuge Jingming¡¯s expression showed a hint of his own ambition. As the future God Machine, he wouldn¡¯t let himself lose to anyone in terms of strategy.


    Seeing that Zhuge Jingming had made up his mind, his friend couldn¡¯t do anything. Worried, he prepared to go back home to deliver this news to the family head and have him stop Zhuge Jingming from having such idiotic thoughts.


    The ending of the award ceremony also meant the end of the Grand Mecha Tournament. All the military academies needed to continue to rest on Qiming for a few more days. However, the audience that came to watch had begun to leave, including Ling Xiao. 15 days of staying there was already the limit; the 23rd Division still needed him to call the shots. The staff officers he had left in the 23rd Division had already asked him numerous times since the end of the battle royale. If he didn¡¯t leave now, those staff officers would probably all go on strike and leave the division.


    Ling Lan led her small team and came to the dock exclusively for Ling Xiao¡¯s warship. There were many people here to send Ling Xiao off, people from every military academy. After all, Ling Xiao was an idol for all military academy cadets. Since their idol was leaving, they would naturallye to the dock and send him off.


    Ling Xiao led Lan Luofeng through the VIP tunnel to the warship, where he saw Ling Lan standing in the innermost row and felt dismayed. Whenever he spent time with his daughter, he felt that it wasn¡¯t enough. He hoped that his daughter could stay by his side and that he could see her every day.


    Ling Xiao regretted it the more he thought about it. If he had gone back home first to get a grasp on the situation, perhaps he wouldn¡¯t have done something so stupid. Unfortunately, the ship had sailed and no amount of regret from Ling Xiao would change the facts.


    ¡°Salute!¡± Suddenly, a cold voice rang out from on the dock. This voice pierced through the cheering of the crowd on the dock and went straight into Ling Xiao¡¯s ear.


    Ling Lan and her friends presented him with a cool and handsome salute. It was as though she was telling him that she was enjoying this kind of life, that he needn¡¯t worry about her.


    Ling Lan¡¯s action made all the other military academy cadets on the dock follow suit. A series of salutes could be heard as all of the military academy cadets paid homage to Ling Xiao. They used all of the respect in their hearts to send off their idol, who was an anchor holding down the Federation.


    The loud chattering on the dock suddenly became silent. The respect of the military academy cadetsing from their hearts excited Ling Xiao. He sternly gave a salute to everyone on the dock.


    ¡°Dad, have a safe flight!¡± Ling Lan mouthed silently. Ling Xiao almost burst out into tears at this¡ªhis daughter had finally called him dad.


    Ling Xiao took a deep breath, held down the excitement inside of him and lowered the hand he used to salute. He quickly turned around and led Lan Luofeng into the warship. He had to turn around because he was afraid that if he stayed there any longer, his tears would start falling.


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, just wait two more years. After two years, you¡¯ll be free,¡± Ling Xiao thought to himself. Ling Xiao¡¯s n was very perfect, but he didn¡¯t know that sometimes changes could happen before a n was set into motion. When Ling Lan joined the 23rd Division, he wouldn¡¯t be able to hide her for any longer.


    <h4>Comments (231)</h4>


    VIEW ALL COMMENTSRate this chapterVote with Power StoneSend Gifts<h4>Chapter 520: Send Off!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan had brought back enough glory for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, and this made her name and the Lingtian Mecha n be the hot topic for conversation¡ªLing Lan was even considered an idol by the younger cadets. In the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, Ling Lan became the next idol after Qiao Ting to be worshiped by the academy; however, she always lived alone and in addition to her coldness she brought about, people didn¡¯t dare to get too close to her. The idolizing didn¡¯t affect Ling Lan¡¯s lifestyle too much.


    When Qiao Ting and the other fifth-year cadets left because of their internships in an army division, the other weakened mecha ns would not be confident enough to go against the Lingtian Mecha n, who had reached the top; they all began to be more low key. Ling Lan¡¯s outstanding performance in the Grand Mecha Tournament made them clearly understand that without the capabilities of an ace operator, they wouldn¡¯t be able to go against her. Everyone all came to a mutual agreement and didn¡¯t cause any more trouble. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy had once again returned to a time of peace and tranquility.


    Very soon, another two months passed and the fifth-years who were sessful in their applications for their internships in arge army division were finally going to leave the First Men¡¯s Military Academy... all the mecha ns were emotional at this; they all went to the spaceport and sent off their seniors.


    On the spaceport, 23 warships formed a straight line. They were the 23 divisions of the Federation. Although some divisions only had a few people from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy sessfully get in, in order to show that they valued the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s cadets, they didn¡¯t hesitate to send a standard warship to wee them.


    Ling Lan saw that other than the numbering on the warships and the totem markings, everything else was the same as standard warships. She suspected that this may have been the result of the divisions going against one another.


    However, it didn¡¯t matter. The ones who benefited from all this was the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s cadets. Compared to normal passenger ships, warships were iparably morefortable and safe on many levels.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t the only one who came to send them off; the entire Lingtian Mecha n had alle out to the docking area of the 23 warships to send off their seniors. Perhaps it was because 70-80% of the cadets were first and second-years, who were curious about the army divisions and wanted to see it for themselves. In the end, they all came and were surprisingly enthusiastic.


    Ling Lan¡¯s head trembled and hurt as she looked at the crowd of Lingtian n members. She could almost see in her mind the empty ssrooms that all the instructors were looking at, as well as the angry and frustrated look they would have on their faces.


    Ling Lan sighed internally. Today was a good day, so she shouldn¡¯t get angry! Thus, Ling Lan decided to ignore these members. She was looking forward to whether or not they would be reprimanded and punished by the instructors when they got back.


    This time, Lingtian Mecha n was sending off three people, and they were Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun and Li Shiyu.


    It couldn¡¯t be helped, as the Lingtian Mecha n had just been founded. Other than the three of them who had decided to join the year before, Lingtian didn¡¯t have any achievements that were enough to attract other senior cadets to join. After Ling Lan and the others returned in glory, the fifth-years who were focusing fully on evaluations didn¡¯t have the time or the state of mind to join a new mecha n.


    Quality over quantity. Although Lingtian only had three fifth years apply for army divisions, these three fifth-year cadets were the most outstanding in their own field. Li Shiyu had graduated at the top of his ss in military medicine. Right when his application was sent to the 23rd Division, Ling Xiao wrote him off instantly and gave him the no extra exam treatment, and this had made everyone else be green with envy.


    Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng had both advanced to ace level during the at the end of the Grand Mecha Tournament. Although Li Lanfeng¡¯s ace operator level wasn¡¯t stable, no one denied it. As long as Li Lanfeng was given time, he would definitely easily advance into ace level. No matter which military division they went to, ace operators were all weed.


    However,pared to Zhao Jun¡¯s smooth sailing during examinations, Li Lanfeng had tripped on some of the steps. Although Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha operating talent had moved the examiners of the 23rd Division, his poor physical constitution had the examiners worried. Li Lanfeng used all of his strength to operate the mecha and could only hold on for 10 minutes. This was his biggest issue and made the examiners very hesitant. With this kind of physical condition, even if his operating was top notch, he would still be throwing his life away on the battlefield. They really wanted to give up on him... After all, the number of people they could take in was limited and considered to be valuable, so they couldn¡¯t afford to waste a slot.


    Although it was cruel, they had to be responsible for their own division. While examining the capabilities of a cadet, they would also think about whether they would undergo growth in the future or not... and living a long life was the most important point. Even when it came to the strongest and most aberrant talents, if they couldn¡¯t live long, it would then all be for naught.


    However, they couldn¡¯t let Li Lanfeng go because they saw another possibility in Li Lanfeng. He was able to advance during battle while under pressure, which would allow Li Lanfeng to have hope of living a long life. The examiners could note to a consensus and neither could they convince the others on their opinions. Instead, they sent Li Lanfeng to the staff officer department of the 23rd Division to determine his fate. They wanted the staff officer department to decide whether they would take him or not.


    In reality, Li Lanfeng¡¯s fate wasn¡¯t certain, and Ling Lan knew that very clearly. When Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng were going through their assessments, Little Four, who was curious about the details, had sneakily broadcasted their assessments live.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t stop him. Although Ling Lan had many ways to help Li Lanfeng get into the 23rd Division smoothly, Ling Lan believed that this was Li Lanfeng¡¯s own path. No matter if it was smooth sailing or full of hardships, he had to experience it himself.


    Of course, if Li Lanfeng had failed the assessment, he would have had to wait until his sixth year to continue to apply. Even if he failed in his sixth year, it didn¡¯t mean that he had no hope of getting into the 23rd Division. But if that happened, Li Lanfeng¡¯s path in the future would be even more difficult. Firstly, he would need to apply like any average citizen for soldier tryouts in the 23rd Division. He would have to spend many years and slowly climb up from the lowest rank. Right, it wasn¡¯t like this. If he got into the 23rd Division right now, he would have the rank of lieutenant...


    However, some things could not be done by just thinking about it. A few dayster, Ling Lan received a phone call from her father¡¯s first staff officer, He Xuyang.


    ¡°Young Master Lan, long time no see, right?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s forehead couldn¡¯t help but twitch a few times after seeing He Xuyang¡¯s smiling face appear in the virtual video call. She first suspected that perhaps her father hadid some sort of trick for her.


    He Xuyang seemed to perceive what Ling Lan was thinking and immediately spoke up for his general. ¡°Young Master Lan, contacting you today has nothing to do with the general.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Ling Lan looked at him slyly. She really didn¡¯t know what other connection she shared with this first staff officer aside from her father.


    He Xuyang smiled awkwardly. When he had previously contacted Young Master Lan, he was actually sending the general¡¯s regards to him. The general was very busy but was scared that he had neglected his only child; thus, he made He Xuyang contact Ling Lan from time to time and make sure he was safe.


    However, He Xuyang was still Ling Xiao¡¯s first staff officer. His skin was trained enough to be very thick and so he quickly said without a care in the world, ¡°Young Master Lan, the situation¡¯s like this. We received the newest assessment results of an applicant from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. The examiners from below could note to a consensus regarding this applicant. In the end, the application was sent to us and we were told make the decision instead.¡±


    Ling Lan thought about it. She knew that this applicant was definitely Li Lanfeng. He was the only one who would make the examiners want to give up and fail him, yet still be reluctant in doing so. His physique was always being worked to its limit, and he was able to break through into ace level during his fifth year. Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha operating talent was undoubtedly monstrous, which was why he was able to continuously break past his body¡¯s limits and sessfully break through time and time again.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s tone was very in as if she didn¡¯t know what the situation was about.


    He Xuyang knowingly smiled and said, ¡°Li Lanfeng!¡±


    Ling Lan coldly looked at the image of He Xuyang and waited for what he was going to say next.


    ¡°I know Li Lanfeng was in your mecha n and could also have been in your battle team,¡± He Xuyang continued. Although Ling Lan¡¯s team¡¯s team member list wasn¡¯t told to the public, He Xuyang had reached a verdict. Even if he hadn¡¯t seen the real list of names, he would be able to determine it from Ling Lan¡¯s arrangements in the battle royale.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Ling Lan naturally knew about this and admitted to it outright.


    ¡°You should know Li Lanfeng very well. I just want to ask, do you think Li Lanfeng has a chance?¡± He Xuyang didn¡¯t beat around the bush and asked the question he was concerned about.


    Ling Lan knew He Xuyang wanted to ask whether Li Lanfeng had a chance to continue to break through in the future. The army divisions epted applicants from military academies not only to increase their military strength, but also to choose the exceptional seeds that could be nurtured to be a backbone in the division. Officers who were the backbones were 80-90% nurtured by the divisions as their own ¡°inside men¡±. Only these officers would be loyal to their own division and would be able to hold the division together.


    In the Federation, the longest legacy was the first, second and third divisions. Their appointed divisionmander would always be one of the three Great Marshals. This was the legacy. However, because every great marshal was developed by these three divisions, this made the three divisions always be the three strongest divisions in the Federation.


    However, nurturing a general would use up countless resources, and this was also why army divisions attached so much importance to every military academy¡¯s evaluations. These applicants were their future pirs, and thus they couldn¡¯t be sloppy with any of the slots reserved for the cadets. They had to take every detail into consideration, afraid that their negligence would result in taking in a piece of trash. This would waste not only waste a spot, but also waste countless resources of the division.


    Ling Lan frowned and asked, ¡°Why ask me? Isn¡¯t this something the 23rd Division should be dealing with?¡±


    ¡°Actually, Li Lanfeng was logically going to be given up on,¡± He Xuyang said. ¡°However, he¡¯s one of yours, so that made me hesitate a bit.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s hands made a fist, her eyes bing more colder than before. ¡°What, he¡¯s different because he¡¯s one of my men?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± He Xuyang¡¯s words caused the anger in Ling Lan to rise. She felt that she and Li Lanfeng were being humiliated. Perhaps it was because she was Ling Xiao¡¯s ¡°son¡±? That was why she had special privileges? Was Li Lanfeng someone that would ept this kind of gracious handout because he was one of her men?


    ¡°Heh. Young Master Lan, did you think that I was going to give Li Lanfeng a special privilege?¡± He Xuyang smiled. He had sensed Ling Lan¡¯s unhappiness from the coldness between her brows.


    ¡°You¡¯re saying that¡¯s not the case?¡± He Xuyang words instantly made Ling Lan calm down and the cidness returned to her eyes again. She shouldn¡¯t have been concerned; He Xuyang was a very moral person and would definitely not give the general¡¯s ¡°son¡± a backdoor of sorts in order to get on the general¡¯s good side.


    He Xuyang¡¯s eyes showed a hint of approval. Ling Lan¡¯s cold and heartless appearance actually showed that she was very emotional¡ªshe cared deeply for those around her and didn¡¯t allow anyone to look down on them. However, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t someone to be controlled by emotions. When she needed to be calm, she would be calmer than anyone.


    ¡°Of course not.¡± He Xuyang smiled, and then his expression became serious. ¡°Young Master Lan, I understand you. The people that you set your eyes upon are all remarkable individuals. Li Shiyu is one of them and Zhao Jun is the same. Then I must assume that this Li Lanfeng is the same as well. Although it seems like he doesn¡¯t have a future now, being able to be your subordinate, he definitely must have had enough exceptional talent to attract you, and I just want to know what he is exceptional in and whether that is valuable enough for the 23rd Division to invest and nurture him.¡±


    Ling Lan went silent for a moment, then slowly said, ¡°Why should I tell you?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a win-win situation for the both of us! Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t want to get into the 23rd Division in the future? If that¡¯s the case, just wait until General Ling Xiao chases you down with his God-ss IN mecha from miles away,¡± He Xuyang threatened. ¡°Ensuring that your battle team staysplete would be very beneficial for your future development, Young Master Lan. If Li Lanfeng really is worth nurturing, the 23rd Division won¡¯t pass up on the opportunity. It¡¯s always a good thing for us to add another strong member into our division. Young Master Lan, don¡¯t forget that the 23rd Division is the division of your father, General Ling Xiao.¡±


    ¡°Are you not afraid that I would give you false information out of selfishness?¡± Ling Lan asked with raised brows.


    ¡°If Young Master Lan was that kind of person, then he wouldn¡¯t be our Young Master Lan,¡± He Xuyang responded, half smiling.


    ¡°Well. Since you said that, I definitely can¡¯t tell a lie, so that I won¡¯t let Staff officer He Xuyang¡¯s trust go to waste,¡± Ling Lan replied. ¡°Give him some time. It isn¡¯t impossible for him to advance to imperial level!¡± He Xuyang eyes lit up, but this wasn¡¯t enough. As expected, Ling Lan continued, ¡°And, he is also capable of bing an exceptional strategist.¡±


    After hearing Ling Lan¡¯s answer, He Xuyang ended his call with Ling Lan in satisfaction. Seeing the screen suddenly turn ck, Ling Lan was dumbfounded. This He Xuyang was too much. He was this heartless after getting what he wanted? Not even saying a word of thanks?


    He Xuyang didn¡¯t know how Ling Lan was criticizing him. He walked in front of his desk and picked up the report. He thought it over for a moment, then wrote down one statement and signed his name.


    Allow Zhao Jun enter the 23rd Division as the rank of senior captain!


    Allow Li Shiyu enter the 23rd Division as the rank of senior captain!


    Allow Li Lanfeng enter the 23rd Division as the rank of second lieutenant!


    Compared to Li Shiyu¡¯s and Zhao Jun¡¯s ranks, Li Lanfeng¡¯s rank was very low. One only needed to be at the level of advanced mecha operator to obtained the rank of second lieutenant. Although Li Lanfeng¡¯s ace mecha operator level wasn¡¯t stable, he was still easily at the special-ss operator level. ording to the ranks given ordingly to the levels of mecha operators in the Federation, Li Lanfeng¡¯s rank should be first lieutenant and not second lieutenant.


    This meant that while Li Lanfeng was approved by He Xuyang to enter the 23rd Division, He Xuyang still suppressed Li Lanfeng. This was He Xuyang testing Li Lanfeng!


    Ling Lan returned from her shback and couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly. Although she didn¡¯t want to have a hand in the situation, she still did something. It was just that she didn¡¯t know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing for Li Lanfeng. Ling Lan believed that since Li Lanfeng was now being eyed by He Xuyang, he would definitely have a rough time in the 23rd Division.


    Ling Lan looked at the three of them wearing uniforms standing in front of her, and her worries were gone in an instant. She encouragingly said, ¡°The 23rd Division has formed recently, so they¡¯re basically all veterans. There aren¡¯t many new people like you guys there. It¡¯s going to be a hard road ahead. However, at the same time, it is an opportunity for you guys, since the 23rd Divisioncks pretty much everything. As long as you guys behave well, you won¡¯t have to be like in the other divisions where everyone has his own task and there¡¯s nobody to spare, needing to waste time and resources just to rank up. Maybe when we¡¯re fifth-years and enter the 23rd Division, you guys will be our superiors then.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Boss. Even then, you¡¯ll still be our Boss,¡± Zhao Jun said with a smile.


    Li Shiyu said, ¡°When you guyse, even if you guys train until yourst breath, I will make sure to revive you guys instantly.¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s words were vicious, but what he meant was that he would definitely take a spot as a military doctor and not have them worry about the future.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan with aplicated look. He hadn¡¯t expected that Ling Lan would give him such a big surprise when they were about to leave. His expression was very serious and it seemed like he was making a promise as he said, ¡°Rabbit, I will definitely finish that training. When youe to the 23rd Division, you will see a wless Li Lanfeng.¡±


    It turned out that Ling Lan had told Li Lanfeng to quickly resolve the issues of his physical condition. She had created a training regimen along with three sets of extremely valuable basic fundamental physical skills training from the learning space. She told Li Lanfeng clearly that he needed to stick to the training every day and finish the three sets of physical skills, as this way he would be able to resolve the issue of his physical constitution. This unexpected gift had made Li Lanfeng feel ever so grateful.


    Ling Lan¡¯s training regimen seemed to be meant for just resolving Li Lanfeng¡¯s issues on his physical constitution, but only Li Lanfeng knew what Ling Lan had actually given him¡ªhe had given him the chance to be reborn, a chance to turn his life around.


    Right then, the docks rang with a sound telling the cadets to get ready to board the ships, and this caused dismay to show on the faces of the three who were going to leave the academy for their division. Looking back at the five years they spent in the military academy, only thest year had been fraught with dangers and surprises, and all this was brought about by the person standing in front of them.


    ¡°Seniors, go take a look at the 23rd Division. We¡¯re counting on you,¡± the members of the Lingtian Mecha n all screamed out after seeing that the three of them were about to leave.


    ¡°Good luck, seniors!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s get together again after three years!¡± These were the second-year cadets who were reluctant to let these three seniors who had treated them well leave after getting to know them in the past year. They also knew that Boss Lan was going to the 23rd Division in the future, so they were prepared to go there as well.


    ¡°There¡¯s still us after four years!¡± These were the first-years. They had just joined and hadn¡¯t formed any rtionships or bonds with these three chosen ones yet they were going off to join the 23rd Division, making the first-years feel that it was a shame they couldn¡¯t get to know them. At that moment, they all called out, not caring whether the three of them could hear or know who they were.


    The enthusiasm of the mecha n members made the three of them emotional. Li Shiyu was the softest in terms of emotions, to begin with; his eyes grew even redder than before and were on the verge of shedding tears. Although he had ended up joining Lingtian because of Ling Lan¡¯s tricks, after one year of being together, he hade to see Lingtian as family. This scene in front of him made him even more reluctant to leave.


    ¡°Alright.¡± Seeing that it was getting out of control, Ling Lan quickly spoke up, and this made the entire scene be instantly silent. Every member looked towards Ling Lan and waited for their Boss Lan to say something.


    ¡°You guys have to remember that although there¡¯s only three of you, you guys are representing the Lingtian Mecha n and Ling Lan. If you get bullied by people in the 23rd Division, don¡¯t bring shame to Lingtian,¡± Ling Lan said coldly.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes flickered. Didn¡¯t that mean that if something really did happen, Boss would be able to deal with it? He happily nodded and replied, ¡°Understood, Boss!¡±


    Zhao Jun¡¯s behavior made Ling Lan¡¯s forehead throb. She quickly looked towards Li Lanfeng and added, ¡°No bullying.¡±


    She was right. She should be worrying about the soldiers in the 23rd Division and not the three in front of her. Li Lanfeng had so many tricks up his sleeve, Li Shiyu was the top cadet for military medicine, and even Zhao Jun was a person with a silly face but an evil heart. This made it so that they certainly wouldn¡¯t be bullied by others. Her worry just now was really pointless and made her head spin.


    Li Lanfeng held in his smile after seeing Rabbit¡¯s frustration from not knowing what to do and his head hurting. This made his reluctant feelings instantly lessen. He smiled and nodded whileforting Ling Lan, ¡°Understood. I will definitely look after Zhao Jun.¡±


    ¡°Oh ho!¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s answer made Li Shiyuugh out loud. ¡°Look after Zhao Jun? Are you sure you didn¡¯t mean that you would work with Zhao Jun?¡±


    Zhao Jun looked at Li Lanfeng with indifference. The two of them exchanged a stare that they both understood.


    Ling Lan suddenly realized that asking Li Lanfeng to look after Zhao Jun was an absolute mistake. She could confirm that if Zhao Jun was to cause trouble, Li Lanfeng would not only not stop him, but also strategize for him...


    Seeing the three of them be less reluctantpared to earlier after hearing her words, Ling Lan¡¯s heart softened. As long as they weren¡¯t bullied, she couldn¡¯t care less about helping the people they were going to bully while in the 23rd Division. The only thing she could do was that when they caused trouble and couldn¡¯t resolve it, she would be able to contact her dad in a timely manner and help them out.


    Although she had this thought, Ling Lan was still in a bad mood. She pointed to the warship and said, ¡°You guys can leave now.¡± If they stayed any longer, she would have definitely given them a beating. What kind of members had she scouted? Not a single one of them didn¡¯t make her worry.


    Hearing this, the expressions of the three changed; they knew that the time to leave hade. They exchanged looks, raised their hands and saluted Ling Lan. ¡°Thank you, Captain!¡±


    ¡°Thank you for letting me understand the significance of friendship! I am no longer a lone wolf!¡± Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes were red at that moment.


    ¡°Thank you for letting me find myself and help me find the correct path!¡± Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t control himself and ended up blinking. One teardrop dripped down silently.


    ¡°Thank you for giving me the friendship that I had always wanted. Thank you for letting me have the chance to change my fate! Thank you!¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes were steady. Finished speaking, he lowered his hand and said to Zhao Jun and Li Shiyu, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± The three of them turned around and walked into the warship, disappearing at the loading dock.


    Seeing Li Lanfeng and the other two disappear into the ship, Ling Lan got ready to leave with Qi Long and the others. But right when she turned around, she saw a familiar face walk towards her.


    That person saw Ling Lan. His eyes instantly flickered and stopped his footsteps.


    ¡°You¡¯re here to send them off?¡± Ling Lan was still a second-year cadet right now, so she couldn¡¯t be the one going to the 23rd Division.


    Ling Lan lifted her brow in surprise. ¡°Senior Nie, long time no see.¡±


    ¡°Long time no see. You¡¯re here to send off members from your mecha n? Or you wouldn¡¯t possibly appear here.¡± Nie Feng-ming looked around him. The Lingtian Mecha n had almost everyone move out. If these people weren¡¯t from their mecha n, who else could they be? He moved his head and thought for a while about the list of this year¡¯s applications that were approved and came to an understanding. ¡°It¡¯s Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu and Zhao Jun. These three right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Senior Nie.¡± Ling Lan looked at the uniform he was wearing. It had the logo of the 23rd Division. ¡°Congrattions, Senior Nie, you¡¯ve also entered the 23rd Division sessfully it seems.¡±


    Nie Feng-ming looked at Ling Lan silently, then suddenly said, ¡°Ling Lan, one year ago, I hated you to the bone. In the battle arena, you were ruthless and wounded me severely which caused me to miss that year¡¯s evaluation. You made me waste a whole year¡¯s worth of time and so I could only get into the 23rd Division this year.¡±


    Ling Lan nodded and said, ¡°I know, but I don¡¯t regret it. If it was to happen again, I would still do the same thing.¡± She wouldn¡¯t to let someone who wanted to hurt her friends off that easily. Returning the same level of harm was the least she had to do to take revenge.


    ¡°I know, you weren¡¯t in the wrong. After a whole year, I¡¯ve calmed down and realized that it was my own fault,¡± Nie Feng-ming said, then continued sarcastically, ¡°But even though I know it¡¯s my fault, I still have to take my revenge or else I won¡¯t be able to continue on with life.¡±


    Nie Feng-ming pumped his chest with his fist. After lying in bed for seven months within the treatment pod¡¯s narrow space, he had almost gone insane from the suffocating environment. He had endured through all that because of his desire for vengeance. If he didn¡¯t take revenge himself, he wouldn¡¯t be able to live his life, to have the chance to move forward.

 Chapter 520 - Send Off!

    <h4>Chapter 520: Send Off!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan had brought back enough glory for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, and this made her name and the Lingtian Mecha n be the hot topic for conversation¡ªLing Lan was even considered an idol by the younger cadets. In the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, Ling Lan became the next idol after Qiao Ting to be worshiped by the academy; however, she always lived alone and in addition to her coldness she brought about, people didn¡¯t dare to get too close to her. The idolizing didn¡¯t affect Ling Lan¡¯s lifestyle too much.


    When Qiao Ting and the other fifth-year cadets left because of their internships in an army division, the other weakened mecha ns would not be confident enough to go against the Lingtian Mecha n, who had reached the top; they all began to be more low key. Ling Lan¡¯s outstanding performance in the Grand Mecha Tournament made them clearly understand that without the capabilities of an ace operator, they wouldn¡¯t be able to go against her. Everyone all came to a mutual agreement and didn¡¯t cause any more trouble. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy had once again returned to a time of peace and tranquility.


    Very soon, another two months passed and the fifth-years who were sessful in their applications for their internships in arge army division were finally going to leave the First Men¡¯s Military Academy... all the mecha ns were emotional at this; they all went to the spaceport and sent off their seniors.


    On the spaceport, 23 warships formed a straight line. They were the 23 divisions of the Federation. Although some divisions only had a few people from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy sessfully get in, in order to show that they valued the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s cadets, they didn¡¯t hesitate to send a standard warship to wee them.


    Ling Lan saw that other than the numbering on the warships and the totem markings, everything else was the same as standard warships. She suspected that this may have been the result of the divisions going against one another.


    However, it didn¡¯t matter. The ones who benefited from all this was the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s cadets. Compared to normal passenger ships, warships were iparably morefortable and safe on many levels.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t the only one who came to send them off; the entire Lingtian Mecha n had alle out to the docking area of the 23 warships to send off their seniors. Perhaps it was because 70-80% of the cadets were first and second-years, who were curious about the army divisions and wanted to see it for themselves. In the end, they all came and were surprisingly enthusiastic.


    Ling Lan¡¯s head trembled and hurt as she looked at the crowd of Lingtian n members. She could almost see in her mind the empty ssrooms that all the instructors were looking at, as well as the angry and frustrated look they would have on their faces.


    Ling Lan sighed internally. Today was a good day, so she shouldn¡¯t get angry! Thus, Ling Lan decided to ignore these members. She was looking forward to whether or not they would be reprimanded and punished by the instructors when they got back.


    This time, Lingtian Mecha n was sending off three people, and they were Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun and Li Shiyu.


    It couldn¡¯t be helped, as the Lingtian Mecha n had just been founded. Other than the three of them who had decided to join the year before, Lingtian didn¡¯t have any achievements that were enough to attract other senior cadets to join. After Ling Lan and the others returned in glory, the fifth-years who were focusing fully on evaluations didn¡¯t have the time or the state of mind to join a new mecha n.


    Quality over quantity. Although Lingtian only had three fifth years apply for army divisions, these three fifth-year cadets were the most outstanding in their own field. Li Shiyu had graduated at the top of his ss in military medicine. Right when his application was sent to the 23rd Division, Ling Xiao wrote him off instantly and gave him the no extra exam treatment, and this had made everyone else be green with envy.


    Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng had both advanced to ace level during the at the end of the Grand Mecha Tournament. Although Li Lanfeng¡¯s ace operator level wasn¡¯t stable, no one denied it. As long as Li Lanfeng was given time, he would definitely easily advance into ace level. No matter which military division they went to, ace operators were all weed.


    However,pared to Zhao Jun¡¯s smooth sailing during examinations, Li Lanfeng had tripped on some of the steps. Although Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha operating talent had moved the examiners of the 23rd Division, his poor physical constitution had the examiners worried. Li Lanfeng used all of his strength to operate the mecha and could only hold on for 10 minutes. This was his biggest issue and made the examiners very hesitant. With this kind of physical condition, even if his operating was top notch, he would still be throwing his life away on the battlefield. They really wanted to give up on him... After all, the number of people they could take in was limited and considered to be valuable, so they couldn¡¯t afford to waste a slot.


    Although it was cruel, they had to be responsible for their own division. While examining the capabilities of a cadet, they would also think about whether they would undergo growth in the future or not... and living a long life was the most important point. Even when it came to the strongest and most aberrant talents, if they couldn¡¯t live long, it would then all be for naught.


    However, they couldn¡¯t let Li Lanfeng go because they saw another possibility in Li Lanfeng. He was able to advance during battle while under pressure, which would allow Li Lanfeng to have hope of living a long life. The examiners could note to a consensus and neither could they convince the others on their opinions. Instead, they sent Li Lanfeng to the staff officer department of the 23rd Division to determine his fate. They wanted the staff officer department to decide whether they would take him or not.


    In reality, Li Lanfeng¡¯s fate wasn¡¯t certain, and Ling Lan knew that very clearly. When Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng were going through their assessments, Little Four, who was curious about the details, had sneakily broadcasted their assessments live.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t stop him. Although Ling Lan had many ways to help Li Lanfeng get into the 23rd Division smoothly, Ling Lan believed that this was Li Lanfeng¡¯s own path. No matter if it was smooth sailing or full of hardships, he had to experience it himself.


    Of course, if Li Lanfeng had failed the assessment, he would have had to wait until his sixth year to continue to apply. Even if he failed in his sixth year, it didn¡¯t mean that he had no hope of getting into the 23rd Division. But if that happened, Li Lanfeng¡¯s path in the future would be even more difficult. Firstly, he would need to apply like any average citizen for soldier tryouts in the 23rd Division. He would have to spend many years and slowly climb up from the lowest rank. Right, it wasn¡¯t like this. If he got into the 23rd Division right now, he would have the rank of lieutenant...


    However, some things could not be done by just thinking about it. A few dayster, Ling Lan received a phone call from her father¡¯s first staff officer, He Xuyang.


    ¡°Young Master Lan, long time no see, right?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s forehead couldn¡¯t help but twitch a few times after seeing He Xuyang¡¯s smiling face appear in the virtual video call. She first suspected that perhaps her father hadid some sort of trick for her.


    He Xuyang seemed to perceive what Ling Lan was thinking and immediately spoke up for his general. ¡°Young Master Lan, contacting you today has nothing to do with the general.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Ling Lan looked at him slyly. She really didn¡¯t know what other connection she shared with this first staff officer aside from her father.


    He Xuyang smiled awkwardly. When he had previously contacted Young Master Lan, he was actually sending the general¡¯s regards to him. The general was very busy but was scared that he had neglected his only child; thus, he made He Xuyang contact Ling Lan from time to time and make sure he was safe.


    However, He Xuyang was still Ling Xiao¡¯s first staff officer. His skin was trained enough to be very thick and so he quickly said without a care in the world, ¡°Young Master Lan, the situation¡¯s like this. We received the newest assessment results of an applicant from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. The examiners from below could note to a consensus regarding this applicant. In the end, the application was sent to us and we were told make the decision instead.¡±


    Ling Lan thought about it. She knew that this applicant was definitely Li Lanfeng. He was the only one who would make the examiners want to give up and fail him, yet still be reluctant in doing so. His physique was always being worked to its limit, and he was able to break through into ace level during his fifth year. Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha operating talent was undoubtedly monstrous, which was why he was able to continuously break past his body¡¯s limits and sessfully break through time and time again.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s tone was very in as if she didn¡¯t know what the situation was about.


    He Xuyang knowingly smiled and said, ¡°Li Lanfeng!¡±


    Ling Lan coldly looked at the image of He Xuyang and waited for what he was going to say next.


    ¡°I know Li Lanfeng was in your mecha n and could also have been in your battle team,¡± He Xuyang continued. Although Ling Lan¡¯s team¡¯s team member list wasn¡¯t told to the public, He Xuyang had reached a verdict. Even if he hadn¡¯t seen the real list of names, he would be able to determine it from Ling Lan¡¯s arrangements in the battle royale.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Ling Lan naturally knew about this and admitted to it outright.


    ¡°You should know Li Lanfeng very well. I just want to ask, do you think Li Lanfeng has a chance?¡± He Xuyang didn¡¯t beat around the bush and asked the question he was concerned about.


    Ling Lan knew He Xuyang wanted to ask whether Li Lanfeng had a chance to continue to break through in the future. The army divisions epted applicants from military academies not only to increase their military strength, but also to choose the exceptional seeds that could be nurtured to be a backbone in the division. Officers who were the backbones were 80-90% nurtured by the divisions as their own ¡°inside men¡±. Only these officers would be loyal to their own division and would be able to hold the division together.


    In the Federation, the longest legacy was the first, second and third divisions. Their appointed divisionmander would always be one of the three Great Marshals. This was the legacy. However, because every great marshal was developed by these three divisions, this made the three divisions always be the three strongest divisions in the Federation.


    However, nurturing a general would use up countless resources, and this was also why army divisions attached so much importance to every military academy¡¯s evaluations. These applicants were their future pirs, and thus they couldn¡¯t be sloppy with any of the slots reserved for the cadets. They had to take every detail into consideration, afraid that their negligence would result in taking in a piece of trash. This would waste not only waste a spot, but also waste countless resources of the division.


    Ling Lan frowned and asked, ¡°Why ask me? Isn¡¯t this something the 23rd Division should be dealing with?¡±


    ¡°Actually, Li Lanfeng was logically going to be given up on,¡± He Xuyang said. ¡°However, he¡¯s one of yours, so that made me hesitate a bit.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s hands made a fist, her eyes bing more colder than before. ¡°What, he¡¯s different because he¡¯s one of my men?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± He Xuyang¡¯s words caused the anger in Ling Lan to rise. She felt that she and Li Lanfeng were being humiliated. Perhaps it was because she was Ling Xiao¡¯s ¡°son¡±? That was why she had special privileges? Was Li Lanfeng someone that would ept this kind of gracious handout because he was one of her men?


    ¡°Heh. Young Master Lan, did you think that I was going to give Li Lanfeng a special privilege?¡± He Xuyang smiled. He had sensed Ling Lan¡¯s unhappiness from the coldness between her brows.


    ¡°You¡¯re saying that¡¯s not the case?¡± He Xuyang words instantly made Ling Lan calm down and the cidness returned to her eyes again. She shouldn¡¯t have been concerned; He Xuyang was a very moral person and would definitely not give the general¡¯s ¡°son¡± a backdoor of sorts in order to get on the general¡¯s good side.


    He Xuyang¡¯s eyes showed a hint of approval. Ling Lan¡¯s cold and heartless appearance actually showed that she was very emotional¡ªshe cared deeply for those around her and didn¡¯t allow anyone to look down on them. However, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t someone to be controlled by emotions. When she needed to be calm, she would be calmer than anyone.


    ¡°Of course not.¡± He Xuyang smiled, and then his expression became serious. ¡°Young Master Lan, I understand you. The people that you set your eyes upon are all remarkable individuals. Li Shiyu is one of them and Zhao Jun is the same. Then I must assume that this Li Lanfeng is the same as well. Although it seems like he doesn¡¯t have a future now, being able to be your subordinate, he definitely must have had enough exceptional talent to attract you, and I just want to know what he is exceptional in and whether that is valuable enough for the 23rd Division to invest and nurture him.¡±


    Ling Lan went silent for a moment, then slowly said, ¡°Why should I tell you?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a win-win situation for the both of us! Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t want to get into the 23rd Division in the future? If that¡¯s the case, just wait until General Ling Xiao chases you down with his God-ss IN mecha from miles away,¡± He Xuyang threatened. ¡°Ensuring that your battle team staysplete would be very beneficial for your future development, Young Master Lan. If Li Lanfeng really is worth nurturing, the 23rd Division won¡¯t pass up on the opportunity. It¡¯s always a good thing for us to add another strong member into our division. Young Master Lan, don¡¯t forget that the 23rd Division is the division of your father, General Ling Xiao.¡±


    ¡°Are you not afraid that I would give you false information out of selfishness?¡± Ling Lan asked with raised brows.


    ¡°If Young Master Lan was that kind of person, then he wouldn¡¯t be our Young Master Lan,¡± He Xuyang responded, half smiling.


    ¡°Well. Since you said that, I definitely can¡¯t tell a lie, so that I won¡¯t let Staff officer He Xuyang¡¯s trust go to waste,¡± Ling Lan replied. ¡°Give him some time. It isn¡¯t impossible for him to advance to imperial level!¡± He Xuyang eyes lit up, but this wasn¡¯t enough. As expected, Ling Lan continued, ¡°And, he is also capable of bing an exceptional strategist.¡±


    After hearing Ling Lan¡¯s answer, He Xuyang ended his call with Ling Lan in satisfaction. Seeing the screen suddenly turn ck, Ling Lan was dumbfounded. This He Xuyang was too much. He was this heartless after getting what he wanted? Not even saying a word of thanks?


    He Xuyang didn¡¯t know how Ling Lan was criticizing him. He walked in front of his desk and picked up the report. He thought it over for a moment, then wrote down one statement and signed his name.


    Allow Zhao Jun enter the 23rd Division as the rank of senior captain!


    Allow Li Shiyu enter the 23rd Division as the rank of senior captain!


    Allow Li Lanfeng enter the 23rd Division as the rank of second lieutenant!


    Compared to Li Shiyu¡¯s and Zhao Jun¡¯s ranks, Li Lanfeng¡¯s rank was very low. One only needed to be at the level of advanced mecha operator to obtained the rank of second lieutenant. Although Li Lanfeng¡¯s ace mecha operator level wasn¡¯t stable, he was still easily at the special-ss operator level. ording to the ranks given ordingly to the levels of mecha operators in the Federation, Li Lanfeng¡¯s rank should be first lieutenant and not second lieutenant.


    This meant that while Li Lanfeng was approved by He Xuyang to enter the 23rd Division, He Xuyang still suppressed Li Lanfeng. This was He Xuyang testing Li Lanfeng!


    Ling Lan returned from her shback and couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly. Although she didn¡¯t want to have a hand in the situation, she still did something. It was just that she didn¡¯t know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing for Li Lanfeng. Ling Lan believed that since Li Lanfeng was now being eyed by He Xuyang, he would definitely have a rough time in the 23rd Division.


    Ling Lan looked at the three of them wearing uniforms standing in front of her, and her worries were gone in an instant. She encouragingly said, ¡°The 23rd Division has formed recently, so they¡¯re basically all veterans. There aren¡¯t many new people like you guys there. It¡¯s going to be a hard road ahead. However, at the same time, it is an opportunity for you guys, since the 23rd Divisioncks pretty much everything. As long as you guys behave well, you won¡¯t have to be like in the other divisions where everyone has his own task and there¡¯s nobody to spare, needing to waste time and resources just to rank up. Maybe when we¡¯re fifth-years and enter the 23rd Division, you guys will be our superiors then.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Boss. Even then, you¡¯ll still be our Boss,¡± Zhao Jun said with a smile.


    Li Shiyu said, ¡°When you guyse, even if you guys train until yourst breath, I will make sure to revive you guys instantly.¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s words were vicious, but what he meant was that he would definitely take a spot as a military doctor and not have them worry about the future.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan with aplicated look. He hadn¡¯t expected that Ling Lan would give him such a big surprise when they were about to leave. His expression was very serious and it seemed like he was making a promise as he said, ¡°Rabbit, I will definitely finish that training. When youe to the 23rd Division, you will see a wless Li Lanfeng.¡±


    It turned out that Ling Lan had told Li Lanfeng to quickly resolve the issues of his physical condition. She had created a training regimen along with three sets of extremely valuable basic fundamental physical skills training from the learning space. She told Li Lanfeng clearly that he needed to stick to the training every day and finish the three sets of physical skills, as this way he would be able to resolve the issue of his physical constitution. This unexpected gift had made Li Lanfeng feel ever so grateful.


    Ling Lan¡¯s training regimen seemed to be meant for just resolving Li Lanfeng¡¯s issues on his physical constitution, but only Li Lanfeng knew what Ling Lan had actually given him¡ªhe had given him the chance to be reborn, a chance to turn his life around.


    Right then, the docks rang with a sound telling the cadets to get ready to board the ships, and this caused dismay to show on the faces of the three who were going to leave the academy for their division. Looking back at the five years they spent in the military academy, only thest year had been fraught with dangers and surprises, and all this was brought about by the person standing in front of them.


    ¡°Seniors, go take a look at the 23rd Division. We¡¯re counting on you,¡± the members of the Lingtian Mecha n all screamed out after seeing that the three of them were about to leave.


    ¡°Good luck, seniors!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s get together again after three years!¡± These were the second-year cadets who were reluctant to let these three seniors who had treated them well leave after getting to know them in the past year. They also knew that Boss Lan was going to the 23rd Division in the future, so they were prepared to go there as well.


    ¡°There¡¯s still us after four years!¡± These were the first-years. They had just joined and hadn¡¯t formed any rtionships or bonds with these three chosen ones yet they were going off to join the 23rd Division, making the first-years feel that it was a shame they couldn¡¯t get to know them. At that moment, they all called out, not caring whether the three of them could hear or know who they were.


    The enthusiasm of the mecha n members made the three of them emotional. Li Shiyu was the softest in terms of emotions, to begin with; his eyes grew even redder than before and were on the verge of shedding tears. Although he had ended up joining Lingtian because of Ling Lan¡¯s tricks, after one year of being together, he hade to see Lingtian as family. This scene in front of him made him even more reluctant to leave.


    ¡°Alright.¡± Seeing that it was getting out of control, Ling Lan quickly spoke up, and this made the entire scene be instantly silent. Every member looked towards Ling Lan and waited for their Boss Lan to say something.


    ¡°You guys have to remember that although there¡¯s only three of you, you guys are representing the Lingtian Mecha n and Ling Lan. If you get bullied by people in the 23rd Division, don¡¯t bring shame to Lingtian,¡± Ling Lan said coldly.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes flickered. Didn¡¯t that mean that if something really did happen, Boss would be able to deal with it? He happily nodded and replied, ¡°Understood, Boss!¡±


    Zhao Jun¡¯s behavior made Ling Lan¡¯s forehead throb. She quickly looked towards Li Lanfeng and added, ¡°No bullying.¡±


    She was right. She should be worrying about the soldiers in the 23rd Division and not the three in front of her. Li Lanfeng had so many tricks up his sleeve, Li Shiyu was the top cadet for military medicine, and even Zhao Jun was a person with a silly face but an evil heart. This made it so that they certainly wouldn¡¯t be bullied by others. Her worry just now was really pointless and made her head spin.


    Li Lanfeng held in his smile after seeing Rabbit¡¯s frustration from not knowing what to do and his head hurting. This made his reluctant feelings instantly lessen. He smiled and nodded whileforting Ling Lan, ¡°Understood. I will definitely look after Zhao Jun.¡±


    ¡°Oh ho!¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s answer made Li Shiyuugh out loud. ¡°Look after Zhao Jun? Are you sure you didn¡¯t mean that you would work with Zhao Jun?¡±


    Zhao Jun looked at Li Lanfeng with indifference. The two of them exchanged a stare that they both understood.


    Ling Lan suddenly realized that asking Li Lanfeng to look after Zhao Jun was an absolute mistake. She could confirm that if Zhao Jun was to cause trouble, Li Lanfeng would not only not stop him, but also strategize for him...


    Seeing the three of them be less reluctantpared to earlier after hearing her words, Ling Lan¡¯s heart softened. As long as they weren¡¯t bullied, she couldn¡¯t care less about helping the people they were going to bully while in the 23rd Division. The only thing she could do was that when they caused trouble and couldn¡¯t resolve it, she would be able to contact her dad in a timely manner and help them out.


    Although she had this thought, Ling Lan was still in a bad mood. She pointed to the warship and said, ¡°You guys can leave now.¡± If they stayed any longer, she would have definitely given them a beating. What kind of members had she scouted? Not a single one of them didn¡¯t make her worry.


    Hearing this, the expressions of the three changed; they knew that the time to leave hade. They exchanged looks, raised their hands and saluted Ling Lan. ¡°Thank you, Captain!¡±


    ¡°Thank you for letting me understand the significance of friendship! I am no longer a lone wolf!¡± Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes were red at that moment.


    ¡°Thank you for letting me find myself and help me find the correct path!¡± Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t control himself and ended up blinking. One teardrop dripped down silently.


    ¡°Thank you for giving me the friendship that I had always wanted. Thank you for letting me have the chance to change my fate! Thank you!¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes were steady. Finished speaking, he lowered his hand and said to Zhao Jun and Li Shiyu, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± The three of them turned around and walked into the warship, disappearing at the loading dock.


    Seeing Li Lanfeng and the other two disappear into the ship, Ling Lan got ready to leave with Qi Long and the others. But right when she turned around, she saw a familiar face walk towards her.


    That person saw Ling Lan. His eyes instantly flickered and stopped his footsteps.


    ¡°You¡¯re here to send them off?¡± Ling Lan was still a second-year cadet right now, so she couldn¡¯t be the one going to the 23rd Division.


    Ling Lan lifted her brow in surprise. ¡°Senior Nie, long time no see.¡±


    ¡°Long time no see. You¡¯re here to send off members from your mecha n? Or you wouldn¡¯t possibly appear here.¡± Nie Feng-ming looked around him. The Lingtian Mecha n had almost everyone move out. If these people weren¡¯t from their mecha n, who else could they be? He moved his head and thought for a while about the list of this year¡¯s applications that were approved and came to an understanding. ¡°It¡¯s Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu and Zhao Jun. These three right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Senior Nie.¡± Ling Lan looked at the uniform he was wearing. It had the logo of the 23rd Division. ¡°Congrattions, Senior Nie, you¡¯ve also entered the 23rd Division sessfully it seems.¡±


    Nie Feng-ming looked at Ling Lan silently, then suddenly said, ¡°Ling Lan, one year ago, I hated you to the bone. In the battle arena, you were ruthless and wounded me severely which caused me to miss that year¡¯s evaluation. You made me waste a whole year¡¯s worth of time and so I could only get into the 23rd Division this year.¡±


    Ling Lan nodded and said, ¡°I know, but I don¡¯t regret it. If it was to happen again, I would still do the same thing.¡± She wouldn¡¯t to let someone who wanted to hurt her friends off that easily. Returning the same level of harm was the least she had to do to take revenge.


    ¡°I know, you weren¡¯t in the wrong. After a whole year, I¡¯ve calmed down and realized that it was my own fault,¡± Nie Feng-ming said, then continued sarcastically, ¡°But even though I know it¡¯s my fault, I still have to take my revenge or else I won¡¯t be able to continue on with life.¡±


    Nie Feng-ming pumped his chest with his fist. After lying in bed for seven months within the treatment pod¡¯s narrow space, he had almost gone insane from the suffocating environment. He had endured through all that because of his desire for vengeance. If he didn¡¯t take revenge himself, he wouldn¡¯t be able to live his life, to have the chance to move forward.

 Chapter 521 - Chase!

    <h4>Chapter 521: Chase!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Your boss, Huo Zhenyu, has already made an agreement. We¡¯ll resolve this in the 23rd Division three yearster.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression was in as she told him about the promise between her and Huo Zhenyu.


    Nie Feng-ming nodded and said, ¡°The boss¡¯ promise is my promise. Three yearster, I¡¯ll be waiting for you in the 23rd Division.¡± Nie Feng-ming took a stare at Ling Lan again and continued, ¡°However, I still have to thank you.¡±


    Ling Lan was stunned. Why would Nie Feng-ming thank her after she ruthlessly made him lose one year¡¯s worth of time?


    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for you, Boss Huo wouldn¡¯t have suddenly changed his ns to apply for the 23rd Division; our battle team would have then split off into many different pieces. But now, our entire battle team has gotten into the 23rd Division. We can now continue to fight amongst our brothers-in-arms. I am also grateful for the ruthlessness you showed back then. So thank you!¡± Nie Feng-ming said with a serious tone. After saying that, he walked past Ling Lan without turning around and boarded the warship of the 23rd Division.


    Nie Feng-ming¡¯s words made Ling Lan¡¯s heart shake uncontrobly. In reality, what had happened to Nie Feng-mingst year had made Ling Lan feel disdain; she had felt that this person was a terrible person. But now it looked like she was the one who was short-sighted.


    No one person was perfect. Everyone had their own interests and tendencies. Even if they were ruthless towards those whom they hated, they wouldn¡¯t admit their mistakes, and they would think it was alright no matter how much they gave to those they loved... In that case, with what qualifications could she judge him as right or wrong?


    She took a deep breath, looked up towards the sky above the spaceport and looked beyond the stars. Her heart felt clear, as if ayer of fog that had been clouding her had vanished. She showed a hint of a smile, raised her right hand and ced it on her chest softly to feel the beating of her strong heart.


    ¡°There was never a so-called right or wrong in being a human or doing something. It was always about whether it¡¯s worth it or not! Thus, in the future, I will follow my heart. I¡¯ll do what my heart wants to do.¡±


    ¡°What kind of Dao is this?¡± Instructor Number One¡¯s cold voice suddenly rang inside her mind.


    ¡°It¡¯s my natural Dao and also the Dominance Dao that I created.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes gleamed without the confusion she once had about creating a Dao.


    ¡°What is it based on?¡±


    ¡°The heart. Whether it be the Sage Dao, Sovereign Dao, Killing Dao or Ghoul Dao... every type of Dao wouldn¡¯t be able topare to the heart, the giving of the heart,¡± Ling Lan said without hesitation. ¡°There is no need to force, to hide, to endure, to agonize and to be reluctant. I think, so I do. It¡¯s as simple as that.¡±


    As Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts moved, the sound of a lock opening was heard¡ªthe barrier that had been confining her body and mind had broken. The aura that was originally suppressed by Ling Xiao was now finally flowing through Ling Lan¡¯s body and merging with it...


    Qi Long and the others who were standing beside Ling Lan only felt that there was an aura where Ling Lan stood, and then they couldn¡¯t feel her presence anymore. This odd scene made them very nervous. They all scattered and surrounded Ling Lan to protect her.


    The odd movements of Qi Long and the others also surprised the other members of the Lingtian Mecha n. Seeing this scene, they all formed an endless wall, surrounding Ling Lan in oneyer after another.


    On the 23rd Division¡¯s warship, themanding officer saw this on his surveince camera and his eyes narrowed. ¡°Is it an advancement in physical skills? Even I can¡¯t actually tell what his real level is... and he¡¯s also well respected in the military academy to have hundreds of people move to protect him. How very interesting. I have to remember this person and hope that the next time Ie here, he¡¯ll be among those that I wee.¡±


    After sending off the fifth-year seniors, Ling Lan and the other cadets returned to their tight study schedule. During this time, Ling Lan had increased the demonic training regimen for Qi Long and the others. Luo Lang came behind Qi Long and was the second person to sessfully advance to special-ss operator.


    Not only that, Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s other battle teams had good news; Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie had almost advanced to special-ss operator at the same time. These two had seen that every member of Ling Lan¡¯s team was training crazily. This had moved them, and thus they took their own battle teams and followed the training regimen behind Ling Lan¡¯s team. No matter how much Ling Lan had shooed them away, they still wouldn¡¯t leave.


    Wu Jiong was a smart person. There definitely had to be something mysterious about the training regimen since the members in Ling Lan¡¯s team were all quickly advancing to special-ss level. If he followed and trained with them, it would definitely be good for him.


    Although Li Yingjie wasn¡¯t as smart as Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie still knew that following him was definitely the right choice. Since Wu Jiong gave up his dignity to follow Ling Lan¡¯s team and train with them, he would naturally follow suit as well.


    It had to be said that their decision in this matter was very correct. After giving a beating to all her members, Ling Lan saw their eyes yearning for the training. (Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie were yelping in horror. It wasn¡¯t yearning in their eyes, it was fear and terror, okay?) So she graciously allowed them go to the center of the arena and beat them ruthlessly. This made them almost not have enough energy to crawl out of the training room.


    After going through thick and thin, Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie¡¯s friendship became stronger. These two people, who originally didn¡¯t like each other, had in the end held onto each other as they left the training room.


    After being beaten like this for two months, Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie advanced to special-ss operator one after the other. The time they took to achieve this was one year less than their original estimate of three years. After tasting the sweetness of the beatings, the two of them were no longer willing to leave, and thus the three battle teams fought each other and held battle royales between the battle teams as well. Since Ling Lan¡¯s battle team was stronger, Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie¡¯s battle teams would always cooperate to go against Ling Lan¡¯s battle team. Although the members of Ling Lan¡¯s team were all stronger, because Ling Lan didn¡¯t fight with them, they would lose more times since they had less than half the number of peoplepared to the other two battle teams. Of course, after losing, what awaited them was a more terrifying hellish training. This also made the members of Ling Lan¡¯s battle team perform crazily in every fight. However, this also made Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie¡¯s battle teams counter-attack in a crazed manner as well...


    These wild confrontations that were simr to real battles caused the capabilities of all the members of the three battle teams increase exponentially... As autumn passed and spring began, the second half of the school year for the second-years passed by silently in training and studying...


    ¡°Wow, this the First Men¡¯s Military Academy? It¡¯s so big!¡± Among the crowd of new cadets for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, a baby-faced youngster from one of the teams was surprised that this military academy was asrge as a city as he looked around the scenery. His huge eyes that looked terrified, as well as his babyface, made him seem adorable.


    ¡°Captain, I¡¯m so excited. I didn¡¯t think that I¡¯d be able to get into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.¡± The baby-faced person was wearing a dreamy expression on his face; it was as though he still hadn¡¯t woken up from the happiness and joy from receiving his eptance letter.


    ¡°Tao Xiaotao, can you be quiet.¡± A somewhat dispirited-looking youngster appeared to have gotten a headache from the loud noise made by the baby-faced person; he couldn¡¯t help but clutch at his forehead.


    ¡°Speaking isn¡¯t a crime. Aren¡¯t you excited? This is the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. You know, the academy that took more than half of the overall score of the Grand Mecha Tournamentst year. They probably had more than 20,000 pointspared to thest few military academies. A score like that also broke the record for the year when General Ling Xiao had participated in...¡±


    Someone talking to him made Tao Xiaotao even more excited. Yan Wuyou¡¯s defeated expression made a young man beside him lose control and startughing.


    ¡°Rong Ziruo, you also agree with me, don¡¯t you?¡± Tao Xiaotao saw Rong Ziruough out loud and immediately jumped beside him like a hamster to ask him this question.


    Rong Ziruo saw that he was now entangled with Tao Xiaotao and immediately clutched at his forehead while smiling bitterly; he regrettedughing out loud. Once someone became entangled with this Tao Xiaotao, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get away. He was also someone that would never shut up.


    ¡°Hey, answer me man. Rong Ziruo, Ziruo, Ziruo, Ziruo.¡± Tao Xiaotao began to chant his name.


    ¡°Xiaotao, don¡¯t disturb Ziruo anymore.¡± A young, handsome youth beside Rong Ziruo wore an expression that seemed a bit sorry for him. He quickly advised, ¡°Otherwise, the captain¡¯s going to get angry.¡±


    ¡°Hua Qingxin, I¡¯m not going to believe your sissy remarks.¡± Tao Xiaotao wasn¡¯t scared of Hua Qingxin¡¯s threat.


    ¡°Shut up!¡± A cool youth, who had been in the midst of deep thought, was awakened by Tao Xiaotao¡¯s voice. He nced at Tao Xiaotao with dissatisfaction and coldly told him to stop making noise.


    Tao Xiaotao¡¯s body suddenly froze and he immediately bowed his head; this made Hua Qingxin hold his hand to his mouth and snicker in secret. Tao Xiaotao looked at him angrily and responded with his head down, ¡°Yes, Captain!¡± The captain¡¯s expression was so cold, Xiaotao was so scared.


    Beside the cool youth, there stood a young man with a friendly expression on his face. He nced at Tao Xiaotao, who was pleading to him for attention, and thought it was funny. He couldn¡¯t bear to continue looking at Tao Xiaotao¡¯s pitiful expression, thus he said, ¡°Ling Yi, Xiaotao was only really excited. Just let him off this time.¡±


    Ling Yi stared at Tao Xiaotao for a moment before saying, ¡°Tiange, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy isn¡¯t the scout academy we were just at. It is a gathering spot for all the geniuses in the Federation. Powerful people are everywhere. Xiaotao¡¯s jumpy personality could easily cause trouble. For his own good, he must keep it in a bit.¡±


    The person who was called Tiange had a surname of Yi and he was their team¡¯s strategist. Upon hearing Ling Yi¡¯s words, Yi Tiange felt that he was right and thus he said, ¡°Ling Yi, you¡¯re right. Xiaotao, shut your mouth now. If you speak another word, I¡¯ll let the captain beat you up.¡±


    Hearing this, Tao Xiaotao¡¯s body trembled. The captain¡¯s operating skills was too terrifying and he didn¡¯t want to experience it, so he instantly nodded to show his determination to not speak. He also covered his mouth exaggeratedly to show that he would not speak another word.


    After taking care of the jumpy Tao Xiaotao, Yi Tiange remembered something. He looked towards Ling Yi and said, ¡°Ling Yi, you¡¯ve trained with your life on the line before. Even if you were wounded all over, you still wanted to improve your capabilities. When I asked why you put in so much effort, you answered that you needed to chase someone and hope to have a chance to fight alongside him someday...¡±


    Yi Tiange words made Ling Yi¡¯s eyes flicker and show a bit of nostalgia, a bit of pain, a bit of desire, and most of all¡ªresolve.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Ling Yi confirmed Yi Tiange¡¯s words. His affirmation came deep from his throat and actually sounded somewhat hoarse.


    ¡°Then can you now tell us who that person is?¡± Yi Tiange finally asked.


    Yi Tiange¡¯s questions made the others look towards Ling Yi. The other 5 members of the team also knew that Captain Ling Yi had trained with great effort in order to chase after someone; only, the captain was never willing to tell them who it was. He gave in to pressure in the end, but was only willing to tell them after they got admitted to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Ling Yi went silent for a few seconds. He took a deep breath and replied, ¡°In the Grand Mecha Tournamentst year, do you guys remember who led the team of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy?¡±


    Yi Tiange nodded and smiled, saying, ¡°Yes, of course. I remember because the leader wasn¡¯t Qiao Ting, the ace operator that everyone looks up to, but instead an unknown second-year cadet called Ling Lan. It¡¯s also a coincidence that he has the same surname as you.¡±


    After Yi Tiange finished speaking, he suddenly thought of something. His smile suddenly vanished and he asked with a frozen expression, ¡°Is it that Ling Lan?¡±


    Ling Yi nodded earnestly, confirming what Yi Tiange had said was true.


    ¡°A surname of Ling. Could it be that Ling Lan is the captain¡¯s older brother?¡± Tao Xiaotao forgot that he wasn¡¯t allowed to speak; he lowered the hand covering his mouth and asked this question in surprise.


    At that moment, no one had the time to care about Tao Xiaotao. Ling Yi smiled bitterly and with a shake of his head, replied, ¡°How would that be possible? How could I be qualified to be Young Master Lan¡¯s younger brother?¡±


    Seeing that his team members had expressions of curiosity, Ling Yi checked the surroundings and after seeing that there weren¡¯t any other people around, he continued, ¡°What I¡¯m about to say next is originally not allowed to be told to you guys. However, you guys are all brothers that I trust. I trust you guys. I¡¯ll only say it once. Once you guys hear it, just let it sink in and never tell it to anyone else.¡±


    The team members all nodded showing that they understood. Ling Yi¡¯s words made them very emotional, and made them grow closer than ever¡ªthey were ready to die for one another.


    ¡°Young Master Lan is the master of the Ling family, and I am Young Master Lan¡¯s loyalist.¡± Ling Yi finally told them his identity. He instantly felt liberated after telling them because he had felt he was being untruthful to his team members by hiding his real identity.

 Chapter 522 - Why are you scared?

    <h4>Chapter 522: Why are you scared?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Ah... Captain is actually a loyalist.¡± Everyone yelped in surprise. A few of them hade fromrge families and understood what it meant to be a loyalist¡ªthey were individuals born to serve and die for their master. Their entire life would be enveloped in darkness, never to see the light.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t loyalists only allowed to stay in the family and not be allowed to apply for military academies?¡± Yi Tiange asked what everyone else was confused about.


    ¡°It¡¯s because I received permission from Young Master Lan and was allowed to attend military school.¡± Ling Yi cool expression showed a grateful smile, instantly making him seem to have a warmer personality.


    ¡°Permission? Could it be that your Young Master Lan asked your family head for you?¡± Yi Tiange involuntarily frowned. He understood clearly the importance of loyalists for a family; they were the most secretive existence in a family. Normally, families wouldn¡¯t even allow loyalists toe into contact with the outside world, fearing that they may have a change of heart. If the family head nonchntly agreed to their child¡¯s requests and didn¡¯t care for the family¡¯s rules, then that family would be closer to ceasing to exist.


    ¡°No, Young Master Lan is the family head of the Ling family.¡± Ling Yi¡¯s response surprised everyone. Ling Yi hade up from the scout academy and didn¡¯t join in the middle, which meant that Ling Yi was given permission to attend before he was 6 years old. In other words, Ling Lan had to have been the family head at that time, or even earlier than that. This meant that Ling Lan had be the family head when he was six or seven years old? He was probably the youngest family head in history.


    It should be known that the family head that families chose nowadays required that they be direct descendants that were 30 years old. If the direct descendants did not meet this requirement, they would choose indirect descendants who were at the right age to temporarily be the family head. When the direct descendants became 30 years old, they would then reselect the real family head. This made sure that the family head wouldn¡¯t be controlled and cheated by servants due to young age, creating problems for the family and threatening the legacy of the family.


    ¡°He¡¯s not a puppet?¡± Yi Tiange made a worried gesture with his hand.


    Ling Yi stared at him angrily and replied, ¡°Of course not. Young Master Lan is the official family head. He was very strong when he was young. No one would dare to go against Young Master Lan¡¯s orders.¡±


    Hearing this, Yi Tiange looked at Ling Yi with a serious look, patted Ling Yi on the shoulder and said, ¡°Ling Yi, now I can finally safely put my life in your hands. To be able to respect such a young family head and not think of taking power, everyone in your family deserves to be trusted.¡±


    ¡°F**k off!¡± Ling Yi brushed off Yi Tiange¡¯s hand. Those of the Ling family were all loyal, morally sound and courageous people. Otherwise, how could they nurture someone like General Ling Xiao?


    Ling Yi thought about this fact proudly. However, he knew very well that he couldn¡¯t say anything about Ling Xiao. Whenever Ling Qin had contacted him during all these years, he had always reminded him that in order to protect Young Master Lan, he definitely could not allow anyone to know that Young Master Lan was Ling Xiao¡¯s son.


    Ling Yi looked at the team members beside him with regret but returned to being calm the next second. He was Young Master Lan¡¯s loyalist. Even if he betrayed his brothers, he would take this secret to his grave.


    ¡°However, loyalists that are exposed are no longer considered loyalist. Can you still return to his side?¡± Yi Tiange finally asked a cruel question. He didn¡¯t believe that Ling Yi didn¡¯t know about this fact.


    Ling Yi¡¯s expression showed hesitation, but he quickly firmed himself and said, ¡°Young Master Lan said that when I be stronger, he will let me return.¡± He felt as if this promise had been made yesterday. He had said that he would take over Uncle Yu¡¯s position and be Young Master Lan¡¯s loyalist captain, bing Young Master Lan¡¯s most devoted loyalist. He would do what he promised! Ling Yi lowered his hands and clenched them even tighter, as though this could increase his confidence.


    Yi Tiange sighed internally. He, Rong Ziruo and Yan Wuyou exchanged nces and an understanding came to be formed from their eyes. Seeing how Ling Yi still dreamt of returning to Ling Lan¡¯s side, they didn¡¯t say anything to deter his dream.


    Loyalists were not allowed to be exposed. They were not allowed to have contact with the outside world and were even more so not allowed to have a battle team, friends andrades like Ling Yi. They only lived for their masters. Ling Yi¡¯s current condition didn¡¯t even meet the lowest requirements for a loyalist. Yi Tiange believed that the young Ling Yi had definitely been deceived by his Young Master Lan.


    Ling Yi¡¯s mood slowly calmed and returned to the cool young man from before. He looked at therades who had grown up with him and instantly felt full of confidence and courage. He yelled, ¡°Let¡¯s go. We¡¯re going to sign up.¡±


    Ling Yi was the first to take a huge step towards the hover car station that was closest to them. Yi Tiange and the others looked at each other with faces full of smiles. This Ling Yi that was full of energy was definitely their captain. They happily followed.


    ¡°Young Master Lan, I, Ling Yi, aming to you!¡±


    At the first faction of the Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s headquarters, Ye Xu led a few members and walked into the atrium. Once Ye Xu walked it, he felt that the atrium felt different from usual after walking only a few steps. Before he could think deeply, he heard the people behind him shout out, ¡°Senior Ye, wait a moment.¡±


    Ye Xu turned around to take a look; it was a second-year junior who was part of the atrium¡¯s reception services. The junior was briskly walking towards him with a face full of pleasant surprise.


    ¡°Something wrong?¡± Ye Xu asked curiously.


    The second-year junior said while blushing, ¡°Senior Ye, are you going to where Captain Wu is?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Ye Xu normally wouldn¡¯t go to the headquarters. If he went to the headquarters, he would always look for his own captain to discuss some things about the battle team. Ever since Wu Jiong became responsible for everything in the headquarters, the training arrangements of the battle team were given to this vice-captain, Ye Xu, and this had made him be really busy.


    ¡°Could I ask Senior Ye to help me give this to Captain Wu?¡± The junior suddenly bowed at a 90-degree angle and handed him a small memory card.


    Ye Xu was utterly surprised by the person¡¯s respectful posture. He unconsciously took a step back and said, ¡°Stand up and speak normally. Why are you doing this?¡± After saying that, he pointed at the item in his hands and asked, ¡°And what¡¯s in here?¡±


    ¡°This contains this year¡¯s new cadet applications who are applying for our n. Please give this to Captain Wu, Senior Ye.¡± The second-year cadet didn¡¯t stand up but instead lowered his head even more.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give it to him on the way there. However, did something happen for you to be this diligent?¡± Ye Xu saw that the other person¡¯s head was almost hitting the ground and felt sorry for him; thus, he took the memory card and asked him this question confusedly.


    The second-year junior breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Ye Xu ept the item and showed an expression of rejoice that seemed like the amount of joy he will feel throughout the rest of his life. Upon hearing Ye Xu¡¯s question, he looked around before drawing closer to Ye Xu and softly saying, ¡°The boss came today.¡± After saying that, he pointed up to show that the boss was at where captain Wu was.


    It had been a while since the n members no longer regarded Ling Lan as captain but as the boss.


    Ye Xu gasped at his reply. He subconsciously took a look at the memory card in his hand, but right when he wanted to give it back to the junior...


    ¡°Where did he go?¡± Ye Xu stared ahead, stunned. The second-year cadet, who had been standing in front of him respectfully, had now vanished without a trace. Ye Xu actually didn¡¯t see when he had run away.


    Ye Xu then wanted to find someone else to give the memory card to, but discovered that the atrium that was supposed to be crowded and loud was now empty without a single person in sight. No wonder he had felt something was off when he walked into the atrium¡ªit had been too silent.


    ¡°These punks. Why didn¡¯t I see them run this fast during training? Now they ran away faster than anyone,¡± Ye Xu said to himself as he clenched the memory card.


    Ye Xu turned around and looked at his team members. His team members met his gaze and all of them took a huge step back. One of them held onto his stomach and said with a pained expression, ¡°Vice-captain, my stomach hurts. I¡¯m going to the washroom.¡± He didn¡¯t want to go see the boss.


    Ye Xu dragged him close and then shot a warning gaze at the other members who were moving about. He said, ¡°Whoever dares to run away, I will definitely ask Boss to train them for seven days.¡±


    This kind of threat was really terrifying and made the members stop in their tracks. They all cried out in agony. One member pleaded, ¡°Vice-captain, please let us go this time. Even if we go, we wouldn¡¯t be of any help to you...¡±


    ¡°Right, right. Vice-captain, just let us go please.¡±


    ¡°You guys want me to face Boss by myself? No way. If we die, we die together.¡± Ye Xu didn¡¯t let them off. He believed that having more people to take the pressure of the boss was a great idea. In addition, even if it had no effect, he would feel it fair if there were other people who were punished alongside him.


    Just like that, Ye Xu, who didn¡¯t want to be the only one punished, heartlessly dragged his teammates into the elevator.


    Aftering to the door of Wu Jiong¡¯s office, the members all huddled behind Ye Xu and pushed him forward. If it were possible, they really didn¡¯t want toe here.


    Ye Xu hesitated for a long while, but in the end, bit his lip and pressed down the doorbell on the door frame. The earlier he died, the quicker he¡¯d be able to get into heaven.


    ¡°Come in!¡± Wu Jiong¡¯s voice came out from the doorbell¡¯s little speaker. As his voice faded, the door suddenly opened from the side.


    Ye Xu took a deep breath and walked into the door as though he wasn¡¯t going toe back alive.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s office was very big. The first thing that came into sight was the living room, where there were many sofas surrounding arge coffee table. The ss of the coffee table was actually arge screen. When they needed to discuss something and needed to go into the virtual world to look for information or watch certain videos, they would turn on the screen and use it. Usually, the coffee table¡¯s function was a coffee table and had tea sets on top.


    Behind the living room was Wu Jiongrge office desk. At that moment, Wu Jiong wasn¡¯t sitting at his desk but was sitting on a sofa facing the door. He saw that Ye Xu had walked in and smiled, saying, ¡°Ye Xu, you¡¯vee?¡±


    Ye Xu took a quick look around and didn¡¯t see Ling Lan¡¯s presence. He instantly let out a sigh of relief. ¡°So Boss isn¡¯t here.¡±


    Wu Jiong frowned and asked, ¡°You¡¯re looking for Boss?¡±


    Ye Xu instantly shook his head. ¡°No, no, I just heard someone from below say that Boss came here and was in your office.¡± No longer feeling pressured, Ye Xu began to make random guesses. ¡°Did Boss go to his own captain¡¯s quarters? Or did he go to the silent room for Closed Door Meditation? Or maybe he went to beat up Qi Long and the others...¡±


    Wu Jiong¡¯s expression showed a hint of strangeness. He quickly cut off Ye Xu and asked, ¡°If you¡¯re not looking for Boss, then why are you here?¡±


    Ye Xu raised the memory card in his hand and begrudgingly said, ¡°It¡¯s those punks from downstairs. They thought Boss was here and gave me this list of new cadets applying for the n. Before I could react, they all ran away without a trace. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t havee to find you at this time. They¡¯re afraid of Boss and I am as well.¡±


    As Ye Xu spoke, he looked down and began to look through the memory card he had in his hand. He wanted to know what kind of outstanding cadets were avable that was worth their attention this year.


    ¡°What are you afraid of?¡± A clear and cold voice suddenly rang out.


    Ye Xu, who was looking at the information, thought it was Wu Jiong who had asked him. He raised his head in surprise and said, ¡°Huh? Captain, you¡¯re joking, right? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re not afraid. I don¡¯t believe that. The Boss¡¯ cold re is the sight of death and could freeze someone to death instantly. Besides that, the aura on Boss is domineering enough to make someone suffocate. Standing beside Boss is actually the same as going against the reaper.¡± Ye Xu patted his own chest with fear for his life and finished, ¡°I don¡¯t want to die young.¡±


    Wu Jiong¡¯s smile grew increasingly bitter, and the expression he wore as he looked at Ye Xu became more and more sympathetic. Was this guy this slow? Those who wanted to die didn¡¯t die like this.


    ¡°Ye Xu, looks like your training wasn¡¯t enough. I don¡¯t see Qi Long and the others feel ufortable being around me.¡± That cold voice rang out once again.


    Ye Xu¡¯s expression changed instantly¡ªhe straightaway lowered his head, peeked up at Wu Jiong and used him, ¡°Captain, you¡¯ve made a fool of me!¡±


    Wu Jiong shrugged and mouthed silently, ¡°Idiot.¡± Not being able to differentiate Boss¡¯ voice? What was he if not an idiot?


    Ye Xuughed bitterly as he turned his head towards the direction where the voice hade from, and he saw Ling Lan sitting in one of the sofas with its back faced towards the door. Ling Lan had her arms crossed together and was watching him coldly.


    ¡°Boss, Boss, seeing you really makes me happy.¡± Ye Xu suddenly pounced towards Ling Lan and made a hugging motion.


    Ling Lan stopped Ye Xu by bringing up her right leg and cing it against his chest. ¡°Don¡¯t give that sh*t. In any case, to train your nerves, you¡¯ll be training with me for seven days next week. If you still can¡¯t get it right, then we¡¯ll train more until your nerves are gone.¡±


    ¡°No, Boss!¡± Ye Xu began to cry in agony. He turned around and looked at Wu Jiong with an expression full of entreaty, asking for him to save his life!


    Wu Jiong thought it was funny and immediately helped his own vice-captain get out of the situation. ¡°Boss, Ye Xu¡¯s nerves definitely needs training, but the mecha n still needs him as aborer. Aren¡¯t there new cadets that want to join? We¡¯re short on assessment officers. When we¡¯re done with this, I will send him to you and let you train him.¡±


    ¡°Captain, you really are the captain!¡± thought Ye Xu. Ye Xu was so moved that he was crying and sobbing. He had definitely made a smart choice when he had joined Wu Jiong¡¯s battle team. As long as he made it past this period of time, Boss would be very busy. After a long time passed, he would automatically escape from this nightmare.


    Ling Lan huffed. She exerted a bit of strength into her right leg and kicked Ye Xu onto one of the sofas on the side, saying, ¡°Since your own captain says so, then I¡¯ll let you go for now.¡±


    Ling Lan looked towards Wu Jiong and continued, ¡°Since you¡¯re short on assessment officers, I¡¯ll let Qi Long and the otherse help you.¡±


    Wu Jiong¡¯s eyes flickered as he replied, ¡°That would be great. With Qi Long and the others joining, we will be able to handle this year¡¯s new cadet evaluations.¡±


    Although he hadn¡¯t received the detailed list of applicants, Wu Jiong already knew that almost half the new cadets had applied for the Lingtian Mecha n after receiving information from the application department. It seemed that the glory that Ling Lan had obtained through leading the First Men¡¯s Military Academy inst year¡¯s Grand Mecha Tournament had made a huge influence on these new cadets; otherwise, a newly formed mecha n that was founded by a second-year cadet would never have been swarmed by new cadets.

 Chapter 523 - Evaluation!

    <h4>Chapter 523: Evaluation!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ye Xu heard that he had temporarily gotten away from trouble, so he immediately crawled up from the sofa. He saw Ling Lan shoot a re at him, so he quickly held out the memory card in his hand. He obsequiously said, ¡°Boss, this is the list of new cadets that have applied to join our mecha n this year. Please take a look.¡±


    Ling Lan looked at Ye Xu speechlessly. Wasn¡¯t this Wu Jiong¡¯s job? Why was he the one giving it to her?


    It turned out that Ye Xu was so scared of Ling Lan¡¯s cold re that he reflexively gave her the memory card. After he said this sentence, his face was full of frustration. ¡°How could I make another mistake?¡±


    Wu Jiong put his hand on his forehead. Recently, Ye Xu would always be clumsy when seeing the boss. He wasn¡¯t this clumsy before. Seeing that Ye Xu¡¯s sideburns had already be wet with sweat, Wu Jiong couldn¡¯t help but care and help him out of the situation. He said, ¡°Boss, you¡¯re the regimentmander of the Lingtian Mecha n. Shouldn¡¯t you care about future members of our n?¡±


    Following that he looked to Ye Xu and said, ¡°Ye Xu, it¡¯s alright. You can screw off now.¡±


    To Ye Xu, this sentence was a life saver. He didn¡¯t care if Ling Lan wanted to see it or not and immediately put the memory card on the coffee table in front her. He gave Wu Jiong a grateful look and then ran like hell as though there was a monster chasing him.


    In the next second, he had arrived at the door. He saw his members who were peeking their heads in to see what was happening on the inside. Ye Xu red at them. These guys had no honor. In the end, they had actually still let him face Boss all by himself.


    ¡°Vice-captain, was Boss there?¡± one team member asked softly upon seeing that Ye Xu¡¯s expression wasplicated.


    Ye Xu¡¯s expression instantly tensed up. He reflexively turned around to look inside and didn¡¯t see the threatening and cold face of the boss. He instantly let out a sigh of relief. However, he didn¡¯t want to stay in this dangerous ce and quickly said, ¡°The enemy¡¯s defenses are strong. Get out of here.¡±


    This had already be Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s catchphrase. If they were faced with danger, they would say this to get out quick. This was also Lingtian¡¯s own characteristic.


    The team members heard this and knew what they had to do. They didn¡¯t even think and followed Ye Xu and got the f**k out of there.


    Hearing the movement at door, Ling Lan felt irritated. She asked with irritation, ¡°Am I that scary?¡±


    ¡°I just don¡¯t smile right? But I don¡¯t insult people or hurt people. I¡¯m a good regimentmander that cared for my subordinates right? Did they really have to so scared of me?¡±


    This question made Wu Jiong¡¯s expression freeze. His eyes looked around the room as he said, ¡°Actually... that... how should I say it...¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to say anything. I understand!¡± Ling Lan said coldly. ¡°The look on your face means that I actually really am scary right? It seems that my white angelic face is useless.¡±


    Ling Lan picked up the memory card on the coffee table depressedly. She used the wireless transmission function to disy the data it contained on therge screen of the coffee table.


    ¡°There¡¯s a lot.¡± After seeing the countless names and their information, Ling Lan was a bit surprised. There was so much.


    ¡°The application center tells me that they have already deleted arge portion of people who didn¡¯t meet the minimum requirements.¡± Wu Jiong had already walked beside Ling Lan and chosen a sofa closest to her to sit down on.


    ¡°This amount is around 400 to 500 people right?¡± The words that were cramped onto the screen made Ling Lan¡¯s head spin.


    Wu Jiong pointed on the screen lightly. ¡°If you look at it like this, it¡¯ll be clearer.¡± Very quickly, the image changed. The originally cramped folders had now been categorized into a fewrger categories and looked clearer instantly.


    ¡°The list for those who have the most potential (Captain Level).¡± Ling Lan saw the category that was at the very top and tapped on it to open it.


    Immediately, around 20 names showed up. The first name, Ling Yi, made Ling Lan feel a huge sense of familiarity.


    Wu Jiong also saw this and asked in surprise, ¡°This new cadet also has a surname of ¡®Ling¡¯?¡± He opened Ling Yi¡¯s file. Just like that, a cool-looking young man appeared on the big screen along with his details set to the side.


    ¡°Ling Yi,moner,es from the Puyi Scout Academy (Level 3 Puyi). Physical skills: Beginner level Qi-Jin; Mecha operating level: Advanced!¡± Wu Jiong shouted out loud and lost his voice. When they first entered the advanced level it was because Qi Long and the others had beaten themselves up and managed to somehow advance sessfully. This Ling Yi, however, was amoner from Puyi, yet he had actually reached that level. Was it because Ling Yi¡¯s talents were insane or was he also beaten up like the rest of them?


    Ling Yi... Ling Lan was thinking about why this name felt familiar. Could it be because he also had a surname of ¡®Ling¡¯?


    ¡°Bam!¡± Suddenly, two foggy images appeared in her mindscape.


    ¡°I want to inherit my father¡¯s position. I will be Young Master Lan¡¯s most trusted loyalist,¡± five-year-old Ling Yi said firmly.


    ¡°Brother Yu, I¡¯ll let you take care of Young Master Lan for now. When I get stronger, I will take over your position.¡± Ling Yi respectfully bowed to Ling Lan to say goodbye and then left the Ling family...


    As the images disappeared, Ling Lan heard Little Four¡¯scent voice say, ¡°Boss, it¡¯s that same Ling Yi.¡±


    Ling Lan smiled softly. Little Four was really yful. She looked again at the image of the cool young man and thought to herself, ¡°I didn¡¯t think that child from then had already grown to this age. No wonder his father, Ling Hua, did not hesitate to betray the Ling family for his child¡¯s future.¡±


    ¡°Could it be that everyone who has the surname ¡®Ling¡¯ are all monsters?¡± Wu Jiong mumbled as he looked at Ling Lan. He discovered that Ling Lan was thinking deeply about something. He instantly thought of something and asked, ¡°Boss, do you know him?¡±


    Ling nodded. ¡°Yes, he¡¯s kind of family.¡±


    Kind of family? Could he be a bastard son? Right when Wu Jiong thought of this question, he immediately shook his head to get rid of that thought. How could General Ling Xiao do something like that? He really was thinking too much. It was possible that he was an indirect descendant of the family. Wu Jiong felt that he found out the truth already.


    ¡°Then during the evaluation...?¡± Wu Jiong asked carefully.


    Ling Lan red at Wu Jiong making Wu Jiong¡¯s heart tremble. He couldn¡¯t help but reply, ¡°Boss, I understand.¡±


    In the end, this Ling Yi would still be treated like any other person and his entry into Lingtian would be decided upon his capabilities and performance. At that moment, Wu Jiong couldn¡¯t help but smile. How could he think that Boss had selfish gains? He was definitely affected somehow by that idiot Ye Xu.


    Ling Lan looked at the files of the other applicants disinterestedly. She stood up and said to Wu Jiong, ¡°You keep doing what you¡¯re doing, I¡¯m going to leave first. Oh, and no matter how busy you are, you guys have to report to me two days every week. Notify Li Yingjie as well.¡±


    Wu Jiong¡¯s smile fell to the floor. How could he consider that training with Qi Long and the others was a good thing? However, how could he dare to say no to that cold face of Ling Lan? He could only nod agonizingly, showing that he understood. Luckily, he wasn¡¯t the only one who was going to endure hardships. He had Li Yingjie go with him together. Wu Jiong feltforted.


    After walking out of Wu Jiong¡¯s office, Ling Lan began a discussion with Little Four. ¡°Little Four, do you think this Ling Yi person is trustworthy?¡±


    ¡°So far, he is,¡± Little Four replied. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve been monitoring him all this time ever since Ling Yi left the Ling family.¡±


    Ling Lan was stunned. ¡°Why did you monitor him?¡±


    ¡°I was checking to see if those people who wanted to harm you went to find him again to try and draw out even the slightest amount of information,¡± Little Four replied with regret. ¡°Unfortunately, there weren¡¯t any who tried. Maybe it was because your people had hidden Ling Yi¡¯s family really well and those who wanted to harm you didn¡¯t find them.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps they felt that such young child wouldn¡¯t have any value to be exploited.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t believe that those people couldn¡¯t find Ling Yi. It was possible that they thought a 5-year-old child that was sent far away wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything. If they bribed him, it wouldn¡¯t have any effect.


    ¡°Yes, Boss, what you said is right. However, with Ling Yi¡¯s current abilities, he will definitely be discovered by someone.¡± Ling Yi also thought Ling Yi¡¯s talents was top notch. His future was boundless as long as he was given time.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that great though? Whether Ling Yi will be used or not will depend on the choices he will make.¡± When Ling Yi shows himself, those other family members would always be able to find him. Although she had already wiped away all traces of Ling Hua¡¯s betrayal, those other family members might still have proof of Ling Hua¡¯s betrayal of the Ling family.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand why you wanted to keep him, Boss.¡± Little Four was feeling very conflicted since Ling Yi, like his father, might betray the Ling family again. She should have either removed the the source of trouble and gotten rid of Ling Yi, or made it so that Ling Hua had no more connections with the Ling family. Wasn¡¯t having the possibility of betrayal lingering like this inviting possible trouble for the future?


    ¡°Didn¡¯t I say that he is a good chess piece?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were cold but deep in thought. She and her father¡¯s enemies had hidden themselves very deep into the world. Her father had used all his resources to investigate but didn¡¯t get anything out of it. Although they clearly knew that those people were of high ranks and stood at the highest peak of hierarchical power, they still couldn¡¯t find a way to find out who that person really was.


    ¡°No matter if Ling Yi is loyal to me or not, he is still a trap I¡¯ve set for the enemy.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes shed with a bitter coldness. Back then, she might have been somewhat merciful but now, after having gone through the cruelty of the learning space, she could be merciless.


    ¡°What trap?¡± Little Four asked curiously.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t answer him. In the next second, Little Four was shut into the little ck room. Little Four was in tears. He had only just asked a little thing out of curiosity. Did she really have to treat him so coldly?


    Ling Lan¡¯s mecha n¡¯s first round of applicants were 100 new cadets, and the six members of Ling Yi¡¯s team were all in the first batch; this made them very happy. Logically, the first batch of applicants was the most looked upon by the mecha n.


    Ling Yi¡¯s team of six came to the Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s headquarters for the first time, and they were stunned by the presence of the huge majestic building in front of them.


    ¡°Wow. This a headquarters of the first faction. It¡¯s so big and tall.¡± Tao Xiaotao opened his big mouth and couldn¡¯t close it.


    Ling Yi was also stunned. He took a deep breath and his eyes became filled with respect. As expected, Young Master Lan was the strongest.


    They walked into the headquarters with floating steps. Following the staff members¡¯ lead, they arrived at building¡¯s basement level 2. Basement level 1 was the leisure space for members to have fun and rx. Basement level 2 was arge training dojo.


    Once they entered the training dojo, Ling Yi and his team had more of an understanding of why this ce had be the first faction¡¯s headquarters; this training dojo alone was enough of a reason, as it was big enough to hold thousands of people toe here to do any activity.


    They walked to the center of the training dojo where there was arge arena. Just this arena was big enough to hold 200 to 300 people. Thisrge arena was used forpetitions between the n members. They could fight one-on-one or in teams. Now, however, this arena was where they were going to be evaluated.

 Chapter 524 - Evolution!

    <h4>Chapter 524: Evolution!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The staff member led them to the bottom of the arena, and there they discovered that there were eight A.I.puters installed on all sides.


    The staff member pointed towards the A.I.puter beside him and began to exin. ¡°The A.I. has entered the list of seniors who are evaluating you. Whoever is ready can freely choose the senior that they would like to fight. Once you have chosen, the virtual screen at the top of the screen will show the time of the fight.¡± As he said all this, the staff member smiled and patted the A.I.puter beside him. ¡°Of course, these A.I.puters will also show the time. The preparation time for each evaluation is 3 minutes. If you still haven¡¯t gone up to the arena after 3 minutes, then that means you¡¯ve failed the evaluation. Remember, don¡¯t go over the time limit. Our boss will definitely not give you guys a second chance.¡±


    Hearing that, the new cadets all began to focus. They looked at the staff member in hopes of getting more information about the evaluation out of him, but the staff member was very careful and only said what he could say. After he informed them of all the things that they should be cautious about for the evaluation, he left the stage.


    In themander¡¯s quarters, Qi Long and the others were all on the sofas, slouching, lying down, sitting, etc. They had just crawled out from the training room, feeling like that their entire body had been sucked dry. They only wanted to find a bed and go to sleep, but unfortunately, Boss notified them especially for today for them to report to this ce after training. They could onlye here in great pain. Everyone decided that after they heard Boss¡¯ orders, they would all stay at Boss¡¯ ce and rest up well.


    Ling Lan and Wu Jiong walked in. She saw everyone sprawled all over the ce and immediately frowned. She said, ¡°What, no more energy?¡±


    Luo Lang looked at Boss with a face full of sorrow. Wasn¡¯t he asking when he already knew the reason? When did training not make them tired and out of energy? And also, Boss had added even more training today. This overload made their limbs shake. They might not even have the energy to pick up a single chopstick.


    Disregarding the angry res of the others, Ling Lan looked at Wu Jiong regrettably and said, ¡°Looks like these new cadets have pretty good luck this time. Their examiners don¡¯t have the energy to fight. Whoever chooses them, it¡¯ll probably end up with the examiners losing without even fighting.¡±


    Wu Jiong expression showed a hint of surprise. He didn¡¯t think that Boss actually hadn¡¯t notified Qi Long and the others first. Knowing that there were evaluations today, she had still increased the training load... However, Wu Jiong believed that Boss wasn¡¯t doing this randomly. This kind of arrangement definitely had its own deeper meaning.


    ¡°Evaluation? Losing before even battling?¡± Everyone yelled angrily. If they lost without even fighting, how could they face the new cadets?


    ¡°Boss, you actually tricked us!¡± Han Jijyun almost spat out blood. Whose captain would help outsiders and trick his own members? They had really lost to him. Did Boss really not care if he lost his dignity? After all, he was their captain, right?


    ¡°Tricked?¡± Ling Lan red coldly, making everyone¡¯s anger dissipate into nothingness. ¡°The amount today I gave you guys, I could handle when I was 13 years old and I wouldn¡¯t be so miserable like you guys. In the end, it¡¯s just that you guys aren¡¯t strong enough.¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to lose your dignity, then stand up!¡± Ling Lan ordered coldly.


    Qi Long and the others quickly stood up from the sofas. Ling Lan walked in front of them and calmly said, ¡°If anyone loses to their opponent, I will let you guys try the training mode that I am currently doing.¡±


    ¡°Boss, that¡¯ll end up killing someone,¡± Qi Long yelped. Their current training was enough to take half of his life. If he really did try out Boss¡¯ mode of training, Qi Long believed that the same day next year would be the anniversary of his death.


    Everyone else had a pale white face. They had witnessed Boss¡¯ mode of training before, and it was the real kind of training to the death; one mistake would result in death.


    Luo Lang¡¯s small physique began to softly tremble. Wuwu, he thought of the two Senior Li¡¯s. One could have said something to help them and the other could have used his mystical medicinal agents to save their lives. Alright, he wouldn¡¯t be jealous of them anymore for taking Boss¡¯ attention away from him.


    Unfortunately, no matter how much Luo Lang repented, the two Senior Li¡¯s had already gone to the army division and no one could help them.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to die then don¡¯t lose,¡± Ling Lan said coldly. Everyone suddenly stood up straight and uniformly shouted, ¡°Understood, Boss!¡±


    They definitely would not lose. In order to survive, in order to keep their dignity as seniors, in order to continue to triumph... Ugh, they should take away thest one. However, for the future, they would definitely not lose.


    Their spirits that were originally sapped dry by the hellish training instantly soared and their eyes filled with the desire to fight.


    Ling Lan was now satisfied. She said to Wu Jiong, ¡°Wu Jiong, let¡¯s go down.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Boss!¡± Wu Jiong replied, unconsciously standing up straight. After Ling Lan walked out of themander¡¯s room, Wu Jiong realized the feeling. Before he knew it, he had already been considering himself as Ling Lan¡¯s subordinate...


    Wu Jiong smiled bitterly. The longer he was with Ling Lan, the more he got used the identity of being a subordinate. The courage and ambition he had before topete with Ling Lan had now been tossed to some corner of his mind. He was not the only one like this, however, as Li Yingjie was also like this and they epted it wholeheartedly, without any displeasure.


    Looking at the silhouettes of those in Ling Lan¡¯s battle team, Wu Jiong uncontrobly smiled. He said to himself, ¡°This is the charm of strong people! And I¡¯m still thousands of miles away from achieving that.¡± Luckily, he was only going to the 15th Division in the future. That ce was the home of the descendants of the Wu family... While he rejoiced at this, Wu Jiong also felt regret. Sometimes he thought that it might be more stimting if he followed Ling Lan to the 23rd Division and have a life that was more stimting.


    Unfortunately... everyone had their own responsibilities! Since Wu Jiong was a descendant of the Wu family, then he definitely needed to take on the responsibility of the family.


    ¡°Commander Wu,e quick!¡± Xie Yi moved his body out of the elevator door and waved to him. It turned out that Wu Jiong was behind them by quite a lot. Wu Jiong smiled, quickly increased his pace and walked into the elevator.


    The elevator went straight down to the basement level 2. When they arrived at the door to the training dojo, they discovered that the other vice-captains who were examiners were already waiting at the door.


    Ye Xu was originally very excited to see Wu Jiong, Qi Long and the others. Right when he was about to greet them, however, he saw Ling Lan appear behind them. He immediately swallowed back his greeting, which almost made him choke. But even if it choked him, he couldn¡¯t afford to yell; Ye Xu didn¡¯t forget that he had offended Boss Ling Lan a few days ago. Having temporarily escaped from a catastrophe, he couldn¡¯t let his existence be known to Boss and make him remember the stupid things he did.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Everyone immediately cried out as they saw Ling Lan arrive. The rxed atmosphere suddenly grew tense. Ling Lan¡¯s presence gave them so much pressure that they didn¡¯t dare to make any random movement, fearing that they might make a mistake.


    Ling Lan looked around her and then said, ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡±


    They all clustered around Ling Lan and walked into the training dojo. At that moment, inside Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace, Little Four was holding up his face and squatting. He curiously asked Ling Lan, ¡°Boss, your aura has already been integrated into your bodypletely recently and can be taken out and put back in with ease. Why do you still release your aura to terrorize them when you face them?¡±


    ¡°My aura has always been strong, cold and dominant. If it suddenly disappeared and I becamepletely in control, it would make people suspicious,¡± Ling Lan replied. ¡°And with this aura, they won¡¯t dare to look at me. This allows me to not have to think about how to cover up anything.¡± Ling Lan had seen what she looked like when her aura vanished. This face of hers... was a real problem.


    Little Four understood what Ling Lan meant. He said with regret, ¡°So you mean that you don¡¯t want to hold back this aura in the outside world.¡± Little Four recalled that warm smiling face of hers he had glimpsed the other day... then he suddenly clutched at his chest and instantly disappeared from the mindspace.


    Ling Lan looked at the empty mindspace and shook her head. This Little Four was still running away and not steady enough. However, she thought that he was still only about 4 to 5 years old, and so she felt that she could understand why he was like that...


    After such a long time, Ling Lan had forgotten that Little Four had been with her for more than a decade and that he had always retained the same appearance. In fact, Little Four wasn¡¯t that young.


    Little Four, who had already returned to the learning space, appeared in the space of Instructor Number One in the next second.


    ¡°Cool me down, Number One.¡± Little Four had two tear bubbles form in his eyes¡ªhe was panicking.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Instructor Number One coldly snorted. He transported the both of them straight into an ice world and froze Little Four in it, making a transparent ice coffin.


    At that moment, several spatial tears opened up beside Instructor Number One and the faces of other the instructors appeared.


    ¡°Number One, we felt Majesty Four¡¯s energy fluctuating and came to where you were. Is he alright?¡± Although Instructor Number Nine was expressionless, her eyes still showed a hint of concern.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Sister Nine. As long as Number One is here, there definitely won¡¯t be any problems.¡± Number Five smiled, a sense of unseen bootlicking hidden under his smiling face.


    ¡°It¡¯s good there¡¯s no problem. I¡¯m leaving.¡± The Number Two, who was speaking in the darkness, had closed his spatial tear first.


    ¡°It¡¯s not going to slow down his processing speed iif he¡¯s frozen like this right?¡± Instructor Number Three asked concernedly. If Little Four slowed down his processing, they would all be greatly affected here.


    ¡°Our spaces are very peaceful. How could Majesty Four have any issues,¡± Instructor Number Four replied enchantingly with a raised brow, showing an expression full of charm to Number Three.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m leaving!¡± It was as though Instructor Number Three had seen something terrifying; he immediately closed the spatial tear he had entered through and disappeared without a trace.


    ¡°Man, so boring. By the way, Number One, is it alright for you deal with Majesty Four so barbarically?¡± Number Four asked with a half-smile. Her eyes turned to Number One, a hint of flirting appearing in them .


    The aura around Instructor Number One was cold. Right at that moment, the ice coffin that was sealing Little Four exploded. Little Four jumped out from it and with augh, said, ¡°It¡¯s alright, the microchip¡¯s temperature returned to normal!


    ¡°Huh, you guys are all here? Are you guys having a meeting? Then I¡¯m not going to bother you guys. Bye guys.¡± Little Four saw the number of people in the room and waved to them without a care in the world. In the next second, he had disappeared without a trace.


    ¡°Number One, is his Majesty Four really alright?¡± Instructor Number Four¡¯s expression had be deeply tense and serious. This time, her enchanting aura waspletely gone; only, when she frowned, she would show a hint of charm that she couldn¡¯t hide.


    ¡°His Majesty Four¡¯s emotions have be more and more abundant. Maybe he¡¯s reached the time for his next evolution,¡± Instructor Number One replied.

 Chapter 525 - Purpose!

    <h4>Chapter 525: Purpose!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Number One¡¯s words caused the expressions of the others still present to change. Number Four was talking to himself, saying, ¡°How could it be this fast...¡± Was he entering the maturation stage?


    ¡°I can¡¯t determine the direction Majesty Four is evolving towards. He probably still hasn¡¯t reached the period of maturation, but for some reason he has the possibility of evolving.¡± Instructor Number One¡¯s eyes showed worry and confusion for the first time. It should be said that ever since Ling Lan had decided to walk her own path, no matter if it was the learning space or Little Four, both appeared to have some changes; only, Instructor Number One didn¡¯t know whether the change was a good or bad thing.


    ¡°Since it¡¯s already be reality, then we can only watch and see.¡± Instructor Number Five was looking forward to the change very much. Compared to cases of normal evolution, he was more interested in this type of unpredictable evolution. In his own words, he would say that it added a feeling of novelty.


    Moving away from the instructors¡¯ concerns and worries about Little Four¡¯s evolution, after Ling Lan and the others walked into the training dojo, they didn¡¯t go to the center of the arena. Instead, they walked into the spacious observation room which directly faced the arena.


    In the observation room, there was a transparent ss window on the side with the arena, which allowed for a clear view of any movement inside the training dojo. Of course, if someone looked from the other side, it would only appear to be a wall and they wouldn¡¯t be able to see what was inside.


    This transparent ss window simultaneously acted as arge screen. In front of the screen, there were rows of sofas that were set up in a shape of handheld fan. The room could hold up to a maximum of 500 audience members that could sit and watch.


    Beside each sofa seat, there was also a miniature optical supeputer. The audience could freely choose the angles and spots they wanted to watch from. This optical supeputer would also send information from the arena to the seat. For example, once a new cadet chose their opponent, these optical supeputers would immediately receive the information and show it.


    The observation room was around 400 to 500 meters away from the arena. It seemed far, but for these captains whose physical skills had reached the level of Qi-Jin, they only need 2 to 3 seconds to close that distance. It didn¡¯t hinder them from reaching the arena to act as an examiner.


    Knowing that today was the day of evaluations for freshmen, many members of the Lingtian Mecha n had alreadye inside the training dojo. Very soon, the dojo became lively. Many of the older members were calling out to their friends to gather in front of the arena and quietly wait for the evaluations to begin.


    Finally, it was the time for the evaluations, but not one person appeared in the arena¡ªit turned out that none among the freshmen were rushing out to choose their opponent. Those who could manage to get admitted to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were not blindly impulsive people. Being clever, they all wanted to watch two rounds of evaluations before making their decisions.


    ¡°Boss, this group of freshmen are all very cautious,¡± Wu Jiong quietly said to Ling Lan upon seeing this scene.


    Li Yingjie snorted coldly at that and said, ¡°They¡¯re all gutless. If it were me, I would definitely have gone up at the very beginning to take the examiner down a notch.¡±


    Taking an examiner down a notch? Everyone looked towards Li Yingjie with surprise and they saw that his head was propped up. He was being so cocky that he made a few people around him instantly feel their hands itch. Sh*t, they were examiners right now. Did Li Yingjie mean that he regretted that no one wasing out to take himself down a notch?


    It should be known that Li Yingjie was a huge fool; he always ended up drawing a great deal of hatred towards himself. Even if those around him were friends from the same n who had known him for at least three years and knew of his personality, that still couldn¡¯t help Li Yingjie prevent everyone from hating him.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but shake her head silently. Even now, this Li Yingjie¡¯s words were still rubbish. As expected, he was definitely an antagonist.


    Right then, there was finally some movement among the freshman who had been silently waiting for three minutes, which saved Li Yingjie in the nick of time. One captain discovered the information that the A.I. had sent over and said, ¡°Coming.¡±


    His voice diverted everyone¡¯s focus towards the optical supeputer in front of them; no one was paying attention to the second-rate captain Li Yingjie. At the same time, Li Yingjie didn¡¯t realize that he was almost about to have been beaten up by arge mob. He too looked at the optical supeputer, curious as to who among them was the one chosen to go out.


    ¡°Wang Ke from Doha Central Scout Academy, graduated as valedictorian. Physical Skills: Qi-Jin Beginner Level; Mecha World Mecha Piloting Level: Advanced!¡± The optical supeputer disyed these data points, which astonished many of the captains; they themselves hadn¡¯t managed to reach this standard when they had entered the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    ¡°As expected of Boss¡¯ junior. He¡¯s very strong.¡± Many of the captains looked towards Ling Lan, all of them givingpliments. Ling Lan smiled for good measure. Could it be that they thought all the geniuses that came out from Doha Central Scout Academy was her doing?


    But Ling Lan didn¡¯t expect her yful thought was actually a reality. Ling Lan¡¯s legacy had always remained a legend in the Central Scout Academy. The uncrowned king of the Central Scout Academy was the boss of the valedictorian. Wang Ke had also led his year¡¯s cadets and sessfully jump-started the grand armed melee, and became the idol of the entire Central Scout Academy. This was why Wang Ke had such amazing grades upon entering the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. With gems like Ling Lan, Qi Long and Wu Jiong before them, these younger cadets didn¡¯t dare to loosen up and bezy. They had had no choice but to train as hard as they could to follow in the footsteps of their seniors.


    ¡°The opponent he chose is... Commander Qi, Qi Long.¡± The observation room became rowdy. Although the four bigmanders were in the list of the examiners that could be chosen, most people wouldn¡¯t choose the 4 Bosses of Lingtian to be their examiner. For one, they wouldn¡¯t be able to win because those who could bemanders were very capable. Two, everyone feared that choosing the Bosses would leave a bad impression on them and end up getting themselves be mercilessly failed.


    Qi Long saw this notification and was also stunned for a moment. He didn¡¯t expect his turn toe right off the bat. The amount of time given to him to rest wasn¡¯t enough, as the energy that he had fully depleted during their activities had not recovered yet; his arms and legs were still limp and didn¡¯t have any strength.


    Qi Longughed bitterly in his mind. This Wang Ke was really lucky; if he had acted just a bit slower, with his capabilities, Qi Long wouldn¡¯t have even seen him as a threat. Now, however, the oue was unpredictable. Qi Long thought back to Boss¡¯ words back in themander¡¯s room and his expression instantly tensed up¡ªhe knew that it was time to put his life on the line.


    ¡°Boss, I¡¯m going,¡± Qi Long turned around and told Ling Lan. His eyes showed calmness.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes quickly showed a hint of splendor and she nodded lightly in response. In the next second, Qi Long had already disappeared from the observation room.


    The freshmen saw the opponent that Wang Ke, who was from the Doha Central Academy, had chosen and they weren¡¯t surprised. In their minds, it was logical that this valedictorian of the Doha Central Academy was the first to go into the arena. This was also the reason why they had been waiting for almost three minutes.


    ¡°Captain, I thought you were going to be the first one to go up,¡± Tao Xiaotao said to Ling Yi upon seeing that Wang Ke had gone into the arena.


    ¡°We¡¯re from a third-rate, so it¡¯s not appropriate for us to go in first. No matter if our performance is good or not, we would still make the others feel annoyed,¡± Yi Tiange quietly exined to Tao Xiaotao.


    Tao Xiaotao only half understood what he meant. The others, however, all showed that they understood with a gleam in their eyes. There were many cadets who hade from first and second-rates, and there were also many cadets who hade from the Federation¡¯s Doha. If they let a third-rate¡¯s cadet go up first, it would be a disgrace for the Federation and would make the other high-ss cadets feel disgraced as well. Even if Ling Yi sessfully joined Lingtian Mecha n, he would still probably suffer from discrimination by the first and second-rate cadets in the beginning.


    At that moment, a person suddenly appeared in the arena. The virtual screen in front of the optical supeputer clearly showed the freshmen a close-up of the face of the person who had just appeared.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s Qi Long, Commander Qi!¡± The freshmen all let out an exmation at the sight of that individual; they didn¡¯t expect Wang Ke to be this gutsy. He had actually chosen to fight against the second most powerful member of Lingtian, Qi Long.


    ¡°This Wang Ke really is something. The opponent that he chose is actually this guy,¡± Rong Ziruo mused to himself as he looked at the arena.


    ¡°When Commander Qi Long graduated, he was the valedictorian of Doha Central. Wang Ke, the new graduate, is also the same. The battle between the old and new valedictorian... it¡¯ll be interesting as I thought. Using his status to challenge Commander Qi Long will not only not irritate Commander Qi Long, but it could even make him appreciate Wang Ke more. This Wang Ke isn¡¯t just a simple person,¡± Yi Tiange analyzed. He and Rong Ziruo smiled at each other. In their team, their IQs were higher and they would usually think simrly.


    Ling Yi¡¯s expression grew tense as he looked at Wang Ke. Originally, Ling Yi believed that he was the best of the best, but now it seemed that he had underestimated the geniuses of the Federation. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy was, as expected, the cradle for the most talented people of the entire Federation; a mere small mecha n tryout had drawn out a rival on par with him.


    ¡°Weird, it looks like Commander Qi Long isn¡¯t feeling well,¡± Yan Wuyou remarked with a frown. He was the main fighter of the team. Since his capabilities were very close to Ling Yi, he was able to quickly see through Qi Long¡¯s odd condition.


    His words made the others focus on Qi Long as well. Hua Qingxin frowned beautifully and said, ¡°It seems there¡¯s some problem with his energy.¡± Hua Qingxin¡¯s heart was closer to that of a female, but his strength was ranked third in the team, very close to Ling Yi and Yan Wuyou; he was the secondary fighter of the team. Yan Wuyou¡¯s indication allowed him to immediately see through where Qi Long¡¯s issuey.


    ¡°Haha, could it be that Captain Qi Long did something to deplete his energy just now?¡± It seemed Tao Xiaotao had thought of something. He had a sleazy smile on his face.


    Seeing this, Yan Wuyou pped Tao Xiaotao¡¯s head and scoldingly said, ¡°Dumbass, what are you thinking about?¡± They really got to hand it to this brat; he dared to think of anything. Although it seemed as if Commander Qi Long¡¯s condition was the result of him doing ¡®that¡¯, Yan Wuyou believed that he would definitely not do such a thing. Even if he wanted to, he didn¡¯t have anyone one to do it with, right?


    Yi Tiange put his hand under his chin and began to think... and his expression quickly changed. He guessed, ¡°Perhaps this is the Lingtian Mecha n trying to take us down a notch.¡±


    ¡°Taking us down a notch?¡± Everyone looked at Yi Tiange. Rong Ziruo was also in deep thought.


    ¡°They don¡¯t even care about us. Before our evaluations, they even went through brutal physical training and depleted all of their energy,¡± Yi Tiange replied with a tense expression.


    After hearing those words, Ling Yi and the others all had difficult expressions on their faces. They were originally full of confidence, but a heavy blow was dealt to their hearts because of how Lingtian was underestimating them.


    ¡°Oh!¡± Rong Ziruo suddenly eximed with a smile. Unfortunately, his eyes didn¡¯t show that he was smiling. ¡°Since it¡¯s like that this, then we should behave well. If they really do get defeated by us, then I want to see how they¡¯ll be able to still stand proud as seniors.¡± Lingtian¡¯s move had made him mad...


    Rong Ziruo¡¯s words had also evoked the anger of the rest of Ling Yi¡¯s team at the same time. Their eyes became filled with rage and they desired to go up to the arena that very instant to fight those examiners; they wanted to use their strength to prove that they weren¡¯t just weaklings that would be defeated easily.


    Ling Yi¡¯s expression showed he was in deep thought. ¡°Young Master Lan, are you really looking down on us? Or perhaps it was Ling Lan¡¯s subordinates¡¯ acting on their own will?¡± Ling Yi was thinking towards thetter. Perhaps he didn¡¯t want to think Young Master Lan, whom he respected, didn¡¯t respect him. In short, his intuition had told him that it was thetter.


    Ling Yi¡¯s intuition was correct. That Ling Lan exhausted Qi Long and the others of their energy wasn¡¯t because she was underestimating them as Yi Tiange had thought. In reality, Ling Lan thought well of them, which was why she had arranged things like this. She hoped that they would be able to give Qi Long a good fight.


    In the next moment, Wang Ke had already walked up onto the arena.


    ¡°Senior Qi Long! Please go easy!¡± Wang Ke respectfully bowed towards Qi Long.


    Qi Long nodded towards Wang Ke before taking a defensive stance with his hands. Even such a simple movement made Qi Long use up all of his energy; the energy that he had managed to recover earlier waspletely depleted when he had ran from the observation room.


    Wang Ke frowned. Qi Long¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change, but his movements were odd; Wang Ke saw through this. He didn¡¯t think that Qi Long was underestimating him, but he was curious what had actually happened to Qi Long¡¯s body to make his condition this terrible.


    ¡°Bam!¡± Wang Ke used all his might to attack. Seeing this, Qi Long didn¡¯t dodge and took the blow.


    The hidden strength of the beginner level of Qi-Jin from both of them collided fiercely, and the resultant shockwave knocked back Wang Ke by a few steps. His blood began to boil. Wang Ke took a deep breath and held down the feeling of pain. His eyes showed a hint of caution but also a hint of pleasant surprise.


    Wang Ke didn¡¯t think that Qi Long¡¯s condition was so poor. The original information known to the public about Qi Long was that he was at the intermediate level of Qi-Jin. Wang Ke¡¯s Qi-Jin definitely didn¡¯t have a chance of going against Qi Long. Wang Ke had already thought about this problem. He knew that once they shed, he would be wounded internally, but right now, other than the feeling of his blood boiling, he hadn¡¯t suffered any internal wounds; this proved that Qi Long¡¯s current strength was on par with his at best.


    On his side, Qi Long felt the same blood boiling feeling after shing with Wang Ke. He uncontrobly took arge step back and his expression changed slightly. As expected, he was totally exhausted and could no longer continue to use his internal energy. His capabilities had fallen to the beginner level of Qi-Jin. Because of this, Wang Ke¡¯s evaluation fight would trap Qi Long in a drawn-out fight, and for him, a drawn-out fight in his current condition was very disadvantageous.


    Qi Long exhaled profusely, releasing a bit of the pressurized air in his body, and at the same time he shook his right hand slightly; the shockwave from the sh had made his right hand feel numb.


    Wang Ke stopped his footsteps. He didn¡¯t hesitate¡ªhe pounced and attacked Qi Long again. He knew that he couldn¡¯t let Qi Long have time to recover. If he did, the situation would be disadvantageous for him.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang...¡± What followed was the collision of countless punches. In the arena, Wang Ke was like the wind, he was there one second and over there for another, attacking Qi Long with swift movements. Qi Long, on the other hand, was like an unmoving old oak tree, standing firmly in the center of the arena. He only used his two hands to block Wang Ke¡¯s continuous attacks.


    The situation in the arena made the freshmen, who hadn¡¯t see that Qi Long¡¯s behavior was odd in the beginning, realize that there was something wrong. ¡°Ah, that Commander Qi Long. It looks like there¡¯s a problem with his body¡¯s energy.¡±


    ¡°This is a way of fighting to save to energy. Commander Qi Long definitely doesn¡¯t have enough energy.¡± Although they were freshmen, they were all outstanding individuals since they were able to participate in the first round of assessments; all of them were physical skills experts and they all clearly knew why Qi Long was using that way to fight.


    ¡°Sh*t, Qi Long¡¯s too weak. The freshman is actually getting the better of him,¡± Li Yingjie said, expecting better from Qi Long after watching until this point. Only, his brows showed a hint of anxiousness and his eyes shed with a hint of concern. Whether it be the fact that he was worried about Qi Long, or worried that Qi Long losing would mean losing pride for Lingtian, both proved that Li Yingjie really did care about the Lingtian Mecha n.


    The other captains that were watching all wore expressions of worry and concern. They looked towards Ling Lan, thinking that Boss would be able to give a proper exnation. They knew clearly that Commander Qi Long was in such a troubled state because of Boss. It was just that they didn¡¯t understand why Boss had beaten up Qi Long and then entrusted him with the role of an examiner for the evaluations this time.


    ¡°Boss, Qi Long will be okay, right?¡± Wu Jiong looked to Ling Lan for somefort. Ever since the Lingtian Mecha n was formed, Wu Jiong had kept in contact with Qi Long the most. After countless meetings, their friendship had gradually deepened. At that moment, Wu Jiong was sincerely worried that something might happen to Qi Long.


    In response to his question, Ling Lan, who was originally touching her right hand¡¯s index finger, instantly paused and then calmly replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s answer stunned Wu Jiong. It also made Luo Lang, Han Jijyun and the others turn around to look towards Ling Lan. Their eyes filled with a hint of worry.


    ¡°Boss...¡± Wu Jiong swallowed the rest of his sentence. ¡°You¡¯re too much. Since you don¡¯t even know what kind of oue was waiting for Qi Long, then why would you arrange it like this?¡± Wu Jiong thought to himself.


    ¡°Qi Long¡¯s Qi-Jin limit has been stuck for quite some time. Although he has been doing limit training, he still hasn¡¯t found any possibility of a breakthrough.¡± Ling Lan nced at Luo and the others. ¡°But as luck would have it, these freshmans couldn¡¯t be ruthless against a fully exhausted Qi Long and is unable to force out Qi Long¡¯s final limit.¡±


    The criticism in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes made the others in her team touch their noses in embarrassment. They were all friends that had grown up together and furthermore, they weren¡¯t Boss. Even if Boss ordered that they had to be be ruthless, they still couldn¡¯t help but feelpassion at the sight of Qi Long getting beaten to a pulp.


    Luo Lang was unwilling to submit to her criticism and said, ¡°Boss, there¡¯s still you, isn¡¯t there?¡±


    Ling Lan red at Luo Lang and inly responded, ¡°If I could do it, then would I need to order you guys to do it? At my current level, even Qi Long at his peak form wouldn¡¯t be able to block one hit from me. Is it possible for me to slowly force Qi Long to his limit?¡± Ling Lan actually also had a headache. After entering the Domain level, her aura, no matter how much she lowered it, would be just over the level with which she could help Qi Long reach his limit.


    Luo Lang and the others were actually the most suitable. Unfortunately, the friendship between them made them unable to force Qi Long into a corner and drive him to the brink of death. As such, Ling had had no choice but to look for other methods.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. He knew clearly that Qi Long was always troubled by the fact that his physical skills were stuck at its current level and didn¡¯t move at all. No matter what method he used, he couldn¡¯t see any sign of the barrier to advanced level budging. Although Qi Long¡¯s performance was stable, Han Jijyun, who was very familiar with Qi Long, had still managed to be of aware of Qi Long¡¯s small impatience.


    He didn¡¯t that think Qi Long¡¯s anxiousness was also discovered by Boss. He thought back to thest few days. Not only did Boss beat up Qi Long himself, but he also called upon them to do the same. In the beginning, Han Jijyun had felt that Qi Long¡¯s situation was tragic, but he didn¡¯t expect that there was a deeper meaning to Boss¡¯ decision in the matter. Unfortunately, they had failed to understand his deeper meaning and failed to help Qi Long reach his actual limit.


    Han Jijyun thought back to that time again. Even if they had known, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to be so heartless as to actually drive Qi Long to the verge of death. None of them was Boss. When Boss was ruthless, they could truly feel his thick killing intent aura; it was as if he really wanted to kill them.


    ¡°Now, he can really enter that limit.¡± Han Jijyun looked at Ling Lan wishfully. He, of course, hoped that Qi Long could be stronger.


    Ling Lan¡¯s frown tensed up further as she said, ¡°I don¡¯t know...¡± Some luck and coincidence was necessary in order to be driven to a near-death state. Ling Lan really didn¡¯t know whether Qi Long could get there or not. The only thing she could do was to use any way possible to let Qi Long get closer to that moment.


    ¡°This Wang Ke really can force Qi Long to his limit,¡± Wu Jiong said slyly. Even if Qi Long¡¯s current energy was close to zero, the beginner level of Qi-Jin alone wasn¡¯t enough to force him to the edge of death.


    ¡°One naturally isn¡¯t enough, but there are a hundred people waiting for their evaluations. That should be enough,¡± Ling Lan said indifferently.


    Everyone looked at Ling Lan dumbfounded. Did Ling Lan know from the very beginning that Qi Long would be trapped in a round-robin battle?


    ¡°Compared to the other examiners whose strength are unknown, do you really think these freshmen would give up on this examiner who is clearly at his breaking point?¡± Ling Lan continued inly.


    Everyone shook their heads. If it was them, they would also have continued to choose Qi Long.


    ¡°In the beginning, if no one chose Qi Long but someone else instead, for example, me or Luo Lang or another, then the one trapped in a round-robin battle would have been one of us,¡± Han Jijyun said, pointing at himself, Luo Lang and the others. They were all people who had their energy exhausted.


    ¡°Do you guys not need to advance as well?¡± Ling Lan raised her brow.


    Han Jijyun was shaken. He didn¡¯t think that it wasn¡¯t only Qi Long who had fallen into a bottleneck for his physical skills. They had all entered different degrees of a bottleneck state. It turned out that Boss¡¯ target wasn¡¯t only set on Qi Long¡ªthey were targets too. Boss was clearly throwing down his fishing and seeing which unlucky fish was going to get caught.


    ¡°Actually, you guys are considered secondary. It¡¯s mainly for Qi Long this time. Only, I wasn¡¯t sure which battle Qi Long would appear in.¡± Ling Lan pointed at Wang Ke, who had fallen into a drawn-out fight with Qi Long. ¡°This guy, he would have definitely chosen Qi Long either way.¡± As a valedictorian, he definitely had his own pride. He wouldn¡¯t choose a normal captain as his opponent, but he most likely didn¡¯t have the courage to go against her. This being the case, then Qi Long, as a valedictorian himself, was Wang Ke¡¯s best opponent. Ling Lan had already arranged everything ever since she had taken a look at the list of applicants.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that that the effect of this fight would be this good. Wang Ke is the first to have entered the arena, which resulted in not giving Qi Long any time to rest. This also exposed Qi Long¡¯s condition to everyone right at the beginning. I believe that many of the freshmen will start to act rashly,¡± Ling Lan exined, looking around the freshmen below the arena. The excitement in their eyes showed everything clearly. It seemed that Ling Lan¡¯s arrangement had had some effect.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze passed over Ling Yi, who was frowning as though he was thinking of something...

 Chapter 526 - Defeated!

    <h4>Chapter 526: Defeated!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan subconsciously tapped the armrest of her sofa with her fingers on her right hand, her expression slightly tense. ¡°I hope this punk won¡¯t ruin my ns.¡±


    Inside the arena, although Wang Ke wanted to take advantage of Qi Long¡¯sck of energy to defeat him, thetter was used when he was being beaten up by Ling Lan. He was always whipped until he was at the brink of copse. The type of attacks that Wang Ke hade at him with didn¡¯t pressure him too much. In addition to Qi Long¡¯s fighting experience, he was also more experienced in other ways as well; he had be adjusted to his opponent¡¯s attacks before long.


    However, Wang Ke was still one of Doha Central Scout Academy¡¯s top cadets. His mentality was amazingly in check. Even though he had held the upper hand the entire time and was only a step away from defeating Qi Long, he was still able to remain calm and collected, holding down his impatience in order to achieve victory, and this made those who were in the observation room all nod in approval. They all believed that this person was a talent that could be used and was a candidate for nurturing to be a captain in Lingtian.


    ¡°What do you guys think of this Wang Ke¡¯s performance?¡± Ling Lan suddenly asked those around her.


    Luo Lang was the first to respond. ¡°Not bad. His fighting style is calm, and neither impulsive nor impatient. He thinks before he acts.¡±


    Luo Lang¡¯s words made the others all nodded in agreement. Xie Yi added, ¡°Although Qi Long¡¯s condition isn¡¯t very good, the level of his physical skills is still higher than Wang Ke¡¯s by at least one level. Wang Ke isn¡¯t afraid. His mentality is very good.¡±


    Hearing Luo Lang and Xie Yi¡¯s answers, Ling Lan gave Han Jijyun a look that said she didn¡¯t want to express her own opinions.


    Han Jijyun felt the reing from his boss and knew he needed to answer; thus, he answered seriously, ¡°My level of physical skills is weaker than everyone. The things that I can see through, everyone else will definitely be able to see through. I just think that if Wang Ke really wants to win, this type of slightly defensive way of fighting may have not be very effective.¡±


    His words made Luo Lang and Xie Yi¡¯s show a hint of a smile on their lips. Although they approved of Wang Ke¡¯s performance, they still didn¡¯t believe that Wang Ke could defeat Qi Long. Han Jijyun words were actually what they wanted to say as well.


    At that moment, Han Jijyun had set his eyes up on the screen and looked at the two fighting in the arena. He continued, ¡°Qi Long isn¡¯t someone that would lose in a drawn-out fight.¡± Trust gleamed in his eyes; he believed that hisrade would not be defeated that easily.


    Lin Zhong-qing also agreed and said, ¡°I¡¯m in agreement with Jijyun¡¯s analysis. Qi Long¡¯s physical constitution is the most monstrous out of what I¡¯ve seen before. Normally you would think that he would be done in the next second, but as long as the pressure doesn¡¯t go past his limit, no matter how you attack him, he won¡¯t be defeated.¡± Lin Zhong-qing looked at Ling Lan with respect and continued, ¡°Only Boss¡¯ terrifying attack power can instantly smash through the limit that Qi Long can take. I still haven¡¯t met a second person that can actually defeat him in terms of physical skills. At most, it will be both sides taking lots of damage like during the freshman arena fight they had when they joined the academy. Qi Long¡¯s ability to take pressure is seriously too strong and monstrous.¡±


    The answers given by the four of them caused Ling Lan to show a hint of approval in her eyes. She was very happy that everyone had managed to see through these facts. Being calm and collected wasn¡¯t a bad thing, but it depended on the situation. There was no problem in Wang Ke fighting in a calm and collected way, but it was that he had missed a crucial point; Qi Long was someone that, if not given enough pressure, would not lose in a dragged-out fight. It was simply impossible. When going against Qi Long, the opponent had to use powerful, continuous attacks to exhaust his energy, rendering him unable to recover, and only then could they be able to defeat him.


    When Wang Ke had chosen to defend and attack in a calm and controlled manner, he had actually already lost the chance to defeat Qi Long.


    ¡°So that means you guys don¡¯t think Wang Ke is any good?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s lips perked up a bit.


    This question made Luo Lang and the others shout in unison, ¡°Of course!¡± It wasn¡¯t possible that this Wang Ke alone was enough to defeat Qi Long.


    As expected, after their shouts, there was a turn of the tide in the arena. Qi Long, who was originally at a disadvantage, had made his move.


    ¡°Qi Long made a move,¡± Han Jijyun shouted excitedly. It should be known that out of everyone else, Han Jijyun cared for Qi Long the most. Even though he had believed Qi Long would win, he still couldn¡¯t help but worry. Seeing that Qi Long had finally counterattacked, he jumped up happily.


    After bing excited, he saw Luo Lang and the others look at him in surprise. He felt that he went a bit out of line and immediately controlled his expression. He sat down with a serious face and gave Luo Lang and the others an exnation, ¡°We have to let the freshmen know that even with our energy exhausted, amander of Lingtian isn¡¯t someone so easily defeated.¡±


    ¡°Ohhh!¡± The three of them responded with a drawn out and odd sound, making Han Jijyun blush. He nced at Ling Lan in dismay. It was all because of Boss. He was the one who had drained them of their energy. There was originally supposed to be no issues during the evaluations, yet Boss had managed to make it full of worry and fear. Even going against someone as weak as Wang Ke had made him lose his cool.


    Ling Lan sawHan Jijyun¡¯s slight expression of resentment and her lips perked up a bit. Ever since the fifth-year seniors, who were at the advanced level for physical skills, had left the school, other than her, Qi Long had be the one with the highest level in physical skills in the entire military academy. Although he was pressured by her, Qi Long was still eager in training. However,pared tost year, he was clearly slowing down. This was the reason why Ling Lan had been ruthless and exhausted their energy before the evaluations. If this could push Qi Long to the edge of death, then that would be for the best. But if it didn¡¯t work, then it would make the rest remember the hardships they went through after losing all their energy. This would make them understand that levels were not absolute. If there were external factors, those who were weaker could also defeat them.


    It was just as Han Jijyun had said; Qi Long had made a move. Having endured for many minutes, he finally used his awakened talent, Animal Instinct, and discovered a fatal weakness in Wang Ke¡¯s attacks.


    Qi Long was very confident in his intuition. He didn¡¯t even stop to think and used the small amount of Qi-Jin that he managed to umte in that amount of time; he ruthlessly tossed out a punch towards the direction he wanted to hit.


    It had seemed as though Wang Ke didn¡¯t have a weak point, but right as Qi Long¡¯s punch was reaching him, his originally heavily guarded chest became unprotected. This was because his left hand that was protecting his chest had moved downwards due to his next attack.


    A loud ¡°Boom!¡± followed.


    Qi Long¡¯s fist urately struck Wang Ke¡¯s chest. Although the power of his punch wasn¡¯t very great, the resultant shockwave cut off Wang Ke¡¯s blood flow from his heart; his chest suddenly felt clogged and the Qi-Jin that was originally flowing through his body was cut off¡ªWang Ke was uncontrobly sent flying backwards.


    Before he could have a chance to control his body in mid-air, Qi Long flew towards him. Another strong punch struck Wang Ke¡¯s shoulder and instantly sent him flying out of the arena.


    Wang Ke did a somersault in mid-air andnded firmly on the ground. Qi Long had controlled his power very well and had only sent Wang Ke flying without wounding him, which was why thetter was able to neutralize that force in mid-air andnd with no injuries. Qi Long showing mercy made Wang Ke feel embarrassed since he had used all his strength and didn¡¯t hold back in the arena.


    Wang Ke looked towards the arena above him, his expression showing a hint of admiration. He bowed from below the arena and said gratefully, ¡°I lost. Thank you for your time, Senior Qi Long.¡±


    As expected of the person who was valedictorian for two years in a row; even if Qi Long¡¯s condition was at its worst, he wasn¡¯t someone he could defeat. Wang Ke thought to himself, ¡°If Commander Qi Long¡¯s physical condition was at its best, how many hits could I had taken from him?¡± At that moment, Wang Ke truly hoped that he could join the Lingtian Mecha n. If he could do so, then in the future, he would have a chance to fight Commander Qi Long once again.


    Qi Long stood on the arena and nodded towards Wang Ke. As the examiner of this match, he was very satisfied with Wang Ke¡¯s performance. He believed that Wang Ke didn¡¯t lose any dignity for the Doha Central Scout Academy. This valedictorian behaved just as expected.


    Qi Long wanted to drag his exhausted footsteps off the arena. At that moment, if someone were to look closely at Qi Long, they would be able to see that his clothes were soaked in sweat. Although he had defeated Wang Ke, Qi Long himself had made a Herculean effort. He felt that his body had be tired to its limit; his hands and feet were feeling numb and slow. At that moment, even if a three-year-old was toe by, that three-year-old would be able to push him down.


    The freshmen below the arena all looked at each other. They all knew that this was the best time to defeat Captain Qi Long and were all thinking of doing so. However, everyone was also worried. If they went up, would they give the examiners a bad impression if they used any means necessary to finish their objective? It was, after all. not apetition and heroes weren¡¯t determined by victory or defeat. Whether they could join the mecha n depended on the examiner¡¯s acknowledgment.


    While they were hesitating, a cold voice suddenly rang through the entire training dojo. ¡°Anyone who defeats Qi Long will not only be allowed to join the Lingtian Mecha n, but also receive other rewards. The battle team that the winner belongs to will instantly join a battle team from one of Lingtian¡¯s frontline battle teams.¡±


    These words made the hesitating freshmen suddenly gain resolve. The freshmen knew that the cold voice must have been the voice of Ling Lan, the firstmander of Lingtian. Only Ling Lan could make a promise of still being acknowledged after defeating the secondmander. Since the Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s highest order ofmand had given this order, what did they have to worry about?


    Those who managed to get admitted to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were all actually people with ambitions; they all wanted to climb higher up thedder. Regardless of whether they had a battle team or not, they all hoped that their starting point, as well as their future progress, could be better than the others.


    After the people in the observation room saw that Ling Lan had pushed down themunication button to the outside and mercilessly made that announcement, they all involuntarily pitied Qi Long. Qi Long was really sad since he had such a cold, heartless Boss who liked to y around with his subordinates.


    Of course, there were a few that envied Qi Long, such as Gao Jinyun. Knowing Boss Ling Lan, he knew that this was definitely a way Ling Lan was using to train Commander Qi Long. Gao Jinyun felt a little bit of regret. Although he tried his best to perform and had made Boss remember him, that was all. If someone wanted to receive pointers from Boss himself, only those who had been beside him from the very beginning could have that chance...


    Gao Jinyun felt a bit crestfallen but quickly braced himself. While he had joinedter than those old members, it wasn¡¯t toote. He was confident that as long as he followed Boss, he would definitely, definitely have a chance... Gao Jinyun thought back to that matter which Lin Zhong-qing had unintentionally disclosed to him and he clenched his fists hard. He told himself to continue to work hard and absolutely enter the 23rd Division in his fifth year! That was his only chance to follow after Boss Lan.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words had made Qi Long freeze in ce, and then he looked towards the observation room with resentment. ¡°Boss, do you really like seeing me get defeated that much?¡±

 Chapter 527 - Choke to Death!

    <h4>Chapter 527: Choke to Death!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Han Jijyun, Luo Lang and others tremble. They knew why Boss was doing this, and now they only hoped that Qi Long wouldn¡¯t lose too badly in the round-robin fights.


    Everyone knew clearly that the freshmen, who were rid of their worries, would definitely not give up on the chance to reach the top. The round-robin fights had be a reality.


    As expected, after a few seconds, a freshman jumped up to the stage. His face showed a hint of shame, but he still spoke out his objective; the freshman respectfully bowed to Qi Long and said, ¡°I am Wang Ruoxu from Qinhuang. Please go easy on me, Commander Qi!¡±


    ¡°Go ahead!¡± Qi Long replied, taking a deep breath. Wearing the color of determination on his face, he gestured him to start. This decision of Ling Lan¡¯s wouldn¡¯t make Qi Long actually resent her; he believed that there was definitely a deeper meaning to Boss¡¯ decision. He just had to work hard and finish the mission that Boss had given him.


    This Wang Ruoxu attacked crazily right from the beginning. Unfortunately, having only reached the peak of thete stages of Qi-Jin, the pressure he gave Qi Long wasn¡¯t as much aspared to Wang Ke. After carefully defending for around 3 minutes, Qi Long had umted a certain amount of Qi-Jin, found the opponent¡¯s weak spot and struck him off the arena.


    Two more freshmen went up onto the arena in immediate session; however, Qi Long fought with patience. With no energy left, Qi Long used his strong body to defend. Once he umted a small amount of Qi-Jin, he would find his opponent¡¯s weak spot and defeat them. Qi Long fought in a very calm and collected manner. The freshmen couldn¡¯t find a chance to win at that moment.


    However, having to face so many people consecutively had pushed Qi Long¡¯s already exhausted body towards its limit even more. If he didn¡¯t have his spiritual power helping him endure it all, it was possible that he might not even have been able to raise his fists.


    The sharper individuals had already discovered that Qi Long was now spent. Another freshman jumped up onto the arena...


    ¡°Captain, this a chance,¡± Yi Tiange whispered to Ling Yi.


    ¡°You want me to go up and defeat Commander Qi Long?¡± Ling Yi asked coldly.


    ¡°Yes. Wang Ke already made Commander Qi Long show his limit. Additionally, the round-robin fights that these people made him go through has already squeezed out thest bit of energy from Commander Qi Long. If you go up now, with your capabilities, you should be able to defeat him.¡± Yi Tiange spoke out his thoughts.


    Ling Yi went silent and looked at Qi Long, who had already reached his limit yet wasn¡¯t showing a hint of it on his expression; he was still determined to face his new opponent. His calmness andposure along with his unyielding expression moved Ling Yi¡¯s heart...


    ¡°Captain, this is a good chance. If you win, Commander Ling said that he would give us the treatment of a frontline battle team. It¡¯ll be very good for the growth of our battle team.¡± Rong Ziruo also agreed with Yi Tiange¡¯s opinion.


    Yan Wuyou smiled but didn¡¯t say anything; however, his eyes showed that he also agreed. On the other side, the other person in the battle team, Tao Xiaotao, was concentrated on the fight and didn¡¯t even notice that his teammates were in the middle of deciding something that could affect the future of their battle team. Of course, his teammates hadn¡¯t intended on asking for his opinions in the first ce. In the battle team, Tao Xiaotao¡¯s opinions could be ignored.


    Ling Yi finally spoke, his expression holding a hint of coldness and also a hint of pride. ¡°I know that you guys are right, but I just don¡¯t want to.¡±


    Yi Tiange showed a hint of regret on his face as he looked at Rong Ziruo and silently sighed. His captain was good in every way, except that he was simply too righteous and didn¡¯t want to do things that he thought to be unfair.


    ¡°I know that Commander Qi Long¡¯s body is at the brink of copse and now is the best chance to defeat him. But can¡¯t you guys see that even though it¡¯s so hard for him, Commander Qi Long still hasn¡¯t shown a hint of weakness? He¡¯s still remaining calm andposed, still fighting without giving any openings. He¡¯s using his spiritual power to force himself to continue fighting in order to prove to us that he isn¡¯t someone that will be defeated by despicable methods! He¡¯s a real fighter. This type of fighter should be respected by us instead of bing our stepping stone and being stomped on by us as we climb up thedder. If I really did do something like this, I would feel very ashamed of myself. Even if we¡¯d be treated like a front line battle team because of this, I wouldn¡¯t be able to raise my head when facing the other members of Lingtian,¡± Ling Yi exined without hesitation.


    Hearing Ling Yi¡¯s righteousness in his words, Yi Tiange showed smirk on his face. It was this Ling Yi that had made them submit. Even if there were enough benefits, when Ling Yi believed that it shouldn¡¯t be done, he would be able to withstand the temptation and stand his ground. Only this kind of captain would give them confidence that when they were faced with danger in the future, he wouldn¡¯t abandon hisrades and would fight alongside them.


    Yi Tiange smiled and replied, ¡°Since you¡¯ve already said so much, then we¡¯ll definitely support you!¡±


    Rong Ziruo and Yan Wuyou exchanged a look before they too nodded firmly and said, ¡°Yes, we support you!¡±


    Yi Tiange thought the same as they did as well. Although this kind of captain would lose their battle team many chances for promotion, the same benefits might cause them to end up in a dangerous situation. It was both a good and bad thing. Comparatively, they were more willing to ept a captain like Ling Yi. He made them feel confident with him backing them up.


    In the arena, Qi Long had defeated another freshman. Tao Xiaotao¡¯s eyes had returned from watching the fight and he heard the voices of his teammatesing from beside him. He turned around in confusion and asked with a confused expression, ¡°What were you guys agreeing about?¡±


    Yan Wuyou wore a smile as he held out his right hand to turn Tao Xiaotao¡¯s face back towards. ¡°Xiaotao, just watch. What we¡¯re talking about has nothing do with you.¡±


    Tao Xiaotao replied in dismay, ¡°You guys always have things to say and never want to share it with me. I¡¯m not going to ignore you guys and just watch. Oh, another person went up. How many does that make? I pity Commander Qi Long.¡±


    It turned out that while they were talking, another freshman had challenged Qi Long. The bait that Ling Lan had set was sufficient to draw in the freshmen and make them continuously challenge Qi Long.


    Seeing this, Ling Yi walked up to stand before the optical supeputer. He was waiting for Qi Long to defeat this challenger, after which he would input in his own name for the evaluation battle.


    ¡°Who do you guys think the captain is going to challenge?¡± Yi Tiange asked Rong Ziruo while gazing at Ling Yi.


    Rong Ziruo replied with a smile, ¡°You and I both know. Do you really need to ask?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I keep feeling that our captain is going to be disappointed this time,¡± Yi Tiange said as if in deep thought.


    ¡°What kind of person do you think Commander Ling Lan is?¡± Rong Ziruo suddenly asked.


    Yi Tiange thought carefully before replying, ¡°I saw him once during the award ceremony inst year¡¯s Grand Mecha Tournament. He seemed to be very cold and cool at first nce. At second second nce, he seemed to be very dominant...¡±


    ¡°A few days ago, I caught a glimpse of Commander Ling Lan from afar.¡± Rong Ziruo¡¯s smile had disappeared as he spoke. ¡°He discovered me looking at him and looked me back in the eye.¡± Ayer of sweat had actually formed on his forehead by the end of his words.


    Rong Ziruo¡¯s odd behavior made Yi Tiange¡¯s expression be serious. Thetter asked, ¡°How was it?¡±


    ¡°That look of his made me feel as though my entire body had be frozen. In that instant, I thought I died,¡± Rong Ziruo replied with a pale face. ¡°It was as though thousands of years had passed. By the time my consciousness returned, 10 minutes had already passed, and Commander Ling Lan was nowhere in sight.¡±


    ¡°He is someone that I¡¯ve met who is the most dominant and strong out of everyone I know. Do you still remember the captain of the ship that took us to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy? Our guess was that his level of Qi-Jin had peaked at the stage of Great Perfection. However, the feeling that the captain of that ship gave me was far weaker than that of Commander Ling Lan¡¯s.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s really that strong!¡± Yi Tiange eximed with a serious expression.


    ¡°He¡¯s really strong, unfathomably strong,¡± Rong Ziruo confirmed with a bitter smile. ¡°Even I couldn¡¯t believe my own senses, but at that time, that was how I really felt.¡±


    ¡°Captain, if you really choose Commander Ling Lan... I hope you won¡¯t lose too badly,¡± Rong Ziruo said to himself. He was afraid that the captain might lose his confidence after being beaten. Truly strong people could not be pursued by others.


    Hearing this, Yi Tiange went silent. He now hoped that someone could be sign up faster than his captain. Then at least his captain would be beaten a bitter by Commander Ling Lan.


    In the arena, Qi Long had once again defeated a freshman who had challenged him. This time, however, he had spent almost 15 minutes in taking victory. Ever since Qi Long had defeated Wang Ke, every time he defeated a challenger, the time he took in doing so increased. This also meant that he truly had almost reached his limit. It was just that they didn¡¯t know when he wouldpletely copse.


    When the freshman jumped off the arena, Ling Yi, who was already ready, decisively pressed down on the confirm button for the evaluation.


    ¡°Ling Yi, amoner from Puyi Scout Academy (Third-ss, Puzhe). Physical Skills: Qi-Jin Beginner Level. Mecha World Mecha Piloting Level: Advanced!¡± Ling Yi¡¯s information was sent to the observation room through the optical supeputer, and his data made the captains all gasp in disbelief. Compared to Wang Ke, Ling Yi surprised them even more. After all, Ling Yi dide from a third-ss; it was very difficult for people from there to get into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. He had managed to get admitted to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, and even his capabilities ranked among the top of the freshmen.


    ¡°The opponent he has chosen is... Ling Lan! Boss!¡± Everyone in the observation room gasped in surprise. They didn¡¯t think that someone would be so daring as to actually challenge the strongest individual in their mecha n. Did he not know that Boss Lan¡¯s physical skills was definitely the best in the entire military academy? He had defeated the previous top-ranked physical skills expert, Huo Zhenyu, in his first year. He was deemed as the most domineering individual in terms of physical skills throughout entire First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Ling Lan saw this notification and struck her armrest with great force. Luo Lang could clearly see that a crack had appeared in the armrest¡¯s hard metallic surface. It looked Ling Yi¡¯s idental disruption in her n had made Ling Lan angry. Qi Long had been about to reach his limit and could have been on the verge of death at any moment, but now it had all gone to waste.


    As long as Qi Long was given time to rest, if she wanted to push him to his current state again, he would have to have many times the amount of people fight him to achieve the state. Not only that, she was afraid that once Qi Long calmed down, he would understand why she made such ns. Once he made preparations, it would be impossible to have him be unconscious and on the verge of death. In other words, the hardships that Qi Long had endured beforehand was all for naught.


    At the same time, this also meant that it would be no longer possible to use fighting amongst themselves to help him reach his limit. Having prepared, if she had used the same method in the future, she would not be able to make Qi Long be on the verge of death. If Qi Long wanted to find a new way of advancing, he would need to find another shortcut. However, it was a known fact that shortcuts were discovered through luck while thinking on it day and night. To find a new way, she didn¡¯t know how long he would have to wait and didn¡¯t know whether that kind of chance would appear again.


    This was why Ling Lan was angry. The hope that she saw was instantly destroyed by Ling Yi. Ling Yi interfering by making a challenge hadpletely messed up Ling Lan¡¯s n.


    ¡°I should have just choked him to death back then!¡± Ling Lan uttered, biting her lip.

 Chapter 528 - Why?

    <h4>Chapter 528: Why?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Inside her mindspace, Little Four rubbed his nose, rolled his eyes and didn¡¯t say anything. His boss looked as though she was angry, but she didn¡¯t have any killing intent. He wasn¡¯t stupid enough to think that Boss was actually going to choke Ling Yi to death. Boss was more angry about Ling Yi messing up her ns; she had expected better from him.


    Everyone in the observation room looked towards Ling Lan and waited for their boss¡¯ next move. On the side, Ling Lan was looking at the arena with a nk expression as though she was thinking about something.


    The moment the freshmen saw that Ling Yi had chosen Ling Lan, they were shaken. At the same time, this situation also made many freshmen be discontent. After all, with his interference in the middle, Qi Long would have time to rest. It wouldn¡¯t be that easy for them to continue to take advantage of Qi Long.


    However, even though many freshmen were dissatisfied with his decision, they couldn¡¯t deny that they were all extremely excited as well. The examiner Ling Yi had chosen was Ling Lan and Ling Lan was the legendary existence in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. These freshmen definitely wanted to see the heroic figure of this legendarymander, and Ling Yi had given them the chance to do so.


    The members of the Lingtian Mecha n around the arena were actually in an uproar.


    ¡°Sh*t, who is this freshman? He actually dares to challenge our boss. He¡¯s really daring.¡± A Lingtian member, who respected Ling Lan greatly, spoke with an angry expression. From how he saw it, these freshmen didn¡¯t even have the qualifications to challenge Boss Ling Lan.


    ¡°Is it because he¡¯s underestimating our other captains andmanders?¡± someone asked.


    ¡°This punk is too cocky!¡±


    Seeing the members of Lingtian Mecha n around them speak ill of Ling Yi, Yi Tiange knew the situation wasn¡¯t going well; they had already made enemies with the senior members before they could even join the mecha n. They were not in a very good position and could even be singled out by all the other members.


    Yi Tiange immediately replied, ¡°Our captain respects Commander Ling Lan very much. He was originally going to challenge Commander Qi Long, but Commander Qi Long has fought countless fights and his energy has been depleted. Our captain believes that challenging Commander Qi Long again wouldn¡¯t be fair. That is why he chose Commander Ling Lan to ask for his advice in fighting.¡±


    Yi Tiange words were very logical and made some of the Lingtian members calm down, but there were still others who remained very dissatisfied. They said, ¡°You have to defeat our captains or othermanders before challenging our boss.¡±


    ¡°Also, are you guys underestimating our Commander Qi Long? Even though his energy has been depleted, defeating him wouldn¡¯t be easy. Did he really need to have an expression of emapthy?¡± In terms of showing her physical skills, ever since Ling Lan fought in the arena battle in the very beginning, she never fought again in front of everyone. In these past two years, Qi Long was always the one to be challenged. In the eyes of Lingtian members, Qi Long was simrly undefeatable. Although Yi Tiange¡¯s words were of good intentions and Ling Yi was being just, there was still a feeling that made them seem they were underestimating Qi Long. This made the other members feel very discontent.


    Hearing all this, Yi Tiange couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly. If his own captain had chosen someone else, then maybe those of Lingtian would have seen him a better light. However, as luck would have it, his captain had chosen the spiritual leader of Lingtian, Ling Lan. This made these people¡¯s opinion of his captain worsen. No matter how much more they exined themselves, they wouldn¡¯t be able to turn those thoughts around.


    At that moment, Qi Long was breathing heavily on the arena. He saw white shes after being so exhausted and everything around him seemed to be really far from him. He was like a log waiting for the next freshman toe up the arena to challenge him...


    Challenge our boss? Qi Long¡¯s ears suddenly heard these words. What? Someone wanted to challenge Boss?


    ¡°If you want to challenge our boss, then defeat all the captains or othermanders first!¡± That was right. If Ling Yi didn¡¯t defeat them, then how could he have to audacity to challenge the Boss?


    ¡°... Underestimating our Commander Qi Long... energy depleted to its limit... charity...¡± Underestimate? Charity? Qi Long¡¯s eyes suddenly opened, following which his originally fading five senses returned to him and he saw the angry expression of the members below. A cool young man stood below the arena, standing there fearlessly. He stood tall and firm as though the mockery and anger from around him didn¡¯t affect him at all.


    ¡°Is it him? He¡¯s looking down on me because of my condition? And because of that he also thinks he can defeat Boss?¡± Qi Long¡¯s eyes began to burn with rage. Everyone had their own friends and family. As far as the public was concerned, Ling Lan was a childhood friend that grew up with Qi Long, but in reality, the former was like a brother and father to him. Whether it be his physical skills or way of thinking, Ling Lan was the one who had taught him everything. He could ept any insults directed to him, but he couldn¡¯t let anyone look down upon Ling Lan.


    Right at that moment, Ling Lan had finallye to a decision. She was getting ready to defeat Ling Yi at lighting speed and continue her previous arrangement, but just then, in the arena, Qi Long¡¯s entire aura suddenly changed.


    Ling Lan frowned and looked towards Ling Yi, who was waiting for Qi Long to descend the arena. Her lips perked up as she said, ¡°Making ns but the ns fail. If don¡¯t n, something amazing happens. Ling Yi... your luck isn¡¯t bad! You¡¯ve gotten away from danger!¡±


    At that moment, Ling Yi suddenly felt his body be cold. Before he could figure out why, he heard Qi Long¡¯s deep voiceing from the arena, asking, ¡°Are you the one who wants to challenge our boss?¡±


    Ling Yi nodded in response. The only reason he had worked so hard for so long was to let Young Master Lan see his potential, to have him judge whether or not he was qualified to stand behind him.


    Qi Long suddenly burst out in hystericalughter. ¡°Hahaha, if you want to challenge our boss then defeat me first. Otherwise, you¡¯re not qualified!¡± The sentence with the words ¡°not qualified¡± was roared out, his voice exploding throughout the entire training dojo. It actually made a few people who had lower levels in physical skills be shaken.


    Ling Yi looked at Qi Long¡¯s red eyes and immediately frowned. He suddenly felt that the current Qi Long was very dangerous. His aura was very differentpared to when he was fighting others.


    ¡°Qi Long looks kind of odd.¡± Han Jijyun, who knew Qi Long best, had a change in expression.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression tensed up and she quietly agreed, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Although Qi Long was asking for a fight, Ling Yi didn¡¯t go into the arena. The one he had challenged was Ling Lan, and thus they could only wait for her answer.


    At that moment, a cold sharp voice sounded out in response to Qi Long¡¯s outburst. ¡°Let¡¯s do what Qi Long wants!¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes narrowed. He didn¡¯t think that Qi Long was so trusted by Young Master Lan. Young Master Lan actually let Qi Long interfere and fight. After leaving Young Master Lan for more than ten years, did the person who was now standing behind him this man?


    The intent to fight shed in Ling Yi¡¯s eyes. ¡°Since he wants to fight, then we¡¯ll fight!¡± He moved quickly and jumped onto the arena. He said, ¡°Then Commander Qi Long, please advise me.¡±


    ¡°Fight!¡± Following the signal to fight, the fighting spirit from Qi Long¡¯s body poured out and almost force Ling Yi into the ground. The aura pouring out of him had also suddenly caused a transparent light barrier to appear on the outer edges of the arena.


    Ling Yi expression changed drastically. The Qi-Jin in Qi Long¡¯s body was quickly moving about. This definitely wasn¡¯t the intermediate level of Qi-Jin. The physical skills instructor at his Scout Academy was only at the intermediate level of Qi-Jin. There wasn¡¯t an existence of this type of aura that made people unable to raise their heads.


    ¡°Is it the Advanced level of Qi-Jin? Or even higher?¡± Ling Yi thought to himself as he endured with great effort.


    The audience below the arena all wore expressions of confusion at the appearance of the light barrier. Some of the older cadets suddenly thought of something and their expressions showed pleasant surprise. Could it be that Commander Qi Long had already reached ¡°that¡± level?


    ¡°Is it aura? When did Qi Long learn how to use an aura?¡± Luo Lang wondered aloud with surprise. Those who had previously received a beating at Ling Lan¡¯s hand all knew what it was. They had been pressured to the ground by Ling Lan¡¯s aura before. However, the day before, Qi Long clearly didn¡¯t know how to use an aura.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes gleamed. She didn¡¯t expect Ling Yi¡¯s provocation to push Qi Long to the verge of death. It had actually identally allowed him to learn how to use an aura. Of course, this type of aura that only came from Qi Long¡¯s fighting spirit wasn¡¯t the actual aura fromter stages of Qi-Jin. It could only be considered a prototype and needed strong emotions to kickstart.


    Ling Lan already felt that it was a bit unexpected. She couldn¡¯t help but understand why it had happened. Qi Long had been stuck at the advanced level of Qi-Jin for a very long time. He had only needed to progress just a bit more to advance into theter stages of Qi-Jin. Having sense the prototype aura earlier on was also a possibility.


    Everyone stared at the arena. Even though they all had their own questions, at that moment, they didn¡¯t want to think too much into the details.


    Even though Qi Long¡¯s aura was a prototype, for Ling Yi, it was strong enough. He endured with great effort and felt that he was going to get pressured by this shapeless pressure.


    Ling Lan knew that if this continued, his final oue would be being forced into the floor andying there. Ling Yi had trained his physical skills long and hard for more than ten years and he was being watched by Ling Lan right now, so how could he just surrender like this? He bit his lip hard and put all of his body¡¯s Qi-Jin into his two feet. He stomped on the ground and his entire body flew towards Qi Long like a cannonball. He clenched his right hand into a fist andunched a punch towards Qi Long¡¯s head.


    He had to attack Qi Long and interfere with the release of his aura!


    ¡°Bam!¡± Qi Long raised his right hand and blocked Ling Yi¡¯s punch. Therge aura began to spread, causing the originally dimmed transparent light barrier to brighten up once again.


    Ling Yi was sent flying by this force. He somersaulted in mid-air andnded firmly on the arena. Qi Long didn¡¯t move at all. In terms of the power of the hits just now, Ling Yi¡¯s was weaker than Qi Long¡¯s by a mile. However, it was because of Ling Yi¡¯s attack that Qi Long¡¯s aura¡¯s pressure was cut off. The aura in the arena was instantly gone, making Ling Yi breathe a sigh of relief. He knew he had temporarily gotten through a crisis.


    ¡°That¡¯s too bad. Qi Long¡¯s aura stops once he gets interfered,¡± Luo Lang remarked with a face of pity for Qi Long. If he could continue to pressure Ling Yi, then Ling Yi wouldn¡¯t have any chance to defeat Qi Long at all.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t easy for Qi Long to get to this point since he justprehended how to use his aura.¡± Ling Lan knew clearly that using this kind of power would greatly burden the body. Qi Long being able to endure for this long was already a performance that was sufficiently amazing.


    Luo Lang knew that he was forcing his body, but it was just that he worried that Qi Long¡¯s energy wasn¡¯t enough. If he could have defeated his opponent with his aura, that would have been the best possible oue. This was why he felt regret.


    No longer under the pressure of Qi Long¡¯s aura, Ling Yi began to attack again. He was afraid that if he hesitated even for a second, his opponent would use that shapeless aura again. Ling Yi didn¡¯t know that that aura just now was only identally turned on by Qi Long. If he wanted to use it again, he may not be sessful. Qi Long, who couldn¡¯t fully control this ability yet, would need to use a lot of time to train and study if he wanted topletely control it.


    Qi Long saw his opponente towards him with an attack and raised his fist to block. Qi Long¡¯s way of using physical skills was to attack. He favored using offense to go against offense and using attacks as defensive moves. On his side, Ling Yi was afraid that Qi Long would release that aura of his if he got a chance, and thus he didn¡¯t dare to back off. Because of this, the fight in the arena had now be a true hand-to-handbat. The two of them exchanged punches, each thrown fistnding a blow on the other¡¯s body.


    ¡°Bam! Bam! Bam!¡± The sound of intense collisions rang in the air, which made the audience members below the arena feel that their own bodies were hurting. However, the two people in the arena before had indifferent expressions, as though the body that was being hit was not their own but someone else¡¯s.


    ¡°These two are both ruthless people,¡± some of the audience couldn¡¯t help but remark. If they were the ones up there, they didn¡¯t know how long they would have been able to endure this kind of battle.


    ¡°Do the two of them not feel any pain?¡± someone asked with surprise.


    ¡°How could they not feel pain? It¡¯s just that their endurance is really strong and they don¡¯t show that they are in pain,¡± someone responded.


    ¡°Looks like Ling Yi knows the method that the Ling family uses for physical training. I¡¯m not sure who gave it to him. Was it Chambein Ling Qin or Ling Yu?¡± Ling Lan frowned. However, no matter if it was Ling Qin or Ling Yu, it meant that they didn¡¯t give up on Ling Yi.


    ¡°It was Chambein Ling Qin. I remember that when Boss was in your second year at the scout academy, Chambein Ling Qin asked you whether to look after Ling Yi a bit. I remember your reply was that he could give Ling Yi some special treatment as long as it didn¡¯t bring about danger to the safety of the Ling family.¡± Little Four suddenly appeared and answered Ling Lan¡¯s question.


    ¡°Right, I remember now.¡± Little Four¡¯s reminder made Ling Lan remember that part of her memory. She had allowed Ling Qin to be fully responsible, but she didn¡¯t expect that Ling Qin¡¯s expectation of Ling Yi was so high. He had even given Ling Yi the Ling family¡¯s method of physical training.


    ¡°It¡¯s also because of this physical training that made Ling Yi attend school a yearter than he should have attended,¡± Little Four added.


    Ling Lan finally understood why Ling Yi was two years behind her when he was only one year younger than her. Physical training was good, but he needed one year¡¯s time to train. She didn¡¯t know how Ling Qin had managed to convince Ling Yi to make him give up entering a scout academy in his first year.


    It should be known that cadets who entered a scout academy after the first year would not be able to enter the best scout academies regardless of whether they possessed excellent talent. Somete cadets would even be put into third-rate scout academies. This act was to punish those cadets who didn¡¯t apply on time.


    The only reason why it was so strict was that most cadets would be soldiers in the future. Soldiers had to obey all rules and orders, and the military was especially even more strict when it came to time management. It should be known that arrivingter than a minute on the battlefield could cause the entire battle to be lost. No one could take that kind of burden, and thus the military had to start cing restrictions while cadets were children and make them understand the importance of rules and the importance of time.


    ¡°No wonder he was studying at that third-rate.¡± Everything was now clear and could be exined. Although Ling Lan had allowed Ling Yi to leave, she didn¡¯t want topletely destroy thetter¡¯s future. The sympathy that Chambein Ling Qin had shown for Ling Yi wouldn¡¯t have him be sent to a third-rate. The worst would only be a second-rate.


    After a brief bout of intense fighting, the now separated two people were both facing each as they trembled. Ling Yi breathed heavily as he felt an iparable pain in his body. Although he had used the Ling family¡¯s special method of physical training, Qi Long¡¯s punches were fierce and heavy and still wounded him.


    However... Ling Yi looked towards Qi Long in front of him. At that moment, Qi Long was hunched over and his body was swaying about. Others perhaps could not see clearly, but Ling Yi could see very clearly that there was a puddle of water below Qi Long¡¯s feet; it was the sweat from Qi Long¡¯s body. It was flowing down and instantly made an entire area wet.


    Qi Long¡¯s endurance had really reached its maximum limit. If he didn¡¯t have just a bit of Qi-Jin holding him up, it was possible he wouldn¡¯t have even had the energy to stand. Although he could stand, only a gentle hit was needed topletely push down that swaying body of his.


    ¡°If I defeat you, then I¡¯ll have the necessary qualifications to challenge Young Master Lan, right?¡± Ling Yi thought. ¡°Although I don¡¯t want to take advantage of the situation, I will take it in order to fight against Young Master Lan. Sorry, Commander Qi Long!¡± Ling Yi shouted. He let go of the shame in his mind, kicked off the ground and pounced onto Qi Long. He once again threw a punch straight at Qi Long.


    Qi Long did not even have to energy to open his eyes at that moment; he couldn¡¯t feel anything around him. He felt as if his entire being had be engulfed in darkness. He even felt that he didn¡¯t even have the energy to breathe. Only his heart was beating intensely as though it was going to jump out of his chest...


    ¡°Dum, dum, dum...¡± The beating sound of his heart became faster and faster. Qi Long felt that his heart couldn¡¯t handle the pressure from the beating and felt like it was going to explode...


    ¡°Am I going to die?¡± Unable to breathe and feeling his heart pressured so much that it seemed on the verge of exploding, Qi Long really thought he was going to die. He couldn¡¯t even feel his body. It was as though his everything had disappeared.


    ¡°Could it be that I¡¯ve lost my fight against Ling Yi?¡± At that moment, Qi Long was very curious as to why he wasn¡¯t worried whether he was dead or not. Instead, he was thinking about whether he had lost to Ling Yi or not.


    ¡°If I lose, then will Boss have toe down?¡±


    ¡°Sh*t!¡± Qi Long roared angrily. This was a disgrace to Boss and it was all because he was useless. If he had just a bit more endurance, there would have been no way for him to lose, right?


    ¡°Why did you exhaust us of all our energy and then let us be examiners? Why, Boss?¡± Qi Long shouted begrudgingly.


    ¡°Because you guys aren¡¯t strong enough!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice suddenly exploded beside Qi Long¡¯s ears.


    After hearing this voice, Qi Long¡¯s dark world suddenly became enveloped in light. He stood in the mid-air and looked below him. There he saw green fields, whereinid countless hidden buildings. When the wind blew and the trees shook, the buildings could be seen just a little bit.


    At that moment, a few hover cars suddenly flew down from above and stopped in front of a huge ball-shaped building. Seven or eight young men came out of the hover cars. They each had their own personalities. There were serious ones, and there were also ones who smiled. There were feminine ones, and then there were masculine ones as well. There were happy-go-lucky ones, and then there were cool ones.


    The leader was a cool, young man. He seemed to feel something and turned to shoot a cold re at Qi Long, which almost froze him.


    ¡°Boss, what¡¯s wrong?¡± a young man behind the leader asked in confusion.


    The leader turned around indifferently and replied, ¡°Nothing. Let¡¯s go into the fighting dojo.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± Everyone followed the cool, young man and walked into therge ball-shaped building.


    Qi Long knew who these people were. They were Boss Ling Lan and his other friends. That young man who had asked Ling Lan what had happened was Qi Long himself.


    This was Qi Long¡¯s memory, but they had gone to the fighting dojo many times in the past. Qi Long didn¡¯t know when this particr episode had urred out of the many asions they had gone. What surprised Qi Long was this¡ªhow could he be inside his own memories and be watching like a bystander?


    Ling Lan and the others entered the fighting dojo, but they didn¡¯t go to watch any fightingpetitions. Instead, they used prestige credits to rent out a private training dojo. They all walked in and then Ling Lan ordered all them to fight each other. Qi Long walked into the high-pressure chamber in the training dojo to train under high gravity. He set the chamber at 16-fold gravity just like he had before.


    Qi Long and the others didn¡¯t notice that they could almost take on a 4-fold degree of gravity, while Qi Long could take on 8-fold. Qi Long had even taken on 16-fold gravity before. His best time was a bit more than 3 minutes, which wasn¡¯t as long as the time that Boss Ling Lan could endure.


    Qi Long and the others fought in the dojo without a care in the world. They did not discover that as time went on, the 16-fold gravity had be 24-fold unbeknownst to anyone. Then it went from 24-fold to 28-fold. The numbers increased drastically until in the end, it stopped at 64-fold gravity.


    During that time, Qi Long had just been watching the fights and had only unintentionally looked at the screen for the gravity pod. However, he didn¡¯t look closely at the numbers that were changing on the screen of the gravity pod. The Qi Long that was in the air watching all this thought to himself, ¡°Maybe I just nced at those numbers for a second and just ignored them. Now that I¡¯m looking into my own memory as a bystander, I have discovered this.¡±


    It turned out that the pressure their boss could take wasn¡¯t the 16-fold they had previously thought. It was 64-fold instead. Qi Long sighed. ¡°Although we knew Boss is really strong, we didn¡¯t that he was this strong.¡±


    The numbers just showed the gravity was at 64-fold. This continued for around 2 to 3 minutes before the number suddenly began to decrease. In the end, it became 16-fold.


    ¡°Bam.¡± The gravity pod was pushed open. The sound rmed Qi Long and the others who had been fighting on the side. They turned around to look, but they didn¡¯t see Bosse out. Qi Long walked over and took a peek in Boss¡¯ direction.


    Ling Lan suddenly opened her eyes, and the sharp expression on her face made Qi Long unable to look her in the eyes. He quickly stood up straight and waited for his boss toe out.


    Ling Lan suddenly grabbed on to the side of the gravity pod and sat up. She paused for a second before jumping from the pod andnding firmly on the ground.


    The Qi Long in his memory didn¡¯t see very clearly, but the bystander Qi Long saw everything clearly. His boss had a thinyer of sweat all around his forehead, while his two hands that had held on to the pod¡¯s door were trembling. Hisnding, that had appeared to be firm, had made him shake a bit uncontrobly. This kind of behavior was what was expected of the Boss. It seemed that the 64-fold pressure hadpletely exhausted all of Boss¡¯ energy. It was just that at the time, Qi Long hadn¡¯t thought too deeply about it and neglected it carelessly.


    Actually, he shouldn¡¯t me himself for not figuring it out. The disy on the screen for the pod still disyed 16-fold pressure, so logically he would think it was 16-fold. That kind of pressure wasn¡¯t even enough to affect Boss. Thus, the small change that Boss had shown was naturally overlooked by them.


    ¡°Let¡¯s challenge Boss to a fight now since he¡¯s undergone 16-fold gravity and had his energy exhausted a bit.¡± Luo Lang saw that Ling Lan hade out from the gravity pod and excitedly made a suggestion.


    ¡°Group battle?¡± Qi Long, who was standing beside Ling Lan, asked.


    ¡°Yeah, group battle. Boss versus everyone else.¡± Luo Lang nodded in agreement. His suggestion was also agreed upon by the others.


    At that moment, the bystander Qi Long suddenly realized it. This was his memory from two years ago; it was their first time fighting against Boss as a group and at the same time, thest time as well.


    The bystander Qi Long became worried. He clearly knew the answer his boss would give, but he still couldn¡¯t help but yell out, ¡°Boss, don¡¯t agree with us.¡±


    ¡°Alright!¡± Ling Lan replied inly. Qi Long¡¯s heart skipped a beat. ¡°You already know you have no energy left. Why would you agree to it?¡±


    Ling Lan slowly walked into the fighting dojo. At the time, Qi Long and the others thought Boss was giving them more pressure by moving into the dojo slowly, but now Qi Long knew that it was because Boss hadn¡¯t had the energy to walk fast. Every step seemed easy but was actually very painful. Qi Long saw Ling Lan¡¯s hands, covered by his sleeves, clench together very tightly. He could even see that with every step Boss took, his sleeves were trembling...

 Chapter 529 - Not Worthy!

    <h4>Chapter 529: Not Worthy!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    However, the Qi Long, Luo Lang and the others from back then hadn¡¯t discovered all the signs. They saw that their boss was standing calmly in the middle of the fighting dojo. Before he could stand firm, they all excitedly pounced on him... If they waited until he was ready, the boss being so strong, their odds of winning would be zero.


    ¡°Boss, eat my fist!¡± Luo Lang was the first to pounce onto Ling Lan. His strong punch ruthlessly flew towards Ling Lan as he shouted.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t wear any expression. She raised her right arm, performed a counter spin attack and cleanly pushed back Luo Lang.


    But before she could take a breather, the attacks of the others all arrived...


    ¡°Bam, bam, bam!¡± Following the consecutive sounds of fists colliding, Qi Long and the others were sent flying by Ling Lan one by one.


    Qi Long, who was in control of his backwards flight, was puzzled. Boss¡¯ blocks today were not as strong as before. However, the suspicion he felt back then vanished the next second. Perhaps Boss was being merciful and actually fighting them for real. At this thought, Qi Long¡¯s fighting spirit rose even more.


    ¡°Haha. Boss, your killing intent doesn¡¯t seem to be enough today.¡± Luo Lang, whonded firmly, had a bright gleam in his eyes. He had also sensed what Qi Long had felt, thought the same thoughts as Qi Long had. Almost everyone in Ling Lan¡¯s battle team believed that Boss¡¯ pressuring force today was meant for them train well. These kinds of opportunities were very scarce, which made Luo Lang be even more excited.


    If Qi Long was abat junkie, then Luo Lang would be abat maniac. The difference between them was that Qi Long fought fairly and justly, whereas Luo Lang would do anything once he went berserk. As expected, as soon as Luo Lang stopped talking, his expression suddenly darkened then showed a hint of insanity...


    At that moment, Luo Lang made Qi Long feel a bit of danger. He knew clearly that Luo Lang had most likely activated his innate talent. He just didn¡¯t know which personality Luo Lang had activated.


    The difference between them was that Luo Lang only needed to activate his innate talent by himself. With Boss whipping Qi Long, his Animal Instinct would activate as long as it enteredbat mode. Of course, he still didn¡¯t have full control of this power. If he wanted to use Animal Instinct to its full potential, then he would need to be able to activate it himself.


    Qi Long used the activated Animal Instinct and focused on Boss. What he had to do now was to keep fighting and then let his Animal Instinct find the best time to attack.


    The change in Luo Lang¡¯s aura was also felt by Xie Yi and the others. Their blood all began to boil. Xie Yiughed and said, ¡°We can¡¯t lose to that punk Luo Lang...¡± Right as he finished, his face became stern. Purple arcs of lightning suddenly appeared from his two hands. Those purple arcs of lightning, along with the chaos, made the entire atmosphere of the training dojo be wild.


    As he activated his innate talent, Xie Yi¡¯s face began to twitch and frown as if he was enduring pain. Although he hadn¡¯t activated his innate talent ever since Boss had given some pointers, he had used the electricity it generated to train his body, and that training had brought him some small results. Unfortunately, the amount of time he had trained for was too short. While he wouldn¡¯t end up electrocuting himself and fainting like before, the pain that he felt when he came out of this state was even more tormenting...


    ¡°If we want to go a few rounds with Boss, how can we do it without giving it our all?¡± Lin Zhong-qing said quietly. His presence began to disappear. A few secondster, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s very being had be so transparent that if Qi Long and the others didn¡¯t look at him, they actually couldn¡¯t sense his presence¡ªit was as though he had vanished into thin air.


    It turned out Lin Zhong-qing had also activated his innate talent, Concealment. He was like an assassin, silently hiding in the darkness and waiting for the opportunity to kill.


    Han Jijyun stared at Ling Lan. With the help of his innate talent, Heaven¡¯s Strategy, he began to quickly calcte data in his mind. It was actually more than four times the amount than normal. Everyone gave their all and didn¡¯t hold anything back. They wanted to see their boss¡¯ real potential. At the same time, they wanted to know what level they were at as well. They wanted to know if they could get to the level of Boss Ling Lan who was undefeatable in their hearts.


    ¡°Since you guys are this serious, then I need to get serious as well.¡± Ling Lan looked around at therades who were surrounding her. She extended her right hand and for the first time, she took a defensive stance in front of herrades.


    Ling Lan¡¯s focus moved Qi Long and the others, but at the same time, they were also very excited. Did Boss¡¯ fully focused attitude mean that they had grown to the point where their boss had to be cautious against them? Had they gotten closer to their boss?


    The Qi Long in mid-air saw all the excited faces of everyone. His excited face from two years ago now seemed like a joke to me. Qi Long smiled bitterly. They weren¡¯t even close to Boss¡¯ level. It was just that they hade across a time when Boss was at his weakest, and this was what had caused them to have this kind of illusion.


    However, Qi Long couldn¡¯t help but admit that that illusion was very nice. It made them mistakenly think that they had almost caught up with Boss¡¯ footsteps. Thus, they worked and trained even harder. Back then, they always thought that if they trained harder than Boss, they would be able to get closer to him. Though afterwards, they discovered that Boss was always standing in front of them. No matter how much training and hard work they put in, they couldn¡¯t catch up. However, those hardships had already been remembered in their hearts and would never be forgotten or given up on.


    Now that Qi Long thought about it, had their training really been that hard? No matter how hard it was, it probably wasn¡¯t evenparable to Boss¡¯ all-out training method. Qi Long now knew clearly that since Boss had used the gravity chamber to exhaust his own energy this time, he must have used it the same way in all the other times. Every time Boss trained, he pushed himself to the limit. But what about them? They only trained until they were exhausted. That wasn¡¯t evenparable to how their boss had trained.


    Perhaps, they really didn¡¯t evene close to their boss in terms of strength. Rather, they were bing further and further from him.


    ¡°Boss, although I knew that torturing us was for our own good, I just couldn¡¯t understand. I thought that I was already strong enough. Even if I continued to train, I wouldn¡¯t be another person like Boss due to the limitations of my talent. Since it is like this, then why were you beating us to our death like this? Sometimes, although I didn¡¯t refuse your training, I still felt resentment...¡± Qi Long¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t help but tear up.


    ¡°But now I understand!


    ¡°Boss, you have such great strength because you also used this method of limit training.


    ¡°I hope that we¡¯ll be able to follow in your footsteps. You hope that we¡¯ll be able to be stronger and be able to walk with you to the end of the road!


    ¡°You... hope that we won¡¯t someday lose our life!


    ¡°We neglected to see that your strength didn¡¯t juste out of thin air. We even got used to your care!


    ¡°We never paid attention to the hard work you put in. Your pain, your feelings...


    ¡°We took it all for granted!


    ¡°We¡¯re not worthy to be your followers!


    ¡°Not worthy!¡±


    After thinking deeply about the past, Qi Long found that they had taken what Boss had given them for granted and didn¡¯t even think of returning the favor! They hadn¡¯t understood the real meaning behind Boss ruthlessly training them and actually held resentment for it! They hadn¡¯t cared about what Boss was thinking and let his care go to waste. What had they done that made them worthy of being Boss¡¯ underlings?


    Qi Long asked himself this question. Every time their souls were whipped, he became emotional and felt resentment. It turned out, however, that he owed Boss so much, and hurt him so much too...


    Qi Long¡¯s tears uncontrobly ran down his face and fell into the air...


    In the arena, Qi Long¡¯s previously closed eyes suddenly showed regret and sorrow!


    At that moment, Ling Yi¡¯s punch was just about to hit Qi Long¡¯s face, but he suddenly felt as if his fist was being obstructed by an invisible force and couldn¡¯t get close to Qi Long.


    Ling Yi was surprised. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Ling Yi had never battled against someone at the Refinement stage of Qi-Jin. Although his instructor had told him about Qi-Jin beforehand, he didn¡¯t know that Qi-Jin could be switched between attacking and defending.


    ¡°It¡¯s an Aura Shield!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes gleamed. Aura Shields were a type of Qi-Jin where the shape of the aura was changed. It changed the outside force from an attack mode to a defensive mode. Originally, Qi Long would have needed to advance to the Refinement stage of Qi-Jin to control it. However, Qi Long hadn¡¯t actually advanced into the Refinement stage yet, yet he was able to skip a stage and use it. This was enough proof that in terms of physical skills, Qi Long¡¯s talent was unbelievable.


    ¡°If I didn¡¯t have the learning space and only had just my talent, I wouldn¡¯t have been that much better off than Qi Long,¡± Ling Lan murmured to herself. She didn¡¯t feel any resentment, only infinite happiness.


    Having the learning space was her luck. If she also had unbelievable talent, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t have been able to hold it together. She would definitely have made everyone else be envious of her. Ling Lan believed that this was the best. All of herrades all had exceptional talent, while she had the learning space to make up for her own dullness. With this, everyone could grow up together and move forward together. This was the best kind of happiness.


    Ling Lan looked joyfully at Qi Long who was in the arena. She knew that Qi Long had been pushed to the verge of death. It was the same as when she had exhausted her energy in the gravity chamber and then reached an impasse after fighting with herrades. They had pushed her to the verge of death and helped her gain an opportunity to break through. She went from 50% to 100% into the Domain stage and became a real Domain user.


    Now, through her ns, using what she had learned from when she broke through, she had made Qi Long sessfully reach this moment and find that slim chance to break through.


    Ling Yi¡¯s attack was blocked, but he naturally didn¡¯t want to give up this opportunity. He shouted and wildly gathered Qi-Jin in his right fist. He prepared to strike the invisible barrier that was obstructing him.


    Qi Long suddenly opened his eyes, a gleam of light shing across them, and then Ling Yi felt a strong forcee towards him. He couldn¡¯t control his body and was sent flying. Although Ling Yi was surprised by this sudden change, he didn¡¯t be flustered. He turned around in mid-air andnded firmly on the ground of the arena. However, at that moment, he was already more than 10 meters away from Qi Long. It seemed that the sudden energy that Qi Long had brought out was very strong. Ling Yi needed around 10 meters to stop himself from that force.


    Ling Yi was now far from Qi Long. This scene made the audience and those in the observation room clearly see how Qi Long appeared at that moment. Although Qi Long had fully opened his eyes, they were empty and without expression. It proof enough that the Qi Long had lost consciousness at that moment.


    However, tears were trickling from those dark, emotionless eyes of his, running down his face and onto the ground...


    One drop! Two drops! Three drops! Countless drops... a puddle of tears was quickly forming under his feet in the arena!

 Chapter 530 - Bloody Tears!

    <h4>Chapter 530: Bloody Tears!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Why is Commander Qi Long crying?¡± Those in the audience asked in surprise.


    Commander Qi Long was a sunshine boy and always showed an honest and caring smile. That smile of his made people naturally want to trust him. Even when faced with the biggest difficulties, he would try his best. His determined and unshakable impression was known to everyone deep in their hearts. In the eyes of bystanders, if someone were to ask who in the Ling Lan¡¯s team would cry and sob, others might, but not Qi Long. The feeling that Qi Long gave to others was that he was too strong-willed. He was a tough guy who only bled but never cried.


    Yet this tough guy that everyone knew from their hearts had cried. However, no one felt that this Qi Long was soft and weak...


    Some people actually also had red eyes as well. They quickly rubbed their eyes and said, ¡°Sh*t, why are you being emotional?¡±


    Seeing this, Ling Lan frowned. She was very confused. What had Qi Long actuallye to realize while he was on the verge of death?


    At that moment, in Qi Long¡¯s memory, the battle between Boss and the others hadn¡¯t ended because of Qi Long¡¯s tears in mid-air. It was still continuing just like his memories.


    ¡°Ah-wooo!¡±


    As Luo Lang howled angrily at the sky, insanity filled his eyes; he had activated the violent personality. This personality could increase his body¡¯s strength limitlessly. Luo Lang knew clearly that calcting and nning in detail would be useless when fighting against Boss. They could only do their best to increase their power to barely face him.


    Although Luo Lang¡¯s face was soft and beautiful, at that moment, under the effects of his violent personality, Luo Lang¡¯s soft essence had much of it disappear and had a bit of rudeness and mercilessness to him instead. His originally weak and bony right arm suddenly inted, and his muscles protruded outwards as well.


    Luo Lang stomped the ground and his entire body flew towards Ling Lan like a cannonball. A strong punch mercilessly flew towards Ling Lan. The fist actually created an exploding sound as it traveled through the air because its speed and strength had broken the sound barrier.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes shook as she raised her right hand to block Luo Lang¡¯s fierce punch...


    Bam!


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression instantly became pale. However, she instantly returned to normal. Everyone else who were all focused on the fight didn¡¯t pay attention to this detail. Of course, Ling Lan was someone who had a whiter skin color. Although her face had turned pale for a second, if they didn¡¯t look closely, they wouldn¡¯t be able to see the small change in color.


    Indeed, back then no one would stare at Ling Lan¡¯s face because her aura was too strong. her gaze was too cold and sharp, making everyone not dare to stare at her face. However, the Qi Long that was sobbing kept on staring at Ling Lan. Although Ling Lan¡¯s expression only changed for a second, Qi Long still saw it.


    As expected, Boss had been wounded! Why didn¡¯t they think of paying attention to their boss back then? If they had just paid a little bit of attention, how could they have not discovered this fact?


    Boss was also human. He would also be tired, exhausted and injured.


    Right at that moment, Qi Long, who was waiting for his chance, had made a move...


    Seeing this scene, Qi Long knew the oue of his move. Unable to control his emotions, Qi Long finally shouted, ¡°Stop, stop!¡±


    It turns out the most hated individuals were not enemies. Instead, the most hated were not only careless friends, but also those who harmed others. And at that time, they were these types of assholes.


    Qi Long quietly sobbed as he stared at the scene below him. He had hurt the boss that he respected so much with his own two hands.


    He saw himself raise his fist excitedly and pounce towards Ling Lan. Qi Long remembered clearly that at that moment, his innate talent, Animal Instinct, told him when was the best time to attack. He had indeed found the best time to attack, but now his heart felt like it was going to shatter.


    Boom!


    Two silhouettes suddenly split apart. The strong force threw Qi Long backwards, while Ling Lan also took a step back to get rid of the reactive force.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression became pale once again. She puckered her lips and looked coldly at herrades. However, her eyes were showing approval and joy.


    ¡°Because I managed to take advantage of the moment and harm you, you felt pleased with all that... Boss, how can you be like that? What have I, Qi Long, done to deserve a boss like you?¡± Qi Long¡¯s heart began to burn up. He felt his heart beating fiercely again. This time, he didn¡¯t feel any pain, only boundless warmth...


    Seeing that Qi Long¡¯s attack wasn¡¯t effective, Luo Lang shouted, ¡°Everyone move in together.¡±


    In one versus one battles, nobody could go against Boss. Luo Lang knew this and the other members of Ling Lan¡¯s team also understood.


    ¡°Attack his lower body!¡± Han Jijyun finally calcted the only effective position they could attack. Before he attacked, he didn¡¯t forget to tell hisrades.


    Ling Lan easily dodged Han Jijyun¡¯s attack, but when shended, her body actually trembled a bit. Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up and they all moved in together.


    The first to make their moves were Luo Lang and Xie Yi. They tacitly attacked Ling Lan¡¯s lower body. Qi Long, on the other hand, had jumped up and performed a strong side kick to attack Ling Lan¡¯s upper body... and Lin Zhong-qing, who was hidden all this time, had also made a move.


    He suddenly appeared behind Ling Lan, silently attacking her from the back.


    Han Jijyun saw an opening and added an attack from the side to create interference.


    These attacks from all directions instantly put Ling Lan into a crisis.


    Ling Lan knew that dodging was impossible, but she didn¡¯t panic; using her left foot as a pivot point, she suddenly performed a whirlwind mantis sweep...


    ¡°Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!¡± There were four sounds of strong hitsnding almost simultaneously.


    Ling Lan instantly kicked Han Jijyun, Lin Zhong-qing, Luo Lang and Xie Yi. The four of them were instantly kicked into the air and were sent flying backwards. Ling Lan¡¯s crisis still hadn¡¯t been averted, however; Qi Long¡¯s attack was right in front of her.


    Suddenly, Ling Lan disappeared. Qi Long felt his vision blur as the opponent he was about to attack had disappeared. Before he could react, he felt a strong force kick him straight in the chest and his entire body flew backwards.


    It turned out that Ling Lan had suddenly squatted right as Qi Long was about to hit her and dodged Qi Long¡¯s side kick. At the same time, her right leg was like a scorpion flinging its stinger as she ruthlessly kicked Qi Long who was flying towards her.


    In the blink of an eye, all five of them had been kicked away by their boss. They somersaulted in mid-air andnded, but they still couldn¡¯tpletely nullify the force. They took many steps back and only then managed to stop their footsteps. Even so, they still felt blood rushing to their heads. The strong blow had still wounded them internally.


    They channelled their Qi-Jin around in their body and managed to get rid of the feeling of suffocation and feel much better.


    After blocking the attacks of the five, Ling Lan stood up once again. She put down her right leg coolly as her right hand brushed her face. When shended on the ground, she once again took a ssic defensive stance. It was as if the five of them hadn¡¯t attacked her just now.


    ¡°Boss is so strong!¡± Luo Lang was dismayed at this scene, while Qi Long and the others all felt regret. Originally, they had thought theirbined effort would be a bit troublesome for Boss. Now it seemed that it had no effect at all. As expected, the difference between them and Boss was still too great. They still needed to work harder.


    The fellows on the ground were not paying attention, but the Qi Long in mid-air had seen something. When Boss used his right hand to brush his face, it seemed like he had brushed something off when his hand passed his mouth area.


    Qi Long stared at the right hand Ling Lan used to perform her defensive stance, attempting to look for something... however, he didn¡¯t see anything. He only saw four white and long fingers along with that immovable mountain-like body of Boss¡¯.


    After Qi Long and the others took a breather, they attacked once again. Ling Lan didn¡¯t counterattack. She only blocked in a systematic way. The changes in her movements became smaller, but she was still able to intercept all of their attacks with precision and didn¡¯t waste any energy.


    At the time, Qi Long and the others had believed that they weren¡¯t able to give Boss too much pressure with their attacks, which was why he wasn¡¯t paying too much attention them. Now, however, Qi Long knew that that was because Boss¡¯ body had reached its limit. He had no choice but to calcte to conserve energy in order to make sure to not waste even one bit.


    Just like that, the fight continued for another 10 minutes. After putting in their all, including the energy they used during their fights from before, their energy had been exhausted by quite a lot. They finally felt tired. Qi Long looked around at hisrades and their eyes met. They decided to attack onest time.


    However, the Qi Long in mid-air saw that at that moment, all of Boss¡¯ movements were being made purely out of instincts. That was because Boss had already lost consciousness...


    Qi Long knew about this because he was fully focused on Ling Lan. He also saw what Ling Lan had hidden on her right hand¡¯s thumb. There was still a smear of blood that hadn¡¯t disappeared yet...


    Qi Long couldn¡¯t control himself and squatted down. His entire body shook violently as he held his head tightly, afraid of what was going to happen next...


    Two years ago, they had almost killed their most respected Boss. He now knew that at that moment, Boss had been on the verge of death, and those responsible were them, his underlings. If Boss hadn¡¯t broken through and had his energy erupt from inside him, what awaited them may have been a scene of them having killed their own boss...


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want that to happen! I don¡¯t want Boss to die!¡± Qi Long held his head and shouted angrily. He refused to look at what was going to happen next...


    However, how could the images from his memory stop just because he didn¡¯t want to see them?


    Luo Lang was the first to jump out and shout, ¡°One-Inch Punch, Level 4!¡± This was Luo Lang¡¯s strongest physical skill fighting technique. It was a secret family move that was made stronger by Boss through his research.


    ¡°Wave Stacking Strike!¡± This was simr to the One-Inch Punch, but it just had a different way of releasing Qi-Jin. It was a physical skills technique that Ling Lan had exchanged for credits in the learning space. She taught it to Qi Long and it was also Qi Long¡¯s trump card. Finally, he used it.


    ¡°Lightning Dragon Strike!¡± Xie Yi attacked Boss with a technique that was created from his innate talentbined with pointers from Boss. This was also his trump card.


    ¡°Final Strike!¡± Lin Zhong-qing silently appeared. He sent a strong fist towards a blind spot around Ling Lan¡¯s ribcage that could not be defended.


    ¡°Rolling Mines!¡± Han Jijyun attacked Ling Lan from the side, aiming for the weakest part of Ling Lan¡¯s body at that moment; her lower body.


    Faced with this crisis, the unconscious Ling Lan didn¡¯t feel anything. She only unconsciously raised her two hands and reactively intercepted these punches and kicksing from all directions.


    ¡°No!¡± Terrified, Qi Long screamed out, ¡°Stop!¡±


    At that moment, his eyes that were staring angrily no longer had tearse out of them. Instead, there was blood!


    At that moment, Qi Long still hadn¡¯t noticed that the barrier in his body which had been limiting him had broken the instant he cried tears of blood...

 Chapter 531 - Promise!

    <h4>Chapter 531: Promise!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°No!


    ¡°I don¡¯t want that to happen!


    ¡°I don¡¯t want Boss to get injured!


    ¡°I don¡¯t want Boss to die!¡±


    As Qi Long angrily screamed inside his mind, he formed a w with his right hand and swiped downwards¡ªhe was ruthlessly reaching for the Qi Long that was attempting to attack Boss.


    Maybe Qi Long¡¯s will was too strong, as the energy that was originally holding him back had been broken through by him. He instantly arrived in front of Ling Lan, grabbed the other Qi Long¡¯s neck and instantly pummeled him to the ground.


    ¡°I won¡¯t allow anyone to hurt Boss. I won¡¯t allow it even if it¡¯s myself.¡± Qi Long raised his left fist and ruthlessly threw it towards the Qi Long who had a look of ignorance on his face.


    Qi Long used all of his energy to hit himself. The image of the memory was like a mirror; because of Qi Long¡¯s punch, it shattered into countless pieces and scattered everywhere.


    Qi Long raised his head. His face with bloody red tears was easily seen. There was determination in his eyes, the kind that would enable one to do anything for someone without regret.


    ¡°I, Qi Long, promise that I will be Boss¡¯ shield. If anyone wants to harm Boss, they¡¯ll have to get over my dead body first!


    ¡°I, Qi Long, will fight for Boss to the bitter end with no regrets!¡±


    Qi Long¡¯s determined voice echoed through his vast mindspace. When he spoke, the mindspace had memorized the promise he made. This meant that if Qi Long was to go against his promise, he wouldn¡¯t have any chances of advancement. His soul will be tormented day and night. In the end, he would be a crazy demon and would never have a moment of peace.


    ¡°For this, I need to be even stronger. Strong to the point of being able to help Boss take on all of his enemies.¡±


    Qi Long had never found a reason that made it necessary for him to be stronger, but now he had one. It wasn¡¯t for himself. Instead, it was for the boss who had treated him sincerely.


    In the arena, Qi Long crying had already made everyone in the audience be very surprised. When Qi Long¡¯s tears became blood, everyone was shaken. The entire training dojo became silent.


    Ling Lan, who was in the observation room, had instantly stood up when Qi Long¡¯s blood red tears hade out from his eyes. She could no longer continue to be calm.


    ¡°Why is this happening?¡± Han Jijyun¡¯s tears silently fell from his eyes. He instantly held his chest. Qi Long¡¯s blood red tears also made Han Jijyun feel his emotions. Han Jijyun felt like his heart was in a blender.


    Right at that moment, a strong aura suddenly erupted in the arena. The overwhelming aura instantly made the edges of the arena have a transparent light barrier appear.


    Ling Lan instantly calmed down. Her eyes showed a hint of joy. The light barrier was even brighter than the previous one. Did this mean that Qi Long had sessfully advanced into thete stage of Qi-Jin?


    Everyone was surprised and moving about when the light barrier appeared again. At that moment, someone shouted, ¡°Look, in the arena!¡± Everyone set their focus onto the arena.


    Qi Long¡¯s eyes had stopped bleeding, and his dark and empty eyes had closed. Other than this, there wasn¡¯t anything out of the ordinary. However, looking at Ling Yi, who was standing in front of Qi Long, they knew that at that moment, Qi Long wasn¡¯t a pushover.


    It turned out that at that moment, Ling Yi¡¯s body was trembling. He bent his back forwards and actually couldn¡¯t stand up straight. His face had a grimace as he bit his lip as though he was resisting some sort of terrifying pressure.


    This pressure was no longer the immature aura that Qi Long had before. Ling Yi had used all of his body¡¯s energy this time and could only make sure he wasn¡¯t pinned into the ground. He had no extra energy to counterattack.


    ¡°It¡¯s an aura!¡± The audience and the members all understood. Hadn¡¯t the boss used the same move that year when he fought with Huo Zhenyu, the strongest individual in terms of physical skills in the military academy?


    They excitedly looked towards Qi Long, who had closed his eyes once again. It turned out that Commander Qi Long¡¯s supposed mid-stage of Qi-Jin was a lie. Instead, his Qi-Jin was higher by two stages than the mid-stage, the Refinement stage. From what they knew, there wasn¡¯t anyone from the other mecha ns who had reached thete of Qi-Jin. Now their Lingtian Mecha n, other than Boss, had another strong individual who had reached thete stage of Qi-Jin. This was definitely enough to roll over the other mecha ns.


    Ling Lan silently activated her own aura and carefully felt Qi Long¡¯s current condition. Her lips perked up. She didn¡¯t expect that being pushed to the verge of death this time had not only acted as a catalyst for Qi Long to break through the barrier to his advancement, but even also managed to advance two stages above his original one. He had instantly entered thete stage of Qi-Jin, close to the peak stage. He only needed one more step to enter into the very peak stage, Great Perfection.


    ¡°Qi Long, in terms of physical skills, as expected, you are the best.¡±


    Ling Lan was overjoyed. The stronger Qi Long¡¯s potential, the more likely he would survive the fighting in the battlefield. There were still two years left before they had to join a military division., and entering a division would mean that they were not far from a battlefield.


    Ling Lan felt she was hard pressed for time. This was also why she was so ruthless in making these arrangements.


    Ling Yi slowly raised his head. Just this small motion was painful for him to manage. He looked at Qi Long in front of him, who was not moving. Ling Yi was oddly surprised. He didn¡¯t expect that his opponent would be this strong. Without even moving a finger, he could make it so he couldn¡¯t stand up straight. He knew that this person was Young Master Lan¡¯s battle team¡¯s vice-captain...


    ¡°Qi Long: Mid-stage of Qi-Jin. Luo Lang: Beginner stage of Qi-Jin. Xie Yi: Beginner stage of Qi-Jin. Lin Zhong-qing: Peak of Refinement stage. Han Jijyun: Advanced level of Refinement stage...¡± Inside Ling Yi¡¯s mind, the detailed information he had gathered on Young Master Lan¡¯s battle team members rapidly shed through his mind.


    ¡°Qi Long, mid-stages of Qi-Jin... Heh, lies, all lies. Late stage of Qi-Jin. Even fifth-years may not reach that state. Qi Long did it in three years. It¡¯s funny that I thought my current capabilities were already qualified to stand beside Young Master Lan. Now that I think about it, I really was too arrogant.


    ¡°I think the physical skills of the others are also not as the information says. Maybe all of them have reached Qi-Jin. Those supposedly at the beginner stage of Qi-Jin may have already reached the mid-stage or advanced stage,¡± Ling Yi thought bitterly to himself.


    Ling Yi¡¯s guess wasn¡¯t wrong. His information was based on the time when Qi Long and the others were in their first year at the academy. Now that two years had gone by, how could they not have undergone even a little bit of improvement? Even if Qi Long and the others werezy and didn¡¯t want to train, with a ruthless boss like Ling Lan by their side, they wouldn¡¯t have gotten the chance to simply stop at where they were in terms of power.


    Ling Yi was actually using his will of not admitting defeat to endure through all of this. In reality, he had reached his limit long before this point in time. Qi Long seemed to have sensed this and slowly restrained his aura, making it disappearpletely in the end.


    The light barrier around the edges of the arena vanished once again, following which Qi Long opened his eyes and calmly said, ¡°Thank you for the fight.¡±


    Having sessfully broken through to the peak ofte stages of Qi-Jin, the current Qi Long was no longer the Qi Long who was exhausted all of his energy. Now he possessed strong and abundant Qi-Jin at his disposal. At that moment, even if all of the applicants were toe up to challenge him at the same time, he wouldn¡¯t be afraid of them.


    ¡°Thank you, Commander Qi Long, for being merciful.¡± Ling Yi finally stood up after the pressure he was under disappeared. He knew that he wasn¡¯t made a fool of because Qi Long was being merciful. If thetter hadn¡¯t slowly restrained his aura but instead instantly made his aura disappear, Ling Yi would definitely not have been able to get used to it and would have fallen straight towards the ground.


    Ling Yi couldn¡¯t ept his opponent¡¯s good will. However, to ignore it would be shameless. Thus, he thanked Qi Long personally.


    Qi Long nodded at Ling Yi. His behavior drew Qi Long¡¯s admiration. Qi Long decided that Ling Yi would be the first choice to ept into the mecha n.


    Afterwards, Ling Yi turned around and walked off the arena. Every step he took was difficult, but he didn¡¯t show it on his expression. He was a proud individual, especially at that moment when he didn¡¯t know where Young Master Lan was watching this evaluation from. As Young Master Lan¡¯s loyalist, he couldn¡¯t lose his master¡¯s dignity.


    Ling Yi finally walked off the arena. He walked beside hisrades. Yi Tiangeforted him and said, ¡°Captain, your performance was great. It¡¯s just that...¡± But before he could finish, Ling Yi was already falling over.


    Rong Ziruo and Yan Wuyou reacted quickly; they supported their captain, one from the left and one from the right, to make sure he didn¡¯t fall over.


    ¡°He¡¯s totally exhausted. It¡¯s alright, it¡¯s only temporary unconsciousness.¡± Yan Wuyou held onto to Ling Yi as he felt his pulse and informed the other members of Ling Yi¡¯s condition so that they wouldn¡¯t worry.


    ¡°Who would¡¯ve known that Commander Qi Long would advance during battle? Our captain¡¯s efforts were all for naught,¡± Yi Tiange remarked sympathetically.


    Rong Ziruo turned around and looked at Qi Long, who was looking over at them from the arena. That straight stance and calm expression of his didn¡¯t need any exnations. It was as though he were a king looking down at his subjects.


    ¡°Commander Qi Long is really strong!¡± Rong Ziruo mumbled. He began to think about how strong Ling Lan would have to be to have be the captain of Commander Qi Long.


    ¡°Now, probably no one will challenge Commander Qi Long,¡± Yi Tiange said. Smart individuals wouldn¡¯t choose such a strong and unbeatable examiner.


    As expected, after three minutes, another freshman finally chose their opponent for their evaluation. This time, they chose a different captain from Lingtian...


    Ling Yi opened his eyes and discovered he was lying in a bed. He instantly jumped up.


    His movements surprised Rong Ziruo, who had been sitting beside him while looking through the information in hismunicator. He asked with concern, ¡°Captain, how do you feel?¡±


    Seeing Rong Ziruo and also seeing that he was in his own room, Ling Yi was relieved. Heid himself back into the bed and asked, ¡°How long did I sleep for?¡±


    ¡°18 hours. I have already called in sick for you and informed the instructor,¡± Rong Ziruo replied.


    Ling Yi was silent for a few seconds before finally asking the question he was most concerned about. ¡°Lingtian. How were the results of the evaluation?¡±


    ¡°Although we all lost, we all passed.¡± Hearing his question, Rong Ziruo instantly smiled.


    Ling Yi raised his head, his eyes showing a hint of joy. ¡°All of us passed?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, everyone passed. They even let us keep our battle team. As long as we pass the mainframe¡¯s battle team evaluation and be a real battle team, we¡¯ll then be able to officially register. However, the treatment that we¡¯ll get will only start from the lowest rank, the fifth level. Advancement will be based on our contributions,¡± Rong Ziruo exined with a bit of regret.


    ¡°I see.¡± Ling Yi felt that there wasn¡¯t anything wrong with all this. He looked at Rong Ziruo and the expression on his face showed slight signs of struggle. He then asked, ¡°Did Young Master Lane out in the end?¡±


    Rong Ziruo shook his head and said, ¡°No, it was Commander Wu Jiong who came out to announce the list of names. However, this is normal. From the information that we received, the person responsible for managing Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s work has always been Commander Wu Jiong. Themanders Qi Long and Li Yingjie are the helpers. Commander Ling Lan never meddles with anything.¡±


    ¡°Never?¡±


    Ling Yi talked to himself. He clenched his fists and his eyes showed a hint of determination. Whatever the case, he had already sessfully joined the mecha n that Young Master Lan had created. He was now slowly getting closer to his Young Master Lan. His strength wasn¡¯t enough at this moment. However, there would be a day when he would catch up to those in Young Master Lan¡¯s battle team. Then he will be a real loyalist of Young Master Lan and give him all of his loyalty.

 Chapter 532 - Live Longer Than Others!

    <h4>Chapter 532: Live Longer Than Others!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    After the Lingtian Mecha n took in those freshmen members with great potential, their numbers had reached the standard of a medium sized mecha n. At this point, the Lingtian Mecha n was no longer the small mecha n they were in the past. Adding on the glory and prestige they had earned in thest year, along with Ling Lan¡¯s outstanding disy of operating skills on her long-range mecha that shocked the other mecha operators... all of this had allowed Lingtian to finally possess their very first battle force with considerable power and their very own culture.


    However, a new year meant a new beginning. Not a single mecha n was satisfied with their current results, as they all wanted to improve¡ªa battle for power would soon begin.


    All the mecha ns were waiting for someone to challenge Lingtian first. In these dark times, all of the Lingtian Mecha n was silent.


    Inside a physical training dojo, the third-year special mecha piloting ss cadets, who were training, were currently huddled together beside two mechas and watching them as they were fighting.


    ¡°Ding, ding, ding. The betting has now begun. All those who wants to bet on Instructor Tang Yu defeating Boss within a certain number of hits shoulde find me to bet.¡± A cool and clear voice rang out loudly in the dojo, drawing everyone¡¯s attention to the speaker.


    ¡°Xie Yi, this time I won¡¯t lose to you.¡± Someone saw the individual who was shouting and shouted back.


    Xie Yi smiled and replied, ¡°Sure, I¡¯ve already prepared everyone¡¯s credits from before. Just waiting for you guys to win it back.¡±


    Xie Yi¡¯s words made these people who had always lost to him feel better instantly, and they all went over to him in preparation to ce their bets for the next round.


    Seeing this, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s lips showed a hint of a smile. Luo Lang saw this and poked him lightly, saying, ¡°Heh heh, are we going to have another huge sum of reserve funds?¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing said sternly, ¡°Luo Lang, how could this bet be 100% winnable? You should talk to Xie Yi and stop him. Otherwise, if Boss finds out, he will definitely rip off ayer of Xie Yi¡¯s skin.¡±


    Luo Lang looked at Lin Zhong-qing with determination as he replied, ¡°In that case, why don¡¯t you go talk to him?¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing nced at Luo Lang with a half-smile. ¡°Everyone in the team knows that aside from Boss, Xie Yi listens to you the most.¡±


    Luo Lang proudly raised his head at that. ¡°That¡¯s because Xie Yi and I are good friends. We know each other very well.¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes, yes, you guys are close friends, and that¡¯s why the person to talk to Xie Yi should be you, his close friend, right?¡± Lin Zhong-qing retorted.


    Luo Lang was instantly speechless. Just a brief moment of carelessness and he had gotten himself caught up in the betting as well. However, ever since the other personalities of Luo Lang had been taken down by Ling Lan and they decided to serve the original as the master, the original¡¯s IQ wasn¡¯t as low as before. Thus, he quickly thought of one point and said, ¡°Okay, Lin Zhong-qing, I was almost tangled up in there by you. Boss definitely knows that Xie Yi made a betting pool. In the past, we even used this to replenish the funds for the logistics division of our team.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s different from before now. In the past, everyone didn¡¯t know about Boss¡¯ capabilities, which was why Xie Yi could win. Now, though, everything about Boss that he himself revealed is known to everyone,¡± Lin Zhong-qing exined.


    Luo Lang felt that his words sounded logical and he couldn¡¯t help but begin to worry for Xie Yi. He was prepared to talk to Xie Yi after the current bets. If he really did lose, Xie Yi would meet a terrible end.


    At that moment, everyone had already ced their bets. Xie Yi looked at the details of the wagers and couldn¡¯t help but shake his head as he said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you guys underestimating my boss too much? No one actually bet that he¡¯d be able to endure more than 300 rounds. Who wants to bet for more than 300 rounds? I¡¯ll triple the return.¡±


    Although Xie Yi raised the rate of the bet by quite a lot, there was still no one betting for it. This was because everyone remembered that in the previous month, Ling Lan could only endure 187 rounds with Instructor Tang Yu. No matter how monstrous Ling Lan was, it was impossible for him to suddenly improve to the point where he could endure for 300 rounds after only a month¡¯s interval.


    Very nearly everyone had wagered that Ling Lan would be able to endure for around 200 rounds, while there was only one person who wagered that Ling Lan would be able to endure 250 rounds...


    Xie Yi regrettably began preparing to close shop, but it was right then that he heard someone shout, ¡°I¡¯ll wager on it.¡± Xie Yi¡¯s smile instantly froze. When he raised his head, however, his smile had already returned to normal. He asked with a huge smile on his face, ¡°Gao Jinyun, how many credits do you want to bet?¡±


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s sudden shout had also surprised the team members beside him. They didn¡¯t make a sound as they trusted him, however, and waited for Gao Jinyun to reply instead.


    Gao Jinyun only hesitated for a fleeting second before he becamepletely determined, after which he firmly said, ¡°I¡¯ll bet 30,000 credits.¡± This was the entire sum of his personal credits. He was very confident in Boss Ling Lan, just like the rest of her team. Since Xie Yi had made such a remark, it had to mean that Boss Ling Lan had the capability to endure for 300 rounds.


    However, Gao Jinyun was not in a battle team that was directly under Ling Lan, after all, and didn¡¯t know of her real potential. The reason he could bet this much was because he trusted his own eyes and instincts.


    ¡°Captain, isn¡¯t that a bit too much?¡± Gao Jinyun¡¯s vice-captain wore an expression of concern as he asked this question.


    Gao Jinyun quietly exined, ¡°I¡¯m only doing this for myself. The credits used will be my own personal credits. I won¡¯t use the team¡¯s credits.¡±


    The logistics team member responsible for handling the credits disagreed upon hearing his words. ¡°No way. You are our captain, and your decision is our decision. The 30,000 credits wille from the team funds.¡±


    Gao Jinyun was surprisingly determined this time. ¡°You guys don¡¯t have to convince me. I trust Boss, and that¡¯s why I¡¯m willing to bet. This is my own thoughts, though. It has nothing to do with you guys.¡±


    Gao Jinyun usually listened to the opinions of his team members; however, once he made a decision, there would be no changing it. The members of Gao Jinyun¡¯s team watched as he gave his 30,000 credits to Xie Yi.


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s vice-captain and other team members quietly discussed this matter for a few seconds. When Gao Jinyun turned around, they all said, ¡°Gao Jinyun¡¯s team will wager 30,000 credits as a group that Boss Ling Lan will be able to endure for 300 rounds.¡± Since their captain trusted Boss Ling Lan, then being his team members, they had to follow in his footsteps. Even if they lost, they had to use their actions to support the captain.


    Although Xie Yi was full of smiles and had a face of full confidence, he was actually crying inside. The bets that he had made today had ended up all for naught, as the money that he would make would most likely not be enough to pay Gao Jinyun¡¯s team. These guys were f**king insane.


    It turned out that the only reason Xie Yi thought of setting up bets was that before Boss and Instructor Tang Yu began their fight, he had asked the former on how many rounds he would be able to endure. Ling Lan¡¯s answer was more than 300 rounds, and this was also why Xie Yi had asked whether there was anyone who was going to bet on 300 rounds or more. At that moment, Xie Yi was hating himself for having such a big mouth. Even if he did set the bet, why did he have to say that he would pay triple to the winner?


    Bystanders couldn¡¯t see the pain in Xie Yi heart, but all the members of Ling Lan¡¯s battle team saw through his facade.


    Lin Zhong-qing sighed quietly. As expected, sinners would eventually have to pay for their sins; Xie Yi was going to be in trouble this time.


    On the side, Luo Lang was already considering whether he should open his small bank to help Xie Yi fill theck of cash after the bets werepleted.


    Qi Long, who was focused on the battle the entire time, had discovered the activity on Xie Yi¡¯s end at that moment. He frowned and asked, ¡°Did Xie Yi get into trouble this time?¡± Ever since Qi Long had formed his aura after his physical skills advanced to the peakte-stage of Qi-Jin, a tough presence would emanate from his entire body. Even if he looked like a nice person, he still gave off the tough feeling of a strong individual. This made others not dare to underestimate him.


    Of course, this was also because Qi Long didn¡¯t haveplete control of his aura. If he really could control itpletely, Qi Long would still be the same as before and would not make people be cautious of him when they were around him.


    Han Jijyun held in hisughter and nodded, replying, ¡°Gao Jinyun¡¯s team has put in him in a bad spot this time.¡±


    ¡°Gao Jinyun... he respects Boss very much.¡± Qi Long had a very good impression of him. Every time they met, Qi Long felt that Gao Jinyun was simr to himself.


    ¡°Yeah, he also trusts Boss very much.¡± Han Jijyun¡¯s impression of Gao Jinyun was simrly very good. How could he bet so much if he didn¡¯t fully trust Boss, putting down 60,000 credits?


    Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s team didn¡¯t care about that amount of credits. The credits they had acquired during their time in the scout academy waspounded through investments made by Boss¡ªthe sum had already reached the 100 million range. It could be said that in the military academy, out of all the battle teams, only their team didn¡¯t have to worry about the logistics aspect of their team.


    Later on, Boss was focused on advancing and didn¡¯t have time to deal with the credits. Thus, he transferred more than 100 million credits to Lin Zhong-qing. It was at that time that they learned that Lin Zhong-qing had another terrifying talent¡ªdoing business. Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s eye for investments wasn¡¯t as urate as Boss, but he wasn¡¯t too far behind. The 100 million credits that they had from back then had umted into 300 million. This number was already excluding their expenses in the past two years.


    However, no matter how many credits the battle team had, Lin Zhong-qing was just as frugal as Boss. The team members had to put in an application every time they needed to use credits and had to go through many steps. If the estimated expense was not carefully calcted or was more than 500 credits, the application would always be sent back. The team members resented all of this. However, it was Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s unwavering front that made the others learn how to calcte and estimate, not wasting even a little bit.


    Qi Long and Han Jijyun were only talking casually. They also know that even if Xie Yi lost those credits, it wouldn¡¯t hurt him at all.


    ¡°Our battle team is already a five-star team. If we want to advance, we need to have secondary battle teams. Gao Jinyun¡¯s battle team...¡± Qi Long frowned as he fell into deep thought. Although taking in secondary battle teams wouldn¡¯t be as harsh as taking in new team members, loyalty was something that couldn¡¯t be of simr importance to new team members; they had to unconditionally listen to the head team¡¯s orders. Qi Long and the others were all looking at the battle teams in the Lingtian Mecha n. Currently, only Gao Jinyun¡¯s team had managed to catch their eyes, but it was just that taking in secondary battle teams was a very important matter. They were still just looking.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see!¡± Han Jijyun raised his chin and pointed towards the arena. ¡°Since our captain isn¡¯t even in a rush, then we don¡¯t need to rush either.¡± They were responsible for providing the list of choices, but the final decision would be made by their boss, Ling Lan.


    Hearing this, Qi Long replied with a smile, ¡°You¡¯re right!¡±


    In the arena, Ling Lan was operating a special-ss mecha, while Tang Yu was operating an ace mecha. Although they appeared to be in the midst of a fierce and terrifying mecha battle, in reality, the two of them were very rxed.


    ¡°Ling Lan, how many rounds do you n on getting to this time?¡± Despiteunching a seemingly ruthless attack, Tang Yu asked this with a smile.


    ¡°300 rounds, or maybe more. I¡¯ll see,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly as she raised her right hand and used her beam saber to easily intercept Tang Yu¡¯s attack.


    At their level, if it wasn¡¯t a battle to the death, it was possible for them to trade blows up to 10,000 times. Even if Ling Lan¡¯s operating skills were of a special-ss operator, her actually skill level of being an ace operator made it so that Instructor Tang Yu couldn¡¯t actually defeat her that easily.


    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t to protect you, I would have truly liked to immediately publicize the news of you advancing to ace operator.¡± Tang Yu blocked and intercepted Ling Lan¡¯s attack. Using this block, he performed a side kick.


    Ling Lan operated her mecha to dodge. At the same time as she attacked with her beam saber, she said, ¡°No rush. I¡¯m preparing to officially advance in the second half of my fourth year.¡± Even if she got into the 23rd Division and with her father protecting her, Ling Lan still wanted to get in with her own strength. She wanted her father¡¯s subordinates to know that she was no prince that entered through a backdoor.


    ¡°Looks like you already have it all thought out,¡± Tang Yu remarked with amazement. She was able to restrain herself from the temptation of gaining instant sess. Every step that Ling Lan took was firm.


    ¡°I have to save some face for Senior Qiao Ting,¡± replied Ling Lan. Qiao Ting had advanced at the very beginning of his fourth year, and it was because of this that he was viewed as the second Ling Xiao and received the admiration of everyone else.


    ¡°You want to use Qiao Ting as an excuse, don¡¯t you? Out of all the cadets that I¡¯ve taught, you¡¯re the craftiest,¡± Tang Yu said wholeheartedly. ¡°However, it¡¯s possible that you¡¯ll be the one to live the longest.¡± In reality, it wasn¡¯t that he hadn¡¯t taught any star pupils. It was just that the more talented the cadet, the more arrogant they were. They didn¡¯t want to give in and this led to them dying young, leaving Tang Yu heartbroken.


    ¡°My goal isn¡¯t to acquire boundless glory. Instead, it¡¯s to live longer than the others!¡± Ling Lan dered without hesitation. This was her hope for the future and she was working hard towards this goal.


    ¡°To live longer?¡± Tang Yu was stunned for a second. Afterwards, as though he had thought it through, he said, ¡°That¡¯s true. In the end, it¡¯s all about living longer than everyone else.¡±


    Tang Yu¡¯s expression was slightly saddened. He suddenly realized that the lessons he had taught to his pupils from before could have been all wrong. Perhaps it was better that he taught his pupils how to survive more easily on the battlefield. The sure-kill techniques used in battle were actuallypiled by those who still lived after each and every battle. As long as his pupils survived, they would naturallye to an understanding and would not need him to use his time to teach them how to kill others.


    However, there was obviously no life-or-death battles in the academy. Even if he taught them more, how could he make his pupil understand the secrets of those sure-kill techniques? They, as instructors, had led them down the wrong path...


    Tang Yu had a feeling that when he taught cadets in the future, he would put the main focus on how to survive in a battlefield. This would greatly increase the survival rate of his pupils.


    After many years, he had proof and he sent his research to the military¡¯s headquarters. After the people at headquarters carried out further research on this subject, they discovered that this was indeed the case in terms of survival rate of the cadets; thus, they decided that they would conduct an academy-wide experiment in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. In the sses for real battles, the lesson content changed from the training of sure-kill techniques to instructing cadets about survival techniques upon entering a battlefield.


    After umting more than 10 years of data, they discovered that the change was very effective, and thus they put it through to every academy in the Federation. The result was that the mortality rate of the Federation¡¯s veterans decreasedpared to the other countries. This made the Federation¡¯s military strength increase once again and also brought a true 100 years of peace to the Federation¡¯s borders. And all of this came about from Ling Lan¡¯s one statement of wanting to live longer than everyone else!


    Tang Yu wouldter reveal this truth on his deathbed, following which Ling Lan, who was already legendary, would once again experience a rise in fame¡ªshe would gain the respect and gratitude of every soldier in the country.

 Chapter 533 - The Dangerous Xie Yi!

    <h4>Chapter 533: The Dangerous Xie Yi!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Just like that, Ling Lan and Tang Yu fought for more than 300 rounds. At that point, Ling Lan revealed a weak point, which allowed Instructor Tang Yu tond a hit and defeat her. This result made all the people who were watching cry in agony; all of them had almost lost all of their credits. However, as the dealer, Xie Yi also had a bitter expression on his face, and this was because he had to pay Gao Jinyun and his battle team 180,000 credits. This had made him instantly lose all the credits he had umted in the past few years and return to his original poor self.


    In Gao Jinyun¡¯s battle team, the vice-captain couldn¡¯t control his feelings of excitement. He grabbed Gao Jinyun¡¯s right arm and shook it violently, asking, ¡°Captain, Captain, I¡¯m not dreaming, am I? We... we really won.¡±


    As Gao Jinyun was shaken about by his vice-captain, he had a stupid smile on his face as if he was in a dream. When he ced his bet in the beginning, he had only done so to support Boss. He didn¡¯t actually want to win any money, but he didn¡¯t expect that his trust in Boss would actually help him win such a huge sum. This time, with his principal amount, plus the interest earned, he suddenly had 120,000 credits. No, wait¡ªif he counted his team¡¯s betting amount, then that would be 240,000 credits. Even after taking away the principal amount of 60,000, it was still 180,000 credits...


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s 30,000 credits were umted from when he was a child. It should be said that he had taken out all that he owned and bet it on Boss Ling Lan.


    All the members in Gao Jinyun¡¯s battle team were frommoner families; they didn¡¯t have any family backgrounds like the other battle teams. Simrly, their team taking out 30,000 credits to bet on Ling Lan wasn¡¯t an easy feat. At that time, the entire team¡¯s credits only amounted to a bit more than 30,000. The only reason they had been willing to take out 30,000 credits was that they trusted their own captain. Now, they had gotten their return for their trust in him. This made the team¡¯s logistics funds increase to more than 100,000. It was enough for their small team to change their equipment and weapons.


    Moving away from Gao Jinyun and his team¡¯s excitement, Ling Lan walked out of her mecha¡¯s cockpit. Before shended on the ground, Qi Long and Han Jijyun had already walked over to her.


    ¡°Boss, thanks for your hard work.¡±


    Ling Lan nced at the crowd that was gathered on the side. She frowned slightly as she said, ¡°Xie lost.¡± If he had won, the crowd would definitely have scattered.


    ¡°Gao Jinyun and his team bet that Boss could endure for 300 rounds and put down 60,000 credits,¡± Qi Long said with augh.


    Ling Lan was surprised. ¡°Xie actually dared to do that?¡± She remembered telling Xie Yi that she would go over 300 rounds this time. Did Xie Yi not listen to her? It seemed that he had indeed been reckless this time around. It was time to beat him up.


    Ling Lan saw that Han Jijyun had an odd expression on his face. She uncontrobly thought of something and asked, ¡°Is there another reason?¡±


    Han Jijyun nodded. He sternly told Ling Lan about how Xie Yi dug a hole for himself. Hearing this, Ling Lan nced towards Xie Yi with a half-smile.


    Xie Yi, who was transferring the credits to Gao Jinyun¡¯s battle team, suddenly felt a cold, sharp ree his way. His entire body felt chilly, as though his blood was frozen. He didn¡¯t even need to turn around to know whose re it was. He knew he was in trouble; Boss was definitely not going to let him off easy this time.


    Xie Yi thought back to the time when he set up his first betting pool...


    It happened back in their first year in the military academy. Xie Yi, Qi Long and the others had returned to their own house just like they did every day. Once they entered through door, they could see that their boss was sitting on the sofa in the living room, using hismunicator to look through some data.


    After Qi Long and the others greeted Boss, they all went back to their own respective rooms and cleaned themselves. Xie Yi¡¯s movements were very fast. When he finished showering, he discovered that Qi Long and the others hadn¡¯t finished yet. There was only Boss still sitting on the sofa, concentrated on the information on the virtual screen.


    Xie Yi suddenly had a thought and walked towards the sofa that was facing Boss directly and sat down. Boss¡¯ aura was too strong; he didn¡¯t dare to sit beside him.


    After sitting down, Xie Yi fell into several seconds of contemtion before opening his mouth and asking, ¡°Boss, tomorrow is our ss¡¯s physical skills battles. The list of names has already been announced. The battle that the most freshmen members are paying close attention to is the one between Qi Long and Commander Wu Jiong. Everyone wants to know who is stronger.¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t raise her head. She replied nonchntly, ¡°Perhaps everyone else doesn¡¯t have any idea, but those who came from the Central Scout Academy should definitely know the answer.¡±


    Xie Yi smiled. ¡°That¡¯s true. Everyone knows that Qi Long is a bit stronger. It¡¯s just that everyone wants to know how many hits Qi Long would need to defeat Commander Wu Jiong.¡±


    ¡°If he gave his all, he would probably win within 50 rounds. If he restrained himself, he probably would need around 80 rounds.¡± Ling Lan had raised her head and thought about it for a second before giving an answer.


    ¡°Boss, can you tell me just how many it¡¯ll be?¡± Xie Yi wasn¡¯t satisfied with the approximation of the data the Boss had given him.


    Xie Yi¡¯s words prompted a stern look from Ling Lan, which made the former hang his head out of ack of confidence.


    Ling Lan turned off hermunicator as she looked Xie Yi straight in the eye and said, ¡°Okay, tell me what you think.¡±


    Xie Yi knew that his thoughts had already been seen through by his hoss. He didn¡¯t hide it anymore and told her everything. ¡°Boss, I was thinking that our team¡¯s logistics funds are running low. Every time we want to buy some necessities, Lin Zhong-qing has to think it over many times and make careful calctions. That¡¯s why I thought of an idea that could add some funds to the logistics division of our team.


    ¡°Now that we¡¯re training our physical skills, there could be somepetitions. Everyone also seems to be bored and likely to do some betting on the side. I want to make use of this point...¡± Xie Yi looked at Ling Lan carefully and discovered that her expression didn¡¯t show that she was annoyed. Xie Yi instantly felt better.


    The fingers of Ling Lan¡¯s right hand were slowly drumming against the armrest of the sofa. She closed her eyes and began to think on whether this n was usible or not.


    Seeing her like this, Xie Yi affirmed his decision and told everything he had thought to Boss. He hoped that Boss would support him. ¡°Boss, I won¡¯t create random bets. I won¡¯t open a pool for opponents that I¡¯m unsure about. The only ones that I¡¯ll open would be the ones that I know about. I n on using our battle team as the main focus.¡±


    ¡°Betting is something that I don¡¯t really like. There are too many uncertain factors involved. You won¡¯t ever know whether you¡¯ll win or lose until the end.¡± Ling Lan opened her eyes and a cold gleam shed through them for a second, which instantly snuffed out the courage that Xie Yi had built up just now.


    ¡°Unless you can guarantee that you will definitely win!¡± Ling Lan finished with a sharp look on her face, staring at Xie Yi.


    Xie Yi¡¯s expression showed that he was struggling. It was just as Ling Lan had said. Where could he bet to guarantee a win? However, Xie also knew that if he couldn¡¯t guarantee it, Boss would definitely not agree to him starting the bets.


    However, Xie Yi really didn¡¯t want to give up on this chance. As thest member to join the team, Xie Yi still didn¡¯t feel fully confident. Although Qi Long and the others had clearly told him that Boss Ling Lan had already epted him as a member, he had still yet to hear those words from Ling Lan herself. Xie Yi was in a rush, hoping to get a chance to perform and contribute to the team.


    Thus, Xie Yi was excited upon discovering that he had a way to help them resolve the pressure of the logistics funds. He didn¡¯t want to give up. Having already made up his mind, he immediately nodded and promised, ¡°Yes, I promise that I will win.¡±


    ¡°If you lose?¡± Ling Lan wasn¡¯t going to just let Xie Yi off like that.


    Xie Yi bit his lip and replied, ¡°I will be willing to be punished by you, Boss.¡±


    Hearing all this, Ling Lan went into deep thought once again. This made Xie Yi feel perturbed. He didn¡¯t know whether Boss would approve of his idea in the end.


    Finally, Ling Lan gave an answer. ¡°I¡¯ll allow it just this time. I hope you can do want you promised.¡±


    Xie Yi excitedly jumped up and instantly bowed down to show his gratitude. ¡°Thank you, Boss, for your trust in me.¡±


    Ling Lan waved her hand. Xie Yi held in his excitement inside and left the living room, making his way back to his own room. He was full of energy as he began to n for the betting pool tomorrow. He told himself that he had to be careful to make sure he didn¡¯t suffer a setback due to a small careless mistake.


    Suffering a serious setback from a careless mistake! Xie Yi remembered his feelings from the past and regretted it strangely. In the past two years, the bets that he had set up had all gone smoothly. With the help of hisrades, he had never lost once. All of this made his confidence inte without limit and made him lose the caution he had in the beginning.


    The bitter result that he had today, after careful thinking, waspletely brought about by him digging his own grave... Xie Yi began to worry. Would the good impression that he tried so hard to make in front of Boss be reverted back to the beginning because of this problem?


    While Xie Yi was worrying about his well-being, Han Jijyun asked Ling Lan the question he had kept inside him for the past 2 years after he told her the dumb thing that Xie Yi had done. ¡°Boss, I don¡¯t understand why you would have agreed to Xie Yi holding betting pools in the very beginning. This... is clearly not morally right.¡±


    Seeing Han Jijyun¡¯s frown, Ling Lan sighed. Han Jijyun was good in everything, except that he was a bit over the top. It was no wonder, though, because he was a descendant from a big family. These descendants were either quality soldier-like ruffians or exemry soldiers. Han Jijyun was thetter. He was not very epting of any act that were against the regtions. To have been able to endure it for so long, he had indeed made Xie Yi hisrade. That was why he was so understanding of Xie.


    ¡°For those people came from elite families, they don¡¯t really have that many limitations. We can¡¯t treat them like army personnel,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly. ¡°Also, two years ago, there was an issue with Xie Yi¡¯s emotions.¡±


    Han Jijyun was surprised. He actually didn¡¯t know about this. ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°He couldn¡¯t find his own value in the team. Although he wanted to be the diplomat for the team, the cadets who came from the Central Scout Academy, including Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie and the others, actually still liked tomunicate with Qi Long. Xie Yi¡¯s position was indeed very awkward, to begin with,¡± continued Ling Lan in a sharp tone. She informed Han Jijyun of the situation Xie Yi was in at the very beginning.


    Han Jijyun thought back to the past and discovered that it was indeed like that. His face showed guilt as he said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Boss. I actually missed this detail.¡± He was the strategist of the team and yet he hadn¡¯t discovered that a team member¡¯s mental stability was not in check. He had forsaken his position on this part.


    ¡°At the time, we had just entered the military academy and didn¡¯t have a firm ce to stand yet. Then we were challenged by Leiting Mecha n into an arena battle. Everyone¡¯s focus was on that arena battle, so missing that detail was inevitable. You don¡¯t need to feel guilty.¡± Ling Lan borated and made Han Jijyun feel a bit better.


    ¡°Although Xie Yi did find his own value back then, it still wasn¡¯t very appropriate in my eyes. However, at the time, it indeed made Xie Yi push past his shaken mentality. This was the most important part. Thus, I agreed with him.¡± Ling Lan spoke out the reason why she had agreed to Xie Yi¡¯s suggestion in the very beginning.


    ¡°Furthermore, the funds of the team¡¯s logistics division did really get replenished. This was a good thing. Jijyun, I think that as long as everyone is willing and doesn¡¯t cheat, rob or trick each other, there¡¯s no good or bad on how the funds are gathered.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t really care about betting. She cared about was whether it was worth it or not.


    ¡°Take what I should take. As long as I have a clear conscience?!¡± Han Jijyun felt like he had understood.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t say anymore. Some things needed Han Jijyun to think about them himself. No one could help him.


    Qi Long had been listening to their conversation the entire time. Seeing that Han Jijyun had gone into deep thought, he asked, ¡°Boss, are you preparing to put Xie Yi in his ce?¡±


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrow as though she was asking why Qi Long had such a thought.


    ¡°Xie Yi¡¯s problem. Boss, don¡¯t tell me you haven¡¯t noticed,¡± said Qi Long with a smile on his face.


    ¡°So you also know.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes showed a hint of approval.


    ¡°My innate talent is Animal Instinct. When I activate my talent, my Animal Instinct tells me that Xie Yi is very dangerous.¡± Qi Long¡¯s expression suddenly became very serious.


    Their words surprised Han Jijyun. He had a face of confusion as he asked, ¡°Boss, Qi Long, what are you guys talking about? What problem does Xie Yi have? Didn¡¯t Boss say that his shaken mentality was resolved?¡±


    Ling Lan looked at Qi Long. This was clearly giving Qi Long the cue to exin to his close friend.


    Qi Long rubbed his nose. He could only bitterly exin to hisrade, ¡°You also know that my innate talent, Animal Instinct, can help me sense hidden dangers. Two years ago, although Xie Yi¡¯s mentality was shaken, I didn¡¯t sense any danger from him... but as time went on, even though Xie Yi¡¯s mentality issue was resolved, whenever I activated my innate talent, I could sense the immense pressure he was giving me. This pressure was bingrger andrger.¡±


    Qi Long looked towards Ling Lan and continued, ¡°It¡¯s just like how Boss usually gives me a sense of intense pressure, but I can still endure it. Once I activate my innate talent, though, Boss¡¯ presence seems so terrifying to the point where if he wanted to me to die, I would die.¡± After saying all this, Qi Long actually shivered.


    Han Jijyun finally understood. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that when you activate your innate talent, the feeling that Xie Yi gives you is very strong and threatens you right?¡±


    Qi Long nodded. Han Jijyun eximed with surprise, ¡°Could it be that he has hidden potential?¡± After saying this, Han Jijyun¡¯s expression showed a hint of sorrow. After all, his so-calledrade had lied to him, which gave him the feeling of being betrayed.


    Qi Long didn¡¯t answer. He looked towards Ling Lan because he didn¡¯t know how to say it.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan shook her head and said, ¡°No, it¡¯s not Xie Yi¡¯s power. There were a few times when I unintentionally sensed Xie Yi suppressing it.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s answer not only shocked Han Jijyun, but also even Qi Long. It was probably because Qi Long hadn¡¯t even thought of this detail.


    ¡°Then what is it exactly?¡± Qi Long asked.


    Ling Lan nced at Xie, who was in the crowd, before looking at Luo Lang who was beside him, and then she began to speak with a certain degree of confidence. ¡°I suspect that it is a second personality, just like Luo Lang¡¯s Alter Ego innate talent.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t Xie Yi have the Lightning Bolt innate talent? How could he have a second innate talent?¡± Qi Long asked in surprise. The people of the Federation could only awaken one innate talent¡ªthere was no one who could awaken a second.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say it¡¯s an innate talent. It is only simr to Luo Lang¡¯s innate talent. I suspect this has something to do with Xie Yi¡¯s family¡¯s bloodline. Xie Yi doesn¡¯t seem to be surprised by it. He even has a way of holding down that power.


    ¡°My guess is that this is some type of split personality... The power it has is extremely overwhelming. It has destructive properties and is probably Xie Yi¡¯s hidden personality,¡± Ling Lan exined without hesitation.

 Chapter 534 - Lingtians Letter of Challenge!

    <h4>Chapter 534: Lingtian¡¯s Letter of Challenge!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Dark character?¡± Qi Long and Jijyun exchanged nces with one another; they were both puzzled.


    ¡°Yes. Xie Yi¡¯s two personalities aren¡¯t like Luo Lang¡¯s Alter Ego. Luo Lang¡¯s Alter Ego has primary identity and secondary identities. No matter how powerful the secondary identities are, they will be controlled by the primary identity. For Luo Lang, however, there¡¯s no difference in status between his personalities. The more powerful one will gain control of the physical body,¡± Ling Lan exined indifferently.


    ¡°Then the Xie Yi who always appears before us is the primary personality.¡± Han Jijyun understood.


    ¡°It might not be. It¡¯s just my own opinion. After all, we don¡¯t know what the suppressed personality is like. It might be even better,¡± Ling Lan replied irresponsibly.


    Han Jijyun sent a sullen nce at his boss. No matter how he looked at it, the bright and optimistic Xie Yi should be the main personality. Also, his boss and Qi Long had both said that the suppressed personality had a brutal and destructive personality. These were obviously the characteristics of a dark character. Why was his boss trying to make itplicated?


    A hint of fighting spirit appeared in Qi Long¡¯s eyes. ¡°Boss, shall I attack?¡±


    His boss had previously told him that a crisis was a catalyst. The worst way to deal with a power that you couldn¡¯t control was to suppress it, while the best way was to let it explode. Once it fully exploded, one would be able to find a chance of survival. In the past, the boss had used this method against Luo Lang and released all his other personalities, and this enabled Luo Lang to gain control of his Alter Ego.


    Unexpectedly, though, Ling Lan rejected Qi Long¡¯s proposal. ¡°No need.¡±


    ¡°Are you nning to do it yourself?¡± Qi Long asked curiously. If his boss did it himself, the chance of sess would be higher.


    ¡°He¡¯s very afraid of me.¡± Ling Lan shook her head in response. ¡°I can¡¯t force him out.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Qi Long puzzled. His boss meant that it was useless for himself to do anything, so why didn¡¯t he let him do it? Did he have other ns? Qi Long started thinking about it carefully.


    Han Jijyun had his head lowered, also in in deep thought.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t say anything. They needed to understand some things themselves. If she told them everything, they would never grow.


    Very soon, Han Jijyun came back to his senses. Ling Lan didn¡¯t give them a lot of information so he could faintly make out something. Although he hadn¡¯t understood entirely, he wasn¡¯t in a hurry. Since he didn¡¯t understand it at present, he might as well put it to one side. Who knew¡ªperhaps he would be struck by sudden inspiration.


    It was then that he remembered something else; his boss had given him a mission this morning.


    ¡°Boss, I have asked Regiment Commander Wu. Currently, in our mecha n, including our battle n, we have a total of 21 people who managed to be special-ss operators.¡± There was a hint of pride on Han Jijyun¡¯s face. They were all third-years, so the fact that they were able to be special-ss operators so quickly proved their ultimate talent in mecha piloting.


    Ling Lan nodded at his words. ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡±


    Han Jijyun had a sudden thought. His eyes lit up as he asked, ¡°Boss, are you preparing to act?¡±


    ¡°What am I preparing for?¡± Ling Lan asked in return with raised eyebrows.


    Han Jijyun could not contain his excitement anymore; his face turned red from his feverish emotions. After scanning his surroundings and confirming that no one was looking at them, he whispered, ¡°Uniting the factions in the military academy and bing the ultimate king?¡±


    Han Jijyun¡¯s words cause a glint to appear in Qi Long¡¯s eyes, too. He remembered his boss¡¯ firm and arrogant deration when they were first years. He looked at Ling Lan with anticipation and waited for the boss to give a confirmation.


    ¡°A situation will take its course regardless of our wishes! Even if we don¡¯t want to attack them, they won¡¯t let us go. In that case, why not we make a move first?¡± Ling Lan said coldly. The air around her suddenly turned frosty as she emanated a hint of killing intent. Han Jijyun almost became frozen by the atmosphere, and even Qi Long felt a heavy weight pressing down upon him.


    The greater his capabilities became, the more he understood how scary his boss was. Last time, their capabilities had been too far apart so he was not certain about how powerful his boss was. Qi Long had never asked Ling Lan before, but he was certain that his boss was definitely in the Domain stage.


    Without a doubt, the fact that his boss was in the Domain stage had broken the record of Federation again. However, he also knew that if his boss didn¡¯t say anything, he had his reasons. Hence, he kept this secret to himself and didn¡¯t tell anyone; including his best buddy, Han Jijyun.


    In the Leiting Mecha n headquarters, Lin Zhidong sat in the regimentmander¡¯s office as he settled the matters in the Leiting Mecha n. Ever since Qiao Ting had gone to the Third Division, he finally managed to get his dream position as the n¡¯s regimentmander and be the person with the highest authority in Leiting. He had finally managed to experience what it was like to hold he in the position of the highest authority.


    ¡°Beep beep beep!¡± The A.I. on the office desk beeped. Lin Zhidong asked happily, ¡°What is the matter?¡±


    ¡°Regiment Commander, the Lingtian Mecha n has sent us a letter of challenge.¡± His deputy¡¯s voice came from the A.I..


    ¡°Letter of challenge?¡± Lin Zhidong almost fell from his chair upon hearing this news. He quickly grabbed onto the table and took a deep breath before saying, ¡°Come in.¡± What was Lingtian doing? Leiting hadn¡¯t sent them a letter of challenge, so why were they sending one over instead? Also, they were already the first faction. What was the point of challenging Leiting?


    The deputy entered the regimentmander¡¯s office and passed a paper card to Lin Zhidong.


    Lin Zhidong opened the card to take a look, and he saw a nicely written sentence on the card.


    Letter of Challenge


    Target of Challenge: Leiting Mecha n!


    Challenger: Lingtian Mecha n!


    Time: Star calendar 4746.5.20


    Regards,


    Ling Lan


    ¡°It really is a letter of challenge...¡± As Lin Zhidong gazed at the letter of challenge in his hands, astounded, he had a sudden thought and realized the intention of the other party.


    Lin Zhidong was furious¡ªhe mmed the table and gritted his teeth as he uttered, ¡°Ling Lan, your appetite is too big! You actually intend on trying to have us merge with you.¡±


    In the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, there were rules with regards to sending out letters of challenge. If a faction in a lower position challenged a faction in a higher position and won, they would exchange their positions. If they lost, they would have to pay for the sending out the challenge. There were no other consequences. This was the mostmon form of challenge that made up 90% of the mecha challenges in the school.


    But there was another kind, which was rarer; a faction in a higher position challenging a faction in a lower position. The purpose of this kind of challenge was to merge the two factions. In other words, if the faction in the higher position won, the one in the lower position would have to merge with the other side without any retaliation. If the lower position faction won, they would swap position with the other faction.


    These rules apply to all mecha challengepetitions. All the factions had to follow the rules strictly. An example would be the time when Qiao Ting challenged Lingtian. He had nned on merging Lingtian with his faction but in the end, Lingtian was more powerful than him and Leiting had to give up their position as the first faction.


    Of course, there were other non-mecha challengepetitions in the military academy. For example, during first year when they just formed the New Cadet Regiment, they were asked to battle it out with their physical skills. These challenges were mostly based on bets and once both parties epted the terms, it would be done. There were no rules that said they had to ept such challenges.


    Lin Zhidong¡¯s words allowed his deputy to understand the situation as well. He looked at the letter of challenge that was thrown to the floor by the angry Lin Zhidong. Lingtian was trying to get them to merge with them? Were they being delusional? A small mecha n that was just founded was trying to touch the most powerful mecha n that had been around for a few hundred years?


    The deputy had forgotten that their position of number one faction had been taken away by Lingtian one year ago.


    At this moment, the rest of all the other mecha ns had received a letter of challenge from Lingtian at around the same time. This signified that Lingtian was preparing to unite the military academy. However, no one was optimistic about Lingtian. All the mecha ns thought that Lingtian was being whimsical and daydreaming... numerous mecha ns were nning to drag Lingtian down from the position of number one and let them understand how stupid it was for them to underestimate all the mecha ns of the military academy.


    Ling Lan¡¯s actions caused Lingtian to be the thorn in the side for the entire First Men¡¯s Military Academy; they couldn¡¯t wait to destroy her. A few number of small ns had harbored good feelings towards Lingtian, as they felt that Lingtian would understand their hardships since they all came from a simr background and that they would protect them. However, this letter of challenge broke all their hopes and their attitude changed immediately¡ªthey couldn¡¯t wait for Lingtian to stumble and made a fool of herself.


    While all these people were scolding them, Lingtian was intensely preparing for their first battle. Their first target was not the small and weak ns; it was the biggest and most powerful n, the Leiting Mecha n.


    Ling Lan arranged it this way because she hoped that they would be able to strike the more powerful ns while they were still unprepared and take them down instantly. After they managed to take down all these old and powerful factions, they would be able to intimidate the other smaller factions and win without even having to fight. Ling Lan didn¡¯t n to let Lingtian take on all the battles one by one. They didn¡¯t have the strong foundation that the old factions had, and neither did they have arger number of mecha operators.


    ¡°The challenge mode is out.¡± The next day, before Leiting could catch a breath, the challenge mode was sent to Lin Zhidong by the mainframe.


    ¡°Twelve-man team mode!¡± Lin Zhidong¡¯s heart dropped at this piece of news. With this number of people, they would not be able to showcase their strength. Leitingcked a powerful mecha master like Qiao Ting, who was capable of winning against everyone with his techniques. The twelve-man team mode put them at a disadvantage.


    Leiting immediately held a meeting for n members at captain level and above. In the meeting, Lin Zhidong asked, ¡°We need to send out twelve of our most powerful mecha masters. But the most important question is: who has the confidence of being able to defeat Ling Lan?¡±


    The meeting room fell into a dead silence. Duringst year¡¯s Grand Mecha Tournament, Ling Lan¡¯s amazing long-range operation, as well as his personal-name technique that was confirmed after the tournament, had made them feel hopeless.


    ¡°Do we have no one that can defeat Ling Lan now that Regiment Commander Qiao Ting has left?¡± Lin Zhidong asked angrily.


    ¡°Even Regiment Commander Qiao Ting lost to Lingtian too,¡± someone refuted softly.


    ¡°That¡¯s because my big brother fell into their scheme. Otherwise, how could he have lost to such a young brat? Regiment Commander Lin, don¡¯t worry and leave that brat to me.¡± An unruly youth stood up and shouted with an angry face.


    Lin Zhidong looked at this situation and felt speechless. Qiao Lin was Qiao Ting¡¯s younger brother. Compared to his talented elder brother, however, this Qiao Lin was utterly wasting his good physique and good talent; he was already a third year, yet he had only just achieved advanced mecha warrior level. When Qiao Ting was at his age, he was already invincible in the special-ss operator level. If it was not for Qiao Ting, he would not have let this stupid person hold a captain position.

 Chapter 535 - Reorganization!

    <h4>Chapter 535: Reorganization!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Qiao Lin utterlycked self-awareness so his words were disregarded by Lin Zhidong as well as the other captains. When he saw the rest of the people ignoring him and continuing their discussion, Qiao Lin¡¯s face turned from red to green and he sat down angrily. He felt deeply embarrassed by this cold treatment. He thought that these people had no conscience at all; once his brother left, they just ignored him.


    Disregarding Qiao Lin¡¯s feelings, the administrators of Leiting had a long discussion before deciding to let one of their strongest special-ss mecha operators be responsible for stalling Ling Lan.


    Leiting¡¯s leaders all felt that since Lingtian was just a mecha n that had been founded a little over a year ago, even if they managed to get 12 special-ss operators, most of them would be greenhorns. This would give them a chance. As long as they stopped the strongest special-ss operator in Lingtian, the rest of their 11 special-ss operators would destroy the rest of Lingtian¡¯s members. After that, they would gather together and defeat Ling Lan by surrounding her. That way, they would be able to regain the title of number one faction.


    Lingtian and Leiting¡¯s uing second battle caused an uproar in the entire school; it drew the attention of everyone. The Leiting mecha n was the strongest opponent capable of preventing Lingtian from taking over the military academy. Regardless of how small a mecha n was, they were not willing to merge with another mecha n.


    The instructors and administrators of the military academy also paid plenty of attention to this battle. Of course, after their god-creation n failed, they didn¡¯t dare to take any small actions anymore. In addition, they had hard feelings towards Ling Lan, the person who had prevented their n from happening. Although Ling Lan¡¯s actions aligned with their thoughts, they didn¡¯t want a newbie like her toplete this n; it would make them feel like they had lost to her again. They had wanted to make her a stepping stone thest time.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t give Leiting much time to prepare. Her decision was the same as the one made by Qiao Ting, which was to finish the battle in the fastest possible time. Hence, their special-ss operator battle would be held three dayster.


    The night before the battle, Ling Lan finished her training mission as per normal and then logged in to Mecha World. She madest-minute changes to the mecha that she was going to operate tomorrow.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mecha was a modified ace mecha that Chang Xinyuan had created for her. After a year¡¯s worth of meticulous effort, the mecha looked exactly the same as a normal special-ss mecha. It was different from one year ago where it looked more like an ace mecha except for its color. However, modified mecha were normally special so no one had held any suspicions back then.


    Now, though, no one would be able to tell that this was a modified mecha from its external appearance. It looked the same as the mecha of all her other team members and thus it would be difficult to spot a difference among the rest.


    Ling Lan checked all the energy levels on her mecha, as well as its weapons and equipment. She only felt at ease after confirming that everything was normal, after which she prepared to log off and call it a day. Before she could leave, however, a request for long-range conversation popped up on the mecha screen. The person sending the request was [Self-Defined Destiny].


    The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s mouth went up slightly. Ever since Li Lanfeng and his friends came out of their army division¡¯s recruit training camp, he would log in to Mecha World every week and report to her their performance for the week. For the entire year, no matter what happened, he never missed his report. This gave Ling Lan the illusion that those three had never left her at all. They had merely gone to another training ground to train.


    Today was the day Li Lanfeng was supposed to give her his report. Ling Lan pressed the connect button and a handsome young man wearing half a mask and a Federation mecha operator uniform appeared on the screen.


    ¡°Leopard, didn¡¯t you say that you needed to carry out a mission this week?¡± Ling Lan asked curiously. This was why she had been nning to log out without waiting for Li Lanfeng. In their conversationst week, Li Lanfeng had told Ling Lan that the three of them had received an escort mission.


    ¡°That escort mission was very easy and the journey was really smooth too. No one wanted to stay outside so we all hurried our way back to the base,¡± Li Lanfeng answered casually.


    Ling Lan nodded her head and said, ¡°It¡¯s good that you all are fine.¡± Although Li Lanfeng made it sound simple, Ling Lan knew that for a mission to require an ace operator, an ace disguiser, and a special-ss operator cum ace military doctor to directly participate, it could not be anything easy. It was definitely not as simple as how Li Lanfeng put it, but since he didn¡¯t say anything, he had to have been warned by the military to not disclose anything. Ling Lan would not make a mistake like causing difficulty for Li Lanfeng.


    Seeing how Ling Lan didn¡¯t pursue the topic any further, Li Lanfeng heaved a sigh of relief. There was nothing holding him back now. He remembered something Li Shiyu told him and asked with concern, ¡°I heard Shiyu saying that one of his juniors in the military medical field told him today that you¡¯re having a mecha battle with Leiting tomorrow. Rabbit, are you confident?¡±


    Li Lanfeng was very clear on what Ling Lan¡¯s motive was; she had long wanted to unite the military academy since a year ago and had always been preparing for this day.


    ¡°If everything goes as I expect, there shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly. Even if she didn¡¯t have total confidence, it was toote already¡ªLing Lan had to act as though she had everything in control.If she didn¡¯t even believe in herself, how could she let the members of Lingtian believe in her?


    ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for your good news then.¡± Li Lanfeng stared intently at Ling Lan¡¯s cold face. He had only left Ling Lan for less than a year, yet he could clearly feel how important she was in his heart. Many times, when he felt like he couldn¡¯t persevere anymore, Ling Lan¡¯s cold and clear eyes would motivate him and make his heart stronger.


    ording to the words of their temporary team leader, Li Lanfeng was the hardest person to predict among the three of them; whenever he felt that thetter had shown all his potential already, he would disy even more possibilities. Their temporary team leader initially didn¡¯t have a good opinion of Li Lanfeng because of his weak body, but as time went by, he started to admire Li Lanfeng more and more. He really wanted to take in Li Lanfeng as an official team member. Even aftering to know that he already had a battle n, he still constantly urged him to jump ships. Li Lanfeng always had a headache because of him.


    Ling Lan nodded her head and chatted with Li Lanfeng for a while longer before saying goodbye. They left Mecha World.


    Ling Lan opened the login pod to the virtual world and then frowned. She remembered that moments before, Li Lanfeng¡¯s right hand hadn¡¯t moved at all beside his body; he had only performed some simple actions with his left hand. ¡°Leopard¡¯s right hand seemed injured. I wonder if it¡¯s serious. Since Li Shiyu could enter Mecha World, he should be fine. The only one that didn¡¯t appear is Zhao Jun... looks like Zhao Jun is hurt.¡±


    Ling Lan made a prompt decision and made a call. She entered a series of numbers that she remembered clearly but never dialed easily.


    Ring, ring. Before themunicator could ring for the fourth time, someone picked it up. ¡°Hold on a moment.¡± A gentle voice came from themunicator, following which she heard the voice saying, ¡°Pause the meeting!¡± The sound of chairs starting to be dragged around could be heard, as well as of other people replying to the voice in an organized and loud voice. ¡°Yes, General!¡±


    Ling Xiao quickly came out of the meeting he was in and entered the resting room at the side. He confirmed that there was no one around him before smiling happily and asking, ¡°Lan¡¯er, howe you are free to contact me today?¡±


    ¡°Father, I have a certain matter to bother you with this time,¡± Ling Lan replied.


    ¡°Oh? What matter?¡± Ling Xiao was extremely ted. At the same time, he was curious about the difficulty his daughter met. His dear daughter had a truly independent personality due to his failure of being a good father. He really wanted to be a good father now, but hardly any opportunities were given to him.


    ¡°I want to know about the current situation of my team members; Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun, and Li Shiyu. They underwent the evaluation a year ago and entered the 23rd Division.¡± Ling Lan told him of her request.


    Ling Xiao immediately retracted his smile. ¡°Why? Did the men of the 23rd Division bully them?¡± He began to suddenly emanate an invisible, baleful aura. Although Ling Xiao always appeared gentle and amiable in front of all others, he was nevertheless an individual who had returned from the battlefield; how could he be as harmless as he looked?


    ¡°If they were bullied by those old folks, they would be useless. I wouldn¡¯t have looked for you because of that,¡± Ling Lan stated coldly. ¡°They said that they were given an escort mission this week and returned three dayster. However, I realized that in this mission, two of them were injured while one was heavily injured. Their group consists of an ace operator, a spurious ace and a special-ss operator cum ace military doctor...¡±


    As Ling Lan described the situation, Ling Xiao¡¯s expression became serious. Once these talented cadets from the military academy came over, they would be ced under the nurturing program of the military. The military would not give them any missions in their first year and would let them undergo cruel recruit training so that they could get used to life in the military. From their second year onwards, they would be given some patrol and guard missions which involved no risk. Only on their third year would they be given hunt and escort missions to get them used to see blood. Once they managed to pass their first three years, they would be asked to participate inrge-scale operations to chase down and suppress bandits¡ªthat was when they would get first-hand experience of the cruel massacres between humans. On their fifth year, the division would send them out onto the real battlefield, and that was when life-or-death battles would take ce.


    Based on what Ling Lan said, her team members were at most in their second year. Even if there was an escort mission, it was not their turn to take it. Also, for such a powerful mecha operator to be hurt so badly, it would not have been a simple escort mission; it was impossible for there to be nothing going on.


    ¡°I know. I will investigate this matter. Don¡¯t worry.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes were cold. Although he didn¡¯t know who was behind this, he was clear that there was someone envious of these talented cadets, which was why this had happened...


    ¡°I¡¯ll leave it to you,¡± Ling Lan said.


    Ling Xiao hung up the call with Ling Lan and walked back into the meeting room with murder in his eyes. It was time to teach those people from the 23rd Division a lesson. Otherwise, they would think that he, Ling Xiao, was a very nice person to bully.

 Chapter 536 - Father And Son?

    <h4>Chapter 536: Father And Son?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Because of Ling Lan¡¯s words, the 23rd Division underwent a strict reorganization. The people that had tried to harm the foundation of the 23rd Division were expelled, while those that had tried to harm their brother-in-arms were sent to military court.


    In an instant, the atmosphere in the 23rd Division grew much better. The military soldiers who truly loved the 23rd Division became more loyal to the division as well as to Ling Xiao.


    The timely reorganization also saved Li Lanfeng andpany, and they immediately heaved a sigh of relief. They knew that someone on top had been targeting them, but they weren¡¯t able to do much despite being on their guard; they had ended up being targeted eventually. For instance, the escort mission that had seemed very safe on the surface was actually filled with danger. If they hadn¡¯t had the capabilities, Zhao Jun would not have been the only one to be seriously injured. All three of them, including their temporary team, would have been stranded to be food for star-level brutal beasts.


    Of course, this did not mean that the 23rd Division waspletely free of all outsiders. Ling Xiao knew that he couldn¡¯t be too extreme. As long as those people didn¡¯t hurt the 23rd Division¡¯s foundation and their brothers-in-arms, whether it be spies from other divisions or soldiers with their own agenda, Ling Xiao would let them stay and not touch them.


    He needed to know how topromise adequately in his position. If he truly took control of the 23rd Division like it were his own army, someone from the Federation would start to grow worried. As for him, he might be an eyesore in the military headquarters.


    But if that was all, he would not be scared. After all, the military would always be guarded against their generals and god-ss operators even as they gave them important roles and tasks. He didn¡¯t mind being guarded against more. However, he had two soft spots now: Lan Luofeng and Ling Lan. They were his dearest treasures and he didn¡¯t want them to be hurt in any way. That was why he had to lower his head and make somepromises.


    As the 23rd Division was vigorously undergoing a reorganization, Ling Lan weed the next day peacefully.


    In the afternoon, the entire military academy was empty; there was almost no one in the school. All the students were either in the mechabat hall or watching the live broadcast of the uing mechapetition with their friends. Some had gone back to their amodations and prepared to enter Mecha World so that they could experience the battle first-hand.


    The administrators of the military academy hadn¡¯t freed a day this time for everyone to watch the battle. However, since this battle would affect the future progression of power in the school, most of the students, whether they had a mecha n or not, took leave on the day to watch this future-determining ultimate battle.


    As the number of people taking leave increased, the instructors decided to take leave too. There were not many people for them to teach that day and they were keenly interested in this match as well.


    The instructors wanted to know if Ling Lan was able to take over the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. If he seeded, it would be a first in the history of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and they would be a witness of the event.


    Simr to the other mecha tournaments, a VIP room in the military academy grew lively again as instructors and administrators appeared inside to watch the ultimate mecha battle; the room was filled up within a minute.


    The moment Tang Yu entered the room, he saw numerous faces familiar and unfamiliar. They were all sitting with people they were close to and were in the middle of a furious discussion. They spoke about their opinions as well as the different possibilities of this match.


    Tang Yu immediately spotted the principal; he was sitting right in front of the big screen, smiling as he sat there. For some reason, no one sat beside the principal even though many people went over to greet him.


    Tang Yu smiled and walked over. He greeted the principal. ¡°Principal, hello. Long time no see.¡± Counting the time, he had not seen this mister for almost eight months.


    The principal saw Tang Yu and his polite smile immediately became sincere. He patted the sofa beside him and said, ¡°Come,e. Tang Yu, sit beside me. Tell me about the details of thepetitionter.¡±


    The principal¡¯s words caused jealousy and envy amidst the people who didn¡¯t leave. Tang Yu didn¡¯t act polite with the principal and immediately replied, ¡°No problem!¡± He sat on the sofa that the principal indicated immediately after he finished his sentence. Even without raising his head, he could feel the intense res shooting at him.


    Tang Yu didn¡¯t care at all. Ever since he watched the battle between Lingtian and Leiting with the principalst year and they discovered Ling Lan¡¯s secret together, he had formed an alliance with him. This year, he had gained the title of the trusted subordinate of the principal so he was used to this treatment. By now, he was indifferent towards them.


    Tang Yu sat down and started chatting with the principal. The time of thepetition came closer and closer. Everyone in the VIP room had sat down and no one was walking around anymore. They patiently waited for thepetition to start.


    The principal leaned towards Tang Yu when he saw no one interrupting them and whispered, ¡°Tang Yu, do you think that Lingtian has a chance of winning this time?¡±


    Tang Yu replied in a low voice, ¡°Principal, as long as Ling Lan maintains his standard, there should be no qualms about the result.¡± Even he himself didn¡¯t have the confidence to win against Ling Lan. Hence, in this situation where Leiting didn¡¯t have a sessor to Qiao Ting, Tang Yu felt that Ling Lan would not lose even if she decided to take a small nap.


    Of course, Ling Lan would not make such a low-level mistake... aspared to Qiao Ting, Ling Lan was colder and more vicious. He couldn¡¯t think of a way in which Leiting would be able to defeat Ling Lan¡ªthetter had almost no weak points. If they wanted to reenact the self-destruct n Ling Lan had carried out thest time, they would be knocked down before they could evene near. There was no way they could harm her.


    ¡°Principal, Ling Lan¡¯s talent in mecha operation is the greatest I have seen in my life. It is the only one I have seen too,¡± Tang Yu eximed.


    During the one year that he spent teaching Ling Lan, he managed to learn many things. Although they had a teacher and student rtionship, they were more like friends that understood each other and had the same position and status.


    Tang Yu hadn¡¯t expected to make a breakthrough in his hand speed, which had been stagnant for a very long period of time, in the year he spent fighting against Ling Lan. This little breakthrough had made him ted. He had been stuck at elite ace status for over ten years. As he grew older, the chances of him advancing to the imperial level grew smaller. Tang Yu had given up a few years ago but luck just came to him so suddenly...


    The principal¡¯s smile deepened as he listened to Tang Yu¡¯s words. He asked purposely, ¡°How is he aspared to Ling Xiao?¡±


    Tang Yu¡¯s heart dropped and there was an awkward expression on his face. His words just now had been ambiguous and might have given others the impression that even the god-ss operator, General Ling Xiao, couldn¡¯t bepared to Ling Lan. Tang Yu knew that Ling Xiao was the principal¡¯s old friend.


    He quickly tried to salvage the situation. ¡°General Ling Xiao is an exception, exception.¡±


    The principal merely waved his hands and said, ¡°Don¡¯t act polite in front of me. I am asking this sincerely. If he really has a greater talent than Ling Xiao, Ling Xiao would be ted to know it too.¡± Then something urred to the principal and he startedughing happily.


    Tang Yu was stunned for a moment, following which something shed across his mind: Ling Lan, Ling Xiao. They had the same surname. Are they father and son? Oh, no, no way. He had to be thinking too much. Tang Yu quickly denied this thought of his.


    The descendants of a god-ss operator would be truly normal people for the next few hundred years. Thisw had never been broken, so he had to have been thinking too much just now. Was he part of the Ling family then? Tang Yu thought of another possibility, but he denied it after a while too. Tang Yu remembered that 19 years ago when, General Ling Xiao was ¡°sacrificed¡±, his rtives attempted to take over the general¡¯s achievements, which had caused the general¡¯s family to be enraged and break all ties with the Ling family.


    If there was indeed a prodigy in the Ling family, General Ling Xiao, no matter how big his heart was, would not be ted. Tang Yu felt that his thoughts made sense.


    When he saw the confused expression on Tang Yu, the principal felt satisfied. He remembered how shocked he was when he found out that Ling Lan was Ling Xiao¡¯s son and saw his perfect operation skills. He had even called Ling Xiao to ask him if Ling Lan was really his son or if he picked him up from somewhere. But that was when the principal realized how scary Ling Xiao was when he went crazy... the principal shivered and felt lucky that he had only called him instead of going to ask in person. Otherwise, he might not have been able to sit here and watch thepetition in one piece. This showed how much Ling Xiao treasured Ling Lan.


    Commentary: Sulky Ling Xiao bit his little handkerchief and felt wronged. ¡°I was suspected of being infertile. Shouldn¡¯t I be angry? Shouldn¡¯t I...¡±


    The principal swept the image of Ling Xiao¡¯s eerie-looking face out of his mind and gave Tang Yu a reminder out of kindness. ¡°Tang Yu, don¡¯t let theories bind your thoughts.¡±


    Tang Yu looked up in astonishment. He opened his mouth and finally managed to squeeze out a sentence. ¡°He, is he really, the father?¡± The sentence was not long, but the principal understood what Tang Yu wanted to say. He gave thetter a firm nod.


    Tang Yu¡¯s body shook in excitement and his face turned red. Out of all the people over here, he respected General Ling Xiao the most. He didn¡¯t expect himself to have the honor of teaching General Ling Xiao¡¯s son. Moreover, his son was such a talented young man, too.


    Tang Yu calmed down after being excited for a while, following which he looked at the principal curiously. He truly wanted to ask the principal: why was Ling Xiao¡¯s son able to break thew of nature?


    Tang Yu and the principal didn¡¯t know that Ling Lan was a female and not a male. The research carried out by the Federation was only based on male descendants... so they shouldn¡¯t bring up thisw on this weirdo Ling Lan.


    The principal shook his head. ¡°I am not sure either. Maybe a mutation urred. However, it is a good thing.¡± The principal smiled. They were on the same side as Ling Xiao, as it was a good thing that he had such a talented son. It was better than having a normal son, right?


    Tang Yu agreed with the principal¡¯s words. This was a good thing, so why should he probe further?


    At this moment, someone in the VIP room shouted, ¡°Thepetition is starting.¡±

 Chapter 537 - Chameleon System!

    <h4>Chapter 537: Chameleon System!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The two of them turned their heads to look at the big screen, on which countless big and tall trees appeared. This was the hardest map in thepetition¡ªthe forest map.


    ¡°The best map to sneak attack and be sneak attacked.¡± The corners of Tang Yu¡¯s mouth lifted up to form a smile. ¡°Ling Lan¡¯s luck is not bad. He managed to get a map that suits her the most.¡±


    The principal immediately asked out of curiosity, ¡°Why is it so?¡±


    ¡°Although Lingtian¡¯s special-ss operators only advanced not long ago and have much less experience aspared to those in Leiting, Ling Lan always liked to torture them. He would assassinate them despite having the ability to overpower them in a normal fight.¡± Tang Yu recalled the ¡°one versus many¡± battle that he had previously witnessed and gave a silentugh.


    At the time, everyone had thought that the powerful and mighty Ling Lan, who always meant what he said, would fight them face to face. Hence, they had all gathered together and prepared to attack her together too. Unexpectedly, though, Ling Lan went into hiding and assassinated them using all kinds of methods when they were not prepared for it. Ling Lan¡¯s strange assassination methods made everyone go crazy... in the end, Ling Lan won easily. The people who fought with Ling Lan came out of their cockpits with pale faces. They didn¡¯t manage to regain their senses for the entire day.


    Tang Yu also knew that this kind of battle didn¡¯t happen only once. The Lingtian Battle n was already used to Ling Lan¡¯s torture, so if Leiting wanted to ambush and assassinate them on this map, it would be really hard. The members of Lingtian had learned some techniques from Ling Lan and they were able to perform assassinations on their own as well... Tang Yu felt that Leiting would be the ones getting tortured, not Lingtian.


    The principal¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°If what you say is true, this map is really advantageous for Lingtian. I anticipate the performance of those punks.¡± Because of Ling Lan, the principal and Tang Yu supported Lingtian. Hence, Leiting was given up unknowingly.


    At this moment, in the forest map, the mechas from the two ns appeared in different positions. When they entered the map, they would be transported to a location automatically. The name of the team wasbeled in front of the mechas and then a series of numbers followed.


    The people in the battle would not know who was in the mecha; only the audience would know. Both sides had to predict the person in the mecha by analyzing their strength and techniques. This tested the student¡¯s adaptive ability as well as their knowledge of their opponent.


    ¡°This time, the team leader of Lingtian is their captain, Ling Lan, and the team leader of Leiting is their most powerful special-ss operator called Tian Jiajun. He is the dux of the fifth-years, but his hand speed has been stuck for a year. He has not found the opportunity to make a breakthrough, so he is not yet capable of advancing to ace operator. However, you cannot deny that he is one of the strongest among the special-ss operators.¡± At this moment, an instructor was introducing the teams to the person beside him in the VIP room. He sounded a little sad.


    Tang Yu knew who this instructor was; he was called Qiao Yi. He was also an ace instructor and was taking the second-years this year. Tian Jiajun was his student from thest semester and was one of his prided pupils.


    The person beside the instructor knew of the rtionship between Tian Jiajun and Qiao Yi. He immediately consoled him, ¡°It is just a matter of time. He will advance to ace operator in the future. Also, remaining as a special-ss operator will allow him to gain a stronger foundation. Once he bes an ace operator, he will be able to rise up the ranks quickly. Many people who managed to be imperial operators got stuck at special-ss operator status for a long time too.¡±


    Qiao Yi nodded his head and gave a smile in response. Although his student was currently not as good as Qiao Ting, who was brought up by Tang Yu, this did not mean that his student would still be of a lower status than them in the future. Once Qiao Yi had this thought, he couldn¡¯t help himself and turned his head to look at Tang Yu.


    Tang Yu nodded his head politely at him and Qiao Yi returned the greeting with a smile. Afterward, they shifted their gazes away in a natural manner, but the principal still noticed the hidden rivalry going on between them.


    ¡°Seems like Qiao Yi wants to win against you once,¡± the principal said with a smile.


    Tang Yu sighed lightly. ¡°I don¡¯t mind if he wins once, but his luck is too bad.¡± And how could it not be bad? After Qiao Ting left, he had epted an even more capable individual, Ling Lan, as his student. He himself didn¡¯t have the confidence to win against her, so which person in this military academy could?


    The principal was in total agreement. He said, ¡°Yes, his luck is really bad.¡± Otherwise, why would his students not be as talented as Tang Yu¡¯s?


    However, the rivalry between Tang Yu and Qiao Yi did not gain anyone else¡¯s attention; everyone was focused on the screen in front of them.


    ¡°They are moving!¡± Compared to the hesitation of their opponents, the other n moved with great swiftness; they began moving as soon as they entered the map. These individuals were from Lingtian.


    ¡°There¡¯s no pattern to Lingtian¡¯s movements at all,¡± someone shouted in surprise.


    The Lingtian Mecha n had a piece of equipment that could allow them to see the location of their team members. This information was revealedst year in the battle against Qiao Ting mecha n and had be an open secret. Everyone thought that Lingtian would gather together first, or form teams of three with the mechas closest to them just like what they didst year. This was what Leiting was most afraid of.


    ¡°They are fighting their own battle. Lingtian has given up on formation tactics.¡± The instructors with sharp eyes immediately understood Lingtian¡¯s intention.


    ¡°Why are they giving up on formation tactics? Wouldn¡¯t it give them more of an advantage?¡± The instructors were bbergasted at Lingtian¡¯s actions. From their perspective, Lingtian had made a stupid decision. They had given up their advantage and opted to fight with their weakness, which was the same as seeking their own death.


    ¡°Ah, Leiting is moving too.¡± Just as the instructors and administrators were feeling angry and disappointed at Lingtian¡¯s actions, Leiting started moving.


    ¡°Ah, look, the direction that the Leiting is heading to... are three locations closest to Lingtian. Their destinations are the same.¡± Very soon, everyone realized the secret behind Leiting¡¯s movements.


    ¡°Leiting has the member locating device too. Seems like after losingst year, they have covered up their blindspots. Leiting has prepared sufficiently for this battle.¡± Many of the instructors were starting to ce their bets on Leiting.


    ¡°Strange, where are Lingtian¡¯s mechas?¡± Everyone¡¯s attention had been attracted by Leiting just then. When they looked back at Lingtian¡¯s mechas, they realized that they couldn¡¯t find some of them anymore.


    ¡°They are over there, hiding.¡± Someone looked back just in time to see where Lingtian¡¯s mechas had gone to. He personally saw a mecha changing its color surreptitiously as it hid among a pile of leaves and branches at a stone hill; it started to merge with its surroundings.


    ¡°Chameleon system!¡± Everyone turned serious. Both teams had made ample preparations for this battle. Leiting had managed to obtain the member locating device, while Lingtian had gotten themselves chameleon systems which were known as the ultimate weapon for assassination.


    The chameleon system was a top-ss disguise system, which could only be used by special-ss mecha and above. It was known as the ultimate weapon for assassination because the system could enable a mecha to integrate into its surroundings. A top-ss chameleon system could even grant perfect camouging ability.


    In order to see through the chameleon system, another top-ss system was required¡ªthe hawkeye system. However, this system was unable to 100% see through the chameleon system. The chameleon system was almost invincible. No radar scanning would reveal the location of an opponent once they used the chameleon system; it had the ability to bluff radar scanning systems as well.


    Of course, special-ss mechas could only be equipped with the lowest-level chameleon system, but it was enough to fool one¡¯s opponents if they didn¡¯t have a hawkeye system.


    Qiao Yi immediately frowned at this new information. ¡°How did Lingtian obtain this system?¡±


    Although such top-ss systems were not restricted and sealed away by the military in Mecha World, that did not mean it was easy to ahold of them. The lucky ones could obtain the lowest-level chameleon system upon achieving the status of ace mecha master, yet all of Lingtian¡¯s mechas were equipped with this system. He could almost believe that Mecha World was opened by Lingtian themselves¡ªotherwise, how would they have been able to obtain so many top-ss systems and equip them on these low-level special-ss mechas?


    In reality, Qiao Yi¡¯s thoughts were nearly correct. With the king of Mecha World, Little Four, beside Ling Lan, it could be said that the virtual world was indeed opened by them. However, Ling Lan hadn¡¯t asked Little Four to open a backdoor. She had merely asked him to give her the mission that would allow her to obtain the chameleon systems. Afterward, Ling Lan had prompted all the special-ss operators in the n to go and carry out the insanely terrifying mission.


    The task involved was a one-man mission. If a person wanted to obtain the chameleon system, he or she needed to pass the mission with his or her own ability; there was no easy way out. All the members of Lingtian had had no choice but to do it. They used their deaths to learn and gain the experiences needed to seed. They didn¡¯t know how many times they had died because all the ways they had died in were different. They died every day, died until they went crazy, died until they wanted to vomit. However, after they calmed down, they wiped their lips and continued to die.


    Not all of them had had the psychological endurance to handle such despair; almost half of the members weren¡¯t able to handle the sensation of death and started to go crazy. They became unable to differentiate reality from the virtual world and were forced out of there before they truly went crazy by Ling Lan, who had been observing them.


    Luckily, Li Shiyu had already invented medication that could cure mental illnesses. Under his treatment, these people went back to being normal. A portion of them had still wanted to continue the mission, but Ling Lan had rejected them directly. She told them that before they reached ace mecha, they were not allowed to do this mission. Otherwise, if they developed any mental illness again, it would really interfere with their minds and affect their future advancements.


    The people that failed heeded their captain¡¯s advice, as they knew that he would not lie to them. If this was what he said, this was what he meant. There were all smart people and knew what they should do.


    In the end, their hard work paid off. 9 members of the n managed to pass the mission. 5 of them were from Ling Lan¡¯s team, while the others were Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, Wu Jiong¡¯s assistant team leader Ye Xu, and one of Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s leader Gao Jinyun.

 Chapter 538 - Selfishness?

    <h4>Chapter 538: Selfishness?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Although Qiao Yi felt that Lingtian being in possession of the chameleon system would increase the difficulty for Leiting, he still believed that they had higher odds of winning. The reason he was mistaken, however, was that Ling Lan had kept herself too well hidden; from his impression of her, no matter how strong Ling Lan was, she couldn¡¯t be stronger than his own pupil, Tian Jiajun.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Not every one of Lingtian¡¯s members has the chameleon system. I saw that there were still three mechas going through the forest that haven¡¯t camouged yet.¡± The instructors that were watching the battle finally managed to breathe a sigh of relief. After so many years, the number of cadets that these instructors had once nurtured were countless. There were finally some pupils that they were proud of. However, it was only these pupils who were able to get their hands on the chameleon system before graduation.


    In the past, they could exin why the mission was perverted in nature. If the chameleon system became like corn in a field, like a piece of standard equipment for Lingtian, the instructors would definitely feel terrible about it. They might all be furious to the point of spitting blood.


    ¡°Oh yeah, did you guys see which one of the mechas belongs to Lingtian¡¯smander, Ling Lan?¡± asked an instructor who was very interested in Ling Lan. He had originally thought the mecha operated by themander would be different from the others. He remembered that one year ago, Ling Lan had operated a modified special-ss mecha that was different from standard special-ss mechas. This time, however, Lingtian¡¯s 12 mechas were roughly the same in appearance; he couldn¡¯t figure out who was who.


    ¡°Not sure.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t make it out which mecha it is.¡± The others around him also didn¡¯t know the answer and shook their heads at his question.


    ¡°Look at the serial numbers. Number one should be themander¡¯s mecha,¡± one person reminded everyone.


    ¡°I found it. Coordinates: (xx, xx). The mecha that is currently moving is Lingtian No. 1.¡± One person had already found the mecha that had Lingtian No. 1 shown on its serial number.


    Everyone¡¯s focus was on Lingtian No. 1. They saw the mecha fly quickly and move forward with finesse. Its movements were smooth and graceful. Many of the spectators praised the operator piloting Lingtian No. 1. ¡°As expected of a mecha nmander. This kind of piloting has already reached the level of a fully experienced pilot.¡±


    Seeing this, the principal asked, ¡°Tang Yu, No. 1 is Ling Lan, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    Tang Yu closely observed the movements of Lingtian No. 1, but three secondster he shook his head and replied, ¡°That¡¯s probably not Ling Lan.¡±


    The principal asked in surprise, ¡°How can you tell that No.1 isn¡¯t Ling Lan?¡±


    Tang Yu smiled slightly. ¡°The movements of the mecha are too elegant.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t elegance show that the pilot has good operating skills?¡± the principal continued to ask confusedly.


    ¡°Yes, it indeed does show that the pilot has good operating skills, but it¡¯s not limited to just that.¡± After saying this, Tang Yu couldn¡¯t help but smile before continuing. ¡°In fact, a cadet that is able to perform to this level can be considered to be quite outstanding already. Unfortunately, after having seen Ling Lan¡¯s operating skills, I actually don¡¯t think this cadet¡¯s skills are very good.¡±


    ¡°Ling Lan¡¯s operating skills have already reached that high of a level?¡±


    ¡°Simple and one with nature!¡± Tang Yu¡¯s words shook the principal. This was the foundation for advancing to imperial level. Had Ling Lan already progressed so far?


    ¡°There is no longer the pursuit for elegance in Ling Lan¡¯s operating techniques; instead, it has be simpler,¡± Tang Yu stated proudly. Thinking back to the past, Tang Yu¡¯s dazzling operating skills had begun to evolve into the simpler and more precise realm only after countless life-or-death battles. He began to understand it then, but Ling Lan had managed to gradually learn about it in the military academy. How monstrous was this type of mecha operating talent? It was as though there weren¡¯t any barriers for Ling Lan, as though he could easily find the correct direction to evolve in.


    ¡°His movements won¡¯t give you the impression of beauty or elegance. Instead, they will appear normal and uninteresting. However, each motion is even faster, stronger and more urate while simultaneously not wasting any time,¡± exined Tang Yu. ¡°If no one pays attention to those movements, they would be overlooked. Only if you focus on observing operating skills would you able to discover this secret. I¡¯m very confident when ites to Ling Lan. All the other cadets that I have taught might die on the battlefield, but I believe that only Ling Lan would be able toe back alive, even if he were put in a bad situation.¡±


    At that moment, the principal was still focused on his statement that Ling Lan¡¯s operating skills was simple and one with nature. He quietly asked, ¡°Tang Yu, tell me honestly. Can Ling Lan advance to imperial level before his fifth year?¡± If the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had a cadet that advanced to imperial level, which of the other schools would dare to meddle with the title of number one military academy? Thinking up to this point, the principal became jittery and excited.


    ¡°Not possible!¡± Tang Yu answered with confidence.


    The principal was so disappointed that it was as though he had a bucket of ice water poured over him. He looked towards Tang Yu and discovered that his expression was stern. Surprised, the principal calmed himself down and said, ¡°Sorry, Tang Yu. I got greedy.¡± He had promised to protect Ling Lan, yet after finding out that Ling Lan was capable of advancing to imperial level, his greed took over hismon sense and almost made him do something stupid.


    ¡°You are concerning yourself with too much. Ling Lan will advance to ace level in his fifth year and that¡¯s as far as he can go,¡± Tang Yu said meaningfully.


    The principal smiled with regret and didn¡¯t keep on going around in circles on the subject. He suggested, ¡°Since you said Lingtian No.1 isn¡¯t Ling Lan, then let¡¯s see who is actually who.¡±


    The audience could search up the detailed list of the battle team members for both sides. The principal inputted Lingtian No.1 in hismunicator and it disyed a list of simple details regarding Lingtian No.1.


    ¡°Lingtian No.1¡ªName: Xie Yi; Background: Descendant of an elite family; Age: 19; Physical Skills: Qi-Jin beginning level; Mecha Piloting: Special-ss; Advancement Evaluation from Advanced to Special-ss: Outstanding!¡±


    ¡°Xie Yi? I never heard of this name before. Tang Yu, do you know about him? Who knew Lingtian had this kind of expert in their n.¡± The principal wondered with marvel.


    For most students, those who had good physical skills were weaker in terms of talent in mecha piloting. If their mecha piloting talent was good, they wouldn¡¯t focus on physical skills. Usually, those who had high levels in physical skills had lower levels in mecha pilotingpared to others and vice versa. However, the information of Xie Yi that was on disy, whether it be his physical skills or mecha piloting, showed that he had already reached the highest level for his age. He had truly managed to improve both at the same time. The only reason the principal marveled at Xie Yi was that only after reaching this level would an individual understand that those capable of bing top mecha operating experts also had simrly strong physical skills.


    For example, the Federation¡¯s 12 god-ss mecha operators; their physical skills had reached the level of Domain. It could be seen that the two skillsplemented each other. If an operator only focused on mecha operating and neglected their physical skills, they would have no chance of reaching the highest level of mecha operating in the end.


    ¡°Xie Yi is a member of Ling Lan¡¯s battle team. Currently, he is given the role of right-wing vice-captain. His mecha operating skills are ranked among the top 50 in the entire military academy.¡± Tang Yu gave the principal some details about Xie Yi.


    ¡°He¡¯s still in his third year, isn¡¯t he? He¡¯s definitely a genius if he managed to get into the top 50 in only his third year. Who¡¯s his mecha instructor? Why didn¡¯t you take him as your pupil back then?¡± The principal¡¯s face was full of regret. Another genius had been held up by their circumstances.


    Tang Yu couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes. He could only take 5 students in one semester. His very own pupil, Lin Zhong-qing, was taken in through a backdoor because he enjoyed teaching geniuses. Afterward, he discovered that everyone in Ling Lan¡¯s battle team all had great potential. He also wanted to take them as his pupils.


    However, the rules of the military academy weren¡¯t that easy to override. Since they already had instructors, no matter how much Tang Yu loved teaching geniuses, he wouldn¡¯t be able to break the rules and be their instructor. If that was to happen, the entire military academy would be in a mess. Not only would the other instructors have disagreements with him, but it would also make all the cadets in the military academy be discontent. They would think this¡ªsince Tang Yu could give pointers to cadets taught by other instructors, then why couldn¡¯t he give some pointers to them as well?


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Mr. Principal, his instructor is Luo Jinan. He is also an outstanding ace operator and is extremely attentive to Xie Yi. He has mentioned many times that Xie Yi is his most prized pupil and that he wouldn¡¯t hold him back.¡± Even if Instructor Luo¡¯s teaching were not good, there was still Ling Lan looking out for Xie Yi. Tang Yu knew clearly that Ling Lan always held small training sessions for her teammates. Otherwise, could the instructors really have raised such outstanding cadets with their capabilities alone? Even Tang Yu himself didn¡¯t feel confident about that.


    ¡°So, someone as outstanding as him can only be the right-wing vice-captain? Does that punk Ling Lan have selfish motives?¡± Every battle team had their confidants and they would be usually given positions that didn¡¯t reflect their real potential due to the rtionships and feelings between everyone. The principal was worried that Ling Lan was giving out positions based on her emotions.


    Tang Yu¡¯s lip trembled for a second. Just Xie Yi alone had excited the principal this much. If he came to know that the rest of Ling Lan¡¯s battle team was entirelyposed of monstrous individuals, perhaps the principal would be so excited that his heart wouldn¡¯t be able to take it and instantly faint.


    He was very much inclined to see principal¡¯s reaction after telling him the truth. Tang Yu smiled slyly as he began, ¡°Ling Lan¡¯s battle team¡¯s vanguard is called Qi Long. His physical skills level has reached thete stages of Qi-Jin in the beginning tier. His mecha operating level is special-ss. Yes, he advanced in his second year, earlier than Xie Yi by 8 months or so. And the left-wing vice-captain, Luo Lang, possesses a physical skills level in the mid-stages of Qi-Jin in the higher tier. His mecha operating level is special-ss and he also advanced during his second year, earlier than Xie Yi by around 4 months.


    ¡°There¡¯s also my star pupil, Lin Zhong-qing. His physical skills are at the beginner stage of Qi-Jin mid-tier. The time he took to advance was onlyter than Xie Yi by one day. However, because of that one day gap, he could only get a position as a backup guard,¡± Tang Yu exined regrettably. ¡°Even their battle team¡¯s strategist has simrly reached the beginner stage of Qi-Jin lower-tier. His mecha operating level is simrly special ss. Of course, his time of advancement waster than Xie Yi by two months. However, even though it was thatte, he still managed to advance into special-ss in his third year. His talent in piloting isn¡¯t too far off from the others.¡±


    The principal took in a deep breath. Where had Ling Lan found these insanely strong individuals? Each one of them had the potential to be the valedictorian.


    However, these details wouldn¡¯t be the only things he would be stunned by; Tang Yu¡¯s following words rendered the principalpletely dumbfounded.


    ¡°These are the members that remain in the military academy. I previously mentioned that Xie Yi only managed to be the right-wing vice-captain at this stage. In the past, he wasn¡¯t even qualified because Ling Lan had three other members. They are now sixth-year cadets and have already joined the 23rd Division for their one-year internship. One of them advanced into an ace operator in their fifth year. He had the position as the main vanguard of the battle team at the time. Another one also advanced to ace level in his fifth year, but he couldn¡¯t fight for a long time, so he was given the title of Spurious Ace. At that time, he had the position of the left-wing captain of the battle team!¡±


    The principal couldn¡¯t control himself and his jaws dropped in shock¡ªTang Yu finally saw the expression he wanted to see. He was satisfied but afraid that the principal might take revenge on him; thus, he contained himself and tried his best to keep a serious face, following which he tossed out onest strike. ¡°Oh, right. Mr. Principal, do you remember the Flying Dragon medals that the military gave usst year to give out to the fifth-year military medicine major valedictorians in hopes of having them join the Flying Dragon Special Forces?¡±

 Chapter 539 - Bait?

    <h4>Chapter 539: Bait?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The principal nodded. His face showed a hint of regret as he said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t in the military academy at the time. By the time I learned about it, it was already toote for me to get back to the academy.¡± With an expression of sadness, he continued, ¡°The Flying Dragon Special Forces is a battle team that every cadet dreams of getting into. However, even a single Flying Dragon medal is rarely given out every decade. The medal represents the acknowledgement of the country that the awardee is the top in their field and possesses the most potential for growth. It is also what every student dreams about. The medal not only represents glory and status, but at the same time, it also means that you will instantly be a member of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. There would be no need for the cadets to go through a series of harsh evaluations and eliminations.¡±


    After saying all this, the principal couldn¡¯t help but hold onto his chest. ¡°Such a rare chance. That punk. Li Shiyu, was it? He actually gave up on this chance. Every time I think about it, my heart aches.¡± He recalled another Flying Dragon medal that could have been awarded many years ago¡ªthat punk Ling Xiao was also the same. The man hadn¡¯t even notified him and refused on his own ord.


    ¡°Actually, I really admire Li Shiyu. He wouldn¡¯t leave hisrades behind for a better future,¡± Tang Yu said with admiration. Even if it were he himself who was faced with the invitation into the Flying Dragon Special Forces, the honor and glory that the Flying Dragon medal had to offer would have been enough to lure him in. However, Li Shiyu had actually outright refused the invitation given by the military¡¯s representative and hadn¡¯t hesitated even one bit. Tang Yu still remembered the stunned and disbelieving expression on the representative¡¯s face; perhaps the man had never imagined someone would reject their offer.


    ¡°I think that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy will be the Flying Dragon Special Forces¡¯ nightmare in the future,¡± said Tang Yu with augh. The only two people who had ever rejected the invitation from the Flying Dragon Special Forces were both from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    The principal smiled bitterly at his words. ¡°It¡¯s possible that the military will no longer invite the First Men¡¯s Military Academy for a chance to participate in the future evaluations to enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces.¡±


    Those folks all held grudges. After Ling Xiao¡¯s rejection, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy still had outstanding students in the following years. However, the military was angered to the point of being willing to choose average cadets from other military academies, not giving a chance to the cadets from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to participate in the evaluations. Later on, the Federation finally managed to find another top cadet that made the military give up on their pride and offer that a cadet a Flying Dragon medal. Unfortunately, at that time, their graciousness was met with the cold shoulder from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy once again... Thinking up to this point, the principal felt even worse. It was possible that there was no hope for their military academy to receive an invitation to any evaluations for the Flying Dragon Special Forces in the future.


    ¡°Although the chance that slipped away is indeed very unfortunate, I still think our students don¡¯t really care about it,¡± Tang Yu said positively.


    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± the principal asked confusedly.


    ¡°There¡¯s General Ling Xiao! The 23rd Division is where our cadets want to go nowadays.¡± The Flying Dragon Special Forces was indeed a great ce to go and all their members were also indeed the top in their fields. However, all of this couldn¡¯tpare to General Ling Xiao, whom everyone looked up to. Ling Xiao¡¯s growth was like a legend and had created records one after the other. He had pressured the Flying Dragon Special Forces to the extent where they had to take a few steps back. This also made the Flying Dragon Special Forces unable to be a dream that Ling Xiao¡¯s generation chased after.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. Not even I understand what kind of godly existence that punk Ling Xiao is.¡± The principal was very much in agreement with Tang Yu.


    Tang Yu¡¯s words made the principal¡¯s mood instantly change for the better. Along with his improved mood, his logical thinking became clearer as well; he had now remembered some things that he had previously forgotten. He asked with surprise in his tone, ¡°Tang Yu, do you mean that that Li Shiyu has joined a battle team? I remember he was in the medicinal research major. Aren¡¯t those guys neutral and never join battle teams?¡±


    Even if the cadets of that major joined battle teams for different reasons, they would only sign temporary contracts. After entering a division, they would go their own separate ways. The principal had always believed that Li Shiyu was free to choose what he had wanted, but he couldn¡¯t understand why Li Shiyu would reject the invitation from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. It should be known that once he entered the Flying Dragon Special Forces, Li Shiyu would be nurtured by the country using all of their resources. With such a promising road ahead, even those who werezy and dumb could be a top expert in the field of medicine in the Federation after years of this type of nurturing.


    ¡°That¡¯s what everyone says, but there are always outliers¡ªLi Shiyu is one of them. In his fourth year, he joined Ling Lan¡¯s battle team and became the battle team¡¯s doctor.¡±


    Tang Yu¡¯s words stunned the already dumbfounded principal. If Ling Lan was with them, it was possible that the principal would hold onto her shoulders and yell at her, ¡°Sh*t, did your small battle team really need to get the valedictorian of the military medicine major as your team doctor? Don¡¯t you know that this is a big waste and a huge crime?¡±


    The principal took a deep breath and finally calmed himself down. He reluctantly rubbed his forehead and sighed as he said, ¡°Tell me, do you think this Ling Lan is trying to create his own private Flying Dragon Special Forces?¡± The members that she had taken in all made him envious. Besides, what she had done by taking the ace military doctor that the Flying Dragon Special Forces had approved of was even more so like taking prey away from a predator.


    Tang Yu thought deeply for a moment then said, ¡°That¡¯s very possible.¡± Based on Ling Lan¡¯s requirements of only taking in top tier geniuses into her team, it was definitely possible that she was trying to form a team that was of simr strength to the Flying Dragon Special Forces that the Federation had created. However, this also showed that Ling Lan¡¯s luck was insane; otherwise, how could she have so many monstrous individuals beside her?


    While the principal and Tang Yu were having this conversation, the mecha that Xie Yi was operating, as well as a mecha from Leiting, had almost simultaneously discovered one another. The audience instantly focused their attention and stared at the big screen. The distance between the two mechas was getting closer and closer...


    ¡°Found one mecha from Lingtian, serial number: Lingtian No.1!¡± This mecha¡¯s serial number was Leiting No.9. When both sides were at the distance of being able to determine the other¡¯s serial number, this operator finally found the mecha that their captain had ordered him to search for when they split up at the beginning of the battle.


    ¡°Captain, we¡¯ve discovered Lingtian No.1. Mecha Type: Bnced Mecha. Coordinates: (xx,xx).¡± The team member had decisively pressed down on the button to connect him to his captain.


    ¡°Alright, try your best to keep him busy.¡± His captain¡¯s cold voice rang from the other side of themunicator. The operator received the order and decisively took out his beam saber from his back and flew towards the opponent. He still remembered the captain telling him that although the opponent was piloting a bnced mecha, his long-range abilities were stronger. Thus, he wanted to get as close as possible to the opponent captain and try his best to engage in closebat.


    ¡°Look, Lingtian No.1 is being surrounded by Leiting mechas hundreds of yards from its location.¡± After Lingtian No.1 was discovered, the spectators saw that 4 mechas were all closing in on Lingtian No.1¡¯s location.


    ¡°Looks like Leiting wants to capture the king first and take care of Lingtian¡¯s captain.¡± Leiting¡¯s goal was very clear, but those who knew the truth of the situation all frowned. Wasn¡¯t this falling into Lingtian¡¯s trap?


    ¡°Even if they don¡¯t take out Lingtian¡¯s captain, with four people surrounding him, this Lingtian No.1 won¡¯t be able to fight them. Taking out one opponent first is also good.¡± There were still many people who favored Leiting. Compared to Lingtian, who were fighting by themselves, Leiting¡¯s members were now clearly in three-man groups. Once they sessfully created a team, things wouldn¡¯t be that easy for Lingtian even if they attempted assassinations.


    However, they couldn¡¯t deny that the battle against Lingtian No.1 was an important one. If Lingtian No.1 sessfully escaped the encirclement, he would have drawn away four opponents, taking away pressure from his other teammates. If his teammates sessfully took care of a few opponents, then the advantage would be Lingtian¡¯s side. If Lingtian No.1 couldn¡¯t endure the battle and was instantly knocked out of thepetition, Leiting¡¯s newly formed team would be able to find their next target. This way, the advantage would tilt to Leiting¡¯s side.


    Right now, however, the battle had not been decided yet. Both sides had their opportunities.


    ¡°They¡¯re here!¡± An audience member immediately shouted in excitement upon seeing Lingtian No.1 and Leiting No.9 finally enter the range for long-range fire.


    Almost simultaneously, Lingtian No.1 and Leiting No.9 instantly aimed at each other and pulled their triggers; both beam guns shot out a beam of light towards their respective targets.


    ¡°Lingtian No.1 was a bit faster.¡± Tang Yu¡¯s eyes were keen and immediately saw the difference between the two.


    ¡°This punk¡¯s long-range attack is strong, huh? He¡¯s piloting a bnced mecha. Now that I look, it should be a long-range and closebat type, isn¡¯t it?¡± the principal asked curiously.


    Tang Yu nodded, but then shook his head afterward. The principal was confused and asked, ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Tang Yu smiled bitterly. ¡°I can only tell you that Lingtian No.1¡¯s long-range skills are strong, but as to whether he is capable of closebat or not, that I¡¯m not sure.¡± He didn¡¯t even know what the Lingtian members, who were taught by their own captain, had up their sleeves. It was also because Tang Yu himself didn¡¯t know whether Ling Lan¡¯s expertisey in long range or closebat. Or was he an expert in both fields?


    In the past year, Ling Lan had already yed around with all five of the ace mechas in the military academy. Tang Yu had fought against her countless times but still couldn¡¯t find out what Ling Lan was best at. He felt that everything was around the same level. However, Tang Yu believed that that wasn¡¯t true. He thought that Ling Lan definitely had something that she was much more of an expert in; it was just that she never showed it.


    While they were talking, Lingtian No.1 and Leiting No.9 had already shot at each other many times. At that moment, Leiting No.9 was clearly being pressured by Lingtian No.1. He was dodging left and right, trying to get close to his opponent. Following every step he took, however, one sharp beam of light woulde towards him, making him step back to evade.


    ¡°Lingtian No.1¡¯s long-range abilities are strong. If we didn¡¯t know who he was, we might also have thought that Lingtian No.1 was that Ling Lan, who is also good at long range,¡± one instructor murmured upon seeing this scene. He didn¡¯t expect Lingtian to have had another long-range expert other than Ling Lan. This individual that was called Xie Yi was about the same in terms of long-range abilitiespared to theirmander.


    Right after he spoke, on the big screen, Lingtian No.1 suddenly changed his shooting motions; he was seen lifting up his mecha¡¯s right arm. Following that motion, his mecha¡¯s left hand held the bottom of his long-range beam sniper rifle as its barrel was aimed at Leiting No.9, who was moving at a rapid speed at that moment. Lingtian No.1 was also following Leiting No.9¡¯s movement patterns and changing his shooting stance to aim more urately.


    ¡°This is Ling Lan¡¯s rifle technique¡ªSelect-Fire!¡± The audience all cried out in surprise. Everyone remembered what that stance signified; it was a standard posture for a fixed-point shot. Inst year¡¯s Grand Mecha Tournament, Ling Lan had used this technique during the sports event and had it acknowledged by the Federation¡¯s headquarters. They named this attack Ling Lan¡¯s rifle technique¡ªSelect-Fire!


    However, this rifle technique couldn¡¯t be used by just anyone; only those who could urately hit their opponent would be considered to havepleted this rifle technique. Everyone held in their breaths, waiting for Lingtian No.1¡¯s attack. Was it going to just be an imitation, or was it going to be an exciting Select-Fire shot like the one Ling Lan previously performed?


    ¡°Bang!¡± A powerful beam of light shot out of the rifle barrel.


    ¡°Boom!¡± Leiting No.9¡¯s mecha suddenly exploded. Perhaps it was too fast, or perhaps Ling Lan¡¯s rifle technique had made the opponent panic. No matter what the reason was, in the end, the opponent wasn¡¯t able to dodge this shot.


    ¡°It hit?¡±


    ¡°It really hit!¡± This meant that Ling Lan¡¯s rifle technique wasn¡¯t her own and was one that could possibly be learned by everyone. This undoubtedly made everyone who was interested in Ling Lan¡¯s rifle technique burn up with passion. As long as they worked hard, one day, they could also grasp this long-range sure-kill technique.


    Xie Yi put down his beam rifle, wearing an rmed expression as he cried out, ¡°What, it worked?¡± In order to make sure he was in character, he had daringly attempted to use Select-Fire despite that his sess rate with his boss¡¯ technique was only 10%; he hadn¡¯t expected his luck to be good enough that it would actually seed on the first try.


    ¡°This way, no one will suspect that Lingtian No.1 isn¡¯t Ling Lan.¡± Everyone who was watching Xie Yi¡¯s performance all knew that Lingtian¡¯s n was to let Xie Yi pretend to be Ling Lan and attract Leiting¡¯s attention to protect the real Ling Lan.


    ¡°What¡¯s the reason behind Lingtian doing something like this?¡± one spectator asked those around him, not understanding the situation.


    ¡°Baiting! Using Lingtian No.1 as bait and drawing in Leiting¡¯s members one by one.¡± One instructor pointed at the virtual image on the optical supeputer. He clicked around Lingtian No.1 multiple times and said, ¡°Here, here, here¡ªand here. Lingtian¡¯s members have hidden at these locations. This ce is a trap. If Leiting¡¯s members move past these points and don¡¯t have their guard up... then it will be one body for each assassination.


    ¡°In the end, even if some of them get away and are sessful in containing Lingtian No.1, Lingtian won¡¯t care. After all, Lingtian No.1 is merely bait and isn¡¯t Lingtian¡¯s real leader. Even if he is defeated and eliminated, it won¡¯t affect Lingtian¡¯s morale that much. No matter how you look at it, if they manage to take out many members of Leiting and only lose Lingtian No.1, it would be well worth the trade of one for many.¡±


    Hearing this instructor¡¯s exnation, those who didn¡¯t understand now understood and they couldn¡¯t help but take in a heavy breath. There were people that also said, ¡°Lingtian¡¯s really ruthless. They are actually willing to let an outstanding member be bait. However, this bait was very sessful. They won¡¯t have to worry about Leiting not biting.¡±


    At that moment, the Leiting members who did not know the situation moved towards the coordinates that their captain had given them, while the observing instructors all shook in their heads in silence. Before even mentioning piloting capabilities, Leiting had already lost to Lingtian in terms of strategy alone.


    Upon hearing the instructors beside him marvel at the situation, Qiao Yi¡¯s face became pale and his expression turned slightly anxious. He hoped that his own disciples could look past Lingtian¡¯s trap and not be so easily fooled.


    In contrast to the instructors who didn¡¯t really know about Ling Lan¡¯s capabilities, Tang Yu didn¡¯t agree with what the rest thought; he didn¡¯t believe that Lingtian¡¯s n was to have Lingtian No.1 act as bait. Tang Yu believed that even if all 12 members of Leiting were to go up against Ling Lan together, as long as she was careful, they wouldn¡¯t have any chance of defeating her. Therefore, who was more suitable and safer than Ling Lan to be the bait?


    ¡°This punk Ling Lan has always been a remarkable one. What is he nning?¡± Tang Yu went into deep thought.

 Chapter 540 - Ambush?

    <h4>Chapter 540: Ambush?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    One member from Leiting had been eliminated. They didn¡¯t panic after receiving news of this, however; they knew that Ling Lan was the strongest in Lingtian. It was normal that their team members would not be able to fight him and natural that they would lose one or two of their members. Leiting had already known what was going to happen before they got to Xie Yi¡¯s location.


    At that moment, a Leiting mecha was quickly flying past a rocky mountain formation towards Lingtian No.1¡¯s location. This pilot didn¡¯t know that a mecha was lying in wait just on top of the rocks.


    ¡°Who¡¯s the guy with the balls to actually walk over my head?¡± Qi Long looked up at the mecha that flew over him, following which he speedily shifted the beam gun on his mecha¡¯s right hand to lock on to the opponent. He naturally didn¡¯t forget to check the opponent¡¯s data and information beforehand.


    ¡°Beep, beep. Information received. ID: Leiting No.1!¡± The optical supeputer responsibly ryed the information that it had searched and found.


    ¡°Leiting No.1?¡± Qi Long instantly became excited. He hadn¡¯t expected that he would finally have a huge fish take the bait after he hadid there for so long.


    ¡°Qi Long, let him pass.¡± Right at that moment, Ling Lan¡¯s cold and sharp voice rang in the teammlink channel.


    ¡°Ah? Ugh... roger.¡± Qi Long was immediately dumbfounded at hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words right when he was about to make a move; however, even if Qi Long didn¡¯t understand Ling Lan¡¯s orders, he would still follow them. He ceased locking on to the enemy and watched as Leiting No.1 flew out of his line of sight.


    ¡°Boss, I really want to fight that Leiting No.1,¡± Qi Long said regrettably. After all, Leiting No.1 was the strongest individual in Leiting. Before the battle had begun, Qi Long actually hoped that he could fight with Leiting No.1. Unfortunately, his boss had other ns and didn¡¯t give him that opportunity.


    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be meaningful if you fought him, but Xie Yi needs the experience,¡± exined Ling Lan.


    Qi Long¡¯s expression showed that he understood, ¡°So, Boss, you mean that we¡¯re going to use this chance to let Leiting No.1 help us detonate the dark energy being held back by Xie Yi?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Because of the opponent, Xie Yi¡¯s guard won¡¯t be too strong. Once he has thoughts of bing stronger or winning, there¡¯ll be an opportunity for that dark energy to seep out.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what condition Xie Yi would end up in if he were controlled by the dark energy and she was very interested in knowing the oue.


    Not everyone was lucky like Leiting No.1, deliberately given a pass. Ling Lan¡¯s target had always been Leiting No.1. As for the others, she didn¡¯t meddle with her team members¡¯ decisions. The same situation was ying out at a different corner of the map.


    When a few of Leiting¡¯s mechas passed by the hidden mechas of Lingtian that were using the chameleon system, thetter group bared their vicious fangs as one and made a move on these rapidly advancing opponents who did not have their guard up at all.


    Bang! The sounds of explosions resulting from beams projectiles making their mark on mechas rang through the silent forest, which instantly alerted everyone around the area. One Leiting mecha¡¯s cockpit was instantly hit¡ªhe was eliminated without the chance to even say a word.


    Unfortunately, the map was toorge; the movements and sounds that had urred at this location were not known to the others in different locations. The members of Leiting could only see that they had lost one member once again on the corner of their mecha¡¯s screen, but they could not figure out how that teammate was defeated. Thus, the second member from Leiting followed in his teammate¡¯s footsteps and was also hit while he wasn¡¯t paying attention.


    Still, not every member from Lingtian was that lucky and not every member from Leiting was that unlucky. When a third mecha from Leiting moved past one of Lingtian¡¯s ambush points, its operator instinctively sensed the presence of danger when he was about to be attacked; he had actually managed to avoid suffering a fatal blow by coincidence. The beam shot had hit his thigh and he luckily got away.


    ¡°How unfortunate!¡± Luo Lang said depressedly, having missed his shot. Nevertheless, he didn¡¯t move and waited patiently for the next opportunity toe by.


    ¡°Enemies! Where exactly are they?¡± The Leiting member who had gotten away was having cold sweats. He turned his mecha¡¯s radar up to maximum range, but it showed no reaction at all as though that beam shot had just been an illusion.


    It was quiet all around him, but at that moment, the silence made the Leiting member feel that he was grave danger. He took a deep breath and calmed himself, following which he decisively connected to his captain¡¯smlink channel. ¡°Captain, I was just attacked by Lingtian, but my radar can¡¯t find any traces of the attacker.¡±


    Tian Jiajun¡¯s expression changed at these words and the first thing he thought of was the chameleon system. Although this system was considered to be a piece of high-end equipment in the Mecha World and was hard to obtain, that didn¡¯t mean that it was impossible to acquire. He believed that the members of Lingtian had already gotten their hands on this system, but he just didn¡¯t know how many of them were actually equipped with it.


    ¡°I hope that there are only one or two mechas from Lingtian that has this perverted system. Otherwise, our circumstances in thispetition will be disadvantageous.¡± Tian Jiajun¡¯s expression became grave.


    ¡°Activate your reserve thermal radar. The instant the opponent uses their beam energy supply, the radar will be able to find them,¡± Tian Jiajun ordered immediately. Although they didn¡¯t have the hawkeye system, special-ss mechas could only be equipped with low-level chameleon systems; the thermal radar would still be able to find some heat signatures. It was only that these signatures would disappear within moments and detection of them was also dependent on whether his team members would be able to control the thermal radar well.


    ¡°Also, be wary of cold weapon ambushes by the opponents.¡± Thermal radars could only detect beam gun energy signals. If the opponents used cold weapons to ambush them, then the radar would be useless.


    After receiving Tian Jiajun¡¯s orders, the members of Leiting all began to be on guard for Lingtian¡¯s ambushes. As expected, the next time they came under beam fire by Lingtian, they were able to find the location of the heat source using their thermal radars. Those who reacted quickly simultaneously dodged the beam shots and pounced towards the location that the thermal radar had marked.


    Of course, this portion of Leiting members had luck on their side. The Lingtian members who ambushed them only had beam gunners and no cold weapon users, as expected. Surprise attacks using cold weapons would make it hard for Leiting to defend, however, and they lost another team member from this type of ambush. For Leiting, the situation suddenly went from bad to worse. They had 12 people in the beginning, but were down to only 8 within fleeting moments of time. They had almost lost close to half their numbers.


    Of course, Ling Lan didn¡¯t pay much attention to the Lingtian members who were ambushing or fighting the Leiting members. In truth, Ling Lan didn¡¯t waste too much time thinking about this challenge matchpared to the one a year ago. Leiting no longer had a strong ace mecha master like Qiao Ting and Ling Lan believed that her team members wouldn¡¯t lose to their opponents. She knew very well that whether a mecha n had a chance for long-term development was not based on how strong themander was, but instead based on whether or not the n itself had reliable strength.


    Therefore, if Lingtian wanted to develop and be stronger, its members had to mature more quickly. They had to be a n in the military academy that would not be easily defeated, and only then would Lingtian be able to continue developing in the future.


    In the area of the challenge match, while Lingtian was preying on Leiting, thetter was also preying on the former¡¯s members. Three mechas from Lingtian had their locations exposed. Other than Xie Yi, who had his orders to pretend to be Ling Lan and draw the enemy¡¯s fire, the other two members could only be exposed in front of Leiting¡¯s members because they hadn¡¯t finished the mission for the chameleon system. This led to the Leiting members, who had already gathered up, mercilessly moving towards them to form an encirclement.


    Although the chameleon system was very powerful when it came to camouging ability, the system would be as good as useless once the user¡¯s movements became exposed. Since the first assassination attempt by Lingtian was evaded by the opponent, they would no longer have the advantage they had in the beginning. If Lingtian wanted to defeat their opponent, they would have to rely on their own strength.


    Two sides fighting each other would naturally result in one person winning and one losing. Many members of Lingtian were defeated at the end of fierce fighting against the members of Leiting. Afterwards, smoke filled the air as battles took ce everywhere on the map. The numbers of both sides were slowly dwindling, and those who were able to stay alive until the end would definitely be the strongest out of both teams.


    Tang Yu looked around and discovered that Ling Lan wasn¡¯t amidst the Lingtian members who had appeared in front of everyone. He frowned and suspected that perhaps Ling Lan wasn¡¯t even going to make a move. Was the only reason he had joined this match was to act as insurance to make sure Lingtian didn¡¯t lose?


    Due to Ling Lan¡¯s arrangements, Tian Jiajun flew his mecha smoothly all the way towards Xie Yi¡¯s location.


    Xie Yi saw Leiting No.1ing towards him and he instantly grew excited, as Ling Lan had told him before the match that his mission was to keep Leiting No.1 busy and hold him back. Before his teammates couldpletely wipe out the rest of the members from Leiting, he had to keep Leiting No.1 upied.


    Tian Jiajun¡¯s goal was the same as Xie Yi¡¯s; the mission he had received was to first make sure Lingtian No.1 was held up. As for the others, he would act ordingly as the situation required him to.


    The eyes of these two individuals met up, but they didn¡¯t stop to say anything and instead drew out their weapons to engage in battle. Both of them were piloting bnced mechas, which were good for both ranged and close quartersbat. Therefore, once they entered the range for long-range attacks, both of them raised the beam gun in their hand in unnned unison and attacked their opponent.


    Tian Jiajun had been stuck at special-ss operator level for more than one year and only needed a catalyst to advance to be an ace operator. His piloting skills were naturally not like Xie Yi¡¯s, who had just advanced to special-ss operator. After Xie Yi probed his opponent in the first few exchanges, he reigned in the impulse of wanting to defeat his opponent and began to carefully try to keep him busy instead.


    At that moment, Xie Yi was performing just like normal. Ling Lan had been watching Xie Yi all this time and upon seeing that his performance was very normal, she knew that Tian Jiajun wasn¡¯t giving Xie Yi enough pressure.


    ¡°Leiting No.1¡¯s desire to win isn¡¯t very high, it seems.¡± Ling Lan had discovered that Tian Jiajun¡¯s way of fighting was cautious, even a bit restrained. Could it be that he didn¡¯t dare to make a careless move due to thinking Lingtian No.1 was her?


    She had to think of something to make Leiting No.1 be desperate.


    Ling Lan fell into brief thought before connecting to Qi Long¡¯smlink channel. ¡°Qi Long, pretend to be losing and lure your opponent to the coordinates (xx, xx).¡±


    Hearing this, Qi Long knew that his boss had some sort of n. He didn¡¯t ask any questions and responded with a ¡°roger¡±.


    Qi Long was secretly overjoyed. In order to avoid being bored after his fight, he had wanted to battle with his opponent for a longer period of time. Thus, he had concealed a portion of his strength and fought on even grounds with his opponent. If he had started with full strength from the start and pressured his opponent, it would have been difficult for him to feign that he was losing.


    Qi Long continued to trade several more blows with his opponent before he pretended to show weakness and then drew back his cold weapon, following which he turned around and desperately flew towards the coordinates Ling Lan had indicated.


    Seeing the opportunity to take down his opponent, the Leiting member naturally wouldn¡¯t let it pass by; he immediately piloted his mecha to follow Qi Long. Seeing this, Qi Long was relieved. He fought back for moments at a time, before running for another moment, then rinse and repeat. As this continued, they finally arrived at that location that Ling Lan had given him.

 Chapter 541 - Pet!

    <h4>Chapter 541: Pet!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Two mechas in the midst of a fierce fought abruptly dropped into Qi Long¡¯s line of sight and before he could stop to think think, he heard Ling Lan¡¯s voice ring out once again. ¡°Continue to fight. This time you have to pressure your opponent, but don¡¯t kill him in an instant. You have to give him hope of being able to endure.¡±


    Qi Long couldn¡¯t help but groan. His boss¡¯ requests were bing increasingly trickier. He had to pressure the opponent, but at the same time give him hope. It was really making it hard for someone who fought wildly like him. It should be known that his way of fighting was to either hide his strength and be on par with his opponent, or go full throttle for an instant takedown. He had never tried pressuring an opponent while not winning the battle.


    ¡°How really troublesome!¡± mumbled Qi Long depressedly. Nevertheless, he didn¡¯t dare to go against his boss¡¯ orders. Besides, he knew that there was a deeper meaning to thetter¡¯s instruction. If he couldn¡¯t do as his boss asked, his life after the match would be very miserable. In order to make sure he lived a bit morefortably, he had to finish the mission his boss had given him no matter what.


    Qi Long pumped himself up before turning around to fly towards the Leiting mecha that had chased him all the way there.


    This special-ss operator from Leiting also caught a glimpse of his captain, but before he couldmunicate with his captain, his opponent actually stopped running and immediately pounced on him with his weapon in hand.


    At that moment, he still had no knowledge of having fallen into a trap. Once he saw Qi Long move towards him, he thought that was exactly what he wanted and thus, he also raised his weapon and flew towards Qi Long. When their weapons shed, though, the heart of the Leiting special-ss operator jumped a beat; the power behind his opponent¡¯s strike this time was twice as powerfulpared to what he felt in their previous bout of fighting. This huge force instantly bounced his weapon backward.


    It was a good thing that his reactions were quick; he felt that he couldn¡¯t withstand the blow and dodged with his mecha, making sure that his opponent didn¡¯t take the chance to strike him. However, even though he managed to do all this, the edge of the other party¡¯s de still shed the side of his mecha. The Leiting special-ss operator could feel that if that had been a clean hit, he would either be dead or heavily wounded.


    At that moment, the special-ss operator understood everything. The running away and show of weakness were only his opponent pretending. It had been to deliberately lure him to this ce¡ªhe had actually fallen into a trap.


    After realizing the situation, the member from Leiting couldn¡¯t help but be anxious. However, when he saw his captain gaining the upper-hand, his wavering heart instantly steeled. Tian Jiajun was another powerful individual who inspired the trust of his team members. It was just that Tian Jiajun was always low-key, thus he never had the chance to take the position ofmander and instead became the vicemander.


    However, Tian Jiajun didn¡¯t care. He wasn¡¯t like the power-hungry Lin Zhidong, who still wouldn¡¯t let go of his power in his fifth year to focus on getting ready for the military division evaluations. Tian Jiajun had been determined to join the 23rd Division since the previous year. Although he was stuck at the peak of special-ss operator level and had no luck with advancing to ace operator, he had nheless never changed his decision to register for the 23rd Division.


    Their year¡¯s division evaluations wereing up in the near future and he wanted to join the 23rd Division to repay Boss Huo¡¯s nurturing. Huo Zhenyu had personally seen potential in Tian Jiajun and was also the one who had recruited him. Tian Jiajun had kept this graciousness in mind and also wanted to repay the care that Leiting had given him in these past few years. That was why he was given the task to lead the other experts of Leiting to participate in thispetitive match that would decide the n¡¯s future fate.


    The team member saw that Tian Jiajun had somewhat of an advantage and this caused him to have more fighting spirit. As long as he was able to hold on, once his captain defeated his opponent, he would definitely be able to lend a helping hand. Afterward, when the two of them teamed up, they would be able to defeat this annoying mecha operator of Lingtian who was standing in front of him.


    This Leiting member hated Qi Long, this sly deceiver, with all his heart. If Qi Long¡¯s power was stronger than him by just a bit, he wouldn¡¯t have harbored hate or regret and would have felt it normal for him to lose. However, it was clear that Qi Long was stronger than him, yet he pretended to be weaker to deceive him... wasn¡¯t he just being toyed around with? It was like he was being bullied.


    Holding this resentment in his heart, the Leiting member naturally didn¡¯t want to simply lose to this despicable punk, Qi Long. Additionally, he also had a chance to turn his imminent defeat into a victory with his captain by his side. Thus, he mustered all his strength to continue the fight. Faced with Qi Long¡¯s barrage of attacks, he still managed to endure even though he seemed at the end of his road after so many attacks.


    While Tian Jiajun was attacking Xie Yi, he also noticed his teammate¡¯s situation. Tian Jiajun knew that he couldn¡¯t wait any more when he saw that his teammate could no longer endure Qi Long¡¯s attacks.


    After probing each other during this time, Tian Jiajun felt that his opponent was better than him at mecha piloting. Of course, his opponent still hadn¡¯t used his final technique. Tian Jiajun wasn¡¯t sure whether or not he would be able to dodge it. After all, it was something that hadn¡¯t happened yet, something no one could confirm. However, Tian Jiajun was confident in himself. When he first joined Leiting, he was the only one to dare challenge Qiao Ting when he was at special-ss level. Thus, even though he felt uncertainties about his opponent, Tian Jiajun still decided to make his move.


    Although Tian Jiajun was full of fighting spirit, he still remained calm when he took action. He carefully looked for a w in Lingtian No.1¡¯s piloting. Tian Jiajun knew very well that this person in front of him had once defeated Qiao Ting, an ace operator. Although Qiao Ting¡¯s mecha had been severely damaged back then and Qiao Ting himself was exhausted, making the record of that fight less truthful than it actually was, Tian Jiajun still couldn¡¯t deny that it was the only match where Qiao Ting was defeated while he was still in the military academy. That result was enough to make Tian Jiajun attach importance to Lingtian No.1.


    Thus, even though his teammate¡¯s situation was extremely dangerous, Tian Jiajun still decided to wait for an opportunity¡ªand his waiting bore results. After around 30 seconds, he discovered a w in Lingtian No.1¡¯s piloting.


    This is the moment! Tian Jiajun decisively made his move and targeted that weak point. The attack was so sudden that Xie Yi knew he was in trouble. He tried his best to block, but he was still a bit slower.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Tian Jiajun¡¯s cold weapon struck the shoulder of Xie Yi¡¯s mecha and thetter was sent flying by this incredible force to crash into a towering tree.


    ¡°Snap!¡± A branch of the towering tree was snapped off by Xie Yi as he attempted to bnce himself. However, due to this branch reducing the force the of the hit, Xie Yi was able to regain control of his mecha.


    Seeing his chance, Tian Jiajun naturally wouldn¡¯t let up. While Xie Yi was still trying to bnce his mecha, Tian Jiajun pounced on him and attacked wildly. At that moment, Xie Yi had lost the upper hand and no chance to dodge. He could only take Tian Jiajun¡¯s attacks head on.


    Thus, those watching Qi Long and the member from Leiting were once again focused on Xie Yi and Tian Jiajun. It was just that now Xie Yi was like the member from Leiting. He was being attacked by Tian Jiajun without any chance to counterattack. The situation instantly became a crisis.


    ¡°As expected, as long as Tian Jiajun uses all his strength, it¡¯s possible that no one else from Lingtian would be able to go against him other than Ling Lan. That Xie Yi is going to lose soon, isn¡¯t he?¡± The instructors¡¯ eyes were sharp and they saw the difference in strength between Xie Yi and Tian Jiajun. Everyone believed that Xie Yi was in trouble this time.


    Tang Yu wasn¡¯t affected by the opinions of those around him. At that moment, he was searching for the name of Lingtian No.6, who was drawing closer to Xie Yi. Qi Long¡¯s name quickly entered his vision. Seeing another one of his star disciples appear, he couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°I knew it! It¡¯s this punk! I was wondering just now why this Lingtian No.6¡¯s movements were so familiar.¡±


    All this time, Tang Yu had thought that Qi Long¡¯s serial number would either be No.2 or No.3; he did not think that it would actually be No.6. It seemed that Lingtian did not organize the numbers based on their power levels.


    At that moment, Tang Yu didn¡¯t know that other than the arranged No.1 that given to Xie Yi, all the other numbers were given to everyone through drawing lots right before the battle began. This was why Qi Long was No.6. Thus, it would be impossible to guess whom the operator was just going by their serial numbers.


    The principal heard Tang Yu¡¯sugh and asked curiously, ¡°Who¡¯s number six?¡±


    ¡°Qi Long, one of the five disciples that I teach,¡± Tang Yu replied with a smile. Compared to Ling Lan, who was a disciple on paper, Qi Long was considered a real disciple. Other than his disciple Lin Zhong-qing, whom he favored, Qi Long was also someone he paid close attention to and invested much time and energy in teaching.


    ¡°Oh, is he the cadet that you were just talking about, the one that has the position as main vanguard for Ling Lan¡¯s battle team?¡± The principal recalled their previous conversation.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Tang Yu nodded.


    ¡°It looks like Xie Yi isn¡¯t on the same level as Tian Jiajun. Do you think Qi Long will able to take Tian Jiajun on?¡± the principal asked with great interest.


    Tang Yu showed a hint of pride as he said, ¡°Of course. I believe he will be the next Qiao Ting.¡±


    Tang Yu¡¯s words stunned the principal, who looked at the former with a dumbfounded look, desiring to confirm the truth of his words.


    Tang Yu nodded his head firmly. ¡°Qi Long has now reached the peak of special-ss. Unless Ling Lan has other ns, it won¡¯t a problem for him to advance to ace level in the first half of his fourth year.¡±


    The principal¡¯s breathing became slightly hurried. A single Qiao Ting was already a prodigy that was difficult to find within a single decade. He hadn¡¯t expected that their military academy was going to have another paragon prodigy after only three years. The principal was extremely excited. He opened his mouth to take a breath, barely managing to hold down his hystericalughter. ¡°Will he run into a bottleneck when he advances to ace level? How are you so sure that Qi Long will be able to break through in one year?¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure before. But some time ago, I discovered that the bottleneck in Qi Long¡¯s mind had actually disappeared. If not for the fact that Qi Long¡¯s piloting skills haven¡¯t reached that level yet, it would have been possible for him to have already reached ace level by now.¡± After saying this, Tang Yu couldn¡¯t help but be green with envy. Back then, when he and his buddies were advancing to ace level, they spent a long time before getting past the bottleneck in their mind.


    ¡°Some people are just blessed by god!¡± The principal had seen such an individual before and that person was Ling Xiao. Normally, bottlenecks existed in the process of advancing to ace, imperial and god level without exception. Many people would be stuck at these bottlenecks for their entire lives, but Ling Xiao didn¡¯t experience anything like them. In six years, he quickly advanced from ace level to god level. He became the ultimate weapon of the Federation at a dumbfounding speed and it was this impossible advancement speed of his that had helped him survive his future days.


    By the time the enemy nations saw Ling Xiao as a big threat, he had already reached god-level. Assassinations had be useless. In the end, they had to use and give up many divisions in order to just trap Ling Xiao...

 Chapter 542 - The Devil In The Heart!

    <h4>Chapter 542: The Devil In The Heart!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The principal remembered the bloodshed 19 years ago¡ªthe Federation had almost copsed after that period of time. Luckily, Ling Xiao came back alive three years ago. When the principal remembered this, his excited heart calmed down. In order to protect his students, he needed to forget about everything that happened in front of his eyes.


    ¡°If you can, let Qi Long advance at ater time,¡± the principal said with a sigh.


    Tang Yu gave a grateful look at the principal upon hearing his words. He respected thetter. The man cared greatly for his students, so he didn¡¯t want to use talented students to promote himself to a higher office.


    While Tang Yu was talking to the principal regarding Qi Long, Xie Yi was facing a great crisis. He was steadily losing his grounds. In the face of crisis, the dark energy suppressed in his body exploded.


    Tian Jiajun didn¡¯t show any mercy this time and Xie Yi¡¯sck of foundation was exposed. After taking several hard blows, Xie Yi realized that he had reached his limit. It was possible that he would be defeated by his opponent soon and kicked out of the battle.


    Rivulets of sweat dripped down furiously from his forehead. He was frustrated. If he ended up so simply defeated like this, how could he answer to the trust that his boss had in him?


    Ever since he found out that he was going to be the substitute for his boss, Xie Yi was excited. He had managed to get this position despite there being other candidates such as Qi Long and Luo Lang, and this showed how much his boss trusted him.


    Xie Yi appeared to be a bright and optimistic young man who was confident in everything he did; however, deep down inside, he had always been questioning himself because he wasn¡¯t one of his boss¡¯ most trustedpanions.


    Xie Yi hadn¡¯t joined Ling Lan¡¯s team at a very good time. When he joined, Ling Lan had been heavily injured and had to leave the school for three years to recuperate. He didn¡¯t interact with Ling Lan for three years, but he managed to form a good rtionship with the rest of the team. He treasured these rtionships. However, he knew that he would only be able to walk into the hearts of his team members by gaining recognition from Ling Lan. This had made him agitated, made him yearn to be recognized by Ling Lan.


    Hence, Xie Yi was always anxious. When his boss came back, he knew what was the most important thing hecked. It was time! He hadn¡¯t grown up together with his boss. Thus, he lost the opportunity to go through thick and thin with the other team members, which made it difficult for him to gain a position in Ling Lan¡¯s heart to be one of his trustedpanions.


    This was why Ling Lan would not care about him liked how he cared for Qi Long and Luo Lang. Ling Lan would not scold him, hit him, and order him around like the rest of the team members. Ling Lan was merely polite with him, or in other words, he ignored him totally.


    Yes. He was just an unimportant person to his boss. He could only follow behind Qi Long and Luo Lang, trying to make his presence known... that feeling was too frustrating! However, there was nothing he could do. He had missed out on the best moments to form a bond with his boss. He couldn¡¯t even me his boss for treating him this way.


    Sometimes, Xie Yi would regret hiding his real power in the past. Why had he feigned weakness back then? If he had shown his true power, he might have been able to enter Special ss A and grow up together with his boss. At the very least, he could have be like Lin Zhong-qing, be the boss¡¯ most trusted assistant.


    Xie Yi felt regret, but he shouldn¡¯t be!


    The Xie family had a long history. Their family background could bepared with that of the important families of the Federation, or perhaps they were even stronger, but the only reason why the Xie family didn¡¯t be an elite family was due to their special gics.


    In the past, the Xie family had gained fame in the Federation due to their special gics. However, this very same reason caused them their downfall. The special gics of the Xie family allowed its descendants to be able to learn things faster than an ordinary person; their speed of learning wasparable to a genius. There would be someone like this in every generation of the Xie family.


    If these descendants grew up to be a leader, Xie family would not fall to ruin. Unfortunately, these descendants did make it in the end. The special gics granted the descendants of the Xie family a strong learning ability, but it came with a painful price¡ªthe descendants of the Xie family would easily sumb to the devil in their heart.


    If the descendants of the Xie family led a smooth and happy life, they could escape from this fate; however, who could guarantee that their life would be smooth sailing the entire way? Life was long, things would happen. Regret was the emotion that the Xie family was most afraid of. Once this emotion appeared, the devil in their hearts would appear too. It would grow to be a powerful, dark energy.


    If the descendants from the Xie family couldn¡¯t suppress this dark energy, their character would utterly change. Most of them would be heartless, evil, and vicious. Some might evenmit unforgivable crimes and cause bloodshed.


    When this happened, the elders of the Xie family woulde out to personally kill these people. Hence, the talented descendants of the Xie family died one by one. In the end, the once morous Xie family fell from grace and never returned to their prime again.


    In truth, if Xie Yi hadn¡¯t joined Ling Lan¡¯s battle team, the devil in his heart would not have appeared so quickly¡ªit might never have appeared in his entire life¡ªbut he had joined the team and felt the difference in treatment from Ling Lan. He was frustrated, irritated, remorseful and angry. All kinds of negative emotions exploded in him and, to no surprise, the devil in his heart appeared. This dark energy had grown increasingly stronger as time passed. Every time it exploded, Xie Yi needed to use more effort to suppress it.


    Xie Yi was unable to ept defeat. ¡°I swore toplete the task my boss gave me. I can¡¯t just lose like this.¡± Yes, he had worked hard for so long and finally earned this chance. If he failed, he would be going back to square one again.


    ¡°Tsk. If you don¡¯t want to lose, why not hand over your body to me?¡± The voice that had been pestering Xie Yi all these years appeared again.


    ¡°Why should I?¡± Xie Yi shot back with bloodshot eyes.


    ¡°Because you are too weak. So weak that I look down on you.¡± Xie Yi saw a ck and white figure appear in front of him¡ªthis was the first time the voice had manifested as a figure.


    When Xie Yi saw the figure¡¯s face, his eyes narrowed. ¡°Who are you?¡± The figure had the same face as him. However, the figure¡¯s smile was eerie.


    ¡°Who am I?¡± The figure gave a sinister smile. ¡°You are so stupid. You raised me and now, you are asking me who I am?¡±


    Xie Yi¡¯s eyes turned cold. ¡°Are you going to tell me that you are me?¡±


    ¡°Tsk, tsk. Actually, you know it. You know how I came about, yet you are still deceiving yourself. What is the use of that?¡± The figure showed an eerie smile. His voice was filled with sarcasm and contempt.


    Xie Yi was speechless. He shouted angrily, ¡°Get away from me. Don¡¯t affect my battle.¡± Xie Yi knew that he was still in the battle and didn¡¯t have the time to be bothered by this figure.


    ¡°Affect you? I am helping you. With your skills now, you are not his match,¡± the figure retorted mercilessly.


    ¡°Can you defeat him then?¡± Xie Yi sneered.


    ¡°Of course!¡± the figure said confidently. ¡°I am not a weakling like you. You are able to naturally control me because you raised me. If it wasn¡¯t for this fact, with my power, I would have taken control over this body a long time ago.¡±


    ¡°Take control?¡± Xie Yi¡¯s heart jumped.


    ¡°Yes, take control. The bloodline of the Xie family follows one rule¡ªthe survival of the fittest. Their descendants have two personalities the moment they are born, so the strongest one will take over the body. Last time, you were strong so you took over. This time, I am stronger so I should be in control. You should move aside now.¡± The figure smiled coldly. There was killing intent in his eyes.


    The figure knew the secret of the Xie family¡¯s bloodline. The descendants of the Xie family had two personalities when they were born. The personality that was weaker would be suppressed and would enter deep sleep. The stronger personality would take control of the body. However, this could change. When the sleeping personality woke up and grew stronger, the two personalities would battle it out again and the winner would control the body. This was why the descendants of the Xie family would suddenly undergo a change in their character...


    The alter ego was ambitious. He not only wanted temporary control of the body, but he also wanted to control it forever. Hence, he needed to destroy this main personality that had been controlling the body for 19 years!


    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it.¡± Xie Yi was unwilling to move aside. He had just gained the trust of his boss and be a true member of the battle team. How could he bear to give this up so easily?


    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it? Are you willing to lose to your opponent again and lose the most important thing that you wanted?¡± The figure struck at Xie Yi where it hurt him most.


    ¡°Actually, you should try to believe me. After all, you raised me. I am still you. Once I defeat the opponent, we cane back to talk about our business.¡± The figure tempted Xie Yi. Thetter knew that the figure was just luring him in, but his heart wavered.


    Xie Yi knew that he had reached his limit; he would lose this battle if he continued like this. He would not be able toplete the mission that his boss gave him and he wouldn¡¯t have the face to go back and see his boss.


    The images of numerous faces shed past his mind¡¯s eye and in the end, his thoughts came to rest on one pretty and smiling face. His eyes became firm. ¡°I hope you will keep your words.¡±


    After he finished, Xie Yi released his suppression on the figure and a powerful, dark energy exploded from his body...

 Chapter 543 - Merging With The Mecha!

    <h4>Chapter 543: Merging With The Mecha!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan had been observing Xie Yi all this while and she sensed the sinister energy that suddenly exploded¡ªit hade fast and furious. She couldn¡¯t help but frown. She thought that the light energy would resist against the dark energy, but from the look of things, the light energy didn¡¯t stop the dark energy at all; they seemed to havee to some sort of agreement. Ling Lan was not sure if this was a good or bad thing.


    Xie Yi¡¯s expression changed, bing dark and sinister. He blinked and smiled, saying, ¡°Haha, I can finally feel the air in this world. This sofortable!¡±


    The next second, his eyes turned cold. ¡°You are stupid. You believed me so easily...¡± He went through the memories of this body and saw the smiling face within its depths. ¡°So this is the reason? I need to find this person and have a chat with him. Hahaha...¡± A coldugh came from Xie Yi¡¯s mouth.


    Suddenly, he frowned. ¡°Huh? You are resisting so violently... seems like this person is very important to you.¡± His eyes turned sinister. This person might cause him to lose to the main personality.


    At this moment, Tian Jiajun¡¯s attack came.


    Xie Yi narrowed his eyes and immediately made a move; his fingers moved so quickly that only lingering afterimages could be seen.


    ¡°nk!¡± His mecha raised itsrge sword to block Tian Jiajun¡¯s attack.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Tian Jiajun frowned, feeling that his opponent was much stronger than before.


    His opponent had already been on the brink of defeat, but how had he be so strong suddenly? Was he putting all his energy in this onest attack? Tian Jiajun became vignt and started operating his mecha carefully.


    ¡°This hand speed is already at the peak of the special-ss level, isn¡¯t it?¡± The reaction speed of Xie Yi¡¯s mecha, as well as its disy of power, had caused Ling Lan to raise her eyebrows slightly and then she smiled. She hadn¡¯t expected that the power, which Xie Yi had been suppressing, to be so strong. It had exceeded her expectation.


    ¡°Tsk, tsk. This is the person who almost defeated you? You are shaming the Xie family.¡± Even as Xie Yi mockingly said this, his fingers never stopped moving.


    Xie Yi¡¯s mecha raised the cold weapon in its hand, rushed forward all of a sudden and swung its weapon fiercely. ¡°Look carefully. This is the kind of strength this body should be disying. You are not worthy of controlling this body.¡±


    ¡°ng!¡± The tworge swords shed and an ear-shattering sound echoed through the sky.


    Tian Jiajun forced himself to take Xie Yi¡¯s attack and flew back for over 10 meters. He steadied his body and looked at the mecha opposite him in disbelief. ¡°How did he increase his power so much in such a short period of time? I didn¡¯t even manage to catch his attack.¡±


    Tian Jiajun didn¡¯t get the time to reach a conclusion; Xie Yi didn¡¯t stop and continued attacking him after he gained the upper hand.


    ¡°ng, ng, ng...¡± Therge swords of the two mecha struck against each other as Xie Yi continued to unleash furious blows upon Tian Jiajun. Thetter had lost his advantage now and could only block the attacks while patiently waiting for an opportunity to strike back.


    ¡°Hahaha, this feels so good. Are you watching me? The opponent that you can¡¯t defeat is nothing in my hands. What right do you have to control this body? If you understand the situation, be obedient and go to sleep.¡± Xie Yiughed crazily. He had been suppressed for all these years so when he finally took control of his body, he vented out all his frustration. The feeling was so amazing that he didn¡¯t want to let go of it.


    ¡°What is happening? Why did Lingtian No. 1 be so powerful?¡± The change of position between Xie Yi and Tian Jiajun immediately caught the attention of the instructors.


    ¡°This is not possible. Jiajun will not lose to his opponent.¡± Tian Jiajun¡¯s instructor, Qiao Yi, had a look of disbelief on his face. In his heart, Ling Lan was the only one that could defeat Tian Jiajun, yet right now, a nobody from the Lingtian Mecha n was winning against his disciple who couldn¡¯t even resist at all. Qiao Yi felt his world falling apart.


    ¡°Was Xie Yi hiding his skills?¡± the principal asked Tang Yu curiously upon seeing Xie Yi¡¯s sudden rise in strength.


    ¡°I am not sure about this,¡± Tang Yu replied with a forced smile. As expected, the people around Ling Lan were all not normal people. They were all lunatics.


    Looking at Tang Yu¡¯s expression, the principal believed that he didn¡¯t know anything. Hence, he could only control his curiosity and look at the big screen again.


    Although Tian Jiajun was suppressed by Xie Yi at the start, he was, after all, someone who had been at the peak of special-ss for over a year. He had many battle experiences and his foundation was strong. Once he became adjusted to Xie Yi¡¯s violent attacks, the situation started to change.


    Qiao Yi heaved a sigh of relief when he saw this. His proud disciple would not be so easily defeated.


    Qi Long had also realized that Xie Yi¡¯s energy changed. His innate talent allowed him to feel the energy in Xie Yi body; it had turned into something unfamiliar, sinister and dark. He immediately realized the intention behind his boss¡¯ actions.


    He knew now that his boss¡¯ goal was achieved, so he asked her excitedly, ¡°Boss, can we attack now?¡± He had been controlling himself. It should be time for him to go wild, too.


    ¡°No hurry. Maintain the situation as it is now.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s reply dampened Qi Long¡¯s mood. Fine! He had to continue controlling himself.


    Ling Lan would never allow Qi Long to act. She needed to keep stimting Xie Yi. When the two personalities realized that they were both in danger, it was possible that their potential would explode. This was why Ling Lan had allowed this member of Leiting to appear here.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t only want to force Xie Yi¡¯s dark energy out; she wanted Tian Jiajun to make thetter feel hopeless. She wanted Xie Yi to feel that he would never be able to defeat the opponent. This was the only way to allow both powers topromise with each other.


    Ling Lan had always thought that suppression was not the way to solve the problem. Merging the two powers was the only solution. Of course, it would be risky. No one knew what Xie Yi would be after the merging, but Ling Lan felt the need to make this bet for the sake of his future.


    Tian Jiajun was indeed the strongest in Leiting after Qiao Ting; he managed to bring the fight back to even ground. He was even gaining the upper hand now. Without a strong foundation and the umtion of experiences, Xie Yi¡¯s sudden burst of strength was not helpful at all.


    Xie Yi was on the losing end again. His eyes turned red and a killing intent slowly exuded from his body.


    ¡°Such a strong killing intent.¡± Ling Lan felt the intense, malicious auraing from Xie Yi and frowned again. What was this dark energy made up of? Why was it so full of negative emotions?


    ¡°Qi Long, go all out.¡± An idea shed past Ling Lan¡¯s mind as she suddenly pressed the button to converse with Qi Long and gave him an order.


    Qi Long was ted. His boss was showing him some mercy; he finally didn¡¯t need to control himself anymore. He quickly grabbed hisrge sword and rushed towards his opponent, following which he swung his sword around in a crazy attack.


    Qi Long attack was more furious than Xie Yi. His opponent could no longer fend him off and thus shouted at Tian Jiajun in fright, ¡°Leader!¡±


    In times of desperation, everyone would look for the person they trusted the most instinctively; it was the same with Leiting¡¯s members.


    When he heard his n member¡¯s frightened scream, Tian Jiajun immediately understood the situation. He shouted in anger, ¡°Get out of my way!¡±


    The arrogant Tian Jiajun couldn¡¯t stand to see his teammate being defeated right in front of his eyes and he didn¡¯t even think as he used his special-ss technique, Whirlwind Strike, against Xie Yi. His cold weapon swept towards Xie Yi dangerously.


    Tian Jiajun had thought that he would be able to make Xie Yi retreat with this move, but thetter wanted to kill him now. Xie Yi used the most powerful special-ss battle technique¡ªTotal Annihtion!


    Two top-tier special-ss battle techniques were unleashed and they formed two powerful energies that mmed into each other¡ªthe resultant force from the collision caused both Xie Yi and Tian Jiajun to be sted away. This fearsome force also implicated Qi Long and his opponent; caught unprepared, they were toppled over.


    ¡°F**k!¡± Qi Long realized that he was in danger when he felt the energy wave and immediately stopped attacking, then used all his energy to stabilize his mecha, but his opponent was not so lucky; slower to react, he ended up being blown away for about ten meters. The opponent was also quite smart, however, as he made use of the energy wave to run away quickly.


    ¡°You want to run away? No way!¡± Indignant at seeing his prey running away, Qi Long quickly controlled his mecha to chase after his opponent and a few secondster, the two mechas disappeared. Only Xie Yi and Tian Jiajun were left.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about Qi Long right now, as thetter had alreadypleted his mission. She didn¡¯t need to worry whether Qi Long could catch up with his opponent or whether he could defeat his opponent. In actual fact, Ling Lan had taken part in this mecha challenge because of Xie Yi.


    Tian Jiajun felt a strong pressure mming into his chest and he almost wanted to vomit blood, but he paid no heed to this and stabilized his mecha first. His decision was correct; Xie Yi had already reached him and a powerful attack followed after.


    ¡°ng!¡± The two long swords knocked into each other again and Tian Jiajun took a step back. Aspared to moments before, Tian Jiajun was extremelyposed right now. The danger to his teammate had caused his potential to be released. He had already merged with his mecha and reached a state where his mecha and he were one. He had only one opponent and that was Xie Yi.


    ¡°ng!¡± The sound of another collision rang out and this time, it was Xie Yi who took a few steps back.


    ¡°ng!¡± The numerous collisions that followed caused Xie Yi to keep retreating.


    ¡°Leiting No. 1 has a strong talent in controlling his mecha. The power of his mecha increased once again.¡± Tian Jiajun¡¯s interesting condition caught the instructors attention.


    ¡°Is this the mecha and human merging state? This is the hardest state to achieve when operating mecha.¡± There was a saying that people who entered this state could cross-level and kill their opponents. All of the instructors looked at Qiao Yi with envy, jealous that he had such a talented disciple. This honor was the same as having a fourth-year who became an ace operator.


    ¡°Lingtian No. 1 is unable to win against Leiting No. 1. I think that Lingtian No. 1 is going to lose soon.¡± The instructors were all individuals who had plenty of experience; they could immediately tell what situation Xie Yi was in.

 Chapter 544 - Just The Start!

    <h4>Chapter 544: Just The Start!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Xie Yi had achieved special-ss strength due to the sudden burst of dark energy, but as he had no strong foundation, his state was unstable. Tian Jiajun, on the other hand, had achieved his special-ss operator level due to his hard work. Hence, Xie Yi was suppressed in his fight against Tian Jiajun.


    Upon seeing that his dark personality was put into the same situation as he was, the main personality sniggered. ¡°Seems like this is all you have in you.¡±


    ¡°Shut up!¡± the dark personality shouted fiercely. He was unable to ept the fact that he was being suppressed by his opponent.


    ¡°Without the umtion of time and relevant experiences, what¡¯s the use of having a high level? It means nothing.¡± The main personality had been practicing mecha piloting for so many years, so he knew what the dark personality wascking.


    ¡°Bullshit. I¡¯m the strongest. I won¡¯t lose.¡± The dark personality didn¡¯t want to listen to his indecisive other half whom he hated. After all, this was all his fault; if he hadn¡¯t held this body for so long, he would have been able to gain control and this kind of mistakes would not happen.


    ¡°Stop acting tough. You don¡¯t want to lose, I don¡¯t want to lose either. However, with our separate strengths, we aren¡¯t the opponent¡¯s match,¡± the main personality retorted. ¡°This is the truth. You can¡¯t deny it.¡±


    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡± The dark personality sensed that the main personality wanted to say something.


    ¡°Let¡¯s cooperate.¡± The main personality sighed. Although he didn¡¯t know what effects the cooperation would have, he needed topromise if he wanted to finish the mission his boss had assigned him.


    ¡°Cooperate? No!¡± The dark personality immediately rejected the main personality. He didn¡¯t want to pass this body to the weakling.


    ¡°You need to know that if you lose, you won¡¯t have a chance of taking control over this body.¡± Xie Yi calmly stated this fact. ¡°Our agreement at the start is valid. If you can¡¯t do it, you won¡¯t be able to suppress me. In the end, I¡¯ll still be the one controlling this body, while you¡¯ll just continue to sleep.¡±


    ¡°The one who¡¯ll be controlling this body is me, me I say.¡± The dark personality looked at the main personality coldly, the killing intent in his eyes grew stronger.


    The dark and main personalities began to have a confrontation in their mindscape. The former wanted to destroy thetter, who was fighting against him for control of the body, but unfortunately, he wouldn¡¯t be able to touch him at all before hepleted his promise.


    The promise that they made when they exchanged control over the body was relevant to both of them. He couldn¡¯t break the promise.


    ¡°Just like what you said, defeat the opponent and we can talk about our businesster.¡± Xie Yi used the dark personality¡¯s own words against him.


    The dark personality¡¯s eyes turned even eerier. He wanted to reject the main personality, but Tian Jiajun didn¡¯t give him any chance to do so at all. Tian Jiajun attacked him again; the opponent¡¯srge sword came with a whirlwind as it moved towards Xie Yi. The dark personality knew that this was a lethal strike and that he would never be able to take this attack all by himself. He made a quick decision. ¡°As you wish.¡±


    In the mindscape, the light and dark figures suddenly merged and a translucent figure appeared.


    At this moment, the eyes of the Xie Yi in the cockpit changed. One of them was bright and vibrant, while the other was dark and eerie, and Xie Yi¡¯s expression alternated between sinister and happy. He looked frightening.


    ¡°ng!¡± Xie Yi controlled his mecha to raise his sword horizontally with one hand and easily blocked the attack from his opponent. This time, Xie Yi¡¯s mecha didn¡¯t step back anymore. The two mechas were in a stalemate.


    ¡°You said that this is a coboration.¡± Xie Yi opened his mouth to talk to himself, his eyes and voice cold.


    ¡°Yes, coboration. After we defeat the opponent, we¡¯ll battle it out among ourselves.¡± This time, Xie Yi¡¯s expression was gentle and warm, and his voice was gentle too. The coldness just now seemed to be an illusion.


    ¡°Okay, promise.¡± Xie Yi changed his tone again.


    ¡°Promise.¡± The warm voice was back as he said this firmly.


    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s start from here!¡± This time, a strange voice came out of Xie Yi¡¯s throat. It was warm and cold. It seemed so contradictory yet natural. It was as if he was supposed to have this voice.


    With that said, Xie Yi¡¯s sword began to inch towards Tian Jiajun, who felt that he couldn¡¯t resist the other party¡¯s strength at all. Two lines formed on the ground as his mecha was pushed backward by his opponent; they were caused by his mecha¡¯s feet as they rubbed against the ground.


    ¡°Tian Jiajun is actually losing to his opponent in terms of strength.¡± When the instructors saw this scene, some instinctively stood up in shock.


    ¡°Get out of here!¡± Xie Yi shouted. Hisrge sword finally broke through his opponent¡¯s defense and Tian Jiajun fell backward.


    Xie Yi flew up into the air and continuously rained down blows with his sword.


    ¡°A chainbo!¡± Everyone knew what Xie Yi intended when they saw his stance.


    ¡°1, 2, 3, 4, 5!¡± At the fifth strike, everyone was standing up. Had another mecha prodigy appeared in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy?


    ¡°6!¡± Everyone shouted. Xie Yi had sessfully executed a six-chainbo. Tian Jiajun had blocked the first five attacks but on the sixth, he failed!


    In the next second after he failed to defend, he appeared at the login hall of Mecha World. He recalled the scene from moments ago and smiled bitterly. ¡°Six-chainbo. It was a six-chainbo. After Qiao Ting left, Ling Lan came. There are so many weirdos in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Am I destined to be a supporting role?¡± At this moment, Tian Jiajun didn¡¯t know that Ling Lan was not in Lingtian No. 1.


    ¡°I am so jealous. Big Bro Huo, when you lost to Captain Qiaost time, was this how you felt?¡± Tian Jiajun closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, they were calm and indifferent. He didn¡¯t seem to be affected by his failure at all.


    At this moment, in the VIP room, an instructorughed crazily, not caring about his image at all. ¡°Six of them. He performed six attacks.¡±


    The people around him could understand his reaction¡ªhe was Xie Yi¡¯s instructor, Luo Jinan. Many people looked at him with envy, while they felt pity for themselves. Why hadn¡¯t Xie Yi chosen them as his instructor? If he had, they would have been the one enjoying such recognition today.


    ¡°Luo Jinan, congrattions on having such a prideworthy disciple. He will have a bright future.¡± Luo Jinan¡¯s friends congratted him.


    Luo Jinan nodded his head in excitement. Aspared to the famous instructor Tang Yu, who had produced many powerful students, Luo Jinan had felt inferior; he hadn¡¯t had any student that was exceptionally outstanding. However, Xie Yi appeared and proved that his teaching was as good as Tang Yu. Every person had their ambition and Luo Jinan¡¯s dream was to be an outstanding instructor just like Tang Yu and produce many excellent students under himself.


    ¡°He actually managed to execute a six-chainbo. Jiajun lost with reason.¡± Qiao Yi secretly looked at the mecha operator who was standing still in the middle of the map. ¡°There are so many aberrants among the third-years.¡± Qiao Yi knew who was inside Lingtian No. 1. He thought about the captain, Ling Lan, and wondered if he had underestimated thetter.


    ¡°A third-year was able to execute a six-chainbo. Has this student advanced to the ace level?¡± Someone proposed this possibility. However, after getting the hand speed data of the operator for Lingtian No. 1, this possibility was denied; the hand speed did not reach the requirements for advancing to ace mecha master. Lingtian No. 1¡¯s operator was still a special-ss operator.


    ¡°They managed to cross-level after coborating with each other. This is interesting.¡± Ling Lan smirked. She could feel that Xie Yi¡¯s energies were not resisting each other now. Although they had not mergedpletely, they were coborating with each other.


    ¡°However, this is just the start!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes turned cold and she pulled up her control stick, following which her mecha that had been hiding on the ground suddenly sprung up.


    ¡°Look at the ground!¡± The people that were looking at the big screen noticed something changing on the ground that was covered with dried leaves¡ªa mecha appeared next to Lingtian No. 1.


    ¡°It is the chameleon system.¡± It was the only system that enabled a mecha to change its appearance ordingly to its surroundings so that the mecha could merge perfectly with the environment.


    ¡°It¡¯s someone from Lingtian.¡± This was the only thing they could tell about the mecha.


    ¡°What is it doing?¡± Everyone shouted.


    The mecha lifted itself off the ground and rushed towards Lingtian No. 1 who was still floating in the air, oblivious to its surroundings.


    Cutting one another¡¯s throat? The instructors were surprised by this scene, or rather, utterly stunned.


    They had never witnessed such actions being taken during important battles like these. This battle was going to decide the fate of the mecha n. What was wrong with the world? Were they getting old? Had they lost touch with the young folks¡¯ world?


    ¡°Xie Yi!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s clear voice pierced right into Xie Yi¡¯s mindscape¡ªthetter suddenly fainted and his hand that was just about to input the dodgingmand stopped in mid-action.


    Ling Lan grabbed Xie Yi¡¯s mecha using this opportunity and rushed towards the far end of the map, turning into a sh of light.


    ¡°Little Four, chameleon system!¡± Ling Lan ordered Little Four secretly.


    Little Four and Ling Lan understood what each other wanted and the two mecha suddenly turned into thin air and disappeared from the map. By the time the instructors regained their senses and wanted to find them again, they were gone.


    The VIP room was in an uproar. Why did the mecha appear to take Lingtian No. 1 away? Was it an act out of betrayal, or out of a personal grudge? Was there something else going on?


    Unfortunately, they were unable to get an answer until thepetition ended. The mecha that had appearedter had moved too fast, so fast they hadn¡¯t even managed to see its serial number.


    ¡°That speed and the smooth operation. It must be him¡ªLing Lan.¡± Tang Yu suppressed the excitement in his heart. Only he had discovered the secret behind this series of actions. He knew Ling Lan too well.


    Xie Yi finally woke up and opened his eyes. To his astonishment, he realized that he was standing on a choppy sea and the surroundings were very dark and cold.


    ¡°This is the world that I¡¯ve been living in. Is it very cold?¡± An eerie voice suddenly sounded beside him. Xie Yi turned his head and noticed the dark personality standing beside him.


    ¡°Why am I here?¡± Xie Yi asked curiously.


    The dark personality didn¡¯t reply but merely signaled for Xie Yi to look in a certain direction.


    Xie Yi raised his head and looked over to see a familiar-looking person floating in the air. The person indifferently looked at him¡ªor to be exact, at them.

 Chapter 545 - Sealed!

    <h4>Chapter 545: Sealed!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Xie Yi looked at this person and immediately cried out, ¡°Boss! Why are you here?¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t reply to him but merely gazed coldly at the dark alter ego. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting a long time for you.¡±


    The dark alter ego had already understood the situation. He sneered and said, ¡°You didn¡¯t ask Xie Yi to act as your substitute because you trust him. You did it to lure me out.¡± Even now, the dark alter ego still hadn¡¯t given up on provoking the main ego.


    Xie Yi became shocked by his dark alter ego¡¯s words and he looked at Ling Lan with a hurt expression.


    Ling Lan nced at him with her cold eyes. Xie Yi¡¯s heart froze and he didn¡¯t dare to think too much anymore.


    <i>Sobs. Boss is right. Everything he does is right. I can¡¯t be so weak. </i>Xie Yi consoled himself.


    Ling Lan turned to look at the dark alter ego again and said calmly, ¡°You¡¯re afraid of me.¡±


    ¡°Of course, you¡¯re very strong. I would have ended up dead once you discovered me. My instinct told me that.¡± The dark alter ego smirked. ¡°Nevertheless, you still found me. And I thought that I hid very well.¡±


    ¡°You did hide very well. Ever since you appeared three years ago, you were on your guard. You didn¡¯t give me any opportunities to take at all. I had to waste a lot of effort on you.¡± Ling Lan narrowed her eyes¡ªthey contained killing intent. ¡°I won¡¯t stand for anything happening to my brothers, yet you¡¯re harming one of them.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s words struck Xie Yi¡¯s heart like a lightning bolt and his eyes turned red; he finally came to an understanding and the anxiousness surrounding his heart disappeared.


    <i>You¡¯re an idiot! </i>His boss had already epted him as hispanion. If his boss hadn¡¯t cared for him, he would not have noticed the problem in his body. If he hadn¡¯t cared, he would not have spent so much effort on him either.


    Xie Yi had been blinded by his own eyes. He had chosen to ignore the care and concern his boss showed him. Now that he thought about it, every time he had to suppress the dark alter ego for an entire night, his boss would look at him intently the next morning and give him a lighter workload. When his boss battled with him, he would be less violent. As the dark alter ego started toe out more often, his boss would control his strength and not hurt him. Previously, he had thought that his boss was ignoring him, but now he realized that thetter cared for him¡ªLing Lan had been worried that he would be too tired and get taken over by the dark alter ego.


    Xie Yi started to feel remorse, even as he felt touched. On the other hand, his dark alter ego exploded with anger.


    The dark alter ego felt his consciousness slipping away when Ling Lan stared at him maliciously. He was frightened. Losing his mind, he yelled, ¡°You want to destroy me? Why? I¡¯m not convinced! We were born together. Why can he live while I have to disappear? I¡¯m not convinced!¡±


    ¡°Then why do you want to make Xie Yi disappear?¡± Ling Lan asked him back indifferently.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to stay here!¡± The dark alter ego¡¯s eyes turned red and he took on the appearance of a lunatic. ¡°This ce is too quiet. There are no sounds, no nothing. I¡¯m so lonely. The more I stay here, the more I hate him. Why did father choose him and seal me? Why is he able to live in a world full of colors and sounds? Why can he have friends and families? Why can he enjoy rtionships with people? Why do I have to stay in this dark, quiet and cold world? I can only wait for death here.


    ¡°I can do everything that he does. I can even do it better than him. Why wasn¡¯t I given the chance? Why was my fate decided for me? Why? Tell me, why?¡± The dark alter ego shrieked hysterically and Xie Yi was awoken by the shock. He hadn¡¯t expected his dark alter ego to have had such a past too. Wasn¡¯t his dark alter ego supposed to be the devil in his heart?


    ¡°Father sealed you?¡± Xie Yi asked in astonishment.


    ¡°Yes. The people of the Xie family are born with two personalities. In other words, we have split personalities. One of the personalities would be sealed using a secret technique, while the other would live normally. If our father hadn¡¯t sealed me, I would have destroyed you long ago.¡± The dark alter ego sneered. ¡°However, you are doubtful of yourself. You have a lot of remorse and regret in you. The seal weakened because of this and I got the chance to break through it. All in all, I actually have to thank you for being weak...¡±


    He himself would never be so weak. Even if the powerful individual in front of him didn¡¯t recognize him, he would still live a good life on this own. The dark alter ego gazed at Ling Lan as he had these thoughts, but then he became startled by her calm eyes and took an involuntary step back. He felt that he would be safer the farther away he was from her.


    ¡°Why did father seal you and not me?¡± Xie Yi knew that his dark alter ego was speaking the truth, but he was still puzzled at his father¡¯s decision.


    ¡°How would I know? You must have been lucky.¡± The dark alter ego was angry. When they were just born, no one knew what they would be in the future. The one who was sealed was chosen randomly, so the dark alter ego could only think that Xie Yi was lucky.


    ¡°I might be able to answer this question,¡± Ling Lan suddenly said.


    ¡°Ah, you have a solution?¡± Xie Yi¡¯s eyes lit up. He wanted to know the reason. Otherwise, he would still feel doubt towards himself even if he sealed his dark alter ego again. The guilt he had towards his dark alter ego could lead to thetter breaking through the seal again.


    The dark alter ego looked at Ling Lan in disbelief. He didn¡¯t know how Ling Lan knew about the reason, but he also wanted to know what had happened in the past; perhaps even more so than Xie Yi. He had never understood why his father chose to seal him and not Xie Yi. This was his obsession¡ªhe had to find the answer.


    Ling Lan raised her head. ¡°You don¡¯t believe me?¡±


    Xie Yi nodded his head without even thinking in response. ¡°I believe you.¡± He looked at his dark alter ego and exined seriously, ¡°My boss won¡¯t lie to others. He means what he says. You don¡¯t have to worry.¡±


    The dark alter ego scoffed. ¡°You don¡¯t need to act kind towards me. I know.¡± He nced at Ling Lan before telling Xie Yi in a low voice, ¡°He¡¯s very strong. He could destroy me with a mere click of his finger. He doesn¡¯t need to do all this.¡±


    Although Ling Lan was Xie Yi¡¯s boss, the dark alter ego trusted him too.


    Both parties agreed to let Ling Lan exin to them. She reminded them, ¡°It might be a little hard to ept. You both need to bear with it.¡±


    The dark alter ego sneered. ¡°I¡¯ve already spent 19 years in this ce. What can I not handle?¡± He looked at Xie Yi. ¡°You should worry about your little brother here. I hope he doesn¡¯t throw your face away.¡±


    Xie Yi¡¯s face turned red and he said angrily, ¡°Don¡¯t look down on me. I won¡¯t lose to you!¡±


    ¡°Hopefully!¡± The dark alter ego turned his eyes away arrogantly and didn¡¯t look at Xie Yi again.


    The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s mouth went up. It seemed that the dark alter ego did not hate Xie Yi that much¡ªthis was good news. Now, however, was not the time to think about this. Ling Lan took a deep breath and grew serious as she stared at the two boys and reached into their heads.


    Xie Yi and his dark alter ego felt their consciousness being dragged out by force. The pain was excruciating, but since neither of them wanted the other to look down on them, they gritted their teeth and didn¡¯t make any sound.


    After a while, the two of them felt the pain disappearing and opened their eyes. There were two balls of energy on Ling Lan¡¯s hands. One of them looked like a miniature human. Its features were faint, but they could tell that it was Xie Yi.


    Ling Lan raised her right hand. ¡°This is yours,¡± she said to the dark alter ego. She raised her left hand and told Xie Yi, ¡°This is yours.¡± She put her hands together. ¡°Do you all feel the difference in the two energies?¡±


    The dark alter ego¡¯s face changed. He could feel the malicious aura from his ball of energy, while Xie Yi¡¯s was peaceful. Was this the reason why his father had given him up?


    Xie Yi had a different opinion. ¡°Was his energy body affected because he lived here for 19 years?¡±


    Ling Lan looked at Xie Yi with approval. ¡°Yes. The environment affects a person¡¯s growth and personality. This is just the aura now. Let me show you what it was at the start.¡±


    Two mes appeared on her hands, which were neither hot nor warm; they felt cold.


    ¡°Ice mes?¡± Xie Yi¡¯s eyes widened. He hadn¡¯t expected his boss to have reached the third level of his talent awakening, while they were still at the entrance of level 2. Comparisons were a cause for anger. They were getting further and further away from their boss¡ªthey would never be able to catch up with her.


    The two energy bodies started changing with the help of the ice mes. The malicious aura of the dark alter ego¡¯s energy body grew smaller and Xie Yi¡¯s peaceful aura was diminishing too. Air currents formed in the air.


    In the end, the two energy bodies became two balls of pure energy. The dark alter ego¡¯s energy body was cold, while Xie Yi¡¯s energy body was hot. It was like a small little sun.


    ¡°One hot and one cold. Seems like I am the exact opposite of him,¡± the dark alter ego said in a depressed tone. He admired Xie Yi¡¯s energy body. It was so warm.


    ¡°The requirements are met. Come with me to the beginning of your memories.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s voice suddenly rang in their heads. Before they could react, they went dizzy. By the time they regained their senses, they realized that they were floating in the air and looking down at the things happening below.


    ¡°This is the old residence of the Xie family!¡± Xie Yi eximed in surprise. This was the old residence that he remembered. However, everything was in ck and white.


    ¡°When we¡¯re born, our eyes aren¡¯t developed fully. We can only see ck and white. This is your memory body. You saw everything in ck and white, so that¡¯s what we¡¯re seeing now too,¡± Ling Lan exined.

 Chapter 546 - Decision!

    <h4>Chapter 546: Decision!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Xie Yi and his dark alter ego nodded. They were attracted by the scene happening below and thus neither of them said anything. Humans would have no recollection of anything that happened to them before they turned three years old, but this did not mean that memories prior that age did not exist; they were merely hidden deep within the mind. Only someone like Ling Lan who learned spiritual control would be able to dig those memories out.


    A young father walked over hugging a baby.


    ¡°It¡¯s my father,¡± Xie Yi said excitedly.


    ¡°Elders of the family, my child was born. I have brought him here today.¡± Xie Yi¡¯s father went forwards and bowed to the elders. Xie Yi realized that there were seven elders in front of his father.


    One of them waved at Xie Yi amiably. ¡°Come, Xie Ling, carry him over here and let me take a look.¡±


    Xie Yi¡¯s father carefully passed the baby to the elder. The elder touched Xie Yi and smiled happily. ¡°Not bad, he has a good physique. Little Seven, it is up to you now.¡±


    Another elder took over Xie Yi. He closed his eyes as he touched Xie Yi¡¯s head. After a few seconds, he opened them. He looked excited yet grim. ¡°The two egos in this child are both very strong.¡±


    The rest of the elders had been rxed at the start, but upon hearing this, their eyes lit up and they looked at Xie Ling simultaneously.


    Xie Ling was happy at hearing that his child had two strong egos, but after a while, he appeared to be in a dilemma.


    Normally, when a child from the Xie family was born, one of the two egos would be stronger than the other and thus the elders of the family would seal the one that was weaker. There were also some children who had two equally strong egos. This kind of child had a greater talent and would be the pirs of the Xie family. In these cases, however, the elders would have trouble choosing which ego to seal.


    Xie Ling struggled for a long time before asking carefully, ¡°Elder Seven, can I see the two energies?¡± Xie Ling didn¡¯t make a hasty decision. He had been looking forward to the arrival of Xie Yi for a very long time. As a father, he wanted to choose the best one for his child.


    Elder Seven nodded and epted his request. Every elder of the Xie family knew a secret technique. Elder Seven¡¯s technique allowed him to see the energy of different egos, as well as to replicate it.


    Very soon, two energy bodies appeared on Elder Seven¡¯s hand. One of them was very cold, while the other was hot.


    One of the elders felt the two energies and said, ¡°Xie Ling, I think that we should keep this ego.¡± He pointed at the cold energy. ¡°Someone with such energy would be calm and mature. In other words, it would be harder for the devil in his heart to appear and damage the seal. I can foresee him bing the most important pir of our Xie family.¡±


    The other elders nodded in agreement to his words.


    Xie Ling didn¡¯t reply but instead looked at the two energy bodies and hesitated again. In the end, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to clear the thoughts in his head. When he opened his eyes again, they were already cold and determined¡ªhe had made his decision.


    He suddenly knelt down and said to the seven elders, ¡°Please forgive me for my selfishness. I choose to seal this ego.¡± He pointed at the cold energy that the elders had rmended him to keep.


    Xie Ling¡¯s words caused a change in the expressions of all the elders, who exchanged nces with one another. They hadn¡¯t expected Xie Ling to make this decision at all. The entire main hall was silent for a while, after which the oldest elder said, ¡°Xie Ling, you have to think carefully. If you choose the other ego, there is a high chance that the devil in his heart will appear and that will cause our seal to be destroyed. If your child doesn¡¯t have the ability to suppress his other ego, he will be crazy. He might even be a formidable, frightening monster. If that happens, we will have to kill him. Your decision might end up killing your child.¡±


    Xie Ling was indifferent. He nodded his head. ¡°I understand and know that if I make this decision, Xie Yi will have a hard time in the future. However, I want to have a happy and optimistic child. This is my selfish motive. Please fulfil my wish.¡± Xie Ling kowtowed to show his determination.


    The oldest elder stared at Xie Ling for a few seconds and saw how resolutely Xie Ling was kneeling on the ground; there was no hesitation to be found on him. The elder sighed lightly and said, ¡°Up to you. I hope that you will not regret it the next time.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, elder!¡± Xie Ling raised his head. There was no regret in his expression. The elders knew that this decision could not be changed anymore.


    Once two equally strong egos appeared, the father had the right to make the decision¡ªeven the elders of the family couldn¡¯t interfere with his choice. This was the rule passed down from their ancestors. Hence, although the seven elders were dissatisfied with the decision, they had to follow the rules. There was nothing they could do. The seven elders worked together to seal the cold ego. Afterward, they passed Xie Yi to Xie Ling and chased him out of the old residence.


    The elders were furious. They couldn¡¯t do anything even though they knew that Xie Ling was making a mistake; they could only chase him out so that they wouldn¡¯t be able to see him. What they didn¡¯t see couldn¡¯t hurt them. Xie Ling was already lucky that they didn¡¯t kick him out.


    Xie Ling left the old residence and the scene changed.


    The dark alter ego stood beside Xie Yi, feeling hurt. ¡°So father likes you. He doesn¡¯t want me!¡± His eyes turned red and his emotions became unstable. He was on the brink of going berserk.


    ¡°Continue looking. That isn¡¯t the end!¡± Ling Lan shouted when she saw what was happening. Her shout woke the dark alter ego up like a thunderbolt and his emotions disappeared. He felt calmed.


    ¡°My father has already given up on me, right? What else is there?¡± The dark alter ego turned his head to re at Ling Lan. That was no way to tell a lie¡ªhe was no idiot.


    The scene changed again.


    ¡°This is my house,¡± Xie Yi said. He hadn¡¯t known that his house never changed in the least over the past 19 years. It looked exactly the same as the present house he lived in.


    ¡°The answer will be revealed soon,¡± Ling Lan said calmly, looking at the dark alter ego.


    Xie Ling ced Xie Yi on a small bed and looked at his son in a daze, tears falling down his cheeks.


    ¡°I am sorry,¡± Xie Ling whispered. ¡°I know what the sealed world looks like. It is a cold, quiet and oppressive world. The warm Xie Yi will not be able to survive there. Once I seal him, he will definitely turn crazy and fall into self-ruin. However, I know that you can do it. You are calm and mature. WIth anger and hate, you will be able to live in that world.¡±

 Chapter 547 - Thank you!

    <h4>Chapter 547: Thank you!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The dark alter ego was stunned upon hearing his father¡¯s words. His father knew what the sealed world was like, but only a sealed ego would know this¡ªhow did he know? Xie Yi was shocked as well. His father had chosen him because the former knew that he would never be able to survive in the sealed world.


    ¡°Both of you are my children and I can¡¯t bear to give up either. I am a selfish person. I want to give everything to my child, not just half the world, so I can only let you suffer. You are the best so you will definitely be stronger than the warm Xie Yi in the future.


    ¡°I picked the warm Xie Yi because I believe in his kindness and optimism. When he discovers your existence, he will not kill you¡ªhe will find a way to keep you and solve this problem. This is the one thing that you can never do. You are cold and logical, so you will always choose the best path for yourself. You will not take any risks and this is why I can¡¯t choose you. The secret technique of the Xie family seals the dark alter ego safely...¡±


    Xie Ling reached out and caressed Xie Yi¡¯s forehead. ¡°However, the kind and vibrant Xie Yi will let the devil in his heart appear easily. The seal will be destroyed, but I hope that during that time, you will be able to direct all your hate on me and live well together with the warm Xie Yi. I believe that the warm Xie Yi will be willing to do so as well.¡±


    Xie Ling gazed at Xie Yi remorsefully, merely sitting where he was in a daze for a few minutes. He only regained his senses when Xie Yi started crying, quickly hugging and coaxing him...


    Ling Lan snapped her fingers and the scene in front of them disappeared. The next second, they were back in the sealed world.


    ¡°This is the truth? He sacrificed me so that he could live??¡± The dark alter ego looked cold and angry. He found it funny that his father had given him up to keep the weaker ego alive.


    ¡°In actual fact, your father understand the two of you very well. You¡¯re still alive. Although you¡¯re a little malicious, you aren¡¯t a lunatic yet,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°But why did I have to suffer for so many years because of him?¡± The dark alter ego sneered. He hated his father and Xie Yi even more now.


    ¡°You father said that it was because he wanted you two to be stronger,¡± Ling Lan exined.


    ¡°I will be stronger if he is alive? What a joke.¡± The dark alter ego was unable to ept her exnation.


    ¡°You know that it¡¯s the truth.¡± Ling Lan stared at the dark alter ego coldly. The dark alter ego was speechless.


    ¡°This point was proven when you worked together with Xie Yi just now. Your father must have been clear about this,¡± Ling Lan continued.


    Xie Yi eyes started glowing and he interrupted Ling Lan. ¡°Boss, do you mean that my father knew what would happen after the seal was broken?¡±


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Yes. My guess is that your father personally broke his own seal and interacted with the sealed ego. He probably worked together with his dark alter ego before, which is how he knew what the sealed world is like and what would happen after the seal is removed. Of course, there is another possibility. Your father might havee to know a little about it due to a good friend of his experiencing something simr.


    ¡°You might live a peaceful life without half of your ego and you could still advance quickly. However, removing half of yourself is the same as removing half of your talent¡ªyou¡¯ll never be able to reach the peak of your potential. Your father knows this so he wanted to give you both the chance of reaching the peak. That is why he chose the best path for you. He didn¡¯t care if other people misunderstood him.¡±


    Xie Yi was in a daze as he listened to Ling Lan. His face dimmed. ¡°No wonder my father doesn¡¯t like to stay at home. I never noticed it thest time, but now that I think about it, he would always take the missions that no one wanted to take. The long, hard and dangerous missions...¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because he¡¯s stupid. He brought it on himself,¡± the dark alter ego said angrily. If his father had chosen him at the start, he would not have needed to live such a hard life.


    ¡°Don¡¯t say bad things about my father,¡± Xie Yi yelled angrily. Xie Yi was brought up by his father and thetter had always loved him. Hence, he couldn¡¯t ept his dark alter ego saying bad things about his father. He pounced at the dark alter ego and the two of them broke into a fight, rolling back and forth on the sea.


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and moved away from them.


    Both of them harbored grudges against each other, so it would benefit them if they had a small fight now. Also, Ling Lan felt that boys should fight asionally; it was a good way of improving their rtionship. Xie Yi¡¯s egos were both guys so this rule would apply to them.


    Xie Yi and the dark alter ego fought for almost half a day before finally getting tired. Theyy on the floor together, panting.


    Having calmed down, Xie Yi looked at the dark alter ego. He no longer hated or feared his dark alter ego. He opened his mouth and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry! Thank you!¡±


    The dark alter ego was stunned. He knew what these words meant.


    Xie Yi continued, ¡°Father was right. With my personality, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to survive a day in this world. I would definitely not have been able to survive for 16 years.¡± He suddenly smiled. ¡°If you were the main ego, I might not have been able to break through the seal for my entire life. There would have only been two endings for me¡ªgoing crazy or disappearing totally. My endurance isn¡¯t as good as yours.¡±


    He was not as strong as Luo Lang either. If it was Luo Lang, he would be able to survive in any kind of environment. He had so many personalities inside his mind and every single one of them never gave up pestering and trying to control him. However, he still maintained his personality. He was optimistic and happy. On the other hand, he, Xie Yi, had only one dark alter ego. He would be frustrated, agitated, scared... he felt that he was quite weak. His father¡¯s concern was right.


    Xie Yi was grateful to his father for all the things he had done. When he thought about this, he felt sorry towards the dark alter ego and was grateful to his dark alter ego as well. His dark alter ego had been sealed for 16 years, yet he still controlled his hatred and anger to work together with him.


    The dark alter ego pouted with disdain. ¡°It¡¯s good that you know.¡±


    He had been fighting Xie Yi for three years, so he knew what kind of person thetter was. Xie Yi would definitely not have been able to survive in this sealed world. Even if the seal was broken identally in the future, a crazy or dead Xie Yi would have been no threat to him. However, Xie Yi¡¯s boss was right too. Without Xie Yi, he would lose the chance to reach his full potential.

 Chapter 548 - Solution?

    <h4>Chapter 548: Solution?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The two people became quiet again. After a long while, Xie Yi said carefully, ¡°I would like to know how we can solve our problem.¡± His expression was firm. ¡°Mind you, I won¡¯t give up this body.¡±


    The dark alter ego sneered. ¡°So you¡¯ll continue to control this body and I¡¯ll continue to live in this world?¡±


    Xie Yi frowned. ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant. Boss said just now that we can cooperate with each other. Since that¡¯s the case, why not we continue this cooperation?¡±


    ¡°Continue cooperating? How? By releasing me every few days?¡± The dark alter ego was not pleased.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure either. However, I believe that my boss will know.¡± Xie Yi revealed his trust in Ling Lan through his eyes.


    ¡°You think your boss knows everything?¡± The dark alter ego nced at Ling Lan with doubt. Although she was very strong and he feared her, he didn¡¯t have much hope that she would be able to solve their problem.


    ¡°Of course, my boss will definitely find a solution,¡± Xie Yi replied with certainty.


    Fine, he was brainwashed! Before the dark alter ego could reply, Xie Yi raised his voice and shouted, ¡°Boss!¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡± Ling Lan appeared before them within a second and looked at them calmly.


    ¡°Boss, do you know how to solve our problem?¡± Xie Yi asked hopefully.


    Ling Lan shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if my idea will work.¡±


    Xie Yi¡¯s eyes brightened. His boss had an idea, but she just didn¡¯t know if it would work. He knew that his boss was trustworthy. Xie Yi gave the dark alter ego a pleased look, but thetter almost choked in anger.


    The dark alter ego sneered at Xie Yi. ¡°He doesn¡¯t know if his idea will work yet. What are you being so proud for?¡±


    Xie Yi immediately turned his head towards Ling Lan. He hoped that Ling Lan¡¯s idea would be able to give a blow to this arrogant and irritating dark alter ego.


    Ling Lan shook her head. Xie Yi seemed to be more stupid after he met his dark alter ego. She was starting to doubt whether merging the two of them was a good idea after all. Xie Yi used to be a smart fellow.


    Ling Lan covered her mouth and coughed. She felt that she needed to believe in herrades and not underestimate them. She said calmly, ¡°We need to find the reason why you two appeared in order to solve the problem.¡±


    The dark alter ego nodded at Ling Lan¡¯s words, feeling that Xie Yi¡¯s boss was still quite responsible. Xie Yi nodded his head furiously, too. As expected of his boss¡ªhe was always so thorough.


    ¡°From what I see, the spiritual fusion between the two of you will create an extremely strong spiritual power. This spiritual power can cause harm to the body and hence, the body¡¯s self-defense mechanism kicked in and split your spiritual power into two before you gained consciousness. That¡¯s why you have a split personality. This should be the special ability of the Xie family¡¯s bloodline. A lot of babies with strong spiritual power tend to die the moment they¡¯re born, while those that manage to survive will have to be bedridden for their entire life.¡±


    Ling Lan recalled how she was sick for the entirety of her previous life and she remembered how Li Lanfeng had poor health, too. The reason behind both cases was that they had overly powerful spiritual power. The Xie family¡¯s bloodline was actually quite nature-defying, enabling babies with strong spiritual power to survive and have a healthy body. Due to their strong spiritual power, these children would learn things faster, too.


    However, you need to pay for what you get. If the descendants of the Xie family wanted to be strong, they needed to face the so-called devil in their hearts, which was their sealed alter ego. This process was very ingenious.


    ¡°The awakening of your alter ego proves that your body was strong enough to hold your other personality,¡± Ling Lan exined seriously to Xie Yi. ¡°Your body had the extra energy to handle the sealed ego, which was why your dark alter ego appeared.


    ¡°In other words, there is no such thing as a devil in your heart.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s analysis was so shocking to Xie Yi that he gaped widely.


    ¡°Of course this is true. How could he be the devil in your heart? You didn¡¯t know of his existence before this, did you? I don¡¯t believe that you never made mistakes or felt regret in your childhood. Why did he only appear now?¡± Devil in the heart? What lie was this? Ling Lan didn¡¯t believe in such things at all.


    Xie Yi smiled bitterly and then opened his mouth to speak. ¡°The elders say that the negative feelings in us would umte and forced the devil in our heart out at a certain point...¡±


    ¡°Good exnation. Do you believe that?¡± Ling Lan asked indifferently.


    Xie Yi pondered over it seriously before replying in a helpless tone. ¡°If you hadn¡¯t told me all this, I would have.¡± The elder¡¯s exnation was never doubted at all. No one had ever analyzed the exnation carefully. The members of their family all thought that since the elders had plenty of experience, whatever they said had to be right.


    Xie Yi looked at Ling Lan with a firm expression. He trusted his boss. ¡°But I think what you say makes more sense.¡± He turned to look at his dark alter ego, who was deep in thought. ¡°What do you think?¡±


    The dark alter ego raised his head to nod at Ling Lan. ¡°I thought about it. What you said should be the truth.¡± He agreed with Ling Lan¡¯s analysis.


    ¡°Since you two belong together, why not merge together again? There shouldn¡¯t be any problem with that,¡± Ling Lan suggested.


    ¡°There will still be a main ego. I¡¯m not willing to bow down to him.¡± The dark alter ego raised his objection first. His arrogance did not allow him to bow down to anyone, not even his other self.


    Ling Lan smirked. ¡°I didn¡¯t say that Xie Yi would be the main ego after the merging.¡± She herself was not sure what would happen after they merged.


    The dark alter ego looked at Ling Lan with a puzzled expression. ¡°I looked into Xie Yi¡¯s memory and there¡¯s a person called Luo Lang. His personality is the main ego while his alter egos listen to him.¡±


    Ling Lan replied calmly, ¡°In Luo Lang¡¯s case, he awakened his innate talent. Those aren¡¯t his alter egos. He uses a summoning technique¡ªSpiritual Possession. Your case ispletely different from his.¡±


    The dark alter ego was smart and immediately understood. ¡°You mean that since Xie Yi and I belonged as a whole, you¡¯re not sure who¡¯ll be the main ego after we merge?¡±


    Ling Lan nodded her head. ¡°Yes. This is why I don¡¯t know whether it¡¯ll work or not. I don¡¯t know what will happen after the merging.¡± They might not even be able to have their own thoughts anymore, but this was something Ling Lan would never tell them.


    Xie Yi and the dark alter ego fell deep into their thoughts. Ling Lan¡¯s method had its risk¡ªno one knew what the oue would be. It could fail, or it could seed. They could even end up bing apletely different person...

 Chapter 549 - Merge!

    <h4>Chapter 549: Merge!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Xie Yi was the first to look up from his thoughts. He said to Ling Lan, ¡°Boss, I¡¯m willing to merge.¡± If he didn¡¯t merge, he would need to suppress the dark alter ego. However, he didn¡¯t hate the dark alter ego. He had now seen the world that the dark alter ego lived in and couldn¡¯t bear to let him continue living in it. His father was right¡ªhe was too soft-hearted.


    The dark alter ego looked at Xie Yi in disbelief. ¡°Your boss said you might not be the main ego in the end. Why are you still willing to merge?¡±


    Xie Yi smiled. His smile was bright and vibrant just as before. ¡°If you be the main ego, it must be because you are stronger than me. I can ept that.¡± Xie Yi was speaking the truth. If he couldn¡¯t even win against his dark alter ego, who had only held his body for a few minutes, he felt that he would have no rights to be the main ego.


    The dark alter ego stared at Xie Yi intently. After a few seconds, he turned his head and said to Ling Lan, ¡°Since he¡¯s willing to take the risk, I have nothing to worry about either.¡± Ling Lan was very powerful. If Xie Yi chose to suppress him, Ling Lan would definitely help Xie Yi. The dark alter ego knew that at that time, he would be sealed again and this seal would be stronger than the one before. He might not be able to break it at all...


    Xie Yi¡¯s decision had given him another path. He finally understood what his father¡¯sst words meant. Xie Yi was a soft-hearted person. Xie Yi gave him a chance to live after he broke the seal. If he had been the main ego, he would have calcted all his gains and losses and chosen the path that benefited him the most. He would not have given Xie Yi any chances.


    As the dark alter ego felt gratitude, the hatred and anger in his heart disappeared. The two people began to grow closer to one another in front of Ling Lan...


    ¡°Open your minds and ept one another.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice rang beside their ears and they followed her words. Xie Yi epted the dark alter ego¡¯s negative emotions and the dark alter ego epted Xie Yi¡¯s life in the past 19 years.


    ¡°So this is how painful it felt to stay here alone... but all of that is going to end soon. You¡¯ll have an interesting life just like mine in the future. I¡¯ll apany you for the rest of your life.¡±


    ¡°So you have negative emotions, too. Your life wasn¡¯t all happy and smooth. You also had your downs.¡± When the dark alter ego saw the memories of how Ling Lan tormented Xie Yi till he almost died, heughed silently. ¡°Will I be able to experience all this as well?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we¡¯re supposed to be together. You only slept for a few years and missed out on that period. But my memories are yours, just like how your memories are mine, too.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll learn and grow together!¡± Xie Yi and the dark alter ego smiled at each other, following which they turned into two balls of mist, which began to intertwine. Gradually, a new human figure was formed.


    ¡°What will Xie Yi¡¯s personality be like?¡± Ling Lan thought curiously. She wanted to smile but got a shock instead. She waved her finger and a piece of cloth wrapped around the human figure.


    What the hell. Did the new human figure have to be naked? Ling Lan was once again reminded that she was a female. She didn¡¯t have what the other party had.


    Xie Yi abruptly opened his eyes and, noticing the cloth wrapped around him, waved his hand. The cloth disappeared. Ling Lan appeared in front of him. He smiled and cried out, ¡°Boss!¡±


    ¡°Wear your clothes.¡± A cold voice entered his ear.


    Xie Yi looked down and he patted his forehead whileughing. He was grateful for his boss¡¯ thoughtfulness which prevented him from feeling awkward. He snapped his fingers and his school uniform appeared on him. He looked at himself and made sure that he was presentable before crying out again, ¡°Boss, I¡¯m done.¡±


    Ling Lan turned around to look at Xie Yi and asked calmly, ¡°How do you feel?¡±


    Xie Yi took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes, enjoying his current state of being. ¡°I feel good. My body feels energized.¡± He widened his eyes and looked at Ling Lan seriously as he continued, ¡°I want to fight you again. I want to see if you¡¯re worthy of my loyalty.¡±


    ¡°Loyalty?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. ¡°I don¡¯tck people who are loyal to me.¡±


    ¡°Like how I was in the past?¡± Xie Yi gave a sinister smile.


    ¡°That¡¯s myrade.¡± Ling Lan walked closer to Xie Yi. Her eyes pierced right into his gaze and he couldn¡¯t maintain his smile anymore.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you sad that I¡¯m the one here?¡± Xie Yi tried to force out a smile again. He had made a deal with Xie Yi; he needed to find out what Xie Yi was to Ling Lan.


    ¡°He is him, you are you. Is there a difference?¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently. ¡°I believe him. He won¡¯t disappoint me.¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately, he lost. He was taken over by me. Yourrade has disappeared.¡± Xie Yi retracted his smile and cold insanity filled his eyes.


    Xie Yi¡¯s words didn¡¯t anger Ling Lan. She reached out to calmly fix Xie Yi¡¯s tie, following which she lightly touched Xie Yi¡¯s clothes as if she were patting some dust away. After doing all this, she said, ¡°If you want to understand me and understand my rtionship with Xie Yi, stay alive. Find and feel it for yourself.¡±


    Xie Yi¡¯s eyes turned red and tears silently fell from his eyes. ¡°Can I still live?¡±


    ¡°Of course. As long as you want to live, you can. Merging doesn¡¯t mean that one of you has to die. You two can live together,¡± Ling Lan replied sincerely.


    ¡°I want to live, I want to live...¡± Xie Yi repeated these words over and over again.


    ¡°Continue to live then.¡± Ling Lan hugged Xie Yi tightly and patted his back hard.


    Xie Yi¡¯s expression became more firm. When he opened his eyes again, the cold insanity in them was gone¡ªhis eyes were calm. He raised his head to look at Ling Lan and smiled. ¡°Boss, you¡¯re hugging me too tightly. It hurts.¡±


    Ling Lan let go of Xie Yi and carefully examined him. She nodded after a while. ¡°Doesn¡¯t look bad.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it better if I destroy the dark alter ego?¡± Xie Yi asked unhappily.


    ¡°Destroying him won¡¯t solve anything,¡± Ling Lan replied nonchntly. ¡°Also, you can¡¯t destroy him. I think that he will most likely destroy you instead.¡±


    ¡°Then why didn¡¯t you believe him just now?¡± Xie Yi was curious.


    ¡°Because you can¡¯t bear to destroy him,¡± Ling Lan replied.


    ¡°Not fun at all. How did you know that the personality I showed just now wasn¡¯t me?¡± Xie Yi felt unhappy.


    ¡°By feeling,¡± Ling Lan answered. Before Xie Yi could ask anything again, she said, ¡°Since your problem is solved, let¡¯s go back now.¡± She snapped her fingers and the both of them disappeared from Xie Yi¡¯s mindscape.

 Chapter 550 - Recoil!

    <h4>Chapter 550: Recoil!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    In the cockpit of his mecha, Xie Yi¡¯s eyes suddenly moved and he came back to life.


    ¡°We¡¯re back again. Your world is very ufortable,¡± Xie Yiined.


    ¡°Ling Lan is very powerful! Of course he¡¯s powerful. He¡¯s my boss. He¡¯s not my boss yet... wait!¡± Xie Yi rubbed at his eyebrows as he talked to himself, and then he worriedly continued, ¡°We need to discuss how we¡¯ll bemunicating from now on. It¡¯s okay right now since there¡¯s only the two of us here, but it would be quite strange if we talked like this in front of someone else.¡±


    ¡°What shall we do then? Do you want me to disappear?¡±


    ¡°Of course not. My boss doesn¡¯t want you to disappear either. Can we not talk and use our consciousness tomunicate instead?¡± Xie Yi replied.


    ¡°We can try. Using my consciousness? I always did that in the sealed world.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s good that you don¡¯t have a problem, but I do. Let me try to use my consciousness to talk. My consciousness, consciousness.¡± Xie Yi started hypnotizing himself.


    ¡°Pfft...¡± Xie Yiughed.


    ¡°I said to use the consciousness to talk. Why are youughing out loud? I know you¡¯reughing at me.¡± Xie Yi got angry.


    ¡°I get it. I¡¯llugh at you in my consciousness.¡± Xie Yi rolled his eyes. The next second, the cockpit fell into silence.


    ¡°I¡¯m extremely curious as to whether Luo Lang and his alter egos are also as lively when they talk to each other.¡±


    ...


    ¡°Hey, why aren¡¯t you speaking?¡±


    ¡°Hey, why are you so quiet. Don¡¯t tell me you disappeared. This isn¡¯t funny at all.¡± Xie Yi got anxious.


    ¡°You were the one who asked me to stop talking.¡±


    ¡°I asked you to stop talking verbally, not to stop talking through your mind. Is it fun to scare me like this?¡± Xie Yi was furious. The dark alter ego was not fun at all. He admired Luo Lang. He admired that face that he could subdue all his alter egos while he himself could only be yed around by his other personality. Xie Yi started to respect Luo Lang even more. He decided to learn from Luo Lang and not let the dark alter ego bullied him anymore.


    Luo Lang? He had to go and understand this person whom Xie Yi respected so much... the other Xie Yi thought secretly. Doesn¡¯t the other Xie Yi know that he would know what he is thinking? Erm, it should be the same the other way round as well...


    The two different Xie Yi were confused. They had just merged and so Xie Yi was not able to grasp the switching of the two personalities yet. Hence, this would always happen. This was one of the hidden treasures of Ling Lan¡¯s battle team in the future and something that every new member wanted to see. Lin Zhong-qing made this into a reward which could be redeemed with battle points. Because of this, Xie Yi became a legend in the battle n.


    ¡°Beep, beep. Lingtian No. 8 has lost and is out of the battle.¡± All the participants in thepetition received this announcement. Leiting didn¡¯t have any reaction, but the members of Lingtian were astounded.


    Lingtian No. 8 was the mecha controlled by their boss¡ªLing Lan.


    Tang Yu also realized this and was shocked; he couldn¡¯t believe what had happened. In actual fact, they hadn¡¯t even witnessed the scene of Lingtian No. 8 fighting. Did Ling Lan identally log out of Mecha World? Was he forced to log out due to his login pod short-circuiting?


    The members of Lingtian understood what had happened quickly. Did someone win against their boss? That was impossible. Everyone rejected this spection.


    Ling Lan opened her login pod in her vi. Her face was pale. She wanted to get up, but blood gushed up her throat and she spat it out. The login pod was stained with her blood.


    ¡°Boss, are you okay?¡± Little Four shouted in concern through her mindscape.


    Ling Lan quickly started practicing her Qi exercises and slowly recuperated. Her massive headache got better, too. After a long time, Ling Lan opened her eyes and gave a forced smile. ¡°I was still too rash.¡±


    Her energy was not enough for her to execute the top-tier technique of the Divine Command sect¡ªInvasion of Dreams. She had forced herself too much and got hurt; her spirit was heavily injured. She was kicked out of thepetition by the mainframe due to no longer being able to operate her mecha.


    Invasion of Dreams was a dangerous technique, to both the user and target. If someone forcefully executed this technique, they would be heavily injured and might injure their brain¡ªit could even render that person brain-dead. It was simr to what spectres were capable of, but was more powerful as it could be used in the real world.


    Invasion of Dreams required the user to use their spiritual power to enter another¡¯s spiritual world and read their memories. A powerful person could change a person¡¯s memory. They could even destroy a person¡¯s spiritual world. The victim would either injure the brain or turned brain-dead. This was simr to the abilities of the spectres in the virtual world.


    The Divine Command sect was able to survive because they only passed this technique to one disciple in each generation. This disciple would be taught personally to prevent the secret from being leaked. If they didn¡¯t do this, the different countries would definitely kill them as they would not allow this formidable technique to exist. Even if there were survivors, they would be the secret weapons of a nation.


    Of course, this formidable technique could not be executed so easily. ording to the requirements set by the Divine Command sect, it was necessary to reach the peak realm, which was half step to God-Realm, in order to execute this technique. Otherwise, the user would be seriously injured.


    Ling Lan would not endanger herself. However, she had carried out research with Little Four and realized that in the virtual world where everyone was using their spiritual power, she would be able to execute Invasion of Dreams with Little Four¡¯s help and enter the spiritual world of others.


    This conclusion allowed Ling Lan to make a n. Ling Lan knew that she needed to enter Xie Yi¡¯s spiritual world in order to solve his problem¡ªto meet the other Xie Yi. She was unable to do this in reality, but she could do so in the virtual world.


    However, the dark alter ego was very scared of Ling Lan and didn¡¯t give her any chances to invade his spiritual world. Ling Lan had no choice but to find other ways to catch him off his guard. In the end, Ling Lan chose to do it during the challenge.


    The results proved that her n was a sess. The dark alter ego appeared and she managed to enter his spiritual world sessfully.


    However, she had still underestimated the recoil of this technique. She had forced herself to stay till the end, but by the time Xie Yi merged with his dark alter ego, she could not support herself anymore and ended her conversation with him.

 Chapter 551 - Work Hard For Me!

    <h4>Chapter 551: Work Hard For Me!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Boss, you were too rash.¡± Little Four reprimanded Ling Lan upon seeing her condition improving.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect the recoil to be so strong,¡± Ling Lan replied innocently.


    ¡°Don¡¯t lie to me. If you didn¡¯t reenact Xie Yi¡¯s memory, the recoil wouldn¡¯t have been this strong.¡± Reenacting the memory required an abundance of spiritual power. Ling Lan was already pushing herself when she used Invasion of Dreams. She was lucky that she didn¡¯t get worse injuries.


    Little Four got scared by the thought and started tearing up.


    Ling Lan blinked. She wanted to change the topic, but when she saw the fear and remorse in Little Four¡¯s eyes, she apologized to him instead. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I let you worry. I won¡¯t let myself get hurt again. Don¡¯t worry about me.¡± She reached out and touched Little Four¡¯s head, feeling grateful for his concern.


    Little Four¡¯s anxiousness taught Ling Lan a lesson and she told herself to prepare well before doing anything in the future. She could not let the people who loved and cared for her worry again.


    Ling Lan saw that Little Four was still sad and quickly changed the topic. She asked, ¡°Do you think that our n can win the challenge?¡±


    Little Four stopped crying and answered her seriously. ¡°Although you got kicked out of the challenge, Leiting No. 1 is out of the battle too. If Qi Long maintains his normal standard, the other members of Leiting Mecha n won¡¯t be able to win against him if they fight one-on-one.¡±


    ¡°I think that there¡¯s no way our n will lose.¡± Little Four raised his head proudly. The Lingtian Battle n had grown into a n full of special-ss operators. They were able to be the pirs of the Lingtian n. His boss was not the only strong person in the team now.


    ¡°Everyone has grown up. I can let go now.¡± Ling Lan stood up, walked to the window and looked at the scenery outside her house. She had been staying here for more than two years. Now that her team members had grown stronger, she could focus on herself.


    Little Four was puzzled at Ling Lan¡¯s words. ¡°Boss, what do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Closed-door meditation,¡± Ling Lan replied with a smile. She had wanted to meditate so that she could merge all the things she had learned during this period of time. However, before this, there were too many things on her heart and she was not able to meditate in peace. The challenge this time was not only the start of her ns to unify the military academy, but it was also a challenge she posed for the n. She wanted to know if they could operate all by themselves.


    This was also why she crossed realms to help Xie Yi solve his problem. Ling Lan liked to settle everything properly and make sure that nothing was left to chance; it was the only way she could put her heart at ease. ording to her analysis, this trait was inherited from her mother. Actually, her real age was around the same as her mother. People of this age liked to concern themselves with everything. It was hard for her to change.


    Little Four¡¯s eyes lit up, his face filled with surprise. ¡°Boss, are you...¡±


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°It¡¯s time.¡±


    It was time for her to stop protecting her teammates and let them battle with the other factions themselves. No matter what the result was, it would hasten their growth.


    ¡°But you¡¯re going to unify the military academy soon. If you meditate now and they lose, your efforts will all be wasted.¡± Little Four worried about leaving the situation in the hands of others.


    Ling Lan smiled gently and flicked Little Four¡¯s forehead. ¡°Do you think that I honestly want to be the king of the military academy?¡±


    Little Four rubbed at his forehead, confused.


    ¡°If I don¡¯t give them a goal to work towards, they won¡¯t have the motivation to be stronger. Being the king of the military academy is a goal that¡¯s big enough for them to work hard for,¡± Ling Lan exined. She was not an arrogant person. She would not have done this without a valid reason.


    ¡°So, let¡¯s make them work hard for me and for the goal.¡± Ling Lan gave a brilliant smile, which brightened up her face, too. Mesmerized, Little Four suddenly wiped at the corners of his mouth. <i>My boss shouldn¡¯t smile too much.</i>


    The battle between Lingtian and Leiting didn¡¯t end due to the exit of Tian Jiajun and Ling Lan. After a few hours of fighting and ambushing, the Lingtian Mecha n won against the Leiting Mecha n with three members surviving the battle.


    This meant that the Leiting Mecha n, which had been around for a few hundred years, would be disbanded and merged entirely into the Lingtian Mecha n. The name ¡°Leiting¡± was merely history now. Some new members of Leiting might build another Leiting Mecha n in the future, but it would not be the same n as before. It would be a new mecha n.


    Everyone thought that there was no stopping of Lingtian after they defeated Leiting, but it was during such a time that Ling Lan announced her closed-door meditation.


    This news caused an uproar among the people in the military academy. Everyone felt that Ling Lan made the wrong decision, that she chose the worst time to meditate. If she had gone to meditate a few monthster, she would have been able to lead the Lingtian Mecha n in destroying all the other factions and be the king of the military academy. Her name would have gone down in the school¡¯s history as a true hero.


    Many felt that Ling Lan made a wrong decision, but the other mecha ns were relieved; they felt hopeful about being able to win against the Lingtian Mecha n. This change made it difficult to predict the results of the future battles, but Ling Lan had achieved the results that she wanted.


    A human would only treasure the things that he or she fought hard for. The Lingtian Mecha n needed this training.


    After Ling Lan went into meditation, Lingtian battled with many other mecha ns. The former Leiting special-ss operators were still angry about the merger, so the members who participated in the battles were all operators from the original Lingtian Mecha n.


    Although the Lingtian Mecha n did not have as many special-ss mecha operators as the rest of the factions, they learned from Ling Lan¡¯s tactics and knew how to make the situation advantageous to them. Hence, the Lingtian Mecha n always chose the twelve-man team challenge mode. They did not give the other factions a chance for them to use their numbers against them.

 Chapter 552 - Close Combat King!

    <h4>Chapter 552: Close Combat King!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The first match that took ce after Ling Lan was gone was the match between the Lingtian Mecha n and Tianji Mecha n. The Tianji Mecha n was the third faction in the military academy. They had always been one rank below Lingtian Mecha n. They had a greater number of mecha operators aspared to Lingtian and the quality of their mecha operators was better too. Many people felt that Lingtian Mecha n would lose this battle and give up their first-rank position.


    At the start of the battle, the Lingtian Mecha n was taken by surprise and five of their members were eliminated within an hour. The people felt that their prediction was true.


    However, the remaining seven members were not agitated at all. Their mentality stayed strong and they remained calm. They used all the methods that could think of to kill their opponent. They told themselves that killing one was their mission and killing two was a bonus. They fought hard and managed to salvage the situation. The score was 2:3 towards the end of the battle. Two Lingtian mechas and three Tianji mechas were left.


    The three Tianji mecha operators left were the strongest of the cohort while Qi Long and Luo Lang were the ones who survived.


    Lingtian No. 1, Qi Long, was the strongest special-ss operator in Lingtian, second only to Ling Lan, but he had only advanced recently. Lingtian No. 4 had also advanced less than half a year ago, so no one thought that they would be able to defeat the three Tianji special-ss operators who had been at this level for three years. However, the Lingtian Mecha n left everyone in shock once again.


    Lingtian No. 1, Qi Long, rose up because of this match. His closebat skills were amazing and frightening. Thebined attack of Tianji No.1 and Tianji No. 2 was not able to defeat him. He managed tost till Lingtian No. 4 killed Tianji No. 3. Although Lingtian No. 4 also performed well, he did not get as much recognition as Qi Long. His excellence, calmness, and perfect operation were buried under the hype about Qi Long¡¯s closebat skills.


    Qi Long didn¡¯t lose when facing two mechas and even defeated Tianji No. 1 easily after Luo Lang came to support him. In the end, the two of them killed thest mecha from Tianji and won thepetition. The rumors of Lingtian Mecha n being a third-rate mecha n without Ling Lan was broken.


    Qi Long¡¯s invincible and domineering closebat skills allowed him to gain the approval of the cadets who loved closebat. Some first years and second years even made Qi Long their idol. Before this, a huge portion of the cadets had fallen in love with bnced mecha after seeing Ling Lan¡¯s performance in the Grand Mecha Tournament. When they saw Qi Long¡¯s performance, they started hesitating and wondered what mecha they truly liked. The cadets took this chance to seriously ponder about their decision and find the right path for themselves. Hence, many juniors of Ling Lan became outstanding mecha operators. Of course, all of this happened in the future so it was not important now.


    Qi Long¡¯s exceptional performance proved to everyone that the Lingtian Mecha n didn¡¯t only have Ling Lan¡ªthey had Qi Long too.


    However, there were more challenges awaiting Lingtian. Qi Long¡¯s excellent performance caused the other mecha ns to be on their guard. In the uing third match, Lingtian would face the Wuji Mecha n who was ranked fourth. The Wuji Mecha n made some adjustments to their n.


    Since they didn¡¯t have the confidence to defeat Qi Long, Wuji n chose to pester Qi Long and prevent him from attacking anyone. They sent out a strong long-range mecha operator and seeded in their n.


    The n made by Wuji was perfect. The long range mecha operator had taken ample preparation. He maximized the speed of his mecha engine, so Qi Long was not able to hit him. Qi Long could neither attack nor shake him off. There was nothing he could do.


    The Wuji Mecha n¡¯s action enlightened the other mecha ns and they felt more at ease. Qi Long¡¯s closebat mecha had its weakness too. It was not as fast as long-range mechas and this was something they could make use of.


    Once they held Qi Long up, Wuji Mecha n went to attack the other mecha operators of Lingtian without any worry. Wuji was an old faction too. They had a strong foundation. Without Qi Long, Wuji was stronger than Lingtian, and the ensuing battle proved this point. Thepetition didn¡¯t lean to one side and both ns had mechas eliminated. As time passed, however, Lingtian started to have more mecha operators being killed and Wuji started to gain the upper hand...


    When the score was at 4:2, Qi Long was still being held back by the long-range mecha, while the other three mecha operators from Wuji went to attack the remaining Lingtian mecha. Everyone expected this mecha to be destroyed, after which Wuji would target Qi Long together. However, a mecha operator from Lingtian unleashed his potential again. This time, it was Xie Yi, the mecha operator who had substituted Ling Lan in the first match that had passed.


    Although Xie Yi had used the Chain Combo skill to defeat Tian Jiajun in that match, he was on the losing end from the start and Ling Lan suddenly announced her close door meditation right after the match. With the rose of Qi Long after that, everyone¡¯s attention was drawn away and he was ignored. However, a capable individual would always appear in front of everyone again.


    Xie Yi didn¡¯t get nervous in this dire situation. Unexpectedly, he was calmer than normal and his operating level suddenly rose from the intermediate level to the optimal peak. He used his exceptional skills to defeat two mechas and then self-destructed with thest mecha.


    This was the worst battle the Lingtian Mecha n had ever experienced. Xie Yi¡¯s self-destruction saved Lingtian and angered Qi Long. Qi Long had a breakthrough in his hand speed during this moment. This breakthrough allowed him to catch up with the long range mecha and defeat him. Lingtian won the battle.


    If Xie Yi hadn¡¯t unleashed his potential and was defeated by the three mechas, Wuji would definitely have won this match. This was a close call for the Lingtian Mecha n.

 Chapter 553 - Releasing Potential!

    <h4>Chapter 553: Releasing Potential!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    After the match, the members of Lingtian felt fortunate. They were lucky that their opponent was Wuji and not Leiting or Tian Ji. Not all the special-ss operators from Wuji had reached the peak-level of the special-ss. Among the three mecha operators that had surrounded Xie Yi, only one was at peak-level, while the other two were at intermediate-level; this was why Xie Yi was able to stay alive and even defeat two special-ss operators while running away. If all of them had been at the peak-level, Xie Yi could at most have defeated two mechas. He would never have been able to bring down the third mecha in a mutual self-destruct.


    After reviewing their battle, the Lingtian Mecha n finally understood why their boss had chosen to start with the strongest mecha n first. At the start, their opponents didn¡¯t know their true power. As their abilities became revealed to all the other cadets, the mecha ns that had yet to fight with them would carefully analyze them and think of counter-measures. However, since the mecha ns were weaker, Lingtian Mecha n would not be defeated easily.


    It would have been safer had they chosen to start from the weakest mecha n, but then the stronger teams would have gained more information on them. If the mecha operators that Xie Yi encountered had all been at peak-level... Luck might allow them to win once, but not twice. If they met a stronger opponent in the next match, they would lose the battle easily.


    Han Jijyun looked in the direction of Ling Lan¡¯s meditation room and he sighed emotionally. Having realized that the seemingly crazy order of battle was actually the most advantageous to them, he admired his boss¡¯ decision-making ability. He would always make decisions with foresight and deliberation.


    Although the end of these two matches signaled the end of Lingtian¡¯s hardest period, it didn¡¯t mean that they would definitely win the matches thereafter. No mecha n would want to give up their rights and bow down to another mecha n. They would fight against them no matter how hopeless it seemed.


    As expected, in the third match with Dwotong, Dwotong drew a lesson from Wuji and Tianji and sent out their best long-range mechas to hold back Qi Long and Xie Yi who had turned the tables around for the two past matches.


    The other ten mecha operators went to kill the rest of Lingtian. The Dwotong Mecha n had equipped all their mechas with powerful long-range weapons. They prepared to use the long-range weapons against Qi Long and Xie Yi after killing the other members of Lingtian. That way, they could prevent any chances of having a short-distanced fight with Qi Long and Xie Yi. Dwotong¡¯s n was good, but yet another member of Lingtian released their potential...


    ¡°In the third match, Lingtian No. 4, Luo Lang, had an outstanding performance and defeated two mechas in a row. He self-destructs along with a third mecha and Dwotong¡¯s n failed.¡±


    ¡°In the fourth match, Lingtian No. 2, Wu Jiong, was really impressive when he self-destructs with an opponent¡¯s mecha after defeating another one. LuoJi Mecha n got flustered after losing two mechas and Lingtian seized this chance and won the battle.¡±


    ¡°In the fifth match, Lingtian No. 7, Lin Zhong-qing, released his potential and defeated two mechas. Afterward, he sessfully held back the third mecha and allowed Lingtian to have an advantage in quantity. In the end, Xiling got defeated.¡±


    ¡°In the sixth match, Lingtian No. 3, Li Yingjie, amazed everyone by...¡±


    The mecha ns that fought Lingtian in the following matches tried to hold back the members that released their potential, but the new members continued to exceed their expectations. They could not predict who would release their potential next. Hence, they could only be defeated by Lingtian and be merged into the Lingtian Mecha n. After Lingtian defeated the top 8 mecha n of the military academy, the oue was a foregone conclusion. No one expected Lingtian to fail at unifying the military academy unless the 12 members got a stomach ache on the day of the match and decided not to take part in it...


    There were some mecha ns who wanted to poison the Lingtian Mecha n in real life. They couldn¡¯t do anything to Lingtian in the virtual world, so they hoped that they could hurt them in reality. However, everyone knew that this was impossible. The disciplinary team of the military academy was keeping an eye on them. The disciplinary team wanted to have an opportunity to show the cadets their power to prevent them from forgetting their frightening existence.


    After the sixth match ended, Ling Yi walked out of his login pod in silence. He had watched all the six matches.


    The other login pods in the room opened soon after him and five people walked out.


    ¡°Leader, why did youe out so quickly?¡± Tao Xiaotao looked shocked. Their leader had alwayse outst in the first few matches. He always had to rewind the match a few times before he got satisfied.


    Ling Yi didn¡¯t reply to him. He walked to the washroom and filled the basin with water, following which he suddenly dunked his head into the water and held his breath for a few minutes before looking up again. The water on his hair sshed onto the mirror in front of him. Ling Yi started at his reflection. He could see the doubt in his eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯m not qualified.¡± Pain filled Ling Yi¡¯s eyes as he widened them. The master that he wanted to protect had so many powerful people around him. Originally, he thought that he had the rights to stand beside him, but now, it just seemed to be his wishful thinking¡ªhe was nothing.


    ¡°Leader, we are still first years.¡± Yi Tiange walked over and consoled him.


    ¡°I¡¯m only one year younger than them, yet the distance between us is vast,¡± Ling Yi said in a low voice, turning around.


    ¡°Leader, no one can reach the highest level in just one step. Among the first years, you are outstanding, too. I have looked up information on them. When they were first years, they were no stronger than you are now. We can catch up with them as long as we work hard,¡± Rong Ziruo said as he passed him a towel calmly, seeming confident.


    ¡°Yes. When you said that you wanted to bring us into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, everyoneughed and said that you are dreaming. Even we didn¡¯t have confidence. However, you did it. We passed the examination and entered together. You can do whatever you want to do. I believe that you can.¡± Tao Xiaotao nodded his head firmly as he said all this. The trust in his eyes warmed up Ling Yi¡¯s heart and his self-doubt disappeared.


    ¡°Yes, I can do it. If they can do it, I can too.¡± Ling Yi regained his confidence.


    Rong Ziruo and Yi Tiange exchanged a nce with each other before looking at Tao Xiaotao and smiling. Although Tao Xiaotao always created trouble and was like a kid that never grew up, his pureness made him sincere and trustworthy. He was an excellent stabilizer to use when other people doubted themselves. It seemed to them that they needed to treat him better from now on.

 Chapter 554 - Little Fours Word?

    <h4>Chapter 554: Little Four¡¯s Word?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Lingtian faced dangerous battle, but the overall situation was stable. The members of Lingtian gradually got better in their mecha operating skills so as long as they maintained their standard, Lingtian would unify the military academy.


    Aspared to the good news from Lingtian Mecha n, Ling Lan¡¯s meditation was not going smoothly.


    A few months ago, Ling Lan had managed to merge all her knowledge about mecha piloting and use them smoothly. She was confident that she would be able to make a breakthrough in her hand speed that had been stagnant for over a year. However, she would always lose control at the crucial moment and all her prior efforts would be in vain. She was just a slight distance away from the requirements to advance to an imperial operator.


    Ling Lan failed many times and grew slightly frustrated. Why couldn¡¯t she make a breakthrough? She was proficient in the basic controls that her father, her instructors and Instructor Number Three of the learning space taught her. She had satisfied all their requirements, so she didn¡¯t know what she needed to work on now.


    After Ling Lan failed again, she took a deep breath and entered careful contemtion regarding this matter. She knew that shecked something to achieve her breakthrough,cked something to be an imperial operator.


    ¡°I have nothing that I can practice on anymore and I havepleted many dangerous missions in Mecha World. I believe that my temperament has met the requirements as well after so many years of practicing in the learning space... What on earth do Ick?¡± Ling Lan rubbed her temples and went deep in thought, but she still couldn¡¯t figure out what she wascking.


    ¡°Boss, don¡¯t be anxious. Why not ask Number Three?¡± Little Four couldn¡¯t bear to see Ling Lan facing any trouble so he quickly shared his opinion, hoping that it would help Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Little Four, you¡¯re right. Maybe Instructor Number Three will know what my problem is.¡± Her mecha piloting was mostly taught by Instructor Number Three; thus, if she had any problems, Number Three would definitely know.


    Ling Lan controlled her consciousness and entered the learning space. She opened the door to Number Three¡¯s room without hesitation and saw Number Three smiling amiably at her. He said, ¡°I thought that you didn¡¯t need me anymore.¡±


    Ling Lan was speechless. What was her teacher trying to say? He made her sound like an ungrateful person... fine, she was in the wrong anyway. She hadn¡¯t thought about seeking help from Instructor Number Three before she meditated herself, so it was understandable that Instructor Number Three would tease her. She deserved it.


    Ever since she had finished her lessons with Instructor Number Three when she was 16 years old, she had been figuring things out all by herself for the past two years. This habit made her forget about her Instructor Number Three. She had wasted one month.


    Ling Lan knew that she made a mistake, but she didn¡¯t feel remorse or regret. One would definitely make some mistakes or do some stupid things in the process of growing up. There was nothing wrong with this. One just needed to learn from it and listen to other people¡¯s experiences so as to not make the same mistake again.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mentality was good. She knew how to criticize herself; hence, she only felt awkward for a moment. Afterward, she asked, ¡°Instructor Number Three, if you can¡¯t bear your loneliness, I rmend Instructor Number Five. He¡¯ll find a solution for you.¡±


    Number Three¡¯s smile froze at her words as he remembered how crazy Number Five was and a chill ran down his spine. He knew that Ling Lan had a good rtionship with Number Five. Number Five was extremely satisfied with Ling Lan so he would not reject her most of the time. If Ling Lan had a chat with Number Five, thetter would definitelye and find him... he didn¡¯t want to offend the scary Number Five. Number Three changed the topic quickly. ¡°Ling Lan, why did youe and find me?¡± He had been observing Ling Lan, so he knew of her current situation.


    ¡°I feel that I¡¯m ready. Yet I can¡¯t increase my hand speed for 0.1 seconds. I want to ask whether you know what I amcking,¡± Ling Lan asked seriously.


    Number Three pondered the matter for a while before replying, ¡°You have to understand the reason for yourself. I can¡¯t just tell you directly. Let me bring you to experience it.¡±


    The moment he finished speaking, Number Three waved his hand and a great force struck Ling Lan, who fell backward and suddenly dropped down.


    Ling Lan received a shock upon being hit, but she believed that Number Three would not harm her. She quickly steadied herself and waited for her consciousness to recover.


    ¡°Boom.¡± Ling Lan felt herself being mmed into something and then her body was in so much pain it felt as though she was run over by a car. She got the wrong impression that she was back in her past life, the life where she had to endure unbearable pain all day long.


    ¡°Hello. Hey, wake up.¡± She felt someone pping her face lightly. Ling Lan opened her eyes and saw a young man with sharp ears, blue eyes, golden hair, and some wrinkles on his face. The man was looking at her worriedly.


    ¡°Elf?¡± Ling Lan was stunned for a moment. Did she transmigrate again? Before she could think any further, the explosion beside her shocked her.


    ¡°Lan Si, you are finally awake. This is great,¡± The young man eximed happily upon seeing Ling Lan opening her eyes.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Ling Lan regained her calmness. She knew that this was probably an illusion that the learning space had created. She had been through many missions in the learning space and seen many different people. They were all human beings that took the form of people she saw in real life. However, this world looked like that of Greek mythology. The explosions and smoke in the air reminded her that she was not in a world of myth; it was a modern battlefield.


    ¡°I am Ji Sheng. Did you hurt your head when you flew away due to the explosion just now?¡± shouted the young man called Ji Sheng. ¡°Ah, Lan Si, this is bad.¡±


    ¡°Shut up. My head is hurting. It¡¯ll get worse if you scream any more. Tell me what¡¯s happening here.¡± Ling Lan shot a cold nce at Ji Sheng, who became frightened.


    Ji Sheng covered his mouth immediately and shook his head.


    ¡°What is this ce? What year is this? What are we doing? Why did I faint?¡± Ling Lan threw a series of questions at Ji Sheng and asked him to reply.


    Ji Sheng replied honestly. He wanted to help his friend regain his memory faster so he put down the hands covering his mouth and said quickly, ¡°This is the Mandora star system, No. 113. We are in the Mandora star calendar, year 44443-7327. We are fighting against the T21 division. We collided with two enemy nes just now, but we managed to parachute out. Just as we were nning to go back to our base, a missilended right beside us and you were thrown off by the force. Younded on your head and fainted afterward. I called out to you for a long time before you woke up.¡±


    ¡°Mandora? King mecha learning device?¡± Ling Lan was shocked. Wasn¡¯t Mandora the ce where Little Four came from? Was this Little Four¡¯s world?


    ¡°Ah, Lan Si, are you starting to remember everything? You are right. After birth, we would be equipped with the king mecha learning device. We would then wait for the learning device to be activated,¡± Ji Sheng replied to her happily.


    ¡°I have some impression now. However, there are still some gaps in my memory,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly with a frown.


    Ji Sheng, on the other hand, was very happy. Lan Si was getting better. He didn¡¯t recall much, but it was better than nothing.


    ¡°The activation of the learning system depends on our innate talent. The stronger your innate talent, the earlier the system will activate. The fastest time recorded was 15 months after childbirth. Of course, that child is an anomaly and will definitely be one of the most powerful king mecha operators in the future,¡± Ji Sheng continued. He was envious of that child. His own innate talent was merely normal and so he had activated the learning system when he was 8 years old. He had just be an intermediate mecha warrior.


    ¡°I remember this. I want to know who our enemies are and where theye from.¡± Ling Lan stopped Ji Sheng from continuing this topic.


    Ling Lan remembered Little Four mentioning how powerful the Mandora star system was. The star systems around them were not their match at all. However, without the experiences on the battlefield, the military strength of a nation would deteriorate. In order to maintain their strength and continue producing outstanding warriors, the Mandora star systembined all their technology and invented the learning system. It allowed the people of the Mandora star system to experience battles in the learning system and henceforth be a mecha expert. Some might even be a king mecha operator.


    However, the Mandora star system was experiencing an attack now. There was something amiss going on.


    Ji Sheng¡¯s expression dimmed at Ling Lan¡¯s question. ¡°The king mecha learning device is very cruel. The elimination rate is as high as 30%. Some people even ended up harming their brain and bing mentally disabled because they couldn¡¯t handle the vicious training. Because of this, a portion of the people protested. They felt that this was a scheme by the intelligence entities who wanted to control the humans and build their own nation.¡±


    ¡°Intelligence entity?¡± Was he referring to Little Four and her instructors in the learning space?


    ¡°Yes. The Mandora star system is made up of two kinds of people. One group is made up of Mandora citizens like us and the other contains the intelligence entities. They were just an intelligent system at the start, but they evolved and started to have their own consciousness. We worked together and created this strong and powerful Mandora star system. To show that the Mandora citizens epted them wholeheartedly, we used the current mainframe¡¯s name to name the current era. The name would only change when the next mainframe takes over.¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s what happened, why did the people feel that the intelligence entities wanted to control the humans? Survival of the fittest is an oldw of nature. They could not suspect the intelligence entities just because of this,¡± Ling Lan asked curiously.


    ¡°Someone suggested that the imntation of the learning system was a scheme by the intelligence entities to control the Mandora citizens. The intelligence entities could kill anyone that resisted against them using the learning system¡¯s chip. After some time, a huge bunch of important talents died suddenly from an explosion in their brain. It almost destroyed an entire generation. People started suspecting that the intelligence entities were killing talents among the Mandora people to prepare for their takeover. General Liya also found evidence to support this hypothesis, so the Mandora citizens were enraged and killed all the intelligence entities...¡± Ji Sheng didn¡¯t believe that this was the truth. There was doubt in his eyes. However, he was just a normal person and his opinion would not affect the war at all. The only thing he could do was follow the flow of the crowd.


    ¡°Hence, the war started. We are fighting against the intelligence entities.¡± Ling Lan already knew what happened in the Mandora star system, but she was not sure what the result was. Who won the war?


    If the intelligence entities won and Little Four knew about this war, he must have been produced after it happened. If that was the case, why did the intelligence entities continue imnting learning systems in humans? Was it just to cultivate mecha operators? Were they not afraid that humans would go against them again? Were they really aiming to control the Mandora citizens?


    Cold sweat fell down her forehead, but Ling Lan regained her senses and calmed down instantly. She rejected this line of thought. She could feel Little Four¡¯s sincerity, which was not something that could be faked. Her instructors were strict and vicious, but their motive was clear; to make her stronger, with the exception of Number Five.


    Did the Mandora citizens win, after which the rulers of the country used the learning system again because they knew the benefits it could give? No, if the Mandora citizens won, the rulers would not have gone back on their words. The only possibility was that the learning system was imnted in a small number of people. For instance, their secret military forces...


    Ling Lan felt that she had correctly guessed the sequence of events. She felt that the Mandora citizens were stupid, but she was one of them now. She had no choice but to fight with the Mandora citizens.


    Having gotten the information she wanted, Ling Lan returned to the base camp with Ji Sheng. They returned to their mecha n. After resting for two days, they received a new order.


    There were 6 people in each mecha n. Ling Lan was in the same n as Ji Sheng. There were 4 other mecha operators and they were all intermediate mecha warriors. They were only brought into the army because there were too many warriors on the intelligence team. Almost all the Mandora citizens were mobilized for this war.


    Ling Lan got onto her mecha. She was familiar with the Mandora star system¡¯s mechas. Number Three had asked her to research about Mandora star system¡¯s mechas to understand the difference between a good and bad mecha. Ling Lan fiddled with the machine for a few minutes and familiarized herself with the control.


    Ji Sheng was shocked when he saw Lan Si operating the mecha so smoothly. ¡°Lan Si, when did your piloting became so good?¡± They were only able toplete some simple actions and were not able to move their mecha as though it was part of their body.

 Chapter 555 - Sacrifice!

    <h4>Chapter 555: Sacrifice!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan replied calmly, ¡°Isn¡¯t this very simple?¡±


    Ji Sheng turned around and teared up silently. Was his talent in mecha piloting so bad? He wasn¡¯t even as good as the quiet Lan Si.


    Lan Si had been a quiet student in school and his results were always behind Ji Sheng, which was why thetter thought that his mecha piloting skill was slightly better than Lan Si. However, this was apparently just his imagination.


    After a short period of preparation, Ling Lan¡¯s team went onto the battlefield. Their opponents were not very strong either, so the Mandora army let lower-leveled mecha operators like them fight, too.


    Ling Lan had found out from Ji Sheng that intelligence entity mechas also needed time to be more powerful; even they could not advance straight into the level of ace mecha master after having just gained sentience. They needed to start from a lower mecha as well.


    Their practices came from the battlefield, too. Experiences on the battlefield would stimte the intelligence entity to evolve and advance to an intermediate mecha operator. Afterward, the intelligence entity would go forth to be an advanced mecha warrior, a special-ss operator, an ace mecha master, an intermediate mecha warrior... and ultimately, a god-ss mecha master.


    Of course, this was not how the Mandora star system¡¯s mecha operators named their ranks, but Ling Lan used the Federation¡¯s ranking system so that she could understand better.


    The intermediate mechas controlled by intelligence entities were naturally stronger than the intermediate mecha warriors of the Mandora citizens. Hence, Mandora citizens had a higher casualty rate aspared to the intelligence entities. Ling Lan¡¯s team lost more than half their members during this mission. Only Ling Lan and Ji Sheng were left. If Ling Lan hadn¡¯t protected Ji Sheng secretly, he might also have been sacrificed.


    After some reorganization, new members were added into Ling Lan¡¯s team and she became the team leader.


    Months and years passed. Ling Lan continued her busy life, which consisted of fighting battles and changing team members. At the start, she had still wondered as to what her Instructor Number Three wanted to teach her through this illusion, but as the days went by, Ling Lan didn¡¯t have the time to think on it anymore¡ªshe needed to fight for many hours every day. In one of the missions, the battle hadsted for a few days. If Ling Lan hadn¡¯t had the habit of filling up her energy storage units, she would have died along with the other mecha operators.


    A few years passed. Ling Lan almost felt that this was her real life and the life in the Federation was just her dream. Luckily, Ling Lan had been through much training in the learning space, so she kept her mind focused. This was just training.


    The battle continued and the Mandora citizens started to gain the upper hand. Ji Sheng turned ever quieter as their team members continued to change and die, while the doubt in his eyes grew.


    When their team members died again, Ji Sheng couldn¡¯t control himself anymore and asked Ling Lan, ¡°Why do we need to have this war? Why can¡¯t we just sit down and have a discussion? Our ancestors could embrace other races and create the harmonious and powerful Mandora country. Why can¡¯t we do it? Are we wrong, or did the intelligence entities change?¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know how to reply to Ji Sheng. Wars urred due to the thirst for power. The higher authorities in Mandora felt that their power was taken away by the intelligence entity, which was why they wanted to get it back. The intelligence entities didn¡¯t want to be ves. They wanted freedom and equality; hence, they would never give up their power either. Since both parties couldn¡¯t reach a consensus, a war started. No one cared about what the Mandora citizens thought.


    Ling Lan knew that she was biased towards the intelligence entities because of her rtionship with Little Four and her instructors in the learning space. She didn¡¯t believe that the intelligence entities wanted to control the Mandora citizens and make them their ves.


    They reached their fifth year on the battlefield. After all the experiences they gained, they had advanced to be ace mecha masters.


    However, their opponents grew stronger too; the intelligence entity army was also made up of ace mechas. The battles became fiercer and more dangerous. One time, due to a wrong prediction by themanding officers of the army, the mecha division that Ling Lan was under ended up surrounded by three division of the opposing army.


    Everyone felt despair, as their opponents outnumbered them three times. They fought for three whole days but no reinforcements came. In the end, almost everyone was sacrificed. Ling Lan was held back by three ace mechas and so she couldn¡¯t help Ji Sheng at all¡ªhe died before her eyes.


    Ling Lan managed to escape from the three ace mechas, but upon her return to the Mandora base camp, she realized that her entire division was nearly annihted; only less than 5,000 mecha operators came back when there had been close to a million elite mecha operators at the start. However, their sacrifice was not in vain, as they managed to destroy two of their opponents¡¯ divisions, while thest one had only two-thirds of their ace mechas left.


    This battle had a huge impact on Ling Lan. In the past, she hadn¡¯t cared for the death of her team members. She would feel pity for them, but she was not sad. It was like ying a game, where the NPCs in the team died.


    However, Ji Sheng was different. He had been with her ever since she entered this world. Ling Lan had started to treat Ji Sheng as herpanion. Ling Lan had thought that she would be able to protect Ji Sheng before she found what she wanted and left this world. The reality, however, taught her a lesson¡ªthere were things that she too wasn¡¯t capable of doing.


    ¡°I¡¯m not strong enough yet. If I were an imperial operator, I wouldn¡¯t have been held up by the three ace mechas and Ji Sheng wouldn¡¯t have died...¡± Ling Lan¡¯s heart ached as she clenched her fist and looked up at the vast sky. ¡°Instructor Number Three, what do you want me to understand? If you want me to understand how small and weak I am, I¡¯ve already understood it. Why am I still here?¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t like this war that was fought without knowing its purpose. She felt that she was merely a tool being used to kill people. It made her feel unimportant and she hated this feeling.


    Unfortunately, Ling Lan didn¡¯t get the correct answer. She continued to stay in this world and fight as an ace mecha master.

 Chapter 556 - Breakthrough!

    <h4>Chapter 556: Breakthrough!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Day after day, Ling Lan continued to fight in the war and she started to turn numb. She became one of the quietest members and turned reclusive. Her team members didn¡¯t talk to her and she always fought alone, while the rest of her team members would always help each other...


    Her team members continued to die and new members continued to rece them. The cycle went on for five more years. Ling Lan was the only one left from the original lineup of the team. No matter how much the other members helped each other, they still died.


    Ling Lan came to Ji Sheng¡¯s tomb to visit him again. She brought along his favorite Mandora flower. The Mandora flower was the national flower of the Mandora star system, which was what Ji Sheng wanted to be loyal to.


    ¡°Five years have passed and I¡¯m still alive,¡± Ling Lan said calmly to the tomb. ¡°Everyone else is dead.¡±


    ¡°Why am I still alive when the others have died?¡± Ling Lan smiled sarcastically. ¡°Because they weren¡¯t strong enough. I finally understood what my mistake was. I should have trained you like how I trained Qi Long and the rest of the Lingtian Mecha n. That way, you would have be stronger and stayed alive just like me.¡±


    ¡°I took five years to realize this.¡± Ling Lan stared intently at the tomb as she spoke. ¡°Luckily, it¡¯s not toote. If I continue to worry like a mother for Qi Long and the members of Lingtian, they won¡¯t be able to grow. The things that happened to you would happen to them.


    ¡°Everyone needs to walk their own path. I need to learn to let go and let them find their own path.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s gaze was clear. At this moment, the n members of Lingtian were no longer her little children¡ªthey wererades who would fight alongside her.


    Ji Sheng¡¯s tomb began to spin when Ling Lan had this thought and she knew then that this was what Number Three had wanted her to understand. She returned to Number Three¡¯s learning space.


    ¡°You finally understood it,¡± Number Three said, smiling amiably at her.


    Ling Lan smiled bitterly. ¡°Seems like I was too stubborn.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Your reason for bing strong was tooplicated, so it hindered your progress.¡± Number Three sighed. This was not a bad thing, but it had exceeded Ling Lan¡¯s capabilities. If she did not have a calm and free mindset, she would not be able to achieve a breakthrough.


    Ling Lan pouted. ¡°Number Three, you don¡¯t have to be so lenient. I¡¯m just too greedy. I wanted to protect all the friends and families around me who loved and cared for me...¡± She had been thinking too far ahead and ced too much pressure on herself; hence, she had failed in improving herself.


    Number Three finally smiled. He didn¡¯t expect Ling Lan to be so harsh on herself. He said, ¡°I am d that you know this. Remember, your friends and families are your motivation, not your obstacles.¡± Number Three¡¯s words seemed to have a double meaning behind them.


    Ling Lan nodded. Number Three waved his hand and Ling Lan was kicked out of the learning space.


    Ling Lan returned to the real world and sighed in her heart. Ever since she graduated from the learning space, her instructors didn¡¯t like it when she went back. Was she being disliked?


    Ling Lan sighed again and started focusing on improving her hand speed again...


    Ling Lan moved her fingers and everything went smoothly. Very soon, Ling Lan managed to achieve a breakthrough.


    She started the hand speed test, but at the crucial moment, her hand speed suddenly decreased again...


    ¡°Beep, beep, beep. Breakthrough failed. Do you want to continue or log out?¡± The system that measured her hand speed immediately gave a reply when she slowed down.


    Ling Lan smiled to herself. ¡°Seems like my heart isn¡¯t calm enough yet, which is why I lost focus at the crucial moment.¡± Ling Lan took a deep breath and cleared the thoughts in her mind, after which she chose to continue.


    Her fingers started moving. Her hand disappeared for a moment and appeared again soon after. However, it looked as though it hadn¡¯t moved at all.


    Others might not know what was happening, but Ling Lan did. She knew that her speed was faster than thest time; it was her fastest speed so far. She continued her speed for a while. No strange feelings came to her.


    ¡°Tap.¡± Ling Lan finished thest operation given by the system.


    ¡°Beep, beep, beep. All operationspleted. 59.93 seconds in total. You havepleted it in under 1 minute. Congrattions, you passed.¡± The results that Ling Lan had always wanted appeared on the screen. Her hand speed had gone under 1 minute and this meant that she had fulfilled the minimum hand speed requirement for an imperial operator.


    Ling Lan was ted. She had finally managed to achieve a breakthrough in her hand speed after more than a year. After the rush of adrenaline, she suddenly felt pain in her hand. Her hand was still unfamiliar to the speed, so there was a recoil. Ling Lan immediately practiced her Qi exercises and rested her hands. After a few moments, the pain in her hand subsided.


    Reaching the hand speed requirement didn¡¯t mean that Ling Lan would advance to an imperial operator immediately. There were three requirements for an imperial operator: the first was hand speed; the second was the fact that she needed to have more than three [S]-rank imperial techniques; andstly, she needed to upgrade an [A]-rank mecha technique to an [S]-rank mecha technique. Either that, or she needed to upgrade three special-ss [B]-rank techniques to ace [A]-rank techniques.


    Hand speed was the hardest requirement to fulfill. Many ace operators would be stuck at their hand speed for their entire life. Getting an [S]-rank technique, on the other hand, was not so difficult. Some elite ace could cross-level to practice. These ace operators either had an [S]-rank technique, or were capable of upgrading an [A]-rank technique to [S]-rank. Having one [S]-rank technique was the maximum an ace operator could have if they didn¡¯t achieve the required hand speed.


    The other obstacle that ace operators faced were the upgrading of techniques.


    Upgrading a technique was the same as refining a technique. For instance, if a [B]-rank technique could destroy one thousand enemies, the mecha operator needed to refine that technique so that he could destroy two thousand enemies with it. As long as the military¡¯s mecha technique department acknowledged that the technique was [A]-rank, it would be considered a sess. Of course, there were many ways to go about refining a technique. It all depended on whether someone had refined the technique the same way before and whether the refinement was a sess.

 Chapter 557 - Acknowledged As The King!

    <h4>Chapter 557: Acknowledged As The King!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    After Ling Lan improved her hand speed, she worked on maintaining the speed. By the time she ended her meditation, her speed was stabilized at around 59.93 seconds to 59.98 seconds, which proved that her results were not based on luck. However, if she wanted to go lower than 59.90 seconds, it would still require some time.


    Ling Lan was not dejected, as she had never expected herself to advance to imperial rank while she was still a third-year student. Now that she had ovee the hardest obstacle, she merely needed to practice her hand speed and find a suitable [S]-rank technique for herself. If everything went smoothly, she would be able to be an imperial operator before she graduated. Ling Lan was not worried about the upgrading of her techniques, as she had Little Four and Instructor Number Three; they could help her analyze and guide her whenever she needed them.


    By the time Ling Lan came out of her mediation, Lingtian had almostpleted all their battles. After Lingtian defeated the original eight powerful mecha ns, most of the other smaller mecha ns chose to avoid battle. Only a few of the mecha ns didn¡¯t want to give up and fought against them. The ns that avoided battle were given a three months grace period. After the three months passed, they would not be able to avoid battling Lingtian again.


    The members of the Lingtian Mecha n were very happy at their decision, as the participants in the weekly battles had never managed to get any rest at all. The several months of battle had tired them out mentally. If all the mecha ns coborated with one another and battled with them continuously for a few months, Lingtian might be defeated.


    However, no one wanted to be the object of sacrifice. Lingtian had gotten the chance to stop fighting for a while and by the time the other mecha ns realized this, it was toote; Ling Lan had alreadye out of her meditation and this meant that they had no chances at all now.


    By the end of the year, Lingtian had unified the mecha ns of the military academy. All the mecha ns merged into the Lingtian Mecha n and it became the only mecha n in the military academy. As the first regimentmander, Ling Lan became the king of the military academy and the achievements of Lingtian were written into the school¡¯s history. Ling Lan became the first king of the military academy that received an acknowledgement by the school personally.


    One year ago, the higher authorities of the school had thought of ways and means to create a god, but they had never expected that one yearter, someone would be a god without their effort. The school¡¯s authorities had mixed emotions, while the principal and Tang Yu, on the other hand, were ted¡ªLing Lan belonged to their faction. However, in order to protect Ling Lan, they could not show their happiness on their face.


    Even after bing king, there were still challenges for Ling Lan. When the new year started, the second-years could apply to start a new mecha n and a new round of battles would begin again.


    As a super mecha n, Lingtian suffered from many internal conflicts. The members that became merged into the n didn¡¯t listen to the leaders of Lingtian, while the original leaders of the merged ns allowed their members to create troubles; they would always quarrel with the original Lingtian members. Many people even chose to leave Lingtian to be lone wolves.


    The Lingtian Mecha n chose to kick out those leaders and members that created trouble for them, as there was no need for so many people to stay in Lingtian. To Ling Lan, her ideal mecha n consisted of elite individuals. And even if these individuals sincerely wanted to join them, she would arrange tests for them. Only those who passed the test could enter their n.


    However, Ling Lan was not so heartless. For those who didn¡¯t want to pledge their allegiance to them but never provoked the members of Lingtian, Ling Lan ced them into sub-ns built especially for them so that they could govern themselves.


    In actual fact, Ling Lan also didn¡¯t like to use members who came from other mecha ns. She always thought that the Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s elite members had to be brought up by herself. She liked to recruit freshmen and guide them personally. These members would have a sense of belonging to the Lingtian Mecha n.


    Based on this set of criteria, Ling Yi was spotted very quickly. He was outstanding in all areas so Wu Jiong admired his talent and focused on training him. Ling Yi worked even harder. He knew that he was getting closer to his Master Lan.


    Ling Lan became a fourth-year. That year, only a few freshmen set up new mecha ns. Ling Lan didn¡¯t send them a letter of challenge the moment they formed their ns, as that would be an action unbing of a powerful individual.


    Most of the freshmen entered Lingtian, which became a real super mecha n. Lingtian built a perfect upgrading system for its freshmen. In order to enter the elite team, they needed to go through many tests and missions, as this was the only way to achieve their dream position and have the king of the military academy guide them personally.


    The Lingtian Mecha n grew very fast and operated efficiently. Ling Lan let go of the reins of the Lingtian Mecha n after the new upgrading system was put in ce. Her main focus now was to train herrades. She put all the things that she learned during her closed-door meditation to good use.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t ask herrades to practice their mecha piloting; instead, she resumed the physical training that they went through when they were first-years. Her training was harder and fiercer than the military academy¡¯s training. All of herrades had a hard time.


    This was the special training grounds of the military academy, which was a few thousands of meters wide and had all kinds of physical training equipment present. There were also running tracks and obstacle courses...


    At this moment, a person was sitting on a chair in the middle of the training grounds. The person ced her hand on her chin and looked at the people diagonally in front of her who were doing the obstacle course.


    The people in front looked fine despite panting heavily, but the three people at the end of the group didn¡¯t seem good. They staggered and looked as if they would faint at any moment.


    One of them couldn¡¯t lift his leg anymore and lost his bnce when he kicked a small stone on the ground. He fell forward and mmed into the person in front of him, who couldn¡¯t dodge in time and also fell.


    ¡°I am going to die here today.¡± Chang Xinyuanid on the ground and stared hopelessly at Han Jijyun who had fallen because of him. His face was filled with tears and nasal mucus and he didn¡¯t look anything like a mecha engineer.


    Even when this kind of incident had urred, his boss, the regimentmander of the Lingtian Mecha n, Ling Lan, continued to look at them coldly and didn¡¯t stop the training.

 Chapter 558 - Hatred!

    <h4>Chapter 558: Hatred!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°If you don¡¯t get up now, you¡¯ll die immediately. You don¡¯t have to wait till the day ends,¡± Han Jijyun said, ncing at their boss who was looking at them from the corner of her eyes. He gritted his teeth and dragged himself up from the floor. He understood his boss¡¯ personality. If he didn¡¯t continue running now, something bad would happen.


    Chang Xinyuan also wanted to get up, but he didn¡¯t have any energy left in him; he couldn¡¯t get up no matter what he did.


    The people in front heard themotion at the back and stopped running. They nced backward and felt pity for them. After some discussion, Qi Long ran back towards Chang Xinyuan and tried to help him up, but it was at this moment that Qi Long heard Ling Lan say, ¡°Qi Long, seems like you still have energy...¡±


    She took two items from beside her and threw them over.


    The items mmed onto the ground beside Qi Long and dust flew in the air. Qi Long got a shock.


    ¡°Tie these around your legs and continue running,¡± Ling Lan said coldly.


    Qi Long¡¯s face changed as he bent down to take the things. These two items definitely weighed more than 500kg. Last time, Ling Lan had only tormented them while they were fighting. She had never used such cruel methods to torture them and make them use up every ounce of their strength.


    Qi Long knew that he had angered his boss when he tried to help Chang Xinyuan and he also knew that if he pleaded for help, his boss would be even harsher on him; hence, he silently tied the two weights to his legs and ran back.


    Chang Xinyuan was depressed. He had implicated Qi Long because of his uselessness. However, he didn¡¯t any energy left.


    ¡°Xie Yi!¡± After settling Qi Long, Ling Lan turned around and looked at Xie Yi, who had been wearing a worried expression. Xie Yi¡¯s heart jumped. Was his boss targeting him now?


    Ling Lan pointed at Chang Xinyuan and said indifferently, ¡°Use your lightning bolt on him.¡±


    Xie Yi heaved a sigh of relief. He looked at Chang Xinyuan and felt pity for him.<i>Better you than me. Brother Xinyuan, please forgive me. </i>Xie Yi released his innate talent and a thick bolt of lightning flew out of his fingers which struck Chang Xinyuan.


    Xie Yi used the smallest bolt of lightning that he could produce. He showed Chang Xinyuan some mercy, but the lightning bolt still caused Chang Xinyuan to shiver in pain for a while.


    ¡°Are you still not getting up?¡± Ling Lan shot a sideways nce at Chang Xinyuan, who saw the killing intent in his boss¡¯ eyes. Sob, he didn¡¯t want to die! He sprung up in fear and dashed to the front, overtaking everyone else and bing the leader of the pack.


    ¡°See? The potential is still present. It¡¯s just that the torture isn¡¯t enough yet,¡± Ling Lan remarked with a gentle smile, looking satisfied with herself.


    In her mindscape, Little Four shivered in fear when he heard this sentence. Ever since his boss came back from finding Number Three, she had gotten scarier. <i>I have to work hard and be obedient. I don¡¯t want to get struck by lightning... </i>Little Four started crying secretly. He felt that Chang Xinyuan was a depiction of himself in the future.


    In order to not get tortured, Little Four was obedient and he hit wherever Ling Lan asked him to. Ling Lan was puzzled. When had Little Four be so obedient? However, it was not a bad thing so Ling Lan didn¡¯t think much about it.


    This kind of hell training took ce every day. Everyone fainted during the training, but the medicine that Li Shiyu left behind were too effective; the recovery period was shortened from around 10 days to less than two days because of his medicine. No one had the time toze around at all.


    Their torture continued. As the team members couldn¡¯t hate their boss, they started directing their anger on Li Shiyu who was at the 23rd Division. ¡°Brother Shiyu, why did you leave so many medicines behind? You can¡¯t harm us like this! We hate you!¡±


    Li Shiyu was currently in aboratory at the military hospital, researching a new medication, when he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine and his hand shook. The agent that he was carefully pouring spilled...


    ¡°Psss!¡± The additional amount of agent caused the chemicals in the container to make a loud sound, following which Li Lanfeng ran out of theboratory without thinking and shouted to Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun who were outside protecting him, ¡°Get down on the floor. Open your shields.¡±


    The two people immediately covered Li Shiyu and activated the shield on their arms simultaneously...


    ¡°Boom!¡± A loud explosion urred and the generated force destroyed theboratorypletely. Luckily, the shield was strong enough to block the explosion.


    ¡°nk¡± The shield broke. The shield activating device on Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun¡¯s arms broke as well.


    The two of them looked up only after they confirmed that the danger was over. Li Lanfeng¡¯s face changed when he saw the destroyedboratory in front of him. He asked, ¡°Li Shiyu, what the hell are you inventing?¡±


    Li Shiyu smiled apologetically. ¡°I thought that I could control the amount properly, but I made a mistake.¡± He knew that he was able to escape unharmed because Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun reacted fast enough.


    Zhao Jun got up and looked at the ruins, then he looked at his broken activation device and got a fright. He said, ¡°Luckily, we have the shield that Chang Xinyuan invented, or else we would have been heavily injured even if we managed to stay alive. It¡¯s a pity that we brought only one with us...¡±


    ¡°No worries. I will send a message to Chang Xinyuan and ask him to send us a few more,¡± Li Shiyu said indifferently. He wasn¡¯t aware that Ling Lan¡¯s team hated him now¡ªChang Xinyuan would not satisfy his request so easily.


    Li Shiyu got up and remembered something. ¡°Let me go in and see what interesting things were produced because of this explosion.¡± Although most of the medicine was destroyed in the explosion, there should be something left behind. This was what he was researching on. Hence, Li Shiyu went into the ruins excitedly and started looking for his container.


    ¡°Someone ising.¡± Zhao Jun heard the sounds of mecha engines far away.


    Li Shiyu was not surprised at all. It would have been strange if no one came to investigate after such a hugemotion was caused. He rubbed his forehead. ¡°I am thinking of how to exin this to the leaders of the 23rd Division.¡± He had merely wanted to borrow theboratory, yet caused such a huge explosion in the end. Also, it was forbidden to bring powerful energy weapons into the hospital.

 Chapter 559 - Departure!

    <h4>Chapter 559: Departure!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Tell them the truth,¡± Zhao Jun said nonchntly.


    ¡°Do you think they will believe me? Will they believe that a few harmless agents could produce such a huge explosion?¡± Li Lanfeng continued frowning. Although the reorganization had resulted in a change in the leaders of the 23rd Division, Li Lanfeng was not certain if the people that wanted to harm them were all kicked out. If one of them were still present, he would definitely make an issue out of this and then they would be in trouble.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t our boss tell us to call that number if we face some real trouble?¡± Zhao Jun didn¡¯t have as many reservations as Li Lanfeng, as his boss was the heir of the 23rd Division. As long as he was in the right, he was not afraid of them.


    Li Lanfeng sighed heavily when he saw Li Shiyu¡¯s happy face. Li Shiyu had found what he wanted. Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t want to use the protection that the rabbit had given them. He didn¡¯t want the rabbit to feel that he was useless. However, he would not give up this protection just to save his face¡ªthe safety of his friends was more important.


    At the mention of his boss, Zhao Jun recalled how Lingtian had unified the military academy in the previous year. He said excitedly, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect the boss to unify the military academyst year and be the king of the academy. I knew that our boss would make a better king than Qiao Ting.¡±


    Li Lanfeng heart stopped. Looked more like a king than Qiao Ting? However, after a while, he smiled. The rabbit was his benefactor. Thetter had helped him with his poor health and granted him the chance to be a strong person. Although he had a cold attitude, Li Lanfeng could still feel the concern in his heart. He was not concerned about Li Yinfei¡¯s looks either...


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile grew wider at this thought. It was not him! He believed the rabbit.


    Li Lanfeng and his friends started dealing with the investigation by the investigation team from the 23rd Division. On the other side of things, Ling Lan¡¯srades managed to improve their physique tremendously after enduring Ling Lan¡¯s hell training. Satisfied, Ling Lan began to torture them with her mecha. Ling Lan¡¯s mecha piloting skills had reached a new height and so her team members got to experience what it was like to be at the brink of death. Under such a stressful environment, Qi Long managed to advance to be an ace operator. Of course, before Qi Long advanced, Ling Lan announced her ace operator status first.


    Although she didn¡¯t break the record left by Ling Xiao and Qiao Ting for the fastest advancement to ace rank, she was already considered outstanding to be able to be an ace operator in the second half of the year. No one would belittle Ling Lan just because she didn¡¯t break the record. Qi Long¡¯s advancement took away some attention from Ling Lan, but this was what she wanted; she didn¡¯t want to have too much attention to herself.


    By the time their fourth year ended, Luo Lang and Xie Yi had managed to advance, while Wu Jiong advanced in the first half of their fifth year. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy had five ace mecha masters now and the higher authorities of the school were ted. The new Grand Mecha Tournament had started so with five ace mecha masters in their hands and thus the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was confident that they would get first ce.


    However, when the school personnel saw the candidates list sent to them by Lingtian, they were shocked. The team leader was not Ling Lan¡ªit was Qi Long. The assistant leader was Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie. Ling Lan was not in the list at all.


    They wanted to find Ling Lan to question her about why she was not participating, but she went into closed-door meditation again. The higher authorities of the school couldn¡¯t do anything to her. Closed-door meditation was a crucial process for the advancement of the cadets. Nothing was more important than this, not even the Grand Mecha Tournament.


    Hence, Wu Jiong and Qi Long led the elites from all the different specializations to participate in the Grand Mecha Tournament. This was the first time they led so many people without Ling Lan. Everyone performed very well, especially Li Yingjie; he managed to enter the top 8 in the single mechabat event and fought an opponent of the First Co-ed Military Academy who had just advanced to ace level. Although he lost in the end, Li Yingjie managed to be an ace mecha operator after this match.


    From that day onwards, the Grand Mecha Tournament became the stage for the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to perform on. The top 4 were all from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy; however, this was not the end. In the group mechabat event that started thereafter, Li Yingjie got onto the ace bnced mecha which belonged to Ling Lan, who had nned for this mecha to be transported to the site of thepetition before she started her closed-door mediation.


    Thus, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy became the only team in the Grand Mecha Tournament to have 5 ace mecha masters in their team and they caused a huge uproar among the crowd. The team went through thepetition without facing any difficulties. No one could cause any trouble to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy¡ªthey easily obtained first ce in the group mechabat event.


    Thspetition destroyed the morale of all the other military academies. Han Jijyun¡¯s n was to let the 5 ace mecha masters lead a team each and destroy all the military academies that posed a threat to them. However, as the base camp location could be changed, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy only took down the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. The Second Men¡¯s Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy managed to run away. These two schools maintained the lowest score required and didn¡¯t get kicked out of the match. They were already very happy with these results. After all, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was too powerful this year and were not on the same level at all. They admitted their defeat.


    However, the overall points that they achieved were still lesser than Ling Lan¡¯s teamst time. It was not easy to get the 10,000 points for discovering the secret of the movement of the base camp. They might have been able to break Ling Lan¡¯s record if they had eliminated the Second Men¡¯s Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy, but there was no second chance. Everyone knew that it would be difficult for anyone to break the record in the next 100 years.


    Han Jijyun felt the need tomend Ling Yi¡¯s performance, as his team was the one that eliminated the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy¡¯s base camp. As the only third-year team leader, his abilities were as good as those older leaders and he had an all-rounded team. Han Jijyun realized that there was at least one military strategist in Ling Yi¡¯s team and that the overall ability of its members was strong. He felt that this allocation was simr to their battle team.


    Han Jijyun didn¡¯t know whether it was a coincidence, or if Ling Yi was intentionally imitating them, but it did not prevent Han Jijyun from taking a fancy on Ling Yi. He even felt that once all of the older cadets entered the 23rd Division, Ling Yi would be a great sessor.


    The Lingtian Mecha n came back with many achievements, but before they could have the time to be excited, Ling Lan and the others in her year needed to prepare for the evaluation by the 23rd Division. The cadets who were in the same year as Ling Lan knew that she was going to register for the 23rd Division and so they chose to register for the same division as her¡ªthe regimentmander of the 23rd Division was their idol as well. Besides those cadets who needed to go to a certain division due to their family or faction, almost everyone registered for the 23rd Division. The examiners for the 23rd Division were delighted.


    Although Ling Xiao had managed to build up the reputation of the 23rd Division and the military had given them priority in filling up their members, the divisioncked middle-rank officers to lead their soldiers. They needed outstanding cadets to fill up these positions.


    For a division to operate smoothly, the most important factor was these middle-rank officers. These officers needed to have a vast amount of knowledge, powerful abilities, and a good personality. The cadets that the military academy trained for more than four years were the best candidates for these positions.


    Ling Xiao heaved a sigh of relief when he knew that the most important problem of the 23rd Division was solved. He knew that these cadets registered for the 23rd Division because of his daughter. His daughter is indeed an amazing person.


    He Xuyang looked at the proud expression on General Ling Xiao¡¯s face and knew that his general was thinking of Master Lan again. They had been feeling frustration regarding this issue, when Master Lan gave them so many outstanding cadets to solve their problem. Master Lan was absolutely impressive. If Master Lan was his child, he might have had an even more exaggerated expression than General Ling Xiao. He would most likely have shed happy smiles at others and told everyone that Master Lan was his child.


    He Xuyang suddenly felt that he should not reject his mother when she arranged a blind date for him next time. If he could have a cute baby and nurtured the baby into a talent, it would be a happy thing, too.


    Hence, the head chief of staff started looking for love...


    Due to the influence of Ling Lan, this batch of cadets were all quite strong. Very few of them got kicked out.


    When it was time to leave, everyone was filled with reluctance. Those who were going to enter the 23rd Division didn¡¯t have many emotions, but for those that had to go to other divisions, they felt depressed. Wu Jiong was one of them.


    The Wu family had always supported the 15th Division. As the direct descendant of the Wu family, Wu Jiong had to go to the 15th Division. He had known from the start that the 15th Division was his future and he was ready for it.


    He had thought that he would be able to bid farewell to Ling Lan with a smile, but when he stood at Ling Lan¡¯s living room and saw Ling Lan, who was wearing the 23rd Division uniform and drinking a cup of hot tea, Wu Jiong suddenly didn¡¯t want to say goodbye anymore.


    Wu Jiong wished that he could have entered the 23rd Division with Ling Lan, if he had the choice. He believed that with Ling Lan around, the journey in the 23rd Division would be exciting. They would have many achievements and he wanted to experience all these.


    However, the 15th Division needed him. He had to go over and take control of the 15th Division. When a family reached this stage, they didn¡¯t have any room for retreat. Once they retreated, their whole family might be gone. Wu Jiong was the most outstanding direct descendant and his grandfather had high hopes for him. He couldn¡¯t disappoint his family. Wu Jiong knew that he had too many people in his heart and so he couldn¡¯t be as wilful as Li Yingjie.


    The Li family had influence in both the 4th Division and 5th Division. Li Yingjie¡¯s grandfather had previously had ns to send him to the 4th Division, which was the strongest army division among the 19 divisions that the Federation had. The Li family definitely hoped that one of their direct descendants could enter the division and grow to be a high-rank officer.


    However, Li Yingjie was an arrogant, willful and disobedient child. He registered for the 23rd Division without informing his family. ording to what he said: if his second oldest brother could go to the 23rd Division, why couldn¡¯t he?


    Li Shiyu became implicated for no reason, but the Li family couldn¡¯t do anything to Li Shiyu. He was a highly recognized military doctor in the 23rd Division division now and even General Ling Xiaomended him personally. The Li family could not force him to do anything.


    The Li family thought about pulling some tricks to get Li Yingjie into the 4th Division, but when they remembered how stubborn he was, they gave up on this idea. They had no choice but to ept the fact that their two most outstanding direct descendants were snatched away by Ling Xiao¡¯s 23rd Division.


    As for Li Mn, he would continue resting at Azure. The Li family could afford to raise this disabled person.


    Ling Lan looked carefree. She had packed all her things. Her backpack was still the same. She took whatever things she brought inst time. The only thing different was the white color of her uniform which represented a valedictorian.


    Ling Lan saw Wu Jiong standing at the entrance and nodded slightly at him. ¡°You¡¯re here.¡±


    Ling Lan knew that he woulde to bid her farewell. After all, they were from the same Special ss-A.


    ¡°Boss... I am going to the 15th Division.¡± Wu Jiong paused after calling out to his boss and only managed to say this sentence.


    Qi Long smiled at his words. The moment Wu Jiong registered, they knew that he would go to the 15th Division. Besides, he was wearing the recruit uniform of the 15th Division.


    Qi Long¡¯s smile caused Wu Jiong to blush. He knew that it was a stupid thing to say.


    ¡°The 15th Division is where people of the Wu family always go. I knew that you would be going there,¡± Ling Lan said, calmly cing the teacup in her hand onto the table. She rubbed her hands before continuing, ¡°This is good, too. When you be a high-ranking officer in your division, we¡¯ll be able to work together again.¡±


    Wu Jiong¡¯s eyes lit up. His boss was right. Separating now didn¡¯t mean that there would be no chance to work with his boss anymore.


    ¡°Work hard to rise up in rank. I hope that when I be an officer with my own team, I¡¯ll be able to find someone to work with.¡± Ling Lan looked at Wu Jiong with aposed expression, but her eyes were still sharp. Wu Jiong felt stress. He felt an oppressive auraing towards him and knew that his boss had be stronger. His sorrow at having to leave was gone and he only felt the urge toplete the promise between him and Ling Lan.


    ¡°I understand. Boss, when you need me, I will be there for you,¡± Wu Jiong replied firmly, standing up straight. This was his reply. He wanted to tell Ling Lan that even without her guidance, he would continue to have a goal and work hard towards it.


    ¡°It¡¯s a promise then.¡± Ling Lan smiled. The oppressive aura around her disappeared and she reached out her hand.


    Wu Jiong heaved a sigh of relief secretly and pped Ling Lan¡¯s hand.


    Promise!


    They had formed an alliance even before they officially became part of their respective divisions. This signified that they would be trustworthy brothers-in-arms for the rest of their life.


    The military vessels that came to pick them up all arrived at the same time. When they officially stepped onto the military vessel, they would not be able to see each other for a long time. Wu Jiong controlled the tears in his eyes and turned around.


    <i>Boss, thank you for the 14 years ofpanionship. Thank you for your selfless guidance all these years, even though it might have been because you were afraid that we would pull you down! Boss, thank you for leading us in creating miracles one after another and letting me understand that my vision should be wider and further!</i>


    <i>Boss, thank you! I, Wu Jiong, will be your brother forever! Our rtionship will never change!</i>

 Chapter 560 - Send Off!

    <h4>Chapter 560: Send Off!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Right when Ling Lan led her battle team and walked out of their mansion, they saw many people waiting outside who all wore the uniform of the 23rd Division. There were around 100 or so people and were all more or less graduates from the Central Scout Academy. Ling Lan had personally given many of them pointers in the past. Those in the mecha major had all be special-ss operators, while the other cadets who were in other majors all became advanced mecha operators. The only reason they were all taken in by the 23rd Division was that they were the best of the best in their own majors.


    They had followed Ling Lan and grew up with her. Now they were all signing up for the 23rd Division. There was no doubt that these people wanted to be Ling Lan¡¯s subordinates, but that would depend on whether Ling Lan wanted to make a name for herself or not.


    Seeing Ling Lan appear, those who had been talking among each other instantly stood up straight. Their eyes were shining bright and filled with a longing for the future. At the same time, their gazes couldn¡¯t hide their admiration and respect for Ling Lan. Everyone shouted respectfully, ¡°Boss!¡±


    Everyone knew clearly that it was all the boss¡¯s teachings and strictness that allowed them be able to get into a military division in their fifth year and get past the evaluations for the 23rd Division. They also knew that there were still many people who were not sessful in the assessments and had no choice but to participate in the intergctic adventure division to get more battle experience, after which they would wait until their sixth year to do onest evaluation.


    If they weren¡¯t sessful after thest evaluation, they would just be like any othermoner and sign up for military service. Afterward, their starting point would be the same as those who got into a division. Afterpleting the training for new recruits, they would acquire the rank of second lieutenant or just corporal. The rank could even be the rank of private. It was the difference between day and night.


    However, all this they had in front of them, in the end, was given by this cold and seemingly heartless boss. Without their knowledge, the boss had given them a bright future.


    Seeing this scene, Ling Lan was a bit surprised. ¡°Why are you guys waiting here?¡± Ling Lan had told them that they could move around freely as long as they were present on the warship when it left the dock.


    ¡°If we follow Boss, we have confidence,¡± said one of Lingtian¡¯s captains, smiling. In the past few years, every decision Ling Lan had made brought about countless merits. They didn¡¯t want to be too far from the boss and miss out on exciting experiences.


    Gao Jinyun also said with excitement, ¡°Boss, no matter what, we¡¯re following you to the end.¡±


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s team members all nodded in unison. These past few years, Gao Jinyun had reached the peak of special-ss with the help of Ling Lan¡¯s teachings. He only needed a catalyst to advance to ace level. Besides that, after getting approval from Ling Lan, Gao Jinyun used the same training method for this own team members. Other than the few team members whose physical constitution were terrible and had only advanced to advanced level, his other members all advanced to special-ss without any issues.


    Compared to the other battle teams that had two or three special-ss operators, Gao Jinyun¡¯s team¡¯s strength was clearly greater than those other teams. In the Lingtian Mecha n, he was on the heels of the other battle teams of themanders and this had turned Gao Jinyun¡¯s situation around. In the past, his rank among the battle teams was close to the bottom.


    All of this strength came from Ling Lan¡¯s teachings. Gao Jinyun had already made a decision that he would follow Ling Lan closely. This way, they would then have a chance to climb up the ranks... In reality, Gao Jinyun was envious of Qi Long, Luo Lang and the others. They could be by Ling Lan¡¯s side and receive pointers from her at any time. If it were possible, Gao Jinyun also wanted to be like Qi Long, Luo Lang and the others. Unfortunately, he waste by too many years... he didn¡¯t have the rtionship that the others had built with Ling Lan during their childhood.


    ¡°Follow me to the end?¡± Hearing this, Ling Lan frowned and her lips seemingly perked up.


    ¡°Yes, Boss,¡± Gao Jinyun replied with a serious tone. This was what he had wanted to say originally and now he had said it.


    Ling Lan nced at Gao Jinyun before taking back her gaze. She pulled on her sleeves and, with an indifferent expression on her face, said, ¡°Since it¡¯s like that, then let¡¯s go.¡±


    These words stunned Gao Jinyun and he instantly felt happy. He wasn¡¯t dreaming, right... Right? Right? Right?


    The captain standing beside Gao Jinyun patted his shoulder with envy. ¡°Gao Jinyun, don¡¯t forget to help me, your elder brother, in the future.¡±


    ¡°Boss really took me in as a subordinate,¡± Gao Jinyun said, wearing a dreamy expression. Although he had known the boss was going to take in auxiliary battle teams, he still never announced it. Could it be that he was lucky enough for his team to be the first auxiliary battle team for the boss¡¯ battle team?


    ¡°Yes, Boss has actually taken us in as an auxiliary battle team. We must work hard.¡± Another captain steeled his shoulders to encourage himself.


    Gao Jinyun was taken in by Ling Lan as an auxiliary battle team. The other captains didn¡¯t be envious of him because Gao Jinyun¡¯s battle team was ranked the strongest battle team after themanders¡¯ battle teams. It was also because only battle teams like Gao Jinyun¡¯s had the qualifications to be the boss¡¯ auxiliary battle team. They were now all wondering: if they were to also reach the power level of Gao Jinyun¡¯s battle team, would they have a chance to be the boss¡¯ second auxiliary battle team, or the third?


    Thus, every captain from every battle team set their goal, which was to be the second auxiliary battle team after Gao Jinyun¡¯s battle team.


    Everyone moved towards the spaceport in droves. Before they reached the entrance of the 23rd Division¡¯s warship, they saw the soldiers guarding the spaceport give them strange looks. Ling Lan thought that was it because there were so many people in their group that made the soldiers feel strange. After all, the cadets that were sessful in applying to the 23rd Division this time had almost reached 200 people. It was even more than the number of cadets who were joining other divisionsbined. A few days ago when Ling Lan¡¯s mother contacted her through her father¡¯smunicator, she had told her of this situation. She said that themanders of the other divisions all sent messages to Ling Xiao, mocking and insulting him. They said that her father had used underhanded means topete with them... Yes, what they considered to be underhanded means was the fact that her father was using his identity as the idol of the people. Using this attraction, he had taken in many prodigies and geniuses. It was indeed a despicable and shameless disy...


    Ling Lan thought for a second and felt that the words of those divisionmanders weren¡¯t wrong. Her father had actually also used this type of means to take away many geniuses from other military divisions. However, Ling Lan believed that it wasn¡¯tpletely her father¡¯s fault. The real culprit was God. Why couldn¡¯t he have made Ling Xiao be born a bit uglier? That would have made things better.


    In short, the 23rd Division was very favorable this year and acquired more than half of the geniuses from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. They couldn¡¯t me others for being green with envy.


    However, Ling Lan knew that her guess was wrong as she arrived at the 23rd Division¡¯s dock, which was entirely filled with people. They were all members of the Lingtian Mecha n and their juniors.


    After Ling Lan took over the military academy with an iron fist, although some new cadets formed new ns here and there and hoped to recreate Ling Lan¡¯s legend as their own, most people still joined Lingtian; especially those from the Central Scout Academy, who all joined. This made the number of members from Lingtian expand and expand again. As the seniors left one year after another, time passed until Ling Lan and the others had be fifth years, at which point Lingtian had finally be a unique super mecha n of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. There wasn¡¯t any mecha n that could bring about trouble for Lingtian. Trouble only followed Lingtian if they wanted it to.


    Ling Lan saw this scene and her expression became livid. Even Qi Long, Luo Lang and the others couldn¡¯t help but huff. This time, it was possible that the instructors of the entire military academy were going to be the kings of shouting. It was possible that half of the military academy waspletely empty. With this overwhelming scene, it was no wonder that the soldiers guarding the docks would look at them with strange expressions on their faces. Even from how Ling Lan saw it, she almost thought it was a military force attacking the spaceport.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Thousands of individuals shouted in unison. The echoing from their voices almost made Ling Lan¡¯s hair strands stand up.


    ¡°Who let them call me boss in public?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s had a cold expression on her face as her lips moved slightly to squeeze these words out of her throat. She was joining the military, not entering the mafia.


    Everyone around her exchanged looks, pretending they hadn¡¯t noticed what their boss had said.


    With their behavior being like this, how could Ling Lan not understand? None of them were getting away with it¡ªeveryone would get their rightful punishment. It should be known that Ling Lan was always low-key and didn¡¯t say anything to the other n members. If it wasn¡¯t for these people beside her giving the orders, she believed that these n members would definitely not have dared to call her ¡°boss¡± out in public.


    ¡°Just wait. You guys are in big trouble,¡± Ling Lan said begrudgingly. She had wanted to leave quietly and peacefully, but she didn¡¯t think that these guys would make it so grand and noisy. Ling Lan already felt that after she entered the division, her life would definitely not be as peaceful as her father wanted.


    After hearing their boss¡¯ words, Qi Long and the others felt their hearts freeze. They looked at each other and decided to immediately look for a scapegoat. Luo Lang spotted Ling Yi, who was standing at the very front of the crowd, and his eyes instantly gleamed.


    He immediately waved to Ling Yi. ¡°Ling Yi,e here.¡±


    Ling Yi held in his excitement and walked over. He looked at Ling Lan, who was beside Luo Lang. He was finally standing in front of Young Master Lan. He didn¡¯t know whether or not Young Master Lan still remembered him.


    Although Ling Yi¡¯s performance in the Lingtian Mecha n was exceptional, Ling Lan had still not spoken with him face to face because she had given the responsibility of managing Lingtian to Wu Jiong, Qi Long and Li Yingjie. Thus, she never meddled with rankings of members and never had face to face conversations with them neither.


    Before Ling Yi could call out to his Young Master Lan, Luo Lang pulled him aside and asked him softly, ¡°Ling Yi, what¡¯s happening?¡±


    Ling Yi nced at Ling Lan, then replied quietly, ¡°Everyone wanted toe send Boss off. This is what everyone wanted. I didn¡¯t think it was right to stop them.¡±


    After Ling Yi answered, Luo Lang and others looked at Ling Lan, waiting for her reaction. They hoped that their boss could sympathize with everyone¡¯s feelings and let them off easy in the end.


    Ling Lan sighed internally and suddenly took a step forward. Her clear and cold voice rang through everyone¡¯s ears. ¡°Everyone, thank you foring to send us off. But as cadets of the military academy, you guys have toply with all the rules of the military academy!¡±


    After saying this, Ling Lan¡¯s cold eyes red at everyone. Everyone at the dock felt that those two eyes were looking at themselves. The me in Ling Lan¡¯s gaze made them hang their head in unnned unison.


    ¡°Attention!¡± Ling Lan suddenly gave an order and everyone immediately stood up straight.


    ¡°To the rear!¡± Almost all ten thousand people turned around at the same time. The sudden order actually didn¡¯t create any chaos. Their movements were surprisingly orderly and stunned all those watching.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for you lot in the 23rd Division. Now, forward march!¡± Ling Lan ordered once again.


    Everyone knew that the send-off event had ended. Their boss didn¡¯t want them to skip ss. However, the boss had also left a message for them, that he would wait for them in the 23rd Division. The boss hadn¡¯t abandoned them. Lingtian¡¯s members were satisfied. They left the dock in an orderly fashion and quickly disappeared.


    Ling Yi didn¡¯t want to follow them. Although he obeyed themand to turn around, he still refused to obey the secondmand in the end and turned around again.


    ¡°You still have something you need?¡± Ling Lan asked indifferently. When it came to Ling Yi, Ling Lan had a feeling of displeasure. Ling Lan remembered clearly that Ling Yi¡¯s father, Ling Hua, had died by her hand. Although she had made a series of arrangements and made sure the possibility of exposing the truth behind that incident was zero, Ling Lan still felt that she couldn¡¯t get past her own feelings. She couldn¡¯t just treat it as if nothing had happened and ept Ling Yi. Thus, in the past two years, she had never given Ling Yi a chance to get close to her.


    However, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t someone that waspletely hardened. When Qi Long, Wu Jiong and the others wanted to use her training method to nurture a group of strong individuals in Lingtian, she heard Ling Yi¡¯s name in the list and just let it pass. If Ling Yi really had potential, Ling Lan didn¡¯t mind helping him along the way.


    ¡°Young Master Lan!¡± Ling Yi¡¯s lips moved a bit and finally shouted out the form of address he wanted to say all this time.


    Ling Yi addressing Ling Lan like this stunned Qi Long and the others. Normally, the address of young master was used by family servants. They thought of the Ling Yi¡¯s surname ¡°Ling¡± and instantly understood. It was possible that Ling Yi was a family servant. Some families allowed servants to follow their young masters to apply for the same military academy and be the servant of the next family head. Of course, these family servants had to be capable. Academies such as the First Men¡¯s Military Academy were impossible to get in if the individual was not capable.


    Everyone quickly returned to having a calm and collected manner because they wanted to know Ling Lan¡¯s background. They thought of Ling Xiao and could then understand why Ling Yi would be this strong.


    Ling Lan looked at Ling Yi helplessly. She didn¡¯t think that Ling Yi still didn¡¯t have the thought of giving up on her up until now. Although Chambein Ling Qin had once said that Ling Yi¡¯s dream was to return to her side and be her loyalist, before even mentioning Ling Yi¡¯s special situation and her own situation after her father returned, regardless of whether or not she had publicly announced her gender, she knew it wasn¡¯t possible for her to have a male as her loyalist. Even if she approved, her father would definitely not. Ever since the beginning, the female masters of the Ling family could only have female loyalists by their side. There were no exceptions.


    Behind Ling Yi were his team members who had stayed behind with Ling Yi. When Rong Ziruo and Yi Tiange heard Ling Yi shout out ¡°Young Master Lan¡±, they subconsciously clenched their fists and their eyes focused on Ling Lan.


    After Ling Yi¡¯s outburst, it was as though his entire body had rxed. No matter if his Young Master Lan wanted to ept him or not, he had already shown her his thoughts. He smiled bitterly and said, ¡°Perhaps, Young Master Lan has already forgotten who I am. Looking back, it¡¯s been around 15 years since west saw each other.¡±


    Ling Lan replied indifferently, ¡°I know. Back then, I approved of your father¡¯s wish before he died to make you return to being amoner. That way, you wouldn¡¯t have any connections to the Ling family anymore.¡±


    Hearing this, Ling Yi instantly said with concern, ¡°You guys didn¡¯t even ask me whether I wanted to or not? Even if I was young, I still had my right to choose.¡±


    Ling Lan saw the determination in Ling Yi¡¯s eyes. She thought for a moment then said, ¡°Alright. In that case, I¡¯ll give you the chance to choose.¡±


    Ling Yi¡¯s eyes widened and heughed out loud. ¡°Thank you, Young Master Lan.¡± He had known that Young Master Lan wouldn¡¯t abandon him just like that.


    ¡°In your fifth year, if you want to follow me, thene to the 23rd Division.¡± Ling Lan left these words and then walked past Ling Yi towards the warship¡¯s personnel hold.

 Chapter 561 - Help!

    <h4>Chapter 561: Help!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Yi was full of satisfaction as he watched Ling Lan leave. With the Young Master Lan¡¯s promise, he felt that the hard work he had done for 15 years had finally paid off.


    ¡°Congrattions, Captain!¡± Yi Tiange was relieved, and still had a smile on his face. He lightly patted Ling Yi on the shoulder to show he was congratting Ling Yi.


    ¡°Captain, your dream came true,¡± Rong Ziruo also remarked. At the same time, he turned around and looked towards the silhouette of that individual who was surrounded by their seniors. That tall standing figure made him look with all the hesitation in his eyes.


    Ling Lan¡¯s aura was too cold and dominant. Someone like her would either sessfully create their world or fall short at the half-way point¡ªthere was no third possibility. Was it a good thing or bad thing that their captain was going to follow this person?


    The five of them, including Rong Ziruo, were all third-ratemoners. They hadcked medicinal agents, money, and opportunities to train their physical skills when they were young. It was because of Ling Yi that they were able to get into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. It was Ling Yi who had taught them the Ling family¡¯s basic physical skills. It was Ling Yi who used his father¡¯s pension to buy them food, sparing them from having to worry about the nutrients they needed replenish when training their physical skills. That was why they put all of their trust in Ling Yi. Even if he wanted to return to the Ling family and be a loyalist, they would not part ways but follow him instead. They had even once thought that if Ling Yi was to return to the Ling family, they would be willing to be a family servant if the Ling family needed them.


    The choices of Rong Ziruo and the others were sacrificial. If they parted with Ling Yi, their future would be better. With their capabilities, they would definitely be at least a low ranking officer after they entered a division. They would also have freedom and be better off than bing a family servant of a small household (Ling Yi still hadn¡¯t told them the real background of the Ling family).


    In the 23rd Division¡¯s warship¡¯s bridge, three people were curiously walking around the optical supeputer that was showing the image of the dock. After picking up so many new recruits, this was the first time that they had seen such arge crowd that was sending people off. They saw Ling Lan order the crowd to return, saw her lead more than 100 people to board the warship...


    ¡°Amazing, isn¡¯t it?¡± The dashing officer that was sitting on the mainmand seat smirked. He was the captain of this warship. His name was Lei Yiming.


    ¡°Brother Ming, don¡¯t tell me that you brought us to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy every year because of this person?¡± The first to speak was the officer with a somewhat feminineplexion, sitting to the left of the dashing officer. He half-smiled and nced at Lei Yiming. Being very knowledgeable about Lei Yiming, this officer was almost certain that Ling Lan was the real purpose of this trip.


    ¡°Yes, Jun¡¯an.¡± Lei Yiming didn¡¯t quibble and admitted to it with a smile. ¡°Three years ago, I was sent here to pick up cadets. By ident, I saw this person break through, but even with my capabilities, I couldn¡¯t see his through limit... In addition, hundreds of people instantly protected him in unison when he broke through. It showed that he had a ce in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.¡± It turned out that he was the warshipmander who hade to pick up Li Lanfeng and the others, and apparently saw Ling Lan break through.


    The feminine officer was called Pan Jun¡¯an and was Lei Yiming¡¯s vice-staff officer whom he relied on very much. Lei Yiming words made Pan Jun¡¯anugh immediately. ¡°Who knew that the mission that you hated with a passion actually let you meet with such an interesting person. No wonder these past two years, you would nominate yourself to the staff officer department toe pick people up.¡±


    Lei Yiming nodded. ¡°Of course. When ites to someone that¡¯s this interesting and strong, I must naturally try my best to get them toe to our Jun Ying team. If I don¡¯t do that, I have to at least make sure that Pu Jun doesn¡¯t rope him into their team.¡±


    The 23rd Division was a newly formed military division. When they were building the division, all the different powers had sent people in. However, after General Ling Xiao¡¯s iron fist rectifications, the 23rd Division became purer. Although the roots of the different powers were there no more, the officers of the 23rd Division still created their own little groups. For example, Lei Yiming and his group were the Jun Ying Friendship Association. In order to expand their power and influence, they would try to rope in the limitless supply of new recruits from military academies who just joined the division. Even if they didn¡¯t rope them in, they would create good rtionships with them. They would try to stop the new recruits from deviating towards their opponents, such as the one they had the mostpetition with, the Pu Jun Alliance Group.


    ¡°Only three years has passed and now he has thousands of people sending him off. This person should be considered an overlord at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy,¡± remarked another officer, as if in deep thought. This officer was themander of Lei Yiming¡¯s warship security mecha n, ace operator Meng Ziyun. He was the strongest on the warship, Stargazer.


    Lei Yiming, Pan Jun¡¯an and Meng Ziyun were also close friends who grew up together. The bond between them was very strong. In the 23rd Division, they were nicknamed the Stargazer¡¯s three musketeers because the warship they served on was called Stargazer.


    ¡°However, it¡¯s hard to rope in those who came out from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.¡± Pan Jun¡¯an recalled the groups from the previous years and instantly frowned.


    ¡°Yeah. Huo Zhenyu and Zhao Jun¡¯s groups haven¡¯t joined any group even until now.¡± Meng Ziyun didn¡¯t truly think that Lei Yiming¡¯s decision was a good one.


    ¡°I know, that¡¯s why those guys from Pu Jun were willing to go to other military academies, but unwilling toe to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. How else could we have always gotten the chance toe here to pick people up so easily?¡± Lei Yiming said mockingly. ¡°However, I never even considered that he would join us. I just want to form a good rtionship with him.¡±


    Lei Yiming words stunned his tworades. After watching for three years, he had finally found his target, yet after putting in so much effort, he only wanted to just form a good rtionship in the end... When had Lei Yiming be this less demanding?


    Lei Yiming saw that the eyes of his two close friends seemed on the verge of popping out of their sockets and he immediatelyughed, saying, ¡°Hahaha, look at your dumb faces... How could I not have knowledge of something that Pu Jun already knew about?¡±


    He retracted his smile and huffed coldly before continuing, ¡°It¡¯s clear that those from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy will create their group in 23rd Division. We don¡¯t know what Huo Zhenyu is thinking because he¡¯s not in headquarters, but Zhao Jun¡¯s group is probably waiting for him.¡± Lei Yiming then pointed at the cool young man who had already boarded their warship.


    Lei Yiming¡¯s words allowed Pan Jun¡¯an to understand. ¡°I see...¡±


    Meng Ziyun, however, still didn¡¯t understand. ¡°What are you guys talking about? Can you not make it so deep and hard to understand?¡± Were they discriminating against soldiers like him and inferring that they were retarded? Sh*t!


    Pan Jun¡¯an quicklyforted him and smiled. He exined, ¡°Ziyun, did you forget that a while back, there was a public announcement made by Zhao Jun that the entire division witnessed?¡±


    As an ace operator, after two years of training, Zhao Jun had already made his first appearance in the division. He defeated many ace operators that had already made names for themselves for a long time. The strong Zhao Jun became the dream individual for bing every battle team¡¯s main general and countless battle teams sent him invitations. Even the 23rd Division¡¯s young general¡¯s imperial battle team also sent him an invitation. This made everyone else be green with envy.


    Faced with the temptation of being able to instantly rank up, Zhao Jun kept a straight face and refused the offer. He already had a battle team and would no longer change his allegiance... It was just that having never activated a battle team totem, everyone thought his words were just excuses and no one thought more of it.


    Meng Ziyun didn¡¯t understand at first and his expression showed a hint of confusion, but then he quickly came to a realization and looked at the young man in the image with a stunned expression. He couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. ¡°Could it be that he¡¯s Zhao Jun¡¯s captain?¡±


    ¡°Three years ago, he was the one who sent Zhao Jun off.¡± Lei Yiming told them the truth.


    Meng Ziyun looked at the cool young man in the image with aplicated gaze. ¡°He really is lucky to actually have such a strong member. This member is alsopletely loyal to him.¡± Which battle team wouldn¡¯t want a genius like Zhao Jun? Even Meng Ziyun and the others wanted to take him in. Additionally, there was a super skilled military doctor and a sinister strategist behind Zhao Jun.


    After remembering these two people, Meng Ziyun eximed, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me, the other two are both from this battle team?¡±


    Li Shiyu was definitely a one in a million doctor in the past few centuries. The horrible effects of the medicinal agents that he had invented terrified people, but their taste made everyone remember taking them as if it was yesterday and not dare to forget in their lifetime.


    Meng Ziyun recalled an incident fromst year, when he had been heavily wounded. Right when he returned to the 23rd Division¡¯s headquarters, he was sent to the division¡¯s hospital...


    ¡°What? I have to rest for a month? Sh*t. Which quack doctor set up my treatment n? Get the f*ck over here.¡± Meng Ziyun, who wasying in the treatment pod, heard Pan Jun¡¯an tell him about his wounds and instantly became angry, because after one more week, they had to go to another dangerously chaotic for a mission. If the Stargazer didn¡¯t have him, a main yer, how could they make a full retreat from that dangerous? Of course Meng Ziyun would get annoyed.


    The military doctor that was standing on the side wiped his cold sweat, as the treatment n was written by him. There were clearly no mistakes, but as luck would have it, Meng Ziyun was well-known to have the worst temper within the 23rd Division. When he was being stubborn, logic wasn¡¯t something he believed in. His personality really wasted the name he was given.


    Pan Jun¡¯an also knew of Meng Ziyun¡¯s terrible temper. He couldn¡¯t help but re at him and say, ¡°Why are you getting worked up? If you don¡¯t believe it, then go find another physician to take a look.¡± Afterward, he looked at the physician beside him and apologetically asked, ¡°Dr. Qiu, could you please let another physiciane to take a look?¡±


    Dr. Qiu immediately nodded. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll get our head physician toe take a look.¡± Afterward, he walked out without turning back. F*ck, he actually didn¡¯t believe him. In that case, he was just going to find the head physician. In reality, if it wasn¡¯t for the head physician ordering him, he wouldn¡¯t have wanted toe treat this dumbass.


    Dr. Qiu left in a huff, found the head physician and told him about Meng Ziyun¡¯s situation. The head physician instantly felt he had a headache. Even before the 23rd Division had been formed for four years, this Meng Ziyun had already offended all the physicians in the division¡¯s hospital. Now, no one was willing to treat him. It couldn¡¯t be helped and so he had to go do it himself. He carefully checked around and said, ¡°Lieutenant Colonel Meng, your wounds indeed need one month¡¯s worth of rest. Otherwise, old wounds won¡¯t heal and new wounds will appear. If we treat you then, there would besting side-effects.¡±


    The faculty head¡¯s judgment surprised Meng Ziyun. Could it really mean that he couldn¡¯t go on this mission?


    Seeing this, Pan Jun¡¯anforted him and said, ¡°Ziyun, you stay and rest up. Yiming and I will be careful. In fact, Yiming and my capabilities aren¡¯t too bad. It was just because of you that we were left in the dust. Now, we finally have a chance to shine.¡±


    As he was pressed for time, Pan Jun¡¯an quickly left the division¡¯s hospital and returned to the warship to prepare the supplies and equipment for the journey. On the side, Meng Ziyun became more and more worried, thus he began to make a scene in the hospital...


    ¡°Bam!¡± The lunch that was brought in by a military nurse was flipped over by Meng Ziyun. He angrily eximed, ¡°What is this sh*t? This is how your hospital gives treatment to your patients?¡±


    The military nurse was a new recruit who had just joined the division. Being only 18, she had never been through this before and instantly began to cry.


    ¡°Cry, cry, cry. I¡¯m not dead yet. Why the f*ck are you crying? Get your head nurse over here.¡± Meng Ziyun yelled upon seeing the nurse crying, which made him be even angrier.


    The military nurse listened to him and quickly ran out of the room covering her face. She ran to the head nurse and, while sobbing with tears and snot flying everywhere, stumbled over her words as she ryed the situation to the head nurse.


    The head nurse bit her lip and walked into Meng Ziyun¡¯s ward, but not long after, she was sent out of the room by the man¡¯s insults.


    ¡°Elder Sister Xu, what should we do now?¡± The nurse immediately panicked when she saw the head nurse couldn¡¯t resolve the situation. She never wanted to see that unreasonable person again...


    ¡°That bastard. I will definitely find a way...¡± Elder Sister Xu said begrudgingly.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s mood was very good on that day because he had invented a rapid regeneration medicinal agent. Naturally, as he had yet to confirm its effects, it was only just a theoretical sess. The reason he hade to the division hospital on this day was to see the president of the hospital to help him find a few heavily wounded soldiers to perform some human experimentation...


    He ran over to the president¡¯s office, but was told that the president had gone to make a round of the wards; thus, he chased after him. Right when he entered a ward, he saw the familiar head nurse speaking with another nurse.


    ¡°Elder Sister Xu, good afternoon.¡± Li Shiyu greeted her with his usual warm smile.


    Right as Li Shiyu moved past her, he felt a strong force pulling him back and he turned around in surprise. He saw the head nurse wearing an obsequious expression as she said, ¡°Little Brother Shiyu, you have to help your Elder Sister Xu today.¡±


    Hmm? Where was Elder Sister Xu¡¯s elder sister personality? Howe her mood was so low today? Li Shiyu felt a chill strike him and his body immediately shuddered. ¡°Elder Sister Xu, please speak normally. Your current expression is terrifying me.¡± There was definitely something wrong because she seemed so odd.


    ¡°Stupid punk, are you going to help or not?¡± Elder Sister Xu immediately showed her true colors and immediately threatened him.


    ¡°I¡¯ll help, of course I¡¯ll help, but what actually happened? Elder Sister Xu, you have exin it clearly.¡± Li Shiyu smiled bitterly as he spoke.


    Elder Sister Xu immediately told Li Shiyu about Meng Ziyun, after which she angrily said, ¡°Although he¡¯s a lieutenant colonel, he still shouldn¡¯t be so unreasonable. We¡¯re only corporals, but we still shouldn¡¯t just take things lying down and do nothing about it.¡±


    ¡°So?¡± Li Shiyu asked confusedly.


    ¡°So, Little Brother Shiyu, please teach him a lesson.¡± Elder Sister Xu¡¯s expression was stern, but her eyes were filled with anticipation.


    After hearing Elder Sister Xu¡¯s words, the terrified nurse who stood on the side immediately clenched her fists before her chest after she finished wiping her tears and looked at Li Shiyu with anticipation in her eyes. The look in her gaze seemed as ifpletely seeing Li Shiyu as a savior, which made Li Shiyu¡¯s forehead scrunch up.


    ¡°He¡¯s a lieutenant colonel,¡± Li Shiyu said, then pointed at his own shoulder medal and continued, ¡°I am only a major right now.¡± What he meant was that Meng Ziyun outranked him. How did he have the power to help them teach Meng Ziyun a lesson?


    After working hard for one year, Li Shiyu had already advanced from the rank of senior captain to the rank of major. Zhao Jun had also advanced to major. As for Li Lanfeng, he had advanced the fastest; he had sessfully be promoted from second lieutenant to senior captain. It was possible that before long, he would be able to advance to major.


    Elder Sister Xu looked around and after seeing that no one had noticed them, she quietly said, ¡°Little Brother Shiyu, don¡¯t lie to me. I know your methods. As long as you convince the president and that person in there bes your specimen for experimentation...¡± Elder Sister Xu¡¯s hand clenched with great force and her eyes showed a bit of killing intent as she continued, ¡°how is he to escape your clutches?¡±


    Elder Sister Xu¡¯s evilness made Li Shiyu feel cold. As expected, you could offend anyone, but just not women...

 Chapter 562 - Medical Treatment!

    <h4>Chapter 562: Medical Treatment!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Elder Sister Xu saw that Li Shiyu didn¡¯t say anything and believed that was him agreeing with her. She excitedly said, ¡°Come, I¡¯ll go find the president with you.¡± After that, she dragged Li Shiyu to go find the president to carry out her n.


    Perhaps Li Shiyu¡¯s performance in the past year was too good. Right when Elder Sister Xu spoke to the president about Li Shiyu needing wounded personnel to test out his recovery agent¡¯s effects, the president waved his hand and allowed Elder Sister Xu to create a list and give it to him...


    Elder Sister Xu quickly wrote up a list of names. When she handed it to the president, he didn¡¯t even take a look and merely handed it to his most trustworthy department head, who was standing beside him.


    Seeing this, Elder Sister Xu¡¯s heart skipped a beat. She had originally hoped to be able to add Meng Ziyun into the list of names while the president was busy and didn¡¯t have time to look at the list in detail. Now that the president handed the list to the department head, she felt that her n might be foiled.


    Those who were research subjects for new medicinal agents were all lower ranking officers or soldiers. Any officers ranked major or above were not given a chance, which was why Elder Sister Xu¡¯s list would not abide by regtions if it was thoroughly examined.


    Right when Elder Sister Xu was feeling worried, the department head saw Meng Ziyun¡¯s name and smiled. He looked towards Elder Sister Xu and Li Shiyu with a satisfied expression, thinking that they were helping him get back at Meng Ziyun. He decisively gave the list to the president and said, ¡°Li Shiyu¡¯s new medicinal agent has amazing recovery effects. I think Meng Ziyun will be very happy to receive the treatment.¡±


    He was even more capable than Elder Sister Xu in making sure the n didn¡¯t fail and instantly spoke out the main point. Of course, he dared to do this because he knew how the president thought.


    The president looked at Meng Ziyun¡¯s name and his eyes showed understanding. He nodded and said, ¡°Indeed. Little Xu, Little Li, you guys have made a keen observation on treating patients that need emergency treatment. Not bad, not bad. Just prepare this list.¡±


    <i>Meng Ziyun, didn¡¯t you say you wanted to recover faster? I¡¯ll give you a chance to do that as long as you can survive through Li Shiyu¡¯s methods of experimentation...</i>


    The president remembered the wounded personnel who were cured by Li Shiyu. Every one of them had cried for their mothers during the treatment. They had been sobbing with snot dripping from their noses. Even the toughest soldier who might not have cried while being treated would still talk about the terror of Li Shiyu after they had recovered. It seemed that Li Shiyu¡¯s methods were very terrifying... Even many soldiers from the army knew that within the division¡¯s hospital, they should definitely not offend the terrifying Dr. Frankenstein, Li Shiyu. Otherwise, they would be stuck between life and death.


    The president¡¯s mood improved greatly and the expression he wore as he looked at Li Shiyu and Elder Sister Xu turned warmer and moreforting. He saw that his subordinates were truly clever, understanding how to sympathize with his troubles and immediately thinking of a solution. With this, he had to take care of them more in the future.


    Alright, the president was also very annoyed at this troublemaker, Meng Ziyun. It was just that if he made a move using his authority, it would be picking on the lower ranks and would be bad if it got out. Thus, he could only endure it. Now that he saw Li Shiyu making a move, he would naturally give the green light and make it convenient for him.


    Just like that, with all the powerful personnel in the division hospital banding together, Meng Ziyun easilynded into Li Shiyu¡¯s clutches.


    Seeing this, Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t help but sigh. Everything was in Elder Sister Xu¡¯s favor. This meant that Lieutenant Colonel Meng brought all this upon himself. It was his own fault that he offended everyone within the division¡¯s hospital.


    Meng Ziyun felt that the military nurses that came to his room today seemed to have a hint of sympathy in their eyes. Could it be that his wounds had worsened? Meng Ziyun was in a very bad mood. He wanted to find someone to ask, but discovered that the nurses that were beside him tending to him had run off somewhere.


    ¡°These b*tches, only knowing how to gossip. Not one bit professional. I¡¯ll definitely teach them a lesson.¡± Meng Ziyun pressed hard on the inte on the side of the treatment pod to get the nurse tending to him toe to him quickly.


    After a few seconds, the door to his room opened and a young, handsome man wearing a white robe walked in with a warm smile on his face. Behind him was actually the nurse that tended to Meng Ziyun exclusively, the one he had insulted to the point of making her cry and disappear.


    He saw the nurse peek her head out from behind the young man and re at him viciously, following which, like a hamster, she retracted her head back behind the young man. This almost made Meng Ziyun¡¯s chest explode out of anger... ¡°The nurses at the division¡¯s hospital only have this kind of professionalism. I¡¯m her superior! Superior! She actually doesn¡¯t know to respect me. How could the 23rd Division keep such a clueless soldier? I¡¯ll definitely make her leave the division.¡± Meng Ziyun felt as though he were going crazy.


    Right when Meng Ziyun wanted to teach the nurse a lesson, he heard the young man speak in an indifferent tone. ¡°Meng Ziyun, Lieutenant Colonel Meng. Hello, I am your physician, Dr. Li Shiyu. You will be in my care from now on.¡±


    ¡°Hmph, the 23rd Division really is a sh*thole. They actually let a small kid be a physician. Get out, get your president here. I want to change my physician.¡± Meng Ziyun¡¯s anger rose. He paid no mind to the fact that they sent a clueless nurse to take care of him, but even the physician was a teenager without any facial hair. This was definitely looking down on him.


    ¡°Change? Sure, if you don¡¯t want to recover quicker.¡± Li Shiyu didn¡¯t get angry. He calmly turned off the medical records card¡¯s screen and was ready to leave with the nurse.


    ¡°Wait, what did you just say?¡± Meng Ziyun looked at Li Shiyu excitedly. He hadn¡¯t heard wrong, had he? This little physician said that he could help him recover ahead of time.


    ¡°I said, if you don¡¯t want to recover ahead of time, then go find the president to swap me out.¡± Li Shiyu showed a faint smile. That smile made Meng Ziyun feel he was being attacked, but as luck would have it, other than Li Shiyu, there weren¡¯t any other physicians who dared to say something like this¡ªnot even the president of the 23rd Division¡¯s hospital.


    ¡°You¡¯re joking, aren¡¯t you?¡± Meng Ziyun immediately calmed down. He was naturally not an idiot as someone who managed to be a major.


    ¡°Why would I lie to you? If it doesn¡¯t work and you report me, I wouldn¡¯t be able to stay in the 23rd Division anymore. I¡¯m not that stupid,¡± Li Shiyu replied calmly, showing that he was confident in himself.


    Someone was actually questioning Dr. Li. Hearing this, the nurse, originally annoyed at Meng Ziyun, immediately poked her head out and with an expression of disdain, said, ¡°Dr. Li is the best physician in the entire 23rd Division. The medicinal agents he invented are many times more effective than normal agents. He also received a medal from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. However, Dr. Li idolizes General Ling Xiao very much, which is why he rejected the Flying Dragon Special Forces¡¯ invitation and instead applied to the 23rd Division. He also received General Ling Xiao¡¯s special order of not requiring evaluations...¡±


    After the nurse said all this, her face became full of pride. It was as though all of this glory was received by her.


    Although Li Shiyu was always carrying out missions or researching new medicines in the researchb, his legend had been gossiped about and be known by every one of the nurses in the division¡¯s hospital. Almost all of the nurses knew every detail. Additionally, Li Shiyu was handsome and friendly. He was very popr among the nurses. It could be said that he was the second person who they idolized most after General Ling Xiao.


    As for the point about Li Shiyu idolizing General Ling, it was indeed said by Li Shiyu himself. After all, he had wanted to perfectly exin why he refused the Flying Dragon Special Forces¡¯ special offer and applied to the 23rd Division. He probably couldn¡¯t say that he went to the 23rd Division because of General Ling Xiao¡¯s son, could he...? Ugh, this would also require others knowing that General Ling Xiao had a son.


    In the end, having no better excuse, Li Shiyu could only use General Ling Xiao. After all, General Ling Xiao was the father of Li Shiyu¡¯s captain. Having Ling Xiao bear the burden was the natural course of action.


    ¡°Flying Dragon Special Forces medal? Flying Dragon Special Forces special offer? General Ling Xiao ordered that an evaluation wasn¡¯t needed?¡± After hearing all this, Meng Ziyun¡¯s eyes shrunk inwards. He knew clearly what the Flying Dragon Special Forces medal meant, what the Flying Dragon Special Forces meant and what General Ling Xiao¡¯s order meant. They all meant that the young man had already shown talent in the military medicine major. He might have even reached the top-level, as he wouldn¡¯t have been able to receive the acknowledgment of so many people otherwise.


    ¡°Okay, okay.¡± Meng Ziyun¡¯s mood was very excited. Perhaps, he really could battle with hisrades again.


    ¡°Do you still want to change your doctor?¡± Li Shiyu raised a brow and looked down at Meng Ziyun.


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to change anymore. Dr. Li, please treat me. I hope topletely recover in a week¡¯s time.¡± Meng Ziyun didn¡¯t dare to argue with Li Shiyu, someone who had such a domineering tone. He even lowered his voice a bit. After all, all of his hopey in Li Shiyu¡¯s hands.


    ¡°Okay, since you have acknowledged me, then I will immediately make arrangements for your treatment.¡± Li Shiyu was also quick to act. He took out the medical records card once again. Li Shiyu turned on the virtual screen and began to confirm Meng Ziyun¡¯s condition.


    ¡°Physical constitution, level S? Then you could try the level S medicinal agent,¡± Li Shiyu said after thinking for a second.


    The nurse instantly trembled a bit after hearing the words level S medicinal agent. She had witnessed the terror of the treatments that used this medicinal agent. She actually pitied this annoying Lieutenant Colonel Meng and hoped that he would be alive in the end.


    ¡°Zhu Qing-qing, prepare the medicinal agent for a vein injection.¡± Before the nurse coulde back to her senses, she heard Li Shiyu begin to issue her orders.


    ¡°Okay, Dr.Li.¡± The nurse, Zhu Qing-qing, was a bit excited as she immediately opened the medicinal agent case she had brought with her. She took out a vial of medicinal agentbeled with an ¡°S¡±, picked up a syringe and began preparing it.


    After the medicinal agent was put into the syringe, Zhu Qing-qing walked beside Meng Ziyun. She smiled tenderly and warned, ¡°Lieutenant Colonel Meng, please endure it for a second. I¡¯m going to inject it now.¡±


    Meng Ziyun didn¡¯t see that there was wickedness under Zhu Qing-qing¡¯s angelic smile. He stretched out his right arm without any knowledge of it.


    Zhu Qing-qing poked the needle of the syringe through a vein once, but then immediately pulled it out. She apologetically said, ¡°Sorry, Lieutenant Colonel Meng. I didn¡¯t get the right spot.¡± The little devil inside of Zhu Qing-qing began to bare its fangs and ws. <i>This is what you get for insulting people. Now that you¡¯re in my hands, don¡¯t me me for taking revenge.</i>


    Right when Meng Ziyun wanted to re at the nurse, he saw Li Shiyu¡¯s expression with one brow raised. His face clearly said that if Meng Ziyun had anyints, he wasn¡¯t going to get treatment, and so he didn¡¯t dare to get angry. If Li Shiyu really stopped treating him and he missed the time of his team¡¯s departure, he would feel terrible regret if his close friends ended up wounded or dead due to not having his protection... It was just a few pokes of needles, wasn¡¯t it? All of his muscles had been torn once and it hadn¡¯t been painful enough to kill him. How could he be afraid of such minor sensations of pain?


    After stabbing the needle in 5 or 6 times, Zhu Qing-qing could no longer continue. After all, she had only been yelled at and the man hadn¡¯t really hurt her. She had already vented her grievance. After she calmed down, she felt that she had gone overboard and thus, she softly said, ¡°Lieutenant Colonel Meng, thank you for your patience. I will finish injecting quickly.¡±


    After saying that, she urately stabbed into the correct vein and injected the medicinal agent. In order to show her sincerity, she split the injections into parts in order to lower the pressure induced on the vein. After all, level S medicinal agents had strong effects. The veins and blood vessels wouldn¡¯t be able to get used it right away.


    Zhu Qing-qing¡¯s sudden thoughtfulness made Meng Ziyun look at her in disbelief for a second. After all, Zhu Qing-qing was only just a new recruit who had graduated from the Nursing Major Academy. She still didn¡¯t know how to hide her emotions and her actions of revenge had been very obvious. Being a veteran, Meng Ziyun could naturally easily see through what she was doing. It was just that he didn¡¯t think that after 5 or 6 times, the little girl would hold back and feel regret. Meng Ziyun had thought he was going to be poked 20 to 30 times before this nurse would be satisfied. As expected of a new recruit, her pureness was a bit cute.


    After thinking about all this, Meng Ziyun felt that he had gone overboard as well when he previously insulted this girl due to his terrible mood. In an apologetic tone, he softly said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I lost control of my emotions during lunch time.¡±


    Hearing this, Zhu Qing-qing immediately wore a big smile on her face, which signified that she had forgiven him.


    After injecting the agent, Meng Ziyun suddenly felt extremely itchy and painful all over. This feeling wasn¡¯t just normal pain; it was itchy to his bones and also painful to the bone. It almost made him want to die.


    ¡°Endure it, otherwise the agent will not bepletely effective and your wounds will not be able to heal within 5 days,¡± Li Shiyu warned Meng Ziyun, looking at him with an unchanged expression.


    Seeing this, Zhu Qing-qing turned around and looked elsewhere. She was afraid that she would not be able to control herself and tell Lieutenant Colonel Meng that the agent also worked even if he fainted and wouldn¡¯t lose effectiveness¡ªthis was just Dr. Li¡¯s way of torturing people.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s words scared Meng Ziyun. He naturally wouldn¡¯t allow himself to faint and so he bit his lip to endure it. He barely managed to get past the first wave of the pain, but right when he felt a bit better, another wave of pain went through his body... If he hadn¡¯t felt that his body¡¯s condition was really bing better, he would have suspected that Li Shiyu was screwing with him.


    Although Meng Ziyun was happy that his body was indeed getting better, the pain of the treatment was still continuously challenging his endurance. Despite being one of the toughest people in the division, he still couldn¡¯t help but cry and sob. It wasn¡¯t because he wanted to cry, but because he couldn¡¯t control this subconscious reaction of his body... then he saw Zhu Qing-qing¡¯s stunned expression and became angry. He had actually lost his dignity in front of this little girl. ¡°Ah, let me die!¡±


    Alright, he didn¡¯t die in the end. However, after the treatment, he was like an ostrich digging into the ground, curled up in the treatment pod and didn¡¯t dare to raise his head. He was afraid to see the contempt in the nurse¡¯s eyes. He was a lieutenant colonel. He actually let a private see him in such a state. ¡°Ah, let me die!¡±


    Just like that, for all five days, every time Meng Ziyun was treated, he couldn¡¯t keep his cool. He had lost all of his dignity. Every time, he felt that he was being tormented to his death and yet returned from the underworld at the crucial moment.


    After the treatment on the fifth day had ended, Meng Ziyun clearly felt that his body had recovered by around 70 to 80%. There were only some small parts that had small issues, but it didn¡¯t affect him from piloting a mecha into battle. That time, he really wanted to leave the hospital and didn¡¯t want to continue losing his dignity.


    In reality, he didn¡¯t have any dignity anymore with the 23rd Division¡¯s hospital. The entire hospital knew that a lieutenant colonel with the surname Meng was scared of needles to the point of crying and sobbing like a child. As luck would have it, he couldn¡¯t deny it because he did indeed cry and sob due to the medicine¡¯s effects during the injections.


    However, he still needed Li Shiyu¡¯s final confirmation to see whether he could leave the hospital or not.

 Chapter 563 - Separation.

    <h4>Chapter 563: Separation.</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Li Shiyu examined Meng Ziyun carefully before closing the screen. He said, ¡°Operator Meng, congrattions, you can leave the hospital now. I will prescribe some of my special recovery medicines to you. You will need to drink them for another three days before you recoverpletely.¡±


    ¡°I still need to drink medicine?¡± Meng Ziyun asked in surprise. He had been ted at finding out he could leave the hospital, but before he could smile, he heard that he needed to drink some special medicine. He was horrified.


    ¡°Military Doctor Li, I know that your special medicines are precious. You should keep it for patients who need it more than me. You can just prescribe me some standard medication.¡± Meng Ziyun immediately rejected the offer. He didn¡¯t want to experience that excruciating pain again.


    Li Shiyu raised his eyebrows at Meng Ziyun¡¯s words. ¡°Are you sure? You will need to drink the standard medication for one month. Also, you cannot get injured within this month. Otherwise, your past efforts will be wasted.¡±


    ¡°I understand. Military Doctor Li, I promise that I¡¯ll protect myself this month and not let myself get injured again. Please just give me some standard medication.¡± Meng Ziyun instantly made a promise. He was afraid that Li Shiyu would give him the special medicines if he replied any slower.


    ¡°I have already reminded you what to take note of. Do not push the me on the doctors of the 23rd Division after you injure yourself again,¡± Li Shiyu warned him.


    ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Meng Ziyun nodded his head profusely and smiled bitterly in his heart. He had already suffered the consequences so he would not do it again.


    What happened was that in the five days he spent here, he built a good rtionship with the nurse, Zhu Qing-qing, who took pity on him and thus told him the ¡°truth¡±.


    Zhu Qing-qing told him secretly that he suffered so much because he offended the people in the hospital, which was why Li Shiyu was invited to teach him a lesson. She said that Li Shiyu was able to remove the pain during the treatment, but he purposely didn¡¯t do so for him.


    The nurse was good at speaking. She hid some lies among the truth, so Meng Ziyun believed her entirely.


    Meng Ziyun finally understood why he had to endure so much torture in the past five days. However, he knew that he couldn¡¯t take his revenge. Li Shiyu was an excellent military doctor so he might need his assistance in the future. It was better had to have a good rtionship with him. Hence, Meng Ziyun swallowed his unhappiness. He couldn¡¯t let Li Shiyu feel that he had a grudge against him.


    Meng Ziyun left the hospital feeling depressed. He reminded his two brothers and told them that if by any chance they went into the 23rd Division¡¯s hospital, they had to disy a good attitude and not offend the doctors and nurses in the hospital.


    This experience made Meng Ziyun feel grateful towards and afraid of Li Shiyu. Whenever he thought about Li Shiyu, he would recall the pain and torment he went through. His body would shiver in fear uncontrobly.


    ¡°Ziyun, what happened to you?¡± Pan Jun¡¯an was waiting for Meng Ziyun¡¯s reply when he saw his face suddenly turning pale.


    Meng Ziyun regained his senses and took a deep breath to expel the fear from his mind. He forced a smile on his face and replied, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I just remembered Li Shiyu again.¡±


    Lei Yiming and Pan Jun¡¯an exchanged nces with each other. They understood what Meng Ziyun was talking about. Ever since Meng Ziyun came out of the 23rd Division hospital, his temper improved and would not re up as easily as before. Whenever he was about to explode in anger, they would mention Li Shiyu¡¯s name and his anger would immediately be dispelled. They were relieved at his change but at the same time, they were curious about what Li Shiyu did to Meng Ziyun.


    ¡°Li Shiyu...¡± Pan Jun¡¯an purposely mentioned his name and as expected, Meng Ziyun shivered. Pan Jun¡¯anughed at him silently. He coughed to hid his smile and continued, ¡°He probably won¡¯t be joining any battle n. With his status, only a team like the Flying Dragon Special Forces will have the right to ept him. Also, even if he was willing to join other teams, the 23rd Division will not allow it. They will want him to serve at the headquarters of the 23rd Division.¡±


    Lei Yiming nodded in agreement. A military doctor was an important asset. Bigger-sized battle ns might be able to get a normal military doctor, but a standard battle n would not have any doctors with them. It was already a privilege if they had a mecha operator who had previously learned some medical skills.


    ¡°As for Li Lanfeng, there is a high possibility that he will enter a team.¡± Pan Jun¡¯an grew serious as he talked about Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng seemed like an amiable and harmless person, but he was the one that always saw through the schemes of others. Many had tried to harm Zhao Jun before, but they were all stopped by Li Lanfeng. He was the reason why Zhao Jun was able to live peacefully until today. The two of them would most likely enter the same team.


    ¡°We will know the results soon,¡± Lei Yiming said with a smile.


    Pan Jun¡¯an and Meng Ziyun looked at the young man on the screen who had a cold expression. They understood what he meant.


    On the other side of things, Wu Jiong arrived at the spaceport of the 15th Division with Qin Yi and the rest of the team members. He got a shock when he saw a few hundred faction members there.


    ¡°Why are you all here?¡± Wu Jiong asked them in surprise. He thought that all the faction members would go to the 23rd Division spaceport to send their boss off.


    A fourth-year faction member smiled and replied, ¡°You have been taking care of us for all these years. We are grateful to you, so we definitely have to send you off.¡± Wu Jiong had put in much effort and time into the Lingtian Mecha n for the past five years. He had gained the respect of many faction members. Not everyone liked the cold and merciless boss, so Wu Jiong had his supporters, too.


    Wu Jiong was touched and his eyes turned red. He nodded profusely. ¡°That is something I should have done. You all don¡¯t have to do this.¡±


    Another second-year faction member said, ¡°Captain Wu, we want to join the 15th Division next time, too. You must take care of us when we join you.¡±


    Wu Jiong smiled. ¡°Sure. If you alle to the 15th Division, I will definitely help in any ways I can.¡± The 15th Division belonged to the Wu family. Wu Jiong was also someone important to the Wu family. Hence, if he wanted to help take care of someone in the 15th Division, it would not be difficult.


    However, Wu Jiong chased these faction members away just like Ling Lan. He knew that these fellows had skipped their lesson toe here. If they hadn¡¯t taken any leave, they would be in trouble.


    Wu Jiong smiled happily as he sent them off. His mood having brightened up due to their actions, he didn¡¯t feel it was that difficult to part with his boss.


    When Wu Jiong finally stepped onto the military ship of the 15th Division, he saw someone unexpected at the corner of the ship and stopped in his tracks. The smile on his face disappeared.


    ¡°Ye Xu, what are you doing here?¡± Qin Yi saw Ye Xu and immediately questioned him in anger.


    ¡°I came to send you all off,¡± Ye Xu replied calmly.


    ¡°Haha, send us off? Do you still have the face to send us off?¡± Qin Yi gave a sarcastic smile. He looked at Ye Xu with anger and sorrow in his eyes.


    ¡°I know that you all will not forgive me, but I still want to send you all off.¡± Ye Xu¡¯s expression was indifferent. He didn¡¯t lose control of himself because of Qin Yi¡¯s attitude.


    Qin Yi wanted to refute, but Wu Jiong stopped him. Wu Jiong looked at Ye Xu carefully. When they were still in their first year at the scouts academy, they had worked together to go against Ling Lan¡¯s team. Wu Jiong looked at him and suddenly realized that he had never understood this person despite having lived with him for 15 years.


    Wu Jiong remembered in his second year in the military academy, he told his battle team members that he would register for the 15th Division. The 15th Division belonged to the Wu family so he had to go there. However, he didn¡¯t force his team members to go with him to the same division. If they didn¡¯t want toe, they could tell him and they would settle the necessary procedures in the morning.


    Everyone chose to follow him into the 15th Division, including the vice-captain, Ye Xu. Wu Jiong trusted Ye Xu and felt that he would definitely join him. However, his feelings were hurt when Ye Xu requested to leave the team at thest moment just before the registration for the military. Wu Jiong was caught off guard.


    Besides that, Ye Xu also took five other members. These were all core members of Wu Jiong¡¯s battle n. Because of this, Wu Jiong¡¯s battle n fell from a two-star battle n to a one-star battle n. There was a limit to the number of people in a one-star battle n, so Wu Jiong had to put some members on the reserve team.


    Wu Jiong hated Ye Xu. If he had submitted his request earlier, he would have had the time to fill up the empty slots and let the battle n remain as a two-star battle n. That way, he would have had the confidence to gain a position in the 15th Division the moment he entered and outshine all his otherpetitors.


    However, Ye Xu had destroyed all these ns. He made it more difficult for Wu Jiong, who knew that his other rtives were waiting in the 15th Division to take him down a notch. His father couldn¡¯t do anything about this. He could only rely on himself.


    Wu Jiong looked at therade whom he had worked closely with for 15 years. He retracted the sadness in his eyes and asked in a low voice, ¡°Why?¡±


    Ye Xu remained silent and merely stared at Wu Jiong.


    ¡°Ye Xu, it has been 15 years. We started off with a coboration, but after all those years, I treated you as my real brother-in-arms. Please tell me honestly why you did this!¡± Wu Jiong shouted, pouring out all the emotions that he suppressed.


    No one knew about Ye Xu¡¯s betrayal except for his own battle n. He had stopped the other team members from revealing the matter to the rest of the people. Even his boss didn¡¯t know about this. Wu Jiong didn¡¯t want to make his boss worry. After all, it was an internal affair. Ye Xu¡¯s betrayal just showed how incapable he was.


    ¡°We have different goals.¡± Ye Xu looked at Wu Jiong with aplicated expression.


    Wu Jiong felt hurt by the reason. ¡°Different goals? What different goals?¡± Wu Jiongughed. ¡°Is this all you can tell me after we worked together for 15 years? What goals do you have?¡± Wu Jiong ceased hisughter and red at Ye Xu coldly.


    ¡°I will not bow down to anyone,¡± Ye Xu replied.


    Wu Jiong immediately patted his chest in anger. ¡°I have never seen you as my subordinate for all these 15 years. If you wanted to be the team leader, you could have.¡± When they established the battle n, he had asked Ye Xu if he wanted to be the team leader. Ye Xu rejected the offer and said that he was not interested in the position. Why did it be the reason for his betrayal? Wu Jiong was unconvinced.


    Ye Xu looked down. ¡°I am not referring to you.¡±


    Wu Jiong narrowed his eyes. ¡°You meant our boss?¡±


    Ye Xu looked up at him sharply. ¡°Yes. No matter how strong the battle n gets, you all will bow down to Ling Lan naturally whenever he appears. I needed teammates who were not afraid of Ling Lan.¡±


    ¡°That is why you left us?¡± Wu Jiong suddenly calmed down and stared at Ye Xu¡¯s face.


    Ye Xu slowly nodded his head seriously.


    Wu Jiong¡¯s eyes became filled with sorrow and he closed them. ¡°Seems like we have different goals. It has been 15 years. Do you still think that you can win against Boss?¡±


    ¡°Why not? As the son of Ling Xiao, he will not have any future.¡± Ye Xu¡¯s eyes were cold and ambitious.


    Wu Jiong opened his eyes. They had turned clear. ¡°Fine, fine. You have great ambition. I will not drag you down. I will wait for you to realize your dream.¡± He turned and looked at Qin Yi and the rest of his team members. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    Wu Jiong and his team members boarded the military ship without looking back.


    ¡°Young Master 13, the military ship for the 9th Division is arriving. We need to leave now.¡± A member beside Ye Xu opened his mouth to say this.


    ¡°Zhou Ling? No, I should call you Ye Ling.¡± Hatred shed past Ye Xu¡¯s eyes as he sneered secretly. The Ye family was too strong. He was too weak to go against them and could only do what he didn¡¯t like. However...


    Ye Xu looked in the direction Wu Jiong left and felt pain in his heart. Since he had fallen out with them, they would not be affected by him, would they?


    ¡°Since Young Master 13 is willing to listen to the Ye family and go to the 9th Division, I am able to use my real surname now,¡± Ye Ling said with a smile.


    He was a descendant of one of the Ye family servants. He showed great potential, which was why the Ye family changed his identity and sent him into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to watch over Young Master 13. He had spent 3 years with Young Master 13 before gaining his trust, after which he realized that Young Master 13 had been hiding his true capabilities all this while.


    Ye Ling belonged to the Ye family and would only be loyal to the Ye family. Hence, he told the Ye family about Young Master 13¡¯s capabilities. This was why Ye Xu was forced to change his application and enter the Ye family¡¯s faction, the 9th Division. This resulted in the falling out between Young Master 13 and the Wu family. Young Master 13 could only rely on the Ye family now.

 Chapter 564 - Teach You a Lesson!

    <h4>Chapter 564: Teach You a Lesson!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ye Xu looked at Ye Ling once more, then said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± He stopped speaking to Ye Ling and immediately took the rest of the people towards the 9th Division.


    Ye Ling didn¡¯t get angry and followed them with a smile. After arriving at the 9th Division, Young Master 13 would realize that even geniuses would be useless without the help of family.


    Not long after, all the warships had left their ports. This year¡¯s outstanding individuals from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, whether it be Ling Lan or others, had all started on their new paths in life.


    A warship was slowly approaching Southcrest¡¯s port.


    ¡°Wow, this is Southcrest, the headquarters of the 23rd Division. It¡¯s beautiful, like a blue feather in space.¡± A young, enthusiastic and beautiful woman in the warship remarked in awe, wearing an extremely exaggerated expression.


    Southcrest wasn¡¯t like the others that had a round shape. It instead was closer to an oval shape. The itself emitted a bright light. From afar, it looked like the shape of a feather. This was how Southcrest had gotten its name.


    ¡°Oh~!¡± The stunned expression on the young woman¡¯s face made the others who were on the same warshipugh out loud. One of them, a bronze-skinned and muscr young man smiled and said, ¡°Han Xuya, have you not looked through the information on the 23rd Division? Hmph, as expected, you¡¯re just a simple-minded fool acting like a human.¡±


    ¡°Luo Shaoyun, what are youughing about? What¡¯s wrong with me being simple-minded? But you¡¯re not so much better than me. Let¡¯s not make fools out of ourselves.¡± Han Xuya red at him angrily. Her words were sharp and counterattacked fiercely.


    Han Xuya¡¯s words made many of the people beside herugh. Luo Shaoyun could only rub his nose in embarrassment to show that he wanted to make peace with her. He had forgotten that this girl actually didn¡¯t care about his image in front of others and had no moralpass when she counterattacked.


    Seeing that Luo Shaoyun had given in, Han Xuya lifted her head proudly. Right when she was about to throw a few more insults his way, Luo Chao, who was beside her, silently pulled on her to tell her to not go overboard.


    Han Xuya then merely shot a ruthless re at Luo Shaoyun, following which she continued to look at therge screen in the room, fully looking forward to their time in the division in the near future.


    It turned out that this warship was picking up the cadets from the First Co-ed Military Academy. There were a few familiar faces in this warship. They were He Chaoyang, Luo Chao, Luo Shaoyun, Yuan Youyun, Li Jinghong and He Chaoyang. In the past, they weren¡¯t able to get into the First Military Academy, but still sessfully got into the First Co-ed Military Academy. After five years of hard work, they didn¡¯t fall behind this time and sessfully got into the 23rd Division, bing a member.


    Not long after, the warship docked at the spaceport and the cadets from the First Co-ed Military Academy all walked out. They listened to the orders of the soldiers who were on guard at the spaceport and walked into an atrium.


    There were already many people in the atrium. They were probably from other military academies. Han Xuya¡¯s group found a spot where there was no one else and sat down, waiting for their next orders.


    ¡°The Third Men¡¯s Military Academy is over there, I think.¡± He Chaoyang hinted at Luo Shaoyun to look in the indicated direction. At one of the corners of the atrium, ten or so people were sitting together. One of them looked very familiar.


    Hearing this, Han Xuya turned around and curled her lips. ¡°That¡¯s right, it¡¯s them.¡±


    In this year¡¯s Grand Mecha Tournament, as a special-ss mecha operator, she had participated in the group matchpetition. She fought one match with the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy when they were trying to determine who could go to the finals.


    Although female special-ss operators were scarce, there were still hundreds of thousands of them. However, the fact that Han Xuya managed to advance to special-ss in her fourth year was enough evidence that her talent in mecha piloting was very exceptional.


    However, Han Xuya was almost certain that her hopes of advancing to ace operator was 1 out of 100. It should be known that the number of female ace operators in the Federation at the moment was less than 10,000. Compared to the millions of male ace operators, this number wasn¡¯t even mentioning. It seemed that in terms of mecha operating, females had a natural difference. Even with their current technology and medicine, it was something the Federation could not resolve.


    Afterward, their group recognized a few more military academies that were ranked in the top 10. There were also some people that they couldn¡¯t identify, but they saw that these people were sitting by themselves. They were probably from the military academies that had low rankings. The number of people that could get into the division was actually heavily connected to the ranking of the military academy, as it represented the excellence of the cadets. Take their First Co-ed Military Academy for example; they only managed to get 30 people to join.


    ¡°I don¡¯t see Boss. Not sure when Boss and the others will arrive.¡± Having looked through the entire atrium, Yuan Youyun was immediately discouraged at not finding Ling Lan and the others.


    Hearing this, Li Jinghongughed softly. ¡°If Boss were present, the aura here wouldn¡¯t be this easygoing. We would have been able to feel it right when we walked in.¡±


    Everyone agreed with his words and this made the otherrades they had met in their military academy be curious. ¡°Li Jinghong, is this Boss who you guys are talking about your captain?¡±


    Although these fellows weren¡¯t the best at mecha piloting, they weren¡¯t weak either. Many mecha ns needed these type of members who wouldn¡¯t hinder the n. The other ns had tried to get them to join, but these fellows all refused to tell the other ns that they already had a battle team. However, during the five years in the military academy, they had always been nomads within the academy and never activated a battle team¡¯s totem. This made many people suspect that this was all an excuse because they were going to find a strong battle team to protect them once they joined a military division.


    Although that person asked this question, he had already known the answer. It was probably because Li Jinghong and the others would answer vaguely like they always did and not actually answer the question.


    He didn¡¯t expect for Li Jinghong to actually immediately reply with a nod and a smile. ¡°Yes, our boss is our captain.¡±


    Li Jinghong answer made these people be excited. One of them shouted with even more excitement, ¡°Li Jinghong, quick, tell us, who is actually your boss?¡±


    Seeing the surprised expression on theirrades¡¯ faces, Han Xuya and the others had proud smiles on their faces. In the past, they were afraid that they would be alienated by their ssmates if they told them the truth because the two military academies werepetitors. Now that they had joined the 23rd Division, they no longer had this concern. It was time to publicly announce the truth. Also, there were some capablerades, who also didn¡¯t have a battle team, whom they wanted to introduce to their boss to join their battle team.


    Li Jinghong proudly hinted at the others and then coughed. Right when he was about to speak the truth, he heard a sneering voice. ¡°New recruits these days are really arrogant and actually dare to be so noisy here.¡±


    This voice made the expressions of everyone from the First Co-ed Military Academy change slightly. They turned around and saw ten or so soldiers, who had appeared in the atrium without their knowledge. They all gave off a slight malevolent aura. The smell of blood on the leader of these soldiers was so thick that even if someone was tens of meters away, they would be able to smell it clearly.


    The appearance of these individuals caused the entire atmosphere in the atrium to be dark and cold. The cadets for the First Co-ed Military Academy couldn¡¯t hold out against such a strong aura and their faces instantly became pale.


    ¡°It¡¯s actually them.¡± Seeing these people appear, the expression of the soldier on guard in the atrium changed slightly. He looked at the First Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s cadets with worry in their eyes, hoping that they wouldn¡¯t anger these people, otherwise they would be in big trouble. These guys were a bunch of demons that even veterans like him didn¡¯t dare to anger.


    ¡°Cowards,¡± one of them said in disdain upon seeing that the cadets from the First Co-ed Military Academy were stunned by them.


    ¡°What did you say?¡± Luo Shaoyun¡¯s inner rage suddenly erupted and he angrily red at that person with reddened eyes.


    Luo Shaoyun knew they were in trouble, but before he could say anything, that man walked in front of him andughed coldly. ¡°I. Said. You. Guys. Are. Cowards!¡± He spoke very quickly, every word jumping out of his mouth one after the other. It was even more insulting than saying it all at once.


    ¡°Apologize!¡± Luo Shaoyun shouted angrily. As a man and as a soldier, he couldn¡¯t ept this kind of humiliation.


    This shout made the expression of the soldier on guard instantly change. He quickly pushed down on the button for reinforcements, hoping that he could stop a murder from happening.


    A loud ¡°Boom!¡± sounded out.


    Luo Shaoyun was sent flying and struck against a chair with a great force. The man who spoke mocking words lifted up his fist and blew on it softly. With disdain, he said, ¡°In the division, you talk with strength.¡±


    He slowly walked towards Luo Shaoyun, who was now spitting out blood. He bent down and patted Luo Shaoyun¡¯s face softly. He smiled and continued, ¡°This is something you have to learn, punk. If you don¡¯t have this kind of strength, then you should just tuck your tail between your legs like a good boy. Don¡¯t shout so loudly or you¡¯ll die. You should thank me for teaching you such a valuable lesson.¡±


    ¡°Bastard!¡± Luo Shaoyun¡¯s eyes were red with anger. His right hand formed a fist and threw it towards this man.


    The man lifted his hand and caught Luo Shaoyun¡¯s fist. ¡°Berserker? This innate talent isn¡¯t bad, but unfortunately, your strength isn¡¯t enough. Even if you go berserk, it won¡¯t have any effect.¡±


    ¡°Bam!¡± The ground suddenly cracked and dust flew into the air. Han Xuya slowly stood up. Luo Shaoyun was no longer lying down at where he was previously. Behind Han Xuya, Li Jinghong was holding Luo Shaoyun; they had already safely returned among the First Co-ed Military Academy¡¯s cadets.


    The man who attacked Luo Shaoyun had already stepped away from his original position. He looked at Han Xuya andughed. ¡°Innate talent: Violence. I didn¡¯t think that this innate talent would actually appear on a woman. How very interesting.¡±


    ¡°The fastest Thousand Li Astral Projection. Not bad. These new recruits all have pretty good innate talents.¡± The group the attacker came from immediately saw through Li Jinghong¡¯s method for rescuing Luo Shaoyun and their eyes instantly flickered. They hadn¡¯t cared initially, but now they were very interested.


    ¡°However, you men are prepared to hide behind women?¡± The person who started the fight provoked them.


    ¡°Here, there¡¯s no gender difference, onlyrades.¡± Han Xuya shouted. Immediately after saying that, she pounced on the man and hurled a fist towards him.


    ¡°Bam!¡± The man didn¡¯t dodge and met up the fist with a fist of his own. The two fists collided fiercely. Han Xuya held on for a few seconds, but was then sent flying. She smashed into a chair with great force.


    ¡°Xuya!¡± Luo Chao screamed.


    At that moment, many people from the First Co-ed Military Academy pounced on the man and attacked him.


    The man didn¡¯t panic and kicked everyone away with a whirlwind kick. Merely one move had defeated half of the First Co-ed Military Academy.


    Han Xuya crawled back up, wiped the blood dripping from her mouth and shouted, ¡°Everyone, attack together.¡±


    The opponents in front of them were definitely within the levels of Qi-Jin. As they were still in the Refinement level, they couldn¡¯t even go against them and could only use numbers topensate for it.


    Han Xuya was the first to charge forward. This time, everyone in the First Co-ed Military Academy made their move aside from Luo Chao, who was a non-battle member.


    ¡°Bam, bam, bam...¡± Everyone was sent flying to plummet into the ground and were unable to get up for some time. At that moment, other than the man who attacked Luo Shaoyun, another man appeared amidst the battle.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Seeing that hisrade was disturbing his excitement, the man that attacked first had an expression of discontent.


    ¡°The captain said that if you¡¯re done ying, then immediately get back to the team,¡± said the person who stepped inte. He also knew that these new recruits couldn¡¯t bring about any trouble for hisrade, but he had to listen to his captain¡¯s orders. That was why he made his move.


    ¡°Man!¡± The other man spat on the ground and then angrily prepared to head back; however, coincidentally, the direction that Han Xuya was sent flying in was exactly in the way of his return path.


    As he walked past Han Xuya, he saw her spit out blood while ring at him angrily. His mood that had changed for the better from venting became violent once again. He raised his leg and ruthlessly kicked towards Han Xuya. He was prepared to send this annoying roadblock flying...


    ¡°Bam!¡± His kick was blocked by someone.


    ¡°Luo Chao!¡± Han Xuya shot a stunned look at Luo Chao, who was standing in front of her. This shy girl who always hid behind her, Luo Chao, the little sister she always protected, was now actually using her body to protect her.


    Luo Chao had crossed her arms and managed to block the kick. Even if the opponent hadn¡¯t used Qi-Jin, the kick itself had already injured her.


    ¡°Sh*t, these little bugs are all looking to die, huh?¡± They came toward him one after another and he couldn¡¯t wipe the floor with them. The man¡¯s heart that was angry and frustrated to begin with, grew even wilder at that moment. He immediately lifted his foot, added the force of his Qi-Jin, and ruthlessly kicked towards Luo Chao...


    Seeing the situation, Luo Chao¡¯s expression changed. She knew she was in trouble, but she couldn¡¯t retreat as Han Xuya was heavily wounded and behind her. Thus, she bit her lip and crossed her arms to prepare to endure the kick.


    Seeing this, the soldier on guard couldn¡¯t help but close his eyes. It was toote. There was really going to be trouble.


    The subordinate¡¯s captain saw this and only raised one brow, but he didn¡¯t stop his subordinate frommitting the violent deed.


    ¡°Bam!¡± Right when that man¡¯s kick was about to hit Luo Chao, it was blocked by another kick.


    Luo Chao raised her head and her feelings of grievance immediately emerged from inside her. Her eyes be reddened as she softly cried out, ¡°Big Brother!¡±


    It turned out that the kick that blocked the attack in a timely manner belonged to Luo Chao¡¯s twin brother, Luo Lang!


    ¡°Little Sis, take Xuya and back up. Leave this to me.¡± Luo Lang¡¯s eyes showed a hint of killing intent. He hadn¡¯t expected to actually see his own sister almost about be badly hurt by someone upon entering the atrium. The force of that kick was definitely enough to have made his soft and beautiful sister lie in a treatment pod for at least 6 months or more.


    The man who attacked saw that someone else had appeared, someone whose looks resembled that of the young woman who got in his way earlier. As he was unable to sessfully let out his anger, he became even more livid. He didn¡¯t even hesitate and threw a punch at his opponent. This punch almost used all of his strength. At that moment, he had gone full throttle unlike in the beginning when he had kept some strength in reserve.


    ¡°Bam!¡± Luo Lang met that man¡¯s punch with his own fist and intercepted his opponent¡¯s attack.


    The Qi-Jin within the two punches caused the chairs around them to topple, creating an empty circle with a radius of 30 meters with nothing in sight.

 Chapter 565 - Monstrosity?

    <h4>Chapter 565: Monstrosity?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Qi-Jin? I didn¡¯t expect that I would be able to y with such an interesting toy right after returning to the 23rd Division.¡± The soldier who crossed fists with Luo Lang licked his own lips in excitement as his eyes gleamed with bloodthirst. Having been provoked, he felt as if he had returned to the bloody battlefields and the killing intent in his heart became thicker and thicker.


    Luo Lang¡¯s level was exposed in the blow he exchanged with his opponent. The soldiers watching who all had malevolent auras couldn¡¯t help but wear solemn expressions on their faces. They hadn¡¯t expected for there to actually be experts of Qi-Jin among these cadets that had just gotten into the division. Normally, cadets who became experts of Qi-Jin during their years in the academy would them be people whom the division would focus on nurturing. Knowing this, they knew they couldn¡¯t go overboard unless they wanted to anger the division¡¯s mainmander-in-chief¡¯s department.


    Right when they wanted to stop all this, one of them saw that theirrade had blood in his eyes. They immediately yelled, ¡°Captain, it¡¯s not looking good. Lu Wei may be going berserk.¡±


    They were killing machines of the division. Once they moved out, they would spare a single soul. The result of killing too many people made them somewhat all have psychological issues. For example, every time they came back from a mission, their moods would be extremely violent and everything would seem annoying to them. If they didn¡¯t find something to let loose, they wouldn¡¯t be able to recover.


    The veterans of the division all knew about this type of situation. Even if they happened to be unlucky and was met with them looking for a fight, they would just endure it. Otherwise, if they really angered them, they would be looking to get harmed. This was also why the soldier standing on guard didn¡¯t say anything when they came looking for trouble. He wouldn¡¯t be able to reason with them and even the divisionmander-in-chief¡¯s department would turn a blind eye to what they did. After all, this was all caused by the post-traumatic stress from the mission. As long as there weren¡¯t any severe oues, the higher-ups would just allow it. Now because of this, these fellows were considered a dominant group within the division and normal veterans would not even dare to provoke them.


    It was just that these soldiers met up with a group of new recruits. Never having felt frustration, they would naturally not endure this kind of humiliation and insult. The result of themshing out was that they would be beaten up ruthlessly. If it was that kind of result, then everything would just pass, but after being stopped over and over again, it would provoke these soldiers who had mood swings. Once they went berserk, they would not listen to anyone and could evenmit murder.


    This was also why that soldier that spoke earlier felt that the situation was bing worse. If Lu Wei really went berserk, the handsome young man that stopped him might disappear from this world.


    Right when that soldier wanted to move in to stop the fight, their captain put out his hand to stop him. ¡°Liang Qiao, wait.¡±


    ¡°But!¡± Concern showed on Liang Qiao¡¯s face. He was afraid that Lu Wei would lose control and do something that he would regret.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. That new recruit won¡¯t be so easily defeated,¡± said his captain breezily.


    At that moment, the cadets from all the military academies were all very angry. When they saw Luo Lang, they were overjoyed. They knew that they weren¡¯t on the same level as these soldiers. No matter how angry they were on the inside, they still had to endure it.


    However, they saw that only Luo Lang appeared by himself and immediately began to worry. They were hoping that others from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy would quicklye out, as Luo Lang alone would definitely not be able to go against these bastards.


    Those of the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy were also very anxious. One of them quietly asked their leader, ¡°Elder Brother Wu, he might have some trouble if it¡¯s just himself. Are we going to make a move afterward?¡±


    The expression of the leader, Elder Brother Wu, changed immediately. In the end, he bit his lip and said, ¡°Watch and see how the situation ys out. If the guys from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy don¡¯t get here on time, we¡¯ll fight for a bit.¡±


    As cadets from the same military academy and as fellow new recruits, they all needed to stand on the same side and not let these veterans humiliate them.


    ¡°Got it, Elder Brother Wu.¡± Those from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy prepared themselves in silence. If the others from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy didn¡¯t make it on time, they were going to move in and assist Luo Lang.


    Luo Lang quickly felt the change in his opponent¡¯s aura. His face became stern and he carefully put his guard up.


    The two of them looked at each other for a few seconds. Suddenly, they moved simultaneously and disappeared.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang!¡± The two of them shed many times in mid-air. Their fight was extremely fast. Those who had poor eyesight couldn¡¯t see their movements clearly. These people could only listen to the sound of their punches and kicks colliding.


    ¡°Eat my fist!¡± Lu Wei shouted, punching towards Luo Lang with great force.


    Luo Lang wasn¡¯t scared and met the attack with his own fist.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The sh of their Qi-Jin coated fists suddenly exploded outwards. This time, because both of them used all their strength and didn¡¯t hold back, therge force instantly sent them both flying.


    Lu Wei smashed onto the ground and uncontrobly slid a few meters backward. He stood right up after doing a handspring. At that moment, his appearance wasn¡¯t as handsome as before. Other than the dust on his face, there was also a small trail of blooding out of his mouth. The sh just now had dealt him internal damage.


    On the other hand, Luo Lang had turned his body and held himself up with his two hands right before he was about to hit the ground. Using the force from his two hands, he flipped,nded firmly on the ground and stood up straight. Although Luo Lang felt his blood boiling, he wasn¡¯t actually wounded internally. In this fight, he was stronger than his opponent.


    Seeing that he had been injured by a new recruit that he looked down upon, themon sense in Lu Wei¡¯s mind disappeared. His eyes showed the colors of a berserker. He angrily shouted, ¡°Bastard, die.¡±


    After saying that, the muscles in his right arm suddenly expanded and his sleeve was instantly ripped. Before anyone could say anything, he had already vanished. In the next second, he appeared in front of Luo Lang. He swung hisrge right arm ruthlessly towards Luo Lang.


    ¡°Stop!¡± Shocked, Liang Qiao immediately leaped forward. He hadn¡¯t expected that Lu Wei would actually be berserk to the point that he would use their special forces battle team¡¯s ultimate technique. If this attack didn¡¯t kill the opponent, it would at least render them half dead.


    However, another figure suddenly appeared in mid-air and stopped him from interfering.


    ¡°Bastard, move.¡± Liang Qiao grew angry and punched with great force at the figure.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Two fists shed. Liang Qiao couldn¡¯t control himself and took a few steps backward before managing to stand firm on the ground. He looked at his opponent with a stunned expression. The punch that he had angrily thrown out had 80% of his Qi-Jin behind it. He didn¡¯t expect the opponent to take all of it and even send him staggering backward.


    While Liang Qiao was stopped, Luo Lang saw that his opponent¡¯s attack wasing his way. He still kept a straight face and took in a deep breath as his right hand trembled a little. His sure-kill technique, Level 4 One-Inch Punch, silently took all of his body¡¯s Qi-Jin and met with the ruthless attack from his opponent.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The loud sound almost broke the eardrums of those who were present.


    After the shockwave from the shing between the two Qi-Jin hits erupted, therge force made everyone who was watching the battle uncontrobly take a few steps back. The only people who could stand firmly within the Qi-Jin were those tough soldiers, including Liang Qiao who was stopped earlier.


    After the Qi-Jin dissipated, the person in front of Liang Qiao finally spoke. ¡°See, the two of them are just getting to the fun part. If you make a move, they will be angry.¡±


    The person was wearing the 23rd Division¡¯s uniform for new recruits. His smile was very happy-go-lucky, as though him making a move was actually because he was afraid that Liang Qiao would try to do some good that would actually lead to a bad oue.


    Liang Qiao wasn¡¯t fooled by the other¡¯s smile and narrowed his eyes. ¡°Qi-Jin.¡±


    Although Liang Qiao looked like he was calm, he was actually quite surprised. There being one recruit with Qi-Jin was already very rare. He didn¡¯t expect another person with Qi-Jin would appear. It seemed that there were many monstrous individuals among this year¡¯s new recruits; otherwise, how could one or two of them all have Qi-Jin?


    Following the sh between Luo Lang and Lu Wei¡¯s fists, the two of them did not seem to have been hurt. Right when Liang Qiao wanted Lu Wei to stop, he saw thetter suddenly fly backward in mid-air. Lu Wei spat out some blood uncontrobly onto the ground. Right after, his body smashed onto the ground and because of the force he hit the ground with, he stopped after rolling uncontrobly for a few seconds. This time, Lu Wei didn¡¯t stand up.


    Luo Lang slowly lowered his fist and stood up straight, a trickle of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. Although he had heavily wounded his opponent, the opponent¡¯s ultimate technique was also very impressive. It had actually directly injured all of his organs. Fortunately, his situation was much better than his opponent¡¯s. At least he could still stand and could still fight. Inparison, the opponent had dropped to the ground and no longer had any ability to fight.


    Luo Lang used his hand to wipe off the blood on the corner of his mouth, then slowly walked towards Lu Wei and bent down. He looked at him teeming with anger and asked, ¡°Which leg did you use to hurt my little sister earlier?¡±


    Lu Wei didn¡¯t answer. He merely looked at Luo Lang with his bloodshot red eyes. He was like a ferocious beast, wanting to rip off the flesh from his opponent. However, being heavily wounded, he couldn¡¯t move an inch.


    ¡°Was it your right leg?¡± Luo Lang asked coldly. ¡°I¡¯ll break it. Luo Lang¡¯s little sister is no easy target to bully.¡±


    After saying that, Luo Lang raised his right leg and ruthlessly kicked towards Lu Wei¡¯s right calf.


    ¡°Impudent!¡± Lu Wei¡¯s captain¡¯s eyes shed red for one second. He instantly disappeared and reappeared beside Luo Lang, following which he kicked to meet with Luo Lang¡¯s kick.


    Luo Lang¡¯s expression instantly changed. This man¡¯s aura exceeded the level Luo Lang could endure. It was not possible for him to take it on directly. However, Luo Lang didn¡¯t give up on his revenge and continued to kick towards Lu Wei¡¯s calf without any care about the repercussions it might bring.


    ¡°Bam!¡± Suddenly, another muscr leg appeared and blocked the captain¡¯s kick.


    ¡°Crack!¡± Luo Lang ruthlessly kicked Lu Wei¡¯s calf and instantly broke his leg.


    The one who intercepted the captain¡¯s attack was a short-haired and cool-looking individual, who wasn¡¯t smiling in the least and actually looked menacing at that moment.


    The individual slowly lowered his leg and calmly said, ¡°Your opponent is me.¡±


    ¡°Qi Long, you almost arrivedte.¡± Luo Lang felt a bit dissatisfied seeing that someone hade to him. Their boss had told the three of them toe together, but Qi Long had actually arrivedter than him and Xie Yi despite being the strongest.


    ¡°Better toe on time than early,¡± Qi Long replied calmly.


    In reality, he had already arrived a while ago. It was just that his boss had ordered him to let Luo Lang have a good fight to let out his anger, as Luo Lang would definitely go wild if he didn¡¯t vent, what with him having a sisterplex.


    ¡°Who are you people?¡± The captain saw through Qi Long¡¯s capabilities and his eyes couldn¡¯t help but narrow. The other was at the peak stage of Qi-Jin, only lower by himself by a small fraction. He was so young yet his physical skills had actually reached this level. It seemed that he was the strongest in this group of new recruits.


    ¡°I¡¯m a former cadet of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, now a new recruit of the 23rd Division, Qi Long,¡± Qi Long answered calmly.


    ¡°And you?¡± The captain looked towards the new recruit who had intercepted Liang Qiao.


    ¡°I¡¯m a former cadet of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, now a new recruit of the 23rd Division, Xie Yi,¡± Xie Yi answered with a smile on his face.


    The captain looked towards Luo Lang. This seemingly soft and weak youngster was actually as merciless as them veterans. Who had developed and nurtured these recruits into such monsters?


    ¡°I¡¯m a former cadet of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, now a new recruit of the 23rd Division, Luo Lang.¡± Luo Lang red at the captain angrily while introducing himself. If possible, he would have wanted this captain to pay a price as well. After all, he had let his subordinate act freely and made his little sister andrades get hurt.


    ¡°I am the captain of the Sting Special Forces, Lian Shaojing,¡± Lian Shaojing introduced himself proudly. ¡°You injured my team member, so you must pay a simr price.¡± Killing intent shed through his eyes for a moment. In reality, he had been provoked by the continuous fighting of his members. Being somewhat berserk, he wanted to get some blood of these youngsters on his own hands, which would fill him with joy.


    ¡°Holy sh*t, he¡¯s the captain of the Sting Special Forces? We¡¯re in trouble now.¡± After hearing Lian Shaojing¡¯s self-introduction, all of the new recruits all knew that they were in trouble.


    Every division had its own team of special forces. There were many official battle teams in the special forces¡¯ team, but the ones who had their names known to the public were a total of eight battle teams. The rest was very mysterious that even those in the 23rd Division weren¡¯t certain how many official battle team their own division¡¯s special forces¡¯ team had. Furthermore, the special forces had 12 substitute battle teams. Once these substitute battle teams met the demands of the special forces, they would level up and be an official battle team.


    Compared to the mysteriousness of official battle teams, the information on the 12 substitute battle teams was more well-known. There were names of 8 battle teams. The veterans of the 23rd Division all knew that all this information wasn¡¯t considered a secret for people who were interested in the 23rd Division. However, even if they were substitute special forces battle teams, they were still the division¡¯s extremely merciless killing machines. They were people that normal battle teams looked up to.


    The Sting Special Forces was one of the twelve substitute battle teams and they were also ranked third best battle team. In the past two years, they had gone on many dangerous missions and killed countless enemies. Many people predicted that some time afterward, they would be one of the official battle teams.


    Even these military academy cadets had heard of Sting¡¯s legacy. Offending them meant that the cadets would be unable to move freely in the 23rd Division. Everyone was concerned for those of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Luo Lang and Xie Yi exchanged a look. Right when they wanted to get closer to Qi Long and face Lian Shaojing together, they were intercepted by Lian Shaojing¡¯s team members.


    Right at that moment, a young man clumsily ran into the atrium. He saw Luo Lang and Xie Yi be surrounded by people from the Sting Special Forces and immediately yelled out angrily. ¡°Shameless. You guys want to gang up and attack?¡±


    He looked around and quickly picked up a broken chair leg from the ground. He swung it a few times with great force and yelled, ¡°I¡¯ll join too.¡±


    ¡°Chang Xinyuan, fighting isn¡¯t your thing.¡± As a cool voice rang from behind him, Lin Zhong-qing and Han Jijyun slowly walked in from the front door.


    After they walked in, 200 or so people also flooded into the atrium. They were the recruits from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Not long after, the 200 or so people had surrounded those from the Sting Special Forces.


    Seeing this, the captain sneered at them. All these recruits who had only reached the level of Refinement would not be able to go against his battle team, no matter how many of them there were. But suddenly, his expression changed and he looked at the door with great surprise.


    A cool-looking young man had appeared at the door and his cold gaze focused on Lian Shaojing, making him feel as though he had been frozen in ce.

 Chapter 566 - Teaching Him a Lesson!

    <h4>Chapter 566: Teaching Him a Lesson!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    As this young man appeared, the entire atrium turned as cold as ice and those whose physical skills were at low levels began to shiver.


    The cool young man slowly walked closer towards the center of the atrium. With every step he took, Lian Shaojing could feel the pressure in his heart increase by one-fold. He was surprised and terrified because he discovered that he couldn¡¯t see through the young man¡¯s power level.


    ¡°Who is he? Why does he make me feel afraid?¡± On the side of Lian Shaojing¡¯s forehead, droplets of sweats were trickling down to his face. It didn¡¯t drip to the cor of his uniform, but he didn¡¯t wipe it because his intuition told him that if he moved, danger would be upon him.


    Ling Lan walked past Luo Chao and Han Xuya with her eyes focused on them. Her originally cold and heartless gaze instantly became somewhat warm as she said, ¡°Luo Chao, Xuya, we werete.¡±


    These words made Han Xuya be uncontrobly red. As for Luo Chao, these words made the feeling of grievance well up from inside her and tears instantly poured out from her eyes.


    When Luo Chao saw her older brother Luo Lang, she could still hold in her tears. However, after hearing Ling Lan¡¯s apology, Luo Chao¡¯s strong-willed heart copsed.


    ¡°Boss, they bullied us.¡± She decisively ryed the situation to her boss in the midst of tears.


    As long as their boss was here, no one would dare to bully them. Even if some dared to bully them, they would be ruthlessly taught a lesson by their boss. From when they were very young, Luo Chao had believed that Ling Lan could do anything.


    A warm hand patted on her head softly.


    Ling Lan naturally knew the truth of the situation. Actually, right as they were approaching Southcrest, Little Four had already connected with the mainframe of the¡¯s spaceport and immediately found Luo Chao, Han Xuya and the others. This was also why Qi Long, Luo Lang and Xie Yi were able to arrive at the most dangerous moment.


    Ling Lan turned around and looked at Lian Shaojing. Her eyes were cold as she said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll teach them a lesson. You¡¯d better watch closely.¡±


    Luo Chao wiped her tears with her hands and nodded. ¡°Okay, Boss!¡±


    Ling Lan walked towards Lian Shaojing, one step at a time. Although the one who had injured the others had his leg broken by Luo Lang and they had taken revenge already, Ling Lan still felt that it wasn¡¯t enough. If it wasn¡¯t for the person in front of her allowing it, how could herrades have be injured and wronged?


    Once Ling Lan left their side, Han Xuya quietly poked Luo Chao. She narrowed her eyes and said softly, ¡°Boss is going to take revenge for you.¡±


    Hearing this, Luo Chao jumped and her entire face became bright red. She suddenly realized that she had been acting cutely towards their boss! This, this, this, was too embarrassing for her.


    Luo Chao felt deeply embarrassed and didn¡¯t dare to raise her head, while Qi Long, on the other hand, immediately moved back to make space for Ling Lan after seeing her walk towards him. He bowed slightly and shouted, ¡°Boss!¡±


    This shout made Lian Shaojing¡¯s expression change slightly. He didn¡¯t expect that the youngster who was at the peak of Qi-Jin wasn¡¯t their strongest member. This other person was definitely stronger to have been able to be that youngster¡¯s boss. Could it be that this boss of theirs had reached thete-stages of Qi-Jin, just like himself? Or was he perhaps a Domain master?


    Right when this thought shed through his head, it was overruled by Lian Shaojing himself. The record for the youngest Domain master in the Federation was never broken by anyone. It seemed that the other party wasn¡¯t a Domain master. He was, at most, likely in thete-stages of Qi-Jin, the Great Perfection level. It was around the same level as Lian Shaojing himself.


    Lian Shaojing had never thought that someone would advance without registering. He believed that breaking records represented the glory of every soldier in the alliance and that this sort of joyful information had to be told to the public.


    He would never have thought that Ling Lan maintained her neutral behavior because of her gender. Ling Lan didn¡¯t allow herself to behave too over the top, cause everyone to notice and expose her real gender. Also, liking to keep her trump cards, Ling Lan wanted herself to have as many trump cards as possible. Thus, there was no way she would actively expose her real level. She always pretended to be the prey and prey on the predators.


    Of course, she couldn¡¯t pretend to be the prey this time. There were too many underlings around, thus she could only upgrade and be arge predator. Even so, Ling Lan still had to pretend to be a normal predator¡¯s pet and make all others forever unable to know her true power.


    Lian Shaojing¡¯s mistake in estimating Ling Lan made him understand a bit. The fear he had when he first saw Ling Lan had dissipated by quite a bit. Staring at Ling Lan, heughed coldly and asked, ¡°You¡¯re the boss of this lot?¡±


    Ling Lan calmly answered, ¡°Indeed.¡±


    Lian Shaojing pointed at Luo Lang and said, ¡°He broke my team member¡¯s leg. What are you going to do about it?¡± If the other knew how to behave, he would be willing to break one of their legs and then let them go.


    Hearing this, the corner of Ling Lan¡¯s mouth showed a hint of disdain. She calmly pulled on her sleeves with an expression that showed no care for Lian Shaojing and asked, ¡°What about it?¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s attitude immediately provoked Lian Shaojing and anger erupted from inside him. He angrily smiled and stated, ¡°You guys must pay it back in blood.¡±


    ¡°Pay it back in blood? Heh. You let your team member loose and injured my men. What do you say to that?¡± The killing intent in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes shed for a moment.


    Lian Shaojing smiled slyly. ¡°Well, who told them to annoy my men. Since you guys have entered the division, you all need to know how to survive in the division.¡±


    ¡°Everything is based on strength?¡± Ling Lan raised a brow. She remembered that this was something Luo Shaoyun, the person who attacked first, had said.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. As long as you¡¯re strong enough, you have the right to teach lessons to others.¡± Right as Lian Shaojing stopped talking, he threw out a strong punch that he had prepared beforehand.


    ¡°Bam!¡± Two fists collided and all the others stepped back due to the ensuing shapeless shockwave once again. A sh between individuals in thete-stages of Qi-Jin was much more powerful than that of the mid-stage level.


    Luo Lang and Xie Yi had also taken one step back due to this force. Qi Long was proactive and retreated beside Luo Lang and the others. He didn¡¯t want to stay too close and identally get harmed by his own boss.


    ¡°Late-stage Qi-Jin, Great Perfection.¡± Lian Shaojing¡¯s expression changed slightly after he felt the energy from the sh between Ling Lan and himself.


    As expected, the opponent¡¯s level was the same as his own. He even felt that the opponent¡¯s energy was thicker and purer than his own. Even though they were at the same level, there would still be some differences in terms of energy. This attack seemed as though they were on par with each other, but in reality, his opponent was stronger than him. It should be known that he had attacked first and the opponent had attacked to intercept his punch. The active attack that was blocked by a passive attack made it very clear.


    After feeling that he might actually lose to this new recruit who was standing before him, the blood in Lian Shaojing¡¯s eyes became thicker and thicker. There was the look of a wild beast in his eyes.


    Right at that moment, a battle team that was on duty in the spaceport rushed into the atrium. It was the soldier on duty who had asked for them toe to the atrium. This team saw the people inside and instantly cried in agony internally, while their captain hated the situation even more and almost bit his own tongue off.


    It was the Sting Special Forces again. It was this bastard Lian Shaojing again. Couldn¡¯t he just return to headquarters in peace? Every time they would make a scene at the spaceport area. They were only this arrogant because the battle team on duty in the spaceport couldn¡¯t do anything to them, weren¡¯t they? The captain of the battle team on duty wished that he was also a master in Qi-Jin and at the Great Perfection level. That way, he would have been able to ruthlessly teach this bastard Lian Shaojing a lesson.


    Although the captain on duty couldn¡¯t teach Lian Shaojing a lesson, he still had to keep the new recruits safe. He could only force himself to lead his team member to rush to the battle between the two sides.


    Right at that moment, five or six people suddenly appeared in front of him and blocked his path. He narrowed his eyes and saw that it was actually some new recruits. These guys were Gao Jinyun¡¯s group. They didn¡¯t want the battle team on duty to disrupt their boss¡¯ fight.


    ¡°Move out of our way. We have to stop the fight immediately, otherwise everyone in here will be in danger once Captain Lian loses control,¡± shouted the captain on duty, wearing a pale expression at seeing the wild beast within Lian Shaojing¡¯s eyes.


    Did these new recruits not know that the reason why they were rushing to stop Lian Shaojing¡¯s fight was that they wanted to ensure everyone¡¯s safety?


    Being knowledgeable about the Sting Special Forces, this captain knew the capabilities of the captain of the Sting Special Forces very well. Once Lian Shaojing lost control, there most likely wouldn¡¯t be anyone at the spaceport that could stop him. In the entire 23rd Division, only the physical skills instructor at headquarters, the special forcesmander and several captains of the official battle teams had the ability to stop a berserk Lian Shaojing. It was just that if they waited for reinforcements to arrive, it was possible that most of the people here would have already died.


    Unfortunately, his words didn¡¯t move Gao Jinyun and the others. Gao Jinyun firmly replied, ¡°Please wait a moment, Senior Officer.¡±


    ¡°What are you waiting for? If we wait any longer, that new recruit is going to die.¡± How many blows had been exchanged? He hoped that Lian Shaojing would be merciful and not kill someone.


    ¡°Die?¡± Gao Jinyun¡¯s expression became odd, as he had actually never witnessed anyone hurt his boss before. He pointed to the center of the atrium to indicate to the captain on duty to watch the fight.


    The captain on duty couldn¡¯t help it and just watched. He was immediately dumbfounded by what he was seeing because the situation was very different from what he thought. That new recruit wasn¡¯t beingpletely destroyed by Lian Shaojing. Instead, it was Lian Shaojing, who the captain on duty thought that no one could defeat, who was at a disadvantage.


    What was happening? There was actually someone among the new recruits that could go against Lian Shaojing?


    The captain on duty was in disbelief. He turned around and looked towards the new recruits, who were all standing calmly. It was as though this scene was very normal for them. It seemed that they knew what they were doing when they stopped the captain from going in to stop the fight. It wasn¡¯t just the new recruits being impulsive and wanting to be heroes or something.


    The captain on duty thought about it, calmed down and was no longer in a hurry to stop the fight. The captain on duty was very happy that he was able to see Lian Shaojing make a fool out of himself and even take it up the ass. He was very willing to give this new recruit a chance to do that.


    Lian Shaojing¡¯s situation was going from bad to worse. He couldn¡¯t understand it. Even if the quality of his opponent¡¯s energy was better than his by a small degree, it was impossible that his opponent was capable of rendering him helpless to do anything. But no matter how much he attacked or changed his moves, he still couldn¡¯t get out of the bad situation his opponent had put him in.


    He fought with frustration. This type of frustration made him anxious. The color of blood in his eyes became thicker and thicker and his eyes became redder and redder. At the very end, both of his eyes were full of rage.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan¡¯s lip perked up. It was time.


    ¡°Awooo!¡± Lian Shaojing suddenly howled. As his uniform suddenly burst off his body and his entire body became extremely muscr, he charged towards Ling Lan.


    The expression of the captain on duty changed instantly. Lian Shaojing had actually gone berserk and used a restricted military physical skill, which increased the energy of the entire body by five-fold. Once that new recruit was hit by this attack, he would at least have all his bones and muscles shattered if he didn¡¯t die from it. Even if he underwent surgery, in the end, he would be a disabled person.


    Right that moment, Ling Lan, who was facing Lian Shaojing all this time, suddenly vanished. In the next second, she appeared behind Lian Shaojing and stood back to back with him.


    It was as though Lian Shaojing had lost his target and was stunned in ce. He stayed in his charging position. After a few seconds, he slowly turned his head to look behind him. His expression now was perplexed and somewhat afraid.


    ¡°Bam!¡± Ling Lan raised her right hand and snapped her fingers.


    Lian Shaojing¡¯s body suddenly began exploding with countlesscerations forming on his body, following which he fell to the ground with great force. Immediately, the ground around him was painted by his own blood.


    ¡°Captain!¡± Seeing this situation, Lian Shaojing¡¯s team members were all in dismay. They didn¡¯t even think and all jumped towards Ling Lan, wanting to take revenge for their captain.


    However, they couldn¡¯t even get close to Ling Lan. Qi Long, Luo Lang, Xie Yi, Lin Zhong-qing, Han Jijyun, Gao Jinyun and other captains from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy all moved forward. Following this, all the new recruits of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy moved forward and attacked them all at once. Even Han Xuya and the others who could still move joined in and ruthlessly pounced towards the rest of Lian Shaojing¡¯s team.


    Their boss had once said that normally, they should fight advantageously when they had the chance. Since they had the power in numbers, then they had to use it to the best of their abilities and not waste it. Everyone of the Lingtian Mecha n might not listen to their instructors or captains, but they definitely had to listen to their boss¡¯ words.


    Not long after, overrun by the sheer number of people, every member of the Sting Special Forces had all ¡°died¡±. All of them were lying on the floor lifelessly.


    The captain on duty was terrified by the ruthlessness of these new recruits. These guys weren¡¯t new recruits. Their mercilessness wasn¡¯t less than any veteran. His worry in the beginning was definitely a mistake.


    However, because he was afraid that the new recruits might not know their bounds andmit murder identally, the captain on duty immediately led his men to stop the fight. Unfortunately, the new recruits were just getting excited from the fight and weren¡¯t easy to stop. They couldn¡¯t even squeeze into the crowd and was thrown out by the new recruits.


    Chang Xinyuan shared a simr treatment because his ability was too weak. Although he wanted to join in, he would still be squeezed out by the others before he could squeeze in. This made him very annoyed. At that moment, he saw his boss standing on the side and coldly watching everyone engaging in a group fight. He immediately had a thought and quickly found a chair that was still somewhat intact in the rubble, and happily brought it over to Ling Lan.


    ¡°Alright.¡± A cold voice rang in everyone¡¯s ears. It was as though everyone in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had received an order and immediately stopped moving. They turned around and looked towards their boss.


    Chang Xinyuan walked beside Ling Lan and put the chair beside her. He obsequiously patted the chair and said, ¡°Boss, the chair is very clean. Please take a seat.¡±


    This scene made everyone very angry. How could they have forgotten to serve their boss? Sh*t, that chance was taken by that bastard Chang Xinyuan.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan was speechless and she felt herself bing increasingly more like the antagonist of a story. However, as she didn¡¯t want to disappoint Chang Xinyuan, she calmly sat down.


    ¡°Since everything has been resolved, we¡¯ll wait for the arrangements of the spaceport,¡± Ling Lan calmly instructed. ¡°Now, everyone find a seat and sit down.¡±


    After Ling Lan gave the order, the sound of chairs being moved around echoed throughout the atrium. Less than one minuteter, everyone had already found seats and sat down.

 Chapter 567 - Layout of the Plan!

    <h4>Chapter 567: Layout of the n!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The speed the new recruits tidied up the Sting Special forces, stunned the captain on duty along with his team members. Were these recruits really soldiers who just joined the division? They were even more organized than themselves the veterans.


    The captain on guard stared at the cool young man sitting at the very front of the crowd. He was guessing who could this young man be. Right at that moment, as though the young man had sensed something and shot a sharp look to the captain on duty. The look was like a frost arrow piercing through the captain¡¯s heart consuming it with an icy feeling.


    However, it was also this icy re that woke up the stunned captain on guard. He immediately ordered his subordinates, ¡°Immediately provide medical attention.¡±


    The Sting Special Forces had lost all of their members. They were all sprawled on the floor, some were even still able to groan weakly. However, most of them were lying on the ground lifelessly. This scene made the captain on duty be surprised and terrified at the same time. He only hoped that these new recruits held back, otherwise someone would have died. Even if these recruits had many reasons to hurt these people, the special forces wouldn¡¯t just let it slide if one of them would have died.


    The members heard the order and immediately rushed forward to check on the conditions of the members from the Sting Special Forces who were lying on the ground.


    The captain on duty originally worried that these new recruits would stop them from giving medical attention. He didn¡¯t think that these ruthless new recruits from the moments ago were now sitting on side in an orderly fashion and staring coldly at them while they gave medical attention to the Sting Special Forces. This scene made the captain on duty almost believe that the cruel and ruthless image from before was all an illusion...


    The captain on duty cleared his head of all the chaotic thoughts. He ran beside Lian Shaojing and checked his body in detail. He discovered that every muscle in Lian Shaojing¡¯s body had been damaged, allowing blood to flow out of his wounds, dyeing his whole body red. However, although the wounds seemed to be severe, in reality, his life wasn¡¯t threatened by these injuries. Of course, if the blood wasn¡¯t stopped immediately and continued to bleed through, it would eventually be life threatening.


    At that moment, his team members had reported the conditions of the other members from the Sting Special Forces to him. These new recruits knew what they were doing and all left them with some life still in those whoid on the ground. As for how long it would take for aplete recovery, that wasn¡¯t clear.


    The captain on duty heard this and instantly let out a sigh of relief. As long as no one died, no matter how bloody battles among soldiers in the divisions got, the higher-ups would just brushed it off like nothing happened. In order to develop the soldiers¡¯ killing intent and will to fight, these types of fights between teams were allowed. This was also why Sting could be so arrogant and attack new recruits. Unfortunately for them, they had gone up against a brick wall this time. They didn¡¯t bullied anyone and instead were beaten down. It was just as those who do bad deeds will eventually have karma to bite them in the ass.


    The captain on duty had feelings of schadenfreude on the matter. However he still quickly contacted the spaceport to ask for many ambnces to be sent to their location. After around a minute, they heard the sirens of the ambnces, the emergency response by the spaceport was very timely. Not long after, everyone from Sting were put on stretchers and taken into their respective ambnces. They wanted to send them to the military division¡¯s hospital as fast as possible.


    Right at that moment, a cool handsome young man walked through the door while rubbing his stomach. As he walked in, he looked at the ambnces behind him slyly. He guessed that some people were very unlucky and were sent to the hospital at this time...


    ¡°Out of the way, out of the way!¡± Two paramedics saw that their path was randomly blocked by this young man that had just appeared and immediately shouted at him. They were holding a stretcher with an injured individual. In order to give him emergency medical attention, they ran with all of their might to the ambnce and it was impossible for them to slow down.


    That young man reacted quickly and put his entire body against the metal door. He was like a gecko and managed to let those two paramedics move past him.


    Once the stretcher moved past him, the young man took in a cold breath of air. He immediately rubbed his buttocks. It turned out that the stretcher had brushed past his butt cheeks. He felt that his butt had definitely been bruised.


    ¡°Sh*t, I just went to the bathroom, why does it seem like the entire world had changed after I came out?¡± the cool young man said in dismay as he rubbed his left butt cheek.


    He saw that there was a soldier directing the paramedics to move the injured closer to the door. He walked up to him and saw that he was no longer busy and asked, ¡°Officer, what happened here?¡±


    ¡°New recruit?¡± that soldier said, looked at the young man¡¯s uniform.


    The young man nodded. That soldier sighed and said, ¡°Just now, the new recruits and the Sting Special Forces had a fight.¡±


    ¡°Sting Special Forces?¡± the young man said stunned. Who were fearless enough to actually fight with Sting? Even if they were always arrogant, no one would dare to challenge a battle team from the special forces. Of course, if the challengers had Boss Lan as their backup, it would be doable...


    Boss Lan? The young man realized something and said it out loud, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me Sting lost.¡±


    The soldier sighed again. Although he didn¡¯t answer, his expression already made it clear to the young man.That those who lost were Sting members. The soldier pointed at Ling Lan and her group¡¯s direction and said, ¡°It¡¯s that group of people. The leader¡¯s too strong and took out the captain of Sting with just one snap of his fingers.¡±


    The young man held his head, cried out in agony and squatted down. This odd behavior terrified the soldier. Could it be that this new recruit had mental issues?


    The young man wailed, full of regret, ¡°I just went to the bathroom. I just went to the bathroom. I just...¡±


    The young man¡¯s cries made everyone in the atrium turned their attention to him. Then a cold voice rang ¡°Li Yingjie, you¡¯re not going to return to your team?¡± Lin Zhong-qing red at the person that held his head while squatting on the ground. He was already sote and yet he still went around looking at scenery. It seemed that Lin Zhong-qing needed to tell the Boss that this Li Yingjie should not be entrusted with important missions. Someone who was not disciplined like him would easily miss important details.


    ¡°Captain, here!¡± Li Yingjie¡¯s battle team¡¯s team members saw their captain had arrived and instantly called out to him. The members all had faces of excitement from the group fight they just had. Unfortunately their captain wasn¡¯t there, otherwise their captain would be overjoyed. Their captain loved group fights and steam rolling his opponents with a huge advantage.


    Li Yingjie heard this and instantly stood up. His face was full of displeasure. As he walked over, he grabbed a chair that wasn¡¯t broken and got beside his team members. He kicked all of them. His team members knew what it meant and squeezed to the best of their ability to make space for their captain.


    ¡°Bam!¡± Li Yingjie mmed the chair down, the four chair legs were stuck onto the ground and a few cracks appeared on the ground. The eyes of the soldier that spoke to Li Yingjie and focused on him all this time, narrowed his eyes. This seemingly clumsy individual was actually a Qi-Jin expert. Just how many demons came from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy this year? The soldier looked at these energetic new recruits and had a feeling that the weather in the 23rd Division was about to change.


    The captain on duty sent every injured person onto an ambnce. He watched as the ambnces left and then returned to where Ling Lan was afterwards. He thought for a second and then said, ¡°New..recruit, I need to truthfully report the condition of the Sting Special Forces and captain Lian Shaojing.¡±


    These words by the captain on duty was actually to remind Ling Lan that this situation had only just begun and did not end just yet.


    The captain on guard knew very clearly that the special forces always protected their own. Even if it was Sting¡¯s and Lian Shaojing¡¯s mistake, the special forces would still send someone to teach this cool young man a lesson in order to protect the special forces¡¯ dignity. Moreover, those who would make a move would not be substitute captains and instead be real official captains. These captains were all half or full Domain experts...


    Ling Lan narrowed her eyes. Of course she knew that the situation wasn¡¯t that simple. She thought for a moment then said, ¡°That¡¯s true. After all I am also severely injured and have to miss three months of new recruit training. Senior officer sir, you shouldn¡¯t leave out this information.¡±


    After Ling Lan said this, everyone from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy had an odd expression on their faces. Some people couldn¡¯t even control their bodies and almost fell to the floor.


    ¡°Boss, were you preparing to push all the me onto Sting? That¡¯s really awesome.¡± Everyone in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy thought in their minds.


    Gao Jinyun¡¯s reaction was very quick and immediately continued, ¡°Yes, Sting attacked us, as an innocent new recruit. I have also been injured.¡±


    In that moment, everyone understood and spoke one after another, ¡°Me too!¡±


    ¡°Ah, I have trouble breathing. I¡¯m definitely injured.¡±


    ¡°My chest hurts a lot. I definitely have internal injuries.¡±


    ...


    Each and every one of the people from First Men¡¯s Military Academy were speaking about their injuries. The captain on duty saw that everyone who spoke out and said that they were injured all had rosy colors on their faces and was full of energy... ¡°Man, if you guys want to pretend to be injured, at least make it more believable. The way you guys are currently pretending is so shameless and pompous right? Do you guys really think that we will help you?¡± thought the captain on duty.


    ¡°Alright, as the department responsible for the location where the tragedy had urred, we had let you guys do underhanded things freely. I have really fallen into yourplete control.¡± thought the captain on duty and sighed. Now, he was an aplice with the new recruits of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy in this situation. In order for everyone¡¯s future days in the division to be more easygoing and not let the specials forces get any dirt on anyone then be taught a lesson by them, the captain on duty must report to the higher-ups a reason why the new recruits and the spaceport was not at fault in the situation.


    He thought for a bit and discovered that reporting it like this was useless. He reminded Ling Lan, ¡°If I don¡¯t have the proof of injuries from the physicians in our division¡¯s hospital, even if I report to the higher-ups, it still wouldn¡¯t count.¡±


    Hearing this, Ling Lan lifted her right arm and turned on the virtual screen on hermunicator. She inputted a string of numbers. Immediately, a charming and handsome young man appeared on the screen.


    ¡°Shiyu, make proofs of light and severe injuries for all 232 people in our mecha n. Especially for me, make a proof that I am almost on my deathbed.¡± Ling Lan nced at those in the First Co-ed Military Academy for a second then added, ¡°Also for the First Co-ed Military Academy as well. I will let Lin Zhong-qing send you the list.¡±


    ¡°Roger captain.¡± Hearing this, Li Shiyu wasn¡¯t surprised, only just raised his brows andplied without any expression of difficulty inpleting the task. The present Li Shiyu had already possessed the qualifications to provide proof of injury forms a long time ago. Even if it was to make fake ones, he still had confidence to make it work.


    The captain on duty¡¯s expression changed slightly as he saw Li Shiyu¡¯s shadow. He didn¡¯t think that the newest demon doctor from the 23rd Division¡¯s hospital, Li Shiyu who was respected by lower-ranking soldiers, was actually in the same team as this cool young man.


    He was relieved. He also pitied Lian Shaojing, who was now sent to the hospital while being in aa. He knew clearly that this time, Li Shiyu would definitely not help in treating captain Lian Shaojing. Without the demon doctor¡¯s treatment, Lian Shaojing would definitely have to stay in the healing pods to treat his wounds for at least six months to a year or even more... Sting originally had high hopes in bing an official battle team, but now, it seemed like they would miss the chance because of this incident.


    The captain on duty now began to fear Ling Lan. Before this cool young man severely injured Lian Shaojing, he had already begun to plot. He never nned to give Lian Shaojing a chance to get back at him. As long as Li Shiyu wrote out these proofs being severely injured, even if the special forces wanted to help, they wouldn¡¯t be able to.


    It should be known on paper, that these guys counterattacked with all their might when they felt very threatened and then both sides suffered great losses. Even on the proof of injury forms, this cool young man¡¯s injuries were even more severe and was close to his deathbed. On the surface, the special forces was favorable. If they made a move to teach the new recruits a lesson, then it would be considered going overboard. It was possible that the other departments of the division wouldn¡¯t agree either.


    This way, although the special forces knew that there was underhanded activities, they would still have to swallow the lost down their throats. Just a simple injury form would make Lian Shaojing and the others unable to do anything. If they wanted to take revenge in the future, they would only be able to do it discreetly and not in public.


    However, the captain on duty still reminded, ¡°The special forces may send other physicians to do secondary check-ups...¡± What he meant was that this n wasn¡¯tpletely foolproof. If the special forces refused to let go of the situation and actually sent a military doctor, they would immediately be exposed since they were all alive and well.


    Ling Lan raised a brow and said, ¡°Didn¡¯t Li Shiyu invent many different medicinal agents that had unknown effects?¡±


    Hearing this, the captain on duty gave up on his point. He had forgotten why the demon doctor was given that name. It was because he would randomly take out a medicinal agent every time. The effect of the treatment and recovery speed had never been known or understood by others.


    Even if the special forces wanted to ask for a new physician to do a second check-up, it would still require some time. These new recruits could definitely use Li Shiyu¡¯s super strong medicinal agents for treatment in order to exin why their injuries seemed to have healed in a short period of time. In short, it was indeed very difficult for the special forces to get any dirt on these new recruits.


    ¡°There still recordings!¡± the captain on duty said weakly. There were surveince cameras in every corner of the spaceport. If they got the recordings, then the new recruits would be in trouble right?


    ¡°Go get the surveince recordings. There might be a pleasant surprise waiting for you,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    The captain on duty was stunned. He remembered that the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was originally a specialized ce for developing hackers. It was normal if there was an expert hacker among these cadets.


    The captain on duty originally wanted to use the surveince recordings to hold down the arrogance of the new recruits. He wanted to tell them that even if they made the perfect n, without him and his team¡¯s cooperation, once the recordings were publicized, they would lose everything. He didn¡¯t think that the new recruits didn¡¯t forget about this part. Maybe in the beginning of the fight, these new recruits had already hacked into the surveince equipment in this area.


    The captain on duty quietly said, ¡°You monsters.¡± Then he said, ¡°Since you already have ns, then I will ¡®truthfully¡¯ report this incident.¡±


    ¡°The future of these new recruits knows no bounds. If I can be in good rtions with them now, then perhaps there would be benefits in the future that I can¡¯t foresee right now,¡± thought the captain on duty. Of course, even if there weren¡¯t any benefits, he was happy to help them after seeing them teaching Sting, led by Lian Shaojing, a lesson. In reality, Sting was always making trouble in the spaceport. Not only was he annoyed but even themander of the spaceport was getting annoyed and as luck would have it, the captain on duty was themander¡¯s confidant. This was also why he dared to cooperate with these new recruits. The recordings weren¡¯t an issue to begin with.


    ¡°Thank you!¡± Ling Lan stood up and saluted the captain on duty. The captain on duty clearly felt the sincerity between the cold re. He felt warm inside and felt it was very worth it that he had helped such a polite and disciplined child.


    Very quickly, the captain left with his team members and went towards themander to report this incident. The staff members who had already arrived quickly cleared all the stuff that was broken in the atrium and cleaned the floors. Although they couldn¡¯t switch in new chairs causing the entire atrium to feel somewhat empty, the atrium was no longer in a state of disarray from the battle. Now, the entire atrium became peaceful.

 Chapter 568 - The Ultimate Protection!

    <h4>Chapter 568: The Ultimate Protection!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    A few soldiers on duty were left in the atrium. The rest were recruits that managed to enter the 23rd Division. The other recruits looked at Ling Lan and her team in fear. Ling Lan¡¯s ruthlessness and her team¡¯s cohesiveness made them realized that this was a bunch of people they couldn¡¯t afford to offend.


    The people from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy discussed for a moment. After some time, someone among them stood up and greeted Qi Long. No one dared to approach Ling Lan because he looked too fierce and cold. Qi Long had a humble and honest face so they decided to befriend him first.


    Qi Long did not reject the offer to befriend the people from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. His open personality caused the people to let their guards down and the rtionship between the two parties turned harmonious quickly. Both parties had the intention to cooperate with each other and decided to form an alliance. The other two academies looked at the cheerful atmosphere on the other side of the room and started regretting. They were angry at themselves for being too timid, causing them to lose the opportunity to befriend the recruits from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy first.


    However, the recruits that entered the 23rd Division were all smart people. They knew that it was impossible to survive in the division alone. Very soon, other academies started approaching the recruits from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. In a short while, all the recruits that were waiting in the atrium started making friends with each other. They even formed a new Recruit Cooperation Team where people would take a vow and promised to help each other when veterans humiliated them purposely.


    This was all possible because of Ling Lan¡¯s strong ability. If he could defeat a team captain of the special forces, Lian Shaojing, he would be able to defeat other normal team captains.


    The recruits knew that they would be distributed to the various military camps after they finished their recruit training. The battle teams in these military camps were not as powerful as the special forces. So when the news of what happened today began to spread, the veterans would consider twice before bullying them. Ling Lan was their shield that would protect them from the veterans.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about all these little things. Public rtions was something Qi Long and his friends were in charge of. Ling Lan closed her eyes and appeared to be taking a rest. However, she was actually discussing with Little Four to see how they should solve this issue with the special forces so that the special forces would not find them for trouble too soon.


    Ling Lan was clear that the recruits would not be able to defeat anyone from the special forces.


    She purposely injured Lian Shaojing because she wanted to let Qi Long and her team to have some crisis awareness. She didn¡¯t want them to think that everything would be smooth once they entered the 23rd Division. She could defeat Lian Shaojing without injuring him or making such a hugemotion. However, her motive would not be achieved.


    Qi Long and her team members would enter the battlefield one day. She didn¡¯t know if she would be able to fight beside them at that point in time. She had to pressure them now so that they would continue working hard even after entering the 23rd Division. The special forces would be a good motivation for them.


    She had asked Li Shiyu to write a proof of injury for her so that the special forces had no reason to target them openly. However, if the special forces wanted to harm them secretly, she couldn¡¯t stop them. She was not able to be with her team for the three months recruit training so she needed to make sure that the special forces would not act during this period of time.


    She was not afraid of the special forces targeting her. With her ability, she was confident that she could fight themander of the special forces. She had her father, the Regiment Commander of the 23rd Division, to help her too if things went out of hand.


    But, her friends were different. If Lian Shaojing found the opportunity to injure or harm her friends during the recruit training, she would not be able to do anything. She must prevent any chances of this happening.


    After thinking for a long time, Ling Lan decided to use her ultimate weapon.


    ¡°Little Four,¡± Ling Lan called. Little Four was probably talking to the mainframe of the spaceport now but he could move around freely in the virtual world. Hence, once she called him, Little Four should appear instantly.


    ¡°Boss, are you looking for me?¡± Just as she expected, Little Four appeared almost immediately. He smiled at her.


    ¡°Send the video of what happened to my father,¡± Ling Lan ordered him.


    Little Four¡¯s eyes shone. He got excited. ¡°Boss, are you finally going to find your father for help?¡±


    Boss rarely finds her father so Little Four didn¡¯t have the opportunity to talk to Ling Xiao at all. In actual fact, even if Ling Lan did contact Ling Xiao, Little Four would not be able to talk to him too. However, Little Four was too ted that he forgot about this fact.


    ¡°Yes. For the sake of my friends¡¯ safely, I need to ask for help from my father.¡± If she could use her father, she would. She felt that there was nothing wrong with it. Its was not like she was asking something unreasonable from her father.


    In the official residence given to the Regiment Commander of the 23rd Division.


    Ling Xiao was looking through the internal information sent to him by the military. He heard someone opening his door forcefully and soon after, a beautiful figure rushed towards him.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, I want to go and look for my daughter.¡± Lan Luofeng said, looking at him in anger. If she didn¡¯t call Adviser He just now, she would not know that their daughter was returning today. This bastard actually kept this news from her. She was furious.


    ¡°Luofeng, just bear with it for a while,¡± Ling Xiao rubbed his eyes and said helplessly. If he let Lan Luofeng out, he would not be able to hide his daughter¡¯s identity as his child anymore. This meant that his daughter would have to continue pretending to be a boy in the future.


    ¡°I have not seen my daughter in a long time.¡± Lan Luofeng said, mming the study table angrily. This man was the reason why she could onlymunicate with her daughter through amunicator. She missed her daughter so much. She wanted to hug and kiss her daughter in real life. She didn¡¯t want to just talk to her through a call!


    ¡°Lan Luofeng, just wait for a while. If you go over now, people will find out about Ling Lan¡¯s identity. You know that I have many enemies. They might try to harm our daughter if they knew her identity,¡± Ling Xiao got up and told Lan Luofeng seriously while holding her shoulders.


    Lan Luofeng calmed down a little when she heard what Ling Xiao said. She became logical. She pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows. ¡°When will you let me see my daughter then?¡±


    ¡°Once she finished her recruit training, I will arrange for her toe to the headquarters. The headquarters is filled with my own people so you can do whatever you want with her,¡± Ling Xiao replied while looking at Lan Luofeng carefully. He was afraid that she would get angry and red up at him.


    ¡°Three months? No way, that is way too long! I can only wait for a few days. Once our daughter enters the recruit camp, I must see her.¡± Lan Luofeng was not satisfied with the arrangement, as she gave her requirements immediately.


    Ling Xiao was frustrated. He pondered about it for a while before making a final decision. ¡°Fine, I will arrange for you to enter the recruit camp to take a look at her.¡± As the wife of the Regiment Commander of the 23rd Division, it was reasonable for her to visit the recruits. Ling Xiao was prepared to use his authority to let his wife¡¯s wish to be fulfilled.


    Ling Xiao agreed to her request so quickly that Lan Luofeng got suspicious. She looked at him curiously and asked, ¡°You are not lying to me, right?¡±


    Lan Luofeng had many experiences of Ling Xiao tricking her. When Ling Xiao knew that he couldn¡¯t reject her, he would agree to her request first. Then, on the day that he was supposed to fulfill his promise, coincidences would happen and his promise never held up. If this happened just a few times, Lan Luofeng might believed him. However, it happened way too many times. Even an idiot would realize that something was amiss.


    ¡°Of course. I will not lie to you.¡± Ling Xiao gave a bitter smile. He knew that she didn¡¯t believe him because of what had happened in the past. But, his position was different now. He could make his own decisions. No one would dare to go against him if he wanted to pamper his wife.


    Also, he missed his daughter too. He needed to think of a way to get his daughter out of the recruit training camp. In the recruit training camp, eight people slept in one bunk. He couldn¡¯t bear the thought of his daughter sleeping together with seven other men. They lived together and trained together... Ling Xiao felt that it was uneptable. He would never allow his daughter to go to the recruit training camp. Never.


    Lan Luofeng still had her suspicion but she stopped making a fuss about it.


    The two of them started to discuss when they should go over. Lan Luofeng felt that they should go over as soon as possible. If they could go on the first day of the recruit training camp, that would be the best. Ling Xiao agreed. He wanted to get his daughter out of that ce too.


    Ling Xiao decided that if there was no other choice, he would choose four recruits and order them to apany Lan Luofeng to roam around the countries within the Federation. Ling Lan would be among those 4 recruits. Although this would be an obvious use of his authority for private purposes, he was willing to do it for the sake of his daughter.


    The two of them started chatting about what they should buy for their daughter. At this moment, Ling Xiao¡¯smunicator beeped.


    Lan Luofeng red at him unhappily. <i>Why was someone disturbing them when they were spending time together at home?</i>


    Ling Xiao smiled at Lan Luofeng apologetically before looking at the message.


    ¡°General Ling Xiao. You have an email. The sender is Ling Lan. Would you like to ept it?¡±


    Lan Luofeng immediately got excited and shouted, ¡°Yes, yes!¡±


    Themunicator only recognized Ling Xiao¡¯s voice so Ling Xiao quickly followed his wife and said, ¡°Yes.¡±

 Chapter 569 - Fulfil The WIsh!

    <h4>Chapter 569: Fulfil The WIsh!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    A virtual screen appeared and a video started to y on the screen. It showed the scene where Han Xuya and her friends were bullied. After a while, Luo Lang appeared and then Ling Lan came and helped them.


    Lan Luofeng mmed the table in anger. ¡°How dare he bullied my daughter. Ling Xiao, you must teach him a lesson.¡±


    Ling Xiao narrowed his eyes. His face was expressionless but his eyes were cold. Ling Lan was his own flesh and blood. Lian Shaojing¡¯s sneak attack angered him. However, he would forgive him this time only if Lian Shaojing never trouble find Ling Lan again.


    This kind of conflicts were normal. Soldiers that just came back from the battlefield were emotionally unstable. The trauma from killing people was hard to manage. Sometimes, a slight stimulus would cause them to lose control of their emotions. As long as no one died, the headquarters would close one eye and let the soldiers solved their own issues.


    Such conflicts allowed the soldiers to vent out their negative emotions so it was very useful towards alleviating the trauma they got on the battlefield. Also, it could motivate the soldiers and improved theirbat skills. They would always be on their guard so there was no preparation time needed before they went on the battlefield. This was the attitude of all the 23 divisions in the Federation as well as the special forces.


    This conclusion was obtained after years of experience. Everymander andmanding officer of the divisions allowed these conflicts to happen and never stopped them.


    Thus, Ling Xiao could not take revenge on Lian Shaojing just because of this. However, he could only give Lian Shaojing another chance. If he continued to provoke Ling Lan, Ling Xiao would act. He was themander of the 23rd division but, he was also Ling Lan¡¯s father.


    ¡°Luofeng, let¡¯s listen to what our daughter has to say.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s words calmed Lan Luofeng down.


    ¡°Yes. Let¡¯s listen to what my baby has to say.¡± Lan Luofeng looked at Ling Xiao with glittering eyes. She wanted Ling Xiao to contact their daughter as soon as possible.


    Ling Xiao smiled. He called Ling Lan.


    ¡°Your father is calling you,¡± Little Four said excitedly. He knew that once they sent the video over, Ling Lan¡¯s father would call them. He would be able to listen to Ling Xiao¡¯s voice again. His voice was pleasant to the ear.


    Ling Lan rolled her eyes when she saw Little Four¡¯s expression. She reminded him, ¡°Remember to ept the call in my mindscape.¡±


    Little Four smiled and nodded. No matter how much he liked Ling Xiao, he would not forget this. His boss¡¯s rtionship with Ling Xiao could not be exposed.


    Very soon, the image that was supposed to appear on the virtual screen appeared in the learning space. Little Four got this ability to control themunicator from the learning space after he evolved.


    The people in the real world would only see Ling Lan lying on her chair and resting with her eyes closed. But, in actual fact, she was having a video call with Ling Xiao in the learning space.


    ¡°Father.¡± Ling Lan called him respectfully when she saw Ling Xiao¡¯s figure appeared on the screen in front of her.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ling Xiao raised his eyebrows. He was displeased.


    Ling Lan was speechless. <i>Don¡¯t they all mean the same thing? Why doesn¡¯t Ling Xiao like to be called ¡®father¡¯? </i>She decided to make Ling Xiao happy. ¡°Daddy.¡±


    Ling Xiao smiled. Before he could say anything else, a beautifuldy appeared beside him. ¡°Baby Lan, do you miss mummy?¡±


    Lan Luofeng continued without waiting for her answer. ¡°I missed you so much. You unfilial child, when are youing back?¡± Lan Luofeng spoke thest sentence fiercely.


    Ling Lan looked at Ling Xiao thoughtfully. Ever since her father came back, her gentle mother became fiercer. <i>Was this her mother¡¯s true colors? Or was her father not able to satisfy her sexual desires recently?</i>


    Ling Xiao didn¡¯t know that his daughter was questioning his sexual ability. He saw her looking at him and shrugged in reply. There was nothing he could do too.


    <i>Okay, Father has to worry about the 23rd Division in the morning and has to take care of Mother who might be going through menopause at night. It is understandable that he will feel helpless at times... </i>Ling Lan felt that she uncovered the truth, and pitied her father as he was going through some tough times.


    Ling Lan wanted to help her father. ¡°Mummy, I will be home tonight.¡± This way, her mother would anticipate her arrival and stop pestering her father.


    Ling Lan nced at her father. She hoped that her father would grab this opportunity and had a good rest tonight. Then, he could regain his stamina and be able to satisfy her mother so that she would turn back into the gentle mother that Ling Lan knew.


    Ling Xiao was puzzled by the strange look Ling Lan was giving him. Lan Luofeng hugged him in excitement. Her actions were big as she was very excited about Ling Lan¡¯s return. Ling Xiao felt her soft and smooth body brushing against him and got stimted...


    Because of Ling Lan¡¯s issue, Lan Luofeng chased him out of her room. He had not had any intimate interactions with her for a very long time. Her sudden enthusiasm caused him to lose self control.


    Ling Xiao took a deep breath and cleared the thoughts in his mind. The most important thing now was to solve his daughter¡¯s issue. Everything else could wait. Yes, it could wait.


    ¡°Are you not going to the recruit training camp?¡± Ling Xiao asked.


    Ling Lan replied, ¡°Nope. I am seriously injured so I can¡¯t go to the recruit camp.¡± She looked at Ling Xiao and smiled cunningly. ¡°Seems like daddy doesn¡¯t want me to go to the recruit camp too.¡±


    She had asked Li Lanfeng about the situation in the recruit camp. She knew that everyone, no matter what background they were from, They would live in an eight person dorm. There was no exception. Her father would definitely try to get her out of the camp no matter what.


    ¡°Looks like you did it on purpose.¡± Ling Xiao smiled gently. This issue had been weighing on his mind but his daughter managed to solve it. ¡°If you didn¡¯t meet Lian Shaojing, did you n to find someone else to fight with?¡±


    Ling Lan shook her head. ¡°This was just a coincidence. I had another n but I never thought about provoking other people directly.¡±


    Ling Lan was nning to feign an injury during the first match against her instructor. Then, she would arrange for Li Shiyu to take her to the hospital. He would write a fake injury form which would allow her to dismiss herself from the recruit training.


    However, she met Lian Shaojing before she started her n.


    Ling Xiao looked at his daughter with satisfaction. His daughter had gotten more mature. If he didn¡¯t know the truth from her mouth, he might be fooled by her too. He would have thought that she was seriously injured by Lian Shaojing and had to be absent from the recruit training. In order to pacify the injured recruit,manders normally epted such request to leave the training camp.


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, you will definitely be an excellent soldier. I am not sure if it is right for me to ask you to leave the military.¡± Ling Xiao hesitated. How good it would be if Ling Lan was his son.


    Of course, a daughter was good too. Ling Xiao just felt unfortunate that his daughter couldn¡¯t show off her amazing talent in mecha operating tantly in front of everyone.


    Ling Xiao regained hisposure and asked, ¡°You didn¡¯t send me the video just to tell me that you don¡¯t have to go to the recruit training, right? Are you intending to ask me for help?¡±


    Ling Lan would not send him the video if she didn¡¯t have such an intention.


    He knew his daughter well. If she took the initiative to tell him about something, it meant that she needed his help.


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Yes, you are right.¡±


    ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± Ling Xiao said lovingly, ¡°Do you want the special forces to prevent Lian Shaojing from taking his revenge on you all?¡± This was not difficult. He just needed to find themander of the special forces to tell him that he had taken a fancy on Ling Lan¡¯s ability. The special forces would not dare to do anything to Ling Lan and her friends.


    Ling Xiao thought about how he should talk to themander of the special forces. However, Ling Lan¡¯s reply stunned him. ¡°No, Daddy. I just hope that you can prevent the special forces from targeting Qi Long and the rest of my friends in the recruit training camp. After these three months, the special forces can do whatever they like.¡±


    Ling Xiao looked at her sternly. ¡°The special forces is not an ordinary force. If they decide to act, your friends might be unable to withstand their attacks.¡±


    ¡°I know. However, hardships make a person stronger. If they don¡¯t experience such ordeals, they will not improve. They have to go to the battlefield next time.¡± Ling Lan sighed softly. She didn¡¯t know if she would be able to apany them during that time. The only thing she could do now was to make sure that they became stronger so that they could survive on the battlefield.


    ¡°However, three months is too short. Why not I extend it to a year?¡± Ling Xiao understood his daughter¡¯s intention. He thought about it carefully and proposed a solution.


    ¡°No. After three months, I will continue to lead them,¡± Ling Lan replied firmly.


    Lan Luofeng couldn¡¯t keep quiet anymore when she heard what Ling Lan said. She interrupted them. ¡°Lan¡¯er, you will be missing the recruit training camp because of your injury. This is the best time for you to disappear and resume your true identity. Are you going to give up this chance?¡± Since she was seriously injured, Ling Xiao could let Ling Lan leave the military and let her be transferred to a small department. Then, she would gradually withdraw herself from the public and would resume her identity as a woman. Then, she could go and do whatever she liked after that.


    ¡°I know, Mummy. I know that it is a good opportunity. If none of these happened, I would have followed that path that you all nned for me. However, things are different now. I have not settled everything here. I can¡¯t leave,¡± Ling Lan replied sincerely. She looked apologetically at her parents. She knew the efforts they had put in to let her to resume her identity.


    ¡°Please give me two more years. I will leave the military after two years and resume my identity as your daughter,¡± Ling Lan pleaded to them. Two years was enough for herpanions to grow up. She could let them go without any worry after that.


    Lan Luofeng wanted to persuade her but was stopped by Ling Xiao. Ling Xiao hugged her. She understood what Ling Xiao wanted to do and let him talked to their daughter instead.


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, you are all grown up now. We will support you in everything that you want to do.¡± Ling Lan smiled as he said, ¡°Since you need two more years, your mother and I will wait two more years for you. We have waited for 5 years already. We can wait for two more years.¡±


    Lan Luofeng nodded to express her support. However, she pinched Ling Xiao¡¯s waist with her right hand forcefully. Who says that we can wait for two more years? One sentence from you and I have to wait another two years. You bastard! My dreams of living with my daughter got dyed by you again.


    Ling Lan was ted that she got the support from her parents so she didn¡¯t notice the subtle pain in her father¡¯s expression.


    Even if she did, she would pretend that she didn¡¯t see anything. It was better for her to stay away from the fights between her parents. Ling Lan found an excuse and ended the call with Ling Xiao.


    Ling Lan prayed that when she went back, her father would still be alive and well.


    The moment Ling Lan settled the things on her side, the recruits that reached the spaceport got settled down too. Somes were further away so their ships had not reached. The people at the spaceport needed to wait for everyone to arrive before bringing the recruits to the training camp. Hence, the recruits that arrived first were given some time to rest at the spaceport base camp.


    The captain on duty appeared again. There were a few hundred ambnces behind him. He had received orders from themanding officer of the spaceport to send the ¡®injured¡¯ recruits to the hospital.


    Ling Lan smiled when she saw this scene. This action proved that themanding officer of the spaceport was on her side. She didn¡¯t ask Li Shiyu to arrange for an ambnce because she wanted to know the attitude of themanding officer.


    Everything happened ording to Ling Lan¡¯s n

 Chapter 570 - The Future Of The Special Forces!

    <h4>Chapter 570: The Future Of The Special Forces!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Very soon after, the news that Lian Shaojing was defeated by a new recruit started to spread throughout the 23rd Division.


    ¡°Interesting. A captain of the Sting Special Forces was defeated.¡± Many captains from normal battle teams were happy to hear this news.


    ¡°The special forces must be embarrassed They will definitely take their revenge.¡± Someone predicted that these new recruits would have a hard time ahead of them.


    ¡°A new recruit managed to defeat a captain of the Sting Special Forces? Are the recruits this year all so powerful? Hurry up and get me the name list of the new recruits this year. Our team should have some new blooding in soon.¡± The captains of the battle teams in the 23rd Division were all excited.


    ¡°Such a pity. The new recruit that defeated Lian Shaojing would definitely have a team by now.¡± Such strong recruits were not willing to enter a normal battle team.


    ¡°We still have a chance. The special forces will definitely take revenge since they were embarrassed. The moment they act, we can recruit him...¡± They were unwilling to give up on Ling Lan. They started nning on how to get him into their team.


    ¡°Take note of the actions from the special forces. Once they make a move, we will send out our invitation.¡± Every captain of the normal battle team kept a lookout on the special forces.


    Although the special forces were powerful, not everyone looked up to them. Some ace battle teams felt that they were as strong as them but they were just unlucky and didn¡¯t manage to get recruited by the special forces.


    Hence, they naturally go against the special forces and were willing to protect the people that the special forces wanted to target.


    The other captains of the special forces received this news too.


    ¡°Lian Shaojing embarrassed me.¡± A captain in the rest area mmed the table in front of him when he heard his vice-captain telling him this news. He sprung up and wanted to rush out of the office. ¡°Let me find themander. I must teach that brat a lesson.¡±


    The vice-captain was a 30 years old man. He reminded the captain calmly, ¡°Who are you trying to teach a lesson to? Lian Shaojing? He is currently unconscious and lying in the healing pod now. The hospital said that he needed at least a year to recuperate. As for the recruit that hurt him, he is in a dire state too. He is also lying in the healing pod and will be missing the recruit training camp.¡±


    The captain stopped in his tracks immediately and looked up. He was a 40 years old man with a rough-looking face. He grabbed his hair in agitation. ¡°This is frustrating. I was the one who rmended Lian Shaojing into the special forces. His performance was good so themander had the intention of making him an official member of the special forces after another year of observation. Now, everything is gone. Everyone must beughing at me now. F**k! Those recruits are bastards.¡± He kicked the metal chair beside him causing the chair to break apart.


    ¡°Since this thing already happened, there is no point in being angry.¡± The vice-captain frowned as he consoled the captain. Their battle team¡¯s rank among the special forces was low. After this, their rank would be lowered further.


    ¡°However, themander is biased towards his own people. Lian Shaojing got injured badly so themander will definitely do something about it.¡± The vice-captain reminded the captain, ¡°We can make use of this.¡±


    The captain was enlightened. ¡°Are you saying that if themander wants to teach those recruits a lesson, I can volunteer myself. That way, I can regain some of our lost reputation?¡± His eyes lit up. As long as he managed to take his revenge, the other captains would notugh at him anymore and he would be able to maintain his battle team¡¯s rank.


    The vice-captain nodded. ¡°We need to wait for themander to speak first before any action can be taken.¡±


    In the other rest areas, simr conversations were urring.


    In the stamina training room, a 30 year old bulky and handsome soldier was working out. Another man of a simr age with delicate features was standing beside him. The man smiled and said, ¡°Captain, do you know that the reserve member of the Sting Special Forces got injured by someone? He is lying in the healing pod now and need at least a year to recover.¡±


    The captain continued exercising nonchntly. He replied calmly, ¡°Isn¡¯t that normal? People that had to bully weaker people to control their desires to kill will meet their match one day.¡±


    ¡°True. Guess who defeated him?¡±


    The captain nced at his vice-captain. He noticed the cunning smile on his face and replied irritatedly, ¡°Although I don¡¯t like Lian Shaojing, I admit that he is a smart person so he will not offend other powerful battle teams. This is the time when the new recruits enter the military. Therefore, it should be someone from the batch of these new recruits.¡±


    The vice-captain looked at him admirably. ¡°Captain, nothing escapes your eyes.¡±


    The captain replied with a hint of unhappiness, ¡°Did youe here to tell me such a small matter? What is the thing that made you gave up your sleep?¡± His vice-captain was someone who loved to sleep. He would give up his sleep only if something important happened.


    The vice-captain instantly turned serious. He whispered, ¡°Do you know who defeated Lian Shaojing?¡±


    The captain stopped working out when he saw his vice-captain¡¯s serious face. ¡°Who is it?¡±


    ¡°Ling Lan.¡± The captain was ted when he heard the name. ¡°That little brat has finally reached the age to enter the military?¡±


    The vice-captain red at his captain. ¡°It has almost been 15 years. If he still didn¡¯te, he is unworthy to be the general¡¯s son.¡± General Ling Xiao¡¯s son should enter the military in his fifth year of school.


    The captain sighed. ¡°It has been 15 years. He was just a small babyst time. Now, he is ourrade.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± The vice-captain replied, ¡°I remember the time when we were still in the ded Special Ops Team. Themander was our captain back then and he sent us to protect Ling Lan but we had failed. Ling Lan pulled through all by himself without any help.¡± They were the examiners that were in charge of the assessment at the Scout Academy.


    ¡°We were thrown into the training camp and tormented badly because of this. ¡°The captain shivered uncontrobly when he recalled this. He wondered how they managed to survive through that thest time.


    ¡°Don¡¯t talk about that.¡± Those memories were frightening.


    ¡°Seems like you used your hacking skills again and got the recruit name list from the mainframe.¡± The captain changed the topic.


    ¡°Of course. Defeating someone from the special forces is a huge news. I have to know who is this new recruit.¡± The vice-captain could not say that he wanted to beat Lian Shaojing up for a long time but the special forces were not allowed to fight among themselves. Hence, when he found that someone had fulfilled his wish, he immediately went to search for that person. He thought that if anyone in the special forces wanted to take their revenge on the recruit, he could lend a helping hand.


    ¡°Do you think that themander would get someone to take revenge?¡± The vice-captain knew hismander well. He started to worry for Ling Lan.


    ¡°He will send someone.¡± The captain replied certainly, ¡°However, it will not be for revenge. He will send someone to test Ling Lan.¡±


    The vice-captain understood what his captain was trying to say. ¡°You mean that themander wants to get Ling Lan into the special forces?¡±


    ¡°Of course. How can he give up on such a talent?¡± The captain replied, ¡°He specially asked us to protect her during the assessmentst time. Aspared to Lian Shaojing, Ling Lan is much more important.¡±


    The vice-captain smiled. He finally felt at ease. He agreed that Ling Lan was the future of the special forces, not Lian Shaojing.

 Chapter 571 - Senior Colonel Lan!

    <h4>Chapter 571: Senior Colonel Lan!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The captain smiled. ¡°Even if themander wanted to teach Ling Lan and lesson, the general would not allow him too.¡±


    The vice-captain was stunned. ¡°Are you saying that General Ling Xiao would not give themander any chances to act?¡±


    ¡°Let us wait and see. I guess that the special forces will receive a mission soon. I am just not sure how long the mission willst.¡± The Sting Special Forces was at fault so it was understandable if General Ling Xiao taught them a lesson. He just hoped that the general would not bear any grudge against the special forces.


    The vice-captain understood the situation. He said with contempt, ¡°I knew that Lian Shaojing is a burden. Why did the Sting Special Forces even take him in?¡± Lian Shaojing was rmended by the captain of the Sting Special Forces. Hence, his actions represented the whole special forces. This was why General Ling Xiao might direct his anger to the special forces.


    ¡°I just hope that the general will have some mercy on us.¡± The vice-captain wanted to cry so much that he felt depressed. General Ling Xiao was everyone¡¯s idol in the 23rd Division. They all applied to join the 23rd Division because of him. If General Ling Xiao bore a grudge against them because of this, they might all go crazy. They would rush to the hospital and kill Lian Shaojing even if it was just to appease the general.


    ¡°Once we receive our mission from the headquarters, we will know whether the general is angry or not.¡± The captain, on the other hand, was rxed. General Ling Xiao was a fair person. He would not take his anger out on them unless themander of the special forces offended Ling Lan again. They would only just be tormented during their mission.


    The next day, as expected, the headquarters gave them an order. All members of the special forces had to undergo a three-month training at the camp of the first battle team, the ded Special Ops Team.


    The soldiers who were from the ded Special Ops Team turned pale when they heard this news. Those soldiers who didn¡¯t know about the ded Special Ops Team thought that this was a reward for them. They thought that their general gave them a holiday. They excitedly packed their bags and happily went to the training camp...


    ¡°Seems like the general wants to protect the new recruits for three months.¡± Themander pondered over the general¡¯s intention. He then gave a cheerful smile. ¡°This means that he won¡¯t do anything to me if I find them after these three months.¡±


    General Ling Xiao was indeed a logical and good father who knew how to nurture his child. A person would only grow during hardships. General Ling Xiao wanted to use the special forces to motivate his son. Themander, who initially wanted to stop his team members from finding Ling Lan, started to have other thoughts.


    ¡°Ling Lan, the Heir of the 23rd Division. Let me see how much you have grown.¡± Emotions shed in the eyes of themander.


    The order by the headquarters was soon made known to everyone in the 23rd Division. The other normal battle teams that were waiting to see what the special forces would do started to get fidgety.


    ¡°The order from the headquarters, is it an indication of the headquarters¡¯ attitude... or is it an indication of General Ling Xiao¡¯s attitude towards Lian Shaojing¡¯s incident?¡±


    ¡°General Ling Xiao felt that the recruits were right.¡± Everyone understood what their general was trying to tell them. Of course, right from the start, the recruits didn¡¯t do anything wrong. The other battle teams were just afraid of the special forces so no one stood up against them and said that the special forces were in the wrong.


    This situation was broken by the order from the headquarters. Since the headquarters had spoken, the other battle teams didn¡¯t need to worry anymore. There were many high potential recruits this time so many team captains decided to openly recruit people. They hoped that before the recruit training camp ended, they would get their desired recruits to enter their team and strengthened the power of their team.


    A hover car flew towards the South city. The South city was one of the many division cities within Southcrest. A division city referred to a city which housed the families of soldiers from a certain division. The South city was where the family members of the 23rd Division soldiers stayed at. It used to be known as a military base but it quickly expanded so they changed the name and called it a division city.


    There were ten division cities on Southcrest. The poption of every division city was more than a million. The South city was the most extravagant and prosperous division city. There were 5 million people living inside. The headquarters of the 23rd Division was here and all the leaders of the 23rd Division stayed here too, including General Ling Xiao.


    The hover car drove to an empty, t piece ofnd. Then, lowered itself until it was two meters above the ground and traveled for another 10 more minutes before stopping in front of a manor.


    There were two soldiers on duty guarding the gate of the manor. When they saw the hover car, one of them went forward and signaled for the car to stop at the side.


    The car stopped. The car window slowly wound down and a person wearing a metal mask was revealed.


    The soldier on duty was used to seeing people in a metal mask. It wasmon for soldiers who came back from the battlefield to have certain injuries and disabilities. The Federation would use their advanced technology to help these soldiers ovee their disabilities. For instance, people who were blind were given artificial eyes and those that lost their nose had an artificial nose imnted on them. These products were well-loved by soldiers as they allowed them to be able to live normally again. The only w was that they would have to wear a metal mask. However, There was an artificial human-skin mask too but they were too expensive. Soldiers were not willing to spend their credits on these things. They didn¡¯t care much about their appearance in the first ce so buying the skin mask would be a waste of credits for them.


    After some time, such products became avable for themon masses too. People that were born with disabilities could use such products. Some even managed to join the military. No one discriminated against people wearing the metal mask. This was why Li Lanfeng was able to live happily in the Scout Academy and the military academy with his mask and no one questioned him about it.


    The soldier on duty saluted to the person in the car. The person in the car saluted back. No one could rx in front of the General¡¯s manor.


    ¡°Please take out your pass,¡± the soldier on duty reminded.


    The person in the car immediately passed over a chip. The soldier on duty took out a small device and scanned the chip. A ¡®beep¡¯ sound was heard and the information about the people in the car appeared on the screen of the device. Their pass to enter the manor appeared too.


    ¡°Major Zhao Jun from the 4th ace mecha n of the 23rd Division, Flying Eagle Ace Mecha n, no. 0173. Major Li Lanfeng from the 4th ace mecha n of the 23rd Division, Flying Eagle Ace Mecha n, no. 0214. Major Li Shiyu from the 4th ace mecha n of the 23rd Division, Flying Eagle Ace Mecha n, no. 9189. You all are authorized to enter the manor.¡±


    The soldier on duty softened his expression slightly when he saw their names. He took the device again and ascertained their identity. Then, he called the people inside the manor. ¡°Captain, Major Zhao Jun from the 4th ace mecha n of the 23rd Division, Flying Eagle Ace Mecha n, no. 0173, Major Li Lanfeng from the 4th ace mecha n of the 23rd Division, Flying Eagle Ace Mecha n, no. 0214, and Major Li Shiyu from the 4th ace mecha n of the 23rd Division, Flying Eagle Ace Mecha n, no. 9189, would like to enter the manor. Please confirmed their arrival.¡±


    ¡°Arrival confirmed. Please send them in,¡± the people inside the manor replied quickly.


    ¡°Yes.¡± The soldier on duty opened the gate and let the hover car in.


    The hover car drove for around a minute before they came to another checkpoint. An officer with a stern face was standing on the checkpoint. He signaled for them to stop.


    ¡°Are you Major Zhao Jun, Major Li Lanfeng, and Major Li Shiyu?¡± the officer asked with a cold expression.


    The three people nodded. The soldier continued, ¡°Please get down the car. You all need to get into another hover car toplete the rest of the journey.¡±


    The three of them knew that this was done for safety reasons. Nothing outside the manor could be brought in. When they got off the hover car, six soldiers came over to them with devices in their hands and moved the devices around their bodies. No dangerous items were found. The soldiers nodded towards the officer.


    The officer became more polite. He waved his hand and a hover car came over. He opened the door and said, ¡°Please get into the car.¡±


    Li Lanfeng and his friends climbed into the car. The officer sat beside them. He introduced himself, ¡°I am General Ling Xiao¡¯s adjutant, Teng Huacheng. If you need any helpter, please look for me.¡±


    Li Lanfeng and his friends smiled politely. They didn¡¯t even dare to thank him. They knew that the Lieutenant Colonel was just being courteous. If they really troubled him, they would be seen as insolent.


    The hover car soon arrived at a huge manor. This was where General Ling Xiao stayed. Teng Huacheng led the three people into the manor. They saw a female second lieutenant standing inside the atrium.


    ¡°Lieutenant Colonel Teng, are these the three majors that Senior Colonel Lan invited?¡± the female second lieutenant asked.


    ¡°Yes, Second Lieutenant He,¡± Teng Huacheng smiled as he replied. He had been serving as General Ling Xiao¡¯s adjutant for two years. He knew who was the boss in this house. Hence, he didn¡¯t dare to offend anyone around General Ling Xiao.


    ¡°Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel. Pleasee with me, Senior Colonel Lan wants to see you all.¡± Second Lieutenant He smiled gently as she reminded them, ¡°Senior Colonel Lan is General Ling Xiao¡¯s wife. However, Senior Colonel doesn¡¯t like the term ¡®wife¡¯ so we all call her Senior Colonel Lan.¡±

 Chapter 572 - Thinking Too Much!

    <h4>Chapter 572: Thinking Too Much!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The three of them suddenly became very nervous. They originally thought the invitation was from Boss and didn¡¯t think that it was actually the Boss¡¯s mother. They felt like they were meeting up with a final boss in a video game.


    Second lieutenant He led them to the door and pushed down themunication button, ¡°Senior Colonel, the Majors has arrived.¡±


    ¡°Let them in.¡± The other side of themunicator had a soft and elegant voice. This voice made the three of them instantly felt at peace and their nervousness instantly disappeared. The three of them were amazed that the Boss¡¯s mother¡¯s voice was so nice to listen to. This was of course one of Lan Luofeng¡¯s strongest traits. Otherwise, how could she have charmed Ling Xiao with her voice?


    Following her voice, the door slid to the side. Second lieutenant He pointed towards the manor to tell the three of them to follow her.


    They arrived to a living room for guests. The first thing they saw was a circle of sofas. A beautiful woman was sitting on one of the sofas, holding a cup of tea in her hand. She saw them came in and smiled joyfully. The warm and joyful smile made the three of them blush and their minds nk.


    ¡°Sit.¡± Lan Luofeng smiled as she put down her teacup and pointed to one of the sofas in front of her. She then ordered her adjutant, Second lieutenant He, ¡°Little He, please pour some tea for them. What do you guys like to drink? Let her know if you have decided.¡±


    These three members of her daughter¡¯s battle team were all very capable. They managed to advance to the rank of major even though they were still so young, thus it meant that their futures would have limitless possibilities. Not only did they have potential, they all had their own specialities. The arrival of these youths made her very joyful.


    Lan Luofeng seeking Li Lanfeng and the others out and asking them to meet her actually had a deeper meaning. Ling Lan had promised to find a chance to get out of the military after two years then would regain her femininity. Lan Luofeng began to think about her daughter¡¯s age as she saw that the problem she had been worried about for 20 years wasing to an end. She suddenly discovered that her daughter was not young anymore at the age of 21. Thinking back, she had already married Ling Xiao when she was Ling Lan¡¯s age.


    After suddenly realizing her daughter was quickly bing a middle-age leftover woman pared to Lan Luofeng¡¯s early rtionship and marriage), Lan Luofeng was bing a bit impatient. She began to n to find a suitable son-inw. In the 23rd Division, as long as there were young ranked officers who had clean family histories and were remarkable, they all were potential suitors she considered.


    This decision would affect her daughter¡¯s happiness in the future, thus Lan Luofeng of course wouldn¡¯t just find any fish in the sea. She needed to hook thergest and fattest fish... Oh, no, the most remarkable young officer.


    Thus, after hearing her daughter had thought about inviting three of her members who had already made their names known in the 23rd Division, Lan Luofeng actively took the reins and made it happen. This was also why she asked Little He to stand guard at the door. She had to see what these three exceptional youths were like with her own eyes and whether they were qualified or not for her daughter.


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s warm greeting made the three of them nervous. They quickly saluted Lan Luofeng then carefully sat down. The three of them sat up straight in a way a soldier sits.


    Lan Luofeng began to size them up after a good first impression of them. Information about them began to appear in her mind.


    Firstly, it was the physically built Zhao Jun. His handsomeness and physique was approved by Lan Luofeng. ¡°Zhao Jun, 24 years old, closebat ace mecha operator. His age is very fitting but aren¡¯t closebat mechas considered to be mechas that battle for their lives. That is too dangerous...¡± Lan Luofeng thought and silently gave Zhao Jun an X of disapproval in her mind.


    Lan Luofeng was no longer interested in Zhao Jun and turned herself towards Li Lanfeng who was sitting in the middle. She saw his face and saw that he was bit scrawny. Lan Luofeng frowned a bit.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng, 24 years old, bnced ace mecha operator. This is safer, but the information about him said that he was born with a disability with his eyes. His physical constitution isn¡¯t the best either and it is worsepared to normal soldiers... This won¡¯t work. My daughter can¡¯t marry to someone who¡¯s not healthy. If he died at a young age that would hurt my daughter¡¯s feelings. This is a no as well.¡± Lan Luofeng didn¡¯t hesitate and eliminated Li Lanfeng out of the running as well.


    Lan Luofeng knew that her daughter was going to inherit the Ling family in the future. She of course wouldn¡¯t marry her out of the family. If she found a son-inw, she would find a son-inw that would marry into their family instead.


    Lan Luofeng moved her gaze towards Li Shiyu. He looked warm and charming with a pleasant aura. Additionally, the light smile stered on his face gave Lan Luofeng a feeling that he was simr to Ling Xiao. She was even more excited about him. Lan Luofeng liked those who were simr to Ling Xiao. If she found someone who had a simr aura as Ling Xiao, she would of course have a better impression of this person...


    ¡°Li Shiyu, the 23rd division hospital¡¯s physician. This is safe and great.¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s upation once again gave him some additional points. Lan Luofeng was very satisfied with this upation of his. Additionally, the research results Li Shiyu had achieved in the past three years in the division was enough to prove that he was exceptional.


    Lan Luofeng thought for a second, ¡°With genes as exceptional as these, their next generation wouldn¡¯t be too bad right...?¡± however, after she thought about how Ling Xiao¡¯s lineage was all strong mecha operators and needed to maintain the excellence of the next generation. The choice for the groom must be a very talented mecha operator.


    After thinking about all this, Lan Luofeng¡¯s initial great mood had disappeared. The three in front of her were all not the best choice. When will she be able to find the son-inw that she approves of...


    Seeing Lan Luofeng looked at them with an odd expression on her face then showing a disappointed expression, Li Lanfeng and the others felt their hearts skip a beat uncontrobly. Could it be that the three of them didn¡¯t pass Lan Luofeng¡¯s test and believed that they weren¡¯t qualified to be the Boss¡¯s team members?


    Cold sweat instantly formed on their backs, especially Li Lanfeng. The corner of his forehead was actually wet from cold sweat...


    ¡°Wuwuwu, Bosse save us. Senior Colonel Lan is so scary.¡± Were they going to be banished by Senior Colonel Lan in the next second?


    Right when the three of them were going to break down from Lan Luofeng¡¯s disappointed gaze, they heard a sound at the door. The door slowly opened and a familiar figure that they haven¡¯t seen in three years but still constantly remained in their minds had appeared.


    The three of them stood up in unnned unison and said with a pleasant surprise, ¡°Boss!¡±


    ¡°What~!¡± Lan Luofeng had just drank her tea. After hearing the three of them call out to Ling Lan, she instantly spat out her tea.


    ¡°Senior Colonel, are you alright?¡± Second lieutenant He went over to her with panic on her face. She didn¡¯t forget to fetch a towel and passed it over to Lan Luofeng in the process.


    Lan Luofeng took the towel. While she cleaned herself, she looked at the three of them in confusion, ¡°What did you guys say just now?¡±


    Right when Zhao Jun was about to answer, Li Lanfeng stopped him and spoke first, ¡°We said Captain! Senior Colonel!¡±


    Li Shiyu¡¯s reaction was very fast as well and immediately replied, ¡°Yes Senior Colonel, we said Captain.¡±


    Lan Luofeng turned around and looked towards Second lieutenant He. ¡°They really did say captain just now?¡±


    Second lieutenant involuntarily nced at Ling Lan. She discovered that Ling Lan was looking at her with a sharp and cold look. It was clearly telling her to answer correctly.


    Second lieutenant He was sobbing internally. She decisively replied, ¡°Senior Colonel, the three majors did indeed say ¡®Captain¡¯.¡± ¡°Sorry Senior Colonel. Young Master Lan¡¯s gaze is so cold and terrifying. I don¡¯t want to be turned into a block of ice by him,¡± thought Second lieutenant He.


    Lan Luofeng held her forehead, ¡°Could it be that I heard it wrong?¡± She thought about how she wasn¡¯t in a good mood just now and had a wandering mind. Maybe, perhaps that it was possible that she heard it wrong!


    ¡°Mom, since my friends are here, you should go do what you need to do.¡± Seeing the three of them all have cold sweat running down their backs, Ling Lan knew that her mother gave them immense pressure although she didn¡¯t know where this pressure came from. She couldn¡¯t bear to see her friends endure such hardships and decisively said something to help them out of the situation.


    Lan Luofeng didn¡¯t approve three of them and was no longer interested in continuing speaking with them. Additionally, she also knew that it wasn¡¯t very convenient for parents to be present when children were talking among themselves. After hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words, she didn¡¯t resist, then stood up and said, ¡°Alright Ling Lan, you got to take care of them.¡± Afterwards, she led Second lieutenant He, waved her hands and exited the living room.


    After the door closed, Li Lanfeng and the others who were respectfully watching Lan Luofeng leave instantly fell onto the sofa. Li Lanfeng also held his chest and began to take deep breaths.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan quickly walked forward and asked sincerely, ¡°Lanfeng, are you alright?¡±


    Li Lanfeng immediately waved his hand and said, ¡°I¡¯m alright. I was just too nervous. Once I unwind, my reaction would be a bitrge.¡±


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t at ease. The problem with Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart was something that she had seen with her eyes before. She looked towards Li Shiyu and gave him a look to ask him to confirm the situation.


    Li Shiyu held Li Lanfeng¡¯s wrist and closed his eyes to feel it. Then he opened his eyes and said, ¡°There isn¡¯t a problem. Indeed, he was just too nervous. The sudden rxation made his body react in this way. It¡¯s considered to be normal.¡±


    Hearing this, Ling Lan¡¯s forehead instantly scrunched up in worry, ¡°The pressure my mom gave you guys was this huge?¡± In the beginning, she used to use her aura to train their spiritual endurance. They would then not be affected by any pressure. Could it be that her mother¡¯s smile was stronger than her cold gaze?


    ¡°Thus, there¡¯s the saying ¡®murderous intents hidden within a warm smile¡¯.¡± Little Four suddenly jumped out. If Ling Lan¡¯s mother looked at him with such a warm expression, he would also have processing errors and begin tog... these murderous intents behind the warmth of a smile were too strong! It would also make people unable to refuse such warmth.


    Faced with Little Four¡¯s sudden and odd intrusions, Ling Lan was calm. She had already be used to Little Four¡¯s randomness and was able to fully ignore him.


    ¡°It was because it seemed like Senior Colonel was dissatisfied with us,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly. ¡°I was afraid that the Senior Colonel would say in the next second that with our capabilities, we would not be suitable to be in her son¡¯s battle team.¡±


    ¡°Bam!¡± A flick of a finger hit Li Lanfeng¡¯s forehead and almost made Li Lanfeng fall off the sofa.


    ¡°You¡¯re thinking too much.¡± Ling Lan said calmly. ¡°My mom wouldn¡¯t meddle with things regarding my battle team. She would only...¡±


    Ling Lan stopped speaking and showed an expression that she understood and then pouted. Her mother was doing some annoying things again. It seemed that Ling Lan needed to remind her father again and not make her mother feel lonely because of his duties in the division. This would make sure her mother to not have the time to think about these random things.


    Knowing the reason, Ling Lan decisively stopped talking about this topic. She walked towards the tea room and calmly asked, ¡°What do you guys want to drink?¡±

 Chapter 573 - It Is Not A Problem!

    <h4>Chapter 573: It Is Not A Problem!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Roaring me!¡± Zhao Jun said. The three of them were too nervous just now so they just asked for in water. However, all of them wanted to try the teas avable in the General¡¯s manor. The teas in this manor were specially prepared for the General. It was a rare opportunity for them so they didn¡¯t want to miss the chance to taste the teas.


    ¡°South Pole!¡± Li Lanfeng needed a cup of cold tea to calm himself down. He was in more stresspared to the other two people. He hated to see Mother Lan¡¯s disappointed expression.


    ¡°Attentiveness!¡± Li Shiyu wanted to taste the famous Attentiveness tea.


    Ling Lan entered the teas that they wanted into the system and soon, four teacups appeared in front of them. Zhao Jun immediately took his Roaring me and Li Lanfeng took his South Pole. Ling Lan took the remaining two cups and walked towards Li Shiyu. She passed the Attentiveness tea to him.


    Li Lanfeng and his friends felt more rxed as there were no elders around them. They wanted to taste their teas in peace.


    However, this elegant and peaceful atmosphere was broken by someone.


    Zhao Jun gulped down his tea and burped. He let out a deep breath and said, ¡°This feels so good.¡±


    Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu wanted to punch him. They were just getting into the mood to have a peaceful tea-tasting session but Zhao Jun destroyed the atmosphere.


    They looked at their teacups. If they knew that this was going to happen, they would havee secretly. They wouldn¡¯t bring this person along...


    Ling Lan was unaffected. She calmly raised her teacup and took a small sip.


    To Ling Lan, teas were meant for drinking. Whether you sipped it or gulped it, it was a personal preference. She had nothing against it.


    Ling Lan¡¯s indifference calmed Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu down. They shook their heads. They were still inexperienced. They had much to learn from their boss.


    They threw away their unhappiness and started tasting the tea.


    It... felt really good! Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu suddenly realized that Zhao Jun¡¯s description was urate. Did Zhao Jun drink the tea correctly? Were they too focused on the formalities? Did they seem too ostentatious?


    They didn¡¯t manage to find the answer. Ling Lan had already put down her cup and said, ¡°You all came three years before me. You all should understand more about the 23rd Division. What do you all think about the division?¡±


    Ling Lan had asked Little Four to search for information about the 23rd Division but the information he got was all written materials. She found her father to discuss this too but her father was the person-in-charge of the entire 23rd Division. Hence, his perception was different from soldiers. It was not useful to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan was just a new member of the 23rd Division so Li Lanfeng¡¯s opinions were more informative to her. Zhao Jun and Li Shiyu could not give her any useful tips. One of them was taken in by an ace mecha n while the other was sent to work in the hospital. There were no chances for the two of them to understand the soldiers at the bottom of the rank.


    As expected, when Ling Lan finished asking her question, Zhao Jun and Li Shiyu looked at Li Lanfeng simultaneously.


    Li Lanfeng was sent to the grass-roots units the moment he ended his recruit training camp. He became a recruit toon leader and worked his way up from the bottom.


    This experience allowed Li Lanfeng to understand the grass-root units better and knew what the hidden problems in the 23rd Division were.


    Li Lanfeng said seriously, ¡°Overall, the 23rd Division is a united and organized division. People entered the 23rd Division because of General Ling Xiao. Everyone respected and admired him. He is the only recognized leader in the 23rd Division.¡±


    Ling Lan frowned. The military would not be happy with a division that had only one influential member.


    As expected, Li Lanfeng continued, ¡°Besides the divisions of the three great marshals, none of the other divisions had only one person in power. Normally, two to three factions influenced the division. One of the factions might hold a greater power...¡± Li Lanfeng hesitated before saying, ¡°For instance, the 4th and 5th Division is under the influence of the Li family but they don¡¯t have the authority to make their own decision because there are other factions. They need to consult them. However, for the 23rd Division, no one will dare to go against General Ling Xiao.¡±


    Li Shiyu looked at Li Lanfeng secretly. Li Lanfeng just said a secret that only the direct sessor of the Li family would know. How did he know about this? Li Shiyu remembered that Li Lanfeng studied with his cousin before. Did his cousin tell him about it unknowingly? Was Li Lanfeng not his rtive? Was there something going on behind the scenes?


    ¡°The military does not wish for a 4th great marshal to appear,¡± Ling Lan said softly.


    The three current great marshals would not like to have a new person joining their ranks and diluting their power too. Ling Lan knew that her father was clear about the consequences. However, he still went ahead and controlled the entire division. Why did he choose to take the risk?


    ¡°Yes. The spies sent from the other factions were mostly taken out of the 23rd Division in the reorganization effort the year before. Only a few harmless people were left. The other factions knew that they couldn¡¯t get people into the top positions so they put people into the grass-roots units. Hence, alliance groups appeared within the soldiers. Some instances include the Pu Jun Alliance Group and the Jun Ying Friendship Association.¡±


    ¡°These alliance groups are made up of spies from the various factions,¡± Ling Lan said sarcastically. No matter what era it was, military power was always at the heart of the power struggle.


    ¡°Yes. When this batch of new recruits ends their training camp, these alliance groups will appear and try to rope you all in.¡± Li Lanfeng thought of something and said, ¡°The two alliance groups I mentioned have grudges against each other. One of them represents the elite soldiers while the other represents the normal soldiers. Their conflict worsened recently. It must be the doings of the various factions. If not, these two groups would not go against each other so quickly.¡±


    ¡°In the eyes of the normal soldiers, recruits from the military academy belong to the elite team,¡± Ling Lan said thoughtfully.


    The headquarters wanted the soldiers in the 23rd Division to be dissatisfied with their leaders. The headquarters didn¡¯t want to see such a united 23rd Division. Ling Lan didn¡¯t expect them to fear her father so much. They were willing to weaken the strength of the military in order to prevent the 23rd Division from rising in power.


    ¡°Yes. Recruits from the military academy will be discriminated against by the Pu Jun Alliance Group. Then, the Jun Ying Alliance Group will step in and recruit them.¡± Li Lanfeng recalled the situation he faced in the past. The two groups appeared to be on opposite sides but in actual fact, they worked together to force you to choose one of them.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t join any side, will you be discriminated against?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    Li Lanfeng nodded his head bitterly. ¡°I didn¡¯t join any side so my situation was bad at the start. The soldiers only recognize me after my toonpleted many missions. However, I was promoted to the mecha n soon after and entered the temporary battle team with Li Shiyu and Zhao Jun. I didn¡¯t spend much time at the bottom so I couldn¡¯t get a deeper understanding of them.¡± Li Lanfeng was afraid that he would misguide Ling Lan so he added in thest sentence.


    Ling Lan nodded. Li Lanfeng was relieved that Ling Lan understood him. He continued, ¡°I don¡¯t understand why General Ling Xiao allowed the conflicts between the elite soldiers and the normal soldiers to happen. He could have done some things to alleviate the situation.¡± Did General Ling Xiao close one eye because he was afraid of the different factions?


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s query reminded Ling Lan of what her father said to her a few days ago. She thought that he wanted to tell her what real brother-in-arms was but now, she realized that he wanted to tell her how useless the efforts by the headquarters to harm the 23rd Division were.


    Ling Lan smiled. ¡°All these are not a problem.¡±


    Li Lanfeng looked at her in shock. Zhao Jun and Li Shiyu raised their heads too. To them, this was something that could destroy the foundation of the division. It was important to prevent such conflicts from urring.


    ¡°Rtionships between brother-in-arms are not developed during everyday interactions,¡± Ling Lan said with a calm expression. She didn¡¯t continue after that.


    Zhao Jun didn¡¯t understand what she was saying. Li Shiyu felt that he got a hint of it while Li Lanfeng smiled after pondering over her words.


    Zhao Jun saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression and knew that he understood Ling Lan. He asked hurriedly, ¡°Lanfeng, hurry up and tell me what is happening? Why did the boss say that all these are not a problem?¡±


    Li Shiyu looked at Li Lanfeng too. He had some ideas but he was not sure if he was right.


    ¡°You can only be someone¡¯s brother-in-arms after the two of you experience the battlefield together,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled as he hinted them.


    Zhao Jun was enlightened. He mmed the table. ¡°Yes, once people went through life and death together, such conflicts are not important.¡±


    Li Shiyu eximed, ¡°Those people are wasting their efforts. Seems like General Ling Xiao ns to bring the 23rd Division to the battlefield soon.¡±


    ¡°Of course. A division that never went to the battlefield is not a real division,¡± Ling Lan replied him firmly. She was certain about her father¡¯s ns for the division. Within these two years, her father would definitely send a request to the headquarters to let the division to go on the battlefield. All the conflicts would be resolved on the battlefield. There would be no more huge grudges once they returned.


    ¡°We are still inexperienced. The problems that we worry about are nothing in General Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes,¡± Li Lanfeng mocked himself. His mood got better.


    The leader of the 23rd Division was Ling Xiao. If no idents happened, the sessor of the division would be Ling Lan. As Ling Lan¡¯srade, it was his responsibility to worry and solve problems for Ling Lan.


    ¡°So, just allow conflicts to happen.¡± Ling Lan decided to learn from her father and disregard this issue.


    She smiled and asked them, ¡°Are you all nning to stay at your current position ore back to be my team member?¡±


    ¡°We will definitelye back.¡± Li Lanfeng red at Ling Lan. They waited three years for him. He couldn¡¯t kick them away even if he wanted to.


    Zhao Jun nodded. No other captain was better than Ling Lan. He made the most amount of improvement during the time he was in Ling Lan¡¯s team. Zhao Jun was an ambitious person. He wanted to get stronger so he didn¡¯t want to leave his boss.


    Li Shiyu replied, ¡°Since I promised to be your team member, I will do it unless you don¡¯t want me. I have informed the hospital that I will just work part-time there. Once you form your battle team, I will get us our totem for the team.¡±


    ¡°Form the battle team...¡± Ling Lan realized that she needed to get this done before the recruit training camp ended. Who would assess her?


    Times flies. The recruit training camp ended. Many high-level officers appeared in the recruit camp on the day the training camp ended. They looked at this batch of recruits. This was an outstanding batch.


    Most of the battle teams had gotten the name list of this batch of recruits.


    There were many exceptional talents that applied for the 23rd Division. It was the best batch of recruits the division ever had.


    Among them, 7 recruits had reached the Qi-Jin level of Physical skills. There were a few high-level mechanics as well as one master-level mechanic. The battle teams fought to get the master-level mechanic into their team. Getting a master-level mechanic was like having another life on the battlefield. This meant that there was a higher chance of survival for the team. No battle team could resist this temptation.


    There were also five ace operators. The teams prepared themselves for a fierce fight as everyone wanted to get their hands on ace operators.

 Chapter 574 - Activate The Battle Team!

    <h4>Chapter 574: Activate The Battle Team!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    When everyone in the 23rd Division gathered at the recruit camp, a hover car drove out of the General¡¯s manor.


    He Xuyang and Ling Lan sat beside each other in the backseat. He Xuyang looked at Ling Lan¡¯s calm expression. He was worried so he asked, ¡°Young Master Lan, why don¡¯t you wait a while before forming your battle team? You can familiarize yourself with the rules and regtions first.¡±


    If a captain managed toplete the missions to build a battle team in the Mecha World, he could apply to form their battle team in the real world.


    However, the formation of a battle team was not easy. Many recruits applied to form their battle teams and failed. There were three missions toplete to form the battle team. Two missions were in the virtual world and one was in the real world.


    ¡°I know. There are three missions, right?¡± When her father knew that she wanted to form her battle team on thest day of the training camp, he told her that it was not an easy feat. He said that she needed to pass three missions.


    However, Ling Xiao wanted to test his daughter¡¯s adaptive ability so he didn¡¯t tell her what the three missions were.


    He Xuyang¡¯s eyes lit up when he heard what Ling Lan had said. ¡°The general gave you some advice?¡± If he did, Young Master Lan would have a higher chance of seeding.


    Ling Lan replied, ¡°No. Father only told me that there were three missions. He wanted me to experience the missions myself. If I didn¡¯t seed, it means that I am not strong enough and do not have the ability to lead my team.¡±


    He Xuyang wanted to cry when he heard this. General, why are you so fair and just? If Young Master Lan failed, he would be deeply affected and might not be able to recover from the blow. Our future sessor of the 23rd Division would be gone...


    He Xuyang wanted to help but he didn¡¯t know what the missions were too. He had no battle team under him and he didn¡¯t know any captains personally. Hence, he was unable to get any information about the missions.


    Ling Lan smiled when she saw the worried look on He Xuyang¡¯s face. She consoled him, ¡°It will be fine. I know what I am doing.¡± If she couldn¡¯t pass the missions with her current ability, it meant that no recruits would be able to do it within this short period of three months. If that was the case, there was no point in allowing the recruits to have the chance to form a battle team right after their training camp.


    If theory was tested, Ling Lan was not afraid too. She had Little Four. Everything could be found in his database. Little Four had been wandering around the virtual world all these years and even managed to download some secret information into his own database. If there was a question that Little Four couldn¡¯t answer, it must be from another world.


    The hover car that Ling Lan and He Xuyang was in was manually controlled. The person driving was Second Lieutenant He. Lan Luofeng thought that Ling Lan just needed to register to form a battle team so she let Second Lieutenant He to drive her dear daughter over to the location.


    If she could, Lan Luofeng wanted to drive her daughter over personally. However, she knew that she couldn¡¯t appear in the public together with Ling Lan. She also knew that Ling Lan would not being back. They had to resume their old life where she could only contact her daughter through amunicator. Ling Lan would be a normal soldier in the 23rd Division while she was the wife of the Regiment Commander. By right, they were strangers again.


    Ling Xiao left in the morning to settle some things at the headquarters of the 23rd Division. He looked indifferent when he left the manor but when Ling Lan saw the He Xuyang waiting for her in the living room, she knew that her father was worried about her too. He just didn¡¯t show it.


    The hover car drove for more than an hour and He Xuyang talked for the entire journey. When they were reaching, Second Lieutenant He said, ¡°Young Master Lan, we are almost at our destination.¡± The hover car slowed down as she spoke.


    Ling Lan secretly heaved a sigh of relief. She didn¡¯t expect her father¡¯s adviser to be so good at nagging. If she was not patient enough, she might have knocked He Xuyang unconscious to stop him from talking.


    Ling Lan saw a gate with high walls around it. She couldn¡¯t see what was within the walls.


    After some inspections, the hover car finally stopped on a vast za. When they were passing through the checkpoints, He Xuyang told Ling Lan that this was the secret base of the 23rd Division. Outsiders were only allowed in if the general gave his words.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that every new captain has the chance to clear their missions here.¡± Ling Lan nced at He Xuyang coldly. If every captain came here, this ce would be known by everyone. It would not be a secret base anymore.


    He Xuyang felt an oppressive aura when Ling Lan looked at him. It was as though the person he was facing was not Ling Lan but General Ling Xiao. He hurriedly replied, ¡°Of course. Outsiders would not be able toe here at all. However, General Ling Xiao was the one that arranged for you toe here.¡± If you have any opinions regarding this arrangement, please go and find the mastermind. Don¡¯t harm innocent people like me.


    ¡°My father must have his reasons for making such arrangements.¡± Ling Lan retracted her gaze. She was clear how sly her father was. There was definitely something going on.


    ¡°Yes, yes...¡± He Xuyang nodded fervently. He wiped the cold sweat off his forehead when Ling Lan was not looking. Sob, who said that apanying Young Master Lan was an easy task? He must find that person and pluck out all of his teeth.


    He Xuyang managed to see Ling Lan¡¯s real character so he didn¡¯t dare to stay beside her any longer. He took out the eptance letter that General Ling Xiao gave him and passed it to a soldier on duty. The soldier guided them to a slightly dpidated warehouse. The warehouse was a distance away from the entrance so they took some time before they reached there.


    He Xuyang looked at the soldier on duty with a puzzled expression. The soldier gave a forced smile and nodded firmly. This was the correct location.


    He Xuyang and Ling Lan entered the warehouse. Before they could say anything, the soldier on duty disappeared.


    The two of them looked at each other. There was no one to guide them so they look around themselves. Very soon, they found a person lying in a login pod.


    ¡°Brother, I have something to look for...¡± He Xuyang smiled as he knocked on the login pod. When someone knocked on the door of the login pod, the system would tell the person in the virtual world that someone was looking for him. This way, the person in the login pod would not be interrupted.


    He Xuyang waited silently for three minutes before he lost his patience. He pressed the force-stop button on the login pod. The next moment, he heard the person inside the pod started to swear.


    The door of the pod flew open and a middle-aged soldier with a beard red at them. ¡°Which idiot interrupted mypetition?¡± His gazended on Ling Lan. Ling Lan raised her right hand and pointed at He Xuyang.


    From the malevolent aura surrounding the soldier, he was definitely an expert in physical skills. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to offend such a person. Also, she was speaking the truth. He Xuyang was the one who pressed the force-stop button.


    The middle-aged soldier looked towards He Xuyang. The anger on his face suddenly disappeared. He was stunned. He frowned and said impatiently, ¡°He Xuyang, Adviser He, why are you here today?¡±


    He nced at Ling Lan again. Ling Lan was calm, decisive, and emotionless. He admired him. This kind of person was born to be a soldier.


    However, when he looked at Ling Lan again, his expression changed. He immediately got serious.


    He Xuyang felt depressed when Ling Lan betrayed him without any hesitation. Why was he so heartless? Did Young Master Lan forget that he was hispanion?


    He Xuyang was focused on expressing his displeasure so he missed the change of expression on the middle-aged soldier¡¯s face. If he noticed it, he would be able to guess Ling Lan¡¯s secret. He missed the chance to uncover the secret so he became one of thest people to know the truth.


    He Xuyang was depressed for a moment but managed to regain hisposure quickly. He said with a stern face, ¡°Senior Colonel Mi, I have brought a recruit for registration.¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi was ted when he heard this. He looked at Ling Lan excitedly and said, ¡°Is this the recruit that the headquarters gave me?¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi didn¡¯t like recruits that came from the military academy. He felt that they were liked mass produced products from a factory. They were all good but not special. He preferred normal soldiers that started from the bottom. All the soldiers under him were people who fought their way to survive on the battlefield.


    However, he was satisfied with this recruit and was willing to ept him into his team. He could see that the recruit¡¯s physical skills were at the domain level. He was now the youngest person to have reached the domain level. But, his information was not in the database so this recruit must have hidden his true abilities.


    Aspared to those arrogant idiots who wanted everyone to know how good they were, he admired smart people who worked hard secretly and hid their true skills to fool their enemies. This kind of people was not only able to survive on the battlefield, but they would also be able to handle the struggle for power within the division as well. This recruit would have a bright future ahead of him.

 Chapter 575 - He Is Ling Lan!

    <h4>Chapter 575: He Is Ling Lan!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Senior Colonel Mi liked this cold-looking young man but He Xuyang¡¯s reply broke his dream. ¡°No, no, I brought him here so that he can form his own team.¡±


    ¡°He is a captain?¡± Senior Colonel Mi said in a disappointed tone. However, it was understandable that such a powerful recruit would want to form his own team and create his own achievements.


    After Senior Colonel Mi regained hisposure, he felt puzzled. ¡°He canplete his mission in other ces too. Why must hee here? You made me happy for a moment.¡±


    He Xuyang gave an innocent face. ¡°It was the general¡¯s order.¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi nced at Ling Lan curiously. He understood that the general must have taken a fancy on the young man. He tidied his messy hair and tried his best to look good. He opened hismunicator and said emotionlessly, ¡°Name?¡±


    Ling Lan knew that he was asking her so she replied, ¡°Ling Lan.¡±


    ¡°Ling Lan? Which Ling and which Lan?¡± Senior Colonel Mi asked instinctively. Before Ling Lan could reply to him, he suddenly raised his head. ¡°You are Ling Lan?¡±


    Ling Lan frowned. Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s expression made her feel that something was amiss. Things seemed to be getting out of her control.


    He Xuyang was not surprised by the reaction. Senior Colonel Mi was the other reason why he decided to apany Ling Lan to this ce. He wanted to see his expression. He Xuyang knew Senior Colonel Mi for many years and this was the first time he saw a huge change of expression on the colonel¡¯s face. He was extremely satisfied.


    He Xuyang smiled happily and replied, ¡°Yes, this is Ling Lan. He was the one that defeated the captain of your substitute team in the special forces.¡±


    Ling Lan was speechless. Adviser He must be taking revenge on her. The mission this time would be hard. She didn¡¯t expect this ce to be the headquarters of the special forces. She entered the lion¡¯s den herself, on the orders of her father.


    Ling Lan suddenly realized that Ling Xiao liked to make things difficult for her. Throwing her into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was an instance of it.


    Ling Lan felt her head hurting. F**k, this is not logical. Shouldn¡¯t she be the one creating troubles for her father? She must get her revenge next time.


    Senior Colonel Mi looked intently at Ling Lan. He was no longer rxed and casual. He seemed like a wild beast that saw its prey. Ling Lan was vignt.


    Of course, no matter what Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s attitude was, Ling Lan would not let down her guard. She knew that she had embarrassed the special forces three months ago.


    Senior Colonel Mi entered her name into hismunicator and then pointed at the login pods beside him. ¡°Just choose one and go in. The mainframe will tell you the relevant details of the mission.¡±


    After he finished talking, he entered his login pod. Before he closed his door, he paused. He reminded the two people in front of him with a stern face, ¡°Don¡¯t press the force-stop button again. Once I finish my mission in the virtual world, I wille out.¡± He didn¡¯t want them to disturb him.


    He Xuyang looked at Ling Lan in concern. He looked as though he wanted to wait for Ling Lan to finish her mission but Ling Lan asked him to leave. She told him that his father needed his assistance. He Xuyang was happy that he could leave. Truthfully, he didn¡¯t want to stay here any longer.


    After He Xuyang left, Ling Lan was left alone in the warehouse. She sighed loudly. Whatever ns her father had, she weed it. In fact, she even felt excited when she knew that she was in the headquarters of the special forces. The torturous training in the learning space nurtured Ling Lan¡¯s desire for challenges. If the special forces wanted to take revenge, she didn¡¯t mind fighting them again.


    Ling Lan made her decision and entered the virtual world...


    ¡°Hey, I have never seen this brat before. Who is he?¡± Ling Lan immediately heard someone eximing beside her. She had nog time when she entered the virtual world so she could sense everything the moment she entered.


    A few people were gathered around her. Ling Lan pretended to be stiff for a moment so that they wouldn¡¯t realize her secret.


    ¡°I have never seen him before too. However, today is thest day of the recruit training camp. Did themander went to the recruit camp to find new blood?¡± from the age and the looks of this young man, he must be a recruit. The people thought that he was an official member of the special forces because only official members could enter the headquarters of the special forces. Substitutes didn¡¯t have the right toe here.


    In order to protect the members of the special forces and prevent the location of the special forces headquarters from being exposed, every single member of the special forces underwent a thorough background check before entering the team.


    They had to be strict with the recruitment of the special forces because they were the ultimate weapon of the division. If the special forces got destroyed, the entire division would drop in strength and be a third-rank division. The division would not be able to regain its strength in a short period of time.


    ¡°That is possible. Maybe themander felt frustrated after the three months in the des Training Camp and wanted to vent his emotions on someone,¡± a 30 years old soldier ced his hand on his chin and said.


    ¡°Yao Lang, don¡¯t remind me of the des...¡± Everyone was frightened. They remembered the three months of torture that they went through. Wasn¡¯t it supposed to be a vacation? Weren¡¯t they supposed to rx and enjoy themselves during those three months? If theirmander didn¡¯t go through the training with them, they might have rebelled during the training. Of course, even if they did rebel, they would fail. The instructors there were crazy. They were all beasts!


    Yao Lang recalled the scary times in the camp and changed the topic immediately. ¡°I am just kidding. Even if themander took a fancy on him, he needs to undergo three to six months of background check. Hence, it is impossible for him to be recognized by themander today.¡±


    This meant that the recruit must be chosen by themander at least three months in advance. That was the time when the recruits from the military academies came in. If it was six months ago... he could only be a normal recruit.


    They dismissed the option that he was a normal recruit. No matter how talented a normal recruit was, he would be unable to catch up with a recruit from the military academies in such a short time. Their starting points were totally different.


    Although theirmander liked normal recruits, he would not let a normal recruit enter the special forces before the recruit showed his true potential. He would be harming the normal recruit if he did that.


    Normal recruits were not as talented as the recruits from the military academies. They could only rely on fights on the battlefield to gain experience and improve themselves. If not, they would never be able to surpass those soldiers from the military academies.


    ¡°Did themander set his eyes on this recruit the moment he came here? Is there a prodigy among the recruits this year? Why is themander so willing to ept him? He never liked recruits from the military academies,¡± someone asked in a puzzled tone.


    ¡°The one who defeated Lian Shaojing can be considered a prodigy,¡± someone replied sarcastically.


    ¡°The recruit was also heavily injured. He even missed the three months of recruit training camp...¡± Another person answered.


    ¡°Lian Shaojing had to recuperate for at least a year. If you look at it this way, Lian Shaojing had a more serious injury.¡± Someone expressed his opinion.


    ¡°The recruit might still have to stay in the hospital after three months. No one said that he would recoverpletely after three months. He might have to wait for the next batch of recruits toe in before being assigned to a team.¡±


    ording to the rules of the division, if a recruit missed the graduation ceremony, he would have to wait for another year to be assigned to a team.


    Someone suddenly asked, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that this is Ling Lan.¡±


    ¡°That is impossible.¡± Amotion arose among the people. Ling Lan embarrassed the special forces. Themander would never take a fancy on such a person... unless Ling Lan was really a prodigy...


    But that was impossible too. Theirmander was someone who was not satisfied with ace operators as well as people who fully mastered their physical skills. He would only make such exceptions if he found someone in the domain realm or an imperial operator. Could a recruit reach these two statuses?


    Not everyone was Ling Xiao.


    The people around Ling Lan noticed that his eyes were regaining conscious. They knew that hisg time was ending. One of them exchanged nces with Yao Lang and Yao Lang took a step towards Ling Lan. He stood right in front of Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan looked at the person that appeared in front of her. He was lean aspared to the others. He smiled at her but Ling Lan felt the coldness in his smile.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t feel any oppressive aura from this person. His physical skills must be lower than the domain realm. She didn¡¯t know his mecha operator status but from the conversations just now, she predicted that this person must be the adviser of the group.

 Chapter 576 - Prime!

    <h4>Chapter 576: Prime!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Seeing how Ling Lan¡¯s expression was still extremely calm and did not fluctuate when he suddenly got close to him, Yao Lang had a glimmer of admiration in his eyes. He believed Ling Lan was a good seed just waiting to grow. He smiled and asked, ¡°Hey little kid, is it your first time here? What¡¯s your name?¡±


    Ling Lan of course wouldn¡¯t answer him. She wasn¡¯t stupid. She was at the headquarters of the special forces. If she carelessly told him her name, it would be giving them a chance to take revenge on her. Thus, Ling Lan chose to remain silent and calm as she continued to look at Yao Lang and didn¡¯t think to even answer his questions.


    After been given the cold shoulder by Ling Lan, Yao Lang¡¯srades who were watching the situation from the side all instantly burst out inughter. One of them was so exaggerated he was pping his leg as heughed, ¡°Hahaha, that¡¯s too funny. Yao Lang, it seems that this day woulde eventually.¡±


    Yao Lang always used his fake smile and easily had people ce their trust in him. Thus, they would always use him to speak to strangers,and he would easily win people over. This made those veterans who had malevolent auras be green with envy. Now, they finally saw Yao Lang get rejected. Theserades of his of course wouldn¡¯t pass up on an opportunity tough at him.


    Yao Lang smiled bitterly. He didn¡¯t think that the smile that always made it convenient for him had lost its effect and was ignored by this little kid in front of him.


    He wasn¡¯t willing to give up and coughed as he continued to speak, ¡°Only those who are in our special forces cane to this ce, so you¡¯re ourrade. You don¡¯t have to be so defensive.¡±


    Ling Lan had already made a decision to not expose her identity. She continued to stare at Yao Lang in a way as though he didn¡¯t exist.


    Yao Lang finally couldn¡¯t hold up his smiling expression and walked back to hisrades in defeat.


    ¡°Yao Lang, not everyone gets affected by that move.¡± Right as he returned, he heard hisrades mocking him.


    Yao Lang didn¡¯t get angry and only shrugged his shoulders. He said nonchntly, ¡°Why don¡¯t you guys try? I¡¯ll treat whoever seeds to a meal.¡±


    After Yao Lang¡¯s words, everyone¡¯s eyes glimmered as they all shouted in unison, ¡°Pce of Celebrations.¡± That restaurant was the only seven star luxurious restaurant chain in the Federation. Those who went to eat there were only top-ranking officials in the Federation. It wasn¡¯t because these special forces members couldn¡¯t afford it, but after one meal, they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to livefortably for an entire season. Thus, hearing that they had a chance to spend the money of someone with deep pockets, Yao Lang¡¯srades of course would choose the most luxurious ce.


    Hearing this, Yao Lang¡¯s face instantly dropped and became distressed, ¡°You people want me to eat nutrient solutions continuously for years?¡± Thinking about that kind of lifestyle, he instantly felt that it was terrible.


    ¡°Well you said it. If you¡¯re willing to bet, then you should ept the loss as well.¡± Herades would of course not be willing to give up on this great chance. The cost of a seven star restaurant was indeed high, but the taste was irresistible. Every year, they would go and eat there once and treat their stomachs. Then they would work hard on the tasks afterwards... as they had to somehow earn their next season¡¯s life expenses.


    Having been motivated by the Pce of Celebrations, they teased Ling Lan one by one in an attempt to make Ling Lan have a reaction and receive the reward from Yao Lang¡¯s bet. Unfortunately, Ling Lan¡¯s emotions had already been trained in the training space and became extremely tough. This level of interference had little to no effect on her.


    Afterwards, the number of those who were defeated becamerger andrger, and finally all of them squatted down on the ground depressingly as they started to draw circles on the ground. At that moment, Yao Lang¡¯s expression was brightening up. He finally didn¡¯t have to eat nutrient solutions everyday and the person who saved him was none other than the cold youth with icy air around his body. Yao Lang¡¯s impression of Ling Lan was bing better and better... He decided that if one day this youth needed his help, he would definitely help him out once.


    Yao Lang and hisrades¡¯ activity had attracted other special forces members who were walking by. When they spoke to those who were drawing circles on the ground, they also enthusiastically joined the group that was teasing Ling Lan... When Senior Colonel Mi returned, he saw this scene.


    ¡°You bastards, what are you guys doing?¡± Seeing Ling Lan had been surrounded, Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s heart skipped a beat. He thought that his subordinates were preparing to teach Ling Lan a lesson because of Lian Shaojing¡¯s incident so he immediately shouted at them.


    Seeing their leader return, the members who were enthusiastically teasing Ling Lan quickly moved away from her. They looked at their team leader with fear. When did this scary god-like man appear?


    Yao Lang saw the Senior Colonel and knew the situation was bad. He quickly smiled and said, ¡°Leader, we saw that there was fresh meat. So, we were just giving him a warm greeting.¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi dashed towards them and kicked the members who were slower in moving away from Ling Lan, ¡°What are you guys doing surrounding him like that. Go mind your own business.¡±


    Those who were kicked cried out in agony. Their faces were filled with sadness as they said, ¡°We only wanted to ask the new guy his name...¡±


    ¡°Name?¡± Senior Colonel Mi stared at them for a moment. Did these guys not know that this person in front of them was Ling Lan?


    ¡°Yeah. The new guy¡¯s really cold and wouldn¡¯t even introduce himself to us. Leader, where did you find this weirdo?¡± someoneined. Was it that hard for them to eat a meal at the Pce of Celebrations?


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll be brother-in-arms in the future, so he should at least tell us his name.¡± No one wanted to give up the chance of immediately winning the bet. Even if the most ruthless leader was standing in front of them, his presence wouldn¡¯t stop them from crazily thinking about eating fine cuisine.


    ¡°Who said he¡¯s your brother-in-arms? This is what you get for assuming. Take that and that.¡± Senior Colonel Mi saw that everyone still didn¡¯t budge. This time, he kicked thest person that was speaking. ¡°Sh*t, they dare to add salt to my wound.¡± Did he not want Ling Lan to join the special forces? Unfortunately, he was only here to activate his own battle team.


    ¡°Leader, I¡¯m sorry, sorry. He¡¯s not part of the battle team... then why is he here?!¡± The person who spoke suddenly realized the situation and instantly shouted out loud while he was begging for forgiveness and dodging the senior colonel¡¯s kicks.


    Senior Colonel Mi was also tired and gave him a dirty look instead, ¡°He¡¯s here to activate his own battle team. What, he can¡¯t do that?¡±


    That person didn¡¯t dare to disagree and nodded, ¡°Yes, yes, yes, if leader says yes then it¡¯s possible!¡± Sh*t, why would hee to their special forces camping grounds to activate a battle team. Couldn¡¯t he just find any camping ground and do it?


    ¡°Leader, who are you going to arrange as his opponent? How about letting me have a go?¡± That person turned around and was kicked by the Senior Colonel many times once again. This person thought that he should try to get something out of it. Since this mystery person came here, he wanted to teach him a lesson to make him understand that in the division, new meat must know their ce...


    They only wanted to ask for a name. Couldn¡¯t he just tell them? Wuwuwu, their chance to go to the Pce of Celebrations! After he thought to this point, that person felt that his heart was aching. The fine cuisine was just at his fingertips!


    Unfortunately his suggestion was refused by Senior Colonel Mi, ¡°It has nothing to do with us. I¡¯m only bring him to the arena.¡±


    ¡°What? He came to our special forces unit but his opponent isn¡¯t actually one of us? Then why did hee here?¡± Someone shouted in surprise and everyone became confused. If this person¡¯s opponent was not from their camping grounds but from another team, he wouldn¡¯te our part of the map right?


    Senior Colonel Mi looked at red at all of them angrily, ¡°Is there any other ce that can contact the special forces of the Federation?¡± General Ling Xiao only asked Ling Lan toe here because he thought of this point right? Thinking that his special forces unit was actually looked down upon by General Ling Xiao and wanted another division¡¯s battle team to defend the location, Senior Colonel Mi felt another knife stab him in the heart...


    ¡°What? He¡¯s looking for people from other battle teams? This is looking down us right?¡±


    ¡°Leader, who made this idiotic decision at the headquarters of division? It¡¯s too over the top. Looking down on us like this. If they don¡¯t give a us a good reason, then we can only go to the headquarters and teach that person a lesson.¡± Everyone there felt it was unfair. The special forces was originally a bunch of proud soldiers. They always had the ideology that they would fight if there was a reason to and would also fight if there weren¡¯t any reasons to when handling problems.


    ¡°Go ahead!¡± Senior Colonel Mi suddenly grinned. The grin was filled with evil intent and made everyone shudder.


    Yao Lang¡¯s rm inside his head had sounded. When the leader showed this type of smile, him and hisrades would not die but be close to death¡¯s door. He didn¡¯t want to die without knowing the reason and quickly interjected, ¡°Leader, our battle team still has something to do so we¡¯re not going to bother you anymore. We...¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, I¡¯m not busy. I¡¯m really not busy at all,¡± Senior Colonel Mi cut off Yao Lang and calmly replied. Hearing this, Yao Lang knew that they were in trouble.


    ¡°You guys want to know who arranged this? And what to fight that person?¡± Senior Colonel Mi looked at everyone with his evil grin. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll give you a chance. I won¡¯t punish those who actually go and pick a fight with this person.¡±


    Everyone¡¯s eyes gleamed. Only Yao Lang intuitively felt that it wasn¡¯t that simple.


    ¡°You guys are wee to find General L-I-N-G X-I-A-O! Okay, remember to go and pick a fight with him!¡± Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s words made everyone shudder. Was their leader trying to make sure they were punished no matter what?


    ¡°Leader just say it, how you are going to punish us.¡± Everyone at the scene were beatenpletely. They didn¡¯t even think and asked for their punishment. Going to find General Ling Xiao... Wuwuwu, they didn¡¯t want to be public enemy number one.


    ¡°Get the f*ck out of my face first. I¡¯ll teach you guys a lesson when I¡¯m in a better mood,¡± said Senior Colonel Mi angrily. He didn¡¯t have any thought of teaching his subordinates a lesson at the moment. he had to take Ling Lan to the arena¡¯sbat hall as soon as possible.


    Seeing that they had the chance to escape, everyone in the special forces wouldn¡¯t dare to stay in this area any longer. Very quickly, everyone left. They were afraid that if they left any slower and be in the sights of the leader, the leader remember their punishments. That way, they would be able to leave with their lives.


    Ling Lan felt the entire world had be peaceful again. After going through this, Ling Lan understood that not only women liked to gossip. These men from the special forces were just as gossipy.


    Although Senior Colonel Mi wasn¡¯t in a good mood, he still exined, ¡°I had something to do temporarily. You waited long right?¡±


    Ling Lan shook her head calmly, ¡°It¡¯s alright, your team members made it enjoyable.¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s heart sank. As expected of father and son, both of them were proficient in bringing about problems for him.


    Senior Colonel Mi thought back to just a few moments ago. As he logged back into the virtual world and was just about to arrange one of his generals to test Ling Lan¡¯s mecha operating capabilities. He then received General Ling Xiao¡¯s phone call.


    ¡°General, would you like me to do?¡± Senior Colonel Mi saluted and waited for Ling Xiao¡¯s orders.


    ¡°The mecha operator for this evaluation will be arranged by me,¡± Ling Xiao said calmly. ¡°Bring Ling Lan to the arena in thebat hall and I will arrange an examiner to wait there.¡±


    Hearing this, Senior Colonel Mi was stunned. Did the General not trust his arrangements?


    It seemed as though Ling Xiao knew Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s question and exined, ¡°You should know Ling Lan¡¯s real identity right?¡± Back then, it was Senior Colonel Mi who arranged for one battle team from the ded Special Ops Team to secretly protect Ling Lan. That helped Ling Lan escape from the assassination when she was six years old. This was also why when Senior Colonel Mi had applied to join the 23rd Division¡¯s newly formed special forces, Ling Xiao immediately approved of it. Senior Colonel Mi had long received Ling Xiao¡¯s trust and was someone he was willing to put his full trust in.


    ¡°Ling Lan had gone through some hardships when he was young, but ever since I returned, Ling Lan¡¯s life had been too smooth these past few years. You have to teach him a lesson!¡± Ling Xiao said.


    ¡°If necessary, I can fight in the arena personally,¡± Senior Colonel Mi let out a sigh of relief. However, he still didn¡¯t want people from other battle teams to evaluate Ling Lan, thus he asked for the permission to personally do the evaluation.


    ¡°Of course I want you to fight him. I¡¯m leaving it up to you for the real world,¡± Ling Xiao said.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry General, I won¡¯t practice favoritism. If Ling Lan really wasn¡¯t up to standards, I wouldn¡¯t let him pass.¡± ¡°Of course if he is indeed up to standards of being the leader of a team, I still wouldn¡¯t just let Ling Lan lose,¡± Senior Colonel Mi thought. Senior Colonel Mi admired Ling Lan. He had his opinions about how General Ling Xiao wanted to pressure Ling Lan. However, Ling Xiao was still Ling Lan¡¯s father, so Senior Colonel Mi still respected Ling Xiao¡¯s decision.


    He only hoped that Ling Lan would be able to get past the two levels General Ling Xiao had set up in the virtual world. Then afterwards he would be able to fight with Ling Lan in the real world.


    While Senior Colonel Mi was in his own memories, the two of them had arrived at the arena in thebat hall. Neither of them knew who was going to be Ling Lan¡¯s opponent for the mecha evaluation.


    After Ling Xiao notified Senior Colonel Mi, he quickly contacted another person.


    Quickly, a strong and mighty middle-aged man appeared in the virtual screen.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think that you would actually contact me Ling Xiao.¡± The man smiled, ¡°Now I should call you General. You climbed thedder faster than I did you punk.¡±


    Seeing this person, Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes showed hint of joy, ¡°Elder Brother Yaoyang, you¡¯re climbing the ranks pretty quick as well. I should first congratte you on bing a Lieutenant General.¡±


    ¡°If a punk like you didn¡¯t exist, I would be basking in the glory. However, afterparing to you, the speed that I climbed the ranks is not even worth mentioning anymore.¡± The person called Elder Brother Yaoyang by Ling Xiao had an expression of indifference. He quickly changed into a stern expression and asked, ¡°Is there something important for you to suddenly contact me this time?¡±


    When they were young, Yaoyang had led Ling Xiao in the 7th division for some time and the rtionship between them was very good. However afterwards, he was selected to be positioned in the 3rd division. They were both busy and contacted each other less and less. Fortunately, they met each other before their achievements and did not be strangers. As long as they contacted each other, the two of them would return to the simr rtionship they had from back then.


    It was also because of this reason that their friendship was not known to anyone else other than the two of them. This had made sure that Elder Brother Yaoyang escape the military¡¯s clean up of Ling Xiao¡¯s influence after he had ¡°died¡± in battle. Now Yaoyang still held enough power and had advanced to Lieutenant General.


    It was just that when he sessfully advanced to Major General and entered into the military¡¯s higher ranks and wanted to investigate conspiracy behind his good friend¡¯s death, Ling Xiao had returned alive. The first thing Ling Xiao did was to notify this Elder Brother of his to not make any sudden moves.


    It was also because of Ling Xiao¡¯s reminder that Yaoyang was able to be at peace in the 3rd division in the past few years. His behavior of following orders and regtions to the letter helped him pass the evaluation from the 3rd division¡¯smander. After that, themander saw him as a confidant and then afterwards, Yaoyang sessfully ranked up into the rank of Lieutenant General.


    Ling Xiao was silent for a few seconds, then he mumbled, ¡°Elder Brother Yaoyang, you know my son¡¯s called Ling Lan right?¡±


    ¡°Of course I know. My family¡¯s Qi Long, my idiot son. Every time hees home he would tell me about how his Boss was amazing and how he would follow his Boss in the future. Even if I wanted to ignore your son, I couldn¡¯t.¡±


    It turns out, he was Qi Long¡¯s father, Qi Yaoyang. As he finished, he continued in dismay, ¡°I finally understand now. It seems that my youngest son was raised for the Ling family. I wanted to him toe to the 3rd division but he would rather die thane here. He was rolling on the flooring crying that he wanted to go to your 23rd Division.¡±


    Qi Yaoyang¡¯s rambling made Ling Xiao show a hit of joy in his expression. It couldn¡¯t be helped that his daughter was so strong and made Qi Yaoyang¡¯s son desperately follow her. As expected of his own daughter.


    The proud expression on Ling Xiao¡¯s face hurt Qi Yaoyang¡¯s feelings. Man, was he showing off? Unfortunately he couldn¡¯t counterattack. His son indeed respected his Boss more than him. Sometimes Qi Yaoyang wanted to use force to hold Qi Long down but he didn¡¯t know when Qi Long grew a monstrous physical constitution. Even if he beat Qi Long to a pulp, he wouldn¡¯t be able to make Qi Long change his mind... Thus he could only let him be. Did he really have to kill that little punk to make him listen?


    Thinking up to this point, Qi Yaoyang said viciously, ¡°Since we¡¯re talking about your son, did your son caused any trouble for you?¡±


    Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes showed a hint of a smile, ¡°Of course not. My precious... is very well-behaved,¡± He almost said ¡®daughter¡¯ out loud. Luckily, Ling Xiao reacted quickly.


    Well-behaved? Qi Yaoyang thought of the mighty Boss that he had heard about from his son. He couldn¡¯t connect that adjective Ling Xiao had said to this person. In the end, he could only determine that Ling Xiao was a controlling parent.


    However, what Ling Xiao said afterwards stunned Qi Yaoyang, ¡°Actually, I came to you, Elder Brother Yaoyang, because I wanted to tell you that Ling Lan was preparing to activate her battle team.¡±


    ¡°Why so early?¡± Qi Yaoyang frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know what would happen after he activates the battle team?¡±


    Ling Xiao smiled bitterly, ¡°Of course I know. That¡¯s why I came to you. After all, this also affects your son¡¯s future. You and I both know that the Federation and Twilight will definitely have a huge battle between them and the Federation must win this battle dominatingly. This way they would be able to stop the countries around the Federation from making any moves. And this battle would be a long one.¡±


    ¡°You came to me not only to notify me about this right?¡± Qi Yaoyang knew clearly that this wasn¡¯t the reason Ling Xiao had came looking for him. ¡°Tell me, what do you want me to do?¡±


    ¡°Be the examiner for Ling Lan¡¯s first level mission in the virtual world,¡± Ling Xiao said without hesitation.


    ¡°You really are ruthless. I am an imperial operator. Isn¡¯t it too cruel to be bullying your own son like this?¡± Qi Yaoyang raised a brow. ¡°I remember that your son is an ace operator.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why you have to suppress your capabilities and operate an ace mecha to fight him. Only those with experience and familiarity with suppressing their capabilities while operating an ace mecha would be able to suppress a simr opponent.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s expression showed a hint of pride. A while ago, he had Ling Lan fought and he knew Ling Lan¡¯s real mecha piloting capabilities. It was just that his own daughter thought she had hidden it well.


    Qi Yaoyang finally understood and said, ¡°You¡¯re saying your son has already... Sh*t, both of you are monsters. He actually managed to advance to imperial level at such a young age and it took me these few years to sessfully advance.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t give that sh*t. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that you had to stand guard on the front lines, you would have advanced to imperial level eight hundred years ago. In terms of suppressing one¡¯s level and operating an ace mecha, I¡¯m sure other than you, there is no one else who¡¯s had more experience. Let me count, you have suppressed it for around 13 to 14 years right?¡± Ling Xiao instantly exposed Qi Yaoyang¡¯s lie.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you also suppress it? You used six years to advance from ace to god level... but it took four years in the military academy to advance to ace? Bullsh*t! When you entered the 7th division, that level and those techniques were definitely not possible to achieve in four to five years.¡± Qi Yaoyang also exposed Ling Xiao without remorse. ¡°When ites to suppressing, you also have experience suppressing, why not do it yourself?¡±


    ¡°Only simr level people can force the real capabilities and hidden potential out of someone. Even if I suppress myself, I still wouldn¡¯t be able topletely get on that level. The power difference between higher levels and lower levels isn¡¯t that easy to control.¡± Ling Xiao said helplessly. If he could do it himself, he wouldn¡¯t havee and ask Qi Yaoyang for help.


    ¡°I understand. When is he going for the evaluation?¡± Qi Yaoyang promised Ling Xiao. In reality, he indeed wanted to test out whether the Boss that his own son had acknowledged was worthy or not.


    ¡°Immediately!¡± Ling Xiao said with a huge smile on his face.


    ¡°Sh*t, I knew you it wasn¡¯t something good when you came to me. Where is it located?¡± Qi Yaoyang didn¡¯t know what to say. It turns out, Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t asking him and didn¡¯t even gave him any chances to refuse.


    ¡°The special forces arena in thebat hall.¡±


    Qi Yaoyang¡¯s eyes looked at Ling Xiao with a deep meaning inside them. That ce wasn¡¯t somewhere he could just go casually. It seemed that Ling Xiao didn¡¯t want his son to fall into the eyes of the public. Qi Yaoyang agreed with Ling Xiao¡¯s way of doing things. Before their children could grow up and actually hold their own, them, the parents, must protect them to the best of their abilities.


    ¡°I understand. I will acquire the clearance ande to the location.¡± Having reached his rank, the originally top secret facilities of every division were no longer forbidden locations.


    After Qi Yaoyang said this, he hung up the call. Ling Xiao looked at the virtual screen that was already showing a white light and then turned it off. He opened hismunications contacts and scrolled to a number that he had not contacted in the past 20 or so years. Right when he wanted to hit call, he put the phone down instead.


    He sighed lightly and said to himself, ¡°Ling Lan, I want you to pass but at the same time don¡¯t want you to pass. You should rest for awhile first, then I would make this second phone call.¡±


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, if you want to move forward and forward again, it would all depend on the result of your battle with Qi Yaoyang. He is just below the 12 god-ss operators and is called the Prime Underlord Sky God by the Federation. If you acquire his acknowledgment, then I will arrange for you to start the second evaluation.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t me daddy for arranging such a difficult evaluation. It¡¯s just that once you sessfully activate your battle team, you would no longer have the three year new recruit protection period and would be sent straight into the real battlefield.¡±


    ¡°If war was to start, you and yourrades would instantly enter into the most dangerous and bloody battlefield. This is the mission of all the official battle teams. No one battle team can be an exception. Even as your father, as the 23rd Division¡¯smander, I wouldn¡¯t be able to stop it from happening.¡±


    ¡°However, I also don¡¯t want to cruelly stop your dreams. As long as you pass the three evaluations I have set up, daddy will choose to trust you. Trust that you would be able to protect yourself and yourrades. Then, daddy will be your strongest shield, safeguarding you while you ride the waves and create a future that belongs to yourself!¡±

 Chapter 577 - One-Point Sustained Shooting?

    <h4>Chapter 577: One-Point Sustained Shooting?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Senior Colonel Mi brought Ling Lan into the mechabat hall. Ling Lan had to choose a mecha that she wanted to use. Currently, Ling Lan had 5 different ace mechas in the virtual world. They were the <King of Close Combat>, <King of Long-Range Combat>, <King of Bnced Mecha>, <King of Beast Combat>, and <King of Star Space>.


    Ling Lan looked at her ace mechas and pondered for a moment. She chose the <King of Bnced Mecha> in the end.


    When Senior Colonel Mi saw a bnced mecha appearing at the spot where Ling Lan was, he knew that was ready.


    After waiting for a while, Ling Lan received the room number and the passcode from Senior Colonel Mi.


    Ling Lan entered the room. She was among the stars. She got a shock. Her past battles were mostly on the ground and within the atmosphere. She didn¡¯t have much experience fighting in this environment. She was at a disadvantage.


    Ling Lan scanned her surroundings and her radar showed no signs of abnormality. She felt like she was the only person in the universe. Loneliness in a vast space might result in agitation and frustration if a person stayed in space for too long. This was why space missions were mostly team missions. There were elite team missions in space too but there were no solo missions.


    It was forbidden to enter the universe alone. If a person wanted to wander around the universe, he needed to join a battle team.


    After waiting for three minutes, the system reminded Ling Lan, ¡°You have entered the universe. Please immediately activate your oxygen producing equipment to maintain the level of oxygen in the mecha. You only have three hours before your oxygen supply is depleted. Please take note.¡±


    A cold light shed passed Ling Lan¡¯s eyes when she heard the reminder. ¡°Was it started already?¡± She quickly used her radar to scan her surroundings again. There was still nothing within the range of her radar. It was dead silent outside. It seemed as though she was the only one in this entire universe. Of course, there was another possibility that her opponent was outside her radar range.


    Ling Lan smiled and pressed a button. Strong interference waves were activated.


    Ling Lan operated her mecha and changed her stance. With this stance, she would be able to defend herself even if someone sneaked an attack on her.


    In the audience seat, Senior Colonel Mi heaved a sigh of relief when he saw how Ling Lan handled the situation. He turned his head and looked at the other end of the universe. An ace mecha was currently rushing towards Ling Lan¡¯s location.


    Senior Colonel Mi was surprised. Besides himself, he only knew three other people who were able to activate the chameleon system the moment they enter into a battle. However, from the way this mecha operator piloted his mecha, it did not fit any one of them.


    Was it a talented young person? Senior Colonel Mi immediately dismissed this idea. If there was someone who was able to operate like this, he would have heard about him. There was only one possibility. This person became famous before him so he didn¡¯t have the chance to interact with him.


    Who is he? Where did themander get such a powerful ace mecha master from?


    The people watching the battle were able to see both mechas clearly. Hence, Senior Colonel Mi saw the two mechas the moment they entered the battle. However, when he realized that Ling Lan had not noticed the other mecha, he guessed that Ling Lan¡¯s opponent had activated the chameleon system.


    Luckily, Ling Lan knew that his opponent was here even though he didn¡¯t see him and made the necessary precautions.


    But, if Ling Lan was unable to crack the chameleon system, he would be in a dire position. He might be beaten up badly by his opponent and it would seriously badly affect his score. Senior Colonel Mi didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to fail his first mission. It would be a huge blow to him...


    Senior Colonel Mi started to worry for Ling Lan. He felt that his general was too harsh on Ling Lan. Why did the general want to have Ling Lan suffer like this? Even if he wanted to train him, he didn¡¯t need to be so ruthless. What if the child couldn¡¯t take the blow?


    Senior Colonel Mi thought that Ling Lan was like all the other recruits from the military academies and never had any setbacks in his life before...


    At this moment, Ling Lan managed to see a flickering red dot on her radar. It lit up for just a split second and disappeared thereafter. If Ling Lan was not focused, she might have missed it.


    ¡°Seems like my opponent is here. In order to activate the chameleon system the moment he enters the battle, he must be stronger than me.¡± Ling Lan urately predicted her opponent¡¯s strength. She felt depressed. Her confidence dwindled.


    ¡°I guess father doesn¡¯t want me to pass the mission so easily.¡± Ling Lan pursed her lips in frustration. Her father indeed loved to make things difficult for her.


    However, she would not give up just like this. Ling Lan grabbed the long-range beam gun attached on the back of the mecha and aimed it towards the direction where the flickering light appeared. She moved her fingers and fired off another interference wave shot out of her mecha.


    Senior Colonel Mi saw Ling Lan aiming at his opponent urately and sat up straight in excitement. ¡°He saw his opponent? Does she have the Hawk eye system on her mecha?¡±


    Qi Yaoyang raised his eyebrows when he saw Ling Lan pointing her beam gun at him. ¡°He saw me? Let me confirm it.¡± In a blink of an eye, he changed his direction. He went to the left side of Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan¡¯s beam gun followed him without any hesitation.


    Qi Yaoyang knew that Ling Lan had indeed cracked his chameleon system. he said in a depressed tone, ¡°How much allowance did Ling Xiao give his son? He even imnted the ¡®slightly useless¡¯ and expensive Hawk eye system into his mecha...¡±


    Qi Yaoyang also thought that Ling Lan was able to see him because of the Hawk eye system. The Hawk eye system was only useful against the chameleon system. There were no other uses for it and it was very expensive. Hence, many mecha operators didn¡¯t want to waste their money on this system. There were not many mechas with the chameleon system in the virtual world so there was not much need for it.


    Besides the Hawk eye system, there were other ways to tackle the chameleon system. However, these methods required advanced controls and they were not as urate as the Hawk eye system.


    Ace operators were arrogant people too. Everyone felt that they were the best so they didn¡¯t want to install any systems. They wanted to prove their capabilities. This thinking caused lesser people to install the Hawk eye system as they were afraid of being judged.


    Thus, the Hawk eye system became a useless system. Low-level mecha operators wanted to install it but didn¡¯t have the ability to. Ace mecha masters could install it but they didn¡¯t want to.


    Senior Colonel Mi saw Ling Lan¡¯s actions and pped his thigh happily. ¡°Good! It is the Hawk eye system.¡±


    Although Senior Colonel Mi and Qi Yaoyang disliked the Hawk eye system, they had different feelings when they realized that Ling Lan installed it. They felt that Ling Lan made ample preparations for this battle. He went through all the challenges he might face and thought of solutions for all of them. He must have installed the Hawk eye system just in case his opponent had the chameleon system. He made the right decision.


    Qi Yaoyang was happier than Senior Colonel Mi. This proved to him that Ling Lan was a careful and meticulous person. He would make ample preparations and be willing to go the extra mile to make sure that every end was covered. If he was to lead a team in the future, his team would not act rashly and be at a disadvantage because of theck of preparation.


    Qi Yaoyang secretly gave Ling Lan 10 points. The strength of a captain was important but traits like calmness, meticulous, and decisiveness were equally important. He could only allow his son to be under a captain with all of these qualities.


    Qi Yaoyang knew that the chameleon system was useless now so he gave up on it. A silver ace mecha appeared in the universe.


    ¡°Preparing to attack me forcefully? Did you ask whether I am willing to let you do it?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes turned cold and she pushed her trigger. Powerful beams shot out of her gun. The force of the beams caused Ling Lan to lose control of the gun slightly. When firing thest few shots, her mecha shook.


    ¡°One-Point Sustained Shooting!¡± Senior Colonel Mi frowned slightly. This kind of attack was useless against a fully-prepared ace operator. Was Ling Lan nervous or was she using these attacks to find a loophole in her opponent?


    If it was a normal ace operator, Ling Lan¡¯s beams might have caused him some rm. However, Qi Yaoyang had reached the status of the imperial operator 17 years ago. He was just hiding his abilities so he remained as an ace operator for thest 13 years. Hence, these attacks were nothing to him.


    Just as Qi Yaoyang was about to dodge thest beam, the beam exploded. The sudden change caught Qi Yaoyang but surprise. His expression changed and his fingers froze on the spot...


    ¡°Bang!¡± A loud explosion urred.


    In thest second, Qi Yaoyang activated his light shield and managed to block the surprise attack by Ling Lan.


    The A.I. shed a reminder on the screen in front of him. Qi Yaoyang was ted when he saw the reminder. He activated the light shield 0.003 seconds before the beam hit him. This meant that Ling Lan had a chance of sessfully hitting him just now. Ever since he became an ace operator and the Sky God of the Federation, only god-ss operators were able to sessfully hit him.


    It was natural for ace operators to reach the imperial operator status after an umtion of experience and time. There was no real improvement in abilities. This was why Qi Yaoyang was able to pretend to be an ace operator for so many years and no one saw through him. He had to advance to an imperial operator status in the end because he was already at the peak level of the imperial operator status, and was only a step away from being a god-ss operator so he couldn¡¯t hide his abilities anymore.


    Qi Yaoyang loved fighting. He hid his abilities because he knew those imperial operators had to return to the Federation and protect the headquarters along with the god-ss operators. However, he wanted to stay at the frontline. He couldn¡¯t bear the thought of not being able to fight anymore. Qi Long¡¯s love for fighting must be inherited from his father.


    ¡°That must be a modified Synchronous Shooting. Interesting.¡± Qi Yaoyang¡¯s eyes lit up in excitement. He was in a battle mode now.


    At first, Qi Yaoyang only came because Ling Xiao had invited him to assess Ling Lan¡¯s strength. He had no interest to fight Ling Lan seriously. But, the beam shot perked up his interest and he was willing to have a serious battle with Ling Lan now.


    Senior Colonel Mi was dumbfounded. The exploding beam stunned him. ¡°This is not the One-Point Sustained Shooting!¡± This was a skill that only ace operators could operate¡ª¡ªSynchronous Shooting!


    How could he be fooled? Was it because of the standard One-Point Sustained Shooting stance?


    ¡°This is not the stance for Synchronous Shooting. I overlooked it and I was fooled by it.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s opponent was fooled too. That was why he activated his light shield. Senior Colonel Mi shook his head and eximed, ¡°The youngsters these days are getting powerful. I didn¡¯t expect Ling Lan tobine the actions for Synchronous Shooting and One-Point Sustained Shooting. It was so perfect that it could fool people into believing that it was just One-Point Sustained Shooting.¡±


    ¡°Also, he modified the Synchronous Shooting technique. This should be an A-rank modification, right?¡± The more Senior Colonel Mi thought about it, the more he admired Ling Lan. He was such a daring person. He only just advanced to ace level but he already seeded in modifying a technique. Improving his hand speed shouldn¡¯t be a problem for Ling Lan, right? He was really a talented operator. Senior Colonel Mi envied Ling Lan. He had been stuck with his hand speed for a long time.


    However, Senior Colonel Mi didn¡¯t have the time to think about anything else. His attention was attracted by the battle.


    The two mechas were having closebat now. Qi Yaoyang was using a closebat mecha. His operation skills were strong and his mecha had been strengthened to support his amazing hand speed. Within a short period of time, he sessfully closed in on Ling Lan and forced her to give up on her long-range attacks.

 Chapter 578 - Dishevelled!

    <h4>Chapter 578: Dishevelled!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Bang!¡±Two giant swords mmed onto each other.


    Ling Lan reacted quickly and threw away her gun away the moment Qi Yaoyang attacked her with his sword. She grabbed her sword and blocked the attack sessfully.


    The force of the attack ced immense pressure on the engine of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha. Her mecha immediately entered the red danger zone. Ling Lan frowned. The huge stress caused Ling Lan to increase her hand speed and she reached the hand speed of an ace mecha master. Ling Lan¡¯s fingers seemed to have disappeared in the air.


    Qi Yaoyang felt a strong forceing from his opponent. His opponent actually managed to push his sword away. Qi Yaoyang was ted. He quickly used more strength to push his sword down on Ling Lan¡¯s mecha.


    At this moment, Ling Lan did something unexpected. She gave up resisting and allowed Qi Yaoyang¡¯s giant sword to knock her away. She even changed the direction of her engine from the back to the front. These two forces allowed her to distance herself away from Qi Yaoyang. There was no gravity in the unexpectedly so she was able to travel a few thousand meters away easily.


    Qi Yaoyang was shocked by Ling Lan¡¯s move. He didn¡¯t expect Ling Lan to use such a method to break free of his control. Fortunately, his beam gun was now gone. Qi Yaoyang remembered that Ling Lan threw his gun away. If he still had his gun, he might be able to gain the upper hand.


    An rm started to ring by his ear. Qi Yaoyang instantly dodged. A huge beam shed passed his mecha. He got a huge fright.


    ¡°Why does he still have a long-range beam gun?¡± Qi Yaoyang was puzzled and stunned.


    Senior Colonel Mi was surprised too. Where did the beam gune from?


    The beam gun in Ling Lan¡¯s hands was the one that she used at the start. Didn¡¯t she throw it away?


    Senior Colonel Mi rewound the scene so he went back to the time when Ling Lan threw his gun away and reviewed it. He finally realized the secret.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t throw his gun away. He swung it behind him. Since there was no gravity in space, the beam gun floated behind Ling Lan¡¯s mecha and got blocked by the mecha. This was why Qi Yaoyang didn¡¯t see the beam gun.


    When Ling Lan distanced himself from Qi Yaoyang, he must have chosen his direction properly and passed by the beam gun. Hence, he was able to grab the beam gun and take it back.


    Not only that, when he was moving back, he made use of his body angle and blocked Qi Yaoyang¡¯s view. During this time, he quickly ced his sword back and carried the beam gun in his hand. All these actions were done smoothly. Before Qi Yaoyang realized anything, he fired at him. Qi Yaoyang almost got hit by this shot.


    Even though Ling Lan¡¯s n was perfect, Qi Yaoyang was still a strong operator. He managed to dodge the attack with his own strength so Ling Lan didn¡¯t seed.


    ¡°As strong as I expected!¡± Ling Lan was not disappointed with herself. Instead, she got even more excited. She smiled and licked her lips instinctively. Fighting spirit lit up in her eyes. She could feel her body shaking with anticipation. It seemed to be telling her that this was the kind of battle she wanted.


    It had been a long time since Ling Lan met someone her match. In the military academy, she dominated over Qi Long and her other teammates. When she came back, her father dominated her. This kind of match was not interesting at all. Ling Lan had enough of torturing other people but she didn¡¯t want to be the one getting tormented either.


    In the Mecha World, her ID was known to everyone from the military academy. She didn¡¯t want to expose her powers too much so she didn¡¯t use her full strength when fighting against strong opponents. Besides the learning space and excluding the life-or-death situation she faced on the battlefield as well as the mechabat tournament, this was the only time she fought with all her might.


    Ling Lan dared to show her true power this time because she trusted her father. She believed that he would keep everything confidential. The people that he sent must be his own people too.


    Ling Lan was smart enough to know that she could not hide her abilities from her father. The more she interacted with her father, the more she realized how sly and cunning he was. Her little tricks meant nothing to him. However, if her father didn¡¯t expose her, she would just pretend that she managed to trick him.


    Despite her excitement, Ling Lan could tell from how her opponent dodged her attack that he was much stronger than her. Although they were both imperial operators, the difference between an amateur imperial operator and a top-level one was stark.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to lose.¡± Although Ling Lan looked as though she didn¡¯t care much about winning or losing but in actual fact, she was a stubborn andpetitive person. That was why she bore with the pain for over 20 years in her past life in order to continue living. This time, she even made herself underwent the torment in the learning space so that she could continue living peacefully. Without her stubbornness andpetitiveness, she would not be able to endure all these sufferings.


    Ling Lan turned calmed. She entered the Celestial Realm. She could only see her opponent. Her innate talent, Profound Insight, was automatically activated.


    ¡°Where is my chance?¡± The sweat on Ling Lan¡¯s forehead dripped down. She couldn¡¯t see any weakness in her opponent. Was her opponent¡¯s operation perfect?


    ¡°No, that is impossible. Even father can¡¯t have a perfect operation. Ling Lan, you only have one chance. You need to calm down and steady yourself. If not, you would lose your opportunity.¡± Ling Lan motivated herself. She must believe in herself then there would be a chance.


    In such battles, opportunities urred within a second. Qi Yaoyang rushed towards Ling Lan and Ling Lan retreated back. She tried to maintain afortable distance between them so that she could fire her long-range attack.


    ¡°This is a test of mentality.¡± Senior Colonel Mi looked at Ling Lan with concern. In his eyes, Ling Lan was a young man. Young people oftencked patience.


    ¡°Let me see how long you can maintain your calmness and patience.¡± Qi Yaoyang could elerate but when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s countermeasures, he had a change of heart. He slowed down instead. He wanted to assess Ling Lan¡¯s mentality.


    The two mechas flew around the universe at a high speed for three minutes. Ling Lan¡¯s mecha continued to aim at Qi Yaoyang. She had not fired a shot. Ling Lan was drenched in sweat. Droplets of water kept dripping down her forehead.


    Ling Lan was totally focused for these three minutes. She didn¡¯t even blink. Normal people would have felt sore in the eyes but it seems like Ling Lan had not felt anything. Only the increasing redness in her eyes showed how tired she was.


    ¡°Not bad. You have good patience. Let me give you a chance.¡± Qi Yaoyang was extremely satisfied with Ling Lan. Not only was Ling Lan patient, but he was also calm. There was no mistake in his operation. Qi Yaoyang got what he wanted so he decided to give his opponent an opportunity.


    Ling Lan had been waiting for a chance all these while. However, when she saw the weakness, she didn¡¯t think that this was it.


    Qi Yaoyang purposely showed a loophole to Ling Lan but Ling Lan didn¡¯t do anything. She maintained her posture. Did she not notice the weak point? Was she just numb? Did he form the wrong conclusions about her?


    Qi Yaoyang was puzzled so his hand speed decreased naturally.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up. This was the opportunity. She moved her fingers and fired many times with the beam gun. The beams shot towards Qi Yaoyang furiously.


    ¡°This is bad!¡± Qi Yaoyang had a fright. There was a difference between purposely showing weakness and truthfully disying a w. Qi Yaoyang was on the losing end now.


    ¡°It is the N-point Blockade!¡± Senior Colonel Mi eximed in excitement. This move left no room for the opponent to retreat. The opponent could only receive the attacks head-on. The opponent would suffer dire consequences and would leave Ling Lan with at an advantage.


    This technique was indeed Qiao Ting¡¯s skill, N-point Blockade. However, Ling Lan fired six shots this time. Aspared to the four shots that Qiao Ting fired, he was able to expand the range of his attacks. If he was able to get a ballistic sniper rifle, he could unleash the full potential of the skill. Now, with an unsuitable gun, the power was halved.


    ¡°Impressive.¡± Senior Colonel Mi nodded fervently. The difficulty of the N-point Blockade was its constant shooting. 3 constant shots would make it a [B] rank technique. A special-ss operator would be able to do this as it was quite simple. The 4th shot, on the other hand, was difficult. Many people got stuck at the 4th shot. When a person managed to ovee this obstacle, N-point Blockade would be and [A] rank technique. Most ace operators would be able to reach this level. The 5th shot and the 6th shot could only be achieved after years of practice and experience.


    From the 7th shot onwards, every shot became more difficult. The N-point Blockade became a [S] rank technique on the 7th shot. On the 8th shot, it was a [SS] rank technique. On the 9th shot, it was a [SSS] rank technique. Only a few imperial operators managed toplete the 9th shot. Normal people stopped at the 8th shot and couldn¡¯t breakthrough anymore.


    Ling Lan only fired 6 shots but due to his age, it was already an amazing feat. This technique was something that required a lot of practice and experience. Talent would not allow him to master this technique.


    This was the reason Senior Colonel Mi was ted. He had seen many talented people but he rarely saw a talent that was willing to torture himself. These geniuses all had a smooth life so theycked the mentality to push themselves further. In the end, few of them managed to be formidable. Many gave up halfway and some even died on the battlefield. It was quite unfortunate.


    Ling Lan¡¯s 6 shots formed a circle and enclosed Qi Yaoyang within. They blocked all routes of retreat for Qi Yaoyang.


    Qi Yaoyang was at a disadvantage but he still had a chance. Ling Lan¡¯s attack seemed perfect but it was wed.


    A perfect N-point Blockade needed 9 shots. 6 shots were not enough to fully block an imperial mecha master like Qi Yaoyang.


    Qi Yaoyang was decisive and rushed towards the gap closest to him in the N-point Blockade. At this moment, he felt a sense of danger. Years of battle had allowed him to gain an instinct towards danger. Without any hesitation, he moved his fingers and his mecha twisted its body. It disappeared into thin air. When it appeared again, it was out of the N-point Blockade range.


    Bang! A series of explosion urred at the spot where Qi Yaoyang was at. A huge ball of smoke appeared there. The force of the explosion was frightening. Qi Yaoyang could feel cold sweat running down his back. If he didn¡¯t react fast enough, his mecha would be destroyed. That would be really embarrassing. He would not have the face to continue to assess Ling Lan anymore.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, your son can¡¯t be underestimated.¡± Qi Yaoyang smiled bitterly. He rarely underestimated his opponent but when he did, he almost paid a huge price. Was this a lesson for him? Was it trying to tell him that he needed to give it his all for every battle?


    This time, Qi Yaoyang took Ling Lan as his real opponent. He no longer saw her as a mentee.


    Qi Yaoyang suddenly remembered what Ling Xiao said to him. He said that only people with simr capabilities could force the true potential from each other...


    F**k. Ling Xiao must be talking about him too. Qi Yaoyang gritted his teeth. He could almost imagine Ling Xiaoughing at his plight.


    ¡°This bastard!¡± Qi Yaoyang scolded with frustration. After that, he calmed himself down. This was the Sky God of the Federation. Someone who was able to manage his emotions perfectly and let himself to enter the best mental state in an instant.


    People familiar with Qi Yaoyang would know that once he entered this mental state, he was almost invincible. Only a god-ss operator would be able to defeat him.


    Senior Colonel Mi was shocked by the explosion. He was also stunned by how Ling Lan¡¯s opponent escaped. This was a technique that needed the skills of a god-ss mecha master and the Divine Wind system. It was known as the instantaneous teleportation. There was only one non-god ss mecha operator that could operate this technique. He was the Sky God of the Federation, Qi Yaoyang!


    Was Ling Lan¡¯s opponent Qi Yaoyang? Senior Colonel Mi almost fainted from this realization.

 Chapter 579 - Defeat!

    <h4>Chapter 579: Defeat!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Lieutenant General Qi Yaoyang, the Sky God of the Federation. His mecha was a closebat mecha and he was the strongest closebat operator of the Federation. 20 years in the frontline of the battlefield, he was never defeated before.


    To their enemies, Qi Yaoyang was known as BUG Yang. No matter what method they used, they were unable to win against him. Hence, the country border which Qi Yaoyang guarded was regarded as impregnable.


    However, this was not what rmed Senior Colonel Mi the most. He was surprised because Sky God was in the 3rd Division which was under the Third Marshal while General Ling Xiao was under the First Marshal. The Third Marshal and First Marshal were not on good terms with each other so the people under them were not close too.


    If Ling Lan¡¯s opponent was really Qi Yaoyang, did that mean that he was actually a spy from the First Marshal?


    Senior Colonel Mi shivered uncontrobly. He felt that he just uncovered a huge secret. He swallowed and then muttered to himself, ¡°I don¡¯t know anything. I don¡¯t know anything...¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi was too shocked to think about why Ling Lan¡¯s N-point Blockade exploded so Ling Lan managed to escape a round of questioning for now.


    Ling Lan was someone who hid her true abilities well. Hence, she disguised her attacks too. In actual fact, the technique she used just now was not the N-point Blockade. It was a [S] rank technique known as the Consecutive Explosive Shooting. The bullet path for this technique was supposed to be straight but Ling Lan felt that this made the attack too obvious. The opponent would be able to see the attack and defend against it. This technique was also hard to master. If she spent so much time practicing a technique that didn¡¯t work, she would be wasting her time.


    Hence, she experimented with Little Four in the learning space and realized that the Consecutive Explosive Shooting could bebined with the N-point Blockade. They fine-tuned the attack and managed to shoot 6 consecutive shots. Ling Lan was unable to make the 7th shot. If she could, the Consecutive Explosive Shooting would have a stronger impact.


    Ling Lan was not afraid of people questioning her technique. She had decided that if someone asked her about it, she would just say that her father taught her. Her father was a god-ss mecha master, the only god-ss mecha master that operated a bnced mecha. He could handle both short-range and long-range attacks.


    Actually, Ling Lan wanted to create trouble for her father just like how he made things difficult for her. But, she would not tell anyone that.


    In spite of her excellent operation, Ling Lan¡¯s long-rangebat skills ended here. Qi Yaoyang no longer gave her any chances to use her long-range skills. He twisted his mecha again and appeared in front of Ling Lan in the next second. It was a sudden but expected move.


    Ling Lan reacted quickly and swept the beam gun towards Qi Yaoyang. Qi Yaoyang raised his sword slightly and blocked Ling Lan¡¯s attack easily.


    The friction from the two metal objects created sparks. In the dark universe, these sparks were extra striking.


    ¡°ng.¡± The gun was shed into two by the giant sword. This meant that Ling Lan had no long-range weapons anymore. She was only left with one choice: closebat.


    Ling Lan threw the broken beam gun at her opponent and grabbed her sword when her opponent was dodging the gun.


    Ling Lan was unaffected by the fact that she couldn¡¯t use her long-range attacks anymore. Aspared to long-range attacks, she preferred closebat. Also, she had gotten the data Little Four and her wanted for the new skills so she had nothing to worry about now.


    At the start, Ling Lan chose this bnced mecha because she wanted to get data for her new long-range attacks. This would allow her to understand what her ws were and make the necessary changes. Techniques that had not been tested in a real battle were not proper techniques. In order to be a real ultimate sure-kill technique, it had to be revised and tested multiple times.


    It had to be said that Ling Lan was a bold person. In such an important time, she didn¡¯t forget to test out her shooting techniques.


    After she finished her task, Ling Lan focused all of her attention on closebat.


    The two mechas in the air started attacking each other vigorously.


    Bang... sparks flew in the air as the two huge swords hit each other. Only the lingering shadows of the two mechas could be seen. They seemed to have merged with each other.


    Suddenly, they each flew away. In that instant, they managed to hit each other.


    The two mechas stabilized themselves. Qi Yaoyang shouted excitedly, ¡°Good attack. Let¡¯s continue!¡± Qi Yaoyang added 10 points for Ling Lan again. Both Ling Lan¡¯s long-range and short-distance skills were amazing. She was just like her father, a perfect mecha master that had no weakness.


    ¡°Sure. I was thinking about that too!¡± The two of them didn¡¯t care about the assessment anymore. They just wanted to fight with each other.


    Senior Colonel Mi shook his head as he looked at the two crazy people fighting against each other.


    By now, he was certain that Ling Lan¡¯s opponent was Qi Yaoyang. Only Qi Yaoyang could execute such crazy attacks. His style was too unique so it was easy to recognize him. Senior Colonel Mi didn¡¯t expect the calm andposed Ling Lan to be so vicious in a closebat. Her style didn¡¯t resemble like General Ling Xiao at all. Her style leaned more towards Qi Yaoyang.


    Senior Colonel Mi then recalled the gentle presence that the general had and was enlightened. The general might not be who he seemed to be.


    Ling Lan¡¯s experience in mechabat was still lesser aspared to Qi Yaoyang. In the end, Qi Yaoyang managed to make use of a small w that appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s end and knocked her sword away.


    ¡°It had ended!¡± Qi Yaoyang stabbed into Ling Lan¡¯s cockpit.


    ¡°It had ended!¡± Ling Lan smiled. She returned to the atrium in thebat hall instantly after she was hit.


    Qi Yaoyang appeared the next second. He looked at Ling Lan with aplicated expression. After a few moments of silence, he asked, ¡°Did you purposely show me that w?¡±


    Ling Lan replied innocently, ¡°What? Why would I purposely lose to you?¡±


    He didn¡¯t? Then why was his reaction so calm? He seemed to have calcted all his moves. Qi Yaoyang recalled how Ling Lan¡¯s mecha¡¯s right hand suddenly turned after he stabbed his cockpit and a thin sword appeared in the hand. The sword silently pierced into his cockpit.


    The mainframe announced that he attacked him first so his attack was invalid. If it was a real battle, he might be the one that lost.

 Chapter 580 - The Second Mission!

    <h4>Chapter 580: The Second Mission!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Although the mainframe announced him the winner, Qi Yaoyang felt that he lost. In an actual battlefield, he would have died together with Ling Lan and she was still just a recruit. Qi Yaoyang felt devastated. For the first time, he felt that he was getting old.


    Ling Lan was tooposed. Her expression was cold and indifferent. Qi Yaoyang couldn¡¯t get an answer from her so he could only ept what she said.


    He was suspicious of Ling Lan¡¯s actions but that didn¡¯t prevent him from being extremely satisfied with her. Her closebat and long-range attacks were near perfect. She managed to force him into a dire situation using her long-range attacks and disyed intelligence in the closebat. Even after the battle, she was still humble.


    Qi Yaoyang acknowledged Ling Lan. He felt at ease for his little son. He smiled and said, ¡°Ling Lan, I will leave my son in your care now.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Ling Lan was stunned. Wasn¡¯t she just doing a mission? Why did she be a nanny suddenly? Who was his son?


    Qi Yaoyangughed when he saw a change in expression on her cold face. He didn¡¯t exin himself and just disappeared in front of her. He had left the virtual world.


    ¡°Boss, are you going to take care of a baby?¡± Little Four could finally speak. He was worried that he would disturb Ling Lan so he forced himself to stay quiet during the battle.


    Ling Lan rubbed her eyebrows in frustration. She didn¡¯t have the time to think just now because everything happened suddenly. Now that she calmed down, she felt that her examiner looked familiar. She was sure that she had never seen her examiner before so it might be because one of her team members looked like the examiner. If that was the case, what the examiner said in the end made sense.


    At this moment, Senior Colonel Mi regained his senses and left the spectator stand. He saw Ling Lan in deep thought in the atrium and walked over hurriedly. ¡°Ling Lan!¡±


    He didn¡¯t see the person that he wanted to see so he asked her, ¡°Did your opponente and find you?¡± Her opponent would have told her whether she passed or not.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t reply to him. Instead, she asked, ¡°Is my opponent Lieutenant General Qi Yaoyang?¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You found out too?¡±


    ¡°As expected.¡± No wonder he said that sentence to her. Seemed like Qi Yaoyang was jealous because Qi Long wanted to follow her.


    Ling Lan understood Qi Yaoyang¡¯s feelings. If she told her father that she wanted to go to the 3rd Division... she didn¡¯t dare to imagine what would happen. Whatever it was, there was no good oue. If shepared it this way, Qi Long¡¯s father was extremely good-tempered. Ling Lan gave Qi Yaoyang a thumbs up in her mind.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that Qi Long was almost beaten to death by his father when he said that he wanted to follow her. However, this proved that Ling Lan was right about Qi Long. He was a strong-willed person. Even his father couldn¡¯t do anything about his stubbornness and let him have his way in the end.


    ¡°Did you see Lieutenant General Qi Yaoyang?¡± Senior Colonel Mi repeated his question when he noticed that Ling Lan didn¡¯t reply to him.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Ling Lan replied.


    ¡°Did he say anything?¡± Senior Colonel Mi asked.


    ¡°He said...¡± That his son will be under my care? Ling Lan looked at Senior Colonel Mi with a puzzled expression. Senior Colonel Mi was not someone who would like to gossip. Why was he so interested in such gossip suddenly?


    ¡°Did you pass?¡± Senior Colonel Mi was speechless. Was Ling Lan not worried about this?


    ¡°I lost, right?¡± Ling Lan shrugged. The moment she left the battle, she knew that she lost. However, she was not depressed. Losing meant that she was not strong enough. This was why her father asked Lieutenant General Qi Yaoyang to be her opponent. He wanted her to understand her own strength.


    Ever since Ling Lan became an imperial operator, she started bing arrogant. She felt that she could only be defeated by real imperial operators. However, Qi Yaoyang defeated her today. It reminded her that within the Federation, there might be many people like Qi Yaoyang. She was not as strong as she thought she was. She needed to work harder.


    As expected, her parents understood her well. Her father must have noticed her arrogance long ago so he used this method to remind her that she didn¡¯t have the right to be so proud yet. She needed to work harder.


    Senior Colonel Mi heard Ling Lan¡¯s reply and knew that she misunderstood the rules. He smiled and said, ¡°Did you think that passing or failing the mission is dependant on whether you win or lose?


    So it is not! Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up. Even though she was not depressed by her loss, she would be happier if she could continue her missions.


    Senior Colonel Mi nodded his head seriously. Ling Lan was ted. She recalled what Qi Yaoyang said to her and knew that he was trying to tell her that she passed.


    She was so stupid! Ling Lan knocked her head angrily. She had be more reliant on other people since she started living with her parents. She was not as sharp and vignt as before. In the past, she would have noticed such an obvious hint long ago. However, today, she needed Senior Colonel Mi to remind her before she understood it.


    It was the right decision to leave her parents. She would grow faster without Ling Xiao¡¯s protection.


    Ling Lan believed that Ling Xiao would be able to protect her and Lan Luofeng. But, she felt safer if she had the ability to protect herself. The culprit that harmed Ling Xiaost time was still hiding among the leaders in the military. Ling Xiao only managed to dig out a few unimportant people after years of investigation. The mastermind was not found yet. A sense of danger enveloped the Ling family. No one knew when the mastermind would strike again.


    ¡°You have found the answer.¡± Senior Colonel Mi smiled at Ling Lan¡¯s frustration. He guessed that she had passed since her expression was rxed just now.


    At this moment, Senior Colonel Mi¡¯smunicator rang. He answered it and his expression changed. He looked at Ling Lan with pity in his eyes. Ling Lan¡¯s heart dropped. Did she make a wrong conclusion? Did she fail the first mission?


    Senior Colonel Mi didn¡¯t have the time to answer her queries. He signaled for Ling Lan to follow him as he sent out messages on hismunicator.


    Very soon, Senior Colonel Mi brought Ling Lan to the team battle arena. He told her in a serious tone, ¡°The second mission is a team mission. You will lead a team of six mecha operators and fight against another team in the same map. You will only win if all your opponents got defeated. Since you are the leader, you must not be defeated before your team members.¡±


    Ling Lan asked without any hesitation, ¡°Where are my team members?¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi walked to a screen and entered some information inside. Then, he asked Ling Lan toe over. ¡°These are the name list of all the people in the special forces. You can choose five members from the list. You only have half an hour to choose your members. If you can¡¯t make a decision within half an hour, the mainframe would randomly choose your members for you.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t choose virtual mecha operators?¡± Ling Lan frowned. She didn¡¯t expect her members toe from the special forces. This was not a piece of good news. The members of the special forces were all unruly and hard to manage. They would not listen to the orders of a recruit. Aspared to them, Ling Lan rather used virtual mecha operators. They were at least obedient.


    ¡°No. This is General Ling Xiao¡¯s order.¡± Senior Colonel Mi shook his head firmly.


    Ling Lan had no choice but to look at the name list of the special forces. She tapped a name and the person¡¯s information came out.


    Flying de: Long-range ace operator (7 years): Specialize in sniping. Ultimate technique: Nine Star Congregation (Seven stars)!


    Ling Lan thought about something and called Little Four. ¡°Little Four, I need a long-range sniper, three strong closebat operators, and a bnced mecha operator. It will be good if one of them is an adviser too.¡±


    ¡°Understand!¡± Ling Lan instantly sorted through the name list to find the suitable candidates for Ling Lan.


    Senior Colonel Mi hesitated when he saw how serious Ling Lan was. Finally, he asked, ¡°Do you need any suggestions?¡±


    Ling Lan looked up in surprise. Senior Colonel Mi was not someone who would give hints.


    ¡°If you can, choose a person that has the word ¡®de¡¯ in their name.¡± Senior Colonel Mi quickly finished his sentence and scanned his surroundings thereafter. This was his first time doing such a thing so he felt guilty.


    Ling Lan knew that Senior Colonel Mi was helping her so thought about it and ordered Little Four, ¡°Find operators that have the word ¡®de¡¯ in their name. I need a long-range sniper, a closebat operator, and a bnced mecha operator. You can decide thest two members yourself.¡±


    Very soon, the information of five people appeared in front of Ling Lan.


    Domineering de: Closebat ace operator (17 years). Ultimate technique: Chain Combo!


    Devil de: Bnced mecha ace operator (16 years). Ultimate technique: Chain Combo! Additional element: Adviser.


    Divine de: Long-range ace operator (16 years). Ultimate technique: Instant Fire!


    Crazy Warrior: Closebat ace operator (17 years). Ultimate technique: Total Annihtion!


    Ice Spirit: Closebat ace operator (15 years). Ultimate technique: Whirlwind Strike!


    Little Four noticed that Ling Lan didn¡¯t say anything so he thought that she was dissatisfied with the selection. He quickly exined himself, ¡°Boss, their information looked simple but they have all been ace operators for at least 15 years. They know more techniques than what is written. I also remember you saying that truly powerful operators have simple ultimate technique. However, the power of the techniques will be much greater.¡±


    ¡°You remember what I said,¡± Ling Lanplimented Little Four.


    She had nothing against the list of people Little Four gave her. She was just curious about Ice Spirit. She felt that this nickname was feminine. Could it be a female ace operator? If she guessed correctly, this would be the first time meeting a female ace operator. Ling Lan got excited. ¡°I will choose these five people.¡±

 Chapter 581 - Subduing The Dragon!

    <h4>Chapter 581: Subduing The Dragon!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Senior Colonel Mi was shocked when he saw the list of people Ling Lan chose. If he didn¡¯t know that General Ling Xiao was a fair person, he would have thought that General Ling Xiao chose these people for her. The simpler the information, the stronger the person. If Ling Lan really chose these people herself, she would probably know this point.


    Besides the three candidates from the Elite de Battle Team, Crazy Warrior was the captain of the second strongest battle team in the special forces. His closebat skills were almost on par with the captain of the Elite de Battle Team.


    As for Ice Spirit, she was the captain of the only female special forces battle team, the Ice Frost Team. Although she was not as strong as Domineering de and Crazy Warrior in terms of closebat skills, she was still among the top 5. Most importantly, she was a female. She was not as talented as her male counterparts but she was stronger than them. This was a miracle by itself.


    Due to her gender restriction, Ice Spirit had her own battle style. Her style was weird and sinister. ording to what Crazy Warrior and Domineering de said, they would rather fight against each other than with Ice Spirit.


    They could defeat her but her attacks were hard to predict. It required a lot of mental strength to fight with her. After one round of battle, they felt that they had fought 6 rounds with her. It was extremely tiring. This was why Ice Spirit was known as the captain that was the hardest to manage. She made people¡¯s head hurt in a battle.


    She would go along with the flow in the battle. When her opponents were strong, she would pretend to be weak. When her opponents were weak, she would dominate them. There was no one way to defeat her. She was like sticky-candy that stuck herself on her opponent. Sooner orter, her opponent would lose their mind and would be defeated by her.


    Senior Colonel Mi felt that Ice Spirit¡¯s ability was within the top 3 in terms of closebat in the special forces. However, she was a female so her stamina was not as good as a man. During the internalpetitions, she would lose energy towards the end of the battle and get defeated by her opponent because of this.


    Hence, the three closebat operators that Ling Lan chose were the strongest in the special forces. Devil de and Divine de were also among the top in their specialization. Ling Lan had chosen a strong team. However...


    Senior Colonel Mi smiled bitterly. Ling Lan¡¯s opponent was a team that even he didn¡¯t have the confidence to win against¡ª¡ªFlying Dragon Special Forces. The Flying Dragon Special Forces only allowed prodigies to enter their team. They focused on quality, not quantity. Only one person would be recruited into that team every few years. This was the team that all the members of the special forces wanted to enter. He didn¡¯t expect the Flying Dragon Special Forces to ept General Ling Xiao¡¯s invitation and be examiners for a recruit that wanted to form his own battle team.


    Hence, when Senior Colonel Mi first heard this news from General Ling Xiao, he was dumbfounded. This was the reason why he let Ling Lan chose her team members from the entire special forces name list.


    Since her opponents were frightening, Senior Colonel Mi helped Ling Lan by giving her the hint just now. He hoped that Ling Lan would choose the best people. That way, she still had a chance of winning...


    Senior Colonel Mi didn¡¯t think that Ling Lan would be able to win this mission. He knew that the members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces were stronger than Domineering de. Domineering de tried to apply for the Flying Dragon Special Forces before but he had failed the fifth test.


    Also, Ling Lan¡¯s opponents were people that fought and stayed with each other for many years. Their cooperation would be much better than the temporary team Ling Lan had. Senior Colonel Mi couldn¡¯t think of any reason why Ling Lan could win this match...


    Could it be that General Ling Xiao didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to pass the mission? If that was the case, why did he let her pass the first mission? Senior Colonel Mi couldn¡¯t understand General Ling Xiao at all.


    Senior Colonel Mi sent out the emergency notice to the five people. Within a few minutes, all five of them came.


    A bulky man with a loud voice came first. He called Senior Colonel Mi the moment he came. ¡°Commander, why did you remember me today and even gave me an emergency notice? What happened?¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi held his ears as he replied, ¡°Go and wait at the side quietly. I will tell you once everyone has reached.¡± He introduced this man to Ling Lan in a soft voice, ¡± This is Crazy Warrior, the captain of the Crazy Wind Battle Team. He found it a hassle to choose his nickname so he just used the name of his battle team and gave himself this nickname.¡±


    Crazy Warrior saw Senior Colonel Mi talking to the cold-looking young man after he spoke to him so he curiously sized up the young man. He kept his questions to himself and waited patiently at the side.


    Ling Lan saw his actions and knew that although Crazy Warrior seemed rash, he had sharp observation skills. He would not act before understanding the situation. He was a mature and logical person. This was a piece of good news to her. Calm and logical people were able to make decisions that would benefit the team the most so they would not be a burden to other people.


    After a while, a pretty soldier walked towards them with a straight back. She smiled gently when she saw Senior Colonel Mi and walked towards him slowly. Crazy Warrior saw the soldier and started to pinch his nose uncontrobly. He nced at Senior Colonel Mi again. He was wondering why Senior Colonel Mi asked this soldier toe too.


    The pretty soldier greeted Senior Colonel Mi with a military salute. ¡°Senior Colonel, nice to see you.¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi replied back with a military salute. There was another reason why Ice Spirit was known as the hardest captain to manage. She ced a lot of attention on formalities. It was a torture for other members of the special forces to stand beside her because they were used to being casual and rxed.


    Hence, when Ice Spirit saw Crazy Warrior leaning casually against the pir, she frowned. Her smile instantly disappeared. She didn¡¯t reprimand Crazy Warrior because there was an outsider here but she continued to look at Crazy Warrior intensely. Crazy Warrior couldn¡¯t help but straighten his body up under her fierce gaze.


    Women are so hard to deal with! Crazy Warrior thought in his heart. Why did themander build a female team within the special forces? That was a bad decision!


    Senior Colonel Mi took the chance to introduce Ice Spirit to Ling Lan and told her Ice Spirit¡¯s gender. Ling Lan confirmed her guess that Ice Spirit was ady. However, besides being smaller in size, Ice Spirit didn¡¯t look like a woman at all. Ling Lan felt that Luo Lang looked more like a woman aspared to Ice Spirit...


    Wait, Luo Lang is a weird person so it was unfair topare him with Ice Spirit. Ling Lan decided to change the person. She had never seen Li Lanfeng¡¯s face before but with the sickly aura that he carried, he would appear more like a woman if he cross-dressed aspared to Ice Spirit too. Even Li Shiyu might look better than Ice Spirit as a woman...

 Chapter 582 - Getting To Know Each Other!

    <h4>Chapter 582: Getting To Know Each Other!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Boss. Actually, you are worse than her,¡± Little Four couldn¡¯t take it anymore and mutter softly.


    He then felt a malicious aura flying towards him and quickly ran away. No matter what Ling Lan did, he didn¡¯t reply to her anymore. Ling Lan knew that Little Four was trying to get away from her scolding.


    Little Four¡¯s words made Ling Lan scratched her nose uncontrobly. ording to what he said, she seemed more like a man aspared to Ice Spirit. Ice Spirit was still recognized as a woman but herpanions probably never thought that she was a girl.


    Ling Lan felt depressed. Why didn¡¯t herpanions suspect her at all? She inherited all her mother¡¯s beautiful looks... Ling Lan just couldn¡¯t find an answer. She pretended that it was because herpanions were blind. She would not admit that it was because her aura was too domineering and vicious so no one dared to properly look at her.


    At this time, three people came over together. They were all around 30 years old. One of them tried to hide his power but Ling Lan still detected the violent power hiding within his muscr body. Ling Lan retracted her thoughts and became vignt.


    ¡°Commander!¡± The three people saw Senior Colonel Mi and walked towards him quickly.


    ¡°Ling Lan, this is Domineering de, Devil de, and Divine de.¡± Senior Colonel Mi introduced the three people to Ling Lan.


    Then, he called Crazy Warrior and Ice Spirit over. He introduced Ling Lan to them. ¡°This is recruit Ling Lan.¡±


    When her name was announced, the expressions of all five people changed. Devil de even poked Domineering de with his elbow.


    Ling Lan and Senior Colonel Mi saw their expression. Senior Colonel Mi smiled. ¡°Yes, this is the recruit that hurt Lian Shaojing.¡±


    Ice Spirit looked at Ling Lan with satisfaction. She said to Senior Colonel Mi, ¡°Commander, are you nning to recruit Ling Lan into the special forces? If he doesn¡¯t have a team yet, I want him.¡±


    ¡°My Elite de Team needs new blood too. Ice Spirit, you can wait for the next round,¡± Domineering de suddenly spoke.


    Ice Spirit raised her eyebrows in surprise. She was willing to ept Ling Lan into her team because she didn¡¯t want a talented soldier like him to get hurt in the special forces. She knew who rmended Lian Shaojing. That unscrupulous battle team would use all their means to take revenge on this recruit. If he didn¡¯t have a team to support him, Ling Lan would have a hard time in the special forces.


    However, she didn¡¯t expect the strongest battle team, the Elite de, to step in. The Elite de was a superior team which didn¡¯t care about the conflicts between the other teams within the special forces. Why did they decide to step in this time? Did Ling Lan have ties with the Elite de Battle Team? Or were they enticed to take him in because of his abilities?


    Ice Spirit got more interested in Ling Lan. She didn¡¯t give way and replied, ¡°Domineering de, you can¡¯t snatch all the prodigies that enters the special forces. The Ice Frost Battle Team needs new members to increase our strength too. Why don¡¯t you let us have this recruit this time?¡±


    Crazy Warrior saw the arrogant Domineering de and Ice Spirit, who didn¡¯t like males, fighting over Ling Lan, and his interest perked. He pretended to persuade them, ¡°Domineering de, Ice Spirit, it is not good to fight over a recruit. Why not you let Ling Lan enter my team?¡±


    ¡°Shameless!¡± The man and the woman shouted at him simultaneously. Domineering de red at Crazy Warrior angrily. This person was trying to benefit from their discord!


    Sparks flew between the three captains. Senior Colonel Mi noticed that the situation was getting out of hand and quickly coughed. He said, ¡°Ling Lan is not here to join the special forces.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Ice Spirit and Crazy Warrior eximed curiously. Devil de and Divine de exchanged nces with one another. They both had a look of disbelief on their faces. Even the calm Domineering de frowned when he heard this.


    If this recruit was not here to join the special forces, why did hee to their headquarters? Only official members of the special forces could enter the headquarters. Everyone was puzzled.


    ¡°General Ling Xiao specially arranged for him toplete his team formation missions here,¡± Senior Colonel Mi shrugged as he exined. If you have any queries, find the general yourselves.


    The five people stared at theirmander angrily. Since General Ling Xiao made this arrangement, they had no other opinions. Even if they did, they would not dare to find the general.


    Crazy Warrior regained his senses. He said happily, ¡°Are we here to be examiners? If so, I volunteer to be the examiner for his first single mechabat mission.¡±


    Ice Spirit said after him, ¡°The Ice Spirit Battle Team can be in charge of the team mission.¡±


    Domineering de looked at Senior Colonel Mi. Since he had called three people from his Elites de Battle Team over. This matter was not so simple.


    As expected, Senior Colonel Mi said, ¡°Ling Lan hadpleted her single mechabat mission. She is going to take her team battle mission now.¡±


    Ice Spirit and Crazy Warrior were smart people. They immediately realized that something was going on.


    ¡°Ling Lan¡¯s opponent has been chosen. She nowcks team members,¡± Senior Colonel Mi said seriously.


    Devil de reacted the quickest. He pointed at Ling Lan and eximed, ¡°You called us here to be his team member?¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi nodded.


    Crazy Warrior and Ice Spirit looked at Ling Lan intently. What background did this recruit have? With them around, he would definitely pass his team mission. His surname was Ling. Did he have any rtionship with General Ling Xiao? They never heard that Ling Xiao had a son.


    After Ling Xiao ¡®died¡¯ that year, the military hid the news that Ling Xiao had a child for various reasons. Only the higher authorities knew the secret. After Ling Xiao came back, he sent Ling Lan to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy by mistake so he had no choice but to continue hiding the fact that he had a child. Thus, besides Ling Xiao¡¯s close friends and the people in the general¡¯s manor, no one knew this information.


    Domineering de and his team members knew Ling Lan¡¯s identity but they didn¡¯t believe that their general would open the backdoor for his son. They waited for theirmander to give them an exnation.


    ¡°The opponent that the general chose for Ling Lan is the Flying Dragon Special Forces.¡± The five people were astounded when they heard this. Domineering de managed to calm down the fastest. ¡°Why is it them?¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi gave a forced smile. ¡°This is the general¡¯s arrangement. Also, all of you were chosen by Ling Lan, not me.¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi wanted them to understand that Ling Lan had strong foresight and assessment skills. The people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces were strong. If the five of them didn¡¯t listen to Ling Lan, there would be no chance of winning against the Flying Dragon Special Forces team at all. Senior Colonel Mi still hoped that Ling Lan would pass the mission. He also wished that his members would win against the Flying Dragon Special Forces too. Although the Flying Dragon Special Forces was the strongest special forces team, he knew that every captain of the special forces didn¡¯t like to lose.


    ¡°I will take part in the battle against the Flying Dragon Special Forces team.¡± Crazy Warrior was the first to make a decision. He failed at the 5th task that time and didn¡¯t make it into the Flying Dragon Special Forces. He was unwilling to ept his loss so since he had the chance to fight with them, he was extremely excited.


    ¡°The Flying Dragon Special Forces? I feel honored to be able to witness their strength.¡± Ice Spirit smiled. When she smiled, her features turned gentle. She appeared more feminine and Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but stare at her.


    The three people from the Elite de Team had no objections too. They were from the ded Special Ops Team so they saw theirmander fighting with a member of the Flying Dragon Special Forces before. Themander lost after half an hour. That time, they thought that if they had the chance, they must defeat the Flying Dragon Special Forces at least once and take revenge for theirmander. More than ten years had passed and finally, they got this chance.


    Senior Colonel Mi nodded in satisfaction when all five people agreed. He reminded them, ¡°This is the time and room number that the general had set. There are still 15 minutes before the battle starts. You all can have a discussion first.¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi left the atrium and went to the spectator stand. As a morally upright soldier, he would not overstep his boundary. The Flying Dragon Special Forces was a tough nut to crack. They had to depend on themselves.


    Senior Colonel Mi sighed. He knew that even if he stayed back, he would not be able to think of a good way to defeat the Flying Dragon Special Forces. To enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces, the mecha operator had to be close to achieving the status of an imperial operator. This meant that members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces sent out would be at least imperial operators.


    Domineering de almost reached the imperial operator status but he wouldn¡¯t be able to take on six real imperial operators alone. Senior Colonel Mi felt that Ling Lan would lose this battle. He just hoped that he would not be defeated too badly and lose his confidence. He wished that the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces would not fail Ling Lan based on the results of the battle. If they did, Ling Lan had no chance of passing the mission at all.

 Chapter 583 - Reminder!

    <h4>Chapter 583: Reminder!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    After Senior Colonel Mi left, six people were now left alone. Crazy Warrior and Ice Spirit looked at Domineering de instinctively. Domineering de was the captain of the strongest battle team in the special forces. He was someone that everyone looked up to.


    Domineering de turned to look at Ling Lan. He asked, ¡°What ns do you have?¡±


    Since they were in Ling Lan¡¯s team, Ling Lan had the final say. Also, it had been 15 years since he saw this child. He wanted to see if he had grown into a powerful person. This was something he wanted to ascertain too.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t show any signs of happiness even though her team was filled with powerful members. She raised her eyebrows and said calmly, ¡°Tell me what your ultimate technique is.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart dropped too when she heard that her opponent came from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. She was just used to not showing emotions on her face. Hence, Domineering de and the other 4 people thought that she didn¡¯t know about the Flying Dragon Special Forces when in actual fact, she was familiar with them. She still remembered how they wanted to snatch Li Shiyu away from her.


    That year, she appeared indifferent when she heard the news so her team members all felt that she had a big heart. Li Shiyu was also touched by the trust Ling Lan had in him. However, deep inside her, she was exploding with anger. She promised herself that if she had a chance, she would teach the Flying Dragon Special Forces a lesson and let them understand that her men couldn¡¯t be touched by anyone else.


    Right now, she had this opportunity. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know if she should be grateful towards her father for giving her this opportunity or should she be angry at him for giving her a difficult challenge again. She didn¡¯t like the Flying Dragon Special Forces but she couldn¡¯t deny that they were strong. The captains in the special forces were fearful of them too.


    The five people knew that this was not the time to hide their abilities so they told Ling Lan their ultimate technique. Ling Lan asked them to wait for a while and went to discuss her n with Little Four. After many corrections, the n was finally done. The battle was about to start soon.


    Ling Lan sent the n to her five team members. Crazy Warrior and Ice Spirit waited patiently for her during this time while Devil de discussed with Divine de and Domineering de. The three of them were willing to give Ling Lan the chance to lead them but they had to do something themselves too. That way, if Ling Lan made a mistake in hermanding, they could rectify it.


    All five of them got excited when they heard theirmunicator beeping. They opened the message that was sent to them and read through it. They felt that it was a thorough n and had more confidence in Ling Lan.


    Devil de read the n. He was able to understand the gist of the n and his eyes shone with anticipation.


    ¡°Captain.¡± Devil de took a deep breath and called Domineering de softly.


    ¡°Yes?¡± Domineering de raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°If Ling Lan asks you to do anythingter during the battle, just do it without any hesitation,¡± Devil de said in a serious tone.


    Domineering de looked at Devil de thoughtfully. After a while, he replied, ¡°I understand.¡±


    ¡°Divine de, you too,¡± Devil de reminded his teammate.


    ¡°I know. I will do my best.¡± Divine de replied nonchntly. As a sniper, he knew when he should attack and when he shouldn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t think that Ling Lan would know it better than him. However, he respected Devil de so he decided to listen to him. He felt that there was no harm in listening to what Devil de said.


    Crazy Warrior and Ice Spirit heard what Devil de said too. They pondered over his words. No one knew what they were thinking except for themselves.


    Ling Lan had finished her preparation too.


    At the dormitory district of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, the members who received the information from theirmander were in a bad mood. One of the members was sleeping in. When he heard the beeping from hismunicator, he took a look at it. His eyes widened in surprise. He cursed, ¡°F**k!¡±


    What was wrong with theirmander? Why did he ask them to be the examiners for a recruit¡¯s mission? He pouted and decided to ignore this assignment.


    ¡°Boring.¡± Another member saw the message and ignored it too. He continued to listen to his goddess, Li Yinfei¡¯s concert was in the virtual world. Every time he listened to her, he felt calm. His love for Li Yinfei continued to increase.


    ¡°I am not going.¡±


    ¡°Me too.¡±


    ¡°This is so boring.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    The people in the Flying Dragon Special Forces were arrogant and unruly. Sometimes, they would even provoke theirmander if they were in a bad mood. Hence, they disregarded the message as they found it boring and useless.


    But... this time, things were not as simple.


    ¡°F**k. I will give you all three minutes to form a six-person team. If not, everyone will go to the Dark Dragon Valley for training.¡± Theirmander¡¯s threat rang through the entire dormitory district.


    The people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces immediately got nervous when they heard this. The Dark Dragon Valley? No one wanted to go there again. They would really die there.


    This was a matter of life-and-death. The people in the Flying Dragon Special Forces started taking action and before the three minutes were up, six people with the least experience were pushed out. This was the fastest time the Flying Dragon Special Forces took toplete a task.


    The six people were unwilling to take the mission but they were the newest member of the force. Hence, they had no choice but to enter the virtual world and find the room where the battle was going to happen.


    The six members from the Flying Dragon Special Forces were furious that they were disturbed and wanted to teach the recruit¡¯s team a lesson. They wanted to make sure that he would be unable to form his battle team.


    Ling Lan saw that the time of the battle had reached so she entered the room with her five team members.


    Ling Lan thought that this would be a huge map but she was wrong. It was just a biggerbat arena. There were no shortcuts for this mission. She could only rely on the strength of her team members and the cooperation within them to win the battle.


    Ling Lan frowned slightly. Her brains started working furiously as she thought about what situation would be advantageous towards them. The n that she proposed mentioned about what they had to do if they entered abat arena but no one expected it. This mission was to test the intelligence of the team captain so a bigger map would be more appropriate for the mission.


    Thebat arena was not somewhere the captain could disy his intelligence and skills. It depended more on the cooperation between the team members. However, Ling Lan¡¯s team was a temporary team. Hence, they felt that the possibility of entering abat arena map was low so they chose to ignore this option.


    General Ling Xiao predicted their thought and purposely went against them. They were caught off their guard.


    ¡°Troublesome.¡± Ling Lan sighed. Luckily, she didn¡¯t have anyg time when she entered a new map so she could see her surroundings first and made the necessary arrangements. Ling Lan believed that this was the only advantage they had against their opponents.


    Ling Lan scanned the environment she was in. Her team members were distributed at different corners of the arena. Her opponent was in the same situation. They were ced alternately. Whoever woke up first would gain the upper hand.


    Ling Lan¡¯s fingers flew on the control panel. She observed her team members as well as her opponent. The first order was ready to be given out. She just needed to wait for the first member to wake up.


    While Ling Lan was watching over her team members, she didn¡¯t forget about her opponents. She aimed her beam gun towards the nearest opponent. Once his protection time was over, she would attack him.


    The mecha nearest to her looked weird but she could still make out the outline of a bnced mecha. The mechas of the members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces didn¡¯t look like mechas from the Federation. They had all been modified suited to their own style.


    Ling Lan was on her guard. She had the prodigy mecha engineer, Chang Xinyuan, as her friend so she knew that modified mechas were stronger than normal mechas. The Flying Dragon Special Forces was filled with talented people so their mechas should be stronger.


    Ling Lan noticed that her team members didn¡¯t modify their mechas at all. She didn¡¯t know if they modified their internal parts too like her or did they not modify their mechas at all.


    Unexpectedly, the first person that woke up from theg time was her team member. It was not Domineering de or Crazy Warrior. It was Devil de.


    Devil de must have strong spiritual power. Theg time a person had was rted to his or her spiritual power. The stronger the spiritual power, the lesser theg time. Devil de must have gotten his name because he was a ¡®devil¡¯ in a certain aspect. However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t expect it to be his spiritual power. No wonder he looked so scrawny. Ling Lan thought that it was his natural physique but now, she knew that it was due to his strong spiritual power affecting his body.


    Devil de just started to sense his surroundings when he heard a cold voice saying to him, ¡°Long-range beam. Enemy ahead, 300 meters away, 40 degrees to your left.¡±


    Devil de didn¡¯t hesitate and fired his beam gun at the direction that Ling Lan mentioned. He saw a blue mecha glowing with blue lights. His opponent was still under protection.


    At this moment, 5 people woke up simultaneously. They were Domineering de, Crazy Warrior, and three of their opponents.


    Ling Lan changed the direction of her beam gun. She fired a shot the moment the light around her opponent¡¯s mecha disappeared.

 Chapter 584 - Instantaneous Operation!

    <h4>Chapter 584: Instantaneous Operation!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    A beam of light shot out of Ling Lan¡¯s gun. At the same time, Devil de pulled his trigger too. One of the opponents that woke up was the one he was looking at.


    ¡°Bang! Bang!¡± The two shots mmed into the mechas and two loud explosions rang out.


    The two mechas flew out due to the force of the explosion. There were lights surrounding their mechas. This light came from their beam shield. One of the mechas had his beam shield dimmed while the other had a wound on its right shoulder. ck smoke wasing out of the wound. As the mecha flew out, the ck smoke formed an arc in the air.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t see any effect after she fired her shot so she moved her gun and aimed it at her other opponents. Thest batch of people had ended theirg time.


    However, she was still toote. Her opponents had activated their beam shield and escaped unharmed from her attacks.


    ¡°I am still too slow. If I am just a little faster, I might have seeded.¡± Ling Lan stared at the mecha that escaped her attack coldly. She pouted her lips with regret. Her hand speed was still too slow. She missed the chance that she saw and wasted her shot.


    The mecha operator that got hit mmed his operation table in anger. ¡°Damn, I actually got hit.¡± He felt humiliated to be injured by a nobody.


    ¡°Jiao Thirteen, this person must have a strong spiritual power. Be careful of their long-range attacks.¡± Their temporary leader, Lin Five, reminded him.


    Everyone knew that people with a stronger spiritual power would wake up earlier in the virtual world. The members in the Flying Dragon Special Forces were all-round talents that excelled in both their spiritual power and physical constitution. They would not take in people who were only good in one of them. Hence, it was normal that they would lose out to the mecha operators talented in their spiritual power and would wake upter than them.


    Mecha operators that had a strong spiritual power were usually proficient in long-range attacks. This was because they were weaker physically so closebat was not suitable for them. A strong physique was needed for closebat as the body needed to withstand the blows dealt on their mechas. Hence, Lin Five reminded Jiao Thirteen to beware of long-range attacks. He was afraid that he would lose his cool and forget about this point. If he got defeated because of this, that would really be a humiliation.


    Actually, Lin Five was surprised that Jiao Thirteen didn¡¯t manage to dodge the attack too. They were all trained to activate their defense mechanism the moment they woke up so that such situations wouldn¡¯t happen. By right, he should be able to dodge it.


    Lin Five had no time to think. His opponent had already swung his giant sword towards him.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The two swords collided into each other. The people around them almost lost their bnce. Two powerful closebat mecha operators were fighting heads on with each other.


    ¡°Jiao Thirteen, you activated your beam shield toote. Lousy.¡± The mecha operator that managed to block Devil de¡¯s shot mocked Jiao Thirteen.


    Jiao Thirteen was furious when he heard what his teammate said, ¡°Wei Nine, go to hell. You are the one that is lousy.¡±


    Jiao Thirteen was certain that he activated his beam shield the moment he woke up. It was even smoother and faster than his training practice. However, he was still hit. He suspected that the mainframe ignored his controls and gave his opponent the chance to attack him.


    It was understandable that Jiao Thirteen couldn¡¯t understand what went wrong. Ling Lan¡¯s shot was instantaneous. The moment the mainframe shut down the protection shield, Ling Lan fired the shot. Hence, the shot was deemed valid. If she had fired the shot a little faster, it would be an invalid shot and wouldn¡¯t have hurt Jiao Thirteen.


    Of course, if Jiao Thirteen was able to instantaneously activate his beam shield, Ling Lan¡¯s attack wouldn¡¯t have hit him. However, he couldn¡¯t do such operations yet so he was injured.


    This was why Devil de failed. He was slower than Ling Lan so his opponent managed to block his shot. No one had the time to analyze Ling Lan¡¯s attack now so they just thought that she was lucky.


    Jiao Thirteen couldn¡¯t control his mecha¡¯s right hand anymore. If this happened to a normal long-range operator, theirbat skills would drop exponentially and they wouldn¡¯t be able to continue the battle. But, the Flying Dragon Special Forces didn¡¯t allow their members to have any weaknesses. Every one of their mecha operators was trained to use both hands to handle their weapons. If the right hand of their mecha was injured, they could still use their left hand.


    However, the left-hand attacks would not be as powerful as the right-hand attacks no matter how well they trained both their hands. Jiao Thirteen couldn¡¯t disy his full ability. How well he managed to use his mecha¡¯s left hand depended on how hard he had practiced it.


    Jiao Thirteen was furious. He took his beam gun with the mecha¡¯s left hand and prepared to shoot Ling Lan. Suddenly, huge energies formed into a whirlwind and attacked him.


    Jiao Thirteen got a shock. He instantly jumped more than ten meters away. On the ground where he was standing just now, a deep cut had appeared.


    ¡°Whirlwind Strike!¡± A closebat mecha rushed towards him with a huge cold weapon in its hand.


    ¡°Total Annihtion!¡± Total Annihtion was a basic attack but the powerful forceing from it gave Jiao Thirteen no chance of retreating. He decisively threw down his beam gun and grabbed his sword. He swung it at the mecha.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Another loud noise echoed throughout thebat arena. The other mechas that were fighting slowed down for a moment.


    Ling Lan had been waiting for an opportunity all these while. She quickly pulled her trigger and a light beam shot out of her gun. The sudden light beam shocked her opponent and he immediately maneuvered his mecha to the left.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The light beam still managed to hit Ling Lan¡¯s opponent. The beam shield dimmed a little. Ling Lan¡¯s opponent got attacked the moment he woke up so he had to activate his beam shield to take on the blow forcefully. Now, he was hit again. His beam shield could only handle one more attack. If he didn¡¯t change his energy storage unit, he would be in the same situation as Jiao Thirteen.


    Jiao Thirteen¡¯s opponent was Crazy Warrior. Heughed excitedly as he faced Jiao Thirteen. Ling Lan¡¯s attack at the start allowed him to get near this long-range mecha. If not, he might be the one getting chased around by this mecha.


    Closebat operators hated long-range operators the most. If they met a long-range operator on the battlefield, they needed to close the gap between them before they could fight their opponent. However, long-range operators were not stupid either. They would not give these closebat mechas the chance to get near them.


    In this situation, closebat operators were at a disadvantage. They had to get near their opponents while they were being attacked by long-range attacks. If they met someone as strong as them, it would mean defeat.


    Jiao Thirteen started fighting with Crazy Warrior. The other people saw their opponents and started fighting too.


    Devil de had a hard time handling his opponent. His opponent was a closebat operator.


    ¡°This operator is as strong as Domineering de. I wonder what his rank is among the six people.¡± Devil de was a little frustrated. If his opponent was not the strongest, their team would be in a dire state.


    Devil de knew that if he wanted to turn the situation around, he must widen the distance between them. He operated a bnced mecha but his long-range attacks were better than his closebat skills. Hence, he wanted to find a way to use his long-range attacks.


    He fought too safely at the start and allowed his opponent to close in on him. If he had attacked bolder, he would not be in such a difficult position.


    Devil de exchanged another blow with his opponent. Suddenly, a short-distanced beam gun appeared in his mecha¡¯s left hand. A light beam shot out of the beam gun and enveloped his opponent.


    This attack forced his opponent to retreat. Devil de took the chance to move away from his opponent.


    ¡°I will not allow you to run away!¡± Once Devil de moved, his opponent knew what he was nning to do. His opponent struck a Whirlwind Strike at him and rushed towards him.


    Devil de saw his opponent chasing him. He gritted his teeth and powered his engine to the maximum. He needed to pull the distance away from his opponent even if it meant overburdening his engine. He continuing shooting his opponent with his beam gun and tried to slow down his opponent.


    ¡°Comparing speed with me?¡± Devil de¡¯s opponent gave a cold smile when he saw what Devil de was doing. His mecha was modified to be faster. He elerated his engine. A loud roar sounded from his mecha and his mecha¡¯s speed increased again. He closed in on Devil de.


    ¡°Damn, my opponent¡¯s mecha has been modified to have a faster speed.¡± Devil de was devastated. He was really unlucky today. He failed his sneak attack and met a speed-modified mecha.


    Devil de was expecting to meet such a mecha since most closebat mechas would be modified to be faster or stronger. However, he was still affected when he really met the mecha.


    At this moment, Ling Lan¡¯s voice appeared in the team channel, ¡°Devil de, assist Domineering de immediately.¡±


    Devil de was stunned when he heard this order. How was he supposed to go over? He was in a fight with his opponent and couldn¡¯t free himself.


    Suddenly, a sh of light appeared and struck the mecha that was chasing Devil de.


    Devil de¡¯s opponent stopped due to the attack. When he wanted to continue chasing Devil de, another light appeared and interrupted his operation.


    Devil de saw Ling Laning to help him. He didn¡¯t know if Ling Lan could stop his opponent but he still turned around decisively and went to help Domineering de.

 Chapter 585 - Who Is The Recruit?

    <h4>Chapter 585: Who Is The Recruit?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Devil de¡¯s opponent felt frustrated when he saw Devil de leaving. He wanted to get away from Ling Lan¡¯s long-range attacks but Ling Lan would always manage to find some time amidst her battle to stop him from leaving.


    ¡°Zhua Fifteen, are you a dumbass? Why can¡¯t you subdue your opponent?¡± The mecha operator scolded the person who was fighting against Ling Lan through their team channel.


    ¡°Xu Eleven, if you are so powerful, get out of her attacking range yourself,¡± Zhua Fifteen replied Xu Eleven furiously. They were the most outstanding elites who just entered the Flying Dragon Special Forces. They were arrogant and prideful. None of them could stand it when other people looked down on them.


    ¡°He always snipes me whenever he is free. How can I escape? F**k.¡±


    ¡°Zhua Fifteen, Xu Eleven, stop quarreling.¡± Lin Five¡¯s cold voice sounded in their channel. The two people shut up immediately. However, Lin Five¡¯s next sentence left them astounded.


    ¡°The two of you will attack him together,¡± Lin Five ordered them.


    ¡°Why?¡± Zhua Fifteen and Xu Eleven shouted in anger simultaneously. They felt as though they were pped in the face.


    ¡°He is stronger than the two of you.¡± Ling Lan mercilessly exposed the fact that the two of them didn¡¯t want to ept. Ling Lan was able to find the time and effort to snipe Xu Eleven because Zhua Fifteen was not her match. Xu Eleven was unable to get away from Ling Lan¡¯s long-range attacks because he was weaker than her. This was the truth.


    Lin Five felt the low morale of his two team members so he continued, ¡°Don¡¯t take it too personally. The one that is pestering the two of you must be the strongest operator among them. I have already confirmed that this team is made up of 5 old soldiers and a recruit.¡±


    ¡°Find the recruit and kill him if he performed badly.¡± Lin Five¡¯s voice echoed in the team channel. He would not let such a person get in through the back door.


    ¡°Yes, captain!¡±


    ¡°My opponent is definitely not the recruit. He fights like a maniac and his attacks are crazy. He doesn¡¯t care about his own survival as long as he kills me.¡± Jiao Thirteen forcefully received a blow from Crazy Warrior. He thought he could defeat his opponent easily with his left hand but his opponent was stronger than expected. All his attacks had a murderous intent in them. This was not something a recruit would have.


    ¡°My opponent has his own closebat style. He shouldn¡¯t be the recruit,¡± another team member said and didn¡¯t continue after that.


    When he was speaking, his opponent found an opportunity and almost stabbed his cockpit. Drops of cold sweat ran down his back. He didn¡¯t dare to talk anymore. His opponent¡¯s weird and sinister attacks were unique and unpredictable. He needed to focus.


    ¡°Since your opponents are not the recruit, it must be this long-range mecha in front of me,¡± thest team member said in a rxed tone.


    ¡°Ya Ten, is your opponent a strong long-range mecha operator?¡± Lin Five felt that he got his answer.


    ¡°Yes. His long-range attacks are not bad but I can receive them easily.¡± Ya Ten continued replying casually.


    ¡°That must be the recruit then. Ya Ten, fight with him seriously and let me see his true potential,¡± Lin Five said in a cold voice. If the recruit was someone that had no skills and just wanted to get in through the back door...


    ¡°I know. I have finished my warm up. It is time to fight properly.¡± Ya Ten¡¯s expression changed the moment he finished speaking. His eyes turned sharp and his fingers flew on the operation board. His mecha took the beam gun from behind its back.


    Divine de was still nonchnt at the start. He was the person in control of the fight the entire time so he believed that as long as he didn¡¯t make a mistake, he would win against his opponent. However, when he saw his opponent holding two guns, he was shocked. ¡°Isn¡¯t this the Ye family¡¯s unique technique? Why do the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces know it too?¡±


    In the Flying Dragon Special Forces, one could learn the secret techniques from certain families. This was why the Flying Dragon Special Forces was the strongest special forces team in the Federation and why everyone wanted to enter this team.


    Ya Ten sneered at his opponent and made a sound with his mouth. ¡°Bang!¡±


    Two colorful light beams shot out of the guns. They flew towards Divine de, one on the left and one on the right.


    ¡°Light-and-Shadow Skim!¡± Divine de immediately dodged the light beams with his fastest speed. Just as he thought that he had escaped, his mecha got hit by something and an explosion urred.


    Divine de¡¯s beam shield dimmed. The energy of the beam shield had entered the red zone. Divine de knew that if he got hit one more time, he would be defeated.


    Divine de regained hisposure. His opponent had been hiding his true abilities from the start and only attacked him now. He got caught by surprise so he was hit.


    As the top long-range sniper in the Elite de Battle Team, Divine de would not be scared so easily. He had a strong mentality so he calmed down quickly.


    Ya Ten continued striking after the sessful attack. He pulled the trigger furiously and beams continued to shoot at Divine de. Divine de was prepared this time so he controlled his mecha and dodged the various beams. He remained unharmed after the round of attack ended.


    A sound of snapping was heard. Ya Ten¡¯s beam gun had used up all its energy. Divine de finally got the chance to strike back.


    ¡°F**k, this ace operator¡¯s beam gun is too lousy.¡± Ya Ten was used to operating an imperial operator¡¯s beam gun in real life so he forgot that he was using a lower level weapon.


    ¡°Bang! Bang! Bang!¡± It was Divine de¡¯s turn to attack fervently. The two people had a change in their situation. Ya Ten was the one frantically dodging the beams now.


    Devil de managed to escape from his opponent due to Ling Lan¡¯s help. He rushed towards Domineering de. From afar, he could already see that Domineering de was in a dire state.


    Domineering de¡¯s opponent was the leader of the Flying Dragon Special Forces team, Lin Five. Lin Five was among the top ten in the Flying Dragon Special Forces in terms of closebat abilities. He was the elite among the elites. He was made the leader of this temporary team because theirmander was afraid that the new members would fail due to theirck of experience.


    The moment he started fighting with Domineering de, he could sense that Domineering de was strong. He felt that his opponent could be ranked within the top 20 in the Flying Dragon Special Forces when ites to closebat. This perked up his interest so he gave it his all. He wanted to see how good Domineering de was.


    Since Lin Five fought with all his might, Domineering de was in a bad state. He could only block the blows by Lin Five. He couldn¡¯tunch any attacks at all.


    Domineering de knew that his opponent was actually an imperial operator. If not, as a spurious imperial operator, he would not be beaten up so badly.


    Actually, Senior Colonel Mi reminded Domineering de that there was an imperial operator among their opponents. He did it because Domineering de was the only person that had any possibility of subduing this person. Senior Colonel Mi ced his hopes on Domineering de. Hence, he told Domineering de about this so that he wouldn¡¯t be caught off guard. He hoped that Ling Lan could pass this mission.

 Chapter 586 - Reinforcement!

    <h4>Chapter 586: Reinforcement!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Devil de didn¡¯t act rashly and joined the fight. He knew that if Domineering de couldn¡¯t win against his opponent in closebat, he would be unable to do it too. He couldn¡¯t offer much help even if he entered the fight now. At their level, two people might not be able to win against one person. He could even be a burden instead.


    However, he still had a chance!


    Devil de positioned his long-range sniper rifle. This was his specialization: sniping. He was a long-range assassin that aimed to kill his opponent in one shot. This was the only thing he could do to help Domineering de.


    Devil de stared at the two people fighting. He was looking for an opportunity to strike. The time passed slowly. He saw Domineering de almost getting defeated a few times. He gritted his teeth and endured the desire in him to shoot. As a professional sniper, he must keep calm at all times and only strike at the right moment.


    A few seconds passed...


    A few minutes passed...


    Drops of sweat fell down from Devil de¡¯s forehead and onto his entire body. Very soon, his body was drenched in sweat. His protective vest was soaked too.


    He couldn¡¯t find any loopholes in his opponent. Not one at all! All he saw was Domineering de¡¯s weakness.


    This was the Flying Dragon Special Forces! The powerful and invincible Flying Dragon Special Forces!


    Devil de started to lose his confidence. Would they really be able to withstand the attacks of the members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces and pass this mission? The fighting spirit in him started dwindling.


    ¡°No, I can¡¯t give up now. A human would definitely make mistakes. No one is perfect. There will be an opportunity. Yes, there will be!¡± Devil de had a strong mentality so he immediately stabilized his emotions. He regained hisposure and continued staring at Lin Five intently.


    ¡°Chain Combo!¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s voice appeared on their team channel. Domineering de was hesitant. His opponent was dominating him. This was not a good time to execute the Chain Combo. The Chain Combo was an offensive technique.


    As Domineering de was in a dilemma, Ling Lan¡¯s voice sounded again. This time, his voice was colder. Domineering de could sense the anger in his voice. The cockpit seemed to turn colder because of Ling Lan¡¯s voice.


    Domineering de remembered Devil de asking him to listen to Ling Lan¡¯s order no matter what he said. He was a member of Ling Lan¡¯s team. It was only right for him to listen to his team leader. Domineering de made a decision. He threw away his status as the captain of the Elite de Battle Team and followed Ling Lan¡¯s order.


    ¡°Commander, I want to continue the fight too. However, I need to listen to Ling Lan¡¯s order.¡± Although Domineering de decided to listen to Ling Lan, he still felt that the Chain Combo would be useless. He felt that his opponent would use this opportunity to defeat him.


    ¡°ng! ng! ng!¡± Unexpectedly, the Chain Combo managed to block his opponent¡¯s attacks.


    After the 7th attack, Domineering de couldn¡¯t continue anymore. He tried tounch his 8th strike but he didn¡¯t have the energy to follow through it... he had exhausted himself.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The two giant swords banged into each other again. Both mechas shook from the force...


    Opportunity! Devil de¡¯s eyes lit up. He decisively pulled the trigger and a bullet finally shot out of his sniper rifle. It flew towards Lin Five silently.


    Lin Five didn¡¯t notice Devil de¡¯s sneak attack. He could feel that his opponent had reached his limits so he maneuvered his mecha to finish off his opponent. At this moment, he felt a chill running down his spine.


    Danger! Lin Five moved his fingers without thinking. He focused the energy from his beam shield onto the waist of his mecha and then moved his mecha back at the fastest speed.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    Although Lin Five reacted quickly, the bullet still brushed against his mecha and exploded. The explosion caused Lin Five¡¯s mecha to fly out. The bright beam shield started flickering. This shot used up all the energy of Lin Five¡¯s beam shield. One more attack and Lin Five would be defeated.


    ¡°Captain!¡± Themotion shocked the other members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces team. They got nervous when they saw their leader in danger.


    Xu Eleven and Zhua Fifteen felt the most agitated. They wanted to bypass Ling Lan and help Lin Five but they couldn¡¯t. Ling Lan¡¯s beam constantly forced them back. They finally understood what their leader meant when he said that their opponent was stronger than them. They couldn¡¯t even escape from her beam attacks.


    ¡°Zhua Fifteen.¡± Xu Eleven knew that they couldn¡¯t continue like this. He gritted his teeth and called Zhua Fifteen.


    ¡°Hurry up and say what you have to say,¡± Zhua Fifteen replied angrily as he dodged Ling Lan¡¯s beams.


    They entered the Flying Dragon Special Forces at the same time and werepetitors all these while. They never worked together. To them, they were already showing mercy if they didn¡¯t fight with each other.


    ¡°If you want to help our leader, one of us need to escape from our opponent¡¯s blockade,¡± Xu Eleven controlled his anger and said patiently.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that nonsense?¡± Zhua Fifteen sneered. He knew this even if Xu Eleven didn¡¯t say it. However, which one of them could escape the blockade?


    ¡°We need to put down our grudges. If you don¡¯t want to lose, listen to me. Let¡¯s coborate this time,¡± Xu Eleven told Zhua Fifteen tantly.


    Zhua Fifteen was unhappy that Xu Eleven took control of the initiative. However, he knew that Xu Eleven was right. They needed to cooperate. If not, their leader would be defeated. The two mechas fighting with their leader would be freed and their team would lose. Zhua Fifteen didn¡¯t have the confidence to win against the two mecha operators that defeated their leader.


    ¡°Okay. I don¡¯t want to listen to you. I just want to help the leader.¡± Zhua Fifteen agreed to coborate but he was still unable to bow down to Xu Eleven.


    ¡°Okay. We will raise two guns and fire at our opponent. You will then go and help the captain while I continue firing.¡± Xu Eleven didn¡¯t argue with Zhua Fifteen. Helping their leader was the most important thing now.


    ¡°One, two, three! Fire!¡±


    Xu Eleven gave the order and the two mechas pulled out their beam guns together. Each mecha held a gun in each hand and fired furiously at Ling Lan.

 Chapter 587 - Dance Of Death!

    <h4>Chapter 587: Dance Of Death!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    In an instant, the sky was filled with beams. The beams surrounded Ling Lan entirely. This scene attracted the attention of the other mecha operators. Everyone slowed down their attacks.


    It was hard for them to disregard thismotion. Everyone was curious. Would the two operators from the Flying Dragon Special Forces seed in attacking Ling Lan or would she escape from death?


    ¡°Zhua Fifteen, hurry up.¡± Xu Eleven heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the beam shots in the air. He didn¡¯t stop shooting but still remembered to remind his teammate to leave.


    Xu Eleven felt that their beam projectiles had blocked all paths of the retreat of their opponent. No matter how strong their opponent was, he would be unable to escape from the it unharmed. Even if he did manage to escape, his beam shield would be depleted of energy and that would give him the chance to turn the situation around.


    Xu Eleven was a logical person. He didn¡¯t feel that his coboration with Zhua Fifteen would defeat their opponent just like that. For someone that could subdue the two of them easily, their opponent would not be subdued so easily.


    Ling Lan controlled her mecha and started dancing among the beam projectiles. It danced gracefully and dodged all the beam shots. It looked as though it was performing a waltz dance for its audience. It was like a dance with Hades, dangerous but beautiful.


    ¡°The Dance of Death!¡± Everyone that saw Ling Lan¡¯s dance shouted in astonishment.


    The Dance of Death, a [SS] rank technique. This technique was only one rank lower than the [SSS] rank technique, Divine Wind. Only a few extremely talented imperial operators would be able to master this technique. There used to be a rumor within the Federation which said that a few hundred years ago, a god-ss operator mentioned that only imperial operators who managed to master the Dance of Death would have the chance to be a god-ss operator.


    Based on past data, all the mecha operators that advanced to god-ss managed to master the Dance of Death. Hence, the Dance of Death became a challenge for imperial operators. No one wanted to give up on the opportunity to be a god-ss mecha master.


    Xu Eleven felt bitter. He was unable to master the Dance of Death yet. ording to what his instructor said, only people who had been through countless life-or-death situations could master this technique. This was what hecked. The members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces were the elites of the Federation and the pirs of the country. They would not be sent to the battlefield unless there was no other choice.


    Only the number one member within each battle team in the Flying Dragon Special Forces managed to master the Dance of Death. The mastery of the Dance of Death was a criterion to be the number one operator within the battle team too. Looking at it this way, the rumor might be true...


    Xu Eleven knew that for someone to master this technique, he must have had a lot of experience. He might even be a mecha operator who had been recognized by the Federation. His abilities were on par with the top 5 of each battle team in the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Xu Eleven didn¡¯t feel bad about losing to such a person.


    At this moment, Ling Lan did a graceful turn in the air and fired a shot with her beam gun. A beam shot prated through the beam projectiles around her and flew towards Zhua Fifteen.


    Zhua Fifteen felt a strong sense of danger when he was moving. He instantly changed the direction of his mecha and moved towards his left. A beam brushed against his mecha and fired into the ground beside him.


    A huge hole appeared on the ground.


    Zhua Fifteen felt his hair standing. If he didn¡¯t change his direction in time, the beam would hit him. Looking at the force of the beam, his beam shield might be unable to handle it.


    Ling Lan suddenly thought of something as she dodged the beam shots. ¡°I mustpliment Chang Xinyuan when I go backter. The modifiedpressed beams are powerful.¡±


    Zhua Fifteen looked up and saw Ling Lan dodging the beams. Xu Eleven continued firing shots at Ling Lan just as he promised.


    Maybe that shot just now was a forced effort by his opponent. Zhua Fifteen calmed down and wanted to rush towards his leader again.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Another beam flew towards him. Zhua Fifteen dodged it in a flurry. He scolded Xu Eleven uncontrobly, ¡°Xu Eleven, what the hell are you doing? Are you sleeping? What happened to hold the opponent back?¡± Zhua Fifteen suspected that Xu Eleven wanted to make use of their opponent to hurt him.


    ¡°It is the Dance of Death, you idiot,¡± Xu Eleven replied angrily. If he could hold his opponent back, he would have done it long ago. However, he was too weak. He didn¡¯t even think that he would be able to block his opponent if Zhua Fifteen really managed to escape the blockade.


    The Dance of Death! Zhua Fifteen was stunned. How could it be? He turned back and looked at his opponent again. He saw Ling Lan¡¯s mecha looking back at him. Zhua Fifteen could almost see the sneer on his opponent¡¯s face. He seemed to be telling him to stay where he was. If not, no mercy would be given to him.


    Zhua Fifteen suddenly felt scared. Drops of sweat formed on his hand which was holding the control stick. He didn¡¯t have the courage to push the control stick...


    ¡°No, I can¡¯t be frightened by my opponent. The Dance of Death means nothing. Let¡¯s go!¡± Zhua Fifteen powered up his engine and his mecha flew towards Lin Five. He was not only battling his opponent, but he was also battling his own fear too.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Ling Lan fired a shot again and hit Zhua Fifteen¡¯s cockpit.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The mecha exploded and mmed into the ground. Zhua Fifteen paid the price for being rash, scared, and fearful. He was out of the match.


    ¡°This is the Flying Dragon Special Forces?¡± Ling Lan sneered. She didn¡¯t expect the members from the Flying Dragon Special Forces to fight individually. There was no cooperation among them at all. If the two mechas she was fighting against coborated, she would not be able to gain such a huge advantage. Also, the mentality of the members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces team was quite weak. She managed to fool them with her fake Dance of Death.


    If she had an opportunity next time, she must ask her father what happened to the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Why were the people inside not as strong as she thought?


    In spite of this, Ling Lan didn¡¯t underestimate the members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Since these people could enter the ultimate dream force of every mecha operator, there must be something special about the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Ling Lan didn¡¯t like to make hasty judgments. Underestimation of one¡¯s opponents could be detrimental. This was what led to the situation for the Flying Dragon Special Forces team. They came unprepared...

 Chapter 588 - It’s Them!

    <h4>Chapter 588: It¡¯s Them!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    When Ling Lan defeated a member of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, everyone was dumbfounded.


    Ice Spirit, Crazy Warrior, and Divine de were suspicious of Ling Lan¡¯s recruit identity. They were also suspicious as to whether their opponents were really from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    Of course, they knew that their opponent was indeed powerful. Ice Spirit and Divine de were at a disadvantage. Crazy Warrior had the upper hand but that was because Ling Lan injured his opponent¡¯s right arm at the start of the battle. If not, he would be in the same situation as Ice Spirit and Divine de.


    Ice Spirit, Crazy Warrior, and Divine de were happy. With his abilities, Ling Lan could enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces. However, he chose toe to the 23rd Division. They were proud of their division. Not everyone wanted to go to the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    Ling Lan¡¯s performance inspired these three operators. They started attacking furiously. Those that were in a disadvantage managed to regain some of their stances. Crazy Warrior even forced Jiao Thirteen into a dire situation.


    Only three people were not affected by Ling Lan¡¯s Dance of Death. They were Domineering de, Devil de, and Lin Five. Their battle had entered the crucial stage. Domineering de and Devil de wanted to defeat their opponent using this chance while Lin Five fought hard to change the situation around. They were all focused on their battle so they didn¡¯t have the time to notice anything else. ( Boxno vel. co m )


    Domineering de was able to escape from his opponent¡¯s attack after he listened to Ling Lan and used the Chain Combo. He even allowed Devil de to find an opportunity to snipe his opponent, allowing them to gain the upper hand.


    Domineering de had a sudden realization. Could it be that the Chain Combo was both a defensive skill as well as an offensive skill? Most people were distracted by its offensive power so they disregarded its defensive ability.


    If that was the case, did it mean that other offensive techniques could be used as a defense too?


    Domineering de got excited after having this thought. He wanted to experiment with his idea immediately. However, he still had an opponent he had to win against. His opponent was very strong so he couldn¡¯t afford to make any mistakes. He had to control his excitement and focus on defeating his opponent with Devil de.


    Domineering de knew that Ling Lan must have known about the defensive ability of the Chain Combo. This was why he ordered him to use this technique just now. He didn¡¯t know if Ling Lan researched about this or he found out by coincidence.


    Domineering de was right. The Chain Combo could be used both as an offensive and defensive attack.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t realize this herself. She saw Zhao Jun using the Chain Combo in the Grand Mecha Tournament to turn the tide around and realized its defensive potential.


    She was enlightened. She experimented with many other techniques in the learning space and found out that quite a few of the techniques could be used to attack and defend at the same time. The Chain Combo was the most powerful dual usage technique. Its offensive power was as strong as its defensive power.


    However, not everyone would be able to use the Chain Combo as a defensive technique. It required a lot of experience. The operator needed to predict the attacks of their opponent so that they would know how to defend against it. Only mecha operators that had activated their sixth sense would be able to make such predictions.


    Hence, in reality, the risk was high when Domineering de used the Chain Combo to defend himself just now. But, Ling Lan remembered that Domineering de¡¯s ultimate technique on paper was the Chain Combo. Even if it was a cover-up, Domineering de must still be confident in his Chain Combo to write it as his ultimate technique tantly.


    Ling Lan decided to take the risk. She felt that there was only a 60% chance of seeding but in the virtual world, this percentage was enough for her to take the bet.


    If this was the real world, Ling Lan would not take the risk. It would be a life-or-death situation. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t y around with other people¡¯s life. In the virtual world, the worst consequence for her would be failing the mission and losing her chance to form a team. She could still bear with this consequence.


    Domineering de wielded his giant sword and attacked Lin Five without any hesitation. He made up his mind that he would defeat his opponent today. Lin Five¡¯s beam shield was used up so he was in a worse state that Domineering de. If he made a mistake, he would suffer heavier damage. Domineering de knew this and attacked ferociously. Devil de¡¯s long-range attacks also gave Lin Five more stress.


    The two of them wanted to force Lin Five to make a mistake under such huge stress.


    Unfortunately, Lin Five was powerful. He was the top 5 within his battle team. He was the elite among the elites. A moment of failure could force him into a dire state but he would not be defeated just like this. He managed to survive after a round of intense fighting.


    ¡°Damn!¡± Devil de started to get agitated when he noticed Lin Five getting used to theirbined attacks.


    ¡°Devil de, keep calm. We will do it slowly.¡± As a captain, Domineering de was more patient. He knew that if they couldn¡¯t finish the battle quickly, just fight it slowly.


    ¡°But Ling Lan...¡± Devil de remembered that Ling Lan was fighting two opponents. Would he be able to withstand their attacks? This worry caused him to lose his patience.


    ¡°There is no need to worry about this. Ling Lan is stronger than we think.¡± None of the Flying Dragon Special Forces members came to help Lin Five. This meant that their teammates, including Ling Lan, was able to hold their opponents back.


    ¡°What we need to do now is to focus on defeating him. This is the only thing we can do. We must believe in our teammates,¡± Domineering de replied calmly.


    Ling Lan had made her intentions clear when she told Devil de to help Domineering de. If Devil de wanted to help Ling Lan, they must defeat Lin Five. This was the task assigned to them.


    ¡°I understand!¡± Domineering de¡¯s reminder enlightened Devil de and he regained hisposure. No one came to help Lin Five so their teammates must be working hard to fight their opponents. Hence, he must persevere too. He must trust Ling Lan.


    The two of them were clear that their opponent was the strongest among the Flying Dragon Special Forces team. If they couldn¡¯t defeat him, they would not be able to win.


    Devil de and Domineering de wanted to defeat the Flying Dragon Special Forces team badly. They wanted the Flying Dragon Special Forces to know that in this world, they were not the best mecha operators. The Elite de Battle Team was just as strong as them.


    Domineering de waved his sword and attacked Lin Five again. His speed was slower and his attacks were less violent. However, every attack was clear and precise. The angle of the attack was also calcted urately.


    Lin Five became more serious. He felt Domineering de¡¯s attack getting slower but the pressure that he exerted increased tremendously. Drops of cold sweat formed on his back. If he was not experienced enough, he might have been hit several times.


    The sniper which was cooperating with Domineering de became stronger too. He became calm and focused. Just a moment ago, Lin Five was unable to feel the presence of the sniper anymore. Aspared to the frantic attacks just now, a silent Devil de was more frightening. He was like a poisonous snake waiting to give a lethal strike to its prey. If Lin Five made any mistake, he knew that he would be hit by the sniper.


    Lin Five¡¯s back was drenched with sweat. He felt as though a knife was hanging above him, preparing to fall down and kill him at any moment.


    Lin Five was in a dangerous situation. The high amount of stress would tire him out very soon. Once he got tired, he would make a mistake. Mistakes were lethal in a battle between powerful mecha operators. If he lost to these two people, he would be unable to face the Flying Dragon Special Forces anymore.


    Lin Five shivered in fear as he recalled the terrible punishments hismander gave. He calmed down and said to himself, ¡°Seems like I have to use my ultimate technique.¡± He would be scolded by hismander for breaking a rule but it was better than losing.


    When Ling Lan escaped from the beam shots, Xu Eleven¡¯s face turned pale.


    Xu Eleven was devastated. Zhua Fifteen and him were specially trained by the Federation in their secret base. They were born with exceptional talents and their physical constitution was at [SS] rank. He knew that in their batch, there was another prodigy that had a [SSS] rank in both his physical constitution and his spiritual power. The Federation regarded him as the next Ling Xiao. No, he might be even stronger than Ling Xiao in the future.


    They grew up together in the secret base. They had the best resources and were given the best gene agent. When they were 10 years old, they were given agents to activate their talents. Their instructors were all domain level and imperial level operators. There was even a god-ss operator too.


    They were taught to be the strongest mecha operators in the Federation. In the Scout Academy, the youngest child that entered the virtual world was 13 years old. In their base, they were allowed to enter the virtual world the moment their talent was activated. At that time, they were only 10 years old.


    If a child didn¡¯t activate his talent when he was 10 years old, he would be sent away. No one knew where these children were sent to.

 Chapter 589 - Ultimate Technique!

    <h4>Chapter 589: Ultimate Technique!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Xu Eleven, Zhua Fifteen, Jiao Thirteen, Wei Nine, and Ya Ten had sessfully activated their talents when they were 10 years old. They stayed behind and underwent all kinds of training to speed up their advancement into different levels. They needed to reach high-level by 13 years old, be a special-ss operator by 15 years old, and advance to ace level by 18 years old. If they didn¡¯t hit these criteria, they would be sent away.


    Hence, when they heard that Qiao Ting became an ace operator in his fourth year in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and was regarded as the next Ling Xiao because of this, they just sneered. They had all became ace operators when they were cadets in their third year of military academy. The [SSS] rank prodigy advanced to ace level when he was 15 years old and by the time he was 18 years old, he was an imperial operator. He was Ling Xiao¡¯s sessor. Or rather, he was stronger than Ling Xiao. When Ling Xiao was at this age, he wasn¡¯t even an ace operator. ( Boxno vel. co m )


    When they reached 23 years old, another challenge was given to them. They would be sent away if they didn¡¯t be a spurious imperial operator. Those that seeded would be taken in by the Flying Dragon Special Forces and be an official member of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. They thought that they were the strongest batch of operators. They couldn¡¯t bepared to the prodigy but they would definitely win against everyone outside. They felt that only their seniors in the Flying Dragon Special Forces would be able to defeat them. They looked up to their seniors who went through the same process as them.


    The Flying Dragon Special Forces would open its doors every 5 years. Mecha operators from outside could apply to the Flying Dragon Special Forces and they would select a few of them to be their new members. These new members were all famous people in their respective divisions. However, the first day they came into the Flying Dragon Special Forces, they would be beaten up badly. After that day, these new members from outside would feel inferior to those that came from the secret base.


    This caused the mecha operators from the secret base to look down on the mecha operators from outside. Whether it was Sky God or King of Hell, they would be able to defeat them easily.


    However, now, reality pped them hard in the face. He was unable to defeat his opponent even when he cooperated with Zhua Fifteen. Not only that, his opponent easily subdued them. He suspected that his opponent only took this as a game and didn¡¯t fight them seriously all this time. He only showed his true abilities when he realized Zhua Fifteen wanted to escape his blockade. One shot and Zhua Fifteen was defeated.


    Who is he? Why is he so powerful? Is he the Sky God or King of Hell? Is he a famous mecha operator? Xu Eleven finally understood that he was just a frog in the well. There were powerful operators outside the Flying Dragon Special Forces too. He felt that only the number one operators in each battle team could defeat his opponent. In their batch, only the prodigy might be able to win against him. However, the prodigy must gain more experience first.


    Xu Eleven got frightened by Ling Lan¡¯s operations and wrongly predicted her capability. He thought that she was much stronger than him but in actual fact, Ling Lan was just slightly stronger. She won over him because she had more experience.


    By right, if Zhua Fifteen had cooperated with Xu Eleven from the start, they might have an advantage over Ling Lan. However, their grudges against each other prevented them from cooperating, giving Ling Lan the chance to attack them individually. When Lin Five was injured, they realized that they needed to work together. However, Ling Lan showed off her fake Dance of Death and scared them. Zhua Fifteen even broke down and offered Ling Lan an opportunity to defeat him.


    Mecha operators trained in the secret base were powerful but there was a fatal weakness. Theycked experience. They were always the one in control so when they were at a disadvantage position, they couldn¡¯t control their emotions. Their mentality was weak.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t have much experience too but the bloodsheds and life-or-death situations she experienced in the learning space gave her some advantage over Xu Eleven and his teammates.


    Wei Nine and Ya Ten realized that Zhua Fifteen got defeated too.


    Ya Ten felt his heart dropped. He knew that the situation was against them. He decisively asked in the team channel, ¡°Leader, I would like to use the ultimate technique.¡±


    There were members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. They couldn¡¯t be defeated here. However, he didn¡¯t know if his leader would ept his suggestion. Theirmander had prohibited them to use the ultimate technique of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. It was a terrifying technique.


    The rest of the members heard Ya Ten¡¯s suggestions and felt ted and afraid. Xu Eleven felt hopeful again. If they were able to use the equipment and technique, he would have a chance to defeat his opponent. Even if he couldn¡¯t, he couldst until his team leadere to help him. He would not be killed like Zhua Fifteen.


    The four remaining members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces team were silent. They could feel their heart pounding against their chest. Would their team leader ept this suggestion?


    At this moment, Lin Five had also made the decision to use the ultimate technique. Hence, he replied almost immediately, ¡°I approve!¡±


    The four of them heaved a sigh of relief. Besides Xu Eleven, the other people looked at their opponents with pity and disdain.


    Ya Ten put away the gun on his left hand. He operated his mecha and took out something from below his waist.


    ¡°ng!¡± Something fell out from his gun. Ya Ten raised his left hand and his gun changed.


    There was no change in the barrel of the gun. But, at the gun pendulum where the energy block was supposed to be, a half moon object the size of a mecha¡¯s head reced the energy block.


    Divine de saw this strange object and felt an imminent sense of danger. What was this thing?


    Besides Ya Ten, Wei Nine¡¯s weapon also had some changes. The giant sword in his hand suddenly split and became two swords.


    As for Jiao Thirteen¡¯s mecha, numerous ck holes appeared. Crazy Warrior could see the nozzles inside the ck holes. His hair stood up in fear.


    Lin Five dodged Domineering de¡¯s attack and leaped back. He made use of this time to take out another giant sword from his back. The two swords in his handbined into a dual-edge sword.


    Xu Eleven took out a device simr to Ya Ten. However, before he could equip it on his gun, Ling Lan had pulled her trigger. She felt that something was amiss so she fired a shot at Xu Eleven. A beam flew straight at Xu Eleven.

 Chapter 590 - Ice Spirit!

    Chapter 590: Ice Spirit!


    Trantor: Henyee Trantions Editor: Henyee Trantions


    Xu Eleven saw the beaming but he gritted his teeth and didn¡¯t dodge it. He hastened his pace in equipping the device onto his beam gun. He knew that this was his only chance.


    ¡°Click.¡± The device was equipped onto his gun.


    At almost the same moment, the beam hit Xu Eleven¡¯s mecha and used up all the energy of the beam shield. Just as his mecha was about to explode, Xu Eleven forcefully operated his mecha and escaped.


    Within the second that Ling Lan¡¯s beam shot hit Xu Eleven, he escaped.


    ¡°Such good luck.¡± Ling Lan pouted with pity. If her opponent was just a little slower, the beam would prate the beam shield and destroy the mecha.


    Since her opponent was willing to take the blow of her beam shot to equip his weapon, it must be a powerful weapon. She spoke in the team channel instantly, ¡°The Flying Dragon Special Forces team is going to give it their all now. Be careful.¡±


    The moment she finished, she recalled that her team members were all powerful operators from the special forces. They were not her like herpanions. They didn¡¯t need her reminder. Ling Lan felt a little speechless about herself.


    She thought that no one would reply to her. However, a few voices shouted in the team channel, ¡°Understand!¡±


    Ling Lan could differentiate them based on their voices. The confident voice belonged to Domineering de. The cold voice belonged to Ice Spirit. The slightly husky one was Crazy Warrior and the calmed one belonged to Devil de. The one that sounded unnatural was Divine de.


    Ling Lan frowned slightly. ¡°Little Four, give me Divine de¡¯s location.¡±


    ¡°Yes, boss.¡± Little Four didn¡¯t interrupt Ling Lan because he knew that Ling Lan wanted to fight this battle with her own abilities. However, if Ling Lan had any orders for him, he would still carry out the orders.


    In a blink of an eye, a small window appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s left. Divine de and his opponent, Ya Ten, appeared on the screen. Their location was shown at the bottom.


    After the members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces team finished preparing their weapons, they fired their ultimate technique together.


    Wei Nine¡¯s mecha had an exponential increase in its speed. Within a split second, it appeared right in front of Ice Spirit. Ice Spirit was prepared for an attack but the unexpected increased in speed still caught her off her guard.


    ¡°Explosive Dual Dragon!¡± Wei Nine shouted in his cockpit. His hand speed reached his maximum and his fingers almost disappeared. Smoke started appearing on the control panel due to the friction between the panel and his fingers.


    The two swords in his mecha¡¯s hand started spinning furiously as they struck towards Ice Spirit.


    Ice Spirit instinctively wanted to dodge but she felt a strong force sucking her mecha to the ground. No matter how hard she powered up her engine, she was unable to move.


    Ice Spirit didn¡¯t know why this was happening but it must be rted to her opponent¡¯s attack. Since she couldn¡¯t run away, she had to defend herself.


    Ice Spirit reached her maximum hand speed too. Her mecha grabbed her sword with both hands and made a weird movement. Then, she swung the sword at her opponent.


    ¡°Ice.True.Whirlwind Strike!¡± After many years of practicing the Whirlwind Strike, Ice Spirit had modified the technique and created a [SS] rank battle technique from it. This battle technique was more powerful than the original Whirlwind Strike. It was recognized by the military and she had the honor of using part of her nickname to name the battle technique.


    Using her name was not the greatest honor. The greatest honor was the word ¡®true¡¯. This word meant that she had understood the true essence of the technique and hence, her modified battle technique was able to unleash the true and ultimate potential of the technique.


    Two powerful forces collided. The energy from the collision destroyed their beam shields. It exceeded the maximum resistance capacity of their engine so both their engines stopped working. Two mechas fell towards the ground. One of them mmed into the battle arena and formed a huge hole in the ground. The other mecha managed to activate its engine just before it reached the ground so it skidded and created a deep line.


    Wei Nine was astounded. Luckily, his mecha¡¯s engine was modified. It managed to activate itself at thest moment. He didn¡¯t expect his opponent to tackle his ultimate technique with a basic [B] rank technique. What¡¯s more, his opponent seeded in blocking his attack.


    Wei Nine heaved a sigh of relief. At least his opponent got mmed into the ground. The mecha must be destroyed by now, right? He looked at the number of people remaining in the battle. There were still 6 people in their opponent team.


    His opponent was not dead yet? Wei Nine was stunned. However, he regained hisposure quickly. He believed that even if his opponent was not dead, she would be heavily injured. There was no possibility of her fighting with him again. He decided to kill his opponent to make himself at ease.


    Wei Nine had maximized his engine¡¯s capacity so he decided to run over without caring about the energy usage. He operated his mecha and it started running noisily. Once he was 50 meters away from his opponent, he kicked against the ground and his mecha leaped up. He grabbed the double sword in his hand and aimed it towards his opponent¡¯s cockpit.


    Ice Spirit felt the blood in her mouth. She looked at the data in the mainframe and knew that she couldn¡¯t hold on for long. She forced herself to stay conscious because she was unwilling to be defeated just like this.


    Since she was already here and managed to have such a long fight with the members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, she must drag someone down with her.


    The 23rd Division was a new division that formed not long ago. The members in the division came from various divisions but they all had one thing inmon. They admired General Ling Xiao. Hence, their loyalty to the 23rd Division was as strong as the members of the other special forces.


    Last time, when they went out toplete their mission, the soldiers from other divisions would jeer at them. They looked down on this division which was formed by members from various other divisions. This angered the members of the 23rd Division. They didn¡¯t want to lose to other people and didn¡¯t want to bring shame to General Ling Xiao too. They were unwilling to lose, even if their opponent was the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    Hence, when Ice Spirit saw Wei Nineing down on her, she smiled. She cursed for the first time. Then, she used all her energy and gave herst order to the mecha.


    Ice Spirit¡¯s mecha suddenly raised its legs. It managed to kick the two giant swords that were aimed at its cockpit. This action revealed the giant sword hidden under its legs. Ice Spirit grabbed the sword and stabbed it at Wei Nine forcefully.


    Wei Nine didn¡¯t expect this retaliation at all. He was not prepared for it so he couldn¡¯t react in time. All he felt was excruciating pain in his heart. The next second, he left the virtual world.

 Chapter 591 - Everyone Won and Lost Something!

    <h4>Chapter 591: Everyone Won and Lost Something!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Wei Nine felt frustrated. He furiously opened the door of his login pod. The moment he stepped out, he saw a crowd of people standing in the virtual atrium. They heard the noise and looked over at him. One of the people in the crowd raised his eyebrows and asked, ¡°Wei Nine, has the fight ended?¡±


    Wei Nine pursed his lips and didn¡¯t reply to the man. The man read his dark expression and understood everything. ¡°You lost!¡±


    Wei Nine didn¡¯t deny it. He lowered his head and replied, ¡°Yes, captain.¡± The man that spoke was his captain, Wei One, of the Dragon Tail Battle Team.


    ¡°Zhua Fifteen came out before you. How many of your opponents died?¡± Another man beside Wei one asked Wei Nine.


    Wei Nine shook his head.


    ( Boxno vel. co m ) ¡°Are you uncertain or is there no casualties on the other side?¡± The man¡¯s expression changed when he saw Wei Nine¡¯s reaction.


    Wei Nine nced at Wei One. Wei One signaled that he could continue so he answered, ¡°When I came out, there were still 6 people in the opponent¡¯s team.¡± At the start, he was confident that he injured his opponent seriously. However, herst attack destroyed all the confidence he had. Now, he wasn¡¯t even sure if he did hurt her at all.


    The other members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces let out a gasp in surprise. The opponent defeated two members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces without any losses on their side. What kind of monsters were they? They finally got to experience what it felt like to treat other people as monsters.


    ¡°Zhua One, do you remember what themander said?¡± Wei One turned to the person who kept talking. He was the captain of Zhua Fifteen, Zhua One. No wonder he was so agitated. One of his team members was defeated.


    ¡°I wonder how our members are doing?¡± The other people in the virtual atrium were all captains of the other members. They were worried. They thought that it would be an easy game but from the looks of it, the Flying Dragon Special Forces team might be defeated. If this piece of news leaked out, it would be embarrassing for the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    Wei Nine looked at one of the captains. The captain immediately noticed his gaze and looked over. He said coldly, ¡°Wei Nine, do you have something to tell me?¡±


    Wei Nine didn¡¯t reply to him. He nced at the people in the atrium and eximed in surprise, ¡°Didn¡¯t Zhua Fifteen tell you anything?¡±


    Zhua One replied indifferently, ¡°Zhua Fifteen experienced some emotional trauma after the battle. He had been sent to the hospital to undergo psychological counseling.¡± He prevented Wei Nine from sowing discord between two battle teams.


    Wei Nine replied, ¡°Oh, no wonder.¡± He sighed and said to Captain Xu One, ¡°Actually, Zhua Fifteen and Xu Eleven coborated but they still couldn¡¯t win against their opponent. Zhua Fifteen was defeated by a single shot. Xu Eleven is left to defend by himself... ¡± He shook his head in pity to express that Xu Eleven was in a bad state.


    Xu One and Zhua One turned green with anger. They didn¡¯t expect their team members to coborate against an opponent. They knew the capabilities of their own team members. If Xu One or Zhua One took on the two of them, they would still require some effort before defeating them. Was their opponent as powerful as them? When did such a powerful battle team appear?


    ¡°Are they all neers?¡± Xu One asked seriously.


    Wei Nine thought about it seriously. He shook his head. ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Why do you say that?¡± Zhua One asked hurriedly.


    ¡°From the way they fought, they are very experienced. Their fighting style is sharp and clean. Leader Lin Five said that there was only one recruit.¡± Wei Nine told them his analysis as well as what Lin Five said.


    The captains heaved a sigh of relief. It was alright for neers to lose to an old mecha operator as theycked experience. It was better than losing to a recruit.


    ¡°Beep, beep, beep!¡± The lights of a login pod turned red. The person inside pushed opened the door. His pale face told everyone that he lost badly. This person was Xu Eleven.


    Xu One sighed loudly. After hearing what Wei Nine said, he knew that Xu Eleven would lose soon. He immediately sent Xu Eleven to the hospital and let him undergo psychological counseling. He was afraid that this match would totally destroy Xu Eleven¡¯s courage and confidence and turn him into a useless person.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand why themander epted this mission. Who are our opponents?¡± The captains got more curious when another member of their team got defeated.


    This answer could only be revealed after the match ended. None of the captains left the virtual atrium. All of them patiently waited for the match to end. Their attitude towards this battle changedpletely.


    Ice Spirit defeated her opponent. She smiled when she saw one lesser opponent on her screen. The next second, she was out of the battle. She didn¡¯t go out of the virtual world but came to the atrium.


    ¡°You lost?¡± Senior Colonel Mi raised his eyebrows and asked her.


    Ice Spirit smiled. ¡°Mutual destruction.¡±


    Senior Colonel Miughed. ¡°Good job.¡± Because this was a battle against the Flying Dragon Special Forces, spectating this battle was prohibited. This was why Senior Colonel Mi waited in the atrium and didn¡¯t go to the spectator stand.


    The two of them ended their conversation and looked towards the optical supeputer in front of them. They wondered how the rest of them were doing. They waited in agitation for the next person toe out.


    Very soon, someone walked towards them.


    The battle in the virtual world was still ongoing. After Ice Spirit and Wei Nine got killed, more people started exiting the match.


    Xu Eleven and Ya Ten used the same weapon but their endings were different.


    Their weapons were a high-energy beam gun. This gun was five times more powerful than a normal beam gun. That meant that Ling Lan and Divine de¡¯s beam shield would not be able to withstand a shot from this gun. Once they got hit, they would be killed.


    Ling Lan got Little Four as her cheatsheet so she quickly got the information about this gun. She knew that she couldn¡¯t be hit by this gun. Actually, even if Little Four didn¡¯t give her this information, she would not take the risk and attack her opponent. It was too risky. She needed to ascertain the impact of the weapon first.


    Ling Lan had a lot of experience with long-range weapons so she knew that there was an effective range for each weapon. Once she got out of this range, the closer she got to her opponent, the less effective the attack would be. No weapons were invincible. Each weapon had it strength and weakness. The same applied to long-range weapons.


    Xu Eleven was slightly weaker than Ling Lan in terms of mecha operation. His mentality was much weaker too. Hence, when he saw Ling Lan closing in on him, he panicked and missed hisst opportunity. If he had stayed calm and fired thest shot, he might have a chance to win.


    However, in the end, he died under Ling Lan¡¯s sword.


    On the other hand, Ya Ten managed to grab the chance to fire his ultimate technique, Light Blockade. The impact of the beam reached its maximum with the help of the device. Divine de had no chance to dodge at all. He was hit and sent out of the battle.


    Before Ya Ten fired his shot, Ling Lan gave an order to Divine de. She knew about the weakness of this gun so she told her teammate too. However, Divine de hesitated. His hesitation caused him to lose his opportunity to turn the tides around.


    Xu Eleven and Divine de died around the same time. Hence, Ling Lan met Ya Ten and they fought with each other. The results were apparent. Ling Lan defeated Ya Ten and he became the fourth person from the Flying Dragon Special Forces team to exit the match.

 Chapter 592 - 1 Versus 1

    <h4>Chapter 592: 1 Versus 1</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    At this moment, Crazy Warrior and Jiao Thirteen died. Jiao Thirteen¡¯s mecha was filled with nozzles. Bullets shot out from all the nozzles. However, Crazy Warrior didn¡¯t dodge. He rushed forward and grabbed his opponent. As the bullets pierced through his mecha, he activated the self-destruct device in his hand.


    This was the most tragic battle. It also showed how powerful the members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces was. Even as a neer, once he activated his ultimate technique, Crazy Warrior had no other way but to self-destruct and die with his opponent.


    However, Crazy Warrior was not depressed. In fact, he was extremely satisfied with himself. He had been rejected by the Flying Dragon Special Forces before. However, he was able to drag a member of the Flying Dragon Special Forces down with him in a battle. He proved to himself that he was not any worse than them.


    Lin Five¡¯s fight with Domineering de and Devil de ended the moment Crazy Warrior self-destruct. Lin Five got seriously injured but he still managed to defeat his opponents. Ling Lan just killed Ya Ten so she was unable to lend a helping hand in time.


    When Lin Five took out another giant sword andbined the two swords in his hands, Domineering de knew that things were getting out of control.


    Domineering de immediately rushed towards Lin Five. He wanted to prevent Lin Five from using his technique. Domineering de knew that for long weapons like this, he needed to shorten the distance between the weapon and him. The further he was, the more powerful the impact of the weapon.


    Domineering de made the right decision but Lin Five was too strong. His mecha piloting skills were better than Domineering de so he knew what Domineering de wanted to do the moment he moved.


    He controlled his mecha and retreated to the side. In a sh, he had distanced himself away from Domineering de. The modified mechas were much faster than the mechas on Ling Lan¡¯s team. No matter how fast Domineering de flew, he couldn¡¯t do anything.


    Lin Five got the distance that he wanted and started spinning the long weapon in his hand. Domineering de felt the huge forceing from the weapon as it twirled in the air. He gritted his teeth and continued flying towards his opponent.


    His opponent was going tounch his ultimate move. He needed to stop him.


    ¡°Dragon Head sh.¡± Lin Five raised his weapon and struck it towards Domineering de.


    ¡°Boom!¡± A huge sound rang through thebat arena. Domineering de felt numb. His mecha flew out the next moment.


    Lin Five continued his attack after his first sess. He wielded his long weapon and aimed it at Domineering de again.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Devil de saw the danger Domineering de was in and fired a shot without any hesitation.


    Lin Five paused his attack and swept his weapon towards the bullet. An explosion urred in mid-air. Lin Five had stopped Devil de¡¯s attack with his weapon.


    ¡°Devil de, move!¡± Domineering de shouted in fear in their team channel.


    Devil de got a shock. Before he could understand what Domineering de meant, a huge explosion sounded beside his ear. Pain rushed through his body and he became unconscious.


    After he slowly regained his consciousness, he saw Senior Colonel Mi, Ice Spirit, and Divine de looking at him with concern. They all seemed agitated.


    ¡°Did you lose?¡± He heard them asking someone.


    ¡°No. Mutual destruction.¡± A happy voice answered them. Devil de turned his head. Crazy Warrior was standing beside him. He must have exited the match around the same time as him.


    ¡°What about you?¡± Senior Colonel Mi smiled when he heard what Crazy Warrior said. He turned and directed his question at Devil de.


    Devil de shook his head. He didn¡¯t know what happened. All he heard was Domineering de asking him to move. Before he could react, he died. He was still in a daze.


    Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s expression changed. He wanted to probe further but other person appeared in front of him.


    Domineering de wore a gloomy expression. Senior Colonel Mi felt his heart dropped. ¡°Did you lose?¡±


    Domineering de nodded helplessly. ¡°Yes, I wanted to self-destruct and kill my opponent at the same time but he is stronger than me.¡± If Devil de didn¡¯t fire that shot just now, he might have died long ago. The Flying Dragon Special Forces was indeed a ce filled with strong people. Maybe he should go in and take a look.


    Domineering de was considered a powerful existence in the division. There were very few people who couldpete with him. Hence, if he wanted to upgrade himself, he either had to go through more life-or-death experiences in the battlefield or find someone as strong as him to have a fight. During the fight, he might find the opportunity to breakthrough. This was the reason why the powerful mecha operators wanted to enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces. This was the ce where they could improve their skills.


    Devil de saw Domineering de and sounded his query. ¡°Domineering de, why did you ask me to move just now?¡±


    Domineering de gave a bitter smile. ¡°I was close to him so I saw what he was trying to do. The explosion that urred when he stopped your bullet blocked your view. He made use of this chance and took out his beam gun.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t he operating a closebat mecha?¡± Devil de had a look of disbelief. If he knew beforehand, he would have made the necessary precautions.


    ¡°His mecha has been modified. It is hard to predict the nature of a modified mecha.¡± Domineering de sighed. No matter what, Devil de¡¯s oversight caused him to lose the battle.


    ¡°However, I got the chance to use my ultimate technique when he was focused on you. Unfortunately, he was stronger than me so I lost.¡± Domineering de smiled. ¡°However, he was heavily injured too. If Ling Lan doesn¡¯t make any mistakes, he could take him down.¡±


    Domineering de knew that only Ling Lan and Lin Five was left in the battle arena now. He felt that Ling Lan would win.


    ¡°Can Ling Lan do it? He is still a newbie,¡± Divine de said worriedly.


    Domineering de gave him a curious look. ¡°Newbie? He defeated the person that killed you.¡±


    Domineering de got killed after Divine de so he saw Divine de¡¯s fight when he reyed his match.


    Divine de felt humiliated. However, it was the truth. Domineering de would not lie to him. Divine de felt his face turning hot. The opponent that killed him easily was defeated by a newbie.


    On the contrary, Senior Colonel Mi was ted when he heard what Domineering de said. If they won this match, no one wouldugh at him when he returned to the ded Special Ops Team.


    No one spoke after this. They waited patiently for the final results.


    After Ling Lan killed Ya Ten, she wanted to rush and help her teammates. But, she noticed the change in the numbers on the right screen. It had changed from 4:2 to 1:1


    Was she the only one left? Who was left in her opponent¡¯s team? Ling Lan remained calm. She minimized the screen and saw the broken mecha that was floating in the air.

 Chapter 593 - Who Is He?

    <h4>Chapter 593: Who Is He?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Although the mecha was broken, Ling Lan could still recognize it as the one that fought with Devil de and Domineering de. It was the strongest mecha operator in the Flying Dragon Special Forces team.


    Ling Lan felt pity. She thought that with thebined strength of Domineering de and Devil de, they would be able to defeat this person. However, when she remembered the ultimate techniques and weapons the members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces used at the end, she didn¡¯t me Domineering de and Devil de anymore.


    Ling Lan flew towards the broken mecha. Once she was within the range of attack for her beam gun, she stopped and aimed her beam gun at her opponent.


    To defeat Domineering de, this person must be strong in his closebat skills. Thus, Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to give him any chances of closing in on her. She was not afraid of losing to her opponent in a closebat battle. She was worried that her opponent might self-destruct and kill her in the process.


    Ling Lan was a cautious person. She knew that if she was in her opponent¡¯s situation, she would aim to die together with her opponent. She would not allow herself to leave the battle as a loser.


    She felt that her opponent must have simr thoughts too. It was safer to keep a distance between them. Ling Lan was confident about her sniping skills. If she was unable to snipe a heavily damaged mecha, she should go back to her learning space and study everything again.


    Lin Five noticed that Ling Lan was keeping her distance and sighed loudly. He knew that he had no chance of winning the battle. The Flying Dragon Special Forces had lost this match. But, he was unwilling to just leave like this. He pressed the speaker button and his voice rang through the arena. ¡°Sir, please wait for a moment.¡± He felt that this person was strong enough to be called Sir.


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. Her mecha was unaffected by the interference and continued to aim the beam gun at her opponent.


    As expected of an experienced mecha master. Once he entered the battle, nothing could distract him. Lin Five thought about this and decided to give up. He smiled bitterly. ¡°I would like to know who you all of you are? Which battle team are you all of you are from?¡± If he could, he wanted his captain to have a match with this team leader. This match would definitely make a name in the history of the Mecha World.


    ¡°This was just a mission for the formation of a battle team. You are the examiner. You should be clear about this.¡± Lin Five waited for five seconds before a cold voice replied to him.


    ¡°I know. I just didn¡¯t expect someone as powerful as you to appear in this mission,¡± Lin Five said in a depressed tone.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect the members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces to be my opponents too. It surprised me,¡± Ling Lan answered him calmly. She felt lucky that her team members were strong. If not, it would be hard to predict the results of the mission. Ling Lan felt that if she met this person at the start, the situation might be different. She might be at a disadvantage.


    ¡°If I guess correctly, the newbie must have a huge background. If not, people like you would not help him.¡± Lin Five tried to get information out of Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan was stunned for a moment. Wasn¡¯t she the newbie? Ling Lan understood that her opponent had a misunderstanding. An idea shed through her mind. ¡°Yes. The newbie has a huge background. He has a good father.¡± This was the perfect opportunity for her to create trouble for her father.


    As expected!


    Lin Five had a sudden thought. The newbie¡¯s father wanted strong mecha operators to help his son passed the mission but his enemies didn¡¯t want that to happen. Hence, the enemy looked for the Flying Dragon Special Forces and asked them to stop his ns...


    Ling Lan remembered something as her opponent kept quiet. She might not pass her evaluation even if she won the battle. If she made the other party angry, he might fail her.


    Ling Lan felt nervous. She said, ¡°Since we have reached this state, let me ask you. Did the newbie pass?¡±


    Lin Five regained his senses when he heard the question. ¡°ording to the newbie¡¯s performance, he failed.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Ling Lan frowned. Which person¡¯s performance are you referring to?


    ¡°A team mission requires cooperation and leadership. However, the long-range mecha operator could hardly look after himself. He didn¡¯t lead his team.¡± Lin Five answered Ling Lan with respect. ¡°I saw the fights at the start. You were the one who ordered the two mechas to attack me and injured one of my members to reduce the pressure on your team. You were also the one who held back two of your opponents. This gave your team an advantage over us.¡±


    This person was the reason why his team lost so miserably.


    The long-range mecha operator? Divine de? Why did they think that Divine de was the newbie? Ling Lan was puzzled.


    It was not really Lin Five¡¯s fault that he made the wrong judgment. When he knew that his opponent team consisted of a newbie and 5 other experienced mecha operators, he naturally took the weakest one as the newbie.


    Divine de didn¡¯t disy his abilities much so he caught Lin Five¡¯s attention. As for Ling Lan, no one would expect the newbie to appear more powerful than the experienced mecha masters.


    ¡°What if I want him to pass?¡± Ling Lan would not ept his answer. If the other party was not willing to pass her, she would tell him her true identity.


    Lin Five wondered if this person owed the newbie¡¯s father a favor. Would he be in any trouble if he couldn¡¯tplete the favor? Lin Five admired strong operators. This mecha operator in front of him was a strong person. He didn¡¯t want him to be in a difficult position. Hence, he said, ¡°If you want him to pass, I will pass him.¡±


    ¡°That would be good. I owe you a favor.¡± Ling Lan put down her beam gun. She got what she wanted so there was no need to kill her opponent anymore. If she really defeated the Flying Dragon Special Forces team, her father would have a hard time exining himself.


    Ling Lan thought for a while and send a request to draw the match.


    Lin Five was touched when he saw the notification. He didn¡¯t expect his opponent to spare him even when he had the upper hand. A draw was better than being defeated. It saved him from humiliation and hismander might go easy on him when punishing him.


    ¡°Thank you senior! My name is Lin Five. Can I add you as a friend?¡± Lin Five said gratefully.


    ¡°ept the request and we can talk about the restter.¡± Ling Lan had to reject him. If he knew her real name, he would be able to find out who she was. Once Lin Five realized that he was fooled by her, he might kill her.


    Lin Five was disappointed. However, he knew that powerful mecha operators wouldn¡¯t add friends so easily. He pressed the ept button in a depressed mood. Before he left the virtual world, he passed the newbie.


    ¡°Lin Five, what is the result?¡± The minute Lin Five opened his login pod door, he saw numerous eyes staring at him.


    He kept quiet for a moment. He hadn¡¯t thought about how he should answer them.


    ¡°Are you mute? What happened in the end? Hello?¡± Zhua One grabbed Lin Five¡¯s clothes and questioned him fiercely.


    ¡°Zhua One, Lin Five is my man. Don¡¯t be too harsh on him.¡± Lin One pulled Zhua One¡¯s hand away. He looked at Lin Five and said calmly, ¡°Tell me, did you lose?¡± Lin Five¡¯s expression told him that the result was not good.


    ¡°It was a draw.¡± Lin Five looked up and finally replied to them. The senior wanted him to help him. He must not expose him.


    Lin Five dared to lie because he knew that there would be no records for this battle. Even if theirmander went into the Mecha World to check, he would only find the written document of the result. In order to hide the location of the Flying Dragon Special Forces headquarters, they hacked the system when they log in for the battle. Hence, they couldn¡¯t film the match.


    The images for their match would automatically delete once they left the Mecha World. There was no way they could retrieve it. Only Lin Five knew the truth. If he didn¡¯t want to reveal it, no one could expose him.


    Everyone felt relieved at the results. They thought that Lin Five died together with his opponent so they didn¡¯t suspect him. Only Ya Ten looked at him curiously. Ya Ten felt that even with Lin Five¡¯s strength, it would be hard for him to kill the person who defeated Zhua Fifteen, Xu Eleven, and him.


    Ya Ten felt that that person would never give Lin Five the chance to self-destruction. However, he was already out of the match so he kept his suspicions to himself.


    ¡°That means that the newbie passed the second mission.¡± A loud voice rang behind them.


    ¡°Commander.¡± Everyone tensed up. They didn¡¯t expect theirmander to appear.


    Lin Five got nervous. He didn¡¯t know if themander would expose his lie.


    ¡°Tell me about the newbie.¡± Themander asked Lin Five about the newbie.


    Lin Five looked at Ya Ten. Ya Ten understood him and replied immediately, ¡°Commander, his long-range attacks are not bad but I can handle it.¡±


    ¡°What about his level?¡± Themander continued asking.


    ¡°He should be an elite ace,¡± Ya Ten replied firmly. He took quite some effort and had to use his ultimate technique to defeat his opponent.


    ¡°Seems like he took some effort to raise this person.¡± Themander rxed a little. He finished his queries about the newbie and asked, ¡°Zhua Fifteen, Xu Eleven, and you were defeated by the same person?¡±


    Ya Ten nodded seriously. ¡°He is very strong. Extremely strong.¡±


    ¡°Which one of us can defeat him?¡± Themander continued.


    Ya Ten looked at his captain and then nced at the other captains.


    ¡°I see. This person has the capabilities of our captains.¡± Who is he? There was no one like this in Ling Xiao¡¯s division.


    At this moment, someone ran in hurriedly and saluted themander. ¡°Commander, we have found him.¡±


    ¡°Who was it?¡± Themander raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°Sky God¡ª¡ªQi Yaoyang!¡±

 Chapter 594 - Framed?

    <h4>Chapter 594: Framed?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°So it¡¯s him.¡± Themander said, ¡°When did he leave the Mecha World?¡±


    ¡°He has not left yet,¡± the person replied.


    Everyone felt enlightened. Lin Five was excited. Was the person that defeated them Sky God, Qi Yaoyang? He was the most powerful mecha operator after the 13 god-ss mecha masters. Lin Five didn¡¯t feel shameful to lose to Qi Yaoyang. Qi Yaoyang was known as the invincible bug of the battlefield.


    Themander thought about it. He felt that only Qi Yaoyang had the ability to defeat the newbies on his team. Although Qi Yaoyang specialized in closebat and not long-range attacks, it didn¡¯t matter much at his level. Qi Yaoyang was probably good at both but one of it was just stronger than the other.


    ¡°He showed you mercy.¡± Themander saw the embarrassed expression on Lin Five¡¯s face and instantly understood what had happened. Seemed like they owed a favor to Qi Yaoyang.


    ¡°This will be the end of this matter.¡± Since they had found the leader of their opponent¡¯s team, there was nothing else they could do. Themander felt that he should have a nice discussion with Ling Xiao and Qi Yaoyangter.


    ¡°Commander, who is the newbie?¡± Zhua One saw that theirmander leaving so he instantly shouted out his question. He was curious about the identity of this newbie.


    The other captains turned their heads when they heard him. They were curious too.


    Themander sneered. ¡°How would I know? However, you all can just keep a lookout for the battle team that just got formed today.¡± The newbie must have a huge background. After all, he was able to get Ling Xiao and Qi Yaoyang to protect him. It was not difficult to find a person with that huge of a background in the military.


    Themander was saying the truth. Ling Xiao only told him that he needed his help to assess a newbie. He would not interfere with their decision on whether the newbie passed the mission or not. It was up to them. Themander wondered why Ling Xiao was so rxed at that time but now, he knew that that general had nned everything ahead. Such a sly fox.


    Themander felt frustrated. He went through many sufferings after he met Ling Xiao. He remembered that he was able to enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces because Ling Xiao rejected their offer. However, Ling Xiao pretended that he did it for him and asked him for many favors. What a despicable fellow!


    Ling Lan left the battle arena after the decision to end the game in a draw was made. The moment she entered the atrium, she saw Senior Colonel Mi and her teammates staring at her with anticipation. They asked her nervously, ¡°What is the result?¡±


    Ling Lan shrugged. ¡°It is a draw.¡±


    ¡°Mutual destruction?¡± Senior Colonel Mi asked again.


    ¡°Why do I need to do that?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t defeat your opponent, how can you pass? The people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces always look down on outsiders...¡± Senior Colonel Mi suddenly paused. ¡°Did you pass?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I pass!¡± Ling Lan asked him to check the notification on the optical supeputer. When Lin Five passed her, Ling Lan immediately received a notification.


    ¡°She passed.¡± Domineering de and the other members of Ling Lan¡¯s team realized that they received the notification too. However, they were too focused on waiting for Ling Lan just now so they didn¡¯t see the notification.


    ¡°That is good. That is good.¡± Senior Colonel Mi was ted when he knew Ling Lan passed. He instantly told General Ling Xiao the good news. He knew that General Ling Xiao was waiting for the results of the mission too.


    Beep, beep! Ling Xiao received Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s message. He feltplicated. He was happy, worried, and proud. He pondered for a moment before sending an order to Senior Colonel Mi. Then, he called someone. ¡°Big Brother Yaoyang, sorry to keep you waiting.¡±


    ¡°No problem. I just watched an arenabatpetition. Young people these days have bold thoughts.¡± Qi Yaoyang¡¯sughter came from the other end of the call. ¡°I have not entered thebat hall for more than ten years. I managed to get many inspirations today after watching this match.¡±


    ¡°I am d that I didn¡¯t waste your time. I just wanted to tell you that Ling Lan passed his second virtual world mission.¡±


    ¡°Not bad. Did he get recognized by the Flying Dragon Special Forces or did he defeat them?¡± Qi Yaoyang asked curiously.


    ¡°It was a draw.¡± Ling Xiao smiled happily. Even his eyes were smiling.


    ¡°Draw! The Flying Dragon Special Forces must have felt humiliated. I think that Cang Lang woulde and look for you soon.¡± Qi Yaoyang wanted tough at Ling Xiao¡¯s plight. Cang Lang was not an easy person to deal with. He was also happy that Cang Lang got humiliated.


    ¡°Yes, he wille and find us soon.¡± Ling Xiao purposely emphasized the word ¡®us¡¯.


    Qi Yaoyang felt his heart dropped. ¡°Ling Xiao, did you scheme against me?¡±


    ¡°Why will I? For the sake of your son, you should think before you speak. You can log out of the virtual world now. It is not good for a Lieutenant General to stay in the virtual world for too long.¡± Ling Xiao continued smiling. Before Qi Yaoyang could reply to him, he hung up.


    Qi Yaoyang was certain that Ling Xiao framed him for something. He just didn¡¯t know what it was. What did he mean by for the sake of his son? Was he threatening him?

 Chapter 595 - Physical skills!

    <h4>Chapter 595: Physical skills!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s eyes lit up in anticipation when he received Ling Xiao¡¯s order. He turned around and said to Ling Lan, ¡°Ling Lan, the two virtual missions are over. The third mission will be held in the real world.¡±


    Ling Lan told him her guess, ¡°Since I have been tested for my solo abilities as well as my leadership, the third mission probably has nothing to do with a mecha. Theory is too boring so it will not be tested. That means that only physical skills is left.¡±


    Senior Colonel Mi nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±


    This young man was a strong and intelligent mecha operator and his physical skills reached the domain realm too. He was born to be a captain. The more Senior Colonel Mi looked at Ling Lan, the more he liked him. He wanted to get Ling Lan into his special forces.


    Unfortunately, he needed to make sure that Ling Lan¡¯s entire team was strong before he could let them into the special forces. Senior Colonel Mi controlled his urge and decided to give Ling Lan two more years. If Ling Lan¡¯s team managed to hit the criteria of the special forces, he would invite him in. For the sake of Ling Lan, he was willing to lower his expectation for his team members. They only had to pass. They didn¡¯t need to excel.


    Ling Lan heaved a sigh of relief when he heard what Senior Colonel Mi said. She was confident in her physical skills.


    ¡°I wonder who my opponent will be this time?¡± Ling Lan looked at Senior Colonel Mi and wanted to get an answer from his expression. She saw the smile and anticipation in his eyes. Her heart stopped. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that my opponent is you.¡±


    ¡°You are right. However, there is no reward for guessing correctly.¡± Senior Colonel Mi teased her unexpectedly. He rarely teased anyone.


    Domineering de and his other team members got excited the moment they heard that theirmander was going to fight. They hurriedly asked, ¡°Commander, can we watch the match?¡±


    It was a rare opportunity to watch theirmander in action. They were all in the Qi-Jin realm. It was an honor for them to watch a battle of such high caliber. They did not want to miss this opportunity.


    Senior Colonel Mi hesitated for a moment. He looked at Ling Lan. After all, this was concerning about Ling Lan¡¯s secret.


    Ling Lan nodded nonchntly. In her second mission, she had already revealed her true strength. She didn¡¯t mind revealing more to them. She trusted Senior Colonel Mi since he was sent by her father. Even if things got out of hand, her father would help her solve it. This was the advantage of having a father who was a Regiment Commander. She could do things without any worry.


    Senior Colonel Mi felt grateful. A fight between two domain realm warriors would benefit Domineering de and the other four people greatly.


    However, in order to protect Ling Lan, Senior Colonel Mi reminded the five people. ¡°Only the five of you are allowed to view the match. Do not call anyone else.¡±


    The five people were disappointed. They were nning to ask theirrades toe.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be greedy. You all are lucky enough to get this opportunity.¡± Senior Colonel Mi couldn¡¯t help but smile when he saw their expressions.


    They were indeed lucky. Out of more than 300 people, Ling Lan chose them. They were powerful but not irreceable. Through the match today, they managed to gain many insights.


    Senior Colonel Mi believed that if they befriend Ling Lan now, they might be able to gain even more benefits in the future. Ling Lan was Ling Xiao¡¯s only child. He would definitely be Ling Xiao¡¯s sessor. If the five of them took care of their rtionship with Ling Lan carefully, they might be able to even benefit their next generation.


    Everyone left the virtual world and came to the training dojo of the special forces.


    Ling Lan looked at the excited Senior Colonel Mi and felt frustrated at her father. He loved to give her powerful opponents, whether it was in the virtual world or in the real world.


    Ling Lan had reached the domain realm but she felt pressure and a sense of danger from Senior Colonel Mi. She knew that he had reached the domain realm too and was even slightly stronger than her. If she had a choice, she didn¡¯t want to fight with Senior Colonel Mi. It would be a hard battle.


    However, Ling Lan would not back out. Since it had been decided, she would do her best. This was her fighting principle¡ª¡ªno fear, no retreating, no bullying.


    Ling Lan was surprised when she saw the training dojo. She expected it to be like a battle stadium with an arena and all kinds of high tech gadgets protecting the area. However, it was just a vast stadium with high walls surrounding it.


    There was a dpidated door leading to the training dojo. The door was rusty. It was so old it might break if someone kicked it.


    Ling Lan recalled the broken warehouse where the login pods were. The headquarters of the 23rd Division was shabby. It was like an abandoned military base.


    Senior Colonel Mi smiled when he noticed the puzzled expression on Ling Lan¡¯s face. ¡°You saw through it?¡±


    ¡°Yes. It looks old but I believe that only people who have reached the domain realm would be able to destroy this door.¡± Ling Lan touched the door and understood what was going on.


    ¡°Ever since the First Men¡¯s Military Academy was attacked by our enemy, all the military bases strengthened its defense system. Some hid their bases while others built protective covers over them. We decided to make it looked dpidated so that even if the enemies see it through their satellites, it would just seem like a normal old military base,¡± said Senior Colonel Mi.


    ¡°Creating an illusion for our enemies.¡± Ling Lan understood him.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Senior Colonel Mi sighed. ¡°We have too many enemies. We need to make the necessary precautions. Don¡¯t look down on this ce. This military base is not as simple as it looks.¡±


    Ling Lan nodded. Little Four said that all signals were blocked here. Only a certain signal could be used in this base. This was to prevent hackers from hacking into their systems and exposing the location of the base.


    They walked into the training dojo with the door closing behind them. No one else could enter the dojo now. Senior Colonel Mi told Ling Lan that the walls were protected by electricity. If anyone tried to climb over the walls... they would die from electrocution. Even if they didn¡¯t, they would still be heavily injured.


    There was no protective equipment in the training dojo. Senior Colonel Mi told Domineering de and the other four people, ¡°Stay further away. If you all cannot handle it, leave the dojo. Do not push yourself.¡±


    The five people looked at each other. They had reached the highest-tier of Qi-Jin realm. As long as themander didn¡¯t use his domain realm power, they would be able to handle it.


    They thought that Ling Lan was around the same level as them. Hence, if theirmander wanted to assess Ling Lan, he would not use his domain realm power. If he did, he would immediately knock Ling Lan out.


    They never expected it to be a domain realm battle. When they realized this, they almost died from the energy created in the battle.


    Ling Lan walked into the dojo. She stepped on the hard floor and said calmly, ¡°This ce is good. It feels like the real battlefield.¡±


    There were all kinds of protective shields around an arena. The effects of each move were simted by technology. That made it seemed fake. Ling Lan was not used to it. She was satisfied that Senior Colonel Mi brought her to this ce.


    ¡°Seems like you feel the same way as I do. The arena feels fake. I cannot fight to my heart¡¯s content there.¡± Senior Colonel Mi admired Ling Lan even more now.


    Physical skills were not meant to be simted. It was meant to be used in a real battle. It could kill you. The power of physical skills were enormous. It was not something that could be simted by technology.

 Chapter 596 - The Last Move!

    <h4>Chapter 596: The Last Move!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    While the five people on the side wondered if they should go nearer, they realized that the atmosphere between the two people in the center was getting tense. The entire training dojo was engulfed in a nervous atmosphere.


    Divine de swallowed his saliva. He was shocked. ¡°They have started fighting.¡±


    The other four people felt it too. Crazy Warrior and Ice Spirit were stunned. Domineering de exchanged a nce with Devil de. Only they knew what each other was thinking. ( .c om )


    ¡°Only someone in thete-stage of Qi-Jin would be able to emit a force of presence. Ling Lan didn¡¯t win over Lian Shaojing based on luck. He won by his skills,¡± Ice Spirit said with envy. Physical skills were a natural barrier for women. No females had ever achieved the domain realm before.


    Domineering de¡¯s eyes lit up. The collision of the force of presence between the two people aroused his fighting spirit.


    All the cells in Crazy Warrior¡¯s body were asking him to fight. He licked his lips in excitement. He turned to Domineering de and said, ¡°Domineering de, once themander and Ling Lan finish their fight, let¡¯s have a match.¡±


    It had been a long time since any one of them had a physical battle. They had almost forgotten what it felt like.


    Domineering de looked at Crazy Warrior straight in the eyes. ¡°Sure.¡±


    Domineering de was always stronger than Crazy Warrior so he was not afraid of Crazy Warrior¡¯s challenge.


    A strong gust of wind blew and a piece of dried leaf floated between the two people.


    ¡°Poof.¡± The dried leaf hit something and turned into dust. The wind blew and the dust disappeared. No trace was left behind.


    ¡°Their force of presence had turned sharp.¡± The five spectators were dumbfounded. The force of presenceing from the two people in the match was greater than anything they had seen. They started to doubt whether they could handle such a force if they were in the match.


    They knew that they couldn¡¯t.


    ¡°Ling Lan, at our level, it is useless to have any pointless fights. Let¡¯s just use our most powerful technique.¡± Senior Colonel Mi didn¡¯t have the mood to waste any time.


    Ling Lan replied coldly, ¡°Suits me.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to waste her time too. Herpanions were still waiting for her to form her battle team.


    They reached a consensus. Their force of presence increased yet again. It reached a critical point.


    Domineering de and the four other people were forced to the ground because of this enormous force of presence.


    Although Qi-Jin and domain realm was only one rank apart, they were two different concepts. It was like the difference between Xiantian and Houtian. Houtian domain masters would not be able to handle an attack from Xiantian domain masters.


    Domineering de forced himself to raise his head. It took him much effort. He had a look of disbelief on his face. ¡°Domain realm!¡±


    He didn¡¯t expect a recruit to have reached the Domain realm. The Domain realm was the ultimate goal of all soldiers. Domineering de looked at Ling Lan strangely. Everyone thought that all the geniuses went to the Flying Dragon Special Forces. However, this prodigy was in their 23rd Division.


    Domineering de finally understood why theirmander warned them just now. Domineering de looked at the other people. They were all forced onto the ground and had a hard time breathing. However, they still persevered. No one wanted to leave. They knew that this was a precious chance for them. Even if they got injured by the forces from the two people, they wouldn¡¯t leave.


    ¡°Absolute Ice Blockade!¡±


    ¡°Critical Wind Point!


    The two people used their strongest domain skills without any hesitation. The two domains collided into each other forcefully.


    Ice appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s side while a tornado formed on Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s side. It attempted to destroy Ling Lan¡¯s ice barrier while Ling Lan¡¯s ice barrier was trying to freeze the giant tornado.


    ¡°Bang, bang...¡± The domains knocked against each other violently. The area between them became dangerous for anyone below the Domain stage. No one could step into each other¡¯s boundary.


    The entire training dojo shook from the force of the collisions.


    The force implicated the five people watching the match. All of them vomited out blood. The force alone was enough to cause them internal injuries. They couldn¡¯t imagine what kind of pressure the two people in the match must be experiencing.


    ¡°I must defeat him now!¡± Ling Lan felt the endless energying from Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s domain. She decisively chose to release all of her energy. The ground on Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s side started to freeze. His tornado slowed down too.


    Senior Colonel Mi red at her and shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it.¡± He used all of his energy to attack the ice. The tornado started spinning even faster than before. ( .c om )


    ¡°Bang!¡± A huge explosion urred. Ling Lan and themander got thrown off their feet. They flew a few meters in the air beforending on the ground. They took a few steps before stabilizing themselves.


    Ling Lan vomited out a mouthful of blood. She was still slightly weaker than Senior Colonel Mi in herst attack. Hence, Senior Colonel Mi was able to defeat her.


    Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s face was pale too. However, he seemed to be in a better state than Ling Lan. At least he didn¡¯t vomit any blood.


    ¡°You innate talent is ice,¡± Senior Colonel Mi took some time to catch his breath before he said.


    ¡°Yes. It is unfortunate that I can¡¯t buff up my mecha with my innate talent,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently. She would not tell him that she had another innate talent, Profound Insight. She knew that the people who had two innate talents all became normal people in the end. No one ever became a powerful soldier. This made her realize her own uniqueness and thus she hid her other innate talent even more carefully. Luckily, it was hard for other people to notice her Profound Insight.


    ¡°Ice is the hardest water-type innate talent to control. It is the most powerful one too. You must treasure it.¡± Senior Colonel Mi was speechless when he detected the dissatisfaction in Ling Lan¡¯s voice. Come on, this innate talent had led you to the Domain realm. What else do you want? If Domineering de and the other four people heard what you said, they might strangle you. This was something they could never achieve.

 Chapter 597 - Confession!

    <h4>Chapter 597: Confession!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think your Domain has been perfected to this level.¡± It seemed like his opponent had advanced into the Domain level for quite a while now, otherwise he couldn¡¯t develop the Domain prototype into the mature level that it was at now. Even the Wind Domain he used, that took more than 10 years to develop, only gave him a slight advantage.


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s mecha piloting skills had already surprised him very much, Senior Colonel Mi still believed that Ling Lan¡¯s potential in physical skills was far greater than his potential in mecha piloting. The youngest and strongest Domain user had indeed emerged.


    ¡°Senior Colonel, are we still going to fight?¡± Ling Lan did some Qi exercises to let her internal injuries to be recovering at the fastest possible speed. The chest pain and pressure she felt was gradually relieving.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s alright. Since we already know your capabilities, there¡¯s no reason to fight anymore,¡± Senior Colonel Mi instantly refused. He didn¡¯t think Ling Lan would be this strong in terms of Domain. It was way beyond what he had imagined. If the two of them were to fight to see who would win, both sides would suffer heavy injuries. Additionally, he wasn¡¯t enemies with Ling Lan so they of course didn¡¯t need to fight to their deaths.


    ¡°Does this mean that I passed?¡± At that moment, Ling Lan smirked. Only a minor change had made her face into a warm spring-like one from a cold-winter one. This made Senior Colonel Mi understand the strength of genes. Ling Lan was indeed General Ling Xiao¡¯s son.


    ¡°Yes, congrattions Ling Lan. You have officially be a mecha battle team leader in the 23rd Division. It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t know which mecha n the higher-ups will be sending you to,¡± smiled Senior Colonel Mi.


    ¡°Thank you!¡± Ling Lan thanked him sincerely. If it wasn¡¯t for Senior Colonel Mi¡¯s reminders and arrangements, it was possible that she wouldn¡¯t be able to pass the second evaluation. Ling Lan wasn¡¯t so conceited that she would think she would be able to take on six people by herself.


    Right at that moment, the two of them heard a weak voice called out from a distance, ¡°... Leader, if you¡¯re done, pleasee and help us.¡±


    The members had eyes filled with anguish. It was though they were saying that if Ling Lan and Senior Colonel Mi were to continue talking to each other, the five of them would be meeting Hades.


    Senior Colonel Mi saw the miserable expression on the five of them and was in dismay. It turns out he had overestimated the endurance of the members.


    At that moment, Senior Colonel Mi didn¡¯t realize that having gone all out, the energy shockwave created from the shing of the two Domains was beyond anything anyone below the Domain stage could stand. It wasn¡¯t that he overestimated their endurance, but instead he had underestimated the energy released during his battle with Ling Lan.


    Senior Colonel Mi felt humiliated. He frustratingly called people to send the five of them to the treatment room. Afterwards, he arranged a hover car and sent Ling Lan out of the base.


    At that moment in the new recruit training camp, the new recruits that were standing in a line were dismissed after the lead instructor had spoken.


    However, the new recruits at that moment didn¡¯t know which group or n they were going to join. They must first enter the atrium and register. Then the registrar will distribute them based on their performance in the training camp and their strength.


    Of course in the atrium, there will be many different groups of mecha battle teams recruiting new members before the registration. Teams will choose members and members will choose teams. Whether the new recruits had a battle team or not, they were all wee to join new ones. It was because these battle team were taking in temporary members. Then after years of cooperating and both sides were satisfied, they would then be an official member.


    However, not every temporary member would stay in the battle team. Many temporary member were abandoned by team leaders and left because they did not reach the requirements. There were also many temporary member would leave on their own ord because after many years, their original battle team leaders of those new recruits may have sessfully activate their own battle team and then they would choose to return to their original team. There were those who returned and of course those who didn¡¯t return. Those who connected with their new battle team would choose to continue to stay and be an official member.


    It could be said that this was like shuffling a deck of cards. It was also a time for old friends andrades to meet with one another. It had nothing to do with right or wrong. It was only the choices everyone made during different parts of their lives. Their choices will always be different.


    All the new recruits streamed in the registration atrium. Compared to other urgency, Qi Long and the rest of their group were very rxed and quickly fell into the back of the line.


    Luo Lang held the back of his head and looked at the beautiful sun in the sky. Hezily asked, ¡°Qi Long, do you think the Boss will be waiting for us in the registration atrium?¡± Thinking that their group will have to split into different battle teams and stay for two or three years, Luo Lang wasn¡¯t very interested in the life within the division for the next two to three years.


    Wuwuwu, he missed Boss. If Boss was there, they would be able to ask him to find General Ling Xiao. Even if they couldn¡¯t be in the same battle team, it would still be good if they were in the same army corps. While being full of regret, Luo Lang also missed Boss very much. Also, he felt that the three months training for the new recruits was a waste of time. The difficulty was actually notparable to the training the Boss had given them back then...


    If their instructor knew what they were thinking, he would probably be crying in a corner. These monsters! They had already made them go through the most difficult training for new recruits in the history of new recruit training. If it got anymore difficult, then would it still be new recruit training? Why didn¡¯t they just go to the special forces and be a member there.


    ¡°Maybe.¡± Hearing this, Qi Long responded with uncertainty.


    On the other side, Han Jijyun showed a smile of understanding, ¡°I¡¯m not sure about the Boss, but I¡¯m sure that Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu and Zhao Jun would definitely be there.¡±


    His words made everyone look at him and waited for his exnation.


    ¡°Our Boss wouldn¡¯t let us randomly join temporary battle teams. Back then Li Lanfeng and the others had no other choice...¡±


    Han Jijyun¡¯s words made everyone¡¯s eyes sparkle. Luo Lang also said with joy, ¡°Jijyun, you¡¯re saying that the Boss is activating his own battle team?¡±


    ¡°But isn¡¯t it known that new recruits never sessfully activated a battle team before?¡± Chang Xinyuan asked with concern.


    His concern was met with everyone rolling their eyes. Was their Boss a standard new recruit? He could instantly take down the substitute battle team leader¡¯s men of the special forces. If he wanted it, then it was impossible for him to fail.


    Everyone¡¯s eye rolling made Chang Xinyuan feel that he thought in a dumb way. Ever since he joined the battle team, the stuff that Boss Ling Lan had done, which one of them weren¡¯t achievements? Thus heughed like an idiot, pulled on his hair out and began thinking on how topensate for his poor word choices.


    Right at that moment, a loud voice instantly rescued Chang Xinyuan.


    ¡°Qi Long, Qi Long. Here! Here!¡± Not too far from them, Han Xuya shouted towards them. Qi Long looked at Han Jijyun frustratingly. The expression on Qi Long¡¯s face was like arge dog that was being bullied. Han Jijyun sighed internally, he walked up first and helped be his friend¡¯s protective shield.


    ¡°Xuya, you need something?¡± Han Jijyun asked.


    Han Xuya smiled, ¡°Nothing. I need to talk to Qi Long.¡± She pointed towards Qi Long.


    Han Jijyun waved his hand towards Qi Long, telling him that he couldn¡¯t help him.


    Qi Long¡¯s face dragged down to his chin. Luo Lang and the otherughed behind his back. In the past three months, Han Xuya¡¯s continuous sincere and warm acts made them all understand this littledy¡¯s thoughts.


    Seeing Qi Long walk closer, Han Xuya suddenly hopped over to him. With her hands on her hips, she asked like she was queen, ¡°Qi Long, you should know what I want in these past three months. Now, you should at least give me an answer right?¡±


    Qi Long frustratingly grabbed his hair and didn¡¯t know how to answer her.


    Seeing this, Han Xuya said, ¡°A man like you is actually less straightforward than me. Is it possible? Isn¡¯t it just a yes or no answer?


    Hearing this, Qi Long took a deep breath. Then he replied in a serious manner, ¡°Xuya, I treat you the same as how Jijyun treats you. I have considered you as a younger sister from when we were children and never had other thoughts.¡±


    Han Xuya heard Qi Long¡¯s answer and suddenly pped him on the shoulder then said, ¡°That¡¯s right. If it¡¯s not possible then it¡¯s not possible. Why are you stuttering? If you want a younger sister, then I¡¯ll be your younger sister. I won¡¯t dwell on this matter anymore. When I find someone that I like, I will be able to go for it.¡± Han Xuya¡¯s expression of relief made Luo Chao nced at her with concern.


    Han Xuya¡¯s manly response made the men around her all have frustrated expressions. Was she still a woman? She was even more manly than these men around her and she was going to go for it when she found someone she liked... No one knew why but everyone began to pity the man that Han Xuya will like in the future. They hoped that the man wouldn¡¯t be terrified by her masculine behavior.


    Han Xuya¡¯s words made Qi Long instantly let out a sigh of relief. He was afraid that his rejection would hurt Han Xuya and in the end affect his rtionship with Han Jijyun. That wasn¡¯t something he wanted.


    Han Xuya¡¯s mood seemed to have not been affected and began to smile and converse with everyone. She didn¡¯t make the atmosphere awkward because of Qi Long¡¯s rejection.


    Everyone talked as they walked towards the registration atrium. Unbeknownst to everyone, Han Xuya and Luo Chao had gotten to the back of the line.


    Seeing that the people in front of them were not paying attention to them, Luo Chao pulled on Han Xuya lightly and asked softly, ¡°Xuya, are you really giving up?¡±


    Han Xuya¡¯s original warm smile, instantly dropped after Luo Chao¡¯s words. She suddenly put her head down. The tears that she had held back up until now instantly dropped down, ¡°From when we were young, I had like Qi Long for almost 20 years. These feelings have dug into my bones. How could I just give it up that easily?¡± After saying that, Han Xuya raised her head and wiped her tears away. She smiled and said, ¡°However, I can¡¯t make it difficult for him because of my feelings. If it¡¯s resolved, there wouldn¡¯t be so much pressure between our rtionship.¡± Just let her endure the pain and hurt.


    In the three months new recruit training period, Qi Long¡¯s odd behavior, avoidance and subconscious rejection was all clearly seen through by her. Today, she wanted to ask him outright to actually give herself a reason to fully give up on the thought. She didn¡¯t want to lie to herself time and time again that if she tried harder, there would still be a chance.


    Luo Chao looked at Han Xuya absentmindedly. She couldn¡¯t help but think about her rtionship between the Boss and herself. Would her feelings also bring about frustration for Boss? Should she be following in Han Xuya¡¯s footsteps and resolve it between the two of them?


    In her mind, Ling Lan¡¯s handsome face emerged. Luo Chao quickly shook her head. The sudden courage and impulsiveness had instantly evaporated. It would be considered an outstanding performance if her mind didn¡¯t gopletely nk from just a look from Boss. A confession? Maybe before she could even say it, she would faint. That was more likely to happen.

 Chapter 598 - Cheeky!

    <h4>Chapter 598: Cheeky!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Han Xuya and Luo Chao followed behind everyone. While they weren¡¯t paying attention, they almost hit the people in front of them. It turns out that Qi Long and the others had suddenly stopped in their tracks. They immediately looked towards the front and saw someone that they were very familiar with. At that moment, that familiar person had his chin held up high in the sky and blocked their path pompously.


    Of course this could only intimidate the people who were not familiar with him. These people who had known him for a total of 15 years already knew the masochistic side of this person standing in their way.


    ¡°Li Yingjie, why are you standing in our way?¡± Qi Long said in dismay. It should be known that his personality wasn¡¯tpatible with Li Yingjie¡¯s character and the two of them never saw eye to eye.


    Li Yingjie pouted and said, ¡°Did I stand in your way? I¡¯m only just standing here.¡± What he meant was that it was Qi Long and the others who bumped into him and him being in their way had nothing to do with Li Yingjie.


    ¡°Okay, then you go first.¡± Qi Long pointed towards the path in front of them telling Li Yingjie to start walking first. They weren¡¯t in a hurry to register.


    Hearing this, Li Yingjie immediately said deliberately, ¡°I¡¯m tired and want to rest. Is that not possible?¡±


    Qi Long didn¡¯t know what to say. As expected, Li Yingjie and him did not see eye to eye. He felt that he couldn¡¯tmunicate with Li Yingjie. When Qi Long led the others past Li Yingjie and his groupies, he discovered that the person that had said he wanted to rest had actually followed behind them.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you wanted to rest?¡± Li Yingjie¡¯s actions made Qi Long expression darken.


    ¡°I¡¯m all rested up!¡± Li Yingjie didn¡¯t have a hint of shamelessness and cheekily replied.


    At that moment, Qi Long totally understood. Li Yingjie clearly wanted to move with them as a group. However, having always been in a poor rtionship with Qi Long, Li Yingjie of course wouldn¡¯t submit to Qi Long. Thus he used this move to wrap himself around the others.


    Han Jijyun, Xie Yi, Luo Lang and the others all understood what Li Yingjie wanted and began to smile discreetly. Li Yingjie¡¯s members on the other hand were all putting their heads down in shame. Wuwuwu, their captain definitely had a spirit possessing him...


    Everyone were a part of the Lingtian Mecha n and Qi Long and Li Yingjie were alsomanders of the mecha n. They at least had the rtionship of being brother-in-arms. Since Li Yingjie had made a decision to move forward with them, Qi Long of course wouldn¡¯t really reject him.


    As Li Yingjie and his team joined in, other mecha n members from Lingtian Mecha n, such as Gao Jinyun and his team, had joined in as they walked towards the atrium... Thus, Qi Long¡¯s team became arge army. Therge group of people walked into the registration atrium instantly drew everyone¡¯s attention towards them.


    There were many people inside the atrium. New recruits, staff members and even a few ranked officers. The lowest ranked officer was a Senior Captain. There was arge group of Majors and many Lieutenant Colonels. There were even a few officers with the rank of Senior Colonel. This scene made the new recruits be surprised.


    They didn¡¯t envy these officers. If given enough time, they would be able to get to the same rank as those officers. That was because once they enter the army corps, they would be awarded with their own rank, the highest rank awarded would be a Senior Captain and the lowest would be a Second Lieutenant. They were middle-ranking officers who the Federation had used money and resources to nurture in the military academies and not soldiers who were conscripted through the public. Their starting point was already higher than those who were conscripted. Their futures were immeasurable.


    Those officers were either standing, sitting or leaning against the wall. Some gathered together and some were by themselves and looked as though they were carefree and casual. However, the moment Qi Long and the others entered the atrium, the eyes of those officers began burning with desire. It was as though they had seen their prey they had set in their eyes on...


    Even though those nces only shed in their eyes for a second, those nces were still seen by the sensitive Qi Long, Xie Yi, Luo Lang and Li Yingjie. They all looked at each other and instantly became wary of their surroundings.


    After putting up his guard up, Qi Long pointed towards a ce within the atrium where it is not crowded. Luo Lang, Xie Yi and Li Yingjie all nodded lightly as they all had the same idea. They all believed that it wasn¡¯t wise to be in the crowd to avoid bad things from happening.


    They still remembered that when they first entered the 23rd Division, their Boss Ling Lan had taken down Sting¡¯s captain Lian Shaojing and drowned him in his own blood. Maybe the opponent would exact revenge on them. It was better to be careful than not.


    Qi Long and the others carefully led everyone to the location they pointed at. Nothing happened while they walked there and Qi Long and the others let out a sigh of relief.


    In reality, it wasn¡¯t that no one wanted to step out and confront them, it was that they were worried that there were otherpetitors who had their eyes on these new recruits. Those officers all hoped that others would feel out these new recruits first to make it easier for them to profit.


    Of course, they still wanted to wait for a bit longer because some battle teams who usually keep to themselves and did not privately recruit members had actually sent their representative to this location. It seemed that this year¡¯s new recruits were exceptional enough to make the entire division move about...


    Qi Long led the others to the remote corner. A portion of them had already left and went to line up to register. Qi Long and the others didn¡¯t move and only stood there silently, waiting patiently. They believed that their Boss was activating his own battle team at the moment. Their Boss would definitely not let them separate and would definitely make sure they were all in the same army corps.


    This trust made them not line up to register. It was to make sure that before their Boss could activate their battle team, they wouldn¡¯t be automatically assigned to another army corps. Although afterwards they could apply to return to their original team, the paperwork was veryplicated. There could even be disputes due of these applications. After going back and forth, it could waste half a year to even a full year¡¯s time. That would be considered a really poor use of time.


    Also, everyone in Ling Lan¡¯s battle team never had the thought that their Boss could lose! Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s mission to activate the battle team was only their guess. In reality, Ling Lan didn¡¯t tell them her n, but they were still very trusting of her. This was the trust they had acquired from more than 10 years worth of time from their childhoods.


    ¡°So why aren¡¯t you lining up?¡± Han Jijyun raised one brow and asked while looking at Li Yingjie, who was on the side.


    ¡°You guys didn¡¯t go either right?¡± Li Yingjie rolled his eyes and retorted with an expression showing that he wasn¡¯t stupid.


    ¡°There¡¯s too many people so we¡¯re going to wait for a bit longer.¡± Han Jijyun said casually.


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll wait too,¡± Li Yingjie replied slyly. His years of experience told him that he wouldn¡¯t fall short if he followed Ling Lan. Moreover, Qi Long was Ling Lan subordinate. He definitely had Ling Lan¡¯s orders. How could he not follow Qi Long closely?


    This was Li Yingjie¡¯s wisdom. Although he didn¡¯t know why they didn¡¯t register and why they were waiting, he still knew that following Ling Lan was the right thing to do.


    Hearing this, Gao Jinyun couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud. He didn¡¯t think that Li Yingjie was thinking the same thing as he himself was thinking about and that was to follow Boss Ling Lan. No, he was still different from Li Yingjie because he had already received Boss Ling Lan¡¯s acknowledgment before entering the 23rd Division. Thus before Boss Ling Lan gave any orders, he would not blindly make any moves. This was also why he was following Qi Long very closely.


    Simr to Li Yingjie, Gao Jinyun also believed that Qi Long¡¯s weird actions involved Ling Lan¡¯s orders.


    It could only be said that it was a beautiful misunderstanding! But it was misunderstood to perfection!

 Chapter 599 - Battle Team Rank!

    <h4>Chapter 599: Battle Team Rank!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Han Jijyun nced at Li Yingjie with a half-smile. This made Li Yingjie panic until Han Jijyun slowly replied, ¡°Then you do you.¡±


    Han Jijyun¡¯s expression and words made Li Yingjie feel perturbed. Could it be that they actually didn¡¯t receive Ling Lan¡¯s orders? Suddenly, Li Yingjie remembered that Han Jijyun was a strategist and was probably deliberately messing with his judgment. After thinking about this, Li Yingjie was calm once again.


    During the conversation between the two of them, a few officers who were looking around finally couldn¡¯t wait any longer and made their moves.


    There were five officers consisting of three Majors and two Lieutenant Colonels. The three Majors instantly stopped in their tracks after seeing that two Lieutenant Colonels had made their move. These three watched from the side but only one of them bit their lip frustratingly and followed behind the two Lieutenant Colonels.


    They walked towards Qi Long and the others. Although the Major walked over as well, he still respectfully stood behind the two Lieutenant Colonels. This also made the expressions on the two Lieutenant Colonels¡¯ faces change a bit for the better.


    The two Lieutenant Colonels looked at each other with burning rage in their eyes as if they were in apetition. This was a battle for the outstanding geniuses they had set their eyes on. This wasn¡¯t a battle they were willing to give up on.


    The Major behind these two sighed and knew that his original ns were going to be all for naught. He decisively changed his ns and set his goal towards a lower level recruit. Although he felt regret, he wasn¡¯t angry. That was because these new recruits were all high quality individuals. Even those who were of lower quality were considered to be goodpared to new recruits from the previous two years.


    The two Lieutenant Colonels both looked around and then put their attention towards Qi Long.


    ¡°Qi Long?¡± The two of them spoke almost at the same time.


    Qi Long had already known that these three people wereing towards them. After suddenly hearing the two Lieutenant Colonels call out his name, he saluted them withposure and replied, ¡°Yes, sirs.¡±


    The two who called Qi Long¡¯s name looked at each other and it was another battle with their eyes. In the end, the person on the right acquired the right to speak first, ¡°Qi Long, I am the 19th mecha n in the Second South Army Corps, Kongling mecha¡¯s team captain, Wei Jiming. I specially wee you to join our battle team and be a member of our team.¡±


    After the first person spoke, the Lieutenant Colonel standing on the left followed, ¡°I am the 127th mecha n in the Third North Army Corps, Nizhan mecha n¡¯s team captain, He Yaohua. Our battle team would also like to invite you to join us and be a member of our team.¡±


    The Major standing behind these two was overjoyed. The target of the two people in front of him was Qi Long. This meant that the Major still had a chance. He knew that in this group of new recruits, Luo Lang, Xie Yi and Li Yingjie were all ace level operators. As long as he took one of them into his team, his battle team would be able to advance to a four star battle team. In the division, he had to wait for more resources and the time they would get to choose the recruits. It wasn¡¯t like how it was now where he had more than one high quality recruit to choose from.


    There was a limit to the amount of people battle teams could choose from the new recruits to join them. One star battle team had no chance of choosing. Even if they had set their eyes on a certain new recruit. They still wouldn¡¯t be able to invite the new recruits. Two and three star battle teams could only choose one person. Four star battle teams could choose two people and five star battle teams had the power to choose three people...


    Any other battle teams above these levels were considered to be legendary battle teams. They were basically monstrous battle team that had formed for more than 10 years or even decades. Battle teams that had matured for a very long time would not choose unfamiliar new recruits to join their battle team (the new recruits would also not be qualified). At most, it would be their secondary battle teamsing to invite people and these secondary battle teams were at most five star battle teams.


    This ranking of battle teams show that the higher the level the better their development in the future would be. This was also why every battle team desperately wanted to level up. However it wasn¡¯t that easy to level up.


    One star battle teams didn¡¯t have any requirements. Advancing from one star to two stars required that among the members, including the captain, to have more than five special-ss operators in order to meet the requirements for advancement. Advancing from two stars to three stars required that the captain of the team to be an ace operator and at the same time have more than eight members who were special-ss operators. The most difficult advancement was three to four which required that other than the captain being an ace operator, the team had to have two more ace operators and at the same time have more than 10 special-ss operators in the team.


    Many battle teams in the army corps were stuck at three stars. That was because once a team had three ace mecha operators, they would be given a new choice which would lead to a more prosperous future. Many, including the captains of these battle team couldn¡¯t withstand the temptation. The temptation was to create a three-man ace operator team and apply into the army corps¡¯ ace operator mecha n.


    Of course, even if they didn¡¯t have three people, these individuals could still apply to the ace operator mecha n once they advance into ace level. It was just that the applicants wouldn¡¯t be able to be part of the main group and could only apply to be a secondary bench member who would be distributed by the ace mecha n.


    The reason why countless ace mecha operators were in a hurry to join was because after entering the ace mecha ns, it would mean that they had climbed into the higher ranks of the military. The ace mecha n was called the High Ranking Officer Preparations Camp. As long as the individuals return alive from battles, after more than a decade, these individuals would be able to enter into the army corps and be high ranked officers of the army corps.


    If these individuals were not interested in power and rankings, there was another reason for all ace mecha operators to not be able to resist the temptation. That reason was once they enter into the ace mecha n, they would receive the experience and the resources on how to train to be imperial operators. This would give those ace operators who were not taught how to advance further a clear path towards advancing to the imperial level.


    It was just that as operators, each and every one of them wanted to be the Federation¡¯s strongest mecha operator in the future. God-ss was too difficult and did not even cross people¡¯s minds. However, imperial ss was something that could be worked towards. This was also why the ace mecha n was never short on ace mecha operators. There were always newly advanced ace operators who joined the n.


    However, when an ace operator leaves the battle team, especially the captain, the team would not be able to retain the star level requirements. The battle team would then return to a star level simr their strength then continue to work hard based on the star level requirements.


    Of course, there were ace operators in battle teams who were able to resist the temptation and continue to work for their battle team. If advancing to four stars was considered a hard thing to do, then advancing to five stars was near impossible.


    In order to advance to five stars, the battle team¡¯s team captain must have reached imperial level. There must be five ace operators and more than 20 special-ss operators within the team. Five star battle teams existed as the top battle teams in the army corps. Even the battle teams in the special forces may not be five star ones. That was because although imperial level was one level above ace, this small difference was not something that anyone could sessfully ovee. Most of the ace mecha operators in the Federation were all stuck at this point.


    As for legendary battle teams, their requirements were even higher. The main team required that everyone to reach ace level or higher while having four five star battle teams...


    Of course, there was another level above the one mentioned above, but that was only considered to be a legend. ording to legend, there wasn¡¯t any battle team that sessfully reached the peak. The advancement requirements were only known to legendary battle teams. The only information that was leaked was that the team leader of the battle team must be god-ss...

 Chapter 600 - Humiliation!

    <h4>Chapter 600: Humiliation!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Qi Long looked at the two Lieutenant Colonels and gave them an apologetic smile. He said, ¡°Thank you for your invitation. However, I have a team already.¡±


    ¡°You have a battle team?¡± The two Lieutenant Colonels frowned. One of them asked, ¡°Which team are you in?¡±


    Qi Long said proudly, ¡°The Lingtian Battle Team!¡±


    ¡°Lingtian Battle Team?¡± The two Lieutenant Colonels exchanged nces. They had never heard of this battle team before.


    The other officers that were interested in this batch of recruits started searching for information about this battle team. However, no such team was found.


    While everyone was searching for the Lingtian Battle Team, a Major walked up from behind them. ¡°Who is Luo Lang?¡±


    Luo Lang immediately saluted. ¡°I am.¡±


    The Major looked at Luo Lang¡¯s face and body. His expression froze. In his heart, he was screaming, ¡°Is this a girl? Why did the system say that he is a man? There must be a mistake in the rank too. Look at his scrawny body. How can he be an ace operator?¡±


    The Major struck Luo Lang¡¯s name off his candidate list. He smiled and said, ¡°Your results are good. Keep it up.¡± He shouted again, ¡°Who is Xie Yi?¡±


    Xie Yi knew that the Major dismissed Luo Lang because of his face and physique. He wanted to reply him respectfully at first but he changed his mind. He ced his hands in his pocket and replied casually, ¡°I am. What is the matter, Major?¡±


    The Major frowned. This young man looked like a brat and it might be hard to control him. He put on an angry face and said, ¡°Although your results are good, you cannot be too proud. You must adopt a good attitude once you enter the military.¡±


    Xie Yi acknowledged him with a lighthearted nod causing the Major¡¯s face to turn green with anger. The other captains sneered secretly. They felt much better. The first person might not always get an advantage. Sometimes, he would just be a stepping stone for others.


    The Major was angry but he didn¡¯t lose his temper. He knew that this batch of recruits might be hard to handle. Powerful people were arrogant. He was like this when he was when he was a recruit too.


    He swallowed his anger and looked at thest name. He scanned the crowd before asking, ¡°Who is Li Yingjie?¡±


    ¡°What is the matter, Major?¡± Li Yingjie raised his chin and looked at him arrogantly. He seemed worse than Xie Yi. Li Yingjie¡¯s expression and stance made people have the urge to smack him in the face.


    The Major realized that among the five ace operators, Qi Long was the only one with a good attitude. Ling Lan injured the team leader of a substitute team in the special forces, Lian Shaojing, the moment he entered the camp. Most battle teams would not dare to have someone like that inside their team. They would be afraid that they couldn¡¯t control him. As for the other three, they were a headache too.


    Luo Lang looked too feminine. The Major suspected that there was something wrong with the system. He felt that Luo Lang must have used some secret technique to be an ace operator. He might not be as strong as a peak level special-ss operator. This was not the kind of person he wanted.


    Xie Yi was frivolous. He might disregard the rules in the battle team.


    Li Yingjie was an arrogant person. This kind of person would not be willing to lower his head in front of anyone. The Major felt that if he gave him the invitation, he would be rejected immediately. He would at most be a temporary team member. After a few years, he would definitely leave and form his own battle team. The Major didn¡¯t want a temporary team member.


    The Major still needed an ace operator to level up his battle team. He pondered for a moment before looking at Xie Yi and said, ¡°Xie Yi, I am the captain of the Flying Tiger Battle Team, Guo Yongan. I hope that you cane to my battle team.¡±


    Xie Yi looked at the Major in surprise. He didn¡¯t expect the other party to choose him after his performance just now. He looked at the pretty Luo Lang and the irritating-looking Li Yingjie. He realized that among the three of them, he was probably the best choice...


    Xie Yi didn¡¯t know if he should be proud of himself. He sighed helplessly and said, ¡°I am sorry, Major. I have a team already.¡±


    He had a team too? Who acted so quickly? The Major felt that he understood how the two Lieutenant Colonel must have felt just now. He gritted his teeth and asked, ¡°Which team?¡±


    Xie Yi shrugged and pointed at Qi Long. ¡°Qi Long said it. The Lingtian Battle Team.¡±


    It was the Lingtian Battle Team again. What the hell is the Lingtian Battle Team? Why can¡¯t they find it? Everyone was confused. People even started discussing among themselves. At this moment, a figure appeared in front of Qi Long. This shocked everyone and the noisy atrium turned quiet again.


    The person that appeared was a 40 years old man. His eyes were bright and his figure was bulky. The people in the atrium could feel his domineering aura leaking out even though he didn¡¯t do anything. Everyone was not only shocked by his aura, they were stunned by his rank too. He was a Senior Colonel. He was not a mecha operator but amanding officer who held military power.


    ¡°Qi Long, Luo Lang, Xie Yi, Li Yingjie?¡± The person looked at the four people. He frowned as well when he saw Luo Lang but he didn¡¯t change his decision.


    ¡°Yes, Senior officer.¡± The four people tensed up and immediately saluted.


    ¡°I am themander of the East Seven Division, Shen Rufei. You four have a special dispensation to enter my Mecha n.¡± Shen Rufei said seriously, ¡°The order will be epted soon.¡±


    He had already sent his request to the headquarters of the 23rd Division. He felt that the headquarters would give him a reply soon. The battle teams that didn¡¯t have any ace mecha masters could apply for an allocation order but the headquarters must approve of it first.


    Shen Rufei ced high importance on these recruits. His Mecha n suffered seriously after the warst year. He needed to replenish the manpower in his team. However, very few people in his n advanced to an ace mecha master. He had no choice but to look for new blood among the military divisions. Ace mecha masters were a scarce resource. No division would willingly give up their ace mecha masters.


    Shen Rufei was in a dire position. Hence, when he heard that there were five ace operators among the recruits, he rushed here immediately. He wanted to snatch these five ace operators before anyone could.


    Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi looked at each other with worry. Li Yingjie felt that entering a Mecha n was not too bad. But when he saw the unwillingness on his three friends¡¯ face, he gave up on the thought.


    In the end, Qi Long replied, ¡°Senior officer, we are sorry. We have a team already. We don¡¯t want to go to the Mecha n.¡± Ace mecha masters who had a battle team could choose to reject an offer to enter the Mecha n.


    ¡°Lingtian?¡± Shen Rufei¡¯s expression turned dark. ¡°Do you know that making a false report couldnd you in the military court? You all have a bright future ahead of yourself, don¡¯t ruin it.¡±


    If Shen Rufei talked to them nicely, they might have exined it to him politely. However, his threatening tone caused them to re up.


    Qi Long held Luo Lang back and said firmly, ¡°Senior officer Shen, I can repeat myself. We have a battle team already. We don¡¯t want to go the the Mecha n.¡±


    ¡°Is it still Lingtian?¡± Shen Rufei was so angry that he smiled.


    ¡°Yes. Our battle team is called Lingtian!¡± Qi Long replied proudly.


    ¡°Unfortunately, there is no such team in the mainframe.¡± Shen Rufei sneered. ¡°If I report you all, your military career will end here.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean that such a team will not appear in the future,¡± Qi Long replied calmly.


    ¡°But you all won¡¯t have the chance anymore. There are still four hours before registration ends. By that time, if you all don¡¯t have a team, I have the power to allocate you all into my Mecha n.¡± Shen Rufei felt embarrassed. He was humiliated by four recruits! As a Senior Colonel, he was unable to ept this.


    Thus, he must get these four people into his Mecha n. Then, he would send them to the most dangerous mission... Shen Rufei didn¡¯t feel that there was anything wrong with his n. If these four people were powerful enough and managed to survive after their mission, he would rmend them after a few years and let them enjoy the position and glory that they deserved. He was not so unscrupulous.


    Some captains wanted toe out and speak up for the recruits. However, they got pulled back by those people who knew about Shen Rufei¡¯s background. Those four recruits were powerful but they were not irreceable. It was not worth to offend Shen Rufei because of them.


    The captains that got pulled back gave up on their intention after listening to the other captains. They were told that Shen Rufei was a grand-nephew of a god-ss operator. He was also the nephew of the Second Marshal. Even General Ling Xiao would give the Second Marshal some face as long as Shen Rufei didn¡¯t go too overboard.


    The time passed quickly. Two hourster, the four recruits still didn¡¯t hear any news from Ling Lan. The rest of the recruits had finished their registration. Only Qi Long and his gang was left. Everyone focused on them and waited for them to act.


    ¡°What? Are you all afraid to register now?¡± Shen Rufei scoffed when he saw the situation. ¡°Are you all afraid to expose your lies? Lingtian Battle Team? Haha, you all are just a bunch of cowards!¡±


    ¡°There are no cowards in Lingtian!¡± A firm voice rang through the quiet registration hall.


    Two people appeared. One of them was bulky with a square-shaped face. There was a hint of malicious intent on his face. The other one was skinny and his face was half-covered by a mask. His aura was gentle. His eyes were bright like the mesmerizing stars in the sky.


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s them.¡± Many people gasped.


    Shen Rufei looked at them intently. ¡°Zhao Jun, Li Lanfeng. Why are you all interfering in my affair? Did Nameless ask you two toe?¡±


    Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng were two of the most outstanding recruits three years ago. Within these three years, they had gathered many military achievements and got recognized by the headquarters many times. Shen Rufei didn¡¯t want to offend them. After all, they had Nameless behind their back.


    Nameless was not a person. It was the name of a battle team. It was the only five-star non-special forces battle team. For some reason, this team was able to take in the three most outstanding recruits that year.


    Of course, this was not enough for Shen Rufei to fear them. Shen Rufei knew from his grandfather, which was a god-ss operator, that the Nameless Battle Team was a subset of a legendary battle team. The leader of the legendary battle team was also a god-ss operator.


    His grandfather even guessed that the god-ss operator might be Ling Xiao! Ling Xiao was the Regiment Commander of the 23rd Division. He was the one who held the most power in the 23rd Division.


    ¡°We didn¡¯te here because of the Nameless Battle Team.¡± Zhao Jun red maliciously at Shen Rufei. Although Shen Rufei had a higher rank than him, he was not in the same division as him so Zhao Jun was not afraid of him.


    ¡°Senior Colonel Shen, you humiliated one of our team members. Shouldn¡¯t you give us an exnation?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and said kindly. However, his words were not kind at all.


    Everyone gasped in surprise. Their team member? Did Nameless Battle Team took a fancy on Qi Long and the other recruits? They remembered where Li Lanfeng came from. Seemed like the senior brother nned everything for his junior brothers.


    Shen Rufei was furious. He felt humiliated by the Nameless Battle Team. However, he didn¡¯t dare to offend anyone from the Nameless Battle Team. He directed his anger towards Qi Long and the recruits. If they told him that they had entered Nameless, he wouldn¡¯t have threaten them and be humiliated now.


    He must teach these bunch of brats a lesson! Shen Rufei thought to himself.


    ¡°Are you unwilling to give me an exnation?¡± Li Lanfeng raised his eyebrows and looked at Shen Rufei sarcastically. Li Lanfeng knew Shen Rufei¡¯s background... but so what? He would not show mercy to anyone who humiliated his team member.


    Shen Rufei had an idea. He replied immediately, ¡°I am talking about Lingtian Battle Team, not the Nameless Battle Team.¡± He didn¡¯t want to provoke Nameless. Provoking them meant provoking God-ss operator Ling Xiao.


    ¡°Lingtian? Senior Colonel Shen, you seem used to humiliating people. Do you think that the Lingtian Battle n can be easily bullied?¡± Li Lanfeng gave a cold smile.


    Zhao Jun kicked the chair beside him. One of its leg broke. He broke two other legs of the chair and passed them to Li Lanfeng. He took the other one and knocked it against his palm continuously. ¡°Senior Colonel Shen, since you humiliated us in front of so many people, Lingtian Battle Team will send you an invitation to a armed melee challenge. We will settle our dispute with a armed melee challenge.¡±


    In order to increase the strength and battle fervour of the soldiers, the military allowed battle teams to challenge each other. Of course, armed melee challenges without any reason were not allowed. However, if a member of a battle team was humiliated by other battle teams, the team where the humiliated member came from could send a armed melee challenge to the other team. The other team was not allowed to reject the challenge.

 Chapter 601 - Daydream?

    <h4>Chapter 601: Daydream?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun¡¯s statement caused Shen Rufei¡¯s expression to change suddenly. ¡°What? You two are from Lingtian too?¡±


    Shen Rufei¡¯s words woke the other people up from their stupor. They realized that it was not an illusion. Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun were really from the Lingtian Battle Team. How could this be true? There were no such team in the 23rd Division. Did their captain went to another division? However, only people from the same division could form a team...


    Everyone was puzzled. They didn¡¯t know if Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun said this because they wanted to stand up for their junior brothers or was there really such a team.


    Over these years, Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng rejected all the invites from various battle teams because they wanted to prove their loyalty to the Nameless Battle Team. This was why the captain of the Nameless Battle Team took two of them in.


    Shen Rufei was shocked. Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng had no intention of replying to him. Li Lanfeng smiled mysteriously at him while Zhao Jun walked towards him slowly with the chair leg in his hand.


    Although Shen Rufei was themander of the Mecha n and was an ace mecha master, his physical skills was only at the higher-tier of Qi-Jin level. Zhao Jun was at the peak-level of Qi-Jin. He could subdue Shen Rufei easily all by himself.


    Shen Rufei knew that he was unable to defeat Zhao Jun too. Cold sweat formed on his forehead. He started to regreting to this ce. He should have sent someone over. That way, even if the recruits rejected him, he would not be in such a difficult position.


    Would he be embarrassed just like this? Shen Rufei could almost see his future. He would be condemned by everyone in the 23rd Division and would never be able to raise his head again. He regained his senses and shouted immediately, ¡°There is no Lingtian Battle Team in the 23rd Division. Don¡¯t try to lie your way through. Zhao Jun, you have no right to challenge me.¡± He turned to look at the logisticsmander standing beside the registration counter. ¡°What are you doing? Shouldn¡¯t you do something about him? He is trying to take revenge on me by saying such lies.¡±


    The logisticsmander didn¡¯t want to take part in the affairs of these officers. Most of these officers had a higher rank than him. However, he was not given any chances to stay out of the dispute.


    The logisticsmander looked at one of his staff members helplessly. The staff member instantly check hisputer and shook his head thereafter. There was no Lingtian Battle Team registered in the system. Zhao Jun didn¡¯t have the right tounch an armed melee challenge at Shen Rufei.


    The logisticsmander coughed and said, ¡°Major Zhao Jun, Major Li Lanfeng, I am sorry. There is no such battle team in the system. You do not have the right to challenge Senior Colonel Shen Rufei.¡±


    He talked calmly but in his heart, he was crying. These two people were both stronger than him. How could he stop them?


    Shen Rufei heaved a sigh of relief when he heard what the logisticsmander said. But, he soon got angry again. ¡°Zhao Jun, how dare you humiliate me like this...¡±


    ¡°Are you angry? Challenge me to an armed melee challenge then!¡± Zhao Jun raised his eyebrows in disdain. From the moment Shen Rufei humiliated Lingtian, their rtionship was set. They would never be able to peacefully interact with one another. No matter how strong Shen Rufei¡¯s background was, Zhao Jun was not afraid. He had Ling Lan.


    I feel so happy that boss was the son of General Ling Xiao. Zhao Jun finally understood how convenient it was to have a powerful father. Huh? Why am I thinking this way? I used to hate all the second generation of powerful people. Zhao Jun didn¡¯t expect himself to change so much. He was even happy that he had such a powerful friend...


    Zhao Jun silently reprimanded himself. Then, he continued ring at Shen Rufei. What can you do to me? Can you hit me?


    Shen Rufei almost exploded when he saw Zhao Jun¡¯s expression. Many officers disliked Shen Rufei so they sneered at him secretly when they heard what Zhao Jun said. They admired how bold Zhao Jun was. If it was them, they would never have the guts to stand up to Shen Rufei.


    By right, Shen Rufei didn¡¯t have the capabilities to be themanding officer of a Mecha n. He just had a powerful background. Hence, even if many people didn¡¯t like him, they could only keep it in their hearts. This was why no one said anything even though they saw the w in Zhao Jun¡¯s armed melee challenge just now.


    Shen Rufei seriously wanted to hit this Major standing in front of him. But, he was weaker than Zhao Jun. He had no choice but to swallow his frustration. His face turned hideous.


    Everyone saw Shen Rufei¡¯s expression and started to worry for Zhao Jun. Those that knew Shen Rufei well knew that he would definitely do something behind the back to Zhao Jun. However, Zhao Jun had the Nameless Battle Team behind him. The Nameless Battle Team would be able to protect him.


    ¡°Dingdong~¡± The clock on the wall rang. Shen Rufei scanned the recruits with cold eyes. They were the ones who caused everything. If they epted his request right from the start, none of these events would have happened.


    Shen Rufei had already decided that he would not let Qi Long and his friends off. He said in a vicious tone, ¡°There is only one hour left. Prepare to enter my Mecha n.¡±


    Qi Long and his friends were not affected by the words at all. Only Li Yingjie¡¯s face changed. Qi Long had Ling Lan but he had no one. He really didn¡¯t have a team. Would hend in Shen Rufei¡¯s hands?


    Just as Li Yingjie was distraught, a handsome young man appeared at the door and attracted everyone¡¯s attention. This was because he wasn¡¯t wearing the military uniform. He only had a white doctor¡¯s gown on him.


    Those who knew about the different uniforms in the military would know that this person was a high-ranking professional military doctor. Not everyone could wear the doctor¡¯s white gown out of the hospital. Only professional doctors with many achievements could wear it outside.


    Everyone tensed up when they saw this person.


    Only Li Yingjie felt ted to see him.


    This person scanned his surroundings. He then saw Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng and quickly walked towards them. This person was none other that the famous military doctor, Li Shiyu. Many middle-rank officers didn¡¯t like him but they didn¡¯t dare to offend him too.


    ¡°Is there still no news?¡± He was supposed toe with Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng but an emergency patient was sent in. Thus, he was dragged by the dean of the hospital to the surgery room. The dean didn¡¯t have the confidence to perform the surgery so he wanted Li Shiyu to do it instead. Li Shiyu had no choice but to perform the surgery. He rushed here immediately after he finished the surgery so he didn¡¯t have the time to change.


    Li Lanfeng shook his head. Li Shiyu was worried. ¡°Do you think that our boss will...¡± He didn¡¯t manage to finish his sentence. He wanted to ask whether Ling Lan would fail the missions but he felt that Ling Lan would not fail if he set his mind to it. However, when he heard that no recruits ever seeded in forming a team. This made him nervous. He wanted to believe in Ling Lan but he couldn¡¯t stop thinking about the slim chance that he might fail.


    ¡°No. He will seed,¡± Li Lanfeng said firmly. He knew Ling Lan well. He would only do things only if he was confident that he would seed.


    Li Lanfeng turned and said to Qi Long and the other people, ¡°Go and register first. We can wait for the good news from your boss after that.¡±


    Qi Long and the others nodded and went to register. He felt the same way as Li Lanfeng. He knew that his boss would seed. Hence, it doesn¡¯t matter if he register first. He just needed to enter the battle team before the registration period ended.


    While Qi Long and the others went to register, Li Yingjie and his men were perturbed. If they didn¡¯t have a team by the end of the registration period, they would be randomly allocated to different teams by the mainframe. They were used to following Li Yingjie and were afraid of being alone.


    They grabbed Li Yingjie and wanted to get an answer from him.


    Li Yingjie kicked them angrily. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to do too. You all can still live happily in other battle teams. However, I will probablynd in his hands. I don¡¯t even know how long I can live under him.¡± He raised his chin and signaled at Shen Rufei. His own situation was worse than his men.


    ¡°What shall we do?¡± His men suddenly remembered Li Yingjie¡¯s plight and became depressed. From the Scout Academy till now, they had always been together. They offended a lot of people and created troubles together. They had a good rtionship with each other so they were worried for Li Yingjie.


    ¡°Leader, why don¡¯t you join boss¡¯s battle team?¡± Someone suggested to Li Yingjie.


    ¡°Huh? Be under Ling Lan? No way. I am an arrogant person. How can I do that?¡± Li Yingjie shook his head furiously.


    He didn¡¯t notice that his men were staring at him sarcastically. You have already bowed down to boss in your heart. Why are you still being tough on the outside.


    However, since they had been friends for so many years, they decided to not expose Li Yingjie lie. They looked at each other and decided to persuade their leader for the sake of his future.


    ¡°Leader, this is a n,¡± One of his men said.


    ¡°n?¡± Li Yingjie blinked in confusion.


    ¡°You can make use of our boss to ovee the current obstacle first. If you want to form your own battle team next time, we will join you,¡± The person started his persuasion.


    ¡°You can do this too?¡± Li Yingjie was moved. He had been suppressed by Ling Lan all these years. If he could scheme against him once, it would be a sweet revenge for him. This idea was amazing!


    ¡°Of course. Ace operators have the right to leave their team and form their own battle team...¡± The person continued. He remembered that when a soldier became an ace operator, they would be given this option. However, he didn¡¯t know if people who were already ace operators before entering a battle team would be given this option as well. But, his leader definitely would not notice this loophole as he was not a meticulous person.


    As expected, Li Yingjie nodded. He liked this idea very much.


    His men saw hope and quickly came together and continued to persuade him. Li Yingjie got swayed and decided to join the Lingtian Battle Team to solve his current situation first.


    When Li Shiyu looked over, he saw his cousin, Li Yingjie, waving at him. They were never on good terms with each other so he was surprised by Li Yingjie¡¯s actions. What is happening? Li Shiyu walked over curiously and asked in a low voice, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Erm...¡± Li Yingjie didn¡¯t know how to talk to his cousin.


    ¡°You don¡¯t want to say? Forget it then.¡± Li Shiyu nced at him and prepared to walk away. Because of his eldest cousin brother, his rtionship with this little cousin was not good. It was already rare that he came over to take a look at him. He was not going to beg him to tell him anything if he wasn¡¯t saying anything.


    Before he could walk further, he felt something pulling on his white robe.


    Li Shiyu nced coldly at the hand on his robe. ¡°Let go!¡±


    ¡°No!¡± Li Yingjie looked up at him stubbornly.


    Li Shiyu tried to pull his clothes away but Li Yingjie grabbed them tightly. He felt that if he forced Li Yingjie to let go, his white robe might get torn in the process. A new robe would cost him money...


    Li Shiyu was influenced by Lin Zhong-qing and learned how to save money because of him. He controlled his anger and forced the words out of his mouth. ¡°I will give you one more chance. What do you want to say?¡±


    Li Yingjie knew that this was hisst opportunity. He quickly said, ¡°Can you help me to tell Boss Lan that I want to join the Lingtian Battle Team?¡±


    Li Yingjie dug his ears. ¡°What did you say?¡± Did he hear wrong? The arrogant and proud Li Yingjie wanted to join his boss voluntarily? Did the sun rise from the West today?


    Li Shiyu¡¯s expression angered Li Yingjie. ¡°I said that I want to join the Lingtian Battle Team. Can you help me ask boss about this? Can you hear me now?¡±


    Li Yingjie¡¯s men covered their faces with their palms simultaneously. This was not their leader. Yes, he was not their leader. From now on, their leader would be Ling Lan. Li Yingjie¡¯s men felt that they had made a wise decision.


    Li Yingjie saw that everyone in the atrium was staring at him and immediately blushed. He looked at Li Shiyu and seemed to beining to him with his eyes: Brother, how can you tease me like this!


    For the first time, Li Shiyu actually felt that Li Yingjie was cute. He couldn¡¯t help but rub Li Yingjie¡¯s head. ¡°I know. I will ask the boss for you.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t rub my head you bastard.¡± Li Yingjie quickly pped Li Shiyu¡¯s hand away. Why are you rubbing my head? Am I a child?!


    ¡°Okay, I will not rub it. You haven¡¯t registered yet, right? Hurry up and register first. If you don¡¯t register now, you will miss your chance to enter the boss¡¯s team after he forms it.¡± This was the first time Li Shiyu treated Li Yingjie as a little brother. He happily coaxed this new little brother of his.


    Li Yingjie felt that his brother was right. He decided to forgive his brother. He obediently went to the staff member and registered his information.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Li Shiyu and Li Yingjie¡¯s interaction and his eyes dimmed. He seemed to be in deep thought.


    The two brother¡¯s interaction also caused someone to explode. That person was Shen Rufei.


    By now, he knew that Li Yingjie didn¡¯t have any battle team. Yet, he still dared to reject him and even tantly looked for battle teams to join right in front of him. This was utter humiliation. He was being stepped on by this recruit.


    Shen Rufei forgot that he never asked Li Yingjie anything at all. All he did was keep quiet when Qi Long rejected him. Shen Rufei didn¡¯t have the intention to let Qi Long and his friends off at the start but now, he was furious.


    He looked up andughed. He said with contempt, ¡°Hahaha... Your boss must be the new recruit who defeated Lian Shaojing, right? A recruit forming a battle team? What kind of daydream is this? You all will never seed. In the end, you all will stille into my Mecha n. I will let you all know what is the consequences for humiliating a senior officer!¡± By the time he finished speaking, murderous intent in his eyes were apparent.


    Shen Rufei was not a stupid person. He inferred some truth from the conversation between the Li brothers. He also guessed their captain from the conversation. No wonder Qi Long said that their team might appearter. However, would the recruit seed in forming his battle team?


    Everyone sighed. No recruit ever formed a team before. Even General Ling Xiao did it in his second year in the military...


    ¡°What consequences are you talking about?¡± A cold voice sounded beside Shen Rufei.


    Shen Rufei got a shock. He raised his head and saw a person with a cold aura standing beside him.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Shen Rufei eximed in surprise.


    ¡°Me?¡± The person looked at him indifferently. ¡°I am just a daydreamer.¡±


    ¡°Ling Lan!¡± Shen Rufei¡¯s face changed. The person who defeated Lian Shaojing had appeared!


    ¡°Boss!¡± When Ling Lan appeared, Qi Long and his friends were ted.


    Li Lanfeng stared at Ling Lan intently. The three years apart made him realize how much he misses him.


    Ling Lan noticed Li Lanfeng¡¯s intense gaze and nodded at him.


    Li Lanfeng understood what Ling Lan meant. He was surprised, ted, proud, and amazed. His rabbit was indeed the most powerful person he knew. He never disappointed him.

 Chapter 602 - Formation of Battle Team!

    <h4>Chapter 602: Formation of Battle Team!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan ignored Shen Rufei and her friends. She rushed to the registration counter and said in a soft voice, ¡°I would like to register. Thank you.¡±


    Ling Lan wanted to teach Shen Rufei a lesson. However, this was not a good time. She needed to register before the registration time window ended. If she argued with Shen Rufei and missed time window to register, her friends would be split to different battle teams. That would be too much of a consequence.


    The staff member immediately took out the device and scanned themunicator on Ling Lan¡¯s arm.


    Ling Lan¡¯s information instantly appeared on hisputer.


    Name: Ling Lan; Gender: Male; Date of birth: 4732.08.28; School: First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Physical skills: Peak of Qi-Jin. Mecha operator level: mid-stage ace mecha master...


    The staff didn¡¯t expect a recruit to reach the middle stage of ace level. Even Qi Long and the others just entered the early stage of ace level. This meant that he would have the privilege of being a primary mecha operator the moment he entered a battle team. The staff member looked at Ling Lan with envy.


    The staff member continued looking through and saw the colour around Ling Lan¡¯s battle team name. Lingtian was green in color. This meant that his battle team was currently active. The staff member was stunned. The battle team¡¯s name would only be green if the person was the captain of the battle team. For normal members, it be grey. This was the first time he saw a recruit having his own battle team.


    Ling Lan waited for a while. She realized that the staff member was staring at the screen absentmindedly so she coughed.


    The staff member woke up from his stupor. He swallowed his saliva and looked up in admiration. He stammered, ¡°Captain Ling Lan, would you like to activate the information of all the members in the Lingtian Battle Team?


    The staff didn¡¯t expect himself to witness such a historical moment. He must go back and boast about it to hisrades...


    Everyone was focused on Ling Lan so when they heard that she finished the team formation missions, they immediately searched for Lingtian Battle Team...


    ¡°Yes!¡± Ling Lan smiled. This was why she rushed all the way here.


    ¡°Activate!¡± The staff member shouted in excitement as he clicked the screen.


    ¡°Beep, beep, beep.¡± Manymunicators sounded at the same time. All of the members of Lingtian Battle Team received a message from the mainframe.


    Qi Long and his friends pressed the confirmation button happily. The badge on their left chest which only showed the number ¡¯23¡¯ started glowing. Below the number, the character ¡®Tian¡¯ appeared with a lightning bolt splitting the character in half. It was a simple but fierce logo design.


    Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng¡¯s empty badge started to glow too. Zhao Jun was speaking the truth when he said that he was from the Lingtian Battle Team. No one expected Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng to join such a newly formed battle team. Also, their captain was a recruit three years younger than them. It was a shocking news to the other people.


    Lingtian Battle Team¡¯s name finally appeared on the search results. All the other captains saw the information about this battle team.


    They saw that the recruits they wanted were in the Lingtian Battle Team and felt frustrated. They were jealous of Ling Lan after they saw that Zhao Jun was on his team too.


    Those people that had been observing Zhao Jun would know that he was on the verge of bing an elite ace mecha master. In the battlefield, an elite ace mecha master was like a guarantee for sess. With such a mecha master around, the battle team would not have to worry about being annihted. As the captain, Ling Lan could make use of Zhao Jun to achieve many results and work her way up the ranks.


    F**k, Ling Lan got everyone they wanted. Why were they not as lucky as him?


    ¡°Li Shiyu, have you added me in?¡± Li Yingjie got impatient when he saw Qi Long and his friends joining Ling Lan¡¯s battle team.


    ¡°Call me Second brother,¡± Li Shiyu nced at Li Yingjie and reminded him.


    Li Yingjie sneered and turned his face to the other side. He pretended that he didn¡¯t hear what Li Shiyu said. They had been on bad terms ever since they were young. Every time he talked about his weak eldest cousin brother, Li Shiyu would threaten him. He even bullied him when he was younger. Call him second brother? No way!


    Li Shiyu saw his response and said calmly, ¡°I am not in a good mood right now. I have no motivation to talk to my boss.¡±


    This is a threat! Li Yingjie red at Li Shiyu angrily. However, Li Shiyu just replied with a smile.


    Li Yingjie took a deep breath and controlled his anger. He realized that Li Shiyu had changed. Last time, he would have hit him the moment they started arguing.


    He didn¡¯t want to fulfil Li Shiyu¡¯s request but he didn¡¯t want to go to Shen Rufei¡¯s Mecha n as he might die there.


    Li Yingjie was arrogant and free-willed but he could tell the difference on who had evil intentions on him and who actually wanted to help him. He knew that Shen Rufei would not let him go. Even if he didn¡¯t antagonize him personally, he would still send him on a dangerous mission and find a reason to kill him. He was themanding officer of the Mecha n after all.


    Li Yingjie was afraid of death. He still had to take over the role as the head of the Li family. Hence, he shouted out, ¡°Second brother!¡±


    Li Shiyu looked at Li Yingjie thoughtfully. The arrogant and stupid little brother had changed. He didn¡¯t expect him to really ept his request.


    Truthfully, if Li Yingjie didn¡¯t call him ¡®second brother¡¯, he would still not let him fall into the hands of Shen Rufei. No matter how much he disliked Li Yingjie, he was still his younger brother.


    ¡°Wait here!¡± Li Shiyu didn¡¯t know if this was a good or bad change. He remembered the gentle and caring eldest cousin brother that always took care of him. He pinched himself. Whether Li Yingjie became for better or for worse, he would not show mercy on him if he harmed his eldest cousin brother in the future.


    His eldest cousin brother was a prodigy. How could he stay on Azure for the rest of his life? Li Shiyu recalled the progress he made recently in his research. He was confident that he would seed soon.


    Li Lanfeng returned from his thoughts and walked towards Li Shiyu to stop him.


    Li Shiyu was stunned. ¡°Lanfeng, what is the matter?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to go. Boss already knew about it,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and said.


    Li Shiyu understood what he meant. ¡°You told Boss about it.¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled and nodded. Li Shiyu was touched. ¡°Thank you!¡±


    Although he agreed to help Li Yingjie, he didn¡¯t know what to say to Ling Lan. Ling Lan had high expectations for her team members. She didn¡¯t like people who always created trouble. Li Yingjie¡¯s temper... Li Shiyu was prepared to beg Ling Lan if there was a need to.


    However, Li Lanfeng settled it for him. Li Shiyu liked Li Lanfeng because he felt that Li Lanfeng was simr to his eldest cousin brother. Now, he was grateful towards Li Lanfeng and promised himself that he would repay him in the future.


    Li Yingjie waited patiently at the side. Suddenly, he heard hismunicator beeping and opened it. There was a message on the screen: ¡°Captain Ling Lan of the Lingtian Battle Team invited you to join the Lingtian Battle Team. Do you ept this invitation?¡±


    Li Yingjie was exhrated. He wanted to press the ept button. While doing so, he realized that his hand was actually shaking.


    F**k, Li Yingjie, can you be calmer? You are just entering a battle team, what is there to be excited about. You were not so excited when you form your own Battle n that time...


    Li Yingjie took a deep breath. He stared at the ept button and finally pressed it... I pressed it correctly, right? Did I miss the button?


    ¡°Beep, you have sessfully joined the Lingtian Battle Team.¡± Li Yingjie¡¯s badge shone and Lingtian Battle Team¡¯s logo appeared. After everything ended, Li Yingjie felt weak in his legs. He was tired.


    He felt this way because he finally managed to escape from Shen Rufei. Li Yingjie didn¡¯t want to admit that he was just purely excited because he joined Lingtian.


    Ling Lan finished sending out the invitation to Li Yingjie and continued sending out invitations to the rest of the 072 team. Once again, 072 team became part of the Lingtian Battle Team.


    The staff member looked at hisputer again as the information of Lingtian Battle Team¡¯s member continued appearing. He saw Lingtian Battle Team as it shot up in rank to a four-star battle team in just a short moment and was stunned again. How could a newly formed battle team be a four-star battle team so quickly? Then, the staff member remembered that most of Lingtian¡¯s new members were ace operators.


    Gao Jinyun and the rest of the people stood at the side with a nervous heart. At this moment, they received Ling Lan¡¯s invitation.


    ¡°Third Elder Brother, our boss sent me a message.¡± One of them heard hismunicator beeping and looked at it. He was ted and shouted happily, ¡°I am invited to join the Lingtian Battle Team...¡±


    Gao Jinyun saw his message too. He teared up happily as he nodded his head fervently. His boss didn¡¯t forget them. They finally gained the recognition from their boss.


    The rest of the people were touched too. Someone even cried. ¡°Third Elder Brother, can you grab my hand to guide me to the ept button after you are done? I am afraid that I will press the wrong button because I am shaking too much.¡± He would kill himself if he identally press the reject button.


    Finally, Gao Jinyun and his friends finished pressing their buttons. Lingtian Battle Team became a small-midsize battle team immediately.

 Chapter 603 - armed melee challenge!

    <h4>Chapter 603: armed melee challenge!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The captains standing at the side saw many recruits entering the Lingtian Battle Team. Most of the outstanding recruit entered the Lingtian Battle Team. They feltplicated.


    Since Lingtian was a new battle team, they were able to take in as many people as their star level allowed. The staff member was shocked by the number of ace operators that entered the team so he didn¡¯t realize that the maximum capacity of the Lingtian Battle Team was 50. If he noticed this, he would have realized the real star level of this battle team.


    Ling Lan checked through her team members again and ascertained that she didn¡¯t leave anyone out. The members of the Lingtian Battle Team would be able to stay together now.


    Ling Lan finished everything and turned to look at the captains standing at the side. She raised her eyebrows and asked, ¡°Did you alle here to reminisce about your past?¡±


    Her cold voice woke everyone up from their thoughts. The captains finally remembered that they were here to find new bloods for their battle teams. Why were they distracted by Ling Lan?


    The captains rushed to the recruits that they took a fancy on. Although Qi Long and his friends were taken, there was other people on their list.


    The atrium became noisy instantly. Some of the recruits thought that they would be randomly allocated by the mainframe so when they received an invitation from a captain, they felt ted and grateful. They immediately epted the invitation.


    Shen Rufei knew that he lost. None of the people that he wanted would join his Mecha n. He was humiliated and embarrassed. There was no point in staying here anymore so he prepared to leave when no one noticed him.


    Ling Lan saw Shen Rufei¡¯s movement and a cold gaze shot from her eyes. Li Lanfeng noticed this and understood what she wanted. He rushed out and blocked Shen Rufei. ¡°Senior Colonel Shen, don¡¯t leave so quickly.¡±


    ¡°Major Li, what do you want?¡± Shen Rufei asked angrily.


    Li Lanfeng waved the broken chair leg in his hand and smiled. ¡°Have you forgotten what we said just now?¡±


    Shen Rufei¡¯s face changed. He remembered the armed melee challenge that Zhao Jun said. He rejected the challenge because Zhao Jun was not a member of Lingtian at that time. Now, Li Lanfeng must be finding him for the same thing.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s action caught the attention of some Lingtian members. They realized that Shen Rufei wanted to leave so they all gathered around him.


    Although Shen Rufei held a position that he didn¡¯t have the capabilities of holding, he was still able to sit on it for all these years. This showed that he was a smart person. He looked at the situation and knew that he couldn¡¯t avoid the armed melee challenge. He shouted decisively, ¡°Li Lanfeng, I ept your challenge.¡±


    Shen Rufei came alone. He had the option of choosing a 1 VS 1 battle. Aspared to Zhao Jun and Qi Long who were at thete-stage of Qi-Jin, Shen Rufei felt that Li Lanfeng was much easier to deal with.


    Shen Rufei knew that Li Lanfeng had a weak body. He was an ace operator when he entered the military but he was only able to sustain his prime state for only 10 minutes. This made him almost useless in a battle.


    Hence, he was not chosen by many battle teams and became the first ace mecha master to be randomly allocated by the mainframe. Luckily, he was sent to the Mecha n in Zhao Jun¡¯s battle team. Although they were on different battle teams but they were content to be able to live together.


    After that, Zhao Jun started to get stronger and Li Lanfeng got famous as a strategist. They caught the attention of the Nameless Battle Team and became temporary members of Nameless.


    Since Li Lanfeng was not known for his mecha operation skills, it further proved that his body was weak. Hence, his physical skills should not be good too. To Shen Rufei, Li Lanfeng was the best choice for him to have a one on one battle with. This was Shen Rufei¡¯s n.


    The members of Lingtian were angry when they heard what Shen Rufei said. They felt that he was unscrupulous. Everyone knew that Li Lanfeng¡¯s body was weak. It had caused him quite a lot of inconvenience.


    Luo Lang rushed out. ¡°There is no need for a senior like you to take part in a armed melee challenge. I can take part in the battle for you. Do you dare to fight me?¡± Luo Lang knew that because of his looks, the other party might allow him to take the ce of Li Lanfeng. He looked as weak as Li Lanfeng.


    Shen Rufei sneered. ¡°Major Li was the one who invited me for the battle just now. Why are you being a coward now? It is shameless of you to ask other people to take your ce.¡± Shen Rufei nced at Luo Lang. He knew that Luo Lang was between the middle andte-stage of Qi-Jin. He would be crazy to ept his request.


    Zhao Jun wanted to say something but Li Lanfeng stopped him. He smiled and said, ¡°Since Senior Colonel Shen wants to fight with me so badly, I will not reject you.¡±


    ¡°Lanfeng!¡± Zhao Jun frowned. He disapproved of Li Lanfeng¡¯s decision. Li Lanfeng was only at the peak of Refinement. He was not Shen Rufei¡¯s match.


    Li Lanfeng consoled Zhao Jun. He looked at Ling Lan. Ling Lan nodded at him. Her eyes were calm but Li Lanfeng felt a sense of trusting from it.


    Ling Lan believed him. Li Lanfeng clenched his fist. The nervousness in him disappeared. He felt warmth in his heart. The trust Ling Lan had towards him energized him. This was the best kind of friendship anyone could have.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Shen Rufei and took a firm step out. An invisible pressure came from him and Shen Rufei took a step back instinctively.


    When he realized what he did, he felt embarrassed. He shouted, ¡°You have the courage. However, I will not go easy on you.¡±


    Qi Long and the rest of the people were frustrated. There was no way Li Lanfeng would win. They wanted to stop him but they realized that they couldn¡¯t move.


    ¡°Let him fight.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice appeared beside everyone. Besides Li Lanfeng and Shen Rufei, everyone heard her voice.


    They all looked towards her. Ling Lan nodded. Her cold voice sounded beside their ears again. ¡°Clear 30 meters away from the center of the battle.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    The members of Lingtian saw that Ling Lan agreed to let Li Lanfeng fight so they put down their worries and moved away from Li Lanfeng. They brought everyone out and gave Li Lanfeng and Shen Rufei room to battle.

 Chapter 604 - Concern?

    <h4>Chapter 604: Concern?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The other captains finished recruiting their new members and realized the atmosphere in the atrium was tense. They saw the empty space in the middle and saw Li Lanfeng and Shen Rufei standing there. They got a shock and quickly asked the members of Lingtian about what was happening.


    When they heard that Shen Rufei requested to battle Li Lanfeng to settle the feud between him and Lingtian, they felt that he was unscrupulous too. They didn¡¯t know why Li Lanfeng epted the challenge.


    Shen Rufei saw the space that was cleared out for them. He raised his leg and kicked a metal chair beside him. The chair broke. He reached out and grabbed a broken chair leg.


    Li Lanfeng held onto his broken chair leg tightly. They stood three meters apart and stared at each other.


    The atrium was dead silent. Li Lanfeng and Shen Rufei didn¡¯t move. They were looking for an opening in each other¡¯s defense. Once they found it, they would attack it furiously.


    A few minutes passed by. Shen Rufei couldn¡¯t find any opening on Li Lanfeng. He thought that Li Lanfeng was just an easy opponent but it seemed like he might be wrong. He felt frustrated.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes lit up. He rushed out and aimed the broken chair leg at Shen Rufei¡¯s head.


    Shen Rufei narrowed his eyes. He raised his hand and blocked the attack.


    ¡°Bang!¡± A loud sound erupted as the two broken chair legs hit against each other. Sparks flew out from the impact.


    The two people jumped back and slid for a few meters. They distanced themselves and started a staringpetition again.


    People with sharp eyes saw what had happened in that instant. When the two weapons collided, Shen Rufei raised his leg and tried to sneak an attack on Li Lanfeng. However, Li Lanfeng saw through his intention and blocked his sneak attack. The force produced from this action caused them to bounce back.


    Shen Rufei¡¯s heart dropped after this attack. He thought that he could dominate over his opponent but they were on par. In the database, Li Lanfeng¡¯s physical skills were at the peak of Refinement while he was at Qi-Jin.


    ¡°You hide yourself well,¡± Shen Rufei gritted his teeth and said.


    Li Lanfeng replied indifferently, ¡°I didn¡¯t hide it on purpose. I just forgot to update my information.¡± This was the truth.


    For these three years, Li Lanfeng persisted in practicing the movements that Ling Lan taught him. When other people were eating, he was practicing. When other people were sleeping, he was still practicing. Everytime he practiced, he felt his bones resisting the changes and felt that they could break at any moment. He had to experience this pain a few times every day. Sometimes, he thought he would die from the pain.


    Thinking back, Li Lanfeng was amazed that he managed to survive. He shivered slightly when he remembered back the pain.


    However, it was a good thing that he persisted. This foundational actions required persistence. People who practiced it would only feel pain in their first year. In the second year, the pain would gradually lessen but there was no real improvements on his body. Many people would give up and feel that it was a waste of effort and time. However, Li Lanfeng continued on. He trusted Ling Lan. He felt that if there were no results, it meant that he was not practicing hard enough.


    Li Lanfeng started to push himself harder. He would only stop after he was exhausted. Sometimes, he was so exhausted until he had no more energy to climb onto his bed. He would sleep on the floor of his dormitory.


    After repeating this for months, Li Lanfeng finally felt the benefits. He managed to breakthrough and advanced to Qi-Jin. He had been stuck at the peak of Refinement for a long time so his foundations were strong. Thus, after half a year, Li Lanfeng continued smoothly into the middle-stage of Qi-Jin.


    Just like what Li Lanfeng said, he was too busy with his missions and practices so didn¡¯t have the time to go to the assessment department to update his information. Of course, he did have his own thoughts so he didn¡¯t tell Zhao Jun and Li Shiyu about his improvement. He wanted Ling Lan to be the first person to know about this good news.


    He wanted to show off his Qi-Jin skills in front of Ling Lan and tell him that he didn¡¯t let him down.


    However, Shen Rufei didn¡¯t believe what Li Lanfeng said. When he saw how the rest of the Lingtian members were shocked at Li Lanfeng¡¯s Qi-Jin level, he sneered. He had an idea. ¡°This is weird. You are a good strategist but you can¡¯t even believe in your own teammates...¡±


    Shen Rufei¡¯s words had a double meaning behind them. He was trying to tell the members of the Lingtian Battle Team that they trusted the wrong person.


    But, his words were useless. The members of Lingtian were not affected by his words at all. They were stunned at Li Lanfeng¡¯s level of physical skills but they were not unhappy with him. Li Lanfeng had left for three years. If he didn¡¯t make any improvements in these three years, they would instead be worried for him.


    The only people that could be affected would be Zhao Jun and Li Shiyu...


    However, before they could react, Li Lanfeng smiled at them mysteriously and said, ¡°If they really did care for me, they would know what my true level is.¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze made Zhao Jun uneasy. Was he saying that he didn¡¯t care much about him? That was why he didn¡¯t realize that Li Lanfeng was already at the Qi-Jin level.


    He looked at Li Shiyu. Li Shiyu was calm. He seemed to have already known about Li Lanfeng¡¯s advancement to Qi-Jin.


    Zhao Jun felt apologetic towards Li Lanfeng. He thought back about the past three years. He had been too busy with missions and practicing his mecha piloting and didn¡¯t spend much time with Li Lanfeng... sob, old friend, it is my fault. Please don¡¯t look at me with those eyes. I will feel even more guilty!


    Li Shiyu noticed Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze too. After a while, he saw Zhao Jun looking at him. He seemed to be asking if he knew about Li Lanfeng¡¯s true power. Li Shiyu recalled how close Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng were and felt that Zhao Jun would definitely know about Li Lanfeng¡¯s true capabilities. On the other hand, he was always in the hospital and theboratory. He didn¡¯t spend much time with them...

 Chapter 605 - I Didn’t Embarrass You!

    <h4>Chapter 605: I Didn¡¯t Embarrass You!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    That was just an excuse! Li Shiyu stopped himself. The fact was, he neglected his teammate. If he had shown more concern towards Li Lanfeng, he would have noticed the change in his physical skills.


    Li Shiyu felt guilty. He started reprimanding himself. He still didn¡¯t treat Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun as his real friends. If it was his eldest cousin brother, he would have noticed any changes with him right away.


    Li Shiyu knew that he was in the wrong. However, he was afraid of hurting Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng¡¯s feelings so he forced himself to maintain calm. He must make them believed that they were important to him. He would start treating them like his family from now on.


    Li Lanfeng used one sentence to solve the potential trust crisis between them. Ling Lan smiled. Li Lanfeng was indeed a sly and cunning person. He managed to turn the situation around in just a split second.


    Shen Rufei realized his instigation was useless. He was furious. This change in emotion caused him to reveal an opening to Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng rushed towards Shen Rufei without any hesitation. He swung the broken chair leg and it formed lingering shadows in the air. ¡°Bang, bang, bang.¡± The two weapons collided with each other as the two people started fighting again.


    The fights between soldiers were bloody and serious. They would not hold back unlike cadets in the military academies. Unless they couldn¡¯t find any weapons, soldiers wouldn¡¯t fight empty-handed. This was why the fights between soldiers were known as armed melee challenges.


    Shen Rufei and Li Lanfeng fought with all their might. ¡°Boom!¡± Li Lanfeng swung his weapon forcefully at Shen Rufei. Shen Rufei tilted his body to the side and dodged the attack. The weapon hit the ground and a crack formed on the floor. The crack stopped right in front of the crowd.


    Ling Lan¡¯s prediction was urate. She was certain about the capabilities of these two people. The force of a Qi-Jin level attack could only travelled at most 30 meters. If the crowd stayed further than 30 meters away from them, they would not be implicated.


    The logisticsmander smiled bitterly. Both the people who were fighting were higher ranked than him. How was he supposed to stop them?


    The logisticsmander looked at the floor and then shifted his gaze back onto the two people that were fighting. He told himself that he was too engrossed in watching the fight so he didn¡¯t notice anyone destroying public properties.


    Shen Rufei was furious after dodging the attack. He wanted to kick Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng moved and evaded the kick. His movements were weird and unpredictable. Qi Long, Luo Lang, Han Jijyun and Lin Zhong-qing saw his movements and stopped worrying about him.


    They had been with Ling Lan for the longest time so they knew that was a unique skill created by their boss. It was the most suitable skill to be used in close-rangebat.


    Shen Rufei missed Li Lanfeng and kicked the floor instead. Cracks formed on the floor again. The logisticsmander saw it and decided to brainwashed himself. ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything...¡±


    Li Lanfeng noticed that Shen Rufei was stuck so he immediately aimed his weapon at Shen Rufei¡¯s face. The force caused wind to form around him.


    Shen Rufei had not regained his bnce so there was no way he could dodge the attack. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to receive the blow with his weapon.


    ¡°Boom!¡± A loud noise erupted beside Shen Rufei¡¯s ear. The sound of the collision burst his eardrum as the weapon struck too close to his ears. Blood slowly flowed out of his ear.


    Shen Rufei gasped in pain. The pain irritated him. He used his left hand to grab Li Lanfeng¡¯s right hand which was holding the weapon. He raised his weapon and mmed it down on Li Lanfeng with a hideous grin.


    Li Lanfeng was shocked by the loud noise just now. However, he was further away from the weapons when they collided so he was not hurt. However, without the pain to stimte him, he reacted slower than Shen Rufei and was caught by surprise. He was unable to escape.


    In the face of such crisis, Li Lanfeng remained calm. He knew that he couldn¡¯t avoid Shen Rufei¡¯s attack so he decided to release all his spiritual power. He gasped and blood flowed out of his mouth. The spiritual power he released was far greater than what his body could handle. Hence, he received some internal injuries.


    But, with the help of his spiritual power, Li Lanfeng was able to analyze Shen Rufei¡¯s attack and the weapon¡¯s trajectory.


    There is a chance! Li Lanfeng saw an opportunity. He flicked his wrist and threw his weapon out and caught it with his left hand. He focused all his internal energy on his left hand and swung his left hand as hard as he could at Shen Rufei.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Another loud noise rang by their ear drums. Both weapons flew out of their hands.


    The noise hurt both their eardrums this time. However, since Shen Rufei was hurt the second time, he was in a worse state the Li Lanfeng. More blood flowed out from both of his ears. It dripped onto his shoulders and stained his military uniform.


    ng! ng! The two weapons fell on the floor. They rolled a few meters away before stopping. Everyone noticed that the two straight metal pipes were now badly dented and damaged.


    ¡°Bam!¡± The two people that lost their weapon had no choice but to use their fist.


    Shen Rufei held onto Li Lanfeng tightly so Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t escape. However, Shen Rufei couldn¡¯t dodge Li Lanfeng¡¯s retaliation too.


    ¡°Bam!¡± ¡°Bam!¡± ¡°Bam!¡± ...


    Their fist smashed onto each other again and again. Soon, both their fists were filled with blisters and wounds. They had forgotten all about battling techniques. They were just using raw brutal force to attack one another. It was a fight based on strength and stamina.


    The members of Lingtian were silent but they clenched their fist tightly and prayed for Li Lanfeng. They didn¡¯t expect the gentle and cunning Li Lanfeng to have such a violent side to him too. They felt their adrenaline pumping through their veins.


    ¡°Three more attacks and the match will end.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s smile got brighter.


    Three attackster, Shen Rufei suddenly spit out a mouthful of blood. He lost. The injuries from their Qi-Jin attacks as well as the physical injuries from the brawl umted inside him and it overwhelmed his body.


    Li Lanfeng smiled at him sarcastically. He used all his energy left and punched Shen Rufei onest time.


    Shen Rufei flew ten meters away and mmed forcefully onto the floor. He didn¡¯t stand up again. He had been knocked unconscious.


    Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t control himself anymore. He spit out some blood and fell to the floor.


    A figure shed in front of him and caught him in his arm.


    Li Lanfeng looked up at the cold and handsome face. He smiled. ¡°Ling Lan, I didn¡¯t embarrass you, right?¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t.¡± Ling Lan replied him softly. She couldn¡¯t see Li Lanfeng¡¯s face but she felt that his smile must be handsome. It should be a hopeful and lively smile.


    Ling Lan understood how Li Lanfeng felt. His spectre abilities caused him to dominate the virtual world but in return, he gained a weak body. He couldn¡¯t pilot a mecha in real life. This was a huge blow to a man who wanted to be a powerful mecha operator.


    Many people would have given up in their dreams and wallowed in self-pity. However, Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t. Although he had no chance of getting better, he still persevered for 20 years until he met Ling Lan...


    Now, Li Lanfeng overcame his greatest hurdle, his weak body. Ling Lan believed that this man would create his own legacy soon.


    After he heard Ling Lan¡¯s reply, Li Lanfeng closed his eyes happily and fainted. His body was still weaker than Shen Rufei but he managed tost longer because of his spiritual power. This was why he won.


    Ling Lan carried him with both hands and shouted, ¡°Shiyu!¡±


    ¡°Yes, captain!¡± Li Shiyu regained his senses and quickly rushed out.


    Ling Lan passed Li Lanfeng to Li Shiyu. Li Shiyu carried Li Lanfeng towards the crowd with Zhao Jun quicklying over to help. They ced Li Lanfeng on a bench nearest to them.


    Li Shiyu felt around Li Lanfeng¡¯s body. He realized that Li Lanfeng was hanging on by a thread. He immediately took out a pendant around his neck. There were three diamonds on the pendant. Li Shiyu felt around the pendants and three silver needles appeared in his hand.


    No one saw how he did it but Li Shiyu stopped the heavy bleeding with his needles. Then, he flicked the pendant opened. There was a miniature medicine bottle in the pendant.


    Li Shiyu gently opened the bottle. He pinched Li Lanfeng¡¯s chin and opened his mouth. Li Shiyu poured the medicine into his mouth.


    The effects would be faster and better if the medicine was directly injected into the bloodstream. However, Li Shiyu rushed over here just now so he didn¡¯t bring his medical kit with him. He could only feed the medicine to Li Lanfeng.


    Luckily, Li Shiyu¡¯s medicine were very effective. He believed that none of the emergency medicine in the Federation was as effective as his. It was just a small bottle but it took him two years to make it. It required a lot of time and effort to make this one bottle of medicine.

 Chapter 606 - Battle Clan!

    <h4>Chapter 606: Battle n!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    A few secondster, Li Lanfeng regained consciousness. He opened his eyes and saw Li Shiyu looking at him worryingly. He knew that Li Shiyu must have treated him just now.


    Warmth spread through his body. The organs that were seriously injured started healing themselves. The excruciating pain in his body disappeared too. Li Lanfeng said gratefully, ¡°Thank you, Shiyu.¡±


    ¡°As long as you are fine.¡± Li Shiyu saw that Li Lanfeng¡¯s condition gradually improved and heaved a sigh of relief. He was confident about his emergency medication but since the patient was his good friend, he couldn¡¯t help but to worry.


    While Li Shiyu was treating Li Lanfeng, Ling Lan walked towards Shen Rufei who was lying on the floor and said, ¡°Stop pretending. I know that you are conscious.¡±


    Shen Rufei opened his eyes. Malicious intent shed passed his eyes. He wanted to pretend that he was unconscious so that people would notugh at him. However, Ling Lan exposed him.


    Ling Lan ignored the hatred in Shen Rufei¡¯s eyes. She looked down slightly and said, ¡°Senior Colonel Shen, I hope that you will remember what happened today. Don¡¯t try to create trouble for us. If you do, you will suffer even more.


    Ling Lan was obviously threatening him. Shen Rufei felt humiliation, anger and fear. All the emotions rushed up his head and he fainted. This time, it was real.


    Ling Lan was speechless. Shen Rufei had such a weak heart. She just threatened him with just one sentence and he fainted.


    However, Ling Lan achieved her motive so she didn¡¯t pester Shen Rufei anymore. She stood up straight and walked back to herpanions. Everyone looked at her. They were all curious about Ling Lan.


    The countdown timer suddenly rang at this moment. It signalled the end of the registration time window for the recruits. Those that didn¡¯t register in time would have two options. They could either go back to the recruit training camp and train while waiting for the next batch of recruits toe and register with them or they could go back to their military academy and continue their studies and apply next year.


    However, most of the time, this problem didn¡¯t exist. Even if the recruits were heavily injured, they would still crawl over to register themselves.


    None of the recruits left. During the training camp, their instructors had informed them about the procedures of registration. They had to remain in the atrium after registering. Half an hourter, they would be led to the North za. The hover buses driving to each respective battle n were parked there. They would ride on the hover bus and go to their respective battle ns.


    Of course, the recruits that joined old battle teams based on invitation could directly leave. The mainframe would distribute them to the mecha n where the battle team was situated at.


    Half an hourter, everyone felt theirmunicator vibrated. Ling Lan looked at her wrist. Middle Second Corps 250 Mecha n... Ling Lan felt speechless when she saw the name. It sounded like they were being scolded. 250 was used to describe someone who was half witted and had a pea-brain. Was this mecha n suitable for them?

 Chapter 607 - Selfish?

    <h4>Chapter 607: Selfish?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    In the officer department in the 23rd Division, He Xuyang immediately sent amand to the mainframe after the recruitspleted their registration. He sighed loudly when he saw themand being executed.


    The second adviser Tong Zhiying wanted to discuss something with He Xuyang but he saw He Xuyang¡¯s expression. He asked, ¡°What happened?¡±


    He Xuyang didn¡¯t know what to say. He sighed again.


    Tong Zhiying got curious. ¡°What exactly happened?¡±


    He Xuyang didn¡¯t close hisputer screen yet so he pointed at it and asked Tong Zhiying to take a look at it himself.


    Tong Zhiying nced at the information. He couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°The Lingtian Battle Team? Do you have a grudge against them? Why did you send them to the 250 Mecha n?¡±


    He Xuyang red at him. ¡°This is a test.¡± He couldn¡¯t tell him that this was a decision made by the General. Poor Young Master Lan.


    ¡°Test? Can you don¡¯t say things that you don¡¯t even believe in?¡± Tong Zhiying refuted, ¡°I hope that this battle team would escape from the curse and not be destroyed there.¡± Tong Zhiying sighed after he finished speaking.


    250 Mecha n was a special mecha n. Its presence gave General Ling Xiao a headache. There was nothing he could do for 250 Mecha n. He could only leave them to fend for themselves.


    Ling Lan brought the people from her battle team to the za. There were many hover buses parked above the za.


    Every ten meters, there was a boarding gate. Ling Lan chose a gate that had no one waiting in line and checked the kiosk near the gate. She realized that only the name of the corps were shown. The names of specific mecha ns were not disyed. Ling Lan knew that, if no one formed a new battle team, there would only be a few recruits entering each mecha n. Some mecha n might not even have recruits. These hover buses would send the recruits to the corps and then, the corps would arrange them to be sent to their respective mecha ns.


    Ling Lan chose the Middle Second Corps and keyed in the number of people she had on her battle team. Then, she patiently waited for the hover bus toe.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t like the number of her mecha n. However, she knew that there was no special meaning to ¡®250¡¯ in this era. It was just a number. She felt that she might be thinking too much about it.


    Very soon, a hover bus came by. The door opened. Ling Lan was standing in the front so she saw that there were already a few people on the bus.


    Ling Lan had a good memory so she recognized the four people in the bus. They were the captains of battle teams. The other two people sitting next to them were recruits. They must be the ones that were selected by the captains. The captains were stunned when they saw Ling Lan. After a while, one of them rubbed his hands excitedly and said, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you all toe to our Middle Second Corps. This is a blessing for us. We wee you all with open arms.¡±


    The captain was too enthusiastic. He looked as though something amazing fell onto hisp. Ling Lan had a bad feeling about this... She shouldn¡¯t have let down her guard so easily.


    ¡°Can we get into the bus?¡± Ling Lan calmed herself down and asked.


    ¡°Yes, of course.¡± The captain realized that he was blocking the entrance so he hurriedly moved to the side.


    Ling Lan entered the bus. Her team members followed behind her. She randomly sat on a seat. Li Lanfeng wanted to sit beside Ling Lan but he gave up the idea. Ling Lan had an image to maintain as the captain of a battle team. Li Lanfeng sat with Zhao Jun on the seats right behind Ling Lan¡¯s.


    The other two captains wanted to sit next to Ling Lan too. However, the cold aura that she gave out deterred them from going anywhere near her. They chose to sit in the row in front of Ling Lan¡¯s.


    Once everyone sat down and there was no more new request for the hover bus, the soldier driving the bus closed the door and left the za.


    To protect the locations of the military bases, their coordinates were not entered into the optical supeputer of the hover buses. Instead, the buses were manually operated.


    After driving for a while, one of the captains couldn¡¯t control himself anymore and asked Ling Lan, ¡°Which mecha n are you allocated to?¡±


    ¡°250,¡± Ling Lan replied coldly.


    ¡°Huh?¡± The captain gave a look of disbelief.


    ¡°Beep!¡± The hover bus¡¯s rm sounded. Everyone looked at the driver. The soldier immediately maneuver the bus back to its original route. It had gone off its designated route just now.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I made a mistake just now,¡± The soldier apologised hurriedly.


    Ling Lan frowned. The reaction from the driver as well as the captain told her that there was something amiss with 250 Mecha n.


    ¡°Is there something wrong with 250 Mecha n?¡± Ling Lan looked at the captain with her cold eyes.


    The captain looked at Ling Lan with pity. ¡°Yes. That ce... sigh, once you experienced it for yourself, you will understand.¡± The captain turned back and faced the front. He never spoke to Ling Lan again. It was as though he was afraid that Ling Lan would ask him more questions.


    By now, Ling Lan knew that there was something amiss with 250 Mecha n. If not, the captain would not give her such a look. She saw pity, regret, and sympathy in the captain¡¯s eyes just now. It was as if they were hopeless.


    ¡°Little Four, give me all the information you can find for 250 Mecha n.¡± Since she couldn¡¯t ask them, Ling Lan decided to use her ultimate cheatsheet, Little Four.


    ¡°Yes, boss.¡± Little Four was ying a tower defense game with someone in the virtual world. However, when he heard themand given by his boss, he immediately stopped his game.


    Since his opponent spent so much time ying with him, he should give him some benefits. Little Four thought to himself when he left the game.


    After a few seconds, Little Four gathered all the data about 250 Mecha n. He didn¡¯t leave any information out, not even rumors.


    Ling Lan flipped through the materials in her mindscape. Her frown got deeper.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t believe that it was a coincidence. Her instinct told her that her father must have had a part to y in putting their battle team in 250 Mecha n.


    Her father made things difficult for her again. By now, Ling Lan was used to it.


    ¡°I will just take things as ites along.¡± Since she couldn¡¯t change what was going to happen, she would just embrace it. Ling Lan was not a coward. She threw 250 Mecha n to the back of her mind and went to take a rest.


    In the hacker department of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, many captains of the battle teams in the Flying Dragon Special Forces were waiting for a piece of news.


    ¡°We found it! 17 people from the 23rd Division formed their battle team today. We searched all the names of Sky God¡¯s son and finally found his youngest son, Qi Long. We found that battle team that he is in.¡± The hacker that was in charge of this task was themander of the hacker department, Brain One. The hacker department took many hours before they found the information that they wanted.


    On the big screen in the hacker department, the word ¡®Lingtian¡¯ was shown on it.


    ¡°Qi Long is the captain of the team?¡± Someone asked.


    ¡°We are not sure. We are unable to get the detailed namelist of the Lingtian Battle Team,¡± Brain One, who was lying in his login pod, frowned as he said that.


    He didn¡¯t expect the firewall of the 23rd Division¡¯s virtual world to be so strong. It took them a few hours to break through the wall. He even had to lead the team personally. Despite this, they only managed to breakthrough a certain part of the wall. He felt embarrassed.


    ¡°Even you can¡¯t do it?¡± Everyone was shocked. Brain One was the strongest hacker in the Federation. If he said that he was the second best, no one would dare to say that he or she was the best.


    ¡°Yes. The firewall of the 23rd Division is made up of 128 passcodes which alternates every second. If we can¡¯t break the code in a second, we will have to restart the decoding process again,¡± Brain One said in a depressed tone.


    Alternating 128 passcodes in a second was the ultimate firewall in the Flying Dragon Special Forces¡¯ mainframe. They didn¡¯t expect a division to have such a firewall too.


    Do other divisions have this firewall too? Is it just specially given to the 23rd Division? Brain One felt helpless. With his skills, there was only a 1% sess rate that he could break the 128 codes in one second.


    Thinking about his, Brain One immediately went to hack another division¡¯s mainframe. He realized that this division only have 64 passcodes alternating every second. He heaved a sigh of relief. Seems like 23rd Division was an exception.


    ¡°Have you found it?¡± The rest of the people thought that Brain One was looking for Lingtian¡¯s information so when he sighed in relief, they thought that he found more information.


    ¡°No.¡± Brain One quickly got out of the mainframe of the division. He entered the mainframe of the 23rd Division and saw the firewall again.


    ¡°We will need a few days to bypass this firewall,¡± Brain One said after running through the sess rate in his mind.


    ¡°Actually, there is no need to know the detailed name list of Lingtian, right. Since Qi Long is in the battle team, we can be certain that Sky God appeared in the second mission. Having a good father is really useful. He could clear all the obstacles for you.¡±


    ¡°This is frustrating. How dare they humiliate us.¡± Someone snorted.


    ¡°Head, what do you think?¡± Everyone looked at the man that was rxing on the sofa. Head was just a nickname. His real name was Head One. He was the captain of the Dragon Head Battle Team.


    ¡°We have Qi Long¡¯s information, right?¡± Head One asked.


    ¡°He is a recruit from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.¡± Brain One threw Qi Long¡¯s information at Head One.


    ¡°Since he is a recruit, let a recruit handle him.¡± Head stood up.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± The other captains were confused.


    ¡°It is time to let our prodigy make his appearance,¡± Head One replied them calmly. The Flying Dragon Special Forces was not a force that you could bully so easily.


    Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up. Qi Long was a recruit so if they sent an experienced member, other people might say that they were bullying him. However, if they sent another recruit to defeat Qi Long, no one could say anything.


    ¡°Actually, any recruit would do. There is no need to send him.¡± Someone felt that there was no need to send someone so powerful to deal with such a weak person.


    ¡°Since they want to step on our faces, there is no need for us to care about their feelings.¡± Head One left after he finished his sentence.


    ¡°Head seems furious,¡± The other captains looked at Head One¡¯s back and whispered among themselves.


    ¡°Aspared to themander, Head loves the Flying Dragon Special Forces a lot more. He will not let the Flying Dragon Special Forces be embarrassed just like this. Head is announcing a war against Sky God,¡± Someone exined.


    ¡°What do you think Head would ask the prodigy to do?¡±


    ¡°The first step would be to form a battle team.¡±


    Since the other party had formed his own battle team, their prodigy had to have his own battle team too.


    Ling Xiao sat in his office and looked at hisputer. There was a message written on it: Lingtian Battle Team was allocated to the Middle Second Corps 250 Mecha n .¡± Ling Xiao felt confused. For the first time, he doubted himself. He didn¡¯t know if he made the right decision.


    ¡°Beep!¡± Hismunicator rang. Ling Xiao looked at the name and epted the call. ¡°Ling Xiao, you let my son take the me.¡± The roar that came from themunicator almost burst Ling Xiao¡¯s eardrum.


    Ling Xiao replied calmly, ¡°Did I arrange for your son to enter my dear... son¡¯s battle team?¡±


    Sob, when can he say that Ling Lan was his daughter? Ling Xiao moaned to himself. Fine, he was the one that made all these happened. Ling Xiao remembered the truth and stopped feeling depressed.


    Qi Yaoyang was speechless. His son was the one who wanted to be in Ling Lan¡¯s team. Seemed like his son walked into the tiger¡¯s den himself. His son was just like him, taking the me for the Ling family. Qi Yaoyang felt frustrated.


    ¡°As for the me, I didn¡¯t want it to happen too.¡± Ling Xiao shrugged innocently. ¡°The captain is Ling Lan. However, the other party thought of you first, not me. Big Brother Yaoyang, shouldn¡¯t you self-reflect?¡± Ling Xiao said seriously.


    Qi Yaoyang shouted in anger, ¡°What can be wrong with me? I am definitely better than you, you hypocrite.¡± Then, he mmed hismunicator and the call ended.


    Ling Xiaoughed silently. He talked to himself, ¡°But people believe that I am fair. There is nothing I can do about it.¡±


    If I was fair, why would I set so many obstacles for my daughter? If I was fair, why would I create this lie to help my daughter? If I was fair, why would the secret still remain as a secret?


    I am just a selfish person.


    Ling Xiao closed his optical supeputer. His face turned cold. If anyone saw Ling Xiao now, they would feel that Ling Lan was indeed his child. They had exactly the same aura.

 Chapter 608 - The Price Of Being Stubborn?

    <h4>Chapter 608: The Price Of Being Stubborn?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan and her team members were sent to the Middle Second Corps. Themander of the Middle Second Corps was ted when he heard that five ace mecha masters were sent to his corps. However, when he saw the mecha n they were allocated to, his heart turned cold.


    He sent a request to the headquarters of the 23rd Division and pleaded for the Lingtian Battle Team to be sent to any other mecha n. But, his request was rejected. The headquarters replied that new battle teams are required to stay in their allocated mecha n for at least a year before they could be moved somewhere else.


    In the beginning, this rule was set to protect mecha ns. It was to prevent the higher authorities from pulling people out of the mecha n just because they noticed that someone was powerful. It could also protect the recruits from being targeted and transferred to other mecha ns just because his faction was different.


    However, the 250 Mecha n was a forsaken mecha n. All the mecha operators inside were useless and had no ability to fight at all. No one wanted to stay there. The only benefit would be not having to go onto the battlefield.


    But battlefield was where powerful people should go. There were many talented mecha operators in the Lingtian Battle Team. If they were sent to the 250 Mecha n, it would be the same as destroying them. Themander sighed. This was a crime!


    Some people might be curious as to why the 250 Mecha n still existed. Why couldn¡¯t they just retrench these mecha operators or get new positions for them?


    Well, the Federation couldn¡¯t retrench them. All these mecha operators had many outstanding achievements in the past. Some were evenmended in front of the entire Federation.


    However, heroes would grow old and die too. Due to certain reasons, these heroes became useless. They were not crippled. With the technology now, any form of disabilities could be cured.


    They were mentally unstable. Some lost the courage to fight in the battlefield. Others would be maniacs once they operated a mecha and start killing people around them. There were even operators who got sick of mechas and felt that they would never be able to operate a mecha again.


    They had no families. They dedicated their entire life to the Federation and only knew how to kill people. They didn¡¯t know how to survive in a normal world and had no other skills. The Federation had to take care of them. If they didn¡¯t, they would lose the faith of the soldiers who were fighting in the battlefields.


    These people used to be supported by their original mecha ns. But, when the 23rd Division first formed, Ling Xiao had to request for more manpower from the other divisions. The other divisions took this chance to stuff these people into the 23rd Division.


    By the time Ling Xiao noticed this, there was nothing he could do. However, he didn¡¯t want to give up on them. He formed the 250 Mecha n and gathered all these people together. He hoped that they would relive their glory someday.


    The 250 Mecha n was not in the list of mecha ns for recruits. But for some reason, this year, it appeared on the list and even got the most powerful recruits...


    Themander of the Middle Second Corps felt an ache in his heart. He didn¡¯t know if the recruits would be affected by those useless soldiers. Would they be useless as well and give up on themselves a yearter? Themander had tears in his eyes when he sent the Lingtian Battle Team off.


    The 250 Mecha n was not far away from the main base of the Middle Second Corps. Besides Ling Lan and her team members, there was only the driver left in the bus. The two captains were sad when they left the hover bus. They must have felt that if Ling Lan didn¡¯t form her battle team, they would not be allocated to the 250 Mecha n.


    The hover bus travelled for two more hours before reaching the base.


    Everyone felt at ease when they saw the base. It looked very new. The main gate was bright and beautiful. The high walls surrounding the base showed that it was a highly protected base. With such facilities, the 250 Mecha n should not be a bad n.


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows in surprise. She had prepared herself to see a dpidated base but it was better than what she imagined.


    However, her relief was destroyed the moment theynded.


    There were no soldiers on duty outside the main gate. The driver of the hover bus was used to it. He honked his horn repeatedly to signal that they had arrived.


    ¡°So noisy.¡± A voice came from the sentry tower. A few momentster, a middle-aged soldier rubbed his eyes as he popped his head out of the window. He saw the hover bus. He yawned and stretched his body before slowly making his way over.


    Ling Lan and herpanions frowned when they saw the attire of the soldier. He was wearing a military uniform but he didn¡¯t wear his military hat and military boots. He had a pair of slippers on his feet. The beam handgun that was supposed to be on every soldier on duty was not on his body too.


    Ling Lan shook her head secretly. As expected, she shouldn¡¯t have much hope for 250 Mecha n.


    The soldier walked over with his eyes half closed. He didn¡¯t ask them who they were. He immediately took the pass from the driver and scanned it with a device. Without reading the information on the device, he opened the gate. Then, he slowly returned to his sentry tower and continued sleeping.


    Everyone from Lingtian was speechless. What kind of Mecha n was this? Was it so powerful that no one dared to attack it or was it too lousy to pose a threat to anyone?


    Ling Lan tapped her index finger repeatedly on the handle of the chair she was sitting on. She had been too positive about 250 Mecha n. Its condition was worse than what she thought.


    The hover bus entered the base once the gate opened. Ling Lan saw the rusty pieces of training equipment in the training dojo. The inside of the base was entirely different from its exterior. It seemed dead. There were no sounds of soldiers training or any signs of life.


    Information about the 250 Mecha n appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s mind.


    250 Mecha n. It derived its name from there being 250 mecha operators in the mecha n. They were the most powerful ace mecha masters in the entire Federation. However, for various reasons, all of them gave up on themselves. Some got their powers sealed.


    A few of the mecha operators couldn¡¯t even win against an advanced mecha operator. These ace mecha operators had no families and had no other skills beside in killing people and fighting in wars.


    They were mentally unstable as well and would go crazy if they got stimted. The military was unable to let them leave the army. They had many achievements before so the military couldn¡¯t just abandon them too. Hence, these mecha operators were left in the base.


    Now, the 23rd Division was responsible for these people. Ling Xiao didn¡¯t know what to do with them so he just ignored them.


    ¡°This is troublesome...¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that her father would bring her battle team out of 250 Mecha n if she just waited and didn¡¯t do anything for one year.


    ¡°Does he want me to solve this problem?¡± Ling Lan thought about it gloomily.


    As expected of her father who liked to make her life difficult. Why must she help him to solve the problems he couldn¡¯t solve? Ling Lan wouldin to Lan Luofeng once she had the chance to. F**k.


    ¡°Maybe this is a challenge? This might be the price I have to pay for being stubborn.¡± She recalled how Ling Xiao easily agreed to give her two more years in the military. Thinking back, he must have started his n then.


    Her father is really sly and cunning. Ling Lan cursed her father in her heart.


    Finally, they arrived at the dormitory district. The hover bus stopped and the soldier opened the door. He exined to them, ¡°The amodation area and the office area are just in front. Yourmanding officer should be there too.¡±


    Once Ling Lan and her team members got down, the hover bus left. It seemed as though there was a monster chasing after the bus.


    ¡°Looks like we are abandoned.¡± Han Jijyun smiled bitterly.


    ¡°I look 250 up Mecha n just now but found no information about it. News about 250 Mecha n has been restricted,¡± Li Lanfeng said calmly. He started searching for data about the 250 Mecha n when he noticed the weird expressions of the two captains. However, he didn¡¯t have the authority to ess the information.


    ¡°Only soldiers whose ranks are higher than a Lieutenant Colonel would be able to ess the information. We don¡¯t have the rights.¡± Ling Lan was not surprised.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan. Since Ling Lan knew what rank could ess the information, it meant that she had found the relevant information already.


    Ling Lan exchanged a nce with Li Lanfeng. She was happy to know that Li Lanfeng understood what she meant. She looked at her other team members and realized that Han Jijyun understood her too. Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing reacted slightly slower. Luo Lang and Qi Long, on the other hand, just looked at the people around them. They were used to throwing suchplicated matters to their teammates to think about. This was not a good thing. Ling Lan decided that once they settled down in the Mecha n, she would find some time to train both of their thinking abilities.


    Two people surprised Ling Lan with their performance. One of them was Gao Jinyun. He understood her words around the same time as Lin Zhong-qing and Xie Yi. The other person was Luo Chao. She was a timid and shy young girl. She reacted even faster than Gao Jinyun. Seems like her team members were slowly improving by themselves.


    Ling Lan was gratified. She continued, ¡°Although 250 Mecha n is known as the grave of mecha operators, I believe that there are powerful people hiding in this ce. Everyone must be careful. Before we understand the situation here, control yourselves and not make any trouble.¡±


    Ling Lan decided to point out Li Yingjie. ¡°Li Yingjie, don¡¯t look around. I am talking about you.¡±


    The other team membersughed and looked back at Li Yingjie. Li Yingjie blushed in embarrassment. He refuted, ¡°I am not an idiot. I know what to do.¡±


    ¡°Remember your promise then. Don¡¯t turn into an idiot,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    Everyone couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud. Li Yingjie red at Ling Lan angrily with puffed up cheeks.


    Ling Lan ignored Li Yingjie. She had warned him. If he still created trouble for himself, she would not help him.


    ¡°Boss, I found it.¡± Little Four showed Ling Lan the location of the regimentmander of the Middle Second Corps. Ling Lan didn¡¯t see anyone when they came over to the meeting ce so she asked Little Four to help her find the regimentmander. They mustplete a mission given by the regimentmander before they were officially considered a part of 250 Mecha n.


    Ling Lan brought her team members to the ce where the regimentmander was at immediately after she got the location.


    On an empty field at the back of the dormitory district, a middle-aged soldierid on the grass. He had a bottle of alcohol in his hand and was drinking from it continuously. He seemed to be drunk.


    Footsteps came towards him from afar. His eyes suddenly turned sharp and a cold glint shed passed it. However, in the next second, his eyes became unfocused again.


    ¡°Old Brother Liu, you are here again.¡± A pair of military boots appeared beside him. A gentle-looking and handsome 30 year old soldier smiled at him. His arrival caused the dead atmosphere to be lively again.


    Old Brother Liu opened his half closed eyes and looked at the person that came, in a daze. After a minute, he seemed to regain his focus and said, ¡°Ah...mander...!¡± He burped. The smell of alcohol filled up the air.


    The person that came frowned. The frown onlysted for a second. After that, he persuaded the soldier on the ground, ¡°Old Brother Liu, what happenedst time was not your fault. How can you answer to your team members if you continue to be drunk like this?¡±

 Chapter 609 - Discovery?

    <h4>Chapter 609: Discovery?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The real name of Old Brother Liu was Liu Fuquan. It was a normal-sounding name but he was once a member of the famous Seven Stars of the North. However, the past prodigy was now a drunkard who drank his life away every day.


    ¡°Regimentmander, you don¡¯t understand. That time, we said that we will have a good drink together after the war. I lived so that I can drink for them...¡± Liu Fuquan drank another mouthful of alcohol. He raised his bottle into the air and shouted, ¡°Brothers, let¡¯s drink!¡±


    He gulped down a few more mouthfuls as though he was drinking for his brothers. The alcohol rushed up his head and he fell asleep.


    The regimentmander sighed when he saw that the person got drunk again. He carried him back to the dorm and ced him carefully on his bed. Then, he closed the door and left.


    The moment the door closed, the middle-aged soldier who was supposed to be drunk opened his eyes. They were bright and sharp. He smiled sarcastically before closing his eyes again. Very soon, a loud snore echoed throughout the room.


    The regimentmander was standing outside the room. He only left after he heard the snore. The expression on his face was no longer gentle.


    Ling Lan stopped in her tracks.


    ¡°What is the matter?¡± Qi Long almost bumped into Ling Lan but he quickly stabilized himself.


    ¡°The other party has changed his position.¡± Ling Lan looked at the map that Little Four showed her. Her target was just directly opposite from her. However, she was blocked by a four storey building. Ling Lan estimated based on the width of the building that if she walked around it, she would be a long distance away from her target.


    Ling Lan was not interested in ying hide-and-seek. She ran and stepped on a tree in front of the building. Then, she leapt into the air and grabbed onto a window sill. She climbed up a few windows and reached the rooftop in a blink of an eye.


    Qi Long got excited when he saw what Ling Lan did. He followed her without any hesitation and jumped onto the roof too.


    ¡°Boss, why are we up here?¡± Qi Long looked down. He just followed Ling Lan blindly.


    Ling Lan pointed at a handsome soldier walking below. ¡°He is our target, the regimentmander of the Mecha n.¡±


    ¡°I understand!¡± Qi Long¡¯s eyes lit up and he jumped down.


    ¡°What did you understand?¡± Ling Lan was shocked as she looked at Qi Long pulmetting down towards the regimentmander. Her head started to hurt.


    The regimentmander was thinking about Liu Fuquan so he didn¡¯t notice what was happening around him. Suddenly, he felt a strong pressureing towards him. Without any hesitation, he punched at the direction where the pressure wasing from.


    ¡°Boom!¡± Qi Long punched back and the strong force generated threw him into the air. Qi Long spun around and dodged the impact of the force andnded safely on the ground.


    He licked his lips in excitement. He didn¡¯t expect themander of the 250 Mecha n to be a peak level Qi-Jin master. His eyes were filled with malicious intent and ambition. He didn¡¯t look like a hopeless person. Qi Long felt that the 250 Mecha n was not so bad after all.


    The regimentmander of 250 Mecha n looked at the young man in front of him angrily. If he didn¡¯t hide his true abilities, he must be a recruit. However, no recruit was ever sent to the 250 Mecha n . Why did this recruit appear here? Did someone realized his motive for bing the regimentmander of the 250 Mecha n? Was he sent here to assess him?


    The regimentmander of the 250 Mecha n became vignt. A malicious aura formed around him.


    Liu Fuquan felt the killing intenting from the regimentmander. He sat up and slowly walked to the side of the window. He slowly lifted up a small portion of the curtain and looked out.


    ¡°Peak level of Qi-Jin? Who is this person? Why is he so strong?¡± The people in 250 were all useless. Only a few of them managed to maintain the middle-level of Qi-Jin. The rest had lost all their physical skills. He carefully recalled all the people in the 250 Mecha n. He was not anyone of them. Was he new?


    But this person¡¯s eyes were bright and filled with life. His fighting spirit was strong so he was not a useless person. Why did hee here?


    Liu Fuquan turned serious. He knew that the regimentmander of 250 Mecha n came for him. He pretended to be drunk everyday so that the regimentmander would be fooled by him. These few days, the regimentmander finally let down his guard against him. The appearance of this mysterious person... Liu felt pressured.


    Suddenly, a pair of cold eyes appeared in front of him. A young man was hanging upside down outside the window.


    Liu Fuquan¡¯s hand shook and the curtain he was holding dropped. He shrunk into a corner. Was he discovered? His heart pounded furiously.


    Liu Fuquan felt a pain in his heart. He clutched his heart and bore the excruciating pain.


    Every time he got nervous, his heart would hurt. He checked his body using all kinds of equipment but no problems were found. In the end, he was diagnosed with a psychological problem and was sent to 250 Mecha n.


    Damn this psychological problem. Even though he was sent here, his enemy continued to chase after him. They sent people over everyday to check on him. Luckily, he hid himself well and fooled his opponents for five years.


    However, he got exposed today. That young man must have saw him just now.


    Liu Fuquan was agitated. He wanted to rush out and kill that young man. However, he knew that the young man must be stronger than him since he came near him without him noticing.


    Liu Fuquan was not a rash person. He controlled his emotions even though he was nervous.


    ¡°Captain, what are you looking at?¡± A gentle voice sounded. Liu Fuquan was surprised. Because of the regimentmander of the 250 Mecha n, he hated people who pretended to be mild-mannered. But, this gentle voice was soothing and calming. He couldn¡¯t bring himself to hate it.


    ¡°I am just thinking about who will win.¡± A cold voice replied. Liu Fuquan remembered the pair of cold eyes just now. That must be the young man.


    He didn¡¯t expect the person to remain outside his window. Didn¡¯t he see him? Since the room was dark, that person might not have seen anything. Liu Fuquan hoped that this was the truth.

 Chapter 610 - Confusion!

    <h4>Chapter 610: Confusion!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Based on the might of the attack just now, their strengths are simr. It might take a while before someone wins,¡± The gentle voice analyzed.


    ¡°I agree.¡±


    ¡°Boss, what shall we do now?¡± A new voice sounded. Someone else came.


    Liu Fuquan had calmed down but he realized that there were many people standing on the roof above him.


    ¡°Bang.¡± Someonended on the roof again. ¡°Chang Xinyuan, why do you need an equipment to help you climb a roof. You need to practice your physical skills more.¡±


    The person called Chang Xinyuan panted. He said in a depressed tone, ¡°Is Refinement weak? I don¡¯t want topare myself with monsters like you all. Right, Little Sister Luo Chao?¡±


    A sweet and gentle voice replied him, ¡°Big Brother Chang, don¡¯t be sad. We will work hard together and advance to Qi-Jin level soon.¡± The girl didn¡¯t understand what Chang Xinyuan was trying to convey and unintentionally hurt Chang Xinyuan¡¯s feelings again.


    Chang Xinyuan shouted in displeasure, ¡°Little sister Luo Chao, you...¡± The people around themughed loudly. You¡¯re reading on B oxnovel.c om .Tks!


    Liu Fuquan frowned. These people were making too much of amotion. The regimentmander would notice them soon.


    As expected, themander looked up towards the roof and shouted, ¡°Who are you?¡±


    Ling Lan nced at Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng jumped down andnded in front of the regimentmander. He saluted and replied, ¡°Regiment Commander, Lingtian Battle Team reporting.¡±


    ¡°Lingtian Battle Team?¡± Themander was stunned for a moment. Then, he remembered something. He looked at hismunicator and realized that there was a message from the 23rd Division headquarters.


    He lowered his head to hide his expression. Why did the headquarters give him this batch of recruits? Was it just a coincidence? Did the mainframe made a mistake?


    He turned off hismunicator. When he raised his head, he was smiling. ¡°Wee. All of you are the first batch of recruits ever since the formation of 250 Mecha n.¡± He pretended to be ted. ¡°I knew that the 23rd Division had not given up on us. They even sent us the best recruits.¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled and replied politely, ¡°You are being too courteous.¡±


    Themander looked at Li Lanfeng carefully. He noticed that his uniform and rank was not that of a recruit. This person was not a recruit. The regimentmander became vignt again. He felt that these people came with a motive.


    ¡°You don¡¯t look like a recruit.¡± Themander pointed at Li Lanfeng¡¯s shoulder and smiled strangely.


    Li Lanfeng nodded. ¡°Yes. The captain of our battle team came this year so we decided to follow him again.¡±


    ¡°Your captain must be a powerful person.¡± Themander appeared to have made a casualment.


    In order to be a major, this soldier must have been exceptional in a certain field. For instance, he might be an ace mecha master, a mecha engineer, a deputy captain of an interster force, or someone who had gained many military achievements. Whatever it was, this person was not a normal soldier.


    ¡°We grew up together and we had a strong rtionship with each other. Hence, we decided to stay together in the military,¡± since themander asked casually, Li Lanfeng replied with half the truth.


    Themander narrowed his eyes. Li Lanfeng appeared to have answered him but no real information about their captain was given. He still didn¡¯t know what qualities the captain had that made such a powerful soldier to follow him.


    ¡°Is your captain not going toe down?¡± Since he couldn¡¯t get anything out of this Major, he should just find the captain directly.


    Li Lanfeng smiled and waved towards the roof. His expression seemed rxed and there was no respect in his actions. Themander wondered if this Major and the captain really grew up together.


    Qi Long was unhappy at Li Lanfeng. ¡°Why did youe down so quickly? Can you let me finish my fight first?¡± His attitude was even worse than Li Yingjie.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s face turned cold. He pped Qi Long¡¯s forehead. ¡°What are you saying? Apologise to the regimentmander now.¡±


    He then turned to the regimentmander and exined politely, ¡°Regiment Commander, this is Qi Long. He has been like this ever since young. Whenever he sees someone powerful, he wants to fight with them no matter what rank they are. He created many troubles for us. Please forgive him.¡±


    Qi Long touched his forehead in displeasure. This Li Lanfeng wanted to hit him again but Qi Long instantly replied, ¡°I know,I know. I will apologize. Regimentmander, I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Li Lanfeng, I will get my revengeter! Qi Long gritted his teeth. Not just anyone could touch his forehead. Only his boss could do it.


    Themander had no choice but to smile and forgive him. ¡°It is okay. It is good to have a lively character in the team.¡± After what Li Lanfeng said, he didn¡¯t have any reason to teach this recruit a lesson even though he wanted to.


    Ling Lan heard the entire conversation between Li Lanfeng and the regimentmander. He knew that Li Lanfeng wanted to confuse the regimentmander so she ordered the people beside her, ¡°Those that are on Qi-Jin level, suppress it to Refinement.¡±


    Ling Lan taught all her team members from the original Lingtian Battle n how to suppress their physical skills. It was not difficult. As for its effectiveness, Ling Lan expressed that things which came from the learning space were of high-quality.


    It was different from the practice of Qi-Jin in this world. As long as their opponent was not in the domain realm, they would not be exposed. Even if their enemy was in the domain realm, they could fool him if they were careful enough. As for Ling Lan¡¯s level, only her master, Mu Shui-qing, would be able to see through her.


    Ling Lan suspected that her master had reached the God-Realm. A God-Realm master would be able to use their own bodies to fight toe to toe with a god-ss mecha. That was how powerful a God-Realm master was.


    The people here were all smart people. Luo Lang. Xie Yi, Zhao Jun, Han Jijyun, Lin Zhong-qing immediately suppressed their physical skills. Only Li Yingjie didn¡¯t learn this skill before. Ling Lan saw hurt and me in his eyes.


    Erm... this person was not her responsibility, right? Ling Lan nced at Li Shiyu. She wanted Li Shiyu to take care of his baby brother.


    Li Shiyu smiled and pointed at the battle team¡¯s totem on their chest. Li Yingjie was her team member...


    Ling Lan turned her head and ignored this sly Li Shiyu. Li Shiyu used to be a cute and innocent boy in the military academy. What made him change so much?


    She looked at Li Lanfeng. He was the culprit. Li Shiyu must have been influenced by him.


    Li Lanfeng suddenly felt a chill down his spine. He looked up towards his captain who had a slight frown on his face. He looked quite scary.

 Chapter 611 - This Is The Dorm?

    <h4>Chapter 611: This Is The Dorm?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan came down with her team members. He felt Ling Lan¡¯s cold aura. The regimentmander turned to look st Qi Long. He seemed to be in the mid-stage of Qi-Jin. However, he would not be able to be the captain based on his character...


    The regimentmander seemed to have found the reason why Qi Long wasn¡¯t the captain. He let down some of his vignce. But, he knew that he still had to observe them to figure out if they were really harmless.


    The regimentmander brought them to his office to finish the registration process. Then, he gave them the address of their amodation. They were not staying in the building which they were at just now. Their amodation was in another direction. This building only had three levels.


    The regimentmander passed them a map and reminded them of the meal times. Ling Lan saw that there was still some time before their meal so she decided to bring her members to their dormitory first.


    The dormitory was a little far away. They had to walk pass half the military base in order to reach their dormitory from the canteen. The building where they met the regimentmander was at the center of the military base. It was close to all the important ces in the base and had enough empty rooms to house them.


    Seemed like their regimentmander was guarding against them. The 250 Mecha n was a forsaken team but the waters inside were deep.


    When they reached their dormitory, everyone was stunned.


    ¡°This is the ce that we will be staying at?¡± An old and dusty gate weed them. The path and sentry tower was covered with ayer of dust too. There were even broken stones and tiles thrown around the sides of the gate. It looked as though this ce hadn¡¯t been used since it was built.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Ling Lanpared the map and told her team members the painful truth.


    Li Lanfeng walked up and pushed opened a small window on the door. A screen was revealed. He pressed the on button and the screen lit up.


    ¡°There is electricity. It is not too bad.¡± Li Lanfeng said, ¡°What is the passcode?¡±


    Han Jijyun thought about something and replied, ¡°Li Lanfeng, what is your passcode?¡± When they were distributing their rooms, each of them were given a passcode. They thought that it was the passcode to their rooms but from the looks of it, it might not be the case.


    ¡°9977198.¡± Li Lanfeng was enlightened. He had a strong spiritual power causing him to a photographic memory.


    ¡°Mine is the same,¡± Han Jijyun immediately replied.


    ¡°The passcode that we received is not our room passcode but the passcode for the main gate.¡± Li Lanfeng entered the numbers. The door opened.


    Everyone walked in and realized that the environment inside was not bad. It was just dusty. Their footprints could be clearly seen on the dusty floor.


    The team members started looking around.


    ¡°There is a vacuum cleaner here.¡± Luo Lang found one vacuum cleaner.


    ¡°There is another one here.¡± Lin Zhong-qing found one too.


    No others were found. Luo Lang and Lin Zhong-qing took the vacuum cleaners out. Vacuum cleaners were an essential item to the Federation but the ones in the mecha ns were more advanced.


    However, passcodes were needed to operate the vacuum cleaners. No one knew what the passcodes were.


    ¡°Do we need to go the the logistics department and ask them to send someone over?¡± Luo Lang said in a depressed tone.


    ¡°No need,¡± Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng replied simultaneously.


    Everyone looked at the two of them. Li Lanfeng smiled and signaled for Han Jijyun to exin to them. Han Jijyun went straight to the point. ¡°Use the passcode for the main gate.¡±


    Luo Lang didn¡¯t understand them but he followed what Han Jiyun said. ¡°Beep.¡± The vacuum cleaners got activated and it started cleaning the courtyard.


    After they finished tidying the courtyard, they went up the building. By now, they knew that they were the only ones in this building.


    There were three levels in the building and 18 rooms that were of different sizes. Everyone discussed and decided to live together on the third level.


    As for the other two levels, they would leave it forter use. Since they were the only ones in the building, they took it as their headquarters and wanted to make it asfortable as they could.


    Chang Xinyuan was already prepared to show his true talent. As an outstanding mecha engineer, his expertise was at modification.


    Even Li Shiyu wanted to make one of the rooms his personalboratory...


    As there were many rooms, they did not have to squeeze 6 people in a single room. Of course, people that were close to each other chose to stay together. The only two females, Luo Chao and Han Xuya, stayed together.


    Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng stayed together. They lived together in the Nameless Battle Team so they decided to continue to stay together.


    Li Yingjie pestered Li Shiyu and wanted to stay with him. Li Shiyu was the only person he was familiar with in the entire Lingtian Battle Team. He held onto him tightly. Li Shiyu decided to bear with him since he was his little brother.


    Only Gao Jinyun and his friends decided to live together as six people in a single room. They were used to staying together.


    Besides Ling Lan, everyone hadpanions living with them. No one wanted to stay with Ling Lan. They still wanted to live a few more years. They didn¡¯t want to be pressured by Ling Lan¡¯s aura everyday.


    Why was there an empty building for the Lingtian Battle Team?


    In a standard mecha n, there should be around 1500 mecha operators. Adding in the people from the mecha logistics and the logistics department, there should be a total of 4500 to 5000 people in a mecha n. A mecha n needed 2 to 3 logisticians in order for the mecha n to operatefortably.


    In the 250 Mecha n, there were 250 mecha operators but only less than 100 logisticians. Half of them were working in the kitchen so there were only around 50 logisticians repairing the mechas.


    This showed that the 250 Mecha n was forsaken. The headquarters only wanted to ascertain their basic survival needs.


    There was a huge shortage of manpower in the 250 Mecha n . Hence, many locations were empty. This allowed the Lingtian Battle Team to have an entire building to themselves. If this was in any other mecha ns, such a situation would never happen.


    Everyone activated their small vacuum cleaners in their room and quickly gathered in Ling Lan¡¯s room.


    Ling Lan¡¯s room was the only suite on the third level. It was meant for high ranking officers in a mecha n.


    Ling Lan felt that the 250 Mecha n was not as bad as she imagined. At least she didn¡¯t need to live with the males...


    With the help of the vacuum cleaners, Luo Chao, Han Xuya, and Lin Zhong-qing, her living room was clean and tidy.


    Ling Lan sat on her sofa and asked, ¡°What did you all notice along the way?¡±


    Han Jijyun replied first, ¡°The regimentmander is a powerful and ambitious person. He doesn¡¯t like us.¡± He scanned the living room and continued, ¡°If not, he would not send us here.¡±


    Li Lanfeng added on. ¡°The 250 Mecha n is filled with people who are unable to go on the battlefield anymore. There might be some hidden talents here but on the surface, it is a forsaken mecha n. For an ambitious person toe here and not wee our arrival, it means that his motive is on these useless mecha operators. He is afraid that we would interrupt his ns.¡±


    ¡°Also, there are a few strong aurasing from the building that we were on just now. Our captain should have sensed them.¡± Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan. They were still getting use to calling Ling Lan their captain since they were in the military now. Sometimes, they would forget and call her boss.


    Ling Lan nodded. When Qi Long attacked, she noticed a few strong auras. One of them was just below her so she went down to observe it. However, she seemed to have scared the person. The other three auras were further away but since she already sensed them, she would be able to recognize them if she sensed them again.


    ¡°However, since the captain suppressed his strength, the regimentmander will not pay too much attention to him. He will just be on guard against me and Qi Long.¡± Qi Long and him didn¡¯t suppress their power so they were the two strongest people in the battle team now.


    ¡°I think that only Lanfeng gained the interest of the regimentmander.¡± Han Jijyun suddenly said, ¡°Lanfeng¡¯s gesture caused the regimentmander to lose interest in Qi Long.¡± He nced at Qi Long and smiled. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect Qi Long to act so well.¡±


    Qi Long sniggered. ¡°I just had an inspiration and duplicated Li Yingjie¡¯s actions.¡±


    Li Yingjie got angry. ¡°Are you saying that I am an idiot?¡±


    ¡°When you act arrogant, you seem quite stupid,¡± Qi Long shrugged and replied.


    ¡°I want to fight you!¡± Li Yingjie was furious. He wanted to rush towards Qi Long but suddenly, he felt his body went numb. He fainted onto the sofa.


    Li Shiyu removed a syringe from Li Yingjie¡¯s neck calmly. He said, ¡°The world is finally quiet.¡±


    Those people who knew what was in the syringe shivered in fear. They didn¡¯t expect the military doctor to use this thing on his own teammate. That person was his cousin too... Sob, their military doctor is so scary!

 Chapter 612 - Chance?

    <h4>Chapter 612: Chance?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan looked at Li Shiyu nonchntly. After everyone had calmed down, she said, ¡°The situation is advantageous for us. Lanfeng will continue fooling the regimentmander. The rest of us...¡±


    Ling Lan turned serious. She gave her orders directly, ¡°Will find out everything about the 250 Mecha n in the shortest amount of time.¡±


    ¡°Yes, captain!¡± Everyone stood up to receive the order.


    After giving her orders, she led her team members to the logistics department to im their new uniform, daily necessities, and bed sheets. After that, it was meal time so they went to the canteen.


    The other mecha operators in the 250 Mecha n had climbed out of their dormitory and were alling to the canteen. To them, nothing was more important than eating, not even sleeping.


    Liu Fuquan sat alone in the corner of the canteen. There were many people sitting alone just like him. Everyone came from different divisions so there was no need for any interactions between them. Hence, they just took care of themselves.


    However, some troublemakers which came from different divisions became friends with each other. At the round table in the canteen, five to six hunks were sitting together and having a conversation.


    ¡°Hey, did you hear about some recruits were sent to our mecha n?¡± The one talking was called Fu Qiangwei. He was once a captain of a battle team in the 4th Division. However, during his time on the battlefield, his entire battle team was sacrificed. Only he survived. Ever since then, he became vicious and violent. He was unable to control his emotions. Whenever he was in a bad mood, he would hit other mecha operators in the 4th Division. The 4th Division couldn¡¯t bear with him anymore and sent him to the 23rd Division.


    ¡°Interesting. Looks like we have new toys.¡± Someone gave a sinister smile. That someone was Yan Mingjun from the 7th Division. The pressure from the life-or-death situations on the battlefield was too much for him. It twisted his personality and he became a sadist. However, he was always able to escape from punishments as he had ample reasons for his actions. When the 23rd Division was looking for more manpower, hismander sent him over.


    The other people got excited too. They had bullied everyone that could be bullied in the 250 Mecha n so they were bored.


    These people were from other mecha ns in the 23rd Division. But, not long after they came, they had a rpse and started to hurt other people. Some didn¡¯t leave any evidence behind while others couldn¡¯t be prosecuted or kicked out of the military for various reasons. Hence, these people were transferred to the 250 Mecha n by He Xuyang.


    Liu Fuquan pursed his lips when he heard what they said. He didn¡¯t think that they would be able to seed. If there were just a few recruits, it might be possible to bully them. However... Liu Fuquan remembered that bunch of people that were on his roof. He prayed that those old soldiers would not die too terribly.


    ¡°What do you think about those recruits?¡± A voice appeared beside Liu Fuquan. Liu Fuquan raised his head calmly. Someone had sat down opposite from him. The person was a loner just like him. His name was Yang Mingzhi, once a regimentmander of a mecha n in the 1st Division. He was an elite ace mecha master, someone who everyone felt had the highest chance in advancing to be an imperial operator. He had a nickname too. He was a member of the South Stars.


    Unfortunately, Yang Mingzhi¡¯s mecha career ended after the annihtion of his mecha n in a battle. He couldn¡¯t operate a mecha anymore. His superiors were worried and felt pity for him. They were afraid that being in the 1st Division would remind him of his wounds so they sent him to the 23rd Division to let him enjoy his retirement. He was a candidate for the position of regimentmander of the 250 Mecha n but he didn¡¯t want it. Hence, Zheng Qiyun took over.


    Both of them were once famous mecha operators so whenever they met, they would have a short chat with each other. However, that was as far as their interactions went. Liu Fuquan didn¡¯t expect him to be curious about something. He always seemed nonchnt about everything.


    Liu Fuquan raised his eyebrows. ¡°You know what is happening. Why did you still asked me?¡± Although Yang Mingzhi was unable to operate a mecha, his physical skills were still present. He would have definitely sensed the strength of those recruits.


    ¡°I am just wondering why they were sent here.¡± Yang Mingzhi frowned. 250 Mecha n was a hopeless ce. Recruits shouldn¡¯t appear here.


    ¡°Who knows? There might be a motive behind it.¡± Liu Fuquan shrugged. He was not interested in those recruits. He just wanted to make Zheng Qiyun give up on him.


    ¡°Besides their names and battle team, I can¡¯t find any other information about those recruits.¡± Yang Mingzhi suddenly threw a bomb at him. Liu Fuquan raised his head in shock. Compared to him, Yang Mingzhi had a higher rank before he was sent here. Before he was sent here, he was going to be a Major General. However, he lost the opportunity.


    In order topensate him, the First Marshal gave Yang Mingzhi all the authorities and benefits of a Major General. If he couldn¡¯t get any information about those recruits, it meant that the person who set the requirements was either one of the three marshals, or one of the ten generals.


    Yang Mingzhi ignored the surprise in Liu Fuquan¡¯s eyes. He continued, ¡°This might be a chance. Don¡¯t miss it.¡± He stood up and left as though he just came to greet him.


    Liu Fuquan lowered his head to hide the emotions in his eyes. What did Yang Mingzhi mean by those words? Did he see through his disguise and decided to help him? Were those recruits really his chance?


    Liu Fuquan smiled bitterly. His enemies were too strong. If he showed any signs of weakness, he would die a terrible death. No matter how powerful the backgrounds of these recruits were, how could they bepared to that person. He should not implicate them. Liu Fuquan¡¯s eyes dimmed again. He resumed his usual appearance.


    Loud footsteps sounded outside the canteen. Everyone looked towards the door simultaneously. There were no big groups in the 250 Mecha n so everyone got curious.


    A huge bunch of people entered the canteen. They were young and vibrant. The old soldiers that had given up on life felt calmer when they saw the recruits.

 Chapter 613 - Means of Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 613: Means of Attack!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The two people who drew the most attention were the two girls who had totally different styles but were tacitly standing beside each other. They brightened up the entire cafeteria.


    One of the beautiful girls saw that everyone was staring at them, instantly blushed and put her head down. The other physically attractive girl used her huge eyes to ruthlessly re at everyone. She huffed coldly then pulled the shy girl to her side to block her from their sight.


    Fu Qiangwei and Yan Mingjun¡¯s group of six wanted to take the new recruits down a notch. The moment Ling Lan walked in, these guys had found the target they wanted to make a move on.


    The six of them suddenly jumped up from their seats and pounced towards their targets.


    Four of the six pounced towards Ling Lan, Qi Long, Li Lanfeng and Li Yingjie, because in their eyes, these four people were the only Qi-Jin experts within this group of new recruits. The other two people were responsible for intercepting any other recruits from lending a helping hand while Yan Mingjun leaped beside Han Xuya and Luo Chao...


    ¡°Bam, bam, bam, bam!¡± Four consecutive sounds of hitsnding. Fu Qiangwei and the other three who were responsible for Ling Lan and her group of four was intercepted.


    Right when Luo Lang and the others wanted to move forward, two people appeared in front of them and intercepted them with only a few moves.


    Yan Mingjun stood behind Han Xuya and Luo Chao who were looking at today¡¯s menu. He lightly tapped them on their shoulders.


    Han Xuya immediately turned her head and asked confusedly, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I hope you can cooperate with me so it doesn¡¯t make things difficult,¡± Yan Mingjun gestured showing that he couldn¡¯t help the situation.


    At that moment, Han Xuya had already seen what was happening behind them. Her expression instantly changed. Right when she was about to get angry, Luo Chao nervously pulled on Han Xuya¡¯s hand and said, ¡°We¡¯ll definitely cooperate. Please don¡¯t worry.¡±


    ¡°Luo Chao, what are you doing?¡± Han Xuya said angrily.


    ¡°Wow, this little sister knows what¡¯s up,¡± Yan Mingjun smiled coldly. His smile made Han Xuya feel like she wasn¡¯t looking at a person but a cold venomous snake. Right when she wanted to get angry, Luo Chao pulled on her hand once again. Then she swallowed the anger and frustration that had formed inside of her.


    It was clear that Han Xuya and Luo Chao were used as hostages. This scene made the others in Lingtian not dare to make any sudden moves. They could only watch at Yan Mingjun¡¯s group in shock.


    Seeing this, Liu Fuquan sipped his bottle and said softly, ¡°As expected of newbies, still too soft. They actually weren¡¯t even on guard. They wouldn¡¯t be able to live on the battlefield if they are like this.¡±


    He saw that not too far from him, Yang Mingzhi was calmly eating his food and wasn¡¯t distracted by what was happening. Liu Fuquan couldn¡¯t help but lift up his bottle and shake it towards Yang Mingzhi¡¯s direction.


    ¡°Those are the new recruits you¡¯ve set your eyes on? Their situation isn¡¯t looking good.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi understood what Liu Fuquan wanted to tell him. He lifted up his chopsticks and pointed slightly towards Liu Fuquan to signal Liu Fuquan that he should wait patiently.


    Seeing this, Liu Fuquan shook his head and thought that waiting would be a waste of time. Yang Mingjun already had hostages. Could the newbies really turn the tide? However, he still took Yang Mingzhi¡¯s signal and continued to watch. Perhaps, in the deep recess of his mind, he also wanted to see the moment the newbies turn the tide.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t look at her opponent and instead looked towards Yan Mingjun. She sneered, ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing and getting that close to my members?¡±


    Yan Mingjun grinned maliciously ¡°You don¡¯t see it? Such a beautiful thing, would be a shame if it was broken.¡± He took out his hand and cut the air around Han Xuya and Luo Chao¡¯s throats.


    ¡°You¡¯re not afraid to go military court?¡± Ling Lan continued to ask coldly.


    Yan Mingjunughed, ¡°We have been determined have mood swings and could lose control by countless military doctors. So you guys have to listen to us, otherwise being easily provoked, I will really lose control. Then at that moment, you guys would lose two beautiful team members.¡± He caressed Han Xuya and Luo Chao¡¯s face. He said with love and affection, ¡°Then that would be too unfortunate.¡±


    Hearing this, Ling Lan nodded and turned towards Li Shiyu, ¡°Shiyu, we can use the thing you invented.¡±


    Li Shiyu smiled, ¡°That¡¯s my pleasure.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s odd response stunned Yan Mingjun. This time, Ling Lan looked towards Yan Mingjun once again and calmly said, ¡°Since you¡¯re sick, you should take some medicine!¡±


    Right after Ling Lan said ¡®medicine¡¯, countless shes of light flew out from all the members of Lingtian. Very quickly, the five people standing in front of them instantly turned into porcupines and fell to the ground.


    Yan Mingjun held his neck with an expression of disbelief on his face.


    Han Xuya smiled and turned around. She pped her hands, ¡°Fall, fall!¡±


    As she said these words, Yan Mingjun finally fell down. The hand he had on his neck also fell towards the ground. At that moment, everyone saw that there was actually a silver needle reflecting off from his neck.


    It turns out Yan Mingjun was on guard against Qi Long, Ling Lan and others. He didn¡¯t think to pay any attention to the two girls standing behind him. In his eyes, Luo Chao was afraid, shy and was absolutely harmless. Han Xuya was impulsive and blind-sighted and also acted like someone who didn¡¯t think first before acting. There was basically no way for them to resist. It was this line of thought that made him get hit by Han Xuya¡¯s silver needle (miniature syringe).


    Seeing this, Liu Fuquan was stunned. He didn¡¯t think that the nervousness of the two girls was actually feigned. Compared to others, who would assume that Han Xuya was the one who make a move, Liu Fuquan saw clearly that Yan Mingjun wasn¡¯t just hit by one silver needle. He also had a needle in his chest. This needle was actually tossed out by the terrified and harmless little girl.


    He looked at Yang Mingzhi subconsciously. He saw that Yang Mingzhi was also stunned. It seemed that the performances of these two girls were also beyond his expectations. That was because in their eyes, female soldiers were either medical or logistics soldiers. The ones who were low in strength.


    After taking down that group of six, Ling Lan and the others continued to choose their meals calmly. The unexpected counterattack by those new recruits made the other mecha operators understood that these newbies meant business. Some of them had the same thought as Yan Mingjun but then instantly changed their minds and decided to watch them for a longer amount of time.


    At that moment, the team that was on duty waste to respond. They were greatly surprised after seeing the sixying on the floor. They thought that this time the new recruits would be the ones who were wounded and at a disadvantage. The team on duty didn¡¯t think that it was actually Yan Mingjun¡¯s six man group from the 250 Mecha n who were wounded and hurt.


    The team on duty walked in and saw that the six of them had silver needles all over their bodies. After examining closely, they figured out that it was a strong tranquillizer and understood how the six of them were defeated. The team on duty also began to admire the new recruits for being able to invent such new and advanced weaponry.


    Since the new recruits weren¡¯t hurt and didn¡¯t create any bloody idents, the team on duty didn¡¯t ask the new recruits any questions. They then sent the six who were on the ground to the first aid department for them to return back to consciousness.


    After the Regiment Commander found out, he was also surprised by the new recruits¡¯ invention. However, this also proved that in this group of new recruits, there weren¡¯t many strong individuals. Thus, they needed to resort to using underhanded tactics. Unfortunately, they had already exposed this tactic. It would be impossible for them to use it next time if they use the same tactic to go against their opponent.


    The Regiment Commander¡¯s restless feeling calmed down a bit. However, before knowing the real reason those new recruits came to the 250 Mecha n, the Regiment Commander will not be fully at ease.


    However, what happened afterwards, surprised the entire 250 Mecha n. Yan Mingjun and his group of six, who were hit with a strong tranquillizer, did not wake up even though the anaesthetic was removed.


    They were still unconscious and because of the treatment pods, they were not under any life threatening situation. After sending them to the headquarters¡¯ hospital, they still could not determine a way to solve the issue after a series of tests and studies.


    In order to get past this difficulty, the headquarters¡¯ hospital sent many physicians to 250 Mecha n to find Lingtian Battle Team to acquire the tranquillizing agent to study. After they found out that this was made by Li Shiyu, they immediately stopped all research and returned back to the headquarters as soon as possible. Before leaving, those physicians didn¡¯t forget to tell the Regiment Commander of 250 that in order to solve the problem, he could only go to Li Shiyu.


    The Regiment Commander at that moment finally knew that one member of Lingtian Battle Team was actually a physician registered in the headquarters¡¯ hospital. After being surprised by this fact, the Regiment Commander used his connections to get some information about this physician and finally found out the truth.


    It turns out, the headquarters could no longer tolerate 250 Mecha n and didn¡¯t want them to be a disgrace of the 23rd Division. The headquarters also didn¡¯t want to publicly announce that the 23rd Division had a useless mecha n. Thus, they quietly dispatched an expert military doctor to join the battle team of the new recruits into 250 Mecha n to make him treat the mecha operators with psychological problems within the n.


    The other new recruits were only used to safeguard the military doctor. This would then exin why the new recruit was able to sessfully activate his battle team. It was the result of the headquarters opening a backdoor for him.


    The Regiment Commander believed that he found out the truth was andpletely let his guard down against those new recruits and cooperated with the headquarters¡¯ arrangements. First, he handed Yan Mingjun and the other five to Li Shiyu. Thus, Yan Mingjun and the other five were going to be living in torment. Especially Yan Mingjun, who would feel what real torture felt like. Compared to the torment he would feel, what he had done to those new recruits was not even worth mentioning.


    After only around a month or so, Ling Lan had already grasped the information of all 250 mecha operators from 250 Mecha n with the Regiment Commander¡¯s intentional and unintentional cooperation.


    ¡°Captain, this is the list of individuals needing treatment provided by the Regiment Commander,¡± Li Shiyu handed a piece of paper to Ling Lan.


    In a month¡¯s time, with Li Shiyu¡¯s treatment, Yan Mingjun and the other five changedpletely. If they were told to torment others, they would be afraid to do so. Fu Qiangwei also changed his impulsiveness and aggressive personality. Even if someone was to mock him in front of him, Fu Qiangwei wouldn¡¯tsh out on them.


    Everyone was stunned by Li Shiyu¡¯s treatment results. Right when they wanted to see if they should also ask Li Shiyu to treat them, one mecha operator unintentionally saw Fu Qiangwei speak to a stray cat using a soft and slow voice. This scene made the operator felt terrified.


    What terrifying means would make such a person¡¯s personality change into apletely different one. Additionally, everytime these other mecha operators passed by Lingtian¡¯s amodation area, they could hear Fu Qiangwei and Yan Mingjun¡¯s cries of agony during their treatment... Very quickly, the expression of everyone in 250 Mecha n would change when they spoke of doctor rted topics.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think that he would actually give us a list of people by his own ord,¡± Ling Lan said with surprise as she raised her eyebrows. This Regiment Commander also had responsibility to take for making the entire n terrified of Li Shiyu¡¯s means of treatment. She originally thought that this Regiment Commander was making it hard for them on purpose. Now it seemed that this Regiment Commander had other ns in mind.

 Chapter 614 - Intergalactic Escort Mission!

    <h4>Chapter 614: Intergctic Escort Mission!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Yang Mingzhi, Liu Fuquan, Kang Lincheng, Gu Dongyang, and Yao Guoyi.¡± These were five names on the list. Ling Lan felt that these five people were the strongest mecha operators in 250 Mecha n due to their given nicknames. The Regiment Commander¡¯s list of people required for treatment was the norm. Logically, it should be the five of them who should receive treatment first.


    As for Yan Mingjun and the other five people, they had be guinea pigs for their experiments by sheer luck. Now that the results of the treatment were out, of course it was going to be used on the people on the list first.


    However, it was also because it was so normal that made Ling Lan felt that it was odd. Ling Lan¡¯s fingers tap the armrest while she was guessing what was the Regiment Commander¡¯s real goal. His goal was probably one of these five people on the list. It was just that she couldn¡¯t confirm who it was.


    ¡°It seems like I don¡¯t know enough information,¡± Ling Lan said regrettably. Although Little Four could search through every 250 Mecha n mecha operator¡¯s information from birth, there were still some hidden information that wasn¡¯t possible to determine from the data that was given. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t use the information to urately determine who the Regiment Commander¡¯s target was. In short, it was because she was not given enough time.


    ¡°Li Shiyu, you must try your best to treat those on this list!¡± Although Ling Lan wasn¡¯t sure who the target was, she wouldn¡¯t let Li Shiyu drag out the amount of time required for their treatment because of this reason. This treatment was connected to a mecha operator¡¯s piloting future and mistakes were not an option.


    Li Shiyu took the orders and left. Ling Lan thought to herself in the atrium for half an hour by herself. Finally, she gave out a chain of orders. The entire Lingtian team instantly began to move about.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s treatment room was in the lowest level of their amodation building. As Lingtian¡¯s head of logistics, Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t hesitate and asked the Regiment Commander for many resources and hardware because of the secret mission given to them by the headquarters. He then built Li Shiyu¡¯s treatment room to perfection.


    This made Li Shiyu fully understand the benefits of having a good logistics team. Thinking back to the beginning, he begged here and there to use theboratory. He also rented it at high prices which made the three of them bankrupt. In the end, he could only sell himself to the headquarters¡¯ hospital and be one of their main physicians. Afterwards, he had the qualifications to use the hospital¡¯sboratory limitlessly. This also saved the three of them from living a frugal and depressing life...


    Thinking back to his depressing history, if only Lin Zhong-qing had entered into the division with them back then. The three of them would not have to go through such hardships. Li Shiyu had tears falling from his eyes.


    Of course, if Lin Zhong-qing could only build a treatment for Li Shiyu, to Lin Zhong-qing, it would be considered a disy of uselessness. Not only did Lin Zhong-qing perfectly build Li Shiyu¡¯s treatment room, he also help Chang Xinyuan build a small modification research room. From what Lin Zhong-qing told everyone, the research room seemed small, but the cost of building it was not much cheaper than Li Shiyu¡¯s treatment room.


    Thus, Lin Zhong-qing hustled the Regiment Commander. Unfortunately, the Regiment Commander, not knowing the details, did not know he was hustled. He believed that it was all for Li Shiyu¡¯s treatment room and mustered up all his connections to apply for it to the higher-ups. He finally managed to satisfy all of Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s demands.


    Of course for the Regiment Commander, he only had to waste some time to think and give out demands. These supplies weren¡¯ting out of his own pocket so he didn¡¯t care. Also, if Li Shiyu sessfully cured these mecha operators and made them able to return to the battlefield, as the Regiment Commander, he would also be given credit. He would of course not reject this situation where someone else could take the fall if there was a mistake and benefit him if it went well. These many reasons he actually let Lin Zhong-qing have his own way.


    However, as the five individuals began living in Lingtian Battle Team¡¯s amodations, Lingtian Battle Team¡¯s members used it to their advantage to get close to the five of them every single day.


    Once, the Regiment Commander went to the treatment room to see the progress of the treatment. While he was there, he discovered that the five mecha operators were talking andughing with Lingtian¡¯s members. Even the depressed and indifferent Yang Mingzhi was talking and smiling with them. The Regiment Commander immediately realized that he had made a poor decision.


    One day, Ling Lan received a notification from the Regiment Commander and went to the Regiment Commander. After returning, she saw Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun standing in front of her door.


    Ling Lan led them into her room. The three of them sat on the sofa in the living room.


    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Ling Lan was a bit curious since it was rare for both of them toe together at the same.


    ¡°We just received word that the Regiment Commander had messaged you to go to him. We thought about it and decided that we should make a move too,¡± Han Jijyun said as he looked at Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Looks like you guys have guessed it,¡± Ling Lan lips curled. She didn¡¯t think that the Regiment Commander¡¯s patience was this poor and already made a move.


    ¡°Us being here gets in his way. I predict that he will find an excuse to get us transferred out of here,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled faintly.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t answer. She immediately told them the mission the Regiment Commander had given her.


    ¡°It¡¯s a good n,¡± Han Jijyun sighed. ¡°Very well thought out. Even if we know that he wants to send us away, we wouldn¡¯t be able to refuse the orders for a transfer.¡±


    ¡°Who knew that the Regiment Commander would actually find such an interesting assignment for us,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly. ¡°An intergctic escorting mission. Even if it was the lowest level, level E escorting missions, it would still require the new recruits to be in their fourth year. Looks like the Regiment Commander fiddled with the rules.¡± Back then, Li Lanfeng had already had a taste of this hardship. In his second year he was forced to take a simr assignment and Zhao Jun almost lost his life for it.


    ¡°That¡¯s probably not the case. The protection period of the new recruits is meant for the new recruits without official battle teams (temporary members are also categorized as new recruits). Only they are able to receive protection,¡± Ling Lan exined. ¡°When I activated our battle team and when you guys activated your totems, we were no longer considered ¡®new recruits¡¯. The Regiment Commander doesn¡¯t need to fiddle with anything. As long as he handed an application to the headquarters to make us, Lingtian, to go on the battlefield, the mainframe would automatically arrange the details of an assignment for us.


    ¡°Who knows what level the escort mission will be, I hope it¡¯s not too difficult.¡± After saying this, Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. He knew that he was expecting too much. With Lingtian Battle Team¡¯s strength of seven ace operators, the easy escort missions would not given to them.


    ¡°Captain, is there a limit of how many people for this mission?¡± Han Jijyun asked.


    ¡°There is. I need a six-man battle team, thus I will take Zhao Jun, Lanfeng, Qi Long, Li Yingjie and Lin Zhong-qing,¡± Ling Lan thought for a second and said.


    Han Jijyun was confused for a second then immediately realized it, ¡°Flush them out?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I will take the three strongest people with me. Anyone whose smart enough would know what to do,¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression became cold. In the past month of so, Ling knew more or less the personality of their Regiment Commander. She didn¡¯t want her time to be wasted on scheming against each other. She wanted to use the fastest method to resolve this troublesome issue.


    Of course, if the Regiment Commander could control his ego and just continue to be 250 Mecha n¡¯s Regiment Commander, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t mind continuing to have a harmonious rtionship with him.


    Han Jijyun clearly knew this arrangement was the most appropriate, but he still couldn¡¯t let go and said, ¡°Sadly, I can¡¯t go with you Boss.¡± Han Jijyun knew that following Ling Lan would be very fun-filled experience.


    ¡°It¡¯s not easy for you guys here either. I hope that when Ie back, I¡¯ll hear good news from you,¡± Ling Lan said cheerfully.


    For an opponent like the Regiment Commandermander¡¯s level, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t interested in ying with him. However, she didn¡¯t mind to let Han Jijyun, Luo Lang and Xie Yi to y around with him for a bit. She will just take it as training for her members.

 Chapter 615 - Six Battle Teams!

    <h4>Chapter 615: Six Battle Teams!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Hantang was one of the Huaxia Federation¡¯s first-rates and was only a short way from bing a legendary. Its degree of development was enough topete with a legendary.


    No matter how prosperous a was, it would still have theirary defense army. And the mission Ling Lan and the others had received was sent out by Hantang¡¯s Defense Army¡¯s mainmand center.


    The originally heavily guarded headquarters had a few allied battle teams arriving at their location.


    This time, the Defense Army¡¯smand center had sent out an assignment to gather six four star battle teams from all divisions that had six-man battle teams. However, when the battle teams had all arrived, the Defense Army¡¯smander-in-chief discovered that he had made a mistake when he sent out the assignment. He actually forgot to write an important requirement and that was he wanted all 6 battle teams toe from the same division.


    The five battle teams that had already arrived included Meng Shangyuan, Senior Colonel Meng¡¯s Iron Curtain battle team from the 1st Division, Senior Colonel Mu Youyun¡¯s Whirlwind battle team from the 3rd Division, Lieutenant Colonel Qian Jialin¡¯s Brave Warriors battle team from the 9th Division, Lieutenant Colonel Kang Jiayan¡¯s Startup battle team from the 13th Division, and Lieutenant Colonel Wang Anzhong¡¯s Immortals battle team from the 17th Division. There was another battle team that had yet to arrive. They had also sent out their information and it was the 23rd Division¡¯s Senior Captain, Ling Lan¡¯s Lingtian Battle Team...


    The moment themander-in-chief of the headquarters received this information, he was instantly stunned. He thought that Ling Lan¡¯s battle team was a one star battle team and it was a mistake by the mainframe rating them a four star battle team. Their captain only had the rank of Senior Captain. In themander¡¯s mind, captains of one star battle teams were usually of this ranks. However, when he looked through the mainframe, he saw that below Lingtian Battle Team¡¯s name, there were four stars that had lit up. He then knew that the mainframe did not make an error. The error was that among all four star battle teams, there was such an incredible battle team...


    However, themander-in-chief quickly lost interest in further investigating Lingtian, this incredible battle team. He began to worry whether the six battle teams from different divisions would be able to cooperate well with each other. Would they be able toplete this difficult mission?


    It should be known that this escorting mission required them to cross seven countries within the gxy. Only two out of these seven countries were considered to be friendly with the Federation. The other five countries, three of which were publicly enemies of the Federation and two were neutral countries on the outside. In reality, these two countries were secretly helping opposing countries of the Federation. The Federation knew fully well about all this and consider them as enemies as well. It was just that everyone still remained friendly on the outside and didn¡¯t call each other out on their actions. These two countries were also considered to be dangerous areas and needed to be on guard against.


    Thinking up to this point, the worry and concern of themander became worse. Unfortunately, it was toote for him to change anything at this point. Was he going to have to send these battle team back to where they came from? Thinking about the strictness of the mainframe and to make sure he wasn¡¯t sent to military court for this mistake, themander decided to just roll with it.


    Inside the Defense Army¡¯s headquarters, the five battle teams that had already arrived were asked to meet each other in the meeting room. The meeting room was arranged in a circr table setting. Each captain found a ce to sit and the members of each team all sat down behind their captains.


    The captains all looked at each other, silently critiquing the positive and negative traits of each captain while waiting for thest battle team to arrive. They did this because after everyone had arrived, themander-in-chief would tell them the details of their assignment. The earliest battle team that had arrived had already waited for three days. Without a doubt that team¡¯s patience was wearing thin.


    Half an hour had passed...


    ¡°Why are they still not here? Don¡¯t tell me that we have to wait for another day. Our battle teams don¡¯t have the luxury to waste such time,¡± one captain couldn¡¯t help but be critical. The long wait made these battle teams lose their patience.


    ¡°Yeah, even Captain Meng has arrived. Those guys from the 23rd Division are really arrogant.¡± Another captain looked at the 1st Division¡¯s Meng Shangyuan with a half-smile in an attempt to provoke Meng Shangyuan¡¯s anger towards the 23rd Division.


    Meng Shangyuan was as still as a log and didn¡¯t react at all. He only sat there and didn¡¯t move one bit.


    The captain who spoke, sulkily took back his expression towards Meng Shangyuan and turned towards themander, ¡°Are you really sure that they¡¯ll be able to arrive today? If they can¡¯t, we should just go our separate ways.¡± The battle team from the 23rd Division was so arrogant to have five battle teams wait for them.


    Themander replied, ¡°I received the confirmation this morning. There shouldn¡¯t be any mistake.¡±


    After saying that, everyone visibly calmed down. However, it couldn¡¯t be denied that they all were still critical about the fact that the 23rd Division wasing inte.


    Right at that moment, there were sound of footstepsing from the hallway. The captains¡¯ ears all moved a bit, looked up and exchanged looks with each other. With their capabilities, these captains actually couldn¡¯t tell how many wereing. Could it be that they were all masters?


    The door of the meeting room suddenly opened and it showed a few people standing outside the door. The person leading them was a cool teen with a cold aura seeping outwards from his body. Actually, he wasn¡¯t a teen, but was in between a teen and a young man. He had integrated both age group¡¯s elegance. If someone was to look at him, this young man¡¯s look would be imprinted into their memory.


    The others who followed him had someone whose body was well-built, someone who seemed mild-mannered, someone beautiful and also someone who was so normal he would make others unconsciously ignore him.


    They followed behind the cool young man and walked into the room. The cool young man took off his military cap, showing his ears and short hair. He politely said, ¡°Sorry we came herete and made you all wait for a long time. We are terribly sorry.¡±


    Ling Lan and her team¡¯s attitude towards the other captains, instantly alleviated their initial dissatisfaction. The entire atmosphere in the conference room instantly became better.


    Hearing this, Meng Shangyuan, who was sitting there silently, finally had a reaction. He looked towards Ling Lan and nodded, ¡°Not a problem. The 23rd Division is the furthest away from this ce. We can understand you for being a bitte.¡± He also helped Ling Lan exin for theirteness.


    Meng Shangyuan¡¯s friendly remark made Ling Lan nced at him with a grateful look. Then she walked towards an empty seat and sat down. Her team members were the same as the members from the other teams and sat down on the seats behind their captain.


    Themander saw that all six battle team had arrived. He coughed a bit to clear his throat. ¡°Since everyone is here, then let me exin the details of this mission.¡±


    ¡°Our Federation¡¯s allied country, the Bya Kingdom, had their third heir to the throne, Princess Gulibaduo, studied in our Federation. Now Princess Gulibaduo has officially graduated from her military academy and was required to return to the Bya Kingdom. Since Bya has been battling with neighboring nations, Abuduo and Dusuo, they were afraid that sending people to escort Princess Gulibaduo would threaten the princess¡¯ safety if these two nations were to find out. Thus, they asked us, the Federation, to escort the princess back to her home country safely.


    After saying all this, themander¡¯s expression became sharp and changedpletely, ¡°In order to ensure the safety of everyone, we specially requested the headquarters to have four star battle teams send out a small team of six people. These people would need to be disguised and silently escort the princess back to her country. This mission is very dangerous and failure is not an option. Otherwise, our Federation would lose Bya, a strong ally. The result of that would be impossible to predict.¡±


    After listening to all this, one captain asked, ¡°Are mechas allowed on the merchant starship?¡±


    Themander nodded, ¡°In order to make sure the mission does not fail, the headquarters has allowed mechas to be brought with you. The merchant starship is also a battleship in disguise. However, in order to avoid exposing our identity as military personnel, mechas have also been disguised. Both ace and special-ss mechas are avable. You can go to the mecha warehouse to choose.¡± After saying all this, themander smirked a bit, ¡°Also, the mecha you chose will be your reward when youplete this mission.¡±


    After hearing themander¡¯s words, everyone showed expressions of surprise and pleasure. Although they had their own designated mechas in their division, mecha operators would not reject an extra mecha. In reality, in the army, those who could have spare mechas were all from ace mecha ns. Only the top ace mecha operators had the qualifications to enjoy such luxuries. Normal mecha operators would only have one mecha in their entire life. Unless their mecha was determined to be scrap metal, only then these operators would be able to apply for a new one.


    Of course, their surprise and pleasant feeling wasn¡¯t just for this reason. With mechas by their side, no matter how dangerous, they would have the confidence that they would be able to get past any obstacle. After all, there were all outstanding mecha operators. Mechas were their friends and at the same time, the source of their confidence.


    Themander cautioned them on a few more things then announced the time for them to gather up in the spaceport. In order to make sure the spies in Hantang not to be aware about their mission, the six battle teams would be incognito. They would need to disperse and enter the spaceport one by one. Then would group with the princess and board the merchant ship together.


    Finally, themander took out a paper box. There were six folded pieces of white paper in the box. Everyone looked at themander with a dumbfounded look and didn¡¯t know what he was going to do with the box.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t understand for a second and then understood in an instant. She nced at themander with a curious look. If her guess was correct, that was paper which was quite popr back in her era. There was a moment when Ling Lan thought themander had traveled to the future just like she did.


    ¡°These have the information of the characters you all will be acting as. As for what it will be, it will be based off your luck.¡± Smiled themander. Ling Lan seemed to have seen devilish wings pping about behind themander¡¯s back...


    ¡°Heh, this is interesting. Then I¡¯ll go first.¡± Mu Youyun from the 3rd Division, who had never experienced this type of game before, was very interested. He was the first to put his hand in the box and took out a piece of paper. He opened it, took a look and beganughing, ¡°Not bad. Our identity is the princess¡¯ royal guard. We can follow the princess around.¡±


    Everyone saw how the game was yed, so they all put in their hands in the box and took out a piece of paper. In the end, Meng Shangyuan and Ling Lan were the only ones left. Ling Lan put out her hand signaling to Meng Shangyuan for him to take one first. Meng Shangyuan looked at Ling Lan and smiled lightly. He didn¡¯t refuse the offer and took out a piece of white paper from the box. The Ling Lan took out thest piece of paper from the box.


    ¡°Princess¡¯ chambein and servants?¡± Qian Jialin from the 9th Division opened his piece of paper and his expression instantly sunk. He didn¡¯t think that there was actually a position like this. He scratched his head and asked, ¡°Could it be that the princess doesn¡¯t have her own chambein and servants?¡±


    Themander smiled and said, ¡°She has them. There¡¯s a female chambein and a few female servants. You guys have just enough to be couples.¡±


    After themander said that, everyone else beganughing. Even Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but smirk.


    ¡°Join in the tourist group of the World Tour.¡± Kang Jiayan from the 13th Division opened his piece of paper, saw the words written on it and his expression instantly changed. For him and his team, tourists were the most difficult for them to pretend to be. Over a decade of fighting and battling, they all had the aura of a soldier and was full of killing intent. They were far from the clean peacefulness ofmoners.


    Hearing this, Qian Jialin instantlyughed out loud. As housekeepers and servants, it would be understandable if there was some killing intent, but tourists... Alright, seeing that someone else was worse off than him, Qian Jialin felt that what was written on his piece of paper was no longer that terrible.


    ¡°Intergctic Smuggling Ring...¡± The 17th Division¡¯s Wang Anzhong saw the details and instantly let out a sigh of relief. Although in his mind, it wasn¡¯t a good title, but it was still better than being a tourist.


    In the end, only Ling Lan and Meng Shangyuan hadn¡¯t opened their piece of paper. The other four captains immediately looked towards these two. Their expressions were clearly saying, ¡°Brother, just open it already and tell us what it actually says...¡±


    Meng Shangyuan opened up the piece of paper unwillingly, ¡°Intergctic Adventure Team.¡±


    Ling Lan opened hers as well. Her lips curled, ¡°We¡¯re also in the Intergctic Adventure Team.¡±


    Meng Shangyuan and Ling Lan crossed in each other¡¯s line of sight. They didn¡¯t think that they would be working together.


    At that moment, Kang Jiayan nced at Ling Lan and then looked at the people behind Ling Lan. Afterwards, he smiled and said, ¡°What¡¯s your name brother?¡±


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows, ¡°Ling Lan. What is your name Elder Brother?¡±


    ¡°Haha, your Elder Brother¡¯s name is Kang Jiayan. You can call me Elder Brother Kang.¡± Kang Jiayan had a smile that seemed to be trying to get on her good side. This made Ling Lan¡¯s eyes twitch and felt that Kang Jiayan was up to no good.


    ¡°Brother Ling. Your Elder Brother Kang wants to discuss something with you.¡± Right when Kang Jiayan wanted to get shoulder to shoulder distance to Ling Lan, Ling Lan suddenly dashed away. She then calmly said, ¡°Elder Brother Kang, if you want to say something just say it outright.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s movement made the other four captainsugh out loud.


    Kang Jiayan blushed, but for the pride of his battle team, he was prepared to throw away his dignity, ¡°Brother Ling, your Elder Brother Kang had drew a piece of paper with ¡®tourist¡¯ written on it right? Look at your Elder Brother Kang, and my men. With just one look, tells you that we¡¯re not good people and have nothing to do with being ¡®tourists¡¯. However, Brother Ling, you guys are different. Brother Ling is handsome and mighty and your subordinates are all cute and beautiful. If you guys pretend to be an adventure team, no one would believe you to be an actual adventure team. Instead, you should switch with me. Then everyone would be able to perfectly act their role and not have anyone suspect us.¡±


    Cute and beautiful? The expressions of the people behind Ling Lan instantly worsened.


    Ling Lan however didn¡¯t get angry. She looked at Kang Jiayan¡¯s men. They were indeed just like how Kang Jiayan had described them. With just one look and they would instantly considered to be bad guys. They were all tall and muscr. Even though their looks weren¡¯t too bad, they still had strands of killing intent seeping out from them. These guys did not seem like tourists at all. They were more like robbers. If they were put into the tourist group, it was possible that the other tourists would be terrified... However, why should she help him?


    Ling Lan calmly said, ¡°We are partners with Captain Meng. With us in the adventure team, the threat level would decrease by a lot. However if it changes to you guys...¡± After saying this, Ling Lan shook her head to show that she didn¡¯t believe in Kang Jiayan¡¯s team. ¡°It¡¯s better if you guys pretend to be tourists. Even if you guys draw attention to yourselves, only you guys would be exposed and not affect the other battle teams.


    Hearing this, Captain Meng also nodded and said, ¡°Captain Ling is right. By cooperating with Captain Ling, we can pretend to be a third-rate adventure team and wouldn¡¯t draw too much attention to ourselves. If we changed it to you guys, the threat level would increase and would make it easier for those who are on guard to be drawn to us. Then, once exposed, it would be two battle teams instead of one.¡±


    Hearing all this, Kang Jiayan¡¯s expression changed. Finally, he promised with all his might, ¡°Brother Ling, your Elder Brother Kang is from the 13th Division. As long as you are willing to exchange the paper, your Elder Brother Kang would be in your debt. In the future, if you ever need your Elder Brother Kang, just say the word and your Elder Brother Kang would not refuse.


    Captain Meng nodded towards Ling Lan. Then Ling Lan replied, ¡°Alright Elder Brother Kang, since you¡¯ve already said that, if I refuse your offer, it would be me who does not know how to appreciate your kindness.¡± Afterwards, she handed the piece of paper in her hand towards Kang Jiayan.


    Kang Jiayan excitedly exchanged the piece of paper from his hand with Ling Lan¡¯s. When he received Ling Lan¡¯s piece of paper, Ling Lan heard his team members actually boo in unison. She couldn¡¯t help but feel happy inside her mind. Kang Jiayan¡¯s battle team seemed to be a fun battle team.

 Chapter 616 - Careless Mistake!

    <h4>Chapter 616: Careless Mistake!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    A tour guide constantly checked the time on hismunicator while looking at the entrance of the spaceport. He was worried. Six people had not arrived yet and the cruise was departing soon. Should he leave the six people behind?


    At this moment, six young men ran over from the entrance. They were dressed casually. They looked anxious but the aura they gave out was happy and vibrant.


    They rushed to the tour guide and panted heavily as they reached him.


    Two of them gained the attention of the tour guide. One of them was wearing a hat that covered half of his face while the other had a mask. The tour guide couldn¡¯t see their faces but he felt the cold presence and gentle aura from them individually. They did look good standing next to each other.


    Of the remaining four, two of them were muscr. Their stamina seemed to be the best too. They just breathed heavily while the others were panting like crazy. One of the remaining two members looked irritated while the other seemed calm and gentle. Additionally, he grabbed the young man that seemed impatient and asked him to control his emotions.


    Their rtionship must have been good because the young man who was irritated actually calmed down. The tour guide heaved a sigh of relief. These six people didn¡¯t look like hard customers. As a tour guide, what he was afraid of the most was meeting customers that were hard to please. They made his work much harder.


    One of the muscr young men said after he caught his breath, ¡°Are you the tour guide of Shun Feng Tourism Agency?¡±


    They saw the words ¡®Shun Feng¡¯ on the tour guide¡¯s clothes. The tour guide nodded. ¡°Yes. You all must be from He Ping Academy. Everyone is waiting for you all.¡±


    ¡°Yes. We are sorry for beingte.¡± The muscr man looked like a rough person but he had a good attitude and apologized sincerely. The tour guide¡¯s impression of them got better instantly.


    ¡°No problem. Hurry up and register yourselves.¡± The tour guide knew that time was tight so he didn¡¯t speak anymore nonsense.


    When the six young men stepped on the cruise ship, they looked at each other and smiled. The tour guide gave them a standard six-men room. He asked them to tidy up and head down for dinner.


    ¡°Oh right, after dinner, there will be a dance party. You can interact with other people in the tour group. After all, you all will be staying together for one month. A good rtionship will allow you to have a more interesting trip,¡± The tour guide reminded all of them before he left.


    Their tour group would pass through 18 countries in the gxy. The countries they chose were either neutral parties or countries within the Federation. However, they would need to pass through three enemy countries along the journey. These countries had signed a treaty which stated that they would not attack a passenger ship as long as the people on the ship didn¡¯t provoke them.


    The muscr young man, who had been talking to the tour guide all these while, replied, ¡°Okay. Tour guide Zhou, we wille downter.¡±


    The tour guide had introduced himself just now. His name was Zhou Guangli.


    Zhou Guangli left. He needed to check on his other tour group members. He was the tour guide as well as the person-in-charge of the tour group. He was responsible for everything.


    The muscr man watched the tour guide leave before going back into the room.


    The six-men room was in the same style as a military bunk. This cruise ship was modified from a battleshipl. There were three bunk beds. Everyone chose their bed and ced their bags down.


    Ling Lan took off her hat, revealing her young face. She had retracted her aura. With her handsome face and pink lips, she looked like a beautiful young man now.


    Qi Long held onto the bed frame andughed silently. The rest of the people tried their best to hold in theirughter. They were afraid that their boss would kill them.


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and red at Qi Long coldly. ¡°Is it very funny?¡±


    Qi Long froze. Hisughter subsided. He shook his head furiously.


    Sob... heughed too hard just now. He forgot how vicious his boss could be. Although he was safe for this month, once they went back to the mecha n... Qi Long could imagine what his life would be like.


    They didn¡¯tete on purpose. They werete because theyughed at Ling Lan after she changed into casual clothing and restrained her dominating aura. Of course, Ling Lan beat them up badly afterwards. The beating took some time so they were in a rush. If they werete by another five minutes, they might have missed the cruise.


    ¡°Actually, you look more like a tourist like this,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled as he consoled Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan felt troubled. She knew that the moment she restrained her aura, she would not look like a boss anymore. Li Lanfeng¡¯s words was like sprinkling salt on her wound. She raised her eyebrows and said threateningly, ¡°What? Do I look gullible like this?¡±


    Li Lanfeng controlled his urge tough. He shook his head nonchntly and said, ¡°No. However, your appearance now will let people put down their guard against you. This is important for our mission. Captain, you are good at disguising yourself.¡±


    Li Lanfeng shamelessly curried favor with Ling Lan and appeased her anger.


    Everyone gave Li Lanfeng looks of approval. They were relieved that they managed to escape another beating this time.


    ¡°Shall we contact other captains?¡± Lin Zhong-qing asked.


    ¡°No.¡± Ling Lan rejected the suggestion. ¡°We don¡¯t know if there are spies on this cruise. If we act rashly, we might expose ourselves.¡±


    Everyone nodded. Ling Lan continued, ¡°Since we are tourists, we must act like one. Use the fake identity that Hantang gave us and leave a message on He Ping Academy¡¯s forum. We will post a message stating that we manage to board the cruise at thest moment.¡±


    ¡°You said what I wanted to say.¡± Li Lanfeng supported Ling Lan. ¡°As long as nothing happens to the princess, we will just continue to act like a tourist.¡±


    The other four people were smart people too. They understood what Li Lanfeng meant and nodded.


    Very soon, Lin Zhong-qing used his fake identity to post a message on He Ping Academy¡¯s forum. He even took a few photos of the cruise and inserted a smiley face emoticon. He wrote: I am finally able to tour the South gxy. Take off, Feiyang Ship!


    In the operations center of Hantang¡¯s headquarters, themander-in-chief paced around the room with a worried expression.


    In order to not get exposed, four teams had left the headquarters separately within thest few days. No one knew where they went. The headquarters didn¡¯t dare to trace them as they were afraid that the spies within their headquarters would notice them.


    Finally, it was time for the teams to report back. Three teams managed to use the designated signal and contact the two teams which were protecting the princess. Only Lingtian Battle Team had not got back to them.


    Themander stopped walking and asked the adjutant beside him, ¡°Has the Feiyang Ship left the harbor?¡±


    ¡°It left Hantang three minutes ago,¡± The adjutant looked at themunicator and replied.


    ¡°Is there still no news from the Lingtian Battle Team?¡± Themander was a little angry. If the princess couldn¡¯t reach Dapa Laya because of the Lingtian Battle Team, he would definitelyin about them to the military court.


    The adjutant gave a depressed expression. ¡°No news yet.¡±


    Footsteps sounded. Themander looked up. His adviser appeared at the door.


    ¡°Commander, there is news from Lingtian,¡± The adviser said with disbelief.


    Themander was ted. ¡°The signal came?¡±


    The adviser shook his head furiously, ¡°There is no signals from them.¡±


    Themander was furious. ¡°Why did you say there was news from them then? Did they miss the boarding time of the ship and came back?¡± Themander could only think of this possibility. He was indignant.


    ¡°No... I don¡¯t know how to exin it to you. Take a look at this image.¡± The adviser showed the image on hismunicator to themander.


    It was the main page of He Ping Academy¡¯s forum. An anonymous person posted a message showing the insides of a cruise. The student¡¯s ID appeared beside the message.


    ¡°Why are you showing me this? What is so strange about people from the He Ping Academy being on a cruise?¡± Themander took a while before understanding the situation. ¡°Check all the details of the passengers on the cruise.¡±


    ¡°I have check them already. The only people from He Ping Academy who are on the cruise are the six from Lingtian Battle Team,¡± the adviser replied firmly. He had suspected that this was a message from the Lingtian Battle Team so he had already checked the information. There was no mistake.


    Themander calmed down. ¡°Those brats are unruly. Why didn¡¯t they just use the signal to contact the other battle teams? Why do they have to use this method? They don¡¯t have any team spirit at all.¡±


    ¡°Looking at their information, besides two people who can take on low-level missions, the rest are all recruits. They shouldn¡¯t be able to take on the mission in the first ce. Commander, why did the Lingtian Battle Team send out these recruits for a four-stars mission? Most old battle teams should know that the stars of the battle team affects the difficulty of the missions assigned to them. The harder the mission, the more stars the mission would have. No battle team would send a recruit for a four-stars mission.¡± The adviser had a good rtionship with themander so he spoke his mind out tantly.


    Themander was puzzled too. He suddenly thought of something. He asked hurriedly, ¡°How old are the six people from Lingtian?¡±


    The adviser replied with a puzzled expression, ¡°The recruits are 21 years old while the other two are 24 years old. This is their 4th year in the military.¡±


    Themander felt his heart dropped. ¡°What about their captain, Ling Lan?¡± Since his status was written as the captain, he must be the real captain of Lingtian. What if...


    The adviser realized something too. He shouted, ¡°He is a recruit!¡±


    Themander immediately searched for the data about the Lingtian Battle Team. He was a Major General so he had the authority to ess this information. He thought about the age of the captain of Lingtian Battle Team and got a hold of the situation.


    ¡°How can I miss such an important detail?¡± Themander¡¯s expression changed. He immediately contacted the headquarters of the 23rd Division and reported everything to them.


    A recruit that managed to form a battle team in his first year must be a prodigy which the division wanted to nurture. Themander knew that this mission was dangerous. If this prodigy died in this mission, he would be in trouble. Themander was angry at himself. If he realized this sooner, he would not have sent them on this mission.


    Very soon, the 23rd Division replied him with two simple words: No problem.


    Themander pondered for a moment. He was still worried so he contacted someone after much hesitation. After he hung up the call, he heaved a sigh of relief. ¡°It¡¯s fine. We don¡¯t have to worry about the recruits from the Lingtian Battle Team anymore. They can do what they like.¡±


    He remembered what his old friend told him through the call and felt troubled. He turned and asked his adviser, ¡°Ji Qing, am I stupid?¡±


    Ji Qing looked up in surprise. ¡°What happened?¡±


    Themander said in a sad tone, ¡°He Xuyang said that I¡¯m stupid. He said that I don¡¯t know what is the best disguise. He said that if there is a problem in this mission, it would be because of our secret signal...¡±


    His intellect couldn¡¯t bepared with He Xuyang. He was almost as smart as the optical supeputer. However, he was not stupid either. If not, how was he able to be themander-in-chief for the defensive troops on Hantang? Hmph, He Xuyang must be jealous of him.


    Themander then remembered that He Xuyang was a Major General too and was the Chief of Staff for General Ling Xiao. His sense of superiority instantly disappeared. Not only was He Xuyang smarter than him, he was luckier too. Sob, he wanted to be under General Ling Xiao too.


    Ji Qing didn¡¯t understand what themander was thinking. He thought about the question seriously. ¡°Frankly, the signal that we use will leave traces behind once it is used. I just hope that the captains will not use them too frequently. If there are ace hackers on the cruise, it will not be safe.¡±


    Themander said angrily, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you remind me?¡±


    Ji Qing felt wronged. ¡°By the time I came back, the four teams were gone and you all have decided on the n already. I didn¡¯t have the opportunity to remind you.¡± He shouldn¡¯t have went on leave.


    Themander was stunned. His face turned red with anger and embarrassment. He didn¡¯t want to admit that he was wrong. ¡°Do you think that ace hackers are found everywhere? I don¡¯t believe that our enemies are willing to send out their ace hackers...¡±


    Ji Qing shrugged. Themander continued in a helpless tone, ¡°I hope that the five battle teams will be smart enough to not use the signal all the time...¡± Fine, as amander, he should stop this self-deception. When the five captains gathered to discuss about the n, there was already a w in the n. However, no one saw it...


    No, the captain of the Lingtian Battle Team noticed it. He just didn¡¯t say anything because he didn¡¯t have the authority to make any decision and might even anger some people in the process.


    Thinking about it, the team that was disguising themselves the best was the Lingtian Battle Team. Themander was not angry anymore. He felt lucky to have the Lingtian Battle Team in this mission. They might be the critical factor in ensuring the safety of the princess.


    It was meal time. The people from Lingtian went to the restaurant.


    There were three dining hall on the Feiyang Ship. Two were small and one was a big dining hall. Their meal was held in the bigger dining hall.

 Chapter 617 - Who Is the 6th Person?

    <h4>Chapter 617: Who Is the 6th Person?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan seemed to be looking around casually but in actual fact, she was gathering any useful information she could find.


    She realized that the dining hall was filled with ordinary tourists. The dinner was a buffet where everyone just took what they wanted to eat. The food was ordinary too. There weren¡¯t any expensive ingredients and no chefs were present to cook food on the spot. The waiters took out trays of food from the back. They seemed delicious but might not be.


    The tour group they joined was a civilian tour group. Ling Lan saw tourists, who dressed nicely in high-ss clothes, walking in and out of the other two halls and knew that the other two halls served people with higher statuses.


    Ling Lan took her te and ced the food that she liked on her te. Her te slowly piled up. When she saw the other people staring at her, she reminded them, ¡°It is free. Of course we should take more. We must eat our money¡¯s worth.¡± After she finished talking, she stuffed her mouth with food. She didn¡¯t look elegant nor ugly while she was eating. Her cheeks were stuffed with food and it made the food looked delicious.


    Li Lanfeng understood Ling Lan. He took a pile of food too. As he ate his food, he scanned his surroundings and checked if anyone was looking at him. When he saw someone turning their head in his direction, he stopped chewing and pretended to be calm. His actions wereical.


    However, these behaviours depicted a curious young man who just graduated from school and never went out of his own country before. The pile of free food in front of them showed others that they were civilians.


    Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan¡¯s actions enlightened the rest of the people. They found their own seats and took a huge pile of food. Then, they stuffed their faces with food.


    Only Li Yingjie was confused. He looked at the food in front of him and snorted. Then, he turned his head away. He would never eat this kind of food.


    ¡°Ma Rao, stop acting like a young master. If you aren¡¯t willing to eat the food, you can upgrade to VIP all by yourself. There is no need to follow us.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled but his words were threatening.


    Li Yingjie almost exploded in anger but he saw Ling Lan¡¯s eyes staring at him and shivered in fear. He remembered the warning that she gave him before they left.


    He sneered and said, ¡°Forget it, I will give you all some face and eat this civilian meal.¡± He grabbed his chopsticks and slowly picked his food. After some time, he finally took a few pieces of food which looked appetizing.


    He ced it in his mouth and chewed it. The colour of his face instantly changed. He wanted to vomit the food out.


    ¡°Ma Rao, swallow the food.¡± Qi Long red at him.


    Li Yingjie had no choice but to swallow the food. However, he lost his appetite.


    ¡°Young Master Ma Rao wanted to experience the civilian life so he decided toe with us. But, we can¡¯t let him suffer like this,¡± Lin Zhong-qing spoke up for Li Yingjie. Li Yingjie gave him a look of appreciation. Lin Zhong-qing was such a nice person. Sob. Why did he get snatched away by Ling Lan? It would have been nice if he was in his team.


    Lin Zhong-qing seemed to have guessed Li Yingjie¡¯s thoughts. He titled his body to block his face and red at him with murderous intent in his eyes.


    Li Yingjie shivered. He almost forgot how much Lin Zhong-qing hated him. He was acting just now. Li Yingjie felt depressed and looked down without saying a word.


    ¡°If Young Master Ma Rao wants to continue staying with us, you need to stop acting like a young master. We saved up for a long time to get on this tour. We don¡¯t want your attitude to ruin this trip,¡± Zhao Jun reminded him unhappily.


    Li Yingjie looked at the floor and replied in a soft voice, ¡°I understand. I will eat and stay with you guys. I will notin anymore.¡±


    Ling Lan ced some food from her te onto Li Yingjie¡¯s te. She rmended the food enthusiastically, ¡°Ma Rao, this is delicious. Hurry up and have a taste. I will get more for youter before it runs out.¡±


    Li Yingjie felt helpless. He stared at the food that Ling Lan gave him. What is this yellow gooey pile? Can it be eaten? However, Boss Lan gave it to him. If he didn¡¯t eat it, he would be punished severely.


    Was it better to be disgusted by the food or to be tortured by Ling Lan? Li Yingjie chose the first option. He forced himself to have a bite. He wanted to swallow it immediately but the delicious taste in his mouth stopped him. His eyes lit up. He chewed the food and ate the rest of the food that Ling Lan ced on his te.


    I decided that I will just eat this dish! Li Yingjie had no shame at all.


    ¡°It is delicious, right?¡± Ling Lan asked seriously.


    Li Yingjie nodded furiously. Although it could not bepared to what he ate before, it was at least edible.


    ¡°I will help you take more then.¡± Ling Lan took her te and prepared to go for the second round. Li Lanfeng immediately stood up and said, ¡°I will go with you.¡±


    Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan came to the buffet table again. There was no one around the buffet table. Only the two of them stood beside the food and whispered into each other¡¯s ear. They seemed to be discussing which food was more delicious...


    ¡°How is the observation going?¡± Ling Lan grabbed some dishes that were left and asked Li Lanfeng in a low voice. It was near the end of meal time. There was no oneing to take the food anymore.


    Li Lanfeng pointed to the dish in front of him and whispered, ¡°There are at least five suspicious people.¡±


    Ling Lan looked at the dish that Li Lanfeng pointed at and shook her head. She said, ¡°I agree, good observation. Where are the five people located at?¡±


    Li Lanfeng nodded to express that he epted Ling Lan¡¯s suggestion. They walked to the next dish and lifted the cover. The food inside seemed good so he took some and ced it on his te. ¡°There are two people sitting at the table closest to the entrance. They didn¡¯t release their power but their hacker aura is evident to people with spectre abilities like me. I pretended to look at them casually just now. They had the Shun Feng Tourist Group badge on their chest. Seems like they n to hide themselves in this tourist group too. I am just not sure if they are our friends or enemies.¡±


    Ling Lan appeared to have seen something good and pulled Li Lanfeng¡¯s hand hurriedly. She came to the other side of the buffet table, cleverly dodging two tourists who came to take some food. The Feiyang Ship¡¯s crew saw that there were still many people in the dining hall and there wasn¡¯t much food left. Hence, they took out three more trays of food. The three waiters ced the food on three different spots of the buffet table. The food which Ling Lan chose was the most expensive dish out of the three: Barbecued Duomo Meat.


    Ling Lan quickly took the meat and ced it on her te. She only stopped after her te was full. Li Lanfeng did the same thing. They took almost one-third of the meat. The tourist behind them rolled their eyes at them.


    The two of them snickered as they walked back to their table. Zhao Jun and the rest of the gang weed them happily. However, after eating a few pieces of meat, they chased Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan away to get more food.


    The three dishes were empty already. There was no one at the buffet table again. Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan frowned as they opened the covers of the other food items.


    Li Lanfeng stood in front of an empty te with a sad look on his face. ¡°The third person is the one that tried toe close to us just now. He seems to be very interested in the six of us. I don¡¯t know if we exposed ourselves.¡±


    Ling Lan shook her head and pulled Li Lanfeng in front of another dish. ¡°It is okay. Only Li Yingjie had some loopholes in his acting. He is unable to suppress his physical skills like us so he is at the peak of Refinement now. Reaching Refinement at his age makes him a talent. It is normal that people would take notice of him. However, our conversation just now should have lessen his suspicion on us.¡±


    ¡°Another one is sitting at the Southeast corner of the dining hall. If I didn¡¯t make an effort to look at every corner of the room, I might have been fooled by him. His physical skills are powerful. The corner he chose allowed him to observe everyone in the room. No actions would be unnoticed by him. Impressive.¡± Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t see the person¡¯s level so he was worried that he might have seen through them.


    ¡°I can sense the murderous presence on his body. He is either a soldier or an assassin. I feel that he is an assassin. The position he chose was a position that assassins would like...¡± Ling Lan took all the remaining food left on the tray. She said with an unhappy face, ¡°However, we can¡¯t deny the possibility that he might be a soldier. Some soldiers do simr things too so it is normal that he has the habits of an assassin.¡±


    There was only a thin line between an assassin and a soldier. Because of external pressure, some things couldn¡¯t be solved openly. At that time, the military would send out soldiers to do such missions.


    Li Lanfeng nodded. He opened another tray and realized that there were still so much food left. He happily called Ling Lan over and they took everything that was left.


    Li Lanfeng said as he took the food, ¡°I didn¡¯t notice thest one at first but when we were talking, he put down his chopsticks. This was a reaction of someone who is eavesdropping. He was very careful and didn¡¯t look at us. I might have missed him if I didn¡¯t notice this action.¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t expect so many powerful people to be hiding in a civilian dining hall. It widened his perspective and realized that the outside world was indeed very interesting.


    ¡°Actually, if he looked at us while he eavesdropped, I might have not suspect him. However, he pretended to not see us.¡± Ling Lan put the cover back.


    Li Lanfeng pondered over her words. ¡°That is true. If he did things openly, I would rule him out. However, he didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°It was not easy for you to find these five people. In actual fact, the two hackers were the hardest to find. However, they didn¡¯t expect someone with spectre abilities to be here. If not, they would stay in their rooms and try to hack the mainframe of the cruise...¡± Ling Lan seemed happy at the hacker¡¯s misfortune. Li Lanfeng realized that after Ling Lan rxed, his tone gotten livelier too. It was not as cold as before.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t notice Li Lanfeng¡¯s change in expression. She continued, ¡°There is actually a 6th person.¡±


    ¡°A 6th person?¡± Li Lanfeng was shocked. ¡°Who?¡±


    ¡°One of the waiters who brought out the food trays just now,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly. She turned and left after seeing that there was no food left. They returned to their table with piles of food.


    Li Lanfeng stuffed his face with food as though he was extremely hungry. He was wondering which waiter it was. He sighed. He was still a level behind rabbit. He didn¡¯t notice the waiter. He needed to work harder.


    Li Lanfeng took a huge bite of the meat. His eyes lit up. He looked at Ling Lan and pointed at the meat. ¡°This... is really delicious.¡±


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Yes, this is the one. Luckily we managed to get a huge portion of it.¡± Ling Lan confirmed Li Lanfeng¡¯s guess. The waiter who served the Duomo meat was the 6th person she was talking about.


    Li Lanfeng remembered that buffet waiters were supposed to ce new dishes at conspicuous locations so that customers would know a new dish came out. The other two waiters ced their trays on the side of the buffet table facing the dining tables. The one who carried the Duomo meat, on the other hand, ced the tray on the other side of the table. There was only one table which was able to see that tray of meat. That was the table which the potential assassin was at.


    Without a doubt, the waiter was passing a message to the assassin. He did it so well even Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t notice him. Unfortunately, Ling Lan was here. Nothing could escape her eyes.


    Li Lanfeng was finally able to eat his meal in peace. Very quickly, the two of them finished their food. Li Lanfeng was in a good mood so he finished everything without caring about the taste. Ling Lan was able to eat anything after being trained by the learning space. When she was famished, she even dug out worms and ate them raw. As long as the food was edible and it was not harmful to the body, she would swallow them.


    The group of them happily returned to their rooms and waited for the dance party at night.


    This dance party was not organized by Shun Feng Tourism Agency. It was organized by the crews on the Feiyang Ship. This meant that people you met at the dance party might be civilians or elites. It might even be an explorer or a member of a noble family...


    ording to rumors, people from noble families and explorers liked to find ¡®partners¡¯ at dance parties. Partners here had many different meanings.


    Some people liked pretty women so their targets were the beautifuldies. Others wanted to look for followers for their families so their preys were civilians who had the talent and ability butcked the opportunity due to their status.


    Every year, many femalemoners would get the chance they wanted at dance parties. However, no one cared about their ending.


    Everyone remembered the moment when Cindere wore her ss heels. They forgot that this was just an illusion. Once the clock struck midnight, Cindere had to return to where she came from. No one could stop time.


    Not everydy was fortunate enough to let the prince find her with a ss heel.

 Chapter 618 - Big Fish?

    <h4>Chapter 618: Big Fish?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    They changed into a more formal attire and came to the dance hall at the highest level of the ship. They were obedient and arrived before the starting time.


    Not many people were in the dance hall at this time. The Feiyang Ship had four levels in total. The lowest level was where the crew of the ship stayed. There was also a huge storage area to keep any bulky objects the passengers might have. Ling Lan and her team member¡¯s mechas were hidden among the other items in the storage.


    The second level was where the amodations for ordinary passengers and the dining halls were located at. There was an entertainment space for the ordinary passengers and it even had login pods. However, it was very expensive to rent a login pod. Ordinary passengers would not be able to afford it.


    The third level was where high-ss people stayed. There were also better facilities on this level. It was said that there was a high-end restaurant on the third level. Wealthy people would choose to eat there and not go to the dining halls. Although the smaller dining halls had better food items, it was still not up to their standards too.


    Besides Lingtian, the other battle teams were on the third floor. Two of them had to protect the princess so they needed to stay next to her. The other three had the money so they stayed on the third floor too. They didn¡¯t want to be too far away from the princess either.


    The fourth level consisted of a dance hall as well as a huge tform. The Feiyang Ship was modified from a battleship. This tform was meant for mechas tond on the ship. However, they told the outside world that this was the ce where bonfires and barbecues would be held at. This was a special privilege for the people boarding the Feiyang Ship.


    This was why many tourists were willing to pay the high price to board this ship. These entertainments were not avable on other cruises. You get what you paid for.


    There were dining areas around the dance hall. Many food trays had been ced on the dining tables that were covered with a white cloth. There were flowers ced around as decorations. It was beautiful.


    On one of the tables, there were wine sses stacked in the shape of a pyramid. Each of them was filled with different alcohols. The colorful lights shone on the sses and the sses glittered.


    Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng reacted the quickest. They looked at the alcohol greedily.


    Only Qi Long was not tempted. He asked in a puzzled tone, ¡°Why did they have to make it so pretty? Can it be eaten? Why do they only fill up one-third of the cup? The organizers here are so stingy.¡±


    Everyone looked at him with contempt. It was such a waste to bring him here.


    Gentleughter sounded behind them. The six people turned around and saw threedies in gownsughing at them. When they saw Li Yingjie, their eyes lit up. They turned and looked at Ling Lan. They were shocked.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t stand the intense gaze of the threedies so she lowered her head in embarrassment. This action made her even cuter. The threedies were excited. He is so cute! I want to hug him!


    Li Lanfeng felt his heart dropped. He smiled and said, ¡°How do I address you all?¡±


    The threedies shifted their gazes to Li Lanfeng. The gente aura on Li Lanfeng caused them to lower their guards. One of thedies smiled and replied, ¡°We are from the Shun Feng Tourist Group. Where are you from?¡± Everyone took down the tourist group badge since they wereing for the dance party.


    Li Lanfeng smiled brightly. They couldn¡¯t see his face but the friendly vibe that he was emitting left a good impression on the threedies.


    ¡°Little Four, leopard¡¯s aura changed.¡± Ling Lan immediately noticed the change in Li Lanfeng¡¯s aura. She pulled Little Four, who was having a whale of a time, back into her mindscape.


    Little Four was helping the mainframe of the ship to resist against four batches of hackers. He didn¡¯t know if the hackers were on the same team or were acting individually. He realized that there were 5 advanced hackers and even one ace hacker on the ship. They made his life more interesting.


    Little Four was naughty. He didn¡¯t cover up all the loopholes in the mainframe. He watched as the hacker hacked into the system. Once he was about to seed and win against the mainframe, Little Four would step in and help. Every time the hackers thought that they had seeded, they were stopped by Little Four. They were unwilling to give up and their stubbornness allowed Little Four to continue ying with them...


    Little Four¡¯s mind was on the mainframe. Hence, he just nced at Li Lanfeng and replied, ¡°Yes, his Jack Sue ability was activated.¡±


    After so many years, Little Four finished all the books that Ling Lan read in her past life. He was able to use special phrases to describe certain things. He was so good at it that Ling Lan was amazed.


    Mary Sue, Jack Sue, crazy b***h... everything came out of Little Four¡¯s mouth. Ling Lan was shocked at the start but now, she was used to it.


    ¡°The innate talent that allows other people to like him?¡± Ling Lan understood what Little Four was saying.


    ¡°Yes. Your leopard hasn¡¯t realize this innate talent yet so he can¡¯t control itpletely. However, when he has a strong desire, it would get activated,¡± Little Four exined.


    Ling Lan narrowed her eyes. ¡°You are saying that Li Lanfeng has a strong desire now?¡± She nced at the threedies. They all had heavy makeup on. She didn¡¯t think that they were pretty. Why would Li Lanfeng have strong desires towards them?


    Little Four thought of something and eximed, ¡°Boss, although the average lifespan of people in this world is 150 years, their age of maturity is the same as your original world. The people here just aged at an older age. Their youth is long. They spend more than a 100 years in their youth.¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t manage to understand what Little Four meant. She red at him, ¡°Exin it properly.¡±


    Little Four touched his nose and said quickly, ¡°Your leopard is in rut now. He will secrete his testosterone the moment he sees any females.¡± Little Four immediately disappeared after he finished his sentence. He needed to run away before his boss reacted.


    ¡°Rut?¡± Ling Lan finally understood. Li Lanfeng had reached the age of falling in love. Herrades were all grown up now. Ling Lan felt weird. She was emotional.If herrades brought their girlfriends to show her next time, would she feel like a mother seeing her daugher-inw?


    Of course, Ling Lan had no other thoughts towards Li Lanfeng. She just felt a little sad that her friends started liking other girls. It was like giving her son up to other people.


    Ling Lan felt that she had this feeling because Li Lanfeng¡¯s poor taste in women. Even if he liked someone, he should have a higher standard. Someone that looked like Luo Lang would be much better...


    I¡¯m sorry, Luo Lang. I drag you in again. Ling Lan apologized to Luo Lang in her heart. Luo Lang was just too pretty. Ling Lan had to admit that he was even prettier than some girls...


    As for Luo Chao... Ling Lan didn¡¯t even think about her! Why? No one knew.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s Jack Sue... innate talent got activated so the threedies became familiar with him instantly. However, his innate talent didn¡¯t seem powerful enough. The threedies kept looking at Li Yingjie. Luckily, Ling Lan was forgotten by them.


    Li Lanfeng was happy at this situation. He subtly talked about Li Yingjie. The three girls had an even better impression of Li Lanfeng. They even took him as their close friend and asked him to introduce Li Yingjie to them.


    Li Lanfeng agreed immediately. In order to protect Ling Lan, he pushed his little brother from the Li family out.


    The three girls knew that Li Yingjie was the wealthiest among the six people. While they were talking to Li Lanfeng, Qi Long and Zhao Jun wanted to take some food but they didn¡¯t dare to. Li Yingjie scoffed at them and then went up to take some food and wine for them.


    Li Yingjie¡¯s calm and casual actions told thedies that he was used to these parties. This meant that he had a good background. He was either a rich second generation or a member of an elite family. Whichever it was, he was a big fish to thedies who were just normalmoners.


    For a normal femalemoner to climb up the socialdder, they had to either be good in their studies or be good in a certain field. Then, they would be a citizen. They might even rise up to be an elite and enjoy better privileges. Their children would also live a better life and obtain more opportunities aspared tomoners. Moreover, the resources avable to amoner restricted their learning and thus they were unable topare themselves with the people from the other sses. If they wanted to climb up the socialdder using this method, it would be difficult.


    The other way was to awaken their innate talent before they were 16 years old. If their innate talent would be of help to the military, they would immediately be a citizen and enter the military. However, the probability of awakening their innate talent was too low. Even members of elite families couldn¡¯t be sure if they were able to awaken their innate talent before 16 years old. Hence, this path was hard too. Females were also physically weaker than males so it would be a miracle if someone managed to awaken their innate talent.


    Aspared to the first two ways, thest way was much easier. It was to find a big fish. There were many ways they could find this fish. The most popr way was to enter the military after they turned 16 years old and find a partner there.


    Although many soldiers weremoners, their families were able to receive the benefits of a citizen due to their contribution to the country. Also, they had an idol who managed to achieve what everydy wanted. Hence, manydies followed their idol¡¯s path and entered the military. Sob, they want to be the next Lan Luofeng too.


    However, not every female had the right to enter the military. Somedies were rejected due to their family or physical constitution. They would give up their dreams and look for a normal job. After that, they would get married to amoner and live a normal life. A small portion of thesedies were unwilling to give up and looked for other ways such as attending a gxy tour group. This tour could allow them to fulfil their dreams or be a sacrifice for their dreams.


    The threedies had their eyes on Li Yingjie. This showed how well the other people disguised themselves. Besides Zhao Jun, the other five came from influential families. Ling Lan was even the son of Ling Xiao. She was like the prince of the military.


    Ling Lan understood what Li Lanfeng wanted to do. She raised her eyebrows curiously. Is he trying to find a girlfriend for Li Yingjie? Shouldn¡¯t Li Yingjie take care of this himself? Why is Li Lanfeng so enthusiastic?


    Li Lanfeng turned around as he felt Ling Lan¡¯s gaze. He smiled at her happily. Then, he pulled Li Yingjie to a corner. The threedies followed them happily.


    Zhao Jun saw this and followed them as well. Zhao Jun was like Li Lanfeng¡¯s brother. They lived together for so many years. Wherever Li Lanfeng was, Zhao Jun would be around too and vice-versa.


    Unexpectedly, Lin Zhong-qing looked at Li Yingjie too. Ling Lan noticed a tinge of worry in his eyes. She was surprised. When did Lin Zhong-qing start worrying for Li Yingjie? Weren¡¯t they enemies? When did they be so close?


    Ling Lan felt guilty when she realized this. Among her fivepanions who grew up with her, she gave Lin Zhong-qing the least attention. This was because he was always a responsible and serious person. He would take care of himself well so Ling Lan didn¡¯t have to worry about him. This made him forgettable at times. Aspared to Qi Long and Luo Lang, she didn¡¯t show as much concern to Lin Zhong-qing at all.


    Ling Lan felt sorry towards him. She said, ¡°Let¡¯s go over too.¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing immediately smiled gently. Qi Long was eating his food when he heard this sentence. He quickly took a big te and piled it high with all his favourite food items.


    Ling Lan scanned her surroundings. There were not many people around. She felt relieved. At least she didn¡¯t embarrass herself in front of too many people.


    Qi Long carried two big tes and walked towards the corner where Li Lanfeng was at. Ling Lan and Lin Zhong-qing looked at him with disdain.


    In another corner, two person sat in the dark. One of them retracted his gaze and took a sip of his wine.


    ¡°What did you notice?¡± The other person who was smoking asked him casually.


    ¡°Those threedies... there is a problem with them,¡± The one who was drinking replied.


    ¡°They are only able to fool those little brats. Seems like there are quite a few factions here. We need to be careful. I wonder why they targeted those brats.¡± The person smoking ced his fingers on his temple and went into deep thought.


    The man drinking smiled. ¡°They had no other choice. The tourist group they entered was a tourist group for couples. Those couples are all old. When those aunties saw them, they went on their guard and prevented them from interacting with their husbands. They couldn¡¯ty their hands on the married men. The only people that were men and could be seduced are those six brats.¡±


    ¡°Their objective is to go to the third floor.¡± The man smoking replied, ¡°Hence, they ce their focus on the young master.¡±


    ¡°This kind of young master who never experienced the outside world before is the easiest to seduce.¡± The man drinking admired their ability to choose the right target.


    ¡°However, I am more interested in the person with the mask. Why did he help the threedies? Did he realize something?¡± The person smoking frowned. He rubbed his temples. Every time he used his brain too much, his head would hurt.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Don¡¯t you feel the strange aura around him?¡± The person drinking reminded his friend.


    The one smoking looked over at Li Lanfeng. He was sitting beside the threedies and having a delightful conversation with them. He seemed to be an old friend of theirs.


    ¡°You are saying that he...¡± The man smoking frowned.


    ¡°Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows?¡± The man drinking didn¡¯t give a definite answer. He didn¡¯t care about this as long as those people didn¡¯t affect their ns.


    ¡°Shall we inform our people to interrupt the threedies?¡± The man smoking asked.


    ¡°No need. Isn¡¯t this interesting to watch? Let¡¯s see if the threedies are able to win the heart of the young master. If they seed in seducing the young master to bring them to the third floor, would the other brats be jealous of him? Will their friendship end there?¡± The man drinking was a sadistic person.


    ¡°You seemed free. Aren¡¯t you interested in the two teams of explorers on the third floor?¡± The man smoking looked at his friend with contempt.


    ¡°Those explorers... there is indeed something amiss with them but we can¡¯t just focus on them right now. We are still within the territory of the Huaxia Federation. No one would dare to make a move now. I want toplete my mission but I don¡¯t want to die with my opponents. Hence, I will entertain myself while we are still within the countries of the Huaxia Federation.¡± The man drinking smiled as he raised his cup. ¡°This is called having fun while working.¡±


    The man smoking waved his hand helplessly. ¡°You can do what you like as long as you don¡¯t forget our motive.¡±


    The man drinking replied, ¡°I won¡¯t. I still want to retire after I finish this mission.¡±


    Once he said this, the man smoking became silent. The man drinking turned serious too. He looked sad. They had been in this industry for a long time. Were they able to retire sessfully?

 Chapter 619 - Analyze!

    <h4>Chapter 619: Analyze!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    As the time went by, more and more people arrived at the dance hall. More than a thousand passengers were here..


    The host announced the start of the dance party. The threedies looked at each other. After a while, the tallest one smiled and asked Li Yingjie, ¡°Young Master Ma, am I able to have a dance with you?¡±


    Li Yingjie was an impulsive person but he was not stupid. He knew that threedies had their eyes set on him. However, because of his background, he was used to seeing beautifuldies. He was not interested in these unpresentabledies. He replied without hesitation, ¡°I am not interested.¡±


    The talldy¡¯s expression changed. She didn¡¯t expect Li Yingjie to tantly reject her. She thought that, to maintain their reputation, wealthy people would ept a request even if they didn¡¯t like it.


    Li Lanfeng smiled secretly. He pushed Li Yingjie out because of his personality. He was an arrogant and haughty person. He didn¡¯t care about his reputation. Even his friends found him irritating at times.


    ¡°Little brother Ma Rao, don¡¯t be like this. Give us some face and dance with us.¡± One of thedies tried to grab Li Yingjie¡¯s arm.


    Li Yingjie tilted his body and dodged thedy¡¯s hand. He rolled his eyes and replied, ¡°Why should I be nice to you all? Also, don¡¯t call me little brother. You have no right to call me that.¡± The threedies¡¯ expression changed immediately when they heard the imperious statement by Li Yingjie. They didn¡¯t expect this rich young master to be so direct. They didn¡¯t know how to continue their act.


    Li Lanfeng gave a forced smile and tried to salvage the situation. ¡°Young Master Ma¡¯s temper is not good. Why don¡¯t I dance with you all?¡±


    Him? The threedies pouted. They had checked the background of these six people and knew that besides Ma Rao, the rest weremoners. They were just lucky enough to meet Ma Rao in the academy and became Ma Rao¡¯s sidekicks. If not, they might not even be able to get on the Feiyang Ship and enjoy this cruise. These people were not worth their time.


    ¡°Since Young Master Ma doesn¡¯t want to dance, let¡¯s forget about it then.¡± The threedies decided to be shameless and stayed near them even though they were rejected mercilessly.


    At that moment, Ling Lan suddenly saw a familiar person bringing a bunch of people over to their area. She kicked Qi Long who was enjoying his food and pointed a finger in that direction.


    Qi Long stood up instantly. In the process, he almost flipped over the te of food in front of him. The three girls looked at him with contempt. As expected of amoner. He had no table manners at all.


    Qi Long gave a humble smile and waved at the person. He shouted, ¡°Tour Guide Zhou!¡±


    His loud voice irritated the people around him. It echoed in the room and even those people further away could hear him.


    Zhou Guangli saw him and immediately said something to the people beside him. Then, the group of them walked over. The expression of the threedies changed. They felt that things were going out of their control.


    ¡°Young Master Ma Rao, An Jieming, Lu Liyi, Qin Feng, He Lin, He Anya. I went to your rooms to look for you all. I didn¡¯t expect you all to be so early... Ah, Miss Gu, Miss Qin, Miss Yu. You all are here too.¡± Zhou Guangli saw the threedies after he greeted Ling Lan and her friends. He was slightly surprised to see them.


    The threedies smiled. ¡°Yes. We met Young Master Ma Rao and his friends so we had a chat with them.¡± They winked at Li Yingjie after they finished speaking.


    Li Yingjie frowned. He didn¡¯t hide his look of disgust. The threedies were furious when they saw the reaction from Li Yingjie. They cursed at him in their mind and felt that he was not romantic at all.


    ¡°Oh, who is this? He is so handsome.¡± A woman around 50 years old saw Li Yingjie¡¯s look of contempt and had a good impression of this young man. She walked over and grabbed Li Yingjie¡¯s hand.


    This woman looked like around his mother¡¯s age. Li Yingjie didn¡¯t like people touching his hand but since the other party was much older, he controlled his unhappiness and replied, ¡°Auntie, my name is Ma Yao.¡±


    The middle-aged woman noticed the unhappiness in Li Yingjie¡¯s eyes but he didn¡¯t pull his hand back and still answered her question. She knew that he was a good child and liked him even more. If her son was beside her, he would be around his age.


    ¡°Good child. My name is Lu Chaoying. You can call me Aunt Lu,¡± Lu Chaoying replied with a smile.


    Li Yingjie twitched his mouth. This woman was too friendly. However, he couldn¡¯t get angry at a woman her age so he called, ¡°Aunt Lu.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Lu Chaoying acknowledged him happily. She pulled Li Yingjie and sat down on the sofa with him. She used her butt to push thedy that was sitting beside Li Yingjie. Thedy was pushed to the side and almost knocked into her two friends.


    Li Yingjie saw this and became friendlier towards Lu Chaoying. He was calling her Aunt Lu more willingly now just because she stopped the threedies from pestering him.


    Lu Chaoying sat down and called her friends to gather around too. The middle-aged women were all good at talking. After some sarcastic remarks, the threedies couldn¡¯t sit still anymore. They said that they would take a walk around and left the area.


    Lu Chaoying saw that the threedies finally left and smirked. ¡°Why are you all with those threedies?¡±


    Li Yingjie nced at Li Lanfeng angrily. Li Lanfeng shrugged innocently. ¡°I don¡¯t know how we got together. I hinted to them that they should leave but they just ignored me.¡±


    My dear, when did you hint that they should leave? Aren¡¯t you the one who was the most excited? How shameless are you?


    Ling Lan and her otherpanions didn¡¯t know where to look so they decided to just close their eyes. They felt ashamed for their friend.


    One of the women smiled. ¡°You all are still young so it is understandable that you all don¡¯t know how to deal with these shamelessdies.¡± Then, the women started talking about the background and motive of the threedies. Ling Lan and her friends looked shocked at what they said. The women saw their innocent expressions and wanted to caress them. They were around the same age as their children so their motherly instinct got activated.


    Of course, the most important factor that made the women liked them so much were their looks. All of them looked innocent and humble. To them, even Li Yingjie was better-looking than their own children. The term for it was ¡®other people¡¯s children¡¯.


    To protect the six little boys, the women took turns guarding the boys. While some of them went to dance with their husbands, others would sit beside the little boys. Their presence deterred many people who wanted to get close to Ling Lan and herrades. The five of them ate their food happily from the start till the end of the dance party. Only Li Yingjie looked at them with disdain as they ate. He wondered why he brought these five pigs out to bring shame to himself.


    The womenughed at them secretly. These little boys were so cute. Why were their children not as cute as them? At that moment, their children felt a chill down their spine and thought that they were sick.


    Li Yingjie brought the five pigs back to their room. He closed the door and listened carefully. After confirming that there was no one around them, he rushed towards Li Lanfeng angrily and grabbed his cor. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡±


    Li Yingjie raised his eyebrows. He smiled and flicked his finger at Li Yingjie¡¯s wrist. Li Yingjie felt a huge force on his wrist and he released his grip.


    Li Lanfeng tidied his clothes. He said calmly, ¡°I am just using you to find out what the threedies wanted.¡±


    Li Yingjie was stunned. He looked at Lin Zhong-qing. Aspared to the other people, he trusted Lin Zhong-qing more.


    Lin Zhong-qing nodded. Li Yingjie was shocked. ¡°Thosedies?¡±


    Li Lanfeng flicked Li Yingjie¡¯s forehead. Li Yingjie groaned in pain and held his forehead. He asked furiously, ¡°Why did you hit me?¡±


    ¡°Because you are too stupid. If you want to stay alive and be safe, be more careful,¡± Li Lanfeng warned him. He touched his fingers and understood why Ling Lan liked to flick people¡¯s forehead. It felt good.


    Li Yingjie red at Li Lanfeng angrily. Li Lanfeng smiled at him coldly. ¡°Let me ask you, did you know who those threedies were?¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t they justmoners who wanted to hook a big fish?¡± Li Yingjie thought for a moment and came up with the answer.


    Li Lanfeng reached out and grabbed Li Yingjie¡¯s neck. ¡°If you are still so stupid, I will kill you now so that you won¡¯t get killed by other people. Don¡¯t bring shame to the Li family.¡±


    ¡°How dare you!¡± Li Yingjie struggled and broke free from Li Lanfeng¡¯s grip. He replied in anger, ¡°I am the sessor of the Li family. You are from the branch family. What right do you have to say that?¡±


    ¡°As long as it affects the reputation of the Li family, any members of the Li family could kill him or her. I believe that you didn¡¯t forget this rule, right?¡± Li Lanfeng replied coldly.


    ¡°How did I ruin the reputation of the Li family?¡± Li Yingjie knew this rule. He viewed the Li family as his most important responsibility so he was indignant when he heard what Li Lanfeng said.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to ruin the Li family¡¯s reputation, you must be smarter. Don¡¯t look at things on the surface level,¡± Li Lanfeng shouted. Li Yingjie got a shock.


    The two people red at each other. Ling Lan rubbed her eyebrows and said indifferently, ¡°Why don¡¯t you all sit down and talk.¡±


    Li Yingjie heard what Boss Lan said and sat down angrily.


    ¡°Lanfeng, speak nicely to Li Yingjie.¡± Ling Lan persuaded Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng smiled apologetically. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was too impulsive. I will tell you all what I found and you all can add on if I miss out anything.¡±


    Li Lanfeng calmed down and went through his thoughts. After a while, he said, ¡°When the threedies came to find us, they didn¡¯t make any sound. Only people with physical skills level 6 foundations can do this. Hence, they learned how to soften their footsteps before...¡±


    Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and Lin Zhong-qing nodded. They realized this too. Li Yingjie¡¯s face turned red as he didn¡¯t notice this.


    He did realize that the threedies had physical skill. However, their level was too low so he put down his guard as he felt that they were not a threat to him. Hence, he missed these little details.


    ¡°When I ask for their hands to palm-read, I noticed some calluses on their right palm. The skin between the forefinger and middle finger, on the middle finger tip, the area between the thumb and forefinger, were rough. It had been softened using special means but if you feel it carefully, you can still feel its roughness,¡± Li Lanfeng continued.


    ¡°Of course, ording to what they said, doing housework can make one¡¯s hand rough too. However, doing housework alone would not allow anyone to get calluses between the middle and forefinger.¡±


    ¡°Gun training.¡± Li Yingjie understood what Li Lanfeng meant.


    ¡°Yes. This is one possibility. Calluses would only form after years and years of practice. The only people that needed to undergo such massive gun training are either snipers or assassins.¡± Li Lanfeng said his analysis. ¡°However, military snipers are rarely females. This is because females are naturally not as calm as a male. There is no way that three female snipers would appear at the same time. Hence, they can only be assassins!¡±


    ¡°Assassins.¡± Li Yingjie shouted the word at the same time as Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°When I was fooling around with them, I touched their waist. Their waist was much softer than a normal female¡¯s waist. This meant that they learned skills such as jiu jitsu before. From the way they winked, I could tell that they had many experiences with men...¡± Li Lanfeng told them everything that he observed.


    Li Yingjie got an inspiration. ¡°Are you saying that they kill people on bed?¡±


    Li Lanfeng nodded. ¡°In order to make their targets lower their guards, the threedies have weak physical skills. No one would feel that they are a threat. However, their weapon is not their physical skills nor their gun skills. It is a miniature knife on hidden on their body.¡±


    Li Lanfeng reached out his right hand. There were four ss balls between his fingers. He closed his hand. When he opened them again, only one ss ball remained between his fore and middle finger. The ball moved smoothly around his hand as he moved his fingers. ¡°They must have practised meticulously in order to use this miniature knife. That is why there are calluses between their fore and middle fingers.¡±


    Li Yingjie suddenly remembered that Ling Lan used to y with a ss ball when they were still in the Scout Academy. Li Lanfeng had a ss ball too? And he knew how to y with it too?


    Li Yingjie looked at Ling Lan with sad eyes. Why didn¡¯t he teach him this skill? They were from the same Scout Academy. Why did Ling Lan teach Li Lanfeng, whom he met in the military academy, but not teach him? Li Yingjie felt hurt.


    Li Lanfeng ignored Li Yingjie¡¯s feelings and continued, ¡°They must have targeted Li Yingjie because they want to get onto the third floor. The person that we are protecting is on the third floor. I feel that their real target is the person we are protecting. Li Yingjie is just a stepping stone.¡±


    Li Yingjie snorted. He felt that he could finally vent some anger out. ¡°Weird. Are you saying that they will get close to the princess and lured the princess to their bed and kill her? There is something wrong with your analysis.¡± How could they kill the princess with such weak physical skills? If he remembered correctly, the princess had reached the peak of refinement. It was rare for a female to reach the peak of refinement so the princess was quite powerful.


    ¡°I said that their target is the princess but I didn¡¯t say that they would be the ones who kills her,¡± Li Lanfeng answered calmly.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Li Yingjie asked.


    ¡°They will probably find the bodyguards of the princess so that they could get some information from them. They will then pass these information to their leader and their leader will send other stronger assassins to assassinate the princess.¡±


    Li Lanfeng added, ¡°Of course, there is also another possibility that they want to use the people around the princess to get close to the princess. After all, they have more than one skill. They can kill the princess with a gun too.¡±


    Li Yingjie had nothing to refute. He sat quietly at the side of the room.


    ¡°However, we were almost targeted. Even Li Yingjie¡¯s merciless rejection couldn¡¯t hinder them. If the aunties didn¡¯t help, I will not know what to do with those threedies too.¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly. He got what he wanted but the threedies almost managed to get what they wanted too. At first, he hoped that Li Yingjie¡¯s haughty personality would scare the threedies away. However, he underestimated how shameless and unscrupulous the assassins were.

 Chapter 620 - Impending Danger!

    <h4>Chapter 620: Impending Danger!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Li Lanfeng finished speaking and looked at Ling Lan. He was nervous. He didn¡¯t know if he did the right things just now. Did he cause more trouble for them?


    Li Lanfeng felt that he was in a parent teacher meeting. He hoped to gain the approval of Ling Lan but he was afraid that he would be criticized due to a mistake.


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Lanfeng¡¯s observation is very detailed. The situation is just like what he mentioned.¡±


    Li Yingjie agreed with what Li Lanfeng said. However, he still had a question. ¡°Will the threedies give up on us?¡± He red at Li Lanfeng. He wanted him to solve the issue that he caused.


    ¡°Actually, even if Lanfeng didn¡¯t wee them, they would still pester us in order to get what they wanted. They will only stop if they find a new target.¡± Ling Lan told them the truth.


    ¡°Also, innocent young boys who just started interacting with women will not be able to rejectdies that proactively tries to seduce them.¡± Ling Lan pondered for a moment. Since they couldn¡¯t reject them tantly, they needed to seek help from the aunties.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t have the confidence in Li Yingjie. She was afraid that he would be unable to resistshing out one day and fight thedies. As a member of an elite family, it was reasonable for Li Yingjie to reject thedies. However, as a young master of a wealthy citizen family, for him to reject thedies tantly...


    Unless Li Yingjie had someone he liked, if not, no man would reject the seduction from ady. Of course, he could be a gay too.


    Ling Lan pped her head to remove the dirty thoughts that she was having. She must be influenced by Little Four.


    Everyone got a shock when they saw their boss pping her head.


    ¡°Boss, what happened?¡± Lin Zhong-qing asked her quickly.


    ¡°Nothing. I just thought of a way out of trouble,¡± Ling Lan put her hand down and replied calmly.


    Li Lanfeng looked at her. He wanted to say something but decided against it.


    Ling Lan turned his head and looked at Zhao Jun. ¡°Zhao Jun, what have you observed?¡±


    Zhao Jun touched his chin. ¡°In the dance party, there were at least five different groups of people had their eyes on us.¡±


    ¡°Three of them were the battle teams that took part in this mission with us.¡± Qi Long continued for him.


    ¡°One of the groups was at the corner to our left. The other group was directly opposite of us. I don¡¯t know what factions they belong to and don¡¯t know if they have any rtionship with the people we met in the dining hall. However, they just noticed us and didn¡¯t seem interested in us.¡± Zhao Jun felt that these two groups were just reviewing all the customers on the ship and had no other intentions towards them.


    ¡°The princess didn¡¯t appear so the Whirlwind Battle Team and the Brave Warriors Battle Team didn¡¯t appear as well,¡± Lin Zhong-qing added.


    Ling Lan nodded slowly. That was what she observed too.


    Li Yingjie saw people around him gaining the approval from Ling Lan. Only he didn¡¯t have any observation to report. He felt depressed. He realized that he was the weakest among the six of them in terms of disguise, observation, and crisis management.


    There was nothing much to say about his boss. If he didn¡¯t know that this was the frightening Boss Lan, he would be fool by him too and would think that he was just a timid pretty boy who was harmless and needed protection from other people.


    What was scarier was, even though he knew that Boss Lan was pretending, he still wanted to take care of him.


    Li Yingjie was careless but not stupid. He didn¡¯t like how the threedies looked at Ling Lan so when Li Lanfeng shifted their attention to him, he just listened and yed along.


    Zhao Jun and Qi Long looked more crude than him so when they entered the Feiyang Ship at the start, he thought that they would make the most mistakes.


    But, from the looks of it, they performed better than him. One seemed to be a humble young boy and the other looked simple-minded but with a strong body. Anyone would let down their guards in front of them.


    What angered him the most was, these two people who looked rough and simple-minded actually managed to observe and analyze what was happening around them.


    Li Lanfeng was a careful and detailed person. He managed to find out the background of the threedies easily. His friendly nature also allowed him tomunicate and befriend everyone.


    Lin Zhong-qing acted well as a cautious sidekick. He was low-key and harmless. He had better observation skills too...


    All in all, Li Yingjie was heavily impacted by this mission. He started to feel that he was useless. His arrogance dwindled. He suspected whether he was as strong as he thought he was.


    ¡°Li Yingjie?¡± Li Yingjie heard Ling Lan suddenly called him and got a shock. He was in a state of self-doubt just now. If Ling Lan didn¡¯t call him, the consequences might be terrible. He looked at Ling Lan gratefully.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know why Li Yingjie looked at her that way but she didn¡¯t have the interest to ask about it so she ordered, ¡°Li Yingjie, I have a mission for you.¡±


    ¡°Yes, boss!¡± Li Yingjie stood up instantly. The other four people were surprised at his obedience. Li Yingjie seemed to be forced everytime Ling Lan would give him a mission but everyone knew that he loved it in his heart.


    ¡°Form a good rtionship with the aunties. You must make sure that they prevent the threedies from pestering us.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to spend time and effort scheming against the threedies. Although she could find the mastermind behind them if she interacted with them, it had nothing to do with her.


    Their mission was to protect the princess and make sure that she reached her destination safely. They were not here to find the mastermind of the assassins. Ling Lan believed in achieving a bnce between resting and working. When she could rest, she would not work. Hence, she was not interested in doing things that were hard, tiring, and had no benefits.


    She wanted to find her enemies so that she wouldn¡¯t be caught off guard.


    In the Huaxia Federation, the Feiyang Ship met no obstacles. It was a smooth journey. Ling Lan and her friends became real tourists and had lots of fun with the aunties. The six boys left a good impression on the rest of their group when they tirelessly helped their tour group members to carry things. The aunties and their husbands treated the six boys like their own children so they discriminated against the threedies even more.


    The threedies were unable to find any chance of getting close to the six young man so they had no choice but to change their targets. On the next stop, they finally found their new targets among the passengers that boarded the ship. Ling Lan and her friends were left alone.


    After a few days of interaction, the six people from Lingtian Battle Team became a real member of the Shun Feng tour group. Sometimes, Ling Lan and her friends felt that they were really just tourists who came to tour the interster space.


    An extravagant spaceship flew among the stars.


    Ling Lan and her friends were currently in the dining hall. They looked at the big screen in the hall which was showcasing their current location.


    They had been on the Feiyang Ship for 13 days. On the 6th day, the ship left the territory of the Huaxia Federation. Luckily, the three countries after that were in an alliance with Huaxia Federation so the journey was smooth.


    However, Ling Lan knew that the peaceful days were over. They would be passing by a few neutral countries for the rest of their journey. Although these countries appeared to be neutral, they had actually formed an alliance with the enemies of the Federation.


    Based on the information she had gathered, the news that the princess was on the ship had been leaked. If not, there would not be so many uninvited guests. Within these 13 days, they passed by four countries. Some passengers left and new passengers came onboard the ship. There were suspicious people among the new passengers too.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know who was here to protect the princess and who was here to kill the princess. Who wanted to sit back and watch the fight? Who wanted to take action as fast as possible?


    Feiyang Ship was passing by Yagulin now. As the image of the country appeared on the screen, everyone sighed. The country was not in a good state.


    Yagulin was a country with manys. However, due to the unequal distribution of resources within the country, civil wars would ur all the time. The image on the screen showcased the armies within Yagulin attacking each other.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect them to use intergctic battleships to attacks. That is not fair,¡± A tourist said angrily.


    In the peace joint deration of humans, intergctic battleships could only be used inary sector wars. One attack from an intergctic battleship was powerful enough to wipe out a whole district. No one would be able to survive the attack.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think that the situation in Yagulin was so bad.¡± Some tourists sighed.


    The tourist thought that the civil war within Yagulin had nothing to do with them. They didn¡¯t know that soon, they would almost be implicated.


    A broken military ship slowly moved in the air. Only the front half of the ship was left. Luckily, the engine was located at the front part of the ship so it could still move. The ship managed to reach aary sector that was quite safe.


    ¡°Ji Lanluo, the oxygen system is malfunctioning.¡± One of the soldiers on the ship gave a hopeless look. ¡°We are going to die soon. I want to go home. I want to go home.¡± Under the shadow of death, he broke down and cried.


    The officer that was makingmands in the control room rushed out and grabbed the soldier. He gave him a hard p on the face.

 Chapter 621 - Rescue!

    <h4>Chapter 621: Rescue!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°What are you crying for? We are not dead yet.¡± The officer threw the soldier onto the ground.


    ¡°Check and see how long the oxygen canst,¡± The officer calmed down and ordered another soldier.


    The soldier was shocked by the violent treatment from the officer and froze on the spot. Another soldier immediately helped to reply. ¡°Base on positive circumstances, there is only 1.5 hours left.¡±


    ¡°Have you calcted the number of survivors?¡± The officer rubbed his face forcefully.


    ¡°There are 421 survivors. They are in the two starships at the front of the military vessel.¡±


    The smallest military vessel had 2000 people. For a middle-sized military vessel like theirs, there should be at least 4500 to 5000 people. Only less than 10% survived.


    A few soldiers cried as they remembered their brother-in-arms. They were lucky that their enemies bombed the back of the ship instead of the front. If they did, there would be no survivors at all.


    The officer¡¯s expression wasplicated. He waved to his confidant and whispered into his ears. The confidant turned pale. He whispered back. In the end, under the threatening re of the officer, he nodded his head stiffly.


    The officer patted his shoulder. Then, he turned to the other soldiers in the control room and said, ¡°Send the distress signal.¡±


    This sentence sparked hope in the frantic soldiers. The distress signal was sent out but in the vast gxy, it was difficult to find an interster cruise that would pass by them.


    Time passed slowly. One hour passed by. Nothing was spotted on the radar. Everyone turned hopeless. They might die here and be a speck of dust in the vast gxy.


    When the officer saw that there was only 30 minutes of oxygen supply left, a malicious intent appeared in his eyes. He nodded at his confidant.


    His confidant swallowed his saliva when he saw his superior looking at him. His heart pounded furiously and his hand started shivering.


    If he had a choice, he didn¡¯t want to do this. However, it was amand by his superior. He must listen to him.


    He looked at the 400 soldiers on the screen with his bloodshot eyes. He closed his eyes and pulled the lever. The oxygen supply to these soldiers were cut off.


    Very soon, someone realized the change in the control room. One of the soldiers eximed in excitement. ¡°There is an abundance of oxygen in the control room.¡± He saw the oxygen supply increased from 30 minutes to more than 10 hours.¡±


    The other soldiers in the control room saw hope again. ¡°Did the oxygen system start functioning properly again? This is good!¡± Some soldiers even cried uncontrobly. They were unable to handle the sudden surprise.


    One of the soldiers wanted to send this good news to his friends in the starship. He changed the screen in front of him. However, all he saw were people gasping for air and falling to the ground in pain. Some rushed towards the door of the control room and tried to force the door opened.


    This scene caused him to jump. He shouted in fear, ¡°Senior officer, the starship...¡±


    ¡°Boom!¡± A punchnded on his stomach. He fell to the ground in pain. He could no longer continue his sentence.


    ¡°Ai¡¯er Beili, cut off all images to save power,¡± The officer stood beside the soldier that was lying on the ground and ordered his confidant in a cold voice.


    ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Ai¡¯er Beili immediately shut off all the screens.


    The soldiers in the control room looked at their officer with different expressions. Some had fear in their eyes while others looked lost. Some understood what their officer wanted to do. However, no one dared to say anything.


    ¡°We need to live. No matter what crimes we havemitted, we must live for the sake of the 4867 soldiers on the Aoluo Ship,¡± The officer said in a cold and vicious tone.


    A few secondster, one of the soldiers shouted, ¡°I will follow Captain Ao Duo¡¯er.¡±


    The other soldiers regained their senses and shouted, ¡°We will follow Captain Ao Duo¡¯er.¡±


    Captain Ao Duo¡¯er revealed a satisfied smile. He looked at Ai¡¯er Beili. Ai¡¯er Beili nced at the soldier that was lying on the ground in pain. He reminded the Captain Ao Duo¡¯er, ¡°Captain, Luo Mo was just agitated. He didn¡¯t mean to offend you. Please forgive him this time.¡±


    The captain looked at Luo Mo and smirked. He waved his hand to ask Ai¡¯er Beili to bring him away.


    Ai¡¯er Beili instantly went up and held Luo Mo up. He brought Luo Mo to the restroom which was beside the control room. He sighed and said, ¡°Luo Mo, this is a lesson for you. Remember to control your temper next time. The captain hates people who screams and shouts.¡±


    Luo Mo raised his eyes. They were bloodshot. He begged Ai¡¯er Beili. ¡°Major Ai¡¯er Beili, you must save them. Please save them!¡±


    Ai¡¯er Beili looked surprised. ¡°Luo Mo, what happened?¡±


    ¡°There is no more oxygen in the starship. It must be the captain. If not, there would not be so much oxygen in the control room. The captain sacrifice his 400rades in order to survive. He is a criminal.¡±


    Ai¡¯er Beili got a shock. Luo Mo grabbed his hand. ¡°Major, only you can save them. Stop the captain. Please stop the captain.¡±


    ¡°But, if the captain survive, you survive too. Are you going to give up this chance to survive?¡±


    Luo Mo was firm. ¡°If my life is built on the death of 400 brother-in-arms, I rather die with them. At least I will not feel remorse...¡±


    Ai¡¯er Beili patted Luo Mo¡¯s shoulder in satisfaction. ¡°Luo Mo, you are indeed a strong warrior of Yagulin. I am proud of you.¡±


    Luo Mo shook his head furiously. ¡°No. I am just doing what I...¡± He suddenly grabbed the hand that was strangling him. However, Ai¡¯er Beili was at the peak of refinement. As a soldier that just advanced to manifestation, he was not Ai¡¯er Beili¡¯s match at all.


    Luo Mo got weaker. In the end, he stopped struggling. Ai¡¯er Beili looked at the dead Luo Mo and snorted, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to kill you but you seek your own death. Even if I want to, no one in the control room will want to share they oxygen with other people. Little brat, before you reincarnate, remember that the most important thing is your own life.¡±


    Ai¡¯er Beili carried Luo Mo¡¯s corpse and walked to the rubbish processing equipment. He threw Luo Mo into the equipment. Very soon, after the equipment processed the corpse, Luo Mo would became rubbish in the gxy.


    Ai¡¯er Beili went back to the control room. The captain looked at him. Ai¡¯er Beili nodded. They quickly shifted their gaze away.


    The control room was silent. All the operation soldiers were looking for signs of life around them. They all knew that they elongated their life from half an hour to more than ten hours. If no starships or cruise ships pass by this area within the next ten hours, they would still die.


    Twenty minutes passed. A soldier suddenly shouted in excitement, ¡°We received a foreign signal source a moment ago.¡±


    Everyone in the control room cheered when they heard this news. The captain¡¯s eyes lit up, He immediately said, ¡°Increase the range and search for the source of the signal. Send out a distress signal every 10 seconds.¡±


    ¡°Yes, captain!¡± Everyone started working.


    On the Feiyang Ship.


    ¡°Captain, we received a foreign signal source.¡± One of the surveince personnel immediately reported to his superior.


    ¡°I understand. Try to see what it says.¡± His superior gave him a reply quickly.


    ¡°Yes,¡± The surveince personnel replied.


    ¡°Also, don¡¯t call me captain. Call me leader. Remember that.¡± His superior added on. They were on a cruise ship now. They shouldn¡¯t be using military terms.


    ¡°Ah! I understand!¡± The personnel was enlightened. He muttered the word ¡®leader¡¯ to himself a few times. He must remember this. He didn¡¯t want to get punished when he went back.


    To make up for his mistake, he worked harder and finally managed to decode the signal. ¡°Ca... Leader, it is a distress signal.¡±


    His leader tensed up and asked hurriedly, ¡°Where is the location?¡±


    If no military vessels or cruise ships passed by, the ships in distress rarely got saved. Hence, all the countries came up with a joint deration that no matter which country they were from, whether they were military vessels or cruise ships, once they received a distress signal in the gxy, they must save the ship.


    ¡°I am still searching.¡± The personnel said dejectedly. The signal source was too faint so he was unable to trace its location quickly.


    As time went by, the signal got stronger. This meant that the location where the signal wasing from was in front of the cruise ship. The cruise ship didn¡¯t need to go off its assigned path.


    ¡°The location is confirmed. The assigned number of the signal is decoded too. It is a starship from Yagulin.¡±


    This news was passed on to the captain of the Feiyang Ship. In the captain¡¯s room, two people sat opposite each other with a recreation game ced on the coffee table in front of them. It was a game with a long history¡ª¡ªChinese Chess.


    The energetic man who was around 40 years old moved his ¡®Pao¡¯ on the chessboard and said, ¡°Let me see where you will move your ¡®Che¡¯.¡± He was the general manager of the Feiyang Ship.


    Another 40 year old man was sitting opposite him. This man looked more fierce. He was the captain of the ship. The general manager saw that the captain was pondering so he asked casually, ¡°Are we really going to save the Yagulin¡¯s starship?¡±


    ¡°Do we have a choice? The human race made a joint deration on this. If someone found out that we ignored their distress signal, Huaxia will be condemned.¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to save them, no one would know.¡± The general manager shook his head. He had worked with the captain for a long time and knew him well. ¡°Tell me, what ns do you have?¡±


    The captain shrugged. ¡°What ns can I have?¡± He took his ¡®Xiang¡¯ off the chessboard and blocked the opponent¡¯s ¡®Pao¡¯.


    The general manager¡¯s focus was brought back into the game. He touched his chess piece and thought about something.


    ¡°You want to fish in troubled waters?¡± The general manager seemed to understand what the captain wanted to do. He frowned. ¡°Themander wanted us to help the six battle teams. If you do this, you are creating trouble for them.¡±


    The captain smiled. ¡°You are thinking too much. Those six battle teams might have to thank me instead. I gave them an opportunity to clear some of the suspects away.¡±


    He didn¡¯t like those unknown factions who take his ship like the backyard of their house.


    The manager sighed. He knew that he was going to get busy soon. The captain said it as if it was extremely simple. However, he would have to clear up any mess that the captain make so that everything would go ording to n.


    Very soon, the Feiyang Ship found the broken starship and saved the remaining 25 people left in the central control room. When the 25 people from Yagulin boarded the Feiyang Ship, they broke down and cried. They managed to escape from death.


    A few of the Yagulin people who knew the truth felt pity towards the 400 soldiers. If they knew that a cruise ship would pass by within half an hour, they would have taken the risk and their brother-in-arms might have survived.


    ¡°We have sent people to investigate the forsaken military vessel. There is no information on the ship at all. The people from Yagulin are very cautious. They didn¡¯t leave behind any information for us to understand them. They destroyed all their documents.¡± The general manager told the captain about the information he just received. ¡°However, the soldiers in the two starships didn¡¯t die from an attack. They died from suffocation. We suspect that the oxygen pipes had malfunctioned.¡±


    The captain¡¯s hand stopped in mid-air. ¡°Inform the people guarding them to be careful. If they notice anything amiss, don¡¯t catch them. Just move away from them.


    ¡°What happened?¡± The captain¡¯s order caused an rm to trigger in the mind of the general manager.


    The captain gave a bitter smile. ¡°I might have brought unnecessary trouble to everyone on the ship.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± The general manager was stunned. Their captain was not someone who would regret his actions.


    ¡°Ask them to investigate the central control room. Was there an abundance of oxygen inside?¡± The captain reminded him.


    The general manager quickly contacted his subordinates. After a while, he answered the captain with a dark face. ¡°They tried their best to repair the optical supeputer of the military vessel. Although it is not confirmed, the oxygen in the control room couldst for more than 8 hours.¡±


    Onecked oxygen while the other had ample oxygen. There was definitely something amiss.


    Very soon, the staff members on the Feiyang Ship received an order.


    ¡°Be aware of the people from Yagulin?¡± Ling Lan touched her chin as she thought about this message which Little Four obtained by hacking into the optical supeputer of the Feiyang Ship.


    Before she could arrive at any conclusion, the next message that Little Four sent her cleared her doubts. If it was her, she would send out the warning too.

 Chapter 622 - A Hero Saves the Damsel!

    <h4>Chapter 622: A Hero Saves the Damsel!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Feiyang ship continued to fly while they contacted the government of Yagulin. When Yagulin government knew that Feiyang ship had saved the Yagulin troopers who managed to stay alive, they were instantly grateful to Feiyang ship¡¯s staffs. The two parties agreed to meet up at Yagulin¡¯s Mona sector. Yagulin will be sending a military warship to bring the twenty-five survivors back home.


    Of course after doing such a favour to Yagulin, the Feiyang ship was given a promise by the government of Yagulin. In the future, Feiyang ship would receive protective services from the Yagulin military whenever it flies past the Yagulin¡¯s sector. It could be predicted that as long as there was no change in the power structure within Yagulin¡¯s government, the Feiyang Ship would be able to move about smoothly within Yagulin¡¯s sector.


    In about 18 more hours, Feiyang would be able to arrive to the sector where Mona was located. The entire ship seemed very quiet. More than 90% of the passengers and crew members were in deep sleep. Although there wasn¡¯t much difference in terms of night and day, everyone still moved about and rested through their habits based on their biological clocks.


    In between the third and fourth floor, a storage room was temporarily cleared out. Yagulin¡¯s twenty-five survivors were staying in this room.


    Ai¡¯er Beili suddenly held onto his stomach. He looked nauseated, with drops of cold sweat running down his forehead. Very quickly, his mouth began to foam and he fell to the floor. The captain¡¯s expression instantly changed. He immediately mmed on the door and yelled, ¡°Help, help!¡±


    The door was quickly opened. The two staff members who were guarding the door saw the scene inside and instantly turned pale. One of them immediately darted into the room and ced his hand on Ai¡¯er Beili¡¯s neck.


    ¡°Little He, I¡¯ll take him to get medical help immediately.¡± The person that spoke lifted up Ai¡¯er Beili and walked out of the room.


    The door was closed once again. After around 3 minutester, the captain suddenly bent his body with a painful expression on his face. People beside him quickly supported his body and said with panic in their voices, ¡°Captain, what¡¯s wrong?¡±


    The captain pointed towards the door while he was in agony. Everyone understood and the person closest to the door mmed the door again.


    The door was opened once again. There was only one staff member now as the other one who took Ai¡¯er Beili had not returned yet.


    ¡°Our captain is in trouble. Please help him,¡± the troopers screamed. The staff member suddenly didn¡¯t know what to do.


    ¡°Help... me... please...¡± the captain said while in pain.


    The staff member hesitated for a second then connected to his superiors, ¡°Leader, they have people here consecutively needing emergency medical attention. Elder Brother Yao had already taken one person and now only I¡¯m left. What should I do?¡±


    ¡°Take the person who needs emergency medical attention to the treatment room first. I will send some people down there immediately.¡± the team leader knew the urgency of the situation and gave an order.


    ¡°Yes leader.¡±


    The staff member motioned to the troopers from Yagulin to hand their captain to him then he locked the door.


    The storage room returned to peace and quiet once again. After a while, one trooper was worried and asked, ¡°Do you guys think the captain and that staff officer will be in trouble?¡±


    Everyone was silent. After a short while, a voice rang, ¡°They¡¯ll be fine,¡± said one trooper whose expression was optimistic but dark. It was as though he sneered with a hint of arrogance.


    Little He took the captain into the elevator. The treatment room was on the first floor. Right when he got to the second floor and was about to keep going down, Little He saw that the door that was originally closed on the second floor was now open.


    He hesitated for a second. Right when he wanted to go out and take a look, the captain suddenly coughed severely. There was actually a little bit of blood trickling down the side of his lips. Seeing this, Little He was bing more concerned. If something actually happened to this captain, they wouldn¡¯t be able to give Yagulin a good excuse. Thus, he stopped himself from wanting to take a look at the second floor and continued to bring the captain down the elevator...


    On the second floor, Ling Lan and her team were in their room. Ling Lan, who had her eyes closed this entire time, suddenly opened her eyes and sat up silently.


    Ling Lan¡¯s movement surprised everyone else. Qi Long, Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng all sat up at the same time. Li Yingjie and Lin Zhong-qing was only slower by a second.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong Boss?¡± Qi Long asked softly.


    Ling Lan thought for a second andid back down, ¡°Nothing, just go to sleep. When we wake up, the show will start.¡±


    Qi Long and the others looked at each other. None of them knew what Ling Lan was going on about. However, they knew that if Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to say it, they wouldn¡¯t be able to force it out of her no matter how hard they tried. Thus they allid back down, but they no longer wanted to sleep.


    For Ling Lan, although she wasn¡¯t out of her room, the situation on the outside was being broadcasted to her by Little Four. It was all within her control.


    Li Lanfeng nced at Ling Lan with a thought provoking expression. He thenid back down and not long after, he actually fell asleep...


    ¡°You pig!¡± Li Yingjie looked down on Li Lanfeng for being in such deep sleep. Qi Long and Zhao Jun bothughed as though they had understood something. Soon, they also rxed and actually went to sleep.


    ¡°Sh*t, they actually all fell asleep. Are they not even the least bit curious of what Boss Lan meant by the ¡®show will start¡¯?¡± Li Yingjie thought to himself in dismay.


    ¡°Just go to sleep. Boss said that we¡¯ll know when we wake up. That means there¡¯s still some time before it happens. Since that¡¯s the case, we should use this time to rest up to be able to better handle the situation...¡± Lin Zhong-qing who was sleeping on the top bunk with Li Yingjie on the bottom bunk yawned and said. After not even three seconds, Li Yingjie could tell that Lin Zhong-qing had fallen asleep as well.


    ¡°All a bunch of pigs!¡± Li Yingjie felt depressed. His head was filled with the ¡®show¡¯ Boss Lan had mentioned. How could he fall asleep?


    After around three hours, Feiyang¡¯s emergency rm suddenly rang and instantly woke everyone who were asleep.


    The five of them instantly opened their eyes and sat straight up.


    ¡°The show has started?¡± Qi Long said with excitement in his eyes.


    Li Lanfeng picked up the jacket he had hanging on the side and began putting it on. Zhao Jun jumped down from the top bunk, put on his pants then finished suiting up.


    After around two to three seconds, everyone had already put on their clothes and looked to be full of energy. Only Li Yingjie opened his reddened eyes and looked as though his entire body was going to wither and die.


    Ling Lan was the slowest. She was getting ready to put on a rxing jacket. Before she put it on, she nced at the others coldly. She then pulled out half of her shirt to have it appeared outside of the jacket. Everyone else instantly had a realization and immediately made themselves look as though they scrambled to get dressed. After hearing a sudden rm, these guys were actually able to make themselves look spiffy in such a short amount of time. It was clear that this was something normal students wouldn¡¯t be able to do.


    Not long after, a person appeared on the screens in all of the passenger¡¯s room...


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you all five minutes. If you people don¡¯t gather on the 4th floor ballroom within five minutes, Feiyang ship will go ¡®bang¡¯ bing space debris in this sector. And you lot will stay here forever just like the ship,¡± Ai¡¯er Beili said with a huge smile through the screens.


    At the same time, all the doors of each room were opened...


    However, many people did not step out. No one knew what awaited them if they left their rooms. At the same time, there weren¡¯t any people outside of their rooms forcing them to leave. They of course would not want to leave.


    ¡°Oh my. Looks like my words were not taken seriously. What should I do?¡± Ai¡¯er Beili¡¯s expression became frustrated. He suddenly remembered something then smiled once again, ¡°I put a little something on the second floor. Since no one believes me, I¡¯ll just let this little something to introduce itself to everyone.¡±


    Right after, an explosion erupted causing the entire ship to shake uncontrobly. Thick smoke and fire began to spread through the second floor. All the lights on the second floor instantly stopped working.


    Feiyang¡¯s self protection system had activated. The sprinklers automatically sprayed out water and the backup lights were turned on. Even though it wasn¡¯tpletely dark, the entire second floor was filled with thick smoke. All the passengers began screaming and yelling.


    At that moment, Ai¡¯er Beili¡¯s expression suddenly changed again, no longer smiling, ¡°That was only to greet everyone. If you lot keep taking your precious timeing out, I won¡¯t give you all a second chance.¡±


    The second floor were mostly regr passengers who were all terrified. Everyone darted out of their rooms in terror and went for the fourth floor.


    In the control room, Feiyang¡¯s captain¡¯splexion was pale. He looked at the person sitting in front of him and said, ¡°You people must have gone mad. You actually set up such a terrifying explosive on a cruise ship.¡±


    The other captain, who was originally supposed to be in the treatment room, shook his head, ¡°No, no, no, that was only a way to make sure you all listen to our demands. If they had listened to us at the very start, we wouldn¡¯t have detonated it. You should know that TNT is really difficult to acquire. I also felt really bad for wasting so much just like that.¡±


    The expression of the captain of the ship looked grim. He didn¡¯t think that these people actually boarded with an explosive weapon used thousands of years ago. As luck would have it, only this type of weapon was impossible to be detected by modern technology. What was more terrifying was that someone was willing to put his life on the line and had something as terrifying as explosives in his luggage disguised as cigarettes and hide it inside the cigarette box.


    Not only that, these people also actually had an imperial level hacker hidden among them... This caused the captain of the ship to have a hole in his n. The situation was now beyond his control.


    On the third floor, Senior Colonel Meng Shangyuan saw what was happening and frowned, ¡°Trouble!¡±.


    ¡°Captain, what should we do?¡± his team members saw him frown and all looked towards him.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the fourth floor first and make our move once we have the chance.¡± They were part of an intergctic adventure group. Faced with a situation like this, it would be wrong if they didn¡¯t make a move unless they weren¡¯t confident and couldn¡¯t help but let the situation y out.


    The 1st Division¡¯s Senior Colonel¡¯s Iron Curtain Battle Team wasn¡¯t the only one who wanted to make a move. The 13th Division¡¯s Lieutenant Colonel Kang Jiayan¡¯s Startup Battle Team (also part of the intergctic adventure group) and the 17th Division¡¯s Lieutenant Colonel Wang Anzhong¡¯s Immortal Battle Team (part of the intergctic smuggling ring) were also preparing to make a move.


    ¡°Your majesty, what should we do?¡± Inside the quarters of the princess, the 3rd Division¡¯s Senior Colonel Mu Youyun¡¯s Whirlwind Battle Team (part of the princess¡¯s royal guard) along with the 9th Division¡¯s Lieutenant Colonel Qian Jialin¡¯s Brave Warriors Battle Team (part of the servants and chambeins of the princess) had both arrived next to the princess.


    Prince Gulibaduo calmly looked towards Senior Colonel Mu Youyun. ¡°Please help me Mr. Mu.¡± In order to avoid exposing them, Princess Gulibaduo call the two captains by their surnames.


    Mu Youyun calmly replied, ¡°We will see how the situation unfolds. If it does not threaten our safety, then I suggest we just watch how it unfolds.¡± Making moves blindly was not an option. Additionally, there were too many unknown powers among them, Mu Youyun didn¡¯t know whether this incident was aimed to the princess. It was never wrong to observe first before making a move.


    Qian Jialin was in agreement with Mu Youyun¡¯s suggestion. Princess Gulibaduo saw that both captains had the same thoughts and understood. She then took everyone towards the fourth floor.


    The people who had already arrived on the fourth floor were ordered to put their hands behind their heads. Almost no one dared to do anything to resist because of the threat of an explosion.


    The people on the fourth floor were not limited to Feiyang¡¯s passengers. A portion of the survivors from Yagulin, who were originally watched by the guards, were also on the fourth floor. Under their captain¡¯s orders, they began to watch over these passengers that had gathered up. There were a few who went to check the second and third floor to see if any passengers were trying to escape.


    As for Feiyang¡¯s staff members and guards, they were stuck on the first floor. Feiyang¡¯s mainframe had already fallen under the control of these hijackers. They closed off important passages and tunnels which made the staff members and guards unable to move up to try and control the situation. This was why Yagulin managed to take control of the ship with only a small number of people.


    Ling Lan saw this and realized that these survivors from Yagulin were preparing to take them as hostages in order to negotiate with the Feiyang¡¯s captain. Once the Feiyang¡¯s captain had given up, the hijackers would then talk about a ransom with Yagulin. In short, Ling Lan and the others needed to keep up their roles as hostages until the very end. If Yagulin was to agree to the hijackers¡¯ demands, it would be possible for them to escape. If they didn¡¯t agree to their demands then maybe everyone will be sacrifices for this incident...


    Ling Lan still decided to watch from the side. The only reason she was so daring was because she could still diffuse the situation. Also, she did indeed want to know how many were on Feiyang who took an interest in the princess.


    With a decision in mind, Ling Lan squeezed into her tourist group a bit more and pretended to be terrified. Her behavior made a few mothers in the group had expressions of worry. The mothers moved aside a bit and hid Ling Lan and her team behind them. Some people were softlyforting Ling Lan¡¯s group. They were afraid that they were too terrified and would do something impulsive which in turn could cause something bad to ur.


    On the bridge of the ship, the captain of Feiyang said depressingly, ¡°What do you people want us to do if you made the passengers gather up together?¡± In order to be sure of his passengers¡¯ safety, he had no choice but to agree to their demands.


    ¡°Cooperate with us. We don¡¯t want to go to Yagulin, we need to go to Duokaba.¡± the leader of the hijackers gave his demand.


    ¡°That¡¯s not possible. Duokaba is not on the course of our flight,¡± the captain of Feiyang denied immediately.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s see who can keep this up longer,¡± the leader of the hijackers said nonchntly.


    The captain of the ship squirmed worriedly and his finger randomly tap on his table. The leader of the hijackers sneered as he saw that the captain was panicking. As expected of a captain of a cruise ship. These captains that used their family connections to acquire these positions were all useless.


    On the screen of the ballroom on the fourth floor, Ai¡¯er Beili was smiling at the crowd of people who had bent down with their hands on their heads, ¡°Very good. I like children who listens. As long as Feiyang¡¯s captain satisfies our demands, we promise we won¡¯t harm any of you one bit.¡±


    These words made many regr passengers had hope in their eyes, but those from the third floor showed expressions of disdain. Those words could only fool themon folk. No one knew what these crazy terrorists could end up doing. This was also why the people from the third floor were waiting, otherwise with their capabilities and power, they wouldn¡¯t cooperate with the terrorists.


    Right at that moment, a bookworm-like young man suddenly raised his head and asked, ¡°Are you guys nning on changing the course of the flight?¡±


    Ai¡¯er Beili looked towards the direction of the hostages in surprise, ¡°Looks like there aren¡¯t only just dumb people among you.¡±


    ¡°Feiyang won¡¯t allow that.¡± The young man shook his head and said.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Ai¡¯er Beili asked while smiling.


    ¡°If they agree, you all will be less likely to live,¡± responded the young man in a calm manner.


    ¡°We are not that easily killed,¡± said Ai¡¯er Beili as he shook his head. ¡°We are soldiers.¡±


    ¡°No, you people are executioners,¡± said the young man with disdain. ¡°In order to acquire power, you lot repressed citizens who opposed you. In what way are you people worthy to be called soldiers?¡±


    Ai¡¯er Beili frowned. His smile had disappeared and what showed was bloodthirstiness and killing intent, ¡°Kid, something shouldn¡¯t be said...¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that right though?¡± the young man raised his head with pride. ¡°You think controlling Feiyang will let you do whatever you want?¡±


    Right when Ai¡¯er Beili wanted to respond, his expression suddenly changed. Then the video on the big screen became blurry.


    ¡°Little Four?¡± Ling Lan asked Little Four.


    ¡°It¡¯s the imperial level hacker making a move,¡± responded Little Four. ¡°Of course to be able to have an effect this quickly was because I silently helped them.¡±


    ¡°Do you know who it is?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    ¡°I know. It¡¯s this person.¡± Little Four took a screenshot of the ballroom and enhanced it for Ling Lan to see. Ling Lan then discovered that the person in question had his eyes closed and those around him were cleverly surrounding him. This cut off everyone¡¯s line of sight from seeing him. If Little Four didn¡¯t survey the ballroom from every corner possible with zero blind spots, it was possible that Ling Lan would also be fooled.


    ¡°A passenger from the third floor. The data indicates that he¡¯s called Luo Chengwen. He is the second son-inw of the Federation¡¯s Yun family who owns franchises of various malls.¡± Little Four showed all of the information about them within these past few years. The mountain of papers almost buried Ling Lan at the bottom.


    ¡°Little Four!¡± Ling Lan red at him coldly.


    ¡°Alright, only this one is useful.¡± Little Four shuddered and immediately took back the mountain of papers. In the end, he left only one piece and gave it to Ling Lan.


    ¡°Yun family...¡± This family was a small family in the Federation. They had some power but were not significant. Why would an imperial level hacker hide within such a small family? Ling Lan didn¡¯t believe the data that said he joined the family because of true love.


    ¡°Who was the young man that was bold and reckless just now?¡± Ling Lan continued to ask.


    ¡°The Yun family¡¯s first generation¡¯s seventh son. Self-proimed, the Second Sherlock Holmes, Yun Feiyang,¡± replied Little Four.


    ¡°Could it be that Yun Feiyang knows that Luo Chengwen is a hacker?¡±


    ¡°He knows. He just doesn¡¯t know the real level of the hacker. It¡¯s possible that everyone in the Yun family don¡¯t know about it too.¡± Little Four said without certainty. After all, the Yun family had just fallen into his sights. While being a hurry, Little Four could only see the data on the surface and did not know anything deeper.


    ¡°A while back, was the imperial level hacker who attempted to take control of Feiyang¡¯s mainframe, him?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    ¡°Yes, without a doubt. He¡¯s the only imperial level hacker on the ship. I remembered his scent.¡± Little Four sniffed to show that his nose was very sensitive and could not be mistaken.


    Ling Lan rolled her eyes and instantly smacked Little Four¡¯s head. Remembered his scent? Little Four actually made himself to a dog?


    ¡°Little Four, put the Yun family under full observation and surveince, especially this Luo Chengwen.¡± Ling Lan made a decision. No matter what the hacker¡¯s intent was, Luo Chengwen and the Yun family had been registered under her list of people to be cautious of.


    The image on the screen was still blurry. Seeing this, Yun Feiyang suddenly shouted, ¡°This a chance, let¡¯s go!¡±


    Many silhouettes suddenly jumped out beside the troopers and instantly struck down the 10 or so troopers down onto the ground.


    Although Ling Lan had her head down the entire time, she still knew everything that was happening because of Little Four. She knew that three disguised groups in the adventure group and the smuggling group had made their moves. Of course, other people acted as well, including the people Ling Lan had discovered earlier along with a few regr passengers who had some capabilities. This was also because the troopers from Yagulin were too weak, thus giving these regr passengers the courage to fight.


    The situation on the fourth floor was temporarily under control, but the real danger hadn¡¯t been resolved yet. If the control of Feiyang¡¯s mainframe was not taken back, they would still be the enemy¡¯s ythings. After all, in deep space, if the passengers wanted to survive, they had to rely on Feiyang ship.


    Everyone stood up. After temporarily been given back their freedom, everyone looked at therge screen, waiting for the final result to appear.


    Finally after tossing and turning, therge screen returned to its original state. This time the person that appeared on it was no longer Ai¡¯er Beili, but a refined middle-aged man smiling towards everyone.


    Yun Feiyang was overjoyed, ¡°We¡¯ve regained control.¡±


    Right after he finished speaking, everyone instantly jumped and cheered. In the crowd, Ling Lan¡¯s expression changed a little and immediately held down Qi Long and Zhao Jun who had slow reactions.


    At that moment, two people suddenly stood up and two strands of silver light flew out from their hands. The silver light flew towards the princess who also had an expression of joy and terror at the same time.


    Yun Feiyang also saw this. His expression changed instantly and he jumped toward the silver lights while shouting, ¡°Quick, dodge!¡±


    One silver light was blocked by Yun Feiyang. He groaned and fell into the crowd. The Yun family¡¯s guards panicked and yelled, ¡°Seventh Young Master.¡±


    ¡°Ding¡± Mu Youyun tossed out a coin and shot down the silver light. At that moment everyone could clearly see that the strands of silver light were small knives. One of the knives had a coin stuck onto it.


    ¡°Our Seventh Young Master is wounded. Who¡¯s a doctor here?¡± shouted the guard from the Yun family while everyone still hadn¡¯t recovered from the surprise of the knives.


    The knife had cut through Yun Feiyang¡¯s right arm. The wound had blood pouring out and instantly bloodied his sleeve.


    Seeing this, Princess Gulibaduo quickly said, ¡°I have medicine for his wounds here.¡± She immediately ordered her servant to take the medicine over. After all, he was wounded because of her. Princess Gulibaduo was very grateful and didn¡¯t want him to be hurt.


    The medicine was very effective and quickly stopped the bleeding. Yun Feiyang¡¯s face was pale butforted the guard beside him, ¡°I¡¯m alright. If everyone¡¯s alright, then that¡¯s good enough.¡±


    The two assassins were already caught by Mu Youyun¡¯s team members. Unfortunately these two were loyalists. Seeing that they had failed, they didn¡¯t hesitate to suicide. There wasn¡¯t any hope for Mu Youyun to acquire any information from them anymore.


    ¡°A hero saving a damsel in distress?¡± Ling Lan frowned. ¡°Trying to get on the princess¡¯s good side? Get close to the princess? Or other ns?¡±


    ¡°It really is troublesome,¡± Ling Lan thought to herself. She discovered that it was now impossible to silently guard the princess andplete the mission.


    Yun Feiyang¡¯s move made him have the chance to get closer to the princess. However, for someone who Ling Lan did not know whether they were a friend or a foe to have the opportunity to get close to the princess made Ling Lan worried about the princess¡¯ safety.

 Chapter 623 - Destruction!

    <h4>Chapter 623: Destruction!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Of course, in the ballroom, the princess¡¯ area was not the only ce that had some activity. Other ces had some activities as well. Ling Lan was certain that these activities were the other three battle teams using this opportunity to clean out the people they had confirmed to be a threat...


    However, this had nothing to do with Ling Lan¡¯s group. They were the mostmon out of allmoners in this incident. However, the threedies who were a problem were not affected by this incident. It seemed that the behavior of these women and the threat they imposed did not warrant the other battle teams to consider them as actual threats.


    Not long after, Feiyang¡¯s guards got to the fourth floor because the control of the ship was taken back by Yun Feiyang¡¯s uncle-inw. The guards quickly took control of the situation. Although the second floor had taken some damage, it did not damage the ship too much as it was very sturdy.


    Inside the captain¡¯s quarters, the leader of hijackers saw his confidant who was on the screen disappeared. He sighed as he put his hands up to show that he was surrendering. He said to the captain, ¡°You win. I didn¡¯t think you actually had an imperial level hacker here.¡±


    The captain looked at the leader of the hijacker with an expression of disbelief. His expression didn¡¯t brighten up but instead became gloomier.


    ¡°Looks like he isn¡¯t one yours.¡± The leader of the hijackers saw through the captain. Heughed bitterly, ¡°You¡¯re so lucky.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m almost always lucky, but I never depend on luck.¡± The captain responded calmly.


    The leader of the hijackers¡¯ expression changed. His originally calm mood changed slightly, ¡°You... were actually faking it just now?¡±


    At that moment, a person appeared on the big screen. He was the operations manager of Feiyang, ¡°I thank the Yun family¡¯s help in this matter. The control of Feiyang has been recovered back. We will immediately clean out the rest of Yagulin¡¯s forces. Everyone please cooperate with us and temporarily stay on the fourth floor to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think that Feiyang would actually have an imperial hacker on the ship.¡± The leader of the hijackers saw the person on the screen and realized that he had probably fallen into a trap.


    ¡°Actually, your trump card was always under our control. It was just that we needed a chaotic environment, so we just yed along.¡± The captain revealed the truth.


    ¡°No wonder that we were so lucky that we would be able to hear your staff members talk to each other about how you have proof that I sacrificed 400 soldiers to save my own skin. You forced me to make a move for my freedom.¡± Yagulin¡¯s forces¡¯ leader finally understood why there were only two people guarding them. Even when one had left, there wasn¡¯t a new staff member that reced him. In the beginning, he thought this was a cruise ship where all of its safety procedures were iparable with warships. Now that he thought about it, it was only the captain making it easy for him and his people which gave them the courage to cause a scene.


    Yagulin¡¯s forces¡¯ leader sneered andughed. In order to survive, he sacrificed 400 soldiers in cold blood. The captain and his crew however did not hesitate to sacrifice their own staff members to create chaos. They didn¡¯t even care about the passengers¡¯ safety. In reality, these people were just as cold-blooded as him.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think that you would actually be willing to sacrifice two of your staff members and the safety of the passengers...¡± Yagulin¡¯s forces¡¯ leader said mockingly. If the captain had turned a blind eye, then he didn¡¯t have to walk down this path of no return.


    ¡°Sacrifice?¡± The captainughed. ¡°Those two are at the peak of Qi-Jin aren¡¯t people that your little confidant, who has only just reached Qi-Jin, could kill.¡±


    Since he was certain the enemy was up to no good, why would the captain let his own soldiers to give up their own lives? The two people who were responsible for watching Yagulin¡¯s forces seemed very easily dismissed, but in reality, they were the strongest physical skills instructors on Feiyang. They were experts in assassinations and also knew how to pretend to be dead. If their enemies weren¡¯t Domain level experts, once these two had their guard up, even experts of simr level wouldn¡¯t be able to kill these two in one hit.


    The captain¡¯s words finally made the leader¡¯s expression changed from his originally calm expression. He didn¡¯t think that his n this time made him a chess piece to be used in someone else¡¯s n and at the same timepleting his enemy¡¯s n perfectly. In reality, it was someone else¡¯s n altogether and he himself just performed very poorly.


    ¡°You¡¯re more ruthless than me. In order to create chaos, you actually let us set such a terrifying explosive like TNT. I really do regret it. If we really could blow up a few people, I would really want to see your face after the fact.¡± Yagulin¡¯s leader bit his lip and said.


    The captain heard this and raised his eyebrows, ¡°Do I need to change the expression on my face? Isn¡¯t this incident created by you? We just need you to be responsible.¡± The captain said with confidence. He would just use Yagulin¡¯s forces as a shield without suffering any repercussions.


    The leader from Yagulin finally couldn¡¯t control his anger. He howled and pounced towards the captain who was just a few feet away from him. He didn¡¯t lose yet. As long as he took down the captain, he still had a chance.


    ¡°Bam!¡± the leader from Yagulin was struck down hard onto the ground.


    ¡°I said it before. You never had any chance,¡± said the captain while looking down at him in disdain.


    ¡°Domain! Who the hell are you?¡± The leader from Yagulin discovered that his peak level of Qi-Jin was actually notparable to the captain. Only Domain experts could counter his attack. Why would an average cruise ship have a captain of this level? This didn¡¯t make any sense.


    At that moment, the captain¡¯s door was finally opened. The guards who were blocked off outside rushed in.


    Seeing this, the energy in the captain¡¯s hand exploded and instantly wounded his now fainted opponent. Then he stood up and said, ¡°Take him to the heavy surveince and guard room.¡±


    ¡°Yes captain!¡± The team of guards quickly took away the leader from Yagulin.


    The captain sat back into his seat and connected to the operations manager, ¡°Is the situation under control?¡±


    ¡°Yes, with the Yun family lending a helping hand, we were given a chance to ambush them and was able to take them down in an instant.¡± The operations manager had an expression of worry, ¡°Who knew that Ai¡¯er Beili was an imperial level hacker and didn¡¯t give us any chance to make a move.¡± This was also why the staff members had missed the TNT explosives and let the enemy sessfully detonate the explosive. Although the captain was very calm and collected when he spoke with the leader from Yagulin, in reality, he knew that for some time the situation was out of their control. It was just that he couldn¡¯t let the enemy know the truth in case it weakened their own morale.


    ¡°What¡¯s the situation with the princess?¡± asked the captain.


    ¡°The people from the Yun family performed well and possibly drew the princess¡¯s attention...¡± said the operation manager with a serious expression.


    ¡°What about the four star battle teams from each division? Don¡¯t tell me they didn¡¯t use this opportunity to make a move.¡± The captain asked again.


    ¡°They made a move and used the opportunity to capture a few suspicious individuals. They definitely did clear out a whole group. I think Feiyang will be quiet for a while...¡± replied the operations manager as he smiled.


    ¡°Guess they¡¯re not stupid.¡± The captain snorted coldly.


    ¡°You¡¯re still mad that the mission for protecting the princess was taken by other divisions?¡± The operations manager knew the grudge the captain was holding.


    ¡°The Federation clearly knew that we were able to do it, but themander still wanted to find six four star battle teams... In the end, it was still our n that gave them the courage to clear out those suspicious individuals. Isn¡¯t it shameful for the four star battle teams?¡± The captain was very wicked.


    The operations manager decisively stopped speaking about this topic. His captain had resentment towards the four star battle teams. After all, his battle team had been stuck at three stars for a whole decade and still didn¡¯t have any hopes of advancing. This made the captain lost hope in them and was even green with envy towards four star battle teams. The only thing the captain didn¡¯t do yet was to fight these battle teams to vent out his anger and frustration.


    After 10 hours, Feiyang¡¯s side and Yagulin¡¯s side finally met up. They handed over Yagulin¡¯s survivors and terrorists to Yagulin. Feiyang¡¯s side also told Yagulin the real information they had discovered about the Yagulin¡¯s warship along with the terrorism and hijackingmitted by the survivors of Yagulin¡¯s warship. Yagulin¡¯s side was very apologetic about these series of events and promised that they will give Feiyang a satisfactory answer to the incident...


    Of course, everyone knew this was all just diplomacy. After all, Feiyang wasn¡¯t Yagulin¡¯s cruise ship. Yagulin didn¡¯t have the responsibility to protect Feiyang.


    Feiyang continued to fly. After clearing out a group of suspicious individuals, the people who had malicious ideas towards the princess obviously lessened by a lot. This also made the five battle teams around the princess breathe a sigh of relief. They now began to watch Yun Feiyang trying to woo the princess everyday. This scene added some delight to their long and arduous journey.


    One day, Yun Feiyang came to the princess¡¯ quarters. He carefully examined his attire and posture then pressed the doorbell.


    In an instant the door was opened. It was one of the servants. His bulky and manly face showed a hint of impatience. If he didn¡¯t have a cleaning tool in his hands, people would definitely mistaken him for a guard and not a janitor.


    ¡°You again?¡± The servant looked at Yun Feiyang¡¯s scrawny and weak body in disdain and didn¡¯t wee him. In the servant¡¯s eyes, the princess must marry someone strong. Yun Feiyang wasn¡¯t even qualified.


    Yun Feiyang was very patient. Even if the servant didn¡¯t wee him, he still had a smile on his face and asked, ¡°Is the princess here?¡±


    Before the servant could answer, a pompous voice rang, ¡°Hey, it¡¯s the idiot who doesn¡¯t know his ce and trying for someone way out of his league.¡±


    The servant didn¡¯t wee Yun Feiyang froming to look for the princess initially. Now that he saw someone else hade, he crossed his arms and watched the two of them coldly.


    Yun Feiyang heard this voice and couldn¡¯t help but shout, ¡°Sh*t, this guy again.¡±


    The person who spoke was called Ma Rao. He was a rich descendant with a decent background. His father was in the intergctic reselling business and had some connections. Howeverpared to elite families like Yun Feiyang¡¯s family, it wasn¡¯t even worth mentioning. He and Ma Rao didn¡¯t have any grudges against each other. It was just yesterday in the ballroom, no one was sure whether it was Yun Feiyang or Ma Rao who had bad luck. When Yun Feiyang walked past Ma Rao, he suddenly twisted his ankle and fell onto Yun Feiyang¡¯s back.


    It was obvious that Ma Rao wasn¡¯t prepared for a situation like this. When Yun Feiyang bumped into him, Ma Rao fell face first onto the ground. When he raised his head, his nose was gushing out blood. He also had some tears run down his face from the pain. Compared to his cocky expression from before, that pitiful look made everyone in the ballroomughed out loud. He hated Yun Feiyang from then onwards since he made a fool of himself in front of everyone.


    Afterwards, as long as the two of them met up with each other, Ma Rao would mock him. Then, after Ma Rao discovered that Yun Feiyang wanted to ask the princess out on a date, Ma Rao would try to do everything he can to stop Yun Feiyang.


    Yun Feiyang sighed. He turned around and said, ¡°Ma Rao, what do you want?¡±


    Ma Rao raised his head and said with pride, ¡°Nothing. I just don¡¯t like perverts like you.¡±


    Yun Feiyang was very angry. He had already apologized. When would this Ma Rao be satisfied and not watch him so closely? Yun Feiyang knew that the princess was a chance for a different life for him. If he actually returned with this beauty, not only would the Yun family be under his control, in the future, whether military or politics, all would go smoothly for him. As long as Bya remained as Huaxia Federation¡¯s ally, no one would dare to make it difficult for him, the son-inw of Bya.


    Additionally, the princess was very beautiful and indeed made him feel like he was in love. However, he was only in love with what the princess could give him. Any man with a little bit of ambition wouldn¡¯t be able to refuse such temptations.


    Ma Rao was without a doubt someone who was unreasonable. Yun Feiyang didn¡¯t want to speak to Ma Rao in front of the princess. He could only turn and leave. He was prepared to go back to his uncle-inw and discuss how to take out this irritating Young Master Ma...


    Seeing Yun Feiyang leave helplessly, Ma Rao lifted his head up high and snorted coldly. He looked towards the servant at the door. Their eyes met, but only for a moment. The servant then closed the door silently. To him, Ma Rao was a stranger. As the princess¡¯ servant, Ma Rao didn¡¯t have the status for him to give Ma Rao any good expressions.


    Ma Rao¡¯s mood instantly brightened up after he disrupted Yun Feiyang¡¯s n. He whistled as he slowly walked back to his own room.


    Since an explosion urred on the second floor, Young Master Ma Raopletely rejected the idea of staying on the second floor where he deemed to be very unsafe. His five followers helplessly agreed to upgrade with Ma Rao to live on the third floor. That was why Ma Rao could discover Yun Feiyang¡¯s n so quickly and take his revenge.


    Ma Rao and Yun Feiyang¡¯s quarrel was pretty much known to everyone living on the third floor. After all, the face nt and bloody nose on the fourth floor was a huge scene. Almost every passenger knew that two of them had be enemies after that incident.


    People were very enthusiastic regarding the quarrel between these two. The people wanted to know who would win this battle of wits... Intergctic travel was too boring, so the passengers couldn¡¯t help but find interesting things to pass the time.


    Right after Li Yingjie went back to his own room and closed the door, his arrogant and pompous behavior instantly changed, ¡°Boss, can I not do this anymore?¡±


    Li Yingjie was certain that the incident with him falling face first onto the ground was created by the Boss. Otherwise, how could he not be able to dodge Yun Feiyang? It was clear that he could easily dodge Yun Feiyang, but yet at the most crucial moment, Li Yingjie suddenly had no energy and was knocked away flying by Yun Feiyang andnded hard on his face... Oh my god! His image as a descendant of the Li family was ruined.


    When Li Yingjie thought about it, he would uncontrobly have tears build up in his eyes. However, he didn¡¯t dare to disagree with his scary Boss and could only do what he was told to do.


    Ling Lan was looking through the data of Yun family. When she heard Li Yingjie¡¯s words, she didn¡¯t even raise her head and replied, ¡°No!¡±


    Seeing Li Yingjie¡¯s depressed expression, Li Lanfeng smiled andforted, ¡°The six of us can stop him from getting close to the princess. And the only person who would not cause any suspicion to arise is you. Your performance just now was perfect. Keep up the good work.¡±


    Since they sent him to do the job, they also needed to praise him... and Li Yingjie was someone who liked hearing praises the most. Li Lanfeng would of course do something that Li Yingjie liked and then have Li Yingjie continue to work under Ling Lan.


    Li Yingjie¡¯s thoughts were very simple. Although Li Lanfeng hadn¡¯t known him for a very long time and was able to grasp what Li Yingjie liked and didn¡¯t like by 70% to 80%...


    Even though Li Yingjie behaved as though he didn¡¯t care about Li Lanfeng¡¯s praises, the smile that was bingrger andrger clearly showed the level of joy he felt.


    Li Yingjie looked at Ling Lan. Li Lanfeng¡¯spliment meant nothing. Boss Lan¡¯s praise was more important...


    Ling Lan felt Li Yingjie¡¯s burning desire and looked up...


    Ugh, this expression of looking forfort and praise made Ling Lan¡¯s lips twitch. Li Yingjie, what happened to your cockiness and pride?


    ¡°Of course!¡± Ling Lan finally gave in to Li Yingjie¡¯s puppy eyes that asking for affection and spoke these words. Then Ling Lan saw a long taile out from behind Li Yingjie and it began to wag crazily...


    It was possible that she had read too much of the information Little Four had provided to her. Her eyes were bing blurry! Ling Lan calmly stopped reading and gave herself a reason for doing so.


    After flying for two days, Feiyang finally left Yagulin and arrived at a somewhat more peaceful country ¡ª Odin Country.


    In Odin Country, Feiyang will be stopping in Kachi. The scenery on Kachi was very nice and was a first-ss for humans. However, these weren¡¯t the reasons why Kachi was known throughout the gxies. The only reason Kachi was very well known among the world of the humans was because it had one of the four natural phenomenons. A with rainbow rain.


    Anyone who wanted to see the rainbow rain would have to travel to Kachi to see it. Compared to other natural phenomenons that can be seen on multiples, the rainbow rain was one of a kind and was something humans pursued. During the times of the year when the rainbow rain was abundant, Kachi would have thousands of tourists visit. And the only reason Feiyang Ship came to Kachi was to let the passengers see the amazing rainbow rain.


    Princess Gulibaduo was also very interested in the rainbow rain she had yet to have a chance to see. Even if she knew that going outside would be very dangerous, it still wouldn¡¯t stop her from have such thoughts. Thus all the battle teams began to move about to make sure of the princess¡¯s safety in the time that they stop at Kachi.


    Compared to the other three battle teams who needed to find reasons to go outside, Ling Lan¡¯s didn¡¯t have such difficulties. After all they were tourists who traveled this far for the first time and would of course not miss out on a tour scenery like the rainbow rain.


    At dawn, Ling Lan¡¯s group stood back to back and met up with the rest of the tour group from Shunfeng Tour group. However after arriving at Kachi, the six of them requested for free time. Tour guide Zhou repeatedly reminded them about the time they were gathering. After Ling Lan¡¯s group nodded and promised their return, the six of them finally left therge group...


    The six of them quickly arrived to the lookout point the princess had booked beforehand. The lookout point was actually a penthouse garden in a five-storey building. The princess could sit in the garden. Most importantly, she would not be bothered by anyone and could fully enjoy the beauty of the rainbow rain.


    Of course Ling Lan¡¯s group was not as lucky as the princess. The ce Ling Lan and the others had booked was south of the princess¡¯ penthouse by one kilometer, a six-storey building. The penthouse didn¡¯t have a luxurious garden but only a t concrete roof. After they reach the top, they would have to check and guard this direction in order to make sure there weren¡¯t any threat to the princess while they watch the rainbow rain.


    The other three battle teams were responsible for the other three directions. Their distance from the princess was around the same as Ling Lan¡¯s group. They were all in buildings that were as tall or a bit taller than the one the princess had booked.

 Chapter 624 - An Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 624: An Attack!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The lookout point wasn¡¯t very high, the scenery wasn¡¯t the most beautiful and the view wasn¡¯t the best. However, for the princess¡¯ protection, Mu Youyun in the end chose a lower storey building to make it more convenient for him and the other 4 battle teams to hide around the location. The natural beauty of nature was indeed necessary to watch, but safety was also a factor that needed to be taken into consideration.


    Qi Long and the others were like tourists, walking around here and there as if they didn¡¯t know where they were going.


    When they arrived to the location Little Four had chosen for them, Ling Lan discovered that it was actually a half-abandoned factory. The new factory was moved to another location. The old location became a temporary warehouse and only had an old security guard at the front...


    Ling Lan observed it for a while. The buildings around here were old and short. This location was where a city was located a few centuries ago. There weren¡¯t many people living in the area and it can even be said that it was somewhat deste. It wasn¡¯t evenparable to the sight they encountered on the way to this location where there were skyscrapers in the new city. That location was full of life with roads that were filled with people.


    This old area was about to be demolished and rebuilt. Many inhabitants had already moved into the new city. The ones who remained were seniors who couldn¡¯t leave their homes in such a short period of time. This was one of the reasons why the old area seemed like a deste wastnd.


    However, theck of people had its advantages. If there were actually people preparing to attack the princess, they wouldn¡¯t have crowds of people to hide in. If these people made a move, they would be immediately be discovered.


    After confirming that this half-abandoned factory didn¡¯t have any surveince cameras, Ling Lan led her teammates past the sight of the old guard and darted into the factory. Afterwards, they chose the tallest office building within the factory and climbed up to the roof.


    There was a terrace on the roof. They then opened up their backpacks to take out some pipe-like materials. After some nking and clunking sounds, the six of them were finished assembling their own firearms.


    Ling Lan put together a long range sniper rifle with a range of 1500 meters.


    ¡°Boss, do you think that those people will make a move this time?¡± Li Yingjie asked as he finished assembling his weapon.


    Ling Lan lifted her sniper rifle and pointed it towards a far distance away to finalize calibrations. Hearing Li Yingjie¡¯s question, she replied, ¡°They will. This a good chance for those who want to assassinate the princess. They will definitely not miss this chance.¡±


    ¡°Will they being to our side?¡± Li Yingjie asked again.


    ¡°Who knows. They coulde from any four of the directions. We just need to be responsible for our side.¡± After calibrating her weapon, the sniper rifle had reached the peak of its performance. Ling Lan put the sniper rifle on the side.


    Lin Zhong-qing, who had also finished assembling his weapon, saw Ling Lan¡¯s action and immediately took out a high magnification scope from his backpack and gave it to Ling Lan. Ling Lan used it to look at the surrounding areas and tossed it back to Lin Zhong-qing.


    In reality, with Little Four surveying the area, Ling Lan didn¡¯t need a scope. The entire area of the old city was within her mindspace.


    Not long after, the princess and her group had arrived to the lookout point they had chosen. Ling Lan also saw that the other three battle teams had also reached the other three locations.


    Ling Lan and her group sat on the roof silently. After 10 minutes or so, the sky that was originally clear as far as the eye could see, suddenly had countless red clouds form. In an instant, the blue sky was dyed blood red...


    ¡°Crash!¡± Thunder rumbled in the sky. The lightning was in different colors,colors such as purple, red, blue and even white. These different colored shes of light shot down from the sky. Under the cover of the red clouds, it actually felt ominous, as though the lightning was alive. It was as though it wanted to be embraced by the people who watched it from the ground. While terrifying, it simultaneously made people drunk with its odd beauty.


    Ling Lan and her group all had sturdy mentalities. Even though lightning shot down beside them one after another, the six of them didn¡¯t move an inch. It was as though they were six lifeless statues.


    If people thought that one of the 4 natural wonders of the world was just a light show, then they would be wrong. When the colorful rain dropped from the red clouds, under the sunlight, the colors of the rainbow lit up the sky. Ling Lan actually felt as if she was in a fantasy world. It was like a dream, beautiful enough to make a person never forget it in their lifetime.


    Although the rainbow rain was beautiful, it was still just water. Ling Lan opened her palm and caught the rainbow-colored raindrops. It was sparkling and transparent, just like a rainbow colored gem that was filled with life as it rolled around Ling Lan¡¯s palm.


    ¡°Boss, it¡¯s so beautiful!¡± Little Four said dumbfounded as he was also in awe from this dream-like scene.


    Ling Lan looked at the raindrops on her palm. Suddenly she tilted her hand and the rainbow colored raindrops trickled down her palm and fell to the ground. The raindrops shattered and sshed up some rainbow colored drops from the ground, releasing its final radiance.


    Ling Lan released her aura. Her clothes that were originally soaked by the rainbow colored rain instantly became dry and could no longer be soaked. Anyone could see that there was ayer of shapeless aura around Ling Lan¡¯s body. The rainbow rain couldn¡¯t even touch her body.


    ¡°What¡¯s the point of it being beautiful? These droplets would in the end return to their source. The so-called rainbow colors were only clothes given to them by nature. They are still transparent by themselves,¡± Ling Lan said indifferently.


    Ling Lan had already seen through that it wasn¡¯t the rainbow colored rain that had different colors, but it was abination of different elements in nature. Thesebination coincidently made the raindrops in this ce into a fantasy-like scenery. In reality, it was the eyes of humans that were fooling themselves.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made the others all stop and thought deeply. They did the same as Ling Lan. When the rain drops fell on them, the others all released their aura and separated their bodies from the rainbow rain. The six of them seemed as though they were sitting in the rain, but in reality, the rain did not touch them and did not get wet.


    Right at that moment, Ling Lan¡¯s expression suddenly changed, ¡°There¡¯s movement!¡± She was the first to set up her sniper rifle and pointed it towards one direction.


    The other five dashed to their positions in an instant. They all picked up their weapons and pointed them towards the direction where the movement was detected.


    ¡°Unknown attackers have appeared in all four directions.¡± Lin Zhong-qing used the high-magnification scope and told everyone what he was seeing. ¡°Their uniforms and weapons are simr. Pretty sure the attackers are from the same group.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s around 20 or so people from each direction. There¡¯s 1,2...20,21...24 at our location.¡± Lin Zhong-qing counted all of the people and frowned. He didn¡¯t think that there would actually be so many attackers at their location.


    ¡°Prepare for battle.¡± Ling Lan held the beam gun in her hand and ordered coldly as she watched the attackers get into her attack range.


    ¡°Roger captain!¡± The others also aimed at the attackers and silently waited for them to get into their attack range.


    ¡°12 o¡¯clock, the location parallel to us, Startup Battle Team has begun firing.¡± Lin Zhong-qing, who was responsible for looking out for any changes in the situation, said immediately. ¡°They¡¯ve scattered!¡±


    The 24 individuals that were approaching Ling Lan¡¯s group¡¯s, suddenly scattered and some of them moved to a few blind spots.


    ¡°Startup Battle Team¡¯s attack exposed the fact that the princess is surrounded by a defensive perimeter. This made the attackers realize and know about the defenses.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t feel that it was a surprise. If the enemy didn¡¯t react, it would be considered odd.


    It had to be said that the defensive position Little Four had chosen was perfect. Even if the enemy seemed as though they had hid in a blind spot, Ling Lan could still see them. It meant that, the spots that the enemies deemed to be blind spots, were actually not blind spots. Ling Lan could still find a chance to snipe them.


    Finally, the enemy entered within the range of the sniper rifle. Ling Lan decisive ordered, ¡°Fire!¡±


    Six bullets of the reaper shot out from the six barrels. Six people silently fell to the ground. The people around them were all horrified. However, the death of these six let other people know that there were enemies around this location.


    The moment Ling Lan¡¯s group began to shoot, the Iron Curtain and Immortals Battle Teams, who were responsible for the other two sides, began firing as well. This action made the enemies understand that there were multiple groups protecting the princess and not just her royal guards...


    In an office building 3 kilometers away from the princess, a few people were standing in front of a window. One of them was very young, around 25 or 26 years old. The others were all middle-aged. The young man took out his binocrs and observed the distance. Then he put it down and said, ¡°We have acquired most of their information.¡±


    He tossed the high magnification binocr to his assistant and walked back to the front of a long table. The long table was actually a screen. This screen showed a bird¡¯s eye view of the three dimensional model of the old city area.


    He pointed at the locations where battles had begun, ¡°Here, here, here and here, all of their defensive forces. If we want to get close to the princess, we will have to get past their defensive line.¡±


    ¡°Did you get a good look at their defenses?¡± asked one of the middle-aged men.


    The young man replied, ¡°They¡¯re probably people disguised as passengers of Feiyang. Only this way, they would have been able to set up a defense perimeter at this location.¡±


    The middle-aged man was very satisfied with the young man¡¯s answer. He nodded and continued, ¡°Did you get any information on their identity?¡±


    The young man pointed to locations on the table. The images of The 1st Division¡¯s Meng Shangyuan, Senior Colonel Meng¡¯s Iron Curtain six-man battle team (intergctic adventure group), 13th Division¡¯s Lieutenant Colonel Kang Jiayan¡¯s Startup six-man battle team (intergctic adventure group) and the 17th Division¡¯s Lieutenant Colonel Wang Anzhong¡¯s Immortals six-man battle team (intergctic smuggling group).


    ¡°After sending our forces in a several times and in addition the information our hackers have gathered, these people are probably here to protect the princess. Whether they are actually adventurers taking a mission or have other identities, that is unclear,¡± replied the young man confidently.


    ¡°Right, there¡¯s also this.¡± The young man touched the screen once again and the image of Yun Feiyang appeared. ¡°It¡¯s possible that the Yun family is also one of the groups protecting the princess.¡±


    ¡°In that case, how do you propose weplete this mission. Our client is already pressing us and wants us to give them good news by today,¡± another middle-aged man suddenly interjected.


    ¡°Our forces on Kachi are only suitable for finding a weak point and exploiting it. I believe we should keep these three points busy and make them unable to move from their locations. Then we gather all of our forces to concentrate our attack in one spot...¡± The young man told everyone the n he was thinking.


    His words made all of the middle-aged individuals nod in agreement with their expressions all showing a hint of admiration. The young man smirked. After he finished this assignment, the position of Huaxia¡¯s youngest CEO was undoubtedly going to be his.


    The young man decisively pressed down on a single point on the table then ordered, ¡°Begin the assault!¡± The point he pointed at was the location they were preparing to attack.


    When Ling Lan finished off a second person, Ling Lan put away her sniper rifle and sat there silently while watching the situation unfold below her. It should be known that the five people Ling Lan had brought were all merciless people. Not even one minute had passed, they had already taken out ten people. Including the two people Ling Lan had taken down, the opponents instantly had their force decreased by half. Ling Lan believed that even if she didn¡¯t do anything, her team members would have been able to easily take out all 24 people.


    In that case, why would she waste her energy. Of course Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t admit that snipping like this didn¡¯t pose a challenge to her and she only stopped because she lost interest in it.


    Not long after, the 12 that were left over were all taken out by Ling Lan¡¯s team members. Ling Lan and the others of course didn¡¯t think that the situation was over because the first group of people were only responsible for scouting them out and were just cannon fodder. The real battle wasing up. The opponent had already scouted them out more or less would immediately send out stronger forces towards them.


    They had arrived!


    The six of them, who were already prepared, their eyes twitched a bit. In their lines of sight, countless of silhouettes appeared. Compared to the previous opponents who were trembling with fear, this group of individuals were quite agile. In a short amount of time, Ling Lan and the others couldn¡¯t find a chance to perform a one-hit kill on these people.


    Ling Lan¡¯s sniper rifle was already locked onto one of the silhouettes. The opponent¡¯s movements were rxed as though he was on a walk. However, the rhythm of his footsteps made Ling Lan understand that this person was indeed an expert in physical skills.


    Ling Lan calmly watched that person. She still believed that as long as he was human, no matter how strong, there would always be a chance for him to make a mistake.


    Surprisingly, the chance came to Ling Lan faster than she had originally thought. Ling Lan didn¡¯t hesitate and pulled on the trigger. In that instant, it seemed as though that person felt the shot and looked towards her direction.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s shot had missed! No, she didn¡¯t miss, but rather it was the person who was standing at the previous location suddenly disappeared. Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were like radars, scanning the area. She wanted to find the location the person had hidden towards. However, she discovered that she couldn¡¯t find the opponent¡¯s location. It was as though he had vanished.


    ¡°Not good!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s warning rms in her head were ringing crazily. She immediately put down her sniper rifle and jumped down the roof.


    As she jumped own, in the next second, Ling Lan hadpletely disappeared.


    Around 700 to 800 meters from the roof, a bang was heard. Then two shadows appeared out of thin air and were immediately knocked apart from each other...


    After backing up by three steps, Ling Lan stopped her body. She looked coldly in front of her. A middle-aged man also took a few steps back as well. The surprise and fear on his face didn¡¯t disappear yet. It seemed that he was surprised by Ling Lan¡¯s age and capabilities.


    ¡°Domain?¡± That person showed a hint of anxiousness, but quickly became steady.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t answer, instantly pounced towards him and gave him another heavy punch.


    ¡°Come on!¡± shouted the middle-aged. He clenched his right hand to met Ling Lan¡¯s attack with his fist.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The two of them created a shockwave and instantly created a vacuum of space where the rainbow rain was blown away.


    The strong Qi-Jin force pushed the two of them backwards once again. This time, having prepared beforehand, the two of them only took a short step backwards and managed to disperse the energy from the shockwave on their bodies.

 Chapter 625 - Ice Blockade Domain!!

    <h4>Chapter 625: Ice Blockade Domain!!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    At this moment, the middle-aged man was certain that this young man had reached the domain realm. He remembered that there was no record of a young powerful domain realm master within the Federation. The middle-aged man was surprised. Did he just look young but in actual fact, he was old?


    Ling Lan appeared nonchnt. However, in her heart, she was filled with excitement. Ever since she had entered the domain realm, besides the time when she fought with themander of the special forces, this was the first time she met an opponent who was in the same realm as her. Ling Lan felt pressured but she was not scared. Instead she was filled with fighting spirit.


    Rainbow rain continued to pour down. The rainbow rain of Kachi would only stop after a few hours. Ling Lan and her opponent were not affected by the rain. They activated their protective shield which shielded them from the rain.


    Almost at the same moment, the two people moved and struck a blow at each other. Both of them used their domain power.


    Fights between domain realm masters usually ended with a single exchange. The one who won would always be the person with a higher level.


    When the two forces collided, the energy generated caused the rainbow rain around them to fly back. A strange scene was formed, as the rainbow rain droplets moved back upwards into the sky.


    The first batch of people to notice this hugemotion was Li Lanfeng and the rest of Ling Lan¡¯s friends who were chasing other small fries.


    ¡°It¡¯s boss,¡± Qi Long said while not forgetting to pull his trigger to snipe an enemy that was trying to sneak over.


    ¡°This kind of impact cannot be caused by a person with Qi-Jin level strength. Has our boss reached the domain realm?¡± Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes lit up. He always wanted to reach the domain realm. However, it was not something that could be done with only hard work. He had been stuck at the peak of Qi-Jin for a few years now and still hadn¡¯tprehend the essence of advancing to the domain realm. No wonder so many people were stuck at Qi-Jin. Only the elite of the elite would be able to be a domain realm master and only the peak of that limited pool of people would be called a formidable warrior.


    Li Lanfeng nced at Ling Lan¡¯s direction and then retracted his gaze. He continued focusing on his front indifferently. However, from his tense fingers, you could tell that he was not as calm as he seemed.


    He looked at the bunch of enemies that suddenly appeared in front of them. He reminded them with a cold and serious voice, ¡°The enemy has increased their efforts. Everyone take note.¡±


    Li Lanfeng immediately understood what had happened when he saw the countless of silhouettes. Their opponent must have chosen them as the point of breakthrough. To ensure their safety, Ling Lan went out and proactively sought a fight from their opponent¡¯s domain realm formidable warrior. That way, they would not need to face this strong opponent.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s reminder caused the other four people to be serious. They focused their attention back onto their enemies and continued sniping them.


    The rainbow rain was beautiful. But, it was difficult to spot enemies hidden in various corners through the rainbow rain. This required much attention and focus from the five people. They couldn¡¯t be distracted.


    Of the four defense points, Ling Lan¡¯s area had the most pressure. The rest of the points only had around 60 enemies while there were around 200 enemies at Ling Lan¡¯s defense point. Ling Lan was unlucky that the young man chose to focus his attack on this point.


    ¡°ording to the information that we received, Sky Rank number 37 has been intercepted!¡± The young man was shocked when he got this news from his subordinate.


    He was confident about this mission because Sky Rank number 37 epted this mission. It was unexpected. Assassins who could get into the Sky Rank were all domain realm formidable warriors. Besides S level missions, they would normally not ept any other missions.


    Killing Princess Gulibaduo was ssified as an A+ mission. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the protection around the princess might be strong and Qi-Jin masters might appear, this mission would not be so highly ranked.


    The only good thing about this mission was that the rewards were extremely good. It was only slightly lesser than an S level mission. This might be why Sky Rank number 37 decided to take on this mission. He might have felt that an A+ mission would be much easier than an S level mission. Many people liked to do some easy and highly-rewarding missions to increase their earnings as they could also take it as a break.


    The arrival of someone from the Sky Rank increased the young man¡¯s confidence.No matter how many Qi-Jin masters there were, they wouldn¡¯t be able to subdue a domain realm master. Qi-Jin and domain were only one rank apart but the difference between them was huge. That was why the people who were below the domain realm were known as nobodies.


    The young man believed that as long as number 37 was here, this mission would be as easy as taking a walk in the park. That was why he came to personally direct this mission. By right, high-ranking officers like them would not appear in the frontline.


    However, unexpectedly, number 37 was intercepted the moment he was sent out. This meant that there was a hidden domain realm formidable warrior beside Princess Gulibaduo.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect the Bya Kingdom to ce so much importance in their third sessor,¡± The young muttered to himself. He thought that the princess would be forsaken by her kingdom as there were two other princes ahead of her. He had researched before this mission started and found out that Bya Kingdom didn¡¯t sent any bodyguards to protect the princess. They only asked the princess to disguise herself as a normal passenger and board the Feiyang Ship.


    With the princess¡¯ capabilities, she could at most hire two expedition teams to protect her. However, they nned their attack based on an overestimation. They were wrong. The Bya Kingdom didn¡¯t give up on the princess. They even sent a domain realm master to protect her.


    ¡°What happened?¡± A few middle-aged men who were waiting for news. When they saw the change in expression on the young man¡¯s face, one of them immediately asked him.


    The young turned and said with a serious tone, ¡°We predicted the difficulty of this mission wrongly. There is a domain realm master within our opponent team.¡±


    The other men were stunned too. One of them jumped up in shock. ¡°We must immediately change the level of this mission to S level.¡±


    The young nodded. ¡°I will.¡±


    He thought for a while before deciding to speak the truth. ¡°Sky Rank number 37 has met the opponent.¡± He had been hiding the fact that number 37 took part in this mission.


    The other people were ted when they heard what he said. They felt rxed. Since they had a domain realm master on their side, the situation was much better. It was still within their control.


    The young man didn¡¯t feel at ease. He looked out of the window with a cold face. The rainbow rain was pouring heavily as he waved at his assistant.


    The assistant passed him a pair of binocrs immediately. The young man looked at number 37¡¯s direction through the binocrs.


    When Ling Lan¡¯s power collided with that of her opponent¡¯s, she immediately felt hot airing from the other side.


    ¡°Fire-type energy?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s poker face changed slightly. Her ice-type energy was considered part of the water-type. Fire and water were natural enemies. Aspared to the powerful fire-type energy, water-type energy was weaker. Her opponent had an elemental advantage over her.


    As this thought shed past her mind, her opponent¡¯s fire-type energy congregated into a fire dragon and rushed towards her mercilessly. Before she could react, it had engulfed her.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The fire dragon that swallowed Ling Lan exploded.


    If someone with sharp eyes were watching her, he or she would have seen a few broken shards of iceing out from the fire dragon. Those pieces of broken ice fell onto the ground with the rainbow rain, merging with it.


    The mes that got separated, congregated together again and formed a figure. It was the domain realm warrior. He looked around him. Although his attack seemed to have hit his opponent just now, it didn¡¯t cause any harm.


    ¡°That blow was met with a huge resistance force. It almost rebounded my attack but since my force was greater, it went through the resistance. If not, the ending might be different... This kind of ability is simr to a protective shield. However, what is his domain element?¡± The middle-aged domain realm warrior frowned. He didn¡¯t manage to find out about his opponent¡¯s element just now. That was not good for him. ¡°After the explosion, broken shards of ss appeared. However, there was no coldness in it so it is not ice-element. Is he a mutated earth-type master?¡±


    ¡°If that is the case, I must be careful of the ground.¡± The middle-aged domain warrior was clear about the elements and the things they could merge with. Earth-type energy would never merge with water. Aspared to earth type, he was more frightened that his opponent would be an ice-type because that would mean that he could be attacked 360 degrees all around.


    Once he reached his conclusion, he stared at the ground intently. If his opponent was really someone who had the earth element, the only way he could be attacked would be from the ground.


    The middle-aged domain warrior was on his guard. A few minutes had passed. At this moment, he shivered. An impending sense of danger crept up from the depths of his heart. He never experienced this feeling before. Without a second thought, he changed into a ball of fire.


    Suddenly, he felt his body was restricted in mid-air. What was happening? He didn¡¯t see anythinging out from the ground.


    He knew that he was in a dire state. Hence, he released his domain realm. The area around him turned into a sea of fire. When the rainbow raindrops fell on the me, they turned into steam and disappeared.


    ¡°Number 37 has activated his full domain power. He must have met a powerful opponent.¡± The young man turned even more serious when he saw the mes three kilometers away.


    Number 37 was a fire-type warrior. He was within the top five in terms of attacking power. He was the number 37 in terms of overall rank because his attacks were too inflexible and his defense was weaker than the rest of the warriors.


    However, when met with other domain warriors that were not on the Sky Rank, the young man was still confident about number 37¡¯s ability. He felt that he could have an even fight with someone that was in the peak of domain realm that wasn¡¯t listed in the Sky Rank. Yet, he was in a tense battle with the bodyguard of Princess Gulibaduo. The young man felt that he had underestimated domain realm warriors that weren¡¯t listed in the Sky Rank.


    ¡°Did you notice what element the other party has?¡± The middle-aged men looked through their binocrs too. They didn¡¯t look at ease anymore. They were not domain masters but from their experience, they could tell that number 37 was at a disadvantage. Most importantly, they couldn¡¯t see what element their opponent had. Only number 37¡¯s energy could be felt.


    The young man smiled bitterly. ¡°No!¡±


    The young man felt that he had an abundance of information but yet, he couldn¡¯t find any data on number 37¡¯s opponent. He memorised everyone on the domain master¡¯s list but no one fitted the description. He felt helpless.


    The middle-aged men didn¡¯t me him. They were unable to figure out the identity of the opponent too. One of them consioled the young man. ¡°The other party must be an old fox. That is why he could cover up his energy and element perfectly. The distance between us is too far so it is normal that we can¡¯t see some details. Maybe number 37 knows who he is. We just need to wait patiently.¡±


    The young man nodded. Everyone thought that even if number 37 was not his opponent¡¯s match, he would still be able to escape. They would be able to find out the identity of the opponent after he came back.


    When the middle-aged domain warrior activated his true domain power, he finally escaped from the restriction. Before he could rx, coldness started spreading throughout his body. It was so cold that his bones seemed to hurt.


    His entire body fell down from mid-air with the sea of fire surrounding his body dimming. The rainbow rain extinguished the remaining me. Everytime a me died, the middle-aged man felt colder.


    The middle-aged man tried to move his fire-type energy around his body to dissipate the cold. That was when he realized that ice shards had appeared in his bloodstream. Those ice shards caused his energy to fall apart.


    ¡°Your element is not earth but ice. I was fooled by you,¡± The middle-aged man gritted his teeth as he said that. He tried to get the ice shards out of his bloodstream. In the process of doing so, he burnt his own arteries. However, it was a price he was willing to pay. He could heal any internal injuries but if his body was overtaken by an element, he would die. He knew what was more important.


    As the middle-aged man finished talking, he saw a faint figure appearing in the air.


    ¡°You are powerful. I lost. I just want to know how you remove the coldness from your ice element...¡± The middle-aged man was not furious as he chatted with his opponent calmly. If he just had a little bit more time, he would be able to get the ice shards out of his bloodstream. At that time, he wouldunch a surprise counterattack. He would not make the same mistake again and let his opponent nt ice shards in his bloodstream ever again.


    However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t give him any chance. She said coldly, ¡°Ice Blockade.¡± Then, she destroyed all of her opponent¡¯s hope.


    The spot where Ling Lan was standing at turned into an ice world. Even the rainbow rain droplets turned into rainbow ice.


    ¡°How...¡± The middle-aged man looked at her in fear. Before he could finish his sentence, the ice shards in his body exploded. He turned into an ice statue. He died unwillingly. If he had one more second, he would be able to change the tides.


    Ling Lan walked over slowly. She said in a low voice, ¡°Whether it is in reality or on the television, the reason why people managed to counterattack was because their opponent talked too much. Do you think I will make such a low-level mistake?¡±


    She snapped her fingers. The ice world exploded. Broken pieces of ice merged with the rain.


    In an instant, the ice world disappeared. The rainbow rain continued pouring down. It seemed as though what had happened just now was just an illusion.


    ¡°Ding¡± A crystal-clear bead dropped on the ground.


    Ling Lan was surprised. Her ice blockade was able to turn anything into ice. Once it exploded, all ice would break into pieces and disappeared. This bead must be a treasure of some sort.

 Chapter 626 - Soul Society!

    <h4>Chapter 626: Soul Society!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    As a cautious person, Ling Lan didn¡¯t go near the bead.


    ¡°Little Four, what is that?¡±


    She had no qualms about calling Little Four out whenever she liked. She had went passed the period of feeling guilty for using childbor. After all, she had been looking after him for over 20 years now. Her kindness had disappeared under the guidance of Number Five. Ling Lan was not a good person anymore. Of course, she was not an evil person too.


    The more powerful Ling Lan became, the more information Little Four could gather. Hence, Little Four didn¡¯t need signals to read data anymore.


    ¡°Huh? That is a miniature optical supeputer. It was made using the same materials as yourmunicator. It is amunication bead.¡± Little Four did some simple research and managed to find out what the bead was.


    Ling Lan looked down at her wrist instinctively. There was nothing on it. Hermunicator had been sent back to the headquarters of the 23rd Division to facilitate their mission.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯smunicator was an upgraded one. Her firstmunicator was destroyed after she first used her domain power. She knew that she would be questioned if she went to collect a new one herself so she looked for her father for help.


    To protect his daughter, Ling Xiao took much effort to settle this matter for her. He used his status and power to get a newmunicator for his daughter. Of course, thismunicator was not so simple too.


    The Federation would only give newmunicators to formidable warriors who managed to achieve the domain realm. Thesemunicators were able to withstand the energy released by domain masters. It can also changed its form ording to its owner¡¯s element.


    After Ling Lan tried out her newmunicator, she was stunned. She felt that she had jumped from a technologically advanced world to a magical world. Only domain warriors could use thismunicator. This was why the Federation had the information of all domain realm masters and would only distribute to those who were qualified to be called formidable warriors.


    To get thismunicator and not be an illegal immigrant, no formidable warriors would conceal themselves as this device represented honor and a certain status. It was a good thing to them.


    Also, if they didn¡¯t register, they would be unable to get the newmunicator. Without it, they wouldn¡¯t be able to fully use their domain power. If they did, their oldmunicator would break apart. Then, they would be questioned when they would apply for a new one so it was almost impossible for them to hide themselves. Ling Lan could conceal herself because she had an amazing father.


    When Ling Lan knew about themunicator, she was curious about the materials used.


    Ling Lan knew that assassins would not bring anymunication device on them when they went on a mission as it would increase the risk of exposing their identity.


    Ling Lan also suspected that the face which her opponent had might also be fake. The Federation had an agent which could temporarily change the appearance of a person. Its effects onlysted for a day but it was enough to carry out short missions.


    However, no one knew what they would change into after consuming the agent. It was random. Hence, people with long missions couldn¡¯t use this agent.


    Themunicator that Ling Lan had on her now contained her fake identity. It was just a normalmunicator so when they went out today, they left it in their room in case it would be broken in a fight.


    ¡°I have decoded it. Soul Society, Sky Rank Assassin number 37. Nickname: Demon Fire... I can even login into the main page of Soul Society. Wow, there are all kinds of mission on their main page.. I found it. Mission: Kill Princess Guliba. S level mission. Remarks: A domain master is protecting the princess. The level has increased from A+ to an S. The reward would also be doubled.¡±


    The information that Little Four found appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape. Ling Lan looked at the blood red words in the remarks section. She frowned.


    The Soul Society was the most famous assassin society in the human world. Their assassinsprised of two groups. One group of the assassins were raised within the society when they were young. Another group of them underwent many challenges and tests and to be temporary assassins. The temporary assassins were just bounty hunters who wanted to earn some extra ie.


    The Soul Society was so famous, everyone in the Federation heard about it. The society seemed to be exposed to the public but in actual fact, no countries were able to destroy the power that Soul Society had nted in their nation. No one knew where their headquarters were and who worked for them. They didn¡¯t know who the assassins were too.


    The Soul Society never gave missions face to face or through a third party. You needed a secretmunicator to contact these people.


    Even if they had themunication bead, they could only see the main page of the Soul Society. They could apply for a mission to be added on the main page and the staff members of Soul Society would gauge the difficulty level of the mission and the rewards for it. The rewards had to be sent to a designated ount given by the Soul Society within three days. After that, Soul Society would upload the mission.


    Allmunications were carried out using themunication bead so no information could be leaked. Many countries had tried using hackers to hack into the Soul Society¡¯s mainframe but Soul Society had its own hackers too. In the end, both parties suffered great losses. The countries didn¡¯t dare to do anything to the Soul Society anymore and let them run by themselves. After all, the Soul Society only wanted to target the assassin industry and had no intention of overtaking any countries.


    Thus, Ling Lan knew that the situation was bad for them. They could escape the assassination this time but there would be more powerful opponents sent to kill the princess the next time. The longer they dragged, the worse it would get.


    ¡°Boss, the Soul Society¡¯s rules are weird. Once a domain realm assassin took on a mission, no other domain masters can interfere with the mission unless it was confirmed that the domain realm assassin failed or requires help.¡± Little Four read out the rules for Ling Lan.


    ¡°How long will it take for them to ascertain that Demon Fire is dead?¡± Ling Lan heaved a sigh of relief secretly. If only one domain assassin came one at a time, she could still handle it.


    ¡°When the spiritual power on the namete of Demon Fire disappear, Soul Society will dere Demon Fire as dead,¡± Little Four replied.


    Ling Lan asked in surprise, ¡°Can a person¡¯s spiritual power still linger after they die?¡±


    ¡°Of course. When you died in your past life, your spiritual power still remained for some time, right?¡± Little Four looked at Ling Lan with disdain. ¡°You thought that you were a ghost that time. I was the one who kept your spiritual power, passed it through the time crack, and gave you the opportunity to be reborn as your father¡¯s child.¡± Little Four looked up proudly. Hurry up and praise me.


    Ling Lan touched her head. She said in a helpless tone, ¡°Yes, Little Four is the best.¡±


    Little Four shook his butt happily when he heard thepliment. Even though 20 years had past, Little Four still expressed his happiness in the same way.


    ¡°Did you keep Demon Fire¡¯s spiritual power too?¡± Ling Lan thought about another domain master appearing in her mindscape... she shivered. It didn¡¯t feel good.


    ¡°No I didn¡¯t. I don¡¯t know him so why would I do that?¡± Little Four rolled his eyes at Ling Lan. Didn¡¯t she know that it required a lot of energy to keep someone¡¯s spiritual power? He took a lot of effort to build up his energy. How can he use it just like that? A good knife must be used to cut good meat... is that how you say it?


    ¡°I just kept the spiritual power in thismunication bead so that the mainframe of the Soul Society will not know that he is dead,¡± Little Four exined.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Little Four, how long can you keep this spiritual power for?¡±


    ¡°At most two days. No matter how well you keep this spiritual power, it will disappear,¡± Little Four replied.


    ¡°Two days?¡± The time was a little short but they should have left Kachi after two days. Hence, before arriving at the next, Feiyang Ship was safe.


    ¡°Actually, I can imitate Demon Fire¡¯s spiritual power.¡± Little Four thought for a moment before telling Ling Lan this news. He felt that his boss might need this information.


    Ling Lan was ted. ¡°Good. Do that until the end of this mission.¡±


    If she was alone, she would not be afraid of any domain realm masters appearing. It was beneficial for her to battle with strong opponents. However, she needed to send Princess Guliba back safely to Bya Kingdom. She couldn¡¯t just think about herself.


    ¡°I understand,¡± Little Four smiled and replied.


    ¡°Tell me what you want to say.¡± Ling Lan knew that Little Four was up to no good when she saw this evil smile.


    ¡°Boss, I just intercepted a message that was sent to Demon Fire just a moment ago. He was ordered to go back immediately after the battle and report information about you.¡±


    ¡°Tell me the main point.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that Little Four just wanted to tell her this information. He must have some request.


    ¡°I tracked the source of the message. The source is not far away from here.¡± Little Four looked at her with two bright eyes.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and asked.


    ¡°I want to see their headquarters. Boss, let¡¯s attack them!¡±


    ¡°Bang.¡± Little Four was thrown away by Ling Lan.


    When he appeared in front of her again, he was rubbing his head. He asked pitifully, ¡°Boss, why did you throw me again?¡±


    Ling Lan said coldly, ¡°Attack? Do you want me to die?¡± If it was really the headquarters, she would be looking for death if she attacked rashly.


    ¡°No. I have checked. There are only some old people and young children at the location. There are no powerful people there. If you go over, you will easily dominate over them,¡± Little Four attempted to coax with her.


    ¡°Old people? Children?¡± Ling Lan red at Little Four. ¡°Do you think that I am stupid? Will the headquarters let these two kinds of people exist in their society?¡±


    Her sharp gaze forced Little Four to lower his head. Ling Lan continued calmly, ¡°Send me the image of the location.¡± Since Little Four said that he had checked the area, he definitely had seen the ce.


    Little Four didn¡¯t dare to say anything. He immediately took out the images that his boss wanted.


    A huge room appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape with a young man and a few middle-aged men were standing in the room.


    Ling Lan stared at Little Four. ¡°Old people and children?¡±


    Little Four pointed at them. ¡°I just reported their numbers wrongly.¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to argue with Little Four. She asked, ¡°Is there no one else besides them?¡±


    Little Four nodded. He was sure.


    Ling Lan pondered about it. She looked at the location Little Four provided her. It was only three kilometers away from her. With her powers, it wouldn¡¯t require a long time... she looked at the positions of her own team members and made a decision. ¡°Let¡¯s take the risk then.¡±


    The next second, Ling Lan disappeared...


    At this moment, Qi Long and the other team members were in a bad state. They managed to snipe a portion of the assassins using the high ground advantage and their skills but there were more people were moving towards them. They were unable to snipe all of them and some of them even managed to enter the building they were in.


    ¡°How many people entered?¡± When there was no one around them, Qi Long sat up and asked Lin Zhong-qing.


    His finger hurt from the massive activity just now. He was in a focus state so he didn¡¯t feel it. Even his shoulder was in pain due to the recoil of the sniper rifle.


    Lin Zhong-qing replied in a certain tone, ¡°33 people have entered this building.¡±

 Chapter 627 - Expel?

    <h4>Chapter 627: Expel?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    It was a formidable feat for five of them to kill almost 160 opponents all by themselves. The people they killed were not normalmoners. They were assassins that had been specially trained by the Soul Society. There were even some assassins from the ck Rank and even the Red Rank.


    Qi Long smiled. ¡°I can finally do some workout.¡± The moment he finished speaking, he disappeared.


    Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun smiled at each other. They disappeared too.


    Li Yingjie looked at the empty balcony. He turned and asked Lin Zhong-qing, ¡°Where did they go?¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing pointed below them. ¡°They went out to kill people.¡±


    Li Yingjie was furious. He eximed, ¡°Why didn¡¯t they ask me?¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing nced at him with contempt. ¡°Do you need to be asked? Don¡¯t you know how to analyze the situation yourself? Since 33 people had entered this building, we will be surrounded if we remained on the roof. The best way is to be proactive and sneak down to kill those people.¡±


    Li Yingjie¡¯s expression changed when he heard what Lin Zhong-qing said. He knew that sneaking downstairs to ambush and kill their opponents was the best course of action. However, shouldn¡¯t they gather together and discuss first before acting? Why did they move without even informing each other? How could Boss Lan allow such actions?


    In his team, none of his team members were allowed to act on their own.


    Lin Zhong-qing noticed Li Yingjie¡¯s puzzled expression. He calmly exined, ¡°Our leader taught us to have our own judgment. He would only correct us if we were wrong.¡± He suddenly stared at Li Yingjie intently. Li Yingjie shrunk under his gaze. ¡°If you are not able to get use to our team structure, you might be kicked out of the group after the three year protection period for recruits has ended. All the best to you.¡±


    Kicked out? Him? That is impossible! Li Yingjie was furious.


    Li Yingjie was a proud person. He never acknowledged anyone. Ling Lan was too powerful so he had no choice but to bow down to her. This was why he was willing to joining the Lingtian Battle Team. However, he never expected himself to be so unweed. He thought that his addition to the team would give glory to the Lingtian Battle Team and Boss Lan would ept him readily.


    However, from what Lin Zhong-qing had said, Ling Lan seemed hesitant in epting him. Li Yingjie felt depressed. Was he worse that Chang Xinyuan who just managed to achieve refinement?


    Li Yingjie kicked that thought out of his mind. He was a genius in physical skills and mecha operations. A genius! Damn it!


    Li Yingjie was unconvinced. He thought about the abilities of the other members in the Lingtian Battle Team.


    His second brother... likes to experiment with all kinds of agents and medicines. He was someone who liked to torture people using unscrupulous means. He should notpare himself with his second brother. Of course, Li Yingjie would never admit that he was afraid of his second brother and his torture methods.


    Qi Long... erm, he was better than him. Let¡¯s ignore him.


    Luo Lang... was also as strong as him. But, he would notpare himself to adylike man.


    Zhao Jun was three years older than him so it was reasonable that he had gained some fame within these three years. There was nothing for him topare with.


    Li Lanfeng... had a weak body. What was his physical skills¡¯ level? Wait, he seemed to be at thete-stage of Qi-Jin? Wasn¡¯t that the same stage as him? He was an ace mecha operator too, right? Damn, how could he be an ace mecha operator with that body? Li Yingjie suddenly felt that the world was unfair to him.


    He couldn¡¯t beat any of these people. He looked at Lin Zhong-qing. At least he was stronger that Lin Zhong-qing who just managed to attain Qi-Jin and was a special-ss operator... Li Yingjie felt better about himself.


    ¡°Even Lin Zhong-qing was not kicked out of the team. So why would I be kicked out. I am not convinced.¡±


    Li Yingjie¡¯s feelings were deeply hurt so he didn¡¯t realize that he spoke his thoughts out loud.


    Lin Zhong-qing smiled when he heard this sentence. He took out his backpack and passed it to Li Yingjie. ¡°You are stronger than me but I was never a fighter in the first ce. I am the logistics leader.¡± He signaled Li Yingjie to open the backpack.


    Li Yingjie looked inside. There were some emergency agents, a bag ofpressed biscuit, a few nutrition packs, binocrs, as well as other small tools. Everything was ced neatly in the backpack. In the side pocket, a transparent box was stuffed inside. There were two sticks that looked like cigarette inside the box.


    Li Yingjie was stunned. He thought about something and his face changed. ¡°Why do you have this?¡±


    Li Yingjie felt weak in his legs. If one of these sticks exploded, everything within a hundred meters would be turned into ruins... he had never seen the real thing before but in the military academy, they were taught about this. This was the most frightening and most primitive kind of bomb, the TNT bomb.


    Lin Zhong-qing took his backpack back and looked at the surroundings with his binocrs. After confirming that there was no one around them, he continued, ¡°Did you think that the opponent only ced one bomb on the cruise?¡±


    Li Yingjie was not stupid. He instantly understood what Lin Zhong-qing was trying to say. ¡°How did you find it?¡± The search crew from Feiyang Ship didn¡¯t find anything on the ship. How did Lin Zhong-qing find them?


    Lin Zhong-qing smiled. Just as Li Yingjie thought that he was going to exin, Lin Zhong-qing retracted his smile and said coldly, ¡°Why are you still talking to me? Shouldn¡¯t you be killing opponents with Qi Long and the rest of them? Our team don¡¯t keep useless people.¡±


    Li Yingjie wanted to vomit out blood. Why did you talk so much then? He refuted angrily. ¡°You didn¡¯t go down too.¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing waved the binocrs that was in his hand. ¡°Don¡¯t you know my position in the team?¡± He was already doing what he was supposed to do.


    Li Yingjie¡¯s expression changed again. He didn¡¯t think much of it just now. After Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s reminder, he realized that everyone else had started doing what they were supposed to do. Only he didn¡¯t understand the situation.


    Li Yingjie felt depressed. He was too stupid.


    ¡°I will not lose to you all!¡± Li Yingjie shouted angrily before disappearing from the balcony.


    ¡°Not lose to us?¡± Lin Zhong-qing smiled. He felt that he was bullying a little child. That little child didn¡¯t know what to say so he threw this sentence at him and then ran away.


    Li Yingjie was not so irritating after all.


    Lin Zhong-qing smiled as he raised his binocrs and observed the surroundings again. He didn¡¯t notice anything but his hand was holding a powerful handgun hidden in his bag.


    The assassins that managed to sneak in gave each other a hand sign when they met. After that, they formed different sized groups and went up.


    Everyone had a beam handgun in their hands. A beam handgun was powerful enough and with light recoil. It was urate and the sound of bullets was light. It was the best handgun for middle-range attacks.


    One of the groups consisted of two assassins from the Soul Society. They carefully entered the third floor.


    One of them walked in the front while the other walked behind him. The one in front checked the path with the other one defended their tracks. They didn¡¯t know if their opponent woulde down from the balcony and ambush them. This was like a hide-and-seek game. The one who spotted the other party first would win.


    A gentle wind blew passed them. The person at the back immediately shot at the direction of the wind. The beam hit the wall and a huge hole was formed.


    The person heaved a sigh of relief. He wanted to ask the person in front of the current situation. However, he heard the person in front falling down to the cold hard ground. He wanted to grab the side of his throat but he didn¡¯t manage to do it. He moaned and fell to the ground.


    The person felt his hairs standing. He didn¡¯t see their opponent but hisrade was already killed.


    As he was panicking, he fired his gun all around him but there was no movement. The person that killed hisrade seemed to have left. He stopped shooting. He wanted to look at hisrade. At this moment, a muscr hand grabbed his neck. He felt a prick on his neck and his body lost its energy. He fell to the ground as well.


    A murderous intent shed past Qi Long¡¯s eyes. He grabbed his opponent¡¯s jaw and twisted his head. His opponent died.


    Qi Long gently ced the corpse at the side. He moved quickly and went to the person who was in the front. He took out the miniature dart from his neck and with a twist, this person died too. Qi Long kept these equipments because he knew that they couldn¡¯t expose their identity. The miniature anaesthesia needle was the secret weapon of their battle team.


    In another part of the building, simr events happened. However, the assassins that were still alive didn¡¯t know what had happened to theirrades. They continued moving upwards towards the balcony.


    Lin Zhong-qing was carefully observing his surroundings. Suddenly, something shed passed his eyes. He rushed over and came to a corner of the building. He raised his handgun that had a silencer on it and aimed it down.


    An assassin was attempting to climb up through a window. The assassin sensed something and looked up and saw a ck barrel was pointing at him. He instantly jumped at Lin Zhong-qing.


    Lin Zhong-qing pulled the trigger calmly. The assassin got rebounded off the roof. He clutched his chest in pain as he red at Lin Zhong-qing with bloodshot eyes.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The assassin fell from the fifth floor and mmed into the ground. The area around his body were all stained with blood.


    People who were assassins must reach manifestation level for their physical skills. Hence, even though this assassin was hit once by a gun and fell 5 floors down, he still didn¡¯t die. He was just on the brink of death. The only thing that seemed alive were his eyes. They were filled with hatred.


    Lin Zhong-qing looked at him nonchntly. He went back to his position and continued his work.


    No one wanted to die. Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t want to die too. Thus, the assassin had to die,


    The death of this assassin stopped other people who had simr thoughts. Climbing up from the window was a shortcut to them. But, to the person on the roof, they were easy targets. He could just snipe them without any difficulty.


    However, this shot also proved that people were still on the roof. Many assassins got bolder. They stopped hiding themselves and quickly rushed up the stairs.


    ¡°Boom, boom, boom.¡± The moment they entered the staircase, bullets rained down on them. Although they were prepared, the first two people who entered still got hit and died on the spot.


    The other assassins reacted quickly and dodged their bullets. Some hid themselves in their blindspots.


    Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun had already hid themselves behind the walls. Li Lanfeng looked at Zhao Jun as Zhao Jun as entering the room behind him. He climbed down the window and entered the floor below them.


    The people from Soul Society didn¡¯t dare to move outside the building but the people from Lingtian had no qualms about it. They trusted Lin Zhong-qing.


    Zhao Jun entered the floor below them. Li Lanfeng asionally fired some shots down so the assassins were all focused on him.


    In themanding center of the Soul Society, the young man kept a lookout for the news from the frontline. He was relieved when he knew that 33 people managed to enter the building.


    He regretted choosing this point to attack. He thought that it was the weakest but instead, it was the strongest. Almost 200 assassins got killed there.


    ¡°Is there still no reply from number 37?¡± The middle-aged man paced around the young man agitatedly and asked him.

 Chapter 628 - Temptation!

    <h4>Chapter 628: Temptation!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The young man retracted the look of disdain from his eyes. He looked up at the middle-aged man and said respectfully, ¡°No. However, number 37¡¯s signal is still there. It means that he is still alive. He might be in a close fight with his opponent. Let¡¯s just wait for his reply patiently.¡±


    The young man¡¯s words calmed the middle-aged man down.


    At this moment, one of the middle-aged men looked towards the window. He asked with a puzzled expression, ¡°Don¡¯t you all think that the window got thicker?¡±


    The other people looked at the window. No one noticed anything different. ¡°Did you see wrongly?¡±


    ¡°No. I am naturally sensitive to the thickness of things. I felt that the window got thicker.¡± The middle-aged man walked forward. When he touched the window, he felt a piercing chill.


    ¡°So cold.¡± The middle-aged man retracted his hand.


    ¡°How is that possible? Even if it is raining, the temperature on Kachi always remained constant at 25 degrees Celsius.¡± Another middle-aged man didn¡¯t believe him and touched the window himself.


    ¡°It is really cold.¡± The man removed his hand almost immediately. He was surprised.


    As the middle aged men were confused, the young man suddenly shouted, ¡°Hide yourselves!¡±


    The middle-aged men got a shock. They looked away from the window instinctively. The young man stared at the window as though he was trying to look for something.


    ¡°What happened?¡± One of the middle-aged men asked.


    The young man smiled bitterly. ¡°I think that our opponent might be here.¡±


    ¡°Who is it?¡± The middle-aged man was frightened.


    The young man looked at the window. ¡°It is probably the domain realm master that fought with number 37.¡± Only he was able to get near them without anyone noticing.


    ¡°Number 37...¡± The middle-aged man didn¡¯t look good.


    ¡°He is not dead but most likely heavily injured,¡± The young man replied. This was the best situation. He was afraid that number 37 had died but they hadn¡¯t received the information.


    The middle-aged men were agitated. However, they quickly calmed down. ¡°So what if he managed to find us?¡± Even though this was just a temporarymand center, Soul Society had sent a domain realm warrior to protect this center.


    The moment he finished speaking, an old man with grey hair appeared beside them.


    ¡°9th Elder!¡± The young man greeted him with respect.


    The old man known as the 9th Elder ignored him. He stared at the window intently and said, ¡°Since you are here, why do you still hide?¡±


    The figure of a human appeared on the ss of the window. The figure slowly got clearer.


    9th Elder looked at the person that came out from the window. He was extremely shocked. ¡°Impossible!¡±


    The other people in the room were stunned too. The young man even asked, ¡°9th Elder, can domain warriors maintain their youthful looks?¡±


    9th Elder replied immediately, ¡°No way!¡± He was confident that the data from Soul Society was up-to-date andplete. It was even moreplete than the data the Federation had. However, this person didn¡¯t fit the description of anyone in the list of domain realm warriors. Did he advance to the domain realm recently?


    9th Elder denied this thought. If he could defeat Sky Rank number 37, he could not be a new domain realm master. Even though Sky Rank number 37 was on the slightly weaker side of the Sky Rank, he still had been in the domain realm for eight years. He was not someone who could be defeated easily.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± 9th Elder couldn¡¯t reach a conclusion so he asked.


    The person that came just looked at them coldly. Everyone felt a huge pressure weighing over them. Even the 9th Elder felt pressured. He was surprised.


    ¡°Your element is ice. In our data, there are three ice element domain formidable warriors. They are the Frost Monarch from the Chaotic Lands, the family head of the Northeastern Muqi, and General Raye from Caesar. You are definitely not General Raye. Are you the family head of Northeastern Muqi or the Frost Monarch?¡± 9th Elder asked coldly. He couldn¡¯t find any simrities between those two characters and this young boy in front of him but they were a better fit than General Raye. Those two people were Chinese.


    However, the other party remained silent. The atmosphere in the room got tenser and colder.


    9th Elder¡¯s face turned red when he saw that the other party had no intention of speaking to him. He felt that he was looked down upon. Anger boiled inside his heart. Even if that old beast Northeastern Muqi came, he was not afraid. No one could be stronger than that Old Beast...


    Within the ice element, if that Old Beast imed to be the second, no one dared to be the first. Even the Frost Monarch would not dare to call himself a monarch in front of that Old Beast.


    9th Elder decided to have a fight with the other party. After he tasted defeat, he would not be so arrogant anymore.


    In actual fact, Ling Lan was having a conversation with Little Four.


    ¡°Little Four? Didn¡¯t you say that there were no powerful people? Who is this person then?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s heart dropped when she saw another domain master. She wanted to run away.


    Little Four looked down at his hand and said innocently, ¡°I did say that there were old people...¡± He didn¡¯t say that the old person was not dangerous.


    ¡°You are getting good at talking.¡± Ling Lan smiled coldly.


    Little Four shook his head fervently. ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything wrong. There is only one powerful old man. Boss, once you defeat him, the rest will be at yourmand.¡±


    ¡°I think that I will be the one getting beaten up.¡± Ling Lan became vignt after she finished her sentence. She could feel the pressure from the old man getting stronger. The old man wanted to have a fight with her.


    Ling Lan was excited. Although she questioned Little Four, she trusted him and knew that he would not make decisions that would harm her. There was only one domain level master here. Fighting him would be a good experience for her.


    9th Elder suddenly disappeared. Ling Lan released all her presence. She didn¡¯t know what the old man¡¯s element was. The situation that happened just now was reenacted. However, this time, she was the one at a disadvantage.


    In the learning space, Little Four shouted in anger as he kicked around, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you let me tell my boss the information about her opponent?¡±


    Number Five smiled. ¡°This is an order by Number One. If you have any questions, you can personally ask Number One.¡±


    Little Four froze.


    ¡°Also, when are you going to tell your boss that you are secretly hiding Little Blossom?¡± Number Five was still smiling but Little Four could sense the evil intentions behind his smile.


    Little Four fell t on the ground. He almost forgot about this.


    ¡°You better hurry up. Number One had been suppressing Little Blossom for all these years and could no longer continue anymore. It will be undesirable for Little Blossom¡¯s evolution. Why not you don¡¯t tell your boss about this and just be Little Blossom¡¯s owner?¡± Number Five tempted Little Four.


    Little Four resisted the temptation. ¡°No. I will bring Little Blossom over for my boss. Only my boss can be Little Blossom¡¯s owner.¡±


    ¡°Then why are you wasting your energy to help Little Blossom evolve? Your evolution was hindered because of it. Are you willing to sacrifice your future for other people?¡± Number Five¡¯s words were always able to waver people¡¯s decision. Even though Little Four had a pure heart, he couldn¡¯t help but waver too.


    ¡°I am speaking the truth. If you be Little Blossom¡¯s owner, you will be even more useful to your boss. Also, you will not need to tell your boss about Little Blossom too. Your boss will not scold you for making decisions yourself. Isn¡¯t it your dream to be the best subordinate of your boss? If that is the case, don¡¯t let her have the chance to scold you.¡± Number Five continued tempting Little Four. Little Four was confused. He felt that Number Five made sense.


    ¡°But...¡± Little Four still felt that there was something amiss with the statement.


    ¡°There is no but. Little Blossom is waking up soon. Number One said that he will not suppress Little Blossom this time. You either hurry up and tell your boss or you will go and find Little Blossom and be the first person he sees. That way, you will be his owner...¡± Number Five reminded Little Four that he didn¡¯t have much time left.


    Little Four went into deep thought. Outside, Ling Lan had started fighting with her opponent. The huge energy broke the window. Everything in the room was a mess.


    ¡°The energy that the opponent released was only at Qi-Jin level. I can¡¯t sense his element...¡± Ling Lan frowned. She felt that this opponent would be tough. Not only was he powerful, but he also hid his element better than her. She was able to fool her opponent because she concealed her cold aura. However, she still had some loopholes. This old man had no loopholes at all.


    As expected of an old monster who had been in the domain realm for more than 10 years. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help butmend the old man in her heart.


    The young man saw that the 9th Elder was fighting the domain warrior so he winked at the other men. The few of them sneaked to the door and attempted to leave.


    The most powerful person among them was at the peak of Qi-Jin. The young man had just reached Qi-Jin level. If they stayed in this room with the domain masters fighting, they might die just by the force generated in the fight.


    When they reached the door, they were shocked. The door was covered with a thickyer of ice. No matter how much they kicked it, the ice didn¡¯t break. The young man observed that the window which was broken was blocked with ayer of thick ice too. They couldn¡¯t escape through the window either.

 Chapter 629 - Little Four’s Choice

    <h4>Chapter 629: Little Four¡¯s Choice</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Right when the group wanted to leave this ce, a strong aura suddenly appeared and moved towards them. This aura instantly caused them to fall to their knees. The young man was in an even worse condition as he instantly fell forward with blood dripping out from his mouth.


    They used all of the Qi-Jin in their bodies to desperately endure against this pressure. The fully unleashed auras of the two Domain experts were indeed forces that these individuals couldn¡¯t withstand with their lower levels.


    The young man tried his hardest to open both of his eyes and barely managed to look towards the fight in front of him. The young man saw the 9th Elder huff and arge tornado formed, making its way towards the silhouette...


    ¡°Bam!¡± Arge ice shield suddenly appeared in front of the silhouette. The tornado hit the ice shield with great force. The power of the collision made the entire building tremble. The foundation and walls instantly had cracks and debris fell to the floor as though it was rain.


    The young man knew that this was the result after the two people had tried their best to restrain the power of their domain. The 9th Elder and his opponent didn¡¯t want to make a scene. After all, they were on Kachi. If they alerted Kachi¡¯s government, things might be troublesome for both parties.


    ¡°That person is very strong!¡± The young man had a surprised andplicated look on his face, as though he was looking at an immovable mountain when he was looking at the silhouette. In his mind, he imagined how young the opponent was... suddenly he discovered that other than being young, he actually couldn¡¯t piece together his features. The young man only felt a heart piercing coldness that made him not dare to look up at the opponent.


    ¡°If the opponent really did advance to domain level when he was very young...¡± After thinking up to this point, the young man¡¯s heart trembled. Although he could see the disbelief in the 9th Elder¡¯s expression, the young man didn¡¯t know why he actually believed that this was the reality they were living in.


    The powerful shes between the 9th Elder and Ling Lan made the two of them be more vignt. Ling Lan¡¯s extremely strong ice element Domain was very sturdy. The 9th Elder¡¯s mysterious element was also hard for Ling Lan to grasp.


    Ling Lan looked at the wless defense of the 9th Elder and had a thought. Suddenly, a bone-piercing cold fell upon the atrium.


    Not long after, the atrium became engulfed in ice. Everything was frozen. Even the ceiling had many icicles hanging from above.


    The people who were subjugated to their knees or on the ground also had ayer of frost form on their bodies. The young man was also shuddering profusely. He felt as though his blood was going to be frozen solid. He felt that he would be an ice sculpture in the next second.


    The air was filled with a cold aura. Even breathing would make someone feel a heart-wrenching pain.


    However, this didn¡¯t affect the 9th Elder. A defensive barrier appeared outside of his body and blocked off the cold aura Ling Lan had produced. Compared to Demon Fire, the 9th Elder was much more careful since he had almost lived for a century. He valued his life and would not show any openings to his opponents.


    ¡°The attack the just now and the aura shield, his Domain should belong to a colorless and soundless element. Is it the wind or the air?¡± Ling Lan thought to herself.


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll feel it out once again.¡± Ling Lan snapped her fingers with great force. Suddenly, the things that were frozen exploded and broke into countless ice particles scattered in the air. These particles silently gathered towards her opponent.


    Seeing this, the 9th Elderughed coldly. He closed his right hand and suddenly his aura shield became a ck hole. It sucked in all of the ice particles into one ce. Then it formed a ball of ice that was bing bigger and bigger.


    ¡°You can have it back!¡± shouted the 9th Elder. The huge ice ball was sent flying towards Ling Lan in an instant. Right when the ice ball was about to hit Ling Lan, it suddenly dispersed and became particles again. Then these particlespletely disappeared into thin air.


    This move was within the 9th Elder¡¯s calctions. He knew that tossing the ice ball back to Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t pose any threat to him. However, what he wanted was the small window of time when his opponent gets rid of the ice ball.


    As the ice ball disappeared, Ling Lan immediately felt a strong sense of crisis approaching. She immediately conjured up an ice shield in front of her.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The entire building shook once again. The originally battered building now had evenrger cracks than before as though it was about to copse.


    Ling Lan¡¯s block was too hurried. Her ice shield didn¡¯tpletely neutralize the unexpected attack. She couldn¡¯t help but take three steps back and then managed to stop her body. Some blood uncontrobly dripped from the side of her mouth.


    The opponent¡¯s attack did not leave any traces. If it wasn¡¯t for Ling Lan¡¯s incredible spiritual power which felt the change in the energy in the air, perhaps this attack would have hit her directly.


    ¡°Looks like its not the wind element.¡± Ling Lan had battled with domain masters with the wind element before. The 23rd Division¡¯s special forces main leader was a wind element Domain expert. Even if her opponent concealed his attack, she would still be able to feel the change in the wind. It wasn¡¯t like now where the attack woulde out of nowhere.


    ¡°If my guess is correct, it¡¯s definitely the air element. He really is a troublesome opponent.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that she would meet up with an opponent who was an expert in the most mysterious element, air.


    ¡°However, I¡¯m lucky that he can¡¯t control the elements within the air.¡± Ling Lan celebrated a bit.


    The 9th Elder felt the coldness in the air decreasing. He then saw his opponent being hurt by his attack which made him quite overjoyed. The element of his domain was something unpredictable and hard to defend against. These factors gave him the upper hand against other domain experts and also helped him defeating all of his opponents which in turn made him into the Soul Society¡¯s 9th Elder.


    ¡°You actually dare to challenge the Soul Society. Then prepare to pay the price with your life,¡± the 9th Elderughed coldly. A force that was even stronger than thest one moved towards Ling Lan from all sides.


    In reality, the reason he created a tornado using his element in the beginning was to confuse his opponent. It was to make his opponent think that his attacks created sound and movement. The real sure-kill techniques were the attacks afterwards which included the technique he had just performed. It was his strongest technique, Air Vacuum technique.


    ¡°Bam!¡± The area around Ling Lan all froze into ice. It was as though she was in an ice coffin and was able to block off the attack from all sides.


    The 9th Elder¡¯s expression changed instantly, ¡°How is that possible?¡± How could his opponent knew that he would attack from all sides? It was clear that for his previous attack, his opponent only created an ice shield in front of him.


    ¡°Air element is indeed very strong! Thank you for fighting with me for this long,¡± Ling Lan said coldly while being inside the coffin.


    Number Five, who was watching in the learning space, showed a smile on his face, ¡°Little Four, your Boss is going to use a strong technique... the battle is going to be over soon. Did you make your decision yet?¡±


    Little Four instantly raised his head and saw Ling Lan¡¯s right hand clenched into a fist, ¡°Ice Age!¡±


    The strongest technique created by Ling Lan¡¯s domain. It was strong enough to put the world back into the ice age...


    The 9th Elder felt a chill forming around his body like never before. He snorted coldly, ¡°Insolence!¡± His domain formed as he shouted. The two forces were at odds with each other, both trying to get past the other¡¯s defenses.


    Ling Lan smirked and snapped her fingers once again. The 9th Elder suddenly felt a bone-piercing chill in the deep recesses of his body. His expression changed instantly and screamed, ¡°That¡¯s not possible!¡±


    In the next second, he became an ice sculpture. The fear on his face was etched in detail onto the sculpture as though he was going to break the ice and jump out in the next second.


    ¡°Why isn¡¯t it possible?¡± Ling Lan snapped her fingers once again and the ice sculpture instantly became countless of ice particles and dispersed into the air. No traces were left behind and it was as though the 9th Elder never existed in this world.


    No, something was left behind. Amunication bead fell out of the ice sculpture...


    Little Four¡¯s face was glowing. He shouted loudly, ¡°My Boss is just that awesome. Little Blossom¡¯s master should also be this awesome. However, I will definitely try my best to grow and hope that one day I will be as strong as Boss. Then, I will be Little Blossom¡¯s Boss...¡±


    Little Four kicked Number Five and freed himself from Number Five¡¯s grasp. He immediately started jumping towards Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace. ¡°Wuwuwu, Boss, I was bullied by Instructor Number Five just now. You have to help me get back at him.¡±


    Little Four had indeed hesitated before because he was afraid that Ling Lan would yell at him. However, he remembered the words Ling Lan had said to him many years ago. As long as he treated her sincerely, the Boss would treat him as her own little brother. She even let him have half of her father¡¯s love without fussing (Little Four believed this himself. However, in reality, Ling Xiao didn¡¯t know he had a son like him). How could he still hide Little Blossom like this?


    ¡°Also, even if the Boss did yell at me, what would happen? The Boss wouldn¡¯t yell at me if she didn¡¯t care about me. Did those instructors think that the Boss is interested in yelling at strangers? Idiot Number Five. Pffft...¡± Little Four suddenly turned around and stuck his tongue out at Number Five. He made a face towards Number Five, brushed off the dirt from his butt and jumped into Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace.


    Number Five stared nkly for a second thenughed. He then slowly disappeared into the lobby of the learning space.


    Number Five appeared in Instructor Number One¡¯s space.


    ¡°Now are you now rest assured?¡± said Number One as he opened his eyes and looked at Number Five calmly.


    Number Five smiled and scratched his head. He said helplessly, ¡°Looks like I worried too much.¡±


    ¡°Not really. It¡¯s just that you didn¡¯t believe in Majesty Four from the very beginning.¡± Number One said calmly.


    ¡°The root of the destruction of the Mandora star system was because of thest Intellect King. I¡¯m just afraid that Little Four¡¯s evolution would be the same as the Intellect King in the future, full of selfishness and destruction.¡± Number Five said inly. It was the first time the smile on his face had faded in many years.


    ¡°The rift in the rtionship between humans and us, intelligence entities, in the end it isn¡¯t something that we can really say who¡¯s fault it was right? Back then, the ten of us decided to put our spiritual power into this learning space to watch over Majesty Four¡¯s evolution. We shouldn¡¯t interfere with his growth too much. You went overboard this time.¡± Instructor Number One calmly warned Number Five.


    ¡°Majesty Four¡¯s evolution had made him show selfishness. If we let him grow on his own, it may impact Ling Lan negatively. Number One, Ling Lan is the disciple the ten of us developed with great care. Are you not afraid that Majesty Four will harm her in the end?¡± Number Five¡¯s suddenly became irritated.


    Little Four wasn¡¯t any average learning space intelligent entity. Once he gains hisplete form, he would be a god-like existence. This god-like entity wouldn¡¯t only have powers within the virtual world. As long as there were wires or signals, theplete form of Little Four could easily use all this to control the real world of the humans.


    Back then, the instructors saw what the Intellect King had done. In the Mandora star system, faced with humans who would not bow to him, the Intellect King would even consider mutual destruction then to let the humans get their way. Now, whenever the instructors think about this, it would make them shudder in fear.

 Chapter 630 - Did I Say That?

    <h4>Chapter 630: Did I Say That?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Number Five, that¡¯s something Ling Lan should be thinking about.¡± Number One¡¯s voice echoed in Number Five¡¯s ear like thunder and instantly woke Number Five up.


    Number Five rubbed his face and said apologetically, ¡°Sorry Number One, I was wrong.¡± Although Number Five seemed to have the most perverse mentality, he was actually the instructor out of all ten of them who cared about Ling Lan the most. Of course this had something to do with having such a talented disciple like Ling Lan who would only appear once every few centuries. Ling Lan was Number Five¡¯s most prized disciple. He was very satisfied and proud of her.


    ¡°Little Four¡¯s evolution is directly rted to Ling Lan. What Little Four evolves into in the future would actually depend on Ling Lan. How or why he will get to that point, whether the road is hard or easy, it would all be based on Ling Lan¡¯s nurturing. You and I don¡¯t have the qualifications to meddle with his evolution.¡± Seeing Number Five¡¯s mood, Number One¡¯s tone became softer.


    Number Fiveughed bitterly, ¡°Then we should just watch?¡± They clearly knew that Little Four¡¯s evolution would bring harm to Ling Lan, but they couldn¡¯t take the reins?


    ¡°Yes!¡± Number One looked towards the far reaches of his ne. After a long while he finally said, ¡°I believe in Ling Lan! She can do it.¡± His disciple wasn¡¯t going to disappoint him.


    Number One¡¯s words calmed Number Five downpletely. After a short while he said, ¡°Number One, maybe you¡¯re right.¡±


    After he said the previous statement, Number Five left Number One¡¯s spatial ne. Number One looked towards the endless void then closed his eyes...


    When Number Five returned to his own spatial ne, a familiar, beautiful and slim silhouette suddenly appeared in front of him.


    ¡°Number Nine? I hardly see youe by. Could it be that you missed your elder brother?¡± The surprise in Number Five¡¯s expression vanished instantly. His face now had a cynical smile that could not be easily forgotten and spoke in flirtatious manner.


    The coldness exuding from Number Nine¡¯s body became even heavier. She looked at Number Five coldly and saw that Number Five was starting to feel perturbed. However, the more Number Five was perturbed, the brighter his smile was. It was as though he had some perverted thoughts...


    Number Nine hated this quality of Number Five and snorted coldly, ¡°I came to the wrong ce!¡± Afterwards, she flicked her right hand and instantly sliced open a spatial tear and left this space.


    Number Five watched as Number Nine disappeared into the spatial tear. He rubbed his forehead and said to himself, ¡°Came to the wrong ce? Who is she trying to lie to? Number Nine came to me for a reason, but what is that reason?¡± For the first time, Number Five felt that he wasn¡¯t smart enough and actually couldn¡¯t guess the reason why his younger sister Number Nine hade...


    Number Nine returned to her own space in dismay. She originally thought that Number Five¡¯s inquires towards Majesty Four were for the sake of Ling Lan. This made Number Nine felt grateful towards Number Five, thus she wanted to thank Number Five in person. Now that she thought about it, she was really too naive and thought too well of Number Five.


    Seeing the perverted and sinister smile on his face, the reason he was probing on Ling Lan¡¯s situation was probably to satisfy some perverted needs of his own and not for Ling Lan¡¯s sake... After thinking about how she almost wasted her heartfelt gratitude, the coldness exuded from Number Nine¡¯s body became even colder.


    In the future, she would definitely not put up a nice front towards Number Five... No! She will not even talk to that pervert Number Five!


    Ling Lan picked up themunication bead on the ground and asked Little Four to continue keeping the 9th Elder¡¯s spiritual power intact. Then she slowly walked towards the young man¡¯s group who were all hurt from the shockwaves.


    Those people looked at this extremely young Domain expert with fear and terror in their eyes. Most of them believed that this young man definitely used some sort of medicinal agent to change his appearance. But these people had forgotten that although there were medicinal agents that could change a person¡¯s appearance, but it wouldn¡¯t make an individual seem too far off from their actual age. For example, a young person would not suddenly be an old man and an old man wouldn¡¯t suddenly be a young man...


    Ling Lan bent down and showed her right palm with themunication bead on it and asked, ¡°What is this?¡±


    The young man didn¡¯t say anything and pretended as though he didn¡¯t hear anything.


    ¡°You don¡¯t want to tell me? Then there isn¡¯t any reason for you to live.¡± Ling Lan said indifferently. She then stood up. The ice shards around their bodies slowly began to cover their entire body.


    The young man¡¯s face paled and he slowly closed his eyes, silently waiting for death toe to take him away. He didn¡¯t think that his n to move up in thepany in the end would actually dig his own grave. He was unwilling to die. He was still young and had a limitless future. He didn¡¯t want to die just yet... However, he couldn¡¯t betray his organization just for a chance to live. That would make him disdain and loathe himself.


    However, not everyone had this realization. When these people felt that their hands and feet had been frozen and the coldness slowly crawled through their bodies, they began to struggle.


    The feeling of watching oneself slowly reaching to the brink of death was tormenting and could easily cause a person to fall apart mentally.


    As expected, one of the middle-aged men couldn¡¯t endure the pressure anymore and instantly shouted, ¡°It¡¯s amunication bead!¡±


    The young man immediately opened his eyes. His eyes were full of criticism and rage. As trusted members, how could they betray so easily like that?


    The statement of the middle-aged man also broke the mental endurance of the men. A few other middle-aged men also shouted, ¡°That¡¯s right, it¡¯s amunication bead.¡±


    Ling Lan half-smiled at the angry young man. As expected, he was still a hot-blooded youngster and was willing to spill his own blood for his dreams. This youngster probably wouldn¡¯t even care if he paid the price with his life. She nced at these middle-aged men with joy. Fortunately, these people had already lost that passion. They were people that understood how valuable life was aspared to anything else. Otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t be able to force anything out from these people.


    Ling Lan snapped her finger and the ice that originally frozen their hands and feet had disappeared into thin air. After seeing that their hands and feet had returned to normal, these people were instantly overjoyed.


    ¡°Does every one of you have amunication bead?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    Since their psychological defense were broken down already, they would answer every question obediently, these individuals knew the cat was out of the bag and didn¡¯t hide anything anymore. They all nodded to show that she was right.


    ¡°Give me yourmunication bead and let me have a look.¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    Not long after, these middle-aged men handed over theirmunicator to Ling Lan. Ling Lan randomly took one. Little Four spoke to Ling Lan in her mindspace, ¡°Boss, these are different from themunication bead you picked up earlier.¡±


    ¡°Do they have a function that changes its shape?¡± Ling Lan inspected themunication bead in her hand closely and actually saw the difference. It seemed that only the people that understood how it worked or the people who created thesemunicators would be able to tell the difference. Which also included Ling Lan¡¯s Little Four.


    Little Four nodded and said, ¡°Yes, the material used to make thesemunication beads are verymon. The twomunication beads from before were created using special materials. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t find this type of material on the market. This type of material is probably controlled by the government and is very scarce. Otherwise, it isn¡¯t possible that Domain warriors are the only ones qualified to have.¡±


    After saying all this, Little Four was squirming around as though he had something to say. However, in the end, Little Four didn¡¯t say it.


    Little Four¡¯s odd behavior was of course seen by Ling Lan but she ignored it. She looked at themunication bead in her hand once again. Threemunication beads suddenly appeared in her hand. The two new beads were the two that Ling Lan had picked up earlier.


    ¡°Since there¡¯s no use for them, then I won¡¯t be needing them.¡± Ling Lan suddenly whipped her arm and three shadows flew out from her hand, smashing into the wall in front of her.


    ¡°Ah, no!¡± Little Four and the middle-aged man who gave themunication bead both shouted.


    After a bang was heard, themunication bead was instantly shattered into pieces. The face of the middle-aged man paled. He had already foreseen what kind of miserable life he would have in the future. He looked at those beside him with a terrified look. A hint of killing intent instantly shed past his eyes.


    ¡°Little Four, do you really want this?¡± Ling Lan opened her right hand towards herself. Themunication bead she had taken from Demon Fire and the 9th Elder were still in her hand. The bead that she tossed out just now was only themunication bead of that middle-aged man. As to why there were three shadows, it was because Ling Lan¡¯s hand movements had reached the level of Form. Creating two illusions out of thin air was simply too easy for her.


    Little Four nodded enthusiastically after he saw that the twomunication beads were not damaged.


    ¡°These are very important to you!¡± Ling Lan said a statement.


    Little Four saw that he could no longer hide his intentions. Thus he replied honestly, ¡°Yes. These are very important to me. No, not just me, but also very important to your ten instructors.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression instantly became more serious. She prompted Little Four to speak more in detail.


    ¡°Actually, we aren¡¯t bound to the learning space. We can actuallye out into your world, Boss,¡± Little Four said.


    ¡°This I know. Back then, in order to save me, Number Five and Number Nine had once controlled my body.¡± Ling Lan remembered the crisis she was in when she was just thirteen years old. She almost lost her life back then. In the end, she managed to live by a stroke of luck and thanks to Number Five and Number Nine helping her.


    ¡°That¡¯s one way, but that way will bring harm to the host body. Normally we won¡¯t use this method to go into the real world.¡± Little Four remembered the incident from back then. He couldn¡¯t help but clench his small fists. Back then, if he had already obtained a real body, he would definitely not let Boss be that gravely injured.


    Ling Lan was a smart person. Even if she wasn¡¯t smart, she became smart after the endless torture from the aberrant Number Five¡¯s. She had a look of understanding when she looked at themunicator. She said, ¡°So only domain warriors are qualified to use this type ofmunicator?¡±


    Little Four nodded and said sternly, ¡°Yes Boss!¡±


    ¡°This type of material can endure the aura of a domain warrior. The most important property was its ability to change forms when necessary that allows spiritual power to be easily attached to the material. In the Mandora star system, this type of material would be used to create humanoid shells for intelligent entities or spiritual entities to control. Then we would be able to use these shells to connect with the real world.¡± Little Four told Ling Lan about the information he had found in his database. His eyes were filled with hope. If it was possible, he didn¡¯t want to just stay in the virtual world to help Ling Lan. He also wanted to be able to help Ling Lan in the real world.


    Ling Lan stared at the twomunication beads in her hand. She was stunned by the information Little Four had given her. If she collected this material and created humanoid shells, the ten instructors in the learning space would be able to be real humanoids and stay beside her in the real world.


    Also, there was Little Four. He would actually be her younger brother, call Ling Xiao ¡®daddy¡¯ and call Lan Luofeng ¡®mommy¡¯ ... Would the calm and collected Ling Xiao be able to keep a straight face or not? And would her mother, Lan Luofeng, act like a loving mother and hug and kiss Little Four, kissing Little Four until his CPU overheats and faint?


    That image was too perfect. Ling Lan put way themunication beads and held back the excitement building up inside her. She asked again, ¡°How many domain masters are in this Soul Society?¡±


    One middle-aged man said proudly, ¡°Our Soul Society has almost 300 Domain masters...¡±


    After calcting the volume of all 300munication beads put together, Ling Lan regrettably said, ¡°What a small amount?¡± She wasn¡¯t sure whether or not it was enough to create a small Little Four.


    Hearing this, the middle-aged man almost spat out blood. Almost 300 was a small amount? This number of Domain masters were close to the total of Domain experts in a small country. Of course, ifpared to the thousands or ten-thousands of Domain masters from other super powers, it was indeed a small amount.


    ¡°You lot have the materials to create themunication bead right?¡± Ling Lan nced at a few of the middle-aged men and asked coldly.


    Those words made the expression of these middle-aged men and the young man, who was ready to die, change instantly. One of the middle-aged men rolled his eyes and answered nonchntly, ¡°Of course we have the materialsw for that. In fact, the materials are verymon. It¡¯s just gold alloy, pixie dust..¡± He told her materials used to createmonmunication beads in an attempt to fool her.


    ¡°You know what I want.¡± Ling Lan shot a sharp nce towards the middle-aged man. The look stunned the man and he instantly stopped speaking.


    ¡°Only domain warriors can use that type ofmunication bead and you lot aren¡¯t in that group of people. I know that you people clearly know what I¡¯m asking for.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t allow them to avoid answering the question.


    Everyone was silent and stopped talking. This information was rted to the secrets of the Soul Society. Even the middle-aged men who had given up beforehand, did not dare to share this information. Otherwise, even if they managed to get away from this monster in front of them, they would still be hunted down by the Soul Society. Both oues would result in their death, thus it was better for them to have a quick death at this ce than to be hunted down by the Soul Society.


    ¡°Seems like you all know.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t necessarily need to hear an answer from them. She believed that these people would definitely know where this valuable material was hidden. She just wanted to surmise an answer from their reactions.


    The reactions of these people were terrified and frightened. Their behavior of not daring to answer even if it meant death proved that the Soul Society indeed had this material and possibly inrge quantities. That was why their expressions changed so quickly...


    As expected, Ling Lan¡¯s words had made the faces of these individuals turn pale. The fear in their eyes was more visible. It seemed that she had guessed correctly.


    ¡°Thank you for your cooperation!¡± Ling Lan had received the answer she wanted. She stood straight up and looked at the middle-aged men with a cold expression. Her expression was cold as ice that it had made these middle-aged men afraid.


    One of the middle-aged men shouted, ¡°You promised you wouldn¡¯t kill us!¡±


    Ling Lan replied calmly, ¡°Did I say that?¡±

 Chapter 631 - Your Name Is Little Blossom!

    <h4>Chapter 631: Your Name Is Little Blossom!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Everyone was enlightened. Ling Lan just asked them questions. She didn¡¯t promise them that she would let them go.


    ¡°Despicable, shameless.¡± The middle-aged men broke down when they knew that they were about to die.


    Ling Lan looked at them with pity. She truly didn¡¯t want to kill so many people. However, these people saw her face. If they just did some research, they would figure out her identity. Her father worked so hard to keep her gender a secret. If he knew that she had other secrets, he might grow more white hair.


    In order to make things easier for her father, Ling Lan decided to kill these people.


    These people were assassins. They would do anything for money. Ling Lan would feel no guilt killing them.


    The noisy room became silent again. These people would never be able to open their mouth again. All of them turned into ice statues. They still wore an angry expression with their mouths wide open...


    ¡°Boom.¡± The ice statues exploded into ice crystals and disappeared in the air. No trace was left behind. It was as though these people never existed.


    The young man was shocked when he saw this scene. Even though he had prepared himself mentally, he was still frightened when he saw hisrades disappearing like that.


    Ling Lan looked at the young man indifferently. She seemed to be considering what to do with this person.


    Ling Lan had a good impression of this young man. At least he was not someone who would betray his organization to live.


    Those secrets might not be important in the eyes of these people. They might only be scolded when they went back to their society. Hence, it was reasonable that they would choose to betray their organization to gain a chance to live. But, Ling Lan felt that no matter how important the information was, betraying was still betraying.


    This young man was a loyal person. That was the reason why she left him alive. Ling Lan liked people who were loyal.


    ¡°Are there any poisons which only I have the antidote for?¡± Ling Lan asked Little Four in her mindscape.


    Little Four pondered about the question seriously. ¡°You can ask Li Shiyu to invent a poison.¡± With Li Shiyu¡¯s ability, it should be easy for him to concoct an incurable poison. ¡°However, it would be difficult to be the only person with the antidote.¡±


    With how advanced technology in this era was, it was easy to create more than one specific antidote for a poison.


    ¡°I can only kill this young man then.¡± Ling Lan sighed. She realized that she became more vicious. Even when she was deciding whether someone should live, she was calm. She was moving away from the person who used to lie on a hospital bed all the time.


    Little Four suddenly thought of something. His eyes twinkled. He asked, ¡°Boss, do you really want to keep this person alive? Are you not afraid that he would betray you?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I want him alive. But, I can¡¯t make sure that he will not betray us.¡±


    ¡°Actually... it might be possible,¡± Little Four replied.


    Ling Lan narrowed her eyes when she heard what he said. ¡°Little Four, did you keep something from me?¡±


    Little Four shrunk back a little when he heard the threatening tone. He lowered his head and said meekly, ¡°There is something...¡±


    ¡°What is that something?¡± Ling Lan was curious. She knew that Little Four did many things behind her back but since he never hindered her business, she would just let him off.


    Ling Lan knew that Little Four was lonely. The 10 instructors in the learning space wouldn¡¯t chat with him and she couldn¡¯t apany him all the time. She had her parents, her friends, and her own life. Ling Lan hoped that Little Four could have his own hobbies when he was alone to remain happy.


    Thus, Ling Lan was not angry when she heard what Little Four said. But, in order to prevent Little Four from getting too overboard in the future, she still pretended to angry.


    Little Four already had the intention to tell Ling Lan about Little Blossom. Hence, he told Ling Lan everything what she asked.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mouth twitched when she heard the nickname. Little Blossom? How did Little Four manage toe up with such a mundane name? She felt sympathy for this flower that had to live with such a name.


    ¡°Little Blossom is going to wake up soon. Boss, hurry up and follow me.¡± Little Four grabbed Ling Lan¡¯s hand excitedly and transported her to a dark room.


    Ling Lan immediately saw a pretty baby around three years old floating in the air. There were silver threads all around his body. She could feel the energy on these silver threads being transmitted to the baby.


    The baby felt a human presence so he started opening its eyes slowly.


    While Ling Lan was looking at the baby intently, she was caught off her guard when Little Four suddenly pushed her forward. She almost bumped into the baby but she managed to stop herself in time. Her face was very near the baby¡¯s face.


    Ling Lan looked at the watery and clear eyes in front of her. It was pure. This was what a baby¡¯s eyes should be like. Innocent, clean, and pure.


    Her face reflected in the baby¡¯s eyes. He seemed to remembering and confirming something...


    ¡°Master!¡± The baby opened his mouth. Ling Lan frowned when she heard the term. She knew that Little Four must be behind this. ¡°Little Four,e out!¡±


    Little Four came out from the dark. He smiled and said, ¡°Boss, Little Blossom would recognize the first person he sees as his master.¡±


    ¡°You arranged this?¡± Ling Lan believed that Little Four did something to this baby.


    However, his reply surprised her. ¡°No. intelligent entities like us followed one rule. If the first thing we see when we open our eyes is a human, that human bes our master. If the first thing we see is an object, we will evolve based on that object.¡±


    Little Four¡¯s exnation was not detailed because he didn¡¯t know much too. This was a restriction that happened naturally. It might exist to prevent the intelligent entities from bing too powerful.


    Ling Lan pondered over his words. She nced at Little Four and asked, ¡°When you woke up, I was the first person that you saw?¡±


    Little Four tried to recall. ¡°I think so. In my memory, you are my master.¡±


    While Ling Lan and Little Four were talking, Little Blossom looked at them with a puzzled expression. He was thinking why his master wasn¡¯t talking to him.


    ¡°Master?¡± Little Blossom didn¡¯t like Little Four.


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart skipped a beat when she heard the delicate voice. She looked over.


    Little Blossom was ted when he saw his master had his attention on him. He said respectfully, ¡°Please give me a name.¡± Ever since he saw Ling Lan, he couldn¡¯t help but like her.


    Little Blossom didn¡¯t know that he had been named by Little Four already. He looked at Ling Lan with anticipation.


    Before Ling Lan could speak, Little Four got agitated. He grabbed Ling Lan¡¯s hand and said seriously, ¡°Boss, he is called Little Blossom!¡± He was willing to give up Little Blossom but he must keep the name. This was the only right he had left.


    Ling Lan felt helpless. She didn¡¯t like this name. The baby was so cute. How could he have such a mundane name? She felt pity for Little Blossom... why was she calling him Little Blossom? Seemed like Little Four had brainwashed her.


    ¡°Little Blossom,¡± Little Four shouted firmly when he saw Ling Lan hesitating.


    ¡°Okay, you will be called Little Blossom.¡± Ling Lan looked at Little Blossom apologetically. Little Four was an important family member to her. She didn¡¯t want to reject Little Four and hurt him. So, she relented. However, Ling Lan still felt bad for Little Blossom. She decided to treat Little Blossom better in the future topensate him.


    ¡°Little Blossom, you will be named Little Blossom from now on.¡± Little Four jumped in front of Little Blossom happily.


    ¡°Little Blossom, my name?¡± Little Blossom looked at Ling Lan.


    ¡°Yes, your name will be Little Blossom. He is Little Four. You two will be brothers from now on. You two must take care of each other.¡± Ling Lan pointed at Little Four and introduced him to Little Blossom.


    Little Blossom didn¡¯t know how bad this name was. As a newborn, getting a name meant that he had been acknowledged. Little Blossom was happy that he had been acknowledged.


    He cut the silver threads around him and came in front of Ling Lan. He said seriously, ¡°Little Blossom is ted. Little Blossom understand. Little Blossom will take care of Little Four.¡±


    Little Four hit Little Blossom head. Little Blossom was bbergasted as he didn¡¯t know why Little Four hit him.


    ¡°You cannot call me Little Four. You must call me Elder Brother Four,¡± Little Four said proudly.


    ¡°Elder Brother Four?¡± Ling Lan snorted.


    Little Four immediately became sad. He looked like a deted balloon. He said, ¡°How about Little Brother Four?¡±


    Little Blossom looked at Ling Lan. He was awaiting Ling Lan¡¯s order. Ling Lan nodded. ¡°He is older than you. You should call him Little Brother Four.¡±


    Little Blossom received the order and called obediently, ¡°Little Brother Four!¡±


    Little Four was so delighted that he did a somersault in the air. He finally had a younger brother! It felt so good!


    Ling Lan looked at the excited Little Four and then looked at the puzzled Little Blossom. She smiled. With Little Blossom around, Little Four might not be so lonely anymore. Only an intelligent entity would know what other intelligent entities needed. She didn¡¯t feel so speechless anymore.


    However. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t let Little Four be excited for too long. She grabbed Little Four and asked, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you exin how can Little Blossom help me control the young man? Can he make poison?¡±


    Little Four didn¡¯t mind being lifted up by Ling Lan. He smiled. ¡°You are right. Little Blossom can make poison. However, his poison would not harm a person¡¯s body. It would just harm the person¡¯s spiritual power.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Spiritual power? How?¡±


    ¡°Boss, you should know that the Doomsday Flower could destroy the virtual world. The reason why it was feared by humans and intelligent entities is because it consumes a human¡¯s spiritual power as well as intelligent entities.¡± Little Four shivered in fear.


    Ling Lan looked at Little Blossom in surprised. Little Blossom didn¡¯t know that Little Four was talking about him. She didn¡¯t expect such a cute and naive baby to be so frightening. Her expression changed. ¡°Will he consume my spiritual power?¡± If he would, it would be like raising a devil inside of her.


    ¡°No.¡± Little Four rolled his eyes at his boss. How could he put his boss at risk? ¡°Once entities like us recognize a master, we will be unable to harm him or her. Hence, Little Blossom would be unable to harm you and the things rted to you... for instance, he would be unable to harm me or any other entities in your mindscape.¡±

 Chapter 632 - Life Or Death?

    <h4>Chapter 632: Life Or Death?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan rxed after hearing Little Four¡¯s exnation. Little Four continued, ¡°Little Blossom is still a baby. Thus, he doesn¡¯t have the capability to make any independent decisions. He will not be able to consume other people¡¯s spiritual power without your approval. The energy in this space is enough for him to evolve. Little Blossom does not need to consume spiritual power and intelligent entities to fuel his evolution.¡±


    Little Four nced at Ling Lan carefully before saying, ¡°Of course, if you voluntarily allow your spiritual power to be consumed to help Little Blossom evolve, Little Blossom would consume it.¡±


    Ling Lan stared at him intently. Little Four immediately waved his hands and emphasized, ¡°You must do it voluntarily. If you don¡¯t, Little Blossom will never consume your spiritual power...¡±


    Ling Lan nodded calmly. Little Four heaved a sigh of relief. He finally managed to pass this obstacle. Sob, boss looked so frightening just now.


    ¡°Even if Little Blossom can consume spiritual power, he will not be able to control the other party. He can only kill them.¡± Although Little Blossom¡¯s ability was scary, it was different from what she wanted.


    ¡°Intelligent entities like us have replicas of ourselves. You can ask Little Blossom to hide his in the mindscape of the other party. Once he noticed that the other party wants to betray you, the replica will be awaken and consume the other party¡¯s spiritual power causing him to be brain dead.¡± Little Four finally told Ling Lan how to use Little Blossom properly.


    Ling Lan felt her heart pounding furiously. She didn¡¯t expect Little Blossom to be so powerful and frightening. This was an ultimate killing weapon. If she used this method to guard against other people, she would not need to worry about them betraying her.


    Ling Lan spent quite a long time in the learning space but for the young man, she just went into deep thought for a moment. The next moment, Ling Lan stood in front of him and asked indifferently, ¡°Do you want to live or do you want to die?¡±


    The young man¡¯s eyes lit up. If there was a chance, he wanted to live. However, he thought about something and his eyes dimmed again. ¡°I will never betray the society. Just kill me.¡±


    When he was at the end of his rope, one of the leaders of Soul Society found him and took him into Soul Society. His life was changed because of this opportunity. If he was a nobody in the Soul Society, he might betray the Soul Society in exchange for his life. But, his talent was noticed and was specially nurtured. That meant that he would never be able to leave the Soul Society.


    His family members had been taken away by the Soul Society and was sent to a secret base. Every year, he would sit on a cruise sent by the Soul Society and visit his family. Yet, he could never remember the ce where they were held hostage.


    If he betrayed Soul Society and was found out, his entire family would die a horrible death. He couldn¡¯t let that happen.


    ¡°You want to live but you still chose death...¡± Ling Lan saw the struggle in his eyes.


    A chair made of ice formed behind Ling Lan. Ling Lan sat down and looked at the young man who was kneeling in front of her. She seemed to be thinking about something.


    ¡°It must be someone important to you to risk your life for it. If I am right, you want to protect either your family or your lover. Which one is it?¡± Ling Lan ced her hand on her chin and asked the young man.


    The young man¡¯s face changed. He didn¡¯t expect the other party to guess his secret so quickly. He pursed his lips and refused to answer Ling Lan¡¯s question.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t expect the young man to reply too. She continued, ¡°You are a calm and logical person. Thus, you know how to make the best decision for yourself. I overheard your conversations when I came by. If I am not wrong, you should be themanding officer of this operation. To reach this position, you must have spent a long time in the Soul Society.¡±


    ¡°The rules of the Soul Society must have been around for quite a long time. Based on your character and ability, you will not allow yourself to have any weaknesses. Hence, you will never be in love with someone until the stage where you want to protect her with your life. That means that the people in danger are your family members...¡± Ling Lan exposed the young man¡¯s secret


    ¡°If you are unable to find a solution for this problem until now, it could only mean that your family members had been captured by the society.¡± Ling Lan knocked her fingers on the ice chair. ¡°Looks like it will be difficult to have you betray the Soul Society.¡±


    The young man followed Ling Lan¡¯s words carefully. When he heard thest sentence, he heaved a sigh of relief. He was grateful that this person didn¡¯t force him to betray the Soul Society.


    He was shocked by his own thoughts. Why did he feel grateful towards him?


    ¡°However, can you be sure that once you die, the Soul Society will release your family members?¡± Ling Lan smiled coldly. She stared at the young man with sharp eyes.


    The young man was stunned. He looked at Ling Lan fearfully. This was something that worried him for many years. He wanted to find the exact location of where his family was held hostage because he was afraid that once he got killed, the Soul Society would kill his family members too. As they would be useless to them. He had stayed in the Soul Society for a long time now so he knew how heartless the people inside Soul Society were. There were no useless people in the Soul Society.


    ¡°Let me remind you, young man. I will kill you using the same method as how I kill the rest of your group. You will turn into ice and disappear from the world. So do you think that the Soul Society will believe that you are dead or will they think that you had betrayed them and ran away?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s tone was calm but her words were straight to the point.


    ¡°You know that the Soul Society will most probably feel that you had betrayed them. Only people that were alive would destroy all their traces. Dead people can¡¯t do that. Unless the person who killed them had the hobby of collecting corpse... but, no matter what, there would still be some evidence left. But what could they find here? Blood? Weapons? Killing techniques? Can you see any traces of those left behind?¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s words were surprising but it didn¡¯t cause the young man to waver. He knew that the Soul Society didn¡¯t need their corpse to ascertain whether they were dead or not. They had their own method. Outsiders didn¡¯t know this...


    He hoped that the Soul Society would keep their promise after he died. Even if they didn¡¯t release his family members, he hoped that they would let them live in the secret base until they would die naturally.


    Suddenly, amunication bead appeared in front of him. A cold voice rang beside his ear. ¡°You think that this thing can inform the Soul Society that you died?¡±


    The young man was dumbfounded. He didn¡¯t understand what Ling Lan wanted to say.


    ¡°Can you tell me whosemunication bead is this? And has it lost itsmunication ability?¡± Ling Lan asked the young man to take a closer look.


    The young man took themunication bead from the fair and slender hand. He looked at it carefully. His expression suddenly changed. He confirmed that it was 9th Elder¡¯smunication bead. He saw 9th Elder disappearing into ice particles with his own eyes. However, hismunication bead still showed that he was still alive. This didn¡¯t make any sense.


    ¡°The spiritual power of the user is stored within themunication bead. Once the user died, the spiritual power inside will disappear naturally. Once all the spiritual power disappears, the person will be announced as dead. If I just keep the spiritual power of the user within themunication bead, I can make sure that his death would not be noticed,¡± Ling Lan exined.


    The young man broke down when he heard this. He knew that if he chose death, the other party would keep his spiritual power inside hismunication bead. They would think that he was still alive and had betrayed them, his family members would be killed as a result of that...


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die!¡± Since death couldn¡¯t protect his family, he had no reason to seek death.


    ¡°Very good. I like working with smart people.¡± Ling Lan pped her hand indifferently.


    The young man stared at Ling Lan with his cold eyes. He hated and feared this person. This was someone who yed with his heart and forced him into a dead end. In the end, he had no choice but to work with him. If his family members died because of his decision this time, he would kill this demon and destroy the Soul Society.


    The young man calmed down after making a decision. He asked, ¡°What do you want to know about the Soul Society?¡±


    Ling Lan smiled. ¡°I am not interested in the Soul Society.¡±


    The young man was astounded. Why did he took so much time to threaten and entice him then?


    ¡°I am interested in you.¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.


    The young man tensed up. Was he talking about that kind of interest? Some higher authorities did like pretty boys. They would find pretty boys to satisfy their fetishes. These pretty boys willingly gave up their bodies in order to climb up in rank. But, he as a straight man. He would never...


    Erm, there is no such thing as never when ites to a person¡¯s life. The young man gritted his teeth and said helplessly, ¡°I am willing to give you anything you want.¡±


    Ling Lan was stunned when she saw the young man¡¯s expression. She wondered why he looked so humiliated.


    Little Four startedughing uncontrobly in the mindscape. Ling Lan red at him. Little Four stoppedughing immediately. Little Four¡¯sughter caused Ling Lan to understand what the young man was thinking about.


    She looked at the young man with disdain. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. If I like man, I have many better looking men around me. I am just interested in your brain. I don¡¯t want my men to be exposed when they sneak into your society.¡±


    The young man was relieved. He managed to keep his chrysanthenum¡¯s virginity. He epted Ling Lan¡¯s request to be a spy. It was a better option.


    After that, the two of them had a peaceful conversation. Ling Lan knew that this young man was called Min Zhenyun. In Soul Society, he was called Xia Qingyi. There were four main groups in the Soul Society¡¯s eastary sector business. They were known as summer, spring, autumn, and winter. Each group had four small teams in it. Everyone had their own nicknames. Min Zhenyun was under the Qing team of the summer group. He was ranked first in their team so his name was called Xia (which means summer) Qing (name of his team) Yi (which means one).


    Ling Lan realized how big the Soul Society was after Xia Qingyi¡¯s exnation. If she wanted to get the materials for themunication bead from them, it might be even harder than stealing from the Federation.


    However, she would not give up. It was impossible to get the materials from the Federation so her only hope was the Soul Society.


    Ling Lan got Little Blossom to make a replica of himself and imnted the replica into Xia Qingyi¡¯s mindscape. Xia Qingyi didn¡¯t know how Ling Lan did it but he knew that there was a frightening thing inside his mind.


    Ling Lan told him that if he had any thoughts about betraying her, the thing inside his mind would kill his brain. He would be brain dead. Hence, she wished that he would be careful. She didn¡¯t want him to die because of a careless mistake.


    Xia Qingyi believed Ling Lanpletely. His instinct told him that this thing in his mind was powerful and threatening. Xia Qingyi didn¡¯t tell Ling Lan the reason he was taken in by the Soul Society was because of his powerful instinct. With it, he was able to make urate predictions. Before this, he thought that his innate talent was strong enough. However, now, he felt that it was stillcking. If not, why didn¡¯t he predict that this mission would be a failure?


    Xia Qingyi didn¡¯t know that Ling Lan had the Profound Insight which was the highest level innate talent within the instinct talent section. When met with other innate talents from the same section, the other talents couldn¡¯t be used and the predictions made would be wrong.


    That was why Xia Qingyi made many wrong decisions in this mission. He was fooled by his own innate talent.


    Ling Lan prepared to leave after settling everything. Xia Qingyi shouted, ¡°Are you nning to leave just like that? How will I exin this to my superiors?¡±


    Ling Lan looked at him with a smile. She replied nonchntly, ¡°This will be a test for you. If you can¡¯t pass this test, it means that you are not good enough to be my subordinate. I don¡¯t take in useless people.¡±


    After finishing her sentence, Ling Lan disappeared from Xia Qingyi¡¯s sight.

 Chapter 633 - Fake?

    <h4>Chapter 633: Fake?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Xia Qingyi scanned the empty and messy room while clenching his fists. He was not useless. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He started thinking of a way out of this mess.


    ¡°I will continue to let 9th Elder and Demon Fire appear to be alive. All the best to you.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s voice suddenly appeared beside Xia Qingyi...


    Xia Qingyi¡¯s eyes lit up. His new master was not as heartless as he thought. He even gave him a hint. He knew what to do now.


    At this moment, Qi Long and the rest of the team were finishing up their battle too.


    Zhao Jun managed to enter the floor below with Li Lanfeng covering him. When the assassins were all focused on Li Lanfeng, he sneaked behind their backs and fired at them furiously.


    Half of the assassins in the stairwell were killed. The other half managed to react in time and changed the direction of their nozzle to defend their backs. When they were prepared to shoot at Zhao Jun, Zhao Jun quickly hid behind a pir.


    When Li Lanfeng heard themotion downstairs, he knew that Zhao Jun had acted. He jumped down without any hesitation. As the assassins were pursuing Zhao Jun, they exposed their backs to Li Lanfeng and he shot at them without any hesitation. Half of the remaining assassins were killed.


    Zhao Jun came out from his hiding ce. With Li Lanfeng¡¯s help, they managed to kill off thest few assassins.


    After confirming that there was no other assassins around them, Zhao Jun guarded Li Lanfeng as he shot the assassins again to make sure that they were dead.


    They managed to kill 14 assassins. If Qi Long and Li Yingjie didn¡¯t managed to kill anyone, there were 19 assassins left in the building.


    The two people cleaned up the scene. They nodded at each other and started searching on the third floor.


    Li Yingjie was thest person toe down from the roof. The moment he reached the fifth floor, he felt a movement. He quickly hid himself in a corner.


    Very soon, he saw two assassins in ck walking over. One was in front while the other was behind him.


    Li Yingjie came out of the corner and punched the first assassin in his chest. The assassin flew back. He dashed to the next assassin and was ready to punch him too.


    ¡°Shit!¡± Li Yingjie suddenly felt a sense of danger. He quickly dodged to the side. Just as he was going to be hit on his shoulder. A beam shield appeared behind Li Yingjie.


    Li Yingjie knocked the second assassin out. After that, he pushed against the ground and rushed towards the direction where he felt the danger came from.


    In an instant, Li Yingjie saw the third assassin who was hiding behind a pir. He looked at Li Yingjie fearfully. He raised the beam gun shakily and tried to kill him.


    Li Yingjie didn¡¯t give him a chance to fire a second shot. His fist knocked into the assassin¡¯s chest. The assassin spit blood out of his mouth and flew several meters back. He mmed on the wall, forming cracks and slowly slid to the ground.


    After hitting the third person, he rushed towards the assassin and pped the assassin¡¯s head forcefully. The assassin¡¯s skull cracked under the force of his palm. After that, Li Yingjie went to finish off the two assassins that were unconscious. He heaved a sigh of relief after confirming that all three assassins were dead.


    He turned off his beam shield. He was frustrated. He didn¡¯t expect someone to be hiding behind him. The third assassin had been hiding there for a long time so Li Yingjie didn¡¯t hear any movements.


    Truthfully speaking, Li Yingjie was quite rash this time. He should have used the fact that he was in the dark to sneak an attack on the assassins. Due to his mistake, he almost lost his life. Luckily, Lin Zhong-qing gave him this beam shield device before he came down.


    The defensive power of this beam shield was very strong. It was easy to use too. He didn¡¯t know it could activate automatically. When the device senses a force closing in, it would activate the shield on its own. That was how Li Yingjie managed to block the gunshot and had the chance to find the third person.


    ¡°This is such a good equipment.¡± Li Yingjie patted the shield device on his right arm. He was envious. Boss Lan had such impressive defense equipment. Was this the result of having an excellent mechanic?


    Li Yingjie started reflecting about himself. Was he wrong to only have mecha operators on his team? A good team required experts in various fields. That was how Boss Lan¡¯s team got so powerful, right?


    Li Yingjie didn¡¯t stop moving as he pondered about this. He continued searching the fifth floor. But this time, he was more careful.


    Li Yingjie wanted to go to the fourth floor but decided against it. Lin Zhong-qing was still on the roof. If by any chance there were assassins still hiding in this floor, they would be able to get on the roof once he was gone. There were no hiding spots on the roof. If assassins did climb up to the roof, Lin Zhong-qing would be surrounded. The consequences would be undesirable.


    Also, if Lin Zhong-qing needed any help, he could rushed up immediately too.


    Li Lanfeng and the other team members were split into four groups. Qi Long was on the second floor. He met the most enemies and was under the most pressure.


    However, Qi Long came down to the second floor because he wanted to have a good fight.


    Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun were on the third floor. There were many assassins on the second and third floor. Aspared to those on the second floor, the assassins on the third floor were far more careful. It was hard to find them. But, this was nothing to Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun. They would always be able to find the assassins before the assasins found them. Many assassins were killed by them.


    Li Yingjie remained on the fifth floor and slowly search the area. On the sixth floor, Lin Zhong-qing continued to observe the surroundings.


    Qi Long was currently fighting with three assassins. Suddenly, his expression changed. He released all of his strength and killed the three assassins instantly. Then, he jumped out of the window and climbed up to the roof.


    Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun ran up to the roof after subduing their opponents too.


    None of them were as fast as Li Yingjie. When Li Yingjie was searching the fifth floor, he felt movements on the roof. He leapt out of the window and climbed up the roof without any hesitation.


    He saw three assassins in ck surrounding Lin Zhong-qing. All of them were pointing their guns at him.


    Li Yingjie knew that Lin Zhong-qing was in danger. He might be able to dodge one person¡¯s shot but not three. One of the assassins was standing at Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s blindspot. There was no way Lin Zhong-qing coulde out unharmed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move, if you do, we will kill him,¡± One of the assassins warned them.


    Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun, and Qi Long had came up too. None of them dared to move.


    The three of them looked at Lin Zhong-qing. Lin Zhong-qing remained calmed. He exined, ¡°They came from the building not far away from here. There were 12 of them. I killed nine. Three of them managed toe over.¡±


    ¡°Five versus three. There is no way you all will win. Put down your weapons and we will not attack.¡± Li Lanfeng lowered his gun.


    One of the assassins sneered. ¡°If that is the case, why are you still holding your weapons?¡±


    Li Lanfeng looked at Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun shrugged and put down his gun.


    Qi Long didn¡¯t have a gun. He liked closebats. His mecha was a closebat mecha too. He was influenced by his boss.


    Li Yingjie gritted his teeth and put down his gun.


    ¡°No, no. I didn¡¯t mean putting down your weapons. Throw your guns on the floor.¡± The assassins from the Soul Society were not satisfied.


    Before Li Lanfeng could reply, Lin Zhong-qing said, ¡°That is impossible.¡±


    Everyone focused their attention on Lin Zhong-qing. One of the assassins moved his finger that was on the trigger. ¡°Are you not afraid of us.¡±


    If Lin Zhong-qing replied with a yes, all three of them would shoot at him! Li Yingjie panicked. His forehead was filled with drops of cold sweat.


    F**k, can¡¯t this brat control himself? Why is he so impatient today? When he provoked him in the past, Lin Zhong-qing would just ignore him. So why can¡¯t he do that now? If he provokes the other party, he will die. Even if they killed the assassins to take revenge for him, he will still be dead. Then, what is the point?


    As Li Yingjie wasining to himself, Lin Zhong-qing smiled coldly. ¡°You want to kill me? You all must suffer the consequences.¡±


    A thin tube appeared in Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s hand. The assassins from the Soul Society were experienced so they recognized it. They were shocked. ¡°TNT.¡±


    ¡°Yes. If I throw this thing out, you all will die no matter how powerful you are,¡± Lin Zhong-qing said coldly.


    One of the assassins sneered. ¡°Are you not afraid that your friends would get implicated?¡± They didn¡¯t believe that he would throw it out.


    Lin Zhong-qing shouted in anger and hatred, ¡°Do you think that I wanted to join them? They forced me! You all thought that they took me as theirrade? No! I am just their bomb courier. They force me to carry this dangerous bomb. They knew that it would explode if there are any strong vibration but they still forced me to carry it...¡±


    Li Yingjie looked at Qi Long astounded. He wasn¡¯t sure if Lin Zhong-qing was speaking the truth.


    Li Lanfeng red at him. ¡°It is your honor to be our bomb courier. You have no other abilities at all. Our team do not keep useless people. Also, we made the necessary precautions before letting you carry the TNT. It will not explode so easily. Don¡¯t think too much about it.¡±


    ¡°Think too much?¡± Lin Zhong-qing turned crazy when he heard this. ¡°You all thnk that I am stupid? How did thest bomb courier die? I live with a fear of death every single day. I am going crazy. I don¡¯t want to live this kind of life anymore...¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s die together!¡± Lin Zhong-qingughed like a lunatic. Then, he threw the TNT out.


    ¡°Dodge!¡± Qi Long jumped down the roof in shock.


    The other three assassins saw Qi Long jumping down and jumped down too.


    Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng each followed behind an assassin.


    Li Yingjie, on the other hand, rushed towards Lin Zhong-qing and pushed him to the ground. He protected him in his arms.


    ¡°Hey, you are really heavy. Get up.¡± Lin Zhong-qing poked Li Yingjie helplessly.


    Li Yingjie looked at Lin Zhong-qing with a puzzled expression. Where did the crazy expression go? Why were they still alive? Huh? He didn¡¯t feel any pain at all. There was no sound of an explosion either.


    Lin Zhong-qing noticed that Li Yingjie was still in a daze so he pushed Li Yingjie up.


    Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t expect Li Yingjie to save him. He was caught off his guard and lost the chance to chase after the three assassins. Lin Zhong-qing felt that it was a pity.


    He didn¡¯t consider Li Yingjie when he was nning his scheme...


    Li Yingjie was still in a daze as he watched Lin Zhong-qing stood up and patted the dust off his clothes. Then, he walked towards the TNT and bent down.


    ¡°Don¡¯t touch it. That is TNT,¡± Li Yingjie shouted.


    Lin Zhong-qing nced at Li Yingjie coldly. He seemed indifferent. He continued his action and picked up the TNT. Then, he ced it back into the transparent box and put it in his backpack.


    Li Yingjie calmed down when he saw Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s expression. He was not stupid. ¡°It is a fake?¡±

 Chapter 634 - Problem?

    <h4>Chapter 634: Problem?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Lin Zhong-qing looked at Li Yingjie with contempt. ¡°Of course, do you think that TNT is amon product? Do you think that I can sneak two TNTs onto the Feiyang Ship? Getting one already requires a lot of effort.¡±


    ¡°So you lied to me from the start?¡± Li Yingjie looked at Lin Zhong-qing angrily. He was his teammate. How could Lin Zhong-qing be so evil? He didn¡¯t even blinked when he fooled him. Li Yingjie was sad. His pure and innocent heart got stabbed in the back.


    Lin Zhong-qing looked at Li Yingjie curiously. ¡°Boss said that in order to fool our enemy, we must fool our own men first.¡±


    Li Yingjie was fooled because he was stupid. Look at Qi Long, Li Lanfeng, and Zhao Jun. They immediately knew what he wanted to do the moment he opened his mouth. Their replies were on point too. They managed to fool the assassins.


    However, Li Yingjie joined them recently so it was understandable that he didn¡¯t understand them well. Lin Zhong-qing still felt unfortunate that he was unable to kill those three assassins personally.


    Li Yingjie¡¯s eyes widened. He didn¡¯t expect the Lingtian Battle Team to be like this. Was this still a battle team? Why were the team members lying to each other? Joining Lingtian Battle Team felt like boarding a pirate¡¯s ship. Was it still possible for him to leave Lingtian Battle Team?


    While Lin Zhong-qing and Li Yingjie were talking, Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and Li Yingjie had returned to the roof.


    Lin Zhong-qing looked at them. Qi Long smiled and gave him an OK sign. Lin Zhong-qing knew that those three assassins were killed.


    Li Yingjie felt depressed. He lost again. Ever since he entered Lingtian, he was constantly depressed.


    Lin Zhong-qing said, ¡°The assassins in the building....¡± After the third batch of assassins came, no one else followed.


    Li Yingjie wanted to prove himself to them so he quickly replied, ¡°Let me handle it.¡± He disappeared from the roof.


    Zhao Jun looked at Li Lanfeng who was smiling. Then, he nced at Qi Long who was stretching his back. He turned to Lin Zhong-qing and realized he looked indifferent. He raised his eyebrows and asked, ¡°Was that okay?¡±


    Li Lanfeng replied, ¡°What was not okay about it?¡±


    Zhao Jun looked at the other two people. He said with a helpless tone, ¡°Boss is here. He would not be of much help even if he went down.¡± He didn¡¯t believe that they all didn¡¯t realize this.


    Lin Zhong-qing replied nonchntly, ¡°He will learn to listen properly till the end of sentences and not be too impulsive.¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t expect Li Yingjie to ¡®save¡¯ him just now. What that happened that year caused Lin Zhong-qing to hate Li Yingjie. However, after Li Yingjie joined Lingtian, he realized that Li Yingjie was not as irritating as he thought. He was just impulsive, a little difficult to talk to, and quite arrogant. Lin Zhong-qing just hoped that Li Yingjie wouldn¡¯t bring trouble for the Lingtian Battle Team. In actual fact, he purposely stopped halfway while speaking to fool Li Yingjie.


    As they were speaking, a figure appeared in front of them. It was Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t say anything. She just looked at the staircase.


    Li Yingjie rushed out of the staircase. He looked pitifully at Qi Long and the rest of his teammates. Not long after he went down, he heard Boss Lan¡¯s voice. He knew that he was fooled by Lin Zhong-qing again.


    ¡°Not bad.¡± Ling Lan nodded at Lin Zhong-qing. She arrived when Lin Zhong-qing was surrounded. However, she believed that Lin Zhong-qing could get out of the situation himself so she just watched at the side. Reality proved that she was right. Also... Ling Lan looked at Li Yingjie. She now had a different impression of this temporary team member.


    Just as Ling Lan was about to continue speaking, a huge explosion urred to one of the buildings far away. The entire building copsed.


    The assassins from Soul Society immediately retreated when they saw this. The other three battle teams were relieved.


    The rainbow rain stopped soon after. When multiple rainbows appeared in the sky, Ling Lan finally understood why this rain was called rainbow rain. Although the colorful lights during the rain was beautiful, this scene after the rain was even more spectacr. Ling Lan felt that her soul was being cleansed. She felt invigorated.


    This was why many people liked to explore the universe, right? They could see sceneries which they couldn¡¯t see on their own. Ling Lan looked forward to the rest of the trip.


    Everyone arrived on the Feiyang Ship safely. The tour guide waited at the boarding gate anxiously. When he saw the six people, he felt relieved. He hurriedly rushed towards them and asked with concern, ¡°Are you all fine?¡±


    Li Lanfeng gave a look of uncertainty and anxiousness. ¡°We heard a huge explosion and then saw many policemen from Kachi running over. We managed to return here due to their guidance. Tour Guide Zhou, what happened just now? Where did that huge explosione from? Will we be in danger?¡±


    Tour Guide Zhou consoled them, ¡°You all are fine now. I was worried that you all went to the old city area...¡±


    Li Lanfeng gasped in shock. ¡°Oh my god, we wanted to go to the old city. However, we took a longer time to look around the new city so we didn¡¯t manage to go.¡± He looked frightened. ¡°Lucky for us.¡±


    Tour Guide Zhou felt fortunate for them. ¡°Yes, it was lucky that you all didn¡¯t go there.¡± He asked in a seemingly casual tone, ¡°Did you all went shopping when you were in the new city?¡± He nced at their backpacks. It looked the same as before.


    ¡°How could we be able to do any shopping?¡± Li Lanfeng seemed embarrassed. They saved up for a long time to get on this cruise. They didn¡¯t have the extra money to buy souvenirs. Li Lanfeng noticed that Li Yingjie was not looking at him so he whispered to the tour guide, ¡°Young Master Ma didn¡¯t want to visit the old city so we apanied him in the new city.¡± He looked at Li Yingjie gratefully. ¡°We managed to escape the crisis because of him.¡±


    Tour Guide Zhou pouted. Even if they went to the old city, they would be fine as long as they weren¡¯t at the ce where themotion happened. However, did they really not go to the old city?


    Li Yingjie seemed unhappy. He wasn¡¯t in the mood to talk to the tour guide so he said, ¡°If we need to walk, don¡¯t find me.¡± Then, he left them and boarded the Feiyang Ship.


    Lin Zhong-qing bowed to the tour guide apologetically and followed Li Yingjie. After interacting with these six people, Tour Guide Zhou knew that the timid and quiet young man had the lowest position among all of them. He was the servant of Young Master Ma Rao.


    However, Li Yingjie¡¯s statement exined why they didn¡¯t go to the old city. Only the new city had roads for hover cars. They would be able to rent some hover cars easily to bring them around. On the other hand, the old city had been abandoned for a long time and all the roads were forsaken. No hover cars were willing to go there. If people from Kachi wanted to visit the old city, they would prepare their own jet-rollers. The passengers on the cruise didn¡¯t have such things. Wealthy people could buy jet-rollers in the new city but poor ones would just have to rely on their legs.


    Among the six young men, only Li Yingjie had a wealthy identity. The rest were allmoners so they wouldn¡¯t have the money to buy jet-rollers. A jet-roller was expensive. It cost around half the price of a cruise. Getting a new jet-roller was too expensive for amoner. Normally, they would buy second-hand jet-rollers.


    Li Lanfeng continued chatting with the tour guide until the tour guide got irritated and left. Li Lanfeng pretended to leave hesitantly.


    When they returned to their room, Li Yingjie and Lin Zhong-qing were already in the room. However, contrary to what the tour guide thought, Li Yingjie was the one who was helping Lin Zhong-qing.


    Lin Zhong-qing was tidying up their items while Li Yingjie stood beside him and listened to his orders...


    After the rest had entered the room, Li Yingjie listened to the surroundings before asking, ¡°Is there something wrong with the tour guide?¡±


    Li Lanfeng stretched his body. He said casually, ¡°Maybe.¡±


    Li Yingjie looked at him with contempt. ¡°Who are you trying to fool? If he doesn¡¯t have a problem, why did you talk to him for so long?¡± Li Lanfeng would not waste his time on a tour guide if he was just an ordinary person.


    Li Lanfeng smiled but didn¡¯t reply.


    Li Yingjie didn¡¯t need a reply from him either. He continued, ¡°He showed too much concern for us. Compared to the other members of the tour group, our survival rate is quite high.¡±


    Qi Long nodded. ¡°Yes. Also, we never said that we wanted to go to the old city.¡±


    ¡°We will take on whatever thates.¡± Ling Lan ended the topic.


    The Feiyang Ship didn¡¯t leave Kachi on that day. Some passengers didn¡¯t manage to return to the Feiyang Ship within the designated time so the staff members of the Feiyang Ship had to file a police report. The police helped to look for these missing passengers. However, the itenary of the Feiyang Ship had already been nned out so if the passengers were still not found after one day, the Feiyang Ship had no choice but to leave. The missing passengers¡¯ list would be sent to the Federation.


    Some past passengers were missing but the number of passengers on the Feiyang Ship increased instead. The explosion was ssified as a terrorist attack so a lot of tourists felt that it was unsafe to stay on Kachi. They bought tickets for the Feiyang Ship so that they could leave this. This was why Feiyang Ship was almost full when it left.


    The first night after they left Kachi, Ling Lan looked for Little Four. ¡°Little Four, what happened in the end?¡±


    ¡°Just recently, the people from Soul Society found an unconscious and heavily injured Xia Qingyi among the ruins. He had been buried for two days. His life is still in danger.¡± Little Four had been monitoring the happenings on Kachi.


    ¡°Xia Qingyi...¡± Ling Lan was on her guard. She didn¡¯t expect him to treat himself so harshly. This was the most effective way of getting rid of his own suspicion. This showed that he was a firm person. It would not be easy to deal with him.


    ¡°His injury minimized his suspicion and also allowed him to be cleared of the responsibilities for this mission. What a good scheme.¡± Ling Lan immediately guessed what Xia Qingyi¡¯s intention was.


    As long as he stopped handling the mission of killing the princess, he would not know any more information about this mission. That way, Ling Lan would not be able to get any information from him and would stop asking him. If she stopped asking him, he would have a lower risk of getting exposed.


    Without a doubt, Xia Qingyi used much effort to think of this scheme. However, he didn¡¯t guess Ling Lan¡¯s motive correctly. She didn¡¯t let him go in order to acquire more information about the mission to kill the princess. She wanted to nt a seed for the future... if she didn¡¯t have the ability to fulfil her n, Xia Qingyi would never be activated...


    The failure of the Soul Society gave a warning to the other factions that wanted to kill the princess. They knew that the people protecting the princess were not as weak as they thought. However, Soul Society would never leak any information they had out so the factions didn¡¯t know that there was a domain realm master within the protectors.


    Since they couldn¡¯t ensure that their ns would seed, no one acted in the following week. It was a smooth journey.


    Ling Lan and the other people who were protecting the princess remained vignt. Even though the week passed safely, they felt even more tense. The next stop was a country which imed to be neutral but in actual fact was on their enemy¡¯s side.


    The six captains all felt that this was the most dangerous stop. If there were assassins, this was the country where they would n their assassination.


    Aoqi was the smallest country in the human world. It only had one. It was located between the crossroads of three strong countries who guarded against each other. Hence, it managed to remain as an independent country.


    The three countries around Aoqi were enemies of each other. This caused Aoqi to be a demilitarized zone which resulted in its neutral status.

 Chapter 635 - Help!

    <h4>Chapter 635: Help!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Since the three countries guarded against each other, Aoqi became the only ce where trading between the three countries ured. This made Aoqi a shopping heaven. Merchants from all over the gxy came to Aoqi to do business.


    From afar, Aoqi looked like a yellow ball. The was surrounded by vibrant colored nts so it seemed extra striking. People wanted to visit the because of its vibrant colors. This might be part of the reason why it was so prosperous.


    The Feiyang Shipnded on the spaceport of Aoqi slowly. Since many merchant ships came to Aoqi, Aoqi¡¯s spaceport was extremely huge. When the Feiyang Ship ship wasnding, many merchant ships came and went.


    ¡°This is a huge spaceport. The facilities here could bepared with our first-string military spaceport.¡± Zhao Jun went for many missions before so he couldpare this spaceport with the other ones.


    ¡°That is how wealthy this is. It has no military power so it definitely has some strong countries backing it up. If not, it will not be able to build such a huge spaceport,¡± Qi Long pouted as he said that. Anyone who was not stupid would be able to see this.


    ¡°Of course. Everyone knew it but no one exposed them. Aoqi belongs to Caesar. The leaders of other countries knew this. However, since Aoqi didn¡¯t announce that they were on Caesar¡¯s side, they can only pretend to not know about it,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°We have reached Aoqi. The Feiyang Ship will stop for three days here. We will leave Aoqi at 7 pm on the 19th. All passengers please take note. Please return on time.¡± The gentle and sweet voice of JMC rang throughout the entire ship. Everyone heard this announcement.


    Everyone started packing up. Most of them travelled light. Only those who wanted to do business in Aoqi carried many things with them.


    Ling Lan and her friends left most of their luggage on the Feiyang Ship. They didn¡¯t have much to begin with. They got off the ship with a backpack each.


    As they walked through the atrium, the aunties from the Shun Feng Tour Group waved at them enthusiastically. The six of them smiled and walked over.


    Lu Chaoying treated Li Yingjie like her family. She grabbed Li Yingjie¡¯s hand and asked him with concern, ¡°Ma Rao, where are you nning to go?¡±


    Li Yingjie resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He replied patiently, ¡°We are just going to look around. If we see anything interesting, we will buy them as souvenirs for our families.¡±


    Lu Chaoying nodded. ¡°You are a filial child. You even thought about getting souvenirs for your family.¡± She looked proud as if Li Yingjie was her child.


    Many aunties agreed with what Lu Chaoying said. They startedining about how unfilial their own children were, further proving that the statement ¡®other people¡¯s children were the best¡¯ was correct.


    Because of the age difference, Li Yingjie and his friends went to the modern technology market while Lu Chaoying and the aunties went to the antique market.


    Aoqi was where collectors came to look for antiques. Because of this, Aoqi had a major antique auction every month. It attracted many elite families, rich corporations, and formidable warriors.


    Ling Lan arrived at a bad time. The antique auction for this month ended just a few days ago. If they wanted to take a look at the auction, they would have to wait for one more month. However, this had nothing to with with Ling Lan and her friends. They weremoners. Even if they arrived when the auction was happening, they would be barred from the venue.


    Everyone¡¯s motive was different so Ling Lan and her friends waved goodbye to their tour group members and nned their own schedules. Tour Guide Zhou was worried about them. He reminded them to contact him if they needed anything and repeated the boarding time for the ship.


    The aunties were unwilling to part with them but they knew that young people had their own ns. Hence, they didn¡¯t force them to stay. At that moment, another bunch of people appeared in the atrium.


    ¡°Princess Gulibaduo, what a coincidence. We meet again.¡± Yun Feiyang smiled at the princess while looking at her intently. He was clearly expressing his love for her.


    ¡°To get off the ship, everyone needs to walk through this atrium. If this is a coincidence, it is a coincidence for everyone on the ship.¡± A clear voice replied Yun Feiyang. The direct reply caught Ling Lan and her friends¡¯ attention.


    Ling Lan and her friends didn¡¯t look over. They just continued eavesdropping on the conversation. Based on their fake abilities, they were unable to hear the conversation between Yun Feiyang and the princess.


    Only Ling Lan was able to see what was happening with the help of Little Four. This was the first time Ling Lan and her friends saw the princess clearly. Although they saw the princess in the atrium when they were being captured, there was a huge distance between them so they couldn¡¯t see the princess properly.


    After that, Ling Lan tried her best to not appear in front of the princess. That way, the factions that were observing the princess would not notice them. Also, based on their current status, it was almost impossible for them to meet the princess.


    Princess Gulibaduo was not the typical long-hair, elegant, and beautiful princess. She had her hair cut till her ears and looked handsome and clean. She was in her casual clothes.


    However, it was hard to mistake her for a man. The female presence that she exuded was obvious.


    Princess Gulibaduo was a straightforward person. That was why she was able to say such things to Yun Feiyang.


    Yun Feiyang was nurtured by the Yun family so he didn¡¯t get angry when met with such cold reactions. He smiled and replied, ¡°You are right. However, we arrived in this atrium at around the same time. This means that we are more fated aspared to the other people on the ship.¡±


    That is so... shameless! Ling Lan was amazed. How can he say such things with a straight face? Ling Lan wondered if her father said such cringy things to her mother when he chased her in the past.


    Thinking about how unscrupulous her father could get, Ling Lan felt that it was highly possible. She then looked at Li Lanfeng. She remembered that Li Lanfeng was a teenager who had reached the age of being interested in women...


    Li Lanfeng had a calm expression on his face. When he saw Ling Lan looking at him, he immediately looked back. He wondered what orders his boss had for him.


    Ling Lan realized that her friends were not surprised by what Yun Feiyang said. She was stunned. Maybe it was because she was a female so she couldn¡¯t understand what the men of this era were thinking. She kept her questions to herself and decided to ask when there was a chance.


    Princess Gulibaduo sneered. She didn¡¯t reply Yun Feiyang. Ling Lan could clearly see the unhappiness on her face. However, the princess didn¡¯t seem good at talking. Yun Feiyang kept pestering her but all she could do was to ignore him.


    It was because Yun Feiyang was Princess Gulibaduo¡¯s life savior. She couldn¡¯t treat him too coldly. If not, people would think that she was a heartless and ungrateful person.


    The fight for the throne in the Bya Kingdom was intense. Any small actions could cause her to lose her right to the throne. This was another reason why Princess Gulibaduo couldn¡¯t do anything to Yun Feiyang.


    The princess had to maintain her dignity. The people from the Whirlwind Battle Team and the Brave Warriors Battle Team would not speak up for her. Her real butler and servants didn¡¯t dare to go against Yun Feiyang due to his identity. Thus, Yun Feiyang was able to pester the princess repetitively and make her irritated.


    The princess scanned her surroundings. There were many people in the atrium. The princess saw Ling Lan and her friends. She was stunned for a moment. Then, she smiled and walked towards them.


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart dropped. The smile on her face just now told her that something bad was about to happen.


    Before the princess could walk near them, Ling Lan turned her head nonchntly and looked at the princess. She took the chance to knock into Li Lanfeng¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Do you think that she is here to look for Young Master Ma Rao?¡±


    Li Lanfeng turned his head too. He saw the princess and shouted at Li Yingjie, ¡°Ma Rao, a prettydy is looking for you.¡±


    Li Yingjie pointed at himself with a surprised look. ¡°Looking for me? Really? Are you lying to me?¡± He sized up the princess as if he was deciding if the princess had the right toe near him...


    Qi Long rolled his eyes when he saw this. He seemed unconvinced. ¡°Why don¡¯t women look for me? Why do they all like Ma Rao?¡±


    The princess heard what they said and stopped in her tracks. She blinked for a moment. After that, she continued walking towards Ling Lan and her friends. She said politely, ¡°Hello, I am Gulibaduo. Can I ask for your help?¡±


    ¡°Ah, so you are not looking for me?¡± Li Yingjie said with a disappointed face.


    Qi Long was feeling schadenfreude. Heughed and said, ¡°Ma Rao, not every woman likes you.¡±


    Li Yingjie snorted. He decided to ignore the irritating Qi Long and went to talk to Lin Zhong-qing. He ignored Gulibaduo too.


    Gulibaduo was not angry. Instead, she smiled embarrassingly and pointed behind her. She whispered, ¡°This person keeps pestering me. I can¡¯t chase him away so I would like to ask for your help.¡±


    ¡°How can we help you?¡± Zhao Jun looked at the direction she pointed at and saw Yun Feiyang. He nodded. ¡°I know him. I met him outside room 308 quite a few times.¡±


    Gulibaduo looked helpless. ¡°I live in room 308.¡±


    ¡°Wow, is he chasing you?¡± Zhao Jun looked at Yun Feiyang again. ¡°He is quite handsome. Why don¡¯t you like him?¡±


    Gulibaduo gave a look of disdain. ¡°He is so weak. He can¡¯t even win against me. What is so good about him?¡±


    Zhao Jun nced at Gulibaduo. He muttered to himself. ¡°Even ady reached the peak of refinement. Sigh, what am I supposed to do?¡±


    Gulibaduo red at him angrily when she heard what he said. ¡°Are you all males? Why are you all so indecisive? Are you going to help me or not?¡±


    Everyone looked at Li Yingjie. Li Yingjie was supposed to be the strongest and wealthiest among them. He was their leader.


    Li Yingjie had been a leader for many years but he never thought that he would be able to lead the five people that were around him now.


    Besides feeling excited, Li Yingjie was frightened. Sob, if he made the wrong decision, would he get hit by his boss?


    Li Yingjie took a deep breath. He pretended to be impatient and asked, ¡°How do you want us to help?¡± Is this the right thing to say? Li Yingjie looked at Ling Lan carefully. His expression was arrogant and made people want to hit him.


    Gulibaduo was angered by his attitude. She breathed a few times to calm down and replied, ¡°I just want to walk around with you all.¡±


    ¡°No!¡±


    Ling Lan and her friends as well as the people who came with Princess Gulibaduo shouted at the same time.


    Gulibaduo looked at her fake butler who was actually the captain of the Brave Warriors Battle Team, Lieutenant Colonel Qian Jialin. She didn¡¯t know why he stopped her. These six people seemed harmless.


    Qian Jialin said seriously, ¡°Princess, please do not interact with outsiders.¡±


    Li Yingjie sneered. ¡°Yes, we are outsiders. Please stay further away from us.¡±


    Qian Jialin felt awkward. Yun Feiyang heard what Li Yingjie said and replied in a cold voice, ¡°Since you all know that you are outsiders, why don¡¯t you all move away from the princess?¡±


    Li Yingjie was furious. He wanted to refute him but Lin Zhong-qing grabbed his sleeve hurriedly and shook his head. Li Yingjie swallowed his anger. He red at Yun Feiyang and then said to the rest of the team, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

 Chapter 636 - Deal!

    <h4>Chapter 636: Deal!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°No, I want to go with them!¡± Gulibaduo grabbed Li Yingjie¡¯s hand. Li Yingjie wanted to dodge but his body suddenly went numb. In that instant, Gulibaduo caught him.


    Li Yingjie red at Gulibaduo. He wanted to push her away. ¡°Why are you grabbing my hand?¡±


    ¡°Hmph, I want you to help me!¡± Gulibaduo turned fierce. She was a princess that was raised to take over the throne. If she needed to be vicious, she would. ¡°If you all don¡¯t help me, you all can forget about having fun.¡± She suddenly gave an order, ¡°Surround them!¡±


    Senior Colonel Mu Youyun smiled bitterly. He had no choice but to surround Ling Lan and her friends. He didn¡¯t know why the princess was so interested in these six people. However, it was better to choose Ling Lanpared to choosing someone unfamiliar.


    Li Yingjie pointed at the princess indignantly. ¡°You are unreasonable.¡±


    Gulibaduo raised her chin arrogantly. ¡°Are you all going to help me?¡±


    Li Yingjie wanted to say something but Qi Long and Lin Zhong-qing stopped him. They dragged Li Yingjie back and the six of them had a small discussion. In the end, Li Yingjie said unwillingly, ¡°You can follow us. However, you must promise that you will listen to us. If not, you can leave.¡±


    Gulibaduo smiled with satisfaction. ¡°Deal!¡± She pointed at Li Yingjie and asked, ¡°Oh right, what is your name?¡±


    Li Yingjie got furious again. ¡°You don¡¯t even know who I am? Why did you want to follow us then? You are so troublesome. My name is Ma Rao. Don¡¯t forget it. Also, please call Young Master Ma!¡±


    Li Yingjie didn¡¯t care whether Gulibaduo was a princess or not. He portrayed his character very well. He was a young, slightly wealthy, but inexperienced young master from the countryside.


    ¡°I know it now. Your name is Ma Rao,¡± Gulibaduo didn¡¯t care about his poor attitude and replied to him calmly. Li Yingjie gritted his teeth in anger.


    ¡°Hello, erm, you can call me An Jieming. Nice to meet you.¡± Qi Long smiled as he introduced himself. Aspared to Li Yingjie, his attitude was much better.


    ¡°Hello!¡± Gulibaduo smiled at Qi Long brightly. Gulibaduo liked this humble young man.


    ¡°I am Lu Liyi.¡± Li Lanfeng nodded at Gulibaduo with a smile.


    ¡°Qin Feng!¡± Zhao Jun waved his hand.


    ¡°Hello, my name is He Anya.¡± Ling Lan smiled at Gulibaduo. Gulibaduo¡¯s eyes lit up. She was surprised.


    She didn¡¯t expect this young man, who had been hiding behind Zhao Jun, to be so cute and innocent. He looked as pure as an infant. When she saw him, her mood instantly got better. She wanted to collect his smile to invigorate her.


    Li Lanfeng felt Gulibaduo¡¯s gaze and tilted his body slightly to block Ling Lan. Gulibaduo regained her senses quickly. She smiled shyly and turned to look at Lin Zhong-qing who was standing beside Li Yingjie with a timid look.


    Lin Zhong-qing raised his head when he felt the princess looking at him. He says in a soft voice, ¡°My name is He Lin. Nice to meet you.¡± Before Gulibaduo could reply to him, he lowered his head again. Gulibaduo saw his ears turning red. This young man was timid and shy...


    This guy must be hisckey, right?


    Yun Feiyang was unhappy when he saw that the princess didn¡¯t want to follow him. She would rather follow a fewmoners. However, he still kept his manners and bid farewell to the princess before leaving with his men.


    Ling Lan looked at Yun Feiyang. She knew that Yun Feiyang would not give up on his target this easy. They would definitely meet him again during these three days. Ling Lan hoped that Yun Feiyang just wanted to pursue the princess and not kill her. If not, the protectors of the princess would have a hard time.


    ¡°Where are you nning to go?¡± Princess Gulibaduo asked curiously.


    Li Yingjie sneered. ¡°We are nning to go to ces which are suitable formoners like us. If you think that it is not suitable for your status, you can still leave.¡±


    Gulibaduo was excited. ¡°Sure, I have never gone to amoner¡¯s shop before. I can finally visit them.¡± Li Yingjie was puzzled at how happy she was. What was so exciting about amoner¡¯s shop? If he was not on a mission, he would never visit those shops.


    Li Yingjie was used to using products of the best quality. He didn¡¯t like to use thingsmonly used bymoners. He nced at Ling Lan. He didn¡¯t know about the other people but Ling Lan had a high status. Could he bear to use those items?


    Li Yingjie didn¡¯t know that in her first life, Ling Lan was just amoner.


    Li Yingjie knew that Ling Lan had made a move when they were in the atrium of the ship. That was why his body went numb. Thus, he agreed to let Gulibaduo follow them.


    The six people trip became a trip with a whole group of people. The arrival of these high-ss people caused an uproar among the shops. Li Yingjie was furious. He asked Gulibaduo to make a decision. Either she shopped by herself with her bodyguards, or with them but with her bodyguards staying further away.


    The princess instantly chose to let her bodyguards stayed further away. She wanted to walk around the ce with Li Yingjie and his friends. Thus, the bodyguards and servants had no choice but to follow them from afar. The princessughed happily. She felt like a bird that finally managed to regain freedom.


    ¡°Are you sure that those six people are harmless?¡± In a room, a person held a small device in his hand. His eyes were closed. He was the second son-inw of the Yun family, Luo Chengwen. He was contacting the hackers of the Yun family and ascertaining the data of Ling Lan and her friends.


    ¡°Yes, they are just ordinary students from He Ping Academy. They nned to have a graduation trip at the end of their school year.¡± Very soon, the hackers sent over the fake identities of Ling Lan and her friends.


    Luo Chengwen hung up only after receiving the information. He opened his eyes slowly. An agitated Yun Feiyang came into his vision.


    ¡°Besides Ma Rao, the rest of them are only at manifestation. They are of no threat.¡± Luo Chengwen passed the information to Yun Feiyang. Actually, besides asking the hackers from the Yun family to check their identities, Luo Chengwen personally went to He Ping Academy¡¯s mainframe and flipped through their documents. He even went to look at the information about their parents as well as their records in their scout academy. They were clean.


    Luo Chengwen believed that even an ace hacker would not be able to design such a perfect disguise. Hence, the data of these six people must be true. Only real data had no loopholes.


    Luo Chengwen didn¡¯t know that one of the six people had an ultimate hacker as a subordinate, Little Four. When Luo Chengwen hacked into the mainframe of He Ping Academy, Little Four¡¯s replica noticed him. Thus, all the information that he saw was what Little Four wanted him to see. Luo Chengwen was wrong when he said that only real data had no loopholes. The god of the virtual world could do it too. Unfortunately, Little Four was the god of the virtual world.


    Yun Feiyang looked at the identities of those six people. One of them was a wealthy person who came from the countryside. He couldn¡¯t bepared with him. After all, he was a member of an elite family. He mmed the documents on the table and said angrily, ¡°How dare those bastards try to interfere in this matter. They are looking for death.¡±


    Luo Chengwen replied calmly, ¡°Don¡¯t be rash. We might not need the princess¡¯ help. Let¡¯s wait and see if the princess survives these three days.¡±


    Yun Feiyang was shocked. ¡°Will something happen to the princess? No way. I need to protect her.¡±


    ¡°Come back!¡± Luo Chengwen shouted, ¡°Did you really fall in love with the princess?¡±


    Yun Feiyang stopped in his tracks. He said in a low voice, ¡°Since you ask me to pursue the princess, why can¡¯t I fall in love with her?¡±


    ¡°You should shun away from rtionships if you want to achieve great sess,¡± Luo Chengwen said seriously.


    ¡°What about you? When you pursued my second auntst time, did you not love her? Were you just trying to make use of her?¡± Yun Feiyang turned around and shouted in anger.


    Luo Chengwen¡¯s expression changed. He took a while before he replied, ¡°I love your second aunt and that is why I am being restricted by the Yun family. If I didn¡¯t fall in love with your aunt, I will not... will not...¡±


    Yun Feiyang¡¯s heart became softer when he heard what Luo Chengwen said. ¡°Uncle, I know what sacrifices you made for my second aunt. You became the hacker of the Yun family and even helped us nurtured a group of hackers. You allowed our status in the business world to rise. We have the chance of moving up from a small-sized family into a middle-sized family. This is the dream of everyone in the Yun family.¡±


    Yun Feiyang¡¯s eyes were shining with ambition. ¡°Now, we are very close to achieving our dream. As long as I get Gulibaduo¡¯s heart and marry her, as long as Gulibaduo gained a portion of the power to rule the Bya Kingdom, we can make use of this power and be a middle-sized family. No, we might even be a big-sized family.¡±


    Luo Chengwen looked down. He hid the contempt in his eyes. ¡°I also hope that the Yun family would rise too. Ai¡¯Ya would be happy. That is why I am willing to help you all.¡±


    ¡°However, I know what a man is willing to sacrifice for the woman he loves. I am an example. I can¡¯t let you be in the same situation as me.¡± When Luo Chengwen looked up again, his eyes were sincere. He was bound by love. He didn¡¯t want Yun Feiyang to go through the same thing.


    ¡°Uncle, Gulibaduo is a smart person. She could feel whether I am sincere or not. If I don¡¯t actually love her, I will never be able to get her heart.¡± Yun Feiyang lowered his head. He knew what he wanted. Everyone was unique. He was not Luo Chengwen. He loved the princess but he would not give up his ambition for her.


    He had gathered information about Gulibaduo and knew that she didn¡¯t have many friends. However, all her friends treated her sincerely. This caused Yun Feiyang to suspect that Gulibaduo had an innate talent which allowed her to spot out who was sincere and who was not. This was why he allowed himself to fall in love with her. That was the only way he could win her over.


    Luo Chengwen seemed convinced. ¡°As long as you know what you are doing, everything will be fine. Just don¡¯t go down the same path as me.¡± He had thrown away all his ambitions for the sake of love.


    Yun Feiyang nodded. He left the room with his men. He needed to stay beside the princess these three days and protect her.


    Yun Feiyang was clear that the princess was his best shortcut. It was hard to find another person as good as the princess. He might not even be able to get close even if he found someone better. Also, he was the princess¡¯ life savior. He couldn¡¯t give up just like this. He had fallen in love with the princess so whether it was personal or for business, he could not let her die.


    The first day passed peacefully. Ling Lan and her friends were dragged to a nine-star hotel. They were excited and scared.


    As expected of a nine-star hotel, it was veryfortable. While they were staying at the hotel, they created manyughable moments. As a wealthy young master from the country, Li Yingjie had stayed in five-star and six-star hotels before. He also saw photos of seven-star and eight-star hotels to satisfy his fantasy. However, nine-stars... even Li Yingjie couldn¡¯t handle this kind of wealth.


    The six people had a great time in the hotel. They had a wonderful night of sleep and felt energetic the next morning. Li Yingjie told them that he would ask his father to earn more money so that he could stay in a nine-star hotel all the time. Ling Lan and the rest of them scolded him and said that he was living off his parents.


    The six of them packed up and wanted to continue shopping. However, Gulibaduo stopped them. Gulibaduo received an order from her father, who was the king of the Bya Kingdom. She needed to attend an underground auction held at 1 pm today and get the Babu scepter back. The Babu scepter represented the right to rule the Bya Kingdom. It had been missing for four centuries.

 Chapter 637 - Going Too Far!

    <h4>Chapter 637: Going Too Far!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The Babu scepter was first used by the founder of Bya Kingdom, King Babu. It represented the highest authority of the Bya Kingdom. However, 400 years ago, this scepter was stolen and disappeared without a trace. The Bya Kingdom had been searching for it for 400 years and finally found that it was at the auction.


    However, they received the news toote. It was impossible for them to rush to Aoqi on time. Luckily, Gulibaduo was in Aoqi at that specific moment. The King of Bya felt that it was a blessing given to them by King Babu. He immediately contacted Gulibaduo and transferred a huge amount of credits to her. He told Gulibaduo that she must buy the Babu scepter back no matter what.


    When Ling Lan heard this news, she knew that their opponents had acted. There would definitely be a trap waiting for them at this underground auction. Ling Lan also knew that Gulibaduo would definitely show up at this auction. If she managed to get back the Babu scepter, her right to inherit the throne would be confirmed. Hence, no matter how dangerous this trip would be, she would still go.


    Gulibaduo invited Ling Lan and her friends toe to this underground auction. Ling Lan and her friends thought about it but rejected the offer. There was a limited number of people who could attend an underground auction. If they went, Gulibaduo would not be able to bring in her bodyguards.


    Gulibaduo solved their worries. In order to ensure that they could get the Babu scepter back, Bya Kingdom prepared three invitation cards for Gulibaduo. Each invitation card allowed five people to enter the auction. Gulibaduo gave Ling Lan and her friends one invitation card. She hoped that Ling Lan and her friends would bid for the Babu scepter if by any chance she was prevented from bidding.


    The Bya Kingdom would pay the guarantee and be their insurer. Hence, they did not have to worry that they wouldn¡¯t be able to pay the credits.


    Ling Lan and her friends were moved. They hesitated for a moment before epting the invitation.


    Gulibaduo gave another invitation card to her bodyguards, Senior Colonel Mu Youyun and the Whirlwind Battle Team. She brought Lieutenant Colonel Qian Jialin and three of his strongest team members with her. She also brought along her trusted personal servant.


    Of course, even if they had the invitation card, they would not be able to find and enter the auction without a point of contact. Since she managed to get the invitation cards, Gulibaduo knew where to find the person who would be their point of contact. Very soon, they were taken into an extravagant eight-star hotel by the person of contact.


    Because they had stayed in a nine-star hotel, Ling Lan and her friends were a lot calmer when they entered the eight-star hotel. The hotel was located in a prime district. When Ling Lan entered the hotel, she quickly scanned the surroundings. She discovered the Ministry of State Security was diagonally opposite of the hotel.


    Ling Lan lowered her eyes. She smiled. Things are indeed very interesting!


    The person of contact didn¡¯t walk to the main lift in the lobby. Instead, he led them to a secluded passage and walked for quite a distance. The passage was connected to many other passages intertwined together so only someone familiar with the path would be able to find the way in.


    After walking for around five minutes, they finally arrived in front of a lift. The person of contact pressed a button and the lift door opened. It was a huge lift. Its size was about 30 square meters. When 19 of them entered the lift, it was not cramped at all. There were still some room between them.


    The person of contact didn¡¯t press the buttons in the lift. Instead, he took out a metal card and scanned it at the area where the buttons were at.


    ¡°ng!¡± The lift started operating automatically. It went down. The screen showed that they were at B4. Suddenly, red lights started flickering and the word ¡®malfunction¡¯ appeared on the screen. A loud siren rang in the lift.


    The princess¡¯ expression changed. However, she controlled herself and looked at the person of contact as he continued his act.


    The person of contact pressed the emergency button. A gentle voice rose, ¡°Hello, did the lift malfunction?¡±


    The person of contact replied calmly, ¡°Yes. It can¡¯t go down to B47.¡±


    ¡°B47? Mister, did you say it wrongly? We only have 39 floors here,¡± The gentle voice reminded him.


    ¡°39 floors? Did I remember the wrong floor? Ah, I¡¯m sorry, I want to go to B7.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. We only have B4.¡±


    ¡°B4? Am I wrong again?¡± The person of contact took out his card and looked at it carefully. He saw the number on the card and said, ¡°I was mistaken about B7. I should be going to B9.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, we only have B4,¡± The gentle voice reminded him again calmly.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care. You must send me to a floor with the number 9 on it.¡± The attitude of the person of contact turned bad. ¡°Do you want us to stay in this old lift?¡±


    The other party seemed shocked by the sudden change in attitude. She remained silent for three seconds before replying, ¡°I understand. I will send you to the 9th floor.¡± The lift started operating again. The screen showed that they have reached the 9th floor.


    ¡°Boss, the lift is going downwards.¡± Little Four suddenly told Ling Lan. The lifts in this era were very stable. Normal people would not be able to distinguish whether they were going up or down.


    ¡°Also, that was not B9. We were at B17.¡± Little Four reported his findings to Ling Lan. The numbers that were shown on the screen were fake. Ever since the person of contact scanned his metal card, all the information shown was fake.


    ¡°Ding.¡± The lift door slowly opened.


    An entranceid with gold carpets appeared before them. Two guards in uniform were standing in front of the entrance. They saw the people in the lift and bowed to them. They said politely, ¡°There is a banquet happening in this ce. Do you have an invitation card?¡±


    The person of contact smiled and tilted his body. His mission waspleted. It was time for him to leave.


    The princess took out her invitation card without any hesitation. The guard scanned the card with a device. ¡°Beep.¡± The information stored in the card appeared on his device.


    ¡°Honoured guest from the Bya Kingdom, please enter with your men.¡± The guard smiled and pointed at the passage on his right.


    The princess nodded at Ling Lan and Mu Youyun. She entered the ce with her personal servant, Qian Jialin, and his men.


    Mu Youyun didn¡¯t look at Ling Lan and her friends. He seemed as though he didn¡¯t recognize them at all. He handed his invitation card over to the bodyguard and left quickly.


    Li Yingjie passed the invitation card over. After the inspection, the six of them waited at the side for the staff member to bring them in.


    They didn¡¯t meet any people along the way. There were no signs of Gulibaduo or Mu Youyun. Ling Lan knew that they were taken to different locations. Although this looked like a normal hallway, it could actually move. When they were waiting at the entrance, the people in front had already been shifted to another area.


    Seems like this underground auction put a lot of effort to ensure the safety and security of their location. Little Four told Ling Lan all the secrets of this hallway. He also told her that a simr banquet was being held on the 9th floor of the hotel. Those people that attempted to sneak in were brought there.


    Although she was separated from the princess and didn¡¯t know where the princess was at, Ling Lan was not agitated as Little Four had located the princess. They were not in the same hallway but they were heading towards the same direction. This meant they that they would meet each other in the end.


    Around 10 minutester, Li Yingjie started to look impatient. The staff member finally led them into a booth.


    The decorations in the booth was luxurious. There were all kinds of fruits, drinks, and rare wines prepared for them. Besides Li Yingjie who managed to control his emotions, the rest of them turned into country bumpkins. They kept gasping in surprise. Qi Long and Zhao Jun evenid on the expensive sofa and touched all the things in the booth. Then, they started jumping on the sofa.


    The staff member seemed to be well-trained and experienced. He maintained the smile on his face calmly. There was no change in his expression at all. In the end, Li Yingjie couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and shouted at them to stop. The staff member smiled and started exining to them the rules of the auction and how it would be operated.


    After confirming that the six of them understood the rules, he bowed and left the booth.


    He turned a few corners and walked quickly for around three minutes. He entered a corridor. He pressed against the wall of the corridor and knocked three times. Then he knocked another five times followed by another four times. A hole appeared in the wall and the staff member quickly entered it. The wall resumed its original appearance almost immediately after the staff member had entered.


    There was a small room in the wall. It was filled with screens. There were humans in certain screens while others were empty. The booth that Ling Lan was in was on the screen too. Without someone scrutinizing them, Zhao Jun and Qi Long took off their shoes and started stepping on the sofa. Li Yingjie and Lin Zhong-qing tried to persuade them to get off the sofa. Lin Zhong-qing was talking softly while Li Yingjie just directly shouted at them.


    Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan were looking at the various wines at the corner of the booth. They had an excited look on their faces. They nced around them and then opened a wine that cost a few thousand credits. They had a taste of it secretly. From the looks of it, they were trying to get the most out of their visit here.


    ¡°27, what do you think of these six people?¡± A 30 years old man in a suit was sitting on the sofa in the middle of the room. He looked a little sinister.


    ¡°Brother Xu, it is the same as what was described. A slightly wealthy young master bringing fivemoners to see the world.¡± The smile on 27¡¯s face had disappeared.


    ¡°Why did the princess chose six normal people and even gave them a precious invitation card?¡± The sinister looking man was puzzled. This was why he asked his subordinate to disguise as a staff member and check on them.


    27 thought about the question carefully before replying, ¡°Is the princess trying stay away from the young master from the Yun family? She might be going around with them so that she wouldn¡¯t have to walk around with the young master.¡±


    ¡°That is possible. We n to let all of the princess¡¯ men to enter this ce but now, five are left outside...¡± Brother Xu frowned. The appearance of Ling Lan and her friends spoilt their ns and he was unhappy about it. He was worried that the five people left outside would cause them to fail their n.


    27 nced at Brother Xu. Brother Xu noticed it and said, ¡°27, if you have anything to say, just say it.¡±


    ¡°Actually, it is not important if the princess¡¯ men are captured. The most important person is the princess,¡± 27 said his real thoughts.


    Brother Xu hesitated for a moment. He nodded. ¡°Go and make the necessary arrangements.¡± He agreed with what 27 said. As long as they managed to kill the princess, the five people outside would not be a problem.


    27 left with the order. Brother Xu raised his hand. His hand moved and six photos appeared in his hand. They were photos of Ling Lan and her friends. They were taken when they were shopping.


    Brother Xu nced at them for a few seconds. He suddenly throw his hand forward. The six photos shot out. A silver light appeared in his hand and in the next moment, one of the photos got stuck on the wall with a knife. It was a photo of a side profile of Ling Lan but her face couldn¡¯t be seen because she lowered her head.


    ¡°Everyone had a few photos of their face. You are the only one that didn¡¯t have a front shot. Is it because my men are not skilled enough or are you not as simple as you look?¡± Brother Xu smiled coldly. He was unable to clear his suspicion because of this.


    ¡°The show is about to start. I will know whether you are as simple as you look soon. Don¡¯t disappoint me!¡± Brother Xu flipped his hand and shot out a knife. It flew straight into Ling Lan¡¯s heart.


    On the screen, Ling Lan was lowering her head and seemed to be immersed in tasting the wine. A cold gaze appeared in her eyes.


    ¡°Little Four, you said that I am being suspected?¡±


    ¡°Yes, boss!¡±


    ¡°Did I go too far?¡±


    Ling Lan realized her mistake. Being too careful was her weakness. She didn¡¯t expect herself to be the one who made the first mistake.

 Chapter 638 - Disdain?

    <h4>Chapter 638: Disdain?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan knew that she was suspected but she wasn¡¯t upset. She was prepared to be exposed when she made the decision to follow the princess to this auction. However, it happened faster than she expected.


    With Little Four¡¯s help, Ling Lan found out where the princess and Senior Colonel Mu Youyun were at. The organizers of the auction put a lot of effort into making sure that they were far away from each other. If something really did happen to the princess, they would be unable toe to her aid.


    Ling Lan pondered over her actions and decided to stay put. She believed that although the organizers of the auction wanted to kill the princess, they couldn¡¯t bear to destroy the underground auction. Hence, they would not act during the auction. They would most probably do something after the auction when they would be heading back with the Babu scepter. This meant that the princess was safe for now.


    Thus, Ling Lan and her friends yed around happily in their booth without any worries. Soon, it was time for the auction to start.


    An image suddenly appeared on the wall that was made of ss. It was a live broadcast of the auction. There were many people at the auction. No seats were left empty. Not everyone had a booth like them. A huge portion of the guests were at the auction.


    Ling Lan nced at Li Lanfeng secretly. Li Lanfeng understood what she wanted. He wore a curious expression on his face and walked to the optical supeputer in the room. He started looking through the items up for auction.


    There were all kinds of items up for auction. The total number of items were 6000. However, only 50 of them would be auctioned off on the spot. Those were all rare items. You could bid for the other 5950 items before the auction for the 50 rare items starts. As long as your bid was the highest, you would win the bid. The item would be sent to you personally after the auction ended and the necessary documents would be signed on the spot.


    The rest of the group gathered around theputer. When they saw a used ace mecha of the Federation on the auction list, they gasped in shock. Everyone knew that an ace mecha was forbidden to be sold on the market. If the Federation knew that someone bought an ace mecha privately, they would use all means to snatch the ace mecha back.


    To protect the Federation, powerful weapons like an ace mecha, which might be the deciding factor in a battle, was not allowed to be in the hands of the public. Even elite families couldn¡¯t own any weapons like this.


    However, the Federation probably never expected their ace mecha to be auctioned off on a a few millions of light-years away.


    The ace mecha wasn¡¯t the only forbidden weapon on the list. Other powerful technology from other countries appeared on the list too. For instance, the information about the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA invented by the Caesar Kingdom. Based on rumours, it could be equipped onto a mecha and its power was enough to destroy a military vessel.


    However, the Caesar Kingdom hadn¡¯t made the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA into a mecha weapon yet. It was still an explosive that could only be used on a military vessel. Ling Lan believed that many countries would be interested in this set of information.


    ¡°Boss, they are not selling the information of thetest version of the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA. It is just information about the first generation ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA,¡± Little Four could hear Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts so he quickly told her what he found out.


    ¡°Can someone make the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA based on this information alone?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t believe that that was the most updated information for the weapon too. As a subordinate of the Caesar Kingdom, Aoqi would not sell such important information.


    ¡°You can make the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA but the materials are very difficult to obtain. Even if you could obtain the materials, you would need to research for a long time before seeding in making the weapon,¡± Little Four said with disdain.


    ¡°As expected. Caesar would not release the results of their research so easily,¡± Ling Lan replied. She suspected the appearance of the information about the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA was to cover up the appearance of the ace mecha. That way, the Federation would not be able to do anything to Aoqi even though they knew that their ace mecha was being auctioned off. After all, even the weapon invented by Caesar was on the auction list. This showed that the auction was based on a free-market.


    ¡°Yes. Caesar is already researching the third generation of ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA. Even if other countries bought that information, they would be behind Caesar Kingdom by 10 to 20 years. Caesar would still be the leading nation in atomic weapons. If the other countries ced their emphasis on this document, they would be unable to surpass Caesar in terms of weapon making.¡±


    ¡°I hope that our Federation will not fall into their trap,¡± Ling Lan said.


    ¡°Let me tell you a piece of bad news. I just gathered the guest list for this auction. There are at least four different groups of people who came from the Federation,¡± Little Four replied.


    ¡°Who are they?¡± Ling Lan was curious.


    ¡°One of them is a merchant with the surname Jiang. His background is a mystery. He seemed to have some business with the 3rd Division,¡± Little Four said in a mysterious manner.


    Ling Lan flicked his forehead and said coldly, ¡°Speak properly. He is just a representative of the 3rd Division.¡±


    Little Four rubbed his forehead. He asked in a depressed tone, ¡°Boss, how do you know that?¡± He wanted to create some excitement for his boss but before he could say anything else, his boss exposed him.


    ¡°Even my father doesn¡¯t dare to offend the three great marshals of the Federation. If he has a business rtionship with the great marshals, it would mean that he is under their wing.¡± As she aged, Ling Lan understood more things. After entering the 23rd Division, she experienced how powerful the three great marshals were. They were so powerful they could control almost anything. That was why her proud father chose to work under the First Marshal.


    Little Four didn¡¯t dare to fool around anymore. He quickly told her about the other three batches of people. ¡°The other two groups came from the two most powerful elite families of the Federation, Li family and Ye family. However, I don¡¯t know what their motives are. Thest group is from the Yun family.¡±


    ¡°Li family?¡± Ling Lan looked at Li Lanfeng instinctively. Although Li Lanfeng was just a branch descendant of the Li family, Ling Lan felt that the Li family ced a huge importance on him. He was treated differently from the other branch descendant, Li Jinghong.


    This was Ling Lan¡¯s instinct. She trusted her instinct. However, Ling Lan would not ask Little Four to research about Li Lanfeng¡¯s background. That was his personal affairs. As his friend, she respected Li Lanfeng¡¯s private life.


    Li Lanfeng noticed Ling Lan¡¯s gaze and looked at her with a puzzled look.


    Ling Lan smiled. Li Lanfeng was stunned. He quickly lowered his head and looked at the optical supeputer. He looked as though he just saw a ghost. Ling Lan¡¯s smile froze. After a while, her facial expression turned cold.


    ¡°Do I look ugly when I smile?¡± Ling Lan gritted her teeth and asked herself. She rarely smiled so her smile might seem a little stiff. However, she didn¡¯t think that she would be that bad.


    Little Four pinched his nose. He wondered if he should tell his boss the truth. Her smile was... Little Four recalled the smile that he saw just now. He felt blood flowing out of his nose. To protect his image in front of his little brother, Little Four decided to make a move first. As for the exnation... he was not the one being misunderstood. Li Lanfeng wanted to snatch his boss¡¯s love from him. He would not be so kind and help him.


    Little Four disappeared from Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape.


    Li Lanfeng felt the cold auraing from Ling Lan. He regretted his actions just now. He didn¡¯t expect himself to be stunned by her smile. It was not something he should do to his rabbit! He thought about how he hated it when other people looked at Ling Lan...


    His rabbit must hate him now! Li Lanfeng¡¯s mind was in a mess. He was controlling the optical supeputer but his mind was nk. All he was thinking about was the fact that Ling Lan disliked him. Li Lanfeng started to lose hisposure.


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t flip through the list that fast.¡± Li Lanfeng was forced out of his position by a huge force. The huge force allowed Li Lanfeng to regain his senses.


    Li Yingjie had angrily taken over Li Lanfeng¡¯s spot. He started observing the items on the optical supeputer carefully. Li Lanfeng flipped through it too quickly just now so they couldn¡¯t read the description of the items properly. If it was only done once, they could bear with it. However, Li Lanfeng did it too many times. Hence, Li Yingjie got angry and pushed him away.


    Li Lanfeng calmed down a little. He saw Ling Lan standing at the side. He thought about it for a while and walked towards her. ¡°Rabbit, I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Ling Lan nced at him. ¡°What are you sorry about?¡±


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t control myself just now.¡± Li Lanfeng was not someone who gives up halfway.


    ¡°Was it scary?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.


    Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly. ¡°Yes, it was scary.¡± That smile was too enchanting!


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Ling Lan was unhappy. With Ling Xiao and Lan Luofeng as her parents, she could never be ugly. Ling Xiao¡¯s smile was able to warm people¡¯s heart but her smile could only scare people? Her mother¡¯s smile was as gentle as her father¡¯s. Was it because her parents¡¯ smiles were too beautiful so he didn¡¯t like the way she smiled?


    ¡°Rabbit, I think that you should just keep a cold face.¡± Li Lanfeng knew that some powerful people liked to collect all kinds of pretty faces. Although Ling Lan had Ling Xiao helping her, it was still better to be careful. Some people would do anything to get what they wanted.


    Keeping a cold face is better? Does he not like my smile that much? Ling Lan looked at Li Lanfeng coldly. She squeezed the words out of her mouth, ¡°Leopard, I thank you for your advice.¡±


    She would never forgive this stupid leopard! Ling Lan turned her head and looked at Li Yingjie. She ignored Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng felt an even colder auraing from Ling Lan. His rabbit seemed to be really angry at him! Li Lanfeng felt cold sweat on his forehead. A sense of danger, which he never felt before, rose in his heart.


    No way. He must regain his image in rabbit¡¯s heart. Li Lanfeng clenched his fist secretly.


    The other four people in the room didn¡¯t notice the strange atmosphere between Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan. They were enthralled by the list of items in the auction. Unfortunately, they were supposed to be poor people so they couldn¡¯t get anything. Even Li Yingjie¡¯s fake identity wouldn¡¯t have the money to buy these items.


    They decided that when they go on another vacation, they must find a way into this auction again. Then, they would get anything they wanted.


    Of course, not everything in the auction was expensive. There were many interesting little gifts and items which couldn¡¯t be identified. The difference between the prices were enormous. Some was only worth a few thousand credits while others needed a few hundred millions.


    1000 credits was the lowest price in this auction. Anything lower than 1000 credits would not appear in the underground auction.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Little Four suddenly appeared with an obedient looking expression.


    ¡°What?¡± Ling Lan was on her guard. Every time Little Four looked at her with that expression, nothing good woulde out of it.


    A 3D image of an item appeared in front of her. It was a cylinder made from an unknown material. It was yellowish brown in color and there was ayer of dirt on it. The description said that the dirt couldn¡¯t be removed and the material underneath the dirt was unknown.


    The Aoqi auction identified this item as a part of a building which had been around for a long time. Most of its other parts were lost so they couldn¡¯t identify its true form. Hence, the price was low. The starting price was 3000 credits.


    A few people had started bidding for it. However, the highest bid was just 3280 credits. Not many people were interested in it. The people that bidded just felt that since it was cheap, there was no harm buying it and bringing it back for research. If it was just a useless thing, all they lost was just 3000 credits. It was not a lot to them.

 Chapter 639 - Bidding!

    <h4>Chapter 639: Bidding!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°What is that?¡± Ling Lan asked curiously.


    Little Four replied, ¡°An energy block.¡±


    ¡°An energy block? Really? Why didn¡¯t anyone find out?¡± Based on the description of the item, it was only around 200 years old. How could they not recognize an energy block made 200 years ago?


    ¡°That is because it is not from your star system. It is from the Mandora star system. With the technology now, there is no way to test the energy stored inside this block. Of course, this might be an energy block that had been used,¡± Little Four replied immediately.


    Ling Lan frowned. She asked Little Four in a serious tone, ¡°How did that energy block appeared here?¡±


    That year, Little Four came to earth for some reason and met her by coincidence. He recognized her as his master during that time. This was already a rare urrence. However, ten thousand yearster, another item from the Mandora star system appeared. Ling Lan was vignt. How many things had entered this star system after the Mandora star system was destroyed? Was there other intelligent entities like Little Four?


    If it was only small items like the energy block appearing into their star system, it was fine for them. However, if there was another intelligent entity, Little Four and Ling Lan would have to be careful. They might be exposed.


    ¡°It might be because of the spatial tear. If I cane out from the spatial tear, other objects could too,¡± Little Four replied.


    ¡°Is there a possibility that another intelligent entity entered into our star system?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    Little Four thought about the question seriously. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I can¡¯t sense any simr presence in the virtual world.¡±


    Little Four exined again when he saw his boss¡¯s serious expression. ¡°We are very sensitive to the presence of other intelligent entities. Even if we never met, we can sense each other¡¯s presence. I have only found a few entities that have been evolving by themselves in the virtual world after so many years. They are very weakpared to me. Ah...¡± Little Four thought about something. ¡°Does Little Blossom count?¡±


    Although Little Blossom was the Doomsday Flower of the Mandora star system, he was initially just a seedling. He could evolve due to the help of hackers. By right, Little Blossom wasn¡¯t from the Mandora star system.


    Ling Lan knew where Little Blossom came from so she shook her head firmly. ¡°Little Blossom does not count.¡±


    ¡°Then there are no intelligent entities like me.¡± Little Four said firmly.


    Little Four¡¯s reply made Ling Lan felt at ease. She looked at Qi Long and the others. They were not looking at her but she felt someone was staring at her intently. Ling Lan knew that it had to be Li Lanfeng.


    Her otherpanions would only look for her when they needed her or had something to tell her. However, Li Lanfeng would stare her all the time. He would be the first person to know if she had any request or needed anything. Ling Lan was puzzled. Li Lanfeng knew her better than herpanions who grew up with her...


    Ling Lan remembered the time when she trained with Leopard and felt that this might be the reason.


    That year, she trained hard together with Li Lanfeng and they improved together. This was a real form ofpanionship. Aspared to her other friends who only viewed her as an almighty boss, Li Lanfeng took her as his close friend. That was why he always paid attention to her.


    All these little things cause Ling Lan to view Li Lanfeng differently. Compared to Qi Long and the rest, Li Lanfeng had a special position in her heart.


    Ling Lan put away her unhappiness and lowered her hands. She did the series of actions surreptitiously.


    Li Lanfeng moved towards Li Yingjie and patted his shoulder. ¡°Ma Rao, you looked at it for a long time already. Can I take a look now?¡±


    Li Yingjie red at him. ¡°I am still looking.¡±


    Li Lanfeng popped his head over the shoulder andughed. ¡°You are looking at things which cost more than 10000 credits. Can you even afford it?¡±


    ¡°We can widen our perspective,¡± Lin Zhong-qing nced at Li Yingjie and hurriedly replied for him.


    Li Yingjie controlled his temper and snorted. He looked back at the screen.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t care if he offended Li Yingjie. He pushed Li Yingjie away and took over the control of the optical supeputer. He flipped to the items which had the lowest price. ¡°We should look at things which we could afford. Maybe we can buy one back and boast it to our friends.¡±


    Li Yingjie wanted to yell at Li Lanfeng. However, his eyes lit up at Li Lanfeng¡¯s words and his anger dissipated. He said, ¡°That¡¯s right. Since we are here, we should buy something back as proof.¡±


    He leaned over and started to discuss with Li Lanfeng about what to buy.


    Li Yingjie adapted quickly. Since Li Lanfeng was with Boss Lan just now, he must be acting on Boss Lan¡¯s orders. He needed to cooperate with Li Lanfeng.


    Finally, after looking through all the items, they chose the three cheapest ones. One of them was a thumb-sized white porcin piece. It was more then ten thousand years old but since it was broken and so small, no one was sure what it was. Hence, the price was low. The starting bid was 1500 credits and only one person had bidded for it. Li Yingjie thought for a while and pressed 1550. He kicked the other bidder out of the bid.


    Another item was the cylinder that Ling Lan wanted. It was still at 3280 credits. Li Lanfeng discussed with Li Yingjie and decided to bid 3300 credits for it. Everyone knew that the price was just temporary. The real mind game would start a few minutester.


    Thest item was an old tree branch. Visually it was the cheapest and yet, it was the most expensive one. It¡¯s starting bid was 4500 credit. It was because the branch was taken from a living nt on the newly discovered Green Sea.


    After some research, it was found that the tree was not rare. It could be found almost everywhere on the Green Sea. However, since the was not opened to public, Aoqi decided to put this item into the auction list for collectors who liked to collect new breeds of nts or for people who just liked interesting things.


    Aoqi predicted people¡¯s mind urately. Among the three items, the tree branch had the most amount of bidders. Its current bid was at 6700 credit. Li Yingjie pressed 6800 credit. He just wanted to have some fun. The other people were stunned. This was almost half the price of their cruise trip.


    However, the bidding that happened after that caused them to give up on the tree branch. Within a short time, the bid had skyrocketed to more than 10000 credits. They didn¡¯t have that much money. Even if they had, they didn¡¯t want to waste it on a normal nt. Hence, everyone focused their attention on the other two items.


    It was getting near 2 pm. In thest five minutes, the prices of various items shot up. There was only one bidder for the porcin piece. After Li Yingjie overbid him, he stopped bidding. Li Yingjie¡¯s interest was perked up so he turned his attention to the cylinder.


    There were two to three people interested in the cylinder. When the price shot up to 5000 credits, only one person was left bidding against Li Yingjie.


    The other party increased his bids by the hundreds. Li Yingjie was irritated. In thest minute, he got angry and pressed an additional 0. The number ¡®6200¡¯ became ¡®62000¡¯. After he pressed enter, Li Yingjie froze. He squatted on the floor with his head between his knees.


    He hit his head in despair. He cried, ¡°I entered another zero. I¡¯m so stupid. I¡¯m so stupid...¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s face turned pale. He pushed Li Lanfeng away and stared intently at the number on the optical supeputer. He shouted crazily, ¡°Buy it, hurry up and buy it!¡± He wished that the other party would act rashly and overbid them.


    Li Yingjie was enlightened by what Lin Zhong-qing did. He still had some hope. He mped his hands together and seriously prayed that the other party would overbid him...


    In the surveince room, Brother Xu smiled coldly. The one who bidded against Li Yingjie was him. His anger was vented when he saw the mistake Li Yingjie made. He would take their money as payment for the room.


    The bidding time ended. Li Yingjie and Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s prayer didn¡¯t work. Their bid was the highest and the cylinder was won by Li Yingjie. The porcin piece was his too.


    Li Yingjie was in a daze. He asked, ¡°How much in total?¡±


    ¡°64,300 credits.¡± Lin Zhong-qing lowered in head.


    Li Yingjie gritted his teeth. He calmed down a little and said, ¡°I only have 53,400 credits. Do you guys have extra credits?¡±


    Qi Long took out hismunicator and replied, ¡°I have around 2200 credits.¡±


    Zhao Jun scratched his head and said embarrassingly, ¡°I used a lot of my credits recently. I only have 2000 credits left.¡±


    Li Lanfeng sighed. ¡°I have 2600 credits.¡±


    ¡°1800,¡± Ling Lan said. Her appetite was good these past few days so her credits were spent quickly.


    ¡°I only have 1100 credits.¡± Lin Zhong-qing lowered his head in embarrassment. His family was the poorest among the six people. He only took 1500 credits out for this trip and tried to save as much as possible.


    ¡°We stillck some credits.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly.


    Zhao Jun blinked. ¡°Shall we ask the princess to lend us some money?¡±


    They all looked at each other. This was their only choice. They couldn¡¯t tell the people at the auction that they didn¡¯t want the items anymore, right? They would be killed by the organizers.


    Luckily, the items would only be sent to them after the auction. If they were able to help the princess get the Babu scepter, she would probably not reject their request. The people in the booth decided to get the Babu scepter so that they could get out of their predicament.


    The live auction started at 2 pm. The huge screen showed the live broadcast of the auction. A handsome young man was the auctioneer of this auction. Before he introduced himself, the crowd started pping.


    ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, I am the auctioneer, Aobu Ruoya. I will be hosting the auction today.¡± The auctioneer smiled and bowed at the audience. Many people gasped when they heard his name.


    Little Four showed Ling Lan data about Aobu Ruoya. Ling Lan understood why everyone was so excited.


    Aobu Ruoya was actually Aoqi Aobu. He was the only son of President Fe. President Fe was the person who made Aoqi from a poor country into a rich business and tourist utopia within 30 years. He was well-liked by the citizens of Aoqi and was even requested to make the Aobu family into a royal family. They are the representative of the Aoqi Kingdom.


    This suggestion was rejected by President Fe. However, the Aoqi citizens got more passionate about this suggestion. This request would be brought up at the parliament. Once it went through, Aoqi would be Aoqi Kingdom and Aoqi family would be the royal family of the Aoqi kingdom. That would mean that Aobu Ruoya would be the next king.


    Of course, Aobu Ruoya was not popr just because he was the son of President Fe. He was also an impressive explorer and a top-tier auctioneer. When he didn¡¯t reveal his true identity, he had already auctioned off many luxurious items and became the most popr auctioneer in Aoqi. Since this underground auction was able to hire him as the auctioneer, it meant that the organizer had a rich and powerful background. They must also have a close rtionship with the government of Aoqi.


    Aobu Ruoya calmly auctioned off the items. Ling Lan and her friends waited for the Babu scepter to appear. They ignore all the other items.


    However, when the ace mecha appeared, the six of them were tempted. The only thing that was stopping them was the price. They could only look at the mecha with greedy eyes. Of course, even if they had the money, it would be useless if they bought it.


    There were many people who wanted the ace mecha. There were four main bidders. One came from the Southstar Gxy, one came from Aoya Alliance, one came from the Chaotic Lands, and thest came from the Ye family.


    The Southstar Gxy was situated in the most southern part of the human world. The people there were all brave and skillful in warfare. However, they had a simple mind. This caused the development of mechas in that gxy to be slower than other powerful countries. The Southstar Gxy wanted to get this mecha so that they could research it.


    In a battle, the mecha operator of an ace mecha would choose to self-destruct if they lost. This was to protect the secrets of the ace mecha. Hence, no one was able to scavenge any ace mechas back from battlefields.


    This was why the Southstar Gxy went all out and wanted to get the ace mecha.


    The other two parties wanted the ace mecha for simr reasons. The Ye family, on the other hand, received orders from the Federation to bring back the ace mecha.


    In the end, the Ye family managed to get the ace mecha. During the bidding, the Ye family disappeared for a while. Little Four went to take a look and realized that the Ye family was contacting the Li family. The Ye family received the order quitete so they didn¡¯t prepare enough credits. The price of the mecha exceeded the amount of credits they brought so they had to borrow some from the Li family.


    Although the ace mecha returned to the Federation, the Ye family, or rather the military, paid a huge price for it. The amount of credits spent on this ace mecha was enough to build 40 more ace mechas. However, this was a necessary sacrifice. If other countries discovered the secret of their ace mecha, the Federation would suffer more loses. Then it would not be an issue about credits anymore.


    Of course, this was not the end. The military would definitely find the culprit who smuggled the ace mecha out. This would cause a hugemotion in the military. The betrayer would definitely be tortured.


    Since this had nothing to do with Ling Lan, she just threw it to the back of her head. She had more important things to attend to. The Babu scepter was the next item in line.


    When Aobu Ruoya described the Babu scepter, everyone turned silent. They all knew that the Babu scepter was only useful to the people of the Bya Kingdom. To other people, it could only be a collector¡¯s item. However, it was not worth provoking a huge country to get this item.


    ¡°Babu scepter. Starting bid: 1,000,000 credits.¡± Aobu Ruoya said calmly. The ace mecha was already sold for a huge sum of credits so he was not shocked by this amount.


    ¡°1,100,000.¡± Booth#103 started bidding. Ling Lan looked at the booth number and knew that it was Princess Gulibaduo. As expected, she was unable to control herself and was the first one to bid.


    After Gulibaduo bidded, no one continued. Gulibaduo was ted. She might be able to take back the sceptre easily.


    ¡°Booth#103 calling once! Although the Babu scepter is just an antique, it represented the royalty of the Bya Kingdom. The Bya Kingdom once made a promise. They will fulfil one wish to the person who brings back the Babu scepter for them. Credits is one thing but with the scepter, you will have a chance. You might even have another chance of living. I think that everyone here knows how important this item is. Let me ask again. Is there anyone who wants to bid?¡±


    Princess Gulibaduo gritted her teeth in anger when she heard Aobu Ruoya telling everyone the secret of the Babu scepter. She knew that getting the Babu sceptre back would not be an easy task now.


    ¡°1,500,000!¡± The moment Aobu Ruoya finished speaking, the person in Booth#7 bidded.

 Chapter 640 - Time To Act!

    <h4>Chapter 640: Time To Act!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Boss, it is the people from Twilight!¡± Little Four immediately reported.


    ¡°They are the enemy of the Federation. They will definitely try to make things difficult for us.¡± Ling Lan had expected trouble.


    After that, a few more people bidded. They were all from different countries. Although the people who bidded were merchants, everyone knew that they represented a certain faction in their country. Some even represented the entire nation.


    ¡°Boss, the Yun family is bidding now.¡±


    ¡°Yun family? Seems like Yun Feiyang really wants to gain the heart of Princess Gulibaduo.¡± Ling Lan guessed the intention of the Yun family.


    After a few rounds, Princess Gulibaduo bidded again. She raised the bid of the Babu scepter to a hundred million credits. She wanted to use this amount to show the other countries that the Bya Kingdom was determined to get the Babu scepter back. The other countries should weigh their choices and see if it was worth offending the Bya Kingdom.


    However, Gulibaduo¡¯s actions didn¡¯t have much effect. A new round of bidding started. As the price got higher, Aobu Ruoya¡¯s smile got brighter. If the price of an item got higher, it showed that he was a good auctioneer.


    ¡°Seems like the other party doesn¡¯t want the princess to get the scepter so easily...¡± Ling Lan observed for a while and understood what the other countries were trying to do. They knew how important the Babu scepter was to the Bya Kingdom but they still bidded for it. They wanted the Bya Kingdom to lose a huge fortune.


    After some time, a few bidders gave up. There were only five bidders left. Ling Lan looked up and nced at Li Lanfeng.


    As expected, Li Lanfeng was focusing on Ling Lan. Although his eyes were staring at the optical supeputer, he looked up when Ling Lan nced at him. Their eyes met.


    Li Lanfeng lowered his head casually and said to Li Yingjie, ¡°Ma Rao, do you think that we should act now?¡±


    Li Yingjie looked enlightened. ¡°Yes. The princess allowed us toe in so that we can help her. Thanks for reminding me. If not, I will feel sorry towards the princess.¡± He added ten million to the current bid without any hesitation. Since he was not using his own money, he didn¡¯t feel any burden when entering all the zeros.


    ¡°Booth#239 bidded 580 million credits.¡± The appearance of a new bidder silenced the crowd.


    ¡°Who is inside booth#239?¡± The businessman from Twilight narrowed his eyes when he saw a newpetitor.


    His assistant flipped through the information that he received and said, ¡°They are people from Aoqi.¡±


    The businessman pondered. ¡°Is Aoqi trying to interfere in this matter?¡±


    ¡°Ah, boss, I have just received a new message.¡± The assistant¡¯smunicator beeped.


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Aoqi says that they will be taking over the bidding from now on,¡± the assistant replied carefully.


    ¡°What is this? Didn¡¯t they ask a few of us to cooperate to bleed the Bya Kingdom?¡± The businessman from Twilight was furious. He was unhappy that Aoqi kept changing their mind.


    ¡°They exined that it was because the Bya kingdom will continue to increase the bid. It is okay for us to reveal our bottomline but if we reveal it too often, we will be discovered. The Yun family from the Federation is participating in the bidding too. They even have an ace hacker with them,¡± His assistant replied.


    ¡°I see. Since that is the case, we will stop after we reach the base price Aoqi gave us.¡± The businessmen from Twilight was shocked. That ace hacker might discover their rtionship with Aoqi. The anger in him died down. He decided to give up the bidding. Now, he understood why Aoqi looked for him. It was to maintain the image that Aoqi was a fair country.


    The other two parties received a simr messages from Aoqi. After the price hit a billion credits, the three of them stopped bidding. Only the Yun family, Gulibaduo, and Li Yingjie remained.


    Drops of cold sweat appeared on Yun Feiyang¡¯s forehead. He had a limited amount of credits but booth#239 seemed to be very wealthy. They didn¡¯t hesitate when bidding. He didn¡¯t even have the chance to gain the favor of the princess.


    Yun Feiyang gritted his teeth. Since he was alreadymitted in this, he must not give up. He wanted to increase the bid but at this moment, he felt hismunicator vibrating. He nced at it angrily. Which idiot dares to disturb him at this time...


    His eyes lit up with happiness. The person who messaged was Princess Gulibaduo. He opened the message and realized that Gulibaduo was asking him to stop bidding. She said that she was grateful for the help of the Yun family.


    Yun Feiyang heaved a sigh of relief. If he didn¡¯t need to use his own credits, that would be the best. He felt that he made a good decision to contact the princess at the start of the auction to tell her his booth number. That way, she would know his intentions. Yun Feiyang reached his motive so he happily stopped bidding.


    At that moment, Gulibaduo received a message too. She opened the message and was ted. She immediately replied. After Yun Feiyang stopped bidding, Gulibaduo bidded again. Then, Li Yingjie was provoked by Aobu Ruoya¡¯s words and bidded against her.


    Just as everyone thought that Gulibaduo would increase her bid but she gave up. The Babu scepter was won by booth#239 at the heavenly price of 1 billion 320 million credits.


    Gulibaduo was relieved when she heard that booth#239 got the bid. She was proud of herself. Getting Ling Lan and her friends into this auction was the right decision. As there were many people targeting her...


    However, Gulibaduo was curious. Why didn¡¯t the other people find out that booth#239 was from Bya Kingdom? Why didn¡¯t they stop them?


    Gulibaduo was a smart person. She immediately understood what had happened. Her eyes turned cold. ¡°Looks like my siblings doesn¡¯t want me to get the Babu scepter too. How can they ignore the interest of the Bya Kingdom for the sake of inheriting the throne? Damn...¡±


    Gulibaduo was angry. Her confidant was shocked and instantly said, ¡°Princess, why didn¡¯t you continue bidding? We didn¡¯t reach our bottomline yet...¡± She knew that the princess was transferred a billion credits from the Bya Kingdom just in case things got out of hand. However, since she needed to use many channels to transfer the money over, she could only transfer in batches. But, she could ask the organizers for a loan first and repay them when they have the money.


    Gulibaduo opened her mouth. Just as she was about to speak, she saw Qian Jialin and stopped.


    These people were arranged by the Bya Kingdom. Were they really loyal to her and the Bya Kingdom? Or were they loyal to her siblings?


    Gulibaduo couldn¡¯t help but smile coldly. If these people were bought over by her siblings, they would definitely leak the information to her siblings. She couldn¡¯t endanger Ling Lan and her friends. Gulibaduo knew that getting the Babu scepter was easy. Bringing it back would be difficult.


    Gulibaduo looked like a straight-forward and simple-minded person but she was not. She knew that some people in the Bya Kingdom wanted her dead. She also knew that there were many assassinations that ured behind her back.


    Thus, Gulibaduo swallowed her words and replied coldly, ¡°The Babu scepter is just a symbol of the Bya royalty. It is not worth so much effort.¡±


    Qian Jialin smiled when he heard what the princess said. Honestly, he didn¡¯t understand why the Bya Kingdom used so much wealth and effort to get back a useless symbolic item. This wealth could be used to improve the livelihood of their citizens. Compare to the Federation, themoners of the Bya Kingdom were extremely poor.


    However, since the Bya Kingdom was a loyal supporter of the Federation, Qian Jialin would not express his opinions openly.


    After the Babu scepter, a few more items were sold. There was a super energy storage unit which could automatically gather energy from the universe and use the energy to power up a mecha. Ling Lan was tempted. But, she knew that she couldn¡¯t act now even if she wanted it. She regained herposure.


    No mecha master would be able to resist against an energy storage unit that could automatically replenish its energy. Mecha masters knew that if they met an opponent who were as strong as them, the person who had a higher capacity energy storage unit would win.


    Unfortunately, it was hard to make a super energy storage unit. Only imperial mechas would be equipped with it. The only ace mechas that could get a super energy storage unit were the mechas used by people like the Sky God and the King of Hell. There was no such items sold on the market. Even in the ck market, it rarely appeared. This showed how well the various countries protected this item.


    Little Four started searching for a super energy storage unit the moment Ling Lan advanced to an ace operator but to no avail. He didn¡¯t expect it to appear in Aoqi.


    Little Four wanted to create a fake identity to buy the super energy storage unit. Ling Lan stopped him. She knew that even if they managed to buy the super energy storage unit, they would not be able to find someone to collect it. Also, Ling Lan suspected that this super energy storage unit was used to test her since it was not on the initial auction list.


    Little Four calmed down after Ling Lan reminded him. This item was indeed not on the initial auction list. Little Four was not prepared for it to show up so he was caught off guard and became extremely excited. In the end, they didn¡¯t bid for the super energy storage unit.


    ¡°Am I thinking too much?¡± Brother Xu started doubting himself. The appearance of the super energy storage unit only caused amotion in booth#239 but they didn¡¯t bid for it. If they were actually powerful warriors, they would not be able to resist the temptation.


    The super energy storage unit caused another uproar in the audience. Many people started bidding for it. It was more expensive that the ace mecha. The starting bid was 5 million credits. It shot up to a few hundred million and crossed the billion mark within a short time.


    It was sold to the Li family in the end. The Li family increased the price by a hundred million credit each time they bid, scaring theirpetitors away.


    ¡°The people in booth#11 are wealthy.¡± Ling Lan suddenly eximed. Li Yingjie and Li Lanfeng felt their mouth twitching when they saw the jealous look on her face. Was their captain mocking the Li family?


    The Li family had to buy the super energy storage unit but their boss just had to ask his father if he ever wanted one. This was the difference between their power.


    The Li family had a strong influence in the political world but their power in the military was weak. This was why the Li family envied the Ye family.


    The Ye family didn¡¯t have any political power but they controlled an entire division. The Li family was not able to do this. They had their own people in two divisions but they didn¡¯t have control over the entire divisions. Their faction was suppressed by other factions. If the Li family didn¡¯t have influence in the political world, their position as the first elite family of the Federation would be overtaken by the Ye family.


    The two of them pretended that they didn¡¯t hear anything and focused on looking at the next item. Soon, it was time for the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA documents to show up.


    Ling Lan just wanted to be a bystander but when she saw the businessman with the surname Jiang, the Li family, and the Ye family bidding for it, she frowned.


    As the price climbed higher, Ling Lan made a decision. ¡°Little Four, ask them to stop bidding.¡±


    Little Four got excited immediately. ¡°Yes, boss!¡± Boss finally allowed him to act. He didn¡¯t have to hide himself anymore. It was time to show you my true power!


    A long time ago, Little Four gave himself a nickname. He didn¡¯t have the chance to use it for so long but now, it was finally time for him to make his nickname known to the human world!

 Chapter 641 - The Son of God!

    <h4>Chapter 641: The Son of God!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan thought for a second then ordered, ¡°Little Four, you make the decision!¡±


    Was letting Little Four take charge correct? It was the first time Little Four received the power to make a decision. He didn¡¯t hesitate and rushed into the circuitry to help his Boss resolve this issue.


    In the Li family¡¯s booth:


    The assistant responsible for bidding in the auction saw that the price he bidded was raised by hispetitor. He didn¡¯t even think for a second, he entered a new bid and sent it out.


    ¡°Sending...¡± After a while, another round had passed, but it didn¡¯t actually show their bid. The assistant knew something was wrong. He immediately raised his head and yelled, ¡°Boss, I think something malfunctioned.¡±


    The representative from the Li family from who was originally half asleep immediately opened his eyes. He coldly asked, ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°The bid I had just entered was not received by the auction house. They didn¡¯t show our bid.¡± It was clear that his bidding price was the highest in that round.


    The representative from the Li family¡¯s expression changed slightly and immediately ordered, ¡°Contact the auction house and have them resolve this issue as soon as possible.¡± After saying that, he could help but swear under his breath. It he didn¡¯t sessfully acquire the data of the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA today, his big boss would not let him live it down.


    He knew clearly that his big boss wanted to use this data to his advantage by acquiring another bargaining chip inpeting for the position of master in the faction... After thinking about the oue of his failure, sweat began to drip from his forehead. He had lost theposure he had in the beginning and a hint of anxiousness began to show in his expression.


    ¡°Boss, I have already requested for help from the auction house,¡± the assistant responded immediately.


    The representative from the Li family nodded his head. He endured the anxiousness and waited for the auction house to resolve this issue.


    In the booth of the Ye family:


    ¡°Boss, our bid wasn¡¯t received by the auction house.¡± Simrly, the assistant responsible for bidding saw that the new round of bids did not have the one he had sent in. He immediately reported this to his Boss.


    The representative of Ye family frowned. He knew the underground auction house on Aoqi very well. Although it seemed like a ck market on the outside, it was actually controlled by government officials. It was just that the items being auctioned were considered smuggled goods and the auction house could not exin their origin to the countries bidding for it. Thus, it went from public to private and changed these items into ck market goods.


    However, the auction house¡¯s defense system and military force was top tier on Aoqi. It was impossible for a malfunction like bids not being received to happen... The representative from the Ye family¡¯s first thought was that the auction house was being attacked?


    ¡°Major Lu, the anti-hacker barrier we borrowed doesn¡¯t have any issues right?¡± The representative from the Ye family asked the astute young man standing beside him with an imposing look. The representative was thinking whether if the attack was by a group that was hostile towards the Federation, the military and the Ye family.


    ¡°There won¡¯t be any issues. Even imperial level hackers wouldn¡¯t be able to find an opening.¡± Major Lu said without hesitation. The anti-hacker barrier was something that was created by a group of imperial level hackers from the military. It wasn¡¯t something that one or two imperial hackers could easily crack.


    The representative from the Ye family had a grasp of the situation. He turned around and spoke to the bidding assistant, ¡°Contact the auction house and ask them to resolve this issue immediately.¡± Since the situation was ying out like this, they could force the auction house to give them an exnation. Secretly, the representative even hoped that this problem would persist and continue until the auction ended. This way he would be able to have the auction house to give him a copy of the weapon data for a lower price. Using the least amount of money to get what they wanted was something he very much wanted to do.


    The merchant with the surname Jiang had also discovered this problem. He showed a faint smile on his face. Simrly with the Ye family, he also patiently waited for the auction house to give them an exnation.


    Although the top threepetitors were out, the otherpetitors didn¡¯t care. These otherpetitors were enthusiastically bidding for the data of this weapon that used a new energy source. Aobu Ruoya had said that this weapon could change the fate of the entire universe. The price of the data rose to a shocking sky-high price...


    ¡°They¡¯re all crazy!¡± Ling Lan saw the auction and spected that the only reason this universe constantly had wars waspletely because humans were too selfish and didn¡¯t want to give up on their own agendas. This was what caused the universe to be tainted by war.


    However, waiting would not give them any results. Little Four had cut off allmunications from all three booths and Brother Xu, who was responsible for monitoring the booths, only saw what Little Four allowed him to see on his screens. In the auction house, everything was perfectly fine. It showed that there were no bidsing from the three booths.


    Although the auction house felt something was off, they didn¡¯t suspect any foul y. After all, not bidding was a right the client had and the auction house had no right to intervene.


    Of course, if they had suspected a little bit more andpared the images in all three booths, the auction house could have found a w in the surveince footage. That was because the surveince footage were actually on a loop. However, Little Four had split the video clips apart. If the person watching wasn¡¯t a top expert, they wouldn¡¯t be able to tell the difference.


    ¡°Howe they¡¯re still not here?¡± Seeing that the amount of people bidding decreasing, the auction house did not notify them and didn¡¯t even send a staff member to their booth, the representative from the Li family couldn¡¯t wait any longer.


    The guard standing at the door turned to the keypad after his Boss gave him the order. He inputted a string of numbers and was getting ready to open the door of the booth.


    However, the door didn¡¯t open. Now, everyone knew something had happened.


    They first used theirmunicators to contact the people outside, but discovered that theirmunicators didn¡¯t not work too. They were like a rat in a hole, unable to contact the outside world. Everyone¡¯s expressions changed instantly and suspected this act was the auction house purposefully going against them.


    After the Li family¡¯s representative gave the signal, the guard was ready to take out his beam gun to take the door down by force. Right when he was about to do that, the assistant who was staring at the screen the entire time shouted, ¡°Boss, take a look at this.¡±


    The representative from the Li family immediately jumped over. The screen showed a savage skull. The skull¡¯s mouth cracked open and a string of words flew out, ¡°The data of the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA only belongs to me! I will definitely not let you people meddle with it! If you all obey, I will let bygones be bygones. Otherwise, I will be very very angry and then I¡¯ll...


    The other two booths also had this image pop up. After this string of words appeared, another image appeared. The images were therge pce-like mansion of the Ye family and the residence of the people backing the merchant with the surname Jiang. These images suddenly exploded and turned to dust in a raging inferno.


    ¡°Completely destroy them, so don¡¯t make me angry okay?¡±


    ¡°Finally, please regard me as the Son of God!¡±


    After saying that, all the images vanished. The screen returned to the image of the auction. The bid for the data of the Atomic Beam Bazooka had already gone past five billion credits. It had set the record for highest ever bid in the auction house.


    ¡°It¡¯s hackers!¡±


    Seeing the images, the representatives from the three booths understood the situation. They were at ease temporarily, but smiled bitterly right after. Now, they definitely couldn¡¯t acquire the data of the Atomic Beam Bazooka.


    They knew very well that Aoqi¡¯s organization would station three imperial level hackers for this auction specifically. However, an existence that even three imperial level hacker could not track was definitely a god-level hacker for the imperial hackers to not be able to find out the problem.


    However, god-level hackers were a country¡¯sst line of defense and would never step out of the country. Who was this god-level hacker? He named himself as the Son of God. Could it be that he actually thought he was a descendant of a god like deity?


    The three of them from the booths thought deeply for a while. Then they ordered their subordinates to not publicize this incident. They knew that the government of Aoqi probably wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything if a mysterious god-level hacker had a made a move. Aoqi would definitely not be able to find any problems and would even suspect them deliberately causing a disturbance. Pestering the organization might also expose their own background.


    The representative from the Ye family thought about his ns with regret. At that moment, they were more in a hurry to return to the Federation and contact the only god-level hacker within the Federation. He may know which god-level hacker had made a move. After all, only an expert of the same caliber would be able to find the details.


    Not long after, the data for the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA was won by booth #91.


    As the bid for the data had ended, the government of Aoqi also dered that the auction had ended.


    After all that, those who were in the three booths could finallymunicate with the outside world.


    These people didn¡¯t hesitate and contacted their forces in the outside world. They ordered their forces to dig up all the details of the people in booth #91. Since the people from that booth had won the bid, then the Son of God definitely had a connection with them. The Son of God could have been invited by those from booth #91.


    After auction ended, the people from the three booths didn¡¯t stay at the auction house. After they paid the organizer for their items, the three parties quickly left the location. Not long after, the starships that belonged to all three parties all flew out of Aoqi.


    Since they left in a hurry, they didn¡¯t get to know the string of events that happened on Aoqi afterwards. Those events almost crippled Aoqi¡¯s economy to the dark ages.


    Because of the Li family, Ye family and merchant Jiang¡¯s concealed the information, Aoqi¡¯s organizer didn¡¯t know that a hacker had presented himself. However, Aoqi wasn¡¯tpletely off the hook because the Babu scepter caused some friction between them and their allies.


    As for the Babu scepter, it was originally going to be won by the Bya Kingdom with a high price. However, the person who won the bid for the Babu scepter wanted Bya to buy it from him. Although the bidding price for the scepter was very high in the end, it had not reached half of the amount the person had requested. This fiasco made Aoqi me their allies for giving up early.


    Their partners of course felt very wronged. They med Aoqi for sending them a message to tell them to stop. Aoqi¡¯s government of course thought their allies were spouting nonsense and asked their allies for proof. Their allies were originally very confident, but when they searched through their messages, they couldn¡¯t find that specific message. Their allies instantly understood that they had fallen into Aoqi¡¯s trap. They fully believed that Aoqi had silently betrayed them and sided with the Federation.


    The two sides criticized each other. Aoqi¡¯s government also suspected that their allies were preparing to throw Aoqi out as a scapegoat. The perfect rtionship between the two parties instantly had cracks formed between them. Even after the country, Caesar, hadforted both sides, the two parties still couldn¡¯t control their anger. On the outside it seemed as though they were just as friendly as before, but the rtionship between them could never return to what it once was. Both sides now held grudges against each other.


    Little Four didn¡¯t know that his barbaric, unreasonable, andpletely wed move actually caused Aoqi and Caesar to have grudges against each other. In the future, the rtionship between Aoqi and Caesar willpletely break into pieces. Of course, all this was in the future.


    This whole event had this kind of effect because Aoqi was confident in their hackers¡¯ capabilities. Of course, at the same time, Caesar was also confident in Aoqi¡¯s hackers¡¯ capabilities. The people that could cause trouble during the auction could only be Aoqi... Thus, confidence was a good thing and an advantage, but too much confidence would create problems. Too much of anything would be a bad thing.


    Ling Lan¡¯s group didn¡¯t know that Aoqi and their allies were at each other¡¯s throats. They settled their bids with Aoqi¡¯s auction house. They were lucky the ount that was bound to the invitation card had enough money. They sessfully acquired the three items they had bid on. They left the booth with the help of a staff member.


    After getting to the elevator, Li Lanfeng smiled and said, ¡°Thank you. We can go down from here ourselves. You don¡¯t need toe with us.¡±


    The staff member politely said, ¡°It is part of our job to take our customers to the front door. Please get into the elevator.¡± The staff member ignored Li Lanfeng¡¯s polite rejection of his services. He stood beside the elevator and asked Ling Lan¡¯s group to enter the elevator as the doors opened.


    Li Lanfeng smiled, shook his head and lead his group into the elevator. The elevator was so big. Out of habit, Ling Lan walked to a corner and leaned on the wall of the elevator with her head down as though she was thinking about something.


    The others didn¡¯t bother her. The rest of them stood there nonchntly as they watched the number on the screen, waiting for the elevator to reach the first floor.


    Right as the screen showed the number for the third floor and everyone waited for the next number to show up, all of the lights in the elevator suddenly turned off. At the same time, a draft of wind suddenly flew towards Ling Lan, who was at the corner.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The sh between des caused sparks to fly within the darkness. Right after another sound was heard and something had hit the wall of the elevator with great force causing the entire elevator to shake.


    ¡°Bam!¡± The elevator was lit up once again as all of the lights lit up at the same time. At that moment it could be clearly seen that the staff member was lying on a corner lifelessly while Qi Long stood in front of him waving his arm. In the staff member¡¯s right hand was a three inch military knife.


    ¡°You actually dare to ambush my Boss in front of me. You¡¯re looking for a death wish!¡± Qi Long snorted coldly.


    Li Lanfeng, who stood in front of Ling Lan, curled his finger. A short sword retracted into his sleeve. The person who had blocked the staff member¡¯s sneak attack on Ling Lan was none other than Li Lanfeng.


    The staff member spat out a mouthful of blood and said without any expression on his face, ¡°You won¡¯t be able to escape. The video feed would instantly be sent to the control room.¡±


    Ling Lan tapped on the shoulder in front of her that was seemingly weak and frail, but was actually full of strength. She meant for Li Lanfeng to move aside.


    Li Lanfeng knew Ling Lan had something to say and moved aside without hesitation.


    Ling Lan walked towards the staff member slowly. Seeing this, Qi Long automatically moved back and opened up a spot for Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan stared at the staff member, bent down slightly and said, ¡°There are 8 surveince cameras in total with a 360 degree view of everything. Since I know you have that many surveince cameras, then why would I turn on the lights in the elevator?¡±


    The staff member¡¯s expression changed instantly. He remembered that the n was for him to turn on the lights after he seeded in killing the six of them. Otherwise, the mission would be deemed as failed. However, his mission had failed, but the lights were turned on. He clearly knew that he was the only one who knew about the mechanism to turn on the light.


    ¡°You¡¯re wondering how I knew right?¡± Ling Lan snapped her fingers and the elevator turned pitch-ck once again. She snapped again and the lights turned back on.


    ¡°Who the hell are you?¡± Elder Brother Xu said that this seemingly harmless young man was the strongest out of all six of them. At that time, the staff member didn¡¯t believe that, but he still listened to Elder Brother Xu¡¯s orders to attack this person first. However, he didn¡¯t think that he wouldn¡¯t even have a chance to get close to his target and was taken down by those around his target...


    ¡°Who am I? You probably guessed it haven¡¯t you?¡± Ling Lan stood up and looked down at the staff member as if a giant looking down at an ant. This act made the staff member¡¯s expression changed instantly.


    ¡°You¡¯re very smart. Of course, since I turned on the lights, I of course have the ability to show the people in the security room a fake video feed. Even as we speak, the video feed they see is still pitch ck. Then after a while it will show an image of you standing in the elevator and the six of us lying on the floor.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words were slow, but the staff member¡¯s heart became heavier and heavier.


    ¡°Of course, if you were to fail, those at the security room would send a group of gunmen to the elevator door. If you were to seed, those gunmen would be the people who gets rid of our bodies. The Babu scepter would be taken back to your side. Then your people would create the illusion that we had taken the scepter and run off in order to get Bya¡¯s attention...


    The expression the staff member had as he looked toward Ling Lan was bing more instilled with fear. That was because all Ling Lan had said was actually what they were nning to do afterwards.


    ¡°You probably also sent a group of people to assassinate the princess. Yes, I¡¯m sure that with the way your organization does things, you will definitely send six people who have simr body types like us and pretend to be us. Then when the princess meets up with those six, they will suddenly attack the princess while the princess does not have her guard up... If they seed, the me would be put on our heads. If they don¡¯t seed, they could still cause the princess and the entire country of Bya to use all their might to find us and kill us because we were greedy for the Babu scepter. Then your organization would no longer be a suspect in this case...¡±


    Ling Lan half-smiled and said, ¡°As expected, what a great n!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re the devil!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words caused the staff member to lose all hope. He instantly opened his mouth and bit down hard, preparing to bite his tongue to take his own life. Qi Long, who was staring at the staff member this entire time, held the staff member¡¯s jaw. After a hard twist, Qi Long broke the staff member¡¯s jaw.


    ¡°That¡¯s not enough!¡± Ling Lan focused her eyes and punched the staff member¡¯s right cheek with great force. The staff member groaned and spat out a few teeth.


    Before Ling Lan gave an order, Lin Zhong-qing went up and carefully examined the teeth. ¡°I found it. One of the teeth is hollow. There¡¯s a pill inside it. It¡¯s probably poison.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. In today¡¯s world, who dies from just biting off their tongue,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently.


    Li Lanfeng immediately took out a clean handkerchief and handed it to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan looked at him with an odd look, thinking in her mind why this man liked being clean this much and always had a handkerchief with him. In Ling Lan¡¯s mind, an image of Li Lanfeng holding his hand out alldy-like and wiping his mouth made her uncontrobly shudder... Yes, she needed to make Li Lanfeng more manly in the future in case he bes the second Luo Lang.


    Ling Lan already felt that an oddball like Luo Lang in her team already made her felt she had sinned greatly. She couldn¡¯t let herself create another oddball.


    However Ling Lan didn¡¯t refuse Li Lanfeng¡¯s kindness. She took the handkerchief and wiped the back of her right hand, then tossed it back to Li Lanfeng. She used her actions to tell him that a man should use a handkerchief just like how she did.


    Li Lanfeng folded the handkerchief that was crumpled into a ball and then carefully put it back into his own pocket.


    Ling Lan saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s movements and twitched a little. Could it be that Li Lanfeng had spent too much time with Luo Lang and was affected by that punk? Ling Lan didn¡¯t like the idea and was prepared to give Luo Lang a ruthless beating when she returned. Man, it was fine if it was just him who was weird, but to also make his team members weird as well?


    Luo Lang, who was so busy in the 23rd Division, suddenly felt chills throughout his entire body. He shuddered a bit and caused therades around him to worry for him. Li Shiyu didn¡¯t care about Luo Lang¡¯s protest and immediately pulled down Luo Lang¡¯s pants. He injected a vine into his buttocks to make sure he didn¡¯t affect his other team members.


    They were currently fighting against themander, having one less capable individual was not allowed! Thus Luo Lang could only endure the pain and suck in his tears while Li Shiyu treated him.


    ¡°Ding¡± The elevator had reached the first floor. Ling Lan looked towards Qi Long. Qi Long instantly held up a staff member in front of him and stood at the door of the elevator.


    The elevator door was open. What appeared in front of them was six to seven nozzles. These gunmen didn¡¯t even look to see who was inside and emptied their magazines.


    Zhao Jun and Li Yingjie, who hid on the roof of the elevator suddenly pounced towards the enemy. The two of them took down two people in an instant. Qi Long, who was standing in the middle, used the staff member as a shield. A slew of bullets all hit the staff member. Qi Long used the chaos to get out of the surrounding. Before the gunmen could react, Qi Long used a whirlwind kick to sent the lot of them to the ground.


    Hidden behind the sides of the elevator, Li Lanfeng and Lin Zhong-qing was just a bit slower than the other three, following on their heels and struck down the two people Qi Long had missed.


    In an instant, the seven or eight people at the door was taken out by Ling Lan¡¯s group.


    ¡°It seems that our enemy wasn¡¯t thinking of leaving anyone alive, including you.¡± Ling Lan passed by the staff member Qi Long had tossed to the side. The hateful re he had before dying was full of vengeance. It still had a hint of sorrow from being abandoned.


    ¡°That¡¯s why, you should not be a piece in someone else¡¯s game. Instead, you should be the yer.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s indifferent words echoed through the staff member¡¯s ear. The staff member¡¯s eyes showed a hint of regret and stared nkly towards Ling Lan. In the end, his expression was condensed into hate as he drew hisst breath.


    However, it wasn¡¯t sure whether his hate was towards Ling Lan¡¯s group or because he was abandoned heartlessly. In the end, he died without purpose. However, this had nothing to do with Ling Lan¡¯s group. When the staff member decided to make a move on Ling Lan, he had already signed his death wish. It was just that there was a difference between dying at the hands of Ling Lan¡¯s group or his ownrades.

 Chapter 642 - Disguise!

    <h4>Chapter 642: Disguise!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    After taking down the gunmen, Qi Long asked, ¡°Boss, what do we do now?¡±


    ¡°Find the princess.¡± Ling Lan instantly made the decision.


    ¡°Little Four said that everyone from the auction house began to make their move. It seemed that these people didn¡¯t want the princess to leave the auction house. It was because these people had found us as their scapegoats and weren¡¯t afraid of bing suspects. These people wanted to kill the princess on their own turf at the right time. This time, they didn¡¯t have a choice but to make a move!¡± Ling Lan thought to herself.


    ¡°Alright, I can finally let loose.¡± Hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words, Qi Long instantly cracked his knuckles. He was going insane from all the boredom.


    ¡°Zhong-qing, the tools.¡± Ling Lan turned around and said to Lin Zhong-qing.


    Lin Zhong-qing quickly took out two masks from the backpack and three ck stripe like items.


    He handed one mask to Ling Lan. Seeing this, Li Lanfeng slightly smiled towards him. Lin Zhong-qing decisively gave the other mask to Li Lanfeng. Lin Zhong-qing knew clearly that although Li Lanfeng seemed to be an easy-going individual, he was actually the most difficult to please. Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t want to unknowingly get screwed over by Li Lanfeng.


    Qi Long held the ck stripe like item and asked Lin Zhong-qing, ¡°Zhong-qing, what is this thing?¡± Why did it seem so familiar?


    ¡°It¡¯s stocking used by women!¡± Lin Zhong-qing replied calmly and ignored Qi Long and Zhao Jun¡¯s stunned expressions.


    ¡°You want us to use a woman¡¯s stockings?¡± Li Yingjie blushed. ¡°Could you not have prepared a few more masks like that one?¡± He said as he pointed towards Ling Lan¡¯s mask. Although the mask was simple and crude, and looked terrible, it was still better than a woman¡¯s stockings by a whole lot.


    Lin Zhong-qing nced at Li Yingjie indifferently and replied coldly, ¡°That takes up space.¡± Afterwards, he took out another mask from his backpack.


    ¡°Then why do you have a mask and not stockings?¡± Li Yingjie asked angrily.


    ¡°That¡¯s because I have the power of distribution.¡± Lin Zhong-qing replied calmly and then began to ignore Li Yingjie as he followed Ling Lan.


    Zhao Jun looked at the stocking in his hands with frustration. Then he took a deep breath and put the stocking on his head. And thus, a sleazy bad guy was born.


    Qi Long saw that his Boss had already gone far away and knew he couldn¡¯t hesitate anymore. He bit his lip, put it on and quickly followed.


    ¡°You guys just put it on like that?¡± Li Yingjie pointed at the two traitors angrily.


    Zhao Jun didn¡¯t answer him and only pointed towards the front. Li Yingjie looked and saw that Ling Lan was about disappear from his sights and thus he bit his lip and reluctantly put on the stocking.


    Since Boss Lan had moved out without giving any orders, it meant that he epted Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s way of distributing the items. If he dawdled for too long and angered Boss Lan, Li Yingjie knew very well what his life in the future would be like. After remembering the training Boss Lan had arranged a while back, Li Yingjie¡¯s body trembled uncontrobly...


    Ling Lan who was at the front of the group took out a suit as she moved hurriedly. She pulled on the two sleeves and the suit became a jacket. She pulled on it again and the tidy light gray suit immediately turned into a short ck windbreaker.


    Making a move didn¡¯t mean that she had to expose herself. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to expose their identities just yet thus a disguise was necessary.


    After putting on the windbreaker, Ling Lan¡¯s aura changed from soft and harmless to cold and dangerous. One nce would make a person unable to disregard the chills of Ling Lan¡¯s aura.


    The team members that followed Ling Lan all changed their presence as well. They, who were originally inconspicuous, instantly became the focus of attention. The killing intent they had hidden silently spewed out. Especially Zhao Jun, who, after training in the division for the past few years and battling in the battlefield, had his killing intent became even thicker. It was just that it wasn¡¯t as strong as Ling Lan¡¯s killing intent.


    Zhao Jun looked in front of him at Ling Lan whose killing intent was through the roof. He thought for a second and was very curious how their Boss could have a killing intent that even veterans, who had fought countless battles in the battlefield, didn¡¯t have.


    Ling Lan followed the route Little Four had mapped out and didn¡¯t take any unnecessary detours. At the same time, she also told Little Four to notify Senior Colonel Mu Youyun of the princess¡¯ current movements. After all, Senior Colonel Mu Youyun¡¯s Whirlwind Battle Team was acting as the princess¡¯ royal guard.


    Princess Gulibaduo and her group followed the auction house¡¯s staff member to one of the booths. She asked curiously, ¡°Is it here?¡±


    ¡°Yes! Booth #239 has already settled their payment with our staff members. After receiving the Babu scepter, they had requested the auction house to have youe with us to their booth. Since you are our VIP guests, our Boss epted this request. That¡¯s why I have led you here,¡± exined the staff member.


    ¡°Your majesty, these people really have no respect. Shouldn¡¯t they be the ones whoes to you instead?¡± Said the princess¡¯s confidant angrily.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t say that. They have the Babu scepter now. For the safety of the scepter, they definitely wouldn¡¯t make any sudden moves. Having meing to them was the safest choice.¡± Gulibaduo didn¡¯t think that Ling Lan and the others were wrong. If it was her, she would also make this decision.


    While the two of them were talking, the staff member had already entered the passcode and the door opened automatically. The staff member politely bowed and said, ¡°Your majesty, this way!¡±


    Princess Gulibaduo took a deep breath. She was going to be able to see the Babu scepter that had been lost for over 400 years, so it was hard for her to not be excited. Right as she wanted to walk in, Qian Jialin, who stood on the side, with a stern expression on his face. He immediately grabbed the princess and pulled her back.


    Gulibaduo turned around stunned, ¡°Chambein Aodou, what¡¯s wrong?¡±


    Qian Jialin said with all seriousness, ¡°Your Majesty, with your status,ing here is already enough. Now, it should be the six of them who shoulde out and greet you.¡±


    He turned and looked towards the staff member, ¡°You go inside and tell them toe and greet our princess.¡±


    The eyes of the staff member darted around and hesitantly said, ¡°That...¡±


    Qian Jialin red at him angrily, ¡°What are you bbering on about? Why aren¡¯t you going in?¡±


    The staff member immediately respectfully said, ¡°Yes!¡± He walked into the room and shouted, ¡°Respectful guests from booth #239, the guests from #103 would like you toe to the door and greet them personally!¡±


    Gulibaduo heard a muffled replying from inside the booth. Then she heard a cluster of footstepsing closer, Qian Jialin suddenly pushed the princess behind him.


    Suddenly, sparks flew out the door and beams of light flew towards Qian Jialin from all directions. Right at that moment, a three meters wide and two meters tall mirror like shield appeared in front of Qian Jialin and blocked off all the shots that wereing towards him.


    Qian Jialin immediately ordered, ¡°Run!¡±


    He lead the three members and carefully guarded the princess as they evacuated to the back. They could rejoice that there were walls on both sides of the corridor and they only needed to defend themselves from the gunfireing from the front.

 Chapter 643 - Untitled

    <h4>Chapter 643: Untitled</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Qian Jialin decided to retreat. He didn¡¯t know how long this shield couldst. If he was alone, he would fight with the opponents but now, he had the princess with him. Her safety was more important than to test his limits.


    However, as a soldier of the Federation, they weren¡¯t so passive. Qian Jialin retreated because he was waiting for Mu Youyun.


    He had been contacting Mu Youyun for quite a while now. He believed that they were not far away from each other.


    Mu Youyun felt hismunicator vibrating. He looked at it and his expression changed.


    At this moment, the staff member who was guiding them started running. Mu Youyun¡¯s eyes turned cold. He moved and the staff member got knocked to the ground. He slid for a few meters before stopping.


    Mu Youyun quickly walked over to him. He grabbed the person¡¯s neck with his hand and raised the person up. ¡°Where is the princess?¡±


    The staff member vomited a mouthful of blood. He sneered at Mu Youyun¡¯s question.


    Mu Youyun felt his head hurting. Qian Jialin had sent him the room numbers which he had passed by but Mu Youyun was still unable to find him even after going there. Undoubtedly, they had fallen into a trap. Mu Youyun felt that they were in totally different locations.


    ¡°Captain, pass him to me.¡± They needed the staff member to guide them through these maze-like tunnels. Luckily, one of their team members was an expert in questioning people.


    Mu Youyun immediately handed the staff member over. The team member grabbed the staff member and took out a small box out of his pocket. There were three syringes inside. There was also a thumb-sized medicine tube inside.


    The staff member¡¯s expression changed when he saw what was inside the box. He struggled. He was already injured heavily by Mu Youyun so struggling worsened his internal injuries. Blood started dripping out of his mouth.


    The team member took out the agent and injected it into the arm of the staff member. The staff member¡¯s face turned hideous. He seemed to be inside a frightening illusion. He was in a subconscious state and his body was drenched with cold sweat.


    Finally, the effects ended. The team member wanted to question the staff member but to his surprise, the staff member bit his tongue... the team member quickly grabbed his jaw but it was toote. Blood started flowing out of his eyes, nose and mouth. Within a few seconds, he died.


    ¡°Damn it. He chose tomit suicide.¡± The team member was upset. He didn¡¯t expect an ordinary staff member tomit suicide. This method was used mostly by frence assassins.


    Mu Youyun said seriously, ¡°I think that we have made the wrong prediction.¡±


    They thought that their opponents would not act during the auction. After all, the auction was held in Aoqi. Aoqi was a neutral party so to maintain their neutral image, they would never let an assassination to ur on their turf. Yet, contrary to their belief, Aoqi didn¡¯t care. Were they going to reveal their true intentions? Or were they confident that no one could escape?


    If it was thetter, they were in a dire position. Mu Youyun¡¯s heart dropped.


    Suddenly, he heard footstepsing from the two ends of the tunnel. He frowned. He looked at the closed door at his side. Without a second thought, he used his Qi-Jin power to smash the door opened.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The entire tunnel vibrated. There was a fist shaped dent on the door. The door was made from steel so Mu Youyun was unable to destroy it with a single blow.


    Mu Youyun expected this result. He gave the door a forceful kick. The door could no longer handle it anymore as it had already been damaged. It was forced open and a human-sized opening was revealed.


    ¡°Enter!¡± Mu Youyun ordered. His five team members cooperated well and immediately rushed in the opening. Mu Youyun was thest one to enter. When he entered, numerous armed personnel had appeared at the two ends of the tunnel.


    The armed personnel rushed over to the room where Mu Youyun entered. Before they got near it, they fired at the door. The half-opened door flew off its hinges.


    No one saw the appearance of a shield which appeared behind the door. It blocked the bullets that tried to enter the room.


    Mu Youyun looked at the powerful and surreptitious shield on his arm. Before they entered the auction, the timid-looking young man from the Lingtian Battle Team, the one who always hid behind Young Master Zhang, secretly passed this device to Qian Jialin and him. He even gave them a small piece of paper to tell them how to operate this device.


    At that time, Qian Jialin and him didn¡¯t care much about this little device. They felt that it was not useful but they were grateful for the concern shown from their brother-in-arms. Surprisingly, this ¡®useless¡¯ little device saved his life just now.


    He had escaped danger for now. However, it would be difficult to get out of this predicament. The longer they were stuck in this room, the more dangerous their situation would get. The energy of the shield could onlyst for a limited amount of time. Once the energy of the shield was depleted, they would most likely be dead.


    While Mu Youyun and his team were stuck in a room, Qian Jialin tried to retreat into a tunnel with the princess. A group of armed personnel suddenly appeared at the direction where they were retreating. They were getting closer to them. In another few minutes, Qian Jialin might be in the same predicament as Mu Youyun.


    The violent vibration caused Ling Lan to stop in her tracks. She frowned. She gave an order instantly, ¡°Zhao Jun, Qi Long. Go to B7 and help Senior Colonel Mu Youyun.¡±


    Ling Lan also sent them a sitemap of the auction venue to theirmunicator. Mu Youyun¡¯s current location was pinned with a green dot while their opponents¡¯ location was pinned with red dots.


    Zhao Jun and Qi Long were stunned for a moment. They quickly regained their senses and replied, ¡°Yes.¡± Then, they disappeared from her sight.


    ¡°A powerful master has appeared?¡± Li Lanfeng asked in a low voice.


    ¡°Ten Qi-Jin masters are rushing over to Senior Colonel Mu Youyun¡¯s location. Senior Colonel Mu Youyun might becking in manpower. With the addition of Zhao Jun and Qi Long, it would make things easier for him.¡± Ling Lan had Little Four supervising her opponents. Hence, even though she was in a rush, she knew what her opponent¡¯s ns were and knew where Mu Youyun and Qian Jialin were.


    Ling Lan could have sent Li Lanfeng and Li Yingjie over as well to help Mu Youyun. That way, Mu Youyun¡¯s side would definitely win. She believed that she was able to save the princess with just her own strength too. However, obstacles allowed people to grow. A little bit of pressure was good for Qi Long and Zhao Jun. This was why she only sent the two of them over.


    Qi Long and Zhao Jun was at the peak of Qi-Jin. Qi Long onlycked a single step before advancing to the domain realm. He needed more obstacles and experience to achieve his breakthrough.


    ¡°Hurry up. Hasten your pace!¡± 12 armed men were charging towards Qian Jialin.


    They were reaching a three way fork road. Once they passed this fork road, they would meet their targets. The team leader was ted. If he could kill these people, he would be promoted to a higher position. The team leader could feel his bright future shining down on him.


    Just as he was reaching the forked road, three people appeared. Two of them were wearing masks while the other was wearing a ck hood that warped his face until it was unidentifiable .


    The team leader was stunned. He didn¡¯t expect to see people here. ¡°Who are you?¡±


    Did his boss make other arrangements? The team leader thought about this possibility. He didn¡¯t have the time to think about anything else, as the three people rushed towards them fiercely.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The team leader got thrown off his feet. He mmed heavily on the ground and vomited out blood. He struggled to get up. From the corner of his eyes, he saw a ck figure walking towards the tunnel where the princess was at.


    The team leader didn¡¯t have the time to think. The hooded man attacked him again. This time, the team leader managed to retaliate.


    Two fist collided. After the loud explosion, the team leader flew out again and fell to the ground. He was unable to get up this time. He had a convulsion on the ground. Blood was flowing out profusely from his mouth.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t I receive any news of such powerful opponents? What happened to the person supervising everything?¡± Before the team leader lost consciousness, this was his only thought. Their opponents appeared suddenly. They were caught off guard.


    The people in the surveince room finally realized that something was amiss. They didn¡¯t discover Ling Lan and her friends but they did notice that the 12-men team suddenly disappearing from their screens. Even idiots would have realized the situation by now.


    When Brother Xu received this news, he almost smashed the screens in the room. He contacted the ace level hacker in the auction and knew that they were attacked by other hackers. Their opponent was at least an ace level hacker too.


    Brother Xu suspected the Yun family. Their ace hacker noticed signs of a hacker from the Yun family and started a battle with him. No one knew what happened in the end.


    Those people that were fighting didn¡¯t know that an unseen battle was happening beside them. The virtual battle was as frightening as the real battle. Losers of the fight had to pay a huge price. The loser¡¯s brain would most likely be damaged in the process. A top-tier hacker could instantly be mentally disabled. Some would even be dered brain dead.


    Qian Jialin activated his shield and retreated hurriedly with the princess. They had been running for almost five minutes. Luckily, the shield was more powerful than he expected. It showed no signs of energy depletion.


    However, Qian Jialin was worried. He thought that Mu Youyun would appear within three minutes but there was still no sign of him. He knew that Mu Youyun must have been led to another ce by their opponents. He could only rely on himself.


    A figure suddenly flew out from the opposite side. Qian Jialin didn¡¯t expect his opponent to resort to closebat after shooting at them for so long.


    The opponent¡¯s fist punched onto the shield. The huge force caused Qian Jialin to slide a few meters back. The powerful shield dimmed.


    ¡°Seems like it is not impregnable.¡± A calm voice sounded in front of Qian Jialin. The bullets had stopped. Their opponents must have decided to rely on closebat after noticing that guns didn¡¯t work. Actually, when someone reached the Qi-Jin level, the effects of guns were minimal.


    Before Qian Jialin could regain hisposure, his opponent attacked him again. This time, he used more power on his fist.


    Qian Jialin deactivated his shield and punched his opponent furiously.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The two fist collided. The person flew out. Qian Jialin took three steps back again. Although Qian Jialin retreated, he swiftly activated the beam shield again. The shield covered the princess and the people behind him.


    The opponents might use their guns again. Qian Jialin didn¡¯t want to take any risk.


    The person who attacked him collided into a group of armed men. He bounced up and saw Qian Jialin retreating with his men. He was embarrassed and furious.


    ¡°Luo¡¯er, although you are a genius, there are many powerful people in the world.¡± An old man suddenly appeared beside the person and patted his back.


    ¡°I know, grandfather. I want to fight with him,¡± The person called Luo¡¯er replied firmly.


    ¡°Sure!¡± The old man waved his hand and the armed men stopped moving. They started to retreat.


    Qian Jialin was stunned. However, he continued retreating. He wanted to use this opportunity to widen the distance between them.

 Chapter 644 - A Chance!

    <h4>Chapter 644: A Chance!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Suddenly, a huge pressure bore down on them. Qian Jialin couldn¡¯t move his limbs. He was stopped in his tracks. If he reacted a little slower and didn¡¯t manage to unleash his Qi-Jin power to protect himself, he would be kneeling on the ground right now.


    Qian Jialin was at thete-stage of Qi-Jin and reacted quickly. Hence, his situation was not bad. However, his team members were not so lucky. They just managed to advance to Qi-Jin so this pressure almost forced them onto the ground. But, they were soldiers of the Federation. Their unyielding spirit allowed them to stand up straight even though their legs were shaking.


    Compared to them, Princess Gulibaduo and her confidant were in a bad state. Gulibaduo was only at the peak of refinement. There was no way she would be able to resist against the pressure. Her entire body fell to the ground. She pushed her hands against the ground. She was unable to ept herself lying on the ground. Her dignity and her arrogance as royalty of the Bya Kingdom wouldn¡¯t allow her to do that.


    Gulibaduo bit her lips until it bled. She painfully pushed her hands against the floor and forced herself to stand against the pressure. She kept encouraging herself. Gulibaduo, you can do it. You must make your country proud. You cannot taint the reputation of your country. The people of the Bya Kingdom will not give up so easily! Gulibaduo, you can¡¯t give up!


    On the other hand, her confidant was not as strong as her. Sheid on the ground and vomited blood. The huge pressure was enough to injure her confidant internally!


    While everyone was being forced down by the pressure, Luo¡¯er flew into the air like an eagle and aimed his fist at Qian Jialin.


    Qian Jialin watched as the fist got nearer to him. He felt unconvinced and furious.


    Despicable! Qian Jialin was unwilling to be defeated by his opponent in this way. Just as his anger started boiling, the pressure on him disappeared.


    The calm-looking old man frowned. Surprise and bewilderment appeared in his eyes.


    Qian Jialin didn¡¯t think about it much. He raised his fist and attacked his opponent head on.


    The pressure was lifted at the right time. It left him enough time for him to prepare for his attack.


    ¡°Boom!¡± Another explosion urred. Two huge force knocked into each other and the two people flew backwards.


    Luo¡¯er flew into the air and managed tond safely on the ground after spinning a few times in the air. Qian Jialin was thrown over his team and smashed onto the ground heavily. The remaining force caused him to slide out a few meters before stopping.


    Qian Jialin felt like vomiting blood but he controlled it. He immediately got up and rushed in front of his team. He stood in front of them acting as shield once again.


    As a soldier of the Federation and a team captain, he would not let the person he was protecting or his team members to stand in front of him.


    Qian Jialin stood in front arrogantly. He quietly whispered, ¡°Hurry up and run!¡±


    It was impossible for everyone to retreat. He could only let his team members and the princess get away first.


    His team members hesitated for a moment. However, they knew that they didn¡¯t have much time left. They exchanged nces with one another and nodded. Two of them grabbed the servant on the floor while another person held the princess up by her shoulder. They ran towards the other end of the tunnel. Thest team member looked back at his captain worriedly. He forced his emotions down and gritted his teeth. Then, he started running too.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± The old man looked up suddenly when he noticed their small actions and figured out their intention. A light shed passed his eyes and he sneered.


    The sound of the old man sneering mmed into their hearts like a hammer. They couldn¡¯t control themselves and vomited blood. The princess even tripped and fell to the ground. The servant was in a worse state. She was already injured so she was knocked unconscious.


    Qian Jialin felt ufortable too. He looked at the ordinary-looking old man with a pale face. He had guessed that the old man was stronger than him but in order to injure them with just a snort, he had to be a domain master.


    ¡°None of you can leave without my permission,¡± The old man had his hands behind his back as he spoke to them nonchntly.


    Qian Jialin and his team members couldn¡¯t help but feel defeated. How could they get out of here alive? Their opponent was a domain master. They gave up running away. They knew that no matter how hard they tried, they were unable to escape from a domain master. They gathered behind Qian Jialin and waited for the results.


    Luo¡¯er ignored the other people. He only wanted Qian Jialin. He licked his lips in excitement. ¡°You are very powerful!¡±


    This was the first time he fought with such a powerful opponent. Because of his grandfather¡¯s status in this auction, the bodyguards didn¡¯t dare to hit back when they sparred with him. He was depressed. Finally, he could fight with all his might.


    ¡°You are not bad too.¡± Qian Jialin replied coldly. There was a huge amount of pressure ced on his shoulders but he remained calm.


    While he was talking, he looked at the old man behind Luo¡¯er. Qian Jialin knew that this old man was the person who controlled their life and death. He was their worst enemy.


    The lights in the old man¡¯s eyes dimmed. He looked like an ordinary old man again. If Qian Jialin met him in public, he would never believe that he was a domain realm master.


    Was this the true ability of a domain master? Returning to one¡¯s original nature? Qian Jialin feltplicated.


    This mission didn¡¯t look difficult at the start. He didn¡¯t expect himself to meet a domain master. Was Princess Gulibaduo really that important?


    With his status, Qian Jialin knew the truth behind the coboration between the two countries. He knew that the life and death of Gulibaduo would not affect the strategic alliance between the two nations. The only thing it would affect was the inheritance of the Bya Kingdom.


    The Federation definitely wished that Gulibaduo would be the one to inherit the throne. Gulibaduo was raised in the Federation and received education from the Federation. The Federation was good at using its education system to brainwash its people. Hence, Gulibaduo would support the Federation and help to maintain the rtionship between the Federation and the Bya Kingdom.


    The Federation sent people to protect Gulibaduo and even rated this mission four stars because they didn¡¯t want her to die too. She was a coborator nurtured by them personally. Based on their prediction, thebination of Qi-Jin masters and ace operators was enough to ensure the safety of the princess.


    The Federation underestimated the determination of its enemy countries in killing the princess and underestimated the intensity in the fight for the throne within the Bya Kingdom. Their enemies would use all their means to cut off one of the Federation¡¯s arms. This was why they dared to tantly appear during the auction at Aoqi and even sent domain masters to fight them.


    If the Federation knew about this, they would have rated this a five-star mission. Of course, if that happened, Ling Lan and her friends would not have the chance to take on this mission. The amount of domain masters from both parties would increase too and even imperial operators might be sent out. The assassinations by their enemies would probably double in amount. Each battle would be destructive. No one knew what the results would be.


    Based on the circumstances, Qian Jialin actually realized this a littlete. Domain masters had already appeared on Kachi but they were killed by Ling Lan secretly. She also used a special method to fool their enemies into thinking that the domain masters were still alive so their opponents would make the wrong judgments. Thus, their opponents didn¡¯t know that there was a domain master protecting the princess.


    It had to be said that the Federation was extremely lucky to have Lingtian in this mission. This was good news for the princess but bad news for their opponents.


    Qian Jialin knew that he was probably going to die but he didn¡¯t give up. He focused his attention back on the young man. He recalled how the old man took care of him. A sudden thought came to him. They might have a chance to survive.


    Luo¡¯er was too excited to notice the change in his opponent¡¯s gaze. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. His grandfather told him that he needed to be calm in a battle in order to disy his full strength.


    Since his undefeatable god of war, his grandfather, was beside him, Luo¡¯er didn¡¯t have many worries. He continued to attack with his fist even though he didn¡¯t see any openings in his opponent¡¯s defenses. He wanted to force his way in.


    The tunnel was narrow so there was no space to Qian Jialin to dodge. The princess and his team members were behind him. He had no choice. He needed to fight!


    There was no skills needed in a forced fight. The person who had stronger Qi-Jin would win.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The two fist collided again. This time, Qian Jialin did something no one expected. He suddenly released his right fist and grabbed his opponent¡¯s fist with his hand. Since he didn¡¯t use his strength to resist, his opponent¡¯s Qi-Jin smashed into his body and he received heavy internal injuries. Blood spitted out of his mouth.


    Luo¡¯er was not able to dodge as the other party was holding onto his fist. The blood was going to fall on his face so he released his Qi-Jin and blocked the blood.


    Luo¡¯er heaved a sigh of relief. At this moment, he didn¡¯t know that Qian Jialin¡¯s left hand was silently moving towards his throat. His vision was blocked by the blood so he didn¡¯t notice it.


    This was all part of Qian Jialin¡¯s n. In order to catch Luo¡¯er, Qian Jialin got injured. He knew that if he managed to catch Luo¡¯er, he would be able to negotiate with the other party. This was their only chance!


    This was the only way they could leave this ce alive. Qian Jialin made a good decision.


    ¡°How dare you!¡±


    Qian Jialin could fool Luo¡¯er but he couldn¡¯t fool the old man. Qian Jialin knew this clearly. He just hoped that he was able to catch Luo¡¯er before the old man reached him.


    A powerful and frightening force of presence shot towards Qian Jialin. He felt a strong pressure on his body. He couldn¡¯t move his body anymore.


    Qian Jialin felt hopeless. If he didn¡¯t catch Luo¡¯er¡¯s throat, there would be no way they could survive.


    No, I cannot die. I cannot let my team members die here! Ah!


    Qian Jialin shouted furiously. The Qi-Jin on his body increased exponentially. He was focused on capturing Luo¡¯er so he didn¡¯t realized that he broke through. He was now at the peak of Qi-Jin. Just one step and he would reach the optimal peak.


    Because of this breakthrough, he managed to resist the pressure from the old man. His left hand started moving quickly and aimed itself at Luo¡¯er¡¯s neck.


    A cold look shed passed the old man¡¯s eyes. He disappeared from his position and appeared in front of Qian Jialin almost at the same time. His scrawny hand moved towards Qian Jialin¡¯s neck.


    The old man¡¯s hand appeared clearly in Qian Jialin¡¯s vision. It looked slow but in actual fact, Qian Jialin knew that the old man¡¯s speed was much faster than him. Before he could grab Luo¡¯er, his head would be removed from his neck.


    Are they really going to die here? Qian Jialin was in despair.


    Just as Qian Jialin was on the verge of breaking down, a fair and smooth hand with slender fingers popped out. It urately grabbed the hand that was moving towards his throat.


    Qian Jialin felt the pressure on his body disappearing. He got a hold of Luo¡¯er¡¯s throat and retreated three meters away.


    He finally managed to see the owner of the hand. A man in a mask and a ck cloak was standing in front of him. His hair was ck and his back was straight. He was holding the old man¡¯s hand and standing at the same spot like a mountain. he didn¡¯t move at all.


    Qian Jialin didn¡¯t know who he was or whether he was a friend or foe. However, he had calmed down. The suffocating force of presence from the old man had disappeared totally.

 Chapter 645 - Danger!

    <h4>Chapter 645: Danger!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Qian Jialin managed to calm down. He grabbed his opponent¡¯s throat and attacked him relentlessly. He dislocated all of Luo¡¯er¡¯s joints. He would not allow his opponent to have any opportunity to counterattack.


    The old man wanted to stop him but the masked man wouldn¡¯t allow him to. He had no choice but to watch his grandson beaten into a hostage.


    The old man red at the masked man furiously. This was the person who caused all these to happen. The old man wanted to skin this person alive.


    However, no matter how much he hated this man, he knew that the man was a difficult opponent. In order to appear silently in front of him and stop him from killing Qian Jialin on time, this person must have reached the domain realm.


    What is his motive? Was he on his opponent¡¯s side on was he just passing by? The old man pondered over these questions. He controlled his anger and said, ¡°I am the supervisor of the underground auction, Hermit Miluo Duoba. May I know who you are?¡±


    If this person was just passing by, he would stop after he revealed his identity. If this was the case, he would spare this brat. The old man didn¡¯t want to causeplications.


    Qian Jialin¡¯s expression changed when he heard the old man calling himself Hermit.


    People in the domain realm were not equal. Some were more powerful than others. Those valiant masters of the domain realm were so powerful, ordinary domain realm masters were not their match at all. They had a long list of achievements and could defeat or kill other domain masters. These powerful people would have their own title once they were recognized by the human world (government).


    Hermit was the old man¡¯s title. That meant that this normal-looking scrawny old man was a domain realm warrior.


    Qian Jialin looked at the masked man with concern. Would the masked man be able to subdue this domain realm warrior?


    The masked man was not affected by Miluo Duoba¡¯s self-introduction. He replied indifferently, ¡°I am just a nobody. You don¡¯t have to know who I am.¡±


    Ling Lan appeared calm but inside her mindscape, she was shouting for Little Four furiously.


    ¡°Yes, boss!¡± Little Four was having fun watching the battle between the ace hacker of the Yun family and the hackers of the auction. He didn¡¯t feel guilty about pushing the me to the Yun family. He even felt that the amount of ace hackers in this battle was too little for his liking. This battle was not as exciting as he wanted it to be. While he was happily watching the match, his boss called for him and he immediately ran back.


    ¡°What is a Hermit?¡± Ling Lan asked. When Miluo Duoba said that he was called Hermit, he looked so proud. This title was definitely not a random title which he gave himself. Ling Lan was a cautious person. Since she had a query, she needed to get Little Four to answer it.


    Little Four told Ling Lan how this title came about. A cold gaze appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. She knew that the situation was bad. She grabbed Little Four¡¯s face as he was trying to run away and rubbed it furiously. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me this earlier? It is such an important thing.¡±


    She didn¡¯t know that domain masters were segregated into different sections. The two domain masters on Kachi must be normal domain masters. Luckily, she was cautious and asked Little Four about it. If she attacked this old man the same way she fought with the other two domain masters, she would pay a huge price.


    Little Four kept forgetting things. Ling Lan decided to punish him so that he wouldn¡¯t do it again.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ve forgotten about it again.¡± Little Four cried. He didn¡¯t dare to retaliate since he was the one in the wrong.


    Miluo Duoba didn¡¯t know the astonishment Ling Lan was feeling right now. His heart dropped when he heard what Ling Lan said. If his opponent was able to remain calm even after hearing his title, he must have known his identity from the start. This meant that his opponent was confident in his ability and knew that he could definitely defeat him. This was not good news.


    There was no way this situation could end peacefully. Miluo Duoba widened his eyes and a glint shed. A frightening sense of presence exploded out of his body. But, the masked man seemed to be expecting this. He released his grip and retreated three meters back.


    Miluo Duoba sneered. He stepped forward.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The masked man didn¡¯t do anything but his sense of presence exploded out too. The people behind them instantly felt their blood moving up their throat. A few weaker ones had already turned pale in the face.


    Miluo Duoba and the masked man tested each other secretly without moving their body.


    They were equally powerful. Miluo Duoba frowned. He felt that things would be difficult for him.


    Miluo Duoba didn¡¯t want to have a life-or-death battle with an equally powerful opponent. The longer you live, the more you realize how precious your life is. Also, his grandson, someone who entered thete-stage of Qi-Jin at the age of 28, was in his opponent¡¯s hands. He had no other choice but to give up.


    Miluo Duoba pondered for a moment before opening his mouth. ¡°You came for these people?¡±


    The man replied indifferently, ¡°What do you think?¡±


    You did! Miluo Duoba sensed the sarcasm. If he didn¡¯te for them, why would he bullshit with him?


    Miluo Duoba felt the man was looking at him sarcastically. He must be mocking him for asking such an obvious question. Miluo Duoba almost vomited blood in anger.


    ¡°Since that is the case, why don¡¯t you put Luo¡¯er down and I will bring you all out of this ce.¡± Miluo Duoba gritted his teeth. He would bear anything for his grandson.


    ¡°Do you think that I am stupid?¡± The man asked him back.


    Miluo Duoba was stunned. Before he could reply, the man continued, ¡°If I give up my hostage, will you really take us out?¡± He reached out and snatched Luo¡¯er over from Qian Jialin.


    Qian Jialin felt his heart pounding furiously. For some reason, he felt that the masked man was on his side. Hence, even though the hostage was taken away, he was neither angry nor frightened. He was just shocked by how quickly the masked man acted.


    The masked man was more vicious than Qian Jialin. The fair hand grabbed Luo¡¯er¡¯s throat effortlessly. However, Luo¡¯er¡¯s eyes started popping out after a while and his face turned purple. Gagging sounds came out of his mouth. Since his joints were broken, he couldn¡¯t move his body. But, his body was squirming uncontrobly like a little worm.


    ¡°Stop it!¡± Miluo Duoba shouted in anger.


    The masked man rxed his hand. Luo¡¯er¡¯s felt slightly better.


    ¡°The initiative is not on your side now. It is on mine,¡± The masked man calmly said.


    Miluo Duoba lost hisposure. From his opponent¡¯s tone, strength, and sense of presence, he realized that he was a calm person who was not affected by threats. After so many years, he saw these traits on three people before. Those three people were people who he respected. Was this person someone like them too?


    The longer he stayed in the domain realm, the clearer he knew that not everyone in the domain level were equal. There were weak domain masters too. These domain masters were just slightly stronger than those Qi-Jin masters.


    How powerful you were depended on how well you understood the domain realm. The deeper your understanding was, the more powerful you were. In actual fact, there were domain masters who could kill another domain master within a split of a second. These formidable warriors had special titles assigned to them.


    Those three people that he respected were the kings of the domain realm.


    Miluo Duoba was on his guard. He gritted his teeth and said, ¡°Okay, I will send you all out, However, once you all reached the main gate, you must release Luo¡¯er.¡±


    The masked man nodded. He grabbed Luo¡¯er and turned around. Qian Jialin and his team didn¡¯t hesitate. One held onto the princess while another held the servant and they quickly followed the masked man.


    Miluo Duoba sighed. He raised his hand and waved it. The armed personnel moved back and Miluo Duoba disappeared from the tunnel too.


    Along the way, they met three other people. Two of them were wearing a mask while one was in a ck hood. Qian Jialin noticed the simr pattern on the masks so he understood that these were his allies.


    The three people saw theming out and let them passed silently. Then, they walked behind them and helped them to cover their backs. Qian Jialin looked at the man in the hood. He looked familiar...


    At B7, Qi Long and Zhao Jun followed the map Ling Lan gave them and found a hidden staircase. They didn¡¯t expect the staircase to be scalingdder instead of the normal stairs.


    It was located within a three meters wide round tunnel. On the sitemap, it was a sewer pipe. If their boss didn¡¯t specifically identify it as a staircase, they would never have found it. The organizers of the auction really ced a lot of effort into concealing this auction venue.


    Qi Long and Zhao Jun didn¡¯t felt it was strange that their boss knew this secret. Their boss had shown them how impressive of a hacker he was. To them, there was nothing he didn¡¯t know. It was normal for him to know this passage.


    They climbed up thedder and came to B7.


    The moment they reached B7, they felt a huge vibration.


    The location of the scalingdder was quite near the ce where Mu Youyun¡¯s team was at. They exchanged nces with one another and immediately rushed towards the source of the vibration.


    Mu Youyun used the shield to block the entrance of the room. He calcted how long the shield couldst while thinking of a way to escape. At that moment, he heard the sound of walls crumbling. He thought about something and immediately shouted, ¡°Be careful of the walls.¡±


    Mu Youyun¡¯s teamprised of experienced members. They jumped up the moment they heard Mu Youyun¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Boom! Boom!¡± Two loud explosions urred simultaneously. The walls at their side copsed and five figures from each side flew in.


    Mu Youyun¡¯s team members started attacking without waiting for hismand. However, they only had six people. There were 10 opponents in total but Mu Youyun needed to be at the door to hold onto the shield. That meant that each of them needed to take on two opponents.


    ¡°Boom!¡± One of the team members got smashed into the wall the moment his opponent struck. He bounced off it and fell to the ground. He vomited blood. He couldn¡¯t get up from the ground anymore.


    Mu Youyun¡¯s team members were all Qi-Jin masters but one of them just advanced to Qi-Jin recently. Hence, he was not able to withstand the attack from twote-stage Qi-Jin masters.


    The two Qi-Jin masters saw what happened and continued attacking. They received orders to kill every one of their opponents.


    ¡°Little Mouse!¡± The other team members screamed with bloodshot eyes. They had been in the same team for more than 10 years. Even though everyone¡¯s potential was different, they never disliked each other. They persevered through all the hard times together and made the Whirlwind Battle Team into a four-star battle team. Hence, whenever they see their team members in danger, they would be anxious and in rage. If their hands were free, they would definitely rush over and help him.


    Just as the two fists were about to hit the vital spot of the Little Mouse, the two Qi-Jin masters suddenly flew out. One of them smashed into the wall while the other was thrown through the hole at the side of the room andnded in another room.


    Mu Youyun held Little Mouse up and arrived at the door in a blink of an eye. He blocked the door with the shield once again and passed the shield device to Little Mouse. ¡°Block the door for me.¡±


    ¡°Yes, captain!¡± Little Mouse was bleeding from his mouth but he still replied firmly. He was heavily injured but he told himself that if their opponents wanted toe in, they would have to step over his dead body first. He knew that he might becking in strength so he grabbed the shield tightly and ced it against his waist. He used his entire body weight to resist against the vibrations of the shield.


    Mu Youyun focused on his opponents after he finished giving his order. Since he gave his team member the task, he would trust his team member. He raised his fist and attacked the person who was getting up from the ground.


    Mu Youyun knew that he had to finish off this opponent first. If not, his other team members would end up like Little Mouse too. There was no way they could win against two opponents with the same physical skills level as them.

 Chapter 646 - Friends, Not Foe!

    <h4>Chapter 646: Friends, Not Foe!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Mu Youyun¡¯s fist was as quick as lightning. Just as his opponent was getting up, his fist had struck him.


    The opponent knew that Mu Youyun was stronger than him but he was confident that he could handle the blow. Hence, he didn¡¯t defend himself but retaliated with his fist.


    The opponent flew out again. He mmed into the wall and a dent was created. He fell onto the floor and vomited a mouthful of blood. He was heavily injured.


    The walls of the auction booth were extremely sturdy and stable. This was to protect the guest and ensure their privacy. Ordinary people were not able to destroy these walls.


    Thus, even with 10 Qi-Jin masters on their side, the organizers of the auction still had to rely on explosives to break through the wall. Thus, this showed how powerful Mu Shaoyu¡¯s punch was.


    Mu Shaoyu continued his attack after he subdued him. He wanted to kick the head of the person on the ground. As he moved his legs, the sound of the air bursting could be heard.


    The man on the ground was pale in the face. His injuries didn¡¯t give him any chance of escaping. Just as he was about to get hit, a figure came in from the broken wall and raised his fist towards Mu Youyun¡¯s back.


    Mu Youyun gritted his teeth. He didn¡¯t dodge. Even if he was injured, he must kill this person.


    Mu Youyun took the blow of the punch but managed to kick his opponent. ¡°Crack.¡± The skull of his opponent burst apart and blood flowed out from every orifice. He died on the spot.


    The person who punched Mu Youyun shouted in grief, ¡°Bastard, die!¡± He raised his fist again. In his despair, he used his entire strength to take revenge for his friend.


    Mu Youyun didn¡¯t flinch. He received some internal injuries from the punch just now but he could still fight.


    The force from the collision of fists impacted the people around them. The people around them had to stop and resist the force first before they continued their own battle.


    The team members of the Whirlwind Battle Team managed to get a short break. They went back to fighting after catching their breath.


    ¡°Pfft!¡± Mu Youyun spurted blood out of his mouth. His internal injuries worsen. His opponent was in a simr state. They both suffered serious injuries.


    ¡°Optimal peak of Qi-Jin.¡± Mu Youyun¡¯s opponent managed to determine Mu Youyun¡¯s physical skills¡¯ level through this round of attack. This was the highest level of Qi-Jin. No wonder he only received some internal injuries from his previous attack. Their exchange just now resulted in his loss too.


    Mu Youyun gained the upper hand in his battle but his team members were in a dire situation.


    Beside one of the team members who managed to be on par with his opponents due to his speed, the other three people were on the losing end. One of them was at thete-stage of Qi-Jin and was experienced in fighting. Although he was at a disadvantage, his opponent couldn¡¯t defeat him anytime soon. Compared to him, hisrades were in a more dire situation. The other two members could only defend themselves and might be killed soon.


    Mu Youyun was aware of what was happening around him even though he was fighting. He knew that his team members were in a bad situation. If he wanted to help them, he must defeat his opponent first.


    However, it was not easy to defeat a person who was at thete-stage of Qi-Jin so quickly. Mu Youyun felt agitated for the first time in a while and revealed an opening.


    His opponent¡¯s eyes lit up. He saw an opportunity. He struck his fist at My Youyun.


    ¡°Oh shit!¡± Mu Youyun sensed his opponent¡¯s intent, the moment he moved. His unstable mentality gave his opponent a chance to attack him.


    ¡°To dodge or to match?¡± If he dodged, he would lose his advantage. Then, he would have to wait for another opportunity to arise to regain his advantage. If he matched with his opponent, there was not enough time for him to build up his strength. It was hard to predict the result of the match.


    The thoughts shed past his mind. As a soldier, he couldn¡¯t retreat. His instinct made a decision for him and he chose to attack.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    The two figures retreated.


    Blood flowed out of their mouths. They were both seriously injured.


    At that moment, one of the team members couldn¡¯t hold on anymore. He was hit.


    He was unable to move as he flew through the air. His two opponents jumped up and attacked him with a fist and a kick.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Mu Youyun and the rest of the team yelled in rage. They had reached their limit and was unable to offer any help. Were they going to lose theirrade?


    ¡°Boom! Boom!¡± The sound of humans colliding with each other was heard twice. The next moment, two figures dropped down.


    The injured member started moving in a different direction. He was flying towards the member who was holding the shield at the door. The team member at the door gathered up his energy to prepare to catch hisrade. However, he realized that there was no inertia from his friend. He managed to catch him easily.


    Since he chose to catch hispanion, it meant that he couldn¡¯t keep the shield up.


    The team member remembered his responsibility and was devastated. He hurriedly looked for the shield device. A big hand suddenly reached out and grabbed the device quicker than him.


    The team member looked up in shock. A masked man entered the room. He took a step in and picked up the device. Then, he put his other foot in.


    Another mysterious man in a mask had also appeared in the room.


    Mu Youyun felt hope. He didn¡¯t know who these two people were but he knew that they helped his team member when he was on the brink of death just now. Mu Youyun believed that they were his allies. Even if they weren¡¯t, they were definitely not his foe.

 Chapter 647 - Gratitude!

    <h4>Chapter 647: Gratitude!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The team member at the door finally noticed that the gunmen outside were subdued. No gunshots could be heard anymore.


    This sudden change caused the fights in the room to stop. Everyone looked at the two mysterious men.


    ¡°A one-sided battle is too boring. Why not we enter the fight too? 8 vs 9. This number seems more appropriate.¡± The person at the door stretched his arms casually. He seemed as though he was here to have fun.


    When he said this, the people who came to kill Mu Youyun knew that they were their enemies. Of course, even if he didn¡¯t say anything, they knew that he was definitely not their friend.


    The Whirlwind Battle Team was grateful for the appearance of these two people. Without them, all six of them might die here.


    The leader of the other party could sense they were at a disadvantage. These two neers came without them noticing and even managed to subdue everyone outside. This showed that they were extremely powerful. The leader suddenly waved his hand and the other eight people pounced at their opponents instantly.


    One of the two people who were hit by the mysterious man rushed towards him. The other one charged at Mu Youyun. He aimed his fist at the vital point.


    Mu Youyun was the leader of this team. Defeating him would greatly impact the rest of his team. Once their opponents lose control of their emotions, they would have a chance of defeating them. No matter how powerful those two men were, they wouldn¡¯t be able to take on all nine of them.


    This idea was good but it didn¡¯t happen in reality. Before his fist could reach Mu Youyun, he felt a strong Qi-Jin moving towards him. If he continued attacking Mu Youyun, he would be hit by this force.


    This person was not as ruthless to himself as Mu Youyun. He chose to dodge the attack and save himself.


    The masked man who was at the door just now blocked his path and prevented him from attacking Mu Youyun again. The man smiled at him, ¡°Your opponent is me.¡±


    The person snorted and attacked the masked man with all of his strength. Since he couldn¡¯t attack Mu Youyun, he would just kill the masked man first.


    This person was confident that he wouldn¡¯t lose to an opponent at the Qi-Jin level. His confidence might be gained from his past experience. However, the things that happened after, destroyed all his confidence.


    The bones in his right arm shattered, from his fist to the end of his shoulder.


    ¡°Ah!¡± He screamed in agony as he flew back and mmed forcefully into the wall. The huge impact shook the entire room. The person was stuck in the wall. He was bleeding from his nose, mouth, eyes, and ears. No one knew if he was dead or alive.


    ¡°The fifth level One-Inch Punch. As expected of my ultimate move.¡± Qi Long retracted his hand. He suddenly remembered that his boss asked him to use it less often. Was it because it was too powerful so his boss was afraid that he would kill someone that he shouldn¡¯t unintentionally?


    Thinking about it, he really couldn¡¯t control the fifth level. That was why he destroyed his opponent¡¯s arm. Qi Long felt hurt when he knew the truth. His ultimate move came about because he couldn¡¯t control it.


    ¡°Dao Ge!¡± Another opponent saw hispanion being hit and shouted in anger. He charged at Qi Long. He wanted to take revenge for hispanion.


    ¡°You came at the right time.¡± Qi Long felt excited. He used his fifth level One-Inch Punch again.


    ¡°Bang!¡± His opponent flew away just like hispanion. However, this time, he didn¡¯t m into a wall. Instead, he broke through the wall and fell into another room. He never stood up again.


    The person who was fighting the other masked man got knocked down too. The other people looked at theirrade who was lying on the floor convulsing and felt hopeless. In just a few seconds, they lost threerades. Now, there were six active people on each side.


    The leader of the attackers felt his heart hurting. He knew that if they continued fighting, they would lose more men. He might not even be able to make it out alive too. The rewards for this mission was generous but his life was more important.


    He waved his hand decisively and the six people threw out a grey ball towards their feet.


    ¡°Dodge!¡± Mu Youyun shouted in astonishment when he saw the round balls which looked like bombs.


    ¡°The door!¡± One of the masked men shouted out.


    The other people reacted quickly and ran towards the door. Two shields appeared in front of the two masked me.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang...¡± After six explosions, the room was filled with smoke. The eight people coughed and rushed out of the broken door.


    ¡°F**k, we were tricked. They managed to escape.¡± One of the team members of the Whirlwind Battle Team was vexed. He didn¡¯t expect those grey balls to be just smoke bombs.


    ¡°Those smoke bombs were made to look just like real bombs. It was fine for us to be more careful.¡± Mu Youyun was not annoyed. He was happy that all his team members were still alive.


    Mu Youyun looked at the two masked men. Compared to them, these two men didn¡¯t seem affected by the smoke at all.


    ¡°Thank you for your help. Please tell your captain that I owe him a favor,¡± Mu Youyun said sincerely.


    When they used the shields, he guessed their identity. Only that battle team had this item. He didn¡¯t expect the battle team which he thought was the weakest to save them. Also, they were very powerful. Mu Youyun didn¡¯t believe that he would be able to defeat any of these two men standing in front of him...


    ¡°Yes, we will,¡± Zhao Jun smiled.


    Zhao Jun and Qi Long were not surprised that Mu Youyun managed to guess their identity. When they used their shield, they were already revealing who they were. Since they were on the same side, they were not afraid of revealing their identity.

 Chapter 648 - One-man Battle!

    <h4>Chapter 648: One-man Battle!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°The princess...¡± Mu Youyun rxed after Zhao Jun confirmed his guess. However, he started worrying for the princess and Qian Jialin. He thought about it and felt that since these two were sent over to help him, they must have sent people to help the princess too.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Our boss is over there personally. It would be fine,¡± Qi Long consoled him.


    He looked at hismunicator said, ¡°The princess has been rescued. Our boss asked us to gather at the entrance.¡±


    Hence, Mu Youyun and those members that were fine carried their heavily injuredrades and followed Qi Long and Zhao Jun to the first floor.


    Since there was an important hostage on their side, the organizers of the auction didn¡¯t send any more people to attack them. They managed to regroup with Ling Lan and the rest of the people at the atrium on the first floor.


    Ling Lan asked them to leave first. She would stay behind at the atrium with the hostage.


    Qi Long and the others hesitated for a moment before leaving with the princess. Aoqi was not safe anymore. They had to board the Feiyang Ship. Of course, whether they would remain safe on the ship depended on Aoqi¡¯s attitude. If the government of Aoqi didn¡¯t mind revealing their true intention, they would have a difficult time leaving this.


    The moment they left, a figure appeared behind Ling Lan. It was Miluo Duoba.


    ¡°I have kept my promise. It is time to keep yours,¡± Miluo Duoba said in a cold voice.


    ¡°Of course.¡± Ling Lan pushed Luo¡¯er towards Miluo Duoba.


    Miluo Duoba caught his grandson. He examined his body carefully. Besides his joints that were dislocated, there were no other serious injuries. He was relieved.


    He waved his hand and a figure appeared behind him. That figure took Luo¡¯er away.


    ¡°Why are you still not leaving?¡± Since his grandson was saved, Miluo Duoba started releasing his force of presence again.


    ¡°I am waiting for you. Rather than letting you ambush us, I rather wait for you here.¡± Ling Lan knew that Miluo Duoba would definitely take his revenge. If she moved with Qi Long and the others, she would definitely implicate them. Qi-Jin masters were unable to withstand the force of a battle between domain masters.


    Miluo Duoba¡¯s gaze froze. He didn¡¯t expect Ling Lan to guess his intention. He realized that his opponent was not only powerful but was also shrewd. This made him more frightened. He wondered if it was worth it to fight him. Although he took his grandson as a hostage, he returned it to him as promised...


    Miluo Duoba was astounded. Sweat drenched his shirt. He didn¡¯t notice that he was actually afraid of his opponent. If he chose to not fight today, this person would be his nightmare. He would be unable to progress further in the domain realm.


    I must kill him! Killing intent formed in his heart. He had to kill him in order to progress further.


    Ling Lan felt the malicious intent from Miluo Duoba. It was getting stronger. She frowned and got vignt.


    She didn¡¯t know why her opponent wanted to kill her so badly but she was not afraid. The moment she decided to step on the path to be stronger, she never allowed herself to retreat.


    This was how stubborn Ling Lan was. Whether it was this life or her previous life, there was no stopping her once she decided to do something.


    The fighting spirit in Ling Lan grew stronger. She wanted to fight against this domain master too.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t really fight with Miluo Duoba in the tunnel but from their short exchange earlier on, she knew that Miluo Duoba was much stronger than the two domain masters she met on Kachi. This person might be her true match.


    Suddenly, the entire atrium went dark. There was a problem with electricity. Ling Lan immediately released her domain power and surrounded herself withyers of ice.


    Just as Little Four wanted to remind his boss about something, a hand grabbed him and pulled him into a whirlpool. He disappeared instantly.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you let me remind her?¡± Little Four screamed at Number Five in anger. Number Five was the person who pulled him back into the learning space.


    Number Five ignored Little Four. Little Four wanted to pounce on Number Five and bite him. He wished that he could bite the irritating and disgusting smile away on his face.


    Number Five couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and exined to Little Four in a serious tone, ¡°This is her own battle. We cannot help her.¡±


    After he finished talking, he looked at the image in front of him. It was a live broadcast of Ling Lan¡¯s battle. The other instructors were standing beside him. They were all concerned about her match.


    Little Four was puzzled. He wanted to ask for a clearer exnation. A big hand suddenly pressed his head. ¡°This is an opportunity for Ling Lan to improve herself. She must go through it herself. If not, it would be useless.¡±


    ¡°But, what if boss can¡¯t find her opponent?¡± Little Four looked at Number One with tears in his eyes. He knew that his boss couldn¡¯t see anything now.


    Number One didn¡¯t reply Little Four but Little Four knew the answer. Intelligent entities in the learning space were not allowed to help their master if they met any dangers in the real world. This was a rule. If the intelligent entities in the learning space broke this rule, the learning space would self-destruct. Their master¡¯s mind would be injured heavily in the process and she might even be brain dead. Intelligent entities like them would be destroyed too.


    If their master was killed in the real world, they would have to leave the mindscape of their current master and enter the mindscape of their next master.


    No, his boss can¡¯t die! Little Four clenched his fist. He shouted, ¡°Boss can definitely make it.¡±


    Yes, his boss never disappointed him. Little Four believed in Ling Lan.


    However, Little Four made a decision secretly. If his boss died, he would self-destruct. He only has one master and that is his boss¡ª¡ªLing Lan!


    The naive Little Four was fooled by the cunning instructors. He didn¡¯t know that the instructors had already helped Ling Lan. They would not allow Ling Lan to die.


    ¡°Is there no light?¡± Without any light, Ling Lan almost couldn¡¯t see her own fingers. Even though Ling Lan had good vision, she could only make out the outline of the chairs and sofas in the atrium. She couldn¡¯t see anything else.

 Chapter 649 - Injured?

    <h4>Chapter 649: Injured?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°The time now is 5 pm. Aoqi has 28 hours in a day. This means that the sky would only be so dark after 10 pm. There was no noise made just now. Hence, this darkness is not caused by the doors and windows closing. This shouldn¡¯t be happening at this time.¡± A cold gaze appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. ¡°There is only one possibility. This is my opponent¡¯s domain ability!¡±


    ¡°What kind of ability can allow him to remove all sources of light? Am I in an illusion?¡±


    Ling Lan remained calm. She thought through all the possibilities she could think of. When the lights went out, she protected herself with her ice element. She needed to be cautious as she didn¡¯t know what domain ability her opponent had. With the ice walls around her, she would be able to easily notice other elements if her opponent attacked her. The ice walls could act as her protective shield too.


    Undoubtedly, the decision that Ling Lan made might not be the best but it was the safest.


    Besides protecting herself, Ling Lan used her spiritual power to fill the atrium. In order to prevent her opponent from noticing her spiritual power, she only used a small portion of it. Very soon, the entire atrium was filled with her spiritual power.


    However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t find her target. Miluo Duoba seemed to have disappeared into thin air. There was no trace of him.


    ¡°As expected of the Hermit. When he is hiding, there is no evidence left behind. It is perfect.¡± Ling Lan finally understood how powerful domain masters with titles were. She even eximed secretly that the title fitted the domain master perfectly.


    Ling Lan also realized a weakness of her Profound Insight. When her vision was blocked, the Profound Insight would lose its power. She couldn¡¯t use it at this moment.


    ¡°Is it sealed? Such a pity.¡± Ling Lan felt depressed. She wanted to use her Profound Insight to find some clues. Seemed like she needed to think of another way.


    Suddenly, a cold light appeared in the darkness. A shiny dagger popped out.


    The dagger was very bright. It almost blinded Ling Lan.


    The dagger was fast too. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t keep up with it.


    Ling Lan watched as the dagger sliced through her ice walls as though it was slicing beancurd.


    The dagger was so fast, Ling Lan was unable to dodge it. It stabbed towards into her abdomen.


    Ling Lan narrowed her eyes. She grabbed the bright dagger quickly.


    The dagger broke in Ling Lan¡¯s hands. Ling Lan curled up her left hand like a w and aimed it furiously at the dagger.


    The dagger retreated quickly. It shed through the darkness and disappeared once again before Ling Lan caught it.


    ¡°Damn it. It ran away.¡± Ling Lan gritted her teeth. She took out the other half of the dagger which was in her abdomen. Blood flowed out of the wound and dripped onto the ground.


    Ling Lan became even more vignt. Her ice element got stronger and the ice walls became thicker. It was more than one meter thick now. If the Hermit wanted to sneak attack her again, he would be unable to break through the wall anymore.


    It was extremely quiet. Ling Lan could only hear her own breathing. She didn¡¯t know when her opponent would attack again. Her heart started beating faster.


    Very soon, Ling Lan realized something terrible. Her wound was unable to heal. Fresh blood kept oozing out of her wound. Ling Lan knew that there must be some agent applied on the dagger which prevented her wound from healing.


    Ling Lan realized the situation she was in. If she couldn¡¯t end this battle soon, she would die from bleeding.


    Ling Lan quickly used her ice blockade to freeze her wound. The blood seemed to have stopped. But, Ling Lan knew that her blood was still dripping out. She just made the wound smaller. Her opponent¡¯s agent was too powerful.


    However, this bought her more time. Ling Lan waited patiently for her opponent to act again. As long as she caught her opponent, her crisis would be over.


    The Hermit was more patient than she expected. He didn¡¯t attack her for a long time. More and more blood was flowing out of her wound. No matter how much ice blockade she used, it was useless.


    Ling Lan started to get agitated. Her breathing got heavier.


    At this moment, the bright dagger appeared again.


    ¡°Explode!¡± Ling Lan suddenly shouted. Her spiritual power exploded. This was the spiritual st of her spiritual power. After many practices, Ling Lan was able to explode her spiritual power at the same time. She didn¡¯t need to split it into four timings anymore. There was no bacsh now too.


    Ling Lan gave a new name for her spiritual st. It had a unique and beautiful name¡ª¡ªSky Full Of Stars!


    Sky Full Of Stars was extremely powerful. Ling Lan had released more than 50 cords of spiritual power. The explosion of these spiritual cords caused the entire atrium to shake...


    ¡°Boom!¡± The dark image in front of her shattered as though it was made of ss. Numerous ss shards appeared in her eyes. Light entered her vision again. It was not dark anymore. This was how bright 5 pm should be.


    Around 10 meters away, Miluo Duoba was standing with a pale face. Blood dripped down from the corner of his mouth. He didn¡¯t expect his domain to be destroyed so quickly. The bacsh from the destruction injured him.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± Miluo Duoba couldn¡¯t ept this result. As he cursed at Ling Lan, numerous arrows rained down on her.


    A three meters thick ice shield appeared in front of Ling Lan. The arrows struck the ice shield and bounced onto the ground. They were unable to break through the ice shield. Suddenly, an arrow on fire was shot at the ice shield. The fire on the arrow instantly melted the ice shield and a hole appeared. The fire arrow passed through the hole and struck Ling Lan.


    The fire arrow melted the ice really quickly. Ling Lan had no time to react.


    The fire arrow pierced through her abdomen. She felt something hot passing through her abdomen. The fire arrow pierced itself into the wall behind Ling Lan. The fire slowly died down. Ling Lan finally managed to see that it a ck arrow made from some unknown material.

 Chapter 650 - King Level!

    <h4>Chapter 650: King Level!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan lowered her head and looked at the hole in her body. Blood gushed out of her wound. She couldn¡¯t help but frown.


    Miluo Duoba smiled. ¡°Judging from your injury, you will die within three minutes.¡±


    Although he couldn¡¯t see the expression under the mask, Miluo Duoba could feel his opponent¡¯s heart beating furiously. His opponent¡¯s breath also got heavier. Miluo Duoba knew that this was due to the fear of death. His opponent would definitely attack him soon.


    Miluo Duoba gave a sinister smile. He disappeared.


    Ling Lan immediately activated her ice element. The entire atrium turned into an icy hell. Everything was covered in ice. But, Miluo Duoba was nowhere to be seen.


    ¡°I still didn¡¯t manage to catch him. Damn it,¡± Ling Lan gritted her teeth as she said that. She held her stomach and formed anotheryer of ice over her wound. However, her injury was too severe. The ice was melted by the warm blood.


    Ling Lan tried her best but her energy was being drained too quickly. A few secondster, she was unable to form any ice on her wound. She panted heavily.


    ¡°This is my chance!¡± Miluo Duoba¡¯s eyes lit up.


    A pair of hands appeared behind Ling Lan. It stabbed right into Ling Lan¡¯s heart.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t notice it. Miluo Duoba managed to seed in his attack easily.


    Miluo Duoba smiled coldly as he clenched his fist. The heart that he was holding burst. Another formidable enemy died in his hands. A normal domain realm master was not his match at all. Miluo Duoba felt that it was a pity. He was enjoying this match but it ended so quickly.


    ¡°Crack.¡± The masked man in front of him suddenly cracked into multiple pieces.


    Miluo Duoba got a shock. He felt a sense of danger. He quickly retreated without any hesitation but it was still toote.


    A forceful punch hit his abdomen. He vomited a mouthful of blood, his organs almost flew out in the process. He was in so much pain...


    At that moment, the atrium which was covered in ice, the arrows scattered around the floor, and the ck arrow on the wall, all broke into pieces and disappeared into thin air.


    However, his opponent didn¡¯t stop attacking. Miluo Duoba couldn¡¯t retaliate at all. He was forced into mid-air and got kicked by a whirlwind kick. Miluo Duoba flew through the air and mmed onto the ground. The impact caused him to roll on the ground for a few meters.


    Miluo Duobaid on the ground and forced his eyes opened. He looked at the masked man whonded lightly on the ground. The masked man ced his hands behind his back and walked towards him.


    ¡°How did this happen?¡± Miluo Duoba asked while his mouth was filled with blood.


    ¡°When I broke your darkness domain, I knew what your element was,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently. The blood on her body had disappeared. There was no wound on her. She seemed clean and tidy, as though she never had a fight.


    ¡°No, impossible.¡± Miluo Duoba didn¡¯t believe that his element would be found out by his opponent. Everyone who had fought with him got stuck by his element and died in his hands.


    ¡°Many people believed in what they see. They thought that what they see is the truth. However, I believe in my brain and my skills. No one can break through my element skills easily and harmed me without any warning. Of course, if my opponent is a God-Realm master, that is possible. However, you are not. Anything that seems too much must be fake. You went overboard with your illusion,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡°Overboard?¡± Miluo Duoba was puzzled. He used this method to kill many people. How did it be his weakness?


    ¡°If you fought with me and injured me due to a loophole in my defense, I might not be able to get out of your illusion so quickly. Ultimately, I have to thank you for creating that sharp dagger,¡± Ling Lan said sincerely.


    In the beginning, she was indeed fooled by the illusion. She didn¡¯t expect it to be fake. However, the dagger appeared too strangely. She was unable to block it with her ice walls. This caused Ling Lan to ponder again. Even if her opponent was stronger than her, they were still in the same realm. She would still be able to defend herself for a while.


    Not only that, but her injury also gave her opponent away. Ling Lan would not tell Miluo Duoba this.


    Ling Lan was able to bear with the pain. In her past life, she endured more than 20 years of pain in her body. During this lifetime, she forced herself to be stronger and suffered much during the process. Normal injuries would not cause her to feel any pain at all. However, when she got hurt, she felt excruciating pain. It was so clear that it seemed to be reminding her that she was injured.


    Strange attacks and unnatural amounts of pain. This caused Ling Lan to be suspicious. She wondered if this was all real. She thought about an illusion and linked it to Miluo Duoba¡¯s element. Was his ability creating illusion?


    To prove this, Ling Lan decisively released her spiritual power. When her spiritual st destroyed the first dark illusion, Ling Lan confirmed her suspicion. However, she didn¡¯t think that this was the end of his illusion.


    That was why she started to question everything that was happening to her. When she got hit by the arrow, she didn¡¯t believe what she saw anymore.


    The fear that Miluo Duoba saw was part of Ling Lan¡¯s scheme. She purposely showed it to fool him.


    Since her opponent wanted to keep her in an illusion, she decided to use the same method to fool her opponent.


    Hence, when Miluo Duoba thought that he killed Ling Lan and was happy about it, Ling Lan retaliated. She made use of the opportunity to injure her opponent heavily.


    Miluo Duoba was an experienced domain realm warrior so he understood what Ling Lan was trying to say. He smiled bitterly. ¡°So that¡¯s what happened. I overestimated myself.¡±


    He suddenly refuted himself. ¡°No, I didn¡¯t overestimate myself. You are the one who is too confident.¡± If not, how could he kill so many ordinary domain masters and get his title?


    ¡°If you want to be a formidable warrior, you need to believe in yourself.¡± Ling Lan looked at Miluo Duoba calmly. She saw the blood at the corner of his mouth turning into ice. The ice slowly moved into his mouth...


    Miluo Duoba felt the coldness near his mouth. He looked at Ling Lan with fear. He screamed frighteningly, ¡°No...¡±


    Before he could finish, he stopped. Miluo Duoba had already turned into an ice sculpture. The fear on his face made him looked as though he was still alive.


    Ling Lan heaved a sigh of relief. She talked so much with her opponent because she wanted to secretly use her ice blockade. Ling Lan was still fearful of Miluo Duoba¡¯s illusion. His illusion was too real. It was hard to differentiate reality from illusion. Before she killed him, she was unable to let her guard down.


    ¡°Little Four, did you alter all the surveince footage?¡± Ling Lan asked in a low voice. Ling Lan was tired. Although the amount of domain energy she used couldn¡¯tpare to the previous two battles with domain masters, she used much brainpower as well as spiritual power to analyze the illusion.


    If she could, she wanted to have a good sleep immediately and rest her brain and spiritual power. Sky Full Of Stars would not harm Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power but it used up much of her spiritual power. This was why she was unable to use it a second time to destroy the second illusion.


    ¡°Boss, everything is done.¡± Little Four appeared in front of Ling Lan and smiled.


    Ling Lan felt that Little Four seemed happier than before. He was looking at her with excitement. Ling Lan felt strange but she was too tired to think about the reason. She nodded.


    Ling Lan snapped her fingers and Miluo Duoba turned into fine dust. No traces were left behind. Unless someone with a powerful searching ability came within two hours, no evidence could be found. Once two hours passed, the ice would merge with the air.


    The next second, Ling Lan disappeared from the atrium. Ten minutester, armed forces surrounded the atrium. But, they were unable to find anything there. They wondered if the two domain masters changed their location.


    Later, this thought was confirmed through the surveince images. In the images, after Luo¡¯er was taken away, Miluo Duoba and the masked man started fighting. A few roundster, the masked man was at a disadvantage and ran away. Miluo Duoba chased after the masked man.


    Since they knew that the two domain masters went somewhere else, the government of Aoqi started searching throughout the city. Yet, no signs of Miluo Duoba or the masked man could be found. Even the princess and her subordinates had disappeared. Aoqi finally realized that this might be an act of the ace hacker from the Yun family.


    They remembered the auction and felt that from the start, all the images they saw might be fake. Aoqi started sending people to search through the atrium. Only Miluo Duoba¡¯s element could be felt. The masked man didn¡¯t leave any traces behind.


    Who was the masked man? Aoqi felt that it was a domain realm master from the Federation but since they had no evidence, they didn¡¯t know who it was.


    Miluo Duoba¡¯s disappearance caused the people from Aoqi¡¯s side to feel agitated. They waited patiently for a day but he still didn¡¯te back. The people from Aoqi felt that he was probably met with some danger. However, he would not just be killed like this. After all, he was a domain master with a title. Even someone who was at the same level as him could not make him disappear without a trace. Did the Federation send out domain masters who had reached the king level of the domain realm?


    The people of Aoqi was scared by this thought. King level domain masters were people who were a step into the God-Realm. There were only two God-Realm masters in this world currently.


    One was Mu Shui-qing from the Federation and the other was Wadi Futesi from Caesar.


    In the past ten thousand years, only 11 people managed to reach the God-Realm. It was even harder than bing a god-ss operator. In order to break through the boundaries of a human physique and change the human DNA, they needed to experience death. God-Realm masters were people who managed to be reborn after death. Most people just died when they reached that state and never reaching the God-Realm.


    To have two God-Realm masters in this era, it showed how powerful this generation was.


    Since God-Realm was almost impossible to reach, king level domain masters became a frightening existence. However, it was hard to reach this level too. There were only nine king level domain masters in the human world.


    Three came from the Federation. The Federation had the most king level domain masters. Caesar had two. King level domain masters normally stayed within their country just like imperial operators. Was the princess so important that the Federation sent out a king level domain master?


    However, this suggestion was rejected after a while. The three king level domain masters were still within the Federation. They didn¡¯te out.


    The people from Aoqi wanted to find out the truth but nothing was discovered even after one day of searching. The Feiyang Ship left Aoqi during this time. Aoqi wanted to force the Feiyang Ship to stay but a message from the Federation stopped them. Unless they wanted to cut all ties with the Federation, they didn¡¯t dare to make any more moves.


    The Feiyang Ship left Aoqi on time. Ling Lan looked at the yellow colored on the screen. There were moving further and further away from it. She looked serious.


    ¡°Boss, what is the matter?¡± Qi Long appeared oblivious at times but he noticed what he should notice.


    ¡°There will be a huge battle soon,¡± Ling Lan said evenly.


    ¡°Oh...¡± Qi Long didn¡¯t feel excited. Qi Long liked to fight but he was tired of close-rangebat.


    ¡°It will be a mecha battle,¡± Ling Lan continued.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Everyone jumped up and looked at Ling Lan.

 Chapter 651 - Intergalactic Space Pirates!

    <h4>Chapter 651: Intergctic Space Pirates!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Aoqi will definitely send their forces to hunt us down.¡± Li Lanfeng who sat on the couch suddenly said.


    Everyone focused on Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng calmly continued,  Aoqi lost their top tier domain master because they wanted to assassinate the princess. They know that their target is boarding Feiyang and would of course not give up on the assassination.


    ¡°Also, Aoqi had already thought of taking down Feiyang, but they didn¡¯t have any good reasons to attack Feiyang. In the end, after receiving a threat from the Federation, they couldn¡¯t help but to let Feiyang leave on time. However, even though the situation yed out like this, Aoqi¡¯s government would not give up that easily...¡±


    ¡°Since they can¡¯t attack out in the open, they will definitely attack from the shadows.¡± Li Lanfeng raised his head and turned towards Ling Lan. He then continued slowly, ¡°There are many ways they can attack us from the shadows and not let anyone discover their involvement. For them to be not connected to this incident would of course involve intergctic space pirates.¡±


    Intergctic space pirates were mostlyprised of criminals and psychopaths that were wanted by all countries. However, some of these pirates were actually secret army forces the governments had secretly created. Some of these pirates were even soldiers in disguise. Even the Federation had a group of intergctic space pirates that served as their clean-up crew to take out powers or individuals the Federation could not get rid of publicly.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words made the others nod in agreement. Ling Lan continued the discussion, ¡°Lanfeng¡¯s right. During the rest of our trip, we will be attacked by at least one group of intergctic pirates. Actually, from the beginning of the mission, I had already guessed that we would definitely meet up with some intergctic space pirates during this mission.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Only Li Yingjie was curious why Boss Lan had this thought right from the beginning.


    Hearing his question, Li Lanfeng frowned and decisively decided to ignore Li Yingjie. If the family head of the Li family was going to be Li Yingjie, Li Lanfeng believed that the Li family¡¯s golden throne will definitely be forcefully overthrown by another elite family.


    Compared to Li Lanfeng¡¯s disgust towards Li Yingjie, Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about the thought process of Li Yingjie. After so many years, Ling Lan already knew Li Yingjie was the idiot son of the Li family. Additionally there was Li Shiyu, who only focused on his research and didn¡¯t care about the wealth and power of the Li family. Inside a super elite family like this with different factions going against one another, two simple minded and stubborn sessors were born. Ling Lan was very interested in how the Li family had raised people like them. It should be known that this feat was even harder than raising someone who squandered their wealth.


    Ling Lan replied with great patience, ¡°Compared to other means of assassination, using intergctic space pirates is the most effective and easiest way. And it is also the most covert way. You won¡¯t be able to determine whether the pirates¡¯ intention was just the princess or just robbery... Even if Feiyang bes space debris because of an incident like this, the Federation wouldn¡¯t be able to find any evidence.The Federation will only be able to acknowledge the reality presented before them. Who knew Feiyang would be this unlucky and encounter intergctic space pirates?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s insane.¡± Li Yingjie finally understood and his expression changed instantly.


    ¡°Politics have always been dark.¡± Gulibaduo was only a 20 year old young woman, yet she had be a chess piece for different parties for them to take what each of them wanted. In reality, her life was not in her own hands. In the end, her life would depend on which powers seeded in achieving their own ns.


    After thinking until this point, Ling Lan¡¯s expression became cold as ice. If she had returned to being Ling Xiao¡¯s daughter, would she also be an existence like Gulibaduo and be a chess piece used by others to attack or win Ling Xiao over?


    Ling Lan¡¯s mood instantly turned for the worse. Her cold aura seeped out for a second and was then immediately taken back. Although the change was instantaneous, the five around her all clearly felt the aura.


    ¡°Boss, did something happen?¡± Although the five of them all seemed calm on the outside, the muscles hiding under their attire had already tightened up. As long as there was anything that seemed off with the surroundings, they would instantaneously attack it.


    Ling Lan shook her head and her aura became calm and mild. She changed the topic and said, ¡°When you guys boarded the ship, did Mu Youyun and the others contact you guys?¡±


    ¡°No. Ever since we returned to the ship on the third day, they didn¡¯t contact us,¡± replied Zhao Jun. After Mu Youyun¡¯s team had escorted the princess to Feiyang, they silently left and didn¡¯t expose themselves. Zhao Jun knew that Captain Mu Youyun clearly knew who had attacked them.


    Ling Lan nodded lightly. Senior Colonel Mu Youyun was definitely an experienced battle team leader. He knew to hide Ling Lan¡¯s group¡¯s existence.


    ¡°All in all, as they didn¡¯t contact us, we will go with what we had previously arranged.¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to have too much contact with Mu Youyun¡¯s group. They were after all the royal guards for the princess on the outside and was the focus of attention for the enemies. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want her group to be exposed if Mu Youyun¡¯s group became exposed. That way, her group wouldn¡¯t be in danger.


    Ling Lan did indeed want toplete this escort mission. However, if this mission caused her or her teammates to give up their lives... Ling Lan would rather fail the mission. In her eyes, brothers-in-arms andrades were more important than the mission.


    After receiving Ling Lan¡¯s orders, Qi Long and the others continued to live their life as a simple intergctic tourist. Although Ling Lan said that intergctic space pirates would attack Feiyang, the week after the discussion, nothing had happened. It was peaceful for the entire week. This peacefulness made Mu Youyun and others believe that Aoqi wanting to assassinate the princess was only just a dream they were having.


    Of course, they only just thought about it. Four star battle team wereprised of all experienced and capable veterans. They knew that the more peaceful it was, the more likely a huge crisis was about toe. Even those around them, the three teams who were disguised as the intergctic adventure group and the intergctic smuggling group, were bing increasingly worried.


    Unfortunately, in the time they all had their guard up, another three days passed by peacefully. There were only two hours left until they would enter Bya¡¯sary sector. Mu Youyun and the others couldn¡¯t help but think that Aoqi was worried about their top level domain expert, thus they had given up on assassinating Princess Gulibaduo.


    At this time, Ling Lan¡¯s group were in their room. Ling Lan was ying chess with Li Lanfeng. Qi Long and Zhao Jun¡¯s mood was very tense, but they still could control themselves. Li Yingjie was all jittery and kept looking at the time on hismunicator as though he was in a hurry.


    ¡°Li Yingjie, stop looking at it. There are still lots of time.¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t even raise his head and reminded Li Yingjie.


    ¡°Why? Didn¡¯t the Boss say that those intergctic space pirates would appear in thest two hours?¡± The reason why Li Yingjie was so excited was all because it had already reached the time Ling Lan had predicted that the ship would be attacked.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s why there are still two hours left,¡± replied Li Lanfeng calmly.


    ¡°You¡¯re saying until the very end?¡± Li Yingjie asked confusedly.


    ¡°Yes. The time for them to make a move would be when everyone lets their guard down.¡± Li Lanfeng ced a ck chess piece decisively into Ling Lan¡¯s territory. Although that one piece was surrounded, this part of Ling Lan¡¯s territory was in disarray. There was enough space for Li Lanfeng¡¯s piece and it had a chance to do something.


    ¡°But, we would have reached Bya¡¯sary sector by then. Will they not be afraid that they would be surrounded by Bya¡¯s warships?¡± Li Yingjie asked in confusion. Princess Gulibaduo was aboard Feiyang. When Bya gets word that Feiyang was under attacked, they would definitely send a warship fleet toe to Feiyang¡¯s aid.


    ¡°No, the outer ring of Bya¡¯s sector isn¡¯t within the realary sector of Bya. In fact, the sectors between each country are a no man¡¯snd area. This area could not be determined to be under any country. Thus, these sectors were named fuzzy sectors. If a country¡¯s military forces wanted to enter these sectors, there wouldn¡¯t be any problems if bordering countries had no disagreement with the idea. However, if one country disagreed, ording to thews of the Intergctic Human Rights Committee, this issue will be settled in the Intergctic Supreme Court. Only if the country sending military forces into the sector received the court order for them to pass through, then they would then be able to enter the chosen sector.¡± Ling Lan exined iny-man¡¯s terms.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t the scout academy teach us this?¡± Lin Zhong-qing suddenly raised his head and asked.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s words pierced Li Yingjie¡¯s heart. His heart almost jumped out of his nostrils. Yet he still snorted coldly as if he didn¡¯t care about what Lin Zhong-qing had said, ¡°Back then I was working hard to train my physical skills. Who listens to those lectures...¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡± Lin Zhong-qing said indifferently. He put his head down once again to organize his luggage. As the logistics personnel, he had to know what items they had at their disposal.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s indifference made Li Yingjie feel even more awkward. Wasn¡¯t Lin Zhong-qingpletely shunning him? However, Li Yingjie actually hated those theory lectures.


    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t rely on Bya¡¯s reinforcements. It¡¯s better to depend on ourselves rather than others...¡±


    After Ling Lan spoke, she picked up another white chess piece and put it down right beside Li Lanfeng¡¯s ck piece. Since her opponent wanted to y randomly, she was going to y randomly as well.


    ¡°The group of intergctic space pirates will probably not be toorge if they want to sneak into Bya¡¯s bordering sector without being discovered.¡± Li Lanfeng stood up, ¡°With the threat of Bya¡¯s military, they wouldn¡¯t send arge intergctic pirate force. If they were discovered on their way to the sector and were to be discovered by other patrolling starship fleets from other countries, they would suffer unnecessary losses.¡±


    ¡°Then how big is the intergctic space pirate group going to be?¡± Zhao Jun asked. He was very trusting of Li Lanfeng¡¯s predictions.


    ¡°There will probably be three starships,¡± Li Lanfeng said without hesitation. One ship as the g ship and two fully equipped vanguard ships. Small fleet such as these ones could move about without being detected, especially the two smaller vanguard ships. These ships were very fast, mobile and was the best type of ship to attack and board other starships. Vanguard ships were also called swarm starships. If a g ship brought enough vanguard ships, they would be able to use the swarm surround tactic. Even thergest starship fleets would take a u-turn after seeing the swarm-like vanguard ships. If those fleets were unlucky, it was possible that they would be destroyed by being surrounded by the swarm-like vanguard ships.


    Of course, the vanguard ships had their weaknesses. These ships were most afraid of mechas. Although vanguard ships were agile and moved quickly, they still couldn¡¯tpare to the speed and mobility of mechas. Once the number of mechas bes more than what they could handle and surrounds them, the oue of these vanguard ships wouldn¡¯t be too good. Thus, if these ships saw an intergctic carrier, these vanguard ships would not dare to attack them.


    It was simr to a bigger fish eating a smaller fish, and a smaller fish eating krills. It was just that in gctic warfare, it was the exact opposite. Vanguard ships were afraid of encountering mechas because mechas were much smaller. Mechas may not be able to do too much damage torge starships, but they would be able to damage vanguard ships. Once the number of mechas passed the amount vanguards ships they could defend against, these mechas would then be able topletely destroy the vanguard ships.


    However, mechas werepletely ineffective against huge starships. Mechas didn¡¯t have strong weaponry and artillery, and cold weapons were notrge enough to do any significant damage. It was impossible for mechas to do any damage torge starships. Even if it was to create a hole on the starship, it was possible that the weapons on a mecha wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything. However, something that waspletely impossible for mechas, was not necessarily impossible for vanguard ships. Although vanguard ships were small in size, the power of their artillery was iparable to the ones on mechas. If there was enough vanguard ships and their main cannons attacked continuously,rge starships wouldn¡¯t be able to defend against such attacks. This was why the swarm surround tactic was used widely in many intergctic battles.


    Althoughrge starships could not defend against the swarm surround tactic, they were considered the best weapons against the slow motherships. Motherships were afraid ofrge starships the most. Even if a mothership sent out all the mechas it contained, it wouldn¡¯t be enough to go againstrge starships...


    Thus, in an intergctic fleet, there would always be more than one type of starship. If the different types of starships were mixed together, the fleet would not have any obvious ws in its defense and offense.


    Of course, the theory mentioned above only applied to the levels under ace mechas. If there were enough ace mechas, this theory would be questioned. This was also why ace mechas were the kings of the battlefield. Not to mention mechas above the ace-level... Those mechas were not allowed to appear in battlefields.


    Vanguard ships were the best choice for going against arge cruise starship like Feiyang. If the intergctic space pirates really wanted to hijack the cruise ship, there wouldn¡¯t be only just a small group. However, one starship¡¯s strength was insignificant. If two more starships joined in on the attack, Feiyang would be in trouble. Thus, Li Lanfeng determined that the enemy would send one gship and two vanguard ships.


    Ling Lan nodded in agreement, ¡°It¡¯s probably as you say.¡±


    ¡°Boss, do you think they will have ace mechas?¡± Li Yingjie said excitedly. Ever since he advanced to ace-level, he onlypeted with allies or trained withrades. This was the first time he was going to fight for real. Li Yingjie felt his heart beat faster and faster.


    ¡°Definitely, 100%.¡± Ling Lan stood up. Everyone also stood up in unnned unison. This was the powerful presence of a captain.


    ¡°Are we getting ready?¡± Qi Long began to pump his fists.


    Ling Lan looked at the time on hermunicator and calmly said, ¡°If my guess is correct, the intergctic pirates will be here right now.¡±


    After she finished speaking, they heard Feiyang¡¯s rm go off.


    ¡°Attention all passengers. Attention all passengers. We have encountered intergctic pirates¡±


    ¡°Once again, a reminder to everyone, the battle willmence immediately. All passengers please remain calm and do not panic. Passengers who are still the recreation areas please immediately return to your rooms...¡±


    ¡°Boss, could it be that you jinxed it?¡± Li Yingjie looked at Ling Lan with an odd look as Ling Lan left the room first. He didn¡¯t think that right after Ling Lan said that pirates were going toe, the pirates actually came...


    ¡°Bam!¡± His head was pped by Lin Zhong-qing, ¡°What nonsense are you spouting? This is called a premonition.¡±


    Seeing Lin Zhong-qing, who pped his head, following behind Ling Lan, Li Yingjie grimaced as he rubbed his head. He murmured, ¡°I knew that I wouldn¡¯t get any status or benefits after joining Lingtian. Even the punk that I had bullied before is now bullying me...¡±

 Chapter 652 - Pleasing to the Eyes!

    <h4>Chapter 652: Pleasing to the Eyes!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you following if you have time spouting pointless nonsense?¡± Li Lanfeng said coldly as he stood behind him.


    Right as Li Yingjie was about tosh out at Li Lanfeng, he turned around and saw the cold and deadly re from Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes. Li Yingjie couldn¡¯t help but shudder and quickly ran up to Lin Zhong-qing.


    Wuwuwu, Li Lanfeng definitely stayed with Boss Lan for too long. That was why he was affected by Boss Lan¡¯s terrifying aura. Otherwise, how could Li Yingjie be scared of someone who was not from the main family like Li Lanfeng.


    Although Li Yingjie was impulsive and arrogant, his instincts were very keen. He knew his limits and knew who he could anger and who he couldn¡¯t. That was why he decisively gave up on being Ling Lan and Qi Long¡¯s enemy... That was why he was so pompous and arrogant for all 10 years at the Central Scout Academy and was not rivaled by anyone. That was also why he stopped being so pompous after entering the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and peacefully living out the rest of his time there as a student.


    Just now, Li Yingjie felt that if he hadshed out at Li Lanfeng, Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression showed that he was actually going to kill him...


    Seeing Li Yingjie leave, Li Lanfeng closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes once again, the coldness hadpletely disappeared and only warmth poured out from his eyes. Heughed without making a sound, rubbed his eyes and reminded himself softly, ¡°Oh Li Lanfeng, Li Lanfeng, your patience seems to have thinned recently. You actually exposed your real thoughts to that idiot. That¡¯s not good...¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? You dislike Li Yingjie?¡± Zhao Jun asked softly from behind.


    Lanfeng smiled and said, ¡°No, not really, only a bit jealous. The stuff that we worked so hard to obtain, he was able to it get without lifting a finger. Even the captain is patient with him and tolerates his behaviour...¡±


    Zhao Jun thought that Li Lanfeng was talking about how Li Yingjie was the third generation descendant to inherit the Li family. He nodded and said, ¡°That¡¯s true. Some people are just born lucky... However, I think the reason our captain tolerates Li Yingjie is because he never actually considered Li Yingjie as one of us. That¡¯s why he doesn¡¯t really care.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t he one of us?¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression fixed to the ground as though he was thinking deeply about something.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, otherwise the Boss is going to be angry.¡± Zhao Jun reminded.


    ¡°Okay. We joined in halfway and can¡¯t let Qi Long and the others leave us in the dust,¡± replied Li Lanfeng.


    Zhao Jun didn¡¯t say anything followed the others with Li Lanfeng. Zhao Jun knew thatpared to Qi Long, they were still viewed differently. If time cannotpensate for the difference, then they can only use their hard work to receive more of Ling Lan¡¯s trust.


    The staff members of Feiyang had already appeared at every corner of the corridors. They were leading the passengers from the recreational areas to their own rooms. After a while, everyone obediently returned to their rooms. Although the staff members didn¡¯t seem to be carrying any weapons on them, it was still clear that there were beam guns hidden under their clothes along with some daggers hidden in the side pockets of their pants. Once the staff members found any enemies hidden on the ship who were trying to create chaos, these staff members would mercilessly kill them in cold blood.


    Additionally, it was also crucial that the enemies did not break them down from the inside. Feiyang¡¯s captain to the service members all knew that once the intergctic space pirates took control of Feiyang, it would be definite death for all crew members. In order for the enemies to not leave any evidence of their attack, everyone on Feiyang must die.


    Of course, not every passengers followed the directions to return to their rooms. Some people who were capable had remained in the atrium and prepared to help Feiyang fight this battle to defend the ship.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t go to the atrium. She led her team members into a corridor and arrived at the ship¡¯s emergency stairs.


    Two tall and muscr staff members stood at the entrance of the staircase. Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s group arrive, the two staff members decisively pulled out their beam guns and pointed it towards Ling Lan¡¯s group, ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡±


    Ling Lan and the others instantly stopped in their tracks.


    ¡°Who are you people? If you¡¯re passengers, please immediately return to your rooms,¡± said one of the staff members.


    Ling Lan nced at them and put out her right hand. A thin, card like piece of paper appeared between her fingers.


    ¡°Toss that card over here.¡± Suddenly a deep voice echoed from the back of the two staff members.


    Ling Lan flicked her fingers and the card instantly shot behind the two staff members.


    A huge hand suddenly appeared and grabbed that small card. That was when a 40 to 50 year-old man appeared. The killing intent pouring out of his body showed that he was not be messed with.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think you guys are actually on the mission.¡± After confirming the card, the man looked at Ling Lan¡¯s group and their innocent expressions. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh and at the same time toss the card back to Ling Lan.


    ¡°It seems that others had gone past here before us,¡± said Ling Lan rhetorically.


    ¡°Indeed. You guys are the fourth group.¡± The manughed, ¡°You¡¯re new recruits right? A bitcking in experience.¡±


    Ling Lan only smiled and didn¡¯t answer. Could she actually say that she purposefully dragged out the time and came herete? Their appearances were too innocent and young-looking. If her group was actually the first ones to meet up with Feiyang¡¯s crew, it was possible that the crew would not trust them as the people on the mission. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to waste time and effort exining something like this. And now, with a few groups ahead of them, the staff members wouldn¡¯t be as cautious as they were before.


    Knowing that Ling Lan¡¯s group was on the mission, the staff members did not block their path anymore. Ling Lan¡¯s group went all the way down the stairs to the first floor. When they passed the second floor, Ling Lan also discovered that there were guards in the corridors. After looking at Ling Lan¡¯s card, the staff members let them pass.


    The first floor was divided into tworge parts. One part was the rest area for the staff members of Feiyang. There were no passengers in that area and now not even a single staff member appeared in that area. It was probably because all of them had moved out to defend the ship.


    The other area was the mechanical area. There was the ship¡¯s engine room, control room, captain¡¯s quarters, etc. It was the most important part of the cruise ship.


    Ling Lan¡¯s group of six reached the entrance of the mechanical area. However, it wasn¡¯t the same as what they had previously thought. There were many staff members defending it and there was only one door. However, the six of them knew that this door was not a simple door. It was possible that even an explosive as strong as TNT wouldn¡¯t be able to destroy it.


    Ling Lan walked to the door. She took out the card and scanned it at the scanner beside the door. After a clicking sound, the door opened automatically.


    After the door opened, there were four armed individuals, all wearing protective vests with military grade beam guns in their hands. The four of them saw Ling Lan¡¯s group of six entering and they had already pointed their beam guns towards Ling Lan¡¯s group. If Ling Lan made any sudden movements, the four of them would mercilessly pull down on their trigger and shoot them.


    Right then, Ling Lan calmly waved the card in her hand and calmly said, ¡°23rd Division; Four-star battle team Lingtian; Ling Lan; Rank: Senior Captain.¡±


    Hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words, the four guards rxed a bit. These four already had experience after having already greeted by three allied groups beforehand. After taking Ling Lan¡¯s card and confirming their identities, the four guards opened the door behind them.


    Ling Lan¡¯s group of six walked in and another huge door appeared in front of them. There was actually quite a lot of doors in order to protect the most important part of the cruise ship. At that moment, the door behind them closed automatically. Ling Lan didn¡¯t panic. They had already gone through real life starship training and knew the standard procedures.


    As expected, after the door behind them shut firmly, the door in front of them opened. The six of them felt that the gravity on their bodies had changed. Their bodies became much lighter.


    Ling Lan hopped just a little bit and her entire body floated forward towards the direction of therge door.


    After six of them passed therge door, the door closed firmly once again. Inside the door, an automatic conveyor belt appeared. Ling Lan grabbed onto the handrail on the side of the corridor and was automatically taken forwards.


    Not long after, they had arrived at the cargo hold. It was actually where the starship kept mechas. After the doors of the cargo hold opened, the cargo hold could be seen. Staff members were busy arranging the positions of the mechas. The mechas in the cargo hold had already decreased. It seemed that during the time Ling Lan¡¯s group hurried to this location, many mechas had already left to fight the intergctic space pirates.


    Of course, there were still many mecha operators patiently sitting in their mechas and were waiting for the orders from the staff members. That was because the starship was modified into a cruise ship. The 24 ports used for ejecting mechas out of the starship only had eight that could be used. This caused the speed of which the mechas left to fight to be slower than normal.


    One staff member looked at the optical supeputer in his hands with sweat dripping down his face. When the optical supeputer finished performing the checks for everything, the staff member immediately pulled out the cord connected to the mecha and shouted into his microphone, ¡°B17, the check isplete. Please prepare to join the fight.¡±


    Right as the staff member finished, the mecha operator in mecha B17 heard the clear voice of the starship¡¯s holding area JMC, ¡°Attention B17. Attention B17. You have been arranged to be ejected at port number four. Please get ready to join the fight.¡±


    Under the clear and crisp voice of the JMC, mecha B17, that was originally securely locked in its holding area, instantly unlocked from its ce. The mechanism below the mecha automatically moved B17 to port number four.


    The mecha operator of mecha B17 took a deep breath and pushed down a button to connect himself to the JMC at port number four, ¡°B17 ready to take off! Request to join the fight!¡±


    ¡°After doing the final checks, B17¡¯s movements are normal, oxygen systems are normal, weapons and equipment are all standard. No issues with the final checks. Take off permission granted!¡± The JMC who was responsible for port number four made the final checks. After finding no issues, the JMC granted the request for take off.


    After the JMC finished, the entire port along with the screen in the mecha began the countdown.


    ¡°3, 2, 1... Take off!¡±


    ¡°Whoosh!¡±


    A loud take off sound rang throughout the hold. The port ejected the mecha into space. An intense intergctic mecha battle was about to begin.


    ¡°Boss, where¡¯s our mechas?¡± Qi Long said passionately. He couldn¡¯t wait and wanted to immediately jump into his mecha and fight with the intergctic pirates outside.


    At that moment, the staff member who had just checked a mecha saw the six of them. He immediately shouted, ¡°Are you mecha operators?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Ling Lan nodded.


    Although the holding area was very noisy, the staff member still clearly heard Ling Lan¡¯s reply. Her voice seemed to ring right beside his ears, but the staff member didn¡¯t notice this detail since he was too busy. After knowing the six of them were mecha operators, he couldn¡¯t help but angrily point to his right and shouted, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be going to the changing room to change into your operating gears? Are you guys nning on operating mechas just like that?¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t dare to say anymore. Since they were in the staff member¡¯s territory, they should just follow his arrangements. Thus, she led Qi Long and the others towards the ce the staff member had pointed towards.


    After entering the changing room, the six of them saw that 1st Division¡¯s Senior Colonel Meng, Meng Shangyuan, along with his team members from the Iron Curtain Battle Team had already finished changing and was about to leave the room.


    ¡°Senior Captain Ling. You guys are pretty quick.¡± Senior Colonel Meng Shangyuan saw Ling Lan and nodded towards her.


    ¡°Senior Colonel Meng¡¯s reaction time is much faster. We are still a bitte and should learn from Elder Brothers like you,¡± Ling Lan replied earnestly.


    Hearing her reply, Senior Colonel Meng had a huge smile on his face and said, ¡°Sure. We¡¯re leaving first. We¡¯ll contact each other in the future.¡± After saying that, Meng Shangyuan waved his hand and lead his team members out of the changing room.


    ¡°It seems that they were at the auction that day as well.¡± After walking out just a few steps away from the changing room, he suddenly remembered this detail.


    The only reason Mu Youyun and Qian Jialin were able to return with their lives from the auction was because they were saved by a domain expert and hisrades. Meng Shangyuan had his own way of acquiring information and knew the truth that was covered up.


    When Meng Shangyuan¡¯s group entered the changing room, they encountered Qian Jialin and Mu Youyun¡¯s groups leaving the room. Meng Shangyuan had tried to get some information from the two of them, but unfortunately their mouths were tightly sealed and wouldn¡¯t give out any hints. However, Meng Shangyuan still managed to confirm one thing from the calm yet stiff expressions on the two captains¡¯ faces. The confirmation was that the domain expert was definitely part of the Federation and was someone that they knew. It was just that they didn¡¯t dare to believe the facts and imagine who it might have been...


    Who was it that could make those two sly foxes show an expression like that? The young and naive faces of Ling Lan¡¯s group appeared inside Meng Shangyuan¡¯s mind. He suddenly had a thought that it was possible that it was Ling Lan¡¯s group who were also at the auction.


    Meng Shangyuan couldn¡¯t help butugh at his ludicrous imagination. He shook his head and put the thought into the back of his mind. At that moment, Meng Shangyuan didn¡¯t know that his ludicrous imagination was actually the truth.


    However, Meng Shangyuan shouldn¡¯t be med for not believing his imagination. In reality, anyone who didn¡¯t know the truth of the situation wouldn¡¯t connect a domain expert to Ling Lan. That was because Ling Lan was too young and was not recorded in the records of the Federation (The records of Federation had once again fooled someone).


    Actually, Meng Shangyuan paid a lot of attention towards Ling Lan and felt good about him in general. In Meng Shangyuan¡¯s eyes, Ling Lan had the passion and hope of an over-achieving hot-blooded youngster. That was what Meng Shangyuan believed to be why Ling Lan had taken the heavy responsibility of being a captain of a four-star battle team.


    Meng Shangyuan didn¡¯t know that Lingtian Battle Team was created by Ling Lan. He thought that Ling Lan inherited the position of captain from the previous captain.


    In all mecha battle teams, when the captain applied to enter the ace mecha battle n and was epted, the captain would have to give up their position. The next captain only needed 80% of members agreeing to the appointment of his new position. Thus, even if he was a newbie, he would still be able to be a captain of a legendary battle team (Of course, this was all in theory).


    Meng Shangyuan naturally believed that this was the case of how Ling Lan had be a captain.


    However, if they couldn¡¯t maintain the necessary requirements for the battle team¡¯s star level, the star level of the team would decrease. And usually, new captains couldn¡¯t handle the other capable veteran members, especially the members who were ace operators. Not long after, the battle team would split internally due to not obeying their captain, ace operators leaving the battle team, etc. This would decrease the battle team¡¯s star level to three stars, two stars and even possibly one star.


    Thus, not every new captain had the courage to take up the mantle and not every battle team had the courage to let a newbie take the position of captain.


    In Meng Shangyuan¡¯s eyes, no matter if it was the previous captain of Lingtian or Ling Lan, they were both brave individuals. Even if in the end Ling Lan couldn¡¯t maintain the star level of the battle team, Meng Shangyuan wouldn¡¯t look down upon them because of this reason. Meng Shangyuan even decided that if Ling Lan required any help, he would be happy to lend a helping hand.


    People were indeed connected by fate! Other than the 1st Division, there weren¡¯t many people that Meng admired because he was a general working directly under the First Marshal. And as luck would have it, Ling Lan had received Meng Shangyuan¡¯s admiration.

 Chapter 653 - Come On, Lets Go!

    <h4>Chapter 653: Come On, Let¡¯s Go!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    There were operator suits readily prepared in the changing room. Ling Lan¡¯s group of six quickly changed into the operator suit that fit their body sizes.


    The operator suit had anti-pressure and anti-shock functions. This suit was required to be worn by all mecha operators who were about to board a mecha.


    However, if the situation was dire, this step could be omitted. However the results of that would be that the mecha operators who survived the ensuing battle would be severely injured. Great harm would be brought to the mecha operators if they battled without the protection of the operator suit and just relied on their flesh and bones.


    Ling Lan¡¯s group of six ran back to the holding area and warmed up their bodies along the way. This way, their operating speed would not be affected by warming their bodies up first.


    Every mecha had its own corresponding operator. Ling Lan and the others also had their own mechas. This was the arrangement from the very beginning.


    Ling Lan took out the activation key that belonged to their mechas and scanned the key at the sensors in the holding area.


    ¡°Clink, nk, clunk...¡± Suddenly a t metal wall in front of them suddenly rose up and showed a groove like area. Inside it, there was a well-made, epic-looking and massive mecha. Compared to the mechas outside, this mecha was more beautiful and detailed. One look would make anyone know that this mecha was on apletely different levelpared to those outside.


    Ling Lan knew that this mecha belonged to her. It was no wonder that after looking around, Ling Lan only saw mechas below special-ss level. She was still thinking where Feiyang had hidden the mecha that belonged to her.


    She didn¡¯t hesitate and walked to the feet of the mecha. At the same time, she pressed activation button on the mecha¡¯s key.


    ¡°Bam!¡±


    The cockpit suddenly opened. Ling Lan put force into her feet and jumped into the air. After that, her foot stepped on the outer parts of the mecha. Using this force, she got into the cockpit in an instant. This was the result of Ling Lan showing restraint. Otherwise, Ling Lan didn¡¯t even need the extra step and would instantly fly into the cockpit.


    ¡°nk!¡± The cockpit closed once again. Ling Lan activated the mecha that currently belonged to her. After finishing the mission, this mecha would be her very own ace mecha.


    Ling Lan¡¯s ace mecha was a bnced mecha with standard equipments. At the start, Ling Lan did also consider whether or not she should choose a closebat mecha. However, when she saw that Qi Long and Zhao Jun not hesitating in choosing the closebat type mechas, and Li Yingjie also chose closebat, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but painfully give up on the thought.


    In order to make sure they could cover long range fights, Ling Lan could only choose a bnced mecha. Additionally, with Li Lanfeng¡¯s bnced mecha and Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s long range mecha, their battle team¡¯sposition was bnced.


    This oue saddened Ling Lan a little bit. Why did her small team have this many violent individuals?!


    At that moment, Ling Lan hadn¡¯t realized that the reason why there were so many violent individuals in her team was because of how violent of a captain she was herself. Wasn¡¯t there a saying of some sort where people would say ¡®Soldiers are the spitting images of their generals¡¯? The few chances that Ling Lan had shown her close range abilities, her performances were quite ruthless. These performances stimted her team members to be more ruthless. This stimtion made them greatly admire the merciless, unreasonable and powerful pressure closebat brought upon an opponent.


    The activity in the holding area instantly alerted a staff member who had just finished inspecting a mecha. He didn¡¯t stop for a second and brought his optical supeputer with him as he walked over to Ling Lan.


    When he saw that the activated mecha was an ace mecha, he was about to shout in excitement. However, he realized that that would be a show of poor behavior, he quickly stopped his voice froming out of his mouth. He looked around quickly and discovered that hisrades hadn¡¯t discovered the ace mecha. He then excitedly walked to this ace mecha that was activated.


    ¡°Serial number: L6-W1.¡± Although the staff member tried his best to contain his excitement, but the first few words that he said showed a hint of excitement and nervousness. When he said the serial number of the mecha, his voice was trembling.


    It couldn¡¯t be helped. Feiyang was once a military starship, but it was only a standard warship. The mechas that were paired with the warship only had special-ss mechas as their highest level mechas. As a maintenance personnel who worked only on one warship for his entire life, he never thought he would one day be able to service an ace mecha. If he returned to the Federation alive, he will definitely brag about this fact to other maintenance personnel from other warships.


    The dream of a mecha maintenance personnel, and his goal in life was to be a maintenance personnel exclusively for a single ace mecha.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s calm and collected voice made the staff member tremble. His originally excited and jumpy mood suddenly calmed down. As expected of an ace operator, just the sound of his voice was enough to calm a person down. The staff member showed an expression of admiration. In the eyes of a maintenance personnel like himself, ace operators were legendary individuals they looked up to.


    ¡°I will now begin the inspection...¡± The staff member instantly got into his role. He began to carefully examine the data of the mecha. His eyes fixated on the images shown on the optical supeputer. he was afraid that he would miss something. The work that made him felt numb originally, now gave him immense pressure. He was afraid that he would miss something and in the end cause a regrettable oue.


    Sweat began to drip from the staff member¡¯s forehead. The inspection onlysted a short 10 seconds, but in these 10 seconds, he actually had sweat all over his body. His work clothes was also soaked in sweat.


    ¡°Serial number: L6-W1, check isplete! It is able to join the battle!¡± After examining that everything was fine, the staff member immediately pulled out the connecting wire, pulled down his microphone and shouted out that the inspection wasplete.


    At that moment, the staff member let out a sigh of relief. Also, he finally got to know what it felt like to be a maintenance personnel exclusively for one single ace mecha and the amount of pressure that he needed to endure. The staff member believed that if he continued doing this, he would definitely die young because of the immense pressure.


    The mecha engineer made it seem as though his job was very simple as he only looked at some data details. However, his duties were not that easy. His job was the most importantst line of defense in protecting mecha operators. Sometimes, when mechas were activated, the mecha wouldn¡¯t be able to detect hidden malfunctions. The optical supeputer connected from the outside was like a bystander who could clearly see all the problems.


    History had taught everyone that malfunctions of a mecha was even more terrifying than an enemy. Back then when mecha engineers were not valued, there would only be a single mecha engineer for arge team of mechas. Those smaller mecha teams did not even have a single mecha engineer.


    The price these mecha teams paid were painful after they overlooked the importance of mecha engineers. Once, a starship fleet encountered an enemy fleet. Arge scale battle would take ce. Without enough mecha engineers on board doing emergency inspections, one of the mecha teams didn¡¯t have their mechas inspected and went into battle...


    In the end, these mecha operators didn¡¯t die by the hands of their enemies, but rather by a virus that was hiding within the mecha¡¯s operating system. At the end of the battle, the entire mecha n consisted of 380 people only had less than 10 people survive. The only reason these people were able to survive was because their mechas had just gotten the virus in their system. The virus didn¡¯t take effect yet. That was why these few mecha operators were able to survive the battle.


    This painful truth made the Federation no longer be neglectful and looked down on the soldiers who were mecha engineers. Although the final investigation of the situation showed results that the mecha engineer on duty was partially responsible due to neglecting the odd behaviors of the mechas¡¯ operating systems, a tragedy like this perhaps wouldn¡¯t have happened if the mecha n had more than just one mecha engineer.


    The lesson learned from this bloodshed had made the Federation decisively increase the amount of mecha engineers. The Federation lowered the necessary requirements and also gavemoners chances to join the military.


    Afterwards, there was one outstanding mecha engineer, who was following a certain general, had shown amazing skills in mecha repair during one of their missions. Before the reinforcements had arrived, the group had very little resources left and their mechas were also damaged beyond repair. This mecha engineer managed to extend the life of the mechas using the limited amount of resources they had. In the end, through this act, the group managed to hold out until reinforcements arrived.


    After that general had climbed to the top of the military rankings, that mecha engineer became one of the higher-ups of the military as well and was given the rank of Major General. Just like that, amoner, who did not have a strong physical constitution nor high intelligence, used his own skills in repair and observation to be a general that people admired. This was a real story about how amoner became a part of history.


    This individual made mecha engineer to instantly be a sought after job formoners who were aiming to change their fate. Afterwards, bing a mecha engineer became a popr choice in the military.


    Even now with all the mecha engineers within the Federation, standard operators still couldn¡¯t have the luxury of having one engineer for their mecha. However, the number of engineers was still enough for one engineer for one group, one engineer for two special-ss mechas and one engineer for one ace mecha. Only ace operator had their own mecha engineers.


    The staff member who checked Ling Lan¡¯s L6-W1 reported to the holding area¡¯s JMC. In the next second, the JMC in the holding area connected with Ling Lan¡¯smunicator: ¡°Attention L6-W1. Attention L6-W1. You have been arranged to be ejected out of port number three. Please prepare to join the battle.¡±


    After the JMC finished, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha was moved to port number three.


    The JMC who was responsible for port number three saw that her work area had a new mecha that had arrived. So she immediately raised her head, then shouted with surprise, ¡°Ah!¡±


    Her voice startled the other JMCs beside her, ¡°Little Qing, what¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°Ace mecha. It¡¯s an ace mecha.¡± The JMC called Little Qing pointed at the screen in front of her as she shouted.


    Her words instantly excited the other JMCs. They all looked towards her direction. After seeing that it was indeed a Federation standard-issue bnced ace mecha, the other JMCs all joined in and screamed in excitement.


    Their team leader saw them and immediately had a serious expression on her face, ¡°This a war zone, why aren¡¯t you people at your posts?¡±


    The JMCs knew they did something wrong. They didn¡¯t dare to make a sound and all went back to their posts.


    ¡°L6-W1 ready! Requesting to join the battle!¡± Ling Lan quickly examined the mecha and found that everything was ready. She then pushed down on themunication button to port number three¡¯s JMC.


    ¡°Yes, please wait for a moment!¡± This JMC¡¯s voice was trembling a bit, but it was still clear.


    ¡°Performing final checks. B17 movement normal. Oxygen system functioning normally. Weapons standard type. Checkspleted, ejection permitted!¡±


    ¡°And I¡¯m rooting for you!¡± The JMC from port number three suddenly added these few words. Although she couldn¡¯t see the appearance of the mecha operator who wore the helmet in her video feed, her heart still skipped a beat from the calm and collected gaze of the operator. She impulsively shouted out those words.


    After saying those words, Little Qing woke up from her trance and her face became pale. She actually went against the rules regarding actions of the JMC. If this ace operator was to formallyin about her, she would definitely be expelled from the military. Little Qing seemed to have already begun to feel the mockery and disdain from those around her. Her eyes began to water, but she could only hold it in. Since she had done something wrong, then she must ept the result. Why should she be crying at this time?


    Hearing the JMC¡¯s words, Ling Lan was stunned for a second. This was against the rules... Ling Lan raised her head and looked at the JMC¡¯s image on her mecha¡¯s screen. She saw that this JMC had an expression of terror along with the tears that were about to fall from her eyes. It seemed that she understood that she had made a mistake. Those words seemed to be said identally, not purposefully...


    However, it didn¡¯t matter. This was the JMC¡¯s encouragement to Ling Lan. Ling Lan closed her eyes and politely replied, ¡°Thank you!¡±


    The cold and calm voice shot the word of thanks straight into Little Qing¡¯s ear. It was like the sound from heaven and almost made her faint. Ah ah ah, that operator didn¡¯t me her and even thanked her. Little Qing felt she was very lucky. Her first time servicing an ace operator actually had her met such a reasonable person who didn¡¯tin about her breaking the rules.


    Since the operator was already so busy, she couldn¡¯t continue taking his time. Little Qing took a deep breath and sucked in her tears back into her eyes. Then she pushed down on the countdown button.


    The port along with the mecha¡¯s screen began the countdown at the same time.


    ¡°5, 4, 3, 2, 1... Take off!¡±


    ¡°Whoosh!¡± The mecha shot out through the tunnel. Simultaneously, the mecha¡¯s engine roared as the mecha moved through space like lightning.


    Right as Little Qing had sent off the ace operator from her side, herrades, the other JMCs, all screamed in excitement. It turns out that they had also received the individual they were going to service and they were all ace mechas. Ports one to four all had one ace operator appear and Little Qing received yet another ace operator. That meant that there were a total of five ace operators. This surprised all of the JMCs. Why would such a simple transport mission have five ace operators appear during the mission? What important mission did they ept? Since it was that important, why would the mission be given to a standard warship such as theirs?


    The excitement of the girls from the appearance of five ace operators was all seen by the team leader. Her mature face showed a hint of concern. Only she knew that another group of JMCs at ports five to eight had serviced six ace operators long before this current group of JMCs.


    Since there were 11 ace operators appearing at the same time, along with how their warship was modified in secret for an entire year, the team leader knew that the mission they had taken up was not any average mission. She only hoped that with the protection of these 11 ace operators, they would be able toplete the transport mission.

 Chapter 654 - Style!

    <h4>Chapter 654: Style!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    When Ling Lan was ejected into space, she saw many mechas fighting... there was also a huge gship and two vanguard ships pursuing Feiyang. They were trying to stop it.


    Li Lanfeng was right. The intergctic pirates came with a gship and two vanguard ships.


    However, it would not be easy to stop the Feiyang Ship. Ling Lan saw three ace mechas nearby the two vanguard ships. If she was right, these three ace mechas were from the other four-star battle teams. She thought that only the captains of the battle teams were ace mecha masters but it seemed like there was another ace mecha master in one of the teams.


    When Meng Shangyuan and his men were trying their best to stop the vanguard ships, they suddenly saw a few ace mechasing to the battlefield. They were stunned. Those mechas looked like the mechas from the Federation.


    They knew that besides the four-star battle teams, there were no other ace operators in the Feiyang Ship. If so, where did these five ace operatorse from?


    Meng Shangyuan suddenly remembered Ling Lan and her team. He was shocked. Were these people from Ling Lan¡¯s battle team?


    The young faces of Ling Lan¡¯s team members appeared in Meng Shangyuan¡¯s mind. Their captain was also of a simr age. They must be recruits that just graduated from the military academy. If he was right, to be ace operators at such a young age, they must be elites of the elites. ording to Meng Shangyuan¡¯s past experiences, such elites were arrogant and unwilling to bow down to people. How was Ling Lan able to lead this bunch of elites?


    The Flying Dragon Special Forces? Meng Shangyuan thought about this. Only the Flying Dragon Special Forces was able to have so many young ace operators. However, the Flying Dragon Special Forces was the ultimate weapon of the Federation. They would never let their members join other divisions. But, why were these people in the 23rd Division?


    Their information must be fake! Meng Shangyuan thought about their mission and their fake identities. He deduced the answer. In order to prevent other people from noticing them, the Flying Dragon Special Forces gave them fake identities. Compared to other developed divisions, the newly formed 23rd Division was the best division to use.


    Meng Shangyuan and the others all thought that Ling Lan and her team members were from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. However, they didn¡¯t have time to ponder their thoughts. The vanguard ships were moving very quickly and were very agile. It was much bigger than their mechas too so in order to stop it, three mechas were not enough. They needed to focus all their attention to stop the vanguard ships.


    Everyone was clear about their objective so they quickly pushed their doubts about Ling Lan and her team members to the back of their minds.


    At this moment, on the gship of the intergctic pirates, the captain of the ship was looking at the screen angrily. He lifted a handsome golden-haired young man sitting beside him by his cor and yelled to his face furiously, ¡°Was this what you meant by no resistance? Do you know how many ace mechas have appeared? Six...¡±


    A person who was in charge of monitoring the battlefield turned to his captain in fear and shouted, ¡°Captain, another five ace mechas appeared.¡±


    With 11 ace mechas, even four vanguard ships would not be able to subdue them. They needed to have more battleships or have the same amount of ace mechas as their opponents in order to defeat them. However, they didn¡¯t have either.


    The captain almost vomited blood. ¡°11?¡± He threw the golden-haired young man aside. He looked agitated as he said, ¡°No, I can¡¯t let my babies die here. I need to leave immediately.¡±


    ¡°Captain Gao Luji, you epted a mission.¡± The golden-haired young man didn¡¯t get angry even though he was treated badly by the captain. He frowned and tidied his clothes while reminding the captain with a hint of threat.


    ¡°So what? You gave me the wrong intel. Am I supposed to let my babies die because of your mistakes? In your dreams.¡± Captain Gao Luji was not afraid of the threat. This was his territory. He would have the final say. If the young man kept talking, he didn¡¯t mind killing him.


    Malicious intent shed before the captain¡¯s eyes. They were intergctic pirates who lived their lives on the brink of death every day. The word loyalty was not in their dictionary.


    The golden-haired young man smiled at the captain. The captain felt a chill ran down his spine. He calmed down instantly. He suddenly remembered that the bodyguards of this young man were powerful. The other party never trusted him. The mecha operators were still sitting in their ace mechas. If he dared to make a move, his starship would be destroyed by those ace mechas, bing dust in the universe.


    After the golden-haired young man noticed that the captain had calmed down, he looked at the screen. Many images were disyed on the screen. Eleven images showed the 11 ace mechas on their opponent¡¯s side.


    When he saw six ace operators, he felt that things were still within his control. Gulibaduo was not an extremely important character but the Federation would still send some ace operators to protect her. However, he didn¡¯t expect the Federation to ce so much importance in Gulibaduo that they sent 11 ace operators to protect her.


    ¡°We predicted that there would be around four ace mechas on the other side. Our intel was wrong. However, don¡¯t worry. We will take care of those extra ace mechas.¡± The young man thought for a moment and replied, ¡°But, you will take care of the other four ace mechas. Don¡¯t tell me that you can¡¯t even do this.¡±


    The golden-haired young man looked at the captain with disdain. The captain didn¡¯t like how arrogant this young man was. However, he didn¡¯t want to offend him. He didn¡¯t know the real identity of this young man but from what the middle man had told him, this young man was a powerful person. His background must be really impressive in order to have six ace mecha masters as his bodyguards.


    ¡°Hmph. As long as you can destroy the five ace mechas that just appeared, we can subdue the other six mechas,¡± The captain replied coldly.


    ¡°Fine. If you can¡¯t handle them, just tell me.¡± The young man left the control room after finishing his sentence.


    Two muscr men were guarding the door. When they saw the young maning out of the control room, one of them asked, ¡°Your Highness, do you have any orders?¡±


    ¡°Ask the bodyguards to prepare for a fight. I will go and destroy the mechas with them in a while,¡± The young man replied calmly.


    The muscr man¡¯s expression changed slightly. ¡°Your Highness we can subdue the ace mechas ourselves. It is too dangerous outside. You should stay on the gship...¡±


    ¡°I am not that weak! I am the only imperial member who became an ace operator at the age of 20 years old. How can I tarnish... cough... my kingdom¡¯s dignity?¡± The young man red at the muscr man. He was angry that the man doubted him.


    The muscr man quickly lowered his head when he saw the anger on the young man¡¯s face. ¡°Yes, Your Highness . I am worrying too much.¡± With six ace operators protecting him, His Highness would be fine. The muscr man thought about it and decided to let His Highness do what he wanted.


    ¡°L6-W2 calling for L6-W1.¡±


    ¡°L6-W3 calling for L6-W1¡±


    ...


    Ling Lan heard Qi Long and her otherrades calling her in their team channel. There were at different locations and with so many mechas fighting around them, it was hard for them to find Ling Lan. Hence, they decided to just call their boss.


    ¡°These are my coordinates.¡± Ling Lan told herrades her location. This was the first real mecha battle for Qi Long, Li Yingjie, and Lin Zhong-qing. Ling Lan believed in their ability but she still wanted to make sure that they were safe.


    After receiving her coordinates, four ace mechas and a special-ss mecha quickly moved towards Ling Lan¡¯s location.


    Lin Zhong-qing was still a special-ss operator. Although he was quite talented, he could not bepared to geniuses like Qi Long and Zhao Jun. However, Lin Zhong-qing had his advantages. Although his operation skills were not as good, he was precise. He would rarely make any mistakes. This was not an easy feat. Lin Zhong-qing was able to do this due to the teachings of his instructor, Tang Yu.


    Instructor Tang Yu had the same innate talent as Lin Zhong-qing. His innate talent was not bad but not the most impressive too. However, he was able to be an elite ace operator at 30 years old and almost advanced to a peak-level ace mecha master at 40 years old due to his high precision.


    Ling Lan fought with Instructor Tang Yu for many years and knew that with his strong foundation in mecha piloting and his high degree of precision, he would definitely be an imperial operator in 10 years. Based on his potential and innate talent, he should not be able to achieve this. But, he achieved this miracle by pouring in countless hours of hard work.


    Lin Zhong-qing was heavily influenced by his instructor. Most people were tempted to advance to a higher level the moment they could but Lin Zhong-qing resisted the temptation. Every time he advanced, he would perfect his operation skills. Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s high expectations also helped him improved tremendously. Sometimes, Ling Lan felt that she could not be as precise as Lin Zhong-qing in terms of operations.


    Ling Lan¡¯s operation was perfected through her many experiences and battles but she was not precise. Her operation was good because it was very smooth. Even if she made a mistake, people would think that it was part of her n. She was able to think of differentbinations based on different situations. This was why her operations were different every time. Overall, her precision was above average but not as perfect as Lin Zhong-qing.


    No one could say which style was better among the two. Every mecha operator had their own styles and habits. The most important thing was to choose a suitable style for yourself. To Lin Zhong-qing, he wasfortable with such precise operations. There were lesser surprises but he would make no mistakes. This fitted Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s personality and his position in the team. The logisticians of the team needed to take care of various matters. There was no room for them to make any mistakes. Thus, Lin Zhong-qing started to have the habit of being precise in everything he does. This affected his mecha operation style.


    The members of the Lingtian Battle Team hadpletely different styles from each other. Ling Lan¡¯s operation style was free and wild. She merged the methods of operation from two different gxies. There was no fixed method for her. She would use whatever she felt was the most appropriate. Based on what her team members said, her operation style was weird and unpredictable.


    Qi Long¡¯s operation style was simple and violent. As someone who respected true strength, his operation style was intimidating and oppressive. This had to do with his innate talent, which was Animal Instinct. Also, Qi Long had another amazing innate talent. Whenever his opponents thought that they had defeated him, Qi Long would always climb back up. In the end, his opponents would feel that fighting with him was like torture for them. He was like a cockroach that wouldn¡¯t die. It was too tiring to fight him. Most of the time, Ling Lan had to personally attack Qi Long and subdue him in order to save her friends from the torment.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s style was direct. He liked to attack people head-on. If you think that this was his style, you are wrong. If he faced opponents that were weaker than him, he would use this style. If he faced opponents that were stronger than him... he was smart enough to sneak attacks on them. He would keep sneaking up on his opponents and pester them. He does not have any dignity and thus, would do anything to win the match. Ling Lan once said that Zhao Jun was an irritating opponent.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s health got better but at the start, due to his poor health, his style was sinister and eerie. He liked strategies and schemes too so his operations were hard to predict. In their battle team, no one wanted to spar with him. He was the second in rank in their list of opponents her team members wouldn¡¯t want to meet. The first in rank was Qi Long. Qi Long hurt them physically and mentally while Li Lanfeng purely destroyed them mentally. Every time they finished sparring with Li Lanfeng, they would feel their head hurting. They needed to use much brainpower to guess his next steps.


    Luo Lang¡¯s style had a different style each time they fought. He had many personalities in his body so no one knew which personality was controlling him that day. Luckily, he couldn¡¯t change his personality casually so his team members just needed to interact with him more to identify the personality. Also, only a few personalities would change his style so her team members got used to it after a while. This was why Luo Lang was only the third in rank in terms of opponents they never wanted to meet.


    Aspared to these people, Han Jijyun¡¯s control was much weaker. He was still forming his own style but Ling Lan felt that he would have a more proper operation style. This had something to do with his personality. Although he liked schemes, he was a nd person.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s mecha piloting skills were not bad too. The people from the Li family were all talented in mecha piloting. However, Li Shiyu¡¯s ambition was not in mecha operation so he didn¡¯t spend much time on it. Hence, he was still forming his style too.


    Among the new members in the team, Han Xuya was the most talented. However, due to her physical constitution, it was hard for her to advance to an ace mecha master. She needed to put in a lot of effort and find the right opportunity. Han Xuya also knew that there were very few females who became ace mecha master so she was not in a hurry too. She listened to Ling Lan advice and focused on honing her foundation. She also remembered to practice the weird actions that Ling Lan had thought them.


    As for Chang Xinyuan, he was the weakest in the team. When he finally managed to be an advanced mecha warrior, his friends already advanced to special-ss operators. Some even became ace mecha masters. Chang Xinyuan gritted his teeth and told himself that he would continue to work hard to chase after them.


    ¡°Ahhhhh, why must I enter a battle team with so many geniuses?¡± Chang Xinyuan screamed towards the sky. No other mecha engineers managed to be an advanced mecha warrior at his age.


    Overall, none of Ling Lan¡¯s team members disappointed her. This was why Ling Lan believed in them. As for Li Yingjie... was he considered part of her team? He was only a temporary member. Since he was just a temporary member, Ling Lan was toozy to think about his style. She was a busy person. She didn¡¯t have the time to think about irrelevant people.


    After Ling Lan¡¯s team members gathered together, they attacked the mechas around them under Ling Lan¡¯smand. The intergctic pirates were violent and weren¡¯t afraid of death so they were not used to their fighting style. However, with the vicious Ling Lan leading them, they managed to get used to it after some time.


    Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun had experienced real battles before so they fought smoothly. Very soon, they managed to clear a huge amount of their opponent¡¯s mechas.

 Chapter 655 - Your Highness, Move!

    <h4>Chapter 655: Your Highness, Move!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan and her members¡¯ impressive show of skill caused the passengers on the Feiyang Ship and the other mecha operators to feel motivated. Just as everyone thought that the battle was about to end, seven mechas which looked different from the Federation¡¯s mecha flew out from the gship. They seemed to be mechas from Caesar...


    Currently, there were only two kinds of mechas. One of them was the Federation¡¯s mecha while the other was Caesar¡¯s mecha. The Federation¡¯s mechas were more agile and leaner while Caesar¡¯s mechas focused more on strength. Hence, they were bulkier. It was easy to differentiate them.


    Although the different countries invented their own mechas, they were designed based on the mechas of these two countries. Such counterfeit mechas were weaker than the original products from these two countries.


    Since this was the case, some countries decided to just buy the mechas from these two countries and not waste their resources to build their own mechas. The mechas that were sold were normally the older models but it was still stronger than those that were invented by other countries.


    Of course, this was not the main point. The mechas that the intergctic pirates used were low-quality mechas. Some were bought from Caesar. These intergctic pirates roamed the gxy and had no powerful backgrounds supporting them. Hence, it was not easy for them to get high-quality mechas.


    However, the seven new mechas were striking because they were ace mechas from Caesar.


    Normalmoners were not familiar with the mechas from other countries but the crew inside the Feiyang Ship were from the military. Hence, they knew everything about the mecha from their greatest rival, Caesar. They immediately recognized the mechas as the newest model that Caesar created. It was the main mecha of Caesar¡¯s military, their ace mecha.


    These mechas were forbidden to be traded overseas. If intergctic pirates managed to secretly obtain one, it was already a miracle. If seven of them appeared at the same time... wait, one of them seemed to be higher qualitypared to the rest. It might an undisclosed mecha model from Caesar.


    It was impossible for intergctic pirates to get so many ace mechas. Either they were coborating with Caesar or they were backed by Caesar.


    Just as everyone was shocked by the seven mechas, 15 other mechas flew out of the gship. These 15 mechas were all different but they still looked imposing. Five of them were ace mechas. It looked like a mecha from the Federation but slightly altered. It must be a newly invented mecha based on the Federation¡¯s mecha. The other 10 mechas were not ace mechas but there were also special ss mechas that have been modified.


    The opponent suddenly had 12 more mechas on their side. This was one more than on the side of Feiyang. The situation turned for the worse.


    There were three different groups. The seven ace mechas were a group and they flew towards Ling Lan and herrades. Three ace mechas rushed towards one of the vanguard ships. The other group of two ace mechas charged towards the other vanguard ship. There wanted to stop the three ace mechas who were attempting to stop the vanguard ships.


    ¡°This is bad. Looks like we need to kill the five ace mechas first.¡± The crew on the Feiyang Ship turned pale when they saw seven ace mechas attacking their five ace mechas.


    ¡°Ah, it is L6-W1. I wonder if they are able to resist against the seven mechas.¡± Little Qing clenched her fist worriedly as she watched the battle.


    Ling Lan looked at the seven mechas which were rushing towards them and smiled coldly. Did they think that they were easy to bully?


    Little Four suddenly shouted excitedly. ¡°Boss, that mecha is the newest model from Caesar. We must snatch it.¡± Little Four showed Ling Lan the images of one of the mecha.


    If boss snatched this mecha and gave it to her father, she would be able to receive many military merits. Little Four¡¯s eyes lit up. He could almost imagine his boss rising up in ranks, from Senior Captain to Major.


    Little Four was dissatisfied with the rank of his boss. How could his boss have a lower rank than the captains of the other battle teams? She should at least be a Major.


    Ling Lan smiled. If Little Four was interested in the mecha, it must be a good mecha. She decided to take the mecha herself.


    ¡°L6-W2, L6-W3, L6-W5. Form a team and attack them straight on.¡± Ling Lan immediately asked Zhao Jun, Qi Long, and Li Yingjie to form a closebat team.


    ¡°L6-W4 and L6-W6, follow me.¡± Ling Lan brought Li Lanfeng and Lin Zhong-qing and entered the match from the side. This entire ce was their battlefield. If they went into the blindspot of their opponent¡¯s mecha, they would be unable to spot them.


    Because of the ongoing battles, the entire area was filled with heat. The radar and heat detector on the mecha couldn¡¯t work under these conditions. Ling Lan¡¯s objective was clear. She wanted to capture the mecha that Little Four was interested in.


    The young man with golden hair was intending to attack Ling Lan and her friends. When he saw three ace closebat mechas rushing towards them, he gave a sinister smile. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you all to look for death yourself. Lieutenant Colonel Pu La, bring your men and surround them.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± Pu La brought his five of his men and charged towards the three mechas. Their opponents didn¡¯t group together. This was something he wished to see. If he could use this opportunity and destroy the three mechas, the two ace mechas left would not pose any threat. He would have a good time ying with them.


    The three mechas on Ling Lan¡¯s side were all closebat mechas. When six of their opponents rushed at them, they didn¡¯t dodge and even increased their speed.


    Did they think that they were able to defeat all six of them? This thought shed passed Pu La¡¯s mind. However, this was a good opportunity for them. Pu La didn¡¯t want to give up.


    ¡°Long-range attacks. Get ready!¡± There were three long-range mechas, two closebat mechas, and one bnced mecha on Pu La¡¯s side. Since they had long-range mechas, Pu La decided to make use of them. They didn¡¯t want to initiate an unnecessary closebat fight with the mechas either.


    The moment they entered the range for the long-range attacks, four mechas from Pu La¡¯s side started shooting immediately.


    Four light beams shed through the sky. Everyone on the Feiyang Ship and the gship of the intergctic pirates staring at them. They wanted to know the oue of this match.


    Everyone thought that even if the long-range attacks didn¡¯t hit the other party, it would still slow them down. However, they were stunned when the three mechas shown no signs of slowing down. They chose to dodge the beams and then increased their speed as they charged forward.


    Following that, a few more beams shot at them. The mechas managed to evade all of them again. One of the mechas dodged the first beam but had difficulty evading the second one. However, when the beam was about to hit it, the mecha moved with a weird set of movements and the beam only scratched the surface of the mecha. A burnt mark was left.


    ¡°Was that Irregr Flicker?¡± The Irregr Flicker was a skill that all ace operators had to learn. Did that ace operator use this skill to dodge the second beam just now? Everyone was asking about the same thing.


    Pu La was puzzled. Could Irregr Flicker be used like that?


    Although the Irregr Flicker was a skill that all ace operators had to master, it was unable to let a mecha evade such a close attack. If it was him, he would choose to slow down and maneuver his mecha away.


    However, if he had slowed down, their opponents would continue firing at them and he would be unable to dodge the next round of attack.


    He didn¡¯t expect the other party to be so bold and increase their speed to evade that attack. It should be known that if there was a slight mistake in their controls, the beam would have hit the mecha and the mecha and its operator would have died.


    Unfortunately, luck was on their opponent¡¯s side. That mecha managed to dodge the two beams. Pu La didn¡¯t know how the ace operator did it so he just thought that his opponent just got lucky.


    ¡°Impressive, Qi Long.¡± Zhao Jun shouted happily when he saw Qi Long evading the attack. He thought that Qi Long would be hit.


    ¡°Amazing. This is the kind of battle that I want.¡± Qi Long was filled with anticipation. Zhao Jun was speechless. How oblivious can this person get? Didn¡¯t he know that he might have died just now?


    Just as Li Yingjie felt proud of his dodging skills, he saw Qi Long¡¯s movement. Li Yingjie¡¯s heart dropped. His face turned pale and he muttered to himself, ¡°He is a lunatic. He must be a lunatic. He is definitely a lunatic...¡±


    Li Yingjie¡¯s control slowed down due to his fear and he got left behind by Qi Long and Zhao Jun.


    ¡°No way. I am an elite of the elites. I can lose to Ling Lan as he is an anomaly. However, I cannot lose to that idiot Qi Long!¡± Li Yingjie red to his front angrily and pulled down his engine throttle.


    His engine roared and Li Yingjie¡¯s mecha shot out like a cannonball. He immediately caught up with Qi Long and Zhao Jun.


    ¡°Prepare to attack again!¡± Pu La gritted his teeth as he gave his order. Luckily, the two parties were quite far from each other so they had onest chance to use long-range attacks. Most of the time, before the closebat mechas were able to get near the long-range mechas, the long-range mechas would usually have three chances to shoot their opponents. However, this time, Pu La¡¯s opponents were lunatics who charged at them without any regard for their own life. Hence, they only had two chances to shoot at them.


    Pu La didn¡¯t want to waste theirst chance. Although he was confident that they would not lose in terms of closebat, it would still be advantageous for them to destroy one mecha using a long-range attack. If not, their long-range mechas would be useless.


    ¡°Attack!¡± Since their opponents were nearer this time, the two closebat mechas took out their beam guns too. Although their guns were not as powerful as the long-range mechas¡¯ guns, it could still confuse their opponent¡¯s judgment.


    Six beams shot towards the three ace mechas. Two of the beams were not as powerful and could at most serve as a disturbance but it was difficult to differentiate between the beams.


    ¡°Qi Long, I will not lose to you.¡± When he saw the two beams in front of him, Li Yingjie shouted suddenly and pulled down his throttle. His speed reached the maximum.


    To everyone who was watching, Li Yingjie seemed to be giving up his life heroically.


    Just as everyone thought that Li Yingjie was going to die, the two beams and Li Yingjie merged into a white light. No one could see what was happening within the white light.


    A ck dot suddenly appeared in the white light. The ck dot got bigger and everyone finally saw what it was. It was a mecha.


    Li Yingjie sessfully dodged the two beams but he didn¡¯t escape unscathed. There were two long wounds at the side of his mecha. Smoke was rising from the wound. The wounds missed his cockpit by an inch so he was not in danger.


    ¡°Go and die!¡± Li Yingjie arrived in front of his opponent. He raised his giant sword and shed it down.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The loud sound woke everyone up from their daze. The mecha that was attacked raised his sword immediately and the two swords shed with each other.


    The mecha that was attacked by Li Yingjie managed to defend itself but it still flew backward for a few hundred meters due to the rebound force of the attack. The mecha operator lost control of his mecha and bumped into the ruins floating around in space.


    Two more shes urred. Everyone realized that while they were distracted by Li Yingjie, the other two mechas had also evaded the light beams and exchanged a blow with their opponent. Their opponents were also knocked a few hundred meters back.


    Just as Pu La was going to order his men to attack together, a thought shed past his mind. He turned back immediately and shouted towards His Highness who was watching them from the sidelines, ¡°Your Highness, move!¡±

 Chapter 656 - Ambush!

    <h4>Chapter 656: Ambush!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    When the golden-haired young man heard the warning, he was stunned. At the same time, two light beams were shot towards him from his back.


    The young man¡¯s expression changed. He moved his fingers over the control panel and the mecha did a Light-and-Shadow Skim. One of the beams flew passed the mecha.


    The shield of the mecha dimmed. It seemed as though the mecha managed to dodge the attack but it was hit instead.


    The golden-haired young man felt his stomach churning. Blood rushed up to his mouth. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He felt fortunate that the beam didn¡¯t hit him directly but only scratched his mecha. If not, his injury might have been worse.


    The captain heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that His Highness had evaded the attack. At the same time, he was furious. He immediately gave an order. ¡°Ji Lu, Rui En, find and kill the person who ambushed His Highness.¡±


    When the other party attacked, they exposed their location.


    Two mechas who were shooting Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and Li Yingjie instantly change their targets and started aiming at the two mechas who attacked His Highness.


    Two beams shot towards two huge ruins floating around space. If they wanted to aim their opponents, they needed to clear the ruins around them first.


    The ruins exploded into small pieces. The two mechas dodged among the ruins in the universe.


    There was one ace mecha and one special-ss mecha.


    ¡°This is not right. Shouldn¡¯t there be two ace mechas? Where is the other ace mecha?¡± The captain looked at the special-ss mecha in disbelief. He expected there to be two ace mechas that ambushed His Highness.


    ¡°Oh no!¡± The captain thought about something. His expression changed. Before he could say anything, a powerful beam shed passed his eyes. It split space into two.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The cockpit of the golden-haired young man¡¯s mecha got hit. A huge explosion urred.


    The captain was stunned by what he saw. The three mecha operators who were fighting with Qi Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and Li Yingjie slowed down a little too.


    Mistakes were not allowed in battles between ace mecha masters. People who were able to be ace mecha masters had good control skills and knew how to grab opportunities. They would not give up any opportunity to kill their opponents.


    Under the torturous training of Ling Lan, Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and Li Yingjie were all amazing ace operators. There were significantly stronger than most ace operators so when they saw their opponents slowed down, they grabbed the opportunity immediately.


    All three of them aimed their swords at their opponents and threw it at their distracted enemies. After gaining an advantage, they continued attacking furiously. If someone observed them carefully, they would be able to see that they were using the most powerful closebat skill, the mecha chainbo.


    However, their captain couldn¡¯t be bothered about them now. He operated his mecha and rushed towards the golden-haired young man¡¯s mecha. He hoped that the young man was still alive. If not, they would be executed even if they went back.


    The reality was cruel. The burnt and dented cockpit told the captain that His Highness most likely didn¡¯t survive. His eyes turned red as he screamed in anguish, ¡°I will kill all of you.¡±


    The furious captain took out his mega cannon from the back of his mecha and pulled its trigger instantly.


    ¡°Boom!¡±


    A huge force came from the cannon. All the mechas within a hundred meters noticed an error in their systems. One of the mecha operators saw the cannon and got worried. ¡°Maic burst energy.¡±


    Maic burst energy could destroy anything within a certain range. All the defensive system in a mecha were useless against it, including their shields. No mecha could survive if they got directly hit by the maic burst energy bullet. Even if they were not hit, mechas within a certain range would be sucked towards the bullet and get destroyed by it.


    The maic energy could not be evaded like a beam shot. Mechas had to get out of its maic range in order to be safe. This was the frightening point of the maic burst energy. Ordinary mecha operators were not able to instantly fly out of the maic range. Maic burst bullets meant certain death to them.


    The people on the Feiyang Ship, including Meng Shangyuan, Mu Youyun, and Qian Jialin were astounded. They thought that the ace operator would not escape.


    However, the past does not represent the future. If no one managed to do it before, it didn¡¯t mean that no one could do it in the future.


    When her opponent took out the cannon, Ling Lan felt a strong sense of danger. She immediately controlled her mecha and flew away.


    Before the maic burst bullet was shot, Little Four encrypted the data about the weapon and showed Ling Lan the range of the maic field.


    ¡°This speed is too slow. I need to increase my speed.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s fingers disappeared on the control panel. The engine of her mecha roared loudly and operated above its limit. She reached its maximum speed.


    When the maic burst shot was fired, Ling Lan felt an energy sucking her mecha back. Her mecha slowed down a little.


    Ling Lan turned back decisively and raised the beam gun in the mecha¡¯s right hand. She aimed at the maic storm and fired a shot.


    ¡°Boom!¡±


    The maic storm exploded. Huge maic energy was released into space. The mechas from the Feiyang Ship and the intergctic pirates stopped fighting and immediately controlled their mechas to move away from the center of the attack. They didn¡¯t want to die in the maic storm.


    ¡°F**k. The ace operator is a lunatic!¡± The mecha operators that managed to escaped, cursed Ling Lan. They calmed down their palpitating heart.


    Because of this shot, the suction on Ling Lan¡¯s mecha disappeared. Ling Lan activated her secondary engine and her mecha flew out like a beam of light.


    Ling Lan knew that she only had a split second to make a decision. If she didn¡¯t manage to get out of the maic field, she would still be sucked back. If she didn¡¯t fire that shot, her engine would be unable to withstand the pressure and she would die. Hence, she decided to fire that shot and use the instant when the explosion urred to escape. The force from the explosion would off-set the suction from the maic storm.


    Time was not on her side. Ling Lan would die if she couldn¡¯t escape within that split second. But, how could Ling Lan miss this opportunity? Without a doubt, she managed to escape.


    Ling Lan stopped only after she confirmed that she was out of the maic field. She looked back. There used to be many ruins floating around but they were gone now. All the ruins within a kilometer had disappeared.


    The captain was furious when he saw his opponent escaping from the maic burst shot. He gritted his teeth and threw the cannon away. He controlled his mecha and rushed towards his opponent.


    The maic burst shot was extremely powerful but it could only be used once.


    Ling Lan was a little frightened. She didn¡¯t expect Caesar¡¯s newest model mecha to be present. Even their maic burst cannon appeared. This was a weapon that was extremely expensive and couldn¡¯t be mass produced. She almost died there. Seemed like she shouldn¡¯t underestimate her opponents. No matter how ordinary they looked, they might be able to kill you.


    Ling Lan thought about the newest model mecha and scanned her surroundings. The mecha was still floating in the air. It was not within the maic field so it remained unscathed. Ling Lan heaved a sigh of relief. Little Four rarely wanted something. She hoped that she could fulfill his wish.


    The captain had reached the halfway mark when he felt a sense of danger. He immediately operated his mecha and dodged to the side. A beam shed past his mecha.


    ¡°Despicable people from the Federation.¡± The captain red at the mecha that sneak attacked him. Besides ambushing, what else can they do?


    That ace mecha failed its first attack and continued firing more shots without any hesitation. The captain didn¡¯t have a chance to get near Ling Lan at all. By now, the captain knew his opponent¡¯s motive. They didn¡¯t want him to get near the ace mecha His Highness had operated.


    ¡°I will kill you and then, I will take revenge for His Highness.¡± The captain knew that if he didn¡¯t kill that mecha, he would not be able to close in on his enemies. He rushed towards the ace mecha that ambushed him.


    The ace operator saw the captain charging towards him and chose to stop shooting. He took out a sword from the back of his mecha and rushed towards his opponent. He wanted to start a close-range fight with him.


    ¡°You are looking for death!¡± How dare a bnced mecha fight with a closebat mecha in close range. This was a good chance for him. He would kill this bnced mecha and destroy the other bnced mechater.


    Ji Lu and Rui En regained their senses at that moment. Rui En continued firing shots at the special-ss mecha while Ji Lu raised his gun and aimed it at the bnced mecha which was flying towards their captain. This bnced mecha was the one who was fighting against him just now.


    Before he could fire his shot, an rm sounded in his cockpit. He was locked in. Immediately, he moved his mecha and tried to evade the attack. However, he realized that no beam was shot at him. What happened?

 Chapter 657 - Grievance!

    <h4>Chapter 657: Grievance!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ji Lu disyed his surroundings on the screens in his cockpit. He noticed that the bnced mecha who sneak attacked His Highness was aiming his beam gun at him. The rm inside his cockpit rang because he was locked in.


    However, why didn¡¯t he shoot? Was there no energy left in the beam gun? Ji Lu raised his beam gun decisively after he thought about it and aimed it at the bnced mecha who was fighting against his captain.


    ¡°Boom!¡± Before he managed to pull the trigger, a beam came down from the sky. Ji Lu continued to remain vignt so when he noticed that ace mecha firing at him, he immediately evaded the attack.


    He barely managed to dodge the beam. Ji Lu was dumbfounded. His opponent continued aiming the beam gun at him but didn¡¯t fire. His opponent was threatening him to stay at the side obediently. If not, he would be shot.


    This is humiliation! Ji Lu almost exploded in anger. He raised him beam gun and shot at the bnced mecha.


    The bnced mecha didn¡¯t evade the beam. Instead, it fired a beam too.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The two beams collided in the air and exploded into a ball of light. Then, the light disappeared.


    Ji Lu was furious. If his opponent was only warning him just now, this move was to tell him that he was weaker than him. It seemed easy to intercept someone¡¯s beam but in actual fact, it was extremely difficult. The person needed to calcte the speed and trajectory of the beam. A slight miscalction would result in failure.


    Ji Lu started to feel afraid. He knew that the ace operator was much stronger than him. He specialized in long-range attacks but in front of this person, his specialty was like a child ying with toy guns. All his actions were within his opponent¡¯s prediction.


    Ji Lu knew that it was useless to keep attacking. It would be better for him to listen to his opponent and get a hold of his current situation. Of course, he was prepared to restrain his opponent if his captain managed to gain the upper hand. Once his captain defeated his opponent, he would be able to help him destroy this ace mecha.


    At this moment, Ji Lu still had confidence in his captain. He felt that his captain was the strongest.


    Actually, his captain was not in a good situation either. When the captain exchanged blows with his opponent, he realized that the operator operating this bnced mecha was not weak in his closebat skills.


    ¡°Bang! Bang! Bang!¡± The captain continued attacking confidently. His opponent defended against his attacks easily. The captain got serious. His mecha was a strength-based mecha. Even closebat mechas from the Federation could not bepared to it, much less a bnced mecha. He thought that he could crush his opponent using pure strength but he failed.


    Li Lanfeng swallowed the blood that gushed up his mouth. Continuous attacks caused him to suffer some internal injuries. However, his eyes were full of energy. It was different from his usual dark expression.


    His bodyst time would be unable to withstand such huge impacts. He would probably be heavily injured by now. However, he only had some slight internal injuries. This meant that his body got stronger. It was still weaker than those monsters like Qi Long and Zhao Jun butpared to Han Jijyun and Lin Zhong-qing, he was around the same level.


    He was no longer the son of the Li family who got dragged down by his weak body. His elders would no longer need to feel pity for him. He could control his own destiny!


    Li Lanfeng shouted in anger. He seemed to have released all the pent-up emotions in his heart when he shouted. He moved his fingers swiftly and the mecha raised its sword up high. It shed towards the closebat mecha forcefully.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The two swords collided and sparks flew. The strong impact caused the two mechas to fly back. They immediately had more than a hundred meter distance between them.


    Li Lanfeng took out the short-range beam gun from the mecha¡¯s waist and aimed a few shots at his opponent.


    ¡°Despicable!¡± Ji Lu couldn¡¯t hold back any longer. He raised his beam gun and aimed it at Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha. When he was ready to pull the trigger, a beam hit his arm.


    His right arm exploded. His mecha¡¯s right arm became junk in the universe, floating in space.


    Ji Lu looked at the other side furiously. The bnced mecha waved the beam gun in its hands. It seemed to be telling him that since he vited the agreement between them, he was punished.


    Ji Lu never felt so aggrieved after he became an ace operator. He went through many wars. Even if he was at a disadvantage, he was able to survive due to his strong perseverance. However, this time, his opponent made him feel like a child that just started learning how to walk. Everything was under his opponent¡¯s control.


    Ji Lu knew how impressive that attack was. His rm didn¡¯t go off. It came without any warning. That was not something a normal ace mecha master could do. Ji Lu felt agitated. Could his captain really defeat such a powerful opponent?


    The captain didn¡¯t expect Li Lanfeng to use his short-range beam guns. He was caught off guard. He hurriedly operated his mecha and tried to evade the beams.


    A light shed past him. The captain was an experienced ace mecha master. He instantly moved his mecha. The beam saber sliced the air next to his mecha¡¯s shoulder. When Li Lanfeng fired the shot, he flew towards the captain quickly and took the chance to sneak attack him when he was dodging the beams.


    The captain was not used to the way Li Lanfeng attacked. He would fight with his beam saber and have a close-range fight with the captain. However, during this time, he would look for an opportunity to sneak in an attack. Caesar¡¯s mecha operators had a simple battle style. Suchplicated battle styles confused them.


    Ace mecha masters in every country had their own unique style. In general, Caesar respected pure strength. Defeating their opponent with pure strength was a simple style butbining this style with the huge sized mechas that Caesar produced, Caesar had an advantage in closebatpared to other countries¡¯ mechas.


    However, this pursuit of strength caused Caesar¡¯s operators to have a simple operation style. Compared to them, the mecha operators from the Federation had a more diverse style. Based on the different abilities of each mecha, various operation styles could be formed. No matter what style the operator had, the capability of the mecha operator determined everything. If the mecha operator was strong, he would win against his opponent.


    Since the captain and Li Lanfeng¡¯s capabilities were on par with each other, Li Lanfeng¡¯s operation style allowed him to gain an advantage over his opponent. Just as the captain was thinking of a way out of his plight, his three team members couldn¡¯t hold on any longer.

 Chapter 658 - Despicable!

    <h4>Chapter 658: Despicable!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Ah!¡± A miserable cry came from one of the mechas.


    Qi Long¡¯s operation style was simr to Caesar¡¯s style. Although his opponent operated a closebat mecha from Caesar, he was unable to retaliate when Qi Long attacked him with a simr battle style. After experiencing some heavy blows, Qi Long¡¯s opponent didn¡¯t manage to defend against thest attack. Qi Long¡¯s sword shed his opponent¡¯s mecha.


    The impact heavily injured the mecha operator in the cockpit. He couldn¡¯t help but scream.


    The team channel in every team¡¯s mecha was linked. When the other people heard the scream, especially the two mecha operators who were in a battle, started to feel agitated. They were already on the losing end so the moment they lost control of their emotions, Zhao Jun and Li Yingjie saw an opening.


    Two loud collisions urred simultaneously. Zhao Jun and Li Yingjie struck their opponents together. Zhao Jun even managed to chop his opponent¡¯s right arm off. His opponent was crippled.


    The captain woke up from daze when he heard the screams. He saw three of his team members going down and was bewildered. ¡°What is happening? Who are our opponents? Why are they so strong?¡±


    Although his team was not the strongest ace mecha battle team in his country, they were definitely not weak. They were bodyguards of the royal family. However, in front of these five ace mechas, they couldn¡¯t even put up any resistance.


    The captain noticed his team member who was fighting with the special-ss mecha from the corner of his eyes. After battling for so long, his team member didn¡¯t gain any advantages at all. His team member was an ace mecha master but the opponent was just a special-ss operator.


    The captain started suspecting whether these people suppressed their levels. The ace operators were actually imperial operators while the special-ss operator was an ace operator.


    I will die if I stay here any longer! He wanted to take revenge for His Highness, but he didn¡¯t want his team members to die here. They might not survive even if they went back but he knew that if they continued fighting, they would definitely all get killed. They could have a chance to live if they retreat now.


    ¡°Retreat!¡± The captain yelled out hismand immediately to his team members.


    The three ace mecha operators had already lost their confidence during the fight. Hence, when they heard themand, they immediately maximized their engine output and retreated towards their spaceship.


    ¡°You want to run away?¡± How could Zhao Jun, Qi Long, and Li Yingjie let their opponents run away? Qi Long threw his sword at his opponent decisively. The sword flew towards his opponent¡¯s cockpit like a sh of light.


    ¡°Beep. Danger...¡± The optical supeputer on the mecha only managed to say this before the sword appeared in front of him.


    Qi Long¡¯s opponent thought that he could escape since he was flying away at full speed. He didn¡¯t expect Qi Long to use such a barbaric method. By the time he realized it, it was toote. He tried to evade the sword but it still pierced through his cockpit mercilessly. He died on the spot.


    Zhao Jun didn¡¯t throw his sword out. He used an [A] rank technique, the Whirlwind Strike. The Whirlwind Strike was a [B] rank technique but Zhao Jun modified the Whirlwind Strike. He merged the technique with his operation style, causing the Whirlwind Strike to be upgraded. His Whirlwind Strike was recognized as his personal technique, the True Whirlwind Strike.


    Zhao Jun knew other techniques too butpared to his other techniques, the True Whirlwind Strike was much simpler to operate. It didn¡¯t need any preparations and he could just use it almost immediately.


    The Whirlwind Strike used the wind created by the sword to attack the opponent. It didn¡¯t provide as much damage as a normal sword attack but the opponent would lose control of his mecha and be blown away.


    This was what Zhao Jun wanted. He rushed forward in an instant.


    He shed his sword and stabbed it into the cockpit of his opponent¡¯s mecha. His deceased opponent would remain in space forever.


    Li Yingjie was the least experienced so he immediately chased after his opponent when his opponent started running away. Two mechas could be seen flying at full speed in space.


    After the captain gave hismand, he turned his direction and quickly retreated. Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t expect his opponent to run away from the battle suddenly. He was caught off guard and let the captain get out of his range.


    However, Li Lanfeng regained his senses quickly. He raised the beam gun in his left hand and aimed it at his opponent. He fired multiple shots at his opponent. Instead of shooting at one single spot, Li Lanfeng shot horizontally. The beams formed a around his opponent. Then, he took out his high-efficiency beam gun with his right hand and aimed it at the of beams.


    The high-efficiency beam bullet passed through the of beams. A few sparks were formed. Then, a huge explosion urred in the middle of the. It lit up the dark space for an instant.


    The captain felt a huge forceing towards his mecha. He maximized the power on his shield and pushed his throttle further. His engine was operating past its limits now.


    Bang! The captain felt a huge force. His chest was in excruciating pain. He vomited blood and almost fainted. He knew this was a crucial moment for him so he bit his tongue. The pain woke him up.


    However, despite being injured, his mecha was blown a thousand meters away. He escaped from Li Lanfeng for now.


    The mecha operator who was fighting with Ling Lan, no, who got entirely controlled by Ling Lan and the one who was battling with Lin Zhong-qing also received the same order from their captain.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s opponent was lucky. He was further away from Lin Zhong-qing and his opponent was not an ace mecha master. Hence, when he ran away, Lin Zhong-qing was unable to catch up to him.


    Thus, he escaped. Lin Zhong-qing could only wave his beam gun in anger.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s opponent was not so lucky. While he was running away, Ling Lan kept shooting at him. He tried to best to dodge the beams. After evading three beams, he got hit in the cockpit by the fourth one. He died too.


    Three mechas were escaping in front of her. Ling Lan instantly raised her sniper rifle and aimed it at the captain.


    Aim, lock, calcte... this is where he will be.


    Ling Lan calcted her trajectory of attack and pulled her trigger.


    ¡°Beep. You are locked in. Danger!¡± The optical supeputer reminded the captain. He used many techniques to dodge the attack but the warning didn¡¯t stop. This meant that his opponent had predicted all of his moves.


    The captain was on the verge of copsing. Cold sweat dripped down his forehead. For the first time, he felt that he was on the verge of death. Was there no chance of surviving?


    No, he didn¡¯t want to die! The captain¡¯s eyes turned cold. He moved his fingers quickly and started calcting his opponent¡¯s actions too.


    ¡°Rui En, go to (XX,XX)!¡± The captain suddenly gave an order to Rui En who was behind him.


    Rui En carried out the order without any hesitation.


    The moment he reached the position, a warning sounded from his optical supeputer.


    ¡°Boom!¡± Rui En¡¯s mecha suddenly exploded. In order to survive this attack, the captain sacrificed a member of his team.


    However, to outsiders, they just thought that the team member voluntarily sacrificed himself to save his captain.


    ¡°Rui En. No, captain...¡± The ace operator who was running away from Li Yingjie heard themand being given through the team channel and knew what had just happened. His captain sent Rui En to death. Rui En never suspected anything.


    Before the ace operator could regain his senses, he saw his captain turning around and aimed at him with his beam gun.


    ¡°No!¡± He thought that his captain wanted to kill him too. He stopped running. The moment he stopped, Li Yingjie caught up with him.


    Actually, the captain was aiming at Li Yingjie. Spectators would think that the captain wanted to help his team member even in times of danger. As for why the operator suddenly stopped... his mecha might have malfunctioned.


    After this act, the captain turned and rushed towards the mechas of the intergctic pirates. He used the ruins around him to block Ling Lan¡¯s vision.


    Ling Lan put down her gun regretfully. If she wanted to kill her opponent, she needed to destroy all the mecha blocking her sight. Her opponent¡¯s despicable actions made her blood boil but it was not enough to make her lose control of her emotions and risk her life.


    Li Yingjie managed to catch up with his opponent due to Ling Lan¡¯s help. He was looking forward to making a cool move and killing his opponent. However, his opponent was decisive. He opened the public channel and shouted, ¡°I surrender!¡±


    Li Yingjie quickly stopped his killing technique. The inertia made him lose his bnce and he almost fell. Fortunately, he had a good reflexes so he managed to stabilize his mecha.


    ¡°Boss, what should I do?¡± Li Yingjie quickly asked Ling Lan.


    ¡°What should you do? Capture the prisoner,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly. She wanted to know who the person in the brand new ace mecha model was.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Li Yingjie happily grabbed the mecha and flew over. He remembered to dispose of all the weapons on his opponent¡¯s mecha.


    As for the other members of Lingtian, they were already bringing back the new ace mecha model on Ling Lan¡¯s order. Only Li Lanfeng stood beside Ling Lan. He knew that Ling Lan was strong but he still wanted to stay beside her and protect her.

 Chapter 659 - Notification!

    <strong>Chapter 659: Notification!</strong>


    Trantor: Henyee Trantions Editor: Henyee Trantions


    The captain of the intergctic pirates was furious when he saw only one ace mecha returning. The railings on his chair almost broke when he pped it.


    The arrogant golden-haired young man was so useless. He didn¡¯t expect the person whom he ced all his hopes on to be so weak. The young man died instantly when he met his opponent. His bodyguards were quite powerful but their opponents were much stronger. Their opponents destroyed five of the six ace mechas. Only their captain escaped.


    This meant that the intergctic pirates had no chance of taking down their opponent. Even if they had three starships, they wouldn¡¯t be able to take down the cruise ship.


    The captain of the intergctic pirates was able to survive in the universe for so long and not get killed by other countries¡¯ starships because of his decisiveness. If he knew that he couldn¡¯t defeat his opponent, he would run away before meeting them.


    Hence, at this moment, he made a quick decision and released a signal re. He gathered all the mecha operators and the two vanguard ships retreated too.


    The intergctic pirates came and left quickly. This was their special skill. If they were not fast, they would be easily surrounded by their opponents. The surrounding turned quiet and dark again. The people on the Feiyang Ship felt fortunate that they survived the attack. Some of them grieved for the mecha operators who sacrificed themselves to protect them. In this battle, many mecha operators were buried forever in space.


    However, they quickly controlled their emotions. The crew on the Feiyang Ship released their signal re to gather all the mecha operators back. While the passengers continued to feel ted and celebrated their survival, the crew prepared for the after-battle logistics.


    It was a difficult task to get all the mechas back. Many mechas were badly damaged so it was dangerous for them to return to the ship by themselves. The risk of returning alone was high, so the crew had to use search ships to bring the mechas back. Those mechas that were totally broken and the mecha operators that parachuted out of their exploded mechas had to be brought back with the help of the search ships too.


    The crew started to get busy. Many of them had already gotten on their search ships and flew out of the Feiyang Ship. They were looking for survivors on the battlefield.


    At that moment, the JMC ofunching port number three, Little Qing, received a call from a mecha operator.


    Little Qing answered the call immediately. She remembered that this was the ace operator from the same team as L6-W1.


    ¡°Hello, I am L6-W3. We would be making a doublending. Please prepare the necessary safety measures.¡± A gentle voice came from the other end of the channel. The voice sounded pleasant to the ear. However, Little Qing still felt that L6-W1¡¯s cold voice touched her heart more.


    ¡°Okay, I will immediately inform... what? Did you just say doublending?¡± Little Qing wasparing the voices of the two operators so she just fully realized what the operator said.


    ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°L6-W3¡¯s voice was still warm and gentle. However, the tone was now firmer.


    ¡°Impossible. Are you all looking for death?¡± Little Qing rejected him.


    ¡°JMC, I am notifying you. I am not asking you.¡± L6-W3¡¯s voice became cold. The warmth in the voice had disappeared. The aura of a powerful person could be felt from the voice alone

 Chapter 660 - Selfishness!

    <h4>Chapter 660: Selfishness!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    These words instantly made Little Qing speechless. Indeed, JMCs didn¡¯t have the authority to reject a mecha operator¡¯s decision. Right at that moment, her team leader spoke through the microphone to L6-W3, ¡°Hello sir, I am the team leader of JMC1. JMC003 just made a mistake, please don¡¯t take her seriously. I will immediately prepare the safety measures for a doublending. Please wait a moment.¡±


    After the team leader released themunication button, she angrily said to Little Qing, ¡°003, have you forgotten the rules and behavior required of a JMC?¡±


    Little Qing had tears in her eyes and softly said, ¡°Two mechasnding at the same time is very dangerous. Normally, mecha operators aren¡¯t allowed to do that.¡± JMC were responsible for giving suggestions to mecha operators.


    ¡°We do that for normal mecha operators. The people that you are servicing right now are ace operators, it¡¯s twopletely different entities. You have to remember that. Also, ace operators are ranked officers, we must listen to the orders of the officers,¡± the team leader said helplessly. They were all considered low-level JMCs and the people who these JMCs normally serviced were all low-level mecha operators. But, when they were faced with ace operators, their procedures had to be somewhat different than normal.


    Little Qing nodded to show that she understood. The team leader immediately contacted the logistics personnel at the port to let them activate the protection system.


    After receiving word from the logistics personnel that everything was ready, the team leader of the JMCs contacted L6-W3 once again to tell the operator that they had made all necessary preparations.


    After receiving word that ace operators were nning onnding two mechas at the same time, the other mechas that were outside waiting to dock all moved away from the docking route. At that moment, an ace mecha carrying a mecha from Caesar andnded on the port. When theynded, the mecha¡¯s feet scraped on the floor of the port and created a high pitched screeching sound. High temperature smoke even formed because of the friction. Luckily the tunnel didn¡¯t have any oxygen so it wouldn¡¯t cause anybustion...


    In order to carry a mecha andnd, the other mecha¡¯s engine must be throttled beyond the needs of one single mecha. Thus, it created the uncontroble speed it hadnded at. It was also the reason why it was dangerous for both mechas when theynded.


    Everyone in the holding area was looking at the video feed of the port. When they saw that the mechas had gone past the fiveyers of protection, were safely stopped by the safety and didn¡¯t smash into the wall at the end of the port, everyone apuded in excitement. In reality, it was also the first time they had witnessed a doublending.


    L6-W3¡¯s operator controlled the mecha and jumped back onto the secured docking position. Then the operator let the transport system take the mecha back into the holding area. After returning to the mecha hold, the system safely docked the ace mecha.


    The staff members who were repairing mechas in the mecha hold all went around that mecha. They were oddly excited seeing apletely destroyed cockpit of the mecha where the other parts were not damaged at all. Even if they had very little chance of getting up close to an ace mecha, they still wanted to learn and acquire knowledge of all ace mechas from all the countries.


    They all knew that this was an ace mecha from the country, Caesar. However, it was somewhat differentpared to the mecha they had previous knowledge of. Some people guessed that it was a modified ace mecha and some believed it was another type of ace mecha. There were also those who had keen observation skills who discovered that this was a new model of ace mecha...


    The mecha hold instantly became rowdy because of that ace mecha. At that moment, the port had reced all of its safety equipment and had a doublending once again. Simrly, it was a surprisingly sessfulnding. This secondnding made the staff member aboard Feiyang be awestruck at the smooth and quick operating skills of the ace operators from L6.


    Li Yingjiended his mecha proudly while Feiyang¡¯s staff members weed him with a warm apuse. He watched as his prisoner, the ace mecha operator from Caesar, taken out of his cockpit by security guards from Feiyang. It should be known that mecha operators from Caesar were very difficult to force into bing prisoners of war. Most of the time, the operators would push down the self-destruct button before ejecting from their mecha. In his first battle, Li Yingjie had managed to capture a mecha operator from Caesar... He felt he should be nicknamed Lucky Li Yingjie!


    While Li Yingjie was strutting proudly, Qi Long, Zhao Jun, Lin Zhong-qing and Ling Lan allnded after him.


    Ling Lan moved her mecha into the port andnded inside Feiyang. She urately stopped at the line that indicated the end of the runway and didn¡¯t even need to use the protective shield. The perfectnding made the JMCs and staff members on Feiyang scream in excitement. It should be known that Ling Lan was thest one tond. Zhao Jun, Qi Long and the others didn¡¯tnd without using the protective shields like Ling Lan had done. They had more or less used one to two protective shields. Of course, theirndings were still amazing. It should be known that normally, if mecha operators didn¡¯t use fiveyers of shields and stop at the safety, it wouldn¡¯t be considered a propernding.


    Ling Lan stayed in her mecha silently as the starship¡¯s conveyor system brought her and her mecha to the mecha hold and onto its original position. Then Ling Lan turned off the engine of her mecha and opened the cockpit. She stepped onto the lift and reached the ground.


    At that moment, there were already many staff members waiting beside the mecha. They all looked at her enthusiastically. This scene made Ling Lan¡¯s heart skipped a beat uncontrobly. She didn¡¯t understand why these people were so enthusiastic.


    ¡°Sir, do you have any orders?¡± One staff member said bravely.


    Ling Lan was instantly dumbfounded. Order? What orders did she need to give? Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that the staff members from the starship would ask her a question like that.


    ¡°Boss, ording the standards for ace operators, there should be an exclusive team of mecha engineers for your mecha. They would be responsible for your mecha, no matter if it is before the battle or after the battle. They would install energy weapons and other support systems or modifications based on your specifications. The staff member who asked you the question just now was asking you your preferences.¡± Little Four immediately exined to Ling Lan. Little Four held in hisughter, ¡°This person is pretty good at grabbing opportunities. This trip will give him the chance to enjoy the honor of being part of an exclusive team under an ace operator.¡±


    Ace operators were thest line of defense on the battlefield. In order to make sure every mecha operator performed up to their normal standard, the Federation equipped them with ample support in order to satisfy the ace mecha operators¡¯ every need. They even had exclusive JMCs. It was to make sure everything went ording to the ace operator¡¯s needs. That way, they will be able to perform to the best of their abilities on the battlefield.


    However, exclusive staff members did not be exclusive that easily. Those who were able to be exclusive staff members for an ace operator were the elites among elites. These people were definitely notmon staff members such as the ones from Feiyang.


    Ling Lan heard Little Four¡¯s exnation and understood immediately. She had learned this information once before at the military academy. It was just that she didn¡¯t have a chance toe into contact with such things because back then she hadn¡¯t joined the division and hadn¡¯t be an official mecha operator for the division. Thus, she forgot about this information.


    Surprisingly, she actually managed to be able to enjoy the treatment for ace operators so quickly... Ling Lan felt awkward and replied inly, ¡°Just make sure the weapons and equipments are fully charged.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir!¡± The staff member¡¯s eyes lit up. Ling Lan¡¯s words were simr to an acknowledgment. These words acknowledged that he would be a part of the exclusive staff for Ling Lan before she leaves Feiyang. Although it was only temporary, it was still as Little Four had said, this was an honor of a lifetime for the staff member.


    The staff member held in his excitement and was very grateful to Ling Lan. He knew very well that his self-rmendation was very rude and disrespectful. If he had encountered a strict ace operator, he would immediately be reprimanded and could even have aint filed against him causing him to be punished.


    However he had to try. He couldn¡¯t let his children hold their heads down in shame for the rest of their lives. He was only a mecha transporter and didn¡¯t have any technical skills. He was at the lowest ranking level in the military. Every time when he took a vacation back home, he would hear about his child being looked down upon by others in their Scout Academy because of his job. This made him feel that it was all his fault.


    He hoped that one day, he would be able to tell his child that although his rank was not high, low-level soldiers can receive honor that higher-ranking soldiers cannot ever receive... In order to achieve that goal, he worked hard and looked for an opportunity. Now, his opportunity was finally here.


    The staff member clenched his fists. This time when he takes a vacation back home, he would definitely proudly tell his child that his father wasn¡¯t just some regr and boring mecha transporter. Instead, he would tell him that he was part of an ace operator¡¯s exclusive team, the elites of the elites. He wanted his child to be able to hold his head up high proudly from then on and never be insulted by anyone!


    The things parents do for their children!


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know the reason why that staff member was so daring. Ling Lan was someone who didn¡¯t like to refuse the requests of others. Since it was something that was beneficial for everyone, Ling Lan was indifferent about it. It was the same with the unnecessary words the JMC had said to her before going into battle. Although these two went against the rules, Ling Lan was still lenient towards them. Even though Ling Lan had an intimidating aura seeping out from her body and looked very merciless and cold, in reality, she was very soft-hearted.


    Ling Lan saw Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun and the others waiting on the side. She walked over and as she was walking she asked Little Four, ¡°Little Four, did you notify father of our spoils of war?¡± Before she returned to the starship, Ling Lan had ordered Little Four to use the most secretivemunication method to tell Ling Xiao about all that had happened and what they had acquired. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want the spoils of war she worked so hard for to be taken by others. This time, she of course needed her father to step in and control the situation.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Boss, dad said he had received it already. He said to leave it all to him.¡± Little Four raised his chin and replied with a proud look on his face. It was as though Ling Xiao was his father and not Ling Lan¡¯s father. His smug expression made Ling Lan¡¯s finger itch. She instantly flicked her finger towards Little Four¡¯s forehead... That little sh*t, that was her father.


    While she was speaking with Little Four, Ling Lan had met up with Qi Long and the others. In this battle, they had captured two ace mechas from Caesar. One of the mecha was possibly the new model of ace mecha from Caesar. If that was true, the Federation would benefit immensely. Although the other mecha was the standard ace mecha of Caesar that was not worth mentioningpared to the other mecha, but it was still an amazing feat that they were able to capture a mecha operator.


    Zhao Jun, Qi Long and the others all showed expressions of excitement. These spoils of war made them unable to calm themselves.


    Not long after, more and more people were in the mecha hold. Even the captain couldn¡¯t help bute down and look at the two mechas with his own eyes. Meng Shangyuan, Mu Youyun and others received word and also came to the hold. Theirunching ports were on the other side of the ship and was a ways away from this mecha hold. When they came down hurriedly, the mecha hold was already full of Feiyang¡¯s staff members...


    The team members of these captain had brought were all special-ss operators, other than the captains and one member from Meng Shangyuan¡¯s Iron Curtain team, who were all ace operators. However, these special-ss operators were all on the verge of advancing to ace level. These captain took them to this mission to give these members a chance to find their catalyst to advance. It was just that none of these captains thought that this mission was going to be this dangerous. If Ling Lan¡¯s six man team didn¡¯t have five ace operators holding the fort, it was possible that the other teams were going to be in a dangerous situation.


    However, luckily these special-ss operators were very lucky and weren¡¯t harmed during this battle. This made these captains feel quite relieved.


    ¡°Is it them?¡± Qian Jialin looked at Ling Lan¡¯s group and then softly asked Mu Youyun.


    Mu Youyun looked at Qi Long and Zhao Jun carefully. Then he nodded.


    Qian Jialin¡¯s looked at the six of them, who were surrounded by people, with aplicated look on his face. He softly said, ¡°Young prodigies.¡±


    Could that domain expert be that captain? No, the Federation hadn¡¯t changed to record of the youngest domain user. Also, that domain expert didn¡¯t lose to a titled domain expert. He was definitely not a domain master who had just advanced. Perhaps, it was because the Federation sent so many mecha geniuses for this mission and they specially sent a titled domain user to protect them in the shadows.


    It seemed as though Qian Jialin had found the answer he was looking for. His mood instantly calmed. That was the truth right?


    Wang Anzhong from the Immortals Battle Team saw the two mechas that were captured. When he looked closely at one of the mechas, his eyes lit up. Then his eyes became dark, as though he was plotting something.


    Meng Shangyuan nced at Wang Anzhong and frowned. He then looked at Ling Lan¡¯s group of six. Perhaps he should notify the First Marshal... He sighed. Sometimes when the spoils of war were too great, it was possible that it was too difficult to hold on to them. Unless his team was actually from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    Kang Jiayan rubbed his chin as though he was thinking about something. Then heughed softly and said to his team members, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    Taking the merits of others was something that he didn¡¯t want to do. However, he also didn¡¯t want to offend others. In that case, he should leave this ho¡¯s nest and just watch from the sidelines. It was just that he felt that it was unfortunate. Could these youngsters from Lingtian be able to endure the feeling of their achievements being stolen from them. Hopefully they won¡¯t be disheartened... After all, there was still time!


    At that moment, Ling Xiao, who was sitting on a chair, turned off hismunicator. He thought for a moment, then pushed down on the button on his desk, ¡°Staff Officer He,e to my office immediately.¡±


    A battle was about to begin. He wasn¡¯t going to let anyone take his daughter¡¯s achievements... Otherwise, he didn¡¯t deserve to be Ling Lan¡¯s father.


    Ling Xiao picked up the documents beside him. These documents were taken from staff officer department in regards to the appointment of a newmander for a specific mecha n. He had kept it there and hadn¡¯t made a decision. He opened the documents that he had already opened countless times. The words clearly shown on the document was: Appoint Major Ling Lan as Middle Second Corps 250 Mecha n¡¯s Regiment Commander!


    ¡°Selfishness?¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes was filled with determination. What was wrong with being selfish? Since his daughter was stronger than everyone, he would not allow anyone to stand above his daughter and order her what to do!


    Ling Xiao decisively picked up the pen on his table and wrote his name on the appointment documents along with the words ¡®Permission Granted¡± in bold!

 Chapter 661 - Medical Treatment!

    <h4>Chapter 661: Medical Treatment!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    In the 250 Mecha n Middle Second Corps¡¯ headquarters where Lingtian Battle n was staying at, there would be agonizing screamsing out from the amodation area every single day...


    ¡°You little sh*ts actually dare to force me to take this treatment. Wait and see you... AH!¡± Inside the temporary treatment room, a bearded, muscr but yet weakened man was tied up to a metal bed frame. No matter how much he struggled, he still couldn¡¯t force himself out of the metal locks on his limbs.


    Luo Lang looked up and blinked a few times. He looked very innocent, but his words were very insulting, ¡°What are you screaming about? Trash like you guys are considered lucky to have Brother Yu use the medicinal agents he had invented on you.¡±


    ¡°Who asked for treatment asshole?¡± the weakened man screamed.


    Right as Luo Lang wanted to insult him back, Li Shiyu mmed the medical records clipboard on the man¡¯s mouth area. It hurt so much that the man instantly stopped screaming.


    ¡°Since you still have so much energy. Xuya, inject another dose of the medicinal agent from a moment ago,¡± Li Shiyu said calmly.


    ¡°Alright!¡± Han Xuya cracked her knuckles, took out a syringe and began to take out a vial of medicinal agent from the medicine box.


    ¡°Asshole, who gave you permission to do this. Stop this immediately! Stop!¡± The man heard that he was going to be injected again and began to struggle even more violently. After tasting the pain and agony he felt from the medicinal agent, he of course didn¡¯t want to feel it again. He would definitely be tormented to insanity by the indescribable pain...


    ¡°Okay! I won¡¯t insult or yell anymore. I¡¯ll never do it again. Dr. Li, please let me off the hook this time. I will cooperate with the treatment. I definitely will...¡± In order to not feel the pain again, the man finally gave up.


    Unfortunately, his pleas did not receive any sympathy from Li Shiyu. Li Shiyu hated trash who were full of themselves. Setbacks would make these people give up the talent they were given. These people let themselves be trash. This was something unforgivable.


    Li Shiyu thought about his eldest cousin brother. In order to recover, his eldest cousin brother had to not only fight against his illness but also forced his weak body to do physical training. His eldest cousin brother never gave up hope. Li Shiyu had once witnessed the terrifying pain his eldest cousin brother went through. The pain these people in their dormitory area faced were not evenparable to that terrifying pain his eldest cousin brother felt. However, his eldest cousin brother never pleaded for release. Compared to his eldest cousin brother, these people were the worst type of trash, and wasn¡¯t worth pitying.


    ¡°Inject!¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s expression showed a hint of ruthlessness. If the patient had continued to insult him, perhaps he wouldn¡¯t be this angry.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Han Xuya received the order, put up the syringe and ruthlessly injected it into the man¡¯s vein, slowly pushing in the medicinal agent into the man¡¯s body.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Not long after, the medicinal agent began to take effect on the man¡¯s body. His face began to show a pained expression as he screamed in an inhuman manner with cold sweat dripping from his forehead like rain during a storm. Not long after, the bed sheet below him was soaked in sweat. His entire body began to squirm irregrly.


    Just like that, it continued for three minutes. The sturdy bed frame the man held onto had already had five w marks on it. It seemed that the pain that he had endured during this time was more brutal than before... The pain began to cause him to lose consciousness as his eyes were wide open with his pupils dted. He was unconsciously breathing heavily as though he was very depressed and wanted to make up for his mistakes.


    ¡°Have we already broken him mentally?¡± Li Shiyu observed the reaction the man had with the medicinal agent with satisfaction. He began to write something down on the medical records. This was all experimental data. Every piece of data was precious information.


    After feeling that everything was concluded, Li Shiyu handed the medical records to Luo Lang to have him make use of the contents of the records tomunicate with the patient.


    Luo Lang nodded, showing that he understood. He closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, his entire demeanor became more generous and sympathetic. The originalplicated expression was now filled withpassion and sympathy.


    Seeing this, Han Xuya immediately tossed out the syringe and picked up the medicine box from the side. She then followed behind Li Shiyu as though she was a malevolent spirit.


    ¡°Because you received the wrong information, you sent an entire toon of ace mechas to their deaths. You felt guilty and med yourself for this, but it wasn¡¯t what you wanted...¡± Luo Lang¡¯s voice was full of sadness. The man seemed to have heard it and began to scream. The sound he made was filled with limitless guilt and sadness even with a hint of depression. It was as though the man was an injured beast who could only lick his wounds and wait for his body to rot to slowly take his life.


    ¡°However, when you die, who will be able to remember the heroic mecha toon from back then? The crime of blindly sending out troops will be forever engraved on this heroic toon name where they will unable to let the world know the real truth of the matter for all eternity...


    ¡°No, no, I¡¯m the one who¡¯s at fault. I¡¯m guilty!¡± Finally, the man lost control of himself and screamed out the words he had in his mind.


    After hearing the ruckus from behind her, Han Xuya shuddered. Man, Luo Lang¡¯s Saint Maria personality was really strong. Whenbined with Li Shiyu¡¯s strong illusion and pain inducing medicinal agent, even the worst type of trash would be obedient and confess about their ¡°crimes¡±.


    ¡°Whoosh¡± Li Shiyu opened the curtains of the bed on the side. There was a man who was lying on the bed all tied up. Seeing Li Shiyuing towards him, he smirked and said, ¡°Dr. Li, you¡¯re here.¡±


    ¡°Senior Colonel Yang Mingzhi, it seems that these medicinal agents don¡¯t really affect you.¡± Li Shiyu looked through his medical records and frowned.


    ¡°I had once gone through training to make sure these medicines won¡¯t affect me. Sorry for causing you trouble.¡± Yang Mingzhi replied with a smile. He didn¡¯t care about the underlying meaning in Li Shiyu¡¯s words.


    Li Shiyu was intrigued. Training against effects of medicines seemed simple as you just need to let the body build up the endurance against the effects of various medicinal agents. However, it was definitely achieved through countless hours of painful torment... It was no wonder that Yang Mingzhi didn¡¯t care about the pain caused by these medicinal agents. His body had already adapted to this type of torment.


    It seemed that for Senior Colonel Yang Mingzhi, Li Shiyu needed to change the treatment method. Li Shiyu began to think about it. Right as he was thinking about a treatment n, Luo Chao walked in. Seeing Li Shiyu nning Senior Colonel Yang Mingzhi¡¯s treatment n, she walked up to him and stealthily poked Li Shiyu¡¯s back.


    Li Shiyu looked back behind him and Luo Chao shot a re at him. Recently, Luo Chao had be very familiar with Li Shiyu, Xie Yi and the others. There was no longer had the shyness she had at the beginning and conversing became natural.


    In the end, Luo Chao¡¯s shyness was only directed towards Ling Lan. Even if she was more familiar with Ling Lan, she would be unable to function once she stood in front of Ling Lan. This also made Ling Lan believe that Luo Chao was a really shy girl. In reality, in front of everyone else, although not as unrestrained as Han Xuya, Luo Chao not the type of shy girl Ling Lan had deemed her to be.


    Seeing Luo Chao¡¯s expression, Li Shiyu knew Luo Chao had something she wanted to say. He then followed Luo Chao out of the treatment room.


    ¡°Elder Brother Shiyu, after caring for these Senior Colonels for the past few days, I found that some of their medical records were not urate,¡± Luo Chao whispered.


    Li Shiyu understood what Luo Chao¡¯s words meant. He frowned, ¡°Those records werepiled by many high ranking military doctors together. Those records are typically not wrong.¡±


    Although Li Shiyu wasn¡¯t an expert in the field of mental illnesses, he still knew that a diagnosis determined by so many experts would make it impossible for a misdiagnosis to ur.


    ¡°What if they deliberately made those medical experts believed they had these illnesses?¡± Luo Chao asked.


    Hearing this question, Li Shiyu went silent. It was difficult to acquire urate data for mental illnesses. It was usually determined through the patients behavior, speech and performance. If someone actually wanted medical experts to believe they had a type of mental illness, there was a chance of that happening.


    Li Shiyu thought deeply for a moment then said, ¡°Luo Chao, make a list of those you discovered to have this issue. I will observe and study them more closely.¡±


    Hearing her judgment be acknowledged by Li Shiyu, she was very happy. She immediately opened hermunicator and sent a document to Li Shiyu, ¡°Elder Brother Shiyu, I¡¯ve already organized it. It includes their behavior during their treatments as well.¡±


    Li Shiyu immediately felt hismunicator vibrate. He lifted his hand and took a look. He half-smiled and said, ¡°Luo Chao, you came prepared.¡±


    Li Shiyu always worried that the soft and shy Luo Chao wouldn¡¯t be able to get used to life in a division. In the beginning, Han Xuya and her volunteered toe to hisboratory to help him treat these useless mecha operators. Li Shiyu was worried that Luo Chao would be terrified by the way he treated patients and the painful reactions the mecha operators showed. Now, it seemed that he had underestimated Luo Chao. Luo Chao got used to it very quickly. She was even more used to it than Han Xuya. Not only that, she also noticed small details that even Li Shiyu had overlooked...


    As expected, she is great assistant! Li Shiyu suddenly had a thought. Perhaps he could develop Luo Chao into his own assistant! Keen and detailed observation skills, careful and good work ethics, and good temperament were all required traits for a great assistant and Luo Chao had all of them.


    Li Shiyu¡¯spliment made Luo Chao blush with a smile. Without mentioning work, Luo Chao went back to her shy personality.


    Li Shiyu stopped the treatment of a few of the mecha operators because of Luo Chao¡¯s reminder. Those who had their treatments terminated included Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi. They were able to walk around Lingtian¡¯s dormitory district at will because they were no longer being treated.


    In the garden, Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi met up. They smiled as they walked together shoulder to shoulder.


    ¡°Suddenly terminating the treatment. Did they discover something?¡± Liu Furong asked softly.


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Yang Mingzhi said with uncertainty.


    Liu Furong turned his head towards Yang Mingzhi, waiting for an exnation.


    ¡°Dr. Li knows that I¡¯ve undergone training against medicinal agents. He¡¯s probably researching for other methods.¡± Yang Mingzhi replied with a frown on his face. He stopped for a second then continued, ¡°However, it¡¯s also possible that they¡¯ve discovered our real issue.¡±


    ¡°He would dare be suspicious of a diagnosis from that many high-ranking medical experts from the Federation?¡± Liu Furong had originally believed that a diagnosis given by those people would cause zero suspicion. Now it seemed that it was not the case.


    ¡°Youth knows no fear. This is also the reason why each sessive generation surpasses the previous one.¡± Yang Mingzhi admired Li Shiyu. Although the medicinal agents didn¡¯t affect him fully, he still felt how terrifying the medicinal agents were. If he hadn¡¯t build tolerance originally, he would have fallen into the trap as well.


    Yang Mingzhi¡¯s words made Liu Furong frown. He began to worry about whether him faking his illness was going to be found out by Li Shiyu. If that actually happened, he would not be in a good position.


    ¡°I think that you should choose to believe in them.¡± Yang Mingzhi noticed Liu Furong¡¯s anxiousness and gave him a rmendation.


    ¡°Will they not report me to gain merit?¡± Liu Furongughed bitterly.


    ¡°What do think of General Ling Xiao?¡± Yang Mingzhi suddenly changed the topic.


    Liu Furong¡¯s eyes instantly showed admiration. He said sincerely, ¡°Our military¡¯s model soldier!¡±


    ¡°A weakened mecha n to suddenly have a group of talented and capable youngsters appear. Their captain could even establish a four-star battle team during the recruitment period... If it wasn¡¯t for General Ling Xiao¡¯s arrangement, do you think they would appear here?¡± Yang Mingzhi asked.


    Liu Furong¡¯s expression was shaken, ¡°You¡¯re saying, they are...¡±


    ¡°General Ling Xiao is about to make a move. This is your chance!¡± Yang Mingzhi said.


    ¡°Is it really General Ling Xiao?¡± Liu Furong¡¯s had aplicated expression on his face.


    ¡°Have you not notice that Lingtian Battle n¡¯s captain has the surname ¡®Ling¡¯!¡± Yang Mingzhi said these words and left Liu Furong, who waspletely stunned by his words.


    ¡°Ling? Could he be Ling Xiao¡¯s child? No, no, no, I never heard about General Ling Xiao having children...¡± Liu Furong was stunned by this information. He knew of Ling Lan, but didn¡¯t connect him with General Ling Xiao. If Ling Lan was actually rted to General Ling Xiao, even if he was just a family member, it meant that Yang Mingzhi¡¯s guess was not wrong. General Ling Xiao was about to make a move towards 250 Mecha n.


    Yang Mingzhi walked to the corridor and turned around to look at Liu Furong. He saw Liu Furong standing in the garden with a hint of happiness on his face that he couldn¡¯t hold back. Yang Mingzhi was happy for Liu Furong as well. If Liu Furong took this opportunity, he would perhaps never have to worry for the rest of his life.


    It was just that, was it an opportunity for himself too? Yang Mingzhi could see Liu Furong¡¯s future, but couldn¡¯t predict his own. General Ling Xiao was high in the ranks, very capable and had unwavering morals. However, these were also the reasons why he didn¡¯t dare to drag General Ling Xiao into his own problems...


    Perhaps, dying within 250 Mecha n was the best future he could hope for. Yang Mingzhiughed bitterly and walked into the corridor in low spirits.


    At that moment, a familiar silhouette appeared in front of him. Zheng Qiyun, the regimentmander of 250 Mecha n saw Yang Mingzhi. He then asked him with a smile on his face, ¡°Senior Colonel Yang, is the treatment over for today?¡±


    Yang Mingzhi was originally appointed to be 250 Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Yang Mingzhi didn¡¯t want the position, Zheng Qiyun wouldn¡¯t have the chance to take the position. Thus, when facing Yang Mingzhi, Zheng Qiyun stillcked confidence.


    In actuality, during these past few months, Zheng Qiyun led an irritating life. 250 Mecha n that was originally under his full control was now bing less and less obedient because of Lingtian Battle n joining the ranks. Firstly, the confidants he had arranged at different stations in the mecha n were all making mistakes in their work. This irritated him greatly. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that these were all coincidences, he would have med Lingtian Battle n for having something to do about it behind their backs.


    Before he could breathe a sigh of relief after managing to clear up all the mistakes his subordinates had made, he wasn¡¯t sure why the higher-ups sent an investigator to audit and investigate the spendings of the mecha n in the past few years. This included weapons, equipment and other storage items...


    It was also because of this that he wasn¡¯t able to receive word on Liu Furong¡¯s treatment situation. He managed to send the investigator away for today. This was why he came to Li Shiyu to get a hold of the situation, but he didn¡¯t think that he would get nothing in return. As expected, that genius military doctor Li Shiyu was very haughty. Li Shiyu¡¯s expression of being busy and not wanting to answer any of his questions almost made Zheng Qiyun so angry that he could almost die. If it wasn¡¯t for that fact that he had to maintain his image, he would definitely had spewed out insults.


    Of course, Zheng Qiyun held back his anger because the investigator was still in 250 Mecha n and hadn¡¯t left yet. If he made a scene now, he wouldn¡¯t benefit from it. After all, Li Shiyu was a high profile prodigy. The mecha operators who hadpleted their treatment were determined to have recovered enough to do battle again. These operators had returned to train and was now waiting to finish training and see their final oue.


    In short, ever since Lingtian Battle n joined 250 Mecha n, Zheng Qiyun didn¡¯t have a day of not worrying about something. This made him want to get Lingtian Battle n out of 250 Mecha n as soon as possible. Some time ago, he had looked for connections to make arrangements to get rid of Lingtian Battle n. However, Zheng Qiyun didn¡¯t think that his ns would anger those at the headquarters. Especially Major General He Chaoyang, Ling Xiao¡¯s confidant and the 23rd Division¡¯s First Staff Officer, who knew of Ling Lan¡¯s real identity... This was why an investigator had appeared.


    Hearing Zheng Qiyun¡¯s question, Yang Mingzhi smiled and said, ¡°Yeah, the treatment finished.¡± Knowing Zheng Qiyun was someone who was very cautious of Liu Furong, Yang Mingzhi didn¡¯t like Zheng Qiyun and would of course not tell him their real situation.


    ¡°Then what about Senior Colonel Liu?¡± Zheng Qiyun¡¯s real target was Liu Furong. Since he couldn¡¯t find out any information regarding the treatment situation from Li Shiyu, it would be the same if he saw Liu Furong in person.


    Yang Mingzhi replied, ¡°He had finished his treatment just now as well. However, I think he went back.¡± It was just that Yang Mingzhi wasn¡¯t sure as well?


    ¡°Oh I see. I¡¯ll go take a look.¡± Zheng Qiyun said goodbye to Yang Mingzhi in a hurry and then went to look for Liu Furong.


    Yang Mingzhi watched Zheng Qiyun left and smiled. Now it was up to Liu Furong to see how he would continue his battle with his opponent. He raised his head, looked at a corner of the room and smiled from his heart.


    Inside one of the small rooms in Chang Xinyuan¡¯sboratory, Han Jijyun and Xie Yi saw Yang Mingzhi¡¯s smile. Yang Mingzhi¡¯s face didn¡¯t show any oddities. People like Yang Mingzhi, who had gone through many battles and was a strong mecha operator, would not be worthy of his nickname of ¡®Sagittarius¡¯ if he didn¡¯t find all the surveince cameras after staying at Lingtian for this many days.


    ¡°It seems that Senior Colonel Yang wants to tell us the real reason why our Commander Zheng was kept in 250 Mecha n,¡± Han Jijyun said calmly.


    ¡°Going by Zheng Qiyun¡¯s background, he was originally not supposed to be taking the position of the regimentmander for 250, this trash n. Didn¡¯t the Boss find out that the reason he coulde to the Middle Second Corps was because he had connections in the 3rd Division? And Liu Furong was also an ace mecha n¡¯s battle team, team captain in the 3rd Division.¡± Xie Yi replied. ¡°His target is Liu Furong. We¡¯re pretty much certain of that now. It¡¯s just that we don¡¯t know what secrets are hidden in Senior Colonel Liu¡¯s mind. Even if we let him out into the 23rd Division, we should arrange for someone to watch over him.¡±

 Chapter 662 - Open Plots!

    <h4>Chapter 662: Open Plots!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Han Jijyun nced at him and warned him, ¡°Don¡¯t interfere in this. Remember what boss said.¡±


    Xie Yi raised his hand and replied, ¡°I know. I will not interfere in other people¡¯s business.¡± How could he forget what his boss told him before he left? He didn¡¯t want to get punished by his boss.


    ¡°However, our regimentmander is not being very friendly. He is always trying to chase us away.¡± Xie Yi pointed at Zheng Qiyun¡¯s back view on the screen.


    ¡°He is a smart person. He didn¡¯t suppress us but chose to find another mecha n for us to be stationed at, under the disguise that he wanted to help us...¡± Even though he knew that Zheng Qiyun had his own motives, he couldn¡¯t hate him. He was just a little unhappy. Han Jijyun wanted to create a ce that belonged to Lingtian in 250 Mecha n. After what Zheng Qiyun did, their two months worth of effort went to waste. He knew that it might be better for them to leave this mecha n but he still felt irritated.


    ¡°He should have at least asked us for our opinions.¡± Xie Yi didn¡¯t like Zheng Qiyun at all.


    ¡°He is our regimentmander. He has the right to decide for us.¡± Han Jijyun narrowed his eyes. This open plot was impressive. Even if the higher-ups realized something, they would just think that Zheng Qiyun was a good regimentmander who didn¡¯t want to waste the recruits¡¯ talent. Whether this n seeded or failed, it would still benefit him. If it seeded, Lingtian would be out of his sights. If he failed, he would leave a good impression. It would make his job easier in the future.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe that you aren¡¯t going to retaliate.¡± Xie Yi looked at Han Jijyun. He knew his boss passed some orders to Han Jijyun before he left.


    Han Jijyun looked at Xie Yi. Xie Yi was staring at him with anticipation. He couldn¡¯t help but reply, ¡°Open plot!¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Xie Yi felt depressed. Why must he act so mysterious? Is he looking down on his intelligence?


    ¡°Since he uses an open plot against us, I will use an open plot too.¡± Han Jijyun had his own principles. Since Zheng Qiyun didn¡¯t secretly scheme against them, he would not use any treacherous methods against him. He would let the higher-ups see the regimentmander¡¯s true capabilities and make him lose his good impression.


    Xie Yi was not a stupid person. He thought for a moment and understood what Han Jijyun wanted to do. He felt a little worried and asked, ¡°Will it work?¡± This n depended on the higher-ups. If they didn¡¯t want to do anything to 250 Mecha n, it would fail.


    Han Jijyun knocked the handle of his chair and coldly said, ¡°There is only a 50% chance. But...¡±


    There must be something going on behind the scenes when their boss was sent here. The only reason would be that General Ling Xiao wanted to do things with 250 Mecha n. This was why Han Jijyun made such a bold n. Since the general wanted to mess with 250 Mecha n, the first person he would target would be the regimentmander that had been here for five years but didn¡¯t make any changes to 250 Mecha n.


    Of course, this was all Han Jijyun¡¯s own guess. He had to wait for the replies of the higher-ups. Before that, the only thing he could do was to continuously add more fuel to the fire.


    Han Jijyun was the one who caused Zheng Qiyun¡¯s confidant to keep making mistakes. While he gave Zheng Qiyun more work to handle, he let the higher-ups see how strong his adaptability was.


    Zheng Qiyun is a talent. It was a waste to let him stay in 250 Mecha n and guard the people here.


    Han Jijyun threw Zheng Qiyun to the back of his mind. He had done all he could. He just needed to wait patiently for the results. At this moment, he just needed to n ahead. If he seeded and Zheng Qiyun was sent away, what should he do to make Lingtian irreceable in 250 Mecha n?


    Han Jijyun didn¡¯t want to rule over the new regimentmander. He just wanted Lingtian to have more power. He didn¡¯t want a regimentmander who viewed them as thorns again. He was tired of fighting with another regimentmander again. This was not good for the development of Lingtian. It was not good for 250 Mecha n too.


    Han Jijyun knew what his boss wanted. He wanted 250 Mecha n to be strong again. His boss would never give up on anyrades.


    At the same time, Ling Lan sneezed. She wondered who was thinking about her.


    Actually, this was not what Ling Lan was thinking. She wanted to stay in 250 Mecha n because 250 Mecha n was a useless mecha n. They wouldn¡¯t be on the battlefield anytime soon. Hence, she would have enough time to train her members. As for the other mecha operators in 250 Mecha n, they were none of her business.


    Han Jijyun felt pity for his boss. They were too young. If they had more time, they didn¡¯t need to be so careful after his boss became a captain. They could reorganize 250 Mecha n outright. With his boss¡¯s ability, it would not be difficult.


    Han Jijyun felt that there was nothing Ling Lan couldn¡¯t do.


    ¡°How are those mecha operators that just ended their treatment? How is their rehabilitation?¡± Han Jijyun pushed his thoughts away and asked Xie Yi about the mecha operators. Xie Yi was the one in charge of them.


    Xie Yi ced his hands behind his back and leaned against the seat. He said in a rxed manner. ¡°Who is able to handle the training that our boss had created?¡±


    ¡°They didn¡¯t resist?¡± Han Jijyun didn¡¯t believe that those once-famous mecha operators would be obedient.


    ¡°Even if they wanted to resist, they need the energy to do it. Luo Lang is be supervising them with the rest of the Lingtian Battle Team so they don¡¯t dare to do anything overboard,¡± Xie Yi replied. In order to make the veterans listened to them, Luo Lang and he put in much effort toe up with various ns and methods. They borrowed strength from the other members of Lingtian and even borrowed some medicine and agents from Li Shiyu just in case they needed it.


    However, after three days of training, those didn¡¯t have any arrogance left. They used up all their energy during the training. When the training ended, they were dragged out of the venue by Xie Yi and the other members of Lingtian. Luo Lang participated in the training too but he remained alive and kicking after it. He even had the energy to drag them back to their dormitory. This embarrassed them greatly. They felt that they threw the dignity of veterans so they didn¡¯t dare to remain proud anymore.


    Xie Yi didn¡¯t expect his boss¡¯s training to have even more impact than Li Shiyu¡¯s medicine. After they used Li Shiyu¡¯s medicine on the veterans, they were still unconvinced about their leadership. However, the moment they experienced his boss¡¯s training, they didn¡¯t dare to rebel anymore.


    ¡°This is good. We need to make sure that they look up to our boss. Whether our regimentmander gets changed or not, we must be the one in control,¡± Han Jijyun ordered.


    ¡°I understand!¡± Xie Yi turned serious.


    Ever since the Lingtian Battle Team came to 250 Mecha n, they had the intention of making 250 Mecha n into their mecha n. This was their goal and they needed this goal. A huge goal would allow the Lingtian Battle Team to continue moving forward and not be overtaken by the other battle teams.


    At the boundaries of the Bya Kingdom, the Feiyang Ship didn¡¯t dare to stop. After searching in the battlefield for a while, they left.


    They flew for two hours and entered the Bya Kingdom. The six battle teams heaved a sigh of relief. Even the captain of the Feiyang Ship felt rxed. He knew that the main aim of this trip was to send Princess Gulibaduo safely back to the Bya Kingdom.


    Finally, the Feiyang Ship docked at the port of the Bya Kingdom. Princess Gulibaduo changed into her imperial costume in her room. She didn¡¯t choose a dress but instead, chose a male military uniform. It was a blue and white uniform with yellow tassels. Gulibaduo looked really handsome in the attire. The gentleness in her eyes disappeared. They were reced with a firmed expression.


    ¡°Your Highness!¡± Her confidant looked at her with excitement. She held the Babu scepter in her hand. As long as they handed this scepter to the king, Gulibaduo would gain the right to inherit the throne.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Gulibaduo replied calmly. She knew that the attacks along her journey were nned by Huaxia Federation¡¯s enemy as well as her siblings.


    Sure enough, just like what her mentor had said, there was no family love in the royal family. There was only the greed for power and personal interest. During this journey, she grew stronger mentally.


    When she reached the living room, she saw Mu Youyun and Qian Jialin waiting for her with their men.


    Gulibaduo bowed to them and said, ¡°Thank you for protecting me all this time.¡±


    Mu Youyun and Qian Jialin bowed back immediately. ¡°It is our honor. This is our mission. You are being too polite.¡±


    Gulibaduo felt sad. ¡°Are we parting now?¡± Once she reached the Bya Kingdom, bodyguards of the royal family woulde and fetch her. Mu Youyun and Qian Jialin¡¯s mission would end.


    Mu Youyun and Qian Jialin exchanged nces with each other. In the end, Mu Youyun said, ¡°Yes. However, we will hand you over to the bodyguards personally.¡±


    Gulibaduo smiled. ¡°I will have to bother you all for a while longer then.¡± Compared to the bodyguards of the royal family, she trusted Mu Youyun and Qian Jialin more. They had been with her for the past month. Their presence made her feel at ease.


    Gulibaduo hesitated for a moment. Finally, she said the suspicion that she had been keeping to herself, ¡°Those people that have been protecting me secretly, have they finished their mission too?¡±


    Mu Youyun knew that the princess was talking about the people that saved them in the underground auction at Kachi. The princess was not stupid. She knew that there were people guarding her secretly.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Mu Youyun replied directly. He confirmed the princess¡¯ suspicion.


    Gulibaduo was disappointed. But, she quickly controlled her emotions. When she heard the announcement that passengers could start getting off the ship, she walked out of her room with a stern face.


    The port was filled with people. Although they had a battle just a moment ago, the passengers were at ease because they were in brother nation of the Federation. They walked down the ship in an orderly manner. Such dangers weremon in an intergctic trip so most of the passengers were used to it too.


    Gulibaduo scanned the port. A tinge of happiness appeared on her face and she walked forward hurriedly. She walked towards Ling Lan and her friends.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Gulibaduo thanked them sincerely.


    ¡°Why are you thanking us?¡± Zhao Jun looked shocked. He saw her servant who was holding a suitcase and smiled. ¡°Are you referring to this? There is no need to thank us. We should be the ones thanking you for bringing us in and let us enjoy the auction.¡±


    Yun Feiyang saw the princess ignoring him but instead, talked to that bunch ofmoners. He got jealous. His love for Gulibaduo was getting stronger so he couldn¡¯t stand it when Gulibaduo treated him coldly.


    ¡°Feiyang, calm down!¡± Luo Chengwen reminded him. When you liked a person. never do things that person hates. Yun Feiyang had many things to learn about love.


    Yun Feiyang rubbed his eyes. When he looked up again, he had resumed his calmness. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Those are just chance acquaintances. You, on the other hand, will stay by her side. Don¡¯t let them disrupt your n,¡± Luo Chengwen consoled him.


    ¡°Yes, I understand. I will stay in the Bya Kingdom and show Gulibaduo how suitable I am as her partner.¡± Yun Feiyang felt confident again. Just like what his second uncle said, he was the only one that could stay here. He had many more chancespared to other people.


    Gulibaduo smiled when she heard Zhao Jun¡¯s reply. She said, ¡°That was nothing. The real thing is not the auction. It is the Grand Mecha Tournament which the Federation¡¯s military academy holds every three years. Unfortunately, the tournament for this year just ended so I couldn¡¯t invite you all to watch it with me.¡± Gulibaduo winked at Qi Long and Li Yingjie when she said this.


    Qi Long scratched his head as he smiled awkwardly. ¡°That is really unfortunate. I wish that I knew you earlier.¡±


    Seemed like she recognized them. No wonder she picked them out of so many passengers.


    ¡°Yes. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy sent five ace mecha masters. One of them even had a breakthrough during the tournament. I was so jealous.¡± Gulibaduo looked at Li Yingjie. Her eyes were filled with respect.


    ¡°Haha, that is because I didn¡¯t go. If not, I would have defeated the opponent.¡± Li Yingjie raised his head angrily.


    Lin Zhong-qing pulled his sleeve hurriedly. He asked him to suppress his anger.


    Gulibaduo noticed that the six people didn¡¯t say anything else and knew that she couldn¡¯t stay beside them any longer. She bid farewell to them and left the port with her men. She prepared to leave the ship.


    Mu Youyun, Qian Jialin, and Ling Lan¡¯s eyes met. They exchanged a nce, then Mu Youyun and Qian Jialin left with Gulibaduo.


    When Gulibaduo walked down the Feiyang Ship, she looked back. She clenched her fist. When she walked past Ling Lan just now, Ling Lan secretly stuffed a piece of paper in her hand. No one around her noticed it.


    Since Ling Lan used such a secretive method to pass the paper to her, Gulibaduo didn¡¯t tell anyone about it. She came to the spaceport and went to use the bathroom. She took the chance and read the paper.


    When they reached the spaceport, Gulibaduo requested Mu Youyun and Qian Jialin to safeguard the Babu scepter until they reached the Bya Kingdom bank. This was herst request.


    Mu Youyun and Qian Jialin thought for a moment before agreeing.


    The princess¡¯s confidant felt worried. She didn¡¯t think that the Babu scepter should be passed to someone who didn¡¯t belong to their kingdom. She wanted to go to the bank too but the princess stopped her.


    The confidant didn¡¯t understand why the princess made such a decision. They didn¡¯t know the background of these soldiers. However, she didn¡¯t dare to defy the princess¡¯ orders so she could only send the scepter off with a worried look.


    ¡°I received a message from the captain of Lingtian just now. He asked us to change our path.¡± Before Qian Jialin entered the hovercar provided by the bodyguards, he pulled Mu Youyun to the side.


    Mu Youyun¡¯s expression changed. He looked at his team members. The team members suddenly jumped forward and knocked the two bodyguards in the hover car unconscious. They pulled them out and ced them at the side of the road.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Mu Youyun asked Qian Jialin to get onto the car. Then, he operated the hover car and changed their path. They disappeared into the air.


    The princess received news of what happened on Mu Youyun¡¯s side. Her confidant was shocked. She pulled the princess forcefully and shouted, ¡°I knew that those people can¡¯t be trusted. Your Highness, hurry up and order the bodyguards to chase after them. That is our national treasure.¡±


    The leader of the bodyguards looked at Princess Gulibaduo and waited for her orders.


    ¡°No need. We will go directly to my father.¡± Gulibaduo seemed exceptionally calm at this moment.


    ¡°Princess!¡± The confidant screamed. She pulled Princess Gulibaduo and hoped that she would change her mind. She couldn¡¯t understand why the princess was so indifferent.


    ¡°Why? Is that scepter more important than my safety?¡± Gulibaduo narrowed her eyes and looked at her confidant sharply.


    ¡°No, no, I don¡¯t dare to think that way. But, but, but the king had been looking for the Babu scepter for a long time.¡± The confidant released the princess in a flurry. However, she couldn¡¯t hide her distress.


    The leader of the bodyguards was shocked when he heard about the Babu scepter. He looked at the princess and hoped that she would change her mind.


    ¡°Hurry up and bring me to my father. I will exin this matter to him personally.¡± Gulibaduo was firm in her decision. The leader had no choice but to order the drivers to rush to the pce.


    The confidant was worried. As she was rubbing her hands, Gulibaduo suddenly grabbed her hands and asked, ¡°Don¡¯t you believe your master?¡±


    The confidant looked at her in astonishment. ¡°No. No. I¡¯m just worried.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Gulibaduo smiled at her confidant and squeezed her arm. At that moment, she stuck a little device that was wrapped up in the paper Ling Lan gave her on side of her confidant¡¯smunicator.


    Gulibaduo turned her head and looked outside the window. She felt lonely. She didn¡¯t want to believe that her servant which grew up with her, someone whom she felt was her sister, betrayed her. But, she knew who Ling Lan and his friends were. How could she forget the two people received prizes at the Grand Mecha Tournament. Theirrades must not be simple people too. She trusted them. If not, why would she look for their protection?


    Gulibaduo believed that she was able to escape from the auction because of them. They were the ones who helped her get the Babu scepter too. If they didn¡¯t participate in the auction, the results might be different.


    When she knew that they were here to protect her, she trusted them even more. That was why she followed Ling Lan¡¯s instruction and passed the Babu scepter to Mu Youyun and Qian Jialin.


    Ling Lan wrote that her opponent¡¯s target was the Babu scepter. They wanted to snatch it when she returned to the Bya Kingdom and take her credit away. That way, her right to inherit would be taken away too.


    This was a vicious n but it had a high probability of it happening. Gulibaduo never expected her siblings to disregard their father¡¯s wishes and use such a method. She wasn¡¯t prepared for it and didn¡¯t know that her confidant had been bought over. If Ling Lan didn¡¯t remind her, she would have fallen into her sibling¡¯s trap.


    However, things were different now. Ruthlessness appeared in Gulibaduo¡¯s eyes. Under the pressure her siblings gave her, she finally threw herst ounce of gentleness away.


    From this moment onwards, she was no longer the young girl who just came out of the military academy and dreamt of improving her kingdom. Now, she was just Princess Gulibaduo, someone who wanted to gain more power and stand at a higher position.


    When Gulibaduo met her father, she convinced her father to give her two additional hours. However, her father closed the entire spaceport. It was impossible for anyone to bring the Babu scepter out from the country now.


    If the other party didn¡¯t bring the Babu scepter to the national bank within these two hours, the king would issue a warrant for Mu Youyun and Qian Jialin. He would also lodge aint against the Federation too.


    One hourter, news came that Mu Youyun and Qian Jialin had brought the Babu scepter to the national bank.


    The king of Bya was ted. He started listening to the details Gulibaduo said.

 Chapter 663 - Negotiation!

    <h4>Chapter 663: Negotiation!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Gulibaduo ordered the bodyguards to catch her confidant. She took off themunicator on her confidant¡¯s hand. Because of the little device, her confidant was not able to send any information about her actions. With the help of high-ss hackers, they were able to see all the messages her confidant had sent. She had been contacting a secret number all these while. Her confidant had told them about the situation with the Babu scepter.


    The hackers tried to trace the number but they received nothing in the end. Everyone knew that the other party had hackers too. When they realized that their n had failed, they cleared all the information.


    The king was furious. He decided to investigate this matter. For a period of time, gunshots rang through the sky in the Bya Kingdom. However, no one knew if the person behind the scene was found.


    The only change was the princess¡¯ confidant. She had disappeared. At the same time, a handsome young man from the Federation appeared beside the princess. He was Yun Feiyang. As for whether he managed to gain the liking of the princess and achieve his motive, Ling Lan didn¡¯t care. They were on their way back to the Federation.


    Besides the six battle teams, there were no other people on the Feiyang Ship.


    The Feiyang Ship was badly damaged. They told their passengers that the ship needed repairing and asked its passengers to stay at Bya Kingdom for two days. After two days, another cruise ship woulde and pick the passengers up.


    The Bya ¡®representative¡¯ on the cruise ship negotiated with the passengers about this. If the passengers didn¡¯t want to wait for two days, they could get a refund for their ticket. A portion of the refund would be given to them so that they could buy another ticket to get back to their country. The rest of the refund would be given after the entire trip ended.


    Ling Lan and herrades chose this option. This would allow them to leave the Shun Feng tour group. Another bunch of people also left. However, they didn¡¯t leave voluntarily. They were captured by the soldiers of the Bya Kingdom.


    The Bya Kingdom would not let these people who attempted to kill their princess go easily. This list of people was given by the soldiers of the Federation. The Federation didn¡¯t want these people to escape too.


    All these had nothing to do with Ling Lan and her team. At that moment, they were rxing on the Feiyang Ship. The six battle teams were having a good time together. The atmosphere between them was friendly. However, at the military headquarters, the representatives from the six battle teams were arguing over the ownership of the two mechas. They almost started fighting because of this.


    He Xuyang crossed his hands over his chest and looked at the other representatives coldly.


    The Caesar-made mecha was not what everyone was fighting for. It was the ace mecha.


    From the images send over from the Feiyang Ship, that ace mecha was the newest model from Caesar. Everyone knew what this meant. This mecha was made using the most advanced technology and the most powerful weapon from Caesar. Once the Federation uncovered the secrets behind that mecha, they would be able to replicate it.


    If they were able to uncover the technology of Caesar, the Federation¡¯s mecha would improve in quality and it would be a chance for them to be the leader of the human race.


    The person who made all these happened would have his name written down in history. Not only that, the division which he belonged to will be given many privileges. This was what everyone wanted.


    No one was able to withstand the temptation of bing the strongest division. This was why all the six division¡¯s representative appeared here.


    However, their Young Master Lan was the one who caught the ace mecha. How could they take away his merit?


    He was not only here to protect the rights of the 23rd Division, but he was also here to protect the merits that belonged to their Young Master. This was why General Ling Xiao sent him. Only he knew Ling Lan¡¯s real identity. Hence, he would not let Ling Lan suffer any injustice.


    He knocked on the table. The other representatives got attracted by the sound and quietened down. Everyone looked at He Xuyang and waited for him to speak.


    ¡°It is undeniable that the 23rd Division took down the two ace mechas. Based on the result of the battle, the mechas belonged to the Lingtian Battle Team.¡± He Xuyang¡¯s cold voice sounded in the room. His tone was firm. He didn¡¯t want any other division to get any benefits.


    The other representatives narrowed their eyes. They realized that He Xuyang had a huge appetite. He wanted to get the entire merit, whether it was individual merit or group merit. He had no intention of sharing the benefits with anyone else.


    He Xuyang¡¯s actions angered the other representatives. They exchanged nces with one another and decided to team up for now. They knew that if they wanted to gain any benefit, they needed to deal with this bastard first.


    ¡°Hmph, the situation was so messy. How do you know who destroyed the other party? The 23rd Division snatched the two mechas from the other teams at the end of the battle. How was this their merit? Don¡¯t be shameless.¡± The representative from the 17th division was the first to speak.


    He could say this because he had ordered his men to erase all the images the captain of Feiyang had sent them, including the recordings taken by the mechas.


    At that moment, he felt lucky that the Feiyang Ship belonged to the 17th division so he had the chance to do such small actions. He didn¡¯t do it because they wanted to snatch other people¡¯s merit. The benefits that this newest ace mecha model brought were too great. They were unable to resist the temptation.


    No matter how despicable he had to be, he would do it for the 17th division. The better their equipment was, the greater the survival rate of their soldiers. A tinge of guilt shed past his eyes. He remained firm to his decision.


    ¡°Yes. When our ace operators went out, your ace operators were still hiding in the spaceship. They only came out after they noticed that most of the opponent had been subdued by us. They were just clearing up the battlefield,¡± The representative from the 13th division continued.


    If they didn¡¯t receive the news that the recruits from the 23rd Division brought the two mechas back, they would not be so polite to the 23rd Division.


    If the 23rd Division was sensible and willing to share this merit with them, they were willing to cooperate with them and help the 23rd Division. However, the 23rd Division was too ambitious. They wanted everything. The other divisions were infuriated. They wanted to kick the 23rd Division out of the picture.


    Of course, they had this confidence because the information they received told them that the 6 people from the Lingtian Battle Team were just recruits who came out of the military academy recently. Only two of them were experienced soldiers who had been in the military for four years. The rest of them had not be official soldiers yet.


    How could such mecha operators bepared to the experienced mecha operators in their division? These young men were just lucky and managed to pick up two mechas from the universe...


    The representatives felt jealous. Why weren¡¯t their soldiers so lucky? If not, they wouldn¡¯t have to argue with the people around them. They could act like He Xuyang and take all the merits of the battle.


    The 1st division had a close rtionship with the 23rd Division since Ling Xiao belonged under the First Marshal. Hence, even though He Xuyang¡¯s words made the 1st division¡¯s representative unhappy, he couldn¡¯t just let the other divisions take away 23rd Division¡¯s merits. Rather than letting the other divisions gaining the benefits, he would rather let the 23rd Division be the one gaining it.


    Hence, the representative of the 1st division coughed. Everyone kept quiet. They respected him. He represented the First Marshal, who was the most powerful leader in the military.


    The representative of the 1st division said, ¡°In the battlefield, it is normal for a veteran to take care of a recruit. Since the recruits got the merit, we should not snatch it from them. We cannot hurt the recruit¡¯s feelings.¡± There was a hidden meaning behind his words.


    F**k. If the 23rd Division increased in strength, the 1st division would benefit too. That was why you said all this.


    The other representatives gritted their teeth. Although the 1st division represented the First Marshal, the representative was the same rank as them. They were not afraid of him.


    No division was willing to give up the massive benefitsid out in front of them.


    ¡°So what? In a battlefield, the recruits are thest ones to receive the group benefits.¡± The representative of the 3rd division replied coldly. He represented the Third Marshal. He was not afraid of the First Marshal


    There were two kinds of merits in a battlefield: Individual merits and group merit. Individual merit was given to the person who achieved it based on the data collected while the group merit is distributed based on the serving years of the soldier. Veterans would get more benefitspared to recruits. This was because most of the time, the veterans were the ones who contributed to the battle more. As for the recruits, they were fortunate enough to survive the battle. This distribution of merits had been silently acknowledged by the Federation. The other representatives felt hopeful once again.


    ¡°Also, the Lingtian Battle Team was only in charge of clearing up the battleground. We don¡¯t even know if getting the two mechas back is part of their merit or not,¡± The representative of the 9th division said. He didn¡¯t want to give the 23rd Division any chances. One lesspetitor was good news for him.


    He Xuyangughed lightly. Everyone looked back at him.


    ¡°In front of interest, you all are so shameless. How can you all give false ounts of true facts? But, there is no need to worry. I have a video. I¡¯ve many copies of this video so you all can y around with these copy. You can lose it or destroy it.¡± He Xuyang smiled as he showed his ultimate move. He felt fortunate that Young Master Lan copied the video and passed it to the general using special means. This was why He Xuyang wanted to get all the merits of this battle.


    The other people were stunned. He Xuyang signaled his adjutant officer to show everyone the video. Very soon, the screen at the conference room started disying the scene of the battle.


    ¡°There, you can see that they blocked most of the opponent... the other party sent 12 mechas. 7 of them attacked the Lingtian Battle Team. Oh right, I forgot to tell you all that the Lingtian Battle Team is a four-stars battle team. Among the six people that went on this mission, five of them are ace mecha masters. One is a special-ss operator. On the other hand, there are only six other ace mecha masters in this mission. Lingtian Battle Team contributed to almost half of the ace mecha masters in this mission.¡±


    Every sentence that He Xuyang said were a p to the other representatives¡¯ faces. Those people that said that the Lingtian Battle Team didn¡¯t have the capabilities and could only clean up the battlefield felt humiliated. Their faces turned red. They didn¡¯t expect the recruits to be so powerful. They were as strong as experienced mecha operators. Some of them might even be stronger.


    Everyone was smart. They could see that the members of the Lingtian Battle Team gained the upper hand. Especially the shot that killed the ace mecha master operating the newest bnced mecha. It was a sneak attack but it helped the Lingtian Battle Team to gain control of the entire situation. If the mecha operator didn¡¯t sacrifice himself to save his captain, all the 7 mechas would have been taken down.


    ¡°The members of the 23rd Division used their own abilities to obtain this merit. Those two mechas belonged to the 23rd Division. This is an undeniable fact.¡± He Xuyang was firm in his decision.


    Besides the representative of the 1st division, the other four representatives all looked at He Xuyang coldly. They would not give up. Some of them even wanted to call upon the higher-ups to pressure Ling Xiao.


    They felt that Ling Xiao was too greedy! They were unconvinced.


    The representative of the 1st division didn¡¯t want the 23rd Division to offend the other division so he tried to ease the situation. ¡°If the other battle teams didn¡¯t block the other ace operators and created such a good environment for the Lingtian Battle Team, the Lingtian Battle Team would not be able to achieve such good results, right?¡±


    He exchanged a nce with He Xuyang. He hoped that He Xuyang would not get too overboard.

 Chapter 664 - One Step Behind!

    <h4>Chapter 664: One Step Behind!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    He Xuyang smiled. ¡°Of course, help from other battle teams were necessary.¡± He Xuyang understood that he should stop at the right time. He was willing to give up some benefits.


    The other representatives felt better when they heard what He Xuyang said. This meant that the 23rd Division was willing to share some of the benefits with them. There was still room for negotiation.


    Hence, they start a new round of discussion again. The other representatives became much more humble since He Xuyang had the upper hand. He Xuyang¡¯s job became easier.


    However, it was not easy to satisfy everyone. He Xuyang didn¡¯t want to undermine the 23rd Division¡¯s interest. He was only willing to let the other division assist the 23rd Division in experimenting with the mechas and gain some benefits through that. But, that was not enough for the other divisions.


    Eight hours passed. He Xuyang felt that he had reached his limit. He was not going to take any more steps back. The discussion reached a standstill.


    The representative of the other divisions did many actions behind the scenes in order to gain as much advantage for their division. They contacted the Second and Third Marshal and hoped that they could put some stress on Ling Xiao and asked him to make a concession.


    Even the First Marshal received a message from the General of the 1st division. He hoped that the First Marshal would ask Ling Xiao to give somepromises. The three marshals felt helpless. They had no choice but to contact Ling Xiao. However, Ling Xiao was on a honeymoon with his wife. He even switched off hismunicator so that he wouldn¡¯t be disturb.


    F**k. You bastard, Ling Xiao. How can you use such a method to run away from us? Shameless!


    The three marshals were experienced. They knew why Ling Xiao did this. He didn¡¯t want to give in. The Second and Third Marshal felt depressed while the First Marshal justughed heartily. As expected of the person whom he had high hopes for. He had be a qualified general. He had a sessor now.


    Since the generals of the divisions couldn¡¯t find Ling Xiao and couldn¡¯t convince He Xuyang, they decided toy their hands on the mechas. The generals decided to cooperate and snatch the mechas themselves.


    While the other divisions keep watch over the 23rd Division and prevented any starships of the 23rd Division froming close to the Feiyang Ship, the people from the 17th division waited for the Feiyang Ship at the spaceport. Once the Feiyang Shipnded, they would snatch the two ace mechas over.


    This was the only way to force the sly Ling Xiao out of his cave.


    Just as they were preparing to act, they received a piece of news from Feiyang which made them vomit blood.


    The captain of the Feiyang Ship received an order to go directly to the base of the 17th division after they entered the Federation. At the same time, they needed to hold back the people from the Lingtian Battle Team and prevent them from taking the two ace mechas away.


    The captain looked at the order and sighed. The adviser beside him seemed worried. ¡°Captain, must we do this?¡±


    ¡°We are soldiers. We just need to obey instructions. There is no need to think about anything else,¡± the caption replied calmly.


    The higher-ups had to consider many things when they passed an order, so the people under them might not be able to understand the order at the start. However, experience told them that the decisions made by the higher-ups were always beneficial to them. Hence, they just needed to carry out the orders.


    The Feiyang Ship followed their captain¡¯s order and went straight to the 17th division, the moment they entered Federation grounds. All the defensive fleets had received a message too so the Feiyang Ship passed without any resistance.


    After three hours, the Feiyang Ship entered the region in the Federation where the maic field was the messiest. Radars and signals would be lost in this region. The navigators had to rely on their innate talents to find the correct path and direct the ship out of this maze.


    The Feiyang Ship was a basic military vessel but it was equipped well. There was a navigator on board too so under his guidance, the Feiyang Ship moved steadily towards their destination.


    ¡°Something is wrong!¡± The navigator shouted suddenly. The sleepy crew beside him woke up from the shout.


    ¡°What happened?¡± The operative asked nervously. The life of everyone on board the ship was in their hands. It was already too huge of a burden for him to bear.


    ¡°I felt something moving towards us,¡± The navigator said seriously.


    ¡°Moving towards us? Is it a meteorite? Or is it a ruin in this maze?¡± These were the first things the operative thought of. His expression changed.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± The navigator replied. He was only a low-level navigator. He could only sense the right path and whether anything was flying towards them. He was unable to see things around them like high-level navigators.


    ¡°Everyone, be on your guard. Be careful of meteorites and ruins. Don¡¯t let the ship bump into anything.¡± The captain had rushed over after receiving the news.


    The people in the control room got busy. The radar was useless now so everyone had to use binocrs.


    ¡°Ah, what is that?¡± One of the crew saw something huge in his vision and shouted.


    The crew moved quickly and soon, the image he saw was uploaded on the big screen.


    ¡°It is a massive starship!¡± Someone shouted.


    ¡°It is the most powerful starship, themand ship!¡± As the starship got closer, they could see the numerous cannons on the starship as well as its magnificent design. All these proved that there was a general on the starship.


    The starship moved to the side and revealed its fire phoenix totem on the side of the ship. Beside the phoenix, there was a huge number ¡¯23¡¯.


    Everyone was dumbfounded. Ling Xiao, who used to appear on screens, suddenly appeared in front of them. Were they dreaming?


    ¡°Beep, beep. An unknown starship wants tomunicate with us.¡± The optical supeputer of the starship reminded everyone that a signal wasing in.


    The captain immediately answered the call. A clear voice sounded, ¡°To the people on Feiyang, nice to meet you. This is General Ling Xiao¡¯s ship, The Phoenix. Please prepare yourself. The general would like to personally board Feiyang.¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes... I will prepare instantly.¡± The captain hung up excitedly. No one expected that they would meet General Ling Xiao in the maic field maze. They never thought that the general would want to board the Feiyang Ship too. This was their honor.


    Although the Feiyang Ship was not under the 23rd division and Ling Xiao was not their direct leader, he was everyone¡¯s idol in the military. Everyone would be excited to see Ling Xiao. How could anyone reject meeting him? The entire crew on the Feiyang Ship started preparing for General Ling Xiao¡¯s arrival.


    Very soon, a huge mecha flew out of The Phoenix. It was the god-ss mecha which was always seen on the screen. Everyone stared at it intently. The mechanded on the entrance of the Feiyang Ship.


    All the crew was in the mecha hold. They watched as the god-ss mecha [Belief] got transported into the center of the mecha hold.


    The cockpit opened. Ling Xiao came down with the help of the elevator tform. There was a beautiful woman beside him. She was his wife, Lan Luofeng. She wore a military uniform. They looked really good together.


    The moment Ling Xiao and Lan Luofengnded, the captain rushed forward excitedly and bowed to Ling Xiao. ¡°Nice to meet you, General.¡±


    Ling Xiao smiled and saluted back. ¡°Thank you for your hard work.¡±


    The captain¡¯s face turned red when he got a reply from Ling Xiao. He didn¡¯t know what to say.


    Ling Xiao didn¡¯t mind his reaction. He brought Lan Luofeng and walked towards the two Caesar mechas. He looked at them carefully. After a while, he asked, ¡°Are these the war trophies that the Lingtian Battle Team brought back?¡± This sentence confirmed that the two mechas belonged to Lingtian.


    The captain felt as though he was sshed with a bucket of cold water, he regained his senses. He remembered that his general wanted the two mechas too.


    The captain gave a forced smile. Since General Ling Xiao came directly to the ship, the final result was apparent. The two mechas would definitely be taken by the 23rd division. The n that their general had failed. Who would dare to stop General Ling Xiao? Unless their general came personally, no one could stop him. They could only listen to his words obediently.


    The captain couldn¡¯t help but look at Ling Lan and her team with envy. They had such a good leader. The Lingtian Battle Team had a bright future ahead of themselves.


    The other battle teams felt helpless too. No one expected Ling Xiao to personallye to protect the merits of a battle team under his division. They were a step behind.


    Meng Shangyuan smiled at Ling Lan and her team members. With Ling Xiao around, they would definitely get the rewards that they deserved.


    Actually, when he knew that the other divisions wanted to snatch this merit from them, he was worried. They were recruits who just entered the 23rd division. If there was no one powerful supporting them, this merit would nevernd in their hands.


    Luckily, they had an impartial general. This was their good fortune as well as the luck of the Federation.

 Chapter 665 - Create Trouble For His Daughter?

    <h4>Chapter 665: Create Trouble For His Daughter?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Just like that, after examining the two mechas, Ling Xiao ordered Ling Lan and her team members to bring the mechas back to The Phoenix. At the same time, he ordered them to return to the 23rd division with them.


    As the crew of the Feiyang Ship looked at them withplicated expressions, Ling Lan and her team members, as well as the two mechas, disappeared from their sight. The crew was only able to send this news to their general after they left the maic field maze.


    Hence, by the time the generals received this news, it was already toote. Ling Xiao had already returned to the base of the 23rd division, Southcrest. No one was able to snatch the two mechas from Ling Xiao anymore.


    After this piece of news came, the discussion continued. No one dared to make any more request. They had nothing to threaten He Xuyang with. If they provoked him, he might even turn his back on them.


    In the end, He Xuyang was the biggest winner of the discussion. However, in order to protect the Lingtian Battle Team¡¯s cut, he told everyone that the two mechas were taken down by the six battle teams together. Lingtian Battle Team would get the merit they deserve and he also got some benefits from the other five battle teams too. These benefits would actualize in the future so it was not important now.


    On the other side, Ling Lan and her team members operated their mechas andnded on The Phoenix with the two Caesar mechas. The moment Lan Luofeng returned to The Phoenix and saw Ling Lan, she changed from an elegantdy into a mother who missed her daughter dearly.


    ¡°Oh my god, my dear baby. I miss you so much.¡± Lan Luofeng¡¯s hug almost caused Ling Lan to lose her breath. She was speechless when she saw the tears on her mother¡¯s face. Mum, you are using this method again.


    ¡°I miss you too.¡± Ling Lan couldn¡¯t do anything to Lan Luofeng. She could only console her mother. She nced at Ling Xiao and wanted him to take his wife back.


    Qi Long and the others all smiled secretly when they saw the situation Ling Lan was in. Their almighty boss has a weakness too! Qi Long told himself that if he provoked Ling Lan in the future, he would definitely find his mother.


    Ling Xiao wanted to continue watching the show but when he saw the threatening gaze Ling Lan was giving him, he knew that he must act. If not, Ling Lan might do something to him. ¡°Luofeng, Lan¡¯er said that he missed your cooking. Why don¡¯t you make some food for him?¡±


    Lan Luofeng was shocked. She looked at Ling Lan in disbelief. ¡°Baby, did you really like the food I made? That is amazing. I knew that my baby would like my cooking.¡±


    Daddy, are you helping me or creating trouble for me? Ling Lan red at her father and then said to Lan Luofeng, ¡°Mummy, daddy likes your braised pork too. Remember to make one for him.¡± Since you did this to me, I must pull you down too.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s face turned pale. Thest time he ate her braised pork, it was either uncooked or burnt. The taste was indescribable... however, Lan Luofeng¡¯s ted look made him swallow his rejection. He smiled bitterly and nodded. ¡°Yes, remember to cook one for me.¡±


    As expected, his daughter was not easy to deal with. Ling Xiao felt happy and depressed at the same time. He didn¡¯t cause trouble for her intentionally. He just said the wrong things.


    But, since he already made a mistake, he would just suffer with his daughter. Ling Xiao decided to enjoy the best out of the situation. Was this considered as family bonding?

 Chapter 666 - Going Too Far!

    <h4>Chapter 666: Going Too Far!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan chose the wrong person to help her. In front of Lan Luofeng, Ling Xiao was helpless. He would do anything to make Lan Luofeng happy, even if it meant creating trouble for him and his daughter. Not only that, he would do the same thing to the other members of the Lingtian Battle Team too.


    Lan Luofeng invited the other members of Lingtian to have a meal together. She wanted to show off her cooking skills in front of Ling Lan¡¯s friends and showed them that she was a good mother. Hence, she decided that she would make the dishes all by herself.


    Ling Lan saw the confidence and decisiveness in her mother¡¯s eyes and knew that her friends couldn¡¯t escape anymore. She didn¡¯t want her friends to suffer with her so she secretly winked at them and hoped that they would reject her mother.


    Unfortunately, no one epted her goodwill. The temptation of having a meal with their idol was too great. Everyone ignored the wink their boss gave them and promptly epted Mother Lan¡¯s invitation.


    No, someone still kept his cool. Li Lanfeng wanted to reject the offer but before he could open his mouth, Zhao Jun tackled him and covered his mouth. He dragged Li Lanfeng to the back of the group. By the time Li Lanfeng managed to break free from the grip, the others had epted the invitation. Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t know what to say.


    Ling Lan looked at them helplessly. Li Lanfeng was worried. He felt that something unexpected would happen during the meal. If not, his rabbit would not look at them like that. He understood her gaze. It was filled with pity and helplessness. There was a hint of schadenfreude in it. She seemed to be telling them that they deserved it.


    During dinner, he was the only one who remained vignt. However, he was still unable to escape. He put a small piece of vegetable in his mouth. In that instant, he knew why Ling Lan looked at them with that look.


    Compared to the others, Li Lanfeng was in a better situation. He only took a small piece of vegetable so he was able to control the ufortable feeling and swallow the weird-tasting vegetable with a straight face.


    Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and Li Yingjie were not so lucky. They were extremely excited to see the dishes Mother Lan made for them. These were cooked personally by General Ling Xiao¡¯s wife. Only General Ling Xiao was able to eat these dishes on a daily basis. They felt lucky that they were able to have a taste of it again...


    Qi Long was the one who thought that he could taste it again. When he went to his boss¡¯s house in the past with Han Jijyun, they ate the food cooked by Mother Lan... supposedly. (Actually, the food was made by Ling Nanyi and a servant. They knew how great Lan Luofeng¡¯s cooking was, so they would never let her enter the kitchen. Hence, Lan Luofeng only gave them ideas about the dishes. Whether the ideas were taken into consideration by Ling Nanyi, no one knew...)


    Anyway, because of that experience, Qi Long was fooled. He thought that Mother Lan was a really good cook. He never expected her food to taste like poison! Hence, he took arge portion of vegetables with his chopsticks. Zhao Jun and Li Yingjie did the same thing too. They ced it in their mouth without any hesitation...


    Let¡¯s pray for these three people and hope that they would survive Mother Lan¡¯s dishes.


    A weird taste spread in their mouth. It was an indescribable taste. The food tasted cooked and raw at the same time. The three of them opened their mouth and wanted to spit out the food. At that moment, they felt a sharp gaze staring at them. Their boss was looking at them with cold eyes. There was an underlying threat in her eyes. If they dared to spit out the food, they were dead!


    The three of them closed their mouth immediately.


    Lan Luofeng noticed that they didn¡¯t swallow their food and asked nervously, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you all eating? Is it not nice?¡± She was worried. Were her cooking skills still so bad after so many years?


    The three of them shook their heads. They didn¡¯t dare to tell Mother Lan that her food tasted bad. Just look at how their boss was staring at them. If they dare to reveal the truth to Mother Lan, they would get killed.


    ¡°Since it¡¯s nice, eat.¡± Ling Lan ced her right hand on the table and lifted her forefinger. She pointed at the food that they picked up with their chopsticks. Then, she calmly took a piece of side dish from a te and ate it indifferently.


    Sob, as expected of their boss. He could remain calm in all kinds of situations.


    The three of them didn¡¯t dare to disobey their boss. They had tears in their eyes as they tried to swallow most of the food.


    When they decided to stop eating, Ling Lan lifted her forefinger again. She wanted them to continue eating.


    The three of them looked at Ling Lan helplessly. They wanted her to let them off this time. However, Ling Lan gave them a death re. They got a shock and quickly started taking in more food.


    Sob, I rather die from Mother Lan¡¯s food than from boss¡¯s torture. The three of them chose the better option.


    Lan Luofeng was ted when she saw her dishes being so popr. She looked at the three young men lovingly. She knew that her cooking was not that bad. Look at how well they were eating her food. She decided that the next time these three young mene to her house, she would cook more food for them.


    Luckily, Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and Li Yingjie didn¡¯t know what Mother Lan was thinking. If not, they would never dare toe and visit Ling Lan again. However, they didn¡¯t. Hence, when they came to visit their idol, General Ling Xiao, again, they never expected to be weed with a table full of dishes...


    The three of them thought that they would die at the dining table but they proved that the human race is very resilient. They managed to leave the dining table alive. Their footsteps were a little wobbly. The weird tasting food made them lose their bodily functions temporarily. They could only smile stupidly now.


    Lin Zhong-qing was much better than them. Although he was excited, he remembered his table manners and ate his food in small bites. This saved him. He was not forced to eat all the food from his boss.


    However, he ate quite a bit of food too. His friends were eating so furiously so he couldn¡¯t stop eating too. Even with his eating speed, he had temporarily forgotten some of his memories. He forgot how food should taste like.


    Li Lanfeng was in the best state. He only took a small piece of vegetable at the start so he maintained his speed and quantity. He ate the least out of everyone and was the calmest among them. While the others focused their attention on battling the food in front of them, Li Lanfeng had the extra energy to talk to Lan Luofeng. Lan Luofeng was delighted by what he said and keptughing. Ling Lan and Ling Xiao both looked at Li Lanfeng from the corner of their eyes.


    Ling Xiao: How dare this young man talk to my wife like that in front of me? Is he disregarding my presence?


    Ling Lan: Why didn¡¯t I know that he was so talkative? He seems like a different person today. So weird. Forget it, since mother is happy, I will not me him.


    The meal ended withplicated feelings.


    Lan Luofeng was the happiest out of everyone. Her dishes were all finished. Li Lanfeng was a good talker and managed to make herugh all the time. She smiled all the way through the meal.


    Ling Lan was the next in line. Since her mother was happy, she was happy too. She would never admit that she missed her mother.


    Ling Xiao, on the other hand, feltplicated. He felt good that his daughter and her friends were enjoying themselves. However, if Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t put in so much effort to make his wife happy, he would feel more at ease.


    Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and Li Yingjie were in a daze so they could be disregarded. Lin Zhong-qing felt relieved. Finally, everything ended. Not only was Mother Lan¡¯s cooking poisonous, but General Ling Xiao domineering aura also made him stress too. Although he looked amiable, he couldn¡¯tpletely hide his aura. He looked at Li Lanfeng with admiration. He didn¡¯t expect Li Lanfeng to be so calm in front of General Ling Xiao... this was something he would never be able to do.


    After Li Lanfeng walked out of the room, he rxed his shoulders. He could finally feel at ease now.


    Did he act well in front of Mother Lan?


    Li Lanfeng was not sure if his performance was good or not... Ling Lan was really important to him. Hence, he was unable to maintain hisposure. Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly. Seemed like he still overdid it.


    He feltplicated. He helped Lin Zhong-qing dragged the other three back to their rooms and went back. He tossed and turned in his bed for the entire night.


    After sending her friends away, Ling Lan turned and entered the dining hall again. Lan Luofeng was happily clearing the table while humming Li Yinfei¡¯s most popr song, Tranquil Night. She had been in love with Li Yinfei¡¯s songs recently.


    ¡°Are you very happy?¡± Ling Xiao was sitting on the sofa. His voice was gentle but Ling Lan detected a hint of unhappiness in it. Did one of her friends make her father unhappy? Ling Lan hadn¡¯t realized that her father was jealous.


    ¡°Of course. My baby¡¯s friends are the best.¡± Ling Lan felt her father¡¯s aura turning colder when Lan Luofeng said this. This feeling was gone in a second. Only a domain realm master like Ling Lan was able to notice such a short change. Hence, Lan Luofeng didn¡¯t notice anything. She continued smiling brightly and said, ¡°They knew how to appreciate my cooking. Look at how much those three boys ate. No wonder they are so well-built...¡±


    Ling Xiao¡¯s unhappiness disappeared when he heard what she said. He looked at her lovingly.


    So what if Li Lanfeng talked so much? In his wife¡¯s heart, the three boys who ate more food left a much deeper impression. He was not a threat at all. Ling Xiao felt pity for the young man. He wasted so much effort to make his wife happy and got nothing back in return.


    When Ling Lan walked in, Lan Luofeng smiled. ¡°Baby, one of them visited us for the first time, right?¡±


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Yes. His name is Li Yingjie. Do you remember the arrogant brat in Scout Academyst time?¡±


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s him. No wonder he looks so familiar. Wasn¡¯t he your rivalst time? Why did he enter your battle team?¡± Lan Luofeng asked curiously.


    ¡°Maybe my father is too charismatic so he chose to apply for the 23rd Division. However, he didn¡¯t want to join other battle teams because he didn¡¯t know anyone there so he chose to be my member temporarily,¡± Ling Lan exined.


    ¡°That boy seems like a good person. Take care of him next time,¡± Lan Luofeng smiled as she replied.


    ¡°I understand, mummy,¡± Ling Lan replied helplessly.


    She didn¡¯t expect Li Yingjie to gain her mother¡¯s liking the first time they met. She thought that he would be the least liked by her mother. Ling Lan suddenly remembered that Li Yingjie was also well-liked by the aunties on the Feiyang Ship... does he have a hidden innate talent? A talent which allowed older women to like him like their own child? She noted this down mentally. The next time they meet a mother, she would send Li Yingjie up first and test her prediction.


    Suddenly, Ling Xiao interrupted them. ¡°How well do you know Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng?¡±


    ¡°They are three years older than me. We only worked together for a little over a year. I don¡¯t understand them as well as the others but I trust them,¡± Ling Lan replied firmly.


    ¡°That¡¯s good! But Li Lanfeng...¡± Ling Xiao paused. He pondered over his words. ¡°Has a bit of a problem.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. She wanted her father to borate more.


    ¡°What is his position in your battle team?¡± Ling Xiao asked seriously.


    ¡°Strategist. At the same time, a capable fighter,¡± Ling Lan replied.


    ¡°I remember that you already have a strategist in your team. His name is Han Jijyun, right?¡± Ling Xiao frowned. ¡°It is not good to have two people in the same position in a team. Two different factions might appear if you have two strategists.¡±


    ¡°I know. However, it is fine. Li Lanfeng specialize in hidden schemes while Han Jijyun is a decisive person and likes to scheme openly. Theypliment each other well.¡±


    ¡°However, he gave me the feeling that he is not satisfied with what you gave him. He wants more,¡± Ling Xiao reminded her.


    ¡°More?¡± Ling Lan frowned curiously. What does Li Lanfeng want?

 Chapter 667 - Little Blossom, the Substitute Member!

    <h4>Chapter 667: Little Blossom, the Substitute Member!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Lan Luofeng heard the conversation between them, and interjected, ¡°Ling Xiao, you¡¯re thinking too much. Although this person isn¡¯t as bright as Qi Long and the others, he isn¡¯t a bad guy.¡±


    Ling Xiao and Ling Lan looked towards Lan Luofeng simultaneously, waiting for her to borate more.


    ¡°Could it be that you two think that his aura isn¡¯t clean? That type of aura isn¡¯t something that someone that is evil could acquire.¡± Lan Luofeng said how she felt outright.


    Ling Xiao and Ling Lan went into deep thought. Lan Luofeng continued, ¡°Also someone that my little baby Lan acknowledges shouldn¡¯t be too weak.¡± Lan Luofeng was without a doubt, a mother who trusted her own daughter unconditionally.


    Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t refute Lan Luofeng¡¯s words. He couldn¡¯t just say that he didn¡¯t trust his own daughter¡¯s intuition... Ah sh*t, he said something wrong again. It wasn¡¯t like they were choosing a son-inw, he shouldn¡¯t care about his daughter¡¯s intuition.


    Ling Xiao thought in his own mind that what he was thinking about was wrong. However, Lan Luofeng¡¯s words had made Ling Xiao temporarily put down his disapproval of Li Lanfeng. But in the depths of his mind, he still felt that punk Li Lanfeng was annoying (a strong intuitive feeling). However, Ling Xiao didn¡¯t think too much of it. Those punks would be staying under his watch and probably couldn¡¯t do anything anyways.


    Ling Lan talked with her mom and dad for another short while. Then she returned to the room Lan Luofeng had prepared for her. However, as she entered the room, the cold expression on her face twitched. The pink princess style room was cramping her style! Could it be that her mother was protesting Ling Lan¡¯s style?


    Ling Lan fell asleep after thinking some random thoughts. It was the first time she had slept soundly ever since she received the previous mission. Even Little Four, who saw the Boss in deep sleep, couldn¡¯t help but silence his breathing, afraid that he would disturb her.


    Little Four, who had been by Ling Lan¡¯s side for all this time, knew that in the past month and a half, his Boss hadn¡¯t really fallen into deep sleep even once. She was always alert and would enter battle mode if anything had happened. Little Four was even worried that the Boss¡¯s body might not be able to handle it. It was a good thing that Ling Xiao hade. The Boss can finally sleep peacefully.


    While watching Ling Lan, who was in deep sleep, Little Four suddenly felt sleepy as well. He blinked confusedly. Could an intelligent entity like himself be sleepy? However, sleeping together with Boss was indeed very tempting for Little Four. Thus Little Four curled up beside Ling Lan¡¯s consciousness and slowly fell asleep.


    As Little Four slept, his body slowly became translucent in the mindspace. In the end, he becamepletely transparent and then disappeared from Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace.


    In the learning space, the originally peaceful environment suddenly became apocalyptic. Not long after, all of the instructors gathered together in Instructor Number One¡¯s dimension.


    ¡°Number One, what happened? Why are the dimensions unstable?¡± The mecha data that had been gathered in Number Three¡¯s dimension began to get mixed up. This made Number Three very scared.


    Everyone looked towards Number One. All of their dimensions had all changed more or less. After so many years, this was the first time a big change had happened.


    Number One looked at his own dimension. Dark clouds loomed above in the sky constantly. He couldn¡¯t help but frown. He discovered that Little Four¡¯s evolution had already be something he could not predict. He also didn¡¯t know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing...


    ¡°Majesty Four is evolving.¡± Number One was silent for a few seconds, then finally spoke.


    ¡°Evolving? You¡¯re saying Majesty Four is entering his mature stage? That¡¯s not possible!¡± Number Five eximed.


    It would require thousands or even tens of thousands of years for an intelligent entity to enter its mature stage. However, it had been just shy of 40 years since Little Four had awakened. In Mandora, he was considered to be still a newborn. When Little Four entered his growing stage 10 or so years ago, Number One had already felt it was odd andpletely unimaginable. However, only using 10 years to evolve into the mature stage was impossible! Number Five even thought that Number One was joking, even though Number One never joked about anything.


    Number One¡¯s calm and collected expression calmed Number Five down. He rubbed his face and asked, ¡°Then what¡¯s situation of his evolution right now?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± Number One shouted out these words clearly. This made all of the instructors frown in dismay. They were all thinking ¡°Number One, you are being too irresponsible. You are Majesty Four¡¯s protector!¡±


    ¡°Majesty Four¡¯s evolution has surpassed the estimation we had done back in the Mandora star system. Thus, I don¡¯t even know what level Majesty Four will be evolving towards.¡± Number One replied calmly.


    ¡°Then what should we do now? My dimension is in chaos. There isn¡¯t a peaceful ce in sight. Why couldn¡¯t he just evolve and not cause such a ruckus?¡± Number Four frowned in dismay as she twirled her finger around her hair.


    ¡°Who told you to make such a mess of your dimension? I reckon our Majesty Four is afraid that you¡¯ll teach bad things to his Boss, so he took this chance to destroy your dimension.¡± Number Sixughed. His dimension was still alright since there were only a few thunderstorms.


    Number Four red at Number Six. Number Six couldn¡¯t endure the re and began trembling. In the next second, a soft and warm hand held onto Number Six¡¯s ear, ¡°Little Six, you actually dare to mock your Elder Sister Number Four? You don¡¯t want to live anymore right?¡±


    Number Six immediately begged for forgiveness, begging Number Four to let him go. In the learning space, Number Seven, Number Eight and himself were considered to be the weakest in terms of power and would always be bullied. Just now he spoke too much.


    Number Four ruthlessly beat Number Six. Number Seven and Number Eight automatically moved to the side. Only an idiot would dare to anger that scary woman. Number Six was clearly looking for a death wish. Although they were all brother-in-arms, they would stand still and coldly watch on the side in order to protect their own life.


    ¡°Crash...¡± Suddenly the sky exploded and a sh of lightning struck the ground. It split Number One¡¯s stone chair into two pieces.


    Number Four immediately stopped what she was about to do. She looked towards the stone chair in dismay, ¡°Number One, even your dimension has be chaotic. It looks like Majesty Four¡¯s evolution is very dangerous this time.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± After saying that, Number One had appeared in the void. A terrifying aura suddenly exuded out of his body. It was as though the dark clouds around them suddenly felt something intimidating and calmed down. Then, the dark clouds dissipated and finally returned to the clear skies it once was.


    ¡°You guys stay here and wait for Majesty Four to finish his evolution.¡± After Number One released his aura and stabilized the dimension, he said this to everyone and continued to cross his legs together to meditate.


    The other instructors all looked at each other. Number Two, who had a ck cloak on coldly said, ¡°Then I¡¯m going to rest now.¡± After saying that, Number Twobined his shadow with Number One¡¯s and disappeared.


    ¡°Let¡¯s all go to sleep. We can¡¯t leave here anyways.¡± Number Five shrugged his shoulders. With Number One¡¯s domain presence holding the dimension together, none of them had the power to leave. Additionally, their dimensions were not necessarily safer than Number One¡¯s domain.


    Number Five looked around and saw a ce. He wrapped up his sleeves and waved his hands. The sound of twigs snapping began to echo as a sky towering tree was ttened into a t area. Heid down and smiled towards Number Nine, ¡°Little sister Nine, do you want toe with me?¡±


    Number Nine red at him angrily, then she sat beside Number One with her legs crossed as well. Only an idiot would go with Number Five.


    A figure suddenly appeared beside Number Five. Number Four got closer to Number Five¡¯s body and said, ¡°What, you only remembered your younger sister Nine and didn¡¯t think of your elder sister Four?¡±


    Number Five¡¯s wrist trembled and Number Four quickly moved away...


    ¡°Hmph, Number Five, you¡¯re so violent. You actually don¡¯t care about preserving beauty,¡± said Number Four angrily as she stood beside a tree with a silver needle between her fingers.


    ¡°If you want to preserve your beauty, go to the Big Boss!¡± Number Fiveid down, ¡°Don¡¯t bother me. I¡¯m not interested in you.¡±


    Number Four pouted and whispered, ¡°Perverts¡¯ appetites are odd. They actually like icebergs.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you like icebergs as well?¡± Number Five¡¯s voice echoed in Number Four¡¯s ear. After hearing her inner thoughts being brought out into the open, Number Four snorted coldly and vanished without a trace in the next second.


    Number Three had already created an open space on the hill. He predicts that he will be living in this dimension for quite some time, thus he actually built a simple house for himself. Seeing this, Number Six, Seven and Eight quickly came to help. The pressure where Number One was was too strong. Only Number Nine, and the incredible existence Number Two could stay around him without a problem. Number Five was clearly a pervert so they didn¡¯t dare to get too close to him. Number Four... Wuwuwu, they didn¡¯t want to y with her. Thus, they felt that living together with Number Three was the safest choice.


    Just like that, the instructors began living inside Number One¡¯s dimension while waiting for Little Four¡¯s evolution to finish.


    Ling Lan had a good night¡¯s sleep. After she woke up, she actually discovered that she had passed out for 24 hours. However, after such a long sleep, she had recovered to her peak state. She felt great. Although she felt like she was full of energy, she still felt there was something off. However, before she could think about it in more detail, she was called by her mother, who was worried and by her side this entire time, to go to dinner.


    Of course this time, Lan Luofeng didn¡¯t cook. If the general¡¯s wife cooked everyday, then what¡¯s the use of the chefs? Yesterday, it was only because Ling Xiao said the wrong things to cause that tragedy to ur.


    After the table was full of delicious foods, Ling Xiao told Ling Lan that they will be flying to Southcrest. After reaching Southcrest, Ling Lan would lead her team members to immediately return to the 23rd Division¡¯s headquarters to receive their promotions and rewards. As for Ling Xiao, he would continue to talk with the other generals and would of course be oblivious to everything.


    Just like that, once they arrived at Southcrest, Ling Lan departed from her father¡¯s quarters. The six of them wore their military uniforms Ling Xiao had prepared for them and went straight towards the headquarters of the division. On their way, Ling Lan finally knew why she felt that something was off. It turns out she hadn¡¯t seen Little Four since she woke up. Could it be that Little Four was running around and having fun in the virtual world and forget toe back?


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but call out Little Four. However, no matter how many times she called out for him, Little Four didn¡¯t respond. Ling Lan began to panic. Was Little Four in danger? Thinking back to the 24 hours of sleep she had, she couldn¡¯t help but think that something bad had happened to Little Four during that time?


    Feeling the anxiousness in Ling Lan¡¯s mind, a chubby little kid, who was sleeping soundly in one of the dimensions, was drop-kicked into Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace by Number One.


    Inside Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace, a chubby ball suddenly fell from the sky.


    Ling Lan frowned, ¡°Little Blossom, howe you¡¯re so chubby now?¡± Little Blossom was originally not chubby enough to be in a ball-shape.


    Little Blossom used his chubby little hands to rub his eyes, yawned and opened his eyes. He saw his master looking at him coldly. He looked around him and felt odd. It wasn¡¯t the ce where he went to sleep.


    Little Blossom, who was still confused, didn¡¯t have time to think more deeply. He saw Ling Lan and immediately shouted, ¡°Master, you¡¯re looking for me?¡±


    Hearing this, Ling Lan¡¯s forehead twitched again, ¡°I wasn¡¯t looking for you. I¡¯m looking for Little Four. Where did Little Four go? Do you know?¡±


    Little Blossom thought deeply for a second, then said, ¡°Big Boss Number One said that Elder Brother Little Four is undergoing evolution.¡±


    ¡°Evolution?¡± Ling Lan was stunned.


    ¡°Yes, evolution, like sleeping.¡± Little Blossom carefully answered with his fingers in his mouth. He himself had evolved during his sleep.


    ¡°Even Little Four needs evolving?¡± Ling Lan never thought about it before because in the past 20 years, Little Four never left her side like this. She thought Little Four would be with her forever, until she reaches the end of her days.


    ¡°Yes, intelligent entities like us must always evolve. If we evolve once, we will be stronger.¡± Little Blossom replied.


    After hearing Little Blossom¡¯s exnation, Ling Lan knew that it was a good thing, so she felt relieved. However, suddenly losing Little Four made Ling Lan feel that she was not used to it. Thus she asked, ¡°Little Blossom, when do you think Little Four will be able toe back?¡±


    ¡°That I don¡¯t know. Every intelligent entity¡¯s evolution is different. I would just need to sleep for one night. However, Elder Brother Little Four is stronger than me, so he probably needs a few nights.¡± Little Blossom replied confusedly.


    ¡°Hope everything goes well.¡± Ling Lan was very worried. She knew that evolution wasn¡¯t risk free. It was simr to her advancing where there was a threshold every time. If she could pass it, then her future would be clear. If she didn¡¯t pass the threshold, bing injured was considered to be light. The most serious consequence was level regression. It could even cause PTSD and make it so she would never be able to advance. There was an even scarier possibility of bing insane and then perish from the inside out...


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. Elder Brother Little Four is very strong.¡± Little Blossom was very confident in her Elder Brother Little Four.


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right.¡± Ling Lan rubbed the chubby little boy¡¯s head. She should learn from Little Blossom and believe in Little Four.


    ¡°So, why are you here?¡± Ling Lan continued to ask questions. She was looking for Little Four, so why did Little Blossome out?


    ¡°Big Boss Number One told mee and stay with master,¡± said Little Blossom as if he was being wronged. It should be known that he was sleeping in his dimension, but was kicked out into this space by the unruly Big Boss Number One. Now that he thought about it, every time he woke up in the past, he would be knocked out by someone. Now, he believed that it was probably that evil Big Boss Number One.


    ¡°Stay with me?¡± Ling Lan frowned again. What was Number One doing? Does he actually think that she was some little girl who needed a doll to stay with her?


    ¡°Well, no. He made mee over to be a substitute for Little Four to help master.¡± Little Blossom felt Instructor Number One sending over a terrifying aura and knew that he had said something wrong so he immediately changed his wording. Little Blossom thought to himself, ¡°Wuwuwu, the master is so kind. Elder Brother Little Four is kind too. Only Big Boss Number One is scary...¡±


    ¡°Help me?¡± Ling Lan thought it wasughable. It seemed that Little Blossom was Little Four¡¯s substitute member. However, didn¡¯t this little punk only know how to devour spiritual power? What can he do to help her? Thus she smiled and asked, ¡°Then tell me, what can you help me do?¡±


    Little Blossom rubbed his fingers together and thought with all his might. After thinking for a while, he responded slowly, ¡°Yes, yes, master, I can help you eat things...¡±


    Ling Lan almost fainted, ¡°What else can you devour other than spiritual power?¡± She didn¡¯t want to be a murderous maniac and just let him devour the spiritual power of humans right? This Little Blossom was as expected, not normal.


    ¡°Ah... That, yes, I remember now. I can also devour data...¡± Little Blossom thought deeply for a second and finally remembered the things he could devour.


    Ling Lan raised an eyebrow, ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I can devour all of the data in the virtual world! Devour!¡± Little Blossom pumped his fist in excitement showing that he wasn¡¯t someone useless. Ugh, this intelligent entity...


    ¡°So you¡¯re like a hacker who develops viruses from my previous life.¡± Ling Lan thought deeply about it for second. Although he wasn¡¯t like Little Four, who could change and manipte data at will, he could still make it so others will not be able to find data of her. It was indeed something that could help her and provide her with some sort of aid.


    Now that she understood what Little Blossom¡¯s capabilities were in a broader sense, she said approvingly, ¡°Not bad. Little Blossom, then I will leave myself in your care from now on.¡±


    Little Blossom proudly patted his chest and replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry master. Before Elder Brother Little Four returns, Little Blossom will try his best to help master.¡±


    It seemed that he was little punk who didn¡¯t know how to be modest. Ling Lan felt that her future was bleak. Why did asking Little Blossom for help made her feel so perturbed? It wasn¡¯t asfortable as asking Little Four...


    Little Blossom, did you know that your master dislikes you!


    Although Ling Lan had conversed with Little Blossom in her mindspace, in the real world, Qi Long and the others could only see their Boss meditating. Not long after, they had arrived at the 23rd Division¡¯s headquarters.


    On the outside it was called the 23rd Division¡¯s headquarters, but in reality it could be described more as a super city that was surrounded by walls. After reaching a kilometer away from the entrance to the city, the hover car descended to a height of three meters. Flying high in the headquarters was restricted. All flying objects flying above five meters would be ruthlessly shot down. No one could go against this regtion.


    The hover car continued to move forward and arrived at the entrance to the city. There was a check-point at the door with two small mecha battle teams guarding it. Those who tried to get into the city with problems or showing odd behaviors, those people would be captured by the guards. And resistance would be met with merciless attacks.


    Ling Lan¡¯s six man team scanned theirmunicators at the scanners beside the check-point. The door automatically opened after they scanned theirmunicators and the hover car continued to move forward. Their identities of course didn¡¯t have any issues, thus the mecha teams guarding the check-point ignored them.


    Once they had gone into the city, they could see that there were one mecha battle team patrolling the skies, and many military personnel patrolling the ground as well. A short whileter, the hover car automatically stopped at a za close to the entrance of the city.


    At that moment, the za had many soldiers standing in it. These soldiers saw the hover car entering the za. They all looked at it with curiosity. When they saw six young soldiers walking out of the hover car, they were surprised. It should be known that new recruits almost never had the chance to set foot on the headquarters. But now, seeing how young these soldiers were, these six were without a doubt new recruits.

 Chapter 668 - Care!

    <h4>Chapter 668: Care!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    At that moment, a battle team from the staff officer department was waiting in the za. Everyone in the area were curious about their actions but didn¡¯t dare to bother them. The Senior Captain leading the battle team suddenly walked towards Ling Lan¡¯s group of six. He walked in front of Ling Lan and saluted her, ¡°Hello, are you Major Ling Lan?¡±


    Ling Lan was dumbstruck. She was a Senior Captain a moment ago, so when did she be a Major? She saluted back with many unanswered questions in her head, ¡°Hello, I am Ling Lan and you are?¡±


    ¡°I am the team leader of one of the battle teams guarding the staff officer department, Senior Captain Yue Lin. I came here specifically to wee you, Major.¡± Although Senior Captain Yue Lin¡¯s tone was respectful, his eyes still showed a hint of surprise and confusion. Although he had seen the pictures of Ling Lan¡¯s group of six, he was still very surprised at the young-looking faces of the actual person.


    After hearing all that, Li Lanfeng and the others, who were standing beside Ling Lan were all moved. If the division¡¯s General was considered to be the brains of the division, then the staff officer department would be the center ofmand for the entire division. The orders and decisions of the General would go through them and then be sent out to every corner of the division.


    It could be said that the staff officer department was the most important department of a division. The thousand year war god, Marshal Luo Yasen, who had never lost a battle, had once said that in order to defeat a division, they would need to do was to take out the staff officer department. From this, it can be seen how important the staff officer department was within a division.


    Who knew that such an incredible department would actually send people down to wee them. Ling Lan and the others instantly felt they were being pampered. They didn¡¯t stop for a second, sat in the hover car Yue Lin had prepared and flew towards the staff officer department.


    As they left the za, the veterans, who stood by watching silently, suddenly erupted into discussions.


    ¡°The staff officer department actually sent someone to pick them up. Who are those new recruits?¡±


    ¡°That new recruit is already a Major. How can us veterans, who are still with a captain-rank, live in this division in the future?¡± Some veterans couldn¡¯t help but to be green envy...


    ¡°Do you guys think those new recruits are going there because something happened at the staff officer department?¡± Even veterans had exuberant curiosity.


    ¡°Who knows. How are we supposed to know what happens at the staff officer department?¡± The heart of the 23rd Division¡¯s control and order was a mysterious and heavily guarded ce that people looked up towards. Common soldiers were prohibited from getting close to the staff officer department.


    It was also the ce that determined officer rankings and promotions. Thus, one should never mess with an officer from the staff officer department. Otherwise, that individual shouldn¡¯t even think of getting any promotions. Even if the individual had a chance to, the department would make it impossible.


    Of course, if an individual had connections within the staff officer department, then congrattions. As long as the individual did not make any major mistakes, the individuals would easily climb to the position the individual is capable of.


    The staff officer department in each division was a force to be reckoned with! This was also another reason why these veterans were surprised when the staff officer department sent people to wee those new recruits. It should be known that, normally, those guards from the staff officer department would never behave like they had today. Not using their nostrils to look at an individual was considered to be in a good mood.


    At that moment, the information about Ling Lan acquiring two Caesar ace mechas was still under wraps. Even those who Ling Xiao had contacted were making moves surreptitiously. In the 23rd Division, other than those who knew about the incident, other officers did not know about this information.


    Even though these veterans weren¡¯t certain the reason why those youngsters were treated in such a way by the staff officer department, this scene still made those who witnessed it to remember it as clear as day. Not long after, the five divisions all publicly released the information. These veterans then finally understood the reason why those youngsters were receiving so much attention by the staff officer department. Those youngsters were the heroes who achieved greatness for the 23rd Division.


    Inside the staff officer department, the Second Staff Officer Tong Zhiying was very busy. After looking at the piles of documents on his desk, he couldn¡¯t help but rub his temples... Man, when He Xuyang was there, it didn¡¯t feel like he was important. Now that he left, why did he feel that he needed He Xuyang again?


    The adjutant beside him quickly brought a cup of water and said, ¡°Major General, please take a break.¡±


    ¡°No I can¡¯t. That bastard Big He just left and left all these gifts for me. The corps is still waiting for our reply.¡± Tong Zhiying drank the cup of water to help himself be more alert. Then he put down the cup and continued to read through the documents he had on his desk.


    The adjutant sighed and took away the cup. Ever since the First Staff Officer He Xuyang temporary left the staff officer department for an errand, Major General Tong would work until midnight. These were the leftover documents that had already been thinned by the lower ranks... It wasn¡¯t easy being a high-ranking official.


    After flipping through a few pages of the documents, Tong Zhiying suddenly remembered something. He raised his head and asked, ¡°Did that Major called Ling Lan arrive yet?¡±


    The adjutant replied immediately, ¡°He hasn¡¯t arrived yet, but the people downstairs have sent someone to wee them. Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t affect anything.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Before Big Boss He left, he repeatedly told me to make sure this must be done correctly. I also want to see this Ling Lan and what he¡¯s capable of. He actually made Big Boss He care for him so much...¡±


    Tong Zhiying frowned and continued, ¡°I remember that this Ling Lan is still a new recruit, had only just passed the training period and was distributed to a mecha n. After less than a month, Big Boss He let him advance to a Major. He even ignored everyone else¡¯s criticism and wanted to appoint Ling Lan as the 250 Mecha n¡¯s Regiment Commander. Although 250 Mecha n was useless, it was still an official mecha n. Once Ling Lan assume the position, he would be a n level official. He would actually be able to enter the higher-ranks of the division and would have the power tomand soldiers...¡±


    ¡°Big Boss He always does his work fairly, but now he looks after Ling Lan. If I didn¡¯t know Big Boss He personally, I would even suspect that Ling Lan was Big Boss He¡¯s illegitimate child...¡± After saying all this, Tong Zhiying began tough out loud. He couldn¡¯t help but think that because He Xuyang cared for Ling Lan way too much.


    Tong Zhiying didn¡¯t know that although Ling Lan wasn¡¯t He Xuyang¡¯s illegitimate child, she still had a connection with the highest ranked division officer... Yes, Tong Zhiying had once thought about this, after all they both had the surname Ling right? However, Ling Xiao¡¯s image of being fair was deeply embedded in the hearts of the public. Additionally, there wasn¡¯t any confirmed reports that indicated General Ling Xiao had children. As for other descendants of the Ling family... Ling Xiao was already being merciful for not making it difficult for them. He wouldn¡¯t carefully nurture them right?


    The ripple between Ling Xiao and the Ling family was a publicized secret within the 23rd Division.


    This was also why Tong Zhiying didn¡¯t let his subordinates handle Ling Lan¡¯s promotion. Instead, he chose to do it personally. He indeed wanted to know what kind of person Ling Lan was, for Big Boss He to care for him so much.


    At that moment, inside the staff officer department, all the staff members were busy. Inside the wide hall, there were staff membersing in and out of different rooms while holdingrge piles of documents.


    Although it was fully technological era where people relied upon the mainframe to arrange everything, the Federation had once seen how terrifying an out of control mainframe could be. Thus, the Federation still continued the habit from millennia ago to use paper documents in order to record information. This was to make sure no issues would arise and was also the reason why the staff officer department had so many documents flying around.


    Every application, supply distribution document, promotion documents, etc, were converted into paper form at the staff officer department. Then, these documents would be signed by those who were responsible at those different fields of expertise. In the end, it would be converted back into an electronic form to send it to the lower ranks. The paper documents would be kept in the data storage room in the staff officer department.


    Thus, in the staff officer department, it would always be like a battlefield where everyone ran in every direction. Sometimes urgent documents would cause people to run haphazardly. The staff officer department was the most disorderly ce in the entire division. It was pure chaos as far as the eye could see.


    Ling Lan¡¯s group of six followed Yue Lin into the staff officer department. Before they walked even a few steps in, a tightly closed set of doors suddenly opened up. A staff member held onto a pile of documents and was running haphazardly. As luck would have it, he was going towards Ling Lan¡¯s group. The documents in his hands were tall enough to block his view. Thus, made him unaware of Ling Lan and the others.


    Right as he was going to bump into Ling Lan¡¯s group, the staff member suddenly panicked and shouted after he saw there were people in front of him, ¡°Get out of the way! Out of the way!¡±


    Yue Lin didn¡¯t think someone would rush out from the room. Right as they were about to bump into each other, Ling Lan suddenly pulled him away. Yue Lin felt his body move to the side uncontrobly. That staff member missed him by a hair.


    The staff member, who didn¡¯t bump into anyone, didn¡¯t see Ling Lan¡¯s movements and thought the individual had moved aside. He saw that he didn¡¯t bump into anyone and was instantly relieved. He then said, ¡°Brother, nice moves. Thank you.¡± In the next second, he sprinted towards the room he was heading towards.


    Yue Lin nced at Ling Lan with surprise in his eyes. The pull seemed to be simple on the surface, but was not as it seemed. The staff member came towards Yue Lin too suddenly. With his capabilities, Yue Lin wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge. Right as the two of them were about to bump into each other, Ling Lan easily helped him get out of the predicament. It seems that no matter from sight to reaction speed, Ling Lan was much better than him... Yue Lin thought about his Refinement stage physical skills and couldn¡¯t help but think that maybe Ling Lan had already reached Qi-Jin.


    It had to be said that Ling Lan¡¯s age made everyone unable to connect her to the level of Domain. No matter if it was the Soul Society or Caesar, while they were looking for the Domain expert within the escort group for the princess, these two parties had instantly ruled out Ling Lan¡¯s group. They didn¡¯t even think that the Domain expert they were looking for was within Ling Lan¡¯s group.


    Back then, Ling Lan secretly hid the fact that she had already advanced into Domain level to keep it as a trump card for herself. Now it seemed that it was indeed the correct choice. This made Ling Lan¡¯s age into her best protection. No one would suspect her group.


    Yue Lin, who initially didn¡¯t really care for these newbies, now began to respect them. It was no wonder that he could be Majors at such a young age. Just from his physical skills, it was already many times higher than simr captain level officers such as Yue Lin¡¯s own captain.


    Yue Lin didn¡¯t dare to be negligent anymore. He carefully led Ling Lan to an entrance of a room.


    Yue Lin pressed down on a button near the door and the door suddenly opened. What was seen was countless piles documents and a person crawling on the floor as if he was looking for something.


    Yue Lin immediately saluted the person on the ground and shouted, ¡°Colonel Yu, Yue Lin at your service. Colonel Ling Lan has been brought here.¡±


    Hearing that, the person quickly stood up and looked towards Ling Lan¡¯s group of six, who were standing behind Yue Lin, ¡°You guys are finally here. The Second Staff Officer is waiting for you.¡±

 Chapter 669 - Regiment Commander!

    <h4>Chapter 669: Regiment Commander!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The adjutant of the Second Staff Officer called just now and asked if Ling Lan had arrived. It looked like Ling Lan had gained the attention of the higher authorities. He would have a bright future ahead of him. The colonel thought to himself. He started treating Ling Lan and her friends better.


    In order to be an officer at the staff officer department, you are required to be smart and know what are your superiors¡¯ intention. Hence, the colonel knew that Ling Lan was going to be promoted and wouldn¡¯t do anything stupid such as offending her. He stopped what he was doing and brought Ling Lan to meet the Second Staff Officer. Since his superior was in such a hurry, he didn¡¯t dare to waste any time.


    As for the other five members of Lingtian, they didn¡¯t have the right toe. The Second Staff Officer only asked for Ling Lan. They were brought to the side and waited there for Ling Lan.


    Tong Zhiying just finished settling a document when he heard his adjutant said, ¡°Ling Lan is here.¡±


    Tong Zhiying nodded slightly and asked the adjutant to bring Ling Lan in.


    Ling Lan came in with Colonel Yu. She saw a major general who looked the same age as He Xuyang. He was sitting behind an office desk and looking at her with a stern face.


    Ling Lan just entered the division so she didn¡¯t have the chance to meet many high ranking officers. However, she interacted with her father, General Ling Xiao, all the time. Ling Xiao looked gentle but his aura was intimidating. If she was not afraid of him, why would she be scared by Tong Zhiying.


    She calmly greeted Tong Zhiying. Her actions were clean and sharp. There was no hesitation or fear in her actions. This left a good impression on Tong Zhiying.


    Tong Zhiying asked the two of them to sit down. Ling Lan sat up straight. Tong Zhiying saw her cold and serious face and felt satisfied once again. He liked soldiers who had dignity and were neither arrogant nor humble.


    Tong Zhiying¡¯s gaze turned gentle. He opened his mouth and said, ¡°You are Ling Lan, right? I called for you because General Ling Xiao has a letter of appointment for you.¡±


    Ling Lan immediately stood up. ¡°I¡¯m ready to ept the order.¡±


    Tong Zhiying stood up too. His adjutant past him a document. Tong Zhiying opened it and said slowly, ¡°Senior Captain Ling Lan of Lingtian Battle Team has performed exceptionally well in the mission. You will be given the first rank merit and the Purple Cloud Medal of Honor. At the same time, you are appointed as the Regiment Commander of the 250 Mecha n. Your rank will be upgraded to a major and you will take over your new position immediately. Person of Appointment: Ling Xiao.¡±


    Ling Lan was stunned. She thought that she would only get merits such as the Purple Cloud Medal of Honor. She never expected her father to break the tradition and give her the position of Regiment Commander of the 250 Mecha n. She was just a recruit... this time, her father really used his position for his personal matters. Why did she feel so touched?


    Ling Lan felt her father¡¯s love for her. Her heart was moved. She took a deep breath and shouted, ¡°Thanks for trusting me!¡±


    Tong Zhiying saw Ling Lan¡¯s change of emotions. He nodded in satisfaction when he saw how well she controlled her emotions. Ling Lan indeed had great potential.


    Although the letter of appointment didn¡¯t state what mission it was, Tong Zhiying knew that Ling Lan gained the merits by her own effort. The Purple Cloud Medal of Honor and the attention given by General Ling Xiao proved that all these merits were not gained through connection. Tong Zhiying fully recognized Ling Lan this time.


    The meetingsted for a few minutes. Tong Zhiying was really busy so Ling Lan and Colonel Yu left his office after she got her letter of appointment.


    ¡°Congrattions, Regiment Commander Ling!¡± Colonel Yu congratted her sincerely. He knew that this young man had a bright future but he didn¡¯t expect him to rise in rank so quickly.


    Ling Lan¡¯s status only had a small change. She rose to be a major. Most people were able to be a major if they had good mecha piloting skills and a stable realm. An example would be Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng. People who made contributions to the military would also be given the major title too. For example, Li Shiyu.


    As for those people who held positions that didn¡¯t need to fight, they would be given a major position after a certain number of years. Although Ling Lan was considered young, there were still many majors like her in the military.


    However, there was a difference between a real military rank and a fictitious military rank. A fictitious military rank just meant that this person could enjoy the benefits given to a person in his rank. These positions didn¡¯t hold much power.


    This was why Ling Xiao was more powerful than the ten god-ss operators. He had real power and had control over a division.


    Since Ling Lan was the Regiment Commander of the Mecha n 250, this meant that her status was a real military rank. She had control and power over a mecha n. This was why the colonel was shocked.


    Even though a mecha n was the smallest unit in a division. Ling Lan was still more powerful than Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun, and Li Shiyu.


    ¡°If the 250 Mecha n needs anything, you can look for me.¡± Colonel Yu smiled. He would not give up the chance to befriend a powerful regimentmander.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Ling Lan thanked the colonel. She didn¡¯t reject his offer.


    Although she could ask He Xuyang to help her, she didn¡¯t want to trouble him for all kinds of small businesses. After all, He Xuyang belonged to her father, not her. If she could maintain a good rtionship with Colonel Yu, she wouldn¡¯t need to trouble He Xuyang all the time.


    Ling Lan was a cold person but she knew what to say. After exchanging some words, their rtionship got better.


    It was lunchtime so Ling Lan invited the colonel to have a meal with her. Once they started eating, she didn¡¯t need to care about Colonel Yu anymore.


    She brought her team members with her. How could they not enjoy a free meal? Hence, all five of them started befriending Colonel Yu and made himfortable. Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng chatted and drank with him. Rtionships between men are built through drinking. The more you drink, the better your rtionship was.


    Yes, this was why I wanted to be a boss. My men would do everything for me! Ling Lan smiled. She held her ss of tea and looked at her friends happily as they drank with the colonel. The colonel drank until he was in a daze. He asked them to spare him.


    After the meal ended, they dispersed. The colonel made friends with Zhao Jun and asked him to drink with him whenever he was free. He would introduce his friends to him too...


    Ling Lan was happy that they settled an important person within the staff officer department. After bidding farewell to the colonel, Ling Lan didn¡¯t choose to return to Ling Xiao¡¯s house to rest. She went directly to 250 Mecha n.


    ¡°Boss, what shall we do after we go back?¡± The slightly drunk Zhao Jun asked in the hover car.


    It was not easy to be the Regiment Commander of Mecha n 250. The mecha operators in Mecha n 250 were all useless. A mecha n without anybat ability could not be considered a real mecha n.


    Ling Lan was resting when she heard the question. She rubbed her fingers and opened her eyes. ¡°What do you all think?¡±


    ¡°Get new recruits. The mecha ncks people anyway. We can just let the veterans remain as they are.¡± Li Yingjie knew the origins of the mecha operators in 250 Mecha n so he knew it was better to let them remain in the mecha n.


    ¡°Li Yingjie¡¯s suggestion is doable. As long as we keep the number of logisticians in check, we can build a powerful mecha n,¡± Lin Zhong-qing agreed.


    ¡°However, we need at least three to five years to train the recruits. I want to go onto the battlefield as soon as possible.¡± Qi Long remembered something and gritted his teeth in anger. ¡°The despicable Twilight Empire did many things recently. Everyone knew that the battle with the Twilight Empire will ur soon. I¡¯m afraid that if we get new recruits, we will be ced in the secondary army.¡±


    Just as the name suggests, the secondary army would only go on the battlefield after the main army had all been killed. However, there was almost no chance of happening. That meant that they had almost no chance of fighting and could only be logisticians who cleared up the battlefield.


    The moment he said this, everyone, even Li Yingjie, dismissed the suggestion. They were all hot-blooded young men. It was a tragedy for them if they couldn¡¯t fight in a battle.


    Ling Lan looked at Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly. ¡°It will be impossible to get other mecha operators from other mecha ns unless General Ling Xiao gave an order... however, I believe that he will not do it.¡±


    ¡°Since we don¡¯t want to get new recruits, we have to find decent mecha operators from the current operators in the mecha n. I hope that Li Shiyu¡¯s medicine was able to cure some mecha operators.¡± Li Lanfeng knew that this was a difficult task. Their own mecha ns had given up on these mecha operators. No matter how powerful Li Shiyu¡¯s medicine was, it would be hard to cure them.


    Ling Lan knocked her fingers on the handle and went into deep thought.


    Mental illness? Psychology barriers? Useless people?


    She smiled. A sinister look shed past her eyes.


    Since that is the case, let¡¯s see if these people really are useless!


    The most extravagant training ground built in the 250 Mecha n was finally put to use. During this month, it weed its first batch of mecha operators.


    Jiang Enhua was an ace mecha master. He was only 33 years old. To be an ace mecha master at this age showed that he was quite a talented person. Although he had many achievements on the battlefield, he was too averagepared to the ace mecha masters of the North and South stars. He didn¡¯t stand out among ace mecha operators.


    Jiang Enhua used to have a bright future. Unfortunately, everything was destroyed in a mecha battle with the Twilight Empire. He was tormented by elite mecha operators of the Twilight Empire. His entire mecha was destroyed. Only his cockpit remained unscathed.


    He was found by the logisticians who were clearing up the battlefield. Everyone thought that he was lucky to survive. Only he knew how he remained alive. His opponent broke his psychological barrier and he pleaded his opponent to spare him. He couldn¡¯t forget how haggard he was at that time. His opponent sneered at him and mocked him. Ever since then, he didn¡¯t have the courage to operate a mecha anymore. He wasted his days and in the end, he was thrown into 250 Mecha n by his division.


    When he underwent Li Shiyu¡¯s medical treatment, he couldn¡¯t bear with the pain and begged Li Shiyu to let him off after 15 minutes. He told Li Shiyu everything that happened to him. Li Shiyu looked at him with contempt. He didn¡¯t want to waste his medicine on a weak and useless person. He threw Jiang Enhua to Luo Lang and told him to torture him properly.


    However, Jiang Enhua had already given up on himself. There was no way he could endure the training. He either pleaded with them to let him off or just fainted on the spot. Towards the end, he would hug the railings at the side of the running track and refused to train. In the face of these mecha operators who gave up on themselves, Xie Yi and Luo Lang didn¡¯t know what to do. Even Li Shiyu¡¯s medicine couldn¡¯t help them.


    Any kinds of psychological issues could be cured. However, it was difficult to treat those people who had given up on themselves. Unfortunately, most of the patients in 250 Mecha n had the same illness as Jiang Enhua. Once one of them gave up, other people followed. Very soon, a whole bunch of people stood at the side of the training ground. No matter what the Lingtian Battle Team did to them, they didn¡¯t want to continue training.

 Chapter 670 - Kill Someone?

    <h4>Chapter 670: Kill Someone?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Useless!¡± Luo Lang shouted in anger as he gritted his teeth. His face turned red in anger and his eyes were bloodshot.


    ¡°We can only help in their treatment. They have the right to give up if they want to,¡± Xie Yi frowned as he replied. They were just recruits of the 250 Mecha n. At the same time, their rank was the lowest among the mecha operators. It would be hard to have the veterans respect them.


    ¡°Hmph, since they want to remain as rubbish, let them be.¡± Luo Lang didn¡¯t want to continue this arduous and fruitless job anyway. The 250 Mecha n was not their responsibility anyway.


    Luo Lang pulled Xie Yi up and asked the other members of Lingtian to leave the training ground. They were prepared to let these mecha operators fend for themselves.


    ¡°I will give you all three minutes to get up!¡± A cold voice echoed through the training ground.


    Luo Lang and Xie Yi turned their heads. Ling Lan had appeared on the training ground. She wore a military uniform that didn¡¯t have any crease on it. The major epaulet reced his senior captain epaulet. A cold aura exuded from her body. The temperature in the training ground seemed to have decreased.


    ¡°Boss!¡± The members of Lingtian shouted in unison.


    ¡°F**k, how dare you order your grandfather.¡± One of the mecha operators, who was a Lieutenant Colonel, who was already angered by Luo Lang and the new recruits. They only cooperated with them because their superiors asked them to. However, now, an unfamiliar recruit was ordering them around with amanding tone. He couldn¡¯t take it anymore and explode in anger.


    Once he shouted, the other veterans started shouting too.


    The members of Lingtian were furious when they heard these people started mocking their boss. They wanted to charge at them but Ling Lan had already rushed forward and stopped in front of the man who shouted first.


    ¡°What did you say just now?¡± Ling Lan asked coldly.


    ¡°Haha, are you deaf? Let me repeat it then...¡± The mecha operatorughed loudly. He sneered at Ling Lan. He couldn¡¯t understand why this recruit wanted to be mocked by him again.


    ¡°Grandfather?¡± Ling Lan looked at him coldly. No one dared to im to be her grandfather. Anyone who wanted to be Ling Xiao¡¯s father was looking for death!


    ¡°Hah, good grandson!¡± The mecha operator didn¡¯t sense the danger and replied to her.


    ¡°Boom!¡± Ling Lan kicked the mecha operator into the air. The huge force caused the mecha operator to vomit blood in the air. He mmed into the ground and slid for ten meters before stopping.


    A figure suddenly appeared near the mecha operator. Ling Lan stepped on the mecha operator¡¯s head. Her eyes were filled with malicious intent. She said dangerously, ¡°Since you really want to die, I will satisfy you.¡± She exerted force on her right foot. The mecha operator¡¯s head mmed into the ground. Blood came out of his nose, mouth, eyes, and ears. His expression turned hideous. Ling Lan¡¯s viciousness frightened all the mecha operators. They looked at her with fear. The entire training ground turned silent. If a leaf fell down right now, it would be heard.


    ¡°You... kill... a lieutenant... colonel... military court!¡± The mecha operator wanted to struggle but a huge force of presence prevented him from moving. He could feel her killing intent. He felt that he would be killed by her. No, he didn¡¯t want to die. But his strong desire to live caused him to continue struggling. After much effort, he finally managed to spit out these words.


    ¡°You? A useless piece of trash like you? Do you really think that the military would do anything if I killed you?¡± Ling Lan smiled coldly. ¡°They might thank me instead for clearing the people who are wasting their money and space.¡±


    ¡°A useless trash like you has no rights.¡± Ling Lan smiled dangerously as she scanned the mecha operators around her. Her words pierced right into their hearts.


    ¡°Regimentmander... will not... let you go,¡± The mecha operator said helplessly. The regimentmander whom they didn¡¯t care about became his only hope.


    ¡°Regimentmander? Let me go?¡± Ling Lan sneered. ¡°Hah, I forgot to tell you all that from today onwards, I will be the Regiment Commander of the 250 Mecha n. Hence, I have the power...¡±


    The mecha operators felt their hearts dropped. Were they all going to die today?


    At that moment, Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong, who rarely came to the training ground, frowned when they heard Ling Lan¡¯s words.


    Yang Mingzhi lowered his voice and asked, ¡°Why did their captain be like this?¡±


    Liu Furong shook his head. ¡°He was just coldst time. I have never sensed such a strong killing intent from him before. Did something happen to him during his mission?¡± He was worried that the young man was affected mentally just like them.


    Yang Mingzhi thought for a moment. ¡°The mission should have beenpleted. He probably doesn¡¯t have any psychological trauma too. If not, he would not rise in rank and be the Regiment Commander of 250 Mecha n.


    ¡°Did the staff officer department make a mistake? Why would they let a recruit be the Regiment Commander of 250 Mecha n?¡± Liu Furong couldn¡¯t understand the decision.


    ¡°They probably want to reorganize 250 so they used a new method,¡± Yang Mingzhi had a different viewpoint.


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Since the previous methods couldn¡¯t deal with us, they let a recruit to try it out. He is new so he is not afraid of anything.¡± Yang Mingzhi understood why the staff officer department made this decision. There was another merit for choosing a recruit. A recruit had much spirit and would do anything to get results.


    ¡°But this Ling Lan¡¯s killing intent is too strong. Is he really nning to kill to get what he wants?¡± Liu Furong asked uncertainly.


    This was what Yang Mingzhi was afraid of. The things that the regimentmander was doing made him feel that it was what he intended to do.


    Yang Mingzhi gritted his teeth. ¡°No matter what, we cannot let him kill anyone.¡± He would not allow these mecha operators, who became useless due to unfortunate circumstances, die at the hands of their own people. This was a tragedy and humiliation for them. He couldn¡¯t let this happen.


    ¡°Good. If something amiss happens, let¡¯s act together.¡± Liu Furong had the same thought.


    In the middle of the training ground, Ling Lan leaned forward and stared directly at his helpless eyes. ¡°You humiliated your superior. This mistake is enough for you to die.¡±


    ¡°So, please stop wasting food. Rubbish like you should just die!¡± Ling Lan narrowed her eyes and lifted her right foot. If she stepped on the soldier¡¯s head again, he would definitely die.


    Everyone looked at Ling Lan frighteningly. They didn¡¯t expect their new regimentmander to actually want to kill someone. There was no pity or remorse on his young face. The indifference on his face made them shiver.


    This is bad! Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi eximed in their minds. They disappeared from their original positions and appeared beside Ling Lan.


    ¡°Boom!¡± A loud explosion urred. Two legs appeared on the mecha operator¡¯s head and prevented Ling Lan¡¯s foot from touching him.


    The different forces created invisible des in the air. A few wounds appeared on the mecha operator¡¯s face. However, he couldn¡¯t mind the pain right now. He was ted that he was alive. It felt good to be alive.


    ¡°It¡¯s the North and South Stars. We want Yang Mingzhi to be our regimentmander. Little brat, we don¡¯t recognize you as our regimentmander. Get out of here.¡± Since Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong had acted, the mecha operator woke up from his stupor and started shouting again.


    How could they let a potential murderer be their regimentmander? They still wanted to live. They didn¡¯t want to suddenly die at the hands of their regimentmander.


    ¡°Yes, get out of this ce. We want Yang Mingzhi as our regimentmander!¡± The other mecha operators regained their senses too. Compared to the scary Ling Lan, Yang Mingzhi was a much better option. He was supposed to be their regimentmander at the beginning but he rejected the offer.


    Yang Mingzhi knew that things were going out of his control. He just wanted to prevent Ling Lan from killing people. He didn¡¯t want to be the regimentmander. But, after what the mecha operators said, his actions showed that he had a different purpose. They made him seemed as though he wanted to fight for the position of the regimentmander.


    ¡°Why? Do you have something against me being the regimentmander?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and asked.


    Yang Mingzhi smiled bitterly. ¡°You are kidding. I just want to stop you from killing someone.¡±


    ¡°What right do you have to stop me?¡± Ling Lan mocked. ¡°A useless mecha operator? You don¡¯t have the power! A member of the South Stars? Are you one of them?¡±


    The other mecha operators shouted louder at her when they heard what she said. Liu Furong¡¯s expression changed too. Ling Lan¡¯s words denied all the merits and achievements they made in the battlefields during their time.


    Yang Mingzhi didn¡¯t reply to her. He just stared at Ling Lan. Her words had angered him.


    ¡°Are you angry? Do you think I¡¯m wrong? Let me show you what¡¯s the truth then!¡± Ling Lan suddenly moved her right foot. A huge force exploded. Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong felt a strong force moving towards them. They couldn¡¯t control themselves and fell back. They had to take three steps back to stabilize themselves.

 Chapter 671 - Rubbish!

    <h4>Chapter 671: Rubbish!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The two of them were stunned. They didn¡¯t expect Ling Lan¡¯s physical skills to be so powerful. By now, they knew that she had been hiding her true capabilities all these while. A person at the peak of refinement would not be able to defeat one of their mecha operators that easily. No matter how weak he was, the mecha operators must be at least at refinement state. If not, he would not be able to handle the bacsh from the movement of the mecha.


    Ling Lan forced the two of them away and kicked the mecha operator on the ground. The mecha operator flew towards Luo Lang and Xie Yi.


    Luo Lang and Xie Yi held the unconscious man in their arms. Blood wasing out of his mouth. Ling Lan didn¡¯t show any mercy to the mecha operator. The force of her kick made him unconscious and severely injured. He was on the brink of death.


    ¡°Li Shiyucks people to experiment with. Let this rubbish be useful. Tell Shiyu that he can do whatever he wants with him. He will not be held responsible for his death,¡± Ling Lan said indifferently. She sounded as though the man was just an object that could be thrown away after he was used.


    ¡°Yes, boss!¡±


    The only people who didn¡¯t get frightened by Ling Lan were the members of Lingtian Battle Team. There were used to her ruthlessness. When they were having their devil training, she was even scarier. Also, they believed that their boss would not be a heartless murderer. Anyone who was sent to Li Shiyu would live. Thus, their boss was just creating an illusion that anyone who didn¡¯t listen to her would be forsaken.


    The other mecha operators were shocked. Even if the North and South Star acted together, they couldn¡¯t save that mecha operator. They remembered the medicine that Li Shiyu made. The legal medicines were already so frightening. If he used medicine which was still in its experimental stage... how much scarier would it be?


    Living hell! These two words appeared in everyone¡¯s head.


    Then, Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice sounded beside their ears. ¡°Three minutes is ending soon. If you all have not stand up by then, I will send you all to Li Shiyu. This is a good way to recycle rubbish.¡±


    All the mecha operators felt Ling Lan¡¯s gaze on them. She seemed excited to send them out of the mecha n with such a method. All the mecha operators stood up. Their desire to live and their fear of Ling Lan caused them to listen to her. However, their eyes were filled with anger. They were dissatisfied with Ling Lan. At the same time, they hoped that Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong would defeat this person and take over the position of regimentmander.


    Oppression would lead to retaliation. Ling Lan was clear about this. Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi knew this too. If this was some other time, Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong would feel happy for the mecha operators. They finally had the desire to live. However, the current situation just gave them a headache.


    Should they resist against Ling Lan to help the mecha operators or should they hide and give up? If they give up, would they drench the fire that just got ignited in the mecha operators¡¯ hearts? Would they return to be useless again? The two of them were in a dilemma.


    Ling Lan focused her attention on Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong. She snorted. ¡°Are you two going to stand up for these piles of rubbish?¡±


    Yang Mingzhi took a deep breath and calmed down. He said slowly, ¡°We don¡¯t have anything against you. We just hope that you can show some mercy to them since they have contributed to the military in the past.¡±


    ¡°So?¡± Ling Lan replied coldly.


    Her reply diminished all the hopes they had. Their past achievements were nothing in their regimentmander¡¯s eyes. The honor that they treasured so much was useless to her.


    ¡°You bastard!¡± All the mecha operators were unable to ept this. The only thing they were proud of was denied.


    ¡°Anyone who lives in their past and unable to walk out is rubbish.¡± Ling Lan looked at the crowd. ¡°You all are such rubbish. No matter how much achievements you all had, it will not change your useless nature.¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡± All the mecha operators were indignant. They couldn¡¯t control their emotions and started shouting.


    ¡°Shut up!¡± Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and shouted simultaneously.


    ¡°Are you two finally going to act?¡± Ling Lan looked at them coldly.


    ¡°I will not allow you to humiliate myrades,¡± Liu Furong shouted in anger.


    Ling Lan started pping indifferently. ¡°As expected of a member of the North Stars. You are indeed a good role model for soldiers. However, don¡¯t you think that it is really funny for you to say this now?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Liu Furong frowned.


    ¡°You are also useless. Do you have any right to say this?¡± The moment she finished speaking, Ling Lan charged at Liu Furong and aimed her fist at him.


    Fast! Liu Furong was astounded. He hurriedly moved back and crossed his arms in front of his chest.


    ¡°Boom!¡± Liu Furong reacted quickly but he was still unable to dodge Ling Lan¡¯s attack. He stumbled for 8 meters before stabilizing himself.


    ¡°Is this is how powerful a member of the North Stars should be?¡± Ling Lan looked at Liu Furong with contempt. He couldn¡¯t even take a blow from her. How could he say such things? Ling Lan understood that if she wanted people to listen to her and never disobey her, she needed to have the power and the ability to control them.


    ¡°I will give you onest chance. If the two of you can¡¯t handle a blow from me with yourbined efforts, you all will shut up and listen to me! I am the Regiment Commander of 250 Mecha n. In my mecha n, there is only one rule: Winner takes all. Only the winner has the right to speak.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s words rang through everyone¡¯s ears. This was the rule of 250 Mecha n. From that day onwards, 250 Mecha n changed from a useless n to a motivated and vicious n.

 Chapter 672 - New Mindset!

    <h4>Chapter 672: New Mindset!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Qi Long, Zhao Jun, Li Lanfeng, and Li Yingjie were shocked when they heard what Ling Lan said.


    Qi Long picked out his ears with his pinky. He whispered to Lin Zhong-qing, ¡°Why does the boss sound like Li Yingjie now?¡± Although their boss was dominant, he rarely used words to express himself. Hence, Qi Long was not used to the sudden change in style.


    Li Yingjie heard what he said and red at him. What does he mean by sound like Li Yingjie? That is called the aura. As expected of a powerful but stupid person. He doesn¡¯t understand the real meaning of life...


    Li Yingjie looked at Ling Lan with admiration. They were both arrogant but he couldn¡¯t appear as powerful and overbearing as Ling Lan. How did he manage to suppress the crowd with just his aura? Was it because he was powerful? Li Yingjie suddenly had enlightenment.


    Lin Zhong-qing replied Qi Long calmly, ¡°Our boss handles different situations differently.¡± If you think that our boss only has one side to him, you are an idiot.


    Qi Long remembered how harmless looking their boss was during the mission. Seems like this poker face boss had many different sides to him. Qi Long felt pressured. As the right-hand man of his boss (he didn¡¯t know the presence of Little Four), should he change his style ording to his boss?


    Not only was Qi Long surprised, but Li Lanfeng was also touched by what Ling Lan said. The image of an arrogant and direct Ling Lan etched into his mind. If he was as powerful as Ling Lan, wouldn¡¯t the Phoenix Thrall Fate be a joke to him?


    He was restrained by his own abilities. He was not strong enough.


    Winner takes all!


    If he was able to stand at the peak of the world, who could ask him to lower his head?


    Today, Li Lanfeng finally understood that his weakness was not his strength, it was his mentality.


    He looked down at his slender and pretty fingers. No one would believe that these fingers belonged to a man. That was why he didn¡¯t like his fingers. He would get reminded of the Phoenix Thrall Fate every time he looked at them. Thus, he never let anyone see his hands or his face. He hated his face too...


    However, Li Lanfeng noticed that Ling Lan¡¯s hands were as pretty as his too. Yet, Ling Lan never felt that there was anything wrong with them. His fist made everyone forget that he had a pair of pretty hands. Other people only knew how powerful his fists were.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. They were cold and confident. Nothing was impossible in his eyes. This was the truth. From the first time he met Ling Lan, he never saw him failing at anything.


    Even now, when he thought that it would take years to change 250 Mecha n, Ling Lan showed him another possibility.


    Ling Lan gave these mecha operators who lost their confidence a new way of looking at things.


    Winner takes all! Survival of the fittest!


    From today onwards, these mecha operators would not have the time to think about anything else. They would be struggling and fighting to be thest survivor.


    It had to be said that Li Lanfeng was the person who understood Ling Lan the most. While the others were still puzzled over her sudden change, he already knew why she did this. Whether his guess was right or wrong... he didn¡¯t know.


    Ling Lan¡¯s arrogance sessfully brewed some resentment in Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi¡¯s hearts. They exchanged nces with one another. Yang Mingzhi smiled coldly. ¡°Since you mentioned it, we will ept your challenge.¡±


    The three of them stood at three different corners of the training ground. The fight would be starting soon.


    The mecha operators knew that this battle between the three of them would be huge so they retreated back and created space for them.


    Lin Zhong-qing suddenly asked, ¡°Do you think that boss will use his domain realm power?¡± Anyone at Qi-Jin realm would not be able to handle a domain realm power attack.


    No one replied. To ensure her sess, Ling Lan should use her domain realm power.


    Li Lanfeng smiled and muttered, ¡°No! He will just use Qi-Jin power to defeat them.¡±


    Li Yingjie expressed his suspicion. ¡°Is that possible? Those two people are in the Qi-Jin realm too. He might not be able to defeat them with a single blow if he used the same force.¡±


    Li Lanfeng nced at Li Yingjie with contempt. Li Yingjie was furious. For some reason, he disliked Li Lanfeng very much. Every time he talked to him, he would feel irritated.


    However, Li Lanfeng continued speaking. ¡°Do you think that the Qi-Jin power disyed by a domain realm master is the same as the Qi-Jin power disyed by a Qi-Jin master? Even though boss is just using his Qi-Jin power, it is not the same strength as what you think.¡± Li Yingjie was dumbfounded.


    As he pondered over Li Lanfeng¡¯s words, Qi Long nodded. ¡°Yes. Even if boss suppresses his realm and used Qi-Jin strength, we cannot handle it.¡±


    Li Yingjie understood what they meant. Although Ling Lan used her Qi-Jin strength, the quality and force of her strength were much stronger than normal Qi-Jin masters. This was not something a Qi-Jin master could handle. When battling two opponents who were at Qi-Jin realm, Ling Lan was able to restrain their power using her force of presence. They would be unable to release all their energy. With these twoponents working hand in hand, Ling Lan would be able to defeat her opponents in one blow.


    Everyone¡¯s attention was focused on them. Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong didn¡¯t move. They had more people on their side so their opponent should attack first. This was their principle.


    Ling Lan knew what they were thinking. She smiled secretly. Just like what Li Shiyu said, these two people didn¡¯t have any illnesses at all. Seems like there still were hidden tigers in 250 Mecha n.


    Ling Lan was ted. However, she knew that would not be easy to have them listen to her willingly. She needed to win them over.


    From the start, Ling Lan¡¯s motive was to bait these two people out. They didn¡¯t disappoint her.

 Chapter 673 - Profound Ultimate Technique?

    <h4>Chapter 673: Profound Ultimate Technique?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Just like what Li Lanfeng predicted, Ling Lan used her Qi-Jin power to fight them. She didn¡¯t do it because she was confident in her ability. She did it because she knew that they would only be convinced if she gave them a huge blow using simr levels of power and skill.


    Three invisible forces exploded out from their bodies. As the force got stronger, the mecha operators around them felt the force of presenceing down on them. They took a few more steps back before they could stand up straight again.


    When they stepped back, Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and the other members of Lingtian who reached Qi-Jin level stood out. They were standing at the same spot and didn¡¯t seem affected at all.


    Actually, they were struggling too. The huge energying from the three people made them ufortable but they could still resist it.


    The mecha operators knew that these recruits were stronger than them. They were as strong as Luo Lang and Xie Yi.


    Since Luo Lang and Xie Yi underwent the training with them, they saw their true powers before. They were talented young men who managed to achieve Qi-Jin state at such a young age. They thought that these two young men had the strongest physical skills in Lingtian. However, that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. The five new people that appeared today were as strong as them. Their regimentmander was even scarier. He must be the strongest person in the entire team. If not, how could he stand up straight right in the faces of two members from the North and South Stars?


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t release all her strength instantly. She slowly increased her power so that her opponents would be able to use their full strength. That way, they would be convinced when she defeats them.


    When Ling Lan felt that Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong had reached the peak of their strength, she attacked.


    She disappeared. Before the audience could react, Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong felt a huge forceing towards them. They were well-prepared for it so that punched their fists out and weed Ling Lan¡¯s attack.


    Damn it! When they came into contact with the force, they were astounded. This force was much stronger than they had expected. They were unable to handle it with one fist.


    Both of them were veterans with many experiences. They decisively raised their left hands and attacked again using their entire Qi-Jin power.


    Two loud explosions urred. Since the two fists were punched at almost the same time, you would need to listen carefully to detect the two explosions. Some of the mecha operators didn¡¯t listen properly and thought that they only used one fist.


    Three forces collided. The two of them managed to resist against Ling Lan¡¯s strength with their two fists. They reached a standstill.


    With each passing second, their faces turned paler. They realized that Ling Lan had more than one wave Qi-Jin forceing towards them... no, by right, there was only one force. However, the force kept mming into them like waves. The waves got stronger each time. There seemed to be no end to the force.


    They felt that the force was not bing more and more powerful but rather, it stacked onto one another. They resisted four waves of attack. They had reached their limit. They hoped that this was the end of Ling Lan¡¯s strength.


    However, reality was cruel. The fifth wave appeared. They were in despair. The wave rushed down at them and finally broke through their defense.


    ¡°No, we can¡¯t be defeated at thest wave!¡± The two of them looked at each other. There was determination in their eyes. They gritted their teeth. ¡°Pfft!¡± Blood came out of their mouth. They chose to use up all their Qi-Jin strength to resist the attack.


    ¡°Pfft!¡± Another mouthful of blood came out. The fifth wave was stronger than the fourth wave so even though they resisted against it, they were still injured internally.


    However, it was worth it. They seeded.


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong felt the fifth wave disappearing and heaved a sigh of relief.


    They were both senior colonels. They knew that there was an ultimate technique that could allow someone to stack his Qi-Jin. However, it could only be done five times. No one in the Federation could stack it more than five times. If someone really seeded, it would have be a Profound Ultimate Technique.


    There were only three techniques which were deemed as the Profound Ultimate Technique. This stacking skill was not one of them.


    As this thought shed through their minds, Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong felt another huge forceing down on them again.


    ¡°The sixth time? Impossible!¡± They were dumbfounded.


    They didn¡¯t believe that this was happening but it was the truth.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Their bodies flew back amidst the huge explosion. They mmed into the ground and slid for a few meters before stopping.


    They clenched their chest in pain. Blood kept dripping down their mouth. Their internal injury got worse after they were hit by the sixth wave. They were unable to stand up now.


    Ling Lan retracted her power the moment the sixth wave touched them. This was why they were still conscious now.


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong were defeated with a single blow.... and they were seriously injured. The mecha operators were astounded. They ced all their hopes on them but they couldn¡¯t even take a single blow. Who was this young regimentmander?


    Ling Lan retracted her fist and stood up straight. She looked as though she hadn¡¯t moved at all. She pulled her sleeve down and tidied herself. Then, she scanned the crowd.

 Chapter 674 - Day Training! Month Training!

    <h4>Chapter 674: Day Training! Month Training!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The gaze was cold and indifferent. It was a look of contempt. To Ling Lan, they were not humans. They were just pieces of trash.


    This look meant that she treated them as nothing. That was why she ignored them entirely. This was utter humiliation. In the past, they would be furious and shouted at Ling Lan. However, now, they shrunk back and lowered down their heads.


    Even Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong couldn¡¯t defeat Ling Lan when they joined forces. What could they do? In the military, those people who were strong gained respect and followers.


    Ling Lan walked towards Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong after looking at the crowd. She leaned forward slightly. She used this posture to pressure them even further.


    She said calmly, ¡°In my mecha n, you all are just normal mecha operators. Besides that, you and your past achievements meant nothing. Remember this!¡±


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong looked up at Ling Lan with pale faces. Her force of presence was enough to shut them uppletely. They didn¡¯t expect themselves to lose so terribly.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t wait for their replies. She didn¡¯t need them to. She just needed to win them over and scare the other mecha operators. She hadpleted her task beautifully. She straightened her back and turned around. ¡°Everyone will gather at the training ground at 7 am sharp tomorrow. You all can leave now!¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± Some mecha operators replied instinctively. By the time they realized what they did, Ling Lan had disappeared.


    Li Lanfeng came over and added, ¡°Of course, you can choose not toe, However, our regimentmander hates people who don¡¯t listen to orders. I cannot guarantee what will happen to you if you disobey him.¡±


    The mecha operators shivered in fear. They had no thoughts of resisting and reminded themselves to be early tomorrow.


    ¡°Oh right, please remind those people that didn¡¯te today. The regimentmander ordered for everyone to report to the training ground tomorrow. If someone doesn¡¯te, we might all have a hard time.¡± Just as everyone was prepared to leave, Li Lanfeng continued reminding them.


    F**k, can you finish saying everything at once? While they cursed out Li Lanfeng in their hearts, they quickly went to remind their friends to not bete tomorrow. They told them about Ling Lan¡¯s ruthlessness and to not take the gamble tomorrow.


    While Li Lanfeng was reminding the mecha operators, Qi Long, Zhao Jun, Li Yingjie, and Lin Zhong-qing came to Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi. Qi Long looked at them with concern. He looked so sincere. ¡°Senior Colonel Yang Mingzhi, Senior Colonel Liu Furong, how are you two holding up? Let us send you two to the medical department.¡±


    Undoubtedly, Qi Long¡¯s kind face lowers people¡¯s guard. Yang Mingzhi didn¡¯t reject him. He gave a forced smile. ¡°Sorry to trouble you all.¡±


    ¡°It is what I should do. You are after all our seniors. We look forward to hearing about your experiences.¡± Qi Long gave a shy and sincere smile. He scratched his hair in a flurry.


    Li Yingjie held Liu Furong up with the help of Lin Zhong-qing. He couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes. What good acting!


    After so many years, Li Yingjie knew that Qi Long looked honest but was actually an evil person. He was as bad as Li Lanfeng. Li Yingjie nced at Li Lanfeng who was warning the other mecha operators.


    Since Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong were injured badly, they walked at a slow pace.


    Yang Mingzhi felt a little bored so he asked, ¡°Are you in the same battle team as the regimentmander?¡±


    ¡°Yes, he is our captain.¡± Qi Long seemed to have forgotten that his captain injured the person he was holding and immediately admitted their rtionship.


    Yang Mingzhi smiled helplessly. As expected of an honest person. He didn¡¯t know how to beat around the bush. However, this was good too. He would be able to pry more information about Ling Lan out of him.


    ¡°How does your captain treat you all?¡± Yang Mingzhi continued asking.


    Qi Long thought about it seriously before answering. ¡°Not bad. As long as we are not training.¡±


    Zhao Jun, Li Yingjie, and Lin Zhong-qing instantly nodded in agreement.


    Why did everyone¡¯s expression change? What kind of training did they have? Yang Mingzhi couldn¡¯t help but be curious. ¡°How does your captain train you?¡±


    Qi Long replied without any hesitation, ¡°He would beat me till I¡¯m half dead.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong felt their hearts jumped. Beat him till he¡¯s half-dead? Is this the truth or is it exaggerated?


    ¡°Really?¡± Liu Furong asked, ¡°Like us?¡±


    Qi Long looked at them. He pouted. ¡°Of course not.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong rxed. Why would anyone beat someone until he is half dead during training? It¡¯s impossible. This young man is exaggerating.


    ¡°At least you two can still walk. Every time training ends, I will be dragged to the medical room by my boss. It feels like I¡¯m dying but Li Shiyu¡¯s medicine always revives me.¡± Qi Long¡¯s words made Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong¡¯s heart pumped faster. Was this how their regimentmander trained people?


    They didn¡¯t believe what Qi Long said so they looked at the rest.


    Zhao Jun sighed. ¡°If it was the day training, it was still fine. We could have some time to rest and recover. If it was the month training, I really felt like I would die...¡±


    ¡°Day training? Month training? What¡¯s that?¡± Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong were confused.


    Lin Zhong-qing thoughtfully exined to them. ¡°Day training means a training session thatsted only for a day. We would get to rest and receive treatment after the session. This is the easiest form of training. Month trainingsts for a month. We would be tortured every single day and won¡¯t have the time to rest. We only had a night to recover. The next day, no matter what state we were in, we must go back to train. When we reached the 10th day, everyone felt that they would die already...¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing recalled the memories and shivered. ¡°Luckily, we all survived.¡± He looked at Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong with pity.


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong met all kinds of people so they immediately noticed the look. They thought about something and their expression changed. ¡°Is the regimentmander going to give us the month training?¡±


    Qi Long nodded instantly. ¡°Most probably.¡±


    ¡°Why is he giving us month training right from the start? Shouldn¡¯t we start slowly?¡± If this was true, Yang Mingzhi felt that the mecha operators in 250 Mecha n would not able to handle the training. Did the regimentmander want to get rid of certain people?


    ¡°Because boss is dissatisfied with all of you. Since he is dissatisfied, he will train you all until you reach his standards. Senior, do you think any mecha operators can reach boss¡¯s standards?¡±


    Yang Mingzhi was speechless. He replied softly, ¡°But he can¡¯t just start with the month training like this.¡± The mecha operators in 250 Mecha n were people who received many merits and achieve many achievements. Was it fine to treat them like this?


    ¡°Why not? When I just entered the battle team, I went through the month training too.¡± Li Yingjie asked curiously, ¡°If I can handle it, why can¡¯t the seniors handle it?¡±


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong didn¡¯t know what to say. They didn¡¯t have any interest to continue to talk to them anymore and were sent to Li Shiyu.


    Li Shiyu was flipping the documents at his office desk. When he saw two people being sent in, he raised his eyebrows and asked, ¡°For experiments again?¡±


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong felt their eyebrows twitching. Doctor Li looked like a gentle person but in actual fact, he was evil. How could he react so calmly to human experiments? The military banned human experiments.


    Qi Long waved his hand immediately. ¡°No, no. These two seniors are here to be treated.¡±


    ¡°They are hurt?¡± Li Shiyu put down the documents in his hand and took such a medical device from the side. He inspected their bodies and said, ¡°All your organs are injured. However, you handled it well by stopping the bleeding with your Qi-Jin so the injuries didn¡¯t get worse.¡±


    He scolded them, ¡°You two are already close to 50 years old. Why are you two still fighting like young men? I can treat you two this time but next time, don¡¯t look for me.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong smiled bitterly. ¡°You thought that we fought each other?¡±


    Li Shiyu scoffed. ¡°If you didn¡¯t injure each other, how did you two get hurt so badly?¡±


    Yang Mingzhi sighed. ¡°The regimentmander did this to us.¡±


    ¡°You mean our captain?¡± Li Shiyu was shocked.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Yang Mingzhi was not afraid of embarrassing himself. After all, this news would probably spread throughout the entire 250 Mecha n soon.

 Chapter 675 - Why?

    <h4>Chapter 675: Why?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Li Shiyu looked at Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong. He nodded and got up. He went to the cab at the side and took out two bottles of agent. Then, he took two syringes and sucked up the agent.


    ¡°Arm,¡± Li Shiyu said calmly.


    Yang Mingzhi rolled up his sleeve. Li Shiyu injected him with the agent. He took the other syringe and injected Liu Furong.


    After that, he took two ropes from the back of his table and said to Qi Long and Zhao Jun, ¡°Have them lie on the bed and tie them up. This will prevent them from hurting themselves.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong felt their hearts jumped. ¡°What kind of agent did you give us?¡±


    ¡°A good one. It will let you recover in 12 hours.¡± Li Shiyu replied calmly, ¡°Of course, since the agent is a bit stronger, there would be more pain. I¡¯m worried that you two won¡¯t be able to withstand the side effects of the medicine. If you hurt yourself, my precious medicine will be wasted.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong didn¡¯t believe Li Shiyu entirely. However, Qi Long and Zhao Jun trusted him so they immediately pushed the two people on the bed. Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong wanted to struggle but they realized that they couldn¡¯t exert any energy. They looked at Li Shiyu angrily. ¡°What did you inject into our body?¡±


    Li Shiyu was irritated. ¡°I said that it¡¯s good medicine. Oh, there is some anesthesia inside it too. It is to prevent you from hurting yourselves.¡±


    ¡°Since there is anesthesia in the agent, why are you still tying us up?¡± Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong felt that something was amiss. They watched as Zhao Jun and Qi Long tied them up on the bed.


    ¡°This anesthesia works for normal mecha operators but I¡¯m not sure if they work on you. Hence, it is safer to tie you two up,¡± Li Shiyu said indifferently.


    Yang Mingzhi wanted to say something but, he suddenly felt excruciating pain. Every single part of his body was trembling in pain. His expression turned hideous.


    Ever since he finished building up his tolerance against the effects of medicines, this was the first time he felt such tremendous pain. He started cursing. He gritted his teeth and forced a word out of his mouth. ¡°Why?¡±


    Li Shiyu raised his eyebrows. ¡°Why what? Why is it so painful when your body already built tolerance against medicine?¡±


    Yang Mingzhi nodded. This simple action required all his effort.


    ¡°The medicines you took in the past were destroying your body. Hence, your body is used to the pain caused by the destruction of your body. However, my medicine is different. It doesn¡¯t destroy to heal. It improves your body¡¯s natural healing system.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Yang Mingzhi was not satisfied with the exnation. He forced himself to speak again. This still didn¡¯t exin why he was experiencing such unbearable pain.


    ¡°I just increased your natural healing ability by a few thousand times. Normally, your cells multiply once every day. Now, they multiply a few thousand times every day. Since the speed of regeneration increased, the pain experienced during healing will be amplified more than a thousand times too. Since it is a natural form of healing, your body does not recognize it as medicine...¡± Li Shiyu continued, ¡°Tolerance against the effects of medicines has loopholes. This was what I found after doing much research. Congrattions, Senior Colonel Yang, you are the first tester for this medicine.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Yang Mingzhi asked the third time. Why was Li Shiyu treating them like this?


    ¡°Our captain never does anything for no reason. Since he did this to you, you must have done something wrong. Since you are in the wrong, you must be punished,¡± Li Shiyu replied.


    ¡°So you punished us for your captain?¡± Liu Furong asked painfully. Why did theynd themselves in the hands of a fan of their regimentmander? They felt wronged.


    Li Shiyu was shocked. ¡°What are you all saying? Why would I punish you all for the sake of my captain? That is what our regimentmander should do, not me.¡±


    ¡°Then why are we experiencing such torture? Ah!¡± Liu Furong felt really ufortable. He screamed in agony.


    Li Shiyu replied, ¡°So that you can recover in 12 hours and be ready for the month training tomorrow. That is the real punishment. I will not let you run away from the training because of your injuries.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong were stunned. So that¡¯s why? He treated them so that they could attend the monthly training and be tortured tomorrow?


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong were in so much pain, they were unable to think properly. They fainted. On the bright side, they wouldn¡¯t feel the pain anymore.


    When they woke up the next morning, the ropes had disappeared. Two beautifuldies were attending them. One of thedies looked at them shyly and noticed that they were awake. Before she could say anything, the other healthy-looking beauty came in with two metal boxes and put them on the table heavily.


    ¡°Your breakfast. Hurry up and eat it. If not, you will have to go for your month training on an empty stomach,¡± The healthy-lookingdy shouted at them.


    The shydy was afraid that they would misunderstand them so she said, ¡°It¡¯s already 6.45 am. Brother Shiyu said that you two will wake up between 6.40am and 6.45am so we prepared breakfast for you two.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong were confused. This was a totally different scenariopared to the one yesterday. Was this a trap or were they trying to make up for yesterday?


    There was no time for them to think further. They opened the metal box and gobbled down the food. Within two minutes, they finished their breakfast. Not one bit was left. After they put down their metal boxes, they realized that their injuries, which normally needs at least three months to recover, healed in 12 hours. They didn¡¯t feel ufortable at all.


    They were ted. They inspected their bodies with their Qi-Jin energy. Their injuries were really healed. Also, their body was in a better state than before. Some old injuries were healed too.


    The medicine that Li Shiyu invented was indeed impressive. It even cured injuries and illnesses military doctors couldn¡¯t cure. Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong feltplicated. If the medicine didn¡¯t have such a painful side effect, it would be much better.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang!¡± The sudden knocks on the door frightened Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong. They looked over. Li Shiyu stood at the doorway with his arms crossed around his chest. He said calmly, ¡°Since you all helped me with my experiment, I will give you two a friendly reminder. No matter what happens, listen to our regimentmander.¡±


    ¡°There are 10 minutes left until the gathering time. Don¡¯t bete on the first day,¡± Li Shiyu said.


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong regained their senses. They had no time to waste. They quickly got off the bed and disappeared from the hospital.


    ¡°Brother Shiyu, how many people do you think can survive the first day of boss¡¯s devil training?¡± Han Xuya asked curiously.


    Li Shiyu knocked on her forehead. ¡°I only know that we have a war to fight today.¡± He walked out and started preparing for the day.


    Han Xuya was confused. She asked Luo Chao, ¡°Luo Chao, what does Brother Shiyu mean?¡±


    Luo Chao smiled gently. ¡°Brother Shiyu meant that there would be many people sent to the hospitalter. We should prepare for it.¡± She walked out of the room and helped Li Shiyu to prepare the medicines.


    Han Xuya thought for a moment and finally understood what Li Shiyu meant. She sighed. ¡°I knew that many people will be unable to handle the training. No way! The three of us can¡¯t handle this. I will go and look for help.¡±


    Han Xuya rushed out of the room and went to the male dormitory. She pulled all the members of Lingtian out of their beds. Even Chang Xinyuan, who was in his modification chamber, modifying a mecha, got pulled out by Han Xuya.


    When Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong arrived at the training ground, many mecha operators were already there. They scanned their surroundings. The mecha operators that were present yesterday came. A portion of those that weren¡¯t present yesterday came too. The other portion didn¡¯t.


    More than 200 mecha operators stood at the training ground. However, they only filled up a small corner of it. This training ground was built based on the size of a normal mecha n. It was able to amodate 1500 mecha operators.


    The time reached 7 am. Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong noticed that more than 30 mecha operators hadn¡¯t arrived. They frowned. They couldn¡¯t help but feel worried.


    Clear footsteps sounded at the entrance. A group of soldiers wearing the 250 Mecha n uniform marched in an orderly manner.


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong looked over and recognized some people in the group. Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and Li Yingjie were present. Luo Lang and Xie Yi, who had been with them for the past two months, were in the group too. The other two people who came back with Ling Lan yesterday and Han Jijyun was also there.


    After they stepped through the door, they spread out and formed a line. They ced their hands behind their back and stared at the mecha operators intently.


    Another set of footsteps sounded. A cold figure appeared at the door. It was Ling Lan.


    She wore her Major uniform with a pair of brand new military boots. She looked prim and proper. The only difference from her look yesterday was the short whip in her hand. It made her looked more malicious.

 Chapter 676 - Ten Small Teams!

    <h4>Chapter 676: Ten Small Teams!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Attention!¡± Qi Long shouted suddenly. All the mecha operators stood at attention.


    Ling Lan slowly knocked the short whip against her left palm. She walked to the mecha operators that were standing at the front row and scanned them with cold eyes. All the mecha operators felt nervous. They were afraid that they made a mistake.


    However, not everyone was sensible enough. Some mecha operators who weren¡¯t present yesterday hadn¡¯t recognized Ling Lan as their regimentmander. Hence, they didn¡¯t pay much attention to the orders given. They maintained their original position and stood around casually. A few of them even leaned on one leg.


    Ling Lan slowly walked towards a mecha operator who was standing sloppily. She patted the person¡¯s chest with the whip and asked, ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear the call for attention?¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t I in attention?¡± The mecha operator rubbed his eyes and dug his ears.


    The mecha operators who were present yesterday felt their heart dropped. They felt that this person was doomed.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t reply to the mecha operator. She retracted the whip and knocked it against her left palm again. She was thinking about something.


    The mecha operator sneered. Seems like the new regimentmander is just a paper tiger. At that moment, Ling Lan moved.


    The whip in her right hand swung at the mecha operator¡¯s right leg. There was the sound was bones breaking.


    ¡°Ah!¡± The mecha operator screamed in pain. He fell on the ground and grabbed his right leg. There was fear in his eyes. He didn¡¯t expect the new regimentmander to break his leg just because he didn¡¯t stand at attention.


    Ling Lan kept her whip indifferently. She said calmly, ¡°Since you can¡¯t stand at attention, there is no use for your legs.¡±


    She stepped past him and scanned the other mecha operators.


    The other mecha operators who didn¡¯t stand properly immediately corrected their posture. They were scared. They finally understood why theirrades¡¯ faces were pale when they came back yesterday. This was why they kept reminding them that their regimentmander is a devil.


    The mecha operator groaning on the ground was dragged away by Xie Yi and Luo Lang. Peace returned to the training ground.


    Ling Lan was satisfied with everyone¡¯s posture so she returned to the front. She said coldly, ¡°First, I will announce that I, Ling Lan, will be the Regiment Commander of 250 Mecha n from now on. I hope that all of you will remember this point.¡±


    ¡°Next, the 250 Mecha n will split into 10 small teams. There will be 25 people in every team. I will announce the team leaders for the small teams now.¡±


    ¡°Team 01, team leader: Yang Mingzhi!¡± Yang Mingzhi was stunned. He is the team leader of Team 01? He raised his head and looked at Ling Lan in disbelief. Ling Lan stared at him coldly.


    Yang Mingzhi regained his senses and hurriedly received his order. ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡±


    Yang Mingzhi had been themanding officer of a 1000 member mecha operating team before so, by right, a team of 25 people should mean nothing to him. However, for some reason, he felt his heart pounding furiously when he heard Ling Lan¡¯s order. He was excited. This emotion seemed unfamiliar to Yang Mingzhi.


    ¡°Team 02, team leader: Liu Furong!¡±


    Yang Mingzhi was shocked to hear the name. He looked at Liu Furong.


    Liu Furong was astounded too. He didn¡¯t expect himself to be a team leader. Yang Mingzhi bumped him with his elbow. Liu Furong regained hisposure and received the order.


    ¡°Team 03, team leader: Qi Long!¡± Ling Lan gave the members of Lingtian a chance to be the team leaders too. Since they were already powerful enough, she had to give them more experiences to grow up.


    Qi Long heard his name being called and stood up straight. He shouted, ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡±


    ¡°Team 04, team leader: Zhao Jun!¡±


    ¡°Team 05, team leader: Luo Lang!¡±


    ¡°Team 06, team leader: Li Lanfeng!¡±


    ¡°Team 07, team leader: Xie Yi!¡±


    ¡°Team 08, team leader: Han Jijyun!¡±


    ¡°Team 09, team leader: Gu Dongyang!¡±


    Gu Dongyang was a mecha operator who had been recognized by the Federation. ording to what Li Shiyu reported, his recovery was the fastest and he was one of the people who were willing to cooperate with Xie Yi and Luo Lang during the treatment. Since he had the heart to stand up again, Ling Lan would support him entirely. Making him the team leader was the first sign of support she showed.


    Gu Dongyang¡¯s mouth corners twitched when he heard his name being called. He was excited. He shouted in a hoarse voice, ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± No one realized his hands were clenched into a fist. He felt hope lighting up in his heart.


    ¡°Team 10, team leader: Li Yingjie!¡±


    Li Yingjie was stunned. He was a team leader too? He just entered the Lingtian Battle Team. He was just a new member. He couldn¡¯t control his emotions and shouted loudly, ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡±


    Li Yingjie realized the distance between him and Ling Lan. If it was him, he would be selfish and only promote his own men. He would not give any chance to other people. Li Yingjie knew that there were many people in Lingtian Battle Team who were capable of being a team leader. However, Ling Lan gave him the spot...


    Li Yingjie was touched. He was grateful for Ling Lan. He thanked her for taking him in when he just entered the 23rd division. He also thanked her for remembering him and giving him the position of a team leader... he suddenly felt that he was willing to do anything for Ling Lan.


    ¡°The team leaders of the 10 teams are temporary. If the team leader doesn¡¯t perform well in the next month, he will be reced by someone better than him. There is only one rule in 250 Mecha n. Only the strongest can speak.¡± Ling Lan continued. The 10 team leaders got a shock while the other mecha operators felt encouraged.


    ¡°Now, the mecha operators here will be split into 10 small teams. As for those that are not present, you all will send them personally to the treatment room. Since they dared to disobey mymand, they will pay the price for it.¡±


    Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi smiled bitterly. They became Ling Lan¡¯s knife. As for Gu Dongyang, he didn¡¯t have such worry. He felt that people who disobeyed their superiors should be punished.

 Chapter 677 - The Last Team!

    <h4>Chapter 677: The Last Team!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Very soon, all the mecha operators were split into 10 teams. There was an average of 22 people per team. The remaining three of each team were still sleeping in the dormitory.


    The 10 team leaders rushed to the dormitory district with their team members and kicked opened the closed door without any hesitation. Their regimentmander said that thest team toplete this mission would be punished. The entire team would have to run 30 km with weights on.


    The mecha operators were not afraid of running 30 km. They hadn¡¯t been running for a while but their foundations were still there. However, they dread carrying weights. The weights that Ling Lan asked Chang Xinyuan to bring over were not the normal 5 kg or 10 kg weights. One set weigh 150 kg.


    A person who reached refinement was able to lift more than 500 kg of weight but that was just for a short moment. It was different from carrying the weights for a long period of time. Even at their peak physical state, the mecha operators could only run 10 km with 150 kg of weight on them. But, with their current physique, they might only be able to run for 5 km. 30 km... they might just die halfway.


    No one wanted to die. They had given up on themselves but they didn¡¯t want to die. Hence, the mecha operators epted their team leaders without any retaliation. Although most of them belonged to Lingtian, they had no objections.


    No, that¡¯s impossible. It¡¯s just that in their situation, they had to put down their unhappiness and focus onpleting the mission together.


    When these mecha operators saw theirrades wandering alone in the dormitory district, they pounced on them like a tigress who saw a deer. They grabbed the person tightly and dragged him to find Li Shiyu.


    Every team was doing the same thing. Within a short time, all the remaining mecha operators in the dormitory were taken away by the ten teams.


    Ling Lan rxed when she saw the empty training ground. She asked in a low voice, ¡°Little Four, am I doing the right thing?¡±


    She was confused about her decision. The training she nned was extremely tough. The people going through the training were her brother-in-arms as well as mecha operators who had many achievements. They were not her enemies. Was this the correct decision to make?


    ¡°Anything you do is right!¡± A cute voice sounded in her mindscape. The person who replied to her was Little Blossom. Ling Lan remembered that Little Four was still sleeping, as he needed to evolve. Little Blossom was the one apanying her now.


    ¡°Everything I do is right? What do you know?¡± Ling Lan knocked Little Blossom¡¯s head. Little Blossom was obedient. If she didn¡¯t give any order, Little Blossom would not do anything on his own. If she gave a decision, Little Blossom would support her entirely. He was not like Little Four who liked to do stuff behind her back and always give her stupid ideas.


    However, she missed Little Four. She missed the person who always created trouble for her.


    ¡°Master, do you miss Little Brother Four?¡± Little Blossom could sense Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts. He bit his fingers in confusion. As a newborn, he was unable to understand why his master missed Elder Brother Four. He couldn¡¯tprehend the rtionship between his master and Little Four.


    ¡°Yes, I miss him. I don¡¯t know when he will wake up, whether his evolution is sessful, and whether he is in danger.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Elder Brother Four is strong. Nothing will happen to him. Also, Elder Brother Four thinks the same way as me. You are the most powerful person I know. Anything you do is right,¡± Little Blossom replied.


    Little Blossom was speaking the truth when he said that Little Four was powerful. He was not just trying to console her. As an intelligent entity, Little Blossom knew how scary Little Four was. This was why he was willing to recognize Little Four as his elder brother. He willingly bowed down to Little Four.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that Little Blossom was speaking the truth. But, she still felt Little Blossom¡¯s good intention. She rubbed his head and said gently, ¡°Thank you, Little Blossom.¡±


    These mecha operators had given up on themselves. Normal methods wouldn¡¯t work on them. She needed to use harsh means to get them to stand up again. Thus, she must let them struggle between life and death every day. This would release their hidden potential.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned firm. Little Blossom was not good at speaking like Little Four but she still gained strength from his words.


    At that moment, the first team came back. It was Team 01 led by Yang Mingzhi. Yang Mingzhi saluted to Ling Lan and reported his group¡¯s progress. Then, Gu Dongyang¡¯s team came back.


    They had stayed at 250 Mecha n for a long time so they were familiar with the mecha operators in 250 Mecha n. They knew who didn¡¯te so they specifically went to the dormitory where the missing mecha operators were at. Hence, they used lesser time than the other teams.


    After the two team leaders finished their mission, they exchanged nces and felt relieved. They could run 30 km with the weights on but their team members couldn¡¯t. As the team leader, they could not let anything happen to their team members on the first day of training. Based on how vicious their regimentmander was, he would definitely give them a harsher punishment if they couldn¡¯t finish the task on time.


    They couldn¡¯t care much about their brother-in-arms in the other teams. All the other teams were theirpetitors. There was no such thing as helping each other.


    Very soon, the other teams starteding back. Yang Mingzhi saw Liu Furong running back and felt happy for him. When Li Yingjie came back, he saw that all the other teams were present already. His expression changed.


    He left 250 Mecha n for two months so he was not familiar with the people in the mecha n. Qi Long had the help of Han Jijyun so he was able to find his team members quickly.


    Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng faced the same problem as Li Yingjie but they cooperated with each other and managed to finish the task before Li Yingjie.


    Li Yingjie was alone and could only run around the dormitory blindly. He took a long time to find the final three members of his team and became thest team toplete the task.

 Chapter 678 - Rebellion!

    <h4>Chapter 678: Rebellion!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong were secretly happy thest team leader toplete the mission were from Ling Lan¡¯s battle team. They wanted to see if their heartless and vicious regimentmander would treat his men the same way as he treated them.


    Ling Lan was not surprised that Li Yingjie wasst. When she assigned Li Yingjie as one of the team leaders, she had expected this result.


    Ling Lan was not purposely trying to torture Li Yingjie. Li Yingjie had the capability to be a team leader. He has been a leader ever since he was in the Scout Academy. However, he needed to improve his personality and ways of doing things. It would take some time before he gains the recognition from his team members but Ling Lan didn¡¯t have the time to wait for him.


    She knew that the war was going to happen soon. There was not much time left. Hence, she decided to use the most extreme methods to train her mecha n members the moment she has the chance too. She must fully control the 250 Mecha n as soon as possible so that herrades could have enough experience and participate in the war.


    Li Yingjie wascking but Ling Lan believed that as long as he managed to gain the respect of his team members, his team would be on par with the rest of the teams.


    After going through thick and thin together, Li Yingjie would definitely gain recognition from his team members. The process might be difficult for him but it would be rewarding in the end.


    Of course, Li Yingjie didn¡¯t understand all these currently. He stood in front of Ling Lan with a pale face. He was dead. He knew what Ling Lan was capable of.


    Ling Lan looked at Li Yingjie coldly. She didn¡¯t express her disappointment but the emotionless gaze made Li Yingjie worried. Is he useless?


    ¡°30 km with weights. Do you need me to remind you?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t question him. She just repeated her order.


    ¡°Yes! regimentmander!¡± Li Yingjie gritted his teeth and saluted. He turned around and said, ¡°Carry the weights now.¡± Then, he ran to the side first and started carrying the weights.


    His team members didn¡¯t want to follow him but Ling Lan¡¯s malicious gaze stopped them fromining. They swallowed their words. They still remembered what happened to the person who didn¡¯t stand at attention. They didn¡¯t want to be the second person to suffer so they obediently followed Li Yingjie.


    At that moment, they still had some hope that if they fell in exhaustion, their regimentmander would not force them toplete the 30 km run. This hope prevented them from doing anything overboard.


    As Li Yingjie brought his men to carry out the punishment, Ling Lan ordered the other nine teams to carry out the training for the day. There was an uproar. Their training was even harder than the 30 km run with weights. What kind of punishment was that?


    Ling Lan¡¯s voice echoed through the training ground, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, after theypleted the run, they will still have toplete the training.¡±


    Everyone turned silent. Soon, they started talking among themselves again. They knew that if Li Yingjie¡¯s team carried out the training after the run, all of them would die. No one would be able to survive the training. They felt depressed. Was their regimentmander trying to kill some of them using this method so that the new recruits could take over their positions?


    The life-or-death situation ignited the me in their hearts. Their eyes turned firm as anger burned inside them. Although they had given up on themselves, they still had the desire to live. If not, they would be in a coffin now.


    Ling Lan wanted to inform the mecha operators in 250 Mecha n that as their regimentmander, she could kill them without tainting her hands if she wanted to. She wanted them to know that she didn¡¯t care about their life at all.


    Without a doubt, Ling Lan¡¯s actions infuriated them. She touched their baseline. Their unyielding spirit was sparked.


    When Yang Mingzhi, Gu Dongyang, and Liu Furong heard what Ling Lan said, this was their first thought too. Was their regimentmander trying to kill them?


    They thought that Ling Lan would slowly increase the intensity of the training but reality proved that they were wrong. Ling Lan jumped straight into the most intense training on the first day. Not many people would be able to handle the training. Most of them would probably faint halfway through. In their memory, even the special forces didn¡¯t have such intensive training.


    They were just mecha operators who hadn¡¯t been working out for many years. Was their regimentmander trying to create results quickly? Or was he too young so he acted rashly?


    If that was the case, it would be a pity. Everything would go to waste. The current situation would be destroyed by his actions. If they guessed correctly, the mecha operators would rebel against their regimentmander soon. All the mecha operators might die in this rebellion if things got out of hand...


    Then, the three of them remembered that there was a rule which stated that all soldiers who rebelled could be killed by their superiors without reporting to the higher authorities.


    Was this their regimentmander¡¯s n? Was he trying to kill all the mecha operators using this rule? The three of them felt a chill down their spine as they thought of this possibility. They looked at Ling Lan who was wearing a poker face.


    As expected, the mecha operators started rebelling.


    ¡°Are you trying to kill us with this training? We won¡¯t ept it,¡± one of the mecha operators shouted angrily.


    ¡°Yes. No other mecha n has such harsh training. This is not normal.¡±


    ¡°He is trying to kill us. If we don¡¯t retaliate, we will all die here.¡±


    ¡°Resist! We must resist!¡±


    ¡°Rebel! Rebel! Rebel!¡±


    ¡°Rebel!¡± Close to 200 mecha operators started chanting. This showed how scary Ling Lan¡¯s training was.


    ¡°Shut up!¡± Yang Mingzhi screamed suddenly. He couldn¡¯t let the mecha operators die here. Liu Furong and Gu Dongyang woke up from their thoughts when they heard Yang Mingzhi¡¯s voice and started holding back their team members too.


    Ling Lan frowned slightly. She thought that the three of them would just watch the other mecha operators with cold eyes. She never expected them to try and stop their team members. This caught her by surprise.


    Although she let them be team leaders, she didn¡¯t think that she was able to win them over. She had beaten Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong up in front of so many people. This was humiliating to them. She was happy if they didn¡¯t create trouble for her.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that the three of them were just afraid that she would kill all the rebelling mecha operators. This showed how sessful she was at building up her image of a malicious and heartless regimentmander.


    However, the furious mecha operators didn¡¯t appreciate what they were doing. Many of them thought that they had gone to Ling Lan¡¯s side and scolded them too.


    A cold voice rose above the masses. ¡°You don¡¯t want to train? Sure. All the team leaders, send them to theboratory.¡± Ling Lan was not afraid of the mecha operators at all. Resisting showed that they still had some fire in them. It was a good thing.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused an outburst.


    ¡°We have received merits. We don¡¯t want to be guinea pigs. If we don¡¯t resist, we will all die. Brothers, charge!¡± A figure rushed towards Ling Lan.


    The attack was so sudden that Qi Long and the other members of Lingtian didn¡¯t notice it. By the time they saw the figure, he was already right in front of Ling Lan.


    ¡°You are looking for death!¡± Ling Lan swung her whip at him.


    ¡°Smack!¡±


    The mecha operator flew out and mmed onto the ground. He slid out for a few meters. A blood trail was left behind. After he stopped, the ground below him turned red quickly.


    Everyone was shocked by what they saw. Yang Mingzhi rushed forward in despair and felt his pulse. It was gone. The mecha operator was killed by Ling Lan by a single whip.


    ¡°He¡¯s dead.¡± Yang Mingzhi moved his mouth and squeezed those two words out forcefully.


    ¡°Attacking his superior. He deserves to die.¡± Ling Lan replied calmly. Everyone sucked in their breath. This person was extremely heartless.


    This was the first time Ling Lan killed someone in front of them. They dared to retaliate because they felt that their regimentmander would not dare to kill anyone. After all, she didn¡¯t kill the person who offended her on the first day. All she did was beat him up badly.


    However, now, they know that their regimentmander really didn¡¯t care about their lives. She just didn¡¯t kill them yesterday because she didn¡¯t have a valid reason to. Once she has one, she would have no more qualms.


    ¡°Damn it. We must take revenge for our brother!¡± Another mecha operator shouted and rushed towards Ling Lan.


    ¡°Smack!¡± The mecha operator flew out andnded beside his deadrade. Blood oozed out of his body. He was also dead.


    ¡°Attacking your superior. You deserve to die!¡± Ling Lan used the same reason.


    ¡°Let¡¯s kill Ling Lan. If not, we will die anyway. Kill him!¡± Another voice rang through the training ground. Everyone started shouting.


    ¡°Kill him!¡± Someone followed.


    ¡°Kill him!¡± ¡°Kill him!¡± ¡°Kill him!¡± The mecha operators chanted. Ling Lan¡¯s had finally angered all of them.


    ¡°So this is how it feels to be a viin. It doesn¡¯t feel good.¡± Ling Lan was depressed. She never wanted to be a viin but she had no choice.


    Yang Mingzhi, Gu Dongyang, and Liu Furong saw the angry crowd and knew that it was hopeless now. They stared at Ling Lan with pale faces. Was their regimentmander going to contact thew enforcement department? Were they going to watch theirrades dying in front of their eyes?


    ¡°Kill me? Do you all have the capability to?¡± Ling Lan sneered. The nonchnt look in her eyes was the final straw. Everyone charged at Ling Lan angrily. They couldn¡¯t defeat Ling Lan alone but they could definitely kill her if they attacked together.


    Yang Mingzhi, Gu Dongyang, and Liu Furong were shocked. So what if the mecha operators managed to kill Ling Lan? Attacking their superior was an offense that would get them executed. If Ling Lan didn¡¯t die, he would have a valid reason to kill all the mecha operators. There was no way these mecha operators would survive.


    They felt despair. Their friends who once achieve many merits were going to be killed by their own people...


    ¡°Ice Blockade!¡± The entire training ground turned into an ice world as soon as a cold voice was heard.


    ¡°Domain realm master!¡± Yang Mingzhi was shocked. The three of them jumped back and used their Qi-Jin power to protect their bodies. They tried to block the domain realm energy.


    However, they worried for nothing. Ling Lan¡¯s energy went passed them. The mecha operators who led the attack on her turned into ice statues. The expression on their faces froze. They didn¡¯t have the time to react or stop when this happened and were frozen on the spot. All the other mecha operators stopped in their tracks. They didn¡¯t have the courage to act anymore.


    The once noisy training ground was dead silent. The mecha operators who escaped the attack stared at Ling Lan frighteningly. The fact that Ling Lan was a domain realm master dashed all hopes they had of resisting. They only had one thought now: They were dead!


    Ling Lan looked up and smiled. She knocked the whip against her left palm and said softly, ¡°Why? Team leaders, do you all need me to repeat myself?¡±


    Yang Mingzhi, Liu Furong, and Gu Dongyang regained their senses and shouted at their team members who hadn¡¯t turned into ice statues. They started preparing for the training today. Qi Long and the other team leaders called their team members too.


    The mecha operators looked at the real-looking ice statues and shivered in fear. They didn¡¯t dare to say anything. They might die from the training but there was a possibility that they would survive. If they resist, they would definitely die. They knew which option was better.


    The mecha operators finally understood what Ling Lan meant when she said the only the strongest can speak.


    Everyone started training with their various team leaders. Only the ice statues were left in the training ground.


    Ling Lan walked to the two mecha operators who were dead and kicked them. She said indifferently, ¡°They are gone now. You can get up now.¡±


    The two mecha operators jumped up. One of them smiled, ¡°Boss, how is our acting?¡±


    ¡°Not bad!¡± Ling Lan said. She pointed at his face and asked, ¡°Luo Shaoyun, your face looks weird. Also, why was it you two?¡±


    Luo Shaoyun rubbed his face and said pitifully, ¡°We couldn¡¯t control what we change into after we took the Face Changing Agent. Only Yuan Youyun and I turned into 40-years-old men. Everyone else looked too young.¡± He frowned after speaking. It was mentioned that the face they turned into depended on their mental age. Does this mean that Yuan Youyun and his mental age had reached 40 years old?


    Yuan Youyun felt depressed too. He thought about the same thing.


    Ling Lan guessed their thoughts from their expression and wanted tough. Luo Shaoyun and Yuan Youyun were more maturepared to people like Li Jinghong and He Chaoyang. However, she felt that Lin Zhong-qing was the most detailed and mature out of their group. The idea that your changed face reflected your mental age must be fake news.


    Ling Lan was a little wrong in her logic. Why must people who are more detailed and mature have a higher mental age?


    ¡°Stop feeling depressed. The Face Changing Agent onlysts for a day. You will regain your youthful looks tomorrow. Ask Li Shiyu toe over and collect his patients.¡± Ling Lan consoled them and gave them an order.

 Chapter 679 - I Want

    <h4>Chapter 679: I Want</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    She couldn¡¯t let those now unfrozen mecha operators return to their teams just yet. If not, the fighting spirit in the mecha operators would be extinguished again. She just managed to inspire their desire to be stronger.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Luo Shaoyun and Yuan Youyun saluted and received her order.


    Very soon, Li Shiyu and Lin Zhong-qing came with a bunch of people. Without the seven people who became team leaders, there were only nine people, including Ling Lan, left in the Lingtian Battle Team. Ling Lan watched as her team members dragged the unconscious mecha operators on the ground away. Even Luo Chao, who was weaker than the others, had to drag two people at once. Ling Lan felt that there were not enough people in her battle team.


    Maybe I should take in more people if I see anyone with enough potential. Ling Lan thought to herself.


    The mecha operators thought that they could rx after leaving the sight of their vicious regimentmander but they were wrong.


    Ling Lan would walk between the ten teams and supervise them. If she saw any mecha operators not training diligently, she would hit them immediately without any warning. Then, she would order someone to drag the person away. Her heartless actions instilled fear in all the mecha operators¡¯ hearts. No one dared to bezy anymore.


    The 250 Mecha n consisted of all the useless mecha operators from various divisions. Hence, most of them were unable toplete the training. Before they were halfway through the training, all of them were exhausted. Only the ten team leaders remained standing.


    They thought that they were able to end their torture for the day but they were too naive. Since Ling Lan gave them this training, she had the confidence that they could allplete it.


    Very soon, Li Shiyu came over with the other members of Lingtian and injected the mecha operators with an agent that allowed them to regain their stamina rapidly. After they experienced the effects of the agent, the mecha operators started groaning and rolling around on the ground. They scratched the ground and begged Ling Lan to let them off. They felt as though they were in a living hell.


    Unfortunately, their pleas were unable to soften their regimentmander¡¯s heart. Ling Lan¡¯s face turned darker.


    ¡°I¡¯ve filmed this scene. It will be disyed on all the screens in our mecha n base. You all will be able to see your ugly faces for a month.¡±


    The mecha operators were unmoved by Ling Lan¡¯s words. They were already useless people. They were not afraid of looking at themselves. Also, everyone in this mecha n was the same.


    Ling Lan knew what they were thinking so she continued, ¡°If you all can¡¯tplete the training in one month, this video, as well as the other videos that will be taken in the future, will be shown to the entire 23rd division. If you all still can¡¯tplete it within three months, the videos will be spread to the entire military.¡±


    ¡°Of course, I will do a thorough job and write all your details in the video. I will tell everyone your identity as well as the merits you have achieved in the past. It will definitely be interesting to see your past achievements and your current state.¡±


    Ling Lan smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if your pastrades would feel ashamed of you when they see the videos.¡±


    ¡°No!¡± The mecha operators shouted in despair.


    When they left their battle teams andrades, they left as a hero. They knew that in their battle teams, they were still considered respectable seniors. It would be a hard blow to their juniors orrades if they realized that their heroes and seniors were in such a haggard state.


    This must not happen! The mecha operators eximed in their hearts. Ling Lan forced out their ego and sense of shame. Everyone had a bottom line that could not be touched. Once someone hit their bottom line, they would retaliate furiously.


    All the mecha operators got up from the floor. They only had one thought in their mind. They mustplete their training and not let the video be shown in public. They could not ept such humiliation.


    Ling Lan was relieved to see such a reaction from the mecha operators. Luckily, they still had something they wanted to protect. They still had some pride left.


    Ling Lan was afraid that these mecha operators had really given up on life. If that was the case, she would not be able to help them at all. They would really be useless to her.


    Of course, if they were really useless, Ling Lan would kick them out of her the mecha n. She needed to be responsible for her other team members.


    In the cafeteria of 250 Mecha n, all the mecha operators sat at the dining tables. A widespread food wasid out in front of them. This was definitely enough to replenish the energy they have lost during the training.


    The oncezy chefs quickly brought out the food and ced them in front of the mecha operators. Ever since Ling Lan took over as the regimentmander, the logistics department of 250 Mecha n started bing efficient.


    From this moment onwards, the 250 Mecha n turned from the most rxed mecha n to the scariest mecha n to be in. Some logisticians entered this mecha n using their connections so that they didn¡¯t have to work too much. However, they regretted their decision instantly. Not only do they have toplete their logistics work, but they also need to undergo harsh training too. This was not something a logistician should do. They wanted to rebel but after looking at the videos yed before each meal, they gave up on the idea.


    After the food wasid out, the logisticians retreated to the side. A screen came down from the ceiling and started ying the video taken when the mecha operators begged to be released from their training. The logisticians felt a chill running down their spine.


    The mecha operators were used to seeing the video. Some of them had started improving and their faces were not shown on the screen. Those that were still shown felt ashamed of themselves. They were all useless people at the start of the training. So why were some of them able to improve. Why couldn¡¯t they do the same too?


    They had enough of the gazes by the logisticians!


    They didn¡¯t expect the logisticians to watch their videos with them.


    They felt humiliated. Their weak side was disyed to the logisticians.


    It should be known that the logisticians¡¯ job was to service the mecha operators. Hence, they had a natural respect for mecha operators. Yet, in the 250 Mecha n, the logisticians no longer looked at them with respect and envy. It was reced by a look of disdain. The mecha operators couldn¡¯t ept this change in attitude.


    As the logisticians lost their respect for the mecha operators, they gained more fear towards Ling Lan. They would not be able to forget Ling Lan¡¯s viciousness anytime soon.


    They felt that since even ace operators were unable to win against their regimentmander, they would have no chance of retaliating against him. If they didn¡¯t listen to him, he could just kill them as easily as killing an ant.


    Ling Lan was surprised that the logisticians were impacted by the video too. It meant that she didn¡¯t have to waste any more effort in worrying about them.


    The logisticians¡¯ training was harsh but they were not as tough as the mecha operators¡¯ training. If they pushed themselves a little, the logisticians couldplete the training. Hence, they didn¡¯t have much of a reason to rebel against Ling Lan.


    Those logisticians that came to the 250 Mecha n to have an easy life wanted to leave the mecha n secretly. Since they couldn¡¯t offend their regimentmander, they could just hide from him.


    However, their wishes weren¡¯t fulfilled. Ling Xiao had his eyes on the 250 Mecha n. Who dares to touch the mecha n now? The logisticians lost their connections and could only train obediently.


    Who said that the 250 Mecha n is the most rxed andfortable mecha n to be in? I will kill the person who told me that. This was what the logisticians were thinking.


    250 Mecha n became a mecha n that was easy to get in but difficult to get out. Thus, Ling Lan¡¯s actions were not found out by anyone else in the 23rd division. Mind you, her actions couldnd her in the military court anytime.


    Ling Lan was able to have such a smooth journey because of her father. As expected, no matter what era it was, having a good father was an important thing.


    At the staff officer headquarters, He Xuyang and Tong Zhiying agreed with Ling Lan¡¯s methods. They had been watching over the 250 Mecha n and saw the improvements in the mecha operators. This showed that Ling Lan¡¯s harsh and high-pressure methods were effective.


    Tong Zhiying wanted to create a record of the 250 Mecha n so that he could research on why Ling Lan¡¯s method was so effective. Unfortunately, this proposal was rejected by General Ling Xiao. He even gave a strict order that there would be no records of Ling Lan¡¯s doings in the 250 Mecha n.


    Tong Zhiying didn¡¯t understand why the General gave such an order. Since Ling Lan was able to cure the mecha operators that were once deemed useless, his methods might be useful in helping the other mecha operators that were met with mental obstacles. If they were able to find out the reason why the method was working and make it known to the other mecha ns, the entire Federation would benefit. Why didn¡¯t the general allow it?


    On the other hand, He Xuyang understood Ling Xiao¡¯s worry. Ling Lan was General Ling Xiao¡¯s son. He has a high chance of taking over the general¡¯s position. Hence, he couldn¡¯t afford to have any dark histories. The things that Ling Lan did to the 250 Mecha n were good but it could also be used against him.


    At that moment, Ling Xiao was hiding in his office and looking at the documents about the 250 Mecha n. He had tears on his face. His cute and cuddly princess was getting further and further away from him...


    No. His baby daughter is a sweet and obedient little girl. How could she be misunderstood by others? He must hide all the evidence to protect his daughter! Ling Xiao was firm. He opened his optical supeputer and used his rights as a general to delete all the information about Ling Lan¡¯s doings in the 250 Mecha n. He gave an order to forbid any other generals from obtaining information about the 250 Mecha n.


    If he had the ability to, he wanted to prevent everyone from getting any information about the 250 Mecha n. However, his position was not high enough to do that. Maybe he should climb higher in rank... Ling Xiao raised his head. An idea was forming in his heart.


    The four-star Liaowang was not a suitable for humans to live in. However, there were ample resources on Liaowang andborers were needed to open the mines. The sry for these jobs was much higher than normal so manymoners were attracted to the offer. They nned to work for 20 to 30 years and earned their pot of gold. Then, they would return to their three-star and enjoy city life.


    In order to let humans live in Liaowang safely, the Federation built two giant cities on Liaowang. Each city was able to hold close to 100 million people. The workers on the would bring their families along so there would be Scout Academies as well as specialized schools. Those people who couldn¡¯t get into the Scout Academies could attend these specialized schools and learn specialized skills to support their families.


    Chen Yang¡¯s family was a normal family. They lived on the Liaowang. Chen Yang was a normal mine worker and his wife, Luo Min, was a normal woman who worked at a supermarket as a stock managing assistant. She received the most basic first level sry. There were many families like Chen Yang. However, because of his oldest son, Chen Yang and his wife were slightly different from the other families. Many people were jealous of them.


    Chen Yang¡¯s son was called Chen Yifan. When he gave this name to his son, he probably thought that his son would have a normal life. However, the moment his son was born, he knew that his son was special. His son¡¯s physical constitution reached an S rank. When this news reached the military headquarters, they immediately sent people over and wanted to nurture his son.


    Chen Yang and Luo Min gave birth to their son ten years after their marriage. Hence, although they knew that their son would have a bright future if they let the military nurture him, they were still unable to let him go. From the name, you could tell that this couple had no huge ambitions in life. They just wanted their family to be safe and sound. Hence, Chen Yifan was not taken away.


    The military felt regretful but they didn¡¯t force Chen Yang. There were many children who had S rank potential so it was fine if one of them didn¡¯t join them. However, in order to not waste Chen Yifan¡¯s potential, the military decided to give Chen Yifan all the benefits he should have. All the medicines that were given to an S rank baby were given to him too.


    As Chen Yifan grew older, he started to disy his potential. In the Scout Academy, he was always the top few in terms of the physical skills test and theory exams. His parents were proud of him. Sometimes, they wondered if their son could have been stronger if they had sent him to the military.


    This thought came out again when they gave birth to their second son, Chen Yi¡¯an, two yearster. His potential was only C rank. If they knew that they would have a second child so quickly, they would not have wasted their oldest son¡¯s talent.


    When Chen Yifan was 16 years old, he entered the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. Everyone was jealous of Chen Yang and his wife but no one understood the regret they had.


    Chen Yifan had been in the military academy for six years. In those six years, he never went back home. He would only have a video call with them once every new year. Chen Yang and his wife missed their son but since they had Chen Yi¡¯an apanying them, life was not that hard.


    If Chen Yifan was their pride, Chen Yi¡¯an was their worry. Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s potential was not high so it meant that he would not be able to reach a high level in terms of physical skills. Not only that, he was not smart either. After graduating from the Scout Academy, he was only able to study at the mecha engineering school for three years. He barely managed to pass his exams. Chen Yang and his wife thought that Chen Yifan had taken away all their best genes and that¡¯s why Chen Yi¡¯an was so normal.


    However, no matter how normal he was, he was still their son. When Chen Yi¡¯an reached the age where he could enter the military, Chen Yang and his wife had a dilemma.


    They hoped that Chen Yi¡¯an would be able to pass the recruit test and enter the military. As long as he didn¡¯t need to go onto the battlefield and survived until his retirement, the country would give him a good job and his life would be stable. However, the recent news made them worry that their son would have to go to war. If that was the case, they hoped that their son would not pass the test. As they could still afford to take care of him.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The door flew open. Chen Yi¡¯an smiled as he walked in. He was not worried about entering the military at all.


    Chen Yang scolded him, ¡°Don¡¯t you know how to open the door properly. Sooner orter, you will break the door.¡±


    Chen Yi¡¯an ignored Chen Yang. He pushed the person behind him and shouted, ¡°Tadaa, look at who I brought.¡±


    A familiar figure appeared beside Chen Yi¡¯an. Chen Yang and his wife rubbed their eyes in disbelief. A momentter, they widened their eyes. ¡°Yi... Yifan?¡±


    Chen Yifan nodded calmly. ¡°Yes. Father, mother, I¡¯m back.¡±


    Chen Yang and his wife were ted. They hurriedly pulled Chen Yifan onto the sofa. After they recovered from their happiness, they remembered, ¡°You graduated from the military academy, right? Which division were you assigned to?¡± They were sure that Chen Yifan would get into a military division. They knew that with his ability, he would be able to survive in the military well.


    Sometimes, the child that was more capable would be neglected by their parents while the one that was not as smart received more care.


    Chen Yifan remained silent for a moment. ¡°I didn¡¯t take the military academy exam.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Chen Yang was shocked.


    ¡°No reason,¡± Chen Yifan replied impatiently. The six years in the military academy made him understand that the world of soldiers was not as pure as what he had imagined. There were different factions and powers in the military. If he wanted to rise above everyone else, he needed to follow what everyone else was doing. Chen Yifan was unable to ept this.


    ¡°But, that is your path. It was a shortcut for us to be a civilian too.¡± Chen Yang shouted in anger. Why did his son choose to give up such a good opportunity? This was something everyone on Liangwang wanted. However, they now don¡¯t even have the opportunity to be civilians.


    Chen Yifan replied Chen Yang with an indifferent face.


    Chen Yi¡¯an was not smart but he could still sense the anger in his father. He pulled Chen Yifan up instantly and shouted, ¡°Father, I¡¯m going to the armory and see if my name is on the list.¡±


    Then, he ran out of the house with Chen Yifan. Chen Yang vented his anger on Luo Min when she tried to speak up for her son. He told her that Chen Yifan became like this because Luo Min pampered him too much.


    Luo Min was not someone easily bullied. She screamed back at Chen Yang and forced Chen Yang to calm down. Now, they have to worry about both of their sons.


    Chen Yifan thought that Chen Yi¡¯an lied to their father in order to bring him out but instead, he was speaking the truth. He went to the armory and got the news that he was epted. Chen Yi¡¯an hugged Chen Yifan and jumped around happily.


    ¡°Don¡¯t go,¡± Chen Yifan told him with a stern face.


    ¡°No, I want to go.¡± Chen Yi¡¯an was a stubborn person.


    ¡°You might die on the battlefield,¡± Chen Yifan continued in a serious tone.


    ¡°Since I want to be a soldier, I have prepared myself for it,¡± Chen Yi¡¯an replied firmly.


    ¡°Are you going to leave our parents alone?¡± Chen Yifan said furiously.


    Chen Yi¡¯an looked at him with a puzzled expression. ¡°You will be home, right? You won¡¯t be going into the army so you can apany our parents.¡±


    Chen Yifan didn¡¯t know what to say. He didn¡¯t expect this to be a reason for Chen Yi¡¯an to enter the military.


    The two brothers ended their conversation unhappily. Chen Yang and his wife felt their world turning upside down. Their talented older son didn¡¯t want to enter the military while their slightly underperforming younger son wanted to enter the army.


    The date of registration for the military had arrived. Chen Yi¡¯an packed his luggage and prepared to leave the house. Whether or not his parents agreed, he would enter the military.


    He opened the door and saw his brother standing there. Chen Yifan looked at his younger brother and asked, ¡°Do you really want to go?¡±


    ¡°Yes. General Ling Xiao said that we must protect our country. I want to protect our country.¡± Chen Yi¡¯an was naive and not that smart but he was stubborn. Once he made a decision, no one could stop him.


    Chen Yifan saw Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s determination and turned around. When he noticed that Chen Yi¡¯an was not following him, he asked, ¡°Why are you still standing there?¡±


    Chen Yi¡¯an scratched his head. ¡°Brother, what do you mean?¡±


    ¡°What do I mean? I¡¯m entering the military with you.¡± Chen Yifan felt helpless. If his brother entered the military by himself, he would most likely be used. He needed to look after him.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Chen Yi¡¯an was stunned. Didn¡¯t his brother say that he didn¡¯t want to enter the military? Chen Yi¡¯an left the house with this query in his head.


    After the two of them left, Chen Yang and his wife opened their room door. Luo Min had tears in her eyes while Chen Yang appeared to be in shock.


    ¡°Are you happy now? Both your sons have entered the military.¡± Luo Min punched Chen Yang angrily. If Chen Yang was willing to sit down and talk nicely, would her sons leave without bidding farewell to them?


    Chen Yifan smiled bitterly. He hugged Luo Min and said, ¡°They have their own path. We can¡¯t stop them. With Yifan¡¯s help, Yi¡¯an will be fine.¡± Chen Yang feltplicated too. If his two sons swapped their ambitions, he would not need to worry so much.


    Hence, the Chen brothers¡¯ names were entered into the recruits list. Chen Yifan chose to be a logistician so that he could take care of his little brother. He chose to enter the 23rd division too.


    They were both not certain if they were able to enter the 23rd division. If the number of applicants to the 23rd division was more than the number of avable slots they had, the mainframe would choose the better candidates first. As people from Liaowang, the Chen brothers would not be on the priority list.


    The two of them waited for an hour before receiving a message on theirmunicator. The message stated which starship they were allocated to.


    Chen Yifan prayed before looking at hismunicator. When he saw that he entered the 23rd division, he jumped up in excitement.


    ¡°Brother, I¡¯m going to the 23rd division.¡± General Ling Xiao was the reason why Chen Yi¡¯an wanted to join the military. Hence, he wished that he would be able to enter the 23rd division and be a member of General Ling Xiao¡¯s division.


    Chen Yifan smiled gently. ¡°Congrattions.¡± Then, he turned at walked to the right.


    Chen Yi¡¯an got a shock. He pulled Chen Yifan back and asked, ¡°Brother, where are you going?¡±


    Chen Yifan knocked Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s forehead helplessly. ¡°The starship.¡±


    ¡°Starship? Why does it sound so familiar?¡± Chen Yi¡¯an scratched his head.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you see the information written below? You need to board the starship to go to the 23rd division.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right.¡± Chen Yi¡¯an finally understood. He widened his eyes. ¡°Big Brother, how do you know that I need to get on the starship?¡± Were the people from the academy so amazing? Could they predict the future?


    Chen Yifan sighed. If he wasn¡¯t here to look after his brother, he might be unable to even past the recruit training camp. He waved hismunicator in front of his little brother. When he saw the confused look on his brother¡¯s face, he said, ¡°Because I¡¯m going to the 23rd division too.¡±


    Chen Yi¡¯an was ted when he heard this piece of news. To him, his older brother was a person who could do anything. He felt happy that he could be in the same division as his brother. The nervousness that he felt disappeared.


    Chen Yifan felt pressured when he saw his little brother¡¯s happy face. Was he really able to survive 10 years in the military with his brother?


    At the headquarters of the 23rd division.


    He Xuyang was arranging the documents in his hand. He ced all the documents that needed the general¡¯s signature on one side.


    Beep, beep. An announcement appeared on his optical supeputer. It reminded him that a call wasing in.


    He Xuyang answered the call. His assistant¡¯s voice sounded. ¡°Chief of staff, the Regiment Commander of the 250 Mecha n, Ling Lan, is looking for you.¡±


    The documents in He Xuyang¡¯s hand dropped on the floor.


    ¡°Chief of staff? Are you okay...¡± His assistant asked worriedly.


    He Xuyang calmed himself down and replied, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Let him in.¡±


    F**k, why did this persone again? He Xuyang felt desperate. Nothing good would happen when Ling Lan looked for him.


    He Xuyang recalled how often Young Master Lan looked for him whenever he needed more resources and weapons. Nowadays, the faces of the people from the Logistics Department would turn green whenever they see him. These things had nothing to do with their department but he still had to do it. He still owed the Head of Logistics a huge favor.


    He Xuyang felt unhappy. Why don¡¯t Young Master Lan look for the General? Finding the General was the most effective way. The General just needed to give an order and everything would be settled. The old bastard from the Logistics Department would not dare to defy the General.


    Ling Lan liked to find He Xuyang because it was easier for her.


    Whenever she looked for her father, he would always ask her about the mecha n. Ling Lan didn¡¯t like to talk. She knew that with her status, He Xuyang wouldn¡¯t dare to ask her anything. He would also satisfy all her needs. Ling Lan believed that her father would give her what she wanted so she just needed He Xuyang as the middleman to talk to her father.


    Ling Lan walked in. He Xuyang smiled and asked, ¡°Ling Lan, what do you need?¡±


    He knew that General Ling Xiao wanted to hide Young Master Lan¡¯s identity so he called Ling Lan by his name. Someone might enter his office suddenly so He Xuyang had to be careful. The possibility was not high but it was better to be cautious.


    ¡°Chief of staff, I have to trouble you again,¡± Ling Lan said indifferently. She sounded as though she was here to greet him.


    He Xuyang rubbed his face and said helplessly, ¡°What do you need this time?¡±


    ¡°Soldiers!¡± Ling Lan replied tantly.


    He Xuyang raised his right hand and pointed at Ling Lan. His hand was trembling. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you look for yourmander or the sumander?¡± Do you think that I¡¯m Doraemon? Do you think that I can fulfill all your wishes?


    ¡°Troublesome!¡± Ling Lan thought for a while and replied.


    He Xuyang looked as though he received a huge blow. Young Master Lan looked for him not because he was amiable and easy to interact with. He looked for him because he was convenient.


    He must have owed Ling Xiao and Ling Lan a huge debt in his past life. This was why he needed to serve them now.


    He Xuyang thought about the general who threw everything at him... Sob, these two people are both bad people!


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you can¡¯t do it!¡± Ling Lan pressed against the office table with her hands and looked down on He Xuyang. An oppressive aura formed around her.


    As expected of Ling Xiao¡¯s son. He Xuyang eximed in his heart. However, despite how much he liked Ling Lan, he didn¡¯t want to relent so easily. He was the Chief of staff for General Ling Xiao. How could he be scared by a regimentmander so easily?


    ¡°Ling Lan, why don¡¯t you look for your direct superior, the Commander of the Middle Second Corps. Many soldiers are assigned to the Middle Second Corps.¡± He Xuyang shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m just the Chief of staff. I can¡¯t do anything about the distribution of soldiers.¡±


    ¡°Master, he is lying!¡± Little Blossom shouted angrily in Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape. Although he was unable to download data secretly and use them like Little Four, he could still view the documents on He Xuyang¡¯s optical supeputer. Ling Lan had warned him against destroying the information on any optical supeputer from the 23rd division. Hence, Little Blossom could only suppress his desire.


    Ling Lan knew that He Xuyang was lying even without Little Blossom¡¯s reminder. The staff officer department is the only department that was linked to all the other departments. Although the main job of the staff officer department was to create a battle n, this mission would only be given during a war. During normal times, the staff officer department was in charge of the operations of the entire division.


    Ling Lan was not surprised by He Xuyang¡¯s rejection. He always did this when she looked for him. She patted the documents beside him and said, ¡°Chief of staff, should I find a document that can help you regain your lost memory?¡±


    She didn¡¯t know whether there was a document rted to the distribution of soldiers but she didn¡¯t care. She just needed to frighten him. If he didn¡¯t get scared, she would think of another way.


    Ling Lan was lucky. There was indeed a document rted to the distribution of soldiers in the pile of documents. He Xuyang felt frustrated as he looked at the confident Ling Lan. He suspected that there was a traitor in his team who revealed the content of the documents to Ling Lan.


    Of course, he knew that that was impossible. Everyone in the staff officer department had a good character. They underwent many tests before entering this department so no one would leak any information out.


    He Xuyang gave up. He asked, ¡°How many people do you need?¡±


    Ling Lan raised her hand. He Xuyang heaved a sigh of relief. Luckily, he didn¡¯t ask for many people. ¡°50 people? No problem.¡± He just needed to send a request in the mainframe to fulfill her request, He didn¡¯t need to negotiate with other departments or report to General Ling Xiao.


    He Xuyang didn¡¯t want General Ling Xiao to know that he helped Ling Lan with many things. The general was a fair person. He wouldn¡¯t want his son to make use of his connection.


    He Xuyang was thinking too much. Ling Xiao would never stop him from helping Ling Lan. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that he couldn¡¯t be too conspicuous, he would have given Ling Lan everything he could.


    Ling Lan shook her head to express that the number was wrong.


    He Xuyang¡¯s face changed. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you need 500 people.¡±


    Ling Lan put down her hand and replied nonchntly, ¡°Thank you for your help.¡±


    He Xuyang wanted to vomit blood. ¡°Really? That¡¯s impossible.¡± No mecha n took in so many soldiers at one go. Only those mecha ns who suffered huge damages during a battle had such a privilege. If not, 50 people were the maximum.


    Ling Lan answered, ¡°A normal mecha n should have around 4000 to 5000 people. There will be 1500 mecha operators in the mecha n. However, our mecha n only has 250 people. Even with the addition of logisticians, we only have 350 people in total. Chief of staff, don¡¯t you think that the division is paying too little attention to our mecha n?¡±


    He Xuyang was speechless. He stuttered, ¡°The 250 Mecha n is a special mecha n. That¡¯s why there are so little people.¡±


    ¡°I only need 500 people. 100 ace operators and 400 excellent logisticians,¡± Ling Lan told He Xuyang her request.


    ¡°100 ace operators? Impossible. Do you think that ace operators can be found everywhere?¡± He Xuyang shook his head. Asking for 500 people was already a huge request. 100 ace operators? Did he think that the 23rd division belonged to him?


    Fine, the 23rd division is lead by his father. In other words, it really belonged to him.


    Ling Lan frowned. She thought about it and changed her requirements. ¡°50 ace operators and 450 logisticians.¡±


    He Xuyang shook his head again. Ace operators were the main strength of a division. Moving one ace operator required a whole list of the protocol. 50 of them? Ling Lan might as well kill him. Even if he looked for General Ling Xiao, he would not be able to get them within a short period of time.


    Ling Lan looked at him coldly. ¡°Let¡¯s not waste time. Why don¡¯t you tell me what you can give me.¡±


    He Xuyang was afraid that Ling Lan would ask for even more things so he hurriedly replied, ¡°I can¡¯t give you any ace mecha masters. The most I can give you is 50 advanced mecha warriors and 200 recruits.¡±

 Chapter 680 - The Legendary 250 Mecha Clan!

    <h4>Chapter 680: The Legendary 250 Mecha n!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Advanced mecha operators? I don¡¯t need them. Just split a part of them to be logistics personnel. Even new recruits can join the logistics group.¡± Ling Lan looked down on those mecha operators. After all, she was about to reform the mecha n. Advanced mecha operators required a lot of time to develop and did not correspond with her ns.


    Split? He Xuyang almostughed after hearing Ling Lan¡¯s request. Only Young Master Lan has the audacity to haggle with him. Wuwuwu, it was as though Young Master Lan was never afraid of him and instead teased him. As expected, Ling Xiao and his son are both viinous people! He Xuyang¡¯s resentment was quite strong.


    ¡°300 logistics personnel, no more than that,¡± He Xuyang replied helplessly.


    ¡°400 people, not one less.¡± Ling Lan looked towards the sofa beside her and said to herself, ¡°I¡¯m not busy today, so I have all day to talk to Mr. Staff Officer.¡± Ling Lan sat there with an expression saying that if He Xuyang didn¡¯t agree, she would sit here forever.


    He Xuyang looked at the countless piles of documents on his desk and cried on the inside. If Young Master Lan actually stayed here, he wouldn¡¯t be able to work today.


    As expected, the father and son, Ling Xiao and Ling Lan are both evil. They are both here to bully him.


    He Xuyang said with resentment, ¡°Alright, if it¡¯s 400 you want then 400 it is! Regiment Commander Ling please be careful on your way out!¡± He wanted to quickly send away Young Master Lan, otherwise, not only would it hurt him mentally, it might hurt him physically. He would have to do overtime if that were to happen.


    ¡°Thank you Mr. Staff Officer.¡± Ling Lan satisfyingly saluted He Xuyang and then left his office.


    As He Xuyang was watching Ling Lan disappearing from his sight, he suddenly remembered that he could have actually refused Ling Lan¡¯s request. Why did he have to ept meeting with him in the first ce? He Xuyang just discovered that he made it troublesome for himself!


    The three month training period for new recruits had finally ended. After the training officer told everyone to scatter, all of the new recruits grouped around in the field.


    Chen Yi¡¯an excitedly went to look for his older brother, Chen Yifan. They were quite lucky as they were sent to the same recruit training camp. Although their training officers were different, they were still together. This made Chen Yi¡¯an feel very at ease.


    Chen Yi¡¯an only walked for a short while before managing to find his own Elder Brother Chen Yifan leaning on amp post in the field, waving at him.


    ¡°Elder brother!¡± Chen Yi¡¯an ran towards his brother like a dog seeing its owner. The only thing missing was a wagging tail.


    Chen Yifan saw Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s bright smile. The expressionless face finally grinned. He patted Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s head and asked, ¡°Did you pack your bags yet?¡±


    ¡°I packed them long ago,¡± replied Chen Yi¡¯an. Knowing that today was thest day of the training, he had woken up bright and early. He was too excited to sleep, so he packed his belongings throughout the night.


    ¡°Elder Brother, which n do you think we¡¯ll be put into?¡± Chen Yi¡¯an suddenly remembered something. His originally excited mood instantly dropped. He lowered his head and unconsciously kicked themp post.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Chen Yifan thought it was odd that Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s mood changed so quickly.


    ¡°This time, elder brother probably won¡¯t be in the same n as me.¡± After all, they had only just left the care of their parents. Chen Yifan had been taking care of him this entire time. Chen Yi¡¯an, who was not independent, suddenly discovered that he was going to be apart from his elder brother. He instantly felt uneasy in his heart.


    Chen Yifan rubbed Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s head,forting him, ¡°Yi¡¯an, no matter which n we are sent into, being apart still means we¡¯re together. You have to remember that you have grown up already and must be able to face the world yourself. Also, you chose to join the army, so since this was your choice, you must walk this path bravely.¡±


    Chen Yi¡¯an nodded. Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s depressed mood instantly disappeared. He once again had his symbolic sh*t eating grin on his face.


    Chen Yifan smiled and said, ¡°Even if we aren¡¯t together in the beginning, I will try to find a way for us to be together.¡±


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll be waiting for that!¡± Chen Yi¡¯anughed. Although that was what Chen Yifan said, Chen Yi¡¯an still thought his brother was justforting him. After all, they had already learned that the n where the new recruits like them would end up, would depend on the grades during their training and be distributed by the mainframe. Those who with good grades, would be ced in good ns and those with poor grades would of course be ced in weaker ns.


    Chen Yi¡¯an knew that his own grades were among the lowest. In the many assessments he had, he only passed by a few points after the cut-off point. His elder brother Chen Yifan on the other hand, would definitely have good grades... After all his elder brother was a cadet from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy!


    Chen Yifan saw that Chen Yi¡¯an didn¡¯t believe him. He shook his head and smiled, but didn¡¯t give any exnation. In actuality, during the new recruit training period, he had meddled with some things. However, it was just as Chen Yi¡¯an had thought. Because of the mainframe¡¯s cement, Chen Yifan couldn¡¯t confirm that what he had done was actually going to make the two of them be ced in the same n in the end.


    If that didn¡¯t work, then he would have no choice but to go with hisst n. Chen Yifan¡¯s eyes showed a hint of determination.


    The Chen brothers, who had already registered, were sitting in the waiting room. An anxious-looking new recruit that had just registered, walked into the waiting room and looked around. Suddenly he saw that Chen Yi¡¯an was sitting amongst the crowd. The new recruit¡¯s was overjoyed. He sprinted towards him and smacked Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s shoulder.


    Chen Yifan lifted his head. The expression on his face would make any other man¡¯s heart skip a beat. His hand, that he smacked Chen Yifan¡¯s shoulder with instantly froze in ce.


    Chen Yi¡¯an didn¡¯t see his elder brother ring at his friend. He looked at the person who ran towards them and instantly stood up excitedly, ¡°Zhou Yu, I didn¡¯t think we would be able to meet you here.¡±


    Zhou Yu was in the same training group as Chen Yi¡¯an in the new recruit camp. The two of them were both underperforming and their grades in the lower rankings. Since the two of them were in the same boat, Zhou Yu and Chen Yi¡¯an had formed a strong bond with each other in the past three months. They were both waiting to see each other during their cement. Chen Yi¡¯an was also very happy to see him.


    ¡°Chen Yi¡¯an, have you finished registering?¡± Zhou Yu sent careful nced at Chen Yifan. He didn¡¯t forget the re he was given just now. It was too terrifying.


    Seeing Zhou Yu¡¯s eyes move, Chen Yi¡¯an immediately introduced him to his elder brother, ¡°This is my elder brother, Chen Yifan, who is also a new recruit. However, he wasn¡¯t in our training group. My brother and I have finished registering already.¡±


    ¡°Elder Brother Yifan, hello!¡± Zhou Yu shouted respectfully. Chen Yifan made him feel pressured. Someone like him was actually just amon new recruit? Zhou Yu didn¡¯t think so.


    Chen Yifan nodded in reply, but didn¡¯t speak a word.


    Chen Yi¡¯an seemed to have felt Zhou Yu¡¯s fear, so he immediately pulled him aside and asked in a whisper, ¡°Have you finished registering?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Zhou Yu nodded.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure which n we¡¯ll be ced in.¡± Chen Yi¡¯an who was filled with anticipation had a little bit of sadness inside of him. He didn¡¯t know who his futurerades would be and hoped that they would be easy to get along with.


    ¡°Actually, all the ns in the 23rd Division aren¡¯t bad. As long as you don¡¯t go to 250 Mecha n,¡± replied Zhou Yu.


    Chen Yifan¡¯s eyes locked into Zhou Yu. He saw the frustration on Zhou Yu¡¯s face and knew that Zhou Yu had said something he shouldn¡¯t have said. Chen Yifan knew it right away that Zhou Yu wasn¡¯t as simple as he thought.


    Chen Yi¡¯an didn¡¯t discover Zhou Yu¡¯s frustration. He heard Zhou Yu¡¯s words and instantly became curious. Thus he asked, ¡°Zhou Yu, why can¡¯t we go to the 250 Mecha n?¡±


    Zhou Yu saw that although Chen Yi¡¯an was curious, he was still indifferent. It didn¡¯t seem like Chen Yi¡¯an was trying to pry the information out of him. Zhou Yu instantly felt relieved. During their time together in the past three months, Zhou Yu knew that Chen Yi¡¯an was a simple individual who would definitely not change his attitude towards him because of Zhou Yu¡¯s identity. Zhou Yu also wouldn¡¯t get looks of pity from Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s eyes.


    After being relieved of worry, Zhou Yu didn¡¯t try to hide anything and whispered back, ¡°ording to some legend, although this 250 Mecha n had all ace mecha operators, they were also useless people who couldn¡¯t fight in the battlefield. If we¡¯re not careful and get ced as the logistics personnel in that n, it¡¯s possible that we would be rotting in there for 10 years. Soldiers who enter that n at private rank, would probably still be a private after they leave the military.


    Hearing this Chen Yi¡¯an quickly shook his head and said, ¡°I definitely don¡¯t want to go to this 250 Mecha n. I am going to be on the battlefield.¡±


    Zhou Yu continued, ¡°I don¡¯t want to go there either. I didn¡¯t join the military to waste 10 years of my life in that kind of ce.¡± He clenched his fist with great force. Zhou Yu joined the military this time in order to prove to people that he wasn¡¯t a useless descendant from the Zhou family! He definitely couldn¡¯t waste away 10 years.


    Chen Yifan heard their conversation and couldn¡¯t help but have a thought in his mind. If what Zhou Yu said was true, this 250 Mecha n was quite suitable for the two brothers. Chen Yifan didn¡¯t want to achieve anything. He only thought about how he and his little brother would be able to peaceful live through the 10 years of military service.


    As Chen Yi¡¯an and Zhou Yu were whispering, both of them suddenly felt themunicators on their wrists vibrate. The two of them looked at each other and knew that the results of their cements had came. The two of them took a breath, lifted their arms and looked at theirmunicators...


    Then in an instant, they were petrified!


    Chen Yifan looked at the notification sent to hismunicator and couldn¡¯t help but raise a brow. He was just thinking that 250 Mecha n was the perfect n for him and his little brother. He didn¡¯t think that he would actually be ced in there. But Chen Yifan wasn¡¯t sure if Chen Yi¡¯an was ced there.


    ¡°Yi¡¯an, where did you get ced?¡± Chen Yifan softly asked Chen Yi¡¯an, who was now standing there like a statue.


    Chen Yi¡¯an turned his head stiffly, ¡°Elder Brother!¡± In the next second, he hugged Chen Yifan and began to cry loudly, ¡°Elder Brother, it¡¯s 250 Mecha n. I don¡¯t want to be a useless nobody.¡±


    Zhou Yu slumped into his chair. He began speaking to himself, ¡°250, it¡¯s actually 250? Why is it 250?¡± Was this fate? Was this why he had to go to the 250 Mecha n where all the useless individuals gathered? Will he never be able to get rid of the nickname ¡°useless¡± in his entire life?


    Zhou Yu¡¯s family wasn¡¯t just any normal family. This was also the reason why he knew some of the secrets of the 23rd Division. It was just that he didn¡¯t think that his desire to have a start fresh was in the end yed around by his terrible fate. It turns out, all of his hard work was all for naught.


    ¡°Come to the 250 Mecha n with your elder brother alright?¡± Chen Yifan¡¯s voice echoed beside Chen Yi¡¯an wailings. Chen Yi¡¯an raised his head in surprise, ¡°Ah, elder brother, you¡¯re going to the 250 Mecha n as well?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± Chen Yifan replied with a half-smile.


    ¡°That¡¯s great! It¡¯s the same anywhere if my elder brother¡¯s there.¡± Chen Yi¡¯an rubbed his face with his sleeve and smiled stupidly once again.


    Chen Yi¡¯an was a simple man. His sadness after knowing he was sent to 250 Mecha n was quelled by the excitement he felt knowing he was going to be together with his elder brother.


    Zhou Yu wanted to cry but couldn¡¯t. He clearly knew why the 250 Mecha n was formed. It was to give useless and glorified seniors a ce to stay. And logistics personnel in the n were there to care for these washed-up mecha operators... Unless an individual had a strong background, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get out of 250 Mecha n. Zhou Yu knew that the Zhou family had given up on him and would definitely not use their military connections for him.


    Zhou Yu foresaw that the three of them would waste 10 years of their lives in the mecha n and would not see the light of day.


    Disregarding Zhou Yu¡¯s deepened sorrow, Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s excitement and Chen Yifan¡¯s calmness, 400 people who had the lowest scores above the passing grade were all ced into 250 Mecha n by the mainframe.


    Chen Yifan on the other hand, hid his real potential in order for him to be ced in the same n as his younger brother by manipting his grades to be simr to those of Chen Yi¡¯an. It should be said that although the cements of the mainframe were fair, as it would still use the training grades as the reference. This would make those who deliberately hid their potential to get past the system like Chen Yifan. Just by looking at Chen Yifan¡¯s data would make it clear that his training grades were altered.


    It was not He Xuyang¡¯s idea to make the mainframe ce 400 of the worst logistics personnel into the 250 Mecha n. It was just that 250 Mecha n had such a bad reputation. Although He Xuyang had told the lower ranks to care for 250 Mecha n, those in the lower ranks didn¡¯t want to waste such good soldiers. Instead, they made their own decision and put down 250 Mecha n as the lowest level, level F.


    The cements done by the mainframe was in ordance with the level of the n. A triple S level n such as the special forces, would of course be given the strongest of the new recruits. While the lowest level, level F, would of course receive the weakest new recruits.


    When Ling Lan received the list of 400 names of the logistics personnel after the cements, she figured it out after the fact after seeing the piss poor training grades. Unfortunately, the ship had already sailed and she could only take what she was given.


    Of course, Ling Lan didn¡¯t care too much about the terrible grades of these new recruits. In her eyes, there were onlyzy people and no useless people. As long as she ruthlessly train them to force out their potential, some of these trash-like logistics personnel would definitely not be too far off from those outstanding logistics personnel.


    Since there were so many people, Chen Yifan and the others followed a group of new recruits and sat on a hover bus. The bus flew quickly and after a few hours, they arrived at the entrance to the base of 250.


    The infrastructure of the base was very modern. Chen Yifan only nced at it for one second and knew that the walls wereced with maic storms. If any idiot wanted to fly past the wall, they would definitely be electrocuted by the maic storms. The entrance seemed ordinary, but the circr object that looked like a decoration was actually a gatlingser cannon. If anyone wanted to get pass the entrance, it would only be possible if there were thousands of people attacking it.


    Chen Yifan¡¯s frowned. Was all this firepower and defensive equipment actually going to be used to protect a bunch of useless mecha operators?

 Chapter 681 - Arrangement!

    <h4>Chapter 681: Arrangement!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Wow, this base looks sick!¡± A few new recruits looked outside from their windows. They looked at therge and seemingly endless base of operation. Their eyes instantly had red hearts pop out from them. After only justing out from the training camp, they had never seen a real n¡¯s base of operations before. These new recruits were instantly in shock and awe by the vastness and modernness of their future mecha n.


    The driver of the hover bus received a signal from the base and slowlynded near the entrance. The soldiers on guard at the entrance were fully geared. They walked into the bus with a serious expression on their faces and began to examine the new recruits.


    This was a necessary procedure before entering a base. The guards in 250 Mecha n were no longer cking and rxing like they were before Ling Lan had taken over. If anyone dared to cause any trouble, those people would definitely not have a good time.


    A malevolent aura expanded into the bus as these soldiers walked into it. The aura made the rowdy new recruits instantly sit up straight on their seats and not dare to make any noise or even move.


    Chen Yifan clearly sensed the malevolent aura the soldiers had on them. He had once felt this type of aura around a few instructors with battlefield experience and around the mercenaries on their mission. How can these soldiers be considered useless?


    Chen Yifan had a lot of questions in his mind. Was this 250 Mecha n actually the same as what Zhou Yu had said?


    After the checks, these soldiers asked the driver of the bus to get off. Then, they took control of the bus. Not long after, the hover bus flew up once again and went into the entrance that had already been opened.


    The hover bus flew for another few minutes, then stopped atrge square. There weren¡¯t any buildings around them but only grasnd and forests. The soldiers told the new recruits to get off. When all of the new recruits got off the bus, the door closed and flew away once again without a trace.


    The 400 new recruits who were suddenly put in an unknown location had all became restless and uneasy.


    Right at that moment, a simple sketch of a map suddenly appeared on a screen in front of them. Then a voice echoed within the square, ¡°Hey newbies. In order to wee you newbies in joining 250 Mecha n, we prepared a weing ceremony specially for you guys. Are you guys ready?¡±


    Chen Yifan bit his lip. What wee ceremony? Wasn¡¯t it just a game where the veterans prank the new recruits? It was as he had expected. Entering the n wasn¡¯t that easy.


    The expression of the 400 new recruits were all different. Some were afraid, some confused, some nervous and also some who were excited.


    ¡°Do you see the map on the screen? Remember it carefully. If you make a wrong turn and activate our base¡¯s defense system, then you¡¯ll die for nothing.¡±


    After hearing these words, everyone¡¯s face turned pale. Were people actually going to die?


    ¡°In the division, there are many new recruits who perish for different reasons every year. Hope you lot won¡¯t be one of them.¡± The warning was heard by every single new recruit. Everyone began to memorize the map on the screen. Many people were afraid of memorizing it wrongly and immediately used theirmunicators to record the map.


    ¡°You have two hours. If you don¡¯t get to the destination within two hours... Heh, good luck!¡± The announcer¡¯s voice was filled with schadenfreude. This voice made Chen Yifan¡¯s heart drop to his stomach. A punishment that hasn¡¯t been told to them yet indeed was something to be worried about. It seemed, in order to make sure there weren¡¯t any casualties, they mustplete the task.


    ¡°The countdown starts now!¡± As the announcer finished speaking, the map on therge screen disappeared. Immediately a countdown timer appeared counting down from ten seconds.


    ¡°...4, 3, 2, 1, go!¡± After this voice finished, a few new recruits, who were anxious to get going, took their bags and went to the direction on the map by themselves. There were also many new recruits who began to form groups and teams.


    Chen Yifan¡¯s group of three joined a small team after Chen Yifan signaled the other two to do so. No one knew what would happen on the way to their destination. With more people moving together, they would be able to solve issues that one single person would not be able to.


    Inside a monitoring room, Ling Lan, Li Shiyu, Lin Zhong-qing and the others weren¡¯t busy, were secretly watching the performance of these new recruits.


    ¡°These new recruits aren¡¯t very capable. Their performances are all worse than the stronger ones.¡± Lin Zhong-qing felt a little bit of regret. There wasn¡¯t anyone who created a group that had more than 30 people in it. Most people just moved out by themselves. In the wilderness, this type of decision was without a doubt a death wish.


    ¡°These are all new recruits, whether they be a snake or dragon in the future is all dependent on how you nurture them,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. Lin Zhong-qing raised his head as if dumbstruck and looked towards his Boss with a look of disbelief. Did his Boss mean that these people will be working under him from now on?


    ¡°Each person in the logistics department of 250 Mecha n currently has their own position. Before these people make any mistakes, I won¡¯t be able to do anything to them. Also, the current logistics personnel are already used to theirmanding officer. If you were to take the ce of theirmanding officer, you would probably need to do a lot in order to have them submit to you. Spending time and effort on something like this is a waste and yields no benefits. This is also the reason why I haven¡¯t done anything to those in the logistics department,¡± exined Ling Lan. ¡°However, I won¡¯t be able to rest if the mecha logistics department is under someone else¡¯smand. For these 400 new logistics personnel, I don¡¯t want anyone else to meddle with them. They¡¯ll be given to you. I hope you will be able to nurture an exceptional group of mecha logistics soldiers.


    ¡°Yes regimentmander!¡± Lin Zhong-qing excited saluted.


    In all this time, Lin Zhong-qing saw everyone else in their battle team getting their own job positions and assignments. Only he, Luo Shaoyun¡¯s group of four didn¡¯t get assigned to any missions. They would go to ces where they were needed. Luo Shaoyun¡¯s group of four were alright with this because they didn¡¯t think too much of it. Lin Zhong-qing on the other hand was different. After all, Luo Shaoyun¡¯s group of four had only joined the battle team after entering the 23rd division. Lin Zhong-qing however, had followed the Boss from back when they were in the Scout Academy. Other veteran members were assigned important work while he had free time on his hands. This made Lin Zhong-qing suspect whether or not he was too weak, thus the Boss was afraid to assign him an important task.


    Now that he heard what the Boss had nned for him, Lin Zhong-qing understood that he was thinking too much. The Boss had already considered him, it was just that there wasn¡¯t any chances before, so he didn¡¯t tell him about the arrangements. This was his Boss. When he didn¡¯t have 100% certainty in doing something, he wouldn¡¯t simply promise anything.


    After being excited for a short while, Lin Zhong-qing slowly calmed down. He discovered that Luo Shaoyun, Yuan Youyun, Li Jinghong and He Chaoyang looked at him with envious looks. Lin Zhong-qing suddenly thought of something. He remembered that during this period, the Boss had made him take Luo Shaoyun¡¯s group of four on missions. After spending some time getting to know one another, he and Luo Shaoyun¡¯s group of four were more familiar with each other. He instantly had an idea.


    ¡°Boss, just having myself to take on 400 people is definitely impossible. You have to give me some helpers,¡± Lin Zhong-qing requested.


    Ling Lan half-smiled and nced at him while smirking, ¡°Oh? What kind of helpers do you need?¡±


    Seeing the satisfaction showing in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, Lin Zhong-qing knew he had guessed Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts correctly. He instantly smiled and said, ¡°Boss, don¡¯t me me for stealing people away but I would like Shaoyun, Youyun, Jinghong and Chaoyang toe with me. The five of us will make the mecha logistics department better together.¡±


    Ling Lan nced towards the four, who had expressions of joy on their faces, and said indifferently, ¡°I¡¯m not against it, but whether they are willing to help you or not, you are going to have to invite them yourself. If they aren¡¯t willing to go with you, don¡¯te running to me.¡±


    Before Lin Zhong-qing could answer Ling Lan, He Chaoyang already shouted, ¡°Boss, we are willing to join the mecha logistics department to help Zhong-qing.¡± The four of them were bored from not having anything to do. Now that they suddenly had something to do, they of course were willing to do it.


    Ling Lan nced over coldly. The sharpness in her eyes instantly frightened He Chaoyang. He put down his head and didn¡¯t dare to look at his Boss.


    ¡°If you¡¯re joining the mecha logistics department to help, then you guys can join.¡± Ling Lan said calmly. ¡°If you guys do, then take up the responsibility. No matter who makes a mistake, I will punish them no matter what and won¡¯t y favorites. You understand?¡±


    ¡°Understood!¡± The four of them shouted simultaneously.


    The four of them were intelligent people. They were certain from their Boss¡¯s words that their Boss had arranged them to the position of being Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s deputy officers.


    The four of them didn¡¯t feel wronged by this. In the time, they went on missions with Lin Zhong-qing and witnessed his capabilities. They were already thoroughly convinced that in terms of strength, they could only be Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s deputy. Ling Lan¡¯s arrangement waspletely fair. Also, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s temperament was great, always willing to talk ande to an agreement. The time they all worked together was very enjoyable. The four of them were also very willing to continue to work with Lin Zhong-qing.


    Seeing that the four of them didn¡¯tin about anything and excitedly epted the arrangement, Ling Lan instantly breathed a sigh of relief.


    It should be known that during wartime, the most important factor was logistics. If there was an issue with logistics even if the strength of their mecha operators were strong and ruthless, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to stay in battle for too long. Only when the logistics was made sure to be strong and sturdy, capable of sending in reinforcements to the front-line continuously, then the military corps would be able to bring out its full potential.


    Now the most important part, Ling Lan of course would hand over positions of power to people she trusted. However, Lin Zhong-qing by himself wasn¡¯t enough to develop an outstanding logistics team. Thus, Ling Lan arranged four deputies for Lin Zhong-qing.


    However, most soldiers with some capabilities nowadays wouldn¡¯t want to go to the logistics team because logistics was a department where people begged to not make any mistakes instead of acquiring merits. If an individual wanted to rise up in the ranks in logistics, there was almost no hope. Looking at the entire Federation, there were actually no officials that came out from logistics. Even if there were, those people would at the very most be a Senior Colonel.


    This was also why Ling Lan was worried the four of them weren¡¯t willing to go. However, now it seemed Ling Lan had worried too much. Luo Shaoyun¡¯s group of four didn¡¯t feel that it a bad thing for them to go into logistics. For them, ranking up from their Second Lieutenant rank to Senior Captain was already reaching the top (vice-captains of mecha logistics had a rank of Senior Captain). Also, the rank of Senior Captain was a rank that holds military power. It was much better than a rank based on reputation.


    In reality, ever since Ling Lan took over as the Regiment Commander of 250 Mecha n, no matter if it was her or her team members, they were all getting used to their new positions. Luckily, all of the members in Ling Lan¡¯s battle team were all capable individuals who were also stable and steady. Many of them were set in important positions in the mecha n and were all easily adapting to it.


    For example, Qi Long, Luo Lang, Xie Yi, Li, Zhao Jun, Han Jijyun and Li Yingjie became mecha battle team captains. They each led 25 ace mecha operators and created strong mecha battle teams. The members under them were returning to their past glory due to their hard work.


    Li Shiyu on the other hand had already been appointed as the n¡¯s head physician. Luo Chao and Han Xuya became his aides. Through their hard work and effort, 250 Mecha n¡¯s treatment facilities were temporarily opened. Of course, the n¡¯s hospital was stillcking in skilledbourers. A portion of these new recruits would be selected to fill in those positions.


    A hospital was simrly a facility that was necessary during wartime. It needed the maximum amount of people working in it order for it to run smoothly and could not have any positions unfilled.


    Chang Xinyuan was responsible for the research center of the n. However, this was only just an idea Ling Lan had and was currently not set in stone. Currently, only Chang Xinyuan was building the modification factory by himself. Once it bes built, this department would be the most undermanned. Not only did theyck enough logistics personnel, they alsocked technical personnel. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but put this n aside for now.


    The mecha logistics department that Ling Lan had been worried about, now had 400 logistics personnel. With Lin Zhong-qing taking up the lead and Luo Shaoyun, Yuan Youyun, Li Jinghong, and He Chaoyang aiding him. It helped resolve a big worry Ling Lan had and made her feel much more rxed.


    However, if she were to allocate two logisticians for each mecha operator, 400 was still not enough. Additionally, these 400 new recruits weren¡¯t all going to be allocated to mecha operators. Li Shiyu also needed a lot of people... And she still needed to allocate a few to Chang Xinyuan to help him. It seemed that the 400 people she acquired from asking Staff Officer He Xuyang was still not enough. Ling Lan regretted her decision.


    The only reason Ling Lan didn¡¯t consider the original 100 or so members in the logistics department was because, as the number of mecha operators increased, this 100 or so logisticians were already going to have a difficult time dealing with the entire mecha n¡¯s normal day-to-day living and would not be able to spare anyone to do anything else.


    Ling Lan was worried but knew that she couldn¡¯t be hasty about all this and needed to walk the path step by step. There will be a day when 250 Mecha n bes a fully equipped, well allocated and mature ace mecha n.


    Ling Lan and the others watched for a bit longer. Ling Lan then suddenly asked, ¡°Are Qi Long and the others ready?¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing softly replied, ¡°Preparations were done long ago, just waiting for yourmand Boss.¡±


    ¡°Let them begin their mission,¡± replied Ling Lan.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Lin Zhong-qing immediately gave orders to the ten team leaders.


    The ten teams who were waiting at their positions began to move out after receiving the orders.


    Chen Yifan led Chen Yi¡¯an and Zhou Yu and followed behind a fast moving group. The leader of this group was called Guo Rongqi. He was a detailed individual. After studying the entire map, he gave clear instructions to everyone in the team. If they wanted to reach the destination by the allotted time, it would be impossible to reach it with normal walking speeds. They must jog and move faster.


    Although many people were not so convinced, they still didn¡¯t mind running for a while. Also, saving time in the first half of the total distance would make the second half much easier. Thus, they jogged forward towards their destination.

 Chapter 682 - It’s Him!

    <h4>Chapter 682: It¡¯s Him!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The rest of the new recruits that saw them dashing right in front of them, raised their eyebrows in confusion. Some felt that they were wasting their energy while others got enlightened by their actions and started increasing their pace too. Some even started running alongside them. The 30 man group turned into a 50 man group after some time. Those people who were joined in were people who were originally running alone. They might as well join this group when they are all running.


    Soon, the 400 people were split into three groups. The 50 man group was in the front. 200 men group were in the middle. This group didn¡¯t want to stand out or be at the bottom. Hence, they kept their pace and stayed in the middle. The remaining people were at the back. These people wanted the others in front of them to scout out the path for them.


    ¡°Do you think the first group wants to stand out or have they seen through our trap?¡± Lin Zhong-qing asked Luo Shaoyun softly.


    ¡°The person leading them was the one who gathered people to discuss just now. They should have seen through our trap,¡± Luo Shaoyun replied with uncertainty.


    ¡°They probably saw through it. The map is simple but it consists of all the hints we gave. If they still couldn¡¯t see through the trap...¡± Ling Lan shook her head. If they couldn¡¯t see through it even with such obvious hints, she would have a hard time training them.


    As she thought about this, Ling Lan got unhappy. She was hoping that more people would see through her scheme. Seemed like she was too optimistic.


    ¡°Actually, there are some good candidates. For instance, this person.¡± Lin Zhong-qing saw a profile from the list of profiles of the 400 recruits in front of him. He clicked on the profile. The name ¡®Chen Yifan¡¯ appeared.


    ¡°This person looks familiar,¡± Li Jinghong said.


    ¡°The All-Federation Military Academy Grand Mecha Tournament at the start of the year,¡± Lin Zhong-qing reminded.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s him.¡± Li Jinghong remembered this person. He was puzzled. ¡°Chen Yifan was an ace operator from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. He could be a Senior Captain. Why did he participate in the normal soldier recruitment to be a logistician?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. He is just a private. His result during the recruit training is quite bad. He almost couldn¡¯t graduate from the recruit training camp.¡± Lin Zhong-qing announced Chen Yifan¡¯s results to everyone. Even Luo Chao, who had the lowest stamina among them, could achieve a better result.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to achieve a good result in the final test of the recruit training camp if you don¡¯t have the ability to. However, it is also easy for some powerful recruits to hide their true strength. Qi Long, Luo Lang, and the rest of them didn¡¯t give their 100% during the test so their results were not the best too,¡± Ling Lan exined.


    ¡°It means that Chen Yifan is hiding his power. Why did he try so hard to enter our mecha n?¡± He Chaoyang started to think about the worst possibility.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that he aimed to enter the 250 Mecha n. Would you expect the worst 400 logisticians to enter the 250 Mecha n before the results were shown?¡± Ling Lan rejected He Chaoyang¡¯s guess. No one would be able to predict such results. Even the people in charge didn¡¯t know that someone will give the 250 Mecha n an F grade.


    The 250 Mecha n got this batch of logistician based on pure luck. If someone was able to guess this oue, he must be extremely smart. Such a clever person would not use someone as obvious as Chen Yifan as a spy.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words enlightened everyone. Yuan Youyun smiled. ¡°Seems like getting an F grade is not that bad. We manage to get an ace operator. No matter how bad these logisticians are, we got something good out of it.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Getting an ace operator is a good thing for us.¡± Ling Lan nodded. After entering the division, Ling Lan started to understand the importance of having ace operators in a team. No mecha n would give up their ace operators unless someone with a higher authority asked them for it.


    Ling Lan felt fortunate that 250 Mecha n was a special mecha n. There were no battle teams below her which she could ask people from but there was no one above her who would ask her for some operators. The mecha operators of the 250 Mecha n all belonged to her. They would not be transferred to other mecha ns. Ling Lan could train her mecha operators without any worry. She hated it when other people took her fruits ofbor.


    It was good to have more ace operators. People like Chen Yifan had much potential in them so all the mecha ns wanted people liked him. This was why the battle teams would fight to get new ace operators into their teams.


    The 250 Mecha n had no right to snatch ace operators from other big mecha ns. Hence, they never expected one to send himself to them. This good news lifted Ling Lan¡¯s mood. She felt much happier when she looked at the logisticians again.


    Actually, Ling Lan was quite a poor thing too. The 250 Mecha n was said to have 250 ace operators but that was not the case.


    Only a few of the once ace mecha masters still retained their abilities. Most of them only managed to reach the status of a special-ss operator after months of tough training. A few of them only managed to reach the level of an advanced mecha warrior.


    Without going on the battlefield, Ling Lan was not sure if these mecha operators could really fight. Would their potential be released after experiencing some life-or-death situations on the battlefield? Or would their mental state be destroyed once again?


    Although there were many uncertainties in this bunch of mecha operators, Ling Lan still wanted to train them. She chose to train them and not take in new advanced mecha warriors because she didn¡¯t have enough time. It would be easier to let ace mecha masters regained their skillspared to training advanced mecha warrior to be ace mecha masters.


    Ling Lancked time.


    ¡°Ah, they reached Xie Yi¡¯s trap.¡± Yuan Youyun stared at the screen and shouted excitedly when he saw the first bunch of people entering the trap.


    Everyone was focused on the screen. The first 50 man group were entering a dense forest.

 Chapter 683 - Deceptive Deployment Of Troops?

    <h4>Chapter 683: Deceptive Deployment Of Troops?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Chen Yifan saw the forest and frowned. This kind of ce was the most suitable ce toy out a trap. He wondered if the veterans in 250 Mecha n would do something here.


    Guo Rongqi was a careful person. He immediately stopped everyone when he saw the forest.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Someone asked.


    ¡°This forest is dense. The lighting inside is not good. If the seniors want to test us, they might ambush us inside there.¡± Guo Rongqi told everyone his opinion.


    ¡°We just reach one-eighth of the journey. Even if they want to test us, they will noty out a trap so quickly.¡± Someone gave a different opinion.


    ¡°Yeah. Wouldn¡¯t they wait until we are out of energy before testing us?¡± They were tired but they still had a lot of energy left in them. If their seniors wanted to test them, this was not a good time.


    Most of the people didn¡¯t support Guo Rongqi¡¯s opinion. Guo Rongqi started to waver too. He wondered if he was being too cautious.


    Chen Yifan stood at the back and didn¡¯t say anything. He felt that what these people said made sense but his instincts told him that the forest was dangerous. However, no one would believe him. Instinct was not a good reason to convince other people.


    No one wanted to waste time in this forest. The time they spent to cover one-eight of the journey proved that what Guo Rongqi said was true. They needed to march rapidly in order to reach their destination within two hours. Hence, they treasured their time and were afraid that they would waste too much time contemting over this.


    Then, a recruit told everyone his opinion. Most people agreed with him. The recruit felt that this was an illusion created by their seniors. They wanted them to think that there was an ambush inside the forest to slow down their speed. That way, they might be unable to reach their destination due to theck of time and all their efforts would be wasted.


    Only Chen Yifan didn¡¯t agree with this idea. He trusted his own intuition. His intuition had allowed him to escape from several dangerous situations before. However, he didn¡¯t object to the general consensus. They were just his temporary teammates, he could just let them explore the path first. He believed that if there was really an ambush, he would be able to escape with his little brother safely with his abilities.


    Thus, Chen Yifan and his brother, Chen Yi¡¯an, followed behind the main group as they entered the forest.


    The forest was quiet. Besides the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, they could only hear their own footsteps. Chen Yifan looked as though he was rxed but he was on his guard. If anything happened around him, he would be able to react immediately.


    Xie Yi stood among the leaves and swayed along. He seemed to have be one with the tree. His team members were hiding on the other trees. They were waiting for hismand.


    ¡°!, 2, 3... 47, 48... huh?¡± Xie Yi saw Chen Yifan and was stunned.


    ¡°Wait, this person seems familiar. Let me think. Where have I seen him before...¡± Xie Yi tapped his forehead with his fingers as he tried to remember where he saw this person before.


    ¡°The Grand Mecha Tournament early this year. He was our opponent, the ace mecha master from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy, Chen Yifan. Why the hell is this person here?¡± Xie Yi looked at Chen Yifan in surprise. He didn¡¯t understand why this person appeared as a logistician of the 250 Mecha n.


    ¡°Tsk, tsk, tsk. He is a private now? That is interesting.¡± Xie Yi gave an evil smile. However, he frowned quickly. ¡°With him around, it would be hard for me to get rid of these people quietly. I might rm those people behind them...¡±


    Xie Yi thought for a while and decided to not act this time. He let the 50 people off. There were still other traps behind. His friends would be interested in Chen Yifan too.


    Xie Yi didn¡¯t want to admit that he let Chen Yifan pass because he wanted his friends to experience the same shock he felt just now.


    The 50 people walked through the forest safely. The soldier who suggested that everything was just an illusion felt proud of himself. The atmosphere in the team changed. Some people who used to respect Guo Rongqi started to question his ability. Some people felt that he was cautious but not decisive enough. He would not make a good leader. The group started to get divided.


    Chen Yifan looked back at the quiet forest. He was puzzled. He felt someone staring at him when he was walking through the forest just now. He thought that they would be ambushed but they came out of the forest unscathed. Why did their opponents let them off?


    Was it because there were too few people? Were their opponents targeting the 200 people behind them? If that was the case, they made the right decision to walk faster. This was the only reason Chen Yifan coulde up with.


    Chen Yifan never expected that his old rivals, the people from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, were in the 250 Mecha n. Hence, the moment he entered the mecha n, his identity was exposed. The people hiding in the forest wanted to make the most out of their ambush so they let them off. The 50 people managed to leave safely all because of him.


    Unfortunately, Chen Yifan didn¡¯t know this. He continued on his path.


    Ten minutes after Chen Yifan and his group left the forest, the 200 people had arrived at the foot of the forest. These people saw the group in front of them leaving the forest safely so they entered without much thought.


    By now, they understood that time was not on their side so they hastened their pace. Their slow speed at the start already wasted some of their time, so if they don¡¯t hurry up, they would definitely not reach their destination in time.


    They looked down as they rushed forward. They didn¡¯t pay much attention to their surroundings. Xie Yi waited until they reached the ce where his team members were hiding in and gave an order to attack. His team members were already a little impatient so they immediately jumped down and attacked the recruits.


    The recruits were frightened by the sudden attack. They couldn¡¯t think properly. Even when they had the numbers advantage and there was only one opponent, they didn¡¯t think aboutbining forces. They panicked and screamed as they ran around. Hence, although the recruits outnumbered Xie Yi and his team, Xie Yi still managed to subdued close to 70 people. Each of his team members subdued three recruits on average.


    There were some recruits that retaliated. A small group of people calmed down quickly after they were attacked and fought together to resist against the veterans for three minutes. After the veterans felt satisfied, they left after three minutes. The recruits were confused. They didn¡¯t know what the aim of this ambush was.


    After a huge mess, most of the recruits managed to escape from Xie Yi¡¯s attack.


    At that moment, thest batch of recruits reached the forest too. They heard the screams of fearing from within the forest and knew that there was a trap inside.


    The recruits thought for a while and decided to make a detour around the forest. Xie Yi felt that they were seeking death.


    This batch of recruits was already much slower than theirrades. If they continued to make a detour, they would waste even more time. Unless they walked through the shortcut which was marked as a danger zone on the map, they would be unable to reach their destination in time.


    Shortcut? Xie Yi felt his teeth hurting. That danger zone was the experiment testing area for Chang Xinyuan and Li Shiyu. No one knew when they would step on an experimental product if they walked through the ce. The feeling of stepping on an experimental product was an unforgettable experience. Also, Luo Lang brought his team over there. He exined that he didn¡¯t like logisticians so he didn¡¯t want to waste time on them. He would rather bring his men to the danger zone and challenged the ce again.


    Now, there were two things that the mecha operators in 250 Mecha n were most afraid of. One was the hellish month training by their boss and the other was the danger zone which they had to challenge once every month.


    In order to increase the difficulty of the challenge, Chang Xinyuan and Li Shiyu put in a lot of effort to invent frightening agents and mechanical weapons. Sometimes, they would cooperate with each other ande up with a frightening invention. This made the area a forbidden zone in the 250 Mecha n. No one would willingly go there and get tortured.


    ¡°Fine. Let¡¯s wish them good luck.¡± Xie Yi looked that recruits who took the detour and prayed for them. Then, he left with his team.


    At the same time, a river appeared in front of Chen Yifan¡¯s group. It was not a huge river. It was only 10 meters wide. For someone who reached refinement, this was an easy distance for them. They could jump over the river after a short run. People who reached Qi-Jin were able to bring someone across. Chen Yifan reached Qi-Jin so he was able to bring Chen Yi¡¯an safely across the river if he wanted too.


    However, to the normal logisticians who just achieved the foundation of manifestation, this distance was a challenge to them.


    Of course, they could choose to swim their way across but no one dared to do it. They were uncertain about what was in the river.

 Chapter 684 - Choice!

    <h4>Chapter 684: Choice!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    They couldn¡¯t see the end of the river and there was no bridge too. Besides crossing the river, there was no other way. No one knew what to do.


    ¡°Does anyone have a knife?¡± Someone asked.


    The people around him stared at him with judgment in their eyes. It was forbidden to bring any sharp weapons such as a dagger or a knife into a mecha n. Once they were caught, their weapons would be taken away. Some of them didn¡¯t know this rule and brought along their weapons. Everything was confiscated when they entered the 23rd division.


    The person who asked the question realized he had asked a stupid question. He sighed as he looked at the tree around him. It seemed like he can¡¯t use the trees.


    Everyone looked at the river in a daze. Besides swimming across, there was no other way. They hoped that their regimentmander didn¡¯t breed any water monsters.


    Before stepping into the river, they threw a rock inside. Nothing appeared on the surface.


    Guo Rongqi looked at everyone and asked, ¡°Who wants to get down first?¡±


    No one replied to him. Everyone knew that it was dangerous to be the first person to enter the river so they just looked at each other. No one wanted to volunteer themselves. Everyone just cared about their own wellbeing. Guo Rongqi was furious. However, he was only the temporary leader so he didn¡¯t have the right to force anyone. Seems like I have to do it myself.


    Just as Guo Rongqi was about to volunteer himself, Chen Yifan said, ¡°Let my brother and I go down first.¡±


    Everyone was ted to hear someone volunteering themselves. They quickly cleared the path for him.


    Guo Rongqi was grateful to Chen Yifan. He asked, ¡°Thank you. May I know what is your name?¡±


    Chen Yifan smiled. ¡°I¡¯m Chen Yifan.¡± He pointed at his younger brother, ¡°Chen Yi¡¯an.¡±


    ¡°The Chen brothers. We will have to rely on you this time.¡± Guo Rongqi wanted to pat Chen Yifan¡¯s shoulders but Chen Yifan had already pulled his younger brother to the river bed.


    Zhou Yu watched the two brothers stepped into the river. He remembered the times when he trained with Chen Yi¡¯an and gritted his teeth. ¡°Brother Yifan, Yi¡¯an, I wille with you two.¡±


    Chen Yifan looked back at Zhou Yu. He nodded his head in agreement. Chen Yi¡¯an even smiled and waved at Zhou Yu.


    Chen Yifan took out a few rubber bands from his backpack and asked Chen Yi¡¯an and Zhou Yu to tie up the ends of their sleeves and trousers. Their military uniform looked normal but they were actually waterproof. As long as the water didn¡¯t enter their uniform, their uniforms would not get wet.


    When all of them finished tying up their clothes, Chen Yifan asked Chen Yi¡¯an and Zhou Yu to follow behind him as he entered the river.


    He Chaoyang smiled as he looked at the image on the screen. ¡°Since we are bored, let¡¯s y a game.¡±


    His words caught everyone¡¯s attention. Yuan Youyun asked curiously, ¡°What game?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s guess if Li Yingjie¡¯s team will attack them.¡± He Chaoyang remembered Li Yingjie¡¯s face when he picked the river as his position. He wanted tough. At the start, Li Yingjie was so confident that he would not pick the toughest location. Unfortunately, ever since he became the team leader of Team 10, he had been very unlucky.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Li Shiyu was the first to answer.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so too.¡± Luo Shaoyun followed.


    ¡°No,¡± Yuan Youyun said firmly.


    ¡°Three people is too little for him.¡± Li Jinghong smiled. He was the third inheritor of the Li family. Yet, he was working harder than him. Li Jinghong knew that Li Yingjie would not be satisfied with just taking down three recruits.


    ¡°Li Yingjie would pretend that there is no ambush and let the three of them pass. As for the rest, I¡¯m not sure whether he will attack them,¡± Lin Zhong-qing replied. There was an evenrger group of people behind this group so he wasn¡¯t sure who Li Yingjie wanted to ambush.


    ¡°You all think that he won¡¯t. That¡¯s not fun. Seems like this question is too easy.¡± He Chaoyang was sad. He felt that Li Yingjie would not attack them too.


    Ling Lan nced at them and smiled. ¡°You should instead ask them why they think that Chen Yifan wanted to enter the river first.¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing thought about it for a moment and replied instantly, ¡°He knew that they would be fine.¡±


    ¡°Be it a test or an ambush, the other party would definitely want to get the most out of their ambush. Hence, the first person to enter the river would be the safest.¡± Ling Lan sat on her fancy chair and ced her hand on her chin. She looked at Chen Yifan with satisfaction. He was a smart and strong person. If his character was good, she would train him personally.


    ¡°Seems like he understands what we are thinking.¡±Lin Zhong-qing was unhappy. He didn¡¯t like a contestant who knew what the examiner was thinking.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. After most of the recruits get taken down, it will be their turn, Also...¡± Ling Lan smiled. ¡°Qi Long only looks at how strong his opponent is. He doesn¡¯t care about the result.¡±


    Everyone smiled. After two more ambushes, they would reach the ce where Qi Long was at. If Chen Yifan still had this mentality, he would be in danger.


    Very soon, Chen Yifan and the other two reached the other side of the river safely. The other people felt relieved when they saw that nothing happened to them. They jumped into the river with a light heart. At the same time, the second group of people who managed to escape from Xie Yi arrived at the river too. They also saw Chen Yifan and the other two crossed the river safely and, they jumped in without any hesitation too.


    They wanted to take advantage of this time and outrun the first group. The first group didn¡¯t want to lose out too so they started jumping into the river. In an instant, there were almost 100 people in the river.


    Suddenly, an ident happened. One of the recruits who was swimming was knocked unconscious. He floated on the surface of the river. His military uniform prevented him from sinking into the river.


    ¡°There¡¯s someone!¡± Guo Rongqi didn¡¯t jump in like the others so he saw the ck shadows under the surface of the water.


    ¡°It¡¯s a trap!¡± The people in the river turned desperate. Some swam forward furiously while others stopped in the middle of the river. Some even tried to climb out of the river.


    Chen Yi¡¯an and Zhou Yu saw the situation in the river and felt frightened. They didn¡¯t expect the river they just crossed to be filled with people. They felt fortunate.


    ¡°Brother Yifan, what do we do now?¡± Zhou Yu was didn¡¯t know what to do. They had only finished a quarter of the journey but there were only 3 of them left.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Let¡¯s wait for them at the front.¡± Chen Yifan saw the agile movements of their seniors in the river and knew that they were not normal soldiers. They must be experienced soldiers. With his current capabilities, he would be unable to resist against them if he was attacked by more than two veterans at the same time. He didn¡¯t know whether these people would climb up the river banks so it was dangerous to stay near the river.


    Chen Yifan quickly brought the two people away from the river. After running for some distance, he panted and found a ce to rest.


    Chen Yifan would not let the three of them lead the way for the rest of the recruits. They already met two ambushes after one-quarter of the journey. There would most definitely be more ambushester in their journey. If they led the way, they might enter the lion¡¯s den. Chen Yifan wanted to walk with the main crowd and find the chance to escape the traps along the way.


    As Chen Yifan waited patiently for the people behind them to catch up with him, Guo Rongqi was in a difficult situation. The recruits were in a mess. No matter what he said, they wouldn¡¯t calm down. He knew that the situation was out of his control.


    He calmly looked at the river surface and gauged the area and number of opponents there were. Then, he ran for a certain distance to gain some momentum. As the opponents were busy attacking the 100 recruits, he took the opportunity and swam across the river.


    Some people followed behind Guo Rongqi and jumped in after running for some distance as well. They used all their energy and quickly swam to the other side of the river. Everyone knew that they only had a small opening for them to swim across the river. Once their opponents finished subduing the 100 recruits, they would have the time toe over and attack them. By then, they could forget about reaching the other side of the river.


    No one thought about working together to fight off Li Yingjie¡¯s team. Everyone just wanted to reach the other side of the river before they were targeted. Only those who were already attacked fought with Li Yingjie and his team.


    By the time Li Yingjie¡¯s team subduing the recruits, the other recruits had already crossed the river.


    ¡°Damn. I stayed in the river for half a day and only manage to catch this much?¡± One of the mecha operatorsined unhappily.


    Li Yingjie snorted. ¡°What can we do? We are still not powerful enough. If the regimentmander was here, he could stop everyone with just his Ice Blockade.¡±


    Li Yingjie¡¯s team members were speechless. Leader, can you notpare us with a monster? Are you thinking too highly of us?


    Li Yingjie¡¯s team was not satisfied with their results but their mission had already ended. Their boss told them that once the recruits passed the river, they couldn¡¯t chase them anymore. Hence, they could only watch the recruits leave.


    ¡°Lin Zhong-qing, go and check for the results of their mission.¡± Ling Lan saw that the river mission waspleted so she gave Lin Zhong-qing an order.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander.¡± Lin Zhong-qing quickly contacted Li Yingjie. ¡°Regimentmander, they managed to take down 82 recruits.¡±


    ¡°That means that almost 20 recruits escaped. The river hindered the recruits more than their team. This means that thebat ability of Li Yingjie¡¯s team underwater is not high.¡± Ling Lan was in deep thought.


    ¡°The other teams have this problem too.¡± Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t want to see Li Yingjie be scolded again so he spoke up for him.


    ¡°My men cannot have such an obvious weakness. From tomorrow onwards, the entire mecha n will have two additional hours of underwaterbat training.¡± The people in the room all groaned. They looked at Lin Zhong-qing furiously. You spoke up for Li Yingjie but you implicated all of us.


    Ling Lan had a heartless and vicious image but she was a fair person too. The mecha operators¡¯ training was scary but the members of Lingtian Battle Team would take part in even more training than them. Hence, if she gave an order to the entire mecha n, it meant that the Lingtian Battle Team had to follow her order too. This was why the members of the Lingtian Battle Team groaned.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s face turned pale. He tried to control his emotions as he epted Ling Lan¡¯s order. As expected, Li Yingjie only brings me bad luck. If I speak up for him again, I will change my surname to Li.


    Guo Rongqi was the first person to reach the ce where Chen Yifan was resting. When he saw Chen Yifan, Guo Rongqi finally felt at ease. He copsed on the ground and couldn¡¯t get up for a while.


    ¡°What¡¯s the situation at the back?¡± Chen Yifan asked.


    ¡°Bad. Not many people managed to escape. Luckily, you three are fine.¡± Guo Rongqi felt that the three of them were really lucky.


    ¡°Yes. I feel scared just thinking about it,¡± Chen Yifan replied calmly to Guo Rongqi.


    Chen Yi¡¯an looked at his brother curiously. His forever calm andposed brother would feel scared too?


    ¡°However, the second group came and managed to take advantage of us.¡± Guo Rongqi gritted his teeth angrily. Now, he knew why these people didn¡¯t join them at the start. They were waiting for them to open up the path.


    ¡°They didn¡¯t have an easy time too. Did you see how many people were left? Their expression seemed anxious too.¡± Chen Yifan was an observant person so he noticed the differences in their expressions.


    Guo Rongqi recalled what he saw and thought about something. ¡°You mean...¡±


    ¡°There must have been a trap in the forest. However, the people there let us pass and only attacked the second group.¡± Chen Yifan told him his conclusion.


    ¡°Hah. They deserved it.¡± Guo Rongqi felt better.


    His mood went down again. He took so much effort to form a team but most of them were already gone. He said tiredly, ¡°What do we do now?¡±

 Chapter 685 - The Real Motive!

    <h4>Chapter 685: The Real Motive!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Wait.¡± Chen Yifan said firmly.


    ¡°Wait?¡± Guo Rongqi was puzzled. Wouldn¡¯t they be wasting more time like this?


    ¡°There will be even more traps like that ahead of us. If the four of us lead the way, we would have no chance of winning against our opponents. We have to follow the main group and find a chance to escape the ambush.¡± Chen Yifan stated his opinion.


    Guo Rongqi calmed down after listening to his exnation. He pondered for a moment and realized that Chen Yifan was right. They didn¡¯t know what was ahead of them. Nothing good would happen if they just rushed forward without thinking.


    ¡°I¡¯ll listen to you.¡± Guo Rongqi felt that Chen Yifan was a smart person so he decided to follow his lead.


    Chen Yi¡¯an looked at his brother with respect. This is my brother. He is someone who was capable of winning over a capable person like Guo Rongqi with just a few words. Sob. As expected of a genius from a military academy. At that moment, the thought that anyone who graduated from a military academy was a genius formed in Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s naive heart.


    Chen Yifan waited patiently. Very soon, the people behind them caught up with them. Some of them chose to rest beside them while a few of them continued without resting.


    When almost everyone had overtaken them, Chen Yifan and the other three people got up and started marching again. They blended in the main group.


    Using this method, the four of them safely got past three ambushes and finally managed to finish 90% of the journey. There were 30 minutes left. Sess seemed to be waving at them.


    However, there were not many people remaining. Most of the recruits got stopped by the three ambushes.


    ¡°Chen Yifan, what do we do now?¡± Guo Rongqi looked at the people around them. It was impossible to hide anymore. Chen Yifan was the one who nned everything along the way so Guo Rongqi had already recognized him as the leader.


    During this whole time, Chen Yifan was frowning. After he heard Guo Rongqi¡¯s question, he sighed. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that we have fallen into a trap.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Guo Rongqi felt his heart dropped. He didn¡¯t know why Chen Yifan said this.


    ¡°This mission might not be what we thought it was. They might be testing our ability to react to sudden situations.¡± Chen Yifan was confused. Such tests are normally done to pick out elite soldiers. Why did it happen in the 250 Mecha n? Even an ace mecha n wouldn¡¯t have such a harsh test. In his memory, only the special forces had such high standards...


    ¡°Are you saying that getting to the destination in time is not the ultimate motive of the test? The main aim is to watch our performance as we get to the destination?¡± Guo Rongqi¡¯s physique was not as good as Chen Yifan but he was a smart person. He immediately understood what Chen Yifan was saying.


    ¡°Maybe we were wrong from the start.¡± Chen Yifan came from the military academy so he understood what being a soldier meant. It was just that the things that happened in the military academy caused him to question the purpose of being a soldier.


    ¡°Why?¡± Guo Rongqi, Zhou Yu, and Chen Yi¡¯an asked simultaneously. They didn¡¯t know why Chen Yifan said that. It should be known that they managed to escape from five ambushes unscathed. Were they not supposed to escape from the ambush? This didn¡¯t make any sense.


    ¡°Do you all still remember the oath that our instructor asked us to remember at the start of our recruit training?¡± Chen Yifan gave a forced smile.


    ¡°Of course.¡± Chen Yi¡¯an shouted, ¡°Passion and loyalty in service of our beloved Chinese Federation, and to respect, trust, and care for our fellow warriors with a pure heart...¡±


    Guo Rongqi and Zhou Yu knew what Chen Yifan was talking about after hearing the oath. They shouted in unison, ¡°Respect, trust, and care for our fellow warriors with a pure heart!¡±


    Chen Yi¡¯an was confused after the two people interrupted him. ¡°Did I recite it wrongly?¡±


    ¡°No, you¡¯re right.¡± Guo Rongqi smiled bitterly. If they guessed correctly, their performance at the first five ambushes must have been terrible. Chen Yifan was right. They were wrong from the start.


    ¡°This test is a test of our teamwork. However, look at us now. Let¡¯s not talk about teamwork. We didn¡¯t even cooperate with each other.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not toote,¡± Chen Yifan encouraged himself and said softly.


    ¡°Do we cooperate with the other recruits? I¡¯m not sure if they are willing to work with us.¡± They have been thinking for themselves all these while so the other recruits might be suspicious of them if they suddenly suggest working together.


    ¡°No matter what, we need to try. We will never be able to seed thest mission with our own strength,¡± Chen Yifan replied calmly.


    They had been running for 25 minutes without meeting any ambushes. Before this, they would walk into an ambush every 10 to 15 minutes. The longer they remained safe, the greater his worry grew. Their journey wasing to an end soon. He suspected that thest ambush would be even harder than the first five. None of them would be able to escape if they didn¡¯t work together.


    The four of them reached a consensus. Guo Rongqi, Zhou Yu, and Chen Yi¡¯an went to look for the other recruits that were alone andmunicated with them. Very soon, the recruits started gathering around Chen Yifan. A small team with around 10 people was formed.


    Chen Yifan took out the photo of the map and zoomed in on it. He realized that if they didn¡¯t meet any obstacles, they would be able to reach their destination in 15 minutes. Chen Yifan decided to let everyone rest for 10 minutes so that he could exin the current situation to the newly joined members. They could also wait for the other recruits that were behind them.


    The recruits that managed to reach this stage were smart and had some capabilities. They were already suspicious about how smooth thest part of the journey was, so everyone felt that the next ambush would be the toughest. Thus, when Guo Rongqi, Zhou Yu, or Chen Yi¡¯an invited them to act together, they epted the proposal calmly.


    Chen Yifan told the recruits what he felt the motive of the test was. The recruits thought about it carefully and found that there was a high possibility that what he said was the truth. Then, Chen Yifan told everyone that the next ambush might be the hardest one and they could only pass it if they worked together. Everyone agreed. However, they were uncertain about the task ahead so they couldn¡¯te up with a better n.


    After waiting for 10 minutes, more people joined them. There were around 80 people in the team. There were no other recruits behind them. Everyone knew that they were probably the only ones who managed to pass all the five ambush safely. With a depressed heart, they stepped on thest part of the journey together.


    There was a small hill around a few hundred meters tall in front of them. On the hill, there was a simple thatched hut. Two people were sitting in the hut, ying Go. Beside them, two other peopleid on a long and narrow stone bench with their eyes closed.


    A young man with a bulky body and a humble smile on his face suddenly opened his eyes. A glimpse of light shed past his eyes. He yawned and askedzily, ¡°How many people do you think will be left for us?¡± This person was Qi Long.


    ¡°There will definitely be some small fry left for you.¡± The young man who was ying Go beside him replied indifferently. He ced a Go piece on the stone table without any hesitation. Ever since his boss invented this new Go game, he fell in love with it. Whenever he had the time, he would drag someone to y the game with him.


    They do have their own version of Go but there were fewer rulespared to their boss¡¯s version. After their boss sent them the rules of her version to theirmunicators, Han Jijyun gave up on their version. What kind of Go was that? The Boss¡¯s humiliated their version of Go.


    However, not everyone liked their boss¡¯s version of Go. Only Li Lanfeng and he were crazy about it. As for their boss... he was a god-tier master in Go.


    He remembered what his boss said to him. ¡°After you managed to learn the essence of the game, you can discuss Go with me,¡± Ling Lan said with a mysterious and lonely expression.


    They were still too weak! Han Jijyun sighed. He looked at Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng might have felt this way too so he kept studying Go. He wanted to be a god-tier master like their boss so that their boss would have a match with them. They understood what it felt like to be invincible.


    Also, their boss wanted them to improve too. That was why he would hide his identity and y a game with them. However, they were unable to win against him yet.


    As for why they thought that person was their boss... if it was not him, who else could it be? Who else could be so good at Go and have such a powerful hacking ability?


    Without a doubt, Ling Lan was invincible in the eyes of Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng. However, in actual fact... they thought too highly of their boss. If they observed their boss well enough, they would notice that she was in a daze when she yed with them. They would be able to see her pupils being dted the entire time.


    Ling Lan was not a Go master. She was someone who didn¡¯t know anything about Go at all.


    How was she able to y with Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng then? Well, she had Little Four. In reality, Ling Lan brought over Go from her past life to cure Little Four¡¯s boredness. The person who was ying Go with Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng was Little Four. Ling Lan only ced the Go pieces on the board for him.


    It was tiring to sit for a few hours and move Go pieces. Hence, Ling Lan stopped doing such things.


    Why did she say such a mysterious sentence then? Well, she was their boss. She needed to maintain her image as their boss. She couldn¡¯t let her members know that she was a novice at Go, right?


    This was the simple truth.


    As for the person who yed with Li Lanfeng and Han Jiyun online, it was Little Four too. Hence, her legacy continued.


    Li Lanfeng smiled when he heard what Han Jijyun had said. He replied, ¡°There will be more than a few small fry. Those traps do not have the ability topletely annihte the recruits.¡±


    ¡°That will depend on whether they understood the aim of this test. If none of them understood, there will only be a few people left,¡± Zhao Jun, who was lying beside Li Lanfeng, said.


    ¡°Yes. If they worked together from the beginning and got through the ambushes together, there might be many people left. If they didn¡¯t, there might be less than 100 people.¡± Han Jijyun agreed.


    ¡°100 people? I think that you overestimated the recruits.¡± Qi Long didn¡¯t think too highly of the recruits. Their boss said that this was the worst batch of recruits. He felt that if 50 people reached their checkpoint, it was already a miracle.


    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about Xie Yi and Li Yingjie. Yang Mingzhi, Liu Furong, and Gu Dongyang are experienced people. Boss didn¡¯t tell them his intentions but they will definitely understand what he wants. Hence, they will not annihte all the recruits,¡± Han Jijyun exined to Qi Long.


    ¡°They¡¯ll give the recruits a chance. If the overall potential of the recruits is still alright, there will be more people reaching our checkpoint. If the potential was not as good, there will be fewer people. I agree with what Jijyun said. There should be around 80 to 100 people. If there are less than 80 recruits, it will almost be impossible to win against us. If there are more than 100 people... Impossible.¡± Li Lanfeng continued, ¡°However, the people that they let off are most likely those who they feel has potential. It means that the recruits that reach our checkpoint are recruits that had reached a certain standard. We cannot let our guard down.¡±


    ¡°Great. I¡¯ve been waiting for half a day.¡± Qi Long looked at the time on hismunicator and sat up immediately. He said excitedly, ¡°The time is almost up. It¡¯s finally my turn.¡±


    Zhao Jun stood up and stretched himself. ¡°Qi Long, shall we have a bet?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Qi Long asked with interest.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see which team can capture the most recruits.¡± Fighting spirit burned in his eyes. Ever since they be team leaders, they werepeting with each other.


    ¡°Sure!¡± Qi Long and Zhao Jun hit their palms with each other.


    Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun shook their heads when they saw this scene. These two fighting maniacs wouldn¡¯t give up any chance topare which team is stronger. Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun were used to it. This was their unique characteristic. Their team members also followed their lead and were also fighters who had the strongestbat abilities. Their teams were among the strongest within the 10 teams. Even the three experienced veterans felt that they were not as driven as these two people.

 Chapter 686 - Completely Annihilated!

    <h4>Chapter 686: Completely Annihted!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Chen Yifan and everyone else had arrived near the bottom of the hill. The map showed them that their destination was on the top of the hill.


    In these few minutes, everyone was in an anxious state. They were afraid that they would step on a trap the next second. It was the most mentally exhausting ten minutes in their entire journey. However, when they reached the bottom of the hill, Chen Yifan realized that he was fooled by the people from the 250 Mecha n.


    In the first five ambushes, he didn¡¯t notice certain clues so he didn¡¯t choose the best way to handle the situation. However, since he was able to bring his younger brother safely passed those ambushes, he felt that he hadpleted his task. He didn¡¯t feel frustrated. Yet, now, he felt a sense of helplessness. It felt like all his thoughts had been predicted by his opponent.


    ¡°There must be some powerful individuals at thest checkpoint. I was fooled by them entirely,¡± Chen Yifan muttered to himself.


    ¡°Brother, we are near our destination. Why did you stop?¡± Chen Yi¡¯an saw Chen Yifan stopping in his tracks and felt puzzled.


    Chen Yifan gathered his spirits when he heard his younger brother¡¯s voice and replied, ¡°Be careful. Thest ambush is probably here.¡± This was thest ce their opponent could conduct their ambush. Chen Yifan was certain that they would be attacked on the hill.


    All the recruit agreed with what Chen Yifan said. After experiencing the first five ambushes, they didn¡¯t believe that their superiors would let them pass the test so easily.


    Hence, all the recruits gathered their strengths and walked up the hill.


    The road up the hill was quiet. It was so quiet, the recruits could hear their own heartbeats. They got nearer and nearer to their destination and no one attacked them yet.


    All the recruits arrived on an empty field at the halfway point of the hill. A g pole was embedded right in the middle of the empty field. The g of the 250 Mecha n was attached to it.


    The 250 Mecha n was not an official ace mecha n so they didn¡¯t have their own personal g. Their g was the 23rd division g but the number ¡®250¡¯ was painted on the other side of the g. The symbol that represented their mecha n was painted next to the numbers.


    Two soldiers stood below the g. Once they saw the recruits, they looked at the time on theirmunicators and said something to each other with a smile. They seemed happy to see the recruits reached here on time.


    The recruits realized that they had reached their final destination. They were ted. There were 10 more minutes before the appointed time. They hadpleted the recruit test.


    Unexpectedly, there was no scary ambush on thest part of their journey. They managed to sessfully pass the test easily.


    All the recruits jumped around happily. Although this was just a temporary team, they went through the toughest journey together. Such an experience drew everyone together, many of them hi-fived each other. Some of them even hugged the person beside them.


    Guo Rongqi felt relief too. He hugged Chen Yifan excitedly. ¡°Chen Yifan, we pass. We pass. In the end, there is no ambush. We just scared ourselves.¡±


    On the other hand, Chen Yifan just stared at the two people standing at the field. He was in a daze. Did they really pass? Was thest ambush just an illusion that their opponents gave them?


    Chen Yifan looked at the map on hismunicator. The red g which represented their destination was in their current spot. This meant that they had really passed the test.


    ¡°Recruits, why are you all shouting? Are you all noting over here to end your test?¡± A stern voice came from the other side.


    The recruits finally realized that they still had not registered and ended the mission officially. Everyone rushed towards the center of the field.


    Just as Chen Yifan wanted to ask Chen Yi¡¯an and the other two to follow the recruits, he coincidentally nced at hismunicator. The green dot which represented his position was moving further away from the red g. Although it was near, the spot where the two soldiers were standing at was not where the red g was.


    Chen Yifan looked up immediately. He turned his head and saw a simple thatched hut on his right. The g of the 250 Mecha n was ced on the roof of the hut. Something shed passed his mind. He reached out and pulled Chen Yi¡¯an with one hand. He didn¡¯t know who he grabbed with his other hand but he just pulled the person and rushed to the hut.


    Chen Yifan wanted to remind everyone but he didn¡¯t have the time to. If he stayed for a moment longer, he would be attacked too.


    Sure enough, the moment Chen Yifan moved, the recruits that rushed to the center of the empty field got attacked by the soldiers hiding around them. They had no chance of retaliating at all.


    At that moment, all the recruits finally realized what was happening. This was not their final destination, this was an ambush! They were all caught off guard. It appeared when they felt the most relieved.


    They werepletely annihted! They made so many ns before this but everything went to waste. They couldn¡¯t even initiate their ns when faced with the psychological tactic yed by their opponents.


    Chen Yifan dragged two people with him but his speed was still fast. If he was given another second, he would be able to enter the hut. No one would be able to catch them then.


    Just as he was about to enter the hut, he felt a strong Qi-Jin energying behind him. His gaze turned sharp. He took a deep breath and directed all his Qi-Jin power to his arms. Two strong forces came out of his hands and push Chen Yi¡¯an and Zhou Yu forward.


    Chen Yi¡¯an and Zhou Yu flew towards the entrance of the hut. Chen Yifan turned around and attacked with his palms again.


    ¡°Boom!¡± His palms collided with his opponent¡¯s fist and a loud explosion urred. Chen Yifan felt a huge energying towards him. He stopped using his Qi-Jin. The energy from his opponent caused him to fly towards the hut.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Chen Yifan heard his opponent¡¯s puzzled voice.


    At the same time, he saw two figures flying past him. Theynded in front of him. He recognized one of them. It was his younger brother.


    There is someone behind him! Chen Yifan immediately got a hold of the situation. Seems like their opponent made ample preparations and ced someone at the entrance of the hut too.


    Should he give up on his brother and enter the hut himself? This thought shed past his mind. The person who attacked them just now was as strong as him. He could feel it from the punch that he received from his opponent. If he didn¡¯t enter the hut now, he might not have another chance.


    Even though he thought about entering the hut himself, he already controlled the power in his body andnded steadily on the ground. He was only three meters away from the hut.


    Chen Yifan didn¡¯t regret his decision. His younger brother was the reason why he entered the military in the first ce. If his younger brother couldn¡¯t pass the test, there was no point in him passing it. Additionally, he could feel the force of presence of the Qi-Jin master behind him. He might not even seed if he tried to enter the hut just now. Once he failed to enter the hut, he would be surrounded by two Qi-Jin masters. He had no hope inpleting the mission.


    Chen Yifan looked at the Qi-Jin master who attacked him first. It was a bulky young man. For some reason, he felt that this person looked familiar. He tried to remember where he met this young man before.


    ¡°Not bad!¡± His opponent wanted to attack him again but the person behind him said, ¡°Brother Jun, leave this person to me.¡± Chen Yifan felt that this voice was familiar too. He suddenly wanted tough. He actually found a person who looked familiar and a person who sounded familiar in the 250 Mecha n. He must be too tired.


    The muscr young man frowned. ¡°This is my prey.¡±


    The person behind him continued. ¡°The two people on the ground are yours. I know this person. There¡¯s something I want to ask him.¡±


    ¡°You know him? Really?¡± The muscr young man looked suspicious. Seems like he had been fooled by the other person before.


    ¡°Of course. Chen Yifan, are you not going to greet your old opponent?¡± The person behind Chen Yifan suddenly called his name. Chen Yifan was shocked. He turned around immediately and saw a familiar humble-looking young man smiling at him.


    ¡°Qi Long!¡± Chen Yifan gritted his teeth. He knew who this young man was. This was the person he lost to during the Grand Mecha Tournament. He would never forget him, the leader of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy that year, Qi Long.


    Qi Long ignored the anger in Chen Yifan¡¯s eyes. He leaned against the door of the hut and crossed his hands in front of his chest. He spoke as though he was talking to an old friend. ¡°Chen Yifan, with your capabilities, you can be a senior captain in any division. Why are you here as a logistician? Why are you just a low-level private? Don¡¯t tell me that you offended someone and got implicated.¡±


    ¡°That is none of your business,¡± Chen Yifan replied furiously. He was fine with losing to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy but he couldn¡¯t ept the consequences he had to endure. Their team leader was the one who was incapable and caused them to walk into the trap, but because their leader had a powerful background and would most probably be a high-ranking officer in the military in the future, he couldn¡¯t have any shameful past records. Thus, the me was pushed onto him, the so-called second-inmand. He was not given any power during the entire battle but he had to endure all the me.


    He wanted to retaliate and lodge aint but it was useless. This humiliation was written down in his records. He lost his confidence in the military academy after this episode. And in turn, caused him to lose his confidence in the military too. That was why he didn¡¯t want to enter the military. He became the only cadet that went back to his hometown after graduation.


    Chen Yifan never expected that he would enter the military because of Chen Yi¡¯an. The only difference was that he was a low-level logistician now and not an elite.


    ¡°Well, it is indeed none of my business but since you are part of the 250 Mecha n, it is my business now.¡± Qi Long flicked his epaulette. He gave an evil smile, ¡°Private Chen Yifan, I¡¯m your superior, Senior Captain Qi Long.¡±


    Actually, the smile just seemed evil to Chen Yifan. To other people, Qi Long was giving a humble and sincere smile.


    ¡°Are you from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy too? Are you my brother¡¯s senior?¡± Chen Yi¡¯an asked curiously. He is a senior captain so he must have entered the military a long time ago. If he knows my brother, he could only be my brother¡¯s senior.


    Chen Yifan¡¯s face turned red when he heard his younger brother¡¯s words. He knew that Qi Long was one year younger than him. Was his brother trying to imply that he was not as good as Qi Long? Chen Yifan understood what it¡¯s like to have a dull teammate. His younger brother is just pping his face!


    Qi Long smiled. ¡°Of course not. I¡¯m from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. I should be one year younger than your older brother.¡±


    ¡°How is that possible?¡± Chen Yi¡¯an was shocked. ¡°You are a senior captain!¡± To Chen Yi¡¯an, a senior captain was already a high-ranking officer. He knew that he might be unable to even be a staff sergeant at the end of his military career. He heard that many people retired as a corporal... Chen Yi¡¯an counted mentally. A senior captain was five ranks higher than a corporal. He looked at Qi Long again. He stared at Qi Long¡¯s epaulette intently.


    Zhao Jun and Qi Longughed at Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s expression. Qi Long smiled and pointed at Chen Yifan. ¡°If your brother wants to, he can be a senior captain too. I don¡¯t understand why your brother chose to be a normal logistician.¡±


    Qi Long shook his head. Since Chen Yifan decided to join the military, why did he choose to be the lowest-ranked soldier? If his friends didn¡¯t carefully look through the profiles, they wouldn¡¯t know that one of their logisticians was actually an ace operator.


    Chen Yi¡¯an looked at his older brother in surprise. He thought about himself and felt touched. He cried, ¡°Older brother, you chose to be a normal logistician because of me. I¡¯m so sorry.¡±

 Chapter 687 - It’s Them!

    <h4>Chapter 687: It¡¯s Them!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Chen Yifan scolded them. ¡°You¡¯re sorry? If you really are sorry, just please take care of yourself!¡±


    Chen Yifan was afraid of Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s simple-mindedness. He was afraid that he would lose his life because of it. His parents were busy with work so he spent most of his childhood with Chen Yi¡¯an. To his parents, he might be a capable and strong-willed child. However, he would also meet setbacks and feel depressed too. At that time, Chen Yi¡¯an was the only person who cried with him. They supported each other all those years until he went to the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Compared to his parents, Chen Yifan felt closer to his brother. This was why he was willing to enter the military with him although he had lost his confidence and trust in it.


    Chen Yi¡¯an shrunk back his neck when he saw how angry Chen Yifan was. Sob, his older brother is too fierce.


    Zhao Jun saw that Chen Yifan was Qi Long¡¯s old opponent so he stopped attacking. He brought Zhou Yu and Chen Yi¡¯an to the side so that they could watch Qi Long¡¯s and Chen Yifan fight each other.


    Qi Long rubbed his hands excitedly when they moved aside. He cracked his knuckles loudly. He had been tormented by Ling Lan all these while so he wanted to torture someone back. His team members were much weaker than him so he couldn¡¯t bear to fight with them. The other members of Lingtian knew what Qi Long was like so no one would agree to battle with him. It was hard for him to find an opponent nowadays.


    Unexpectedly, Chen Yifan appeared. He was someone who was on par with him during the Grand Mecha Tournament. Finally, he had the chance to have a good fight.


    ¡°Chen Yifan, if you beat me, I will let you passed the test.¡± Qi Long enticed Chen Yifan.


    ¡°No need. I admit defeat,¡± Chen Yifan replied decisively.


    Qi Long¡¯s heart dropped. ¡°You, what did you say?¡± He must be dreaming. He must be having a dream.


    ¡°I said, I admit defeat!¡± Chen Yifan replied back clearly.


    ¡°What?¡± Qi Long screamed sadly. Why couldn¡¯t he admit defeat after fighting him?


    Chen Yifan looked at Qi Long. Do you think that I¡¯m stupid?


    ¡°Don¡¯t you remember that you are on par with me in terms of skills.¡± Qi Long tried to persuade him. ¡°Victory is unpredictable. Don¡¯t you find it a pity to give up now?¡±


    ¡°That is mecha piloting skills. I know that your physical skills have reached the peak of Qi-Jin. I will not torture myself needlessly,¡± Chen Yifan replied calmly. He had investigated all his opponents who participated in the Grand Mecha Tournament. Thus, he knew Qi Long¡¯s physical skills level. Chen Yifan was at the early stage of Qi-Jin. He was not Qi Long¡¯s match. Also, his little brother had failed the test. There was no point in him passing the test anymore.


    Qi Long didn¡¯t understand Chen Yifan well. If Qi Long said that he would let Chen Yifan¡¯s little brother pass the test if he could withstand his attacks for five minutes, Chen Yifan might have fought with him.


    Qi Long¡¯s hope was broken. He leaned against the door and knocked his head against it. The door opened after he knocked it two times.


    He didn¡¯t knock the door opened with his head. The person inside opened it.


    ¡°If you continue knocking your head like that, the door will break.¡± Han Jijyun stopped Qi Long from knocking his head with his hand as he red at him. He didn¡¯t understand why Qi Long was destroying public property. Was he not afraid that Boss would punish him?


    Qi Long pointed behind him with a pitiful face. ¡°Chen Yifan doesn¡¯t want to fight with me.¡±


    ¡°Chen Yifan?¡± Han Jijyun was stunned. This name sounded familiar. Where did he hear it before? He followed Qi Long¡¯s finger and saw a familiar face.


    Han Jijyun thought for a moment. He remembered who he was. ¡°Chen Yifan, why did you be a logistician?¡± Han Jijyun asked in shock. He couldn¡¯t maintain hisposure anymore. Chen Yifan was an ace operator. No ace operator would be a logistician.


    ¡°Someone you know?¡± Li Lanfeng asked with a smile.


    ¡°Erm, we participated in the Grand Mecha Tournament at the start of the year when we were still in the military academy. He is our opponent from the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy. Ace mecha master, Chen Yifan.¡± Han Jijyun managed to calm himself down quickly and introduced Chen Yifan to Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng narrowed his eyes. Was there some kind of plot behind this? Why did an ace operator be a logistician? Li Lanfeng was used to scheming so naturally, he would think there was some kind of scheme going on here.


    Chen Yifan was shocked to see Han Jijyun here too. Qi Long¡¯s appearance already surprised him. Now, even Han Jijyun was here... why were they in 250 Mecha n? From what he knew, recruits who didn¡¯t have a battle team would be allocated randomly by the mainframe. Did they choose to enter 250 Mecha n so that they would stay together?


    No, any battle team that could take in the two of them must be a four-stars battle team or above. A four-stars battle team wouldn¡¯t appear in this forsaken mecha n. Chen Yifan felt confused. 250 Mecha n didn¡¯t appear like a useless mecha n but to have the most powerful mecha master from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy as well as the best strategist, this was definitely not a forsaken mecha n.


    The mainframe did ce recruits randomly but it would ce them in a mecha n that fitted their capability. This was to ensure the strength of the battle teams. The best cadet would go to the best mecha ns.


    Of course, there were people who offended someone high ranked and got assigned to a low-level mecha n out of spite.


    Chen Yifan looked at Han Jijyun. Did this happen to him?


    However, when Li Lanfeng appeared, this thought was rejected. Li Lanfeng¡¯s face reminded him of who Zhao Jun and he were.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng? Zhao Jun?¡± Chen Yifan said in shock.


    Li Lanfeng raised his eyebrows. ¡°You know us?¡± Since he was familiar with them, he must have a reason foring to 250 Mecha n. But, why did he reveal himself so quickly... maybe he was trying to disguise himself and make them lower their guard around him. Li Lanfeng got vignt.


    Chen Yifan smiled bitterly. ¡°You were the members who participated in the Grand Mecha Tournament before us. Our school lost terribly that year so we studied how you fought against us. You two left a strong impression on us.¡± He turned and looked at Zhao Jun. ¡± I found you familiar just now but couldn¡¯t remember where I met you. However, when I saw Li Lanfeng, I remembered everything.¡± Chen Yifan nced at Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°You remembered Li Lanfeng but you don¡¯t remember me?¡± Zhao Jun touched his chin. He was depressed. Was he too average-looking? He was sure that he looked quite fierce.


    Chen Yifan looked at Li Lanfeng cautiously. ¡°Major Li¡¯s mask is memorable.¡±


    ¡°Haha, so it¡¯s the mask that you remembered, not the face.¡± Zhao Jun felt much better.


    Li Lanfeng red at Zhao Jun. This pighead. Why was he helping his opponent to scold him? I must end my friendship with him today!


    Chen Yifan instantly pretended that he never saw anything when he noticed that Li Lanfeng was on the verge of exploding in anger. However, by now, he knew that 250 Mecha n was not a forsaken mecha n. Two powerful recruits appearing at the same ce might be a coincidence but three or four were not. This mecha n was not as simple as it looked.


    The designated time arrived. None of the recruits managed to enter the hut andplete the mission.


    Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun, Qi Long, and Han Jijyun brought Chen Yifan to the field where theyid their ambush. Very soon, the other teams brought the recruits that they caught and gathered them there too.


    When Luo Lang came in with a bunch of badly bruised and half-dead recruits, some recruits rejoiced in their hearts. They were not the worse ones.


    Chen Yifan saw Xie Yi, Li Yingjie, and Luo Lang appearing. The veterans called them team leaders. He had seen the information about these veterans. They were people who received many merits and achieve many achievements before. His heart stopped. He observed everyone and noticed that the 250 Mecha n was split into 10 teams. Seven of the team leaders came from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Was the 250 Mecha n controlled by the First Men¡¯s Military Academy?


    He remembered that General Ling Xiao was from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy too. Chen Yifan felt that his guess was correct.


    At that moment, footsteps were heard. The field was really noisy but for some reason, Chen Yifan could hear the footsteps clearly.


    No, everyone heard it too. The recruits were curious. They raised their heads and looked at the direction where the footsteps wereing from. The field instantly turned quiet. The footsteps became clearer and louder.


    Chen Yifan looked up too. He saw a person properly dressed in military uniform. He had a short whip in one hand as he walked up the track along the hill. Chen Yifan felt his body tensed up. He could feel an imminent sense of danger. He straightened his back as though this action would give him more strength.


    The person walked over naturally. Within a minute, he had arrived in front of them.


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± The 10 teams shouted in unison.


    Chen Yifan¡¯s eyes almost popped out. He knew this person. Ling Lan, the real leader of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy during the Grand Mecha Tournamentst year. He was rumored to be the real king of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy but he started his closed door meditation during this Grand Mecha Tournament so many people had forgotten about him. However, Chen Yifan had looked at the information of the members from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy before. Ling Lan was someone he could never forget.


    Ling Lan was the first person to break away from the conventional battle royale method ande up with a new battle strategy. No one had any advantage over their team so the results were predictable.


    Such a legend actually appeared in front of Chen Yifan as the Regiment Commander of 250 Mecha n! Chen Yifan was dumbfounded. Ling Lan was in the same year as Qi Long. This meant that he was a recruit too. A recruit as a regimentmander... Chen Yifan felt that his world was turned upside down.


    Chen Yifan blinked. Then, he saw the epaulette on Ling Lan. It was the epaulette of a major. A senior captain was the highest rank for a recruit. He was probably able to be a major because he was appointed as a regimentmander. The lowest rank requirement be a regimentmander was a major.


    The military rank was not very important. The main thing was, he was a regimentmander. As someone who came from a military academy, Chen Yifan knew what this meant. Although Ling Lan had the same rank as Li Lanfeng, Ling Lan had actual military power.


    As Chen Yifan was digesting what he saw, Ling Lan walked in front of everyone and started scanning the crowd.


    She saw that the soldiers of 250 Mecha n were still energetic after the mission and nodded her head. She felt satisfied. The hellish training had made them more motivated.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that these mecha operators were energetic not because they felt motivated, but because they wanted to torture the new recruits. They were like Qi Long. They needed to torture other people in order to feel better.


    Hence, 250 Mecha n moved towards an unpredictable direction. All the mecha operators, as well as logisticians, became a bunch of psychopaths who got excited when they see their opponents. All their enemies were afraid of them. Their name spread far and wide.

 Chapter 688 - New Mission!

    <h4>Chapter 688: New Mission!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan ordered the ten leaders. ¡°Report your results!¡±


    The first person who reported to Ling Lan was the big brother figure of the ten teams, Yang Mingzhi. He took a step forward and shouted, ¡°Team 01, 24 members. Sessfully subdued 52 recruits.¡±


    The other teams reported their results too.


    Ling Lan nodded. The performance of the ten teams was not bad. There were still some ws but Ling Lan decided to let them off this time.


    The mecha operators saw their regimentmander nodding and were ted. They passed the mission. A moment ago, they were afraid that Ling Lan would not be satisfied with their performance and start a new round of hellish training. They had been repeating this process for a few months. Now, when they receive a new mission, they would feel dying again.


    This time, their regimentmander was satisfied with them but they needed to know what made their regimentmander so satisfied. The mecha operators were observant people. They tried to find why their regimentmander let them off this time.


    Overall capability? Bullshit. Their current capabilities were still simr to theirst mission.


    The performance during the mission? The mecha operators felt that there weren¡¯t many improvementspared to theirst mission too.


    They couldn¡¯t find a reason. The mecha operators watched as their regimentmander walked towards the badly beaten up recruits.


    They suddenly had an enlightenment. Their regimentmander was a vicious person. He killed two mecha operators at the start of their training. (Since the mecha operators of 250 Mecha n didn¡¯t interact with each other much, they were not sure how many mecha operators there were in the mecha n. Hence, until now, they were still fooled by Ling Lan.) They must be too gentle and kind. This must be why their regimentmander kept torturing them. This time, however, they vented their frustration at the recruits and were a little harsh on them... was this why their regimentmander was so satisfied?


    With this idea in mind, the mecha operators got more vicious and bloodthirsty in their future battles. They hoped that their regimentmander would be satisfied with them. Ling Lan, on the other hand, thought that they were under too much pressure so she treated them better.


    This caused the mecha operators to harden that idea in mind. They thought that their guess was correct. Hence, they turned even crueler. Ling Lan got more worried about them and tried to lessen the intensity of their training... this cycle continued. Due to a strangebination of circumstances, the 250 Mecha n became devils on the battlefield. Of course, all these happened in the future. We could ignore it for now.


    The new recruits didn¡¯t expect their regimentmander toe. When they saw Ling Lan looking at them with her cold eyes, they trembled in fear. She didn¡¯t say a single word but her cold aura and force of presence told everyone, she was a frightening and heartless person.


    There was only one thought in their head. Would they be sent back by this scary regimentmander?


    The recruits were distributed by the mainframe but they could still be sent back to the recruit training camp if their regimentmander in the mecha n was not satisfied with them. These recruits had to go through the recruit training camp again. After that, they would be sent back to another mecha n. If their new regimentmander was not satisfied with them again, they would be sent out of the military. These people would be deemed unfit for the military. They would have a hard time finding jobs or partners in the future.


    Since they chose to enter the military, besides those young men that got thrown in by their parents, most of them wanted to continue staying here. If they got sent back this time, they believed their next regimentmander would still be dissatisfied with them. They would then be sent out of the military. This was not what they wanted.


    After knowing their possible future, a few young men who had a more fragile heart started sobbing. They just reached 20 years old. They couldn¡¯t handle such a hard blow.


    ¡°Weak.¡± Ling Lan said with a hint of anger when she saw some recruits crying and frowned.


    The moment she said this, those recruits that were trying their best to control their emotions broke down. Almost everyone started crying.


    Ling Lan felt speechless. She thought that the mecha operators in 250 Mecha n were bad enough. However, these recruits were worse. Additionally, why were they staring at her like she was a devil? F**k, her looks were definitely not bad. No, she was definitely a good-looking person... erm, this was not the main point. The point was, why were they looking at her like that? Was there something wrong with their eyes?


    Ling Lan felt depressed. She wondered why no one liked her. Ling Lan was unaware, those people weaker than her would be severely impacted by her cold aura. Only those that were stronger could withstand her force of presence. Hence, these recruits could only see her cold aura and her indifferent eyes.


    As Ling Lan¡¯s gaze got colder, the recruits felt that they would definitely be sent back. Crying is contagious. Soon, all the recruits started tearing up.


    F**k, why are they crying? Why are men so weak? Ling Lan snorted. All the recruits got a shock. They didn¡¯t dare to make any sound. They cried silently. The tears on their young faces made them looked pitiful.


    Forget it, I don¡¯t want to look at them anymore! Ling Lan shouted helplessly, ¡°Lin Zhong-qing!¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± A voice rang through the field. A figure suddenly appeared behind Ling Lan. It was from Lin Zhong-qing.


    ¡°I¡¯ll hand these recruits to you. You have three months to make them into real men. If they still cry like this, I will not show them any mercy.¡± Ling Lan was afraid that she would be unable to control herself and hit these people. After so many years of hardships, she couldn¡¯t stand someone crying.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Lin Zhong-qing received the order.


    After handing these recruits to Lin Zhong-qing, Ling Lan walked towards Chen Yifan. He was the only one who wasn¡¯t scared of her.


    Chen Yifan felt his heart beating quickly when he saw Ling Lan walking towards him. He only looked calm but in actual fact, he was frightened too.


    ¡°Chen Yifan?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± Chen Yifan instinctively stood up straight.


    ¡°I know you are an ace mecha master... if you pass the team challenge, I¡¯ll make you a member of a team.¡± Ling Lan would not let Chen Yifan wastes his talent. Thus, she gave him a chance to be a member of a team.


    Chen Yifan was hesitant. He looked at his younger brother. Chen Yi¡¯an was the reason why he entered the military.


    Ling Lan smiled mockingly. She knew what Chen Yifan was thinking. She said nonchntly, ¡°A logistician services a mecha operator. Whether you are the one doing the service or the one getting serviced depends on your capabilities. Additionally, you need to have the ability if you want to protect someone.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s words allowed Chen Yifan to understand how he could protect his younger brother. At the same time, Ling Lan warned him to not think too highly of himself. If he didn¡¯t meet her requirements, she was willing to send him away. She didn¡¯t mind letting him be a logistician. She could afford to waste his talent.


    Chen Yifan was shocked. He was a smart person so he understood what Ling Lan was trying to tell him. He could be a mecha operator and let his younger brother be a member of his logistician team.


    ¡°Yes, I understand!¡± Chen Yifan¡¯s eyes lit up for the first time. He seemed to have found a new goal.


    Ling Lan smiled. When will Chen Yifan stop lying to himself?


    Ling Lan looked away from Chen Yifan. She didn¡¯t care much about him. Although she wanted to let him joined the battle team, she would not spend as much effort on him unlike with therades she grew up with. If Chen Yifan managed to prove himself. she would give him the chance to be a part of Lingtian Battle Team.


    Ling Lan walked past Chen Yifan and walked to the front of the crowd. She shouted, ¡°Disperse!¡±


    After that, she disappeared. It was as though she was never there. All the mecha operators took a moment to register that they managed to escape their regimentmander¡¯s punishment. Everyone cheered happily. They were a stark contrast to the recruits who were crying their hearts out.


    Chen Yifan narrowed his eyes when Ling Lan disappeared. If he wasn¡¯t able to see how Ling Lan disappeared, Ling Lan must have reached another realm in terms of physical skills. He knew that Ling Lan probably hid her true capabilities. As there were no changes to the youngest person who entered the domain realm in the Federation¡¯s records.


    As expected, 250 Mecha n was not a forsaken mecha n. It might even be the mecha n that had the most potential in the 23rd division. Chen Yifan looked at the confused Chen Yi¡¯an and the stunned Zhou Yu. He sighed. The three of them must be extremely lucky to have met such a powerful regimentmander. They would have a good future ahead of them.


    The other recruits calmed down when they were told that they would not be sent back. They were ted. However, they soon started crying again because of the harsh training. They realized that despair was scarier than being sent back...


    Time passed quickly. Two months had passed. Within these two months, the people in 250 Mecha n continued their training. No one in the Federation knew that a vicious beast was growing in the 23rd division.


    Ling Lan sat in her office and was looking through documents. Without Little Four¡¯s help, she could only rely on herself. She asked Little Blossom regarding Little Four¡¯s progress but he just replied with Little Four¡¯s evolving was going smoothly. He didn¡¯t know when Little Four would finish his evolution. Little Four and Little Blossom were two different kinds of intelligent entities. Hence, they were unable to understand each other.


    ¡°Beep, beep!¡± The optical supeputer belonging to 250 Mecha n reminded Ling Lan that she had a new message.


    Ling Lan opened the message. She frowned. It was and clearing mission.


    When the Federation finds a new that was five-star and above and had signs of life on it, they would inform all the divisions and request them to send some mecha ns to explore and open up the virgin soil.


    For the first five years, the first mecha n that discovered the natural resources on the new would get a portion of it. After that, the Federation would start taking more of it. 10 yearster, all the natural resources on the would be excavated.


    The reason why the Federation gave such benefit to the battle teams was becausend clearing mission was dangerous. Many mecha ns were annihted on unknowns. If there were not enough rewards to entice them, no one would be willing to send people over. Hence, because of these privileges, divisions always sent their best ace mecha ns to go for thesend clearing missions.


    The fund given by the Federation was not enough to let the division grow stronger. The divisions needed the natural resources gained by their battle teams to increase their military strength. You could say that thisnd clearing mission was to instill divisions with apetitive spirit and let them provide for themselves. Although this might make it harder for the Federation to control the divisions, it was the only way to not burden the civilians with the expenditure of the military.


    There were pros and cons with this decision but for now, there were more pros.


    The mecha ns that would receive thend clearing mission were normally the most powerful ace mecha ns in a division. This was a dangerous mission but it could allow them to gain many raw materials. Based on the rule, if the natural resource they found on the was a one-time thing, the mecha n only had to hand over 80% of it. If it was a sustainable natural resource, the mecha n would get 10% of it.


    It didn¡¯t seem like a lot but if they really managed to find a sustainable natural resource, it would bring them over a billion credits. This was a huge sum of credits to a mecha n.


    If a mecha n wanted to be stronger, they needed to have advanced technology and equipment. All these cost credits. If they waited for the Federation¡¯s fund... god knows when they would get it. The Federation had to consider the entire strength of the military and not just a single mecha n. Hence, they would not pay attention to individual mecha ns.

 Chapter 689 - Spiritual World!

    <h4>Chapter 689: Spiritual World!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    If 250 Mecha n received thend clearing mission, it must be the doings of Ling Lan¡¯s ¡®fair¡¯ father, Ling Xiao. There was no other way such a mission with bountiful rewards would be handed over to a ¡®useless¡¯ mecha n like hers.


    Ling Lan would not reject this mission but she felt this mission came too early. Land clearing missions were extremely dangerous. She felt that the members of 250 Mecha n were stillcking in some areas. Additionally, there would be other mecha ns from the 23rd division participating in this mission. This meant that they needed to coborate with other mecha ns. Ling Lan had not done any training on coboration. She was not sure if something would happen to her n members if she brought them on this mission.


    Ling Lan¡¯s head started hurting when she thought about this.


    ¡°Master, if anyone doesn¡¯t listen to you, you can let me eat them up.¡± Little Blossom felt Ling Lan¡¯s frustration so he popped up and tried to help her.


    In her mindscape, Ling Lan flicked Little Blossom¡¯s forehead. As expected of a Doomsday Flower, he only thinks about eating!


    However, Little Blossom¡¯s words reminded Ling Lan, she could just beat someone up if a person didn¡¯t listen to her. She was more powerful than all the other mecha operators. She believed that she would be able to subdue them.


    Ling Lan gathered all the team leaders, the person-in-charge of the logistics, Lin Zhong-qing, the person-in-charge of the medical department, Li Shiyu, and the person-in-charge of the experiment department, Chang Xinyuan. They had a discussion and decided to leave behind the mecha operators and logisticians who performed poorly. In the end, Ling Lan brought close to 200 mecha operators and almost 300 logisticians with her. She asked Lin Zhong-qing to prepare all the equipment they needed. If hecked anything, he must report it to her so that she could ask He Xuyang for it.


    Poor He Xuyang. To Ling Lan, he was her big fat cash cow... oh, no, he was her best helper. If she needed to find anything, she could just look for him.


    Soon, the time of the mission arrived.


    Themander-in-chief of the Rising Sun fleet of the 23rd division received an order to pick a mecha n up. He looked at the said mecha n in disbelief. He looked at his order again to make sure that he was not under an illusion.


    The useless mecha n, 250 Mecha n, was in this mission too? Had his superiors given up on this mecha n so they let them seek their own death through this mission? Qi Aiming couldn¡¯t help but think this way. All the higher authorities in the 23rd division knew the background of 250 Mecha n and knew what kind of mecha operators were in there.


    He felt a little frustrated. He thought that only his Rising Sun fleet was participating in this mission. However, since there was another mecha n, he needed to remove some people from his fleet. The number of starships for each mission was fixed. Luckily, 250 Mecha n was a useless mecha n so Qi Aiming felt that they would not snatch resources with them.


    Speaking of this, we need to know that each division had its own personal fleet. This fleet only serviced the people from their division. They would rarely be an asion where people needed to board a starship belonging to a different division.


    Qi Aiming was puzzled as to why the headquarters gave this order but he still ordered one of the ships to fetch the 250 Mecha n. Fortunately, the 250 Mecha n would only be taking his ship temporarily. Once they reach the new, he wouldn¡¯t need to care about them anymore.


    Qi Aiming felt that the problematic mecha operators from the 250 Mecha n would definitely cause trouble on the new. The person who was in charge of them was unlucky. He just hoped that they would not ruin the reputation of the 23rd division.


    Arge fleet of starships floated in the universe. It looked magnificent. The entire universe seemed to be filled with starships.


    All the 23 divisions and those independent divisions sent their ace fleet over. They all tried to reduce their numbers but there were still many starships. After all, there were close to 30 divisions sending in their people.


    The 250 Mecha n was in one of the starships among the fleet. They were not the only mecha n on the starship. To increase their chances of finding a natural resource vein, Qi Aiming had maximized the capacity of all the starships.


    He thought that the 250 Mecha n would be a nuisance on the trip but luckily, everyone from 250 Mecha n stayed in their room and rarely came out. Qi Aiming couldn¡¯t help but feel relieved.


    The fleet journeyed for more than ten days before reaching the infamous Road of Aiguta. The Road of Aiguta was a ce where many ck holes congregate. There were more than 10,000 ck holes here. Normally, the presence of a ck hole would exhibit a strong gravitational force around it. Once any starship came near it, they would be torn into pieces.


    However, the Road of Aiguta was different. The gravitational force around each ck hole was at a normal level. A starship could get near it easily. A few powerful countries knew the secret that some ck holes could lead to another unknownary sector. To prevent other smaller countries from being aware of this, powerful countries sealed the route to the Road of Aiguta and coborated with one another to explore the unknownary sector together.


    When there were benefits to be gained, everyone would choose to cooperate with one another no matter how deep their grudges were.


    The new they found this time was within an unknownary sector. Since the Federation discovered this new, they got the right to excavate the resources.


    Why were the gravitational forces of the ck holes in the Road of Aiguta so low? Researchers concluded that it might be because the different gravitational forces from the various ck holes somehow managed to reach equilibrium and created a node where the gravitational forces are low. They also felt that there was a probability that one day, this equilibrium might be disrupted and the Road of Aiguta would be the Road of Death.


    Without the exact data of the positions of the ck holes, starships could get lost easily. After all, only a few of the 10,000 ck holes were safe. Those starships that entered this area identally, normally disappeared without a trace.


    Because of this, the Road of Aiguta was also known as the Aiguta Maze. Starships could get lost here forever.


    The huge fleet of starships carefully passed through multiple ck holes. At that moment, the navigator on the starship was extremely nervous. He knew that a single mistake from him could result in the death of the entire fleet.


    Luckily, all the starships managed to arrive at the designated ck hole safely. Soon, the fleet vanished. The Road of Aiguta became peaceful again. It was as though the thousand starships fleet never existed...


    The moment Ling Lan entered the ck hole, she noticed that herrades, who were talking to her, suddenly froze. She seemed to be the only one who was conscious. What is happening?


    Ling Lan felt cold sweat on her forehead. This scene was too eerie. She didn¡¯t dare to touch her friends. She was afraid that her rash actions might harm them.


    Just as Ling Lan was at a loss, a loud bang was heard in her mindscape. A small and plump little body dropped from the sky andnded right in front of Ling Lan.


    ¡°Ouch!¡± Little Blossom¡¯s eyes were filled with tears as he rubbed his head that was hurting.


    When Little Blossom appeared, Ling Lan felt calmer. At least she was not the only person left in this world. Just now, Ling Lan felt like she was abandoned by her friends. She was having a minor mental breakdown from the loneliness.


    ¡°Master, Number Five kicked me when I was sleeping!¡± Little Blossom immediately rushed over and hugged Ling Lan¡¯s leg when he saw her.


    ¡°Why did he kick you?¡± Ling Lan rubbed Little Blossom¡¯s head as she consoled him. He was the one who calmed her down so she was exceptionally gentle towards him.


    ¡°Ah, I remember now. Number Five ask me to tell master something.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words allowed Little Blossom to remember what Number Five said when he kicked him.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Ling Lan asked curiously. Number Five seldom said anything. He normally asked Ling Lan to experience his hellish training personally. Most of the training that Ling Lan gave the 250 Mecha n were inspired by Number Five¡¯s training. The only difference was that she was not as harsh as Number Five.


    ¡°Tell that idiot, Ling Lan, that if she wants to solve this problem, suppress her spiritual power until it¡¯s below level five.¡± Little Blossom repeated every single word Number Five said.


    Number Five had been observing everything so when he heard what Little Blossom said, he held his forehead and sighed. ¡°What an idiot!¡±


    ¡°So I¡¯m an idiot?¡± Ling Lan gritted her teeth. She knew that Number Five always talked about her behind her back but she still felt furious when she heard his words personally.


    Of course, this little person in front of her was an idiot too! Ling Lan instantly flicked his forehead. Little Blossom started groaning in pain. He didn¡¯t know why his master changed her expression so suddenly. Sob... give back my gentle master.


    Ling Lan calmed down and started pondering over Number Five¡¯s words. She immediately understood that this must have happened because of her strong spiritual power. Additionally, she practiced the spiritual power cultivation technique from the Divine Command sect which strengthened her spiritual power. However, Ling Lan never tested her spiritual power before since she didn¡¯t have a spiritual mutation so, she didn¡¯t see the need to test it. Therefore, she was not sure what level her spiritual power was at.


    Only hackers and people with spectre abilities would go and test their spiritual power. No one else would do such a thing.


    But, even without a test, Ling Lan knew that her spiritual power was above level five. When she was six or seven years old, Little Four told her that he had set her spiritual power to level 5. After so many years of cultivation, her spiritual power would only be higher.


    Ling Lan was relieved after finding out the reason. Just as she was about to suppress her spiritual power, she thought about something. She looked at Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s tense body started rxing after he noticed Ling Lan¡¯s gaze. He opened his mouth but no sound came out.


    Li Lanfeng was frightened. What was happening?


    Ling Lan noticed that Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t speak and frown. She tried to talk but realized she couldn¡¯t make a sound too. She thought about what Number Five said and was enlightened. The image she was seeing now was feedback from her spiritual power. This was the spiritual world. The five senses could not be used in the spiritual world.


    This meant that she was not able tomunicate with her mouth. She needed to use her spiritual power...


    ¡°Lanfeng, don¡¯t worry. This is our spiritual world. Our body is frozen just like the others.¡± The anxious Li Lanfeng heard Ling Lan¡¯s voice and calmed down instantly. Why was Ling Lan able to talk when he couldn¡¯t?


    Ling Lan noticed his doubt so she continued, ¡°I¡¯m using my spiritual power tomunicate with you.¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes lit up. Then, it dimmed again. He must have learned this skill from Ling Xiao¡¯s sect. Ling Lan had given him many things. He couldn¡¯t be too greedy.


    ¡°When I¡¯m free, I can teach you.¡± Ling Lan replied generously. She understood what Li Lanfeng was thinking. There were many minor techniques like this avable in the learning space. Even if she didn¡¯t teach the technique from the Divine Command sect, there were other simr skills she could share.


    Li Lanfeng was ted. He seemed more vibrant now. Ling Lan smiled. Sometimes, the ck-bellied Li Lanfeng was quite cute too.


    ¡°This happened to us because our spiritual power is above level five. We need to go below level five,¡± Ling Lan exined their situation to Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng nodded. He had spectre abilities so he knew what level his spiritual power was at.


    ¡°As long as we suppress our spiritual power, this problem will be solved.¡±


    Li Lanfeng nodded. He closed his eyes and started suppressing his spiritual power. Soon, he got out of the spiritual world.


    After Li Lanfeng seeded, Ling Lan felt at ease and started suppressing her spiritual power too. However, just as she was about to go below level 5, her spiritual power suddenly went out of control.


    Damn it!


    Ling Lan was shocked. She wanted to try suppressing her spiritual power again but she realized that she could no longer control it.

 Chapter 690 - Lay Eggs?

    <h4>Chapter 690: Lay Eggs?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Little Blossom was also forced back to the learning space due to Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power going out of control. He didn¡¯t even have the time to say goodbye to his master.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape was in a mess. Her spiritual power had turned into a huge whirlpool.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t lose her consciousness. The moment she realized that something was amiss, shepressed her conscious until it was very small and hid it in a corner of her mindscape. Then, she used the small amount of spiritual power she could still control to encase her conscious and prevent it from being torn apart by the whirlpool.


    Even if her mindscape was destroyed and she had to be a vegetable temporarily, she would still have the chance of waking up as long as a part of her conscious was still intact. Ling Lan would fight for every opportunity to live. Hence, she immediately prepared for the worst when she noticed that things were going out of hand.


    After doing all this, Ling Lan didn¡¯t just sit there and wait for her death. She had already nned her route of retreat so she could focus on her current situation calmly. Ling Lan was clear that if she started getting anxious, she would be dead.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t waste her time and try to gain control over her spiritual power. Since it was already out of control, she should keep the remaining amount of spiritual power she still had and slowly wait for an opportunity to fight back.


    Ling Lan quickly noticed that the uncontroble spiritual power didn¡¯t harm her body. Her mindscape also showed no signs of getting destroyed. The whirlpool was just attracting all the energy from its surroundings.


    Since this is her spiritual world, the spiritual energy it was attracting belonged to her, right? Ling Lan was puzzled. However, she found the answer soon. She felt another force merging with her spiritual power. Her spiritual power should have caused havoc in her mindscape but for some reason, an equilibrium was achieved.


    This seems familiar¡ª¡ªthe ck hole! No, it should be the force released when a ck hole formed! How did it manage to merge with her spiritual power?


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t understand what was happening. No one would be able to exin the situation to her too. She wasn¡¯t sure what would happen if her spiritual power merged with the force of the ck hole. Would this be a problem? Ling Lan tried to control her spiritual power to determine if it was any problems with it but her spiritual power just ignored her. It stubbornly continued with the merge and seemingly had a good time interacting with it.


    Although it seemed harmless now, Ling Lan was still on her guard. After her spiritual power finished merging, the whirlpool started calming down.


    The danger came suddenly and disappeared suddenly too. Ling Lan was speechless. She started examining her mindscape and realized, to her surprise, a white and smooth egg had appeared!


    Egg? Egg!


    Ling Lan tapped the egg with a dumbfounded expression. The egg trembled in her mindscape. It seemed to be trembling from the itchiness. Maybe it was trying to greet her.


    ¡°Master, did youy an egg while I was away? Will it be my little master when it hatches?¡± Little Blossom had been worried about his master. When he noticed that he could enter her mindscape again, he immediately jumped in. The first thing he saw was a white egg. He experienced a series of emotions shocked, then excited, then a sense of release. Sob, I finally have a little master now. I am no longer the youngest. I can bully little master now.


    Little Blossom kept being bullied by Little Four. When he tried to retaliate, Little Four told him that younger people should be bullied by older people. For instance, Ling Lan bullied him so it was right for him to bully Little Blossom. Little Blossom got tricked. He thought that this was the norm.


    Ah, let¡¯s have a moment of silence for the future little brother of Little Blossom. Although he was nowhere in sight, his evil brother was already waiting for him.


    The reason why Little Blossom thought that Ling Lanid the egg was that Little Four taught him thatying eggs was a way of generating offsprings. Little Blossom couldn¡¯t swallow data so his knowledge came from what people taught him. Hence, he assumed his master was able toy eggs...


    Ling Lan was speechless. Lay eggs? Did shey an egg? She didn¡¯t even know where the egg came from... since it appeared in her mindscape, she did feel like sheid it. Ling Lan quickly dismissed the thought and reminded herself that she was human. I almost got influenced by Little Blossom and thought that I was an animal.


    As expected, Little Blossom got beaten up by Ling Lan. Little Blossom finally experienced the family abuse that Little Four kept talking about. Sob, master, hurry up andy more eggs. Little Blossom wants to bully little master! Although Ling Lan emphasized that she couldn¡¯ty eggs, Little Blossom still believed she could.


    No matter how much Ling Lan hit him, Little Blossom remained stubborn. Ling Lan suddenly missed Little Four. Previously, she felt that Little Four was not very sharp and used proverbs the wrong way. However,pared to Little Blossom, Little Four seemed extremely sharp. He was able to give her some constion during critical times and not make her even more frustrated. People needed to bepared to show how important they were.


    Ling Lan vented her frustration and managed to calm down. She used her spiritual power to examine the egg. Maybe because Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power and the egg came from the same source, she was able to sessfully see what was happening inside the egg.


    There were no signs of life inside the egg. It was filled with spiritual energy. The spiritual energy swirled around the center of the egg. Because the spiritual energy being too dense, it formed a hard surface that made it look like an egg. In actual fact, it was just a spiritual energy shell formed due to the density of the spiritual energy.


    The spiritual power core at the center of the egg was extremely dense. If the density of her spiritual energy in her mindscape was 1, the density of the spiritual power core was 1000. If the spiritual energy in the core was released, mindscape could increase by a thousand times.


    Ling Lan was worried and ted. She was ted because her spiritual power had gotten stronger and worried that there would be a hidden danger. If this spiritual power didn¡¯t listen to her and got out of control, her mindscape would be destroyed.


    Just as Ling Lan was feelingplicated, Little Blossom eximed in surprise, ¡°Master, your spiritual power is so low.¡±


    Ling Lan got a shock. She heard noisesing from the real world. Her friends had woken up. She had left the spiritual world unknowingly and returned back to her own body.


    ¡°What level is my spiritual power now?¡± Ling Lan was unable to sense her spiritual power because of the series of events that had happened.


    ¡°At most level three,¡± Little Blossom replied. His boss¡¯s spiritual power was much weaker than before.


    ¡°Very good!¡± Ling Lan replied in satisfaction. That meant that when she entered the ck hole again, this would not happen. She didn¡¯t want to experience it another time, It was too frightening.


    ¡°Boss, did you level up again?¡± The moment Ling Lan opened her eyes, she saw Qi Long¡¯s face right in front of her. He seemed to be stunned.


    ¡°What is the matter?¡± Ling Lan pushed his head away. She was not used to having someone so close to her.


    Everyone was looking at her with the same dumbfounded expression. Ling Lan looked at them coldly but she noticed their lips were twitching. Li Lanfeng passed Ling Lan a mirror.


    Ling Lan took it curiously. Li Lanfeng wanted her to look at herself. She looked at the mirror and was shocked. Was this her?


    Li Lanfeng noticed the disbelief in her eyes and nodded. Ling Lan pped herself and released some of the spiritual energy from the spiritual power core. She stared at her team members again. Everyone lowered their heads in fright.


    Ling Lan retracted her gaze with satisfaction and continued their discussion. She didn¡¯t expect such consequences to ur after her spiritual power was lowered... Ling Lan wanted to cry. As expected, she was more suitable to be a cold and dominating boss.


    After the fleet passed through the ck hole, they entered an unknownary sector. Ling Lan suddenly missed Little Four. If he was here, she would be able to get some information about thisary sector. Ling Lan was uncertain if thisary sector had something to do with his origins, the Mandora gxy.


    Thes in thisary sector were much further away from each other. Ling Lan only saw twos after one week of traveling. One of thes was mist-like. They were mocks formed by the umtion of meteorites. There was no use exploring suchs as there were no resources on it. Theses were dangerous too. No one knew when those meteorites would explode or move away from each other.


    The other was covered in ice. Based on past research, this was just a huge ice ball. There was nothing else besides ice. Although it was less valuable than thoses with signs of life, the people from Caesar were still ted that they found this first.


    The people from the Federation were frustrated that Caesar found the first. However, this feeling didn¡¯tst for long. Very soon, they found a new that was more valuable than the ice. Yet, at the same time, it was more dangerous for them to explore this.


    The starship that Ling Lan was at, announced to everyone that they have reached their destination. Everyone started getting busy.


    To ensure the safety of the starship, it would notnd immediately on the surface of the. It would send a batch of mecha operators to the first to ensure that it was safe tond. Only then would the starshipnd and start unloading all the pieces of equipment the mecha ns needed to build a camp on the.


    250 Mecha n also had a scouting team to find a safe spot for their camp.


    There were three to four mecha ns on a single starship. So 250 Mecha n only had two ejection ports for themselves. It was half of what other mecha ns had but since they were much smaller in size, Ling Lan and her team members didn¡¯t find it unfair.


    The scouting team of 250 Mecha n consisted of Ling Lan, the ten teams team leaders, and a few of the most powerful team members within these ten teams. There was a total of 24 people. This was the smallest scouting team among the mecha ns but it was the strongest too.


    These 24 people were all ace mecha masters. There were real ace mecha masters both in title and ability. Currently, they were at their past peak form. As for Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong, after Ling Lan¡¯s harsh training, they not only managed to regain their ability, they were even stronger than their past peak form.


    Yang Mingzhi even felt that he was close to bing an imperial mecha master. This was a surprise to him. He had been stuck at the ace level for close to 20 years. He couldn¡¯t break through thest hurdle which made him lose confidence in bing an imperial mecha operator. The events that happened in his life also impacted him greatly and made him gave up entirely. He never expected that he would achieve a breakthrough so easily under the lead of his young regimentmander.


    Liu Furong¡¯s improvement was not as obvious but he also felt his ability increasing. He found hope again. In order to be stronger, he didn¡¯t mind bing the next Qi Long.


    The logisticians in charge of these 24 mecha operators were nervous but properly examined their equipment and weapons. Behind them, Lin Zhong-qing and a few others were watching them intently. They had stopwatches in their hands and were observing the speed of the logisticians. Some of them were writing something on a piece of paper.


    The logisticians tensed up when they saw this. They didn¡¯t want their names to be written on the paper. Past experiences told them that once their name was on it, they would have to spend their next month in hell.


    Lin Zhong-qing and his four assistants learned well from Ling Lan. They liked to experiment with what they learned from Ling Lan on the logisticians.


    Under such circumstances, the logisticians reached a breakthrough and managed to hasten their speed by more than 10 seconds. This allowed 250 Mecha n to be the first mecha n to send its scouting team out of the starship.

 Chapter 691 - New Team Member!

    <h4>Chapter 691: New Team Member!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The first person to enter theunching port was Ling Lan. She contacted the JMC that was in charge of herunching port and said coldly, ¡°250 Mecha n Mecha No. 1 requesting forunch!¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes!¡± Ling Lan frowned when she heard an anxious voice from the other end of the call.


    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m the JMC in charge of yourunch. Sorry to keep you waiting. We are doing the final check. Mecha No. 1¡¯s weapons are fully equipped and the engine is normal. You are eligible forunch. The countdown starts now... 3,2,1,unch!¡±


    The JMC hurriedly finished the rest of her work. She was talking to her coworkers just now because, based on past experiences, they thought that there would not be any mecha operators entering theunching port this early. This was why she was not fully prepared. She didn¡¯t expect the mecha operators at herunching port to arrive so quickly. He even contacted her personally...


    The JMC heaved a sigh of relief after sending Ling Lan away. She felt fortunate that she was not scolded. She wished that this mecha operator would notin about her work ethics after he came back from the mission.


    The JMC learned her lesson and didn¡¯t dare to rx anymore. She focused on her work and made sure that the other mecha operators gotunched sessfully. The other JMCs beside her also stopped talking and waited patiently for their mecha operators to be in position.


    They felt lucky that there were not in charge of 250 Mecha n.


    Why was this so? Because the mecha operators of 250 Mecha n entered theirunching port more than a minute earlier than the other mecha ns. These JMCs were not normal JMCs. They were very experienced in handling ace mecha masters but even then, they hadn¡¯t met any logisticians who were able to work as fast as those from 250 Mecha n. Was this mecha n an elite of the elite n? The JMCs were not certain about the background of 250 Mecha n so they started having other thoughts.


    After Ling Lan left the starship, she didn¡¯t choose to enter the atmosphere of the. Instead, she waited for her members. Soon, all the 24 ace mecha master of 250 Mecha n were in position. Just as Ling Lan wanted to give her order, she received a call on her optical supeputer in the mecha.


    Ling Lan was shocked. Only the members and the people at the headquarters of 250 Mecha n knew this internal channel. Who was calling her?


    Ling Lan epted the call curiously. She heard a familiar voice. ¡°New member of 250 Mecha n, Ling Yu, wishes to join the team.¡±


    ¡°Ling Yu?!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s lips twitched. Why is this person here?


    ¡°Yes. I received an order from the division headquarters. I will be temporary joining 250 Mecha n for thisnd clearing mission.¡± The person replied to her seriously. ¡°I believe that Regiment Commander Ling had received the notification too.¡±


    Ling Lan gritted her teeth. Yes, she did receive the notification. This notification came so suddenly and it made her furious. Was this a sign of not being trusted? Did they think that she didn¡¯t have the capabilities to lead her team on this mission so they sent in someone to help her?


    Ling Lan was angry but she still saved the other party¡¯s embarrassment. She replied coldly, ¡°Since that is the case, please join the team.¡±


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± He seemed angry. The new member scratched his head.


    The new mecha operator quickly joined the mecha team. Although he was a new member, the current members of the mecha team were either experienced mecha operators or members of Lingtian whom she had worked with for a long time. Hence, they were able to rearrange their formation quickly. The new member joined their team smoothly.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Ling Lan gave her order. The mecha team formed a triangr formation and entered the atmosphere of the with Ling Lan at the lead.


    Once they entered the atmosphere, Ling Lan felt a strong gravity pushing them down. Her optical supeputer quickly disyed the relevant information of the. Ling Lan moved her fingers quickly and entered the new data into the system to calibrate the mecha so it would be able to fall at a slower rate and not get affected by the gravity.


    Within one second, all the mechas managed to control their falling speed. Since there was ample time, Ling Lan didn¡¯t fully unleash her hand speed. Hence, all the other mecha operators finished their operation around the same time as her.


    In the centralmand room of the Rising Sun fleet, the mecha ns that participated in this mission were all disyed on the screens around the room. 250 Mecha n was on it too.


    ¡°Is that our an ace mecha n? What impressive speed.¡± One of the officers was surprised when he saw the mecha team.


    ¡°Yes. The other mecha ns are still at theirunching port but they have already finished forming up.¡± The other officers were alerted by this officer and started noticing this mecha team too.


    ¡°That is because they have fewer people. How many mechas do they have? 25? Oh, it¡¯s 26. Most scouting teams will have at least 50 people so they will definitely be slower.¡± One officer expressed his opinion.


    The officer who noticed 250 first was unconvinced. ¡°They do have fewer people but how many mechas of the other ns are ready? 10? 15? No n has 20 mechas ready yet. How is this not fast?¡±


    The officer that was rebutted was speechless. This was the truth. However, he was too prideful to admit he was wrong so he continued, ¡°They have fewer people so themunicating between themselves is obviously easier. It¡¯s normal that they are faster.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask another mecha n to try it out then?¡± The officer that supported 250 Mecha n refuted. This speed was the overall speed of the entire mecha n, including the logisticians. If it was so easy to increase one¡¯s speed, there would have been more teams out there by now.


    ¡°Stop arguing. The mecha team is already entering the atmosphere.¡± Someone reminded the two officers that were arguing. Both of them kept quiet and turned to look at the big screen.


    ¡°Haha, that¡¯s good. Our 23rd division is the first division to enter the new.¡± The officers in the centralmand center cheered when they noticed this fact.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be too happy. The ace mecha n of the 1st division, God of Hunt, is entering too.¡± Someone spotted signs of other mecha ns.


    ¡°The mecha n from the 2nd division, Whirlwind, and the mecha n from the 3rd division, God of War, is entering as well.¡±


    As expected of the divisions under the three great marshal. They had a 50 man team but their speed was only slightly slower than a 26 man team. The 23rd division managed to gain an upper hand due to their numbers.


    ¡°Oh right, which mecha n was that? Once this mission ends, we must heavily reward them.¡± Although there were not many people in this mecha team, it was a fact that the 23rd Division was the first division to enter the. This was an aplishment for them.


    ¡°Its 250 Mecha n!¡± The officers were shocked when he saw the name of the mecha n. They knew that the 250 Mecha n borrowed their fleet to participate in the mission but they didn¡¯t pay any attention to them. They thought that the higher authorities wanted to give them an opening gambit or a warning. Unexpectedly, the ¡®useless¡¯ 250 Mecha n was a fast and highly-skilled mecha n. Are they dreaming?


    Everyone looked at the mecha team thatnded safely on the surface of the. They were astounded.


    ¡°We were fooled by the division headquarters.¡± A calm voice came from the entrance of themand center.


    ¡°Commander-in-chief!¡± All the officers stood up and greeted him. Qi Aiming walked into the centralmand center. He looked at the mecha team on the screen with aplicated expression. If they could get this mecha n, the Rising Sun fleet might be the most powerful fleet in the 23rd division. Unfortunately...


    He remembered the smile on his superiors face when he submitted this request. He knew that there was no hope of that happening.


    Qi Aiming sighed. If he had requested for 250 Mecha n right from the start, he might have a chance. However, now, no fleet would be able to get 250 Mecha n anymore. Their general looked as though he had given up on 250 Mecha n but in actual fact, he had high hopes for this mecha n. It was toote to benefit from this mecha n.


    At this moment, Ling Lan and her team had already reached the loweryer of the atmosphere of the.


    The environment on the was bad. The optical supeputer tested the temperature on the. It was higher than 40 degrees celsius. There was no oxygen in the air too. If she didn¡¯t see the reddish spots which looked like nts when she wasing down, she would have suspected if there were any living things on this.


    Ling Lan carefully controlled her mecha andnded on a yellowish-brown spot which seemed studier. The moment shended, she felt her mecha sinking into the ground.


    This is not good. The ground here was not able to support the weight of a mecha. Ling Lan felt a sense of danger. She used her fastest hand speed and quickly calibrated her mecha.


    The mecha stopped sinking down. She raised one of her mecha legs and took a step forward. The mecha didn¡¯t sink. The weight of the mecha had reached an eptable range for her to walk.


    ¡°Set your mechas to floating mode. The floating level will be at 53. Set traction to 11 and granr load to 27.¡± Ling Lan quickly shared her mecha setting to her team members.


    She was confident that her team members were able to change their settings based on the situation but she didn¡¯t want them to lose their focus on their surroundings so she told them her findings.


    The other members quickly changed their settings while they were in mid-air. When theynded, no one sunk. This meant that Ling Lan had found the correct settings in an instant.


    After theynded safely, they noticed that the red spots they thought were nts were actually the color of the ground. On the other hand, the yellowish-brown spots which they thought was the ground were actually nts.


    As expected, their logic couldn¡¯t be applied in a new environment.


    Ling Lan and her teamnded on an empty field. This was a good and a bad thing. It was good because this ce was saferpared to a forest or a swamp. However, risk and opportunity came together. They would have less of a chance of finding a natural resource vein on this.


    ¡°Regimentmander, we are so unlucky. Wended on a t field.¡± One of the mecha operators said in a depressed tone.


    ¡°Our main goal is to let everyone experience what it¡¯s like to go on a mission. It¡¯ll be good if we can find some natural resources. If not, it¡¯s fine too,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly. She was not after the mary gains. If she really wanted to equip 250 Mecha n, she could use the ount that Little Four gave her. There were enough credits in the ount to equip 10 mecha ns. It could be said that the only thing Ling Lan didn¡¯tck was credits.


    The disappointed members managed to feel better after seeing how calm their regimentmander was.


    They used their search device on their mechas to scan the area. Ling Lan noticed that around 10 kilometers away, there was a thermal signal. Since they didn¡¯t have any urgent goals, Ling Lan decided to go there.


    They quickly ran towards the direction. They wanted to save their energy so they didn¡¯t choose to fly.


    Along the way, Ling Lan epted Li Lanfeng¡¯s request for a private call. ¡°Rabbit, who is Ling Yu? Is he suspicious?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Ling Lan replied, ¡°He is from the Ling family.¡± Ling Lan added on.


    ¡°Is General Ling Xiao worried about you? Is that why he sent Ling Yu over?¡± Li Lanfeng asked carefully. He detected a sense of unhappiness in Ling Lan¡¯s tone.


    Ling Lan¡¯s lips twitched. As expected, her team members knew all about it. What a bastard her father was... he destroyed the reliable and domineering image she worked so hard to build.


    ¡°Maybe.¡± Ling Lan squeezed the words out of her mouth. Couldn¡¯t her leopard learn to act dumb for once? Luckily, he didn¡¯t know Ling Yu¡¯s real identity. If not, her image would really be destroyed.


    Damn it. Her father really knew how to make things difficult for her!

 Chapter 692 - A Creature With Tentacles!

    <h4>Chapter 692: A Creature With Tentacles!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Putting Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts aside, all of them managed to arrive at their destination soon.


    It was a hugeke. The surface of theke was shimmering with light. There seemed to be no end to theke with waters that were deep blue and clear. However, Ling Lan and her team members couldn¡¯t be certain if there were creatures inside theke. The steam over theke and the heat emitted from theke told them that the temperature of the water was high.


    Xie Yi started taking a sample of the water and examining it without Ling Lan¡¯smand. He told everyone what he found through the team channel.


    ¡°The temperature of the water is at 87 degrees celsius. Can fish survive at this temperature?¡± One of the mecha operators were stunned. Fish would be cooked at this temperature.


    ¡°You are a veteran. Have you forgotten lifeforms here might be different from what we know? I¡¯m pretty sure the fish on this are not afraid of high heat,¡± Someone refuted.


    ¡°There is a fish like that in the Federation too. It¡¯s known as Aomu Fish. It can live within 50 degrees celsius to 60 degrees celsius water. If the temperature of the water gets below 45 degrees celsius, it will die.¡± Someone reminded everyone to not be restricted by their own ignorance.


    ¡°No one knows what is in theke. Let¡¯s be more careful.¡± As the most experienced mecha operator, Yang Mingzhi felt obligated to remind everyone to be aware of their surroundings when he noticed that they were too focused on talking.


    Everyone instantly focused their attention on theke.


    Ling Lan knew that these people still had problems fighting in a high pressured situation. They had rxed for too long and lost their vignce on the battlefield. This was not something that could be solved with training. Only real life-or-death situations would allow them to regain their vignce.


    ¡°Regimentmander, why do I feel that the heat in theke didn¡¯t trigger the thermal signal?¡± Li Lanfeng looked at his optical supeputer. He noticed that the thermal signal came from theke but 87 degrees celsius was too low for the thermal detector to give such a signal.


    Ling Lan stared at the surface of theke for a few seconds. She said slowly, ¡°Seems like we need to go into theke.¡± She had this query too. There might be something in theke which caused it to have such a high temperature. She didn¡¯t know if it was a natural resource vein in it.


    However, entering theke was a dangerous task. Entering the bottom of ake or a river was usually the most dangerous ce to explore. There was water resistance and the water would affect the mecha operator¡¯s vision too. Most importantly, no one knew what was under the water.


    Ling Lan pondered about it and chose Qi Long, Zhao Jun, Liu Furong, Gu Zhengyang to enter theke with her.


    Li Lanfeng wanted to say something but he stopped himself. He really wanted to go with Ling Lan but he knew that if anything happened there, with his stamina, he might drag the whole team down. He could not cause trouble for his rabbit.


    Ling Lan asked Yang Mingzhi to be in charge of guarding the perimeter and asked Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun to help him. She nced at Ling Yu who was standing still like a piece of wood. After some thought, she said, ¡°Ling Yu, you¡¯ll go down with me too.¡±


    Since there is a bodyguard, she should use it.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Ling Yu received the order. Very soon, the six of them jumped into theke.


    The moment they entered theke, the six of them changed their mecha setting to suit the underwater environment. Their mecha got used to the environment and slowly sunk. It took more than ten seconds for them to sink to the bottom of theke. It was deeper than expected. There was no light at the bottom of theke. However, the mechas had searchlights on them so they were able to see within 30 meters around them.


    The six people cautiously explored the bottom of theke. While they were sinking, they didn¡¯t see a single fish at all. This caused them to doubt if there were any creatures in theke.


    ¡°Be careful!¡± Qi Long felt his boss kicking him. Ling Yu, who was protecting Ling Lan, fired a beam shot at Qi Long¡¯s direction. If his boss didn¡¯t kick him, he would have been hit by the beam. Qi Long was furious. Was there something wrong with Ling Yu? Wasn¡¯t he boss¡¯s bodyguard?¡±


    ¡°Qi Long, inspect your mecha and see if there is a problem.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice rang inside Qi Long¡¯s ears. Ling Yu still had his beam gun in his hand. However, it was not aimed at him. It was aimed at his side.


    Qi Long got a shock. He knew that things were not what it seemed. He immediately inspected his mecha and noticed that there was a round-shaped burn mark on the mecha¡¯s chest. He didn¡¯t know when he got this scar. It looked like a burn mark was formed by electricity.


    Qi Long reyed what happened. After slowing down the video feed ten times, he finally saw a silver whip-like tentacle appearing beside him suddenly and attacking him. If his boss didn¡¯t kick him away, he might have been seriously hurt. At the same time, he also noticed that Ling Yu¡¯s beam sliced the silver whip-like tentacle. That was why the tentacle retreated and stopped attacking him.


    With Ling Yu standing by, Ling Lan bent down and picked up the tentacle that was sliced by Ling Yu. After it was sliced, half of it dropped onto the bottom of theke.


    The tentacle kept forming sparks in Ling Lan¡¯s hand. Ling Lan was prepared for its attack so she protected her hand using the shield. After a few seconds, the sparks disappeared. The silver whip-like tentacle had used up all its energy and stopped moving. It started to turn dark silver.


    ¡°This tentacle has powerful electricity in it. Even if it leaves the main body, the electricity will not disappear immediately. Some of it still remained in it.¡± Ling Lan exined what happened to the other five people. ¡°Based on the way it attacked, it should be a creature with tentacles.¡±


    Everyone gasped when they heard that. The hardest type of creature to deal with under the water were creatures with tentacles. This creature even had electricity in it. They were not afraid but it still made their heads hurt.


    Ling Lan signaled at Ling Yu to put down his gun. The creature that attacked them had moved away or was hiding. Ling Lan swallowed the questions she had and turned to face everyone. ¡°Be careful. It is injured so it will definitely attack us again.¡±


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Everyone was on their guard. With such a scary opponent being near them, all of them moved with vignce. They even activated their shields. At the bottom of theke, each mecha was shining with light from their beam shield. Ling Lan knew this would make them easier targets but it was better than dying unknowingly in the tentacles of a tentacle monster.


    ¡°Regimentmander, we are unable to contact the people above.¡± Liu Furong frowned as he told Ling Lan the bad news. Just now, Ling Lan ordered him to contact Yang Mingzhi to inform them about the situation under the water so that they could be on their guard.


    ¡°Seems like the water is able to interrupt signals,¡± Gu Zhengyang guessed.


    ¡°Maybe this is the ability of the tentacle creature,¡± Zhao Jun had another guess.


    ¡°No matter what, we are rich.¡± Qi Long smiled brightly as he stared in front of him intently. All he could think of were credits. He didn¡¯t look as though he just met a life-or-death situation. He was as lively as usual.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect our luck to be so good.¡± Their current situation was quite bad but everyone¡¯s mindset was good. They started making the best out of the situation.


    They knew that if they wanted to explore thiske, they needed to get rid of the tentacle creature first. They didn¡¯t know how many creatures there were. Furthermore, if they killed all the tentacle creatures only to realize that this was just an ordinaryke with no ability to block signals, their efforts would be in vain.


    Yet, everyone looked at the situation positively and epted the challenge happily. Ling Yu nodded his head. He was satisfied with the performance of these team leaders.


    At the side of theke, the 20 people who stayed back split into two teams. One of the team rested while the other guarded the area. A portion of them guarded theke while another portion guarded their surroundings.


    The person in charge of the group that was guarding theke was Li Lanfeng. Luo Lang and Xie Yi helped him. Li Lanfeng trusted Ling Lan and the others but he still couldn¡¯t help feeling worried. He kept looking at theke and hoped that his friends would return soon.


    Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes. ¡°Luo Lang, Xie Yi, look. Did you see something below the surface of theke just now?¡± He saw a sh of silver just now. This caused him to be on his guard.


    Luo Lang and Xie Yi immediately looked at theke. But, they didn¡¯t see anything.


    ¡°There seemed to be nothing,¡± Luo Lang said with uncertainty.


    Xie Yi smiled. ¡°You must have mistaken. How can there be any creatures in ake with such a high temperature?¡± He moved his mecha after he finished speaking and looked in another direction.


    Luo Lang seemed to agree with what he said. He turned his mecha around indifferently too and ced his focus on the other side.


    Li Lanfeng muttered, ¡°Maybe I¡¯m wrong.¡± He spun his mecha around too.


    When the three of them turned around, six long tentacles shot out of theke and shed towards the six mechas that were near theke. Three of the mecha belonged to Li Lanfeng, Xie Yi, and Luo Lang.


    ¡°Boom! Boom! Boom!¡± The moment the tentacles appeared, Li Lanfeng, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi shot their beam guns at the six tentacles as though they were prepared for its attack.


    This creature which snuck up of them was caught off its guard. All the six tentacles got sliced off. The other three mechas at the side of theke had received an order from their leader and quickly dodged.


    After seeing the attacker, Yang Mingzhi, Han Jijyun, and Li Yingjie quickly came over too.


    Two of the tentacles dropped on the yellowish-brown nts at the bank of theke. They kept twisting as though they still had life in them. The nts that got in contact with the tentacles were burnt immediately. The electricity in the tentacles was strong.


    The mecha operators who noticed this felt a chill down their spines. If these tentaclesnded on their bodies, they might turn into ash instantly. There was no chance of survival. This was just a portion of the electricity left in a broken tentacle. If they were hit by the main body, their mechas might not be able to withstand the electricity too.


    Yang Mingzhi and his group met up with Li Lanfeng¡¯s group. They saw waves forming on the surface of the river. Suddenly, numerous tentacles shot out of the river and rushed towards the people at the bank. It must be furious that Li Lanfeng and his friends hurt it so it wanted to kill them.


    ¡°F**k, that is a tentacle creature. Everyone focus! Don¡¯t get dragged into the water by it.¡± Yang Mingzhi quickly reminded everyone. He immediately raised his beam gun and shot at the tentacles.


    He was worried about the group that went down. He wondered if they were safe. This kind of creature was harder to deal with in the water.


    After a round of shooting, they managed to destroy close to 200 tentacles. This only happened because none of them missed a shot. However, there were still 800 more tentacles rushing towards them.


    ¡°We have too little people. We can¡¯t fight with it.¡± Yang Mingzhi immediately gave an order. ¡°Everyone, retreat till the tentacles can¡¯t reach you.¡±


    Many mecha operators didn¡¯t agree with this order, especially the people from Lingtian Battle Team. Under Ling Lan¡¯s guidance, they didn¡¯t like to retreat. However, they remembered what Ling Lan told them. The person-in-charge was Yang Mingzhi. Even if they wanted to continue fighting, they still had to listen to him. Hence, they retracted their weapons and started retreating.


    In a battlefield, everyone must be able to obeymands immediately. If not, they might put everyone in danger. The members of Lingtian got brainwashed by Ling Lan sessfully so they didn¡¯t create trouble for Yang Mingzhi.


    Although everyone moved quickly, the monster in theke was much faster. Before the mecha operators could move to a safe distance, the tentacles had already reached them.

 Chapter 693 - Legend?

    <h4>Chapter 693: Legend?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Seeing this, Yang Mingzhi immediately turned his mecha around. His beam gun pointed towards the tentacles and pulled down on the trigger with a great force. The barrel of gun suddenly had a bright yellow flowere out from its tip...


    ¡°One of the ace operator¡¯s sure-kill techniques, Blossoming sh!¡± Those who were familiar with gun techniques would definitely be excited if they saw this move. It was a sure-kill technique because once this skill was used, it would always produce some results.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Arge explosive sound echoed. The ground shook from the shockwave of the st, not to mention the surface of theke as it created countless tidal waves. A few mechas that retreated a bit slower than the rest were even hit by waves. The surface of the shore was flooded and required a long time to return back to normal.


    Just as it was about to explode, Yang Mingzhi quickly backed up ten meters. Although he had already put his beam shield on the highest setting, the shockwave created by the explosion was still too much for him to handle. The beam shield¡¯s energy levels were almost depleted and his mecha was losing energy as well. If someone were to attack him at this moment, it was possible that they would be able to by-pass the beam shield and cause damage to the mecha itself.


    Yang Mingzhi¡¯s move had its merits. Countless numbers of tentacles were blown off by the explosion. The explosion stopped the tentacles for a short while and averted the crisis the mecha operators were in.


    The tentacle creature saw that its attack was unfruitful. Its patience was already running thin and now it was really angry.


    ¡°RAWR! A terrifying howl echoed from within theke. Every mecha operator felt somewhat dizzy. Many of the mechas that were still in mid-air, began to lose control and fall towards the ground. However, these mecha operators were after all not second-rate mecha operators, their spiritual power levels were quite high. They quickly regained back their controls and immediately controlled their mechas.


    The tentacle monster used sound waves to attack them. This attack was to incapacitate these mecha operators for a moment. That small window of time was enough for the monster to whip out more tentacles to attacks these bugs that had harmed it.


    This tentacle monster was more intelligent than what they hade to have known. It instantly took away their opportunity to escape, created by Yang Mingzhi putting his life on the line. Right as they were about to wake up, they saw countless numbers of tentacles outside of their mechas. They knew they no longer had the chance to escape, thus they steeled their nerves and prepared to fight to theirst breath.


    It did note to their mind that they would be caught in such a huge predicament within the field area. The mecha operators were no longer rxed as they were in the beginning. They all had the realization that they needed to fight for their lives.


    ¡°Whirlwind Strike!¡±


    ¡°Multiple Point Strike!¡±


    In the team, there were only three people who were not affected by the howl of the monster. They moved in together and attacked the tentacles once again. It was Luo Lang, Xie Yi and Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°RAWR!¡± The monster howled in pain. The entire surface of theke began to rumble. Arge circr shadow emerged from theke along with the countless tentacles on its body. They began to wildly move about, causing the water to flood the shore again.


    ¡°As expected, it¡¯s a tentacle monster and it¡¯s arge one.¡± Seeing this, Yang Mingzhi and the others felt their nerves tingle.


    With just a small part of the main bodying out from theke, along with its tentacles, they instantly knew this monster was hard to deal with. The thickness of those tentacles were about the same size as their mechas. Moreover, it was definitely 10 times longer than their mechas. No wonder with them exploding, cutting them or slicing, they didn¡¯t do too much damage to the tentacles. Are they able to dispose of thisrge monster with the equipment and weapons they have on hand?


    ¡°Where is our regimentmander?¡± Yang Mingzhi asked worriedly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this little guy would be way over its head if it thinks it can take down our regimentmander.¡± Luo Lang¡¯s first response had a tone of looking down on the monster as if thisrge creature wasn¡¯t even a cause for concern.


    Hearing this, Yang Mingzhi didn¡¯t know where Luo Lang¡¯s confidence came from, to trust the regimentmander¡¯s group of six to not have any problems in theke. Even if it was Yang Mingzhi himself, he would not be much of a help and would just shudder at the sight of thisrge creature if he was in their regimentmander¡¯s position.


    However, Yang Mingzhi didn¡¯t have the luxury nor the time to worry about others. The tentacle whipped towards them once again,plementing the sound wave attack that wasing towards them at the same time. An attack that was both physical and spiritual. This made Yang Mingzhi and the other mecha operators fall into another difficult battle.


    ¡°Luo Lang, Xie Yi, we can¡¯t keep attacking like this. We need to get closer to the main body.¡± Li Lanfeng battled with a tentacle for a while and finally found the time tomunicate his ns with Luo Lang and Xie Yi.


    Although Li Lanfeng¡¯s hands were already full with his own battle, he was also paying attention to everyone else. He discovered that Luo Lang and Xie Yi were also not affected by the spiritual attack.


    Li Lanfeng was spectral ability user. Spectral ability users were also able to use spiritual power to attack. The only thing that could harm him spiritually was a spectral ability of the same level. This crude spiritual attack was of course not effective against him. As for Luo Lang and Xie Yi, Li Lanfeng determined that the reasons why they were not affected was because Luo Lang¡¯s innate talent and Xie Yi¡¯s dual personalities. Luo Lang was able to easily switch between his various personalities and with him being the primary personality, he definitely had the highest level of spiritual power to be able to control all of his personalities. For Xie Yi, after fusing his light and dark personalities, his spiritual power had grown stronger and was able to easily negate damage from crude spiritual attacks.


    This was why Li Lanfeng shared his ns with Luo Lang and Xie Yi.


    ¡°Just say it, what should we do?¡± Luo Lang replied. Li Lanfeng was a strategist that even the Boss trusted, so he of course would trust in Li Lanfeng¡¯s n.


    ¡°Xie Yi and I will create a path for you. You will then try to move closer to it. As for the main body¡¯s weakness... Xie Yi and I will try our best to give you one minute¡¯s worth of time.¡± Li Lanfeng looked at the main body in theke. His eyes showed a hint of determination. He couldn¡¯t let Rabbit be disappointed in him.


    ¡°Understood!¡± Luo Lang shouted. Among the three of them, his closebat skills was the strongest which made him the most suitable to attack the main body. As for the other mecha operators, it was already good enough that they could endure the spiritual attack and stay alive. It would be a miracle if they could provide any help.


    The three of them began to slowly change their positions and got closer to each other. Yang Mingzhi had noticed their weird movements. Although he didn¡¯t know what the three of them were doing, but he was sure that it was to attack therge monster. After blocking an iing attack, he split a bit of his attention towards the three of them.


    Finally, the three of them stood together in a triangr formation. Li Lanfeng suddenly shouted, ¡°Xie Yi, coordinates (234,312), beam gun!¡±


    Xie Yi raised his beam gun without hesitation and shot towards the coordinates Li Lanfeng had given him. This type of coordinate was only used inLingtian Battle n. Of course, now it had be a speciality for 250 Mecha n. Only they knew the coordinates and would cause the enemy to be confused(that was unless the enemy hacked into theirmunications channel).


    The beam from both mechas hit the same location at the same time. The power of the attack wasn¡¯tparable to the power of one beam. It also wasn¡¯t simply just adding the power of of two beams, it increased exponentially whenbined. Not long after, the tentacles in the path of thebined beam were vapourized.


    Before Li Lanfeng could say anything, Luo Lang, who was already ready, shot out like a cannonball, following the beam Li Lanfeng and Xie Yi had shot. He went straight through the path the beam had created.


    In actuality, all these steps were done instantaneously. When Li Lanfeng and Xie Yi¡¯s beam dispersed, Luo Lang had already arrived above the tentacle monster¡¯s main body. A brightly shing cold weapon was stabbed straight towards the circr main body without hesitation.


    ¡°Shu!¡± Therge sword cut into the circr body for half a meter. A ck liquid squirted out from the wound. It quickly changed the original clear blue water to pure ck.


    ¡°RAWR!¡± The monster screeched, leaving everyone with headaches. Luckily the monster stopped attacking because it was under immense pain. The mecha operators weren¡¯t harmed physically, but everyone had cold sweat dripping down their foreheads from being afraid. If they were attacked when they didn¡¯t have their guard up, they would definitely be heavily wounded.


    As expected,nd clearing missions were the most dangerous type of missions within the military. They had only just arrived at the new andnded in the safest location. Even so, they still almost all perished.


    After getting injured, the tentacle monster¡¯s entire circr body began to flop around. The tentacles that were originally attacking everyone, iled towards Luo Lang, who was wrestling with the main body for the sword.


    ¡°Not good. Quickly everyone, attack the main body!¡± Yang Mingzhi saw this and knew something bad was going to happen and immediately gave an order.


    Everyone knew Luo Lang was in danger. In that moment, they didn¡¯t care about preserving energy. The beams from their guns were shot out as if they were selling cabbages on the street.


    The main body could no longer disregard the attack. It couldn¡¯t help but use a few of its tentacles to protect itself. This also showed the disadvantage of having such arge body. Without the agility to dodge these attacks, it could only use its tentacles to block.


    Even then, one-third of the tentacles were still attacking Luo Lang. Luo Lang saw this and couldn¡¯t help but temporarily give up on the sword that was stuck in the main body and maneuvered his mecha to dodge the tentacle. Just like that, a mecha was dodging through the tentacles that were ten times taller than the mecha itself gracefully. This scene made the mecha operators on the shore watched anxiously. They were afraid that with one mistake, Luo Lang would be crushed by a tentacle and would perish.


    At that moment, sweat poured down from Luo Lang¡¯s forehead like rain and his spirit was waning. The reason the mecha dodged so gracefully was because of his countlessbination of controls. If onemand was executed slower, he would meet his doom. In that situation, Luo Lang didn¡¯t think about anything else and only wanted dodge, dodge and dodge.


    Suddenly, Luo Lang¡¯s finger slowed down and in turn Luo Lang¡¯s mecha slowed down. This sudden slowness was only for a blink of an eye, but as luck would have it, in this amount of time, Luo Lang lost the chance to dodge a cross chop attack from two tentacles.


    The mecha operators on the shore watched in horror as their mouths were wide open with disbelief. Right at that moment, two whirlwinds came down from the sky. Just as the tentacles were about to hit Luo Lang, they were sent flying back by the whirlwinds.


    ¡°You guys are finally here. You guys are too slow,¡± Luo Lang said with discontent.


    ¡°Sorry, we wasted some time getting past the monster,¡± Xie Yi apologized sofly. The danger Luo Lang was in just now almost made Xie Yi¡¯s heart stop.


    ¡°Here!¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly took out a long andrge sword that looked simr to a tangdao and passed it to Luo.


    Luo Lang caught it and took a look. He instantly shouted out, ¡°Li Lanfeng, why is the Boss¡¯s Firmament with you?¡±


    ¡°Boss was afraid someone would lose their weapon, so he told me to bring it if by any chance that happened,¡± Li Lanfeng said coldly. Luo Lang didn¡¯t know what to say. He could only hold the Firmament and ruthlessly pounce towards the tentacle monster.


    ¡°Wuwuwu, I will wash away the disgrace!¡± Luo Lang thought frustratingly.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t care about how his conversation with Luo Lang may have harmed Luo Lang¡¯s pride. He and Xie Yi worked together and blocked all of the tentacles attacking Luo Lang. This made Luo Lang put all of his focus into attacking the circr main body.


    The attack just now made them realized that the main body was not as tough as the tentacles. However, because it was so huge, one sword strike could not cause a fatal wound. They only hoped that the sharp Firmament could create a miracle.


    Luo Lang¡¯s sword attack was even more ruthless than thest one because of the disgrace he had received. In other words, this strike Luo Lang made gave off a feeling that it was either his enemy dying or himself.


    ¡°Shu!¡± As expected, the Firmament was undoubtedly a very sharp and tough cold weapon. It easily cut open the main body. This time, it instantly cut through around two meters. Luo Lang¡¯s mecha also followed the sword¡¯s downwards momentum and dropped into the water, creating countless ripples.


    ¡°RAWR!¡± The tentacle monster gave off another screech of pain which stopped the attacks of the mecha operators on the shore again. Without having to defend against the attacks of the mecha operators from the shore, all of the tentacle began to attack Li Lanfeng and Xie Yi along with Luo Lang, who had note out from theke.


    Li Lanfeng and Xie Yi used all their might to defend against the tentacles, but still couldn¡¯t defend against the tentacle monster¡¯s desperate attack and were both struck down into theke. The tentacle monster¡¯s attacks didn¡¯t stop there. All of the tentacles that could still move split into three groups and ruthlessly pounced towards the three mechas that were struggling to get out of the water.


    At that moment, one mecha suddenly appeared in the sky. The tentacle monster actually didn¡¯t notice this mecha because all of its attention were on the three in theke.


    That one mecha plummet straight down from the air. Quicker than words could say, the mecha instantlynded on the main body, then a beam gun was ruthlessly stabbed into the wound Luo Lang had created and the operator pulled down the trigger of the beam gun without hesitation.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Arge explosion was heard. The entireke blew up. Mechas that were close to the shore were instantly blown away by the shockwave of the st. The tidal waves from theke instantly pushed them back tens of meters.


    The mecha performing the final attack was also sent flying many meters away by the rebound of the gun and smashed onto the surface of theke. Perhaps the force of the rebound was too great because his destroyed mecha was released ck puffs of smoke.


    ¡°Captain!¡±


    ¡°Captain Yang!¡±


    While all the mecha operators were shouting with concern, Li Lanfeng¡¯s group of three were also watching Yang Mingzhi. In their time of need, Yang Mingzhi made a move. In order to save the three of them, he used a move that destroyed both him and the monster. Without enough the beam shield to protect the mecha, it would of course be destroyed by the terrifying explosion.


    ¡°Shu!¡± Yang Mingzhi¡¯s battered mecha suddenly floated above the water. Could it be that the damage to Yang Mingzhi¡¯s mecha wasn¡¯t as severe as they had thought? Everyone rxed a bit, but quickly discovered it wasn¡¯t the case. It was because Yang Mingzhi¡¯s mecha didn¡¯t float above the water by itself and was brought up by Luo Lang who had fallen into theke earlier.


    ¡°Captain Yang, Captain Yang...¡± After putting down Yang Mingzhi¡¯s mecha softly on the ground, Luo Lang anxiously shouted to Yang Mingzhi. If he didn¡¯t respond, Luo Lang would have opened the cockpit and perform emergency first aid.


    ¡°Ugh, ugh... Captain Luo, I¡¯m alright.¡± Yang Mingzhi had blooding out of his mouth and tried his best to relief Luo Lang¡¯s worries.


    ¡°Drink the emergency medicinal agent our regimentmander had prepared for us. Brother Shiyu¡¯s medicinal agents are very effective.¡± After hearing that he was alright, Luo Lang instantly breathed a sigh of relief. He didn¡¯t forget to remind Yang Mingzhi to drink the medicine for the fear of some undetectable internal injuries. As long as he drank the medicine, it would make sure nothing could go wrong.


    Hearing Luo Lang¡¯s concern, Yang Mingzhi wasn¡¯t going to ignore it. He took out the medicine from the small fridge contraption, opened it and drank it. These simple movements made Yang Mingzhi use all of his body¡¯s energy, causing immense pain.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t been injured in so long. Didn¡¯t think that being injured would be so painful!¡± Yang Mingzhi smiled bitterly. He had forgotten the feeling of pain. As expected, living peacefully was a warrior¡¯s grave. Back then, his injuries were more severe than this and yet he could still continue to operate his mecha and battle with the enemy until the bitter end. If it was back then, he wouldn¡¯t need Luo Lang¡¯s help to swim out of theke and wouldn¡¯t be rendered him unable to move by such small injuries.


    At that moment, Li Lanfeng and Xie Yi had crawled out of theke while dragging out the main body from the tentacle monster.


    In reality, the power of the explosion that Li Lanfeng, Xie Yi and Luo Lang had endured wasn¡¯t any less than Yang Mingzhi¡¯s. Moreover, they had already sustained attacks from the tentacle monster. They should have all been injured, but the three of them were like wild beasts, as if they weren¡¯t even affected...


    Yang Mingzhi looked at these three and couldn¡¯t help but think to himself, ¡°As expected of the new generation recing the old generation, while the old generation dies on the battlefield. I¡¯m indeed old.¡± Yang Mingzhi¡¯s mood was slightly depressed and felt some regret, but he felt more happy. These mecha operators that were too young to be true were much stronger than he was back then. He really wanted to see how far these young mecha operators will go.


    Perhaps he could follow behind them and be a legend too. Yang Mingzhi didn¡¯t know why but he actually had a thought like this.

 Chapter 694 - Making a Move?

    <h4>Chapter 694: Making a Move?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Li Lanfeng and Xie Yi dragged the main body of the tentacle monster onto shore. Luo Lang quickly ran up to them. The main body was even considered big for them, who were piloting mechas. If they fought with their regr bodies, they would be as small as antspared to the tentacle monster?


    Luo Lang thought about this for a second then frowned. He didn¡¯t want to be at the lowest level of the food chain.


    Luo Lang poked at the main body with interest. Suddenly he saw that there was a circr hole at the main body¡¯s lower part. The hole had ck fluid constantly flowing out from it. Luo Lang knew that this was the monster¡¯s blood. In other words, this wasn¡¯t a mouth hole or the hole at the other end. Instead, it was wound.


    ¡°Guys,e take a look. Look at that!¡± Luo Lang anxiously called out to people toe take a look.


    A bunch of people heard Luo Lang¡¯s call and gathered around him. Han Jijyun was also poking at the hole with hisrge sword. Right as he did that, the ck liquid that was flowing out, suddenly squirted into the air. If Han Jijyun¡¯s reaction wasn¡¯t as fast as it was, he would have been covered with the ck liquid.


    ¡°It¡¯s indeed a wound and it¡¯s also a fatal one,¡± said Han Jijyun.


    ¡°Yeah, the amount of ck liquid that spewed out from the explosion wasn¡¯t as much as that wound itself.¡± Li Lanfeng saw that the ground they were standing on was already stained ck and the speed of the flowing ck fluid did not slow down. Therge circr body also deted at a speed the naked eye could see. It seemed that the circr hole was the main reason why it died.


    ¡°Our Boss probably made a move,¡± Luo Lang said with a glint in his eyes.


    ¡°I agree!¡± Xie Yi supported Luo Lang¡¯s idea without hesitation.


    ¡°I also agree!¡± Han Jijyun thought for a second and could onlye to such a conclusion as well.


    ¡°I don¡¯t see why not.¡± Li Lanfeng said with a smile. Only Ling Lan had the capabilities to find the fatal weakness of the tentacle monster and kill it in one hit.


    Everyone thought Ling Lan had made a move, but Ling Lan¡¯s group had just reached the deepest part of theke. Ling Lan didn¡¯t expect the bottom of theke to have a deep trench. Ling Lan stood at the edge of the trench and couldn¡¯t help but frown.


    ¡°Boss, the thermal indicators are reacting greatly. It seems like this is the ce.¡± Qi Long said sternly. Although they found the real source of the thermal signal, the bottom of the trench still gave Qi Long a strong and terrifying pressure. This made Qi Long¡¯s mood heavy.


    ¡°Qi Long, do you feel a strong pressure? My instincts tell me that I shouldn¡¯t go down there.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s strange innate talent actually gave her a warning. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but hesitate for a moment.


    ¡°My instincts also tells me that it¡¯s very dangerous!¡± Qi Long added more emphasis on ¡®very dangerous¡¯.


    Hearing this, Zhao Jun¡¯s expression became serious as well. He knew clearly that Qi Long¡¯s Animal Instinct was very sensitive. There was definitely an existence that was of a great threat to them since Qi Long felt danger, ¡°Then, we¡¯re giving up on it?¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t say anything. She indeed could choose to give up and report the information to the higher-ups. However, the oue of doing it like this would mean that afterwards, she would no longer have any part in this...


    Ling Lan looked at the thermal signal shown on the mecha. She could predict that there was definitely arge energy source down in the trench. For her to give up on such arge prize, Ling Lan was still quite unwilling to do so. Compared to the credits Little Four umted by shady means, the thing in front of her could strengthen 250 Mecha n with real honor. Ling Lan¡¯s original resolve began to waver.


    Go or leave?


    ¡°Regimentmander, it¡¯s all done.¡± At that moment, Ling Yu, who Ling Lan send to clean up had returned.


    Ling Lan turned around to face Ling Yu. She suddenly had a thought. With him here, going down there will be safe right... However, using this kind of means to acquire merits, isn¡¯t it too shameful?


    The shame inside Ling Lan¡¯s heart began to battle fiercely with her selfishness. Not long after, her selfishness easily defeated her so-called shameful heart.


    Man, since he came to her voluntarily, if she didn¡¯t use him, she wouldn¡¯t be treating herself right. Ling Lan¡¯s palm clenched together and decisively made a decision.


    Thus Ling Lan ordered,¡± You guys wait here. Ling Yu, go down with me.¡±


    ¡°Boss!¡±


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡±


    The other four all shouted. Was it safe to take a recently joined n member? They weren¡¯t confident about Ling Yu, who had only just joined and had unknown capabilities.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Ling Yu is part of the Ling family. He will protect me.¡± Ling Lanforted and at the same time she expressed the fact that her decision could not be changed.


    Hearing this, Qi Long couldn¡¯t help but look towards Ling Yu... Did the Boss mean that Ling Yu is stronger than him? Or perhaps, because Ling Yu is a loyalist of the Ling family, thus if something were to happen, Ling Yu would give up his life in exchange for the Boss to escape?


    Qi Long was worried. He didn¡¯t know why, but his instincts were telling him that it was the first reason he had thought. That was because his Boss would definitely not sacrifice lives randomly, even if they were loyalists.


    Ling Lan led Ling Yu and jumped down into the trench. Not long after, they disappeared into the darkness. In the end, they hadpletely disappeared from Qi Long and the others¡¯ radars.


    Maybe it was the strength of the thermal signal. It might have interfered with their other searching systems... The four of them looked at the empty radar and could onlyfort themselves with this fact.


    Ling Lan piloted her mecha and sunk down slowly. The cockpit waspletely silent with only her soft breathing sound echoing through it. Loneliness, in addition to the pressure increasing as they sunk lower, made Ling Lan feel anxious. She couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°You¡¯re weird. Does the 23rd Division not have anything for you to do? You actually have time to y dress-up?¡±


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, your heart¡¯s wavering.¡± Ling Yu voice changed. The warmth it had also had a hint offort and made Ling Lan¡¯s heart instantly stop wavering.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry dad!¡± Ling Lan took a deep breath and expelled the anxiousness out of her. It turns out Ling Yu wasn¡¯t the real Ling Yu and was Ling Xiao dressed up as him.


    ¡°It seems that feeling the danger below could silently affect your mood. Looks like it¡¯s a hard opponent.¡± Ling Xiao coldly stared at the bottom of the trench. It dared to bully his daughter. It was looking for a death wish.


    ¡°Dad, that thing at the bottom is mine.¡± After calming down, Ling Lan of course knew clearly who caused her mood to waver. She was instantly filled with anger. It actually dared to make look weak in front of her father. It was indeed looking for death wish!


    ¡°Alright!¡± Ling Xiao replied with a smile and was proud of her. As expected of his daughter, gutsy and would not back away from a difficult situation!


    Aright, the two of them were never on the same page, but now somehow had a mutual understanding of each other.

 Chapter 695 - Tossed Out the Door!

    <h4>Chapter 695: Tossed Out the Door!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Inside the trench had an area shaped like an upside down triangle. The space inside this area was vast, but it was filled with unknown nts and roots. Ling Lan and Ling Xiao didn¡¯t turned on their mechas¡¯ engines but instead chose to slowly sink down. They carefully piloted their mechas and moved away from the unknown nts. Their mechas didn¡¯t make any sound and safelynded at the bottom of the trench.


    The surrounding area waspletely silent as if there wasn¡¯t anything alive within the trench. However, Ling Lan and Ling Xiao knew there was definitely a terrifying creature hidden in this trench. Seemingly to have hidden itself perfectly within the trench.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to just sit and wait for the creature toe to them. She released her spiritual power and scanned the entire trench. Then she waved her mecha¡¯s arm, creating waves within the still water. It was as though a drop of water had fallen onto a heated pan, livening up the ¡°dead zone¡± in an instant.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s movements didn¡¯t lure out the creature. The surrounding area was still silent and unmoving. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but frown, she didn¡¯t understand why that thing hadn¡¯t made a move yet. Could it be that her instincts were wrong? Was there no terrifying creature in this trench?


    Ling Lan immediately overruled her sudden change of thought. She believed her innate talent, Profound Insight, would be never wrong, there was definitely a creature more powerful than her in the area. It was just that it was patient enough to not make a move. There was definitely a reason for that...


    Ling Lan suddenly had an idea. She looked towards Ling Xiao and had a sudden realization. Could the creature also sense danger? Did it sense her father¡¯s hidden and terrifying power, thus it didn¡¯t dare to make a move?


    Ling Lan was instantly frustrated. She originally wanted her father to be there as her insurance. Now it seemed like it was a terrible idea. The creature was probably so scared, it didn¡¯t dare to make any moves. If she can¡¯tpletely destroy the creature, even if they reported the existence of the energy source, 250 Mecha n wouldn¡¯t be considered as the real founders.


    After all, her father, Ling Xiao, was going to leave after this mission. Once Ling Xiao leaves, this dangerous creature would immediately cause havoc. If she couldn¡¯t finish off this thing before anyone else discovers it... Ling Lan became frustrated.


    The military¡¯s regtions stated all discovered energy sources, must be safe and not threatened by any form of danger. If it was discovered that it was dangerous, then the founder of the new energy source would be the one who resolved the danger. Ling Lan was not going to hand it over to others on a silver tter.


    Then how could she make the creature not fear Ling Xiao for it to make a move? Ling Lan nced towards Ling Xiao as she thought about how she could get rid of her annoying father...


    Ling Xiao suddenly sneezed. He nced at the temperature reading on his cockpit and saw that it was very warm. Why did he sneeze then? Could it be that his wife was lovingly thinking about him at home? Yes, that was probably the case. Ling Xiao had this thought joyfully. His wife was definitelymenting the feeling of how one day felt like an eternity. She was probably now missing him and already regretting kicking him out!


    Southcrest, headquarters of the 23rd Division, Lan Luofeng was looking at the information only essible to senior colonel rank. Every rank had their own data ess permissions. The higher the rank, the more information they could ess.


    Lan Luofeng looked through the list of information she had ess to and discovered there wasn¡¯t information on what she wanted to know. Then she sighed and turned off themunicator¡¯s screen. Deputy Officer He, who stood beside her, carefully began to speak, ¡°Senior colonel, if you want more information, you can always ask General Ling Xiao.¡±


    As Lan Luofeng¡¯s deputy, Adjutant He knew that a while ago, her senior officer had a fight with General Ling Xiao. Of course, the reason for their fight wasn¡¯t because of some family matter or the appearance of a mistress. It was instead because of their son, Young Master Lan.


    Inside Adjutant He¡¯s mind, a young and proud Ling Lan, who broke three past records, activated his battle team during the new recruit training phase, looting one of the newest model of mechas from Caesar and earning his merits to be 250 Mecha n¡¯s Regiment Commander... After thinking up to this point, Adjutant He¡¯s eyes showed a hint of admiration. General Ling Xiao was indeed strong to make people admire him, but that was a legend in Senior Colonel Lan¡¯s generation... Luckily, they had a Young Master Lan!


    Frankly speaking, this fight was started by Senior Colonel Lan. It was because Senior Colonel Lan was not content with Young Master Lan and General Ling Xiao being sent off to a mission to explore news. Additionally, Adjutant He also believed that General Ling Xiao was quite fearless. Although Adjutant He believed Young Master Lan was very talented, if he was given a few more years, Young Master Lan would definitely be able to take on a mission like this by himself. However, it was still too early, after all Young Master Lan was still a new recruit who had only joined the division for less than a year. He had only been a regimentmander for a bit over 6 months...


    Even the most talented leader would not be able to fix that mecha n in such a short amount of time. Moreover, it was mecha n filled with damaged individuals. Nobody could aplish anything without the necessary tools. Even if it was Young Master Lan, he wouldn¡¯t be able to train a group of individuals who could take on and clearing mission in such a short amount of time.


    The result of the fight between the two of them, left them parting on bad terms. General Ling Xiao seemed to be warm and easy to talk to, but in reality, when he made a decision, he was firm with it. Even Lan Luofeng, who he loved with all of his heart, could not change his decisions.


    Lan Luofeng, who could not receive a satisfying answer, angrily kicked General Ling Xiao out of the 23rd division¡¯s headquarters. The two of them gave each the cold shoulder, General Ling Xiao had not returned to the General¡¯s mansion for more than a month. This made Adjutant He worried. It should be known that in the 23rd division, there were many young and beautiful female soldiers. If General Ling Xiao drowned his sorrow with alcohol and was taken advantage of by someone, wouldn¡¯t her senior colonel go insane?


    Thus, whenever she had the chance, Adjutant He wouldn¡¯t forget to remind her senior officer to give in and ask the general toe back home.


    Lan Luofeng knew her adjutant was doing this to be nice. She knew very well where Ling Xiao was at this moment. Even if she wanted to contact him, she wouldn¡¯t be able to at this moment.


    However, she wasn¡¯t thinking of that bastard. Her mind was filled with thoughts about her soft, cute and adorable Baby Lan. That idiot Ling Xiao actually made the decision to take her baby girl away on and clearing mission! After thinking up to this point, Lan Luofeng¡¯s anger was reignited. She felt that she hadn¡¯t hit Ling Xiao enough on that day! It wasn¡¯t enough to get rid of the resentment in her heart!


    What kind of mission was and clearing mission? As a soldier in the Federation, she of course knew of it. From the beginning days of the Federation, the mortality rate never dropped below 40% during these missions. It was a ratio of one person dying out of two people. This made her worry immensely, thus how could she not hate Ling Xiao? Back then, when Ling Xiao sent their daughter to the Men¡¯s Academy identally, she was already angry. She didn¡¯t think that letting Ling Xiao do as he pleased would make him go overboard. This time, he didn¡¯t even notify her and sent her daughter to and clearing mission. If her adjutant didn¡¯t tell her this, she probably would be still in the dark...


    Luckily that bastard still had some resemnce of being a father. In the end, he promised her that he would personally go to protect their daughter. Lan Luofeng then felt a bit better.


    Ling Xiao was after all a division¡¯s leader and couldn¡¯t leave the headquarters for too long at a time. In order to let Ling Xiao leave silently, the two of them conveniently used this fight as a reason to be away from each other. Ling Xiao pretended to be depressed and hid in the headquarters, not meeting with anyone. During this time, he only met with First Staff Officer He Xuyang (First Staff Officer was once again screwed over by General Ling Xiao. When necessary, he would pretend to be the general and approve documents for him... As expected he must have owed the Ling family¡¯s father and son in his past life. Thus in his current life he must be their ve to repay them).


    Lan Luofeng on the other hand, would handle everyone who came to the general¡¯s mansion to meet Ling Xiao. Normally, Lan Luofeng hated dealing with this type of public rtions... However, she endured it because of her baby daughter!


    Of course, Lan Luofeng, who was still depressed, made a decision that unless her Baby Lan returned home safely, she would definitely not forgive that bastard!


    Alright, at this moment, Lan Luofeng was definitely regretting her decision and was thinking of Ling Xiao just as Ling Xiao had predicted. Well, it can¡¯t be said that she wasn¡¯t thinking about him. After all, Lan Luofeng was thinking of beating Ling Xiao a few times to let out her frustration and anger.


    Thus, one must never provoke a female tiger protecting their cubs! There would be no going back.


    And thus the heroic father Ling was kicked out by the heroic mother Lan... People should light some candles for General Ling Xiao!


    Ling Xiao suddenly felt killing intent in the air while he was blissfully think about Lan Luofeng. Ling Xiao didn¡¯t hesitate and blocked with hisrge sword.


    ¡°nk!¡± The sh between the two cold weapons was muffled by the water. The huge shockwave shook the water around them and split the water apart as it quickly flowed back into position.


    Ling Xiao smirked, ¡°This is method you thought of?¡±


    ¡°Since it¡¯s afraid of you and doesn¡¯t dare to make a move, then I¡¯ll just let it have that chance,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently. In such a short time, she indeed couldn¡¯t think of any other way to lure the creature out. It wasn¡¯t the fact she couldn¡¯t get Ling Xiao to leave, but Ling Lan would not actually put herself in peril just to lure out the opponent. That would be a stupid move.


    After thinking back and forth, the only way was to make it think that the two of them were not in the same team. This would allow the creature to believe it had a chance to sneak an attack onto Ling Xiao. As long as it made a move, Ling Lan would be able to find it.


    ¡°It indeed is a way to resolve the issue. Then let your dad test out how much you¡¯ve improved!¡± Ling Xiao said somewhat excitedly.


    The creature here was considered dangerous to Ling Lan, but wasn¡¯t to Ling Xiao. In actuality, he had already somewhat sensed the location of the creature. It was just that Ling Lan had said that the prey was hers, so he couldn¡¯t make a move. Additionally, he didn¡¯t want his own daughter to miss out on a battle with an opponent who was stronger than her. With him by her side, he could protect his own daughter and make sure she wouldn¡¯t get injured. How could Ling Xiao destroy this opportunity of a lifetime for Ling Lan.

 Chapter 696 - Violence!

    <h4>Chapter 696: Violence!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Now that they both understand the current situation, this father and daughter couple began to fight for real in the depths of the trench.


    Ling Lan put all her effort into fighting with Ling Xiao, a god-ss operator. It was because Ling Lan knew that even if she tried her hardest, she would only be able to go a few rounds. If she still kept holding back, she was looking for beating.


    It was just as Ling Lan had thought. Right as Ling Xiao retaliated, she was immediately under pressure the entire time and was getting pushed back from each attack. She could only block and not have any chance to counterattack.


    ¡°RAWR?¡± The creature that was silently watching the prey that had entered his domain, was now very confused. It didn¡¯t understand why these two creatures that came together began to fight each other. Was it because they weren¡¯t together?


    It had a sudden realization and began to move about. The two creatures that came from above, one wasn¡¯t very dangerous, but the other one terrified it. It was also this fear that made it watch them from the sidelines. It was the reason why it chose to continue to hide silently and not attack recklessly.


    This creature that was hiding in a corner was the ruler of these waters. No other creature dared to enter its domain. Everyone that had entered his domain had already been devoured by this creature. Originally, after these two entered its domain, it was preparing to gobble them up. However, when it was about to make a move, it felt a terrifying aura around the prey. This aura was very familiar. The high ruler of this also had this type of aura. This creature had once seen other creatures that were stronger than it be ruthlessly torn apart by this high ruler...


    It believed in its instincts because from when it was born, it lived through many dangerous situations using its instincts and safely lived until now. This included the time when it revolted against the high ruler, but it sensed the feeling of death and decisively chose to submit. This also helped it live until now as well... Its otherpanions however did not believe in their instincts and were killed by the high ruler in the end.


    The creature was originally nning to give up hunting them instantly had a change of heart because of Ling Lan and Ling Xiao¡¯s actions. It was because this creature had not eaten meat for a very long time. Ever since the apocalypse, the temperature of these waters kept getting higher and higher. The organisms in theke started decreasing and in the end, only it was left... Even if it ate nts, it could still survive. However, eating meat once in a while was also good.


    The creature felt the saliva dripping from his mouth. It looked towards its prey. One it didn¡¯t dare to attack. If the two of them were on the same side, then it would of course not be greedy. However, now it seemed one of the prey could be caught...


    Moving away from the creature that was debating with itself in a dark corner, on the other side of the water, Ling Lan felt her entire bodypletely drained of energy after only blocking eight hits from Ling Xiao... However, Ling Xiao didn¡¯t hold back and followed up with another attack that was going straight for the helmet of the mecha.


    Bang! The tworge swords shed forcefully once again. Ling Lan¡¯s mecha was pushed back. Normally, Ling Lan would immediately reposition the mecha, but because of how tired she was, she actually couldn¡¯t reposition it in time.


    A chance! The creature hiding in the darkness saw this and became excited. It didn¡¯t even think for a second and four tentacles silently moved towards Ling Lan. This creature had a habit of ambushing in this way. The tentacles silently yet swiftly rose up from the darkness, looking to capture Ling Lan¡¯s mecha.


    ¡°Shu, shu¡± Therge sword Ling Xiao was using to attack Ling Lan suddenly nted and moved a little bit. Two tentacles had been severed by Ling Xiao. At that moment, Ling Lan had already noticed the attack of the other two tentacles. She didn¡¯t choose to dodge and also didn¡¯t use herrge sword to block. Instead, she let the tentacles wrap around her mecha.


    In its blind spot, a powerfulser rifle slipped into the mecha¡¯s left hand.


    The tentacles pulled Ling Lan rapidly down into the depth of the trench. Ling Lan¡¯s mecha was instantly dragged to a corner of the trench.


    The creature that attacked Ling Lan wasn¡¯t stupid. It¡¯s tentacles had wrapped around the two arms of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha. After watching the two of them fight, it knew that these two organisms used their two arms to attack. As long as it controlled their arms, there wouldn¡¯t be any danger.


    Of course, the creature wouldn¡¯t choose to attack Ling Xiao. It didn¡¯t want to die just yet. Just from watching the two of them fight, the creature knew that Ling Xiao was much stronger that it was... If it wasn¡¯t because of his hunger, it wouldn¡¯t jump into the fray and fight over the prey.


    Of course, the reason why the creature dared to make a move was because in its mind, whoever acquired the prey would be able to eat it. No one would fight to the death for food.


    The creature clearly thought Ling Lan and Ling Xiao had simr habits. This was also the reason it was doomed to be living a terrible life.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s had a glint in his eyes as he saw that his daughter being pulled away by the tentacles. Although he knew of his daughter¡¯s n, the creature was still taking away his daughter right under his nose... This was definitely something Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t endure.


    His mecha then disappeared from its original position. In the next second, his mecha appeared at the end of the direction Ling Lan was being pulled towards. The outer shell of the mecha changed into a standard ace mecha in the blink of an eye.


    The creature was still excited about catching its prey, it did not notice a mecha had appeared above its head. The barrel of arge beam gun was silently aimed at its head. If the creature harmed his daughter in any way, Ling Xiao would blow the creature into a million pieces in an instant.


    The creature, that didn¡¯t have a sense of crisis, had its eyes fixed on the prey it had snatched. It opened its drooling mouth and ruthlessly bit down on its prey...


    On Ling Lan¡¯s side, she saw that the ground suddenly had arge crack appearing. The crack suddenly rose up as if it was arge mouth and bit on the right leg of her mecha.


    Ling Lan activated her beam shield in an instant!


    ¡°Crunch!¡± It bit down on the mecha¡¯s leg with arge force. If Ling Lan didn¡¯t use a high capacity beam shield energy storage unit, the energy level of the beam shield would probably have been broken through from this bite. Even so, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha¡¯s beam shield energy levels dropped to nothing instantly. The entire mecha instantly became dark and would not be able to take on another bite like thest one.


    ¡°Ow, ow, ow!¡± The creature instantly spat out the leg of the mecha. It even saw that one of its teeth was spat out as well. It began to have tears form in its eyes from the pain and the thought of losing its tooth.


    ¡°Wah wah wah!¡± It was originally filled with hope that this prey would be full of delicious meat but all it got was a tough bone... Additionally, was it because it hadn¡¯t eaten meat for so long and only ate nts, causing his teeth to no longer be able to bite down on bone? ¡°Wah wah wah, my little tooth!¡±


    While the creature was still sad about his broken tooth, Ling Lan knew that she was in a dangerous situation. Theser rifle in her left hand suddenly shot out a slew of beams and hit the tentacles wrapped around her mecha¡¯s arms. The tentacles were instantly sliced apart by the beams.


    The prey didn¡¯t taste any good and wanted to escape. This was definitely a provocation!


    The creature became angry. Its tentacles were like trees after a first spring shower, violently rising up from the ground. It wanted to hold its prey in ce then think about how to eat it.


    Although its idea was perfect, Ling Lan didn¡¯t give it that chance. Theser rifle¡¯s consecutive attacks destroyed the tentacles one by one. It created an opening and Ling Lan moved her mecha out of the grasp of the tentacles. Therge sword in her right hand instantly shed towards the direction the tentacles had risen up from.


    Right here!


    If Ling Lan still didn¡¯t know the location of the main body after so long, the time she spent in the learning space all these years would have been considered a waste of time. She would definitely be taken back into the learning space by all the instructors and relearn everything.


    Therge sword ruthlessly hit the ground. A ck ink-like liquid spewed out from the ground. A painful roar echoed and a shapeless spiritual attack flew towards Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan activated the Heptashield and countered the soundwave attack.


    ¡°RAWR?¡± This was the first time this creature¡¯s spiritual attack was countered. The tentacles that were about to attack Ling Lan suddenly froze and floated in the water.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan moved her mecha and pulled on one of the tentacles. She saw half of therge circr body be pulled out of the mud at the bottom of the trench.


    ¡°Spiritual attack? Then I¡¯ll let you have a taste of what a real spiritual attack is like.¡± Ling Lan saw that the tentacle monster nning to attack again, thus she sent a spiritual charge straight towards the circr body.


    As the creature roared once again, countless tentacles around the circr body began to tremble intensely. The tentacles that were closer to the main body began wrapping around it as though to protect itself from the next attack.


    ¡°You think you can block the attack if you do that?¡± Ling Lan snorted coldly. Her left hand pulled on the tentacle in her hand. The circr body instantly flew up from the bottom of the trench and towards Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan decisively threw down therge sword. Herrge clenched fist ruthlessly punched the circr main body.


    ¡°This is for making me look bad in front of my dad! And this, and this too!¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t forget what it did to her and was full of resentment. Now that she saw the culprit, how could she hold in her anger?


    Ling Lan, who had been the pir holding together her group of friends, as luck would have it, showed her weak side to the person she wanted acknowledgment from the most. This made Ling Lan feel irritated. She actually wanted to use her actions to tell Ling Xiao that she was able to hold her own. Unfortunately, things didn¡¯t go the way she wanted. Her opening disy was not very good, especially since she would rarely have a chance to go on a mission together with her dad.


    Just like that, one punch, two punches, three punches... Each punch hit the flesh, pushing away the tentacles, revealing the circr main body. Ling Lan didn¡¯t stop and was still punching. Her punches made the creature constantly roared in pain. Not long after, wounds started to open up on the circr body, ck ink-like fluid flowed out from them. As Ling Lan¡¯s fists hit it one after the other, more liquid slowly flowed from the main body.


    Ling Xiao watched as the stubborn and unreasonable fists of Ling Lan continued pummeling the unknown creature. His face twitched a little bit. He decided to turn around and pretend he didn¡¯t see the gory scene. He definitely wouldn¡¯t admit that the violent mecha operator down there was his daughter...


    It should be known that him and Lan Luofeng were warm and friendly people and were definitely not violent. Their daughter also inherited their virtues and was a kind and cute youngdy... Thus, he was definitely hallucinating!

 Chapter 697 - Acting Cute?

    <h4>Chapter 697: Acting Cute?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°RAWR!¡± Ling Lan suddenly stopped whaling her fists and looked at the circr body that she had already punched countless of holes in. What she heard just now, was it what she thought?


    ¡°Rawr! Rawr!¡± Seeing Ling Lan stopping her fists, the circr body suddenly called out excitedly. That excitement seemed as though it was rejoicing that it managed to gain a new lease of life.


    ¡°Dad, did you hear what I did? Ling Lan turned around and asked her father, who was coldly watching from the side, with uncertainty. She could actually understand the creature¡¯s words. Could it be that she had already been possessed by this creature¡¯s father without her noticing?


    Ling Lan shuddered at the thought and immediately examined her body. After finding that everything was normal, she was no longer worried.


    ¡°Mhm, that¡¯s right.¡± Ling Xiao covered his mouth with his hand and coughed, holding in hisughter as he answered. He seemed to have also understood the meaning of the sound the creature had made. It was too funny.


    ¡°It actually dares to call me ¡®dad¡¯. This little sh*t, I will definitely kill it.¡± Ling Lan instantly exploded in anger. She wasn¡¯t even married yet and did not have any children. Most importantly, she was a woman. A woman. Why not call her ¡®mom¡¯ instead of ¡®dad¡¯?


    The creature referring to her as ¡®dad¡¯ touched Ling Lan¡¯s reverse scale. She clenched her fists and pummeled the creature once again. However, the force behind her punches had decreased a lot. Although Ling Lan was angry, she did not let it get to her head. She knew that in this unknown, if the creature of this could provide them some information, then the road ahead would undoubtedly be much easier. Thus, Ling Lan decided to temporarily keep it alive until it wasn¡¯t useful anymore, then kill it.


    Ling Xiao thought for a moment and said with uncertainty, ¡°It¡¯s possible that during our conversation, it heard you called me dad. It probably thinks ¡°dad¡¯ is a respectful term to address a strong individual.¡±


    Ling Lan thought about it and thought that seemed right. This creature had never seen humans before and would definitely not know the meaning behind the names they called each other. It only imitated the way she called Ling Xiao. It believed that ¡®dad¡¯ was a term for a strong individual because Ling Xiao was clearly stronger than her.


    After understanding what it meant, Ling Lan stopped and let go of the beaten up body of the creature... She nced at the creature, her face twitched a little. It seemed that she may have put too much force into her punches. The circr creature was lying lifelessly at the bottom of the trench with all of its tentacles sprawled on the side... Well, there were still two tentacles moving about, but these two were only unconsciously convulsing.


    Ling Lan covered her face with her hands. ¡°Wuwuwu...¡± Ever since her dad and her been together on this mission, her behavior was quite insane and barbaric. She didn¡¯t have any bit of her usual calmness or strategic thinking. Could it be because she knew that she had someone to rely on, thus she wasn¡¯t afraid of anything?


    Ling Lan looked at Ling Xiao with frustration. Next time, she wouldn¡¯te out together with her father. Otherwise, she would get used to the habit of relying on her father. If that were to happen, she can kiss being independent in the future goodbye.


    After making a decision, Ling Lan piloted her mecha andnded beside the circr creature. She kicked it, surprising the creature, causing all of its tentacles to move about. Then she coldly asked, ¡°Are you willing to submit?¡±


    ¡°Rawr?¡±


    ¡°Submit?¡± What is that? The creature was confused. This was the first time he spoke with a human and could not understand what the word meant.


    ¡°There is actually a way to talk to that thing. That is to use your spiritual power tomunicate with it. This creature¡¯s spiritual power seems to be pretty high, it should be able to endure the high pressure spiritualmunication method you normally use.¡±


    This method that Ling Xiao had suggested wasn¡¯t a friendly method with no risks. It was instead an extremely violent way of forcing what one wanted to express into the mindspace of another individual to make them understand.


    Of course, this method had some risk for the individual taking the brunt of the force. These individuals would easily be injured from the immense spiritual power of the aggressor. If these individuals had weaker spiritual power, they might even instantly be mindless zombies.


    Ling Lan heard Ling Xiao suggestion and felt that it was appropriate. Originally, this creature was her prey, so if she destroyed it, she wouldn¡¯t regret it. Thus she forcefully sent over what she wanted to convey using her spiritual power, warning the creature to not go against her, otherwise she would instantly kill it.


    The circr creature knew that its life was being held hostage by this scary and terrifying creature. Additionally, another even more terrifying creature was watching it from above. It wouldn¡¯t dare to go against her.


    Normally creatures withrge bodies were all strong physical attackers with weak spiritual power. This huge circr monster however was an oddball. Aside from its terrifying physical attack power, its spiritual power was also very strong. It easily withstood Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual pressure.


    This way, the two of them could now easilymunicate with each other.


    ¡°Yes dad, I choose to submit to you.¡± The circr creature still hadn¡¯t realized the term it used to address Ling Lan with had some issues.


    Ling Lan felt her fingers itch, but she endured it. She decided to let it go this time since it didn¡¯t know any better. However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to suddenly have a random otherworldly baby in her life. She also felt his circr creature was too ugly and did not meet the requirements of her need for pretty things. She coldly corrected it and said, ¡°Don¡¯t call me ¡®dad¡¯. Normally, servants who chose to submit all called me ¡®master¡¯.¡±


    The circr creature immediately changed the term it addressed Ling Lan and shouted, ¡°Master.¡±


    ¡°Are there any creatures stronger than you in these waters?¡± This was the first thing Ling Lan had to make sure. After all, this was going to be their 250 Mecha n¡¯s base camp, so she needed to make sure it was safe.


    ¡°There aren¡¯t any others. I am the strongest here. Master, I¡¯m very scared.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t know why, but she detected a hint of fawning and ass-kissing from the creature¡¯s voice. Could it be an instinct of the creature to get it out of dire situations? So this creature that had never seen humans before, yet it knew how to behave itself?


    ¡°Was it your subordinate who attacked my subordinates on the shore?¡± Ling Lan asked. ¡°How many more subordinates like that do you have? Can you control them?¡±


    ¡°They aren¡¯t my subordinates. They¡¯re my clones,¡± replied the creature proudly. ¡°There are countless clones of myself in these waters. Of course I can control them.¡±


    ¡°Will they attack objects that move closer to them?¡± Ling Lan asked another question.


    ¡°Of course they won¡¯t. Without my orders, these clones will only stay in the water and eat things. My main body is veryrge, requiring a lot of nutrients to sustain myself. Just relying on my main body, I would definitely starve to death. Thus, I made countless of clones to help me eat,¡± replied the circr creature earnestly.


    Ever since the apocalypse, only this creature survived in these waters. It was because it had felt a terrifying danger approaching and sent countless clones to protect its main body. In the end, millions of clones were sacrificed to give the main body a chance to live. Due to theck of food, it was unable to return to its original peak in power. This was why it was easily caught by the prey it had set its eyes on. If it was at its peak power, even a scarier creature might not be able to take it on.


    The circr creature was sad after thinking about all that. It was already filled with sadness due to itspanions disappearing, even itself had be the prey of another organism. It only hoped that this organism would be kind enough to let it go, after all it didn¡¯t taste good. Back then, stronger creatures had bitten down on his tentacles before, in the end puked it out and ran away. Yes, this was why it had survived in the beginning. The taste of its flesh was indeed not very good.


    The circr creature rejoiced in its mind and prayed the taste buds of its master wasn¡¯t too odd. Otherwise it wouldn¡¯t know whether or not it could live. If it could live, it would definitely not want to die. This desperate attempt to live was also one of the reasons why it had gotten away from dangerous situations one after the other. It was one of the only organisms that had managed to live through the apocalypse in the end.


    ¡°Then, are there any creatures stronger than you on this?¡± After knowing there were no more threats in these waters, Ling Lan was relieved. She began to be interested in the ecology of this.


    The circr creature replied earnestly, ¡°Of course there are ones stronger than me. I am only the high ruler of these waters. Other ces have creatures stronger than me. It¡¯s just that I¡¯m not sure whether they survived the apocalypse.¡± The circr creature¡¯s mood was a bit depressed. Ever since the apocalypse, it hadn¡¯t seen any of itspanions.


    Although the circr creature lived in the water, it was an amphibious organism. It could also live onnd, but every time it crawled onto shore, it would feel an intense sense of danger. It, being the careful creature that it was, would choose to retreat into the water. Althoughpanions were important, its life was more important. Thus it stayed submerged in the water, until today as it was captured by this organism standing in front of it.


    Thinking up to this point, the circr creature regretted its decision. If it wasn¡¯t greedy for the taste of flesh, it would still have its freedom and still be the high ruler of these waters.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan shook her head. As expected, this wasn¡¯t just a simple. She looked towards Ling Xiao and saw Ling Xiao shaking his head. Ling Lan knew what that meant. He came here after hiding his identity only to protect her. Thus, even if other ns met with stronger creatures, he would coldly watch from a distance and wouldn¡¯t make a move.


    Although this seemed cold-blooded, Ling Lan knew her father didn¡¯t have a choice. If enemies knew her father was here, enemies of the Federation would without a doubt not give up on this chance to murder Ling Xiao. Although Ling Xiao was strong and was probably the strongest god-ss operator, even the strongest god-ss operator would not be able to survive the onught of many god-ss operators attacking him at the same time...


    Ling Lan took a deep breath, her eyes glistening with coldness. She was a selfish person. The reason she tried so hard to be stronger was to make sure her family members could live a peaceful life. Thus, she didn¡¯t want to see her father helping others, voluntarily putting himself on a silver tter...


    ¡°Then, Dad, remember to watch over me. Don¡¯t let those stronger creatures hurt me. Otherwise, you should think about how you will n on telling Mom,¡± Ling Lan said inly.


    Ling Xiao had a nk look on his face...


    ¡°Did my daughter just act cute? Cute? Acting cute? Ling Xiao¡¯s joy flowed through his entire body...

 Chapter 698 - Spiritual Entity!

    <h4>Chapter 698: Spiritual Entity!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan began to think about ways to dispose of thisrge creature. Although this thing had submitted to her, it was still not human and would definitely have selfish thoughts. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to have a threat existing outside of their headquarters of this.


    Although this creature seemed to be afraid of death at the moment and was easily subdued, this thing might still show its violent nature if her father was not here. Only Ling Lan and Ling Xiao could control it. If others wanted to control it, they probably needed to pay with a lot of blood.


    After feeling the killing intent seeping out from Ling Lan, the circr creature¡¯s tentacles began to tremble. It roared to beg for mercy. Two tentacles were even holding onto Ling Lan¡¯s thigh as if its life depended on it. Afterwards, the entire circr body wrinkled into a ball shape. Two points on the body actually had transparent dropletsing out from them. It was like two flowing rivers, merging with theke water in the end.


    ¡°Dad, is it crying?¡± Ling Lan frowned. The behavior of the circr creature gave her a headache. This thing was behaving nothing like a violent creature. How can she be ruthless now?


    In reality, Ling Lan purposefully didn¡¯t move away from it hugging on her thigh. She wanted to dispose of this creaturepletely to make sure there were no threats around their headquarters. However, it had submitted to her after all. Although Ling Lan was ruthless, she never killed things for no reason. Thus, she softened her heart. She gave it a chance to attack her. If it does attack her, she would then have a reason to kill it.


    However, she didn¡¯t think this thing would actually cozy her up. This made Ling Lan unable to make a decision.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably crying.¡± Ling Xiao rubbed his chin and looked at this circr creature who behaved oddly. He began to search through his Divine Command sect to see if there were methods to control other spiritual entities. If there weren¡¯t any restrictions ced on the creature, he would not be able to have peace of mind when he returns.


    ¡°I think we should just kill it.¡± After looking through all the methods, the amazing General Ling Xiao still couldn¡¯t find a method to control the creature. In order to eradicate any possible threats in the future, General Ling Xiao decided to end this creature in cold-blood.


    Ling Lan looked at circr creature sympathetically. The creature seemed to understand its end. The two rivers of tears instantly became waterfalls...


    Oh my, crying like this actually made Ling Lan waver in her decision. After feeling that it had a slim chance to live, a ¡®bang¡¯ sounded and the circr creature¡¯s body suddenly split open. From the crack, a small white ball suddenly jumped out. Oh, it wasn¡¯t a ball because the bottom half of it seemed to have some hair. Then it forcefully bumped on Ling Lan¡¯s cockpit.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s expression changed. Right as he was about to cut the white ball with his sword, he saw Ling Lan giving him a signal. It was signalling him not to move.


    It turns out, Ling Lan didn¡¯t feel any killing intent from the white ball. She wanted to see what this white ball wanted to do.


    The small ball bumped on the cockpit, then vanished. Ling Lan had an expression of surprise on her face as she looked at the little white ball appearing in her cockpit. She didn¡¯t know what method it used, but it had actually entered her cockpit. Ling Lan squinted her eyes and a sh of killing intent passed through her eyes. This situation was too weird. Even if Ling Lan pitied the creature, she still needed to be ruthless at this moment.


    ¡°Master, that is a spiritual entity.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t understand how Little Blossom knew what the ball, that appeared in her cockpit, was.


    ¡°Meep, meep!¡± The little ball suddenly had two eyes appeared on it and looked at Ling Lan with tears in its eyes.


    ¡°Master, don¡¯t kill please.¡±


    Sh*t... It is so cute. Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that such arge main body would house such a cute and petite spiritual entity. Although Ling Lan always behaved like a man, she still had the heart of a young maiden. After seeing the little guy, her maiden heart fluttered furiously.


    ¡°Little Blossom, can you control its spiritual power?¡± Although Ling Lan liked it very much, she didn¡¯t forget the threat it posed. She suddenly remembered Little Blossom had the power to devour spiritual power. Little Blossom had once used his clones to watch over her subordinates. Thus she asked with uncertainty.


    After all, Little Blossom¡¯s power was only used against humans before. However, she didn¡¯t know whether it worked against spiritual entities.


    Little Blossom bit on his fingers and looked at the ball, as if deep in thought.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan sighed, ¡°If there¡¯s any danger, then don¡¯t even consider it. I will have to kill it then.¡± Right as Ling Lan was about to form a strong spiritual charge topletely destroy the spiritual entity of the circr creature, Little Blossom pulled out his fingers from his mouth and nodded with great force, ¡°I can do it.¡±


    Ling Lan immediately stopped her spiritual charge, ¡°No danger?¡± Ling Lan was worried that Little Blossom might be hurt while trying to control the spiritual entity.


    Little Blossom nodded proudly, ¡°Piece of cake!¡±


    Ling Lan flicked his forehead and said, ¡°Why did you look like you were making a difficult decision then?¡± Little Blossom made Ling Lan think that it wasn¡¯t possible or perhaps dangerous, or perhaps Little Blossom felt that Ling Lan would be hurt. That was why Little Blossom showed such an expression.


    Little Blossom rubbed his forehead with tears in his eyes. His expression was innocent and said, ¡°Little Four said to disy our importance, we should act a little bit and not follow when asked.


    ¡°So it¡¯s Little Four huh!¡± Ling Lan gritted her teeth. Little Blossom only awakened for a short while and had already been taught how to be naughty by Little Four... When he wakes up, she would definitely beat him to a pulp!


    However, she still had to wait for him to wake up in order to punish him! Ling Lan¡¯s mood was somewhat down. She now thought about Little Four, who always slipped up every once in a while.


    Little Blossom saw that his master was thinking about Little Four and knew that Ling Lan wasn¡¯t going to be paying any attention to him for some time. He had temporarily gotten away from a dangerous situation. In order to make sure the Boss would note back in the future to punish him, Little Blossom decided to make amends. He immediately broke off a piece of his hair then blew it towards the little white ball, who was making noise nonstop.


    Little Blossom¡¯s movements didn¡¯t escape Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. The short hair Little Blossom had broken off was actually his spiritual power. It flew out of her mindspace, towards the little ball. The little ball didn¡¯t feel the terrifying spiritual power approaching or perhaps it was because Little Blossom didn¡¯t have any killing intent.


    Finally, Little Blossom¡¯s spiritual power touched the little ball. The little ball then felt the terrifying spiritual power. It cried out and the hairs below it began to stand up. Ling Lan then discovered that those weren¡¯t hairs, but rather tentacles that could stretch at will...


    The little ball felt the spiritual power had the power to destroy it. Once it lets the power enter its spiritual body, it could be instantly destroyed. The little ball began to squirm around intensely, attempting to expel the power out of its spiritual body.


    ¡°Since you want to submit to me, then you must choose to live with it.¡± The little ball suddenly heard Ling Lan¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Meep, meep.¡± The little ball felt wronged and cried out. After thinking about it, it finally stopped struggling and let the terrifying spiritual power enter its spiritual body.


    Even if it tried its hardest to stop the power from entering its body, it still couldn¡¯t stop it. The little ball decided to take a gamble and hope that its master did not actually want to take its life. When it felt the terrifying spiritual power hadpletely entered its body, the bright little ball instantly darkened. Its mood was down and hid in the corner of the cockpit. It faced away from Ling Lan to show its wronged heart.


    It really wanted to submit to its master. Why would master do this to it?


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about this little thing¡¯s mood. She made it submit to her forcefully. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the spiritual entity was somewhat cute, she would have destroyed it. Thus, if anyone wants to live a longer life, looking pretty and cute are necessary.


    Ling Lan used her finger to poke the spiritual entity. The little ball then turned around and looked at Ling Lan with a saddened expression to show how hurt it was.


    ¡°Oh, now that I¡¯ve confirmed to take you as a subordinate, shouldn¡¯t you go back to your main body? Are you not afraid of dissipating?¡± She remembered that Little Four had once said spiritual entity could not leave their main body for too long at a time. Otherwise there would be the danger of the spiritual entity dissipating. The white part of the little ball was already bing translucent.


    Hearing this, all of the tentacles of the little ball stood up in fear. In the next second, it immediately pounced towards its main body. While being sad, it hadpletely forgotten that it was a spiritual entity. If it wasn¡¯t for its master¡¯s reminder, it would nearly die from its spiritual body dissipating.


    Once it returned to the main body, the main body returned to liveliness from before. It hugged and kissed Ling Lan¡¯s mecha while crying. It didn¡¯t forget to be grateful to its master for saving its life.


    ¡°Preparing to let it go?¡± Seeing this, Ling Xiao knew Ling Lan had already made a decision.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s not a bad fighter.¡± Ling Lan would of course not give up on this super terrifying fighter since she had control over its life-or-death.


    ¡°Alright, then make sure you watch over it well. Don¡¯t let it create any problems.¡± Ling Xiao didn¡¯t have anyints. No matter what Ling Lan decided, as a father following the teachings of the Twenty-four Filial Exemrs, he would agree without any conditions.


    ¡°Understood,¡± Ling Lan smirked. With a father like Ling Xiao who trusted his own daughter unconditionally, how could a daughter not love him? Ling Lan loved a father like Ling Xiao.


    Ling Lan began to patiently give orders to her new subordinate. She made it use its clones to be stationed at different locations of theke to monitor the entire area of theke. Once there were signs of danger, these clones would send a warning. After all that, the two of them piloted their mecha, returning to the entrance of the trench. The two of them then led the Qi Long, Zhao Jun and the others, who were waiting worriedly, out of theke. Seeing the six of them returning safely, Li Lanfeng and the others who were waiting on the shore of theke were relieved.


    Ling Lannded her mecha and ordered, ¡°Jijyun, notify Lin Zhong-qing. All mecha operators and logistics personnelnd will here. This ce will be the 250 Mecha n¡¯s first base camp on this!¡±


    ¡°Yes regimentmander!¡± Han Jijyun said excitedly. Since their Boss had given his orders, this meant that these waters were no longer dangerous. They were without a doubt very lucky to be able to quickly acquire a safe area to set up camp.

 Chapter 699 - XXQ1 Base!

    <h4>Chapter 699: XXQ1 Base!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Ah, there¡¯s some news from Boss.¡± Lin Zhong-qing, who had been waiting in the starship, jumped up in excitement when he saw the message on hismunicator. The people beside him also started pping at the good news. Finally, after waiting for a few hours, their Boss called them.


    ¡°I¡¯ll immediately apply for anding request.¡± Lin Zhong-qing rushed off immediately after saying that.


    The logisticians of 250 Mecha n were on board the starship. If they wanted to unload their supplies, the entire starship had tond. Anding request had to be made immediately because they were not the only mecha n on the starship.


    All the mecha ns were rushing for time. No one wanted the starship tond while they were still packing their supplies. Hence, everyone rushed to apply for thending request.


    Li Shiyu stretched his back to loosen up his stiff body. Then, he stood up and said to Luo Chao and Han Xuya, ¡°Inform our people to take care of medical supplies carefully. We can¡¯t afford to lose a single pill.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± Han Xuya and Luo Chao received the order and rushed out to inform the logisticians of the medical department.


    Li Shiyu gave this order because the logisticians were carrying special medicines and agents. He didn¡¯t ce them in the warehouse because the warehouse was used by everyone. If someone made a mistake or detain a portion of their medical supplies, he would cry. These medicines and agents were really important to 250 Mecha n. They could save lives. Hence, they must be safely protected.


    In the centralmand center, an officer who was staring at the optical supeputer screen shouted, ¡°A mecha n is requesting tond. They have sent in the coordinates.¡±


    The officers, who were about to fall asleep, jumped up in excitement.


    ¡°Haha, we are the first to get the request. Which impressive mecha n is that?¡± One of the officersughed. He was in charge ofmunicating with the other fleets so he knew that no other starships hadnded on the new yet.


    ¡°It¡¯s...¡± The officer¡¯s smile froze when he saw the three numbers.


    ¡°What happened?¡± The other officers asked anxiously when they heard no reply.


    The officer¡¯s smile disappeared. He said softly, ¡°250.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Some people didn¡¯t hear it properly.


    ¡°It¡¯s 250 Mecha n.¡± The officer shouted this time.


    The entiremand center turned silent. A few secondster, someone groaned, ¡°F**k, it¡¯s not someone from our fleet.¡±


    ¡°Our passenger is faster than our own mecha ns? This is impossible.¡±


    ¡°Even the ace mecha ns from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd division haven¡¯t found a base yet. How did this rubbish mecha n find one before them? What kind of luck was that?¡± Someone sighed.


    ¡°Did they just simply chose a spot, then requested us tond?¡±


    Unsurprisingly, many officers agreed with this thought. No one believed 250 Mecha n was able to find a safe ce to set up their base in such a short time. Some officers even suggested asking 250 Mecha n to inspect their location again to ensure its safety.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± A cold voice came from the door. Qi Aiming walked into the centralmand center with a stern face.


    ¡°Just because 250 Mecha n is not under us, you don¡¯t trust them and even want to set up obstacles for them?¡± Qi Aiming stared at the officers seriously. There were disappointment and anger in his eyes. They were not from their fleet but 250 Mecha n was still a part of the 23rd division.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,manding officer. The 250 Mecha n had always been deemed as useless so we suspected them.¡± One of the officers bucked up his courage and spoke the truth when he saw Qi Aiming being angry.


    ¡°Those were just rumors. Did you see the 250 Mecha n personally before? Even if you did, how do you know that things haven¡¯t changed over these past few years? Who said that 250 Mecha n would be useless forever?¡± Qi Aiming red at all of his officers. They lowered their heads in shame.


    Actually, Qi Aiming was curious whether 250 Mecha n really found a safe spot to set up their base. However, he knew that if General Ling Xiao gave 250 Mecha n this mission, it meant that the mecha n was ready to ept such missions. Qi Aiming firmly believed in the decisions made by General Ling Xiao as he was a crazy fan of Ling Xiao.


    He waved his hand and said, ¡°Have the starshipnd at the coordinates given by 250 Mecha n.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± The officer immediately epted the 250 Mecha n¡¯s request after receiving this order.


    ¡°If you are not convinced, you can push our mecha ns to work harder. We still have a chance.¡± Qi Aiming couldn¡¯t help but remind them. If 250 Mecha n could do it, their mecha ns could do it too. It would be an honor for them if they were faster than the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd division.


    Many officers got enlightened by theirmander-in-chief¡¯s words and quickly contacted the regimentmanders under them. After speaking to them, all the regimentmanders promised that they would work harder with their n members.


    F**k, 250 Mecha n, I hate you! All the regimentmanders screamed in their cockpit after hanging up the call.


    Ling Lan sneezed suddenly.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Ling Xiao got nervous. His daughter just sneezed. She could be sick! He wondered if there were any unknown viruses on the new. Is it harmful to the body? How can he help his daughter?


    Ling Lan rubbed her nose and examined her body carefully. She felt great. She calmed down and said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Maybe Mummy is missing me.¡±


    Ling Xiao heaved a sigh of relief. That¡¯s good! If something happened to his daughter, he would have a hard timeter at home.


    Soon, the news of 250 Mecha n finding a ce for their base was made known to the other divisions. Themanders-in-chief of the other fleets were furious. The first mecha n to set up their base would have their names written down in history. This was an honor. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd division had been fighting for this glory within themselves for so many years but this time, someone else took it from them. It was the 23rd division, a division that they never held in high regard.


    However, no matter how strong a team was, luck was an important factor too. Everyone thought that 250 Mecha n just got lucky. No one would have thought that they had to fight a formidable monster and had gone through many obstacles before finding their location. Of course, this thought was to act as their excuse for their ipetence.


    All the divisions were jealous of 250 Mecha n. They wished that they were the ones who found the location first. Anyone who went through and clearing mission knew, there was a huge difference between a division with a base and a division without one. Having a base would allow the division to officially enter the, enjoying all the benefits if they sessfully finished their mission.


    250 Mecha n managed to attain the highest status with just a single step!


    Soon, the starship arrived at the location where Ling Lan was at. Since they were not sure if the ground was able to support the weight of the starship, the starship didn¡¯tnd.


    However, the logisticians were still able to transport all the supplies down. This was all thanks to the transportation mechas Chang Xinyuan had created. The other logisticians stared at 250 Mecha n¡¯s logisticians with envy. When would they be able to operate a mecha?


    Even if it was just a transportation mecha, it was still a mecha... all the outstanding logisticians hoped to operate a mecha someday!


    After these logisticians return to the 23rd division, they told everyone the 250 Mecha n¡¯s logisticians had transportation mechas. Thus, in the future, whenever 250 Mecha n was recruiting for logisticians, logisticians that wanted to operate a mecha all signed up.


    The person-in-charge of the various mecha ns in the 23rd division hated 250 Mecha n. It was hard to raise a batch of qualified and excellent logisticians. Why did they have to give these rare resources away to 250 Mecha n, letting them benefit from their hard work? Shameless!


    Yet, there was nothing they could do to stop their logisticians from applying to 250 Mecha n. They could only grit their teeth and let them proceed.


    Back to the new. Lin Zhong-qing organized the logisticians and they started building their base. Chang Xinyuan¡¯s mecha research center officially started its operation. He first modified all the transportation mechas so they would be more efficient.


    Everyone knew that their safety depended on how strong their base was. This base would be the home of the mecha operators. The mecha operators could only rest at ease if this base was safe.


    The logisticians of 250 Mecha n were amazing. Normally, a temporary base would take one week toplete. However, they finished it in three days. Of course, with the help of Chang Xinyuan¡¯s modified transportation mechas allowed them to speed up the building process. The mecha operators that didn¡¯t have any missions would help the logisticians to carry supplies around. Hence, their base was built really quickly.


    When Lin Zhong-qing came to report that the base was finished, Ling Lan got a shock.¡±


    ¡°Really? Was there any false report onbor and uses of substandard materials?¡± Ling Lan believed in Lin Zhong-qing but she still had to make sure that it was safe because they would be living there for quite a while.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I supervised the entire construction with Chang Xinyuan. There is no mistake. Also, Chang Xinyuan inspected the base a few times. It passed his test.¡± Lin Zhong-qing smiled. He knew that his boss questioned him because the speed of construction exceeded his expectations, not because he didn¡¯t trust him. He felt happy that he was able to give his boss a surprise.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Let¡¯s go take a look then.¡± After staying in the mecha for three days, Ling Lan felt her body was turning into a mecha. Hence, she was ted to know the base was finished. Sob, she is so dirty. Luckily, she didn¡¯t have any obsession with cleanliness. If not, she wouldn¡¯t know how she would survive the past three days.


    All the team leaders were unhappy when their regimentmander left with Lin Zhong-qing. They knew nothing good would happen when this guy appeared. He must be here to curry favor with their Boss!


    The ten team leaders immediately operated their mechas to follow after Ling Lan. They would not let Lin Zhong-qing have a chance to gain any favors from their Boss.


    When they reached the base, they were stunned. The entire base was shimmering with white light and was quite huge. The white light was due to the protective shield around the base. Since the environment of the new was not suitable for humans, they needed to activate the protective shield and equip the base with oxygen conversion systems. That way, the bad air would be blocked outside and the air within the protective shield would be suitable for humans.


    ¡°I thought that it will be an enclosed space. It is more advanced than what I had imagined.¡± Ling Lan smiled. What a surprise this was.


    ¡°Seems like you extorted a lot of pieces of equipment from Xuyang. You even got this.¡± Ling Xiao looked at the familiar protective shield. He used the two ace mechas from Caesar to exchange for this technology. This new technology had undergone five rounds of experiments and was going to be released to the public soon. He didn¡¯t expect it tond in the hands of his daughter in the end.


    ¡°Of course. And clearing mission is not an easy mission to do. It¡¯s better to have more protection. Moreover, it¡¯s a waste to keep this thing in the headquarters¡¯ warehouse. Why not bring it out and let it do what it should do?¡± Ling Lan nced at her father. ¡°You can¡¯t me the chief of staff for this.¡± If her father reprimanded He Xuyang, she wouldn¡¯t be able to extort things from him again. Ling Lan liked asking things from He Xuyang. It was fun for her.


    ¡°Why will I me him? I didn¡¯t see anything.¡± Ling Xiao coughed and expressed his opinion.


    He should be having an argument with his wife in the main base of the 23rd division. How would he know what was happening so many light-years away? Even if he knew, he had to pretend that he didn¡¯t. Good things should be used by his daughter. Who else was supposed to use them? Those guys? He must give some credit to He Xuyang after he goes back so he could continue helping Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan was satisfied with her father¡¯s answer. As expected, in this world, having a good father was the most important thing. Ling Lan knew that she had such a smooth journey in the 23rd division because of her father. He gave her a good environment and good resources to disy her talents.


    There were no gates at the base. There were only two big and brightly lit holes. Logisticians wearing hazmat suits stood outside the holes and waved the gs in their hands.


    ¡°That is the entrance and exit.¡± Ling Lan understood the gnguage.


    ¡°Yes. These two holes are the exit and the entrance of the base. The interior was designed based on a starship¡¯sunching port. If there was an emergency, we could use theseunching ports. Of course, we can walk in too as the ground here is firm.¡±


    ¡°Your mechas will be stored in the warehouse closest to the entrance. This is to make sure if our base got attacked, our mecha operators can get ready for battle within the shortest possible time.¡± Lin Zhong-qing asked everyone to follow him in. He followed the orders given by the logisticians at the entrance and slowly flew down.


    50 meters into the passage, there was a door. Once they went through the door, it closes automatically and isted them from the air outside. They passed through five such doors before finally reaching thest gate.


    ¡°Boss, wee to the ZZQ-1 base of 250 Mecha n. I¡¯m your JMC to help you enter the base. Please listen to me.¡± A gentle and cute voice sounded in Ling Lan¡¯s cockpit. It was Luo Chao.


    The other mecha operators were not as lucky as Ling Lan. Besides Qi Long who managed to have Han Xuya as his JMC, everyone else had a man speaking to them. Among male JMCs, only Li Shiyu had a pleasant voice.


    Due to theck of manpower, the members of Lingtian who hadn¡¯t started working as well as some logisticians who performed well, like Chen Yi¡¯an, Zhou Yu, and Guo Rongqi, were all dragged by Lin Zhong-qing to be JMCs.


    The others were still okay with their new role but Li Shiyu was not. He was always an elite of the elites, someone who was treated like a prince all the time. Yet, when he came here, he had to do all kinds of tough work. Some even had nothing to do with his specialization. If his instructors knew what he was doing now, they would definitely hug him and cry. What a waste of talent...


    However, he had no choice. The only thing 250 Mecha ncked was manpower. Lin Zhong-qing had to worry about theck of manpower every day. When they were on the Rising Sun fleet, his mouth watered when he saw people in logistician uniform. He wished that he could knock them unconscious and abduct them into his team. From this, you could see how much Lin Zhong-qing suffered from theck of manpower.


    Thus, when he saw Li Shiyu, Luo Chao, and Han Xuya idling around, he turned frantic and immediately gave them the job of being a JMC.


    Li Shiyu didn¡¯t like to be on the losing end. Three people handling 200 mechas? They would die from the workload. Hence, he dragged Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s four deputies to share the workload with him. These four people were not as free as Li Shiyu. They were really busy. They had no choice but to ask Lin Zhong-qing for help. Lin Zhong-qing knew that if he wants to save his four deputies, he needed to give Li Shiyu more people. In the end, Lin Zhong-qing unwillingly passed a few of his men to Li Shiyu and this issue regarding the JMC was finally solved.


    Currently, Ling Lan and her team were the people Li Shiyu and his temporary JMC team had to service. They didn¡¯t leave a good first impression but they managed to urately bring them to theirnding spots without any mistakes.


    Ling Lan heard her mecha entering the mecha hold and jumped out of her cockpit.


    The other mecha operatorsnded almost at the same time. Zhao Jun stomped the ground furiously. ¡°I can finally feel the ground. I almost suffocated to death in the mecha.¡± This was why they needed a base. If they live in a small cockpit for a long time, they would start to develop a mental illness. It would affect their performance.


    ¡°This is not the safety zone of the base. Everyone, please follow me,¡± Lin Zhong-qing said.


    Everyone followed Lin Zhong-qing to a small door. A red light appeared from the top of the door. Lin Zhong-qing was scanned from top to bottom.


    ¡°Everything is normal. Please disy your identity chip.¡± A gentle female voice sounded. At the same time, a virtual character appeared. She had long hair and was looking at Lin Zhong-qing with a gentle expression.


    Lin Zhong-qing showed hismunicator to the virtual character. A beep was heard. The virtualdy smiled and bowed. ¡°Your identity is confirmed. Senior Captain Lin, you¡¯ve worked hard.¡±


    ¡°You too, XXQ1.¡± Lin Zhong-qing smiled. The virtualdy titled her body, opening the door behind her. Lin Zhong-qing nodded at the virtualdy and walked in. After that, the door closed.


    Qi Long scratched his head. ¡°Are we supposed to follow what he did?¡±


    ¡°Of course. If anyone could enter our base, we will be dead.¡± Han Jijyun rolled his eyes at Qi Long. He stepped out and stood in front of the virtualdy.


    ¡°Everything is normal. Please disy your identity chip.¡±


    Han Jijyun showed hismunicator to thedy. A beep was heard and the virtualdy smiled. She bowed. ¡°Senior Captain Han, you¡¯ve worked hard.¡±


    ¡°You too, XXQ1.¡± Han Jijyun copied what Lin Zhong-qing did.


    The virtualdy tilted her body and the door opened, showing Lin Zhong-qing who was smiling and waving at them behind the door. Seems like he was waiting for them inside. Everyone started entering the base. In the end, only Li Lanfeng, Ling Lan, and Ling Xiao were left.


    Li Lanfeng wanted to let Ling Yu enter first so he could have some alone time with Ling Lan. Ever since Ling Yu appeared, he had been staying beside Ling Lan. Li Lanfeng was unable to talk to Ling Lan alone, making Li Lanfeng frustrated. Thus, he was not willing to give up the chance now.


    ¡°Lanfeng, you can go in first.¡± Ling Lan knew that Li Lanfeng probably had something to say to her but she could only reject him now. She must not let her father¡¯s identity be exposed. Would XXQ1 say something like ¡®Ah, General Ling Xiao, you¡¯ve worked hard¡¯?


    Speaking of which, how did XXQ1 appear? She didn¡¯t remember asking this from the chief of staff.


    When Li Lanfeng heard Ling Lan asking him to enter first, his heart dropped. Not only did he have to fight with Ling Lan¡¯s childhoodpanions to be the Ling Lan¡¯s most important person, but he also had to battle with the Ling family¡¯s loyalist now.


    It had to be said that Li Lanfeng was a little abnormal. Because of various reasons, he previously had to give up on his friendship. Hence, when he managed to get it again, he wanted to get more from Ling Lan. He was never satisfied with what he currently had. You could say that Li Lanfeng had gotten the ¡®Ling Lan friendship¡¯ illness. If he wanted to get cured... it would be difficult. We could predict Li Lanfeng would do many stupid things because of this illness. However, life wouldn¡¯t beplete without doing a couple of stupid things in life, right?


    Li Lanfeng was sad but he didn¡¯t want to disappoint Ling Lan. Hence, he nodded and walked in first.


    ¡°Okay father, you can walk in now.¡± She wouldn¡¯t have to disappoint her friend if she didn¡¯t need to cover up for him. Ling Lan red at Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao looked at Ling Lan thoughtfully. He touched his chin. ¡°Is Li Lanfeng very important to you?¡±


    ¡°Of course. He is a good friend.¡± Ling Lan smiled. They sneaked into the Mecha Worldst time and trained together. Although they never spoke much, they cheered each other silently. That year, if it wasn¡¯t for Li Lanfeng, she would not be able to withstand the boring fundamental training.


    Ling Lan still remembered the things they went through together so to her, Li Lanfeng was a little more special than her otherrades, but just a little.


    ¡°I will not interfere with your choice of friends. However, Li Lanfeng makes me feel ufortable. I just hope that you keep an eye on him.¡± Ling Xiao was an open-minded parent. He didn¡¯t like Li Lanfeng but he trusted Ling Lan and let her decide how to live her own life.


    ¡°I know.¡± Ling Lan smiled secretly. Li Lanfeng has spectre abilities. He is the enemy of everyone who has spiritual power. Thus, it was normal for her father to feel ufortable around him.

 Chapter 700 - The Return of Little Four!

    <h4>Chapter 700: The Return of Little Four!</h4>


    <b>Trantor:</b> Henyee Trantions <b>Editor:</b> Henyee Trantions


    Ling Xiao walked to the virtual girl.


    ¡°Everything is normal. Please show your identification chip,¡± the virtual girl smiled as she spoke.


    Ling Xiao aimed hismunicator at the girl and heard a beep. The virtual girl covered her mouth in surprise, then said excitedly, ¡°Dad... daddy.¡±


    Huh? Why did she call him ¡®daddy¡¯? Ling Lan instantly felt dark clouds passing over her head. She felt that her father was going to be stolen from her.


    Ling Xiao also had a simr expression. Although he really wanted to see Ling Lan wear a skirt and call him ¡®daddy¡¯ in a cutesy way, he definitely wasn¡¯t desperate enough to want this virtual girl to call him ¡®daddy¡¯.


    The virtual girl seemed to have calmed down. She blushed, bowed and apologized, ¡°Sorry General Ling Xiao, please ept my apology. I was too excited just now.¡± She stood upright and continued, ¡°My creator is a loyal follower of you, General Ling Xiao. My creator had made me recognize General Ling Xiao as my father. Because of some of my creator¡¯s residual emotions within me, I have disrespected General Ling Xiao just now.¡±


    The virtual girl¡¯s exnation made Ling Xiao frown even more. To be able to create such a life-like intelligent entity would of course be an old researcher who had studied intelligent entities for decades. It¡¯s unsettling to let a hundred year-old man call him ¡®daddy¡¯. That would be a lot of pressure on him.


    Right as Ling Xiao wanted to indicate that he didn¡¯t have any thoughts of being anyone else¡¯s ¡®daddy¡¯ except Ling Lan¡¯s, Ling Lan had a spark in her mind. She suddenly thought of something and immediately pulled Ling Xiao back, ¡°Dad, I¡¯ll exin this to you in the future.¡±


    Ling Xiao stared nkly at her for a moment then suddenly understood something, ¡°Lan¡¯er, you know who¡¯s the creator of this intelligent entity don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°If my guess is right, then it¡¯s him.¡± Ling Lan looked at the virtual girl and her eyes flickered. Could it be that punk thought she was being too mean to him, so he created this thing to remind her about him?


    ¡°It¡¯s fine then if you know what¡¯s wrong.¡± Believing in his daughter would exin it to him in the future, Ling Xiao nodded and let this matter rest for now. Ling Xiao believed his daughter would be able to resolve this and would definitely not let him have a child that came out of nowhere.


    Ling Xiao didn¡¯t know that his daughter had already sold him outpletely. Without him knowing, his daughter already got him a son. In the near future, this situation would almost split the family apart. Of course this was all in the future and will not be exined here.


    Ling Xiao walked into the small door while the virtual girl still had an excited expression on her face, leaving Ling Lan by herself. Ling Lan didn¡¯t hesitate and walked up. The virtual girl didn¡¯t ask Ling Lan to show her identity chip like the others. Instead, she respectfully shouted, ¡°Master, I¡¯m happy to see you.¡±


    These words had basically confirmed Ling Lan¡¯s suspicions. Ling Lan coldly asked, ¡°Is your creator Little Four?¡±


    ¡°Yes master,¡± replied the virtual girl as she nodded.


    ¡°Did Little Four leave anything he wanted to say?¡± Ling Lan continued her questioning. She missed Little Four very much. When will Little Four be able to wake up?


    The virtual girl thought hard for a moment then replied, ¡°I¡¯m not sure if those words were what my creator wanted to say, but when he was creating me he always mumbled them...¡±


    Ling Lan felt something was off, but she calmed herself down and let the virtual girl to repeat what Little Four mumbled. She wanted to know what Little Four was thinking or what Little Four needed.


    The virtual girl¡¯s eyes suddenly turned ck. The voice that she was using was not the voice she was using just now, but rather Little Four¡¯s voice. These words were unconsciously spoken by Little Four while he was creating the intelligent entity.


    ¡°Boss, you should have a warm demeanor, don¡¯t be so cold...¡±


    ¡°Boss, you should speak gently, don¡¯t be so cold...¡±


    ¡°Boss, you should smile more, don¡¯t be so cold...¡±


    ¡°Boss, caring about your younger brothers goes a long way. You should definitely not resort to domestic violence...¡±


    ¡°Boss...¡±


    ¡°Little Four, you¡¯re dead!¡± Ling Lan finally understood that this girl in front of her was Little Four¡¯s image of her in his mind. Did that punk Little Four still dislike her current image?


    Ling Lan¡¯s fingers trembled. Hearing all this, the virtual girl¡¯s eyes twitched. She looked at her angry master, then thought about her naughty creator. She decisively sided her master, not with her creator.


    As an intelligent entity, it must control the situation. She clearly understood that if one wants to survive one must hug the thighs of the strongest person. It was clear that her master was the strongest person and could protect her. Knowing who was the strongest, XXQ1 decisively tossed her creator aside andpletely sold out her creator.


    Little Four, who was sleeping in the learning space, suddenly felt his body shiver. He was actually woken up by the cold.


    He rubbed his eyes and finally opened his two eyes that had been shut for a long time. As he opened his eyes, a chubby face appeared in front of him, covering his entire world.


    ¡°Little Blossom?¡± Little Four was surprised. He pushed Little Blossom¡¯s chubby bun-like face aside with disgust. Man, why wasn¡¯t it the Boss waiting by his side? It seemed however, that he had heard the Boss¡¯s voice, as if calling out to him.


    ¡°Elder Brother Little Four, you¡¯re finally awake.¡± Although Little Blossom almost fell over after being pushed by Little Four, he was still very happy to see his Elder Brother Little Four awake. Thus, he decided to forgive Elder Brother Little Four¡¯s barbaric behavior.


    ¡°Finally awake? Didn¡¯t I just sleep for a little while? You are making a fuss out of nothing.¡± Little Four rolled his eyes towards Little Blossom, dissatisfied about Little Blossom¡¯sck of tact.


    ¡°Elder Brother Little Four, you¡¯ve slept for a very long time. It would be nice if I can sleep for that long,¡± Little Blossom said with envy. Those bad people in the learning space forced him outside to be beside master because Little Four was in a deep sleep. Although being with master was very fun, Little Blossom still liked to sleep when he has nothing else to do...


    ¡°Very long?¡± Little Four was stunned. He suddenly counted his fingers and in the next second he shouted with his face in his hands, ¡°I actually slept for more than half a year?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, more than half a year.¡± Little Blossom nodded in agreement. Did Elder Brother Little Four just realize this just now?


    ¡°Wah wah wah, this isn¡¯t good. I¡¯m gonna fall out of favor with Boss!¡± Little Four pulled on Little Blossom¡¯s cor and shook him violently, ¡°Tell me, who was beside Boss while I was sleeping?¡± Little Four would definitely get rid of that person if he knew which bastard took his throne as the first underling.


    Little Blossom was shaken until his eyes were spinning and could not answer Little Four¡¯s question.


    Little Four noticed Little Blossom wasn¡¯t answering and looked at him. He saw Little Blossom being dizzy from his continuous shaking. He immediately stopped and patted Little Blossom¡¯s chubby face, hoping that he would return to normal.


    Right as Little Blossom stopped being dizzy, Little Four gritted his teeth and asked again, ¡°Little Blossom, tell me, who has been beside Boss while I was sleeping?¡±


    Little Blossom didn¡¯t recover from the dizzinesspletely. After hearing the question, he unconsciously pointed at himself and replied with a dumb look on his face, ¡°It was me!¡±


    ¡°You?¡± Little Four was stunned.


    ¡°Yes. Elder Brother Little Four wasn¡¯t here so I stayed beside master while you were sleeping...¡± Little Blossom told Little Four about this with a dumb look on his face.


    ¡°Argh, Little Blossom, I¡¯m going to kill you.¡± Little Four instantly exploded. He grabbed Little Blossom¡¯s cor once again and began violently shaking Little Blossom.


    It turns out, the person who took his spot was actually his subordinate. As expected, it was hard to prevent thieves from his own home. Little Four was inexplicable angry...


    After being shaken by Little Four again, Little Blossom finally realized the danger he was in. Although he loved to sleep, he didn¡¯t like fainting caused by an outside source. In order to save himself, his slow and dumb little brain finally clicked, ¡°Master... master is going to be taken away by someone else...¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Little Four instantly stopped shaking Little Blossom. His eyes looked at him sharply.


    Little Blossom saw that his world was no longer shaking and instantly breathed a sigh of relief. He pointed towards the outside world and said, ¡°That intelligent entity is stealing master away.¡±


    ¡°Pfft, since I, Little Four, has arrived, I would definitely not let other intelligent entities touch my Boss.¡± Little Four tossed Little Blossom aside and in the next second, bolted out of the learning space.


    Little Blossom finally breathed a sigh of relief after seeing he managed to deceive Elder Brother Little Four to make him leave. However, he knew that when Elder Brother Little Four realizes what he had done, he would definitely be beaten to a pulp by Elder Brother Little Four. He thought about it for a moment, then in the next second, he appeared at the center of the learning space.


    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Seeing an uninvited guest appearing in his dimension, Instructor Number Five couldn¡¯t help but raise an eyebrow. Although he was a little kid, he was still the first person to visit his dimension after Younger Sister Number Nine visited him.


    ¡°Let me hide here for a while.¡± Little Blossom bit on his fingers as he spoke. Although he was afraid of Instructor Number Five, Number Five was the only one he could go to for help. Of course, he could also have gone to Number One for help, but Little Blossom wasn¡¯t sure whether or not he would be instantly shaken until he faints if he had gone into Instructor Number One¡¯s dimension. Little Blossom hated that feeling. Comparing the two, Little Blossom chose toe to Instructor Number Five¡¯s dimension instead.


    Number Five nced at Little Blossom with interest. Wasn¡¯t this little kid afraid of him.


    Number Five¡¯s nce made Little Blossom¡¯s body shiver, but he still managed to calm himself down. Compared to Elder Brother Little Four¡¯s domestic violence, he felt that Instructor Number Five¡¯s threats were less scary. As expected, the Doomsday Flower had a different understanding of the word ¡®threats¡¯pared to normal people. He actually believed the perverse Number Five¡¯s threat levels were lower than Little Four¡¯s threat levels...


    ¡°Who are you hiding from?¡± Seeing Little Blossom not shying away from his gaze, Number Five suddenly became interested and asked him.


    ¡°Elder Brother Little Four,¡± Little Blossom replied honestly.


    ¡°Majesty Four? Why are you hiding from him?¡± Number Five smirked, his eyes filled with colors of the rainbow as if he was plotting something.


    ¡°Elder Brother Little Four wants to beat me. Beating is very scary.¡± Little Blossom was an honest child and told Number Five all the details of why he was hiding from Little Four.


    Number Five¡¯s smirk became a grin, ¡°You can definitely hide here, but Little Blossom, you should understand that in this world you can¡¯t enjoy something for free. If you want to hide here then you have to pay a price.¡±


    ¡°What price?¡± Little Blossom asked confusedly as he bit on his chubby fingers.


    ¡°Be my guinea pig for experiments.¡± Number Five finally spoke out what he wanted.


    ¡°Guinea pig for experiments?¡± Little Blossom didn¡¯t understand what those three words meant.


    ¡°Yes, I developed a new training method. Back then, Ling Lan had helped experiment with it. Now that Ling Lan¡¯s busy, she doesn¡¯t have time to help me. Little Blossom, are you willing to help me?¡± Number Five¡¯s expression seemed saddened as he looked at Little Blossom with a pitiful look on his face.


    Little Blossom didn¡¯t think much about Instructor Number Five¡¯s expression. Once he heard that his master was a guinea pig once, blood instantly rushed to his head, blocking out any rational thought. Does this mean that he would be helping his master? Now that his master didn¡¯t have time for it but Little Blossom has some time, then Little Blossom would substitute be a guinea pig.


    It had to be said that Little Four¡¯s brainwashing was very sessful. In Little Blossom¡¯s mind, Ling Lan was held at the highest regard. When he believed that being a guinea pig for experiments was something Ling Lan needed to do, Little Blossom would help his master do it no matter what the cost.


    ¡°If it can help master, then let me do this experiment. In the future, if Instructor Number Five requires a guinea pig, no need to look for my master. Juste find Little Blossom.¡± Little Blossom¡¯s eyes brightened as he looked at Number Five. His eyes were filled with wholeheartedness and joy knowing he will be helping his master.


    Number Five was defeated by Little Blossom¡¯s expression. He put his hand over his face and changed his expression instantly. He then spoke in a forceful manner, ¡°In that case, thene in here with me.¡± Afterwards, he kicked Little Blossom¡¯s chubby buttocks and kicked him into a random dimension. This was to make him try out the perverse training that wouldpletely make people go insane.


    Seeing his dimension returning to the previous silence, Number Five couldn¡¯t help but let out a soft sigh, ¡°I¡¯m not sure whether I did the right thing or not...¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s surprising, the usual cold-blooded and ruthless Number Five actually has times of hesitation. I would never have thought that could happen.¡± Number Four¡¯s flirtatious face appeared in front of Number Five. Number Fiveughed coldly and pointed his finger towards her.


    In the next second, Number Four moved far away and said softly, ¡°You don¡¯t even care for a woman¡¯s beauty. Wasting such a good shell.¡±


    Number Five huffed coldly and said, ¡°Number Four, I can¡¯t withstand your love. If I dared to care for the beauty of a woman like you, I would probably lose half of my life-span in the next second. Only Big Boss can withstand you. If you want someone who cares for your beauty, you should go find him.¡±


    He already has someone he liked, Number Four wasn¡¯t even on his radar.


    Hearing Number Five referring Number One, Number Four¡¯s expression worsen. She couldn¡¯t help but snort coldly, ¡°Hmph, you¡¯re ¡®Big Boss¡¯ is like an iceberg, meditating everyday. It¡¯s possible that he lost all of his seven emotions and six desires.¡±


    Number Five sneered, ¡°It seems you have tried to flirt with the Big Boss, but didn¡¯t get the oue you wanted.¡±


    ¡°Number Five!¡± Number Four¡¯s face became pale instantly.


    Number Fiveposed himself, stopped sneering and asked inly, ¡°You don¡¯te looking for me often. Tell me, what do you want?¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t Ling Lan study under me now?¡± Number Four said as she bit her lip. Her chances were bing slimmer and slimmer.


    As Ling Lan entered 250 Mecha n and had climbed the ranks, the triplets, Number Six, Seven and Eight, smiled more and more often. There was no doubt that from Ling Lan¡¯s current progress, the three of them would be able to teach their abilities soon. It was possible that after a very short while, the three of them would be teaching Ling Lan.


    Only Number Four found herself losing hope as time goes on. The higher the rank Ling Lan acquires in the division, the more she strays away from being a cute feminine girl. Number Four even felt that Ling Lan was slowly bing a man. Not a tomboy but a man. Ling Lan was bing a real man. How could Number Four be not worried?


    Originally, Number Four had gone to meet Big Boss Number One, but Number One didn¡¯t have the intention of letting Number Four teach Ling Lan. He only said two words to Number Four, ¡°Too early!¡±


    ¡°Still motherf***ing early?!¡± Number Four couldn¡¯t help but swear. These stupid men just know power, power and power. Did they not know using a woman¡¯s charm was also a powerful ability. Unfortunately, inside the learning space, she couldn¡¯tmunicate this into these old men¡¯s thick skulls. The only one she could have some sort ofmunication with was that perverted Number Five. This was the reason why Number Four woulde find Number Five.


    ¡°Does Number One not approve of you teaching Ling Lan?¡± Number Five was undoubtedly the smartest of the bunch, immediately understanding Number One¡¯s decision from Number Four¡¯s demeanor.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mention that iceberg to me!¡± Number Four suddenly exploded in anger. Immediately afterwards, she returned to her original flirtatious personality. She then smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯ve been temperamentaltely, sorry about that.¡±


    Number Five rolled his eyes. Was it because she wasn¡¯t getting any actiontely? It was indeed difficult for a demonic subus like Number Four to patiently stay in the learning space for hundreds of years by herself. Especially so when she doesn¡¯t have any chance to find other things to do in order to cope with her loneliness, so she was indeed quite pitiful. However, no matter how pitiful she was, Number Five didn¡¯t n on offending Number One. Since Number One had already made a decision, Number Five would of course not go against it, thus he could only apologize to Number Four for his actions.


    ¡°Number Four, you should know that we must all listen to Number One¡¯s orders. Since Number One didn¡¯t let you make any moves right now, then you can only wait.¡± Number Five affirmed his position on the matter.


    ¡°If I wait any longer, my chances will be close to nil.¡± Number Four could wait any longer. She shed the air with her finger and images of Ling Lan from back then appeared. ¡°Look, does Ling Lan look anything like a woman? Back then, you can still see some semnce of a female from her. Now, it¡¯s all gone. From the front, side, and back. No matter which direction you look at, the feeling she gives others is a man, a man and a man... Are you guys really going to twist a girl¡¯s mentality into a man¡¯s?


    Number Five scrutinized the images of Ling Lan. In the end, all of the images showed her having a sharp look in her eyes. With the killing intent emanating from her eyes, even Number Five felt a bit afraid of her.


    Ling Lan had indeed be very strong, just as they had wanted her to grow into. However, her cold face no longer had any hint of being a woman, made Number Five frown uncontrobly. He remembered Ling Lan¡¯s chubby and soft baby face. She was so cute beyond the bounds of her gender...


    When did Ling Lan wear such a dominant face? It was almost a second ¡®iceberg¡¯ like Number One. She looked the same as the deity Number One hoped Ling Lan would be, who doesn¡¯t have any indication of gender. The difference was worlds apart from the past.


    Unknowingly, his disciple strayed too far. A monstrous individual that could turn the world upside down was not born, but an iceberg that could freeze people to death was born instead? Number Five felt frustrated. How did his disciple be so simr to Number One but him, the one who taught her?


    Although he respected Big Boss Number One, he wasn¡¯t willing to share his disciple. Number Five¡¯s eyes showed a hint of determination.


    As if she could read Number Five¡¯s thoughts, Number Four¡¯s flirtatious eyes glistened. She continued, ¡°There¡¯s still a chance to fix this if you let Ling Lan study under me. I will definitely make Ling Lan reacquire her charm as a woman andpletely shatter that ¡®iceberg¡¯.


    Number Five closed his eyes. Although he wanted to bring his disciple back on the right path, he still didn¡¯t want to be Number Four¡¯s scapegoat for punishment. Number Four didn¡¯t want to cause a scene with Number One. Simrly, Number Five didn¡¯t want to do that as well. In reality, he was someone who liked to plot against others in shadows. He wasn¡¯t like Number Three, who was stupid enough to jump out in the open and fight Number One head on.


    Number Five smiled, ¡°Number Four, I¡¯ve said this before. Only the Big Boss has the right to make a decision for this matter.¡± He casually expressed his feelings regarding this matter and how it had nothing to do with him.


    Number Four frowned, ¡°Number Five, you actually don¡¯t care about Ling Lan¡¯s life?¡±


    Number Five found an empty space, crossed his legs and sat down. He closed his eyes and said calmly, ¡°Number Four, you and I both know very well when we will be allowed to appear in front of Ling Lan. It is all based on Ling Lan¡¯s choices. At first she wanted her body to be stronger, so Number Nine appeared in front of her first. She then has the heart of a warrior, so Number One came out next to teach her. She didn¡¯t want to continue to be weak so that gave me, the pervert that I am, a chance to appear in front of her, using different methods to train her. After that, she wanted to learn about mechas and then Number Three appeared. She wanted to practice spiritual powers thus Number Two also appeared...¡±


    ¡°Our appearances were all rted to what Ling Lan needed in her heart at different moments in her life. That¡¯s why we were awakened. Thus, if Ling Lan didn¡¯t have any thoughts ofpeting, Number Six, Seven and Eight would not have any chance to appear in front of her. You are the same. If Ling Lan¡¯s female heart does not awaken, then you would never be able to get near her. You know this information very well so why would you be frustrated from this?


    ¡°Is it because you feel that it is impossible for Ling Lan to awaken her female heart by herself? So you want to use outside forces to force her to awaken?¡± Number Five immediately opened his eyes and a bright light shed between them. It actually made Number Four shudder.


    ¡°It¡¯s possible Number One already knew what you were thinking. That¡¯s why he rejected your idea. Number Four, it is indeed too early.¡± Number Five closed his eyes once again. Using outside forces to force an awakening wasn¡¯t impossible, but it will have a few side effects. For Number Five, he definitely wouldn¡¯t want these unknown side effects on Ling Lan. Ling Lan was his most prized disciple.


    It should be said that even though Ling Lan was considered very important by Number One and Number Five, Number Four still thought of the importance they ced on Ling Lan lightly. This was the reason why she was rejected every time she proposed something about Ling Lan. Number One and Number Five indeed didn¡¯t want to anger Number Four, but they were paying more attention to Ling Lan¡¯s livelihood. They would not allow any actions that could bring about any danger to Ling Lan.


    ¡°Alright, you guys are all satisfied and don¡¯t care about me right?¡± Number Four smiled coldly. They were indeed protecting Ling Lan, but what about her? She didn¡¯t even have a chance to appear before Ling Lan. This made her feel wronged. Even if they didn¡¯t let her teach Ling Lan, it would still have been nice if they had let her meet Ling Lan a few times. They wouldn¡¯t even let her do that?


    The frustrated Number Four wasn¡¯t that unreasonable and wanted to teach Ling Lan right at this moment. In actuality, Number Four knew very well that if Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to, Ling Lan would not be able to learn very well, no matter how much she forced her to learn. She was only extremely lonely and just hoped she had a disciple to talk to. Was a demand like that difficult?


    ¡°It¡¯s not that we don¡¯t care about you. Didn¡¯t the Big Boss say to wait?¡± Number Five frowned and had a headache from Number Four¡¯s behavior.


    ¡°I waited from her past life to this life and then waited in this life until Ling Lan is 21 years old. How long do you guys want me to wait? Until Ling Lan bes an olddy?¡± After speaking about waiting, Number Fourpletely broke down. She had already waited for a long time for a disciple right?


    Number Five didn¡¯t know what to say and knew Number Four was quite depressed. In her past life, Ling Lan had a heart of youngdy but didn¡¯t have the physical capabilities to activate the learning space. Even though Number Four had the thought of teaching Ling Lan, she wouldn¡¯t have any way of getting close to her. In this life, Ling Lan¡¯s body was strong enough to activate the learning space, but as luck would have it, she went on the path of bing a dominant and strong individual. The heart of a youngdy from her past life was tossed to some corner by Ling Lan. The amount of time Number Four had waited for Ling Lan was indeed quite long. It was no wonder that Number Four was so frustrated.


    However, shouldn¡¯t she have gone to the Big Boss to resolve this issue? Why did Number Foure to find him instead? Number Five suddenly realized it and instantly sighed. The Big Boss probably couldn¡¯t handle Number Four, so he sent Number Four toe find him instead. Without a doubt, he had be the Big Boss¡¯s scapegoat... Number Five instantly had a few words appear in his head, ¡°Big Boss, you¡¯re too crafty.¡±


    Number One felt Number Five¡¯s resentment while in his dimension. He opened his eyes slowly and then calmly closed them again, ¡°Better you than me.¡± These words began to flow through the entire dimension...


    After realizing he had been sold out by the Big Boss, Number Five seemed to be calm, but on the inside, his head was spinning. He was thinking about how to get rid of this troublesome woman... Sh*t, the best way to get rid of women like her was to give her a man. Did he have to give up his own body?


    After thinking about the cold and sharp Number Nine, Number Five instantly calmed down. No matter how troublesome, he wouldn¡¯t sell out his body. He still wants to have a chance to hold Number Nine¡¯s little jade white hands. Number Five knew that he couldn¡¯t give up his own body so he could only find another man...


    As if they had heard Number Five¡¯s thoughts, the other male instructors in the learning space instantly closed off their dimensions. They definitely wouldn¡¯t let the two perverts, Number Four or Number Five, invade their world...


    ¡°A bunch of cowards.¡± Number Five said in his mind. Suddenly he saw that within the perverse training method he had developed, there was a small chubby boy looking around with interest. He instantly had an idea.


    Number Five opened his eyes and smiled, ¡°Number Four, you haven¡¯t taught anyone your abilities in a long time right?¡±


    After hearing Number Five asking about her profession, Number Four¡¯s mood calmed down a bit. She sighed and said, ¡°Yeah. Let me count. Sh*t, it¡¯s almost been hundreds of years.¡±


    ¡°Then you should get familiar with your teaching materials in case when Ling Lan wants it, if not you wouldn¡¯t be able to teach her well¡±, Number Five reminded.


    ¡°Are you doubting my abilities?¡± Number Four squinted her eyes and a hint of killing intent appeared in her eyes. She was sharpening her weapons, getting ready to teach a lesson to this despicable Number Five. She hated people who did not trust her skills.


    ¡°Of course not. I¡¯m only saying that before Ling Lan discovers her female charm, you should find a student and to be more familiar with your teaching materials. This way you would know how to teach a student, so you won¡¯t be like us, messing up a lot in the beginning. Thus made Ling Lan suspect our capabilities. In the end, we used a herculean amount of effort before managing to have Ling Lan reinforce our overpowering image in her mind.¡± In order to get Number Four to listen his arrangements, Number Five began to make things up.


    ¡°Really?¡± Number Four said with a hint of suspicion in her voice. She never heard others speak about something like this. All of the instructors who came into contact with Ling Lan all praised how their disciple was good and whatnot. It was also because of these people showing off that made her be jealous and frustrated. She wanted to quicklye in contact with this excellent disciple all the instructors raving about.


    ¡°Of course, no one would want to tell others about these humiliating things right?¡± Number Five smiled and said.


    Although Number Four didn¡¯t fully believe Number Five¡¯s words, she still wanted to avoid something like that happening if by any chance his words were true. She was already behind the other instructors in terms of time. If her teaching was also worse, wouldn¡¯t her position in Ling Lan¡¯s heart be gone?


    Number Four decided that no matter if it was real or fake, she should still pay attention to it. However, after thinking about finding a student, she became depressed. If she could teach other students then why would she be frustrated from not being able to teach Ling Lan?


    ¡°What you¡¯re saying is nice, but I need to find a student first right? Where am I going to find one? In this space, isn¡¯t there only just Ling Lan?¡± Number Four was depressed. Was Number Five ying games with her? His suggestions were impossible for her to do.


    Number Five smirked and pointed towards a certain corner.


    Number Four looked over with a bit of suspicion in her heart. Her eyes glimmered as though she had seen something, ¡°A chubby little boy.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s a very good person to teach. Congrattions.¡± Number Five didn¡¯t hesitate to sell out Little Blossom.


    Number Four was angry and flipped, ¡°Number Five you bastard. That¡¯s a child and he¡¯s also a man.¡±


    She taught mature female charms. Please be advised, it was ¡®mature female charms¡¯. The main reason was of course the mature level. How could this little kid with five hairs on his head with his bare butt still showing have any connection with being mature? This wasn¡¯t even the most important part. Didn¡¯t he hear the second part? Female charms. He should at least give a girl. What was she going to do with a little boy? This isn¡¯t how someone should swindle someone...


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with a boy? If you really could develop this little boy into a monster, then when Ling Lan needs you, wouldn¡¯t it be much easier for you teach her? What else could be difficult for you if you could teach a boy?¡± Number Five smiled and said. ¡°Also, you¡¯re bored anyways. You can take that little chubby kid and y with him. If you break him, no one would me you.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Number Four raised her brow flirtatiously and a sh of light glimmered past. Even Number Five, who¡¯s heart belonged to someone else, had his heart skipped a beat uncontrobly. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that his smiling face had already be a habit, Number Four might have detected his lies.


    Number Four was as expected the most charming out of the nine of them. She was the real killer in the shadows. This was also why it was difficult for Number One to face Number Four. Number Five thought about this in his mind, but his spoke with determination, ¡°Of course.¡±


    Number Four smirked. With a new toy in hand, she instantly felt better about not meeting Ling Lan, calming her down. She took back 70%-80% of charms. Her eyes began to move and nced at Number Five with a flirtatious look, ¡°I didn¡¯t think that Little Five cared about me this much. Then your elder sister will take advantage of Little Five¡¯s graciousness.¡±


    Number Five felt his body shake. It wasn¡¯t for the fact that he had somewhat of a clear mind, it was possible that his soul may have been taken by Number Four. He closed his eyes and began to mumble something under his breath.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think that Little Five liked to recite those Buddhist scriptures from Ling Lan¡¯s previous live. Does it really have any effect?¡± Number Four suddenly appeared behind Number Five. She hugged him and blew into his ear as she smiled flirtatiously.


    Number Five¡¯s body shook off Number Four.


    ¡°Little Five, you really don¡¯t know how to take care of a woman.¡± Number Four wasn¡¯t angry but instead smiled flirtatiously.


    Number Five finally opened his eyes and returned to his clear-mindedness, ¡°Elder Sister Four, you don¡¯t need to y with me anymore. Little Five can¡¯t take it. If Elder Sister Four doesn¡¯t like that little chubby boy, then just disregard what I said earlier.¡± Number Five returned to his previous smiling face.


    Number Four frowned. She hardly managed to get a toy. If Number Five actually doesn¡¯t give it to her, then it would be real troublesome. Thus she replied, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll let you go this time. Next time, if you dare to plot against me, don¡¯t think you¡¯ll get off that easily.¡±


    Number Five¡¯s expression didn¡¯t show the embarrassment in his heart. He was still calm as the wind as put his hands out in respect, ¡°Thanks for your understanding Elder Sister Four.¡±


    Right as Number Four was about to leave, she suddenly turned around before Number Five could react and pounced on him, ¡°Little Five, I really like you. Next time your elder sister wille y with you alright?¡±


    Number Four caressed Number Five¡¯s face. In the next second, she disappeared into the chubby kid¡¯s training area to go find her little boy.


    Let us say a few prayers for Little Blossom¡¯s depressing future.


    ¡°Number Five, you¡¯re despicable and shameless!¡± A cold snort came from behind Number five. The smile that Number Five had on his face instantly crumbled. He immediately turned and shouted, ¡°Number Nine, it¡¯s not what you think...¡±


    ¡°Crash!¡± A sh of light struck down. Number Five quickly dodged, the sh of light skimmed his face. The lightning crashed into the ground and instantly created arge hole in the ground.


    Seeing Number Nine¡¯s terrifying attack, Number Five had cold sweat dripping down his forehead. He almost became a eunuch. Even if they were only spiritual entities, that ¡®thing¡¯ was still very important...


    ¡°Number Nine, I did not do anything with Number Four.¡± Number Five saw Number Nine looking at him coldly and finally knew why Number Four had done what she did before she left. It was clearly to get back at him for plotting against her. That annoying woman. Next time when he sees her, he would definitely not let her live it down.


    Number Four¡¯s behavior was already testing Number Five¡¯s limits. Number Five actually became angry. However, he shouldn¡¯t be in a hurry to take revenge on Number Four. The most important thing was how could he get on Number Nine¡¯s good side again. Sh*t... He will definitely kill Number Four. The situation he created after all those years of hard work waspletely destroyed by her.


    ¡°Don¡¯t exin anything to me. I just want to ask you. Why did you sell out Little Blossom?¡± Number Nine asked calmly. What did Number Five and Number Four¡¯s rtionship have anything to do with her? But Little Blossom belonged to Ling Lan. Why did Number Five give him to Number Four to train? If Little Blossom got hurt, wouldn¡¯t Ling Lan be sad?


    In Number Nine¡¯s mind, no one else was more important than Ling Lan. Whoever made Ling Lan sad, she would definitely not let them off easy. Even if Number Four and Five were stronger than her, she would still fight with them with all her might.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think Little Blossom is too naive? That¡¯s not how the Doomsday Flower should behave.¡± Number Five realized that Number Nine¡¯s attention wasn¡¯t on his rtionship with Number Four. He breathed a sigh of relief, but still felt disappointed. It seems that his image in Number Nine¡¯s mind was still terrible.


    Number Five was only disappointed for an instant but he regained his fighting spirit in the next second. The road ahead was still long. He still needs to work hard to get Number Nine¡¯s heart. Number Five pumped himself up.


    Number Five¡¯s words made Number Nine think deeply for a moment, ¡°So you want Number Four to teach him? But what can she teach him? You might as well teach him yourself if you let her teach.¡± Number Nine did not agree with Number Five¡¯s decision.


    Number Five smiled bitterly. Originally, he was going to teach him. Who knew that Number One would pass him the troublesome Number Four for him to resolve the issue. With a look of dismay on his face, he looked at Number Nine, who didn¡¯t know what actually happened. Could it be that all of this was caused by their Big Boss, Number One?


    Number Five swallowed this idea into his stomach. Even if he exined, Number Nine would still probably believe that he should take responsibility. Number Five clearly knew that Number Nine admired her Big Brother Number One.


    ¡°You actually think that Number Four only has the ability of using female charm? If that was the case, then she wouldn¡¯t be ordered in front of me and be Number Four,¡± Number Five said softly.


    In reality, the numbers the nine of them were assigned were not random. It was actually based on their power. Number One was was already their Big Boss so being first was justified. Number Two was low-key but Number Five knew of Number Two¡¯s abstract and terrifying methods. If he fought against Number Two, he Number Five would probably be the one who dies. As for Number Three, his physical skills were not that strongpared to them, but in the Mandora star system, biomechas were considered to be overpowered. Once Number three pilots a biomecha, even Number One would not be able to defeat Number Three. Thus, he was the third strongest. The others didn¡¯t have any disagreements about it.


    Back then, Number Five actually hoped he would be ranked fourth. It was just that back then when he fought with Number Four, he read one of her moves wrongly, resulting in him being fifth instead... It was also the reason why Number Five knew how terrifying Number Four could be from their battle. This reason was also why he decided to let Number Four teach Little Blossom. Although Number Five was also using Little Blossom to get out of the situation, he wouldn¡¯t actually harm Little Blossom. Number Four was still a powerful and methodical individual.


    After hearing Number Five¡¯s words, Number Nine instantly went into deep thought. She was thest one to enter the learning space, so she automatically became thest member. However, she had once heard Number One said that the rankings of the people in front of her were quite intense, manyrge battles had taken ce. Now that she thought about it, Number One probably meant the battle between Number Four and Five.


    ¡°Alright, if you think it¡¯s fine then I won¡¯t say anything else. However, if something were to happen to Little Blossom or if Ling Lan bes sad, you and Number Four will feel my wrath,¡± Number Nine left these to Number Five, then left his dimension.


    Seeing his dimension being treated like a door where anyone could just pass through, Number Five felt frustrated. However, he didn¡¯t want to close off these openings either... What if Number Nine wanted toe here again and couldn¡¯t get in, wouldn¡¯t she be saddened by that? Number Fiveforted himself this way.


    It turns out, in order to get even the slightest chance of meeting Number Nine, even though Number Five knew he had holes everywhere in his dimension, he pretended to not know they existed. This gave Little Blossom a chance to enter his dimension to hide and in turn also let Number Four easily tear open his dimension¡¯s barrier and enter his dimension.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what had happened in the learning space. She only knew that she would be ruthlessly teaching Little Four a lesson to let him know the result of looking down on her was going to be morbid.


    After calming down, Ling Lan continued to ask questions to XXQ1, ¡°Then what do you remember when you werepletely finished?¡± That punk Little Four actually created an intelligent entity without her knowing about it. Furthermore, it somehow got into Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s hands, bing the mainframe of the XXQ1 base camp in the end.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. When I woke up, I was already in the warehouse of the 250 Mecha n. It was Senior Captain Lin who found me.¡± XXQ1 sobbed as she spoke. She felt sad after thinking back to how she was found through all thendfill in the warehouse. It was as though she wasn¡¯t good enough and was tossed aside.


    ¡°Warehouse? I see.¡± Although Ling Lan felt it was odd that XXQ1 had appeared in the warehouse, it could exin how Lin Zhong-qing managed to get his hands on it. After thinking about it, Ling Lan knew that Little Four wouldn¡¯t talk with anyone other than her. Therefore, Lin Zhong-qing wouldn¡¯t be able to acquire XXQ1 from Little Four.


    ¡°Master, please give me a name, I don¡¯t want to be called XXQ1.¡± XXQ1 finally mentioned something she had always wanted. Couldn¡¯t she have been given a nicer sounding name? She was a girl after all.


    ¡°Is your name not XXQ1?¡± Ling Lan was stunned.


    ¡°Of course not. That name was given to me by those men who stood beside Senior Captain Lin. They didn¡¯t even ask me for my opinion on the matter and gave me a name only a man would use,¡± said the intelligent entity spitefully. It seemed that in the beginning, she didn¡¯t know what was happening and didn¡¯t want to offend anyone. Thus she epted the name that she didn¡¯t like. Now that she had met her real master, she would of course request a name change.


    ¡°Does the person who discovers your first not name you?¡± Ling Lan suddenly said yfully.


    ¡°Of course not. My creator had already set my master as you, Ling Lan, from the very beginning. Even if I was activated by others, I would only temporarily obey them. However, if you, my master,es, then I would belong to you.¡± The intelligent entity finally told Ling Lan about her settings before being born into this world.


    ¡°So I am your master from the very beginning.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes began to water with a hint of sadness. ¡°Little Four, no matter what you do, you always think about me. Even if you nurtured a new intelligent entity, you didn¡¯t even forget to set her master as me, Ling Lan. However, all of this isn¡¯t what I want. The thing that I want most is for you, Little Four, to be with me. Be with me when the sky¡¯s gray. Look at this world and its flourishing infrastructure... Little Four, when will you wake up and call me ¡®Boss¡¯ in a clear and sharp voice everyday?¡±


    ¡°Boss!¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart trembled. Did she miss Little Four that much that she was hearing things?


    ¡°Boss, you have someone new to y with now? So you don¡¯t want me anymore?¡± Little Four appeared in front of Ling Lan all teared up. His eyes were filled with sadness.


    Little Four? Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but rub her eyes. She saw Little Four standing in front of her. She then looked at the virtual girl who had an expression full of shock.


    As expected, she missed Little Four too much so she heard wrongly and saw an illusion. Ling Lan lifted her head and looked up... Little Four actually appeared with XXQ1 in the real world. It seemed her brain had be jumbled.

 Chapter 701 - Meng Lan!

    <h4>Chapter 701: Meng Lan!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°You actually dare topete with me.¡± Little Four pointed at XXQ1 angrily. He wanted to destroy this woman. Why did he even create intelligent entities, undermining his own position as the number one underling? Was he stupid?


    The voice sounds so real. Ling Lan convinced herself that she must be under an illusion but she still looked down. She saw Little Four looking up at her. He had tears on his face and he seemed afraid.


    ¡°Little Four?¡± He seems so real. Ling Lan reached out and tried to touch Little Four¡¯s face.


    Her hand passed through his face. As expected, it was an illusion, this Little Four in front of her is not real. Ling Lan felt downhearted.


    ¡°Boss, this is just my virtual body. After I gain a real body, then you can touch me.¡± Little Four shouted happily. Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were filled with care and longing. Indeed, he is still his Boss¡¯s favorite. Even if she has a new intelligent entity, his position as the number one underling would not be taken away.


    Little Four¡¯s voice woke Ling Lan up from her daze. She narrowed her eyes and stared at Little Four intently. In the end, she confirmed that this bastard Little Four was finally awake.


    ¡°Little Four, you are so dead.¡± Ling Lan unleashed her spiritual power, pinning down Little Four.


    ¡°Boss, domestic violence is frowned upon, don¡¯t do it!¡± Little Four saw Ling Lan¡¯s fierce expression and immediately knew what she was going to do. He quickly disappeared, hiding in Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape.


    ¡°Little Four, how dare you try to run? If I catch you, you are really dead.¡±


    Ling Lan chased Little Four around in her mindscape for an hour before managing to grab his throat. ¡°F**k, how can you sleep for half a year without telling me anything? Do you think that I have a good temper? If I don¡¯t teach you a lesson now, I¡¯m not your boss.¡± Do you know how worried I was for these past six months?


    ¡°Boss, if you continue shaking me, I¡¯m gonna go back to sleep again.¡± Little Four understood Ling Lan¡¯s worries, but he also felt his chip was getting warmer. He was afraid his boss might identally kill him so he quickly shouted.


    When she heard that Little Four might fall asleep again, Ling Lan started to calm down. She released her grip and said angrily, ¡°I¡¯ll let you go for now. When I have the chance, I¡¯ll teach you a lesson.¡±


    Little Four coughed fervently. He hoped that his chip would cool down but no matter how he tried to control it, it wouldn¡¯t. Little Four feared and desired the heat at the same time.


    ¡°So, why did you sleep for such a long time?¡± Ling Lan finally asked Little Four about his condition.


    Little Four was puzzled too. ¡°I don¡¯t know. That day, I saw you sleeping soundly. After a while, I fell asleep too. When I woke up, half a year has already passed.¡±


    He just wanted to sleep with his Boss. Why did he sleep for half a year? He didn¡¯t apany his Boss for so long. When he thought about how his Boss might have suffered because of the fat and stupid Little Blossom, he felt terrible.


    ¡°I heard from Little Blossom that you were evolving. What part of you evolved?¡± Ling Lan examined Little Four carefully. Little Four was still a little child. He didn¡¯t grow taller. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t see what was different about him.


    The moment he thought of Little Blossom, his Boss mentioned Little Blossom. Little Four hated Little Blossom now. However, he still maintained his innocent smile on his face. He couldn¡¯t let his boss know that he was jealous.


    Boss said that he was evolving? Why didn¡¯t he know about it? Little Four managed to catch the main point in his Boss¡¯s words. He was confused. But, if his Boss said that he had evolved, it must be the truth, Little Four trusted Ling Lan. Hence, he started inspecting his body carefully.


    He smiled excitedly. ¡°So that¡¯s what happened. Boss, I really evolved and got a new ability. I¡¯m able to appear with a virtual body in the real world within 10 meters from you. However, I can only maintain the virtual body for half an hour.¡±


    So this was why he slept for half a year. It was not a satisfying result but he could live with it.


    Ling Lan now understood why she could see Little Four¡¯s virtual body in the real world just now. So this was Little Four¡¯s new ability. He didn¡¯t need any medium and could appear as a virtual image as long as he was near her. This ability meant nothing to Ling Lan but for Little Four, this was a chance for him to consolidate himself as Ling Lan¡¯s number one underling in front of herrades.


    ¡°That is a good ability. However, you will have to appear as my personal optical supeputer. I¡¯m sorry about that.¡± Ling Lan rubbed Little Four¡¯s head as she felt apologetic towards him. She was still unable to provide him a better identity. She was still too weak. She couldn¡¯t let him reveal his true identity.


    She could give him this fake identity because Little Four created XXQ1. Little Four used his own hard work to allow himself to have the chance to reveal himself. She owed him so much.


    ¡°Boss, are you saying that I can interact with yourrades?¡± Little Four was ted.


    ¡°Yes. You created XXQ1 for this purpose, right?¡± She knew Little Four¡¯s thoughts without the need for him to say anything.


    As expected of his Boss. She knew exactly what he was thinking but she still let him carry on with his ns. Little Four jumped into Ling Lan¡¯s arms and hugged her tightly. ¡°Boss, you treat me so well. I feel so happy. I really love you. Really.¡±


    Ling Lan touched Little Four¡¯s forehead and spoke in a soft voice which only she could hear. ¡°You treat me well too, alright. You think of me first before you think about yourself. I¡¯m not a cold-blooded animal. I¡¯m not ungrateful.¡±


    Little Four could only faintly hear what his boss said. He looked up in confusion. ¡°Boss, what are you saying?¡±


    Ling Lan flicked his forehead. ¡°I said, how long are you going to stay in my arms?¡±


    Little Four¡¯s face turned red when Ling Lan exposed him. He hadn¡¯t seen his boss for half a year. Wasn¡¯t it normal for him to want to stay with her longer? She shouldn¡¯t me him.


    However, Little Four had his pride so he thought about a diversion and jumped down. ¡°Boss, did Little Blossom create any trouble for you during these 6 months?¡±


    At crucial times like this, Little Blossom is the best diversion. Little Four betrayed Little Blossom without any hesitation. Little Blossom was with Number Four currently, bing Ling Lan¡¯s substitute. Sob... he is totally dead.


    ¡°No. Little Blossom was obedient.¡± Ling Lan proved that Little Blossom was not a troublemaker.


    He was obedient? A Doomsday Flower? Obedient? Little Four felt that the Little Blossom that Ling Lan knew was different from the one he knew.


    ¡°Little Blossom is a good kid. You must protect him.¡± Ling Lan rubbed Little Four¡¯s head. Little Blossom was not as talkative as Little Four but it tried its best to do the things Little Four normally did. They were two different kinds of intelligent entities so it was hard for Little Blossom but he still tried his best.


    Little Blossom respected Little Four. He respected Little Four as much as he respected her. Sometimes, Ling Lan would get jealous. After all, she was Little Blossom¡¯s master. However, Ling Lan was touched because of Little Blossom¡¯s feelings towards Little Four. Little Blossom really took Little Four as his older brother.


    Who said that intelligent entities don¡¯t have feelings? Ling Lan scoffed in contempt at the research of intelligent entities carried out by the Federation. The two intelligent entities she had were full of emotions. Ling Lan just didn¡¯t know that this was something different, it was something innate.


    Ling Lan smiled. Since they didn¡¯t know this, she would not tell them. This would be Little Four¡¯s punishment for sleeping for six months and scaring her. Ling Lan kept her findings a secret. This caused Little Four and Little Blossom to have many funny encounters in the future.


    Little Four felt sad when he heard what his boss said. Little Blossom managed to gain his Boss¡¯s favor in these past six months. However, as a magnanimous person, he would not treat Little Blossom badly because of this. Little Four nodded firmly. ¡°Yes boss, I¡¯ll treat him well.¡±


    He was someone true to his words. Also, there would be more intelligent entities around his Boss in the future. He rather let Little Blossom be the one gaining his Boss¡¯s liking. After making thisparison, he felt much better.


    ¡°Let¡¯s stop talking about Little Blossom. Let¡¯s talk about XXQ1 now.¡± Ling Lan pointed at XXQ1 who was still waiting outside. She interacted with Little Four for a long time in her mindscape but in the real world, only a second had passed.


    ¡°XXQ1?¡± Little Four blinked. This was an unfamiliar name to him, Who was it referring to? Little Four was too busy regaining Ling Lan¡¯s favour that he didn¡¯t realize that the intelligent entity he created was called XXQ1.


    ¡°The intelligent entity you created,¡± Ling Lan reminded him.


    ¡°Oh? Which bastard gave her that name? It¡¯s awful,¡± Little Four said angrily. He took so much effort to create an intelligent entity but the name she has was so terrible. It made him furious.


    ¡°Lin Zhong-qing.¡± Ling Lan outright betrayed Lin Zhong-qing. She would never take the me for anyone.


    ¡°Ahhh, Lin Zhong-qing, I will not forgive you!¡± Little Four shouted. Not all intelligent entities were kind. There were some who liked to bear grudges. Little Four was one of them.


    Little Four cursed Lin Zhong-qing. Then, he appeared in front of XXQ1. He looked at the woman in awe. This was his work. Little Four felt that he was impressive.


    Ling Lan smacked Little Four¡¯s head, waking Little Four up.


    XXQ1 bucked up her courage after seeing her creator appearing in front of her and said, ¡°Master, please give me a new name.¡±


    She also hated this name.


    ¡°Boss, please change her name.¡± Little Four¡¯s eyes lit up. He finally remembered that only his boss had the rights to give the intelligent entities he created a name. Lin Zhong-qing was not able to.


    Ling Lan looked at the two pairs of eyes that were shining with anticipation. She sighed. How much did they hate this name? It was for sure Lin Zhong-qing would be one of the people whom Little Four hated the most in the future.


    ¡°What name would you like?¡± Since a woman was getting a new name, she needed to like the name. Ling Lan was a democratic leader. She instantly asked her about her preferences.


    The woman started thinking. Her eyes lit up. ¡°Master, I would like the word ¡®Lan¡¯.¡± Her creator always thought about this word so she got influenced and started to like this word too. If she could, she wanted her name to have this word.


    Ling Lan immediately knew why the intelligent entity liked this word. She red at Little Four. What was he thinking about when he was creating this intelligent entity? This ¡®Lan¡¯ was definitely the ¡®Lan¡¯ in her name.


    Little Four didn¡¯t dare to look at her in the eyes. Ling Lan¡¯s heart softened. Little Four thought about her all the time so the intelligent entity he created got affected. Anyway, the name ¡®Lan¡¯ didn¡¯t belong to her. Since she liked it, she should use it in her name.


    Ling Lan thought for a moment and said, ¡°Fine. You¡¯ll be called Meng Lan from now on.¡± This was the Ling Lan in Little Four¡¯s dream, Meng Lan.


    Ling Lan smiled after she finished speaking. It was not a bright smile but it dissipated the coldness around her. The two intelligent entities were stunned. Woah! Boss (Master) is so beautiful!


    Intelligent entities usually have strong resistance against beautiful things so they quickly calmed down. Meng Lan said excitedly to Ling Lan, ¡°Thank you for giving me a name.¡± She could finally not be called XXQ1. Meng Lan wanted to cry. She almost went crazy after being called XXQ1 for so many days.

 Chapter 702 - The Dignity Of A Father!

    <h4>Chapter 702: The Dignity Of A Father!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    After settling Meng Lan¡¯s name situation, Ling Lan asked her to open the door. She walked in.


    The moment she walked in, she said, ¡°XXQ1 will be called Meng Lan from now on.¡±


    Now everyone knew why their boss spent such a long time outside. He was changing the name of the mainframe of this base. They had to admit that this name was much better than XXQ1.


    Ling Lan was relieved everyone was satisfied with this name. After that, Lin Zhong-qing signaled for them to enter a changing room.


    At that moment, Ling Xiao¡¯s mood changed drastically. His daughter was changing with a bunch of stinking young men without his supervision. Ling Xiao wanted to kill all the young men here but fortunately, he was someone who could control his emotions. Hence, he didn¡¯t explode.


    However, Ling Lan still felt the difference in her father¡¯s aura. His aura was almost exploding out from his body. Ling Lan thought for a moment and immediately understood why her father was feeling this way. She was just changing her clothes in the same room with a bunch of young men. However, she was not taking all her clothes off. She wore her singlet so no one would see her body. Additionally, after she took the suppression shots, she didn¡¯t have any curves. No one would see through her disguise.


    Thinking about this, Ling Lan started getting worried. Her mother only gave her two more years. Based on her mother¡¯s temper, she would definitely stop her from taking the suppression shots. Her body would start growing after that so... Ling Lan sighed. Luckily, she still had two more years. She could think about thister.


    Okay, Ling Lan is someone who likes to push her worries back. If it is not going to happen soon, she will not care about it.


    After everyone changed into their military uniform, Ling Lan finally saw what her father looked like after disguising himself. He wore a mask like Li Lanfeng. Ling Lan looked at him curiously. The rest of the people just quickly spared a nce at him. Since he was a loyalist, it was normal that he didn¡¯t want anyone to see his face.


    Everyone stretched their body after changing their attire. They finally felt that they were alive. The mecha protective vest wasfortable but it restricted their movements too much.


    The entrance of the changing room was different from its exit. Once they opened the exit door, a familiar smell wafted into their nose. They saw a field of green. It was like they were back at the Federation.


    ¡°Those are all virtual images.¡± Ling Lan quickly identified what she saw. She looked at Lin Zhong-qing. Seemed like Lin Zhong-qing had an effective discussion with the chief of staff. He took everything that he could and couldn¡¯t take.


    Ling Lan felt her father boring his eyes at the back of her head. She pretended to not feel it. She would not admit that she took too many things.


    Ling Xiao looked at the scene in front of him. His face twitched. Did He Xuyang give all the good things to his daughter? He even gave her this device. Was this and clearing mission? This seems more like a vacation!


    The most important features of a temporary base were its safety and efficiency. Features that could help with a person¡¯s psychology would never be taken into consideration when building a temporary base. However, 250 Mecha n made their base into afortable and perfect home.


    This is damn... amazing! Ling Xiao decided topliment He Xuyang when he gets back. It was a waste to keep this device in the warehouse so he rather gave it to his daughter. Ling Xiao was happy to know that Ling Lan could rest in such a base during these three months.


    Of course, it was all her credit that she managed to fully utilize this device. If other bases got this device, would they be able to create such an amazing base? Ling Xiao looked at Lin Zhong-qing who was leading the way. His daughter had such good foresight. She picked an amazing chief for her logistics department. That was why she could have such a perfect temporary base. These devices were already functionable but to input everything into the design of the base, it required some skills. Lin Zhong-qing definitely had the skills to do it.


    ¡°No mecha operators had entered this base. There is only a small portion of logisticians doing the final cleaning,¡± Lin Zhong-qing reported to Ling Lan. Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Not bad.¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s eyes lit up when he heard Ling Lan¡¯spliment. He was ted. He was probably the only one who knew how hard and how much effort he put into the preparation and the construction of this temporary base. However, all the hard work paid off when his Boss praised him.


    Lin Zhong-qing knew that to his Boss, ¡®not bad¡¯ was already a goodpliment.


    Ling Lan looked at organized roads as well as locations for soldiers to eat and train. She was even more satisfied. She turned around and shouted, ¡°Yang Mingzhi.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi was looking at the various facilities with the other team leaders. He was extremely happy to see how well built this base was.


    F**k, this is the first time he will be staying at such afortable temporary base during and clearing mission. He remembered the ces which he stayed atst time. There was only enough space for him to lie down. He was not able to see the sun from his room and could only look at the light bulb above him. Yang Mingzhi finally understood how incapable those logisticians were. They could have made the temporary base more beautiful but they didn¡¯t. Mecha operators like them weren¡¯t able to get a good rest after their dangerous missions.


    While Yang Mingzhi was criticizing the logisticians in his previous mecha n, he heard Ling Lan calling him. He immediately went up. ¡°Regimentmander, I¡¯m here.¡±


    ¡°Discuss with the other nine team leaders to split all the mecha operators into three groups. One group will be doing the scouting mission, one group will be on guard, and one will be resting. The three groups will rotate.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± All ten team leaders received their order.


    Lin Zhong-qing wanted to bring Ling Lan to the resting room for the regimentmander but Qi Long grabbed him and asked him to stay back to lead the ten teams to their resting area. Lin Zhong-qing only managed to point at the direction of Ling Lan¡¯s resting room before he got surrounded by the ten team leaders.


    Ling Lan and Ling Xiao smiled at each other. They walked towards the direction Lin Zhong-qing pointed. Since everything was prepared, they should take a good look around this ce.


    ¡°Ah, this is your room.¡± Ling Xiao pointed at the namete on the door which had the words ¡®Regiment Commander¡¯ on it and smiled.


    Ling Lan ced hermunicator in front of the device that was on the side of the door. A beep was heard after the device scanned hermunicator. The door opened automatically. This was her private room.


    Ling Lan walked in. There was a small living room with some sofas and a coffee table in it. An office table was at the further end of the room. An optical supeputer was ced on the table. The light on the optical supeputer shone to signal its presence. This would be where she would have meetings with the ten team leaders.


    On the right side of the living room, there was a door. When she walked closer to the door, it automatically opened, revealing a small dining room and a small kitchen. Further inside, there was another room. This should be her bedroom.


    As expected, there was a bed and a bathroom behind this door.


    Ling Xiao followed Ling Lan to the dining room. He walked into the kitchen and opened the small refrigerator. There were already many foods inside. There were both cooked and raw food as well as nutritional agents. ¡°Seems like you got everything you could get. Your subordinates are very thorough.¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing was always a thorough person. Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Yes, indeed.¡±


    ¡°With these people beside you, your mother and I will be less worried.¡± Ling Xiao took some raw food out and prepared a meal for his daughter In the good old days, he won over his wife¡¯s heart with his cooking skills. If he couldn¡¯t cook, Lan Luofeng might not have married him.


    Lan Luofeng was an idiot in cooking so to make sure that her future family would have food to eat, she required her future husband to be able to cook. Hence, the high and mighty General Ling Xiao had to learn cooking for two months before he managed to win Lan Luofeng¡¯s heart.


    Ling Xiao only realized sometimeter that based on his family¡¯s financial capabilities, he would not need to cook personally. Well, we could say that a man in love was a stupid man.


    Ling Lan was filled with anticipation. She heard her motherplimenting her father¡¯s cooking before but she never tasted it. She thought that she would never have the chance to taste her father¡¯s cooking but who knew that on a new, she would have the chance to try it out.


    Ling Lan felt that the mask was a hindrance so she reminded her father, ¡°Daddy, there are only two of us here. You can take off your mask now. Don¡¯t you find it a hindrance to wear it?¡±


    Ling Xiao was enlightened. He took off his mask. After he took it off, he suddenly thought of something and his body tensed up. He slowly turned around and exined to Ling Lan, ¡°I identally hit my face a few days ago...¡±


    Ling Lan eyes twitched a little. She said emotionlessly, ¡°Be careful next time.¡±


    ¡°I will.¡± Ling Xiao quickly turned his head back. His daughter didn¡¯t notice anything, right? She didn¡¯t. Yes, she didn¡¯t.


    Ling Lan also turned her head around instantly. I must control myself. I must notugh.


    Ling Xiao saw Ling Lan walking out of the kitchen and returning to the living room. Fortunately, his daughter didn¡¯t realize anything. If not, it would be humiliating for him. That was frightening. I must tell Luofeng to not scratch my face the next time we fight. I need to maintain my dignity in front of my daughter.


    Ling Lan sat on a random sofa casually. Then, her tense expression livened up. She covered her mouth. There was no sound but her eyes were curved and there was happiness in her gaze. The entire room seemed to have lit up from her smile. Unfortunately, no one saw it.


    Those scratches on her father¡¯s face must be made by her mother. Her father¡¯s exnation proved that he was feeling guilty. Ling Lan felt that her father¡¯s actions were stupid and couldn¡¯t help but smile even more brightly.


    She always thought that Ling Xiao was a serious and dignified father but now, he was more of a funny father. He was someone who tried to maintain a powerful fatherly image in front of her but would always make mistakes unintentionally. Ling Lan alwaysughed at her father¡¯s stupidity. Compared to a mighty father, Ling Lan preferred this image more. She was able to feel her father¡¯s pure love for her.


    ¡°Little Four, our father is very cute,¡± Ling Lan said softly. However, Little Four didn¡¯t hear what she said. The moment Little Four knew Ling Xiao was here, he went crazy. Ling Lan locked him up in the little ck room so that he wouldn¡¯t disturb her.


    Ling Lan had a good meal with her father. After Little Four was let out, he red at Ling Lan for a long time. Also, the temporary base of the 250 Mecha n made all the other mecha n green with envy.


    This was because by the time 250 Mecha npleted the construction of their temporary base, no one else had applied to make their temporary base. This showed how much obstacles all the mecha ns met during thisnd clearing mission. Hence, they were all jealous of 250 Mecha n¡¯s good fortune.


    Five mechas had the number ¡®7¡¯ painted on their left arms, proving they were from the 7th division. On their chest, there was a symbol of a lightning bolt. This was the totem of a mecha n. Having this totem meant that the mecha operators operating these mechas were ace mecha masters who had a title. These mecha operators were supposed to be the elite of the elite and treated like princes in their mecha ns. Yet, now, they were running away in a haggard manner. There seemed to be a frightening enemy chasing them.


    After running furiously for a long distance, they had to slow down. They realized that there was ake in front of them.


    The mecha operator who had the highest position among the five of them was shocked. There were three dangerous locations to be wary of in and clearing mission, one of them would be a ce with arge body of water. No one knew what was under the calm surface of the water.


    The mecha operator looked at theke with vignce. He asked another mecha operator, ¡°06, have you managed to contact the regimentmander?¡±


    ¡°No.03, do you think that the regimentmander was killed by the monster?¡± The mecha operator sounded as though he was crying. While they were running, they remembered to release signals in hopes that their regimentmander and the others would bring them some news. However, no one replied to them.

 Chapter 703 - Rescue!

    <h4>Chapter 703: Rescue!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°No way!¡± No.03 shouted. ¡°Regimentmander is so powerful. How could he lose to the monster?¡±


    This was the only way No.03 could encourage himself. He didn¡¯t expect this to be filled with dangers. They had not had a good rest or a meal for almost a week. With every step they took, they would meet all kinds of different monsters. The moment they killed one monster, another monster woulde.


    These monsters were not afraid of death. There seemed to be no end to their numbers. They had to resort to cold weapons due to their beam guns running out of energy.


    However, those small and weak-looking monsters were like irritating tiny ants. They were able to kill many of them with each attack but the monsters would keep crawling at them like an endless tide, and would only stop after tearing them apart bit by bit.


    This was the reason why their entire mecha n got annihted almost immediately. No.03 remembered the order their regimentmander gave and quickly controlled his emotions. ¡°Our regimentmander asked us to seek help from the other divisions. Let¡¯s release our SOS signals again and see if there are any mecha operators around us.¡±


    He must find help and save hisrades.


    The other people got reminded by him and quickly started releasing their signals. However, the screen just remained nk, showing no signs of working.


    ¡°It seems the signals are blocked here. What¡¯s happening?¡± The five of them eximed.


    When they were fighting with the monsters, they were still able to send out signals. Unfortunately, there was no one around to save them then. Did they enter an area that has monsters that could block signals?


    They felt a sinking feeling in their stomachs. They hurriedly searched around the area. They flew here and there, trying to find signs of life but this area showed no signs of life. It was eerily quiet. This was an entirely different situationpared to what they had went through just now. It was like entering apletely different world.


    ¡°What is that?¡± A mecha operator saw something on the screen and hurriedly zoomed in on the area. He finally saw a small que around one kilometer away.


    The words ¡®250 Mecha n¡¯ were written on the que. The mecha operators were shocked. Did theye to 250 Mecha n¡¯s territory? They started to rx a little. Does this mean that they are safe?


    When they saw this peaceful piece ofnd, they understood why their regimentmander was jealous of 250 Mecha n. While they were fighting with their lives to find a safe ce to set up their base, 250 Mecha n found it easily.


    ¡°There¡¯s movement.¡± Someone received a thermal signal and got nervous. They saw 10 familiar mechas moving towards them. They rxed again. They knew that they were in another division¡¯s territory.


    No.03 furiously waved at the 10 mechas. They could see the 10 mechas but their radar remained empty. The radar couldn¡¯t detect their signal. This area had indeed blocked all forms of signals. He wondered how 250 Mecha n were able tomunicate with each other.


    The people from the 7th division didn¡¯t know that there was a powerful intelligent entity in 250 Mecha n. With the help of this intelligent entity, 250 Mecha n were able tomunicate with each other. Thiske was able to block all signals but it couldn¡¯t block the shortmunication devices the intelligent entity had created. Every mecha had a messaging device installed in it. This was why 250 Mecha n segregated the area into a few sections. They were afraid that they would lose each other if they flew out of the range of the messaging device.


    Their maps located in their cockpits informed them the furthest distance they could go. They were not allowed to fly further into the area beyond their map.


    ¡°404, I think that there are mechas from another division over there. Why are they at our territory?¡± One of the ten mecha operators saw the five mechas.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go over and take a look. Be vignt.¡± 404 thought for a moment before deciding to interact with the other party. However, he still reminded his team members to remain on their guard. Each group of ten mechas had a temporary leader. This leader of this group which was on a scouting mission was 404.


    ¡°Yes, 404.¡± The mecha operators operated their mechas and flew towards the five mechas.


    ¡°Are you all from the 23rd division?¡± No.03 saw these mechas moving towards them fully armed so to prevent any misunderstandings, he hurriedly greeted them first.


    ¡°Yes, are you from the 7th division?¡± 404 only recognized the number ¡®7¡¯ on their mechas. He didn¡¯t recognize the totem so he didn¡¯t know which mecha n these mecha operators were from.


    ¡°We are from the Bing Ge Mecha n under the Three Sun fleet.¡± No.03 proudly introduced. They were an ace mecha n with a title. They were not amon mecha n like what 250 Mecha n was.


    ¡°Bing Ge? I think I¡¯ve heard of it.¡± 404 didn¡¯t have much of an impression of this mecha n so he just replied casually.


    The expression of the mecha operators from Bing Ge changed when they heard what 404 said. They felt that this mecha operator was too rude. How could he be so perfunctory? Was he trying to give them an opening gambit? Was he pretending to not know them?


    Their mecha n was the only ace mecha n in the past five years to have its own title. Their arrogance could not be changed just because the indifference of the mecha operators from 250 Mecha n. The five mecha operators from Bing Ge scoffed. Their first impression of 250 Mecha n was bad.


    Actually, the five mecha operators misunderstood 404. The mecha operators in 250 Mecha n, besides the people from the Lingtian Battle Team, were all famous more than 10 or even 20 years ago. They were deemed as useless by their own division and were sent to the 23rd division five years ago. They wasted their time lounging around in 250 Mecha n so it was perfectly normal for them to not know anything that happened in these past five years. If Bing Ge existed 10 or 20 years ago, 404 might know who they are.


    The five mecha operators from the 7th division didn¡¯t know this so they were furious. However, in spite of this, they couldn¡¯t offend them because they were in their territory and they desperately needed their help. Hence, they controlled their anger.


    ¡°Oh right, why are you in our territory? Did you get lost?¡± If that was the case, they would have to bring them back to their base and asked the base to contact their mecha n.


    No.03 immediately started asking for help. His emotions burst out in a flurry. ¡°Our entire mecha n was ambushed by creatures from this. They are in danger. Please contact your regimentmander now. We would like to ask for help on behalf of our mecha n andrades.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be anxious. What happened to you? Slowly speak. I¡¯ll inform my regimentmander about this.¡± 404 hurriedly stopped the other party and reminded him to speak clearly.


    Under 404¡¯s guidance, No.03 finally calmed down. He told 404 what happened to their mecha n.


    ¡°This is what happened, regimentmander.¡± 404 didn¡¯t dare to waste any more time after knowing what happened. He immediately contacted Ling Lan. This was an issue regarding his fellow soldiers¡¯ lives.


    ¡°Okay, wait there. We will find the location of Bing Ge Mecha n and make the necessary arrangements.¡± Ling Lan stopped the call. She turned serious.


    Her new subordinate, the circr creature, said that there were many beings on this which were more powerful than it. She thought it was referring torge-sized monsters. However, she seemed to have mistaken. Those smaller creatures which were able to produce more offsprings were even more frightening than therge creatures.


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, what is your decision?¡± Ling Xiao asked. This was a real test for Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze was cold. She turned on the optical supeputer and called for Meng Lan.


    ¡°Hello, master. What do you need me to do?¡±


    ¡°Contact themand center of Rising Sun fleet and tell them what happened to the mecha n from the 7th division. Ask them to seek help from other divisions. Call all the mecha operators that are resting now. They will follow me to the location where they met the creatures to rescue them.¡± The two orders from Ling Lan depicted her attitude towards this matter.


    Ling Xiao was satisfied with her answer. A qualified soldier would never abandon hisrades. Ling Xiao felt gratified by Ling Lan¡¯s decision. His daughter is the best. She is perfect.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡± Ling Xiao wore his mask and prepared to leave with his daughter.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you will not attack?¡± Ling Lan asked in surprise.


    ¡°I remembered that you ordered me to look after you. How can I go against your order?¡± Ling Xiao smiled as he tapped Ling Lan¡¯s forehead. He didn¡¯t n to show his strength but it didn¡¯t mean that he would stay at the side and watched them heartlessly. If those creatures dared to harm his daughter, he would definitely kill them.


    ¡°Daddy, if you continue protecting me like this, I will start relying on you.¡± Ling Lan frowned. She had no ns on bing a useless second generation of a top-level military family.


    ¡°I believe that you won¡¯t. Also, this might be the only time when I can protect you. How can you bear to take this chance away from me?¡± Ling Xiao looked at her pleadingly like a little dog was abandoned by its owner.


    Daddy, can you please change back to your general self? Ling Lan was speechless. She felt pressured. When her father pleaded, it was more stressful than when he makes amand. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t do anything about it. She gave up. ¡°You can do what you want...¡±


    Sob, I hope that mummy will not kill me and ask me to return her charming husband back.


    ¡°What? Bing Ge Ace Mecha n got annihted?¡± Themander-in-chief of Three Sun fleet which belonged to the 7th division shouted in anger when he heard the news from themander-in-chief of the Rising Sun fleet.


    ¡°This is so humiliating. They didn¡¯t look for their own division but instead, seeked help from another division.¡± One of the officers in themand center scoffed. He was unhappy that Bing Ge didn¡¯t look for them directly.


    ¡°What are you muttering to yourself? Hurry up and search for the location.¡± Themander-in-chief got more furious when he heard his officers talking among themselves.


    ¡°I¡¯ve found them. Thest message sent by Bing Ge was received an hour ago. They requested for an energy storage unit for beam guns to be sent to them.¡± One of the officers finally found some information on Bing Ge.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t we sent it to them?¡± Themander-in-chief red at the officer furiously.


    ¡°Themander of the starship that Bing Ge was on felt that the coordinates Bing Ge gave were not safe. Hence, he rejected the request.¡± The officer felt cold sweat forming on his forehead. The person in front of him was the suprememander of this mission. However, the starshipmander was not wrong too. He had the right to reject the request if he found the location to be dangerous.


    ¡°Did anyone check with Bing Ge after they were rejected?¡± Themander-in-chief calmly asked. Normally, if the two parties had different opinions, themand center would step in and review this case before making a final division.


    This time, no one answered him. Seemed like after they got a reply from the starshipmander, the people in themand center threw this matter aside. No one followed up with the mecha n. None of them expected Bing Ge to be annihted in a short one hour. In the end, Bing Ge had to seek help from another division, causing the 7th division to lose their dignity and reputation.


    Themander-in-chief smashed the table in front of him into pieces. He knew that someone had neglected their duties. He didn¡¯t expect something like this to happen under his watch. In and clearing mission, the mecha operators had to risk their lives to help their division gain more resources. Yet, their superiors disregarded their efforts. How was he supposed to answer to the mecha operators that fought hard at the frontline?


    ¡°Inform all the mecha ns under the Three Sun to go the location where Bing Ge went missing as quickly as possible. If there are any survivors, we must save them.¡± Themander-in-chief quickly gave his orders. The most important thing now was to save the mecha n. He would deal with themander of the starship which Bing Ge was onter.

 Chapter 704 - Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 704: Attack!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    After the order was given, all the mecha ns under the Three Sun fleet, especially those who were nearer to the location of the ambush, started acting immediately. All the othermander-in-chief also gave a simr order. They were not from the same division as Bing Ge but all of them were from the Federation. All the soldiers in the Federation were theirrades. They would not abandon theirrades.


    No.03 was agitated. Ever since he sent a request for help to 250 Mecha n, they had been waiting. 404 said that he had reported the situation to the higher authorities. They had to stay at the same ce and wait for themand from the higher authorities.


    The five mecha operators from Bing Ge were unhappy that 404 and the other nine operators were watching over them. If they had more people on their side, they might have left this ce and would immediately go to the base of 250 Mecha n to seek help.


    After 20 minutes of waiting, 404 still hadn¡¯t given them any concrete answer. The five mecha operators from Bing Ge couldn¡¯t stand it anymore. They decided to go to the base of 250 Mecha n and look for the regimentmander themselves.


    The moment they moved, 404 noticed them. The 10 mechas surrounded them with their beam guns aimed at them.


    ¡°What is the meaning of this? How dare you point your guns at yourrades!¡± No.03 shouted.


    404 replied calmly, ¡°Please wait over here.¡± He must follow his regimentmander¡¯s order.


    ¡°You asked us to wait? Do you know that our regimentmander and our team leader is still fighting? We don¡¯t even know if they are still alive. They are waiting for us to save them but you asking me to wait? Bastard! If 250 Mecha n doesn¡¯t want to help, you can just tell us. We will not trouble you. However, you do not have to prevent us from seeking help from mecha ns, right?¡± No.03 shouted furiously.


    ¡°Our regimentmander has given his order. Your SOS has been sent to the higher authorities. We are still preparing. Please wait patiently.¡± 404 continued to repeat what Ling Lan told him.


    He understood why they were so anxious but being anxious would not save theirrades. They need to make ample preparations before going on the rescue mission. If they act rashly, not only would they be unable to save theirrades, they might endanger their own life.


    ¡°Prepare, prepare. That¡¯s what you said 20 minutes ago, you have been preparing. Are you done preparing yet? Is the life of the mecha operators from Bing Ge not worthy enough for you to save? Is that why you keep dragging the time? This is murder! Murder!¡± Another mecha operator from Bing Ge started crying. The longer they wait, the more danger theirrades were in. How could they wait patiently?


    ¡°Yourrades¡¯ lives are worthy but so are ours!¡± 404 red at the other party with bloodshot eyes. He finally got triggered. He couldn¡¯t maintain hisposure anymore.


    ¡°From the video you gave me, we know that the creatures are frightening. If we make a small mistake, our entire mecha n would be annihted. However, even though this is the case, the mecha operators from 250 Mecha n still took on the challenge and gathered everyone avable in the base for this rescue mission.¡± 404 shouted furiously, ¡°Our regimentmander treats our mecha operators very well. He would never act rashly. He only attacks when he has the confidence that we will seed. Our regimentmander will not let anyone sacrifice themselves unnecessarily in this mission.¡±


    If his regimentmanderst time was as decisive and ced as much importance on the lives of his mecha operators like Ling Lan, he might not have felt so much disappointment and despair and in the end bing a despondent person... 404 blinked and removed the sorrow from his eyes.


    ¡°Bullshit, Bing Ge...¡±


    No.03 wanted to refute but 404 interrupted him. ¡°Your regimentmander made four mistakes. First, when you first entered the base of those creatures, he should have ordered an immediate retreat as you weren¡¯t able to urately judge how powerful those creatures were.¡±


    ¡°Second, when you realized that only beam guns can kill those creatures, he should have gauge whether you all were able to kill all the creatures before the energy in your beam guns ran out. Hence, even if you couldn¡¯t determine how strong your opponents were and wasn¡¯t sure whether you should retreat or not, your regimentmander should have ordered a retreat at that moment.¡±


    ¡°Our regimentmander did calcte this. He felt that we didn¡¯t need to retreat. However, he didn¡¯t expect more and more creatures toe as we started fighting...¡± No.03 tried to exin himself.


    404 scoffed, ¡°These two mistakes are not fatal. Normalmanding officers might make the same mistakes. However, the worst mistake your regimentmander made was this. When he realized the energy in the beam guns couldn¡¯tst till all the enemies are destroyed, he still stayed there. He chose to request the starship to give him more energy storage units This decision ced the entire mecha n at unnecessary risk.¡±


    ¡°We have been fighting constantly for three days and three nights. Even if the regimentmander asked us to retreat, we could not do it. It is the fault of themander of the Aoxi fleet. If he had agreed to provide us more energy storage units, we would not be in such a position.¡± No.03 was indignant. In his heart, he pushed all the me on themander of Aoxi fleet.


    ¡°Stupid! How can you hand over your life to amander you can¡¯t trust? I must say that your regimentmander was blinded by interest.¡± 404 sneered. He recalled what Ling Lan told them when they pleaded with him to let them off from the harsh training. He said that it was extremely stupid of them to put their lives in the hands of other people.


    ¡°Our regimentmander did this for us.¡± No.03 remembered the resource they found and felt bitter. The resource might be the reason why their regimentmander decided to take the risk. Unfortunately, the resource wouldn¡¯t belong to Bing Ge anymore.


    ¡°Although the third point is the worst mistake your regimentmander made, he is still the cause of the annihtion of your mecha n.¡± 404 remembered what happened to his mecha n many years ago. The situation was simr. That year, because of a mistake of their regimentmander, the entire mecha n died.


    ¡°Bullshit. Our regimentmander fought till the end so that we could escape. What did he do wrong?¡± No.03 shouted. They were still alive because his regimentmander protected them. His regimentmander would die to make sure that his mecha operators would survive. There was nothing wrong with his decision.


    ¡°Can you say that he made the right decision just because he fought till the end?¡± 404 didn¡¯t have any rtion with the regimentmander of Bing Ge. He was just furious because the regimentmander made an extremely wrong decision and basically killed his entire team.


    ¡°Actually, he should have been more decisive and sacrificed some of the mecha operators by letting them self-destruct. That way, you five will not be the only survivors. Most of your mecha n members would be still alive,¡± 404 shouted angrily.


    This decision seemed cruel but an outstandingmander should know when to make a sacrifice. If not, most of the mecha operators would have to die. The entire mecha n might even be annihted. Bing Ge was a perfect example. If their regimentmander was just more decisive and gave up those mecha operators that had lost their ability to fight, majority of his mecha operators would still be alive. Those mecha operators would be willing to sacrifice for theirrades too.


    That time, if his regimentmander had ordered him to fight in order to buy some time for hisrades to retreat, he would have done it without any hesitation. Yet, their regimentmander got nervous and made a wrong decision. In the end, all hisrades died. He was able to survive because his team leader protected him with his own body.


    No.03 felt cold sweats on his forehead when he heard what 404 said. If 404 didn¡¯t say all the mistake their regimentmander made, No.03 would not think so deeply. However, after 404 exposed the truth, No.03 started thinking back and realized 404 was right. If their regimentmander was more decisive, their team leader might have been able to escape...


    He shook his head furiously. He couldn¡¯t think about their regimentmander like this. Their regimentmander had risked his life for their safety. How could he question his regimentmander¡¯s decision?


    No.03 froze on the spot. 404 vented his anger out. However, he still felt sad because he was not joining the rescue mission...


    Just as he was feeling sad, he heard a sound. There were mechas near him. 404 saw a group of mechas appearing in the sky above them. The mecha in front was very familiar to him as it was the second most used mecha of their regimentmander. During their harsh training, their regimentmander liked to use this mecha to fire long-range attacks at them.


    However, the most hated long-range mecha during that time looked very amiable at this moment. 404 sighed. Why couldn¡¯t he participate in the rescue mission?


    ¡°Our regimentmander is here,¡± 404 said before weing Ling Lan.


    ¡°Bing Ge?¡± Ling Lan looked at the five mechas who seemed to be hesitating whether they shoulde over or not.


    ¡°Yes,¡± 404 replied. He thought for a while and decided to make a request. ¡°Regimentmander, our team just reached this area. We didn¡¯t do much today. I would like to request to join the rescue mission.¡±


    Ling Lan felt that since the five people from Bing Ge had been interacting with 404¡¯s team for a while now, they might feel morefortable with them and might provide more information because of this. Hence, she agreed to 404¡¯s request. 404¡¯s team were ted.


    Time was tight so 404 informed the five people from Bing Ge and they joined the main rescue team. There was close to 100 mechas flying towards the spot where Bing Ge was attacked. Four teams were taking part in this rescue mission. They were Qi Long¡¯s team, Li Lanfeng¡¯s team, Luo Lang¡¯s team, and Liu Furong¡¯s team.


    Soon, they arrived at the edge of a dense forest.


    ¡°Boss, this should be the ce where Bing Ge met the monsters.¡± Qi Long and his team reported their findings after they scouted the area.


    ¡°Did you see the video Bing Ge sent over?¡± Ling Lan frowned. It was another one of the three most dangerous locations in thend clearing mission: The forest. This was where Bing Ge went missing.


    ¡°Yes, we saw it. Those ant-like creatures are weak alone but when they attack together, they are frightening.¡± They all saw how the creatures bit through the mecha¡¯s outer shell. A chill ran down their spines. Luckily, they saw that when there was a beam shield, the creatures were not able to prate it. Hence, they managed to calm down a little.


    Why was it only a little? It was because the energy in the beam shield was not limitless. After those ant-like creatures exhausted the energy in the beam shield, the mechas would be their food.


    ¡°Cold weapons can¡¯t harm them much. All mecha operators, check your weapons. Change them to firearms and make sure that there are enough energy in them.¡± Ling Lan would not allow her mecha n to be in the same situation as Bing Ge. Once everyone was prepared, Ling Lan entered the forest.


    The forest was quiet. It seemed to be safe. Many people would think that the Federation¡¯s mecha wererge and powerful but on this, they were just like a speck of dust.


    The trees were huge and tall. They couldn¡¯t see the top of the tree. Even the tree branches were taller than the mechas.The mecha operators felt like they were walking in a normal-sized forest with their own bodies.


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart stopped. She remembered her new subordinate which was still hiding at the bottom of theke. The circr creature was able to use its spiritual power to attack people. She suspected that the creatures on this all had this ability. It should be known that no matter how vast this forest was, these experienced mecha operators should never such an illusion. Without a doubt, this was a form of spiritual attack. It was to lower the mecha operators¡¯ guards.


    ¡°Be careful, everyone.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice sounded on the team channel. The mecha operators who started rxing due to the peaceful environment started turning vignt again.


    ¡°Have the five mecha operators from Bing Ge lead the way.¡± Although they knew Bing Ge went missing in this area, they didn¡¯t know exactly where they disappeared. The five mecha operators from Bing Ge would know their coordinates better since they had escaped from this area.


    Ling Lan decided to let the mecha operators from Bing Ge lead the way so that they didn¡¯t have to waste time locating the main army of Bing Ge. She knew that time was tight. She couldn¡¯t waste any more time.


    The five mecha operators from Bing Ge heard the order. They hastened their pace and came to the front of the group.

 Chapter 705 - Starship!

    <h4>Chapter 705: Starship!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The mecha operators from Bing Ge were very efficient. They took some time to confirm the direction and soon, they got to the location where they met the monsters urately.


    When they reached their destination, everyone turned silent.


    The scene was tragic. Many mecha operators chose to self-destruct with the creatures that were crawling over them, leaving many burned mecha parts scattered around the area. Broken branches and leaves were all over. There was smoke everywhere. Many trees were still burning and you could hear the sound of fire crackling.


    There were some mecha operators who didn¡¯t choose to self-destruct. These mecha operators limply sat in their cockpits which had been bitten through. They were covered in blood. The ground was stained with the red blood as well as the purplish-blue blood.


    Ling Lan frowned. From the looks of it, the mecha operators from Bing Ge didn¡¯t manage to survive until rescue came. Most of them died in the battle.


    ¡°Regimentmander...¡± ¡°Team leader...¡± ¡°Little Tiger...¡± ¡°Old Duan...¡± ¡°Dragon...¡±


    Screams of anguish came from the five mecha operators. They started crying uncontrobly. However, theirrades would never be able toe back alive.


    The fallen mechas proved that the battle with the creatures was a hard-fought battle. The mecha operators from 250 Mecha n saw the traces of the creatures on the corpses of the mecha operator. They could determine the creatures bit through the cockpit of the mechas and slowly devoured the mecha operators¡¯ whole body only leaving some bits of flesh and bone...


    Ling Lan frowned. She controlled her emotions and immediately ordered, ¡°Qi Long, Luo Lang, have your team guard this area. The rest will search the area and look for survivors.¡±


    Ling Lan always knew the death rate ofnd clearing missions were extremely high. However, before this, all she saw were numbers. Now, she saw how cruelnd clearing missions could be personally. The resources gained fromnd clearing missions were built on the lives of many mecha operators. At that moment, Ling Lan finally understood whatnd clearing missions really represented.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Everyone started moving.


    Although the 250 Mecha n were made up mostly of experienced mecha operators, they still felt ufortable as they searched through the debris. Usually in a war with enemy countries, although there were cases where an entire mecha n got annihted, the mecha operators that sacrificed themselves normally have a clean death. However here, the mecha operators either self-destruct, were bitten to death by the creatures or watched themselves dying from blood loss. These were all painful ways of dying.


    The efforts of 250 Mecha n paid off. After some time, one of the mecha operators shouted, ¡°The person in this cockpit seems to be alive.¡±


    Everyone rushed over when they heard this. They realized that this mecha operator managed to survive because two mechas had fallen on top of him. The protection of these two mechas prevented his cockpit from being bitten by the creatures.


    Everyone carefully took the cockpit out of the mecha. One of the mecha carried the cockpit carefully. No one dared to open the cockpit now. The air on this was not suitable for humans. Additionally, no one knew what the situation inside the cockpit was. They could only tell the person inside was still alive from the information shown on their screen. If they wanted to save this person, they needed to go to a safe location first.


    After they found the first survivor, everyone got motivated and started hastening their pace.


    Qi Long and Luo Lang¡¯s team were nervous. They carefully surveyed their surroundings in fear that the creatures would suddenly appear and interrupt their rescue mission.


    Qi Long and Luo Lang were not afraid of fighting. However, the main aim for this mission was to rescue the survivors. Hence, the lives of Bing Ge¡¯s mecha operators were the most important. If the creatures came and interrupt them now, all their efforts would be in vain.


    Luckily, the creatures didn¡¯t appear and attack them. They searched through all the debris and found 19 survivors. They even had the time to count the number of cockpits that were still intact.


    Although they managed to save 19 mecha operators, the five people from Bing Ge stated that there were close to 800 mecha operators from their n who participated in this mission. Adding the five people who came to seek help, only 24 mecha operators from Bing Ge survived. This number was only urate if they managed to rescue all the 19 mecha operators from the brink of death.


    After searching through the debris a few times and confirming that there were no more survivors, Ling Lan decisively gave an order. ¡°Retreat!¡± She nced at a direction coldly before retracting her gaze indifferently.


    ¡°No, I want to look for the creatures and take revenge for myrades!¡± One of the mecha operators from Bing Ge shouted in agitation. The death of hisrades incensed him. He operated his mecha and rushed towards the other end of the forest.


    A figure shed passed him.


    The limbs of the mecha were amputated. The mecha¡¯s body fell to the ground helplessly.


    Behind this mecha was a bnced mecha. The mecha ced its cold weapon behind its back. It was Li Lanfeng.


    Ling Lan turned around and spoke to 404 calmly, ¡°You will be in charge of bringing the operators from Bing Ge back.¡±


    All the mecha operators from 250 Mecha n looked at the mecha operator from Bing Ge with pity. How dare he disobeyed their regimentmander. If Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t act, this mecha operator might only have his cockpit left. Although the situation didn¡¯t seem much better now, at least he still had his engine so he was able to at least fly his way back.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± 404 immediately went to help the mecha body up. He hoped the mecha operator would not provoke his regimentmander further. If not, his cockpit might be sted out of his mecha body.


    He remembered Ling Lan did this before, when someone performed too badly during their training. Everyone had chills when they saw what it happening. It was too shocking. They didn¡¯t want their regimentmander to gain a cruel reputation.


    Although their regimentmander was violent, they didn¡¯t want other people to know about it. Why? You don¡¯t wash your dirty linen in public.


    Ling Lan made some arrangements. She asked Liu Furong¡¯s team and 404¡¯s temporary team to send the mecha operators from Bing Ge back to 250 Mecha n¡¯s base. After they left, she called Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Li Lanfeng. ¡°Let¡¯s go further in and investigate this ce.¡±


    Ling Lan made this decision after much thought. Qi Long had a strong intuition. He could sense any threats around them. Luo Lang had many personalities so his spiritual power was strongerpared to normal mecha operators. This was why he wasn¡¯t affected by the circr creature. As for Li Lanfeng, he had spectre abilities. Ling Lan felt that his spiritual power was as strong as her.


    It would be safer to explore this area with three mecha operators with strong spiritual power and their teams.


    When Ling Lan ordered Liu Furong and 404 to bring the mecha operators from Bing Ge back, these three people already knew that their boss wanted to explore the area. Their Boss was not someone who was afraid of risk.


    Ling Lan brought three teams with her as she went to the direction where she sensed something. After flying for a certain distance, Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned cold. She controlled her mecha and shot a beam.


    A sh of white light was seen. The creature was hit and fell on the ground.


    Qi Long immediately went to the creature and inspected it carefully. After a while, he said, ¡°Boss, this should be the creature Bing Ge met in the video.¡± This creature looked like an ant but it was 100 times bigger than an ant. The sharp teeth in its mouth told everyone why it could bite through the mechas easily.


    ¡°This creature had been present ever since we arrived. I thought that it wanted to attack us while we were searching for survivors but surprisingly, it didn¡¯t,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly. She had nketed the entire area with her spiritual power so she was able to detect things that other people couldn¡¯t. This creature was an instance of something she was able to detect .


    Ling Lan thought that since this creature didn¡¯t attack them at the start, it would just continue to watch over them all the way. However, it attacked when they moved deeper into the forest.


    ¡°This creature probably attacked us because it didn¡¯t want us to go further in.¡± Ling Lan was curious. Were these creatures protecting something and they didn¡¯t want them to disturb them? This might be the reason why they didn¡¯t attack them while they were searching for survivors.


    ¡°If the 7th division reacted quickly, help should have arrived,¡± Li Lanfeng reminded Ling Lan.


    ¡°True. I almost forgot about this. We informed the Rising Sun fleet instantly after we got the news so they must have informed the 7th division immediately too. Based on the timing, help from the 7th division should have arrived.¡± Ling Lan nodded her head.


    ¡°However, there seems to be amunication error between the mecha n and the starship.¡± Luo Lang couldn¡¯t forget the tragic scene of what happened to Bing Ge. The starship was one of the reasons why this tragedy happened. He felt that if they went for a mission in the future, they must find a starship that would coborate well with them. If they board a starship like Bing Ge¡¯s starship, Luo Lang couldn¡¯t confirm if their mecha n would be able to persevere until help arrives.


    ¡°Starship...¡± Ling Lan¡¯s heart started to beat faster. She was someone who liked to control her own life. Now, she realized that there was still another uncertain factor that could affect her life. This made her unhappy.


    ¡°It would be great if we can have our own starship,¡± Ling Lan muttered. This was the only way to make sure that something like this would not happen to them.


    ¡°Mecha ns do not have the rights to owe a starship.¡± Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t help it and cough. He reminded Ling Lan that she shouldn¡¯t be too greedy. It was impossible. The only thing he could do was to get trustworthy captains to cooperate with Ling Lan.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe it. There must be a way,¡± Ling Lan replied angrily.


    Li Lanfeng got enlightened by what Ling Lan said. He recalled the rules the Federation created for owning a starship and tried to find a loophole in it. It had to be said that Li Lanfeng¡¯s memory was really good. He actually managed to find a way around it. He smiled slightly and said, ¡°Actually, there is kinda a way. Mecha ns are able to register a personal transportation vehicle. A starship is a kind of transportation vehicle. There is no rule stating the transportation vehicle can¡¯t be a starship...¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s lit up. ¡°Lanfeng, we can exploit this loophole.¡± Since there was no rule stating that a starship couldn¡¯t be registered as a transportation vehicle, their 250 Mecha n would get one.


    ¡°When I go back, I¡¯ll talk to the chief of staff and ask him to give me the funds to buy a transportation vehicle. We will buy the starship on our own.¡±


    ¡°Even if you get the funds, the amount will only be enough for you to get a normal transportation vehicle. You will be unable to afford a starship,¡± Ling Xiao remained Ling Lan weakly.


    How could you say such things in front of me? Daughter, aren¡¯t you being too arrogant?


    ¡°No worries. After thisnd clearing mission, there should be enough money given to us so we will be able to buy a starship. Also, I believe that there are other ways of buying a starship.¡± Ling Lan nced at her father. She didn¡¯t have any worries at all. She didn¡¯t believe that her father would be fair and just, especially about a matter that concerned her safety.


    Actually, as long as Ling Xiao closed one eye, Ling Lan would be able to get a starship. Little Four had many ways of getting a starship through the ck market. The gene agents that Ling Lan had over these years were all bought from the ck market with the help of Little Four. Little Four was a master at this area. He had even be the diamond-level VIP member of the ck market. It was easy for him to get his hands on a starship.

 Chapter 706 - Named Super Mecha Clan?

    <h4>Chapter 706: Named Super Mecha n?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Xiao made a smart decision and immediately shut up after he heard what Ling Lan said. Seemed like his daughter had made up her mind. He should start thinking about how he could help his daughter. Ling Xiao felt his head hurt. How can he let 250 Mecha n own a starshipwfully?


    It is hard to be a good father. Ling Xiao sighed.


    Ling Xiao being a first time father wasn¡¯t very experienced so he thought making his daughter happy was what a good father should do. If Ling Lan was an obedient girl, he would not have such a hard time. Heaven grants hardships after it grants a man with great responsibility... cough, cough. He could only say that heaven liked him too much so it gave him a daughter who kept tormenting him so that he could disy his ability as a loving father to the fullest...


    Ling Lan and her team only inspected the creature for a moment before continuing their journey. After some time, they heard the sound of fighting.


    ¡°There is a battle going on ahead.¡± Qi Long¡¯s eyes lit up. He loved fighting.


    Ling Lan raised her hand and everyone hastened their pace. After they walked out of the forest, they arrived at a tnd. There were many mecha operators fighting with the ant-like creatures.


    ¡°We are the Courage God Ace Mecha n. Which division are you from?¡± A loud voice rang in the air. A mecha operator who was fighting moved away from the battle and came over to question Ling Lan.


    ¡°Hey, they are from Courage God.¡± One of the mecha operators from Li Lanfeng¡¯s team was shocked.


    ¡°Old Duan, I remember that you are from Courage God.¡± Li Lanfeng turned his head and quickly recalled where this mecha operator came from.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Team leader, you have a really good memory. I previously am a member of Courage God. I didn¡¯t expect to meet them again.¡± Old Duan sighed. That year, he left Courage God in despair. He never imagined that one day, he would still be able to operate a mecha and meet his old mecha n in a mission.


    While Li Lanfeng spoke with Old Duan, Qi Long had already replied, ¡°We are 250 Mecha n from the 23rd division.¡±


    Some of the mecha operators from Courage God couldn¡¯t help it but turn their heads to look at Ling Lan and her mecha operators. Luckily, they were all capable mecha operators so this loss in focus didn¡¯t affect them much.


    The mecha operators from 250 Mecha n frowned when they saw this. Old Duan even got angry. Why did this bunch of brats behave like that? They caused him to lose his reputation in front of his regimentmander... although he was a member of 250 Mecha n now, he still had strong feelings towards his old mecha n. He always hoped everything would go well for them.


    Every mecha operator had a strong rtionship with the mecha n that practically raised them. This was why mecha ns liked to take in new recruits. They would be much easier to foster a stronger bond with the mecha n.


    ¡°Thank you for your help. This ce is dangerous so please retreat immediately.¡± The regimentmander of Courage God knew that they were the mecha n who first received the news about the annihtion of Bing Ge. He frowned when he saw how few people there were.


    How could 60 people handle all these creatures? 250 Mecha n was not an ace mecha n. He didn¡¯t know why they were able to participate in this mission. The mecha operators from an untitled mecha ns like theirs, probably couldn¡¯t operate their mechas well so how could they even put up a fight against such dangerous creatures? They would only make the situation worse for them.


    The regimentmander of Courage God made his decision and hoped that 250 Mecha n would not participate in this battle. He asked them to leave the battlefield immediately.


    The experienced mecha operators were unhappy when they heard what the regimentmander of Courage God said. How dare he looked down on them.


    ¡°F**k, is he looking down on us?¡± Qi Long instantly shouted in the team channel and instantly ignited everyone¡¯s anger.


    On the other hand, Ling Lan remained calm. Before they showcased their abilities, it was normal to be underestimated. However, she had her temper too. She raised her mecha¡¯s right hand and curved two fingers towards battlefield in front of them.


    This was a signal for them to attack! The mecha operators had been waiting for this order. They immediately roared and rushed into the battlefield.


    The regimentmander of Courage God was furious when he saw the mecha operators from 250 Mecha n entering the battlefield recklessly. However, before he could say anything, he was stunned by the capabilities of the mecha operators from 250 Mecha n.


    At that moment, one of the mecha operators from Courage God finally managed to kill a creature. Before he could catch his breath, four ant-like creatures who saw one of their kind getting killed, pounced at him viciously.


    By right, his tworades by his side should help him to hold back one or two of the creatures. However, the creatures that hisrades were fighting with, seemed to have received some orders and started pestering the mecha operators furiously. Hisrades were unable to lend him a helping hand.


    No mecha operator could handle so many creatures at once. The mecha operator¡¯s face turned pale. He knew that once the energy of his beam shield ran out, his mecha would be the creatures¡¯ food.


    That¡¯s right. These weak-looking creatures ate metal as their food. The tough and durable mecha shell was nothing to these creatures.


    The mecha operator remembered how some of hisrades were killed by these creatures when they first confronted them. A chill ran down his spine. Is he going to die here today? He knew that and clearing mission was a high-risk mission but he never expected himself to be bitten to death.


    Just as the mecha operator was feeling hopeless, two beams flew by him. They flew passed his mecha and hit the creatures urately. Before he could react, he felt a huge force pulling his mecha back. He flew back uncontrobly.


    The mecha operator saw a figure shing by him on the screen. Then, with a sh of white light, a huge sword appeared in front of him. The two remaining creatures which didn¡¯t get hit by the beams were thrown out. Within a blink of an eye, the four creatures that put him in a dire situation were taken care of.


    At that moment, the mecha operator mmed onto the ground. He looked at his screen as heid on the ground and saw some mechas that didn¡¯t belong to Courage God. They appeared in front of hisrades who were having a hard time and lightened their burden.


    No, they didn¡¯t just lighten the burden. They managed to kill the creatures with their beam guns and their cold weapons easily. Seemed like these creatures could be killed with cold weapons too. They just didn¡¯t have the skills to do it.


    That mecha operator, who was lying on the ground, watched as the mechas wielded their swords and shed at the creatures. They didn¡¯t use anyplicated moves. All they did was stab and sh the creatures but the creatures died. This was how a closebat mecha operator should perform.


    That mecha operator was stunned. He looked at them with envy. He was a closebat mecha operator too. Closebat mecha operators should be at the frontline of a battle but in this situation, they were unable to be at the frontline as the creature would just overwhelm with numbers. They even had to resort to using long-range attacks which they were not used to. This affected their performance. Half of their mecha n were closebat mecha operators so this caused them to be on the losing end during this battle.


    250 Mecha n only had 60 people but their presence immediately changed the situation.


    Some mecha operators from Courage God Ace Mecha n were too focused in their fight so they didn¡¯t hear the conversation between their regimentmander and 250 Mecha n. They saw the vicious mecha operators beside them and wondered where they came from. Did they belong to a named super ace mecha n?


    They made this guess because these mecha operators were extremely powerful. All of them had the capabilities and the strength of a team leader. Some of them were even as strong as their regimentmander. They would have guessed that they were from one of the special forces but they didn¡¯t see any familiar totem on their mechas.


    Since they were not from the special forces, they could only be from a named super ace mecha n based from their terrifying performance. Moreover, if you looked closely at their equipment, they must be from a named super ace mecha n. These pieces of equipment were all the most advanced equipment of the Federation. Courage God applied for these pieces of equipment but never managed to get it.


    The mecha operators from Courage God looked at the mecha operators from 250 Mecha n with envy. In order for a normal mecha n with a title to be a named super mecha n, the criteria would be to have many outstanding individuals over subsequent generations who contributed to the Federation. Hence, there were only a few named super mecha ns.


    A named super ace mecha n would enjoy the glory and many benefits. The treatment between a normal ace mecha n and a named super ace mecha n were extremely different. A named super ace mecha n would be granted much more resources and be given the opportunity to recruit better mecha operators.


    A name ace mecha n received many benefits but it was nothing whenpared to the treatment given to a named super ace mecha n. Of course, the special ace mecha squads in the Federation received the best treatment since they were the elites among the elites. Hence, every mecha operator aspire to enter the special ace mecha squads.


    However, for now, let¡¯s not talk about the special ace mecha squads. Let¡¯s put our focus on named super ace mecha ns. They were a cut below special ace mecha squads but they still had a special presence among the ace mecha ns.


    Named super ace mecha ns were all old mecha ns with rich history. They got this honor after several generations of contributions from their mecha operators. All the mecha operators that came from these mecha ns had better mechas, equipment, and weaponspared to a normal named mecha n. Their resources were only one grade lower than those given to the special ace mecha squads. Some powerful named super ace mecha ns could bepared to lower end special ace mecha squads.


    Special ace mecha squads weed all outstanding mecha operators in the Federation. They didn¡¯t belong to any division and were only governed by the Federation itself. On the other hand, named super ace mecha ns rarely take in mecha operators from other divisions. They preferred to groom recruits personally so that they would develop a stronger bond with the mecha n.


    Every division had one or two named ace mecha ns. In actual fact, these named ace mecha ns were the ultimate weapon of the division. If the entire division was to get annihted for some reason, as long as someone from a named ace mecha ns survived, they could build their division from scratch again and the legacy could continue to pass down.


    The mecha operators from Courage God all thought that 250 Mecha n was a named ace mecha n. They respected them but were jealous of them at the same time.


    ¡°Regimentmander, are they really just a normal mecha n?¡± The adjutant beside the regimentmander of Courage God asked.


    ¡°How would I know?¡± The regimentmander answered angrily. How was he supposed to know that 250 Mecha n was such a powerful mecha n? Did he offend them with his attitude just now?¡±


    ¡°Look, they know the weakness of these creatures. They strike their Achilles heel and don¡¯t waste any energy or time,¡± the adjutant said with admiration.


    ¡°They must have gotten first-hand information from Bing Ge. However, it is still impressive as they managed to use the information to its fullest within such a short time.¡± The regimentmander of Courage God had to admit that his mecha operators were not as capable or skilled as the mecha operators from 250 Mecha n.


    He always thought that his mecha operators were not bad but afterparing them to those from 250 Mecha n, he could see that there were still some ws in his mecha operators. Everyone made some mistakes. The regimentmander of Courage God got angrier as time goes by. He wanted to shout at them and remind them to stop embarrassing themselves.

 Chapter 707 - BT

    <h4>Chapter 707: BT</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan was also not satisfied with her mecha operators.


    They got too excited and walked into a bunch of creatures? Shouldn¡¯t they be concerned about their own safety?


    Why did that mecha operator who was adept at long-range attacks rushed to the frontline to fight the creatures in closebat ? Shouldn¡¯t he fully utilize his strength? Don¡¯t tell me that his beam gun ran out of energy. Before leaving their base, she asked all the mecha operators to bring ample energy storage units. A few minutes of shooting would not use up all the energy.


    That mecha operator on the left. Even if you think that the mecha operator from the other division is a hindrance, don¡¯t make it so obvious. How am I supposed to exin to the regimentmander of the other mecha n, why you kicked his mecha operator away so forcefully? Don¡¯t you know that I hate exining things?


    Also, who is that mecha operator beside him? Why is he giving a thumbs up to him? Is he implying that hisrade did the right thing by kicking the other mecha operator away? Didn¡¯t you see that a bunch of mecha operators from the other division had run away from you? What a worrisome bunch of people. Can you all be a little more friendly?


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, your team members are full of character,¡± Ling Xiaoughed softly.


    Daddy, are you joking? Don¡¯t you see how anxious I am? Ling Lan stared at the old man who seemed to be having a good time and sighed.


    ¡°However, you brought them up well.¡± Ling Xiao looked at his daughter proudly. These mecha operators who were given up by their divisions managed to stand up again under the guidance of his daughter. His daughter is so capable.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Ling Lan and Ling Xiao looked turned their heads simultaneously. They felt a spiritual fluctuation in the air. A message seemed to be sent through the air.


    All the ant-like creatures suddenly retreated. Within a few seconds, none of them were left. Only the carcasses of the creatures and those broken mechas remained on the battlefield.


    ¡°Search for survivors immediately.¡± The regimentmander of Courage God didn¡¯t continue to pursue their enemy. He chose to save the mecha operators instead. His mission was to rescue people, not to kill creatures.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t order her team to pursue their opponents too. No one knew if the creatures were nning an ambush. Ling Lan only had 200 mecha operators participating in this mission. Currently, she only had 60 mecha operators beside her. Compared to the other mecha ns who had more than 1000 members participating in the mission, Ling Lan¡¯s team was very small. Hence, every single member was important to her so she didn¡¯t want anyone to die unnecessarily.


    Close to a hundred mecha from Courage God were destroyed in this rescue mission. However, Ling Lan and her team arrived in the nick of time so only the first few mechas were bitten through by the creatures. They suddenly discovered inside those mechas still had signs of life. The regimentmander from Courage God was ted.


    Mecha operators who joined thend clearing mission were all elites. As a regimentmander, he didn¡¯t want any of his team¡¯s elites to die.


    ¡°Regimentmander, Ah Li is in a bad condition.¡± Someone suddenly called the regimentmander.


    ¡°Luo Qi is not going to make it too. Regimentmander, what should we do?¡±


    Bad news kepting in. The regimentmander felt his heart dropped. They had not built their base on this yet so they didn¡¯t have a medical department to send the injured to. If they sent these injured mecha operators back to the starship, they might die before they reached the starships. Does he have to watch his soldiers die right in front of his eyes?


    He wanted to call his team leaders for a discussion. Before he could, he saw the mechas from 250 Mecha n organizing themselves at the side. They didn¡¯t participate in searching for survivors but they didn¡¯t hinder them.


    The regimentmander remembered that 250 Mecha n was the first mecha n toplete their temporary base. Although it was due to sheer luck... no. The regimentmander pushed this thought away. If he didn¡¯t personally witness how strong 250 Mecha n was, he might still believe this rumor. However, now, he believed that it was due to abination of luck and skills that they managed to build a base so quickly.


    ¡°May I know who is the leader of this rescue mission?¡± The regimentmander of Courage God asked them.


    ¡°Our regimentmander, Ling Lan.¡± Qi Long pointed at Ling Lan proudly.


    ¡°Ah, I didn¡¯t expect Regiment Commander Ling to lead this rescue mission personally. The 7th division would like to thank the 23rd division for your help.¡± The regimentmander represented the 7th division and thanked the 23rd division. Everyone knew the 250 Mecha n acted so quickly because their superiors ordered them to. The regimentmander was grateful. Seems like General Ling Xiao have not forgotten the 7th division that groomed him. That was probably why the higher authorities of the 23rd division ced so much importance on the rescue mission, they acted instantly after they knew something bad had happened to the 7th division...


    Thinking about this, the regimentmander scoffed. Those people who said General Ling Xiao had forgotten about the 7th division should take a look at what happened. When something happened to the 7th division, the only help provided was from General Ling Xiao¡¯s 23rd division.


    ¡°There is no need to thank us. We belonged to the same Federation. It is only right for us to help you,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently. Since they all belonged to the Federation and the location of the attack was near her base, she was willing to lend a helping hand.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused the regimentmander of Courage God to confirm his hypothesis about General Ling Xiao. General Ling Xiao left the 7th division because there was no position left for him after he came back. Hence, he had no choice but to form his own division.


    The regimentmander felt bitter. If the division left General Ling Xiao¡¯s position empty, the General of the 7th division might have been Ling Xiao now...


    This thought only shed past his mind. He quickly controlled his emotions and made a request to Ling Lan, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, during the battle, some of my mecha operators were seriously injured. Could you let them enter your base and get treated there...¡±


    The regimentmander thought of something and his expression changed. ¡°Is there a medical department in your base?¡± Only master-level mecha ns had a medical department and medics. If he remembered correctly, 250 Mecha n was just a normal mecha n.


    ¡°We have a medical department in our base. Don¡¯t worry,¡± Ling Lan replied seriously. She signaled Courage God to follow after them back to their base.


    The regimentmander heaved a sigh of relief. He didn¡¯t know whether the facilities they had were good or not but it was better than having them die here. Very soon, the Courage God Mecha n arrived at the base of 250 Mecha n.


    ¡°F**k, what is this? Am I hallucinating?¡± The people from Courage God saw the huge protective shield shining beside ake.


    The protective shield was made using the most advanced technology in the Federation. Only master-level and abovemand centers had the right to get it. However, normalmand centers were only able to get small-sized protective shields. This protective shield in front of them was definitely arge-sized one. Only the centralmand center, at the tenth level of the master-level, was able to get this equipment.


    They looked at the calm expressions on 250 Mecha n mecha operators¡¯ faces. Many mecha operators from Courage God nudged the mecha operator from 250 Mecha n standing beside them.


    ¡°Buddy, is that your temporary base?¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± the mecha operators from 250 Mecha n answered proudly.


    ¡°Really? That is arge-sized protective shield. How did you get this?¡± The mecha operators from Courage God were green with envy.


    The regimentmander of Courage God coughed to remind his members to watch their manners. In his heart, he already confirmed that 250 Mecha n was indeed General Ling Xiao¡¯s personal mecha n. It was the most important mecha n of the 23rd division. Although it looked like an untitled normal mecha n, the regimentmander felt that it was part of General Ling Xiao¡¯s n. That way, no one would notice this mecha n.


    As the regimentmander of Courage God, he knew that the Federation had many factions.


    The regimentmander¡¯s reminder calmed his mecha operators down. They stopped asking questions and controlled their mechas to move towards the beautiful base. Once they reached the entrance, they saw two massive pathways. There were people waving gs near the entrance to guide them into the base.


    Since there were injured members, Ling Lan asked Courage God to enter the pathway first.


    The people from Courage God epted the offer readily. Everyone knew that the faster these injured people were sent in for treatment, the higher the chances they would survive. Hence, Courage God¡¯s mechas flew down and entered the pathway.


    Within the pathway, they saw people waiting for them with carts. The moment the mecha operators ced down the cockpit housing the injured individual into the cart, the people with the cart ran into the base immediately. By the time the mecha operators docked their mechas in the mecha hold, the people pushing the carts were gone. The mecha operators from Courage God were anxious. They didn¡¯t know where theirrades went.


    At that moment, another person led them to the changing room. After changing their clothes, they entered the base.


    The base was filled with advanced technologies. There were high-speed conveyor belts allowing soldiers with urgent matters to move around quickly. The person leading them didn¡¯t bring them to the high-speed conveyor belts. Instead, he walked for some distance before reaching a venue that had the hospital logo. Many personnel wearing white gowns were hurrying around the venue.


    They were lead into the atrium of the hospital and were asked to wait for the news patiently. Then, he left hurriedly to attend to his next task. There were only 300 logisticians in this base. Every logistician had more than one position. One day, they could be attending to the mechas. The next day, they might be helping out at the hospital. On the third day, they might be cleaning up the base.


    These logisticians were busy all the time. At the end of the day, they would fall asleep the moment their head touched the pillow. However, none of them had any grudges. Lin Zhong-qing had brainwashed them well. These logisticians were tricked into thinking all logisticians in the Federation worked as hard as them. They felt that a qualified logistician should be able to handle all kinds of positions.


    These logisticians, who used to be the worst among their batch, were trained harshly to be all-rounded logisticians. They didn¡¯t want to remember the tortures they went through in order to be so efficient.


    The people from Courage God waited in the atrium. Many medical logisticians walked passed them. They kept sending the mecha operators to the three emergency rooms.


    The mecha operators from Courage God only saw people being pushed in but none came out. They got worried. Were they unable to save theirrades?


    Finally, a beautiful and amiable-lookingdy wearing a white gown walked out of one of the emergency rooms. This was the first time the people from Courage God saw a female medic. The moment thedy came out, an impatient mecha operator from Courage God stopped her. ¡°May I know how myrade is doing?¡±


    Thedy seemed delicate but she was not timid. She looked up at the mecha operator and said in a clear voice, ¡°Bing Ge? Courage God?¡± Only mecha operators from these two mecha ns were sent to the emergency room. She couldn¡¯t see the two mecha ns¡¯ totems on the mecha operators so she couldn¡¯t tell where this mecha operator was from.


    ¡°We are from Courage God.¡± The mecha operator knew that he had found the right person.


    ¡°Still okay,¡± Thedy replied indifferently. Then, she wanted to leave.


    The mecha operators from Courage God were angered by thedy¡¯s words. They thought that thedy was giving them a perfunctory reply. They knew theirrades were at the brink of death when they were sent here. They hoped theirrades could be saved but they knew that even with ample resources and experienced doctors in the hospital at their division headquarters, theirrades could not be saved.


    ¡®Still okay¡¯ was not a bad reply but sometimes, a perfunctory answer was even worse than a piece of bad news.


    One of the mecha operators grabbed thedy¡¯s wrist and shouted furiously, ¡°What attitude was that? I¡¯m asked you about the condition of myrades who are heavily injured. Is this how you should reply to me. Your 250 Mecha n is too much. I¡¯m going toin to your superior.¡±


    Thedy looked up at the mecha operator with shining eyes. Many mecha operators who were calmer couldn¡¯t bear to scold thedy. They knew that theirrade was too impulsive, as they wanted to pacify the man. However, before they could do anything, thedy moved her wrist. The mecha operator couldn¡¯t hold on and released his grip. Thedy broke free easily.


    ¡°If you want to know about the condition of the patients, ask the optical supeputer in the atrium.¡± Thedy was not angry. She knew how they felt so she didn¡¯t want to argue with the mecha operator.


    However, the mecha operator was not appeased. His emotions exploded when he realized that ady was able to break free from his grip easily. He raised both of his hands and attempted to grab her again. His eyes were bloodshot.


    A cold sh of light shed passed thedy¡¯s eyes. Something shiny flew out of her hand. The mecha operator froze and fell on the ground almost immediately. Everyone saw a miniature syringe at his neck.


    Thedy calmly took the syringe back and ced it in her pocket. Some logisticians rushed over after seeing themotion. She told the logisticians, ¡°This person is mentally unstable, send him to room 712 to get treatment.¡±


    The logisticians looked at the mecha operator with pity. How did this person offend Miss Luo Chao? She wanted to send this person to that room... They could only hope that he would be fine after going through the treatment.


    The people from Courage God wanted to stop them. Luo Chao looked up and said gently, ¡°Would you all like to visit the room too?¡±


    Everyone shook their head decisively. They wanted to cry. Pretty littledy, can you throw away the syringes in your hands? It¡¯s frightening to see you waving so many syringes about...


    Luo Chao nodded her head in satisfaction. She kept her syringes and left the atrium calmly. The miniature syringes Boss Lan gave her were very useful. As expected of my Boss Lan! Luo Chao blushed slightly.


    The mecha operators from Courage God teared up a bit when they saw the beautiful silhouette of thedy. F**k, 250 Mecha n is a bunch of perverts! Even a gentle-looking beautifuldy is so vicious. From Luo Chao¡¯s attack, they could tell that her physical skills were stronger than most of them. She was not as harmless as she looked. Theirrade offended someone, he shouldn¡¯t.


    After this episode, the mecha operators from Courage God rein in their temper. They started to be vignt in front of the people of 250 Mecha n. They didn¡¯t want to offend another pervert. However, they still remembered what Luo Chao said and went to check the optical supeputer in the atrium. They needed to enter theirrades¡¯ personal code into the optical supeputer. Every soldier had his own code. Yet, most soldiers would only remember their own code. They were stunned.


    They tried to enter theirrades¡¯ names but the optical supeputer didn¡¯t manage to find the person. They knew why this happened. No one apanied their injuredrades so the people from 250 Mecha n could only scan theirrades¡¯ personal codes in order to identify them. If they wanted to get more information, they needed to wait until the treatment ended or wait for their regimentmander toe.


    Only their regimentmander had the personal codes of all the mecha operators in the mecha n.

 Chapter 708 - Give In!

    <h4>Chapter 708: Give In!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The regimentmander of Courage God was thest person to arrive at the atrium. He walked into the medical atrium anxiously and was informed about the need of the personal codes of the mecha operators, he immediately opened the document on hismunicator and entered their codes into the optical supeputer.


    The regimentmander prepared himself mentally. He knew that those injured members might not survive even if they were sent to to the best hospital in the Federation, the headquarters¡¯ hospital. However, when he entered their personal codes into the system, he realized that no one was dead. The worse remark about their situation was ¡®in the emergency room¡¯.


    ¡°Did they not update the information yet?¡± The regimentmander recalled that there were many injured mecha operators sent to 250 Mecha n¡¯s base. Although the base was technologically advanced, there were not many staff inside. It was reasonable that they didn¡¯t have enough logisticians to update the information.


    The regimentmander knew that this was probably the truth but, he wanted to believe that his members were still in an emergency state and not dead.


    After a few hours, the light on the three emergency room signs dimmed. The door of the middle emergency room was opened. A tired-looking young man wearing a white gown, stained with blood walked out. Two beautiful youngdies walked out after him. One of them was the gentledy who subdued the mecha operator with a syringe. The other one was a valiant and livelydy. She didn¡¯t look like an easy person to bully.


    There was a difference between the white gown of a military doctor and the white gown of a medic. The regimentmander was ted when he noticed the young man was a military doctor. He was under the impression of 250 Mecha n had only medics but they actually had a military doctor. No matter what rank he was, he was much more skillful than a medic. If his members couldst longer, he would have asked more professional military doctors toe and rescue his members.


    The regimentmander instantly walked up and asked anxiously, ¡°Major, may I ask about the condition of the mecha operators from Courage God?¡± Since they couldn¡¯t get thetest information from the system, he could only look for the military doctor personally.


    The young man raised his head and looked at the regimentmander¡¯s face which was filled with worry. ¡°Everything is sessful. If you want to know the details, check the optical supeputer in the atrium.¡±


    If he didn¡¯t see how anxious the regimentmander was, he would not have bothered to reply. Among the injured members, six of them were on the brink of death. If his emergency healing agents were not powerful enough to sustain the lives of these people for a period of time, even with his ability, he might not be able to save all of them as there were not enough military doctors in this base. Li Shiyu finally felt the consequences of theck of manpower. Luo Chao and Han Xuya tried their best but they were ultimately not military doctors. They were only medics, more skillful medics.


    Maybe he should send an invitation to some of his juniors in the medicine major at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy to ask them to apply to enter the 23rd division. He should get more military doctors toe to 250 Mecha n.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s reply made the regimentmander extremely happy. Since the military doctor said this, this meant that all his members managed to survive.


    However, he still wasn¡¯t too optimistic. Maybe they were just alive but needed to undergo more treatmentster. The military doctor left after saying one sentence so he couldn¡¯t ask him more questions. He saw how tired the military doctor was and knew that he needed a good rest after spending so much effort to save his members.


    Only the regimentmander and the team leaders of Courage God still remained in the atrium. They rushed to the optical supeputer. Luckily, there were a few optical supeputers so they didn¡¯t have to squeeze around one. Everyone was concerned about their ownrades and wanted to know what their condition was.


    Just like what the military doctor said, no one died. Five were still in a dangerous state and needed to be under careful observation. The people from Courage God were content to know this.


    They wanted to visit their team members but the medical department of 250 Mecha n had very strict rules. They didn¡¯t allow any visitors after the visiting hours.


    The regimentmander had no choice but to leave the atrium with his team leaders. They had to wait for the next day if they wanted to see theirrades.


    The regimentmander finally had the mind to observe 250 Mecha n¡¯s temporary base. He got more shocking as he continued walking. Is this really a temporary base? This is more like an official base. Some official base might not even be as good as this ce.


    ¡°If I have such a base as my home, I¡¯ll not be afraid no matter how hard and tiring thend clearing mission is,¡± one of the mecha operators couldn¡¯t help but say.


    The high mortality rate fornd clearing missions was public information, they fully understood what they were getting into. The mecha operators were nervous when they epted the mission but they were not afraid. Since they chose to enter the military and be a mecha operator, they were already prepared to sacrifice their lives for their country on the battlefield. But, the living conditions in and clearing mission was much harsher than in a war, especially for the scouting teams. They gained the most resources but endured the most hardships. They had to spend days or even months in the small cockpit of their mechas. They couldn¡¯t move their bodies too much. It was a mental and physical torture for the mecha operators. Many mecha operators would develop some mental illnesses after returning from and clearing mission. Some couldn¡¯t enter a mecha anymore and had to be a normal soldier or leave the army.


    Although and clearing mission was supposed to let the various divisions to gain some more resources, it was a harsh test for the mecha operators too. Some that survived might be able to achieve a breakthrough while others might lose their mind and be a normal soldier. Some might die and be a name on a tombstone.


    This was why divisions brought along logisticians for theirnd clearing mission. The logisticians would build a base for the mecha operators so that more mecha operators would not turn crazy after the mission ended.


    But, due to reasons like money and time, most temporary bases were simple and crude. The mecha operators only had a small area where they could move around. However,pared to their small cockpits, this temporary base allowed them to get some rest and rx their mind.


    Yet, the temporary base of 250 Mecha n was nothing like what they knew. Everyone was green with envy. F**k, why does their mecha n not have the same treatment as 250 Mecha n?


    This thought only shed through their minds. Soon, they calmed down. They were now even more certain now that 250 Mecha n was General Ling Xiao¡¯s personal mecha n. It was the most important mecha n in the 23rd division.


    Their appearance were noticed by the logisticians at the base. After understanding their situation, they brought the people from Courage God to their amodations. Courage God had many people but this base could house close to 2000 people. When Lin Zhong-qing asked for resources from the chief of staff, he told him to give him equipment for 2000 people. After all, 250 Mecha n would expand in the future, they needed to make preparations ahead of time.


    If Lin Zhong-qing could get the resources for a temporary base that could house 5000 people, he would have done it. However, they were unable to transport such a huge amount of resources over based on their current manpower. It was a good thing he didn¡¯t bring this up too. If he did, He Xuyang might have flipped the table on him.


    Ling Lan went back to her room after she let Lin Zhong-qing handle the people from Courage God. She didn¡¯t arrange her mecha operators to explore the area where Bing Ge met the creatures.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you send mecha operators to explore the area? There must be something good inside the forest. That is why Bing Ge didn¡¯t want to give up the area.¡± Ling Xiao sat on the sofazily after he entered the room. He smiled mysteriously at his daughter.


    ¡°Since Courage God is here, it is not right for me to do it,¡± Ling Lan replied nonchntly. If she didn¡¯t meet Courage God, she would have sent in some mecha operators to explore the area. However, now, the situation was different.


    ¡°Actually, in and clearing mission, there is no such thing as firste first serve. Even if Bing Ge found the area first, they didn¡¯t have the ability to get the resource, their mecha n was almost annihted. This means the resources belonged to no one. If you want it, you can get it.¡± Ling Xiao told Ling Lan the rules of thend clearing mission. Although they were on good terms with the 7th division and Ling Xiao was previously the vicemander of the 7th division, all these were now in the past. To Ling Xiao, only the 23rd division mattered to him now.


    ¡°I know,¡± Ling Lan said.


    ¡°Why did you give in then?¡± Ling Xiao frowned. It was good that his daughter was not a greedy person but he didn¡¯t want his daughter to be too soft-hearted. A qualified officer must not be emotional and soft-hearted. He or she must understand what was best for him and his soldiers and be merciless when required.


    ¡°I feel that those ant-like creatures are dangerous.¡± Ling Lan thought for a moment before replying. ¡°The circr creature at the bottom of theke is intelligent. When it knew it couldn¡¯t defeat us, it chose to bow down to us... I suspect the ant-like creatures are simr to it. They retreated too quickly. I feel that if we continued chasing them, we will be in danger.¡±


    ¡°So you wanted Courage God to explore the area first and see how powerful the ant-like creatures really are?¡± Ling Xiao smiled. He had already noticed how abnormal the ant-like creatures were. This was why he didn¡¯t persuade Ling Lan when she chose not to send anyone to explore the forest. What he said just now was to test if Ling Lan noticed the same thing as he did or was she just being soft-hearted.


    His daughter never disappoints him. Ling Xiao¡¯s looked at his daughter proudly.


    ¡°Since the people from Courage God had arrived, it means that it¡¯s impossible for us to swallow this resource alone. Anyone with a brain will know the resource Bing Ge tried to get even at the cost of annihtion must be something special. The regimentmander of the 7th division knew this so he acted quickly.¡± Ling Lan started her analysis. ¡°However, this is good for me too. If there was only 250 Mecha n, I might have taken the risk since the benefits outweigh the risks by arge margin. The result will be unpredictable. Now, with Courage God as my frontline, we will be much safer.¡±


    Compared to resources she could gain, Ling Lan cared more about the safety of her mecha operators.


    ¡°Are you not afraid if all the meat was taken by Courage God?¡± Ling Xiao smiled. He was satisfied with the fact that Ling Lan was able to remain logical in front of wealth. He was also happy that she cared so much about her mecha operators.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Having some soup is good too¡± Ling Lan smiled. Since they helped Bing Ge and Courage God to save their men, the 7th division had to give them some resources in return. Also, she didn¡¯t want to be a thorn in the flesh for all the divisions. With the 7th division taking the lead this time, her father would have less pressure on him.


    Based on Chang Xinyuan¡¯s rough estimation, the energy within theke was enough to astound the entire military. Her father would be having a hard time trying to make sure that the 23rd division fully swallowed this resource.


    Ling Xiao thought about this too and his smile got brighter. Was his daughter worried about him? Sob, I¡¯m so touched!


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what Ling Xiao was thinking. She just felt that her father already had a hard time settling all the things within the 23rd division as well as appeasing her frightening mother. Hence, as his daughter, she must not add more burden on his shoulders. She didn¡¯t want to have white hairs... Ling Lan still hoped that her father would be a handsome man, not an old and tired-looking old man.


    Ling Xiao didn¡¯t know that Ling Lan was thinking about his looks with disdain. Let¡¯s have a moment of silence for Ling Xiao.


    Hence, 250 Mecha n explored the area around their base without touching the forest where Bing Ge was attacked. The regimentmander of Courage God was touched by Ling Lan decision. He was even more convinced now that this was an order given by General Ling Xiao so that the 7th division could acquire the resource.


    Themander of the 7th division had a simr thought too. Soon, he made an agreement with themander of the 23rd division. They would use the base of 250 Mecha n as their temporary base. The 7th division would send the rest of its mecha ns to 250 Mecha n¡¯s base, to work together with Courage God to destroy the ant-like creatures. If they found any resources at this part of the, they would give a portion of it to the 23rd division as well as 250 Mecha n.

 Chapter 709 - Him!

    <h4>Chapter 709: Him!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Lin Zhong-qing was very busy. He was so busy he wished that he could fly instead of walking. A housewife can¡¯t cook a meal without rice. How was he supposed to handle so many people at once all by himself?


    Lin Zhong-qing gritted his teeth. After this mission ends, he must ask his boss to get more men from the chief of staff. The moment Lin Zhong-qing saw logisticians from the other mecha ns, he would attempt to lure them over to 250 Mecha n.


    Besides him, He Chaoyang and the other three were also extremely tired. They hated themselves for being too naive to be fooled by their boss into entering the logistics department. At this moment, they were no longer as excited as they were when they got all the advanced pieces of equipment from the chief of staff.


    ¡°Zhong-qing, can I take a break tomorrow?¡± Yuan Youyun said weakly as heid there with a helpless look on his face. How is he going to survive tomorrow?


    ¡°Once you finish your job tomorrow, you can rest for as many days as you want,¡± Lin Zhong-qing heartlessly rejected his request. Hecked manpower so he would never let such a good subordinate off so easily.


    ¡°Sob. I¡¯m going to die soon.¡± Yuan Youyunid on the table weakly. He was in charge of the JMCs but with most of the logisticians taken away by other departments. Where could he find enough JMCs to direct the numerous visitorsing into their base?


    Yuan Youyun looked at the name list of the logisticians given to him. There were only 80 logisticians avable. How were they able to wee 1000 mecha operators all by themselves? He looked at He Chaoyang. Then, he turned his head decisively. He Chaoyang couldn¡¯t even solve his own problem. They were good friends but at times like this, they should take care of own problems first.


    As for Luo Shaoyun and Li Jinghong, the former was in charge of taking care of the mechas while thetter was in charge of the logistics of the living areas in the base. These two requiredrge amounts of manpower too so they were unable to help Yuan Youyun. They were alsocking people. They couldn¡¯t help even if they wanted to.


    Li Jinghong saw how helpless Yuan Youyun looked. He knew that with the current 4 JMCs avable to him, they would definitely be unable to handle such a huge number of people. Hence, he reminded him, ¡°Youyun, you can ask Sister Luo Chao for help. Maybe the medical department can give you some people.¡±


    The logisticians of 250 Mecha n were all-rounded logisticians. They could move between all the departments.


    Fine, for the sake of hisrade, he betrayed Young Master Shiyu! Li Jinghong felt embarrassed by himself. He apologized to Li Shiyu in his heart. Although they were both from the Li family, he had to consider his job first.


    Yuan Youyun was inspired by what Li Jinghong said. He hugged Li Jinghong and cried, ¡°Li Jinghong, you are indeed my good friend.¡± Before Li Jinghong could reply, he was pushed away. Li Jinghong almost fell on the ground.


    Yuan Youyun rushed out of the logistics department. Before he left, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll go look for Little Sister Luo Chao now.¡±


    Li Jinghong looked hurt as he pointed to the door, trembling from head to toe. He shouted sadly, ¡°Yuan Youyun, I will not let you go so easily.¡± How dare you kick me away once you used me.


    Luo Shaoyun and He Chaoyangughed when they saw this. Lin Zhong-qing couldn¡¯t help but smile too. With these four lively and capable helpers beside him, Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s personality started changing too...


    Yuan Youyun charged to the medical department. The moment he stepped in, he cried and shouted, ¡°Little Sister Luo Chao, help!¡±


    This shout shocked everyone in the atrium.


    ¡°Who is he?¡± The regimentmander of Courage God frowned. Didn¡¯t he know that he should keep quiet in the medical department? He might disturb the rest of the patients and affect their recovery.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve never seen him before.¡± Yuan Youyun rarely came out so the people from Courage God were not familiar with him. However, they saw the medics bowing to him so they knew he must be an officer.


    When Yuan Youyun shouted the second time, the door of one emergency room mmed open. Someone shouted loudly, ¡°Yuan Youyun, shut up.¡± The lean and valiant-lookingdy appeared at the door with her hands on her waist. She red at Yuan Youyun angrily.


    Didn¡¯t he see the poster covering almost the entire wall? Didn¡¯t he see the words ¡®remain silent¡¯?


    Yuan Youyun looked at thedy and scoffed. He waved his hands. ¡°Han Xuya, I¡¯m not looking for you. I¡¯m looking for Little Sister Luo Chao.¡±


    ¡°Yuan Youyun!¡± Han Xuya was already angered by Yuan Youyun¡¯s actions so when she heard Yuan Youyun dismissing her, she exploded.


    Han Xuya disappeared from the door and reappeared beside Yuan Youyun in a blink of an eye. She kicked Yuan Youyun.


    Yuan Youyun raised his hand and blocked the attack. Yuan Youyun looked at her in astonishment. ¡°Han Xuya, are you trying to kill me?¡± If he didn¡¯t intercept her attack just now, with the force she exerted in her kick, he would have been badly injured.


    ¡°Since you dared to raise your voice in my territory, you must be prepared to die.¡± Han Xuya gritted her teeth. She raised her leg and continued kicking Yuan Youyun.


    The medics in the atrium calmly walked to the side, leaving an empty area for the two of them to fight. They made sure that they would not destroy the seats at the side.


    The people from Courage God were dumbfounded. Do the people from 250 Mecha n fight whenever they want to? Even a quiet medical department can be a venue for a fight.


    As the two people were fighting, another gentle-lookingdy appeared at the door of the emergency room. The people from Courage God felt a chill on their neck when they saw thisdy. They still remembered theirrade who was still lying on his bed after being attacked by her syringe.


    ¡°Youyun? Xuya? What are you two doing?¡± Luo Chao said helplessly.


    These two people had been like this ever since their military academy days.Whenever they were free, they would fight. Yuan Youyun never gave in to Han Xuya just because she was ady. Well, maybe Yuan Youyun never took her as ady.


    The two people stopped what they were doing when they heard Luo Chao¡¯s voice. Han Xuya sulked and red at Yuan Youyun before blowing off imaginary steam off her fists. Luo Chao looked like a gentle and easy-going person but when she gets angry, she was very scary.


    Yuan Youyun ignored Han Xuya¡¯s re and looked at Luo Chao as though she was his life savior. The next second, he rushed over. ¡°Sister Luo Chao, help.¡±


    He was here to seek help from Luo Chao. If he didn¡¯t guide the mecha operators from the other mecha ns properly, embarrassing 250 Mecha n, his boss would surely punish him severely.


    Before Yuan Youyun could hug Luo Chao, he heard snort. He saw Li Shiyu crossing his hands in front of his chest while he leaned against the door frame.


    ¡°Erm...¡± Yuan Youyun stopped immediately. He could almost feel the heat from his military boots as they scraped the floor. It almost burnt his toes but it was worth it. He managed to stop before touching her.


    ¡°Haha, Brother Shiyu is here too.¡± Yuan Youyun touched the back of his head. Sob, he is just here to seek help from Little Sister Luo Chao. Why is the devil of the medical department here too?


    Yuan Youyun remembered thest time he hugged Little Sister Luo Chao. Li Shiyu injected him with an agent that made him itch all over. He could still vividly remember that feeling. It was not because Li Shiyu liked Luo Chao. Li Shiyu just felt that a man should respect ady and not touched them whatsoever without their consent. Especially in the military where 99.99% of the army consisted of men, they should take note of this and keep their distance. If by any chance a man couldn¡¯t control himself, he might hurt thedy.


    Yuan Youyun was afraid of Li Shiyu not because of his frightening agent but because his Boss also agreed with Li Shiyu¡¯s viewpoint. If any men in 250 Mecha n dared to do anything untowardly to ady, his boss would punish them even more harshly.


    Yuan Youyun nced around him carefully. There was no sign of his boss. He patted his chest. He was so anxious to seek help, he forgot about the rule of 250 Mecha n just now. He almost went to meet the God of Death.


    If Li Shiyu saw him, he would at most be physically tortured. If his boss saw him... Yuan Youyun felt a chill down his spine. He still remembered that mecha operator who teased Luo Chao and Han Xuya and ended up in the healing pod, and was still there till this day.


    ¡°Boss is not here. Why are you looking for Luo Chao?¡± Li Shiyu knew what Yuan Youyun was afraid of so he exposed him.


    ¡°There are mecha ns from the 7th divisioning to our base, right? Little Sister Luo Chao, can you have some medics temporarily be JMCs?¡± Yuan Youyun put his palms together and looked at Luo Chao hopefully. He hoped Luo Chao was able to help him.


    This time, however, Luo Chao looked hesitant. ¡°But Boss asked Xuya and I to be in charge of the reception at the meeting room.¡±


    A coboration needed more than just a sentence. The 7th division ordered their mecha ns toe over so they could have a discussion ande up with an action n. Since 250 Mecha n had a temporary base, they had to provide the venue for the meeting. The meeting would be attended by people of higher ranks so they needed qualified people to attend to them. Thus, the only twodies of 250 Mecha n were chosen for this job.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Yuan Youyun was in despair. Even Luo Chao has a mission. Who else could he look for? He didn¡¯t dare to snatch his Boss¡¯sdies... erm, there seemed to be something wrong with this sentence.


    Luo Chao couldn¡¯t bear to see him like this. ¡°Will we be able to get to the meeting room in time if we help out as JMCs?¡± They had to guide the people into the base anyway before they could start the meeting. As long as they were able to reach the meeting room before these people, everything would be fine.


    To ensure the operations of the entire base, ran smoothly, even officers like Luo Chao had to step in as logisticians. This showed how undermanned 250 Mecha n was.


    Yuan Youyun¡¯s eyes lit up but dimmed again. ¡°No, you have to prepare for the meeting. If there are too many peopleing into our base, you would not be able to rush back in time.¡± He didn¡¯t want Luo Chao and Han Xuya to be scolded by their Boss because of him.


    ¡°What is so difficult about that? There will only be a lot more traffic at the start. We can help until right before the meeting starts. Then, we will get someone to substitute for us for theter part.¡± Han Xuya walked over.


    Yuan Youyun was enlightened by what Han Xuya said. He nodded. He said gratefully, ¡°Thank you, Han Xuya. It is settled then. You wille over in the morning.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I know. Do you think I¡¯m stupid? Hurry up and leave, We are very busy.¡± Han Xuya red at him and swept him away like a pile of rubbish. Yuan Youyun had achieved his goal, so he didn¡¯t bother about Han Xuya¡¯s attitude. He left with a smiling face.


    The people Courage God saw Yuan Youyun leaving. Their eyes lit up when they saw the three highest ranked officers of the medical department.


    Li Shiyu reacted the fastest. ¡°I¡¯m busy. You two will settle everything from here.¡± He closed the door of the emergency room with a bang.


    Luo Chao and Han Xuya reacted slower so they got surrounded by people from Courage God.


    ¡°Second lieutenant Luo, may I know...¡±


    ¡°Second lieutenant Han, may I know...¡±


    Luo Chao and Han Xuya¡¯s face darkened. They were upset with their reaction speed. Li Shiyu was able to get himself out of this situation but they weren¡¯t able to. As they answered the questions given by the soldiers, they promised to themselves that they would train their physical skills and reaction speed whenever they had the time so that they would not be the sacrificialmb for Li Shiyu.


    The next day, Luo Chao and Han Xuya arrived at the atrium of the medical department bright and early in the morning. They had a medic beside them. This time, they chose three medics to go together with them. After all, Yuan Youyun would never be able to handle the huge amount of mecha operators with his current manpower, Luo Chao and Han Xuya could only help him for a while. Hence, they decided to bring some helpers along.


    ¡°Why isn¡¯t Zhou Yu and Chen Yi¡¯an here?¡± Luo Chao frowned. Did something happen to them? These two people always performed well. Zhou Yu might make some mistakes but Chen Yi¡¯an was an extremely responsible and stubborn person. If was a deadline, he would meet it.


    At that moment, Chen Yi¡¯an carried Zhou Yu over on his back.


    ¡°What happened to Zhou Yu?¡± Luo Chao hurried over and asked in concern.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Yesterday evening, he kept vomiting and was running a fever. He ate some medicine but it didn¡¯t seem to be working so I carried him here to find Doctor Li,¡± Chen Yi¡¯an replied worriedly.


    Luo Chao wanted to say something but hermunicator suddenly vibrated. She picked it up. Yuan Youyun¡¯s voice could be heard. ¡°Sister Luo Chao, help! Help!¡± The mecha operators guarding the outer perimeter of the base just informed him that the other mecha ns would soon reach the territory of 250 Mecha n. Yuan Youyun needed Luo Chao and Han Xuya¡¯s help immediately.


    Luo Chao didn¡¯t dare to waste anymore time. She brought Han Xuya and the other medic over. She asked Chen Yi¡¯an to settle Zhou Yu down and hurry over as soon as possible. If he saw any free logisticians along the way, he should bring the logistician to the JMC area.


    Chen Yi¡¯an nodded. After bring Zhou Yu inside, he rushed out of the medical department. He remembered what Han Xuya said and went to look for any free logisticians. However, during this time, most of the logisticians were busy.


    After walking around for a moment, Chen Yi¡¯an walked into a small garden. He wanted to leave but he suddenly saw a seated figure in the garden. His eyes lit up.


    There was a young man meditating in this little garden. He seemed to be asleep or was listening to something. From his rxed posture, he must be very free.


    Chen Yi¡¯an was ted. He could finally answer to Second lieutenant Han.


    Ling Lan felt a gust of wind in front of her. It was harmless so she opened her eyes calmly. She saw a logistician running towards her with a silly smile on his face. Is he looking for her?


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. The people who usually looked for her were from Lingtian and the team leaders. Even the members of the teams would not look for her personally. Who ordered this logistician to look for her? Did something happen to Lin Zhong-qing?


    Lin Zhong-qing was a careful person. He would not let anyone unfamiliar get near her... Ling Lan couldn¡¯t guess why this logistician was looking for her.


    ¡°I finally found you. Hurry up and follow me.¡± The logistician wanted to grab her hand. Ling Lan tilted her body and evaded his hand.


    ¡°Who are you? Why are you looking for me?¡± Ling Lan frowned. Who is this idiot? Does he know who she is?


    Ling Lan forgot she had retracted the cold aura around her while she was meditating because this was her living space. Hence, to Chen Yi¡¯an, she was just a young-looking recruit (although she was indeed a recruit). Also, Chen Yi¡¯an was a simple person. He would never think that this beautiful and youthful young man was their terrifying regimentmander.

 Chapter 710 - JMC!

    <h4>Chapter 710: JMC!</h4>


    <b>Trantor:</b> Henyee Trantions <b>Editor:</b> Henyee Trantions


    Chen Yi¡¯an patted his chest and introduced himself, ¡°I am called Chen Yi¡¯an. I¡¯m looking for you because I need you to be a JMC. Oh right, what is your name?¡±


    JMC? Does she look like a JMC? Ling Lan was stunned for a moment. Her mother was an outstanding JMC. She used her voice to attract her current husband... Did she inherit her mother¡¯s talent? Ling Lan touched her chin. If she stepped down as the regimentmander one day, she could still be an outstanding JMC. She would not have to worry about not having a job.


    Ling Lan looked at the idiot in front of her. All herrades didn¡¯t notice this talent of hers. Why was this idiot able to see it? Does he have an innate talent for noticing things normal people couldn¡¯t?


    Ling Lan looked at Chen Yi¡¯an curiously. When she saw her reflection in his eyes, she understood everything. Unconsciously, she retracted her cold aura while she was meditating. This young man probably just saw a harmless youth meditating in front of him. No wonder he wasn¡¯t afraid of her. He probably never thought that she was his regimentmander.


    However, he still lowered her guard. She didn¡¯t release her cold aura immediately to disguise herself. This young man must have some kind of special innate talent. Chen Yi¡¯an, I¡¯ll remember your name. She had a sudden thought. ¡°Is Chen Yifan your brother?¡±


    Ling Lan had a strong impression of Chen Yifan. He performed very well throughout the months of harsh training. He was almost as good as the members of the Lingtian Battle Team. This caused Ling Lan to see him in a different way. Ling Lan also respected him because he gave up a high ranked position in order to protect his younger brother.


    Ling Lan always felt that friends, families, andrades were way more important than power and money.


    Chen Yi¡¯an was ted to hear his big brother¡¯s name. ¡°Ah, you know my big brother? My big brother is very strong.¡± Chen Yi¡¯an had a look of admiration on his face.


    As expected! His big brother was very talented so his potential must be not bad too... Ling Lan decided to ask Li Shiyu to find out what Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s innate talent waster.


    She was really interested in Chen Yi¡¯an. He made her lower her guard against him. Luckily, Chen Yi¡¯an was on her side so nothing bad happened. However, what if someone with a simr innate talent wanted to attack her? With her attitude just now, she would be in danger.


    Ling Lan wanted to die a natural death so she cared very much about the factors that could cause her to be at risk.


    Why did she decide to look for Li Shiyu? Because Li Shiyu had been very interested in innate talents which could psychologically affect humans recently and was researching about them. The people from Lingtian had the honor and bad luck of bing Li Shiyu¡¯s guinea pig.


    During this time, the people from Lingtian feared Li Shiyu even more. He was now the second most frightening person, just behind... cough, just behind their Boss. No one was able to touch their Boss¡¯s rank.


    Anyway, in this period of time, whenever someone from Lingtian Battle Team heard Li Shiyu¡¯s name, they would feel a chill down their spine. They were all afraid that Li Shiyu would catch them and asked them to be his guinea pig. Although Li Shiyu wouldn¡¯t harm them, he would stare at them intently with a crazy look in his eyes. It was scary.


    Chen Yi¡¯an never expected himself to meet the ultimate scary Boss just because he was looking for a JMC. Also, because of this Boss, he would be noticed by Li Shiyu and be a part of his experiment.


    Sigh, let¡¯s have a moment of silence for Chen Yi¡¯an.


    Chen Yi¡¯an didn¡¯t sense any signs of danger at all. When he heard Ling Lan asking about his big brother, she definitely knew of his big brother. Hence, he viewed her as his friend. He looked at Ling Lan¡¯s young face and felt that she must be younger than him. He felt that he should take care of her. He patted his chest and said, ¡°Since you know my big brother, you are my friend too. If anyone in the logistics department dares to bully you, just tell them my name. If they still bully you, I¡¯ll teach them a lesson.¡±


    Chen Yi¡¯an waved his fist to pretend that he was strong and to instill Ling Lan with some confidence in him.


    Sob, he can finally protect someone. I am so touched! Chen Yi¡¯an was filled with motivation. He realized that he had grown up to be someone that could protect people younger than him.


    Big Brother, are you looking at me? I¡¯m already all grown up now. I¡¯m a man now. I can protect you just like how I protect... huh? What is this young man¡¯s name again?


    Chen Yi¡¯an suddenly realized that he didn¡¯t know what this young man was called. Did he not ask him? He remembered that he did. Was he too careless and didn¡¯t hear his reply? This must be the case. Why was he so negligent?


    Chen Yi¡¯an was upset with himself. He felt he owe this young man an apology. ¡°Little brother, I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t hear your name just now. Can you repeat it? What is your name?¡±


    Ling Lan was speechless. She didn¡¯t say what her name was. Was this idiot thinking too much?


    She looked at Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s sincere eyes and knew that he really felt sorry for forgetting her name...


    Sigh. Ling Lan noticed that she couldn¡¯t resist such puppy eyes. She said, ¡°My name is Ling... Lan.¡±


    You should know who I am now, right? Ling Lan was waiting for Chen Yi¡¯an to be shocked, but instead, she saw him looking down at hismunicator. Han Xuya had sent a message to hurry Chen Yi¡¯an after she noticed that he was not here yet. They couldn¡¯t handle the mecha operators that were rushing to enter their base anymore.


    ¡°Ahh, it¡¯s already sote? Damn it!¡±


    Chen Yi¡¯an didn¡¯t hear Ling Lan¡¯sst word. He ran out. When he saw Ling Lan still standing on the spot, he said hurriedly, ¡°Lin, hurry up. Second lieutenant Han can¡¯t handle the workload anymore. She needs our help. Hurry up.¡±


    Ling Lan noticed Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s agitation. She heard Han Xuya¡¯s anxious voice on themunicator so she knew that the JMC was in dire need of more manpower. She had nothing much to do currently so she decided to go over and take a look. If she could help them, she would.


    Ling Lan cared a lot for the only two girls in the Lingtian Battle Team. If she didn¡¯t hear Han Xuya¡¯s agitated tone, she would not have followed Chen Yi¡¯an.


    The moment the two of them left the garden, a figure appeared at the other end of the road. He wore a silver mask on his face. His lips were pursed and he was frowning. He looked at the two people leaving thoughtfully.


    ¡°Qi Long and Zhao Jun are both humble-looking but smart people. Luo Lang is stupid. Rabbit treated the three of them betterpared to the other people from Lingtian. I¡¯m unhappy about this but it is the truth. I can¡¯t deny it. Compared to these three people, Ling Lan still had some guard against me. No, not only me, she treated other people the same way too. Now, another idiot has appeared. Rabbit let her guard down against him too...¡±


    Li Lanfeng had aplicated look in his eyes. ¡°I was wrong from the start.¡±


    His rabbit didn¡¯t like people who were scheming. He liked direct people. Li Lanfeng gave a bitter smile. Yes, he would prefer this kind of person too. It was too tiring to scheme against one another. If he saw someone like him, he would probably hate that person too.


    Li Lanfeng was depressed. He wanted to look for Ling Lan because he had something to discuss with her. However, now, he didn¡¯t have the mood. He left the garden. The piece of paper in his hand was torn into pieces. He threw them on the ground.


    After Li Lanfeng disappeared, another figure appeared at the spot where Ling Lan was meditating just now. He wore a mask too. However, it was a ck mask.


    He looked at Li Lanfeng¡¯s back view before turning to look at the direction where Ling Lan left. He frowned.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng... He is a dangerous person. Should I tell Lan¡¯er?¡± Ling Xiao didn¡¯t have a good impression Li Lanfeng from the start. He felt that Li Lanfeng suppressed his emotions too much. He looked gentle and harmless but Ling Xiao saw through him. He knew that Li Lanfeng was a cunning person. No matter how he pretended, he would never be a positive person.


    Ling Xiao thought for a moment and decided to give up on the thought. Ling Lan chose her own friends. She had to depend on herself to see through her friends. Moreover, since she had epted them as her friends. Her daughter might already have the same opinion as him.


    Forget it, they have their own lives to live. They need to experience certain things in order to grow up. No matter what the result was, he would support his daughter.


    Ling Xiao sighed. He made his decision but he still hoped that his daughter would not be at any risk. Ling Xiao disappeared from the garden. It became peaceful again.


    Ling Lan and Chen Yi¡¯an quickly reached the JMC workce. Before they entered the atrium, Chen Yi¡¯an shouted, ¡°Second Lieutenant Han, Second Lieutenant Luo, we are here.¡±


    Han Xuya¡¯s loud voice came from within. ¡°Why are you so slow? Hurry up and enter room No. 3. Yuan Youyun is alone in the room. He is reaching his limit.¡± There were three people in room No. 1 and No.2. However, there was only one person in room No. 3. He must be going crazy by now.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Yi¡¯an immediately dashed to room No. 3. He called Ling Lan along.


    Ling Lan entered room No. 3. She saw Yuan Youyun with a JMC headset in each hand. His back was facing the door. When he heard someone entering the door, he didn¡¯t look back and just said, ¡°No. 9, No. 10. Choose one. Hurry up. Everyone is waiting.¡±


    They had thought only a portion of the mecha operators from each mecha n woulde. But instead, besides those important personals, all the mecha operators from each mecha n wanted to visit their temporary base after seeing it. The order given by themand center was to satisfy the mecha ns as much as they could so Yuan Youyun couldn¡¯t stop them from entering.


    Ling Lan sat on the seat nearest to her. The moment she wore the JMC headset, she saw the number of signals being sent in. She frowned. ¡°So many people want toe in?¡±


    ¡°Yes. There is still some space in the mecha holds so we can¡¯t reject them.¡± Yuan Youyun just finished directing two mecha operators so he replied without thinking too much.


    Hmm, this voice sounded familiar. Is it someone he knew? Yuan Youyun remembered Luo Chao and Han Xuya saying that there would be two more logisticians arriving so he thought that this voice belonged to a logistician. He didn¡¯t have the time to think too much since he was really busy. Another application to enter hade in. He epted the invitation.


    Ling Lan looked at the empty mecha holds. The mecha operators that entered their base could see how many mecha holds there were left so they couldn¡¯t reject them. She pressed the call button and started guiding the other mecha operators.


    F**k, why am I being a JMC for them? Ling Lan scoffed. She decided that she must extort some more resources during the discussion. If not, she would be extremely unhappy.


    At that moment, Ling Lan felt someone beside her. She looked up and saw her father sitting down on the seat next to her. He took the JMC headset and wore it.


    Ling Lan was dumbfounded. ¡°Daddy, why are you here?¡±


    ¡°There is ack of manpower, right?¡± Ling Xiao winked at Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan turned her head back. What a weird world. A god-ss operator cum general of the Federation was actually lowering his status to be a JMC now. This would be a huge piece of news to the Federation if someone found out about it.


    ¡°Haha, don¡¯t worry. I would step in for your mother when she wanted to take a break in the past.¡± Ling Xiao seemed happy that he managed to frighten his daughter.


    Ling Lan was speechless. Mother, what other things did you do in the past? How could you allow the mighty and handsome General Ling Xiao to be like this? Also, father, don¡¯t you think that you are pampering my mother too much? You became an all-rounded superhuman for my mother. Whenever she needed you, you would help her.


    With the help of Ling Xiao, the mecha operators were all properly guided into the base. Ling Lan looked at the dwindling empty mecha holds. She stood up and reminded Yuan Youyun, ¡°We need to have some mecha holds for our own members. Reject any application to enter the base from now on.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±Yuan Youyun replied immediately.


    He quickly past down the order to the rest of the JMCs. After he arranged everything, he suddenly remembered that the voice sounded really familiar. He got a shock. He turned back and saw Chen Yi¡¯an lying on his chair weakly. The busy day had tired him out.


    Chen Yi¡¯an saw Yuan Youyun looking at him and thought that he wanted to find Ling Lan. He pointed to Ling Lan¡¯s seat. ¡°He said he was busy and left first.¡± Just now, Lin pulled a person and rushed out of the room. He left so quickly, Chen Yi¡¯an didn¡¯t manage to see who the person was.


    ¡°Thank you for calling your friend over to help.¡± Yuan Youyun felt that he must be mistaken. His boss is a busy person. Why would hee and help him?


    ¡°No problem. He had nothing on anyway.¡± Chen Yi¡¯an smiled. Lin was a good person. He helped him with his problem before leaving to do his own work. He must find him for help again next time.


    Chen Yi¡¯an had taken Ling Lan as his friend now. To him, it was normal for friends to help each other out.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t expect herself to be eyed on by this idiot after she helped him once out of kindness. Of course, Chen Yi¡¯an had to escape from Li Shiyu first before he coulde and look for her again.


    By the time Ling Lan entered the meeting room, all the other regimentmanders of the other mecha ns were already there.


    However, none of them felt surprised that she waste. They would do the same thing on their own base too. This type of action was to force some pressure on the other party so that they would be able to have more control over the discussionter.


    The regimentmanders didn¡¯t know that Ling Lan waste because she went to be a JMC. She didn¡¯t have any intention of pressuring them. However, since they thought this way, Ling Lan decided to go along with it.

 Chapter 711 - Win-win Situation!

    <h4>Chapter 711: Win-win Situation!</h4>


    <b>Trantor:</b> Henyee Trantions <b>Editor:</b> Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Peak of Qi-Jin? No, if he could suppress our force of presence this easily, he must be a domain realm master.¡± They knew what Ling Lan¡¯s physical skills level was, the moment she came in.


    They immediately changed their attitude and became more serious. Their air of arrogance disappeared. When they first entered the base, they were stunned. However, they told themselves that it was because of 250 Mecha n¡¯s powerful background, not because of their own efforts. However, the appearance of Ling Lan pushed this thought out of their minds.


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± The ten team leaders of 250 Mecha n stood up simultaneously and greeted Ling Lan.


    They wanted to increase Ling Lan¡¯s prestige. Ling Lan was a cold and stern leader, but she never cared much of her rank. In 250 Mecha n, the ranks between soldiers were simr to each other. This was because most of the soldiers in 250 Mecha n were veterans. They used to be team leaders of other battle teams and some were even previously regimentmanders. None of them was ranked lower than a major.


    The regimentmander before Ling Lan didn¡¯t have a higher military rank than these veterans so he had a hard time controlling them. If Ling Lan didn¡¯t rule with an iron fist, the veterans would not have listened to her.


    Her strength also yed a huge role. In the military, only the strong had the right to speak. Ling Lan would brutally beat down anyone who tried to rebel against her, forcing everyone to bow down to her. In order to be a qualified regimentmander, both strength and the methods used were important.


    Ling Lan knew what the team leaders wanted to do so she emitted a stronger force of presence. The other regimentmanders lowered their heads uncontrobly.


    ¡°Sit!¡± Ling Lan sat on the seat specially prepared for her. It was the chairman¡¯s seat. Seemed like her subordinates wanted her to control the meeting.


    The other regimentmanders realized that unconsciously, Ling Lan had taken control of the meeting. They were upset but they had to admit that her force of presence was too strong. They had no choice but toy low.


    Ling Lan leaned on the chair. She nced at Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng. She wanted them to host this meeting.


    Han Jijyun looked at Li Lanfeng. He noticed Li Lanfeng seemed to be a little absent-minded. He didn¡¯t seem to have any intention to host the meeting. Hence, he coughed and said, ¡°Thank you foring to 250 Mecha n¡¯s base to discuss the action n against the ck Giant Ants with us.¡± (The ant-like creatures had been officially named as the ck Giant Ants by the Federation.)


    ¡°Since this is a coboration, all the mecha ns must cooperate with each other. The missions and tasks of each mecha n should be stated clearly. Hence, can regimentmanders...¡±


    As Han Jijyun was speaking, Ling Xiao had walked into the meeting room quietly and gotten himself a seat at the side. He had suppressed his physical skills and his force of presence. He smiled. He didn¡¯t expect his daughter to be so strong. She managed to subdue everyone with her force of presence alone. As expected of his daughter...


    Ling Xiao started feeling proud of himself. He suddenly felt someone looking at him. The person shifted his gaze away but Ling Xiao still caught him. He looked up and frowned. It¡¯s Li Lanfeng again!


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t know that Ling Xiao had noticed him. At that moment, he was confused. If Ling Lan liked people who were straightforward, why did she like Ling Yu? He only met Ling Yu a few times but he could tell that Ling Yu was not a direct person. He was a cunning person just like him.


    However, Ling Lan trusted him. Li Lanfeng noticed this through Ling Lan¡¯s small actions. He even realized that Ling Lan trusted Ling Yu more than Qi Long and Luo Lang. Was this because Ling Yu was his loyalist?


    Li Lanfeng knew that every big family had a bunch of loyalists. He also had a few loyalists that only belonged to him, they were loyal, firm, and only listened to him. Even if he ordered them to die, they would do it without any hesitation. However, even if that was the case, he was still unable to trust them...


    So, why does Ling Lan trust Ling Yu that much? Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t find the answer. He was puzzled.


    He felt a cold gaze looking at him. He raised his head and saw Ling Lan¡¯s eyes filled with concern.


    Ling Lan must have noticed something was amiss with him. Li Lanfeng felt apologetic. He was too immersed in his own thoughts and was unable to participate in the meeting. It meant that he couldn¡¯t help his mecha n to secure more resources. However, Ling Lan¡¯s show of concern made him happy.


    The confusion in his eyes disappeared.


    If Ling Yu was able to gain rabbit¡¯s trust, I can too!


    Li Lanfeng regained his confidence and started taking part in the discussion. He gave it his all. He worked together with Han Jijyun and misled the other regimentmanders. In the process, the officers agreed to some ¡®unfair¡¯ rules.


    Ling Xiao looked at the ambition in Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes and furrowed his brows. He didn¡¯t have any opinions on his daughter¡¯s other friends. He just didn¡¯t like Li Lanfeng. He felt that this person was dangerous...


    I must trust my daughter! Ling Xiao suppressed the urge to move Li Lanfeng away from Ling Lan. He must trust that his daughter could handle her own business.


    Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun were a formidable pair when they worked together. The other regimentmanders were not easy to deal with too. Hence, Ling Lan just sat at the side and kept quiet throughout the discussion. She only said four words during the meeting. Besides telling everyone to sit, all she said was ¡®let¡¯s do this¡¯ at the start of the discussion.


    The results of the discussion were good. 250 Mecha n got the advantages that they wanted and the other regimentmanders were happy too. They gave up some advantages but they secured a base to stay. The 250 Mecha n agreed to let them use their temporary base as their station to freshen their weapons, equipment, and energy.


    Of course, those weapons and equipment were provided by the 7th division. They would send the resources over through their starships. 250 Mecha n only had around 200 mecha operators. Hence, the regimentmanders of the mecha ns from the 7th division felt that 250 Mecha n would not be able to use much of their resources even if they gave it to them.


    Since they got so many resources for free, 250 Mecha n had to make sure that everyone from the 7th division was treated well. The temporary base could only hold around 2000 people so the logisticians from the 7th division couldn¡¯t enter their base. This was a huge challenge to the logisticians of 250 Mecha n. Lin Zhong-qing had a long discussion with He Chaoyang, Yuan Youyun, Li Jinghong, and Luo Shaoyun. In the end, they gritted their teeth and decided to take on this challenge.


    Thisnd clearing mission was a good experience for the logisticians of 250 Mecha n. After this mission ended, all the logisticians became outstanding logisticians, building a strong foundation for 250 Mecha n as it moved to be a super mecha n.


    The mecha operators from 250 Mecha n also performed exceptionally well during this mission. They were experienced veterans so they managed to quickly regain their abilities, performing like their past peak state. Some of them even felt their bottlenecks loosening.


    It was a win-win situation for both parties. The 7th division was d 250 Mecha n didn¡¯t request for more things. Mind you, if 250 Mecha n didn¡¯t let them use their base, they could forget about clearing the ck Giant Ants. If they didn¡¯t have a powerful backend system to ensure that their weapons and equipment were repaired as soon as possible, they would be unable to attack the ck Giant Ants continuously. Once the ck Giant Ants managed to escape due to a window of time, they wouldn¡¯t be able to annihte them anymore. Even if they managed to find some good resources, they would have to constantly keep their guard up against the ck Giant Ants.


    If the ck Giant Ants were smart enough and decided to attack their logisticians instead, they would be in danger. 250 Mecha n¡¯s base had a protective shield. If those creatures wanted to attack the base, it would be hard for them too. This was why building a temporary base was so important in and clearing mission.


    As time goes by, all the divisions determined that the creatures on this had a certain degree of intelligence. Some were even as smart as humans. Those divisions that didn¡¯t realize this at the start were ambushed by the creatures on the. Some mecha ns got annihted just like Bing Ge.

 Chapter 712 - Satisfied!

    <h4>Chapter 712: Satisfied!</h4>


    <b>Trantor:</b> Henyee Trantions <b>Editor:</b> Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan felt that 250 Mecha n was quite lucky when she heard about the news. The giant circr creature at the bottom of theke was powerful but it was not really smart. Hence, it was not as scary as those creatures with high intelligence. This allowed her to subdue it rather easily..


    Of course, Ling Lan knew she would win against the creature even if it had high intelligence, especially because of her father at her side. If her father couldn¡¯t even defeat the creature, then the Federation should just give up on this. No matter how many divisions they sent over, they would never be able to take over this.


    Very soon, the clearance of the ck Giant Ants started. The logistics department of 250 Mecha n got busy.


    At the start, the mecha operators from the other mecha ns were not used to the working style of the logisticians from 250 Mecha n. The first thing they did was to fill up a form that asked them about their favorite food and certain habits that they had.


    The mecha operators were puzzled as to why they needed to answer these questions. However they soon forgot about the doubts, they were too engrossed in the services provided by 250¡¯s logisticians. Whether it was their food or their living conditions, everything was amodated to them. The logisticians in charged of their mechas would take notes of their likes and habits and install their favorite weapons on their mechas. They even prepared backup energy storage units based on the different models of mechas.


    The mecha operators from the other divisions didn¡¯t take notice of these small little things but when they left 250 Mecha n¡¯s base and went back to their own temporary base after it was built, they then realized they were not happy with the services there. At first, they thought that it was due to their base not having the same facilities as 250 Mecha n¡¯s base. However, after returning from their missions a couple of times, they finally understood what the main difference was, the logisticians!


    During their time in 250¡¯s base, there would always be enough ammo in their weapons. Now, they kept having problems with their weapons and equipment. This caused them to have no choice but to end their missions halfway through.


    This was when they realized the reason why they felt so much difference was due to the logisticians. Compared to the logisticians of 250 Mecha n, their own logisticians were too bad.


    Besides the logisticians, the mecha operators from other mecha ns were also astounded by 250¡¯s mecha operators. They had the least number of people but the number of ck Giant Ants they killed were as many as them.


    Those mecha operators that had the honor of fighting alongside them, saw how frightening they were. Their decision making in battle and mecha piloting ability exceeded them. After working with them for a couple of times, they realized this group of outstanding mecha operators consisted of ace mecha masters that had made a name for themselves a long time ago. They were either regimentmanders, team leaders of mecha ns or team leaders of battle teams in the past.


    Now, they knew why the logisticians of 250 Mecha n were so amazing. They had to serve people of such high caliber(This was just their guess). This made the mecha operators from other mecha ns respected 250¡¯s mecha operators even more.


    Smart people knew that if they could get some advice from famous and powerful mecha operators, they would make fewer mistakes in their pursuit of strength. The people who just advanced to an ace mecha master was very different in terms of ability and experience whenpared with those that were at peak level ace mecha masters.


    Some people knew about the reason why these mecha operators were sent to 250 Mecha n, but seeing how strong the mecha operators were, they started suspecting whether the rumor they knew was fake. Did they spread these rumors to cover up the truth? Maybe the 23rd division wanted to form a named ace mecha n to be in charge of passing down the legacy of the 23rd division.


    They remembered that the regimentmander of 250 Mecha n had the surname ¡®Ling¡¯. This confirmed their suspicion. This regimentmander must be under General Ling Xiao. It was understandable for a general to use his own people to groom the mecha n that would pass down the legacy of the division.


    The regimentmanders who saw Ling Lan before had to admit that this young man was indeed an extraordinary person. He was able to subdue this bunch of outstanding and arrogant mecha operators. The regimentmanders that worked with Ling Lan for this mission saw her exceptionalmanding and fighting abilities and decided that they would never fight with her.


    The final conclusion the 7th division came to was that 250 Mecha n was a future named ace mecha n the 23rd division wanted to groom. It would be the most important mecha n which would pass down the legacy of the 23rd division.


    This news started to spread within the 7th division and then started spreading to the other divisions too. Unbeknownst to Ling Lan, 250 Mecha n started to gain fame among the grass-roots mecha ns within each division. Some soldiers even wanted to enter 250 Mecha n.


    The mission to clear the ck Giant Ants was a sess. After thest batch of ck Giant Ants was killed, all the mecha operators shouted in happiness. They knew that once the ck Giant Ants were cleared, the mecha ns that participated in this mission would have a safe spot to build their temporary base. The temporary base of 250 Mecha n had inspired the regimentmanders of the mecha ns in the 7th division so they decided to build abined temporary base. Themand center epted their request.


    Not long after, a baserger than 250 Mecha n¡¯s base appeared on thend where the ck Giant Ants once existed. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to participate in the division of resources after this. The mecha ns from the 7th division would get the best resources but they would not cut back on the resources they would give 250 Mecha n.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t ce much importance on the resources they got from the ck Giant Ants mission but Lin Zhong-qing still sent He Chaoyang over to supervise the other mecha ns. Lin Zhong-qing felt that no matter how little it was, it was still valuable. There must be no mistakes. He was in charge of the living conditions of the entire 250 Mecha n. Hence, he needed to make sure nothing went wrong.


    Since 250 Mecha n didn¡¯t make a fuss over their gains and resources, the 7th division had a better impression of them. This caused a chain reaction. The 7th division was satisfied with the 23rd division due to 250 Mecha n¡¯s action while the 23rd division had a good impression of 7th division too from the feedback they received from 250 Mecha n.


    Hence, the two divisions were satisfied with each other, they formed a good rtionship with each other. Coincidentally, the areas where the other mecha ns from the 23rd Division and 7th divisionnded were around the same area. Because of this satisfactory coboration, the mecha ns under the two divisions met up for a discussion if their territories ovepped with each other instead of fighting each other.


    Both parties made consensus. If they found the same resource, they would follow what 250 Mecha n did and work together. This was something unexpected.


    This coboration had a deep impact. In the future, these two divisions continued to maintain their good rtionship.


    When everyone was fighting for resources in the Federation headquarters, these two divisions would work with each other to let each other gain resources. Even if they had different viewpoints about issues that might cause a conflict to ur, one side would keep quiet and not mess with the other party.


    Compared to the 7th division which had been around for a few centuries, the newly built 23rd Division gained more benefits from this coboration. The support from the First Marshal as well as the help from the 7th division allowed 23rd Division to rise in rank. They started to hold more power in the discussion within the Federation.


    The Second Marshal and Third Marshal gritted their teeth secretly when they noticed this. However, they never linked the reason for this rtionship to be thend clearing mission or to 250 Mecha n. They thought that the 7th division helped the 23rd Division because Ling Xiao was once under the 7th division.


    Of course, all these happened in the future. As thend clearing mission progressed, more mecha ns started building their temporary base. With 250 Mecha n continuing to cooperate with the 7th division, they didn¡¯t stop expanding their territory. After some time, they found some small mineral caves.


    Ling Lan had not informed the higher authorities about the huge energy mine she found at the bottom of theke. Based on what Ling Xiao said, they should first let the staff officer department reached a consensus with the headquarters of the Federation. This was to prevent other people from sucking away the gains the 23rd division should have.

 Chapter 713 - Nuwa Element!

    <h4>Chapter 713: Nuwa Element!</h4>


    <b>Trantor:</b> Henyee Trantions <b>Editor:</b> Henyee Trantions


    The 23rd Division was still youngpared to the other divisions. It didn¡¯t have much influence in the military, even if its general was one of the god-ss operators in the Federation, it was still not able to prevent others from snatching their resources.


    Actually, Ling Xiao didn¡¯t know that the most valuable resource Ling Lan found was not the huge energy source at the bottom of theke. Instead, it was a yellowish-brown nt that could be found everywhere on this.


    After Li Shiyu conducted a series of experiments, he concluded that the yellowish-brown nts contained a strange element. This element could not be found in the Federation. Injecting this element into the cells of a human would drastically increase their regeneration ability.


    That¡¯s right, regeneration of organs and limbs would not be a dream anymore. It would be a reality.


    Li Shiyu named this element, the Nuwa element. Legend has it that Nuwa was the creator of humans. Nuwa also used her body to patch the sky. Regeneration of organs and limbs was simr to how Nuwa patched the sky. Hence, Li Shiyu gave it this name.


    When Li Shiyu told her about his findings, Ling Lan¡¯s first thought was that he was in trouble. This finding, as well as the technique behind this, could change the world. The Federation would never allow this technique to belong to a single person. That meant that Li Shiyu would lose his freedom and be under the Federation¡¯s control. He would only live in their secret base with the researchers.


    If other countries found out about this, Li Shiyu would be unable to appear in public ever again. No one knew what these countries would do. The worst-case scenario was, extreme advocates of nature might view Li Shiyu as their enemy and think of ways to kill him.


    Ling Lan thought about it carefully for a long time. In order to ensure Li Shiyu¡¯s safety and freedom, she decided to keep this a secret. At the same time, she told Li Shiyu that he must not tell anyone about this. Even Ling Lan felt burdened by Li Shiyu¡¯s findings. This was the first time she realized she was still not strong enough. She was still unable to protect theserades who trusted her.


    Ling Lan, you need to be stronger!


    Since her father was the general of the 23rd division, Ling Lan rxed ever since she entered the 23rd division. She didn¡¯t work as hard on improving herself unlike before. In this half a year, she didn¡¯t improve much in her physical skills or mecha piloting skills.


    However, Li Shiyu¡¯s findings caused her to have a sense of crisis. This made her motivated again.


    Ling Lan could have told Ling Xiao about this and asked him to solve this issue but she didn¡¯t. Ling Lan still had her pride. She felt that as an adult, she needed to be responsible for herself. Li Shiyu was herrade. She should be the one taking care of this matter.


    Additionally, Ling Lan felt that the fewer who knew of this secret, the safer it was.


    The three months deadline for thend clearing mission was near. 250 Mecha n found a few more normal-sized mineral caves. Some were standard caves while some contained rare minerals. Other mecha ns liked exploring mountainous areas, but 250 Mecha n gave up such potential areas and continued guarding their t piece ofnd which didn¡¯t seem to have anything besides the yellowish-brown nts.


    Due to 250 Mecha n¡¯s inactivity, the 7th division found many resources. They all thought that this was General Ling Xiao¡¯s way of giving back to them so they started treating the 23rd Division better. After a series of misunderstandings, the two divisions¡¯ rtionship got even better. Ling Lan¡¯s selfish actions identally benefited her father.


    Which in turn made the 250 Mecha n to be ranked at the bottom in terms of resources found. Because of this, when it was found out theke within 250 Mecha n territory contained a huge energy source, many other mecha ns and divisions had their eyes on it. However, due to the rtionships formed through this mission, the 7th division helped them to guard their resources along with their allies and the division under the First Marshal. More than half of the votes supported 250 Mecha n so the 23rd division got the right to take over the energy source.


    Another reason why they were so generous was that they knew that even with the resource at the bottom of theke, the resources 250 Mecha n found couldn¡¯tpare to theirs. Thus, they didn¡¯t care about this small loss. Additionally, they could please General Ling Xiao. Hence, without much difficulty, Ling Xiao got the resource.


    Ling Xiao was surprised at how easy it was but since he achieved his motive of protecting his daughter¡¯s interest, he couldn¡¯t be bothered to think about the minor details. He knew that even if the other party had some hidden intentions, it would be exposed sooner orter. He would just take whatever thates along. He was not afraid of it.


    The most dangerous portion of thend clearing mission was done. After that, normal mecha ns woulde and scour the to see if there were any leftovers. It was still dangerous butpared to their portion of the mission, it was much safer. The Federation made this decision because they wanted to train the normal mecha ns. Of course, if these mecha ns found some resources, they would get some of it. However, those resources were all non-renewable.


    Before they left, themand center of thend clearing mission informed 250 Mecha n that their temporary base would be taken over by the 23rd division. It would be used by the other mecha ns that would being to this.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t reject the request but she didn¡¯t ept it readily too. She took the chance to get some benefits from themand center. Although her father was the general of the 23rd division, she was still the regimentmander of 250 Mecha n. She must think for her mecha n first.


    She managed to get many things from themand center. She had to thank Lin Zhong-qing for this. His exceptional negotiation skills turned the representative from themand center pale. From then on, this representative ced Lin Zhong-qing on his cklist. He never wanted to talk to Lin Zhong-qing ever again.


    After Ling Xiao knew about this, heughed heartily. There were many capable people under his daughter. His daughter didn¡¯t forget to groom herrades while she was improving herself. As expected of his daughter. She inherited all of his good traits.


    While praising his daughter, Ling Xiao remembered topliment himself. At that moment, he had forgotten that the things his daughter extorted were all his...


    Well, even if Ling Xiao remembered, he would still give it to his daughter willingly. He might even help his daughter to extort more things from the 23rd division if he had the chance to.


    After finishing everything, Ling Lan ordered Lin Zhong-qing to remove Meng Lan from the base. She was not kind enough to give away the intelligent entity which Little Four created. Although Meng Lan was just a powerful intelligent system and not someone like Little Four, she was still much better than the mainframes from the Federation.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t bear to give Meng Lan away. To Ling Lan, Meng Lan was the personal mainframe of 250 Mecha n. She was in charge of the safety of 250 Mecha n¡¯s virtual world. She made sure their information would not be leaked out.


    Suddenly, an rm rang throughout the entire base. ¡°Level one alert. Level one alert. A huge creature had appeared outside of the base. All mecha operators, please get into position and prepare to fight.¡±


    Meng Lan stopped her removal process. The entire base was on level one alert. Her voice rang throughout the entire base and all the mecha operators rushed to their mechas.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Ling Lan was looking through the documents for theirnd clearing mission when she heard the rm.


    Meng Lan disyed some images on the screen. Numerous tentacles appeared outside their base. A huge circr object rose above the surface of theke. However, it didn¡¯t attack the base. It just stayed there, seemingly to remind the base of its presence.


    ¡°What is it trying to do? Is it not afraid that I¡¯ll kill it?¡± Ling Lan was shocked. The creature was the sidekick she took in. It had been peaceful for these past three months. Why did it suddenly start creating a ruckus when she was about to leave?


    ¡°No, it seemed to be angry that you are leaving.¡± Little Four yawned. Little Four was awake now but he always seemed tired. He would sleep whenever he had the time to.


    As for Little Blossom, he was taken away by Number Five for training. Ling Lan wanted to bring Little Blossom back. However, Number Five just stared at her with dead-pan eyes. He seemed to be telling her that if Little Blossom didn¡¯t go for training, she would have to rece him. Hence, Ling Lan pretended that she said nothing.


    Sob. Little Blossom, I know that you are suffering. I¡¯llpensate you when you are back.


    Ling Lan felt guilty so she decided topensate Little Blossom when hees back. If Ling Lan knew that Number Four was the one who was training... she would probably still let Little Blossom handle it.

 Chapter 714 - Little White!

    <h4>Chapter 714: Little White!</h4>


    <b>Trantor:</b> Henyee Trantions <b>Editor:</b> Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan was conflicted about having Little Blossom experiencing Number Five¡¯s training methods. That type of training was inhumane. There were several moments in the training that almost broke her, but luckily she managed to get through those moments.


    However, Little Four seemed to be able tomunicate with Little Blossom, who was training. Thus, he could obtain the circr creature¡¯s thoughts. After all, a part of Little Blossom was inside the spiritual entity of the circr creature. Little Blossom could easily acquire the creature¡¯s thoughts. If it had any antagonistic thoughts towards Ling Lan, Little Blossom wouldn¡¯t hesitate to order his clone to devour the spiritual entity of the creature.


    ¡°Angry? What¡¯s there to be angry about? It should know that we¡¯re not from this. Once our mission end, we will leave.¡± Ling Lan had a headache. Howe all of the helpers she recruited were all so troublesome?


    ¡°Boss, you shouldfort it. Otherwise once you leave, it would cause a big ruckus. Without daddy¡¯s power, there¡¯s no way to stop it.¡± As Little Four spoke, he also yawned, then he rubbed his eyes and said, ¡°I¡¯m tired Boss. I¡¯m going to sleep.¡±


    After saying that, Little Four disappeared, not noticing Ling Lan¡¯s worried expression. Ever since Little Four had awakened, he was not as hyper as before. Instead, he was always quite sleepy. In a day, he would only be awake for one to two hours. For the rest of the day, he would be asleep.


    Ling Lan was worried that Little Four¡¯s forced awakening might have caused some problems in his evolution. Unfortunately, Little Blossom wasn¡¯t here so Ling Lan couldn¡¯t ask him about the possible problems which might arise from the evolution of intelligent entities...


    Although Ling Lan was worried, she would just watch Little Four sleep everyday... She was afraid that if she told him about it, it would harm Little Four.


    Ling Lan tossed her worry to the back of her head and took a deep breath. She signaled Meng Lan to turn on the headquarter¡¯s public announcement channel, ¡°All avable mecha operators standby.¡±


    After giving this order, Ling Lan stood up and opened her room. She saw her father, fully equipped in his gear, standing in front of her.


    ¡°Dad, I have to trouble you toe with me again.¡± In order to prevent the circr creature from going berserk, she must use her dad, this god-like individual, to keep things in check.


    ¡°It¡¯s my pleasure!¡± Even though Ling Lan had a mask on, Ling Lan almost couldn¡¯t defend against her father¡¯s bright smile. As expected, her father was also a demon. Luckily, her mother reined him in. Ling Lan silently rejoiced for all the women in the Federation. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that her father had a significant other, it was possible that those women who saw his smile, would make a fatal mistake...


    Not long after, Ling Lan and Ling Xiaonded their mechas on the shore of theke. The circr creature saw the two of them appearing and began to cry out. Ling Lan seemed to hear the sorrow from its cries.


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk down there.¡± Ling Xiao also felt that the circr creature had something to say and immediately prompted Ling Lan to go down.


    Ling Lan¡¯smunication method was rted to the Divine Command sect. If the fact that Ling Lan couldmunicate with the creatures of this was leaked, the military would definitely focus on her. There could even be people thinking about using her for their own gains.


    Ling Xiao didn¡¯t want the higher-ups to focus on Ling Lan, it might even cause her to be in danger. However, if it was found out, Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t afraid. At most, he would let Ling Lan publicly announce their rtionship. It was just that, as his child, she would be under a lot of danger. Unless it was necessary, Ling Xiao definitely didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to fall into the palms of the higher-ups.


    ¡°Alright.¡± Right as Ling Lan answered, his father ruthlessly kicked the creature, sending it to the middle of theke.


    Ling Lan could feel the hopelessness from the creature. It was as though she heard the circr creature¡¯s petnt cries, asking why did Ling Xiao kick it.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you at the bottom of theke.¡± Whileforting the circr creature, she piloted her mecha and kicked the circr creature into theke. The two of them stepped on therge body of the creature and instantly sank into theke.


    The water in theke began to turn. Countless tentacles iled with great force as if they were being attacked. Those tentacles sshed a lot of water around, then disappeared into theke without a trace. After a short while, the surface of the water returned to its original calmness.


    ¡°Did the regimentmander get into a fight with that thing?¡± Many mecha operators asked this question.


    ¡°He should be. When we firstnded on this, we had already battled with this kind of creature. We originally thought there was only one, but we didn¡¯t think that the bottom of theke had another one as well.¡± A mecha operator who was one of the first to arrive on this, exined to hisrades. He also mentioned the long drawn-out battle with therge circr creature. This made the mecha operators whonded after the first batch felt regretful that they weren¡¯t there to witness it. They hated themselves for missing out on such an exhrating battle.


    ¡°When do you guys think our regimentmander will be able to take that thing down?¡± Many mecha operators began to ce bets on whether or not their regimentmander would be defeated by therge creature. No way, how could that be possible? It had to be said that, Ling Lan¡¯s powerful image was engraved in the minds of every mecha operator and logistician in the 250 Mecha n.


    ¡°That big thing is very powerful. It will probably take some time.¡± The mecha operators who had battled with the circr creature knew very well that it could severely injure their team leaders. In the end, it was taken down by the regimentmander¡¯s long range attack, otherwise the oue would have been unpredictable.


    While everyone was guessing about the brutal battle happening at the bottom of theke, the circr creature, Ling Lan and Ling Xiao had arrived at the bottom of the trench.


    Ling Lan put her mecha¡¯s arms on her hips and looked at the circr creature, who was rolling around under her feet, with a cold re, ¡°Alright, who do you want? Please, can¡¯t you maintain your image of being a terrifying monster? Isn¡¯t such childish behavior too shameful?¡±


    Hearing this, the circr creature finally stopped rolling around, protesting its feeling of being wronged. It began to roar, saying that it didn¡¯t want to be left alone.


    Ling Lanughed coldly, ¡°With your body, where can you run to? You want me to stay at this trash ce forever? It you¡¯re not satisfied, I can instantly get rid of you. Then you won¡¯t be alone anymore.¡±


    The circr creature¡¯s body immediately froze. It seemed to remember that its life was in the hands of this person in front of it. In the next second, it pounced towards Ling Lan. Wait no, it sent out two tentacles and wrapped around Ling Lan¡¯s mecha¡¯s thigh firmly. It was softly caressing her mecha¡¯s thigh with its head, trying to get on Ling Lan¡¯s good side.


    ¡°Dad, where did it learn something like this?¡± Ling Lan looked to Ling Xiao helplessly. It had only been three months and this circr creature already learned the bad habits of the human race.


    Ling Xiao coughed and said, ¡°In the past three months, too many people from 250 Mecha n came here. Perhaps it learned by observing them.¡±


    ¡°Alright, speak properly, don¡¯t act cute.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s beam shield shed and shook off the circr creature¡¯s tentacles easily. Of course this was also because the circr creature was afraid of hurting Ling Lan, thus it didn¡¯t use any force.


    ¡°Rawr...¡±


    Follow her? How would that be possible? No starship would dare to transport a creature of this size.


    Ling Lan shook her head, ¡°No way. I can¡¯t take you with me with yourrge body.¡±


    ¡°Rawr...¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re saying your body can be stretched freely?¡± Ling Lan said with surprise in her voice.


    ¡°Rawr...¡±


    ¡°Oh, not stretching but splitting the main body. The primary stages of splitting, the main body is small.¡± Ling Lan thought about it and believed it seemed right. Otherwise, if the creatures here could freely stretch their bodies, it would be quite terrifying.


    ¡°Oh yeah. Are there any other creatures on this who has your ability?¡± Ling Lan thought of this possibility and felt irritated. If there were creatures with this ability with a high degree of intelligence, then those creatures would be the bane of the soldiers who remained on the for future missions.


    In order to make Ling Lan happy, the circr creature told her everything it knew. It cried out once again, telling Ling Lan, no other creature on this had the ability to change their body size.


    Ling Lan breathed a sigh of relief. Without this ability, the soldiers of the Federation would be safer. It would also not affect the 250 Mecha n¡¯s rewards.


    Ling Lan told the creature to split apart in front of her. If its body was really small, she would take it with her.


    Hearing this, the circr creature was very happy. Soon, the creature suddenly cracked open right in the middle. A white mini-version of the circr creature swam out from it.


    It looked simr to a ball. Its two eyes almost took up the surface area of the ball. It had countless number of tentacles at the bottom of it, but those tentacles were very soft. They were like bits of string, moving along with the flow of the water. It actually looked cute.


    Ling Lan saw how the circr creature looked after it split its body. She was silent for a few moments and then finally said, ¡°In the future, I¡¯ll refer to you as Little White.¡±


    Previously, Ling Lan didn¡¯t even think about giving a name to the main body of the circr creature. Now that she saw a cute miniature ball, she automatically gave it a name. As expected,dies cannot reject a cute creature. Even though Ling Lan¡¯s outer expression was cold and heartless, it was still hard for her to suppress her feminine side.


    Hearing the name, Ling Xiao had a look of hopelessness on his face. He suddenly discovered that his daughter didn¡¯t have any talent in giving names...


    ¡°Rawr...¡± Little White cried out excitedly. It could finally leave this lifeless and deste ce. It turns out, the actions of Little White was nned. It wasn¡¯t actually because it would miss Ling Lan... Too bad Ling Lan was used by Little White this one time.


    Ling Lan told Little White to hide in the space between herrge sword and its sheath. Little White squeezed its body into the space. Seeing this, Ling Lan actually had the thought of pinching Little White, thinking that it would be very soft and stretchy...


    Wah wah wah. It took her two lifetimes to discover she actually liked toys and dolls that were stretchy, soft and cute... In the cockpit, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but blush. She definitely couldn¡¯t let others discover what she liked. Otherwise, she would lose her dignity as the Boss.

 Chapter 715 - A Familiar Face!

    <h4>Chapter 715: A Familiar Face!</h4>


    <b>Trantor:</b> Henyee Trantions <b>Editor:</b> Henyee Trantions


    250 Mecha n was probably the first n to leave the. Of course, Ling Lan also smuggled a special pet from the, Little White. ording to military regtions, all soldiers, who participated innd clearing missions, were not allowed to take any lifeforms out from the. Even a little speck of dust was not allowed.


    The reason Ling Lan was sessful in smuggling Little White on board was not only because Little White¡¯s small body, but also because, Little Four was just too good. She sessfully got past the detectors at the port.


    After 250 Mecha n entered theary sector of the Federation, Ling Xiao, who had been alongside Ling Lan, quietly left. Ling Lan knew that her father must quickly return to the 23rd Division. First Staff Officer He probably couldn¡¯t endure the pressureing from multiple parties anymore, since Ling Xiao was gone for three months.


    250 Mecha n on the other hand, still needed to go to the Federation¡¯s military headquarters. 250 Mecha n¡¯s performance during thend clearing mission was outstanding. They managed to squeeze into the ranks of the 10 best performing ns. They would go there, as well as the nine other ns, to receive additional merits from the military.


    ¡°Other than our n, what ns are going to the military headquarters?¡± Even though 250 Mecha n¡¯s mecha operators were veterans and had also received simr rewards in the past, they had never received it in such a high honor. They were unable to hold back their excitement and joy in their hearts. Their daily conversations were always about this topic.


    These veterans knew it was all due to Regiment Commander Ling Lan¡¯s contribution that allowed them to enjoy such an honor. They were very grateful towards Ling Lan. However, veterans were not the same as recruits, who outwardly showed their feelings. These veterans kept their gratefulness in their hearts, but their respect for Ling Lan was not any lower than that of any recruits.


    Major General Jiang Wei, Department Head of the Federation¡¯s Military Safety Department, at the age of 40, was considered to be one of the more famous officers from the Federation.


    He was currently looking through a file. The file was a list headquarters had sent him about the 10 of the top performing ns in thend clearing mission. In the first, second and third ce were top ns that were known throughout the gxy.


    Jiang Wei smiled. As expected, the ns that could receive additional merits were those powerful and capable veteran ns. After flipping to the end of the file, Jiang Wei¡¯s expression was one of astonishment. It was because the two ns that were ranked at the bottom two were ns he had never heard of.


    One of the mecha ns was, of course, the 7th Division¡¯s Courage God Ace Mecha n. It wasn¡¯t considered to be one of the stronger mecha ns from the 7th Division. Jiang Wei thought hard for a moment and suddenly remembered, a few years ago he had approved the title application of the Courage God Ace Mecha n from the 7th Division. The title they applied for was called Courage God.


    He didn¡¯t think that only in few years, this mecha n had grown to such heights. Jiang Wei¡¯s expression was joyful. Didn¡¯t a mecha n that had an outstanding performance which he had personally approved of, confirmed his decision he made was indeed the correct one?


    However, when Jiang Wei read the name of the tenth mecha n, a stunned expression was shown on his face. 250 Mecha n of the 23rd Division? Perhaps others wouldn¡¯t know about the story behind 250 Mecha n, but as one of the creators of 250 Mecha n, Jiang Wei knew exactly what 250 Mecha n was all about...


    He couldn¡¯t help but rub his eyes. The number 250 at the front was indeed not a mistake.


    How is this possible? How could a mecha n like that be one of the top 10 performing ns in this mission? Jiang Wei went into deep thought. Did Ling Xiao have something to do with it?


    Ling Xiao and Jiang Wei were from the same generation and, of course, they are in the Federation¡¯s military most powerful group of people. In the past, due to Ling Xiao climbing up the militarydder too quickly, he outshone Jiang Wei¡¯s achievements, it was likeparing the Sun to a randomntern on the street. Although Jiang Wei¡¯s performance was outstanding as well, advancing to be a major general at such a young age, it was pale inparison to Ling Xiao¡¯s. Being in the same generation as Ling Xiao, all of the attention was on Ling Xiao and Jiang Wei¡¯s existence waspletely forgotten. This made him very jealous and spiteful towards Ling Xiao. Back then, he was the one who suggested to send these ¡®damaged goods¡¯ of mecha operators to the 23rd division, simply to irritate Ling Xiao.


    After thinking 250 Mecha n definitely had some sort of secret, Jiang Wei couldn¡¯t help butugh coldly. He wanted to see what Ling Xiao had done to those mecha operators. If he was to discover that Ling Xiao had been mistreating those mecha operators... He would definitely not let him off easy!


    Jiang Wei made a decision, immediately contacted amanding officer of n under hismand and issued a few orders.


    The venue was not in the Federation¡¯s main capital on General. It was instead one of General¡¯srge satellite city, Soldier City. The reason why the top 10 ns was not allowed to enter the main capital was to ensure the safety of the capital¡¯s countless high-ranking officers. No one could confirm that there wasn¡¯t any assassins or spies hidden within these top 10 mechas ns.


    Soldier City¡¯s name was just as it sounded. The city was to garrison many ace mecha ns defending the main capital. Although these ns did not appear in the eyes of the public and silently protecting high-ranking officers, there was no doubt the ace operators within these ns were considered one of the strongest groups. These ns were of simr levels to the special forces of all the divisions.


    These ns defending the capital would have ace operators nicknamed ¡®Guardians of South Sea¡¯. After guarding the capital for five years, these operators would be able to leave the main capital and take up a position in one of the many divisions. At that time, these ace operators would bemodities for the divisions to fight for. Every time, these individuals would make divisions fight fiercely for them, causing dents in their rtionships with each other.


    Other than these ¡®Guardians of the South Sea¡¯, the Soldier City also had ns from all 23 divisions. They would also protect the division representative from their own division. However, the capabilities of these ns were iparable to the ¡®Guardians of the South Sea¡¯. The ns guarding their division¡¯s representative would change every three years. Currently, it was right at the end of a three year period. The entire Soldier City had mecha operatorsing in and out, and was very busy. The chaotic scene increased the number of disputes in the Soldier City. The battle arenas in Soldier City hadn¡¯t closed since then.


    Inside Soldier City, once any n had any disputes or problems with another n, they were not allowed to resolve it by fighting privately. If they wanted to resolve these disputes, they must fight in the arena. These people could choose to fight solo or in group in the arena. Once an individual or group demanded a battle in the arena, their opponents would not be able to refuse the challenge.


    In order to make sure there wasn¡¯t anyone with malicious intent, those who were challenged could inviterades simr capabilities to their opponents to stand in for them or join the battle. Inside the arena, any injuries or deaths were considered legal and reasonable.


    Almost every year, there would be soldiers who perish in the arena by mistake. Although every year there was such a gruesome scene, the battle arenas were legit and not frowned upon because it was the only ce for soldiers to resolve personal vendettas. No one denied this fact.


    Although the mission of protecting the capital seemed to be a waste of time and somewhat dangerous, it was still a highly-valued mission. Once these operators finish the three year guarding period, they would return to their divisions, receiving promotions and increasing the chance of bing a high-ranking officer.


    Many capable and ambitious mecha operators could not refuse such a good opportunity for a promotion. In other words, in order to advance to a higher rank, one needed to have the connections or be very capable while wasting three years of their life.


    The division higher-ups must also think carefully on who to select to provide the connections for. If a dispute was to happen and a battle in the arena was set up, but those who participated were only second-rate individuals who got in through connections, wouldn¡¯t they be brutally beaten up? It would humiliate the entire division. No high-ranking officer dared to spread their connections too freely, but every three years they would put in a few people by going through connections in Soldier City.


    The n from the 9th Division stationed in Soldier City was doing some information handover procedures. In the group of new members, two familiar faces appeared.


    ¡°Young Master 13, congrattions,¡± Ye Ling had a faint smile on his face and congratted the cold-looking young man. It was indeed Ye Xu, who had split with Wu Jiong years ago.


    Ye Xu snorted coldly and didn¡¯t reply. In reality, he hated going through a backdoor through connections in order to get promoted faster. In the beginning, the achievements he had achieved were all gained by his own hand. Ye Xu couldn¡¯t help but remember the times when he fought and grew with Boss Lan. That was when he was the happiest, not like now where he didn¡¯t have any choice but to do things he didn¡¯t want to do.


    ¡°The family head said that after this mission, Young Master 13 would be a mecha n¡¯s vice regimentmander. After another year, when you be familiar with all the procedures in a n, you would be able to be an official regimentmander of a mecha n.¡± Ye Ling told Ye Xu the Ye family¡¯s family head¡¯s n. He continued with a huge smile on his face, ¡°Maybe Young Master 13 will be the military¡¯s youngest regimentmander.¡±


    Hearing this, Ye Xu was in a daze. His future was indeed full of prospects, but was it what he actually wanted? He remembered Wu Jiong. The 15th Division was where the Wu family had consolidated their power. Wu Jiong probably would also be nurtured by the Wu family to a great extent.


    Ye Ling seemed to have seen through Ye Xu¡¯s thoughts. He smiled and said, ¡°Although the Wu family has consolidated their power in the 15th Division, the Wu family still has a fatal weakness. That weakness is their branch families have power as well. The power struggle between the main family and the branch family had already be heated. If Wu Jiong wants to make himself known, he will definitely be constantly pressured by the branch families... He wouldn¡¯t be like you, Young Master 13, who is supported by the entire Ye family.


    ¡°Wu Jiong isn¡¯t someone who would give up easily. He will definitely climb up the ranks,¡± Ye Xu responded coldly. In their entire team, the person who knew the most about Wu Jiong was probably him. Back then, when he and Wu Jiong coborated and worked hard together to grow gave Ye Xu enough time to learn about what kind of person Wu Jiong was.


    ¡°That¡¯s only if he has a chance to,¡± Ye Ling half-smiled as he replied. He didn¡¯t think highly of Wu Jiong. Although he was capable, he was still somewhat irresolute and hesitant. Someone with such a personality was fated to not go too far up the ranks.


    Although Ye Ling was sent by the Ye family to aid Ye Xu, he was also there to watch over Ye Xu. Ye Ling knew more than Ye Xu. He even knew that if Ye Xu had even a single thought of leaving the Ye family, he would be mercilessly destroyed by the Ye family. There were many descendants in the Ye family. Although Ye Xu was the most talented out of all of the descendants in this generation, he wasn¡¯t the only one with great prospects. If he didn¡¯t listen to the Ye family, they would abandon him entirely without batting an eye.

 Chapter 716 - Gather in Soldier City!

    <h4>Chapter 716: Gather in Soldier City!</h4>


    <b>Trantor:</b> Henyee Trantions <b>Editor:</b> Henyee Trantions


    Ye Ling¡¯s words were met with Ye Xu¡¯s silence. Ye Ling wasn¡¯t sure whether Ye Xu denied his opinion on Wu Jiong. However, this matter wasn¡¯t important. Ye Ling¡¯s mission was to instill Ye Xu¡¯s mind that he is nothing without the Ye family.


    Ye Xu and Ye Ling didn¡¯t know that Wu Jiong, who they had just been discussing about, was where they were at. He was also in Soldier City and was a member of the n from the 15th Division stationed in the city.


    However, the difference was the Ye family purposefully sent Ye Xu there to increase his rank. After three years, he would be able to rightly be promoted and be a deputy in some mecha n. A year after that, he would be able to lead his own n.


    Wu Jiong came here because he didn¡¯t have the choice not to. Although Wu Jiong knew his main family had consolidated their power in the 15th Division, he didn¡¯t think that his main family was being pressured by the branch family to the point where they couldn¡¯t even breathe. The branch family created countless obstacles for him who came inte. Wu Jiong was unable to do anything in the 15th Division... As his bad luck would have it, the rules of the family state that his grandfather and father could not do anything to help him. He could only endure everything that came his way.


    Faced with so many obstacles created by the branch family, in order to give himself a chance to breathe, Wu Jiong had no choice but to use his family¡¯s connections which he previously had looked down upon. By using the connections the main family had, they sent his name onto the list for stationed troops.


    Wu Jiong sat in the military hover car for the troops of the 15th Division and finally arrived at the entrance of Soldier City.


    At the entrance of Soldier City, there wasn¡¯t any soldiers on standing on guard. However, Wu Jiong knew that the surrounding area definitely hidden countless numbers of surveince cameras and defensive weapons. Whoever dared to trespass, would definitely be vaporized by high-poweredsers instantly. These people would be evaporated and disappear from this world.


    After entering Soldier City, strong looking soldiers belonging to different divisions could be seen. These soldiers would gather together in groups of 10 to 15 or walk and talk together in twos or threes. Although it was just one look at the city, one look was still enough to understand the special culture and extravagance Soldier City had.


    However, no matter how great a city was, Wu Jiong still couldn¡¯t hide the sadness in his heart. Before entering the 15th Division, he walked a sessful path, only making one mistake because of Ye Xu. This made him underestimate the difficulty he would face in the 15th Division...


    Wu Jiong rubbed his face with great force. The force he used was so strong, he felt his face was hurting a bit. However, Wu Jiong didn¡¯t care about the pain. Instead, because of the pain, he felt much better. As expected, after leaving the care of Boss Lan, he could no longer achieve anything. And now, in order to acquire power as soon as possible, he was doing something he would not have imagined himself doing in the past. If Boss Lan knew about this, he would probably be disappointed right?


    When they were parting after leaving the military academy, he had set a grandiose goal. Now when he looked back at it, it was totally a joke. As expected, he was indeed a frog at the bottom of a well.


    Wu Jiong, who was confident in his own capabilities, began to doubt himself.


    ¡°We¡¯re here!¡± Someone shouted and awakened Wu Jiong from his daze. Wu Jiong discovered that while he was thinking about his early-life crisis, they had already arrived at the headquarters of the 15th Division stationed in the city. The soldiers who came here with him excitedly picked up their bags and walked off the hover car.


    Wu Jiong smacked his face a few times to make himself more alert. He must walk this path since he already chose this path. Boss Lan hated people who gave up in the middle the most.


    Just like that, with a hint of anticipation and sadness, Wu Jiong weed the three year time period he will be stationed at the headquarters that will change his destiny. It was just that he didn¡¯t think that the person he thought of day and night, was currently taking hisrades anding to Soldier City.


    Inside the regimentmander¡¯s office in the stationed base camp of the 3rd Division, a young major was saying his salutations to hismander, the suprememander of the base camp.


    ¡°Qiao Ting, you really don¡¯t want to stay for another three years?¡± The regimentmander looked at this subordinate in front of him who was very capable, unwilling to let him go.


    In the beginning, Qiao Ting, who was still new recruit, was instantly put into the stationed army for the three year golden time period. He however didn¡¯t want this. This would make people think that he was an untalented individual who could only rise up in rank by using his connections... However, the regimentmander knew that with such a strong family background, Qiao Ting couldn¡¯t refuse even if he didn¡¯t want it. However, his family didn¡¯t give him any nice looks either.


    It was just that, during the time when they had a small conflict with someone from the 2nd Division, Qiao Ting brought up the idea of fighting solo in the arena. In the end, he defeated the opponent, increasing the 3rd Division¡¯s prestige around the city. Qiao Ting wasn¡¯t someone who was incapable and relied on his connections to rise up in the ranks. Instead, he had real capabilities. The only reason he was going through this golden three year period was because the 3rd Division higher-ups wanted to nurture him. Thus, they used this method to let him advance the ranks much quicker and be a regimentmander.


    After all, to be the regimentmander, one must have enough merits. Unfortunately the merits gained for the missions during the recruitment stage were not enough to rank up to the position of regimentmander in a short amount of time. In order to nurture the newer generations, every division worked their hardest to help these people collect enough merits. The only reason this mission of being stationed in Soldier City was a golden opportunity was because the merits of this mission were high enough.


    Qiao Ting heard his regimentmander¡¯s unwillingness to part and could only show a face of sorrow, ¡°Sorry regimentmander, I can only obey the arrangements of the higher-ups.¡± This time, Qiao Ting will be taking up the position of deputy regimentmander of a standard mecha n. It couldn¡¯t be helped. The stationed mission¡¯s merits could only help him reach this position. Afterwards, he would still need to continue to work hard to get rid of the word ¡®deputy¡¯ and be an actual regimentmander.


    Hearing Qiao Ting¡¯s words, the regimentmander could only regrettably say, ¡°If you stay for another three years, you would be able to rank up to regimentmander instantly. However, I still want to congratte you. Work hard, my major.¡±


    The person in front of the regimentmander was publicly announced by the higher-ups to be someone of importance. The regimentmander had an expression full of admiration. It took him a decade to get to his position. This individual in front of him however, used only three years to reach deputy regimentmander. If his performance was good, in one or two years, he would be able to advance to regimentmander. This was just around half a decade.


    ¡°Qiao Ting¡¯s luck is too good!¡± thought the regimentmander. This was when each division were focused on developing and nurturing the next generation ofmanders. As long as they matured, it would ensure the outstanding nature being passed down to further generations and wouldn¡¯t left in the dust by other divisions. If Qiao Ting was born a decade earlier or a decadeter, he perhaps wouldn¡¯t have such a great opportunity as he has now.


    ¡°Thank you regimentmander!¡± Qiao Ting said gratefully and saluted. Although he was given the cold shoulder treatment by the regimentmander in the beginning, he still treated him well. He trained and nurtured him and also helped him achieved new heights.


    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Qiao Ting knew Ling Lan had entered a division, perhaps Qiao Ting would be willing to wait another three years then be a mecha n¡¯s regimentmander. Now, with the existence of Ling Lan, Qiao Ting was under a lot of pressure. He was afraid if he dyed for another three years, it was possible he would be left in the dust by Ling Lan.


    Although logically, he believed it was something that wasn¡¯t possible. However, Ling Lan was too monstrous which made him unable to guess Ling Lan¡¯s progress. It was this thought that made him decisively return to the division. He believed he would only need to be given a year of time for him to get rid of the word ¡®deputy¡¯ and officially be a real regimentmander of a mecha n.


    Right as the regimentmander was about let Qiao Ting leave, his wrist suddenly trembled. He looked down and was stunned by the information sent to hismunicator.


    ¡°Qiao Ting, before you leave, can you help me do something?¡± the regimentmander asked with a serious expression on his face.


    Qiao Ting stared nkly and quickly replied, ¡°Regimentmander, please tell me. I will do it if it is within my capabilities.¡±


    ¡°The list of the top 10 mecha ns from thend clearing mission has been sent out. The higher-ups want us to use this chance to gather some information on one of the mecha ns after they arrive in the city,¡± said the regimentmander with a frown on his face. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Major General Jiang Wei worked under the Third Marshal, the regimentmander would not want to take these missions that required so much effort and yet yielded so little reward.


    ¡°Which mecha n?¡± Qiao Ting was shaken. Every top 10 mecha ns fromnd clearing missions were always well-known veteran ns. They were not easy to get along with. They needed to be careful and not get in trouble with them.


    ¡°250 Mecha n from the 23rd division,¡± after the Regiment Commander said the name of the n, his expression had a hint of confusion. It was just that in the history of the top 10 ns fromnd clearing missions, there had never been a standard mecha n appearing in the ranks.


    Anyone who hadmon sense would know that only standard mecha ns had numbers as their names. Although the 23rd division was founded five years ago with most of its mecha ns having numbers as their names, in the past 5 years, the 23rd division still had some mecha ns that had established titles. It didn¡¯t make sense that those titled mecha ns were no match for a standard mecha n.


    Hearing this, Qiao Ting was also confused. However, the thought of the 23rd division made him shudder. He remembered Ling Lan had gone to the 23rd division.


    ¡°Here is the information about that n. There¡¯s only the name of the mecha n and their regimentmander on the list. You probably have to think of something to get more information. Yes, I will let Little Yang to aid you. In the past three years, he had been your subordinate all this while. It will be easy for you to order him around.¡± The regimentmander handed the top 10 list to Qiao Ting and at the same time gave him some subordinates to help him. Since he gave him a mission, then he should at least give him some means toplete it.


    Qiao Ting felt his wrist shake. He lowered his head and opened the list, reading it carefully.


    The regimentmander seemed to have thought of something and reminded Qiao Ting, ¡°The higher-ups require us that we acquire the detailed information before the award ceremony. Oh, Qiao Ting, I¡¯ll give you a hint. The higher-ups believe that this 250 Mecha n has some sort of hidden element. Someone controlling this n from the shadows. The higher-ups hope that we can find out what is being hidden, they would definitely not let them get their way.¡±


    After saying all this, the regimentmander frowned. He knew who these words were directed towards. It was already quite clear. He suddenly thought of people from the same generation as Major General Jiang Wei and General Ling Xiao, instantly understood the situation.


    As expected, no matter how high in the food chain a person may sit, they wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from the jealousy of others. It was just that, could Major General Jiang really have his way? General Ling Xiao... Even if he had done something, he would definitely not leave any evidence behind. Major General Jiang Wei may be wasting his time. Such a stupid ploy.


    Right after the regimentmander insulted Major General Jiang in his mind, he discovered that Qiao Ting hadn¡¯t replied to his previous statement. He raised his head confusedly and saw Qiao Ting looking at thismunicator with a dumbfounded look, as though he was stunned by something.


    ¡°Qiao Ting?¡± The regimentmander called out with a confused tone.


    ¡°Oh? Regimentmander!¡±Qiao Ting awakened and immediately raised his head and said, ¡°Sorry, I was lost in thought just now.¡±

 Chapter 717 - Top Ten Mecha Clan!

    <h4>Chapter 717: Top Ten Mecha n!</h4>


    <b>Trantor:</b> Henyee Trantions <b>Editor:</b> Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Did you hear what I said?¡± The regimentmander asked in concern.


    ¡°Yes. I will collect all the necessary information before the award ceremony,¡± Qiao Ting said expressionlessly.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Go and make your preparations.¡± The regimentmander felt at ease after he knew Qiao Ting heard what he said. He thought that Qiao Ting was too engrossed in reading the documents so he ignored his superiors¡¯ words. When he was younger, he was like that too... the regimentmander smiled. He waved his hand and asked Qiao Ting to leave.


    The regimentmander didn¡¯t notice when Qiao Ting turned around, he clenched his hands tightly. The veins on his hands popped out. This proved Qiao Ting was not asposed as he looked.


    Ling Lan, Ling Lan, it¡¯s actually Ling Lan. He is a regimentmander now! Is he someone I can never surpass? Qiao Ting was screaming in his heart. The three years he spent as a recruit, the three years he was so proud of, was not worth much at all...


    Qiao Ting gritted his teeth. If God allowed him to be born, why must God create Ling Lan too? If God made someone so excellent, why did he make someone even better? Qiao Ting felt helpless.


    He was unconvinced. Why did Ling Lan have such a smooth life? He managed to achieve so much within his first year. He even rose to be a regimentmander! Maybe someone powerful pushed Ling Lan up to this position just like what his regiment had said.


    Qiao Ting remembered Ling Lan¡¯s cold and sharp eyes. He felt as though a bucket of cold water was sshed on him, instantly calming him down


    Ling Lan was not someone who would walk through the backdoor! As his lifelong opponent, Qiao Ting understood Ling Lan. Others might change but the cold and arrogant Ling Lan would not.


    That year, Ling Lan stood up against every faction in the military academy in order to protect his friends. No matter how powerful or high ranked his opponent was, he would never bow down to anyone. Others might misunderstand Ling Lan but he wouldn¡¯t... if he did, he had no right to be Ling Lan¡¯s opponent.


    The confusion in Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes disappeared. He would do his job well, not to find any evidence against Ling Lan, but to find out how he managed to be a regimentmander so quickly. Qiao Ting felt that he might be able to learn something new from Ling Lan and not waste more time on the wrong path.


    He didn¡¯t have much time left. If dyed more, Ling Lan would run too far ahead and he would never be able to be his opponent. Qiao Ting was a proud person. He didn¡¯t want to look at Ling Lan¡¯s back a few yearster and sigh at his own fate.


    As for whether this Ling Lan was the Ling Lan he knew... Qiao Ting never had this query. Years of battling allowed him to know that this was the Ling Lan he knew.


    A few dayster, all the units in Soldier City knew the top ten mecha ns of thisnd clearing mission were going to enter the city and attend an awards ceremony. Many officers with high positions had gotten the name list of the top ten mecha ns.


    Ye Ling came to Ye Xu¡¯s ce with a frown on his face. He was still thinking whether he should let the other party see the documents in his hand when Ye Xu walked out of his room.


    ¡°Why have youe?¡± Ye Xu raised his eyebrows. Ye Ling was unhappy Ye Xu was looking at him as though he was his servant. He scoffed. He passed the document to Ye Xu and looked at his expression intently. He wanted to know if Ye Xu was still able to maintain hisposure when he saw the name.


    Ye Xu frowned when he saw the derision in Ye Ling¡¯s eyes. Ye Xu always kept a low profile and hid behind Wu Jiong in the Scout Academy and the military academy, but he was an observant and intelligent person too.


    From the very beginning, he knew there was something wrong with Ye Ling¡¯s identity. Ye Ling was not as simple as he looked. However, he currently didn¡¯t have much power at his disposal so he was unable to fight against the Ye family. Thus, he had no choice but to step onto the other party¡¯s trap. After that, in order to have Ye Ling lower his guard around him, he disguised himself as an arrogant person who looked down on the Ye family.


    Ye Ling didn¡¯t trust Ye Xu and Ye Xu guarded against Ye Ling too. Hence, he was able to notice the slight difference in Ye Ling¡¯s gaze.


    Ye Xu took over the document calmly. He told himself he must control his emotions. He guessed this document must have something to do with him. If not, Ye Ling would not behave like this. He must not let Ye Ling see through his disguise.


    Ye Xu opened the document. It was a list of the top ten teams of thend clearing mission. He was stunned. These ace mecha ns should have nothing to do with him, right? He must have made a mistake in his disguise.


    Ye Xu started suspecting himself. However, as an observant person, he still sensed Ye Ling gaze at him. Hence, although he was confused, he still took care of his expression.


    Ye Xu calmly looked through the list...


    Top ten mecha ns for thend clearing mission of Juhao (The official name for the):


    Jing Tian Ace Mecha n (1st Division) Regiment Commander: Sun Yiqing.


    Swift Thunder Ace Mecha n (2nd Division) Regiment Commander: Lei Ganqi.


    Chiyan Ace Mecha n (3rd Division) Regiment Commander: Xu Qiuming.


    Yuhen Ace Mecha n (4th Division) Regiment Commander: Su Yongkang.


    Pojun Ace Mecha n (6th Division) Regiment Commander: Jin Feiyang.


    Hidden Dragon Ace Mecha n (9th Division) Regiment Commander: Hua Tianyi.


    Bight Moon Ace Mecha n (1st Division) Regiment Commander: Liu Shu.


    Ferocious Lion Ace Mecha n (13th Division) Regiment Commander Le Putian.


    Courage God Ace Mecha n (7th Division) Regiment Commander: You Zhongling.


    250 Mecha n (23rd Division) Regiment Commander: Ling Lan.


    Ye Xu looked through the list quickly. He remained calm all the way but when he saw the name of thest regimentmander, he couldn¡¯t control his emotions anymore. No matter how prepared Ye Xu was, this name still impacted him greatly.


    ¡°Young Master 13, I remember the captain of the battle n you joined during your military academy days was called Ling Lan too, right?¡± Ye Ling was satisfied with Ye Xu¡¯s reaction. He purposely teased Ye Xu before saying, ¡°Sigh, I must be thinking too much. He is a recruit just like you. How can he be the regimentmander of a top ten mecha n? It must be a coincidence. This person must have the same name as him. What a pity. Your captain must be ving away in some unknown mecha n.¡±


    These were Ye Ling¡¯s true thoughts. There were so many people in the Federation. It was normal to have the same name as someone else. He wanted to tell Ye Xu without the Ye family, he would be in the same situation as his past captain, ving away in some unknown mecha n for three years. He would not have experienced such a good opportunity like this where he just needed to enjoy his three years as a recruit, then go back and be a high officer. Compared to the masses, Ye Xu had a high starting point.


    Ye Xu looked at the familiar name in shock. He took some time to regain his senses. What Ye Ling said made sense but for some reason, Ye Xu felt that this Ling Lan was his boss.


    Others might not be able to be a regimentmander in their first year as a recruit but his boss was someone who always created miracles. Ye Xu smiled. Only he understood the pride and happiness in his smile. He also felt a little sad. As expected, he couldn¡¯t bepared to his Boss.


    Wu Jiong was also as stunned as Ye Xu. The two of them had parted ways but their intuition was the same. They both knew deep down the Regiment Commander of 250 Mecha n was their Boss Lan.


    The day of the awards ceremony arrived. Almost all the units in Soldier City sent their representatives to get a position at the za where the awards ceremony was held. Most of them were here to see the Courage God Ace Mecha n as well as the 250 Mecha n.


    The ten mecha ns entered the Soldier City based on the order as the were ced. All the mecha operators walked into the za after getting off the hover bus. The first eight mecha ns were well-known mecha ns in the military world. Some of the mecha operators in these mecha ns were super ace mecha masters with a title. All the ace mecha masters in the Federation knew that ace mecha masters without a title were not really ace mecha masters. They were only given the ace level because they needed to go to the battlefield.


    When the super ace mecha masters got out of the hover bus, many mecha operators wanted to rush over and interact with them. All of them looked at the super ace mecha masters with respect. If any one of the super ace mecha masters would give them some advice, their mecha piloting skills would improve tremendously. There was a huge difference between having a good teacher versus finding the path yourself. Less time and effort would be spent on the wrong path.


    Unfortunately, the rules in Soldier City was strict. The mecha operators were jumping with excitement in their heart but no one dared to move and challenge the rules of the Soldier City.


    When the Courage God Ace Mecha n entered, the gazes of the mecha operators in the crowd changed. Most of them were indifferent.


    The Courage God Ace Mecha n received this title just recently and there were no super ace mecha masters in this mecha n too.

 Chapter 718 - Who Is He?

    <h4>Chapter 718: Who Is He?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Most of the mecha operators from Courage God Ace Mecha n were just normal ace mecha masters. Their team leaders were elite ace and their regimentmander, who was the strongest among them, was just shy of bing a peak-level ace mecha master. Most of the units stationed in the city had a simr power structure to the Courage God Ace Mecha n.


    The concept of survival of the fittest was ingrained deeply into all the soldiers¡¯ minds. Hence, when they saw a mecha n simr to them in terms of ability, they wanted to challenge them. Many mecha operators already had the thought of testing the mecha operators from Courage God after the ceremony. They must have a fight with them.


    The underwhelming appearance of the Courage God Ace Mecha n caused everyone to start looking down on 250 Mecha n. If a titled super ace mecha n was so weak, then a normal mecha n would be worse. This mecha n probably relied on their exceptional luck to get to this position.


    Very soon, the mecha operators from 250 Mecha n slowly got out from their hover bus. The first person to step out of the bus was a cold-looking youth. The moment he appeared on the za, everyone turned quiet. Soldiers with weaker wills couldn¡¯t help but tremble.


    ¡°That person is very strong.¡± An old mecha operator who got dragged toe by his friend tensed up the moment the young man appeared in his sight. He instantly got on his guard. This was the instincts of an experienced and strong soldier. This old mecha operator felt an unprecedented sense of danger from the bottom of his heart.


    ¡°Who is he?¡± Every soldier experienced various degrees of shock. They were all from the top strata of mecha ns, so everyone was quite familiar with each other. However, no one was prepared for the shock when such a powerful and unknown person appeared from 250 Mecha n.


    These powerful mecha operators could feel the dangerous force of presence exuding from that young man. Those with a lower level of physical skills couldn¡¯t sense this force of presence. They could just felt that this young man was very cold, as cold as ice. Their sixth sense repeatedly rang rms in their heads, warning them not to never provoke that young man.


    As expected of my boss! Wu Jiong¡¯s eyes turned red when he finally saw Ling Lan. The hardships he experienced at the 15th Division made him miss his days at the military academy. He missed those carefree days with Ling Lan. He missed the times when there was always someone in front of him, taking care of everything. Too bad, he would never feel this sense of stability anymore.


    ¡°Wu Jiong, do you know him?¡± The person beside Wu Jiong, a 28 years old man with an arrogant look on his face, noticed Wu Jiong¡¯s red eyes.


    Wu Jiong looked at Ling An. He was the first person who offered him help after he entered his division. Wu Jiong was sure Ling An knew his background due to his surname but just wasn¡¯t sure whether he was from the branch families or the main family. After all, the 15th Division belonged to the Wu family. Additionally, with him suffering more hardships than the average recruit, it was quite obvious he was from the Wu family.


    Even a normal mecha operator could feel the invisible tension between the higher authorities of the 15th Division. A smart person would not choose his side before the inevitable conflicts had ended but Ling An was different. He chose to help Wu Jiong when he was at his lowest point in life. Wu Jiong was grateful to Ling An. Hence, he brought Ling An along on this gold-ted mission when he was given this opportunity.


    Wu Jiong wanted to help his team members who entered the 15th Division but they were not ace mecha masters yet. Thus, they couldn¡¯t participate in the gold-ted mission. The military didn¡¯t want the za to be filled with weaklings so they set the requirement to have only ace mecha masters and above. This rule helped them to segregate out the weaker people.


    Of course, Wu Jiong knew the main reason why he epted Ling An so quickly was because he had the surname ¡®Ling¡¯.


    Wu Jiong wanted to tell Ling An who Ling Lan was but he changed his mind. ¡°Nothing. A speck of sand got into my eyes.¡±


    Ling An¡¯s expression froze for a moment. After a while, he smiled and said, ¡°That¡¯s true. Many hover cars came so it¡¯s normal to have a lot of sand.¡±


    Wu Jiong looked at Ling Lan again. He saw familiar faces stepping down after Ling Lan. He suddenly felt calmed. The anxiousness in his heart disappeared. He smiled for the first time in a long time. He clenched his fist.


    As expected of Boss Lan. He created miracles during his first year in the military. Since he is working so hard, how can I give up just because there are obstacles? Wu Jiong turned around. He saw the person he wanted to see. There was no point in staying here any longer.


    ¡°You are not watching anymore?¡± Ling An asked in surprise. 250 Mecha n just came out but Wu Jiong had already lost his interest.


    ¡°Yes. I have already seen what I wanted to see. It¡¯s time to go back for training,¡± Wu Jiong replied indifferently.


    Ling An¡¯s expression changed. ¡°You mean that harsh training you always do?¡± Why does Wu Jiong like to torture himself? Ling An suspected the information he got was wrong. Was Wu Jiong not a direct descendant of the Wu family but was instead from the branch family?


    This thought shed past Ling An¡¯s mind. However, he soon denied the thought. If Wu Jiong was not from the main family, why would he be sent to the garrison?


    ¡°Yes. I must do it every day. As for you, you can do it if you want it,¡± Wu Jiong replied.


    ¡°I will definitely apany you. We arerades,¡± Ling An replied with a smile. He must not let his past efforts go to waste. No matter how hard it was, he would apany Wu Jiong...


    Real friendships are formed when you pass through thick and thin together. Ling An had his own ns.


    As for that person... Ling An turned and looked at Ling Lan who was standing in front of the members of 250 Mecha n. If that person was who he thought he was, they definitely would be able to meet in the future. He just hoped that the stupid things the Ling family did in the past would not affect their generation.


    Compared to Ling Lan, he would rather pester Wu Jiong. Ling Lan was the only son of General Ling Xiao. He was the real heir of the military. This was probably why he was able to be a regimentmander when he was just a recruit. No one was able to be fair and just all the time. Even the military idol, Ling Xiao, who was the icon of fairness, couldn¡¯t do it.


    However, this was something he was happy to see. If not, he wouldn¡¯t be unable to get anything from Ling Lan when he got close to him.


    Only those stupid old fools would offend the guardian deity of the Ling family, Ling Xiao, in order to get such a small gain. This was why they were in such a bad state now. Even the branched descendants of the Ling family couldn¡¯t have a smooth path in the military. They needed to look for other people to help them.


    Thinking about this, Ling An gave a cold smile. He was one of the innocent victims that were implicated by what happened that year. He hated General Ling Xiao for being so heartless but, he also hated the narrow-minded elders of the Ling family even more.


    Wu Jiong didn¡¯t know what Ling An was thinking about behind him. At that moment, all he had was one thought. He must not let his Boss Lan get too far ahead of him.


    That year, when he left the military academy, he made a promise with his Boss Lan. Wu Jiong clenched his fist. Boss Lan, give me three years. I will fulfill my promise!


    He was supposed to be Boss Lan¡¯spanion! He would not let other people get this position.


    Wu Jiong walked forward with a firm resolve and footsteps. Ling An noticed this. The aura on Wu Jiong had changed... was it because of a stimtion? Or was there something he didn¡¯t notice?


    Ling An swiftly turned around and looked at Ling Lan. His instincts told him that Ling Lan was the reason why there was a change in Wu Jiong.


    Unfortunately, he had no information about Ling Lan¡¯s past deeds. Thus, he didn¡¯t know how Wu Jiong knew Ling Lan. To protect his son, General Ling Xiao used every means to remove any information on Ling Lan. If he didn¡¯t have prior knowledge of the name of General Ling Xiao¡¯s son, he would be as oblivious as everyone else here.


    On the other hand, Ye Ling and Ye Xu had entirely different expressions when they saw Ling Lan. Ye Ling looked shocked. He didn¡¯t know how a normal recruit with no background was able to climb to the rank of a regimentmander.


    As for Ye Xu, he was suppressing his excitement. As expected of his Boss Lan. No matter where he goes, he would create miracles. It was a pity he couldn¡¯t follow behind him anymore.


    Ye Xu felt a little sorry for leaving Wu Jiong but he didn¡¯t regret it. That was why he was able to endure Wu Jiong¡¯s anger. However, he didn¡¯t dare to look at Ling Lan. He was afraid of the cold and sharp eyes that could seemingly see through his thoughts..


    ¡°Young Master 13, are you sure Ling Lan is just a normal person?¡± Ye Ling finally calmed down and asked Ye Xu.


    Ye Xu looked at Ye Ling coldly. Does he have the right to say Boss Lan¡¯s name?


    He saw Ye Ling looking away and sneered. The Ye family was crazy to even think that they were a powerful elite family. They thought that just because they had the support of a division, they were mighty and all the descendants of the Ye family had to bend their backs backward to work for them. They forced their descendants to serve them. Even the subordinates they sent had no respect for their masters. His subordinate, Ye Ling, didn¡¯t care about his idol and tantly said his idol¡¯s name. Is this how a subordinate should act?


    The Ye family is rotting!

 Chapter 719 - Background?

    <h4>Chapter 719: Background?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ye Xu couldn¡¯t help but remember the irritating Li Yingjie who grew up with him. They were both from elite families and had simr family feuds in their families. Yet, the Li family treated their descendants much better than the Ye family. They would raise them up unconditionally. They provided their descendants with adequate resources but their future depended on their own efforts. This was why the Li family didn¡¯t do anything when Li Yingjie and Li Lanfeng decided to enter the 23rd division and not the 4th division (Ye Xu didn¡¯t know the details of the Li family so he made the wrong assumptions).


    Ye Xu was jealous. Why is that irritating Li Yingjie so lucky? Why was he fortunate enough to be born into the Li family? How could he shamelessly enter the 23rd division with Boss Lan when he disturbed Boss Lan during their days in the scout academy?


    Ye Ling knew that he said something that caused the ire in Ye Xu. If he had called Wu Jiong by his name, Ye Xu might not be angry. However, if he called Ling Lan by his name, Ye Xu would definitely get angry at him for this. Even today, Ye Xu always called Ling Lan, Boss Lan.


    Topensate for his mistake, he smiled and said hurriedly, ¡°I¡¯m just shocked. Young Master 13, tell me, is Ling Lan really just from a normal family?¡± This was impossible. He must have a powerful background. If not, the descendants of the Li family, the Ye family, and the Wu family would not bow down to her so easily.


    Ye Xu smiled coldly. Of course, he had a good background. Speaking of it, his background was the strongest out of all of them. But, he would not tell Ye Ling anything. This was the secret between the leaders of Lingtian. Moreover, Ye Xu believed Boss Lan didn¡¯t rely on General Ling Xiao to get to this position. He was not so weak. He used his own efforts to clear the path for himself, to rise up to the ranks of a regimentmander.


    Ye Xu had confirmed the name ¡®Ling Lan¡¯ on the namelist was his Boss Lan so he had no reason to stay here any longer. He turned and left immediately. Ye Ling was furious when Ye Xu didn¡¯t reply to him. He could feel the contempt from Ye Xu. However, he controlled his anger. Before the Ye family gives up on Ye Xu, he must not offend him.


    Ye Ling realized Ye Xu was slowly bing simr to someone over this period of time.


    He chased after Ye Xu. Along the way, he turned back and looked at Ling Lan who had frozen the crowd.


    If he wanted Ye Xu to work for the Ye family willingly, he needed to destroy that person in his heart so that he would have no hope to retreat.


    Ye Ling gave a cold smile. So what if he was strong? Without a powerful background, the Ye family could easily destroy his future.


    When Ling Lan stepped onto the za, she felt a few intense gazes falling on her. Little Four was in a good mood, so he quickly found those people and showed her their faces in an instant.


    Ling Lan was stunned to see a few familiar faces. She didn¡¯t expect to see some of herrades which she hadn¡¯t seen for a few years here. Why are they at Soldier City?


    Little Four noticed Ling Lan¡¯s confusion and excitedly exined everything to her. Ling Lan realized every division had its own personal stationed army. The stationed army was an army every mecha operator wanted to enter. This gold-ted mission was a mission every mecha operator wanted to take.


    Ling Lan felt her head hurting. She was worried because Little Four kept sleeping but when he was awake and was in a good mood, she couldn¡¯t handle him. He talked so much, her head hurt from his chattering. She almost couldn¡¯t maintain her Boss-like persona.


    However, Little Four¡¯s chattering allowed her to understand why Wu Jiong and Ye Xu were here. The Ye family and the Wu family probably wanted to use this method to let them rise up in ranks quickly. Ling Lan felt there was nothing wrong with this. Since they had this opportunity, why not make use of it?


    Ling Lan was not as fair and just as people thought. If someone could climb up the ranks within a short period of time, they should just do it. Hence, this philosophy of hers allowed her to use her father to help her get what she wanted unapologetically...


    The powerful operators were shocked, the moment Ling Lan appeared. However, if 250 Mecha n only had Ling Lan, it was still a lousy mecha n to these people. They would not respect or fear it. Yet, the mecha operators that followed behind her caused them to view 250 Mecha n differently.


    Among the young soldiers standing behind Ling Lan, two middle-aged mecha operators stood out. The powerful mecha operators at the scene recognized these two people.


    They were mecha operators with a title. One of them was a member of the Seven Stars of the South while the other was a member of the Seven Stars of the North. These two people, who were from entirely different divisions, appeared together in a normal mecha n. This was definitely something impressive.


    Not only that, but the people in the crowd also recognize some powerful mecha operators who didn¡¯t have a title but had many military achievements. These mecha operators were quite famous. Some of them were even their old brother-in-arms and their pastrades.


    They remembered these mecha operators and knew why they left their previous division. The highest-ranked military doctor gave them a verdict, of them not being able to operate a mecha anymore. This caused them to leave their beloved division and was sent somewhere to enjoy their retirement.


    They thought they would not see them again. Yet, they appeared here. They could operate mechas again and even became one of the top ten mecha ns in and clearing mission, winning against many powerful ace mecha ns.


    The crowd was confused. Were the verdicts given by the military doctors wrong? Did they really lose their ability to operate mechas or were they sent to carry out a special mission?


    Even after all the mecha operators from 250 Mecha n had assembled, the mecha operators in the crowd still had not regained their senses. Hence, amidst their confusion, the ten mecha ns were sent to their respective camping grounds where they could rest and prepare for the awards ceremony that was three dayster.


    ¡°Senior officer, we have made the necessary arrangements. 250 Mecha n will be camping next to the camp of the 3rd division.¡±


    Jiang Wei nodded in satisfaction when he heard the report. If he was able to embarrass 250 Mecha n before the awards ceremony, he would be able to humiliate Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao, this time, you will not have such a smooth path! Jiang Wei gave a cold smile.

 Chapter 720 - Shopping?

    <h4>Chapter 720: Shopping?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    In the office of the Regiment Commander of the 3rd division, Qiao Ting passed the information he collected in these few days about 250 Mecha n to his regimentmander.


    His regimentmander took the documents and read them. When he saw the names of Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong, he frowned.


    He lowered his head and pondered for a long time. Then, he looked up and met Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes. His eyes were dim. ¡°Qiao Ting, we were given an order to provoke 250 Mecha n to determine their general capabilities. What do you think we should do?¡±


    Qiao Ting replied emotionlessly. ¡°If the order is not given by our direct superiors or the headquarters, I feel that we shouldn¡¯t do it.¡± Ling Lan was not an easy person to bully. Instead of embarrassing 250 Mecha n, they might be their stepping stone. He already did such a stupid thing in the past, so he didn¡¯t want to do it again.


    The regimentmander was shocked. No matter who his opponent was, Qiao Ting never backed down. Why was he so apprehensive today? Was there someone he was afraid of in 250 Mecha n?


    The regimentmander didn¡¯t expect himself to guess urately. Even Qiao Ting, who never shrunk back, didn¡¯t want to offend 250 Mecha n. Was it worth it to do it for the sake of a major general of the same faction?


    ¡°Yang Mingzhi, Liu Furong, members of the North and South Stars. They are mecha operators with a title.¡±


    ¡°Long Qigang, Lu Yulong, Jiang Shaoguan, Zhuang Shaohan, Wu Yang... they are all experienced soldiers on the battlefield. They were very famous in their previous division. Hmm, Gu Dongyang? He is in 250 Mecha n too...¡± The regimentmander looked at the familiar names on the list and started remembering the old days. He remembered the days on the battlefield. Suddenly, he saw a familiar name and eximed in surprise.


    Qiao Ting was puzzled. Gu Dongyang? He had a title too but he wasn¡¯t on par with Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong in terms of status. Why was the regimentmander so surprised?


    ¡°I need to consider this!¡± The regimentmander was confused. He knew Gu Dongyang would not be able to operate a mecha anymore. How did he manage to stand up again?


    The regimentmander had a mysterious look on his face. He gritted his teeth in the end and said, ¡°I need to know if he really regained his power.¡±


    He initially didn¡¯t want to provoke 250 Mecha n for Major General Jiang Wei but now, he decided to understand the situation of the mecha n first.


    ¡°Why can¡¯t he just retire obediently? Why must he be so stubborn? Cough...¡± Qiao Ting heard his regimentmander sighing.


    He knew his regimentmander had decided to provoke 250 Mecha n. Qiao Ting didn¡¯t say anything. He politely bidded farewell to his regimentmander. Before he left Soldier City, he would do hisst job well.


    The Soldier City was the satellite city of General. Much money was spent to modify Soldier City, the weather here wouldn¡¯t be too bad.


    Luo Chao and Han Xuya could finally have a good night¡¯s sleep. The next morning, when they saw the beautiful and bright sun, their fatigue was dispelled.


    ¡°Ah, Luo Chao, the sunlight is sofortable. We have not seen sunlight for half a year, right?¡± Han Xuya pulled the curtain open. The warm sunlight entered into the room. She closed her eyes while basking in the gentle sunlight happily.


    Juhao was not suitable for humans to live in. There was no sunlight, it was enveloped in darkness all year round. After spending so much time on Juhao, Han Xuya felt she was getting moldy.


    ¡°Yes, the sunlight is so beautiful.¡± Luo Chao walked to the window and enjoyed the sunlight with Han Xuya.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we go shopping?¡± Han Xuya¡¯s eyes lit up as she asked the question.


    They had not gone shopping for almost a year. Luo Chao was tempted too. However, she still had some qualms. ¡°We are not familiar with Soldier City. Furthermore, when we came yesterday, I didn¡¯t see any woman around. Is it safe for us to go out like this?¡±


    Luo Chao still remembered how she was teased when she went shopping during the Grand Mecha Tournament. Not everyone in the military was good, there were some perverts mixed in, ruining her whole experienced.


    Luo Chao¡¯s words reminded Han Xuya. She looked at Luo Chao. With the sunlight shining on her, making her looked pure and beautiful. Then, she thought of the stupid men outside who had not seen a woman for a few years. She would definitely not be able to stop them alone. Han Xuya forgot she was a woman and that it would be dangerous for her too.


    However, Han Xuya was unwilling to give up on this opportunity. She pondered for a moment and an idea came to her. ¡°Nevermind, we can get our Boss to protect us.¡± They could use this opportunity to get closer to their Boss too.


    As Luo Chao¡¯s best buddy, she must help Luo Chao to win the heart of their Boss. She would feel at ease if her Boss got together with Luo Chao.


    ¡°No, no. No way.¡± Luo Chao waved her hands in shock. Han Xuya would not be stopped by her so she rushed out of the room, running towards Ling Lan¡¯s room.


    ¡°Xuya, don¡¯t go. Boss is very busy. He has many things to do.¡± Luo Chao wanted to cry. How could they trouble their busy Boss just because they wanted to go shopping? Luo Chao felt guilty. She reprimanded herself for not holding Han Xuya back. She chased after her hurriedly to stop her before she did anything stupid.


    Unfortunately, Han Xuya¡¯s physical skills were higher than Luo Chao¡¯s. No matter how hard Luo Chao ran, she was unable to catch up with Han Xuya.


    When Luo Chao arrived at Ling Lan¡¯s room, she saw Han Xuya smiling brightly at her. She struck two fingers and gave her a ¡®peace¡¯ sign.


    Huh? What does that mean?


    ¡°Luo Chao, Boss agreed to go shopping with us.¡± Han Xuya¡¯s excited voice could be heard. Luo Chao was surprised when she heard footstepsing behind Han Xuya, revealing Ling Lan. She met Ling Lan¡¯s gaze. Ling Lan was already in her military attire.


    ¡°Boss, actually, we can just ask my brother to apany us.¡± Luo Chao¡¯s face turned red. Although she was ted that she could go shopping with her Boss, she still gave a logical suggestion.


    Erm, Boss, please don¡¯t agree... sob, when did I be such a bad girl? I disregarded how busy he is just because I want to go shopping with him... Luo Chao was embarrassed. She felt sorry for her Boss who always took care of her.


    ¡°I want to familiarize myself with Soldier City too.¡± Although she couldn¡¯t enter General, Ling Lan still wanted to take a look at Soldier City. After spending so much time in that horrible ce, she needed to experience the life of a normal person again.


    Well, she would never admit that she actually wanted to go shopping too.

 Chapter 721 - Secret?

    <h4>Chapter 721: Secret?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Millions of soldiers resided in Soldier City so there were many entertainment spots in the city. The luxurious shopping street in Soldier City was simr to the shopping streets in all the other cities. The only difference was, the staff of the shops was soldiers.


    Normal businesses were not able to set up in Soldier City. All the shops in Soldier City were under the Purchasing Department of the military. The products were internally distributed supplies so their quality was guaranteed. Not only were they better in quality than those products outside, but they were also rtively cheaper too.


    Hence, all the soldiers in Soldier City spent most of their sry here. Some bought necessities they currently needed while others bought in bulks to bring them back after their term in Soldier City ended. Even if they couldn¡¯t use it, it was a good gift to normal people. Normal people might not be able to buy military supplies even if they wanted to.


    Today, the street was extremely busy. Besides the soldiers who resided at Soldier City, the top ten mecha ns were here too. The soldiers of these mecha ns took the chance to do some restocking. The price here was more affordablepared to the price at their division. Additionally, they needed to prepare some presents too. If they met anyrades after going back, they would be able to give them something.


    There were female soldiers in Soldier City but they were rare. However, there were many female products sold. Everyone knew those high-ranking officers, with the exception of a few younger ones, had either a wife, mistress or a girlfriend. To make their women happy, they were willing to spend a lot of credits on them. Thus, the sales of these shops were good.


    The moment Han Xuya and Luo Chao arrived at the shopping street, they were attracted by the huge array of products avable. If their Boss was not beside them, they would have gone berserk, rushing into shops while shouting happily.


    They had not used their sry for almost a year so they had enough credits to buy whatever they wanted. Their boss even secretly gave them a bonus of 100,000 credits. This was their sry for an entire year. It was enough to let them buy things without any qualms.


    Sob, their Boss really pampered them. Han Xuya and Luo Chao were touched.


    Han Xuya went to ask her otherrades after she received the bonus from her Boss. Haha, those guys only got 50,000 credits. This was halved of what their boss gave them. The twodies were ted. Their boss was obviously biased towards them. As smart people, they would not boast about their bonuses and create trouble for their boss. However, their smile got brighter and attracted the attention of many soldiers on the street.


    Everyone on Lingtian came out to shop together. They were all extremely happy to receive an additional bonus from their boss. They were touched by their boss¡¯s selfless love towards them.


    Erm.. actually, Ling Lan was generous because Little Four helped her to invest the extra credits herrades had left. The investment managed to do well so all of herrades had millions of credits now.


    To prevent herrades from losing their minds due to the sudden wealth, she didn¡¯t tell them how much their real assets were worth. The bonus was also a reward for them as they performed well in thend clearing mission.


    It meant that this pile of money didn¡¯t belong to Ling Lan. It was theirs. Just like this, these people, who were kept in the dark, pledged their loyalty to their boss.


    Although the people from Lingtian came out shopping together, they didn¡¯t stay with Ling Lan. The temptation to shop with their Boss was huge but they were all forced away by Han Xuya¡¯s unrelenting stare.


    Hence, the threedies, Ling Lan, Han Xuya, and Luo Chao went shopping together. Of course, to other people, Ling Lan was a man. Many soldiers on the street didn¡¯t have a girlfriend so they got jealous when they saw Ling Lan moving around with twodies by his side. They wished they could take his ce. However, the cold aura around Ling Lan stopped them from doing anything stupid.


    Ling Lan noticed the desire in Han Xuya¡¯s and Luo Chao¡¯s eyes. As expected, nodies could resist beautiful essories and clothes. Even if they currently couldn¡¯t use them, they still wanted to buy them.


    Ling Lan nodded. They were the only two females in her team so she would try to fulfill all their desires. Ling Lan forgot she was ady too. No wonder Mother Lan alwaysined that the five years in the military academy had made her lessdy-like.


    They entered a shop and saw all the trending essoriesid out on the counter. There were clothes and jewelry too. Ling Lan had no interest in these but she got tempted too.


    However, the moment they entered the shop, the chatty staff members sprung into a corner as though they got frightened.


    ¡°Boss, retract your cold aura. Don¡¯t scare them.¡± If there was no one attending them, how were they supposed to shop? She pulled Ling Lan¡¯s sleeve and reminded her.


    Ling Lan was enlightened. The staff was not real soldiers. They were only a soldier in name but in fact, they were normal people. They were unable to handle her force of presence. That was why they hid from her when she came in.


    Ling Lan had no choice but to retract the cold aura around her. The shop regained its warm atmosphere. One of the youngdies noticed the change in the temperature and looked over curiously.


    She saw three female soldiers (?) standing at the door. One was gentle-looking, one was quite handsome, and one looked very young and had a kind of androgynous beauty. Just by standing there, they were able to be the center of attention.


    The youngdy was puzzled. Why did they hide? Just now, she felt fear. It was like when their superior came to inspect their work. They didn¡¯t dare to look at their superiors so they hid in a corner and pretended to be busy. They must be thinking too much just now. It must be because they felt guilty for chatting during working hours.


    The youngdy found an exnation for her actions. Since there were customers, she gathered her courage and walked towards them. She greeted them enthusiastically, ¡°Officers, what would you like?¡±


    Besides people like them, everyone else in Soldier City was soldiers. In order to be a part of the staff at Soldier City, they needed to have ample knowledge about the different titles and ranks of a soldier. The youngdy nced at the three customers. The twodies were second lieutenants while the other one was a major. She was surprised. At first, she thought that these twodies brought their younger brother or younger sister out for shopping. It seemed like she was wrong.


    She started to greet them with more respect. There were many lieutenants in Soldier City but majors were lessmon. She didn¡¯t dare to offend them.


    ¡°Boss, Luo Chao and I will go and shop around. Would you like to take a seat and wait for us?¡± Luo Chao wanted to start shopping immediately but she couldn¡¯t just leave her Boss like this. Her Boss might get angry for neglecting him.


    When the attendant heard this, she got agitated. More sales meant moremission for her. She hurriedly asked, ¡°Are you not interested in the products we have?¡±


    Ling Lan shook her head. She was not uninterested. It¡¯s just that with her current status, she couldn¡¯t use them.


    The attendant was disappointed. She looked at Ling Lan¡¯s young face and suddenly thought of something. She quickly introduced the second floor to her. ¡°Officer, we have a doll section on the second floor. You can go up and take a look. Our resting area is on the second floor too. If you get tired of shopping, you can have a rest.¡±


    Luo Chao heard this and knew that the attendant had misunderstood something. Sheughed and turned to look at Ling Lan¡¯s pure face. She didn¡¯t expect her Boss to look like this after he retracted his force of presence. Her face turned red. She believed that only Xuya and her saw this side of Ling Lan before...


    Luo Chao looked at Han Xuya instinctively. She noticed that the careless Han Xuya didn¡¯t realize the change in their boss. Luo Chao felt something sweet spreading through her heart. She might be the only one who saw this side of Ling Lan. Was this a secret between her and her Boss?


    Just as Luo Chao was immersed in her own thoughts, Han Xuyaughed loudly. ¡°Haha. You are so funny. How can you ask our boss to go to the doll section? He is a man. Why will he like these dolls?¡±


    Han Xuya¡¯s words stabbed Ling Lan¡¯s heart...


    Who says I¡¯m not a woman? Fine, I¡¯m not supposed to be one. However, that does not mean that I don¡¯t like dolls, right? Ling Lan was sad. She walked towards the second floor while ignoring Han Xuya. She was afraid that she might kill her identally.

 Chapter 722 - Caution!

    <h4>Chapter 722: Caution!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    As the attendant looked at her in shock, Ling Lan slowly walked up the stairs. She saw a whole house of dolls and soft toys. Surprisingly, a few bulky men, from majors to lieutenant colonels, were standing in front of the shelves of the soft toys with a troubled look.


    The attendants that should be attending to them were nowhere in sight. They might have frightened them away or they might be busy with other customers.


    Ling Lan was walking past them but when a cold-looking lieutenant colonel saw her, his eyes lit up as though he saw his life savior. He hurriedly called out, ¡°Excuse me...¡±


    Ling Lan stopped in her tracks. She looked at the person curiously. Why did he call her?


    ¡°Erm, sorry to disturb you. My daughter is around the same age as you. I want to buy something for her. What kind of dolls do girls your age...¡± The officer¡¯s face turned gentle when he talked about his daughter. At that moment, he realized he wasn¡¯t sure what gender the person in front of him was. He looked at Ling Lan¡¯s epaulette and got a shock. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, major.¡±


    If this person is a major, he should be a man. The lieutenant colonel knew although there were many outstanding women in the military, their rise in rank would be much slower than a man would. The new generation was even more stringent towards women, so to be a major while being a young female was quite unlikely.


    Ling Lan knew without her force of presence, such situations would definitely happen. However, she had a good impression of this lieutenant colonel. It might be because he reminded her of her father, Ling Xiao. Both of them pampered their daughter very much.


    Thinking about this, she nodded and said, ¡°How old is your daughter?¡± She had read many novels and mangas in her past life. Even if she didn¡¯t have a clear idea of what girls in this world like, it should be simr to her own experiences.


    ¡°She is 15 years old.¡± The lieutenant colonel¡¯s eyes turned gentle. He had not seen her for three years. Is she doing well?


    15 years old... a youngdy. She should like cute things like me. Ling Lan pointed to a cute soft toy. ¡°This one.¡±


    The lieutenant colonel looked at the round ball which had a dumb-looking face on it. He couldn¡¯t tell what this was. Would his daughter like it? However, since someone of a simr age chose it, it should be right. The lieutenant colonel thought for a moment and decided to listen to the young man. He took the soft toy.


    The officers around them had been eavesdropping on their conversation. The moment the lieutenant colonel took the soft toy, they hurriedly grab the rest too.


    These officers shopped together to buy gifts for their daughters. To maintain their fierce and stern image, they rejected the help of the attendants and wanted to do it themselves. However, they underestimated theplexity of a young girl¡¯s mind. They looked at all the soft toys dejectedly. After thinking for a long time, they still didn¡¯t know what to buy.


    Luckily, one of them was smart enough to grab a young man who was of a simr age. This young man helped them solved their problems.


    After they paid for the soft toy, they suddenly remembered the minimum age to enter the military was 18 years old. If the young man was from the military academy, he should be at least 21 years old now... how could there be such a young major?


    They turned back but the young man was nowhere in sight. It was as though he never here... the officers felt a chill down their spine. Did they see something they shouldn¡¯t have?


    After Ling Lan helped these officers, she walked towards the resting area which was located deeper in the shop.


    Ling Lan liked those soft toys but she couldn¡¯t buy them. To prevent herself from being tempted by the soft toys, she decisively waited in the resting area for Han Xuya and Luo Chao to finish shopping. That way, she would not feel the pain of not being able to buy what she wanted.


    Ling Lan was smart and logical. She didn¡¯t give herself any chance to make a mistake. She sat on the sofa and flipped through the internal information viewable only to a major on hermunicator, trying to find some useful information.


    Suddenly, her pocket started bulging. A few white lines slowly weaved out of her pocket. Very soon, something white and round popped out of her pocket. It surveyed its surroundings before climbing out. It was Little White, the creature Ling Lan smuggled from the Juhao.


    It noticed its master was focused on hermunicator and wasn¡¯t paying attention to it. It was ting. It wanted to leave Ling Lan and shop somewhere else. However, just as it was about to escape, a slender hand grabbed it.


    ¡°Ouch!¡± It hurts! Little White looked at its master with tears in its eyes. Didn¡¯t she know it hurts to pinch someone?


    With its size and its expression, Little White could win over the hearts of 99.99% of young girls. Even Ling Lan felt her heart softening. But, the brutal training in the learning space made her firm. She raised her eyebrows and looked at Little White dangerously. ¡°Painful? Hmph!¡±


    How dare it used its spiritual power against her? No wonder she lost her concentration for a moment. Was Little White looking for death?


    Little White knew it had angered its master. It lowered its head to show its master it knew its mistake. It also held Ling Lan¡¯s finger with some of its tentacles and pulled it lightly. It seemed to be whining and asking her for forgiveness.


    Ling Lan wanted tough. After leaving the Juhao, Little White¡¯s intelligence seemed to have increased. It didn¡¯t know where Little White learned this cute action from. Every time she wanted to scold it, it would use this expression to get away...


    Little Four heard his boss¡¯s thoughts and hurriedly ran away.


    ¡°Little White, there is a limit to my patience. This is thest time. If you disobey me again, you will disappear permanently,¡± Ling Lan threatened in a calm tone.


    She liked Little White¡¯s cuteness but she knew what it really was. If she didn¡¯t manage to subdue it, Little White could cause huge damage to the human world. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t let that happen. Hence, she must watch over Little White carefully and prevent it from going out of her sight.

 Chapter 723 - Oppression!

    <h4>Chapter 723: Oppression!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Little White¡¯s chubby body flopped around. At the same time, it clung on Ling Lan¡¯s hand and began to rub against it. It hoped Ling Lan would let him off easy this time.


    Ling Lan nced at it coldly and then continued to read through the information on hermunicator, no longer paying attention to it.


    Little White instantly lowered its head down depressingly after it saw its 100% effective cutesy move had failed. It crawled up Ling Lan¡¯s shoulder weakly and curled up there without moving a muscle. It would be looking for a death wish if it continued to try to get on Ling Lan¡¯s good side, since Ling Lan had already given it a warning.


    Qiao Ting took his men and walked around the streets. Of course, they weren¡¯t there to buy anything, but instead they had received a mission from their regimentmander. Their mission was to stop those from 250 Mecha n. Of course, Qiao Ting¡¯s regimentmander¡¯s target was Gu Dongyang. This made Qiao Ting be curious about what kind of resentment did his regimentmander harbor against Gu Dongyang. Gu Dongyang had only just appeared and his regimentmander couldn¡¯t wait to get information on him.


    Although he couldn¡¯t refuse the mission given by his regimentmander, Qiao Ting didn¡¯t actually want to do this mission. Thus, he didn¡¯t go to the area where men liked to shop, but instead came to the shopping district for women.


    ¡°Captain Qiao, are you to buy something nice for your significant other at home?¡± A member saw Qiao Ting had brought them here and had an understanding expression. He pointed to a shop and smirked.


    In the past three years, Qiao Ting became very close with his team members. Ever since he lost to Ling Lan, Qiao Ting stopped being a lone wolf. Even though he still spoke little to no words, he was still different from the time when he was in the academy. The difference was like heaven and earth. This made him face less problems and issues in the army. He quickly got used to it and formed good rtionships with these veterans mecha operators.


    Qiao Ting sent a nce towards the shop and couldn¡¯t help but swear, ¡°Sh*t¡±. It turns out inside the shop that the veteran pointed at, Qiao Ting actually saw a familiar face behind the ss... Luo Lang!


    No, he saw that person standing close to another girl. Qiao Ting instantly remembered that person was probably not Ling Lan¡¯s right-hand man, Luo Lang. Instead, it was the legendary Luo Lang¡¯s younger twin sister, Luo Chao.


    Having Ling Lan as his rival for life, he, of course, would have information of his subordinates. Qiao Ting felt his head throbbing in pain. He wanted to avoid Ling Lan, but God wouldn¡¯t let him do that. He just walked around randomly and managed to find Ling Lan¡¯s members...


    Qiao Ting was still thinking whether he should pretend not to have seen them and instantly turn around to leave the area. Hisrades on the other hand, were staring at the girls by the window. They felt their hearts were pierced by an arrow of love and were instantly excited to go up to them and introduce themselves.


    In their eyes, Qiao Ting was a genius whose future held no bounds. If the girls inside the shop could marry Qiao Ting, it would definitely be an honor for them. These girls would definitely not think about rejecting someone of this caliber.


    Just like that, Qiao Ting was dragged into the shop by hisrades, which didn¡¯t give any chance to make an excuse to leave.


    Luo Chao and Han Xuya were shopping excitedly. They suddenly felt the shop being intruded by many people and, Luo Chao raised her head. She saw seven or eight military officers walking towards them with eerie smiles on their faces. They exuded the intention of surrounding them.


    Luo Chao panicked. She immediately pulled on Han Xuya, who hadn¡¯t noticed them. Han Xuya turned around anxiously. After seeing those military officers, her face instantly steeled and she pushed Luo Chao behind her to protect her.


    Those military officers were mostly senior captains. The youngest officer in the group was actually the highest ranked, a major. Those officers didn¡¯t seem to be malicious and was just looking at them with smiles on their faces. They would then exchange looks with the young major from time to time.


    Han Xuya red angrily at the young major, who had irritated look on his face. She suddenly discovered that this person seemed very familiar. Han Xuya immediately widened her eyes and shouted in surprise, ¡°Qiao Ting!¡±


    Han Xuya loved gossip and stories. After returning to Lingtian Battle n, Han Xuya was very interested in Ling Lan¡¯s time in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. From gathering little bits of gossip, she managed to know of all the glorious achievements Lingtian Battle n had achieved in the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Of course, some of the gossip she gathered was for her best friend, Luo Chao.


    The only reason Han Xuya had remembered Qiao Ting was because she knew Qiao Ting was her Boss¡¯s only rival within the military academy. She also knew that during the Grand Mecha Tournament when Ling Lan led the n as the regimentmander, Qiao Ting fell into Ling Lan¡¯s trap and became the deputy regimentmander back in the day. She and Luo Chao had a chance to participate in the event and thus saw how Qiao Ting looked in real life.


    Qiao Ting smiled bitterly in his heart. As expected, he was recognized by them. Of course, his expression the outside was still calm and he nodded towards Han Xuya, ¡°Second lieutenant, it¡¯s been a long time.¡±


    Qiao Ting¡¯s team members who stood beside him had a surprised look on their faces. ¡°So he knew them~Captain Qiao definitely has a crush on one of them for a long time. Wonder which one it is? Is it the cool-looking girl in the front or was it the soft and shy girl in the back?¡± They began to think wildly.


    ¡°It¡¯s been a long time indeed. Who knew we would see you here. Are you here to buy something or...¡± Han Xuya watched Qiao Ting cautiously and began thinking whether Qiao Ting came to find her Boss. Additionally, she was also on her guard against him because he might take them as hostages to fight against her Boss...


    Han Xuya seemed to be brash and forthright on the outside, but it was clearly contradictory to her personality, which was overly cautious.


    ¡°Of course, he came here to find you.¡± Before Qiao Ting could answer, one of the 30-year-old senior captains replied with a smile.


    ¡°Qiao Ting doesn¡¯t speak much. If he wants to get a girl, it would be somewhat difficult. As a goodrade, they have to at least help him. Since Qiao Ting doesn¡¯t dare to say it,¡± thought the senior captain who spoke up.


    ¡°As expected, they didn¡¯t have any good intentions!¡± Han Xuya¡¯s eyes steeled and went into a defensive position. As long as they had the thought of attacking them, she would immediately counterattack. However, her words were still the same, ¡°Qiao Ting, the Boss is on the second floor. If you want to find him, then you can go straight to the second floor. What kind of man are you to mess with women like us?¡±


    Luo Chao also felt something was off and silently took out a few tranquilisers. If those men moved oddly ever so slightly, she would give them one or two darts. They shouldn¡¯t think they could bully them just because they were women.


    Han Xuya and Luo Chao weren¡¯t scared because their Boss was here. As long as they hold off their first attack, their Boss would most definitely run to save them. They were very trusting of Ling Lan in that aspect.


    After hearing frustration from the words of the two girls, Qiao Ting¡¯srades felt something was off. One of them silently pulled on Qiao Ting¡¯s sleeve and softly asked, ¡°Captain, are they not the girls you like?¡± Who is this ¡®Boss¡¯ they spoke of?


    Qiao Ting smiled bitterly and shook his head, ¡°Of course not. I have something against their Boss...¡±


    ¡°Rival?¡± Qiao Ting¡¯srades¡¯ expression instantly changed. The easygoing atmosphere instantly evaporated. Ling Lan was now their rival as well since he was their captain¡¯s rival.


    ¡°Yes, my rival,¡± Qiao Ting nodded. This was something that could not be changed. Qiao Ting no longer wanted to hide it from them. After all, they would probably work together with him in the same mecha n after they return to the 3rd Division.


    ¡°Is he really strong?¡± When Qiao Ting first entered into the 3rd Division, he was already an elite ace. He was nurtured by the higher-ups of the 3rd Division. Someone he considered as his rival should definitely be quite capable.


    ¡°Stronger than me!¡± Qiao Ting tried his best to make sure his face didn¡¯t twitch. It was the first time he had lost and he lost badly. If it was possible, he didn¡¯t want to mention it again. However, Qiao Ting wasn¡¯t someone who hides his past. He told hisrades the real events of the past since they had asked him.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s words made everyone¡¯s eyes widen. Stronger than Qiao Ting?


    ¡°Also a military academy cadet? Same year? No, probably not the same year. You are the strongest from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy in that year.¡± One of the senior captains began to count his fingers and tried to guess the situation of the Qiao Ting¡¯s rival.


    ¡°The strongest? Back then, I was just a frog in a well. Their Boss had defeated me when he was only in his second year while I was in my fifth year. That¡¯s right, my rival is younger than me by three years, but he is stronger than me.¡± Qiao Ting told the truth to his confused team members.


    ¡°No, how is that possible?¡± Everyone began to shout in surprise. Wouldn¡¯t a monster like that instantly enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces? Why would someone like that appear in the world ofmoners?


    Those who could enter the stationed army all knew some secrets that were not publicly information in the military. For example, there were two ways of entering the Flying Dragon Special Forces. One was to be picked out from billions of people. These types of members were considered outer circle members and couldn¡¯t enter the core of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. The real core of the Flying Dragon Special Forces were monsters they nurture from when they were very young. In other words, a random person from that group would surpass Qiao Ting¡¯s existence. However, Flying Dragon Special Forces¡¯s level was too high and wasn¡¯t something such low ranked officers such as themselves could touch upon. Thus, they could only gossip about it and couldn¡¯t see it for their own eyes.


    ¡°I never believed it back then, but in reality, monsters really do exist...¡± Qiao Ting replied softly. Although he knew many secrets after entering the division including how there were many other monsters like Ling Lan that existed, Qiao Ting still felt those monsters had nothing to do with him. Ling Lan was the sole person that had defeated in his entire life.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s words made everyone¡¯s sights turn back onto Han Xuya and Luo Chao, making the two of them panic. Although the conversation between Qiao Ting¡¯s group made them understand it wasn¡¯t what they had thought, they still broke the peace. Now, the two girls didn¡¯t know whether they would take ruthless measures to take revenge.


    Originally, the group thought that Qiao Ting had someone he liked among the two girls and didn¡¯t measure the girls¡¯ abilities. Now that they knew these two were subordinates of a monster, a few eyes instantly sized up Han Xuya and Luo Chao.


    ¡°The physical skills of these two girls actually reached the refinement stage. As expected, the subordinates of a monster isn¡¯t too bad.¡± One of the senior captain¡¯s eyes glimmered. He wanted to see the monster Qiao Ting had mentioned, who was the Boss of these two girls.


    At that moment, a cold voice rang from behind them, ¡°Qiao Ting, you have a problem with my team members?¡±


    Qiao Ting¡¯s body trembled fiercely. He turned around instantly and saw Ling Lan standing high above the staircase on the second floor. He was ring at him coldly as though a king was looking down at his subjects, releasing his regal aura.


    ¡°He became stronger again.¡± Qiao Ting¡¯s expression changed slightly. Although Qiao Ting knew that in three years time, Ling Lan would definitely be stronger. It was just when the truth was in front of him, he still felt depressed about it. The result, he worked hard to get for three years, seemed to not make him get ahead. Luckily, he was not left in the dust either.


    ¡°Ling Lan, I didn¡¯t think we would be able to meet here after three years.¡± Qiao Ting instantly steeled himself and broke free from the pressure Ling Lan exerted purposefully. He then replied calmly.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t answer. She walked down the stairs lightly step by step. Each step seemed easy, but each step was stepping on the hearts of Qiao Ting¡¯s group. A few of the weaker ones even had hallucinations about their hearts being trampled by Ling Lan...


    Feeling that his team members were in trouble, Qiao Ting¡¯s aura exploded outwards in an attempt to quell the aura Ling Lan had sent towards them.


    Qiao Ting thought that he would be injured. However, when his aura exploded, it didn¡¯t sh with Ling Lan¡¯s aura. That was because his aura didn¡¯t hit anything. Qiao Ting¡¯s body trembled fiercely, causing him to almost fall over. Luckily, Qiao Ting¡¯s basic physical skills were solid which gave him the chance to bnce his lower body.


    ¡°Compared to three years ago, you¡¯ve grown much stronger,¡± a voice rang from behind Qiao Ting.


    Qiao Ting turned immediately. No one knew when Ling Lan had arrived behind him, which was where Han Xuya and Luo Chao were.


    ¡°Compared to three years ago, you¡¯ve gotten much stronger as well.¡± Qiao Ting knew he had lost again but didn¡¯t want to give in to his opponent. The control Ling Lan had on his aura had already reached the stage of Purity. Qiao Ting was much worse in this areapared to Ling Lan.


    ¡°It seemed that you¡¯re doing well for yourself,¡± Ling Lan looked at Qiao Ting¡¯s insignia and said.


    ¡°Still can¡¯tpare to you. Bing major in your first year and then a regimentmander.¡± Qiao Ting hated this fact. If this person didn¡¯t exist, his achievements would definitely be the top among those around him. However, with this person around, all that he achieved seemed to be not enough.


    ¡°My luck is quite good,¡± Ling Lan replied. With her own father helping her and in addition to the time in the military academy, where she somehow managed toplete a legendary mission which identally made her team into a five star battle team. This gave her a higher starting point than other military academy cadets. Of course, herrades were also quite strong. They number of ace operators they had already reached the requirements for a four star battle team. This made her Lingtian Battle n acquire their first four star battle team mission.


    All of this made her shorten the time she needed to work for her achievements. Ling Lan thought about it and felt that luck was something she could not live without, for her to have gotten to her current position.


    To Qiao Ting, Ling Lan¡¯s honest words were just for show. He was also quite lucky, but why couldn¡¯t he achieve Ling Lan¡¯s achievements?


    Seeing Qiao Ting¡¯s inconsiderate expression, Ling Lan knew Qiao Ting didn¡¯t believe her words. She didn¡¯t continue speaking about the subject. She immediately pointed towards the two girls, Han Xuya and Luo Chao, who hid behind her pretending to be weak, ¡°Enough of that. Tell me, what¡¯s this all about?¡±


    ¡°I saw people I recognized and came to greet them? What, I can¡¯t do that?¡± Ling Lan questioning damaged Qiao Ting¡¯s pride. He also replied coldly.

 Chapter 724 - Invention!

    <h4>Chapter 724: Invention!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Other people can, but you can¡¯t.¡± Ling Lan red at Qiao Ting with eyes filled with malice. She only had these two younger sisters and had already decided to have them be partnered only with someone in her team. She wasn¡¯t going to give them up to outsiders. Furthermore, this person in front of her was her rival. If she did, wouldn¡¯t that be sendingmbs to ughter?


    ¡°Why?¡± Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes narrowed. What did he mean by that? Is he doubting my capabilities?


    Ling Lan¡¯s cold re was like sharp de, ¡°I¡¯m worried when ites to you.¡± As expected, Qiao Ting had impure thoughts about the two girls in her team.


    ¡°Are you worried or are you looking down on me?¡± Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes had a hint of anger. Is he not worthy enough to be his rival?


    ¡°Since you understand, why would you even ask?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s smirk was somewhat cold. She didn¡¯t have any qualms with Qiao Ting, but now she marked him down as a possible threat in her mind.


    It should be known that Luo Chao and Han Xuya were two girls they had protected from when they were young. He wants to take them away? Does he treat me as air? Is he looking for a death wish?


    The conversation between the two of them had already diverted into a weird direction. Everyone had stunned expressions on their faces as they watched the two of them quarrelling. Didn¡¯t Qiao Ting say they were rivals? Then, what is with this current situation?


    Qiao Ting considered Ling Lan as his life-long rival. However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about him at all... Ling Lan¡¯s behavior hadpletely angered Qiao Ting, causing his force of presence to explode out. Some of Qiao Ting¡¯s team members could not defend against the force and was sent a few steps back. At the same time, the countertop of the shop was toppled by the force. Everything was in disarray.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s force of presence was the overwhelming type. It wasn¡¯t like Ling Lan¡¯s, which was targeted. Other than the targeted person, no one would be able to feel it. As Qiao Ting¡¯s force of presence exploded out, the attendants in the shop screamed in horror as they held their heads and went into a fetal position.


    ¡°Sh*t.¡± Ling Lan reacted and a pressure immediately came down from the sky. Qiao Ting could feel a literal mountain on his shoulders. The immense pressure made his legs tremble at an incredible rate. It was as though he was going to be forced onto his knees by the pressure...


    The force of presence that had originally erupted in the shop seemed to have been quelled and vanished instantly. The attendants no longer felt the overwhelming pressure and lifted their heads in confusion. They saw the young major, who released the terrifying pressure, now had sweat dripping down his forehead. His entire body was shaking furiously as though he was sick.


    ¡°Miss, is that major sick? Do we need to call emergency services?¡± One of the attendants saw the situation and quickly realized something was wrong. She wanted to help so she asked the owner.


    ¡°Dumbass. Those are experts fighting with each other. You¡¯re asking for a death wish if you run in there now.¡± The owner wasn¡¯t as inexperienced as the attendant. She knew what was happening just from the looks of things. It seemed that the young major¡¯s opponent was even stronger, otherwise how could he have easily quelled the young major¡¯s explosive and wild force of presence? It was because of his actions that her shop still existed.


    The owner thought about it and couldn¡¯t help but give a grateful look towards the person facing against the young major. That person seemed to have felt her look and red coldly at her direction. The owner then felt herself falling into an icy dungeon. She tucked her head down in terror and didn¡¯t dare to look again.


    That person is so cold. She didn¡¯t think that the rival of that young major could be such a terrifying person. The owner was in shock, but was happy that although the person seemed to be cold-hearted, he was actually not. Otherwise, her entire store would have been destroyed.


    After enduring the extreme pressure for some time, Qiao Ting felt he had already reached his limit. He seemed to hear his knees cracking. He might have to kneel down in front of Ling Lan in the next second...


    Could it be that he would have to kneel down to Ling Lan and give up all of his dignity? Or perhaps, the idea of them being life-time rivals was only just in his own head, while Ling Lan didn¡¯t not seem to care about it? Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes glimmered with uncertainty as his heart trembled.


    So, Ling Lan looked down on him? Why wouldn¡¯t he? Back then, he lost by the difference of one move. And now, in a battle of aura, he didn¡¯t even have the power to counterattack... What did he have to let Ling Lan view as a rival?


    Qiao Ting started to give up. He couldn¡¯tpare to the monsters in this world and Ling Lan is that type of monster! Under the pressure of Ling Lan¡¯s domain, Qiao Ting began to doubt himself while on the verge of fainting. His knees began to slowly fall towards the ground...


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression was filled with regret. Is Qiao Ting only capable of this much?


    No! Others could make him lower his dignity and honor, but not this person in front of him! The fighting spirit in Qiao Ting¡¯s heart was ignited. His knees, that were originally buckling, straightened up once again. This made Ling Lan¡¯s eyes glimmer. The force of presence she was retracting, exploded out once again, forcing Qiao Ting to be under an even stronger pressure.


    ¡°Qiao Ting, you said you will be my rival in this lifetime. Then, let me take a look and see if you¡¯re qualified!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes looked at Qiao Ting with determination, hoping he would surprise her.


    Ling Lan clearly knew she needed an opponent who was on the same level as her. There would definitely be countless hard battles in the future. If she didn¡¯t have an opponent of a simr level pressuring her, her growth would definitely be stagnant. She was afraid that if her current situation continued on, that in a situation where she was to fight against a stronger opponent, she would be defeated and be unable to do anything about it.


    Ling Lan liked the feeling of being pressured into a crisis-like situation. This filled her with motivation. She clearly knew after her father had returned to the division and solving everyone of her problems, she was more dependent on him. Compared to her speed back in the day, her advancement speed was clearly much slower now. Although part of the reason was because the higher the level, the harder it was to advance, the actual reason was because she no longer felt pressured and lowered her own standards. Without pressuring herself to the limit with a hellish training program, she wouldn¡¯t be able to continue the speed of her advancement from back in the day.


    Initially, Ling Lan didn¡¯t know about this issue regarding her growth. However, Li Shiyu¡¯s discovery on Juhao woke Ling Lan up from her rxed state, giving her a sense of crisis. However, that wasn¡¯t enough, after all, the problems arising from Li Shiyu¡¯s discovery would be in the future. It wouldn¡¯t give Ling Lan an instantaneous feeling of danger. Thus, Ling Lan must find an existence that could constantly remind her and pressure her. When she knew Qiao Ting¡¯s Qi-Jin stage was at the stage of optimal peak Great Perfection, she hatched an idea.


    If there was no existence like that, then she must create it. Thus, Ling Lan decided to create an opponent that could match up to her. Shadowing her and pressuring her constantly forcing her to be in a heightened state. This would make her train harder to grow.


    Of course, whether her idea coulde to fruition would depend on whether Qiao Ting could advance by himself.


    It should be mentioned that she was already satisfied with Qiao Ting¡¯s current performance.


    At that moment, the uniform Qiao Ting wore was soaked with sweat. Hisrades saw this and tried to go over to help him. Ling Lan shot a cold re at them and everyone felt they had been frozen in ce, unable to move a muscle.


    ¡°So this is Qiao Ting¡¯s rival! So strong!¡± These captain rank officers lowered their heads uncontrobly under Ling Lan¡¯s gaze. They couldn¡¯t put any strength into resisting. This made them admire Qiao Ting, who was resisting the pressure from Ling Lanpletely, even more. Qiao Ting was probably the only one qualified enough to be considered a rival for someone this strong.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that her actions of forcing Qiao Ting to advance, identally helped Qiao Ting take in a group of loyal brothers-in-arms in the future. However, even if she knew about it, she wouldn¡¯t be afraid. After all her subordinates also needed opponents, just like her.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes were now ckened with blood because the blood vessels in his eyes burst. Ling Lan was no longer in front of his eyes, only his memory from the past 20 years was there. He saw himself handsome and dignified at the age of 20, but took a fall after losing to Ling Lan at the age of 21. He saw himself trying his hardest in the division for three years, but in the end couldn¡¯t even defend himself against one attack from Ling Lan.


    Could it be that he, Qiao Ting, was a stepping stone for Ling Lan prepared by God? If that was the case then he wasn¡¯t willing to give in! He wasn¡¯t willing to give in! Every level he obtained was acquired from his own efforts and, wasn¡¯t given to him by God. The blood, sweat and tears Qiao Ting had put into every step on his path could dye the his whole path red. Why should he be the stepping stone? Why?


    Qiao Ting felt that God wasn¡¯t just. He didn¡¯tck talent, he worked hard, but why did God give up on him to instead aid his rival? Qiao Ting¡¯s anger ignited and the bottleneck of his body suddenly loosened.


    ¡°If he can be a domain user, then I, Qiao Ting, can do it as well!¡±


    Qiao Ting didn¡¯t want to submit to Ling Lan. He immediately put forth his entire body¡¯s Qi-Jin. He forcefully pushed towards the bottleneck that couldn¡¯t be broken easily... He was sure that to fight against a domain expert, he must be one. He knew about the fact that those who were below domain stage were considered ants to those domain experts.


    ¡°Stillcking a bit?¡± Ling Lan knew advancing in Qi-Jin was between the line of life-or-death. If it was possible, an individual should choose a safe ce to advance. Currently, they were in a ce that wasn¡¯t a good ce to advance. Luckily, she was a domain expert and could expand her domain outwards to create a safe space to make sure he wasn¡¯t disturbed during his advancement.


    Qiao Ting¡¯s advancement towards the domain stage wasn¡¯t something that happened naturally. It was Ling Lan¡¯s domain pressure that ignited Qiao Ting¡¯s unwillingness to give in. In the end, with his own Qin-Jin resisting from the inside, he created a catalyst for breaking through his bottleneck.


    This type of condition was an opportunity that could arise only by chance and was considered to be Qiao Ting¡¯s catalyst. Of course, Ling Lan had a hand in this as well.


    Originally, Ling Lan was experimenting whether she could use her domain to force the bottleneck of Qi-Jin to loosen up. Now, it seemed that it was indeed effective. It was too bad Qiao Ting was the first person Ling Lan experimented on. It couldn¡¯t be helped since Ling Lan¡¯s subordinates with the strongest physical skills, Qi Long and Zhao Jun, had only reached the peak stage of Qi-Jin. They hadn¡¯t actually reached the level of optimal peak Great Perfection. Even if Ling Lan wanted to force the matter, she wouldn¡¯t be able to acquire this type of results.


    ¡°Bam!¡± The pressure from the outside along with the pressure from the Qi-Jin inside Qiao Ting shed. His body could not endure the pressure from both sides and began to crack open, causing blood to gush out from the wounds. Not long after, Qiao Ting became coated in blood. This terrified the attendants in the shop, causing them to scream once again.

 Chapter 725 - Pseudo Domain!

    <h4>Chapter 725: Pseudo Domain!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Compared to Qiao Ting¡¯s pitiful expression, Ling Lan¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change. She kept staring at Qiao Ting. If Qiao Ting had reached his limit, she would immediately stop exerting her pressure. She didn¡¯t have any qualms against him. Instead, she admired him quite a bit. This was also why she chose Qiao Ting to be her rival. No would want someone who they hated to always appear in front of them.


    The immense pain caused Qiao Ting to regain some rity. He was overjoyed to find out that he has a chance to advance to the domain stage. If he couldn¡¯t hold on to this chance now, he wouldn¡¯t know when he would get another chance to advance to the domain stage again.


    Risking everything on the line, Qiao Ting let out an angry roar. He gathered up all of his Qi-Jin, ruthlessly crashing it onto the loosened barrier that was originally as hard as steel.


    ¡°Bam!¡± Qiao Ting seemed to have heard the sound of the barrier being broken down. The Qi-Jin that had seemed to be in a narrow river, now suddenly felt it had entered an ocean. The limitless power began to flow through his body. He even felt that if he exerted all of the power inside his body, he would tten the ce where he stood in an instant.


    Additionally, the pressure that he couldn¡¯t resist against a moment ago, now seemed to be a slight breeze. Is this the power of a domain?


    ¡°Your condition is still not stable. Are you nning are dropping back down to Qi-Jin?¡± Ling Lan felt that the domain stage Qiao Ting had just broken through into was very unstable. There were already signs of it dissipating, thus she immediately spoke up to remind him.


    After all, he had broken through only by using outside forces and not by himself. Acquiring a domain through this kind of shortcut would result in an iplete domain. The barrier that had been broken by force was actually slowly reverting back to its original state. If Qiao Ting didn¡¯t try his best to stabilize his domain, everything he had acquired from his breakthrough would slowly disappear as time goes by. In the end, Qiao Ting would drop back to Qi-Jin.


    ¡°The domain you have acquired is actually considered a pseudo domain. Only after you have put in a lot of hard work to continue to be in the pseudo domain state would you find the real secret of the Domain. Then, you would be considered to have entered the doors of the domain stage.¡± Ling Lan quickly deduced Qiao Ting¡¯s situation and was somewhat disappointed with the result. It seemed that there were still many issues using this method to help herrades to quickly advance to the domain stage. She needed to find a different way.


    Ling Lan¡¯s chilling voice made Qiao Ting, who was overjoyed with excitement, feel his heart dropping. He looked at Ling Lan with aplicated look on his face, then quickly closed his eyes. He focused to feel the changes brought upon by advancing to the domain stage along with the secrets of the Qi-Jin in his body.


    The team members who Qiao Ting had brought, felt the change in Qiao Ting¡¯s aura, as it was bing stronger and stronger. It was as though Qiao Ting had ascended to a much higher and distant state than them. Remembering that Qiao Ting was at the peak of physical skills in Qi-Jin, optimal peak Great Perfection, their expression changed instantly. Their expression immediately turned into a mixture of both joy and fear. Could it be that their captain had actually advanced to domain stage?


    Although the Federation paid more attention to mecha piloting skills than physical skills, all mecha operators knew that physical skills was an essential part in operating a mecha. The higher the physical skills, the higher the level of a mecha an operator can pilot. Of course, there were other factors involved in mecha piloting advancement, but no one could deny that physical skills was definitely one of the important factors in determining how far one could reach in their mecha piloting path.


    No matter how talented a Qi-Jin expert was, most would only be able to reach ace level. Only a lucky few could perhaps enter the early stage of imperial level, but wouldn¡¯t be able to advance any further than that unless they advance to the domain stage. For domain experts on the other hand, as long as their talent in mecha operating wasn¡¯t bad, they could easily enter imperial level. The mecha operators who could enter the garrison army all knew that the real kings of the battlefield weren¡¯t ace operators, but rather, it was the imperial mecha operators who lowered their level down to ace level. These people were considered the real undefeatable kings of the battlefield.


    If Qiao Ting actually advanced to the domain stage, along with his terrifying mecha piloting talent, in the future, Qiao Ting would definitely be an imperial operator. With such a strong individual being their captain, in the future, their battle team would perhaps be a five star battle team, maybe even a legendary battle team.


    Thinking up to this point, some senior captains were overjoyed. They were originally hesitating whether they should continue to follow Qiao Ting. Now they affirmed their decision and beliefs to follow Qiao Ting. After all, it was really rare to be given a chance to follow an imperial operator who had yet to develop and grow, and they could work together to bring honor to themselves.


    At that moment, Luo Chao and Han Xuya also saw through the reason why Ling Lan had pressured Qiao Ting. They looked at their Boss with a perplexed look. Is it good to be helping his own rival?


    The time Qiao Ting used to stabilize his state of mind wasn¡¯t too long. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Ling Lan standing in front of him. His eyes showed a hint of gratefulness and fighting spirit. I probably have the qualifications to be considered as Ling Lan¡¯s rival now, right?


    ¡°Ling Lan, I will remember this favor you have done for me.¡± Qiao Ting was silent for half a second and then finally spoke. Qiao Ting wasn¡¯t someone who returned kindness with ingratitude. He will keep this favor that Ling Lan had done for him in his heart. However, it didn¡¯t mean that he was going to give up on bing Ling Lan¡¯s rival. Qiao Ting had already made a decision. One of these days, he would definitely return the favor to Ling Lan.


    ¡°This was the results of your own hard work, it has nothing to do with me,¡± replied Ling Lan calmly. She didn¡¯t want to take credit. Her main motive was not to help Qiao Ting to advance but to instead, use Qiao Ting as an experimentalb rat . The main reason why Qiao Ting was sessful was because of Qiao Ting creating his own catalyst for his advancement and the results of his own hard work.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about whether Qiao Ting would be able to return the favor. Qiao Ting and her were on different paths. In the future, they may perhaps battle each other.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t want Qiao Ting to return her any favors. However, Qiao Ting was a proud individual. Once he makes a decision, he would definitely not change it because Ling Lan didn¡¯t want it. He only nodded towards Ling Lan and then told his teammates to leave. When leaving, he didn¡¯t forget to transfer some credits to the store as reimbursement for the items he had broken in the shop.


    Qiao Ting walked to the door and suddenly stopped. He hesitated for a moment then turned around and said to Ling Lan, ¡°My regimentmander is very interested in your subordinate, Gu Dongyang. He probably has sent someone over to go fight him. If you go there now, perhaps you¡¯ll arrive before it happens.¡±


    Qiao Ting considered this information as interest given to Ling Lan. Qiao Ting felt more rxed and left the shop without caring about his teammates¡¯ stunned expressions.


    ¡°What? They¡¯re from 250 Mecha n? Captain, why didn¡¯t you say something earlier...¡± A frustrated voice of team member echoed from behind the door. The 250 Mecha n that their regimentmander had ordered them to fight actually appeared in front of them and they missed them just like that?


    ¡°If I told you, could you even stand against him?¡± Qiao Ting¡¯s sneering echoed afterwards.


    ¡°Ugh... not sure.¡± His team members understood they had met up with a Big Boss. They wouldn¡¯t be able to go against him.


    Ling Lan watched as Qiao Ting left into the distance and quickly began to think.


    Luo Chao anxiously shouted, ¡°Boss, let¡¯s contact Captain Gu quickly.¡± Although she didn¡¯t know whether Qiao Ting¡¯s words were true or false, she still wanted to notify Gu Dongyang to be on guard. There was nothing wrong with that.


    Ling Lan¡¯s right hand¡¯s index finger and thumb rapidly rubbed against each other. She then instantly had a decision, ¡°No need, you can keep shopping.¡±


    ¡°Why? If by any chance Qiao Ting spoke the truth, isn¡¯t Captain Gu in danger?¡± Han Xuya was also somewhat anxious.


    ¡°What dangers are there in Soldier City?¡± Ling Lan said indifferently.


    Although soldiers of the Federation belonged to different divisions and could have fights with each other, they still wouldn¡¯t use ruthless methods. Furthermore, this was probably Gu Dongyang¡¯s private matter and should be resolved by Gu Dongyang himself.


    Ling Lan knew very well that although she was the Regiment Commander of 250 Mecha n, she wasn¡¯t 250 Mecha n¡¯s babysitter. They must rely on themselves to resolve their own problems. She would only be their shield for her n members when necessary.


    After answering Han Xuya¡¯s question, in the next second, she disappeared out of the twodies¡¯ sight. Han Xuya and Luo Chao knew that their Boss must have returned to the lounge on the second floor.


    After sitting down and before Ling Lan could think, she heard protesting roars. She then saw Little White crawling out from her back cor with great difficulty while breathing heavily. It turns out, Ling Lan had ordered Little White to stay in her back cor to hide it, which in turn almost suffocated Little White. Thus, after seeing an opportunity toe out, Little White immediately crawled out to save its little life. At the same time, it wanted to protest against its immoral master for torturing pets...


    ¡°Pets? Do pets behave like this?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression had a hint of coldness. She pinched Little White¡¯s chubby white cheeks really hard...


    ¡°Rawr... please let me go. I don¡¯t dare to do it again.¡± Other than pleading for its life, Little white could only hold back its tears and ept its master¡¯s pinching. In Little Four¡¯s words, ¡°Pets don¡¯t have freedoms!¡±


    Yes, as expected, the feeling was great. Rubbing it was veryfortable... Finally being able to pinch and rub Little White, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes squinted in satisfaction.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s so cute. I like that one.¡± A cute voice suddenly rang near Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan frowned. Were those words said to her?


    She looked over and saw five people, not too far from her, at the doll section near the staircase. They could see her from that location. It was possible that they were customers that came to look for dolls and identally saw her rubbing Little White. That was why that person said what she said.


    In the group of five, there was a petite girl. She saw Ling Lan not paying her any attention and became frustrated. She was a girl who was taken care of by the heavens. She could feel the frigid coldness emanating from that person coupled with the disrespect and uncaring vibe exuding from Ling Lan, she instantly couldn¡¯t take it.


    She immediately rushed towards Ling Lan and stood in front of her with her hands around her waist, ¡°Hey punk, I¡¯m talking to you.¡±


    Ling Lan still kept a straight face and continued to rub Little White. She was not even interested in speaking with this arrogantdy.


    Ling Lan indeed treated her ownrades well, but this didn¡¯t mean she would treat everyone nicely. With a cold and heartless appearance, she was sometimes indeed quite cold and heartless.


    ¡°You, you, you...¡± The petite girl waspletely angered by Ling Lan¡¯s attitude. She pointed at Ling Lan and finally said, ¡°Do you know who I am?¡±

 Chapter 726 - Dispute!

    <h4>Chapter 726: Dispute!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan frown deepened even more. She knew that with this girl¡¯s terrible attitude, trouble woulde no matter if she replied or not. She coldly nced at Little White. After all, it was this little thing that caused all this trouble. Why must it be that cute?


    It had to be said that Little White¡¯s appearance was indeed quite mesmerizing to people, even Ling Lan was mesmerized by Little White. It seemed that its ability to mesmerize people was quite powerful.


    The arrogant girl saw that the young man was ying with ¡®her¡¯ toy. She already considered Little White as ¡®her¡¯ toy. The anger inside her burned even stronger. Without thinking, she immediately walked up and tried to grab Little White out of Ling Lan¡¯s hands.


    Right as her hands went forward, she discovered that she grabbed nothing. The young man who was sitting on the sofa, was now standing behind the sofa. The soft white ball-like plushie was standing on the young man¡¯s shoulder, jumping around and making silly faces towards her.


    That doll is actually alive! The arrogant girl¡¯s eyes glimmered brightly. The urge of possessing it became even stronger. She was definitely going to get her hands on that doll.


    Ling Lan hated trouble so, she didn¡¯t want to start a fight with the girl. After dodging her attempt at grabbing Little White, she prepared to move past them and go down to the ground floor.


    ¡°Stop him!¡± Although Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to cause any trouble, the stubborn girl was not willing to stop causing trouble. She immediately called out to the others who came with her to stop Ling Lan.


    After she yelled, three captain level officers who wore their uniforms stepped out and blocked off Ling Lan¡¯s path.


    Ling Lan raised a brow and a cold sharp light struck the three of them. The three of them instantly felt their hearts tremble. After seeing Ling Lan was actually a major, they were stunned and immediately responded, ¡°Major, please wait a moment. Young Miss Qi has something she would like to talk to you about.¡±


    One of the officers had sharp eyes, saw through the movement Ling Lan had used to dodge Young Miss Qi¡¯s hand. The movement was light and without much effort. This made him understand Ling Lan was much stronger than them. Additionally, by looking at Ling Lan¡¯s appearance, the officer could determine that Ling Lan was also younger than them. With these conclusions in the officer¡¯s mind, he concluded that this person in front of him was either a genius nurtured by the division higher-ups or had a strong background. No matter which it was, he wasn¡¯t someone they should offend.


    Thus he softly apologized and said, ¡°Young Miss Qi is the daughter of the 13th Division¡¯s vice general. If she has offended you, please do not hold a grudge against her.¡± Of course, he was also informing Ling Lan of Young Miss Qi background, in hopes Ling Lan would be scared of her background.


    ¡°A daughter of a vice general can be this arrogant?¡± Ling Lan rubbed her chin as she went into deep thought. She couldn¡¯t help but think that maybe the reason why Ling Xiao had sent her to the First Men¡¯s Military Academy even after knowing she was a girl, was because he didn¡¯t want her to be like this and humiliate him in public?


    Thinking about Ling Xiao¡¯s cunningness and evilness, Ling Lan instantly confirmed her theory.


    Seeing Ling Lan had been blocked by her people, the arrogant youngdy was overjoyed. She slowly strutted over while unting around in an arrogant manner, before arriving near Ling Lan and pointed at Little White, who sat on Ling Lan¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°I¡¯m taking this thing. Tell me how much do you want for it.¡±


    Ling Lan looked at her coldly. That look made the arrogant young woman feel like ice was jammed into her bones. It was as though her father was looking at her, making her feel terrified.


    Ling Lan saw the young woman had been frozen solid by her so she began walking away. After the three captain rank officers saw the young miss of the vice general not ordering them to impede his way, so they looked at each other and then voluntarily moved aside to open up a path for Ling Lan to pass.


    Right as Ling Lan had reached the staircase, the arrogant young woman seemed to have woken up. She was admonishing herself for actually bing oddly afraid of that young man. Without thinking again, she ran towards Ling Lan like a cannonball.


    ¡°Bam!¡± The young woman was sent flying back as fast as she ran towards Ling Lan, by an invisible force, falling to the ground, skidding on it for a few meters. ¡°Bang!¡± Her head hit the leg of a sofa, causing a part of her head to swell.


    ¡°Ow!¡± The arrogant young woman cried out in pain. She ced her hand on her swollen head and angrily shouted, ¡°You actually dare to hurt me. Attack him!¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡± Not even a second after she said that, the arrogant young woman found herself being ruthlessly choked by a silky white and yet strong hand. She could only grab ahold the hand in pain as her eyes widened with fear...


    This person actually wanted to kill her! For real!


    ¡°Major, please don¡¯t be angry.¡± The expressions of the three captain rank officers changed instantly. Right as they were unsure as to what they should do next, the hatted person standing beside them suddenly spoke up.


    Her voice was as clear as jade, instantly quelling Ling Lan¡¯s rising anger.


    ¡°Decadent Voice!¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that she would be able to experience this innate talent at this ce. Ling Lan was surprised. From what she knew, the popr singer Li Yinfei within the Federation was someone who had awakened the innate talent ¡®Decadent Voice¡¯. Of course, the reason why Ling Lan was so familiar with this innate talent was because one of the men in her team, Zhao Jun, awakened this innate talent that Zhao Jun thought of as an embarrassment. This made it impossible for Ling Lan to forget it.


    Ling Lan looked over with curiosity and saw that person taking off the hat that covered her face. She had the face of that well-known figure; Li Yinfei!


    ¡°Young Miss Qi had apse of judgement, she didn¡¯t mean to offend you on purpose.¡± Li Yinfei gracefully bowed towards Ling Lan. Every one of her movements were perfect without any ws, even the three captain rank officers couldn¡¯t help but be draw-in by Li Yinfei¡¯s gracefulness, showing drunken expressions on their faces even though they should be worrying about the person they were supposed to protect.


    ¡°Boss, Li Yinfei¡¯s innate talent seems to be not only just Decadent Voice.¡± Little Four felt something was off and immediately jumped out to tell his Boss.


    ¡°I know. It is impossible for her to be the entire Federation¡¯s goddess with just Decadent Voice.¡± The feeling Little Four felt was, of course, also felt by Ling Lan. However, she didn¡¯t have any major problems with Li Yinfei, thus Ling Lan didn¡¯t care to dig into her secrets.


    ¡°Please forgive Young Miss Qi.¡± Li Yinfei was not afraid of Ling Lan¡¯s cold expression and continued speaking with a smile on her face.


    Ling Lan just looked at Li Yinfei¡¯s face silently. When she saw Li Yinfei¡¯s smile starting to be a little stiff, she suddenly spoke, ¡°Don¡¯t you know the move she just made would severely injure amoner?¡±


    Hearing this, Li Yinfei¡¯s smile was even bigger, ¡°But, you¡¯re not amoner, major.¡±


    ¡°So, you¡¯re saying I¡¯m making a scene out of nothing?¡± Ling Lan raised a brow. This Li Yinfei was interesting. Her ability in public rtions was quite strong. Ling Lan wanted to know what would happen if she met Xie Yi.


    ¡°Those are your words, major.¡± Li Yinfei smiled again. If the smile from before seemed to at a political standard, the second smile she gave seemed more sincere, instantly decreasing the distance the two of them.


    ¡°As expected, she is born to be a public rtions officer. Too bad she became a singer of the soul.¡± Ling Lan thought. Although Xie Yi was good in public rtions, his smile was more sly the more someone looked at it. It wasn¡¯t the same as Li Yinfei¡¯s smile that slowly made others feel good and closer to her, without fail.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t nning to be ruthless towards the arrogant young woman in the first ce. Her actions were only to give her a warning that she couldn¡¯t do as she pleases even though she was the daughter of vice general. After all, Ling Lan¡¯s real identity was the daughter of a Division Commander. If people were under the impression of the daughters of divisionmanders were all arrogant and unreasonable girls, Ling Lan would feel wronged. Why must one bad apple spoil the whole barrel?


    Thus, after hearing Li Yinfei¡¯s words, her hand instantly loosened.


    ¡°Cough, cough, cough...¡± The arrogant Young Miss Qi could finally breathe fresh air. She instantly began to cough, only stopping with great difficulty. Then she raised her livid eyes and said, ¡°I won¡¯t let you off easy. I will definitely have my daddy teach you a lesson.¡±


    After hearing these words, the three captain rank officers¡¯ faces turned yellow. Li Yinfei¡¯s eyes showed a hint of irritation. Does this Young Miss Qi not see everyone¡¯s lives are in the palm of this major¡¯s hand?


    Just from the one movement of this major, Li Yinfei knew the three captain rank officers were no match for him. Additionally, the major knew about Young Miss Qi¡¯s background, but was still so ruthless. This could only mean that the major¡¯s background was strong enough to not care about the consequences of his actions. Someone with a brain would have taken the advantage of the tame situation and made peace already, but this dumb Young Miss Qi didn¡¯t know when to stop. She continued to make the situation worse. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Li Yinfei had followed her here, she would definitely not care about this dumb woman...


    ¡°Wait until your father bes the divisionmander, then we¡¯ll talk.¡± Ling Lan smiled coldly. She wasn¡¯t afraid. Ling Lan was very trusting of her father, Ling Xiao¡¯s prowess as a political figure. If it was for her, her father would be able to take care of it all, even if the top three generals banded together, not to mention a small vice general.


    ¡°You, you, you piece of sh*t. Wah...¡± Realizing the threats she always used were ineffective. The young woman who didn¡¯t know what to do about Ling Lan, actually plumped down on the ground and began to cry.


    Ling Lan rolled her eyes. This is the daughter of a vice general? Idiotic. Ling Lan suddenly rejoiced that her father had tossed her into a men¡¯s Academy. Otherwise, her intelligence might be degraded like that as well?


    Li Yinfei was stunned by Young Miss Qi¡¯s unusual behavior. She frowned andforted, ¡°Young Miss Qi, please get up and talk.¡±


    Hearing this, Young Miss Qi instantly stood up. She quickly rubbed away the tears and shouted loudly, ¡°I don¡¯t care. I will get that thing no matter what.¡± She still won¡¯t give up on Little White.


    Li Yinfei¡¯s head spinned. She originally wanted to form a healthy rtionship with the daughter of one of the division¡¯s leaders to make going in and out of the division easier. Now it seemed that she had made a poor choice of choosing that someone to form a healthy rtionship with. If she had known that this woman had mental issues, she would definitely not have agreed to go shopping with her.


    However, if she didn¡¯t bring her back safely, she might not be able to endure the anger and frustration that will be put on her by the vice general. Li Yinfei could only bite her lip and ask, ¡°Major, Young Miss Qi really like these types of creatures. Where you did you get it from or buy it from?¡± Taking Ling Lan¡¯s pet was out of the question. Li Yinfei could only ask a different question and hope this way the situation could be fully resolved.


    Ling Lan looked at Li Yinfei with a half-smile, ¡°Only one exists in this world.¡±


    ...


    ¡°Sh*t, what do you actually want?¡± Li Yinfei, who smiled for the entire time, could no longer smile. At that moment, she understood that this cold-faced major did not have any thoughts ofpromising, thus she didn¡¯t even want to say anything perfunctory.


    Li Yinfei became cold. Why should she be here helping the situation if this person didn¡¯t want it in the first ce? She should do what they want, make the situation as big as possible.

 Chapter 727 - Mixing It Up!

    <h4>Chapter 727: Mixing It Up!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    As expected, after hearing Ling Lan words, the arrogant young woman angrily pushed down on themunicator on her wrist...


    ¡°Boss, are we intercepting hermunicator?¡± Little Four shouted enthusiastically. He could finally have the chance to do something.


    ¡°Unnecessary. Let¡¯s just allow this situation to get moreplicated,¡± Ling Lan stopped Little Four from doing anything.


    After finally contacting someone, the arrogant young woman finally began to act proudly once again, ¡°Just you wait, my people areing here right this moment.¡±


    ¡°Dumbass!¡± Ling Lan clicked her tongue at her while looking at her with eyes filled with disdain and mockery. After she said her piece, she disappeared from the second floor in an instant.


    ¡°Argh! You actually dare to run away... I¡¯m so angry right now.¡± The arrogant young woman stomped her feet. She angrily turned around and looked towards Li Yinfei and the others who followed her and asked, ¡°Do you know which division that person is from?¡± She was definitely going to have her father to force that division to hand over that bastard.


    ¡°Ah, I think it was...¡± The three captain rank officers couldn¡¯t remember it at all, it was like they hallucinated the whole event. How could they not remember which division that person is from? In the end the three of them lowered their heads and softly spoke with embarrassment, ¡°Sorry, we didn¡¯t pay attention to that.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re all a bunch of idiots. You can¡¯t even do such a simple task.¡± In the midst of her frustration, the young arrogant woman went down the stairs to find the owner of the store. She ordered them to give her surveince footage. Although the owner wasn¡¯t willing, sheplied after knowing the identity of the young woman. The owner could only helplessly give a copy of the surveince footage to the woman. She was, however, worried about the young officers who had angered this woman...


    Huh? How did that officer look like? The owner couldn¡¯t remember. Maybe it was because she was so busy and wasn¡¯t paying attention to it, the owner thought that was the case.


    After acquiring the footage, Young Miss Qi contacted her father to send him the footage. After crying andining for half an hour, she finally made Vice General Qi angry. He ordered all of the soldiers from the 13th Division, stationed in Soldier City along with the 13th Division¡¯s Wild Lion Ace Mecha n¡¯s Regiment Commander, who had just arrived at the city, to aid in search of that person. Then, they were ordered to ruthlessly teach that person a lesson.


    Li Yinfei, who left with Young Miss Qi, felt odd. She clearly saw the face of the individual, but why couldn¡¯t she remember it? She only knew that the person was young and was a major with cold attitude... Other than that, she couldn¡¯t remember anything else. The strangest part was that all five of them only remembered these details and didn¡¯t have any other information. It was too much of a coincidence.


    Ling Lan appeared miles away from the location in an instant. She suddenly frowned and stopped abruptly. She retracted all of her aura and silently melded with the soldiers walking around the streets. She disappeared into the crowd in the blink of an eye without any traces.


    Right after that, two silhouettes suddenly appeared on top of different buildings, overlooking the crowded streets with suspicion, but they couldn¡¯t find any traces of what they were looking for.


    On one of the buildings, a middle-aged buff man suddenly appeared beside an old man, who was one of the silhouettes from before.


    ¡°Elder Lian, did you find anything?¡± The suspicion in the eyes of the man was still oozing out. It seemed that he was quite worried about the fact that they had lost their target and let the target get away.


    ¡°That person is very capable. If my guess is correct, that person should have already reached the imperial level and is a domain expert. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be able to easily escape from us. Unfortunately, the traces and clues he left was minimal. We can¡¯t figure out who he actually is.¡± Elder Lian also had worry in his expression. Imperial level was the strongest existence in terms of domain. These super strong individuals were considered to be the military¡¯s trump cards that didn¡¯t move about much. Why is that person in Soldier City?


    Elder Lian¡¯s words made the man¡¯s expression changed slightly. Only after reaching their current status, would people understand the terror of an imperial level domain expert...


    ¡°Isn¡¯t the military nning on honoring the top ten mecha ns from thetestnd clearing mission? Elder Lian, do you think this is why that person hase?¡± The middle-aged man seemed to have remembered something and quickly told Elder Lian his thoughts.


    Elder Lian was reminded of this fact and nodded slightly, ¡°Indeed, that¡¯s a possibility.¡±


    Perhaps there was someone whose background was beyond their understanding. That was maybe why an imperial level domain expert was guarding him or her in the shadows. Something like this wasmon, but it wasn¡¯t overly exaggerated like this time. The expert guarding the VIP was at a terrifying level.


    ¡°What should we do now? Should we report this to the military? The middle-aged man frowned. An imperial level domain expert wasn¡¯t someone he or Elder Lian could handle.


    ¡°It¡¯s unnecessary. Every imperial level domain expert would report to the military if they were to be stationed or be on leave. If the military hadn¡¯t notified us, then that means they don¡¯t want us to know of his existence. We should just pretend we don¡¯t know anything.¡± Elder Lian lived for so long and understood very well the military¡¯s methods. He didn¡¯t want to get mixed up in unnecessary trouble.


    The middle-aged nodded his head, symbolizing he understood. Soldier City wasn¡¯t like others, where people from other countries could mix in. Those who could enter Soldier City would have had their backgrounds checked and were only allowed to enter after finding no issues with them.


    Thus, this imperial level domain expert who had entered Soldier City was definitely serving the Federation. Every movement of imperial level domain experts was under the scrutiny of the military. If the military didn¡¯t say anything then, that meant all of the movements of this imperial level domain expert was approved by the military.


    The two domain experts found the answer that they thought was correct. Not long after, they disappeared away from the building.


    At that moment, Ling Lan lifted her head and looked towards the sky. She didn¡¯t think that there were actually two domain experts stationed in Soldier City. They were also very strong and were probably domain experts who were given titles. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that she was alert, she may have been discovered.


    ¡°Boss, they took the footage.¡± Little Four, who was watching the surveince of the store,shouted as he saw that the annoying and ugly woman happily took a copy of the footage he had forged. In order to create this video footage, Little Four used up a bunch of his brain cells... Uh, did intelligent entities like him have brain cells? Whatever, if he didn¡¯t have brain cells, then he at least had to sacrifice a bunch of 0s and 1s.


    Hearing this Ling Lan smirked, ¡°Then, let the scene unfold... I hope they won¡¯t disappoint me.¡± She had to test the waters of the military and each division. She hadn¡¯t forgotten about the hatred towards the military for her father¡¯s losses back then that made her family split apart.


    ¡°Oh right, Little Blossom, how do you feel? It¡¯s not ufortable right?¡± After nning out everything, Ling Lan finally remembered about Little Blossom, who was in her mindspace holding his big belly while burping continuously.


    Little Blossom, who Ling Lan was worried about since he ate too much, now narrowed his eyes with a bright and a satisfied smile on his face. Hearing that his master asked him a question, he immediately replied, ¡°Yes, good... uh... happy!¡± Little Blossom was huping to the point where he couldn¡¯tplete a sentence, but he didn¡¯t sound ufortable at all.


    ¡°Master¡¯s so nice.¡± She actually allowed him to devour the memory of so many people. He hadn¡¯t tasted anything like that in a long time, he almost forgot the amazing taste of people¡¯s memories.


    Additionally, he wanted to thank his Elder brother Little Four for saving him from the clutches of that terrifying woman... Little Blossom looked towards Little Four with gratefulness in his eyes. As expected, elder brother was the best.


    Little Blossom looked towards Little Four with a raised brow. This made Little Four¡¯s hairs stand on end as he shivered... Why does Little Blossom¡¯s expression seem so weird? What did he learn from Number Four?


    Seeing Little Blossom full of happiness with bubblesing out of his nose, Ling Lan knew she worried for nothing. They must keep their promise and return Little Blossom to Number Four since he had finished his task...


    Ling Lan shot a nce at Little Four, Little Four immediately understood her intent and immediately kicked Little Blossom, who still had a face full of happiness, back into the learning space.


    Ahhhh! Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace had Little Blossom¡¯s cries of agony echoing throughout it as Little Blossom was kicked away. The bubbles of happiness that filled the mindspace were finally destroyed one by one. Ling Lan and Little Four looked at each other with mutual understanding in each other¡¯s eyes. As expected, without those things around them, they felt much better.


    As for Boss¡¯s departure, Han Xuya and Luo Chao didn¡¯t know about it. However, not long after, they received Ling Lan¡¯s message telling them that he had left temporarily and couldn¡¯t continue shopping with them.


    Luo Chao and Han Xuya didn¡¯t think much of it. If Boss wasn¡¯t busy then he wasn¡¯t Boss. They were already satisfied that their Boss could shop with them for one to two hours.


    In the base camp of the 13th Division troops stationed in the city, not only was the regimentmander of the stationed troops there, the Regiment Commander of the Wild Lion Ace Mecha n, one of the top 10 mecha ns, Yue Putian was also there. The two of them watched the video footage of the dispute between the young major and their vice general¡¯s daughter. After watching intently, they both frowned.


    ¡°Brother He, this will be difficult.¡± Yue Putian and the regimentmander of the stationed troops, He Junyi was his old friend so they weren¡¯t formal around each other. He immediately spoke out his thoughts.


    ¡°It¡¯s actually that person. Our Young Miss Qi really knows how to create problems for us.¡± He Junyi also had a difficult expression on his face.


    ¡°Qiao Ting, the person the Third Marshal thinks highly of. He¡¯s a genius who is nurtured by the higher-ups of the 3rd Division. Even if it was Vice General Qi, he would still have to weigh the options of whether offending the Third Marshal for his daughter is worth it.¡± Yue Putian rubbed his nose. Ever since he received the orders from his vice general to find out about this situation, he knew trouble wasing.


    How could normal people shop in Soldier City? These people were either capable mecha operators or individuals with strong family or military backgrounds. Although Yue Putian had made some preparations knowing that the opponent knew of Young Miss Qi¡¯s background and yet still didn¡¯t give in to her demands. It meant that he definitely had some sort of background. It was just that after knowing who the person was, his head began to ache.


    Qiao Ting can¡¯t be touched!


    Yue Putian knew this very well, but if he didn¡¯t discipline Qiao Ting, he wouldn¡¯t be able to face Vice General Qi. After all, Young Miss Qi was vice general¡¯s precious baby daughter. It was also because of this, Young Miss Qi was spoiled to the point of bing this arrogant and irritating person, causing many problems wherever she goes.


    She was lucky in the past because those who she offended before were individuals without much background. Those situations were easily handled and wouldn¡¯t cause any huge problems. It was just that her luck had finally ran out. Aftering to the Soldier City, she managed to anger someone she shouldn¡¯t have.

 Chapter 728 - Winner in Life!

    <h4>Chapter 728: Winner in Life!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The reason why the 13th Division could stand their ground among the top few divisions was mostly because they didn¡¯t actively participate in political fights. They were always considered to be in a neutral position. Although the 13th Division didn¡¯t have too many connections with the Third Marshal, they never caused fissures in their rtionship with the Third Marshal¡¯s faction. The Third Marshal had more than just the 3rd Division under hismand. If they do antagonize the Third Marshal, the 13th Division wouldn¡¯t be able to fend off against multiple divisions attacking them at the same time. Furthermore, the other neutral divisions may not lend them a helping hand either. Their General Zhao would definitely not allow something like that to happen...


    However, Vice General Qi wasn¡¯t someone who gives up easily. He also stood on a different side of General Zhao. As it was public information, Vice General Qi had worked under the Second Marshal. He was someone who supported the 13th Division to join the Second Marshal¡¯s faction. It was possible that this time, he fully supported the idea of offending the Third Marshal¡¯s faction to force General Zhao to join the Second Marshal¡¯s faction...


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to resolve.¡± He Junyi also thought about the disputes between the higher-ups in the 13th Division and too, had a headache. Back then, he used his connections to take his n to be stationed in Soldier City, it was so he wouldn¡¯t be forced to pick a side. Even though he hid so far away from the division, he still couldn¡¯t escape from having to pick a side.


    ¡°We can¡¯t run from it, so we can only make a decision. Where do you stand?¡± Yue Putian asked seriously.


    ¡°General Zhao is a lone wolf. Back then, he only became the General of the 13th Division because the three Marshals didn¡¯t want to let either side get the upper hand. In the end, lucknded on General Zhao¡¯s hand, who is neutral. Vice General Qi is connected to the Second Marshal but the few officers below him all have their own factions. In reality, among the 23 divisions in the Federation, the 13th Division has the messiest factions allegiances...¡± He Junyi said frustratingly.


    ¡°You don¡¯t think General Zhao is any good?¡± Yue Putian seemed to have understood He Junyi unfinished statement.


    ¡°I also don¡¯t think Vice General Qi is good either.¡± He Junyi didn¡¯t deny Yue Putian¡¯s question and spoke out another thought that he had.


    ¡°Then, what do we do in this situation?¡± Yue Putian was kind of confused.


    ¡°Report it as is,¡± He Junyi replied coolly. He quickly sent an official investigation report to the division, then silently waited for the higher-ups to give him the orders.


    He Junyi using the official report meant this matter was no longer a private matter for Vice General Qi. Although doing this meant offending Vice General Qi, causing them to be careful with each step they would take in the future, but by doing this would decrease the chances of being abandoned by Vice General Qi to nil and bing a scapegoat after the fact.


    He Junyi chose the most neutral path since there wasn¡¯t a way they could make both parties happy. Additionally, by doing it the official way, even if Vice General Qi nned on doing something to them, he would need to find an actual and legitimate reason. Otherwise, the other factions who wanted Vice General Qi¡¯s position would use the opportunity to bring him down.


    The messy politics they hated that gave them headaches were now what they depended on to protect them. He Junyi and Yue Putian couldn¡¯t help butugh bitterly. If this were to continue, the 13th Division might be the weakest division among the 23 divisions.


    After learning Yue Putian had reported this situation straight to the military headquarters, Vice General Qi was livid. He hated the fact that those two looked down on him as they chose to offend him rather than the others. Although this action by the two of them caught Vice General Qi with his pants down, he still had managed the 13th Division for so many years. If he could stand at a simr position as General Zhao, then how could he not have his people within the military headquarters?


    Not long after, a new order was given out, ordering the Regiment Commander of the 13th Division¡¯s stationed n, Regiment Commander He Junyi and the Regiment Commander of the Wild Lion Ace Mecha n, Regiment Commander Yue Putian to go to the Regiment Commander of the 3rd Division¡¯s stationed n to make Qiao Ting apologize...


    ¡°They¡¯re going too far!¡±


    The Regiment Commander of the 3rd Division¡¯s stationed troops mmed the table angrily and almost splitting the desk in half.


    The Regiment Commander of the Red me Ace Mecha n, Regiment Commander Xu Qiuming frowned as he looked through the report the two ns from the 13th Division had sent in. Their attitude was quite tough and seemed that this issue was going to be hard to resolve.


    He put down the report and looked towards Qiao Ting who sat there inmon military fashion and softly asked, ¡°Qiao Ting, what do you think?¡±


    Qiao Ting coldly said, ¡°They wrongfully use me and want to hang me up for trial?¡± Although he had gone to that store, he only came into contact with Ling Lan and the two of his members. He didn¡¯t even know of Young Miss Qi, how could he have bullied her?


    ¡°However, they said it was you. Unless you have evidence that could prove your innocence. Otherwise, you won¡¯t be able to get out this easily,¡± Xu Qiuming told Qiao Ting the difficulties he had currently.


    ¡°The team members that went with me could prove my innocence for me. I never even met her.¡± Qiao Ting rejoiced at the fact that he had went shopping with his team members.


    ¡°They are from the same battle team as you. Their statements won¡¯t be considered valid.¡± In the military, although witness statements from members of the same battle team were not rejected, but those statements wouldn¡¯t be considered main evidence. Those statements could only be used as supporting evidence for other main pieces of evidence. This was to avoid the emotional aspect of brother-in-arms and the possibility of fake evidence. However in this case, Qiao Ting had lost a chance to prove his innocence.


    ¡°There¡¯s surveince inside the store, it can prove my innocence.¡± Qiao Ting¡¯s expression went cold and spoke with a sad tone.


    The two regimentmanders looked at Qiao Ting¡¯s troubled expression and they couldn¡¯t help but sigh, ¡°Qiao Ting... If they already prepared to go against you then that means they already have hard evidence on you.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not possible.¡± How could there be evidence of something that he didn¡¯t do?


    The two regimentmanders looked at each other. Xu Qiuming understood and exined to Qiao Ting, ¡°That evidence isn¡¯t something they said, but is actual evidence. It¡¯s just that if they think it¡¯s real then it¡¯s real.¡±


    Qiao Ting¡¯s expression tensed up, ¡°You¡¯re saying their so-called evidence is fake?¡± If that was the case, then he wouldn¡¯t be able to exin himself no matter how much he tried. Who was it that wanted to go against him? The anger in Qiao Ting rose up but he didn¡¯t lose his cool. He began to quickly think about ways to get himself out of this difficult situation.


    ¡°We can go to the shop and get the untouched surveince footage!¡± Qiao Ting quickly thought of a way. As long as he has the footage, no matter what the other side said, it wouldn¡¯t be that easy to pin it on him.


    Seeing Qiao Ting immediately realize a way out of the situation, the two regimentmander nodded in acknowledgment. Intelligent, capable, ability to understand quickly and calmly analyzing the situation without panicking. As expected of the genius the Marshal had set his eyes upon.


    As for this issue regarding Young Miss Qi... The people of the Third Division was not that easily bullied.


    The two regimentmanders¡¯ eyes glimmered. The 13th Division¡¯s Vice General Qi along with the Second Marshal¡¯s faction would not have an easy time taking down someone with limitless potential.


    The two of them quickly escted this issue to where the faction of the Second Marshal purposefully did some meddling in an attempt to attack the younger generations they were currently nurturing. This made the two of them be even more annoyed at Vice General Qi and the Second Marshal¡¯s faction.


    Xu Qiuming saw the hope in Qiao Ting¡¯s eyes. Qiao Ting hoped they would send someone to get the original footage from the store. Xu Qiuming sighed. Qiao Ting was still too young and naive. How could the opposition give them a chance to get the original footage if they had already ced the me on him? It could be predicted the original footage at the store would have been destroyed or damaged by now.


    Xu Qiuming showed an expression of pity, making Qiao Ting¡¯s heart drop. The calm expression he originally had finally began to change, ¡°Is the original footage gone?¡±


    As expected of an intelligent person, he reacted quickly. Xu Qiuming didn¡¯t answer and instead contacted his subordinate. In front of Qiao Ting he asked, ¡°Little Yuan, did you get the original footage from the store?¡±


    ¡°Regimentmander, I was just about to report my mission status to you. ording to the store owner, after taking the surveince footage, Young Miss Qi destroyed their surveince equipment. They paid hackers to recover it but it was ineffective.¡±


    ¡°Got it, then just stop trying. Come on back.¡± Xu Qiuming was already mentally prepared for this. He only ordered his subordinate to go the store to get the footage just in case. Now it seemed that the 13th Division really did everything wlessly. They didn¡¯t give them any chance and wanted topletely pressure Qiao Ting.


    Most importantly, this issue was a difficult one. It could be a big issue or it could be a small one. This was fully dependant on the opposition. If the opposition wanted an apology, then it wouldn¡¯t be that big of an issue and wouldn¡¯t cause any problems for Qiao Ting in the future. They were afraid that the opposition might make the issue about harassment of a female. That would make it very difficult for Qiao Ting in his future. In the military, the most non-tolerable mistake was making mistakes like these. Once the other side uses this reason, Qiao Ting would be done for.


    The reality Qiao Ting thought of was the same as Regiment Commander Xu had predicted. The original surveince footage was destroyed and there wasn¡¯t any evidence to prove his innocence. Qiao Ting finally felt panicked. He pped himself with great force to try to calm himself down. At that moment, he finally understood what it meant to be unable to exin himself even though he was innocent.


    ¡°Qiao Ting, don¡¯t worry. The Marshal won¡¯t let their ne to fruition,¡±forted Xu Qiuming.


    However, this might result into a fight between the Second Marshal¡¯s and Third Marshal¡¯s factions. In these kinds of fights, many officers from both sides would be moved around. Some would fall and other rise. It could also create an opportunity for the First Marshal¡¯s faction and other factions to use it to their advantage...


    If it was possible, they didn¡¯t want to see this kind of situation to ur. However... Qiao Ting must be protected! If they easily abandoned an exceptional and capable genius like Qiao Ting, then who else wouldn¡¯t be abandoned? Once the Third Marshal¡¯s faction loses the favours or the faith of the people, it would definitely crumble down. This was the most terrifying oue.


    They understood this and their Marshal understood it even more.


    It had to be said that Qiao Ting was lucky. Before this debacle urred, Qiao Ting wasn¡¯t someone who couldn¡¯t be abandoned. That was because he wasn¡¯t as important as he was now. Whether the Marshal was willing to help protect him or going to protect were two different things. However now, Qiao Ting was someone that the Marshal could not give up on and couldn¡¯t not protect.


    Furthermore, as luck would have it, before this situation urred, Qiao Ting had sessfully advanced to the domain stage. He had it registered which made him be the first to break the record of the Federation for the youngest domain expert... This made Qiao Ting jump from being one of the quite talented mecha operators to a genius who was on par with the monstrous individual within the Flying Dragon Special Forces. He also became an important bargaining chip that they could not abandon.


    Xu Qiuming had aplicated expression on his face as he looked towards Qiao Ting. Some people were winners in life, like this Qiao Ting! Even if he was to be in a crisis, there would still be someone there to protect him, helping him to get past it. It would make people be green with envy.

 Chapter 729 - The 13th Division’s New General?!

    <h4>Chapter 729: The 13th Division¡¯s New General?!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Qiao Ting didn¡¯t forget about Ling Lan. After all, Ling Lan and his two female team members could prove that he had already left the store. However, he didn¡¯t want to ask them to testify for his innocence. He didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to know of his pitiful state... Moreover, Qiao Ting felt that he had received a lot of help from Ling Lan which made Qiao Ting feel even harder to face Ling Lan. Qiao Ting made a decision. As long as there were still other ways to resolve this situation, he would definitely not ask for Ling Lan¡¯s help.


    Right as the 3rd Division¡¯s stationed mecha n, Red me Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander was busy handling Qiao Ting¡¯s issue, a letter of challenge was sent to their headquarters. This letter of challenge was sent by the 23rd Division¡¯s newly coined 250 Ace Mecha n, which they had proven to be one after their amazing performance in thend clearing mission.


    The reason for the letter of challenge was because of Gu Dongyang. Although Gu Dongyang¡¯s conflict didn¡¯t cause any sides to lose or gain something, Ling Lan still wanted to protect her subordinates¡¯ honor and dignity. She definitely wouldn¡¯t just swallow the anger of the attack just because they were new in the city. It was after she and Little Four were done going through the regtions of Soldier City, that they decisively yed their move. While the 3rd Division was panicking from all the work they had to do, Ling Lan made a move decisively and stomped on them ruthlessly.


    This was what the regimentmander of the stationed mecha n of the 3rd Division wanted to see. However, currently, they were not able to take advantage of it. In order to fully protect Qiao Ting, who the Marshal had firmly decided to protect, they no longer had any extra manpower to fight off 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s challenge. In addition to that, if they were to fight with 250 Ace Mecha n, it might give the First Marshal¡¯s faction a good reason to meddle in the fight. Then, the Third Marshal¡¯s faction would have to fend off attacks from both the First Marshal and Second Marshal¡¯s factions, which they could very well might not be able to do.


    After carefully thinking it over, the regimentmander had to give up on the decision of probing Gu Dongyang¡¯s situation. After all, there were still chances in the future to deal with Gu Dongyang¡¯s issue and didn¡¯t need to be done at this moment. Thus, he proactively asked for peace between the two ns. He sent a representative to 250 Ace Mecha n to express how sorry his was.


    After receiving a reply, 250 Ace Mecha n didn¡¯t continue to badger them. The two representatives from each n began to negotiate regardingpensation. In the end, although the result was the peace that was agreed upon, the price paid for that peace made the regimentmander of the stationed n of the 3rd Division bleed from the inside out.


    God, the negotiating representative from 250 Ace Mecha n is a terrifying human optical supeputer. All of the demands he had requested were exactly the bottom line of how much he could afford... No matter how painful it was for the regimentmander of the stationed mecha n of the 3rd Division, he still had to give the agreedpensation. At the same time, he had to thank 250 Ace Mecha n for not taking advantage of them while they were under siege.


    Additionally, being in a poor mood, his tone of voice wasn¡¯t very good when he replied to Major General Jiang Wei. Although he himself had indeed made a move due to the issue of Gu Dongyang, he still couldn¡¯t deny that Major General Jiang Wei¡¯s orders was the main reason for him tounch the attack. If it wasn¡¯t for his orders, would he even pay any attention to 250 Ace Mecha n? Would he ask Qiao Ting to investigate the backgrounds of the members of 250 Ace Mecha n? Without his orders, he wouldn¡¯t know of Gu Dongyang¡¯s presence and wouldn¡¯t have had to sent people to investigate. The most important part was that he wouldn¡¯t have ordered everyone who was on vacation to go to the shopping district to deal with Gu Dongyang. Then, Qiao Ting wouldn¡¯t have appeared in that store, causing the annoying issue with the 13th Division¡¯s Young Miss Qi...


    In short, the root of the problem was this petty, incapable and conniving Major General Jiang Wei.


    After receiving the reply of the 3rd Division¡¯s stationed mecha n¡¯s regimentmander, Jiang Wei almost smashed his optical supeputer. This was the disadvantage of being a division officer without any actual power. Even though he was a major general and was a member of the military of the Federation, many ranks higher than those regimentmanders, he still couldn¡¯t earn or receive the respect of those regimentmanders who had actual military power. Those regimentmanders did whatever they wanted, without giving any reasons before hanging up.


    Jiang Wei originally wanted the troops of the 3rd Division stationed in the city to smacked the 23rd Division. He wanted to Ling Xiao to lose dignity. Now, he was the one who lost dignity...


    ¡°Wu Yong, I¡¯ll remember this. I will definitely not let you live it down.¡± Anger filled Jiang Wei¡¯s eyes. He temporarily put aside his hatred and envy towards Ling Xiao and 250 Ace Mecha n, and began to sharpen his des, readying up to teach Wu Yong a lesson he wouldn¡¯t forget.


    Soldier City was quiet. After three days, the headquarters sent representatives to award the top 10 mecha ns. As the main performer of the military, Li Yinfei sang a few popr songs among the Federation for the troops of the ten mecha ns.


    Although Qiao Ting admired Li Yinfei, he didn¡¯t know the oue of the issue regarding Young Miss Qi. Having many worries in his mind, he, of course, wasn¡¯t in the mood to find an opportunity to get to know his goddess.


    Even without Qiao Ting, Li Yinfei still had many other young men weing her warmly. No matter how innocent and pure Li Yinfei¡¯s smile was, she still couldn¡¯t hide her excitement and a hint of ambition that no one knew about.


    Ling Lan led her entire n to her n¡¯s designated seating area and she chose to sit at the back on the right of the exit. Only they sat this way with very few people sitting at the very front, creating arge gap of empty seats between them. When Li Yinfei was performing, every time she looked at that area, she could feel her heart boiling.


    Are they not weing her? Li Yinfei¡¯s performance was at the end because the award ceremony had begun at the very beginning. Li Yinfei thought that those from 250 Ace Mecha n had left after the award ceremony. She didn¡¯t think that 250 Ace Mecha n was actually a mecha n as it didn¡¯t even have enough numbers to form a battalion. Of course, they wouldn¡¯t leave in the middle of the performance. Even if Ling Lan was cold, proud and indifferent, she still wouldn¡¯t do something idiotic like that.


    Although Li Yinfei didn¡¯t know who the Regiment Commander of 250 Ace Mecha n was, she already putrge ¡®X¡¯ on 250 Ace Mecha n in her mind. It had to be said that there had to be some fate between the two people. Li Yinfei and Ling Lan was fated to not be fated at all. Although they weren¡¯t at the point where they hated each other, they still managed to reach a point where neither of them saw each other as people.


    There were two other people who didn¡¯t have a good impression on Li Yinfei. One was Li Lanfeng and the other was Li Shiyu.


    Ling Lan felt the darkness seeping out from Li Lanfeng¡¯s body. She turned around and asked, ¡°You don¡¯t like Li Yinfei!¡± This wasn¡¯t a question but a statement. No matter how well Li Lanfeng hid his feelings, Ling Lan still managed to see through him with a single nce.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like that face...¡± Li Lanfeng clenched both of his fists. Every time he saw Li Yinfei¡¯s face, his heart filled with humiliation.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan raised her head to look at Li Yinfei, who was performing to the best of her abilities on stage. She carefully examined her then nodded, ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t like her either.¡± It wasn¡¯t that she didn¡¯t like her goddess-like beauty. It was her face, it continued to give Ling Lan an unnatural feeling. It irritated her. The longer she looked at her, the more irritated and ufortable she became.


    Li Lanfeng turned around stunned. He didn¡¯t know whether he should be happy or angry. Being in aplicated mood, he opened his mouth in a mock attempt to say something. He could only change his action into a bittersweet smile while keeping his actual feelings inside.


    After resting for a short while after the award ceremony, the top 10 mecha ns returned to their own divisions. Compared to the peacefulness of Soldier City, the headquarters of the military and the divisions were considered rowdy.


    It was because Ling Lan had ignited a me which finally started spreading everywhere, causing battles to erupt everywhere. First, the 13th Division and 3rd Division began to go at each other. One wanted to severely punish Qiao Ting, but the other believed that was only a small problem and believed Qiao Ting had just made a small mistake. Qiao Ting was a genius from the new generation and should be only lightly punished.


    It couldn¡¯t be helped. The 13th Division had hard evidence. This wasn¡¯t beneficial for Qiao Ting. Even if they knew Qiao Ting didn¡¯t do anything and the evidence was forged, at that moment, they could only ask for a light punishment. It was now impossible to reach a non-guilty verdict.


    The integrity of the evidence was brought up for analysis but no one knew where the 13th Division found an imperial rank hacker who made the Third faction¡¯s imperial hacker unable to find any ws. This made the 3rd Division feel quite helpless. However, this proved that the Second Marshal¡¯s faction had made all the necessary preparations to destroy Qiao Ting¡¯s future.


    During the disputes between the two divisions, the First Marshal¡¯s faction, Second Marshal¡¯s faction and other smaller factions used this chance to take some advantages for their own benefits. Originally, it was only a small dispute between the 13th and 3rd Division. Now, it was as though all of the higher-ups within the Federation¡¯s military had a hand in the situation.


    Ling Xiao had ordered his people to make moves in the headquarters before the First Marshal¡¯s faction was even notified because of Ling Lan¡¯s early notification on the issue. With more time for preparation than the others, after making multiple moves, he easily acquired many important positions among the top brass of the military. It was no ident that those who took those positions were all confidants he had arranged to be there long ago. Of course, on the surface, those people were all neutral and was not connected with anyone with the First Marshal¡¯s faction.


    Ever since Ling Xiao returned to the Federation, he wasn¡¯t nning on trusting anyone before he finds the person who plotted against him. This included the First Marshal, who treated him as a nephew. In order to form his own faction, Ling Xiao silently nurtured and inserted his own confidants while under the watchful eyes of the First Marshal¡¯s faction.


    It had to be said that after disappearing for 16 years, all the connections and faction members Ling Xiao had publically from before had been reduced to zero, silently disappearing from the public eye. Although some people went onto better prospects, other still patiently waited for Ling Xiao¡¯s sessor. Thus, after Ling Xiao returned, he quickly picked out a few loyal members who could endure the trials and put them into the deputy rank of important positions. Compared to the main job position, these deputies were not paid any attention.


    Five years of hiding was to wait for this opportunity. Under therge movements of all factions, Ling Xiao¡¯s small changes were quickly swallowed all the important positions without anyone finding out.


    On top of that, as someone under the First Marshal¡¯s faction on the surface, Ling Xiao also reaped many benefits. The First Marshal¡¯s faction also put forth a lot of effort and reaped many benefits for itself as well.


    Of course, some benefited and some lost. The results of the Second and Third faction¡¯s battle against each other caused both sides to lose a lot. However, after the battle, the higher-ups in the military that were from these two factions were all elites. It will be very difficult the next time someone wanted to look for trouble with these factions.


    However, the 13th Division had the worst oue from the fight. General Zhao and Vice General Qi were all taken down from their positions. Although General Zhao was indeed treated unjustly by taking his position away, being neutral was still an offense. In addition to that, he didn¡¯t have anyone behind him to back him up. If a verdict of negligence was pped onto his name, he would be easily taken down his position.


    In actuality, the reason why General Zhao could sit on the seat of a general was because back then, each faction didn¡¯t want to give it to the other factions. In the midst of the stalemate, this position identally fell into his hands. Unfortunately, without any charisma, General Zhao wasted many years and didn¡¯t gain any control of the 13th Division at that time. Instead, he caused the 13th Division to be split apart into different factions, forcing the division into chaos.


    The disappointment the Federation¡¯s military had towards General Zhao caused them to make a move on the 13th Division. Now, this time, the military was given a reason to make a move.


    Vice Geeral Qi was as dumb as a human could possibly get, even a dog wouldn¡¯t bite the hand that feeds it. If this issue wasn¡¯t caused by his failure as a father, perhaps he would have had a chance to advance and take the position of general that he wanted so much. Unfortunately, the Third Marshal hated his guts because this man caused his faction lose much influence and power. He almost even destroyed a genius who he set his eyes on and nurtured with full support. If the Third Marshal didn¡¯t bring him down, how could he calm the fiery anger he had within his heart?


    Faced with the anger of a Marshal, no one dared to protect Vice General Qi, even the Second Marshal had to hide away for a while. Thus, Vice General Qi became a chess piece that was heartlessly tossed aside to quell the anger of the Third Marshal.


    Both authoritative figures of the 13th Division were taken down, there would of course be new general to be arranged to take the position. Although the First Marshal¡¯s faction wanted this general position, the Second Marshal¡¯s faction and the Third Marshal¡¯s faction were totally against it. These two factions had the same thought that they definitely couldn¡¯t let the First Marshal¡¯s faction to take advantage of the situation. They already had lower number of generalspared to the First Marshal¡¯s faction. If the First Marshal¡¯s faction were to take the position of general for the 13th Division, the other two factions would be powerless.


    The military also didn¡¯t want the First Marshal¡¯s faction to increase its influence. In the end, after the other factions reached an agreement, where the Second Marshal¡¯s faction and Third Marshal¡¯s factions would choose one person topete for the position.


    The Second Marshal¡¯s faction sent out a previousmander lieutenant general in a department under the 13th Division, Yu Dong. The person the Third Marshal¡¯s Faction had sent out was amander lieutenant general in a department under the 3rd Division, Qi Yaoyang.


    After hearing about the candidates, those in the Second Marshal¡¯s faction went pale. They knew they were going to lose. The insane God of the battlefield, Qi Yaoyang, who never lost once. Not only was his name famous amongmon soldiers, even within the Federation¡¯s military, there were many people who admired him. They didn¡¯t think that the Third Marshal¡¯s faction would send out this god-like individual. It should be known that people like him were hard to keep in check. They weren¡¯t sure where the Third Marshal got confidence to be able to order around this god-like individual.


    Without much of a fight, Qi Yaoyang defeated Yu Dong with an overpowering advantage and took over the position as the General of the 13th Division. Yu Dong on the other hand became the Vice General. As for whether Qiao Yaoyang could actually control the 13th Division and whether Yu Dong could strike back and take the position back, was all up in the air. However, it could be predicted that there will definitely be a bloody battle within the 13th Division.


    However, all of this was not rted to Ling Lan and 250 Ace Mecha n. They arrived at the headquarters of the 250 Ace Mecha n in the 23rd division. It was just that they didn¡¯t that there was an important thing waiting for them in the headquarters.

 Chapter 730 - Investigation!

    <h4>Chapter 730: Investigation!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan led 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s members and approached the entrance of their base camp. Seeing how the entrance was heavily guarded, she raised her eyebrow instantly.


    ¡°Boss, something is wrong.¡± Qi Long, with his innate talent Animal Instinct, immediately felt something odd was happening.


    ¡°Those at the entrance aren¡¯t our people.¡± Li Lanfeng, with his great memory, saw through the issue immediately.


    After hearing those words, the team members instantly had their guards up. They were surprised that after sessfullypleting thend clearing mission with flying colors, their own headquarters would be surrounded by strangers. Who was it that dared to make a move on 250 Ace Mecha n? Did these people not know this ace mecha n is protected by General Ling Xiao?


    Thepanions who knew about Ling Lan¡¯s real identity, of course, knew the Big Boss of the 23rd division was their own Boss¡¯s biological father.


    ¡°Just pretend to not know anything. If by any chance something happens, don¡¯t resist,¡± Ling Lan thought deeply for a moment, then ordered.


    Ling Lan believed her father wouldn¡¯t let her fall into an inescapable trap. If he didn¡¯t notify her of anything beforehand, it would mean that her father was still in control of the situation. It was just that she wasn¡¯t sure what had actually happened. Who are those people surrounding the n and where did theye from?


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t want the situation to go out of hand and tooplex since she didn¡¯t fully understand the situation yet. Thus, she ordered her team members to stay calm and watch the situation unfold itself.


    After being told what to do, Ling Lan¡¯spanions walked into the base camp with smiles on their faces. After going through many bloody battles with their Boss, their acting was on point. Their fake expressions were almost wless. If they were to act in the 21st century, every one of them would be able to win an Oscar.


    Right as they entered the base camp, they saw He Xuyang smiling as he led a group of people to wee them.


    ¡°Wee back Regiment Commander Ling, being awarded as one of the top 10 mecha ns in your firstnd clearing mission, you have brought great honor to the 23rd division. The general is very pleased with your performance.¡± He Xuyang had a politically correct smile on his face while speaking in a formal manner. With this facade, Ling Lan didn¡¯t even need to think to know the people who followed behind He Xuyang were probably not her father¡¯s confidants.


    Without He Xuyang¡¯s reminder, Ling Lan saluted in the most standard way that a lower ranked subordinate would greet their superiors. She shouted in a serious tone, ¡°Hello, First Staff Officer He, sir.


    Before He Xuyang could respond, one of the individuals who followed behind him, a young man with an insignia of a major on his uniform, suddenly approached and rudely interjected, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, we are from the Federation¡¯s Military Disciplinary and Investigation Committee. We would like your cooperation in our investigation.¡±


    His expression and tone were simr to of which someone with a higher authority would speak to someone of a lower rank. It was as though he was ordering around his servant. His attitude instantly angered the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°What? Asking our regimentmander to cooperate with what investigation? Investigate what?¡±


    ¡°A measly major actually dares to be disrespectful to our regimentmander? He really doesn¡¯t know his ce.¡±


    Everyone in 250 Ace Mecha n were all veteran elites who fought on multiple battlefields. Veteran elites were considered the hardest opponents on the battlefield. After experiencing countless of life or death situations, they would gradually get stronger. At the same time, thewlessness of the battlefield made them be ruffians who wouldn¡¯t bow down to anyone. They were also not afraid of the supposed higher-ups of the military and would say what they had in their minds. Not long after, the spot became noisy. In a single moment, the entire area had lost control.


    Yang Mingzhi, Liu Furong and Gu Dongyang, who stood at the front, frowned. The words ¡®Disciplinary and Investigation Committee¡¯ made them remember some not so great memories.


    Seeing the mecha operators yelling and cursing, the major had a hint of anger on his face. He felt his authority was being challenged. He immediately waved his hand and fully armed soldiers suddenly stormed in from the surrounding area. They pointed their guns towards everyone in 250 Ace Mecha n.


    Faced with hundreds of beam guns pointed directly at them, all the mecha operators stopped talking and the entire area became silent, causing the major to have a smirk on his face. They were pretty smart for remembering to bring enough people to instantly shut down these ruffians who only knew about fighting. As expected, if he didn¡¯t take them down a peg, they might have actually thought the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee was weak and useless.


    The major tilted his chin up high after thinking he had regained control of the situation. He then shouted proudly, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, please tell your team members to stay silent. Otherwise, don¡¯t me me if we take them out for obstruction of justice. They might be going to military prison.¡±


    ¡°I remember the military doesn¡¯t restrict freedom of speech. People have the right to state their opinions. When did the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee have the power to change the rules of the military at will?¡± As long as it wasn¡¯t a rebellion, the restrictions applied on soldiers were quite loose. He wants to scare her with this pointless scare tactic? He was definitely looking down on Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan had a hint of mockery in her expression. She looked towards the major with some pity in her eyes. Did the major actually think that those hundreds of beam guns were enough stop these veteran elites who had crawled out from countless life or death situations? Did he not see that the mecha operators were all excitedly waiting for her to give the order to attack?


    Additionally, this young and naive major was being used as a scapegoat by his superiors and he himself knew nothing about it. It was indeed pitiful. Furthermore, when it came to rules and regtions of the military, with Little Four in hand, how could Ling Lan lose in this aspect?


    Ling Lan¡¯s rebuttal questions silenced the major. While he was trying to mumble out some words, a senior colonel beside him couldn¡¯t help but re at him. As expected, he was too young and couldn¡¯t be relied on for things like this. He fell into the opposition¡¯s trap before even understanding his opponent. It seemed that this chess piece was no longer useful.


    After deciding to give up on the young major, the senior colonel suddenlyughed out loud. He then spoke up, ¡°Actually, we would just like to question Regiment Commander Ling a few things. I hope Regiment Commander Ling can just provide some information for us. We¡¯re not looking for trouble. Everyone, please be rest assured. Little Ma from our department is still young, and not reliable when ites to these types of things. Regiment Commander Ling, please do forgive him if he had offended you.¡±


    ¡°So after seeing forcefully probing wasn¡¯t working, they n on ying the good cop to lower my guard?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes flickered and didn¡¯t answer. She only nodded to show that she had agreed.


    The major knew he had made a mistake and might possibly lose points with his superiors. He was angry and vengeful. The major made a decision that during questioning, he would definitely make it difficult for Regiment Commander Ling. He wanted Ling Lan to know that offending him was definitely not a good idea.


    Seeing that Ling Lan didn¡¯t object to his proposal, the senior colonel was overjoyed. Being able to take down the Regiment Commander of 250 Ace Mecha n without any bloodshed was the best oue. Although they were sent here by the military, they still had to give General Ling Xiao some dignity since they were in the 23rd Division, and couldn¡¯t make too much of a scene. Otherwise, if they actually angered General Ling Xiao, they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to walk out of the headquarters of the 23rd Division alive.


    Thinking up to this point, the senior colonel felt helpless. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that they needed to collect evidence from 250 Ace Mecha n, why would theye near the headquarters of the 23 Division? Luckily, General Ling Xiao was a man of justice. He wasn¡¯t like other generals who protected their subordinates by setting up obstacles for them, making them unable to investigate.


    If the oue of this investigation was satisfying, they would have made an achievement for the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee, as they took out a tumor from the military and saved the soldiers who lived in inhumane conditions.


    Right as the senior colonel was about ask Ling Lan to follow them, Ling Lan spoke up, ¡°I just returned here, and my uniform is a bit tattered. Since you¡¯re here to seek some information, then please wait for a moment and let me freshen myself up. Then, I¡¯ll will speak with you.¡±


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s tone seemed respectful, she still made a decision herself. Before the Senior Colonel could refuse, she saluted He Xuyang and said respectfully, ¡°First Staff Officer He, I apologize for leaving abruptly.¡±


    ¡°Haha, you¡¯re tired from traveling and indeed need some rest. I understand, I understand it very well.¡± He Xuyang didn¡¯t give the senior colonel a chance to speak and instantly smiled as he replied.


    Ling Lan then turned around gave Lin Zhong-qing an order, ¡°Senior Captain Lin, please lead these officers to the meeting hall to wait for me.¡±


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Lin Zhong-qing walked up and gestured towards the officers from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee to follow him.


    The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee could only watch as Ling Lan left with her n members. In the end, they helplessly followed Lin Zhong-qing to wait in the meeting hall.


    They didn¡¯t notice that no matter if it was Lin Zhong-qing who was leading them or He Xuyang, who was still smiling behind them, both of their expressions had hint of coldness.


    Those from Lingtian, who followed behind Ling Lan, found it odd for the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee toe to their 250 Ace Mecha n to look for their Boss. However, they weren¡¯t worried for their Boss¡¯s safety. They knew very well that if they actually posed a threat to their Boss, General Ling Xiao would make a move and resolve it quickly.


    Yang Mingzhi, Liu Furong and Gu Dongyang, who didn¡¯t know Ling Lan¡¯s rtionship with Ling Xiao, were quite concerned and worried. They knew very well what seeing the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee could mean. People who were under the watchful eyes of theirs would either die or lose a part of themselves. If one was to say the three of them were fearful of Ling Lan¡¯s ruthless ways back in the day, in the past three months of thend clearing mission, they realized the great capabilities of Ling Lan as a regimentmander. They slowly epted this young yet capable regimentmander as their own regimentmander.


    Could their hopes that had just been brought up, be once again shattered by the politics of the higher-ups?


    Yang Mingzhi hesitated for a moment. As they were about to part ways, he finally spoke up, ¡°Regimentmander, talk with them within 250 Ace Mecha n. Don¡¯t leave with them.¡± In 250 Ace Mecha n, if something was to ur, they could still protect their regimentmander. If their Regiment Commander was to leave with them, then no one would be able to help him.


    Ling Lan was stunned. Although Yang Mingzhi was very cooperative with her training exercises andpleted hermands well, she still knew very well that he never saw her as his regimentmander. He just didn¡¯t want to make life difficult for himself, so heplied with everything she had said. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to force the issue, after all, Yang Mingzhi was originally a major and could be the leader of a brigade. No matter if it was in terms of experiences or merits, he had many morepared to Ling Lan. Yang Mingzhi cooperating fully was the best oue Ling Lan could ask for.


    It was just that she didn¡¯t think he would speak up for her. Does this mean she has received some of his trust?


    These nice surprises kepting. After Yang Mingzhi spoke up, Liu Furong and Gu Dongyang all agreed with Yang Mingzhi¡¯s opinion on the matter. They believed she shouldn¡¯t leave 250 Ace Mecha n. If the opposition wanted to take Ling Lan by force, they could help in stopping them from doing so.


    Ling Lan was grateful. The words of the three of them were, however, not wise at this moment. It should be known that if they had any physical altercation with them, they would easily be considered to have betrayed the military. Then Yang Mingzhi, Gu Dongyang, and Liu Furong would lose all of their merits and achievements, and be criminals in the military records. The ce where they would be sent to, would probably be the military prison.


    ¡°I know, but please do not worry,¡± Ling Lan said in a serious tone.


    However, Yang Mingzhi and the others didn¡¯t trust in Ling Lan¡¯s promise. General Ling Xiao had shown no intentions of protecting 250 Ace Mecha n since the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee had arrived at 250 Ace Mecha n with First Staff Officer He. Who else could help Ling Lan if the head of the division wasn¡¯t going to do anything?


    Seeing Yang Mingzhi and the others were indeed worried about her, Ling Lan was afraid that they would make sudden moves based on their concern. She thought for a moment then spoke, ¡°It will be fine. I have the same surname as General Ling Xiao. He will protect me.¡±


    After saying that, Ling Lan disappeared. She was probably going to her room.


    Yang Mingzhi, Gu Dongyang and Liu Furong looked at each other. Liu Furong wasn¡¯t sure what he had heard was correct and so he asked, ¡°What did Regiment Commander Ling say just now? Did you guys hear it?¡±


    ¡°He said he and General Ling both have the surname Ling, so the General will protect him...¡± Gu Dongyang repeated.


    ¡°But, General Ling Xiao always resolves things justly. Even if it was his own family, he still may not make any moves...¡± Liu Furong frowned and didn¡¯t understand why Ling Lan was so confident that Ling Xiao would do something like that.


    Yang Mingzhi on the other hand had a light bulb lit up in his head. He remembered he had heard something many years ago from someone. When Ling Xiao ¡®sacrificed himself¡¯, he had a posthumous child. Back in the day, the Ling family and Ling Xiao¡¯s wife, Lan Luofeng, had fierce fight for Ling Xiao¡¯s inheritance. In the end, Lan Luofeng had won. This was also the reason why the Ling family had left Doha. Then, he thought about how when Ling Xiao returned, he didn¡¯t meet with any family members except for his immediate family members. Now it seemed the event was true...


    Could Ling Lan be Ling Xiao¡¯s... Yang Mingzhi¡¯s heart began to beat furiously. If that was the case, he and Liu Furong might perhaps be able to get justice for theirrades who sacrificed themselves for nothing.


    Yang Mingzhi had a realization, but he didn¡¯t tell what he had thought of to Liu Furong and Gu Dongyang. General Ling Xiao had kept his son a secret for a long time. There was definitely a reason behind it. He shouldn¡¯t say anything in case he screws it all up.


    Seeing Liu Furong and Gu Dongyang still confused about the meaning behind Ling Lan¡¯s words, Yang Mingzhi coughed and said, ¡°Our regimentmander can definitely resolve this issue. It¡¯s the same as when we thought 250 Ace Mecha n would never be able to stand up again. Now, we should learn to trust our regimentmander.¡±


    Hearing Yang Mingzhi¡¯s words, Liu Furong and Gu Dongyang seemed to have realized something. They both nodded and returned to their own dormitories to wait for the final result.

 Chapter 731 - First Meeting!

    <h4>Chapter 731: First Meeting!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Right after Ling Lan returned to her own room, her already freezing cold expression became even colder. Although she knew her father wouldn¡¯t let anything bad happen to her, she still felt uneasy by the fact that things were out of her control. She felt somewhat defeated.


    As expected, she couldn¡¯t be like her father Ling Xiao, a person able to control everything within a grasp of his hand. She circled around the small living room, seemingly in deep thought for quite a while. She then decided to still find her father to ask what was going on.


    ¡°Little Four, help me contact...¡± Right as Ling Lan was about to ask Little Four to contact Ling Xiao, she suddenly had a thought that maybe Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t contact her since he would have contacted her by now.


    It was clear that the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee was sent by the military, He Xuyang¡¯s off-putting behavior also proved it was not known to the 23rd division. They came to do a private investigation, catching all of them off guard.


    In the military, the disputes between the different factions were ongoing. Ling Lan thought about the havoc she had caused in Soldier City. Shouldn¡¯t the military be in chaos because of that event? Maybe that could be why all the different factions are sending out their people in the shadows. Maybe the request to investigate her was just a smokescreen, and their actual target was actually Ling Xiao?


    Ling Lan had a lot of thoughts swirling in her mind, which made her really anxious. She knew if her father had received any information about the current situation, he would have already made a move. Did her father¡¯s enemies discover something off about her father¡¯s movements, so they decided to test out the waters with her?


    Conveniently, 250 Ace Mecha n appeared during this time, from being a useless mecha n to a top 10 mecha n in their firstnd clearing mission. It was indeed easy for people to formte intricate conspiracy theories about her father situation . It seemed she needed to be more careful and shouldn¡¯t let anyone know of her and her father¡¯s rtionship. Otherwise, even if she eventually took the position of regimentmander through sheer merits and achievements, it would still cause heavy damage to her father¡¯s reputation, giving his opposition a chance to attack her father. Perhaps, her father not contacting her directly was also because of this issue.


    Ling Lan had a few conclusions after minutes of circling around the living room. Currently, her rtionship between her father must continue to be only a normal working rtionship between a general and an ace mecha n¡¯s regimentmander. She should only be a normal officer working under her father. This might lessen his worries so he could make moves whenever he wanted to.


    Although Ling Lan knew that the top brass of the military definitely knew the truth, but they probably had some sort of agreement, and wouldn¡¯t actively announce the rtionship between her and Ling Xiao. Their confidants might also know something, but would definitely not dare to let any of that information leak out.


    It meant that on her side, she would just need to be careful to not let the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee find out her rtionship with her father.


    A bone-chilling breeze suddenly blew across the small living room. She predicted the reason why the higher-ups of the military had sent the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee to investigate the 23rd division privately, was to find out about her rtionship with her rtionship with Ling Xiao and then to publicly announce it? Of course, it didn¡¯t eliminate the possibility that they wanted to give her father a bad name. It seemed her father¡¯s public image had made the higher-ups envious of him.


    Now, they wanted to catch her off guard and have her make mistakes to show them her weak point for them to use it to their advantage... they severely underestimated her.


    With that thought in mind, Ling Lan sat on the sofa in the living room with a well-thought-out n, her lips perked as she sneered. What could they do if she contacted her father?


    ¡°Little Four, contact mom and make sure no one discovers you.¡± Alright, let¡¯s see what you can do, God of the virtual world, Little Four. Compared to Ling Xiao, Lan Luofeng was a smaller target.


    ¡°Understood, Boss.¡± Little Four¡¯s expression had hints of excitement. Only at these moments, he wouldn¡¯t feel sleepy and would be full of energy. Additionally, he could finally speak to his warm and kind mother.


    ¡°Hmph, just as Boss had predicted, these bastards actually dare to monitor mother¡¯smunicator. If I was to let you find me, then how could I still stand around Boss? This position of number one underling can only be kept if I am capable.¡±


    The petty Little Four traveled pass the surveince of these people while memorizing their information. After this event blows over, he nned on finding them one by one to make them pay.


    Lan Luofeng, who was sitting in the office¡¯s sofa while looking at hermunicator, suddenly saw a string of small words appear on it. The words made her disy a smile on her face. She stood up with grace and walked towards Ling Xiao, who was looking through documents at the other end of the room. Then, she sat down beside him.


    Ling Xiao raised his head in surprise as he saw Lan Luofeng sitting beside him. In the past few days, Lan Luofeng didn¡¯t give him any good looks. He didn¡¯t think that today she would actively move closer to him. Is she forgiving him? Ling Xiao knew he had done many things recently that went beyond what Lan Luofeng could endure. Thus, he didn¡¯t dare to have any opinions about Lan Luofeng¡¯s treatment towards him.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, I have something I need you to do. Do you have time?¡± She showed hermunicator discretely and shook it in front of Ling Xiao. The message on it made Ling Xiao smile.


    ¡°If my wife needs me, I¡¯ll make time even if I don¡¯t have time!¡± Ling Xiao held Lan Luofeng¡¯s hand to gesture to her that he had already sealed off his office. No one would be able to eavesdrop on them. As for hackers... since his daughter told him she would take care of it, then it wasn¡¯t a problem he had to worry about.


    Lan Luofeng red at Ling Xiao. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that her daughter was looking for Ling Xiao, she wouldn¡¯t give him the time of day. He actually agreed for those bastards to investigate her baby girl. If she didn¡¯t make him sleep on the floor for a month, she would no longer call herself Lan Luofeng.


    Ling Xiao didn¡¯t know his pitiful days hadn¡¯t ended yet. He hugged Lan Luofeng lightly, then pushed on the connect button on Lan Luofeng¡¯smunicator. A five or six old little kid jumped out and smiled like a little doll, wearing a red outfit and was very festive. Lan Luofeng loved this little kid the moment sheid her eyes on him.


    ¡°Hello mom and dad, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ling Little Four. From now on, I will be your son¡± Little Four¡¯s smile was cute, and his expression was sparkling with excitement. This was the first time he talked with mom and dad. He didn¡¯t know whether they liked him or not.


    Little Four, who was always full of confidence, began to doubt himself. He looked at Lan Luofeng and Ling Xiao with a sad look. Ling Xiao didn¡¯t feel anything but Lan Luofeng thought it was very cute. If Little Four wasn¡¯t just a virtual entity, Lan Luofeng may have already held him in her arms and kissed him a few times before letting him go.


    ¡°So cute!¡± Lan Luofeng held her face with her hands and shrilled, heart shapes started forming in her eyes. As expected, Lan Luofeng couldn¡¯t resist the charm of a cute kid.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Ling Lan?¡± Only the handsome and dignified Ling Xiao was reliable and instantly went looking for the main individual in the incident.


    ¡°Boss is on the line. It¡¯s just I wanted to say hello to mom and dad first.¡± Little Four showed a pure smile. That pure expression of ass-kissing made Ling Xiao¡¯s hairs stand up on end. He instantly had a bad feeling about Little Four. Where did his daughter find this little punk? He actually dared to lure in his wife... Ling Xiao felt sour.


    It had to be said that, Little Four¡¯s cute appearance made Lan Luofeng and Ling Xiao have two different impressions. Ling Xiao felt Little Four was too cute and didn¡¯t have anything that was like a man. His impression of Little Four was definitely not very good.


    Little Four didn¡¯t know Ling Xiao¡¯s thoughts at that moment. After being satisfied, he immediately moved aside. On the virtual screen, Ling Lan¡¯s cold and calm face appeared.


    ¡°My Baby Lan¡± Before Ling Lan could say anything, Lan Luofeng couldn¡¯t control her emotions as she shouted with her reddened eyes. Her daughter, who she originally could have held in her arms, must face trials and tribtions by herself because of her and Ling Xiao¡¯s mistake. Now, she could only watch as her daughter suffer while unable to do anything to help.


    ¡°Mom, I¡¯m fine.¡± Ling Lan could onlyfort Lan Luofeng first. However, when Lan Luofeng wasn¡¯t paying attention to her, she nced towards her father. Her nce was ming him as to why he hadn¡¯tforted his own wife, making her face a crying mom all the time.


    Ling Xiao could only show a pained expression as he smiled bitterly. Could he tell her that he couldn¡¯t do anything about Lan Luofeng? Wouldn¡¯t that affect his dignity as a father?


    Ling Lan was only just criticizing him and Ling Xiao still thought he had dignity? That was funny. Ling Lan already knew her father couldn¡¯t do anything about her mother. If he could do something about her mother, would he have been kicked out of his own home and be Ling Lan¡¯s personal bodyguard? Did he actually think that as a general, he had nothing better to do?


    Some things were better not mentioned because Ling Lan still wanted her father to have some semnce of dignity left in case he needed it.


    Ling Xiao was pitiful. He still didn¡¯t know that with his daughter, his image was no longer dignified... He thought he had faked it well all this time.


    Lan Luofeng knew that it wasn¡¯t the time to be emotional. She forced herself to stop crying and smiled, ¡°My Baby Lan, your father¡¯s here. If you feel wronged, talk to him.¡± After saying that, she pulled on Ling Xiao to let him speak.


    Ling Xiao actually wanted to talk with his daughter for a while, but he still coughed and said in a dignified tone, ¡°Ask me whatever you want.¡±


    Ling Xiao knew of his daughter¡¯s personality. She definitely wouldn¡¯t ask for help. She was definitely asking about things she couldn¡¯t figure out herself.


    ¡°Have they found out anything?¡± As expected, Ling Lan went for the main topic right off the bat. She could only think of a way to go against the opposition if she knew what they were here for.


    Ling Xiao half-smiled and nced at Ling Lan. This made Ling Lan frown. Her father¡¯s expression meant it was her fault that these issues ured? What mistake did she make? Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but think where she had made an error.


    ¡°In the 6 months¡¯ time, you haven¡¯t been able to subdue everyone in 250 Ace Mecha n. That¡¯s a fail,¡± said Ling Xiao.


    Ling Lan had a realization, ¡°Did someone from my nin to the military?¡± That was the only possibility for the military to send people here and catching her father off guard.


    ¡°Do you get it now?¡± Asked Ling Xiao.


    ¡°The people who I took with me for thend clearing mission are probably fine. Those who could have issues are only those left in the headquarters.¡± Ling Lan quickly determined the list of suspects. This would exin why the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee of the military woulde to 250 Ace Mecha n to investigate. The person who reported it to the military was definitely within 250 Ace Mecha n. If someone from thend clearing mission reported it, then they probably would have been kept at Soldier City to be investigated and not be able to return to their base camp.

 Chapter 732 - Interrogation!

    <h4>Chapter 732: Interrogation!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°To be honest, you¡¯re pretty lucky. If you didn¡¯t cause the dispute between the 3rd Division and 13th Division, making all of the factions in the military fight over positions which caused them to not have any expendable resources to investigate you, you might have been told to stay in Soldier City for the investigation. If you were really held back in Soldier City, it would have been much more difficult for you to get out of this situation.¡± Ling Xiao rejoiced at the fact that Ling Lan had created a scene. It was originally supposed to test the waters of the military, but he didn¡¯t think it would help them reap so many benefits and also identally helped her out of a crisis-like situation. Now that she had returned to the 23rd division, it was more difficult for the opposition toy a hand on his daughter.


    The coldness in Ling Xiao¡¯s expression seeped through his joyful facial expression. If those people dared to betray his daughter, then that meant they were ready to give up everything.


    ¡°Do you know what they had reported you on?¡± Ling Xiao realized Ling Lan hadn¡¯t asked him about this.


    ¡°The military is usually careful but they still sent the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee, so it¡¯s probably my training methods.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t need to think and knew that only this would cause people to denounce her.


    ¡°Do you know what the name of the crime is?¡± Ling Xiao smiled. If his daughter could take only such a short time to realize the problem, it meant that she was a sensitive and intelligent person. Even if she was to face other traps and plots against her in the future, she would be able to handle them.


    In actuality, the reason why Ling Xiao hadn¡¯t contacted Ling Lan wasn¡¯t because he was afraid that their rtionship would be exposed. What could happen even if they were exposed? Who was Ling Xiao ever afraid of? He wanted everyone to know that he has a capable and special child.


    In short, Ling Xiao used this situation to test Ling Lan¡¯s problem solving skills. After all, if Ling Lan continued to live within the military, as she climbs the rankingdder, these plots from different powers would be countless. She must get used to them for her to live in the military. Ling Xiao was very satisfied with Ling Lan¡¯s performance this time.


    ¡°Probably being violent and viting human rights or something like that,¡± Ling Lan said nonchntly. Ever since she decided to use this method to forge these mecha operators into sharp des, she was already prepared that she would be met with a problem like this.


    ¡°Do you have any ns to resolve it?¡± Ling Xiao raised his eyebrow as he asked. Knowing the problem but without the capabilities of providing a solution was also a fail grade.


    ¡°It¡¯s simple, just don¡¯t admit to it,¡± Ling Lan smiled coldly. At that moment, other than the witness statements of those mecha operators who betrayed her, the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee would be hard-pressed to find any other hard evidence against her. How could she leave any evidence if she had already thought that an oue like this might happen? The video footage were all destroyed by Little Four. Without capabilities simr to Little Four, they were impossible to recover.


    ¡°Don¡¯t let the number of mecha operators¡¯ witness statements get past 10% of the n¡¯s poption. Otherwise, even if they don¡¯t have evidence, the opposition can still make a case.¡± Ling Xiao reminded.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have a way around it.¡± Ling Lan smirked. The game had begun. She was already going to send away those conniving and sly individuals from 250 Ace Mecha n after shepleted thend clearing mission. She didn¡¯t think that they would actively give her an opportunity to let her cast them away in public...


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know whether she should mock them for thinking they were smart or pity them for causing their own demise. She only hoped that they won¡¯t regret what they had done.


    After talking for a short while afterwards, Ling Lan said goodbye to her mom and dad. At that moment, Ling Xiao suddenly asked, ¡°Who was that little punk at the beginning?¡± During the three months that he was alongside Ling Lan, he never saw a little kid with her. Ling Xiao remembered that intelligent A.I., Meng Lan. Did that Ling Little Foure from the same ce as Meng Lan?


    Ling Lan was originally nning on telling the truth, she suddenly had a yful thought. She straightened her face and said in a serious tone, ¡°Dad, after so many years, shouldn¡¯t you give this little brother an official identity?¡±


    ¡°Ling Xiao?!¡± Lan Luofeng, who was full of smiles while watching the two of them talk to each other, had her eyes went bright red instantly and began to scream after hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words.


    ¡°Nonsense!¡± Ling Xiao had a pained expression. He angrily red at Ling Lan and quicklyforted his wife to not listen to Ling Lan¡¯s nonsense.


    ¡°Mom, I love you. And Dad, be safe!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression showed a hint of yfulness. Lan Luofeng, who originally thought Ling Xiao had done something to betray her, instantly understood that it was Ling Lan¡¯s prank. She felt angry and happy at the same time. It seemed that Ling Lan had felt something wrong was going on between Lan Luofeng and Ling Xiao. Thus, Ling Lan gave her a chance to let out her anger.


    ¡°She really is my little sweetheart!¡± Lan Luofeng thought as her eyes began to redden, but it returned to its originalrge fiery eyes in an instant. She shouldn¡¯t waste her daughter¡¯s goodwill.


    As for Ling Xiao, he was suffering and happy at the same time. He both loved and hated his daughter¡¯s prank, and didn¡¯t know whether he should cry orugh.


    After hanging up the call, Ling Lan¡¯s smile disappeared and returned to her cold expression. She quickly washed-up and changed into a clean major uniform. At the same time, she ordered Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu to apany her to the meeting hall to fight a weaponless battle.


    Faced with these kinds of plots, traps and maybe even lying with a straight face, the conniving and sly Li Lanfeng was more suitable than the virtuous Han Jijyun.


    As for Li Shiyu... back then, the reason why her father sent her to 250 Ace Mecha n now became her weapon for counter-attacking. Ling Lan even thought that maybe from the very beginning, her father had already prepared everything for her. He was just trying to see whether she will use it or not.


    Ling Lan smirked. If this was her father¡¯s test, then she would let her father know she wasn¡¯t some useless heir.


    Not long after, Ling Lan led Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu, who had prepared thoroughly, to the meeting hall. As they were walking there, Ling Lan told them about her predictions and why they hade to 250 Ace Mecha n. The two of them also made their preparations and walked into the meeting hall full of energy.


    The Disciplinary and Investigation Committee had expressions of dissatisfaction when they saw Ling Lan bringing two majors with her. Ling Lan didn¡¯t pay them any heed and immediately sat down at the main seat. Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu also sat down beside Ling Lan, without any regard for the others. They would, of course, not give the opposition any good looks since they didn¡¯te here to be peaceful.


    After Ling Lan showing that she was the master of the ce, she gestured the opposition to sit down and speak. Only the senior colonel, who was sly and conniving, wasn¡¯t affected and kept smiling, the others were more or less angered by Ling Lan¡¯s attitude. Especially the young major, with his expression bing more twisted.


    Li Lanfeng scanned around the room, and knew the senior colonel would be the most difficult person to deal with. He took a deep breath and focused. He must fight a brilliant battle for himself and Ling Lan.


    On the side, Li Shiyu had his eyes somewhat closed. Before his regimentmander throws him into the fray, he would only be a bystander and wouldn¡¯t participate in the battle from the beginning.


    ¡°You seem quite busy, Regiment Commander Ling. You made us wait for a very long time.¡± Before Ling Lan could say anything, the young major jumped out and spoke loudly.


    ¡°Of course, our regimentmander is amander of a n. He is much busier than major like us who don¡¯t have actually power.¡± Li Lanfeng said while smiling. Although it seemed he was mocking himself, he was actually mocking the young major. The young major could not find a proper rebuttal, so the stress started building up in him which almost made him faint.


    ¡°Actually useless!¡± The senior colonel, who led the team, cursed internally at the fact that his subordinate was useless. His expression however didn¡¯t change as nodded and smiled, ¡°Indeed. Major Ling has made many achievements at such a young age, resulting in being a regimentmander at such a young age. Perhaps you are a genius that General Ling has set his sights on. Your future is limitless, Major Ling.¡±


    Ling Lan had her eyes half open and didn¡¯t respond, making the senior colonel feel awkward for talking to himself. He couldn¡¯t help but insult Ling Lan in his head for being a sly bastard.


    His words were actually a trap. No matter how Ling Lan responded, they would be able to continue to question her. Now that her lips were tightly sealed and wouldn¡¯t say anything, the senior colonel couldn¡¯t continue to ask questions. Even if it was the confident senior colonel, he still couldn¡¯t help but feel demotivated from the defeat he took at the very beginning of the interrogation.


    The entire meeting hall was silent. Ling Lan¡¯s group of three came to this meeting with the thought of speaking only when necessary. They won¡¯t actively speak to the opposition to let the opposition find a chance to question them. Thus, they calmly held the teacup Lin Zhong-qing had brought and drank from it slowly. This extremely calm demeanor made the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee irritated.


    The only way to get through Ling Lan¡¯s defenses was to make her panic, increasing the chances of her making a mistake, waiting wasn¡¯t an option. Those from themittee knew that they weren¡¯t given much time. If they couldn¡¯t find hard evidence in the required time, they could only return without achieving anything. Just as Ling Lan had thought, they only had a small amount of people speak and make witness statements. They didn¡¯t have actual evidence and the amount of witness statements were not enough to make a case...


    After thinking about this point, the senior colonel sighed internally. There were clearly so many people who had stayed back at the base camp, but in the end, only less than 10 individuals were willing to expose their regimentmander¡¯s abusive training methods. The others, no matter how much they questioned, threatened or tricked them, they still couldn¡¯t make the others say anything. This made the senior colonel admire this young regimentmander¡¯s methods of being able to make his subordinate not dare to speak a word in a short time.


    However, the more the situation continued on, the more he wanted to rip off Ling Lan¡¯s facade. He definitely couldn¡¯t let this violent individual rise up the ranks. If that happened, there would be more soldiers going through inhumane training methods. The senior colonel¡¯s eyes flickered, and a strong will showed within them. Wasn¡¯t this the reason why the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee existed?


    The senior colonel threw a re at this confidant. A lieutenant colonel, who was a subordinate of the senior colonel, spoke out in a formal and cold manner, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, we¡¯ve looked through your files. You are a new recruit who just entered the division this year. You¡¯re still short a few days for an entire year. Please exin how did you manage to jump the ranks from being a new recruit to a regimentmander?¡±


    After hearing him, Ling Lan raised her eyes and smirked, ¡°I thought the documents have it clearly written down. Did you not read it?¡±


    Hearing this, the lieutenant colonel instantly shouted, ¡°Ling Lan, please correct your attitude. When I¡¯m asking you, you must answer.¡±


    Ling Lan frowned and spoke with a hint of confusion, ¡°Mr. Senior Colonel, are you here to question about things? Or are you here to interrogate me?¡±


    They want to scare her? However, Ling Lan was quite daring. Otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t cause so many troublesome situations to ur, causing her father to have headaches when he cleans up after her. Ling Lan knew it all very well. She was indeed not a naughty child.

 Chapter 733 - Loggerheads!

    <h4>Chapter 733: Loggerheads!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The senior colonel was frustrated. With the current amount of evidence, he couldn¡¯t register this case to court. Hence, he could only ask her for questioning and not interrogate her. These two terms meant simr things but there was a huge difference between them.


    Initially, he thought he could scare the evidence out of Ling Lan since she was young and inexperienced. Yet, she was surprisingly well-seasoned. A single sentence from her ced them on the passive side.


    Since Ling Lan asked, the senior colonel had to reply. ¡°This is just a questioning. My men are just too passionate about their job. If they did anything wrong, please forgive them.¡±


    Ling Lan gave a cold smile. ¡°Since they are part of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee, they should know what they should do and what shouldn¡¯t. If they do not, they shouldn¡¯t be able to sit in this position.¡± Ling Lan looked at the fierce-looking lieutenant colonel. She said indifferently, ¡°Lieutenant colonel, what do you think?¡±


    The lieutenant colonel¡¯s face twitched. He suppressed his anger and didn¡¯t reply to her. He must not be angered by Ling Lan. If he did, Ling Lan might be able to derail the conversation for it to not be about her, in that situation, the loss would outweigh the gain.


    The senior colonel felt he needed to speak up now. He pulled the conversation back to the main topic. ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, we have seen your data. However, there are some doubts we would like you to clear up.¡±


    Ling Lan nced at the senior colonel calmly. The senior colonel didn¡¯t wait for Ling Lan¡¯s reply and immediately asked her, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, after you entered the 23rd division, you didn¡¯t undergo the three months long recruit training camp. May I ask why?¡± Injured? This was not a good reason to escape from the recruit training camp. There must be something going on.


    Li Lanfeng heard this questioned and scoffed. The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee looked at him angrily. The senior colonel controlled his temper and turned to look at him. He said with a tinge of unhappiness in his voice, ¡°Major, is there anything wrong with my question?¡±


    Li Lanfeng coughed. He smiled and replied, ¡°The reports clearly stated the reason why our regimentmander didn¡¯t undergo the recruit training camp. Our Regiment Commander Ling was injured at that time. As for how he got injured, it¡¯s written there too. The 23rd division headquarters gave him a special dispensation so he didn¡¯t need to undergo the recruit training camp. I don¡¯t understand why you feel the need to ask this question when the answers are written so clearly. If you suspect there is something wrong with the documents, you should ask the headquarters.¡±


    ¡°I just want to hear the reason from Regiment Commander Ling directly.¡± The senior colonel was furious after listening to what Li Lanfeng said. F**k, I¡¯ve never seen such an uncooperative soldier.


    ¡°Of course, you can. However, our regimentmander can refuse to answer such meaningless questions.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled gently. He was not afraid of the senior colonel¡¯s intense gaze.


    ¡°The Disciplinary and Investigation Committee will report your actions to the higher authorities. If you continue to not cooperate with us, don¡¯t me us for being merciless.¡± The lieutenant colonel could no longer control his anger.


    ¡°Please do it.¡± Li Lanfeng waved his hands indifferently. His calm expression made the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee feel even more indignant. They didn¡¯t expect to meet such huge resistance the moment they started their investigation.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, please remember that you are a soldier. You should cooperate with us and help us with our investigation.¡± The senior colonel mmed the table and red at Ling Lan furiously. His gentle expression and friendly demeanor had disappeared.


    ¡°Senior colonel, our regimentmander would not be sitting here wasting his time, listening to your usations if he didn¡¯t want to cooperate with you.¡± Li Lanfeng mmed the table too and red at the senior colonel coldly.


    F**k, you are in our territory. If they allowed themselves to be bullied in their own territory, they should just dissolve their mecha n.


    Ling Lan sat in the middle of the confrontation like an ice statue. She ignored the argument that was happening and sipped her tea nonchntly. Leopard is performing well, I must give him a thumbs upter. As expected, it¡¯s rxing to have someone at the front-end fighting for her. I need to nurture him more in the future.


    Ling Lan found Li Lanfeng¡¯s usefulness and decided to use it shamelessly.


    The senior colonel red at Li Lanfeng for a long time. In the end, he backed down first. He looked at the calm Ling Lan and reprimanded her, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, is this how you treat your guest?¡±


    Ling Lan looked down and blew her tea elegantly. She took a sip and replied indifferently, ¡°Senior colonel, if you want to ask, ask something that isn¡¯t written in the reports. Let¡¯s not waste each other¡¯s time.¡± She raised her eyebrows slightly and looked at the senior colonel.


    ¡°Our mecha n needs to be on the battlefield soon. Every minute we are wasting could be put to better use. One minute of training could increase our chance of survival in the battlefield. Let¡¯s not waste time, indirectly killing people.¡±


    You are a murderer! The senior colonel screamed in his heart. Those people said he had killed two mecha operators heartlessly. However, no information could be found even after they searched through the entire database of the 23rd division. It was as though the two mecha operators never existed.


    The senior colonel didn¡¯t know he had found the truth. The greed for merit blinded him, causing him to oversee this possibility.


    The senior colonel took much effort before he managed to control his anger. He no longer waited for them to make a mistake. He could tell the three majors were very experienced people. It would be difficult dealing with them. Just like what Ling Lan said, he should stop wasting each other¡¯s time and go directly to the point. Even if he didn¡¯t get any information, it was better than getting angered by them like this.


    ¡°ording to what we know, you brutally killed two people when you first became the Regiment Commander of 250 Ace Mecha n. This was the reason why your men reported to us that you didn¡¯t have the capabilities to be their leader.¡±


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. ¡°Who said that?¡±


    ¡°We have enough evidence to prove that you were vicious towards your men when you were just appointed as a regimentmander. You killed two people, Regiment Commander Ling, if you confess now, you may still have a chance to get a lighter sentence.¡± The senior colonel stared at Ling Lan. He directly threw this question at her so that she would get agitated. That way, she might show them some loopholes.


    Confession will ce you in jail while resistance allows you to go back home for the new year. This was a saying used in her past life, and it speaks the truth.


    Ling Lan wanted to go back home for the new year. There was no change in her expression as she firmly replied with a calm face, ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t? You are lying!¡± The young major who had been controlling his anger and watching the questioning from the side sprung up furiously and shouted at Ling Lan.


    ¡°I¡¯m lying? Where is your evidence then? Who are the people that died? What are their names? Where are they from? When did they enter the military?¡± Ling Lan threw a flurry of questions to the other party.


    The other party was speechless. They didn¡¯t have any relevant evidence but this caused them to suspect even more that someone was protecting Regiment Commander Ling behind the scene by destroying all the evidence against him.


    ¡°Since you can¡¯t show any evidence, should I suspect that you are trying to frame me?¡± Ling Lan nced at the officers intently. The officers lowered their heads, not daring to look at Ling Lan directly.


    ¡°What is done by night appears by day! Regiment Commander Ling, the people that used you are from your own mecha n, not us.¡± The senior colonel gave a cold smile. He refuted Ling Lan¡¯s words.


    Ling Lan had nothing to respond to this query. Someone from her mecha nined against her. Whether theint was true or fake, she couldn¡¯t refute it.


    The Senior Colonel was delighted. He finally managed to gain the upper hand in this confrontation. He waited to see how the other party would respond.


    Li Lanfeng smiled. He finally entered the trap. He waited so long for this moment.


    Li Lanfeng gave a gentle smile and answered calmly, ¡°Senior Colonel, those people that use our regimentmander, are they the people who stayed back at the base?¡±


    The senior colonel narrowed his eyes. He looked at the smiling Li Lanfeng and pondered over his intention for asking this question. He couldn¡¯t find what the other party wanted to do, so he decided to be safe and remain silent.


    The senior colonel smiled and looked at Li Lanfeng, without replying to him.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t seem awkward after he got ignored. He nonchntly continued on, ¡°You all should know that there are different levels of mecha operators in a mecha n. Some are good, some are bad. This time, our regimentmander brought all the capable soldiers on this mission. Those that are left...¡± Li Lanfeng appeared to be sad and disappointed. He clicked his tongue to show his unhappiness. ¡°Actually, our regimentmander had made a decision, that if these mecha operators couldn¡¯t pass the test after hees back from this mission, they would be moved to normal mecha ns or be sent out of the military.¡±


    The senior colonel got a shock when he heard that. He said without thinking, ¡°You can do that?¡± When he came, his superiors had told him what kind of mecha operators were in 250 Ace Mecha n...


    Li Lanfeng appeared stunned by the senior colonel¡¯s expression. ¡°Why can¡¯t we do that? An excellent ace mecha n should only keep the best mecha operators. Those that didn¡¯t meet the requirements would be cut.¡±


    He was trying to confuse truth by mixing it with falsehood. They were being incredibly disrespectful towards these mecha operators who achieved many merits before. The senior colonel was furious but he controlled his emotions. He signaled his assistant to hand him the folders with information about the mecha operators of 250 Ace Mecha n.


    He took the documents and mmed it in front of Li Lanfeng. He said coldly, ¡°I¡¯ve read through the background of all the mecha operators in 250 Ace Mecha n. They are excellent mecha operators from other divisions. How can they be not capable? Are you trying to send them away just because they don¡¯t listen to you?¡±


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t flinch (Well, he was wearing a mask so even if he did, they wouldn¡¯t be able to see it.). He took a folder out and pushed it towards the senior colonel. He said with a smile, ¡°Being outstanding in the past doesn¡¯t mean they will remain outstanding. Why don¡¯t you take a look at the documents inside this folder first?¡±


    The senior colonel took out the documents from the folder curiously. It contained the past results of these mecha operators. He was shocked. The results were terrible. The senior colonel knew these mecha operators were forsaken by their past division, so it was normal to have such results.


    The documents felt like a hot potato in his hands. These documents alone were enough to refute his statement that these mecha operators were excellent. However, if he showed his hand now, would he get used by them? The senior colonel¡¯s mind worked furiously.


    The senior colonel saw the three majors staring at him, waiting for his reply. He then thought of something. ¡°Everyone has their lows, we should be more patient towards them.¡± Even if they wanted him to show his hand, he wouldn¡¯t do it.


    ¡°Senior colonel, you are right. The military has its rules but we are not heartless. However, these mecha operators had been like this for a few years. We need to be responsible to the other soldiers. We can¡¯t let them continue like this. It is unfair to the other soldiers who are fighting hard at the frontline, who are working for their benefits while these operators just stay at the base doing nothing, but mope around and obtaining the same benefits as those who are working at the frontlines.¡± Li Lanfeng tapped on the document in the senior colonel¡¯s hand, signaling him to look carefully.


    The senior colonel¡¯s expression changed. He knew what these mecha operators were like. Is the other party forcing him to state his intention? Then, he remembered what themander had said when he came to the 23rd division. He sneered. ¡°They have many achievements during their time in the military. Even if they can¡¯t regain their powers, we should still not give up on them. Are you trying to deny their merits? Do you want the soldiers in the military to be disappointed in us?¡±


    ¡°Senior colonel, is there a misunderstanding?¡± Li Lanfeng was ted when he heard the senior colonel finally stating his true intention. He pretended to be surprised and exined himself, ¡°I¡¯m just saying that we need to be responsible for them since they can¡¯t go back to their old days and control a mecha, we should send them to where they truly belong. Letting them stay in 250 Ace Mecha n is just harming them.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this...¡± The senior colonel stopped talking abruptly. He was shocked to realize that he had walked into the other party¡¯s trap. 250 Ace Mecha n was a forsaken ace mecha n. However, it was not an official status. If the 23rd division wanted to reorganize 250 Ace Mecha n and Ling Lan carried out this mission on an order, then there would be no problem at all.


    As the regimentmander of an ace mecha n, he had the right to send those underperforming soldiers out from his n. The senior colonel turned pale. He let down his guard and got fooled by the other party.

 Chapter 734 - Weakness!

    <h4>Chapter 734: Weakness!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Whether the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n are kicked out or not has nothing to do with our investigation. Don¡¯t try to change the topic, Regiment Commander Ling, our leader has spoken clearly just now. Your men used you of using violent means and killing mecha operators in your mecha n. We would like you to give an exnation for this usation.¡± The assistant beside the senior colonel realized that the situation was going against them, so he tried to turn the tables around.


    Ling Lan looked up indifferently and replied, ¡°I¡¯ve made myself clear just now. Who did I kill? Where is the evidence? I hope that you can show them to me.¡±


    The lieutenant colonel gritted his teeth and tried to beat around the bush. ¡°You don¡¯t have the right to know some things.¡±


    ¡°In that case, I have to suspect that I¡¯m being framed!¡± Ling Lan gave them a look of contempt. If they had evidence, then there would be something wrong.


    The lieutenant colonel fumed in anger. If they had solid evidence against him, why would they be sitting here and questioning him?


    The lieutenant colonel couldn¡¯t win against Ling Lan but his words caused the senior colonel to calm down. He decided to change his method of asking. He tapped his index finger on the table, attracting everyone¡¯s attention. Seeing the confident look on their senior colonel¡¯s face, the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee felt at ease. On the other hand, Ling Lan and herrades turned vignt when they noticed that their opponents had regained hisposure. They prepared themselves for his attack.


    The senior colonel was satisfied with the pressure he had created. He looked at Ling Lan and said slowly, ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about this matter first. I have something I would like to ask you. Why don¡¯t you give it some thought about why do you think your men used you of such matter?¡±


    When facing this kind of sly criminals who would not confess to their crimes until thest moment, it was useless toy out everything clearly in front of them. He was fooled by his own experience. He thought that the other party was easy to deal with since he was young, immature, and had only entered the military recently. He didn¡¯t put much thought in his n so he acted rashly. That was why he met so many obstacles. However, it was still not toote.


    The senior colonel viewed the three people in front of him as his greatest opponents now. He no longer dared to underestimate them.


    Ling Lan was on her guard. As expected of someone who was sent by the military headquarters, he was definitely a difficult opponent as no matter what her answer was, it would be turned against her.


    Ling Lan took her teacup and pretended to think about this question. The senior colonel didn¡¯t interrupt her. He waited silently for her reply.


    ¡°Senior colonel, I have some thoughts about this question, maybe I can discuss it with you now.¡± Li Lanfeng was a sensitive person. He sensed that this question was a trap so he instantly opened his mouth.


    The senior colonel turned to look at Li Lanfeng. He pretended to be interested in what he was saying. Ling Lan will not speak for himself now. F**k! The senior colonel hated Li Lanfeng for interrupting him. However, he couldn¡¯t show it on his face. He signaled for Li Lanfeng to speak.


    Li Lanfeng smiled. He ignored the res people were shooting at him and calmly said, ¡°Senior colonel, you should know that an ace mecha n provides much better treatment to their mecha operatorspared to normal mecha ns. This is not just a change in quantity, it is a change in the quality of living too. Anyone with a brain will know what is the better option. Unfortunately, some people just do not have the ability to enjoy this treatment. Our regimentmander is a fair person, he will not let useless people get what they shouldn¡¯t.¡±


    As he spoke, he looked at Ling Lan with his eyes full of respect. If Ling Lan was not firm enough, her expression would have changed under the intense and eerie gaze of Li Lanfeng. It is so scary.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s speech and expression almost caused the senior colonel to vomit out blood. Regiment Commander Ling is fair? Those mecha operators are useless people? How can he say such lies so uprightly? It seems like he really underestimated these young people.


    Li Lanfeng knew that he shouldn¡¯t get too overboard. He could already feel Ling Lan¡¯s intense desire to punch him in the face. He retracted his gaze. Although he wanted to be Ling Lan¡¯s confidant and close friend, he didn¡¯t want to be her punching bag... Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t a masochist.


    Li Lanfeng sighed after he retracted his gaze. He gave a disappointed and sympathetic look. ¡°They knew that they don¡¯t have the ability to stay in 250 Ace Mecha n but they were not willing to let go of their current way of living. This caused them to turn crazy. It¡¯s reasonable that they chose to frame our regimentmander.¡± Li Lanfeng started his retaliation.


    ¡°Frame?¡± The senior colonel narrowed his eyes. Seemed like the other party had made their preparation. They were indeed hard to tackle.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, they framed us! Those mecha operators don¡¯t have the capabilities to enjoy but they wanted to enjoy the benefits and treatment of an ace mecha member. They didn¡¯t want to give up the benefits so they wanted to use this method to prevent our Regiment Commander Ling from chasing them away...¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile had disappeared. His cold eyes and firm tone showed how angry he was. His intent gaze stabbed the hearts of the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee. They lowered their heads and avoided his gaze.


    Li Lanfeng knocked on the table with his right hand as he continued. ¡°If you all believed them and decided on the verdict without making the proper investigation, they would seed in their n. The regimentmander thates to rece Regiment Commander Ling would turn a blind eye to them to prevent this from happening to him. By right, only the best mecha operators could enjoy the benefits of being in an ace mecha n. Yet, these useless people took advantage of their positions. This is a humiliation to all the ace mecha masters. You are tricked by these useless people. We can¡¯t allow that to ever happen.¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words caused those people who didn¡¯t know the truth to feel angry towards the mecha operators, who provided them with witness reports. They started to suspect that the mecha operators were lying to them. Only those that knew what 250 Ace Mecha n really was, knew Li Lanfeng was just talking nonsense.


    Unfortunately, they couldn¡¯t refute him directly. This situation had happened to a normal ace mecha n before. They settled many simr cases before.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s upright and just speech caused amotion among the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee. This is bad. The senior colonel immediately replied, ¡°These mecha operators fought in wars before and are experienced soldiers. They wouldn¡¯t do this kind of thing for their own benefit.¡±


    Li Lanfeng sneered. ¡°What criminal is a criminal from birth?¡± Everyone knew what he was trying to say.


    The senior colonel almost fainted from anger. Li Lanfeng was outrightly suspecting them, ever since the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee was formed, no one dared to question their actions directly in front of their faces. It was like giving them a p on their faces.


    The senior colonel red at Li Lanfeng. He gritted his teeth. However, Li Lanfeng was not afraid. He looked back at the senior colonel firmly.


    After training with Ling Lan, the force of presence this senior colonel exuded was nothing to him.


    The senior colonel looked at the calm Li Lanfeng and felt demotivated. Where did these young peoplee from? Even when facing high-ranked and experienced officers like them, they maintained theirposure. They never flinched when they attacked them. Instead, they retaliated powerfully. Were they really framed? For the first time, the senior colonel suspected himself.


    The major couldn¡¯t control himself anymore when he saw his leader being speechless. He sprung up and shouted. ¡°Do you have evidence to prove that they had framed you?¡±


    Li Lanfeng looked at him with contempt. ¡°Do you have evidence then?¡± They didn¡¯t have any evidence and yet, they dared toe to their territory and incriminate them? Do they think that 250 Ace Mecha n was easy to bully?


    The argument went back to the same point again. The senior colonel knew that this was their weakness, so he wanted to beat around the bush and get more information out from the other party. However, they were tooposed. They knew their strength and what could bring them more benefits. Hence, they kept talking about the points that gave them advantages.


    The major was frustrated when Li Lanfeng talked back. He spoke without thinking. ¡°Since you said that they are useless and they framed you because they stand the thought of you having the possibility of chasing them out of the military, why don¡¯t you prove to us how capable your mecha operators are?¡±


    They were all mecha operators disregarded and sent out from their own divisions. He didn¡¯t believe that the difference between their capabilities would be so stark. If they were able to discover that the useless mecha operators were on par or even better than the capable mecha operators, they could prove that Ling Lan used unscrupulous methods to rule over her mecha n. This way, even without evidence for the crime of killing her mecha operators, they would be able to take her away.


    As long as they were able to bring Ling Lan back to the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee, they would be able to control what happened after that. The major¡¯s eyes were filled with hatred. He must destroy Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan wanted tough when she heard what the major said. Isn¡¯t he helping her? As expected, the worse thing was not meeting a powerful opponent, it was having a stupid teammate.


    The senior colonel looked hesitant when he heard what the major said. He had thought about this too, but since 250 Ace Mecha n had managed to be one of the top ten mecha ns during thisnd clearing mission, so he didn¡¯t dare to mention this. He was afraid that he would lose terribly.


    The senior colonel¡¯s expression changed. In the end, he chose to cut off all means of retreat. Truth be told, he didn¡¯t believe that all the 250 mecha operators in 250 Ace Mecha n had regained their ace mecha operating skills. These people had been diagnosed by professional military doctors. How could they be healed by this new regimentmander?


    If it was that simple, 250 Ace Mecha n would not have been formed in the first ce. The senior colonel felt that this was quite possible so he nodded. ¡°He is right. Since you said that those mecha operators who framed you are useless, you can invite them to have a battle with those capable mecha operators and let us see the difference in them.¡±


    Ling Lan touched her teacup and went into deep thought.


    The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee were ted when they saw that. As expected, this was their weakness.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you trust your mecha operators?¡± The senior colonel resumed his smile.


    Ling Lan thought for a moment before replying, ¡°That is possible. However, there are too many people in 250 Ace Mecha n. It will take a long time if we let everyone participate in the battle. The preparation will be hard too. Why not we choose a few representatives from each side?¡±


    The truth is, you want to choose the few most capable mecha operators, right? Since there are so many useless mecha operators so they had to be a few that managed to recover. All the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee believed that this was her real intention. Their eyes lit up. The major was excited, he could already sense the meritsing towards him.


    ¡°You are right.¡± The senior colonel smiled brightly. The tension between the two parties disappeared.


    The major was frustrated when he saw his superior agreeing to Ling Lan.


    Before Ling Lan could say anything, the senior colonel continued, ¡°How about this? We will randomly choose someone from the capable and useless category. We don¡¯t know their real strengths so this would be a fair decision.¡±


    The senior colonel smiled. He tried to detect any signs of agitation from the other party but Ling Lan¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change at all. The senior colonel was disappointed.


    Ling Lan knew what the senior colonel was trying to do. Unfortunately, she was really not afraid. The results of the mecha operators were all real. Those that were capable went along with her for the mission while those useless ones continued to train at the base.


    Since the other party wanted to get a p in the face, Ling Lan would not stop them. She nodded indifferently, ¡°That is fine too.¡±


    The senior colonel felt uneasy when Ling Lan agreed so readily. However, he quickly threw this uneasiness to the back of his mind. He trusted himself, maybe Ling Lan just wanted to try his luck.

 Chapter 735 - Casting Aside All Considerations!

    <h4>Chapter 735: Casting Aside All Considerations!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The senior colonel and his assistants carefully chose three people out of the 200 mecha operators on Ling Lan¡¯s side. They purposely excluded Yang Mingzhi, Liu Furong, and Gu Dongyang from the list of choices, as they knew that these three people had already bowed their heads down to Ling Lan.


    The senior colonel thought they must have received some benefits from Ling Lan, and in turned regained some of their abilities. If not, arrogant people like them would not listen to a major who was much younger than them.


    The three people they chose topete against had unfamiliar names. Then, they chose the three strongest mecha operator based on the past achievements from the 50 useless mecha operators, one of them was even an ace mecha master with a title.


    The senior colonel felt that no matter how weak a titled ace mecha master had be, he should still be stronger than a normal ace mecha master.


    Ling Lan took over the name list. She looked at it and smiled. She didn¡¯t know if the senior colonel was unlucky or lucky, but the three people they chose topete against were among the group that had the best results. On the other hand, the three people they chose to represent them were among the ones who had the worst results.


    Even if I don¡¯t want to p them in the face, it¡¯s impossible now! Ling Lan sighed. She passed the name list to Lin Zhong-qing who was serving them tea.


    As the Head of Logistics, Lin Zhong-qing had the ability to prepare this battle within the shortest period of time.


    Ten minutester, Lin Zhong-qing came back and nodded at his Boss.


    Ling Lan stood up. The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee got a shock, they thought Ling Lan wanted to escape, but instead, she said, ¡°The battlefield has been prepared. Would you all like to watch the match with me or stay here and wait for the results?¡±


    The senior colonel stood up hurriedly. ¡°Of course, we would watch the match with you.¡± He must not let Ling Lan out of his sight. If Ling Lan escaped, it would be difficult for them to catch him again even after they got enough evidence.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee were thinking. Even if she knew, she wouldn¡¯t care, she never had the thought of running away anyway.


    Hence, Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu, Lin Zhong-qing, and the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee came to the training ground.


    The training ground of 250 Ace Mecha n was technologically advanced. The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee were surprised to see such advanced facilities in an untitled ace mecha n. Some of them started to suspect that 250 Ace Mecha n was an important ace mecha n to the 23rd division.


    Unconsciously, those people that didn¡¯t know the truth were starting to believe what Li Lanfeng had said. They couldn¡¯t believe that such a wealthy and powerful ace mecha n was a retirement home for useless mecha operators. This didn¡¯t make sense to them.


    The senior colonel looked at the six people who were preparing for battle and frowned. The spirit of these six people was entirely different. Three energetic and motivated mecha operators stood on the right side, and the three on the left looked fine butpared to the three on the right, their aura was much weaker. Their gaze kept shifting around too, seemingly uneasy about the environment they were in. The senior colonel suddenly felt uneasy about a thought that suddenly came into his head. He shouted, ¡°Where is Senior Colonel Kang Lincheng?¡±


    A person on the left raised his hand up high. ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±


    Kang Lincheng¡¯s eyes lit up. He knew these people must be from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee, as he already met them a few days ago. He turned around and looked at the cold and calm Ling Lan. His heart sunk. Did they fail to apprehend that monster?


    Kang Lincheng had enough of this suffering. He had to endure the pain from the agents and from the brutal training every single day, being constantly on the edge of death. Every time he managed to open his eyes the next morning, he would curse his ¡®good¡¯ luck, to him, this luck wasn¡¯t good at all. This ¡®good¡¯ luck caused him to experience what it was like to be in a living hell, and never being able to escape.


    As he was about to reach his limit, a n suddenly came to his mind and he started tomence his n. Fortunately, this time God seemed to be on his side, their vicious and heartless regimentmander went on and clearing mission with the main team, leaving only a few people in the base. Without the surveince from those powerful guards, Kang Lincheng managed to advance through his n rather smoothly. He seeded in persuading a few mecha operators who equally hated Ling Lan and worked together with them to send their usations to the military using special means.


    Kang Lincheng didn¡¯t believe the headquarters of the 23rd division. He suspected that the 23rd division headquarters was the one who sent Regiment Commander Ling to clean them up. He would not walk into their trap.


    In these past few days, he kept waiting for the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee to appear. He thought when they appeared, Ling Lan would definitely be dead or at least be taken away to military prison. Yet, he was standing in front of him all fine and proper while he was being summoned. Does he know what I did?


    Ling Lan asked Lin Zhong-qing to secretly tell the three mecha operators from their side that the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee suspected the results of their test. The three mecha operators were extremely furious for being doubted against. They decided to show those bastards their true power.


    They were once well-respected ace mecha masters. After falling from grace and picking themselves up again, they were much more sensitive to other people¡¯s derision.


    Ling Lan was constantly looking for more ways of improving the abilities of her mecha operators. Since the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee serve themselves up on a silver tter, she would, of course, not be rude and reject it.


    Thepetition would a test that was based on the seven basic training of a mecha operator. The passing marks were the same as the benchmark provided by the military. The 250 Ace Mecha n followed the benchmark of the military so the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee couldn¡¯t find anything amiss with them.


    The result of thepetition was just like what Ling Lan had expected. The three capable mecha operators passed the test with flying colors, proving the results they got were true. As for the three useless mecha operators, all of them failed, including the one that had a title.


    The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee were stunned by the results, especially the senior colonel and those that knew the secret of 250 Ace Mecha n. They looked at Kang Lincheng in disappointment and scoffed.


    Since other people can revert back to their old form again, why can¡¯t you? You have a title. Kang Lincheng understood what they were thinking from just the look of their faces. His face turned red, clearing showing the amount of frustration he had.


    He hated the Federation. It only knew how to use them and never consider their future. He had been fighting for 10 years. Why couldn¡¯t he retire?


    In reality, the Federation had created many ns for those mecha operators who got tired of fighting and wanted to retire from the military. The Federation allowed those mecha operators to apply for retirement and would supply them with a ce to stay and a stable job. Of course, the pay and treatment would not be the same as they were in the military but the Federation would still give them rewards based on their merits. They would not let their past mecha operators lived a hard life.


    However, Kang Lincheng didn¡¯t like the retirement ns the Federation had nned for him. He felt that the Federation owed him more. He wasn¡¯t willing to give up the treatment he received in an ace mecha n as the benefits given to an ace mecha n was the best.


    To escape from being on a battlefield ever again, he pretended he was mentally traumatized by the war. That way, the division had no choice but to continue providing for him until the end of his days. When the 23rd Division was formed, the division he was in threw him into the 23rd division to get rid of him and a few other useless mecha operators. Kang Lincheng was happy at this result. He believed that General Ling Xiao would continue providing for them in order to not disheartened the soldiers that just entered his division. Hismander knew this, and that was why he sent them to this division.


    Kang Lincheng expected Ling Xiao to be a gentle and patient person. However, this was not true. He was more vicious and brutalpared to other generals. After bearing with them for five years, he decided to clean them. He even sent a bold and heartless major to torture them to death.


    Kang Lincheng regretted his actions. If he didn¡¯te to the 23rd division five years ago, he would still be able to live his carefree life. He would not lose his face in front of the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee too.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t care what these useless mecha operators were thinking. From the moment they used her, she had given up on them.


    She looked at the senior colonel calmly. ¡°Senior colonel, what do you think?¡±


    The senior colonel felt his face burning. The truth had beenid out in front of him. He felt that a single wrong decision would cause him to lose entirely. He sighed. ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, seems like I need to reexamine the truthfulness of the usation.¡± He still didn¡¯t want to admit defeat.


    The major that hated Ling Lan looked at them in disbelief. When he heard what his leader said, he thought his leader had given up on the investigation. He got agitated and said instantly, ¡°Did you torture them brutally because they couldn¡¯t meet your expectations?¡±


    The senior colonel red at him. At first, he felt that this major was young and motivated so he was suitable to be on the frontline. Now, he was just a stupid teammate.


    Ling Lan decided to ignore the major since the Senior Colonel of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee had decided to take a step back, she didn¡¯t need to argue with this small figure.


    However, the major became more confident when Ling Lan didn¡¯t reply to him. He wasn¡¯t willing to return to the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee just like this. From the gazes of hisrades, he knew that nothing good would happen to him after hees back. If he took a gamble now, he might still have a chance to earn some merits.


    The major plucked up his courage and decided to make onest-ditch effort. He cast aside all his considerations and said everything on his mind, ¡°If you are really innocent, why are there so many usations? Framing you? This word is just humiliating the mecha operators.¡±


    The major looked up and told the secret that all the higher authorities knew. ¡°Other people might not know where these mecha operatorse from but I do. Every one of them has achieved many military achievements. They are well-respected seniors, so their characters can be trusted. They are weak now because they were traumatized during battles. Thus, the military has the responsibility to provide for their future. They were sent to 250 Ace Mecha n in the past so that they could retire peacefully here. However, you disobeyed the orders of your superiors and made them undergo brutal training so that you can gain merits for yourself. You punished the people that didn¡¯t listen to you cruelly. You are a criminal!¡±


    The people that didn¡¯t know the truth let out a gasp. They started discussing among themselves. They didn¡¯t expect the normal-looking 250 Ace Mecha n to have such a history. Did Regiment Commander Ling really do all these brutal things for his own gains?


    Kang Lincheng was ted. Seems like the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee is preparing to take down Ling Lan.


    The senior colonel knew that things had gone out of hand after the major had said that. When he talked to the major before this mission, he told him the secret of 250 Ace Mecha n so that he could be more confident about this mission. However, this young fellow just said this secret out tantly...


    But who knows? This might be their chance to finally corner that criminal. Even if the argument failed, he could just push all the me to the major. Hence, the senior colonel kept quiet. He looked at Ling Lan and wondered how he would respond to this.


    Li Lanfeng saw that the other party finally said the secret and threw a nce at Li Shiyu. He shoulde out now.


    Li Shiyu smiled. He coughed and said, ¡°Hello everyone, let me introduce myself. My name is Li Shiyu. I¡¯m a specialist military doctor from the hospital at 23rd division headquarters.¡±


    ¡°Li Shiyu? This name sounds familiar.¡± The senior colonel remembered when he was reporting his work to his superiors, he heard the dean of the military headquarters¡¯ hospital chatting with them. The dean wasmenting that it was a pity that they didn¡¯t manage to scout a talented military doctor into their team, and the name of this talented military doctor was Li Shiyu.


    He had a strong impression of this name because he was the only person who rejected the recruitment from Flying Dragon Special Forces. It caused amotion among the Federation at that time. Many officers knew of this name.


    ¡°Major Li Shiyu, the military doctor who created the newest model of restorative agent. I have long heard about you!¡± The senior colonel gave a sincere smile. People at their level could offend anyone but a military doctor. No one knew when they would require their help to save their lives. The higher your position was, the more fearful you were of death.

 Chapter 736 - Devil In One’s Heart!

    <h4>Chapter 736: Devil In One¡¯s Heart!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Li Shiyu smiled brightly. He looked at the major and gave him a gentle smile. ¡°I can answer your queries. I came to 250 Ace Mecha n under a secret order from the headquarters. They wanted me to examine the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n again.¡±


    Li Shiyu¡¯s smile got deeper as he continued. ¡°The specialists from the division headquarters and the military hospital felt that time heals many illnesses. After five years of rxation here, there should be some changes in the mecha operators¡¯ conditions. The specialists and mentors in the hospital hoped the mecha operators could regain their abilities again. At the same time, they believed that these heroes who fought their way out of the battlefield do not want to continue being useless baggage to the Federation. They will constantly think of ways to try and regain their power again. No matter what state they are in, as a military doctor, I must help these heroes stand up again. Thus, the military hospital decided to send a military doctor every five years to 250 Ace Mecha n to examine these mecha operators to give them a new verdict on their condition. They do not want to miss the best time window for each mecha operator¡¯s recovery.¡±


    Li Shiyu¡¯s words made the actions by the 23rd division and the military hospital seem noble. The senior colonel felt a sense of danger, even if they made a mistake in handling the mecha operators, they could use this reason to push the me onto others.


    ¡°This is the fifth year. After much discussion, the military hospital decided to let me take on this mission. This was a sign of their trust, and that is why I came to 250 Ace Mecha n. I have to thank Regiment Commander Ling for helping and cooperating with my work. He never tried to exin himself even when he was misunderstood.¡± Li Shiyu gratefully saluted to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan saluted back expressionlessly. She seemed to be saying that this was her job and she should do it. Their interaction showed the other people that they were on the same status level and that Li Shiyu was not under Ling Lan.


    ¡°Facts proved that the headquarters had foresight. When I came to 250 Ace Mecha n, I realized many mecha operators showed signs of improvement. When I reported this back to the headquarters and the hospital, my superiors were ted. They ordered me to continue observing them and treat them.¡±


    ¡°Youth knows no fear. The specialists and mentors agreed to my proposal. They decided to let me lead a team to be in charge of the treatment of the mecha operators in 250 Ace Mecha n.¡± Li Shiyu was full of respect and gratefulness to the mentors in the military hospital. He respected how they ensured that there were no loopholes in the n. Even if there was, they would cover it up and make sure that they didn¡¯t have to worry about not having a path of retreat.


    At first, he thought this act was meaningless. Now, he felt that the headquarters was giving them protection. They were just too weak and couldn¡¯t handle such huge drawbacks.


    ¡°Oh, right. This treatment proposal was sent by our division hospital to the main military hospital, and it received approval.¡± Li Shiyu added on.


    The senior colonel¡¯s heart dropped. He never expected the military headquarters to have a hand in the treatments of these mecha operators. He was already going to give up on earning any merits from this case due to Li Shiyu¡¯s status, but now with the military headquarters having a hand in this, it would be better for them to stay further away from this case.


    Since the other party had gained approval from the military headquarters, they couldn¡¯t touch Li Shiyu even though they suspected him. They had to confront the military headquarters if they wanted to do it, as the main military hospital was a part of the military headquarters. Only their superiors from the Military Law Department had the right to give an order to investigate them. The Disciplinary and Investigation Committee didn¡¯t have the right to do that.


    Li Shiyu didn¡¯t care how frustrated the other party felt when they heard his words. He smiled gently and continued. ¡°Fortunately, my treatment worked. Most of the mecha operators regained their abilities. Of course, I have to thank the mecha operators for cooperating with me for the treatment.¡±


    Li Shiyu was like an angel now, gentle and kind. The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee started respecting him. This person saved more than 200 experienced ace mecha masters. 200 ace mecha masters might not be a lot whenpared with the total number of ace mecha masters in the Federation but this proved that his treatment was effective. If any mecha operators fall under the same state as them, they wouldn¡¯t have to be forced out of the Federation anymore. His treatment could save millions of manpower for the Federation.


    An experienced and capable ace mecha master was hard to groom, as there was only one such person among ten thousand mecha operators. Losing one was still a great loss to the Federation.


    What Li Shiyu said stunned everyone, even the major sighed. He knew he couldn¡¯t turn the tides around anymore.


    However, this did not mean that the major had given up. He had already lost everything but he couldn¡¯t ept the results. He started to speak without thinking. ¡°This doesn¡¯t exin why some of the mecha operators used him of tormenting them. You are covering up for him. You two are on the same side!¡±


    The senior colonel was speechless. What the major said made sense but after Li Shiyu came out to exin everything, it meant that they no longer had the right to question them. It was stupid for him to keep pestering them.


    The Federation was stringent towards violent behaviors by regimentmanders but towards military doctors, they turned a blind eye. All the high ranked specialist military doctors would do some illegal things. The Federation knew this however they didn¡¯t stop them. Some illegal actions were even done under the orders from the higher authorities. The Federation was clear that in order for military doctors to improve their skills, experiments were necessary.


    Li Shiyu had healed 80% of these useless mecha operators back to their old form. This sess rate was enough for the Federation topletely ignore his forbidden actions. If he had killed 10 or 20 people to get this result, the Federation would try its best to cover it up for him, the process of getting the result wasn¡¯t importantpared to the actual result.


    Not only that, Li Shiyu was acting on the orders of the headquarters. If they continued using him, wouldn¡¯t they be questioning the headquarters¡¯ decisions, his position might be taken away because of that.


    The senior colonel dared to offend anyone but a highly acimed military doctor. Exceptional regimentmanders could be found everywhere but military doctors who could create miracles were rare.


    Hence, he decided to abandon the major, as his status was more important than the so-called camaraderie.


    Li Shiyu smiled when he heard the major¡¯s usation. The aura around him continued to be warm and harmless. To the senior colonel, the smile was a devil¡¯s smile. Unfortunately, the major had lost hisposure and couldn¡¯t see this. He still had the hope that he could win this argument.


    ¡°I will report your usation to the main military hospital. They will personally exin it to you,¡± Li Shiyu replied calmly. The major¡¯s face turned pale. He had regained his senses now. If the main military hospital stepped in, he would be the one that needed to exin himself. His career was gone now.


    Li Shiyu ignored the major who was forsaken by the senior colonel. He said to the senior colonel, ¡°Since your men voiced out his concern, I feel that you should take a look at these documents. Then, you will know why someone wants to frame Regiment Commander Ling.¡±


    He passed the documents regarding the performance of the 50 useless mecha operators during their treatment as well as his final verdict on their condition to the senior colonel. The details of the treatment were not written inside to prevent any leakage of information, as some people might use the information to harm the mecha operators.


    The senior colonel flipped through the documents. The first thing he saw was the verdict on Kang Lincheng¡¯s condition. He read the report, and his heart palpitated furiously as he continued reading through the whole report. This report was enough to destroy Kang Lincheng¡¯s future.


    Seems like Ling Lan and his men wanted to clean up the mecha operators that didn¡¯t listen to them. If they sent this document to the military hospital, Kang Lincheng would definitely be chased out of the military. He might even be put under house arrest to maintain the reputation of the military.


    Evil! The senior colonel continued to flip through the documents. Everyone that used Ling Lan all had simr verdicts. Their situation was bad. However, those that didn¡¯t actively participate in this were given a path of retreat. Those mecha operators thought that they did everything secretly but in actual fact, their opponents saw through their entire n.


    Impressive! Even when he was not in his base, he was still monitoring over it carefully. He had control over his entire base and knew what to do when a situation arose. The senior colonel respected Ling Lan for this, at the same time, he regretted his rashness.


    With just one step, he lost everything. If he had been more cautious after receiving the statements of usation and didn¡¯te to find Ling Lan before obtaining more evidence, would the situation be different?


    Frankly, the senior colonel was thinking too highly of Ling Lan. At the start, she was indeed caught by surprise.


    However, the senior colonel gave her enough time to prepare. When he gave her time for her to wash up, Ling Lan made use of this time to calm down and ask her father for information about what had happened. Furthermore, the furious Little Four used his powerful search engine to find those people that betrayed 250 Ace Mecha n. As long as you did something, there would be traces left behind. As long as there was something left behind, Little Four would find it.


    Since they knew who the betrayers were, Ling Lan would not forgive them easily. She passed the list to Li Shiyu immediately. Li Shiyu was angry too. The two of them had put in so much effort so they could stand up again. How dare they betray them?


    Soon, he came up with those documents. Li Shiyu looked amiable on the outside but inside he was not. If not, he wouldn¡¯t have gotten the nickname, Dr. Frankenstein.


    The senior colonel really made a big mistake this time. If the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee wasn¡¯t so eager in bringing Ling Lan back, they might have seeded... okay, that was nonsense. If they did seed, they wouldn¡¯t be able to bring her back either. Ling Xiao would kill anyone who possessed a threat to his daughter.


    Li Shiyu ignored the senior colonel¡¯s trembling hands and smiled. ¡°I have already sent a copy of this to the headquarters.¡± He would not let these people have a chance to escape. After a while, they would be taken away. As for where they were taken to, it was not of his concern.


    The senior colonel¡¯s hand stopped moving. He looked at Kang Lincheng pitifully. Kang Lincheng¡¯s heart dropped when he saw the gaze. He got agitated. Did they lose to Ling Lan? What does that look mean?


    The senior colonel had no time to consider his feelings. He held the document tightly and ordered his men to go back.


    ¡°Leader!¡± The major shouted unwillingly.


    ¡°Shut up! Go back with me!¡± The senior colonel looked at him with a cold face. Is he not done with embarrassing himself? Stupid pig!


    The senior colonel decided he would kick this young man out of his position the moment he went back. This major would no longer be able to climb high in ranks anymore. No matter how hard he worked, his future was bleak. The people forsaken by the military had no future unless they met someone powerful who was willing to help them.


    The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee arrived confidently and left dejectedly.


    Ling Lan sent them off with cold eyes. She said to Li Shiyu, ¡°Thank you for taking the me.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I have to thank you for rmending me to the higher authorities. It allowed me to obtain more resources.¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s eyes glinted. He needed power and reputation. He needed more people acknowledging and helping him. This was the only way he could obtain more resources to treat his eldest cousin brother.


    This was the devil in his heart. He would never be able to let it go unless he solved it.


    Li Lanfeng looked at them with aplicated expression. He nced at Li Shiyu secretly and looked down. He seemed to be thinking deeply about something.

 Chapter 737 - So?

    <h4>Chapter 737: So?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Xiao had been waiting for the good news at home. He finally heard that the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee left dejectedly, and to prevent them from being embarrassed again, they called the headquarters immediately and asked for a military ship to immediately send them away from Southcrest.


    Ling Xiao now knew his daughter must have destroyed them brutally, so he quickly asked his daughter about the juicy details of what had happened. When he knew that his daughter made used of his best hand, he was delighted. As expected of his daughter. Ling Xiao started praising his daughter to the sky.


    Ling Lan¡¯s prank broke the tension between Ling Xiao and Lan Luofeng. They started bing lovey-dovey again, so Ling Xiao was in a good mood. Hence, his subordinates had a good time too.


    For the past few days, Ling Xiao had been constantly releasing a cold aura. The officers around him couldn¡¯t handle it. They felt that they were living in an ice age. It was freezing.


    The entire 23rd division received many resources from thend clearing mission, so they managed to grow even more rapidly. Many people were envious of them but when they saw the dejected people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee leaving, they suppressed their desires to create trouble. Ling Xiao could put up with them offending him once but if they continued to provoke him again and again, he would definitely take revenge.


    Ling Lan passed this crisis smoothly. For a period of time, 250 Ace Mecha n remained peaceful. After Kang Lincheng and his group were taken away by thew enforcement team of the 23rd division, the 40 remaining mecha operators were awakened from their delusions. 250 Ace Mecha n was no longer the hopeless mecha n they knew.


    All the mecha operators who got thrown into 250 Ace Mecha n were once famous. Besides those that had given up on themselves entirely, no one liked being chased out from their mecha n. They had their pride. Thus, when they saw Regiment Commander Ling showing his hand, they got flustered.


    They felt lucky that Regiment Commander Ling gave them another chance. If they were unable to reach the standard of an ace mecha operator within a month, they would either be sent to normal mecha ns or be given the option to leave the military.


    They no longer had a fluke mind. Without the ck sheep like Kang Lincheng, these mecha operators managed to reach the minimum criteria for the test and got to stay at 250 Ace Mecha n. Ling Lan felt that these mecha operators had not unleashed their full potential yet, so she raised the level of their training again. The mecha operators cried. They understood what living hell was like.


    They wanted to faint and escape the training but the military doctor in charge of them was exceptional. One syringe was enough to wake them up and be energetic again. Oh my god, this demon could go to the military hospital. What is he doing here?


    At night, whenever the mecha operators were about to sleep, they would curse a person called Li Shiyu. Why didn¡¯t you go to the military hospital? Why? F**k, why didn¡¯t you go there? Are you going to go there soon? Sob, Dr. Frankenstein, Major Li, Grandaddy Li can you go to the military hospital? Please?


    Heaven might have heard their curses, so after a while, the military hospital passed a summon to Li Shiyu asking him to report the results of the treatment to them personally. When Li Shiyu left the base, there was a huge uproar. It almost caused a massive earthquake.


    This was the only way the mecha operators could show their excitement. Finally, they could pretend to faint.


    Did they seed? Well, who knows?


    Ling Lan was clearing some documents in her office when someone knocked on her door. A familiar voice was heard. ¡°Regimentmander, are you free?¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t even look up. She said directly, ¡°Come in, Lanfeng. Even if I¡¯m not free, I will be free for you.¡±


    Ling Lan heard the hesitation in Li Lanfeng¡¯s voice. From the way he spoke, she predicted that he was going to ask her some personal things. Li Lanfeng was a proud person. If he came to ask her for help, it meant that he couldn¡¯t solve it himself.


    Herrades were important to her so she wouldn¡¯t let them face their problems by themselves. Although Li Lanfeng had entered her team after the military academy and had only worked together for a year, the time spent in the Virtual World, the sincere and pure rtionship they had, was enough for Ling Lan to consider Li Lanfeng as her confidant. This rtionship was different from her rtionship with her childhood buddies like Qi Long, but she still treasured it very much.


    Li Lanfeng sat on the sofa in the living room. He lowered his head in deep thought. Ling Lan made two cups of hot tea in the pantry and ced one in front of Li Lanfeng.


    This job should be done by her adjutant but Ling Lan didn¡¯t like having one. She didn¡¯t like having someone unfamiliar around her. The training in the learning space made it hard for her to trust anyone staying beside her all the time.


    Of course, she trusted her childhoodpanions and was willing to show her back to them. However, an adjutant was like an officer¡¯s assistant or butler. The future prospect for this position was not good, so Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to affect herrades¡¯ future by having them work as her adjudant.


    Her personal secret also meant that she couldn¡¯t have an adjutant. Hence, Ling Lan didn¡¯t have one. She had to do most things on her own.


    Ling Lan took her teacup and sat down on the sofa on the right side of Li Lanfeng. She sipped her tea slowly and waited for him to speak.


    Li Lanfeng took the teacup instinctively but didn¡¯t drink it. A few minutes of silence passed by. Li Lanfeng sighed. He ced the teacup back on the coffee table and leaned against the sofa. He cupped his hands and rubbed his thumbs, symbolizing his confused state of mind. It was different from his normal calm expression.


    ¡°Tell me what you are thinking. You have already lost yourposure, so you will not be able to make the most optimal decision. If you trust me, share your thoughts with me. I might be able to give you some of my opinions on the matter.¡± Ling Lan put down her teacup helplessly when she saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s actions.


    Li Lanfeng raised his head. He wanted to give her a grateful smile but he couldn¡¯t. He sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to exin...¡±


    Ling Lan looked at Li Lanfeng sincerely. She waited for him to continue.


    Li Lanfeng grabbed his head in frustration. Besides his grandfather, no one in his family knew that he wanted to change his destiny. None of them knew what he was going through. However, he didn¡¯t know that his younger brother, who didn¡¯t know the truth, would sacrifice so much to help him.


    If he was going through some hard times, then it was still fine. But with how things were going now, he was going to reach his goal soon, so Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t need his help anymore.


    If the truth was revealed, Li Lanfeng might lose his younger brother! He was a selfish person but the things his younger brother did for him over the years truly made him guilty.


    ¡°I lied to him for so many years.¡± Li Lanfeng looked up and gave a bitter smile. ¡°Although I didn¡¯t do it on purpose at the start, everything that happened after that put me in a difficult position. IN the end, I¡¯m unable to exin myself...¡±


    ¡°You want to exin to him but you are afraid that he wouldn¡¯t understand, right? That is why you don¡¯t know what to do.¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. F**k, why does his situation sounds so familiar?


    ¡°You understand me well. Yes, I want to exin to him but I don¡¯t know how to. Everything started with me. But before I knew it, the lie had started growing exponentially...¡± A cigarette would be perfect for the situation now. At the start, he didn¡¯t have the intention to continue to lie for so long. However, over the years, he continued on the lie until the lie he made started to take deep root in their rtionship. Especially in these few years, he couldn¡¯t pick up his courage and tell him the truth, shattering his whole conviction, basically telling him what you have done over the past decade was useless. I am a coward!


    Ling Lan¡¯s hand trembled when she heard this. Is Li Lanfeng probing her? Maybe? The things he said, isn¡¯t it referring to her?


    ¡°Boss, don¡¯t worry. Let me check his information first.¡± Little Four noticed Ling Lan¡¯s agitation and immediately consoled her. He didn¡¯t expect one of his Boss¡¯srades to be so sharp. He couldn¡¯t underestimate him.


    Ling Lan calmed down and pretended to listen to Li Lanfeng carefully.


    ¡°So, do you think you should exin or not?¡± Ling Lan threw a question at Li Lanfeng to see what he was thinking.


    ¡°If I don¡¯t exin, the truth will still be exposed in the end. Once the other person realized it himself, the situation will turn for the worse, right?¡± Li Lanfeng asked with uncertainty.


    Is he warning her? Ling Lan nced at Li Lanfeng coldly as she pondered over his words.


    ¡°Will the situation be better if you exin it?¡± Ling Lan asked again.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± Li Lanfeng shook his head. He really didn¡¯t know what the results might be. ¡°I might be scolded terribly, and he might forgive me in the end or he might treat me as aplete stranger from then on.¡±


    Does this mean that he doesn¡¯t know how to ept the truth? Ling Lan rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Does this mean that he just suspects her but can¡¯t confirm his suspicions yet? Is he just talking about himself? Is she thinking too much? However, lying from birth, not having the intention at the start but being deliberate in the end... wasn¡¯t it talking about her? This was too much of a coincidence.


    Ling Lan had thought about what would happen if her secret was discovered. However, since herrades didn¡¯t find out after so long, she forgot about this problem. Now that Li Lanfeng brought it up again, she got flustered. She lost her coolness in that instant. She couldn¡¯t predict if he was probing her.


    Ling Lan looked up and saw Li Lanfeng staring intently at her. She felt nervous. After some time, she said, ¡°Actually, this is a gamble. It depends on how strong your rtionship is with the other person as well as how important you are to him.¡±


    Ling Lan was lucky that her face could remain expressionless no matter what state of mind she was in.


    She started thinking carefully. If her gender was exposed, what would be the consequences? Would they leave her in a fit of anger? Would they stay back and continue working hard with her?


    However, this world was biased against women. It was hard for a woman to gain recognition in this era. Maybe, herrades would feel ashamed that she was a woman.


    Ling Lan started frowning when she thought about this. Her mood turned bad. F**k, this bastard Li Lanfeng. Why did he remind her about this?


    ¡°Gamble?¡± Li Lanfeng repeated the word. He was deep in thought.


    ¡°You must be confident that you are important to the other person. You must trust that even if he is angry at you, he will forgive you. If that is the case, you can take the gamble.¡± Ling Lan spoke her true thoughts unexpectedly. Is it possible?


    Although Ling Lan trusted her bond with herrades, she didn¡¯t dare to take a gamble.


    Li Lanfeng pondered for a long time. In the end, he gave a tired smile. He had his answer. He just didn¡¯t have the confidence.


    Is the rtionship formed when they were young, strong enough to have him forgive him? He was thinking too much.


    Li Lanfeng appeared confused for a moment. Soon, he regained hisposure and said, ¡°Thank you, Ling Lan.¡±


    As expected of his rabbit. You are the only one that can clear my thoughts!I did the right thing to look for you.


    Li Lanfeng, was it really right of you to look for Ling Lan? Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t know the pressure he ced on Ling Lan. He was just grateful that she helped him make a decision. He should just let time settle this matter for him.


    ¡°Thank me? What did I say?¡± Ling Lan asked nervously. What does he mean? Did I reveal myself just now? Did he catch it?


    Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡°You didn¡¯t say anything...¡±


    Thank you for protecting my pride.


    The smile was ring to Ling Lan. She gritted his teeth. ¡°So.¡±


    With her cold face and cold aura, it was easy for people to feel that this was a statement instead of a question.

 Chapter 738 - Monster From Flying Dragon Special Forces!

    <h4>Chapter 738: Monster From Flying Dragon Special Forces!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°So... nothing happened.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. He epted Ling Lan¡¯s opinion. If that was the case, he would pretend nothing had happened.


    So, his probing session ended? Ling Lan was relieved. But, what does he know? Ling Lan was troubled by this question.


    From then on, Ling Lan started to think about Li Lanfeng more often. Of course, this was not because of their rtionship was good. Ling Lan just wanted to know whether this idiot knew her secret or not.


    If he knew, she must kill him! Kill him! Kill him! Important things must be said thrice.


    Li Lanfeng took his leave under Ling Lan¡¯s death re. However, he suddenly turned back. ¡°Oh right, leader, I forgot something.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart dropped. He hasn¡¯t given up yet? Is he probing her again? Or does he n to show his hands?


    Ling Lan stared at Li Lanfeng sharply as she waited for his final move.


    Sob, why is rabbit giving him so much pressure today? He seems like a huge monster preparing to gobble him up. Li Lanfeng felt a chill down his spine.


    ¡°Erm, I would like to take some time off.¡± Li Lanfeng quickly said his request. He felt that if he stayed here any longer, he wouldn¡¯t have the courage to ask for it anymore.


    ¡°Why?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. What is he trying to do? Is that a threat? Is he trying to ckmail her?


    ¡°I have something to settle at home, so I need to be away for a month,¡± Li Lanfeng replied honestly.


    ¡°Boss, agree to it. That way, I can find his true identity.¡± Little Four had never really looked up Li Lanfeng¡¯s background before, so until now he only had some basic information on Li Lanfeng. The data from the moment he was born to the age when he entered the military were stated clearly, but Little Four didn¡¯t believe it. Li Lanfeng had such strong spectre abilities. How could he have such a smooth life? There must be something wrong with this information.


    ¡°Fine. When are you preparing to leave?¡± Ling Lan felt what Little Four said made sense so she agreed to Li Lanfeng¡¯s request.


    ¡°I¡¯ll need three days to finish the things I have on hand.¡± Li Lanfeng predicted the time he needed to finish all his current matters.


    ¡°Okay. Don¡¯t forget to register when you leave.¡± Ling Lan waved her hand.


    After Li Lanfeng left her office, Ling Lan started thinking about this matter seriously. Suddenly, she said, ¡°Little Four, shall we take a break too?¡±


    Little Four¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Are we going to follow Li Lanfeng?¡±


    Ling Lan gave Little Four a look of contempt. ¡°Follow him? We are on a break. If we meet him, it will be just a coincidence...¡±


    ¡°Okay, I understand.¡± Little Four saw the dangerous look his boss was giving him and cleverly decided not to expose her.


    If she didn¡¯t find an answer to this matter, she would not be able to feel at ease. Also, the base was running smoothly now. Nothing would happen even if she left for a few days. More importantly, this was a good chance to test herrades too. After all, they need to be leaders themselves in the future.


    Just like this, a few days after Li Lanfeng left the base, Ling Lan left too. She gave some orders to the team leaders and Lin Zhong-qing. To prove that she was not following Li Lanfeng, she asked Little Four to hack into the system to choose an easy mission for her to do on Azure.


    In the training center of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, many young soldiers were working hard with their training. Some people surrounded a youth¡¯s optical supeputer and were discussing among themselves.


    ¡°I heard that our team leader asked Brother Tang to take on a mission the military gave us. Do you know what that mission is?¡± A youth whispered to the person beside him. He heard some rumors but he was not sure about the details.


    ¡°It¡¯s a four-stars disguise mission. They needed a young person to act as the disguise, but the mission is too dangerous for the average soldiers. Thus, to prevent them from dying needlessly, they gave us the mission.¡± The youth in front of the optical supeputer seemed to know some details of the mission so he started exining.


    ¡°As expected of Brother Tang, the first mission he received is a four-stars mission.¡± The people on the scene looked enviously at the sole person training in the training center. He was the most powerful monster of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, Tang Ningyu.


    ¡°Of course, Brother Tang is the strongest in our special forces. Only he has the ability to take on this mission,¡± the young person in front of the optical supeputer said. The person these people were jealous of, was his Boss. At that moment, he saw a message on the optical supeputer and said hurriedly, ¡°It¡¯s time for the missions to be refreshed. Don¡¯t talk to me. I must help Brother Tang get this mission.¡±


    All the missions were distributed by the military. The people below would then choose the mission they wanted. Even if the military made the decision to give this mission to Flying Dragon Special Forces, they still had to follow this procedure. If not, they wouldn¡¯t be able to credit the person whopleted the mission. This procedure was to prevent people from abusing their own position by distributing missions only to their own men.


    Plus, no one would be able to take on this mission. As the criteria for taking on this mission is quite stringent. The criteria were the person had to be in a battle team that was rated four stars or above, his physical skills must be above the peak stage of Qi-Jin and his rank must be higher than a Lieutenant Colonel. Most importantly, he must be 23 years old or below. These requirements were set specially for Tang Ningyu. They couldn¡¯t think of anyone else that was able to match all these criteria.


    It should be known that no matter how talented a person was, the highest military rank one could get when one just entered the military was a senior captain, and would only be able to rank up to a major three yearster. If he wanted to rank up to a lieutenant colonel, that would be another huge obstacle. The Federation wouldn¡¯t let a person rank up to a Lieutenant Colonel unless he spent at least ten years in the military. The Federation would only give an exception to monstrously talented people like Tang Ningyu or someone who had received many military achievements.


    Anyways, these criteria would be impossible to match unless you were Tang Ningyu. Besides Ling Xiao, there was no other person in the entire Federation who would be able to match this at his age. Thus, the people from Flying Dragon Special Forces were confident that this mission would eventually fall into their palms.


    The people from Flying Dragon Special Forces didn¡¯t know that there was another prodigy, Ling Lan, in the 23rd division who ranked up to a lieutenant colonel at a young age. You could say that she was lucky. As Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t stand the fact that his daughter was being questioned, so the moment the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee returned to the headquarters, he sent a request to let Ling Lan rank up to a lieutenant colonel.


    Although the speed of her progress was a little too quick, the Federation agreed to his request. They wanted to pacify Ling Xiao as well as topensate Ling Lan. Of course, her outstanding performance during thend clearing mission was already enough for her to rise in rank. This was the main reason why the headquarters didn¡¯t reject his request.


    Ling Lan had all the factors of sess. Because of this, Little Four chose the wrong mission for her.


    ¡°Haha, it¡¯s out.¡± The youth¡¯s eyes lit up when he saw the Azure mission. Just as he was about to ept the mission, he realized that the mission was not reacting to his clicks.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± The youth said as he continued clicking on the mission.


    Suddenly, the page refreshed. The remarks for the Azure mission changed from green, which meant that it was free, to red, which meant that it was taken.


    ¡°Did I get it?¡± The youth was stunned. He hadn¡¯t entered his boss¡¯s number yet though. Did the headquarters programme it so that once they clicked on the mission, Boss Tang¡¯s details would be entered automatically?


    This was the only reason the youth could think of. He shouted hurriedly, ¡°Boss Tang, did you receive the mission?¡±


    Tang Ningyu frowned. He didn¡¯t sense any vibration from hismunicator. However, to prevent any oversights, he stopped his training and took a look at it.


    As expected, there was no message. Did someone else take this mission? Tang Ningyu thought of another possibility. He walked over to the youth, and the youth immediately gave up his seat.


    Tang Ningyu stood in front of the optical supeputer and saw the red letters. He knew that the optical supeputer wouldn¡¯t make a mistake. The only possibility was, someone else took the mission.


    ¡°Fast!¡± Tang Ningyu¡¯s eyes turned dark. He didn¡¯t expect that there was another lieutenant colonel who was of simr age as him. How did that person climb up to this position? Did he have a powerful background?


    Tang Ningyu remembered what his mentor told him. His mentor once said that not all prodigies of the Federation woulde to the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Hence, he shouldn¡¯t aim to be the strongest in the Flying Dragon Special Forces, but instead, should aim to be the strongest in the Federation.


    ¡°No matter who this person is, I must know more about him. Someone like Ling Xiao might not appear again but I still can¡¯t underestimate him.¡± Apetitive spirit shed past his eyes. He instantly contacted his team leader and told him that another person had already taken the mission. He asked his team leader to have the Federation send the mission again.


    He must take a look at this person. He hoped that he would not disappoint him.


    In the Logistics Department of the headquarters, a lieutenant general was listening to the report from his subordinate.


    ¡°Resend the mission? Do the Flying Dragon Special Forces really think that they are irreceable...¡± The lieutenant general gave a cold smile.


    ¡°However, that mission was specially assigned to the Flying Dragon Special Forces,¡± his subordinate replied carefully.


    ¡°That is because no one expected another monster to appear.¡± The lieutenant general remained expressionless. However, deep inside, he was ted. Those people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces were too arrogant. They always looked down on other people. It made him furious just thinking about them.


    Also... the person what took the mission... it must be his child. He remembered the events that caused amotion in the Federation.


    ¡°Should we reject them?¡± The subordinate asked with a troubled expression. Themander of the Flying Dragon Special Forces was not someone he wanted to offend. He was afraid that the other party might charge into their office and choke him to death. If that happened, people like them would have a hard time.


    ¡°Why should we reject them? Since the Flying Dragon Special Forces wants to take this mission, let them take it. One additional person is always a good thing.¡± The lieutenant general smiled coldly. He wanted to see how powerful that monster from the Flying Dragon Special Forces was. Can he defeat the son of the biggest monster, Ling Xiao?


    ¡°Yes, lieutenant general!¡± The subordinate¡¯s eyes glowed. Sob, his lieutenant general is such a nice person. He didn¡¯t make things difficult for them.


    ¡°Oh right, they hope that we can give them some information about the person who epted the mission...¡± The subordinate suddenly remembered themander¡¯s request.


    ¡°Get out! Ask that person to get out too!¡± The lieutenant general shouted. He chased his subordinate out of his room.


    The subordinate rushed out of the room with cold sweat dripping down his forehead. He regretted saying that sentence. Their department was only in charge of sending out the mission. The mainframe was the one who controlled the details. They didn¡¯t know anything.


    The lieutenant general had the power to check the details but why would he do it for someone he wasn¡¯t familiar with? Also, the lieutenant general¡¯s rtionship with themander of the Flying Dragon Special Forces wasn¡¯t too good. The subordinate pped himself. He was too hurried just now so he got confused.


    ¡°They don¡¯t know?¡± Tang Ningyu turned serious when he saw the message. Even hismander couldn¡¯t get any information. Seems like my opponent is quite powerful.


    ¡°Let me meet you on Azure then.¡± Tang Ningyu looked at the mission on hismunicator.


    At the spaceport on Azure, a child-like young man hugged a soft white ball while sitting on a chair at the resting area. He looked frustrated. There was also a suitcase beside him. He must be from somewhere far away. For some reason, he stayed at the spaceport and didn¡¯t enter Azure.


    ¡°Boss, forgive me!¡± In Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape, Little Four cried and hugged Ling Lan who was furious. She was preparing to teach Little Four a lesson.


    ¡°Why did you choose such a troublesome mission?¡± Ling Lan wanted to kill Little Four. She just wanted to stalk Li Lanfeng, so she just needed a simple mission that could be done quickly, but instead, Little Four chose a four-stars mission for her.


    A solo four-stars mission was much harder than a four-stars team mission. It was probably extremely dangerous and domain realm masters might even appear. Normally, she would be fine with this mistake. However, now, she didn¡¯t have the heart to do it. Damn it!


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, boss. I didn¡¯t take note of the details of the mission. I saw Azure and just epted it immediately because I was afraid someone would take it.¡± Little Four cried loudly. He felt that Ling Lan could handle anything so he didn¡¯t focus on the details.


    He didn¡¯t expect such a high-level mission to appear on the third-rate, Azure. This was why he got careless.

 Chapter 739 - Pei Shaoyun!

    <h4>Chapter 739: Pei Shaoyun!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    In reality, Little Four was rash and reckless because he underestimated how difficult Azure¡¯s missions could be. From the many missions distributed from the military, it would be difficult for there to be one in Azure. Thus, once Little Four saw a mission popped up for Azure, he was so excited that he didn¡¯t think before he went and grabbed it.


    Ling Lan knew very well she couldn¡¯t me Little Four for this mistake. If she wasn¡¯t so eager to go to Azure, Little Four wouldn¡¯t have done anything like this. In the end, her n to stalk Li Lanfeng might fail. She might even meet Li Lanfeng, which in turn, make her not able to continue her lie.


    It was just that this mission was too much of a hassle. She actually needed to pretend to be a transfer student for a Scout Academy... adding both her lives together, she was almost 50 years old. An auntie level olddy actually needed to pretend to be a 10th grade teenage cadet? After thinking about this point, Ling Lan felt a little bit nauseous. She resisted the urge to drag Little Four out of her mindspace and ruthlessly give him beating on his little behind.


    ¡°This mission¡¯s criteria are really specific. Was it specifically made for me? No, I came to Azure really spontaneously just for Li Lanfeng. Taking this mission was really only a coincidence. It seems that this mission wasn¡¯t supposed to be given to me. Then, who is it supposed to be for?¡± Ling Lan hugged the soft and fluffy Little White while sitting on a chair in deep thought.


    ¡°Boss, after we epted this mission, the military sent out another simr mission. Then, it was instantly epted by someone.¡± Little Four felt that Ling Lan was thinking about this and quickly added.


    ¡°Do you know who epted it?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    Little Four raised his head proudly, ¡°Of course. When I saw another simr mission being sent out, I made a note to pay attention to it.¡±


    He suddenly began to make faces, ¡°Boss, it was a person from Flying Dragon Special Forces from your mission to activate your battle team. However, I didn¡¯t continue to dig deeper to find out who it actually was.¡± The Flying Dragon Special Forces had arge group of hackers. Although Little Four would mess with them when he had free time, this time was official business. Little Four still remembered Boss had told him to not make too big of a scene. Thus, he didn¡¯t go too deep into the system of the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    ¡°Since they have made their own arrangements, then we¡¯ll just take it as a free vacation.¡± Hearing that the military had added another simr mission, Ling Lan felt relieved instantly. She decided that if the other person couldplete the task sessfully, then she would only be there as a bystander. Of course, if the other person was to be met with some difficulties, then she would help out. After all, she also epted the mission. She couldn¡¯t do nothing and just take merits from the other person¡¯s hard work.


    Ling Lan took a look at her mission details. The military had sent her a forged identity document. The document would prove that she was a descendant of a small family with a weak-minded personality, unable to continue in the two star Central Scout Academy and could only be transferred to the three star Central Scout Academy on Azure, and she was supposed to be in the 10th grade.


    ¡°This personality is really different from my own, the difference is like between heaven and earth.¡± Ling Lan smiled bitterly. She sighed at the fact that her luck wasn¡¯t that good. It should be known that the identity was given to them randomly by the mainframe.


    ¡°Not sure what kind of identity the mainframe would give the person from the Flying Dragon Special Forces,¡± Ling Lan thought.


    ¡°Boss, do you want me to go find out?¡± Little Four quickly jumped out and was ready to do a good job to retake his position as the top underling of his Boss.


    Ling Lan angrily red at him, ¡°Stop making a scene. We must not cause too much havoc. That would be the best situation.¡±


    ¡°But, if there are only two 10th graders transferring, then it¡¯s possible for the other person to easily find out who I am.¡± Ling Lan frowned as she realized this issue.


    Hearing Ling Lan¡¯s concerns, Little Four immediately went through the list of this year¡¯s transfer students for the Central Scout Academy on Azure. He discovered there were actually 20 students transferring this year to Azure. It turns out, in the past few years, many students got into better schools after going to the Central Scout Academy on Azure. There were even people who had gotten into military academies. This made a continuous stream of 10th gradersing and going from the Central Scout Academy. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the higher-ups had made a rule that a Central Scout Academy could only have 20 transfer students in a year, it was possible that the other students from other scout academies and those who had money and some family background would try their best to be transferred to the Central Scout Academy.


    When Ling Lan heard Little Four telling her about this, she knew that the other person wouldn¡¯t find her so easily among the 18 other students. Ling Lan was relieved and thus would continue to regard this mission as a free vacation. She even felt pity for the two students who were substituted by her and the person from the Flying Dragon Special Forces...


    The Central Scout Academy on Azure was thergest Scout Academy on the. In the past few years, the Central Scout Academy on Azure had made great achievements. For example, 11 years ago, they broke the record for number of obstacle mission taken by a Central Scout Academy. Also, 8 years ago, one student managed to get into the top ss First Men¡¯s Military Academy, causing an uproar.


    Afterwards, the students at the Central Scout Academy were like theing of spring where they continuously got into famous academies within the Federation. There were even many students who got into military academies. Although those military academies were normal ones and weren¡¯t the top ones in the Federation, they were still military academies. After graduating from the military academies, then entering a division, these students would have arger head-start than themon students.


    As the performance of the school started increasing, it made the Central Scout Academy on Azure an academy which everyone wanted to go to. The young cadets who missed out on other Central Scout Academies, would fight for these 20 spots every single year.


    Today, the Central Scout Academy had opened its doors very early in the day. It wasn¡¯t to wee returning cadets as those cadets had already arrived at the academy three day prior to its opening, nor it was to wee first year cadets as those cadets had already finished filling out their documents for the academy. It was to wee the twenty 10th grade transfer students.


    There were already a few people standing in front of the huge door of the academy. It was the 10th grade valedictorian, Yu Zhengyuan, and his team members.


    ¡°There¡¯s actually no one in sight. It seems that all of the transfer students this time are quite arrogant.¡± One member said with discontent.


    Those who could be one of the 20 transfer students were definitely notmon folk. They either had some sort of ability or their families had a lot of money or power. Every year, these 20 transfer students would always cause an uproar among the factions within the academy. At least, in the past three years, the 10th grade valedictorian had been taken by these outsiders each year.


    Another member thought about this and couldn¡¯t help but look their captain, Yu Zhengyuan, with a worried look on his face.


    Yu Zhengyuan smiled lightly, ¡°If they are stronger than me, then they can take it, as long as they don¡¯t hinder my application to a military academy.¡± For Yu Zhengyuan, being valedictorian was just the icing on the cake. He didn¡¯t care whether he lost the position or not. Back then, he had already set his goal on entering one of the top military academies. He knew it would be a hard goal, but he wouldn¡¯t give up for him as he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his idol.


    The reason he didn¡¯t care about the title of valedictorian was because his idol was not the valedictorian when he had gotten into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    ¡°Oh, there¡¯s movement!¡± One member¡¯s ears suddenly began to wiggle. If anyone from Lingtian Battle n was there, they would know that this person definitely had awakened an innate talent that had something to do with his ears.


    After the member said that, nine hover cars in a line formation quickly flew towards them from afar. They immediately stopped directly opposite of them, where the hover car stop was at. Nine people stepped out from the cars one after the other, with each car having one person stepping out from each of them.


    ¡°They either don¡¯te ore in droves.¡± Seeing the situation, one member couldn¡¯t help but snort coldly. It seemed that the cadets at the academy weren¡¯t friendly towards the transfer students.


    ¡°Stop talking. Let¡¯s finish our mission first.¡± Yu Zhengyuan stretched his arms and legs, then with his hands in his pockets, he walked towards the nine individuals.


    ¡°Transfer students?¡± Yu Zhengyuan walked in front of the nine individuals and asked.


    The nine of them were originally using their expressions to fight against each other, neither of them bowing to anyone or even saying hello. After hearing someone walking towards them and then asking whether they were transfer students, they knew that these people were sent by the academy to wee them. They shouted almost in unison, ¡°Yes!¡±


    However, after answering, the nine of them began to re at each other angrily once again. Everyone one of them were recalcitrant which made Yu Zhengyuan feel helpless.


    ¡°Um, you guys should go to the academy to register. If you don¡¯t make it there on time...¡± Yu Zhengyuan half-smiled and only reminded them. Even if they wanted to see who was more capable, they should still first register their identity as a student in the Central Scout Academy on Azure.


    After receiving Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s reminder, the nine of them no longer cared about each other. Yu Zhengyuan then told them one of his team members would lead them to register themselves. There were still 11 people who hadn¡¯t arrived, so they still needed to continue to wait at the door.


    The nine individuals disappeared after passing through the door of the academy. Right after, another five hover cars arrived. This time, the atmosphere wasn¡¯t as bad as before. One of the transfer students had a warm and sincere personality. When he knew Yu Zhengyuan was thye one who would lead them to register themselves, he began to happily call him Elder Brother Yu, which instantly made Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s team members warm up to him.


    Seeing this, Yu Zhengyuan shook his head. Warming up to someone without really knowing them was not a good idea, but he couldn¡¯t tell that to his team members now, he could only wait to remind them once they return back to their home.


    Before Yu Zhengyuan lead them in, he heard the sound of another hover caring from afar. Another hover car stopped at the stop. Once the door opened, a small white ball jumped out from the hovering car...


    Everyone was entranced by this scene in front of them. Then, they saw a thin body crawling out of the hover car with a backpack on his back...


    Crawl? Everyone instantly had a confused expressions on their faces. Afterwards, they saw that person bending over as he pulled out arge luggage bag from the car. They instantly were even more perplexed. Is that guy a transfer student? He seems so weak.


    The person used all of his might before finally pulling out the big luggage bag and then stood up straight. The white ball suddenly jumped up and sat on top of the person¡¯s shoulder. At that moment, everyone realized that the white ball was actually an unknown living organism.


    Is that a pet? Is that person not a transfer student? If so, why did hee off his hover car here? Did he get off at the wrong stop? Everyone had question marks floating above their heads. It should be known that they had never seen a Scout Academy cadet who took their pets to school before.


    That youngster, who still had a baby face, stood there with his fully red face from using all of his strength, automatically catching the attention of everyone. He was a handsome and intelligent-looking boy. Although his face made them unable to urately pinpoint his gender, everyone still automatically made their own assumptions on what his gender was.


    The person wiped the sweat off his forehead. As he raised his head, he saw Yu Zhengyuan and the others. His eyes flickered instantly and immediately moved therge luggage bag towards them.


    Yu Zhengyuan couldn¡¯t endure watching him struggling any longer, he turned to signal at his team member. His team member quickly went up to help. He originally looked down on the person for having such a weak and frail body, but after taking the luggage bag, he understood why he was struggling so much. Therge luggage bag was actually around 100 to 150 kilograms, arousing his curiosity of what¡¯s inside.


    Of course, this kind of weight was not an issue for him. However, he guessed that this young man¡¯s strength was low. Looking at his weak and frail body, he also knew that perhaps the young man was alsocking in ces other than strength.


    ¡°A transfer student?¡± As that person smiled shyly, Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s voice also became much more mild-mannered.


    Hearing this, the young man nodded. Seemingly afraid that Yu Zhengyuan wouldn¡¯t believe him, he wanted to take out the transfer documents from his backpack. Seeing the young man¡¯s clumsy movements and awkward expression, Yu Zhengyuan pitied him. He quickly said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to take it out now. You¡¯ll be fine if you take out at the registrar office in the academy.¡±


    Hearing this, the young man scratched his head shyly and smiled timidly. He was innocent to the point where no one would be able to refuse if he asked for something.


    Yu Zhengyuan softened up and actually introduced himself, ¡°I am a 10th grade student, Yu Zhengyuan. What¡¯s your name?¡± This difference in attitude towards the young man made the other transfer students who hadn¡¯t left have weird looks on their faces.


    ¡°Hello Elder Brother Yu, my name is Pei Shaoyun!¡± Even when the young man said his name, he still said it shyly. This made Yu Zhengyuan be somewhat worried about him. How could this person pass the weing event prepared for these transfer students. Yu Zhengyuan knew very well that the weing event was prepared to take these transfer students down a notch. Now, he hoped that his fellow cadets would be less merciless after seeing how harmless Pei Shaoyun was.


    At that moment, the member who was holding Pei Shaoyun¡¯srge luggage bag, had some questions and asked, ¡°Shaoyun, what¡¯s in the bag? Why is it so heavy?¡± The young man seemed to be so harmless and weak. This made the member lower his guard, causing him to use Pei Shouyun¡¯s given name when he was calling him, making them seem closer than before.


    Pei Shaoyun scratched his head and said timidly, ¡°I like to design miniature things, so I brought a set of tools and electronics for making things. Those are indeed very heavy. I¡¯m really sorry for burdening you.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s why.¡± In their Central Scout Academy, there were many cadets who liked to make miniature things. They also had different kinds of tools. However, there were definitely no tools that were this heavy.


    ¡°Hey Little Jin, you will help Shaoyun register and then lead him to his amodation,¡± Yu Zhengyuan said. He thought that if he let Pei Shaoyun drag the luggage bag by himself, it might take him forever before he finished registering.


    ¡°Okay captain.¡± This team member whose name was Little Jin did notin about the order Yu Zhengyuan had given him. When he first saw Pei Shaoyun, he could already feel that this weak young man had an affinity with him.


    Just like that, Little Jin led Pei Shaoyun and five other transfer students to the registrar office to register.

 Chapter 740 - Inconspicuous

    <h4>Chapter 740: Inconspicuous</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Only five transfer students hadn¡¯t arrived yet. After they waited for a while longer, they saw a hover car flying hurriedly over, it suddenly screeched its tires, stopping exactly at the bus-stop across from them.


    The car door flung open. A muscr person jumped out from the door, wearing a ck T-shirt and a pair of military pants with a military belt. With his bronze-colored skin, he looked handsome and friendly.


    He looked at Yu Zhengyuan, and then walked over calmly with a gentle smile. ¡°My name is Gu Zhengrong. Are you my ssmates?¡± He introduced himself simply. His straightforward personality caused Yu Zhengyuan to have a good impression of him. He replied, ¡°Yes, my name is Yu Zhengyuan. I¡¯m in charge of bringing you to the registrar.¡±


    Gu Zhengrong was about to reply to him, but he sensed somethinging towards him so stopped himself from talking. As he was lifting his head, four private hover cars flew towards them. Yu Zhengyuan looked at the time on hismunicator. Those must be the four remaining transfer students.


    Those four students seemed to have powerful backgrounds just by looking at their cars.


    Four young men with four distinctly different auras slowly walked out the cars, the auras were cold, gentle, passionate andstly sinister respectively.


    Yu Zhengyuan looked at the four people. This year will be quite hectic..


    The four of them scanned Yu Zhengyuan and his team members. They rejected their servants¡¯ offers to help them and personally brought their suitcases over.


    They arrived in front of Yu Zhengyuan around the same time. The four of them looked at each other. The gentle young man smiled. He politely sidestepped to let the three people move forward first. The passionate manughed and took a step back.


    The cold-looking youth and the sinister-looking youth exchanged nces with each other. The sinister-looking youth smiled and waved his hand, signaling the other party to move first.


    The cold-looking youth nodded at the sinister-looking youth to thank him. Then, he turned to Yu Zhengyuan and said, ¡°Leng Hanfeng, transfer student. Nice to meet you.¡± This person remained cold from the start to the end, even his name sounded cold.


    The sinister youth felt that too and snickered at him. Leng Hanfeng red at him. The sinister-looking youth replied, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. My name is Meng Shaoran. Nice to meet you.¡±


    Sparks ignited when their eyes met. These two people had be enemies before they even entered school.


    Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s head was throbbing. He could already feel his n to quietly prepare for his uing exams failing. This batch of transfer students were all formidable characters. At that moment, the gentle-looking youth said, ¡°My name is Su Pei. Nice to meet you.¡±


    ¡°Xiao Yiqiu!¡± Just as Yu Zhengyuan was about to introduce himself, the passionate young man interrupted him. Yu Zhengyuan had no choice but to swallow his words. He felt frustrated.


    Ah! They are indeed a troublesome bunch! Yu Zhengyuan was not stupid. He knew Xiao Yiqiu interrupted him on purpose.


    Gu Zhengrong couldn¡¯t stand it anymore, so hurriedly introduced Yu Zhengyuan. ¡°This is our ssmate, Yu Zhengyuan. He will be bringing us in for registration. I¡¯m a transfer student too. Nice to meet you all.¡± He raised his right hand.


    Su Pei looked at Gu Zhengrong right hand. He raised his hand slowly and held it. Then, he instantly let it go. On the other hand, Xiao Yiqiu held it firmly and forcefully shook it two times to express his enthusiasm.


    Gu Zhengrong retracted his hand and ced it behind his back, before shaking it a few times. Seems like Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s handshake had caused him some pain.


    Gu Zhengrong did this secretly so almost no one saw it. However, Yu Zhengyuan and the four who just came noticed this small action. They responded very differently in reply to his actions. They felt happy, pity, contempt and grateful.


    Just like this, Yu Zhengyuan finished his mission. When he got back, one of his team members asked him who they should take notice of.


    Yu Zhengyuan thought about it carefully before replying, ¡°If you want to find a friend, you can consider Gu Zhengrong. If you want an opponent, look for Leng Hanfeng. Xiao Yiqiu is someone you never want to offend. Su Pei will not bother us if we don¡¯t find him for trouble. As for Meng Shaoran... I¡¯m not sure about him yet, I need to observe him further. Everyone else can be ignored.¡±


    The team member refuted. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you look for someone like Pei Shaoyun for a friend? He looks like a simple-minded person and will never backstab us.¡±


    Yu Zhengyuan looked at them with disdain. ¡°Sometimes, you can¡¯t make friends based on their personalities. Instead, you should look at their capabilities. If they are not capable enough, you might be harming him and yourself if you befriend him.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± The team member couldn¡¯t understand why he should do that. Why must he look at other traits when he was just looking for a friend? When did their team leader be so snobbish?


    Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s expression turnedplex. He seemed to be thinking about something. He sighed and said, ¡°There are many people who don¡¯t like us in school. If you want Pei Shaoyun to have a peaceful life at school, treat him as a stranger.¡± No one would touch this pure and harmless young man as long as he doesn¡¯t belong to any factions.


    This was the first time Yu Zhengyuan didn¡¯t want someone to be pulled into the battle between the various factions.


    Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s words caused his team members to fall into deep thought. They decided to leave Pei Shaoyun alone. They should find their next candidate among the five transfer students.


    The distribution of the amodation at the Central Scout Academy on Azure was done by the mainframe of the school. The living conditions there were not as good as the Central Scout Academy on Doha as there were no vis. Every student lived in an apartment. Each apartment had four students living in it. Everyone had their personal room and bathroom with the kitchen, dining room, and living room being shared.


    Little Jin brought Pei Shaoyun for registration. He decided that since he already sent him there, he might as well send him all the way. Thus, he brought him directly to his apartment, 1027.


    Under Little Jin¡¯s guidance, he ced the door¡¯s chip into hismunicator. From now on, he could enter the room just by scanning hismunicator on the door.


    The moment he entered the apartment, he saw the luxurious decor and the expensive pieces of furniture. He was shocked.


    Little Jin saw this and felt proud. ¡°Shaoyun, this is not bad, right? This is our best apartment Only people from the special ss and transfer students like you can live here.¡±


    Pei Shaoyun nodded. ¡°It¡¯s better than my ce.¡± He touched his chip and looked at the four closed doors. Themunicator on one of the doors suddenly lit up and beeped.


    ¡°That is my room.¡± Pei Shaoyun rushed forward happily. He pushed the door gently. A room about 20 square meters was revealed. All the necessary equipment could be found inside. Everything inside screamed high-ss. Pei Shaoyun was extremely satisfied.


    Little Jin didn¡¯t stay any longer afterpleting his task. He bided farewell and left. When the door closed, Pei Shaoyun¡¯s smile instantly disappeared. His aura turned cold. The temperature in the room dropped immediately.


    ¡°I wonder if the person from the Flying Dragon Special Forces will be one of my roommates. I¡¯m anticipating it!¡± Pei Shaoyun smiled. His smile got brighter and soon, it warmed up the entire room.


    The white round ball on his shoulder suddenly started jumping happily. It seemed to be excited too.


    ¡°Little White, you must remember that you are just a harmless pet. Don¡¯t reveal your feral side.¡± Pei Shaoyun picked up the white ball and looked at it threateningly.


    Little White wanted to rebel against her. However, in front of his Boss¡¯s frightening gaze, it could only bow down to her. It screeched sadly to show that it had understood her.


    Sob, it was finally out from that hellish but its Boss still wouldn¡¯t allow it to eat to its heart content. What a bad Boss! Little White bit its tentacles sadly and looked up at the sky, relenting itself to its fate. It rxed its body and allowed Ling Lan to squeeze it to her heart¡¯s content.


    That¡¯s right. This harmless and shy young man was Ling Lan in disguise. Just as Ling Lan was focused on squeezing Little White, she heard the door opening. Three people walked in.


    One had a cold aura, one was sinister-looking, and one looked handsome and refreshing. The sound of them walking in surprised Ling Lan. She looked up in surprise. When she saw the three of them, she gave them a shy smile and said in a low voice, ¡°Are you three staying in 1027 too?¡±


    The sinister-looking youth looked at Ling Lan yfully. He held up his hand and showed her the chip. ¡°If there is nothing wrong with this chip, I should be staying here. My name is Meng Shaoran. What about you? Are you my new roommate?¡±


    The cold-looking person heard what Meng Shaoran said and replied, ¡°Leng Hanfeng!¡±


    Ling Lan knew that must be his name. However, she pretended to be uncertain. The handsome young man couldn¡¯t bear to see her like this so he exined, ¡°That is his name. My name is Gu Zhengrong. Nice to meet you.¡±


    Ling Lan appeared embarrassed. She gave a shy smile and said, ¡°My name is Pei Shaoyun. Nice to meet you all.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect our roommate to be you.¡± Meng Shaoran was sized up Ling Lan. ¡°Interesting. Very interesting. Haha, my father asked me to be transferred here but it won¡¯t be boring any longer I guess.¡±


    Ling Lan pretended to be scared by Meng Shaoran¡¯s evil look. Leng Hanfeng clicked his tongue in response. Gu Zhengrong pretended to move casually and blocked Meng Shaoran¡¯s light vision of Ling Lan.


    Meng Shaoran sneered. He didn¡¯t say anything. He grabbed his luggage and walked to his own room.


    Leng Hanfeng entered his room too. Ling Lan pretended to be agitated. She seemed to be wondering if she provoked these two people.


    Gu Zhengrong quickly consoled her. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Their temper is like that. You¡¯ll get used to it. However, they both don¡¯t like each other. Don¡¯t enter their fight.¡±


    Ling Lan quickly nodded. Gu Zhengrong smiled when he saw how obedient Ling Lan was. He wanted to pat Ling Lan¡¯s head but Ling Lan evaded his hand instinctively. After that, her face turned pale. She looked as though she realized that she did something wrong. Gu Zhengrong shook his head when he saw her frightened state. ¡°Why are you so timid? If you don¡¯t like your head to be touch, just say it. There is no such thing aspromising in the Scout Academy.¡±


    Ling Lan bit her lips and nodded slightly. She looked at Gu Zhengrong gratefully. ¡°You can return to your room now as there are no other ns today. Have a good rest. I¡¯ll call you when it¡¯s time for lunch.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Thank you, Brother Gu,¡± Ling Lan replied obediently.


    ¡°Are you calling me brother now?¡± Gu Zhengrong smiled. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m older than you?¡±


    Ling Lan smiled shyly. She said in a soft voice, ¡°Brother Gu is good at taking care of people. You must be older than me.¡± No way. I¡¯ve lived two times and am almost 50 years old.


    ¡°Haha, you¡¯re right. I was born on the first day of the new year. There is probably no one older than me in this school. Since you called me Brother Gu, I¡¯ll take care of you from now on.¡± Gu Zhengrong didn¡¯t reject her. Ling Lan¡¯s face and her fake personality made her appear too harmless, and since she did not appear to be a potential opponent of his, Gu Zhengrong didn¡¯t mind taking care of her.


    Just like this, the four people met each other. After a simple introduction, they went back to their own room.


    ¡°Little Four, do you think the person from the Flying Dragon Special Forces is among the four of them?¡± Ling Lan couldn¡¯te to a decision. All their physical skills were at the optimal peak of refinement. However, physical skills could be suppressed. She couldn¡¯t use this as a gauge. Besides Gu Zhengrong, she only met the other two people for a short while. She couldn¡¯t get more information from them.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. They are all very interesting.¡± Little Four was not certain.


    The cold-looking person had the arrogance of someone from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. However, if he was disguising himself, he shouldn¡¯t be that obvious. On the other hand, this kind of simple disguise might work even better.


    Meng Shaoran was sinister and seemed hard to deal with. It was also a good choice for a disguise. It was unpredictable and would attract less suspicion.

 Chapter 741 - Roommate!

    <h4>Chapter 741: Roommate!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    On the other hand, Gu Zhengrong had the aura of a soldier. He was really good at assessing the situation and determining the most optimal way on how to react to it. Additionally, he was really good at taking care of people. With these traits, he should be the most probable suspect. However, these traits could also be the reason why he could also be the least probable suspect, as hiding out in the open would probably attract less suspicion, but he still might be the person from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    These three people were all suspicious but there was no solid evidence to prove that they were from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Maybe the person from Flying Dragon Special Forces was not among the three people in her apartment. After all, there were 20 transfer students but she only saw eight of them.


    The five people who came together with her could be eliminated, as she didn¡¯t feel a sense of uncertainty when she met them.


    Her Profound Insight couldn¡¯t pinpoint out the target but it could help her eliminate some people.


    Soon, it was lunchtime. Gu Zhengrong knocked on Ling Lan¡¯s door just as he promised. Ling Lan walked out of her room excitedly. However, when she saw Meng Shaoran and Leng Hanfeng standing in the living room, she almost backtracked into her room in fright.


    ¡°Shaoyun, since we are living in the same apartment, we should move together. Leng Hanfeng and Meng Shaoran are not bad people. What are you afraid of?¡± Gu Zhengrong was speechless. Pei Shaoyun is too timid.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m not afraid. I just didn¡¯t expect these two brothers to be waiting for me.¡± Ling Lan waved her hand hurriedly. She was not scared, she was just shocked.


    ¡°That is better.¡± Meng Shaoran tapped his lips with his finger and gave Ling Lan an evil smile. That seductive gaze and flirtatious expression made Ling Lan furious. She wanted to drag this person behind an alleyway and beat him up badly. F**k, I¡¯m a man now. Why are you giving me that look! Damn it!


    Meng Shaoran¡¯s expression caused Ling Lan to hide behind Gu Zhengrong¡¯s back. Just as Gu Zhengrong wanted to ask Meng Shaoran to stop teasing Pei Shaoyun, Ling Lan popped her head out and said righteously, ¡°Brother Meng, I¡¯m a man. Don¡¯t seduce me!¡±


    ¡°Pfft!¡± Gu Zhengrongughed immediately, even the cold Leng Hanfeng cracked a smile.


    Meng Shaoran was shocked. He didn¡¯t expect to be teased by this shy little rabbit. He was stunned for a moment before he startedughing as well.


    ¡°Hahaha, interesting! Very interesting!¡± This little rabbit is not totally useless after all. He still has some courage left in him. Meng Shaoran was really interested in Ling Lan now as he was just faking his interest just now.


    ¡°Okay, it¡¯s okay. Your expression was too real just now so Shaoyun misunderstood you.¡± Gu Zhengrong suppressed hisughter and started covering for Ling Lan.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go. I don¡¯t want to eat leftovers.¡± Leng Hanfeng suddenly interrupted them.


    Meng Shaoran looked at Leng Hanfeng in surprise. He didn¡¯t expect the proud Leng Hanfeng to help someone. Is he in a good mood? That impossible. The reason why was helping her could only be because he got interested in Ling Lan too.


    Haha, this is getting exciting! Now, Meng Shaoran truly felt thating to this school was a good decision. Leng Hanfeng was interesting. Gu Zhengrong was interesting as well. Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu were interesting too. Even Pei Shaoyun, who he didn¡¯t like at the start, got interesting...


    It seems like he won¡¯t get bored this year!


    The canteen of the Central Scout Academy was split into low-ss, middle-ss, and high-ss sections. Ling Lan and her roommates were going to the high-ss section. Students who could enter the high-ss section were either from the special ss or were transfer students.


    The uniform of the Central Scout Academy was dark blue in color. Only the valedictorian had white lines on its edges. There was only one valedictorian in each grade. They had a special dining spot in the canteen, showcasing the honor of a valedictorian.


    The valedictorian in the Central Scout Academy must be the highest scoring student in terms of physical skills. Once the position was given, it would not change for the entire year. The only way the valedictorian position could be taken away was through a challenge. If you wanted topete against the valedictorian for his position, you would need to fight against the members of the valedictorian¡¯s battle team first. After winning against his five normal members and the valedictorian himself, would you obtain the position of valedictorian?


    This cruel challenge rule meant that the valedictorian would keep changing. However, this survival of the fittest atmosphere caused the students there to be strong and full of fighting spirit. This was why the students from Central Scout Academy of Azure were able to enter various military academies even though their talent and potential were average among the masses.


    The moment Ling Lan and her roommates entered the canteen, they saw people already challenging Yu Zhengyuan and his battle team. The students in the canteen got excited when they saw this, so they quickly gathered around them to spectate.


    Yu Zhengyuan put down his chopsticks. ¡°You really want to challenge me?¡±


    ¡°Of course!¡± An arrogant youth replied proudly. He was one of the 20 transfer students that arrived earlier today. Three more arrogant young men stood beside him. They must live in the same apartment. They probably came to challenge the 10th grade valedictorian together.


    Little Jin smiled and asked, ¡°Do you know how the challenge goes?¡±


    ¡°I just have to win against all of you and then win against him, right?¡± The arrogant youth pointed at Yu Zhengyuan.


    ¡°Yup, we will each take a turn fighting you. Do you have the confidence to win against all of us?¡± Little Jin waved his finger to remind the youth that the challenge was not that easy.


    The arrogant youth didn¡¯t back down. He sneered. ¡°I know. The five of you are a piece of cake anyway.¡± He looked at Yu Zhengyuan who was staring at him calmly. Among the six people in front of him, only the valedictorian made him feel pressured. The other members seemed easy to deal with.


    Little Jin smiled and got up after hearing what the youth said. He stretched his body and said, ¡°Since you are looking for a beating, I have to satisfy you. If not, I¡¯ll feel sorry for your mother who wasted her years, raising a son who¡¯s blind.¡±


    ¡°You bastard!¡± Little Jin¡¯s insult caused the youth to explode in anger. He rushed up and wanted to give Little Jin a good punch in the face. However, he suddenly realized that Little Jin had disappeared from where was standing.


    He felt a strong gust of wind behind his back. In response, he turned around and punched behind him.


    Boom! Two fists collided. The youth felt a huge forceing towards him and took a few steps back to negate it.


    Little Jin took two steps back too. He retracted his fist and smiled. ¡°No wonder you are so bold. You do have some skills.¡±


    ¡°That guy is pretty okay. He could take Little Jin¡¯s brutal blow.¡± Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s team members discussed quietly among themselves. They no longer looked down on this youth.


    ¡°Since he dared to challenge us, he, of course, has some capabilities. However, Little Jin has the innate talent ¡®Brutal Force¡¯. His opponent could never fight on an equal ying field.¡± Yu Zhengyuan was not worried at all, as Little Jin took two steps back while his opponent took four steps back. The difference in strength seemed small but it was actually huge. After a few more rounds, the difference in strength would be exposed soon.


    As expected, when Little Jin realized that he was at an advantage, he continued attacking relentlessly.


    The arrogant youth wanted to go on the defensive but Little Jin didn¡¯t give him any chance to do so. Hence, after throwing punches at each other for a while, the arrogant youth couldn¡¯t bear it anymore. When Little Jin threw thest punch, the arrogant youth took ten steps back and spat out some blood.


    His internal organs were severely injured from thatst punch.


    Little Jin retracted his fist. He blew at it while looking at the youth with disdain. ¡°Do you still want to challenge our team leader?¡±


    The arrogant youth turned pale. He didn¡¯t expect this average-looking member to be so strong. It should be known that in his previous school, his ability was enough for him to rule the entire school. He thought he was considered quite strong there but unexpectedly, he couldn¡¯t even win against a normal member.


    This huge setback caused the youth to lose his confidence. He screamed and pushed hisrades away, before rushing out of the canteen. He was too embarrassed to eat his meal there.


    Little Jin shrugged. He said with pity, ¡°Boring.¡± That transfer student couldn¡¯t even handle such a small setback. It seems like the strength of the transfer students this year varied.


    Little Jin looked at the three people who came with the arrogant youth. The three people took a step back instinctively. This timid action caused Little Jin and Yu Zhengyuan to shook their heads. Ling Lan and her roommates also felt unhappy too. They felt that the arrogant youth embarrassed all the transfer students.


    Little Jin was bored so he wanted to continue eating. When he turned around, he saw Ling Lan from the corner of his eyes. Ling Lan gave him a shy smile and secretly gave him a thumbs up. Little Jin was speechless.


    Doesn¡¯t he know that he is also a transfer student? Isn¡¯t he afraid that other transfer students would notice that small action? Little Jin felt worried about Pei Shaoyun. To prevent anyone else from noticing her, he quickly looked away and walked towards his team leader. He sat down and started eating seriously.


    Little Brother Shaoyun, don¡¯te and look for me! Little Jin prayed silently.


    ¡°You know him?¡± Everybody except her roommates didn¡¯t see Ling Lan¡¯s small action. Gu Zhengrong couldn¡¯t keep the doubt he had to himself and immediately asked her.


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°I¡¯m able toplete my registration mission because of him. He is a good person.¡± Ling Lan looked grateful, seemingly oblivious to how her answer could be taken the wrong way.


    Meng Shaoran rubbed his forehead. He said in a low voice, ¡°I suggest we should keep a distance from this idiot.¡± He didn¡¯t want every transfer student to misunderstand him, thinking that he seek refuge with the non-transfer students.


    ¡°Idiot? Who?¡± Ling Lan blinked innocently.


    Meng Shaoran¡¯s lips twitched. He couldn¡¯t maintain his naughty smile anymore. He left them instantly. He didn¡¯t want to stay with an idiot.


    ¡°You really don¡¯t know who he was talking about?¡± Gu Zhengrong was speechless.


    ¡°If I knew, he¡¯ll be happy, right?¡± Ling Lan asked him back while giving a cheeky look.


    Leng Hanfeng smiled. He knew Pei Shaoyun was not as simple as he looked. He was innocent and shy but not stupid. Also, he had a superb instinct. He knew who he shouldn¡¯t offend and who he could make friends with.


    Gu Zhengrong heard her question andughed. This Pei Shaoyun. Should I call him bold or warn him against being too overconfident?


    The four of them ate their lunch and then returned to their apartment. After chatting for a while, they returned to their rooms.


    The next day, the four of them came to their ssroom. The 20 transfer students were split into two special sses. Each ss had 10 students. Coincidentally, Ling Lan and her roommates were all ced in the second ss. Su Pei, Xiao Yiqiu and a bunch of other people were in the same ss. This order might be due to their time of registration. The first 10 people who registered were put in the first ss.


    ¡°We meet again.¡± They saw familiar faces as they walked into the ssroom. Su Pei greeted them amiably and Xiao Yiqiu waved at them.


    Leng Hanfeng didn¡¯t reply to them. Meng Shaoran didn¡¯t seem interested in Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu so he just leaned against the doorframezily. Ling Lan lowered her head as she was walking into the ssroom. Gu Zhengrong looked at the three of them and felt that he couldn¡¯t rely on any of them. ¡°Hello, you two are bright and early.¡±


    ¡°No, we are not. Lesson is almost starting.¡± Su Pei replied gently but his words were not amiable at all. Gu Zhengrong smiled awkwardly.


    In the end, Leng Hanfeng couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and walked passed Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu. Ling Lan followed closely behind him. She continued looking on the ground as she walked by the two of them. Meng Shaoran shook his head and followed after Ling Lan. Gu Zhengrong smiled apologetically at Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu before walking past them as well.


    Sob, why do they always let me do the hardest things? Gu Zhengrong gave the three people ming look. Leng Hanfeng and Meng Shaoran ignored him while Ling Lan didn¡¯t even look at his face. No one answered him in the end.

 Chapter 742 - Content!

    <h4>Chapter 742: Content!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan followed behind Leng Hanfeng and didn¡¯t look up at all. However, in actual fact, she was observing everything around her. She saw a team member of Yu Zhengyuan, the person who helped her with her registration and had brought her to her apartment, Little Jin, and who easily defeated that arrogant youth yesterday.


    However, Little Jin didn¡¯t even send a nce at her. It was as though he didn¡¯t recognize her. Ling Lan was curious about the reason why he was ignoring her. Well, her face was not irritating to the eyes, so there must be something wrong with him.


    Everyone just sat around casually without any pre-arranged seats. Ling Lan followed her roommates to sit in thest row together. Little Jin was sitting in the same row too.


    Ling Lan noticed how Little Jin was asionally sending a nce at her. She secretly gave him a smile and waved at him.


    Little Jin got a shock when he saw her actions. He gave her a small smile, and turned around instantly,pletely ignoring her again. He didn¡¯t look like he disliked her. Ling Lan leaned on the table dejectedly and wondered why he was doing that.


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t hate you, he just wants to keep a distance away from you.¡± Leng Hanfeng¡¯s voice floated into her ear. Ling Lan looked up in surprise. She didn¡¯t expect the aloof Leng Hanfeng to rify her doubts.


    Is it because I looked so harmless that this ice mountain let down his guard against me? Ling Lan frowned in her heart. She remembered what the staff had told her when she applied for the Central Scout Academy on Doha that year. She should stop taking such disguise mission in the future.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t want her face to attract too much attention to her. Fortunately, her face was still very childish. Thus, it wouldn¡¯t cause too much damage yet. It might be because she had been taking suppression shots continuously.


    Thinking up to that point, Ling Lan recalled that there was only one year left before the deadline she had set with her mother woulde. She felt frustrated. She didn¡¯t know how she would change after she stopped taking suppression shots. After pretending to be a man for more than 20 years, she was already used to this life. She felt awkward, thinking about experiencing life as a woman in the near future.


    Forget it, let¡¯s just go with the flow. There will be a way around this! Ling Lan decided to forget about this matter.


    Although Ling Lan was internally freaking out, externally she still looked as though she was consoled by Leng Hanfeng¡¯s words. She gave him a faint smile. Leng Hanfeng looked at her coldly in response and turned away too. Those indifferent eyes really did make people want to hit him in the face and tear his expressionless face apart.


    Ling Lan leaned on the table again and started self-reflecting. When she treated herrades coldly in the past, did they feel like hitting her too?


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Boss. Yourrades don¡¯t dare to have any negative opinions about you.¡± Little Four stood up immediately and denied her thoughts. If Boss didn¡¯t look at them coldly for a day, they would worry about their Boss as he was acting out of character. Ling Lan was enlightened. Herrades were all masochists.


    Meng Shaoran smiled when he saw how disheartened Ling Lan was. Ling Lan rolled her eyes at him. For some reason, Meng Shaoran always teased her whenever he could. He seemed especially interested in her. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t understand why though. Why would someone powerful like him be interested in a shy, timid, and normal young man? Shouldn¡¯t he be more interested in people like Leng Hanfeng, Gu Zhengrong, Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu? Those people suited his taste better.


    Gu Zhengrong, who was talking to the person beside him, noticed their interactions. He turned andforted Ling Lan. ¡°Shaoyun, ignore them.¡± He lowered his voice and added, ¡°They are all weirdos anyway.¡±


    Ling Lan smiled when she heard that. Her sincere and pure smile attracted many people¡¯s attention.


    Su Pei couldn¡¯t help and send a nce over. When he saw the smile, he frowned. Xiao Yiqiu saw Su Pei¡¯s expression and followed his gaze. He smiled. ¡°You like it?¡±


    Su Pei rxed his brows and resumed his indifferent expression. ¡°It¡¯s quite beautiful, right?¡±


    ¡°Do you think he will still be able to smile like that after he experiences some humiliation?¡± Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s eyes glinted. He was thinking about something.


    ¡°Who knows? Maybe heaven pampers him and would never let him experience any setbacks.¡± Su Pei closed his eyes after finishing this sentence, showing that he didn¡¯t want to continue the conversation.


    ¡°Pampers him? I don¡¯t believe that there is such kind of people around.¡± Xiao Yiqiu looked at Ling Lan and gave her a friendly smile.


    Little Jin saw Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s smile, and his heart dropped. He remembered his team leader¡¯sment about this person. He was not as good as he outwardly showed. Xiao Yiqiu looked like a positive young man but he was not one. He wondered if there were good intentions behind his smile.


    Little Jin started to worry about Pei Shaoyun. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t warn him personally. If his enemies saw him interacting with Pei Shaoyun, they would think that Pei Shaoyun was on his side, causing her a lot of trouble.


    Little Jin looked at Gu Zhengrong. Maybe he should befriend Gu Zhengrong. After all, his team leader said that he would make a good friend. He looked like he had a good rtionship with Shaoyun so he might be able to help her too. Little Jin made a decision, after feeling frustrated for a moment. He was the only member of his team in the second ss. There was no one he could discuss with.


    After some time, the teacher finally arrived. There were no lessons for the students in the tenth grade. They were able to n and conduct their own training. This gathering was to just let the transfer students be familiar with their future friends and potential foes. Under the guidance of their teacher, Ling Lan and the other transfer students did a simple self-introduction. Then, they were officially announced as students of special ss number two.


    After that, the teacher dismissed them. Ling Lan and her roommates returned to their apartment and did their own things.


    Ling Lan spent most of her time in the apartment fiddling around with her equipment. As for her roommates, they were mostly away. They would normally visit thebat arena and fight with the students there to raise theirbat experience. They would also go around making friends, widening theirwork. Even the cold and arrogant Leng Hanfeng found a few good friends.


    Ling Lan¡¯s actions proved that her personality aligned with her actions perfectly.


    To some people, Ling Lan was cleared of their suspicion. However, this didn¡¯t mean that she wouldn¡¯t face any trouble or danger. Sometimes, even if you are not someone¡¯s obstacle, they would still disturb you because of their own interests. Sometimes, they were just lunatics who just wanted to harm you.


    After staying in her room for four days, the holiday came. The Central Scout Academy of Azure wasn¡¯t so strict with their studentspared to the Scout Academy in Doha. At Doha, the students could only go home during the summer and winter holidays. During other times, they must remain within the schoolpound. Here, the school gates would be opened every holiday. The students were allowed to visit the cities nearby to buy some necessities. Of course, you needed to have credits first.


    This showed the difference between the Central Scout Academy of Azure and Doha. At Doha, the students didn¡¯t have to worry about all these. The school would provide it for them. But, on Azure, the school didn¡¯t have the luxury to spend that much to support their students.


    However, this was a good thing for Ling Lan. Her main purpose foring here was to find out Li Lanfeng¡¯s background. This mission was just a way for her to get on Azure. She wanted a simple mission so that she could finish it quickly and stalk Li Lanfeng. However, her missions were too much of a hassle so she didn¡¯t have the time to find Li Lanfeng.


    The description of the mission was just one sentence, but Ling Lan could already feel how dangerous it was. She didn¡¯t expect the peaceful looking Central Scout Academy on Azure to be controlled by an unknown force. Students were nurtured to be spies from a young age. These young men would then enter into different military academies after they graduated, after that, they would enter the military, and thus, bing a spy in the divisions.


    If one of the cadets didn¡¯t expose himself and got noticed by an inspector, the Federation wouldn¡¯t have known that one of their education facilities was infiltrated by their enemies. The military traced this clue to the Central Scout Academy on Azure. However, the enemies had already taken over the Central Scout Academy on Azure for more than ten years. The waters were very deep in the school. A few soldiers who pretended to be teachers couldn¡¯t find any evidence there. Some of them even left the school, went missing, or ended up dead.


    Hence, although there was definitely something suspicions there, the Federation couldn¡¯t do anything about it. They now knew that the enemies were guarded against the teachers who were sent to this school so this tactic wouldn¡¯t get them any results. They had no choice but to find another way around it. This was why they gave out this disguise mission. They wanted someone to investigate the school using the status of a student.


    Considering how dangerous this mission was, they appointed the Tang Ningyu for this mission. They also sent a few powerful teachers over to attract the enemies¡¯ attention. Not only that, if the student was exposed, the teachers could help him escape. The Federation would not allow such a talented person to die in this mission.

 Chapter 743 - A Familiar Person!

    <h4>Chapter 743: A Familiar Person!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The next afternoon, Ling Lan packed up happily and prepared to go out shopping. However, she saw none of her roommates had gone out yet, they were all sitting on the sofa in the living room, spending their time looking at theirmunicator.


    Ling Lan asked in surprise. ¡°Are you all not going out?¡±


    Meng Shaoran gave an evil smile and repliedzily, ¡°I am.¡±


    Ling Lan looked up at the sky. It is almost noon. Who were they waiting for?


    When he saw Ling Lan being confused, Gu Zhengrongughed. ¡°Shaoyun, we were waiting for you.¡±


    Ling Lan scratched her head. ¡°Did I agree to go with you? I need to go to the city today to buy some daily necessities.¡±


    ¡°Idiot!¡± Leng Hanfeng threw that word at her. Ling Lan lowered her head and appeared to be deeply affected by that word. However, in her heart, she was furious. She couldn¡¯t stand Leng Hanfeng, she wanted to tear his face apart.


    ¡°Don¡¯t talk to Shaoyun like that.¡± Gu Zhengrong spoke up for Ling Lan, so Ling Lan gave him a grateful look. ¡°We know you are buying things today, that was why we waited for you. Who knew you would sleep in today.¡± Gu Zhengrong pointed to the ring sun outside as he teased her.


    Ling Lan scratched her head shyly. ¡°Erm, I sleptte yesterday because I was designing a mecha model. Hey, how did you know that I¡¯m going to the city today?¡± She pretended to just notice it.


    ¡°Your suitcase only consisted of pieces of equipment and tools. If you don¡¯t go shopping today, I have to suspect that you are a pig.¡± Meng Shaoran stretched his back and stood up. His words were irritating as usual.


    Ling Lan red at him. Meng Shaoran was being irritating but Ling Lan¡¯s unusual reaction caused Leng Hanfeng to be surprised. He looked at Meng Shaoran mysteriously.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go out immediately. If not, it¡¯ll be toote.¡± Gu Zhengrong looked at the time and reminded everyone.


    In the end, Ling Lan was dragged out of the apartment by Meng Shaoran and Leng Hanfeng. When Little White realized that its boss was pulled away, it quickly jumped over and barely managed to catch the edge of Ling Lan¡¯s clothes. It had luckily prevented itself from being abandoned.


    Sob, it¡¯s hard being a pet. It must fight with strangers for its Boss. If not, its Boss would disappear. Little White suddenly had a sense of crisis.


    As for Ling Lan, she already had it multiple times in her heart. F**k, I didn¡¯t agree to anything. If you guys follow me, how am I supposed to stalk Li Lanfeng! Ah!


    Ling Lan screamed in her heart. However, on her face, she had to appear surprised and ted. Basically implying with her expression that she really believed that her roommates really wanted to go out with her, so it must mean that they took her as their real friend. This was such a huge surprise to her.


    To hell with surprises. I don¡¯t need them! Ling Lan pointed her middle finger at them mentally. Her impression of Meng Shaoran, Leng Hanfeng, and Gu Zhengrong dropped by a considerable amount.


    Experience proved that once the things you do that was different from their expectations, their impression of you will drop. Hence, knowing what other people wanted of you is really important. If not, no matter how hard you work or how sincere you are, your effort will be put to waste.


    Her roommates didn¡¯t know that as they were dragging Ling Lan to the city, they had be the enemy of their cute younger brother. They still thought that this was a good bonding session to improve their rtionships.


    As a person who had many friends, Gu Zhengrong already prepared a shopping list already. The four of them didn¡¯t waste much time and got all the essentials that Ling Lan needed.


    Ling Lan noticed something good when she shopped with her roommates. She didn¡¯t need to carry her shopping bags. Although she was a man now, her face helped her gained many liberties. Most of the time, after she paid for her shopping, thedies at the counter would pass the bags to her roommates. If they didn¡¯t take it, thedies would look at them unhappily. They seemed to be scolding her roommates: Why aren¡¯t you taking care of your younger brother when you brought him out for shopping? What kind of older brother are you?


    Under thedies¡¯ intense gaze, her roommates had no choice but to take the bags. This made Ling Lan feel like she was with herrades again. As their Boss, Ling Lan never had to carry anything. Cough, it was because she had too many underlings so she never had the chance to.


    Soon, it was lunchtime. Gu Zhengrong suggested that they find a ce to have a meal. Meng Shaoran and Leng Hanfeng agreed. As for Ling Lan, her opinion was of rtive importance, so no one asked her.


    I don¡¯t want to eat with you all! Damn it! Ling Lan finally knew what it was like to be an underling. She felt frustrated that she was unable to decide things for herself. Ling Lan decided that in the future, she would only be a Boss and would never be an underling. She would kill whoever dared to make her his or her underling.


    The three people in front of her felt a chill down their spine. They turned back instantly, and saw Ling Lan looking at them with a puzzled expression.


    Everything was fine so the three of them thought that they were just too sensitive. Their mood was already dampened so they casually chose a restaurant that did not look too bad.


    When they entered the door, a handsome man with a gentle smile appeared in front of them. He had some food in his hand and was bidding farewell to the shop owner.


    Ling Lan cursed in her heart. She didn¡¯t expect the person who should be reporting to his superiors at the headquarters¡¯ military hospital to appear here. The person was Li Shiyu.


    Nothing was worse than meeting someone you knew when you were on a spy mission. Ling Lan lowered her head and did a hand sign with her hands secretly. She wanted Li Shiyu to pretend that he didn¡¯t know her.


    When Li Shiyu saw Ling Lan, he was shocked too. He wondered why his regimentmander was here. However, when she lowered her head, he knew that something was amiss. He saw the hand sign that only a member from Lingtian would know and immediately understood everything.


    He looked at the three people beside his regimentmander intently. They were all young men around 15 years old. Yet, they all had different auras. He also realized, to his surprise, that his regimentmander¡¯s cold aura had disappeared. Ling Lan was like a cute and handsome younger brother when she stood among the three people, her aura really attract someone to want to protect her.


    Oh my god, our brutal and vicious Boss is so handsome? Li Shiyu felt that heaven was evil. It gave his boss this face so that he could honeytrap people, right?


    Leng Hanfeng felt Li Shiyu¡¯s gaze and looked at him coldly. The gaze seemed familiar but it was different from his Boss¡¯s gaze. His Boss¡¯s coldness was from the bottom of his heart. As for this young man, the coldness was just on his face. Every time his Boss looked at them indifferently during training, he felt that Boss really did want to kill them.


    Li Shiyu smiled. Beside this mock cold-looking youth, there was someone who was the real deal. Yet, he just disguised himself as a harmless and pure person. Li Shiyu knew the truth so this scene appeared funny to him. If this young man knew Ling Lan¡¯s true form, would he still be able to maintain his mock coldness?


    Li Shiyu felt sorry for Leng Hanfeng so he smiled at him. Li Shiyu had a warm smile. It was not as gentle as his elder cousin brother¡¯s smile but it was enough to melt Leng Hanfeng¡¯s coldness.


    As expected, this young man was just pretending to be arrogant and cold. Li Shiyu smiled again. He nodded at Leng Hanfeng and left the shop. His eldest cousin brother loved to eat Moluomi, and this shop had the best Moluomi. Every time he woulde back to Azure to visit his eldest cousin brother, he would buy some for him.


    Because of his health, his eldest cousin brother¡¯s diet was specially prepared by nutritionists. He did try a little bit of his food out of curiosity once and he never wanted to eat it again. Yet, his eldest cousin brother had to eat it every day without stopping. Li Shiyu respected his eldest cousin brother¡¯s perseverance. When he was young, he couldn¡¯t bear to see his eldest cousin brother eating such horrible tasting food so he asked him what he wanted to eat. His eldest cousin brother told him that he wanted to eat Moluomi. It was a kind of dessert his eldest cousin brother¡¯s mother made for him when he was young.


    Li Shiyu knew the reason why his eldest cousin brother wanted Moluomi, it was not because Moluomi was delicious. Instead, it was because his eldest cousin brother just missed his mother and the love she gave him. Unfortunately, his mother had a hemorrhage after giving birth to him so her health was poor. The medical expertise in the Federation was quite high, but it was not enough to save her life. When his eldest cousin brother was four, she died. The only memory she left for his eldest cousin brother was Moluomi.


    Thinking about this, Li Shiyu¡¯s mood turned for the worse. Although he had brought some agents he invented, he wasn¡¯t sure if they would work. If he couldn¡¯t heal his eldest cousin brother now, he would miss the best time for his treatment.


    Li Shiyu got agitated. He wanted to know why his Boss came here but he believed that if his Boss wanted to find him, he would.


    Li Shiyu had sent the address of the Li family to his Boss. He knew that themunicator his Boss was using now was not his personal one but with Ling Lan¡¯s hacking abilities, he would definitely get whatever information he wanted.

 Chapter 744 - Li Mulan!

    <h4>Chapter 744: Li Mn!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The Li family¡¯s house was situated beside a beach a few kilometres away from the Central Scout Academy. Li Shiyu came over in a hover car. He got off right in front of the main door. Then, he knocked on the door carefully.


    The person who opened the door was the major-domo of the Li family. Because of his eldest cousin brother¡¯s health, he came to Azure when he was five years old to meditate, trying to make use of the peacefulness of Azure to stabilize his condition. This major-domo in front of him volunteered toe with his eldest cousin brother to Azure. Hence, Li Shiyu respected this major-domo very much.


    ¡°Major-domo, long time no see. How have you been?¡± Li Shiyu gave a gentle smile as he spoke to the old man who seemed a little shocked by his visit.


    The major-domo quickly regained hisposure. He smiled and asked, ¡°Second young master, what brings you here? I heard from young master that you have already entered the military, and are doing very well there. Congrattions on your sess, second young master.¡±


    Li Shiyu replied, ¡°Thank you, major-domo.¡± He peeked past the major-domo and asked in a low voice, ¡°How is Brother Mn?¡±


    In his past numerous visits, the major-domo would frown whenever he heard this question. However, this time, he gave a bright smile to Li Shiyu. Li Shiyu¡¯s eyes lit up when he saw the smile, hope started to light up inside him. Is his eldest cousin brother¡¯s health getting better?


    As expected, Li Shiyu received good news from the major-domo. ¡°Young master¡¯s body is recovering well. He should be able to fully recover after some time.¡±


    Li Shiyu was ted. He wondered which amazing military doctor managed to heal his eldest cousin brother¡¯s illness which had been pestering him for many years.


    The major-domo answered his query. Around five years ago, Young master went to the beach to take a walk. Coincidentally, he met a domain realm master there. The domain realm master must have been in a good mood that day or he just happened to like Li Mn, so he taught Li Mn some physical skills training just out of the kindness of his heart. With the help of Li Shiyu¡¯s agents which he had been continuously sending all these years, Li Mn¡¯s body slowly started improving.


    When he heard that, Li Shiyu started to visibly rx his shoulders. The responsibility on his shoulders felt lighter. But, Li Shiyu was still afraid that the major-domo didn¡¯t diagnosis his eldest cousin brother urately so he rushed into the house to diagnosis his eldest cousin brother¡¯s health personally, but only after throwing the Moluomi to the major-domo.


    The Li family¡¯s house had a vintage design to it. There were olden style buildings and pavilions around thepound. Small streams and long corridors weaved through the house. It was segregated into two areas, the public area and the private area. The public area was where visitors woulde if they were toe in thepound and where they attend to the visitors. As for the private area, it was where Li Mn stayed so no outsiders were allowed to enter the private area.


    However,Li Shiyu was not an outsider to Li Mn so he could freely enter the private area. The major-domo, just like other the past numerous times, didn¡¯t stop him. He smiled as he watched Li Shiyu rushing into the house, the situation was like a puppy seeing its ownering back home. He felt happy that these two brothers had such a great rtionship.


    The private area was designed more exquisitelypared to the public area. As you enter the private area, you would be met with an immersive and luxurious garden. With the status and wealth of the Li family, this garden was as luxurious as the imperial garden of any imperial family in the past.


    Li Shiyu was in a rush to see his cousin so he leaped his way over the garden instead of running through it, leaving some beautiful buildings behind the garden with no one admiring them. Without thinking, he rushed to the tallest three storey building.


    ¡°Big Brother!¡± Li Shiyu pushed the door opened and ran in.


    Although the exterior design of the house was of a vintage style, the interior was a mix of modern and vintage. These two totally different designs merged together perfectly.


    The room was spacious, around 400 square meters. A few antique cupboards and shelves segregated the room into different sections. When you entered the room, the first section you would encounter would be the living room. Sofa and chairs made from Catalpa wood were filled this area. There was one door on the west side of the room and another door on the east side of the room. The former led to the pantry while thetter led to the study.


    After walking through the study, a clear and shining crystal curtain could be seen, the scent from a scented candle permeated throughout the room. Through the crystal curtain, you could see a silhouette of a beautifully carved bed. It was the bedroom.


    The moment Li Shiyu entered the room, he heard the sound of the crystals on the curtain crashing into each other. A fair and pretty hand slowly moved the curtains to the side, revealing a beautiful man wearing a purple robe.


    When Li Shiyu heard the sound, he immediately rushed over to the room. He saw his eldest cousin brother smiling at him. Suddenly, Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t control his emotions, he could feel the tears starting to build up in his eyes. He had waited for this scene for so many years. Finally, his eldest cousin brother could stand in front of him healthily. He no longer had to lie on his bed weakly, as though death was just around the corner.


    ¡°Brother!¡± All of his emotions congregated into a single word.


    ¡°Shiyu, you are here.¡± Li Mn looked happy. He walked over instantly and grabbed Li Shiyu¡¯s hand. He pulled him to a chair at the side and asked him to sit down. Normally, he would talk with his guest in the living room, only the people he trusted the most would be invited into the study.


    Li Shiyu felt Li Mn¡¯s trust in him and immediately let out a happy smile.


    Li Mn saw this and slowly shook his head. He flicked Li Shiyu¡¯s forehead and said in a pampering tone, ¡°You are already this old. Why are you still like this? I really wonder how did survive in the military like that.¡±


    Li Shiyu replied proudly, ¡°I was fortunate enough to meet a good leader.¡±


    Li Mn rxed. ¡°That¡¯s good. I was afraid that you would be unable to get used to life in the military. I was ted when I knew you had received merits.¡±


    Li Shiyu was not surprised that Li Mn knew what had happened to him so quickly. If the Li family didn¡¯t know any information about him, he should be worried instead. Although Li Yingjie and he had entered the 23rd Division instead of the divisions controlled by the Li family, Li Shiyu still believed that the Li family would not give up on them just like that. They would definitely watch over them. Once the two of them ever did anything noteworthy, the Li family would be the first to know.


    Li Shiyu told Li Mn about the happenings in the military. After that, he stared at Li Mn for a long time.


    Li Mn felt awkward by the relentless stare. He touched his face instinctively and asked in a puzzled tone, ¡°Shiyu, is there something wrong with my face?¡±


    ¡°Brother, let me inspect your body,¡± Li Shiyu said seriously. He was still unable to feel at ease unless he examined his body personally.


    Li Mn understood Li Shiyu¡¯s worries so he just nodded obediently.


    They went into the bedroom. Li Mnid on the bed obediently. Li Shiyu took out a device and started collecting data from Li Mn¡¯s body. The results were lower than the standard data from a healthy person butpared to the data he took in the past, there was a huge difference.


    However, the device also made mistakes (like what happened to Luo Lang). Hence, Li Shiyu used his traditional chinese medicine knowledge, which he didn¡¯t have a full grasp of, to inspect Li Mn¡¯s body. He concluded that his eldest cousin brother¡¯s health was indeed improving. He started to rx again.


    Li Mn saw Li Shiyu¡¯s relief and smiled. ¡°Do you believe that I¡¯m fine now?¡±


    Li Shiyu nodded.


    The two of them returned to the study and chatted for a while more. The major-domo ced the Moluomi on a te and served it to them.


    Li Mn knew that Li Shiyu had brought it specially for him so he took a piece and bit into it.


    ¡°How is it?¡± Li Shiyu asked.


    Li Mn slowly nodded. ¡°It tastes the same. I like it.¡±


    Li Shiyu smiled happily.


    Li Mn looked at the ted Li Shiyu and started to turn serious. ¡°Shiyu, actually, there is something I¡¯ve always wanted to tell you. However, I knew that you would not listen to me in the past, so I didn¡¯t say it. However, now, I feel that this is the right time for me to say it.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± Li Shiyu was nervous. This was the first time he saw such an expression on his eldest cousin brother¡¯s face. He didn¡¯t expect to feel so much pressure from his eldest cousin brother.


    ¡°Don¡¯t let me affect your future. Your future shouldn¡¯t be tied to the state of my body. You should have a bigger ambition,¡± Li Mn said seriously.


    ¡°Brother, I don¡¯t have any grand ambition.¡± Li Shiyu smiled gently. ¡°Ever since I was young, I have always just wanted a carefree life. I just want to do what I want to do. Being the family head of the Li family was never my dream. Big Brother, your health gave me the motivation to work harder. It gave me direction when I was lost. After so many years, I started to like being a military doctor. I feel a sense of achievement whenever I see those people who were dered hopeless getting another chance to live because of me.¡±


    Li Shiyu retracted his smile and continued earnestly. ¡°Big Brother, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m very happy in the 23rd division. Since your health is getting better, I will work hard for my leader then.¡±


    Li Shiyu¡¯s eyes were full of respect. ¡°My leader will be a ruler someday. As hisrade, I must not be too lousy.¡±


    Li Mnughed when he heard what Li Shiyu said. Hisughter warmed up the whole room. Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t look straight at him, as his heart started palpitating quickly.


    ¡°If that is the case, Shiyu, you have to work hard!¡± Li Mn was sincere with his words of encouragement.


    ¡°Of course.¡± Li Shiyu was firm with his decision.


    ¡°Oh right, my leader mighte and find me in the next few days. You can have a look at him.¡± Li Shiyu suddenly remembered this matter so he told Li Mn. This was to prevent Ling Lan from being stopped by the major-domo when he came by to visit. Li Shiyu didn¡¯t think that the major-domo could stop Ling Lan, but to prevent their rtionship from getting worse... fine, to protect the Li family, it¡¯s better that they didn¡¯t offend Ling Lan. Li Shiyu knew what Ling Lan was capable of.


    ng! The te of Moluomi fell on the ground, shattering into countless pieces.


    Li Shiyu immediately bent down and picked up the broken shards. He asked with concern in his voice, ¡°Brother, are you alright?¡±


    Li Mn gave a forced smile. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I was careless just now. It¡¯s a pity that I wasted the Moluomi.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. If you like it, I¡¯ll get more for you tomorrow.¡± Li Shiyu was bending down, so he didn¡¯t notice the nervousness in Li Mn¡¯s eyes.


    Ling Lan ising?

 Chapter 745 - Seducing Women in Secret?

    <h4>Chapter 745: Seducing Women in Secret?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°The best time tomit a crime is when the moon is high up in the sky. Boss, where are we going tomit crime?¡± Little Four¡¯s face blushed as he said excitedly. Yes, this is the first time I would do something bad with Boss. It is too stimting. Yes, I will definitely coerce Boss into doing some more bad things in the future... Little Four began to hide his evil smile.


    Ling Lan red at Little Four coldly. Her expression was somewhat threatening. That Little Four, always thinking of doing something bad.


    He even said that we were going tomit a crime? What crime? I am just epting the invitation of one of my subordinates, Li Shiyu, to go to his house as a guest. Although the time of day she was going there at was indeed a small problem. But could she really be med for it? She had three roommates who stuck to her like sticky-candy. Other than waiting for them to fall asleep, how else could she have gotten rid of them and move about on her own? In their eyes, she was just a shut-in and would never leave her room unless necessary.


    Ling Lan stood on top of the roof of the highest building. She looked down below at the garden that was surrounded by mist and the other buildings beyond the garden... She indeed seemed like a heart snatcher... meeting with her mistress at night...


    It was all Little Four¡¯s fault. He made her have impure thoughts... Ling Lan decided to punish Little Four when she got back.


    It was too bad that Little Four didn¡¯t know that his Boss had already be angry at him. Perhaps when they return, his little butt will suffer.


    Ling Lan looked at the buildings in the back and frowned slightly. Now, which building does Li Shiyu live in? She didn¡¯t want to meet with her mistress, no, meet up in a bedroom and make it awkward when she enters the bedroom of an unfamiliar person.


    ¡°Little Four, check where Li Shiyu lives.¡± After having no way of finding out, Ling Lan could only ask the omnipotent cheating machine, Little Four. However, the omnipotent cheating machines also had times when it was not so omnipotent. Right as Little Four began to excitedly crack his knuckles and was about to make his move, his expression in the next second looked like a frozen eggnt. He had a sad expression on his face as he spoke, ¡°Boss, this ce actually doesn¡¯t have any surveince equipment. I can¡¯t do anything.¡±


    What was wrong with the mansion of the Li family? How could they not even have one piece of high-tech equipment? They actually made him lose his reputation in front of his Boss. Little Four didn¡¯t have any good feelings about this ce.


    ¡°It seems that the master of this ce is very careful.¡± Sometimes not having a high-tech security system was considered to be an asset when facing certain enemies. Ling Lan wasn¡¯t as petty as Little Four and admired the cautiousness of the master of the ce.


    ¡°But we don¡¯t know where Li Shiyu is, how do we look for him,¡± asked Little Four.


    ¡°How to find him...? Hmm, we¡¯ll go look one by one,¡± Ling Lan said without any care for the world. Although she didn¡¯t want to get into a stranger¡¯s bedroom, it didn¡¯t mean that she couldn¡¯t do that.


    ¡°Then, where do we start?¡± Little Four was filled with energy once again. In short, doing bad things... No, helping his Boss was something he very willing to do.


    ¡°Let¡¯s start from there.¡± Ling Lan pointed at the closest building. She then vanished in a sh.


    In the next second, Ling Lan softlynded in the corridor of the building¡¯s second floor. She frowned as she looked at the ancient door in front of her. She was originally nning on using Little Four to silently enter into the room to take a look. Now it seemed that Little Four waspletely useless in this area.


    However, it wasn¡¯t difficult for her. Ling Lan pressed against the door and used her inner strength to slowly turn the lock of the door. She slowly opened a crack and then instantly slid inside. After she got into the room, she saw some antique looking furniture. There was also the scent of some sort of incense. Ling Lan immediately stopped breathing. Although this was the sub-family¡¯s lodgings of the Li family, she was stilling in at night. The people here shouldn¡¯t know she was there. If they were to discover her, it was normal that they might have a few methods to defend themselves, such as poison in the air.


    After standing silently for a while, Ling Lan discovered that there wasn¡¯t any movement in the room. She also discovered that the incense she had smelled was because there were some burning in the room. She then saw that there was a clear crystal curtain in the room as well. Ling Lan frowned slightly. Could it be that she had gotten into the room of ady from the Li family? This made Ling Lan be somewhat concerned. Should she leave and go look around elsewhere? After all, Ling Lan was currently dressed as a man. If a man was to get into ady¡¯s room, other than doing perverted things, there was no other reason why a man would enter into a girl¡¯s room in the middle of the night. If she was discovered, she wouldn¡¯t be able to exin.


    Right as Ling Lan was about to leave, she identally saw a white zer hanging on the armrest of a chair. It was the one Li Shiyu had worn when she saw him earlier today. She immediately began to roll her eyes. She couldn¡¯t understand why a room where a man was staying in was even more feminine than a room of a woman who pretended to be a man. However, since she knew that Li Shiyu lived there, she no longer needed to leave.


    Ling Lan walked deeper into the room and push the crystal clear curtains away without a sound, creating a small opening for her to go in. Ling Lan was then standing at the head of arge bed.


    Therge bed had ayer of thin cloth, veiling it from prying eyes. Ling Lan slowly lifted up the cloth. Although the personying in bed could possibly be Li Shiyu, Ling Lan still had her guard up just in case. She was still careful and didn¡¯t dare to disturb the person who was in the bed.


    When Ling Lan saw the face of the person on the bed, her expression was shaken. Her hand immediately trembled and the cloth instantly fell down, reverting its undisturbed state.


    ¡°Li Yinfei?¡± Ling Lan was stunned. She didn¡¯t think that she actually had gotten into ady¡¯s room. She med Li Shiyu for tossing his clothes randomly, causing her to misunderstand. Right as she was about to turn around and leave, her body stopped. The face she just saw didn¡¯t make her feel ufortable like Li Yinfei¡¯s face did in the past. It was as though how the face she saw just now was what Li Yinfei¡¯s face should be, being able to naturally imprint her face into someone¡¯s mind making them unable to forget about her.


    The title of woman whose beauty was iparable was probably meant for the person on the bed. Ling Lan had always thought her looks weren¡¯t bad, butpared to the woman in the bed, she decided that she should just stay as a woman dressed as a man.


    Ling Lan was already sure that the person on the bed was definitely not Li Yinfei. This also exined why she felt ufortable when she saw Li Yinfei¡¯s face. Li Yinfei definitely tried to change her face into the person on the bed. However, no matter how much modifications were done, they were still modifications, it definitely couldn¡¯t be as natural as the original.


    After knowing that it was somedy from the Li family, she lost interest no matter how beautiful thedy was. Right as she was about to leave once again, her expression suddenly changed slightly. Her domain suddenly activated in an instant, enclosing the surrounding area. At the same time, she turned around and tore off the cloth on the bed.


    The beautiful woman on the bed had cold sweat dripping down her forehead as she frowned with a pale expression. It was as though she was enduring immense pain.


    ¡°Boss, this aura is very familiar.¡± Little Four was like a little hunting dog who had a sensitive nose, he immediately jumped out to warn Ling Lan.


    ¡°I know.¡± Ling Lan replied as she bit her lip. Did this bastard used this method to remind her of his existence? Actually deceiving her for this long.


    Ling Lan quickly picked up the beautiful person from the bed. She no longer cared to be chivalrous since she knew who it was. She somersaulted and sat behind that person. She held the person softly and let the weak, frail and bony body lean on her chest.


    Ling Lan coldly said beside the person¡¯s ear, ¡°Hold on. Exin to me everything in detail when this is over.¡±


    Perhaps the person had heard Ling Lan¡¯s words. The beautiful person¡¯s lips began to pucker, showing a stubbornness and unwillingness to give up.


    ¡°Take a deep breath and move your Chi.¡± After saying that, Ling Lan held the person¡¯s delicate hands. They were somewhat cold but also soft. Ling Lan discovered that the person¡¯s hands weren¡¯t that much better than her own. Each finger was like crystals. This made Ling Lan hate him even more.


    A man more beautiful than her and had hands more delicate and softer than hers. It was too much for her feminine heart to handle. Alright, she should just stay as a pretend man. If it was said that Ling Lan still had thoughts of reiming her feminine side before, she no longer had that thought anymore.


    Ling Lan also used a Chi flowing technique to send her Chi from the palms of the beautiful person into his body. The beautiful person¡¯s small amount of Qi-Jin was working tirelessly to provide his wounded body with some nutrients. When it met with Ling Lan¡¯s immense Qi-Jin, it was as though it had found its ce andbined with it without a fuss. With Ling Lan¡¯s limitless energy as a back-up, the Qi-Jin began to heal the muscles and nerves that were damaged by his spiritual power. At the same time, he began to have a pained expression and began to fiercely counterattack against the spiritual power inside his body.


    ¡°As expected, his Qi-Jin didn¡¯t want to give up even a little. It¡¯s the same as its master.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what to say. His meditative Chi was very soft and was only responsible for constantly providing nutrients to his body. It didn¡¯t have any attack mechanism. She didn¡¯t think that Chi could be different from the personality of the person. This made her curious about the meditation method for Chi that she learned in her previous life. What kind of meditative method was it?


    However, it was also because they had learned the same method of meditation that there was no rejection of Chi, even though their internal energy behaved differently. Otherwise, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t know how to help him.


    Finally, the berserk spiritual power within the person¡¯s body was pushed out of his body by the meditative method. However, in the brain area, the spiritual power was still in a frenzy. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that she had contained the spiritual power within her Domain, the frenzied spiritual power would definitely have destroyed everything in the room, even the small building that they were in could possibly be destroyed. This type of situation was uring because the master of the spiritual power had lost control of it.


    If spiritual power was not controlled, it was possible that the main consciousness had gone into aa. However, Ling Lan discovered that her words invoked a reaction from the main consciousness. This meant that the main consciousness wasn¡¯t in aa yet. It was probably stuck somewhere and couldn¡¯t get out.


    It was because of this situation that Ling Lan carefully released her own spiritual power to get close to the person¡¯s spiritual power. She had to know what happened to the main consciousness of the person. It should be known that in the past few years, this person¡¯s spiritual power was very stable. A sudden frenzy meant that something had definitely happened.


    After feeling a spiritual power that was not its own invading it, the frenzied spiritual power began to crazily attack Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power. Although Ling Lan only sent out a portion of her spiritual power which seemed weak, it was actually fierce and formidable. It did not budge under the relentless attacks of the person¡¯s spiritual power. Her spiritual power slowly closed in on its destination which was the person¡¯s brain and mindspace.

 Chapter 746 - Forgiveness?

    <h4>Chapter 746: Forgiveness?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Inside the mindscape of the person, there was a thick fog clouding the areapletely blocking her vision. After scanning the area for a while, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t determine where the main consciousness was. However, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t worried as she had another way around it. She controlled her spiritual power to encase her whole body and slowly walk deeper into the fog. This seemingly easy series of action actually made Ling Lan release many droplets of sweat from her body, showing how strained and how much pressure her body was withstanding. It seemed these series of action was not as easy as one would assume.


    After searching for more than ten minutes, she finally found a silhouette of a person huddled in a corner near her. Ling Lan was overjoyed and immediately controlled her spiritual power to move herself closer to the silhouette.


    The silhouette seemed to have felt something and raised his head towards Ling Lan¡¯s direction. Usually, Ling Lan would see a masked Li Lanfeng. However, what she saw was a beautiful face simr to Li Yinfei.


    After realizing that Ling Lan wasing towards him, Li Lanfeng¡¯s face instantly became pale. His knee-jerk reaction was to actually run away from Ling Lan.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng, if you dare to even move a single step away from me, I will destroy you.¡± Li Lanfeng trying to escape from herpletely angered Ling Lan, causing her to immediately threaten him.


    Li Lanfeng, of course, didn¡¯t dare to move again. Knowing Ling Lan, he knew that her threat was not a joke. Although he was shy and unwilling to meet Ling Lan in his current state, he didn¡¯t want to upset her too much.


    ¡°Heh, why so obedient now.¡± Ling Lan looked at Li Lanfeng coldly. She then took out her hand and took advantage of Li Lanfeng¡¯s beautiful face. No, she was actually pinching it to see how it felt.... Ling Lan was definitely a pervert. She forcefully pinched his face, wanting to use pain to tell Li Lanfeng that running away was not a choice.


    ¡°Ling, Ling, Ling Lan...¡± Li Lanfeng who was always joking and confident, was now actually nervous and stuttering.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Ling Lan looked directly at his face with a cold stare. The meaning behind her attitude and expression was that as his regimentmander, she was very angry with the decision he had made. Hence, she took away his liberty to call her by her name.


    It was no surprise that Li Lanfeng understood Ling Lan best and knew what her attitude and expression implied. He instantly shouted in sad tone, ¡°Regimentmander!¡±


    ¡°Tell me, why are you hiding here?¡± Ling Lan looked at the main consciousness that was fully awake and asked irritably.


    ¡°Because you wereing, regimentmander.¡± Every since Li Lanfeng heard the news from Li Shiyu in the afternoon, he began to panic. He was filled with anxiety until it was deep into the night, after tossing and turning in his bed for a couple of hours, he forced himself to sleep so he could escape from reality for a while, but couldn¡¯t even escape it in his dreams. He didn¡¯t want to tell Ling Lan that in his dream, after Ling Lan knew he had lied to her, she used a merciless tone to tell him that their friendship was over. Obviously, he could never ept such an oue. Thus, he continuously tried to change the oue of the dream. Unfortunately, he had not seeded and thus was trapped in his mindscape.


    ¡°It seems that you know that your lie isn¡¯t forgivable.¡± Ling Lanughed coldly. ¡°But, will running away solve it Li Lanfeng!?¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s right hand suddenly pinched Li Lanfeng¡¯s lowered chin as she looked straight into Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes. The immense pressure made Li Lanfeng weak in his knees. Ling Lan then said in a sharp tone, ¡°I really don¡¯t care if mypanions have secrets. This is your own personal issue and I¡¯m not interested in knowing. But, I hate it when in the face of problems, people don¡¯t actively try to figure out a solution to the problem, but instead run away. I DON¡¯T WANT YOU TO BE THAT TYPE OF PERSON!¡±


    Li Lanfeng closed his eyes in shame and resisted. He shook Ling Lan¡¯s right hand off of him. He held his face and said, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to either, but I was scared. I was scared that you wouldn¡¯t forgive me. I was afraid you would abandon me, afraid it would break our bond...¡±


    ¡°But, I really didn¡¯t want to lie to you. Ling Lan, please forgive me, please...¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s tears fell down uncontrobly. As a person who had the Phoenix Thrall Fate, life was not easy. He hated his own face and didn¡¯t want people to look at him differently just by the virtue of his face. If it was possible, he wanted topletely destroy his face. However he had once made a promise that before he seeded in changing his fate, he would definitely not do anything about his face. Otherwise, he would lose every resource the Li family gave him...


    In the end, he still wasn¡¯t decisive enough to make a decision. If he had half of Ling Lan¡¯s firmness, perhaps he wouldn¡¯t have lived such a humiliating life, so lonely and exhausting.


    ¡°Forgive you? What should I forgive you for?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice rang beside Li Lanfeng¡¯s ears. Li Lanfeng immediately opened his eyes. He didn¡¯t when, but he actually woke up and his entire body was leaning against Ling Lan¡¯s chest.


    Although Ling Lan still had coldness in her expression, Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t know why he felt a warm feeling instead when he touched his arms and his strong but powerless chest.


    ¡°What did you lie to me about? Li Lanfeng, tell me, what do you want me to forgive you for?¡± Ling Lan leaned on Li Lanfeng¡¯s head and spoke softly. The breathing out of her mouth brush against Li Lanfeng¡¯s ears. This made Li Lanfeng feel a sort of electricity that he couldn¡¯t describe. He suddenly curled up his body while his face blushed.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t show you my real face when we formed our friendship. Although I didn¡¯t lie on purpose, I still lied to you. I¡¯m really sorry.¡± Li Lanfeng was still a calm individual. Although his current predicament being in Ling Lan¡¯s arms was somewhat awkward and ufortable, he could still quicklypose himself and return to how he was normally.


    ¡°I said it before, I don¡¯t care what your secret is. If this face is your secret, I still do not care, so you didn¡¯t do me any wrong. So there¡¯s no lying or any need for forgiveness. You don¡¯t have to apologize to me.¡± Ling Lan told Li Lanfeng her opinion about the matter.


    Back then, in the virtual mecha world, the two of them never met face to face. However, Ling Lan knew that this friendship between the two of them was very real. How could she be petty and angry at something like this since they never met with their true face in the very beginning? Furthermore, she also hid a secret that she had never told the public. If she couldn¡¯t even tell them her own secrets, she, of course, wouldn¡¯t demand herpanions to tell their own.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes glimmer, ¡°Thank you, Ling Lan.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t thank me. However, I¡¯m curious to know about your rtionship between Li Shiyu.¡± If Li Shiyu lived in the Li family¡¯s mansion on Azure and Li Lanfeng also lived there, then Li Lanfeng was definitely not just a descendant of a branch family like he had once mentioned.


    Li Lanfeng was constantly worried that Ling Lan would break up their friendship because of his fake persona and how he had lied to her. After receiving a decisive answer from her, he no longer had any doubts and was also in a good mood. He told everything to Ling Lan, including his real identity, Li Mn, the first heir of the Li family. However, as for the Phoenix Thrall Fate, Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t say anything about it. It wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t want to tell Ling Lan, but it was because he didn¡¯t know how to exin it. He was afraid that Ling Lan would look down on him after he told him... anyone could look down on him, but only Ling Lan couldn¡¯t!


    Li Lanfeng knew that he was on the urge of drowning. He clung onto hisst remaining lifeline and never wanted to let go. Ling Lan was his only friend. He couldn¡¯t ept the fact that this person who he acknowledged and trusted would look at him with tinted sses. This would break him.


    Although he knew the possibility of that was low and how Ling Lan was not that type of person, he was still scared and swallowed his words.


    Li Lanfeng spoke softly and Ling Lan listened without making a sound. Ling Lan continued to hold Li Lanfeng in her arms. No one wanted to change this and no one was going to change this. It was because Ling Lan was holding Li Lanfeng¡¯s hands and was using her Chi to heal his body. Li Lanfeng, on the other hand, was drowning in the warm yet cool auraing off from Ling Lan. He was enjoying Ling Lan¡¯s care and love. This made him feel that he wasn¡¯t fighting alone against his own fate where now he had a strongpanion supporting him.


    After Li Lanfeng finished exining, the entire room became silent once again.


    ¡°Li Mn! Are you going to be satisfied if I forgive you?¡± After being silent for a long while, Ling Lan finally spoke, but her tone was even colder and sharper than before.


    Is he angry? Li Lanfeng was surprised. His body, that was originally leaning into Ling Lan¡¯s arms instantly froze up.


    ¡°Then what should I do?¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t know on to respond. What did Rabbit¡¯s words mean? Didn¡¯t he say that he didn¡¯t care? Was he lying?


    ¡°What should you do?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression was sharp. If it was said that she wasn¡¯t angry at the beginning, she was now actually angry. ¡°Li Lanfeng, when you were Li Lanfeng, I never had anyints with you. But I now have aint about Li Mn.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Li Lanfeng asked in shock. Weren¡¯t both of these people him?


    Ling Lan stood up and pressed Li Lanfeng onto the bed with her eyes with a hint of killing intent, ¡°That¡¯s because Li Mn had forsaken someone.¡±


    Li Lanfeng was her most important friend, but Li Shiyu was also a team member who she cared greatly about. Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t forsake the others in Lingtian. He only had forsaken his own cousin, Li Shiyu.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Li Lanfeng unable to respond. After a long while, he said, ¡°You¡¯re right, I have forsaken Shiyu.¡± Li Lanfeng had pained expression on his face, a face that everyone in the world would adore actually made Ling Lan pity him. However, this couldn¡¯t change Ling Lan¡¯s opinion about the matter. Ling Lan was someone who was able to endure the allure of beauty.


    ¡°But, I don¡¯t know how to tell him. Should I just give it to him straight and tell him I am Li Lanfeng, who had lied to him from when he was a child and was not actually as weak as he had thought? I don¡¯t know whether or not Shiyu would go insane if he hears that. He had already sacrificed so much because of me...¡± Li Lanfeng had been thinking about this long and hard about this problem. Now, he was being med by Ling Lan and thus felt his defenses around his heart breaking down, so spoke out all he had in his mind in an instant.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng, there is only one chance. If you miss this chance, you might actually lose your younger brother if he finds out in the future.¡± Ling Lan warned. She didn¡¯t want the Li brothers in her team to break their bonds because of this incident. If it did happen, she would be the one who would have the headaches.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression froze. After a long while, he replied, ¡°I will consider it...¡±

 Chapter 747 - Purse Snatch!

    <h4>Chapter 747: Purse Snatch!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°I hope next time when I see you again, you will have already resolved this issue.¡± Ling Lan still hoped that Li Lanfeng could resolve this issue in the next few days. She knew that something like this would be moreplicated and troublesome as time goes on. Sometimes, cutting the Gordian knot wasn¡¯t a bad idea.


    Li Lanfeng understood the meaning behind Ling Lan¡¯s words and nodded. With his pretty face and obedient expression, even Ling Lan, who always quite firm and serious, couldn¡¯t help but loosen up. As expected, when beauty reached a certain level, it definitely could weaken anybody. It was too strong. Although Ling Lan wanted to show Li Lanfeng her firm stance about the situation, she still couldn¡¯t endure the the beauty of his face and couldn¡¯t continue to force a serious expression on her face.


    Seeing that Ling Lan¡¯s attitude had softened up, Li Lanfeng knew that the crisis had been averted. He showed a slight smile that could break the hearts of millions.


    ¡°Ahhhh, I can¡¯t hold on much longer, I¡¯m going to shut down.¡± Little Four, who was watching from Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape, saw Li Lanfeng smile and instantly felt hisputer chip heating up. He quickly returned to the learning space to check on hisputer chip. With fear in his heart, Little Four silently wrote down Li Lanfeng as the most dangerous individual to hisputer chip...


    ¡°Also, don¡¯t smile! You don¡¯t look like a man at all.¡± Ling Lan warned him in serious tone.


    Wuwuwu, it was actually so beautiful. However, in order to not expose herself as a female and also make sure herpanions don¡¯t think she was a gay male, she could only stay away from it. Ling Lan was crying internally. If it was possible, she would want to look at handsome men with a smile that could break millions of hearts. It was nice to look at and made her mood better.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Li Lanfeng obediently stopped smiling, but could not restrain himself from smirking a bit.


    He knew that Rabbit would have random thoughts after seeing his face. Thus, he could only relent himself to the fact that he was too weak and wasn¡¯t manly enough. It was possible that after the vacation, he would be dragged into some ruthlessly training sessions by Rabbit. Rabbit probably wouldn¡¯t stop until Li Lanfeng bes a masculine and muscr man.


    ¡°After we go back, you will train. If you don¡¯t train until you¡¯re fully exhausted every day, then don¡¯t even think about getting to the next level!¡± Ling Lan frowned and red at Li Lanfeng as she added another order. She was very pleased with his looks, but was not impressed with his weak body constitution. She didn¡¯t want her friends to die young, especially if their spiritual power had already advanced again...


    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Li Lanfeng had kept using her Chi meditation technique along with Li Shiyu¡¯s free yet precious medicinal agents, it was possible that this advancement would have instantly destroyed his muscles, turning him into a vegetable who would need medicinal agents wherever he goes. It would just be like Ling Lan¡¯s previous life where she silently waited for her body topletely crumble and perish.


    As expected, it was what he had guessed! The contentness in Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes was even more obvious. He answered ¡°Yes¡± loudly to show that he understood.


    ¡°Also, your spiritual power had just advanced and your body still hasn¡¯t gotten used it yet, so rest more and don¡¯t make too much movement.¡± Ling Lan was very worried for Li Lanfeng. She now discovered that the person that she should worry about the most was no longer the idiotic Luo Lang. Instead, it was Li Lanfeng who seemed to a sly and maniptive person. No, now he should be called Li Mn, a two-faced man.


    After hearing Ling Lan¡¯s caring attitude in his words, Li Lanfeng obediently agreed with him once again.


    Seeing such an obedient Li Lanfeng made Ling Lan feel ufortable. She was still used to that sly, maniptive and conniving Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°If you¡¯re alright now, I¡¯m going to go find Li Shiyu.¡± Ling Lan couldn¡¯t handle the current Li Mn and decided to leave in order to calm down. After this incident, she also learned about herself. She was definitely someone who put beauty first... It was a natural for a woman to be entranced by beauty.


    Right as Ling Lan sat up, Li Lanfeng also sat up and held Ling Lan¡¯s hand with the curtains still closed, ¡°Don¡¯t leave yet. I heard from Shiyu that you¡¯re here on a mission this time. What kind of mission is it that actually made youe to Azure?¡±


    Seeing the care and concern in Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes, Ling Lan felt embarrassed. After all, the only reason for her to take this mission was to hide the fact that she was following him. Now that she had understood Li Lanfeng¡¯s situation as it was his personal matter to resolve and also after him not hiding anything from her after she confronted him about it, it was her who had mistaken.


    After feeling sorry for what she did, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t refuse Li Lanfeng¡¯s care and concern. Sheid back down, faced Li Lanfeng and softly spoke about the details of her mission.


    ¡°Individual 4 star mission. That¡¯s considered an S rank mission. Who knew that the Central Scout Academy on Azure would have such a powerful hidden faction in the academy.¡± Li Lanfeng was a bit concerned and began to think about his time in the academy, hoping to find anything that could help Ling Lan.


    ¡°Back then, when you were in the academy, was there anything odd that happened?¡± Ling Lan also thought of how Li Lanfeng had graduated from that school.


    Li Lanfeng traced back memory in great detail, but in the end, he still shook his head and said, ¡°No! Back then the Central Scout Academy was very normal. Each year, the students weren¡¯t outstanding. If it wasn¡¯t for me, the Central Scout Academy would definitely not be able to break Doha¡¯s record from many years ago...¡± Li Lanfeng spoke with great confidence. Back then, the other scouts who worked with him, although were the strongest of the Central Scout Academy in Azure, they were still could not bepared to those geniuses from Doha Central Scout Academy... He was definitely the main reason why they were able to beat the record that year.


    ¡°That¡¯s means after your year, it began...¡± Ling Lan had already received the list of individuals from Azure¡¯s Central Scout Academy who got into well-known military academies after Li Lanfeng¡¯s year. The year after Li Lanfeng¡¯s year, there were two people who got into well-known military academies. In the third year, there were five. In the fourth year, there were 13 people and the fifth year was when it had erupted and reached a total of 37 people. In the sixth year, the numbers dropped but still managed to churn out 31 people. Then in the years after that, the numbers increased every year. Although the increase wasn¡¯t much, there would still be higher than the previous year. This was untilst year where the number of people who got into well-known military academies and institutions reached 53 people. This number didn¡¯t even count those who got into standard institutions.


    In 8 years of time, Azure¡¯s Central Scout Academy changed from a normal Scout Academy to a well-known Scout Academy in the sector. Their numbers were indeed out of this world.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably because of your amazing test results that caused that faction to focus on the academy. That¡¯s why they began to meddle with Central Scout Academy.¡± Ling Lan quickly determined the cause. This also proved why there was so little people in the beginning and then it suddenly erupted in the fifth year. Five years was enough time for a faction topletely take over a small unguarded Scout Academy.


    ¡°It seems that¡¯s the case.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly. He didn¡¯t think that his hard work and diligence from back in the day to change his fate actually made his academy be a piece of pie that an unknown faction was eyeing.


    ¡°It seems that I need to investigate those who had graduated after you and those who got into well-known military academies. They are all suspects.¡±


    ¡°No, you have to start three years before I graduated. Start investigating in the year when my team broke the virtual barrier.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes flickered with confidence. In that year, the Azure Central Scout Academy raised its reputation in the Federation. Thus, it was possible that from then the faction had already begun making their ns.


    ¡°Indeed, Azure Central Scout Academy stunned the entire Federation that year. It is definitely possible that it was from then the unknown faction began to target the academy.¡± Ling Lan was in agreement with Li Lanfeng¡¯s suggestion. With a clear target, Ling Lan ordered Little Four to go investigate. Of course, he could only do that after she gets away from this ce. Currently, Little Four didn¡¯t have any chance to go into the virtual world...


    Right at that moment, Ling Lan¡¯s expression brightened. She turned around and looked towards the curtains and smirked, ¡°How do you want resolve this?¡±


    Li Lanfeng said in a sad tone, ¡°Does this count as purse snatching?¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re not certain, I can leave.¡± Ling Lan was confident that she could leave without leaving behind any traces.


    Li Lanfeng began to think long and hard. Seeing this, Ling Lan sat up and prepared to leave. Although she didn¡¯t like Li Lanfeng¡¯s hesitation, it was still his own personal issue, as his Boss, she was only reminding him what to do. She couldn¡¯t say anymore, otherwise she would be going over a line.


    Seeing Ling Lan was about to leave, Li Lanfeng was worried and pulled Ling Lan back again. She wasn¡¯t pulled back at all but instead his entire body fell into Ling Lan¡¯s arms because he used too much force.


    A beauty giving in to her? Ling Lan instantly frowned and held Li Lanfeng. Although Li Lanfeng was beautiful, shouldn¡¯t this have been the other way around? She is the woman here!


    Bam, the curtains were opened and Li Shiyu had a stunned expression on his face when he saw their current position, ¡°Elder brother...¡±


    Li Lanfeng immediately got out of Ling Lan¡¯s arms. After he got up, Ling Lan¡¯s dismayed expression was no longer blocked by him. This made Li Shiyu feel even more ufortable, ¡°Captain... you, what you are you guys doing?¡±


    Has the world turned crazy? Does their own cold-blooded regimentmander have impure thoughts about his eldest cousin brother¡¯s beauty? But, what is the meaning of his eldest cousin brother¡¯spromising pose? The innocent Li Shiyu lost himself in all of this...


    ¡°Shiyu!¡± Li Lanfeng, no, Li Mn¡¯s expression changed from red to green. He hadn¡¯t thought about how he would talk to Li Shiyu just yet. He didn¡¯t think that he would have to do it so soon. Now he had no choice but to tell him. Li Mn, who was panicking, held Ling Lan¡¯s hand tightly. It was as though he was trying to siphon power from her to have the courage to face Li Shiyu¡¯s me.


    Li Shiyu saw his eldest cousin brother not letting go of their regimentmander¡¯s hand and concluded that their regimentmander didn¡¯t force his eldest cousin brother to do anything... Could it be that his eldest cousin brother gave his consent? Li Shiyu felt terrible. He bit his lip and said, ¡°Let¡¯s talk outside.¡±


    Sh*t, his warm and soft eldest cousin brother actually was taken advantage of by his regimentmander... Delete all of these images in my head!


    Li Shiyu immediately put the thought to the back of his head. Perhaps their regimentmander was there to find him and had only gotten into the wrong room... Huh? Why did that reason seem weird too?


    Seeing Li Shiyu¡¯s depressed shadow disappearing into the darkness and also Li Lanfeng¡¯s unwillingness to let go of her hand even if he died right there, Ling Lan helpless gestured towards Li Lanfeng toe with her. She wanted Li Lanfeng to tell Li Shiyu the truth.


    It was so depressing for Ling Lan. It was originally something between the two brothers. Why did she be part of it? As expected, she shouldn¡¯t go into rooms randomly. Ling Lan decided that she would never go into someone¡¯s room randomly ever again. She wasn¡¯t careful and got herself trapped in aplicated situation. If her identity was to be exposed in this manner in the future... Ling Lan frowned. She felt that all of her dignity was lost because of Li Lanfeng.


    She should cherish life and stay away from these situations! Ling Lan suddenly had an epiphany!

 Chapter 748 - Little Crybaby!

    <h4>Chapter 748: Little Crybaby!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The atmosphere in Azure¡¯s Central Scout Academy was fervent. Every student had excitement on their faces because the first person who had brought honor to their academy, Li Lanfeng, wasing to the academy today.


    Li Lanfeng led hispanions in their seventh year to break through the virtual barrier. They also broke the record that had always been kept by Doha¡¯s Central Scout Academy. At the same time, he was the only one to get into the best academy of the Federation, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. These records were not broken by anyone to this day. The Azure Central Scout Academy slowly rose up the ranks and became a well-known Central Scout Academy in this sector starting from his year.


    After entering the academy, every Azure Central Scout Academy cadet would be informed of Li Lanfeng¡¯s legendary past by the instructors, and thus encouraging every cadet to set their goal to be the next Li Lanfeng. This also made Li Lanfeng be held at a huge importance in the hearts of the academy¡¯s cadets whenpared to their other seniors. He was even considered to be an idol for some cadets.


    In the high-ss canteen, many special ss cadets had already sat down on their seats. They were somewhat restless and were waiting for the academy to announce the arrival of Li Lanfeng.


    Yu Zhengyuan was among them with Little Jin and his other team members sitting beside him. Yu Zhengyuan, who was originally calm and collected, actually had a hint of anxiousness and embarrassment on his face.


    ¡°Captain, are you actually nervous?¡± Little Jin asked worriedly. Although Li Lanfeng was indeed very strong, in his eyes, Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t that much better than his captain. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that they had performed poorly in their seventh year, they probably could also have achieved what Li Lanfeng had achieved.


    Hearing this, Yu Zhengyuan took a deep breath and replied, ¡°You don¡¯t understand!¡± Perhaps many cadets believed that Senior Li could reach such a height was because he was lucky to some extent. Only Yu Zhengyuan knew that there was no luck involved in his achievements, and Senior Lipletely used his own hard work and determination to bring the world to its knees. This made him see Li Lanfeng more as an idol. The reason was because without Li Lanfeng¡¯s teachings, Yu Zhengyuan might not have been able to walk the path he was currently on. It could be said that Senior Li had changed his future.


    At that moment, Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s memories of when he had just arrived in the Central Scout Academy years ago began toe back to him...


    Yu Zhengyuan who was physically weak, small, average talent, quiet, introverted, and was frequently bullied by a few strong and muscr cadets. Additionally, he was also a student of a standard ss.


    Like always, he was beaten with cuts and bruises all over his body. He struggled as he crawled up from the ground and slowly left the training dojo. He wanted to find a ce where no one knew about and cry his heart out.


    Back then, he was a real crybaby!


    On that life-changing day, he was beaten to the point where he waspletely disorientated. Unknowingly, he walked into the forest area of the academy. The forest area was usually the ce of the upper graders and forbid the lower graders from entering. Perhaps it was a coincidence or perhaps no one paid attention to him when he walked into the forest area, he sessfully walked past every security point and into the deep parts of the forest area. When he found out he had went the wrong way, it was already toote. He had already gotten lost in the forest area.


    Back then, he was walking aimlessly in the forest area and couldn¡¯t get out for a long time. He was so hungry and afraid. In the end, he was so tired that he fell asleep beside arge tree. He didn¡¯t know how long he had slept for, but when he woke up he heard some noises. He walked towards the direction of the noises and discovered that there was an upper grade senior going through their basic physical skills training again and again. Every motion was perfect enough to be printed into a textbook. However, even though the movements were perfect, the senior seemed to be dissatisfied. The senior continued until he was fully exhausted.


    Perhaps he was too entranced, or too afraid to be alone in the forest, or perhaps he was curious as to why a senior would focus on training his basic physical skills, Yu Zhengyuan, who usually kept to himself, actually didn¡¯t choose to leave. Instead, he watched the senior cadet go through the training again and again, until he waspletely entranced by it.


    ¡°You¡¯ve already watched for this long. You shoulde out now.¡± The senior cadet sat on the floor, but his face was facing Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s direction while he spoke in a calm manner. It seemed that from the very beginning, when Yu Zhengyuan had set his eyes on him, the senior cadet had already discovered him. Yu Zhengyuan didn¡¯t know why the senior cadet didn¡¯t stop him from watching and allowed him to watch for such a long time.


    What really confused Yu Zhengyuan was that this senior cadet had a metal face mask covering half of his face. Usually, only people with distorted features would need these types of high-tech equipment to live like a normal person. In order to make changing and examining equipment easier, these people would often don a metal face mask like the one on the senior cadet. He didn¡¯t know whether this senior cadet had problems with his eyes, his ears or perhaps his vocal cord.


    Yu Zhengyuan walked out from behind the huge tree with a confused look on his face. Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s outer appearance wasn¡¯t the best because of his fear and the fact that he was hungry, tired and had tear marks on his face.


    ¡°You¡¯re new here?¡± This senior cadet in front of him wasn¡¯t as cold and proud as normal senior cadets. Instead, he was full of smiles and waved at him. He didn¡¯t know why the senior cadet had half of his face covered, but he could still see him smile. Well, the senior cadet did indeed smile at him warmly. This warm feeling was something Yu Zhengyuan would never forget.


    Yu Zhengyuan walked towards him without having any guard up. He nodded at the senior cadet, telling the senior cadet that he was right. Before the senior cadet could speak, Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s stomach began to rumble, causing him to blush from embarrassment.


    ¡°You¡¯re hungry and lost. You¡¯re really something, actually walking into the forest area...¡± The masked senior cadet beganugh. He took out a portion of food that he had prepared from his bag and handed it to Yu Zhengyuan. This act of kindness moved Yu Zhengyuan to the point of him bursting into tears. Ever since he entered the academy, this senior cadet was the first person to be kind to him.


    ¡°You can cry your heart out!¡± A warm hand patted Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s head. Before the senior cadet said that, Yu Zhengyuan held in his tears in fear that it would irritate the senior cadet. He didn¡¯t think that not only did the senior not be irritated, he was evenforting him.


    ¡°Waaah...¡± After receiving the other person¡¯s consent, he cried his heart out. It wasn¡¯t like the previous times when he hid in a corner and cried without making noise. He cried loudly as though to let out all of the misfortunes and feelings of being wronged from the past.


    After letting out all of his emotions, Yu Zhengyuan finally stopped his crying. He began to wipe away his tears as he blushed as he looked towards the senior cadet who treated him warmly with a look of embarrassment.


    The senior cadetughed lightly and poked Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s forehead softly, ¡°Did you cry enough? If you did, that¡¯s good. Remember, you can¡¯t cry anymore in the future. Since we¡¯re already in Scout Academy, then we don¡¯t have the right to be babies anymore when everything could be resolved by crying.¡±


    Yu Zhengyuan nodded with great force, with his eyes glistening.


    The senior cadet saw the bruises and cuts from Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s face that were still there and asked, ¡°You were bullied?¡±


    Yu Zhengyuan eyes reddened. However, he remembered that the senior cadet told him that he couldn¡¯t cry anymore. He could only hold the two droplets of tears in his eyes and said pitifully, ¡°My physical constitution sucks, my talent isn¡¯t good and I don¡¯t know how to speak to people. I don¡¯t know how to talk with the other students... so there might be some misunderstanding. They alwayse to me and look for trouble.¡±


    ¡°Physical constitution, talent and way of speaking are all useless. The most important thing you need to have is capabilities. Then, you won¡¯t be bullied by anyone.¡± The senior cadet suddenly became cold. This sudden change in pressure made Yu Zhengyuan be so afraid that he didn¡¯t dare to speak.


    ¡°Did I scare you?¡± The senior cadet smiled lightly, ¡°That¡¯s the real way of surviving in the academy. If you don¡¯t want people to bully you, then be strong for me.¡±


    ¡°But my physical constitution...¡± Yu Zhengyuan had no confidence in himself.


    ¡°Bam!¡± Yu Zhengyuan was flicked on the forehead with great force, ¡°I don¡¯t want to listen to your excuses. I just want to see whether or not you¡¯ve made an effort.¡± The masked senior cadet stood up and put on his clothes with white edges. He was actually a valedictorian... Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s eyes showed an expression of admiration.


    ¡°When I first enter the academy, I was just like you. I was also weak and bed-ridden. Everyone looked down on me, but I still managed to stand at the highest point of this academy...¡± After hearing those words, Yu Zhengyuan realized he had already gotten out of forest area.


    So strong! He didn¡¯t even feel anything and actually was taken out of the forest by the senior. Yu Zhengyuan was pumped. Could he also reach the level of that senior cadet?


    He thought about the fact that the senior cadet was practicing basic physical skills. Is that the secret to his sess? Although Yu Zhengyuan was quiet and introverted, he had already made a decision that he would not change himself for other people. He began to work hard on his basic physical skills. When other cadets had the chance to learn mid-level to high-level physical skills, Yu Zhengyuan was still practicing basic physical skills. Everyoneughed at Yu Zhengyuan for wasting his time. However, after training for five years, Yu Zhengyuan finally discovered the advantages of training his basic physical skills to perfection. After practicing to its perfect form, basic physical skills could actually increase a person¡¯s physical constitution and talent...


    After discovering this, he searched through the virtual world for any information regarding it, but he couldn¡¯t find anything... He was stunned and knew that that he may have discovered a secret that strong individuals might have hidden away. Being the intelligent person that he was, he also kept this secret to himself and didn¡¯t dare to tell anyone. Of course, he also knew that even if he had said something, it was possible that no one would believe him.


    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that he saw Senior Li practice the basic physical skills countless of times with the perfect motions and movements, carving it into his memories, or else he might not be able to perfect his basic physical skills within a decade. He also wouldn¡¯t know about the otherworldly secret that was hidden within it.


    Yu Zhengyuan knew very well that the reason he was able to change his fate in the sixth year, enter the special-level ss, acquire the position of valedictorian, and even have apletely different path in the future, was because of the fated meeting back then, with him receiving the opportunity to observe Senior Li and Senior Li giving him pointers about what to do to solve his problem.


    That person was the person who brought an iparable honor to Azure¡¯s Central Scout Academy, Li Lanfeng! After knowing who that person was, Yu Zhengyuan saw him as his idol for life. He had already decided that he would definitely get into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and walk the path of his idol. And in the future, enter the 23rd Division and go to the n Li Lanfeng resided in...


    Yu Zhengyuan clenched his fists and thought to himself, ¡°I definitely need to do that to not make Senior Li look bad.¡±


    Of course, if he could see him today, he would definitely tell Li Lanfeng that the crybaby from the past was now a tough valedictorian who would never cry again.

 Chapter 749 - Stupid Little Brother!

    <h4>Chapter 749: Stupid Little Brother!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    At that moment, Ling Lan was currently sitting at a corner in a high-ss restaurant. There were three people with different aura beside her. The four of them had fourpletely different and unique auras. This uniquebination attracted many people¡¯s attention.


    Ling Lan lowered her head and squeezed Little White furiously as she vented her frustration. (Little White sobbed. Why am I always the only one getting hurt?)


    These three people said that they wanted to bring her to see the once-famous character of the Central Scout Academy of Azure, Li Lanfeng. Ling Lan was speechless. However, she couldn¡¯t tell them that she was extremely familiar with Li Lanfeng, right?


    When she saw how agitated the valedictorian, Yu Zhengyuan, was, Ling Lan felt a little better. Her love for gossip got ignited. Did Li Lanfeng interact with this junior of his before? She remembered how Li Shiyu worked hard for Li Lanfeng for so many years. It¡¯s possible that such a thing happened before. Ling Lan sighed. Why must all the gentle and sincere young men be tricked by sly people?


    ¡°He¡¯s here.¡± A scout rushed in excitedly.


    The cadets that were talking about a moment ago turned silent immediately. Everyone looked towards the door and waited in anticipation. The principal of the Central Scout Academy walked in excitedly with a masked young man.


    ¡°He¡¯s Li Lanfeng!¡± There was a hugemotion. However, Ling Lan was not attracted to the warm and gentle Li Lanfeng. Instead, her gazended on Li Shiyu who was giving off a cold aura.


    Li Shiyu had a cold expression but he still followed closely behind Li Lanfeng. He seemed to be protecting him.


    Ling Lan yed with Little White¡¯s fur when she saw this. She was curious. Did the two of them make up with each other already? That night, they didn¡¯t end on a good note.


    Ling Lan recalled that dark and windy night a few days ago...


    Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng walked into the study outside the bedroom. Li Shiyu was already sitting there with a stern face. When he saw the two of them appearing, his gaze turned dark.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Li Shiyu¡¯s ckface. His heart dropped. He quickly left the room with the excuse of helping Li Shiyu and Ling Lan get some tea. He needed to calm down and think of a solution first.


    Hence, Ling Lan and Li Shiyu were left alone in the study. The atmosphere was awkward.


    Ling Lan looked down on Li Lanfeng¡¯s actions. Since the situation hade to this point, he should just have the courage to face the consequences. Why did he run away at such a crucial moment? Did he think that he could hide from this forever? Also, what did this have to do with her? Why did she seem like a sinner now?


    Ling Lan took a deep breath and threw her uneasiness to the back of her mind. She chose a chair casually and sat down. Then, she nodded at Li Shiyu. ¡°Sit.¡±


    Li Shiyu¡¯s eyes twitched when he saw Ling Lan acting like the host. However, he felt better when he saw how tant Ling Lan was. He chose to sit opposite of Ling Lan. He stared at her intently and asked, ¡°Regimentmander, why are you here...¡±


    Actually, what Li Shiyu really wanted to ask was: why are you on my eldest cousin¡¯s bed?


    Ling Lan replied indifferently, ¡°I came to look for you. I saw your windbreaker on the chair outside so I thought that it was your room.¡±


    This was the truth. She didn¡¯t know that Li Lanfeng was Li Mn. Also, she arrived when Li Lanfeng lost control of his spiritual power and started advancing forcefully. Ling Lan had a keen sense of spiritual power so she instantly felt this. She had interacted with Li Lanfeng using their spiritual power many times so Ling Lan remembered Li Lanfeng¡¯s spiritual element. Thus, the moment Li Lanfeng lost control, Ling Lan knew who the person was.


    Li Shiyu felt slightly guilty when he heard Ling Lan¡¯s reply. He thought badly of his Boss just now. However, it was hard not to misunderstand him. The scene just now was...


    Wait, something is not right! Li Shiyu suddenly realized that something was wrong. With his Boss¡¯s ability, he should know that the person on the bed wasn¡¯t him. Shouldn¡¯t his Boss have left quietly? Additionally, his eldest cousin brother would not be able to detect his Boss¡¯s presence too as his eldest cousin brother didn¡¯t practice any physical skills.


    It had to be said that Ling Lan¡¯s powerful image was etched deeply into the minds of all the members. At the same time, Li Lanfeng disguised himself well. Li Shiyu¡¯s suspicion arose again.


    Ling Lan knew that Li Shiyu was suspicious but she didn¡¯t n to exin as Li Lanfeng should be the one exining.


    The study turned quiet again. As Li Shiyu was deciding if he should insist on getting to the bottom of the matter, Li Lanfeng... who was also Li Mn, entered with a tray. There were three cups of hot tea on it.


    He passed the first cup to Li Shiyu before walking to the study table. He ced the tray on the table and walked towards Ling Lan with the two remaining cups. He passed one cup to her and sat down beside her.


    Li Shiyu was speechless. Did his Boss manage to seduce his eldest cousin brother in a single night? No, it¡¯s not seducing, it¡¯s attracting... wait, no, that is not right too. Whatever it was, he didn¡¯t feel happy thinking about what had happened.


    Ling Lan realized that Li Lanfeng¡¯s actions were too natural. It was a habit that umted over the years. It was hard to change within a short period of time.


    Ling Lan sighed. If Li Shiyu was not blinded by disbelief and frustration, he would be able to see through the disguise. No, the truth was, Li Shiyu unconditionally believed in Li Mn. Hence, he never thought that Li Mn would lie to him.


    How could Li Mn bear to trick such a good little brother? How could he bear to trick him for so long? Ling Lan started to support Li Shiyu. She reprimanded Li Mn in her mind for what he had done once again.


    Ling Lan looked at Li Mn with an unhappy expression. Li Mn gave her a helpless look. That year, he was so focused on defying his fate so he didn¡¯t care about Li Shiyu. By the time he regained his senses, Li Shiyu had already walked on the path of no return. He felt remorse about Li Shiyu¡¯s situation.


    The three of them drank their tea silently for a while. Li Shiyu was not as calm and patient as Ling Lan and Li Mn. Hence, as expected, he was the first one to break the silence. ¡°So, what is your rtionship with my eldest cousin brother, regimentmander? When did you know my eldest cousin brother?¡±


    Ling Lan and Li Mn didn¡¯t talk much, but their silent interaction showed how close they were. Anyone with a brain could see that there was something going on between them.


    Ling Lan remained quiet. Li Mn slowly raised his head. His expression was no longer gentle. There seemed to be a sarcastic expression on it. ¡°My stupid little brother, you still can¡¯t see it?¡±


    What a bad opening speech! Ling Lan was speechless. When facing his closest little brother, Li Lanfeng, who always had a clear mind, turned stupid. He chose the worst method to solve the problem. Ling Lan could almost imagine how these two brothers would fall out and never talk to each other again...


    As expected, Li Shiyu widened his eyes as he looked at the change of attitude in his eldest cousin brother. He cursed in his heart. Where did his gentle and warm eldest cousin brother go?


    Li Mn shook his head. He stood up and slowly walked towards Li Shiyu. He bent down slightly and smiled. ¡°Military Doctor Li, don¡¯t disappoint our leader.¡±


    Li Shiyu¡¯s face changed. This tone, this voice, this expression. He was familiar with it. He gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, ¡°Li Lanfeng!¡±


    ¡°As expected, you are my stupid little brother.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled gently and touched Li Shiyu¡¯s forehead. Li Shiyu felt a cold fingernding on his forehead. He suddenly remembered how his eldest cousin brother always pulled him up whenever he falls down and then tap his forehead while saying, ¡°Stupid little brother...¡±


    Li Shiyu¡¯s eyes turned red. He stood up immediately and pushed Li Mn away. He shouted, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m stupid. That¡¯s why I believed in your lies. That¡¯s why I thought that you are sick and worked so hard towards bing a military doctor...¡±


    He looked at Ling Lan furiously. ¡°You two knew the truth, only I didn¡¯t. Do you all think that it¡¯s funny to watch an idiot working so hard for something non-existent?¡±


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice entered Li Shiyu¡¯s mind. It calmed his anger down.


    ¡°If your brother didn¡¯t meet me, his ending would be just like what you imagined,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently. She decided to help Li Lanfeng. She could tell that if she let Li Lanfeng handle this on his own, the result would be disastrous. She didn¡¯t want the two important members on her team to be in conflict. Hence, she had no choice but to step in.


    Since she was unable to escape from this responsibility, it¡¯s better for her to solve it directly. Ling Lan preferred to solve things immediately. She didn¡¯t like to drag it until the end like Li Lanfeng.


    Li Mn looked at her with gratitude. Indeed, he didn¡¯t know how to face Li Shiyu.


    Li Shiyu had already calmed down. He recalled what his eldest cousin brother had told him when he came back. Seems like not everything was a lie. However, Li Shiyu still felt his heart aching. It was not because of the lies. It was because all these while, his eldest cousin brother, Li Mn, had been beside him. Yet, he didn¡¯t tell him anything.


    If he didn¡¯t bump into his eldest cousin brother and his boss today, would he be hidden from the truth his whole life? Wouldn¡¯t he really be a stupid little brother in Li Mn¡¯s eyes if that was the case?

 Chapter 750 - Thank You!

    <h4>Chapter 750: Thank You!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Although Li Lanfeng wanted to tell you the truth before you came back, this can¡¯t be solved with just an apology.¡± Ling Lan suddenly changed her tone. Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu suddenly realized that they were pulled up from their seats. In the next moment, they realized they had arrived in front of a huge door.


    They knew where this door would lead to. It would lead them to the training area of the Li family¡¯s house. At this time of the night, the training area was extremely quiet.


    The door suddenly opened. The lights inside lit up, revealing a spacious training area. Li Mn and Li Shiyu were not surprised that the door and lights opened. Everyone in their team knew that their boss was an ace hacker.


    A force pushed them into the training area. Ling Lan stood at the door and coldly said, ¡°We are soldiers. We don¡¯t need any nonsense with words. Settle your feuds with your fists.¡±


    The moment she finished speaking, the door closed with a bang. Only Li Mn and Li Shiyu were left in the training area.


    ¡°Since our Boss gave his order,e, my stupid little brother. Use me to vent your anger.¡± Li Mn had walked to the center of the training area and he smiled at Li Shiyu.


    Li Shiyu clenched his fist. ¡°I will!¡± If I don¡¯t leave a mark on your face with my fist, how can I repay the lies you told me?


    Ling Lan stood near the door. She heard a hugemotion inside and knew that the two brothers had started their fight. To prevent the guards from hearing the noises, she used her domain realm ability to block the area, preventing any sounds from leaking out.


    ¡°Boom!¡± Li Shiyunded on the ground heavily. Li Mn touched his cheek which got scraped by Li Shiyu¡¯s fist and smiled sarcastically. ¡°Are you nning to defeat me like this?¡±


    ¡°Ahh!¡± The badly bruised Li Shiyu climbed up from the ground and rushed forward again.


    Li Mn spoke as he dodged the attacks. ¡°Your physical skills didn¡¯t improve much. You have beenzy, my brother.¡±


    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for you, I wouldn¡¯t have to ignore my physical skills and focused on making medical agents.¡± Li Shiyu red at Li Mn angrily. Wasn¡¯t all of these because of him? Why is he reprimanding him now? The more he thought about it, the more furious he got. ¡°However, I¡¯ll be different in the future. I¡¯ll improve my skills and hit you every time I see you.¡±


    ¡°And then? You can only do that in the future...¡± Li Mn scoffed.


    ¡°Yes, I have to wait for the future...¡± A cold light shed past Li Shiyu¡¯s eyes. ¡°However, that doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t do it now.¡± He moved his wrist and a silver light shed passed.


    ¡°I forgot that you are a military doctor.¡± Li Mn raised his hand helplessly. He saw a small syringe on his left arm. He took it out lightly and said in a soft voice, ¡°My stupid little brother, you are finally smart for once.¡±


    Li Shiyu didn¡¯t reply to him. He charged forwards, wanting to punch Li Mn¡¯s face. Suddenly, Li Mn raised his head and gave Li Shiyu a bright smile. Li Shiyu froze. His fist stopped in front of the beautiful face.


    A cold fingernded on his forehead. Li Mn smiled. ¡°I just said that you are smart but now, you became stupid again. As expected of my stupid little brother, you must not be soft-hearted towards your enemies. If not, you will be in a lot of fanger in the future.¡±


    Li Shiyu screamed in his heart. Are you even my enemy? If it was not you, would I be soft-hearted? Elder brothers are indeed irritating.


    ¡°But I¡¯m happy.¡± The sarcasm in Li Mn¡¯s smile was gone. It was reced with a sincere look. ¡°Thank you, my cute little brother.¡±


    Li Mn fell towards Li Shiyu with a satisfied smile. Li Shiyu had no choice but to catch him. He looked at Li Mn who was unconscious due to being under the influence of his agent. His expression changed multiple times. In the end, he gritted his teeth and said, ¡°Don¡¯t think that one thank you is enough to make me forget about everything... I will slowly take my revenge.¡±


    This was what he said but Li Shiyu knew that his anger had mostly disappeared. The sincere thank you from his cousin caused his heart to pound furiously. From the moment he saw his beautiful elder brother when he was young, he knew he was destined to always concede to him.


    Li Shiyu carried Li Mn and opened the door. He realized that his boss was gone. He must have wanted to give the two of them a quiet environment and to give them a chance to save their dignity. After all, after this fight, they looked haggard.


    ¡°A fight solves everything? I don¡¯t understand their way of settling things.¡± Little Four couldn¡¯tprehend the Li brother¡¯s way ofpromising with each other. If his closest family member lied to him, he would throw a huge tantrum and might even end their rtionship.


    Little Four¡¯s voice pulled Ling Lan back to reality. She couldn¡¯t help but tease him, ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯re not a man yet. You¡¯re still a child.¡±


    Little Four stomped his feet angrily. This is humiliation. How is he a child? This word should only be used on Little Blossom. He said carefully, ¡°It¡¯s not as though you are a man...¡±


    At first, Ling Lan was in a good mood. However, Little Four¡¯s words made her remembered what she needed to do a yearter. Her mood turned for the worse. F**k, Li Mn¡¯s problem was solved but what about hers? She was decisive when settling other people¡¯s problem but with her own, she was hesitant.


    It¡¯s okay, there is still a year left. One yearter, I¡¯ll tell them the truth. Ling Lan chose to settle it at the end.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng seemed to have some capability. No wonder he was able to enter the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.¡± Meng Shaoran examined Li Lanfeng carefully as he walked in with the principal.


    Ling Lan looked up. She saw the thirst for a fight shing passed his eyes. She squeezed Little White¡¯s fur again. Seems like Meng Shaoran¡¯s physical skills was not at the peak of refinement.


    Then, she realized that Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong gave off the same expression too. Not only them, Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu also had the same thirst for a fight. Ling Lan lowered her eyes and stuffed her face into Little White¡¯s soft fur. The transfer students consisted of spies from other factions too. She wondered if they were her friends or foes...


    Ling Lan was sure that the person from the Flying Dragon Special Forces was among these five people: Gu Zhengrong, Meng Shaoran, Leng Hanfeng, Su Pei, and Xiao Yiqiu. She had her eyes on one of them because she felt that this person was the most suspicious. But, before she had any clear evidence, she would not let down her guard on the other four people.


    Li Lanfeng spoke with a few valedictorians of different grades. Then, he decided to stay behind to experience eating at the Scout Academy again. Soon, the entire cafeteria was filled with students. Not only that, normal students crowded around the cafeteria, hoping to catch a glimpse of Li Lanfeng.


    Ling Lan looked at the huge crowd and formed a conclusion in her heart. She was not the only person that wanted to use Li Lanfeng¡¯s appearance as a distraction to carry out her actions. Other people wanted to use it too. Even the faction controlling the school might be using Li Lanfeng to test the new transfer students and their new teachers.


    What happened was, after surveying the surroundings for a week, Little Four didn¡¯t notice anything amiss. Ling Lan knew that waiting around would not allow her toplete her mission. She needed to lure her enemies out. Hence, she asked Little Four to leak the news that Li Lanfeng was back on Azure on a holiday. This news was published in a newspaper and only took up a small corner. Normal people would not care for it but to the Central Scout Academy, this was a good opportunity to motivate the scouts. If the faction controlling the school wanted to increase their strength, they would not let go of this opportunity.


    Reality proved that Ling Lan¡¯s method had worked. The Central Scout Academy personally came to look for Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng had gotten news from Ling Lan already so after rejecting the offer politely a few times, he pretended to relent in the end.


    ¡°I¡¯m not used to eating in such a noisy atmosphere. I¡¯ll leave first.¡± Leng Hanfeng put down his chopsticks and frowned at the crowded canteen. He seemed unhappy.


    ¡°You are going back to the apartment? Let¡¯s go together.¡± Ling Lan looked at Leng Hanfeng tedly. She looked as though she had been bearing with the noise for a long time but was too shy to speak up.


    Leng Hanfeng looked at the time on hismunicator and shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s almost time to meet my instructor. I¡¯m not returning to the apartment.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes dimmed. She sounded disappointed. She suddenly turned to look at Gu Zhengrong. Gu Zhengrong shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I have something on too. My friend asked me out.¡±


    Ling Lan teased him, ¡°Ady?¡± The youngdies on Azure seemed to like men like Gu Zhengrong. Within half a month, Gu Zhengrong already had a girlfriend. All his roommates were envious of him. They always mocked him and said that he was dating too early.


    ¡°A child like you won¡¯t know anything. Go back to the apartment and y with your handicraft.¡± Gu Zhengrong got exposed by Ling Lan so he replied to her angrily.


    Ling Lan gave him a look of contempt. Who is afraid of such a useless threat? She looked at Meng Shaoran and wanted to ask if he was going back.

 Chapter 751 - Baiting!

    <h4>Chapter 751: Baiting!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Before Ling Lan could open her mouth, Meng Shaoran repliedzily, ¡°I¡¯m not going back. Don¡¯t you think this ce is very exciting?¡± He pointed at Li Lanfeng who was answering the question given by his juniors patiently. ¡°I will ask him some thingster. Brother Shaoyun, are you not interested in Li Lanfeng?¡±


    Ling Lan shook her head immediately. ¡°I want to get into the Mecha Designing Academy...¡± Her path was different from Li Lanfeng¡¯s path. Why would she be interested in him?


    ¡°In that case, you should go back alone, our dear future mecha designer.¡± Meng Shaoran knocked on Ling Lan¡¯s forehead lightly.


    After living together for half a month, they knew what Ling Lan¡¯s dream was.


    Suddenly, the three of them tensed up. However, very quickly, they rxed. They looked around curiously. Just now, they felt two killing intents concentrating on them, but itsted only for a second. Were they discovered?


    Only Ling Lan looked as though she didn¡¯t sense anything. She pulled Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong who were puzzled before bidding farewell to Meng Shaoran. Then, she left the high-ss cafeteria.


    ¡°Interesting! Li Lanfeng, who did youe back for?¡± The only person who stayed back, Meng Shaoran, smiled and ced his hand on his chin. He looked at Li Lanfeng as he muttered to himself.


    On the way back, Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong said their goodbyes to Ling Lan. Ling Lan hugged Little White while returning to her room.


    ¡°Little Four, where are they?¡± If she was right, the destination of these people was the forest area. It used to be the territory of the upper graders but now, it was forbidden ground. This was an obvious target. Even if the other party knew that it was a trap, they had to take the risk. If not, they would not be able to feel at ease.


    Little Four immediately showed her the location of these two people in her mindscape. Ling Lan saw them walking to the training ground. Leng Hanfeng entered a secret room with an instructor and Gu Zhengrong sneaked into thedies¡¯ dormitory. It seemed like he was really going to meet his girlfriend.


    After some time, a gentle-looking instructor walked out of the training ground, and at thedies¡¯ dormitory, a cold and arrogantdy with long hair walked out. After strolling around for a while, they sneaked into the forest.


    Their appearance and aura were entirely different but Ling Lan could still tell from their behavioral habits that they were Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong.


    ¡°Looks like they used all kinds of methods to disguise themselves.¡± Ling Lan touched her chin. It seems like she was not the only one who could act as her roommates were on par with her.


    ¡°Boss, one of them must be from the Flying Dragon Special Forces,¡± Little Four said excitedly.


    ¡°Maybe not.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t agree with him.


    ¡°Why not?¡± Little Four asked curiously.


    ¡°Look at what other three people are doing and you will know.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t believe that Su Pei, Xiao Yiqiu, and Meng Shaoran would let go of this opportunity.


    As expected, Little Four told her that these three people left the high-ss canteen one after another. The only difference was, Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu left voluntarily. Meng Shaoran seemed to have noticed their weird actions and followed them out of curiosity.


    They were not the only ones who were walking to the forest. All kinds of people in disguises were on the way there. No one wanted to let go of this opportunity so all of them acted together.


    ¡°What a perfect baiting n,¡± Ling Lan said.


    ¡°Boss, do you think that the other party did this on purpose?¡± Little Four asked nervously. If that was the case, do they still have to visit the forest?


    ¡°Yes, the other party wanted to use this opportunity to remove all the spies in the school,¡± Ling Lan analyzed the situation calmly.


    ¡°This is bad. Don¡¯t they know that it is a trap?¡± Little Four couldn¡¯t help but worry for Leng Hanfeng, Gu Zhengrong, and Meng Shaoran. After interacting with them for half a month, he couldn¡¯t treat them like strangers anymore.


    ¡°They probably know it but they still have to go.¡± Ling Lan took out her toolkit under her bed. There were many tools and metal objects inside. It looked messy but the parts inside could be assembled into a long-range beam gun, which was newly invented by Chang Xinyuan. Once it is dismantled and is mixed with other metal objects, no one would be able to discern it.


    Ling Lan moved quickly. Soon, her hands couldn¡¯t even be seen. Her hand speed reached its fastest speed where the naked eyes couldn¡¯t follow it.


    Soon, a beam gun appeared in her hands. She took off her scout uniform and wore a normal ck windbreaker. In the next second, she disappeared from her room.


    Just like what Ling Lan said, even though she knew that this was a trap, she still needed to take the risk.


    It had been five years since the forest turned into a forbidden ground. Without the tampering of the cadets, the forest became a yground for the wild animals. This was their home now. Yet, today, this quiet forest was barraged with a bunch of uninvited guests. Many birds saw them and started chirping, alerting the residents of the forest of their presence.


    Leng Hanfeng entered the forest carefully as the forest was filled with ferocious beasts. For a forest that¡¯s within a Scout Academy¡¯spound, this was weird. There must be something amiss with the academy.


    After walking for a distance, Leng Hanfeng took out a simple map from his clothes. It was drawn by the people who came before him. A few underground bases were drawn on the map. His current mission was to investigate these suspicious locations.


    At another corner of the dense forest, Su Pei took out a map too. Hepared it with his surroundings. ¡°Is this the ce?¡±


    Xiao Yiqiu had a map in his hands as well. He nced around him and smiled faintly. Then, he walked towards one of the targets.


    Meng Shaoran stealthily followed behind Su Pei. He stood on a branch and watched as Su Pei took out a map. He seemed to be looking for something. Meng Shaoran was confused. He didn¡¯t understand why Su Pei had such a map. Su Pei found his destination and started to walk towards it. Meng Shaoran hesitated for a moment before deciding to follow him.


    ¡°He has something I don¡¯t even have... interesting.¡± Meng Shaoran always did things based on his interest, just like now.


    Leng Hanfeng cautiously walked deeper into the forest. He took out his map again to ascertain his position. Suddenly, he leaped up and rolled towards a tree.


    Grass and dirt flew up at the spot he was standing at just now. Leng Hanfeng could feel the cold sweat on his forehead. He sensed that a sniper rifle was aiming at him just now. Luckily, the other party used a not-so-powerful ejection gun as it didn¡¯t create too much noise. If he had used a beam gun, this thick tree might have not been able to block the attack.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect the enemies¡¯ defenses to be so strong. The moment I got near them, I got discovered.¡± Leng Hanfeng knew that this sniper was a powerful person. He could only feel his killing intent in the instant he fired that shot.


    ¡°Since the enemies put in much effort to stop me, I hope that everyone else would have a smoother journey.¡± Leng Hanfeng frowned. He hated fighting with snipers as it was a troublesome task. Fortunately, there was only one sniper so he was still able to handle it.


    Leng Hanfeng calmed down and started sensing his surroundings. He confirmed that there was only one enemy.


    The sniper afar stared coldly at the tree. He didn¡¯t even blink. He was confident that as long as the person peeked out for even a second, he could shoot him urately. This was the confidence of an outstanding sniper.


    There! The sniper saw his opponent rushing out from behind the tree at a fast speed. He then pulled down the trigger.


    The bullet seemed to have hit his opponent. However, it just phased through the target andnded on the ground without any bloodstain.


    This is bad! The sniper knew that he made a wrong prediction. However, he didn¡¯t get agitated. Instead, he aimed his sniper rifle in the other direction and hold down the trigger, waiting for his opponent to show an opening.


    ¡°Toote.¡± A cold voice appeared behind him. In the next moment, he felt a sting in his neck. Then, he became unconscious.


    Leng Hanfeng gently put down the sniper¡¯s body. The force of presence on him was no longer that of the peak of refinement. Instead, it was the peak of Qi-Jin. This was the reason why the sniper made the wrong decision and lost the battle in the end.


    While he was closing the eyes of the sniper, Leng Hanfeng felt something targeting him. His expression changed. He immediately disappeared from the spot and tried his best to escape from the danger. The sniper was just a bait. His body had a device that could sense whether he was alive or not. Once they were pronounced dead, a formidable character would rush to their position and kill the intruder.


    Leng Hanfeng ran quickly. Suddenly, he slowed down and then stopped. He looked at a certain direction with vignce.


    ¡°Not bad!¡± A middle-aged man walked out from behind a tree. He smiled at Leng Hanfeng.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Leng Hanfeng replied coldly. However, he looked at the other party intently, not missing any movements he made.


    ¡°Our boss likes people who are talented. Are you interested in joining us?¡± The man asked amiably. He seemed to really like Leng Hanfeng. There was no sense of dangering from him.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m not interested.¡± They took such a long time to n this trap. Hence, Leng Hanfeng didn¡¯t believe that they did it just for fun. There must be some huge scheme behind it. There was a high possibility that they wanted to harm Azure as well as the entire Federation. If that was the case, how could he join them?

 Chapter 752 - Materials!

    <h4>Chapter 752: Materials!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Then, that¡¯s too bad.¡± The man¡¯s expression showed a hint of sympathy. It was as though he was unwilling to end the career of this genius, Leng Hanfeng.


    ¡°Bam!¡± Right as the man finished speaking, he had already arrived in front of Leng Hanfeng. He used a strong punch and went straight for Leng Hanfeng¡¯s abdomen.


    Leng Hanfeng knew the instant he refused, his opponent would attack him. Thus, he had already prepared himself. Even before seeing that extremely fast punch from his opponent, he had blocked his abdomen with both of his hands. He managed to stop the brutal punch.


    The force of the punch made Leng Hanfeng slide a few meters backwards, creating tworge skid marks on the ground with his feet as the anchors to the ground.


    ¡°Focus, reaction speed and timing aren¡¯t bad. You really do have immense potential.¡± The man spoke words of approval, yet his fists still mercilessly attacked Leng Hanfeng.


    Leng Hanfeng calmly fought against the man, retreating as he fought. His opponent showed the capabilities of an individual at Qi-Jin stage of optimal peak Great Perfection, greater than Leng Hanfeng by one stage. This was why he was being pressured by his opponent. However, even though he was at a disadvantage, Leng Hanfeng was determined to not lose. He endured the pressure and didn¡¯t show any fatal openings.


    ¡°You are not 16 years old. Which faction sent you here? Is it one of the family¡¯s factions in this sector? Or perhaps the Federation¡¯s military?¡± Even genius cadets at this age wouldn¡¯t behave as calm as this person when faced with such great pressure. Leng Hanfeng was definitely a very experienced fighter.


    Facing spies from different factions, they had already gotten used to it. The sudden rise in ranks of Azure¡¯s Central Scout Academy affected the interests of many elite families in the sector. Their enemies definitely didn¡¯t want them to continue to benefit off them like parasites. As for the Federation, they had meddled with everything continuously for the past years. It was just that it was difficult to break through the Federation¡¯s probing methods.


    Faced with the opponent¡¯s questioning, Leng Hanfeng didn¡¯t make a sound. He red at his opponent coldly and raised his guard up to defend against any sudden attacks by him. Leng Hanfeng also knew that it would be difficult for him to run away. His opponent clearly still had more up his sleeves in case he did something unexpected or perhaps his opponent wanted to get more information out of him. These could be the reason why his opponent hadn¡¯t killed him yet.


    Seeing Leng Hanfeng not giving up any information, the man gave up on trying to coerce information out of him. He smiled helplessly and started to attack again. This time however were not the same as they were before, when he still held back. Now, each hit was targeted towards a possible opening, making each hit dangerous and a possible killing blow.


    Just like that, Leng Hanfeng, who was still able to somewhat defend against the attacks, no longer could stand on equal ground.


    ¡°Bam!¡± After just seven or eight rounds of exchanges, Leng Hanfeng was hit and was sent flying. In the air, he spat out a mouthful of blood. The man got one hit in, and wasn¡¯t about to stop. He moved in closer and sent his fist straight towards Leng Hanfeng¡¯s head. Just from visible shockwaves behind this punch, it was possible that Leng Hanfeng¡¯s head would be smashed to pieces if he does not dodge the punch.


    Right when Leng Hanfeng was about to die at the hands of his opponent, a silver sh suddenly flew past his eyes, and the target was the man.


    If the man was to continue his attack at Leng Hanfeng, he would definitely be hit by the silver light... With a hidden weapon that had just suddenly appeared and wasing towards him at breakneck speed, the man decisively chose to give up on killing Leng Hanfeng. He opened his fist instantly and caught the silver light in his hands. It was a silver needle.


    Leng Hanfeng barely managed to slip away from death. After hended on the ground, he stumbled back four or five steps. His forehead was brimming with cold sweat. It seemed that he was quite afraid of the fact that he almost died at the hands of the opponent.


    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± The man¡¯s sharp re looked towards the direction of the silver needle as he shouted angrily. He realized that there was actually someone else other than them.


    Unfortunately, the only answer he got was the sound of leaves and branches whistling in the wind. The man narrowed his eyes and went silent for a moment. Then, he suddenly screamed and shot towards a direction like a cannonball. He clenched his fist and ruthlessly struck onrge tree within that direction, ¡°Come out!¡±


    ¡°Bam!¡± Therge tree exploded. The force that was created instantly bisected therge tree in half. Within the cloud of wood chips and dust, a silhouette jumped out. The direction he jumped towards was where Leng Hanfeng was standing.


    ¡°Quick, run!¡± A strong hand pulled on Leng Hanfeng. Leng Hanfeng react quickly as he endured the extreme pain in his chest and followed the other person.


    ¡°You¡¯re not getting away that easily.¡± The manughed coldly and instantly caught up to them. In a few seconds, he had already gotten behind Leng Hanfeng and the other person, and then he sent an attack towards them.


    Right as the fist was about hit Leng Hanfeng, the other person turned around instantly, crossed his arms and defended the strong fist attack of the man.


    ¡°Bam!¡± The two forces resisted each other. Therge force that was created caused Leng Hanfeng to lose control of his body and was instantly blown away.


    ¡°Run!¡± The person who came to help him was a stranger who wore a scout uniform. It seems that he was probably a member of the scouts. It was just that something about that scout uniform made Leng Hanfeng feel odd.


    After the stranger said that, he began to fight with the man. The stranger¡¯s capabilities was capable of fending the man for a few rounds even with his physical skills just being at peak stage Qi-Jin. However, he wouldn¡¯t be able to fend him for too long as the man¡¯s physical skills was a stage higher than him. Leng Hanfeng bit his lip, and choose to not run away. Instead, he clenched his fists tightly and went to fight alongside the stranger.


    The teachings he had received from his childhood and his own dignity wouldn¡¯t let him run away and abandon hispanions.


    The stranger who was starting to lose his ground, started to be able to take a breather and endured the attacks of the man, with the help of Leng Hanfeng.


    ¡°Bam, bam, bam!¡± The two of them cooperated and blocked many hits from the man. When the two of them were sent flying backwards by the man, the man also stopped attacking with an annoyed expression on his face. The man discovered that with the two of them fighting together, it was now difficult for him to beat them. It was possible that a slight mistake from him would give them a chance to escape.


    Since he took this assassination mission, he would lose his reputation if he was to let his prey get away. This was something he could not allow to happen. The man seemed to be rash and conceited, but in reality, he was very cautious. It should be known that most Qi-Jin experts who have lived up until now needed to be able to think with their brains.


    On the other side, the person who saved Leng Hanfeng¡¯s life asked softly, ¡°I told you to run, why didn¡¯t you?¡±


    Leng Hanfeng replied coldly, ¡°I haven¡¯t reached the point in my life of being shameless enough to abandon my savior and run for my own life.¡±


    The stranger smiled slightly, ¡°Although I think your choice was stupid, I still admire it.¡± As expected, he didn¡¯t save the wrong person.


    Leng Hanfeng snorted coldly and didn¡¯t answer. His focus was on the man in front of him. The sudden cooperation of the two of them made the opponent unable to take them out temporarily. However, this didn¡¯t mean that the two of them could actually fight against the man on equal grounds. Two peak stage Qi-Jin users was not necessarily good enough opponents for a person at the level of Qi-Jin of optimal peak Great Perfection. The battle that would ensue was going to be their actual test of skill.


    ¡°Be careful.¡± The stranger seemed to also have this realization and softly warned Leng Hanfeng.


    This made Leng Hanfeng be less worried. If the two of them both had this realization then they had somewhat of a chance.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Right as Leng Hanfeng was thinking of ways of how he and his savior could be able to get away safely, their opponent attack them fiercely.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang...¡± Intense sounds of punches and kicks striking against one another instantly echoed through the silent forest.


    At that moment, Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu also had people who were hot on their trail. They were panicking as they ran. The direction the two of them ran towards the same trajectory. Not long after, they two of them actually met up.


    ¡°You!¡± The two of them screamed and at the time shouted, ¡°Move!¡±


    After rooming and training together for half a month, the two of them behaved with unexpected tact. They held each other¡¯s arms and kicked upwards onto the ground at the same time. They were sent flying upwards by each other¡¯s kicks in unnned unison and flew up into mid-air. It was also this jump that made both of them dodge their opponent¡¯s ruthless attack.


    ¡°Bam! Bam!¡± The fists of their opponents struck the ground they were standing on and instantly sent dust and leaves flying into the air.


    The two of them were sent tumbling to the side by the Qi-Jin of these two fists. After theynded, they were still mentally and physically gathering themselves. The graduation test their master had prepared for them was actually this dangerous. They couldn¡¯t help but think whether their most respected master, who trained them for four years, was lying to them all this time.


    ¡°Seeing the way you two move, it seems that the two of you are students who came for your test.¡± After knowing the situation of these two people, the killing intent from the beginning became a smile. The people who attacked them were two 40 to 50 year-old middle-aged men. One was slim and the other was chubby. It was an amusing sight when they stood beside each other. However to Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu, it wasn¡¯t funny at all. They were still at the beginning stages of Qi-Jin, while their opponents gave them a feeling of limitless power. It was as though with one move, their opponents could easily squash them to the ground.


    ¡°Unfortunately, you guys haven¡¯t reach our standards yet.¡± The skinny man showed a slight hint of dissatisfaction in his expression. Five years of extensive training and nurturing only to yield such results? If that was the case, how could they get into the Flying Dragon Special Forces, who only took in monstrous individuals?


    Only when they gain control of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, would they be able to take control of the future of the Huaxia Federation. Their organization¡¯s goal wasn¡¯t only to just have some control within the military.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t demand too much from them. If these people were acknowledged by the higher-ups to let them participate in this test, then that means they have the potential to be stronger.¡± The chubby one smiled like a Buddha. He looked like he had good intentions, but Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu could see the hidden and vile intentions behind the man¡¯s smile.


    From the ruthless attacks at the beginning, the two of them already knew that their respected master, their so-called legendary faction, wasn¡¯t so nice.

 Chapter 753 - Snipe!

    <h4>Chapter 753: Snipe!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Should we send them?¡± The skinny man frowned. Although people like them would send higher authorities new materials every year, not all of them could seed. Until now, there was only one sessful case. Those that failed took up much of the organization¡¯s wealth and manpower. If he was not satisfied with the performance of the material, he didn¡¯t want to let them join. The two people in front of him didn¡¯t meet his standards.


    ¡°You are thinking about it too much. We are just in charge of sending materials in. As for whether they will be a sess or a failure, that is the job of those lunatics.¡± The chubby man continued smiling. However, the words he said did not fit his image at all. He even looked at Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu coldly with an icy gaze while still having that smile on his face. It was like they were looking at a poisonous snake.


    Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu were outstanding talents in their families. With them being able to reach the peak stage of Qi-Jin at 16 years old, they, of course, were not stupid. When they heard what the other party was openly saying, they knew that nothing good was going to happen to them in the near future. They exchanged nces with each other, and without even saying anything, they simultaneously escaped in separate directions. They hoped that their opponents would hesitate for a moment.


    This short gap in time might not allow them to escape safely.


    The moment Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu ran off, the chubby and skinny man gave a sarcastic look before each of them choosing a target and chasing after their own targets.


    The surprise escape allowed them to distance themselves from their pursuers, but this distance was getting shorter and shorter. It could be said that the two men purposely allow them to have the chance to run away. They wanted to see how these two young men would react when hopelessness engulfed them.


    Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu were frightened but they were calm and collected. Thus, they immediately understood their opponents¡¯ intentions. Su Pei made a decision and Xiao Yiqiu showed a wild look in his eyes. The two of them immediately stopped in their tracks and charged at their opponent.


    Since they couldn¡¯t escape, they might as well fight to their deaths!


    ¡°Haha, not bad. Courageous! I like it!¡± The firm look on the two young men¡¯s faces made their pursuers excited. They were not satisfied with their capabilities but their temperament might allow them to survive the secret arts and be a sessful experiment.


    The chubby and skinny men were prepared to take their attacks. Unexpectedly, their attacks were a feint, and as of this result, Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu flew past them safely.


    This was out of their expectations. Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu had seeded in buying them more time. The two men got slightly furious. They stopped holding back their speed and they instantly appeared behind Xiao Yiqiu and Su Pei.


    However, Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu already managed to group together. Xiao Yiqiu pulled Su Pei behind him. His face turned red. He opened his mouth wide and roared loudly.


    The loud roar echoed through the entire forest.


    ¡°Domain!¡± The chubby man reacted quickly. He immediately released his domain realm power to forcefully contain the sound within the barrier he created.


    The skinny man¡¯s expression changed. ¡°That is the Conqueror Wave from the Xiao family.¡±


    Xiao Yiqiu realized that his family¡¯s Conqueror Wave was not able to break through his opponent¡¯s technique. He now knew his opponent was not at any stage of Qi-Jin. No one on the same stage as him should be able to contain his Conqueror Wave. It meant that his opponent couldn¡¯t contain it even if he was at the optimal peak Great Perfection of Qi-Jin.


    ¡°Su Pei, you only have ten seconds.¡± Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s eyes were turning red. His handsome face started bing hideous.


    ¡°Xiao Yiqiu...¡± Emotions started appearing in Su Pei¡¯s eyes, which was unexpected as he always seemed nonchnt about everything.


    ¡°Remember the thousand years long alliance between the Su family and the Xiao family.. hurry up and leave!¡± Xiao Yiqiu pushed Su Pei forcefully. Su Pei made use of this force and moved at the speed of light towards the edge of the forest.


    Xiao Yiqiu, if we both manage to live, you will be my most important friend. You will be my only confidant too.


    ¡°I will take care of the young man from the Xiao family. You can go and chase after the other one.¡± The skinny man knew that the chubby man used up too much energy to contain the Conqueror Wave so he volunteered to take care of this troublesome fellow in front of them.


    The Xiao family. Based on their ability and their bloodline, they should be able to be a second-rate elite family. Unfortunately, just like the Xie family, they had too little people in their family. Thus, they were only able to be a wealthy family on a third-rate.


    However, it was wrong to think that they were just a low-ss family. They didn¡¯t have many family members but everyone in the Xiao family was a human-beast. It was said that this ability inherited from their ancestors. Once they release the power of their bloodline, they would be a ferocious and strong beast. Of course, this was just a rumor among the upper echelons. No one had really seen the members of the Xiao family transforming before.


    The skinny man knew of this trait so he knew that the weak-looking Xiao Yiqiu was not easy to deal with.


    The chubby man moved. Xiao Yiqiu wanted to stop him. He was prepared to use his life to exchange for ten seconds of time for Su Pei to escape.


    ¡°Your opponent is me!¡± The skinny man moved and blocked Xiao Yiqiu. However, at that moment, Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s face turned hideous. It seemed as though his entire face was splitting apart. He opened his mouthrger than normal. He roared.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± The chubby man had no choice but to stop. He released his domain and stopped the Conqueror Wave from hitting him again. Because of this, Su Pei got closer to the edge of the forest.


    ¡°Don¡¯t care about him. Leave him to me.¡± The skinny man stopped holding back. He took over the chubby man¡¯s position and released his domain. He sealed Xiao Yiqiu within his domain.


    A few shiny metal wires appeared on the ground. These metal wires slithered up Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s body and bonded him up like a dumpling. The metal wires coiled around his body turning into metal rings, which restricted Xiao Yiqiu. The element of the skinny man was metal.


    ¡°Okay!¡± The chubby man saw that the skinny man had subdued Xiao Yiqiu so he disappeared to chase after Su Pei.


    Xiao Yiqiu tried his best to escape from the metal rings. However, the strength of a domain realm master was too powerful. Even if he aroused the power of his bloodline which allowed him to get near the optimal peak Great Perfection of Qi-Jin, he would still be unable to break free.


    Xiao Yiqiu never expected the skinny man to be a domain realm master too. That was why he could only stop the chubby man for a mere three seconds, much shorter than the ten seconds he predicted. The only good thing was, Xiao Yiqiu thought that he would be dead by now. Yet, he was still alive and could continue fighting with the skinny man.


    Meng Shaoran saw Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu splitting up. He was indecisive. Which one should he help?


    Based on his ability, he could only fight with one of the two domain realm masters. If the two of them attacked him together, he would surely die. It meant that he must give up one person in exchange for the life of another.


    ¡°I¡¯m curious about the Xiao family but I¡¯m more curious about the Su family...¡± Meng Shaoran made a decision. He moved and followed behind the chubby man.


    Compared to Xiao Yiqiu, Su Pei was calmer and more decisive. In the face of a life-or-death situation, he wouldn¡¯t show any emotions in his eyes. Even when Xiao Yiqiu decided to sacrifice himself to save him, he still made the right decision, even though he was touched.


    He has potential! Meng Shaoran had a good impression of Su Pei.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Xiao Yiqiu sounded like a beast roaring. His body started to turn into a beast. This meant that the power of his bloodline was fully released. As the power of his bloodline was released, the metal ring that the skinny man created started to crack.


    ¡°Troublesome.¡± The skinny man frowned. He stomped his feet and his force of presence started exuding out. The metal ring on Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s body lit up, and the cracks disappeared.


    There were not many metal elements found in the forest. This was why the skinny man couldn¡¯t make a metal coffin to encase him. The skinny man didn¡¯t expect the young man¡¯s bloodline to be so strong. It pushed him further than the optimal peak of Qi-Jin. It almost broke his metal ring.


    When he saw that Xiao Yiqiu had no more energy to resist, he walked up and wanted to take Xiao Yiqiu back to his secret base.


    Just as he was about to grab Xiao Yiqiu, he felt a killing intent targeting him. He moved to the side instinctively.


    Boom! Blood spurted out of his right shoulder. The skinny man shuddered and moved a few meters back. He hid behind a thick tree trunk.


    He looked at the direction where the shot came from. He hadn¡¯t recovered from the shock. The person who shot him was an exceptional sniper as he used a normal bullet to hurt him. The man looked at his wound. A bullet slowly floated out of it. At his stage, bullets shot into his body could be forced out using his hidden energy.


    The bullet dropped to the ground silently. The skinny man waved his hand and the bulletnded on his palm. He looked at it. It was a familiar model. This bullet should be from the sniper rifle their own sniper used. Seems like the other party killed the sniper attacking him and took his gun.


    ¡°I never expected such a powerful sniper to exist in the world. He could hide from the senses of a domain realm master.¡± The skinny man gave a malicious look. As long as he found where the person was, there was nothing his opponent could do. So what if he was a powerful sniper? In front of a domain realm master, he was nothing.

 Chapter 754 - Who Killed Him?

    <h4>Chapter 754: Who Killed Him?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The skinny man didn¡¯t think that the sniper was that much of a threat to him. However, he still respected the sniper¡¯s ability to retract his presence and killing intent. A domain realm master like him was not able to detect him at all.


    The struggling Xiao Yiqiu realized that there was a change in the situation, and it was slowly favouring his situation, so he calmed down instantly to heighten his awareness. He slowly congregated his energy. If the rings restricting him showed any signs of loosening up, he would try to break through it again.


    The forest regained its peaceful state, only Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s haggard panting could be heard within the tense atmosphere. The skinny man knew that a top tier sniper like his opponent would be very patient. It might take a long time before his opponent reveals a weakness, but he couldn¡¯t be as patient as his opponent. If the chubby man knew that he was forced behind a tree by a sniper, he would be teased to the ends of his time. Hence, he decided to attack proactively.


    The skinny man made this bold decision because he was confident that with his domain realm defense capability, normal ejection guns would not be able to harm him. The skinny man walked out from behind the tree. He looked like he was walking casually but he was already searching for his opponent using his domain. If any bullets get near him, they would be stopped by his domain.


    He focused all his attention in the direction where he predicted the sniper was so the rings restricting Xiao Yiqiu started to loosen up. Xiao Yiqiu had been waiting for this chance. The moment he felt the rings getting looser, he explosively released his energy to break free from the metal rings.


    ¡°ng, ng, ng...¡± The metal rings broke. Xiao Yiqiu executed his n the moment the opportunity came so he managed to seed in breaking free from the rings.


    The skinny man got a shock. He turned around and looked at Xiao Yiqiu. Just as he wanted to form new metal rings to restrict Xiao Yiqiu again, a killing intent slowly got near him.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The sniper who was hiding finally found an opportunity and shot his second bullet.


    When the bullet was around half a meter away from the skinny man¡¯s head, it suddenly bounced off in mid-air. The skinny man gave a malicious look. I finally caught you. The skinny man moved and disappeared from Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s vision.


    Xiao Yiqiu instantly realized that he fell under a scheme by the skinny man. He was trying to get the sniper¡¯s position. He got a shock. He was worried about the sniper who helped him so he immediately shouted, ¡°Be careful!¡±


    The skinny man had already calcted the sniper¡¯s position. He saw a shadow lying on a tree branch. It was not moving at all. If he didn¡¯t actually see that there was someone there, he would miss the sniper again.


    The skinny man smiled coldly. He attacked the sniper without mercy.


    When his palm touched the back of his opponent, the body instantly turned into a ball of meat.


    Something is wrong! The feeling he received from touching the body told him that the person he attacked was already dead. He stopped and took a look at the physical characteristics of the body. He was one of the snipers they had stationed in the forest. The sniper who hurt him was nowhere in sight.


    This is impossible! How can someone escape without a trace under my eyes? The skinny man was dumbfounded. Before he could understand what had happened, he felt a stinging pain on his back. He lost control of his body and fell down from the tree branch.


    In mid-air, the skinny man used thest of his strength to turn his body around so that he could face the night sky. He saw a man dressed in ck standing at his position a while ago, and there was a beam gun in his hand. He couldn¡¯t see the sniper¡¯s face but he could feel the coldness within the sniper¡¯s eyes. It was so cold that he could feel a chill in his bones.


    He saw his opponent raising a gun. A colorful beam appeared from the nozzle and engulfed him.


    He was using a beam gun, not an ejection gun! The skinny man thought about this when he breathed his final breath.


    After Xiao Yiqiu shouted, he realized that this was his best chance to escape. However, after he ran for a few meters, he gritted his teeth and changed his direction. He started to sneak towards the direction where the skinny man went.


    It couldn¡¯t be helped. The people from the Xiao family would never abandon their life savior. Xiao Yiqiu knew that if he really did escape, he would never be able to achieve a higher realm anymore as this experience would haunt him for life.


    It could be said that the people from the Xiao family were born with this character trait. This caused most of them to die before they turned into adults. This was why the Xiao family had so few members. However, it was not easy for a member of the Xiao family to let themselves be indebted to a person. They knew the w of their character so they rarely epted the help of someone, especially those that required the sacrifice of a life.


    Xiao Yiqiu carefully walked for a distance. There was no sound around him and there was no trace of the skinny man. He was worried about his life savior but he wouldn¡¯t recklessly charge forward. Suddenly, his nose grewrger and he started to sniff around.


    ¡°The smell of blood and another weird smell...¡± The Conqueror Wave was not Xiao family¡¯s only ability. Of course, whenpared to the Conqueror Wave, their other abilities seemed very negligible.


    Xiao Yiqiu was agitated when he smelled blood. Is his life savior killed? If that was the case, why didn¡¯t the skinny mane back and catch him?


    Xiao Yiqiu slowly moved towards the smell of blood. He was curious and hopeful at the same time.


    The smell of blood got stronger. When Xiao Yiqiu reached a thick tree trunk, the smell of blood got extremely strong. He didn¡¯t even need his special ability to smell it. He knew that he had reached his destination. He leaned close to the tree and slowly inched his head out.


    Something dripped on his face. Xiao Yiqiu wiped it away. He realized what it was and looked up. On a branch more than ten meters away, two arms could be seen just hanging down. Fresh blood was dripping down the arms. The droplet that dripped on him just now was blood.


    Is that his life savior? Xiao Yiqiu flew up andnded on the branch. He saw a body wearing the same uniform as the skinny man. There was a huge hole at the back of his body. He had already died for quite a while now. If not, with the hole at his back, there would be more blood gushing out.


    Xiao Yiqiu didn¡¯t know who the body belonged to so he looked at the other tree, the other location with an intense stench of blood. Another corpseid under the other tree. Only the lower half of the body was left. Xiao Yiqiu recognized the shoes and pants. They belonged to the skinny man who captured him not long ago.


    Xiao Yiqiu jumped down and inspected the skinny man¡¯s corpse.


    ¡°There are signs of burns due to high temperature at the cut. He was probably shot by a beam gun. His upper body was melted off and his lower body was left lying on the forest floor.¡± Xiao Yiqiu was puzzled. The energy of a beam gun was powerful but the skinny was a domain realm master. How could he be killed so easily by a beam gun?


    Anyone below the domain realm is nobodies. Domain realm and Qi-Jin were two entirely different concepts. Not only that, domain realm masters and above were able to block attacks by firearms. They were also able to fight against mechas single-handedly. Anyone below the domain realm would be more susceptive to firearms.


    ¡°The only possibility was, the other party broke through the domain realm defense capabilities of the skinny man. However, such a battle shouldn¡¯t have been so quiet.¡± Xiao Yiqiu found an answer but another query popped up.


    ¡°Did the Federation invent a beam gun that could immediately break through the domain realm defense capabilities?¡± Xiao Yiqiuughed at his own idea. This was impossible. A powerful beam gun needed a strong power source, a power source strong enough to kill a domain realm master was impossible to create as it would be too unstable to contain it.


    As Xiao Yiqiu mocked himself, he saw the smooth cut on the corpse. ¡°No, this can¡¯t be the work of a normal Federation¡¯s beam gun...¡± He touched the surface of the corpse and felt a chill down his spine.


    ¡°It¡¯s cold light. No, it¡¯s a power source many times colder than the normal cold light. I almost got frostbite from the residual energy...¡± Xiao Yiqiu was frightened. He felt frustrated at himself. How could he make such a dumb decision? If the energy didn¡¯t disperse due to the passage of time, his finger might have dropped off by now.


    He was sure that the person who killed the skinny man was his life savior.


    An advanced beam gun with cold light as its power source. Is he a sniper? Xiao Yiqiu remembered these two points. One day, he would find his life savior and return this favor.


    The chubby man moved at an extremely fast speed. Within ten seconds, he managed to catch up to Su Pei. As Su Pei desperately trying to run away, he could feel fatigue trying to wash over him. With the help of Xiao Yiqiu just now, he was already on the outskirts of the forest. Just a few more seconds and he would be able to escape.


    Suddenly, something pulled him back. He stopped. Despair shed passed Su Pei¡¯s eyes. The time Xiao Yiqiu bought for him was not enough for him to escape.


    ¡°I wonder what your parents are thinking. You came happily for the test but now, you want to escape halfway through...¡± The chubby man appeared in front of Su Pei with the same smiley face.


    ¡°That¡¯s because we were tricked by you all,¡± Su Pei screamed angrily. At his moment, he could no longer maintain his calm attitude.

 Chapter 755 - Weird!

    <h4>Chapter 755: Weird!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Su Pei remembered the respect and expectation he had for his sect. He wanted tough at himself for his naivety...


    ¡°That is because of your own desires. If not, would you have fallen for the trick?¡± The chubby man ignored Su Pei¡¯s anger and continued smiling.


    This was the truth. If the Su family didn¡¯t have the desire to return to a first-rank and regain the honor they had thousands of years ago, they wouldn¡¯t be attracted by the domain realm masters¡¯ proposals to let their descendants recognize them as their masters. They did all these because they hoped that one day, a domain realm master would appear in their family.


    The Su family started going downhill when no more domain realm masters appeared in their family. If they wanted to regain their status, they needed to groom a domain realm master. They knew that the Su family couldn¡¯t resist the allure of a domain realm master so they used it to sessfully gain the trust of the Su family head.


    Su Pei knew that the Xiao family was in the same situation as them. This was why he didn¡¯t feel surprised when he saw Xiao Yiqiu in the Central Scout Academy. He had never seen Xiao Yiqiu before but as the descendant with the greatest potential in the Xiao family, his name was often mentioned by the Su family head.


    Hence, on the first day of school when he heard his self-introduction, he instantly knew who he was. The Su family and the Xiao family always had a strong alliance between them. Even when they both lost their status as elite families, they never betrayed each other. He believed that Xiao Yiqiu knew who he was when he heard his name too.


    Su Pei felt bitter. The Su family and the Xiao family probably didn¡¯t know that they had sent their greatest hope to hell personally. The other party didn¡¯t mention anything but from the words like ¡®material¡¯ and ¡®lunatics¡¯, Su Pei guessed that none of them would have a good ending if they were caught.


    ¡°Looks like you have calmed down,e back with me then. Actually, the situation is not as bad as you imagined.¡± The chubby man didn¡¯t want to continue fighting so he tried to appease Su Pei.


    Su Pei scoffed. ¡°What if I say no?¡±


    The chubby man smiled and shrugged. ¡°Then, I have to use some effort and drag you back.¡±


    The chubby man felt that Su Pei had no chance of resisting against him at all. As someone at the primary stage of Qi-Jin, it was impossible for him to escape from his grasp.


    Su Pei looked gentle and easy-going but he was as stubborn as Xiao Yiqiu, and since Xiao Yiqiu chose to fight, Su Pei made the same decision. They would never bow down to their opponents without a fight.


    The chubby man saw Su Pei preparing for a fight. He shook his head in pity. ¡°You bunch of children won¡¯t give up until you see a dead end.¡±


    The moment he finished speaking, he formed a w with his fingers. Su Pei felt himself flying uncontrobly towards the chubby man.


    ¡°Is this the capabilities of a domain realm master?¡± Su Pei was hopeless. He was still too weak. He couldn¡¯t resist at all.


    When Su Pei was about to suck into the chubby man¡¯s hand, a shadow suddenly dropped down from the sky. A fist carrying a huge force came towards him too.


    The chubby man let go of Su Pei decisively and faced the attack.


    ¡°Boom!¡± Two fists collided in mid-air. Two strong energy shed. The objects around them got blown away. Su Pei was thrown into the air too.


    Su Pei mmed heavily onto a huge tree. He bounced off the tree and fell to the ground. The collision caused him to vomit blood. He was seriously injured but he felt relieved. He didn¡¯t know who helped him but his dangerous situation was halted temporarily.


    Su Pei endured the excruciating pain in his body and jumped up from the ground. He started to run for his life. The chubby man frowned when he saw Su Pei running away. He wanted to stop Su Pei but another figure blocked him.


    ¡°Hey, your opponent is me.¡± Azy voice echoed through the forest. Su Pei stopped in surprised and turned back. He recognized this voice. He was too familiar with it.


    As expected, a familiar face appeared in front of him. It was the sinister-looking Meng Shaoran.


    Su Pei wanted to shout at him and tell him to run away. However, he remembered the sh just now. The strength of the two fists was on par with each other! It meant that Meng Shaoran was as strong as the chubby man.


    Su Pei was shocked. What is his real identity? Why is he so powerful at such a young age?


    The chubby man looked at Meng Shaoran¡¯s young face and recalled his powerful fist. His expression changed. ¡°Are you the spy from the Flying Dragon Special Forces?¡±


    The Flying Dragon Special Forces! Su Pei¡¯s eyes widened. The special force that held all the outstanding talents of the Federation. Did it really exist?


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Meng Shaoran didn¡¯t reply. Instead, he questioned him back.


    The chubby man took it as silent consent. He was ted. He never expected to find the spy from the Flying Dragon Special Forces so quickly. He was definitely going to make a huge contribution to the organization.


    The chubby man was in a hurry to gain merits for himself so he stopped talking and released his domain realm. He wanted to end this battle quickly.


    The moment the chubby man released his domain power, Meng Shaoran¡¯s retracted his indifferent attitude and turned serious. He quickly struck with his palm. There was no mercy in his attack. He released all his power too. A heatwave emitted from his body.


    ¡°A domain?! That¡¯s impossible.¡± The chubby man looked at Meng Shaoran stunned. He felt a strong force blocking his domain power. When did the Federation have such a young domain realm master?


    ¡°Why is it impossible?¡± Meng Shaoran gave an evil smile. The records of the Federation were used to trick outsiders. If it wasn¡¯t recorded, it didn¡¯t mean that it didn¡¯t exist. Every country had information that was not recorded. If they wrote everything down, it was the same as revealing all their secrets to their enemies. The firewall of the mainframe was strong but it was not imprable. All the leaders of the country would have some hidden cards behind their backs.


    The chubby man suddenly remembered the newest information he had received about domain realm masters. It was about the record for the youngest domain realm master being broken.


    ¡°You are the person that broke the record for being the youngest domain realm master, right? 25 years old. As expected of a rare talent groomed by the Federation.¡± The chubby man felt enlightened. They only knew the age of this youngest domain realm master but didn¡¯t about anything else about his identity. Now that he looked at it, only someone from the Flying Dragon Special Forces would be able to achieve this.


    Meng Shaoran smiled knowingly. He didn¡¯t expect his opponent to think this way. However, he didn¡¯t care.


    ¡°Even if you reached domain realm, you¡¯ve only been in the domain realm for less than two months. How much could you have learned?¡± The chubby man sneered. An experienced domain realm master might give him some fear. As for a newly advanced domain realm master, he was confident that he could win against him easily.


    ¡°Try it then.¡± Meng Shaoran smiled got brighter.


    ¡°Explode!¡± The chubby man suddenly shouted. The air around Meng Shaoran suddenly exploded.


    Meng Shaoran¡¯s domain almost got broken by the sudden explosion. Luckily, he was not an inexperienced domain realm master. He had been at this stage for one year. This was enough for him to gain some understanding of the domain realm. He was able to control his domain powers quite well. If he only had less than two months to understand the domain realm, he might have been defeated by his opponent now.


    The chubby man¡¯s expression changed when he saw his most powerful attack had failed. He immediately shouted, ¡°Explode, explode, explode!¡±


    Another series of explosions urred. Meng Shaoran felt a sense of danger and instantly retracted his domain for it to be closer to him. The smaller the domain space, the easier it was to control it and the stronger the domain would be.


    Meng Shaoran managed to protect himself but he was still injured by the explosions. Blood dripped down his mouth corner.


    As the attacker, the chubby man was not in a good condition too. He stretched himself too much and used up most of his energy. The explosions harmed his own body too. A trail of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.


    ¡°Looks like both sides have suffered.¡± Su Pei was watching them. He confirmed that Meng Shaoran was a domain realm master too. He looked at Meng Shaoran intently. If he followed Meng Shaoran, would he be a domain realm master too?


    ¡°You have been attacking for a while. It¡¯s my turn now.¡± Meng Shaoran was not easily bullied. He could have attacked the chubby man. However, he remembered the teachings he received when he was young. Before he knew the capabilities of his opponent, he must not act rashly.


    Now, he knew how powerful his opponent was. It was time for him to act.


    The heat emitting from Meng Shaoran¡¯s body got hotter. The heat turned bright red and slowly congregated to form a solid object.


    The chubby man was astounded to see his opponent¡¯s domain element turning solid. He breathed deeply and a powerful shield formed in front of him. He started retreating quickly.


    ¡°Toote!¡± Meng Shaoran said coldly. The solidified fire element turned into a ming dragon and rushed towards his opponent.


    The fire element was violent and unstable. Moreover, it was the most powerful element out of the five basic elements. The fire dragon easily broke through the shield and engulfed the chubby figure behind it.


    ¡°Ah!¡± The chubby man screamed in agony. After that, he was swallowed by the ming dragon, leaving behind just a pile of ash.


    Meng Shaoran was stunned for a moment when he saw this. He got puzzled. ¡°Weird, why was his domain¡¯s defense power so weak?¡± When the chubby man attacked him just now, Meng Shaoran knew that his element was air. But, the defense of an air element domain shouldn¡¯t be that weak. It was like nothing was blocking his ming dragon.

 Chapter 756 - It’s You?!

    <h4>Chapter 756: It¡¯s You?!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    After thinking for a while, Meng Shaoran couldn¡¯t find an answer as to why the chubby man died so easily. In order to defeat the chubby man, he had used his most powerful attack, which he intended to use to just injure the chubby man and to follow it up with more attacks of his own but instead, he died with just one attack, leaving no traces behind except for a pile of ashes.


    While they were fighting, Su Pei used the opportunity and moved far away from them. He hated the domain realm master who taught him for five years but he still felt grateful for his teachings. He taught him that he must retreat as far away as possible when two domain realm masters were fighting.


    When Su Pei saw Meng Shaoran defeating the chubby man, his respect for Meng Shaoran skyrocketed. This young man who was the same age as him might be even more powerful than his ¡®master¡¯. After the fight ended, he inched closer to Meng Shaoran as he felt safer as he got closer to him.


    ¡°Thank...¡± Su Pei didn¡¯t know how to address Meng Shaoran.


    ¡°No need. If you want to repay me, just tell me what you are doing here.¡± Meng Shaoran was asking about it because it was his mission.


    Su Pei wanted to repay his favour to Meng Shaoran. However, he was worried about Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s safety, so he said, ¡°No problem, but my friend, Xiao Yiqiu, is chased by that guy¡¯s aplice.¡±


    Meng Shaoran smiled nonchntly. ¡°If he was beaten to death on the spot, you would only find his corpse by now. If he was caught, do you think I would enter their base and save him?¡±


    Su Pei felt his heart dropped. He knew that this young man didn¡¯t have the responsibility to save Xiao Yiqiu but he still tried asking. The people guarding outside the base were already domain realm masters. It meant that those people inside the base were even stronger. Meng Shaoran would not take this risk for a stranger.


    ¡°As long as he is still alive, we will have a chance of saving him.¡± Meng Shaoran continued, ¡°If you really want to help him, tell me everything you know. With enough information, we can n our actions.¡±


    Su Pei knew what Meng Shaoran said would lead them to the highest chance of them saving Xiao Yiqiu, so he quickly calmed down and organized his thoughts. He told Meng Shaoran how his family met a domain realm master five years ago and why he came to Azure.


    ¡°They have already infiltrated the powerful families of this.¡± Meng Shaoran was serious. His superiors were right to worry.


    After getting the information he wanted, Meng Shaoran prepared to leave. The people protecting the outskirts of the base were domain realm masters. Although there seemed to be something weird about them, it was undeniable that they had domain power and knew how to control it. The people at the base should be more powerful than the chubby man. Him as a sole domain realm master couldn¡¯t win against so many domain realm masters even if there was something weird about them. Meng Shaoran was here toplete his mission, not to look for death.


    Su Pei got agitated when he saw Meng Shaoran preparing to leave. He immediately shouted, ¡°Are you really from Flying Dragon Special Forces? If so, can you tell me your name?¡±


    Meng Shaoran stopped. He raised his eyebrows and smiled at Su Pei. ¡°Is that important?¡±


    Su Pei clenched his fist. ¡°If you are from Flying Dragon Special Forces, then... I want to enter your force.¡± This might be the only chance to realize his dream.


    Meng Shaoran looked at Su Pei intently. He smiled. ¡°You have to work hard then. With your current strength, you might not even be able to have the right to take the entrance test.¡± If Su Pei became as strong as him before he turned 25 years old, they might be able to meet again. Meng Shaoran finally was a little interest in Su Pei. However, it was just a little.


    Meng Shaoran left after he finished speaking. Su Pei tried to chase after him. Yet, no matter how fast he ran, he was not able to catch up with Meng Shaoran. Meng Shaoran looked as though he was just casually walking but his speed was very fast.


    Just as Meng Shaoran was about to disappear from his sight, Su Pei shouted, ¡°I will definitely get into the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Will you tell me who you are then?¡±


    Meng Shaoran didn¡¯t look back. He raised his right hand and waved. Let¡¯s talk when you really get in! That was what he seemed to be saying.


    In a blink of an eye, Meng Shaoran disappeared. Su Pei was disappointed. But, he quickly pushed his disappointment to the back of his head. He needed to get out of the forest quickly and find someone to rescue Xiao Yiqiu. Meng Shaoran said that he would help him but Su Pei wasn¡¯t going to ce all his hopes on just one person.


    He didn¡¯t trust any instructor in the school. Hence, he wanted to find Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t look very trustworthy but as someone from the 23rd division, Su Pei was willing to believe him.


    Ling Xiao had been Su Pei¡¯s idol ever since he was a child. Instinctively, he had been duplicating Ling Xiao¡¯s actions and words. He believed that they were no spies in his idol¡¯s division.


    While Su Pei went to look for Li Lanfeng, Meng Shaoran hid behind a tree and sent the information he got. Then, he returned to the forest. He had to get in touch with someone sent by the military. This was part of his mission too. If he guessed correctly, it should be one of his roommates. He didn¡¯t know which one it was but now was the time for the person to be revealed.


    Leng Hanfeng and the person who saved him managed to resist against their opponent¡¯s attack. However, he was using everything he had to fight against his opponent so he was starting to feel the fatigueing to him. He panted heavily.


    The person who helped him was no better than him. The two of them took another blow by the middle-aged man, forcing them to retreat ten meters back. Leng Hanfeng vomited another mouthful of blood. He was already heavily injured.


    ¡°You run away first. I can distract him for ten seconds. After that, I will run,¡± the person who helped him whispered to Leng Hanfeng.


    Leng Hanfeng looked up in surprise. The person nodded. Leng Hanfeng remained silent for a moment before nodding.


    ¡°When I say attack, you will run.¡± The person formed a stance as he spoke. He looked as though he was going to give it his all in a final strike.


    Leng Hanfeng slowly nodded. He started to pretend that he was going to give a final strike too, but secretly he ced most of his weight on his legs. The moment he heard the person shout, he would release all his energy and run away. The person was looking at the middle-aged man but when he saw Leng Hanfeng¡¯s actions from the corner of his eye, he gave a look of approval.


    The middle-aged man saw their stance and turned vignt. He was much stronger than them but if they attacked him without care, the oue would be hard to tell. He prepared himself for their attack. His eyes turned sharp. The moment they attack, he would find their weakness and kill them with a single strike.


    ¡°Attack!¡± The person shouted. The middle-aged man prepared to defend himself. However, he saw one of them suddenly retreating.


    I got tricked! The middle-aged man was furious. He wanted to chase after him but the other person blocked him. The Qi-Jin power on the person¡¯s body increased exponentially and broke the Qi-Jin boundary.


    A half step to domain! The middle-aged man was shocked. No one below the domain stage would be able to defeat a person at this stage. He released all his Qi-Jin and attacked his opponent.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The sound rang through the entire forest. Leng Hanfeng slowed down a little. He turned his head back and looked at the direction of the battle. ¡°Domain? No...¡± He muttered to himself.


    He had aplicated look in his eyes. He hesitated for a moment before gritting his teeth and continuing his way out of the forest. About ten secondster, he stopped and leaned weakly against a tree. He used hisst ounce of energy to punch the tree. Then, he turned and went back.


    He only left for less than 20 seconds but the ce had already turned into a pile of ruins. Leng Hanfeng looked around him. He didn¡¯t see any corpses so he rxed. The person who saved him was not killed, but he didn¡¯t know where the person went. Is the middle-aged man chasing him?


    Leng Hanfeng didn¡¯t know what to do now. Suddenly, a pile of soil was pushed up and a person crawled out. The person looked haggard but the uniform of the Central Scout Academy could still be seen.


    This was the person who saved him. Leng Hanfeng was ted. Before he could speak, the person scolded him in a soft tone, ¡°Idiot! Didn¡¯t I ask you to run? Why did youe back? Are you looking for death?¡±


    Leng Hanfeng opened his mouth but no words woulde out. The person was right. His decision was the same as looking for death. However, if he didn¡¯te back, he wouldn¡¯t be able to forgive himself for his entire life.


    The person¡¯s expression softened. He had already guessed Leng Hanfeng¡¯s intentions ofing back. ¡°Fortunately, I used a secret method and managed to fool that man. If not, you would be dead.¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡± Leng Hanfeng only said these two words.


    ¡°Why are you thanking me? We are roommates, right?¡± The person suddenly smiled. He rubbed his face forcefully and soon, the disguise on his face was rubbed off, and Gu Zhengrong¡¯s handsome face was revealed.


    ¡°Gu Zhengrong! It¡¯s you?!¡± Leng Hanfeng eximed in surprise.


    ¡°Of course it¡¯s me. Who do you think I was? If I didn¡¯t recognize you, I wouldn¡¯t have taken the risk to save you.¡± Gu Zhengrong looked at his torn and tattered school uniform, then decided to take it off, revealing his muscr body.


    Leng Hanfeng looked closely at the tattered school uniform. He finally understood why it looked so familiar. It was a female school uniform. He suddenly remembered that Gu Zhengrong went to the female¡¯s dormitory to disguise himself as a female.

 Chapter 757 - Believe?

    <h4>Chapter 757: Believe?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you take off your mask as well?¡± Gu Zhengrong saw that he was discovered and immediately exposed Leng Hanfeng¡¯s fake facade as well.


    Leng Hanfeng took what he said without being flustered. He didn¡¯t say anything and immediately took off his disguise, showing a cold and calm face.


    ¡°Your face looks much better now,¡±ughed Gu Zhengrong. He rather liked to speak to a familiar face.


    Leng Hanfeng had a confused expression on his face and asked, ¡°Who really are you?¡±


    ¡°Me? I just took a mission to find out things about this academy.¡± Smiled Gu Zhengrong. ¡°You¡¯re the same right?¡±


    Leng Hanfeng didn¡¯t answer and only stared at Gu Zhengrong. Gu Zhengrong didn¡¯t care and put out his hand, ¡°Let me introduce myself, I¡¯m...¡±


    Right at that moment, Gu Zhengrong¡¯s expression instantly changed. He pulled Leng Hanfeng away and quickly backed up a short distance...


    However, he was already toote. A man appeared before Gu Zhengrong and ruthlessly hit him with his fist. Gu Zhengrong cried out in pain and spat out a mouthful of blood into the air.


    Gu Zhengrong fell roughly on the ground, his back hurt so much that he couldn¡¯t stand up on his own. Luckily, he had Leng Hanfeng beside him to hold him up.


    ¡°Are you alright?!¡± Leng Hanfeng asked worriedly.


    ¡°I¡¯m not dead yet!¡± Gu Zhengrong wiped away the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked at the space in front of them. The middle-aged man who he thought he had lured away was actually hiding around in the vicinity and hadn¡¯t left.


    ¡°You really think I¡¯m only at the optimal peak Great Perfection stage of Qi-Jin? Someone who just temporarily reached the domain stage for a few seconds wanted to fool me?¡± Sneered the middle-aged man.


    ¡°Brother Leng, looks like we really have to put our lives on the line this time.¡± Gu Zhengrong smiled bitterly towards Leng Hanfeng.


    ¡°I had this realization long ago,¡± Leng Hanfeng said without fear.


    ¡°Alright, I will put life in your hands,¡± Gu Zhengrong smiled as he replied and executed a stance. This time, it was a real stance where he would put his life on the line.


    Although Leng Hanfeng didn¡¯t answer, he used his actions to tell Gu Zhengrong that he will fight with him to the bitter end.


    ¡°You two are really naive.¡± The middle-aged man smiled in a belittling manner. Then, his force of presence exploded outwards and it began to rush towards Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong. The strong force of presence pressured Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong to the point where their faces turned pale. They bit their lips and used all of the Qi-Jin in their bodies to resist the pressureing from the middle-aged man¡¯s force of presence.


    Suddenly, they felt their bodies seemed to have been transported to a swamp, every action they made was met with a lot of resistance. They looked below them and discovered a transparent line had wrapped around them.


    ¡°A domain expert!¡± Gu Zhengrong was very experienced so he knew what was happening to them. It was no wonder that middle-aged man looked down on them. Anyone below the domain stage were considered ants to domain expert. Even a half-step domain expert was just considered arger ant whenpared to the overpowering existence of a domain expert.


    Leng Hanfeng had a hint of despair in his eyes. A domain expert... they had no hope of escaping.


    ¡°Leng Hanfeng, will you trust me?¡± Gu Zhengrong suddenly asked Leng Hanfeng.


    ¡°I¡¯m part of the Huaxia Federation and would never betray the Huaxia Federation.¡± Leng Hanfeng said without any hesitation.


    Gu Zhengrong had aplicated look on his face, then became determined in an instant. ¡°Alright, I have a life-saving technique that could make me temporarily enter the domain stage for 10 seconds. Once the time is up, I would pass out. As I activate it, you need to hold onto me for your dear life. I will try and run as fast as possible...¡±


    ¡°Of course, if we can¡¯t run away in time, you must leave me here and run away yourself... the mission is more important,¡± Gu Zhengrong continued.


    ¡°But...¡±Leng Hanfeng seemed to not agree with Gu Zhengrong¡¯s decision.


    ¡°Remember, we are soldiers! Nothing goes above our mission,¡± Gu Zhengrong shouted softly.


    Leng Hanfeng stared into Gu Zhengrong¡¯s eyes and then nodded. ¡°Understood.¡±


    After hearing Leng Hanfeng¡¯s answer, Gu Zhengrong¡¯s expression changed. He shouted loudly and his entire aura began to grow exponentially.


    ¡°Domain!¡± Gu Zhengrong screamed. Leng Hanfeng quickly held onto Gu Zhengrong¡¯s body as he quickly ran towards the edge of the forest.


    The ground suddenly rose around middle-aged man, sealing him inside a something like a coffin. Seeing this, the middle-aged man shouted angrily, and countless of water streams appeared behind him and pierced through the sand coffin. However, inside the deep forest, other than the abundance of the wood element, the earth element was also in abundance, and the water element wasparatively weaker and lesser than both of them. Thus, the middle-aged man couldn¡¯t break through the sand coffin instantly and could only watch as Leng Hanfeng escaped with Gu Zhengrong.


    Finally, not knowing whether it was because of the water streams or because 10 seconds was up, the sand coffin created by Gu Zhengrong¡¯s temporary domain instantly crumbled. It became bits and pieces and fell to the ground.


    The middle-aged man escaped from the sand coffin. Right as he wanted to give chase, themunicator on his wrist suddenly began to vibrate. He looked over at it and had a change in expression. ¡°Not good, someone actually invaded the headquarters.¡± He ruthlessly looked over at the direction Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong had escaped towards and spat. ¡°It¡¯s your lucky day!¡± Then, he quickly headed back to the headquarters. Although capturing these hidden spies were important, the headquarters was more important.


    After running for some time, Leng Hanfeng discovered that the middle-aged man wasn¡¯t chasing them. He then looked at Gu Zhengrong, who had already fainted. Leng Hanfeng had aplicated look on his face, then he sighed. ¡°Elder Brother Gu, I¡¯m sorry. Just as you said, the responsibility of a soldier is to put the mission first.¡± Leng Hanfeng looked towards the headquarters in the central area of the forest and continued, ¡°I won¡¯t leave until I find out what¡¯s inside their headquarters.¡±


    Leng Hanfeng carefully set Gu Zhengrong down on top of a thick branch on one of therge trees. He was afraid that Gu Zhengrong would fall down, so he used a belt to tie him to that branch. Then, he disguised himself. As long as no one looked at him closely, he probably wouldn¡¯t be found out.


    After finishing everything, Leng Hanfeng left the scene and moved towards the center of the forest.


    Not long after Leng Hanfeng had left, Gu Zhengrong, who had been unconscious, began to move his fingers...


    Ling Lan, who was hidden around the main gate of the enemies¡¯ headquarters, finally acquired the information about the intersecting sight lines of all the members in the patrol team, along with the blink frequency of the two guards by the gate.


    It couldn¡¯t be helped, this was the way this headquarters chose to guard their gate. They didn¡¯t use high-tech surveince equipment that had no blind spots to guard their gates. Instead, they used people to guard it. If she wanted to silently enter the headquarters and not be seen by the 10 or more pairs of eyes intently staring at the gate, it would be almost impossible, especially the two guards at the door which seemed to have been ordered to look at the direction opposite of the door.


    Luckily, it was only almost impossible and notpletely impossible. Of course, if it wasn¡¯t Ling Lan it would bepletely impossible for anyone else.


    After calcting and nning for a short while, Ling Lan finally calcted the timing between the blinking speed of the two guards. Of course, this timing had already eliminated the sight lines of the patrol team. Ling Lan finally confirmed when she needed to make a move.


    Finally, after waiting for that small window of time, Ling Lan flew out as light as a feather and silently moved towards the direction of the gate. Suddenly, the gate opened slightly revealing a small opening which Ling Lan instantly slid through.


    As expected, the Li family¡¯s inner mansion was the one with the problems, who told them to not have any high-tech equipment! After the traumatizing experience, Little Four began to judge ces that had made him lose his dignity in front of his Boss.


    It turns out, it was all Little Four¡¯s work that made the gate open.


    The ce Ling Lan was hiding at was not too far from the gate. This distance was enough for Little Four to use Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power to reach to the scanner on the gate. This high-tech and difficult to crack equipment was simr to a naked Little Blossom that he could bully however he wanted...


    Little Four felt thatparison was weird, but he always saw others describe it in that way. Some people really liked to say that, but bullying is bullying, but why do they not wear any clothes? Does that them easier to bully? In reality, Little Four believed that a naked Little Blossom would go on a rampage and wouldn¡¯t be so easily bullied... but he didn¡¯t have anyone else to bully other than Little Blossom.


    He really couldn¡¯t understand how the people in his Boss¡¯s world thought. Little Four sighed sadly. He had just recently discovered that he was really smart in some ways. It was no wonder that he was a one of a kind intelligent entity.


    The equipment and machines in the headquarters were undoubtedly technologically advanced. However, when faced with this overpowering force called Little Four, they were all useless. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that his Boss Ling Lan told him not to rm those in the base, Little Four would have already taken over the base and let his Boss go anywhere she wanted.


    However, Little Four couldn¡¯t help but respect the person who designed the headquarters. If it wasn¡¯t Ling Lan who had entered the base, it would be impossible for hackers to use other methods to get through the headquarters¡¯ defenses.


    That was because this headquarters was not connected to any satellite. All of its wiring did not connect to anything outside. The water and electricity it used was created within the base. The mainframe of the headquarters also only integrated into this headquarters and had never connected with anything outside of virtual worlds. It could be said that this base was an enigma. They couldn¡¯t acquire any information from the outside world, unless they sent people outside of the headquarters and go to the academy at the edge of the forest...


    In other words, even if someone was to sessfully enter the base, before they leave, they wouldn¡¯t be able to transfer anything they hade to know. Those people who had disappeared after taking on the mission of infiltrating the headquarters perhaps hadn¡¯t actually died. They may still be trapped inside of the base, unable to get out.


    However, when Ling Lan entered into the base, all of this was no longer a problem... If Little Four wanted to, he could let the mainframe connect to any satellite and to anywork, making this headquarters be known to everyone

 Chapter 758 - Fake Domain!

    <h4>Chapter 758: Fake Domain!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Little Four managed to enter and leave the headquarters easily but Ling Lan on the other hand, who was lying in a corner of the gate where the guard couldn¡¯t see, was met with some difficulty.


    Ling Lan knew that the security at the headquarters was tight but she didn¡¯t know that it would be this tight. There was a guard with every three steps in the underground passageway leading deep into the headquarters. It would not be easy to get past these people.


    ¡°Troublesome.¡± Ling Lan knew that the longer she waited, the greater the chances of her being found so she needed to act now.


    Ling Lan¡¯s body started melting into a liquid form, disappearing from the guards¡¯ sight. She couldn¡¯t evade all these pairs of eyes so she had no choice but to enter her domain mode, allowing her body to merge with her domain element.


    Ling Lan¡¯s domain element was ice, and ice was a form of water. A year ago, Ling Lan was already able to control the three states of water, but Ling Lan knew that she must have some hidden cards so she didn¡¯t tell anyone about this, even when she fought with other people, she only used her ice attacks. She had never revealed the two other states besides the time when she merged with the rainwater during the princess escorting mission in order to fight with the domain realm master.


    In that fight, the domain realm master died so her secret didn¡¯t leak out.


    That meant that this was her second time using another state of water. This time, she used both the liquid form and the gaseous form of the water element.


    The water flowed down the walls. Before the water went into the vision lines of the guards, it changed into a gaseous form. Ling Lan was afraid that a mist would form if she evaporated too fast so she controlled the speed of her evaporating. A minuteter, the water disappeared from the wall.


    ¡°Ah Lian, don¡¯t you think that the air in the headquarters is fresher today?¡± One of the guards sniffed the air and said to the guard near him. They had been working together at this job for quite a while now so they were familiar with the environment of the headquarters.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it the same?¡± But not everyone was sensitive to the change in the quality of air. The man called Ah Lian didn¡¯t sense any changes


    ¡°It isn¡¯t dry anymore.¡± The person who spoke first expressed his thoughts. Underground ces were normally cold and humid. High humidity would affect the integrity of the headquarters so the mainframe kept the environment dry.


    ¡°Maybe the mainframe adjusted the humidity of this ce,¡± Ah Lian replied indifferently. To him, this was nothing strange.


    ¡°That makes sense. I hope that the mainframe would continue to maintain this level of humidity,¡± The guard couldn¡¯t help butment. He preferred a more humid environment.


    ¡°That might be possible. The researchers probably needed to conduct their experiments in a humid environment. Let¡¯s hope that they will prolong their experiments.¡± Ah Lian consoled the other guard.


    While they were talking to each other, Ling Lan sneaked passed the two guards nervously. She didn¡¯t expect there to be a guard who was so sensitive to the quantity of water particles in the air. She was fortunate that they didn¡¯t think otherwise. If not, she might have been exposed.


    Ling Lan passed the guards safely and finally entered the inside of the headquarters. She looked at the bird¡¯s-eye view of the headquarters Little Four showed her. Shemended the faction which built this extravagant headquarters, to build such a huge headquarters secretly without alerting the government, this faction must be powerful. No wonder the Federation ced such high importance on this mission and sent a talent from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    With the help of Little Four, Ling Lan didn¡¯t waste any time finding her way around the headquarters. She went directly to the ces with the highest security and surveyed every one of them. As she continued on her stroll around the headquarters, she got more and more furious the more she saw.


    ¡°We must destroy this headquarters, the foundation of this faction,¡± Ling Lan told Little Four as she walked out of a human experimentboratory.


    Little Four was shocked by what he saw too. Those cruel human experiments that appeared in history books was actually conducted in this headquarters. The experiments carried out in this headquarters might be even more vicious than what was written in the books. They actually used underage youths for their experiments.


    ¡°Now I know where all those domain realm masterse from...¡± At first, Ling Lan was afraid of the people in this headquarters. It was because all the guards in the inner parts of the headquarters appeared to be domain realm masters, shocking her greatly. When did the domain realm masters be somon? With those cruel experiments in mind, she finally got her answer. These domain realm masters were created through countless of those experiments.


    She remembered the domain realm master who chased after Xiao Yiqiu. She hid her force of presence purposely so when she attacked him, she didn¡¯t use much of her power, as she just wanted to injure the skinny man and continue attacking from there. Yet, what had happened was out of her expectation. She managed to destroy the skinny man¡¯s domain easily, striking him square in his chest.


    At that time, she could already feel that something was amiss with those domain realm masters, but time was tight then so she couldn¡¯t think deeply about it. Thinking back, these domain realm masters who were created do have their domains but there was major w about them, and the major w was their defense. Of course, the skinny man she met might just be an outlier of their sessful line of domain realm masters. To affirm her thoughts, she needed to look for more domain realm masters created using this experiment.


    For some reason, she thought of Qiao Ting. At Soldier City, her forceful attacks forced Qiao Ting to release all his energy and achieved a breakthrough to the domain. However, that domain waster proven to be just a pseudo domain. It was not stable. To stabilize a pseudo domain, the person had to achieve the domain stage which required many years of hard work and experience. The person needed to understand how a domain worked and how to use it properly.


    This kind of domain was not as stable and powerful as the true domain as there were no weaknesses in a true domain. Whenpared to true domain realm masters, their domain realm masters were a joke. Their domains are fake!


    Fake!


    ¡°Little Four, have you collected all the evidence?¡± Ling Lan had already searched through most of the ces, but she felt a sense of danger at some locations so she didn¡¯t go close to those locations.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Boss. I have recorded all of them. There are pictures and videos.¡± If this ce had surveince cameras, his Boss would not have toe here personally. It seems like the people who built this headquarter were afraid that their experiments would leak out so they didn¡¯t leave any form of pictorial evidence behind. They didn¡¯t even dare to install surveince cameras.


    The paper documents they found were weird too. It was written using strange characters that didn¡¯t exist in the world. It was probably anguage invented by the people in the headquarters. That way, only their own people knew what was written on it, even if it was stolen, no one would know about their doings.


    Little Four recorded all of these documents too. He looked at a few pages and couldn¡¯t understand anything, none at all. But, this was not an unsolvable problem for him. With his powerful calcting ability, he would be able to find a pattern in the words and decipher its content.


    Ling Lan quickly retreated from the headquarters. She found a safe spot in the forest and sent the evidence she found to the number that gave her the mission.


    Somewhere far away, a major who had been taking note of this number finally saw a message sent to it. He got excited. ¡°There¡¯s news.¡±


    His colleague, who was a major too, reminded him. ¡°Take a look at its content first. It might be some normal information.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense.¡± The major opened the file. When he saw the gruesome photos shing before his eyes, his expression changed. Every consecutive photo was gorier than thest. After looking through all the photos, the major rushed to the rubbish bin and vomited in it.


    ¡°What happened?¡± His colleague asked out of concern.


    The major took a while to control his urge to vomit. He raised his pale face with eyes full of grief and anger. He said to the major beside him, ¡°Major Liu, inform Major General Wu. We got evidence from Azure.¡± He closed his eyes after he finished speaking to hide his tears and anger. He clenched his fist tightly. Those people should die a thousand times for what they have done!


    Major Liu saw the furious expression on his colleague¡¯s face and was surprised. He nced at his optical supeputer. His expression changed. He quickly contacted Major General Wu and reported the situation to him.


    After some time, Major General Wu came over hurriedly with some officers who looked around 60 years old. Everyone had one or more stars on their shoulders. It meant that they were either major generals or lieutenant generals.


    All the majors on duty were shocked to see so many generals in the room.


    Major General Wu asked the moment he came, ¡°Where is the evidence?¡±


    The major who received the evidence had recovered by now. He pointed to his optical supeputer. ¡°Over here.¡±


    Major General Wu rushed over and took control of the optical supeputer. He flipped through the evidence. The photos were shown one by one, and all the officers looking were shocked by what they saw.


    ¡°Bastards! This bunch of bastards...¡± One of the lieutenant generals mmed his clenched fist on the table beside him, shattering it into pieces.


    ¡°Hurry up and inform the people on Azure to control the Central Scout Academy.¡± The major general gave his order decisively.


    His deputy quickly replied, ¡°Yes, major general.¡± They had waited for this day for a long time. All theycked was evidence. Hence, they waited patiently for that evidence toe.


    ¡°Wait!¡± One of the lieutenant generals stopped him immediately. ¡°The other line sent us some information too. There are many domain realm masters over there. Without an overwhelming number of domain realm masters on our side, we would be unable to control the Central Scout Academy. Furthermore, there are many scouts in the academy. If the enemy uses them as hostages, we will be at a disadvantage.¡±


    ¡°We must gather enough domain realm masters!¡± The person who seemed to be inmand gave an order. ¡°Ask all the division, ground units, starship units, special forces, and any free domain realm masters to gather at the ground headquarters on Azure within 24 hours. The time of action will be...¡± He looked at themunicator on his wrist. It was 1.23 pm now. He continued, ¡± 1400 tomorrow.¡±


    Their opponents were already in an alert state by the numerous attempts to investigate the school. They didn¡¯t have much time left. If their opponents escaped, no matter how much preparations they tried to make, it¡¯ll be all in vain.


    As the orders were given, everyone in the room started acting. They gave out orders to the various units near Azure for them to gather on Azure within 24 hours.


    Major General Wu asked the major who received this document, ¡°Were these evidence sent by the lieutenant colonel from Flying Dragon Special Forces?¡±


    The major was stunned for a moment. ¡°No, it was from the other lieutenant colonel.¡± To ensure the safety of the person taking the mission, the mainframe didn¡¯t provide detailed information about him. However, one of the requirements for this mission was to have the rank of lieutenant colonel or above. Hence, the major addressed him as a lieutenant colonel.


    ¡°He is not...¡± Major General Wu was surprised and curious about the lieutenant colonel who had done what they couldn¡¯t for so long. Who was this person that managed to get this information before the person from Flying Dragon Special Forces?


    Around Azure, all the domain realm masters from various divisions and units received the order. Those that were free or didn¡¯t have any important task rushed to Azure. However, domain realm masters were notmon, even after sending out the order, the generals were still worried. This mission affected the lives of many youths. There must be no mistakes. If not, they would be unable to answer to the people from the Federation. It might also affect the political world, as many important figures would get implicated by this.


    No one could bear these consequences, especially the generals who were in charge of the mission. These 24 hours were like torture to them.


    After Leng Hanfeng left Gu Zhengrong, he quickly arrived at the main gate of the headquarters. When he saw the numerous guards and the high-tech door, he immediately understood why the spies before him failed.


    ¡°Boss, look at what I found.¡± Ling Lan was still sending out the evidence from a tree nearby when Little Four shouted at her.


    ¡°Your roommate!¡± Little Four said excitedly when Ling Lan turned to look at him.


    ¡°Leng Hanfeng or Gu Zhengrong?¡± Ling Lan asked indifferently.


    Little Four was dispirited. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you guess Meng Shaoran?¡±


    ¡°He should be on the way too but he is not free now.¡± When Ling Lan noticed Meng Shaoran following after Su Pei, she had already guessed his reasoning for choosing Su Pei.


    It had to be said that he made a good decision. Su Pei was calm and knew when to give up certain things. He knew what he should do to gain the most leverage out of the situation. Compared to Xiao Yiqiu who was straightforward, Su Pei would give Meng Shaoran what he wanted more easily. Ling Lan agreed with his decision. If she was in the same situation, she would choose Su Pei too.

 Chapter 759 - Appear On Stage All Prim And Proper!

    <h4>Chapter 759: Appear On Stage All Prim And Proper!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°It¡¯s Leng Hanfeng!¡± Little Four was dejected as his Boss was too smart and calctive. It was hard to tease his Boss.


    ¡°It¡¯s him!¡± Ling Lan looked up excitedly. ¡°Is Gu Zhengrong not with him?¡± After she saved Xiao Yiqiu, she continued her way to the base. As she was walking through the forest, she saw Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong fighting against a domain realm master.


    This was something Ling Lan wanted to see. With Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong helping her attracting some of the attention of the guards outside, she would have an easier time getting in their headquarters.


    ¡°Nope, he is alone.¡± Little Four found out that Gu Zhengrong was nowhere near Leng Hanfeng.


    ¡°Interesting!¡± They didn¡¯t move together. Looks like things are getting fun. Ling Lan smiled slightly. ¡°Little Four, you did well today so I¡¯m going to reward you with a great show. Let¡¯s just wait a while and, the leads of the show will appear on stage all prim and proper!¡±


    Ling Lan silently climbed up a tree with dense leaves and branches. With the dense leaves and branches, it allowed little sunlight to hit the ground, shrouding the forest grounds with darkness. Ling Lan leaned close to a thin branch. The dense leaves and branches covered most of her figure. When the wind blew, she swayed along with the branches. From below, nothing amiss could be spotted.


    Leng Hanfeng really wanted toplete his mission but he was not a rash person who would recklessly charge into his objective without thinking. When he saw the heavily guarded gate, he slowly retreated as he didn¡¯t notice any obvious way in, so he wanted to report the situation to the military first.


    When he retreated for around a hundred or so meters, his expression suddenly changed. He instantly jumped into a bush.


    A figure appeared at the spot Leng Hanfeng was at a moment ago. Leng Hanfeng was already very careful but he still got noticed by the guards.


    However, he reacted well to the situation. The guard didn¡¯t seem to realize that he was hiding in the bush. The guard looked confused, seemingly to be doubting himself.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Another guard wearing the same uniform appeared beside him. Looks like they were a team.


    ¡°Nothing. I discovered some movements here so I came here to take a look,¡± the other guard replied.


    ¡°Did you find anything?¡± His partner asked in concern.


    ¡°No. I probably am too sensitive,¡± the person who came first replied.


    ¡°Maybe not... after we reached the domain stage, our five senses got more sensitive. Since you felt something, it means that there must be something suspicious here.¡± The person who camete was more cautious than his partner. ¡°To be careful, let¡¯s activate our domain to scan the surroundings.¡±


    The person who came first felt that it made sense. He was also worried that there was someone here so he nodded to his teammate¡¯s suggestion. They immediately activated their domain.


    ¡°So this is where you are...¡± The moment they activated their domain, all kinds of disguise were useless. The person who came first sneered and reached out his right hand. He attacked the bush where Leng Hanfeng was hiding.


    The bush exploded, and a figure jumped out. It was Leng Hanfeng.


    Leng Hanfeng flew back a few hundred meters like a shadow and quickly ran towards the edge of the forest. With him being discovered by two domain realm masters, he only had one choice: run.


    ¡°Chase him!¡± The two domain realm masters saw Leng Hanfeng and exchanged nces with each other. Then, they chased after him.


    At that moment, a young man who was leaning on a tree tiredly appeared. When this young man heard themotion in front of him, he looked up in shock. When he saw Leng Hanfeng speeding towards him, he let out a sigh of relief and smiled.


    ¡°Erm...¡± He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Leng Hanfeng shouted, ¡°Run!¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± The young man was astounded. When he saw the two shadows chasing Leng Hanfeng, he understood what was happening. He hid behind a tree and shooing at Leng Hanfeng with both hands. He was asking Leng Hanfeng to ignore him.


    Something shed passed Leng Hanfeng¡¯s eyes. He didn¡¯t slow down but changed his direction instead, running towards the young man. He grabbed his hand and pulled him along.


    ¡°I realized that whenever I meet you, nothing good will happen.¡± The young man who was pulled along bore with the excruciating pain in his chest and ran with Leng Hanfeng.


    ¡°I also realize that I will meet you whenever I get unlucky,¡± Leng Hanfeng replied nonchntly. He was pulling a person along but his speed didn¡¯t decrease in the slightest.


    ¡°You offended two domain realm masters... even if you want to die, this is not the way to do it.¡± The young man was pulled by Leng Hanfeng so he had some time to look back. When he saw the two people chasing them clearly, his face turned ck.


    ¡°Gu Zhengrong, shut up!¡± Leng Hanfeng warned him. They were running for their lives now. He didn¡¯t want Gu Zhengrong to make any noise, interrupting his thought process.


    Gu Zhengrong opened his mouth. In the end, he knew that this was not a good time toin so he decided to shut up. He decided that once they are safe, he would cut all ties with Leng Hanfeng. He didn¡¯t want to get implicated by him ever again.


    However, the difference between Qi-Jin and domain was just too vast. Not long after, the two domain masters blocked Leng Hanfeng from the front and back.


    ¡°I¡¯m really going to die because of you now.¡± Gu Zhengrong gave a bitter smile.


    ¡°Since you woke up, you should have left. Why did youe deeper into the forest?¡± Leng Hanfeng was unhappy about Gu Zhengrong¡¯s decision too.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that some idiot would overestimate himself and get himself into trouble.¡± Gu Zhengrong replied angrily. The two of them were seriously injured. Why didn¡¯t he go back and rest? Why did he go to look for the headquarters himself? Is the base so easy to enter? If it is, there wouldn¡¯t be so many people who had failed in the past.


    ¡°Are you saying that I have to thank you?¡± Leng Hanfeng scoffed.


    When Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong startedining to each other in a life or death situation, the two domain realm masters were stunned.


    At that exact moment, Gu Zhengrong and Leng Hanfeng suddenly moved. They rushed towards the domain realm master who was blocking their way of retreat. If they wanted to live, they needed to subdue this person first.


    Boom! Boom! The two domain masters resisted their attacks easily. Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong knew that they were so dead as the guard didn¡¯t even seem surprised by their attacks. They were too well-prepared.


    ¡°What a simple scheme. If we didn¡¯t discover it, we should quit the organization.¡± The domain realm masters who fought with Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong gave a sarcastic smile to them.


    ¡°Brother, seems like we really have to die together,¡± Gu Zhengrong said with a serious face. This was the first time he felt actually hopeless.


    Leng Hanfeng didn¡¯t say anything. He pursed his lips tightly and stared stubbornly at the domain realm master in front of him. Gu Zhengrong smiled when he saw Leng Hanfeng¡¯s never give up attitude. ¡°How about this. Let¡¯s fight one each and see who canst longer.¡±


    Gu Zhengrong turned and pressed his back against Leng Hanfeng¡¯s back. He said in a low voice, ¡°Leng Hanfeng, remember, don¡¯t die too fast.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will not die before you.¡± Leng Hanfeng could be quite irritating when he wanted to be. Gu Zhengrong felt frustrated. ¡°Hope that you will do what you say. Don¡¯t disappoint me.¡±


    After he finished speaking, he looked at the other domain realm master. The domain realm masters didn¡¯t feel that these two little fish were a threat at all so they didn¡¯t initiate the fight first. As the stronger party, they felt it was beneath them to attack first.


    Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong knew that this fight would decide whether they live or die. Their hearts were heavy. They secretly gathered their strengths. They hoped to adjust their body condition to its best state so that they had a chance to survive, no matter how small the chance.


    ¡°Hey, why is the atmosphere here so tense?¡± A yful voice sounded in the forest.


    Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong were dumbfounded as they looked at the direction where the voice came from. A young man wearing a scout uniform was leaning against a tree and waving at themzily.


    ¡°Meng Shaoran!¡± The two of them shouted instantly.


    ¡°Tsk, why are you two so passionate? I¡¯m not used to it.¡± Meng Shaoran gave them a look of disgust. ¡°Brother Shaoyun is still the best. He is pure, sincere, honest, and not as fake as you two.¡±


    Little Four, who was looking at the show,ughed when he heard this. ¡°Haha, Boss, you are pure, sincere, and honest. This is so funny.¡± If their Boss was honest, there would be no liars in the world.


    ¡°Little Four, I seem to be too kind with youtely.¡± Ling Lan clenched her fist and cracked her knuckles. She looked at Little Four threateningly. This person needed to be beaten asionally.


    Meng Shaoran¡¯s words angered Leng Hanfeng. He sneered. ¡°You are dishonest too.¡± They were not the only ones hiding their identities.


    ¡°Yes, yes, we are all the same. Why are you so proud of yourself?¡± Gu Zhengrong added on. He revealed how hypocritical he was.


    Leng Hanfeng red at Gu Zhengrong coldly. Who said that there were the same?


    Gu Zhengrong felt that there was something wrong with what he said so he pped his mouth and smiled awkwardly at Leng Hanfeng.


    ¡°So, are you all done with iming your family connections?¡± One of the domain realm masters saw the three of them talking among themselves and immediately scoffed at them.


    ¡°I¡¯m not his rtive.¡± The three men spoke simultaneously as they gave a look of contempt to the other two people.


    This chemistry caused the faces of the domain realm masters to turn ck. Are the three young men trying to tease them?


    They exchanged nces with one another and understood each other thoughts. They attacked together. Their target was Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong. No matter how powerful a person was, they knew that they should pick the weakest off first. Meng Shaoran appeared without them noticing. This meant that he was much more powerful than the other two. The two domain realm masters decided to subdue the two weaker ones beforebining their efforts to fight Meng Shaoran.

 Chapter 760 - From The Start!

    <h4>Chapter 760: From The Start!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Their n was good but they were not the ones writing the script. Meng Shaoran moved quickly and stopped one of them.


    ¡°Looks like you want to be our enemy,¡± the domain realm master that was stopped said angrily.


    ¡°Tsk tsk. Look at how fake you are. From the moment I appeared, we all already know that we are not on the same side.¡± Meng Shaoran jeered.


    The domain realm masters¡¯ expression changed. Because Meng Shaoran stopped one of them, the other one had to fight Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong alone.


    ¡°I always know that I¡¯m not so unlucky. Leng Hanfeng, looks like we have to work together again.¡± Gu Zhengrong touched his nose nonchntly and gave a smile. If they could escape from a domain realm master once, they could do it again.


    ¡°You can use your special skill again?¡± Leng Hanfeng raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°Hmph. We talked with them for so long in order to drag the time and let the recovery agents show its effects. Don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t use it.¡± Gu Zhengrong raised his eyebrows too. He didn¡¯t believe that Leng Hanfeng didn¡¯t use the agents.


    Leng Hanfeng shook his head stubbornly, showing that he didn¡¯t want to talk to him. Gu Zhengrong smiled. As expected of a soldier, straightforward and bad-tempered. Well, he should just ignore him.


    The two of them didn¡¯t speak nicely with each other but they both prepared their stance for a fight.


    When he saw two young men at the peak stage of Qi-Jin attempting to fight with him, a domain realm master, the domain realm master sneered in contempt. He decided to teach these two little brats a lesson. He would let them know what the phrase ¡®anyone below the domain stage is a nobody¡¯ really meant


    He turned and said to his partner, ¡°I will handle these two brats. Take care of your opponent and don¡¯t let him interfere with my fight.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will not interrupt your side!¡± His partner shouted back.


    Meng Shaoran raised his eyebrows. He felt that there was an underlying meaning behind his words. However, he didn¡¯t have the time to think about it carefully. The domain realm master had already unleashed his domain, and it was attempting to engulf him. In response, Meng Shaoran released his domain without hesitation, creating his own domain space.


    The two different elemental domain shed with each other, forming a powerful and frightening energy. Trees swayed furiously, branches were blown hundreds of meters away. Yet, the clothes on Meng Shaoran and his opponent¡¯s body didn¡¯t move an inch.


    At that moment, Gu Zhengrong suddenly shouted and grabbed Leng Hanfeng. He then quickly ran away from the battlefield of two domain realm masters.


    If they stayed too close to the fight, they could get injured by some rogue attack. Moreover. there was a domain realm master looking hungrily at them. If they wanted to have even a chance to survive, escaping now would be ideal.


    If they escaped, they wouldn¡¯t distract Meng Shaoran too. It was the best course of action.


    Leng Hanfeng almost fell when he was suddenly grabbed by Gu Zhengrong. Fortunately, his foundation skills were good so he managed to stabilize himself and followed Gu Zhengrong.


    The domain realm master who was looking at Gu Zhengrong and Leng Hanfeng got distracted by the fight between his partner and Meng Shaoran. This was one of the reasons why Gu Zhengrong dared to run away. When the domain realm master came back to himself, he realized that Gu Zhengrong and Leng Hanfeng were extremely shameless. They escaped when they outwardly show that they wanted to fight. He was indignant. He nced at his partner and only chased after the two young men when his partner nced back at him.


    Gu Zhengrong and Leng Hanfeng managed to catch the domain realm master off guard and escaped when he wasn¡¯t paying attention to them. However, domain realm masters were too strong. In about three seconds, the domain stage guard had caught up to them. They only managed to escape for a few hundred meters.


    In actuality, Gu Zhengrong and Leng Hanfeng didn¡¯t n to escape. When they saw that they had achieved their goal, they stopped.


    Gu Zhengrong calcted the distance and smiled in satisfaction. ¡°This far is good enough. We will not affect Meng Shaoran at this distance.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± Leng Hanfeng agreed with a serious gaze.


    ¡°Now, our lives are up to us.¡± Gu Zhengrong was serious too. He had already epted their faith in dying in the hands of the two guards. However, Meng Shaoran¡¯s help gave them some hope of surviving.


    Leng Hanfeng was not a talkative person, so he didn¡¯t say anything else. He focused on the domain realm master who was walking towards them step by step.


    Gu Zhengrong and Leng Hanfeng released their full power. The former¡¯s force of presence was even stronger than thetter as he was a step away from the optimal peak Great Perfection of Qi-Jin. This was his true strength. He could only break through the bottleneck and enter a step into the domain stage when he uses his secret skill. However, the consequence of using the skill was huge. Unless it was absolutely necessary, Gu Zhengrong would not use it.


    ¡°Overconfident little kids, do you think that you two could fight against a domain realm master?¡± The domain realm master slowly walked forward as he mocked them.


    ¡°You talk too much!¡± Gu Zhengrong looked at him with disdain.


    The domain realm master turned red with anger when he heard that. His mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words came out. He didn¡¯t know what to say. Leng Hanfeng looked at him pitifully. When Gu Zhengrong decided to be harsh, he could hurt someone quite badly.


    ¡°You are looking for death!¡± The domain realm master finally lost control of his anger. He released his domain power and charged towards Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong.


    A few hundred meters away, Meng Shaoran and the domain realm master were at a standstill, with one side constantly attacking and the other side constantly defending. Both sides couldn¡¯t subdue the other person. The domain realm master was on the defending side as he could replenish his constantly harassed earth wall with ample amounts of earth element due to them fighting in a forest which favours the earth element. Additionally, being on the defensive was an earth element domain¡¯s specialty. As Meng Shaoran¡¯s domain element was fire, he was more adept at attacking than defending, but with theck of fire element in the forest, his weakened fire attack couldn¡¯t break through the empowered earth wall of the domain realm master, thus making both sides not gain any advantages.


    Boom!


    The entire forest shook as a loud shockwave was heard. Meng Shaoran and the domain realm master looked at the direction where the shockwave came from. It was where Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong escaped to.


    ¡°Looks like they started fighting,¡± Meng Shaoran muttered.


    ¡°Yourpanions might be dead by now.¡± The domain realm master gave a delighted smile. When his partneres back, this young man would be dead.


    Meng Shaoran raised his eyebrows. ¡°Why are you so confident? I personally think that your partner might be the dead instead.¡± If the person he was looking for was among the two of them, the domain realm master would die instead.


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, let¡¯s make a bet. Do you think the person who appearster will be from your side or from my side?¡± The domain realm master gave an arrogant smile.


    ¡°Bet? Is there a need for it?¡± Meng Shaoran smiled evilly.


    ¡°Haha, there is no need. I¡¯ll definitely win.¡± The domain realm masterughed loudly.


    ¡°No, I just feel that there is no need to make a bet with a dead person.¡± Meng Shaoran looked at his opponent maliciously. From the start of the fight, he had never thought of letting his opponent off alive.


    ¡°Bastard!¡± The domain realm master was furious. Multiple thorns formed in his domain space, and they flew towards Meng Shaoran at lightning speed.


    ¡°Fire elements are mostly used for attacking but that doesn¡¯t mean that it couldn¡¯t be used for defending.¡± Meng Shaoran waved his hand and a fire wall appeared in front of him.


    The thorns struck the fire wall. They were not blocked by it. Instead, the fire wall burnt the thorns made using the earth element and turned it into ashes. Even in a defensive position, the fire element showed signs of offense.


    While the earth element and fire element were shing on this side, another situation was happening on the other side.


    Let us look back at the moment when Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong started fighting with the other domain realm master.


    ¡°You are looking for death!¡± The domain realm master finally lost control of his anger. He released his domain power and charged towards Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong.


    Boom! Huge forces collided with one another. The ground shook. The ce where Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong were standing at was covered with dust and soil.


    After some time, the dust slowly settled revealing Leng Hanfeng standing still and grabbing a hand that was reaching for his heart. In his other hand, multiple lightning spears could be seen. The tips of the lightning spears were pointing at the throat of the domain realm master who attacked him.


    If he could form lightning spears, it meant that he was an experienced domain realm master who understood how a domain worked.


    Leng Hanfeng, who had been beaten up all the time, was actually a domain realm master!


    ¡°When did you suspect me?¡± Gu Zhengrong asked curiously after his lethal attack was stopped by Leng Hanfeng.


    ¡°From the start,¡± Leng Hanfeng replied indifferently.


    ¡°The lightning element is the most powerful in terms of attacking. You are the person from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.¡± Gu Zhengrong finally understood everything. ¡°Who is Meng Shaoran then? Is he the person doing the mission?¡± If Meng Shaoran didn¡¯t reveal his domain power, he would not have decided that Leng Hanfeng was the person he was finding. This mistake caused him to fail his entire n.


    Leng Hanfeng didn¡¯t reply to him. He just stared at him coldly.


    Gu Zhengrong said with pity, ¡°Leng Hanfeng, you are damn careful.¡± It was too difficult to fish any information out from him.


    ¡°Since you never believed me, why did you save me?¡± Gu Zhengrong didn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know who you are!¡± He was worried that Gu Zhengrong was on his side so Leng Hanfeng waited until he for sure knew Gu Zhengrong¡¯s identity.

 Chapter 761 - Ling Xiao’s Secret!

    <h4>Chapter 761: Ling Xiao¡¯s Secret!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°I see!¡± Gu Zhengrong finally understood. Leng Hanfeng was uncertain about his identity so he came back. ¡°There is another thing I want to ask you. When did I reveal myself and made you certain that I¡¯m not the person you are looking for? How did you know that I will attack you.¡±


    When Leng Hanfeng stopped his ambush urately, he knew that he had already been exposed. It meant that Leng Hanfeng had already concluded that he was an enemy, not a friend.


    ¡°When you used your domain,¡± Leng Hanfeng replied to him directly.


    ¡°My domain? What¡¯s wrong with my domain?¡± Gu Zhengrong was confused.


    ¡°It¡¯s weird. It made me feel ufortable!¡± Leng Hanfeng turned and looked at the domain realm master who was stopped by his lightning bolt. He said in a cold voice, ¡°He gave me the same feeling too, including the first domain realm master we met. You all possess different elements but the feeling you gave off is the same, and it made me ufortable.¡±


    Actually, Leng Hanfeng already felt ufortable the first time Gu Zhengrong used his secret skill. At that time, he just thought that it was because of the secret skill. Hence, he didn¡¯t think deeper into it. However, Gu Zhengrong shouldn¡¯t have fought with the domain realm master for ten seconds, as it created a scene that made him realize the simrities in their domains.


    At that moment, Leng Hanfeng started suspecting Gu Zhengrong. He helped him escape but he guarded against him too.


    ¡°That is why you purposely tie me on a tree and said those words to me, right? You want to make me believe that you are a soldier and was duty-bound to finish your mission which is to investigate the headquarters.¡± Gu Zhengrong found all the answers he needed. He knew why he had failed to find his enemy¡¯s base inside the school.


    ¡°If you are still unconscious on the tree when I came back, I might have brought you back to my base camp. However, your patience is not as good as I imagined.¡± Leng Hanfeng could be as irritating as Gu Zhengrong when he talked.


    Gu Zhengrong turned red in anger when he heard this. He gritted his teeth. This was why he didn¡¯t like Leng Hanfeng. He had three temporary roommates, and Little Brother Shaoyun was best out of the three as he was cute and harmless.


    ¡°All in all, you were acting. You wanted to force me to attack. Not bad, as a domain realm master, you were willing to be beaten up so badly. Are you not afraid of beingughed at?¡± Gu Zhengrong retaliated.


    ¡°It¡¯s good to be cautious as a mistake could be lethal.¡± Leng Hanfeng had his suspicion but before the other party attacked him, he would not reveal himself easily. He was afraid that he would make a wrong judgment and hurt his friend.


    ¡°Leng Hanfeng, you are cautious I give you that, but I think that you are too indecisive. How could you wait for me to attack when you are being chased by a domain realm master?¡± Gu Zhengrong smiled.


    Leng Hanfeng replied, ¡°A domain realm master is not a threat to me.¡±


    ¡°True. For someone who has the most powerful offensive element, you should be confident. Unfortunately, your overconfidence and your indecisive personality will kill you.¡± As Gu Zhengrong finished talking, purple lightning bolts formed on his hand which was being held by Leng Hanfeng. The sound of electricity was apparent.


    The strong electricity forced Leng Hanfeng¡¯s hand away and pushed Leng Hanfeng a few meters back, but the lightning spears that were pointing at the domain realm master¡¯s throat didn¡¯t move. Instead, it had lengthened itself.


    ¡°A lightning domain?¡± Leng Hanfeng frowned. He had prepared himself for the fact that Gu Zhengrong was a domain realm master. Furthermore, after experiencing the domain of his two opponents, he was confident that he could subdue them. However, the element that Gu Zhengrong had was unexpected as he had the lightning element too.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you use the earth element? Is your innate talent not of the earth element?¡± Leng Hanfeng remembered that when Gu Zhengrong fought with the first domain realm master they met, he used an earth domain. The element of the domain stem from the innate talent of a person, and there was only one innate talent in a single person... so why did Gu Zhengrong have two totally different elements? Leng Hanfeng was puzzled.


    The domain realm master who was currently threatened by lightning spears by his throat smiled. He said proudly, ¡°He is the most perfect creation of our organization. His innate talent is the strongest innate talent in the universe.¡±


    ¡°The strongest innate talent?¡± Leng Hanfeng was stunned. He didn¡¯t know that there was an innate talent that could allow a person to use two different elements.


    The lightning spear started crackling menacingly in Gu Zhengrong¡¯s hand. It looked the same as the one Leng Hanfeng had in his hand. Gu Zhengrong looked at his weapon with satisfaction. He could sense the dangerous lightning energy coursing through his body. This was the domain he wanted. It was worth going to the Central Scout Academy for this.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what kind of innate talent can be considered the strongest in the world.¡± His lightning innate talent was keyed as the strongest in terms of offensive ability, but it didn¡¯t dare to be called the strongest innate talent. ¡°Even if there is one, it will only appear in the future. It will not be something someone already has.¡±


    ¡°No, this innate talent has already appeared. Your military just missed it.¡± Gu Zhengrong smiled proudly. ¡°However, our organization didn¡¯t. We spent more than 20 years trying to decipher this innate talent, and it was finally passed onto me.¡±


    ¡°You make me curious. What kinds of innate talent did our military miss? What innate talent made you all so crazy? You were willing to spend so much time and manpower trying to decipher this innate talent.¡± Leng Hanfeng was really curious.


    Gu Zhengrong smiled happily. ¡°A god-ss operator, one of the ten generals in your Federation, Ling Xiao. His innate talent is Duplication. That is the strongest innate talent in the world. However, you all didn¡¯t seem to notice it. As for Ling Xiao, I¡¯m not sure if he understands his true capability. I don¡¯t even know if he is a domain realm master yet.¡±


    Leng Hanfeng¡¯s expression changed entirely. ¡°If he is a domain realm master, he would know that he could duplicate other people¡¯s domain, right?¡±


    Leng Hanfeng now understood why Gu Zhengrong had the lightning element. The other party duplicated his domain. The earth domain from before was duplicated from someone else¡¯s domain too. From the looks of it, the innate talent of duplication was indeed the strongest.


    Gu Zhengrong smiled. He had said everything he could. The information which couldn¡¯t be said would be kept a secret.


    As for Ling Xiao¡¯s secret, it was time to let it spread. Ling Xiao¡¯s existence helped to keep the Federation safe for long enough. In the past, other countries had no choice but to hold back their desires to attack, but this didn¡¯t align with the motive of their organization. Hence, they must swarm Ling Xiao with problems so that he wouldn¡¯t have the time to care about them. That way, they could fish in troubled waters.


    ¡°Ah, my father¡¯s innate talent is the strongest one. He can duplicate other people¡¯s domains. Woah! As expected of my father, he is so strong.¡± Little Four¡¯s eyes were filled with respect. He was ted.


    On the other hand, Ling Lan was worried. If Leng Hanfeng told the Flying Dragon Special Forces about this, it would be troublesome for her father. Ling Lan believed that the Federation would not let anyone with this powerful innate talent have any freedom.


    In that instant, Ling Lan wanted to kill the three people in front of her, including Leng Hanfeng who was from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. This was the only way her father¡¯s secret would remain a secret. However, she calmed down quickly.


    Since the other party said Ling Xiao¡¯s secret so tantly, it meant that they had made ample preparations. It would not be of any help if she killed the three of them. The organization that Gu Zhengrong was in would use other channels to spread the secret.


    Ling Lan sighed. She hoped that her father could safely pass through this crisis.


    ¡°I¡¯m still too weak...¡± Ling Lan was a low-level officer. She couldn¡¯t help her father in confrontations between high-ranking officers. ¡°Looks like I have to be stronger and climb up the hierarchy. This is the only way I can help father...¡± Ling Lan felt a strong sense of urgency.


    Both parties got what they wanted. Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong didn¡¯t have any intentions of talking to each other anymore. They looked at each other in the eyes silently for three seconds. Suddenly, the domain realm master who was threatened by Leng Hanfeng¡¯s lightning spears moved away quickly. When he finally escaped from the spears, he felt a huge sense of relief.


    Leng Hanfeng showed him some mercy because he wanted to focus on Gu Zhengrong. If not, the domain realm master would not have seeded so easily.


    At the same time, Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong attacked one another.


    The shrill sound of electricity echoed through the forest.


    Two lightning spears collided. Sparks flew everywhere. The two of them were on par with one another. After a few rounds of fighting, the domain realm master at the side noticed a weakness and decided to act.

 Chapter 762 - The Weakness Of Duplication?

    <h4>Chapter 762: The Weakness Of Duplication?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Gu Zhengrong just duplicated the lightning domain so his ability to control it was still poor. After fighting a few rounds with Leng Hanfeng, the lightning spear in his hand turned unstable. Then, under a continuous barrage of Leng Hanfeng¡¯s powerful attacks, the lightning spear in his hand dispersed, turning into lightning bolts which slowly disappeared into the air.


    Leng Hanfeng¡¯s eyes lit up, and the lightning spear in his hand got stronger. He stabbed viciously at Gu Zhengrong, intending to kill him with a single strike.


    Gu Zhengrong didn¡¯t panic. A thick and sturdy earth wall appeared in front of him, helping him to block the attack.


    The lightning spear pierced into the earth wall. The powerful lightning energy was grounded with the help of the earth wall, immediately dispersing the lightning energy, making Leng Hanfeng stunned.


    While he was stunned, the ground below Leng Hanfeng suddenly puffed up. It turned into a huge mouth, wanting to swallow Leng Hanfeng whole. Leng Hanfeng immediately retreated. He wanted to dodge Gu Zhengrong¡¯s attack but it was toote.


    Leng Hanfeng got swallowed by the formed earth cavity, encasing him in an earth coffin.


    The domain realm master had been waiting for this chance. He lowered his right hand, and his fingernails lengthened and turned ck. It grew to around 10 centimeters. His nails were glinting like a piece of metal, seemingly to be so sharp that it was able to cut light. After preparing himself, the domain realm master disappeared from his spot.


    He appeared next to the earth coffin in an instant. He reached out his hand and forcefully stabbed it into the coffin, the position was where Leng Hanfeng¡¯s heart was.


    The strong fingernails broke the walls of the coffin easily. It looked as though he had seeded. The domain realm master gave a delighted smile. Suddenly, his face scrunched up and he let out a scream full of agony.


    Right below his hand, another hand with multiple purple lightning bolts snaked around it had stabbed through the earth wall and pierced through his chest. On the backside of the body, one could see the hand holding a still-beating heart.


    Gu Zhengrong narrowed his eyes. He released his power and flew back a few meters.


    Boom! The coffin exploded without any warning. A figure snaked by numerous purple lightning bolts walked out of the debris, perfectly imaging Thor descending from Asgard.


    Leng Hanfeng looked at the domain realm master who was on hisst breath. He said calmly, ¡°Just as I expected, there is a weakness in your domain.¡± He actually managed to prate his opponent¡¯s body so easily... A real domain realm master¡¯s body would be protected by his domain, and it would not be this weak.


    ¡°Weakness?¡± The domain realm master vomited blood. He knew that he was going to die soon but he didn¡¯t want to leave without resolving his doubts, so he held onto hisst breath and spoke with much difficulty.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t break through Qi-Jin through hard work or by having years of experience, and you never unleash your potential under the assistance of a powerful domain realm master. Neither did you face a life-or-death situation that helped you to breakthrough to the domain stage. That means that you reached the domain stage using some other alternate means.¡± Leng Hanfeng frowned. He didn¡¯t know how to exin his feelings. ¡°I feel that you are cheating. You all use some unknown methods to cheat and reach the domain stage. The first domain realm master I met must have been created through this method. The domain realm master Meng Shaoran is fighting should be the same too.


    ¡°We are all domain realm masters, right?¡± Gu Zhengrong was puzzled too. Hence, he helped the dying domain realm master to ask this question. ¡°Why would there be a weakness?¡±


    Leng Hanfeng scoffed. ¡°It¡¯s like the production of a mecha, without having the perfect foundation, it would always result in a wed product.¡±


    ¡°wed product...¡± Gu Zhengrong thought about his innate talent Duplication, he could feel that there was a w in his innate talent but he didn¡¯t want to believe it. General Ling Xiao¡¯s innate talent was the same as his, how could General Ling Xiao innate talent not be wed but he was. This might be the price humans had to pay for going against nature.


    ¡°Only people who naturally break through Qi-Jin or have a stable elemental domain have the right to be called domain realm masters. Those that got their potential forced out through life-or-death situations had a weaker foundationpared to those who broke through naturally. They would need to use the time after that to understand their domain and learn how to stabilize it. Some might take less than five years. While others might take ten years or even more than 30 years. Worst of all is that a portion of them might drop to Qi-Jin again. This unstable domain phase is known as a pseudo domain.¡±


    Leng Hanfeng thought about himself. That year, he was young and arrogant. He wanted to be the most powerful and talented person in the Flying Dragon Special Forces. When he didn¡¯t manage to break through the Qi-Jin stage at 18 years old, he applied to use external means for him to break through to the domain stage. Although he finally managed to achieve the domain stage after experiencing a few close death experiences, the consequences were greater than what he was prepared for. He had to use three years to stabilize his domain to finally be a true domain realm master. Then, he had to spend two additional years to gain a deeper understanding of the domain stage. He had almost lost his confidence as a domain realm master during this time but he was lucky to have gained it.


    This kind of fortunate feeling kepting back to him whenever he gained a deeper understanding of the domain stage. He needed to use his entire lifetime topensate for the shortcut he took. Leng Hanfeng didn¡¯t know if he should regret his rash decision in the past.


    He didn¡¯t even know whether if he could break through the Qi-Jin stage if he didn¡¯t use external means. Would he be able to achieve the domain stage by his own power? Everything was uncertain.


    Leng Hanfeng thought about this and his gaze turned resolute. If he could do it once, he could do it again.


    This was the first time Gu Zhengrong heard that there were different categories of people who had achieved the domain stage. Even those people who used external means had ws in their domain. What about him then?


    ¡°What about us? What about our domains?¡± Gu Zhengrong wanted to know this answer.


    Leng Hanfeng shook his head in pity. ¡°You all have some understanding about the domain stage but it¡¯s just scattered information. For instance, you...¡± Leng Hanfeng looked at the domain realm master who wanted to get an exact answer before he died. ¡°Your offensive skills are quite powerful but your defense is extremely weak. It¡¯s almost non-existent. This is definitely not right. A real domain realm master might have a difference in strength in their offensive and defensive abilities but it won¡¯t be so vast. You might be able to easily kill a person below the domain stage but once you meet a really powerful domain realm master, your weakness will be amplified by a thousandfold.¡±


    Leng Hanfeng thought for a moment before continuing, ¡°If I give 100 points to a person who used his own effort and experience to achieve the domain stage, a person in the pseudo domain stage would have 50 points. You will only have 25 to 30 points. Pseudo domain masters could use their hard work topensate for the 50 points theycked. However, I don¡¯t know if you even have the chance to reach 100 points at all. From the looks of it, your domain can only be known as fake domain.¡± Leng Hanfeng¡¯s analysis was the same as what Ling Lan had thought. Even the name he gave was the same too. Fake domain!


    ¡°Fake domain, it¡¯s fake...¡± The domain realm master was dejected and angry. He was angry because he was fooled for so many years. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t have the chance to vent his anger. He breathed hisst breath and died. The heart that Leng Hanfeng was holding onto stopped beating.


    ¡°What a pity.¡± The lightning snakes crackled around Leng Hanfeng¡¯s hand for a moment, and the heart was burnt into ashes. He flicked his fingers and said to Gu Zhengrong who was still dumbfounded. ¡°We have been roommates for half a month. That is fate. What I said just now is to repay this fate.¡±


    Gu Zhengrong was the strongest person created through the experiment so he quickly regained hisposure. He scoffed. ¡°I have to thank you for your kind intentions then. I didn¡¯t expect you to be so powerful.¡±


    Leng Hanfeng could use his lightning element all throughout his body. It meant that he was in the middle stage of domain. Gu Zhengrong had been in the domain stage for many years but he was still at the primary stage. He didn¡¯t have the opportunity to progress further. In the past, he could fool himself and say that the time was not right, but now, just like what Leng Hanfeng said, it might have something to do with the method the organization allowed him to reach the domain stage.


    Ling Lan was watching the fight between Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong at the side. She saw the lightning bolts around Leng Hanfeng and nodded. ¡°As expected of someone from the Huaxia Federation, he is difficult to deal with.¡± She was right to say that the records by the Federation were just to show normal civilians and other countries. Many outstanding talents were kept a secret. This was the right decision. If other countries knew the exact strength of your country, your country would be soon destroyed.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s attention was not on Leng Hanfeng. She was focused on Gu Zhengrong. Just now, Gu Zhengrong had revealed a weakness of the innate talent Duplication. He was able to duplicate other people¡¯s domain but he couldn¡¯t duplicate their skills andprehension of their domain. Hence, he wasn¡¯t able to duplicate it perfectly. If not, Gu Zhengrong would have realized how powerful Leng Hanfeng was and the domain realm master would not have died to a surprise attack.

 Chapter 763 - Northeastern Muqi!

    <h4>Chapter 763: Northeastern Muqi!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know if this weakness was because Gu Zhengrong was not powerful enough or was it a weakness of the innate talent. Is it a unique weakness of the innate talent Duplication? Ling Lan was confused. She decided to look for her father when she goes back home. She realized that her father was keeping many secrets from her.


    ¡°Looks like the innate talent Duplication is not that strong.¡± Leng Hanfeng noticed this weakness too.


    Gu Zhengrong didn¡¯t look good. There was a weakness in his innate talent. He could duplicate other people¡¯s domain and control the domain, but that was it. Any further progression would require much of his time and effort. He didn¡¯t know if it was a natural weakness or was it unique to him.


    His innate talent Duplication had another w too, and it was something only he knew. He could only duplicate up to two people¡¯s domains. If he wanted to duplicate another domain, he needed to give up one of the original two domains. It meant that the time spent on understanding the said domain would be wasted. This was why he was very picky when duplicating a domain. He was afraid that he would meet a better domain. Then, his efforts before it would be for nothing.


    The first element he chose to duplicate was the earth element. He realized the weakness in his defense so he chose the earth element which was the strongest in terms of defense. Since he managed to be the strongest person created by the organization, Gu Zhengrong was no doubt an intelligent person. He had already realized the ws in his domain but he kept it to himself.


    He didn¡¯t care much about the other domain that he had because he knew that it was just temporary. He would have to give it up anyway. Only when Leng Hanfeng¡¯s domain appeared did he realize that his domain was the domain he was waiting for.


    He had the most powerful defensive element, earth and now, he had the most powerful offensive element, lightning. This was the best path Gu Zhengrong had nned for himself.


    Gu Zhengrong had calcted everything. However, he didn¡¯t expect Leng Hanfeng to be so powerful. Leng Hanfeng survived thebined attacks of him and hisrade and even managed to kill thetter. The person in a dire situation now was him, Gu Zhengrong.


    Thinking about this, Gu Zhengrong felt like giving up, but his life was just starting, so he didn¡¯t want to die now.


    The ground below Gu Zhengrong suddenly opened. Gu Zhengrong sank into the ground and disappeared in an instant.


    Leng Hanfeng¡¯s expression changed. He raised his hand and a bolt of purple lightning shot out of his hand.


    Boom! The lightning bolt struck the floor and flowed underground.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Leng Hanfeng raised his eyebrows in surprise. He didn¡¯t hit Gu Zhengrong. Where did Gu Zhengrong go?


    Leng Hanfeng didn¡¯t believe that Gu Zhengrong was able to escape from his domain space in such a short time. When he killed the domain realm master, he had activated his domain and encased Gu Zhengrong within his domain. This was why he was able to speak so calmly with Gu Zhengrong. He was confident that Gu Zhengrong would not be able to escape his domain space.


    ¡°How did he do it?¡± Leng Hanfeng was curious.


    ¡°Because he duplicated your domain.¡± A familiar voice was heard. Leng Hanfeng looked up and saw Meng Shaoran leaning against a tree nonchntly. It seems like he had already killed his opponent.


    ¡°You saw everything?¡± Leng Hanfeng was not surprised that Meng Shaoran was here.


    ¡°Yes. I came when you killed the domain realm master.¡± Meng Shaoran didn¡¯te too close. He just stood beside the tree. He was a domain realm master too but he didn¡¯t want to get barraged by the seemingly infinite number of powerful lightning bolts.


    ¡°I know who you are but we should still follow the procedure.¡± Leng Hanfeng raised his eyebrows. ¡°928UROQRM98RQ...¡± Leng Hanfeng said a series of alphabets and numbers, and Meng Shaoran gave an evil smile. This was the person he was looking for. He replied with another series of alphabets and numbers. Then, they exchanged some codes. Leng Hanfeng smiled. ¡°Let me introduce myself. My name is Tang Ningyu. I¡¯m from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.¡±


    ¡°Mu Chaoran, from Northeastern Muqi,¡± Meng Shaoran, whose real name was Mu Chaoran, replied. Mu Chaoran was azy person, so he didn¡¯t change much of his name.


    ¡°First-rank elite family, Northeastern Muqi? Why isn¡¯t your name Muqi Chaoran?¡± Tang Ningyu was puzzled.


    Mu Chaoran smiled. ¡°Once members of Northeastern Muqi leave Guandong and be a soldier, we would have to choose between the surname ¡®Mu¡¯ or ¡®Qi¡¯. This is a rule set by our ancestors. Don¡¯t ask me why.¡± He knew what Leng Hanfeng wanted to ask him so he answered to him directly.


    Tang Ningyu was not a stubborn person. Once he heard Mu Chaoran¡¯s answer, he didn¡¯t probe further. The conversation just now seemed casual, but they were exchanging nces with each other.


    Tang Ningyu suddenly removed his lightning domain. At the same time, Mu Chaoran took over with his fire domain seamlessly.


    ¡°Come out.¡± Mu Chaoran pointed, and a fire dragon flew towards the direction he was pointing at.


    The fire dragon mmed onto a part of the ground that looked normal. A huge explosion urred and a figure jumped up haggardly from the crater. Faint lightning bolts were shing around him.


    ¡°You managed to achieve a bnce between the lightning element and the earth element. No wonder you are the most powerful person in the organization. You should be the most sessful and closest to perfect case that those fake domain realm masters were talking about, right?¡± Mu Chaoran gave his evil smile.


    Gu Zhengrong looked at Mu Chaoran in astonishment. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you know about this.¡±


    ¡°Not everyone is willing to be an experiment.¡± Mu Chaoran thought about Su Pei. If they didn¡¯te, he would be the next Gu Zhengrong, right? He just wondered if Su Pei would be just like Gu Zhengrong after the experiment seeded.


    For some reason, Mu Chaoran believed that since the faction dared to experiment with these youths who hated them for tricking them, they would definitely have a way to make them listen obediently to their orders and work for them.


    Thinking about this, Mu Chaoran frowned. He started to feel hatred towards the organization that Gu Zhengrong was in. He thought about the righteous and chivalrous side Gu Zhengrong showed during this half a month they were together. He couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Haven¡¯t you thought of leaving your organization ande to the good side?¡±


    Gu Zhengrong smiled. ¡°What is good? What is bad? Good and evil are defined by the winners of the battle. Only the winner has the right to speak. Don¡¯t you know this rule?¡±

 Chapter 764 - Old Man Hong!

    <h4>Chapter 764: Old Man Hong!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Mu Chaoran only smiled after hearing Gu Zhengrong¡¯s words of mockery. He didn¡¯t get angry. He only asked because he felt it was unfortunate for a talented individual like Gu Zhengrong to befall in a doomed organization. Gu Zhengrong would be his opponent since he was keen on following his organization to the bitter end.


    The three of them seemed to all have the same idea. The entire forest was silent for a short while. Then in the next second, all three of them sent out a terrifying domain energy wave which were of the lightning, fire and earth element.


    Faced with the two of the strongest offensive elements in the domain stage, Gu Zhengrong had no choice but to give up on using the lightning domain he had copied and returned to using what he was proficient in, the earth domain. Additionally, the defensive properties of the earth domain was the strongest. In a two versus one fight, he would die a horrible death if he was to attack carelessly.


    One purple purple lightning bolt and one ming arrow hit a mud wall. The collision between all three elements caused an explosion to ur. As the dust settled, three silhouettes flew towards three different directions. Two of themnded firmly on the ground while the third one stood his ground only after taking many steps backwards.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± Gu Zhengrong, who had just managed to stand firmly on the ground, spat out a mouthful of blood with a pained expression on his face.


    Tang Ningyu¡¯s domain was already stronger than Gu Zhengrong¡¯s domain. It was impossible for Gu Zhengrong to not be injured after taking a hit from thebined attacks of Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. Gu Zhengrong knew his situation very well. He didn¡¯t want to fight, but he had no choice but to fight. He wanted to run, but the two people standing in front of him would not give him a chance to run.


    However, it didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t have a chance to live. This forest was near his headquarters so as long as he could hold on until those at the headquarters discovers his situation, they would send reinforcements to save him, then he would be able to live. After that, he would be repaying the two people who were standing before him in blood.


    Gu Zhengrong desperately tried to prolong the fight, but sadly Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran weren¡¯t idiots. They quickly discovered Gu Zhengrong¡¯s n. The two of them looked at each other and understood what they needed to do.


    Purple lightning began to crackle around Tang Ningyu¡¯s body, while Mu Chaoran became a dragon made of fire, and they danced around with one another, they looked like they werebining into double coloured spiral bolt.


    The two of them prepared to use their most powerful attack to try to kill their opponent right there.


    Gu Zhengrong¡¯s expression becameplicated, and he was quite anxious. Why hadn¡¯t reinforcements arrived? What happened to the headquarters?


    At that moment, a dozen ck-suited individuals appeared outside the gate and sessfully killed the two guards at the gate.


    The leader of the group in ck looked around at hisrades and said in a serious manner, ¡°Ourrades helped us lure those domain experts away. We have to use this chance. Once we enter the inner parts of this headquarters, we have to be ready to give up our lives if necessary.¡±


    ¡°Yes, captain!¡± The men dressed in ck shouted in unison. At that moment another man that was dressed in ck, who stood beside the door, shouted, ¡°I got it.¡± The gate opened and a pitch-ck darkness appeared behind it which seemingly able to swallow light.


    ¡°Go inside!¡± The captain lead the dozen of men in ck and headed into the darkness without any hesitation. Not long after, there were sounds of gunshots being fired from within...


    ¡°Beep beep beep...¡± The entire headquarters¡¯s rm had gone off! The originally quiet and orderly headquarters instantly got into a state of panic.


    The boss of the headquarters heard the rm ringing in his room and had a serious expression on his face, ¡°What were those domain experts doing out there? How have intruders gotten into my headquarters?¡± He immediately ran out and went towards the surveince room.


    In the surveince room, the video feed of the gate showed that men in ck suits had already taken over the entrance. The guards there couldn¡¯t do anything, and were all defeated. The men in ck got into inner areas of the headquarters, but of course, they also had a few casualties during the battle.


    As for the situation outside of the gate, they were none the wiser as to ensure hackers couldn¡¯t get in from the outside, there weren¡¯t any surveince equipment in the forest area. Now, their decision came back to bite them in the back.


    ¡°Sh*t, finish off these invaders.¡± Did they actually think the powers that protected the headquarters were only those domain experts?


    ¡°Yes, boss!¡± This order was sent out from their boss which caused the entire headquarters to move out. They wanted to quickly get rid of these invaders.


    At that moment, the deputy beside the headquarters¡¯ boss softly asked, ¡°Boss, should we notify Elder Hong?¡±


    The boss of the headquarters red at him and said, ¡°You think we should ask Elder Hong for such a small problem?¡±


    The deputy immediately nodded and didn¡¯t dare to say another word?


    ¡°Right, where¡¯s Young Master Rong?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s still in the forest and hasn¡¯t notified us...¡± The deputy immediately answered.


    The boss frowned. He was quite worried about the fact there wasn¡¯t any informationing from Gu Zhengrong.


    Right at that moment, the boss¡¯s expression suddenly changed. He immediately ran out of the surveince room. He jumped around and reached the square of the headquarters and looked at the gate of the headquarters with a serious expression.


    The deputy stumbled out of the surveince room and ran to the square with tired and audible pants. After seeing his boss just standing there and gazing at the gate, he shouted in a confused tone, ¡°Boss, what¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°Elder Hong has moved out,¡± the boss said that and jumped once again. He then reached the gate of the headquarters. The deputy couldn¡¯t help but stumble downwards and follow in his boss¡¯s footsteps...


    Around the entrance of the headquarters, a dozen men in ck had already been grounded to dust by a strong domain. There were only pools of blood everywhere. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that he had seen the invaders with his own eyes, he might have even thought that the video feed he saw earlier was fake.


    ¡°Ah, they¡¯re all dead,¡± the deputy saw a pool of blood and shouted excitedly.


    ¡°If Elder Hong was to make a move, why would he leave any of them alive?¡± The boss knew very well how terrifying Elder Hong could be. It was just that Elder Hong had made a move not because there were invaders, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t leave the headquarters. There was only one possibility that could make Elder Hong leave the headquarters and go somewhere. That was if Young Master Rong was in danger.


    ¡°It seems that we can¡¯t keep this headquarters anymore.¡± If even Young Master Rong was in danger, that meant the investigators the Federation sent were not standard soldiers and were real experts. The reason the Federation escted it was possibly because they had strong evidence in their hands. Even if things were to get hairy, they weren¡¯t afraid of public outbursts.


    ¡°We¡¯ve hardly operated for a few years...¡± The Boss felt that it was unfortunate. He now hoped that Elder Hong could take out the experts sent by the military, scaring the military to not dare to send anymore of their forces out. Then, they would be able to easily relocate their headquarters to a different location.


    Inside the forest, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran finallypleted the preparations of their final move. They waved their hands almost simultaneously.


    A lighting dragon and fire dragon flew out from Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. The dragons opened their mouths and ruthlessly waited for Gu Zhengrong¡¯s head.


    At Gu Zhengrong¡¯s position, the earth suddenly rose up and wrapped around his body, creating a sand coffin.


    ¡°Bomb! Bomb!¡± The continuous collision between the tworge dragons and the sand coffin created deafening sounds. When the two dragons noticed that they weren¡¯t breaking through the sand coffin, they raised their heads and ruthlessly collided with it once again.


    ¡°Boom!¡±¡±Boom!¡±


    ¡°Boom!¡±¡±Boom!¡±


    Every time they collided, the two dragons grew in size. Behind them, their masters, had pale expression on their faces. It seems the powerful attack made them deplete their domain¡¯s energy reserves.


    ¡°Break through!¡± Mu Chaoran suddenly shouted. As though it had felt its master¡¯s willpower and spiritual pressure, therge fire dragon lifted its head and ruthlessly collided with the sand coffin once again.


    Although Tang Ningyu didn¡¯t make a sound, his lightning dragon also crashed into the sand coffin in a simr manner.


    The tworge dragons crashed into the sand coffin almost simultaneously. ¡°Bang!¡± A terrifying explosion shook the entire forest area. In the center of the explosion, countless dust particles filled the air. In the end, Gu Zhengrong¡¯s real body was exposed.


    The energy in the lightning and fire dragons were notpletely depleted yet. They gathered up once again and shot towards Gu Zhengrong...


    ¡°Ah!¡± After a cry of agony, the two dragons went straight through Gu Zhengrong¡¯s body after his defenses were down. The two dragons, that finally depleted their energy, disappeared into the air without a trace.


    Gu Zhengrong who stood at that location began to spit out vast amounts of blood. His eyes were wide open. In the end, he still get any reinforcements...


    Suddenly, the body parts below Gu Zhengrong¡¯s chest area turned to dust. Half of his torso and his head fell to the ground. Faced with the burns from the fire element and the destructive force of the lightning element, Gu Zhengrong was already lucky that he still had his head intact.


    Gu Zhengrong, who fell to the ground, was still not willing to close his eyes as if he was unwilling to die.


    Seeing this, Mu Chaoran couldn¡¯t help but sigh, ¡°This guy isn¡¯t bad and has good talent... Just unfortunate.¡± If back then, he wasn¡¯t taken in by that organization, Gu Zhengrong would probably have been one of their team members and not their enemy.


    ¡°That¡¯s fate,¡± Tang Ningyu said calmly.


    Right as Mu Chaoran was about to say something, Tang Ningyu¡¯s expression suddenly changed, and he carried Mu Chaoran as he ran wildly towards the exit of the forest area.


    Ling Lan, who had been watching the fight the entire time, also had a small change in her expression. She moved slightly and left the ce she was hiding in. It was just that when she left, she took a look at Gu Zhengrong¡¯s head that was left on the ground and was somewhat doubtful of it.


    Right as Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran left the scene, the ce where they stood had a person appearing. That person had a head full of white hair with an older appearance simr to an elder who had already experienced life to its fullest.


    On the ground, Gu Zhengrong¡¯s head that was left on the ground suddenly spoke, ¡°Elder Hong, if you came anyter, then I would really be dead.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Young Master Rong. As long as your mind isn¡¯t destroyed, then you¡¯re immortal.¡± Elder Hong held up Gu Zhengrong¡¯s head and snapped his fingers. Then, a person came down from the sky.


    ¡°Take Young Master Rong to theboratory and give him a new body,¡± Elder Hong ordered.


    ¡°Yes, Elder Hong!¡± The person who came to them carefully took Gu Zhengrong¡¯s head from Elder Hong.


    ¡°Elder Hong, are you going to chase those two?¡± Asked Gu Zhengrong.


    ¡°Of course, since they dare to wound Young Master Rong, then they must pay ordingly.¡± Elder Hong¡¯s face had a face full of killing intent.


    ¡°Alright, but keep them alive. I want to kill them myself.¡± Gu Zhengrong had savage look on his face. Although he could change his body, that was still his own body. It was destroyed just like that. How could he not hate them?

 Chapter 765 - A Painting!

    <h4>Chapter 765: A Painting!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Young Master Rong.¡± Elder Hong smiled and waved his hand. He signaled his subordinate to bring Young Master Rong¡¯s head back to the base quickly. Although Young Master Rong was able to keep his mindscape alive for some time due to a secret magic art, there was still a time limit to it. The forest was full of danger, so the sooner they sent it back, the sooner he would feel at ease. Then, he could focus all of his attention on catching those two brats.


    The subordinate received Elder Hong¡¯s order and immediately rushed back to the headquarters with Gu Zhengrong¡¯s head. Elder Hong allowed his subordinate to sent the head back because he was confident that no one was able to injure Young Master Rong when he, Elder Hong, the God of this forest, was here.


    As he watched his subordinate safely leaving his domain, he then turned and looked at the direction where Tang Ningyu and Mu Shaoyu went. In the next second, he disappeared.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were escaping furiously. Just as they were about to reach the exit of the forest, something changed. The trees around them suddenly exponentially grew taller and started moving frantically around them. Then, the trees attacked the two of them with their whip-like branches without any warning.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran knew that they couldn¡¯t evade the branches, because once they do, more and more branches would be flying towards them, especially in a forest with an unimaginable number of trees, so they released their lightning bolts and fire dragon simultaneously onto the trees.


    It¡¯smon sense that trees were afraid of lightning and fire as they were quite mmable. However, there seemed to be something protecting these huge trees from catching on fire They were able to bounce the lightning bolts and mes away from their trunks, and even their leaves were protected. Soon, they were wantonly chasing the two people that wanted to run past them, back into the forest.


    Suddenly, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were sent flying up in the air while vomiting a mouthful of blood before mming onto the ground heavily. A single strike was enough to severely injure them. The other party must be a domain realm master who had a title. Unexpectedly, the headquarters actually had such a powerful domain expert guarding it.


    Elder Hong appeared in front of them. He looked at them and asked, ¡°Are you the brats who hurt Young Master Rong?¡±


    ¡°Young Master Rong? Hurt?¡± Tang Ningyu and Mu Shaoyu exchanged nces with one another. They felt that this person was referring to Gu Zhengrong but wasn¡¯t he supposed to be dead? Is he not dead yet and was just injured? The two of them were uncertain.


    ¡°Since the two of you destroyed Young Master Rong¡¯s body, you must pay the price...¡± Elder Hong reached out his hands, making him seem like a Grim Reaper who hade to casually reap some lives, but Tang Ningyu and Mu Shaoyu wouldn¡¯t give up their lives so easily. A lightning shield and a fire wall appeared in front of them.


    ¡°Fire and lightning... you two are the ones who destroyed Young Master Rong¡¯s body. Well then, you will repay with your bodies then.¡± Elder Hong was ted. He was worried that there were no suitable bodies for Young Master Rong back at the base. Now, there were two high-quality bodies lying in front of him.


    ¡°In your dreams!¡± Tang Ningyu wiped the blood off his mouth. He stood up slowly. He was certain that Young Master Rong was Gu Zhengrong. The organization was probably able to keep someone alive even when the person¡¯s body was destroyed. They just had to change body for the person who ¡®died¡¯. This was not a normal medical skill. Tang Ningyu came from the Flying Dragon Special Forces, so he knew some secret documents which recorded the forbidden things done by humans, human experiments, etc.


    Mu Chaoran stood up too. He wiped his blood off his mouth andughed softly. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that I will meet such opponents in a disguise mission. Interesting.¡± He lowered his voice and whispered to Tang Ningyu, ¡°Leave. I will take care of this.¡±


    ¡°If you stay back, you will be as good as dead.¡± Tang Ningyu knew what he wanted to do. This opponent in front of them couldn¡¯t bepared to the fake domain realm masters they had faced just now.


    ¡°Are we able to leave if you stay behind as well?¡± Mu Chaoran mocked him.


    ¡°It might not work but there is at least some hope.¡± Tang Ningyu raised his right hand, releasing a ferocious lightning dragon into the air. I, Tang Ningyu, will not abandon my brother-in-arms to survive.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to run, I will do it.¡± Mu Chaoran was furious.


    ¡°Sure.¡± Tang Ningyu replied calmly, ¡°That is what I wish for.¡± If he stayed back and stopped their opponent, Mu Chaoran would have a higher chance of escaping. This was in his opinion the best n.


    Mu Chaoran hadplex feelings towards Tang Ningyu. Tang Ningyu might not know who he was but he knew who Tang Ningyu was. He was the person who was given up by the Flying Dragon Special Forces in favor of Tang Ningyu.


    Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu were of the same age. The two of them were born in two unrteds, Guandong and Wangjiao. However, their paths started colliding when they were eight years old.


    That year, their innate talents were both awakened. They were much faster than most people and their elements were both powerful offensive elements.


    The Flying Dragon Special Forces had been observing all the children in the Federation so they instantly got a hold of this news. Hence, Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu got picked up by the Federation at the same time. The Flying Dragon Special Forces needed a new leader for the new generation, and over time Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu became the forefronts of the number of potential candidates for this position.


    After a few rounds of intensive fights, Tang Ningyu managed to enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces while Mu Chaoran failed and was sent to another ce. Everyone only knew of the base camp of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. They didn¡¯t know that the Flying Dragon Special Forces actually had two base camps. The other one was the shadow camp, which no one knew of its existence.


    The shadow camp was filled with a bunch of outstanding talents too, but they were just a little worse than the members who managed to enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Hence, they were brought there. Mu Chaoran came there to be groomed to be Tang Ningyu¡¯s shadow.


    A shadow was not someone who had to remain hidden in the dark. He was in the same position as Tang Ningyu in the shadow camp. The two of them werepetitors. However, Tang Ningyu didn¡¯t know of his existence. If he overtook Tang Ningyu in terms of capabilities, he would rece Tang Ningyu and join the Flying Dragon Special Forces in his stead.


    Of course, the possibility of that happening was very low. All the resources Tang Ningyu received were a tier higher than him. Furthermore, Tang Ningyu¡¯s potential was greater than his from the very beginning. Unless he gave up on himself, it would be impossible for Mu Chaoran to surpass him.


    Since he and many others in the shadow camp couldpete with the soldiers in the Flying Dragon Special Forces, why did Flying Dragon Special Forces create the shadow camp and groom them there and not in just one base camp?


    It was because they were backups. What would happen if the talents in the Flying Dragon Special Forces got killed in a mission? It would be a huge blow to the Federation. Hence, shadow members like them would rece the position of the people who had died and be the new leaders of Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    By right, his mission was to watch from the side and cover-up for Tang Ningyu in case he was in danger. Additionally, he was not supposed to help him. However, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from helping him in the end and now, both of them were in danger.


    Mu Chaoran suddenly wanted tough. If he and Tang Ningyu both died here, how would the people in the Flying Dragon Special Forces react? The two leaders that they groomed for almost 20 years died at the same time...


    Mu Chaoran looked at Tang Ningyu intently. If they didn¡¯t die in this mission, he would obediently stay as Tang Ningyu¡¯s shadow! Mu Chaoran made a decision. A fire dragon appeared beside him, and it started twirling in the air.


    Elder Hong smiled sarcastically. Multiple branches appeared behind him and flew towards the two young men.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran waved their hand. The two dragons beside them rushed forward. However, the difference in power was too vast. Their opponent broke their offense easily. The branches easily pierce through into the fire wall and lightning shield protecting them.


    Kacah! Kacah! The fire wall and lightning shield shattered into pieces. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran watched helplessly as the thick branches moved closer to them. They would not be able to escape this time.


    Bang! A huge collision urred.


    An enormous ice mountain suddenly appeared in front of them. The tree branches mmed into the ice mountain, flinging some ice shards into the air. Some of it hit Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu¡¯s faces. The piercing cold from those small pieces of ice shard caused them to shiver.


    Elder Hong¡¯s expression changed. He waved his hand and all the branches retracted. The entire forest resumed its calmness. The ice mountain exuded a dangerous cold air that formed an intimidating mist in the forest.


    An ice element domain realm master!


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran looked at each other. They couldn¡¯t contain their excitement. They were saved. The military actually sent a domain realm master for this mission. The power this person showed proved that he must be someone with a title.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± Elder Hong shouted angrily.


    Silence. Besides the three of them, there seemed to be no one in the forest.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± Elder Hong was frustrated when he couldn¡¯t find the other party. His white hair flew up. He ced his palms together and shouted, ¡°Ultimate Blockade!¡±


    Branches and leaves started growing out of the ground and manifesting in the sky. They formed two huges, one below and one above. The twos moved closer to one another, attempting to capture anyone inside.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran got nervous again. This earth element domain realm master had shown the power of a formidable warrior. He might be even stronger than a titled domain realm master.


    ¡°Ice Blockade!¡± A cold voice rang through the forest.


    The furiously expanding branches instantly got frozen. They stopped moving. Within a second, the green world had turned into an ice cold world. Only ice could be seen.


    At that moment, a figure suddenly appeared in front of Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. The person¡¯s back was facing them. He was wearing a ck windbreaker, and the windbreaker was swaying slowly in the freezing cold wind.


    The person had such a cold force of presence. When he stood in this ice world, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran felt that it was so picturesque as if they were looking at a painting of a ruler in an ice cold world.

 Chapter 766 - Throw Them Out!

    <h4>Chapter 766: Throw Them Out!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Elder Hong frowned. He could feel continuous wafts of cold airing from this person. Additionally, his gaze was icy that even he didn¡¯t dare to look straight at it rashly.


    The powerful force of presence couldn¡¯t conceal the strong vitality exuding out of the person in front of him. It was obvious that this domain realm master was at his prime age. He might be around 40 years old or maybe even younger. Around 30 years old?


    Elder Hong didn¡¯t even have the thought that this person could be even younger. There was a document in the Federation stating that someone from the Federation managed to achieve the domain stage at 25 years old, but the power the person showed just now proved that he was not someone who had just achieved the domain stage.


    Such a powerful and destructive technique could only be used by someone who had a full grasp of the domain stage. Furthermore, this person must have many years of experience on the battlefield to have created such a technique. He must at the tip of the pyramid of domain realm masters, a titled domain realm formidable warrior.


    Bing a titled domain realm formidable warrior was the goal of every domain realm master. To achieve this goal, a domain realm master must create his or her own powerful technique. The strength of each titled domain realm formidable warrior was different but that was just within realm of titled domain realm formidable warriors. No matter how weak a titled domain realm formidable warrior was, he could easily defeat an average domain realm master. The difference in power was not something that could be covered with innate talent.


    Elder Hong asked this question because he couldn¡¯t think of anyone that fit the description of the physical characteristics of the person in front of him. He recalled all the ice element domain realm masters but all their ages were different than the age he had concluded the person in front of him was.


    Did a titled domain realm formidable warrior pass by and coincidentally felt his domain energy? Did hee because he wanted to have a fight with him? If that was the case, Elder Hong wanted to vomit blood.


    The person didn¡¯t reply to Elder Hong. He just looked at Elder Hong directly and said two words coldly, ¡°Move aside!¡±


    Elder Hong didn¡¯t expect the other party to reject him directly. His face turned red in anger. His white hair stood up as he shouted, ¡°How dare you!¡±


    As he shouted, the branches that were frozen broke free from the ice and attacked the person. He wanted to pierce multiple holes in this person to vent his anger.


    The sound of branches striking something could be heard. Ice crumbs flew everywhere, blocking Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s vision. They didn¡¯t know what was happening, but they were afraid at the fact that their savior could be injured by the old man.


    Finally, the attack stopped. The ice crumbs dispersed. The entire ground was filled with thick branches stabbed into it. Actually, the ground couldn¡¯t even be seen anymore. The man in a ck windbreaker stood elegantly on a tree branch. His windbreaker swayed slowly. He was looking calmly at Elder Hong.


    Elder Hong felt the gaze of the two young men. He turned suddenly and waved his hand. Numerous branches flew towards them viciously. Even if someone stepped in, he didn¡¯t n to let the two young men off.


    The man in a ck windbreaker noticed this. He lifted his right hand immediately and an ice wall was erected in front of Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu, blocking Elder Hong¡¯s attack sessfully.


    However, an ice wall was not as sturdy as an ice mountain. After receiving the attack, it shattered into ice cubes and was scattered all over the forest.


    Elder Hong saw this person constantly interfering with him and finally lost his patience. He gave up the thought of persuading the person to leave. He ced his hands together. The branches around Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran moved towards them. If this person wanted to stop him, let him do it. Let¡¯s see who uses up their energy first.


    Elder Hong was confident that he would be thest man standing as the environment was really favorable for him. There were ample wood elements in the forest, so he didn¡¯t need to use too much of his domain energy. Compared to him, his opponent had already used up all the water elements around them. If he continued fighting, the ice element domain energy he needed to churn out was definitely much more than him.


    The attacks from all four corners couldn¡¯t be stopped by one or two ice walls. Ling Lan narrowed her eyes. She ced her hands together, and four walls were formed around Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. At the same time, four snowkes appeared in mid-air. Each of themnded on top of the four walls, it then started to emanate a chilling breeze, freezing together everything part of the walls forming a huge ice cube. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were also encased in the giant ice cube, protecting them from harm.


    ¡°Little White, throw them out.¡± The ¡®man¡¯ in a ck windbreaker was Ling Lan. She was also irritated by Elder Hong¡¯s continuous attacks. She knew what his intention was. He wanted to expend her energy. She wasn¡¯t afraid of this but being on the passive end made her feel frustrated. Hence, Ling Lan used her spiritual power to ask Little White, who was doing something somewhere in the forest, to throw Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran out as these two being here were just a burden to her.


    When Little White heard it¡¯s master¡¯s order, it quickly rushed over while having no time to get rid of the de of grass that was stuck in between his teeth.


    It didn¡¯t want to be hit by its master just because it waste!


    Its body started expanding. Soon, it became the size of a small mountain. All the trees around it cracked when it ran passed them. The tentacles on its body iled wildly in the air. It looked as though a UFO was attacking Azure.


    Little White used its ten thickest tentacles to attack the branches that were pounding the giant ice cube.


    Tang Ningyu, who had been watching Ling Lan and Elder Hong¡¯s battle, felt his heart pounding furiously. A strong sense of danger was felt and the source of that danger was behind him. He turned around, and a frightening massive creature with tentacles appeared in front of his eyes. In the next second, he could feel his eyeballs rolling back.


    Tang Ningyu¡¯s fear affected Mu Chaoran too. He turned around in a bbergasted manner when he saw ten tentaclesing down on them. It made him so scared that he felt he would be smashed into a pile of meat by the tentacles.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang...¡± The tentacles mmed the branches into dust. These branches were created by Elder Hong using the wood element from the thick trees of the forest, but it was not as hard as Little White¡¯s tentacles.

 Chapter 767 - A Bugged Technique!

    <h4>Chapter 767: A Bugged Technique!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Little White used six of its tentacles to hit the branches. The remaining four tentacles grabbed ahold of the giant ice cube and pulled it up from the ground.


    The giant ice cube was lifted up entirely. What is this so heavy? Little White used a lot of energy before it could lift it up. After its master sneaked into the headquarters, it went around the forest eating furiously. The energy it was using now would need to be replenished with a lot of eating.


    Speaking of eating, sob, it finally could eat! The forest was full of delicious savage beasts. Many got them had been eaten by it already. If its master didn¡¯t order it that it couldn¡¯t finish all the beasts, it would have eaten everything.


    Little White cried. It was the right decision to follow master. He could finally eat meat!


    It used all the energy it had and hurled the giant ice cube towards the direction of the academy. Then, it dusted off its tentacles and changed back to its mini ball form. It hopped and jumped back to its forest pantry and continued eating its grass. As for whether the giant ice cube would smash a hole in any of the buildings in the academy... it has nothing to do with it, Little White thought irresponsibly.


    Yes, it should eat more vegetables now. It just ate too much meat and now as of the result of that, it had a very bad case of indigestion. It must be because it hadn¡¯t eaten meat for a thousand years so its digestive system must have degraded. Little White was sad by its upset stomach. It must eat more vegetables so that its digestive system would get healthier. That way, it would not get indigestion again when it would eat a lot of meat in the future.


    Little White felt the importance of this task. It started chewing on the tiny de of grass happily.


    Sob. The world outside itske is so much more beautiful. Even this tiny de of grass tastes so good. Little White raised its head and cried with joy. It was so touched. With this, it was sure that following its master was the best decision it made in its life.


    ¡°Ah...¡± When he saw the huge creature with tentacles throwing him out, Tang Ningyu, who was normally calm andpose, and Mu Chaoran, who always seemed indifferent about anything, screamed in fear.


    Bang! The giant ice cube mmed into a certain school building, forming a huge hole in the roof of this six-level building. Due to everyone in school being preupied with Li Lanfeng¡¯s sermon in the great hall, no one was in the building. However, the strong collision still attracted the attention of some teachers and students nearby.


    The giant ice cube was very sturdy, even after smashing into a building, it didn¡¯t even chip a little. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran inside were dizzy from the throw but they weren¡¯t injured.


    ¡°How are we supposed to get out?¡± Tang Ningyu gave a gloomy look. He didn¡¯t want the teachers and students of the Azure Central Scout Academy to look at him like an animal in a zoo. If they were to find out his true identity, he would not have the face to return to the Flying Dragon Special Forces and be their leader anymore.


    Mu Chaoran aimed his hand at the ice to try to use his fire element to melt the giant ice cube, but not the slightest puff of fire could be seen. There was no element present in the giant ice cube other than the dominating ice element. This showed how powerful that domain realm master was. Mu Chaoran tried to punch the ice wall, but no cracks were formed.


    Mu Chaoran shrugged, expressing that he had no idea. Time passed slowly, then they heard murmurs outside. To prevent exposing any danger to the students, the teachers didn¡¯t allow them to get close to the giant ice cube. After three minutes of strange murmurs, they heard some peopleing up the stairs to investigate the hole in the roof. Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu¡¯s faces turned dark. They were going to be discovered soon. They knew that they would definitely embarrass themselves today.


    They also had to exin why they were locked up in a giant ice cube too. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran felt their head hurting, they didn¡¯t want to be discovered...


    The giant ice cube seemed to have heard their thoughts. It suddenly started cracking, revealing a wide enough opening for them to escape from embarrassment. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were ted, and they disappeared from the giant ice cube instantly. The giant ice pieces crumbled slowly and disappeared into the air. No signs of ice were left behind, only the slight chilliness in the air could be felt.


    In the end, no one knew what damaged the building¡¯s roof, and it became one of the mysteries of Azure Central Scout Academy.


    Little White¡¯s appearance not only scared Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran, Elder Hong got a shock too. He didn¡¯t know where this massive creature came from. This caused him to slow down his attacks. That was why Little White was able to hurl the giant ice cube away.


    But Little White only appeared for an instant. After itpleted its mission, it turned back in its mini ball form and hid among the trees and bushes. Without the uprooted trees and the disturbed terrain caused by Little White, Elder Hong might have thought that he was hallucinating.


    Elder Hong was an experienced titled domain realm formidable warrior, so he vividly remembered how the creature threw the giant ice cube away and felt that it probably had to do with the two people inside the giant ice cube or the domain realm master in front of him.


    He wanted to ask Ling Lan but she had already started attacking him without giving him any time to ask. Without the two burdens, she could fight freely now.


    During the exchange of blow just now, Ling Lan discovered that Elder Hong was not just a normal titled domain realm formidable warrior. Maybe... she could try something new today. Ever since she learned that skill, she didn¡¯t dare to use it on anyone yet.


    You would only know the power and usefulness of some techniques after you use them in a real battle. She hoped that her opponent would not disappoint her.


    Ling Lan released all her energy and created a mini ice world. She enclosed Elder Hong as well as the trees around them in her world. Elder Hong retaliated by allowing the nts around him to grow furiously, attempting to break through the ice world.


    This was a battle between life and death. The ice world killed all signs of life. The trees and nts wanted to use their undying spirit to break the ice world.


    This sh was a battle between their domains. The stronger person wouldst longer.


    After their domains furiously contending with each other for a few minutes, cracks started forming in the ice world. Atst, a sapling broke through the Ice Blockade. The sounds of more cracking could be heard. The sound got louder and louder. The ice world was broken apart by numerous saplings and nts.


    In the battle of life and death, the power of life was stronger. Ice Blockade lost.


    It was hard to win against the wood element in a forest as there was almost an infinite source of it. Ling Lan suddenly took a step back. A wooden spike had appeared at the ce she was just standing at. If Ling Lan didn¡¯t move quickly just now, she would have been injured by it.


    She didn¡¯t manage to seal her opponent because there was ack of water element in the forest. Her opponent managed to manipte his element very well. Ling Lan felt enlightened. She looked at Elder Hong who was standing on a broken trunk.


    ¡°You are indeed a titled domain realm formidable warrior!¡± Only people of this rank were able to change their bodies into their respective elements. This kind of domain realm masters was frightening. You never know when they would attack you and there were also no warnings or signs for you to prepare yourself.


    The moment he finished speaking, he merged with the broken trunk. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know where he could be as there was wood all around her.


    The entire forest was covered in mist, so it was hard for Elder Hong to find Ling Lan too. This was a battle of patience, attentiveness, courage, and cautiousness...


    The entire forest was dead silent. It seemed as though there wasn¡¯t a tense battle urring there. 10 seconds had passed... 20 seconds had passed... one minute had passed... three minutes had passed. Just when it looked as though the silence was going to continue longer, a hand shoot out from a tree and grabbed something in the thick mist.


    Ling Lan¡¯s right arm was grabbed by Elder Hong.


    ¡°You¡¯re dead!¡± Elder Hong scoffed. ¡°Fusion!¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s right arm suddenly started turning into wood. The wood was slowly spreading to other parts of her body. Ling Lan was lifted out of the mist, revealing the entire right side of her body which had already turned into wood. Elder Hong felt that he was going to win so he revealed his true form, showing a delighted smile on his face as he enjoyed his enemy dying in a slow and painful manner.


    ¡°Actually, you shouldn¡¯t grab a water element domain realm master.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence suddenly changed. The coldness around her disappeared, turning the surroundings warm, and an innocent face with a smile was revealed. Elder Hong was bbergasted. ¡°You!¡±


    The Little Brother Shaoyun who Young Master Rong wanted to invite into the organization was actually a titled domain realm formidable warrior!


    The water elements in the air slowlynded on the side of the body that was turned into wood, changing her body back to its normal state.


    ¡°How is that possible!¡± Elder Hong was dumbfounded. His strongest technique, Fusion, got broken just like that.


    ¡°You even revealed your true form. What a stupid decision.¡± Ling Lan sighed as she flicked her fingers, and Elder Hong exploded, turning into a pool of blood. He didn¡¯t know how he died.


    Never use your true form to touch a water element domain realm formidable warriors.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know if this ability was unique to her or could all water element domain realm formidable warriors be able to use this technique as long as they understood how to use it? This must be a bug! If Ling Lan were to meet an opponent with this exact technique and was caught by it by surprise, she wouldn¡¯t be able to retaliate too.


    However, if her opponent didn¡¯t grab her with his real hand, this battle might not have ended this way.


    Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence changed again. The air around her turned cold. She waved her hand at the pool of blood, freezing it. Then, she snapped her fingers. The frozen blood turned into fine dust and dispersed into the air. Only the faint scent of blood was left. It too soon disappeared and was reced by the fresh air of the forest.


    After she dusted off the dust in her hands, Ling Lan quickly returned back to her room.


    ¡°I¡¯ve already locked them up for some time. It¡¯s probably about time to release them.¡± Ling Lan snapped her fingers and a giant ice cube far away unsealed itself.

 Chapter 768 - Who Taught Him Bad Things?

    <h4>Chapter 768: Who Taught Him Bad Things?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    When they were almost to their apartment, the door of their apartment opened, revealing Ling Lan who opened the door excitedly. She widened her eyes in shock as she looked at the two of them. ¡°You... why are you two like that?¡±


    ¡°He offended me just now so we fought.¡± Mu Chaoran was slightly pale in the face. He looked at simrly pale-faced Tang Ningyu while bearing with all the pain in his body, and forced a smile out.


    Ling Lan was puzzled. She didn¡¯t seem to understand why they needed to fight when they offended each other. Then, she saw Leng Hanfeng not wearing his uniform, and was only wearing a T-shirt. ¡°Did your uniform disappear during the fight?¡±


    ¡°It was torn so I threw it away,¡± Leng Hanfeng said casually.


    Ling Lan nodded. She looked as though she believed what they said. All the while thinking in the head, these people sure have a lot of money to waste.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Shaoyu felt relief when they saw how easy it was to fool to Ling Lan. Fortunately, their Little Brother Shaoyun was an innocent person, so he didn¡¯t doubt their wounds as these wounds could not be exined by a fight.


    The two of them wanted to go back to their rooms to dress their wounds. Additionally, they needed to report their findings. While they were thinking of reasons to excuse themselves, Ling Lan muttered to herself, ¡°Brother Gu forgot about me the moment he got a girlfriend. It has been a while since he left.¡±


    Tang Ningyu looked at Ling Lan¡¯s sad face. He didn¡¯t know how to exin to him. Although Gu Zhengrong was not dead, he would not be back soon.


    Furthermore, his mission was almost about to end. He would have to leave this school with Mu Shaoyu soon. Tang Ningyu could almost imagine how Pei Shaoyun would react when he found out that he was tricked. For some reason, Tang Ningyu felt a stabbing pain in his heart. He only met this young man for a short while but he had already entered his heart.


    If Little Brother Shaoyun entered the military in the future, he would take care of him properly. He might not be able to let him climb high up in ranks but he could ensure that he would have a smooth journey ahead of him. This was enough to repay their friendship.


    Thinking about this, Tang Ningyu felt that he shouldn¡¯t give Pei Shaoyun any false hope. He said, ¡°Gu Zhengrong will note back today.¡±


    Ling Lan looked at him in surprise. She asked curiously, ¡°Why not?¡±


    Tang Ningyu turned to Mu Chaoran decisively. ¡°Ask Shaoran, he was the one who told me.¡± He was good at finding scapegoats.


    Mu Chaoran almost kneeled down. This bastard!


    Ling Lan controlled her urge tough. She wore a look of anticipation on her face. Mu Chaoran couldn¡¯t bear to ignore her. He gave Tang Ningyu a ¡®just you wait¡¯ sign with his hands and smiled. ¡°Shaoyun, mature men would do something when they get bored. Your Brother Gu did that something and doesn¡¯t have the energy toe back now.¡± Would Shaoyun understand what they were saying?


    Ling Lan gave them a look of contempt when she heard his answer. ¡°Is he having a one-night stand? Why did you have to exin it soplicatedly?¡± Then, she returned to her room and banged the door shut.


    Mu Chaoran pointed at the door with his mouth agape. Then, he pointed at himself. ¡°I was tooplicated?¡±


    Tang Ningyu nodded seriously. ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Tsk, how would I know that Little Brother Shaoyun knew about one-night stand...¡± He raised his eyebrows. ¡°Who taught him those kinds of bad things?¡±


    Tang Ningyu shook his head firmly. He looked puzzled. ¡°Did you say anything strange to him?¡±


    ¡°Do I look stupid?¡± Mu Shaoyu red at Tang Ningyu. Why would he teach his cute and innocent Little Brother Shaoyun such things?


    ¡°Gu Zhengrong!¡± The two of them thought about this person simultaneously. They immediately gritted their teeth. They were too soft on him just now. They should have killed him. If this person dared to appear in front of them again, they would definitely kill him. How dare he teach their Little Brother Shaoyun bad things!


    Gu Zhengrong, who was waiting on the operation table for a new body, sneezed. The doctor beside him asked nervously, ¡°Young Master Rong, how are you feeling?¡± If anything happened to Young Master Rong, everyone in the headquarters would die a horrible death!


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Continue to prepare for the surgery.¡± Gu Zhengrong felt that there was nothing wrong with him. He frowned and gave his order.


    After some time, he started to feel uneasy. He asked, ¡°Is Elder Hong back yet?¡±


    ¡°Not yet, Young Master Rong.¡±


    Gu Zhengrong got even more uneasy. With Elder Hong¡¯s ability, he should be able to defeat Leng Hanfeng and Meng Shaoran within a few seconds. Why wasn¡¯t he back yet? The people sent to deal with them this time were stronger than expected. Did the Federation prepare a titled domain realm formidable warrior? Or did they prepare someone even stronger, an imperial level domain expert?


    Gu Zhengrong felt a chill down his spine. If that really did happen, he needed to get his new body as soon as possible. If not, he might die here. Gu Zhengrong immediately gave his order. ¡°We will not wait for Elder Hong. Get the material with the greatest potential here.¡± He wanted to wait for Elder Hong toe back because he wanted Leng Hanfeng¡¯s body. However, from the looks of it, he had no time to wait.


    ¡°But...¡± The doctor wanted to say something but Gu Zhengrong interrupted him fiercely. ¡°No buts. Start the operation immediately!¡±


    The doctor instantly replied, ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll prepare for the operation immediately.¡±


    Very soon, a body was pushed into the room. After the doctor inspected it, he said with satisfaction, ¡°This body is not bad. Young Master Rong, what do you think?¡±


    Gu Zhengrong lifted the sheet covering the face of the body, and a familiar face was revealed. It was Xiao Yiqiu!


    After Ling Lan sneaked into the base, Xiao Yiqiu was prepared to leave the forest to get some help. However, he was unlucky. Just as he was about to leave, another guard patrolling the area found him, so he didn¡¯t manage to escape the fate of being caught.


    Xiao Yiqiu was unconscious after he was given some tranquilizers. What he didn¡¯t know was that this would be the final moment of his life.


    ¡°It¡¯s him? Haha, good.¡± Gu Zhengrong thought that his mission to infiltrate the military had failed. But, it didn¡¯t look that way now.


    ¡°Let¡¯s use him.¡± With one sentence, Gu Zhengrong had sealed Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s fate.


    Soon, the operation started.


    Su Pei rushed all the way back to the school. He tried contacting Xiao Yiqiu along the way but failed. Su Pei knew that Xiao Yiqiu was in danger. He only hoped that he was caught and not dead.


    Su Pei knew that he didn¡¯t have any time to waste. He rushed to the great hall where Li Lanfeng was giving a lecture. The hall was crowded with people who he could ask help from, but Su Pei didn¡¯t trust anyone from the school now. Hence, he didn¡¯t create a hugemotion. He prepared to find a chance to get close to Li Lanfeng. Then, he would tell him what had happened in the forest.

 Chapter 769 - Final Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 769: Final Attack!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Su Pei wrote a message and secretly passed it to the youth who came with Li Lanfeng. The youth looked at the message, and his expression immediately changed. He went onto the stage and whispered something to Li Lanfeng. Then, he left.


    Li Lanfeng continued smiling on stage, as if unaffected by the message. ¡°Do you guys mind if I go and have some water? I have been speaking for quite a while now.¡±


    ¡°No problem!¡± The scouts below shouted simultaneously.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s lecture was very interesting. Sometimes, he would talk about the funny things that happened at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and the 23rd division. All the scouts listened to him happily. In the past, Li Lanfeng was just a legend of the Azure Central Scout Academy. He was someone their teachers always asked them to look up too. Now, Li Lanfeng became a well-respected senior in the eyes of many as he was no longer someone who only existed in their imagination. Many scouts had made a decision that day. No matter which academy they went to in the future, they would apply to the 23rd division after they had graduated. They wanted to be in the same division as Li Lanfeng.


    Also, there was Ling Xiao, the ultimate idol of the military. These two people made the scouts in the Azure Central Scout Academy even more curious about the 23rd division.


    The moment Li Lanfeng walked down the stage, he asked Li Shiyu to bring Su Pei to the side entrance of the stage situated outside the great hall.


    Su Pei quickly told Li Lanfeng what had happened in the forest. Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t surprised as he was already informed by Ling Lan. He lowered his voice and replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll contact my division immediately and ask them to send a rescue team.¡±


    Su Pei nodded. He started to feel less worried. He knew that it was not possible to save Xiao Yiqiu with just themselves. They would not be able to win against frightening domain realm masters.


    Li Lanfeng asked Su Pei to return to the great hall and wait for news. Then, he contacted the headquarters of the 23rd division and told them what had happened. After he finished exining everything, he went into a daze. Li Shiyu didn¡¯t want to talk to his cousin but he didn¡¯t like the helpless expression on his face too. He thought for a while and finally said, ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°I can only report and not participate when I meet such a situation. I¡¯m useless.¡± Li Lanfeng lowered his head and clenched his fist tightly. Why couldn¡¯t he catch up with him? He could only watch him fight alone.


    Li Shiyu went silent for a few seconds. He said, ¡°Be stronger then!¡± Their Boss¡¯s opponents were getting stronger but, they could only stand at the side and watch him. This sense of helplessness made them ufortable.


    ¡°You will help me, right?¡± Li Lanfeng looked at Li Shiyu hopefully.


    Li Shiyu turned and replied coldly, ¡°I¡¯m not helping you. I just can¡¯t bear to see our regimentmander standing alone.¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled. His younger brother replied harshly but he still had a soft heart. Li Lanfeng was grateful. ¡°Thank you, Shiyu.¡±


    Li Shiyu got a little furious. ¡°I said I¡¯m not helping because of you. It¡¯s for our regimentmander. Why are you thanking me?¡± He angrily returned to the great hall. He had not forgiven his eldest cousin brother yet. A ¡®thank you¡¯ was not enough to buy him over.


    Boom! A loud noise was heard. A school building near them was smashed by something. The noise alerted all the students in the great hall, and they immediately rushed out of the great hall.


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°Ah, something seems to have smashed into the roof of that building.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°What is happening?¡±


    Li Shiyu silently moved beside Li Lanfeng. He asked in a low voice, ¡°What did you see?¡±


    ¡°Ice,¡± Li Lanfeng replied with a stern face. He saw it a glimpse of it.


    ¡°You mean our Boss?¡± Li Shiyu was shocked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡± Li Lanfeng moved his body and arrived at the building.


    ¡°Wait!¡± A teacher who had arrived before them shouted.


    Li Lanfeng frowned. However, he didn¡¯t stop. ¡°Teacher, what happened here?¡±


    ¡°An unidentified object fell onto this building just now. We have made arrangements for someone to inspect the building so don¡¯t go in first. We don¡¯t want to destroy the evidence left at the scene,¡± the teacher replied seriously.


    Li Lanfeng nodded. Li Shiyu quickly pulled Li Lanfeng. He didn¡¯t understand why Li Lanfeng gave up so easily.


    Li Lanfeng whispered, ¡°With our Boss¡¯s ability, he wouldn¡¯t be the one who got thrown there. It might be his opponent.¡±


    Li Shiyu was enlightened. To fight with their boss like that, that person must be a domain realm master. They would not be able to deal with him. If they went in and got taken as hostages...


    Li Lanfeng was thinking about the same thing so he brought Li Shiyu back. Since they couldn¡¯t help their Boss, they must not create trouble for her.


    Soon, news came back that there was nothing there. The hole seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.


    Many people saw the damaged terrain in the forest, arising a hugemotion in the academy. Many teachers turned serious. Damaging a terrain to this scale would definitely need a person who was much stronger than them. They were just at the Qi-Jin stage, what could they do if they met a domain realm master. What on earth happened here? Who came to their school and created this mess?


    Li Lanfeng looked at the debris in the forest. He thought for a moment and decided to send Ling Lan a message. If Ling Lan was safe, she should be able to receive his message.


    In her room, Ling Lan asked Little Four to message Li Lanfeng immediately when Little Four told her that Li Lanfeng was looking for her. If Li Lanfeng looked for her at this time, it must be something important. This was why she went back to her room when she had the chance to.


    Li Lanfeng was relieved to know that Ling Lan was safe. He told Ling Lan what Su Pei told him. Ling Lan frowned. She knew that she had saved Xiao Yiqiu. If Xiao Yiqiu was still not back, it must be because he met someone from the organization again.


    ¡°Boss, what do we do now? Are we going there again?¡± Little Four asked.


    ¡°Firstly, what is the n of the Federation?¡± She had sent that information to the Federation already. By now, they should have started to move.


    Thus, it was not a good time for her to go out now. Additionally, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were still here. She didn¡¯t know if they would suddenly look for her. Also, all the students and teachers in school were currently paying attention to the forest now. The organization should have realized the wood element titled domain realm master was dead by now and would have strengthened their security.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to expose herself in this mission. She didn¡¯t want to have anything to do with the Flying Dragon Special Forces and didn¡¯t want to endanger herrades.


    The Azure Central Scout Academy was just the surface level of the organization, one could imagine how deep their hands had gotten into, as there was a half step imperial level domain expert guarding the organization. There were also many fake domain realm masters who were created. This organization was too scary. If they knew that she was the person who leaked the information, she believed that this organization, which conducted human experiments and performed many illegal actions, would kill herrades and everybody close to her.


    ¡°The order has been given. They will attack at 2 pm tomorrow.¡± Little Four managed to decipher the message from the military headquarters quickly.


    ¡°There is less than 24 hours left. Let¡¯s see if Xiao Yiqiu is lucky enough.¡± Xiao Yiqiu was an acquaintance of hers. She was not going to risk the safety of her friends just because of him.


    Time passed by slowly. The divisions that were based near Azure sent their domain realm masters over. As time was tight, only less than 30 domain realm masters came. Themander-in-chief received intel that their opponent had a titled domain realm formidable warrior. Without one on their side, he could only be worried. He hoped that the intel he received was urate, that the ice element titled domain realm formidable warrior was on their side and not just a passer-by.


    Finally, the time for the attack came. When the Federation entered the grounds of the Azure Central Scout Academy, they realized that they were trapped in a difficult position.


    The Federation attacked suddenly so they managed to catch their opponent off guard and controlled most of the school. However, the organization had made preparations for such situations. When they realized they were being attacked, the spies disguised as teachers from the organization kidnapped a portion of the students as their hostages. Coincidentally, the special ss 2 was part of the hostages.


    The teachers who kidnapped the students were not Qi-Jin masters. They were domain realm masters. Although they were fake domain realm masters, they overpowered the hostages using numbers. The domain realm masters from the Federation were not afraid of the fake domain realm masters, but they didn¡¯t dare to act rashly because of the hostages.


    The people in the headquarters received the news of the attack, so they quickly came out of the forest. Very soon, more than 30 fake domain realm masters had gathered together. The people from the military cursed when they saw the number of fake domain realm masters. They made it seem as though domain realm masters could be made in a factory. What would those domain realm masters who worked so hard to reach their current status think about this?


    Ling Lan squatted among the scouts while covering her head with her hands. Her entire body was trembling.


    Mu Chaoran couldn¡¯t bear to see him like this so heforted him. ¡°Little Brother Shaoyun, don¡¯t worry. We are here.¡±


    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t worry. We will ensure your safety.¡± Tang Ningyu added on. If he could, he wished that Pei Shaoyun would not experience these things. He didn¡¯t want to taint his pure heart.


    Ling Lan looked at them pitifully. ¡°Are we really fine?¡±


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran nodded at the same time. Theyforted him with their gazes.


    ¡°Stop talking. If not, I will kill you all.¡± The domain realm master heard themotion there and threatened them.


    Ling Lan looked down hurriedly as if she was afraid her little life would be taken away. A killing intent shed past Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s eyes. How dare he scare their Little Brother Shaoyun. He is looking for death!

 Chapter 770 - Wrong Person!

    <h4>Chapter 770: Wrong Person!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The organization asked the military to retreat out of the academy grounds. The military, of course, outrightly refused them. They prepared for so long and sacrifices so many soldiers in order to get evidence of their crime. How could they let these people escape just because of a few hundred hostages?


    The discussion came to a standstill. The leader of this bunch of kidnappers sent a weird look to his men. Ling Lan, Mu Chaoran, and Tang Ningyu¡¯s heart stopped beating for a moment when they saw that look. They felt that something bad was going to happen soon.


    Sure enough, the fake domain realm masters grabbed the scouts beside them.


    The leader sneered at themander-in-chief. ¡°You might be willing to talk after we show how serious we are here.¡±


    Themander-in-chief¡¯s expression changed. He shouted angrily, ¡°Stop it!¡±


    However, his shout was not enough to stop his opponent. The leader from the kidnappers raised his hand, and his subordinates all started to release their energy, getting ready to strangle the scouts to death.


    ¡°Bastards!¡± The Federation¡¯s domain realm masters rushed forward furiously. However, the fake domain realm masters stopped them. The Federation¡¯s domain realm masters wouldn¡¯t be able to break through the fake domain realm masters¡¯ blockage and saved the suffocating scouts.


    Just as the scouts were about to die, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran looked at each other, and without any hesitation, they activated their domain.


    Lightning bolts and mes appeared from their bodies, attacking the fake domain realm masters who were strangling the scouts to death.


    These fake domain realm masters who were upied with strangling the scout suddenly felt a sense of danger. They immediately threw away the scout in their hands and activated their domain, blocking Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s attack.


    As for Ling Lan, the moment Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran acted, she used her spiritual power to send an order to Little White.


    Just after the fake domain realm masters blocked Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s attack, they heard a loud bang.


    The entire ground started shaking. The buildings at the side crumbled to the ground. Dust flew in the air, blocking everyone¡¯s vision.


    At that moment, multiple whips (tentacles?) iled across the sky. Then, they heard numerous pping sounds with screams and shouts for help also ringing through the air.


    The military then saw the tentacles hurling numerous ck balls at them at an insanely fast speed. One could hear screams of terror following the ck balls.


    Is this an attack? The military was worried. They couldn¡¯t see what the creature looked like but from afar, they could faintly make out its size. It was humongous. These experienced soldiers would not be able to resist an attack from it.


    The domain realm masters, on the other hand, weren¡¯t scared of this huge creature. They could faintly see that those ck balls it hurled at them were the hostages. No matter what this creature was, it was helping them. They quickly shouted, ¡°Catch those people!¡±


    As expected of soldiers, the moment they heard this order, they knew what to do. They acted quickly and split into teams of three. When they saw someone falling close to the ground, they would dash in and catch that person.


    A while ago, they were hostages. Now, they were flying humans. The scouts couldn¡¯t control their emotions and started crying the moment theynded in the arms of the soldiers. They were not scared or surprised. They were just confused.


    The dust settled soon, and a big white circr creature was revealed among the hostages. Its tentacles flew everywhere. However, the domain realm master could see that it was not iling its tentacles wildly for no reason. It looked messy but the creature only hit those fake domain realm masters. As for the scouts, they were hurled to the military.


    The circr creature was big and had many tentacles. By the time the people from the organization realized what was happening, only Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were left.


    Little White happily hurled one hostage after another. It reached out its tentacles and felt around... there was no one left. Little White realized that it threw all the hostages out already.


    Did it throw everyone?


    Huh? Little White suddenly widened its eyes and let out a screech of despair.


    The literal sound waves it produced caused everyone around it to kneel to the ground. Some scouts that were weaker got internally injured by the sound waves and vomited out blood. Even some domain realm masters felt dizzy when they heard the screech. They had to activate their domain to block off the sound.


    Little White dazedly looked at the empty ce. It was bbergasted.


    It hugged its head with two tentacles in disbelief. It didn¡¯t notice that it threw its master out like a piece of rubbish! It, it, threw the wrong person! Ahhhh! It was dead.


    Little White was so frightened that it turned small and hid in a corner of the hole, trembling in fear. It would definitely be beaten up by its master. Sob, can someone save me? I didn¡¯t do it on purpose.


    Without the hostages, the military could finally attack without any worry. A battle between domain realm masters urred. The scouts were able to spectate a domain battle, something they, by right, couldn¡¯t see this early in their life. This was a rare opportunity for them. Many students who were talented in physical skills received a lot of insights from this battle, thus improving their physical skills. A talented valedictorian set a greater goal for himself after watching this battle. In the future, this valedictorian became a domain realm master.


    There were fewer domain realm masters from the Federation but the difference in strength caused them to subdue their opponents and take control of the situation.


    When Tang Ningyu killed his second domain realm master, Mu Chaoran had killed his second domain realm master too. They looked around and realized that there were no more opponents around them. They exchanged nces with each other and nodded. Both of them wanted to go to the headquarters again.


    Tang Ningyu still brooded over the fact that he didn¡¯t manage to enter the headquarters yesterday. The headquarters¡¯ boss was probably buying time for them to retreat by sending most of his men here. This time, he would not let them seed.


    Mu Chaoran wanted to investigate the headquarters too. He still remembered Su Pei saying that Xiao Yiqiu was caught. Although he had sent a message to the military headquarters, they would not change their n for an unimportant person like Xiao Yiqiu.


    Since they met and became ssmates, Mu Chaoran didn¡¯t mind helping him along the way if he had a chance to.


    As the two of them were about to leave, Mu Chaoran saw something from the corner of his eye. He walked there and squatted down near the hole. He looked inside and picked up a trembling round little ball.


    ¡°Haha, the pet is the same as its master. His pet is so timid too.¡± Mu Chaoran looked at the teary-eyed Little White who was shivering in fear. He smiled.


    ¡°Suits him perfectly.¡± Tang Ningyu smiled gently too.

 Chapter 771 - Another Look At The Headquarters!

    <h4>Chapter 771: Another Look At The Headquarters!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Little Brother Shaoyun should be safe, but he forgot his pet in all the chaos,¡± Mu Chaoran guessed.


    ¡°Rawr... please tell my master that I didn¡¯t deliberately threw her...¡± Little White looked at Mu Chaoran with a pitiful expression on its face, hoping that Mu Chaoran could help it exin to her master.


    ¡°Look how sad it looks. It¡¯s probably frightened. Don¡¯t be scared, I¡¯ll find your master for you in just a bit...¡± Mu Chaoran pinched Little White¡¯s cheeks andforted.


    ¡°Find my master?¡± After hearing that, Little White jumped up and down frantically, ¡°Rawr... I don¡¯t want to go! I don¡¯t want to go! I will not go before my master assures me that she is not angry at me!


    ¡°You¡¯re excited because you know we¡¯re going to go look for you master, right?¡± Mu Chaoranughed. ¡°But, we need to go to the headquarters first so you¡¯ll just have toe with us.¡± Right after Mu Chaoran finished speaking, he and Tang Ningyu moved out and quickly ran towards the headquarters in the center of the forest.


    Little White, who was being held by Mu Chaoran, suddenly remembered that yesterday, its master mentioned that she was going to go to the headquarters to save someone...


    ¡°Rawr!¡± Little White let out an agonized cry. Isn¡¯t it serving itself to its Boss in a silver tter? If it could, it would definitely return to its original form and smash Mu Chaoran into a pancake. He wants me to suffer from master. Jerk, jerk, jerk...


    Unfortunately, his master did say that it couldn¡¯t use its original form without her permission! It knew that if its master caught it in its original form, it would live the rest of its days in fright, waiting for the punishment toe. If it was caught and exposed, then it would definitely be a dead Little White...¡±Wah, wah, wah. Just you wait, Mu Chaoran!¡± Little White sobbed andid limply onto Mu Chaoran¡¯s palm. It waited in despair for its tragic end!


    Ling Lan deliberately let herself get hurled by Little White. After being saved by those soldiers, she followed the hostages to retreat to the back-lines. However, when they retreated, she silently left the big group.


    That was because the ce was in chaos and no one was keeping track of the number of hostages. Ling Lan¡¯s silent departure didn¡¯t attract any attention.


    In a few seconds, Ling Lan arrived at the entrance of the headquarters in the forest. Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu were already waiting there. From the beginning of the attack on the academy, Ling Lan had ordered Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu to hide in the forest during the chaos to monitor the situation of the base.


    ¡°How are things looking?¡± Ling Lan walked beside the two of them and used spiritual power tomunicate with Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Other than those fake domain realm masters who went to the academy, there weren¡¯t any others moving out of the headquarters.¡± Li Lanfeng told Ling Lan what they had seen.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan frowned. She knew that with the military attacking this academy, the headquarters only sent out a few fake domain realm masters to defend and yet these people didn¡¯t use this chance to move the rest of their troops. This was clearly strange. Suddenly, Ling Lan expression changed slightly after thinking of another possibility.


    ¡°Little Four, get me all of the surveince footage of all the areas surrounding the Azure Central Scout Academy. See if any area suddenly had arge convoy or crowd moving through.¡± The gate wasn¡¯t the only ce they could escape from. Ling Lan actually didn¡¯t think of this possibility.


    ¡°Yes, Boss!¡± Right as Little Four was about to connect to the surveince equipment, he discovered that this forest was the same as the Li mansion, not having any surveince equipment. Little Four immediately notified his Boss of this situation.


    ¡°Enter the base!¡± If they couldn¡¯t gain any information from the outside, then they must go inside to investigate. Ling Lan decisively made this decision.


    Ling Lan made Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu stand guard outside. No one knew what the situation inside the headquarters was like. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want herrades to be in unnecessary danger.


    Seeing Ling Lan entering the enemy¡¯s headquarters by herself, Li Lanfeng, who had a warm aura around him, suddenly became stone cold. This version Li Lanfeng, or rather Li Mn, was never before seen. Li Shiyu, who stood beside him, couldn¡¯t help but worry for his mental state.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. One day, I¡¯ll be able to follow in his footsteps.¡± Li Lanfeng turned around and smiled at Li Shiyu. He would never give up on his goal. It was the same in the past, the present and the future.


    ¡°Alright!¡± Li Shiyu pretended to not be concerned, but he still couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°I feel you¡¯re self-inflicting pain and suffering.¡± A monstrosity like their Boss was not someone who anyone could easily follow and be on par with.


    ¡°If I can¡¯t do that, how can I defy my fate?¡± Li Lanfeng raised his eyebrows. He never once thought that following in Ling Lan¡¯s footsteps was more difficult than changing his own fate. If he couldn¡¯t do that, then he shouldn¡¯t even consider trying to change his fate.


    ¡°Defy your fate?¡± Li Shiyu was confused. It was the first time he heard his eldest cousin brother say something like that. Did he say it because of his weak and delicate body from the past? Li Shiyu felt that the situation wasn¡¯t as simple as he had previously thought. Is his eldest cousin brother still hiding something?


    Seeing a confused Li Shiyu, Li Lanfeng smirked...


    At that moment, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran also arrived.


    ¡°Here.¡± Tang Ningyu reached the entrance of the headquarters. The location of the headquarters was very intricate. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Tang Ningyu was given a map by his superiors, they may not be able to find it in a short amount of time. Currently, with all of the fake domain realm masters and guards being sent to intercept the military... the entrance was no longer guarded.


    ¡°This gate should be one of those high-tech password gates. Do you know the password?¡± Mu Chaoran inspected the gate, then turned around and asked Tang Ningyu.


    ¡°No!¡± Tang Ningyu replied sharply.


    ¡°Then, how do we get in?¡± Mu Chaoran was dumbfounded.


    Purple lightning appeared and started buzzing around Tang Ningyu¡¯s palm. He calmly said, ¡°By force!¡±


    After saying that, a sh of purple lightning shot towards the gate. The gate was instantly melted into a pile of mush and could no longer be used as a gate.


    Seeing this, Mu Chaoran rubbed his nose and said, ¡°Very forceful indeed!¡± He suddenly opened his hand and a fire dragon flew out from it. The fire dragon wrapped around the mush and boiled it until its gaseous state.


    After getting rid of the gate, it revealed a bottomless hole. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran looked at each other, then both of them jumped down one after the other.


    Afternding at the bottom, Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu knew that they were around a few hundred meters deep based on how long it took for them tond.


    What they first saw was a wide corridor, but it wasn¡¯t as dark as one would think being in a tunnel hundreds of meters deep as there were lights for every three steps that they took which lit up the entire corridor. If there were guards in this corridor, even if there were only one for every 50 meters, they would still be discovered the moment they entered it.


    However, currently, there weren¡¯t any guards in the corridor. They were probably all intercepting the military. This made it easier for them to move about and not worry about being attacked.


    The two of them didn¡¯t slow down and quickly ran across the corridor. Once they got out of the corridor, they sawrge headquarters. No one knew how this unknown organization managed to build such arge headquarters under the forest. Even these two from the Flying Dragon Special Forces couldn¡¯t help but be in awe of this organization¡¯s achievements.


    However, thisrge headquarters which was originally orderly, was now chaotic. People there were like headless flies, running around aimlessly without a supervisor in sight.


    Tang Ningyu seemed to have realized something and shouted, ¡°Not good!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Tang Ningyu made Mu Chaoran jump up in fright.


    ¡°This headquarters has another exit,¡± Tang Ningyu said with certainty.


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. We received information that there¡¯s only one.¡± Mu Chaoran couldn¡¯t believe it.


    ¡°I specte that the exit is only known to a few. No, maybe only the boss of this headquarters knows where it is,¡± Tang Ningyu smiled bitterly.


    ¡°In other words, they gave up their lives to keep their boss safe?¡± Mu Chaoran said confusedly.


    ¡°Looks like that¡¯s the case. Those in the academy area, along with these people in the base, are people that have been abandoned.¡± Once the military breaks into this headquarters, these people will be sitting ducks.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t they just leave the headquarters?¡± If they didn¡¯t know about the other exit, couldn¡¯t they just leave with the gate the two of them came in from?


    ¡°It¡¯s possible that they don¡¯t even know they have been discovered,¡± Tang Ningyu said calmly. ¡°This is an enclosed space so they can¡¯t contact the outside world.¡± This was why they couldn¡¯t get hackers to find the location of the headquarters and could only use spies that only had results popping up after three years.


    ¡°The reason for the chaos is probably because they can¡¯t find the person-in-charge. I guess they could already tell that there is something going on. However, the enclosed lifestyle made them react much slower,¡± Tang Ningyu continued. ¡°However, even though they are very slow on the uptake, they will soon escape from the ce we entered from...¡±


    Mu Chaoran smirked, ¡°Looks like we came right on time. We have to stop these people from leaving.¡±


    ¡°I can handle it myself. Shouldn¡¯t you be finding someone?¡± When they wereing here, Mu Chaoran talked about Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s situation.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m going to go find him. Just call me if you can¡¯t handle them.¡± Mu Chaoran went to find Xiao Yiqiu.


    Right as Tang Ningyu was about stop people from escaping, Little Four, who had already took control of the headquarters, gave an order in the voice of their boss under Ling Lan¡¯smand. Afterpleting that, he then had the time to tell his Boss that her two roommates had arrived.


    ¡°If they¡¯re here then that means the military will be here soon as well. Little Four, did you find the second exit?¡± Ling Lan target was the second exit.


    ¡°Boss, I found it, but that exit can no longer be used.¡± Little Four told Ling Lan the bad news.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Asked Ling Lan.


    ¡°When they left, they destroyed the passage,¡± said Little Four.


    ¡°They¡¯re getting away just like that?¡± Ling Lan was in dismay. Ever since she discovered what this organization had done, Ling Lan had decided that she wouldn¡¯t let them go no matter what.


    ¡°Maybe not... ah ha, I found their location!¡± Little Four expanded the map of the Azure Central Scout Academy by a few hundred yard radius in Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace. There was a red dot blinking on one spot of the map. ¡°The exit is there! They¡¯re still packing something and haven¡¯t left yet.¡±


    ¡°Good job, Little Four!¡± Ling Lan finally smiled slightly. Then, she disappeared into the mist and began to move about. She had to get there.


    ¡°Little Four, give Mu Chaoran some hints to let him find Xiao Yiqiu quicker.¡± After saying that, Ling Lanpletely disappeared.

 Chapter 772 - No Effort Required!

    <h4>Chapter 772: No Effort Required!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    After taking control of the headquarters, Little Four quickly found the lucky Xiao Yiqiu, as he was only just tossed into a room and unconscious.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran split the workload. Tang Ningyu guarded the corridor to make sure those in the headquarters didn¡¯t escape before the military arrived, while Mu Chaoran silently went deeper into the headquarters to look for Xiao Yiqiu.


    However, a sudden change surprised the two of them greatly. The originally chaotic and panic-filled headquarters, slowly became orderly. This made Tang Ningyu, who was guarding the corridor, suspect that something was off. Could it be that their guess was off? Is the boss of the headquarters still supervising the headquarters?


    Seeing this change, Mu Chaoran also became more cautious. He didn¡¯t want to get trapped in this headquarters before he could save Xiao Yiqiu. He had already personally experienced a titled domain realm master¡¯s terrifying capabilities. If that titled domain realm master was in the headquarters, or perhaps there were simr level experts within the headquarters, he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to stall them until the military arrived.


    Mu Chaoran hid within the darkness. Right when he was thinking about how he would find Xiao Yiqiu, two staff members of the headquarters suddenly walked past him. They spoke softly as they walked past him.


    ¡°That¡¯s odd. Why would the higher-ups order us to move the material in Room Q1 to Room F7?¡± Normally, a material would only be moved from a room if the modifications were sessful or aplete failure. Otherwise, the material would be left in the room for its entire life.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s enough, don¡¯t say anymore. Ever since yesterday afternoon, the orders from the higher-ups began to be confusing. Now we¡¯re only changing the room of a material, there¡¯s nothing weird about that,¡± said the other staff member nonchntly.


    ¡°Do you think something happened?¡± Every since yesterday afternoon, the orders of the higher-ups seemed to be extremely odd. The lower-ranked staff members could feel something was in the air, and also began to suspect whether something had happened to the headquarters...


    ¡°Who knows..¡± the other staff member said dazedly.


    ¡°Sigh!¡± The two of them sighed and shook their heads as they walked towards Room Q1. They were all at the bottom of the chain ofmand. When the higher-ups were still in the headquarters, they didn¡¯t have a chance to run even if they wanted to. They could only obey the orders given to them.


    After hearing the conversation between the two of them, Mu Chaoran suddenly had a thought, and he followed behind them. Since he didn¡¯t have any idea where to look for Xiao Yiqiu, he should follow them, maybe he could find more clues.


    Room Q1 was somewhat far away. Mu Chaoran carefully hid from everyone he had encountered along the way and finally arrived at the so-called Room Q1 mentioned by the two staff members.


    Room Q1 was actually the first room in a long corridor of rooms. The rooms all had Q in their names. Each room¡¯s design was very simple and crude, all the room just had one bed, a dresser and a tiny washroom.


    The two staff members used some equipment to open the door. Behind the door, an unconscious person was lying on the bed. Right as the two of them were about to lift up that person, Mu Chaoran saw the familiar scout uniform and had a thought.


    ¡°Bam! Bam!¡± Mu Chaoran instantly knocked out the two staff members.


    Mu Chaoran carefully used the equipment in their hands to close the door of the room. Then, he walked towards the bed and smiled, ¡°That was really easy, no effort required!¡±


    It turns out, it was Xiao Yiqiu who was lying on the bed. Mu Chaoran quickly checked around and instantly let out a sigh of relief. Xiao Yiqiu was only tranquilized and wasn¡¯t injured.


    Soldiers on missions always had life-saving medicinal agents on them. Mu Chaoran quickly took out a vial of medicinal agent and made Xiao Yiqiu gulp it down.


    Not long after, Xiao Yiqiu began to slowly open his eyes. After seeing Mu Chaoran¡¯s face, he was instantly surprised and almost shouted. However, he quickly reacted and softly said, ¡°Meng Shaoran, you got captured as well?¡±


    Mu Chaoran red at him. ¡°You¡¯re the one who got captured. I¡¯m here to rescue you.¡±


    ¡°Just yourself?¡± Xiao Yiqiu instantly became nervous. ¡°Do you want to die? There are domain realm masters here.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the troops the military sent will be here soon. We just need to wait until then.¡± Mu Chaoran didn¡¯t want to exin that he was a domain realm master. He only told Xiao Yiqiu that they were going to be safe soon.


    Xiao Yiqiu was a smart person and immediately said, ¡°You¡¯re a soldier!¡± He thought of their current situation and said, ¡°You¡¯re here to investigate the organization, right?¡±


    Xiao Yiqiu didn¡¯t wait for Mu Chaoran to answer and said angrily, ¡°Sh*t, we really have been harmed by this organization. You don¡¯t know, the Xiao family...¡±


    ¡°Stop! Su Pei already told me!¡± Mu Chaoran¡¯s lips twitched. He didn¡¯t think that Xiao Yiqiu was actually the talkative type! He hated being with talkative types.


    ¡°Ah, Su Pei! Oh, is Su Pei alright?¡± Xiao Yiqiu immediately asked as he was reminded by Mu Chaoran about Su Pei who had tried to escape with him.


    ¡°He¡¯s luckier than you, and has returned safely,¡± Mu Chaoran replied. In reality, he wanted to save Xiao Yiqiu not just because of Su Pei¡¯s request. It was because in the forest he had chosen to save Su Pei and not Xiao Yiqiu. Although he was forced to do so, he still felt that he did Xiao Yiqiu wrong.


    ¡°That¡¯s good...¡± Xiao Yiqiu let out a sigh of relief and was happy that Su Pei was able to safely escape. Then, he looked at the monotone room surrounding him and smiled bitterly, ¡°Unfortunately, we don¡¯t know when we can leave this god forsaken ce...¡±


    ¡°Bang!¡± Suddenly, a loud quaking sound made Xiao Yiqiu, who hadn¡¯tpletely recovered, almost roll off the bed.


    Mu Chaoran smirked slightly, ¡°It seems the military is here.¡± It seemed that those fake domain realm masters have already been taken care of by the military.


    After hearing this news while trying to bnce his body, Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s eyes brightened, ¡°Are we saved?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s definitely the case. You wait here, I¡¯m going to see what¡¯s happening outside...¡± Mu Chaoran opened the door and ran out.


    The door close once again and the room became silent. At that moment, Xiao Yiqiu had a big smile on his face. He softly said, ¡°Mu Chaoran, Tang Ningyu, I look forward in bing yourrades!¡±


    Ling Lan, who turned into mist, went past Tang Ningyu and returned to the surface.


    Tang Ningyu frowned and looked back at the empty corridor behind him. He didn¡¯t know why but he felt as though something had gone past him just now... If it was possible, he wanted to activate his domain to lock down the area, but unfortunately his domain was too loud. Plus, the military hadn¡¯t arrived yet. He also didn¡¯t know whether there were any hidden experts within the headquarters, making Tang Ningyu not dare to expose himself.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably nothing. Only titled domain realm masters can silently leave under my watchful eyes. If there were titled domain realm masters in the headquarters, how could they let an invader like mee in?¡± Tang Ningyu thought that it wasn¡¯t possible, so he tossed aside the odd feeling he had.

 Chapter 773 - The Bigger Pot!

    <h4>Chapter 773: The Bigger Pot!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    After Ling Lan arrived on the surface, she lead Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu back to the Azure Central Scout Academy.


    ¡°What¡¯s the situation down there?¡± Li Lanfeng asked.


    ¡°It was as expected, everyone important has escaped through another exit, and they destroyed the exit after they left.¡± Ling Lan replied in a concise manner. Then, she asked, ¡°Have they all arrive?¡± She originally wanted to just spectate in the backlines, but now it seemed like she actually had a chance to benefit off this altercation.


    ¡°Everyone¡¯s here, and they¡¯re all getting ready to let loose,¡± smiled Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Tell them toe to this set of coordinates,¡± Ling Lan sent Li Lanfeng the coordinates Little Four had given her to let him arrange everything immediately.


    ¡°This is a great chance to get military merits but..., the opponents are very strong, so tell them to be careful.¡± There was also something Ling Lan hadn¡¯t mentioned yet, and it was the fact that they were going to fight fake domain realm masters. Qi Long, Luo Lang and Xie Yi, who were all stuck at the optimal peak Great Perfection of Qi-Jin for a long time, would definitely benefit from fighting with these fake domain masters.


    Ling Lan was currently too strong to be their sparring partner so she could no longer spar with them to help improve. It was even possible that sparring with her would actually be detrimental to their physical skills¡¯ progress. If by any chance she pressured them too hard, forcing Qi Long and the others walk down Qiao Ting¡¯s path, then it wouldn¡¯t be the best for them as they wouldn¡¯t advance naturally to the domain stage. This was why Ling Lan would only watch on as Qi Long and the others be frustrated at the fact that they were stuck at the optimal peak Great Perfection of Qi-Jin.


    She originally thought that she could only wait for herrades to naturally advance to the domain stage, but she didn¡¯t think that the mission she randomly received allowed her to see an opportunity, the fake domain realm masters. Fake domain realm masters only had a quarter of the power of a real domain realm masters. These fake domain realm master could defeat Qi-Jin experts, but because of their ws in their domain, they wouldn¡¯t be able to outrightly dominate them. Thus, this was Qi Long and the others¡¯ opportunity. As long as they could endure the pressure of fighting against a fake domain realm master, they would be able to understand the concept of a domain


    Once they gain an understanding and break through their Qi-Jin¡¯s barriers, they would not be too far off from advancing to the domain stage. This was why she asked Li Lanfeng to get Qi Long, Luo Lang and Xie Yi toe here as soon as possible.


    Li Lanfeng immediately notified their threerades who had waited for a long time!


    ¡°Oh yeah, the military headquarters is also sending their people here.¡± Li Lanfeng told Ling Lan the information he had received.


    ¡°Who?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s heart dropped. Is her fathering out again...


    ¡°Someone we¡¯re very familiar with. Staff Officer He, He Xuyang!¡± Li Lanfeng cracked a smile. He and Han Jijyun had battled with He Xuyang a few times for some n resources. Both sides had wins and losses. Every time He Xuyang saw the two of them, his head would suffer from painful headaches. Li Lanfeng hoped that he didn¡¯t hate them too much.


    Ling Lan smirked. ¡°Looks like the 23rd Division also wants to reap benefits from this mission.¡±


    ¡°Since this mission was given to you identally, General Ling Xiao would definitely not give up on such a good opportunity,¡± Li Lanfeng said softly. ¡°The 23rd Division is a new division. All of its achievements are not noteworthy. If they want to gain more say in the military, then they must have achievements that the military can not dismiss easily, and this mission is very important for the military so...¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then we¡¯re not enough!¡± Ling Lan only wanted Qi Long and the other two to benefit, and she didn¡¯t think as far as Ling Xiao. Now that she thought about it, with just a few of them, they probably wouldn¡¯t be able topletely take over everything.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, there are a few domain realm masters from the 23rd Division who areing with Staff Officer He...¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t think that General Ling Xiao would be so daring that he would disregard the military¡¯s order to gather, and instead order the domain realm masters under him to wait for a chance to strike.


    ¡°You either don¡¯t do it or take the bigger pot!¡± Ling Lan immediately understood what Ling Xiao was nning. If the 23rd Division¡¯s domain realm masters obeyed the military¡¯s orders to gather for this mission, they would only be awarded with the standard amount of military merit upon sessfulpletion. If they weren¡¯t sessful... the 23rd Division, a division with very few resources, wouldn¡¯t be able to afford to spare these domain realm masters. Of course, if Ling Xiao discovered that other force joined in,pletely reversing the situation, he would order his generals to help out in the time of crisis. Then, the amount of merits awarded would be very different.


    Of course, if the military¡¯s domain realm masters could handle this mission by themselves, Ling Xiao would give up the merits of this mission. It was just as Ling Lan had said, Ling Xiao was either going to do it and not want anything, or do it and take the bigger pot to reap more benefits.


    ¡°My father isn¡¯t as perfect as you think.¡± Ling Lan gave a friendly reminder to Li Lanfeng. She thought of how the people see Ling Xiao as the perfect soldier, the face of justice. She couldn¡¯t help but sigh. Only she knew that Ling Xiao also had his own agenda and was definitely not as perfect as people thought.


    ¡°I know, that¡¯s why I admire General Ling Xiao!¡± Li Lanfeng replied earnestly. If Ling Xiao was a real saint, Li Lanfeng wouldn¡¯t be admiring him that much.


    Right at that moment, the military had already taken control of the entire academy area. There were only a few fake domain realm masters from the unknown organization who were still fighting with the military. Ling Lan predicted that soon, the military would finish the battle and attack the headquarters in the forest.


    While everyone¡¯s attention was on the domain realm masters in the battle, Ling Lan led Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu out of the Azure Central Academy silently and went towards the direction the higher-ups of the organization retreated towards.


    Qi Long¡¯s group of three had already reached the location where the coordinates their Boss had given them were indicating, but this location was quite close to where the retreating organization was currently at, so Ling Lan didn¡¯t want Qi Long and the other to fight them head on without waiting for her first.


    In order to make sure no one notices them, Ling Lan¡¯s gathering spot was a remote path with lush trees on both sides, where elders would only pass by in the morning.


    When Ling Lan appeared, Qi Long instantly excitedly called out, ¡°Boss!¡±


    ¡°Is everything ready?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    ¡°Of course!¡± Qi Long cracked his knuckles. Luo Lang was also excited and his face heat up until it was a beautiful blush red color, making Ling Lan understand what it really meant to be blindingly beautiful. Xie Yi on the other hand, just stood there calmly. Although he didn¡¯t say anything, one could still tell from his clenched fists that his fighting spirit was at its peak.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, it¡¯s been a long time!¡± He Xuyang who was awkwardly standing beside Qi Long, and was thinking that Ling Lan would greet him first, said in dismay.


    ¡®Young Master Lan, how could you ignore me?¡¯ He Xuyang cried on the inside.


    ¡°Staff Officer He, it has indeed been a long time. Your body seems to be stronger than before!¡± Ling Lan said nonchntly.


    What does Young Master Lan mean by that? He Xuyang thought about the meaning behind Ling Lan¡¯s words. Then, he saw a few domain realm masters¡¯ lips moving slightly, as if they were trying to endure something. He suddenly realized... Sh*t, Young Master Lan is saying he is fat!


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling!¡± Staff Officer He felt hurt. He looked at Ling Lan with a depressed expression as if to me Ling Lan for his sadness. Him bing fat was because Ling Xiao threw him most of his work, thus not allowing him to have the time to exercise.


    ¡°What are the orders?¡± Ling Lan ignored He Xuyang¡¯s expression and asked coldly.


    Not fun at all. He Xuyang replied with disinterest, ¡°The general gave us an order. Everything is under Regiment Commander Ling¡¯smand.¡±


    After hearing that, the domain realm masters that came with He Xuyang had confused expressions on their faces. They originally thought that He Xuyang, the Staff Officer, would be the onemanding them. They didn¡¯t think that it was actually going to be this young mecha n regimentmander.


    However, those who were sent out by Ling Xiao were all Ling Xiao¡¯s confidants, so the domain realm masters didn¡¯t have any gripe with the decision. If General Ling Xiao made the decision, then he definitely must have his reasons.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t decline and immediately exined the situation to the domain realm masters. After hearing that the enemy might have titled domain realm masters in their group, the domain realm masters all had serious expressions on their faces.


    One of them said, ¡°If they still have titled domain realm masters, then we probably won¡¯t be able to handle it.¡±


    When ites to the domain stage, the difference in domain strength could not be ovee with numbers.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, if there are any titled domain realm masters, I can handle them!¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made the domain realm masters widen their eyes. They knew that the person in front of them was definitely not a dumb and naive youngster if Ling Xiao trusted him. He wouldn¡¯t joke with them about that as his life was on the line too. Thus his words meant that he could definitely hold control of the situation. Could this very young man be a domain realm master? And also reached the level of being a titled domain realm master?


    He Xuyang was satisfied. Beforeing here, he was informed that Young Master Lan had already reached the capabilities of a titled domain realm master, which had frightened him greatly. Now, there were finally people who were also frightened by that fact.


    ¡°Indeed, Regiment Commander Ling already has the strength of a titled domain realm master.¡± He Xuyang made certain of their guesses.


    Ling Lan looked at He Xuyang. It seemed that He Xuyang managed to get past Ling Xiao¡¯s test and finally acquired Ling Xiao¡¯s trust...


    ¡°Since everyone is clear on the mission, let¡¯s move out!¡± Right as Ling Lan finished speaking, shepletely disappeared.


    The domain realm masters looked at each other. Just then, they felt Ling Lan¡¯s domain energy. Shockingly, this young regimentmander was already a domain realm master. After mulling over that, they followed suit and also disappeared.


    ¡°Staff Officer He, we¡¯re leaving now.¡± Qi Long and the other two waved towards He Xuyang, and also left the scene.


    Right as Li Lanfeng was about to follow them, Li Shiyu grabbed him.


    ¡°It¡¯s too dangerous there!¡± Li Mn had only reached peak stage of Qi-Jin so he was not fit to join them.


    Li Lanfeng slowly pushed away Li Shiyu¡¯s hand and softly said, ¡°If I back out now, then I would never be able to follow them in my lifetime.¡±


    Li Shiyu wanted to say more, but Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t give him another chance, and he left without hesitation.


    Li Shiyu stomped his feet and bit his lip before he followed behind his eldest cousin brother. He couldn¡¯t just watch silently as his eldest cousin brother put himself in danger. Domain battles were not something they could participate in.

 Chapter 774 - Private Manor!

    <h4>Chapter 774: Private Manor!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Their destination was a private manor. The entrance of the manor had a few manifestation stage guards patrolling around it. Everything seemed simr to a manor of a rich merchant.


    Ling Lan and the others didn¡¯t think that it was odd. If the organization was to have the exit lead them to a crowded area or perhaps a normal residential area, then that would be considered odd. A private manor couldpletely cover up everything that they were going to do.


    ¡°Boss, I found the information... this private manor was purchased by a foregin merchant with the surname Xu.¡± Little Four quickly acquired the information of the private manor.


    ¡°You can¡¯t find any dirt on him, right?¡± Ling Lan asked calmly.


    ¡°How did you know that Boss?¡± Little Four was surprised. He indeed didn¡¯t find any useful information, so he used all of his efforts to try to find some dirt on the owner of the manor. He even gone through all of his ancestors. Unfortunately, it was just as his Boss had said, there was nothing wrong with it at all.


    ¡°If they were to screw up that easily, then the military wouldn¡¯t have such a headache with this organization, and used almost half of the entire Federation¡¯s military power just to find some clues. Even so, in the few years that ensued, they still couldn¡¯t even find the tail of the organization, so I knew that this faction¡¯s background wasn¡¯t that simple. It¡¯s possible that this manor¡¯s owner is used as a cover-up. If we look for them there, we would definitely not be able to find them.¡± This was why Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to expose herself. With her current capabilities, she still couldn¡¯t go against them head-to-head.


    ¡°Then, would it be too troublesome for us to wrap around them?¡± After being trained by Ling Lan, Little Four no longer had a one thought mind. His brain worked very fast and immediately thought of this problem. He didn¡¯t want his Boss to be in a sticky situation.


    ¡°Since our father made the decision, then he probably already has a fool-proof n!¡± Ling Lan trusted that if Ling Xiao went ahead with this n, then he must have already prepared their n for retreat. It was just that Ling Lan¡¯s didn¡¯t know Ling Xiao¡¯s entire n. She could guess parts of Ling Xiao¡¯s n and could notpletely guess it.


    However, that was fine! She couldn¡¯t see the n now, but it didn¡¯t mean that she wouldn¡¯t be able to do it in the future. Although Ling Lan trusted her father, she still didn¡¯t like the feeling of anxiousness that woulde up when she couldn¡¯t control the situation.


    Ling Lan carefully examined the inner parts of the manor, and felt a few strong auras within it. As expected, there were a few strong domain realm masters within the group who had retreated. Luckily, there wasn¡¯t anyone as strong as the wood element titled domain realm master. Ling Lan also discovered that not only were there fake domain realm masters, but also many actual domain realm masters.


    Ling Lan finally had a grasp of the situation. The strength of domain realm masters in the manorpared to her group of domain realm masters were around the same level, so it wasn¡¯t impossible for her group topletely devour the opposition.


    Since there wasn¡¯t a really difficult opponent, Ling Lan decisively waved towards Qi Long, Luo Lang and Xie Yi, telling them to move in.


    Qi Long and the other two moved stealthily into the guard house without hesitation. They instantly struck down the group of guards, who hadn¡¯t noticed anything. The three of them were decisive, ruthless and didn¡¯t give the guards any chance to react. They took care of the guards and didn¡¯t alert anyone else in the manor.


    The five domain realm masters behind Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but nod at Qi Long and the others¡¯ decisiveness.


    Ling Lan nodded towards the five domain realm masters and then led them through the gate.


    What they saw arge green forest surrounding a beautiful westernized white manor.


    At that moment, the za of the manor already had many hover trucks of different sizes parked there. Many people could be seen desperately trying to quickly load things into the trucks as if their lives depended on it. It seemed that, while they were retreating, they wanted to also take some precious resources. It was because of this that allowed Ling Lan and the others to catch up to them.


    They were almost done loading the supplies on the hover trucks. Seeing this, Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and held out her right. She then pointed straight at the hover truck in front of her!


    In response, the five domain realm masters all looked at each other. One of them nodded and vanished in the next second. Almost instantaneously, that domain realm master appeared on top of one of the roofs of the hover trucks. He then performed a pushing down, creating a strong force that was pushing everyone at the scene down, freezing everyone.


    ¡°Impudent!¡± An angry shout came from inside the manor. Rocks from all directions suddenly flew towards the domain realm master who was on the roof of the truck.


    Seeing that, the 23rd Division¡¯s domain realm master snorted coldly. As the rocks were about to reach half a meter in distance of him, a sh of light went by, knocking the rocks back to where they came from.


    Suddenly, a white haired elder flew out from the manor. When hended, he saw the domain realm master on the hover truck, and he instantly narrowed his eyes. ¡°Who are you? Do you not know that this is a private area?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re looking for you! You dared to break thews of the Federation. Even if you wear the skin of a human, I will still peel it off of you!¡± This domain realm master from the 23rd Division was a middle-aged muscr man. Before Ling Xiao sent him here, Ling Xiao had already told him about all thews this organization had broken, so the middle-aged man already hated them to the bone. Thus, he did not care about propriety and leak out the killing intent in his words.


    After hearing that, the elder knew they had been exposed. He cried out loudly and flew up into the air with a fisting towards the middle-aged man!


    This wasn¡¯t a battle of physical skills, but rather a battle of domain. After his fist was sent out, it turned into a thousand ton stone and flew towards the middle-aged domain realm master from the 23rd Division.


    The middle-aged man pulled his hand back and a light appeared in the ce where his hand was. Then, he slowly pushed the light out with his hand.


    ¡°Bang!¡± A loud bang sounded. Therge stone was stuck in mid-air and didn¡¯t continue to forward.


    The elder¡¯s expression froze. He saw a sh of light shing under him and said, ¡°A light elemental domain!¡±


    It was 2 o¡¯clock in the afternoon, which was when the sun was the most bright, empowering his domain even further, while the elder was at a disadvantage as the surrounding areas were all grassy fields, with only a small amount of the stone element... The only stone element source that could help him was the manor behind him.


    However, he wasn¡¯t the only one in this battle! A sh killing intent went past the elder¡¯s eyes. Suddenly, stone walls were erected at the four sides, forming a square cage, boxing the both of them. He then began to go at his opponent from all sides.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang, bang.¡± Four shes of light appeared and guarded against the four-prong pir attack from the walls. The two of them began to fight using their domain to see who wouldst longer. Right at that moment, a silhouette appeared above the middle-aged man. A sharp sword came from the heavens and ruthlessly went for the middle-aged man¡¯s head.


    The man waspletely focused on fighting elder so he couldn¡¯t do anything about it. Right as he was about to lose his life, a water whip suddenly appeared and wrapped around the sharp sword. The water whip pulled on the sword and also pulled out the person who performed the sneak attack.


    At that moment, a middle-aged man with an elegant aura appeared at the scene. He spoke to the assassin, ¡°If you need an opponent, then I can fight with you!¡±

 Chapter 775 - Reaper!

    <h4>Chapter 775: Reaper!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Who are you people? Aren¡¯t people the Federation sent still at the academy?¡± The assassin asked with a fearful expression on his face. They clearly had lured all of the troops the military had sent. Why are there still domain realm masters here? Is there a traitor among them?


    ¡°The Huaxia Federation have had the 36 stratagems since ancient times. Have you not heard of it before?¡± The elegant middle-aged man replied with a smile.


    ¡°Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west...¡± The assassin said begrudgingly.


    ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve researched the treasures of our ancestors very well. Since you were guarded against the attack on the academy, then we, of course, will make a sound in the east, and then strike in the west!¡± The elegant middle-aged man was still smiling warmly as if he was a teacher patiently answering his students¡¯ elementary questions.


    This attitude was undoubtedly to mock these people. The assassin didn¡¯t want to say anymore, as another question would undoubtedly lead to another insulting reply. Another sharp de suddenly appeared in his other hand. With both swords in his hands, he ruthlessly pounced towards the elegant middle-aged man with a heavy piercing attack!


    In actuality, there wasn¡¯t only just one assassin. Two other assassin did appear, but it was just that they were intercepted by the two older domain realm masters who came with Ling Lan.


    Currently, there was only one domain realm master that stayed beside Ling Lan, but not for long, as Ling Lan could feel another three stronger forces of presence in the manor.


    In the next second, four domain realm masters suddenly flew out from the manor. Their auras were weakerpared to those who came out in the beginning. Thest domain realm master beside Ling Lan frowned as he was surprised by the number of domain realm masters that wereing out of the manor. Although, he could stand his ground if they were to fight him one after another, but the oue of the battle would be very different if they were to attack together. Right as he was about to intercept them, Ling Lan reached out her hand and pressed down on his shoulder.


    This domain realm master had a shocked expression on his face. In the eyes of the others, Ling Lan had stopped him just before he had moved, but this domain realm master knew he had already moved. It was just that in the moment he moved, he was easily forced down by Ling Lan¡¯s hand, forcibly removing his momentum.


    Are titled domain realm masters this strong? This domain realm master started suspecting something was off. Although titled domain realm masters were stronger than them by one stage, they were definitely not strong enough to instantly stop them from moving. Who is this Regiment Commander Ling? Maybe, he just looked young, but was actually a one hundred old demon?


    While this domain realm master was still in deep thought about Ling Lan¡¯s age, Ling Lan looked towards Qi Long, Luo Lang and Xie Yi, and nodded to gesture to them that they could go in.


    The three of them went in without any hesitation. It was just that there were four fake domain realm masters and they only had three people, so someone needed to fight against two of them.


    Seeing this, Qi Long bit his lip and decided to take the harder challenge himself. Out of the three of them, he was the strongest. Thus, only he had hopes of defending against attacks from two opponents for one or two rounds. If it was Luo Lang or Xie Yi, they would probably just lose in one hit.


    Suddenly, Ling Lan reached her hand out and grabbed someone behind her. Then, a silhouette could be seen flying straight into the battlefield andnding in front of one of the fake domain realm masters.


    ¡°If you¡¯re not afraid to follow us, then you must have the resolve to die!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold and heartless voice rang through Li Lanfeng¡¯s ears.


    Although Ling Lan was being cold and heartless, Li Lanfeng was not in low spirits. Instead, he was overjoyed. Li Lanfeng knew Ling Lan really well. If he didn¡¯t have any hopes of winning against a fake domain realm master, Ling Lan would never let him go into battlefield and would also not say something like that... This meant that, even if there was a small chance, Ling Lan was still willing to believe that he would be able to find his way and be a domain realm master.


    A man will die for anyone who recognizes his potential! Li Lanfeng finally understood the deeper meaning of those words! It was his life worth of luck that allowed him to have Ling Lan in his life.


    Li Lanfeng suppressed his emotions and concentrated on the opponent standing in front of him. The only way he could repay Ling Lan was to make sure the trust that was given him didn¡¯t go to waste. He must use this experience to understand the rules of the domain stage and be a domain realm master.


    That¡¯s right, even though Li Lanfeng had only reached the peak stage of Qi-Jin and hadn¡¯t reached Great Perfection yet, he could still clearly feel a shapeless barrier that was halting his advancement... It appeared after his spiritual power was quelled by Ling Lan. As time went on, this feeling became even clearer. He didn¡¯t know why his situation was different from the others, as they could only feel the barrier after reaching Great Perfection. He didn¡¯t know whether it was a good or bad thing, and was clueless on what to do.


    He originally wanted to ask Ling Lan after the mission, but after hearing there were fake domain realm masters and Ling Lan telling him to contact Qi Long, Luo Lang and Xie Yi, the intelligent Li Lanfeng knew what Ling Lan was nning. Ling Lan was creating an opportunity for the three of them to advance to the domain stage...


    After understanding this, Li Lanfeng was really tempted to join. He didn¡¯t want to be left behind by Ling Lan and lose to Ling Lan¡¯srades. He wanted to follow in Ling Lan¡¯s footsteps, so he couldn¡¯t let others advance before he did. This was also the reason why he wanted toe here.


    ¡°Bam!¡± ¡°Bam!¡± ¡°Bam!¡±


    On the other side, Qi Long and the other two have already begun their battles with the fake domain realm masters. They originally thought they would be severely injured in one hit, but their current situation was that they were just slightly injured. This made them realize that these domain realm masters were not on the same level as their Boss.


    After gaining more confidence from their continuous sessive defense, Qi Long and the other two became wilder as the battle went on. The three of them were the type of people who don¡¯t care about their lives. Once they got used to the pace of the battle, unless they die, they wouldn¡¯t stop fighting.


    Just like that, they were continuously struck down by their opponents, but would always rebound back up and continue fighting like stic bands. This made the three domain realm masters feel extremely amused by their hrious acts, but as time went on, they began to be irritated.


    They originally thought that they were just Qi-Jin stage ants who were performing a hrious act without a care for their lives, and that it would only take a few hits until they die. However, after more than a dozen rounds, these three people were still full of vigor. Every hit caused them to spit out blood as if they were about to die. However, they didn¡¯t know what type of medicinal agents they did consume for them to be constantly full of vigor.


    In the end, they were actually held back by three Qi-Jin ants, blocking them off to the side so they couldn¡¯t help the guests of their manor. They seemed to feel the watchful eyes that were filled with mockerying from inside manor that were watching their battle. Their boss must definitely feel that they were losing face for the organization.


    Everything they had were given by the organization. If the organization abandoned them... the three of them suddenly felt a chill in the air. They didn¡¯t want to be ¡®materials¡¯ and die in theboratory. With that crisis in mind, they finally activated their strongest domain techniques.


    A sand element domain realm master was facing Luo Lang. A sand dragon appeared out of mid-air. Seeing the sand dragon, Luo Lang¡¯s wild expression suddenly became calm. He transformed from being a berserk beauty to a beauty that was as cold as ice.


    A wind element domain realm master, who loved close-rangebat, was facing Qi Long. There were shapeless wind des all around him with attacks that were undetectable by the naked eye. In actuality, Qi Long was in the most danger, but his smile was bing wider and wider. It was as though he didn¡¯t care about his life.


    On Xie Yi side, a paper world had manifested. Layers andyers of paper started surrounding Xie Yi and the paper element domain realm master. In the end, it became a sphere made of paper, trapping Xie Yi and the paper domain realm master within it.


    Qi Long, Luo Lang and Xie Yi had all reached the point where they had to fight for their lives. However, Li Lanfeng¡¯s situation was even worse than theirs. With weaker physical skills, he could only be pushed back without any chance to counterattack. If it wasn¡¯t for Li Shiyu¡¯s medicinal agents, Li Lanfeng probably would have not been able to get up a long time ago. However, even with the medicinal agents Li Lanfeng was still not in a good state. Even though he didn¡¯t die, he almost there. He was continuously spitting out blood from the hits his opponent was sending his way.


    The domain realm master beside Ling Lan saw this and narrowed his eyes. His body moved unconsciously with the thought of helping them but he resisted the urge in the end. He looked at the cold, heartless and unmoving Ling Lan. He didn¡¯t know what Ling Lan was thinking. Is he not doing anything because hisrades didn¡¯t listen to his orders and came here on their own ord? So even if they were about to die on the battlefield, she wouldn¡¯t make any moves just because it was their fault to begin with?


    ¡°Li Lanfeng, if you insist on following us, and die because of that, I will look down on you forever!¡± Li Lanfeng, who was somewhat in a dazed state, suddenly had Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice rang through his mindscape.


    ¡°No, No, I don¡¯t want that!¡± Anyone can look down on him, but Rabbit definitely cannot!


    Li Lanfeng returned back to consciousness. What he first saw was his opponent activating his domain. His opponent was actually a gold element domain realm master. The surrounding area was filled with thin gold needles. In the next second, these gold needles would make Li Lanfeng into a porcupine.


    His physical skills on paper was only short of Qi Long and the others by a small stage, but the difference in battle was so great. They could still endure in the fight, but Li Lanfeng could only watch as he gets beaten up...¡±Sh*t¡± Li Lanfeng cried out internally. If this was the virtual world, no one would be able to bully him like this? In there, he was the reaper who had control over life and death in the virtual world!


    ¡°If we are in the virtual world, I will just need one thought to kill them. One thought!¡±


    Li Lanfeng, now full of wounds across his body, had blood running down his forehead like a fountain into his eyes, reddening his originally dark eyes. Now, he saw everything in a shade of red. Everyone was in a blood-red color...


    Just like that, the people who he wanted to kill turned blood-red... After losing too much blood, Li Lanfeng¡¯s consciousness wavered once again, making him feel that he had entered the virtual world...


    ¡°Thousand Needle Rain!¡± Every gold needle went towards Li Lanfeng. Ling Lan clenched her hand and trembled slightly, but she suddenly had a stunned expression on her face. She didn¡¯t think that Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain was like that.


    ¡°You want to kill me?¡± Li Lanfeng smirked with hint of mockery. ¡°You actually dare to defy a reaper. Then, you must know that the reaper will take your life!¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s entire force of presence changed. The space around him became twisted and a strong force started to suck in everything around him.


    Li Lanfeng slowly raised his right hand and a ck reaper scythe slowly manifested in it.

 Chapter 776 - Reformatting!

    <h4>Chapter 776: Reformatting!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°What a terrifying domain! What kind of concept does it follow?¡± The domain realm master beside Ling Lan shouted in surprise. He was alsopletely surprised by Li Lanfeng¡¯s odd yet terrifying domain.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t make a sound. She seemed to have figured something out. The reason why Li Lanfeng could feel the advancement barrier for the domain stage while he was only at the peak stage of Qi-Jin. It wasn¡¯t necessary for him to strengthen his body to break through the barrier to advance, instead, Li Lanfeng¡¯s terrifying spiritual power had already surpassed his mindscape¡¯s capacity. His spiritual power managed to reach the barrier of the domain stage before his body could.


    After thinking about that, Ling Lan was worried. If Li Lanfeng hadn¡¯t listened to her words and didn¡¯t keep on practicing the basic physical skills training to make him able to endure the pain, his current situation might be even worse. Luckily, when he met her in the real world, his spiritual power hadn¡¯t reached a level that could destroy his body. After the timely training of the meditation technique, he managed to improve the condition of his battered body.


    If anything had gone wrong, what awaited Li Lanfeng was a lifetime of being bed-ridden. He would just be like Ling Lan in her past life. Even if he had the meditation technique, it would all be for naught.


    In actuality, in the Li family¡¯s manor, Ling Lan had already felt that Li Lanfeng¡¯s spiritual power had reached his capacity when she was calming down Li Lanfeng¡¯s spiritual power. She originally wanted to wait until the mission was over to think of a method to let Li Lanfeng quickly advance to Qi-Jin with Great Perfection then to the domain stage.


    It was just that Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t willing to wait! After noticing Li Lanfeng had followed them, she knew Li Lanfeng¡¯s decision. Ling Lan thought about it and decided to give Li Lanfeng the same opportunity as her childhood friends.


    Looking at all the possible scenario, Li Lanfeng¡¯s decision wasn¡¯t the best choice in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. However, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t going to decide anything for her friends. If Li Lanfeng wanted to fight, then what Ling Lan needed to do was to trust him. This was why Ling Lan tossed Li Lanfeng into the fray. She used that move to tell Li Lanfeng that she supported his decision.


    Sometimes, you should just blindly support and trust your friends! These would give them strength in the most dangerous and difficult times. Ling Lan could only help Li Lanfeng in this aspect. The dangerous path of advancing required Li Lanfeng¡¯s own strength to walk.


    Now, the result of her decision was ideal. Li Lanfeng had be the first person to realize the way to sessfully advance into the domain stage. The only thing she has a nit to pick about Li Lanfeng¡¯s advancement was that it was too rushed. His body still hadn¡¯t reached the requirements of advancing to the domain stage. Advancing up more than one stage like that would inevitably have severe consequences. She was just hoping that the consequences would be mended in the future and wasn¡¯t permanent.


    With Ling Lan being in the domain stage for quite a long time, she would clearly understand the two clear requirements of advancing to domain. One was physical constitution and the other was spiritual power.


    The Federation ced a high degree of high importance on physical skills because of mechas, while spiritual power was regarded as unimportant. The reason why most individual with strong spiritual power would seem to be diseased and weak was because of theirck of physical skills training. When it was known that a person has a weak physical constitution, the Federation would always try to treat and heal them, but would not train their physical skills. Furthermore, the Federation would usually just let them be responsible for jobs rted to spiritual power and wouldn¡¯t let them operate mechas... Thus, creating a phenomenon where the stronger the spiritual power of an individual, the weaker their physical constitution was. And as their physical constitution continue to weaken, treatment centers became more and more afraid to treat them as they didn¡¯t want their records filled with incurable patients which ultimately lowers the reputation of the treatment center. This was why those individuals with insanely strong spiritual power could never be an outstanding mecha operator.


    Thus, it wasn¡¯t because those Qi-Jin experts, who were stuck at the optimal peak stage of Qi-Jin with Great Perfection, didn¡¯t get any chance to advance. Instead, it was because their spiritual power hadn¡¯t reached the lowest requirement to advance into the domain stage, so how could they seed?


    Of course, this didn¡¯t mean that those people wouldn¡¯t be able to advance to the domain stage forever. If the Qi-Jin in their bodies reached the point of over-capacity, it would naturally break through the barrier, and thus allowing them into the domain stage. However, the concept they would be derived based on their bodies. For example, speed, strength, etc. It wouldn¡¯t give them any concept regarding natural elements of the world.


    The domain realm masters who had concept bound to nature, along with strong bodies, were people whose physical constitution and spiritual power had both reached the requirement. These people were usually born with level two spiritual power. Babies that had spiritual power past level 3 always had weak bodies. These children would be nurtured towards the spiritual direction and wouldn¡¯t be considered for mecha operators. This was why during the talent determination procedure many years ago, spiritual power was a part of the test.


    At the same time, if spiritual power was so strong that the mind could not contain, then even if physical skills hadn¡¯t reached that level, it would still break through the barrier and advance to the domain stage. However, this type of advancement would bring about arge bacsh to the body. While advancing to the domain stage, the physical body could be destroyed by the concept of the domain, and in the end be dust in the air and perish.


    However, someone like Li Lanfeng, who had spiritual power that was so terrifying that only one person like him would appear every few hundred years, would usually die as they were born. Those types of babies wouldn¡¯t reach the point where their spiritual power would seep out from their bodies.


    Due to Li Lanfeng¡¯s body not reaching the requirement and his spiritual power breaking through the barrier, Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain concept was derived from his spiritual power. He was originally a spectral ability individual. After deriving this concept, he could turn anything into virtual objects within his domain.


    Ling Lan had already determined Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain concept with just one look. On the battlefield, Li Lanfeng raised his ck scythe and swung it towards the fake domain realm master.


    ¡°Ah!¡± That fake domain realm master wanted to get away from the twisted dimensions around Li Lanfeng, but his strength wasn¡¯tparable to a domain realm master who advanced naturally. The scythe easily sliced past his body. Then, his body began to crumble into little particles and started dispersing without leaving any traces. It was as though he never existed in this world.


    ¡°That¡¯s reformatting!¡± Little Four cried out with surprise. If someone was to say what intelligent entities feared most, then Little Blossom¡¯s power of devouring data was one. The second one was the reformatting of all of the data in the virtualwork they lived in. These two both would severely affect the way of life for intelligent entities and was something intelligent entities never wanted to see.


    ¡°As expected, it¡¯s this power!¡± Little Four¡¯s words made Ling Lan certain of her judgment. Li Lanfeng¡¯s power was as expected a derivative of his spectral abilities. In his domain, Li Lanfeng was a reaper of death that could reformat everything!


    Right at that moment, something changed in the battlefield. A silhouette suddenly appeared behind Li Lanfeng. A gold colored hand was going straight towards his unguarded back.


    ¡°Bam!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s hand suddenly appeared and urately caught the opponent¡¯s hand. She then coldly said, ¡°You¡¯re opponent is me!¡±

 Chapter 777 - Qi Long’s Advancement!

    <h4>Chapter 777: Qi Long¡¯s Advancement!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    It turns out, the person who made the move was one of the three stronger domain realm masters hidden in the manor! However, when Li Lanfeng was advancing to the domain stage, Ling Lan had already made preparations for any sneak attacks. That was because the opposition definitely wouldn¡¯t want them to have another domain realm master. Thus, they would definitely try to attack at that crucial moment.


    The domain realm master, who Ling Lan caught, was surprised. He didn¡¯t think that his sneak attack would be actually seen through by his opponent. Not only that, the pressure his opponent gave him was something he had never felt before, this young man in front of him might be the strongest enemy he must face in his life.


    The domain realm master shouted loudly and activated his domain.


    As the domain realm master was activating his domain, Ling Lan felt Li Lanfeng¡¯s body trembling behind her. She frowned and let go of the domain realm master¡¯s hand. Then, she jumped backwards, returning to her original spot, taking Li Lanfeng with her at the same time.


    Understanding Ling Lan¡¯s intentions, thest domain realm master sent by Ling Xiao appeared at Ling Lan¡¯s previous location to substitute her in the battle against the domain realm master.


    ¡°How are you feeling?¡± Ling Lan asked while her eyes were still monitoring the battlefield because her threerades were still fighting.


    Li Lanfeng cried out and spat out some blood. The consequences of advancing past the stage his physical constitution could endure was beginning to take its effect. The power of the domain stage was something his body couldn¡¯t currently handle.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s just my body still held me back in the end.¡± Li Lanfeng wiped away the blood on the corner of his lips and smiled bitterly.


    ¡°It¡¯s because you¡¯re too hasty. If you had waited until your physical skills advance into Great Perfection, then you wouldn¡¯t have this problem,¡± Ling Lan said with a cold expression on her face. Although she chose to trust Li Lanfeng and supported his decision, she still didn¡¯t agree with it.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t control my spiritual power anymore so it will not let me wait. Plus, since I will be advancing anyways, isn¡¯t it better to advance earlier?¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s face was full of smiles. He didn¡¯t regret his decision even if he had to pay a price for it. As long as he could get closer to the person he wanted to get closer to, he felt that it was worth it. ¡°Rabbit, did I catch up to you a little bit?¡±


    The familiar nickname thawed out the coldness in Ling Lan¡¯s expression slightly. It was as though she had returned to the time when she worked hard with Cheetah, chasing each other around all the time. She suddenly understood why Li Lanfeng made that dumb decision. It was because she was moving too fast, making Li Lanfeng fear that he would not be able to catch up and lose her as a friend in the end. Thinking back to the tragedy of how Li Lanfeng was abandoned by the Li family and was left behind on Azure because of his physical constitution...


    Ling Lan softened and nodded. ¡°You got slightly closer. Keep up the good work!¡± Alright, she should do something good once a day! Li Lanfeng is after all in a quite pitiful position.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes glistened in the light and his smile became even bigger. His resounding ¡®Yes!¡¯ made Ling Lan feel that a little cheetah was in front of her, looking to be caressed. She couldn¡¯t refuse such an adorable pet... no, she couldn¡¯t let anyone know her weakness of cute things. It would make her lose her dignity as a Boss. In order to stop her hand from going near Li Lanfeng¡¯s head, she decisively moved away from Li Lanfeng.


    Li Shiyu suddenly saw Li Lanfeng gettingunched into the sky. He quickly ran to the position where Li Lanfeng wouldnd, catching him the process.


    ¡°Treat him!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice rang through Li Shiyu¡¯s ears. He knew that he couldn¡¯t hide from his Boss, so after hearing Ling Lan¡¯s order, he didn¡¯t think much of it. He quickly took out a vial of medicinal agent that he had previously prepared and gave it to Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Sorry for the trouble, Shiyu!¡± Li Lanfeng smiled widely.


    ¡°I¡¯m our team¡¯s doctor!¡± Li Shiyu had a serious expression on his face. He was only doing what the team¡¯s doctor should be doing, and wasn¡¯t only doing it because Li Lanfeng was his eldest cousin brother.


    At that moment, some battles were going well underway. The first was Qi Long. He used his Animal Instinct to dodge the invisible wind des of his opponent. However, his opponent was using his domain to enclose Qi Long, surrounding him with countless wind des. Although Qi Long¡¯s Animal Instinct was strong, he still couldn¡¯t dodge all of the wind des with that many surrounding him. However, he sessfully dodged the attacks that were perilous. Although it would seem scary to bystanders, with cuts all around his body, dyeing him blood-red, they were still only surface injuries.


    These injuries that Qi Long had sustained weren¡¯t not for naught. From the moment he activated his Animal Instinct to passively dodge the wind des, he began to slowly gain control over this ability. He could feel the direction and location of the wind des. Animal Instinct gave him a precautionary feeling, making him get hit by less and less wind des.


    The wind element fake domain realm master felt the change that was happening to Qi Long. His expression changed slightly. He had seen the other guy sessfully advancing into the domain stage while battling one of hisrades. Is this guy doing the same thing?


    With that fear in his heart, the wind element domain realm master went berserk. He suddenly began to use all of the wind element around him, overclocking his domain which was beginning to tremble. Arge tornado appeared at the edge of his domain, which immediatelypressed itself and moved towards Qi Long, who was still in the domain.


    The tornado was made up of countless wind des. If Qi Long were to get caught in it, he would instantly be diced up.


    However, Qi Long wasn¡¯t going to give his opponent that chance. His Animal Instinct let him know the location where he would be safe from the tornado. Qi Long began to dodge left and right. Every time he dodged, he would just shy from touching the tornado, making people who were watching fear for his life. If Qi Long made one wrong move, he would be diced up into pieces.


    ¡°I see!¡± While dodging, Qi Long suddenly had an expression of enlightenment. He then stopped moving his body. Right as the tornado was about to touch him, Qi Long shouted. A strong force suddenly expanded out from his body, forcing the tornado to change its direction towards the sand element fake domain realm master who Luo Lang was fighting with.


    ¡°Bang!¡± A sandstorm appeared before the tornado and the two natural disasters smashed onto each other. The sand element fake domain realm master was wounded from hisrade¡¯s rogue attack and immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.


    ¡°Wind Three, what are you doing?¡± The sand element fake domain realm master shouted angrily.


    However, the wind element fake domain realm master couldn¡¯t answer his question as he was shocked speechless by Qi Long. He was able to clearly feel a concept of a domain in the energy from his opponent released just now. His opponent naturally advanced to the domain stage just like that? He wasn¡¯t like the other person, who had only advanced after he was almost beaten to death.


    Wasn¡¯t advancing to the domain stage like a lottery? Some people might not even be able to break through the barrier in their lifetime. This was also why this fake domain realm master lost hope and in the end willingly epted the organization¡¯s offer to be their guinea pig for their illegal experiments, which gave him the opportunity to grasp broken concept and be a fake domain realm master.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan smirked. It was as she had predicted, Qi Long being the first person out of the three to advance to the domain stage. In reality, before all this, Qi Long had already reached half a step into the domain stage, but unfortunately, Qi Long had awakened Animal Instinct, which was a good innate talent for mecha piloting. However, as luck would have it, this talent was quite an enigma as it didn¡¯t really coincide with any of the more famous concepts. Even Ling Lan couldn¡¯t imagine what Qi Long¡¯s domain would be like. Thus, this unknown aspect of his innate talent made Qi Long unable to find the direction he should be working towards, making it impossible for him to break through the tough barrier without first finding his direction.


    However, fighting against a fake domain realm master who had touched the concept of his domain helped Qi Long find his path much faster. In the end, Qi Long managed to do it. It was just that Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what Qi Long¡¯s domain concept could be. She could only feel the fluctuation of domain energy with no natural elements. Thus, Ling Lan decisively eliminated the possibility of concept of the natural elements. In actuality, she felt that the domain concept Qi Long had awakened was simr to Li Lanfeng¡¯s, both of them belonging to the spiritual rules.


    Animal Instinct was originally an ability that branched from spiritual power! Ling Lan suddenly realized that Qi Long was actually the luckiest person alive. Not only was his physical constitution monstrous, the innate talent he had awakened waspletely based off his spiritual power, which easily fulfilled the spiritual power requirement to advance to the domain stage. This also exined why Qi Long had advanced into the domain stage that easily. Both requirements were fulfilled before this fight even started, making his advancement was more or less perfect. It wasn¡¯t like Li Lanfeng¡¯s advancement where even though he had advanced, he would still have many problems in the future.


    Qi Long directed the tornado towards Luo Lang¡¯s opponent. Then, he excitedly clenched his fists after feeling the concept of his domain. When he looked towards his opponent, he no longer felt the pressure he had felt in the very beginning of the battle. Although he had just advanced into the domain stage and could only slightly control it, he still felt that if he wanted to kill his opponent, it would be a piece of cake.


    This was probably the difference between a natural domain and a fake domain. It was no wonder their Boss didn¡¯t allow them to take shortcuts. It seemed their Boss knew very well what price one would pay if they were to use shortcuts.


    Qi Long began tough. He looked towards his opponent and softly said, ¡°Die!¡±


    Before his voice could reach his opponent, he had already gotten behind the wind element fake domain realm master. Then, the wind element fake domain realm master grasped onto his chest, and began to spit out massive amounts of blood along with his ruptured organs, causing him to fall over dead with his eyes still wide open.


    ¡°You think you can escape?¡± Ling Lan, who was originally fully focused on watching the battle, suddenly felt two strong auras running away in two different directions. Ling Lan moved in a split second and instantly intercepted one of them.


    The domain realm master in the other direction was overjoyed, thinking that he had escaped. Suddenly, a silhouette blocked his path. It was Li Lanfeng.


    It turns out, after drinking Li Shiyu¡¯s medicinal agent, Li Lanfeng¡¯s battered body was instantly healed up. When he was using the meditation technique to heal his body, his eyes didn¡¯t stop monitoring the manor. Thus, if there was anyone trying to escape from the manor, he would be able to instantly know. The person that Ling Lan had let go moved towards his direction. He thought about it and knew that he was most likely given to him by Ling Lan.

 Chapter 778 - Difference!

    <h4>Chapter 778: Difference!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°A newly advanced newbie actually dares to stand in my way. Are you looking to die?¡± The domain realm master who was blocked off by Li Lanfeng shouted sharply. As he spoke, he simultaneously attacked Li Lanfeng using his right hand. White smoke started appearing in his palm, and it flew towards Li Lanfeng like an arrow.


    Li Lanfeng activated his domain decisively. ¡°Bam!¡± The white smoke crashed onto Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain, creating a loud crashing sound.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s body trembled a bit from the sound. He could feel the blood rushing up his chest, leaving a sweet yet gamey taste in his mouth. He was now facing an actual domain realm master with many years of experience. This domain realm master had a much higher proficiency over his concept than he had over his own. This opponent wasn¡¯t someone who had just advanced into the domain stage couldpare with.


    However, Li Lanfeng was a stubborn person. Since Ling Lan trusted him and gave him the responsibility of dying one of the domain realm masters, then he couldn¡¯t let Ling Lan be disappointed. He forced down the blood that was trying to rush out his mouth and looked at his opponent with a calm expression on his face.


    The domain realm master¡¯s expression changed slightly after seeing that his attack blocked by Li Lanfeng. Only he knew that his seemingly simple attack actually consisted of the full power of the concept that his domain applied. He didn¡¯t think that his opponent would be fine after blocking his attack...


    This domain realm master knew that he couldn¡¯t escape that easily anymore. He was regretting it somewhat. In reality, when they had discovered that there was a titled domain realm master among their enemies, they should have made the decision to escape.


    It turns out, the reason why these two domain realm masters ran away was because they saw theirrade being intercepted by the opposing side¡¯s titled domain realm master. They discovered that this titled domain realm master was so much stronger than their front-line titled domain realm masters. This discovery instantly quelled their will to fight, so they didn¡¯t dare to make any sudden moves. As the fight continued, they saw Qi Long advancing to the domain stage perfectly, at that moment, they knew they couldn¡¯t wait any longer. Otherwise they would all be defeated here and be prisoners of war.


    Almost simultaneously, the two of them both chose a direction to run towards. They only hoped that the titled domain realm master could only stop one of them. The other would then be able to notify their strongest people toe and save them. Unfortunately, they thought of it too ideally and neglected the fact that Li Lanfeng¡¯s body could have healed. In the end, both of them were intercepted and didn¡¯t get away sessfully.


    However, they weren¡¯t going down without a fight, especially the one who was intercepted by Li Lanfeng. That domain realm master did not believe that a newly advanced domain realm master would be able to stop him no matter how strange his domain concept was. He still had a chance to escape, as long as hisrade was trying his best to stall the titled domain realm master.


    These domain realm master from the unknown organization were unwilling to die here, and still had hope in their heart, so they both released all their domain energy simultaneously. In a single moment, all the elements began crashing against each other, creating a picturesque scene filled with myriad of colors.


    The domain realm master that was intercepted by Li Lanfeng suddenly turned into a body of white smoke, and it started to spread out. Seeing this, Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression changed slightly, and then activated his domain. After he activated it, the space around him began to be twisted. The white smoke that was spreading all around was held in ce by the twisted space, locking the white smoke in ce.


    The ck scythe appeared in Li Lanfeng¡¯s hand once again. Seeing this, the domain realm master was scarred as he had watched his own subordinate, the fake domain realm master, be instant erase out of existence. After feeling a sense of crisis, the domain realm master used all his might. White smoke began to spread to the surrounding area wildly. Not long after, Li Lanfeng along with his domain were both engulfed by the white smoke.


    Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t surprised, and he ruthlessly sliced towards the white smoke that had surrounded him.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The scythe sliced the white smoke, but was blocked by a much stronger domain concept than his own.


    ¡°I can only disintegrate domains that are weaker than my own?¡± Li Lanfeng frowned. He felt that it shouldn¡¯t be the case, but he only had just the basic understanding of his domain so he couldn¡¯t fully understand it.


    Seeing he was alright, the domain realm master instantly breathed a sigh of relief. He now knew his opponent¡¯s domain was not as strong as he had previously thought, and it could not kill someone who had a deeper understanding of his or her concept. In reality, this was thew of domain. If there was a concept where that concept would overrule any other domain concept, then that would be unfair. How would they be able to live if that was the case?


    After relieving his concerns, this domain realm master used his domain to attack Li Lanfeng wildly. Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain was ineffective against his opponent, and it could only be used it to defend himself. However, even so, Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t take any steps back. He didn¡¯t forget his mission and that was to stop his opponent even with his life.


    ¡°Sh*t!¡± Seeing his opponent not budging just to hold him back, the smoke element domain realm master instantly became irritated. He knew very well that if he didn¡¯t escape soon, he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape when the titled domain realm master would eventually defeat hisrade.


    Knowing that his time was limited, the smoke element domain realm master made a tough decision. Suddenly, the smoke that was originally surrounding Li Lanfeng began to disperse. The smoke quickly formed into three transparent ropes. Then, these smoke ropes began to dance around Li Lanfeng... Under the light of the sun, these ropes actually had a rainbow hue to them.


    Then, a silhouette suddenly walked out of the smoke. He reached his right hand out and clenched it tightly. The ropes that were originally dancing around Li Lanfeng instantly tightened and wrapped around Li Lanfeng and his domain.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain instantly became unstable as it couldn¡¯t endure this type of attack, and it began to shake violently.


    Pinpoint attack! The opponent¡¯s method of attack was undoubtedly using this idea. This attack condensed the concept of his domain into three thin strings in an attempt to destroy the opponent¡¯s domain.


    Suddenly, a force shot down from the sky. The smoke element domain realm master was stunned and could no longer shackle Li Lanfeng, so he moved to the side instantly to dodge this force.


    ¡°Bang!¡± A fist struck the ground where the smoke element domain realm master previously stood on, causing countless rocks to fly about. A silhouette slowly stood up and clenched his fist as he smiled, ¡°Sorry for making you wait, I was stabilizing my domain.¡± The person who came to save Li Lanfeng was Qi Long.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, I can still hold on!¡± Li Lanfeng replied calmly. Although it was dangerous just a moment ago, it was just as he said, he could still hold on. It was just that fighting with real domain realm masters made Li Lanfeng realize the difference between himself and those experienced domain realm masters. The amount of domain techniques he knew were zero to none. It seemed that he needed to invent many more domain techniques.

 Chapter 779 - Change Between Three States!

    <h4>Chapter 779: Change Between Three States!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The domain realm master who Ling Lan stopped was the strongest among the three domain realm masters that were hiding in the manor. Ling Lan had detected his force of presence and concluded that he was only half a step away from bing a titled domain realm formidable warrior. Hence, she decided to stop this person herself as no one other than her could match-up to him. Plus, Ling Lan had already made the decision to eliminate everyone here, so she would, of course, not allow anyone to escape.


    The domain realm master frowned when he saw Ling Lan appearing in front of him. At first, he thought that Ling Lan would stop the weaker domain realm master, so he was slightly furious that Ling Lan chose him. Did his opponent think that he was afraid? He only chose to escape because he didn¡¯t want the manor to suffer more damages and was also going to look for reinforcements.


    There were two powerful domain realm masters guarding the headquarters. One was Elder Hong who disappeared without a trace yesterday. No one knew if he was on a secret mission or was he caught by the military. The other person was Elder Liang. Elder Liang liked to suppress his force of presence and hid among the masses. He was not like Elder Hong who had a high status. When they were retreating, Elder Liang even disguised himself and fought with the enemies outside. He didn¡¯t retreat from the headquarters with the first batch. This domain realm master was nning to ask Elder Liang for help.


    Since he was stopped, he could not leave this ce anymore. His only hope was to tie down this person so that hisrade could maybe leave. The domain realm master made a decision and immediately activated his domain. He prepared to fight with Ling Lan, to the death.


    Ling Lan felt a huge gush of hot air when this person activated his domain. mes appeared out of nowhere in her opponent¡¯s domain. Compared to Mu Chaoran¡¯s red me, this person¡¯s me was slightly green and the energy in it was more powerful than Mu Chaoran¡¯s red me. If she was right, a green me was a tier higher than a red me. This showed that her opponent had a strong understanding of his domain concept.


    Ling Lan frowned. She didn¡¯t expect her opponent to have a fire elemental domain. The fire and ice element naturally restricted each other. Additionally, she had ever fought with a fire element domain realm master before. Will this fight it give her some new experiences? Ling Lan felt a growing fighting intent, and a cold aura started to exude out from her body.


    ¡°Ice element!¡± The fire element domain realm master was extremely sensitive to elements that restricted him. Ling Lan had only released a little of her force of presence but he instantly knew what her element was.


    His expression changed slightly. He started to turn vignt. This kind of mutated domain was very hard to predict and was very powerful, so they were hard to deal with. Domain realm masters hated opponents who had such mutated domains. Thus, to not get caught off guard by them, one would have to constantly stay on their guard.


    Among the five basic elements, the fire element had the strongest offense, the metal element had the greatest explosive power, the earth element was the sturdiest, the water element had a good bnce between offense and defense, and the wood element was the hardest to detect. All of them had their advantages. It could be said that most domain realm masters knew these five elements inside-out. Thus, when they fought against such elements, they already knew what to expect. However, mutated elements were rare, so not much information could be gathered. Thus, people could only rely on their personal experiences to battle against these mutated elements.


    This kind of domain was very troublesome to deal with. However, there was another kind of domain that was not just troublesome, but it was also so scary that enemy domain realm masters had to be constantly careful and be alert of it, and it was the special domains. Li Lanfeng¡¯s weird domain was a perfect example of those special domains. No one could know what the domain could do, so a moment of carelessness might cause one¡¯s death.


    On one side of the battlefield, the air was burning hot and filled with green mes. On the other side, it was cold and icy. Steam appeared at the meeting between the two domains. Soon, the steam disappeared.


    The two of them confronted each other silently for a few seconds. Then, at the same time, the fire and ice arrows flew towards each other. The two people acted in unnned unison. Both of them were trying to gauge each other¡¯s strength. No one was able to gain an advantage over the other. The sh between hot and cold produced a slightly warm mist that warmed up the entire battlefield. It seemed to be overpowered by the warmth from the mes.


    The fire element domain realm master¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. The mist surrounded him started to clear up first on his side first due to the heat from his me. He could see his surroundings clearly again. Then, he saw the mist around his opponent and suddenly had a thought, and instantly, his entire body became engulfed in mes. The mes around him started to spiral upwards, twisting and curling into a huge green me dragon that flew towards the Ling Lan side, covering the Ling Lan¡¯s entire side of the battlefield.


    However, the fire dragon didn¡¯t hit anyone. It just struck an empty piece ofnd. Molten rocks and boulders were flung into the air. The fire dragon stood up and it started receding back, forming a human silhouette which was the fire element domain realm master who was wearing a worried expression. The green mes around him started to burn even brighter and grew from three inches to ten inches. His force of presence also increased almost three times.


    He didn¡¯t expect his opponent to disappear without a trace. There were no signs of ice around him. Where is the ice element domain realm master hiding? Why wasn¡¯t there any force of presence here? Domain realm masters who could turn into their element would usually carry the presence of their element with them. However, he didn¡¯t feel any coldness around him.


    Did he leave? The fire element domain realm master inspected the air around him again and confirmed that there was no coldness in it. Another thought shed through his mind.


    This is bad! He suddenly turned his head towards the direction where hisrade when and he felt the force of presence of a domain realm master with hisrade. He immediately understood what had happened. He got tricked by his opponent. His opponent¡¯s real target was hisrade.


    The other party didn¡¯t n to let any one of them away! The fire element immediately changed into a green me dragon again and flew as fast as he could. He was filled with anger and grief. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll definitely find Elder Liang and take revenge for all of you!¡± At thest moment, he chose to save himself and sacrificed hisrades.


    He was focused on escaping that he didn¡¯t notice a warm mist entering his domain. The temperature of the mist was the same as his aura so he thought that it was just some leftover mist from the battlefield. By the time he realized that something was wrong, it was already toote.


    ¡°Ice Blockade!¡± A cold voice could be heard next to his ear. He felt his body turning cold. The moment he felt that his body froze into an ice statue.


    The mist around him slowly dispersed, revealing Ling Lan¡¯s body. She had never left.


    The fire element domain realm master didn¡¯t stop struggling. The green mes on his body tried to burn the ice surrounding his body. However, he was cut off from the surrounding fire elements by the ice, so he could only rely on his domain energy. If he couldn¡¯t escape before his energy got depleted, he will be dead.


    He saw Ling Lan walking out of the mist. His eyes widened in disbelief. He could still clearly feel that there was no cold aura in the mist. It was warm. This couldn¡¯t be done by an ice element... He let down his guard because of this and allowed his opponent to infiltrate his domain with his ice element.


    The coldness in his body got even colder. The cold didn¡¯t juste externally, it came from within him too. When he turned into a me dragon, he sucked in the mist identally. This mist turned into ice element in his body and disrupted the energy inside him.


    ¡°As expected of someone who was almost a titled domain realm formidable warrior. Yousted for a long time even after my ice element infiltrated into your body,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    This battle with this fire element domain realm master made Ling Lan gain a deeper understanding of the third state of the water element. Compared to the other two states, this state was almost invisible. She could attack her opponent without a trace. The bugged technique could only be used when her opponent touched her in her liquid state. In the gaseous state, she could hide in her opponent¡¯s domain and sneaked an attack on him without him noticing.


    The damage done to her opponent when her ice element infiltrated his body was stronger than any external attack. If she purely used her ice element in its solid state, she would need to use a technique that would overpower her opponent. For instance, Ice Blockade. However, her ice element energy would be used up in the process, and she wouldn¡¯t be able to resist against an attack by another domain realm master. If she used the gaseous state to infiltrate her opponent¡¯s body and then turned it back to its solid state, the results would be the same as using Ice Blockade. But, the energy consumed would be much lesser. Even if another enemy came to attack her, she would have the strength to fight against him.


    Through this battle, Ling Lan was able to use the three states of the water element interchangeably and seamlessly. She understood that strength was not the only decisive factor in a battle. Understanding her opponent¡¯s mindset and using the right technique could kill people were important factors that could swing a battle to either side.


    At first, Ling Lan thought that she already had a good understanding of her domain. Now, she realized that those understandings were just theoretical, and only through experience would she be able to gain enlightenment and more insights towards her own domain. She always thought that the gaseous state was only suitable for sneak attacks and not direct confrontations. Now, she felt that she needed to further explore the offense techniques of the gaseous state. She might be able to create some new and unique techniques.


    No wonder her father always gave her difficult missions. His intention was to let her understand her domain quicker through all these experiences. As expected of her father, he knew her the best. Ling Xiao knew that Ling Lan was not someone who likes to fight. Hence, he had no choice but to bear with the pressure from his wife to give Ling Lan some troubles.

 Chapter 780 - Tea Party!

    <h4>Chapter 780: Tea Party!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan looked intently at the struggling fire element domain realm master. Then, she turned back and increased the power of her domain. The ice element soon consumed all the domain energy inside him, ending his power to resist. The ice element slowly froze his body from the inside until jagged ice shards could be seen puncturing out of his skin, slowly the ice shards started to merge with each together, creating an ice statue with a face that was filled with grief and regret.


    Ling Lan snapped her fingers. The ice statue started to show some visible cracks, and the number of those cracks got higher and higher, soon it reached its threshold and the shards started to fall apart, as the shards were falling down, the shards were somehow dissolving in mid-air, and soon no traces of the ice statue were left behind. Usually, her liquid state technique would still leave a pool of blood but for this technique, not even the smell of blood was left behind, only the coldness in the air could be felt. But, under the hot sun, it would disappear soon too. Compared to the techniques of the other two states, Ling Lan preferred the solid state of her element. It had nothing to do with how powerful they were. It was just her personal preference.


    As Ling Lan killed the fire element domain realm master, Luo Lang and Xie Yi¡¯s battles wereing to an end too.


    Compared to Qi Long, Luo Lang was in a worse situation. He almost got trapped by his opponent¡¯s sand seals and was almost dragged into a sea of sand. Luckily, Luo Lang activated his innate talent on time and released his calm personality, managing to save himself from the danger.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect the primary personality to be beaten so badly by a fake domain realm master...¡± Not everyone liked the calm personality, but the primary personality trusted the calm personality the most, and would always release it during times of danger. Hence, the other personalities were jealous.


    ¡°It¡¯s better than being a crazy dog.¡± The calm personality refuted, mocking the personality that spoke up. The other personalities were furious. If Luo Lang hadn¡¯t suppressed them, all the personalities would have fought within him.


    ¡°Why are you all still arguing with each other? If it wasn¡¯t for all of you, why would I still be stuck at the optimal peak of Qi-Jin for so long? Even that bastard Qi Long managed to advance to the domain stage, but I haven¡¯t even scrape the surface of it. You all know that I don¡¯t like to lose to Qi Long but you all are still not helping me! Not only that, you all just constantly fight among yourselves. I¡¯m so angry!¡± Luo Lang finally exploded in anger. ¡°If you all don¡¯t want to help me, fine, just stop disturbing me.¡±


    Luo Lang wasn¡¯t a scheming person. He was straightforward and forthright. Additionally, he treated his other personalities well. As long as his other personalities didn¡¯t go too overboard, he would just close one eye and let them do what they want. He never used his power as the primary personality to force the other personalities to do anything. It should be known that Ling Lan had already helped him to subdue all the other personalities, so Luo Lang felt that these personalities were hispanions who had been through thick and thin with him. That was why he didn¡¯t want to use them as servants.


    Luo Lang¡¯s outburst caused the other personalities to shut up. If the primary personality didn¡¯t like that specific personality, that specific personality would just disappear. This was the reason why they didn¡¯t want to submit to Luo Lang in the beginning because submitting to him meant that they would have to listen to him.


    The personalities thought back about how the primary personality treated and endured them all these years. They felt guilty. Sometimes, when a certain personality felt that he hadn¡¯te out for quite a while, he would discuss it with the primary personality and the primary personality would let him out for a while. If they had met an oppressive primary personality, they believed that their days wouldn¡¯t be so easy.


    ¡°Actually, we should really think about this...¡± The cold personality felt that this wasn¡¯t a good time to fight among themselves.


    ¡°I agree!¡± The personality with a strong killing intent turned friendlier. It was rare for him.


    ¡°I agree too!¡± The savage personality didn¡¯t want to see the primary personality get beat up too. If the primary personality advanced in his physical skills, it would be beneficial for them too. They felt that they might be able toe out more often in the primary personality advanced to the domain stage.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it good toe out?¡± The calctive and cold personality always chose things that were beneficial to him.


    The other personalities knew that doing this wouldn¡¯t harm them. It might even be beneficial for them. Hence, they all agreed. What a rare asion for all the personalities to agree on something.


    ¡°Based on Boss¡¯s investigation, if one can understand his or her domain, one can advance to the domain stage, and understanding one¡¯s domain has to do with one¡¯s innate talent. My innate talent is Alter Ego, which is all of you. However, I don¡¯t understand what domain can I derive from Alter Ego...¡± Luo Lang was stuck here. Just like Qi Long, his innate talent was too unique. He couldn¡¯t use the five basic elements as a reference to find out what his domain could be.


    This was why there were very few domain realm masters with special domains. Not many of them were able to understand what concept their domain could be and advance to the domain stage. From the data collected over thousands of years, special domain realm masters only made up 1% of all domain realm masters. The five basic element domain realm masters made up 60% of the domain realm masters. Mutated elements domain realm masters made up 20%. Combining these two, the elemental domains made up 80% of the domain. Besides elemental domains, there was the true form domain which took up 10% and the assist domain which took up 9%... based on these data, special domains were extremely rare.


    However, the world is fair. Special domain realm masters had it hard but once they seed, they would be stronger than most other domain realm masters. Almost everyone with a special domain had a bugged technique, making them extremely strong. No normal domain realm masters wanted to face a special domain realm masters.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng¡¯s ability should be the virtualization of the real world, right?¡± The calm personality suddenly asked.


    ¡°Yes, we should think about it in that direction. It is the actualization of his spectre ability. Maybe we can actualize our innate talent too,¡± one of the personalities said excitedly. If they could actualize their innate talent, then all of them could appear in the domain, right? And they wouldn¡¯t have to fight for space anymore.


    Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up when they heard this and they looked at Luo Lang with sparkling eyes.


    ¡°How can we do that?¡± Luo Lang was puzzled. He had thought about this too but he didn¡¯t know how to do it.


    Luo Lang¡¯s other personalities turned quiet. Indeed, this was the hard part.


    ¡°F**k, I don¡¯t believe that we can¡¯t think of a way. We have so many brains,¡± a bad-tempered personality shouted.


    ¡°By the time you all think of a method, grass will have grown on our grave,¡± said the calm personality while evading another dangerous attack. Damn it, why are these people having a tea party now? Can¡¯t they tell that he was having a hard time?


    ¡°Capable people should take more responsibility,¡± the primary identity replied to him.


    ¡°Yes, you are powerful, right?¡±


    ¡°You are the big brother. Of course, you should handle it...¡± The other personalitiesplimented the calm personality half-heartedly.

 Chapter 781 - Actualise?

    <h4>Chapter 781: Actualise?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Why not you alle out and fight instead of being useless in there,¡± the calm personality said unemotionally. If he did have emotions, he would have vomited blood in anger by now. However, even if that was the case, he still felt slightly unhappy. He wanted to give up and stop fighting but his calmness prevented him from doing such irrational things. Thus, he squeezed out that sentence to ask these bastards to do something and stop provoking him.


    ¡°You are taking the spot now. How can wee out when you¡¯re there?¡± The other personalities rolled their eyes. They wanted to go out but without the body, they couldn¡¯t do anything.


    ¡°Force your way out then. If one of you can¡¯t do it, try two. If that doesn¡¯t work, then all of you should force together, and maybe we can break the barrier.¡± The calm personality felt that instead of talking, they might as well do something. Who knows, they might find a solution in the process.


    ¡°That could be possible!¡± Everyone seemed enlightened. All the personalities rushed towards Luo Lang¡¯s brain and force their way out. The possibility of them breaking the barrier was slim but they still tried their best.


    ¡°Hey, why are you all bringing me along?¡± Shouted the primary personality in frustration. He was mushed in the middle of everyone and was dragged by them along the way. He suspected that his other personalities were plotting to kill him with this so that they could be the owner of the body.


    ¡°Without you handling the body, everything might be a mess if we really advanced to the domain stage without you,¡± one of the personalities replied.


    Thus, all the personalities charged into Luo Lang¡¯s brain crazily. Just when the primary personality felt that it was going to die from being squeezed together from the shoulder that was pushing on his cheeks to the elbow that was stabbing his back, an explosion urred.


    Due to all the personalities rushing into the brain at once, the calm personality¡¯s brain went dull for a moment, slowing his actions down which allowed his entire body to be swallowed by the sand.


    Boom! The sand that engulfed Luo Lang suddenly exploded. Luo Lang opened his eyes slowly and a light shed passed them.


    ¡°Activate domain!¡±


    Two figures appeared beside Luo Lang, one on the left and one on the right. The one on the left exuded a strong killing intent while the one on the right looked indifferent and cold.


    Luo Lang looked at the two people who had the same face as him but with totally different auras. He smiled brightly. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to be able to fight along with you two one day.¡±


    The person on the right scoffed. ¡°If you were strong enough, we would not have been trapped in there for so long.¡±


    ¡°Although there are only two extra spots, it¡¯s better thanst time.¡± On the left was the pouting malicious Luo Lang. He looked dissatisfied.


    ¡°No worries. As long as the primary personality continues to gain a deeper understanding of his domain, more and more personalities will be able to appear.¡± The calm personality thought about Luo Lang¡¯s domain and understood the crux of its power. His domain concept was to allow his other personalities to appear within their domain space. Luo Lang¡¯s domain was exactly the opposite of Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain. As thetter could virtualize reality while the former could actualize the personalities in his mind. If Luo Lang continued to understand his domain even further, he might be able to let more personalities out in the future.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect the two of us to be the first toe out. The other personalities must be furious.¡± The malicious Luo Lang smiled. He was proud that he was able to be one of the first toe out. The other personalities in Luo Lang¡¯s mind heard what he said and started biting their nails in anger. Why did they lose to him?


    ¡°I have to say that you are quite lucky,¡± the calm personality replied. Besides the primary personality who would definitely be able toe out, the other personality that coulde out would be him. Before the primary personality was able to understand more about his domain, the two personalities that coulde out would be the strongest among all the personalities. Hence, one of the positions was rightfully earned by him. On the other hand, the malicious personality managed to win against a few personalities who had the same strength as him and seeded in getting a spot.


    ¡°I have to admit that.¡± The malicious personality didn¡¯t feel that there was anything wrong. He was indeed lucky. He just didn¡¯t know if he would be able toe out next time.


    ¡°But no matter what, they are still jealous of me.¡± The moment he finished speaking, a strong killing intent started to leak into the area. The sand element domain realm master felt his body being frozen by the malicious intent, making him unable to move at all.


    Soon, the malicious personality appeared behind the fake domain realm master silently.


    The fake domain realm master struggled furiously, and a sturdy sand shield appeared behind him.


    ¡°Good reaction.¡± The malicious personality smiled and disappeared again. The killing intent pinning the fake domain realm master down was suddenly gone. He coughed and tried to stand up, but a long thin wound on his back was forced open by the movement of his body, and blood started dripping off his back.


    The fake domain realm master sensed the attack and tried his best to resist it. However, he was still a step toote. The malicious personality already managed to injure him. Fortunately, he was able to prevent the malicious personality from killing him.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t manage to kill him in a single strike? Looks like you got weaker.¡± The calm personality saw this and felt surprised.


    ¡°If we did everything for him, how can the primary personality master his own domain?¡± The malicious personality gave a mysterious smile. He didn¡¯t kill that fake domain realm master not because he couldn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t kill him because it was not beneficial to him.


    ¡°It is rare for you to be smart,¡± the calm personality agreed.


    ¡°There is no need for me to be in the past. I can onlye out for a few minutes so why would I waste it thinking? Of course, I will just do what makes me happy.¡± The malicious personality raised his eyebrows. In the past, all the other personalities queued up and waited toe out. How could he waste his time thinking? He would rather kill some people and make himselffortable and happy. As for using his brain, he had much time to think when he goes back to the depth of Luo Lang¡¯s mind.


    However, everything is different now. The sooner the primary personality¡¯s understanding of domain gets deeper, the sooner they coulde out in the future. This was why he was willing to control his urge to kill. That way, the primary personality had a chance to grow and understand his domain faster.

 Chapter 782 - Combine And Reset!

    <h4>Chapter 782: Combine And Reset!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The calm personality thought the same way too. He didn¡¯t choose to fight. Instead, he just looked at Luo Lang. His appearance was just to give some moral support to the primary personality. Honestly, he was worried about this pure and slightly stupid primary personality.


    Luo Lang¡¯s face turned red. He seemed to have sensed the thoughts of the two personalities in front of him. How dare these personalities to look down on him... fine, I¡¯ll let you two off this time. Luo Lang closed his eyes angrily and started to get a feel of his domain. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes again but they were filled with puzzlement.


    He opened his hands and a bright long knife appeared on his palms. Luo Lang grabbed it tightly with both hands and shed it in the air.


    Suddenly, a strong killing intent exuded from his body. The uncertain look in his eyes disappeared but it also took all the emotions from his face.


    ¡°So this is what it means,¡± Luo Lang said calmly. He waved the long knife in his hand.


    The long knife was around 1.5 meters in length. When he waved it, a strong knife aura was released. The knife aura appeared to have increased in length as it slice towards its opponent. The knife aura it released was frightening, seemingly able to sh everything apart.


    The fake domain realm master¡¯s expression changed tremendously. He wanted to evade the attack but his body remained still due to the malicious personality¡¯s killing intent. The knife aura came closer and closer to him. He frantically used his domain to try to break free from the killing intent.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Fresh blood spurted everywhere, and an arm fell to the ground. The fake domain realm master grabbed his bloody right shoulder. He tried his best to escape but he still lost an arm.


    Run! He knew he was not the match of his opponent who just advanced to the domain stage. Plus, there were three people on the other side. Two had attacked him. One injured him while the other chopped his arm off. If the third one attacked him too, he would just be dead.


    The fake domain realm master turned around and escaped.


    ¡°Do you need me to act?¡± A cold voice asked.


    ¡°No!¡± Luo Lang replied coldly. He finally knew what his domain was. A strong killing intent was released from his body again. The malicious personality saw this and understood something. ¡°I see!¡±


    This time, the killing intent he released was much more powerful than before. It seemed to have consumed every single inch of the ce. A few domain realm masters around him got affected by the killing intent too. They felt as though they were fighting in water, facing resistance with every action they make.


    The fake domain realm master ran for a few meters before he got frozen by the killing intent again,pletely immobilizing him. His face turned pale and there was a look of despair in his eyes.


    Luo Lang seemed to have cut himself away from all forms of emotion. It was as if nothing could bother him. The only person in his eyes was his opponent. To the fake domain realm master, he was Hades. Without any hesitation, Luo Lang raised his knife and shed it twice. The visible cross-shaped knife aura flew towards the fake domain realm master.


    ¡°Ah!¡± The fake domain realm master gave another scream of agony before he was sliced into four big chunks by the knife aura. The four chunks slowly fell into a pile of blood, piece by piece.


    ¡°The weapon the primary personality created is a knife?¡± The calm personality looked at Luo Lang in surprise. The knife didn¡¯t suit Luo Lang¡¯s current face. Although he had that face too, he always felt that it belonged to the primary personality. The primary personality was always lively and positive. People would feel happy when they see that face.


    What caught him off guard was the fact that the primary personality¡¯s domain had another ability besides actualizing his personalities. He was able tobine and reset! It meant that he could take parts from the actualized personalities andbined it with his primary personality. Just now, the primary personality took the killing intent from the malicious personality and took his ability to control his emotions, making the primary personality someone calm with a suffocating killing intent, thus allowing the primary personality could kill his opponent that easily.


    Suddenly, the killing intent disappeared from Luo Lang¡¯s body. His face was full of expression again. He blinked and smiled brightly. He tipped his head high and said, ¡°Look, I did pretty well, right?¡± Even though he seemed proud of himself, one could see the clenched fist behind his back.


    ¡°Not bad.¡± The calm personality wanted to nag about his performance but he felt that for someone who used his domain for the first time, Luo Lang did quite well. Hence, he swallowed whatever he wanted to nag about and went back to Luo Lang¡¯s mind along with the malicious personality.


    ¡°Work harder next time, don¡¯t...¡± The malicious personality didn¡¯t manage to finish his sentence before he was sent back into Luo Lang¡¯s mind. Luo Lang¡¯s domain disappeared. The calm and the malicious personalities disappeared along with it.


    As soon as they disappear, Luo Lang flopped on the ground weakly and muttered to himself, ¡°Having domain is good and all but it used up too much energy.¡± Then, he gave a bright smile. ¡°I will work harder and let us all appear together. This is my promise to all of you!¡± Luo Lang never took his other personalities as his ves but as friends who went through thick and thin together. Thus, when he knew that he could fight together with them, he was extremely motivated to do just that.


    ¡°I can finally catch up to Boss!¡± Every time his boss fought with other domain realm masters, he and hisrades could only hide behind their Boss and just try to not be a burden. All the members of Lingtian felt unhappy about this so they worked hard and pushed themselves for the day when they could stand together with their Boss with their heads held up high. Now, he finally took his first step to achieve that. Luo Lang was ted.


    Then, he looked at Qi Long. Qi Long and Li Lanfeng were fighting with a domain realm master with their activated domains.


    ¡°Damn it, he is faster again.¡± Luo Lang pouted. He was unhappy that he lost to Qi Long again. However, he regained his smile quickly. That¡¯s good, they had all advanced to the domain stage. It¡¯s all up to Xie Yi now!


    Luo Lang looked at Xie Yi¡¯s direction. He couldn¡¯t be seen due to paper dome trapping him. He prayed silently, ¡®All the best! Don¡¯t lose to us!¡¯


    At that moment, a loud explosion urred in that direction. Multiple purple lightning shot out from the center of the paper dome, burning the paper into ashes. A man with lightning snaked all around him walked out.


    Luo Lang¡¯s eyes lit up. Did Xie Yi seed too?

 Chapter 783 - Half Domain?

    <h4>Chapter 783: Half Domain?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    As Xie Yi was walking out of the paper dome, he suavely flicked his wrist and a bolt of lightning quickly flew towards his opponent, giving him no time to evade. He got struck by the lightning bolt and his body slowly crumbled, forming a neat pile of ashes where he once stood for the wind to eventually blow away.


    Luo Lang jumped up excitedly when he saw Xie Yi. Before he could walk a few steps forward, he saw Xie Yi smiling widely with ck smokeing out through the gaps of his teeth. Just as he was about to say something, Xie Yi patted his chest and said, ¡°Phew, I almost died!¡±


    Luo Lang was speechless. What is this Xie Yi up to?


    Xie Yi saw Luo Lang staring at him intently so he quickly retracted his domain. After the lightning around him disappeared, Luo Lang discovered that Xie Yi was covered entirely in soot and his hair was reaching for the skies. This was an entirely different imagepared to the suave moment when he had just now.


    ¡°What on earth happened?¡± Luo Lang asked curiously. In the past, Xie Yi didn¡¯t fully awaken his powers so, whenever he used his innate talent, both he and his opponent would get injured from the bacsh. It was like dealing 80 points of damage to himself to inflict 100 points of damage to his enemy. ¡®Did he fail to advance to the domain stage? But that doesn¡¯t make sense. If he didn¡¯t advance to the domain stage, how could he kill his opponent that easily? Is there a problem with his Domain? Is it the same problem asst time?¡¯


    ¡°I only have a half domain,¡± Xie Yi replied helplessly. He was happy that he managed to advance to the domain stage but he also unhappy that he didn¡¯t manage to do it perfectly. This had to do with his bloodline but he didn¡¯t know how to exin it without exposing his secrets.


    ¡°What?¡± Luo Lang asked with a hint of confusion. Their boss told them that there were three domains they could get if they were to advance to the domain stage. The three domains they could get were a fake domain, a pseudo domain, and a real domain. Their boss wanted them to get the real domain and be a real domain realm master. But, he never said anything about a half domain.


    ¡°A half domain is not a fake domain... however, it is not a real domain... yet, it is different from a pseudo domain...¡± Xie Yi didn¡¯t know what to say.


    ¡°Talk humannguage,¡± Luo Lang replied angrily.


    ¡°It means that the other half of my domain is on my other personality,¡± Xie Yi finally answered honestly.


    ¡°Your dark character!¡± Luo Lang was shocked.


    ¡°How do you know that it is my dark character?¡± Xie Yi raised his eyebrows. There was suddenly a cold aura around him.


    Luo Lang waved his hand nonchntly. ¡°No matter whoes out, the one noting out is the dark character, right?¡±


    Xie Yi smiled brightly again. His teeth seemed exceptionally bright whenpared with his charred look. ¡°I got the Yang lightning and he got the Yin lightning. However, I¡¯m the only one who advanced to the domain stage. Therefore, there is currently an imbnce of power between the Yang and Yin lightning so I injured myself. That year when I was constantly injuring myself when I used my power, it was also due to this reason.¡±


    ¡°He is not willing to cooperate?¡± Luo Lang was puzzled. Why aren¡¯t they working together?


    ¡°No, we are both willing to help each other. However, we have two conscious so we can¡¯t work cohesively.¡± Would they only be able to solve the problem if one of them disappeared? Xie Yi frowned. This was not what they wanted.


    Luo Lang understood Xie Yi¡¯s thoughts but he couldn¡¯t do anything to help. ¡°Why don¡¯t we ask Bosster? He might be able to find a solution.¡±


    Xie Yi sighed. ¡°That¡¯s my n too. If I can¡¯t solve the problem, I may never be able to maintain my domain for an extended period of time. If I try to force it, I might as well be burnt to death.¡± Luckily, his opponent was a paper domain realm master, and lightning restricts paper. If it was some other domain realm master, he might not be able to kill him that easily.


    As Xie Yi and Luo Lang were speaking to each other, loud explosions were constantly heard in the background, signifying the battles on the other sides finallying to an end. The battles were able to end so quickly because Ling Lan came and ended it for them as her presence alone caused the opponent to give up and want to escape. However, when fighting with someone on par with you, any loss of attention could lead to dire consequences. The moment these people wanted to escape, openings appeared in their moves. The domain realm masters who Ling Xiao sent were all experiences domain realm masters who had been in the domain stage for many years so they would not give up on this opportunity. Hence the instant the openings showed themselves, they quickly used their most powerful technique and killed their opponent.


    The 23rd division didn¡¯t have many people so they couldn¡¯t just throw caution to the wind, and just keep these domain realm masters as prisoners. Even if they could seal off their opponent¡¯s domain, they wouldn¡¯t dare to take them as their prisoner. Thus, they could only kill them. If the seal broke, all their efforts before this would be wasted. Plus, no one knew if their opponents had a way to send information out. If the organization knew of their position, they might be ambushed and be prisoners instead.


    Ling Lan knew this so she just silently watched the massacre. In the end, only the Boss of the headquarters, who was still hiding in the manor, was left. However, the Boss was a decisive person. When he knew all hopes were lost, he decided tomit suicide, keeping the secrets of the organization to himself. Was this because of his loyalty or was he afraid of the organization?


    Ling Lan, however, was not surprised by his actions. When she decided to block their path of retreat, she had already predicted this ending. As the boss of the headquarters, when he was unable to protect the safety of the headquarters and the results of the experiments, he would have tomit suicide topensate for his inability. If the boss didn¡¯tmit suicide, then that would be surprising.


    They searched through the entire manor and confirmed that there were no more enemies hiding in the manor. Ling Lan contacted He Xuyang to ask him toe over. This time, however, He Xuyang didn¡¯t just bring domain realm masters. He also brought a full transport logistics team. When he saw the resources starting to roll out from the manor, his eyes lit up with credits shing his eyes.


    Very soon, He Xuyang took away all the resources in the manor. If he could, he wanted to take the manor away too. Luckily, he maintained hisposure and knew he must not embarrass the 23rd division¡¯s name, so he controlled his urge and allowed the manor to remain as it was. In actuality, there was nothing left inside.


    Ling Lan saw that everyone seemed ted except Xie Yi. She said, ¡°You can all go back and stabilize your domain, especially Lanfeng. Your domain is in a fragile state so you must be careful. As for Xie Yi...¡±


    Xie Yi immediately looked at Ling Lan hopefully. He seemed like a hopeless little puppy who had finally seen its owner. Ling Lan wanted to pinch his cheeks so much. Sob, why are there so many cuties in her team? She really couldn¡¯t maintain her cold persona anymore.


    Ling Lan coughed and continued indifferently, ¡°Wait for me to go back, I¡¯ll try to solve it.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Boss!¡± Xie Yi shouted excitedly. If their Boss decided to do something, he would be able to do everything.


    ¡®I hope so!¡¯ The other Xie Yi pouted. He was not a brainless fan!

 Chapter 784 - Hostage!

    <h4>Chapter 784: Hostage!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan organized everything and quickly returned to the Azure Central Scout Academy while Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu secretly went back to the Li family. Little Four had already tampered with the footage on the surveince cameras along the way, showing that the Li brothers went back to their house the moment the attack happened. As descendants of the Li family, it was understandable that they decided to return home and seek protection from their family. No one would suspect their actions.


    At that moment, all the scouts from the Azure Central Scout Academy were already gathered at a vast field somewhere in the school, far away from the forest. They waited for the result of the battle there.


    Ling Lan silently sneaked into the crowd of scouts. Of course, to make sure that she was not discovered, she entered from the edge.


    ¡°Why did you run out?¡±Coincidently, two familiar people were at the ce where she attempted to sneak in. It was Yu Zhengyuan and Little Jin.


    Yu Zhengyuan looked at Ling Lan who was standing at the edge with a confused look. He frowned. He thought that Ling Lan was bullied.


    Little Jin shook his head and said, ¡°The edge is more dangerous. No one knows if there are any enemies left so you shoulde back inside.


    Ling Lan saw them and immediately looked as though she had found her life savior. ¡°Brother Little Jin, I lost Little White.¡±


    Yu Zhengyuan quickly realized that Little White was not in Ling Lan¡¯s arm. Ling Lan always carried it around with him.


    ¡°Did you left it in your apartment?¡± Little Jin asked quickly.


    ¡°No, it was always beside me. When I was thrown by that huge monster just now, I didn¡¯t manage to grab it. I lost it.¡± Ling Lan was so worried that she looked as though she was going to cry at any moment. Yu Zhengyuan and Little Jin couldn¡¯t bear to see her cry.


    ¡°Little White looks smart. It can probably... find you...¡± Yu Zhengyuan wanted to console Ling Lan but Ling Lan gave him a look of disdain when he said that. He couldn¡¯t continue his sentence. Fine, that fat little ball had nothing to do with the word ¡®clever¡¯. He once saw Pei Shaoyun asking Little White for direction a few times but Little White always gave the wrong direction, so it must be bad with directions. If it was lost, it probably wouldn¡¯t be able to find its way back.


    ¡°Once this matter ends, we will help you to look for it.¡± Little Jin was better at consoling people. He immediately suggested helping Ling Lan to look for Little White.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression immediately lightened up. Little Jin¡¯s words managed tofort Ling Lan. Little Jin looked at his leader proudly, seemingly implying ¡®look, I know our little brother better¡¯.


    Yu Zhengyuan bitterly smiled and shook his head. As expected, people with the same level of intelligencemunicated better with each other.


    Boom! A loud explosion suddenly came out from nowhere. Yu Zhengyuan quickly grabbed onto Ling Lan who lost her bnce from the small earthquake. He frowned and looked at the direction of the explosion. The military had reached the forest now. Why did such a huge explosion ur here?


    Suddenly, a middle-aged man appeared in the crowd¡¯s vision. When they blinked their eyes just once, he was already in front of them.


    When the middle-aged man saw the valedictorian uniform Yu Zhengyuan was wearing, his eyes lit up, and he quickly flew to grab him.


    ¡°How dare you!¡± A lightning bolt and a stream of water suddenly attacked the middle-aged man. At the same time, a fire wall appeared in front of Yu Zhengyuan and others, preventing the middle-aged man from harming them.


    The middle-aged looked at the lightning bolt and the stream of water. He had been injured by thebined attacks of these two elements before, so he would not be injured by that cheap trick again. He exponentially increased his speed and ran away from the lightning and water. Then, he charged through the fire wall and rushed towards Yu Zhengyuan.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Ling Lan appeared to be shocked by the situation. She seemed to have lost control of her emotions and pushed Yu Zhengyuan who was beside her. Yu Zhengyuan knew that he was unable to escape so he was preparing to fight the middle-aged man to his death. However, he didn¡¯t expect Ling Lan to suddenly push him so he fell to the side,nding heavily on the ground.


    At first, the middle-aged man wanted to catch Yu Zhengyuan. But after Yu Zhengyuan fell down, he instead grabbed Ling Lan who was standing beside Yu Zhengyuan. He was shocked but he didn¡¯t have any more time so he just settled with Ling Lan and quickly flew out of the school. He originally wanted to use his ultimate technique to kill some scouts at the field. That way, the military would have to split their attention to the cadets. However, with more than ten domain realm masters behind him. If he used his ultimate technique, he would be stranded here. His life was more valuable than just some scouts.


    Only the middle-aged man knew who his target was. People might think that it was Ling Lan, but his actual target was Yu Zhengyuan who was just slightly injured by his force of presence.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu were furious when they saw the middle-aged man grabbing their beloved roommate, Pei Shaoyun. They quickly chased after him. The water element domain realm master who cooperated with Tang Ningyu, as well as a few other domain realm masters, chased after the middle-aged man too. They didn¡¯t expect there to be another titled domain realm formidable warrior guarding the headquarters. Fortunately, they outnumbered the middle-aged man. If not, they might all have died here as the middle-aged man was much stronger than them. They didn¡¯t want the talented youths who were groomed by the military to lose their life here but at the same time, they wanted to trap the titled domain realm formidable warrior here as he would be a huge threat to the Federation if he escaped.


    Very soon, colourful figures disappeared from Yu Zhengyuan¡¯s view. Yu Zhengyuan picked himself up from the ground in shock and looked at the people who disappeared with a mysterious glint in his eyes.


    ¡°Leader, are you alright?¡± The other members of his team were shocked too. They didn¡¯t expect to face a domain realm master that closely.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine!¡± Yu Zhengyuan shook his head. Deep inside, he knew that if Pei Shaoyun hadn¡¯t pushed him, he would instead be the hostage. Did Pei Shaoyun do that on purpose? If it was a coincidence, he was really lucky. If it was intended... Yu Zhengyuan felt his heart pumping loudly.


    ¡°Pei Shaoyun, you muste back safely,¡± Yu Zhenyuan softly muttered. His query could only be answered if Pei Shaoyun came back.


    ¡°Pei Shaoyun got taken away.¡± Little Jin felt fortunate that his leader was safe but he wanted to cry when he remembered that Pei Shaoyun was captured. His cute little brother. What should he do? He wished that he was the one who was captured instead.


    The middle-aged man was unable to throw the people chasing him away. He didn¡¯t want to expose the other secret bases of the organization so he turned around angrily and activated his domain. Then, he pushed his palm out.


    Two ice mountains suddenly appeared and flew towards Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran who were the closest to him.

 Chapter 785 - Revenge!

    <h4>Chapter 785: Revenge!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    In order to save Pei Shaoyun, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran released all their energy and chased after the middle-aged man, which allowed them to tail the middle-aged man closely. This must be the fastest they had ever flown in their lives.


    When they saw the ice mountaining towards them, they gritted their teeth and threw out a lightning dragon and a fire dragon. The two dragons mmed onto the ice mountain. Even though they could have evaded the attack, but they didn¡¯t as they were afraid that the middle-aged man would escape when they were wasting their time evading.


    ¡°Boom!¡± Cold met hot. The ice mountain exploded when the lightning and fire dragons crashed onto it, shrouding the surrounding in a dense mist.


    This was exactly what the middle-aged man wanted to happen. He quickly turned around and flew again. Two domain realm masters, who were two of the faster pursuers of the middle-aged man, suddenly jumped forward. The two of them worked together to release a strong gust of wind which cleared up the mist.


    Just as the group of domain realm masters was about to catch up to him, the middle-aged man shed them a cruel smile. He was now going to show them why he captured a hostage.


    He released Ling Lan from his grasp, allowing her to freefall with her terrified face facing towards him, who still had a cruel smile on his face. He raised his palm towards her face, and Ling Lan¡¯s face was instantly frozen with a frightened expression. The ice started to spread from her face to every part of her body, creating a glistening ice statue in the sunlight.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯e eyes turned bloodshot when they saw this. They quickly flew forward and caught Ling Lan in their arms. Then, they controlled the speed of their bodies and softlynded on the ground. They gentlyid Ling Lan on the ground.


    Mu Chaoran quickly used his fire domain energy in an attempt to melt the ice around Ling Lan to save her. When the middle-aged man saw this, he scoffed heartlessly.


    Ling Lan, who had turned into an ice status, started to crack. Bits and pieces of the statue started to fall off slowly in front of Mu Chaoran.


    ¡°Little Brother Shaoyun!¡± Mu Chaoran shouted in despair. He desperately tried to hold the statue from crumbling but it was of no help.


    When Tang Ningyu was about to chase after the middle-aged man, he suddenly heard a loud scream of agony, stopping him in his tracks. He rushed towards the source of the scream, Mu Chaoran.


    When Tang Ningyu arrived next to Mu Chaoran, he only saw a Pei Shaoyun¡¯s cracked face. There were even frozen tears near Pei Shaoyun¡¯s eyes. ¡®Shaoyun didn¡¯t want to die, right?¡¯ Tang Ningyu wanted to spend time with Pei Shaoyun again but he didn¡¯t have the chance to anymore.


    The ice statue continued to crack even more until there was only dust of it once was. A breeze suddenly came by and blew the dust away, leaving nothing behind. It was as if Ling Lan never existed in the world.


    Mu Chaoran felt the emptiness in his arm. He was at a loss.


    He was originally someone who didn¡¯t care about anything. He felt that the world was unfair and his anger towards the world made him indifferent towards everything. In the past, he thought that this was how he would spend the rest of his life, but he didn¡¯t expect for someone to enter his life and impact his life that much. Pei Shaoyun was a sincere and honest person. His eyes were pure and bright like the stars in a dark night. Every time Pei Shaoyun looked at him with those eyes, he would feel guilty at the fact that these pure eyes would eventually be stained by the filth of the world, so to prevent that from happening, he vowed in his heart to treat him well. It was only half a month but Pei Shaoyun had already entered the depths of his heart.


    This was the first time he wanted to treat someone well. He wanted to be lifelong brothers with Pei Shaoyun. He wanted to protect him from the filth of the world. Yet, this person disappeared before him so easily and there was nothing he could do to stop it. This helplessness made his heart hurt. He was filled with grief and anger.


    Tang Ningyu looked at griefing Mu Chaoran helplessly. The timid, sincere, and innocent young man was gone. He was really unable to ept this fact. He was already prepared to protect Shaoyun when he enters the military. However, the middle-aged man had killed him, right before his eyes. This was clearly a joke. Hah! Did he want to be the leader of the new generation at the Flying Dragon Special Forces? He couldn¡¯t even protect the person he wanted to protect. How could he have the conscious to even try to be the leader of the new generation at Flying Dragon Special Forces?


    Tang Ningyu was greatly impacted by Pei Shaoyun¡¯s death. He finally lowered his head. He never lowered it before... he was in pain.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran weren¡¯t in the right state of mind to chase after the middle-aged man anymore. The other domain realm masters wanted to chase the man but they were too slow. Thus, the middle-aged man managed to escape from his pursuers.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± The fastest wind element domain realm masters quickly activated his domain and scanned the area around them with his wind. There were no foreign forces of presence around them anymore. It seemed like the middle-aged man had quickly left this area. They didn¡¯t know which direction he went and he was more powerful than them, so they didn¡¯t dare to split up to look for him as they might fall into his trap.


    ¡°He¡¯s gone.¡± The domain realm masters had no other choice but to give up on the pursuit. Theynded next to Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s side. Very soon, they realized that something was wrong with these two people. They quickly called out them in a worried tone. Tang Ningyu regained his senses first. He clenched his fist and then let go of them. He raised his right hand and ced it on Mu Chaoran¡¯s shoulder, who was still half-kneeling on the ground.


    ¡°I¡¯ll definitely destroy this organization and get revenge for Shaoyun!¡± Tang Ningyu held Mu Chaoran¡¯s shoulder tightly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget to inform me at that time. We will go together!¡± Mu Chaoran replied coldly. He would not forgive these people. Since Little Brother Shaoyun was gone, these people must also not exist in this world. Mu Chaoran gave a sinister and eerie smile when he imagined that world.


    Very soon, Mu Chaoran, Tang Ningyu, and the other domain realm masters left with regret and anger in their hearts.


    A few minutester, a figure started to take physical form in the air. It was the middle-aged man. The middle-aged man never left. He just turned himself into ice elements and blended himself into the surroundings. He made this bold decision because he believed that his vast experience would fool those domain realm masters. As expected, those domain realm masters didn¡¯t notice his presence and left regretfully.


    The middle-aged man left happily and rushed towards a secret base of the organization. He didn¡¯t have his guard up so he didn¡¯t notice the faint cold mist that was creeping beside him. Even if he did, he would have thought that it was the aftereffect of his energy.


    The middle-aged turned a few rounds and finally came to the manor which Ling Lan destroyed. The moment hended, he saw the ruined za. There was no one here. His expression changed. He quickly activated his domain and felt around the area. ¡°Ice element, fire element, lightning element, and something unknown...¡± So many domain realm masters were here. An intense fight must have urred here. He could still smell the faint scent of blood in the air.


    ¡°Who did this?¡± The middle-aged man gritted his teeth. His eyes were burning with anger.


    ¡°I also want to know who you all are.¡± A cold voice suddenly sounded behind him. The middle-aged turned around in shock. He narrowed his eyes to see the figure in the distance and he gave a look of disbelief.

 Chapter 786 - Cross-grade Technique!

    <h4>Chapter 786: Cross-grade Technique!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    A young-looking youth was smiling at him. His face was like an angel but his eyes were like a devil.


    ¡°Are you human or ghost?¡± The middle-aged shouted fiercely. This young man was killed by him just now so how could he appear here?


    ¡°What do you think?¡± The young man continued smiling brightly.


    The middle-aged man¡¯s eyes instinctively went to look for the young man¡¯s shadow. When the middle-aged man saw the young man¡¯s shadow on the ground, he repeatedly patted his chest as if to let out the fear in his heart. But, he still couldn¡¯t understand how this young man escaped from death, but since he was still human, there was nothing to be afraid of.


    ¡°You were lucky to escape once. Why did you follow me? You are really looking for death.¡± The middle-aged sneered. He waved his hand and an ice arrow shot towards the young man. This young man had seen the embarrassing side of himself so he needed to kill him personally to cleanse the embarrassment he felt. Thus, the middle-aged man didn¡¯t show any mercy.


    ¡°That is the ice element?¡± The young man didn¡¯t retaliate. He just let the ice arrow hit his body. However, the moment the ice arrow touched his body, it broke and disappeared into the air. The young man was unharmed.


    The middle-aged man was bbergasted. He understood why this young man didn¡¯t die. He was a domain realm master too. Only domain realm masters were able to resist his attacks. But, he still didn¡¯t know how this young man disappeared without a trace after he was turned into ice. He didn¡¯t sense the young man¡¯s presence at that time too.


    The young man¡¯s next action instantly cleared his queries. The young man was an ice element domain realm master too.


    ¡°That is not how you use ice!¡± The young man said coldly. He stomped his feet and powerful ice energy started to spread out from his feet. The ice quickly crept up to the middle-aged man¡¯s leg.


    The middle-aged man was shocked. However, he still managed to jump into the air in time and evade the attack.


    ¡°Trying to dodge it? It is not that simple.¡± The young man stretched his right hand and pointed at the middle-aged man. The ice energy on the ground suddenly shot up into the air, forming a huge mouth with sharp icicles as teeth, wanting to swallow the middle-aged man up.


    ¡°Ice world!¡± The middle-aged man shouted. A hail started to rain down around him. The frozen pellets were like a machine gun, it continuously shot at the icy huge mouth formed which was created by Ling Lan. The icy huge mouth also retaliated by blowing out wind in subzero temperatures


    Boom! The two sides eventually reached their limit, before finally exploding in perfect unison. The huge explosion formed a deep crack in the manor.


    ¡°You are a titled domain realm formidable warrior.¡± Ling Lan felt the power of her opponent¡¯s ice element. The techniques her opponent used were very different from hers. Although they were both ice element titled domain realm formidable warrior, the temperature of her opponent¡¯s ice element was higher than her own. Thus, her opponent¡¯s most powerful technique, which they both knew how to use, was weaker than hers.


    ¡°Same element, same rank, different amounts of power. So the domain stage is not fixed. How much you understand depends on your capabilities and how hard you work.¡± Ling Lan was deep in thought. This was something new. The rules in the domain stage were weird. Thebination of talent,prehension, and hard work allowed for there to be a difference in power even with the same rank and technique.


    ¡®Survival of the fittest.¡¯ Ling Lan understood the true meaning behind this phrase. She knew why the Federation followed this rule, the only rule nature gave.


    The middle-aged man noticed that his most powerful attack was not able to injure the young man. The young man must be a titled domain realm formidable warrior too. He might even have a deeper understanding of the ice domain. He had this thought because he felt a painful coldness deep in his bones. As an ice element domain realm master, he was not supposed to feel cold. Thus, the only exnation was that this young man was significantly more powerful than him.


    As an ice element domain realm master, the middle-aged man could already feel the difference between them. If he continued fighting, he would be at more of a disadvantage. Thus, he threw another ice world technique at the young man. In the next second, he turned into ice particles and quickly escaped towards the manor.


    But, the moment he moved, he was stopped. He wasn¡¯t able to move anymore.


    ¡°Why did you change into ice particles to escape when your enemy is an ice element domain realm master who is much stronger than you? I really don¡¯t know what to say.¡± The cold voice rang beside the middle-aged man¡¯s ear. Then, his body started congregating. His arm was already caught by the young man. If one particle of his body was caught, he would be unable to escape anymore. This was the rule, and no one could change this rule.


    The middle-aged man lost all hopes of escaping now. Thus, he made a huge decision. He vomited blood and then his body started greedily absorbing all the ice elements in the surroundings. The huge suction force caused Ling Lan to let him go. She moved back quickly and left the boundary of the suction force.


    Ling Lan frowned. She got serious. A technique that could only be used after injuring himself must be a technique above his stage. The middle-aged man was prepared to give his all in this final attack.


    Suddenly, the middle-aged man exploded into numerous ice needles. The ice needles altered their trajectory towards the direction where the shocked Ling Lan was at.


    Ling Lan quickly swiped her right hand and an ice wall was erected up from the ground. The ice needles split into three groups. Two groups of ice needles flew around the ice wall while thest group of ice needles stabbed into the ice wall forcefully.


    Multiple ice needles pierce through the ice wall, whichpletely copsed the ice wall. Those needles were so powerful and sharp. They managed to destroy her ice wall in a blink of an eye.


    The two groups of ice needles managed to go behind Ling Lan. The three groups of ice needles surrounded Ling Lan and simultaneously flew towards her.


    Ling Lan decisively activated her most powerful attack, Ice Blockade. She tried to freeze the ice needles, but this time she miscalcted her strength. The ice needles broke through her Ice Blockade.


    The ice needles pierced into the spot where Ling Lan was standing at. The ice needles all released a thick mist when they reached their destination which blocked one¡¯s vision. When the mist dissipated, the spot where Ling Lan was originally standing at was empty. When the ice needles noticed that they had missed their target, they flew into the air again and prepared themselves for the next round of attack.

 Chapter 787 - Half!

    <h4>Chapter 787: Half!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Condense!¡± Ling Lan suddenly appeared in mid-air. She clenched her fist and all the ice element in the area around her started to condensed rapidly, forming many perfectly shaped water droplets. In response to this, the ice needles turned into water droplets too. It was essentially a battle between two domain realm master with two different perspective and understanding of the ice elements.


    Suddenly, red mist appeared out of mid-air, symbolizing the final fate of a titled domain realm formidable warrior.


    Ling Lan looked at the red mist with cold eyes. She raised another hand and clenched it into a fist again.


    ¡°Ah!¡± A faint scream could be heard and all the water droplets exploded. The force from the explosion of the water droplets injured Ling Lan too. Fresh blood dripped down from the corner of her mouth.


    ¡°Just half a step more, then I can advance to the imperial level. But...¡± Ling Lan¡¯s understanding of her ice elemental domain was at the imperial level. What was stopping her from bing an imperial level domain expert was her understanding of her own imperial level technique. She had only understood 50% of her imperial level technique, Condense. This was the name she had given to the technique.


    An imperial level technique was given the term ¡®imperial level¡¯ because of the significance it had in one¡¯s domain stage battles. Every imperial level technique was the perfect blend of offense and defense, it was perfect in every situation depending on how much the user understood the technique. Unfortunately, Ling Lan only understood how to use Condense for defense as she was unable toprehend its offensive power yet. Hence, she was stopped by this.


    The ice needle technique the middle-aged man used almost reached the standard of an imperial level technique. If he just had a deeper understanding of his technique, Ling Lan would not be able to defeat his ice needles technique so easily. However, even if the ice needle technique reached the standard of an imperial level technique, it would still be iplete as it only had its offensive power with no means to use it for defense. This was its lethal weakness.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t use Condense right from the start because she wanted to find an opportunity during the battle that could help understand her imperial level technique better. This kind of opportunity was difficult to find. Ling Lan didn¡¯t get enlightened even after she fought so many hard battles.


    ¡°Maybe the time is not right yet.¡± Ling Lan was not frustrated. Since no results could be found now, she just pushed this thought to the back of her head. Her master had told her once before that she had progressed too quickly, resulting in a w in her foundation. Maybe this was why she was still unable to fully understand the imperial level technique.


    ¡®Looks like I have to experience more battles.¡¯ Ling Lan thought to herself. After some time, once 250 Ace Mecha n was fully prepared, she would try to request to the division headquarters to send her mecha n onto the battlefield. There would have enough battles for her to gain more experience on the battlefield.


    Suddenly, Ling Lan frowned as she detected numerous domain realm masters running in her direction. Her battle with the middle-aged man probably had alerted the domain realm masters from the military as even Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were in the cohort. Ling Lan hadpleted her mission and made Pei Shaoyun disappeared sessfully so she didn¡¯t want to meet her roommates now.


    Ling Lan snapped her fingers and her ice element energy around her dispersed a little. Then, a breeze of frosty wind blew by,pletely shrouding Ling Lan from the world. When the wind finally went pass Ling Lan¡¯s original position, she was not there anymore.


    A few seconds after Ling Lan left, many people appeared at the manor.


    ¡°What a strong ice element energy. There seems to be other domain energy as well. It¡¯s really messy. I can¡¯t put a finger as to what they are¡± Some of the domain realm masters tried to sense their surroundings.


    ¡°I felt a tinge of fire element.¡± Mu Chaoran was sensitive to fire elements so he immediately sensed the faint fire element in the air. He frowned.


    ¡°There is lightning element too.¡± Tang Ningyu was serious. Without a doubt, while the battle at the Azure Central Scout Academy was ongoing, a huge battle was happening here too. Tang Ningyu had the feeling that the people who fought here were those fake domain realm masters who had escaped from their headquarters. However, their new-found freedom was brutally taken away. Is there another secret organization observing them silently, waiting to profit as the third party?


    ¡°It¡¯s a pity that we can¡¯t trace them.¡± Although they could only feel the huge mass of domain energy in the manor, no signs of domain energy could be found leading out of the manor. Looks like the other party was very careful and didn¡¯t leave any traces behind.


    ¡°Do you think that bastard died along with these people?¡± Mu Chaoran narrowed his eyes. He really hoped that the bastard didn¡¯t die that easily.


    ¡°The ice element here is dominating any other elements so we can conclude that bastard won his fight and got to flee before we got here. Plus, that bastard won¡¯t die so easily.¡± Tang Ningyu didn¡¯t believe that an ice element titled domain realm formidable warrior could be killed in such a short time as only an imperial level domain expert could do such a deed. Plus, if there actually was an imperial level domain expert, the domain energy left behind in this area would be much greater than what they had detected.


    Tang Ningyu felt the energy left behind by an imperial level domain expert in the past, that was why he didn¡¯t believe an imperial level domain expert was here. At that time, he had only just recently advanced to the domain stage, and unluckily while walking around, he stumbled across a tinge of energy left behind by an imperial level domain expert but it was enough to destabilize his domain. If his captain didn¡¯t save him in time, he might have been crippled for his entire life. This experience engraved the overwhelming strength of an imperial level domain expert into his mind. By his estimations, even a titled domain realm formidable warrior would be killed instantly if he were to meet an imperial level domain expert in battle.


    The ice element energy in the manor was definitely suffocating but it wasn¡¯t as much of a stranglehold of an experience like the one he had in the past. The energy might just be left by an ice element titled domain realm formidable warrior.


    ¡®That¡¯s good too.¡¯ Tang Ningyu thought in his heart. If they couldn¡¯t kill this person personally, they wouldn¡¯t be able to feel appeased for the rest of their lives, bing the devil in their hearts.


    ¡°What should we do now?¡± Mu Chaoran asked.


    Tang Ningyu sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s just go back and report our mission for now and the military will take care of the rest.¡±


    Mu Chaoran nodded. The two of them disappeared.


    On the way back, Mu Chaoran suddenly remembered something. ¡°This time, you lost to the person who took the same mission before you, right? Did you manage to find out who he is?¡±


    Tang Ningyu remained silent for a moment. ¡°Yes, I lost to him this time and I intend to fully ept my defeat. But until now, I don¡¯t know who he is. He might be among the transfer students or he might not. Honestly, I would have suspected Shaoyun if he didn¡¯t die. However, he didn¡¯t give me a chance to suspect him.¡±


    ¡°I would rather suspect him and hurting him than him being killed by that bastard.¡± Tang Ningyu clenched his fist. If Pei Shaoyun was still alive, their rtionship might not be the same anymore after they had tricked him so much and took a lot of advantages of him. But, he still wished that Shaoyun would jump around in front of him, waving his finger at him and be angry at them for lying to him.


    Tang Ningyu recalled the shy and timid young boy who always wore a smile on his face. He was heartwarming and considerate. However, he was now gone.


    ¡°Yes, even after he knew about everything and still broke ties with us, I will ept that, and I¡¯ll beforted to know that there is still a Little Brother Shaoyun in the world being angry at us.¡± Mu Chaoran was depressed. The image of Pei Shaoyun shed past his mind. He could almost imagine how he would look if he was furious, the angry but helpless expression on his little brother¡¯s face when Shaoyun knew he couldn¡¯t do anything to him. In just a month¡¯s time, Pei Shaoyun let him, a lonely person, understood what brotherhood meant.


    They suddenly stopped walking. They turned their heads side to side and realized that they had returned to the ce where Shaoyun had died.

 Chapter 788 - That’s Good!

    <h4>Chapter 788: That¡¯s Good!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Shaoyun, no matter where you are, have a good life...¡± Tang Ningyu said in a low voice.


    ¡°You must live a carefree life, remember that. I hope you have an older brother who pampers you. I hope your older brother will help you settle everything that was bothering you. I hope your older brother is not as evil as me. I hope he won¡¯t tease you, and I hope he would pamper you with all his heart.¡± Mu Chaoran suddenly smiled. There were tears in his eyes. ¡°Let him do the things I wasn¡¯t able to do for you. Don¡¯t be like me, a worthless person who sees no value in life. Don¡¯t live a regretful life like mine. Live happily...¡± He regretted not telling Shaoyun that he had already taken him as his brother. He really liked him.


    Tang Ningyu looked at Mu Chaoran in surprise. He didn¡¯t expect him to develop such deep feelings towards Pei Shaoyun in just 30 days.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect it too. When I realized it, it was already toote.¡± Mu Chaoran gave Tang Ningyu a forced smile. Then, he disappeared from his spot.


    Tang Ningyu sighed. Pei Shaoyun was an obstacle that he and Mu Chaoran had to eventually get over. He disappeared thereafter too.


    ¡°Squeak?¡±


    Little White looked around and was confused by what it saw. It was looking for directions in the forest. It looked up at the sky in resignation while crying.


    That stupid person... he took me here and just threw me here! How irresponsible of him! How could he do this! Ahhh! I will curse you. May you not be able to get a wife! (What an evil curse.)


    Little White tried to use the tall trees as indicators of which direction he took but... all the trees here look the same. It finally gave up. It hugged a tree trunk and admitted its mistakes.


    ¡®My dear master, Little White has learned from its mistakes.¡¯ Little White should not be so excited and identally throw you out Master, pleasee and bring Little White back. Don¡¯t leave me alone.¡¯


    ¡®Sob, why isn¡¯t master here yet? Is it because my apology is not enough?¡¯


    Little White remembered how it ran away in times of danger and dare to escape from its master. It was enlightened. There was still a mistake it didn¡¯t apologize for. ¡®Sob, Little White learned from another from its mistakes. Little White shouldn¡¯t run away with a man whom I don¡¯t know the name of. I learned that running away is wrong. I won¡¯t dare to run away again. Master, please bring me home.¡¯


    The forest remained quiet. Little White was finally scared out of its wit. It finally made a decision and gave its promise. ¡®Master, if you bring Little White back, Little White promise to listen to you obediently and... and... you can do anything to me!¡¯


    The moment it finished rying its thoughts, Ling Lan appeared in front of Little White.


    Little White started crying furiously. ¡®God, you must be kidding. I just made a promise and master appeared. Sob, can I take back my words? I don¡¯t want my master to do anything to me! Ah!¡¯


    Little White scooped Little White up from the bottom of the tree and held it in her palms. She gave Little White a mysterious smile. ¡°Did you say that I can do anything to you just now?¡±


    Little White fell to the side and pretended to be dead. It was not going to admit it.


    ¡°Little Four!¡± Ling Lan suddenly called Little Four.


    ¡°Boss, I have recorded what Little White said. There is enough evidence. If he dares to deny what he said, I will ask Little Blossom to destroy it.¡± Little Four smiled as it threatened Little White.


    Little White immediately jumped up and hugged Ling Lan¡¯s thumb It gave Ling Lan an obedient smile and shouted, ¡°Master, Little White was tired from finding my way in the forest and fainted just now so I didn¡¯t notice what you said. Sob, Little White loves master. Little White wees you to do anything to me. Please do whatever your heart desires.¡± It then plopped itself lifelessly on Ling Lan¡¯s palm like a ragdoll. It seemed to be telling Ling Lan that she could do what she wanted. Ling Lan wanted tough. After spending some time with the members of Lingtian, Little White learned how to curry favor with her. She wondered what those bunch of people taught Little White.


    However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t n to let Little White off. Although Little White throwing her out resulted in many good things, she was still unhappy at the fact that her pet threw her like a pile of rubbish without her order!


    She squeezed Little White forcefully and said calmly, ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±


    Little White cried. It could already predict its future. It would spend the remainder of its life being squeezed and squashed by its master.


    ¡°Oh? Do you have anything against it?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and red at it coldly.


    Little White still had tears in its eyes. ¡°These...¡± Its face turned weird due to the squeezing. ¡°These are tears of joy.¡±


    Little Four was shocked. ¡®Woah, Little White, when did you be so smart? Did you get smarter whenever boss squeezes you?¡¯ Little Four started to wonder if it was a wrong decision to reject Ling Lan¡¯s abuse in the past. ¡®Did it hinder his evolution?¡¯


    He remembered how the members of Lingtian grew up so quickly under his Boss¡¯s harsh training. Little Four started pondering. He rubbed his hairless chin and said, ¡°Maybe I should ask Boss to hit me next time.¡±


    Little Four, you are looking for death!


    The military quickly removed all the spies from the unknown organization in the Central Scout Academy. The two fake domain realm masters staying at the Xiao family and the Su family were also invited to the school by Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu. Unfortunately, before they could be caught, the two fake domain realm mastersmitted suicide.


    The people in the headquarters in the forest had all escaped. The ones who were left were just the low-level workers who didn¡¯t know what was happening.


    In a secluded room, the military found various organs and body parts that were almost fully rotten. The workers who were left behind at the headquarters confirmed that this room was the most importantboratory as only the higher authorities had the right to enter this room so they were oblivious as to what went on in this room.


    There were other gory materials in otherboratories too so the military didn¡¯t ce much importance in this room. They justpiled all the body parts together and burnt them. Then, they asked the earth element domain realm masters to bury the ashes. They hoped that those people who got experimented on could rest in peace now.


    Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu were tricked intoing here and almost bing materials for the organization. It was actually a blessing in disguise as their talent finally got recognized by the military. Topensate them, the military allowed them to enter the Third Men¡¯s Military Academy without having to take the exam. Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu were ted.


    This was their first step to their simr goal. Both of them wanted to get the ticket to the entrance evaluation for the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    Su Pei remembered what Mu Chaoran said to him. In order to get the ticket to the entrance evaluation, he needed to fulfill one of the two requirements, either he advanced to peak-level ace mecha master or above, which Su Pei was not able toplete this within a short time, or the other requirement was for him to obtain a pseudo domain. This was what Su Pei strived for as he was already peak stage of Qi-Jin so he had hopes of fulfilling that requirement.


    Xiao Yiqiu looked at Su Pei and smiled. ¡°Su Pei, let¡¯s work hard together. We must go to the Flying Dragon Special Forces together.¡±


    Su Pei looked back at Xiao Yiqiu and gave a warm smile in reply. ¡°Yes! We must go together!¡± He was lucky to have such a friend.

 Chapter 789 - Conference For The Team Leaders!

    <h4>Chapter 789: Conference For The Team Leaders!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    At the 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s base, Zhao Jun rushed into the meeting room, which was next to the regimentmander¡¯s office, angrily.


    Upon entering, there were already many people sitting orderly in the meeting room. When they saw Zhao Jun entering, some of them smiled and weed him.


    Li Lanfeng smiled brightly and walked up to him. ¡°Zhao Jun, we were all waiting for you. What sort of gains did you get for this mission?¡±


    Zhao Jun looked at the smile. He should be happy to see it but he was furious now. He gritted his teeth and snorted. ¡°Compared to you all, my gains are basically nothing.¡±


    This bunch of people was so lucky to be called by their Boss when he was on his mission. What was worse was that they managed to advance to the domain stage because of that. ¡®F**k, he advanced to the optimal peak of Qi-Jin at the same time as Qi Long, so shouldn¡¯t he and Qi Long be the first ones to advance into the domain stage and followed by Luo Lang and Xie Yi, right? Most importantly, what the hell did Li Lanfeng do? He was at the peak stage of Qi-Jin but he managed to advance to the domain stage after just one mission with their Boss. Damn it, I shouldn¡¯t have taken the mission. Curse my hand!¡¯


    After Ling Lan left for her mission, the 23rd division gave 250 Ace Mecha n an assignment. They were just tasked to guard some supplies until they reached the agreed upon drop-off point so only one team was required for this mission. Besides Li Lanfeng who was on leave, the other nine team leaders decided to draw lots for this mission. In the end, Zhao Jun was the lucky one that day (This was what Zhao Jun thought at the start. Later on, he realized that he was not lucky at all... sob). He left with his team happily andpleted the mission perfectly.


    When he came back excitedly to report the rewards of the mission to Lin Zhong-qing, he heard that Qi Long, Xie Yi, Luo Lang, and Li Lanfeng managed to advance to the domain stage with the help of their Boss. He exploded in anger at himself. Hence, when he knew that his Boss called for a meeting, he came over hurriedly.


    The moment he entered the room, he felt pressure from just being in the presence of Qi Long, Luo Lang, Xie Yi, and Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng used to be weaker than him. In the past, Li Lanfeng was jealous and envious of them but now, it was his turn to be jealous and envious.


    ¡°You¡¯re back.¡± A cold voice sounded beside him. Ling Lan walked over from the regimentmander¡¯s office.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Zhao Jun called her with a slight hint of grievance.


    Ling Lan frowned a little. She couldn¡¯t stand it when a man shows this kind of whiny expression.


    She pointed at a seat immediately. ¡°Sit down. We will talk about youter.¡± She must have owed these people a lot in her past life. Ling Lan felt helpless. However, she was unable to ignore them too. ¡®Fine, she is destined to worry for herrades.¡¯


    Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡®Does this mean that his Boss already had ns for him? Yes, I¡¯m sure of it, Boss is such a fair person. Of course he would not forget about me.¡¯ Zhao Jun thought about this and calmly sat on his seat.


    Ling Lan walked to her seat after calming Zhao Jun down. When she was about to arrive to her seat, Qi Long obediently pulled her chair out for her. Ling Lan nced at him coldly before sitting down on her seat. She felt quite speechless about this whole situation. She then saw the ten team leaders standing up simultaneously like they were in some kind of mafia and felt even more speechless. She felt like a mafia boss. She coughed before saying in a cold voice, ¡°Have a seat.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Boss.¡± All the ten team leaders sat down.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what to say. ¡®When did the three veterans be like this too? Were they influenced by her childhood friends too?¡¯ Ling Lan felt that there was something amiss about her situation. She remembered her father, General Ling Xiao who had great sway in the military and political scene with a God-Realm formidable warrior, Mu Shui-qing, backing him. This was the dream situation for an ultimate boss-like figure.


    ¡®Fine, I must stop myself from bing like that. I must prevent them from using this address. It might cause a really big misunderstanding in the future.¡¯ Ling Lan looked at everyone sharply. Even those people who had just advance to the domain stage were unable to withstand her gaze.


    ¡°You must follow the rules of the military and address me ordingly. If not, you will be punished,¡± Ling Lan said indifferently.


    The ten leader got a shock but they hurriedly replied, ¡°Understood, regimentmander.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi, Liu Furong, and Gu Dongyang gave a look of satisfaction. Ling Lan¡¯s actions won their approval. Although they followed the crowd and called Ling Lan, Boss, their intentions were to test her. From the looks of it, Ling Lan was a good soldier. She had no intention of building her own faction.


    Qi Long noticed that Ling Lan was not angry so he smiled and interrupted her. ¡°We will call you that in private. That is okay, right?¡±


    Ling Lan nced at him. ¡°Remember that you are still in your uniform but once you take off your military uniform, you can call me whatever you want.¡± It was just too striking when they call her Boss in the military. Ling Lan didn¡¯t really like to attract more attention to herself.


    Qi Long immediately lowered his head. He said dejectedly, ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡±


    ¡®Sob, but it feels better to call him Boss.¡¯ When he called his Boss, regimentmander, Qi Long felt it was creating distance between them. He didn¡¯t like it. Fortunately, his Boss was doing this out of irritation. He just didn¡¯t want to break the rules of the military. Qi Long was slightlyforted by his thoughts. Ever since their Boss allowed them to advance to the domain stage, Qi Long told himself that he would follow his Boss for life.


    He had the same thought in the past too but his decision was even firmer now. Even if his father beat him to death with a baseball bat and cut ties with him, he would still follow his Boss.


    The three veterans nodded their heads when they heard what Ling Lan said. Their regimentmander knew how to differentiate private and official matters. He was a very professional soldier. While Ling Lan was testing them for the entire year, they were also testing her. They respected Ling Lan for her decisiveness and ruthlessness. However, they were worried that she was heartless to her own soldiers and that she would ce her own benefits in front of the country¡¯s benefits. Within this one year of monitoring her actions, they concluded that Ling Lan was vicious but she knew when to make the right decision. Her character was good too. She finally won over the hearts of the three veterans.


    Actually, Ling Lan just wanted to keep a low profile. She didn¡¯t know that her actions gained the approval of the three veterans, making them decide to follow her wholeheartedly from now on.


    ¡°It has been a year since I took over the role as the Regiment Commander of 250 Ace Mecha n. I want to know what is the situation with all the teams after a year of training.¡± Ling Lan looked at everyone.


    Everyone turned to look at Yang Mingzhi. Ling Lan didn¡¯t give ranks to the 10 teams but everyone recognized Senior Colonel Yang Mingzhi as the number one team of 250 Ace Mecha n. Hence, Yang Mingzhi should be the one answering Ling Lan first.

 Chapter 790 - Preparation For War!

    <h4>Chapter 790: Preparation For War!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Yang Mingzhi coughed and opened his mouth. ¡°Team 01. Number of qualified ace mecha masters, 22. Everyone is in good condition. They can go for war anytime.¡± As a veteran, Yang Mingzhi knew why Ling Lan called for this meeting. After reorganizing the mecha n for one year, it was time for the mecha operators to go on the battlefield. That was the only way they could know how if these mecha operators were back to their old form.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gazended on Liu Furong. Liu Furong said in a loud voice, ¡°Team 02. Number of qualified ace mecha masters, 21. We can go for war anytime too.¡±


    After the other eight team leaders reported the situation of their teams in order, Ling Lan tapped on the table lightly in a fluid rhythm while in deep thought. The ten team leaders didn¡¯t dare to say anything. They waited silently for their regimentmander to make a final decision.


    Finally, Ling Lan made her decision. She stood up and ced her hand on the table. She tilted her head downwards and looked at the ten team leaders. ¡°Order!¡±


    All the ten team leaders stood up immediately to receive their orders.


    ¡°We will officially start preparing for war!¡±


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± The ten team members received the order and quickly returned to the teams. They passed this order to their team members.


    Soon, the entire 250 Ace Mecha n started working towards a shared objective. As the head of the Logistics Department, Lin Zhong-qing and his four deputies started worrying about theirck of manpower again. They looked at everyone who was furiously working. Lin Zhong-qing clenched his fist tightly. ¡®The next time I meet Boss, I must ask him for more people! Damn it!¡¯


    The heavy workload finally caused the calm and patient Lin Zhong-qing to explode in anger.


    At the headquarters of the 23rd division, He Xuyang had a cup of hot tea in his hand as he sat in his office. He smiled andzily looked at the list of rewards they got due to their performance on Azure. He was the one in charge of this mission so he knew how much benefits General Ling Xiao asked from the military. The continuous good performance of the 23rd division caused the military to change their attitude towards them. They no longer ordered them around like a boss ordering around his teenage part-time worker. Whenever the military came to talk to him, they would speak nicely to him now.


    Young Master Lan yed an important role in helping the 23rd division to gain its current status. The military was definitely paying more attention to him now as the two greatest achievements were achieved by Young Master Lan. ¡®As expected of General Ling Xiao¡¯s son. General Ling Xiao is a bug in the system and his son is a bug in the system too.¡¯


    He Xuyang remembered a few weeks ago when the entire Federation was ted over a 25 years soldier who managed to advance to the domain stage. They didn¡¯t know that their Young Master Lan had reached the standard of a titled domain realm master. He Xuyang calcted with his fingers. Young Master Lan must have achieved the domain stage when he was just 20 years old. He was much stronger and better than those talents in the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    As General Ling Xiao¡¯s adviser and confidant, he knew some secrets of the Federation, which the Federation didn¡¯t even know of.


    He Xuyang was in a good mood. Suddenly, a young deputy second lieutenant who was in charge of collecting information knocked on his door carefully. He came to report his work.


    ¡°Chief of staff, the list for the first season of application for entering the battlefield is out.¡± The deputy greeted He Xuyang before reporting his work.


    He Xuyang always wore a smile on his face and had a warm attitude. He seemed easy to talk to but everyone knew that he was a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing. The person in this position before him made a minor mistake and got sent to the grass-roots units. This young second lieutenant had just came for his first day of work so he didn¡¯t know what his superior was like but the rumors he heard were enough to strike fear in his heart.


    He Xuyang was in a good mood so even if this second lieutenant appeared too timid for his likings, he still didn¡¯t get angry. He just nodded and said, ¡°Continue.¡±


    ¡°Yes, chief of staff. There are 27 mecha ns who applied to go on the battlefield. The detailed list is as such: Wuying Ace Mecha n from East First Corps, Qingyang Ace Mecha n from East Second Corps, White Wolf Ace Mecha n from East Second Corps...¡±


    He Xuyang listened attentively to what the second lieutenant said. He raised his teacup slowly and took a sip of the hot tea. It was rxing to have some hot tea in such a beautiful afternoon.


    ¡°... 250 Ace Mecha n from Middle Second Corps...¡±


    ¡°Pfft~¡± He Xuyang spat his tea out. He put down the teacup abruptly and he didn¡¯t even bother to wipe the mess on the table. He asked hurriedly, ¡°What did you say just now?¡±


    The second lieutenant was stunned by his superior¡¯s reaction, he was shocked. ¡°What.. did I say just now?¡± ¡®Sob, did I make a mistake just now? What should I do? The chief of staff is scaring me.¡¯


    ¡°Fine, let me look at the documents myself.¡± He Xuyang saw his subordinate¡¯s fearful expression and felt a little helpless. He asked the second lieutenant to pass the documents to him. ¡®This second lieutenant just graduated from the military academy so I shouldn¡¯t frighten him too much. As expected, my Young Master Lan is unique¡¯.


    The second lieutenant quickly passed the documents over. When he saw He Xuyang waving his hand, asking him to leave, he immediately rushed out of the office like a rabbit that got scared. He went back to his office table and heaved a sigh of relief.


    The colleague beside him saw his expression and asked curiously, ¡°Jiang Li, what happened?¡±


    Jiang Li¡¯s forehead was covered in cold sweat. He said in a frightened tone, ¡°Chief of staff is so scary!¡± ¡®Sob, is he able to report his work to the chief of staff properly next time?¡¯


    ¡°Really?¡± The new workers gasped. The senior workers were much calmer. ¡®If their chief of staff was easy to deal with, would they have to hire new people all the time?¡¯ Those workers that left had all reached their limit of tolerating chief of staff. They couldn¡¯t handle it anymore so they sent in an application to request to be transferred out of the headquarters and be sent to the grass-roots units.


    However, their chief of staff still treated those capable people very well. Those officers that went to the grass-roots units became an adviser of a mecha n or sat in a position that had real power. All in all, there were some regrets but most left happily. It was a fresh start for them.


    He Xuyang flipped through the documents. His new deputy was timid but he did his job well. The list was segregated into sections and every information could be seen clearly. He Xuyang quickly found the Middle Second Corps and saw the 250 Ace Mecha n written under it.


    ¡°What is he doing!¡±

 Chapter 791 - Regret!

    <h4>Chapter 791: Regret!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Does Young Master Lan think that the battlefield is a ce for him to mess around?¡± He Xuyang was agitated. Once Young Master Lan goes on the battlefield, he would only be able toe back three yearster and three years is enough time for innumerable of life-or-death situations to ur. No one knew what could happen within this period of time. Also, on the battlefield, even with his domain stage physical skills, it would neverpare to the power of mechas.


    He Xuyang couldn¡¯t sit still anymore. He took the documents and rushed into the general¡¯s office.


    Ling Xiao was looking through various documents when he heard someone requesting toe into his office. ¡°Come in!¡±


    The door opened automatically. When he heard the hurried footsteps, he knew that it was his chief of staff from the rhythm of his footsteps, Ling Xiao raised his eyebrows in doubt. ¡®He Xuyang is always calm andposed. Why is he in such a hurry today?¡¯


    ¡°General!¡± He Xuyang shouted as he walked into the office.


    ¡°What is the matter?¡± Ling Xiao smiled like always. His expression didn¡¯t change because of He Xuyang¡¯s serious look.


    ¡°Here is a certain mecha n¡¯s application for them to enter the battlefield.¡± He Xuyang passed the document in his hand over.


    Ling Xiao took the document but he didn¡¯t look at it. He ced it at the side and then put down his pen. He leaned back in his chair and held his hands together above his chest. He smiled at He Xuyang.


    He Xuyang was surprised. His general didn¡¯t look at the document.


    After remaining silent for a moment, Ling Xiao asked in a low voice, ¡°Did Ling Lan apply to go on the battlefield?¡±


    After preparing for so long, it was the right time for Ling Lan to act. Ling Xiao understood his daughter very well. In order to ensure that herrades would grow up quickly, she would apply to go on the battlefield in thest year of the promise with her mother. The innumerable life-or-death situations on the battlefield would help herrades to learn quickly and mature faster. Ling Lan was a smart person. She would not give up this chance.


    He Xuyang calmed down when he heard Ling Xiao¡¯s words. Because of his worries about Ling Lan¡¯s safety, he was unable to keep hisposure. However, as Ling Xiao¡¯s confidant, his capabilities and mindset were almost perfect, so when he realized that his general had everything under control, he regained hisposure.


    ¡°General, you knew that Young Master Lan wants to go on the battlefield.¡± This was not a question. It was a statement. Ling Xiao didn¡¯t look at the document because he knew about Ling Lan¡¯s decision long ago.


    ¡°I have been preparing for this moment.¡± When Ling Lan asked for two more years from Lan Luofeng, Ling Xiao already knew that she wanted to go on the battlefield.


    ¡°But the battlefield is a very dangerous ce. Shouldn¡¯t we let Young Master Lan just do some exploring missions first? If not, we can even send him to clear intergctic pirates and let him gain some experience that way.¡± He Xuyang suggested what he thought were better alternatives.


    ¡°No need. They did well during the previousnd clearing mission. They have already gotten enough experience.¡± Ling Xiao rejected He Xuyang¡¯s suggestion directly.


    He Xuyang looked at Ling Xiao¡¯s indifferent expression and finally understood why he gave thend clearing mission to 250 Ace Mecha n that early. He wanted to limatize Young Master Lan to war-like situations. That meant that Ling Xiao had made preparations long ago. Even if Young Master Lan didn¡¯t send in his application, Ling Xiao might have given him the orders to go on the battlefield anyways.


    He Xuyang didn¡¯t know whether he should criticize his general for being too harsh on his own flesh and blood or should he admire his love for the nation. He wanted his son, Ling Lan, to grow up quickly and be a capable soldier of the Federation. General Ling Xiao constantly threw obstacles at Ling Lan in order to help him grow faster.


    He Xuyang didn¡¯t know that Ling Xiao didn¡¯t want his daughter to go to the battlefield at all. Because of the blunder he made in the past, his beloved daughter had to live as a man for so many years. If he could, he would use all kinds of means to let his daughter leave the military. Unfortunately, his daughter valued her friends very much. To ensure that her friends were able to survive when she leaves, she rejected Lan Luofeng¡¯s suggestion and requested to continue protecting them for two more years. He and Lan Luofeng felt guilty towards their daughter so they had no choice but to agree to her.


    Of course, Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t deny that deep down, he was very proud of his daughter. His daughter didn¡¯t lose to any man, whether it was her physical skills or her mecha piloting skills. Even in the Flying Dragon Special Forces, no one was on par with his daughter. Ling Xiao was in a dilemma. On one hand, he couldn¡¯t bear to see his daughter suffer. On the other hand, he wanted to create the best conditions for his daughter to seed in whatever she wanted.


    Ling Xiao closed his eyes. He buried his reluctance and worry in his heart. When he opened his eyes again, he was now the General of the 23rd division, not Ling Lan¡¯s handsome father.


    Ling Xiao calmly took the document and opened it. He read through it slowly and calmly. He saw that 250 Ace Mecha n was indeed on the list. He grabbed a pen with his right hand and firmly signed his signature on the bottom of the document. He used so much force that the pen stabbed through the document.


    ¡°Arrange a time for all the approved mecha ns to gather three dayster. They will head to the battlefield then.¡± Ling Xiao threw the document at He Xuyang and gave his order.


    ¡°Yes, general!¡± He Xuyang quickly took over the document.


    Then, Ling Xiao ced his head down and continued looking at other documents. He Xuyang opened his mouth, wanting to say something. In the end, he just sighed and left the general¡¯s office. He knew his general well. He was not someone who changed his decisions easily. Young Master Lan would be going on the battlefield, nothing could change this.


    When the door closed, the pen in Ling Xiao¡¯s hand turned into dust. He was expressionless as he just stared at the document in front of him nkly. He couldn¡¯t understand what was written on it.


    ¡®In the end, I still lost control of my emotions!¡¯ If he hadn¡¯t used his domain to maintain the shape of the pen, it would have turned into dust when he was signing the document. Ling Xiao stared nkly at his office ceiling and gave a bitter smile. He was not a good soldier. He was just Ling Lan¡¯s father. He was not a good general for the 23rd division.


    The moment he signed his name, he started regretting it.


    ¡®Lan¡¯er! You muste back safely!¡¯ Ling Xiao¡¯s feelings wereplicated. In the end, these were the only words he could say.


    ¡°Boss, the order is here. Our application had been approved.¡± Little Four had been observing the headquarters intently so he received the new information the moment the data had refreshed.


    Ling Lan heaved a sigh of relief when she heard this. She knew that her father would agree to her request but there was still her mother lingering around. Her mother had Second Lieutenant He around her and their rtionship was very good.


    That¡¯s right, her father always got caught by her mother because he always had a mole beside him!

 Chapter 792 - Planet Haijiao!

    <h4>Chapter 792: Haijiao!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Haijiao was the name Huaxia Federation had given to this. However, the Hailiya Alliance called this, Luoliou.


    Hailiya Alliance always thought that Haijiao belonged to them. However, the Huaxia Federation would never allow them to think that way. That year, explorers from the Federationnded on Haijiao a step faster than the explorers from Hailiya Alliance. They stuck the Federation¡¯s g on the first. Even though their army arrived a few dayster than the army from Hailiya Alliance due to the Federation being much further away from Haijiao, Huaxia Federation did not give up on Haijiao easily.


    A huge war urred on Haijiao that year. Huaxia Federation won the hard-fought war as they had a more powerful army, gaining full control over Haijiao. Haijiao was situated at the border of the Hailiya Alliance. Due to this, the Hailiya Alliance was constantly alert about the strong army the Huaxia Federation stationed on Haijiao.


    To make sure they could feel at ease in their own territory, the Hailiya Alliance¡¯s military would constantlyunch attacks on Haijiao, vowing to one day take control of this. However, with the strong army of the Huaxia Federation, they never lost even a single inch of theirnd ever since their nation was formed. They wouldn¡¯t retreat just because of fear. Hence, Haijiao turned from a three-star with a good environment into a that had constant battles every day. Soldiers made up most of the poption of Haijiao. The soldiers from the Huaxia Federation took the east side of the while those from Hailiya took the west side.


    Hailiya was able to fight toe-to-toe with Huaxia Federation for so long because they had a logistical advantage, as their country was closer to Haijiao so it was much easier for them to send in reinforcements. As for Huaxia Federation, they had to cross an entire gxy to reach Haijiao, making it troublesome for them to even transport something small. However, the soldiers of the Huaxia Federation were valiant in their efforts. Even though they had less manpower, they were able to secure half of Haijiao.


    Haijiao belonged to the Federation. Over the course of the years since this was found, many small base cities had been built here. Besides soldiers who were stationed here,moners lived in these cities too. They came here because the pay was much better than where they were originally from. As time goes by, these small cities became just like the bustling cities within the Federation¡¯s borders. The only difference was, mechas and powerful weapons could be seen everywhere. If you were walking on the streets, you would be able to see a team of fully-armed soldiers walking around. The rms for evacuation would asionally ring, reminding the people that this was a warzone, not a peaceful and safe city.


    These base cities were governed by the military. It was to support the soldiers that were stationed here. The distance between the Huaxia Federation and Haijiao was too great. The transportation of supply was slow to sustain them so these cities had to be self-sufficient to support the soldiers here.


    Of course, in the cities closest to the frontline, they were just bases for the military and there were notmoners there.


    The bases situated near the frontline of the battlefield were named with numbers. They didn¡¯t have an official name. The base that we would be talking about was Base 013. A bunch of experienced soldiers who just finished a battle were returning to their base. The malicious aura around them was still apparent. They controlled their mechas and followed the orders given by the JMCs to port their mechas. After porting their mechas, they jumped out of their mechas and changed into their military attire. Then, they went to their canteen to have their meal. This was a unique culture of Haijiao. Whether they were hungry or not, they would go to the canteen to have a meal, proving that they came back alive.


    The canteen was packed with people. All the mecha operators that came back from the battlefield were eating here. Suddenly, someone shouted, ¡°I heard that a new mecha n ising to our base.¡±


    The noisy canteen turned quiet instantly. Everyone stopped moving their chopsticks and turned to look at the person who spoke. The moment they saw the person, they looked like they had understood something.


    The person they were looking at was called Qiu Ming. His nickname was ¡®Help¡¯. He was a logistician at the base with a rank of senior captain. Because of his position, he was only able to operate an intermediate mecha. The origin of his nickname was from a mission he took. While he was sending some resources over from the main base, he was ambushed by the soldiers from Hailiya who received intel of their route. He got so frightened, he started to shout for help. In addition to that, his birth name was Qiu Ming. It sounded simr to ¡®jiu ming¡¯ (which means help in Chinese). Hence, he got this nickname.


    The experienced soldiers had to admit that they looked down on this timid person. Qiu Ming was furious when he heard his nickname but he didn¡¯t dare to stand up for himself. It couldn¡¯t be helped as even a ground scout had a higher status than a logistician like him. Qiu Ming¡¯s rank was just slightly higher than the normal soldiers so he didn¡¯t dare to offend these experienced soldiers. There were mecha masters teasing him too so all the more he didn¡¯t dare to say anything about his nickname.


    Although the veterans looked down on Qiu Ming, they acknowledged that his intel was always urate and fast. Well, he had a rtive working as a deputy of themanding officer of the base. Hence, the news he got was always faster and more urate than everyone else.


    ¡°Help, please tell us what¡¯s happening. It has been a while since a new mecha n came to Base 013.¡± One of the mecha operators bit on a toothpick and replied with interest.


    Qiu Ming¡¯s face turned ck when he heard this nickname. However, the person talking to him was a special-ss mecha operator so he didn¡¯t dare to talk back to him. Hence, he smiled and replied, ¡°Senior Captain You, I just heard some news so I wanted to share with everyone.¡±


    ¡°Help, stop keeping us in suspense. Hurry up and tell us.¡±


    ¡°Yes, stop teasing us. If not, when you shout for help again next time, we will not save you.¡±


    ¡°Haha...¡± Everyone startedughing loudly.


    Qiu Ming¡¯s face turned green. In the end, he controlled his emotions and told them the news he received, ¡°It¡¯s like this. We received the news that the mecha n that was supposed toe here was changed from the 6th division, right? The mecha ning here this time is actually from the 23rd division.¡±


    ¡°Haha, that¡¯s good. The 23rd division belonged to General Ling Xiao so they must be good,¡± a veteran shouted.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be too positive yet. General Ling Xiao¡¯s 23rd division has only been around for six years. It might not have a strong foundation like the 6th division. We don¡¯t know how powerful a six years old division is. I just hope that it is not a bunch of useless people.¡± Another mecha operator was not so positive.


    ¡°It¡¯s still better than being ignored by the 6th division.¡±


    Ever since the ace mecha n that was stationed in their base left, no new ace mecha n came to take over its ce. All the other base cities had ace mecha ns stationed there while their base only had a few ace mecha masters. Luckily, the two bases beside them helped them a lot. They were able to survive this year because of the help they had received from them.

 Chapter 793 - Evil Wind Mecha Team!

    <h4>Chapter 793: Evil Wind Mecha Team!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    However, because there weren¡¯t enough ace mecha ns to go around, in order to protect their base, many of their brothers-in-arms lost their lives unnecessarily... All of this happened because themanding officer of their base had offended a higher-up of the 6th Division, causing them to not have an ace mecha ns stationed at their base.


    Although everyone wanted to me them for their brothers-in-arms lives, it was still the battle between the higher-ups where they couldn¡¯t do anything about. They could only watch and suffer as they see theirrades continue to lose their lives. This was why they were so happy when they knew that their base was going to be taken under the wing of the 23rd Division.


    ¡°I heard it¡¯s not a standard n, but an ace mecha n!¡± Qiu Ming saw that everyone¡¯s moods were low and immediately gave them the good news.


    ¡°What? An ace mecha n!¡± Everyone jumped up in excitement with expression of joy on their faces. ¡®Doesn¡¯t that mean that their base is finally going to have an ace mecha n?¡¯ That was definitely good news.


    ¡°Haha, I knew General Ling Xiao wouldn¡¯t to us dirty like the 6th division.¡± One mecha operator smacked his table excitedly.


    ¡°An ace mecha n will finallye!¡± All the veterans began to celebrate.


    ¡°What¡¯s the name of the ace mecha n?¡± Some people asked.


    Hearing this, Qiu Ming¡¯s expression changed oddly. He hesitated for a moment and said, ¡°250 Ace Mecha n.¡±


    ¡°250?¡± The initially excited veterans became gloomy once again.


    ¡°Sh*t, after waiting for a year, they actually sent a normal n!¡± One veteran began to swear and throw insults. Although they were just normal soldiers and didn¡¯t belong to the Federation¡¯s 23 divisions, they still knew about the meaning behind the names of ns within the divisions.


    Ace mecha ns were either titled ace mecha ns and normal ace mecha ns.


    Titled ace mecha ns had mecha operators who were veteran ace mecha operators chock full of battle experience. It was possible that half of those mecha operators have already reached the half-way point to bing an elite. There were probably also a few who reached the peak. In battlefield where only ace mecha operators existed, peak ace mecha operators were the best of the best. If Base 013 had these mecha operators, would they still be scared?


    On the other hand, standard ace mecha ns wouldn¡¯t have any titled. The ace mecha ns that only had numbers in their names were formed from the gathering of ace mecha operators, many of which just had advanced. There were even cases where some of these ace mecha ns had only half of its members being ace mecha operators. The other half would be filled by special-ss operators, which capabilities were iparable to those of ace mecha operators.


    For example, if a standard ace mecha n had 1500 mecha operators, a titled ace mecha n would only need 500 people to decimate the 1500 mecha operators if a standard ace mecha n was to battle with a titled ace mecha n. This was the difference between the two.


    ¡°Does our Base 013 get looked down on that much? It¡¯s still the same even though we switched to being under the 23rd Division?¡± Some sighed softly.


    ¡°Who knows. Maybe our base¡¯smanding officer has been unlucky recently.¡± No one knew who said it, but everyone agreed with the statement.


    At that moment, themanding officer of the base, Senior Colonel Dong Yuanzhong, was suffering a headache. Not only did he know that the ace mecha n that was sent there was just a standard one, he also knew this standard n greatlycked personnel. The total was around 600 people which was not evenparable to mecha n that had a full 5000 members. Also, there were only 200 or so mecha operators within the n. It wasn¡¯t big enough to be considered a n. It also wasn¡¯t even big enough to be considered a battalion and was more like a team instead.


    However, since they were a n, he must give them a ce to stay. It was just that there was only one location that could be used. It was where the ace mecha n from before had stayed a year ago. It wasn¡¯t because Dong Yuanzhong didn¡¯t want to give it to them, but it was because the location was right beside the Evil Wind Mecha Team.


    Evil Wind Mecha Team was mecha team that grew within the base. These mecha operators had all stood on this battlefield and slowly evolved from a low-level mecha operator to an ace mecha operator. They all grew up in an ocean of blood. Some of them might not have the finger dexterity of an ace mecha operator, disallowing them from being one, but their attack power was much greater whenpared to ace mecha operators that had just advanced.


    Perhaps they couldn¡¯t perform the high-level techniques written in textbooks, but they operated their mechas with one belief and that was to kill! It was all simple and with the most basic techniques. However, even though each move was simple, they were all sure-kill techniques.


    Their average talent force them to fight for their lives for each breakthrough. Their bloody advancement method and savage attack techniques made them look down on those who learned from the academy. In their eyes, academy mecha operators were all softies who couldn¡¯t walk the walk but could just talk the talk. Even titled ace mecha operators didn¡¯t wow them too much. That was because in a real battle, no one knows who would die and who would live.


    The mecha operators in the Evil Wind Mecha Team were this type of existence. Even the ace mecha n¡¯s regimentmander that used to stay in Base 013 tolerated the numerous provocations made by the team leader of the Evil Wind Mecha Team. It was because he wasn¡¯t sure if he could defeat them.


    The title Evil Wind wasn¡¯t its official title. It was instead given by the Evil Wind Mecha Team¡¯s team leader. With the title of evil wind, it meant that they were all mecha operators who developed on the battlefield and were all demons.


    After 250 Ace Mecha n move into their new camp, Evil Wind Mecha Team would definitely provoke them just like they had with the previous ace mecha n. Dong Yuanzhong was hesitant, but thought that if he didn¡¯t arrange a ce for them, it would be his fault. If word of this were to get out, he might be in a lot of trouble...


    After thinking about it, Dong Yuanzhong made a decision. He told the logistics division to arrange for 250 Ace Mecha n stay at area 38 which had been empty for more than a year.


    ¡®They¡¯re here! They¡¯re here! The ace mecha n is here!¡± The staff member responsible for the surveince of Base 013 suddenly shouted. He saw arge group of people appearing on the surveince monitor.


    His colleague looked over his shoulder and saw around 400 mechas guarding the group from the air. These mechas included advanced mechas along with around 300 transport trucks. He was really confusion, ¡°Isn¡¯t that a transport team?¡± He didn¡¯t see even one ace mecha.


    ¡°Do you not see those trucks?¡± The staff member who shouted in the beginning couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes at his colleague. If it wasn¡¯t because he had seen a lot of those trucks before, he would not have noticed either.


    Right then, the cloth that covered one of the trucks had a corner lifted up by the wind and showed a part of an ace mecha.


    ¡°Sh*t, it¡¯s actually ace mechas!¡± He remembered that the first ace mecha n that came had all ace mechas. Only logistics personnel sat in hovers trucks and came with the transport trucks. How can this ace mecha n be so odd that their ace mecha operators didn¡¯t pilot the mechas while those who piloted mechas were only a few advanced mecha operators?


    ¡°But, the number of them is quite small, right?¡± Another staff member counted and only saw around 200 ace mechas. ¡°Are the ace operators piloting ace mechas behind them? And these mechas on the transport trucks were shipped here because their mecha operators were not here because they were busy?¡±


    ¡°Who cares, we still need to report this to the base¡¯s JMC. We have to tell them to prepare to take in the convoy as soon as possible.¡± The staff member that saw therge group contacted the base¡¯s JMC as soon as he finished speaking...

 Chapter 794 - Punishment!

    <h4>Chapter 794: Punishment!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    All these staff members were wondering if they had missed something. In the convoy, other than transport trucks with mechas inside, it wasn¡¯t anything simr with the way the past ace mecha n hade to their base. There weren¡¯t countless hover buses that had soldiers in them. Other than transport trucks, there weren¡¯t any other hover vehicles.


    No, there was actually a hover car that was the military¡¯s newest model hover car which was shaped like a bullet following the convoy.


    The convoy stopped at the front of the base. The person-in-charge of the convoy had already sent their request to the base and was waiting for the base¡¯s permission for them to enter the base.


    Soon after the request was sent in, many multi-terrain vehicles came out from the base, filled with fully equipped soldiers that were either standing or sitting on top of the vehicles with serious expressions on their faces. Although the convoy had received permission to enter the base, they still needed to undergo a safety inspection.


    In the front of the multi-terrain vehicles, a junior rank officer was standing there with a microphone by his mouth. He shouted, ¡°The person-in-charge of this convoy, pleasee over here!¡±


    When he shouted that, almost all of the advanced mechas in the air that was following the convoy turned around to look behind the convoy.


    The bullet-shaped hover car slowly drove past the transport trucks,ing to the front of the convoy, and parking parallel to the junior rank officer.


    The window of the driver rolled down automatically, showing a face that was full embarrassment, ¡°What, what¡¯s the matter?¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯s the information?¡± The junior rank officer frowned. ¡®What kind of ace mecha n is this? The person-in-charge of this convoy is small and timid.¡¯


    The driver quickly took out aputer chip and gave it to the junior rank officer. The junior rank officer used the optical supeputer in his hand to scan it, receiving the information of the convoy, it showed that it was indeed 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s transport convoy.


    The junior rank officer was disappointed that the higher-ups sent this ace mecha n to them. ¡®This n is probably just a standard ace mecha n, randomly created from just a molty bunch of ace and special-ss operators. It is no wonder that its name is only a number. How can a random n be given any titles?¡¯ He was clueless as to why the ace mecha ns that were stationed in their base was bing worse every time.


    After losing interest instantly, the junior rak officer waved his hand to his subordinates to examine the convoy. Then, he handed theputer chip back to the driver.


    The person-in-charge of the convoy, the driver, took back theputer chip without the usual attitude of arrogant ace mecha ns. This type of warm and respectful attitude made the junior rank officer feel better about this n, but he was still disappointed. ¡®As expected, it is lowly and random ace mecha n that didn¡¯t even have the demeanor of an ace mecha n. It seems our base will be continuing to rely on the two bases our us to help us again in the future.¡¯


    Half of the soldiers inspected the cargo while the other half collected everyone else¡¯s information. After theypiled all the information together, a representative immediately ran back and reported to the junior rank officer the results of their inspection.


    ¡®As expected, it is that kind of ace mecha n. In the cargo, other than the 200 ace mechas, there were also a few dozen special-ss mechas.¡¯ The junior rank officer was wondering why this 250 Ace Mecha n only had their mechas here. ¡®Where is their mecha operators.¡¯ He thought


    ¡°Where the rest of your ace mechas? Are they currently used by your mecha operators?¡± the junior rank officer couldn¡¯t help but ask.


    ¡°Huh?¡± The driver of the bullet shaped hover car had a confused expression on his face in response to that question.


    ¡°Does your mecha n only have this many mechas?¡± The junior rank officer saw the driver¡¯s expression, and wasn¡¯t pleased. ¡®Is this guy pretending to be an idiot?¡¯


    ¡°Yes, our mecha n only have these mechas currently!¡± The driver finally understood the question and answered sincerely.


    The junior rank officer immediately raised his head and looked toward the driver, discovering that the driver had serious expression on his face and was not joking with him. He suddenly felt his chest cramping up and some blood almost gushed out from his throat. It turns out this mecha n couldn¡¯t even be considered as a standard ace mecha n.


    ¡°Then, where are your mecha operators?¡± If there weren¡¯t any mechas being piloted, then shouldn¡¯t their mecha operator be here?


    Hearing this, the driver put his head back into the car and took out a navigator from the glove box. He ced it in front of him and fiddle it with a serious expression, seemingly was searching for something.


    ¡°What are you looking for?¡± the junior rank officer asked confusedly.


    The driver looked at the junior rank officer with a look that was asking if the junior rank officer was an idiot, ¡°I¡¯m looking for our mecha operators...¡± ¡®He just asked me where our mecha operators are. Aren¡¯t I helping him look for them? Are all of the soldiers in this base that dumb?¡¯


    The junior rank officer almost spat out a mouthful of blood from the answer. ¡®Do the people in this 250 Ace Mecha n have a screw loose in their brain?¡¯


    Right as he was about to be angry, the driver eximed, ¡°They¡¯re here, they¡¯re here!¡± Afterwards, he literally pulled out his torso out of the window and began furiously waving towards the back of the convoy.


    The junior rank officer looked towards the direction where the driver was waving at, but he didn¡¯t see anything. After squinting his eyes to try to spot for something, he seemed to have thought of something. He patted his body and found his binocrs, then quickly cing it in front of his eyes. At the edge of the horizon, dust could be seen being swept up like a storm. A white and blue dragon was moving the dust storm. When it got closer, the junior rank officer had a stunned expression on his face. The dragons was actually a group of people. They wore the 23rd Division¡¯s white and blue uniforms and were running towards them at a fast pace.


    The reason why the junior rank officer was surprised was because of the speed at which that group of people moved as it was only possible for experts who had reached the Qi-Jin stage to reach that speed.


    Not long after, even the soldiers from the bse could see them. It showed just how fast they were going.


    ¡°They...¡± The junior rank officer felt his lips were chapped.


    ¡°Our mecha operators.¡± The driver had a big grin on his face. ¡°They ran all the way from the main base to here.¡±


    ¡®Run? A few hundred kilometers...¡¯ The junior rank officer just could wrap his head around that answer. He asked weakly, ¡°Why are they running here?¡± ¡®If they had the physical endurance to run all the way here then they would totally be able to operate a mecha and fly here... No, mecha operators who were Qi-Jin experts didn¡¯t have any problems with endurance.¡¯ The person-in-charge¡¯s brain began to twist and turn, causing him to actually be unable topute the situation.


    The driver waved his hand and said, ¡°It was because they were too excited, angering our regimentmander.¡±


    ¡°Then...?¡± The junior rank officer asked with stunned look on his face.


    ¡°They were punished and sent to do some cross-country running,¡± the driver said with schadenfreude.


    ¡®What a terrifying regimentmander...¡¯ The person-in-charge was dumbfounded. He actually began to stutter, ¡°Then, then, where is your regimentmander?¡±


    Before the driver could speak, the soldiers who made up the white and blue dragon all stopped in front of the hover car. Their faces were all red, with their hands holding their legs as they breathed heavily. Even for Qi-Jin experts, it wasn¡¯t easy for them to run alongside the convoy. They had to put in all of their might just to catch up with it.


    ¡°Qi Long and the others aren¡¯t here yet?¡± The driver looked around but didn¡¯t see Qi Long and the others. He instantly covered his mouth andughed.


    ¡°Boom!¡± A silhouettended from the sky and knelt half-way onto the ground. He had a girl on his back. It was Han Xuya. Han Xuya jumped down from the person¡¯s shoulder excitedly and shouted, ¡°Next time you get punished Qi Long, I¡¯m going to be your baggage again!¡±


    ¡°I definitely don¡¯t want to do that ever again!¡± Qi Long almost died from exhaustion. ¡®What did Han Xuya eat when she was growing up? She was so heavy.¡¯


    Another person followed behind him andnded in the same style. Luo Lang piggy-backed Luo Chao and arrived swiftly as well. Luo Chao jumped down immediately and asked in a caring tone, ¡°Elder Brother, are you alright?¡±


    Luo Lang was exhausted to the point where he couldn¡¯t speak and could only wave his hand. In order to increase the workload of these guys who were at the domain stage, the Boss made them piggy-back one person while they ran here ,in addition to the 150 kilograms sandbags on their ankles. Luo Lang thought he was going to die on the way to the base, but luckily the distance wasn¡¯t too far.

 Chapter 795 - Gather!

    <h4>Chapter 795: Gather!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Many people started dropping down from the sky one by one. One of them stumbled as hended. The person beside him released the person he was holding and helped the person who stumbled.


    Lin Zhong-qing got held by a strong hand, preventing him from falling on the ground. He was sweating profusely. His entire forehead was filled with sweat. His military uniform was soaked too. Whenpared to everyone in Lingtian, his physical skills was weaker than the rest of them. Hence, even though he managed to keep up with the main group, he really felt like dying in the end. He almost copsed when he stumbled just now.


    He looked at the person who helped him and said indifferently, ¡°Thank you.¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing would never imagine that Li Yingjie, the person who forced him to enter his team in the Scout Academy, would be his teammate in the future. He thought about the past and all sorts of emotions well up in his mind.


    Li Yingjie scoffed when he heard Lin Zhong-qing thanking him. ¡°Although you are a logistician, you must remember that you are a member of the Lingtian Battle Team too. Look at you. You have been escaping training so your physical skills got weaker. What an embarrassment to us. When you reach the base, you must remember to train with us every morning.¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing really wanted to punch him in the face when he heard that, the only stopping him from doing so, was his fatigued body. He wasn¡¯t able to train because of them. Every one of them had so many requests. They didn¡¯t know how much effort he needed to put in to satisfy all of their requests.


    As expected, Li Yingjie was still as irritating as before. Even when he became his teammate, he was still irritating.


    ¡°Even if I want to train, I will follow Qi Long and Luo Lang.¡± Li Yingjie gritted his teeth and nced at Li Yingjie. He would not train with this bastard.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s gaze made Li Yingjie unhappy. ¡°Are you looking down on my team?¡± Although they were team 10, that didn¡¯t mean that they were thest of the 10 teams.


    ¡°I¡¯m in Qi Long¡¯s team.¡± Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s reason was irrefutable.


    Li Yingjie was furious. He red at Qi Long, stunning him.


    That stupid Qi Long advanced to the domain stage before him and even snatched his team members. Li Yingjie remembered all the grudges he had against Qi Long. It showed how furious he was when he didn¡¯t manage to get Lin Zhong-qing as his team members in the past. This had already be the devil in his heart.


    Lin Zhong-qing wanted to get away from Li Yingjie but he stopped when he saw thest batch of membersing in.


    Li Lanfeng arrived with a white ball on his head while carrying two team members in his arms, one on each side. He must have been really tired or the two team members in his arms couldn¡¯t hold on anymore. For whatever reason, all of them suddenly felt light-headed. However, Li Lanfeng reacted quickly. He let go of the two team members in his arms and stopped himself from mming on the ground with his two hands.


    The white ball saw this and immediately started making a sound. It pped its tentacles on Li Lanfeng¡¯s metal mask.


    Li Lanfeng was able tomunicate with Little White using his spiritual energy so he knew what Little White was saying. His face turned green with anger. ¡®This little fellow isughing at his physique. Bastard!¡¯


    Li Lanfeng wanted to kill this evil fellow. If this fellow didn¡¯t purposefully increase its weight along the way, he wouldn¡¯t have performed so badly. After this experience, Li Lanfeng finally understood the purpose of the health-bolstering Qi cultivation exercises Ling Lan had taught him. This health-bolstering Qi cultivation exercises should be used when he was exercising, helping him to replenish his stamina. That was why he was able tost until now even with Little White¡¯s weight and the two people in his arms.


    Li Lanfeng wanted to kill Little White but he couldn¡¯t do so in reality. Little White was Ling Lan¡¯s pet. If he offended this fellow, it would talk bad about him in front of Ling Lan. Li Lanfeng¡¯s mood turned worse when he thought about this. ¡®To hell with these small talks!¡¯


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t want to continue to be mocked by this stupid Little White. Hence, he gritted his teeth and pushed himself off the ground. As he was about to do that, someone reached his hand out and pulled him up. This person was Li Shiyu. He was also exhausted but he pushed himself to help Li Lanfeng up.


    ¡°Boom!¡± Something smashed into the ground again and dust flew in the air.


    Luo Lang held his breath and used his hand to fan the dust away. Then, he saw whatnded in front of him. It was three humans, lying prone on the ground without moving.


    Luo Lang waited for the dust to disappear before going forward and kicking the person lying in the middle. ¡°Hey, Xie Yi, are you dead?¡±


    Xie Yi looked up and gave a hideous smile. ¡°Of course not. I¡¯m in pain and I¡¯m happy.¡± He didn¡¯t expect his boss to ask Li Lanfeng and him to take two team members with them while they were running here. Although he didn¡¯t need to carry them, making it seemed like an easy mission, his two team members lost their stamina halfway through the journey. They had reached their limits. He literally dragged them through the next half of the journey. Thus, making him be in a worse state than Qi Long and Luo Lang.


    One of the experienced soldiers saw that there was no one left and shouted, ¡°Gather!¡± He was the team leader of team 01, Yang Mingzhi.


    At hismand, all the 200 soldiers gathered and split quickly into 11 teams. The five members that couldn¡¯t even move anymore due to exhaustion were dragged into the 11th team by Han Xuya and Luo Chao, who didn¡¯t use any strength along the journey at all.


    After gathering and counting their people, the ten team leaders and the head of the logisticians, Lin Zhong-qing, concluded that no one was left behind. Then, they turned to look at the driver who was smiling at them.


    Chang Xinyuan! Qi Long moved his mouth without a sound, wanting to ask him how their Boss was feeling now. He winked at Chang Xinyuan and hoped that he could give them some hints. If their Boss¡¯s mood was bad, they would rather wait and not act rashly.


    Chang Xinyuan just shrugged and maintained his smile. He was schadenfreude. The 200 people standing below were furious at him. They wanted to pull him out and beat him up. They were from the same mecha n. Why did they have to suffer so much while this person enjoyed his time on the bus as he drove their Boss over?


    The door of bullet-shaped hover car closest to them suddenly opened. A young officer was revealed, half-lying on a chair while wearing a white and blue military uniform.


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± Everyone stood up straight and greeted her. They wanted to show her that they still had energy left in them.


    The young officer opened her eyes when she heard the shout. The chair was tilted back to the sitting position. She looked at the exhausted soldiers outside. The soldiers felt a cold gaze moving passed them, cooling their warm bodies immediately. Their bodies tensed up involuntarily. A chill ran down their spine and their hearts pounded furiously.


    ¡®God, please bless us and make sure our regimentmander is satisfied!¡¯ If they were ordered to run another few hundred kilometers, they would definitely copse halfway through.

 Chapter 796 - Rank!

    <h4>Chapter 796: Rank!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Lin Zhong-qing!¡± A cold voice sounded beside Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s ears. Lin Zhong-qing shivered. His face was already pale due to exhaustion but his face turned even paler. It was full of fear. He didn¡¯t dare to make any dys so he shouted immediately, ¡°Here!¡±


    ¡°Li Shiyu!¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s face turned pale too as his name was called. ¡°Here!¡±


    A few more people were called out too. All the logisticians were called. Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s deputies, Li Jinghong, He Chaoyang, Yuan Youyun, and Luo Shaoyun were all called. Gao Jinyun¡¯s small team was also called too. The five people whoid on the ground exhausted were part of Gao Jinyun¡¯s team. Gao Jinyun and his team members¡¯ physical skills were all not high. Hence, they became logisticians.


    When they were ordered to join the long-distance marathon, Gao Jinyun knew that their weak performance during this marathon had angered their regimentmander. He knew that they were dead. The results were just like what he expected.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng!¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s lips twitched. As expected, Ling Lan was not satisfied with his performance.


    ¡°Xie Yi!¡± Xie Yi¡¯s expression copsed. He was thest to arrive. He knew that he wouldn¡¯t have a good ending.


    ¡°Double your training at night!¡± Ling Lan finally told everyone their punishment for those people with unsatisfying results.


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    Before Chang Xinyuan could give them a smile of pity, he heard his Boss calling his name. ¡°Chang Xinyuan!¡±


    ¡°Here!¡± Chang Xinyuan quickly replied. He wondered if his smile was too ring. ¡®Did I anger my Boss?¡±


    ¡°Luo Chao and Han Xuya.¡± Ling Lan looked at the only twodies at the scene. This long marathon was extremely tiring. Ling Lan was afraid that they would faint so she didn¡¯t ask them to run. They were in charge of being the burdens this time. However, this didn¡¯t mean that she would let them off just because they were females. Ling Lan knew that this was the battlefield. Without absolute strength, they could die at any moment. She would never allow this to happen.


    ¡°You three will train with them at night.¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡±Chang Xinyuan groaned. On the other side, Han Xuya and Luo Chao¡¯s face turned red with excitement. They shouted, ¡°Yes, regimentmander.¡± They had been waiting for this day for a long time, especially Luo Chao. She clenched her fist tightly and told herself that she must catch up with her Boss.


    The person-in-charge of inspecting the convoy was stunned by their behaviors. When he heard Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice, he suddenly regained his senses. He looked over and saw a person with a cold aura standing in front of the door of the bullet-shaped hover car. He only nced at this person but the person instantly noticed his nce. Her cold eyes turned to him. The person-in-charge felt as though his blood was frozen. His entire body turned cold. He was so frightened he didn¡¯t dare to look at Ling Lan again.


    ¡°Second lieutenant?¡± A cold voice sounded beside him. The voice melted the ice around him and woke him up from his thoughts.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± The second lieutenant instinctively greeted Ling Lan as though she was his regimentmander too.


    Ling Lan was speechless. ¡®What¡¯s wrong with this second lieutenant? Shouldn¡¯t he call me senior officer or lieutenant colonel?¡¯ She was not his regimentmander. However, she didn¡¯t have the time to correct him. She saluted and asked, ¡°Can we go in now?¡±


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± The second lieutenant shouted after saluting back at her. Then, he signaled the people behind him to let them in.


    Soon, the convoy entered the base. All their mechas were ced inside 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s personal mecha hold. The second lieutenant watched as they went in. After a while, he suddenly remembered that he didn¡¯t ask them where their logisticians were. Also, for some reason, he called the lieutenant colonel ¡®regimentmander¡¯ instead.


    In the base of Evil Wind Mecha Team, around 30 people were sitting in a meeting room, talking about the 250 Ace Mecha n which entered Base 013 recently.


    ¡°Leader, I heard that we have a new neighbor. It¡¯s an ace mecha n.¡± One of the team members told his leader about the news that had been spreading through their base recently.


    ¡°The information I got from Help states that there are only 200 people in that ace mecha n. They only have enough mecha operators to form a major team like us but they are a mecha n. Leader, do you think that 250 Ace Mecha n has some special background?¡± A feminine-looking soldier who looked around 30 years old said.


    ¡°The Changfeng Ace Mecha n that were stationed here in the past was nothing special. Their regimentmander was not even our leader¡¯s match. Yet, they are a titled ace mecha n.¡± A team member gave a look of contempt.


    ¡°Yes. In the past, I heard that titled ace mecha ns are very powerful. Now, I feel that they are nothing.¡± This person¡¯s words gained the approval of everyone in the meeting room.


    The team leader, who was sitting on the mainmand¡¯s seat, shook his head instantly. ¡°That is not true. Changfeng Mecha n is not a real titled ace mecha n.¡± He remembered the words the Regiment Commander of Changfeng Ace Mecha n said to him before he left. Those words let him understand how deep the water was in the mecha world.


    His mind went back to the day when he had a fight with the Regiment Commander of Changfeng Ace Mecha n using their mechas. They were both exhausted but no one was able to win against the other.


    ¡°Yan Three, I didn¡¯t expect a mecha operator who came from the grass-roots to be so powerful,¡± the Regiment Commander of Changfeng Ace Mecha n eximed.


    ¡°Cheng Shu, you are not bad too. As expected of the regimentmander of a titled ace mecha n.¡± Yan Three respected Cheng Shu too. He used to be angry at Cheng Shu because he always evaded his invitation to have a fight.


    ¡°My mecha n is not a titled ace mecha n,¡± Cheng Shu jeered at himself.


    Yan Three was stunned. He knew that only titled mecha ns had a title. Other mecha ns were called by numbers. He asked curiously, ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Cheng Shu looked at Yan Three. ¡°I¡¯m going to leave Base 013 soon. Before I leave, let me give you a present. I¡¯ll tell you some secrets of the military so that you won¡¯t provoke someone you shouldn¡¯t.¡±


    Yan Three felt his heart being lifted up and he listened attentively.


    Cheng Shu sighed. ¡°A real titled ace mecha n is indeed very powerful. They are not like my mecha n which is unable to maintain its title. You must learn to look at their rank.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Yan Three eximed in surprise. He thought that all titled ace mecha ns were the same. He didn¡¯t know that there were different ranks.

 Chapter 797 - Good Fortune!

    <h4>Chapter 797: Good Fortune!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°There are five ranks avable for a titled ace mecha n, and each rank is further split into five sub-ranks, differentiated by the number of stars it has. So, the most powerful titled ace mecha ns are first-rank five-star ace mecha ns. Everyone in those mecha ns is powerful and frightening. Yan Three, if you meet a first-rank titled ace mecha n, don¡¯t ever offend them. You can¡¯t afford to provoke anyone in those mecha ns. Even a normal member of those ace mecha n is much stronger than us.¡±


    Yan Three nodded seriously. If a normal member of those ace mecha n was stronger than Cheng Shu, then the people in those mecha ns were definitely not people he could provoke.


    Cheng Shu suddenly smiled. ¡°If you stay at Base 013 forever, you might not be able to meet them at all. Even I have only heard of them but never saw any of them personally.¡±


    Yan Three scoffed. ¡®Why could I be stuck here forever? I would eventually leave this base one day.¡¯ He got angry so he asked in a mocking tone, ¡°What rank is Changfeng then?¡±


    Cheng Shu¡¯s smile was turned upside down and his face turned green with anger. After some time, he gritted his teeth and said, ¡°Changfeng? We are just a fifth-tank one-star ace mecha n, the worst among the worst of all titled ace mecha ns. If we drop another rank lower, our title will be taken away and we will be a normal ace mecha n¡±


    ¡°Your ace mecha n is that bad?¡± Yan Three looked at him with disdain. ¡°If it is that bad, why can¡¯t you all just work harder to climb higher? Why can¡¯t you gain another star?¡±


    Cheng Shu sighed. He replied, ¡°This is a problem of session. Every titled ace mecha n, even a first-rank five-star ace mecha n, will have this problem. If the session is sessful, the ace mecha n will be able to maintain its rank and might even be able to climb higher in rank. That ace mecha n might even be an important ace mecha n to the division or it might even be the core of the military, attaching longsting glory to its name.¡±


    ¡°However, the possibility of this happening is very low. Many titled ace mecha ns were not able to pass the torch sessfully. Each generation got worse than the one before them, resulting in their ranks getting lower and some even got their title removed, bing a normal mecha n in the end. In addition to that, some titled ace mecha ns would get sent on the battlefield and their men would get killed in the process of an ongoing war, making their mecha n severely weaker by the time they leave the battlefield. Changfeng ace mecha n is just getting worse by the generation, and there¡¯s no way to stop that.¡± Cheng Shu wanted to make Changfeng Ace Mecha n better but he couldn¡¯t defy the rules of the military.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t have enough mecha operators, why can¡¯t you just train more?¡± Yan Three didn¡¯t understand Cheng Shu¡¯s thinking process.


    ¡°You have never entered an ace mecha n so you don¡¯t know the unspoken rule in the military: removing blood and grooming blood.¡± Cheng Shu gave a forced smile.


    ¡°Removing blood and grooming blood?¡± Yan Three came from the grass-roots units. When he heard what Cheng Shu said, he felt that he had wasted half of his life in the military as he had never heard of such a thing.


    ¡°The ranks between all the titled ace mecha ns are not present to differentiate the capabilities of all ace mecha ns. They are present because of this unspoken rule. This unspoken rule allows titled ace mecha ns that have a higher rank than us within our division to pick outstanding mecha operators from our ace mecha n and transfer them to their own ace mecha n. In a sense, our mission as a low-rank ace mecha n is to groom mecha operators. With this unspoken rule, a pyramid is formed within the ace mecha ns. The tip of the pyramid consists of the most powerful ace mecha ns which had the best mecha operators, making them the core of the military.¡±


    ¡°There is nothing wrong with that.¡± Yan Three felt that this rule suited the military. The core ace mecha ns should have the right to have the best mecha operators.


    ¡°However, this rule causes the lower rank ace mecha ns to be stuck at the bottom of the pyramid forever. Some ace mecha ns fell down the ranks because too much blood was removed from them. Changfeng ace mecha n is an instance of this.¡± When Cheng Shu took over the Changfeng Ace Mecha n, he was motivated and driven to bring his mecha n to the top. However, when the ace mecha ns above them kept taking away their mecha operators whom they took much time and effort to groom, his heart started to turn cold. He didn¡¯t want to waste his efforts anymore on someone who would eventually be taken away. After years and years of removing blood, Changfeng Ace Mecha n started to drop in rank. That was why they were sent to Haijiao. They were forsaken by the military.


    ¡°Removing too much blood?¡± Yan Three sensed something amiss.


    ¡°Yes. At first, only three mecha operators can be taken out every five years. Now, it changed to two mecha operators every year. We are unable to keep our good mecha operators in our n so we can¡¯t increase the ability of our ace mecha n.¡± Cheng Shu sighed loudly. ¡°Not only that, the ace mecha ns above us might give us some mecha operators with special backgrounds too. These people are not ace mecha masters but they still forced them into our ace mecha ns so that they can get a good resume.¡±


    These people would usually leave half a yearter, and they would be ced in higher positions but in actual fact, they didn¡¯t have any capabilities to obtain that position in the first ce. What a joke. Ever since he came to Haijiao, the higher authorities never sent anyone like that in his n anymore so he managed to get some peace here. Cheng Shu felt that this was something good he got from the adversity.


    ¡°I see.¡± Yan Three finally understood what Cheng Shu meant. The mecha world was soplicated.


    ¡°Yan Three, we are leaving soon. I don¡¯t know which ace mecha n will be sent here. However, themanding officer of your base had offended someone within the military headquarters. I think that they won¡¯t send you a powerful ace mecha n...¡± Cheng Shu thought for a moment and decided to give him a suggestion. ¡°Yan Three, if you can, join an ace mecha n. You have the ability to. You shouldn¡¯t be wasting your time here.¡±


    Yan Three shrugged. ¡°How about I join your ace mecha n?¡±


    Cheng Shu smiled bitterly. ¡°I don¡¯t want to harm your future. Changfeng Ace Mecha n has been forsaken. The military had not sent anyone to examine our ace mecha n for the past few years. If you join us, you will never have the chance to climb higher. If another ace mecha nes to this base after we leave, find a chance to join them. I hate the removing blood system but it can help you.¡±


    This was Cheng Shu¡¯sst piece of advice to Yan Three.


    Back in the meeting room, Yan Three smiled coldly ¡°Help me?¡± He had ambitions to climb higher up the ranks, but if he was to join an ace mecha n, that n¡¯s regimentmander must have the ability to make him bow down to him first. If not, he would rather stay at Base 013 his entire life as he would not tolerate being under a weak regimentmander.


    ¡°Ah!¡± A team member shouted, ¡°250 Ace Mecha n is here. One of our members saw a huge group of peopleing in.¡±


    ¡°Leader, shall we take a look?¡± Everyone looked at Yan Three excitedly. They remembered how their leader brought them over when Changfeng Ace Mecha n came and gave them an opening gambit.


    Yan Three knocked his fingers on the table and thought for a moment. Then, he smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Do your best, everyone!¡± Han Xuya ced her hands on her hips as she shouted at the logisticians who were moving their equipment.


    On the other side, Luo Chao was busy recording all the pieces of equipment that were ced inside their warehouse. These were weapons that were brought over from the 23rd division. It was precious to them. Although Haijiao would provide them with some weapons, their Boss didn¡¯t want to rely on other people. Hence, their Boss prepared all these as their backup. If they met any urgent situations, they would not have to wait for other people to help them.


    ¡°Hey, there are two beautiful younger sisters in the ace mecha n that came this time. What good fortune!¡± A frivolous voice sounded above them.

 Chapter 798 - Add Oil To The Flame!

    <h4>Chapter 798: Add Oil To The me!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Han Xuya and Luo Chao looked up and saw a person squatting on the wall, smiling at them. On the roofs of the buildings around them, there were also many people standing there and pointing at them.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Han Xuya¡¯s expression turned dark as she shouted angrily.


    ¡°Your neighbor, Evil Wind Mecha Team,¡± The person squatting on the wall continued to smile and replied. After that, he sent out an invitation. ¡°Beautifuldy, shall we have a meal and spend the night together?¡±


    Han Xuya was furious. Although she and Luo Chao grew up with men around them, all theirpanions treated them like little sisters. They would never tease them like this. In the military academy, they were protected by theirpanions and seniors so no one dared to harass them. She didn¡¯t expect someone to harass her the moment they came to Base 013.


    ¡°How dare you!¡± Han Xuya shouted furiously.


    ¡°How dare I? I dare to do even worse things. Do you want to try me?¡± Everyone on the roofughed when they heard what he said.


    Han Xuya was burning with anger. She jumped up and punched the person on the wall.


    Boom! The wall copsed. The person jumped down andnded lightly on the ground within the base of 250 Ace Mecha n. He patted his chest and appeared as though he got a shock. ¡°I¡¯m so scared. I met a female dinosaur.¡±


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Han Xuya snorted. She clenched her fist and started fighting with the person.


    The other logisticians saw this and put aside their work. They wanted to help Han Xuya and teach this person a lesson. Luo Chao saw through their intentions and stopped them. She signaled them to let Han Xuya fight first. If Han Xuya didn¡¯t vent her anger, she would turn crazy.


    The logisticians understood First Lieutenant Luo¡¯s decision so they stood at the side and watched the fight. However, they all agreed that if First Lieutenant Han was not able to defeat the person, they would attack him together. In their 250 notebooks, it was written that if they could win by numbers, do it. There was no such thing as heroism. If anyone disobeyed this rule, they would be punished. This mindset was instilled in them the moment they entered the mecha n. After practicing together for a year, it had be a habit for them.


    ¡°Leader, what do you think?¡± The people standing on the roof appeared to be watching the show happily but instead, they were here to understand the capabilities of 250 Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°The two female officers are at the peak of refinement. They can be considered at the tip of the pyramid among all the female soldiers. As for those people around them, they should be logisticians...¡± The person behind Yan Three was good at analyzing people. However, he seemed a little uncertain when he was talking about the logisticians. ¡°These logisticians are not bad too. Most of them are at refinement, even the weaker ones are at the tenth stage of manifestation. They are only one step away from refinement. I¡¯ve never seen a bunch of logisticians that powerful.¡±


    Logisticians were the lowest-rank soldiers. Only those soldiers who couldn¡¯t meet any of the requirements for the other positions be logisticians. This position had no future. Yet, the physical constitutions of these people were enough for them to bend mecha operators.


    Yan Three touched his chin. He was deep in thought. He only saw the tip of the iceberg of 250 Ace Mecha n but they already seemed hard to deal with. ¡®Is 250 Ace Mecha n a titled mecha n that just got its title removed? Or is this disy of strength just for show?¡¯


    ¡°Add some oil to the me.¡± Yan Three whispered to the person beside him.


    The person nodded before disappearing on the spot.


    Luo Chao was focused on Han Xuya. After observing the battle for some time, Luo Chao noticed that the person who verbally harassed Han Xuya was just slightly stronger than her. He was already at the primary stage of Qi-Jin. Han Xuya was able to fight with him for so long because she was already half-step into the Qi-Jin stage and her innate talent was strength. In addition, her way of fighting was simr to Qi Long, brutal and vicious. The other party was afraid of her viciousness so he got held back.


    Luo Chao had read through the rules of the mecha n so she was about to ask the logisticians to help Han Xuya by ganking her opponent. However, she suddenly sensed danger and she quickly moved her body away.


    Another person appeared at the spot where Luo Chao was at just now. If Luo Chao didn¡¯t react quickly, she would have been caught by this person.


    Luo Chao looked at the person vigntly. She said slowly, ¡°Please leave our base immediately. If not, we will not show you any mercy.¡± Themotion here should have alerted her brothers. If one of themes, none of these people would be able to escape.


    ¡°Haha, little beauty, I wee you to show no mercy towards me at night.¡± The person teased Luo Chao tantly, turning Luo Chao¡¯s fair face red in anger. She gritted her teeth. She had not seen such a shameless person in her life. How evil of him.


    The people from Evil Wind startedughing when they saw the little beauty gritting her teeth helplessly.


    ¡°Haha, little beauty, why aren¡¯t you speaking? Have you agreed tomunicate with me at night?¡± The man saw this and raised his hand. He wanted to touch Luo Chao.


    Suddenly, his expression changed. He moved his body, wanting to dodge the iing attack. But, he still failed.


    A sh of white light zoomed through everyone, hitting the person who was about to touch Luo Chao, the person from Evil Wind flew through the air and mmed heavily onto the ground. He slid for a few meters, forming a long skid mark on the hard ground.


    The sh of white light bounced on the ground and rolled to the side. It was Little White. It stumbled as it got up and walked a few steps. Then, it made a sound and fell to the ground. It fainted.


    A figurended on the spot where the person from Evil Wind was at just now. Luo Chao¡¯s beautiful face appeared in front of everyone again. However, this person had a strong killing intent around him, that immediately shut everyone up from Evil Wind.


    ¡°You want to municate¡¯ with her? Well, let memunicate with you instead.¡± A beautiful smile formed on the person¡¯s face. It was a seductive and enchanting smile. However, the people from Evil Wind only felt chills down their spines.


    The moment Luo Lang finished speaking, he walked to the person who tried to touch Luo Chao. The person wanted to get up but Luo Lang stepped on his head, forcing his face t on the hard ground. He tried to struggle but the huge force on his head prevented him from getting away. Luo Lang didn¡¯t seem to have used much strength but he still couldn¡¯t break free.

 Chapter 799 - Stop!

    <h4>Chapter 799: Stop!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Yan Three¡¯s expression changed when he saw this. His physical skills was the highest here, at the optimal peak of Qi-Jin. However, he still couldn¡¯t determine how high the man¡¯s physical skills was. For him to not be able to determine that, it must be either the person practiced some secret skills or he was more powerful than him. If it was the former, then everything was fine. If it was the former... Yan Three felt that it was impossible. The man should be no more than 25 years old. How could he be a domain realm master?


    However, the fact that he couldn¡¯t see the other party¡¯s physical skills stage still made him worried. He moved his body and appeared in front of Luo Lang. ¡°Little brother, my friend talks a lot but he will never touch thedy. Please forgive him.¡± When he scanned his opponent top to bottom, he noticed that this person was not the little beauty. His major insignia was enough to prove this.


    Luo Lang looked up and smiled at Yan Three brightly. ¡°You are their leader, right? It¡¯s about time for you to appear.¡±


    Yan Three maintained his expression. If the other party still didn¡¯t understand his intentions, then 250 Ace Mecha n was useless.


    A figure appeared at the spot where Little White lying on the ground. He calmly picked Little White up. The moment Little White was in his hand, it woke up. It turned its body and grabbed the person¡¯s finger. It started making loud sounds while shaking the person¡¯s finger.


    ¡°Bastard, bastard. How dare you throw me out like a ball? I will go back and tell master. I will let him punish you...¡± Its master had asked this person to bring it around to watch the surroundings. How dare he treat it like that. Go and die!


    The person sneered. ¡°Are you sure? I will tell your master that you didn¡¯t want to save Luo Chao. Tsk tsk.¡±


    Little White shivered. It knew that its master cared much about the only twodies in his team. If master misunderstood him... Little White widened its eyes and looked furiously at the masked man. All it did was made things difficult for him during the marathon just now. What a treacherous person. He kept his grudge and took revenge on it the moment an opportunity came. He threw it out furiously until it got dizzy and almost killing it. Now, he was framing it. Ahhhhh! Little White was really angry. It wanted to kill him.


    Little White turned crazy. Its voice got shriller. Itnded in his hands because he was the only person who couldmunicate with it besides its master. ¡®Sob, master is busy so he doesn¡¯t have the time to take Little White out for a walk. Ah, no! He doesn¡¯t have the time to take me to inspect the surroundings. That was why master asked the evil masked man to take me out!¡¯


    A fingernded on its round body and started scratching it. Little White closed its eyes a little andid on the person¡¯s hand. It moaned in satisfaction. ¡®Ah, this is sofortable. I will let you go today. Hey, why are you stopping? Scratch this side.¡¯ Little White turned its body and asked the person to continue. It no longer wanted to kill Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng gave a gentle smile. ¡®As long as I got its weak point, I could do anything to it, right?¡¯


    Little White lost to Li Lanfeng¡¯s massage. On the other side, the atmosphere between Luo Lang and Yan Three was tense. A battle seemed imminent.


    Boom! They two of them punched each other at the same time. Both of them were forced to step back. Yan Three was an experienced person. The moment they stepped back, he swung his leg and hooked the person under Luo Lang¡¯s foot back.


    Two figures flew out and caught the person. He vomited blood and told hispanions in a low voice, ¡°He is very powerful. I couldn¡¯t retaliate at all.¡±


    The two people retreated back to the crowd. They also realized that the 250 Ace Mecha n was not as simple as they thought. This beautiful man was already hard to deal with and with the masked man that appeared silently just now, it will only get harder. They only realized that he was there after he appeared.


    Luo Lang saw the other party saving the man who harassed his sister. He clicked his tongue. If his Boss didn¡¯t ask them to hide their domains, his opponent wouldn¡¯t be able to save hisrade.


    ¡°Optimal peak of Qi-Jin!¡± Yan Three guessed Luo Lang¡¯s physical skills from that one punch. He turned serious. ¡°Are you the Regiment Commander of 250 Ace Mecha n ?¡±


    ¡°Our regimentmander is not so free. He doesn¡¯t have the time to take care of a small fish like you.¡± Luo Lang looked up proudly. Yan Three was unhappy at his arrogant look but he controlled his emotions. He had heard what this person said. He was not the Regiment Commander of 250 Ace Mecha n. He became cautious. The thought of giving 250 Ace Mecha n an opening gambit was gone.


    The Evil Wind Mecha Team was a wild and unyielding mecha team who always had conflicts and arguments with other mecha teams. Themanding officer of the base always felt his head hurt when he thought about them. However, that didn¡¯t mean that they were arrogant and brainless. As the leader of the Evil Wind Mecha Team, Yan Three was an intelligent person. He knew his limits. No matter what he did, he never crossed the bottom line of hismanding officer. That was why the Evil Wind Mecha Team had a high status in Base 013. He could see that 250 Ace Mecha n was not a simple mecha n. The people inside were powerful. Hence, he decided to stop whatever he was doing. He would take action again after he understood this mecha n better.


    Yan Threeughed. ¡°This is all a misunderstanding. Brother, we just wanted to greet you all but my team members saw the beautifuldies and lost their minds. We are sorry that we offended thedies. I will visit your regimentmander personally and apologize for the reckless behavior of my members.¡±


    Luo Lang¡¯s anger subsided a little when he saw Yan Three¡¯s sincere attitude. He raised his eyebrows and looked at the wall Han Xuya broke. ¡°What about that?¡±


    ¡°Since it¡¯s our fault, we will repair it.¡± Yan Three epted the responsibility immediately.


    Luo Lang was satisfied. He shouted, ¡°Xuya, stop fighting.¡±


    Han Xuya stopped and panted heavily. Her opponent gave a bitter smile and waved his hands. He didn¡¯t expect this lively and pretty littledy to be so fierce. Her strength was greater than his. He could feel the pain on his body at the areas she hit. There were probably bruises all over him.


    ¡°I¡¯ll let you off today. We will continue tomorrow.¡± Han Xuya saw that she couldn¡¯t subdue her opponent today so she issued him a challenge.


    ¡°Huh?¡± The person was shocked. ¡®Is thisdy was still not done?¡¯

 Chapter 800 - Bewitch!

    <h4>Chapter 800: Bewitch!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°We must fight!¡± Han Xuya said firmly. She finally met someone whom she could fight on equal grounds without any worry, so she would definitely not let him off that easily.


    Speaking of fighting, Han Xuya wanted to cry. She was not a gentledy like Luo Chao. She liked to solve everything with brutal force. To put it crudely, she liked to fight. However, Qi Long and those monsters around her were much more powerful than her. She couldn¡¯t even experience a good fight when she found an equal as they were afraid of hurting her. As for the logisticians, they didn¡¯t dare to fight with her at all. In the 250 Ace Mecha n which was filled with talents, so there was no one who could be her sandbag. Today, she finally fought to her satisfaction. She would not let this sandbag run away.


    Luo Lang saw through Han Xuya¡¯s intentions, so he smiled at Yan Three and waited for his reply.


    Yan Three decisively betrayed his team member. ¡°Stone, fight with this first lieutenant tomorrow.¡±


    Stone¡¯s lips twitched. ¡®Can I reject this invitation? I don¡¯t want to be in pain every day.¡¯ However, he knew that his leader never changed any decision he had made. Thus, he had no choice but to reply helplessly, ¡°Yes, leader.¡±


    If he knew this was going to happen, he would have picked the otherdy... he suddenly nced at his teammate who was lying his other teammates¡¯ arms weakly and with blood asionally dripping down his lips. ¡®Actually, fighting with this fiercedy is not so bad after all.¡¯


    The Evil Wind Mecha Team came happily but left dejectedly.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Yan Three¡¯s firm back. He raised his eyebrows. ¡®That man is not someone who would admit defeat easily. This matter hasn¡¯t ended yet.¡¯


    Suddenly, Luo Lang rushed towards him, stopping just when he was right in front of his face. Li Lanfeng got a shock at the beautiful face that was looking at him intently.


    Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡°What is the matter?¡±


    ¡°Why did you act before me just now?¡± If Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t smash Little White at the person who harassed Luo Chao, the person wouldn¡¯t have escaped with just light injuries.


    ¡°We just came here and don¡¯t understand the internal workings of this base yet, so it¡¯s better to be careful,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled as he replied.


    ¡°Do you think I don¡¯t know this?¡± Luo Lang smiled coldly. ¡®Does he think that I¡¯m stupid?¡¯


    Li Lanfeng raised his hands helplessly and apologized, ¡°I¡¯m sorry then. I was being a busybody.¡±


    Luo Lang red at him. ¡°No sincerity.¡±


    Li Lanfeng frowned when he heard this. ¡°Luo Lang, do we have any misunderstanding here?¡± Ever since they entered the domain stage, Luo Lang had been looking at him questioningly.


    ¡°My calm personality told me to keep a distance away from you,¡± Luo Lang replied honestly.


    Li Lanfeng wanted tough. ¡®Isn¡¯t he betraying himself?¡¯


    The calm personality was speechless. The other personalities startedughing at him. This was something only the primary personality would do. What a poor thing. The calm personality couldn¡¯t do anything to the primary personality.


    ¡°I¡¯m not stupid. I trust my calm personality but Boss trusts you. Hence, I choose to trust you,¡± Luo Lang continued. The calm personality started thinking. ¡®Is the primary personality really as dumb as they had thought?¡¯


    Li Lanfeng retracted his smile when he heard what Luo Lang said. He looked at Luo Lang seriously and smiled after a few seconds. ¡°I understand. Don¡¯t worry. Even if I can harm anyone, I will never harm Boss Lan!¡±


    ¡°I hope you remember your words.¡± Luo Lang turned and went to take care of his sister.


    ¡®His calm personality?¡¯ Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile got deeper. As expected, he couldn¡¯t deceive everyone. What a failure! Ever since he entered the domain stage, he discovered his other ability¡ª¡ªBewitch! But from the looks of it now, it couldn¡¯t be used on everyone. For instance, Luo Lang¡¯s calm personality and Rabbit.


    When this was happening, Ling Lan was not there with them. She had instead brought Yang Mingzhi along to meet themanding officer of the base. She only knew what had happened when she came back. During the team leader meeting in the afternoon, she let the team leaders decide how they should handle this matter when Qi Long asked her what they should do.


    Ling Lan brought another piece of news back from themanding officer. Base 013 was going to throw them a weing dinner. It was said to be a weing dinner but they were just going to have a meal together in the canteen. Of course, the people that were invited to the weing dinner were all junior officers and above in terms of rank. The logisticians could only prepare their own meals in their camp.


    ¡°They are just trying to pressure us in that kind of situation.¡± Luo Lang raised his one of his eyebrows.


    ¡°Of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Everyone will be there just to understand our capabilities,¡± Li Lanfeng replied thoughtfully.


    ¡°Regimentmander, what do we do?¡± Yang Mingzhi asked.


    Ling Lan looked at the list Lin Zhong-qing had passed to her. It was the list of items provided by the base. Just like what she had expected, they were provided with just the basic items. There was no advanced weaponry. They didn¡¯t even provide them with enough supplies of energy storage units. The logistics department of Haijiao was not very good.


    She raised her head and replied to Yang Mingzhi, ¡°We will act ordingly.¡± Then, she smiled. ¡°250 Ace Mecha n will get to the top in the future.¡±


    The ten team leaders smiled as they had understood what their regimentmander meant. 250 Ace Mecha n would soon reign over Base 013.


    At themanding officer¡¯s office, the adviser beside themanding officer asked worriedly, ¡°Commanding officer, will something bad happen if the 250 Ace Mecha n meet those people?¡±


    ¡°Whether it is good or bad, something will definitely happen. Did you see the Regiment Commander of 250 Ace Mecha n?¡± Themanding officer frowned. Ling Lan was a really cold person, just a nce from her would make him shiver to the bone. She definitely looks like someone that would not be easily controlled. Also, he received the news that the Evil Wind Mecha Team had some conflict with 250 Ace Mecha n just now but everything was resolved calmly. If they were able to have the wild Yan Three take a step back, the people in 250 Ace Mecha n were definitely not simple.


    Themanding officer hoped that a powerful ace mecha n woulde and help to protect Base 013. However, he also hoped that it wouldn¡¯t be a mecha n that was hard to control. As themanding officer of the base, he didn¡¯t want a portion of his power to be taken away by some hard-headed outsiders. Thus, he needed to find out more about 250 Ace Mecha n before making further ns.


    Evil Wind Mecha Team was not the only people in the base that was hard to deal with. There was another special mecha n too. The people inside were all descendants of elite families. After gaining some merits here, they would go back and be promoted to whatever position her families had prepared for them. These people were arrogant and domineering most of the time, doing whatever they wanted and looked down on everyone, but because of their strong background, no one dared to talk back to them. The only exception was, the Evil Wind Mecha Team, as it was made up of a bunch of people who were not afraid of death so they were able to subdue this bunch of descendants and stop them from being too overboard. If not, who knew what they would do?


    ¡°Have you made the necessary arrangements?¡± Themanding officer asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± the adviser replied.


    Themanding officer smiled. ¡°That¡¯s good. We can watch a good show tonight.¡±

 Chapter 801 - Lady Mei!

    <h4>Chapter 801: Lady Mei!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    In the female dormitory district of the logistician camp, female JMCs were dolling themselves up carefully as they were going to wee an ace mecha n in the weing dinner. This mecha n was just a normal ace mecha n but there were still some ace mecha masters inside it. Even if these ace mecha masters just newly advanced, they should be at least at the rank of senior captain. Thesedies felt their hearts fluttering when they thought about this. All of them hoped to find a powerful officer as their boyfriends or maybe potential future husbands.


    However, only onedy appeared out of ce. She wore a military uniform and didn¡¯t put on any makeup. She had an unhappy expression on her face as she was upset about the behavior of her friends.


    ¡°Lady Mei, stop putting on your stern face. Even if you don¡¯t like those ace operators, we need them.¡± One of the female soldiers purposely wore a smaller sized military uniform which disyed her curves more prominently. She seemed determined to find a good boyfriend this time.


    ¡°She already has Major Zhou. Of course, she wouldn¡¯t care about the new ace mecha masters.¡± Another female soldier covered her mouth and smiled with her eyes, but there was envy in her eyes. Major Zhou had been chasing Lady Mei for the past few days. They were touched by all the things he did for her but Lady Mei¡¯s heart was rock solid. She was not moved at all.


    ¡°What do you mean by mine? If you want him, you can take him.¡± Lady Mei frowned. She had no feelings towards Major Zhou at all. His identity and his oppressive behaviors caused her to remember her mother¡¯s sufferings.


    Lady Mei¡¯s name was Mei Gu (¡®Gu¡¯ here means lonely). The female soldiers felt that her name was not so nice to call her so they called her Lady Mei. Lady Mei liked to take care of them like an elder so this nickname suited her quite well.


    Lady Mei was an illegitimate child. She didn¡¯t know who her father was. Her mother also didn¡¯t want to tell her who he was. However, after years of probing, she found out when her mother was a JMC, she got yed by a high-ranking officer. The high-ranking officer abandoned her after a while and even threw her out of the military so that he could cover up what he did, destroying her mother¡¯s life. Lady Mei couldn¡¯t even imagine what her mother felt when she gave birth to her.


    ¡°If Major Zhou likes me and gives me what I want, I will willingly let myself fall in love with him. I don¡¯t understand what you are thinking. He is such a sincere and loving man,¡± The female soldier said with a tone filled with jealousy. She felt she was good-looking too. Why did Major Zhou fell for Lady Mei and not her?


    ¡°I will not rely on a man for my needs,¡± Lady Mei replied with a dark expression.


    ¡°What is wrong with relying on a man?¡± The female soldier stood up instantly. The two of them were about to start a fight, but the other female soldiers pulled them apart.


    Lady Mei looked at the bunch of innocentdies and sighed. She said coldly, ¡°With the exception of talented monsters, all ace mecha masters are at least 30 years old and above. Most of them will have families already at that age. 250 Mecha n is just a normal ace mecha n, so there will probably not be any talented people in it. It will be difficult for you all want to find someone you like.¡±


    ¡°There will definitely be fish that escaped the.¡± The female soldier who was dressed sexily smiled. They could ept older men as long as they were not married. The average lifespan in the Federation was 150 years old so a 20 years old age gap meant nothing.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Even if those talented and powerful peoplee to our base, we won¡¯t have any chance too.¡± Another female soldier said, ¡°Only a goddess like Li Yinfei will be able to...¡±


    ¡°It is not impossible too. General Ling Xiao¡¯s wife was a JMC, right?¡± One female soldier didn¡¯t agree with her friend. She started to appear as if she was dreaming and said, ¡°I believe that my Ling Xiao wille and look for me.¡±


    ¡°Stop dreaming!¡± The other female soldierughed. They were all excited and anticipating this weing dinner while Lady Mei sat dejectedly at the corner. She didn¡¯t want to talk to these stupiddies whose mind was filled with blind love.


    Lan Luofeng was a lucky person. However, how many Lan Luofengs was there in the military? Mostdies were tricked and yed by the officers. Her mother was one of them.


    ¡°Fine, fine, Lady Mei, don¡¯t be angry!¡± A beautiful female soldier saw the sadness in Lady Mei¡¯s face and rushed over. She hugged Lady Mei¡¯s shoulder and patted her. ¡°I know that you are afraid that we will be fooled by the men. You want to climb up using your own abilities. However, we just don¡¯t have that kind of ambition. We just want to marry a good husband and have a child with him.¡±


    ¡°But...¡± Lady Mei looked at the exciteddies. She was worried. There were so many cases of female JMCs getting tricked. Why couldn¡¯t they wake up?


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We will keep our eyes sharp.¡± The beautiful female soldier knew what Lady Mei was worried about. But, they still thought that they were able to meet the man of their dreams.


    Lady Mei knew that her persuasions were useless now, so she sighed and let them do what they wanted.


    Soon, the female soldier finished dressing themselves up. They went to the canteen together, which looked entirely different. It had been cleaned up and the tables had been rearranged. Each mecha n was assigned to a table or an area. The JMC female soldiers were the attendants for this weing dinner. They would serve the officers their foods and drinks.


    Many officers were already seated at the cafeteria. They were either resting in their seats or chatting with the person beside them. When the JMCs walked in, their eyes lit up. Although they might not have any untoward thoughts about these women, it was still only natural for them to admire beautifuldies.


    A bunch of young junior officers around 30 years old were sitting at a table near the stage saw the female soldiers entering, and instantly got excited.


    ¡°Brother Zhou, the woman you like came too,¡± a fair young man said to the handsome man he was sitting next to. He was the person that had been chasing Lady Mei. His name was Zhou Chen.


    Zhou Chen turned and saw Lady Mei¡¯s cold face. He was ted. The moment he entered this base, he was entranced by this cold and arrogantdy. However, no matter what he did, she didn¡¯t fall for him. This just perked his desire to conquer her even more. Until now, he didn¡¯t know if he really liked her or he just wanted to satisfy his desires.


    He stood up immediately and walked towards the JMCs. The people around him followed behind him.


    ¡°Lady Mei, long time no see!¡± Zhou Chen shouted with a bright smile.


    The female soldiers beside Lady Mei pushed her forward, so Lady Mei had no choice but to reply, ¡°Major Zhou, we just met yesterday.¡±

 Chapter 802 - Help Me!

    <h4>Chapter 802: Help Me!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Lady Mei, seeing you after only such a short time felt like an eternity. Don¡¯t you feel the same?¡± Zhou Chen had a flirtatious expression as he spoke.


    ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t understand what you mean. I just know that it has only been 16 hours since west met!¡± Lady Mei said coldly. She didn¡¯t want to give Zhou Chen any anything to work with. She bes very irritated every time Zhou Chen shows up with that kind of expression on his face.


    Zhou Chen¡¯s smile instantly froze up. Lady Mei gestured the female soldier beside her, preparing to go around Zhou Chen. She didn¡¯t have any thoughts of continuing to speak with him, causing him to lose his dignity in front of his posse.


    The officers around them saw this scene and began tough softly. These privileged and arrogant people like Zhou Chen had irritated and angered many people. The piercingughter was a clear indication of mockery and making fun of him.


    ¡°Bam!¡±


    A hand suddenly grabbed onto Lady Mei¡¯s wrist. Zhou Chen, who was the owner of the hand, had a cold expression on his face. He said slowly, ¡°Lady Mei, I¡¯ve already asked you out for three months, shouldn¡¯t you give me an answer already?¡± If there weren¡¯t other officers around, he wouldn¡¯t care if Lady Mei continued to y around with him. However, now that they were seen in public, his ego did not allow himself to be stepped on by amon female soldier.


    Lady Mei flung his hand off of her wrist, ¡°Major Zhou, I had already told you very clearly three months ago. We. Are. Not. Happening!¡± Afterwards, she led her friends, who were scared, and prepared to leave.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Lady Mei suddenly cried out in pain. It turns out her hand was grabbed by him once again. However this time, he didn¡¯t hold back and made it painful for her.


    ¡°Lady Mei, you should understand that I will not take no for an answer. I¡¯ve already given you respect. If you don¡¯tply, I¡¯m going to be very angry.¡± Zhou Chen didn¡¯t allow anyone to reject him in public, especially if it was an average and powerless female soldier.


    ¡°Do you not understand the wordsing out of my mouth? I don¡¯t like you, please let go of my hand!¡± Lady Mei had hardened personality. How could she give in to this person? Even if she was to be expelled by the military, she still wanted to leave with her dignity.


    ¡°You should havee quietly when you had the chance. Little Wu, A¡¯Mo, take her to my room!¡± Zhou Chen tossed Lady Mei towards the two people behind him and gestured them to take her away.


    ¡°Let go of me, let go!¡± Lady Mei kicked and punched the two officers who tried to drag her way. In her mind she knew that if she didn¡¯t save herself now, she would be ruined. Although the regtions of the military was strict, it was only in divisions during normal times. However, on the front lines of a battlefield, there were a lot of shady things happening. For some bases, they even neglect asions when soldiers assault female soldiers in order to quell the killing intent and anxiousness from the battlefield.


    The female soldiers that came with Lady Mei were all dumbstruck. They saw Zhou Chen¡¯s cold expression, and didn¡¯t dare to say anything.


    The officers around them all frowned. Some wanted to make a move but were stopped by those around them. Offending a privileged individual for a normal JMC was not worth it. In the end, most of the people in Base 013 were all justmoners. These junior officers all climbed the ranks one by one. Once they offend these people, they could predict that their futures would bepletely destroyed.


    ¡°Captain?¡± The Evil Wind Mecha Team had entered just then and saw this scene. They all had angry expressions on their faces. One of them asked the leader, Yan Three, whether they should make a move.


    Others might be afraid of these privileged individuals, but it didn¡¯t mean those from Evil Wind were afraid of them. They had some power in this base, so if the higher-ups were to punish them, they would need enough reason to do so. They also had the right to go to court and use their merits to ask the disciplinarymittee to conduct an investigation. Even if they couldn¡¯t leave without a scratch, they would still give the privileged individuals a hard time.


    Right as Yan Three was about to nod, he saw a few familiar silhouettes. He smirked and said, ¡°Don¡¯t make a move just yet, 250 Ace Mecha n is here!¡±


    He wanted to see how would the people from 250 Ace Mecha n deal with this problem!


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Luo Chao and Han Xuya were the first to arrive. They saw a female soldier fighting for her life to get away from two junior officers who were trying to drag her away, and they asked in confusion.


    The junior officers from 250 Mecha n¡¯s logistics division all shook their heads. They had also just arrived and didn¡¯t know what was happening.


    Lady Mei saw that there were female officers at the door and immediately had an idea. She shouted loudly, ¡°Help me! Please help me!¡± She was not going to give up until the veryst moment.


    ¡°Hey, let her go!¡± Han Xuya couldn¡¯t bear to see what was happening. No matter what had happened or whether that female soldier was in the right or wrong, she still wanted to stop it and ask about the situation since she saw it.


    Little Wu saw Han Xuya¡¯s young and elegant beauty and instantly had a thought, ¡°Wow, when did our base get such high quality girls? How about it? Do you want toe with me?¡±


    Han Xuya frowned. ¡®What is with this base? Why were all of these people so creepy and like to take advantage of women?¡¯


    ¡°Did you not understand what i said? I told you let her go!¡± Han Xuya¡¯s impression of these two people instantly went into the negatives. She originally only wanted to ask for the reason of the issue, but now she decided that no matter what, she was going to take care of this issue. Looking the creepy looks the two senior captains gave her, she knew they weren¡¯t nice people!


    ¡°Heh, a first lieutenant dares to order us to let someone go?¡± A¡¯Moughed coldly, ¡°Has your superiors never taught you about ranks?¡±


    ¡°No, he really hadn¡¯t!¡± Han Xuya said with a smile. The mecha operators in 250 Mecha n were all senior colonels or lieutenant colonels. Even her childhood friends were all majors, even the lowest rank were senior captains. Thus, she didn¡¯t care too much about this senior captain who stood in front of her.


    Han Xuya¡¯s words made A¡¯Mo¡¯s expression change instantly. This was the first time someone disrespected him in public. He suddenly had an evil thought. If that was the case, then he should have this woman with Lady Mei.


    He suddenly went to grab Han Xuya. Han Xuya¡¯s eyes sharpened and threw her fist towards him.


    ¡°Bam!¡± The sound of punches being thrown could be heard.


    ¡°Ah!¡± A pained shout followed after the punching sound.


    A¡¯Mo held his right hand with a pale expression on his face. He looked at the woman who had broken his hand with a sinister look. He didn¡¯t think that she would have that much strength, wounding him in one hit.


    ¡°What happened?¡± The activity around them angered Zhou Chen who had already calmed down. He walked over and asked in a cold tone.


    ¡°Elder Brother Zhou, this woman actually dares to meddle with your affairs.¡± A¡¯Mo saw Zhou Chene over and instantly told him about it.


    Zhou Chen¡¯s eyes looked towards Han Xuya and also saw the beautiful Luo Chao, who was behind Han Xuya. Together Lady Mei, who was although somewhat flustered, the three different beauties made him salivate in his mouth. He couldn¡¯t help but lick his lips and softly say, ¡°I didn¡¯t think that the base would have two more beauties. Very nice. Very nice.¡±

 Chapter 803 - An Amusement Park for Fighting!

    <h4>Chapter 803: An Amusement Park for Fighting!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Zhou Chen¡¯s creepy expression instantly angered Han Xuya. She put her hands on her waist and shouted, ¡°What are you looking at? Shouldn¡¯t you let go of that female soldier?¡±


    ¡°You broke my friend¡¯s arm, shouldn¡¯t you take responsibility for that?¡± Zhou Chen smiled coldly. Although he liked beautiful girls, he definitely wouldn¡¯t allow them to stand over him.


    ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± Han Xuya suddenly smiled while ying with her fingers without a care in the world. When she came here, her elder cousin brother said that if she were to be in trouble, she shouldn¡¯t make it difficult for herself. She was told she could do anything and make a scene, and there would naturally be someone there to clean it up for her.


    Han Xuya knew this was their Boss¡¯s orders. If she had Boss¡¯s protection, even if she was to break through the heavens, she would still be fine.


    Luo Lang was also told that by her elder brother, Luo Lang, thus she was was only watching Han Xuya worked her magic with a calm smile on her face. She didn¡¯t have any thoughts of stopping her. In Luo Chao¡¯s mind, Boss Lan would help them out if they were stuck in a sticky situation.


    ¡®It seems these two girls aren¡¯t terrified at all.¡¯ Zhou Chen, who had always had his way in Base 013, had immediate change in his expression, ¡°It seems you don¡¯t know who I am.¡±


    Han Xuya sighed softly. ¡®Why do these antagonists always say the same thing?¡¯ She clenched her fist, cracking her knuckles, ¡°Then tell me, who are you?¡± Once all the pointless chatter ends, she would finally be able to start fighting again.


    Seeing Han Xuya¡¯s movements, Zhou Chen understood her intentions ¡®She actually dares to put up a strong front in front of me...¡¯ His expression showed a hint of anger and he waved his hand. Seeing that hand movement, a dozen of his friends who was just spectating the tense atmosphere, instantly came forward.


    ¡°You actually dare to not respect us and dare to attack the 8th battalion? Do you not know the significance of the 8th battalion? You¡¯re really looking for a death wish.¡± Their families deliberately put them into a base that had any connections with a division. They wanted to give these young people real military merits, so that it will be easier for them to climb up the ranks. Their families really did a lot for them.


    ¡°Oh, the 8th battalion? Okay... but what does that have anything to do with me? Yes, I am not respecting you. What can you do to me?¡± Han Xuyaughed. Her bravado made other officers frown slightly as they were all used to female soldiers being submissive. They definitely weren¡¯t used to such an arrogant woman.


    Only Lady Mei¡¯s eyes glistened when she saw what Han Xuya did. She discovered that she was what she aspired to be. Whoever was to put their hand on her, she would ruthlessly cut it off and not care about the consequences.


    Han Xuya¡¯s arrogant attitude instantly angered those arrogant and privileged individuals. They didn¡¯t wait for Zhou Chen¡¯s order, and they all instantly surrounded her.


    Although Lady Mei admired Han Xuya, she was concerned when she saw a dozen junior officers circling her at the same time. She began to worry about the cool and poised female officer.


    ¡°Come at me!¡± Han Xuya¡¯s eyes brightened and ran towards them. She finally had a chance to show off. Before, when she got into these types of situations, it would always be taken care of by Qi Long and Luo Lang, leaving her no chance for her to do anything even if she wanted to. She didn¡¯t think that after arriving at Base 013, she was actually the one with the most chances to fight, leaving her with an amazing impression of this base. It was like an amusement park for fighting.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang.¡± Many people were sent flying, smashing into the tables and chairs on the side. They created a big mess, causing the person in charge of the cafeteria to have pale expressions on his face. He was internally crying. He could already imagine the angry and murderous face of the logistics department head. He might lose his job because of this.


    ¡®If I had known that things would get this out of control, I would have stopped him before he could let his people take that JMC away.¡¯ The person in charge of the cafeteria thought in his mind regrettably.


    When Little Wu saw that his friends actually couldn¡¯t even beat a woman, his expression became sinister, and he thought of a n to choke Lady Mei in order to threaten Han Xuya. Right when he was about to choke Lady Mei, he suddenly felt his chin taking a strong hit. Just as he was about to pass out, he heard a cracking sounding out of his chin.


    Luo Chao arrived beside Lady Mei and pulled Lady Mei away, taking her far away from the fight. It was to make sure she wasn¡¯t hurt from the people who were sent flying by Han Xuya. Although seemed to have been focusing on Han Xuya, she was actually staring at Lady Mei, in order to determine the perfect time for her to take her back. Seeing the perverted guy preparing to using Lady Mei as a hostage, she decisively made a move. Although Luo Chao¡¯s physical skills was not as good as Han Xuya, it was still easy for her, who had reached the peak of refinement, to strike down someone who was only at the early stage of refinement.


    Seeing his friends continuously get beaten up by strong women, Zhou Chen couldn¡¯t hold himself back anymore, and he pounced towards Han Xuya with the intent to disable her forever.


    ¡°Bam!¡± However, Zhou Chen was immediately intercepted by someone in mid-air.


    ¡°You¡¯re opponent is me!¡± A silhouettended on front of Zhou Chen and said calmly.


    Zhou Chen¡¯s eyes widen and said in a surprised tone, ¡°Zhou Yu, it¡¯s you?¡± The person who intercepted Zhou Chen was none other than Second Lieutenant Zhou Yu from 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s logistics department. He just had bare minimum amount of merits in order to participate in the weing dinner. He was the second group toe in and was only behind Han Xuya and Luo Chao by a short while. He came just in time to see Zhou Chen attacking Han Xuya.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me. Is it really that strange?¡± Zhou Yu clenched his fist. His wrist, that took the hit, was somewhat numb. With his current capabilities, it was still somewhat difficult for him to intercept Zhou Chen. However, this small bit of pain made him feel fantastic. It meant that his efforts of working towards not being a piece of useless trash had paid off.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think that trash like you would actually pass the new recruit examination and be taken in by a division... But why are you torturing yourself? If you can¡¯t learn the Zhou family¡¯s Divine Dash technique, then you don¡¯t have the qualifications to be part of the Zhou family,¡± Zhou Chen said with a serious tone.


    ¡°Does it matter if I can¡¯t be part of the Zhou family?¡± Zhou Yu said indifferently.


    A year ago, the Zhou family¡¯s abandonment made him feel lost and anger. He took these feelings with him as he joined the military, and he coincidentally entered 250 Ace Mecha n. After a year of being withrade who shared simr feelings of abandonment, the issue with the Zhou family had been resolved in his head... He had brother-in-arms alongside him now, such as Chen Yi¡¯an, Guo Rongqi and others from the logistics department who worked hard with him. Everyone was putting forth all their efforts into bing stronger. What made him even more emotional was that their regimentmander, Ling Lan, never gave up on trash like them. After researching their physical constitutions, she had personally created a set of physical skills techniques that were suitable for their respective constitutions, which helped them to quickly advance. They were originally only at the primary stage of foundation, the lowest stage of the Federation¡¯s physical skills. However, in that single year, they all managed to advance. Most of them entered into the early stages of refinement, while he grew even faster and advanced to the peak of refinement. This was why he was promoted to second lieutenant.


    Zhou Chen didn¡¯t think that Zhou Yu would give him such an answer and was instantly stunned. He still remembered the face Zhou Yu made when the Zhou family given him the punishment. It was full of resentment, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t have left the Zhou family and joined the military.


    When Zhou Yu saw Zhou Chen¡¯s stunned expression, he smirked. If it wasn¡¯t for everything Regiment Commander Ling had done, he might not have been able to reach this point. Now, Zhou Yu was no longer Zhou Yu of the Zhou family, but was instead Zhou Yu of 250 Ace Mecha n. Back when he had advanced to the early stages of refinement, he had already made a decision. He nned on following his Boss Lan who had given him a new lease on his life.

 Chapter 804 - Threat?

    <h4>Chapter 804: Threat?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Trash, you finally understand that you can never be a part of the Zhou family.¡± Zhou Chen reacted quickly and gave a look of disdain.


    ¡°If I¡¯m trash, what about you? I haven¡¯t seen you for more than a year but you are still at the primary stage of Qi-Jin. You made no improvements at all. Looks like you are going to be a useless person like me soon.¡± Zhou Yu looked at Zhou Chen. This was the person he was envious of in the past. From the looks of it now, his jealousy was too cheap in the past. In 250 Ace Mecha n, Zhou Chen could only be a logistician like him.


    Zhou Chen¡¯s face turned red with anger and viciousness appeared in his eyes. Although he was stronger than Zhou Yu, he was not among the outstanding batch in the Zhou family. If he didn¡¯t have a good mother who had a powerful background, the Zhou family wouldn¡¯t have ced so much emphasis and resources on him. He knew that he was not that impressive, so he liked to vent his frustrations on Zhou Yu to feel better about himself. Zhou Yu was in that kind of position due to him being unable to practice the Zhou family¡¯s Divine Dash technique. Zhou Chen was able to vent his frustrations by showing off his abilities in front of him. It was because of the Zhou family¡¯s cruel and unforgiving environment that caused Zhou Chen¡¯s mind to be twisted.


    Zhou Yu¡¯s words exposed his greatest insecurity. He went berserk. ¡°Zhou Yu, go and die!¡± Zhou Chen shouted in anger. His eyes were bloodshot as he pounced at Zhou Yu while releasing his Qi-Jin to its maximum. He wanted to kill Zhou Yu.


    However, Zhou Yu remained calm in the face of an attack. He congregated all his energy and blocked the attack.


    Boom! Zhou Yu took a few steps back before he stabilized himself. A drip of blood flowed down the corner of his mouth. He was only at the peak of refinement, so the power of Qi-Jin had injured him heavily. However, he didn¡¯t want to lower himself in front of Zhou Chen. He swallowed the blood that gushed up to his mouth, leaving only a couple of drops of blood that slipped out his mouth.


    ¡°Zhou Yu, are you alright?¡± A second lieutenant jumped out and held him up. It was Zhou Yu¡¯s good friend, Chen Yi¡¯an. Chen Yi¡¯an was only at the primary stage of refinement but Chang Xinyuan realized his talent in mecha modification so he moved Chen Yi¡¯an to the modification department. Thus, Chen Yi¡¯an became Chang Xinyuan¡¯s helper. His rank jumped from a third rank corporal to a second lieutenant, making him able to attend this dinner.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine!¡± Zhou Yu wiped the blood off his mouth. He suffered a heavy internal injury but he was happy. This person was no longer the devil in his heart anymore. He was able to resist him now. Zhou Yu believed that in one more year, he would surpass Zhou Chen.


    Zhou Chen was furious when he saw a primary stage refinement soldier interrupting the battle between him and Zhou Yu. He felt that the other person was not giving him any respect. The angry Zhou Chen raised his fist and aimed it at Chen Yi¡¯an, preparing to give this arrogant second lieutenant a bloody lesson.


    Zhou Yu was shocked when he saw Zhou Chen¡¯s fisting towards Chen Yi¡¯an. He quickly pulled Chen Yi¡¯an behind him and prepared to use his body to block the fist.


    Boom! A figure flew out and mmed through multiple tables at the canteen. The force was so great, the figure smashed through four round tables before he stopped.


    A cold and handsome senior captain had appeared in front of Zhou Yu. He was the person who kicked Zhou Chen away.


    ¡°Brother!¡± Chen Yi¡¯an popped his head out behind Zhou Yu. He was ted when he saw the person in front of Zhou Yu. It was his brother, Chen Yifan.


    Chen Yifan¡¯s true capabilities were immediately found out when he entered the 250 Ace Mecha n. He was then transferred to the mecha team and became a member of Li Yingjie¡¯s team 10. The two brothers belonged to two different departments so they came with their own team in sequence. In 250 Ace Mecha n, the logisticians would arrive first, followed by the mecha team. Li Yingjie¡¯s team 10 was the first mecha team to arrive at the canteen. When Chen Yifan saw someone attempting to harm his younger brother, he immediately acted.


    Zhou Chen picked himself up from the ground with much effort. It was a simple series of actions but he was in tremendous amounts of pain by just doing it. Thus, he couldn¡¯t control himself and vomit out blood while clutching his stomach. After multiple attempts of trying to stand up but eventually falling on the ground, he finally stood up, albeit a little wobbly. Then, he maliciously looked at the person who had injured him.


    ¡°How dare a senior captain injure me. I will report this to the disciplinarymittee. You can just sit there and wait for the military to kick you out.¡± Zhou Chen gritted his teeth. He knew he was not this person¡¯s match. Hence, he prepared to use his family background to punish these bastards who dared to provoke him.


    ¡°Is someone threatening my team members? Are you bored of life?¡± An arrogant voice came from the open door, before revealing a major who entered the room slowly.


    ¡°Leader!¡±


    ¡°Leader Li!¡±


    The team members from team 10 and the logisticians saluted the major.


    Major Li snapped his fingers indifferently. His team members knew what their leader was like so they quickly moved to the side. Chen Yifan looked at Zhou Chen in pity before bringing his brother and Zhou Yu to the side too.


    The logisticians also knew the personality of Little Leader Li, so they immediately followed the other members of team 10 without hesitation.


    There were two team leaders with the surname Li in 250 Ace Mecha n. To differentiate them, they called Li Lanfeng, Big Leader Li, and Li Yingjie was referred to as Little Leader Li. The personalities of these leaders were also a direct contrast with each other. Big Leader Li was gentle, well-mannered, thoughtful, treats his subordinates well and just an overall good person. Everyone liked him. If anyone made Big Leader Li angry, it must be the fault of the other person. As for Little Leader Li, he was theplete opposite. He was arrogant, bossy, impatient, offends people easily and was not afraid of anybody. He was like the devil of their mecha n. However, there was only one person who could bring him down a notch, and that was their regimentmander. Whenever Little Leader Li saw their regimentmander, he would immediately be like an angel.


    Soon, only Zhou Chen and Li Yingjie were left at the doorway.


    Li Yingjie slowly walked towards Zhou Chen. He bent down and patted Zhou Chen¡¯s cheek. ¡°How can someone like you dare to threaten my man? What a disgrace.¡± As he spoke, the force he exerted on his hand increased. The handprint on Zhou Chen¡¯s cheek was slowly bing more prominent on Zhou Chen¡¯s face after each and every time Li Yingjie patted him.

 Chapter 805 - Can’t Hold It!

    <h4>Chapter 805: Can¡¯t Hold It!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    When Li Yingjie was about to p his cheek, Zhou Chen wanted to move away from his hand. However, he got suppressed by his force of presence, freezing him in his ce, forcing him to receive all the ps on his cheeks. He could clearly feel each p progressing more harsher than thest, with the distinct and continuous ¡®pah¡¯ sound. Zhou Chen red at Li Yingjie furiously. He would have fainted by the ps but his anger forced him to remain conscious.


    ¡°As expected of an ace mecha n. What a grand entrance.¡± A sarcastic voice sounded from the door.


    Zhou Chen looked at the person who came and his eyes lit up. His life savior was here to save him.


    Li Yingjie turned his head slowly and saw a handsome 30 years old lieutenant colonel smiling as he walked in. When he walked passed Li Yingjie, he nced at the other officers from the base who were watching the show.


    The officers¡¯ expressions changed when they saw this person. When this person nced at them, they immediately turned and walked away. No one dared to provoke him.


    Zhou Chen¡¯s background was strong but it was insignificantpared to this person.


    The person stood in front of Li Yingjie and flicked his insignia. He appeared to be dusting his insignia, but Li Yingjie knew that he was showing him that he had a higher rank.


    Li Yingjie smiled. ¡®Is he trying topare rank?¡¯ There were many people in his team that had a higher rank than this person. In 250 Ace Mecha n, military rank was like an ornament. If everything was done based on rank, 250 Ace Mecha n would be in a mess. Their regimentmander was just a lieutenant colonel. However, there were many senior colonels and lieutenant colonels in the mecha n.


    The person was confused when he noticed that Li Yingjie was not frightened at all by his rank. The thought of threatening this person using his military rank was pushed to the side. Compared to Zhou Chen, this person was much more vignt. He knew that there were normally two kinds of people that were not afraid of someone with a higher rank than themselves. These kinds of people were either rash and stupid, or he had the capabilities or background to not be afraid. The first kind was easy to deal with but the second...


    ¡°Major, shouldn¡¯t you restrain yourself since you just came to the base?¡± The person asked.


    ¡°Restrain?¡± Li Yingjie smiled. ¡°We are already restraining ourselves.¡± Based on his temper in the past, he would have already ordered his team to jump on Zhou Chen together by now.


    The person was clearly not expecting such a reply as he was stunned, freezing his smile. ¡®This brat doesn¡¯t show me any respect at all. How irritating.¡¯ The person¡¯s eyes turned cold. He lowered his right hand and rubbed his fingers quickly.


    At that moment, Zhou Chen suddenly shouted, ¡°Boss Song, these people are looking down on our mecha n and on you too.¡±


    The person red at Zhou Chen. ¡®What an idiot!¡¯ He wanted to understand more about the other party first so that he could make a better decision but Zhou Chen¡¯s words immediately made them enemies. He was forcing him to teach this brat a lesson. If not, he wouldn¡¯t be able to hold his head up high in Base 013 anymore. Everyone would think that he was afraid of this brat if he did not teach him a lesson.


    The person hated Zhou Chen for saying this. No one could force him to do anything. Even if Zhou Chen came from the biggest family that supported his grandfather, he wouldn¡¯t forgive him so easily.


    Zhou Chen¡¯s heart dropped when he felt Boss Song¡¯s cold gaze. He knew that he had offended his boss in his rush to take revenge on Li Yingjie. He remembered Boss Song¡¯s cruel methods of torture. Cold sweat formed on his forehead. The thought of revenge was quickly thrown to the back of his mind. He didn¡¯t even have the time to think of Lady Mei now as he was thinking of ways to pacify Boss Song so that he would let him off.


    Boss Song turned to look at Li Yingjie. He pped his hands lightly andughed, ¡°Did you hear what my friend said? Is that true?¡±


    ¡®If this brat back down, I would let him off for now. I need to get more information about him first before I take any action.¡¯


    ¡°If your mecha n is filled with people like him, what he said is exactly what I think.¡± Li Yingjie looked at that bunch of people that got beaten up by Han Xuya who was still groaning in pain. He scoffed. In 250 Ace Mecha n, even the logisticians wouldn¡¯t want to hire these people.


    Boss Song¡¯s expression turned dark. He could see that this brat in front of him was a rash idiot who didn¡¯t know when to give someone an out.


    ¡°If that is the case, I have to see what kind of people 250 Ace Mecha n is made out of.¡± Boss Song sneered.


    Although their mecha n was not an ace mecha n, all their mecha operators were special-ss operators. There were even a few ace mecha masters among them. He was an ace mecha master too. It could be said that his mecha n was on par with a normal ace mecha n with a bunch of special and ace operators like 250. He knew this information because he went to ask themanding officer beforehand and got the information that 250 Mecha n was such a mecha n.


    (Themanding officer: It is true that this mecha n consists of abination of special-ss operators and ace mecha masters. However, I didn¡¯t mention the details just now. Around 95% of their total mecha operators are ace mecha masters. The number of special-ss operators is less than 5% of their total mecha operators...)


    ¡°However, before we fight, let me introduce myself so that you know who you are fighting with. My name is Song Yiqing,¡± Song Yiqing said calmly.


    Zhou Chen¡¯s eyes lit up. He added hurriedly, ¡°Our Boss Song¡¯s grandfather is the Second Marshal of the Federation. He is the Regiment Commander of 224 Mecha n which is under the 8th battalion. After hepletes this mission, he will be the regimentmander of an ace mecha n...¡± Zhou Chen told everyone Song Yiqing¡¯s background.


    ¡°You speak too much,¡± Song Yiqing scolded him. However, the pride in his eyes was apparent.


    Li Yingjie frowned. He didn¡¯t expect such a person to exist in this small base. This... he couldn¡¯t handle this person.


    In the Federation, elite families and the military were two entirely different entities. Although the Li family was an elite family and had much presence outside, its influence in the military was less than a regimentmander that had real power. This was why the Li family wanted to control a military division. They wanted to have an actual say in the military world. However, the military kept its guard against the elite families too. They wanted to prevent a single family from bing invincible. That was why the Li family¡¯s 4th division had many other factions in it. The other elite families also met the same situation. No matter how much effort they put in, they were unable to control an entire faction. Some elite families lost their chance to gain military power and became a coborator of one of the marshals. The Zhou family was an instance of this.


    Li Yingjie was arrogant and bossy but he was not stupid. He knew that he couldn¡¯t handle this person so he went to look for help.


    ¡°Qi Long! He is looking for you!¡±


    Li Yingjie threw this troublesome fellow to Qi Long. Then, he disappeared quickly.


    Since the Second Marshal was not on good terms with the Third Marshal, why not he let the heir of the 13th division, which was under the third marshal, y with Song Yiqing?

 Chapter 806 - I Don’t Have Anything Against You!

    <h4>Chapter 806: I Don¡¯t Have Anything Against You!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    A person appeared after Li Yingjie¡¯s shout. He was a humble-looking youth with the rank of major. The moment he walked over, he got a shock. ¡®Why is everyone looking at me so weirdly?¡¯


    He nced around and scratched the back of his head in puzzlement. ¡°Erm, who is looking for me?¡±


    He turned and looked at the members of team 10 in a search for the answer to his question. However, all the mecha operators from team 10 lowered their heads whenever Qi Long turned to look at them. They were having a moment of silence for Qi Long. ¡®An innocent person was pushed out by their team leader to take the bullet again.¡¯


    Qi Long then turned to look at Han Xuya and Luo Chao, after he noticed everyone from team 10 wasn¡¯t responding to him.


    Luo Chao lowered her head as she pointed to Song Yiqing¡¯s direction.


    Qi Long turned to where her finger pointed to and saw Song Yiqing. He then started to scan Song Yiqing from head to toe. After a while, he said, ¡°Erm, who are you? I don¡¯t recognize you.¡±


    Song Yiqing¡¯s face had turned green in anger. He wanted to teach that arrogant brat a lesson but the moment he exposed his background, that brat ran away in fright. However, that brat still didn¡¯t want to give up and called his teammate over to help him. But, when his teammate walked over, he just acted blur and said that he didn¡¯t know him? ¡®Hmph, do they think that the Song family is easy to bully?¡¯


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect a small major to have the guts to mess me with me...¡± Song Yiqing gritted his teeth and waved his hand. A middle-aged man suddenly jumped out from the crowd and attacked Qi Long.


    Boom! Qi Long raised his fist and resisted the attack. He immediately raised his hand after that and shouted, ¡°Wait!¡±


    The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment. He looked back at Song Yiqing and waited for hismand. The Song family ced him here so that he could protect Song Yiqing. Hence, he would only listen to Song Yiqing¡¯s orders.


    Qi Long saw this and knew that the snobbish lieutenant colonel was the decisive factor. He quickly continued, ¡°I just came here and I really don¡¯t know what is happening. If you want to fight, you should at least give me a reason to, right? If not, how am I supposed to answer to my regimentmander?¡±


    ¡®If Boss got angry at me because of this, I would definitely be punished. But... times are different now. I am a domain realm master so I shouldn¡¯t just roll over and get punished whenever Boss is in a bad mood. I need to maintain my reputation and dignity as a domain realm master, right...? Fine, in actual fact, my reputation and dignity mean nothing. I am still the Qi Long that Boss could torture whenever he wants.¡¯ Qi Long wanted to cry when he thought of this.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know? Why don¡¯t you ask your friend?¡± Song Yiqing said furiously. ¡®Why is he putting on that innocent face? Who is he trying to show?¡¯


    Qi Long turned and red at Li Yingjie who was hiding in the crowd. Li Yingjie knew that he was discovered so he popped his head out and said, ¡°Song Yiqing, the grandson of the Second Marshal.¡±


    Qi Long felt his teeth hurting. He knew he got fooled by Li Yingjie this time. This stupid person gave him such a big headache the moment he arrived. He looked at Song Yiqing and pondered seriously for a moment. He appeared enlightened and said, ¡°Oh, you are a descendant of the Second Marshal... however, I don¡¯t have anything against you. Haha, goodbye!¡± He turned and wanted to run away. If he had the chance to not provoke this person, he would take it.


    When Qi Long retreated, Song Yiqing knew that this bunch of brats were just sheep in wolves¡¯ clothing. He was fooled, and his heart started to burn with anger because of it. He shouted furiously, ¡°Hit him!¡±


    The middle-aged man received the order and rushed towards Qi Long. He raised his fist and aimed it at Qi Long¡¯s back. However, Qi Long didn¡¯t seem to notice the sneak attack at all. Everyone gasped in shock. Of course, only the members of 250 Mecha n were extremely calm. If Leader Qi Long would get injured by this, he wouldn¡¯t be called Leader Qi Long anymore.


    Boom! A human figure flew back into the room and mmed heavily onto the ground. The figure rolled on the ground and toppled a few tables before stopping.


    ¡°Pfft!¡± The person lying on the ground vomited multiple mouthfuls of blood. He couldn¡¯t get up anymore.


    Qi Long patted his military boots as though he was dusting it. Then, he put down his leg and said nonchntly, ¡°I said that I don¡¯t have anything against you. Why must you still attack me? How stupid.¡±


    Qi Long was an oppressive person in nature. However, Ling Lan had a more extreme version of his nature which allowed her to easily suppress his true nature, so he seldom could reveal it.


    The entire cafeteria was dead silent. That middle-aged man was at the peak stage of Qi-Jin. However, Qi Long managed to injure him with a single kick. This showed how powerful he was. Everyone looked at the young major in shock and wondered who he really was.


    Song Yiqing narrowed his eyes. He was astounded by Qi Long¡¯s disy of prowess too. However, Qi Long was doing so to obviously humiliate him. This was the first time someone looked down on him so tantly. His emotions took control of him. He pointed his finger at Qi Long and said angrily, ¡°How dare you injure my man. You...! The Song family will not forgive you!¡±


    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m really afraid of the Song family?¡± Qi Long snorted. He didn¡¯t want to cause any trouble but since someone was really asking for it, he would dly give that someone trouble. His Boss only instilled them with three rules: don¡¯t create trouble, face your problems bravely, and annihte your enemy.


    ¡°Fine. How arrogant. I¡¯m interested to know who you are. How dare you disrespect the Second Marshal!¡± Song Yiqing was not an idiot. He immediately took out the second marshal card so that he could use it against Qi Long since the Song family card wouldn¡¯t do.


    ¡°Marshal Song is a role-model of the military, and I¡¯m a soldier, so of course,I respect Marshal Song a lot. However, what does the Song family have to do with Marshal Song?¡± Qi Long smiled. ¡®Is he nning to frame him for being disrespectful towards a marshal? Does Song Yiqing think that he is really just a humble and honest person?¡¯


    There was one requirement in order to be a marshal. It was that he couldn¡¯t be affiliated with his family. It meant that his merits and honor was only for himself. Thus, it wouldn¡¯t affect his family¡¯s status quo, no matter how much merits he has. Anyone that breaks this rule would be brought to the military court. Of course, none of the marshals really followed this rule. They would all help their descendants to gain more benefits and resources, giving them a smoother path in the military. Everyone knew this. However, no one would say it tantly. Qi Long made use of this point, so by right, he didn¡¯t have to be afraid of Marshal Song.


    In the end, Song Yiqing could onlyin that Qi Long was disrespectful towards him as Qi Long had a lower rank than him. It was a rule that officers with lower ranks should maintain a certain level of respect for anyone who had a higher rank than them. However, this rule was only applicable whenever they are in a division. Once they went out of the division, this rule was just for the show. When a dispute happened, no one would care what your rank was. The people clearing up the mess would be the generals of the various divisions.


    However, no generals would be willing to bow their heads down to their equals, as this would affect the reputation of their respective divisions. Hence, no one would be punished for such a small matter. Also, Qi Long¡¯s father was the general of a division. ¡®Hehe, my father always hit me so it is probably alright for me to take a tiny revenge and create some trouble for him.¡¯


    Qi Long gave an evil smile. But, to other people, his face was still humble and honest-looking.

 Chapter 807 - Bow Down!

    <h4>Chapter 807: Bow Down!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Song Yiqing was speechless. He really didn¡¯t know if Qi Long really didn¡¯t know anything or was he serious about that.


    ¡°Since you dare to challenge the Song family, you should have the guts to tell me what your name is, right?¡± Song Yiqing sneered.


    ¡°23rd division, 250 Ace Mecha n, leader of team 03, Qi Long,¡± Qi Long replied calmly.


    Song Yiqing then looked at Li Yingjie. He still remembered that Li Yingjie humiliated him too.


    Li Yingjie raised his head arrogantly. ¡°23rd division, 250 Ace Mecha n, leader of team 10, Li Yingjie.¡±


    ¡°Good. I¡¯ll remember you!¡± Song Yiqing gritted his teeth as he replied. He decided that he must frame them for being disrespectful towards the Second Marshal. Even if they denied it, it wouldn¡¯t affect anything. Such normal soldiers who had no background were easy to deal with.


    At that moment, Li Yingjie suddenly sniggered. ¡°Oh right, to prevent you from finding the wrong person, there is something I have to tell you.¡±


    Qi Long felt that something bad was going to happen.


    ¡°Our team 03 leader is the son of the General of the 13th division, the famous god of the battlefield, Qi Yaoyang.¡± Li Yingjie pushed Qi Long to the crossfire without any hesitation as he really couldn¡¯t do anything to Song Yiqing. If Song Yiqing took revenge on him and let his grandfather knew what had happened, he would be chased back to the 4th division. He already spent a lot of effort and time to gain merits in the 23rd division, so he didn¡¯t want to go back and be a puppet controlled by his family.


    ¡°It¡¯s the god of the battlefield!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the invincible god of the battlefield, Qi Yaoyang!¡±


    Everyone gasped in shock. The three great marshals control the entire military world. However, to the soldiers, their fame was not as great as the undefeatable gods like Ling Xiao and Qi Yaoyang. They were the people they respected the most. Hence, when they heard that Qi Long was Qi Yaoyang¡¯s son, they started to look at him with respect. The pressure from Song Yiqing¡¯s background now seemed insignificant inparison.


    Even Song Yiqing¡¯s heart started pounding furiously when he heard this. A normal major without any background was totally different from the son of an undefeatable god. If he continued to be at loggerheads with Qi Long, he would have to face the anger of two generals, General Ling Xiao and General Qi Yaoyang, as General Ling Xiao would definitely protect Qi Long for the sake of General Qi Yaoyang. That meant that his grandfather would have to face the attack from both the First Marshal and the Third Marshal. This would be a great crisis towards his grandfather¡¯s position. The best case scenario of that situation would that the subordinates of the First Marshal weren¡¯t willing to help the people of the Third Marshal, hence his grandfather would only have to face one faction. However, even this scenario was already enough for his grandfather to have a headache.


    Song Yiqing was not a stupid person, proven by the fact that he was able to gain the support of his grandfather. He immediately thought of the terrible consequences that coulde up. His heart dropped. He restrained himself and squeezed out a smile on his face. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you are the son of General Qi. You have my respect. Our families are both working hard for the Federation, so we clearly shouldn¡¯t disturb them with our tiny farce¡±


    ¡°So?¡± Qi Long gave his humble smile again as he scratched the back of his head, pretending that he didn¡¯t know what Song Yiqing was saying.


    ¡°This matter between us will end here!¡± Song Yiqing forced his words out. He admitted defeat.


    ¡°Oh, was there anything between us?¡± Qi Long looked confused.


    ¡°No.¡± Song Yiqing narrowed his eyes. He knew Qi Long was trying to make things difficult for him. Qi Long just wanted to hear him admitting defeat personally.


    Song Yiqing controlled his emotions. Qi Yaoyang? His grandfather would definitely deal with this person and wrestle back control of the 13th division. When that happens, he would take his revenge on this bastard and let him understand the consequences of provoking him.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. I already said in the beginning that I don¡¯t have anything against you.¡± Qi Long smiled and turned to look for Li Yingjie. ¡®That sneaky fellow used me! Does he think I¡¯m so easily pushed around?¡¯


    Qi Long¡¯s indifferent attitude proved that he didn¡¯t care about Song Yiqing at all. Song Yiqing could hear the crowdughing at him, and his face turned green with anger. This time, he was humiliated badly by Qi Long. He knew that his reputation in Base 013 had clearly gone down.


    ¡°Boss Song... what do we do now?¡± Zhou Chen asked softly.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± They had already embarrassed themselves. Should they really continue to stay here and embarrass themselves further?


    ¡°Oh, okay!¡± Zhou Chen didn¡¯t dare to say anything else, and he quickly asked his men to leave with Song Yiqing.


    Themanding officer, who had been watching the show all this time, pretended that he had just arrived. He walked into the cafeteria and asked, ¡°Why is everyone standing at the door?¡±


    His adjutant saw the confused looks of the people from 250 Ace Mecha n and informed them hurriedly, ¡°This is themanding officer of the base, Senior Colonel Du Mingyi.¡±


    ¡°Senior Colonel Du!¡± Qi Long quickly went forward.


    ¡°Major Qi, I didn¡¯t know that you are the son of General Qi Yaoyang. That¡¯ great. I hope that you will be a legend in the battlefield just like the general.¡± Du Mingyi smiled amiably. He held Qi Long¡¯s hand and told him he had high hopes of him. This was a disy of goodwill.


    Du Mingyi understood why 250 Ace Mecha n was so special. It only had a poption of a mecha team but it was still able to be recognized as a mecha n. It must be a mecha n specially formed for Qi Long, just like 224 Mecha n. However, 224 Mecha n did things in a secluded manner. They didn¡¯t ask Song Yiqing to directly be the regimentmander of the mecha n. Instead, they let him joined a normal mecha n first to gain some experience. As for 250 Ace Mecha n... well, they did try to hide things up. At least they had a regimentmander for show to protect Qi Long¡¯s identity.


    ¡°Thank you. I willplete my mission under the guidance of my regimentmander and help protect the base.¡± Qi Long gave a shy smile. His humble face didn¡¯t suit his status. Du Mingyi felt relieved. It was good that Qi Long was not someone hard to deal with. If another Song Yiqing came, his position of themanding officer of the base would be in danger.


    He couldn¡¯t afford to offend anyone!


    Du Mingyi wanted to form a closer rtionship with Qi Long but his face suddenly turned serious. He turned and saluted towards the door. ¡°Regimentmander.¡±


    All the members of 250 Ace Mecha n did the same thing too. They formed up in an orderly manner and saluted seriously, shocking everyone in the cafeteria. The entire canteen turned quiet.


    Footsteps could be clearly heard throughout the whole canteen. The crisp sound of a pair of military boots stepping on the floor got closer and closer. When the footsteps stopped, a cold and dignified figure appeared in front of everyone.


    This neer was wearing the lieutenant colonel uniform with a white cloak around her while holding a short whip in her hand.

 Chapter 808 - Fatally Attractive?

    <h4>Chapter 808: Fatally Attractive?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ever since the harsh training started, a short whip was always in Ling Lan¡¯s hand. These short whips were prepared by Luo Chao and Han Xuya. Ling Lan liked the feeling of holding them so she would y around with them even when there was no need to use them.


    Suddenly, a sh of white lightnded on her right shoulder. Little White looked at everyone with its cute puppy eyes, warming the cold aura around Ling Lan a little. Just a little.


    Ling Lan scanned the crowd with her intense gaze. The soldiers from the base felt as though an ice knife was cutting into their flesh. Those that were weaker had to take a step back before they could withstand the intimidating aura.


    When she noticed that all the members of 250 Ace Mecha n were standing near the entrance of the canteen, she frowned. ¡°What happened?¡±


    Li Lanfeng had been watching the show the entire time so he hurried forward and told Ling Lan what had happened in the canteen when she had not arrived yet.


    Ling Lan nodded slightly. After Li Lanfeng finished recounting, she waved her silver short whip and knocked it on her left palm. She said coldly, ¡°In that case, Qi Long and Li Yingjie will be responsible for this matter.¡±


    Qi Long and Li Yingjie¡¯s expressions froze. Their Boss wanted them to solve their own problems, but... Song Yiqing was not an easy person to deal with.


    However, the two of them quickly forgot about Song Yiqing. They believed that if they really couldn¡¯t handle him, their Boss would definitely not leave them to the wolves, so there was no need to be afraid!


    Du Mingyi was shocked when he saw how respectful Qi Long was towards his regimentmander. He got even more vignt. He wondered who this regimentmander was. How was he able to have a prince of the Federation like Qi Long bow down to him?


    Du Mingyi gathered his thoughts and smiled. ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, you are finally here. Please have a seat.¡±


    Although his actual rank was higher than Ling Lan, a regimentmander of an ace mecha n had the same status as him in the army. He didn¡¯t know Ling Lan¡¯s background so to be on the safe side, he chose to be polite first.


    Ling Lan handed her short whip to Li Lanfeng, and Little White obediently jumped onto Li Lanfeng¡¯s shoulder. Ling Lan tilted her body and stretched her hand out in front of her body.


    Du Mingyi smiled and walked into the cafeteria with Ling Lan side to side. When they started to walk away from the entrance, the logisticians of the base cleared up the broken tables and set up new tables. Soon, no signs of a fight could be seen in the canteen. The atmosphere was harmonious again. It was as though nothing had happened.


    Lin Zhong-qing saw this and nodded his head secretly. ¡®The logisticians at this base are quite efficient.¡¯


    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Li Yingjie suddenly appeared out of nowhere.


    Lin Zhong-qing nced at him indifferently and walked away without replying.


    ¡°Hey, why are you ignoring me?¡± Li Yingjie asked in a sad tone.


    Lin Zhong-qing looked back at him and saw a Li Yingjie who was like a puppy that didn¡¯t manage to get praised by its master.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s heart turned soft. He replied, ¡°You did a good job of being arrogant.¡±


    Li Yingjie immediately smiled brightly in response to his praise. His aura also turned radiant and lively.


    Lin Zhong-qing was so moved by that smile that he started to doubt himself. ¡®When Li Yingjie forced me to enter his team in the past, was it really because he wanted to humiliate me? Or did Li Yingjie just want a friend?¡¯


    Lin Zhong-qing smiled. ¡®It doesn¡¯t matter now does it, Aren¡¯t I under Boss now?¡¯ He never regretted his decision. Lin Zhong-qing looked at the firm back of Ling Lan. Ling Lan was someone strong and well-respected. He believed that if he followed Boss Lan, he would stand at the top one day.


    Li Shiyu was speechless when he saw Li Yingjie¡¯s stupid smile. He felt that Li Yingjie was embarrassing the Li family. He nudged Li Lanfeng with his elbow and pointed at their stupid little brother.


    Li Lanfeng smiled when he saw this. He mouthed two words to Li Shiyu, ¡°Fatal Attraction.¡±


    The people from the Li family always had this strange ability. It was proven throughout all their generations but no one understood why it happened. The descendants of the Li family would always find a good buddy that would go through thick and thin with him. From the looks of it, Li Yingjie had luckily found his buddy. They hoped that the two of them would be able to be good friends that would help each other through life-or-death.


    Li Lanfeng knew that since Li Shiyu wouldn¡¯t take over the Li family as the family head, Li Yingjie was the best candidate for the family head. However, once he bes the family head, he would be exposed to all kinds of deception and plots, preventing him from being able to lead a simple life anymore. If he was able to get Lin Zhong-qing as his best buddy, he would be able to cross through those kinds of problems without too much of a concern.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan. ¡®I found my best buddy too, right? I am really lucky.¡¯


    Li Shiyu looked at Li Yingjie and then looked back at his eldest cousin brother who was staring at their regimentmander. He turned envious. ¡®They had all found their best buddies. What about me?¡¯ Li Shiyu looked around at all the familiar faces. Yet, none of them gave him that feeling. Li Shiyu suddenly clicked his tongue thenughed at his greed. Not everyone in the Li family was able to find their best buddy. His father was an instance of someone who didn¡¯t. Maybe he inherited his father¡¯s fate.


    Han Jijyun slowly moved towards Qi Long. Qi Long had a bitter expression on his face and said, ¡°Jijyun, help me think of a way out.¡± Luckily, he had someone to rely on.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Han Jijyun red at him. ¡®You have already provoked the person. What else can you do?¡¯


    ¡°Do I have to evade that bastard the next time I see him?¡± Qi Long was frustrated. That was not his style.


    ¡°Did you forget what our Boss said? 250 Ace Mecha n was going to the top. It will not be a small fry.¡± Han Jijyun reminded his good friend. He felt that there was an underlying meaning behind the order of the arrival of the teams.


    ¡°Do you mean...¡± Qi Long¡¯s eyes lit up.


    Han Jijyun mouthed, ¡°Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.¡± Song Yiqing was the chicken. He believed that Li Lanfeng understood this too. That was probably why he stopped Luo Lang, Xie Yi, Zhao Jun, and the rest of the team leaders that wanted to stop Qi Long just now. He allowed themotion to be bigger and even used Li Yingjie to expose Qi Long¡¯s identity.


    This was done to create a hype around Qi Long. It wouldy the foundation for him to subdue Song Yiqing in the future. It had to be said that every single step they made had been calcted by their Boss. Han Jijyun had to think carefully about his Boss¡¯s intentions in case he understood it wrongly and created trouble for his Boss.

 Chapter 809 - Informing!

    <h4>Chapter 809: Informing!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    On the other side, Luo Chao and Han Xuya wereforting the shocked Lady Mei. They asked if she wanted to go back and get some rest. Lady Mei¡¯s face was pale but she still shook her head firmly. Soon, she bid farewell to Luo Chao and Han Xuya and went on to continue her mission with the rest of the JMCs.


    Ling Lan and Du Mingyi came to the chairman¡¯s table. There were already a few lieutenant colonels and majors sitting on the table. They were also regimentmanders and leaders of the various mecha teams there. When they saw themanding officering towards them with a cold-looking youth, they collectively stood up and weed them.


    Du Mingyiughed. ¡°Come, let me introduce to you all. This is the Regiment Commander of 250 Ace Mecha n which will be stationed at our Base 013 from now on.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes twitched when she heard what Du Mingyi said. She realized that she had an affinity with certain numbers ever since she came into this world. For instance, this base was called Base 013. Her camp was camp 38. Her mecha n¡¯s name was 250 and Qi Long belonged to the 13th division. Luckily, in this world, these numbers have no special meaning. If not, she would be embarrassed.


    As Ling Lanined in her heart, her expression remained the same. Her face still remained cold. After Du Mingyi introduced her, she nodded at everyone at the table and greeted them.


    From the short interaction with Ling Lan, Du Mingyi knew that she was silent and hard to get close to, so she was not someone easy to talk to. Hence, he didn¡¯t get angry at her attitude and asked Ling Lan to sit down beside him. He went to the front seat and asked everyone to sit down.


    Li Lanfeng saw this and helped took Ling Lan¡¯s cloak off for her. Ling Lan had no adjutant so such little matters were done by herrades. Today, Li Lanfeng was on shift.


    After Ling Lan sat down, the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n also sat down. Du Mingyi noticed this and his eyes twitched. He looked at Ling Lan intently. After a while, he smiled and pointed at the table. He spoke to the lieutenant colonel on his right, ¡°Come, let me introduce the outstanding regimentmanders and leaders of our base. This is the leader of the scout team, Xu Shiming. We are able to escape unscathed many times because Leader Xu and his team constantly providing us with thetest news of the battlefield.¡±


    Xu Shiming was a middle-aged man around 40 years old. His eyes were deep. When he saw Ling Lan looking at him, he just nodded sternly. Ling Lan nodded back too. In the future, 250 Ace Mecha n would have to cooperate with these teams, so she needed to understand and get familiar with them first.


    ¡°This is the regimentmander of the advance mecha team from Ai¡¯er independent army, Cui Yunxuan.¡± Du Mingyi introduced all the people at the table. When he came to an empty seat, he coughed. He wanted to ignore this seat but Ling Lan said, ¡°This should be Lieutenant Colonel Song Yiqing¡¯s seat, right?¡±


    Du Mingyi smiled awkwardly. ¡°Lieutenant Colonel Song has a bad temper. However, after he thinks through everything, it¡¯ll be fine. Don¡¯t worry, Regiment Commander Ling. I will exin to Lieutenant Colonel Song and not let any conflicts happen between the two mecha ns.¡±


    Ling Lan nced at him nonchntly. ¡°It¡¯s alright. Friendlypetition is necessary. Let our subordinates have some fun.¡±


    Du Mingyi¡¯s smile froze. ¡®Who does he think Song Yiqing is? When he said subordinates, does it mean that he couldn¡¯t be bothered to handle Song Yiqing himself? If Song Yiqing was here, he would definitely be furious.¡¯ Du Mingyi could imagine the mess Song Yiqing would create if he went berserk. At first, he just wanted to understand 250 Ace Mecha n better. Who knew that the situation would turn uncontroble this quickly? Du Mingyi started to get agitated.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t seem to realize what Du Mingyi was thinking. She looked at the next person, Yan Three, who was looking at her thoughtfully. Ling Lan asked, ¡°This is...¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s words woke Du Mingyi up. He quickly continued, ¡°This is the hero of our base. Before you came, his mecha team was the one protecting this base. He is the leader of the Evil Wind Mecha Team, Major Yan Three.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so you are the leader of the Evil Wind Mecha Team.¡± Ling Lan smiled coldly. Du Mingyi and Yan Three¡¯s heart dropped. ¡®Is Ling Lan going to settle his grudge against the Evil Wind Mecha Team now?¡¯


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, I¡¯ve heard of what the Evil Wind Mecha Team did. Some of the members got too arrogant and went a little overboard. Leader Yan had already reprimanded them. Please forgive them.¡± Du Mingyi protected the Evil Wind Mecha Team. Although they were a bunch of unruly fellows, they still belonged to this base. They were very loyal to this base. This was a trait no other mecha ns in this base had. The other mecha ns were stationed at this base but in times of crisis, no one knew if they could rely on them.


    ¡°Based on what you said, the members of the Evil Wind Mecha Team are quite powerful. They justck in the attitude aspect...¡± Ling Lan looked at Du Mingyi indifferently. ¡°In that case, I don¡¯t mind letting them into my mecha n to groom them.¡±


    The entire canteen turned silent. Everyone¡¯s attention was on the chairman¡¯s table. The members of the Evil Wind Mecha Team red at Ling Lan. If their friends didn¡¯t stop them, they would have gotten up and scolded Ling Lan.


    Yan Three gritted his teeth and looked at Ling Lan sharply. He clenched his fists tightly. He was holding himself back because he knew that acting rashly would just make the situation worse. If not, he might have flipped the table already. At that moment, he felt thatpared to this calm Regiment Commander Ling, the arrogant and irritating Song Yiqing who had a powerful background was weak, very weak. This was a perfect manifestation of a vicious character. She wanted to destroy the Evil Wind Mecha Team just because he had provoked her subordinates.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, you are good at joking.¡± Du Mingyi forced out a smile.


    ¡°Do you think that I¡¯m kidding?¡± Ling Lan looked at Du Mingyi coldly.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, the Evil Wind Mecha Team is our base¡¯s team. It will not join 250 Mecha n.¡± Du Mingyi¡¯s smile disappeared. His tone turned serious. Even if Ling Lan wanted the Evil Wind Mecha Team, he would have to make him agree to it first.


    Ling Lan looked at him calmly. ¡°I¡¯m informing you, not asking for your opinion.¡±

 Chapter 810 - Takeaway!

    <h4>Chapter 810: Takeaway!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Ling Lan, you are being too much!¡± Du Mingyi was furious. He mmed the table and got up.


    Ling Lan just looked at him coldly without saying anything. She was not intimidated by his outburst at all. She just disregarded Du Mingyi entirely.


    However, Yan Three couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He got up and mmed the table with his fist forcefully, causing all the cutlery on the table to tter and fall to the ground.


    Yan Three¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. He red at Ling Lan and shouted angrily, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, the Evil Wind Mecha Team belongs to Base 013. I will not join any random mecha n. So, please stop your wistful thinking!¡±


    The Evil Wind Mecha Team was able to enjoy a good time at Base 013 because themanding officer had been secretly taking care of them. Yan Three was grateful towards themanding officer because of that, so he couldn¡¯t bear to see Ling Lan treating him so disrespectfully.


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and she slowly got up from her seat. When Li Lanfeng saw that, he came forward and draped the white cloak over Ling Lan¡¯s shoulder. Then, he presented her the silver short whip.


    Ling Lan pulled the cloak on her shoulders and took the silver short whip. After setting up the atmosphere, she slowly walked towards Yan Three and nced at him intently. Then, she raised her short whip and knocked on Yan Three¡¯s shoulder lightly.


    Yan Three frowned. He wanted to flick the whip away. However, Li Lanfeng rushed forward and pressed Yan Three firmly against his chair, making him unable to move.


    Ling Lan used her short whip and patted Yan Three¡¯s indignant face. She said calmly, ¡°I said I¡¯m informing you, not asking for your opinion. Yan Three, he who understands the times is a wise man. Yan Three, you only have three days. If someone doesn¡¯t report to my mecha n three dayster at 8 am, I will let you know the consequences of offending me. Good luck to you.¡±


    Ling Lan turned and looked at Du Mingyi. ¡°Senior Colonel Du, looks like no one wants to eat. I will take my leave first.¡±


    After she finished speaking, she calmly walked out of the canteen. In the first ce, Ling Lan agreed to attend this dinner because she wanted to understand the inner workings of Base 013 better. All the battle teams that were stationed here had their own thoughts. They were like a pile of loose sand. Du Mingyi instilled discord among the battle teams and made them guard against each other so as to protect his position as they couldn¡¯t coborate with each other due to them having their guard up against one another. If the battle teams were unable to unite together, no one would be able to threaten his position. Ling Lan felt that this was the worst method someone could use to consolidate his or her power. If a base was disunited and the people inside didn¡¯t trust each other, that base would get destroyed very soon.


    The other reason why Du Mingyi was able to sit in his position safely was that he had the Evil Wind Mecha Team, the most powerful mecha team in the base, backing him. From their conversation, she could tell that Yan Three respected Du Mingyi very much. Once someone threatens Du Mingyi¡¯s position, Yan Three would be willing to clear all the obstacles for him.


    Yan Three was a good knife and the Evil Wind Mecha Team was a good weapon. So, that weapon shouldn¡¯t stay in the hands of a useless person and be a tool in the fight for his power. This was why Ling Lan decided to act that way.


    She didn¡¯t care if Yan Three and the members of the Evil Wind Mecha Team would hate her. Even if they wanted to hate her, they would need to survive the hellish training first. Well, if they could survive it.


    As the members of 250 Mecha n saw their regimentmander leave from the chairman table, they stood up and walked behind their regimentmanders to the exit of the canteen.


    While they were walking, Lin Zhong-qing winked at Qi Long and Luo Lang secretly. The members of the Lingtian Battle Team slowed down and gathered behind everyone. Li Yingjie had sharp eyes so he noticed their little actions. He stayed behind too. ¡®Damn it, I won¡¯t let them leave me out.¡¯


    ¡°Why are you winking weirdly at us?¡± Qi Long asked curiously.


    ¡°Do you want to go back on an empty stomach?¡± Lin Zhong-qing rolled his eyes at Qi Long. He was in charge of the logistics of the mecha n. Therefore, money was very important to him. He was not willing to fork out another sum of money to pay for dinner today.


    Luo Lang shook his head. He didn¡¯t like to be hungry.


    ¡°What¡¯s your n?¡± Qi Long¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡®Hehe, I love to be naughty.¡¯ It made him feel aplished.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go grab some takeaway from the kitchen.¡± Xie Yi clenched his fist excitedly. This was so interesting. If they didn¡¯t want to spend on a meal, they should be more creative with their ways of acquisition.


    Luo Lang finally understood what was happening. He looked at Lin Zhong-qing in awe. ¡®As expected of the head of logisticians, he is so smart.¡¯


    Li Yingjie was excited too. He rubbed his hands and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go quickly. I¡¯m so hungry.¡±


    While they rushed to the kitchen to take away some food, Du Mingyi fell on his chair in anger when Ling Lan walked away without giving him any respect for his position.


    The people sitting at the table exchanged nces with each other. They didn¡¯t know what to do. The person in charge of the canteen was dumbfounded when the main leads of the dinner today left. ¡®Should he still serve the food or not?¡¯


    Without Li Lanfeng¡¯s suppression, Yan Three was able to finally move. He panted heavily a few times before managing to control his anger. ¡°Senior colonel, I¡¯m leaving!¡± He got subdued by an adjutant. ¡®Who on earth is Ling Lan?¡¯ He needed to calm down to think about this situation carefully.


    Just like that, Yan Three left with his mecha team.


    The lively canteen turned quiet again. The JMCs acting attendants today retreated into a corner in fear. They had forgotten why they were here in the first ce. They only had one thought in mind now. ¡®When will they be able to go back. This ce is too frightening.¡¯


    Only Lady Mei¡¯s eyes were shining. Her heart pounded furiously when she saw Han Xuya bringing a bunch of junior officers out of the cafeteria. 250 Ace Mecha n... she must go there. She wanted to be like thatdy, an independentdy and not an essory of a man.


    Amidst the silence, amotion arose in the kitchen. Du Mingyi was looking for a way to vent his anger so he instantly shouted, ¡°Dong Jiahong,e out!¡±


    Dong Jiahong, the person in charge of the canteen, ran out of the kitchen with a sad face. ¡°Senior colonel!¡±


    ¡°Why is it so noisy at the back?¡±


    ¡°Senior colonel, the people from 250 Ace Mecha n came and took all the food away...¡± Dong Jiahong wanted to cry. ¡°They said if we don¡¯t give it to them, they will hit us.¡±


    They didn¡¯t say that... When the people from 250 Ace Mecha n entered the kitchen, all the cooks got frightened and kneeled on the ground, conceding their all the food without even a single argument. However, to keep himself safe, Dong Jiahong pushed the me to the other party.

 Chapter 811 - Mistake!

    <h4>Chapter 811: Mistake!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Good, good, what a good move!¡± Du Mingyi was so angry that he startedughing. Crack! The entire table copsed under the pressure of Du Mingyi¡¯s trembling hand.


    ¡®Ling Lan, since you are so arrogant, don¡¯t me me for not showing you mercy!¡¯ Du Mingyi gritted his teeth. He hated people who had powerful backgrounds. That was why he didn¡¯t like Song Yiqing and used him to his advantage without any hesitation. However, now, he hated Ling Lan even more. Hence, he decided that he would not provide them any supplies at all from now on. He wanted to see how arrogant 250 Ace Mecha n could be if they didn¡¯t have food and weapons.


    ¡°Senior colonel, what about today¡¯s dinner?¡± Dong Jiahong asked worriedly. There was no more food. What was he supposed to serve them?


    ¡°There is no food left so let¡¯s go¡± Du Mingyi flicked his sleeve and left.


    When Du Mingyi left, the other officers knew today¡¯s dinner had ended. They shook their heads and left. Of course, they were unhappy at the Regiment Commander of 250 Ace Mecha n. Even if he didn¡¯t reach a general consensus with themanding officer, he still shouldn¡¯t have taken all their food away.


    At the chairman table, Xu Shiming and Cui Yunxuan shook their heads when they saw the mess in front of them.


    ¡°You have been watching the show for such a long time. What do you think of the new Regiment Commander Ling?¡± Cui Yunxuan asked in a low voice.


    ¡°This is not someone easy to handle. Senior Colonel Du met a difficult character this time,¡± Xu Shiming replied.


    ¡°If he continues what he is doing, Base 013 will eventually be internally destroyed one day. We need a strong character such as him to teach him a lesson.¡± Cui Yunxuan smiled coldly. He didn¡¯t like thismanding officer.


    ¡°We can¡¯t form that conclusion now. This Regiment Commander Ling is just too domineering. He left no leeway for himself, and that is not a good thing. Let¡¯s observe him for a while longer.¡± Xu Shiming frowned. He didn¡¯t like how Du Mingyi treated the base as his own house but Ling Lan¡¯s domineering attitude was not to his liking too. This person took away all the food that was meant to be served to the hardworking and hungry soldiers. He was so hungry that he felt like cursing.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. We only met him once. We need to understand him further. I hope 250 Ace Mecha n is a capable mecha n. I don¡¯t want Base 013 to be the first base to be destroyed by our enemy.¡± 250 Ace Mecha n attacked the most powerful mecha team of the base, the Evil Wind Mecha Team, the moment they arrived. If 250 Mecha n was not strong enough to protect the base themselves after they had destroyed the Evil Wind Mecha Team, this entire base would be in danger. Cui Yunxuan knew that they were just small characters. They were unable to resist against the advanced weapons of the Hailiya army.


    ¡°If the two ace mecha ns stationed at the bases beside us didn¡¯t help us, our base would have been destroyed. I believe that by this time, the Hailiya army should have noticed the oddity with our base. We will definitely face a harder time when they attack us again in the near future.¡± Xu Shiming sighed. They were in a dire situation now but theirmanding officer was only worried about his position. He felt dejected. He shook his head and put on his military cap.


    ¡°The next battle might be our hardest battle. There are too few people in 250 Ace Mecha n!¡± Cui Yunxuan frowned as he sat up and took his military cap from his adjutant.


    ¡°Our base is the most dangerous but they still sent a broken mecha n here...¡± Xu Shiming smiled bitterly, ¡°I wonder if that problem stems from ourmanding officer or is there a problem with the higher authorities.¡±


    ¡°You already know the answer. It¡¯s because of Du Mingyi.¡± Cui Yunxuan scoffed. ¡®If he hadn¡¯t offended someone he shouldn¡¯t, would their base be in such a bad state and have resources be reduced too?¡¯


    Xu Shiming patted Cui Yunxuan¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t be angry. Since we are already here, we have to put in our utmost effort and prepare for the next battle. Let¡¯s hope that we will still be able to see each other again.¡± No one knew if they were able toe back alive in the next battle. After Xu Shiming finished speaking, he gathered his men and left. Cui Yunxuan left with his team too. They returned to their respective camps.


    The weing dinner ended on a bad note but all the officers in the base saw how domineering and powerful 250 Ace Mecha n was. Even the heir of the 13th division, Qi Long, was inside it too. Thus, all of them cleverly chose to sit at the side and didn¡¯t participate in the feud between Qi Long and Song Yiqing.


    On the other hand, the members of Lingtian were carrying their spoils of victory happily back to their camp.


    Lin Zhong-qing felt that something was amiss with them. He turned and looked at Li Yingjie¡¯s team. The food they were carrying was much more than what his team was carrying. His heart dropped, ¡°Li Yingjie, how much did you take?¡± Lin Zhong-qing had a bad feeling in his stomach.


    Li Yingjie said proudly, ¡°You left most of the food behind. Luckily, I was smart enough to bring all of it with me.¡±


    The veins on Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s forehead popped. ¡®They left those behind so that they wouldn¡¯t offend the rest of the soldiers at the base. This fellow... he took everything without informing them!¡¯


    ¡°Li Yingjie, you bastard! I will kill you!¡± Lin Zhong-qing rushed up to Li Yingjie and kicked him.


    ¡°Hey, what are you doing! Why are you being so unreasonable?¡± Li Yingjie dodged the attacks with two huge containers in his hand. ¡°Stop kicking me! The food is going to spill out!¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing stopped immediately when he heard that. He looked at the two huge containers of food in Li Yingjie¡¯s hand. He couldn¡¯t bear to waste them. He gritted his teeth and said angrily, ¡°I¡¯ll let you off for now!¡± Once they go back to their camp, he would teach this person a lesson.


    Li Yingjie still didn¡¯t realize he did something stupid. He happily left with his two huge containers of food. Lin Zhong-qing looked at the bastard¡¯s back, and he wanted to cry in frustration. ¡®Sob, did he mess up Boss¡¯s n?¡¯


    The thoughtful and thorough Lin Zhong-qing finally made a mistake because of Li Yingjie!


    ¡®I should have known, Li Yingjie is my mortal enemy! Nothing good will happen when I am together with him! I must keep my distance from him from now on!¡¯ Lin Zhong-qing made a decision quietly.


    ¡°Will it be a problem if we offended themanding officer of the base?¡± Li Lanfeng asked worriedly when they arrived at their camp.


    Ling Lan nced at him and replied calmly, ¡°As long as we don¡¯t bow down to him, he will always try to pull some tricks on us. Rather than wasting effort to scheme against him, it¡¯s better to distance ourselves right from the start andy everything on the table clearly. That way, it won¡¯t seem weird if themotion got bigger.¡±


    If themanding officer of this base was a capable and smart person, she didn¡¯t mind following him. But, Du Mingyi didn¡¯t have to right to make her bow down to him.

 Chapter 812 - I’m Hungry!

    <h4>Chapter 812: I¡¯m Hungry!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Li Lanfeng thought for a moment and understood what Ling Lan meant. ¡°I see!¡±


    ¡°This is the frontline of the battlefield so we can¡¯t afford to make any mistakes. Unless there is another way, I don¡¯t want to make the rtionship so strained. Plus, I don¡¯t wish that we have to guard our backs when we are fighting for our lives on the battlefield.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned vicious, a killing intent shed passed her eyes. This was the reason she was so domineering today. She hoped that the people in the base would be united and fight their enemies together. She didn¡¯t want the people inside to be scheming against each other and fighting for power while ignoring the crisis that ising towards them.


    ¡°I understand.¡± If Du Mingyi would listen to them and prioritize what should be prioritized, they would let him continue his position as themanding officer of the base. If he dared to y tricks on them... Li Lanfeng gave a cold smile. They would destroy him. He wouldn¡¯t allow anyone to spoil his Rabbit¡¯s ns.


    ¡°Are they back yet?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    Li Lanfeng shook his head. He stayed beside Ling Lan so he didn¡¯t know what her friends were doing.


    ¡°Based on Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s personality, he will go and grab some food for us. I¡¯m hungry,¡± Ling Lan said with frustration. She rarely did something so impressive but she still ended up with an empty stomach. ¡®Is this a warning by God? Is God telling her that she mustn¡¯t be so haughty in the future? It looks like I¡¯m was more suitable to be the main viin. I should keep a lower profile in the future.¡¯ To make sure that she was able to lead a stable life, Ling Lan always reminded herself that she was the main viin. She mustn¡¯t be those insignificant bosses that other people fought when they were leveling up.


    Li Lanfeng sensed Ling Lan¡¯s frustration and smiled. He quickly consoled her, ¡°They should be back soon. Let me go out and take a look.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s ear suddenly twitched. ¡°No need. They are back!¡± As expected of her head of logistics. He knew what his Boss needed. Ling Lan gave Lin Zhong-qing a thumbs up in her mind.


    Li Lanfeng wanted tough when he saw the cold aura subsiding from Ling Lan¡¯s body, revealing a young man with a hint of anticipation on it. ¡®Ever since Rabbit knew my real identity, he would restrain his force of presence when they were alone together. Isn¡¯t this an unexpected gain of the situation?¡¯ For the first time, Li Lanfeng felt good about his appearance.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Lin Zhong-qing shouted while carrying a few tes over with a very rare expression of worry on his face.


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. ¡°What is the matter?¡± Something must have happened for Lin Zhong-qing to show such an expression. It had to be said that Ling Lan understood her friends well.


    ¡°Due to an error in mymands, we took all the food in the kitchen.¡± Lin Zhong-qing lowered his head after putting the tes of food down, waiting for his boss to scold him for his blunder.


    ¡°You took everything?¡± Ling Lan was stunned. ¡®Fine, they have offended all the officers there. 250 Mecha n have be the main antagonist of the base.¡¯ She looked at Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s guilty face andforted him, ¡°Nevermind, our n has already been initiated beautifully so this will not affect anything.¡±


    ¡°But the food...¡± There was too much food. The mecha operators wouldn¡¯t be able to finish all of them. Lin Zhong-qing was anxious. He didn¡¯t want to waste any of the food.


    ¡°Since there is enough food, we can have our own dinner party. Let¡¯s enjoy the food together. Let everyone have a taste of the food that was meant to be served for dinner today,¡± Ling Lan replied after some thought.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Lin Zhong-qing answered excitedly. If his logisticians knew about this, they would be exhrated!


    Lin Zhong-qing looked at Ling Lan in admiration. His Boss treated everyone fairly. He didn¡¯t ever forget anyone. Even if others looked down on logisticians, his boss didn¡¯t. He even took much effort to invent a set of physical skills technique suitable for them so that they could be strong too. Lin Zhong-qing never expected his Boss to treat them so well. He used his own money and let every logistician get their own personal mecha. Their boss even promised them that their mechas would upgrade when their mecha piloting skills improved. Hence, besides the time spent on their work, the logisticians would use the rest of the time to train so that they could be better and stronger.


    250 Ace Mecha n gave them an opportunity to climb higher. They do not have to stay as a logistician for life. They do not have to admire the mechas that they were not able to get. Only their Boss had the courage and ability to help them realize their dreams.


    Lin Zhong-qing had always been interacting with the logisticians so he knew how much the logisticians respected Ling Lan. They had already viewed themselves as a member of 250 Mecha n. Even if they became ace mecha masters in the future, they would not move to other mecha ns. This was how charismatic his Boss was. He was able to sway people to follow him and conquer the world with him, with just his actions.


    Lin Zhong-qing wanted to leave and tell the logisticians this good news. However, Ling Lan called him before he could ask if he could be excused.


    ¡°Zhong-qing, you might need to work harder in the next few days. Try to save as many supplies the base gave us as you can,¡± Ling Lan reminded Lin Zhong-qing that they might meet some troubles in the next few days.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s gaze turned cold as he understood Ling Lan¡¯s words. ¡°Boss, do you mean that themanding officer would stop giving us food and other supplies?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s impossible he wouldn¡¯t do that,¡± Li Lanfeng answered.


    Lin Zhong-qing turned serious. ¡°I understand. I will arrange everything.¡±


    ¡°I trust you. However, don¡¯t be too careful. He will not do things so tantly. They will think of some reason to shut you up.¡± Ling Lan said calmly, ¡°As long as you are able to find a loophole, you can do anything you want and I will back you up.¡±


    Ling Lan was not afraid of whatever obstacles Du Mingyi could throw at her. She would be afraid if he didn¡¯t do anything and gave 250 Ace Mecha n whatever they want, as it meant that he might give them a lethal blow at a crucial time. Hence, she wished that he would do more obstacles to 250 Ace Mecha n so she could get rid of him faster, only then she would feel at ease when she brings her mecha n out to fight with their enemies.


    Lin Zhong-qing smiled. ¡°Yes, I understand. Boss, I will definitelyplete this mission.¡±


    Ling Lan waved her hand and asked Lin Zhong-qing to go down to prepare for dinner.


    After Lin Zhong-qing left, Ling Lan looked at Li Lanfeng, who hadn¡¯t moved a single inch, and raised her eyebrows. ¡°Shall we eat together?¡±


    Li Lanfeng touched his chin instinctively. ¡°They should have put my food in the team leader¡¯s office.¡± He wanted to eat with his rabbit but he was shy.


    ¡°Then go back and eat your food. I will not send you off.¡± Ling Lan originally wasn¡¯t nning to share her food with Li Lanfeng. The reason for that was because she had a huge appetite. The amount of food served to her was just enough for her. There was no extra. However, Li Lanfeng served her for the entire day so she couldn¡¯t bear to chase him away like that. That was why she decided to be polite for once.


    Li Lanfeng gave a bitter smile. He shouldn¡¯t have rejected the offer. It was rare for him to have a chance to eat with Rabbit but he missed the chance, so he left the regimentmander¡¯s office with some regret in his heart and closed the door behind him. He was afraid that Ling Lan¡¯s table manners would scare the people that walked passed the office.


    Although there was a dinner party for the entire mecha nter, they needed to maintain their dining etiquette. They couldn¡¯t eat too heartily. In Ling Lan¡¯s office, Ling Lan patted her bloated stomach in satisfaction after burping out loud. It was hard to be a regimentmander.

 Chapter 813 - Didn’t Come!

    <h4>Chapter 813: Didn¡¯t Come!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The weing dinner ended on a bad note due to Ling Lan¡¯s dominance. The next day, the news of 250 Ace Mecha n being a domineering and fierce mecha n spread throughout the entire base. Of course, this news was able to spread so quickly thanks to some certain people.


    Everyone was secretly observing the movements of 250 Ace Mecha n, as 250 Ace Mecha n had offended the three most powerful people in the base. The first person was the Regiment Commander of 224 Mecha n as well as a descendant of the Second Marshal, Song Yiqing. The second person was the leader of the unruly and powerful Evil Wind Mecha Team, Yan Three. Even the boss of the base had to bend to their will them sometimes, as they were the aces of the base to protect them from their enemies. All the battle teams were afraid of offending them, as they could just leave them to wolves when the ¡®wolves¡¯e and attack them. The third person they had offended was the boss of the base, Du Mingyi.


    If 250 Ace Mecha n wanted to hold power in Base 013, they needed to deal with the retaliation of these three people first.


    Du Mingyi could not harm 250 Ace Mecha n directly. After all, 250 Ace Mecha n was a mecha n sent by the higher authorities. As themanding officer of the base, he needed to treat them well. However, Du Mingyi as a narrow-minded person couldn¡¯t bear to let them off just like that. Hence, he would definitely pull some tricks behind the scenes. All his actions would be done in secret so nothing could be seen in the short while. Thus, his retaliation was not what everyone in the base wanted to see. They wanted to see what the Evil Wind Mecha Team and Song Yiqing would do.


    Many people felt that Song Yiqing would be the first to take revenge on 250 Ace Mecha n. However, he surprisingly did nothing as everything seemed calm on his side, surprising many battle teams. They knew Song Yiqing was not someone who epted defeat easily. Yet, this time, in the face of the heir of the 13th division, Qi Long, he chose to bear with his anger... after everyone took some time to think about his actions, everyone understood why he didn¡¯t do anything. He was waiting for the Evil Wind Mecha Team to act first. He wanted to use the Evil Wind Mecha Team to test the 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯d depths. He could afford to wait for the Evil Wind Mecha Team but they couldn¡¯t as Ling Lan only gave them three days. After the three days, they had to report to 250 Ace Mecha n at 8 am.


    Song Yiqing was a haughty person but he was not stupid. He knew he should stay low first and let other people test the waters of 250 Ace Mecha n.


    Just like what Song Yiqing expected, after the members of the Evil Wind Mecha Team came back from the weing dinner, they felt extremely ufortable. They didn¡¯t know what to do. Ling Lan forced them to make a decision. ¡®Are they going to submit to him or should they retaliate back?¡¯


    ¡°Leader, we will not go. Unless we die, we will not leave the Evil Wind Mecha Team!¡± The mecha operators from the Evil Wind Mecha Team gathered at the training ground and pledged their alliance to Yan Three loudly. They met many life-or-death situations on the battlefield before, making them stubborn and unyielding.


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking about what Ling Lan would do to make me regret if we don¡¯t go...¡± Yan Three wouldn¡¯t submit to Ling Lan just because of a single sentence. However, he couldn¡¯t throw the threat to the back of his mind. Ling Lan was someone who had the heir of the 13th division as his mecha operator so she definitely must have some capabilities. This made him worried.


    If he was alone, he was not afraid. He might just be forced out of the military and be amoner. However, in reality, he had many mecha operators under him. They had a bright future ahead. He couldn¡¯t let them suffer just because of his decision.


    ¡°He will just force us out of the military. What is so frightening about that? I don¡¯t like wars anyway. It¡¯s not too bad if I can go back and be a normal worker.¡± The mecha operators were not stupid too. They had considered this possibility before.


    ¡°Yes, leader. We made a vow before. We will rather stand and die instead of kneeling to live. We will not go back on our vow even if we have to suffer,¡± one of the mecha operators said what everyone was thinking. ¡®If they betrayed their belief and lived without meaning, what is the point of living?¡¯


    Yan Three looked at his team members intently and saw their firm expressions. He said slowly, ¡°Are you really not afraid?¡±


    ¡°Why should we be afraid? We have been through so many near-death situations on the battlefield. Why will we be afraid of a mere ace mecha n?¡± Someoneughed and replied.


    Everyoneughed along. Their fearlessughter portrayed their feelings now. They were really not afraid. They were people who struggled to survive on the battlefield. Their lives were wed back from the brink of death. Nothing was able to threaten thempared to what they had experienced on the battlefield.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s not care about that damn 250 Ace Mecha n and do what we are supposed to do!¡± Yan Three waved his hand and made a decision. Even themanding officer of the base asked him to ignore 250 Ace Mecha n so why should he be afraid of them?


    The three-day deadline finally ended. Everyone¡¯s attention was on 250 Ace Mecha n and the Evil Wind Mecha Team. Finally, it was 8 am. The entrance of the two camps was quiet. No one came out, no one went in.


    ¡°Looks like the Evil Wind Mecha Team decided to ignore Ling Lan.¡± Cui Yunxuan and Xu Shiming were sitting in the camp of the scouts. They were looking at the information Cui Yunxuan¡¯s scouts brought back.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this within our expectations? If Yan Three submitted to Ling Lan that easily, he wouldn¡¯t be Yan Three.¡± Xu Shiming worked with Yan Three many times. Yan Three had a bad temper but he had the capabilities and morals. Xu Shiming admired this man.


    ¡°It¡¯s time to see how Regiment Commander Ling will handle this.¡± If Ling Lan didn¡¯t subdue the Evil Wind Mecha Team today, he would be embarrassing himself.


    Times passed. Yet, there was still no activity within the 250 Ace Mecha n camp. Just when everyone was anxious, they heard a loud vibrationing from the two camps.


    ¡®What is happening? Let¡¯s rewind the time.¡¯


    At the regimentmander¡¯s office at 250 Ace Mecha n camp. The time was before 8 am.


    Ling Lan was flipping through some documents. The ten team leaders were already prepared to receive orders. Li Shiyu and his medical team were inside the office too. Luo and Han Xuya wore their white gowns again and waited excitedly for 8 am to arrive.


    Finally, it was 8 am. Luo Shaoyun, who was in charge of guarding the entrance, immediately report to Yang Mingzhi that the Evil Wind Mecha Team didn¡¯t appear.


    ¡°Regimentmander, the Evil Wind Mecha Team didn¡¯te!¡± Yang Mingzhi immediately reported to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan stopped flipping the documents. The next second, she closed the file. ¡°As expected, they didn¡¯te.¡±


    She stood up. The temporary adjutant for the day, Lin Zhong-qing, quickly draped the white cloak over her shoulders. Just as he was about to pick up the silver short whip, Han Xuya had already rushed forward and brought it to her.


    Ling Lan had no choice but to take it. She knocked Han Xuya¡¯s forehead. ¡®This little girl thought that I like to use the whip to punish people.¡¯


    Han Xuya touched her head and smiled like an idiot, making Luo Chao felt frustrated. She should have gotten the short whip just now. She missed a chance to interact intimately with her Boss.

 Chapter 814 - Break The Wall!

    <h4>Chapter 814: Break The Wall!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan brought all the team leaders to the wall that separated their camp and the camp of the Evil Wind Mecha Team. All the team members of the 10 teams were waiting there. They rubbed their hands in anticipation as they waited for themand from their regimentmander.


    Ling Lan knocked the short whip against her palm. She smiled, and shouted, ¡°Luo Lang!¡±


    ¡°Here, regimentmander.¡± Luo Lang came out excitedly. His beautiful face seemed extremely vibrant today. Many logisticians who came to watch the show got dazzled by his looks.


    Suddenly, a piercing sh of lightning shed past their eyes, instantly blinding them for a moment. When they finally recovered their vision, they saw a calm Xie Yi looking at them intimidatingly. The logisticians immediately lowered their heads in response. They couldn¡¯t afford to offend Leader Xie. Of course, they couldn¡¯t provoke Leader Luo Lang too. They should just stick to looking at First Lieutenant Luo Chao as it was much safer.


    ¡°Well, well, you actually cooperated.¡± The calm-looking Xie Yi was actually not calm at all.


    The dark character smiled coldly, ¡°I don¡¯t want you to humiliate yourself in front of so many people. This is my body after all.¡± If he turned into a lump of ck coal after releasing that lightning bolt, everyone spectating would haveughed at him.


    ¡°If you cooperated with me every time, we would be fine.¡± Xie Yi felt gloomy.


    ¡°I¡¯m not happy!¡± The dark character disappeared after he said his piece.


    ¡°Hey, hey, hey...¡± Xie Yi shouted for a while but no one replied to him. He knew his dark character was ignoring him again. ¡®That fellow had such a bad temper. It was so difficult to interact with him.¡¯


    Ling Lan walked to the wall slowly and patted it with her short whip, it made a dull sound, meaning that the wall was solid the whole way through. Shoddy projects would not happen in the military.


    She took two steps back and ced the short whip back in her palm. She smiled. ¡°Luo Lang, break it down for me.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Luo Lang rubbed his hands and walked to the wall. Just before he acted, his Boss added, ¡°Fifth level One-Inch Punch. I want the entire wall to be destroyed.¡± ¡®Why is there a wall in the middle of her camp? I should take it down.¡¯ Ling Lan decided to expand the camp of her mecha n.


    Luo Lang¡¯s eyes shone brightly as he understood what Ling Lan wanted. His Boss didn¡¯t just want the members of the Evil Wind Mecha Team. He wanted to take over their camp too. He liked this idea!


    A few team leaders and mecha operators who had a quick mind managed to get what their regimentmander was thinking. They smiled happily. This bunch of experienced soldiers weren¡¯t like the new soldiers who had a clear idea of what was right and wrong. They only knew one rule: survival of the fittest. Everything could be settled with strength and power. Ling Lan¡¯s brutal and domineering method suited their taste perfectly. They felt that they would never go wrong if they followed their regimentmander. One of the reasons why these mecha operators became useless and developed mental illness was because their past regimentmanders were not powerful enough. They were forced to keep their emotions to themselves so in the end, it twisted their minds.


    Luo Lang released his power. It slowly climbed up from the primary stage of Qi-Jin to half a step before the domain stage.


    Boom! Luo Lang released his fist. The five waves of Qi-Jin caused the sturdy wall to copsed instantly. The entire ground vibrated due to the impact, alerting everyone who was in the vicinity.


    Qi Long and the other people looked at Luo Lang in envy when they saw how powerful the fifth level of One-Inch Punch was. Ling Lan said, ¡°If you are interested, I can teach you all the fourth level One-Inch Punch.¡± In order to ensure that Luo Lang¡¯s One-Inch Punch remained as his personal technique, Ling Lan would only teach her other friends the fourth level One-Inch Punch.¡± If Luo Luo Lang didn¡¯t enter the domain stage and show that he could handle the bacsh from the fifth level One-Inch Punch now, she wouldn¡¯t teach her friends One-Inch Punch at all.


    ¡°Thank you, Boss!¡± Qi Long was so excited he forgot to call Ling Lan their regimentmander.


    Lin Zhong-qing took out a small notebook from his pocket. He flipped it open and uncapped his pen. Then, he looked at Qi Long helplessly. ¡°Qi Long, you breached a military rule.¡±


    The temporary adjutant had to step in as the military discipline master too. ¡®I must be impartial!¡¯ Lin Zhong-qing apologized to Qi Long in his heart.


    ¡°Ah! No!¡± Qi Long remembered that this was not a personal interaction with his Boss. His Boss had warned them before. He hugged his head in agony and his face turned pale. He could almost imagine the miserable scene when his Boss punishes himter.


    Qi Long¡¯s exaggerated behavior made the other team leaders and experienced mecha operators smile. Qi Long didn¡¯t have the temper of a young master. He was like the mascot of 250 Ace Mecha n. These experienced mecha operators hated people with special backgrounds but they were willing to ept Qi Long. They treated him like a junior. This was why Qi Long was able to be the team leader of team 03, not because he was powerful. It was because the experienced mecha operators really loved him and wanted to help him.


    Every team leader had their own style, and no one was better than the other. Ling Lan only wanted them to lead their teams well. She didn¡¯t care about how they did it. If they were unable to shoulder this responsibility, she wouldn¡¯t show any mercy to them too. She would remove them from the position. Fortunately, all her friends didn¡¯t embarrass her. Although they were not as good as the three experienced leaders, the difference between them was not too wide, making Ling Lan relieved.


    At the camp of the Evil Wind Mecha Team, Yan Three wasn¡¯t calm from the moment he woke up early in the morning. He felt worried and ufortable.


    Although he had decided to ignore Ling Lan¡¯s words, he was still anxious. He didn¡¯t know what Ling Lan would do to his mecha team.


    At that moment, he heard a huge explosion from their camp. He jumped up instantly. ¡°What happened?¡±


    The members of the Evil Wind Mecha Team rushed out of their dormitory. They came to the ce where the sound came from and saw a copsed wall. On their side of the now copsed wall, a young and beautiful major was dusting his hands calmly. When he saw theming, he stepped back into the camp of 250 Ace Mecha n and looked at them coldly.


    ¡°Ling Lan, this is too much!¡± The moment Yan Three came, he saw Ling Lan standing behind the beautiful major. His heart burned with anger. ¡®This person has the guts to destroy the wall between their camps.¡¯


    Ling Lan nced at him nonchntly. She raised her silver ship and shed it in the air.


    The whip made a shing sound in the air. It seemed like amand. The moment the ten teams behind her heard this sound, they charged towards the members of the Evil Wind Mecha Team.


    Li Shiyu stood at the back and looked at his medical team indifferently. ¡°Are you prepared?¡±


    ¡°Yes, leader!¡± The people in the medical team raised their syringes high in the air. Their eyes were shining with anticipation.


    They had new test subjects to y with!

 Chapter 815 - The Root Of All Evil!

    <h4>Chapter 815: The Root Of All Evil!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Yan Three was caught off guard but he still reacted correctly to the situation. He quickly pressed the rm of his camp.


    As the rm rang, members of the Evil Wind Mecha Team instantly rushed over from different parts of the camp. The two groups of people collided, and a fierce battle ensued.


    ¡°Ah!¡± However, the members of the Evil Wind Mecha Team didn¡¯tst for long. They started screaming in agony and everyone kept losing their grounds.


    Although they had fought in many battles before, they came from all kinds of backgrounds and just learned through their own experiences. Their knowledge of fighting in a battle couldn¡¯t bepared with the experienced soldiers who had trained for many years and had been through standardized training. When the two parties collided, the results were lopsided. The members of the Evil Wind Mecha Team were subdued quickly.


    The most important factor that contributed to this lopsided result was the 250 Ace Mecha ning prepared for the battle. Moreover, the Evil Wind Mecha Team didn¡¯t expect this to happen so they were caught off guard, causing them to get subdued that quickly. If the Evil Wind Mecha Team had time to prepare, they could have resisted for a longer time. However, the end results would still be the same.


    Among the many messy battles, Yan Three was in one of them, trying his best to force back a middle-aged man. Before the middle-aged man could attack him again, he charged towards Ling Lan who was standing on the camp of 250 Ace Mecha n and was looking at the battle calmly. Yan Three knew his mecha team would have a chance to survive only if he caught Ling Lan.


    The middle-aged man wanted to chase after Yan Three but when he saw him rushing towards their regimentmander, he stopped. He instantly turned and dashed towards another person who was fighting with hisrade. Since Yan Three wanted to die, he would not stop him. Only the mecha operators of 250 Ace Mecha n knew their regimentmander was a beast. Whoever who offended him would have a terrible time.


    Halfway through him dashing towards her, Ling Lan already noticed Yan Three. She looked over and nced at him coldly. Yan Three was shocked to see Ling Lan had noticed him. He then realized that Ling Lan didn¡¯t move at all. She seemed to think that Yan Three was not a threat to him.


    ¡®It¡¯s good that Ling Lan looks down on me.¡¯ Yan Three thought. As long as he subdued Ling Lan, he would be able to turn the tides around and return them the humiliation she had given him. Yan Three¡¯s gaze turned cold. He extended his right hand, trying to grab Ling Lan¡¯s throat. He wanted to subdue Ling Lan with a single move.


    A figure suddenly appeared in front of him.


    Boom! Yan Three was pressed firmly onto the ground by this person. It was Li Lanfeng. He was already not far away from Ling Lan when he saw Yan Three attacking her. He was immediately furious and blocked Yan Three¡¯s attack.


    Li Lanfeng choked Yan Three¡¯s throat tightly in his fit of anger, almost suffocating Yan Three to death.


    Ling Lan walked over slowly. Her military boots stepped on the ground and made a clear tapping sound that traveled through both camps. She tapped Li Lanfeng¡¯s shoulder with her short whip. Li Lanfeng released his grip and took a step back.


    Ling Lan looked down on Yan Three as though he was a nobody. ¡°Yan Three, you are so stupid that you still don¡¯t know you are used by everyone as expendables.¡±


    Yan Three red at Ling Lan with bloodshot eyes. ¡®What does he mean by everyone was using him? Isn¡¯t he the one who was destroying his mecha team?¡¯


    Ling Lan knocked the short whip on her palm and pondered for a moment. ¡°Rather than letting you be everyone¡¯s tool and dying in their hands without even knowing the reason, why don¡¯t you be my guinea pig and let yourself be useful? At least you will not die for nothing.¡± A simple sentence sealed the fate of the Evil Wind Mecha Team.


    ¡®Guinea pig?¡¯ Yan Three narrowed his eyes. He nced around his surroundings and saw Li Shiyu and his medical team. He saw the military doctors in white gowns (they were actually logisticians who joined Li Shiyu¡¯s medical team temporarily) taking out a syringe and stabbing it into his one of his immobile team members.


    That member started howling in pain as he couldn¡¯t bear with this excruciating pain. He wanted to bite his tongue tomit suicide, but he realized he didn¡¯t even have the energy to do that. He was unable to kill himself. That meant that he had to be tortured to death.


    As he was struggling, he saw his leader lying on the ground. He looked at him hopefully. He was not hoping that his leader would save him. Instead, he was hoping that his leader would kill him and end his pain.


    The strained veins in Yan Three¡¯s eyes showed how indignant he was now. His eyes popped out as he stared at his team member as he was familiar with this person. His name was Peng Jiayuan, a strong man who was not afraid of death. Once, his cockpit was hit by his opponent which got heavily injured. His stomach was shed by his opponent¡¯s mecha, releasing his intestines out. However, even in that kind of situation, he forced himself to stay conscious and stuffed his intestines back into his body, before continuing to operate his mecha until he killed his opponent.


    That time, if the military doctor didn¡¯te on time, Peng Jiayuan would have sacrificed himself then. He was a strong man but he still couldn¡¯t handle the agent his opponent injected into his body. Yan Three finally understood what Ling Lan meant by guinea pigs. He was nning to let his entire mecha team test the agent they had created.


    ¡°Bastard!¡± Yan Three exploded in anger. He screamed furiously and leaped up from the ground. He wanted to stab this devil in the heart.


    Boom! An invisible wall stopped his hand. Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. ¡°You must have not learned to be obedient from your parents.¡±


    The minute she finished speaking, she waved her short whip. The short whip formed lingering shadows in the air. Yan Three felt a sharp pain in his chest. His entire body flew out, before mming hard onto the ground. Blood spurted out of his mouth, staining the ground.


    One move and he got seriously injured. Yan Three looked at the cold young officer and he thought of three words: domain realm master.


    At this moment, the battle between the two teams had ended. Yan Three heard the leaders of the ten teams reporting to Ling Lan. He felt despair. 250 Ace Mecha n acted quickly and viciously. Even if themanding officer arrived now, it would already be toote. Yan Three didn¡¯t believe that his ruthless young man would let them off.


    ¡°Are you going to walk into 250 Ace Mecha n or do we have to drag you in?¡± Ling Lan heard the reports of the ten team leaders and went back to Yan Three.


    ¡°Evil Wind will never submit to anyone.¡± Yan Three bit his lips forcefully. Blood dripped down his lips.


    ¡°Very good. What a strong character. Shiyu, send him off.¡± Ling Lan turned around suddenly and called the military doctor.


    Li Shiyu put down what he was doing and walked over slowly. His gentle aura and amiable smile made Yan Three feel that he was a good person. He didn¡¯t understand why such a person would appear in this mecha n which was filled with devils.


    Li Shiyu sensed Yan Three¡¯s puzzlement and smiled. ¡°My nickname is Dr. Frankenstein.¡±


    ¡®Dr. Frankenstein?¡¯ Yan Three was stunned. He couldn¡¯t understand what Li Shiyu meant.


    Li Shiyu took out a miniature syringe. His smile got brighter. ¡°I am also the head of the medical department of 250 Ace Mecha n.¡±


    Yan Three¡¯s eyes widened. He finally understood this seemingly good person was the root of all evils!


    As he thought of that, the syringe stabbed through his skin. Yan Three fell backward.

 Chapter 816 - Man!

    <h4>Chapter 816: Man!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Xu Shiming and Cui Yunxuan were unable to sit still after they heard the explosion. They rushed to the entrance of the camps of the Evil Wind Mecha Team and 250 Ace Mecha n.


    When they arrived, they saw many people had already arrived before them.


    Before they could ask around, the rm at the Evil Wind¡¯s camp sounded.


    Xu Shiming was the leader of the scouts team so he immediately knew something was amiss. ¡°Damn it!¡±


    Cui Yunxuan asked hurriedly, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±


    ¡°250 Ace Mecha n has started its action.¡± Xu Shiming gave a bitter smile.


    ¡°But they didn¡¯te out.¡± Cui Yunxuan was confused.


    ¡°The Evil Wind Mecha Team and 250 Ace Mecha n are just separated by a wall. They can break the wall and get into the camp of Evil Wind directly.¡± Xu Shiming felt frustrated. ¡®Why didn¡¯t I think of this earlier?¡¯


    ¡°But that is against the rules of the base. They won¡¯t do this.¡± No one could destroy the boundaries segregating the different camps. If someone broke this rule, they would be charged with treason. This rule was enforced because the military was afraid there were spies in the camps who would damage the walls that protected the base and the various camps so that their enemies could enter without any hindrance. Once this rule was released, no matter how bad the rtionships of various mecha ns were, no one dared to break into someone else¡¯s camp through the walls. They were afraid that they would identally damage something, allowing theirpetitors to find a reason to charge them with treason.


    Because of this, Xu Shiming and Cui Yunxuan didn¡¯t expect Ling Lan to destroy the wall between the two camps. They were not the only ones who thought this. Themanding officer and the othermanders at the base probably didn¡¯t think of this too. This was why everyone only looked at the entrance of the two camps. They believed that any disputes would ur at the entrance.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t they afraid that Du Mingyi would charge them with treason?¡± Cui Yunxuan gasped.


    ¡°Did they damage the camp?¡± Xu Shiming asked him back.


    Cui Yunxuan was stunned for a moment. He couldn¡¯t understand what Xu Shiming meant.


    ¡°What if the Evil Wind Mecha Team¡¯s camp belongs to 250 Ace Mecha n now? He has the right to do anything within his own camp.¡± Xu Shiming¡¯s eyes shone. If what he thought was true, Regiment Commander Ling was a difficult person to deal with. He was arrogant and domineering but smart too. Du Mingyi was definitely not his match. It looked like he needed to consider his own stand.


    ¡°But that is the camp of the Evil Wind Mecha Team.¡± Cui Yunxuan still couldn¡¯t get what Xu Shiming was saying.


    ¡°Evil Wind is part of 250 Ace Mecha n now so their camp belongs to 250 Ace Mecha n.¡± Xu Shiming didn¡¯t beat around the bush anymore.


    ¡°...¡± Cui Yunxuan was speechless. He realized that if that was really the case, they couldn¡¯t do anything to 250 Ace Mecha n now. ¡°But will Evil Wind be willing to submit to them?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. They are the most important factor now. However, I suspect that Evil Wind will not be able to appear in front of us anytime soon.¡± Xu Shiming seemed to be in deep thought. He wasn¡¯t sure what method Regiment Commander Ling would use to force the people of Evil Wind Mecha Team to bow down to him, but he knew if the Evil Wind Mecha Team didn¡¯t appear soon, 250 Ace Mecha n would be safe for the moment.


    It wasn¡¯t easy for Du Mingyi to harm 250 Ace Mecha n as 250 Ace Mecha n belonged to the 23rd division. They were sent by the higher authorities to guard Base 013. Even as themanding officer of Base 013, Du Mingyi didn¡¯t have the right to enter the grounds of 250 Ace Mecha n to carry out an inspection unless he had ample evidence and courage to strike before reporting. If not, he had to follow the procedure and submit a request to the military headquarters or the headquarters of the 23rd division and wait for the 23rd division or the military to send an inspection squad to inspect 250 Ace Mecha n. This would take some time. If 250 Ace Mecha n had some background and managed to get the 23rd division to suppress this issue, the time for the inspection squad toe over would be even longer. Thus, Regiment Commander Ling definitely had enough time to settle the issue with Evil Wind.


    The crux of the matter was whether Regiment Commander Ling was able to force the members of the Evil Wind Mecha Team to admit that they belonged to 250 Ace Mecha n before the inspection squad came.


    ¡°This means that 250 Ace Mecha n is fine for now but it doesn¡¯t mean that they would be safe in the future.¡± Cui Yunxuan was enlightened. However, his focus was different from Xu Shiming. He didn¡¯t believe that Regiment Commander Ling could make the people from the Evil Wind Mecha Team submit to him.


    ¡°Even if the people from Evil Wind didn¡¯t submit to them, the 250 Ace Mecha n has other ways out too.¡± Xu Shiming sighed. Cui Yunxuan¡¯s perspective was too shallow. Regiment Commander Ling was someone who was able to gain the respect of the young master of General Qi Yaoyang¡¯s household. He was definitely not a simple person. If not, would General Qi Yaoyang allow his son to be under him?


    As the leader of the scouts team, it had to be said that Xu Shiming was an expert at analyzing. After putting all these links together, he believed that Du Mingyi had no chance of seeding against Ling Lan.


    However, Xu Shiming didn¡¯t think that 250 Ace Mecha n would be safe too. Du Mingyi was not the only person that could affect 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s future. There was still Song Yiqing, the young master of the 2nd division. Before Song Yiqing acted, no one knew what the result of this battle was.


    At that moment, the people of 250 Ace Mecha n were very busy. The logisticians entered the camp of the Evil Wind Mecha Team and started tidying the ce.


    Lin Zhong-qing was having a headache now. His four deputies, Li Jinghong, Luo Shaoyun, Yuan Youyun, and He Chaoyang were asking him for more manpower.


    ¡°Our general management department iscking in manpower. There are 400 more people for us to attend to. The pressure is high. We must have more people,¡± He Chaoyang wore a bitter smile on his face as he said. All his logisticians worked from 4 am till 10 pm. There was no break for them in the middle. Every time they ended their work, they would be so tired they instantly fell asleep in their bed. Now, there were even more people at their base. His logisticians would not be able to handle the workload.


    ¡°Your general management department is still able to push through but my coordination department is really having a hard time. Everyone looks for us. One person has to handle the workload of three people. My logisticians have to run all the time. This time, the medical department came to ask people from us. We sent the JMCs too but there is still not enough people. I really have no one I can spare now.¡± Li Jinghong was desperate too. Han Xuya and Luo Chao kept pestering him. If he didn¡¯t send them people soon, they mighte over and flip his office table over.


    ¡°My resource department has no one to gather the statistics of the input and output of our mecha n. I have to do it personally many times. Is this what a person-in-charge should do?¡± Luo Shaoyun had manyints too. He was like a general without soldiers. All his men were transferred to other departments.


    ¡°Me too! There should be two logisticians for each mecha operator but we only have one for each mecha operator. Now, the number of mecha operators doubled. Are we supposed to let one logistician take charge of two mecha operators? Is there any other mecha ns like us?¡± Yuan Youyun had a hard time. His logisticians were outstanding so they were able to handle one mecha operator each. However, if they were asked to handle two mecha operators each... they should not be called logisticians. They should instead be called invincible warriors.


    ¡°Head, Zhong-qing, we grew up together. Please give us some manpower!¡± The four of them surrounded Lin Zhong-qing and begged him.

 Chapter 817 - Rely On Your Own Effort!

    <h4>Chapter 817: Rely On Your Own Effort!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The entire 250 Ace Mecha n was bustling with activities.


    In the regimentmander¡¯s office, the ten team leaders were discussing with their vice-captains about the various new arrangements they had tomence.


    Ling Lan sat in her office and looked at the physical constitution reports of the members of Evil Wind that Li Shiyu sent her. She flipped through every page of the report, and her frown kept getting keeping after each consecutive page.


    ¡°So bad?¡± She didn¡¯t expect their physical constitutions to that poor. She at least expected three people with good physical constitutions, as they were all hailed from a mecha team on the battlefield after all.


    ¡°Their physical constitutions were normal, to begin with. They were able to reach this state because they had achieved breakthroughs through life-or-death situations. This method, although quite economically friendly, was quite exhausting to one¡¯s body to its limit, making it more brittle in each process. Yet, there are no military doctors here to nurse back their health. I feel it was a miracle that they had managed to survive until now.¡± Li Shiyu pondered for a moment. The body constitution of the members of Evil Wind suddenly gave him new inspirations for some ¡°interesting¡± new concoction.


    ¡°Can you patch it back?¡± Ling Lan looked up and asked. She couldn¡¯t bear to let these good soldiers leave the army before with a body full of injuries.


    Li Shiyu shrugged. ¡°As long as they could resist the torment of the restorative agents.¡± People with poorer health would experience greater pain when using his restorative agents. This was why a portion of the mecha operators from Evil Wind felt like dying when they were injected with the agent.


    The agents that Li Shiyu injected to the people from the Evil Wind Mecha Team were not some form of torture agent. It was the restorative agent. When he received the data his boss gave him regarding the members of the Evil Wind Mecha Team (Little Fourughed: this is my work.), he noticed that they all made an advancement in the battlefield. From there, he suspected that there was a problem with their bodies. Hence, he decided to use the restorative agent instead of other agents. Reality proved that the effects of the restorative agent were exceptionally good. The members of the Evil Wind Mecha Team got tormented until they wanted tomit suicide. They all thought that they were harmed by the 250 Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. It¡¯s time to teach these people a lesson too.¡± Ling Lan knew that the people from Evil Wind were loyal to the Federation. However, they came from the grass-roots units so their discipline was bad. They liked to act on their own ords and didn¡¯t listen tomands. This was something Ling Lan couldn¡¯t ept. She hoped that her team members would execute every order given without fail.


    Ling Lan closed the file and put Li Shiyu in charge of dealing with the members of Evil Wind. At that moment, Lin Zhong-qing walked into her office with a stern face.


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± Lin Zhong-qing ced his hands on the office table. ¡°I need people!¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.


    ¡°With our current manpower, we are unable to handle the influx of people from the Evil WInd.¡± Lin Zhong-qing went berserk. His deputies didn¡¯t give him any choice. If not, he would have tried to handle everything himself and not asked Ling Lan for help.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s words caused Ling Lan to remember the plight of the logisticians in her 250 Ace Mecha n. The 300 people she got from He Xuyang were working beyond their fullest capabilities. Now, with another 200 mecha operators from Evil Wind, the logisticians were unable to serve everyone.


    Ling Lan knocked on the table and started pondering. This was an important problem that needed to be solved immediately.


    The team leaders saw this and lowered down their voice. They were afraid of interrupting their regimentmander.


    ¡°Why do we need logisticians?¡± Ling Lan asked herself.


    ¡°This is so that the mecha operators can focus on mecha piloting. That way, they are able to release their full potential. The Federation had a series of services for mecha operators. There are two kinds of logisticians in general. The first kind is the lifestyle logisticians. The other kind id the mecha logisticians. Lifestyle logisticians only appear in mecha ns and other higher-level teams. They serviced the entire mecha n. Mecha logisticians also appear in mecha ns and higher-level teams only. They are in charge of many things but most of them are mecha engineers. The mecha engineers are distributed base on the level of the mecha operators. A normal mecha operator will have one mecha engineer servicing three of them. A special-ss operator will have one mecha engineer to himself. An ace mecha master will have two mecha engineers servicing him. As the mecha operator¡¯s level gets higher, he will enjoy better service...¡± Little Four repeated the information he stored in his database. ¡°Lower mechas are easy to handle. Hence, one mecha engineer is enough for three lower mechas. The higher the level of the mecha, the more sophisticated it gets. Thus, more people are needed to service it.¡±


    ¡°Only mecha ns will have logisticians? Then what about those mecha teams or smaller battle teams? How did they solve such matters?¡± The Evil Wind Mecha Team had no logisticians. They would go to the cafeteria to fetch some food to eat and go to the logistics department at the base to take their clothes and other resources personally. This was why Lin Zhong-qing was so frustrated when the Evil Wind Mecha entered their mecha n only had mecha n. They had no could logisticians he could use.


    ¡°Some of them belong to a mecha n so they will use the logisticians of the mecha n. Those that didn¡¯t belong to various bases or ground units. The bases and ground units will be doing logistics services.¡± As expected of the knowledgeable Little Four. He could answer all the tricky questions due to her being a younger brother of his Boss. ¡°Of course, there is another worse method. Have them rely on their own!¡±


    ¡°Rely on their own.¡± Ling Lan smiled. The members of Evil Wind were not here to be saved by them. After they survived the effects of Li Shiyu¡¯s restorative agents and her brutal training, she would send those that still had energy left in them to the logistics department.


    ¡°Reply on their own?¡± Lin Zhong-qing frowned when he heard Ling Lan¡¯s words. ¡®Is his Boss asking them to solve their problems from now on themselves? If they could do that, he wouldn¡¯t havee to look for his Boss.¡¯


    ¡°Yes, ask the people from Evil Wind to rely on themselves. Zhong-qing, train the people from Evil Wind and let them learn the skills of a logistician,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡®So that was what his Boss meant.¡¯ Lin Zhong-qing rxed. He smiled. ¡®Does this mean that they would have 200 more logisticians?¡¯ However, soon, he stopped smiling. He knew that the people from Evil Wind couldn¡¯t be used instantly. From what Li Shiyu said, they would need some time before they could be reined inpletely. What would they do during this time? With the current manpower, he was unable to handle an additional 200 people¡¯s worth of daily necessities.


    ¡°What do we do during this period of time?¡± Lin Zhong-qing looked at Ling Lan pitifully. He hoped that his boss could think of a better n for him.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t I say the answer already? Rely on their own!¡± Ling Lan looked at Lin Zhong-qing helplessly. ¡®This young man used this pitiful look to soften my heart. What a bad boy.¡¯


    ¡°Rely on their own?¡± Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s expression got bitter. His boss was asking him to rely on himself.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t bear to see Lin Zhong-qing like that so she added, ¡°The people that can help you are all here.¡± She looked at the ten team leaders and signaled for Lin Zhong-qing to look for them.


    Lin Zhong-qing looked at the ten team leaders. Even if he pulled all of them along, it would not solve the problem... wait!


    Lin Zhong-qing suddenly thought of what Ling Lan did to the people from Evil Wind. A thought shed past his mind, and he finally understood what Ling Lan meant.


    Lin Zhong-qing smiled. Their department could finally be the boss for once.

 Chapter 818 - Overturned!

    <h4>Chapter 818: Overturned!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    After Yan Three survived the day¡¯s time of torture, his body felt refreshed just like what was happening for the past few days. As the leader of the Evil Wind Mecha Team, he was not stupid. He had noticed this feeling on the first day after he woke up from the pain.


    It was obvious that this medical agent, which he thought was used to torture them, was actually beneficial to their bodies. However, Yan Three just didn¡¯t know why this medical agent was causing so much unnecessary pain.


    Yan Three didn¡¯t understand what was happening but he was not an ungrateful person. When he realized that his team members felt the same way as him after they experienced the pain, the anger in him subsided a little. He started thinking carefully. ¡®Why is the regimentmander of 250 Mecha n doing this to us?¡¯


    ¡®Pressure them at the start before showing them leniency?¡¯ Yan Three scoffed. If he thought that the people from Evil Wind would submit to him because of this, he was wrong.


    Yan Three thought that Regiment Commander Ling would negotiate with him within these few days but he didn¡¯t carry out any actions at all. He started to get anxious again. ¡®Was I wrong about my assumption?¡¯


    Li Shiyu carefully observed the members of Evil Wind these few days. Besides those that were in terrible condition, the others were more or less healed. He nodded his head in satisfaction. His mission waspleted one day in advance. Lin Zhong-qing must be really anxious now.


    ¡°Hey, why are you still lying down? Hurry and get up! Wear your clothes and follow me!¡± One morning, Yan Three, who was resting on his bed with his eyes closed, heard a loud voice calling him. He opened his eyes and saw the big-sized man who sent them their meals every day kicking their beds furiously. He woke up all the members of the Evil Wind who were still sleeping.


    The members of Evil Wind looked at Yan Three, and Yan Three nodded to them secretly. Everyone wore their clothes quickly and walked out of the room in an orderly manner.


    This was the first time they had walked out of this room. They had always been injected with the agent in there for the past six days. If anyone dared to retaliate, big-sized men woulde in and pinned them down. The big-sized men would tie the troublemakers up and inject them with two sets of agents instead of one, amplifying the pain they experienced. No matter how much they pleaded and begged the big-sized men, they would disregard them like they were ants. They just watched them with cold eyes as they suffered from the excruciating pain.


    After seeing the consequences of retaliating, the members of Evil Wind never retaliated again. Everyone now obediently epted the injections. That way, they could at least maintain some of their dignity.


    Yan Three went out and realized that they were not a prison. They were instead in a hospital of the mecha n. The people that worked here were all medics. They had the medic logo printed on their military uniforms. However, Yan Three was surprised as these medics looked out of ce.


    Base 013 had a medical center too. However, the medics inside were mostly weakdies and skinny men. Actually, medics were the weakest among the logisticians. Only those people that weren¡¯t able to do even the basic job of a logistician were sent to be medics.


    Yet, the medics here were entirely different. There were no women. They were all big-sized and muscr men. Yan Three suspected that even he couldn¡¯t win against some of them from the force of presence they exuded.


    ¡®Such strong soldiers are medics?¡¯ Yan Three felt his world view being overturned.


    One of the medics sensed Yan Three¡¯s surprised gaze and red at him fiercely. ¡°What are you looking at? Have you not seen a medic before?¡±


    Yan Three lowered his head quickly. ¡®Yes actually, I have not seen such a fierce medic like you before.¡¯


    At that moment, another member of Evil Wind came out from the other room. He walked a little slow so the logistician looking after him reminded him patiently to move a little bit quicker. However, that member of Evil Wind got triggered by the reminder, so he pushed the logistician angrily.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    The medic closest to them suddenly jumped up and pinned that member from Evil Wind on the ground. Then, he knocked on the back of the person¡¯s head, making him unconscious. After knocking him out, he asked two logisticians toe and drag the person away. The medic looked at the logistician that got pushed and asked, ¡°Are there any more troublemakers? You can leave them to me.¡±


    The logistician smiled. ¡°Leader, you can drag whoever you don¡¯t like away.¡±


    The members of Evil Wind didn¡¯t dare to resist anymore. These were not medics. These were human tyrannosaurus. Theirrade was knocked unconscious with a single blow.


    One of the middle-aged medics suddenly appeared in front of the medic that knocked the person unconscious. ¡°Leader Xie, our leader hopes you can gather soon.¡± Then, the person disappeared. Yan Three narrowed his eyes. The middle-aged medic was definitely at the optimal peak of Qi-Jin.


    The medic called Leader Xie looked at the time on hismunicator and shouted, ¡°Ah! It¡¯s already sote.¡±


    Sob, he and Qi Long were so unlucky. They unluckily picked the medical department out of all the various other departments he could choose. The mecha operators in their teams had such a hard time in this department. They were well-versed with mecha piloting but they couldn¡¯t handle a small syringe. In order to learn the emergency treatment skills for the battlefield, all their mecha operators poked their arms many times so they knew what it felt like.


    Fortunately, this wasing to an end soon. The moment they sent the people from Evil Wind to Lin Zhong-qing, they would regain their status as mecha operators. After this experience, all of them knew how hard a medic¡¯s life was. They all decided they would treat the medics in their mecha ns better.


    ¡°Hurry up. Pick up your pace!¡± Xie Yi was excited when he thought of the end of this misery so he shouted loudly.


    The logisticians that were leading the members from Evil Wind (they were actually team members of Xie Yi¡¯s team) heard this and got rougher on the people from Evil Wind. Yan Three and his team members saw how powerful these medics were so they didn¡¯t dare to retaliate. They quickly arrived to a field. Yan Three scanned his surroundings. Most of his team members were here. There were around 20 people who hadn¡¯t arrived. They probably retaliated and got knocked unconscious.


    Yan Three could only pray that his team members would control their emotions and not remain stubborn.


    A major wearing a mask walked over. He nced at the members of Evil Wind and said, ¡°Now, I will tell you your homework for the next few days. Listen carefully. If you can¡¯tplete it...¡± The major gave a meaningful smile. ¡°I will wish you all good luck in your future endeavors.¡±

 Chapter 819 - Cut All Forms Of Retreat!

    <h4>Chapter 819: Cut All Forms Of Retreat!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The people from Evil Wind looked at the major coldly and waited for him to continue. Although they knew that the people from 250 Ace Mecha n didn¡¯t torture them, they were still invaded and dragged into their base. This was an utter humiliation to them. They wouldn¡¯t forget about their humiliation just because they were given some small benefits.


    ¡°In a while, you will get your personal number from the senior captain on my left.¡±


    The people from Evil Wind went into an uproar. They already had their own numbers. If they changed it, wouldn¡¯t it mean that Evil Wind no longer exists?


    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it!¡± Someone shouted in anger.


    Soon after that first shout, everyone from Evil Wind started shouting. The situation went a little out of control.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± The major scoffed. Everyone were below the optimal peak of Qi-Jin felt blood churning in their chest. Those that hadn¡¯t achieved Qi-Jin stage felt an iron taste in their mouths and blood started dripping out of their mouths. Even Yan Three, who had reached the optimal peak of Qi-Jin, felt his heart shuddering.


    The frightening force of presence from the major made everyone silent. They looked at the major in fear. ¡®Where on earth did 250 Ace Mecha ne from? Even an insignificant major is so powerful.¡¯


    When everyone quietened down, the major continued, ¡°Of course, you can choose whether you want to change or not. Those people who chose not to change their numbers will be sent to the medical department directly.¡±


    The major pped his hands and two muscr medics jumped out. One of them was holding a huge syringe while the other cracked his knuckles loudly. They smiled and looked at the members of Evil Wind like they were looking at a piece of steak. They seemed to be hoping that someone would not change their number.


    Yan Three noticed that one of the medics was the person who knocked his team member unconscious with one strike. That team member was at the middle stage of Qi-Jin. Yan Three remembered that the other logisticians called this medic, Leader Xie. He must be the leader of the medical team. Yan Three didn¡¯t know who the other medic was but from the aura he was giving off, he was as strong as Leader Xie. No, the feeling these two medics gave him was simr to the masked major.


    Yan Three felt confused. ¡®What is going on in 250 Ace Mecha n? Why are their logisticians so powerful?¡¯


    Many of the people from Evil Wind had suffered in the hands of these two medics. Hence, when the two of them walked out, a few people¡¯s faces turned pale. Those that didn¡¯t meet the two medics before got anxious when they saw this scene. They started to hesitate. ¡®Should we bare with the humiliation now and wait for a chance to take revenge in the future?¡¯ They thought.


    ¡°Those that don¡¯t want to change their numbers will be sent back to the medical department.¡± The masked major exined patiently to the members of Evil Wind. ¡°There is ack of manpower in the medical department. The head of the medical department had some new agents and requires some help with it. I¡¯m sure that he wees you all to go back.¡±


    The members of Evil Wind trembled in fear. They were tortured for six days there. Even though they knew that the agents would not harm them and are instead good for them, they never wanted to experience it again. This major was trying to tell them that if they went back, they would be used to test out the new agents the head of the medical department invented. No matter how stupid the members of Evil Wind were, they knew that new agents came with a random effect. Some might be good while some might be harmful. If they were unlucky, they might die from the side effects of the new agents. No human would want to die, especially in such a manner too.


    If they didn¡¯t agree to change their number, they would face a huge crisis. They might even lose their life because of it. The members of Evil Wind were anxious. They looked at Yan Three and hoped that their leader could give them an answer. If their leader didn¡¯t want to change his number, they would follow him even if it meant death.


    The masked major noticed everyone¡¯s gaze and turned to look at Yan Three. He smiled and asked, ¡°Leader Yan, your members seemed to be waiting for your order. In that case, I will not ask them for their opinions anymore. I will ask you directly. Do you agree to change your number?¡±


    Yan Three narrowed his eyes. ¡®This masked major is an evil person. Whether he agrees or not, he will be a sinner.¡¯


    If he didn¡¯t agree, he would have to bear responsibility for the lives of all his team members. Once one of his team members died during an experiment, he would regret for life. If he agreed, he would be giving up Evil Wind. He would personally destroy the spiritual pir that supported all his team members. Once this spiritual pir was destroyed, they would never be able to be the courageous Evil Wind Mecha n again. Even if they left 250 Ace Mecha n, they wouldn¡¯t be able to go back to being who they were.


    Yan Three was in a dilemma. Actually, when he heard what the major said, he had already made a decision. He wouldn¡¯t change his number. It was not because he was afraid of death. He wanted to use his death to uphold the spirit of Evil Wind. But now, he couldn¡¯t even do that. Once he says that he didn¡¯t want to change, all his team members would follow him no matter how hesitant they initially were. He was not afraid of dying but he was afraid of the responsibility of dictating the life and death of all his team members.


    The major smiled when he saw Yan Three hesitating. He slowly walked towards Yan Three and sized him up. ¡°Why do you need to take so long to consider such a simple question?¡±


    Without waiting for Yan Three to reply, the major mocked him, ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have asked you this question in front of so many people. Leader Yan, you want to change your number but because I asked you in front of so many members, you got embarrassed. You are afraid of losing your dignity as a leader, right?¡±


    The masked major sneered at Yan Three. The two medics looked at Yan Three intently. If he says that he didn¡¯t want to change, they would start their work instantly.


    Yan Three¡¯s lips twitched. He was speechless. He had already walked into the other party¡¯s trap. Only a heartless and selfish person would be able to walk out of the trap. This was a test of humanity. Yan Three¡¯s sweat dripped down his forehead. Should he protect his members and get cast aside by his team members or should he give up his humanity and be a selfish person?


    ¡°Leader Yan?¡± The masked major looked at Yan Three sharply. He was not going to let him escape this time.


    Yan Three forced a smile on his face. He gritted his teeth and said, ¡°I want to change!¡±


    The members of Evil Wind gave him a look of disbelief. ¡®Their leader going to abandon the Evil Wind Mecha n?¡¯


    ¡°Good. You are a wise man.¡± The major pped his hands and invited Yan Three forward. ¡°Please lead the way and get your new number.¡±


    This was a final blow to Yan Three. It cut off all paths of retreat for him. He would never be able to hold his head high up again.

 Chapter 820 - Good Cat!

    <h4>Chapter 820: Good Cat!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Yan Three looked viciously at this major who caused him to disgrace himself. However, no matter how much he red at him, the major was seemingly not affected at all. He just continued to smile gently at him.


    Yan Three took his new number and went back to join the crowd. The members of Evil Wind exchanged nces with each other. Finally, one of them took his first step forward. Soon, all the members of Evil Wind got their new numbers.


    The major continued, ¡°Since everyone got their new numbers, I will now announce what you will be doing for the next period of time. Don¡¯t think that everything will be fine after getting your numbers. This is just the start. You will need to work hard to protect your number. You will be eliminated after failing three times toplete your mission or test. The eliminated people...¡± The major then gave an evil smile before he continued, ¡°Unfortunately, will have to go back to the medical department and be the talent the head of the medical department is looking for.¡± What he meant was, they still couldn¡¯t escape their fate of bing guinea pigs if they do not work hard.


    The members of Evil Wind got a shock. They put aside their anger and started to listen to the major attentively. They were afraid that they would miss something and get eliminated because of it.


    Yan Three was shocked too. However, his reason was different. He was shocked by how eloquent the major was. Each scheme was sneakily sowed in between his sentences, making him not have time to think carefully. Firstly, the other party gave him an opening gambit, destroying his reputation and lowering his position in the hearts of his team members. Next, he shifted the attention of his team members away from the anger and frustration of changing their numbers. All his team members were now focused on the missions and tasks they were assigned to.


    When everyone focused onpleting missions to prevent them from getting eliminated, the hatred and anger caused by destroying their mecha team would subside as time goes by. In the end, all the negative emotions towards 250 Ace Mecha n would disappear.


    ¡°From today onwards, this will be your daily mission.¡±


    ¡°You will wake up at 6 am and have breakfast at 6.15 am. Breakfast will be held at the logistician canteen. If you are not sure where it is located, please find a logistician and ask him for a map.¡±


    ¡°At 6.30 am, even if you are not full, you must gather at the training ground and run two hours with weights on. At the start, we will only put 15kg on you so that you can get used to it.¡±


    ¡°After running for two hours, you will go through our special training.¡± The masked major gave an evil smile again. ¡°This special training has another name. We call it The Living Hell. I sincerely hope that you all will have the energy to crawl out of the training ground after that.¡±


    As the major recited the mission, the expressions of the people continuously turned moreplex after every sentence. They didn¡¯t know if they should retaliate or obediently go through The Living Hell. The name of this training was enough to send a chill down their spines. Of course, the two hours of running was enough to tire them out already.


    ¡°You will only have the right to eat lunch after youpleted all these missions. I hope that you can do this, as there will be even worse things waiting for you in the afternoon. I highly suspect that some of you will use up your three chances on the first day.¡±


    ¡°Okay, the time is 8 am now. It¡¯s slightlyter than the time we said just now, so we will spare you today. There will be no The Living Hell today, but you still have toplete the two-hour run.¡± The masked major kindly gave the members of Evil Wind a let off. Yan Three looked at him with suspicion. He felt that this let off was a trap. However, he couldn¡¯t determine what the trap it was.


    ¡°Qi Long, Xie Yi, you two will lead them to the training ground.¡± The masked major finished speaking to the members of Evil Wind and started talking to the two medics beside him.


    ¡°Why is it us again?¡± Qi Long asked unhappily.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng, you can¡¯t push your responsibilities to us,¡± Xie Yi refuted. He wanted to take off his medic uniform already.


    ¡°I¡¯m not pushing my responsibilities away. The regimentmander wanted me to tell you two that he is waiting for you two at the training ground.¡± Li Lanfeng was schadenfreude. ¡°You two hadn¡¯t trained for three days, right?¡±


    Xie Yi and Qi Long¡¯s face turned pale. Li Shiyu gave them so much work that they didn¡¯t have the time to train their team. They thought their Boss would not notice such small matters but he did. Not only did he notice it, but he was also nning to punish them personally at the training ground. Xie Yi and Qi Long felt that they were going to die today.


    ¡°I wish you two good luck!¡± Li Lanfeng patted their shoulders and disappear instantaneously.


    Li Lanfeng was very busy too. His team had its own mission. It was as bad as Qi Long and Xie Yi.


    Military cook. This sounded like an easy job. They just had to cook some food. How hard could it be. However, the agile mecha operators almost destroyed the entire kitchen while they were trying to cook. The old military cooks looked at them with disdain. If they weren¡¯t mecha operators, the old military cooks might have scolded them already. Oh, these military cooks hated people who wasted food.


    Just as the mecha operators were about to breakdown from the torment and embarrassment, (It couldn¡¯t be helped. They really couldn¡¯t cook. The food was either raw or burnt. If it was cooked properly, there would always be a problem with its taste. It was either too nd or too salty. All in all, these powerful mecha operators couldn¡¯t cook at all.) their life savior arrived.


    ¡®This is bad.¡¯ When Li Lanfeng walked into the kitchen, he could already feel the depressing atmosphere in there. He was afraid that after they finished this temporary job, his mecha operators wouldn¡¯t be able to operate their mechas anymore. Hence, he had no choice but to do it himself.


    Fortunately, Li Lanfeng had some cooking talent, he managed to make a delicious dish in his first try. The military cooksplimented him and his team members looked at him with admiration. They didn¡¯t expect their team leader to be so good at cooking.


    Li Lanfeng helped his mecha operators gained some of their confidence back. At the same time, all his team members finally acknowledged him as their team leader. They didn¡¯t look down on his weak and skinny frame anymore. This was an unexpected oue for Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng was surprised. Although this was not a generic way to obtain respect in the military, he didn¡¯t mind. ording to what Ling Lan said, any cat that can catch mice is a good cat. Simrly, any method that could help him gain the recognition of these experienced mecha operators was a good method.

 Chapter 821 - Tyrant?

    <h4>Chapter 821: Tyrant?</h4>


    Yan Three and his team members followed Qi Long and Xie Yi to the training ground. When they arrived there, it was already filled with many people. From their attire, Yan Three knew that they were logisticians. He felt confused. He didn¡¯t see any mecha operators the entire time he was here. ¡®Are the mecha operators at some other special training ground?¡¯


    A young and handsome major was flipping through a logbook in the middle of the training ground. The two medics leading them saw the major and immediately hurried over with bright smiles.


    ¡°Zhong-qing, are you in charge of today¡¯s training?¡± Qi Long was ted. It looked that they managed to escape Boss¡¯s punishment today.


    Lin Zhong-qing looked up. He stared at them curiously before raising the logbook in his hand and counting towards it. ¡°I¡¯m in charge of Evil Wind¡¯s training.¡± Qi Long and Xie Yi were not part of his responsibilities.


    Qi Long¡¯s expression dropped. ¡°Not you? Is it really our Boss?¡±


    Xie Yi frowned too. He didn¡¯t want to see his Boss. His boss was an impartial person so he definitely wouldn¡¯t listen to their reasons for not training in these past few days.


    Lin Zhong-qing looked at Qi Long with a peculiar expression after hearing what he said.


    Qi Long thought that Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t know what situation they were in so he smiled bitterly and exined, ¡°We were helping Brother Shiyu in the medical department for the past few days. We were so busy helping him so we didn¡¯t have time to train. Just now, Brother Feng said that Boss is waiting for us here.¡± Qi Long couldn¡¯t help but shiver when he thought about this.


    Xie Yi leaned on Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s shoulder and cried, ¡°Zhong-qing, you should know that if wend in our Boss¡¯s hands, based on his tyrannic methods, we will be dead.¡±


    ¡°Tyrannic?¡± A cold voice sounded behind them. ¡°How tyrannic?¡±


    Xie Yi turned and answered at the same time, ¡°Do you know what is a tyrant? Boss is a tyra...¡± Xie Yi suddenly saw Ling Lan standing behind him and smiling at him. His tongue got stuck in the back of his tongue. He just kept repeating the word tyrant.


    ¡°Tyrant, tyrant...¡± Ling Lan knocked the silver whip on her palm and slowly said.


    Lin Zhong-qing looked at Xie Yi and Qi Long helplessly. He had tried to hint them with his eyes but the two of them didn¡¯t notice it. Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t see his Boss at the start. By the time he saw his Boss, he was already behind Qi Long and Xie Yi. His boss signaled for him to keep quiet so he could only use his eyes to hint Xie Yi and Qi Long. However, the two idiots didn¡¯t receive his message.


    Qi Long, who was shocked too, managed to regain his senses. ¡°Boss, how can you be a tyrant? You must have heard wrongly.¡± Qi Long decided that he would not admit it no matter what. If not, they would definitely be tortured until theirst breath, and Brother Shiyu would then save them with his agents and their Boss would continue torturing them until he vented his anger out.


    Qi Long¡¯s humble-looking face looked really funny when he was lying. Ling Lan purposely asked, ¡°What did you two say then?¡±


    Qi Long was dumbfounded. ¡°Erm...¡± Cold sweat formed on his forehead. He nudged Xie Yi forcefully to remind him that this was not the time to feel scared. He should think of a way out of this predicament first. ¡®Sob, why isn¡¯t Jijyun beside me? If Jijyun was here, he will be able to find a good reason to escape punishment. I wouldn¡¯t have to be so agitated if he was here.¡¯


    Xie Yi regained hisposure after Qi Long nudged him. He gathered his wits and said hurriedly, ¡°We are saying that you are like a king who cares about his people.¡±


    Ling Lan was speechless as these two people were just talking nonsense. She snorted. ¡°Qi Long, Xie Yi!¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± The two of them immediately straightened their bodies.


    ¡°You miss three consecutive days of training. Your training will be doubled as a punishment and you will have toplete it with six times of the normal training load. If you can¡¯t finish it, you will not go back tomorrow.¡± Ling Lan directly announced her punishment. As for them talking behind her back, she would take revenge slowly in the future. As ady, she bore grudges.


    ¡°Yes!¡± The two people heaved a sigh of relief when their boss left immediately after announcing their punishment. They felt as if they hade back from the brink of death.


    ¡°Six times.¡± Lin Zhong-qing reminded them thoughtfully. It was not easy toplete it with six times of the training load.


    Qi Long gasped. He made a prompt and resolute decision. ¡°Zhong-qing, please prepare the best restorative agent for us and three big portions of food.¡± They would definitely be on the verge of copsing after going through training with six times of the training load. They would probably have to crawl out of the training ground.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll prepare everything for you,¡± Lin Zhong-qing replied. Then, he looked at them pitifully as they carried 250kg of weight and started their training.


    ¡®Do they think that everything will end today?¡¯ Lin Zhong-qing shook his head as he looked at their silhouettes. Qi Long and Xie Yi thought that they had escaped from their Boss¡¯s revenge but he saw a faint smile on his Boss¡¯s face just now. He knew that their real punishment was just starting.


    ¡°Wish you two good luck.¡± As theirrade, Lin Zhong-qing gave them his blessing and walked towards the members of Evil Wind.


    The members of Evil Wind were astounded by the intensity of the logistician¡¯s training. ¡®Is that really a mission for logisticians? Our training is not even worth mentioning whenpared to theirs.¡¯


    ¡°Major Li should have told you all the mission for today, right? These are the weights. The lightest is 15kg followed by 25kg, 40kg, 50kg, 60kg, all the way to 150kg. There are the special weights for team leaders which weigh 250kg. You do not have to care about the other weights for now, just put on the 15kg weights and run for two hours. You cannot stop, sit down, or copse during the run. You are given three chances to have a one minute slow walk. You can use all three chances at one go too and make it into a three minutes slow walk. Once you used up all your chances, your points will be deducted the moment you walk again. Once you go below the passing mark, you will fail the mission,¡± Lin Zhong-qing exined to them.


    ¡°You should know that you all only have three chances of failure. One you exceed, you will be sent back to the medical department. I¡¯m sure you all know what the consequences are. I hope that you all willplete the mission.¡± Lin Zhong-qing told them what they would be doing today. He disregarded the pale and fearful faces of the members of Evil Wind and asked the guards of the training ground to lead them to the weights section.


    If anyone walked slowly, the guards would poke them with their electric prod so the members of Evil Wind didn¡¯t dare to waste any time dawdling.

 Chapter 822 - No Good Intentions!

    <h4>Chapter 822: No Good Intentions!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Yan Three looked at the 15kg weight jacket in his hand and nced at Xie Yi and Qi Long who were running furiously. Hepared the two weight jackets and realized that they were wearing the 250kg weight jackets that was meant for team leaders. He was stunned. ¡®Is the term ¡®team leaders¡¯ referring to all the team leaders in the mecha n, including the team leaders of the logisticians?¡¯


    Yan Three was totally confused. Ever since he walked out of the medical department, everything he saw was totally different than what he had expected. 250 was a normal ace mecha n but the people inside the mecha n were abnormal, even those titled ace mecha ns couldn¡¯t bepared to this mecha n.


    ¡®Is this really just a normal ace mecha n?¡¯


    Yan Three didn¡¯t have the time to think further, as he was forced by those fierce guards to the training ground. The members of Evil Wind started their run. At first, the people of Evil Wind thought that carrying a 15kg weight while running for two hours was not a problem. However, after half an hour, they started to experience the effects of the extra 15kg. At first, they didn¡¯t feel it but as time went by, they felt their bodies getting heavier and heavier.


    One hour passed. Most of the mecha operators were running with heavy footsteps while panting heavily. Sweat dripped down their forehead, drenching their whole bodies. Only Yan Three and a few other people who had reached the optimal peak of Qi-Jin were still able to run properly.


    ¡°Ha! It¡¯s just 15kg and you can¡¯t handle it anymore? Weaklings. How you all dare to provoke our 250 Ace Mecha n if you¡¯re that much of a wimp!¡± A fierce Zhao Jun held a whip in his hand and stood in the middle of the training ground. His face turned hideous and he shouted angrily, ¡°Those that can¡¯t finish the two-hour run or fail the mission will be dragged to the medical department. I hope that you will enjoy the lovely punishment prepared by our military doctor.¡±


    The mecha operators on the training ground looked at Zhao Jun in surprise, and their lips twitched uncontrobly. ¡®Why did our team leader suddenly be like this? He was still smiling and talking nicely with us five minutes ago...¡¯ Their eyes instinctively nced at their regimentmander who was calmly observing the training ground from the side with his hands behind his back.


    They remembered that five minutes ago, their leader was called to have a chat with their vicious regimentmander. What did their regimentmander say to their leader? What caused their nice leader to be so frightening? They watched as their leader screamed and shouted at the members of Evil Wind with whips flying furiously around him. Zhao Jun¡¯s team members suddenly felt a chill down their spine.


    At that moment, Ling Lan suddenly nced at them. Everyone on duty instantly straightened their backs and looked straight ahead. They were afraid that if they made any mistakes and get called over by their devil regimentmander, they would be like their team leader too. They didn¡¯t want to be someone they couldn¡¯t even recognize.


    Lin Zhong-qing was observing the training ground besides Ling Lan and was recording the results. When he saw some people slowing down and walking tiredly, he frowned.


    ¡°They couldn¡¯t evenst for two hours,¡± Lin Zhong-qing said unhappily.


    ¡°This is their first time undergoing such intense training. It¡¯s perfectly normal that their performance is a bit underwhelming.¡± Ling Lan was not disappointed.


    Lin Zhong-qing turned to look at his Boss. He finally asked him the question he had in his mind for the past few days, ¡°Boss, do you have high hopes for Evil Wind?


    If not, he wouldn¡¯t have wasted so many precious restorative agents to help them get back on their peak conditions as quickly as possible. He even created a special training regime for them. That¡¯s right, this gradually advancement method of training was designed by Ling Lan personally. Besides the mecha operators that were already in 250 Ace Mecha n from the start, no other people had this special privilege. Even the logisticians had to undergo six months of basic training and gain the approval of their Boss before they get this kind of treatment.


    The seemingly brutal training regime, along with Li Shiyu¡¯s restorative agents, was actually able to improve a person¡¯s physique and endurance greatly in a short period of time. Most importantly, it was able to increase the potential of a person. The potential of a person determines how far this person could walk in their life. If the potential was improved, that meant that he could achieve even more things in the future. Abilities could be learned through hard work and determination but the potential was fixed. No matter how much effort someone put in, he wouldn¡¯t be able to change his potential.


    250 Ace Mecha ncked manpower but their Boss could definitely find other ways to get the people and he wouldn¡¯t have to resort to people from the grass-roots. If he went to find General Ling Xiao, he would definitely be able to get better mecha operators and logisticians. Although they wouldn¡¯t be able to get experienced soldiers, but there were many new mecha operators that just graduated from the military academy. The experienced mecha operators in their mecha ns could teach these new mecha operators so that they would be able to get used to the mecha n easily.


    Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t understand why his Boss wanted the members of Evil Wind. They were quite powerful but they came from the grass-roots. He had surveyed the many videos taken when the members of Evil Wind were fighting on the battlefield. They managed to survive every time but they were always heavily wounded in the end. Both sides of the battle always suffered great losses, and it was the medics at the base who managed to bring them back from the gates of Hell.


    They had no battle tactics and only knew how to charge forward with no semnce of coordination. All of them just fought in their own bubble like they were doing a 1vs1. Lin Zhong-qing was ufortable with their style of fighting, because he came from the military academy so he learned the importance of teamwork. Thus, he disliked all forms of rash and impulsive acts.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have high hopes for them. I just want to see what the oue will be when we put two different styles of people in the same team,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡®Huh?¡¯ Lin Zhong-qing looked at his Boss in astonishment. He couldn¡¯t understand what his Boss was saying at all.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you notice that our mecha operators are bing very rxedtely?¡± Ling Lan raised her one of her eyebrows.


    Lin Zhong-qing went into deep thought when heard her words.


    ¡°Although they are starting to regain their abilities, they are already used to living afortable life here. They hadn¡¯t had any goals orpetition for many years so they are unable to maintain their motivation for long periods of time. This is a lethal weakness especially on the battlefield.¡± Ling Lan frowned slightly. She realized this so she decisively applied to enter the battlefield. She hoped that the life-or-death situations on the battlefield would ignite the fighting spirit of the experienced mecha operators, only then would they be resurrected fully as veteran ace mecha operators.


    ¡°As for the members of Evil Wind, they had climbed up from the grass-roots, so they are prepared to enter the battlefield anytime with a burning spirit. This is something our mecha operatorsck. Also...¡± Ling Lan smiled. ¡°You know that the academy faction and grass-root faction dislike each other, so when both of them are on the same team, it will be quite interesting, right?¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing turned his gaze away from Ling Lan and looked at the training ground. ¡®As expected, Boss is up to no good!¡¯

 Chapter 823 - Treated With Care!

    <h4>Chapter 823: Treated With Care!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    At the frontlinemand center of the Hailiya army, themander-in-chief of this battle, Jia Ernan, was looking at a 3D virtual image of a map that had all the frontline army and the various bases clearly depicted on it. There was no distinguishable line between the two armies as they were situated closely and interlocked in battle constantly.


    ¡°Commander-in-chief, the higher authorities have given us an order to end the battle on Wangjiao within half a year. This long battle had severely implicated the economy of the Hailiya Alliance, causing it to remain stagnant for more than 10 years. The political party is pressuring us to not drag this war any longer.¡± His adviser, Jia Miao, who was beside him, was looking at the map intently too. If they were unable to end this war in half a year, they would have to face all kinds of usations and undergo all kinds of investigations. They might even be pushed out to take the me for their superiors for their faults.


    ¡°Those useless people only know how to talk. If the Huaxia Federation is so easy to deal with, why did we lose half of Wangjiao to them even when we were at an advantage?¡± Jia Ernan said furiously.


    ¡°Ever since the segregation of the three powers, the political party and the prosecution had been watching us closely. Thus, our power is being tightly controlled. Ahh... I really admire the military of the Huaxia Federation. They have the final say in everything.¡± Jia Miao looked at the red Huaxia Federation g in envy. This system allowed the Huaxia Federation to have a strong military.


    ¡°However, this also means that the marshal is unable to withstand the pressure from the two factions anymore.¡± Jia Miao¡¯s gaze turned cold. ¡°We have no path of retreat anymore.¡±


    Jia Ernan rubbed his face fiercely and said with frustration, ¡°I know. That is why I submitted a request. If we are unable to seed this time, my position as amander-in-chief will probably be taken away.¡±


    Jia Ernan looked at the direction of his country with aplicated expression. He said in a low voice, ¡°The result should be here soon.¡±


    Jia Miao looked at hismander-in-chief curiously as he didn¡¯t know what request he made.


    Jia Ernan saw his expression and smiled. This time, he put all his merits, position, and his future at risk. Even if he trusted Jia Miao and believed that he wouldn¡¯t betray Hailiya, he would not tell him anything.


    ¡°Commander-in-chief, the resources from the country is here. There is a mecha n that came to send the resources. The regimentmander specially requested to hand you an important document personally.¡± At this moment, Jia Ernan¡¯s adjutant came in to report this news.


    Jia Ernan finally gave a big smile. ¡°It¡¯s finally here!¡± Before he could ask his adjutant to invite the regimentmander in, an energetic senior colonel walked in.


    ¡°Commander-in-chief, this is the information we collected regarding the frontline of the Huaxia Federation. We took half a year to collect everything.¡± The senior colonel passed the document in his hand to Jia Ernan.


    Jia Ernan said unhappily, ¡°Input everything into the mainframe and let them appear on the virtual map.¡± Without the actual 3D virtual image, he wouldn¡¯t be able to remember what was written in the document too.


    The senior colonel immediately input the data in the mainframe. Symbols and words started appearing on top of all the different bases of the Huaxia Federation.


    At the same time, Jia Ernan asked his adjutant to bring the regimentmander to his office directly.


    Jia Ernan walked over when he saw the new information on the map. He pointed to a base which had a lightning bolt symbol on top of it. The words ¡®Xun Lei¡¯ was written on top of the base too. He asked, ¡°What does this symbol mean?¡±


    ¡°This symbol is the symbol of the mecha n stationed in that base. Most of the time, a mecha n that has this kind of symbol is a titled ace mecha n. Xun Lei is the name of this mecha n.¡± The senior colonel exined, ¡°We can use this to see what are the standards of the various mecha ns situated at the bases in the frontline.¡±


    Jia Ernan took a quick nce. ¡°They are all titled ace mecha ns. The Huaxia Federation will not give us any chances.¡±


    The senior colonelughed. ¡°That is not the case.¡± He pointed to a certain base. The number of the base was 013.


    At Base 013, Du Mingyi used his authority as themanding officer of the base and submitted aint against 250 Ace Mecha n. He requested the military to send an inspector toe down and inspect 250 Ace Mecha n.


    One of the majors in charge of collecting all these request forms suddenly saw thisint against an ace mecha n in Wangjiao, and got extremely excited.


    As an ambitious inspector, he wouldn¡¯t allow any pieces of trash to harm his country¡¯s soldiers. Even if the person had a special background, he would be impartial in his investigation. He wouldn¡¯t let anyone escape the punishment of thew. This major was excited because suchints from the frontline normally meant that there was a big case. It might even implicate some high-status officers in the military. This was a chance for him to perform.


    The major clicked on the request to see its details. The person who sent this request was themanding officer of Base 013. The person he wanted toin about was the Regiment Commander of 250 Ace Mecha n, Ling Lan.


    ¡°23rd division? Isn¡¯t that General Ling Xiao¡¯s division? Really? How can such a thing happen in the General Ling Xiao¡¯s division? Is it a mistake?¡± It had to be said that General Ling Xiao¡¯s noble and perfect image was deeply imprinted in people¡¯s hearts. The first thing this major thought of was that this was a mistake.


    ¡°250 Ace Mecha n... why does it sound so familiar? Ling Lan...¡± The major looked at this name and suddenly thought of something. A while ago, a group from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee went to investigate a mecha n under General Ling Xiao¡¯s division. It was reported that the regimentmander of that mecha n was brutal and vicious. He trampled on human lives as if they were grass and even killed some of the soldiers in his team. That regimentmander was called Ling Lan.


    However, this group of investigation squad went excitedly and came back dejectedly. Further investigation proved that this was a false usation. After looking through the list of members of 250 Ace Mecha n, no one was missing or died, making the usation of Ling Lan killing people false. When the leader of that investigation squad came back, he was furiously reprimanded by their section chief. Their section chief scolded him for his stupidity. ¡®How could you touch Ling Xiao¡¯s man when you had no evidence. Were you looking for death? Even if you were, this shouldn¡¯t be how you do it.¡¯ The people from other squads were unhappy with this investigation squad too. They felt that they had blemished General Ling Xiao¡¯s image with these disrespectful actions. Fortunately, General Ling Xiao was a benevolent person. He didn¡¯t me the investigation squad. If not, their section chief would have to offer his humble apology to this God-ss mecha master.


    They were not afraid of regimentmanders (on the surface) because all the divisions are under the surveince of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee. Therefore, they had the right to investigate a regimentmander. However, the ten famous generals, the three marshals, and the 12 god-ss operators had special privileges. Moreover, Ling Xiao was a general as well as a god-ss operator. He was a special character among all the special characters. The Disciplinary and Investigation Committee would not want to offend such a troublesome person unless they really had no other choice.


    The major felt that this request was too difficult to handle. He thought for a moment and sent this request to his section chief. The major knew that if something was rted to General Ling Xiao, any officers, no matter how small his position was, had to take care of it carefully.

 Chapter 824 - Sorry To Offend You!

    <h4>Chapter 824: Sorry To Offend You!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Yan Three was puzzled as he walked towards the logistics department of the base with arge group of people. The group consisted of people from Evil Wind, but most of the group were from 250 Ace Mecha n.


    It was a coincidence that they were with the people from 250. It all started when they were released early from the training ground and they got spotted by a team leader in charge of handling the goods and materials of the mecha n. The team leader didn¡¯t ask them anything when he saw them, and he just brought them with him. His reason for dragging them along was, his departmentcked manpower so he asked them for their help.


    Along the way, Yan Three had rified the situation. They were here to take the supplies allocated to 250 Mecha n. Normally, these resources would be sent directly to the various camps, but Ling Lan must have angered themanding officer of the base when sheid her hands on Evil Wind. Thus, themanding officer purposely didn¡¯t send them any supplies, forcing them toe and take it themselves. He must be trying to make things difficult for them purposely.


    Yan Three secretly felt grateful towards Du Mingyi for protecting them like that. He was d to see 250 Ace Mecha n experiencing some inconveniences. However, Du Mingyiwfully still had to give the supplies to 250 Ace Mecha n but it was alright for him to inconvenience them a little by asking them to get the supplies themselves.


    Yan Three still had resentment towards 250 Ace Mecha n but after a week of training together, his resentment got lesser and lesser. On the other hand, his fear of it got greater. He remembered the time when they first met and he gave 250 Ace Mecha n an opening gambit, he felt that he was looking for death in hindsight. Even the logisticians that trained with them were already as powerful as them. Moreover, the team leaders were even better. Anyone of them was stronger than him.


    Oh right, the team leader that he was following to the logistics department of the base was stronger than him too. 250 Ace Mecha n was filled with powerful people.


    Yan Three admitted that he was quite motivated to work harder in this kind of environment. He had always thought that his capabilities were enough for him to get into a titled ace mecha n easily. However, in this normal ace mecha n, his capabilities were only considered in the middle range among the logisticians.


    ¡®How powerful are the mecha operators of 250 Ace Mecha n? How powerful are they to have such amazing logisticians?¡¯ Yan Three couldn¡¯t help but remember the two team leaders who came out to teach Song Yiqing a lesson. They were extremely young but very formidable for their age, one of them was even the son of Lieutenant General Qi.


    ¡®Is this because of their background or is it undisputable power?¡¯ Yan Three wasn¡¯t certain of the answer. What he could be certain about was that this 250 Ace Mecha n was not an ordinary ace mecha n. It definitely wasn¡¯t.


    Yan Three noticed that the team leaders here, whether it was the team leader of a logistics team or a mecha team, were all majors and above in rank. Yan Three had difficulty recognizing people but he was good at remembering military uniforms. Once he saw a uniform, he could memorize all the details on that uniform.


    Hence, Yan Three memorized military uniforms first. Then, only after many interactions with the person, would hebine the face of the person with the uniform. That was how he remembered someone. Yan Three had never told anyone this problem. In actuality, this problem didn¡¯t really cause him any inconvenience either.


    ¡°250YF11001.¡± The team leader, who they were following to the logistics department of the base, suddenly called Yan Three¡¯s number.


    ¡°Yes, leader!¡± Yan Three immediately pushed away his wandering thoughts and came forward.


    ¡°Bring some men with you to the warehouse.¡± The team leader gave him an innocent smile. Yan Three suddenly felt a sense of familiarity with that smile.


    Yan Three was confused by that smile, so he took some time before he replied to the team leader. However, before he could say anything, the head of the logistics department of the base shouted angrily, ¡°How dare you!¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that there is nothing in the warehouse?¡± The team leader raised one of his eyebrows and smiled at the head.


    The head of the logistics department was speechless. The team leader smiled. ¡°If there really isn¡¯t any supplies, we will not force Base 013 to give us any. However, if you purposely withheld our supplies, we will report to the 23rd division and ask the headquarters to send someone down to see whether themanding officer is embezzling any military supplies.¡±


    The team leader¡¯s attitude was sincere but his words were threatening. Cold sweat started appearing on the forehead of the head of the logistics department, because he knew the warehouse was full. There was nock of supplies in the base. However, his superior, themanding officer of the base, didn¡¯t want to give 250 Ace Mecha n any of it.


    If 250 Ace Mecha n were to realize that it was a lie and reported it to the military headquarters, he would be dead. The head of the logistics department understood that once something like that happened, he could only be the scapegoat.


    ¡°So, are there supplies in there?¡± The team leader asked again.


    If the head of the logistics department didn¡¯t give them, he would offend 250 Ace Mecha n, and they would request an inspector from the headquarters of the 23rd Division toe and investigate this case. In the end, he would probably be the scapegoat for hismanding officer. If he gave it to them, he would provoke the highest ranked officer in this base, dangering his position as the head of the logistics department.


    ¡®No! I couldn¡¯t let that happen. I took so much effort to climb to this position. As long as I keep the people of 250 Ace Mecha n away from the warehouse, no one will realize my lie.¡¯


    The head of the logistics department firmly made a decision. He shouted, ¡°No!¡±


    The team leader¡¯s mouth gaped open in surprise. ¡°Enter the warehouse!¡±


    ¡°Stop them!¡± The head of the logistics department shouted instantly. A team of soldiers on duty rushed in fully armed. They raised their beam guns and aimed it at Yan Three and everyone else on the scene.


    Yan Three looked at the head of the logistics department coldly. He thought that the other party would just make things difficult for them, but instead, the head of the logistics department refused to give them any supplies at all. This was the battlefield. If they were unable to replenish their weapons, equipment, and food supplies, their mecha operators would definitely be in much more risk due to theck of resources they had. This was not simply venting one¡¯s anger anymore. They were trying to harm the lives of innocent soldiers! Even if themanding officer did it for the sake of Evil Wind, they would not feel gratitude towards them.


    They should know what could be done, and what could not be done. Yan Three hated Ling Lan because he forcefully destroyed Evil Wind and integrated them into his team. However, once he enters the battlefield, he would put down his personal hatred and fight with Ling Lan against theirmon enemy. He was willing to show them his back. This was how a qualified soldier from the Federation should act. Therefore, the head of the logistics department was unworthy to be a soldier. He was an embarrassment to the term ¡®soldiers¡¯.


    ¡°Team leader Qi, no one is allowed to enter the warehouse of a military base without permission. This is a military rule. If someone breaks this rule, he will be charged with mutiny without trial. Team leader Qi, I cannot let you make such a huge mistake. Sorry to offend you,¡± The head of the logistics department scoffed. If the person that came was not the young master of the 13th division, he wouldn¡¯t have been so polite with his words.

 Chapter 825 - There Is No Time!

    <h4>Chapter 825: There Is No Time!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡®Since they are in Base 013, they must adhere to the rules of the base.¡¯ The head of the logistics department thought. He raised themunicator in his hand and said, ¡°I¡¯ve already recorded your actions just now and sent them to the mainframe of the base. I hope that you will not continue your wrongdoings.¡±


    ¡°What if I insist?¡± Qi Long smiled. Anyone who was close to Qi Long would know that whenever he smiled like this, it meant that he was on the brink of exploding in anger.


    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll have to punish you in ce of your regimentmander.¡± The head of the logistics department waved his hand and soldiers on duty opened the safety catch of their guns.


    ¡°Get down!¡± A deafening shout suddenly rang through the air. The fully armed soldiers all dropped down together and their beam guns slid out of their hands. Their faces could be seen all scrunched up in agony as an invisible force was seemingly pinning them to the ground. No matter how hard they struggle, they were unable to break free.


    ¡°How dare you raise your guns at your own countrymen. Your actions infuriated me!¡± Qi Long¡¯s humble face wasced with anger. No one would think that he was a good man now.


    ¡°Go and...¡± Before he could finish his sentence, a stern-looking major held his hand and said calmly, ¡°Let it go. We are here to get supplies, not to kill.¡±


    Their Boss would not be angry if they stained their hands with the blood of these trashes. Although they would not get into trouble for killing them due to their Boss¡¯s background and capabilities. But, Han Jijyun still didn¡¯t want to trouble Ling Lan too much, as they were at the frontline where situations wereplex, so it was better to keep things simple.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll listen to you. However, he still has to be punished.¡± Qi Long snorted and the head of the logistics department vomited a mouthful of blood before copsing on the ground.


    Qi Long watched on as he mmed forcefully onto the hard ground. After that, he restrained his anger and resumed his innocent expression.


    After dealing with the pieces of trash that were blocking their way, Han Jijyun reported what had happened to Ling Lan. He needed his Boss to delete those videos the head of the logistics department had recorded. They were able to act without worry because they had a powerful hacker backing them up, their Boss. He was able to clear all evidence of their ¡®crime¡¯. (Somewhere, Little Four cried out. ¡®It¡¯s me! It¡¯s me! Don¡¯t ignore me! I¡¯m the number one sidekick of Boss Lan!¡¯) If the head of the logistics department wanted toin against them, there would be no evidence.


    Han Jijyun felt that based on his Boss¡¯s cunningness, he might even create a fake video that showed the head of the logistics department making a mistake. If the head of the logistics department was sensible enough toin about them, he might be able to protect his position. If not...


    Han Jijyun smiled. He was destroying his own future.


    ¡°I understand. Go and take our supplies from the warehouse. Everything is settled there,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently after she heard Han Jijyun¡¯s report.


    Han Jijyun understood that their Boss must have deciphered the passcode of the warehouse. He whispered what their Boss said to Qi Long.


    Qi Long got excited and immediately brought his men to the warehouse. He grabbed many helpers along the way because he wanted to bring back as many supplies as he could. This time, they caught the other party off guard, as they were able to get their supplies without creating a huge scene. Next time, however, it wouldn¡¯t be so simple. Hence, they needed to take as they possibly could.


    Han Jijyun watched Qi Long with a smile as he left for the warehouse. He turned his gaze to Yan Three and gave him a meaningful smile. It was not a coincidence that they brought Yan Three along, he had nned it intentionally. At first, he didn¡¯t pay much attention to Yan Three but he coincidentally realized that whenever Qi Long changed his attire, Yan Three would ignore him as though he had not seen Qi Long before. He thought that Yan Three did it on purpose because he didn¡¯t like them. However, he realized that this was not true.


    Once, Han Jijyun was chosen to help out at the medical department. That time, however, there was no extra medic uniform so he wore Qi Long¡¯s uniform. Surprisingly, Yan Three came to thank him sincerely because he had helped one of his team members on the first day of training. On that day, his team member¡¯s heart suddenly stopped, and Qi Long was the one who injected a shot of heart tonic decisively, saving his team member. Yan Three was so focused on his team member¡¯s condition that he didn¡¯t realize Qi Long had left. He wanted to thank Qi Long the next day but Qi Long didn¡¯te. (Qi Long¡¯s work as a medic had ended. Even if he appeared again, he would be in different attire. Yan Three wouldn¡¯t still be able to recognize him.)


    After that event, Han Jijyun started suspecting that Yan Three only recognized uniforms. However, that was not the case, as he noticed that Yan Three was still able to recognize his team members after they changed into 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s uniform. Thus, Han Jijyun thought that it might have something to do with how familiar Yan Three was with the person. If Yan Three met the person for the first time, he would only remember the uniform of the person and not the face. As he interacted more with the person, he would slowly remember the face. Of course, there was one criterion for that to ur: The person must keep changing his or her clothes.


    Another reason why Yan Three didn¡¯t make a mistake in identifying a person was that he could remember a person¡¯s force of presence and stage of his physical skills. To test Yan Three, he would always restraint his force of presence with the method their Boss had taught them. No one was able to distinguish his stage when he used that method. One day, he purposely didn¡¯t restrain his force of presence in front of Yan Three. As expected, Yan Three was confused. Yan Three didn¡¯t say anything but Han Jijyun could see the puzzlement in his eyes.


    Han Jijyun quickly told Qi Long that he could restrain his force of presence to fool Yan Three. Today, he and Qi Long changed their attire, and Yan Three didn¡¯t recognize them anymore. ¡®What an interesting person. Brother Shiyu will be very interested in him.¡¯ Han Jijyun decided to report his findings to Li Shiyu.


    While Han Jijyun was concocting up some devilish ideas, Yan Three was working hard, grabbing as many supplies as he could for 250 Ace Mecha n, unaware that a crazy researcher looking for him soon. Yan Three didn¡¯t even have the idea to grab fewer supplies because he didn¡¯t like 250 Ace Mecha n. He knew that the more he grabbed, the more enemies the mecha operators of 250 Mecha n could kill, increasing the chance of survival of everyone in the base. This was enough for him to put in effort and grab as many supplies as he could.


    The other members of Evil Wind were doing the same too. Qi Long and Han Jijyun smiled when they saw this scene. They finally understood why their Boss forcefully integrated Evil Wind into their mecha n. They were weaker in terms of ability but their character was good. This quality was enough for them to enter their mecha n.


    Ling Lan turned off hermunicator and closed her eyes to ponder over something.


    Little Four had broken through the firewall of Hailiya¡¯s virtual world. He secretly entered their virtual world and realized all the enemy¡¯s mecha ns at the frontline were all busy with something. It was obvious that they were preparing for a huge battle that was going to ur soon. Unfortunately, to prevent the n from being leaked, all the orders were written on paper documents. Themanding officers at the various bases destroyed the document once they read it. Therefore, Little Four had no time to find other ways of getting the n. However, their actions proved that there was a huge scheme.


    ¡°There is no time!¡± Ling Lan wanted to be more tactful when she removed Du Mingyi but Hailiya didn¡¯t give her the time to do it. Ling Lan opened her eyes suddenly and killing intent ooze out her eyes.


    ¡°In that case, let me be a real tyrant.¡± She would not let her friends and those mecha operators who trusted her, as well as those logisticians that would stay back at the base, to fall into the hands of a narrow-minded person like Du Mingyi. She wanted a base that she could ce her on trustpletely.

 Chapter 826 - Smart Person!

    <h4>Chapter 826: Smart Person!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Xu Shiming looked at the dangerous invitation in his hands seriously. Whether he chose to go or not, he would offend someone. He was in a very difficult position.


    ¡°Old Xu, why don¡¯t you just ignore the invitation?¡± The vice-captain of the scouts team, Yang Zhenyong, frowned as he said.


    Xu Shiming took out a cigarette box from his pocket and pulled a cigarette out of it. He ced it in his mouth and lit it up with a lighter on the side. He took a puff of it before saying, ¡°Old Yang, tell me your opinion.¡± Every time he was in a dilemma, he would smoke and listen to other¡¯s opinions.


    ¡°An outsider will never win against an insider. Du Mingyi has been in control of Base 013 for 20 years, proving his roots are deep in the military. Ling Lan might have a powerful background but Song Yiqing¡¯s case tells us that a powerful background is not enough to pull Du Mingyi down,¡± Yang Zhenyong exined his thought process.


    Xu Shiming nodded and narrowed his eyes as he puffed out a cloud of smoke. He remembered the domineering and decisive Ling Lan during the weing dinner,paring Ling Lan to Song Yiqing might be a huge mistake. Additionally, Song Yiqing had such a weak personality that he would never do something as decisive as Ling Lan.


    ¡°Leader, Regiment Commander Cui from the Ai¡¯er Mecha n is looking for you,¡± a soldier by the door suddenly informed Xu Shiming.


    Xu Shiming was surprised by the visit. ¡®Why is Cui Yunxuan here?¡¯ He quickly replied, ¡°Invite Regiment Commander Cui in.¡±


    ¡°Cui Yunxuan?¡± Yang Zhenyong was shocked too.


    ¡°Yes. Something must have happened for him toe here personally.¡± Xu Shiming knew that Cui Yunxuan was someone who never visited someone unless he needed something.


    Cui Yunxuan walked into the office and saw both Xu Shiming and Yang Zhenyong were inside. He found a sofa and sat down. He went right into the topic. ¡°Did you receive the invitation from Regiment Commander Ling of 250 Ace Mecha n?¡±


    Xu Shiming frowned. ¡°You asked everyone?¡±


    Cui Yunxuan waved his hands. ¡°How is that possible? The moment I got the invitation, I came to find you. My instinct tells me you must have received the invitation too.¡±


    Xu Shiming gave a bitter smile. ¡°Your instinct is right. I did receive it. However, I didn¡¯t expect you to receive it too. I wonder how many leaders and regimentmanders in the base got his dangerous invitation.¡±


    ¡°You could tell?¡± Cui Yunxuan turned serious.


    ¡°Of course. His intention is obvious, he is forcing us to take a stand.¡± When Xu Shiming received the invitation, he immediately understood Regiment Commander Ling¡¯s intention. Du Mingyi had tried to suppress the news that 250 Ace Mecha n went to the warehouse to snatch their supplies, but officers like him who had a decent amount of power could easily find out about it. Regiment Commander Ling of 250 Ace Mecha n had fallen out with Commander Du Mingyi. Therefore, it was impossible for anyone in the base to sit on the fence between the two of them.


    ¡°Are you going?¡± Cui Yunxuan asked.


    ¡°What about you?¡± Xu Shiming asked him back.


    ¡°I¡¯ll follow you.¡± Cui Yunxuan was direct, revealing his intention instantly. If Xu Shiming went, he would follow. If he didn¡¯t, he wouldn¡¯t go too. Their two teams had worked together for so many years. Thus, Cui Yunxuan trusted Xu Shiming¡¯s judgment.


    ¡°You are so direct...¡± Xu Shiming took a puff of his cigarette and leaned back in his chair. He raised his head and looked at the empty ceiling with many thoughts going through his head. Soon, the cigarette finished burning, and Xu Shiming sat straight up then calmly ced the cigarette butt into the ashtray.


    Cui Yunxuan and Yang Zhenyong¡¯s ears perk up, as they knew that Xu Shiming had made a decision.


    ¡°My decision is filled with risks. We might not be able to rise in rank anymore. If we are unlucky, our positions might even drop.¡± Xu Shiming looked at Cui Yunxuan intently. ¡°Are you still willing to follow me?¡±


    ¡°Great opportunitiese with great risk. I¡¯ll follow you.¡± Cui Yunxuan was a decisive person too. That was why he became good friends with Xu Shiming.


    ¡°I will go.¡± Xu Shiming had thought about it carefully and decided to take the risk. Whether it was his first impression of Ling Lan or the way she forced the members of Evil Wind into her mecha n, it proved that he was not an easy person for Du Mingyi to handle.


    Of course, the most important reason was, Xu Shiming didn¡¯t like Du Mingyi¡¯s narrow-mindedness. Instead of associating himself with this kind of person, he rather took the bet with Ling Lan.


    Yang Zhenyong shook his head when he heard this. Actually, when Xu Shiming hesitated the second he received the invitation, he knew his leader would make this decision but, no matter what decision he made, their team would still follow him. If Xu Shiming wasn¡¯t here, their team would have been annihted by Du Mingyi long ago, as Du Mingyi didn¡¯t know anything but give stupid orders.


    Hence, Xu Shiming and Cui Yunxuan epted Ling Lan¡¯s invitation and went to 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s camp.


    All the regimentmanders and leaders who epted Ling Lan¡¯s invitation thought that they were supposed toe to some consensus during this meeting. For instance, they would look for Du Mingyi together and med him for neglecting his duty. Surprisingly, it was just a simple gathering. It was like aworking session for a new regimentmander to make some friends as they just talked about some unimportant matters. The feud with Du Mingyi was not mentioned at all, making some of the regimentmanders that came quite puzzled. After the gathering, they left 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s camp in confusion.


    ¡°Leader Xu, why do you think that person invited us?¡± Cui Yunxuan was confused too. They offended Du Mingyi in order to attend this gathering but Regiment Commander Ling showed no intention of working with them. Cui Yunxuan got anxious.


    When Xu Shiming came back to his camp, he touched his chin and went into deep thought. After hearing what Cui Yunxuan said, he smiled. ¡°What a smart person.¡±


    With this devious n, it was now impossible for Du Mingyi to find any evidence against Ling Lan. However, Ling Lan did all the things he wanted to do. Xu Shiming was still worried about his decision at the start but now, he was confident.


    Cui Yunxuan looked at Xu Shiming expression and asked doubtfully, ¡°Did you made an agreement with him without me realizing?¡±


    Xu Shiming smiled. ¡°How is that possible...¡± In actual fact, there was no need to reach any agreement. They had already reached a consensus when they epted the invitation.


    ¡°Boss, why did you ask for their opinions on Du Mingyi?¡± After the regimentmanders and leaders left, Luo Lang rushed to his Boss¡¯s office and asked Ling Lan.


    Everyone in there turned attentive as they waited for their boss to answer the question. They were lingering in their Boss¡¯s office because they wanted to know why she didn¡¯t do anything even after inviting all of them.


    ¡°There are two kinds of people that will ept the invitation, one, they have a grudge against Du Mingyi or two, they were sent by him.¡± Ling Lan replied calmly, ¡°Once I know which of the two they are, I have achieved my aim. So, it doesn¡¯t matter whether I said anything or not.¡±


    Luo Lang widened his eyes. He didn¡¯t understand what his Boss was saying! ¡®Is he really stupid?¡¯


    Han Jijyun sighed. ¡°Smart people will know that it was a non-verbal alliance. As for those that don¡¯t understand, let them remain like this so that they won¡¯t spoil the n.¡±


    Luo Lang was furious. ¡°Han Jijyun, are you making fun of my stupidity?¡± ¡®Spoil the n? Will I spoil the n?¡¯


    The calm personality inside Luo Lang¡¯s mind felt the veins on his head bursting.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± Luo Lang¡¯s gaze suddenly turned cold as he apologized to Han Jijyun.

 Chapter 827 - No Problem!

    <h4>Chapter 827: No Problem!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°I¡¯m used to it.¡± Han Jijyun wasn¡¯t angry at Luo Lang¡¯s outburst. If Luo Lang was able to understand these intricate things, he wouldn¡¯t be Luo Lang anymore... or rather, the primary personality anymore.


    ¡°Actually, I feel that you should guide him more.¡± The calm personality felt frustrated for its primary personality.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t we still have you inside him.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. He and Han Jijyun would not waste their efforts on something that will never change.


    The calm personality frowned. At the very beginning, he felt lucky that the primary personality was not on the brighter side. That way, other personalities like him would have more chances to control the body. However, after interacting and growing up with the primary personality for so long, the other personalities couldn¡¯t bear to see the primary personality be bullied anymore. ¡®What the hell is going on with my thoughts?¡¯ The calm personality felt that he couldn¡¯t understand himself anymore.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Since you are out, let¡¯s analyze together. Our Boss told us that Hailiya is nning to attack us soon. Unfortunately, our frontlinemand center isn¡¯t not even prepared for an attack yet. This is not a good sign for us.¡± Han Jijyun asked the calm personality to join the discussion. Aftering to the frontline, Han Jijyun truly felt how insignificant they were. 250 Ace Mecha n was like a speck of dust on the battlefield, being non-impactful at all.


    Han Jijyun could already feel the burden on his shoulders getting heavier. As a strategist, it was up to him to find 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s value on the battlefield.


    Soon, the ten team leaders, their vice-captains, and the deputies of the various logistics department gathered in a meeting room. A 3D image of Haijiao was screened on the table with all the military bases shown. It was like the 3D map at themand center of the frontline of Hailiya.


    No, there were some differences. The information on the various Hailiya bases on the map was very detailed, even the number of mecha operators and logisticians were specified. (¡®Hahaha!¡¯ Little Fourughed arrogantly. I am the one who collected all the information. Hurry up and praise me!)


    However, no one was surprised by this bulk of information, even the experienced mecha operators remained indifferent, as everyone already knew that their regimentmander was an ace hacker.


    These old mecha operators were unable to feel surprised at Ling Lan anymore. They recalled their reaction when they heard about this. They just acknowledged the new entry into the list of her glorious achievements calmly. ¡®Ace hacker? Is it as astounding as his domain ability? Is it as surprising as his imperial mecha master status?¡¯ After fighting with Ling Lan once, these experienced mecha operators knew that Ling Lan¡¯s mecha piloting ability was on an entirely different level than them.


    ¡®Why isn¡¯t their amazing regimentmander taken in by the Flying Dragon Special Forces yet?¡¯ These mecha operators had been shocked so many times they wouldn¡¯t feel shocked if their regimentmander became a god-ss mecha master tomorrow. That¡¯s right. Every one of them believed that their regimentmander would be a god-ss mecha master one day.


    While Du Mingyi was still scheming against Ling Lan behind the scene, Ling Lan had already started making preparations along with the other mecha ns in Base 013.


    ¡°Leader, our scouts have brought back some news. Apparently, there is something amiss going on at our opponent¡¯s military bases.¡± Xu Shiming raised one of his eyebrows when he heard this information. He didn¡¯t expect the news from 250 Ace Mecha n to be true. ¡®It looks like there are many capable people in 250 Ace Mecha n.¡¯


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Yang Zhenyong asked.


    ¡°Contact the bases that have worked with us, especially the two bases beside us. Ask them to remain vignt.¡± Xu Shiming thought for a moment and continued, ¡°Remind Du Mingyi too.¡±


    ¡°You want to give him a chance?¡± Yang Zhenyong understood what his leader wanted to do.


    ¡°If he is able to put aside his personal grudges and prepare for the uing battle wholeheartedly, I will ask Regiment Commander Ling to spare him for the moment.¡± Xu Shiming knew that the base must remain calm now. Hence, if there was no need to touch Du Mingyi, he wouldn¡¯t.


    ¡°I understand. However, Du Mingyi will definitely not pay attention to this news if we just send it once.¡± In the past, when there were no conflicts in the base, this was how their actions got dyed. Base 013 was the weakest base not just because its people inside were not strong enough. It was also because they didn¡¯t have any achievements as a military base.


    ¡°If he doesn¡¯t pay it any attention, send him a message again two hourster. I will give him three such chances.¡± Xu Shiming¡¯s gaze turned sharp. If Du Mingyi didn¡¯t act, he would take the risk to work with Ling Lan to drag Du Mingyi off from themanding officer position, even if it meant that their base might turn into a mess.


    ¡°I hope that he will make use of your leniency.¡± Yang Zhenyong knew what Xu Shiming was thinking. Yang Zhenyong didn¡¯t like Du Mingyi too but he didn¡¯t want the base to go through a civil war at a time like this as it was not good for the base as well as the teams in the base.


    Soon, Du Mingyi received information about the attack from the scouts team.


    ¡°Senior colonel, shall we inform our men to prepare for battle?¡± His adjutant asked him nervously.


    Du Mingyi said with a stern face, ¡°Did themand center ask us to prepare for battle?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± the adjutant replied immediately.


    ¡°Even the best scouts team in themand center didn¡¯t get this information. Why would he be able to get it?¡± Du Mingyi yed with the bodhi ne in his hand. He thought for a moment and sneered. ¡°He probably feels guilty and wanted to use this information to direct my attention away. Either that or he wants me to panic and make a mistake. That way, he and Ling Lan will have a reason to impeach me.¡±


    When the adjutant heard this answer, his head instinctively lowered down while not daring to make a sound. The power struggle between high-ranking officers was not something he should not participate in.


    Du Mingyi pondered a while more and ordered, ¡°Take note of the orders given by themand center. If a piece of simr information is received, you can send it to all the teams in the base withouting back to me. If not...¡± Du Mingyi smiled coldly. ¡°No matter how many times they send that information, just ignore it.¡±


    In the regimentmander¡¯s office, Ling Lan was looking through the battle n the ten team leaders and the deputies had thought of.


    ¡°Boss, Xu Shiming has started acting.¡± Little Four was monitoring over the base, so the moment Xu Shiming sent the message, he noticed it.


    ¡°Did he send a message to Du Mingyi to remind him that a battle is going to happen soon?¡± Ling Lan seemed nonchnt.


    ¡°Boss, how do you know?¡± Little Four was shocked. He thought he had caught a spy and was nning to im some best underling points for himself.


    ¡°If Xu Shiming didn¡¯t do this, I will have to guard against him.¡± Ling Lan replied, ¡°If he is someone who disregards the safety of the base so that he can destroy his enemy, I will not work with him.¡±


    ¡°Does that mean Xu Shiming is clear?¡± Little Four asked dejectedly.


    ¡°Yes. However, that doesn¡¯t mean everyone is clear.¡± Ling Lan smiled. ¡°Watch over them carefully. Someone definitely will show himself.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Boss!¡± Little Four got excited again. ¡®I will not let Boss down. I will definitely catch that spy.¡¯

 Chapter 828 - DEFCON 1

    <h4>Chapter 828: DEFCON 1</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    One week had passed. The base was extremely calm this week. After snatching supplies from the warehouse, inviting all the regimentmanders and leaders of the various mecha teams in the base, Ling Lan didn¡¯t do much. The people who were waiting for a good show to happen were quite disappointed at theck of drama, and one of them was Song Yiqing. Speaking of Song Yiqing, many people had thought that he would take his revenge on 250 Ace Mecha n the earliest but in actual fact, he didn¡¯t even take revenge. He had just tolerated his anger until now.


    It was not because Song Yiqing was a patient person. It was because when he told the Song family about his tarnished dignity, his family told him to never provoke 250 Ace Mecha n. ¡®It is a ho¡¯s nest,¡¯ they said, as anyone who poked it would definitely get into trouble. Song Yiqing was not an idiot as he was someone who was able to be a young master or the heir of a family. Those kinds of idiots that always appeared in stories were almost unheard of in real life.


    Hence, Song Yiqing gave up his thoughts of revenge. He was unhappy that he got pped in the face but it was not a huge problem in therger scope of things. He could let go of it. Of course, he was happy if Du Mingyi would create some troubles for 250 Ace Mecha n. He also didn¡¯t mind giving Du Mingyi some help. However, that was all he would and could do.


    ¡°Senior colonel, something bad has happened.¡± Du Mingyi¡¯s adjutant rushed over with a pale face.


    Du Mingyi was drinking teazily in the base, so when he heard this, he almost lost his grip on the teacup. He asked hurriedly, ¡°What¡¯s the rush? Slowly tell me what happened.¡±


    ¡°Themand center gave an emergency order. Hailiya might beunching an all-out attack soon. They order us to get into DEFCON 1 and prepare to go for battle at any time.¡± The adjutant took a deep breath and repeated the order he had received.


    Du Mingyi ced his teacup on the table hurriedly. He was dumbfounded, and his hand started trembling. He didn¡¯t manage to ce his teacup properly on the table, and all its contents spilled all over the table, soaking the documents on the table.


    The adjutant saw this and went forward quickly to save the documents from being destroyed. He wanted to wipe the documents dry but Du Mingyi pped his hands and said angrily, ¡°Why are you bothering about this? Hurry up and ask the base to enter into DEFCON 1.¡±


    ¡°Oh, oh, yes!¡± The adjutant threw the document on the office table and flew out of themanding officer¡¯s office. He rushed to the JMC department and gave themanding officer¡¯s order.


    After some time, the siren signaling DEFCON 1 sounded, stunning all the battle teams. DEFCON 1 meant that they would be called for battle at any time. But, there was no prior news at all before this. Why weren¡¯t they given any time to prepare for battle?


    The entire base went into a flurry after they had entered into DEFCON 1. When Du Mingyi heard themotion, he frustratingly pped himself on the forehead.


    ¡°Xu Shiming¡¯s information is real. It¡¯s real! Damn it! I missed the chance to gain merits for myself.¡± If he chose to trust Xu Shiming and report the information to themand center, even if themand center didn¡¯t ce importance in the information at that time, he would still gain merits after the information was confirmed, making sure no one would be able to take this credit away from him.


    At the camp of the scouts team, Xu Shiming shook his head when he heard the rm. Their scouts team was already prepared for battle. Cui Yunxuan¡¯s mecha n and all the other teams that chose to believe in Ling Lan had already made ample preparations. All their teams were able to enter the battlefield immediately. As for those that didn¡¯t prepare beforehand, they were not so lucky. It would take some time before they could arrange themselves to get ready for war.


    ¡®I hope Hailiya will dy their attack for some time.¡¯ Xu Shiming could only pray to heaven. He wished that once the battle started, the entire base would be ready for war. This was the best situation.


    Beep beep beep. Xu Shiming¡¯smunicator sounded. The attack from Hailiya had started. Their enemy had already sent many battle teams towards their territory. Their exact target was still unconfirmed but if Base 013 was the target, the enemy would arrive in 40 minutes.


    Xu Shiming¡¯s expression turned heavy. He stood up instantly and shouted, ¡°Inform the entire team. Go to the mecha hold and prepare for war!¡±


    If their enemy would be arriving in 40 minutes, it meant that they must start acting immediately. They needed to scout their enemy¡¯s route of attack in the quickest possible time and made the necessary precautions. Even if their target was not Base 013, they must report their findings to the other bases too. If they really aimed to target base 013, they needed to stop their enemy before they reached the military base. Otherwise, they would be like a turtle in a jar. They would be suppressed by their enemy and could only wait for reinforcements.


    Xu Shiming¡¯s scouts team was not the only team that started acting. Cui Yunxuan¡¯s mecha n and some other battle teams were moving quickly too. However, they were a little slower. They could only enter the ejection ports after the scouts team left. Then, they would wait on the furthest line of defense for the information by the scouts team.


    250 Ace Mecha n were also prepared for war. All the mecha operators armed themselves fully and walked out of their camp under the lead of their team leaders. They rushed to the mecha hold and waited for the scouts team to leave before boarding their mechas.


    At that moment at the mecha hold, Xu Shiming¡¯s scouts team were stopped at the entrance. Without themand of themanding officer, the mecha hold couldn¡¯t be opened. Not only that, but the logistics department of the base also would not be able to give the mecha operators their equipment without themand from themanding officer. The protective shield of the base wouldn¡¯t be activated too.


    Xu Shiming¡¯s face turned cold. He contacted themand center of the base, requesting to open the mecha hold.


    The staff at themand center asked him to wait. He would immediately ask themanding officer before giving him a reply.


    Xu Shiming knew that this was the necessary procedure but now, it was wasting precious time. Yet, he could only wait patiently.


    ¡°Commanding officer, leader of the scouts team requested to open the mecha hold so that they couldplete their scouting mission. Should we let them in?¡± A staff member quickly reported Xu Shiming¡¯s request to Du Mingyi.


    ¡°How dare he go to the mecha hold before reporting his battle n to me. Does he still see me as themanding officer?¡± Du Mingyi mmed the table furiously.


    The staff member was frightened. Just as he was contemting on what he should do, Du Mingyi said, ¡°Do you know who else is with Xu Shiming?¡± Du Mingyi suddenly wondered if they were trying to test him. If he submitted to them this time, no one in the base would be willing to listen to him again.

 Chapter 829 - Action!

    <h4>Chapter 829: Action!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The staff member just fidgeted his fingers around as he couldn¡¯te up with an answer. He just came to find themanding officer the moment he had received Xu Shiming¡¯s request. Just as he was about to mentally breakdown from the silence, the adjutant of themanding officer rushed in with his forehead full of sweat. ¡°Senior colonel, the scouts team, Ai¡¯er Mecha n, 291-2 battle team... and 250 Ace Mecha n are rushing to the mecha hold.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s really them.¡± Du Mingyi felt that this must be Ling Lan¡¯s n to threaten his position again. If he showed any signs of weakness and agreed to open the mecha hold for Xu Shiming, his vice grip over the base would loosen.


    He thought for a while and asked cautiously, ¡°Have the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n arrived at the mecha hold?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± The adjutant answered firmly. ¡°Our men below have reported that there are 200 mecha operators from 250. It is the same number of mecha operators written in their report.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good! Hmph, they want to threaten me... they have gotten too confident. So what if I open the mecha hold? I will let them understand that no matter how capable they are, without mymand, they can¡¯t do anything in this base.¡± Du Mingyi¡¯s gaze turned sharp. He told the staff, ¡°Open the mecha hold. As for our logisticians... ask them to take their time.¡±


    The staff member was shocked by how cruel hismanding officer was behaving, but he wasn¡¯t in a position to argue back so he just quietly left.


    Soon, the mecha hold opened, allowing all the members of the scouts team to enter into their mechas, just as they were about to move out, they were suddenly notified that the logisticians were still preparing themselves so they couldn¡¯t allow them tounch. The logisticians were apparently not in positioned yet so they had to wait.


    As they waited, the other teams, including 250 Ace Mecha n, had arrived.


    By now, the scouts team knew that theirmanding officer did this on purpose to make things difficult for them.


    ¡°Leader, Du Mingyi is trying to make things difficult for us,¡± one of the members of the scouts team said angrily. There should always be JMCs and logisticians who were on duty in the base. Yet, none of them came to help them. This was obviously done on purpose.


    ¡°I know,¡± Xu Shiming replied with suppressed anger in his voice. He didn¡¯t mind if Du Mingyi wanted to mess with him. Ever since he had epted Ling Lan¡¯s invitation, he was prepared for this, but he couldn¡¯t tolerate that Du Mingyi chose this moment to take his revenge. ¡®Does he even know the possible consequences of his actions? Is he nning to have everyone in the base pay for his stupidity?¡¯


    ¡°Old Xu, what do we do now?¡± Yang Zhenyong knew that Hailiya had already started their attack so they couldn¡¯t afford to wait any longer. They mustunch now to understand which path their enemy was taking so they could make the necessary arrangements against them.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± Xu Shiming¡¯s gaze turned cold. He quickly sent Ling Lan a message and told him what situation he was in.


    ¡®Since Ling Lan wants to control the entire base, now is the perfect time for him to show me what he has up his sleeve. If he can¡¯t even settle such a small matter, I will have to reconsider working with him.¡¯ Xu Shiming thought.


    Ling Lan, who was sitting in her office calmly, smiled when she received Xu Shiming¡¯s message. She looked at Lin Zhong-qing and said calmly, ¡°Your logisticians can move now.¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing nodded and called Han Xuya immediately. ¡°Han Xuya, time to move.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± Han Xuya replied excitedly. This time, she was no longer a side character. It was finally time for her to do something great.


    Lin Zhong-qing left with his men after calling Han Xuya. Each of them had their own mission. If they wanted to control the entire base, they had to take over the controls of the important logistic departments in the base first. If not, their n would never work.


    Ling Lan looked at the other side and saw Luo Chao, who was wearing her first lieutenant uniform, smiling shyly at her. Ling Lan¡¯s eyes twitched when she saw such a demure smile. ¡°You can move too.¡±


    Luo Chao saluted beautifully and gave a bright smile. ¡°I understand, Boss!¡±


    Soon, she left with her team too.


    Atst, Ling Lan turned and looked at the only person left in her office, the person was Li Shiyu who was wearing a white gown with aplementary surgical mask donning over his face. ¡°I¡¯ll leave themand center of the base to you.¡±


    Li Shiyu smiled, his eyes seemed to be glistening like the stars in a dark night. His entire aura seemed to also turn vibrant. ¡°Yes! I willplete the mission sessfully!¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes twitched again. However, when she noticed that Li Shiyu had no intention of moving out of her office, she released a non-threatening amount of her cold aura.


    Li Shiyu noticed the cold aura around her and knew that their regimentmander was bing impatient. He retracted his smile and asked seriously, ¡°I just want to know what you n to do.¡±


    Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows in doubt but didn¡¯t reply to him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you are going to sit here and watch over everything. You can¡¯t fool me,¡± Li Shiyu said indifferently.


    Ling Lan smiled. ¡®As expected, I am unable to trick him.¡¯ She wasn¡¯t nning to hide in the first ce so she didn¡¯t mind spilling it. ¡°We have to guard against Song Yiqing.¡±


    Only she and Qi Long had the strength and background powerful enough to prevent Song Yiqing from interrupting them, even the three Li brothers wouldn¡¯t be able to make Song Yiqing frightened. Qi Long had to leave with his team so she needed to stay back. Additionally, with Qi long leaving, Du Mingyi would feel at ease, allowing her friends¡¯ missions to be easier. That meant that she was the only person who could stop Song Yiqing.


    Li Shiyu got the answer he wanted and left in satisfaction.


    Ling Lan looked at the empty office before finally, releasing an enchanting smile.


    ¡°Little Four, control the entire base!¡± This was impossible for some people. However, to her, this was extremely easy. The mainframe of the base was not a problem for Ling Lan from the very start. Thus, the other teams that coborated with her were unable to guess her real intentions as she never needed to impeach themanding officer to obtain what she wanted.


    Everyone thought that Ling Lan had to control Du Mingyi before she could control the entire base. Either that or she had to gain some evidence of his crime so that she could use it to threaten him, taking his power away. Thest method they thought she might use was to make use of her powerful background to transfer Du Mingyi away (Ling Lan thought about this too but she didn¡¯t have the time to do it). This was because only themanding officer of the base had the authority tomand the mainframe of the base. If a mutiny was to ur, the mainframe would reject every order. If themanding officer disappeared for more than 12 hours, the mainframe would even report this to the higher authorities and locking the protective shield of the base, turning the base into a prison.


    Thus, no matter how ridiculous Du Mingyi was, the mecha ns at the base had to continue to put up with him. Song Yiqing didn¡¯t dare to offend Du Mingyi and could only cooperate with him because of this reason too.


    Ling Lan¡¯s aim was simple. She wanted to take down everyone on Du Mingyi¡¯s side. However, before this war would end, she hoped that they would behave obediently at the side and not create any more trouble for her.

 Chapter 830 - Culture?

    <h4>Chapter 830: Culture?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    There were only around 30 people in Han Xuya¡¯s team. However, there were many familiar faces there. Second Lieutenant Zhou Yu, Second Lieutenant Chen Yi¡¯an, and Senior Captain Chen Yifan were all in her team.


    ¡®Huh? Isn¡¯t Chen Yifan suppose to follow Li Yingjie? Why is he here?¡¯


    When Chen Yifan knew Chen Yi¡¯an was going to follow Han Xuya to take over the JMC department of the base, he volunteered to follow Han Xuya. Chen Yifan knew that although the JMC seemed to be an unimportant department of the base, they constantly had a powerful team protecting them at their dormitory and their office.


    This was because, without the guidance of JMCs, the entire ejection port and mecha hold would be in a mess. In a war a few years ago, something simr happened to the Huaxia Federation. When the soldiers were saving theirrades, a team of three soldiers from their enemy¡¯s side infiltrated into their base. If the three enemy soldiers chose to target any other department in the base, they would be instantly caught and killed on the spot. However, the three enemy soldiers had nned to target the weak JMCs who had no chance of resisting at all. When the sessfulpleted their suicide mission, the entire base turned into a mess. The enemy¡¯s main army, who had been waiting outside of the base, took this opening as their cue tounch an attack on the base. The disorganized mecha operators couldn¡¯t find their leaders so during the whole attack, they didn¡¯t have a leader guiding them so they started fighting their own battles without any semnce of coordination with their own teammates. In the end, the enemy sessfully invaded their base, killing every single soldier in the base. This was recorded as one of the ten most terrible losses in the history of the Huaxia Federation. It was known in the history books as the JMC¡¯s bloodbath.


    Through this tragic loss, the Huaxia Federation had learned their lesson and started cing more importance on the JMCs. They now would constantly have two teams of soldiers guarding the JMCs on an alternate basis so that anything simr to the JMC¡¯s bloodbath would never happen again. If Han Xuya and her team of logisticians wanted to take control of the JMC department, they would have to fight with the two teams of guards. However, with the group¡¯s highest physical skills being just the peak of refinement, Chen Yifan couldn¡¯t help but worry for them.


    Chen Yifan was not the only one who was worried. Han Xuya¡¯s personal ride, Qi Long, Han Jijyun, Luo Lang, Xie Yi, and many others, all secretly ced someone powerful inside her team.


    Of course, not everyone wanted to follow Han Xuya. One of the soldiers pulled a long face as he followed behind her. If he had a choice, he would want to follow his leader to the mecha hold and sit inside his own mecha.


    When Han Xuya saw his long face, she pped the soldier¡¯s forehead fiercely. The person turned and red at her unhappily.


    ¡°Stone, do you have a problem with me.¡± Han Xuya was not afraid of the soldier¡¯s gaze. She instead held her hands together and cracked her knuckles. If he dared to have any opinions against her, she would hit him.


    The person, whose nickname was Stone, felt his heart trembling as his entire body seemed to be hurting from a bunch of stinging pains. Before he could reply, he felt no less than six cold gazes staring at him, even a few soldiers whose physical skills were much higher than him were looking at him sharply. If he dared to talk back to her, they would instantly subdue him mercilessly.


    He suddenly remembered what his team leader reminded him earnestly before he came here. His team leader told him to have a good attitude and listen to First Lieutenant Han¡¯smand. If not, he might not know how he died. He finally understood why his team leader told him this. Although First Lieutenant Han was not as strong as him, she had people who were much stronger than him in her team, any one of them could kill him easily.


    Stone felt like crying. ¡®Damn it. Team leader was right. 250 Mecha n is a scary ce.¡¯ Even the female soldiers inside were so fierce. Yes, Stone was from the Evil Wind Mecha Team. He was the one who teased Han Xuya and ended up having a fight with her. After that, he was ordered to be Han Xuya¡¯s sandbag, since then she would always practice with him. For this mission, Yan Three asked him to help Han Xuya so he missed the chance to fight on the battlefield with his team leader. He truly felt pity for himself.


    Stone didn¡¯t dare to show any signs of unhappiness anymore since the mecha operators who were much more powerful than him were willing to act as bodyguards and JMCs, what right did a fugitive like him have to say no? He didn¡¯t know that the fate of the mecha operators of 250 Ace Mecha n was even worse than him. They had to take turns to handle the work that should be done by the logisticians. He was considered lucky to just be distributed to the JMC team. In the past, hisrades teased him about doing a woman¡¯s job. However, when he saw that his team leader, Yan Three, was sent to do the same job as him, heughed heartily. ¡®Well, now, you all areughing at our team leader too. Wait for your punishments.¡¯


    He thought that 250 Mecha n were purposely trying to humiliate their team leader but when he saw Young Master Qi appearing at the JMC office and was also undergoing the JMC training with a sad face, he knew that this was the culture of 250 Mecha n... it was, right?


    Either way, it was not humiliation. Stone could only confirm this point.


    After going through thick and thin with the mecha operators of 250 Ace Mecha n, the members of Evil Wind started to know how to work with them. They were still unable to put down their grudges entirely but their rtionship was not as tense as before.


    On the other side, Luo Chao led her hundred men team and charged towards the mecha n that was controlled by themanding officer of the base. Their target was where the base¡¯s guards were at, 001 camping ground. As long as they managed to subdue that mecha n, the other regimentmanders would consider twice before helping themanding officer.


    Li Shiyu led another hundred men team and rushed to themand center of the base. His mission was to control all the soldiers at themand center.


    As they moved to their respective target locations toplete their mission, the surveince cameras didn¡¯t catch their figures at all, as Little Four already had full control of the mainframe at the base so unless Du Mingyi had anticipated their attack, he would not notice signs of these three teams at all.


    At that moment, Han Xuya¡¯s team had reached the JMC department. Little Four had wiped away their figures off the surveince cameras but their faint footsteps still had alerted the guards who were watching over the area.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± One of the guards shouted.


    Chen Yifan instantly jumped up and covered the guard¡¯s mouth. Stone and Han Xuya attacked the guard at the same time, knocking him unconscious.


    ¡°Enemies!¡± A scream rang through the air. The person who shouted repeatedly pressed the rm button. Unfortunately, no sound was heard even after he pressed it a few times. By this time, the members of Han Xuya¡¯s team had regained their senses and knocked this person unconscious too.

 Chapter 831 - Can’t Afford To Offend

    <h4>Chapter 831: Can¡¯t Afford To Offend</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Damn it, we were found out,¡± Han Xuya said in frustration. She was already very careful but she didn¡¯t expect the guards to be so alert.


    ¡°Phew, luckily the rm was spoilt, saving us a ton of hassle.¡± Stone felt fortunate. If the rm rang and alerted the entire base, they would have to stop the entire mission. They couldn¡¯t really start a mutiny, right?


    Han Xuya knew that this must be her Boss¡¯s doings. Boss Ling Lan was the one who damaged the rm system. She secretly wiped the cold sweat off her forehead as she was really frightened just now. She remembered how Qi Long and her other friends alwayspleted her Boss¡¯s mission sessfully. She clenched her fist. She was still too inexperienced. Therefore, she must work harder so that they wouldn¡¯t leave her behind. Han Xuya realized her ws through this mission. In the past, she alwaysined that her Boss discriminated against women. However, from the looks of it now, their Boss didn¡¯t let her and Luo Chao be team leaders was because they were stillcking.


    Although something wrong happened to the rm, the guards still noticed that something was amiss as a scream in the middle of the day seemed really suspicious. A group of fully armed soldiers with beam guns in their hands rushed out to check the situation.


    ¡°Move!¡± Han Xuya shouted and the logisticians in front of her rolled to the side instinctively.


    Han Xuya flew up and waved her hands and a few silver shes of light were seen. Some of the guards copsed on the ground. The mecha operators had acted too. They shot out the miniature anesthesia in their hands. Before the guards could even shoot at them, they all fainted on the ground.


    Everything happened in a blink of an eye. However, in all that mess, Stone didn¡¯t even have the chance to attack. He turned his head stiffly and looked at Han Xuya in astonishment.


    ¡°You...¡± Stone nced at the miniature syringe on his butt, his face surprisingly could twitch. This was the only word he could force out of his mouth.


    Han Xuya looked at him innocently. ¡°I¡¯ve already asked everyone to move but you didn¡¯t. What can I do?¡±


    Stone was angry and frustrated with her answer. ¡®Even if I didn¡¯t move, you should still aim urately. I¡¯ve never seen anyone that shoots their own teammate.¡¯


    Han Xuya saw his expression and knew what he was thinking but she just shrugged. ¡°I haven¡¯t mastered the hidden weapon technique yet so I will sometimes miss the target. All the logisticians knew that if I ask them to move, they must move.¡±


    The logisticians that rolled on the floor haggardly to dodge those syringes nodded furiously. They were well-trained by Han Xuya¡¯s aimless flying syringes.


    ¡®Is she saying I¡¯m just unlucky?¡¯ Stone wanted to cry. He couldn¡¯t handle the effects of the anesthesia anymore and fainted.


    ¡°We lost one member before we reach our target. What a hard mission.¡± Han Xuya sighed.


    Everyone was speechless. He fell because you identally hit him. All the mecha operators that were specially sent by their team leaders looked at Han Xuya with some fear in their eyes. The most frightening thing was not meeting a powerful opponent. It was having a stupid teammate.


    Fortunately, the mecha operators didn¡¯t speak out their thoughts. If Han Xuya knew that she was being ssified as a stupid teammate, she would have thrown some syringes at them too.


    Pzzt! Pzzt! Two beams suddenly came from two different directions. The target of the beams were two of the weaker-looking logisticians. Just as the logisticians were about to be hit with the unexpected beams, a beam shield suddenly appeared behind them. The beams hit the beam shield, dimming the beam shield a little. After a while, it resumed its initial brightness again. This beam shield was invented by Chang Xinyuan a few years ago. A few years ago, it was considered Lingtian Battle n¡¯s high-ss weapon. After a few years of experimentation, technology finally became mature as it no longer needed to be activated manually. The beam shield now could be operated manually and automatically, bing a piece of necessary equipment for all the people in 250 Mecha n. It was the most popr equipment too. No one was willing to take off the beam shield even when they were resting.


    This was because everyone knew that they wouldn¡¯t be able to remain vignt all the time. When they were rxed, it increased the chances of them dying by arge amount. It would be much safer for them if they just had the beam shield on them.


    Their carefulness saved their lives this time. The beam shield yed its role and protected the two logisticians.


    The instant the two beams appeared, Chen Yifan and another mecha operator who was at the peak stage of Qi-Jin flew towards the direction where the beams came from. They were shot by thest two members of the guards¡¯ team, the leader and deputy leader of the team.


    Han Xuya saw that Chen Yifan and the other mecha operator were more powerful than the two guards so she knew they wouldn¡¯t have a problem handling those two. However, to be cautious, she left five people to guard Stone who was unconscious.


    After making the arrangements, she asked the rest to move in with her.


    Everyone started to look at each other in doubt. The JMCs inside were all females. If they rushed in like this, wouldn¡¯t they frighten thedies? They were all single. If thedies misunderstood them and thought that they were perverts, it would be bad. It might even affect their love life in the future.


    Han Xuya knew what these men were thinking. She took out a few miniature syringes and said in a sinister tone, ¡°If you don¡¯t go in, I will stab these into your private parts. Either way, you won¡¯t be able to use them in the future anymore.¡±


    All the men tensed up instinctively. Stone, who got fed medicine, started to wake up. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Han Xuya holding the syringes and heard what she said, Stone closed his eyes and fainted again.


    Even the two remaining members of the guards¡¯ team tensed up when they heard what Han Xuya said.


    Chen Yifan and the mecha operator who was with him were strong-willed so they didn¡¯t get affected by Han Xuya¡¯s words. They made use of this chance and subdued their opponent. After that, they exchanged nces with each other. They realized the surprise in each other¡¯s eyes. As expected, they couldn¡¯t offend thedies in 250 Mecha n.


    ¡°Are you all really not going...¡± Before Han Xuya finished her sentence, the people that woke up from their stupor started rushing into the office.

 Chapter 832 - A Ruthless Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 832: A Ruthless Attack!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    In the office where the JMCs worked at, the JMCs inside still didn¡¯t know what was happening with the sound outside. The JMCs who were talking among themselves suddenly saw a bunch of men charge into their office violently, and they instantly screamed out in surprise.


    One of the JMCs, who was somewhat daring, angrily shouted, ¡°Who are you people? Why are you randomly charging into the JMC¡¯s office?


    Han Xuya, who was standing behind the group of men, satisfyingly took back her tranquiliser darts. ¡°Hmph, as expected, disgusting men need to be treated with a little bit more force. Elder Brother Shiyu¡¯s method is indeed effective.¡±


    Han Xuya remembered the moment when she had received her Boss¡¯s orders, and being in disarray because of it. While she was pacing anxiously outside Ling Lan¡¯s door, she saw Li Shiyu, who rarely had a surgeon mask on, slowly walked towards her with his hands in his white doctor¡¯s coat pockets. She and Luo Chao regarded Li Shiyu as their elder brother because of their time spent together as Li Shiyu¡¯s assistants. They would often talk to him if they had things troubling them. This time, after seeing Li Shiyu, Han Xuya was, of course, going to ask him for help.


    ¡°Elder Brother Shiyu!¡± Just as she was about to grab him, her hands slipped past him.


    Li Shiyu dodged Han Xuya¡¯s hands elegantly and smiled, ¡°Xuya, what do you need?¡±


    ¡°Elder Brother Shiyu, Boss gave me a mission just now. He wants me to take 30 people to take control of the JMC department. I¡¯m so nervous, my hands are literally shaking.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Li Shiyu asked patiently.


    ¡°Other than us logistics personnel, there are still many mecha operators from other teams in my group. Plus, they are either lieutenant colonels or majors, and I¡¯m only a first lieutenant...¡± Seeing so many people ranked higher than her, the normally brash and forthright Han Xuya finally didn¡¯t know what to do.


    ¡°There¡¯s many senior colonels who our regimentmander orders around,¡± Li Shiyu said indifferently.


    ¡°That¡¯s Boss. Boss!¡± Han Xuya screamed out angrily instantly. How could she bepares to Boss?


    ¡°Then, what do you want to do?¡± Li Shiyu asked in a helpless tone.


    Han Xuya was delighted as she knew Li Shiyu had crumbled under her persuasions again, and immediately went forward to grab Li Shiyu once again. However, she wasn¡¯t able to grab him again. Han Xuya was dumbfounded. ¡®How am I not able to grab Elder Brother Shiyu? Back then, I could easily grab him and get him to help me.


    Although she couldn¡¯t grab him, Han Xuya still said, ¡°Elder Brother Shiyu, what do you think? How should I go against those people?¡±


    Li Shiyu thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Our regimentmander doesn¡¯t like people who disobeys orders. If he told you to take those people there, then there shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡±


    ¡°I know, but they would only listen to me during important times. For something small like an order, what should I do if they ignore me?¡± Han Xuya said worriedly.


    ¡°Then, make them not dare to look down on you,¡± Li Shiyu said calmly.


    Han Xuya¡¯s eyes brightened, ¡°How can I do that?¡±


    Li Shiyu¡¯s expression began to look somewhat sinister. He waved to Han Xuya and Han Xuya got closer to him. Li Shiyu then taught a ruthless method to Han Xuya on how to threaten a man¡¯s one true weakness...


    Thus, Han Xuya learned a sure-kill technique against men, making the men in 250 Ace Mecha n be more fearful of her, but after knowing that it was Li Shiyu¡¯s idea, his nickname Dr. Frankenstein reached a new height in poprity, and causing everyone to say that he was a gay pervert.


    As for Li Shiyu... he had a conflicted thought of whether or not he should be happy of his nickname being known far and wide or he should hate the unknown person who came up with the nder.


    Han Xuya happily strolled forwards with her hands behind her back just like Boss. She proudly walked towards the JMC¡¯s office and heard the JMC¡¯s angry shout.


    She pped her hands and smiled, ¡°Not bad, not bad, quite daring I see.¡±


    When the daring JMC heard this, she stood up straight and immediately turned towards the door. She saw Han Xuya walking into the room with a big smile on her face, and those violent looking men instantly moved out of her way after seeing Han Xuya. The JMC instantly knew that they were sent here by this woman.


    ¡°Elder Sister Han, is that you?¡± The JMC had a surprised look on her face and instantly shouted out. The term ¡®elder sisters¡¯ here weren¡¯t based on age. In the military, those who were more capable would be treated with respect and be called elder brothers. This custom also applied to the JMC department.


    When Han Xuya looked over and saw the JMC, the smile on her face became even brighter. She felt happy that she had encountered someone she knew. It turns out the daring individual who fearlessly shouted at the men from 250 was the same JMC, Lady Mei, who she saved back during the weing dinner.


    ¡°Lady Mei, it¡¯s you!¡± Han Xuya felt it was such a coincidence to meet her here. Although she knew Lady Mei was a JMC, JMCs still had rotating shifts. She didn¡¯t think that Lady Mei would be working now.


    After seeing that Lady Mei knew the girl who barged into their office, the JMCs who were in a state of panic instantly calmed down. They began to gather together and gossip about the male soldiers who rudely barged into their office.


    Lady Mei moved towards Han Xuya excitedly. She then thought of why Han Xuya woulde to their office so she asked with some suspicion, ¡°Elder Sister Han, why are you here and why did you bring these people?¡±


    ¡°If I told you I brought them here to find dates for them, would believe me?¡± Han Xuya said jokingly.


    After hearing this, many JMCs began to giggle, only Lady Mei¡¯s expression froze up, ¡°Elder Sister Han, you can¡¯t joke about that.¡±


    Han Xuya pped her hands as sheughed, ¡°Lady Mei, you¡¯re smart. Alright, I¡¯m not going to joke around anymore.¡± Han Xuya¡¯s expression suddenly became stern and cold as she said, ¡°I now dere that we will be responsible for all the work here.¡±


    Lady Mei was stunned. Everyone else were stunned too.


    The entire room instantly became silent with only a few beeping sounds in the background as themunication channels were receiving some notifications.


    Lady Mei finally regained herposure and asked with great effort, ¡°Elder Sister Han, what do you mean?¡±


    ¡°What I mean is you all are now our prisoners!¡± Han Xuya said coldly.


    ¡°Why?¡± Lady Mei couldn¡¯t believe it. The person she admired wouldn¡¯t betray the base and the Federation.


    ¡°Why?¡± Han Xuya frowned. She then sneered, ¡°It¡¯s because themanding officer of the base wouldn¡¯t let our mecha operators leave the base to prepare for the battle, even when the scouts team applied to go out to obtain some information about the enemy¡¯s movement, they were stopped in the mecha hold because a dumb reason, that the JMCs and logistics wasn¡¯t ready yet ...¡±


    ¡°But, the battle hasn¡¯t started yet right?¡± One JMC retorted daringly.


    ¡°Do you understand the meaning of DEFCON 1?¡± asked Han Xuya.


    Some of the JMC¡¯s nodded, some shook their heads. Han Xuya continued in her cold tone of voice, ¡°DEFCON 1 means that war could break out at any second now, meaning the enemy could already be at our doorstep. A qualified base would have all their staffs and men ready for battle. As for our base, we didn¡¯t even do anything simr to what apetent base does, furthermore themander of the base is still fuming about his petty amount of power slipping through his grasp, disallowing the scouts team to move out. Additionally, a bunch of JMCs like you people are talking about life in your office with no regard to the situation whatsoever, you people practically are killing the soldiers by your indifference. Why would we need JMC trash like you guys?¡±


    Han Xuya¡¯s final insults made those JMCs who had passion and dreams lower their heads in shame. They did indeed receive orders from the higher-ups for them to ignore the calls from the mecha operators down below.


    Obeying orders of the higher-ups was not wrong, but they shouldn¡¯t forget that it was DEFCON 1. They were not allowed to hinder the movements of the military. If enemies had actually gotten close to the base, then they would be to me.

 Chapter 833 - Like Her?

    <h4>Chapter 833: Like Her?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Lady Mei felt the most frustrated. Back when she heard about the order by themanding officer, she already felt that it was wrong. She voiced her concern to her leader but her leader just dismissed her directly. The reason she received was that she was not following the rules of the military, as soldiers should obey all orders given to them. If she couldn¡¯t do it, she should leave the military. Her leader¡¯s words made sense so Lady Mei unwillingly followed the order. However, now, Lady Mei realized that she was a coward. She wasn¡¯t firm in her opinion and thus made the wrong decision.


    ¡°Elder Sister Han, you are right. It is our fault. We will now give instructions to the mecha operators so that they can be ejected out of the base.¡± Lady Mei raised her head, showing a firm gaze. Since she made a mistake, she should amend it. It was not toote now.


    Han Xuya raised one of her eyebrows in surprise. She didn¡¯t expect such a bold character to exist among the weak JMCs. She looked at Lady Mei carefully and realized determination was very apparent in her eyes, making her know that Lady Mei knew exactly what she was doing. Her eyes shone brightly as she seemed to have found her purpose in life, turning her entire body radiant.


    ¡°She is a beautifuldy,¡± Zhou Yu eximed.


    ¡°You like her?¡± Chen Yi¡¯an frowned. He seemed conflicted.


    ¡°You like her?¡± Zhou Yu asked in a surprised tone as he was surprised that Chen Yi¡¯an would like a girl. He normally just liked fiddling around with his tools.


    Chen Yi¡¯an shook his head furiously, making sure Zhou Yu clearly know he didn¡¯t like her.


    ¡°Then, what are you on about?¡± Zhou Yu was disappointed.


    ¡°I feel that this person ispatible with my brother,¡± Chen Yi¡¯an said sincerely.


    Zhou Yu then looked at Chen Yifan who remained stern and silent. He asked curiously, ¡°Did you ever see your brother liking her?¡±


    ¡°My brother likes her?¡± Chen Yi¡¯an was surprised. ¡°As expected, she is suitable for my brother.¡±


    ¡°Tsk!¡± Zhou Yu decided to ignore Chen Yi¡¯an. ¡®His brother is not even worried about his love life. Why does he seem more urgent than his brother?¡¯ Zhou Yu couldn¡¯t let Chen Yifan get sold by his younger brother like this so he said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about your brother. He can take care of himself. If you step in, you might trouble him instead.¡±


    ¡°Really? But I really do think she is suitable for my brother.¡± Chen Yi¡¯an didn¡¯t want to give up his idea.


    Zhou Yu gave up trying to convince this stubborn fellow and looked at Chen Yifan with pity. ¡®Brother Yifan, this is all I can do to help you. Wish you all the best.¡¯


    ¡°Lady Mei, shut up!¡± Right after Lady Mei spoke, their team leader shouted angrily.


    Han Xuya looked at the team leader and asked, ¡°Who are you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m the leader of the JMCs. I¡¯ve already reported the fact that you invaded the JMC office to themand center of the base. Wait to be prosecuted by the military court.¡± She didn¡¯t say anything before this because she was secretly reporting what was happening to themand center. As the trained leader of the JMCs, she didn¡¯t panic when they barged in and did what she was supposed to so as a leader.


    ¡°Not bad. You acted calmly in sudden situations. Unfortunately, you are a little stupid. Why do you have to tell me that you have reported it to themand center? Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll kill you in a fit of anger?¡± Han Xuya asked her coldly.


    The leader¡¯s arrogant face turned pale. She already forgot they were in the hands of the other party and her reinforcements hadn¡¯t arrived yet. She should have been patient in her decision to boast around.


    ¡°It¡¯s toote to understand everything now.¡± Han Xuya casually pointed at one of her men, asking him to settle this woman.


    ¡°Me?¡± Zhou Yu looked at the finger in shock. It was pointing at him.


    Chen Yi¡¯an patted Zhou Yu¡¯s shoulder excitedly. ¡°All the best!¡±


    Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s encouragement was sincere. He didn¡¯t have any intention ofughing at Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu knew Chen Yi¡¯an¡¯s character but his honest encouragement made him even more frustrated. He was going to hurt ady. After this, he would definitely be condemned by the JMCs. ¡®Is he supposed to remain single for the rest of his life?¡¯


    Han Xuya¡¯s gaze turned cold when she saw Zhou Yu hesitating. A silver miniature syringe suddenly appeared in her hand and it glinting in the light.


    ¡®Sob, for the sake of my future, I¡¯m sorry,dy.¡¯ Zhou Yu decisively struck the leader, knocking her unconscious.


    Han Xuya pped her hands in satisfaction. She then scanned all the JMCs in the office and asked nonchntly, ¡°Anyone else has any questions?¡±


    All the JMCs shook their heads furiously. They didn¡¯t want to end up like their leader. Only Lady Mei¡¯s eyes lit up when she saw the male second lieutenant listening to Han Xuya without any hesitation. She knew that she wanted to be like Han Xuya. ¡®Why should a woman be just a man¡¯s essory? Why should a man have a higher position than a woman just because of his gender? As long as they had the capabilities, women can do whatever men can do.¡¯


    While Han Xuya took control of the JMCs sessfully, Luo Chao had arrived at 001 camp.


    In a blind spot of the guards, Luo Chao looked at the strong mecha operators behind her. They were all from the most powerful batch of mecha operators in terms of physical skills from 250. More than half of the mecha operators in 250 Mecha n were in her team.


    ¡°Inspect your defensive equipment and your weapons,¡± Luo Chao said in a low voice.


    When everyone signaled that they were ready, Luo Chao¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°We will be having a difficult fight soon. I hope we can all go to eat at the canteen together.¡±


    They didn¡¯t want to kill their opponents but they didn¡¯t know if their opponents thought the same way. Fortunately, their medical department had prepared ample amounts of tranquilizers for them. As these were very precious, the entire medical department took more than 10 days working overtime to prepare these.


    Everyone looked determined and Luo Chao nodded at them slightly. Then, she walked out alone.


    The guards at the entrance of the camping ground were surprised when they saw a beautiful female first lieutenant walking towards them. They didn¡¯t stop her as Luo Chao had such a gentle and weak aura. One of the guards walked up to her as he didn¡¯t feel that she was a threat so he wasn¡¯t alert.


    ¡°Who are you? Who are you looking for?¡± ¡®Is someone¡¯s girlfriend lost?¡¯


    ¡°I¡¯m from 250 Ace Mecha n. I¡¯m looking for your regimentmander,¡± Luo Chao replied shyly.


    ¡°Do you have a reservation?¡± The guard was amazed by Luo Chao¡¯s beauty but he still kept a straight mind and did what was necessary.


    Luo Chao pursed her lips and shook her head, looking angry and frustrated.


    The guard couldn¡¯t bear to see her like this so he consoled her, ¡°I can¡¯t let you in if you don¡¯t have a reservation. Why don¡¯t you tell me what you want to tell our regimentmander? I can pass him your words.¡±


    Luo Chao smiled brightly. The guard felt a little dizzy when he saw her smile. Luo Chao took the chance to lean forward and said softly, ¡°There is no need for that.¡±

 Chapter 834 - Brother And Sister!

    <h4>Chapter 834: Brother And Sister!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Huh? No need?¡± The guard was dumbstruck. Before he could react, he felt a sharp pain in his neck. He then fell to the ground unconscious.


    ¡°Hey, what happened to you?¡± Luo Chao shook the guard¡¯s arms and eximed in surprise with a pale face. She seemed shocked by the sudden situation.


    Another guard inside the sentry box saw this sudden change and immediately rushed over. He asked anxiously, ¡°What happened?¡±


    Luo Chao had tears in her eyes. ¡°I, I don¡¯t know too.¡±


    The guard took the unconscious guard over. Before he could examine the guard, he felt a sharp pain in his neck too. He then fainted to the ground next to the unconscious guard.


    Luo Chao slowly positioned the two guards¡¯ back against each other. After that, she waved her right hand in the air.


    The hundred mecha operators hiding in the corner suddenly rushed out and charged into 001 camp.


    Luo Chao acted like that because she didn¡¯t want to create extra trouble for her Boss. Although the surveince cameras were already controlled by her Boss, she still decided to be careful with her approach.


    Soon, shouts of anger and surprise sounded from the 001 camp with an additional sprinkle of muffled screams in the background. It was obvious that the mecha operators of 250 Mecha n had started fighting with the soldiers in 001 camp.


    Luo Chao started to get excited by the smell of fresh blood permeating through the air. She couldn¡¯t help but lick her lips before giving a sinister smile. Then, she disappeared from the entrance.


    Themotion in 001 camp started to die down. The hundred mecha operators subdued their opponents easily before rushing into the administrative section of the camp.


    The administrative section of the camp was filled with many soldiers so when they got there to try to take control of the situation, some of the soldiers slipped through the but they believed that their regimentmander would be able to tie up those loose ends as their mission was just to control 001 camp within a certain time.


    The regimentmander of the mecha n situated in 001 camp, Du Junyong, heard themotion around him and felt that something was amiss so he rushed out of his office. When he went out of his door, he saw many other team leaders and officers running out of their rooms as well.


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± They shouted when they saw their regimentmander as they stood still and waited for hismand.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡± Du Junyong wanted to bring his men to survey the situation outside but he suddenly saw a hundred majors with malicious auras charging over at them.


    ¡°Who are you all?¡± ¡®They are soldiers from the Federation too. Why are they attacking them?¡¯


    The swarm of majors didn¡¯t say anything. They just waved their hands and shes of silver-colored lights were seen. As soon as they saw those lights, many officers instantly fell limp and copsed on the hard ground.


    The regimentmander was shocked. He hurriedly signaled towards the remaining officer with his hand, and everyone took out their beam handguns, preparing to kill these invaders.


    Just as the scene was about to turn bloody, a powerful force of presence suddenly spread throughout the entire district. It also came with a frightening killing intent, which immediately suppressed the officer who was about to pull the trigger. Their hands weren¡¯t in their controls anymore. Some of the slightly more powerful officers tried their best to resist the force of presence and got to pull down on the trigger. However, they were already toote as their opponents were well-experienced mecha masters, so they would not be hit by such predictable shots.


    The mecha operators dodged the harmless beams and attacked back at those officers. These officers were more powerful than the normal soldiers but under the oppressive force of presence, they couldn¡¯t unleash their full power. Hence, the mecha operators subdued them easily.


    ¡°Domain!¡± Du Junyong felt the killing intent in the air and his expression changed. He didn¡¯t expect a domain realm masters to be among the invaders.


    ¡°Just as our Boss had predicted. You are indeed Du Mingyi¡¯s hidden card.¡± Luo Chao smiled sweetly as she walked towards him.


    Du Junyong was dumbfounded when he saw the beautiful Luo Chao in a first lieutenant uniform. He suddenly thought about something and eximed, ¡°You are Luo Lang from 250 Ace Mecha n!¡±


    As Du Mingyi¡¯s confidant, he had already gotten hold of 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s information, so he knew that there was a pair of twin siblings who looked alike in the mecha n. Luo Chao was a first lieutenant while Luo Lang was the team leader of team 05. In order to be a leader of a bunch of ace mecha masters, he knew Luo Lang must be a very strong person. However, he didn¡¯t expect him to be a domain realm master.


    ¡°If you came here, it means that the ¡®Luo Lang¡¯ who went to the mecha hold is your sister, Luo Chao.¡± Du Junyong sneered. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to be willing to sacrifice your sister who does not much experience in mecha piloting in order to control us. Your regimentmander really is a heartless man who is willing to do anything to get what he wants. What a despicable person. How can you work under him? You are so blind to his schemes.¡±


    This ¡®Luo Chao¡¯ was actually Luo Lang in disguise. These two siblings not only looked alike, but they were also of a simr height. That was why Luo Lang was able to fit into Luo Chao¡¯s clothes. However, Luo Lang was secretly self-conscious about his height, but luckily no one would dare to tease him about his height.


    ¡°Blind? My regiment has nothing to do with this n. Plus, that word is more suitable for you as you are still blind to the faults of yourmanding officer, Du Mingyi! As for my sister...¡± Luo Lang smiled brightly. He was not worried at all.


    Luo Lang and Luo Chao grew up together since they were young. Although their genders were different, their minds were interlinked. Thus, they knew each other very well. Luo Chao appeared weak and shy but internally, she was just as strong as him. Every training session, she would secretly practice more by herself, even when she became Luo Lang¡¯s sandbag, getting hit after hit by him, she would stand up again and again until she waspletely exhausted.


    This was his sister, a tough and firm youngdy with a strong desire to be stronger, and this motivated Luo Lang to work harder too. If shepleted her mission while he couldn¡¯t, he wouldn¡¯t have the face to stay here anymore.


    Du Junyong didn¡¯t know the rtionship between the two siblings so when he saw Luo Lang¡¯s nonchnt attitude, he thought that this brother didn¡¯t care about his sister at all, and his heart drop by his spection as such people were the most difficult to deal with, as they only cared about their own gain and could abandon everything else, including their family, in order to get what they wanted. Furthermore, he was a domain realm master...


    At the mecha hold, the ten team leaders of 250 Mecha n and their teammates had walked to their respective mechas.

 Chapter 835 - Gaze!

    <h4>Chapter 835: Gaze!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    At that moment, Xu Shiming and his team members were already in their mechas. They were persistently calling for the JMCs¡¯ attention.


    ¡°Leader, the people from 250 Ace Mecha n are here.¡± One of his men noticed 250 Ace Mecha n and hurriedly informed his leader.


    ¡°What?¡± Xu Shiming was shocked. ¡®Isn¡¯t Ling Lan thinking of a way to control Du Mingyi and the base? Why did hee here with his mecha n?¡¯


    He looked up and saw around 200 mecha operators walking into the mecha hold. All the 10 team leaders that appeared at the gathering that day were present too.


    ¡°What is he nning to do?¡± Xu Shiming was slightly angry. He needed the JMCs and logisticians help now to activate the ejection ports so that his team could go out and scout the area. He didn¡¯t want to be stuck here with a bunch of other people clogging up the space.


    Just as he was getting disappointed at Ling Lan¡¯s decision, he saw someone familiar from the corner of his eye.


    ¡®Wait! Xu Shiming quickly controlled the screen on his mecha and zoomed in on this person. What he saw was Yan Threemanding his team members with a stern face, asking them to enter their mechas.


    ¡°It¡¯s Yan Three! Those people are from the Evil Wind Mecha Team.¡± Xu Shiming inspected the ground carefully. The people that he thought were from 250 Ace Mecha n were actually from the Evil Wind Mecha Team. Only less than half of the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n were present in the mecha hold.


    The mecha operators from the Evil Wind Mecha Team were split among the ten teams. Each team had about 15 mecha operators from the Evil Wind Mecha Team. The rest were from 250 Ace Mecha n.


    What surprised him the most was, these mecha operators from the Evil Wind Mecha Team were actually listening obediently to themands of the team leaders. They entered their mechas orderly and waited to be ejected. ¡®Did Yan Three submit to Ling Lan within such a short period of time?¡¯


    Xu Shiming understood Yan Three¡¯s character quite well. He was not someone who would bow down to someone with just a few punches and threats. How did Ling Lan do it?


    In the mecha hold, the ten team leaders of 250 Ace Mecha n watched as the members from the Evil Wind Mecha Team climb into their mechas. Through this period of training, the anger of the mecha operators from Evil Wind had subsided a little. They were willing to cooperate with them now. Additionally, the base was currently under DEFCON 1. Thus, they were supposed to do everything in their power to guard their base so, by right, nothing bad should happen. However, the team leaders didn¡¯t dare to let down their guard, as they were afraid that some narrow-minded people would want to take revenge on them even if it meant destroying everything.


    Luo Lang, wait, it should be Luo Chao, was wearing her brother¡¯s major uniform. She still kept her shy smile while trying to put on a stern face. Her aura was indeed a little simr to her brother. However, some of the mecha operators from Evil Wind, who knew the truth about her identity, looked down on their weak-looking team leader so they red at her provokingly.


    When Luo Chao saw those res, she flicked her right finger, and a silver-colored light was seen, shooting towards a mecha operator. Her actions were done quickly so the mecha operator didn¡¯t have any time to react. Thus, he got hit by the syringe, which immediately immobilized him. To let her have better control of her team, these mecha operators from Evil Wind were the weakest among everyone. They were at the peak of refinement just like Luo Chao.


    Luo Chao slowly walked towards the immobilized mecha operator and patted his shoulder. She smiled. ¡°Do you have a problem with me?¡±


    The mecha operator trembled slightly. He looked shocked.


    Those mecha operators from Evil Wind who hadn¡¯t boarded their mechas stopped and looked over at her.


    Luo Chao was unafraid of them so she looked at them straight in the eyes with a vicious and sharp gaze. After that, her right hand moved up from his shoulder to the neck of the mecha operator. She ced her finger on the main artery and said calmly, ¡°Get in your mecha now.¡±


    The malicious intent in Luo Chao¡¯s eyes was intense. The mecha operators who were enjoying the show quickly hastened their pace and boarded their mechas.


    While everyone¡¯s attention was on Luo Chao¡¯s right hand, she hid her left hand behind her and flicked it, creating another passing silver-colored sh of light.


    The mecha operator regained his senses and heard Luo Chao asking him to board his mecha. He didn¡¯t dare to resist anymore so he hurriedly entered his mecha. He moved so quickly that he identally stumbled, almost losing his grip of the railings leading up to his cockpit.


    When he finally climbed into his cockpit, he started shivering violently. ¡°Was everything he saw real? It was so frightening.¡¯


    After everyone from Evil Wind boarded their mechas, Luo Chao heaved a sigh of relief. She finallypleted her mission.


    Li Lanfeng walked towards her and said gently, ¡°That look just now was really good.¡±


    Luo Chao blushed. She smiled and said, ¡°I learned it from Boss.¡±


    Just when Luo Chao was about to run out of ideas to quietly suppress these bunch of men, she suddenly remembered her Boss¡¯s cold and emotionless expression. She started mimicking it unconsciously. Maybe it was because she always paid attention to Ling Lan, but she managed to understand the true essence of Ling Lan¡¯s cold and vicious gaze. Hence, she was able to subdue those unconvinced mecha operators.


    Luo Chao looked at Li Lanfeng gratefully, ¡°I still have to thank...¡± Luo Chao suddenly paused. Then, she continued hesitantly, ¡°the new agent he gave.¡± Without that agent, she wouldn¡¯t be able to scare the mecha operator that provoked her.


    ¡°Since it is created, it should be used. It¡¯s good that the effects are great,¡± Li Lanfeng replied indifferently.


    ¡°Do you think Xuya can sessfullyplete her mission?¡± Luo Chao was worried about her so she asked Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°You have followed our Boss for such a long time. Did you ever see him make a wrong decision?¡± Li Lanfeng asked her back.


    Luo Chao shook her head. Every step Boss Lan took was stable and filled with confidence. He would not make any decision unless he was certain that he would seed.


    ¡°In that case, why are you still so worried? We just need to wait patiently for our Boss to take control of the base.¡± Li Lanfeng hadplete confidence in Ling Lan.


    Luo Chao got consoled by what Li Lanfeng said and felt at ease. She couldn¡¯t help but give Li Lanfeng a bright smile.


    In the near vicinity, Xie Yi clicked his tongue when he saw her smile.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Qi Long¡¯s heart pounded furiously. He thought that something went wrong.


    He and Xie Yi were sent here to control the mecha operators from Evil Wind. If any of them tried to retaliate, they would subdue them without any mercy. At such a crucial time, they couldn¡¯t allow anyone to spoil their Boss¡¯s ns.


    ¡°Luo Chao¡¯s smile is just like Luo Lang¡¯s.¡± Xie Yi was a little unhappy. The smile that belonged to Luo Lang appeared on another person¡¯s face. Although the face was the same, he still felt a bit ufortable.


    Qi Long red at him angrily. ¡°They are twins. Of course, they look the same. If they look different, something is weird.¡± ¡®What an idiot¡¯

 Chapter 836 - Something Is Wrong!

    <h4>Chapter 836: Something Is Wrong!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Xie Yi ced his hands behind his head in azy manner and sighed. ¡°But shouldn¡¯t everyone be unique? In the future, there will definitely be many people who will be confused about the two of them...¡±


    Qi Long looked at Xie Yi with disdain. ¡®You just had to create trouble out of nothing.¡¯ He jeered, ¡°Can you not differentiate between Luo Lang and Luo Chao?¡±


    Xie Yi quickly put his hands down and said hurriedly, ¡°How is that possible? Even if Luo Lang turns into dust... pfft, no way. I mean, no matter how he disguises himself, I will still be able to recognize him.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Although they have the same face, real friends will be able to see their unique points.¡± Qi Long said indifferently, ¡°As for everyone else, since they are not their true friends, why bother about them even if they can¡¯t differentiate them? Do you think Luo Chao and Luo Lang will care about them?¡±


    Xie Yi¡¯s lips twitched. ¡®Luo Chao might not mind but what about Luo Lang?¡¯ Xie Yi felt if Luo Lang got wrongly recognized as a girl, he would turn berserk. Yes, he was very sure about this.


    At themand center, the adjutant walked into themanding officer¡¯s office with arge folder given by the staff who were monitoring the cameras in the mecha hold.


    ¡°Senior colonel, this is the attendance of all the mecha ns who have appeared in the mecha hold.¡± The adjutant passed the folder over.


    Du Mingyi quickly flipped through it. He wanted to see the information on 250 Ace Mecha n. He frowned and said, ¡°Ling Lan didn¡¯te...¡±


    However, he heaved a sigh of relief when he saw all the ten team leaders present. The rest of the mecha operators in 250 Ace Mecha n were there too. The number of mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n in mecha hold tally with the number of mecha operators in 250 Mecha n in their records. ¡®Since those team leaders are all going out of the base, Ling Lan will not possess any danger to me even if he stays back at the base, as all Ling Lan has on his hands are just logisticians.¡¯ Du Mingyi thought to himself.


    He flicked the folder close and muttered to himself, ¡°He didn¡¯t go because he is afraid that I¡¯ll harm his logisticians when he leaves. Hmph! He is underestimating me. I¡¯m not that stupid to do it now. I¡¯ll just touch your logisticians just before the war starts.¡±


    With all the elites of 250 Ace Mecha n gone, he didn¡¯t need to worry about Ling Lan anymore. With just him and his logisticians, they wouldn¡¯t be able to touch him in his base. Ling Lan was guarded against him but he was also guarding against Ling Lan too. He was afraid that Ling Lan would make use of this opportunity when the base entered into DEFCON 1 to take over the control of his base, so it was for this reason why he ordered his men to watch over the 250 Ace Mecha n.


    Du Mingyi felt relieved so he just casually threw the folder on the table. He decided that once the battle started, he would transfer 250 Ace Mecha n to the most dangerous battlefield, and finally destroying this thorn on his side. Since the n was the ace mecha n of Base 013, it was reasonable for him to put them in the most dangerous ce. Whether they survived or not, it depended on their luck. It was their misfortune and their punishment to have such an arrogant and domineering regimentmander.


    ¡®Wait, Young Master Qi Long is inside 250 Ace Mecha n too.¡¯ Du Mingyi frowned. If anything happened to Qi Long, he would definitely be questioned by the General of the 13th division, even if he covered up the crime perfectly, he still couldn¡¯t escape being investigated. ¡®It seems like I have to protect Young Master Qi Long by moving him away from his n.¡¯ He needed to think about this.


    As Du Mingyi was nning how he should move Qi Long away, his adjutant was increasingly more anxious as time went by, as he was aware of the impatient mecha operators in the mecha hold who were already calling for his head. When he saw Du Mingyi still remaining silent amidst themotion going on the mecha hold, he gathered his courage and reminded him, ¡°Senior colonel, Xu Shiming and the other regimentmanders are still waiting for your orders. Shall we inform the logisticians and JMCs to start working?¡±


    Du Mingyi got a shock when he received the reminder. Since 250 Ace Mecha n didn¡¯t pose any danger to him now, he shouldn¡¯t keep the scouts team waiting anymore. If not, Xu Shiming might really explode in anger. He had already taught Xu Shiming a lesson, allowing him to understand the consequences of provoking him so he shouldn¡¯t dy any longer. Hence, he nodded, ¡°Let the scouts team move out. As for the other mecha ns, ask them to continue waiting at the mecha hold.¡± However, he couldn¡¯t let the other mecha ns off that easily.


    ¡°Yes!¡± The adjutant replied quickly before rushing out of the office to order a staff to contact the logistics and JMC department.


    ¡°JMC department, please reply when you receive the message...¡± The staff tried to contact the JMC department but after multiple tries, there was no response from them. ¡°013, please reply. 013, please reply.¡± The staff immediately contacted the mainframe of the base, as he sensed that something was wrong. He wanted to determine if there was some problem with themunication device at the JMC department by contacting the mainframe, but there was still no reply again. The staff¡¯s expression turned for the worse as he stood up in fear. ¡°Sir, there is no reply from the mainframe.¡±


    All the staff got nervous when they heard this. The leader of themand center staff, who was a senior captain, instantly took his position and called the mainframe again. ¡°013, please reply. 013, please reply.¡±


    But there was still no reply from the mainframe. It was as though it was in a deep sleep. The senior captain didn¡¯t dare to waste any time as he scrambled towards Du Mingyi¡¯s office. When he arrived at the door, he shouted at Du Mingyi, ¡°Senior colonel! There is a problem with the mainframe.¡±


    Du Mingyi stood up instantly. His sudden and forceful action caused the folder on his table to fall on the ground. He asked in a stern tone, ¡°What is happening?¡±


    ¡°Senior colonel, we can¡¯t receive a reply from the mainframe.¡± The senior captain¡¯s face was pale. Once the mainframe malfunctioned, all the systems controlled by it would stop working. The most frightening thing was, the protective shield protecting the base would disappear too. If Hailiya attacked their base in this vulnerable state, staff like them would be at their mercy. They were not like the mecha operators who still had a mecha to protect them.


    Du Mingyi¡¯s face turned white too when he heard this. He knew how important the mainframe was to the entire base. He quickly aimed hismunicator at the optical supeputer on his office table, trying to use his authority as themanding officer of the base to activate the mainframe.


    It was useless. The mainframe was spoilt. No matter how much he restarted it, there was no reaction.


    Suddenly, Du Mingyi heard a scream of terror followed by the noise of an intense fight.


    Du Mingyi looked at the dead mainframe and thought of something. He rushed out of his office. Just as he was about to reach the main entrance of themand center, the door suddenly opened, revealing a young military doctor in a white gown with a surgical mask over his face.


    ¡°Long time no see, Senior Colonel Du!¡± The person raised one of his eyebrows and smiled when he saw Du Mingyi. He seemed to be greeting an old friend.

 Chapter 837 - Wallflower Little Four!

    <h4>Chapter 837: Wallflower Little Four!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Du Mingyi immediately remembered who this person was when he saw the military doctor attire. ¡°The head of the medical department of 250 Ace Mecha n, Major Li Shiyu.¡±


    Li Shiyu raised both of his hands and pped slowly. He smiled. ¡°As expected of themanding officer of our base. The details of everyone in the base is at the tip of your fingers.¡±


    ¡°What is that bastard Ling Lan trying to do?¡± Du Mingyi gritted his teeth and asked.


    Li Shiyuughed when he heard this. ¡°Senior Colonel Du, look at the situation now. Are you still trying to act dumb?¡±


    Du Mingyi remained silent. He wanted the other party to admit it personally.


    Li Shiyu suddenly cupped his hands behind his ears and leaned towards the door, listening attentively to the noise outside. When he heard that the noise outside had died down, he smiled gently. ¡°It looks like your guards are down.¡±


    The second he finished speaking, more than 50 members of 250 Ace Mecha n appeared at the various windows of the building. There were two people standing outside of each window and all of them had beam guns in their hands. They were aiming it at the people inside. Obviously, the entiremand center was surrounded. Little Four knew exactly how many windows there were in themand center so Ling Lan gave Li Shiyu just the right amount of people.


    ¡°Senior Colonel Du, do you still not understand?¡± Li Shiyu mocked him.


    ¡°He will never be able to control the base! Never!¡± Du Mingyi couldn¡¯t maintain his calm demeanor as amanding officer. He started shouting furiously at Li Shiyu.


    ¡°Really?¡± Li Shiyu looked at Du Mingyi with a gaze filled with contempt. ¡®Why does a wimp like him have the guts to scheme against their regimentmander? He is looking for death.¡¯


    ¡°Without me, the mainframe will not listen to anyone. There is no way he can control the base.¡± Du Mingyi would never let them know that something had happened to the mainframe.


    ¡°Oh, really?¡± The contempt in Li Shiyu¡¯s voice got more pronounced. He snapped his fingers and the mainframe that had remained quiet all these while suddenly activated.


    Du Mingyi¡¯s expression quickly changed. He finally knew who was behind the mainframe failing. He stuttered in disbelief, ¡°This is im, im, impossible.¡±


    Although the mainframe of a base was a grade lower than the mainframe of the Federation it still couldn¡¯t be easily hacked, even an ace hacker would need around four hours of continuous hacking to break its firewall. Plus, the hackers at his base were not weak too. Once someone hacked into their mainframe, they would immediately notice it and the defense mechanism of the mainframe would be heightened. With the help of the hackers from the base, it was impossible to hack into the mainframe within a short period of time. ¡®Is Ling Lan a virtual god?¡¯


    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m 013. What is yourmand?¡± The mainframe spoke after it got activated. Its voice was gentle and mechanical just like the other mainframes. However, the voice sounded a little like a child.


    Li Shiyu was surprised. He didn¡¯t expect the voice of Base 013¡¯s mainframe to be like this.


    Little Four, who controlled the mainframe of the base, was extremely arrogant. ¡®How could that stupid system 013 have such a perfect voice like me?¡¯ That¡¯s right, it wasn¡¯t 013 who spoke just now, it was Little Four mimicking 013¡¯s voice. Why did Little Four do this? Well, the reason was simple. The handsome Little Four didn¡¯t want to be a wallflower anymore. He wanted in on the action now. Hence, he decided to pretend to be 013 for a while.


    ¡°Base 013 will be taken over by the Regiment Commander of 250 Ace Mecha n, Lieutenant Colonel Ling Lan, from now on. Please remember this,¡± Li Shiyu gave the mainframe an order.


    ¡°Noted. Themanding officer of the base will be Boss Ling Lan from this moment onwards!¡± Little Four controlled his excitement as he pretended to be an emotionless mainframe. He epted Li Shiyu¡¯smand without any hesitation.


    Li Shiyu was speechless as there seemed to be a problem with the mainframe. He said Lieutenant Colonel Ling Lan just now, not Boss Ling Lan. Did they damage the mainframe when they hacked it just now?


    However, he was the only one who noticed this mistake in Little Four¡¯s act. Everyone else was too bbergasted by 013¡¯s reply, they didn¡¯t listen to its content carefully.


    While Li Shiyu was talking to Little Four, Du Mingyi send a fewmands to the mainframe while Li Shiyu was not paying attention to him.


    ¡°Boss, Du Mingyi is doing something sneaky.¡± Little Four was ying as a substitute of 013 but he continued to watch over Du Mingyi. When he saw his sneaky actions, he quickly reported it back to Ling Lan who stayed back at the camp of 250 Ace Mecha n. She was currently drinking hot tea, waiting for the good news.


    Actually, Li Shiyu talked to 013 and let down his guard against Du Mingyi on purpose. It was to allow Du Mingyi to do his sneaky actions. They needed to uproot all of Du Mingyi¡¯s power, no seeds must be left behind. These people were not a threat to Ling Lan but since she decided to do it, she would not give Du Mingyi any chances to ever show his face in the military again.


    Little Four copied Du Mingyi¡¯s messages and sent it to his boss. Ling Lan looked through it and smiled. Du Mingyi was a narrow-minded person but he was decisive. At such a crucial time, he lured Song Yiqing with a bait that was very difficult to reject. ¡®Will Song Yiqing take the bait?¡¯


    As for the other people Du Mingyi asked for help, they were all within Ling Lan¡¯s expectation.


    After Du Mingyi sent his messages, his expression rxed a little. As long as the guards arrived, Li Shiyu and his men would not be a threat.


    The moment Du Mingyi rxed, Li Shiyu turned and smiled at him. ¡°Senior Colonel Du, are you done calling your reinforcements?¡±


    Du Mingyi¡¯s expression changed slightly. He didn¡¯t know that Li Shiyu had seen through his cheap trick but yet, he didn¡¯t stop him. ¡®Is it blind faith on Ling Lan or does he have other ns?¡¯


    ¡°You are looking for the guards at 001 camp, right? You must be from the Du family.¡± Li Shiyu calmly exposed one of Du Mingyi¡¯s helpers.


    ¡°Du family? What nonsense is this? Regiment Commander Du just happens to have the same surname as me,¡± Du Mingyi replied with an indifferent face.


    ¡°The rank-3 elite family of Luxing. Am I right? I know that you are a direct descendant of the Du family but you were entrusted to amoner with the surname ¡®Du¡¯.¡± Li Shiyu directly exposed the secret Du Mingyi was hiding for his entire life.


    When Du Mingyi offended Ling Lan, Ling Lan¡¯s no. 1 sidekick, Little Four, was extremely angry at him. Thus to vent his anger, he went to dig up all of Du Mingyi¡¯s history.


    The Du family hid everything so perfectly, an ace hacker might not be able to notice any loopholes. However, they were facing the literal virtual god, Little Four. The only things that Little Four couldn¡¯t find are the things he didn¡¯t want to find.

 Chapter 838 - Evil, Ruthless and Merciless!

    <h4>Chapter 838: Evil, Ruthless and Merciless!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The Federation had always prevented the elite families from acquiring any forms of military power. If a person from an elite family was to enter the Federation, other than receiving many military merits, they would not be able to get into the centralmand chain of the Federation. No matter how high one person¡¯s military rank was, they would be only given deputy rank positions or positions without any real military power. For a position of power such as amander of a base, elite families could never be able to sit in this position, the highest they could go up themand chain was just being high ranked staff officer.


    After Li Shiyu exposed Du Mingyi¡¯s secret, all the officers in themand center looked towards Du Mingyi with an utterly shocked expressions on their faces. Although the tension between the elite families and the military was not brought out into the open, those who joined the military for a long time, or actively participated in the game called politics could easily discover the hidden tension between the two parties.


    The surrounding officers thought about it and knew what the Du family had nned to infiltrate the military¡¯s centralmand chain. The Du family would send their direct descendants to randommoners families as their foster child, making it seem like they had cut off ties with the child, but in actuality, these foster children had people from the Du family teaching and nurturing them from when they arrived to themoners¡¯ house. This way, when these descendants grow up, they would still bepletely loyal to the Du family.


    However, the price of doing this was that these descendants would have a slow start at the beginning. They must enter the military as a standard soldier, not like those who were publicly recognized as a descendant from an elite family, who would start as a junior officer after entering the military. When advancing to senior colonel, those from the elite families would only need 10 years, but those foster children who used the standard path would need 20 or even 30 years to get to that position. These results were already pretty good, considering their families were still quietly helping them in the dark. Du Mingyi was one of those foster children. He used almost three times the amount of time to climb uppared to a normal descendant from the Du family. He used 28 years to advance into a senior colonel, before finally bing amander of a base with actual military power.


    They used time to trade for power. Perhaps, even the Du family didn¡¯t know whether it was worth it or not.


    Du Mingyi was angry and surprised. Once this information got out, the Federation¡¯s military would definitely not let him take any important positions in the future, even if his military rank was to stay the same because of his merits, it would still be impossible for him to acquire real military power anymore. ¡®If that was the case, then won¡¯t his sacrifice of 28 years be all for naught?¡¯ After thinking about this, Du Mingyi¡¯s expression was filled with dreadful malice. He must get rid of all these people who knew about his secret. He now had the chance, since they had sent people to surround themand center, it gave him a perfect reason for him to kill all of them and no one would be able to question it. It was normal for them to die for a mutiny, right?


    He suddenly waved his fist, and a silhouette from a dark corner pounced towards Li Shiyu.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    Li Shiyu met the attack with his fist without hesitation. The two fists smashed into each other, creating a muffled sound.


    Everyone in themand center was sent flying from the Qi-Jin the two of them had sent out. They were smashed into the walls before falling to the ground with a thud. The physical skills of these officers were quite average. When faced with the shockwaves from a battle between two strong individuals, they couldn¡¯t defend themselves, resulting in all of them bing injured.


    Li Shiyu saw Du Mingyi, who stood on the side with a ring killing intent. Li Shiyu understood that Du Mingyi was not going to let even his own soldier leave this ce alive. Li Shiyu¡¯s expression became sharp, and a terrifying force of presence suddenly enveloped around them, twisting and turning the space around them.


    ¡°Domain!¡± Du Mingyi and the senior captain were stunned. They didn¡¯t think that this unknown Li Shiyu was actually a domain realm master. It should be known that if someone was found out to be a domain realm master, their military rank would be senior colonel and not a little major rank.


    Du Mingyi began to frown. He felt afraid. ¡®What kind of n is 250 Ace Mecha n? Why would an insignificant military doctor have such a strong capabilities?¡¯ It should be known that military doctors were considered to be logisticians with the weakest physical skills. The most remarkable military doctors were considered to be the best of the best if their physical skills was at the refinement stage, not Qi-Jin or even the domain stage... If someone had such amazing talent in physical skills, who would be willing to let them learn military medicine? Wouldn¡¯t that just be a waste of talent?


    Of course, only Du Mingyi¡¯s group was dumbfounded. Those from 250 Ace Mecha n who surrounded themand station all knew that this person was not Doctor Li. Instead, he was one of the 10 mecha captains, Li Lanfeng. It was just that they also didn¡¯t know that their Captain Li had actually reached the domain stage...


    This made them think of their cold and stern regimentmander. It should be known that only their regimentmander¡¯s aura could rein in Captain Li. ¡®Doesn¡¯t that mean their regimentmander is also a domain realm master? It also meant that he wasn¡¯t just a standard domain realm master, but a titled domain realm master!¡¯ After thinking about this point, everyone became excited. Nothing was more exciting than knowing that their own regimentmander was a really powerful individual.


    At that moment, the twisted space around Li Lanfeng suddenly cracked into countless ck tentacles. Those ck tentacles quickly flew towards those soldiers and wrapped around their bodies. Then, the tentacles whipped towards the door, tossing them out of the main entrance, then they were caught by those from 250 Ace Mecha n outside.


    When Du Mingyi discovered Li Lanfeng¡¯s intentions, he wanted to stop him. However, Li Lanfeng shot a cold re towards Du Mingyi which actually shook him, making him freeze in his ce.


    In an instant, Li Lanfeng sessfully cleared out all those who stood in his way.


    Li Lanfeng raised his right hand and a ck scythe began to take shape in his hand. The senior captain and Du Mingyi had cautious expression on their faces when they sensed the ominous aura around it and began to stay alert.


    Right at that moment, Li Lanfeng suddenly gave out an order, ¡°All members, move back 30 meters.¡±


    This was the estimate Li Lanfeng had calcted for shockwave distance that would be created from fighting with his opponents. He was afraid that during the battle, he would hurt his own team if he couldn¡¯t control the situation. If that happened, it would be difficult for him to exin to Ling Lan.


    Hearing this, those from 250 Ace Mecha n quickly moved back. At the same time, they didn¡¯t forget to take those officers who were tossed out by Captain Li with them.


    After seeing he had nothing to worry about, he turned towards the senior captain with cold expression on his face and said, ¡°You¡¯re probably the protector the Du family had sent to be beside Du Mingyi.¡± The Du family would not allow Du Mingyi to have any idents after spending so much effort on him.


    ¡°You¡¯re quite knowledgeable about the internal workings of the elite families. I think I know who you are.¡± The senior captain seemed confident in his words.


    Li Lanfeng raised an eyebrow and waited for his answer.


    ¡°A surname Li means that you¡¯re from that super elite family, the Li family. I didn¡¯t think the Li family would actually be willing to let you out from the 4th Division and let you go to the 23rd Division instead. It looks like they had made some arrangements with Ling Xiao...¡± The senior captain could only think of this reason. This Li Shiyu was probably a super genius that the Li family had nurtured. This was the only way for such a military doctor to have such strong physical skills.


    Hearing this, Li Lanfeng ce his finger in front of him and shook it side to side, ¡°No, no, no. You arepletely wrong. Me going to the 23rd Division has nothing to do with General Ling Xiao. I can only say that I was convinced by my regimentmander¡¯s personality and charm, and thus I decided to serve him in any way I can.¡±


    Well that was his reason. As for Li Shiyu, who was lied to, and for Li Yingjie, who he didn¡¯t know the reason why he followed them, he wasn¡¯t sure if they felt the same way.


    ¡°As someone from an elite family and knowing that it¡¯s difficult for us to be in the military, why don¡¯t we work together, instead of you exposing us?¡± The senior captain said in an angry tone of voice.


    ¡°Elite family? What does that have to do with me? As for not exposing you, no can do, my friend. It¡¯s because you angered someone you shouldn¡¯t have.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression was cold. He seemed like a warm and kind person who got allow with people, but in reality, he was a cold and calctive person who would use or sacrifice anyone to achieve his goals. Ling Lan was the only person he didn¡¯t dare to use his dirty schemes on. He knew well that it was his weakness, but he just let himself be selfish for once. He must acquire more from him... more... more...


    What does he want? Li Lanfeng still didn¡¯t know currently. He only knew that he was like a glutton. He wanted everything Ling Lan could give him without giving any of it to others.


    It was because of that that Li Lanfeng was not willing to give Du Mingyi, who offended Ling Lan greatly, any way of getting out of the situation. He forced his opponent to have no choice but to fight for his life. From the very beginning, Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t even have the slightest thought of giving Du Mingyi a chance to live.


    This was Li Lanfeng; Evil, ruthless and merciless!

 Chapter 839 - If I Were You!

    <h4>Chapter 839: If I Were You!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    At 224 Mecha n, Song Yiqing felt a vibration from hismunicator as he was preparing to go out for war. When he opened hismunicator and saw the cry for help from Du Mingyi, he jumped up in shock.


    ¡°What happened?¡± A senior captain beside him asked hurriedly.


    Song Yiqing took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He said, ¡°Ling Lan is really bold. He actually sent his men to surround themand center. He wants to force Du Mingyi to handover his powers.¡±


    The senior captain¡¯s expression changed. ¡°Force Du Mingyi? Is he crazy?¡± If Du Mingyi decided to fight to the end, the entire base would be implicated, including them.


    ¡°He is a lunatic. He snatched all the food at the weing dinner, offending all the officers above the rank of a junior officer. Then, he wiped out the entire Evil Wind Mecha Team. He sent his logisticians to grab supplies from the warehouse and now, he is making use of DEFCON 1 alert to take control of the base when everyone is in a mess and doesn¡¯t have the time to care about him. Look at all the things he did. Which one of them is not crazy?¡± Song Yiqing said angrily.


    He started pacing around his office in frustration. He pondered if he should get involved in this messy situation.


    ¡°Should we take part in this matter?¡± Song Yiqing was afraid of 250 Ace Mecha n so he couldn¡¯t make a decision. Hence, he asked his confidant who was specially sent by the Song family to give his opinion on the matter.


    ¡°Did Du Mingyi promise many benefits?¡± The senior captain asked.


    ¡°Yes, he promised if we help him to destroy 250 Ace Mecha n, he would give us the power over themand chain in Base 013.¡± Song Yiqing¡¯s eyes lit up. He had been eyeing Base 013 for a long time. Unfortunately, Du Mingyi was not easy to deal with. He didn¡¯t seem to have any background but there was always an invisible faction protecting him whenever he tried to do something to him. He tried to bring him down many times but failed as many times.


    However, the arrival of 250 Ace Mecha n changed the tides to his favour. Du Mingyi had no choice but to rely on him now. This was a great surprise to him but it meant that he needed to be enemies with 250 Ace Mecha n. This was a mecha n that even the Song family was unwilling to provoke. This was the only reason why Song Yiqing was hesitant.


    ¡°If that is the case, we can take part!¡± The senior captain was tempted too. Taking over themand chain of the base was the test the Song family gave Song Yiqing. If he seeded, Song Yiqing would be able to be seen in a more favourable light in the family and might be promoted to a higher position.


    As the grandson of the Marshal Song and someone whom the family was willing to groom, Song Yiqing was not a rash person. He was logical and calm so he decided to figure out the overall situation first before deciding whether or not he should participate in this farce. The senior captain ordered his men to send them updates on the recent actions of 250 Ace Mecha n. What they received back is that all of 250¡¯s mecha operators were in the mecha hold while only Ling Lan was left to guard the camp with just a bunch of logisticians to help him.


    If the mecha operators were present, they would be afraid to join in this fight due to their impressive capabilities and background. However, these people were now all stuck at the mecha hold, and the ones left were ordinary logisticians who were weak with no background. No matter how powerful Ling Lan was, he wouldn¡¯t be able to defend against the raid of an entire mecha n, right?


    Song Yiqing and the senior captain were ted when they received this piece of news. Both of them felt that this was an extremely good opportunity. Not only were they able to take revenge for the humiliation they had suffered, but they could also gain control over themand chain of the base.


    ¡°Ai Liang, inform everyone to prepare to reinforce themand center.¡± Song Yiqing mmed his fist on the table and gave his order.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander.¡± The senior captain, whose name was Ai Liang, immediately epted the order.


    Little Four was monitoring 224 Mecha n the entire time, so when they started moving, he immediately reported to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan put down the teacup in her hand and smiled. ¡°Money and power are indeed very tempting. As expected, Song Yiqing was unable to refuse the temptation.¡±


    Ling Lan disappeared from her office after she said that.


    Soon, Song Yiqing led his fully armed 224 Mecha n out of their camp. There were about 1000 people in his mecha n, all rushing towards themand center.


    While they were running, their vision started to get blurry. A dense mist had suddenly appeared in the base for some reason, it was so dense that they were only able to see one metre ahead of them. No, it might be even shorter.


    Song Yiqing looked around and suddenly realized something. His expression immediately changed and shouted, ¡°Stop!¡±


    The entire base was encased by a protective shield and there was a temperature regtion system inside the base, so it was impossible to have mist here unless something went wrong with the protective shield and the temperature regtion system.


    The entire 224 Mecha n stopped moving under Song Yiqing¡¯smand.


    The organized footsteps quiet down. It was dead silent. Suddenly, faint footsteps could be heard over the dense mist.


    It was the sound of a pair of military boots stepping firmly on the ground. The sound got nearer and nearer to them.


    ¡°Be careful and be on your guard.¡± Song Yiqing looked at the front of him intently. He whispered to Ai Liang and ordered him to remind the people behind them to be vignt.


    Not long after, a figure finally walked out of the mist. The mist had gradually turned less dense now. They were able to see 20 metres ahead of them. There was a distance between the figure and him but Song Yiqing would already feel the cold aura the person exuded. The coldness engulfed his body whole, leaving him to feel dread for the first time.


    As the figure got closer, Song Yiqing finally managed to see him clearly. The person wore a blue and white military uniform with a white cloak draped over his shoulders which swayed in the air as he moved. He was walking in a calm and casual manner with a silver short whip in his hand


    Song Yiqing never saw Ling Lan before but the moment he saw this person, Ling Lan¡¯s name popped up in his mind.


    The person stopped when he was just five metres away from Song Yiqing and looked at them with an indifferent gaze.


    ¡°Ling Lan!¡± Song Yiqing gritted his teeth. He didn¡¯t expect the other party to be monitoring him too. This was the only reason why Ling Lan could catch him the moment he came out of his camp.


    ¡°Song Yiqing.¡± Ling Lan replied nonchntly, ¡°If I were you, I would turn back and return to my own camp now. You, will not take part in the matter between Du Mingyi and me.¡±


    ¡°Ling Lan, if I were you, I would surrender immediately, and please stop making a desperate attempt to struggle.¡± Song Yiqing noticed that Ling Lan came alone so he started sneering at her.


    ¡°Song Yiqing, no wonder you got exiled by your family. You are quite stupid.¡± Ling Lan shook her head with pity. ¡°Your mecha n means nothing to me. I wasted so much time to talk to you because our parents all have high positions in the military, and I don¡¯t want to spoil their friendly rtionship.¡±

 Chapter 840 - Do Something Big With Me!

    <h4>Chapter 840: Do Something Big With Me!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Song Yiqing was furious when he heard what Ling Lan said. He immediately disregarded what she said at the end and replied indignantly, ¡°I want to see how you will defeat a nobody like me.¡±


    He waved his right hand, and around 20 people from 224 Mecha n flew out, surrounding Ling Lan in a tight circle.


    Ling Lan sighed. She wasn¡¯t in the mood to fight. That was why she hinted to Song Yiqing that her background was as powerful as his. Unfortunately, this Song Yiqing was too slow to catch what she was trying to hint at. It now looked as though she had to fight with them.


    ¡°Wow. Boss, are you going to KO 1000 people all by yourself?¡± Little Four was excited about the uing royal rumble.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t it be 1000 people KO me?¡± Ling Lan replied unhappily. She threw the short whip in her hand and disappeared from her position.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The short whip hit everyone who surrounded, whipping them up into air forcefully before falling to the ground beside Song Yiqing. Song Yiqing was shocked at this surprisingly beautiful scene. He took a few steps back quickly. In a blink of an eye, the 20 people piled up into a graceful pyramid in front of him.


    At that moment, Ling Lan suddenly appeared in front of Song Yiqing and pressed his shoulder down, immediately immobilizing him.


    Ling Lan whispered to Song Yiqing, ¡°Song Yiqing, you always like to struggle until thest minute. When facing Qi Long, you were like this. Now facing me, you are still like this. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that your grandfather and my father are both in the military, I will not let you off so easily. Song Yiqing, don¡¯t try to test my patience.¡±


    ¡®I¡¯ve already made things really obvious. Song Yiqing, please have a clear mind.¡¯


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to KO 1000 people. It was not really difficult for her but if she really subdued Song Yiqing¡¯s 224 Mecha n alone, the second marshal, Song Yongzheng, would definitely take revenge on her. Although that sly old fox couldn¡¯t do anything to her father, he could easily create some small problem for him. Ling Xiao already had enough things on his hand. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to ce more burden on his shoulders.


    Hence, Ling Lan constantly reminded Song Yiqing about her identity. Proactively admitting defeat and having no choice but to admit defeat was two different concepts. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to be enemies with Song Yiqing and the Song family.


    The lower-ranked people in the military might not know who Ling Lan was but the higher authorities, including the three great marshals and the ten generals, definitely knew who she was, even the generals of the various divisions might know who she was.


    ¡°Your father?¡± Song Yiqing finally caught on. He got stunned for a moment. Then, he narrowed his eyes and asked, ¡°Who is your father?¡± Of course, what made him calm down was Ling Lan¡¯s hand which was immobilizing him.


    Ling Lan smiled mysteriously at Song Yiqing and didn¡¯t reply to him.


    Ling? Song Yiqing suddenly thought of Ling Xiao. He then remembered that Ling Lan¡¯s 250 Mecha n came from the 23rd division. His expression changed. He said in a voice only he could hear, ¡°Ling Xiao?¡±


    ¡°My father asked me to send his regards to Marshal Song. He hopes we can work together.¡± Ling Lan smiled. ¡®Ah... good, he is not too stupid.¡¯


    ¡°Work together?¡± Song Yiqing recalled what Ling Lan said at the start. He scoffed, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that I was exiled here? Looks like you are in the same state as me.¡±


    Ling Lan gave him a strange look. Song Yiqing felt ufortable under her gaze. He wanted to put up with it but the gaze was too ring. He couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±


    ¡°How many sons does your grandfather have? How many sons does your father have?¡± Ling Lan gave Song Yiqing a look of contempt. ¡°How many sons does my father have?¡± Little Four knew everything about Song Yiqing.


    Song Yiqing¡¯s face turned ck, as Ling Lan¡¯s words stabbed right into his heart. To other people, he was Song Yongzheng¡¯s grandson. He had an impressive status. However, Song Yongzheng had eight sons. Moreover, his father was one of the weaker sons so Song Yongzheng didn¡¯t ce much emphasis on him, and Song Yiqing was his father¡¯s third son. He had two older brothers who were very capable and had high positions in the military. His two younger brothers were extremely talented too. Thus, his father rarely paid him much attention.


    It could be said that in the entire Song family, he was the most ¡®invisible¡¯ person. If he wasn¡¯t Song Yongzheng¡¯s grandson and didn¡¯t have the surname ¡®song¡¯, the Song family might not even have let him be a regimentmander of a normal mecha n. They just didn¡¯t want him to embarrass the Song family. They sent him to Haijiao for two reasons. One was because they didn¡¯t want to see him and the other reason was to allow Song Yiqing to gain some merits himself. Just like what Ling Lan said, he was exiled by his own family.


    ¡°Since you are not exiled, why did youe here?¡± Song Yiqing scoffed even though he was internally hurt by the truth of his current situation. He would not let anyone see his weak side.


    He had his own ambitions too. However, once you reached a certain position and wanted to climb even higher, you need to have enough capabilities as well as merits. His abilities were not strong enough and he didn¡¯t have enough merits too. Now, he was thrown here to participate in some small skirmishes to gain the most basic amounts of merits. He could almost see his future. He would be a regimentmander of a normal mecha n. This was his furthest his potential could take him unless he managed to improve his mecha piloting skills. However, he couldn¡¯t do it no matter how hard he practiced. His talent restricted his mecha piloting level from getting any higher. The highest level he could achieve was the primary stage of ace. If he was extremely lucky, he might be able to reach elite ace.


    Hence, he only had one chance. He needed to gain some impressive military achievements like helping the Federation take over Haijiao. When the Federation gained control of Haijiao, they would distribute the honor to the various mecha ns. He would be able to use this honor to increase his status. But, this was just a wild dream. If Haijiao could be taken over so easily, the war wouldn¡¯t havested so long.


    Because of this, the Song family felt that he had no hope so they had given up on him heartlessly. They were no longer willing to waste time and manpower on him.


    ¡°You are really lucky!¡± Song Yiqing said angrily. Deep down inside, he was jealous of Ling Lan. He was Ling Xiao¡¯s only son. All his father¡¯s love and resources were given to him unconditionally. Whether he was capable or not, Ling Xiao would not abandon him. He didn¡¯t need to lick his wounds on Haijiao like him. This unhappiness about his situation caused Song Yiqing to turn abusive. His personality got twisted as he had given up on himself.


    Ling Lan patted his shoulder lightly tofort him and the anger in Song Yiqing¡¯s eyes dissipated a little.


    Ling Lan lowered her voice and asked, ¡°Are you willing to do something big with me?¡± ¡®Hmm, why do I sound like a viin persuading someone to do evil things with me?¡¯ Ling Lan was speechless at her own revtion.


    Song Yiqing narrowed his eyes again. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Why do you put your hope on other people? It is best to achieve your own results,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    Although she was Ling Xiao¡¯s child, all her achievements were gained through her own efforts. Ling Xiao just made sure that her merits were not taken away by other people. Well, this was important too.

 Chapter 841 - Mistake!

    <h4>Chapter 841: Mistake!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°You want me to take part in the mutiny?¡± Song Yiqing smiled coldly. ¡°If Du Mingyi doesn¡¯t hand over the control of the mainframe to you, everyone in this base will die because of you.¡±


    Song Yiqing gave a look of contempt as he continued, ¡°Why don¡¯t you pretend to be caught by me instead? After that, I¡¯ll bring you to Du Mingyi and trick him into giving me the control of the mainframe. This n has a much higher possibility of sess.¡±


    ¡°Do I look like such a rash person who does something without nning? Du Mingyi is not a problem at all,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Song Yiqing raised one of his eyebrows in doubt.


    Ling Lan raised her right hand and snapped her fingers. The roadmps at the side suddenly lit up, illuminating the misting path, creating a cozy atmosphere around the two of them.


    Song Yiqing¡¯s expression drastically changed. He eximed in surprise, ¡°How did you gain control of the mainframe?¡±


    The mainframe was the final trick up Du Mingyi¡¯s sleeves. He had to put up with Du Mingyi because of this. Yet, the final trick that put him at a loss, making him bow down to Du Mingyi unconditionally, was useless against Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan smiled at Song Yiqing, seemingly mocking his intelligence. Song Yiqing knew that he had asked a stupid question. No one would tell anyone such a powerful secret.


    When Ling Lan had gained control of the mainframe, he knew that Du Mingyi had no chance of winning anymore. Although, as the grandson of Song Yongzheng, his ability was a little weak, he had the courage and judgment of a true descendant of an elite family. He quickly asked, ¡°What will I get if I work with you?¡±


    Ling Lan nced at him coldly. Her gaze was piercing as if she could look into the depths of your soul. She patted the short whip on his chest. ¡°Song Yiqing, don¡¯t try to bargain with me. I¡¯m not the patient type.¡±


    Song Yiqing frowned. He never expected Ling Lan to be so domineering, that he didn¡¯t have any thoughts of discussing with him.


    ¡°You will take one of two options. One, follow me without any conditions. Two, follow Du Mingyi and eat prison food with him,¡± Ling Lan said coldly.


    Song Yiqing¡¯s face turned red and his lips trembled when he heard Ling Lan¡¯s unreasonable words. He really wanted to fight with this irritating man and tell them that he was not going to y with him anymore. However, he didn¡¯t dare to say this, as the mainframe was under his control.


    ¡°Young Master Qing!¡± Ai Liang was angered by Ling Lan¡¯s words too. But, without Song Yiqing¡¯smand, he would not move so he tried to urge him to order him to take down Ling Lan.


    Song Yiqing took a deep breath and suppressed his anger. He replied coldly, ¡°As long as you defeat Senior Captain Ai Liang here, I will be willing to follow you for my entire life.¡±


    Ling Lan looked at Ai Liang who was giving off a strong fighting intent and smiled. ¡®Isn¡¯t this consider food delivered right to my doorstep? Well, the grandson of the second marshal could also help her wipe the soles of her shoes.¡¯


    ¡°Song Yiqing, you are always so stupid. You like to make a bet with your opponent before you understand him fully.¡± Ling Lan jeered with a sharp gaze. ¡°I hope you will not regret what you said.¡±


    ¡°Regret? Although I¡¯m a good-for-nothing but I always follow up with what I said. I will honor my bet and not regret it.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words almost made him vomit out blood. He said angrily, ¡°What about you? Are you willing to bet with me? If you lose, you¡¯ll follow me for life.¡±


    Ling Lan sneered. She yed with the short whip in her hand. The anger on Song Yiqing¡¯s face disappeared slowly when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s calm demeanour. The feeling of anxiousness started to creep up inside him, but he gritted his teeth and said, ¡°You don¡¯t dare?¡±


    ¡°Song Yiqing, you are stupid but sly. That is your real motive, right?¡± Ling Lan said nonchntly.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t have the confidence, then we can both just calmly go back to where we came from.¡± Song Yiqing smiled. So what if Ling Lan found out his intentions? If Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to fight, he could just sit on the fence, no matter which side won, he would not lose anything. He didn¡¯t believe that Ling Lan would dare to annihte his entire mecha n.


    His status as the grandson of Song Yongzheng would protect him. If the other party wanted to continue staying in the military of the Federation, he wouldn¡¯t hurt him.


    ¡°No problem. Since you give me a winning bet, I will take it. If not, I¡¯ll be wasting this good opportunity.¡± Ling Lan smiled. ¡°Onest thing: Don¡¯t regret it!¡±


    Song Yiqing¡¯s confidence wavered when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s calm expression. He started to wonder if he really made a mistake.


    ¡®No, he can¡¯t be wrong. Besides those monsters from the Flying Dragon Special Forces, no one is able to advance to the domain stage at such a young age.¡¯ Song Yiqing cheered himself on silently. He would definitely win this wager.


    Song Yongzheng didn¡¯t think highly of Song Yiqing but as a descendant of his, he didn¡¯t want him to die at a young age,pletely ruining the reputation of the Song family. Hence, when Song Yiqing went to Haijiao, Song Yongzheng used his authority to send a domain realm master to protect Song Yiqing. That domain realm master was the humble-looking Ai Liang.


    Ai Liang saw Ling Lan epting the challenge so he stepped out slowly from behind Song Yiqing.


    Ling Lan knocked Song Yiqing¡¯s chest with her short whip and reminded him, ¡°Are you not nning to leave this ce with your men? Do you want to die here?¡± He was just at Qi-Jin stage. It was a suicidal act for Song Yiqing if he stood so near to a battle between two domain realm masters.


    That¡¯s right, Ling Lan already knew Ai Liang was a domain realm master. He just suppressed his force of presence and made it seemed as though he was only at the primary stage of Qi-Jin. Ling Lan realized she was not the only one who knew how to suppress her force of presence. The other domain realm masters here could do it too.


    Song Yiqing looked at Ling Lan in surprise, seemingly astounded by her sudden act of kindness. He remembered that when he felt hurt just now, Ling Lan was the one whoforted him.


    Song Yiqing quickly retreated with his men. He looked at the calm and confident Ling Lan who was standing in front of Ai Liang. He was curious. ¡®What kind of person is he? He has a sharp tongue and can irritate people easily. But, he is kind enough tofort others even if the person is his opponent.¡¯ The two of them were not on good terms but he didn¡¯t hate Ling Lan. He hoped that Ai Liang would not beat Ling Lan up too roughly.


    ¡®This doesn¡¯t sound like me!¡¯ Song Yiqing couldn¡¯t help mock himself. Then, he gathered his emotions and waited for the result of the battle between Ai Liang and Ling Lan.


    After everyone retreated 100 meters away, Ling Lan looked at Ai Liang calmly. She said indifferently, ¡°The battle between domain realm masters will destroy the facilities here. Why don¡¯t we just use our most powerful single-target attack to decide the winner?¡±


    Ai Liang turned serious. ¡°You reached the domain stage too?¡±


    He didn¡¯t notice Ling Lan¡¯s true power but Ling Lan managed to see through his disguise. Suddenly, he felt that this wager might be a mistake.

 Chapter 842 - Interesting!

    <h4>Chapter 842: Interesting!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The only response he got for his question was Ling Lan¡¯s dead gaze. In actuality, Ai liang didn¡¯t need an answer, as he had already gotten his answer from the pressure Ling Lan was exerting on him. This force of presence she was exuding was definitely not that of a Qi-Jin expert.


    Song Yiqing¡¯s expression changed slightly, bing more stern as he felt the terrifying aura seeping out from Ling Lan. It was really surprising that Ling Lan was a domain realm master this young. Well, it is kinda expected for a descendant of the youngest God-ss mecha operator.


    Ai Liang, of course, wasn¡¯t willing to let Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence pressure him down without him retaliating back. He roused up his true capabilities that were originally hidden under a veil, his force of presence rose quickly, before finally reaching a stateparable to Ling Lan¡¯s aura.


    The members from 224 Mecha n were quite stunned after seeing Senior Captain Ai Liang, who guarded their regimentmander, was actually a domain realm master. However, what surprised them even more was that the young regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n was also a domain realm master. They remembered that the Federation had recently publicly announced the youngest domain realm master was 25 years old. ¡®Are they talking about Regiment Commander Ling who stood in front of them?¡¯


    Without mentioning the surprise of those from 224 Mecha n, Ai Liang was also surprised by Ling Lan. If a battle between two domain masters was to initiate here, the base might be destroyed by the two of them. In order to mitigate the damages, they indeed should use their strongest-single target attack to determine the victor so Ling Lan¡¯s suggestion was very sound. However, the problem for Ai Liang was that this method of battle would not align with the strength of his domain, and as luck would have it, the concept of his domain was not suitable for going all out in one attack. If Ling Lan domain concept was offensive based, he would be at a severe disadvantage.


    Ai Liang suspected Ling Lan had already seen through the concept of his domain. That was why Ling Lan proposed this method of battle.


    After thinking about it, Ai Liang couldn¡¯t help but raise his head to look in front of him. He saw Ling Lan looking at him coldly and calmly like still water. Ai Liang couldn¡¯t figure out what Ling Lan was thinking, but he could feel the contempt from Ling Lan¡¯s eyes...


    ¡®Hmph, who cares if he has an offensive based domain? Will a punk, who has only entered the domain stage a short while ago, be able topare to me, who had already studied the concept of my domain for more than a decade?¡¯ Ai Liang narrowed his eyes and lifted his right hand. He clenched his hand into a fist with great force as though he was holding onto a weapon for dear life.


    ¡°Boss, what type of domain does he have? Howe I can¡¯t see his domain energy?¡± Little Four was anxious at the fact that he couldn¡¯t see anything. He was afraid his Boss would be at a disadvantage.


    ¡°Interesting!¡± Ling Lan smirked. It was interesting for her to experience an unknown domain in a fight. If she faced with a domain that she had fought against before, she would be thoroughly bored out of her mind. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know when she had actually liked the feeling of battling with odd opponents. As expected, 250 Ace Mecha n was a ce for nurturing violent individuals, even Ling Lan, a girl who loved peace, had be violent.


    Ling Lan lifted up her short whip and motioned it towards Ai Liang to gesture for him to attack first.


    Ai Liang¡¯s expression froze. He didn¡¯t think that Ling Lan would also choose to hide his domain just like he was doing right now. Ling Lan didn¡¯t expose even a little bit of his domain concept to him. Ai Liang, who could not determine what type of domain Ling Lan had, could not decide on a technique to go against Ling Lan.


    The two of them stared at each other as their force of presence became stronger and stronger. In the middle of the two of them where the two forces crashed into each other actually caused crackling sounds in the air.


    ¡°Bam!¡± One member, who was at the refinement stage could not endure the pressure emitting from the two domain realm master, actually fell on his knees.


    The sound of that member falling was as though it was a signal to everyone. Those who had weak physical skills and were watching all fell down in a simr manner. This position actually helped these people to endure the pressure.


    Song Yiqing¡¯s expression was dumbstruck. ¡®This is how strong domain realm masters are? Just their force of presence was enough to subdue everyone?¡¯


    Ai Liang had always protected him and had never fully exerted his force of presence. Song Yiqing always thought that Ai Liang was only stronger than him by a small bit and because of that, he didn¡¯t have high opinions of Ai Liang. However now, Song Yiqing understood what being a domain realm master really meant. They could actually be so strong. It was no wonder there was the saying that all those below the domain stage were like ants. Song Yiqing hoped that one day he would be able to enter the world of the strong, and not be an ant that domain realm masters could easily step on.


    Ai Liang¡¯s force of presence had already reached his peak. If he didn¡¯t make a move at that moment, his force of presence would begin to decrease, making him be at a disadvantageous position. Originally, he wanted to wait for Ling Lan to make a move first for him to be able to adapt to Ling Lan¡¯s domain concept with an appropriate techniques. It was also surprising that although Ling Lan was young, his patience was not wavering...


    Ai Liang was suspicious. ¡®Is Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence still not at its peak?¡¯


    Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t wait any longer so he had to immediately make a move. Otherwise when his force started to decrease, his attack would be much weaker. Ai Liang decisively raised his right hand and ruthlessly shed towards Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan saw that strong energy deing straight for her head. She knew that it wasn¡¯t any normal attack just from the power emitting from the de.


    Ling Lan flicked her short whip and a silver whip suddenly appeared in front of her. It began to rotate quickly, creating a circle that could devour everything in its path.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression became stern as she shook the short whip in her hand. The silver whip quickly moved towards the strong energy de sent out by her opponent.


    The silver whip crashed into the energy de. In the next second, there was suddenly a huge explosion, shaking the ground below them. Everyone from 224 Mecha n couldn¡¯t stand up straight because of the earthquake-like experience. A bunch of them instantly fell to the ground and those who could still stand were in the mid-stages of Qi-Jin.


    Song Yiqing tried to bnce himself as he watched the two of them fight. His eyes darkened, but it still couldn¡¯t conceal his ambitions.


    ¡°Boss, what concept does his domain have?¡± Little Four asked excitedly. This question had been troubling him for a long time. If he couldn¡¯t get the answer now, he wouldn¡¯t be able to eat, sleep and y well.


    ¡°It¡¯s giving off a very strange feeling.¡± Ling Lan frowned. The energy her opponent gave off just now was somewhat odd.


    ¡°Let¡¯s try again!¡± Ling Lan made a decision. The short whip in her hand shook once again. Now, the silver whip was flying towards Ai Liang in a continuous attack.


    Ai Liang¡¯s movements were crisp as he continued to wave his hand as well. The silver-colored energy de shed with the silver whip Ling Lan had sent out, shaking the ground continuously. Seeing this, Song Yiqing quickly told his n members to retreat a dozen more meters away. After moving away, they felt the ground stopped shaking so they no longer had trouble standing on their feet.


    Although Ling Lan waspletely focused on the fight, she didn¡¯t overlook Song Yiqing¡¯s group¡¯s movements. After discovering that Song Yiqing¡¯s group could only stand on their feet after going further away from them, Ling Lan seemed to have realized something.


    Right at that moment, Ai Liang¡¯s hands suddenly closed together, and Ling Lan suddenly saw the silver de expanding and surrounding all over her entire body. She had actually unknowingly stepped into her opponent¡¯s domain space.

 Chapter 843 - Fog Element!

    <h4>Chapter 843: Fog Element!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Just as Ling Lan was about to be devoured by the energy, her eyes glimmered brightly as she decided to not use defensive techniques. Instead, she chose to use the short whip in her hand. An afterimage of a silver long whip appeared in the air, screeching continuously as if it was ripping the air apart, before snaking towards Ai Liang¡¯s head.


    ¡°He going for mutual destruction?!¡± Song Yiqing was dumbstruck. It was clear that Ling Lan wasn¡¯t cornered, and could easily block and find another opportunity to attack. ¡®Why is he being so reckless about going for an attack that will not benefit either side?¡¯


    All those who watched couldn¡¯t understand, but only Ai Liang¡¯s expression was filled with shock. He suddenly stopped his attack and chose to dodge instead.


    Everyone didn¡¯t understand the reason behind Ling Lan aggressiveness. At that moment, everyone also couldn¡¯t understand the reason behind Ai Liang¡¯s actions as well. If he had taken Ling Lan¡¯s attack head on, Ai Liang¡¯s overwhelming energy would definitely have caused great injury to a surprised Ling Lan. If Ai Liang would have taken the battle, he would have been victorious, so why did Ai Liang chose to dodge instead?


    ¡°I see!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression lightened up. She was lucky that she had randomly said that they should use their strongest single-target attack to determine the winner. This made her identally seal away her opponent¡¯s strongest domain technique. Otherwise, she didn¡¯t even know what the oue of the battle would have been. Although Ling Lan was confident that no matter how strange her opponent¡¯s domain concept was, she would still be able to win the battle. However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to use all her trump cards. After all, it was still a good thing if she could keep a few of them a secret.


    Ling Lan did not show any mercy and continued to wave her whip. Then, the silver whip created many afterimages which cornered Ai Liang, forcing him to stay in ce.


    ¡°Senior Captain Ai made a terrible decision just now. He went from being on the offensive to defending passively.¡± The mecha team team leader standing beside Song Yiqing saw this scene sighed.


    ¡°Maybe he had no choice but to do so.¡± Song Yiqing thought more deeply about the situation than the team leader. Ai Liang had always been loyal to Song Yiqing¡¯s grandfather, so Ai Liang would definitely know about the gains that Song Yongzheng would would get if he took down Ling Lan.


    In reality, it was just as Song Yiqing had thought, it wasn¡¯t because Ai Liang didn¡¯t want to take down Ling Lan. It was just that his domain concept made him unable to follow up with his attack. If he did follow up with the attack, Ling Lan would discover the truth behind his trick which would cause him to be at a disadvantage for the fight after that.


    ¡°Damn it.¡± Ai Liang didn¡¯t know if Ling Lan¡¯s way of handling his attack was by luck or was because she had already seen through his domain concept. If it was thetter, then he was in trouble.


    Ai Liang knew that he couldn¡¯t continue like this, shown by his expression beginning to show some anxiousness. Maybe it was because he was not fully concentrated, his speed actually slowed down a small bit which caused Ling Lan¡¯s whip to strike his body...


    ¡°Bang!¡± After the whip strike his body, it didn¡¯t stop as it continued on, only stopping after it ruthless smashed onto the ground. The concrete on the ground instantly split apart, causing countless rocks and debris to fly everywhere, turning the originally foggy area to be foggier.


    When Song Yiqing saw this, his heart jumped. ¡®Did Ai Liang lose?¡¯


    After the dust finally settled, everyone looked towards the location the whip had smashed onto. There was no one there. It was clear that Ai Liang had dodged Ling Lan¡¯s whip. However, Ling Lan was still standing there with her whip still in hand. ¡®Then, where is Ai Liang?¡¯ Everyone thought.


    Suddenly, a fist appeared behind Ling Lan, and it ruthlessly went for the back of her heart.


    Song Yiqing had a hint of joy in his eyes. Once Ai Liang hit Ling Lan, the battle would be easily won.


    Right as the fist was about to puncture Ling Lan¡¯s heart... puncture? The joy in Song Yiqing¡¯s expression instantly froze. Ai Liang, after throwing his punch, had a huge change in his expression. His feet instantly sprang up and he quickly moved backwards.


    Ling Lan, who was standing there with a hole in her body, suddenly turned into a cloud of fog, then dissipating away like it was never there in the first ce. The ¡®Ling Lan¡¯ who was originally attacking Ai Liang was actually a fog clone created by Ling Lan.


    ¡°Ling Lan is a fog element domain realm master.¡± Although Song Yiqing wasn¡¯t a domain realm master, he was still taught about the knowledge regarding them by his instructors from his family. Seeing this scene, he had guessed Ling Lan¡¯s domain element.


    ¡°The fog element doesn¡¯t belong to the strong offensive type. It is more useful for espionage and assassinations. I was actually fooled by Ling Lan from the very beginning.¡± Ai Liang, who was constantly battered by a clone, was now regretting his decision to back off. From the start of the fight, Ling Lan had constantly been on the offense which made Ai Liang think that Ling Lan¡¯s domain concept were of the strong offensive type. Thus, he didn¡¯t dare to go against Ling Lan head on and only carefully used his own domain techniques to lure his opponent elsewhere. Although this strategy was very suitable for those with offensive based domains, this strategy made him unable to discover that Ling Lan was the same as him, a paper tiger.


    Right at that moment, within the dense fog, a sliver of silver silk that was difficult to see with the naked eye, suddenly appeared. Before Ai Liang could realize it, it had already wrapped around his leg.


    ¡°Not good!¡± Ai Liang used his hands as swords and shed towards the silver silk.


    ¡°Screech!¡± Suddenly, a sound like nails scratching on a chalkboard rang beside everyone¡¯s ears. Ai Liang was originally nning on slicing the silk with his hands, but he was suddenly stopped by a strong force. There were actually two more silver silk-like wires wrapped arpound both of his wrists. Another two of those suddenly came to his sight and wrapped around his ankles before hanging him up in mid-air.


    From afar, the fog suddenly condensed. Ling Lan, who wore her blue and white uniform, with her cape, had appeared once again. At that moment, her long jade-like fingers was in front of her chest with each having a string of silver silk wrapped around them.


    ¡°The sky, look...¡± One officer whose eyes were sharp, pointed towards the top of street light and began to shout in surprise.


    Everyone looked towards the direction he pointed towards. On top of the street light¡¯s highest point, there was silk threads that could barely be seen by the naked eye wrapped around it. Then with the help of street light illuminating the area, it allowed everyone to see more of the glistening silk threads... After discovering this, everyone looked again. They discovered that the ce where Ai Liang and Ling Lan had been battling was an empty street, but was now filled with countless silk threads. These threads wrapped around each other, along with the streetmps and structures which created a threaded world. If someone was to step in identally, they would be minced into little bits by the countless threads.


    Everyone couldn¡¯t help but take a deep cold breath. A chill rose up from their feet to their heads. Some people even hallucinated that their flesh was slowly being peeled off by the threads, making them fear for their lives.


    Ling Lan¡¯s fingers moved a little, causing another painful screeching sound. Ai Liang was biting his lip in the center of it all, enduring the pain of being shredded apart. This scene made Song Yiqing¡¯s expression go from pale topletely white.


    ¡°It looks like I win this bet.¡± Ling Lan turned around a looked at Song Yiqing, waiting for Song Yiqing¡¯s answer.


    Song Yiqing looks like he was in a state where his soul had left his body, before he finally bit his lip and said through his gritted teeth, ¡°I give up, you win!¡±


    Hearing this, Ling Lan¡¯s fingers on her left hand trembled and the silk threads wrapped around Ai Liang suddenly loosened up. Then, the threads turned into fog and disappeared without a trace.


    After regaining his freedom, Ai Liang turned his body beforending face first on the ground.

 Chapter 844 - Not Following Command!

    <h4>Chapter 844: Not Following Command!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ai Liang asked Ling Lan as he was standing back up, ¡°When did you n this?¡±


    ¡°When you were dodging my whip,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently.


    ¡°Did you know my domain concept from the start?¡± Ai Liang continued asking as he was curious as to know why he had lost.


    ¡°No. However, when you retreated instead of continuing your attack, I knew that something amiss.¡± This was partly true.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t dodge because she had found out what Ai Liang¡¯s domain concept was, it was Phantasm. The silver energy de that attacked her was fake. However, the force behind some of the attacks was real, so she had to differentiate the real attacks and the fake attacks. If she had entered a domain space where there were many real and fake objects, she might not be able to differentiate them so quickly. Luckily, there was only one virtual object in Ai Laing¡¯s domain space, thus the fight ended before it even started, as her Profound Insight gave her the answer directly.


    ¡°So why did you stand still when you noticed something was amiss with my attacks?¡± Ai Liang was shocked.


    ¡°I do not have an offensive type domain (A lie), so if I want to subdue you, I needed for you to get close. Hence, I was prepared to get hurt.¡± Ling Lan would not reveal her true ability to her opponent. She was happy to let him misunderstand her capabilities.


    Ai Liang gave a bitter smile that was filled with regret. He didn¡¯t expect the young Ling Lan to be so harsh on himself in order to win, this factor basically cemented his lost to Ling Lan. It seemed like the years of peace made him lose his edge. He became conservative and afraid of getting hurt.


    ¡°The technique you used is a territory technique, right? So why did you say that we should use our most powerful single-target attack?¡± Ai Liang shook his head and sighed. If Ling Lan didn¡¯t ask him to use his most powerful single-target attack, he would have used his territory technique which made full use of his domain concept. That way, Ling Lan would not have won so easily.


    Suddenly, Ai Liang had a thought. He looked at Ling Lan in shock. He just realized that his opponent had started his n right from the start of the battle.


    ¡°You never nned to use your most powerful single-target attack at all.¡± Ai Liang felt regret. Why did he listen to Ling Lan¡¯s suggestion so easily? If he didn¡¯t, this battle would have ended differently (This was impossible).


    Ling Lan just yed with her short whip indifferently. She didn¡¯t reply to Ai Liang.


    ¡°The younger generations are getting stronger. I lost.¡± Ai Liang finally admitted defeat. Just now, he was still angry at Ling Lan for going back on his words. Now, he no longer thought this way as it was his fault for getting fooled. This was enough for him to admit defeat sincerely.


    ¡°Thank you. If you had strengthened your territory technique with your Phantasm concept, the results might have been different. I made you think too deeply about the situation, thus I managed to gain an advantage through your indecisiveness,¡± Ling Lan replied truthfully. If she really entered her opponent¡¯s virtual territory with his domain concept, it would have taken some time for her Profound Insight to differentiate the fake from the real. She might even have to reveal some of her true powers before she managed to break his technique. It could be said that her opponent¡¯s ability got restricted when he chose to strengthen his most powerful single-target attack with his domain concept.


    Originally, Ling Lan wanted to use her most powerful single-target attack at the start. However, when she noticed that her opponent was not as strong as she had taught, she changed her mind. She wanted to know what her opponent¡¯s domain concept was. It had to be said that Ling Lan was lucky as a random suggestion restricted her opponent so much.


    Ai Liang got his answer so he went back to Song Yiqing¡¯s side calmly. Song Yiqing was already feeling dejected. He asked weakly, ¡°What do you want me to do?¡±


    ¡°Go to the mecha hold and prepare for the battle!¡± Ling Lan turned serious.


    Song Yiqing got a shock. ¡°There is a battle?¡±


    ¡°Do you think DEFCON 1 is a joke?¡± Ling Lan smiled coldly. ¡°Five minutester, your 224 Mecha n must all appear at the mecha hold.¡±


    ¡°Since I agree to listen to you, I will do it,¡± Song Yiqing gritted his teeth. He wouldn¡¯t go back on his words. This was his principle.


    ¡°That¡¯s good...¡± The moment Ling Lan finished speaking, she turned into a cloud of smoke before disappearing from the scene. The mist that affected their vision also disappeared and they were able to see properly again. Weirdly enough, the base was still as dry as before, it was as though the mist just now was just an illusion.


    Song Yiqing¡¯s dejected expression slowly returned calm again. He held his hand up and felt the air in front of him. It was not humid anymore. Ling Lan had left.


    ¡°He is a mist element domain realm master. We entered his domain space right from the start,¡± Song Yiqing said nonchntly. ¡°It¡¯s reasonable that we lost.¡±


    ¡°Young Master Qing, are you really going to listen to him?¡± Ai Liang whispered.


    ¡°One must honor his bet.¡± Song Yiqing smiled. ¡°It¡¯s worth losing this wager.¡±


    Song Yiqing had aplicated expression on his face, as only he knew that making this bet, he wouldn¡¯t lose as both of the results were beneficial to him.


    Ai Liang didn¡¯t say anything else. Although Song Yiqing was an inconspicuous person in the Song family, he still couldn¡¯t understand him, even after following him for two years.


    Soon, Song Yiqing brought his 224 Mecha n to the mecha hold. Just like what he said, he was someone who honored his bet. He would not go against Ling Lan¡¯s order. Thus, within five minutes, he had rushed to the mecha hold.


    At this moment, Xu Shiming¡¯s scouts team finally received a reply from the JMCs. The JMCs signalled for them to get to the ejection ports.


    Xu Shiming raised his fist in the air. They wasted some time but fortunately, it wasn¡¯t too long. They still had time to scout their enemy¡¯s route.


    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m your JMC...¡± A rough voice suddenly appeared in the JMC channel. The hands of the member of the scouts team who was moving his mecha into the ejection port trembled when he heard the rough voice, which caused him to enter the wrong instructions to the mecha, causing his mecha to almost topple over. Luckily, his reaction speed was quick and his mecha piloting skills were impressive, so he managed to stabilize his mecha.


    ¡°F**k, who are you?¡± The member couldn¡¯t help but scold the owner of the rough voice. ¡®You shouldn¡¯t harm someone like this.¡¯


    ¡°F**K, who are you talking to?¡± The man with the rough voice got unhappy and yelled.


    ¡°Damn it, who on earth are you? Where are our JMCs?¡± The member of the scouts team got angry.


    ¡°I¡¯m the JMC. Who are you looking for? Argh! This is so embarrassing. I¡¯m not doing it anymore,¡± The owner of the rough voice shouted in the channel.


    p! ¡°Ah!¡± Before the member of the scouts team could shout back, a loud p was heard and a shrill cry of pain followed after.


    ¡°Erm, I¡¯m sorry. Our temporary JMC is not followingmands.¡± A refreshing voice of ady sounded in the channel, and she sincerely apologized to the member of the scouts team.

 Chapter 845 - Instigate!

    <h4>Chapter 845: Instigate!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine. There is no need to apologize¡± The member of the scouts team replied hurriedly. He asked curiously, ¡°Are there not enough JMCs?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Because of amand from themand center, the JMCs of the base couldn¡¯t direct you all. Hence, Regiment Commander Ling send the JMCs of 250 Ace Mecha n to help you all instead.¡± Thedy didn¡¯t hide the details.


    ¡°Oh...¡± The member of the scouts team was shocked. ¡®What is going on with the base?¡¯


    ¡°Anyway, I apologize for the unprofessionalism of the JMC just now. I will take care of himter. I will pray for your sess from the office.¡± Thedy gave the member of the scouts team her sincere and best wishes. The member of the scouts team felt touched by thedy¡¯s words, so his anger towards the male JMC subsided instantly.


    ¡°Thank you. We will definitelye back with a victory,¡± the member of the scouts team answered confidently.


    ¡°Good brother, when youe back with a victory, I¡¯ll have a drink with you.¡± The male JMC heard the confident speech and got roused up by him, so he decided to cheer the member of the scouts team too in his own unique way.


    p! Another loud p was smack.


    ¡°It¡¯s forbidden to drink in the military.¡±


    ¡°I know... youngdy, stop hitting me!¡±


    The angry shouts of thedy and the pitiful pleas of the man sounded in the JMC channel again. Although they were not as professional and robotic as the original JMCs of the base, this kind of lively atmosphere and funny mistakes made caused the members of the scouts team to rx a little. All of them had smiles on their faces as they get ready to get on the ejection ports. Their nervousness got dissipated a little.


    In the JMC office, Lady Mei and a few other courageous female JMCs of the base were looking at Han Xuya with gaze was filled with respect and longing as she knocked on the forehead of the first lieutenant, who was the temporary male JMC.


    They didn¡¯t know a woman could be so dominant over a man. She was able to reprimand a male officer and the other male officers beside them seemed to be used to this scene. They looked calm and indifferent. This meant that this was amon sight. ¡®Is 250 Mecha n a female-friendly mecha n? Or is there some other special reasons for why they treat a woman so nicely.¡¯


    Well, Han Xuya is Li Shiyu¡¯s deputy, so she and Luo Chao can get their hands on many scary agents. Therefore, the mecha operators in 250 don¡¯t dare to offend the twodies of the medical department.


    No female soldiers with the thought of climbing to the top would be able to reject a mecha n that didn¡¯t discriminate against women. Lady Mei was one of those female soldiers who still had grand ambitions, so her mind was now filled with the thought of entering 250 Ace Mecha n. She must follow Han Xuya and learn everything about her. That was the only way she could live a life in the military without the help of a man.


    Han Xuya¡¯s team sessfully controlled the JMC office and activated the ejection ports. The scouts team was now able to move out of the base and carry out their scouting mission. Of course, they had a smooth ejection process because Lin Zhong-qing arranged a team of mecha operators to control the logisticians of the mecha hold. This team was also the one monitoring and ordering the logisticians to load the weapons on the various mechas of the scouts team. With the additional help of Little Four, these Xuya¡¯s and Zhong-qing¡¯s team carried out their missions orderly without facing any problems.


    Luo Lang and Du Junyong confronted each other. Luo Lang¡¯s mission would only end when he subdued the other party.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to imagine that you became a domain realm master at such a young age. What a pity. A talent like you shouldn¡¯t work under someone else.¡± Du Junyong shook his head and sighed. He seemed to be feeling sad for Luo Lang¡¯s situation.


    Luo Lang just maintained his bright smile, seemingly unaffected by what Du Junyong had said.


    ¡°You should be just a team leader in 250, right? But, it is really is a pity as you definitely have the capabilities to be a regimentmander with actual military power.¡± Du Junyong tried to waver Luo Lang¡¯s heart and make him uncontented about his situation.


    Luo Lang raised one of his eyebrows. ¡°Do you have anything else to say? Why don¡¯t you say everything at once?¡±


    Luo Lang was not as smart as Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun. He was not like Xie Yi and Qi Long who looked sincere but actually had a scheming mind. He was different from Zhao Jun who seemed rash but knew what he was doing. Compared to his friends, Luo Lang was pure and innocent. However, these traits had its merits. One of the merits was that he trusted Ling Lan wholeheartedly. Once he recognized Ling Lan as his Boss, she would always be his Boss. He wouldn¡¯t have any other thoughts, not in the past and never in the future.


    Luo Lang so tantly exposed his n, making Du Junyong speechless. He didn¡¯t know how to reply to him.


    ¡°Since you have nothing else to say, let¡¯s fight.¡± Luo Lang was excited. Among his friends, Qi Long loved fighting the most. However, Luo Lang loved it too. Both of them enjoyed fighting but Qi Long showed his desire to fight a lot more, as he was always asking people to have a fight with him. Luo Lang wanted to fight too. But, because of his pretty and demure face, most people would reject his offer, which in turn made him weaker than Qi Long as he had not much chance to fight. In actuality, most men just couldn¡¯t resist his beautiful face. They couldn¡¯t bear to hit him, even the friends that grew up with him couldn¡¯t see past his face.


    Du Junyong felt dejected. He wondered what Ling Lan did to let such a talented person follow him without any wandering thoughts. He didn¡¯t even have a chance to sow some discord between them.


    When Luo Lang noticed that Du Junyong was still mulling over his situation, he got impatient and attacked first.


    Bang! Du Junyong used his palm to take on Luo Lang¡¯s fist, and a blunt sound was heard.


    The fighting spirit in Luo Lang¡¯s eyes was apparent. His smile got more enchanting. ¡°Boss is right. You are really a domain realm master.¡± In order to let Du Mingyi stay in his position, the Du family put in much effort. They even sent a domain realm master to be the regimentmander of the guards team of the base so that he could help Du Mingyi secretly.


    His Boss had already guessed that his opponent might be at pseudo domain or was a domain realm master who had just stabilized his domain. Either way, he was on par with Luo Lang in terms of ability so Luo Land had to be careful.


    The killing intent on Luo Lang got stronger. His gaze turned vicious. He was able to control one of his domain techniques fully now. He could merge the calm personality and the bloodthirsty personality together easily. As for the other personalities, he was still in the midst of trying to merge them together. When he realized Du Junyoung was on par with him, Luo Lang decided to go with this technique.


    Du Junyong felt an unprecedented pressure boring down on him. After the Du family used a secret technique to help him enter the domain stage, he came to this base and secretly helped Du Mingyi clear his path to bing themanding officer of the base. After all these years, he managed to stabilize his domain. However, because he was stuck at the base, he never had the chance to meet other domain realm masters and thus also never fought with them. It could be said that ever since Du Junyong advanced to the domain stage, he had never fought with other domain realm masters before. Luo Lang was the first domain realm master he would fight with.


    Du Junyong was nervous about his first fight against an opponent of a simr power level. However, he looked at Luo Lang¡¯s young beautiful face and calmed down a little. ¡®No matter what, my understanding of the domain stage after all these years should be deeper than a brat who just entered the domain stage, right? I will not lose this match!¡¯ He thought.

 Chapter 846 - Injured!

    <h4>Chapter 846: Injured!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Luo Lang and Du Junyong looked at each other for many seconds. Suddenly, Luo Lang made a move at a tricky angle.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Luo Lang¡¯s attack was quick and fierce. However, right as his attack was about to hit Du Junyong, it was blocked by a thickyer of earthen armor.


    Yes, unbeknown to Luo Lang, Du Junyong had ayer of earth around his body like armor, protecting every part of his body.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Luo Lang snorted in dismay. In the next second, he disappeared from where he was standing. The ce where he stood before already had an earth spike appear below him.


    While Du Junyong was blocking Luo Lang¡¯s attack, he also performed a sneak attack on Luo Lang. However, Luo Lang saw through his intentions as well.


    Luo Lang appeared at his previous position once again and pouted. The opponent he least wanted to go against was someone with the earth element. It was like fighting a weaponized tortoise, rendering all of his attack useless. Luo Lang¡¯s domain concept wasn¡¯t the strong offensive type. Thus, his domain concept was already at a disadvantage against the strong defense of the earth element.


    Luo Lang¡¯s expression fluctuated slightly. Suddenly, his expression became as calm as water, and he no longer had the rash temperament.


    ¡®No way to get through his defense? Then, I must find an opening in his attacks.¡¯ Luo Lang, who had merged with the calm personality, had a peaceful expression on his face. He was no longer rushing to defeat Du Junyong in just one attack and instead used the bloodthirsty personality¡¯s speed to wildly attack Du Junyong. He was looking for an opportunity to get the one attack past his opponent¡¯s defense.


    The calm personality knew very well that when facing someone who was only on the defensive with strongest defensive element, the earth element, only those strong offensive types could use their terrifying attacks to deplete the opponent¡¯s defensive earth energy. These attacks would cause the opposition to no longer have the energy to continue to use their defensive domain, which would then in turn cause their defeat. Other types of domain realm master could not do that. Thus, Luo Lang only way to victory was to let his opponent give up on defense and attack him instead. An opportunity might present itself in the instant his opponent changes from defense to offense.


    Luo Lang¡¯s continuous attacks were so fast that Du Junyong couldn¡¯t dodge and could only endure them all with his earthen armor. In order to make sure the armor he created was not broken by his opponent, he focused all of his concentration on using his domain concept, forming an even thicker earth armor.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang...¡± Luo Lang¡¯s attacks were all blocked by the armor, only causing bits of dirt to fall off. Luo Lang¡¯s attacks couldn¡¯t actually go through the armor. Seeing this, Du Junyong calmed down a bit.


    After Luo Lang finished his first round of attacks, Du Junyong felt his domain energy hadn¡¯t been depleted by too much. A hint of killing intent shed past his eyes. He finally decided to make a move.


    Luo Lang¡¯s speed made Du Junyong understand that he wouldn¡¯t be able tond a hit on him with single-target attacks, only area of effect attacks could seal his Ling Lan¡¯s terrifying speed. Du Junyong guessed that Luo Lang was a physical type domain realm master, under the category of speed. In terms of domain concept, that type was considered to be weakest.


    Feeling somewhat confident in his conjecture, Du Junyong was longer as careful as before. When he saw Luo Lang lift up his fists, preparing to attack again, he shouted loudly and closed his hands. Countless sharp spikes suddenly shot out from the ground and went towards Luo Lang, who was in mid-air, like arrows raining down but inverted.


    The attack was too sudden, so Luo Lang, who was in mid-air, couldn¡¯t dodge it...


    ¡°Boom, boom, boom...¡± Countless spikes struck Luo Lang in mid-air. Du Junyong was overjoyed. However, him being on the offensive had depleted his domain¡¯s energy significantly, causing his earthen armor to get thinner. The excitement made him lose his concentration in his armor, which also caused it to lose its thickness. The armor was dropping chunks of dirt to the ground


    ¡°Bang!¡± Two fists suddenly came down on him from below, hitting his chin. The force was so powerful that he was sent flying into the air.


    Du Junyong, who was now in mid-air, saw two Luo Langs appearing at where he stood. One was smiling and one was full of killing intent...¡¯How can that happen?¡¯


    He then looked towards the Luo Lang that was struck by his spikes, and saw that the Luo Lang who had be a porcupine was just staring at coldly. Then, he suddenly disappeared without a trace.


    ¡®Why were there three Luo Langs? Why?¡¯ This was Du Junyong¡¯sst thought before he went unconscious.


    After seeing he had finally beaten Du Junyong, Luo Lang looked towards the bloodthirsty personality. The bloodthirsty personality knew what Luo Lang¡¯s expression meant and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, although we appear physically inside your domain, we aren¡¯t physical entities. Those attacks can¡¯t harm us.¡± It turns out, Luo Lang was worried whether the calm personality had been injured.


    ¡°Then, why hasn¡¯t the calm personalitye out yet?¡± Luo Lang asked.


    The killer personality bit his lip. ¡®This dumbass primary personality. Why is he not smart when he should be and smart when he shouldn¡¯t be?¡¯


    ¡°How should I know?¡± The bloodthirsty personality pretended to be clueless.


    ¡°Help me ask him how he is doing. I¡¯m still sort of worried.¡± Luo Lang couldn¡¯t see the calm personality and was somewhat anxious.


    ¡°I go ask him?¡± The bloodthirsty personality shook his head. ¡°The calm personality is the strongest one out of all of us so he¡¯s the one who usually finds us. We never dare to go looking for him...¡±


    Seeing that Luo Lang wasn¡¯t going to give up, the bloodthirsty personality continued, ¡°Also, have you ever seen the calm personality do anything that he wasn¡¯t 100% sure about? If he was confident in making that decision, then he¡¯s definitely fine.¡±


    ¡°Alright, I should trust him. ¡°Luo Lang finally decided to put his questions away for the time being. He will ask when he sees the calm personality in the future.


    Seeing that Luo Lang was no longer asking him about the calm personality, the bloodthirsty personality quickly found a chance and returned to Luo Lang¡¯s mindscape.


    After leaving Luo Lang¡¯s sight, the bloodthirsty personality wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead. He had never realized that the primary personality was so difficult to deal with. Who said the primary personality was easily fooled? He was going to beat up whoever said that when he gets back.


    Luo Lang felt that the bloodthirsty personality was different from before, as he always wanted to stay in the real world. Instead, it was also though a ghost was chasing him, causing him to run back into his mindscape all flustered. Luo Lang instantly raised an eyebrow...¡¯The calm personality¡¯s current state is definitely not what the bloodthirsty personality have said, that he ispletely fine. However, why aren¡¯t they willing to tell me?¡¯


    Luo Lang was somewhat depressed. ¡®Have they still not epted me as their primary personality?¡¯


    Once the bloodthirsty personality returned to the mindscape, he anxiously shouted, ¡°How¡¯s the calm personality doing?¡±


    ¡°He seemed to have been injured quite severely and has already gone to treat himself,¡± a slow andzy voice replied.


    ¡°What happened? This is the first time that I¡¯ve seen the calm personality all dishevelled,¡± an evil voice also spoke up.


    ¡°Don¡¯t say anymore. You guys know that I specialize in speed and not strength while the calm personality specialize in finding out a weakness right away. Whenbined, we be the strongest assassin. As long as the opponent¡¯s weakness appears, we would be able to take advantage of it and go for the kill. However, as luck would have it, we met up with an opponent in a tortoise shell. His defenses were extremely tight which made us both useless.¡± sighed the bloodthirsty personality. ¡°The calm personality made a n to lure the opponent out in order to defeat him, using himself as bait. Then, the end result became like this.¡±

 Chapter 847 - Believe?

    <h4>Chapter 847: Believe?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°You mean there are many interesting opponents outside?¡± A sinister figure suddenly manifested in front of the bloodthirsty personality.


    ¡°Of course. But unfortunately, selfish personalities like you who are not willing to cooperate with the rest of us will never have the chance to go out.¡± The bloodthirsty personality sneered.


    Luo Lang was still currently unable to unleash the full potential of his domain technique because some of his other personalities were still unwilling to cooperate. Those personalities still had ambitions of being the primary personality in order to control the domain technique. However, the primary personality still had no clue of this. He just thought that he was just not proficient enough in his domain technique.


    ¡°Those personalities don¡¯t listen well,¡± the sinister personalityined.


    ¡°How about you?¡± An indifferent voice sounded behind the sinister personality. The two personalities turned around and saw the calm personality standing behind them.


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s you...¡± The sinister personality pouted and didn¡¯t dare to say anything else.


    ¡°How are you doing?¡± Bloodthirsty personality asked in a concerned tone. The frequent merging with each other made their rtionship closer.


    ¡°It¡¯s just a small injury. However, I will not be able to go out within a short period of time,¡± the calm personality replied. He scanned the mindscape and said with an unwavering voice, ¡°ln the past, I didn¡¯t care how much of a fuss you all kicked up but now, I will not tolerate any more of that. You must all cooperate with the primary personality obediently.¡±


    ¡°Oh? When did you be so protective of the primary personality?¡± Thezy voice spoke.


    ¡°When he treated us as brothers and not as his ves,¡± the calm personality replied. ¡°So, we should treat him like how he treats us.¡±


    ¡°Makes sense,¡± a cold voice said from somewhere in the corner.


    ¡°You will understand once you go out and merge with the primary personality¡± The calm personality threw this sentence at them and then disappeared. His injury was not a small injury like what he had mentioned. Although they were not physical entities, they would still be affected by an attack from a domain realm master. This kind of injury was very hard to heal as they couldn¡¯t rely on any external help to help them heal faster, thus they would have to wait for the injury to slowly heal by itself. Hence, the calm personality was not able to go out any time soon.


    The calm personality¡¯s words made everyone go into deep thought. It seemed like they should go try and merge with the primary personality once, even if it was just to look at the scenery outside and breathe some fresh air.


    Luo Lang didn¡¯t know what was happening in his mindscape. Back in the real world, he was ordering the mecha operators in his team to drag the fugitives to a huge warehouse. The moment Luo Lang defeated Du Junyong, the guards gave up resisting. Thus, Luo Lang was able to control the aftermath of his battle pretty neatly.


    Every fugitive in the warehouse was given a syringe full of anaesthesia and muscle rxant. This was to ensure that they wouldn¡¯t be able to move even if they suddenly woke up.


    Luo Lang sessfullypleted his mission after he sent one of Du Junyong¡¯s severed arms to Ling Lan. At themand center, Li Lanfeng slowly raised his scythe up in the air, it was so sharp that it was glinting from the reflection of the light. His gaze was filled with no remorse for what he was doing to do next. Du Mingyi and the senior captain took a step back in fear. As they were doing that, they exchanged nces with each other and suddenly, an intimidating force of presence was released from their bodies.


    Li Lanfeng narrowed his eyes. Ling Lan was right. Du Mingyi was not at the peak of Qi-Jin like what he said. The person beside him was also a domain realm master too. However, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t sure if they were a real domain realm master or were they at pseudo domain stage.


    Li Lanfeng lightly shed the scythe at Du Mingyi, as he was just trying to determine Du Mingyi¡¯s strength before going all out in the fight.


    Du Mingyi noticed that Li Lanfeng was just testing him so he waved his right hand furiously, and a golden shield appeared in front of him, blocking Li Lanfeng¡¯s scythe.


    Boom! Sparks flew, and the golden shield cracked before breaking into pieces like shattered ss. As they were falling onto the ground, the pieces slowly disintegrated into dust, never to be seen again.


    Du Mingyi took a few steps back before he could counteract the force behind the sh. As he was stepping back, his gaze turned more serious with each and every step. He was no longer as calm as before when he looked at Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°What kind of domain technique is that?¡± The senior captain was dumbfounded too. Li Lanfeng was able to control other people¡¯s domain techniques and deactivate its effect.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Just don¡¯t let his domain technique stick to your energy. It has a corrosive ability,¡± Du Mingyi said in a frightened tone.


    Li Lanfeng turned stern too. He least wanted to see Du Mingyi being at the domain stage. Although he was at the pseudo domain stage, it would be a hard battle for him to face against two pseudo domain realm masters in front of him.


    Li Lanfeng recalled the scene when he bidded farewell to Ling Lan just now.


    He got Ling Lan¡¯s permission and was preparing to leave.


    ¡°Hey, Lanfeng. Your mission this time may be dangerous. You must be careful,¡± Ling Lan suddenly warned.


    ¡°Oh?¡± Li Lanfeng turned around with an expression that clearly showed that he didn¡¯t understand what Ling Lan had meant by her words.


    ¡°Du Mingyi might be stronger than we expected. Otherwise, the Du family would not leave him in a war-littered...¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡°So?¡± Li Lanfeng raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°So, if you are unlucky, you might meet two domain realm masters.¡± Ling Lan told him her guess.


    ¡°Two domain realm masters?¡± Li Lanfeng clenched his right hand into a fist, veins were showing through the skin. Then, he rxed his body and smiled, ¡°Rabbit, you should learn to trust me just like how you trust your other friends.¡±


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. ¡°Don¡¯t I trust you already?¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled when he heard this. His mesmerizing eyes were even more pronounced now. Ling Lan felt her face twitching uncontrobly. ¡®He is smiling at me weirdly again.¡¯


    Just as she thought that Luo Lang was seductive enough. Now, someone even more seductive had appeared in her life.


    Li Lanfeng waved at Ling Lan and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I said something I shouldn¡¯t.¡±


    Li Lanfeng left Ling Lan¡¯s office with a pep in his step that day.


    Ling Lan passed the hardest mission to him. She didn¡¯t pass it to Qi Long or Luo Lang. This meant that she trusted him a lot.


    Li Lanfeng smiled gently when he thought about this. ¡®How can he disappoint Rabbit since he has given me this mission.¡¯


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze lit back up with fighting spirit. He extended his domain space. Du Mingyi and the senior captain saw this and also activated their domain too to resist Li Lanfeng.


    Du Mingyi¡¯s domain was gold in color while the senior captain¡¯s domain was grey. Unremarkably, Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain was a ck whirlpool, it was seeming able to into its depths like the ones in the deep blue oceans. The three colors each created their own territory in the main entrance. None of them were willing to give in to the other.


    The energy exuding from each of the domain battle instantly smashed all the objects in the main entrance into pieces. Fortunately, there was no one near them. If not, anyone who was at Qi-Jin or lower in terms of physical skills would get a serious internal injury or might even die.

 Chapter 848 - Going All Out!

    <h4>Chapter 848: Going All Out!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Li Lanfeng sensed Du Mingyi¡¯s domain energy was weaker than his, while the senior captain¡¯s domain energy was on par with his. It looked like Du Mingyi was at the pseudo domain stage while the senior captain was a real domain realm master. In an instant, Li Lanfeng made a decision.


    He shed his scythe at the senior captain¡¯s domain. The senior captain saw this and immediately congregated his domain energy into a spear. He blocked Li Lanfeng¡¯s sickle with the energy spear.


    Bang! The end result of the grey spear was it being disintegrated just like Du Mingyi¡¯s golden shield.


    The senior captain remembered Du Mingyi¡¯s reminder and immediately stopped putting energy into the spear the moment it touched the scythe. However, he still experienced the suction from his opponent¡¯s domain technique. It was infuriating.


    He got more cautious. His opponent¡¯s domain was too weird. It should be a special domain. However, no simr domain was recorded in the Du family¡¯s database, so there was no reference for him to adapt. Thus, he had to rely on his own judgment alone to win this battle. The lucky thing was, he had Du Mingyi beside him. They already had an advantage in numbers.


    The senior captain nced at Du Mingyi, and Du Mingyi understood what he was signalling with his nce. After some telepathy action, they attacked Li Lanfeng simultaneously.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s first two attacks appeared casual and free, but it was made to let him understand what his opponents¡¯ domains were. He had achieved his motive. He knew Du Mingyi¡¯s domain element was gold in the purest form. The senior captain¡¯s domain technique was slightly special. His domain born technique was a corrosive haze. It was a branch of the special domain ss.


    It had to be said that Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain was quite bugged. As long as someone¡¯s domain energy touched his scythe, his scythe could detect what his opponent¡¯s domain was. This was like how everything in the virtual world could be digitized. Even if his opponents tried to hide the information about their domains, it would be impossible to escape Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes.


    When two of them started to fight back together, Li Lanfeng knew he needed to make some sacrifices. If not, he had no chance of winning this battle. His gaze turned more determined and resolute. He shed his scythe at the rings that the senior captain had created while absolutely disregarding the gold arrows Du Mingyi was shooting at him.


    The scythe touched the rings and the rings broke apart. The air was full of residue from his domain technique. Just when Du Mingyi and the senior captain thought that Li Lanfeng would evade the arrows...


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t. He chose to rush towards the arrows instead. The whirlpool around him sucked in the arrows and distorted them. This was not a battle between domains. Li Lanfeng was just using his domain to one-sidedly destroy his opponent¡¯s domain. This was different from the disintegration technique. Li Lanfeng wanted to use his domain technique to damage Du Mingyi¡¯s physical skills so that he would go back to the Qi-Jin stage.


    Li Lanfeng was vicious. He knew when to be harsh on his enemies, never giving them any chance to start aeback. At the same time, he was harsh on himself too. His domain technique could integrate people¡¯s domain, returning them back to their Qi-Jin state. However, if he met someone stronger than him, his own domain would be damaged when he used this attack, and his physical skills would drop to the Qi-Jin stage, never to be able to enter the domain stage again.


    Yet, Li Lanfeng still decided to do this, as he would never let off anyone that was disrespectful towards Ling Lan. This was Li Lanfeng. He would seek revenge for even the smallest matter.


    ¡®This is bad!¡¯ The senior captain saw Du Mingyi¡¯s pale face as he fought to resist Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain technique. Du Mingyi advanced to the domain stage using a special technique, and his domain was not stable yet, so he was definitely not Li Lanfeng¡¯s match. The senior captain quickly ced his hands together, and numerous smoky tentacles jutted out from the ground and attacked Li Lanfeng. They tried to pull Li Lanfeng away form Du Mingyi.


    Li Lanfeng waved his right hand furiously, causing the ck scythe to fly out from his hands again. He held onto a ck chain that was attached to the pole of the scythe. Li Lanfeng then spun the scythe around his body, severing the tentacles that were getting near his body.


    Du Mingyi¡¯s and the senior captain¡¯s vision was blocked by a circle of light, so they didn¡¯t notice the drop of blood that flowed down Li Lanfeng¡¯s lips. They also didn¡¯t see his pale face that remained hidden behind the silver mask.


    The result of directly taking on two domain realm masters was him getting a severe internal injury.


    The senior captain couldn¡¯t break through the protection of the scythe with the tentacles. Under Li Lanfeng¡¯s oppression, Du Mingyi felt that his domain was going to copse soon. He was losing control of his golden arrows.


    ¡°Pfft!¡± Du Mingyi vomited out blood. He was already heavily injured from the domain battle. However, he had no choice but to continue. He knew that if he gave up now, he would be dead. Even if he got lucky and managed to remain alive at the end of this fight, he would be disabled for the rest of his life. He knew the danger of Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain. It was not something he was able to handle.


    The senior captain knew Du Mingyi was in danger too. If Du Mingyi was killed, he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from the punishments too. He was a domain realm master so the Du family would not punish him too terribly but he wouldn¡¯t be able to gain any more resources from the Du family. He might even be abandoned by them. The senior captain knew that the other domain realm masters working for the Du family were all selfish people. They all hoped that there was one less domain realm master fighting with them for a limited amount of resources.


    To protect his future, the senior captain attacked Li Lanfeng furiously. He tried to injure him badly before he could permanently destroy Du Mingyi¡¯s domain.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Smoky tentacles struck the scythe. Every time the scythe was hit, more droplets of blood flowed down Li Lanfeng¡¯s lips, staining his white teeth red. Li Lanfeng felt fortunate that his scythe blocked his opponents¡¯ vision so they weren¡¯t able to know that he was in a dire state.


    This was a battle of willpower.


    Du Mingyi vomited a mouthful of blood out again. He was the first person to lose in this confrontation. His domain copsed and he fell to the ground.

 Chapter 849 - Control!

    <h4>Chapter 849: Control!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Du Mingyiid t on the ground with a face full of despair. He went berserk. He didn¡¯t expect Li Lanfeng to ignore the senior captain¡¯s attack and instead, chose to battle with him forcefully. He slowly could feel his domain disappearing. His understanding of his domain concept was also leaving his mind slowly.


    ¡°No!¡± He shouted crazily while trying to use everything in his grasp to stop his domain from slipping away. However, his domain continued to slip away. Finally, he felt the giant metal doors of the domain closing in his face with a thunderous thud. With that sound still ringing in his ears, it symbolized his entire domain copsed in tow. He had dropped to Qi-Jin stage now. It felt as though him being at the domain stage was just a fleeting dream.


    ¡°What is happening?¡± The senior captain also felt Du Mingyi¡¯s domain slowly disappearing until he finally dropped down to the Qi-Jin stage,pletely bbergasting the senior captain which caused him to unintentionally slow down his attacks a little.


    Li Lanfeng suddenly red at him, and the scythe that was flying around got released from its chain. It pierced through the smoky tentacles and aimed itself at the senior captain.


    ¡®Damn it!¡¯ When the senior captain realized what was happening,it was already toote as the scythe was already right in front of him. He hurriedly formed a haze shield, attempting to block the scythe.


    However, the moment the scythe touched haze shield, it just disintegrated instantly, providing no forms of protection. The senior captain narrowed his eyes. He finally understood what his opponent¡¯s intent was. He got distracted when his opponent blocked his tentacles with his scythe, causing him to forget the actual use of the scythe.


    The scythe broke through the shield and flew towards his body. The senior captain immediately dodged to the side, but the scythe still slightly grazed past his left arm.


    ¡°Ah!¡± A scream of fear was released out of the senior captain¡¯s throat, as he saw his left arm slowly disintegrating in dust. When he was dodging Li Lanfeng just now, there was a small cut on his left arm, and although the cut appeared to be just a small non-lethal wound, it was actually extremely lethal.


    As an experienced domain realm master, the senior captain quickly regained hisposure. He raised his hand and chopped his still disintegrating arm off. Fresh blood spurted out of his wound. The senior captain controlled his muscles and blocked the blood vessels on his left arm. From the corner of his eye, he saw his severed arm disappearing into thin air before itnded on the ground.


    The senior captain looked at his right shoulder. There was still blood oozing out but it didn¡¯t disintegrate like his left arm. He rxed a little. He knew he had escaped death this time. He looked at Li Lanfeng fearfully. ¡®That domain is too scary. Not only is it able to disintegrate domains, but it can also disintegrate physical objects too.¡¯


    Li Lanfeng covered his mask with his left hand to hide the fact he was injured. He was already at his limit. His willpower was the only thing keeping him standing as he knew he still couldn¡¯t fall over just yet. The enemy domain realm master just lost an arm, so he definitely still had the strength to continue fighting. If he fell down now, his opponent would kill him immediately.


    ¡®Rabbit believes me so much that he gave me this difficult mission. I mustn¡¯t disappoint him.¡¯ Li Lanfeng raised his right hand again and another new ck scythe appeared., setting the stage for the arrival of Death.


    The senior captain nced at Du Mingyi who was still lying motionless on the ground and turned to look at the cold and malicious Li Lanfeng. His expression kept changing. Suddenly, he moved his body towards the concrete wall. The senior captain just ran straight through the concrete wall and ran away.


    The resources the Du family provided for him were good, but he needed to be alive to enjoy it. When faced with a life-or-death situation, the senior captain chose to abandon the person he was supposed to protect and escape on his own. He didn¡¯t care if the Du family would find him for revenge as he could worry about that in the future. Now, he needed to stay alive from this monster.


    Li Lanfeng heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the senior captain running away. He bore with the sharp pain racking through in his entire body and took out a miniature syringe from his pocket. He used the remaining energy he had to stab it into Du Mingyi¡¯s neck.


    After Du Mingyi went unconscious, Li Lanfeng still didn¡¯t let himself fall as he didn¡¯t know if the senior captain woulde back again. He tried his best to keep himself conscious. That way, even if in the off chance the senior captain came back, he would still be able to intimidate him away.


    Bang! A figure suddenly flew in through the ss window before smashing forcefully on the ground. It was the senior captain that abandoned Du Mingyi and chose to run away.


    Li Lanfeng finally rxed when he saw this. He knew that Ling Lan was here.


    He had no more worries so his heavy eyelids finally overpowered his determination to stay awake. However, a pair of warm hands suddenly grabbed him.


    ¡°Rabbit, I didn¡¯t disappoint you, right?¡± Li Lanfeng forced himself to keep his eyes opened as he looked at Ling Lan.


    ¡°No. You did well.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s indifferent voice sounded beside him. Her voice always made him feel at ease.


    Li Lanfeng wanted to smile but the pain didn¡¯t allow him too. Ling Lan slowly lifted the mask that was stained with blood, revealing an elegant and delicate beauty to Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. Ling Lan felt a little remorse. ¡®Was I too harsh toward Li Lanfeng?¡¯


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s just a small injury.¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to worry about him so heforted her.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you use the Qi cultivation exercises I gave you when you were fighting with him?¡± Li Lanfeng raised one of her eyebrows and asked. She sounded like she was reprimanding him. If he didn¡¯t practice the Qi cultivation exercises, she wouldn¡¯t have given this mission to him in the first ce.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Li Lanfeng was stunned. ¡®Isn¡¯t the Qi cultivation exercises used for healing his injuries and improving his physical constitution?¡¯


    ¡°You didn¡¯t even analyze what the Qi cultivation exercises can do?¡± Ling Lan was speechless. ¡°It looks like you are on par with your two younger brothers.¡± ¡®How could he say that Li Shiyu is stupid and that Li Yingjie is an idiot when he is no better than them? Is the Qi cultivation exercises just a simple exercise?¡¯ Ling Lan forgot that she took many years before she realized that the Qi cultivation exercises could be used in a battle. Besides healing injuries, it could also be used to regain the energy lost during a fight.


    Li Lanfeng smiled. He liked how Ling Lan was talking to him now. It made him feel like he was Ling Lan¡¯s most trusted and closest friend.


    ¡°Stop smiling like an idiot. Analyze the Qi cultivation exercises properly. If you haven¡¯t mastered this technique, don¡¯t even think about going for battle next time,¡± Ling Lan said angrily. Her friends were all worrying.


    ¡°I know. I will do it.¡± Li Lanfeng had already started using the Qi cultivation exercises and the excruciating pain in his body eased up. He unconsciously gave Ling Lan a beautiful smile.


    Ling Lan said coldly, ¡°Don¡¯t smile like that in the future. Not everyone can control themselves like me.¡±


    ¡°I understand.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile got brighter. He could only smile freely when he was with his Rabbit. He knew that his Rabbit had no weird intentions towards him.


    ¡®Huh? Something sounds wrong... hey, I¡¯m ady. Why should I control myself?¡¯ Ling Lan finally noticed her mistake.

 Chapter 850 - Please!

    <h4>Chapter 850: Please!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Xu Shiming¡¯s scouts team had already gone out of the base. The other mecha operators left at the mecha hold had all boarded their own respective mechas and were waiting for the JMCs to contact them.


    Cui Yunxuan watched as his mecha operators boarded their own mechas. Then, he walked towards his ace mecha. At this moment, Qi Long and Xie Yi, who were supervising them, exchanged nces with each other. Qi Long suddenly moved his body and disappeared, and in the next second, he appeared in front of Cui Yunxuan.


    Cui Yunxuan recognized Qi Long as he was the famous heir of the 13th division, the team leader of team 03 from 250 Ace Mecha n. Cui Yunxuan smiled and asked, ¡°What is the matter, Leader Qi?¡±


    ¡°Major Cui, could your mecha n wait for a moment and let the other mecha ns move out first?¡± Qi Long put on his humble expression. He looked as though he was here to ¡®discuss¡¯ a matter with Cui Yunxuan.


    Cui Yunxuan felt his heart pounding furiously when he heard that, but he still replied calmly, ¡°Of course, our mecha n will listen to your orders.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Qi Long suddenly grabbed Cui Yunxuan¡¯s right arm. He smiled and said, ¡°My friend over there wants to know you better. Pleasee with me.¡±


    Cui Yunxuan tried to struggle free but Qi Long¡¯s grip was like a metal mp. He was unable to break free so he gave up and showed a forced smile. ¡°Leader Qi, I would like to know the young talents from 250 Ace Mecha n too. Can you...¡± He looked at his right arm.


    Qi Longughed loudly when he saw this unintentional mistake. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was just too excited.¡± Qi Long let go of his arm and invited him over.


    Cui Yunxuan started weighing his options in his mind. In the end, he chose to follow Qi Long obediently.


    They came to find Xie Yi. Xie Yi smiled and nodded at them when he saw theming over, but he didn¡¯t say anything. Moreover, Qi Long also just turned and looked at the other mechas that were entering the ejection ports, not initiating any conversation at all.


    Cui Yunxuan stood between them awkwardly. Beads of sweat started forming on his forehead. ¡®Did they realize what I was doing in secret?¡¯


    He ced his hands behind his back as he wanted to touch hismunicator surreptitiously. Suddenly, Xie Yi called him, ¡°Major Cui!¡±


    Cui Yunxuan¡¯s hands froze.


    ¡°Don¡¯t make things difficult for yourself. If not, we can¡¯t let you go even if we want to.¡± Xie Yi turned and smiled at Cui Yunxuan.


    It was a sincere smile. That was what Xie Yi thought. However, to Cui Yunxuan, the smile was eerie and frightening. Cui Yunxuan¡¯s expression changed for the worse. He understood that his sneaky actions had been discovered by the other party.


    While Du Mingyi appeared to be unhappy with Cui Yunxuan, behind everyone¡¯s back, they were on the same side. Cui Yunxuan was one of Du Mingyi¡¯s spies. He would tell Du Mingyi all the people or mecha ns that had an opinion against him so that Du Mingyi could get rid of them.


    Speaking about this, it has to be said that Du Mingyi truly had some capabilities as a tyrant. He was lenient on the leader of the scouts team, Xu Shiming, but it made things difficult for Cui Yunxuan¡¯s mecha n, making it seemed like Cui Yunxuan was one of his greatest opponents. No one would have imagined that one of his biggest enemies was his men. Hence, everyone spoke some of their real thoughts about Du Mingyi in front of Cui Yunxuan.


    ¡°What are you saying? I don¡¯t understand.¡± Cui Yunxuan lowered his hands and stopped his sneaky actions. He realized that the ten teams from 250 Ace Mecha n were all strategically stationed around his mecha n. If his mecha n did anything suspicious, they would definitely suppress them at the speed of light. They definitely had been guarding against him from the start.


    Cui Yunxuan agreed to work with Du Mingyi because he realized that no one was able to subdue him, even Song Yiqing couldn¡¯t do it. But from the looks of it, themand structure of Base 013 was going to change soon, all because Ling Lan was more vicious and brutal than Song Yiqing. She decided to take down Du Mingyi without worrying about the consequences she would cause. He still remembered the emergency message he had received from Du Mingyi just now. Since Du Mingyi couldn¡¯t even protect himself now, he shouldn¡¯t continue working with him anymore.


    Cui Yunxuan was a decisive person. To be safe in Base 013, he had betrayed his friend¡¯s trust in him and worked with Du Mingyi, taking advantage of both sides. Now, to protect his mecha n, he stopped working with either side and just stood on the fence about the power upheaval that is going to happen in the future. Undoubtedly, Cui Yunxuan was a selfish person. This kind of person would always choose the path that benefited him the most.


    Cui Yunxuan¡¯s indifferent expression made Xie Yi and Qi Long frown.


    This type of person was the most difficult to handle. He never refuted or offended them so they didn¡¯t know what they should do with him, so it was probably better for them to pass him to Li Lanfeng. The two of them thought of the same person simultaneously. They turned and looked at ¡®Li Lanfeng¡¯ who was talking to Luo Chao and they secretly sighed in pity.


    Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t here. The ¡®Li Lanfeng¡¯ in the mecha hold was actually Li Shiyu in disguise, and with his non-scheming nature, he was not Cui Yunxuan¡¯s match.


    ¡®Unless he uses his medicines...¡¯ Qi Long and Xie Yi suddenly trembled in fear at the thought of that. They couldn¡¯tprehend how a righteous and forthright person like Li Shiyu was able to invent such frightening medicines. ¡®Is it because deep down inside, he is an evil person?¡¯


    Because of Cui Yunxuan¡¯s obedience, the other mecha ns move out of the mecha hold in an orderly manner and stood their grounds at the front of the base. They were prepared to fight anytime.


    When everyone had moved out, Qi Long looked at Cui Yunxuan, ¡°Major Cui, it seems that our mecha ns will have to cooperate for the uing fight.¡±


    Cui Yunxuan was not surprised by Qi Long¡¯s words. If the other party allowed him to act on his own, he would have looked down on them.


    Cui Yunxuan had already decided that he wouldn¡¯t participate in the battle between Ling Lan and Du Mingyi. Hence, he wouldn¡¯t reject Qi Long¡¯s arrangement. After all, they were the soldiers of the Federation. No matter how much internal strife they had, they wouldn¡¯t harm the lives of billions of people in the Federation.


    ¡°Am I boarding my mecha too?¡± Luo Chao looked at the majestic ace mecha and asked excitedly.


    ¡°This mecha is not for you.¡± Li Shiyu patted Luo Chao¡¯s head and destroyed her dream.


    ¡°Why not? I¡¯m Luo Lang. Why can¡¯t I control Luo Lang¡¯s mecha?¡± Luo Chao replied unhappily. She really wanted to board her brother¡¯s mecha and know what it feels like to operate an ace mecha.


    ¡°Is your body able to withstand the bacsh from the leap in level? Do you want to die?¡± Li Shiyu asked with a stern face.


    Luo Chao looked at Li Shiyu hopefully. As his assistant, she knew what Li Shiyu¡¯s newest experiments were about.


    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it. No live testing had been done on it so it only works by theory. No one knows whether it really works or are there be any dangerous side effects to it. I¡¯ll not give it to you.¡± Li Shiyu rejected her tantly.


    ¡°Shi... Brother.¡± Luckily, she had noticed her mistake in time and called out to Li Shiyu sweetly.


    ¡°Even if you call me ancestor, it¡¯s useless.¡± Li Shiyu pulled Luo Chao to their special-ss mechas and patted on one of them as he said, ¡°This beautiful piece of art is yours to use. Feel free to use it anytime.¡±

 Chapter 851 - The Start Of The Battle!

    <h4>Chapter 851: The Start Of The Battle!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Won¡¯t everyone find out that I¡¯m not Luo Lang if I operate a special-ss mecha?¡± Luo Chao hadn¡¯t given up yet.


    ¡°There is no one left in the mecha hold, so nobody will notice you boarding this mecha. Plus, Boss had already ordered the vice-leaders to take over themand of your brother¡¯s team and my brother¡¯s... I mean Brother Lanfeng¡¯s team. Do you think that they will need us?¡± Li Shiyu replied. He almost exposed himself just now. ¡®Did he let down his guard because Luo Chao is in front of him?¡¯


    ¡°By right, Boss wants us to wait in the mecha hold. However, are you willing to stay here?¡± Li Shiyu added while pressing a button on the wall, and the cockpit of one special-ss mecha opened before it slowly moved down to the tform.


    ¡°I, however, am not willing to wait. Since I¡¯m already near the battlefield, I will not miss this battle.¡± Li Shiyu stepped onto the elevator tform, and it rose up slowly. He had already nned this from the start.


    Luo Chao said, ¡°I¡¯m not willing to wait too.¡±


    She took out her mecha control key from her pocket. She then nced at her brother¡¯s ace mecha with great reluctance in her eyes. She knew the passcode to manually open the cockpit of her brother¡¯s mecha. Unfortunately, Brother Shiyu would never allow her to board the ace mecha.


    Soon, all the mecha operators in the mecha hold had left the base. The JMCs in the JMC officeid down tiredly, but before they could even catch their breath, Han Xuya came and chased them away with her fist. She still remembered that all these temporary JMCs were still capable mecha operators, and since they hadpleted their mission, they should go to the mecha hold and prepare for the uing war.


    ¡°Will you be fine?¡± The mecha operators asked in a worried tone while ncing suspiciously at the female JMCs in the office.


    ¡°No problem.¡± Han Xuya pointed to the logisticians beside her and told them to not worry. The JMCs here weren¡¯t too strong, so they wouldn¡¯t pose too much of a threat to her. Also, she had already injected the troublesome ones each with a syringe filled with anesthesia.


    Since Han Xuya had made the proper arrangements, the mecha operators felt at ease so they quickly rushed to the mecha hold. They didn¡¯t want to miss the battle with Hailiya.


    Han Xuya watched the mecha operators as they left. Then, she walked to Lady Mei and patted her shoulder. ¡°Our battle is just starting. Are you ready?¡±


    Lady Mei sat on her seat and looked up with her bright eyes. She smiled brightly. ¡°I am ready.¡±


    ¡®Even if I will offend themanding officer of the base by doing this, I must do it. I must fight for my dream for once!¡¯ This was the first time Lady Mei knew exactly what she wanted. She was willing to pay any price to achieve it.


    Li Lanfeng drank the recovery medicine Li Shiyu had given him and leaned weakly against Ling Lan. He started practicing the Qi cultivation exercises. This time, Li Lanfeng observed the Qi cultivation exercises carefully. He realized that under the help of the Qi cultivation exercises, the recovery medicine was able to show its effects much faster. After a short time, Li Lanfeng felt his strengthing back to him. He clenched his fist. He was shocked. ¡®Is this the real potential of the Qi cultivation exercises? Maybe this is only just the tip of the iceberg.¡¯


    Ling Lan noticed that Li Lanfeng¡¯s condition got better so she pushed him out of her arms. She couldn¡¯t let a many in her arms like this, right?


    Ling Lan could faintly feel a slight vibration on the ground caused when a mecha was sent out from the ejection port. She smiled gently. ¡°It looks like everyone haspleted their missions.¡±


    Li Lanfeng controlled his astonishment and smiled. ¡°Of course. No one is willing to disappoint you.¡±


    This was why she didn¡¯t dare to allow any dangers to appear beside herrades, as all of them truly trusted and respected her. Ling Lan expression suddenly turned frosty. She said to the mainframe at themand center using hermunicator. ¡°Open the publicmlink of the base. I want to make a statement.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Boss Ling Lan,¡± the mainframe replied immediately (It was Little Four).


    Little Four opened all themlinks at the base.


    ¡°To all the mecha ns at Base 013, from this moment onwards, I, Ling Lan, will be taking over themand of the base!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice spread throughout the entire base.


    The members of 250 Ace Mecha n heard this statement and smiled. They always knew that their Boss would seed.


    Luo Lang, who was watching over the guards team, heaved a sigh of relief. Base 013 would be safe from now on.


    Song Yiqing heard Ling Lan¡¯s voice on his way to the mecha hold. He stopped in his tracks suddenly. There was aplex expression on his face. He muttered to himself. ¡°He really did it...¡±


    ¡°Young Master Qing...¡± Ai Liang¡¯s expression wasplicated too. If he won just now, they would be the ones inmand of the base, not Ling Lan.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go. There are many years in the future for that.¡± Song Yiqing turned stern. He would never lose to Ling Lan again. Song Yiqing hastened his pace and brought his team over to the mecha hold.


    ¡°On mymand, the entire base will enter battle mode. All the mecha operators must move out within half an hour and prepare for war!¡± Ling Lan knew that their enemy was closing in on them. It wouldn¡¯t take long for them to reach the territory of Base 013.


    When the various mecha ns heard the announcement and themand, they were rmed at first. The change ofmanding officer came too suddenly. However, after they noticed that the mainframe listened to Ling Lan, they felt that this takeover must have been approved by the military. If not, the mainframe would not be so obedient. Hence, all the regimentmanders listened to Ling Lan and arranged for their mecha operators to prepare for war. The logisticians started moving too. They arrived at their positions and made preparations for the war. They didn¡¯t care who themanding officer was as they only listened to the mainframe.


    Besides some higher-ranked logisticians who joined factions so that they could gain more power, the normal logisticians didn¡¯t care so much. Whether theirmanding officer had the surname Du or Ling, they just followed whatever job the mainframe gave to them.


    ¡°The scouts team has found our enemy.¡± Little Four shouted in excitement when he received this news from the scouts team, right after he finished making arrangements for the logisticians.


    Fortunately, Little Four was a smart person. He knew that he needed to hide so he only shouted in Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape. He didn¡¯t use the mainframe of the base to shout.


    Ling Lan red at Little Four, and Little Four immediately understood what he had to do. He used the mainframe and sent Ling Lan the message he received from the scouts team.


    Ling Lan used this information toe up with a battle n. She then ordered all the mecha operators to be in position. At the same time, she sent out a warning signal to the bases around them and providing them with the locations the Hailiya army appeared at. Whether they believed it or not depended on the judgment of themanding officers of the bases. This was the most she could do for the bases around her.


    The mecha operators from Hailiya finally entered the territory of Base 013. The battle was starting...

 Chapter 852 - Target 013!

    <h4>Chapter 852: Target 013!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Senior Colonel He¡¯er Li, we will be reaching the territory of Base 013 in 15 minutes.¡± Themander of this attack, Colonel Ni Du, said to Senior Colonel He¡¯er Li who was sitting beside him. Senior Colonel He¡¯er Li just came to help out in this attack.


    He¡¯er Li was the regimentmander of H Ace Mecha n. His military rank was one rank higher than Colonel Ni Du, and he was the trump card in this attack on Base 013. On the surface, he was themander of this attack. But, in actual fact, he had to listen and answer to this regimentmander.


    ¡°Have you made any arrangements for the other bases?¡± He¡¯er Li put down his binocrs and asked calmly.


    With their current manpower on Haijiao, Hailiya was unable tounch a full-scale war, and even if they could, they still win against their opponent by numbers. Thus, this time, they aimed to breach through the Federation¡¯s defenses through taking over Base 013.


    ¡°We have sent people to hold back the mecha operators from the other bases. We will try our best to not let them send any reinforcements to Base 013.¡± Ni Du couldn¡¯t help but wipe the sweat off his forehead. The H Ace Mecha n was indeed the most powerful mecha n of Hailiya. He only talked to Senior Colonel He¡¯er Li for a short while, but the invisible force of presence exuding off him already made his heart feel like it was dropped into a freezingke. He was afraid that one of his careless mistakes would badly affect their entire n.


    ¡°It might be a little difficult if we rely on just them. This is why you kept failing to breach through Base 013. I¡¯ve seen the records of your past attacks on Base 013. You lost because you were unable to prevent the reinforcements froming and help them. If you had blocked all of the possible routes for the reinforcements to arrive, Base 013 would belong to Hailiya now.¡± He¡¯er Li frowned slightly. He didn¡¯t believe in the abilities of those mecha operators.


    Ni Du felt relieved when he heard this. He felt that his injustice was finally undone. He sighed and nodded. ¡°Senior Colonel, you are right. If our reinforcements were just slightly faster in blocking their reinforcements, we might have ended this war long ago.¡±


    He¡¯er Li started analyzing the information of Base 013. He pondered for a moment and made a decision. ¡°If that is the case, it will be better if we blocked them ourselves.¡±


    Ni Du¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°The 600 mecha operators from H are enough to subdue the ace mecha masters in Base 013 based on their past performance. As for the reinforcements, we can stop them with 300 mecha operators, and I will split them into three groups. Each of the group will block one group of reinforcements. However, this will mean that your mecha operators will need to subdue the lower grade mecha operators in Base 013.¡± He¡¯er Li started organizing the troops.


    ¡°Yes, I understand,¡± Ni Du replied excitedly. As long as those irritating reinforcements were not able to help Base 013 in time, he would be able toplete this mission.


    He¡¯er Li heard no further questions from Ni Du so he started giving orders to the team leaders under him.


    Soon, the H Ace Mecha n split into three groups and rushed in three different directions.


    Base 012, 014, and 015 found out the intention of Hailiya¡¯s n.


    ¡°As expected, their target is Base 013. Damn it,¡± Themanding officer of Base 012 held a pipe in his hand and said worriedly.


    ¡°Base 013 is prepared this time. They even reminded us of the different routes our enemy could take. They are not as passive as the previous times.¡± One of his advisers seemed optimistic towards Base 013¡¯s situation.


    ¡°So what if they are prepared? Base 013 only has a few ace mecha masters. Will they be able to resist a full-scale attack from Hailiya?¡± Themanding officer of Base 012 was not confident about the strength of the mecha operators in Base 013.


    ¡°250 Ace Mecha n from the 23rd division went there, right?¡± The adviser reminded hismanding officer. Base 013 had more mecha operators now.


    ¡°Du Mingyi said that it is just a normal ace mecha n with a ragtag bunch of mecha operators, right? How powerful can they be?¡± Themanding officer of Base 012 scoffed. ¡°Although I don¡¯t like Du Mingyi, he is not someone who will puff himself up at one¡¯s own cost. He is willing to speak the truth. This is why our base can send in reinforcements on time.¡±


    He took a puff of the pipe in his hand and went into deep thought. After a few seconds, he put his pipe and knocked on his office table with his knuckles. He said, ¡°Let Violent Wind send three teams, with a total of 600 mecha operators, to reinforce Base 013.¡±


    ¡°I understand.¡± The adviser turned serious.


    Themanding officer of Base 012 stood up and paced around his room. He still felt worried so he added, ¡°Send in an additional normal mecha n to help them. We must break the blockage by our opponent.¡±


    ¡°Yes,manding officer!¡± The adviser immediately sent his men to carry out the orders.


    This scene happened at Base 014 and 015 too. Both themanding officers of the two bases sent around 60 mecha operators to reinforce Base 013. They wanted to send more people but they still needed to make sure that they were able to defend their base too when their opponents attacked them. If they sent their ultimate weapon out as reinforcements, they would be in danger. They had to keep this in mind.


    This is the battlefield. No one dared to take any risk here. They had no choice but to always think for themselves first. This was the safest way to survive the war most of the time.


    At themand center of Base 013, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng were analyzing the information they had.


    They were the only ones in themand center. But, themand center still appeared extremely busy.


    All the printers were working furiously. Countless papers of information were being printed out at lightning speed. On the paper, there were many red and green dots. The red dots represented the Hailiya army and the green dots represented the Federation¡¯s army. The position of the dots kept moving with each paper being printed out. The green and red dots were slowly converging towards in the middle. A huge battle was going to happen soon.


    The most conspicuous thing in the room was the wall on the east side. It was actually a widescreen television with the live broadcasts of the battlefield being shown on it. Mechas from the Federation could be seen in the images shown.


    In the virtual world, Little Four was extremely busy. He was getting dizzy from all the work he had to do. He had to control all the facilities in themand center as well as supervising the Hailiya army.


    (Little Four gave an arrogant expression. If it wasn¡¯t for me, would Boss be so free? What can the weak Li Lanfeng do with me around?)


    Little White jumped around at the side while puffing out its chest as well. It was a pet but it was still a living thing. He shouldn¡¯t disregard it!

 Chapter 853 - Lost Contact!

    <h4>Chapter 853: Lost Contact!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Suddenly, the live broadcast on the screen flickered and disappeared, turning the greypletely grey.


    Little Four was dumbfounded. He wanted to connect to the satellites but he realized that he couldn¡¯t connect it again.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Ling Lan instantly asked Little Four when she noticed the images disappearing on the screen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was able to connect to the satellites but I can¡¯t now. Not only that, I can¡¯t connect to the satellites of Hailiya too.¡± Little Four was puzzled. ¡®Why are the satellites of both countries down?¡¯


    Ling Lan immediately remembered the time when she was sneak attacked in the military academy. Her expression drastically changed. ¡°Is our transmission blocked?¡±


    ¡°Blocking the system is useless for me. There is only one possibility for me to not be able to connect to both of the satellites.¡± Little Four turned serious. ¡°The satellites are spoilt.¡±


    ¡°Both countries¡¯ satellites spoilt at the same time? Such a coincidence is impossible.¡± Ling Lan directly rejected Little Four¡¯s suggestion.


    ¡°There is another possibility. The satellites were turned off by someone internally.¡± This was the only other reason why he couldn¡¯t connect to them.


    Ling Lan looked up suddenly. mes of anger appeared could be seen spewing out her eyes. She said through her gritted teeth, ¡°A traitor!¡±


    ¡°Yes, there is a Hailiyan spy within the Federation¡¯smunication system. Hailiya doesn¡¯t want the Federation to receive any news about our situation so they off our satellites. Furthermore, to prevent our hackers from making use of their satellites, they decided to turn off their satellites too.¡± Little Four could only think of this reason now, as no country would turn off their satellites during a huge war. They would try to keep it working no matter what happened.


    Li Lanfeng felt the anger and cold aura from Ling Lan. He asked seriously, ¡°Did something happen?¡±


    ¡°Someone turned off our satellites. I¡¯m afraid the Federation will not know of our situation. We will not be able to contact the Federation and get any news from them for now. Also...¡± Ling Lan walked towards the 3D map in the middle of the room. She pointed to the spot where Base 013 was located and used the short whip in her hand to circle the bases around Base 013. ¡°Also, we will only be able to contact the bases closest to us using radio waves.¡±


    ¡°There is a spy from Hailiya.¡± Li Lanfeng immediately found out the graveness of their situation. ¡°They probably destroyed our satellites instead of shutting it down. If something happens to the satellites, the Federation will know about it very quickly, and they will be able to reactivate it after some time, so shutting it down will only affect us for a short moment of time, and we could just dy them until the reinforcements arrive. If it was destroyed, the Federation will lose contact with Haijiao entirely. If the Federation wants to send new satellites over, it will take at least one month before it arrives. By then, Hailiya will have taken over Haijiao.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re in danger!¡± Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng said simultaneously.


    In the orbit of Haijiao, the three satellites that belonged to the Federation exploded in unison, turning into useless junk in the vast universe. Because of the huge explosion, the other three satellites on the other side of Haijiao got damaged too. However, since the satellites were turned off beforehand, the explosion didn¡¯t affect the core system of the satellite.


    The Federation¡¯s satellite surveince department suddenly noticed that they lost contact with Haijiao. They were shocked, and the entire department started panicking. Soon, the news of their satellites going down was reported to the military. A fleet from the closest to Haijiao started to move out quickly, and their destination was Haijiao.


    However, halfway through their journey, an unknown fleet started attacking them furiously. This was when the Federation knew that something was going on in Haijiao.


    This piece of news made the entire military world bbergasted. This meant that all the soldiers on Haijiao were all alone with no backup, facing against the entire force of the Hailiyan army. With no way to receive any intel from the headquarters, they could only rely on themselves for now. This was an utter disaster. Without reliable intel, a base wouldn¡¯t be able to resist the attack from their enemy no matter how strong they were.


    They must send in reinforcements!


    The military knew that they had to reinforce the soldiers on Haijiao and restart back up their satellites. They had to reach the various bases on Haijiao so that the bases could be able to congregate together and help each other in resisting the attack by Hailiyan army.


    Soon, many fleets from thes nearest to Haijiao started moving towards it. However, as the number of fleets they sent out increased, Hailiya also sent out the same number of fleets to stop them. Theary battle became a tragic universe-wide battle. However, the Federation was already at a disadvantage from the start of the fight as they were further away from Haijiao. Thus, they couldn¡¯t send in more reinforcements and their fleets couldn¡¯te back to the Federation too.


    While the Federation was in a mess, the various bases on Haijiao were anxious too after they realized that they had lost contact with the Federation. As for the Hailiyan army, they followed their n and reached their respective destinations. They waited at their destination for furthermands.


    ¡°Little Four, change the signal of the base to a radio wave signal. Inform all the mecha ns to change their signal channel,¡± Ling Lan quickly ordered Little Four. There was no time for her to worry about the internal problems of the Federation. She first had to ensure that all the mecha operators were able tomunicate smoothly.


    ¡°Yes, boss!¡± Little Four quickly changed the signal and ordered all the JMCs to inform the mecha operators about this.


    Ling Lan was not worried about the change in signal waves. All the mecha operators should know that once there was a problem with one channel, they should change to other channels. She was not afraid that they would lose contact with the base.


    Ling Lan looked at the map in front of her as her mind churned out ideas furiously. She believed that there must be some other motive for Hailiya to make such a huge move even at the cost of exposing one of their higher-ranked spies. This meant that this battle was not a test like what it was in the past. She thought about the information Little Four gave her. Hailiya was afraid of their battle n being exposed so they used papers to pass down their orders. Surely they must have other arrangements to be that careful. ¡®What is their motive? Who is their target?¡¯


    ¡°Is it us?¡± Ling Lan somehow came to this conclusion.


    She turned suddenly to Li Lanfeng and said, ¡°Give me those printed documents.¡±


    In her mindscape, she ordered Little Four, ¡°Little Four, show me all the videos you took of the Hailiyan army in the past few months.¡±


    ¡°Yes, boss.¡±


    Little Four gathered all the videos and yed them on the big screen. At the same time, Li Lanfeng took all the documents that contained information about the previous battle with Hailiya and passed them to Ling Lan individually. When Ling Lan nodded her head after reading a document, he would ce that document on the table. If she didn¡¯t, he would throw the document to the side.

 Chapter 854 - Chance!

    <h4>Chapter 854: Chance!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan was in a rush so she multitasked. She monitored the security footage from Hailiya while looking through the documents Li Lanfeng passed to her.


    Suddenly, she saw a bunch of unique mechas on the screen. She quickly shouted in her mindscape, ¡°Little Four, rey that scene.¡±


    Little Four quickly rewinded the video and yed that scene again.


    He thoughtfully yed the video in a way that Ling Lan could see the appearance of the mechas clearly. They looked the same as the other ace mechas from Hailiya, except for the golden te on their shoulder. The golden te had a picture on it with some Hailiyan words carved under it.


    ¡°Little Four, zoom in on the golden te.¡±


    Soon, the zoomed-in image of the golden te appeared on the screen. The picture was taken while the mecha was in motion so the image was a little blurry. However, Ling Lan was still able to deduce what was in the picture. The picture showed a fleur-de-lis, the national flower of Hailiya. The words below it, when tranted, meant the ambassador of love.


    ¡®National flower? Ambassador of love?¡¯ This symbol would not appear on a normal ace mecha n as it was a national symbol. Ling Lan¡¯s heart suddenly dropped. She knew this was an important clue, so she quickly asked Little Four to get all the information about this ace mecha n.


    In the virtual world, Little Four turned into an octopus again as he went into his database and dug up all the information he could about the mecha ns in Hailiya. He wanted to find the mecha n that had a rtionship with the golden te.


    After looking for quite a long while, he realized that there was no mecha n that fit the description of what he wanted to find, so he quickly reported his findings to Ling Lan.


    ¡°Nothing?¡± Ling Lan was worried. This meant that Hailiya had hidden this mecha n very well. There must be a problem. She looked up and shouted at Li Lanfeng, ¡°Lanfeng, give me all the records about the mecha ns that entered and left Hailiya¡¯s port within the past month.¡±


    The Federation had been watching over Hailiya¡¯s actions since the creation of it, so she might be able to find some evidence there.


    Li Lanfeng quickly went to search for the records. Before Ling Lan gave her order, Little Four had started searching for any images of the Hailiya port after they came here.


    Li Lanfeng found the records and passed them to Ling Lan instantly.


    Ling Lan took over the documents and quickly scanned through them. Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t find what she was looking for. In the past month, Hailiya didn¡¯t send any new mecha ns to Haijiao. Just as she was about to give up, she saw an inconspicuous sentence: Star Calendar Year ****, Hailiya sends supplies from their base once.


    ¡®Supplies?¡¯ This meant that a mecha n had sent the supplies over to Haijiao. However, as of yesterday, no supply transportation team had left Haijiao. This meant that the supply transportation team was still on Haijiao. It was clearly illogical for the supply transportation team to still be there, as it had been half a month since the supplies were sent over. Based on the standard procedure, this supply transportation mecha n should have left Haijiao ten days ago...


    ¡®There is something wrong with this supply transportation mecha n!¡¯


    Ling Lan mmed her fist on the table. She was frustrated at the Federation for their carelessness. She finally knew how this secret mecha n arrived on Haijiao. They made use of the mindset of the people watching over them to carry out their secret n. The people from the Federation thought that a supply transportation team was of no threat so they let down their guard and didn¡¯t ce much attention on them.


    Little Four found a video, and it confirmed Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts. In the video, the scene where the supply transportation mecha n arrived at the port was captured. However, Little Four just downloaded the video based on habit and didn¡¯t inspect it. Images of this n as they were leaving Hailiya were shot, but they were shot from afar so the images were unclear. Fortunately, Little Four still remembered to take some close distance photos so this mecha n¡¯s tracks were still found.


    ¡°Boss, it¡¯s the mecha n that transported the supplies. Are they do have enough mecha operators? Why are they using logisticians?¡± Little Four was a simple person, so he made a judgment based on what he saw.


    ¡°No, this is Hailiya¡¯s ultimate weapon that is able to change the tides of this war to their favour.¡± Ling Lan turned serious as she looked at the images Little Four disyed in front of her.


    ¡°Did you find something?¡± Li Lanfeng noticed Ling Lan¡¯s change in expression.


    ¡°Look at the big screen.¡± Ling Lan asked Li Lanfeng to look at the image on the screen. She also asked Little Four to y all the videos that had this mecha n inside on the screen.


    The mechas with this golden te flew past the screen. Li Lanfeng looked at them and turned serious too. ¡°Their mecha piloting is perfect. Compared to the mecha operators beside them, their operation is much more fluid and smooth. These are not ordinary ace mecha masters.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you find the background of the video familiar?¡± Ling Lan clenched her fist. She didn¡¯t expect her first battle in a war to be so tough.


    Li Lanfeng was a smart person. He carefully observed the background of the video and got a shock. ¡°Their destination is Base 013.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ll be a hard battle.¡± Ling Lan knew that they had no choice but to fight this battle.


    ¡°It¡¯s a battle that determines if we live or die.¡± The normal ace mecha masters from their base were unable to defeat these elite ace mecha masters. The only way to even take one of them down was for two ace mecha masters to attack one of them or go for mutual destruction.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression turned cold. She understood why Li Lanfeng was saying that. There were just too few people in 250 Ace Mecha n. If this mecha n attacked Base 013 using its full force, 250 Ace Mecha n had no chance of winning against them. They might even get annihted.


    ¡°Have you contacted the other bases?¡± Ling Lan suddenly asked Little Four.


    ¡°I¡¯ve contacted Base 012, and they have already sent three mecha ns to reinforce us.¡± Little Four finally gave Ling Lan a piece of good news.


    Based on the previous battles, the Hailiyan army was always forced to retreat due to the reinforcements from the other bases arriving on time. However, since she was the person-in-charge of this battle, she wouldn¡¯t just blindly hope for reinforcements toe and save them.


    Ling Lan paced around the room while her brain worked furiously. Hailiya should have a lot of intel about Base 013 too. They knew it was the weakest base among all the bases on the frontline of the battlefield. This was why they chose this base. But, this also meant that they looked down on Base 013. Thus, they might think that it was a waste of resources to send the entire ace mecha n to attack this base. Considering the reinforcementsing from the other bases, Hailiya should have split the ace mecha n into a few groups.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up. There might be hope.


    She mmed her hands on the table and said sternly, ¡°Order Luo Lang to bring all the mecha operators out!¡±

 Chapter 855 - Shock!

    <h4>Chapter 855: Shock!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Who will guard the base after Luo Lang leaves?¡± Li Lanfeng asked.


    ¡°Ask Lin Zhong-qing to do it,¡± Ling Lan replied immediately. She trusted Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s ability. He would be able to guard Base 013.


    ¡°I understand,¡± Li Lanfeng said as he took Ling Lan¡¯s cloak which was ced on her chair.


    Ling Lan narrowed her eyes. Li Lanfeng felt Ling Lan¡¯s gaze and smiled. ¡°Lin Zhong-qing will be able to guard the base alone. He doesn¡¯t need me. You can¡¯t leave me behind anymore.¡±


    ¡®Leave him behind? What is he saying?¡¯ Ling Lan was speechless. Li Lanfeng was getting more and more shameless by the day.


    ¡°You know that I¡¯m going out, right?¡± Ling Lan asked in frustration.


    ¡°If you are not, you won¡¯t be our regimentmander anymore.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled as he helped Ling Lan put on her coat. He understood Ling Lan¡¯s character very well, so he knew that under such circumstances, Ling Lan would enter the battlefield personally and lead 250 Ace Mecha n in this war.


    ¡°Tsk!¡± Ling Lan clicked her tongue unhappily as she pulled her cloak on. She realized that she was unable to throw this annoying person off anymore. Honestly, she wasn¡¯t quite happy when her thoughts were seen through by someone else. However, Li Lanfeng was a sensitive person, so it was understandable that he was able to see through her thoughts.


    Soon, the two of them walked out of themand center.


    At the same time, Lin Zhong-qing received the order to stay in the base from Ling Lan. He rushed to themand center but he was one step behind. Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng had left. They only left a video and let the mainframe (Little Four¡¯s bot) to exin the situation to him.


    On Hailiya¡¯s side, when the army Ni Du was leading was about to enter the territory of Base 013, He¡¯er Li suddenly asked them to stop and rest temporarily.


    Before they even started this attack on Base 013, Ni Du had already received a stern warning to always listen to He¡¯er Li¡¯smands, so when he received the stop order, he didn¡¯t hesitate to stop the Hailiya army, even though he was suspicious of the order.


    After some time, he suddenly realized that all of their mecha operators were unable to contact theirmand center, resulting in the mecha operators to be in a panic state. They then saw a signaling from the mecha operators from the H Ace Mecha n, asking them to change their channel so they quickly calmed down and changed their channels. They had been trained professionally before, so they were able to maintain theirposure and do what is required of them. Finally, after tuning their channel, they received a signal.


    He¡¯er Li¡¯s stern voice sounded on the channel. ¡°Don¡¯t panic. This is a n by our side. Besides your own team¡¯s channel, we will be using this channel tomunicate from now on. Everyone, please take note.¡±


    Under Senior Colonel He¡¯er Li¡¯s arrangements, the mecha operators from Hailiya became orderly again. He¡¯er Li waited for all the mecha operators to get used to the situation before continuing, ¡°Make yourst preparations for the uing battle in three minutes. The countdown of the three minutes starts now.¡±


    All the mecha operators turned serious as they waited for the three minutes to end.


    At the same exact moment, within the territory of Base 013, numerous mechas were zooming around in the air. The mecha operators had all made their preparations so they quickly organized themselves.


    ¡°250¡ªmixed team 01 has gathered...¡±


    ¡°250¡ªmixed team 02 has gathered...¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    When they got on the battlefield, the ten team leaders of 250 Ace Mecha n started organizing their team members into small teams immediately. This included the mecha operators from Evil Wind who were added temporarily. One small team consisted of three mechas, so that the rapport between the mecha operators was not undermined. The mecha operators from Evil Wind worked together while the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n formed their own small teams. The only difference was that these two mecha ns were now moving together.


    While 250 Ace Mecha n were busy organizing themselves, the other mecha ns in the base were doing the same thing too. They had received news from the scouts team and knew that this uing battle was not a small skirmish. This time, the mecha operators Hailiya sent were numerous in numbers with high capabilities. It would be a hard battle.


    The mecha operators who were still waiting in the mecha hold started chatting with each other. ¡°Old Gu, do you think that the newmanding officer is giving us an opening gambit when he ordered almost all of us in the base to move out? We have never let everyone out before. Also, we didn¡¯t receive any news that our opponent is attacking us.¡±


    To ensure the safety of the base, not all the mecha operators would be sent out, as this was to ensure that their opponents would not be able to sneak an attack onto the base. Hence, when Lin Zhong-qing ordered all the mecha operators of the base to move out using the name of themanding officer, many people had qualms about it.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think too much. So what if it¡¯s an opening gambit? If it is, we would just going out to have a stroll in the park. However, if there actually are enemies out there, it¡¯s better for us to be prepared. We lost contact with the centralmand this time, so it¡¯s better to be safe than sorry.¡± Old Gu felt that it was good to make ample preparations.


    ¡°I know. I just wonder why the JMCs became so inefficient. We waited for so long but it¡¯s still not our turn yet.¡± Old Li got impatient while waiting for his JMC to eject him so he talking bad about the JMCs.


    ¡°Damn it, are you saying that we are inefficient? Then, why don¡¯t you eject out of the base without our help!¡± Ady¡¯s shout suddenly came from the JMC channel. ¡®F**k, my throat is already burning because I have to send you all out. Yet, someone isining that I¡¯m inefficient...¡¯


    ¡°Old Li, you didn¡¯t turn off the JMC channel?¡± Old Gu felt cold sweat on his forehead.


    Old Li looked at his control panel. The button for the JMC channel was green. It meant that the JMCs had heard everything he said just now.


    ¡°... I forgot.¡± ¡®Did I forgot to turn off my mic when my JMC told me to wait?¡¯ Old Li got a shock but he still got angry at the JMC for scolding him. He felt that he was disrespect as he was used to being treated with respect by the JMCs. He sneered. ¡°Isn¡¯t that the truth? You made us wait for such a long time. Isn¡¯t that because you all are inefficient? Plus, your attitude towards your superior is bad too. Looks like you don¡¯t want to work as a JMC anymore. What is your number? I want toin about you. You should leave the army and go back to the kitchen.¡±


    ¡°Comin? Number? Damn it, are you threatening me? I¡¯m calling the mecha logistics department...¡± The JMC was not afraid of the threats. She just immediately contacted the mecha logistics department. Old Li suddenly saw the logisticians servicing him chatting with the JMC through hismunicator. After the logistician hung up the call with the JMC, the logistician pressed a button on the sidewall and his mecha was sent back to the mecha hold. He was supposed to be number 138 in line but now, he was back in the mecha hold. This meant that he was not allowed to be ejected anymore.


    Old Li was furious. He opened his cockpit and shouted at the logistician, ¡°F**k, what is the meaning of this? How dare you move me back to the mecha hold. Are you not allowing me to be ejected?¡±


    The logistician nced at him and said calmly, ¡°I feel that your current mental state is not suitable for mecha piloting. Please go back to the mecha hold and calm down first. I am responsible for your life, so please do not make things difficult for me.¡±


    ¡°You are taking revenge for that JMC! I will not stand to be disrespected!.¡± Old Li burst in anger. He closed his cockpit in a fit of anger and started to rev up his mecha engine. He wanted to force his way out of the mecha hold.


    Suddenly, a siren immediately went off in the mecha hold, and the mecha automatically shut down. Then, an officer with the disciplinary scarf on his right arm came and pulled him out of his cockpit.


    ¡°Let me go.¡± Old Li struggled but the disciplinary officer was miles stronger than him. He was unable to break free.


    The officer didn¡¯t give him any chances of exining his actions. He just dragged him to the door of the mecha hold. Old Gu was frightened by the scene. ¡®When did the JMCs be so tough? Even the logisticians are much fiercer. The disciplinary officer is so rough too.¡¯ He also saw the logistician moving his fingers furiously when Old Li was revving his mecha engine, and that logistician took control of Old Li¡¯s mecha in an instant by manually controlling it using his insanely fast hand speed. His hand speed was already much faster than them.


    ¡°Assistant Head He, thank you.¡± The logistician replied calmly. The person in charge of watching over the mecha hold was He Chaoyang. The mecha hold was an important ce, so the people that Lin Zhong-qing sent here were all elites of the logisticians. This was to ensure the safety of the mecha hold.


    ¡°Zhou Yu, luckily, you are really fast in controlling the mecha. If not, something bad might have happened to you.¡± He Chaoyang could still feel his heart pumping.


    ¡°Assistant Head He, you¡¯re being kind. Even if I didn¡¯t do that, you will still be able to make use of the number lock on the cockpit and control the mecha with ease.¡± Zhou Yu didn¡¯t ept thepliment. He knew that there were many ways to control the mechas, even without him, other people could stop Old Li too.


    ¡°Regimentmander just took over the base so there will definitely be some people unwilling to follow him. We must all be careful,¡± He Chaoyang said. Although they weren¡¯t on the battlefield, the pressure on them was great too in the base. The pressure on them might be even greater than the pressure on the battlefield.


    He Chaoyang left with Old Li on his shoulder. This scene suppressed the mecha operators that were unhappy with Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s order. They finally understood that this base was no longer under Du Mingyi¡¯smand. These JMCs and logisticians were a lot scarier than the ones before. The arrogant mecha operators instantly retracted their temper and cooperated with their JMCs obediently.


    The ejection of mechas be smoother and faster after this episode. Initially, one mecha was ejected per minute. Now, two to three mechas were ejected per minute. The JMCs, who were extremely stressed, heaved a sigh of relief when they saw the rate went up.


    They wanted to be efficient too but the mecha operators were just not cooperating with them. They didn¡¯t know what to do. Another reason why they were so inefficient was that the JMCs of the base was not as hot-tempered and daring as Han Xuya. Only she was able to scold the mecha operator and even asked the logisticians to teach him a lesson.


    Yes, the JMC who red up at Old Li and punished him was Miss Han Xuya. She was the Han Xuya who got pampered by the Lingtian Battle Team and 250 Ace Mecha n, so how could she stand such treatment? Truthfully, she had already lost her patience towards theses mecha operators who were making things difficult for them, and was just waiting for a person toy her hands on so that those irritating mecha operators would know that this was not their turf anymore. If they wanted to have a good time, they must listen to them nicely and stop ying those cheap tricks.


    Hence, Old Li got picked out by her. He was unlucky.


    At the base, Han Xuya, Zhou Yu, and He Chaoyang managed to suppress the unwilling mecha operators and get them to cooperate with them. Outside the base, 250 Ace Mecha n had finished organizing and started to move out. After moving out for a while, they finally saw the Hailiyan army.


    When they saw the swarm of mechas rushing at them, the mecha operators from the Federation were dumbfounded. They finally understood why Regiment Commander Ling pushed all the mecha operators out of the base in such a hurry.


    ¡®He must have already predicted that Hailiya¡¯s target is our base.¡¯ Thinking about it, Base 013 was the weakest base of the frontline, so it was the easiest base to take over. If Hailiya really wanted to attack a base, Base 013 would be their first choice. They then suddenly remembered how they lost contact with the Federation. The smarter mecha operators guessed that this must be done by Hailiya, and their aim for doing this was to cause a frenzy among them so that they were unable to form a proper defense line, making it much easier for Hailiyan army to siege them


    This was actually a predictable matter, but no one was able to pick up the clues and make sense of it other than the calm and decisive Regiment Commander Ling. Even if someone noticed this, who would have the guts to go through the n and order all the mecha operators to move out of the base? What if he made the wrong guess and the other party decided to attack the base instead. With their empty base, the Hailiyan army would easily take over their base, and the mecha operators wouldn¡¯t have a home to go back to anymore.


    All the mecha operators, whether it was a regimentmander or a team leader or a normal mecha operator, started to respect Ling Lan. Only Regiment Commander Ling had the ability to be themanding officer of their base. If it was Du Mingyi, he might have asked them to protect the base until the base got destroyed.


    Of course, their current situation was no better than staying at the base. However, they were at least able to fight with their opponents now and didn¡¯t have to be locked up in the base like a caged animal. If they got injured, they would still have a base to go back to and recuperate before continuing the fight.


    All the mecha operators raised their beam guns without themand of their team leaders. They were waiting for their opponents to enter their beam gun¡¯s range.

 Chapter 856 - The Price of Blood!

    <h4>Chapter 856: The Price of Blood!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Observe the enemies closely. Our regimentmander said the people with the golden tes on their shoulders are our opponent.¡± The team 01¡¯s leader, Yang Mingzhi, looked towards the Hailiya mecha operators who were getting closer and closer towards them. He calmly informed all the mecha operators of 250 Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°Understood, leader.¡± His team member replied.


    ¡°Understood, Leader Yang.¡± replied the members of other teams.


    ¡°Understood Leader Yang... but can I ask why?¡± It was Yan Three¡¯s question. They were able to use the samemlink channel as the mecha operator from 250 due to them being temporarily incorporated into the teams, so he heard Leader Yang¡¯s reminder. Although Yan Three said that he understood themand just like everyone else in 250 Ace Mecha n, he still spoke out the question he had in his mind.


    Those who received Ling Lan¡¯s intel were only the 10 team leaders of 250 Ace Mecha n and their deputies. Yan Three¡¯s Evil Wind Mecha Team and other team leaders however, who were not part of Ling Lan¡¯s posse, weren¡¯t able to get any intel about the mecha operators with golden tes.


    ¡°Our regimentmander had said that those with golden te are either elite ace mecha master or top-level ace mecha masters...¡± Yang Mingzhi stopped himself from continuing to prevent the Evil Wind mecha operators from bing more terrified. Ling Lan¡¯s information, or rather guess, was that the golden ted battle team¡¯s leaders level mecha operators could possibility be at the imperial mecha operator levels of capabilities.


    ¡°Elite ace? Top-level ace?¡± As expected, Yan Three shuddered at the thought of it. Ever since he entered ace level, he learned that there were actually three levels differentiating ace mecha masters. It was standard, elite and top-level. Standard ace operators were ace operators like him, and this level had the most number of people. One level higher than standard was elite. Yan Three was close to being an elite. However, he was only close to elite, so it didn¡¯t mean much. Plus, there was still the top-level that he had to reach. That stage was considered to be halfway towards bing imperial mecha operators. In terms of ace operators, top-level operators were considered to be invincible.


    Hearing Yang Mingzhi¡¯s exnation, the mecha operators from Evil Wind all shuddered just like their team leader. They immediately began to look for mechas with a golden te on their right shoulders. Finally, they found one sector among the Hailiyan army where there was a group of mechas with a golden te on their shoulders. They numbered around 500 or even more.


    ¡°We only have 200 people, how can we fight them?¡± One member from Evil Wind couldn¡¯t help but shout out.


    ¡°Our regimentmander is alreadying with reinforcements, but before he arrives, we must hold the fort and stop them from getting past us.¡± Yang Mingzhi took a deep breath. Using 200 to go against 500 or 600 people was without a doubt a battle with the greatest disparity that he would fight in since joining the military. It was also the hardest battle. However, he knew that if they couldn¡¯t stop them here, more of theirrades would die at their hands.


    ¡°That¡¯s not possible...¡± Mecha operators from Evil Wind were not confident that they could do such a thing.


    ¡°Stop!¡± Yan Three suddenly shouted. ¡°Has everyone forgotten how we all became mecha operators?¡±


    Yan Three¡¯s question shut up all of the mecha operators from Evil Wind. Every mission for them in the past were considered to be suicide missions. They managed to get past hardships after falling into despair each and every time. The current scenario was just a bit more difficult than the ones they had experienced in the past, so why should they be afraid? Was it because when they had advanced to ace level, they had lost their willpower from the past?


    ¡°Our leader is right. We are all ace mecha operators who rose up from the very bottom. We fight against stronger enemies in every battle, and we managed to stay alive after every battle. Why does it matter that this time our enemies are elites or top-levels ace mecha masters? We just need to fight through it again.¡± One mecha operator from Evil Wind Mecha Team suddenly shouted.


    ¡°Yeah, let us fight once again.¡± The other mecha operators from Evil Wind also shouted.


    This scene made the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n look at those from Evil Wind in a new light. After being so used to the formality in their academies and the standard operating techniques from there, those from 250 Ace Mecha n could easily notice the ws in the mecha operation of mechas by Evil Wind. Those from 250 Ace Mecha n had high regards in their operating techniques, so they even looked down on them somewhat. They always felt that Evil Wind¡¯s operating techniques shamed the word ¡®mecha piloting¡¯ in their hearts. However, Evil Wind¡¯s willingness to sacrifice their lives was the same as those from 250 Ace Mecha n. Even though they came from academies, they were still the same as Evil Wind in this aspect. Ever since they became soldiers and operated mechas, they had already given up their lives to do what they love most in their lives which was mecha piloting.


    Seeing that those from Evil Wind Mecha Team was no longer afraid, Yang Mingzhi had a hint of approval in his expression. With the mecha operators from Evil Wind Mecha Team, they could probably stop one to two hundred mecha operators. This would no doubt decrease the amount of pressure on 250 Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°Ah, leader, our regimentmander is here.¡± Right at that moment, the JMCs and the logisticians opened the doors for Ling Lan¡¯s group of mecha operators. In the most crucial moment, they arrived on the front-line right on time. Now, the original 200 or so mecha operators had another 200 added on top it.


    ¡°Regiment Commander, you¡¯re right on time.¡± Yang Mingzhi instantly regained focus. Suddenly he realized that he was not sure when, this 23 year-old regimentmander became the pir of hope that he relied on and trusted with all his heart.


    ¡°Alright everyone, don¡¯t be soft. Let¡¯s take care of this ace mecha n from Hailiya.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice rang through themlink channel of 250 Ace Mecha n and Evil Wind Mecha Team. Her orderly and calm demeanor made the mecha operators who were anxious instantly feel more rxed.


    ¡°Yes Sir!¡± 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s mecha operators were after all veterans who came out on top from bloody battle in the past. Ling Lan¡¯s words instantly rose their willpower, causing them to immediately shout out in unison.


    With the voices of mecha operators from 250, Evil Wind also screamed out wildly. Those screams made them shed some of their fears.


    Before they know it, the Hailiyan army finally entered at their beam gun¡¯s range. In unnned unison, both sides fired their beam guns...


    Countless mechas fell to the ground and exploded due to their beam shields depleting from the overwhelming beam attacks. Both Hailiya and the Federation¡¯s side had mechas fall then explode. However, because of the advantageous positions held by the Federation¡¯s mecha operators, their losses were fewerpared to their opponent in this attack.


    He¡¯er Li put down his binocrs, revealing stern expression on his face.


    Ni Du continuously had sweat running down his forehead even after he continuously wiped it off.


    ¡°Tell me, why has their base already made preparations for our attack?¡± He¡¯er Li asked softly.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe it¡¯s because when their satellites suddenly stopped working, they decided to make sure everything was fine by sending out mecha operators to defend against any potential attacks,¡± Ni Du replied in a confused tone.


    ¡°When did the satellites stop working? No matter how fast they are, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to have this many mecha operators get into position and wait for us. They probably already began preparations when we left our base.¡± He¡¯er Li was quite sure that such arge army of mecha operators was definitely not possible to be arranged in such a short amount of time. ¡®Is there a spy in their base?¡¯


    He¡¯er Li was somewhat dumbfounded by the situation. However, after seeing the Huaxia Federation suddenly revealed a group of 200 mecha operators who just ignored Hailiya¡¯s other mecha groups, and instead, they went straight for H Ace Mecha n. This made He¡¯er Li instantly surprised.


    Mecha operators from the H Ace Mecha nughed coldly as they saw that there were 200 or so mecha operators rushing towards them without a care for their own lives. They raised their weapons and began their battle with the first wave of enemies.


    It should be said that H¡¯s mecha operators were arrogant. To add on to their already arrogant nature, their arrogance was also bolstered by the fact that they had intel on Base 013. They knew that Base 013 didn¡¯t have any titled ace mecha operators stationed in this base. There were only standard ace mecha operators in Base 013. Thus, when they began their battle, they didn¡¯t think much of 250 Ace Mecha n.


    Looking down on 250 Ace Mecha n made them pay in blood in the next second. One side used all their might while the other side only half-heartedly defended. After shing once, H had already lost 30 or so mechas. Of course, 250 Ace Mecha n was able to do this because they had 30 or so top-level ace operators returned to their peak. Even if it was H¡¯s elite mecha operators, who only used half of their power with some not even using half of their power, they were easily killed in one hit by top-level ace mecha operators who gave it their all.


    Of course, it was luck and H¡¯s mentality that let 250 Ace Mecha n to have such an opportunity. If H¡¯s mecha operators were careful at the beginning of the sh, there would only have been five or six that would be killed instantly, not as many as thirty.


    ¡°No, that¡¯s not possible!¡± He¡¯er Li who was watching calmly, stood up in shock. He had an expression of disbelief. ¡®How can a base with no peak-level ace operators take out more than 30 of his mecha operators in one sh?¡¯ He¡¯er Li felt his own heart bleeding. The elite ace mecha operators in his mecha n were nurtured by him using a lot of resources. He couldn¡¯t ept the fact that he had lost so many of his men in an instant.


    Ni Du saw this scene, and his jaw just dropped wide open as he was stunned. ¡®Was I hallucinating just now? Shouldn¡¯t it have been them instantly killing the mecha operators from the Huaxia Federation? Why is it mecha operators from Hailiya? Plus, these mecha operators were from Hailiya¡¯s strongest ace mecha n, H.¡¯


    He¡¯er Li, who was still in disbelief, brought up his binocrs once again. He locked-on to one mecha that instantly killed one of H¡¯s mechas. He saw it move and fly with great agility, with mecha movements that were natural and well-rounded. It was as though it wasn¡¯t a mecha, but rather a human dancing in the sky. When it shed with a mecha from H, it was clear that H¡¯s mecha couldn¡¯t follow its opponent¡¯s movements and was less agile by a degree. After flying around like that for a short while, the small w that would appear on H¡¯s mecha piloting, which was extremely difficult to discover, and it would urately be used by the opponent. The opponent would then destroy that H¡¯s mecha in one hit.


    ¡°Those are top-level ace mecha operators.¡± Now, He¡¯er Li finally understood why he had suffered such a huge loss. Their opponent¡¯s capabilities was stronger than their own mecha operators by arge mile. He continued to watch as a few more mecha operators from the Federation killed a few of H¡¯s mecha operators, and instantly made such a conclusion.


    ¡°Ni Du, didn¡¯t our intel tell us that Base 013 didn¡¯t have a single peak-level ace mecha operators? Why do they have them, and it is not just one of them?¡± He¡¯er Li was livid and looked at Ni Du angrily. It was because of the wrong intel that led to him to lose so many mecha operators.


    ¡°Senior Colonel He¡¯er Li, I also didn¡¯t know.¡± Ni Du took out another handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his ever-wet forehead. He didn¡¯t know why the originally weak Base 013 would suddenly have so many strong mecha operators appearing among their force.


    ¡°What are those people doing down at the intelligence bureau?¡± He¡¯er Li tossed the binocrs with great force and jumped out of his car.


    ¡°Senior Colonel He¡¯er Li, where are you going?¡± Ni Du saw that He¡¯er Li had suddenly leaving, so he quickly put his head out the window and shouted.


    ¡°I¡¯m going up to take down those bastards!¡± He¡¯er Li¡¯s angry voice rang from afar. He was not going to allow someone to show him up in front of his face. Plus, those mecha operators had destroyed many mechas from his H Ace Mecha n. He would not consider himself a man if he did not take revenge.


    ¡°Ugh, be careful!¡± Ni Du could only wave his right hand as an okay sign to He¡¯er Li. He sat back down into the car and picked up the binocrs He¡¯er Li had tossed away. He looked towards the mechas that were fighting with H Ace Mecha n, and he couldn¡¯t help but think where those strong mecha operators hade from.


    ¡°Those who are top-level aces try your best to kill off more enemy mechas. For the others, if you can kill then kill them, if not then keep them busy for as long as you can.¡± Ling Lan sneaked up on a top-level mecha operator who was busy fighting with Li Lanfeng. Then, she notified all the other members who were fighting. She was afraid her mecha operators would get too into the fight. One impulsive move would cause harm to both sides and could even cause suicide explosions. She allowed the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n into the battlefield with the intention of them reacquiring the blood-pumping feeling of a battle and returning to their glory days. She didn¡¯t lead them here to give up their lives needlessly.


    Although the enemy had more top-level ace mecha operators, Ling Lan and 30 to 40 other top-level mecha operators hard work made the difference between their numbers shrink significantly. In other words, as long as they continue to hold on, victory would belong to them and not Hailiya.


    What they hoped for was a happy ending, but a battlefield was a cruel and unforgiving ce. As time went on, there were injuries and death from 250 Ace Mecha n. One mecha after another were shot down, but Evil Wind Mecha Team had it even worse with almost a quarter of their mecha operators being shot down. After all, they were overall less capable than 250¡¯s mecha operators. However, these mecha operators who were born in the battlefield were still strong-willed. Even if they were shot down, they still held onto their opponent¡¯s mecha and brought them down with them.


    In this brutal battlefield where countless mechas were shot every second and every minute, two mechas from the Federation silently crept to the ground level. They slowly moved towards one of the Federation¡¯s mechas that were shot down.


    ¡°Look out, Luo Chao!¡± Their movement had been discovered by one of the Hailiya¡¯s mecha flying above them, and a beam of light shot straight towards them. Li Shiyu didn¡¯t even think for a movement and kicked Luo Chao¡¯s mecha away from the shot.


    ¡°Boom!¡± Luo Chao¡¯s original location was instantly struck by a beam of light, causing rubble to be sent flying, which blocked the Hailiya¡¯s mecha view.


    Right as he was wanted to wait for the dust to settle to regain his vision, he suddenly saw two beams shooting towards him from two different directions. These two beams instantly locked up the position he could dodge towards.


    The special-ss mecha operator from Hailiya quickly turned on his beam shield, preparing to take the shots head-on. In theory, the beam shield should be able to take three beam attacks.


    ¡°Bang!¡± One beam instantly depleted his beam shield. In the next instant, the other beam instantly exploded his cockpit. The mecha began to have ck smokee out of his cockpit as his mecha fell towards the ground. It smashed into the ground, creating a dust cloud.


    ¡°Nice shot, Elder Brother Shiyu!¡± Luo Chao¡¯s voice of admiration rang through themlink channel.


    Li Shiyu looked at the seemingly standard beam gun in his mecha hand. His expression showed a hint of admiration, ¡°I didn¡¯t think that the beam gun Chang Xinyuan had invented would be this powerful. Its power has nearly tripled.¡± Beam shields could only endure one attack from this beam gun. For any mecha operators, this beam gun would be considered a nightmare.


    ¡°Elder Brother Xinyuan¡¯s invention are always good to use. Our mecha¡¯s beam shields have also been increased in power. Without at least 8 or 10 shots from the Federation¡¯s standard beam guns, its energy wouldn¡¯t be depleted at all.¡± Luo Chao also admired Chang Xinyuan. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Elder Brother Xinyuan hadn¡¯t discovered material that could automatically absorb energy, the beam shields wouldn¡¯t have be our strongest defensive equipment.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s always too entric,¡± Li Shiyu smirked. It was only people like him who could invent things that could bring about awe in people one after the other.


    ¡°Why talk about others when you¡¯re like this as well, Elder Brother Shiyu?¡± Luo Chao smiled. Li Shiyu actually had the audacity to mock Chang Xinyuan. In 250 Ace Mecha n, he and Chang Xinyuan were the only crazy inventors, and Li Shiyu¡¯s name was even more feared than Chang Xinyuan... Of course, Luo Chao didn¡¯t understand why was that though as her Elder Brother Shiyu was so nice and caring.


    ¡®Yes, although those medicinal agents are terrifying, they are still for everyone¡¯s benefit aren¡¯t they?¡¯ Luo Chao was this type of person. If she believed someone to be good, she would notprehend why people would think otherwise. Li Shiyu was like this and so was Ling Lan. In Luo Chao¡¯s mind, although Boss Ling Lan was cold and was ruthless to his friends, he was also doing it for the benefit of everyone. ¡®Why is everyone afraid Boss Lan?¡¯


    Luo Chao clearly knew that she wasn¡¯t afraid of Ling Lan. However, every time she sees Ling Lan, she would be timid, shy and not know what to say... Every time after Ling Lan leaves her vicinity, Luo Chao would be saddened at her own behavior. ¡®Isn¡¯t she perfectly normal at other times? Why must she be like that when Boss is around? This is so annoying!¡¯


    Although the two of them were talking, they didn¡¯t stop moving. They arrived beside a Federation¡¯s mecha that had its chest areapletely destroyed. Li Shiyu checked it and said, ¡°Not bad. Although the mecha cockpit was hit hard, there wasn¡¯t any significant damage. The mecha operator inside should still have signs of life.¡±


    Hearing this, Luo Chao piloted her mecha and took out the cockpit of the mecha on the ground. She lightly held it in her mecha¡¯s hand. This truly tested Luo Chao¡¯s mecha operating abilities. She couldn¡¯t use too much force because the pressure the cockpit could take was very low. If she used too much force, it would damage the cockpit even more. However, she couldn¡¯t she too little strength either, otherwise she wouldn¡¯t be able to hold onto the cockpit, causing the mecha to fall out of her hand which might potentially damage it even more. This level of force must be kept constant while she flew around her mecha or did other movements. In other words, although this type of action seemed to be easy, it actually tested the uracy of a mecha operator.


    However, Luo Chao¡¯s finger movement speed probably couldn¡¯t reach the level of an ace operator. Her uracy however was simr to a standard ace operator¡¯s. This was why Li Shiyu was not worried in letting Luo Chao be responsible for the recovery of the cockpit.


    Just like that, Li Shiyu and Luo Chao didn¡¯t participate in the battle. Instead, they looked for mecha operators from the Federation who could still be saved on the ground. They knew very well what their responsibilities were. Killing their enemies was indeed important and meant earning merits, but saving the lives of arade was also equally as important. Especially in the eyes of a doctor, this was even more important than merits that could be gained from a battle.

 Chapter 857 - Regiment Commander’s Mecha!

    <h4>Chapter 857: Regiment Commander¡¯s Mecha!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    He¡¯er Li¡¯s mecha was stationed at the very back of the Hailiya¡¯s transport group, so he got onto another multi-terrain vehicle and quickly drove towards the mecha docking line, while also being somewhat irritated. If he had known beforehand that Base 013 had such strong mecha operators, he wouldn¡¯t just watch the battle from afar, and would have instead, get on his mecha and smash some Federation¡¯s dogs personally. Plus, if he was there fighting, it would have been much easier for him to control situation himself.


    Not long after, a huge mecha walked out from arge truck in the transport group. Finally with the roar of its engines, it flew up into the sky and quickly went towards the battlefield.


    While flying, he was also contacting three mecha teams that were stopping the reinforcements from the nearby bases, asking them to return here as soon as possible. However, their current situation made He¡¯er Li not know whether he should be feeling happy or depressed. It was because he was right in predicting that the three bases near Base 013 would send out reinforcements. However, it was also because he was right that those three mecha teams would not be able to return anymore. They were indeed stopping the reinforcements, but at the same time, they were also stopping themselves.


    ¡°Shit!¡± He¡¯er Li could only swear loudly, but he wasn¡¯t going to force the issue. He believed that even if those three teams couldn¡¯t return, they could still defeat their opponent. When He¡¯er Li was watching the battle he had already realized the threat that mysterious mecha team posed to H, even if that team had only 200 or so mecha operators. Although at the beginning they were caught with their pants down, and lost almost 200 mecha operators, they still had 400 or so left. Additionally, with him going onto the battlefield would definitely the odds into their favour. However, without the help of the three mecha teams, his mecha n would still pay a hefty price to take down their opponent.


    After thinking about this point, He¡¯er Li began to be frustrated again. This was most loss H Ace Mecha n had taken ever since it had been established. All of this was because of getting the wrong intel about the strength of Base 013.


    He¡¯er Li was prepared to kick everyone off the intelligence bureau for not doing their job properly after taking out Base 013. He wasn¡¯t just going to swallow his frustration and have them possibly killing more of his countrymen needlessly.


    ¡°Boss, a golden te mecha has appeared at the back lines of the enemy forces.¡± Little Four¡¯s eyes and ears were everywhere, so he immediately discovered He¡¯er Li¡¯s mecha.


    ¡°Zoom in.¡± Ling Lan kicked away one mecha, managing to kick it towards Li Lanfeng who had just defeated a mecha. Li Lanfeng tacitly rose up his cold weapon and sliced with great force. He easily hit the unsuspecting mecha operator¡¯s cockpit who was still trying his best to bnce his mecha.


    After the cockpit took such heavy damage, the mecha operator inside was instantly severely injured from the impact. His mecha fell towards the ground uncontrobly, creating arge explosion as his mechanding on the hard ground. If a Hailiya¡¯s mecha body exploded, the mecha operator would not have any chance of survival.


    The two of them took out one elite ace mecha together and yet they hadn¡¯t even looked at each other a single time. This kind of mutual understanding was as luck would have it, developed from the time when they were still considered ¡®Rabbit¡¯ and ¡®Leopard¡¯ in the Mecha World. Now, as they spent more time together, their cohesiveness between them began to recover to its former glory. They didn¡¯t need to speak or make eye contact, and each of them could naturally do what the other needed them to do.


    Little Four heard Ling Lan¡¯s orders and immediately zoomed in on He¡¯er Li¡¯s mecha. As expected, there was a golden te on its right arm, along with more flowers on its chestpared to other Hailiyan mecha.


    ¡°A leader¡¯s mecha! No, it¡¯s an even higher level one. A regimentmander¡¯s mecha!¡± Ling Lan instantly concluded He¡¯er Li¡¯s identity based on the clue Little Four gave her. It was the same as her mecha. Beside the number ¡®250¡¯, there was an elegantly written ¡®1¡¯, indicating her mecha was the regimentmander¡¯s mecha.


    Ling Lan had been fighting these mecha operators for quite some time. She was both relieved and worried. She was relieved because none of the mecha operators were beyond the top-level stage, reaching the imperial level that would pressure her ace mecha operators indefinitely. On the other hand, she also knew clearly that the person leading these elite and top-level ace mecha operators was definitely an imperial mecha operator. Even if he wasn¡¯t one, that person would probably had already reached pseudo imperial level which would still be an admirable foe.


    Seeing the opposition¡¯s regimentmander appearing in her sights, Ling Lan immediately held Firmament and flew past everything elegantly... In a single moment, she had arrived at the back-lines of the enemy forces.


    He¡¯er Li¡¯s eyes narrowed. Ling Lan¡¯s seemingly simple movements actually made him feel a great amount of pressure. His opponent managed to find a clear path among countless enemy mechas. Not only was Ling Lan¡¯s spatial awareness better than most, her piloting skills had reached the point of having zero mistakes. He¡¯er Li knew very well that this type of piloting was not possible by someone on the ace level. Even if someone was halfway into the imperial level, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to do something like that.


    ¡°Imperial level? Or perhaps pseudo imperial level?¡± Pseudo imperial level individuals were at the imperial level, but they still had a few ws so they hadn¡¯t truly didn¡¯t reach that level yet. However, they still belonged to the imperial level, so they were still on apletely different levelpared to the ace level.


    He¡¯er Li and Ling Lan both had simr conclusions about each other. Both of them couldn¡¯t be certain whether their opponent was imperial level or a pseudo imperial level. However, no matter what level they were, they look at each other as worthy opponents.


    The two of them simultaneously lifted their cold weapons. He¡¯er Li held arge broadsword in his hands while Ling Lan held a long and thin straight sword. Looking at the thicknesses and widths of the swords, most would be worried about Ling Lan. With Ling Lan¡¯s sword¡¯s thickness and width, she would definitely not be able to defend against a full force attack from her opponent.


    He¡¯er Li also felt this way, so he immediately lifted up hisrge sword and ruthlessly shed towards Ling Lan.


    Everyone thought Ling Lan would dodge, but instead, Ling Lan held Firmament in her hand firmly and shed with the sword.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The sound of the metallic swords shing was enough to cause people who didn¡¯t wear thick enough ear muffs to be nearly deaf. However, their next move instantly drew the attention of those fighting around them.


    Ling Lan¡¯s Firmament was curved slightly from the pressure of He¡¯er Li¡¯srge sword. However, no matter how much He¡¯er Li pushed, Firmament still remained intact. There was no sign of it snapping and it also didn¡¯t curve anymore. Just like that, it blocked the broadsword that was two to three times heavier and thicker that it.


    ¡°What kind of metal is that?¡± He¡¯er Li¡¯s expression changed slightly. It¡¯s actually that tough. It seemed there wasn¡¯t such a metal in Hailiya.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes flickered, as her fingers danced around elegantly. Her mecha pushed towards He¡¯er Li and sent him flying back a few meters.


    ¡°Such strength.¡± He¡¯er Li¡¯s eyes narrowed again. It should be known that mechas had a fixed amount of power they could exert. To be able to get past the fixed amount and create so much power required his opponent to do many vibration tests. To be able to do something in an instant, his opponent¡¯s finger speed had probably already reached a terrifying speed... He¡¯er Li began to get his guard up. Piloting with finger speeds like that was something that he had previously believed to be impossible.


    After sending He¡¯er Li back, Ling Lan raised her Firmament and ruthlessly sliced towards her opponent. Changing from being on the defensive to going on the offensive only takes an instant to do. He¡¯er Li was the attacker in the beginning, but now, in an instant, he became the one defending.


    This seemingly simple change of offense and defense could actually be perceived as the two of them adapting to change of pace. At the end of this exchange, Ling Lan was clearly slightly stronger than her opponent.

 Chapter 858 - Cracked!

    <h4>Chapter 858: Cracked!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan¡¯s quick barrage of attacks were all blocked off by He¡¯er Li. Now, Ling Lan had confirmed her opponent¡¯s mecha piloting level. He wasn¡¯t a veteran imperial operator who had been at the imperial level for many years. Instead, he was a newbie just like her and had only reached imperial level not long ago.


    This realization made Ling Lan feel much more relieved. Ling Lan was afraid that would face against someone like Qi Yaoyang, who had entered imperial level for many years and had already grasped the secrets of the imperial level. Once these people be her enemy, Ling Lan believed that the person who would die in a confrontation would be her and not her opponent. The route of mutual destruction also wasn¡¯t viable not like when she did the examination for the activation of her battle team. Veteran imperial operators like Qi Yaoyang would definitely not give her that kind of chance on a real battlefield. This was the difference between a veteran and newbie imperial operators.


    The invincible He¡¯er Li was actually stopped by a nameless mecha operator from the Federation. It even seemed that He¡¯er Li was at a disadvantage. All of the mecha operators from H Ace Mecha n saw this, and they were all stunned. ¡®Is there actually someone on the battlefield who is stronger than their regimentmander?¡¯ He¡¯er Li was a famous figure in Hailiya. He had participated in dozens of battles, and had never lost any of those battles before.


    Compared to the surprise of H Ace Mecha n, everyone from 250 Mecha n got fired up when they saw their regimentmander pressuring the enemy¡¯s regimentmander. Many who were originally pressured by their opponents and were in danger, actually managed to salvage their situation, and some even turned the tides into their favour.


    This was how a battle between two opposing regimentmanders would affect their men, by affecting the willpower of the two ns fighting with each other. The side whose regimentmander was at an advantage would definitely have stronger fighting spirit and higher morale. The side whose regimentmander was at a disadvantage would have their entire n be demotivated, making them not be able to give their 100% during their battles.


    Although He¡¯er Li seemed calm on the surface, but internally he was panicking. He didn¡¯t think that the nameless and unvalued Base 013 would actually have such a strong mecha n hidden within it. He also couldn¡¯t believe that the regimentmander of that n was even more capable than him.


    ¡°I can¡¯t lose!¡± He¡¯er Li knew very well that if he were to be defeated, Ni Du would not have the courage to continue the attack. Then, it would mean that this entire operation would have been all for naught. He¡¯er Li was the person in charge of this attack, so he knew very well what price Hailiya had invested into this attack. If he lost, he couldn¡¯t even imagine what punishments he would face when he goes back home. Therefore, he couldn¡¯t lose, and he must win convincingly.


    He¡¯er Li, who was on his wits¡¯ end, bit his lip as he saw Ling Laning at him once again with Firmament. However, he didn¡¯t choose to dodge or block like the previous shes, he instead side-stepped the attack. Then, his left hand snaked its way onto the sword, wanting to grab onto the ruthless sword.


    Empty-Handed Weapon Grab! Although this technique was originally from the Huaxia Federation, almost all of the mecha operators from every country had managed to grasp this technique. Of course, there weren¡¯t many who could actually use the technique well.


    When the mecha operators, who were watching their fight from the beginning, saw the Empty-Handed Weapon Grab, they actually slowed everything they were doing. They all wanted to know whether or not He¡¯er Li was going to seed or not. Although the Empty-Handed Weapon Grab technique was a well-known technique, the level designation of this technique had reached S level. It was the only S level technique that the Federation had let the public know about.


    Having an S level designation meant that it wasn¡¯t something that could be easily learned just by practicing it. If an individual was not able to actually understand the secrets of the Empty-Handed Weapon Grab, they would fail at each attempt in using it. Most mecha operators didn¡¯t dare to use this technique because once they fail, they might have to pay the price with their lives, and of course, no one dared to use their life to experiment.


    Ling Lan through He¡¯er Li intention, and she just smirked. Firmament didn¡¯t change in any its direction, and it ruthlessly stabbed towards He¡¯er Li.


    ¡°I caught it!¡± He¡¯er Li felt his left hand holding onto the narrow sword and was overjoyed. He didn¡¯t hesitate as his right hand went straight for Ling Lan¡¯s cockpit.


    Right at that moment, a soft ¡®shing¡¯ sound was heard by everyone. Firmament easily went through He¡¯er Li¡¯s palm, cutting some parts off while it went its way. However, because the parts were too small, everyone spectating couldn¡¯t see what they were.


    Everyone just knew that the sharp de had sliced something off.


    After piercing to the longest length, Ling Lan twisted the Firmament in her hand and got it out of her opponent¡¯s palm.


    He¡¯er Li had without a doubt failed the Empty-Handed Weapon Grab. Only He¡¯er Li knew what parts had fallen off just then. His right hand had already clenched into a fist so everyone couldn¡¯t discover that his left fist actually had no fingers. He¡¯er Li now understood why Ling Lan wasn¡¯t afraid of his Empty-Handed Weapon Grab. It was because his sword was not only heavy and tough, it also had a sharp property that all otherrge cold weapons didn¡¯t have.


    He¡¯er Li¡¯s left hand had failed, but he didn¡¯t give up hope. The attack from his right hand was his main priority. No matter his left hand failed or seeded, its task waspleted as it locked down the ce his opponent could dodge towards.


    He¡¯er Li believed that he had sessfully forced Ling Lan into a position where she couldn¡¯t dodge his right fist. However, what he didn¡¯t know was that Ling Lan wasn¡¯t nning on dodging in the first ce.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Ling Lan held Firmament in front of her and blocked her opponent¡¯s strong attack. A clear sound of metal breaking was heard.


    ¡°Crack!¡± A soft cracking sound was heard at the ce where the two weapons had shed. He¡¯er Li¡¯s heart dropped as he saw through his peripheral vision the location where Ling Lan¡¯s narrow sword had hit on his sword. He saw a thin crack running from the edge of the sword to the tip of the sword had actually appeared on hisrge sword. On top of that, his sword also had a part of it chipped off at the location where the two swords shed. The crack was formed from the chipped area.


    He¡¯er Li was stunned. He had only just discovered that other than the chipped area, his sword had no other areas that were chipped. It meant that when the opponent was attacking him, no matter how he blocked, his opponent had struck his sword at the same area. This was the main reason his sword had a crack appear on it, and he only just realized this. This was enough to determine that his opponent¡¯s mecha piloting skills was pure and wless


    While He¡¯er Li was stunned, Ling Lan¡¯s next attack had arrived, giving He¡¯er Li no time to think as he instinctively blocked with hisrge sword again.


    ¡°Bam!¡±


    He¡¯er Li¡¯srge sword suddenly cracked in half. The upper half of the sword fell and stabbed into the ground. It instantly dug into the ground, and only had 30 centimeters left on the hilt.


    It turns out that Ling Lan had hit the chipped area once again. After being struck at so many times, therge sword could no longer endure such a hard hit, and it split in half.


    ¡°Ah!¡± All the mecha operators from H noticed this, and they couldn¡¯t help but shout in surprise. Their regimentmander¡¯s sword was actually split in half by someone... It was even more of a surprise when they knew that their regimentmander¡¯s sword was specially forged and was almost impossible to break.

 Chapter 859 - I Am Your Opponent!

    <h4>Chapter 859: I Am Your Opponent!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan constantly attacked the same area of her opponent¡¯s weapon by using Firmament¡¯s specialty, before it finally broke her opponent¡¯s weapon. When Ling Lan saw the weapon being chopped in half, she shifted Firmament backwards and sliced it towards He¡¯er Li¡¯s cockpit like a sh of light.


    If He¡¯er Li was only a top-level ace operator, it would have been impossible for him to dodge her attack. However, he was after all an operator who had entered the imperial level. Even though he was piloting an ace mecha, his imperial level mecha piloting capabilities allowed him to dodge the dangerous attack.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t think much of her missed attack. If imperial operators were so easy to kill, imperial level operators wouldn¡¯t be restricted by each country to go on the battlefield. When Ling Lan saw her opponent dodge her attack, she didn¡¯t give up as Firmament just continued to slice towards her opponent once again.


    Without a cold weapon to block, He¡¯er Li could only dodge for his life. He knew he couldn¡¯t continue like dodging because he will eventually make a mistake in dodging. Only a sessful counterattack could get him out of this disadvantageous situation.


    He¡¯er Li was a decisive person. Instead of waiting to fail, he decided to fight to the end.


    His eyes instantly became sharp as he continued to dodge Ling Lan¡¯s pinpoint attacks. He then suddenly saw an error in Ling Lan¡¯s judgement. Originally, each of her hit was directed towards a vital point on his body, making him not dare to make anyrge movements. However, her current attack¡¯s trajectory was towards his left shoulder area. For a human body, it was perhaps a vital point, but for mechas that was not the case.


    Chance! He¡¯er Li didn¡¯t choose topletely concentrate on dodging this time. When he piloted mecha to dodge Ling Lan¡¯s iing attack, his right hand sprang backwards. At the same time, a long beam gun from his back suddenly unlocked from its holster, falling right into his mecha¡¯s right hand.


    ¡°Shing!¡±


    The joint connecting shoulder and the left arm of He¡¯er Li¡¯s mecha was hit hard by Ling Lan¡¯s Firmament. The immense force and the sharpnessing from Firmament was actually able to cleanly slice through the joint because the material for the joint was made of a flexible and not so durable material. The left arm of He¡¯er Li¡¯s mecha was cut off before it quickly dropped to the ground.


    Another reason why it was able to be cut was because He¡¯er Li was piloting an ace mecha. If it was an imperial mecha, no matter how sharp the edge of the Firmament was, it would still be unable to cut through the shield of an imperial mecha, not to mention cutting off an arm in one sword swing.


    However, the spectating mecha operators didn¡¯t know about this information, especially those from H. Those whose mentality were not as strong and saw their usually invincible regimentmander get his mecha¡¯s arm cut off actually began to panic, resulting in them making a lot of mistakes in their mecha piloting.


    If the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n were only a newbie ace operators or no-brain operators, they might not have noticed those small mistakes. However, the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n were all people from various divisions who had fought through hundreds of battles. Although some of them still haven¡¯t recovered to their full potential for certain reasons, they still had experience and insight they could rely on to take advantage of those mistakes. They were considered to be the best of the best ace mecha operators so they would definitely not miss out on such an opportunity.


    After taking advantage of the opportunities that were given to them, they used their strongest techniques and destroyed their opponents¡¯ mechas instantly. Now, the situation seemed to be more in 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s favour. The 30 or so strongest mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n were even taking on more than one opponent at a time. However, with the pressure lessening on the other mecha operators, they were now able to take on two opponents at a time, which lessened the burden on the 30 or so strongest mecha operator. The hard work of the others mecha operators gave these 30 or so mecha operators the chance to fight 1-on-1, so by fighting just one opponent at a time, they were able to take out their single opponents easily, then they pounced towards the other mecha operators to reduce the pressure off theirrades.


    It should be said that the battle up until now, the morale on Hailiya¡¯s side was already at an all-time low. On the other side, almost all of the mecha operators from the base who hade out to protect the base were full of fighting spirit. After seeing the situation shifting towards Base 013¡¯s side, He¡¯er Li became very scared and terrified of what was going to happen next. He didn¡¯t want to take the shame and disgrace from losing a battle when he returns. In his dictionary, there wasn¡¯t the word ¡®failure¡¯. There was only win, win, win!


    Although his mecha lost its left arm, He¡¯er Li still got his beam gun. The only reason He¡¯er Li was willing to pay the price to get his beam gun out was because his specialty was long-range attacks and not closebat. Thus, He¡¯er Li didn¡¯t think that losing his left arm would affect him too much. Of course, He¡¯er Li didn¡¯t think his opponent¡¯s weapon was so sharp that it could cut off his mecha¡¯s left arm, when he thought it would only damage it.


    After slicing her opponent¡¯s left arm off, Ling Lan continued to move forward, nning to acquire the fruits of herbour, however her opponent¡¯s mecha suddenly side-stepped and kicked something towards her. He actually kick his mecha¡¯s left arm towards her like a football.


    The immense force behind the kick alongside with the arm¡¯s weight actually caused the air to whistle as it went straight towards Ling Lan¡¯s cockpit.


    Seeing the arming towards her, Ling Lan had no choice but to stop her next attack and dodge the flying arm as a cockpit¡¯s outer shell was quite weak, so Ling Lan had to be careful about things aiming for her cockpit area. Although she lost the chance topletely take down her opponent by choosing to dodge instead of pursuing He¡¯er Li, she was not unhappy about it as there were enemies everywhere. Making one small mistake here could cause her to lose her life, and Ling Lan didn¡¯t dare to gamble with that.


    Ling Lan¡¯s movement gave her opponent an opportunity toe back in this fight. He¡¯er Li immediately piloted his mecha and backed up quickly. He wanted to increase the distance between him and Ling Lan for him to feel at ease to use long range attacks to snipe at Ling Lan.


    Right as he was backing up quickly, one Federation¡¯s mecha that was in battle, suddenly ran from his opponent. Then, therge sword in that mecha¡¯s hand quickly sliced towards He¡¯er Li¡¯s cockpit. This attack was too sudden. He¡¯er Li was not prepared for someone to not care about his own safety, and decided to ambush him instead.


    ¡°Danger!¡± When He¡¯er Li had discovered the attack, the sword was already about to pierce through his cockpit. He¡¯er Li¡¯s nerves instantly steeled and his finger speeds reached a new height. In a life-or-death situation, He¡¯er Li suddenly broke through the cap on his finger speed that he had not gotten past in a long time.


    He¡¯er Li¡¯s mecha suddenly made a strange move. It was as though it had crashed into something and side-stepped away. Therge sword that was near his cockpit had only reached the metal outer shell, leaving a terrifying scar, but luckily, it did not damage the cockpit. In other words, He¡¯er Li had sessfully dodged this sure-kill attack.


    H¡¯s mecha operators were overjoyed that their regimentmander had gotten out of that dangerous situation, even He¡¯er Li was overjoyed in his own mind. If he hadn¡¯t broken through just now, he might have had a big problem.


    He¡¯er Li, who was relieved, wanted to see who had ambushed him. He only saw a number ¡®6¡¯ behind the numbers ¡®250¡¯ on the chest te of that mecha... Before he could think about it, the optical supeputer in his cockpit suddenly sprang up with warnings and rms, ¡°Locked-on, evade. Locked-on, evade...¡±


    He¡¯er Li suddenly realized it. He didn¡¯t even think and just crazily did what he could to pilot his mecha away. His finger speeds had reached a speed where his fingers were no longer visible. Right as the mecha began to dodge, three beam attacks had simultaneously hit his cockpit.


    Ling Lan coldly put down the beam gun in her hands and said softly, ¡°Your opponent is me. If you forget then you must pay the price!¡±

 Chapter 860 - A Difficult Victory!

    <h4>Chapter 860: A Difficult Victory!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Right as Ling Lan finished speaking, a bang was heard.


    A loud explosion sound rang through the air as He¡¯er Li¡¯s mecha began to explode in mid-air. In that instant, a 3 meter long and 2 meter in wide oval object flew out of the fire and explosion.


    Ling Lan aim her beam gun at the oval object and pulled down the trigger without any hesitation.


    It was the cockpit! In the instant of the explosion, He¡¯er Li actually managed to eject his cockpit from his mecha and live. His skill in mecha piloting along with his fearless attitude was proof of his capabilities.


    Ling Lan was not going to allow such a strong enemy to get away from her. Ling Lan¡¯s personality was like this. She would either not do it or do it all the way by killing her opponent and getting rid of any possible future problems. The nurturing she got in the learning space for more than 20 years finally nurtured a ruthless side out of Ling Lan.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    The beam hit the cockpit, and it exploded once again. Ling Lan however did not rx, and instead became even more stern. She began to frown because she didn¡¯t think that the Hailiyan mecha operators would be willing to sacrifice their lives by blocking her shots from hitting their regimentmander. They used their lives in exchange for the life of their regimentmander. Their sacrifice saved the unprotected cockpit that could be destroyed with one hit.


    Ling Lan decisively started shooting again. The beam gun in her hand was wildly shooting bullets and countless beams were slowly closing in on the cockpit on the ground.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang...¡± But before the beams could hit the cockpit, they were all intercepted by Hailiya¡¯s mecha operators. In order to intercept these beams, they even stopped caring about their own battle. They would rather be hit by their opponents to save their regimentmander.


    However, Ling Lan¡¯s beam attacks were notpletely intercepted. In the end, there were still 4 beams shots that had gone past those mecha operators and were going straight for the cockpit.


    He¡¯er Li, who wasying in the cockpit and holding on to dear life, heard the cockpit¡¯s optical supeputer begin to warn him with the locked-on rm once again. He had a look of despair on his face. He knew that with his cockpit¡¯s current condition, even one beam was enough to turn him into dust, not to mention four.


    ¡°Bang!¡± One mecha suddenly flew up from behind the cockpit without caring for his life to face directly against the four beam. The immense energy from the beams caused the mecha to immediately explode, creating countless debris which fell onto the ground. Right after the explosion, a captain level Hailiyan mecha with three flowers on its chest te, grabbed the cockpit and quickly flew towards their back-line.


    At the same time, the Hailiyan mecha operators received Ni Du¡¯s orders to begin attacking the Federation with all their might. This made those mecha operator from the Federation unable to have any time to chase down He¡¯er Li. As for He¡¯er Li¡¯s H Ace Mecha n, they didn¡¯t even need the orders. They immediately intercepted those from the Federation without any regards for their lives, creating an imprable wall of mechas to safeguard the captain who saved their regimentmander.


    Even if Ling Lan wanted to chase him down, she would perhaps be held back by the wall.


    Knowing this, Ling Lan could only put down her beam gun regrettably. She watched as He¡¯er Li sessfully get away from her. Although she couldn¡¯t kill the regimentmander, the scene of their regimentmander being forced to eject his cockpit and needing sacrifices from his subordinate to get away would still affect the morale of Hailiya¡¯s forces. H Ace Mecha n also no longer had the desire to fight. Just like that, Hailiya¡¯s forces continued to fight as they retreated out of Base 013¡¯s territory.


    Ling Lan led all of her mecha operators to continue to chase them towards the outer border of the base and then ordered them to stop chasing.


    After losing the connection with satellites, Little Four couldn¡¯t confirm whether Hailiya¡¯s forces had anything else up their sleeves. Faced with an area that should couldn¡¯tpletely control, Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to take the risk in the case they get ambushed. Plus, although Base 013 had won this battle, the price they had paid for this victory was still heavy. They had almost lost three teams of mecha operators. For Ling Lan, this battle was a hard fought battle. If she didn¡¯t identally defeat the enemy¡¯s strongest mecha operator which brought down Hailiyan army¡¯s morale, then victor of this battle would still be unknown.


    Therge amount of injuries and deaths made Ling Lan feel sad. She immediately ordered everyone to do a search and rescue. The mecha operators who were shot down would have a higher chance of living the earlier they were saved. This was also one of the reasons why Ling Lan was willing to give up on chasing the enemy.


    ¡°All uninjured mecha operators work on search and rescue!¡± Ling Lan ordered coldly.


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The mecha operators replied with surprise.


    Normally after a battle, they would return to the base and rest. A search and rescue was usually the responsibility of the logistics department which had nothing to do with them. They didn¡¯t think that Base 013¡¯s newmanding officer would actually order all of the mecha operators do a search and rescue. This made them feelforted about the thoughtfulness of Ling Lan which immensely improved their impression of Ling Lan. After all, no knew who the next mecha operator that would be shot down would be. It could be someone else or themselves. When the injured are rescued by so many more people, perhaps, the ones doing the rescuing would be the ones needing the rescue next time.


    Right as the mecha operators began to do a search and rescue, they saw a convoy suddenly came out from the base. It was a group of medic uniformed soldiers and logistics personnel. The logistics personnel were busy transporting items. Some were on logistics mechas and began to build something. Not long after, a simple temporary surgery treatment room had been built.


    The base¡¯s logistics department managed to build an emergency surgery treatment room on the battlefield only 10 minutes after the battle. This sight was before seen in Base 013. Every mecha operator knew sending severely injured and near-death patients to the treatment room right after the battle was without a doubt the best course of action. This time, they not only looked at Ling Lan with a warm feeling in their hearts, but also respect. These mecha operators knew that all of this was brought to them by their Regiment Commander Ling.


    Right then, two special ss mechas slowlynded. The cockpit suddenly opened and two mecha operators jumped out from it. They quickly ran towards the temporary surgery treatment room. They took off their mecha operator¡¯s protective vest as they ran. These two were Li Shiyu and Luo Chao who had quietly taken the cockpits of the Federation mecha operators, who were on the brink of death, from the battlefield.


    After reaching the door of the treatment room, they saw a familiar silhouette. That person was standing there while holding white cloaks in her hands. Seeing Li Shiyu and Luo Chao arrive, that person hand them the cloaks in her hands.


    ¡°Hey, Xuya, you¡¯re here too?¡± Luo Chao shouted with surprise.


    ¡°Yeah, wherever needs me, I will be there. Now we¡¯re just waiting for you two.¡± Smiled Han Xuya.


    Li Shiyu nodded towards Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu was the most talented eastern medic in the logistics department. If Luo Chao or Han Xuya were busy, Li Shiyu would have him as his assistant. It seemed that Lin Zhong-qing, who was in charge of the base, knew what was needed in his department. He didn¡¯t waste Zhou Yu¡¯s talents and sent him to assist them. However, the logistics department of 250 were all talented. Any one of the individuals in it could take the role of an emergency medic, so Li Shiyu was not afraid that he would not get someone to boss around.

 Chapter 861 - God Of Life!

    <h4>Chapter 861: God Of Life!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    With the help of all the mecha operators, the search and rescue proceeded quickly and efficiently. Not only did they save the injured mecha operators from dying needlessly, but they also found many mecha operators from Hailiya who managed to survive.


    As a humanitarian, Ling Lan would, of course, choose to rescue them. However, they had to wait until all the mecha operators from the Federation were treated first before it was their turn. It was up to them whether they were able tost until then.


    Ling Lan sat in her cockpit and looked at the busy logisticians below her. She quietly arranged the patrols and asked Little Four to use radio signals to supervise their surroundings. This was to prevent Hailiya from returning.


    As she was observing everything silently and vigntly, a familiar mecha shed passed her screen.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng!¡± Ling Lan gritted her teeth. This bastard was still operating his mecha.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander.¡± Li Lanfeng felt frustrated when he got caught. ¡®Why did I let my mecha enter Ling Lan¡¯s sights?¡¯


    ¡°You are injured, so why aren¡¯t you getting treatment?¡± Ling Lan questioned him.


    Li Lanfeng was the one who almost seeded in taking down attacked He¡¯er Li. But, he paid a huge price for his recklessness. He took the impact of two heavy blows from He¡¯er Li. One of the blows came close to his cockpit. Luckily, his cockpit was not damaged but the residual force from the blow was still enough to injure Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°My injury is nothing. Shiyu needs to attend to more serious patients,¡± Li Lanfeng replied quickly. He mustn¡¯t let Ling Lan know that he was seriously injured. If not, he would die a terrible death.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t go back to the base to recuperate because he realized the secret Ling Lan had mentioned about the Qi exercises. They were not only useful for recuperation, but they could also let the mecha operator regained his strength and energy after operating his mecha for a long period of time. Li Lanfeng was ted at his finding. Li Lanfeng had spectre abilities as he was born with powerful spiritual power. He used his spiritual power when using his domain and not his domain energy like Ling Lan and his other friends.


    Li Lanfeng knew what it meant to him if he could replenish his spiritual power during a battle. Once he mastered this technique, he would be able to fight for longer periods of time. This advantage might not be apparent when he fights with someone much weaker or stronger than him but when his opponent was on par with him, this advantage would be a decisive factor.


    Li Lanfeng had found this secret so he didn¡¯t want to go back to the base. He operated his mecha and started experimenting with this newfound technique. Li Lanfeng had a natural talent in multitasking, so after some time, he was able to understand how he could operate his mecha while practicing the Qi exercises. He was so happy that he forgot to evade Ling Lan. That was why he identally appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s sights, and hence got caught by her.


    Ling Lan was not satisfied with his reply. She said coldly, ¡°Even if it¡¯s just a small injury, we don¡¯t need an injured person to carry out the rescue mission. Go back to the base immediately and get treatment.¡±


    Did this bastard forget about his weak body? If he gained some hidden trauma because of this, all her efforts in the past few years would be in vain. Li Lanfeng looked scheming and reliable but in actual fact, he was as worrisome as Qi Long and Luo Lang.


    Li Lanfeng detected Ling Lan¡¯s emotions. He felt that his injuries were not serious so he really didn¡¯t need any treatment but he didn¡¯t dare to say so. Everyone in Lingtian Battle Team knew that once their Boss made a decision, he wouldn¡¯t let anyone go against it.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander.¡± Li Lanfeng had no choice but to listen to Ling Lan. He controlled his mecha and quickly entered the base.


    Ling Lan rubbed her temples as she sighed in her heart. When she looked up again, the tiredness in her eyes just now was gone. She resumed her cold expression. It was as if her emotions never change.


    Four hours passed. The sky started to turn dark. In the operation room, the logisticians had already hung a fewmps on top of the tents. Li Shiyu never stopped working for these past four hours as no one was able to rece him. Those with small injuries were taken by other people while the ones who were sent to him were those on the brink of death. Li Shiyu was like a god of life that was fighting with Hades for the life of the person lying in front of him.


    Finally, Li Shiyu ended hisst operation. When the patient got carried away, Li Shiyu picked up a new surgical knife instinctively, but a gentle small hand suddenly grabbed his wrist.


    ¡°Brother Shiyu, the operations have all ended.¡± Luo Chao¡¯s voice sounded beside him.


    Li Shiyu looked up in a daze. He suddenly felt dizzy before he fell towards the ground. As he was falling, two small arms caught him. The small arms seemed weak but they were able to hold him up.


    Li Shiyu closed his eyes. He had been looking down for a long time, so when he raised his head up again, he felt dizzy. It was normal. He just needed some rest.


    When the dizziness subsided, Li Shiyu opened his eyes. He smiled at Luo Chao who was holding him. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±


    Luo Chao didn¡¯t say anything. She looked at Li Shiyu¡¯s pale face and took out an agent from her bag. Li Shiyu smiled. He gave Luo Chao and Han Xuya that strength recovery agent because he was afraid that something would happen to them. That agent would be able to save a person, as long as the person still had hisst breath. It even had the ability to regrow an amputated limb. For thedies, this agent had anti-aging effects too, an irresistible effect one might add. As long as ady drinks this potion, she would maintain her looks for her entire life. She would only age when her life had reached its end.


    The ingredient of this agent was the amazing nt they found during theirnd clearing mission. He named this ingredient the Nuwa nt. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, he was only able to make 20 such agents using the avable Nuwa nt.

 Chapter 862 - Save Him Or Not

    <h4>Chapter 862: Save Him Or Not</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    He gave ten of them to Ling Lan and threw five to his asshole of a brother so he could improve his health quicker. At the start of this mission, he passed Luo Chao and Han Xuya one agent each, and kept the other three agents for himself.


    He had told Han Xuya and Luo Chao about the effects of the two agents before and the price those agents will get. Although they were not priceless, they could still fetch a few hundred millions of credits, so he didn¡¯t expect Luo Chao to pass her agent to him so nonchntly. However... Li Shiyu also felt a little speechless as he didn¡¯t know if he should be happy or angry. Should he be d that he was more important than the agent or should he be angry that Luo Chao gave away the agent he created so easily?


    ¡°We can¡¯t waste this agent like this...¡± Li Shiyu finally sighed and said. He raised his hand and pushed Luo Chao¡¯s hand back. In the past, he thought that Luo Lang was stupid because Luo Chao took all of his intelligence away. Now, he finally understood that stupidity was a trait in both siblings. Luo Chao¡¯s stupidity, however, was not shown in her intelligence. It was in other areas.


    When Li Shiyu was thinking up to this point, he was stunned by a sudden realization. ¡®Isn¡¯t a recovery agent supposed to be used by someone sick like me? So, why would it be a waste to use it on me? Am I the stupid one?¡¯ He thought before shaking his head to get rid of these thought-provoking thoughts.


    ¡°Based on my condition, I just need a normal recovery agent. It will be a waste if it is used on me.¡± Li Shiyu took out a normal recovery agent from the first-aid kit beside Luo Chao. He opened it and drank it in one gulp. If he really drank that agent, his heart would ache for a few months. After all, there were only 20 of those agents in the world.


    Luo Chao thought for a moment and stuffed the agent back into her bag. Li Shiyu had been working for four hours, so Luo Chao felt that it was only right for him to take the best recovery agent. But, since Li Shiyu rejected it, Luo Chao decided to listen to him. After all, Li Shiyu is a military doctor, right?


    All the seriously injured patients were all finished being treated so the medical department swiftly went back to the base. At the end of the day, this was the battlefield. It wasn¡¯t as safe as their base. Ling Lan waited for all the logisticians to go back to the base before bringing all the mecha operators back to the base.


    She shuffled her legs back to her office tiredly. The moment she opened the door, she saw a tiring sight. It was Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng knew who wasing the moment he heard Ling Lan¡¯s footsteps. He smiled and stood up. ¡°You are back.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Ling Lan replied lightly. She took off her military cap and plopped on the sofa in front of her desk.


    Li Lanfeng suddenly walked up to her and passed a folder to Ling Lan. ¡°This is an estimation of casualties of the battle just now. Lin Zhong-qing and his team are still coting the exact numbers. They will need another hour to finish everything up.¡±


    Ling Lan took the folder from Li Lanfeng¡¯s hands and scanned through it quickly. Shocking numbers kept popping in front of her eyes.


    ¡°A rough estimate of 7600 people?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s fingers turned white as she held the folder tightly. Five entire mecha ns were sacrificed in this battle.


    ¡®This is the battlefield...¡¯ Ling Lan finally understood how cruel war was. One battle in this war did not kill a hundred or a few hundred people. It killed thousands of people.


    ¡°It looks like a lot, but if you distribute it among the hundreds of mecha ns in this base, each mecha n only sacrificed around 80 people, and that is not even the size of a team...¡± Li Lanfeng exined.


    ¡°80 people is not a lot?¡± Ling Lan mmed her hands on the desk and stood up. She shouted, ¡°Aren¡¯t 7600 people many? That is five mecha ns and almost 40 mecha operators in 250...¡±


    Li Lanfeng looked at her calmly. ¡°So what?¡±


    Ling Lan just stared at Li Lanfeng for a few seconds, before she slowly sat down. ¡°Yes, so what?¡±


    As long as this war continued, the casualties would only increase. More and more people would die here until the war ended.


    Ling Lan sank into the sofa silently as she pondered over something. Li Lanfeng sat beside her. Both of them didn¡¯t move or talk.


    Ling Lan suddenly said, ¡°Leopard, I hate people dying needlessly. I hate war!¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Lanfeng muttered in reply. It seemed like an answer or he was just acknowledging that he was listening to her.


    ¡°I want to end this war!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were glinting brightly. ¡°Do you think that I¡¯m aiming for unachievable?¡±


    ¡°If anyone else had said this, I will think that way.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and looked at Ling Lan. ¡°But, if it is you, you¡¯ll be able to do it.¡±


    ¡°The Rabbit I know, the leader of Lingtian, the Regiment Commander of 250 Ace Mecha n, is someone who can do anything what he sets his mind to,¡± Li Lanfeng said firmly.


    ¡°Yes, Boss. I believe that you can do it...¡±


    ¡°Boss, don¡¯t forget that you still have us...¡±


    ¡°We will work together with you.¡±


    The members of Lingtian had all arrived without Ling Lan noticing.


    ¡°Regimentmander, if you need us to do anything, please tell us.¡± Yang Mingzhi represented all of the veteran mecha operators and expressed their thoughts to Ling Lan. They had been through many wars and were sick of it. Their mental illnesses came because of their loathing for wars.


    Ling Lan was touched but she didn¡¯t show it on her face. She kept her cold expression on.


    After some time, she regained herposure and scanned the crowd. All the leaders and deputy leaders stood up straight in response.


    ¡°I hope that you all remember what you have said here. Now, you can all go back and take a rest.¡± After this huge battle, everyone must be tired. Ling Lan was unwilling to hold them here any longer so she asked them to go back.


    Everyone had reached their limit so they went back to their apartments and got some rest.


    As Li Lanfeng was turning to leave, Ling Lan stopped him. ¡°Lanfeng, wait for a moment.¡±


    Li Lanfeng stopped in surprise. He turned and waited for Ling Lan¡¯s order.


    Ling Lan stared at him silently for a few seconds. Li Lanfeng got nervous. ¡®Did Ling Lan find out about my secret?¡¯


    Suddenly, Ling Lan said, ¡°Leopard, did you hate me for not saving you and attacking our opponent instead?¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled when he heard this. The entire room turned warm. ¡°If you had saved me, you will not be the Rabbit I know.¡±


    Li Lanfeng gave him an intense look.


    ¡°Actually, you didn¡¯t save me because you trust me. Ling Lan, I have to instead thank you for not saving me...¡± Li Lanfeng retracted his smile and said seriously, ¡°Your choice made me understand that I¡¯ve finally gotten closer to you.¡±


    Ling Lan stared at Li Lanfeng intently. After some time, she said, ¡°Leopard, you have always been close to me. You just never realized it. I¡¯m very happy today.¡±


    Finally, you became confident. You are willing to trust that I believed in you.

 Chapter 863 - Humiliation

    <h4>Chapter 863: Humiliation</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan only rested for a short while before she walked over to themand center. The situation was currently very vtile, so anything could happen now. Therefore, she must be present to watch over the entire situation.


    Themand center was no longer empty as there were many people sitting on both sides of themand center. Ling Lan looked at them carefully with squinted eyes, and realized they were regimentmanders from the various mecha ns.


    When they saw Ling Lan arriving, they stood up and greeted her.


    ¡°What is happening?¡± Ling Lan took off her military cap and asked Lin Zhong-qing who came beside her immediately.


    Lin Zhong-qing took the cap off her hand and whispered back, ¡°They probably knew that the situation around us is very bad currently, so they came here to discuss the issues with you.¡± Little Four didn¡¯t allow anyone to go to 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s camp, so these people could only wait for her at themand center.


    There was a meeting room at the back of themand center, so Ling Lan asked Lin Zhong-qing to invite those people there first. She would join him after she finished her work.


    Besides these regimentmanders, there were around 10 people busy with arranging materials and documents in themand center. Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng were among these people. Han Jijyun saw Ling Lan so he took a document he had prepared and rushed towards Ling Lan.


    ¡°Regimentmander, this is the intel we received so far. The situation is very bad.¡± Han Jijyun passed the document over.


    ¡°Continue.¡± Ling Lan took the document and flipped through it. At the same time, she asked Han Jijyun to concisely exin the situation. Little Four had already told her about the condition of the base and the other bases when she was on the way here but she still wanted to know more information.


    ¡°Based on the replies from Base 012, 014 and 015, some of the bases around them had already been destroyed. Base 008, 010, 011 situated in front of Base 012 are destroyed. Base 017 and 019 situated on the outer border of Base 014 are also destroyed. Base 016 and 018 situated in front of base 015 are destroyed too.¡± Han Jijyun quickly told Ling Lan the main points.


    Ling Lan narrowed her eyes. She passed the document back to Han Jijyun and walked to the front of the 3D map in the middle of themand center. She looked at the position of the fallen bases and wondered what Hailiya wanted to do.


    ¡°They want to end this war. They want to use these points to break through our defenses on Haijiao,¡± Ling Lan said coldly.


    ¡°Yes. At first, they nned to destroy our base, but luckily, we managed to hold them off. Once Base 013 falls into their hands, Base 012, 014, and 015 will follow closely after.¡± The Hailiyan army would be able to attack these three bases from two different sides once Base 013 falls.


    ¡°This is not good.¡± Ling Lan raised the pointer stick and pointed to the bases that had fallen. ¡°Our four bases are the only bases left in this area. This side, this side, and that side belonged to Hailiya now. Our enemy can now attack us in all directions. The only fortunate thing was, we have the three bases to help us fight off the enemying from three directions.¡±


    Han Jijyun thought about this too. That was why he said that they were in a bad situation at the start.


    After Ling Lan finished speaking, she looked passed the area where Base 013 was located at. She stared at the middle and western parts of the map with a stern facial expression. She pointed at one empty spot. ¡°That is not the worst thing. I¡¯m also worried that all the other areas are facing the same circumstances.¡± If that¡¯s the case, they would be in danger.


    Han Jijyun narrowed his eyes. What Ling Lan said was possible. If that was true, they would inevitably die. All the bases that survived this first round of attack, including them, were going to be destroyed soon.


    Han Jijyun was in deep thought as his mind worked furiously. He was too optimistic just now. He needed to n based on the worst-case scenario.


    ¡°Base 012, 014, and 015 can¡¯t be under independentmand anymore,¡± Han Jijyun said sternly. They couldn¡¯t afford to lose anyone now. Those bases not being under their control might not be a huge problem in the past but now, it was not a risk they could take.


    ¡°We must gather them to form arge base that is able to attack and defend properly.¡± A clear voice sounded behind Ling Lan. It belonged to Li Lanfeng. He too had a document in his hand. He wanted to pass this document to Ling Lan but when he heard what they were discussing, he just decided to just give his suggestion on the matter.


    ¡°You noticed it too?¡± Han Jijyun asked in frustration.


    ¡°Based on the strength of the three bases, they are not stronger than those bases that got destroyed. They might even be weaker than them. This proves that our opponents didn¡¯t choose who to attack based on the strength of the base. I took a look at those bases that got destroyed.¡± Li Lanfeng pointed to the bases on the map. ¡°First, they split the bases into segmented areas. Then, they would choose the weakest base among the bases in that area. After that, they would send two times the number of mecha operators than what the base has to attack the designated base, and the leftover mecha operators would be tasked to hold the mecha operators from the other bases back. This would prevent the other bases from helping the designated base.¡±


    ¡°Based on this, we can tell what Hailiya¡¯s n is. They would choose the weakest base to attack and once this base falls, they would then join the mecha operators at the next weakest base and continue their attacks. The difference in power allowed for such situations to ur. All the bases in some areas got annihted while for others, one or two bases were left behind. However, these bases are now surrounded by enemies on all sides. Without any external help, it will just be a matter of time before they fall into our enemy¡¯s hand.¡± Li Lanfeng told everyone his observation.


    ¡°The bases around us are also in this kind of situation. I don¡¯t believe that the bases in other areas are totally undamaged.¡± Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan. ¡°Plus, regimentmander told us that there is a strong mecha n attacking us. The mecha operators in this mecha ns are all elite ace and above. Their regimentmander is an imperial operator but he suppressed his ability and used an ace mecha, hoping to use this method to fool everyone. This kind of mecha n should be an elite ace mecha n of the country. They wouldn¡¯t appear on a small battlefield.¡± Li Lanfeng was serious. ¡°Hailiya had been nning for this battle for a long time for them to send an imperial operator to attack a small base like us. This meant that they have probably sent imperial operators to attack the other bases too. There might even be more imperial operators sent to the other bases.¡±


    If 250 Ace Mecha n hadn¡¯te to Base 013 and Ling Lan was not an imperial operator, this base would have fallen just like the other bases.


    ¡°Are you saying that the bases in the other areas had probably been destroyed?¡± Han Jijyun knew Li Lanfeng was right but he just couldn¡¯t ept this fact.


    Li Lanfeng said firmly, ¡°Not probably. They must have been destroyed already. The Federation was not prepared for this battle, so we never had any chance to turn the tides around.¡±


    ¡°Thus, we can only n our actions based on the assumption that our four bases are the only survivors of this battle.¡± Li Lanfeng wouldn¡¯t ce his hopes on uncertain things.


    ¡°Are you making ns in the case that we need to survive for a month while waiting for reinforcements from the Federation?¡± Han Jijyun was good with schemes too but he was less pessimistic than Li Lanfeng. When he heard what Li Lanfeng said, he understood why Li Lanfeng did what he did.


    ¡°One month is enough for the Federation to break through Hailiya¡¯s blockade. Our hardest mission is to survive this one month.¡± Li Lanfeng frowned. ¡°As time goes by, the danger around us will get greater.¡± Li Lanfeng hoped that he was just being too pessimistic. The longer other bases stood their ground, the longer they would be safer.


    ¡°One month...¡± Han Jijyun muttered to himself. If the other bases all survived, it wouldn¡¯t be hard for them to survive this one month. However, If Li Lanfeng was right and only the four bases survived, they might not even be able tost a single day longer.


    Ling Lan listened to the conversation between Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun while talking to Little Four in her mindscape. Little Four was already controlling the other three bases in the area. The moment Li Lanfeng exined Hailiya¡¯s n, she asked Little Four to control the other three bases¡¯ mainframes. If themanding officers of the other three bases had the foresight and ability, Ling Lan was willing to work with them. She would reveal her trump card, Little Four. But, if she met anothermanding officer like Du Mingyi, she would let thismanding officer apany Du Mingyi.


    Ling Lan was not working alone now. She was responsible for the life of everyone in Base 013. She couldn¡¯t afford to be hesitant or soft-hearted. This was who Ling Lan was. When she should be vicious, she would be vicious.


    ¡°Jijyun, contact themanding officers of Base 012, 014, and 015. I want to have a video conference with them in five minutes.¡± Ling Lan made her decision so she quickly gave an order to Han Jijyun.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander.¡± Han Jijyun received the order and went to carry it out.


    ¡°Lanfeng, thank you,¡± Ling Lan turned and said to Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Why are you thanking me?¡± Li Lanfeng raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°Han Jijyun is an optimistic person. He always thinks on the bright side. It¡¯s fine most of the time but on the battlefield... this trait is his weakness.¡± Ling Lan grew up with her friends so she knew what all their weaknesses were.


    ¡°Actually, that¡¯s not a bad thing. It¡¯s better than being too pessimistic like me.¡± Li Lanfeng mocked himself. ¡°However, as an adviser, I must think about the worst-case scenario. If not, there would be loopholes in the ns. I just want him to know this. Even if he couldn¡¯t ept it, he mustn¡¯t forget this point.¡±


    ¡°Since you know it, why don¡¯t you self-reflect?¡± Ling Lan asked him back.


    Li Lanfeng was stunned. ¡®Weren¡¯t we talking about Han Jijyun? When did I be the main character?¡¯


    ¡°Since you know that you are pessimistic, why not try to think in an optimistic direction?¡± Ling Lan patted Li Lanfeng¡¯s shoulder and said sincerely, ¡°Don¡¯t reprimand others but ignore your own ws.¡± Ling Lan finished speaking and walked towards her office. She was going to wait for Han Jijyun to contact the other threemanding officers for a conference with them.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan¡¯s back thoughtfully? ¡®Does his Rabbit dislike my pessimistic side?¡¯


    At Hailiya¡¯s side, a badly injured He¡¯er Liid on a bed. He looked worse for wear. Luckily, his cockpit was specially designed for top-tier mecha operators. If not, those three shots would have sted his cockpit opened, killing him instantly.


    A few officers just stood beside his bed. One of them was recording He¡¯er Li¡¯s ounts of what he saw with hismunicator.


    ¡°Senior Colonel He¡¯er Li, please confirm what you said is true.¡± The person aimed hismunicator at He¡¯er Li.


    He¡¯er Li said coldly, ¡°Yes, I confirmed what I said is true.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your cooperation. Senior Colonel He¡¯er Li, have a good rest.¡± The officers left. A few moments after he left, the door of He¡¯er Li¡¯s ward opened again.


    ¡°Hey, He¡¯er Li. I didn¡¯t expect you to fail your mission. I¡¯m in disbelief.¡± A frivolous voice was heard.


    He¡¯er Li looked up, and upon seeing what he saw, veins started popping up on his forehead. ¡°Mo Li¡¯er, what are you doing here?¡±


    ¡°I came to look at my old friend. Why are you looking so lonely?¡± Mo Li¡¯er¡¯s words were infuriating. He¡¯er Li almost died from anger.


    He¡¯er Li kept a stern face. He didn¡¯t want to talk to this person.


    ¡°Everyone from God-Killers seeded in their missions except for you. They want me to ask you what had happened on your end.¡± Mo Li¡¯er retracted his irritating expression and turned serious.


    He¡¯er Li kept silent for a few seconds. ¡°There is an imperial operator in Base 013.¡±


    ¡°An imperial operator?¡± Mo Li¡¯er was dumbfounded. ¡°Didn¡¯t they say that Base 013 is the weakest base on the frontline?¡± This was why they sent the weakest person among them, He¡¯er Li, there.


    ¡°We were fooled. Not only do they have an imperial operator, they also have more than a hundred elite ace.¡± He¡¯er Li told Mo Li¡¯er everything he knew. He didn¡¯t even tell the officer some of this information.


    ¡°Base 013 is an interesting base.¡± Mo Li¡¯er touched his chin and smiled.


    He¡¯er Li said coldly, ¡°Base 013 is my mission. I¡¯ll take care of them.¡± This was his pride as an imperial operator. If he didn¡¯t go back and finish his mission, he wouldn¡¯t have the face to go back to God-Killers anymore.


    ¡°Then, you should recuperate quickly ande back as soon as possible. We only have one month. After we destroy all the other bases and Base 013 is still there, I¡¯m sorry, even if you haven¡¯t healed by then, we will take care of it.¡± Mo Li¡¯er shrugged. He didn¡¯t care about this but his superiors told him that they must take over Haijiao in one month. If He¡¯er Li wasn¡¯t ready for battle then, they would have to help him destroy this base that humiliated the God-Killers¡¯ reputation.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be on time,¡± He¡¯er Li replied indifferently.


    ¡°I hope so. Since I know the truth, I¡¯ll go back now.¡± Mo Li¡¯er disappeared.


    ¡°013, I will personally take revenge for this humiliation you gave me.¡± He¡¯er Li grabbed the bedsheet tightly. He didn¡¯t want to see the doubting gazes by anyone else anymore. It was as though his imperial status was fake.

 Chapter 864 - Conference Meeting Of The Commanding Officers

    <h4>Chapter 864: Conference Meeting Of The Commanding Officers</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Luckily, themanding officers of Base 012, 014, and 015 were all capable people with foresight. They knew what their main problem was now. They were unable to survive on their own until reinforcementse, so they must work together with the bases nearby. After the end of the conference, Ling Lan made a pact with the threemanding officers, that they would work together and follow a singlemand.


    Ling Lan quickly went to another meeting room after that andmunicated what she had discussed to the regimentmanders of the base. She told them about their dire situation and how they might be at the brink of death already. Thus after hearing that, the various mecha ns decided to put down their grudges with each other and cooperate with Ling Lan to prepare for the next battle. Everyone knew that if their base was to be taken over by the Hailiyan army, they would either die in battle or be fugitives. The choice between the two was rather easy, as the Federation had always taught them that it¡¯s better to have a glorious death than live shamefully.


    No matter how much power they had, they needed to be alive to enjoy it.


    Thus, the four bases managed to survive the first week after losingmunication with the Federation. There were multiple small skirmishes all throughout the day and a huge battle would ur at an interval of three days. However, just like what Ling Lan had expected, the situation was getting worse and worse for them. Little Four superimposed the signals of the four bases together to lengthen their reach. He scanned a radius of a hundred kilometers from their base and realized that in the entire east side, almost 99% of the bases were destroyed.


    Ling Lan ordered Little Four to send the news that there were still four intact bases from the Federation to the entire east side. She wanted to give those mecha operators whose bases were destroyed but managed to stay alive some hope. She wanted Base 013 to be Utopia of these soldiers. These people might just die on their way to Base 013 but having hope was better than living in despair. She just wished that they wouldn¡¯t act rashly. They should hide and wait for this darkest moment to be over.


    At this moment, at the military headquarters of the Huaxia Federation, the people there couldn¡¯t withstand the pressure from the various divisions and the questioning from the government anymore, so they decided to have a video conference with the 23 generals of the 23 divisions.


    ¡°Ah Wei, hurry up...¡± There was a short-haired and well-dresseddy attending the video conference too. She was a news reporter from Internal Military Newspaper, and her name was Wen Qilian. She was an opportunistic person, as ever since she knew that her news agency had a pass to the video conference of the 23 generals, she used all kinds of methods before she finally got this opportunity to attend the conference.


    She waved at her assistant and asked him to hurry up. She entered the conference hall at the military headquarters agitatedly. There were already many people in the conference hall. They were all from various news agencies under the military. They would watch the meeting and choose some information to disy to the public. This was what the military always did. Anyone that came to attend this conference had their backgrounds checked. They were all soldiers. Yes, although there were reporters, they were qualified soldiers too.


    Wen Qilian felt frustrated when she saw that she was a littlete. She brought her assistant, Ah Wei, and squeezed through the crowd. The people around her were quite angry at the fact that someone was poking her waist and pushing them aside, but when they saw that she was ady, they controlled their anger and unwillingly gave some space for her.


    Finally, Wen Qilian came to the front of the crowd, and there was a huge screen in front of her. To prevent the reporters froming too close, sturdy barriers were ced in front of the screen. Fully armed soldiers stood behind the barriers and just looked at them intimidatingly. They were there to remind the reporters to follow orders.


    Wen Qilian looked around her and realized most of the people sitting at the very front weredies. It seemed like the men didn¡¯t want to fight with them.


    ¡°General Ling Xiao will attend this conference, right?¡± Wen Qilian suddenly heard ady speaking in a dreamy tone.


    Wen Qilian cheeks twitched uncontrobly. This was a meeting with the generals of the various divisions so General Ling Xiao would definitely attend it. Which news agency sent such an insensible reporter? Although General Ling Xiao was the most handsome and gentle general of the Federation, they shouldn¡¯t just stare at him all the time. Plus, this conference would affect the life and death of all the soldiers on Haijiao. How could thedy just have her attention on General Ling Xiao?


    Wen Qilian would not admit that she fought so hard for this chance so that she was able to see General Ling Xiao too. After all, it was a rare opportunity to see this kind of close up video.


    ¡°All reporters, please turn off yourmunicators. From this moment onwards, you are only allowed to take photos. No recording, videotaping, and no other methods to record sounds or images are allowed.¡± The rules of this conference were repeated through the speakers in the conference hall. Wen Qilian and the other reporters obediently turned off theirmunicators. The reporters who came to attend this very exclusive military conference were mostly experienced reporters, so they knew what to do.


    One minuteter,sers appeared in the conference hall. They were used to check if the reporters followed the regtions.


    Suddenly, the beeping of an rm was heard and five fully armed soldiers rushed into the crowd to drag a reporter away. Wen Qilian looked at the dragged reporter with disdain. There were always people who wanted to have exclusive content in their articles so they would try to break the rules. The news agency which this reporter worked at would soon be questioned by the military. They might not be able to get any pass to such events in the future.


    The inspectionsted for five minutes. No problems were found. Wen Qilian and the other reporters waited patiently for the conference to start.


    ¡°Time¡¯s up,¡± someone shouted and the grey screen in front of them lit up. The various generals appeared on the screen. The screen was split into three rows. There were nine cubicles in each row. The three marshals appeared on the top row right in the middle. In the middle of the second row, the representative from the military was there.


    ¡°Ah! General Ling Xiao!¡± Ling Xiao appeared in the third row. His gentle aura was gone, revealing the stern and serious side of Ling Xiao. The moment he appeared, all the female reporters eximed in a low voice.


    ¡°Ah! Isn¡¯t that the General of the 13th division, Lieutenant General Qi Yaoyang?¡± Qi Yaoyang appeared in the 7th cubicles on the second row. He managed to catch the attention of many reporters since he was seated between 70-year-old men.


    ¡°Finally, a treat for the eyes.¡± The reporters got tired of looking at the same faces over and over again. Hence, the appearance of Ling Xiao and Qi Yaoyang lightened everyone¡¯s mood up.


    ¡°I officially announce the start of the conference.¡± The First Marshal appeared in the middle of the first row, announcing the start of the conference.

 Chapter 865 - Absurd!

    <h4>Chapter 865: Absurd!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The 23 generals heard the announcement, but no one spoke. It was just silent.


    The Third Marshal knocked the pipe in his hand and smiled coldly. ¡°Since you all dared to vote against the military¡¯s decision and force the three of us to appear on behalf of the military, say something then.¡±


    Ling Xiao raised his eyebrows slightly. ¡®Is that sentence directed at me?¡¯


    The First Marshal narrowed his eyes. ¡®This old fogey never forgets to suppress my men, even at a time like this.¡¯


    The Second Marshal felt that the silence must be broken so he said, ¡°The generals have voted against the military because they are worried about their men. We can understand your concerns. However, just like what Marshal Yang said, since we decided to have a conference, please speak your mind. If not, this conference will just be a waste of time.¡±


    The First Marshal and Third Marshal exchanged nces with each other. The Song family had people on Haijiao so this old bastard¡¯s attitude was exceptionally good today.


    ¡°The military promised that they would be able to get a hold of the situation in Haijiao within a week. However, we didn¡¯t receive any news of that yet...¡± The General of the 7th division suddenly said, ¡°With this, how can I not suspect the intentions of the military?¡±


    The Third Marshal replied, ¡°We have already sent the nearest fleet over to Haijiao. However, you all should know that the Hailiyan army attacked them furiously,pletely stopping them from reaching Haijiao. This is why we were unable to follow up with our original n.¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t keep getting stopped by Haliya. One week has already passed since they first attacked, and we still don¡¯t know anything about the situation on Haijiao. Our soldiers there are currently fighting for their lives, hoping and waiting for us to help them. So, we will like to request for the military to send in more reinforcements to clear the path towards Haijiao,¡± the General of the 4th division said righteously.


    Ling Xiao looked at the General of the 4th division. He might have received an order from the Li family to do that. Ling Xiao knew Li Shiyu and Li Yingjie were two of the top three candidates for the session of the Li family. The Li family, of course, couldn¡¯t let these two outstanding sessors be killed.


    ¡°We have decided to send in a hundred fleets...¡± The First Marshal informed the generals about the decision of the military.


    No general had any qualms about this decision. A hundred fleet was enough to take over a small.


    At this moment, the General of the 5th division opened his mouth, ¡°If we sent the fleets to Haijiao, they will need at least half a month to reach there. If the Hailiyan army sent people to stop them, they will take even longer. Do you think that our soldiers would be able to withstand the attacks from Hailiya for a month without any reinforcements?¡±


    His words revealed a problem no one wanted to face. They were agitated because none of them were confident that their mecha ns would be able to survive for one month without any reinforcements or supplies. Everyone turned quiet again.


    The Third Marshal sighed. He said, ¡± I¡¯ve received thetest piece of intel from the intelligence bureau just now. We were going to hold the conference soon so I didn¡¯t inform you all. Now, you all can take a look at it.¡± The Third Marshal asked his assistant to pass the intel to the generals.


    The First Marshal and the Second Marshal¡¯s faces turned dark when they heard this. They knew about this piece of intel. The First Marshal couldn¡¯t help but look at Ling Xiao. He hoped that Ling Xiao was able to withstand this impact.


    All the generals started looking through the information on theirmunicators. Their expressions turned serious. Ling Xiao was serious too. He didn¡¯t show any other expressions. The First Marshal felt consoled. ¡®My general is a strong-willed person. He will not let his personal affairs affect the big picture.¡¯


    The reporters started talking among themselves when they saw this scene. They were guessing what this piece of intel was about.


    ¡°Is this reliable?¡± The General of the 6th division let out a long sigh. He could already feel the bitter taste in his mouth. If this was true, the reinforcements they sent would be useless.


    ¡°In order to send this piece of news to us, our spy in the higher ranks of Hailiya lost his life.¡± The Third Marshal seemed to be grieving, proving that the intel was true.


    ¡°Hailiya used one week to destroy almost all of our bases, leaving only a few scattered bases still resisting...¡± The General of the 15th division mmed the table furiously. ¡°This is all because of Hailiya. How can they vite the Human United Agreement and send out imperial operators...¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect them to vite the rules and activate the God-Killers!¡± The General of the 7th division was furious.


    The God-Killers was like the Flying Dragon Special Forces of the Huaxia Federation. All the mecha operators inside were monsters. They were at least an imperial operator. This could exin why the bases of the Federation were destroyed by Haliya within a week.


    ¡°The moment our reinforcements reach there, Hailiya might have already im Haijiao. By then, we will be at a disadvantage. We might be considered invaders and suffer the attacks from the Hailiyan army. The Intergctic United Nations will also stand on Hailiya¡¯s side and condemn us.¡± The Third Marshal voiced out his major concern. This was something that was most likely going to happen too.


    The war on Haijiao was a controversial war. The Federation and Hailiya upied half of the each so no one was able to determine who Haijiao belonged to. Thus, the Intergctic United Nations couldn¡¯t interfere with this war. However, once Hailiya stuck their g on the part of the previously ruled by the Federation, the would then belong to them. Based on the Human United Agreement, the Federation must admit that Haijiao belonged to Hailiya. The fleets that the Federation sent to reinforce their soldiers would be regarded as invaders. With that, Hailiya had the right to send imperial operators or even god-ss operators to attack them.


    Imperial operators and god-ss operators were forbidden to fight in wars that were controversial. Once a country confirmed that they were being invaded, this rule would not hold.


    ¡°Because of this possibility, I don¡¯t agree to send the hundred battleships to reinforce Haijiao. The lives of the 280 million soldiers are our responsibility but we are also responsible for the other lives of millions of soldiers on the ships. I can¡¯t watch them die like this,¡± the Third Marshal said seriously.


    The generals turned silent. They couldn¡¯t bear to give up the 280 million soldiers on Haijiao but if what the Third Marshal said was true... they were also unable to bear the lives of 500 million soldiers. The Second Marshal, who always refuted the Third Marshal¡¯s decision, didn¡¯t have the courage to open his mouth now.


    The First Marshal didn¡¯t say anything. All the three marshals knew that Ling Xiao¡¯s son was on Haijiao. They also knew that the forgettable grandson of the Second Marshal and Qi Yaoyang¡¯s youngest son was there too. However, in the face of such a situation, they were unable to sacrifice millions of soldiers to save their family members.


    The Third Marshal looked at Qi Yaoyang. He wanted to see what Qi Yaoyang¡¯s attitude was. The fact that Qi Yaoyang¡¯s youngest son broke ties with his father in order to join Ling Xiao¡¯s division was a thorn in his heart. If he didn¡¯t have enough strong officers under him, he wouldn¡¯t have let Qi Yaoyang be the General of the 13th division, but no matter what, Qi Yaoyang was his men. He was better than the people under the Second Marshal.


    Qi Yaoyang¡¯s expression changed a little. However, he still gritted his teeth in the end and didn¡¯t reject the Third Marshal¡¯s suggestion. The Third Marshal was satisfied with his performance. ¡®This person knew his position well. He knew what to do and what not to do.¡¯


    ¡°I suggest that we give up sending reinforcements and hand this matter over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We will condemn Haliya...¡± The Third Marshal finally said his suggestion.


    Abandoning the 280 million soldiers and then using their sacrifice to gain the moral high ground for the Federation to gain benefits politically. All the generals turned silent again. This seemed like a heartless decision but it was the best decision.


    ¡°How can they do this...¡± The reporters eximed.


    ¡°Are we going to abandon the 280 million people on Haijiao?¡±


    ¡°If we don¡¯t forsake them, what are we going to do? Risk the lives of 500 million more soldiers? The Third Marshal had exined everything. All the big bases on Haijiao had already fallen. Not many people are left alive. After some time, Hailiya will probably announce that they had gained control of Haijiao.¡±


    ¡°But everything is not confirmed yet. If we abandon them now...¡± Ladies were more caring than men. They weren¡¯t able to forsake lives for the greater good even if those people had no hopes of surviving.


    ¡®General Ling Xiao, you won¡¯t agree, right?¡¯ Wen Qilian clenched her fist. She stared at the calm and stern handsome face. Just like the otherdies, Wen Qilian was unable to ept Third Marshal¡¯s suggestion. She couldn¡¯t help but ce her hopes on Ling Xiao. She hoped that their military idol would hear their cries and speak up for the poor 280 million soldiers on Haijiao.


    At this moment, the Third Marshal asked the Second Marshal, ¡°Marshal Song, what do you think?¡±


    The Second Marshal red at the Third Marshal. He held his hands tightly as he replied, ¡°I agree.¡±


    Song Yiqing was just a useless grandson. It was alright for him to die on Haijiao. He would gain the reputation of sacrificing for his country and the Song family would benefit from this good name. This honor would help him when he fought for the position of the First Marshal next time. The Second Marshal weighed the options in his heart and decided to give up Song Yiqing.


    The Third Marshal looked at the First Marshal. The First Marshal nced at the Ling Xiao. He said slowly, ¡°This matter...¡±


    Suddenly, Ling Xiao mmed his hands on the table and a deafening sound was heard.


    ¡°This suggestion is absurd!¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s anger finally exploded.

 Chapter 866 - Miracle

    <h4>Chapter 866: Miracle</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Ling Xiao!¡± The Third Marshal turned stern. He shouted, ¡°Be mindful of your attitude!¡±


    ¡°What attitude do you want? Our soldiers have not given up hope and are fighting hard with the belief that their country wille and save them soon. However, we just sat here on our nice chairs and decided that it is not worth saving them?¡± Ling Xiao stood up suddenly and shouted angrily, ¡°Marshal Yang, let me ask you, what attitude should I have when I talk to you?¡±


    ¡°Ling Xiao, do you think that I¡¯m willing to abandon the lives of 280 million soldiers?¡± The Third Marshal mmed his table with his hands and stood up. ¡°I¡¯m the Third Marshal of the Huaxia Federation. I am responsible for not only for the lives of the 280 million soldiers on Haijiao, but I¡¯m also responsible for the lives of everyone in the Federation too.¡±


    The atmosphere of the conference turned tense. The viewing reporters couldn¡¯t help but hold their breaths.


    The Third Marshal took the documents on the table and mmed them down. Theynded on the floor with a loud thud. ¡°Hundreds of spies sacrificed their lives in order to get into the intelligence bureau of Hailiya. They gave us the most urate information they could on Haijiao. They risked their lives to send out these pieces of intel. Why did they do it? They don¡¯t want any more soldiers to die needlessly on Haijiao. Are you going to put millions of soldiers in danger just for your selfish desires?¡±


    ¡°My selfish desires? If it is up to my selfish desires, I would rather be fighting in wars instead of sitting in this high position. I¡¯ll rather be a passionate soldier with emotions rather than sit here and y with the soldiers¡¯ life as though they are chess pieces or just numbers. I¡¯m not willing to be a cold-blooded politician!¡± Ling Xiao looked at the Third Marshal angrily and refuted, showing no signs of backing out. This was his true thoughts. Even if Ling Lan wasn¡¯t on Haijiao, he still would not agree with this suggestion. There was no such thing as giving up in his dictionary.


    When he said this, the young and hot-blooded reporters in the conference hall pped enthusiastically in response to Ling Xiao¡¯s speech. If what the Third Marshal said was true, his decision would be saving the lives of millions of soldiers. But, deep down inside their hearts, they still had some hope. They knew that there were still soldiers fighting hard on Haijiao now so they wished that a miracle would ur. If they gave up on the 280 million soldiers before everything was settled, it would be just too cold-blooded.


    ¡°Ling Xiao!¡± The Third Marshal pointed at Ling Xiao angrily. He almost fainted from his anger. Ling Xiao just wanted to save his son but he made it sound so righteous. He pretended to be a good man while picturing them as viins. How despicable of him.


    ¡°Marshal Yang, just like what was written on the document, 99% of the bases on Haijiao had fallen. However, there are still 1% of the bases fighting. They are still waiting for reinforcements from the Federation. We mustn¡¯t give up on them even if there is only a little hope left. We can¡¯t betray those soldiers that are fighting hard for the Federation,¡± Ling Xiao said.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, wake up!¡± The Third Marshal mmed his hands on the table and shouted in anger, ¡°Do you think that those broken bases will be able to resist our Hailiya¡¯s attack for at least three months? If Hailiya took over the ownership of Haijiao before our reinforcements arrive, our reinforcements will be regarded as invaders. Hailiya will then have the right to use their ultimate weapons like their god-ss operators to literally massacre our reinforcements. You are a god-ss operator, so you should know how powerful god-ss operators are. Once such people appear on the opposite side of us, all our 100 fleets will be destroyed. Even if we send 50 times more manpower over, they will still be killed like chicken.¡±


    ¡°My heart aches for the 280 million soldiers on Haijiao too. However, we can¡¯t be emotional now. We need to analyze the situation logically. If we send in reinforcements when we know what the result will be a monthter, that is not hot-blooded. That is just in stupid!¡± The Third Marshal¡¯s expression turned cold as he said, ¡°Ling Xiao, you must learn to get use to your position. You are not longer a mecha operator that fight in these battles. You are a general now. Your decisions will decide the lives of every single soldier in your division. Your decision doesn¡¯t just concern only you now, and acting rashly like this won¡¯t help with anything.¡±


    After he finished speaking, the Third Marshal disregarded Ling Xiao entirely and looked at the First Marshal. As long as the First Marshal epted his suggestion, Ling Xiao¡¯s refusal wouldn¡¯t affect anything.


    The First Marshal noticed the gazeing from the Third Marshal but he didn¡¯t say anything. Instead, he looked at Ling Xiao. He wanted to hear what Ling Xiao had to say. When the Third Marshal saw him staying silent, he cursed him silently in his head.


    The Third Marshal¡¯s words dampen the spirit of all the reporters. They were just feeling excited after Ling Xiao¡¯s speech but the Third Marshal¡¯s reply was like pouring a bucket of iced water over them. Dreams are beautiful but the reality is cruel. There were only a few bases left on Haijiao. Would they really be able to resist against an enemy that had an army that was ten or maybe a hundred times bigger than them? Plus, the bases also wouldn¡¯t have any constant supply of resources and weapons. How could they be able to resist attacks for three weeks? Based on their willpower? It seemed unreasonable.


    After calming down, they all felt that the Third Marshal was right. His decision was a heartless and cruel one, but they had to be responsible for the lives of the other soldiers too. They couldn¡¯t let them die like this.


    But... but... but... damn it! They still couldn¡¯t ept this! The reporters couldn¡¯t help but look at the stern-looking Ling Xiao. Even if the Third Marshal scolded Ling Xiao for being too rash and for him to not have the bearings of a general, they still hoped that General Ling Xiao would be able to persuade the marshals to send reinforcements to Haijiao.


    As expected, General Ling Xiao opened his mouth. ¡°Emotional? Analyze the situation logically? Well then, can the Third Marshal analyze these battles for me?¡± Ling Xiao asked He Xuyang to pass the records he had prepared to the other generals and the three marshals.


    ¡°Star calendar year 179, the battle on Aisuo. We had only two bases left on the but they still managed to resist for one month before the arrival of our reinforcements.¡±


    ¡°Star calendar year 764, the Battle of Yamei. Our army forced themselves to resist against the attack of their opponents who had ten times the numbers than them for three weeks.¡±


    ¡°Star calendar year 1016, the Battle of Rimoluo. Our armysted for two months with only one base left.¡±


    ¡°Star calendar year 1597, during thend clearing mission on Haimo, we used one mecha n to resist against the attack of a few million citizens on Haimo.¡±


    As more and more past records of miraculous battles shed on the screen, everyone saw themon factor between these battles were soldiers who didn¡¯t give up and they all managed to wait until reinforcements arrived.


    The Third Marshal¡¯s face turned dark. Some people hated Ling Xiao for being so insistent. These battles were all unique and had some coincidence. The weapons during that era were not so powerful, so many miracles were created then. However, as technology improved, there were lesser and lesser miracles. No such cases had appeared for the past 1000 years. However, these examples wavered the hearts of those indecisive generals, including the Second Marshal who had decided to give up on his grandson.


    ¡°Data is just data. They have no emotions. Hence, there won¡¯t be any changes in them. However, our soldiers are not just data. They are humans with feelings. They are soldiers who can create miracles. Since history proved that miracles could be created, why can¡¯t we believe that our soldiers can create a miracle too?¡±


    ¡°Marshal Yang, how can you be sure that based on your data, the soldiers on Haijiao are unable to resist for more than three weeks?¡± Ling Xiao questioned the Third Marshal, ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll like to say my judgment on the matter too. I believe that the soldiers on Haijiao will definitely be able to resist until our reinforcements arrive!¡±


    ¡°Ling Xiao, you are being ignorant!¡± The Third Marshal¡¯s face turned red in anger when he heard Ling Xiao¡¯s irresponsible speech.


    ¡°Ignorant? What a joke! I dare to make this judgment because I never treated the soldiers on Haijiao as just numbers on a piece of paper. They are humans. They have a family too. They have desires to continue living. As long as they never give up, they can create miracles!¡± Ling Xiao said firmly.


    ¡°Miracles are just miracles. Looking back in history, not many people are able to create miracles on the battlefield. I will not risk the lives of millions of soldiers for a slim chance of a miracle!¡± The Third Marshal sprung up and shouted.


    ¡°Marshal Yang, why do you think that we shouldn¡¯t bet on it?¡± Ling Xiao stood up too and question the Third Marshal fiercely. With his status as one of the ten great generals and a god-ss operator, Ling Xiao was not afraid of the Third Marshal at all.


    None of them was willing to take a step back. The atmosphere of the conference turned tense. Just as Ling Xiao and the Third Marshal were about to kill each other with their gaze, the First Marshal coughed and started clearing up the situation. ¡°We are all worried for our soldiers. No one is right or wrong. Ling Xiao, you are young and hot-tempered. How can you be so disrespectful towards Marshal Yang?¡± The First Marshal started reprimanding Ling Xiao. Many generals under the First Marshalughed secretly. Ling Xiao was hot-tempered? This excuse was too insincere. Even some of the generals belonging to the Second Marshal¡¯s faction smiled. The Third Marshal¡¯s face turned green with anger. This sly old fox was outwardly helping Ling Xiao. Damn it.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was too emotional just now. Please forgive me.¡± Ling Xiao heard this and immediately saluted at the Third Marshal to show his ¡®respect¡¯.


    ¡°Old Yang, Ling Xiao is still young so he acts rashly sometimes. Old people like us should forgive him and not be at the same level as him.¡± The First Marshal spoke to the Third Marshal again. On the surface, he seemed to be reprimanding Ling Xiao for being insensible. However, he was hinting that the Third Marshal was not lenient enough and didn¡¯t have the bearing of a marshal. The Third Marshal¡¯s face turned hideous when he heard this.


    Since Ling Xiao had already apologized, the Third Marshal had to reply to him. He said with frustration, ¡°It¡¯s fine. He is making those mistakes because he is too concerned. Why would I be angry at him for that?¡±


    The unhappy Third Marshal took this opportunity to blemish Ling Xiao¡¯s reputation again. He wanted everyone to know that he was just concerned about his son and not the other soldiers like what he had mentioned.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure everyone has heard what Marshal Yang and Ling Xiao said. What is everyone¡¯s opinion on the matter?¡± The First Marshal scanned the generals on the screen and asked indifferently.


    The Third Marshal looked at one of the generals in his faction. The general said, ¡°What General Ling Xiao said is just a beautiful dream. However, reality is not a dream. To prevent more sacrifices, I agree with what Marshal Yang has said.¡±


    The other generals from the Third Marshal¡¯s faction agreed with this general. The Second Marshal closed his eyes and kept silent, so the other generals in his faction kept silent too.


    The general of the 7th division looked at the other generals who didn¡¯t want to make a decision. He got furious. He said, ¡°I admit that what Marshal Yang said is the most likely oue. However, what General Ling Xiao said makes sense too. The most likely oue is not 100% certain. As a general, I can¡¯t give up on my soldiers. I agree with sending reinforcements.¡±


    It was obvious that the General of the 7th division was supporting Ling Xiao. A few generals from the First Marshal¡¯s faction who had a good rtionship with Ling Xiao supported Ling Xiao too. However, since the First Marshal didn¡¯t say anything yet, those generals that didn¡¯t have much interaction with Ling Xiao remained quiet. This caused the number of people who supported Ling Xiao to be lower than the number of people who supported the Third Marshal.


    Qi Yaoyang wanted to say something in support of Ling Xiao but he saw Ling Xiao signalling him to remain silent, so he had no choice but to control himself.


    The Second Marshal moved his finger and one of the generals under him finally opened his mouth, ¡°I would like to ask General Ling Xiao a question.¡±


    Ling Xiao raised his eyebrows slightly. He nodded and said, ¡°General Lu, please continue.¡± He wondered what the Second Marshal¡¯s faction was trying to do. Ling Xiao was not so naive as to believe that the Second Marshal would side with him.


    ¡°You mentioned that you believe our soldiers can resist for more than three weeks until the arrival of our reinforcements. Can you provide any evidence to prove this point? A miracle... is not enough to make us believe in you.¡± The general of the 8th division, General Lu, suddenly said.


    The Third Marshal¡¯s eyes lit up. He was afraid that the Second Marshal would stand on Ling Xiao¡¯s side because of his grandson. But from the looks of it, that might not be the case.

 Chapter 867 - Surpassed!

    <h4>Chapter 867: Surpassed!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    This question instantly caught everyone¡¯s attention, including the First Marshal. He also wanted to know whether Ling Xiao actually had a reason to insist on sending reinforcements or perhaps he was just doing all this to save his own son. If that was the case, for the countless soldiers, he couldn¡¯t support Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao looked at General Lu with a half-smile. How could he not know that the Second Marshal was nning on letting him take on the responsibility of sending the reinforcements? Although the Second Marshal wanted to save his grandson, he still didn¡¯t want to take on the reputation of being selfish and not caring about the lives of his soldiers...


    However, Ling Xiao didn¡¯t think that it was wrong for him to think about saving Ling Lan. If he was going to heartlessly abandon his own flesh and blood, he would be considered a terrible father! He would be worse than a beast if that was the case.


    Ling Xiao nodded at He Xuyang.Then, He Xuyang immediately sent the list of names of 250 Ace Mecha n to all of themunicator of each general and the hard drive of the mainframe.


    Soon, therge screen in front of them showed all the names of the mecha operators in 250 Ace Mecha n, along with their mecha operating level, military rank, position, merits...


    The reporters began to gasp in surprise as they continued looking through the list of mecha operator names on therge screen. They noticed that there were many well-known veteran mecha operators in the n. Some older reporters had even once had the chance to interview some of them who had made massive contributions in previous wars. However after a few years of their rise to fame, these mecha operators who made countless contributions to the Federation for some reason had disappeared from the public eye, never to be seen or heard for the past few years. These reporters weren¡¯t aware that they had all gathered in General Ling Xiao¡¯s 23rd Division.


    It was probably because of General Ling Xiao¡¯s position in the hearts of many. After establishing the 23rd Division, his public image was boosted significantly, causing all kinds of strong mecha operators to actively join in... These ace operators probably didn¡¯t even care that they would just enter a standard ace mecha n, and with all that, they still wanted to follow in General Ling Xiao¡¯s footsteps.


    All of the reporters looked towards Ling Xiao with passionate gazes. His expression became even more heated and honest as he continued to argue back. Back then, the Third Marshal had purposely put Ling Xiao up as an idol in front of the public and soldiers to anger the people of the Federation for his loss. After 20 years of building this idol figure, they had some lost control over him...


    Ling Xiao¡¯s cold voice rang once again, ¡°For this mission, my 23rd Division sent 250 Ace Mecha n to Haijiao to be stationed at Base 013. The background of the members of 250 Ace Mecha n has already been shown on the big screen... These mecha operators are all outstanding and top-level individuals from all division. Many of them are even mecha operators who have already reached the halfway point of entering the imperial level. They have also acquired military merits and gained achievements for the Federation in the past. In the countless battles they had participated in, they never lost once. In terms of merits, we can clearly see that it is not the first time that they are fighting a battle with less military strength!¡±


    After Ling Xiao said all this, he looked at all the other generals with a half-smile. ¡°Generals, you¡¯re all probably very familiar with the top performers who had worked under you for all these years without losing a single battle, right? I, Ling Xiao, am very grateful that each general has helped me greatly by sending such outstanding and excellent ace mecha operators to my aid.¡±


    Ling Xiao said those wordsced deep with sarcasm which made all the general break out in cold sweat. Back then, they had indeed used the name of helping 23rd Division to send those useless mecha operators to Ling Xiao, who had no clue of the truth of the condition those mecha operators. This series of dumping their burdens onto Ling Xiao forced him to create 250 Ace Mecha n which wasted the already limited resources they had to support those useless mecha operators.


    Now, those useless mecha operators were once again brought out into the light by Ling Xiao in this setting. This made the generals feel like they were stepping on their own foot. After all, on paper, those mecha operators were indeed the best of the best ace mecha operators in the Federation. If they didn¡¯t send reinforcements, the billions of citizens of the Federation would definitely be angry at their ruthless decision. The soldiers in the military currently might also lose their morale to improve themselves if they see their own superiors abandoning soldiers who had more merits than them. What did they get in return for fighting to protect the safety of their country with their lives? As soon as something unfavorable happens, the soldiers on the front-lines would be heartlessly abandoned by the military...


    Ling Xiao¡¯s move was without a doubt a disgusting move. Those mecha operators were clearly useless individuals with not much military strength. Thus, they shouldn¡¯t have the capabilities to hold on for three more weeks. However at that moment, they couldn¡¯t tell that truth to the public... The Third Marshal was regretting it somewhat. ¡®Why did I agree to have reporters join the conference? Now, I have no way of rebutting Ling Xiao¡¯s lie. Even if I was to speak the truth about those mecha operators, the reporters outside will definitely not believe me. They would only think that the military is refusing the rescue and is deliberately trying to make Ling Xiao look bad.¡¯


    Compared to the Third Marshal¡¯s worked up frustration, the Second Marshal, although knowing that Ling Xiao was lying, wasn¡¯t fixated on that. Instead, the Second Marshal wanted to know who could take the me if things were to go wrong. As for the First Marshal, he instantly frowned when Ling Xiao used the members of 250 Ace Mecha n as his reasons. He could understand that Ling Xiao wanted to save his own son, but did not like the fact that Ling Xiao would lie and hide the truth for his own selfish gains. He believed that Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t the kind of person who wouldn¡¯t care about the lives of millions of members in the reinforcement group...


    ¡°Ling Xiao, although the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n are quite strong, their numbers still just amount to a number for arge battalion. Thus, they don¡¯t have the strength to endure constant attacks from both the enemy and the God-Killers for more than three weeks.¡± The First Marshal said calmly. ¡°Do you have any other reasons to back up your suggestion?¡±


    If Ling Xiao didn¡¯t have enough reasons to persuade him, he would not agree to send reinforcements even if he was to hurt Ling Xiao¡¯s feelings.


    Hearing this, the Third Marshal smirked. He was willing to agree with the First Marshal because the First Marshal usually stood on the side of justice. He would definitely not blindly agree to someone even if they were of his own faction. Of course, this way of doing things was also the reason why the First Marshal could sit on the throne for all this time. He cated both the Third and Second Marshal at the same time.


    The First Marshal¡¯s unexpected words stunned all the reporters. ¡®Does this mean that even the First Marshal doesn¡¯t support the idea of sending reinforcements?¡¯ The reporters all knew that General Ling Xiao was in the First Marshal¡¯s faction...


    ¡°Must all 280 million citizens from Haijiao be abandoned? General Ling Xiao, you must persuade the First Marshal!¡± All of the reporters clenched their fists because of the anxiousness. They ced all of their hopes on Ling Xiao. These reporters knew very well that the only general that actually supported the idea of sending reinforcements was Ling Xiao and no one else.


    The First Marshal¡¯s words made Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes flicker. He slowly stood up and put his hands on the table. He leaned forward with his eyes gleaming with concentration.


    ¡°Do I have any other reasons?¡± Ling Xiao smiled proudly, ¡°Of course, I do. My main reason for sending reinforcements is because the regimentmander who is leading them, Ling Lan, is an imperial operator! He was just 21 years old when he entered the imperial level and he is also an imperial operator who surpassed my existence.

 Chapter 868 - Ling Xiao’s Son!

    <h4>Chapter 868: Ling Xiao¡¯s Son!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°That is not possible!¡± eximed the Third Marshal.


    The First Marshal and Second Marshal both had huge changes on their facial expressions. Ling Xiao giving them such news had stunned them greatly. Privately, in the Flying Dragon Special Forces, there were also 21-year-old operators who had entered imperial level. However, this result was gained throughbining all the resources of the Federation and using a lot of secret techniques to nurture these people. However, doing this would leave them with a lot of post traumatic stress and would also deplete their potential as mecha operators at an early age, with no possibility of reaching any higher levels.


    However, Ling Xiao was clearly not talking about those types of individuals. Someone who had surpassed his existence meant that Ling Xiao believed his son had a high chance of bing a god-ss operator. If that was the case, no matter how many people the Federation¡¯s military was to sacrifice, they still have to pay the price to save this future god-ss operator. After all, the three marshals knew what an additional god-ss operator meant for the Federation.


    ¡°Wait, I remember the research department hade up with a theory. They said that the son of a god-ss operator could never advance to the imperial level...¡± The Third Marshal finally spoke out what he was thinking about.


    At that moment, the reporters watching in the conference room were still surprised by Ling Xiao¡¯s public announcement that there was a 21 year-old imperial operator on Haijiao. Now, they were all dumbfounded by the Third Marshal¡¯s new statement.


    ¡°Did the Third Marshal just say the son of a god-ss operator?¡± Wen Qilian grabbed a reporter she didn¡¯t know and shouted excitedly.


    ¡°Yeah...¡± That reporter also excitedly nodded as his body began to tremble uncontrobly.


    ¡°Ling Xiao¡¯s son!¡± Every reporter had an answer in their minds. This was news that was enough to shake the entire Federation. If Ling Lan was to actually advance into god-level, then they would create a new record for the human race for being the first father and son god-ss operators...


    On therge screen, faced with the Third Marshal¡¯s questioning, Ling Xiao said proudly, ¡°It wasn¡¯t possible in the past doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s not possible now, and it also doesn¡¯t mean that it will not be possible in the future!¡±


    ¡°My son Ling Lan could advance to imperial operator proves that the supposed research results are false. Then, how could we confirm that the results of Haijiao¡¯s battle and future prospects are true?! Using only one piece of intel to determine the lives of 280 million soldiers. I, Ling Xiao, do not agree!¡± Faced with the Third Marshal¡¯s pressing questions, Ling Xiao actively counterattacked him instead.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s words had proved Ling Lan¡¯s identity. He was surprisingly Ling Xiao¡¯s son! All the female reporters excitedly covered their mouths and giggled uncontrobly. ¡®It turns out the son of the handsome man is also a handsome man!¡¯ Ling Xiao¡¯s statement of disagreement also ignited the hearts of the male reporters, so the entire conference room instantly erupted with noise everywhere.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s provocation made the Third Marshal¡¯s face turned pale. A general in his faction quickly tried to chime into the conversation. ¡°Even if Ling Lan is an imperial operator, how could one imperial operator and a few hundred top-level operators hold on for more than three weeks?¡±


    After those words were spoken, all of the reporters in the conference room became livid. It was just as General Ling Xiao had said. They also couldn¡¯t prove that Ling Lan¡¯s group couldn¡¯t do it. What would happen if a miracle actually did happen and they actually held on for more than three weeks?


    Hearing this, Ling Xiao instantly straighten his posture with confident expression on his face. He said without hesitation, ¡°Just from the fact that he is my son. He can definitely perform a miracle.¡±


    ¡°Haha, Ling Xiao, you¡¯re too naive. You¡¯re going to take the risk of sacrificing the lives of millions of soldiers just on the grounds of him being your son? How are you going to take responsibility if your son can¡¯t hold on for more than three weeks and in turn making us sacrifice millions of soldiers on Haijiao for no reason?¡± Asked a general under the same faction as the Third Marshal who was of the same rank with Ling Xiao. Using the fact that he was an old fart to mock Ling Xiao needlessly.


    ¡°If I dared to say it, then I will also take full responsibility. If my son, Ling Lan, cannot hold on for more than three weeks. Then I, Ling Xiao, will automatically resign from my position as general!¡± Ling Xiao angrily said as he smashed his hand on the table.


    ¡°Ling Xiao!¡± The First Marshal shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t be impulsive!¡±


    ¡°Marshal! When you appointed me as the General of the 23rd Division, I was anxious and asked you the question on how to be a qualified general. Back then, you only said one sentence, and that was to care for soldiers as if they were my own flesh and blood,¡± Ling Xiao said with reddened eyes. ¡°I have always done everything in that philosophy. Ling Lan is my son and at the same time, also my subordinate. If I abandoned my own son, then the idea of caring for the soldiers as if they were my own flesh and blood would be considered a joke, wouldn¡¯t it...¡±


    ¡°Thus, as long as there is a sliver of hope, I, Ling Xiao, will not give up on any soldier in our military. For that, even if I have to risk everything, I will not regret it!¡±


    ¡°General Ling Xiao really is a warm-hearted person. He doesn¡¯t hide his emotional side. I believe that he can definitely love his soldiers like he would his own flesh and blood.¡± Wen Qilian, who was usually strong-willed, had tears dripping down her eyes uncontrobly. After seeing the generals heartlessly sacrifice a portion of their soldiers for a so-called victory, Ling Xiao¡¯s words had warmed the hearts of all the reporters. Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t logical, calm and wasn¡¯t like most generals that they knew, but they felt that it was a great thing that Ling Xiao had be a general.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s words made the other generals go silent. Back then, when they became generals, they had also said the same statement. However, when did they forget it? Or perhaps they had never taken it into their hearts in the first ce?


    At that moment, Qi Yaoyang, who was silent, coughed loudly. He first looked at the Third Marshal with an apologetic expression and then said, ¡°Just now I kept telling myself to look at the whole picture and not put my own feelings into it. However, General Ling Xiao¡¯s words have moved me. My unfilial son would rather fight with me and follow the leader he followed from his childhood to the 23rd Division. Although this made me very angry, no matter how unfilial he was, he is still my son. This time, he and his leader, Ling Lan, are both stuck on Haijiao... As his father, I can¡¯t abandon him. I also want to be a general who loves his soldiers like his own flesh and blood.¡±


    Hearing this, Ling Xiao snorted coldly, ¡°Lieutenant General Qi, what¡¯s wrong with him joining my 23rd Division?¡±


    Qi Yaoyang also snorted coldly with a look of disdain on his face, ¡°Then, why don¡¯t you let your son join my 13th Division?¡± Ling Xiao took his son and still had something to say about it?


    The two of them stared at each other, and a slight killing intent was sensed in the air. In the end, they both snorted coldly and stopped their quarrel. After all, at that moment, they were on the same team. They must set aside their differences and cooperate with each other for once.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s words made the First Marshal have a change of heart. He turned around and looked towards the Second Marshal and asked, ¡°Brother Song, what do you think?¡±

 Chapter 869 - Flying Dragon Special Forces Move Out!

    <h4>Chapter 869: Flying Dragon Special Forces Move Out!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°The situation on Haijiao is just as Brother Yang has said if we continue to be passive like this our defeat is inevitable. However, what Ling Xiao has said isn¡¯tpletely wrong. We shouldn¡¯t say that Haijiao is done for, just because logic says it isn¡¯t possible,¡± the Second Marshal said slowly. Since Ling Xiao was willing to take on the responsibility of sending reinforcements, then he could just go with the flow.


    The Second Marshal sudden change of heart made the Third Marshal livid on the inside. In the end, it was still because of selfishness. He knew that if a situation concerned their family members, these people would take this risk and put everyone else¡¯s lives on the line just for their selfishness.


    Ling Xiao seemed to have been waiting for those words and replied immediately, ¡°I¡¯ve thought about the main crux of the problem. Marshals are just worried that if by any chance the remaining bases will lose on Haijiao before reinforcements were to get there, turning Haijiao into Hailiya¡¯s territory, changing the identity of the reinforcements into invaders, and would then face the assault of Hailiya¡¯s full military force, especially since it would give Hailiya a reason to have their god-ss operator move out. If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯m willing to take on themander role in this rescue mission to ensure the safety of the reinforcements,¡± Ling Xiao requested automatically.


    ¡°No way!¡± The First and Second Marshal almost simultaneously shouted.


    The two marshal looked at each other. The Second Marshal made a sign to the First Marshal for him to exin first since Ling Xiao was his subordinate. Seeing the sign, the First Marshal promptly exined, ¡°Ling Xiao, don¡¯t be impulsive. Going to Hailiya would require entering public sectors, and god-ss operators are not allowed to leave the sectors of their own country. If you were to be discovered, we would be definitely be pressured by the Intergctic United Nations. It might even cause a chain reaction in the neighbouring countries...¡± If god-ss operators were so easy to deploy, would they still worry about the safety of their reinforcements?


    ¡°If god-ss operators cannot be deployed, it doesn¡¯t mean that imperial operators cannot be deployed, especially since Hailiya was the first to deploy them.¡± Ling Xiao already knew that his proposal would not be epted. Every god-ss operator from each country was under the watchful eyes of the secret service of each country. They couldn¡¯t just switch out and have someone pretending to be them, unless they leave behind their mechas and put on a disguise, simr to thetestnd clearing mission... However, and clearing mission was only and clearing mission so it didn¡¯t concern the other countries. Thus, the secret services were rxed which allowed him to find a time window to get out. However, now was not the same as back then. Not only was Hailiya putting tabs on god-ss operators, other enemy nations were also doing the same.


    The reason he brought up this proposal was to remind the three marshals and the generals that the issue they were worried about actually had a way to be resolved.


    ¡°You¡¯re saying the God-Killers?¡± The First Marshal¡¯s gaze instantly sharpened.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Since we have proof that Hailiya sent out God-Killers, then if we send out the Flying Dragon Special Forces, it would only be appropriate. It would also conform to the promise that us humans had made in the very beginning.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s voicepletely calm.


    The promise was after one side invaded, the other side would be allowed to send out simr level operators. For example, if god-ss operators were sent out, the opponent would also be able to send out god-ss operators. This was why Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t move out. Once Ling Xiao was deployed, Hailiya would move and send out their god-ss operators. This would turn this small war into arge scale war where it would only end when either side gets destroyed.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s words made the three marshals think deeply for a moment. Giving up the 280 million citizens and soldiers on Haijiao was not something they wanted. It was just that in such a vtile situation, they couldn¡¯t help but really consider that... However, if there was actually a way to get around it, they, of course, was not going to give up those people.


    ¡°I agree to send out the Flying Dragon Special Forces. It doesn¡¯t matter if they can¡¯t hold on until reinforcements arrive. We cannot just let the God-Killers do as they please.¡± Other general agreed to deploy the Flying Dragon Special Forces to fight Hailiya.


    The First Marshal thought for a moment and asked, ¡°Does everyone still remember the first oath we made when we became a soldier of the Federation?¡±


    Everyone¡¯s expression instantly became serious and they all stood up simultaneously. They ced their fists onto their chest and shouted uniformly, ¡°Those who defy our country must be punished no matter where they are!¡±


    ¡°I still remember the oath from back then like it was yesterday. Hailiya¡¯s actions has clearly defied our country so they must be punished no matter where they are!¡± The First Marshal said without hesitation, ¡°I agree to deploying the Flying Dragon Special Forces!¡±


    ¡°I agree!¡± The Second Marshal said.


    ¡°I agree!¡± The Third Marshal was also angry about the issue with the God-Killers.


    ¡°I agree!¡± All of the generals all agreed with this decision.


    ¡°That¡¯s amazing!¡± The reporters saw this scene and all pped their hands. ¡®Those who defy our country must be punished no matter where they are.¡¯ was a statement that had already seeped into the bones of all the citizens of the Federation since the creation of it. Hailiya¡¯s actions had already angered all of the citizens and soldiers of the Federation. They were definitely not going to let Hailiya get away with it.


    ¡°As for sending reinforcements...¡± When the First Marshal spoke, all of the generals sat upright. As for the reporters in the conference room, they all had their hearts hanging high up in the air, as what the First Marshal was going to say next was the most important issue of this meeting.


    ¡°Agree, agree...¡± Many reporters shouted softly, hoping that the First Marshal would support General Ling Xiao.


    The First Marshal¡¯s gaze suddenly turned to Qi Yaoyang, ¡°I suggest that we use the 13th Division as the main force for the reinforcement. Other divisions should send starship teams and ace operators to fill in and let Lieutenant General Qi Yaoyang takemand.¡± Qi Yaoyang, who was halfway towards god-ss, was the strongest mecha operator after the Federation¡¯s god-ss operators. He had always been considered the 14th god-ss operator of the Federation by enemy nations. With him inmand, even if the situation was dire, he would still be able to protect most of the reinforcements and safely retreat.


    ¡°I agree!¡± The Second Marshal decisively raised his hand, as Qi Yaoyang was perfect choice to be themander. As expected, the older one was, the wiser one gets. Everything that the First Marshal decided was definitely foolproof.


    Everyone looked towards the Third Marshal. Seeing this, the Third Marshal couldn¡¯t help but also raise his hand and agree. His worries and concerns seemed to be not so important anymore after Qi Yaoyang was chosen to be themander of the reinforcements. Although Hailiya was careful enough to not cause the Federation¡¯s god-ss operators to move out, they still managed to identally let the god-like Qi Yaoyang off his leash.


    Finally, the rescue of Haijiao was approved. Included in the reinforcements was themander, Qi Yaoyang, who was the strongest imperial level individual. After recording all of the news, the reporters finally satisfyingly returned to their news stations. Right as they were thinking about letting citizens know about these news, they received an order from the military. They were told to lock-down all information regarding Ling Xiao¡¯s son, Ling Lan.


    When they received this order, the reporters could only regret that they couldn¡¯t share such inspiring information with the citizens of the Federation, but they knew that keeping it a secret was best for Ling Lan¡¯s safety. When General Ling Xiao became a god-ss operator, he still couldn¡¯t escape from the plots of the enemy nations. If enemy nations were to know that there was a second generation ¡®Ling Xiao¡¯ in the Federation, they would definitely n assassinations. Thus, this lock-down order should definitely be follow through. In reality, the reporters who participated in the conference all understood this. From when they heard this information, they knew that they would have to take it with them to their graves.

 Chapter 870 - Going Home Together!

    <h4>Chapter 870: Going Home Together!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Inside the secret base of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, those with the qualifications to watch the live broadcast of the conference meeting were able to know first hand of the decision that the Flying Dragon Special Forces will move out to Haijiao.


    ¡°Any thoughts?¡± Themander of the Flying Dragon Special Forces asked the 10 team leaders in the meeting room.


    Brain One smiled, ¡°I was just getting bored and restless. Going to Haijiao to stretch doesn¡¯t seem too bad.¡± The other team leaders all agreed with that statement. Truth be told, they did not agree with giving up on rescue in the beginning but luckily, General Ling Xiao knew the hearts of the people and spoke out the words in their hearts.


    Themanding officer turned around and looked towards a corner. In the group of people over at the corner, two of the youngest members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces were sitting there, ¡°What about you guys?¡±


    Tang Ningyu thought for a moment and said, ¡°I want to go see this Ling Lan.¡± He wanted to see just how impressive this person was. General Ling Xiao had said that his son was an existence that surpassed him. However, him saying that was not enough to convince Tang Ningyu.


    Mu Chaoran on the other hand just stretched and yawned with a sly look on his face as he smirked, ¡°Ling Xiao¡¯s son. A real divine child. I think he is definitely interesting.¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then you two should follow everyone to Haijiao,¡± said themanding officer decisively.


    Not long after, all the leaders left to go pick their team members. Although Flying Dragon Special Forces was allowed to move out, they still wouldn¡¯t take everyone with them. They still had to leave enough people to handle emergency situations.


    Brain One was the only leader who stayed behind in the meeting room, but no one asked him any questions, as everyone was already used to his behavior. Normally, Brain One would be the one to n the n of attack with themanding officer. This time, he ,of course, would do the same thing.


    After everyone had left, Brain One asked hismanding officer in a confused tone, ¡°Chief, didn¡¯t you always protect Little Tang and Little Mu? Why are you sending them both out this time?¡±


    Themanding officer said in dismay, ¡°Look at how Ling Xiao treats his own son... If I keep protecting them, then they may be overtaken by Ling Xiao¡¯s son, leaving me no chance to ever pass Ling Xiao in this lifetime.¡±


    ¡°Haven¡¯t you been left in the dust by Ling Xiao already...?¡± Brain One thought to himself.


    ¡°Ling Xiao only has one son, and yet he isn¡¯t afraid of sending his son to somewhere as dangerous as Haijiao, so how could I lose to him?¡± Themanding officer was born in the same generation as Ling Xiao, and thus his limelight was overshadowed by Ling Xiao¡¯s shadow. So of course, he didn¡¯t want to lose to Ling Xiao in terms of a sessor too. ¡°Plus, Ling Xiao¡¯s son made those breakthroughs when he was in predicaments. It seems that difficult situations indeed could let someone break through their shell. I was too careful in the past.¡±


    He was somewhat weak in terms of heart. This was because he was depressed after a ssmate of his died during a mission on Azure. Compared to the Ling Xiao, he couldn¡¯t help but hate himself for not pushing to rescue his friend.


    ¡°All in all, I¡¯m putting their safety in your hands...¡± Although themanding officer made the difficult decision, he still asked Brain One to protect the leaders of the younger generation.


    ¡°Understood, chief.¡± Brain One epted the order given to him, and then he began to discuss the ns of the rescue on Haijiao with themanding officer.


    Haijiao had already lostmunication with the Federation for more than three weeks.


    In a dense jungle, a team of broken down miniature sized mechas were carefully moving through it.


    ¡°Regimentmander, is there really still a base on the east side?¡± They were a mecha n from the middle sector who managed to get out with their lives. Now, there were less than 10% of their forces remaining with just a few dozen getting away with their lives.


    ¡°I heard the broadcast. It should right.¡± The regimentmander still remembered that when he entered the east sector, the short radio wave channel suddenly started making some sounds, and after fidgeting it for a few minutes, he could clearly hear the broadcast about a base still holding strong on the east side.


    ¡°I¡¯m just worried. What if it¡¯s Hailiya¡¯s n to bait us into getting caught?¡± One mecha operator, who was following the regimentmander closely, became more suspicious as they got closer to Base 013. They were like birds frightened by the sounds of anything on their entire way to this location.


    ¡°It¡¯s possible, but do we have any other choice?¡± The regimentmander looked towards the staff officer who was kept alive by medicinal agents. In their mechas, there were also two heavily injuredrades. If they wanted to save their lives, they must go to the base for them to get surgery, so even if it was bait, they still had to go.


    ¡°The broadcast has been telling that they are fighting with Hailiya¡¯s forces using guerri warfare. As long as we endure for one more week, the Federation¡¯s reinforcements should be able to arrive... If you think about it, if it was Hailiya¡¯s trap, they wouldn¡¯t say something like this. However, it doesn¡¯t rule out the possibility that this is all a massive trap,¡± said the regimentmander bitterly. ¡°Now, we can only risk it all and try.¡±


    The mecha operators saw the location of Base 013 on their maps and were all in agony. Currently, not only did theyck medicinal agents, weapons and supplies, even their food was just raw vegetation and bugs. They had already reached the point of no return, so even if it was Hailiya¡¯s trap, they could only try their luck.


    Simrly, on a narrow barren path, a Federation soldier with a tattered uniform was carrying a severely injured soldier on his back as he walked straight ahead.


    ¡°Brother Yu, I think I can see our regimentmandering to wee us,¡± the severely injured soldier hung on hispanion¡¯s shoulder and said softly.


    ¡°Nonsense. You¡¯re just tired, just close your eyes and rest, and as soon as you wake up we will be at Base 013.¡± Although he was tired, he still didn¡¯t think about abandoning hisrades. When he heard hisrade talk about nonsense such as seeing their dead regimentmander, he immediately told him to stop.


    ¡°Brother Yu, you¡¯ve already carried me while walking for three straight days with no rest. Thank you for being me, but... I can¡¯t keep dragging you down with me.¡± Taking him like this would kill his only friend left in this world, as only the two of them had managed to stay alive from their mecha n. If it was possible, he wanted to stand alongside with Brother Yu again, but he really couldn¡¯t hold on any longer.


    ¡°Our regimentmander has said before that there are no cowards who gives up in our Ten Commandments Mecha n. You can¡¯t let him down. Now, don¡¯t say anything else. You should be resting.¡± Brother Yu was trying his best to give hisrade the strength to continue living while holding the tears in his eyes.


    ¡°Thank you, Brother Yu. I¡¯m very happy that I could be a member of the Ten Commandments. I¡¯m happy that I had met you. Now, please take us with you and return the Federation. Let¡¯s all go home together...¡± The voice of the soldier, who leaned on Brother Yu¡¯s body, became softer and softer. There was already a short dagger in his left abdomen. He smirked slightly, seemingly with no regrets... In order to give hisrade arger chance to survive, he made the decision to no longer drag him down.


    Seeing this, Brother Yu¡¯s dry eyes became red instantly. Within these past three weeks, he had mourned for onerade after another. In the end, he still couldn¡¯t protect hisstrade. He was now the only one left from the Ten Commandments Mecha n... He lifted his trembling hand as he ripped off the serial number tag from the severely injured soldier¡¯s uniform. He opened the bag on his belt and a bunch of tags were inside it. It was a thick pile. There wasn¡¯t a thousand, but definitely had a few hundred... Brother Yu carefully ced the new tag with the other ones and put it back into the bag on his belt.


    He was going to take hisrades with him to Base 013. They will wait for reinforcements together. Return to the Federation together. Return to the home that had given them birth and nurtured them!


    There were simr scenes happening around Base 013. The soldiers who continued to live brought the hopes of their dyingrades. They continued to move towards the hope in their hearts...

 Chapter 871 - Predicament!

    <h4>Chapter 871: Predicament!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Chief, here is the list of all the refugees who has entered the base!¡± A second lieutenant from the logistics department gave a folder to Lin Zhong-qing.


    Lin Zhong-qing took it and looked it over. He then frowned, ¡°Did they pass the identity check of the mainframe?¡±


    ¡°These are the ones who have passed. Those that didn¡¯t pass has already been injected with restricting agents by the punishment squad,¡± replied the second lieutenant.


    Lin Zhong-qing couldn¡¯t help but be happy that Base 013¡¯s mainframe luckily had all of the information regarding all of the Hailiyan mecha operator on Haijiao. This made sure that Hailiya¡¯s spies couldn¡¯t blend in with the refugees, making sure that Base 013 was safe from the watchful eyes of Hailiya.


    Little Four was very pleased with himself, as this information was gathered from when he was still connected to the Federation¡¯s bases while he was scouting around the bases of Hailiya. It should be said that even the Federation¡¯s mainframe didn¡¯t have information as detailed he had stolen... acquired.


    However, what Lin Zhong-qing was more worried about was not the spies. Instead, he was more worried about...


    Lin Zhong-qing picked up the folders beside him once again. Inside it was the data that showed the amount of supplies and resources avable in the base being in the red. The data estimated that these supplies and resources were only enough for two days. The energy, weapons and equipment could still be salvaged for a longer time, so they were fine on that end, but the food and water situation was dire.


    Lin Zhong-qing picked up the folders and walked briskly towards themand center. When he entered, he saw that it was full of people speed walking around as if they were in a racewalkingpetition.


    Themand center was originally filled with staff from each department of the base. However now, only the regimentmanders of all the ns and the other higher-ups of the base were allowed to be there.


    It should be exined that in the past two weeks, Base 012, 014 and 015 around Base 013 could no longer defend against Hailiya¡¯s military force that was 10 times more in numbers. They had no choice but to abandon the bases and retreat to the center location between all of them, Base 013. In other words, Base 013 had actually be a lone city in the middle of nowhere.


    At that moment, many lieutenant colonels and senior colonels were standing around the virtual screens to coordinate their future. They were the people that were supposed to be on a break today. However, how could they rest easy in their quarters? So, they all went to themand center and helped in predicting Hailiya¡¯s movements, attacks and how to deal with those attacks.


    The person inmand today was Han Jijyun. In the past few days, he and Li Lanfeng switched with each other for the task of coordinating practice battles and discussing with the regimentmanders of all the ns. Although he and Li Lanfeng switched everyday, his face was still showing signs of fatigue. After the forces from the other three bases retreated to Base 013, the pressure on him and Li Lanfeng reached to the point where he almost could not bear with it anymore. This made Han Jijyun, who was a newbie strategist that had onlye into contact with war for a short amount of time, have the illusion of not being able to breathe from the immense pressure. He felt he had already reached his limit. However, when he saw that Li Lanfeng still had fight in him, his own heart began to burn with determination...


    This feeling of being unable topare to someone else made Han Jijyun feel frustrated. It made him want to work even harder and better. However, the more he did this, the more he felt he couldn¡¯tpare to Li Lanfeng. With this mindset, even if they changed shifts, he still wouldn¡¯t be able to rest well...


    Han Jijyun turned to look at Lin Zhong-qing. Lin Zhong-qing just pointed towards Ling Lan¡¯s office and asked Han Jijyun, ¡°Is Boss inside?¡±


    During this time, Boss was always running between the mecha hold andmand center to give orders. Inside the base, all mecha operators who were elite ace or above and didn¡¯t have shifts would stand guard in the mecha hold, prepared for battle at any second. It was also these brave individuals who fended off Hailiya¡¯s probing attacks one after the other, not allowing Base 013 to fall into enemy hands.


    Han Jijyun nodded towards Lin Zhong-qing, gesturing that Ling Lan was in her office. He then surreptitiously put up three fingers. Lin Zhong-qing knew that with the signal that there were three outsiders in Boss¡¯s office.


    Lin Zhong-qing walked into Ling Lan¡¯s office and saw four people sitting in the living room area of the office. Other than Boss, the other three were themanding officers of the Base 012, 014 and 015. The three of them were all smoking with very depressing expressions on their faces. They looked as though they weren¡¯t confident that they would be able to endure this final week.


    Lin Zhong-qing saluted them and then walked in front of Ling Lan. He handed the folder to Ling Lan and said, ¡°Regimentmander, please take a look at this.¡±


    Ling Lan opened it and scanned through it. She saw the numbers of the food and water supply and immediately understood the situation they were in.


    She handed the folder back to Lin Zhong-qing and coldly said, ¡°It seems that our prediction is right. Hailiya indeed wants to use those refugees toe to us to deplete our food and water supply.¡±


    ¡°To be honest, in the second week when they crazily attacked our logistics supply convoy that was retreating, blocking off us from bringing supplies into Base 013, I had already though it would be like this.¡± Themanding officer of Base 012 smiled bitterly.


    ¡°Plus, it is even clearer what they are nning when they would stop their chase when those refugees enter Base 013¡¯s territory,¡± themanding officer from Base 015 took a huge whiff of his cigarette and said. However, even though they knew about the enemy¡¯s ns, they couldn¡¯t just not ept the refugee soldiers. They were still not cold-blooded enough to abandon their ownrades.


    ¡°This Major Lin has probably sent over the data regarding the supplies in the logistics department. The situation is really bad, right? How many days can we hold out for?¡± Themanding officer of Base 014 looked towards Lin Zhong-qing. Lin Zhong-qing often reported to Ling Lan regarding the internal workings in the logistics department. Thus, thesemanding officers had already remembered him by name.


    ¡°Optimistically, two days,¡± Ling Lan said inly.


    ¡°I had also predicted that there was only a few days left. Three days ago, when the food that was handed out began to decrease, I knew that the base couldn¡¯t hold out for much longer,¡± said themanding officer of Base 014. ¡°In the past few days, the soldiers of the Federation who retreated into Base 013 have begun to increase in numbers. Thus, the pressure on the logistics department is bing heavier and heavier... We have reached the predicament where we must go out to find food, and as luck would have it, the enemy is all around us... Now, if a group was to go out, they would probably get jumped on by multiple groups. The enemy ns on letting us rot in Base 013. No wonder in the past few days, there were only small assaults. Their intentions were to test us, not to attack us.¡± If the enemy had used the same amount of military force that was used against Base 014, Base 013 may not be able to hold on for more than two or three days.


    Ling Lan said calmly, ¡°Not only that, Hailiya still wants to use Base 013 to catch more fish...¡±


    The threemanding officers looked towards Ling Lan with confused expressions. They couldn¡¯t understand what Ling Lan was saying.


    ¡°If these soldiers from the Federation were to do guerri warfare around their area continuously, they would constantly be harassed and disturbed. Thus, it would be better for them to let them go and retreat into Base 013 for two reasons. One, it would deplete our resources and supplies much quicker. Two, they would be able to destroy all of us at once!¡± Ling Lan knew very well that if these refugee soldiers from the Federation were to actually hide in the corners around Haijiao, it would be impossible for Hailiya topletely annihte them without a few years of battle.

 Chapter 872 - One Last Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 872: One Last Attack!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan had another bolder thought. ¡®What if Hailiya is even more ambitious? Maybe they are trying to use Base 013 as a bait to lure the reinforcements of the Federation. Do they want to destroy the reinforcements too?¡¯


    No matter what, their decision allowed Base 013 to have some time to breathe. As for the problem of food and water... a cold light shed passed Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. She must solve this problem. If not, her base would just internal copse, turning them into helplessmbs for the wolves stalking them outside of the base to gobble up.


    ¡°Killing two birds with one stone.¡± Themanding officer of Base 012 gave a bitter smile. The other party knew all their actions and schemed against them. However, there was nothing they could do. They could only ept it.


    ¡°If we want to continue resisting, we need to have ample food and water. These are two big problems that we must solve.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression turned serious.


    ¡°But the enemy is all around us. Where are we supposed to find more food and water?¡± Themanding officer of Base 014 sighed.


    Themanding officer of Base 015 suddenly thought of something. He narrowed his eyes as he asked, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, are you nning to snatch resources from our enemy¡¯s bases?¡± This was an impossible task as their enemy¡¯s bases were constantly heavily guarded. They wouldn¡¯t be able to sneak in.


    ¡°Why not?¡± Ling Lan replied calmly. Where else would they able to get food and water? Ling Lan knew that this n was absurd but she must do this, even if she had to suffer heavy consequences, she must do it.


    She was not someone who would wait for death. In order to gain the slimmest chance to survive, she would attempt the impossible even if she had to risk her life!


    ¡°If I had to choose between waiting for death and attempting onest stand, I¡¯ll always choose to fight onest time!¡± Ling Lan spoke her thoughts out firmly.


    The three othermanding officers just stared at the ceiling while they smoked silently. Smoke filled up the room. Ling Lan¡¯s cold face appeared hazy among all the smoke. However, the determination in her eyes was like a gleaming light in the haze.


    ¡°Just like what Regiment Commander Ling has said, if we don¡¯t do it, we can only wait for death. I¡¯ll take the risk.¡± Themanding officer of Base 014 extinguished his cigarette on the ashtray as though he was extinguishing his hesitation.


    ¡°I also agree!¡±


    ¡°Me too!¡±


    Themanding officers of the other two bases finally made their decisions too. They knew that this decision might cause the death of thousands of soldiers but this was the only way more soldiers were able to survive andst till the reinforcements came. They must do this.


    Ling Lan smiled slightly when she heard the othermanding officers agreeing with her. With the strength of her own base, she was unable to snatch enough supplies to feed 500,000 soldiers, so she had to coborate with the other three bases. Since this was supplies for all the four bases, Ling Lan hoped that the people in the four bases would all participate and not let her base take all the risk. In this aspect, she was selfish.


    After an intense discussion, every base decided to bring two mecha ns to participate in this mission. 250 Ace Mecha n sent three teams, team 02, team 03, and team 08 to participate in this attack.


    The person-in-charge of this mission was the team leader of team 02, Liu Furong. The team leader of team 08, Han Jijyun, would be the adviser of this mission while the team leader of team 03, Qi Long, was in charge of guarding and being alert of their surroundings. At first, Ling Lan wanted to ask Li Lanfeng and his team to go for this mission. However, Han Jijyun volunteered instead and his attitude to go was resolute so Ling Lan decided to let him go.


    These people break into different teams and quietly left the base through different paths. Base 013 had been sending numerous mecha operators out to patrol the surroundings so such actions didn¡¯t catch the attention of Hailiya.


    After one day, all the mecha operators that participated in this mission left their bases.


    At themand center, Zhao Jun looked at the cold-looking Li Lanfeng and said with regret, ¡°Unfortunately, we can¡¯t go.¡±


    Li Lanfeng nced at him and replied indifferently, ¡°If you want to go, why didn¡¯t you volunteer like Han Jijyun? Why are you regretting now? You deserve it.¡±


    Zhao Jun pouted. ¡®Look, you are feeling angry because Han Jijyun snatched your mission, right? Why are you being so blunt? You look calm but in your heart, you must be fuming.¡¯


    ¡± I want to but I don¡¯t dare to speak when I saw Boss¡¯s cold face.¡± Zhao Jun felt wronged. Their situation was getting worse. The force of presence from their Boss grew stronger. He wanted to ask but after speaking with her for a while, he swallowed his words back. He really didn¡¯t dare to do it. Zhao Jun respected Han Jijyun. At least, he had the courage to voice out his opinion.


    Li Lanfeng scoffed, ¡°Look at you. You are muscr and bulky but deep inside, you are a coward. Useless.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m useless. What about you? Why didn¡¯t you talk to Boss?¡± Zhao Jun was angry. Since Li Lanfeng¡¯s mission got taken away, why didn¡¯t he reject Han Jijyun when he had the chance to?


    Li Lanfeng pursed his lips. Would he admit that he got stunned by Han Jijyun¡¯s intimidating gaze? If he knew that this was going to happen, he wouldn¡¯t have pressured Han Jijyun when they were discussing at that time. Isn¡¯t he just creating trouble for himself? After being suppressed by him for a long time, Han Jijyun finally exploded in anger and snatched his mission. It didn¡¯t matter that Han Jijyun snatched his mission but he missed a chance to fight alongside Ling Lan because of this!


    That¡¯s right, their regimentmander, Ling Lan, sneaked out of the base too. No one knew that Ling Lan had left the base to participate in this mission.


    Base An of Hailiya was not the closest base to Base 013. It used to be on the second line of defense on Hailiya¡¯s side. Of course, now, it was no longer a second line of defense base. Most of the mecha ns had moved to the bases in front of them. Hence, this base became a half-defense and half-logistician base.


    It was understandable that this base became like this. There were only a few bases resisting against them now, and these few bases were still able to survive because Hailiya let them. Many frontline soldiers didn¡¯t understand why their superiors made this decision but they still followed the order.


    After looking at the map of the bases of Hailiya, she chose to attack this base.


    Ling Lan knew that the bases around Base 013 would be heavily armed to ensure that they would be able to attack them anytime. To support these bases, they must get supplies from the bases behind them. That was why sheid her eyes on the bases on the second line of defense. She also asked Little Four about the conditions of the bases before the satellites were destroyed. Little Four told her that there was a natural ice cave below Base An. This was a perfect location to keep all the food and water supplies.


    This prediction was risky. If she was wrong, they would return empty-handed. Then, Hailiya would be on their guard after this so they wouldn¡¯t give her another chance to snatch food supplies. The survival of their bases depended on this mission.

 Chapter 873 - Let’s Be Crazy Once!

    <h4>Chapter 873: Let¡¯s Be Crazy Once!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Regimentmander, there is movement.¡±


    ¡°Hide!¡± The instant the order was given, the bunch of mechas flying quickly in the air instantly disappeared from the air. They seemed to have practice this many times.


    A group of patrolling mechas from the Hailiyan army could be seen flying towards their direction from afar, but since the mechas from the Federation hid well, nothing suspicious was discovered by the patrolling mechas. The patrolling mechas just did a routine search around the area and left.


    When the patrolling mechas disappeared, a relieved voice sounded on the team channel. ¡°Mecha operators in 250 Ace Mecha n have amazing battle skills and their equipment is impressive too. Their radar¡¯s range is wider than any special radar system made by the Federation. Furthermore, due to the signal interference on the radar, we were able to discover our enemy but they couldn¡¯t detect us.¡±


    Song Yiqing feltplicated. He didn¡¯t know how he should feel towards 250 Ace Mecha n and their regimentmander. He should hate them but...


    Song Yiqing remembered what had happened yesterday night.


    Just like any normal day on Haijiao for the past few weeks, he was calcting the number of casualties in his n for the day. As the battle got harder, even young masters like him were also sent to the battlefield by Ling Lan to help distract their opponents.


    Song Yiqing finally understood what his grandfather meant when he said that he would truly grow up after experiencing the battlefield. He thought that during the past year of him being on the battlefield, he had already experienced everything he could on the battlefield. Now, he knew that what he experienced in the past didn¡¯t amount to anything at all. It was all because Du Mingyi was not as bold as Ling Lan. Ling Lan was willing to send Song Yiqing to the most dangerous ce while Du Mingyi only let them out to clean the stage after they won a battle. They were essentially there to be the janitors of the battlefield, there to just kill some half-dead bugs to im some merits.


    After days and days of the war, Song Yiqing¡¯s thoughts of fighting for power diminished slowly. He finallyprehended the responsibility of being a regimentmander. It was not to win nor to gain honor. It was to ensure that his team members had the highest chance of staying alive.


    Song Yiqing looked at the number of casualties today, his heart felt bitter. Although the people in his mecha n were all people with special backgrounds who were timid, like to hide, and always ran away after firing one shot, he had been living with them for many years. He didn¡¯t feel too good when he saw the people he was familiar with leaving him one by one.


    Suddenly, he felt the air turning cold in the office. He looked up immediately and saw a person with a cold aura sitting on the sofa in his office. The person was crossing his arms and was looking at Song Yiqing coldly.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling!¡± Song Yiqing gritted his teeth. ¡®He is a domain realm master so he always likes to appear so suddenly to scare him. This is infuriating.¡¯


    ¡°Regiment Commander Song, are you done with your work for the day?¡±Ling Lan put her feet down and stood up calmly.


    Song Yiqing threw the pen in his hand on the table and leaned back in his chair. He said angrily, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, why did youe to visit my 224 Mecha n?¡± He had a grudge against Ling Lan, so they usually wouldn¡¯t interact with each other unless they had something to discuss. Hence, Ling Lan must have something important to tell him when she visited him in the middle of the night.


    ¡°There is no food and water left in the base.¡± Ling Lan went straight to the point.


    ¡°I know. Everyone¡¯s water supply is reduced recently and the amount of food distributed is also halved. Something must have happened.¡± Song Yiqing was not stupid. When the amount of food and water supply changed, he knew that the situation in the base was getting worse.


    ¡°So, we must snatch food and water from our enemy¡¯s base,¡± Ling Lan told him her decision.


    ¡°Are you crazy!¡± Song Yiqing was dumbstruck. He sprung up. ¡®Damn it, does this person thinks that the enemy¡¯s bases belong to him? Does he think that he can just walk in and take whatever he wants?¡¯


    ¡°If I don¡¯t be crazy, we will all die.¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently, ¡°And I don¡¯t want to die. Thus, I decided to be crazy.¡±


    Song Yiqing¡¯s expression changed. He couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Have themanding officers from the other three bases agreed?¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t want to die too.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned sharp, seemingly able to slice through the air in front of her.


    Song Yiqing got enlightened. If the other threemanding officers didn¡¯t agree, Ling Lan would have used some vicious method to force them to agree.


    He dabbed his face uncontrobly with a small napkin and helplessly said, ¡°Since you want to be crazy, do it then. Why bother telling me...¡± Song Yiqing suddenly realized something. His face turned pale. He pointed at Ling Lan then pointed at himself while he stammered, ¡°You... you... want me...¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right! I want you to go crazy with me!¡± Ling Lan calmly announced Song Yiqing¡¯s ¡®death sentence¡¯.


    ¡°I¡¯m not going. That¡¯s the same as seeking for death!¡± Song Yiqing shouted angrily.


    ¡°Not going?¡± Ling Lan nced at Song Yiqing. ¡®This fellow always like to avert from risk.¡¯


    The growing malicious intent in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes made Song Yiqing¡¯s heart drop. ¡®Will this God of Death kill him if he didn¡¯t agree?¡¯


    ¡°Ling Lan, the Second Marshal is my grandfather,¡± Song Yiqing shouted, trying to remind Ling Lan that his grandfather would not let him off if he killed him.


    ¡°Stop shouting. No one can hear you. Have you forgotten that you are in my domain?¡± Ling Lan was speechless as she looked at Song Yiqing. ¡®She isn¡¯t nning to do anything to him. Does he have to look like ady that was being bullied by a hooligan? Why is he so frightened?¡¯


    ¡®If I want you to die, I won¡¯t leave any traces behind! You¡¯ll die quietly!¡¯ That was what Song Yiqing thought Ling Lan meant by her words. Song Yiqing suddenly felt a chill down his spine, ever since he met this bastard, Ling Lan, his image of this world had copsed around him.


    ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± Song Yiqing finally knew that he had no choice but to do Ling Lan orders him to do. He pped his face and forced himself to regain hisposure.


    ¡°Help transport food and water.¡± These people were bad at fighting but they were very good at running away and hiding. If that wasn¡¯t the case, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t have chosen them.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t like to use a single criterion to determine whether a soldier was good or not. She always felt that as long as a person performed to his advantage well, he would be an outstanding soldier even if he didn¡¯t have many merits. She used this mindset when assigning work to her logisticians. Now, she was doing the same to 224 Mecha n.


    224 Mecha n were not good at fighting. But, snatching supplies required good hiding skills and the instinct to know when one should run away. This mecha n was the most suitable mecha n for this mission.


    ¡°You are taking us away from the battlefield?¡± Song Yiqing stood up straight.


    Ling Lan just scoffed at his outburst. Song Yiqing¡¯s face turned red. ¡®Fine, my mecha n was not good at fighting. They would be a burden to other people.¡¯


    ¡°After we attacked the base, you¡¯ll be in charge of moving the supplies. After that, don¡¯t care about anything behind you and rush back to the base. The other mecha ns will stop the enemies for you.¡± Since she nned to let Song Yiqing bring his mecha n out, she must tell him about her ns to clear him of his worries.

 Chapter 874 - Create A Murder!

    <h4>Chapter 874: Create A Murder!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Just stopping the enemies?¡± Song Yiqing noticed what Ling Lan said.


    ¡°Do you still want us to protect you all the way back to the base?¡± Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows. ¡°Merits are not so easy to get. However, this is your only chance to use your own effort to gain some merits.¡±


    After she finished speaking, Ling Lan moved instantly to Song Yiqing¡¯s side. She patted his shoulder and said softly, ¡°Opportunities don¡¯te often. You don¡¯t want to go back with shame, right?¡±


    Before Song Yiqing could reply, Ling Lan started to disappear slowly in front of him. Then, she was gone. It was as though her arrival was just Song Yiqing¡¯s illusion.


    Song Yiqing almost fainted from anger. ¡®This bastard just threw me a sentence that perked up my interest and then left without waiting for my response. I had never seen such an irresponsiblemanding officer before.¡¯


    However, he was right. He didn¡¯t want to go home in shame. He wanted to stand proudly in front of his grandfather, his father, and those siblings who looked down on him.


    Song Yiqing clicked his tongue. Just like this, he was lured into this crazy mission. Fortunately, that bastard still had some conscience. Ling Lan gave each of his team members a radar system so that they were able to hide from all of Hailiya¡¯s patrols. The journey was frightening but they managed to reach the first line of defense safely.


    ¡°Regimentmander, what should we do now?¡± They had arrived at their destination, but the person in front didn¡¯t know what he should do now.


    ¡°What should we do now? Settle down here and have a rest. We¡¯ll wait for Commander Ling¡¯s orders,¡± Song Yiqing replied to the person angrily. They finally managed to sneak into their enemy¡¯s territory. Now, they had to wait for the news from Ling Lan¡¯s side. ¡®Are they able to take down one of their enemy¡¯s bases?¡¯


    As one of the regimentmanders participating in this mission, Song Yiqing didn¡¯t know which base Ling Lan was nning to attack. Actually, it should be said that all the regimentmanders didn¡¯t know which base they were attacking, only Ling Lan knew.


    At this moment, Ling Lan, team 03 and team 08 of 250 Ace Mecha n were hiding on a leveled in on a mountain not far away from Base An. They had been here for almost two hours.


    ¡°An is heavily guarded. The protective shield is also very stable. These are the observations we have noticed during these two hours. Patrol teams appear every half an hour. Each patrol team patrolled for one hour each. There are 24 mechas in one patrol team. The numbers never change and they were neverte too.¡± Han Jijyun had recorded all their observations during these two hours in the hopes of finding a chance to attack them.


    ¡°If any patrol team iste, the base might reprimand and punish them. We are unable to make use of the patrol team to sneak in.¡± Han Jijyun frowned. He knew that the bases of Hailiya were heavily guarded but he didn¡¯t expect the security to be so tight. There was no loophole for them to make use of.


    ¡°We can forget about sneaking in.¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡°Regimentmander?¡± Everyone looked at Ling Lan in shock.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be in charge of sneaking in.¡± Ling Lan pointed at a patrol team that just flew out of the base. ¡°What you all have to consider is whether you all could finish these mechas off within three minutes after they moved out of the radar range of the base.¡± They had around the same amount of people as the patrol team. It wouldn¡¯t be easy killing all of them within such a short time.


    Qi Long narrowed his eyes as he started calcting the possibility ofpleting this mission.


    Liu Furong brought his team 02 to meet the other eight mecha ns at the designated gathering spot. Only Qi Long and Han Jijyun¡¯s team moved with Ling Lan.


    ¡°Leave them to me.¡± Qi Long clenched his fist firmly. This was a hard task but he couldn¡¯t disappoint his Boss. He mustplete this mission.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. One hourter, your 24 mechas will disguise themselves, and I¡¯ll let this base¡¯s mainframe ept your entry request. Remember, there is only one chance.¡± Ling Lan looked intently at Qi Long and Han Jijyun¡¯s team.


    An had be a logistician base but there were still many patrols here. There should be at least 20 mecha ns guarding this base. Once these mecha ns noticed any signs of an invasion, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get out of the base with the supplies. No matter how strong they were, they couldn¡¯t kill their way out of the base. Thus, Qi Long must seed.


    ¡°After entering the base, kill all the enemies that see you. Do not let anyone have the chance to reveal your identity,¡± Ling Lan said coldly. To ensure everyone¡¯s safety, they must learn to be cruel.


    ¡°I understand!¡± The team members of the two teams felt their hearts tightening. Their regimentmander¡¯s vicious words let them understand that they would face a brutal battle once they entered the base.


    Ling Lan scanned them intently. She noticed that all of them were serious, including Qi Long and Han Jijyun. Compared to their team members, Ling Lan was more worried about Qi Long and Han Jijyun. She was afraid that they wouldn¡¯t be able to get used to this malicious style. However, they proved her wrong. She underestimated them.


    Ling Lan finally felt at ease. She waved her hands and asked the two teams to carry out their mission. As they were leaving, her body disappeared slowly.


    Qi Long looked at his Boss who was going to sneak into their enemy¡¯s base alone. He took a deep breath and ordered, ¡°Let¡¯s get started!¡±


    More than 20 shadows flew towards the back of the mountain. After some time, a group of mechas secretly moved out of the mountain and followed the patrol team from afar.


    Half an hourter, the entrance of the base opened, allowing the mechas to get ejected out.


    ¡°There seemed to be mist today.¡± One of the mecha operators felt that his windshield seems blurry today, so heined about it.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this normal? It¡¯s near the evening now. The light is not strong, so it¡¯s normal to have some mist. Don¡¯t forget what we have below our base.¡± Another mecha operator wasn¡¯t concern about the mist. There was a natural ice cave under their base, so it wasmon for them to see mist around their base in the morning and evening.


    ¡°It has been really hot recently. I haven¡¯t seen mist in a long time though,¡± the mecha operator said.


    ¡°Stop talking. Hurry up andplete our patrol mission so that we can go back and rest.¡± Their team leader stopped his team members from jabbering any longer. They could get some rest between their patrolling mission but the high intensity of the mission made them tired mentally. The team leader just wanted toplete his mission perfectly. He didn¡¯t care about the useless weather conditions.


    ¡°Yes, team leader!¡± The team members didn¡¯t dare to talk anymore. They ended their conversation and focused on operating their mechas.


    ¡°Domains can turn invisible but traces can still be found. I¡¯m still unable to turnpletely invisible in my gaseous state.¡± Ling Lan had realized that her gaseous state was not perfected yet. Or rather, she only managed to master her liquid state.


    ¡°Luckily, Hailiya didn¡¯t expect a domain realm masters to invade them. If they had installed energy level detectors, I¡¯ll be unable to sneak into the base so easily.¡± Ling Lan felt relieved.


    ¡°Weird!¡± One of the logisticians in the mecha hold touched his head curiously.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Another logistician asked in puzzlement.


    ¡°Nothing. I might have seen wrong.¡± The logistician couldn¡¯t exin his feelings too. He shook his head. He just felt that the air in the mecha hold seemed fresher today. However, when he noticed that hisrade didn¡¯t sense anything, he thought that it was his illusion.


    Ling Lan moved around the mecha hold and came to the JMC office. Her body appeared slowly.


    The female soldiers in the JMC office were all conversing happily. They didn¡¯t know that something bad was going to happen soon.


    One of the female soldiers sensed something and turned around instantly. She saw a soldier who was not wearing the Hailiya military uniform looking at them. When the female soldier looked over, the person smiled at her.


    The smile was enchanting. She thought that she saw an angel from heaven.


    ¡°Sleep.¡± A soft and gentle voice sounded beside her and she happily fell into a deep sleep.


    Ling Lan retracted her smile and the warmth emitting from body disappeared, leaving only frigid coldness. ¡°Little Four, control the base.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Boss!¡± Little Four immediately took the order and controlled the entire JMC system. Then, he controlled the mainframe of the base too.


    Ling Lan looked at all the female soldiers in the room. They had smiles on their faces but in actual fact, they were killed as blood flowed out of their eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. In the past, the Federation experienced the JMC bloodbath. Now, she was recreating another JMC bloodbath. She had no choice. For the sake of the soldiers of the Federation, she had to do this.


    ¡°Let me send you all down. Youe with nothing and will leave with nothing. Leave this dirty world purely.¡± Ling Lan lifted her right hand and said softly, ¡°Ice Blockade.¡±


    All the female soldiers turned into ice statues. Then, Ling Lan snapped her fingers. The ice statues suddenly exploded, turning into countless crystal shards that dissipated slowly as they fall to the ground.


    Ling Lan looked at the clean JMC office. She turned her head firmly and left. She needed to kill more enemies within this one hour.


    The massacre of An was secretly in progress but the mecha ns positioned there didn¡¯t know it.


    Themanding officer of the base was having a gathering with the various regimentmanders of the mecha ns. They were chatting and eating happily. To them, sess was already in their hands, so it was reasonable for them to have a celebration.


    ¡°On the east side, only a few bases are still resisting fiercely against us. Unfortunately, the centralmand center doesn¡¯t want us to finish them off yet. If not, Haijiao will already be ours.¡± Themanding officer grabbed his wine ss and started conversing with the regimentmanders beside him.


    ¡°Themander-in-chief must have some ns that we don¡¯t know about,¡± one of the regimentmanders said. He took a sip of his red wine and sighed. ¡°I won¡¯t truly feel safe until Haijiao became part of our country.¡±


    ¡°Yes, we all know how tough the soldiers of the Huaxia Federation are. If we let them off like this, what if...¡± Another regimentmander remembered how they battled with the Huaxia Federation for so many years and felt worried.


    ¡°Stop talking nonsense.¡± Themanding officer red at them. They were going to achieve victory soon. If someone heard what he said, they would be in trouble.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m too drunk for my own good. Let¡¯s cheers for Hailiya¡¯s victory! Cheers!¡± The regimentmander knew his mistake so he quickly raised his cup and offered a toast to their country.


    ¡°For victory! Cheers!¡± Everyone raised their cups and toasted one another. The atmosphere turned lively again.


    At this moment, a cold voice sounded behind them. ¡°For my victory.¡±


    Everyone turned around in astonishment. A young soldier wearing the Federation¡¯s military uniform stood behind them. He had a smile on his face and a ss of red wine in his hand. He was raising his cup as though he wanted to offer them a toast.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Themanding officer shouted in surprise. He regained his senses and shouted, ¡°Guards, guards...¡±


    The guards, who realized that something was amiss, rushed over. The moment they tried to reach for their beam guns, Ling Lan flicked her fingers. Then, the guards exploded and turned into a pile of blood and meat. The gruesome scene caused all the officers to turn pale in the face.


    Ling Lan scoffed at themanding officer. She said indifferently, ¡°Stop shouting. It¡¯s useless. They can¡¯t save you.¡±


    By now, themanding officer had realized that there were multiple thin strings around the room. There were even thin strings twirled around their bodies. He finally understood what had happened. The guards must have been turned into meat paste because of these thin strings.


    Themanding officer was an experienced soldier, so he knew what all this entails. His face turned green as he said, ¡°Domain realm master!¡±


    ¡®Why did a domain realm master appear on such a minor battlefield?¡¯ The existence of domain realm masters was like imperial operators. They were not allowed to enter a battlefield. However, this rule was just not written down in ck and white, unlike the imperial operators and god-ss operators who were forbidden to enter a battlefield based on the Human United Agreement. It was just a verbal agreement between the various countries. Of course, to prevent the invasion of domain realm masters, some more important bases had energy detectors installed. However, Base An was a second-grade defense base. It was a normal base with logisticians and with supplies kept in it. Therefore, it didn¡¯t have such detectors installed. Hence, Ling Lan was able to sneak in secretly.


    Actually, Ling Lan chose this base because by-passing its security was not too hard. She had to thank Little Four for this. Before the satellites were destroyed, Little Four had been looking through all the bases so Ling Lan knew the security level of each base urately.


    ¡°Who are you? Why are you at our base?¡± As expected of amanding officer. He was able to calm down quickly.


    ¡°Stop acting. Don¡¯t you know who I am?¡± Ling Lan sneered. She waved her left hand. The loose thin string became tighter. The officers got restricted by the strings so they couldn¡¯t move anymore. They wanted to contact their mecha ns but now, they couldn¡¯t because they couldn¡¯t even touch theirmunicators.


    ¡°You are really careful.¡± Themanding officer smiled bitterly when he saw the dejected looks of the regimentmanders. He thought that the other party was young and unreliable so he attempted to keep him distracted with his words. That way, his subordinates would have the time to call for reinforcements. However, this young soldier saw through his n.

 Chapter 875 - Cover Their Retreat!

    <h4>Chapter 875: Cover Their Retreat!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    A cold sh of light shone passed Ling Lan¡¯s face. She raised her hand again and the strings around the officers became tighter. The expressions on their faces showed they were visibly in panic. They could already feel the string slicing through skin and feel drops of blood dripping down their bounded body to the floor.


    ¡°We can talk! Let¡¯s be civil for a bit and talk, alright? Don¡¯t be rash. What do you want? I¡¯m willing to cooperate!¡± Themanding officer could feel death looming over his head, so he became very agitated as he spurted out words to calm Ling Lan down.


    ¡°Yes, yes. We are willing to cooperate.¡± Under the threat of death, the regimentmanders were all willing to take a step back.


    ¡°Little Four, have you gathered all the information?¡± Ling Lan asked Little Four in her mindscape.


    ¡°Yes, Boss. I¡¯ve settled everything,¡± Little Four replied in a proud tone.


    Ling Lan smiled and the cold aura around her disappeared. However, themanding officer was surprisingly not shocked by her smile at all. Thinking that Ling Lan was distracted by something, he released all his force of presence to break free from the thin strings. But, as someone at the peak of Qi-Jin, he was unable to resist against a domain realm master.


    Bang! Blood appeared everywhere as sttered all over. The officers that were still celebrating a moment ago had turned into piles of blood and meat.


    ¡°Quite surprising for amanding officer of a base like this. He is not weak. What a good disguise. Luckily, I¡¯m always careful.¡± Ling Lan looked at the gory scene and mocked themanding officer. When these officers were pleading her to think about her actions, they coborated with one another, trying to send the news that they were invaded out of the base. If Little Four hadn¡¯t taken control of the mainframe, this piece of news would have been sent out of the base.


    ¡°Little Four, make a fake order by themanding officer stating that the entire base is allowed to celebrate Haliya¡¯s victory.¡± Ling Lan talked so much with these people because she wanted to get samples of the images and sounds of themanding officer. She needed those images and sounds to stop the mecha ns in the base to move around, as this would decrease the chance of finding out their supplies were being transported out.


    ¡°Yes, Boss.¡± Little Four imitated the voice and attitude of themanding officer and sent an order down to the base. He told everyone that Hailiya had sessfully gained control of Haijiao. Hence, themanding officer specially allowed the various departments to celebrate together, even the logisticians should celebrate too.


    This news was sudden but Hailiya had already taken over most of Haijiao. Thus, the news was kinda expected. All the soldiers in the base cheered excitedly. None of them suspected that the order was fake. The destruction of the satellites disrupted the contact of the Federation¡¯s bases, but they also caused Hailiya¡¯s bases to lose contact with each other. They were only able to send and receive news within their own base like a bubble. This stopped Ling Lan¡¯s lie from being exposed.


    When the logisticians heard this piece of good news, they followed theirmanding officer¡¯s order and went back to their camps to celebrate. Theirmanding officer specially allowed them to drink for this asion, and the soldiers had not had any alcohol for a long time, so they took the alcohol sent by the logisticians and started drinking without any worry. The entire base turned into heaven.


    ¡°They are so lucky. Why do we have to be on duty! Ah!¡± One of the logisticians on duty stared at the empty mecha hold andined in frustration.


    ¡°Bear with it. Once thest two patrolse back, we can leave,¡± the other logistician consoled him. If they didn¡¯t service those mecha operators, the mecha operators would definitely kick up a fuss. This was why they still remained here.


    ¡°Hey, they seemed to be back.¡± Someone heard the sound of mechas entering the ports and immediately reminded his co-worker to start working.


    ¡°Hurry up!¡± They quickly returned to their positions and prepared to wee their mecha operators back.


    The mechas entered one by one. The logisticians wanted to send the mechas back into their designated positions but one of the logisticians suddenly said, ¡°Strange. This mecha looks weird.¡± The color was the same as their mechas but the design was different.


    The logistician pondered for a while. Suddenly, he realized that these mechas, besides their color, looked more like the mechas from the Federation.


    ¡°No. That is...¡± The logistician finally understood what was happening. He shouted in fright. However, he suddenly realized that he wasn¡¯t able to make any sounds, as a strong hand holding his throat firmly.


    ¡°Boss is right. The crucial moment is after we enter the base.¡± Qi Long brutally snapped the logistician¡¯s neck and fresh blood stained his hand. It became red. He frowned slightly. Then, he slowly put the person down. The next second, he appeared in another position and killed all the logisticians on duty.


    Soon, all the team members in team 03 and team 08 entered the mecha hold and they saw Qi Long giving them a v-signal. Then, they knew that the people in the mecha hold had all been killed.


    ¡°Did you destroy their bodies?¡± Han Jijyun asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have an ability like our Boss¡¯s. So, I just threw the corpses into a small room.¡± Qi Long was frustrated. He admired his Boss¡¯s domain, as it had an amazing technique that could destroy bodies and remove all traces of the murder.


    ¡°We need to find a safe transport route.¡± Han Jijyun reminded everyone of their next task. ¡°I wonder where Boss is. Is he in danger?¡± Han Jijyun knew that his Boss could handle everything but he still couldn¡¯t help but worry.


    ¡°Since we are able to enter sessfully, it means that Boss has controlled the mainframe of the base.¡± Qi Long had ultimate confidence in his Boss.


    ¡°But, Boss is alone...¡± Han Jijyun muttered.


    ¡°The people in the base are all celebrating now. As long as you don¡¯t make a hugemotion, you won¡¯t alert them.¡± At this moment, Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice appeared on their team channel.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Qi Long and Han Jijyun shouted in surprise.


    ¡°You all broke the military rule. After this mission, go and get your punishment from Zhong-qing,¡± Ling Lan reminded them that they broke the military rule again indifferently.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Qi Long and Han Jijyun willingly epted their punishment. This was nothing to them. As long as their Boss was here, they felt at ease.


    ¡°This is the transport route. You all are in charge of guarding the area. Once you notice someone is nearby, kill him.¡± Ling Lan passed them a map with the transport route marked on it. At the same time, she gave them an order to kill.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Qi Long and Han Jijyun led their team and positioned themselves on this route. They guarded the route carefully. Once someone got near them, they would kill him secretly.


    Liu Furong received an order to enter the base. He led the eight mecha ns that had already gathered together and surreptitiously entered Base An.


    Thus, under Hailiya¡¯s nose, the soldiers from the Federation sneaked the supplies out of Base An. Their mechas that were supposed to be fighting in wars became transport mechas. They ced heavy bags of supplies on their shoulders and between the arms of two mechas. Then, these mechas quickly left the base.


    Liu Furong and Han Jijyun¡¯s team left with these mecha ns too. They were supposed to escort the eight mecha ns to ensure their safety. As for Ling Lan, she was still in the base as she had other ns for Base An. Han Jijyun was weakerpared to the other people in the base so letting him stay behind would just be putting him in unnecessary danger. Hence, she only allowed Qi Long¡¯s team to stay back.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to return Base An unscathed to Hailiya. Hailiya destroyed numerous of their bases so it was time to collect some interest.


    Ling Lan sat in themand center. The massive screen in front of her showed her eight mecha ns leaving Base An. If she didn¡¯t take control of the mainframe of the base and gave that fake order, the mechas from the Federation wouldn¡¯t be able to sneak into the base so easily and steal the supplies without anyone noticing.


    Hailiya didn¡¯t choose to attack Base 013 because they knew that they didn¡¯t have many supplies left, right? Unfortunately for them, they would never expect her to have a bugged character like Little Four. Without Little Four, she wouldn¡¯t be able to do this.


    ¡°Boss, I¡¯ve put TNT in all the locations you gave me.¡± One hourter, Qi Long and his team finallypleted the mission Ling Lan gave them.


    ¡°Wait.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t move, She must wait till the transport team was at the first line of defense of Hailiya before letting the bombs explode, as this would attract the attention of the bases at the first line of defense, thus giving more time for the transport team to retreat.


    Of course, she and Qi Long¡¯s team would be surrounded if that happened. They might not even be able to go back.


    Time passed slowly. Ling Lan sat in the quietmand center like a rock statue. She seemed to be asleep and resting. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and stood up.


    ¡°Qi Long, go back to the mecha hold. Prepare to leave.¡± It was time to act.


    Qi Long was already feeling a little frustrated from waiting. He instantly turned attentive and quickly ordered his team to leave their positions.


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± Everyone shouted excitedly when they saw Ling Lan.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go. This time, we need to fight our way back. Leave your final words here.¡± Ling Lan threw a recorder into Qi Long¡¯s hand.


    Qi Long was stunned. He immediately understood what Ling Lan meant. He held on the recorder andughed. ¡°Father, I¡¯m d to be able to be your son. I¡¯m d to be able toe to Haijiao with my Boss and work together with him to let ourrades retreat safely. I¡¯ll remember the teachings of the Qi family and not embarrass you all. Goodbye!¡±


    After he finished speaking, he passed the recorder to his deputy. The mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n were all experienced mecha operators who had been through many battles, so they all understood what this meant. They left their final words and then passed the recorder back to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan on the recorder and looked into the camera. She remained silent for a few seconds before saying, ¡°I¡¯m happy to be able toe to this world and be your child. Father, mother, I love you!¡±


    After she finished speaking, she kept the recorder safely. She turned serious and said, ¡°Enter your mechas.¡±


    Everyone entered their mechas. Ling Lan stomped her left leg and flew into the auxiliary seat of Qi Long¡¯s mecha, as her mecha was still in the mountains. Thus, she must use Qi Long¡¯s mecha to leave the base.


    Ling Lan ordered Little Four to explode the bombs after 10 minutes of them leaving.


    Little Four asked Little Blossom to give him one of his replicas and he stuck it into the mainframe of base An.


    Little Four gave a burst of evilughter. ¡°I hope they don¡¯t try to recover the data in the mainframe. If they do... they are dead!¡± Little Four immediately started the countdown for the bombs. Then, he returned back to Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape. There were no satellites so Little Four could only rely on radio waves to move. Hence, he couldn¡¯t stay too far away from Ling Lan. If not, he wouldn¡¯t be able toe back.


    Ten minutester, a huge explosion urred in Base An, destroying the entire base. Most of the drunk soldiers in the base died in the explosion with only a few lucky ones managed to survive.


    At the centralmand center of Hailiya, themander-in-chief was looking at the details of the reinforcements by the Federation. Their current position was written in the documents too. He was thinking about the best time to conquer Haijiao.


    Ling Lan was right. Hailiya had a huge appetite. They wanted to gobble up Haijiao as well as reinforcements sent by the Federation. This was why they surrounded Base 013 but didn¡¯t seize it. The moment the reinforcements entered Haijiao¡¯s atmosphere, they would destroy the bases left and make Haijiao theirs. That way, the reinforcements would be invaders of Hailiya. Then, they would be able to send their two god-ss operators as well as their imperial operators to instantly destroy the hundred fleets sent by the Federation. This would prove that Hailiya was not a small country that could be easily messed with.


    ¡°Beep beep beep!¡± His mainframe suddenly sounded. It was the signal for an emergency. Themander-in-chief quickly answered the call. ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°Commander-in-chief, we just received news that a base at our second line of defense, Base An, suddenly exploded.¡± An agitated voice sounded in the mainframe.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Themander-in-chief sprung up. ¡°Have you sent someone over?¡±


    ¡°The bases around it had sent a patrol team over. They mentioned that the entire base was destroyed, and it was not an ordinary explosion.¡±


    ¡°I know. Immediately report if there are new updates.¡± Themander-in-chief hung up and walked out of his office.


    ¡°Commander-in-chief!¡±


    ¡°Commander-in-chief!¡±


    The staff officer department was in a frenzy.


    ¡°Lieutenant general, you know what happened to An, right?¡± A major general saw themander-in-chief walking over and immediately spoke to him.


    ¡°Yes. Let¡¯s take a look at the map.¡± Themander-in-chief asked the person toe with him. They walked over to the 3D map in the center of the room. They looked at the burning base and frowned.


    ¡°Did you notice anything?¡± Themander-in-chief looked at Base 013 which was more than ten miles away. He was clear about what had happened.


    ¡°There are two possibilities. One, the surviving soldiers from the fallen bases gathered together and attacked the base. Second, Base 013 attacked An with a motive.¡± The major general spoke his mind. ¡°I¡¯m more inclined to believe the second possibility.¡±


    ¡°Major General Luo Qi, you are indeed the leader of the God-Killers. You saw the truth at a nce.¡± Themander-in-chief nodded. He touched his chin and asked the adviser beside him. ¡°How long has Base 013 been surrounded?¡±


    ¡°16 days,¡± the adviser replied instantly.


    ¡°How many soldiers do they have left?¡± Themander-in-chief asked again.

 Chapter 876 - Can’t Fool Him!

    <h4>Chapter 876: Can¡¯t Fool Him!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°There are around a million soldiers.¡± The adviser had always been keeping watch of the data in Base 013 so he was able to answer the question immediately.


    ¡°A base usually only has a month¡¯s worth of supplies for 300 thousand soldiers. Now, there are three times more soldiers. After 16 days, they must have reached their limit.¡± Themander-in-chief sneered. ¡°An is a base where we store our supplies, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes. From the information we received, An had be a logistics base,¡± the adviser replied as he looked at hismander-in-chief with respect.


    ¡°The supplies should be still on the way back to their base!¡± Themander-in-chief was certain. ¡°We must stop them.¡±


    They must not let Base 013 get the supplies. What he wanted was a harmless base that could be easily broken when it needed to be. He didn¡¯t want a base filled with well-rested and energetic soldiers who were able to fight with them fiercely.


    ¡°When was thest time Base An contacted the other bases?¡± Themander-in-chief looked intently at the huge 3D map.


    ¡°Ten minutes ago,¡± the adviser hurriedly replied.


    ¡°They should be here now!¡± Themander-in-chief pointed at the area between Base An and their first line of defense. His eyes turned cold as he gave his new order. ¡°Order all the bases on the first line of defense to send an army to move towards Base An. We must destroy this bunch of bastards.¡± How dare these people to provoke them. They must pay the price for it.


    ¡°Yes,mander-in-chief.¡± The adviser took the order and left.


    Themander-in-chief looked at Major General Luo Qi and his cold aura suddenly disappeared. He smiled and said, ¡°Major General Luo Qi, I forgot to ask you if you have anything else to add on.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m wondering if it¡¯s possible that they have already reached this area.¡± Luo Qi pointed at the area between Base 013 and the first line of defense.


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. The mainframe of Base An lost contact with us 10 minutes ago. Even if we give them the full ten minutes to retreat without dodging our patrols, they won¡¯t be able to reach here.¡± Themander-in-chief smiled as he shook his head. The God-Killers were used to fighting small battles so they didn¡¯t understand how the mainframe worked. Unless themanding officer of Base An betrayed Hailiya, they wouldn¡¯t let their enemy transport the supplies out without informing the centralmand center.


    Anyone that was able to be themanding officer of a base was loyal soldiers. They would never betray Hailiya.


    ¡°I see! It seems like I¡¯m thinking too much.¡± Major General Luo Qi only expressed his thoughts. Since themander-in-chief said that it was impossible, he didn¡¯t probe further.


    The two people continued discussing the situation for a while. After that, they made some arrangements. Major General Luo Qi left the centralmand center and returned to the camp of the God-Killers. He brought some people and flew towards the area around Base An. They were here to cooperate with the other bases there and search for the thieves who stole their supplies. Themander-in-chief felt that their opponent must have at least sent out 15 to 20 mecha teams. If not, they wouldn¡¯t seed. It wasn¡¯t hard to find such a huge number of people.


    Soon, Luo Qi sent the various teams in God-Killers to different bases. He also led another team to Base Jiemi which was closest to Base 013. He waited there for the other teams to report their results from the search.


    When a few teams reported that they didn¡¯t find any signs of any transport mechas, Luo Qi felt that something was amiss. The mainframe of the base contacted the other bases 10 minutes before the explosion. However, who could prove that during that time, the base still belonged to Hailiya at that time? Why couldn¡¯t it be already controlled by the Federation? They could have used fake news to fool them. Themanding officers of the bases went through many tests before they took on this position but after so many years on the battlefield, no one could be certain that he still remained loyal to Hailiya.


    If themanding officer betrayed Hailiya and opened the doors of his base to their opponents, the mainframe couldn¡¯t do anything too. It was not human. It didn¡¯t have the ability to think so it wouldn¡¯t know who was their enemy without themanding officer¡¯s orders.


    ¡°There is a loophole!¡± If their opponent purposely dyed the time for an hour, the transport mechas would have reached the area between their bases and Base 013. Their action of patrolling the area near Base An gave their opponents the chance to sneak away.


    If this was true, the person who thought of this scheme was very smart. Unfortunately... malicious intent shed passed Luo Qi¡¯s eyes. They couldn¡¯t fool him.


    Luo Qi didn¡¯t inform anyone else with his revtion. He just led his team out of Base Jiemi and flew towards Base 013. Luo Qi felt that the transport mechas were in this area but he couldn¡¯t be 100% certain. Hence, he wanted to search this area first and confirm his suspicions. Of course, he was confident that if his team found the transport mechas, they would be able to slow them down, as his team was full of imperial operators. They just had to block their opponents and wait for reinforcements to arrive.


    There was also another reason why Luo Qi acted secretly. Since themander-in-chief said that their opponent was in the area between Base An and their first line of defense, if he insisted on searching in another area, he would be humiliating themander-in-chief. It was alright if his prediction was correct but if it was wrong, he would embarrass himself. Luo Qi was an arrogant person so he couldn¡¯t ept this.


    ¡°Hide!¡± The newest model of radar system Chang Xinyuan created allowed the transport team to evade another Hailiya¡¯s patrol.


    ¡°Leader Liu, after we cross this line of defense, we¡¯ll enter Base 013¡¯s territory.¡± Han Jijyun looked at the small battle map on the screen as he whispered to Liu Furong.


    ¡°Yes. Once we enter Base 013¡¯s territory, we¡¯ll be safer. But, we are able to have such a smooth journey because our regimentmander attracted the attention of our enemies. They should be in danger now.¡± Liu Furong frowned as he looked back at the direction where Base An was at.


    The patrols they met during this period of time were all heading towards Base An. They just searched through this area haphazardly. Liu Furong had many battle experiences so he knew that Ling Lan must have done something to Base An to cover them up.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s expression darkened when they heard this. He said indifferently, ¡°Our mission is to escort the supplies to the base safely. As for our Boss... I believe that he will be able to solve their crisis.¡±


    ¡®Why aren¡¯t I stronger? If I were stronger, I would have been able to stay at the base along with Qi Long.¡¯ For the first time, Han Jijyun hated himself for being too weak. If he could, he wanted to be a mecha expert like Qi Long and stand beside their Boss in a battle.

 Chapter 877 - The Path Home!

    <h4>Chapter 877: The Path Home!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°You¡¯re frustrated and annoyed,¡± Liu Furong suddenly said. This was exactly what he felt many years ago. He hated himself for being too weak. He couldn¡¯t do anything but watch as hisrades indirectly or directly killed themselves for him. He was unable to forget that sense of helplessness until today.


    Han Jijyun didn¡¯t reply to him. He just looked started at the patrolling mecha flying past him quietly.


    ¡°This was how I felt many years ago. However, I woke up from that nightmare toote. You still have a lot of timepared to me.¡± Liu Furong sighed. ¡°Since you know that you are weak, just work hard to catch up with them. Don¡¯t get abandoned by them again and wallow in sadness alone.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Leader Liu,¡± Han Jijyun sincerely thanked him.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go. Just like what you said, our mission is to escort the supplies to our base safely. There are a million soldiers still waiting for us.¡± Liu Furong looked at Base 013. The people inside were waiting for these supplies so that they could stay alive and continue fighting for their lives. Because of this, their regimentmander exposed himself even though he knew that he would be surrounded. He attracted their enemy¡¯s attention just to increase the chance of them running away with the supplies.


    This was all for one goal: To ensure the survival of more soldiers from the Federation. This was the only way they could maintain theirst hope.


    ¡°We mustn¡¯t disappoint our regimentmander,¡± Liu Furong said seriously. If they weren¡¯t able toplete this mission, they wouldn¡¯t be able to face their regimentmander who cleared the path for them by risking his life.


    ¡°Yes, I willplete this mission.¡± Han Jijyun clenched his fist firmly and gritted his teeth. He saw that there were no mechas around them so he immediately gave an order to move.


    ¡°Regimentmander, you brought Leader Han out because you wanted him to recognize his ws, right?¡± Han Jijyun was not so decisive in the past. Even if he knew that his judgment the correct one, he would still discuss it with the other leaders first before making the final decision. Now, Han Jijyun was much more resolute.


    ¡®Han Jijyun is extremely lucky to have such a caring and thoughtful regimentmander.¡¯ Liu Furong looked at Han Jijyun¡¯s mecha with envy, while also feeling pity and dejected. If his previous regimentmander was like Ling Lan, his life might have been very different.


    Han Jijyun and Liu Furong didn¡¯t know that someone had seen through Ling Lan¡¯s scheme and were moving towards them quickly.


    ¡°Regimentmander, we didn¡¯t find any transport mechas.¡± Luo Qi¡¯s team searched their surroundings as they moved. But, they didn¡¯t find anyone. Luo Qi started to suspect himself. ¡®Am I wrong?¡¯


    ¡°Regimentmander, we will be entering Base 013¡¯s territory if we continue moving forward,¡± the team member reminded him.


    ¡°Continue.¡± Luo Qi didn¡¯t give up.


    The instant they entered the territory of Base 013, the long-range cannons in Base 013 were fired in their direction. Luo Qi operated his mecha and dodged the attack easily. He scoffed, ¡°Why is this base still so fierce? Themander-in-chief might have a hard time trying to defeat them if he was nning to surround them and make them lose without a fight.¡±


    ¡°Regimentmander, He¡¯er Li reported that there is an imperial level operator in Base 013 who is stronger than him. He is dead set about taking revenge so he even used the high-efficiency restorative agents. He didn¡¯t have to use it, but to ensure that he can participate in thest battle, he used it fearlessly.¡± One of the team members appeared schadenfreude. The high-efficiency restorative agent was good but there were some side effects. Thus, they would only use it if they were in dire circumstances. The God-Killers were banned from using this agent. However, He¡¯er Li got impacted heavily by the loss so he ignored all consequences and used this agent in the hopes of getting revenge.


    ¡°So they have a pir of support.¡± Luo Qi smiled with disdain. This person would only give them support for this period of time. When the timees, he would personally kill their hope and destroy their faith.


    Victory will always belong to Hailiya! Luo Qi was filled with confidence, as the Flying Dragon Special Forces was nothing to him. They would be defeated by the God-Killers easily. In the human world, the Flying Dragon Special Forces was ranked second in the list of elite mecha forces of every country while the God-Killers were ranked fifth. Luo Qi didn¡¯t really ept this ranking, as he felt that they were no weaker than the Flying Dragon Special Forces. He believed that they were given such low ranking inparison to the Flying Dragon Special Forces because the Federation was stronger than their country, Hailiya. This time, after they took over Haijiao and defeated the Federation, the God-Killers would overtake the Flying Dragon Special Forces and be the ultimate second rank.


    As for the first ce, he didn¡¯t think about it at all. The Devilbeast from Caesar was able to remain in the first position because they had produced many God-ss operators. This was why they were above the Flying Dragon Special Forces, as the Flying Dragon Special Forces never produced any god-ss operators. This had caused many controversies about the Flying Dragon Special Forces¡¯ ranking. It was what made the other elite mecha forces unwilling to ept their position too.


    ¡°Regimentmander, we still didn¡¯t find anything. We¡¯ll be entering Base Yaqi¡¯s territory soon.¡± After flying for some time, one of the team members reminded him again. ¡°Shall we go back to Base Jiemi?¡±


    ¡°Fine, let¡¯s go back,¡± Luo Qi said dejectedly. Suddenly, he thought of something and said hurriedly, ¡°Wait!¡±


    ¡°Zuo Luo, open the map,¡± Luo Qi ordered his mainframe.


    ¡°Zuo Luo understands.¡± Soon, a miniature map of the battlefield appeared on his mecha screen. Luo Qi looked at it and realized something.


    ¡°Ai¡¯er, inform Base Yaqi that we¡¯ll be entering their territory to carry out a search mission.¡± Luo Qi ordered excitedly, ¡°Finally, I¡¯ll be able to catch you all. I didn¡¯t expect you all to make a roundabout. Unfortunately, you all are still going to be caught by me.¡±


    As expected, after entering the territory of Base Yaqi, they found some traces of the transport team. Luo Qi and his team quickly controlled their mechas and flew over. After flying for some time, they saw a huge army in front of them moving silently across the territory of Base Yaqi. They were about to enter the territory of Base 013.


    ¡°Regimentmander, we really found the transport team. We really found them.¡± The team members shouted happily. This would be a great merit.


    ¡°This is bad. Our enemy has found us.¡± Liu Furong saw their opponent¡¯s mechas flying towards them and knew that they were in a lot of danger.


    Han Jijyun quickly moved closer to Liu Furong¡¯s position and saw the familiar mechas. Blood seemed to be drained out from his face when he said, ¡°It¡¯s those imperial operators.¡± ¡®Damn it, why did we meet these fellows? Without their Boss, they couldn¡¯t resist them.¡¯


    Liu Furong¡¯s gaze turned cold. Since they couldn¡¯t evade them, they had to take them on forcefully. Their regimentmander exposed himself so that they would be able to leave safely. Now, the transport team was about to enter the territory of Base 013. How could they let these bastards stop them from going home?

 Chapter 878 - Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 878: Attack!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Team 02, follow me! Leader Han, I¡¯ll pass the transport team to you.¡± Liu Furong threw this sentence down and led his team to block the attack of their opponent.


    Han Jijyun saw this and immediatelymanded, ¡°Team 08, attack together.¡±


    He knew that team 02 would be unable to block these mecha operators who were all imperial operators. Hence, hemanded his team to fight along with Liu Furong.


    He knew that his power was too weak to participate in this battle so he operated his mecha and came to the front of the transport team. He urged the various mechas to move quickly.


    Since they were found out, there was no need to hide anymore. The mechas all rushed towards their base.


    A team member from Luo Qi¡¯s team noticed that the transport team stopped hiding and were moving quickly towards Base 013, so he hurriedly reminded his regimentmander. ¡°Regimentmander, they are trying to escape.¡±


    ¡°Bastards! Have you contacted Base Yaqi and Base Jiemi yet?¡± Luo Qi cursed. These people didn¡¯t panic when they saw him. Instead, they rushed forward decisively. ¡®Do they even know we are imperial operators?¡¯


    ¡°Regimentmander, we are unable to contact Base Yaqi and Jiemi. The signals around us are in a mess.¡± One of the team members noticed this situation and quickly reported it to Luo Qi.


    After Liu Furong found that their enemy had seen them, he turned on his signal interference device decisively. Imperial operators were frightening but they could still force themselves to fight with a 12-man-team. If the imperial operators called for reinforcements, they would really have no chance of escaping.


    From the start, Liu Furong had decided to fight with the imperial operators until either side gotpletely annihted.


    The mecha operators in the God-Killers were not stupid, so they immediately knew what the other party wanted to do. One of the team membersughed uncontrobly. ¡°Regimentmander, they still dare to fight with us. What imbeciles.¡±


    ¡°They won¡¯t give up until they die. Jia Na, bring your team and mess up the transport team. Don¡¯t let them escape.¡± Luo Qi sneered. Even if there were no reinforcements, they were able to finish off these people.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Senior Colonel Jia Na brought his small team of three mechas and left the main team. They quickly rushed towards the transport team.


    ¡°Deputy Yao, bring your team and stop those three mechas.¡± Liu Furong was observing his surroundings carefully so he didn¡¯t miss that sneaky team of mechas. He quickly gave an order to his deputy.


    ¡°Yes.¡± The deputy leader of team 02, Yao Jian, was an elite ace too. He brought his small team and left the main group without any hesitation.


    The mechas from the two sides collided with one another. A starting of a brutal battle.


    At Base 013, Li Lanfeng frowned when he saw the mechas from God-Killers circling their base.


    ¡°Is this a form of provocation?¡± He saw the mechas evading their attacks easily. They even flew low and almost touched their base. Zhao Jun, who was beside Li Lanfeng, mmed the table in front of him in anger.


    ¡°What is the use of doing this?¡± Li Lanfeng closed the file in his hand and stood up with a cold expression. He walked to the full-length window and looked at the imperial mechas which were moving further and further away.


    ¡°That is all because you won¡¯t allow us to go out and fight.¡± Zhao Jun red at Li Lanfeng¡¯s back. If it wasn¡¯t for Li Lanfeng, he wouldn¡¯t be sitting here and stomping his feet in frustration.


    ¡°Besides our regimentmander, who is their match?¡± Li Lanfeng looked at the mechas as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. ¡®Am I supposed to send them to death? Rabbit wille back and reprimand me for acting rashly if I did something like that. I won¡¯t make such a mistake that would risk the rtionship between Rabbit and me.


    No one expected Hailiya to be so bold to break the United Nations Agreement by sending so many imperial operators disguised as ace mecha masters. Unfortunately, they didn¡¯t have any evidence. They only knew their level because they exchanged blows with them but this couldn¡¯t be used as evidence against them.


    ¡°Are we supposed to just let them off like this?¡± Zhao Jun was unable to stand this provocation. He stomped his feet angrily.


    ¡°They never did this before...¡± Li Lanfeng muttered to himself. ¡°Why did they change their style of attacking and became so arrogant? They used to be very cautious.¡± He quietly pondered about this question for a while.


    Suddenly, he thought of something. He hurriedly walked to the 3D map and looked at Base An¡¯s position. Then, he looked at Base 013 and he started calcting in his heart.


    ¡°They came from Base Jiemi. Now, they are moving towards Base Yaqi.¡± If everything was smooth, the transport team should be on their way back now. Hailiya must have realized that their supplies were snatched but were unable to find the transport team.


    They must have found nothing at the territory of Base Jiemi... If they weren¡¯t at Jiemi, they must be in Yaqi¡¯s territory!


    Li Lanfeng understood why the imperial operators appeared on top of Base 013. They were searching for the transport team that went to snatch their supplies.


    He charged to the mainframe and called Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang. He said agitatedly, ¡°Leader Yang Mingzhi, Leader Gu Dongyang, leave the base with your teams immediately. I¡¯ll send you your mission and destination in a while. Time is tight. Please do not dy.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang had been waiting at the mecha hold all these while. When they heard the order, they were shocked. ¡®Is Li Lanfeng asking them to fight against those arrogant imperial operators?¡¯ However, they remembered Li Lanfeng¡¯s personality. He was calm and never acted rashly. Something bad must have happened for him to have no choice but to send them out.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang didn¡¯t know what had happened, but they didn¡¯t dare to waste any time. They arranged their team members to be ejected out of the base in the quickest time possible. Soon, sounds of mechas getting continuously shot out of the base were heard. The mechas flew around and arranged themselves in two teams. Then, they rushed towards the direction where the imperial mechas went.


    Li Lanfeng sent his prediction and the calcted position of the transport team to Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang as soon as possible.


    Zhao Jun stared at Li Lanfeng as he carried out his actions. When he saw the content of Li Lanfeng¡¯s message, he said hurriedly, ¡°Lanfeng, brother, I want to go too...¡±


    Li Lanfeng turned around and looked at Zhao Jun. His expression was stern. ¡°Zhao Jun, our opponents are imperial operators.¡±


    What he meant was that Zhao Jun was stillcking in terms of ability. That was why he didn¡¯t order Zhao Jun, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi to lead their teams out. In terms of mecha piloting, these two experienced mecha operators were only one level below Ling Lan, so those two team leaders were the best candidates to reinforce the transport team.

 Chapter 879 - It Could Only Be Me!

    <h4>Chapter 879: It Could Only Be Me!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Lanfeng, if I¡¯m afraid of danger, I won¡¯t be able to improve.¡± Zhao Jun was resolute. ¡°I already missed my chance to advance on Azure. I don¡¯t want to miss this chance again.¡±


    ¡°Even if you might die?¡± Li Lanfeng told Zhao Jun every possible oue.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Zhao Jun replied firmly.


    ¡°I¡¯m just amoner. If I didn¡¯t befriend you and follow Boss Ling Lan, I might be satisfied with my current status. However, if I stop moving forward now, I won¡¯t be able to find my position in Lingtian anymore.¡± Zhao Jun seemed a little lost. ¡°There is no weakling in Boss Ling Lan¡¯s team. Lanfeng, you are afraid of being abandoned by Ling Lan, right? Me too! I don¡¯t want to be left behind alone. I don¡¯t want to see your backs anymore. I don¡¯t want to get further and further away from all of you. I want to fight with you all and walk till the end with everyone.¡±


    Zhao Jun revealed his true thoughts. Li Lanfeng had been lost before, and so did he. Li Lanfeng apanied Ling Lan for a period of time when he was young but he didn¡¯t. The distance between him and Ling Lan¡¯s team was the greatest. Although his Boss tried his best to be fair, he could still feel the difference between him and the other people. Xie Yi was in the same awkward position as him. However, Xie Yi was in a slightly better situation than him, as he had been with Ling Lan for a longer period of time.


    The person who couldn¡¯t find his position in Ling Lan¡¯s team was him. He kept this uneasiness deep inside his heart, but this feeling of uneasiness It gave him a strong desire to be more powerful.


    Li Lanfeng was shocked after hearing what Zhao Jun had said. He didn¡¯t expect the confident and aggressive Zhao Jun to feel unconfident too. This feeling of uneasiness ballooned even further when Zhao Jun couldn¡¯t advance to the domain stage when seemingly everyone around him was already in the domain stage. Hence, he wanted to challenge the impossible this time.


    ¡°Fine.¡± Li Lanfeng finally replied after keeping quiet for some time.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a chance. However, you must promise me that you¡¯lle back safely.¡± Li Lanfeng stared at Zhao Jun intently with eyes filled with sincerity and seriousness. Zhao Jun managed to convince him, and as Zhao Jun¡¯s close friend, he must support his decision.


    ¡°Lanfeng, thank you for trusting me. I¡¯ll definitelye back.¡± Zhao Jun nodded and quickly left themand center.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Zhao Jun¡¯s back and feltplicated. He was touched and consoled at the same time. However, most of his heart was filled with a strong fighting desire. He whispered to himself, ¡°It seems like I¡¯m not the only one who doesn¡¯t want to be abandoned by you. But, I¡¯ll not lose to anyone. Rabbit, the person beside you has to be me. It can only be me.¡±


    At this moment, Ling Lan and Qi Long made use of their radar system which was more advanced than Hailiya¡¯s radar system, evading many of the patrolling mechas around them. As time went by, more search parties were sent out by the various bases. The search area got bigger and bigger. It was harder for Ling Lan to evade their enemy.


    Yet, they were only halfway between the first line of defense and the second line of defense.


    ¡°Boss, there is a patrol team 13 degrees to our right and another one at 30 degrees.¡± Qi Long looked at the two teams on his radar and instantly reported to Ling Lan.


    ¡°Calcte their widest searching range. We¡¯ll go around it.¡± Ling Lan was decisive.


    ¡°70 degrees to the left. We can evade them if we move at our fastest speed,¡± The deputy leader of team 03, Jin Lin, answered Ling Lan immediately.


    Without waiting for Ling Lan¡¯smand, the mecha operators from team 03 elerated their mechas to its fastest speed and flew at low heights in the 70 degree direction. They managed to escape the radar of their enemies just in time.


    After escaping many dangers, everyone¡¯s back was soaked full of sweat. They were at a state of high alert every second. If they were found, they would really be surrounded and have almost zero chance of escaping. Before they could heave a sigh of relief, their radar sounded again. Red dots that represented their enemy blinked furiously. This time, there were as many as five teams. They came towards them like a fan. Unless Ling Lan retreated, they wouldn¡¯t be able to evade them.


    ¡°Boss?¡± Qi Long asked nervously.


    ¡°Land immediately and activate the chameleon system,¡± Ling Lan ordered in her cold voice. They mustn¡¯t be discovered now.


    The mechas quickly flew down and activated their chameleon system. They concealed themselves perfectly.


    The chameleon system was hard to get but it was nothing to Ling Lan, as nothing was too hard for her to get. To ensure the safety of the mecha operators in her mecha n, she personally went to look for He Xuyang and got these rare chameleon systems. Because of this, He Xuyang ordered his subordinates to reject all of Ling Lan¡¯s calls and visits in the future. This showed how frightened He Xuyang was.


    This was the reason why Ling Lan dared to bring Qi Long along. Although having the chameleon system didn¡¯t mean that they were 100% safe, it could still fool the normal mecha operators from Hailiya but in the face of the imperial operators, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t sure if they would be fooled too. She suspected that these people had systems that could decode the chameleon system.


    Five patrol teams flew past them. They didn¡¯t seem to have noticed them. Ling Lan felt relieved. She waited for them to leave the range of her radar before letting team 03 moved again. They rose 50 meters into the air and flew low.


    ¡°Boss, they came again.¡± After some time, another patrol team appeared on the radar.


    ¡°Hide!¡±


    Everyone activated the chameleon system again.


    ¡°Damn it. We couldn¡¯t find those thieving rats after searching for so long. Where did those bastards go?¡± This was a small team from the God-Killers. They had been searching for a few hours but found nothing. This made these elites of the elites furious and impatient.


    ¡°Li Ang, our regimentmander said that they might have split up. That¡¯s why he asked us to search carefully. Everyone, be cautious. We¡¯ll definitely find them.¡± As the team leader of this team, Jia Na calmly reminded his team members that their regimentmander had predicted this situation.


    ¡°Do you think that they are hiding?¡± One of the team members voiced out his thoughts.


    ¡°Even if they¡¯re hiding, we¡¯ll find them. We have the most advanced searching system. It is able to detect even the slightest anomaly,¡± another team member said proudly.


    Their country had been preparing for this battle for a long time. The mechas they were operating now were specially built for this war too. It looked like a normal ace mecha but the equipment inside had reached the basic requirements of an imperial mecha. When they operated normal ace mecha, they would only be able to unleash half their abilities. Now, if they operate their current mechas as per normal, they could unleash 70% of their ability. If they were good enough, they might even be able to reach 80%. In simpler words, they were invincible among ace mecha masters.

 Chapter 880 - Found!

    <h4>Chapter 880: Found!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The other mecha operators from the God-Killers all agreed with what their team member had said. Another mecha operator replied, ¡°If they want to escape from us, all of their mechas must install the chameleon system in them.¡±


    ¡°But, how¡¯s that possible? Acquiring the chameleon systemes at a very high cost. Only the top echelon of ace mecha masters have the right and financial capabilities to get this system. Since they have destroyed Base An, they must have more than 10 thousand mecha operators participating in this mission. If there is really a mecha n that had chameleon systems installed in all their mechas, we wouldn¡¯t be able to control Haijiao so easily,¡± the mecha operator denied this possibility.


    The team leader suddenly had another thought. ¡°Do you think that a small team within that 10 thousand mecha operators have the chameleon system installed in their mechas, so that they could scout the area ahead of them to evade us?¡± ¡®Could it be that the scouts found out our patrol routes so they guided the main army and evaded us?¡¯


    ¡°Team leader, what you said is very likely.¡±


    ¡°Damn it, if that¡¯s the case, we might have missed them just now.¡± The members of God-Killers started cursing out loud.


    ¡°Team leader, can the vibration detection system in your mecha see through the chameleon system?¡± This was the newest invention of the Hailiyan R&D department, created specifically to counter the chameleon system. However, this was the first time they used it so no one knew how good its effect was.


    ¡°I¡¯ve already activated it...¡± The team leader looked at his screen and prayed that they would find some traces.


    ¡°There is nothing... there are probably no enemies here.¡± The team leader observed his screen carefully and confirmed that there were no anomalies.


    ¡°Looks like we were too paranoid,¡± one of the team members mocked himself.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with being paranoid? If the regimentmander knew we let them escape because of our negligence, you all will be punished. Since there¡¯s no one here, let¡¯s go look at other ces,¡± the team leaderughed as he scolded them.


    ¡°Yes, team leader.¡±


    The members of the God-Killers flew towards the direction where Ling Lan and her team were at.


    Just as they were about to fly out of the range where Ling Lan was, the team leader vibration detection system started beeping.


    ¡°What happened?¡± The team leader got a shock. ¡®We didn¡¯t see anything just now, right? Why was my rm sounding now?¡¯ He searched in front of him but there was nothing. He was confused. Suddenly, he thought of something and quickly searched behind him.


    Around 3km behind him, many red dots started appearing on the screen. Enemy mechas appeared in the area they just flew by.


    The team leader reacted quickly. He knew that these mechas must have the chameleon system on them. The vibration detection system took some time to process the feedback it got, so he almost missed Ling Lan and her team.


    ¡°Prepare for battle. These thieving rats finally appeared.¡± The team leader licked his lips in excitement. After he killed them, he would be able to gain some merits to enjoy back home.


    ¡°Yes, team leader.¡± His team members shouted in excitement. They turned their mechas and moved towards the position where Ling Lan and her team were hiding.


    Ling Lan thought that she escaped this time too, but when their opponent started flying back towards their direction quickly, Ling Lan knew they were probably exposed.


    She ordered calmly, ¡°Everyone, prepare for long-range attack.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± The mecha operators from team 03 silently took their beam guns and aimed it at their opponents. They waited for their opponents to enter their guns¡¯ range.


    Ling Lan watched them as they got nearer and nearer. She suddenly hesitated. If their opponents didn¡¯t discover them and just wanted to lure them out, they would be exposing themselves if they start firing. However, if their opponents discovered them and they didn¡¯t do anything, they would lose their advantage of using long-range attacks. Ling Lan really didn¡¯t want her team to fight against imperial operators using close-range attacks.


    Within a few seconds, their opponents entered their guns¡¯ range.


    She never left her fate to luck. Ling Lan made a decision in an instant. Her gaze turned cold and she shouted, ¡°Shoot!¡±


    The mecha operators were already well-prepared so they all pulled the trigger of their guns. More than 20 beams shot towards the members of the God-Killers.


    In the face of this sudden attack, the members of the God-Killers moved elegantly in the air and sessfully evaded the first round of attack.


    The mecha operators of team 03 had expected this, so they weren¡¯t flustered at all. If they were so easy to deal with, they wouldn¡¯t be imperial operators anymore.


    The mecha operators of 250 Ace Mecha n, besides the people from Ling Lan¡¯s battle team, were all experienced soldiers who had been through countless battles. Thus, each of them had their own specialized shooting skills. They knew that if they didn¡¯t kill their opponents, they wouldn¡¯t be able to go back alive. Hence, they had no choice but to use their most powerful shooting skills.


    Bang! One of the mechas of the God-Killers was shot. Thereafter, other mechas got continuously shot too, but the mechas seemed to be not affected by any of the shots.


    The reason for that was because these mechas were special mechas with strong defensive systems. The normal ace mechas couldn¡¯t bepared with these mechas. Hence, even though they were shot, it didn¡¯t affect theirbat abilities. On the other hand, these proud members of the God-Killers felt humiliated when they got shot. It ignited the viciousness in their hearts. They wanted to kill everyone in team 03 to vent their anger.


    ¡°Why are these mechas as hard as a tortoise shell?¡± One of the members of team 03 startedining. Normally, after a few rounds of shooting, they should be able to destroy one or two mechas. Yet, none of the mechas were destroyed.


    ¡°Their mechas had been modified.¡± Ling Lan replied calmly, ¡°Prepare for closebat. Remember to attack their weak spots.¡±


    At Ling Lan¡¯s order, all the mecha operators took their cold weapons. Then, a vicious fight with the mechas of the God-Killers had started.


    Ling Lan¡¯s target was the team leader of this group. It was obvious who the team leader was, as Ling Lan managed to find him with just one look.


    The team leader was one of the strongest among his team, so only Ling Lan had the ability to fight with him. The mecha operators from team 03 knew this so they evaded the team leader to find a suitable opponent for themselves.


    When the team leader saw a normal ace mecha attacking him, he sneered in derision. He nned to use his ability to tell his opponent that his sacrifice was not enough to stop this massacre.


    Bang! Two giant swords collided. The team leader, who was confident that this attack was enough to knock his opponent back, was the one moving back.


    ¡°What is happening?¡± The team leader was bbergasted. He moved his fingers quickly as he tried to stabilize his mecha.


    The moment his mecha managed to stand up straight, he saw his opponent raising his sword and shing it at him.


    ¡®This is bad!¡¯ The team leader eximed in his heart. He raised his sword hurriedly to block the attack.

 Chapter 881 - My World!

    <h4>Chapter 881: My World!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Ling Lan shed her sword three times. With each sh, the force behind the sword was greater than thest, and with the final sh, the team leader of this small team lost his bnce and fell down from the sky.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± The team leader felt frustrated. Under the ferocious and fast attacks of Ling Lan, he was unable to unleash his full strength. Hence, he could only passively defend himself. ¡®Is he really just a normal ace operator?¡¯


    When the team members saw their team leader falling to the ground, they eximed in shock.


    ¡°Team leader!¡± They wanted to help their team leader but the mecha operators from team 03 held them back with their unrelenting attacks. Team 03 had more mecha operators than them so each imperial operator had to deal with two mecha operators from team 03 fighting with him. However, as imperial operators, they were still able to even out the situation. They couldn¡¯t retreat but they were not at a disadvantage too. This proved that the ability of an imperial operator and an ace mecha master were vastly different.


    The team leader couldn¡¯t allow himself to be on the losing end in front of his team members. The pent up frustration of him not being able to proactive attack came bursting out which allowed him to release his full strength. Around 100 meters from the ground, he managed to stabilize his mecha.


    Ling Lan followed closely behind him. She raised her sword and prepared to kill this team leader once and for all.


    Hzzg! Ling Lan felt her sword cutting through the air. Her opponent actually dodged her attack.


    Everyone spectating the fight saw the team leader suddenly twisting his mecha to the left in a seemingly impossible way. This unexpected movement allowed him to evade the fatal blow.


    Qi Long narrowed his eyes when he saw this. This movement was simr to the technique his Boss had taught him. ¡®Did Hailiya manage to learn Boss¡¯s ultimate technique? Did someone from their team betrayed their Boss and the Federation?¡¯


    The team leader looked at the data on his screen and cursed silently. That single movement destroyed two of his secondary engines. This kind of unexpected movement which go against inertia relied heavily on the mecha¡¯s engine. But, to dodge the fatal blow, he had no choice but to make this sacrifice.


    However, he still managed to turn the tides around. Even with one engine, he could fight with this mecha and show Ling Lan who was the actual boss.


    The team leader raised his sword and spun it around. Then, he shed it at Ling Lan, who had lost her bnce.


    ¡°Ah, regimentmander!¡± This time, the members of team 03 were the ones feeling agitated.


    But, their worry was for nothing. Ling Lan lost her bnce but she twisted her mecha¡¯s leg and kicked her opponent¡¯s giant sword away.


    Bang! Ling Lan made use of the force from this kick to distance herself from her opponent. Then, she stabilized herself.


    Bang bang bang! When the team leader saw that Ling Lan was trying to distance himself from him, he started to go on the offensive. He propelled himself forward and attacked Ling Lan furiously.


    Ling Lan blocked all the attacks without any error. These two instances show that Ling Lan was able to switch between attacking and defending seamlessly. Only the team leader of this God-Killers team was able to be on par with Ling Lan in this aspect.


    When they saw their regimentmander blocking the attacks perfectly, the members of team 03 heaved a sigh of relief. However, this was just the beginning of their end. The members of the God-Killers got stunned by the abilities of team 03 but as imperial operators, they adapted to the situation quickly. When they saw their team leader taking control of the fight, they started to concentrate to take control of their fights too.


    ng! A mecha from team 03 didn¡¯t dodge in time and got hit. It managed to escape the fatal blow but one of its arms was still chopped off. If his teammate didn¡¯t cover him up in time, he would already be killed.


    Ling Lan, who was in an intense fight with the team leader, was burning with anxiety. They needed to kill this team quickly. If they could not kill all of them before their reinforcements arrive, they would all be dead.


    Ling Lan gritted her teeth. Her gaze turned cold as she decided to use the forbidden skill that Mu Shui-qing banned her from using.


    ¡°Ling Lan, this technique you thought of is very powerful, even I have to be careful when using it. However, you must know that the stronger your technique is, the greater the bacsh will be. Once the bacsh exceeds your tolerable range, your spiritual power will be permanently damaged, which might affect your future advancements. Please be aware of this.¡± Ling Lan remembered the warning Mu Shui-qing gave her.


    ¡°Master, I know what can be done and what can¡¯t be done. My future is important but it¡¯s nothingpared to the lives of myrades.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned resolute as she activated the forbidden skill.


    The portion of her spiritual power that had been sealed got released in full force. The sudden rush of spiritual power frightened Little Four greatly. He shouted in agitation, ¡°Boss, you¡¯re crazy.¡±


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s body was especially strong now, Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power was even stronger. After learning the skills of the Divine Command sect from Mu Shui-qing, her spiritual power became so strong that even Little Four was in awe.


    But to ensure Ling Lan¡¯s safety, Little Four sealed a portion of Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power. He didn¡¯t expect Ling Lan to unseal this portion of spiritual power personally.


    ¡°Little Four, if anything happens to me, you¡¯ll take control of the mecha temporarily.¡± Ling Lan dared to use this method because she knew that Little Four was here to help her if anything was to go wrong. If she suffered from a bacsh and was unable to control her mecha, Little Four would be able to take over the mainframe of her mecha and help her escape.


    Little Four wanted to say something, but when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s resolute gaze, he bit his lips and nodded.


    Spiritual power could be seen visible seeping through the cockpit of her mecha. Waves of spiritual power came crashing down on everyone. But in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, the time had stopped moving. No, time didn¡¯t stop, it just got slower. It moved so slowly that Ling Lan was not able to feel it.


    This was her spiritual world. In this world, her vision pierced through the cockpit of all the members of the God-Killers team and the members of team 03. She could see... the dread, the nervousness and the excitement on their faces.


    ¡°This is my world. If I want it to exist, it¡¯ll exist. If I want to destroy it, it¡¯ll be gone.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes turned cold. ¡°Yin Yang World, devour and devote. Activate!¡±


    The peaceful spiritual world started to swirl clockwise, warping everything in the scene into two different coloured Taichi fishes. Half of the spiritual world turned into a ck fish with serene white eyes as its eyes started devouring and twisting all the energy present, draining all of the spiritual power of half the spiritual world. The other half of the spiritual world turned into a white fish with calm ink ck eyes. Energy was continuously gushing out from the ink ck eyes of the white fish continuously, filling up half of the spiritual world with spiritual power.


    This was a frightening and powerful technique that Ling Lan hadprehended when her spiritual power exploded not long after she graduated from the military academy. It was a domain but it also wasn¡¯t domain. The peculiar energy cycle this technique created had a peculiar way of functioning. As the Taichi ring got bigger, the energy cycle between the two sides would get faster and faster. As the speed of the energy cycle increases, the bacsh Ling Lan would suffer would also increase.


    At some point, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t handle it anymore and she vomited out mouthfuls of blood. Blood spattered on the controls of the mecha, staining it red.

 Chapter 882 - Regurgitation!

    <h4>Chapter 882: Regurgitation!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    At the same time, the small team of God-Killers members suddenly felt their heads were hit by something hard and dull. Their hands making moving around in their cockpit instantly stopped and therge sword that were moving towards their opponents¡¯ mechas stopped as well. It was as though someone had hit the pause button on the world.


    On the other hand, mecha operators in team 03 felt their minds were being cleared thoroughly as if they had meditated for a few hours. The exhaustion from their body and mind disappeared in an instant. How could they let a chance where their spiritual power was replenished go to waste? In unnned unison, they activated their strongest techniques and ruthlessly attacked their opponents.


    Ling Lan fought through the dizziness and pain that were brought from the bacsh of the technique, and decisivelynded her strongest attack on the team leader.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang...¡± A continuous sound of swords shing against their cockpit rang through the cockpits of the God-Killers one mecha after another. All of the mecha operators in team 03 executed techniques that went straight towards a vital point.


    ¡°Boom! Boom! Boom!¡±...A continuous sound of explosion rang through the air, causing the entire sky to erupt with loud noise. The broken pieces of mechas fell from the sky with smoke and fireing out of them, smashing onto the ground with a giant thud.


    Those ruthless attacks made by mecha operators in team 03pletely wiped out this small team of God-Killers. This included the leader who Ling Lan was fighting against.


    Qi Long looked at the burning debris below them with a stunned expression. He felt that he shouldn¡¯t have lived past this battle. He originally thought that they would be the ones to be pieces of debris in the middle of nowhere, not their opponents.


    ¡°What are you waiting for? Let¡¯s go.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s hoarse and strained voice rang through all of themlink channels of the team members.


    This voice was differentpared to the cold tone of voice they were used to.


    ¡°Boss, are you alright?¡± Qi Long still couldn¡¯t help but ask worriedly. His Boss sounded like he sustained a severe injury.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Let¡¯s retreat first.¡± Ling Lan stopped Qi Long from questioning her any further and made Qi Long lead team 03 to quickly retreat.


    Hearing Ling Lan¡¯s orders, team 03¡¯s members didn¡¯t dare to stay there any longer so they all piloted their mechas away quickly.


    Although they didn¡¯t say anything, they knew fully well what had happened just now. They could imagine that the feeling they felt was definitely because their regimentmander used a secret or forbidden technique to hold the 12 mecha operators from the God-Killers in ce, which allowed them to sessfully defeat their opponents.


    There were many secret and forbidden techniques among the elite families in the Federation. Even if they had never seen one, they would still have been able to see the top-secret military documents before they left their military positions. It was just that after using a secret or forbidden technique, there would be an extreme bacsh towards the user. This made the team members be worried about their regimentmander¡¯s injuries.


    ¡°The battles after this must be fought by all you now.¡± When they were flying away quickly, Ling Lan told team 03 the bad news.


    Qi Long and the others immediately understood. Their regimentmander¡¯s injuries were so severe that he could no longer fight.


    ¡°Understood Boss. Just leave the fighting to us now,¡± said Qi Long earnestly.


    He had once said that if someone wanted to hurt his Boss, they must get past his cold dead body. However, he had never reached that point yet. Every time, he could only watch as his Boss faught by himself. This time, he must take his Boss back to the base safely. He made this promise with his life.


    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll leave it to you Qi Long.¡± Ling Lan chose to believe in Qi Long. After saying those words, she could no longer hold on and passed out.


    Seeing this, Little Four immediately controlled Ling Lan¡¯s mecha to fly it forward properly.


    Little Four could control the optical supeputer to fly the mecha perfectly. However, battling was something that required ample amounts of experience, something Little Fourcked. When faced with attacks, he wouldn¡¯t be able to urately go against them ordingly. This was why Ling Lan handed over the fighting to Qi Long and not to Little Four.


    Although Little Four was a god in the virtual world, he was still a newbie when ites to mecha battling. He was definitely unable to fight in a high-level mecha battle.


    Therefore, Little Four just concentrated on controlling Ling Lan¡¯s mecha while being frustrated with himself. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that he couldn¡¯t break through the optical supeputers of those mechas, his Boss wouldn¡¯t have used her forbidden technique. In the end, he was still too weak.


    He remembered in the database that those who were of his species and stronger were able to take control of the enemy¡¯s optical supeputer¡¯s mainframe in an instant. Little Four decided that he must be as strong as them to not let his Boss feel this pain ever again.


    While Little Four was frustrated, Ling Lan was unconscious in the cockpit. Her original mindspace that was full of life was no longer a vast and limitless spiritual ocean. Now, it was only an endless deste desert.


    Using a vast amount of spiritual power instantly and using a forbidden technique drained all of her spiritual power in an instant. This was why Ling Lan became unconscious. There wasn¡¯t enough spiritual power for Ling Lan to stay awake.


    Right at that moment, inside the center of her spiritual power sea, the white and sparkling egg-shape created from the time they were going to Juhao, which was Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power core, suddenly began to tremble. The spiritual power core was originally devouring the extra spiritual power Ling Lan had continuously. Now, because Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power had beenpletely depleted by using a forbidden technique, it suddenly turned from devouring to releasing.


    Soon, the dried up spiritual power sea was filled up once again. This time, it was even more pure than before. If Ling Lan¡¯s previous spiritual power had some sort of violent nature causing her spiritual power sea to be in a state of unrest before, it was now as peaceful as a mirror surface. If no one went to touch it, they would think it was an actual sea and not a spiritual power sea.


    Ling Lan regained consciousness. She looked at her own spiritual power space and couldn¡¯t believe what she was seeing.


    ¡°Is this my mindscape?¡± From the violent and raging mindscape, Ling Lan entered a seemingly solidified world. Ling Lan was dumbfounded. She closed her eyes and raised her hand. Suddenly, a portion of her spiritual power flew out from the silent and solidified mindscape and moved along with her finger¡¯s movements.


    ¡°This is the real telekinesis!¡± Ling Lan was overjoyed as she watched the spiritual power happily dance around her finger. Normally, she must concentrate on controlling her spiritual power to use spiritual power techniques. It wasn¡¯t like now where she only had to think it and her spiritual power would follow her whims.


    ¡®Could it be that the spiritual power core had the effect of taking in pure spiritual power?¡¯ Ling Lan finally understood the secrets of the white spiritual power core. However, if it wasn¡¯t for her luck that made her use a forbidden technique which depleted the spiritual power inside her mindscape, perhaps she would have never known what the spiritual power core could do in her lifetime, as the spiritual power core was fickle. It would definitely not spit out the spiritual power it had devoured when she still had spiritual power in her mindscape.


    Ling Lan also felt the damage the training her spiritual power had done to the mindspace in the past few years was slowly being repaired because of the spiritual power core¡¯s regurgitation. Ling Lan didn¡¯t think something that was originally a huge crisis actually was a blessing in the end. Instead of being a danger, it resolved some of the underlying issues with her mindspace.


    However, Ling Lan also knew that she shouldn¡¯t use the forbidden techniques too often. After all, the spiritual power within the core wasn¡¯t limitless. This time, it replenished Ling Lan¡¯s depleted spiritual power just once, and it had already caused the original sparkling white color core to be faint. Ling Lan felt that the energy within it was almost all used up. If she used the forbidden technique again, her mindspace would actually break apart.


    After thinking about the consequences, Ling Lan became very afraid. If her mindspace was to break apart, even if she regained her consciousness back, she would no longer be able to live as a normal person in this lifetime and would have to live like how she lived in her past life. This was why Mu Shui-qing warned her that unless she was in a moment of life-or-death, she shouldn¡¯t use this forbidden technique.

 Chapter 883 - Loyally Serving the Country!

    <h4>Chapter 883: Loyally Serving the Country!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan felt that her spiritual power didn¡¯t have any more problems now, so she wanted to continue to pilot her mecha. However, she discovered that she couldn¡¯t leave her mindscape and was stuck there.


    ¡°Little Four, Little Four.¡± Ling Lan called for her omnipotent underling, Little Four.


    ¡°Boss, you¡¯re awake? That¡¯s great!¡± Little Four instantly appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape. He shouted with joy when he saw that Ling Lan had regained consciousness.


    ¡°Little Four, why am I stuck in my mindscape and unable to return to my physical body?¡± Ling Lan asked with a frowning expression.


    Hearing this, Little Four immediately examined Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power sea and her physical body. He felt the pure and limitless spiritual power within Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape. There were some terrifying forces in there that even terrified Little Four. Little Four ignored them and quickly searched through his database to find the cause of Ling Lan¡¯s predicament. In the end, he found a note in the corner of his database that was rted to Ling Lan¡¯s current situation.


    ¡°Boss, it might be because the spiritual power in your mindscape is too pure. Although it¡¯s still the same space, the power it is holding now is hundreds or thousands of times stronger than what it was before. Your body may not be able to withstand the spiritual power and handle it. Thus, your body instinctively rejected the original consciousness from the body.¡± Little Four told Ling Lan the reason for her current situation.


    ¡°I can never return to my physical body anymore?¡± Ling Lan was stunned after hearing his exnation.


    ¡°No, as long as your body adapted to your spiritual power, your consciousness would automatically return to your physical body and take control of it once again.¡±


    ¡°Then, how much time does my body needs to adapt to it?¡± Ling Lan was anxious, as she didn¡¯t forget the situation her physical body was in. There were dangers at every single corner on the outside world and herrades were probably fighting fiercely to protect her. If she could wake up then she would be able to calm the vtile situation. Then, everyone would have a higher chance of returning home alive.


    ¡°Boss, please be patient. We have to wait now. Trying to do something would be useless anyways.¡± Little Four hurriedly left those words and left. On the outside world, there was still a huge battle going on, so he still had to focus all of his attention to control the mecha to carefully and perfectly dodge the attacks that rained down upon them like raindrops.


    Ling Lan, who was not in the real world, didn¡¯t know that team 03 was in a very precarious situation. Although they managed to destroy the small team of God-Killers because of Ling Lan¡¯s secret technique and avoid being discovered byrger teams because of Little Four¡¯s scouting skills, they were still on a very active battlefield, and thus they could not avoid Hailiyan military¡¯s nketing search of the area, causing them to unluckily encounter some patrolling mecha operators


    Qi Long looked at the enemy mechas that had already gotten around to their nks and decisive shouted, ¡°Break through!¡±


    Now the situation had reached the point where the strongest individuals were upied with each other, so they could no longer hold back anymore.


    Everyone took out their sharp weapons and dove straight in.


    The instant Qi Long rushed towards his opponent, he nced at Ling Lan¡¯s mecha to check on her. He was relieved when he saw Ling Lan perfectly dodging every attacking her way. ¡®It seems that although Boss is injured, he can still perform basic piloting.¡¯ He thought. However, Qi Long also knew that his Boss¡¯s severely injured body would not be able to take on the recoil of fighting a mecha battle. ¡®It is probably because of this reason that Boss is not taking out his sword to attack and is just focusing on evading the iing attacks.¡¯


    Qi Long didn¡¯t even consider that Ling Lan wasn¡¯t the one piloting the mecha. Instead, it was Little Four, an intelligent entity that had never appeared before them.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang!¡± Finally, the two groups of mechas met up with each other. On one side was Qi Long and his team, on the other side was filled with mechas from Hailiya. Deafening sounds of weapons shing sounded in the air.


    Qi Long and the others needed to create a way for them to return home. Hailiya on the other hand needed to take down these enemies who had destroyed Base An. There wasn¡¯t any so-called right or wrong on a battlefield. It was just the beliefs of the soldiers and the honor of their countries that made these two groups of people who would stop at nothing to strangle each other¡¯s throat.


    Although Hailiya¡¯s numbers were almost twice as much team 03, team 03¡¯s capabilities were much stronger than these normal Hailiyan mecha operators. Soon, many Hailiyan mechas were shot down by team 03. As the situation became more advantageous for team 03, one member, who was constantly focused on the radar suddenly shouted, ¡°Not good. Leader! Tworge patrol teams have appeared. One 3 clicks east and the other 7 clicks to the west of us.¡±


    More Hailiyan mechas began to appear in the sky. Everyone in team 03 knew that this was only the beginning. As time passes by, the sky would be filled with more and more Hailiyan patrol teams, and eventually surround thempletely.


    ¡°Sh*t, they definitely have announced that we¡¯re here.¡± Although Qi Long already knew that this was going to be a very possible oue, he was still distraught when what he dreaded to happen the most, happened.


    ¡°Leader, you and your protectors leave first to escort our regimentmander to the base. We¡¯ll stay behind.¡± Team 03¡¯s deputy leader Sun Yaofei decisively shouted towards Qi Long. Instead of all of them dying here, they might as well let their regimentmander and leader, who had a much brighter future ahead of them to leave first.


    ¡°No! How can we do that?¡± Qi Long didn¡¯t even think about it and just immediately rejected the idea.


    ¡°Stop being naive about the situation! Do you want our regimentmander to die here?¡± Sun Yaofei shouted angrily. His anger and frustrated mood made the speed of his fingers increase once again. Before he had realized, he had broken through the limit he was stuck at for decades. He then instantly and cleanly defeated his opponent.


    Faced with a small team of imperial operators who could easily destroy all of them, their regimentmander decisively used a forbidden technique to save them. Now, they must do everything they could to save their severely injured regimentmander. He must let their regimentmander and leader escape from here!


    Faced with Sun Yaofei¡¯s hardened resolve and attitude, Qi Long only started into his eyes. Finally, he bit his lip and shouted, ¡°Protectors, follow me to escort our regimentmander to the base.¡±


    ¡°Yes, leader.¡± After receiving their orders, two mechas suddenly moved away from the rest of the team. These two, along with Qi Long, flew behind Ling Lan¡¯s mecha in the shape of a fan.


    Little Four was moved by this act. ¡®No wonder Boss didn¡¯t care about her life to save them...¡¯ He wanted to leave something for the brave soldier fighting for his Boss, thus he imitated Ling Lan¡¯s voice and spoke to the members of team 03 who were staying behind, ¡°Remember, I¡¯m going to wait for you all back home!¡±


    Afterwards, Little Four piloted the mecha and quickly flew towards the direction where there was no patrol team. Although he was moved by the act, Little Four still felt that Ling Lan¡¯s safety was the most important, even if he had to abandon a few of them, it would still be worth it.


    Qi Long and the other two mechas followed closely as they saw Ling Lan began to retreat.


    Seeing this, Sun Yaofei felt happy. If Ling Lan had wanted to stay behind and fight, he would have been disappointed and angry. A proper regimentmander must be decisive in these types of situations, even if their actions seemed extremely cold-blooded. Plus, making this decision was the best for all of them because in reality, Ling Lan would be a useless burden to them if she had stayed behind. She should leave to lessen the burden of the people watching over her. Without carrying the burden of watching over her, the mecha operators would be able to calmly their enemies even at the face of their deaths. Plus, who knows if they could perhaps find a way out of the situation.


    ¡°A man should die in battle! Now is the time for us to serve our country. We will be staying behind. Do you regret this?¡± Sun Yaofei teared up but he still asked with a smile on his face.


    ¡°We don¡¯t regret it!¡± The members all shouted. If they were trash and died a peaceful death, they might regret it. However now, they were reborn from the ashes of their trash self and became qualified soldiers again. They could finally earn the honor of dying in battle. To them, this was already the greatest oue they could possibly imagine. They would not have any regrets in this life.

 Chapter 884 - Dying in Battle!

    <h4>Chapter 884: Dying in Battle!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Remember, our regimentmander is still waiting for us on the other side!¡± Sun Yaofei shouted loudly as he rushed forward to meet with his new opponent.


    The most gruesome fight of this mission finally began in the skies around this area. In order to make sure the Hailiyan mecha operators did not get past them and chase after Ling Lan¡¯s group of four, everyone in team 03 put all of their efforts into holding back their opponents. After being unable to break through team 03¡¯s human barricade, Hailiya¡¯s forces knew that if they didn¡¯tpletely defeat team 03 who blocked their way, they wouldn¡¯t be able to chase after those Federation mechas that had escaped. Thus, they set up their positions and began surrounding team 03.


    Qi Long and the others who were flying quickly towards the base, suddenly heard loud explosionsing from behind them not long after they had left. They felt their hearts tremble in that instant. However, instead of slowing down they decisively put their engine into full throttle, causing their mechas to instantly break through the lightspeed barrier as it moved like lightning towards Hailiya¡¯s first line of defence, while doing so, they didn¡¯t dare and couldn¡¯t look back. Theirrades were willing to sacrifice themselves to dy the enemy from chasing them just to increase the chance of them surviving. They definitely couldn¡¯t waste their sacrifice on reminiscing the past.


    Sun Yaofei saw his team members self-destruct one by one and his eyes began to redden. However, he couldn¡¯t order them to retreat because the time they gave Ling Lan and Qi Long to escape was not long enough...


    ¡°Hold them back for three more minutes...¡± Sun Yaofei encouraged his team members again, even though he knew that after three minutes, none of them might even survive. However, he still told everyone to stand their ground. That was because the more time they could hold on, the higher the chances of Ling Lan and Qi Long escaping...


    They were originally trash and useless. Even though they were reborn, they still missed out on the peak times of being a sessful mecha operator, but they had no regrets. However, their regimentmander and team leader were still growing day by day with immeasurable futures ahead of them. Even if all of team 03 members¡¯ lives were used to exchange for their futures, it was worth it. Sun Yaofei thought this way and those from team 03 thought this way too. This was why they were willing to die and self-destruct to not let Hailiya¡¯s forces get past them even by one step.


    In a battle where death was imminent, some of the mecha operators managed to break through their limits in this life-or-death situation. Their mecha piloting skills suddenly climbed to new heights which allowed them to hold the fort for three more minutes.


    Seeing the radar indicating that there were more and more enemy mechasing their way, Sun Yaofei knew that this was their limit. If they continued to stay here, no matter how many people they had, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to hold off the overwhelming number of enemy forces.


    ¡°Retreat!¡±


    Sun Yaofei gave an order as he shed away the two mechas who were surrounding him with hisrge sword. He then put the mecha¡¯s engine on full throttle and began to retreat quickly!


    There were only three others who sessfully got away from the enemy forces with Sun Yaofei. These three mecha operators¡¯ situation were like Sun Yaofei¡¯s where they had all advanced to be imperial operators after breaking past their limit in the life-or-death moment. In this battle, only imperial operators could manage to create a way for themselves to get away.


    ¡°Deputy leader, we¡¯ll leave our regimentmander and leader to you.¡± Seeing that they had no hope of escaping, three other members who were left behind screamed out theirst wishes before they decisively held onto their opponent and self-destructed.


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang!¡± The three continuous sounds of explosions were oddly piercing loud, as they made Sun Yaofei¡¯s heart tremble. He tried to look forward with his reddened eyes, but tears just kept blocking his vision! Out of the 21 members who had stayed behind, the only ones who were able to escape was four people including himself. The other 17 members all perished in battle. This was the most terrible loss 250 Ace Mecha n had ever sustained since entering Haijiao¡¯s battlefield. Team 03 waspletely crippled.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Sun Yaofei held himself back from wanting to just curl up in a fetal position and cry as he shouted. The reason they were not staying behind and fighting to their deaths was not because they were afraid to die, it was because their mission wasn¡¯tpletely yet. Protecting their regimentmander and leader until they reach Base 013 was the most important thing they had to do, even if they were to die, they needed to die while serving that purpose.


    At that moment, team 02 and 08, who were escorting the transport team, was fighting fiercely with the strongest team under the God-Killers¡¯ regimentmander, Team Luo Qi. Team 02 and 08 also had sustained a lot of injuries and deaths during this battle.


    Right when the two sides encountered each other, the two teams were clearly at a disadvantage when going against a battle team filled with imperial operators who were more capable than them. If it wasn¡¯t for Liu Furong and others who had already reached the peak level of ace and halfway towards bing imperial operators, along with their fearlessness, and causing the opponents a great deal of trouble by fighting recklessly, they would have beenpletely annihted.


    In the skies above the transport team, the officers led by Yao Jian had encountered Team Jia Na. Deputy Leader Yao Jian¡¯s capabilities were simr to Leader Liu Furong. The two mecha operators in his team of mecha operators were also two of the few ace mecha operators from team 02. This was also why Liu Furong gave the most difficult task of stopping the enemy to Deputy Leader Yao Jian. In Team 02, other than the leader¡¯s officers, only Yao Jian¡¯s officers had hopes of holding back a team full of imperial operators.


    Yao Jian knew clearly of the difference between them and their opponents, so he just gave the order to try their best to hold the enemy back and make them unable to attack the transport team down below them.


    It should be known that Yao Jian and his officers perfectly held back the enemy. As the three mecha operator from Team Jia Na began fighting with them, those three began to feel very frustrated. They were clearly more capable than their opposition, but they couldn¡¯t get their enemies to fight them head on. Instead, their enemies were like bees, buzzing around them constantly. If those three from Jia Na were to get close to them, they would just run away as fast as they could. If they wanted to make a move against the transport team below them, Yao Jian¡¯s team would attack them from behind. If they changed their targets to them, Yao Jian¡¯s team would evade again... It was clear that Yao Jian¡¯s team of three were obeying the rules Ling Lan had set. ¡®If the enemy was to attack, you would retreat. If the enemy was to focus on a different target, you would interfere. If the enemy was to be exhausted, you would attack. If the enemy was to retreat, you would give chase.¡¯ Yao Jian¡¯s team of three instilled these words into their real battle and made the three people from Team Jia Na almost spat out blood in frustration.


    However, even the best way of holding back your opponents would slowly lose its effectiveness if there was a great difference in capabilities. Soon after, the three from Jia Na became used to Yao Jian¡¯s team way of fighting before they finally caught a chance where Yao Jian¡¯s team were slower at retreating. Yao Jian¡¯s team now had no choice but to fight a tough battle because they couldn¡¯t evade in time.


    Seeing Yao Jian¡¯s team became gradually disadvantaged and was nearing a crisis, Song Yiqing, who was pushing the transport team to quickly move forward, bit his lip in frustration before he immediately ordered the leaders to put down the supplies in their hands and aim their beam guns towards the three people from Team Jia Na to attack them furiously. Han Jijyun was also among Song Yiqing¡¯s group and he also couldn¡¯t just watch hisrades lose their lives in front of his eyes.


    Even with Han Jijyun, Song Yiqing and the others¡¯ help, Yao Jian¡¯s three man group were still under a lot of pressure from the attacksing their way. Suddenly, one person in their team got hit in his mecha arm, causing that arm to be cut off instantly.


    Seeing this, Han Jijyun, Song Yiqing and the other mecha operators attacked more ruthlessly, making the three operators from Team Jia Na feel even more frustrated. Having enough of this fiesta, Jia Na ordered one of his mecha operators to give up on his opponent to go get rid of the troublesome people below them.


    Seeing one of the imperial operators splitting off from his team and ruthlessly pouncing towards his direction, Song Yiqing¡¯s expression changed instantly as the attacking towards him was at a level which could kill him instantly.

 Chapter 885 - Prolonging Hope!

    <h4>Chapter 885: Prolonging Hope!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Song Yiqing tried his best to evade the attack from the enemy, but how could his mecha¡¯s speed bepared to the speed of an imperial mecha? Song Yiqing¡¯s ace mecha was just the standard ace mecha used by the Federation. It wasn¡¯t like the ones from 250 Ace Mecha n which were modified by both Lin Zhong-qing and Chang Xinyuan. They modified the ace mechas to have more power than those standard ace mechas, creating ace mechas that were much closer in specs to imperial mechas. This was why Liu Furong and the others could hold on against Team Luo Qi until now. The simr specs of their mechas made up for the vast difference in mecha piloting skills, and the difference between the two teams should only show up after fighting for some time.


    Seeing deathing its way towards him at lightning speed, Song Yiqing¡¯s mind instantly went nk. A random thought suddenly popped up in his head, ¡®I regret the decision of helping 250 Ace Mecha n by shooting at those imperial operators.¡¯


    ¡°Bang!¡± A loud crashing sound was heard, which woke Song Yiqing in shock.


    ¡°Bang!¡± It was the sound of a mecha falling to the ground. After looking at the scene Song Yiqing knew that in the most dangerous moment, Han Jijyun, who was next to him, instantly used his mecha to crash onto the imperial mecha that was attacking him. Of course, because of the difference in strength, Han Jijyun was instantly sent crashing down into the ground. However, his valiant actions still sessfully pushed the opponent away and saved Song Yiqing.


    ¡°Bastard.¡± The member from Team Jia Na was furious when his sure-kill attack was stopped by a standard ace mecha. The crash also made him feel a bit nauseous and furious. In anger, he held up his beam gun towards Han Jijyun, who was on the ground with no more energy to stand, and pulled down on the trigger.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Everyone began to shout in horror. Song Yiqing felt his body freeze up and his fingers cramping on the control panel. He clearly had the chance to protect Han Jijyun, but in that moment, he hesitated.


    Although he lost an arm and was pushed away by his opponent, he still saw his leader being shot at by the imperial operator. The deputy in Yao Jian¡¯s team who was crippled with one arm went forth to block the beam without a care for his own life. He wasn¡¯t able to save Song Yiqing the first time, but this time, he managed to arrive on time.


    The beam instantly shot through the already depleted beam shield of his mecha. ¡°Bang!¡± The mecha now had arge hole in the center of it, a mixture of oil and blood was seeping through hole. Then, there was a creaking sound, which was followed by another and another before it all burst up in mes. The debris created from it fell around Han Jijyun¡¯s mecha in circle, surrounding his mecha within a dome of smoke and fire.


    This scene stunned Han Jijyun. He didn¡¯t think that those veterans, who gossiped about them and looked down on the young team leaders, would actually not care about their own lives and sacrifice himself to block the sure-kill beam...


    ¡°Huh? You¡¯re team 08¡¯s team captain? Out of all the captains, it seems you are the weakest. Are you rted to Regiment Commander Ling or something and used your connections to get here?¡± Members from the other teams would say that to him during their resting period when they saw him.


    Han Jijyun externally seemed to be experienced and steady, and was very good at strategizing, but in reality, he was more emotional than others. These words that hurt his feelings were just buried deep in his heart and were not shown externally.


    If these words were said to Qi Long, Qi Long would just show a modest smile on his face, making everyone not want to continue to talk about it. If these words were said to Zhao Jun, he would justugh it off and not think much of it. If told to Luo Lang, Luo Lang would think of those words as praise and would feel overjoyed. He would even say that he was in great rtions with Boss and let them be envious of him... If it was told to Li Yingjie, Li Yingjie would definitely not let it go because he was stubborn. He would make a scene and fight with whoever told him that and take his revenge. If it was told to Xie Yi, Xie Yi would admit that those words were correct and go workout with the rest of the members. He would use his actions to prove that he had worked hard. As for Li Lanfeng, no matter what the veteran mecha operators said, he would be able to ept it with a smile. However, he would find all types of methods to make them loseyer of their skin in secret and never back down.


    Thus after spending mucha long time in 250, 250¡¯s veteran mecha operators all had determined what type of people these young team leaders were like. Big Leader Li should be left alone if possible, in case they get caught up in something because of it. Little Leader Li was someone they should go to when their moods were down. Leader Qi Long... It didn¡¯t feel good no matter if it was bullying an honest individual or be bullied by one. Zhao Jun was clearly someone who took nothing into his mind and was boring. Xie Yi was a masochist. He would only lead his team and increase training, making the members cry out in agony. Thus, these members who could no longer take the additional training, warned the members from other teams to stop teasing their leaders. Given the circumstances, people started to slowly stop teasing Xie Yi. They didn¡¯t want to anger an entire team just because they wanted to tease him. They didn¡¯t want to get into a fight.


    After looking around, only Han Jijyun, who was not brazen and could only swallow his emotions, was an easy target. This was the reason Han Jijyun was continuously teased by 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s veterans. However, because of this, Han Jijyun believed that he was the worst and was a leader who the veterans from 250 Ace Mecha n didn¡¯t trust. He was also constantly worried that he would be abandoned by hisrades in his times of need. Over time, it became the source of his anxiety. This was also the reason why he reacted so strongly when he was pressured by Li Lanfeng and felt he was iparable to Li Lanfeng.


    His determination to follow Ling Lan stealing supplies was Han Jijyun¡¯s trying to save himself! He wanted to use his capabilities to prove that he could also do what Li Lanfeng could do and that he was not weaker than Li Lanfeng.


    Ling Lan, who just watched coldly as a bystander, knew what Han Jijyun was worried about. This was why Ling Lan agreed to it and didn¡¯t give Li Lanfeng any chance to say no. If Han Jijyun wanted to be stronger, then Ling Lan would give him that chance. Even if this chance could lead to Han Jijyun giving up his life as the price, Ling Lan still wouldn¡¯t stop him.


    However, the scene right nowpletely destroy what Han Jijyun had believed in for so long. ¡®Isn¡¯t he a leader whon the veterans looked down on? Didn¡¯t they just bear with him because of Boss Ling Lan¡¯s orders? Didn¡¯t they hate him? Why, why, why, would they use their lives to save an ipetent leader?¡¯


    ¡°Han Jijyun, what are you staring at? Stand up!¡± Han Jijyun suddenly heard Liu Furong shouting in his ears. Liu Furong who was usually calm and collected, and would never shout and insult someone. However at this moment, his voice was filled with anger.


    ¡°Why would he sacrifice himself to save me?¡± Han Jijyun bit his lip and made his mecha stand up with a still burning desire for an answer.


    ¡°It¡¯s because you are our hope. Our future. We would rather die here than to let our hopes and future die here,¡± shouted Liu Furong angrily while therge sword in his hand blocked the attack from Luo Qi.


    Luo Qi looked at his opponent, who was originally at a disadvantage, with a dumbstruck expression on his face. He thought he would have been able to take care of him if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that there were two mechas protecting him, interfering with his attacks.


    However, from the counterattack made by the operator halfway into the imperial level made him feel that his opponent was now no longer weaker than him. Instead, he was now fighting against a simr level opponent. There was no doubt that his opponent was no longer a peak ace operator who was halfway into the imperial level. Instead, he was now a real imperial operator.

 Chapter 886 - Self-destruct!

    <h4>Chapter 886: Self-destruct!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    It seemed that right as his team member blocked the beam shot with his mecha to save Han Jijyun and dying in the process, Liu Furong suddenly erupted all of his potential and broke through the barrier holding him back for so long, making him instantly enter the imperial level.


    The umtion of his experience for the past 20 years made him instantly reach the mid-stages of imperial level right after he broke through. Even though he was still somewhat weaker than his terrifying opponent, the difference between the two of them was not that huge anymore.


    ¡°It¡¯s because you are our hope. Our future. We would rather die here than to let our hopes and future die here!¡± Liu Furong¡¯s words echoed in Han Jijyun¡¯s mind.


    It turns out, he was wrong from the beginning! He was never hated and looked down on by anyone. Those hurtful words were actually just clumsy ways the veterans used tomunicate with them.


    If they had looked down on him and hated him, they would have just stopped caring about him.


    Inside Han Jijyun¡¯s mind, shbacks of the scenes of veterans speaking to him appeared. Their eyes were filled with happiness. The smiles on their faces were warm, but there were also hints of worry and suspicion in their eyes. There wasn¡¯t any bad intent in their eyes at all. Why couldn¡¯t he see these signs clearly before? Was it because his mind was filled with those negative thoughts so he was blinded by that? Han Jijyun regretted everything and couldn¡¯t help but hate himself. He couldn¡¯t even control his eyes as it teared up uncontrobly...


    Song Yiqing, still stiff from before, just stared nkly as a mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n didn¡¯t hesitate to sacrifice his own life to save hisrades. A feeling of regret and embarrassment towards himself suddenly bloomed in his mind.


    ¡°Bam!¡± Song Yiqing pped himself on the face and the pain from it woke him up from his stupor. He moved his mecha and instantly flew towards Han Jijyun. He then dragged Han Jijyun, who was still mulling over himself, into his team.


    ¡°Leader Han, our mission is to retreat. Retreat! Focus god damn it!¡± Song Yiqing shouted angrily at Han Jijyun. Even though he was saying those words to Han Jijyun, those words were also for himself as well.


    ¡°I know!¡± Han Jijyun¡¯s hoarse voice was heard in themlink channel of the mecha.


    Han Jijyun raised his head and looked at the imperial mecha who had just killed the mecha operator of team 02. At that moment, his mind was filled with thoughts of taking revenge, but he was held back by an officer from Liu Furong¡¯s team so he had no way of making a move on them.


    Han Jijyun will remember this. He will remember how his life had been saved at the cost of someone else¡¯s life. Han Jijyun made a promise to himself that he would no longer let hisrade sacrifice his lives to protect him.


    Han Jijyun closed his eyes. When he opened them again, it was calm as a body of water. He coldly said to Song Yiqing, ¡°Regiment Commander Song, take your n and immediately retreat back to Base 013 as fast as possible. Don¡¯t linger here and waste anymore time.¡±


    Song Yiqing was somewhat stunned by the sudden change in Han Jijyun.


    ¡°Then, what about the situation here...¡± Team 02 and 08 were not enough to hold back this battle team full of imperial operators.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Song, I don¡¯t want to say it a third time. Your mission is to take the supplies to Base 013 as fast as possible. It isn¡¯t your role to provide cover fire here,¡± said Han Jijyun coldly.


    ¡°Understood!¡± Song Yiqing looked at Han Jijyun with surprise, and then immediately ordered his n¡¯s battle n¡¯s team leaders to take the supplies and quickly retreat.


    Han Jijyun, who was just irresolute, hesitant and warm-hearted, now actually became so heartless. There was no doubt that Han Jijyun was ready to abandon team 02 and 08 for the supplies.


    Not long after, Song Yiqing¡¯s n went forward with the order and quickly retreated out of this battlefield. Seeing the supplies going further and further away, Team Luo Qi became frustrated.


    ¡°Regiment Commander, we still can¡¯t get past the interference in this area so we still can¡¯t contact the base. What should we do now?¡± A team member from Team Luo Qi asked Luo Qi in a frustrated tone.


    Although Luo Qi was fighting with Liu Furong, he could still see the supplies being carried away from them. He decisively ordered, ¡°Mai Jia, take formation and block the transport team from leaving! Everyone else cover them. Don¡¯t let Mai Jia and his team be held back by those bastards.¡±


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Ma Jia¡¯s team wanted to split off to attack the transport team, but Liu Furong wouldn¡¯t let them leave that easily. He ordered three mecha operators from his team to attack the mecha operators who were trying to chase after the transport team


    The order they received was that even if they were to die, they must intercept them.


    If the transport team was to have something happen to them, it would mean the end of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the base. Liu Furong and the members from team 02 and 08 knew what was more important. This was also why their regimentmander stayed back at Base An to lure Hailiya¡¯s first line forces even if it meant a very high possibility of dying there.


    ¡°Self-destruct!¡± All the mecha operators from 250 knew this was the only way for them to hold these imperial operators back. If they wanted to take down imperial operators that outnumbered them, they must use this method.


    ¡°Damn, small fries!¡± Seeing ace operatorsing towards them without any care for their lives, Mai Jia, who was annoyed from being held back, shouted angrily, ¡°Use your strongest technique and destroy these small fries.¡±


    ¡°Understood!¡± The two mechas beside him immediately pounced towards their opponents. Their engines began to roar and therge sword in their hands began to rotate quickly.


    ¡°Watch out!¡± Liu Furong heard the odd noise from their opponent¡¯s engines. He then nced at the way theirrge swords were rotating and instantly shouted.


    Back then when he fought with Hailiya¡¯s forces on the battlefield, he had once seen mecha operators using this terrifying technique. Anything that got sucked in by the rotation of therge sword or just slightly touched it, would be sliced into small bits even if it was met with the toughest material. He had once heard from his previous regimentmander that this was one of Hailiya¡¯s top-level techniques, Helix Whirl! Countless mecha operators from the Federation had perished just from this technique alone.


    However, even though Liu Furong told his team members to be careful, the three members who were ready to die in order to intercept the enemy, didn¡¯t retreat even though they knew of the dangers. They all pounced towards their opponents without a hint of regret.


    ¡°Long live the Huaxia Federation!¡±


    ¡°Long live 250 Ace Mecha n!¡±


    ¡°I love 250!¡±


    In themlink channel, they all screamed out theirst words...


    ¡°Bang! Bang! Bang!¡± Immediately after, three loud explosions were heard in the sky. As everyone turned their head towards the explosion, they saw three mushroom clouds which had odd hints of red in them.


    ¡°Mai Jia!¡±


    ¡°Bo Qi!¡±


    ¡°Luo Ya!¡±


    Luo Qi¡¯s team saw this and was stunned. They all called out to theirrades and hoped they would answer them.


    After some time, one mecha flew out from one of the mushroom clouds. The mecha¡¯s limbs were broken off and countless wires were protruding out, even the body of the mecha was severely burnt.

 Chapter 887 - Familiar!

    <h4>Chapter 887: Familiar!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°It¡¯s Mai Jia!¡± The members from Luo Qi¡¯s team shouted in surprise.


    It was indeed Mai Jia. When he noticed that the ace mechas were charging at him with seemingly no regard for their life he knew something was amiss, so he stopped his technique halfway through and moved his mecha half a second earlier. This half a second allowed him to edge away from the brink of death.


    Ever since the start of this war, the members of the God-Killers had been having a smooth time. They were never really in any serious danger. They were also the most powerful mecha n in Hailiya so they never really tasted defeat before. Yet, today, two of their mechas were destroyed and one mecha was half-paralyzed.


    ¡°Bastards, kill those trash! Also, don¡¯t give them a chance to self-destruct.¡± Luo Qi was furious. Ever since he became a regimentmander, he had never been humiliated like this before. Those trash that he looked down on destroyed three of his mechas. Additionally, he didn¡¯t know if the mecha operators of the destroyed mechas were still alive. He was indignant about his situation. To wash away this embarrassment, he must kill all these mecha operators in the most brutal way possible. That was why Luo Qi gave the order.


    That¡¯s right, up until now, the mecha operators from God-Killers were just ying with their opponents. They were just fighting with the goal of having fun but, from this moment onwards, they would fight with all their might.


    To the members of team 02 and team 08, it was like the god of death finally taking out its scythe and was inching it towards their necks.


    ¡°Leader Yang, did you see anything?¡± Gu Dongyang frowned as he looked at his radar. They were only three minuteste but they had lost all signs of the imperial operators.


    ¡°No. However, based on the map Leader Li gave us, they should be in this direction.¡± Yang Mingzhipared the map Li Lanfeng gave them and felt that they were heading in the right direction.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go further in front and take a look.¡± Gu Dongyang shoved his concerns to the back of his mind and operated his mecha forward.


    ¡®If Leader Li is right, our regimentmander should being towards them from this direction. Is there enough time for us to reinforce our regimentmander? Do they have too few people?¡¯


    ¡°Are you thinking that we have too few people?¡± Yang Mingzhi read Gu Dongyang¡¯s mind.


    ¡°Yes. If we are discovered, regimentmander will be in danger,¡± Gu Dongyang replied.


    ¡°Normally, even 30 mecha ns might not be able to conquer a base that has a good defense system and manpower. However, our regimentmander only brought eight mecha ns with him, six of them are not from our base and Song Yiqing has a grudge against our regimentmander. No matter how you look at it, the mission of snatching supplies from our enemy¡¯s base is equal to a suicide mission. If so, why would the scaredy-cat Song Yiqing agree to follow our regimentmander for this mission?¡± Yang Mingzhi asked calmly.


    ¡°Our regimentmander must have persuaded him,¡± Gu Dongyang replied after some thought.


    ¡®Persuaded? I think threatened is a better word.¡¯ Yang Mingzhi smiled. He continued, ¡°That could possibly be the reason. Another possibility could be because Song Yiqing knew that he won¡¯t die.¡± Yang Mingzhi had only followed Ling Lan for one year but he knew that Ling Lan wasn¡¯t someone who liked to take risks. If she made a decision, it meant that there was a high chance it would seed.


    Gu Dongyang went into deep thought after hearing what Yang Mingzhi had said. He seemed to have understood something. ¡°Leader Yang, are you saying that our regimentmander is confident that they won¡¯t be found by our enemy? Or only a small portion of the enemy will find them?¡±


    ¡°If not, they won¡¯t be able toe out of Hailiya¡¯s territory and we won¡¯t be reinforcing them.¡± Yang Mingzhi took a deep breath. There was a small number of enemies but they were dangerous. He was worried that these enemies were those imperial operators that appeared secretly on the battlefield of Haijiao.


    These imperial operators were the reason why the Federation lost so many bases in such a short timeframe. Of course, there were other reasons why they lost so many bases such as themanding officers of the bases panicking after losing contact with the Federation and didn¡¯t contact with their surrounding bases in time. The enemy made use of this window of time to attack them. But, it was undeniable that without these imperial operators, the bases wouldn¡¯t have fallen so quickly. They would be able to withstand for a longer period of time and Base 013 wouldn¡¯t have to have such a hard time.


    ¡°No matter what, let¡¯s hurry over.¡± Gu Dongyang was still worried about Ling Lan, so he pulled his throttle and increased his speed once again.


    Yang Mingzhi followed him and increased his speed too. Their team members also increased their speed and caught up with their team leaders.


    After fighting with Jia Na for so long, Yao Jian finally reached his limit. Under his opponent¡¯s continuous attack, he was finally hit and his mecha flew backwards.


    The huge impact injured him internally. He spat a mouthful of blood on the screen.


    ¡®Have I reached my limit already?¡¯ Yao Jian smiled in despair, as he wasn¡¯t able to break through his limit. He looked at his opponent as he chased after him with a giant sword that wasing towards him.


    ¡°Even if I go to hell, I¡¯ll bring someone with me!¡± Yao Jian went berserk. His fingers suddenly increased in speed so much that there seemed to be afterimages of fingers moving across the control panel.


    Yao Jian¡¯s mecha twisted its body and the giant sword just barely scraped his mecha¡¯s chest, managing to evade the lethal blow. Jia Na was dumbfounded but before he could attack again, Yao Jian¡¯s mecha suddenly hugged him tightly.


    Yao Jian pressed the self-destruct button without any hesitation. At the same time, he pressed the ejection button.


    ¡°Leader, Old Yao will be leaving first.¡± Before his mecha exploded, Yao Jian shouted into the channel.


    Boom! A huge explosion urred as Yao Jian¡¯s mecha burst into mes. Jia Na was unable to break free as Yao Jian had hugged his joints. Hence, his mecha exploded too and became a pile of ruins. It hit the ground, forming a huge hole around 50 meters in diameter.


    ¡°Yao Jian!¡± Liu Furong¡¯s eyes turned red. There were tears in them. He was prepared for sacrifices but the death of Yao Jian caused him great agony and pain.


    ¡°Deputy Leader Yao!¡± All the members of team 02 screamed in grief and anger.


    ¡°Deputy Leader Yao!¡± The members of team 08 were sad too.


    The two teams all turned crazy. Soon, more explosions could be heard. The members of team 02 and 08 chose to self-destruct out of spite to drag down more people with them.


    ¡°Leader Yang, did you hear sounds of explosion just now?¡± Gu Dongyang, who was flying in front, asked curiously.


    Yang Mingzhi heard the sounds too. He signaled for all his members to stop flying. When the sound of the engines disappeared, the sounds could be heard more clearly.


    ¡°This is bad. Everyone, hasten your speed.¡± Yang Mingzhi¡¯s expression changed. If he was right, those were the sounds of mecha self-destructing. He had been through many battles, so he was extremely familiar with this sound.

 Chapter 888 - Reinforcements!

    <h4>Chapter 888: Reinforcements!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    As expected, after flying for some time, he saw the transport team moving towards their base furiously. He scanned through them but didn¡¯t see any familiar mechas. ¡®Where did the people from 250 go?¡¯


    Yang Mingzhi saw the ace mechas that were at the back of the transport team and hurried over. He stopped them and asked, ¡°Where are the people from 250?¡±


    These ace mechas belonged to the leaders from Song Yiqing¡¯s 224 Mecha n. When they saw the reinforcements from 250 Ace Mecha n, they literally could feel pressure being lifted off their bodies. They replied hurriedly, ¡°They are holding a group of imperial operators back for us. Please hurry up and help them.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi¡¯s expression changed. He quickly called Gu Dongyang and they rushed to the direction the transport team directed them to.


    Han Jijyun hid in the dense forest not far away. He turned off the engine of his mecha and watched as his team members self-destruct one by one. His expression got colder with each death. Besides that, he had no other expressions, like an ice statue in the frigid cold. People might have thought that he was a heartless person if they had missed the pain in his eyes and the drips of blood that were flowing down his hands. He had clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails dug deep into the palm of his hand.


    Suddenly, Han Jijyun heard a roaring sound behind him. He moved his mecha and saw a bunch of familiar mechas. Tears suddenly started to fall from his eyes, creating two lines of water streaks that flowed down his cheeks.


    The reinforcements were finally here. He didn¡¯t have to force himself to watch hisrades self-destructing anymore.


    He really hated himself for being too weak. If he was stronger, he wouldn¡¯t be a burden to everyone. He wouldn¡¯t have to hide in the dark and feel helpless. He wouldn¡¯t have to watch hisrades sacrificing themselves right in front of his eyes. If he was just as strong as Qi Long, he would at least be able to fight with them side by side.


    ¡®Why am I so weak?¡¯


    As Han Jijyun questioned himself, Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang saw the brutal scene in front of them. Fires and clouds of smoke could be seen everywhere. Broken mechas parts were scattered on the ground with most of them belonging to 250 Ace Mecha n. This brutal scene stabbed the hearts of the two veterans.


    In the air, Liu Furong was fighting with Luo Qi in a one versus one battle. The 10 remaining mechas from 250 Mecha n formed into a small team of their own and were battling with thest five imperial operators from Hailiya. Every single attack they made was all self-destructive. It was obvious that these mecha operators were prepared to die with the intention of dragging their opponent with them before they die. Their viciousness and fearless attitude towards death caused their opponents to hold back against them. They were afraid that the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n would hug them and self-destruct. Hence, members of 250 Ace Mecha n were able to survive till now.


    This was also the reason why the members of the 250 Ace Mecha n managed to destroy 6 imperial mechas.


    They used the lives of over 30 ace mecha masters to exchange for the lives of six imperial operators. This was an amazing feat that no one had managed to achieve in the entire Federation¡¯s history, even their descendants might not be able to achieve it. However, to Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang, the lives of the six imperial operators were not worth the lives of their 30 mecha operators as these people were their brothers-in-arms. They wererades who fought with them, trained with them, ate with them, slept with them. Even though they were only ace mecha masters, even a single mecha operator from that group of 30 mecha operators was more precious than the six imperial operatorsbined.


    ¡°Kill them! Leave no one alive!¡± A strong killing intent appeared on Yang Mingzhi¡¯s normally gentle face as he gave his order to kill.


    They couldn¡¯t just let theirrades sacrificed like this. They must let the Hailiyan mecha operators pay the price!


    The mecha operators of the two teams rushed towards the six imperial operators. The imperial operators used to be confident that they could destroy the remaining mechas but now, more than double the number of remaining mechas suddenly appeared. They now started to worry. From the movements of the two leading mechas, they could feel a sense of imperial operators in them. Luo Qi knew that these two mecha operators might be more than half step into the imperial stage. They should be at pseudo imperial stage now. It would be a tough fight.


    Half step imperial and pseudo imperial were both imperial stages but the difference between the two was huge. Half step imperial stage had the word ¡®imperial¡¯ in it but it was actually closer to ace stage. This was just the highest level of ace and the person was just half a step away from imperial stage. However, this half step couldn¡¯t be taken easily. Some people might be unable to take that half step in their entire life. No matter how hard a person worked, if they couldn¡¯t break through the imperial barrier, his piloting skills would forever be stuck at the peak of ace stage.


    As for pseudo imperial, it meant that the person had already entered the imperial stage. Their mecha piloting ability hovered between half step imperial and imperial stage. As long as they were given more time to get used to the operations, they would be able to stabilize their controls and be a real imperial operator. During battles, a pseudo imperial operator had a real chance to be a real imperial operator. After all, it¡¯s just a matter of time for them to be imperial operators. This was the difference between half step imperial and pseudo imperial.


    Luo Qi wouldn¡¯t have minded if more ace mecha masters came. However, now, there were two pseudo imperial operators who might be able to advance to the imperial stage if he fought with them. Luo Qi didn¡¯t dare to take the risk, so he ordered his team members to retreat.


    ¡®I will wait for reinforcements to arrive ande back again!¡¯ Luo Qi felt annoyed. He waved his giant sword and mmed Liu Furong away. Then, he controlled his mecha and retreated in the direction of Base Yaqi. The other five members of his team followed behind him closely.


    ¡°Running away? Not so easy!¡± These people killed many of theirrades. How could they let them off so easily? The mecha operators quickly blocked their path of retreat fearlessly.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± Luo Qi quickly fired a beam while signalling to his members to grab any chances to retreat.


    Liu Furong was unwilling to give up too. When he saw Luo Qi firing at his teammates, he howled in anger and fired furiously at Luo Qi with his beam gun.


    Luo Qi had no choice but to evade the beams, so he was no longer able to help his team members, causing only one of his team members to be able to escape. The other four were chased back into the battlefield and got surrounded by Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang¡¯s teams.


    After Luo Qi evaded Liu Furong¡¯s beams, he wanted to use his beam gun to help his four team members. However, when he saw his beams were all blocked by Yang Mingzhi effortlessly, he knew that this was an expert at long-range attacks. Without his beam gun, he no longer had any chance to save his team members, so Luo Qi turned decisively and retreated with the one member who had escaped.


    As a regimentmander of God-Killers, Luo Qi not only needed to have powerful mecha piloting ability, he also needed to be decisive and know when to give up certain things. Because of these traits, he was able to defeat many candidates who wanted his seat and sit in the position of the regimentmander for this long. Since he knew that saving his team members was impossible, he decided to leave.

 Chapter 889 - Survivor!

    <h4>Chapter 889: Survivor!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°What a pity. He escaped,¡± Liu Furong said angrily. The opponent he fought with was stronger than the teammates he had around him, so he must have had a particrly high status in the Hailiyan army. If they were able to kill him, they could not only take revenge for theirrades but also injure the morale of their enemies.


    Liu Furong only felt it was a pity for a short while, but he quickly returned back to his calm state and joined the battle against the four abandoned imperial operators.


    When Han Jijyun saw two of the enemy mechas running away and the remaining four imperial operators getting cornered by their mecha operators, he knew the danger was over, so he piloted his mecha out of the dense forest and came to the ruins. He needed to find survivors quickly to send them back to Base 013 so that they could receive treatment as soon as possible. This was why he hid just now. No matter what the end result of this battle was, he needed to send the injured soldiers back to their base, even if he had to risk his life toplete this mission.


    Han Jijyun started searching carefully. Anyone that self-destructed their mecha had a very low chance of survival but he still didn¡¯t give up. Finally, he found a cockpit that managed to be ejected out of the mecha safety before the explosion of the mecha could catch up to it. It was buried in the ground at a corner of the battlefield. Han Jijyun rushed over and carefully took the cockpit out. He also saw a green line around the cockpit, symbolizing that the person inside the cockpit was still alive. Han Jijyun hurriedly linked his channel with the cockpit and said, ¡°This is Han Jijyun. What is your situation?¡±


    ¡°Cough, cough. Damn it. I almost died from the fall. Leader Han, has the battle outside ended?¡± Yao Jian¡¯s weak voice came from the cockpit.


    ¡°Deputy Leader Yao! It¡¯s Deputy Leader Yao! That¡¯s good.¡± Han Jijyun shouted in excitement, ¡°Leader Yang and Leader Gu hade to reinforce us with their teams. We are clearing thest of the enemy now. Deputy Leader Yao, hang in there. I¡¯ll send you back to the base soon.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I just suffered some internal injuries. I¡¯ve already taken the recovery fluid, so go and look for other survivors.¡± Yao Jian knew that even before he had self-destructed his mecha, many other people had already self-destructed their mechas. He just hoped that they were as lucky as him and managed to eject sessfully.


    ¡°Okay!¡± Han Jijyun ced Yao Jian¡¯s cockpit at a safe ce so that he wouldn¡¯t be implicated by the battle above them. Then, he started searching through the ruins again. Yao Jian¡¯s survival gave him some confidence that there would be other members who were still alive.


    After this, Han Jijyun found two more members who were at the brink of death. If Han Jijyun had found them just slightlyter, they would have died. To save these two members who were struggling at the doors of hell, Han Jijyun fed them the precious agent that Ling Lan gave him, managing to keep them alive for the moment.


    He had found three people that were still alive. But, no matter how much he continued searching, he couldn¡¯t find any more survivors. Han Jijyun finally gave up. Out of more than 30 mecha operators who self-destructed their mechas, only three had survived. Team 02 sacrificed 13 members while team 08 sacrificed 14 members in this battle. More than half of their team members were dead.


    Yang Mingzhi, Liu Furong, and Gu Dongyang led their teams and killed the remaining four imperial operators before they finally vented their anger.


    Yang Mingzhi scanned through Liu Furong¡¯s team and frowned. ¡°Why isn¡¯t the regimentmander with you?¡±


    Liu Furong gritted his teeth. The moment they left the second line of defense safely and entered the area of the first line of defense, he knew what their regimentmander did to clear the path for them. If they were walking on the edge of death, their regimentmander was on the path of death.


    ¡°Leader Liu! Where is the regimentmander?¡± Yang Mingzhi felt that something was amiss when he saw Liu Furong hesitating to answer his question. His voice turned louder and sharper.


    ¡°Regimentmander stayed at An to clear the path for us.¡± Liu Furong finally said the truth.


    ¡°Bastard!¡± Yang Mingzhi kicked Liu Furong¡¯s mecha in anger.


    Liu Furong had suffered some internal injury before this so when Yang Mingzhi kicked him, he vomited out mouthfuls of blood.


    He bore with the pain in his chest and didn¡¯t try to exin himself. Ever since he epted Ling Lan¡¯s order and left with the transport team, he knew that he would be despised by everybody in 250. However, Ling Lan¡¯s cold gaze at that time prevented him from denying her orders. He had no choice but to leave.


    ¡°Which direction will he being from?¡± Yang Mingzhi took a deep breath and controlled his worry and anger.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Liu Furong was really clueless. Ling Lan never told him about her ns. He wanted to ask him but he had always got stopped by her piercing gaze.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t know anything, why did you follow him to the battlefield then?¡± Yang Mingzhi scolded furiously.


    ¡°There is no need to me Leader Liu. No one can stop our regimentmander when he makes a decision, not even you, Leader Yang.¡± A cold voice sounded behind them. It was Han Jijyun who had finished searching for survivors.


    ¡°I just want to know which direction our regimentmander will being from so that we can go and reinforce him.¡± Yang Mingzhi knew that Ling Lan was a resolute person. He med Liu Furong because he was angry at himself. Because before this mission, Ling Lan stopped him from going and allowed Liu Furong to go instead.


    Han Jijyun looked at Yaqi¡¯s direction. He said with certainty, ¡°Regimentmander wille from Base Yaqi¡¯s direction.¡±


    ¡°Why? They have found you. Base Yaqi will definitely be on alert. They¡¯ll search this area.¡± Yang Mingzhi was confused.


    ¡°The transport team is on the way back to Base 013 now. Who are they supposed to be looking for?¡± Han Jijyun replied indifferently.


    Yang Mingzhi¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Regimentmander wants to make use of this?¡± Yaqi would definitely want to catch them. Hence, they would send all their soldiers out and chase after them. During this time, Ling Lan, who was behind Base Yaqi, could sneak past them. Of course, Ling Lan had to enter the first line of defense first.


    ¡°I believe that our regimentmander will seed.¡± Han Jijyun looked at the direction of Base Yaqi firmly. ¡®His boss is not a weak person like him. He will definitely escape ande back to Base 013 alive.¡¯


    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, Leader Liu, Leader Han, bring your teams back and lead the transport team back to the base. We¡¯ll stay here and wait for our enemy.¡± Yang Mingzhi thought for a moment before making this decision.


    Han Jijyun didn¡¯t reject this suggestion. He looked at Yang Mingzhi and nodded. Then, he brought his team and Liu Furong¡¯s team back to the base. Their team members were all injured and had reached their limit. Of course, Han Jijyun didn¡¯t forget the three survivors he found.

 Chapter 890 - Creating Miracle!

    <h4>Chapter 890: Creating Miracle!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    After Han Jijyun and his team disappeared from his sight, Yang Mingzhi sighed. ¡°Leader Han has finally learned to be vicious.¡±


    Gu Dongyang looked at the ruins and said calmly, ¡°Our regimentmander brought him out so that he can understand this point. In a battle, being soft-hearted is equivalent to harming yourself. Plus, being a soft-hearted advisor, would mean innocent soldiers would have to die needlessly.¡±


    ¡°Killing prisoners of war is the first step to being someone brutal. He still has a long path ahead of him to be someone like that.¡± Yang Mingzhi was someone who watched these new soldiers grew slowly. He felt that letting them be team leaders was not a good decision but from the looks of it now, the person who understood them the most was their Boss. Ling Lan understood her friends well. She knew how well they could handle stress. Han Jijyun always felt that he was weak but to Yang Mingzhi, he was already good enough. However, after knowing when to be vicious, Han Jijyun became an even better soldier.


    He said this because when Han Jijyun was searching for survivors, he found imperial operators from Hailiya who were still alive. Based on his past actions, he would treat them fairly and bring them back to the base for treatment. But, after this battle, he understood the pain of losing hisrades and finally understood that some people just couldn¡¯t exist together.


    He hesitated when he found these people but in the end, he still hardened his heart and killed these people. He tried to conceal his actions but it couldn¡¯t escape Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang¡¯s eyes as they were very experienced soldiers. Many veteran mecha operators noticed this too but they kept quiet and pretended they didn¡¯t see anything, as they wanted Han Jijyun to get used to this brutal battlefield. They hoped that he would have a stronger heart and be a vicious person when needed.


    Every good soldier started from the bottom by killing prisoners of war. This was how other countries trained their soldiers too. Compared to the battles thousands of years ago, the probability of prisoners of war surviving became almost nil.


    After moving for some distance, Han Jijyun met Zhao Jun¡¯s team. Zhao Jun saw the badly damaged mechas from team 02 and team 08 and frowned, as he knew he was toote.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Boss?¡± When he scanned the crowd but didn¡¯t see Ling Lan, he got agitated.


    ¡°Boss and Qi Long¡¯s team 03 stayed back at Base An to hold back the enemy. They¡¯reing back soon. You will be able to fetch him if you go now.¡± Han Jijyun calmly told Zhao Jun his thoughts. He stopped using words such as ¡®maybe¡¯, ¡®probably¡¯, ¡®should be¡¯. If an adviser didn¡¯t even believe in what he had said, how could his men believe in the advisor?


    ¡°I understand.¡± Zhao Jun quickly led his team and rushed forward. Fortunately, he wasn¡¯t toote.


    The moment Zhao Jun reached the boundary of Base 013 and Base Yaqi, he saw Gu Dongyang¡¯s team 09 waiting there, but Yang Mingzhi¡¯s team was nowhere in sight.


    Gu Dongyang saw Zhao Jun too. Before he could greet Zhao Jun, his radar¡¯s rm rang. After some time, numerous mechas suddenly appeared in the air above Base Yaqi. They filled up the entire sky like dark clouds and moved towards them.


    Gu Dongyang knew that their teams wouldn¡¯t be able to handle all these mechas so he quickly shouted, ¡°Retreat!¡±


    Zhao Jun¡¯s team didn¡¯t even have the time to recover their breaths before they had to immediately leave. They immediately followed Gu Dongyang¡¯s team and retreated with them. Zhao Jun¡¯s goal of joining this war was to find a way to break through his mecha piloting stage. He was not here to look for death. In the face of so many enemies, staying behind would mean sure death. Hence, he didn¡¯t hesitate when he heard Gu Dongyang¡¯smand and retreated with his team. However, he was still frustrated. If he had a chance, he would definitely fight with his enemies.


    Zhao Jun and Gu Dongyang quickly reported this situation back to Base 013 using radio waves. Base 013 reacted quickly and immediately sent out full-sized mecha teams.


    Just as the soldiers from Yaqi were about to catch up with the transport team, the reinforcements from Base 013 had arrived. The soldiers from Yaqi collided with the mecha operators from Base 013 and a fierce fight ensued. One side was protecting their chance of survival while the other was trying to destroy it.


    This was the moment Zhao Jun had been waiting for. When he saw the reinforcements, he instantly changed the direction of his mecha. He had already set his eyes on his target for a long time. It was the regimentmander of Base Yaqi¡¯s Ace Mecha n.


    Gu Dongyang wanted to attack the regimentmander too but when he saw Zhao Jun rushing at the regimentmander like a dog rushing forward to its favorite treat, he smiled and turned his mecha to face another regimentmander. As a veteran, he was happy when new soldiers had the courage and determination to improve.


    This was the first huge battle Base 013 would experience after all the bases got attacked by Haliya. While they were fighting, Yang Mingzhi and his team concealed themselves along the border of Base 013 using the chameleon system. They watched indifferently as Gu Dongyang and Zhao Jun¡¯s team retreated to the base. They also ignored the huge army from Haliya when they flew above them. They wanted to fight too but they knew that they had a much more important mission, fetching their regimentmander.


    Before Zhao Jun had reached the ruins, Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang had already formed an agreement beforehand. Yang Mingzhi¡¯s team would conceal themselves and reinforce their regimentmander while Gu Dongyang¡¯s team would help them to attract the attention of Yaqi¡¯s soldiers away from this ce.


    Batches of mechas flew passed them. Yang Mingzhi waited for a while then confirmed that there were no more enemiesing their way. After that, he ordered his team members to turn off their chameleon system and wait patiently for Ling Lan¡¯s arrival.


    ¡°Beep beep beep...¡± An rm rang in all the 24 mechas.


    ¡°Leader, mechas appeared in Base Yaqi¡¯s direction again.¡± One of the mecha operators looked at the red dots on his radar and got nervous.


    Just as Yang Mingzhi was about to ask his team members to activate their chameleon system again, he noticed that the red dots didn¡¯t move in a straight path. They moved to the right for a while before changing directions to the left.


    He tried to zoom in on the mechas that appeared in his screen. The distance was too far so the image was quite blurry. However, he still managed to see the first three mechas moving in a zigzag, dodging the beams behind them.


    ¡°Those are our people.¡± Yang Mingzhi shouted immediately, ¡°Follow me.¡± If he was right, these mechas belonged to his regimentmander and Qi Long¡¯s team.


    Yang Mingzhi and his team members operated their mechas and dashed forward. After a few seconds, they could finally see the three mechas clearly. It was the mecha of team 03¡¯s leader, the mecha of team 03¡¯s deputy, and the modified mecha of their regimentmander.


    Yang Mingzhi was ted and sad at the same time. He was happy that Ling Lan was fine. However, he could tell that only the team leader and one member of team 03 managed to stay alive. This meant that almost the entire team 03 got annihted. Actually, he already predicted that team 03 would be annihted when he heard Han Jijyun saying that their regimentmander kept team 03 with him. This was why he got angry and kicked Liu Furong.


    This was a suicide mission with almost no hope of survival. Luckily, their regimentmander was a creator of miracles. He managed toe back alive.

 Chapter 891 - Problem!

    <h4>Chapter 891: Problem!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Ling Lan was starting to get annoyed after spending such a long time out of the body. She knew that she should remain calm but she couldn¡¯t.


    Suddenly, Ling Lan felt an extremely familiar suction appearing in her mindscape.


    ¡®F**k! It¡¯s here again!¡¯ Ling Lan felt helpless as she just allowed the suction to suck her into the learning space.


    Her instructors were always so domineering and unreasonable when they wanted to find her. Ling Lan used to be unhappy about this but now, she had just given up about having any opinions about it.


    Ling Lan thought Number One was looking for her but instead, it was Number Three who rarely appeared.


    Ever since Ling Lan graduated with perfect mecha piloting foundations, Number Three never looked for her unless he invented new techniques from merging the techniques in this world with the skills from Mandora. ¡®Did Number Three create a new technique again?¡¯


    Number Three had very high standards, so he would only create top-level techniques. Ling Lan was giddy just at the thought of having more top-level techniques


    Just like what Ling Lan had expected, Number Three smiled when he saw her and said, ¡°Ling Lan, I¡¯ve mastered some of the techniques in your world andbined it with my skills to create a new technique. I¡¯m currently rectifying the technique. Come and help me test the effects of this new technique.¡±


    ¡°Number Three, I¡¯m afraid that I can¡¯t help you today. I must go back to my body. Myrades are still fighting for their lives outside. I need to fight with them.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to stay here. If she was able to return to her body already, she wouldn¡¯t be wasting time by staying here.


    Number Three retracted his smile and said sternly, ¡°Do you think that I don¡¯t know what has happened to you? Your spiritual power is too high. That¡¯s why the body rejected you. The reason I asked you toe help me is to use some of your spiritual power. That way, your body will ept you quicker.¡±


    This is the same as what Little Four had predicted. Her spiritual power was too high for her power so her body rejected her conscious from entering the body in order to protect it.


    ¡°In that case, thank you for your thoughtfulness.¡± Since Number Three gave her a solution, she would ept it.


    Very soon, Ling Lan and Number Three boarded their personal mechas in the learning space. The mecha Ling Lan was operating was not an ace mecha. It was rather a standard imperial mecha of the Federation.


    There was originally no data about the Federation in the learning space but Little Four was the virtual god so he found a way around it. He stole all the information regarding the mechas below the level of god-ss mechas. Little Four wanted to find information about god-ss mechas too but after searching through all the mainframes in the Federation, nothing about those mechas could be found. But, Little Four wasn¡¯t too disappointed as he knew that god-ss mechas were the ultimate weapon of the Federation so, besides its owner, no one probably knew anything about it.


    The mechas in the learning space were more advanced than the mechas of the Federation. However, her instructors told her that since she was only operating mechas from the Federation, she shouldn¡¯t y with any controls that didn¡¯t exist in the real world. That way she could get used to the mechas in the real world and not make any mistakes while operating it.


    In the learning space, Ling Lan operated her mecha smoothly without holding herself back. She used all the imperial techniques and skills she had learned. One of the reasons why she wanted to do this was so that her spiritual power could be used up faster.


    Number Three saw how much effort Ling Lan was putting in so he taught the new techniques that he had just invented for her. During this war, Number Three was spectating the battlefield from Ling Lan perspective which allowed him to collect data on the various top-level techniques used by the Hailiyan mecha operators. After going through them, he picked up two ultimate techniques.


    The first technique was a modified version of the God-Killers¡¯ top-level technique, Helix Whirl. It was a very lethal technique but it had a major w. Once the opponent got sucked into the Helix Whirl, they would know that they would die soon so they would self-destruct their mechas to drag someone with them to death. This was how the team members of team 02 and team 08 killed two imperial operators when they couldn¡¯t evade the Helix Whirl. Thus if used wrongly, the result of using this technique was mutual destruction. Number Three experimented with the technique many times and finally invented the Boomerang Kill.


    When using the Boomerang Kill, the giant sword would fly out of the mecha¡¯s hand and move towards the opponent. After killing the opponent, the sword would fly back just like a boomerang. This was why Number Three called this technique the Boomerang Kill. It was an exceptionally difficult technique to learn. Number Three felt that it was a 3S technique and only one step behind from bing an ultimate technique. However, if it was really an ultimate technique, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t be able to learn it now.


    The other was a shooting art. One of the imperial operators in God-Killers was an expert in long-range attacks. He used a foldable beam attack to destroy a clueless ace mecha, bbergasting Ling Lan when she saw this. Beams were not bullets. They couldn¡¯t use hard objects or surfaces to change the direction of a beam as beams had a high prating power. Besides the beam shield, nothing was able to stop the prating power of a beam, so this imperial operator¡¯s technique greatly contradicts Ling Lan¡¯s perception of what beams could do.


    After much research by Number Three, he finally knew how this technique worked. It was very simple. The foundation of this technique was to have the following beam catch up with the first beam. The impact of the collision of the two beams would change the direction of the first beam.


    Because of her hand speed, Ling Lan was able to shoot in a way that caused multiple beams to move in unison. However, she had never tried to hit one beam with another beam before. Thus, she tried to spar with Number Three using this method only, but she was unable to dodge Number Three¡¯s sword and was hit in the cockpit.


    ¡°Ling Lan, in your current condition, you¡¯ll only die if you go out now.¡± Number Three was furious. He had never seen Ling Lan so weak before. Even if she got hit, she would at least injure him and not let him kill her so easily.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s moved her mecha beside Number Three¡¯s mecha and apologized to him. ¡°Number Three, let¡¯s start again. I¡¯ll take note of it this time.¡±


    ¡°There is no need for that.¡± Number Three kept his giant sword unexpectedly and replied calmly, ¡°I already know your problems now.¡±


    ¡°Problems?¡± Ling Lan was shocked. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just my spiritual power? There are other problems?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about your conscious being unable to go back to your body. I¡¯m saying that your operation during this period of time is problematic.¡± Number Three was talking about her mecha piloting, not her spiritual power.

 Chapter 892 - My Path!

    <h4>Chapter 892: My Path!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Operation? Isn¡¯t my operation normal?¡± Ling Lan was puzzled, as she didn¡¯t detect any problems. On the battlefield, she put up good fights against opponents who were on paper stronger than her and even defeated most of them after finding their loopholes.


    ¡°Remember your battle team formation test? During that time, your opponents were all on par with you in terms of abilities but you were able to suppress more than one person at a single time and even managed to defeat your opponents. However, ever since you entered this battlefield, you have never taken control of a fight. You only rush to the front rashly and attacked your opponent furiously.¡± Number Three mercilessly told Ling Lan all the stupid things she did on the battlefield. ¡°An example of this would be, when you met the group of imperial operators, you chose to harm yourself to kill your enemies. Actually, with your capabilities, you can easily control the fight and ask yourrades to cooperate with you to kill your enemies.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s face turned pale after hearing what Number Three had said.


    ¡°Think about it. Why were you able to fight freely during the test but so overcautious now?¡± Number Three asked.


    ¡°I was in the virtual world at that time. I can make bold decisions because I know that even if I am wrong, my teammates will not die.¡± Ling Lan finally said her weakness which she buried deep in her heart.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t dare to take the gamble. You are afraid that once you fail, your teammates will all die.¡± Number Three spoke out Ling Lan¡¯s true thoughts.


    Ling Lan pursed her lips. She didn¡¯t say anything but the stubbornness on her face proved that Number Three was correct.


    ¡°Take a look at the consequences of being overcautious then.¡± Number Three waved his hands and everything that was happening outside was shown in front of Ling Lan. She saw Qi Long¡¯s team staying back to stop their enemies so that they could escape. After attracting all the mechas, they all self-destructed, leaving only four alive in the end. Those four were then chased by many enemy mechas for a long distance, and they almost died at multiple asions under the multiple beams shot at them but luckily, Qi Long and his two protectors found them by chance and helped them to escape.


    ¡°Only three people are left in team 03?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes turned cold. She knew that there would be casualties but she didn¡¯t expect there to be so many casualties.


    ¡°If you have not been so cautious and used your spiritual power, you wouldn¡¯t have fainted. With your controls, you will be able to survive with more people even if some died. Think about this carefully.¡± Number Three erased the image and continued, ¡°Ling Lan, you¡¯re not god. Always remember this. You can¡¯t be greedy and hope to bring everyone back. This is impossible. From now on, you must understand this. You must make the right decision so that more people can go back home.¡±


    Ling Lan lowered her head in deep thought. After a few seconds, she lifted her head and started into Number Three¡¯s eyes. ¡°Number Three, I understand!¡±


    Number Three smiled. ¡®What a promising child, as expected of our best student.¡¯


    However, soon, his smile froze. ¡°Ling Lan, what are you doing?¡±


    Ling Lan was using her powerful spiritual power to tear apart the barrier of Number Three¡¯s space. She turned and replied, ¡°I want to go back.¡±


    ¡°Where are you going back to? Your spiritual power is still too high. You need to use more of it before your body can ept you,¡± Number Three shouted furiously. ¡®Damn it, do you know how long it¡¯ll take me to repair my barrier after you tear it apart?¡¯


    ¡°Qi Long and the others are still fighting. I must go back and fight with them.¡± Ling Lan made a decision.


    ¡°How are you going to go back? Your body isn¡¯t willing to ept your conscious. Are you nning to harm your body after hurting your spiritual power?¡± Number Three was speechless. ¡®What did he say just now? She is a promising child? When Ling Lan decides to be stubborn, no one can stop her. Doesn¡¯t she know that she needs to be careful?¡¯


    ¡°It¡¯ll have to ept me even if it doesn¡¯t want too.¡± Ling Lan was firm. ¡°My path is the dominating path. I will get what I want. Hence, my body has to listen to me, it cannot reject me.¡±


    ¡®I cannot watch myrades sacrifice themselves anymore. I¡¯ll do it even if it¡¯s stupid. I¡¯ll do my best. The result may not be good but at least I won¡¯t regret it.¡¯


    Ling Lan walked out of the crack she had just made. The next second, she disappeared from Number Three¡¯s space.


    ¡°What a stubborn child.¡± Number Three shook his head as he smiled bitterly.


    Suddenly, a ck line appeared behind him. The line turned into an opening and Number One walked out of it.


    ¡°Number One, you finally came out after watching the show for so long.¡± Number Three raised one of his eyebrows.


    Number One looked at the ce where Ling Lan disappeared and coldly said, ¡°I asked you to waste her spiritual power but you start educating her instead.¡±


    Number Three shrugged. ¡°I can¡¯t let her continue making mistakes.¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t say that it¡¯s wrong.¡± Number One slowly said, ¡°Ling Lan has finally walked on the path she decided on in the past.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying that Ling Lan has awakened?¡± Number Three¡¯s eyes lit up.


    Number One nced at him. Number Three instantly motioned his hands like he was zipping his mouth shut, making sure that he was not going to ask any more questions.


    Number One scoffed and disappeared from Number Three¡¯s space.


    ¡°Seriously, why are you so unfriendly even after you came barging into my space without my permission?¡± After Number One left, Number Three had the courage toin. ¡°However, if she has really awakened, we might be able to groom a god. I¡¯m excited.¡±


    Number Three instantly disappeared from his space, because he needed to find someone to share this good news with, as the learning space was too boring. He needed to find some gossips to pass his time with.


    Ling Lan returned to her calm mindscape. She tried to get back to her body but the body still resisted against her.


    ¡°I had once said that my path is to dominate. I want to live for freedom but at the same time, I want to live for myself. I¡¯m the owner of my conscious. My body must bow down to me. Even if it gets hurt, it must listen to me without anyints!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice echoed through the entire mindscape. It reached every cell in her body, letting all of them understand that they must submit to her.


    ¡°I will take control of the body. Is anyone unwilling to listen to me?¡± Ling Lan shouted fiercely before she finally broke through the barrier. When she opened her eyes the next time, she saw the mecha screen in front of her. Yang Mingzhi and his team hade to escort them. They were stopping the enemies behind Ling Lan.


    ¡°Little Four, give me back the control of the mecha,¡± Ling Lan said seriously.

 Chapter 893 - Meant What I Said!

    <h4>Chapter 893: Meant What I Said!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Boss, you¡¯re finally awake. That¡¯s great,¡± Little Four shouted happily.


    He had been trembling in fear all these while. He was afraid that he would make a mistake in his calction and caused his Boss and the two people beside him to die. He would never do such a thing again. It was too frightening. Little Four felt that after this, his lifespan had decreased by a few thousand years. Although he still had many thousands of years left to live, he couldn¡¯t stand this torment anymore. If he did this a few more times, all his lifespan would get burned off like wood in a coal furnace. One day, his chip would burn from working too furiously.


    Well, as the great Little Four, he would never admit that he was so nervous that his chip got too hot and burnt a little.


    Little Four quickly passed the control of the mecha back to Ling Lan. Ling Lan reloaded her beam gun and carefully aimed it at the Hailiyan mecha operators behind her. She fired multiple times.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Qi Long shouted excitedly when he saw his Boss attacking again.


    ¡°Sorry to make you worry. I¡¯m fine now. It¡¯s time to take revenge for ourrades.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s voice was calm but Qi Long and his team member could feel the killing intent through themlink.


    They were already exhausted but after hearing her words, strength suddenly returned to their bodies. Yes, theirrades sacrificed themselves so that they could escape. How could they go back to their base without doing anything for them in return?


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander.¡± Qi Long and his team members shouted. They raised their weapons and aimed it at their enemies.


    Gu Dongyang and the other people who had received this news rushed over to Ling Lan after killing their opponents


    But, Zhao Jun remained behind. He wanted to help his Boss too but the opponent he picked was a regimentmander of an ace mecha n stationed in Base Yaqi who was at the peak of ace, while he was only an elite ace. He was a level lower than his opponent so he was not having an easy time against his opponent.


    Zhao Jun always wanted to enter the peak of ace but no matter how hard he worked, he just alwayscked that one step.


    That one step had held him back for almost a year. This was why Zhao Jun was frustrated and so determined to achieve a breakthrough. In Lingtian, besides their regimentmander who was basically an anomaly in the world, Li Lanfeng, Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi all entered elite ace. The rest of the people were still fine but Qi Long was different. If he never met Ling Lan, he would think that Qi Long was the person heaven was protecting. Qi Long came close to the peak of ace half a year after his advancement to elite ace. When they were practicing, Zhao Jun felt this.


    What made Zhao Jun the most annoyed was, Qi Long was always improving. His situation waspletely different from his. Zhao Jun also could feel that Qi Long hadn¡¯t reached his bottleneck yet. He just needed a bit more time before he enters the peak of ace. He would face no difficulty at all in this process.


    Zhao Jun was just amoner from a three-star. He managed to reach this position mostly because of his talent but his stubborn personality yed a part in his sess too. He was unwilling to give up, and he almost never gave up. This personality trait allowed him to be on par with those heavenly gifted people.


    Hence, he was unwilling to lose to an oddball like Qi Long. He didn¡¯t mind losing to the monstrous Ling Lan but he couldn¡¯t ept it when he lost to Ling Lan¡¯s underlings who were younger than him.


    Zhao Jun must defeat his opponent before he could help his Boss. This meant that he must advance to peak ace. Zhao Jun clutched the sword in his hand and attacked his opponent again. Hepletely stopped dodging and started attacking forcefully.


    Since he knew what he had to do to win, he would look a chance to break through even if he had to face death. Hence, he couldn¡¯t be scared of his opponent¡¯s attack. He must wee it and be offensive too. That was the only way he would get what he wanted.


    ¡°To win or die trying. I won¡¯t die though. I still want to fight alongside Boss.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s obsession had be his too. Maybe it was because Li Lanfeng kept talking about Ling Lan after he entered the army so he was influenced by him, but Zhao Jun felt that this was a good obsession. He was lucky to be a member of Lingtian. He treasured everyone inside. Just like Li Lanfeng, he was a lonely person in the past. He couldn¡¯t bear to let go of these treasures he had worked so hard to acquire. To ensure that he wouldn¡¯t get left behind, he must be stronger.


    ¡°I can only continue to fight with Ling Lan if I be stronger.¡± Boss Lan was just too talented. He didn¡¯t need people that couldn¡¯t catch up with him. Maybe this was why all the members of Lingtian worked so hard.


    Zhao Jun realized he had found the reason why the people from Lingtian improved so quickly. They were all afraid of the same thing.


    ¡°In that case, I can¡¯t lose to them! Let¡¯s use this battle to prove that I meant what I said.¡± A strong fire ofpetitiveness burned within his eyes. He raised his giant sword and struck it at his opponent¡¯s sword.


    Bang! From the start of this fight, Zhao Jun was at a disadvantage but this time, he managed to throw his opponent off his feet. He was ted. He was always pressured by his opponent¡¯s powerful strength throughout this fight but during that attack just now, that pressure simply had disappeared. It felt as though he was at the same level as his opponent.


    ¡®Did I enter the peak of ace just now?¡¯ This thought shed passed Zhao Jun¡¯s mind.


    He saw his opponent charging at him again so he decided to confirm his suspicion.


    Bang!


    Another loud collision urred. Zhao Jun managed to knock his opponent back easily again. It didn¡¯t even feel forced.


    ¡°Hahaha...¡± Zhao Junughed heartily. He finally achieved his breakthrough and entered the peak of ace. He could be in talks about bing an imperial operator now. He could now have some hope in himself to catch up with his Boss.


    ¡°Go and die.¡± Zhao Jun attacked his opponent ferociously, venting his frustrations when he was suppressed at the start.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s closebat skills were simr to Qi Long. They both liked to attack like madmen. Under such ferocious attack, his opponent got confused by the afterimages of fisting towards his face.


    Suddenly, two beams came from behind Zhao Jun. The beams came without a warning. The enemy mecha operator was too focused on fighting with Zhao Jun so he didn¡¯t notice the beams that wereing towards him. The beams hit his cockpit and the mecha exploded. Burnt parts of the mecha were mmed heavily onto the ground before scattering randomly.


    Zhao Jun was prepared for this. He retracted his giant sword and looked at the burning mecha indifferently. Then, he shouted, ¡°Come with me. Let¡¯s go help our regimentmander.¡± ¡®Don¡¯t me me for being despicable. We were taught to be despicable when we have to.¡¯ thought Zhao Jun. Gang fights were always better than fighting alone. If they could sneak attack, they would never attack face to face. It couldn¡¯t be helped.


    Hence, Zhao Jun defeated his opponent and brought his team to the border of Base 013 and Base Yaqi.

 Chapter 894 - Amulet!

    <h4>Chapter 894: Amulet!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    At this moment, in the vast universe, a huge fleet was moving rapidly towards Haijiao. Qi Yaoyang was seated in the hull of themand ship. He looked calm but his heart was in a mess.


    Simr to Ling Xiao, he wanted to save his son. On the surface, he seemed to have broken ties with his son because his son had entered the 23rd division without his permission. In actual fact, both he and Ling Xiao knew that this was all an act, done to prevent the Third Marshal from suspecting the rtionship between them. Among his three sons, he loved Qi Long the most.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, what on earth is the amulet you mentioned?¡± Qi Yaoyang muttered to himself. He remembered the secret meeting he had with Ling Xiao two weeks ago after the conference ended.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, why did you announce to everyone that Ling Lan is your son? Aren¡¯t you worried that after Ling Lan¡¯s identity is exposed, he would be in more danger?¡± Qi Yaoyang was puzzled about Ling Xiao¡¯s decision.


    Ling Xiao was helpless. ¡°I can¡¯t hide it anymore. If I don¡¯t say it, the people supporting the Second and Third Marshal wouldn¡¯t let me go. They had already nned to force me to expose Ling Lan¡¯s identity in this conference.¡±


    They wanted to use this conference to paint him in a way that he was abusing his power for personal gains, even the First Marshal might have agreed to this n. Ling Xiao knew his position in the hearts of the citizens of the country. The three marshals probably didn¡¯t expect him to be so powerful that he could threaten their position after the god creation mission.


    ¡°Time is everything. I don¡¯t want to continue arguing with them. Since I can¡¯t hide it, I shall satisfy them.¡± Ling Xiao sneered. If he couldn¡¯t ovee such small setbacks, how could he achieve his ambition?


    ¡°Ling Xiao, tell me the truth. Were you really confident when you said that they wouldst for more than three weeks or were you just taking a gamble?¡± Qi Yaoyang asked seriously. He wanted to know the truth so that he could make the correct arrangements.


    ¡°I¡¯m confident. I gave Ling Lan an amulet.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s expression wasplicated. He was worried at that time so to prevent anything from happening to Ling Lan, he gave her an amulet. He also hoped that his amulet didn¡¯t have to be used but his dear daughter was an unlucky person.


    Qi Yaoyang wanted to know what the amulet was but Ling Xiao wouldn¡¯t give him any more information. He only urged him to hurry up. If they were toote, even with the amulet, it would be all for naught.


    They were able to enter Haijiao¡¯s atmosphere after 5 days of continuous travelling. It had been 10 days since the conference.


    ¡°You must hang in there. Don¡¯t disappoint us,¡± Qi Yaoyang prayed in his heart.


    He took a deep breath and asked his adjutant. ¡°Have you found the position of the Flying Dragon Special Forces?¡±


    ¡°The Flying Dragon Special Forces didn¡¯t send us any updates and we are also unable to find their traces.¡± The adjutant frowned.


    ¡°That old fellow always does this. However, this is good too. If we can¡¯t find them, everyone else won¡¯t be able to find them too. This will prevent their position from being exposed and Hailiya will not bring forward the date for the final battle.¡± Qi Yaoyang didn¡¯t want to know the position of the Flying Dragon Special Forces at all. Thus, he was satisfied when he heard what his adjutant had said.


    Before Qi Yaoyang left with the reinforcements, he had a discussion with Ling Xiao about the situation on Haijiao. Ling Xiao tantly rejected the Third Marshal¡¯s decision but actually in his heart, he agreed with what the Third Marshal had said. His judgment was the same too. Hailiya was using Haijiao as a bait to lure the reinforcements.


    The only way this scheme could fail was the surviving bases on Haijiaosting until the reinforcements arrive. Once these bases fall, the Federation would be at a severe disadvantage. They wouldn¡¯t be able to help the people on Haijiao and the entire fleet might even be destroyed.


    However, if Hailiya used all their soldiers and attacked the bases, the surviving bases wouldn¡¯t stand a chance. They could only rely on the Flying Dragon Special Forces and hoped that they were able to sneak into Haijiao and change the tides.


    Qi Yaoyang suppressed his worry and ced his hopes on the missing Flying Dragon Special Forces and the amulet Ling Xiao mentioned. The only thing he could do now was to move towards Haijiao at the fastest speed possible.


    Three days passed by. The supplies they got after sacrificing so many lives managed to solve their severeck of food and water problem. However, the people from 250 Ace Mecha n didn¡¯t have the time to grieve about the cost of getting those supplies, as they needed to resist against continuous attacks by Hailiya.


    Hailiya was extremely angry that Base 013 destroyed Base An. They would have ordered their main army to attack Base 013 and ttened it if they didn¡¯t have other ns for it.


    However, to vent their anger, Hailiya chose to attack it continuously all throughout the day. If they couldn¡¯t let them die from hunger, they would let them die from exhaustion.


    After three days of continuous attack, everyone in Base 013 was exhausted. They were on the verge of breaking down. Unfortunately, their situation was just getting worse. More and more enemy troops stationed themselves outside their base, forming an army ten times the normal size. Everyone had a heavy heart when they saw this. They all felt a sense of despair. ¡®Are we going to die here today?¡¯


    At themand center of Base 013, all the regimentmanders and themanding officers of the three bases were present. They looked at the screen which was showing the situation outside the base with serious expressions.


    ¡°Looks like they are starting the final attack soon.¡± Themanding officer of Base 012 had a dejected look. He wasn¡¯t the only one. Everyone knew that Base 013 had reached its limit. They wouldn¡¯t be able to resist this attack.


    ¡°This means that our reinforcements had arrived,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly, as she had already expected this to happen. Their hardest time was when their reinforcements would arrive.


    ¡°How are we supposed tost until the reinforcements arrive?¡± One of the regimentmanders stood up furiously. ¡°My soldiers have reached their limit. They have only rested for a total of four hours within these past three days. They can¡¯t handle it anymore.¡±


    ¡°I agree! The enemies stationed outside have increased ten times. Anyone who goes out now will die. I won¡¯t let my soldiers die such meaningless deaths!¡± another regimentmander sprung up and shouted too.


    The rest of the regimentmander remained silent. Just like these two regimentmanders, they didn¡¯t have the courage to continue fighting anymore. No one wanted to die. If they stayed at the base, they would still die after the base was destroyed but they could at least survive for a longer period of time. They still had a chance to survive.


    Ling Lan scanned the crowd. Everyone looked down when her cold gaze went passed them. They didn¡¯t dare to look straight at her.


    ¡°In that case, we¡¯ll stop fighting.¡± Ling Lan stood up and left with the leaders of 250 Ace Mecha n.


    Everyone looked at Ling Lan¡¯s back in shock. ¡®Did the domineering and arrogant Regiment Commander Ling Lan just decided to give up?¡¯


    A few secondster, an uproar urred in themand center. These people were afraid of death, so they gave up. However, they still didn¡¯t want Base 013 to give up without doing anything.

 Chapter 895 - I’m sorry!

    <h4>Chapter 895: I¡¯m sorry!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Lin Zhong-qing looked at the panicking regimentmanders and sneered. Then, he pped his hands loudly, attracting everyone¡¯s attention.


    ¡°Our regimentmander was very clear with his words. From now on, the logistics department will not give any battle equipment or energy sources to the mecha ns. All the energy will be used to support the protective shield of the base.¡±


    ¡°He wants to use just the protective shield to block the attack? Is it possible?¡± Themanding officer of Base 014 was uncertain.


    Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t reply to him. He got up slowly and took his military cap off his chair with his left hand. Then, he ced it on his head carefully and scanned the crowd. He smiled and said, ¡°It canst for a while but once the energy is depleted, the base would be destroyed by our enemies. We can only hope that our reinforcements will arrive before Hailiya conquers our base.¡±


    Everyone turned silent. If they didn¡¯t dare to go out and fight, their only hope was to wait for reinforcements. If their reinforcements didn¡¯t arrive on time, they would have to die along with the base.


    ¡°Commanding officers and regimentmanders, I must go and prepare the energy sources for the protective shield now. Please allow me to leave.¡± Lin Zhong-qing nodded at everyone and left with Yuan Youyun.


    On the way, Yuan Youyun scolded the people in the room behind him furiously, ¡°Damn it. We sacrificed so many seniors so that we would waste the food and water on these cowards?¡±


    ¡°Why are you so angry when Boss is not angry?¡± Lin Zhong-qing replied helplessly. From the start, their Boss never wanted to rely on them. However, he didn¡¯t expect their courage to disappear after being surrounded for more than 20 days.


    ¡°What is Boss thinking? The mainframe of the base has evolved after Boss took over it. It can n the usage of energy better but we don¡¯t have much reserve energy left. We can onlyst for one hour if our enemy attacks us with firearms from all directions, and that is just an optimistic estimation.¡± Yuan Youyun appeared frustrated. In the face of despair, even the members of Lingtian started to waver.


    Lin Zhong-qing looked at the agitated Yuan Youyun and turned serious. ¡°Yuan Youyun, have you lost confidence in Boss?¡±


    Yuan Youyun was shocked. His expression changed slightly. ¡°How¡¯s that possible? Boss has always been telling us to do our best, whether it was the Grand Mecha Tournamentst time or the grand armed melee...¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not all. You didn¡¯t study at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy so you don¡¯t know that when we were in there, Boss lead us to victory when we snatched the airship. When the military academy was invaded by mysterious people, he led us to fight against the enemies. He was the only one who formed his own team as a freshman. In the second year, his team became the most powerful team in the military academy. He became the king of the military academy. He not only tells us to do our best, but he also created miracles with us. This time, he would definitely lead us to create another miracle again. We will live.¡±


    Yuan Youyun lowered his head. Lin Zhong-qing continued, ¡°Yuan Youyun, if you no longer trust Boss, you can leave Lingtian. We don¡¯t need arade who doesn¡¯t trust us. Think about it carefully.¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing turned and wanted to leave. Yuan Youyun gritted his teeth and said after a moment of silence, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t apologize to me. You should apologize to our Boss who has been thinking of ways to ensure that we survive this war,¡± Lin Zhong-qing replied calmly.


    ¡°I know. I¡¯ll apologise to him.¡± Yuan Youyun¡¯s gaze was firm. In the face of death, many wandering thoughts would appear in people¡¯s minds. Yuan Youyun¡¯s trust in Ling Lan wavered but Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s words brought him back. This boss never gave up, even in the face of impossible tasks, he would create miracles. The food and water supplies were an instance, right? He was an idiot. How could he miss his Boss¡¯s true intentions?


    Boss would never give up without resistance. He would definitely think of a way tost until the reinforcements arrive.


    Lin Zhong-qing was satisfied. He didn¡¯t care if the people in the base wavered. However, no one from Lingtian should do this. If not, all the efforts and sacrifices his Boss made were wasted on the wrong people.


    No one from 250 Ace Mecha n was left at themand center. It looked as though Ling Lan was not ying cat and mouse with them. She was really nning to do she had said.


    Everyone kept quiet as they pondered. They didn¡¯t want to die but they didn¡¯t want to wait for death like this too. Many regimentmanders were in a dilemma as they lit up theirst cigarette. All the supplies werecking, including luxurious consumables. They treated these consumables like treasure most of the time and only looked at it asionally to satisfy their desires. However, now they were lost, so they needed a cigarette to numb themselves.


    Soon, smoke filled up themand center. Song Yiqing couldn¡¯t stand it anymore. He stood up suddenly and shouted, ¡°I don¡¯t want to be an old turtle that can be killed by anyone. Even if I die, I must die spectacrly on the battlefield.¡± He left without hesitation with his adjutant. Since his thoughts were different from the rest of the people, he wouldn¡¯t force himself to stay here.


    During the supply run mission, some of theirrades sacrificed. But,pared to 250 Ace Mecha n who had helped them to clear their enemies, they were in a much better state. That day, the people of 250 Ace Mecha n fired an empty nk to send theirrades off. He could still remember the solemn scene clearly. He finally understood the real reason why soldiers existed. He recalled all the things he didst time and blushed in embarrassment. He wasn¡¯t worthy enough to wear this military uniform.


    He was wrong in the past but from now on, he wouldn¡¯t make any more mistakes!


    Yan Three stood up too. He wore his military cap and coldly said, ¡°I feel the same way as Regiment Commander Song. From the start, there are no cowards in Base 013.¡± During the first battle, Evil Wind met a renowned ace mecha n from Hailiya. 40% of their mecha operators were killed. It was a huge blow to them. Yan Three almost went berserk after hearing this result. However, before he could wallow in pity, 250 Ace Mecha n chased him and his team members into the training ground and forced them to undergo a brutal training program. Every day, he was exhausted ao he didn¡¯t have the time to feel sad.


    By the time they finished the brutal training, Yan Three realized that everyone in his team had be stronger. Sacrifices were painful but this pain motivated them to move forward. They mustn¡¯t disappoint theirrades who had died for them. They only had the right to say that theirrades didn¡¯t sacrifice in vain if they climbed to a higher position.

 Chapter 896 - The Start Of The Final Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 896: The Start Of The Final Attack!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Yan Three was able to recover quickly because of the 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s brutal training program. The training program was done based on Ling Lan¡¯s order, so Yan Three hadplicated feelings towards Ling Lan. He was grateful towards her but he hated her too. Yet, he willingly bowed down to her. Simrly, he didn¡¯t believe that Ling Lan would sit and wait for death. In the battlefield where there were millions of soldiers, their Evil Wind was like a speck of dust inparison. However, he still wanted to contribute his efforts and his team¡¯s efforts to help Ling Lan.


    After Song Yiqing and Yan Three left, everyone from the mecha ns in Base 013 left quietly too. They had followed Ling Lan from the time she took over the base until now. Since they had worked hard all these while, why couldn¡¯t they continue to persevere for thest part of the journey? Just like what Song Yiqing had said, even if they were to die, they must die spectacrly on the battlefield. It was better than being stuck at the base and feeling like a caged animal.


    Soon, everyone left themand center with differing thoughts.


    Time passed slowly. Outside Base 013, the Hailiyan army was still gathering. There were now more than 50 times the amount of soldiers than how much Base 013 had. Based on their speed on gathering, their numbers would soon be frightening.


    The regimentmanders that got motivated by Song Yiqing and Yan Three felt hopeless again when they saw this. The vast difference in military strength wouldn¡¯t allow them to win even if they sent all their mecha operators out.


    Even Song Yiqing, Yan Three, soldiers from the 250 Ace Mecha n, and Xu Shiming¡¯s scouts team got dumbstruck by the size of Hailiya¡¯s army. They didn¡¯t n to give Base 013 any chances.


    ¡®Are we really unable to wait until the reinforcements arrive?¡¯


    When more than 80 times the military strength of Base 013 appeared on the Hailiya¡¯s side, the final war started.


    Numerous mecha operators and powerful weapons struck the protective shield of Base 013.


    All the soldiers just stared nkly at the protective shield. They were in awe when they saw the beauty of the continuous explosionsing their way.


    ¡°Damn it. We really can¡¯t go out now. If I knew this would happen, I would have gone out long ago. It¡¯s better than waiting for death here.¡± The people from 250 Ace Mecha n and Evil Wind sat in the mecha hold dejectedly. They wanted to go out long ago. No matter what happened to them, they would try to find someone to go to hell with them.


    ¡°Beep beep beep! The energy reserves of the protective shield has been depleted by 20%.¡± The continuous attack on the protective shield had already depleted 20% of the energy reserves. If they couldn¡¯t replenish the energy reserves, the protective shield would only be able tost another one to two minutes.


    Lin Zhong-qing was at the core of the protective shield. He quickly ordered the well-prepared logisticians, ¡°Replenish the energy reserves.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± Multiple logisticians started replenishing energy storage units into the energy belt that was a few thousand meters in length. These were the high-efficiency energy storage units 250 Mecha n had transported over when they first came over to Haijiao. Lin Zhong-qing never used them before this asion because he was preparing for moments like this. Only these high-efficiency energy storage units were able to quickly replenish this enormous energy drainage.


    When he saw the energy reserve of the protective shield rising above 90%, Lin Zhong-qing heaved a sigh of relief. They were fighting for time with their enemies. Were their enemies faster in depleting the energy reserves of the protective shield or were they quicker in replenishing its energy reserves?


    Li Jinghong and the other leaders led a team of transport logisticians and transported all the energy storage units into the core. They ced the energy storage unit beside the logisticians that were putting the energy storage units into the energy belt. At the same time, they took away all the empty energy storage units.


    The work in the core of the protective shield carried on smoothly and orderly, as Lin Zhong-qing had prepared a long time for this battle. All the logisticians who participated in this mission had one week to practice their roles. They performed drills every day. Now, it was time for the real deal.


    Ling Lan stood in themand center and looked at the continuous attacks on the protective shield. She walked to the full-length window and looked up. She could no longer see the blue sky anymore, as mes and smoke filled the sky above her. The sound of explosions could be heard from her office too. The impact of these explosions could be blocked by the protective shield but the people in the base still felt the strong vibrations. This showed how heavily Hailiya was attacking them.


    ¡°It seemed like our reinforcements have entered Haijiao¡¯s atmosphere,¡± Ling Lan said.


    This could only be the reason why Hailiya was attacking them crazily. They needed to destroy all the Federation¡¯s bases left on Haijiao and make Haijiao theirs before reinforcements could arrive. That way, Hailiya could send out their god-ss operators tantly and destroy the now invaders.


    ¡°The firepower is getting stronger. I wonder if Lin Zhong-qing is able to handle it.¡± Li Lanfeng was worried. He hoped that Lin Zhong-qing was able tost for a longer period of time. He also hoped that their reinforcements coulde faster.


    On the other side, Han Jijyun¡¯s expression was calm and cold like the first winter breeze, but his heart was going through some inner turmoil.


    ¡°If the speed of replenishing slows down by 50%, Lin Zhong-qing will report to me.¡± Ling Lan appeared resolute, as she had decided that she would use the amulet her father gave her if that happened.


    Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng got even more worried when they heard this. They knew what this meant. However, they didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to use the amulet General Ling Xiao gave him.


    The continuous bombardment continued for 15 more minutes. Hailiya finally realized that the protective shield of Base 013 didn¡¯t have a single dent after all that. Not only that, the glow of the protective shield was as bright as ever. Themander-in-chief of the east zone of Hailiya frowned. From the information he had received, he knew that the remaining bases in the central and west regions were all destroyed. Base 013 was the only base left.


    ¡°What are you all doing? Increase the intensity of the attack, We must destroy the protective shield of the base.¡± Themanding officer of the east region got agitated. Up in the air, the fleet from Hailiya had already started fighting with the Federation army. If they couldn¡¯t tten Base 013, they wouldn¡¯t be able to use their god-ss operators.


    At this moment, a small starship that was hiding among the stars sneaked through the messy battlefield and closed in on Haijiao.


    ¡°Release the miniature satellites.¡± Brain One threw a few miniature satellites out. Then, he controlled the satellite and moved them towards the orbit of Haijiao.


    This starship belonged to the Flying Dragon Special Forces. They made use of the chance when Hailiyan fleet was distracted by Qi Yaoyang¡¯s fleet to start their n.


    If they wanted to save the surviving bases, they needed to know where they were.

 Chapter 897 - Is It Appropriate?

    <h4>Chapter 897: Is It Appropriate?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    On the starship, everyone was nervous as they watched the satellites entering Haijiao¡¯s orbit. The gravitational pull of the Haijiao was very high, so it was hard for the miniature satellite to resist the pull as they didn¡¯t have strong engines in them. The reason why they didn¡¯t use a normal sized satellite because they were afraid that the Hailiya army would notice the satellites if they were toorge.


    Around 20 minutester, the miniature satellite finally entered the orbit of Haijiao. The people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces finally heaved a sigh of relief. They were halfway to sess.


    Brain One activated the miniature satellite. He looked nervously at the images that were jumping on the screen. For the first time, he felt that the activation speed of these miniature satellites was too slow.


    The Hailiyan army had received the order from theirmander. They attacked Base 013 together and used their most powerful weapons to strike the protective shield.


    ¡°Beep beep beep, the energy reserves of the protective shield had depleted by 30%. 40%. 50%. Alert, alert...¡± The mainframe sounded the rm.


    Lin Zhong-qing shouted sternly, ¡°Change shifts and increase the replenishing speed.¡±


    The logisticians who were waiting for their shifts quickly took over theirrades¡¯ position and started putting the energy storage units into the energy belts furiously. Those logisticians who were off their shift still helped out by taking out the empty energy storage units. This efficient cooperation allowed the energy reserves of the protective shield to maintain at around 50%.


    The high intensity of the job tired people out easily. Hence, Lin Zhong-qing remembered to prepare more people to take over the shifts.


    When the energy reserves of the protective shield reached 50%, the rm sounded throughout the base. The people from Lingtian who were busy with their work suddenly stopped working.


    ¡°Is that finally going to appear?¡± Chang Xinyuan looked at the mecha hold and muttered to himself.


    ¡°What¡¯s going to appear?¡± Chen Yi¡¯an, who was maintaining a mecha, looked up and asked curiously.


    ¡°That¡¯s none of your business. Hurry up and do your work. Those mecha operators are still waiting to board their mechas to kill our enemies.¡± Chang Xinyuan didn¡¯t reply to him. Instead, he asked the mecha engineers to hasten their pace.


    The mecha engineers didn¡¯t know why their leader said this. All the mecha operators were stuck at the mecha hold. They couldn¡¯t go out. However, the naive mecha engineers still worked faster.


    When no one was looking at him, Chang Xinyuan sneaked into the mecha hold and walked to the portion of the mecha hold for 250 Ace Mecha n. He walked to the front of a huge unopened container.


    A man in white gown was standing there. He looked at the container intently as though he was wondering what was inside.


    ¡°You are here.¡± Chang Xinyuan wasn¡¯t surprised by his appearance. If Boss wanted to use the thing inside the container, she needed Li Shiyu¡¯s agent.


    ¡°You¡¯re here.¡± Li Shiyu seemed to be expecting him too. If Chang Xinyuan didn¡¯te at this time, he wouldn¡¯t be Chang Xinyuan anymore.


    ¡°Does Boss have to use this thing?¡± Chang Xinyuan appeared serious.


    ¡°The energy reserves of the protective shield is maintained at 50% with Lin Zhong-qing doing his best,¡± Li Shiyu didn¡¯t seem to be answering his question. ¡°Hailiya have gathered more soldiers, so the next round of attack will be even worse. There is not much energy storage units left in the base, so we must help to lessen their burden.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t we hold on a while longer?¡± Chang Xinyuan knew what the price their boss had to pay if he used this thing. He really didn¡¯t wish their Boss would use this thing.


    ¡°Have you ever seen Boss betting our fates on luck?¡± Li Shiyu smiled bitterly. If he had the choice, he would disagree with his Boss¡¯s decision too. However, his disagreement wouldn¡¯t affect anything.


    Chang Xinyuan became silent. He felt touched and helpless. This was why they followed their Boss so willingly. This was why they would hate themselves for being too weak. They were unable to help their Boss in the moment when she needed them the most.


    At themand center, Ling Lan heard the rm and turned serious. She stood up and looked at Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun. ¡°I¡¯ll hand this ce over to you two.¡±


    ¡°Have you decided?¡± Li Lanfeng grabbed Ling Lan¡¯s hand. He lost control of his emotions.


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°I won¡¯t ce all my hopes on the reinforcements. Since my father dared to go against the world to give it to me to protect me, I mustn¡¯t disappoint him. I believe that I¡¯ll bring you all home.¡±


    ¡°Boss, you must keep your promise.¡± Han Jijyun stood up with red eyes. Even if their Boss used that thing, he would be in extreme danger if he went out to the battlefield now. He was operating a mecha which was at a higher level than her too. No one could predict the results.


    ¡°I will,¡± Ling Lan replied sternly. She wasn¡¯t going to seek death. She was going to protect everyone.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Ling Lan broke free from Li Lanfeng¡¯s grip and walked out of themand center without turning back even once. From this moment onwards, she wasn¡¯t amanding officer. She was a soldier who wanted to protect herrades.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan as she disappeared. He looked up and swallowed his anger and bitterness. In the end, he could only watch his Rabbit fighting alone. There was nothing he could do. How could someone as weak as he talks about changing his destiny? What a joke.


    Li Lanfeng scoffed as he jeered himself.


    Han Jijyun was astounded when he noticed that the forever calm Li Lanfeng had lost control of his emotions.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng, calm down. Boss will definitelye back alive. He always does what he says.¡± To Han Jijyun, Ling Lan was an invincible person. This was the image Ling Lan had created in their minds. Hence, he couldn¡¯t understand why Li Lanfeng was emotional. This battle might be dangerous but someone as powerful as their Boss would definitely be able to ovee everything and hold on until reinforcements would arrive.


    ¡°I know. I just hate myself for being too weak. If I¡¯m as powerful as him, I can take his ce and not have to watch him fighting alone.¡± Li Lanfeng spoke his true thoughts.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s expression changed when he heard this. He had never thought of being on par with his Boss. He just wondered how he could perform his role in the team more perfectly. Han Jijyun looked at Li Lanfeng intently. ¡®Is this why I am not as good as Li Lanfeng?¡¯


    ¡®However, is it appropriate for Li Lanfeng to want to be as strong as Boss?¡¯ Han Jijyun couldn¡¯t understand what Li Lanfeng was thinking. He felt that Li Lanfeng¡¯s thoughts were too hard toprehend. ¡®Does Li Lanfeng just want to be a goodrade of their Boss or does he have other intentions?¡¯ A shadow appeared in Han Jijyun¡¯s heart.


    ¡°Han Jijyun, show what¡¯s happening at the ejection port on all the screens in the base,¡± Li Lanfeng ordered after he calmed down.

 Chapter 898 - Appearance Of [Belief]

    <h4>Chapter 898: Appearance Of [Belief]</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Huh?¡± Han Jijyun was still immersed in his thoughts so he was surprised when Li Lanfeng suddenly gave him an unexpected order.


    ¡°I want everyone who is still alive in this base to know who is risking his life to save them! I want them to know who is fighting for them! The things our regimentmander does cannot go unnoticed.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes were burning with ambition. He must let everyone know who their savior was. It wasn¡¯t the reinforcements, it was themanding officer of Base 013, the regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n, the leader of the Lingtian Battle Team, Ling Lan.


    Han Jijyun felt his heart trembling. ¡°Yes, I understand.¡± Indeed, they couldn¡¯t let their Boss efforts go unnoticed.


    Hence, all the screens in the base started showing the quiet ejection port instead of their enemies outside.


    Just as everyone thought that the mainframe was malfunctioning because too much energy had been depleted from the protective shield, the ejection port started turning on.


    ¡°Huh, what¡¯s happening? We are not allowed to go out, right? Why is the ejection port turning on?¡± The mecha operators waiting in the mecha hold started creating amotion. They made an application to go out but the JMCs rejected them because themanding officer didn¡¯t allow anyone to enter the battlefield. The mecha engineers also ignored their request to equip their mechas so they could only wait in the mecha hold in frustration.


    After Ling Lan left themand center, she arrived at the mecha hold in an instant. She saw Chang Xinyuan and Li Shiyu in front of the huge container. ¡°I was expecting the two of you to be here.¡±


    Li Shiyu took out 10 agents and passed them to Ling Lan. ¡°My brother asked me to pass you this.¡± Three days ago, Li Lanfeng came to find him to pass Li Shiyu back the agents he gave him. At the same time, he asked Li Shiyu to prepare the agents he left for himself. He told him that Ling Lan might have a need for it in the next few days. Just like what he said, Ling Lan needed it now.


    Ling Lan took the ten agents. As expected, Li Lanfeng knew her well. Even if he didn¡¯t approve of her decision, he still prepared everything for her.


    Chang Xinyuan took out the control keys he carried with him and aimed the keys at the container. The container split up and revealed a huge mecha. It had been lying quietly in the container for all these months. No one knew that there was a frightening ultimate weapon hidden within the mecha hold of Base 013.


    ¡°[Belief], sorry to keep you waiting,¡± Ling Lan said quietly to the mecha.


    The mecha suddenly woke up from its sleep. Its eyes turned blue as it sat up instantly. It turned around and looked at Ling Lan. A robotic voice was heard, ¡°Ling Lan, nice to meet you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll have to invite you to fight with me this time,¡± Ling Lan said sincerely. Ling Four said that the mainframe of a god-ss mecha was different from every other mecha. They were not just numbers and data. They had the ability to think, so they could be considered as intelligent entities.


    ¡°I understand. General Ling Xiao asked me to cooperate with you. Please don¡¯t worry.¡± [Belief] opened its cockpit automatically.


    Ling Lan entered the cockpit. Li Shiyu shouted quickly, ¡°Boss, one agent can onlyst for one minute. With your ten additional agents, you canst for a total of 20 minutes. Don¡¯t forget about this.¡± The bacsh from a god-ss mecha was so strong that even one nuwa agent couldn¡¯t help her tost longer than one minute.


    ¡°I know.¡± Ling Lan touched the nine agents in her pockets. She had diluted one of the agents and made it into ten agents to pass to her team leaders so that they could use it whenever they faced an emergency. However, Li Shiyu didn¡¯t know about this.


    Actually, with her capabilities, she was able to operate [Belief] for five minutes. This was the main reason why her father dared to pass [Belief] to her. In order to hide the fact that [Belief] was with her, she had no choice but to let her men ran a marathon. She ced [Belief] among the transport vehicles, and it was sessfully transported to Base 013 along with the other ace mechas.


    This god-ss mecha was the reason why Ling Xiao believed that Ling Lan was able tost until the reinforcements arrive. He announced that Ling Lan was his son too because once Ling Lan operated [Belief], this fact would be exposed anyway. In that case, why not take the initiative to announce this fact and solve the problem beforehand.


    With 19 agents and her own capabilities, the maximum time Ling Lan could operate [Belief] was 24 minutes. Ling Lan¡¯s gaze was resolute. No matter what, she must hold on for more than 25 minutes. This was the only way she could create an impact on the Hailiyan army and gain more time for the reinforcements to arrive.


    The cockpit closed. The entire cockpit turned dark. Soon, images started appearing around her. She felt as though she was floating in the air with nothing around her. There was no control panel or control stick in the cockpit. The mecha could only be moved through the actions of its operator as well as the spiritual power control.


    This meant that all the actions of the operator would be reflected back on the mecha on the outside. If the body and spiritual power of the operator was not strong enough, a single action might cause irrecoverable damage to both the body and mind. The operator might even internally explode and die. This was why no one dared to jump level and operate a God-ss mecha. Even if they didn¡¯t die, there would be serious implications. The future of the mecha operator might be destroyed.


    Most importantly, no god-ss operator would be willing to ce their ultimate weapon into the hands of other people. This weapon was something that could decide their life-or-death. Only Ling Xiao was willing to pass his life to his daughter. No one else would dare to do this.


    Ling Lan operated [Belief] and stepped onto the tform. This simple action had already caused her to lose her breath, as she felt a huge pressure boring on her. She even felt her bones moaning and her muscles groaning.


    Soon, the movable tform transferred [Belief] into the ejection port. The huge mecha body of [Belief] appeared on all the screens in Base 013.


    The mecha operators and logisticians, even those injured and were lying on their beds, were bbergasted when they saw this.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s fame rose not long ago. The military promoted him greatly so every single soldier knew him and his god-ss mecha [Belief]. Thus, when they saw this mecha, they immediately knew what it was.


    ¡°This is, this is...¡± They rubbed their eyes uncontrobly. They wondered if they were under an illusion.


    In the end, they realized that it was not an illusion. It was the real [Belief]. Everyone shouted excitedly. Many mecha operators cried in joy. ¡°It¡¯s really [Belief]. It¡¯s General Ling Xiao¡¯s [Belief]. We¡¯re saved. We¡¯re saved.¡±


    Hope came so suddenly. The strong soldiers who never shed a tear in the face of death all cried in happiness.


    ¡°No, this isn¡¯t right. General Ling Xiao is at the Federation. He can¡¯t be here.¡± The mecha operators were ted but they still managed to maintain theirposure and noticed that something was amiss.


    If [Belief] appeared from outside the base, they could still believe that General Ling Xiao hade personally. However, it appeared within the base. Unless General Ling Xiao had arrived much earlier, he couldn¡¯t be inside the base. However, if he did arrive earlier, their situation would not be like this. The Federation would have taken control over Haijiao a long time ago.


    At this moment, a cold and familiar voice echoed through the entire base.


    ¡°[Belief] request to be ejected.¡±


    It¡¯s really [belief]. However, the voice belonged to themanding officer of Base 013, the regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n, Ling Lan. Everyone was surprised and shocked. They were also puzzled as to why General Ling Xiao¡¯s [Belief] was in Ling Lan¡¯s hands.


    ¡°Your request is approved. Commander Ling Lan, we¡¯ll wait for you toe back.¡± The gentle voice of a JMC sounded. It confirmed everyone¡¯s suspicion that the person piloting [Belief] was Ling Lan.


    ¡°I¡¯lle back. At the same time, I, Ling Lan, the son of Ling Xiao, swear that I¡¯ll bring everyone back home.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s firm voice resounded through the entire base. She exined why this god-ss mecha appeared in Base 013.


    This was the most powerful amulet that her beloved father gave her¡ª¡ªgod-ss mecha [Belief].


    Everyone now knew who was operating [Belief]. They also knew that Ling Lan was definitely not a god-ss mecha master. She was jumping in levels when she operating [Belief]. The people at the scene were all mecha operators, so they knew the consequences of jumping levels. However, the consequences that Ling Lan would get was even harsher than normal as she was operating a god-ss mecha.


    Theirmanding officer never gave up hope after all. He didn¡¯t want his soldiers to sacrifice needlessly so he stopped everyone from going out. Yet, he sacrificed himself to create a miracle for everyone.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling...¡±


    ¡°Commanding Officer Ling...¡±


    ¡°Regimentmander...¡±


    ¡°Commanding officer...¡±


    All the people in the base looked at the cold and resolute face. They were touched as they eximed in their hearts. Some even started sobbing. Most of thedies in the JMC office were crying furiously.


    They were fortunate to have amanding officer who treasured his soldiers and were willing to do so much for them.

 Chapter 899 - Divine Punishment

    <h4>Chapter 899: Divine Punishment</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The official countdown started. When the countdown ended, a small explosion was heard and [Belief] was ejected out of the base.


    Outside, the mecha operators from Hailiya were frustrated after hitting the protective shield of Base 013 for so long. Hence, when the mecha operators in front saw a mecha being ejected out of the base, they shouted in excitement and immediately changed the direction of their beam guns.


    They felt that this mecha was sent out to be killed. Thus, they didn¡¯t mind destroying this mecha in an instant to break the hope and courage of the people in Base 013.


    Numerous beams shot towards [Belief]. The soldiers in Base 013 knew that a god-ss mecha was invincible on the battlefield but when they saw this scene, they still felt worried. They were afraid that Ling Lan was unable to resist this round of attack.


    ¡°Activate Divine Shield!¡± Ling Lan bore with the pain from deep within her soul and decisively ordered [Belief] to activate its strongest defensive system, Divine Shield.


    After Ling Lan shouted, [Belief] got swallowed by all the beamsing towards it.


    ¡°Ah!¡± The JMCs who were watching the battle outside covered their eyes in fright when they saw this scene. They didn¡¯t dare to see the result.


    ¡°Raise your head and open your eyes. Ourmanding officer is fighting for us. We can¡¯t be afraid and shrink back in fear. If not, we are unworthy to be his soldiers.¡±


    Han Xuya was already the leader of the JMCs in Base 013. There were tears all over her face but she still opened her eyes wide and stared intently at the screen in front of her. She was afraid that she would miss a crucial moment in the fight. She shouted and ordered her JMCs to not be defeated by what¡¯s happening on the screen.


    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Lady Mei stood up firmly. She cried too but she continued looking at the screen. ¡°No matter what the result is, we cannot let our soldiers averse from the sight of our saviour. We¡¯re JMCs who give assistance to our mecha operators.¡±


    Han Xuya and Lady Mei¡¯s words touched the hearts of the JMCs. They all stood up straight and stared at the screen. Even though they were all crying, they were no longer as weak as before.


    They might have their own motives for entering the army, whether it was to use this ce as a springboard to get a better life or some other intentions. However, now, these thoughts have disappeared. They had all be true soldiers.


    The light that blinded everyone finally disappeared. A mecha with colorful lights all around it appeared in everyone¡¯s vision instead. The azure sky seemed enchanting under this lighting.


    ¡°It¡¯s the Divine Shield! It¡¯s the Divine Shield System of god-ss mechas!¡± The soldiers in Base 013 started crying again. Today might be the day they cried the most after the day they were born. However, they felt that it was all worth their tears.


    Because the Haliyan army couldn¡¯t break the protective shield of Base 013 after so long, Luo Qi led all the mecha operators from God-Killers and came to the battlefield from the back. When he saw the huge mecha with colorful lights all around it, his expression changed. ¡°What¡¯s happening? Why is there a God-ss mecha on Haijiao?¡±


    As someone who was highly likely going to be a god-ss operator in the future, Luo Qi had a deep understanding of god-ss mecha. He knew that the light came from the protective shield of a god-ss mecha.


    Ling Lan evaded the danger sessfully. However, she was in enormous amounts of pain. She was familiar with this pain. This was the kind of pain she had experienced in her past life for over 20 years, but she went through the hellish training Number Five gave her so she managed to keep herself conscious. If it wasn¡¯t for her past experiences, she might have fainted by now. Ling Lan opened her eyes wide and shouted, ¡°Activate Divine Punishment!¡±


    ¡°Request epted. Divine Punishment activated.¡± [Belief] cooperated with Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power and activated Divine Punishment. Unfortunately, Ling Lan was not Ling Xiao. The strength of her spiritual power and body were different. Hence, she was unable to activate Divine Punishment immediately.


    Behind [belief], a huge wing suddenly appeared under a sh of bright light. Another wind appeared after a while. Within a few seconds, six wings spread out behind [Belief] like a fan. Ling Lan was unable to open all the 12 wings of Divine Punishment. The bacsh from the six wings had already exceeded her endurance level. Her skin cracked and blood seeped out of her skin, staining her protective vest as it continues to slowly spread through the cockpit.


    The maintenance system of the cockpit got activated automatically. The blood that dripped onto the cockpit floor was cleared. To ensure that the mecha operator¡¯s operation wouldn¡¯t get affected, the cockpit would automatically clear all these unnecessary things.


    The six wings started congregating energy. The wings got brighter and brighter. Luo Qi saw this and turned agitatedly. He hurriedly shouted, ¡°Move away! That is a god-ss mecha!¡±


    ¡®God-ss mecha?¡¯ All the mecha operators from Hailiya heard what Luo Qi said. They looked at the mecha which had colorful lights all around it. The six wings behind the mecha made it looked like a god-ss mecha.


    Some mecha operators reacted quickly and immediately retreated when they heard Luo Qi¡¯s voice. Some confused mecha operators still remained in their position in a daze. They didn¡¯t believe that a god-ss mecha would appear on a small such as Haijiao. If a God-ss operator broke the Human Agreement and went out of their country, the other countries would have chased after him. This was an agreement that could never be broken.


    The energy in the six wings reached its maximum. Ling Lan controlled [Belief] and aimed the six wings at six different directions.


    ¡°Dodge!¡± Luo Qi noticed that he was within the range of the god-ss mecha too. He quickly operated his mecha and moved back as quickly as possible. He wanted to retreat out of the mecha¡¯s range.


    Ling Lan gritted her teeth. She bore with the excruciating pain in her head and pressed the fire button. Six powerful light beams shot towards the Hailiya army. The entire area got lit up by the six beams.


    Everyone felt that their vision was impaired for a moment, as the light was too bright. All they could see was white light.


    Before the wings shot out the beams, Luo Qi closed his eyes and guided his mecha backward based on his memory.


    The six beams shot in six different directions.


    Luo Qi¡¯s speed was very fast. He finally moved out of the range of the beams but the residual force from the beams still hurt his mecha.


    The left arm and the left leg of his mecha exploded. Luo Qi¡¯s mecha lost its bnce and mmed heavily onto the ground.

 Chapter 900 - Frightening!

    <h4>Chapter 900: Frightening!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    As one of the best mecha operators in the God-Killers, Luo Qi managed to stabilize his mecha before it smashed onto the ground. He flew up again.


    Luo Qi looked at the ces where the beams went pass. Those areas were utterly bare with mechas. No mechas were able to survive an attack by a god-ss mecha. They didn¡¯t even have the time to cry out before disappearing from the world.


    What a frightening attack!


    Luo Qi looked at the god-ss mecha that was congregating energy in its wings again. There was now fear in his eyes as he wiped the blood off the corner of his mouth. The explosion just now severely injured him but it wasn¡¯t a huge problem. The most important thing was, he managed to save himself from the beam attack.


    Luo Qi finally understood why god-ss mechas were recognized by the country as the ultimate weapons. The power of a god-ss mecha was on an entirely different level from an imperial mecha. Imperial mechas were powerful but if there were many ace mechas attacking it, it could still be defeated. However, in the face of a god-ss mecha, no amount of ace mechas could destroy it. No, not only ace mechas. Even if imperial mechas were to attack it, the result would still be the same. They would all be killed by the god-ss mecha.


    The six beams disappeared and everyone regained their vision. The Hailiyan army realized that a huge portion of the mechas beside them had disappeared, leaving only dust in ce.


    The mecha operators from Hailiya looked at the mecha with colorful lights around it fearfully. The six wings continued spreading out behind the mecha. It shone beautifully as though it was an angel from heaven. No, it was a heartless god of death from hell who came to reap their lives.


    The tip of the wings started shining brightly from the energy congregated in it. It almost blinded all the Hailiyan soldiers. At the same time, they felt a scary energy spreading from the tip of the wings. They didn¡¯t ce much importance in the wings the first time so they didn¡¯t sense the energy but this time, they felt it.


    ¡°Run!¡± Someone shouted hoarsely and the Hailiyan mecha operators started escaping furiously. The entire army alignment copsed. Everything was in a mess.


    ¡°Calm down, calm down!¡± Although somemanding officers attempted to control the situation, the fear and stress given by the god-ss mecha had overtaken the minds of the mecha operators.


    This time, the six wings of [Belief] adjusted their position and aimed at the escaping mechas. Blood was flowing down Ling Lan¡¯s mouth like a waterfall. She didn¡¯t expect the bacsh from the god-ss mecha to be so powerful. She only operated it for two minutes but she already felt that she was losing control over it.


    ¡®Father, since you said that I can handle it for five minutes, I can do it!¡¯ A cold light shed pass Ling Lan¡¯s eyes as she pressed the trigger.


    Six beams shot out again. The huge force swallowed all the mechas that were escaping frantically.


    Two simple beam attack destroyed almost a thousand mechas. This kind of power frightened all the mecha operators from Hailiya.


    Behind the Hailiya army, themander-in-chief of the east zone shouted angrily when he saw Base 013 releasing a god-ss mecha and killing many of their mecha operators. ¡°How despicable of the Huaxia Federation. They broke the Human United Agreement and activated their god-ss operator. I must report it to the military and ask them to send our god-ss operators too!¡±


    However, when he wanted to contact the military of Hailiya, he realized that he couldn¡¯t. They had not taken over Haijiao so they couldn¡¯t activate their satellites yet.


    On the other hand, the Flying Dragon Special Forces finally activated their miniature satellites.


    ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Brain One and his men hi-fived with each other. They had been waiting for this moment.


    ¡°Search Haijiao!¡± Brain One gave the miniature satellites the most important order.


    The satellites started their search. The screen finally started showing the images on Haijiao. The that they lost contact with for 20 days finally appeared again in their eyes.


    Searching west zone one... no bases present.


    Searching west zone two... no bases present.


    Searching west zone three... no bases present.


    Searching west zone four...


    The debris of the bases, the pieces of mecha fragments, and the smoke in the air proved that the soldiers from the Federation were still fighting a moment ago.


    ¡°Damn it, we¡¯re toote.¡± Jiao One punched the table in front of him in anger.


    ¡°There are no survivors in the west zone. There are no survivors in the central zone too.¡± Brain One¡¯s voice got lower as he spoke. He moved the satellites to the weakest east zone without much hope.


    ¡°Beep beep beep. Detected a signal from one base. Searching for the base...¡± The mechanical voice captured all the attention of everyone in the starship. They got excited.


    ¡°Zoom in on the survivors!¡± Brain One shouted happily.


    The image of the surviving base appeared on the huge screen on the wall of the starship.


    A base with a protective shield around it suddenly appeared in front of them. The protective shield was still shining with light However, it was surrounded by the Hailiyan army. The entire screen was filled with mechas.


    The people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces got agitated when they saw this. They immediately ordered the starship to move above the base.


    They only had a nce at the base but the number ¡¯13¡¯ was on top of the base. Hence, they knew that this base was the sole surviving base of the Federation.


    ¡°No, they¡¯re not attacking. They seemed to be escaping.¡± Brain One thought that the Hailiyan army was attacking Base 013 but when he looked at the screen carefully, he noticed that the Hailiyan army was in a mess. The mechas were flying around and banging into each other in a confused manner.


    Most of the mecha operators from the Flying Dragon Special Forces had boarded their mechas. Once the starship reached the spot above Base 013, they would need to enter the atmosphere of Haijiao. To reinforce the base as fast as possible, they must ovee the gravitational pull when they enter the atmosphere.


    There were not many people left in the control room. These people looked at the screen carefully after hearing what Brain One said.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Someone finally saw an anomaly and pointed at the spot.


    ¡°Zoom in. Zoom in until the maximum.¡± Brain One gave a new order to the satellite.


    The area was zoomed in again and again. Very soon, a mecha with colorful lights all around it appeared.


    ¡°God-ss mecha?¡± Brain One widened in eyes in shock.

 Chapter 901 - Little White, Help Me!

    <h4>Chapter 901: Little White, Help Me!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The people in the control room looked at the screen in astonishment.


    ¡°That¡¯s General Ling Xiao¡¯s [Belief]. Why is it here?¡± someone eximed.


    ¡°Seems like our General Ling Xiao has passed his god-ss mecha to his son.¡± Brain One suddenly understood why General Ling Xiao was certain that their bases could survive until their reinforcements arrive.


    ¡°Is this fine? Isn¡¯t this breaking the Human United Agreement?¡± The member of the Brain team couldn¡¯t help but worry.


    Brain One smiled at his man. He asked, ¡°How are we breaking the agreement?¡±


    The member didn¡¯t understand. His teammate beside him pulled him and whispered, ¡°The Human United Agreement only states that god-ss operators are not allowed to leave their country. They didn¡¯t say anything about god-ss mechas.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡± The member was still confused.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t General Ling Xiao still in the Federation?¡± The team member looked at his teammate helplessly. General Ling Xiao made use of the rules perfectly. Even if the countries wanted to reprimand him, they didn¡¯t have any reasons to.


    Finally, the person was enlightened as his eyes lit up. His teammate beside him nodded in satisfaction.


    ¡°Wow, our General Ling Xiao is so smart!¡± This person respected General Ling Xiao even more now. ¡°Shall we inform the other teams about this?¡±


    ¡°No. I want to see how Jiao One and Lin One will react when they see the god-ss mecha. Keep the satellites on them.¡± Brain One was yful.


    ¡°Yes, leader.¡± Everyone in the Brain team was excited, but Brain One didn¡¯t tell them his other concern. He didn¡¯t want the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces to rx just because there was a god-ss mecha on the battlefield, as General Ling Xiao¡¯s son was just an imperial operator but jumping levels meant that he couldn¡¯tst long, so they still needed to reinforce Base 013 as soon as possible.


    The centralmand center on Haijiao finally contacted Hailiyan headquarters after 10 minutes of trying. However, after reporting the situation to them, the people in the headquarters of Hailiya military told them that they couldn¡¯t activate the god-ss mecha masters. The one that appeared on Haijiao was just Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha, [Belief]. They¡¯ve already confirmed that Ling Xiao was still within the borders of the Federation so he didn¡¯t break the Human United Agreement.


    At the same time, they also ascertained that all the 12 god-ss operators in the Federation were all still within their borders. None of them was sent out. So, if Hailiya sent out their god-ss operators now, the Federation would be able to send their 12 god-ss operators too. At that point, Hailiya could forget about taking over Haijiao. They might even be unable to protect their own country, so they couldn¡¯t take this bet, as they couldn¡¯t afford the consequences.


    The only thing they could do was to let an imperial operator (This was what they predicted) control the god-ss mecha. However, no imperial operator had the ability to move a god-ss mecha out of Haliya and towards Haijiao. The imperial operator would explode and die from the bacsh from just moving the god-ss mecha. If they transported the god-ss mecha over now, it¡¯ll be toote too.


    An imperial operator would only be able to operate a god-ss mecha for at most three minutes, so he would be unable to change the situation in the battlefield. The headquarters of the military of Hailiya could only hope that their army would be able to resist the attacks of the god-ss mecha for three minutes and then destroy thest base of the Federation right after that.


    Themander-in-chief almost threw themunicator when he heard this reply. ¡®Damn it, what do you mean by three minutes? That imperial operator has been operating the mecha for 15 minutes!¡¯


    ¡°He must be using some secret technique. He has probably reached his limit already. I can¡¯t be scared of him. Victory will belong to Hailiya.¡± Themander-in-chief mobilized his army again and sent all the military forces in the west to the east. He also ordered the soldiers in the east, who had destroyed the base they were assigned to, to move to Base 013.


    ¡°Let me see how long you canst!¡± A malicious intent appeared in themander-in-chief¡¯s eyes. For the sake of Hailiya¡¯s victory, he was willing to sacrifice more lives.


    Very soon, themander-in-chief gave a viciousmand. The soldiers at the back heartlessly shot the mecha operators who tried to run away from the god-ss mecha. The situation finally became under control under such a ruthless move.


    The Hailiyan army was forced to move forward again. If they retreated, they would be killed by their ownrades. They were also informed that the person controlling the god-ss mecha was an imperial operator, so by right, he wouldn¡¯t be able tost for too long. Whenparing the two choices, moving forward was a much better option. At least they had a chance of surviving if they moved forward. The mecha operators from Hailiya got motivated and started rushing towards Ling Lan fearlessly.


    Ling Lan drank bottles and bottles of Nuwa agent. She bore with the excruciating pain and fought off batches and batches of enemies. This was a battle of perseverance. The person who gave up first would lose.


    Ling Lan took another bottle of agent and drank it. She felt her pocket instinctively. There was only one bottle left. This meant that she could onlyst for another two minutes. However, there was still no sign of reinforcements. ¡®Is the Goddess of Luck shining on Hailiya instead of the Huaxia Federation?¡¯


    Ling Lan opened her eyes that were tainted with blood and shouted, ¡°Little White, hurry up and help me!¡±


    At this crucial moment, the only thing that could help her was Little White in its true form.


    Due to theck of food, Little White was kicked out of Base 013 by Ling Lan more than ten days ago. She let it survive on its own on the. Of course, Ling Lan didn¡¯t forget to remind Little White on its diet n. She told it that it could eat anyone who didn¡¯t speak the Huaxianguage. Hence, if you didn¡¯t want to be eaten by a monster on Haijiao, you must first learn the Huaxianguage. You could also learn the beastnguage that Little White speaks but... in the end, you would still be eaten. Little White wouldn¡¯t allow any animal who could snatch its love away from Ling Lan to stay alive.


    At this moment, the small Little White was hiding in Haliya¡¯s food supply warehouse and eating the food furiously with its back hunched over. Its small body suddenly trembled. It raised its head and two fountains suddenly spurted out from its eyes.


    Sob, my master finally calls me. She finally remembers to call me.


    Little White¡¯s body disappeared in a blink of an eye. A few secondster, it appeared on the battlefield.


    Boom! The ground started vibrating furiously. The entire Base 013 felt the huge vibration. Everyone looked at the battlefield in shock. A scary circr creature had appeared there. It pped the mechas that tried to attack Ling Lan with its multiple tentacles.

 Chapter 902 - Attack Of Base 013

    <h4>Chapter 902: Attack Of Base 013</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°That is...¡± The people from 250 Ace Mecha n looked at the familiar creature in surprise. That frightening creature was the one that gave them so many troubles during thend clearing mission. They remembered that their regimentmander had personally killed it. ¡®What is happening? Did our regimentmander show mercy on it and brought it back to the Federation? Then, he brought it along with him to Haijiao?¡¯


    ¡°What¡¯s that? It¡¯s so scary?¡±


    ¡°However, the giant creature seems to be helping us. That¡¯s good.¡±


    ¡°I wonder who called it.¡±


    ¡°Is there such a creature on Haijiao?¡±


    The other soldiers from the Federation didn¡¯t know what was happening so they were very puzzled. The people from 250 Ace Mecha n just kept their mouths shut, as they were afraid that they would say the wrong things in a moment of excitement. They mustn¡¯t tell this secret to anyone, because their regimentmander had sneaked this creature out illegally. They didn¡¯t want to bring their regimentmander to the military court.


    By right, everything found during thend clearing mission must be handed to the military. Then, the military would then give a portion of it back to the mecha n based on the agreement. The people from 250 Ace Mecha n believed that once they gave this creature to the military, the military wouldn¡¯t pass it back to them.


    Only their regimentmander would dare to do something like this, but he did the right thing, sneaking this fellow back to the Federation. Now, this fellow came to help them before their reinforcements coulde.


    Li Lanfeng looked at the circr creature and rxed a little. He had brought Little White out for a walk many times so he saw Little White changing back to its true form to eat. He knew that the circr creature was Little White.


    From the looks of it, Little White was a loyal creature. It didn¡¯t hide at such a crucial moment and came out to help Ling Lan fearlessly. It was better than those reinforcements that were still not here. At first, Li Lanfeng had his qualms against Little White. After all, it was a powerful creature with not much intelligence and had a brutal nature. Who knew if it would eat its master one day?


    ¡°How long has our regimentmander been out?¡± Li Lanfeng asked Han Jijyun softly. He was afraid that he counted the time wrongly so he wanted someone to confirm it for him.


    ¡°22 minutes.¡± Han Jijyun was focused on this point too. The people in Lingtian Battle Team knew that if a person jumped levels in mecha piloting, he wouldn¡¯t be able tost for too long. Han Jijyun looked at the screen worriedly. The huge mecha with colorful lights all around it was disyed on the screen.


    Li Lanfeng stood up suddenly and said in a low voice, ¡°I¡¯ll pass the base to you.¡±


    Han Jijyun¡¯s heart stopped for a moment. ¡°What are you nning to do?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t wait for the reinforcements that are nowhere in sight. Our regimentmander needs our help now,¡± Li Lanfeng replied calmly.


    ¡°But our Boss doesn¡¯t want any of us to go out.¡± Han Jijyun appeared hesitant. He always listened to Ling Lan so he didn¡¯t know what to do when Li Lanfeng wanted to disobey Ling Lan¡¯s order.


    ¡°Han Jijyun, who¡¯s the actingmanding officer of Base 013?¡± Li Lanfeng raised one of his eyebrows and asked.


    ¡°You.¡± Han Jijyun replied firmly. When their Boss left, he passed themand of Base 013 to Li Lanfeng. He was only supporting Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Then, I¡¯ve got the right to release a new order.¡± Li Lanfeng pressed the button in front of him and his voice echoed through the entire base. ¡°I, Li Lanfeng, actingmanding officer of the Base 013, will give a new order. Anyone who is willing to go out now can do so.¡±


    After he finished speaking, Li Lanfeng left themand center. Han Jijyun wanted to fight too but Base 013 needed someone inmand.


    Han Jijyun clenched his fist tightly and closed his eyes with a painful heart. When he opened them again, his gaze had turned calm.


    ¡°Everyone needs to make a choice. Li Lanfeng chose to fight alongside Boss. As for me, I choose to guard Boss¡¯s back and make sure that nothing happens to the base. Nothing must happen to the base!¡± The confusion he had during this period of time disappeared. He regained his confidence and became the calm and confident Han Jijyun again, as he had found his answer.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s order sounded throughout the base. The mecha operators who stayed in the mecha hold had their fighting spirit ignited by Ling Lan¡¯s dominating fight. They shouted out loud. The mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n even cried in excitement.


    As Ling Lan¡¯s direct subordinates, the mecha operators of 250 Ace Mecha n didn¡¯t want to see their regimentmander fighting their enemies alone. They wanted to fight with him side by side. Now, after waiting for more than 20 minutes, they finally got their wish. This kind of feeling was not something the mecha operators from other mecha ns couldprehend.


    The mecha operators from other mecha ns stood up too when they heard thismand and rushed to the mecha hold. Even theirmanding officer was fearlessly fighting for any chances of survival. What right do they have to be afraid and hide in the base?


    The soldiers of the Federation were the bravest and purest soldiers in the world. They would never shrink in the face of danger. The people that force them to retreat were normally those high-ranking officers who lost their spirit to fight. Actually, those people couldn¡¯t be considered soldiers anymore. They were just politicians wearing the military uniform.


    Han Xuya, who was staring at her Boss in the JMC office, turned serious immediately when she heard thismand. She wiped the tears off her face and shouted, ¡°Sisters, our battle is starting!¡±


    ¡°Yes, leader!¡± All the JMCs stood at attention with their eyes shining brightly. They quickly got into position and guided the mecha operators out of the ejection ports as quickly as possible. This was their most efficient and perfect session ever, as not a single second was wasted on messing around.


    Li Shiyu heard thismand and looked at the time on hismunicator. He turned and said to Luo Chao whose eyes were glued to the screen. ¡°Luo Chao, we should start preparing.¡±


    Luo Chao retracted her gaze unwillingly. When she looked at Li Shiyu, her gaze was calm and cold. She nodded and said, ¡°Yes, I understand.¡±


    Luo Chao lowered her head and started preparing all the medical equipment and emergency agents. She never looked at the screen again.


    After Li Lanfeng left themand center, he arrived at the mecha hold in a blink of an eye. To help Ling Lan as fast as possible, he used his domain.


    Li Lanfeng knew that Ling Lan only called for Little White because she couldn¡¯t hold on any longer. Little White¡¯s appearance was enough to prove that Ling Lan had reached his limit.


    Li Lanfeng had the same personality as Ling Lan. They never liked to pass their fate to things that were not certain, such as the reinforcements. Ling Lan believed in relying on herself. Li Lanfeng was not confident enough but he wanted to defy his destiny so he must take control of his own fate.


    Hence, Li Lanfeng decided to help Ling Lan personally. This was the equivalent of helping themselves. As for the damn reinforcements, let theme whenever they want.


    The moment Li Lanfeng appeared in the mecha hold, he saw his mecha operators in position. His deputy saw him and smiled. ¡°Leader, I know that you¡¯lle so I came here to wait for you.¡±


    Li Lanfeng boarded his mecha and started it instantly. He spoke on the team channel, ¡°Team 06, let¡¯s go!¡±


    Boom! A beam flew past all the tentacles and hit Little White¡¯s body. A hole was formed and ck liquid started flowing out of it.


    Little White screeched in pain. Its huge size caused it to be less agile than its small form. Hence, it was an easy target for the beams. It already had many injuries but this attack injured him seriously.


    ¡°Little White!¡± Ling Lan quickly moved her mecha in front of Little White. Little White¡¯s appearance reduced some pressure for her but she felt her heart hurt when it got injured.


    ¡°Little White, return to the base.¡± She couldn¡¯t let Little White die here so Ling Lan decisively gave an order to Little White.


    ¡°Rawr...¡± Little White is not going back. Little White will stay with master. Little White wants to protect master.


    Master brought me to eat good food and experience many interesting things. Master won¡¯t ground me from eating unnecessarily. I must protect this good master. Little White was pure. It would repay anyone who treats it well.


    The pain ignited Little White¡¯s brutality. It started attacking the mechas furiously. Many mechas got hit on its vital spot and exploded.


    Little White could fight with normal ace operators but it couldn¡¯t fight off the numerous imperial operators of the God-Killers. Fortunately, Ling Lan was beside it so she helped Little White to block all the imperial operators that tried to stop it.


    ¡°Regimentmander, we¡¯re here!¡±


    ¡°Commanding officer, we¡¯re here!¡±


    ¡°Commanding officer Ling, let us fight with you!¡±


    Suddenly, Ling Lan heard many people talking to her using the Huaxianguage. Numerous mechas from the Federation started appearing on her screen. There were people from 250 Ace Mecha n, the Evil Wind Mecha Team, the scouts team, Song Yiqing¡¯s 224 Mecha n, and some other mecha ns that she was familiar with but forgotten the names of.


    Ling Lan suddenly felt energized. She bore with the pain and took thest bottle of agent. Then, she shouted, ¡°Let¡¯s fight together!¡±


    ¡°Attack!¡±


    As her voice sounded, the mechas of Base 013 rushed towards the Hailiyan army. Ling Lan started firing her beams even more furiously. For a moment, the Hailiyan army had to retreat under their fearless attack.


    Above Base 013, the starship finally reached its designated position.


    Multiple mechas shot out of the ejection ports and flew towards the atmosphere of Haijiao.


    ¡°Beep beep beep. Entering the atmosphere of Haijiao soon. Collecting data. Please be prepared...¡±


    All the mainframes of the mecha operators gave a warning. The heat caused by the speed of the free fall and the air current was harmful to the mecha operators. It might even hurt the mecha operators internally. Hence, it was forbidden for mechas to enter a directly from the atmosphere. However, to save more time and to prevent the Hailiyan fleets from finding them, the mecha operators had the take the risk.

 Chapter 903 - Finally Here!

    <h4>Chapter 903: Finally Here!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°20,000 meters from the surface of the. 15,000 meters. 10,000 meters. 8000 meters. 5000 meters...¡±


    As the mechas got nearer to the ground, all the mecha operators from Flying Dragon Special Forces felt that they were going to die from the vibration and heat caused by the high falling speed. Those that had a weaker physique felt a pain in their chest. It was as though there was a fire burning in their chest. They also could taste blood in their mouths.


    When they reached 2000 meters above the ground, they saw the protective shield of the base shining brightly. They also saw numerous mechas from the Federation as well as a huge scary circr creature waving its tentacles to attack the Hailiyam army. Its huge body made it an easy target for beam guns so it was already badly injured. However, it didn¡¯t back down and continued fighting.


    The reason why it was able to stand for so long was because a huge mecha was standing in front of it, blocking every shot thates its way. The mecha had a colorful light surrounding it. The six wings behind it emitted a powerful energy that destroyed enemy mechas batches by batches. The presence of this huge mecha caused the Hailiyan army to be cautious when attacking.


    Jiao One and his team almost shouted simultaneously, ¡°God-ss mecha!¡±


    Their dumbfounded expression was caught by the satellites and sent to Brain One. Brain One saved and downloaded it instantly. He waited for this moment for a long time.


    ¡°Fire phoenix!. It¡¯s General Ling Xiao¡¯s [Belief].¡± When they saw the fire phoenix sitting among the mes, they understood everything.


    ¡°Jumping levels in mecha piloting? Is he looking for death?¡± Lin One couldn¡¯t help but scold. ¡°Move faster!¡±


    The people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces were all stunned by General Ling Xiao¡¯s god-ss mecha. Only two people were bbergasted by another thing. To these two people, the astonishment Little White gave them was as great as the god-ss mecha. When they were doing their mission on Azure, they saw this huge creature before. It had helped them at that time and saved all the hostages. Then, it disappeared from the face of the.


    When they went back to visit around, they had guessed that this huge creature might be a pet of the domain realm master who saved them. As for Little White, Mu Chaoran looked for it before leaving Azure but he didn¡¯t manage to find it. He didn¡¯t know if it got picked up by its master or did it lost its way in the dense forest, making Mu Chaoran feel regretful for not finding it.


    Now, when they saw this huge creature again, both of them felt that they had missed something. However, there was no time for them to think properly, as their battle was about to start.


    The Hailiyan army finally managed to get used to the attacks by the mecha operators of Base 013. When they finally were prepared to destroy the mechas and takedown Base 013, numerous beams started shooting down on them. This attack came suddenly so no Hailiyan mecha managed to evade it.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Mechas from Hailiya started exploding in a ball of fire. Only the mecha operators from God-Killers managed to feel a sense of danger and moved out of the way quickly using their impressive skills.


    Silver colored mechas appeared in front of everyone and the golden dragon on the chest of the mechas revealed their identity.


    ¡°It¡¯s the Flying Dragon Special Forces!:


    ¡°The Flying Dragon Special Forces is here!¡±


    ¡°Our reinforcements are finally here.¡±


    Their reinforcements... were finally here.


    All the Federation¡¯s mecha operators had tears in their eyes when they saw the most powerful mecha n of the Federation appearing in front of them. However, their emotions were mixed.


    They were ted but they also weren¡¯t grateful towards them.


    This was because they knew that theirmanding officer, Ling Lan, was the one who helped them to remain alive until now. She risked her life to protect their lives. If not, even if the Flying Dragon Special Forces came, Base 013 would have turned into a pile of debris by now. They would have died the moment their base fell.


    The mecha operators might even have some grudges against the Flying Dragon Special Forces. If they had arrived half an hour earlier, theirmanding officer wouldn¡¯t need to pay such a huge price to protect them.


    At this moment, Ling Lan had reached her limit. Little Four was screaming in fright in her mindscape.


    ¡°Rabbit, trust me!¡± Just as she was about to lose her conscious, Ling Lan heard Leopard¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Bring me home.¡± Ling Lan said weakly.


    The colorful shield around [Belief] disappeared, revealing a gloomy-looking mecha.


    ¡°Ling Lan has lost her conscious. [Belief] will enter automatic mode now.¡± [Belief] couldn¡¯t sense Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power so it took over the control of the mecha.


    However, it could only do simple actions like flying and walking. No matter how intelligent the mainframe of a mecha was, these actions were all it could do. Even Little Four was only able to move the mecha when Ling Lan fainted.


    Li Lanfeng watched as the Divine Shield fade around [Belief]. He knew that Ling Lan had reached her limit. Hence, he decisively led his team towards [Belief] and blocked the attacksing towards it.


    The mecha operators from team 06 didn¡¯t need Li Lanfeng to give them any order. They immediately formed a wall of mechas and blocked the multiple attacks directed at [Belief].


    They knew that the energy in their protective shield was not enough to block every attack but they didn¡¯t back down.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! A few mechas reached their limit and exploded under the gunfire of the Hailiyan army. The moment a gap appeared, the mecha operators closest to them would step in instantly and fill up the gap.


    Theirmanding officer protected them just now. Now, it¡¯s their turn to protect him.


    Finally, [Belief] entered the entryway of the base. Li Lanfeng heaved a sigh of relief, as he managed to send his Rabbit safely back to the base.


    After seeing their people sessfully defending Base 013, Brain One informed Qi Yaoyang about this news. Qi Yaoyang was currently having a brutal battle with the fleets from Hailiya.


    Qi Yaoyang saw the news and his heart finally felt at ease.


    He had no worries now so he used all the military force on his side and broke through Hailiya¡¯s defense. Their fleet finally entered Haijiao and went to protect the sole surviving base.


    Li Shiyu and Luo Chao were already at the base. Han Xuya saw [Belief] entering the mecha hold slowly from her JMC office and she rushed towards the mecha hold without any hesitation.


    She knew that their Boss was heavily injured. He was probably on the brink of death. Besides Li Shiyu, the only people that were adept in medical skills were Luo Chao and her. Thus, she needed to go to the mecha hold immediately. She must contribute her efforts when her Boss was in danger.

 Chapter 904 - Your Women

    <h4>Chapter 904: Your Women</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    The moment [Belief] entered the mecha hold, the cockpit opened instantly. Li Shiyu hurried over and quickly climbed up the cockpit.


    He looked inside and his expression changed drastically. He quickly shouted at the medics who were standing on hold, ¡°Stretcher!¡±


    Although the cockpit was able to clean its interior automatically, Ling Lan¡¯s blood still stained the cockpit, as she had lost too much blood.


    With the mainframe of a god-ss mecha taking over the controls, [Belief] kneeled down voluntarily when it noticed that there was something wrong with its operator, allowing the medics to carefully carry Ling Lan out easier.


    Li Shiyu moved Ling Lan out of the cockpit and ced her on the stretcher. In the few seconds of carrying Ling Lan, it had already stained white gown blood-red.


    Without waiting for Li Shiyu¡¯s order, Han Xuya and Luo Chao took out two emergency agents. The former tipped a bottle of agent into Ling Lan¡¯s mouth while thetter tried to inject another bottle into her body.


    Ling Lan was in a sema so she didn¡¯t have the energy to swallow the agent. Luo Chao also couldn¡¯t find an undamaged blood vessel so she gritted her teeth and took off the needle on the syringe. She shoved the agent into Ling Lan¡¯s mouth and forced the medicine down her throat.


    After one bottle of agent was finished, Han Xuya passed another bottle to Luo Chao. Luo Chao continued feeding Ling Lan the agent. After around five bottles, Ling Lan finally opened her eyes.


    ¡°Hurry up and send him to the medical department to bandage his wounds.¡± The bacsh Ling Lan had endured was much worse than what Li Shiyu had expected. Every single part of Ling Lan¡¯s body was injured, so he would need to clean and bandage Ling Lan¡¯s entire body before putting her into the healing pod.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Everyone carried Ling Lan¡¯s stretcher and ran towards the surgery room in the fastest speed they could manage without shaking the stretcher too much.


    Li Shiyu looked at the protective vest on Ling Lan¡¯s body that was soaked with blood. He told Han Xuya and Luo Chao, ¡°Hurry up and take off the clothes.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Luo Chao and Han Xuya received the order and started taking off Ling Lan¡¯s clothes. They got the protective vest off easily but the shirts inside that were soaked in blood had dried up, so it got stuck to the wounds on her skin.


    When they saw this, Han Xuya and Luo Chao suddenly stopped moving. They didn¡¯t dare to touch Ling Lan anymore, as they were afraid they would hurt her more.


    ¡°Brother Shiyu, what do we do now?¡± Luo Chao started tearing up. This was the first time she felt so helpless in the surgery room.


    Only the three people in the surgery room knew how bad Ling Lan¡¯s injuries were. They couldn¡¯t imagine how Ling Lan endured the pain of her skin breaking and healing again and again. They also couldn¡¯t understand how she managed to continue operating the mecha for 25 minutes under this pain.


    ¡°Cut it up,¡± Li Shiyu said coldly. He took a pair of surgical scissors and started cutting Ling Lan¡¯s pants. Every part he removed, more of Ling Lan¡¯s skin could be seen stuck to the clothes. If they hesitated now, it could only cause Ling Lan more pain, so they needed to act quickly.


    After Li Shiyu¡¯s demonstration, Luo Chao and Han Xuya calmed down. They took a deep breath before taking their surgical scissors. Then, they start cutting the clothes too.


    Ling Lan felt something weird was going on so she quickly opened her eyes. The unexpected movement scared the three of them.


    ¡°Boss, did I hurt you?¡± The fierce and fearless Han Xuya cried as she raised her hands high like a little girl.


    Ling Lan shook her head to show that she was fine. She looked at Li Shiyu and moved her mouth.


    However, her voice was too soft so the three people didn¡¯t hear what she said.


    Ling Lan looked at Luo Chao. Luo Chao lowered her head hurriedly and ced her ears beside Ling Lan¡¯s mouth. She then finally heard what Ling Lan said.


    She looked at Li Shiyu in surprise. She didn¡¯t know how to inform Li Shiyu about this.


    ¡°What did Boss say?¡± Li Shiyu frowned. Luo Chao¡¯s gaze made him feel that Ling Lan¡¯s words had something to do with him.


    ¡°Boss asks Xuya and I to handle the treatment from now on.¡± Luo Chao finally told Li Shiyu what Ling Lan had said. She didn¡¯t understand why their Boss wanted to ask Brother Shiyu out of the room.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s frown got deeper. He looked at Ling Lan and asked seriously, ¡°Why?¡±


    Luo Chao and Han Xuya were able to finish the cleaning and bandaging of the wounds but in terms of skills and ability, they were not as good as him. Why did Ling Lan make this decision?


    Ling Lan had already practiced the Qi exercises for quite a while and finally regained some strength. She said in a low voice, ¡°I don¡¯t want you to be the daughter-inw of the Ling family.¡±


    Li Shiyu was astounded. Luo Chao and Han Xuya were dumbfounded too.


    ¡°That¡¯s the rule of my family. Anyone who sees my body, whether it¡¯s a male or female, will have to marry into the Ling family,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s face turned white. After a while, he gritted his teeth and left. He left the surgery room to Luo Chao and Han Xuya.


    Ling Lan looked at Luo Chao and Han Xuya. She said helplessly, ¡°Help me.¡±


    In the end, her secret was still exposed.


    Luo Chao and Han Xuya had not regained their senses yet. When they heard Ling Lan, they replied in a daze, ¡°Oh, okay.¡±


    They started taking off all of Ling Lan¡¯s clothes. Then, they finally understood why Ling Lan asked Li Shiyu to go out.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Luo Chao and Han Xuya were shocked, touched, and amazed. The reliable and impressive man whom they always admired was a female just like them.


    ¡°Help me.¡± Ling Lan grabbed their hands and asked for their help again weakly. Luo Chao and Han Xuya understood what she meant now.


    Luo Chao had tears in her eyes. She lowered her head and kissed Ling Lan on the forehead. Then, she looked up at the ceiling and smiled brightly, ¡°Boss, I¡¯ll dly be your woman and the daughter-inw of the Ling family.¡±


    ¡®Who says that a woman is not as strong as a man?¡¯ Their Boss will definitely be a legend. In order to witness the birth of this legend, she was willing to stay single for the rest of her life. She had no regrets about making this decision.


    ¡°Me too.¡± Han Xuya smile with tears in her eyes. ¡°As a monster who could operate a god-ss mecha, how can you only have one wife?¡±


    Ling Lan felt helpless. ¡°The Federation only allows us to marry one person.¡±


    ¡°Luo Chao and I can take turns to be a wife and a mistress.¡± Han Xuya smiled. ¡°I never want to leave Luo Chao in the first ce, so this is perfect for us. We have to thank you for the proposal.¡±


    ¡°Fine. Stop talking nonsense and help Boss clean her wounds so that she can go into the healing pod soon.¡± Luo Chao turned serious as she interrupted Han Xuya.


    ¡°Yes, Mrs. Ling.¡± Han Xuya stuck out her tongue and hastened up her pace.


    Ling Lan knew that the two of them were trying tofort her. They didn¡¯t want her to feel sorry for them. However, she still dragged the two sisters she liked the most down.


    If she wanted to maintain this huge secret, more and more people would have to pay a huge price...

 Chapter 905 - Live Broadcast!

    Chapter 905 Live Broadcast!


    Outside the base, the fierce battle was still ongoing.


    By right, the God-Killers and the Flying Dragon Special Forces wouldn¡¯t ever have the chance to meet each other. However, since Hailiya broke the rules of the Human United Agreement, they managed to meet on a faraway, Haijiao.


    Luo Qi had changed into another mecha. He led his team onto the battlefield again and started a fight against the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Now, he understood why the Flying Dragon Special Forces was ranked second in the human world.


    His opponent had a golden horn symbol on his mecha¡¯s arm with four numbers engraved on it. Luo Qi had never fought with the Flying Dragon Special Forces before but he knew that the smaller the number, the more powerful the mecha operator was.


    This mecha operator should be one of the best within the Flying Dragon Special Forces. However, he was definitely not the best. Luo Qi wanted to find the most powerful mecha operator to fight with but on the vast battlefield, he didn¡¯t have the right to choose his opponent.


    However, this thought disappeared after a while. As he was fighting with his opponent, he realized that his opponent was just as strong as him.


    The people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces choose their opponents carefully. They all found their respective opponents from the God-Killers. For this rescue mission, the Flying Dragon Special Forces sent all of their elites. Besides some reserve mecha operators and those people that had to stay at the base to guard it, all the mecha operators in the base came out to participate in the battle. Therefore, they had more people than the members of God-Killers so those that were slower could only fight with normal ace operators. Soon, the attack from the Hailiyan army gotpletely blocked by the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    The members from the God-Killers, who had been ruling over Haijiao for the past 20 days, finally got a taste of defeat for the first time in their lives. They kept retreating under the offensive strength of the mecha operators from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    Little White saw its master leaving safely so it disappeared too.


    Its thoughts were simple. Since its master was not here anymore, it didn¡¯t need to endure the pain anymore.


    When it turned back to its small form, half of its body was ck because of its injuries. However, after waiting for a while, it returned to its previous white color.


    Little White was smart. It was small but it would still be found if it stayed outside. Hence, it dug a hole furiously with its tiny tentacles and buried itself underground. It woulde out and go back to the base to find its master after the battle ends.


    In the universe, Qi Yaoyang stopped holding back so he broke through Hailiya¡¯s defense and entered Haijiao. He also sessfully reactivated two of their satellites.


    ¡°Leader, Lieutenant General Qi have reactivated two satellites sessfully.¡± One of Brain One¡¯s members received the news from Qi Yaoyang.


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    ¡°Take over the controls of the satellites,¡± Brain One replied. It would take a long while for Qi Yaoyang to find Base 013 using just those two satellites. They couldn¡¯t waste any time on waiting for Qi Yaoyang.


    ¡°Yes, leader.¡± The team member discussed with Qi Yaoyang and got the control of the two satellites. The hackers from the Flying Dragon Special Forces were all at ace level so even if Qi Yaoyang didn¡¯t agree, they could break the firewall easily and take over the satellites. However, Qi Yaoyang was on their side so they asked nicely before deciding to be forceful or not.


    ¡°Leader, we have control of the satellites. Shall we broadcast the scene around Base 013?¡± The size of a normal satellite was huge. Hence, it needed some time before it could reach Base 013¡¯s vicinity. However, they could transfer the image they got from the miniature satellites to the normal satellites and use them to send it back to the Federation.


    ¡°Yes... wait.¡± Brain One had a sudden thought.


    The people from the Brain team quickly stopped doing anything, as they waited for themand of their leader.


    ¡°Send the footage we got from the start.¡± Brain One made a bold decision.


    ¡°Huh?¡± The team members looked at him in surprise.


    ¡°We¡¯re unable to hide the presence of the god-ss mecha anyways. In that case, why not show our people the exciting and proud scene?¡± Brain One was certain that Hailiya would have recorded the scene and send it to the United Nations. They would definitely use the footage to lodge aint against the Federation.


    Since this was inevitable, why not let them be the ones who reveal the footage?


    Everyone got excited by Brain One¡¯s words. Yes, when they first saw they god-ss mecha, they were amazed too and adrenaline even rushed through their bodies at that time.


    ¡°However, General Ling Xiao will have a headache.¡± One of the team membersughed as he spoke about General Ling Xiao¡¯s plight.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that good? Our big boss has been waiting for this chance for a long time.¡± He was groomed by his big boss personally so he knew the love-hate rtionship between General Ling Xiao and his big boss very well.


    At this moment, in the Federation, many people were waiting for the news from Haijiao. They had been waiting in anticipation since the day the reinforcements were sent out. The military also agreed that if Haijiao had not been overtaken by Hailiya, they would broadcast the battle live to the public even if there was only one base fighting for their lives.


    The citizens of the Federation were unhappy that they lost contact with Haijiao for so long, so they needed a broadcast like this to vent their frustrations to ignite the fighting spirit and love for their nation.


    That was why all the screen in the Federation suddenly changed to the broadcast of the battle on Haijiao.


    Smoke and debris covered all over Haijiao. Numerous broken bases and ruins of mechas could be seen. The corpses of soldiers and mechas piled up to the sizes of mountains. Blood stained the ground of the areas controlled by the Federation and those areas had the Hailiyan g stuck on them.


    ¡°Are we toote?¡± The citizens of the Federation felt their heart dropped when they saw this scene as they all lowered their heads.


    Some more emotionaldies even covered their faces with their hands and started crying. Some of the people watching couldn¡¯t control their despair and sobbed uncontrobly too. They were the families of the 200 million soldiers on Haijiao. This scene dashed all their hopes of their sons, fathers, and brothersing back alive.


    Suddenly, the sounds of gunfire could be heard. They looked up in shock. A base with the Federation¡¯s g was still standing in the midst of a brutal battlefield, butyers andyers of mechas from Hailiya were surrounding it.


    ¡°There¡¯s still a base. There¡¯s still a survivor.¡± The entire Federation was ted.


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    ¡°Where are the reinforcements? Hurry up and help them.¡± The vast amount of enemies caused them to start worrying again. They were afraid that before the reinforcements of the Federation could arrive, this base would disappear.


    ¡°Why haven¡¯t the reinforcements arrive yet?¡±


    ¡°How much longer can theyst?¡±


    Everyone¡¯s heart dropped along with the brightness of the protective shield. Those that had a weak heart out took out their medication so that their heart could continue functioning properly.


    ¡°Ah, what¡¯s that?¡± The people with sharp eyes saw something weird with the scene.


    ¡°Zoom in. Hurry up and zoom in.¡± Their wishes were heard. The image on the screen zoomed in. A huge mecha with colorful lights all over it appeared in front of everyone.


    ¡°God-ss mecha...¡± Everyone gasped, as they were bbergasted by the symbol of a fire phoenix dancing in a me of fire on the chest of the mecha.

 Chapter 906 - Ask In Reply!

    Chapter 906 Ask In Reply!


    ¡°(Belief]!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s (Belief]!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s General Ling Xiao¡¯s (Belief].¡±


    ¡°Did General Ling Xiao went along with the reinforcements?¡±


    ¡°No, General Ling Xiao appeared on Southcrest a few days ago. Also, god-ss operators are forbidden to go out of their country.¡±


    ¡°Why is (Belief] on Haijiao then?¡±


    No one was able to think of an answer after thinking hard for a while.


    ¡°Ah, (Belief] is protecting the base.¡±


    The footage finally cleared up and all the citizens could now see what (Belief) was doing.


    To protect the base from being destroyed by their enemy mechas, [Belief] stood on top of the base and attacked the enemy mechas with its six-wing beams.


    ¡°(Belief) is supposed to have 12 wings, right?¡± Based on what they knew, every god-ss mecha had a signature god-ss technique. [Belief]¡¯s signature technique was Divine Punishment. Its twelve wings were the ones that would carry out this technique. However, only half of the wings were used. This made everyone confused.


    ¡°Could it be... someone jumping level?¡± Many mecha operators thought about this possibility. This could only be the only reason why the full potential of the god-ss technique couldn¡¯t be shown. The operator hadn¡¯t reached that level of power yet.


    By now, all the mecha operators started to respect the operator of [Belief). Jumping levels in mecha piloting was the same asmitting suicide. If you jumped levels below ace, you might still be saved by the skillful doctors of the Federation. However, from the imperial level onwards, jumping levels was the same as seeking death. With the current medical skills of the Federation, no one could save them. The people the jumped levels at this stage would have to lie in the healing pods for the rest of their lives. They wouldn¡¯t be able to stand up again. What¡¯s more, this was a god-ss mecha that imperial operator was operating. That imperial operator must be using his life to defend the base.


    (Belief] fought alone. Among the numerous enemy mechas, it stood at its position firmly without taking any steps back. The citizens of the Federation started to worry about the operator. They wondered how long the operator couldst.


    As time passed by, (Belief]¡¯s actions got slower and slower. The heart of all the citizens tightened in fear.


    They knew that the operator had reached his limit. The citizens were unable to control their emotions anymore and started shouting, ¡°Where are the reinforcements?¡±


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    ¡°Yes, where are the reinforcements?¡±


    ¡°Why haven¡¯t they arrive after so long?¡±


    ¡°What on earth are they doing?¡±


    ¡°[Belief) is not able to handle it any longer.¡±


    ¡°Are we supposed to let our hero sacrifice like this?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Never!¡±


    ¡°Let the military give us a reply!¡±


    ¡°Let the three great marshals give us a reply!¡±


    The angry shouts by the citizens were heard by the military through various channels. All the workers that were handling the broadcast got frightened by the anger and unhappiness shown by the citizens. Cold sweat was dripping from their foreheads. They didn¡¯t dare to waste any time and quickly reported this to their superiors. Then, they waited for their reply.


    In the military, the Third Marshal was furious about the appearance of (Belief).


    He mmed the table in front of him. ¡°That bastard Ling Xiao caused such a huge mess for us this time. Inform the two other marshals. I would like to request for an emergency meeting.¡±


    Soon, he received replies from the First Marshal and the Second Marshal. Both of them agreed with the meeting. All the ten great generals of the Federation, whether they had retired or not, were invited to the meeting too.


    On Southcrest, Ling Xiao saw (Belief] appearing on the screen and frowned. He was worried. Ling Xiao knew that based on the current situation on Haijiao, his daughter would definitely have to use the amulet he gave her. However, when he saw her using it, he still got agitated.


    ¡®I hope Qi Yaoyang can reinforce them in time!¡¯ Ling Xiao clenched his fists uncontrobly. For the first time, he hated his status as a god-ss operator. If it wasn¡¯t for this status, he would be the one leading the reinforcements over. He wouldn¡¯t have to wait for news about the state of his own daughter on Southcrest.


    Hismunicator suddenly vibrated. He looked at it and smiled, but his smile this time was cold and sinister.


    It was the invitation to the highest-level emergency meeting in the military. Ling Xiao knew what this meeting was for. The gentle aura around him was gone. His entire force of presence was cold, simr to Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence.


    This meeting was held in the virtual world. The three great marshals and the ten great generals were on differents so they couldn¡¯t meet each other personally in the real world within a short period of time.


    Ling Xiao entered the virtual world and appeared in his seat through a special passageway.


    There were 13 seats in total. These seats were for the 13 most powerful people in the military. They were the three great marshals as well as the ten great generals.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, we¡¯ve been waiting for you. Please exin why your mecha has appeared on Haijiao.¡± The Third Marshal controlled his anger when he saw Ling Xiao and questioned him as soon as he saw him.


    ¡°When Ling Lan went on his mission to Haijiao, my instincts told me that it would be a dangerous mission. So, after contemting for a long time, I decided to pass [Belief] to Ling Lan.¡± Ling Xiao replied calmly, ¡°All god-ss operators have the ability to foresee danger. This ability helped me toe back alive numerous times.¡±


    The other generals nodded at Ling Xiao¡¯s words. They were not a god-ss operator but they knew that the more powerful they get, the stronger their ability to foresee danger.


    ¡°Even if that¡¯s the case, you still can¡¯t let your son enter the battlefield with a god-ss mecha. This is breaking the rules of the Human United Agreement. The Federation will be condemned by the entire United Nations. This might even cause the 29th Intergctic War.¡± The Third Marshal shouted angrily, ¡°You¡¯ll be the sinner of the Federation. You¡¯ll the sinner of the entire human race.¡±


    ¡°Marshal Yang, that usation is pretty heavy. I can¡¯t bear it.¡± Ling Xiao raised his eyebrows. ¡°I would like to ask what part of the agreement did I break?¡±


    ¡°The Human United Agreement states that any operators higher than the ace level cannot appear on the battlefield. God-ss operators are not allowed to leave their countries...¡± The Third Marshal stopped talking suddenly. He turned and ordered his adjutant, ¡°Pass me the details of the Human United Agreement.¡±

 Chapter 907 - Proud!

    Chapter 907 Proud!


    Soon, the adjutant found all the relevant documents for the Third Marshal. The First Marshal and the Second Marshal just sat calmly on their seats as they watched the scene unfold itself.


    As the Third Marshal continued to flip through the documents, his frown slowly disappeared, turning into a smile on his face as he said, ¡°Although you didn¡¯t break the rules this time, the responsibility of a god-ss operator is stated here too. You need to think of a way to shut the United Nations up.¡±


    He was furious just now so he forgot that there was a difference between god-ss operators and god-ss mechas. Now, after calming down, he had to admit that Ling Xiao did a pretty great job of reading between the lines.


    In the Human United Agreement, whether it was the broad framework or the detailed uses, nothing was written about god-ss mechas. There was nothing to state that god-ss mechas were not allowed to enter the battlefield. However, it was written that a god-ss operator must be responsible for all the implications created by his god-ss mecha.


    This use also forbade all imperial mechas from undergoing any modifications and disguising themselves as lower-level mechas to enter the battlefield. Once such a thing was found out, the Intergctic United Nations would severely punish all the offenders and the United Nations¡¯ status of the offender might be removed too. This would mean that the offender¡¯s country would be alienated.


    This use appeared because many countries noticed that a portion of the mecha operators had the ability to be an imperial operator but they purposely suppressed their ability and didn¡¯t register themselves as imperial operators. They continued operating an ace mecha in the battlefield. Many countries were afraid that their enemy would use this loophole to send in their imperial operators so they added in this use to prevent these hidden imperial operators from entering the battlefield.


    After what Ling Xiao did, new uses would most likely be added to the Human United Agreement. The appearance of god-ss mechas would be officially banned from battlefields. In the past, everyone thought that no imperial operators would be willing to seek death and jump levels to operate a god-ss mecha. They also didn¡¯t believe that any god-ss operator would pass their god-ss mecha to other people too. Plus, no country wanted the Human United Agreement to cover everything perfectly. Hence, they covered their eyes on certain loopholes. Ling Xiao was thus able to make use of these loopholes.


    Ling Xiao smiled at what the Third Marshal said. ¡°This is the job of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It¡¯s not something we have to consider.¡± ¡°This was what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was supposed to do, right? If they couldn¡¯t even handle a small thing like this, they should all just be fired.¡¯


    As someone who managed to be the Third Marshal of the military, he was not an unintelligent person. He appeared forceful at the start because he was afraid that an Intergctic War would ensue which would put everyone in the Federation in danger. Now, when this fear was cleared, he agreed with what Ling Xiao had said. This kind of matter should be passed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.


    Actually, the Third Marshal targeted Ling Xiao so many times not because he had something against Ling Xiao. It was because their way of doing things and their beliefs were extremely different. This was a sh of two different beliefs and ideals.


    The Third Marshal represented the pigeon faction that advocated peace. They didn¡¯t want to start any unnecessary wars so the decisions the Third Marshal made was to prevent wars from happening and decrease the casualties. Ling Xiao belonged to the eagle faction. This was the main power behind the First Marshal too. This faction believed in overpowering their opponent with force. Any country that dared to provoke them should be punished by force. The people in this faction never like to take a step back.


    For the past few years, the First Marshal¡¯s eagle faction took over the military. This was why the Federation was constantly in wars.


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    The Second Marshal was in the middle between the two of them. He was the lubricant between the two factions. The three factions bnced each other out and made sure that the military¡¯s decision wouldn¡¯t be too tilted towards a certain faction, allowing the military to move on stably.


    ¡°Old Yang, since you have nothing against Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha being there, let¡¯s talk about the next topic.¡± The First Marshal noticed that Ling Xiao had settled the Third Marshal so he stepped out to proceed with the conversation.


    ¡°I¡¯m just worried that Hailiya would throw all rules aside and send their god-ss operators out. Then, they would push the me to us,¡± The Third Marshal revealed his worry.


    ¡°They won¡¯t. They have only two god-ss operators. They won¡¯t dare to take this bet,¡± the First Marshal replied with certainty.


    He had just received news that Hailiya had not sent their god-ss operators out. This meant that their opponent understood the Human United Agreement well and knew that they couldn¡¯t send their ultimate weapons.


    The Third Marshal looked at the First Marshal and pursed his lips. Just now, he realized that he had identally stepped into the trap made by this sly old fox. The First Marshal wanted to call for this emergency meeting too but he didn¡¯t. He made use of him to do all the work.


    ¡°Since we¡¯ve confirmed the existence of Base 013, we need to discuss sending more reinforcements and preparing our retaliation.¡± The First Marshal finally revealed his true intentions. His old and aged eyes lit up brightly. A purple smog-like killing intent could be seen swirling around in his pupils. ¡°The war on Haijiao has been ongoing for many years. It¡¯s time to end it.


    Then, he exined his n of retaliation.


    ¡°I agree. I agree...¡± More than half of the ten great generals agreed to the n. They were all from the eagle faction.


    Ling Xiao raised his right hand too. He replied firmly, ¡°I agree!¡±


    ¡®Those who dared to harm his daughter must pay the price!¡¯ Ling Xiao didn¡¯t n to let the Hailiyan army off from the very beginning.


    The Second Marshal calmly looked at the First Marshal. Then, he raised one of his hands. ¡°I agree.¡±


    Since the Second Marshal had stated his stand, it meant that the n of retaliation was going to be in motion soon. The Third Marshal raised his hand unwillingly too. This happens all the time. In the end, everything will go ording to the First Marshal¡¯s n.¡¯ The Third Marshal felt the distance between the First Marshal and him again. This distance was not something he could catch up with just by working together with the Second Marshal.


    While the higher authorities within the military initiated the n of retaliation, the citizens of the Federation suddenly saw a huge circr creature appearing and helping (Belief). They also saw the mechas from Base 013ing out and protecting (Belief] fearlessly. Everyone was touched by these soldiers. At the same time, they were angry that the reinforcements were still not there. They cried as they saw the soldiers from Base 013 sacrificing themselves one by one to provide (Belief) a safe pathway to the base.


    Where are the reinforcements?


    ¡°It¡¯s the Flying Dragon Special Forces,¡± someone shouted excitedly when he saw the silver dots in the air.


    Numerous silver mechas flew down from the sky. All the citizens of the Federation raised their arms and shouted in happiness. They were happy that the Flying Dragon Special Forces finally came. They were also proud of the soldiers of Base 013 who managed to persevere until the arrival of the reinforcements.


    Soldiers of Base 013, you¡¯re all the heroes of the Federation. We are proud of you all!

 Chapter 908 - One Person!

    Chapter 908 One Person!


    In the orbit of Haijiao, Qi Yaoyang finally broke through the defense of the Hailiyan army and reached to the position on top of Base 013. The starship hovered above Base 013 and many ace mechas started getting ejected out of the starship.


    The huge amount of reinforcements allowed the Hailiyan army to realize that their n had failed. They lost to a god-ss mecha that shouldn¡¯t appear on Haijiao. That god-ss mecha allowed Base 013 to survive until the arrival of the reinforcements.


    When themand center of the military on Haijiao received news that their starships didn¡¯t manage to stop Qi Yaoyang, they knew that they had failed. They sounded the rm and ordered all the Hailiyan soldiers to return to their base to wait for the newmand.


    To fight off all the Hailiyan soldiers, the mecha operators from the Flying Dragon Special Forces had to fight for two hours. They were all exhausted in the end.


    They were weed with great fervour when they walked into Base 013. After all, if the Flying Dragon Special Forces didn¡¯t arrive in time, Base 013 wouldn¡¯t be able to still stand. Base 013 wasn¡¯t able to attend to Qi Yaoyang¡¯s army but they were still able to squeeze out a camp for the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Of course, the people at Base 013 didn¡¯t want to admit that they did this because they were extremely curious about the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    The Flying Dragon Special Forces thought that the logisticians and JMCs of a small base on a small like this were definitely not as efficient as their personal logisticians and JMC. However, to their surprise, they were as efficient as the logisticians from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. They were even faster in certain areas of work.


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    After the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces changed into the normal military attire provided by Base 013, they went into the base. They experienced a different kind of atmosphere in the base. Firstly, the mainframe of Base 013 was very advanced. Its ability was on par with the mainframe of the Flying Dragon Special Forces which had undergone many generations of modification by the Brain team. Before the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces could open their mouths, it gave them the map of the base and even weed them into Base 013.


    All the various districts in the base were segregated clearly on the map. They knew exactly where they needed to go if they wanted to get certain things.


    They came to the living district and saw many soldiers on duty. The logisticians from various departments were doing their jobs. Everything was in order. Everyone had a calm expression. They didn¡¯t seem ted that they managed to survive. It didn¡¯t look like a base that almost got ruined after more than 20 days of fighting.


    What the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces couldn¡¯t get used to was the looks from the logisticians. They seemed curious about them but their eyes were not filled with admiration. Those indifferent stares made them feel as though their Flying Dragon Special Forces was just a normal mecha n.


    ¡°Is it because we haven¡¯t been out for a while so people have forgotten about us?¡± Someone finally voiced out his concern.


    ¡°Hmph, do you think that you¡¯re a superstar?¡± Themander of this mission, Jiao One, gave that person a re.


    A young major walked up and scanned the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. After a while, he found his target and walked towards Jiao One. He saluted and smiled. ¡°Hello, Senior Colonel Jiao. I¡¯m the head of the logistics department on Base 013. Your ce of residence is ready. Please follow me.¡±


    Jiao One saluted back and replied calmly, ¡°Thank you for your hard work, major.¡± This major was young but he still recognized his status with one look.


    The major guided Jiao One to a certain direction. During the journey to their destination, he always walked half a step behind Jiao One and when there was a need to change directions, he would remind Jiao One before Jiao one could even ask. This kind of thoughtful service caused Jiao One to have an extremely good impression of this major. Finally, they reached the prepared ce of residence of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. The major gave an apologetic look. ¡°Senior Colonel Jiao, there are currently too many people in the base so we¡¯re only able to squeeze a small space for you. Please ept my apology.¡±


    ¡°No, we¡¯re already satisfied to have such afortable ce to rest after the battle.¡± Jiao One knew how difficult it was for Base 013 to give them this camp. On his way here, he noticed that almost all the camps were packed with people.


    Jiao One entered the camp and noticed that everything was very clean. It didn¡¯t seem like they had cleaned it on short notice. They must have been cleaning this ce up daily. It seemed like from the start, Base 013 believed that they wouldn¡¯t be defeated.


    Jiao One saw the major leaving so he shouted hurriedly, ¡°Major, I would like to meet yourmanding officer. Can you arrange for that to happen?¡±


    The major¡¯s smile froze when he heard this. His smile slowly disappeared and he revealed a sad expression. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Senior Colonel Jiao. Ourmanding officer is heavily injured so he is still in the emergency room.¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡± Jiao One was shocked. ¡®Shouldn¡¯t themanding officer of a base remain in the confines of the base? Why is he injured?¡¯


    ¡°Am I able to meet the mecha operator who operated the god-ss mecha?¡± Jiao One wanted to know if Ling Xiao¡¯s son was the one operating the god-ss mecha or did Ling Xiao make other arrangements.


    The major didn¡¯t reply. He only shook his head.


    ¡°What about the regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n, Regiment Commander Ling?¡± Jiao One changed his way of asking.


    The major continued shaking his head.


    The short-tempered Jiao Six saw this and got irritated. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you allowing our leader to meet anyone?¡±


    The major nced at him calmly and replied, ¡°Because he is talking about the same person.¡±


    Everyone from the Flying Dragon Special Forces was dumbfounded by the reply. They had guessed that the person who operated the god-ss operator was Ling Lan but they didn¡¯t predict that she was themanding officer of the base too.


    ¡°Will he be fine?¡± Xu Thirteen felt sympathetic towards Ling Lan¡¯s condition so he asked in concern.


    ¡°Ourmanding officer will definitely be fine,¡± the major replied firmly.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. That¡¯s true.¡± The members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces nodded awkwardly. They, of course, didn¡¯t hope that anything would happen to the hero who used his life to protect this base.


    The major bidded farewell to the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Once the major left, everyone pounced on Xu Thirteen and beat him up. ¡®Damn it, do you know how to talk? We are in other people¡¯s territory.¡¯


    Mu Chaoran stood behind everyone. He suddenly sensed something and looked at the entrance of the camp. His expression instantly changed and he rushed out at his greatest speed.


    Tang Ningyu, who stood beside him, got a shock. He turned around and just like Mu Chaoran, his expression changed. However, he still remembered to inform the person beside him before dashing out madly.


    Lin Zhong-qing came to the entrance of the camp and saw a ball of white jumping towards him frantically.


    Lin Zhong-qing hugged it. He saw tears in Little White¡¯s eyes as it screeched pitifully.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Lin Zhong-qing asked it curiously.


    Little White continued howling. Unfortunately, Lin Zhong-qing couldn¡¯t understand what Little White was trying to say.

 Chapter 909 - I’m Dead!

    Chapter 909 I¡¯m Dead!


    At this moment, Lin Zhong-qing heard a hoarse and nervous voice behind him. ¡°May I ask whose pet this is?¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing turned around in surprise. He saw that it was from an excited major from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    Little White froze when it heard this voice. It turned its head stiffly and looked at the direction where the voice came from. It hoped that this was just an illusion.


    Mu Chaoran saw Little White looking at him. That pair of innocent and teary eyes were just like his Little Brother Shaoyun¡¯s. ¡®It¡¯s really Little Brother Shaoyun¡¯s Little White!¡¯ Mu Chaoran¡¯s eyes turned red. He remembered his Little Brother Shaoyun again. The regret he felt would forever stay with him.


    ¡®It¡¯s really him!¡¯ Little White hugged its head with its tentacles and cried out inmentation.


    ¡®Ahhhhhh... I am found! This time, master would definitely steam me, cook me, fry me, stir-fry it, and even salt it. I am definitely going to die!¡¯


    ¡®What should I do? I still want to live!¡¯ Little White¡¯s little brain worked furiously. It was thinking about how it could escape this crisis.


    Little White suddenly squeaked and lied down on Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s hand. It pretended to be dead.


    Lin Zhong-qing looked at Little White¡¯s poor acting and his eyes glinted. He replied, ¡°It belongs to one of myrades.¡± He was not lying. Little White belonged to his Boss.


    Lin Zhong-qing watched the person¡¯s expression carefully when he spoke. He wanted to find some answers from it.


    ¡°Whose is it?¡± Two voices sounded out simultaneously. Lin Zhong-qing saw another young lieutenant colonel walking over while looking excited too. The major asked the same question.


    Tang Ningyu looked at Mu Chaoran and controlled his excitement. He continued asking, ¡°Can we meet him?¡± They hoped that their Little Brother Shaoyun had fooled them and he was the other spy whom they didn¡¯t manage to find. They would rather let this be the truth than have the truth of him dying on Azure.


    Lin Zhong-qing lowered his head to hide the vignce in his eyes. ¡®Why are the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces so interested in Little White¡¯s master? Are they friends or foes?¡¯ Before he understood this point, Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t want to expose his Boss.


    ¡°This little fellow belongs to me now.¡± A gentle voice was heard and a major suddenly wearing a silver mask appeared behind Lin Zhong-qing.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng!¡± Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu¡¯s heart dropped. Their hopes were destroyed. Their Little Brother Shaoyun was really dead.


    Mu Chaoranughed at himself for still not giving up. ¡®Why did I still remain hopeful that I am able to see my Little Brother Shaoyun again?


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    They knew who Li Lanfeng was. His arrival in the Central Scout Academy on Azure attracted the attention of every student and teacher, giving them the chance to sneak into the secret headquarters in the forest.


    ¡°How should I address you?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and asked them.


    ¡°You know us?¡± Mu Chaoran raised his eyebrows in astonishment.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t we meet at the Central Scout Academy? My memory is very good.¡± Li Lanfeng exined how he remembered them. ¡°I can¡¯t address the two of you as fellow students now, right?¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s exnation made them remember that they had met him before.


    ¡°Tang Ningyu from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.¡±


    ¡°Mu Chaoran from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.¡±


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran introduced themselves briefly. Then, they pointed at Little White and said, ¡°Major Li, this fellow is the pet of one of my good friends. Can you give it to me?¡± Mu Chaoran was still unable to talk about Pei Shaoyun¡¯s death.


    Li Lanfeng picked up Little White by one of its tentacles and shook it furiously. He smiled. ¡°You mean this fellow?¡± ¡°This is what you get for creating trouble for me!¡¯


    ¡®Painful! Dumbass Li! How dare you mistreat me like this. When I meet my master, I¡¯ll take my revenge.¡¯


    Little White didn¡¯t dare to expose itself so it bore with the pain and didn¡¯t move.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s called Little White.¡± Mu Chaoran answered firmly.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. It only reacts when I call it Little White. It ignored all the other names.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s words confirmed Little White¡¯s identity. Mu Chaoran was ted. With Little White apanying them, they would feel much better.


    ¡°Then...¡± Mu Chaoran looked at Li Lanfeng in anticipation. He hoped that Li Lanfeng would agree to him.


    ¡°I picked it up on Azure. It was hugging me so tightly so I had no choice but to bring it back to 250 Ace Mecha n,¡± Li Lanfeng replied indifferently. He wouldn¡¯t let these two people meet Ling Lan. For some reason, Li Lanfeng felt that these two people were dangerous. Thus, he wanted to prevent these two people from seeing Ling Lan.


    ¡°If it¡¯s willing to go with you, I will not reject your request.¡± Li Lanfeng appeared nonchnt. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were delighted.


    ¡°This little bastard. How dare he question my loyalty to master.¡¯ Little White jumped up and banged its head on Li Lanfeng¡¯s hand.


    ¡°Little White,e with us.¡± Mu Chaoran looked at Little White and gave it a gentle smile.


    Little White shook its head. It jumped onto Li Lanfeng¡¯s shoulder and turned its back to them. It appeared as if it didn¡¯t recognize them.


    ¡°Little White, I¡¯m Meng Shaoran,¡± Mu Chaoran shouted dejectedly. After Little Brother Shaoyun death, Little White didn¡¯t recognize them anymore.


    ¡°Little White, I¡¯m Leng Hanfeng.¡± Tang Ningyu stepped forward and shouted with a cold face. His aura changed back to the cold aura he had when he was pretending to be Leng Hanfeng.


    Little White turned around and looked at them. Then, it looked back instantly. Mu Chaoran felt bitter in his heart when he saw its resolute attitude.


    ¡°It looks like its not willing to go back with you.¡± Li Lanfeng said with pity, ¡°I don¡¯t like it but after spending some time with it, I have developed some feelings towards it. Since its not willing to go back with you, I¡¯ll not force it. I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Li Lanfeng nodded at Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. In the next second, he disappeared. He had left with Little White.


    Lin Zhong-qing bidded farewell and left too. Only Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran remained standing there with a dazed expression.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Tang Ningyu asked in a low voice.


    ¡°His answer made sense. I shouldn¡¯t be suspecting him but I think that his appearance on Azure was too much of a coincidence.¡± Mu Chaoran¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Plus, that huge circr creature appeared on Azure too.¡±


    ¡°I also think that it¡¯s too coincidental.¡± Tang Ningyu agreed. Coincidence happens all the time but this coincidence was too unnatural.

 Chapter 910 - Ineffective!

    Chapter 910 Ineffective!


    ¡°This probably has nothing to do with Little Brother Shaoyun but I still want to know who is the person who took the mission.¡± Mu Chaoran thought of Ling Lan. He was the son of Ling Xiao, the regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n, and an imperial operator. Therefore, he should be the only one who was able to fit that mission¡¯s criteria.


    ¡°Me too. I want to know who I had lost too.¡± Tang Ningyu¡¯s eyes turned cold. After being on top for so long, this was the first time he had lost to someone. Hence, he was really curious to know who that person was. Unfortunately, the person had a simr level of security as him. With his current status, he was unable to find out who this person was. Tang Ningyu knew that the big boss of the Flying Dragon Special Forces definitely knew who the person was but he was unwilling to say anything to him. Thus, there was nothing he could do too.


    Tang Ningyu suspected Ling Lan to be the one. Ling Lan fitted all the criteria of that mission at that time. Plus, the members of 250 Ace Mecha n appeared during the mission too.


    Lin Zhong-qing finally caught up with Li Lanfeng. Well, he didn¡¯t catch up with Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng was the one who waited for him.


    ¡°Those two people know Boss?¡± Lin Zhong-qing walked beside Li Lanfeng and whispered.


    ¡°Yes. When Boss went to Azure on a mission, those two people were hispetitors.¡± Li Lanfeng exined the situation to him briefly. Then, he exined why they knew Little White too. ¡°Boss took Little White with him at that time.¡±


    Little White, who had been staring at the sky like a statue, heard what Li Lanfeng said and woke up from its stupor. It nced around him and noticed that the two people who recognized it was gone. It was so ted that it started dancing and shouting happily.


    Suddenly, it remembered that it was almost given away by an evil person. ¡®Ah! I will not forgive you!¡¯ Little White finally realized that it hadn¡¯t taken its revenge yet.


    Little White jumped up and furiously mmed its round head onto Li Lanfeng¡¯s face. It kept scolding him andining about him as it continued to jump and bang its head on Li Lanfeng¡¯s face.


    Li Lanfeng lifted a finger calmly and scratched Little White¡¯s body.


    ¡®Ahhhhh, This is sofortable. But... I will not... sumb...¡¯ Little Whiteid t on Li Lanfeng¡¯s shoulder and enjoyed the massage. It didn¡¯t look like it wanted to take revenge at all.


    Lin Zhong-qing was speechless. His lips twitched uncontrobly. ¡®My Boss is a cold and domineering person, so why is his pet so stupid and innocent?¡¯


    Li Lanfeng subdued Little White but his frown still remained on his face.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Lin Zhong-qing got nervous when he saw that.


    ¡°Nothing. It¡¯s just that those two will not give up so easily. They¡¯ll definitely think of ways to see our regimentmander.¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t believe those two people would believe in his words. He remembered that Little White had revealed his true form on Azure before. He coulde up with a reason to exin the small version of Little White but it was hard to cover up for Little White¡¯s true form.


    ¡°Boss is in the healing pod. We can¡¯t even see him,¡± Lin Zhong-qing replied.


    ¡°They¡¯ll be able to find a reason we¡¯re unable to refuse.¡± Li Lanfeng believed that the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces had the ability to do this.


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    Lin Zhong-qing turned quiet. Li Lanfeng¡¯s worry was the same as his.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I believe that our regimentmander will be able to solve this problem.¡± Li Lanfeng remembered Ling Lan¡¯s two extremely different auras. He might not be able to hide the fact that he was the one who took the mission but if he didn¡¯t want anyone to know that he was Pei Shaoyun, no one would know.


    Lin Zhong-qing nodded. However, he still felt bitter in his heart. ¡®When will we be able to solve all these small problems ourselves and not have to disturb Boss.¡¯


    The two of them hastened their pace and rushed to the medical department. The other team leaders from 250 Ace Mecha n had already arrived.


    After some time, Li Shiyu and Han Xuya walked out of the room. Everyone quickly gathered around them. Yang Mingzhi asked in a low voice, ¡°Doctor Li, how¡¯s our regimentmander?¡±


    Li Shiyu shook his head sternly. ¡°The bacsh is too strong. The regenerative ability of his cells is destroyed. Thus, my recovery agents have no effects on our boss¡¯s injury.¡± The Nuwa agent was too powerful. All the other agents that weren¡¯t as powerful were rejected from Ling Lan¡¯s body. He could only revive the regenerative ability of his Boss if he created more Nuwas agents.


    However, the nts required to make the Nuwa element was all used up. The only way to gather more was for them to go back to the again. But, the was already taken over by the military. ¡®What excuses can they use to go back?¡¯ Li Shiyu frowned. He couldn¡¯t think of a viable excuse.


    Everyone turned quiet. Luo Lang even walked to the wall beside him and tried to kick it. If Qi Long didn¡¯t stop him, he might have formed a hole in the wall.


    ¡°Is he in danger?¡± Li Lanfeng asked seriously.


    ¡°The injuries are not getting worse.¡± Li Shiyu expressed that their Boss was currently safe.


    ¡°Contact the military headquarters and request for more recovery agents,¡± Li Lanfeng asked Lin Zhong-qing.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Lin Zhong-qing nodded.


    The few of them chatted for a while more before going back to carry on their work.


    The crisis of the base was averted, but there were still many misceneous things that needed to be done. The highest person in position, Ling Lan, was heavily injured so she couldn¡¯t takemand of the base. The team leaders of 250 Ace Mecha n didn¡¯t want other people to enjoy the fruits of their Boss¡¯sbor so they took over themand of the base and started organizing everything. Thus, everything remained orderly in the base.


    Everyone left the medical department except for Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng scanned his surroundings and noticed that there was no one around. He walked towards Li Shiyu and whispered, ¡°Is it because of the Nuwa agents?¡±


    Li Shiyu nodded. ¡°If we want our boss to recover, we need to make more Nuwa agents. However, the ingredients are on Juhao. What should we do?¡±


    Li Lanfeng thought for a moment. ¡°Can you have Boss wake up for a few minutes?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Shiyu nodded.


    ¡°I have something to discuss with him. Prepare everything. I need to talk to him.¡± Li Lanfeng was decisive.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Li Shiyu immediately went to make preparations to wake Ling Lan up.


    Soon, the two of them walked to a healing pod. They saw Luo Chao sitting on one side of the healing pod and looking at Ling Lan with a tender look.


    Li Lanfeng frowned for a moment when he saw that.


    ¡°Luo Chao, Leader Li has some things to discuss with Boss in private. Please wait outside and not let anyone in,¡± Li Shiyu spoke to Luo Chao gently.

 Chapter 911 - I Can Wait!

    Chapter 911 I Can Wait!


    ¡°I understand.¡± Luo Chao nodded to show that she understood, but she didn¡¯t leave. Instead, she walked towards the control panel of the healing pod and opened the healing pod. Ling Lan had bandages all over her as sheid within the healing pod.


    Her entire head was bandaged up too so no one could see her features except for her eyes. She looked like a mummy now.


    Luo Chao signalled to Li Shiyu and asked him to inject the agent to wake Ling Lan up. Li Shiyu looked at Li Lanfeng and shrugged. Then, he went forward and injected the agent. In the end, he didn¡¯t chase Luo Chao away.


    Ling Lan opened her eyes slowly. She saw Luo Chao, Li Shiyu, and Li Lanfeng looking at her nervously. Then, she nodded to express that she was fine.


    ¡°Boss, Leader Li has something to discuss with your privately.¡± Luo Chao used her eyes to tell Ling Lan that if it wasn¡¯t safe, she wouldn¡¯t leave.


    Ling Lan was speechless. She nodded at Luo Chao and looked at the door, asking Luo Chao to go out.


    Luo Chao finally was willing to leave. Before she turned around to leave, she red at Li Shiyu and Li Lanfeng fiercely.


    Li Shiyu was stunned. ¡®When did Luo Chao be so fierce?¡¯ That expression was only supposed to appear on Han Xuya¡¯s face.


    Li Lanfeng started frowning again. After the battle ended, he noticed that Luo Chao¡¯s attitude towards Ling Lan had changed dramatically. ¡®What has happened?¡¯


    Li Lanfeng threw his weird thoughts aside. He mustn¡¯t disturb Ling Lan for too long. If not, it might worsen her injuries.


    He went straight into the topic. ¡°Shiyu feels that the Nuwa agent inhibits the effect of the other recovery agents from the Federation.¡±


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t surprised. When she used the Nuwa agent, she had expected this side effect, so she just nodded and signalled Li Lanfeng to continue.


    ¡°If we want to heal youpletely, we need to make more Nuwa agent. That means that we need to go to Juhao again. How about we contact General Ling Xiao to ask him to make the necessary arrangements.¡± Li Lanfeng told Ling Lan his idea. With General Ling Xiao helping them, they would be able to enter Juhao easily.


    Ling Lan closed her eyes and thought about it carefully. Then, she slowly shook her head.


    ¡°Why not? Without the Nuwa agent, you¡¯ll have to lie in the healing pod for the rest of your life,¡± Li Lanfeng shouted angrily. He lost his cool when he saw Ling Lan rejecting his idea.


    ¡°It¡¯s not appropriate.¡± Ling Lan squeezed out the words forcefully. Her voice was hoarse. The strong bacsh had damaged her throat too, so this short sentence already caused her throat to burn.


    Ling Lan quickly used the Qi exercises to heal her throat. She felt a little better after that.


    She continued, ¡°Everyone in the military has their eyes on Juhao, as that affects the benefits of many people. The higher authorities are also watching my father closely. Those nts seem useless now but if a general purposely arrange for someone to pick it, everyone will think that something is amiss. Once someone finds that Shiyu is able to make the Nuwa agent, Shiyu will get forcefully controlled by the military. I don¡¯t want Shiyu to lose his freedom.¡±


    Li Shiyu was touched. He didn¡¯t expect Ling Lan to give up this n just because of him. He hurriedly said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Anything is fine as long as you¡¯re fine.¡±


    Something shed passed Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes. He clenched his fist tightly and remained silent for a few seconds. When he looked at Ling Lan again, his gaze had turned cold. ¡°Your injuries are the most important thing now.¡±


    Between his brother and his friend, he chose his friend. He was indeed a selfish person.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned sharp when she heard Li Lanfeng¡¯s reply. She looked at Li Lanfeng intently. She hoped that Li Lanfeng would remain calm.


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    ¡°Without the Nuwa agent, I can recover using my own method too.¡± Ling Lan felt that her Qi exercises had allowed her body¡¯s condition to be much better. The effect was minimal so the medical equipment couldn¡¯t detect the change. This was why Li Shiyu thought that the agents didn¡¯t have any effects on her.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze was like a bucket of cold water. It poured on Li Lanfeng and woke him up. He calmed down a little.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s eyes lit up when he heard this. ¡°What method are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°The secret arts of the Ling family.¡± Ling Lan gave Li Shiyu a simple answer.


    Li Lanfeng stepped away from the healing pod and mouthed ¡®Qi exercises¡¯ to ask if she was referring to this. Ling Lan nodded to show that he was right.


    Li Shiyu frowned when he heard the words ¡®secret arts¡¯. Severe consequences usuallye after using secret arts. He felt that it was inappropriate, as his Nuwa agent was much safer. ¡°Boss, I think that it¡¯s better to make more Nuwa agents. I don¡¯t really mind. Even if I¡¯m caught, it will be just like changing my work environment. It¡¯s nothingpared to your health.¡±


    Ling Lan shook his head. ¡°You don¡¯t mind but I mind.¡± It took her a lot of effort to get a military doctor. She would be stupid to send such a good military doctor back to the Federation.


    Li Shiyu had tears in his eyes when he heard this. He finally understood why his eldest cousin brother told him that he was willing to die for arade. With a friend like Ling Lan, he was willing to follow him all the way too.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Shiyu, you have to believe in our regimentmander.¡± Li Lanfeng understood the benefits of the Qi exercises so he knew that Ling Lan was not saying that to console them. She was saying the truth. He also didn¡¯t want his younger brother to lose his freedom so he persuaded Li Shiyu too.


    ¡°I know.¡± In front of his respectable eldest cousin brother and his invincible Boss, Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t reject them. He listened to them obediently.


    ¡°Plus, by right, those nts should be regarded as useless by the military so it would be put on auction soon. We can make use of that chance to acquire them.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t n to give up on those nts at all. She wanted to have more Nuwa agents.


    The Li brother¡¯s eyes lit up. Even the Qi exercises were useless, this could be their n B. They just didn¡¯t know when the Federation was going to host an auction for the resources on Juhao.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I can wait.¡± Ling Lan closed her eyes after she finished this sentence. Her spiritual power now could only keep her awake for a short period of time. This was a side effect of controlling the god-ss mecha. Compared to her body, she was more worried about her spiritual power.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan intently when she closed her eyes. He closed the healing pod and watched as Ling Lan get submerged in a bath of agents again.


    ¡°Shiyu, experiment with all of the agents and then announce that they were useless.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze turned sharp.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Li Shiyu looked up in confusion. ¡®Why is Li Lanfeng asking me to do such an unnecessary thing.¡¯


    ¡°The battle to protect our boss is just starting,¡± Li Lanfeng said coldly.


    24 minutes was too long for an imperial operator to control a god-ss mecha. It was long enough for the military to be interested in Ling Lan. General Ling Xiao might not be able to protect Ling Lan alone. From the moment Ling Lan operated the god-ss mecha, Li Lanfeng had predicted an invisible war was going to ur.

 Chapter 912 - Family Trait!

    Chapter 912 Family Trait!


    Qi Yaoyang always wanted to meet Ling Lan. He wanted to see how this person, whom Ling Xiao was so proud of and his son was so willing to follow, would be like. However, he didn¡¯t expect their first meeting in the real world to be like this.


    Qi Yaoyang came with his adjutant under the guidance of the military doctor, Li Shiyu. They walked into a well-protected room. The moment they entered, Qi Yaoyang saw his son inside talking to a beautiful and charismatic female first lieutenant.


    Qi Long heard someone entering so he turned towards the door. His jaw dropped wide open when he saw his father¡¯s poker face.


    ¡®Damn it, didn¡¯t they say that he was busy organizing the n of retaliation of the Federation army? So, why does he have the time toe here?¡¯


    Qi Yaoyang disregarded Qi Long¡¯s dumbfounded face and went to look at Ling Lan. He turned and asked Li Shiyu, ¡°I¡¯ve received a report that Lieutenant Colonel Ling¡¯s injury can¡¯t be healed using any recovery agents. Can you exin the details to me?¡± If anything happened to Ling Lan under his watch, he wouldn¡¯t have the face to go back to look for Ling Xiao anymore.


    Li Shiyu immediately turned serious and started exining Ling Lan¡¯s condition.


    ¡°He is unable to stay awake for long periods of time. His body is on the verge of breaking down. No agent is able to help the condition...¡± Qi Yaoyang understood that Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power and body must have received a huge bacsh from controlling the god-ss mecha, causing him to be on the verge of copsing


    Thinking about this, Qi Yaoyang was confused. ¡®Jumping level to control a god-ss mecha has serious implications, so why did Ling Xiao allow his son to use his god-ss mecha?¡¯


    Of course, he knew that if Ling Lan didn¡¯t control the god-ss mecha for the precious 20 minutes, Base 013 would have fallen. Not only that, the fate of the reinforcements would be unclear too.


    For people who were not familiar with Ling Xiao¡¯s personality, they might think that Ling Xiao would be happy as long as his son was still alive. However, Qi Yaoyang knew Ling Xiao very well. He wouldn¡¯t let Ling Lan control the god-ss mecha without making the necessary arrangements. He must have prepared something beforehand.


    Qi Yaoyang thought of something and quickly spoke to his adjutant. The adjutant nodded and hurried out of the room.


    Qi Yaoyang turned to look at Qi Long. He red at him and said with contempt, ¡°Brat, I¡¯ve been in for so long. Are you not going to prepare a chair or me?¡± ¡°This unfilial child!¡¯


    Qi Long¡¯s lips twitched. He walked to the side and found an arm-chair. While his father was not looking, he gave Li Shiyu a sad look. He was unhappy that Li Shiyu invited this big boss today without informing him. If he knew his father wasing, he would have ran far away.


    Li Shiyu shrugged helplessly. He didn¡¯t know that this big boss woulde today. Was he supposed to stop him froming in?


    ¡°Stop doing all those sneaky actions. Hurry up ande over!¡± How could those sneaky actions between Qi Long and Li Shiyu escape Qi Yaoyang¡¯s eyes? He red at Qi Long again so Qi Long had no choice but to walk over obediently while carrying the arm-chair.


    ¡°Father, have a seat.¡± Qi Long patted the chair as though he was dusting it and spoke nicely to his father.


    Han Xuya widened her eyes in shock. She finally understood where Qi Long learned all those ass-kissing actions from.


    ¡°Hmph, brat. Now you¡¯re calling me father.¡± If he didn¡¯t remind him, this brat might not have greeted him.


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    ¡°You¡¯ve always been busy. I just didn¡¯t want to disturb you.¡± Qi Long appeared humble and sincere as though he was speaking the truth.


    However, Qi Yaoyang was not fooled by this face, as he knew his youngest son very well. He looked humble but he was a truly shrewd person inside. Qi Long didn¡¯te to find him because he didn¡¯t want to be reprimanded.


    ¡°What¡¯s your n now?¡± Qi Yaoyang sighed as he asked. Even if his youngest son didn¡¯t like him, what could he do? Children were here to im debt from them. But... that didn¡¯t seem right too. His oldest and second oldest son were both obedient and could take care of themselves. Only his youngest son was naughty and hard to handle. If he didn¡¯t look like him, he would have suspected that they carried the wrong child back from the hospital.


    Qi Long didn¡¯t know that his father almost thought he wasn¡¯t a child of the Qi family. His face turned dark when he heard the question. ¡°Our main aim is to protect our Boss now. If he doesn¡¯t get better, we won¡¯t have the spirit to fight.¡±


    Qi Yaoyang didn¡¯t know if he should praise his son for being a loyal friend on should he me him for being emotional and disregarding the big picture. He turned and looked at Ling Lan who was in the healing pod. ¡°What did your boss say?¡±


    Suddenly, he realized what he had said and pped Qi Long¡¯s forehead. He scolded, ¡°Stupid brat. How can you call yourmanding officer Boss in the army? Who taught you how to disobey the rules? Why are you disobeying the rules?¡±


    ¡°Father, I was wrong. Stop hitting me!¡± Qi Long hugged his head and ran around the room as he pleaded for mercy. He felt frustrated. ¡®Damn it, didn¡¯t father called Ling Lan ¡®Boss¡¯ too? He should hit himself too.¡¯


    The two people in the room, Li Shiyu and Han Xuya, were bewildered from the moment the conversation between the Qi Yaoyang and Qi Long started. Their mouths never closed since the beginning of the conversation. They seemed to understand why Qi long liked to fight. It must be a family trait.


    The two guards beside Qi Yaoyang seemed indifferent to the situation in front of them. They seemed to be very used to it already. Every time the father and son met, this would always happen. If they decided to speak nicely with each other for once, then that would be truly horrifying.


    Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps was heard outside. Qi Yaoyang quickly stopped what he was doing and resumed his stern expression and excellent posture.


    Very soon, a few people walked in. Besides Qi Yaoyang¡¯s adjutant, there were a few old soldiers walking with him.


    One of the old soldiers was so agitated that his eyes were blood-red. He nodded at Qi Yaoyang and then walked quickly towards Ling Lan¡¯s healing pod. When he saw the heavily injured Ling Lan with bandages all over her and lying unconsciously in the healing pod, he cried. ¡°Young Master!¡±


    He controlled his emotions quickly and spoke to the only person wearing a white gown in the room. ¡°Can you help me wake up my young master for a few minutes?¡±


    Li Shiyu looked at Qi Yaoyang. Qi Yaoyang introduced the old man, ¡°This is the Chambein of the Ling family, Ling Qin. General Ling asked him toe over.¡±


    Li Shiyu immediately nodded at Han Xuya. Han Xuya quickly prepared the agent while Li Shiyu opened the healing pod. They woke Ling Lan up with the agent.


    Ling Lan opened her eyes and saw someone she was surprised to see among the crowd. ¡°Grandpa Chambein...¡±

 Chapter 913 - Daughter-in-law?

    Chapter 913 Daughter-inw?


    Ling Lan¡¯s hoarse voice caused Ling Qin¡¯s emotions to explode again. He cried, ¡°Young master, you¡¯ve suffered much.¡±


    If it wasn¡¯t for them, young master would be living life freely as a youngdy now. She would have enjoyed the love of general and madam and could so anything she wanted. She would live a carefree and happy life. She wouldn¡¯t need to go to battles and risk her life in order to protect a base. She wouldn¡¯t need to get injured or endanger her life.


    Ling Qin felt much regret in his heart. If he could remake his decision back then, he wouldn¡¯t have disguised his young miss as a man so that she could inherit general¡¯s merit. He was willing to give up everything for his young miss to grow up happily and healthily. Unfortunately, it was toote when they realized this. Those external factors were nothing whenpared with the health and happiness of their young miss.


    Ling Lan noticed Ling Qin¡¯s emotions so she consoled him, ¡°I¡¯m alright. I¡¯ll be alright after I get some rest.¡±


    Ling Qin wiped his tears and looked at Ling Lan. He had watched her grow up. She had always been thoughtful and kind. In order to not disappoint them, she forced herself to work harder and harder. Ling Qin knew how smart Ling Lan was. She definitely knew the condition of her body but she still remained calm and strong. The first thing she thought of wasforting him and not worrying about herself.


    Ling Qin controlled his emotions and said, ¡°The general asked me to bring two things with me.¡± He turned and signaled to the two people that came with him. The two people handed over the things in their arms. Ling Qin took out a bag of agents first and passed it to Li Shiyu. ¡°These are the recovery agents of the Ling family. You can experiment with it. It might be able to help young master.¡±


    Li Shiyu was ted. He hurriedly took the agents and left the room immediately. He went back to hisboratory and started experimenting with the new recovery agents.


    Han Xuya saw Li Shiyu leaving without saying goodbye so she quickly apologized on his behalf. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Our Doctor Li gets excited every time he sees a new agent. Please forgive him.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s alright. That is how a real military doctor should be like. I like him.¡± Qi Yaoyang smiled brightly.


    Han Xuya was stunned by his smile. Lieutenant General Qi knew how to smile too. He could be gentle too. Han Xuya must have been traumatized by the abusivemunication method between Qi Yaoyang and Qi Long.


    ¡°There is still this box.¡± Ling Qin opened a sealed box carefully. There was a shining crystal inside. Under the light, its shine was ring to the eyes.


    ¡°What is this?¡± Ling Lan seemed puzzled.


    Ling Qin said seriously, ¡°The general says that this is a spiritual nourishing stone. If you ce it on your forehead, it¡¯ll nourish your spiritual power.¡±


    A tinge of astonishment shed passed Qi Yaoyang¡¯s face when he heard about the spiritual nourishing stone. However, it disappeared as quickly as it came.


    Ling Lan sent a look towards Han Xuya. Then, Han Xuya quickly walked over to take the stone. When Ling Qin saw this, he quickly looked at Ling Lan.


    ¡°Grandpa Chambein, Xuya can be trusted.¡± Ling Lan confirmed that Han Xuya was trustworthy.


    Ling Qin passed the box to Han Xuya. Now, he had finallypleted his mission.


    ¡°Lieutenant Colonel Ling, can you still remain awake?¡± Qi Yaoyang asked after he noticed that Ling Qin was done with his task.


    Ling Lan nodded. Qi Yaoyang continued, ¡°Let me pick the main points. What ns do you have for 250 Ace Mecha n?¡±


    Ling Lan closed her eyes and thought for a few seconds. Then, she opened her eyes and said, ¡°Li Lanfeng will stay at the base. The others will listen to you.¡± Obviously, Qi Yaoyang didn¡¯t want 250 Ace Mecha n to waste this opportunity to get some merits. Ling Lan understood his intention so she made these arrangements to make it easier for him.


    Qi Yaoyang nodded. No wonder Ling Xiao was so proud of his son. His son was powerful, smart, and full of foresight. If he could ovee this crisis, he would definitely be a figure in the military.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Qi Yaoyang got the answer he wanted and left.


    When he reached the door, he suddenly turned. ¡°Little brat, is thisdy my daughter-inw?¡± When he came in, he saw his son interacting intimately with thedy. Their rtionship seemed to be good. Thedy was bright and extrovert. She also didn¡¯t seem shy like the otherdies. He was very satisfied with her. ¡°Next time, remember to bring her home and let your mother take a good look at her.¡±


    His wife had scolded him many times because of Qi Long. If she knew that her youngest son had a girlfriend, she would be extremely happy.


    Qi Long was dumbfounded. He pointed at Han Xuya with a nk face. ¡®When did Han Xuya be my wife?¡¯


    No matter how much of an extrovert Han Xuya was, she still blushed fiercely. Her entire face turned red like a tomato.


    ¡°Father, she isn¡¯t...¡± Qi Long didn¡¯t know what to say. He was agitated. He didn¡¯t know how his father linked Han Xuya and him together.


    ¡®If I denied it directly, wouldn¡¯t Han Xuya feel embarrassed?¡¯ Qi Long remembered that Han Xuya said she liked him. Qi Long had no thoughts of being in a rtionship but he knew that if he denied it bluntly, the other party would feel very ufortable.


    At this moment, Han Xuya had calmed down. She said, ¡°Lieutenant General, I think you might have a misunderstanding. How can I be Qi Long¡¯s wife?¡± Han Xuya smiled as she looked at Ling Lan. Ling Lan suddenly felt her head hurting.


    ¡°I¡¯m Lieutenant Colonel Ling¡¯s fianc¨¦e.¡± Just like what Ling Lan had expected, Han Xuya said this.


    Ling Qin widened his eyes in shock. ¡®Is my hearing faulty? Does his Young Master have a fianc¨¦e now?¡¯


    Qi Yaoyang was disappointed when he heard this. It was rare for him to find such a promising daughter-inw candidate. Yet, thisdy didn¡¯t belong to his son. It belonged to Ling Xiao¡¯s son.


    ¡°What a useless fellow. You can¡¯t even win against other people...¡± Qi Yaoyang red at Qi Long angrily before leaving. He lost to Ling Xiao¡¯s son again. As expected, Ling Xiao was someone all the men in the world hated.


    ¡°Han Xuya, when did you be Boss¡¯s fianc¨¦e?¡± Qi Long was stunned too.


    ¡°Just now.¡± Han Xuya red at him. Then, she walked beside Ling Lan and smiled. ¡°Am I right, Boss?¡±


    ¡°Stop fooling around,¡± Ling Lan said helplessly. She knew that things would go out of hand if she continued this lie. She needed to find a way to solve it.


    ¡°Young Master, is she really your fianc¨¦e?¡± Ling Qin trembled as he pointed at Han Xuya. This old man got heavily impacted today. If his body wasn¡¯t strong enough, he might have fainted by now.

 Chapter 914 - We Have A Sister-in-law

    Chapter 914 We Have A Sister-inw


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t think of a reply so Han Xuya took over. ¡°Grandpa Chambein, I¡¯m not the only one. My sister, Luo Chao, is also Boss¡¯s fianc¨¦e. If it wasn¡¯t for this rtionship, Boss wouldn¡¯t have asked us to take care of him personally. We know the family rule of the Ling family.¡±


    Han Xuya looked at Ling Qin sincerely. She wanted to tell him that they knew about their Boss¡¯s secret.


    Ling Qin instantly understood what she meant. He turned around and looked at Ling Lan. He wanted to know if his guess was correct. Ling Lan nodded to express that he was right.


    Ling Qin looked at Han Xuya again. The astonishment in his face disappeared, it was reced with a face filled with gratitude. He kept muttering, ¡°Good child. You¡¯re all good children. Our Ling family is very lucky.¡±


    On the side, Qi Long hadn¡¯t recovered from the shock of Han Xuya bing their Boss¡¯s wife. Now, even Luo Chao was their Boss¡¯s wife. ¡®How did my beloved younger sisters be my sisters-inw after I came back from a battle?¡¯


    ¡°Grandpa Chambein, I¡¯ll tell you the details next time.¡± Ling Lan started to feel tired. She could only say this sentence before falling asleep again.


    Ling Qin noticed that Ling Lan was tired so he said hurriedly, ¡°Young master, the general asked you to use the spiritual nourishing stone immediately.¡±


    Han Xuya took the crystal from the boss and hurriedly ced it on Ling Lan¡¯s forehead.


    A strange phenomenon suddenly happened. When that crystal touched Ling Lan¡¯s forehead, it started to melt as though it was a block of ice under a blinding ray of sunlight. It seeped into Ling Lan¡¯s forehead, leaving no trace behind.


    Ling Qin and Han Xuya looked at Ling Lan worriedly. They didn¡¯t know if this was a good or bad thing. Ling Qin just brought the crystal over by he didn¡¯t know how it should be used. Hence, when he saw the crystal changing its form, he turned nervous.


    This was what Ling Qin and Han Xuya saw. Only Ling Lan knew why the spiritual nourishing stone melted.


    When the spiritual nourishing stone touched Ling Lan¡¯s forehead, Ling Lan felt the spiritual power in the crystal. It was from the same source as her spiritual power. Ling Lan tried her best to use the little amount of spiritual power she had left in her to touch the spiritual power in the stone. The moment she touched it, the spiritual nourishing stone suddenly melted as though it had received amand. The pure and powerful spiritual power inside it flowed into Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape furiously.


    Ling Lan got a shock. She wanted to resist it but her mindscape didn¡¯t reject the spiritual power at all. Instead, it started to devour the spiritual power like a hungry dog. Ling Lan was also surprised when the spiritual power from the crystal started healing her dry mindscape after it merged with her spiritual power. It felt as if those spiritual power belonged to her now.


    ¡°This is definitely not a spiritual nourishing stone.¡± Ling Lan knew what the spiritual nourishing stone was. It was a rare resource in the Federation. However, anyone with a high position would be able to get it. But, a real spiritual nourishing stone could only slowly nourish and heal someone¡¯s spiritual power. It acted as a support. The person using the spiritual nourishing stone still had to rely on himself to heal. It wouldn¡¯t be able to replenish herck of spiritual power so quickly.


    Ling Lan carefully examined the ¡®spiritual nourishing stone¡¯. She suddenly sensed a familiar aura that was hidden in the spiritual power.


    It was her father¡¯s spiritual power!


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    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know how her father did it but she knew that congregating one¡¯s spiritual power into the pure crystal and taking it out was harmful to the person doing it. It might even cause evesting damage to the person¡¯s spiritual power. But, his father still did this without any hesitation. In order to save his daughter, Ling Xiao did this and asked Qi Yaoyang and Ling Qin to send the crystal to Ling Lan as soon as possible. This was a disy of Ling Xiao¡¯s love for Ling Lan.


    Even a strong person like Ling Lan couldn¡¯t control her emotions. Tears started to fall from the corners of her eyes. She was really touched by her father¡¯s actions.


    Heaven might bepensating her when it allowed her to be Ling Xiao and Lan Luofeng¡¯s daughter. The torment and pain she had endured in her past life allowed her to have such a lucky life.


    Ling Lan had finally dropped the burden from her past life. This time, she really had let go of all her past memories. She used to say that her past life had nothing to do with her now but deep down inside, she still cared very much about it.


    This time, Ling Lan felt the core of her spiritual power vibrating. Suddenly, her body turned into a ck hole. It kept sucking the energy around it.


    Of course, Han Xuya and Ling Qin didn¡¯t know what was happening. They only saw Ling Lan falling asleep again. They carefully ced her back into the healing pod so that she could rest.


    Qi Long was in a daze the entire day. When his shift ended, he went back to 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s camp to have dinner while still being in a shocked state.


    ¡°Qi Long, over here.¡± Qi Long saw Xie Yi waving at him when he entered the cafeteria.


    Luo Lang was sitting beside Xie Yi. Qi Long didn¡¯t know if Luo Lang knew that his sister had be his sister-inw.


    Qi Long walked over with a mind full of thoughts. He looked at Luo Lang and hesitated.


    Luo Lang didn¡¯t notice Qi Long¡¯s gaze. He just continued eating his food attentively.


    Xie Yi passed a serving of food to Qi Long. He had prepared this serving for Qi Long. It couldn¡¯t be helped, as Qi Long had a huge appetite. If he didn¡¯t help him to get more food, this fellow would wake up in the middle of the night because of hunger and start shouting. Everyone would be unable to sleep because of him. Xie Yi was deathly afraid of that happening.


    Qi Long took the food and sat down quietly. Normally, his eyes would glint when he saw food. Then, he would start gorging down the food quickly. Yet, today, he put down his chopsticks after eating two mouthfuls of food. He looked at everyone on the table and sighed.


    This abnormal action attracted everyone¡¯s attention. They turned around and looked at him with confused expressions. Han Jijyun, who used to be very concerned about Qi Long, didn¡¯t have any reaction surprisingly


    As for Luo Lang, cough, besides their Boss who was able to get all his attention, he disregarded everyone


    else.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Xie Yi asked curiously. Qi Long was weird today.


    Qi Long sighed loudly again. He asked him back, ¡°Do you know that our boss has a wife?¡±


    ¡°Kak! Pfft! What?¡± Zhao Jun was dumbstruck when he heard this. He started choking on his food before spitting his food out.


    Luo Lang heard the word ¡®Boss¡¯ and turned attentive. He didn¡¯t have the heart to eat anymore.


    Everyone from Lingtian stopped eating.


    Even Li Lanfeng, who was eating his food seriously, put down his chopsticks and looked at Qi Long with a very serious expression.

 Chapter 915 - Bless Yourself!

    Chapter 915 Bless Yourself!


    Qi Long noticed that everyone¡¯s attention was finally on him so he continued, ¡°Just now, Xuya said that she is Boss¡¯s fianc¨¦e.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡±


    Everyone was shocked for a moment before epting it calmly. It seemed reasonable that one of the twodies in Lingtian became their Boss¡¯s wife.


    Li Lanfeng frowned. He didn¡¯t know when the rtionship between Han Xuya and Ling Lan started.


    Qi Long was unhappy with everyone¡¯s reaction. ¡®Is he the only one surprised?¡¯


    He was unwilling to only one feeling so down, so he continued, ¡°On top of that, Luo Chao is our Boss¡¯s fianc¨¦e too.¡±


    This time, even Li Shiyu, who was thinking about the treatment n, looked up in shock.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Everyone sounded even more astounded.


    ¡°Oh!¡± After some time, they turned calm again. Only Li Lanfeng held his chopsticks tightly. This isn¡¯t what Ling Lan would do. Why did he do this?¡¯


    Li Lanfeng calmed down after thinking about it for a while. He remembered changes in Luo Chao¡¯s attitude towards Ling Lan over the past few days. It all happened after Ling Lan¡¯s treatment. Obviously, something happened during the treatment. Li Lanfeng decided to ask Li Shiyu what had happened in the treatment roomter.


    Qi Long didn¡¯t understand why his friends were all so calm. ¡°Why are you all so calm? Our Boss has two fianc¨¦es. Two!¡±


    ¡°So what? He is our Boss!¡± Xie Yi felt that it was understandable for a monster like Ling Lan to have a few women. This situation was verymon among powerful people.


    Li Shiyu remembered what Ling Lan said during the treatment. ¡®So, what he said was true.¡¯ He felt a weird emotion in his heart. In the end, he just sighed.


    Qi Long was frustrated when he noticed how abnormal his friends¡¯ outlook on the world was. He turned and asked Luo Lang, ¡°Luo Lang, what do you think?¡± As Luo Chao¡¯s brother, he shouldn¡¯t be able to ept this no matter how much he admired their Boss.


    Luo Lang thought about it seriously before replying, ¡°I think it¡¯s very good.¡±


    Qi Long almost vomited out blood. ¡°Twodies. Two! That means that one person has to be a mistress. Can you bear to let your sister be Boss¡¯s mistress? She wouldn¡¯t even have a formal status.¡±


    Luo Lang looked at him strangely. ¡°Even my sister is fine with it. Why are you so agitated?¡±


    Xie Yi suddenly thought of something. He made a sudden and exaggerated sound from his throat.


    ¡°The younger sister you like is gone, huh! Qi Long, you must be filled with regret now, right?¡± Xie Yi gave an evil smile.


    ¡°Regret? What will I regret?¡± Qi Long pped Xie Yi¡¯s head forcefully. He was furious. ¡°I¡¯m just worried about our younger sisters. I admire our Boss but I can¡¯t let my younger sisters suffer like this.¡±


    ¡°Tsk, even her real brother doesn¡¯t mind. Why are you caring about them so much?¡± Xie Yi looked up from his bowl unhappily. Qi Long¡¯s p caused him to smash into his bowl of rice. His face was filled with rice now.


    ¡®Damn it. I am still too weak.¡¯ That¡¯s why he got bullied so easily and he couldn¡¯t retaliate at all. He had a hard time surviving in this team that was filled with people more powerful than him.


    Luo Lang saw this and thoughtfully passed him a piece of tissue. Xie Yi was touched. Sob, only Luo Lang treats me well.


    Xie Yi took the tissue from the tissue box and wiped the rice off his face. At the same time, he gave Luo Lang a huge smile. He looked extremely stupid doing that. Many people felt their eyes twitching so they looked down and focused on eating. They shouldn¡¯t torture their eyes.


    As for Luo Lang, he had satisfied his curiosity so he continued eating his food. He didn¡¯t notice Xie Yi¡¯s stupid smile at all. Even if he saw it, he would just wonder why Xie Yi was smiling at him. Did he like being pped into a bowl of rice?


    That¡¯s why you shouldn¡¯t talk to someone who wasn¡¯t on the same level of intelligence as you.


    Qi Long felt wrong when he saw that no one supported his viewpoint. He looked at Han Jijyun who was eating his food and didn¡¯t say anything. He couldn¡¯t help but nudge him on the side. ¡°Jijyun, do you think that it¡¯s okay for Boss to do this?¡± Only his best friend, Han Jijyun, could help him now.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Han Jijyun looked up in confusion when Qi Long nudged him.


    ¡°Jijyun, you didn¡¯t listen to what I said?¡± Qi Long felt hurt. He grabbed Han Jijyun¡¯s left wrist.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Han Jijyun shouted in pain and his brows furrowed.


    Qi Long was shocked. He quickly pulled Han Jijyun¡¯s left hand over and pulled up his sleeve. He shouted angrily, ¡°Jijyun, what happened to you?¡±


    Han Jijyun¡¯s left arm was swollen and filled with bruises. It looked scary, as his skin was very fair. No wonder Qi Long was furious.


    Han Jijyun slowly retracted his arm. He said calmly, ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±


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    ¡°What do you mean by fine? You¡¯re injured so badly.¡± Qi Long had forgotten about the fact that his Boss had two wives. All his attention was now on Han Jijyun¡¯s arm.


    Han Jijyun didn¡¯t want to reply. Qi Long wanted to probe further but Li Shiyu suddenly interrupted him, ¡°Leader Han overexert himself during training recently. Even though you all have my recovery agent, you can¡¯t torture your body like this. You should train within your means.¡±


    Qi Long frowned. ¡°You trained without me?¡± And even hurt yourself? A me was burning in Qi Long¡¯s heart. He didn¡¯t know if he was angry that Han Jijyun tortured himself or was he angry at himself for not noticing his best friend¡¯s injuries.


    ¡°Everyone is busy. There¡¯s no time when everyone is free,¡± Han Jijyun exined himself indifferently. Then, he continued eating his food without any expression.


    He didn¡¯t say that even if he had the time, he didn¡¯t want to train with Qi Long. Before he had the ability to stand beside his friend, he didn¡¯t want them to know what he was doing.


    ¡°No time? Bullshit!¡± Qi Long mmed the table in front of him. All the cutlery on the table jumped up. His agilerades quickly grabbed their bowls and shrunk at the side quietly. Qi Long liked fighting but his temper was good. He rarely got angry. However, it was frightening when he got angry. They didn¡¯t want to offend him and get implicated unnecessarily.


    ¡°Qi Long, calm down. We all have missions. When I¡¯m free, you¡¯re not. When you¡¯re free, I¡¯m not. It¡¯s normal.¡± Han Jijyun tried to calm Qi Long down.


    ¡°Normal? Who are you trying to fool?¡± Qi Long scoffed. He pulled Han Jijyun up and said to everyone, ¡°Continue eating. We have some personal stuff to settle.¡±


    ¡°Sure, sure. Please do, please do.¡± Theirrades nodded and ignored Han Jijyun¡¯s pleading look.


    Better you than me. Han Jijyun, bless yourself.

 Chapter 916 - Truth!

    Chapter 916 Truth!


    Hence, Han Jijyun and Qi Long walked out of the canteen and came to the training ground. ¡°Qi Long, it¡¯s dinner time now. Why did you bring me here?¡± Han Jijyun felt helpless when he got dragged here by Qi Long.


    Qi Long didn¡¯t reply to him. He just released Han Jijyun from his grasp and took off his military attire.


    Han Jijyun felt nervous. ¡°Qi Long, what do you want to do?¡±


    ¡°What do I want to do? Didn¡¯t you say that there¡¯s no time for us to train together? Well, we have time now. If you want to train, I¡¯ll apany you.¡± Qi Long smiled coldly. If Han Jijyun really wanted to train with him, he could always ask him and they could arrange a time. Even if there wasn¡¯t any time, they could squeeze some of their eating time.


    ¡°Qi Long, stop being crazy. I don¡¯t want to train now.¡± Han Jijyun shook his head. He wanted to leave but Qi Long stopped him. Without waiting for his reply, Qi Long tossed him into the arena.


    Han Jijyun flipped in the air andnded stably on the border of the arena. The normally calm andposed Han Jijyun was furious now. His face turned red from anger. He shouted loudly, ¡°Qi Long, what do you want?¡±


    Qi Long took off his military uniform and threw it aside. Then, he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his dress shirt and pulled his sleeves up. He raised one of his eyebrows when he heard Han Jijyun¡¯s question and replied, ¡°What¡¯s the point of training alone? If you want to be stronger, you need to fight continuously.¡±


    The moment he finished speaking, he appeared on the arena. He signaled for Han Jijyun to follow him and started to warm up his body.


    Qi Long looked serious. Han Jijyun was the person who understood Qi Long the most. He knew that Qi Long meant what he said. If he didn¡¯t fight with him today, he wouldn¡¯t be able to leave this ce.


    Since the battle couldn¡¯t be evaded, Han Jijyun removed his military attire and walked onto the arena without a single word. He started warming himself up too.


    After they finished preparing themselves, they started closing in on one another.


    Boom! Han Jijyun finally acted. Qi Long raised his hand and blocked Han Jijyun¡¯s fist. He said, ¡°That¡¯s not enough. Are you trying to tickle me?¡±


    Boom! Han Jijyun replied Qi Long with a kick. Qi Long was able to block the fist in time but the powerful kick caused him to move a step back.


    ¡°Not bad. Continue.¡± Qi Longughed and rushed towards Han Jijyun again. The two of them started fighting intensely.


    They fought furiously for half an hour before Han Jijyun finally exhausted all of his strength. He looked as he just came out of the pool with his shirt drenched with sweat. Heid on the arena and panted heavily.


    Qi Long was drenched with sweat too. He walked towards Han Jijyun and sat down beside him. ¡°How do you feel? Fighting with me is better than torturing yourself, right?¡± Training shouldn¡¯t be done by torturing oneself.


    Han Jijyun turned his head and looked at Qi Long. After exhausting all his energy and sweating profusely, he finally felt rxed. He felt as though he had vented his frustration out. Indeed, this kind of relief couldn¡¯t be obtained through torturing himself.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Han Jijyun could only reply to Qi Long with his thanks.


    ¡°Why are you thanking me? We agreed that we¡¯ll be best friends forever, right? We¡¯ll move forward together and never give up on each other.¡± Qi Long looked at Han Jijyun. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You still have me. If you have any problems, we¡¯ll bear it together.¡±


    ¡®How lucky am I to have such a good friend?¡¯ Han Jijyun¡¯s knot in his heart disappeared slowly.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be left behind.¡± Han Jijyun finally said his true thoughts. ¡°This time, I was the only one who caused those deaths. Qi Long, I can¡¯t find my position. I don¡¯t know what I should do. I feel that if I be stronger, I wouldn¡¯t be lost anymore.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± Qi Long could tell that Han Jijyun was confused in this period of time. ¡°I agree that you should be stronger. However, you can¡¯t do it without any care for your life. From now on, I must be present when you are training.¡± That way, he could prevent Han Jijyun from overexerting himself.


    ¡°Okay!¡± Han Jijyun knew that Qi Long was concerned about him so he agreed readily. At the same time, he clenched his fist and raised it.


    Qi Long smiled and clenched his fist too. They had a fist bump. ¡°This is how my good brother should be.¡±


    He knew that Han Jijyun would find the correct path. Ever since they were young, he never had to worry that Han Jijyun would walk into a stray path.


    After fighting with Han Jijyun, Qi Long had thrown aside his worries about his Boss having two wives.


    In the cafeteria, Li Shiyu finished eating and went back to his office in the treatment center. After a while, someone came storming in the treatment center to find him.


    ¡°Do you have time for a chat?¡± Li Lanfeng had his hands crossed in front of his chest as he leaned against the wall opposite to his door.


    Li Shiyu shrugged helplessly. ¡°Come in.¡±


    Li Lanfeng followed Li Shiyu into his office and closed the door behind him. The words ¡®do not disturb¡¯ appeared on the screen on the door.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Li Shiyu asked as he sat on his seat.


    ¡°What happened in the treatment room when you were treating our Boss?¡± Li Lanfeng went into the topic directly.


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    Li Shiyu remained silent. He didn¡¯t know what he should say and whether he should say it.


    ¡°Based on regimentmander¡¯s personality, he wouldn¡¯t marry twodies. We all know what is Boss¡¯s rtionship with Luo Chao and Han Xuya. He treated them like his younger sisters since long ago. This feeling wouldn¡¯t change in such a manner over a few days. This all happened after the treatment. Shiyu, you can¡¯t fool me.¡± Li Lanfeng ced his hands on the table and stared at Li Shiyu intently.


    ¡°When Boss came back, he was heavily injured. All of his blood vessels had burst. Not one ce was unhurt.¡± Li Shiyu felt his heart hurting when he recalled the scene at that time.


    This was the first time Li Lanfeng heard about Ling Lan¡¯s condition. Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart started hurting too. He knew that Ling Lan was badly injured but he didn¡¯t know that it was this bad.


    ¡°What happened after that?¡± Li Lanfeng pressed his chest and bore with the pain in his heart. This pain was simr to the time when he was still sick. ¡®Is this pain because his body still hadn¡¯t recovered fully


    yet?¡¯


    ¡°We had to bandage his entire body but Boss rejected me to do it.¡± Li Shiyu looked confused. He was puzzled at that time. The rule Boss said was strange too.


    ¡°Oh?¡± Li Lanfeng raised his eyebrows. Normally, people would choose the same gender to treat them, right?


    ¡°Boss chose Luo Chao and Han Xuya because he said that the Ling family had a rule. The rule goes no matter who saw his body, the person would have to marry into the Ling family.¡± Li Shiyu finally told him the truth.


    ¡°So, the regimentmander has two women now?¡± Li Lanfeng was bbergasted. He had thought about many possibilities but this wasn¡¯t one of them.

 Chapter 917 - Savior!

    Chapter 917 Savior!


    The war on Haijiao touched the hearts of all the citizens of the Federation. At the same time, it caused a hugemotion in other nations. The other countries reprimanded the Federation for breaking the Human United Agreement.


    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federation was not just there for show. Since the inception of the country, the Federation had never lost in a verbal debate. This time, it was the same. They refute the ims by the other nations with the loophole in the Human United Agreement. Additionally, they told the using nations that they had clear evidence to prove that Hailiya broke the Human United Agreement first. If that wasn¡¯t the case, the God-ss mecha wouldn¡¯t have appeared on the battlefield. Jumping levels in mecha piloting could cause the operator to die. No one would do it if they had a choice.


    The mecha operators of the Federation were the treasures of the Federation. They wouldn¡¯t want any of them to be sacrificed. If Hailiya didn¡¯t break the rules. the mecha operator from the Federation wouldn¡¯t have to step out and use his life to protect the base as well as hisrades.


    The diplomat from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke so sincerely, he even cried when he talked about the pain the mecha operator had to go through. This Oscar-winning performance truly surprised the representatives from other nations. Thus, all the charges against the Federation were taken back.


    All in all, the Federation proimed that it was all Hailiya¡¯s fault. Hailiya had to be punished.


    The Federation was known for never admitting it¡¯s mistakes. Even if it was in the wrong, they were forced to do it.


    At the meeting, the verbal battle was fierce. No one wanted to take a step back. If they didn¡¯t have to maintain their bearings as a diplomat, these people might have started fighting. Even though they didn¡¯t do that, they still mmed tables and smashed things. If they identally hit a diplomat of Hailiya with the object in their hands... Sorry! I didn¡¯t do it on purpose.


    ¡®What? You¡¯re unhappy? Why don¡¯t you throw one at me too?¡¯


    The uracy of the diplomats from the Federation was much higher than the diplomats of other countries. This was all thanks to the education of the Federation. They had spent ten years in the military academy so theirbat skills were much better than the other diplomats even though their position didn¡¯t need them to fight.


    On Haijiao, Qi Yaoyang finished his preparations and led the reinforcements to start their n of retaliation.


    The activation of the satellites allowed Little Four to sneak into all the bases of Hailiya. When the Federation started their attack, he interfered with the mainframes, causing them to slow down for a second when passing outmands.


    This seemed like a short time but this one second was enough for the protective shield to copse when their enemies were unable to replenish the loss of energy on time.


    Since the dy in the mainframe was too short, the people from the Hailiya army didn¡¯t notice anything amiss. They just thought that the attack from the Federation was too powerful so it destroyed their protective shield in an instant.


    As more and more bases got destroyed by the Federation, themand center of Hailiya predicted that it might be due to some secret weapon brought over by Qi Yaoyang. (The Federation had sent a god-ss mecha over so it was possible that they brought another secret weapon too.) The Hailiya army couldn¡¯t resist against the Federation¡¯s forceful invasion, so they retreated. They wanted to retreat to the huge bases at the back and have a final battle with the Federation there.


    In Base 013, besides those mecha ns that had to guard the base, all the soldiers followed Qi Yaoyang out to fight, including 250 Ace Mecha n.


    Almost everyone in 250 Ace Mecha n went out this time. Besides Li Lanfeng who was left behind to guard the camp, everyone else was sent out by Ling Lan, including the logisticians. This was a good time to gain military merits. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want 250 Ace Mecha n to lose this chance.


    As for team 08, Qi Long would take over as the temporary leader. His team 03 was almost annihted and there was no time to reform it. Hence, he was the perfect person to take over Li Lanfeng¡¯s position.


    Li Lanfeng settled everything at the base and came to Ling Lan¡¯s treatment room.


    Because of her father¡¯s spiritual power, Ling Lan was able to stay awake for a longer period of time. However, Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng, and Li Shiyu felt that they must still let the public think that Ling Lan¡¯s injuries were getting worse. If not, the consequences would be disastrous. Even General Ling Xiao would be unable to protect them. Hence, they told everyone that Ling Lan was still sleeping in the healing pod with no signs of getting better.


    Before Li Shiyu left the base, he sessfully created the second generation of Nuwa agent. He experimented with the Ling family¡¯s agent and used his findings to reformte a new form for the Nuwa agent. He gave most of it for Ling Lan to drink and injected a portion of it into the recovery agent to heal Ling Lan¡¯s badly injured body.


    ¡®Isn¡¯t the Nuwa agent finished? Why are there still some left?¡¯ This was a reward for Ling Lan¡¯s kindness. Before all this, she diluted one Nuwa agent and gave it to the ten team leaders so that they could use it in times of emergency. Besides Han Jijyun who used some of it to help the survivors, the other team leaders still had theirs. When they heard how bad their regimentmander¡¯s condition was, they gave Li Shiyu their agents, making Li Shiyu feel ted.


    He had the Ling family¡¯s agent with him too so he decided to use both of them to create a better agent. After a series of coincidence, he invented the second generation Nuwa agent. Its effects were much stronger than the first generation Nuwa agent.


    After settling everything, Li Shiyu left unwillingly with 250 Ace Mecha n. He brought the equally unwilling Luo Chao and Han Xuya with him too.


    In the military, if a female officer wanted to rise in position, they needed to acquire even more outstanding merits than a male soldier. The other way was to have someone powerful helping them.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t want Luo Chao and Han Xuya to live under someone¡¯s protection in their lifetime. She felt that these twodies were not weaker than any men, so she didn¡¯t want them to miss this chance because they wanted to take care of her.


    Li Lanfeng came to the treatment room. He used his domain to inspect the treatment room. When he noticed that everything was proper, he knocked on Ling Lan¡¯s healing pod.


    This was their secret code. Ling Lan would pretend to be unconscious until he came.


    Of course, Ling Lan didn¡¯t need the secret code. She didn¡¯t tell Li Lanfeng but when she was really unconscious, she was still aware of everything that was happening in the base, including the situation of the war. Plus, with Little Four guarding her, no one had the chance to spy her.


    Hence, the moment Li Lanfeng entered the room, Little Four got excited and shouted to remind Ling Lan that Li Lanfeng was looking for her.


    At first, Little Four had some qualms against Li Lanfeng. But, now, he treated Li Lanfeng like his life savior. His impression of him rose exponentially.


    Even Ling Lan felt happy when she saw Li Lanfeng. Her admiration for Li Lanfeng rose too.


    Why were they ted when they see Li Lanfeng? Well, we have to go back to the start.


    After Ling Lan took in her father¡¯s spiritual power, she was able to keep herself awake for a longer period of time. She started getting bored in the healing pod. At this moment, her instructors, who had been waiting for this chance, caught her.


    This time, there were three instructors teaching her. Ling Lan felt confused by that even till today. Those three instructors looked exactly the same. They introduced themselves as triplets and were known as Number Six, Number Seven, and Number Eight.


    The three instructors thought her different things. One of them taught her about business, the other taught her about politics, and thest one taught her about military affairs.


    First, let¡¯s talk about Number Six. The moment he saw Ling Lan, he started scolding her and reprimanding her on some of the decisions she had made for Base 013. He was dissatisfied with these decisions. For instance, when she ordered her team to retreat after snatching the food and water supplies. She could have saved everyone if she decided to hide at the base and wait for a chance to go back after that. However, she wanted everyone to stay together. They were able to return to the base because of luck, really.


    Plus, about her controlling the god-ss mecha, Number Six felt that this was something only an idiot would do. A professionalmanding officer would know when to give up on certain things. Sacrifices couldn¡¯t be avoided but she still mustn¡¯t put herself at risk before the crisis really happened. This was a taboo.


    Ling Lan was stunned by Number Six¡¯s reprimanding. Before she could understand everything Number Six taught her, Number Seven grabbed her and told her how to build a perfect base. His political ns and schemes surprised Ling Lan. She realized that everything she did before was nothingpared to what Number Seven was teaching. But, before she could digest everything, the impatient Number Eight snatched her away. Then, he started analyzing the various investments Little Four had been making over the past few years.


    Every day, Ling Lan would wake up in a daze. She would constantly receive dumps of information from her instructors before going to sleep confused. Ling Lan realized that all the hard pieces of training she had in the past seemed so easy now. The lessons from these three instructors were the scariest of them all.


    However, she wasn¡¯t the only one suffering. Little Four suffered with her too. While she was being taught by Number Eight, she grabbed Little Four and made him learn with her. These things were all done by Little Four. Why should she suffer when the main culprit ran around freely outside?


    Since Little Four did all the investments, Number Eight didn¡¯t reject his appearance. He had many opinions against all the investments he did so when Little Four appeared, he took this opportunity and reprimanded him too.


    Every time Number Eight¡¯s lesson ended, the two students hugged their heads between their knees. They felt the world spinning around them. None of them had any talent in business so learning this was like torture to them.


    When Li Lanfeng walked in, they were currently attending the most dreaded business lesson from Number Eight. Hence, the moment Little Four saw Li Lanfeng, he got excited. His life savior is here! He shouted happily, ¡°Boss, Little Li is here.¡±


    Little Li was Little Four¡¯s nickname for Li Lanfeng now. This nickname came from the stupid Little White who was currently on Li Lanfeng¡¯s shoulder. While Little White wasining about Li Lanfeng¡¯s abuse to Ling Lan, it called Li Lanfeng Little Li. Little Four shared Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape so he knew about this nickname too. He felt that this nickname really suited Li Lanfeng so he decided to use it too. The poor Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t know that these two cute and stupid figures had given him a not-so-good nickname.


    ¡°Ah, Number Eight, Li Lanfeng must be looking for me because he has something important to tell me. Shall we end the lesson now?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up as she looked at Number Eight with anticipation. She looked totally different from the lifeless character just now.


    Number Eight felt his teeth hurting. However, he saw Ling Lan¡¯s excited face and couldn¡¯t bear to reject her. He said helplessly, ¡°Fine, the lesson will end today. We¡¯ll continue tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Number Eight.¡± The moment Ling Lan finished speaking, she instantly disappeared from Number Eight¡¯s space. She didn¡¯t forget to bring Little Four, who was suffering along with her, in her escape.


    They disappeared before Number Eight could say anything.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t there anyone for me to pass all my knowledge to?¡± Number Eight was dejected.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Ling Lan is a smart person. Even if she doesn¡¯t have the talent in this area, she¡¯ll be able to get the hang of it after you teach her a few times.¡± A voice sounded in the air.


    Two people that looked exactly like Number Eight appeared beside him. When the three people stood together, it was hard to differentiate them. The only difference between the three of them was their clothes. Number Six was wearing the red military uniform of Mandora while Number Seven was wearing a purple shirt. Number Eight, on the other hand, was wearing a white gown.


    ¡°Yes. Number Eight, weck everything but time,¡± Number Seven told him.


    ¡°That¡¯s the only way.¡± Number Eight gathered his spirit. Fortunately, he had Prince Four as his student too. He was not a talented person but whenpared with Ling Lan, he was much better.


    ¡°Since Ling Lan had the thought of fighting for more power, she would ept what we taught her.¡± Number Six knew that talent was just a small factor. Ling Lan learned slowly because she didn¡¯t like all this knowledge. Her mind resisted them instinctively.


    ¡°It looks like the external pressure on Ling Lan is still not enough.¡± Number Seven knew this too. Although Ling Lan met many crises during this battle and seemed to have experienced a few life-or-death situations, she was still very confident in herself. She believed in her father and believed that the Federation would send reinforcements. She believed that they were able to go back alive.


    She had never been abandoned entirely. She didn¡¯t know what it felt like to be forsaken by all her friends and families. If she never experienced that moment, she wouldn¡¯t understand that a real powerful person was someone who controlled her own fate. If not, no matter how strong the person was, he was just a chess piece in the eyes of everyone else.


    Ling Lan escaped sessfully and opened her eyes. She saw that Li Lanfeng had opened her healing pod already and was looking at her intently.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows. She was not going to tell him that she was waiting for him to save her.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan. He hesitated for a moment before finally gritting his teeth and asking.


    ¡°Why must there be such a rule in the Ling family?¡±

 Chapter 918 - The Promised Battle!

    Chapter 918 The Promised Battle!


    Ling Lan was speechless. She was afraid that she would have to exin her family rule to her friends. However, before she could prepare herself, Li Lanfeng came to find her about it first.


    Ling Lan looked at Li Lanfeng coldly. She hoped that Li Lanfeng would understand her gaze and not probe further any further. Truth be told, she hadn¡¯t thought of a way out of this lie. Lies could be said, but once you said the first lie, you would need more and more lies to cover up the first lie. It was tiring and nothing good woulde out of it.


    In the past, Ling Lan¡¯s cold gaze would have instantly caused Li Lanfeng to give up. However, this time, Li Lanfeng insisted on finding the truth. Even if Ling Lan might be angry, he still wanted to find the truth.


    ¡°Rabbit, I know this rule is not passed down by your ancestors. If not, General Ling would not have married your mother when he was 26 years old.¡± Li Lanfeng did much research on this matter. He even went to the extent of digging up the story between General Ling and Lan Luofeng.


    Ling Lan knew that once Li Lanfeng decided to investigate something, it would be hard to fool him. Ling Lan noticed the determined light in Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes. He wouldn¡¯t let go unless he got an answer, making Ling Lan felt a little helpless.


    ¡®I should think of an excuse now.¡¯ Ling Lan¡¯s head started hurting. It was hard to fool someone so cunning.


    Ling Lan thought for a moment. She apologized to her mother silently and said, ¡°Cough, you know that my father is a very busy man so he rarely has time to apany my mother. Thus, my mother is very bored at home, so she ced all her attention on


    me.¡±


    Li Lanfeng frowned. ¡°Is she urging you to marry?¡±


    Ling Lan said in a helpless tone, ¡°It¡¯s fine if she just wants me to marry someone. She¡¯s just too bored, so she wanted to have a grandson.¡±


    ¡°No, if she just wanted to have a grandson, she wouldn¡¯t let you marry a man.¡± Li Lanfeng was a meticulous person. He immediately noticed the loophole in Ling Lan¡¯s words.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng, you still don¡¯t understand what my mother¡¯s real motive is...¡± Ling Lan shook her head. ¡°My mother just wants a good reason to force me to have a child.¡±


    This statement was half-true and half-lie. Ling Lan still hadn¡¯t given up the thought of robbing the sperm bank.


    ¡°Huh?!¡± Li Lanfeng was dumbstruck. He couldn¡¯t imagine the traditional and gentle Senior Colonel Lan having such open thoughts.


    ¡°Did Senior Colonel Lan set this rule?¡± Li Lanfeng was finally enlightened. ¡°And General Ling didn¡¯t reject it?¡±


    ¡°My father always listens to my mother for such small matters.¡± Ling Lan pouted. What she said was a lie but if her mother really gave her this rule, her father would definitely support her mother. He might even help her mother to make devious ns. As long as he didn¡¯t need to betray his country, her subservient father wouldn¡¯t reject her mother.


    ¡°Actually, you don¡¯t have to worry about the gender of a doctor. Senior Colonel Lan will understand.¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to marry so haphazardly. He hoped that Ling Lan would have a harmonious family in the future and not marry for political reasons.


    ¡°If my mother could be fooled so easily, my father wouldn¡¯t have fallen for my mother. He only has one woman in his life and that is my mother.¡± Ling Lan apologized to her father silently too for dragging him in this mess.


    ¡°So that¡¯s why,¡± Li Lanfeng murmured, as he seemed to understand why Ling Lan never bathed with anyone. His resting ce was always guarded heavily. Every time he appeared, he was always dressed properly.


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, why did you reject Li Shiyu?¡± Since there was such a rule, why couldn¡¯t it be Li Shiyu? Why did she choose Luo Chao and Han Xuya?


    ¡°I don¡¯t like men,¡± Ling Lan replied with an expressionless face but inside, her heart was crying. She hadn¡¯t found a man she liked but she wasn¡¯t gay too. The situation was dire at that time so she had no choice but to use this excuse to chase Li Shiyu away. However, she caused her two beloved younger sisters to sink into her lie.


    When she woke up after her treatment, she regretted what she did. Her mind was in a whirl at that time so she lost her ability to think carefully. That was why she gave such a low-level excuse.


    Li Lanfeng was stunned by Ling Lan¡¯s reply. ¡®Rabbit is not my destined king.¡¯


    Li Lanfeng had suspected that Ling Lan was his destined king. After all, among therades around him, he was the only one that resembled a king the most. At first, he suspected Qiao Ting. However, Qiao Ting had no chance of bing a king now. Li Lanfeng thought about how calm Ling Lan was after looking at his face and felt that he was thinking too much. Now, after Ling Lan proimed that he didn¡¯t like men, he felt that the possibility of him being his destined king was zero.


    Yet, for some reason, Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t happy. He feltplicated and a strange feeling started engulfing his heart.


    ¡°What do you do now?¡± ¡®Is Rabbit really nning to marry one of the twodies?¡¯ Li Lanfeng felt frustrated when he thought about this possibility.


    ¡®If I¡¯m not able to stand beside Rabbit, no one can! Not even his wife!¡¯


    This sudden thought astounded Li Lanfeng. He felt puzzled. He knocked his forehead and forced himself to remain calm.


    ¡°I would only choose the option that benefits me the most. However, I¡¯ll take care of this matter. Let me think about it.¡± Ling Lan frowned.


    She didn¡¯t intend to bring Han Xuya and Luo Chao into her lie. She didn¡¯t want to harm their futures. She needed to think of a n to solve this problem. If not, she would be unable to sleep properly.


    ¡°Yes, you have to think about it properly,¡± Li Lanfeng agreed with what Ling Lan said.


    He was speaking to himself too. He needed to think about why he had such weird emotions.


    With many thoughts in his mind, Li Lanfeng bid farewell to Ling Lan. Ling Lan was relieved that Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t probe further. She managed to ovee this crisis.


    ¡°Little Four, do you think I should take this chance to dere that my injuries are too serious to be treated and retire from the army?¡± Ling Lan had thoughts of retiring. After this war, herrades would be able to gain many merits and attain a higher position. They would be able to take care of themselves. So, it was probably time for her to leave.


    ¡°Boss, I¡¯ll listen to you.¡± Little Four didn¡¯t have any opinions about the matter. The military was fun but the world outside the military was interesting too.


    In a forest upied by Hailiya, more than ten damaged mechas sat together in a circle.


    The mecha operators of these mechas stood in the middle of the circle and were cooking some small beasts they found in the forest. These small beasts would satisfy their hunger for tonight.


    ¡°This is thest self-heating agent.¡± One of the mecha operators sighed. He wouldn¡¯t be able to eat hot food from now on.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Our reinforcements are here. Unfortunately, we are too far away from the base so we can¡¯t contact them. If not, our regimentmander will save us.¡± One of the older mecha operators was confident.


    At this moment, a young mecha operator looked up and asked curiously. ¡°Uncle Sun, can you tell us which mecha n do youe from?¡±


    At that time, they were being chased by an ace mecha n of the Hailiya army. When they were about to be caught up by the mecha n, they met four mecha operators who came from the 23rd division. They managed to kill the mecha operators from the ace mecha n and save them. From then on, they followed the four mecha operators and moved behind their enemies, hiding from them. Even until today, they still felt that they were in a dream.


    The man called Uncle Sun smiled. ¡°What¡¯s there to talk about? Aren¡¯t we all from the 23rd division?¡±


    ¡°Uncle Sun, please tell us. I don¡¯t believe that youe from a normal ace mecha n.¡± That young mecha operator wanted to know where his life savior came from so he kept asking Uncle Sun.


    ¡°Ah Luo, don¡¯t get overboard,¡± another cold-looking young man said to him.


    ¡°Yes, Brother Huo.¡± The young man called Ah Luo lowered his head in disappointment.


    ¡°Brother Huo, I want to know too. If I can, I would like to join Uncle Sun¡¯s mecha n,¡± another young man suddenly opened his mouth.


    Ah Luo raised his head instantly when he heard someone supporting him. His eyes lit up as he said excitedly, ¡°See, Brother Huo, even Feng-ming wants to know.¡± He turned and ced his palms together. He pleaded, ¡°Uncle Sun, please stop hiding it from. Please kindly tell us.¡±


    Brother Huo saw how determined his team members were so he looked apologetically at Uncle Sun.


    The man called Uncle Sun looked at his three otherrades. They all nodded in approval. After this one week of interaction with these nine young mecha operators, they acknowledged their abilities and characters.


    ¡°Since you all want to know, I¡¯ll tell you. Don¡¯t think too highly of us,¡± Uncle Sun smiled. ¡°We¡¯re really from an ordinary mecha n. We are from the 250 Ace Mecha n that is stationed at Base 013.¡±


    Uncle Sun was one of the four people that helped Ling Lan to escape. They couldn¡¯t catch up with Ling Lan, so they were surrounded by many Hailiya mechas. Thus, they had no choice but to remain in the second line of defense. After some time, they met these nine young men who lost their sense of direction as they were being chased by their enemies.


    ¡°250 Ace Mecha n?¡± Brother Huo was surprised.


    ¡°It looks like you¡¯ve heard about our mecha n before.¡± Uncle Sunughed. The people that knew about their mecha n would know that they were a useless and infamous mecha n.


    ¡°Yes, I know that all the mecha operators in 250 Ace Mecha n used to be the best mecha operators of the Federation. All of them had achieved many military merits before,¡± the cold-looking young man said seriously. He knew the condition of 250 Ace Mecha n but he never looked down on them. They might not be able to control mechas now but their merits were real.


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right. The mecha operators in 250 Ace Mecha n used to be the best mecha operators in the Federation. However, they¡¯ve all be useless mecha operators. It¡¯s an infamous mecha n now.¡± Sun Yaofei remembered how he was thrown to the 23rd division like a pile of rubbish. His heart ached uncontrobly. He knew that they were just a burden as they couldn¡¯t operate a mecha anymore but the actions of their past mecha ns still hurt them deeply.


    ¡°Ah!¡± The other eight young men, who didn¡¯t know about the details of 250 Ace Mecha n, were dumbfounded. They didn¡¯t know that these powerful mecha operators had such a past.


    ¡°It used to be called 250 Mecha n because there are 250 useless mecha operators in the mecha n.¡± Sun Yaofei felt irritated when he thought of the meaning behind their name.


    ¡°But now, you should be an imperial mecha operator, right?¡± Brother Huo didn¡¯t get distracted by Sun Yaofei¡¯s words. From the moment he saw these old mecha operators, he knew that they were not at elite ace. They must be higher than the elite ace level. If not, they wouldn¡¯t be able to kill a 12-man ace mecha team.


    ¡°Zhenyu, you have good eyesight.¡± Sun Yaofei didn¡¯t deny it. ¡°However, I just manage to advance to imperial level after this battle.¡±


    Surprisingly, the people Sun Yaofei saved were Huo Zhenyu and his friends. They fought with Ling Lan before.


    Sun Yaofei briefly exined to them how they had helped their regimentmander escaped. Huo Zhenyu and hisrades listened attentively. They wished that they could watch the heroic and dangerous battle personally.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling is really an outstandingmander,¡± Huo Zhenyu eximed. Huo Zhenyu was sent to a base in the central region. Unfortunately, themanding officer of his base didn¡¯t have Regiment Commander Ling¡¯s capabilities. They didn¡¯t manage tost for long before their base was destroyed. He got separated from his mecha n. But, he was lucky enough to manage to escape with his team.


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    ¡°Yes. Our Regiment Commander Ling is a powerful and capable person. I think that he is even younger than all of you. He is the strongest youth I¡¯ve ever met,¡± Sun Yaofei said proudly.


    Huo Zhenyu had a sudden thought. He remembered Ling Lan.


    He controlled his emotions and asked calmly, ¡°Uncle Sun, what is the name of your regimentmander?¡±


    ¡°Very simple. He has only one word as his given name. He¡¯s called Ling Lan,¡± Sun Yaofei replied.


    ¡°Ah!¡± A few people in Huo Zhenyu¡¯s team shouted in surprise.


    Sun Yaofei narrowed his eyes. ¡°You know our regimentmander?¡±


    Huo Zhenyu gave a bitter smile. ¡°Of course. He is our junior.¡±


    Sun Yaofei pped his forehead. Heughed and said, ¡°Oh right. I almost forgot that you all came from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. Tell me, is our regimentmander a famous character in the military academy?¡± Sun Yaofei was very interested to know about this. If he managed to get some information, he would be able to gossip with hisrades after he goes back to his mecha n.


    Huo Zhenyu smiled forcefully, ¡°As someone who was able to control all the factions of the military academy, I can¡¯t think of anyone more famous than him.¡±


    He didn¡¯t expect the other person to be so far ahead of him. They might never be able to fulfill the promised battle.

 Chapter 919 - It’s Him?

    Chapter 919 It¡¯s Him?


    As Qi Yaoyang¡¯s army pushed forward with each victory, more and more soldiers got dispatched from Base 013. Base 013 gradually turned very quiet and peaceful.


    After Han Xuya went out for battle, Lady Mei was promoted to the position of the leader of the JMCs.


    They didn¡¯t have many things to do so they would chat with each other in their free time in the afternoon. As they started talking, their topic would always stray towards the young and high-ranking officers in 250 Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°A few of the team leaders are young and capable. It¡¯ll be great if I can get to know some of them.¡± The JMCs still had the desire to hook a wealthy husband but when they thought of the outstanding young officers, they felt their hearts fluttering.


    ¡°Even the head of the logisticians, Major Lin, the head of the medical department, Major Li, and the other deputies are impressive too. Why do you think there are so many capable young officers in 250 Ace Mecha n?¡±


    ¡°Look at who their regimentmander is. It¡¯s Regiment Commander Ling. He is the son of General Ling Xiao, the real elite of the elites. He is the only person that can make so many outstanding young officers bow down to him.¡± One of the JMCs was obviously a fan of Ling Lan. Her eyes were filled with admiration as sheplimented Ling Lan endlessly.


    ¡°When I heard themanding officer telling us that he is the son of Ling Xiao and he would bring us home, I felt that I¡¯m willing to ept any oues even if he didn¡¯tst until reinforcements came.¡± Another JMC revealed her true thoughts.


    The other JMCs turned silent when they heard this. At that moment, everyone had a simr thought, they would survive along with the base. That was their closest experience with death yet. Fortunately, Commander Ling managed to hold on until reinforcements came. The entire base managed to stand because of Commander Ling¡¯s sacrifice.


    ¡°I wonder if there are any repercussions for controlling a god-ss mecha. I hope that he¡¯s fine,¡± another JMC gave a forced smile as she said that. They thought about the dire condition of theirmanding officer and didn¡¯t have the heart to chat anymore.


    ¡°Commander Ling will be fine,¡± Lady Mei said firmly.


    All the JMCs looked at Lady Mei. They hoped that Lady Mei had some good news for them. Lady Mei had a good rtionship with Han Xuya and Han Xuya was the personal guard of Commander Ling, so she would definitely know the condition of Commander Ling.


    ¡°He is the regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n. He is themanding officer of Base 013. He¡¯ll definitely be able to create miracles just like when he said he would bring us home.¡± Lady Mei didn¡¯t believe that the man who created so many miracles would be defeated by these injuries.


    The other JMCs nodded. They prayed and hoped that theirmanding officer would heal soon. To all the soldiers of Base 013, Ling Lan¡¯s position in their hearts was even higher than General Ling Xiao¡¯s.


    At this moment, two signals suddenly appeared on two of the control panels.


    Two JMCs hurriedly answered the call. They heard unfamiliar voices requesting to enter the base. ¡°Tang Ningyu from the Flying Dragon Special Forces would like to enter Base 013 for treatment.¡±


    ¡°Mu Chaoran from the Flying Dragon Special Forces would like to enter Base 013 for treatment.¡±


    The JMCs didn¡¯t let them in easily just because they were from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. They thoroughly checked their identity before letting these two mecha operators in.


    The medical department received the news for an emergency treatment so they hurriedly rushed to the mecha hold and waited for the two mecha operators.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran got down from their mechas. They took off their helmets and revealed their pale faces. Blood dripped down their mouths. The medics did the routine examination of their bodies and realized that they were suffering from some internal injuries. They quickly sent them to the healing pods in the treatment center.


    In the middle of the night, when there was no one else in the treatment center, two healing pods suddenly opened.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran slowly sat up from their healing pods and looked at each other knowingly.


    ¡°It seems like you want to find an answer too,¡± Tang Ningyu said.


    ¡°I¡¯m not able to give up until I see Ling Lan.¡± Because of various reasons, they were unable to see Ling Lan before they left the Base 013. Mu Chaoran looked at Tang Ningyu and gave an evil smile. ¡°You have the same idea, right?¡±.


    Tang Ningyu didn¡¯t reply to him. Mu Chaoran wasn¡¯t expecting Tang Ningyu to reply too. He understood Tang Ningyu just like how Tang Ningyu understood him. That was why they made simr decisions. They used their injuries as a reason to go back to Base 013 to find an answer.


    The two of them disappeared from their treatment room and appeared in front of Ling Lan¡¯s treatment room in the next second.


    Tang Ningyu took out an object that looked like a button and stuck it on the door. The object shone for a few seconds and the door opened itself. The two of them sneaked inside quickly before the door closed itself automatically. The second before it closed, Tang Ningyu hooked his finger and the shining objectnded on his palm lightly, leaving no traces behind. It was as though the door had never been opened.


    Li Lanfeng was in his amodation and self-reflecting on his action earlier on the day. Suddenly, he sat up from his bed with killing intent beaming out of his eyes. In the next moment, he disappeared.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran entered Ling Lan¡¯s treatment room. There was only one healing pod in the treatment room. They were stunned when they saw the healing pod.


    A round objectid on top of the healing pod. It was sleeping soundly. It didn¡¯t seem to notice the two unwee guests.


    ¡°Little White!¡± Mu Chaoran¡¯s gaze wasplex. He didn¡¯t dare to move closer. He didn¡¯t know if he should be afraid of the truth.


    Tang Ningyu clenched his fist tightly. His heart palpitated quickly and his blood rushed through his body.


    ¡®Is it him?¡¯


    Mu Chaoran took a deep breath. Then, he looked at Tang Ningyu in the eyes and nodded.


    They pretended to be calm as they took their first step and arrived beside the healing pod.


    Little White suddenly felt something dangerous approaching it. It opened its eyes instantly and saw two people that shouldn¡¯t be here.


    ¡°Squeak!¡± Little White screamed in shock. It was just having a little nap. How did these two people appear?


    ¡°Little White, is your master inside?¡± Mu Chaoran looked at Little White with anticipation. He hoped to sense something from Little White¡¯s expression.


    Little White looked at Mu Chaoran with innocent eyes as though it didn¡¯t understand what he was saying. ¡®Damn it. There is no way I¡¯m going to tell you anything about my master! My master will kill me if I do!

 Chapter 920 - It’s Not Him!

    Chapter 920 It¡¯s Not Him!


    Little White¡¯s innocent look caused Mu Chaoran to jeer at himself. In order to get the truth, he ced his hopes on a stupid pet that knew nothing. He must be out of his mind.


    Mu Chaoran reached out his hand, wanting to carry Little White. A fair and slender hand suddenly appeared and picked Little White up before him.


    Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu¡¯s expressions changed instantly. They leaped back and retreated three meters back.


    The air around the fair hand started distorting and a whirlpool suddenly formed in the middle of the room. Slowly, a young soldier wearing the military uniform of the 23rd division walked out. It was Li Lanfeng


    Li Lanfeng looked at Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran coldly, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect the two of you to infiltrate the treatment room.¡±


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Shaoyu felt awkward with them being exposed so tantly. They were frustrated that they got caught in their actions. But, they regained theirposure quickly. Tang Ningyu replied Li Lanfeng calmly, ¡°Major Li, long time no see. You look as good as ever.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be polite. What are you doing in the treatment room? If you don¡¯t give me a good answer, I¡¯ll report to General Ling Xiao and ask him to get an exnation from themander of the Flying Dragon Special Forces.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled coldly.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were agitated. They forgot that Ling Lan was the son of Ling Xiao. If General Ling Xiao misunderstood their intentions, there would be huge troubleing their way.


    ¡°We respected Lieutenant Colonel Ling for his courage so we wanted to take a look at him,¡± Tang Ningyu said earnestly. He didn¡¯t want to create trouble for hismander. This was something they should settle themselves.


    ¡°Do I look stupid?¡± Li Lanfeng jeered. He didn¡¯t believe what Tang Ningyu said.


    ¡°It¡¯s the truth.¡± Mu Chaoran was sincere. ¡°However, that¡¯s not the only reason. We want to know if Lieutenant Colonel Ling is the person we are looking for.¡±


    ¡°You met us on Azure so you should know that we were on a mission at that time. However, in the end, we didn¡¯tplete the mission. Another personpleted it instead.¡± Mu Chaoran suddenly said the truth. Tang Ningyu was surprised.


    Li Lanfeng petted Little White which was lying quietly on his arm.


    Mu Chaoran gave a bitter smile. ¡°Your appearance on Azure was too much of a coincidence. Additionally, you picked up Little White. This caused us to suspect that Lieutenant Colonel Ling is the other person who was on the mission.¡±


    Tang Ningyu continued, ¡°We want to know who we lost to so we wanted to take a look at Lieutenant Colonel Ling.¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled. He scoffed, ¡°What does it have to do with me?¡±


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were stunned. They didn¡¯t expect Li Lanfeng to reject them directly. It was wrong of them to sneak into Ling Lan¡¯s treatment room but they had no bad intentions. They just wanted an answer.


    ¡°However...¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly changed his words. ¡°If I don¡¯t agree, you will be unwilling to give up too. This is not a good thing for our regimentmander, as it¡¯ll interfere with his treatment so I¡¯ll only give you one chance. I hope that you will not interrupt our regimentmander after this. If not, I¡¯ll not show you any mercy.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Major Li.¡± Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were surprised and ted. They thought that they had no hope but Li Lanfeng was kind enough to let them meet Ling Lan.


    Li Lanfeng took out a syringe from the disinfected shelf. Then, he took a bottle of agent and opened the healing pod. He injected the agent into the person lying in the healing pod.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s heart pounded furiously. Would the person inside be who they expected? Would they be disappointed again?


    The two of them felt that they waited for a long time. However, it was just around three minutes. Finally, they heard a weak cough.


    ¡°Lanfeng, what¡¯s the matter?¡± The voice of the person in the healing pod was hoarse and low. It wasn¡¯t the soft and gentle voice they had remembered.


    ¡®It¡¯s not him!¡¯ Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s heart dropped. They felt as though a bucket of ice water was poured on them. Their entire body turned cold.


    ¡°Regimentmander, there are two people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces who wanted to meet you,¡± Li Lanfeng whispered to the person in the healing pod. He looked at Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu before continuing, ¡°They are Lieutenant Colonel Tang Ningyu and Lieutenant Colonel Mu Chaoran.¡±


    ¡°The Flying Dragon Special Forces? Sure, help me up.¡± The person in the healing pod seemed surprised. However, he didn¡¯t reject the request.


    Li Lanfeng held Ling Lan up carefully. Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu saw a person wrapped entirely in bandages. Because of the action of sitting up, some of the bandages had turned red. However, the person still sat up straight. He had a cold and icy aura around him. His gaze was sharp and intense. Even when he was heavily injured, his force of presence still overpowered the three other people at the scene.


    ¡°This is a very powerful person! It cannot be their Little Brother Shaoyun.¡¯


    There were tears in Mu Chaoran¡¯s eyes. In the end, he was still disappointed.


    On the other hand, Tang Ningyu got a shock. He grabbed Mu Chaoran tightly and controlled his excitement. ¡®It¡¯s him! It¡¯s him!¡¯


    Mu Chaoran looked at Tang Ningyu in astonishment. Tang Ningyu¡¯s action dispersed some of his sadness.


    ¡°It¡¯s our benefactor! He is our benefactor!¡± Tang Ningyu said excitedly.


    Mu Chaoran finally got it. Although Ling Lan was not the person they thought he was, they were right to think that he was the person who took the mission. He was also the ice element titled domain realm formidable warrior that saved them.


    All of their queries were solved. Ling Lan was the person who took the mission. However, he didn¡¯t disguise himself as a scout. He used the chance when Li Lanfeng entered the school to sneak in and investigate the base. Along the way, he saved them. That circr creature should be Ling Lan¡¯s pet. That was why it appeared on Azure as well as Haijiao.


    Everything was exined. Mu Shaoyu and Tang Ningyu finally got the answer they wanted but they were still sad. Their Little Brother Shaoyun was really dead. They couldn¡¯t fool themselves anymore.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were the leaders of the two forces of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, so they were able to regain theirposure quickly.


    They saluted at Ling Lan. Tang Ningyu said with respect, ¡°Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Ling for saving us on Azure.¡±


    Ling Lan was confused by their actions at the start. After thinking for a moment, she nodded, ¡°It¡¯s you. There is no need to thank me.¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t hide the fact that she was their benefactor. As for Pei Shaoyun, Ling Lan nned for him to remain dead. Her fate with Tang Ningyu and Mu Shaoyu would end here. When they meet again, they would be just strangers.

 Chapter 921 - No Place For Us!

    Chapter 921 No ce For Us!


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t reveal any loopholes. She ended Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s suspicion on her. After chatting with them for a while, Li Lanfeng sent the two people away by telling them that their regimentmander needed to rest.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran felt that they had gotten the truth so they didn¡¯t have the heart to stay at the treatment room anymore. They left dejectedly.


    Li Lanfeng closed the door and quickly looked at Ling Lan. Ling Lan nodded to express that she was fine.


    ¡°Why did you want to see them?¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t want them to see Ling Lan. He felt that these two people would just be troublesome. However, just as he was about to chase them away, he received an order through Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power. Ling Lan told him that he wanted to meet them. That was why Li Lanfeng changed his tone.


    ¡°If I don¡¯t let them see me, they¡¯ll get even more curious and will think of even more ways to see me.¡± Ling Lan felt a little tired. She was recovering slowly both physically and spiritually but since her injuries were very serious, she would still feel tired easily.


    Li Lanfeng noticed this and hurriedlyid her down.


    ¡°So, you wanted to solve everything once and for all,¡± Li Lanfeng said firmly.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Ling Lan closed her eyes and replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s all because of this idiot. It always creates trouble.¡± Li Lanfeng looked at Little White with disdain. Little White was attempting to jump into the healing pod along with its master. Li Lanfeng picked it up before it could.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± ¡®You are the idiot! Damn it, how am I supposed to know that those two people wille on my watch?¡¯ Little White waved its tentacles furiously. However, Li Lanfeng was standing behind him so his tentacles were not long enough to reach him. The angry Little White forgot that its tentacles could be extended.


    ¡°We can¡¯t me Little White. I was not careful enough.¡± If she didn¡¯t bring Little White to Azure, this wouldn¡¯t have happened in the first ce.


    ¡®Sob. My master is the best.¡¯ Little White was so touched that it started crying. It waved its tentacles in the air as it ran into Ling Lan¡¯s arms to seek forfort.


    Li Lanfeng saw the two fountains over Little White¡¯s eyes and frowned. He flicked Little White away with his right hand and then took out a handkerchief from his pocket. He wiped his right hand carefully as if he touched something dirty.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s actions angered Little White. It rushed towards Li Lanfeng and waved its tentacles around. It wanted to attack this very bad person who always treated it badly.


    Li Lanfeng raised his finger and pressed it against Little White¡¯s body. Then, he started scratching it.


    Little White hugged Li Lanfeng¡¯s finger and let out a sigh to show howfortable it was.


    ¡®No, I can¡¯t bow down to a bad person!¡¯ Little White tried to resist against its nature.


    Li Lanfeng looked at it with a cold face. He could feel that Little White had gotten fatter. The food and water supply in the base were limited. Along with the huge stress of the battle, everyone had gotten skinnier. Only Little White ate well and came back fatter. Li Lanfeng was extremely unhappy at it.


    Little White narrowed its eyes andid on Li Lanfeng¡¯s hand happily. This time, Little White lost to its nature again and got subdued by Li Lanfeng¡¯s finger.


    Ling Lan saw the two of them battling again and shook her head. The results were expected. Her Little White was indeed stupid. Once its weak point was known to Li Lanfeng, it would never be able to win against Li Lanfeng anymore. Unfortunately, Little White didn¡¯t understand this point and continued to resist uselessly.


    After settling Little White, Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan again. he pondered over his words carefully before asking, ¡°Rabbit, what do you n to do after you go back?¡±


    Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows as if she didn¡¯t understand what Li Lanfeng meant.


    ¡°Are you nning to retire?¡± This was the only answer Li Lanfeng got after thinking through all the possibilities.


    Ling Lan remained silent for a few seconds. She replied, ¡°You know that this is the safest path for me.¡± She mustn¡¯t recuperate. Leaving the military was her only path out.


    ¡°Rabbit, are you nning to abandon us?¡± Li Lanfeng was heartbroken. he had already predicted this result but when he heard it from Ling Lan, he still couldn¡¯t help but feel sad.


    ¡°I¡¯m not abandoning you. There is just no ce in the military for me and my father.¡± Having one Ling Xiao was already enough for the military. If another Ling Xiao appeared, those people would take action against them. To protect the safety of her father, Ling Lan must leave the army.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t me the military. Some high-ranking officers might have their own personal motives but most of them did it for the sake of the Federation. The Ling family had some secret skills that could allow them to jump level and control a god-ss mecha. If she had died, everything was fine. However, she didn¡¯t. This was enough to excite the military. Fortunately, her father was already a god-ss mecha and one of the ten great generals of the Federation. He was also the general of the 23rd division. These powers were enough to stop the people that wanted to do anything to him.


    But, that was it. If she managed to recover, it would prove that the Ling family had a way to resist the bacsh from jumping level and operate a god ss mecha. This was enough for the military to go crazy. At that time, the powers her father wouldn¡¯t be enough to stop the entire military.


    Ling Lan knew that her father was clearing her back for her. In the battle of power, the pressure her father was handling was not much lesser than her. He might even be in a more dangerous position than her. One single mistake could cause the destruction of the entire Ling family.


    Ling Lan remembered that the mastermind who nned her father¡¯s murder in the past was still in the military. After so many years, the other party¡¯s faction must have grown even stronger. Ling Lan didn¡¯t believe that the other party would stop his actions. He must be waiting for a chance tounch another lethal attack.


    For the sake of his father, she mustn¡¯t recover in front of the public eyes. She must leave.


    Li Lanfeng calmed down when he heard what Ling Lan said. He knew that although Ling Xiao looked morous and seemed to have a bright future ahead of himself, he was constantly surrounded by danger.


    Ling Lan won huge military merit when she jumped level and operated a god-ss mecha. She allowed Base 013 to survive until reinforcements could arrive, shocking the entire Federation. If Ling Lan was just an ordinary soldier, the military would reward Ling Lan heavily and mold her into a hero of the generation to spur the emotions of the citizens in the Federation. However, she was Ling Xiao¡¯s son. It was a fact that she jumped level and operated (Belief). Everyone would know about this. The Federation couldn¡¯t hide this fact.


    As expected of Ling Xiao¡¯s son! It could be guessed that Ling Xiao¡¯s reputation had reached an extremely high level now. This was like adding oil to a burning me.

 Chapter 922 - Slackface!

    <strong>Chapter 922 ckface!</strong>


    Ling Xiao¡¯s reputation and might was like a marshal in the military. The three marshals were afraid that he would take away their power. Hence, the three marshals might attack Ling Xiao together if he got too strong. They wouldn¡¯t allow a fourth marshal to appear in the military.


    ¡°Even the First Marshal can¡¯t be trusted?¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t give up. He heard that the First Marshal groomed General Ling Xiao as his heir. Shouldn¡¯t he be happy that his heir was so outstanding?


    ¡°An heir is just an heir when the emperor is still healthy and strong.¡± How many heirs managed to be the emperor in the end? The only time it could happen was when the emperor was old and weak, thus he had no choice but to hand over his power to his heir.


    Ling Lan had seen videos about the First Marshal. He was more than 90 years old but he was still very healthy. The humans in this world lived twice as long as the people in her past life. If she calcted the First Marshal¡¯s age based on her past life¡¯s standard, he would only be around 50 years old now. He was at the prime of his age. So, how could he willingly support a person who would take over his power soon?


    Her father was the most outstanding heir in the First Marshal¡¯s faction but so what? The First Marshal still had many years ahead of him. He could always groom a new heir again. Hence, her father was not indispensable. A cold light shed past Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. Just like Ling Xiao who managed toe back alive from his ordeal, she no longer trusted anyone around her. She could only rely on herself now


    That was why she asked Li Shiyu to dere that she was seriously injured and all the agents had no effect on her. However, even after all that, Li Lanfeng still didn¡¯t wish that Ling Lan would leave.


    ¡°I understand,¡± Li Lanfeng said bitterly. He thought that he would be able to work hard and progress together with Ling Lan. But, in the end, he had to walk alone to defy his fate.


    Ling Lan sighed when she saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s dejected silhouette disappearing from the door. ¡°All good things muste to an end. No one can apany you forever. You all will have to depend on yourselves now.¡±


    ¡°Boss, are you sad?¡± Little Four detected Ling Lan¡¯s emotions and quickly came out to console her.


    ¡°Yes. I didn¡¯t know that it¡¯s so difficult to say goodbye to my friends.¡± Ling Lan gave a forced smile. ¡°This is the best time for me to leave, but why do I feel so sad?¡¯


    Little Four didn¡¯t know what to say. He couldn¡¯t understand the friendship between Ling Lan and her friends. Hence, he could only say, ¡°Boss, don¡¯t worry. Little Four will always be beside you.¡±


    He felt that one person was not enough so he quickly added, ¡°Little Blossom will be beside you too.¡±


    Ling Lan felt touched when she saw Little Four¡¯s agitated face as he tried to console her. She hugged Little Four and rubbed his small head. ¡°Thank you, Little Four.¡±


    Fortunately, Little Four was always beside her. She wasn¡¯t alone.


    Ling Lan knew that dering her mecha piloting career¡¯s end was the best way to solve this crisis. If not, she might never be able to escape the fate of being constantly hounded on by the higher authorities. However, once she steps on this path, it would mean that she had to bid farewell to the male Ling Lan and all the friends she made on the way, but doing this was very cruel to her friends.


    Little Four blushed when he got hugged by Ling Lan. He stuttered, ¡°There¡¯s no need to thank me. Boss, I said we¡¯ll be with you forever.¡±


    ¡°Yes, there¡¯s still Little Blossom.¡± Ling Lan smiled. ¡°Oh right, can you ask Number Five when he is going to release Little Blossom? I¡¯m afraid that he might be injured.¡±


    Little Four started worrying too, as he hadn¡¯t seen Little Blossom in a long time.


    Ling Lan and Little Four¡¯s desire to see Little Blossom might be too strong. As after they had finished thinking about Little Blossom, they saw a figure dropping from the sky and mming onto the floor in front of them.


    The small person was lying motionless on the floor.


    ¡°Little Blossom?¡± Little Four looked at the sky of the mindscape curiously. There were no changes to it. He didn¡¯t know why Little Blossom suddenly appeared in such a strange position.


    ¡°It should be Little Blossom.¡± Ling Lan confirmed. Those fat little hands and fat little legs were just like what she remembered.


    Little Four walked towards Little Blossom and kicked his butt. ¡°Little Blossom, are you alright?¡±


    Little Blossom finally had some reaction. He pushed his hands on the floor and looked up at Little Four. His gaze was distant. It seemed as though he didn¡¯t recognize Little Four.


    ¡°Little Blossom? Why did you be like this?¡± Little Four hugged his head in disbelief. ¡®Is this the enthusiastic and lively little brother that I know?¡¯


    ¡°Training,¡± Little Blossom replied indifferently. The cute and stupid Little Blossom was gone. This child in front of them was just cold and expressionless.


    Ling Lan frowned. She moved her right forefinger and a ck crack appeared in her mindscape. She reached her hand inside and caught Number Five who was trying to run away. She pulled him out.


    ¡°Number Five, can you exin this?¡± Ling Lan stared at the haggard Number Five coldly.


    Number Five knew that he couldn¡¯t escape so he tidied his clothes slowly. Just when Ling Lan was about to lose her patience, he said, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you take Little Blossom out for training?¡± Ling Lan frowned.


    ¡°At the start, yes. However, someone took him from me.¡± Number Five shrugged.


    ¡°Who?¡±


    Number Five continued smiling but he didn¡¯t reply. Ling Lan understood Number Five¡¯s smile. If he didn¡¯t reply, it meant that his lips were sealed on that matter. He couldn¡¯t tell her anything.


    ¡°Why?¡± Ling Lan decided to change her way of asking.


    ¡°You are unwilling to awaken yourself so she couldn¡¯t appear. Hence, she took your man to vent her frustration...¡± Number Five calmly told Ling Lan that she was the cause of Little Blossom¡¯s suffering.


    ¡°Awaken?¡± Ling Lan was dumbfounded. She didn¡¯t know what she needed to awaken. She thought for a moment and understood who Number Five was referring to. Out of her nine instructors, only Number Four hadn¡¯t appeared yet.


    Number Five continued smiling. He didn¡¯t reply to her but Ling Lan could tell from his expression that her guess was right.


    ¡®What is Number Four supposed to teach me?¡¯ Ling Lan couldn¡¯t guess it. She didn¡¯t know what she needed to awaken before Number Four could appear.


    Number Five sighed in his heart when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s puzzled expression. ¡®It seems like Number Four has to wait more.¡¯

 Chapter 923 - Tolerance!

    Chapter 923 Tolerance!


    Hailiya denied breaking the Human United Agreement and sending the God-Killers during the meeting of the Intergctic United Nations but the evidence that the Federation provided was too solid. They had no way of escape. The Intergctic United Nations were not stupid too. They knew who was in the wrong. Of course, another factor affecting this decision was that they were afraid of the Federation. Hence, when Caesar decided to remain silent on the matter, they promptly gave Hailiya their punishment.


    Many countries in the Intergctic United Nations were unhappy that the Federation used a god-ss mecha but there was no rule restricting the movement of god-ss mechas. Thus, they couldn¡¯t question the Federation about this. They were furious so they added new rules into the Human United Agreement to make sure that such a situation would never happen again.


    The Federation didn¡¯t care about all these, because every citizen from the Federation was in an angry frenzy on a different matter. This anger was ignited by the climbing number of casualties from the war on Haijiao.


    Although Ling Lan managed to save Base 013 and prevented the reinforcements of the Federation from sinking into Hailiya¡¯s trap, the other soldiers on Hailiya were not so lucky. Most of these soldiers died when their bases fell. Only a few extremely powerful or lucky people managed to survive.


    As Qi Yaoyang and his army slowly imed thends of the Federation back, the number of casualties increased exponentially.


    A monthter, Qi Yaoyang managed to im back all thends they lost to Hailiya with the help of continuous reinforcements from the Federation. By now, the total number of casualties from this battle was out. The number was rming. The citizens from the Federation knew that many people had died for this war but when they saw 160 million casualties, they were still shocked.


    This was the highest number of casualties in 300 years of history of the Federation. They didn¡¯t lose to their enemy in battle fairly. They lost because Hailiya broke the Human United Agreement and sent their imperial operators from the God-Killers. If there were less than 100 million casualties, the citizens of the Federation were still able to maintain theirposure. However, this number angered them. They were furious.


    They wanted revenge. The soldiers of the Federation couldn¡¯t just die like this. Rally for wars started happening on manys in the Federation. The citizens hoped that the Federation wouldunch an all-out attack on Hailiya to take revenge for the fallen soldiers.


    At the Second Marshal¡¯s mansion, the Second Marshal looked at the newest information he received and shook his head with a bitter smile. ¡°That sly old fox got what he wanted again.¡± All the citizens of the Federation supported his n now, so he and the Third Marshal had no choice but to support the First Marshal too.


    ¡°What do we do now? Is there really no other way?¡± Some of his confidants were unhappy that the First Marshal got hold of the situation again.


    ¡°Of course. Anyone that disagrees to fight now will be going against the intention of the public. We are unable to stop this.¡± The Second Marshal was able to sit in this position because he was good at analyzing situations. Everything was in the First Marshal¡¯s favor now. Thus, they could only go with the flow. If they go against the tide, they would be outcasted by the public.


    The confidants knew the Second Marshal was right. The power they managed to wrestle back with some difficulty might be gone because of this. They felt their heart aching. However, there was nothing they could do. They could only smoke their cigarettes silently and keep their frustration in their hearts.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be so dejected. We still have a long way ahead of us. The First Marshal might look morous now but who knows what would happen in the future?¡± The Second Marshal gave a cold smile. That sly old fox must be regretting it now. Even if he wasn¡¯t, he would feel frustrated. Ling Xiao, whom he groomed personally, was bing a threat to him.


    ¡°Marshal, are you talking about Ling Xiao?¡± One of the confidants was very quick-witted so he immediately understood what the Second Marshal meant.


    ¡°There will be a struggle for power in the First Marshal¡¯s faction. Let¡¯s wait for a good show.¡± Ling Xiao was a threat to him and the Third Marshal too but his threat to the First Marshal was much greater. He wondered if the people in the First Marshal¡¯s faction had any thoughts about changing their leader... A good show was definitelying up soon. The Second Marshal was schadenfreude. The First Marshal had been suppressing them for over 30 years. They had kept their anger to themselves for a long time. Hence, they were happy to see the First Marshal getting into trouble.


    A simr conversation was going on in the Third Marshal¡¯s mansion. The Third Marshal seeked peace. So, he was frustrated when he saw the Federation fighting war after war. Many soldiers died in other countries¡¯ soil. Unfortunately, he was always on the losing end in the political battle with the First Marshal. This time, he was defeated by the First Marshal again.


    ¡°I hope that the battle can end on Haijiao,¡± the Third Marshal said worriedly. He knew how tensed the Federation was after years of wars. If the Federation couldn¡¯t handle the stress, the entire Federation would copse. Its economy would move backward and there might even be a civil war.


    He noticed these dangers. The Second Marshal noticed them too. The First Marshal was even clearer about them. They were all looking for ways to solve the problem. On his end, he wanted to stop the wars slowly and let the Federation have some time to settle their internal affairs. However, the First Marshal nned to bring everyone¡¯s attention to their enemies so that they could be the fighting machines of the country. The Second Marshal wanted to find a perfect blend in between these two extreme ends but the Third Marshal felt that it was impossible.


    Everyone had their own ns, and none of them approved of each other¡¯s n. This was why the three marshals kept fighting among themselves. They wanted to control the military so that the military could run based on their beliefs. No one was willing to take a step back. Thus, the battle for power would continue until someone fell. However, the most likely situation was that they would continue to keep each other in check until the end.


    ¡°Ling Xiao... he is the crux.¡±


    Because of the battle of Haijiao, the power of the Second Marshal and the Third Marshal got suppressed by the First Marshal. The military was controlled by the First Marshal now. But, there were hidden dangers too. It all depended on how tolerant the First Marshal was.

 Chapter 924 - Come Back!

    Chapter 924 Come Back!


    The battle between the higher authorities of the military didn¡¯t affect Ling Lan. At this moment, she was being examined by all the military doctors and specialists sent from the Federation. They reached the same conclusion as Li Shiyu. All the agents in the Federation were ineffective for Ling Lan¡¯s injuries, including the Ling family¡¯s restorative agent.


    This also proved that Ling Lan was forced to operate the god-ss mecha. Ling Lan was able to operate a god-ss mecha for 20 minutes because (Belief] received an order from Ling Xiao to minimize the bacsh to Ling Lan. That was why the bacsh on Ling Lan dropped by two-thirds.


    However, the consequences were still huge. Ling Lan lost his healthy body and was unable to stand up again. He wouldn¡¯t be able to operate a mecha anymore too.


    Many people in the military were disappointed when they heard this piece of news. But, some people felt relieved too.


    Hailiya got punished by the Intergctic United Nations and the tradesing in the country stopped. This caused a hugemotion arose in the country. Many conflicts happened on variouss so the Hailiya government had to spend time to stabilize their internal affairs, making Hailiya not have the energy nor time to care about the war on Haijiao. The Hailiya army on Haijiao didn¡¯t have any reinforcements so they kept retreating. After one month, they surrendered due to theck of resources.


    Haijiao officially became part of the Federation. The military moved new mecha ns into Haijiao. The soldiers that used to be stationed on Haijiao came back to their country, the Huaxia Federation, along with the spirits of the 160 million soldiers that had fallen.


    Ling Lan came back with the first batch of people. Li Shiyu, Luo Chao, and Han Xuya came back with her. They were in charge of taking care of her. Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng were present too to protect her.


    No one knew what would happen after theye back. After some discussion with the ten team leaders and the heads of the logistics departments, they decided to let Li Lanfeng go back with their Boss. They also kicked Luo Lang, who was powerful but stupid and wasn¡¯t much of a help if he stayed on Haijiao, back to the Federation. Luo Lang was there to help their Boss and Li Lanfeng to run some errands. After all, they couldn¡¯t let the twodies run errands, right?


    The moment the starshipnded in Port Doha, Ling Lan was carried down by Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng who wore the medic attire just like Luo Chao and Han Xuya. They stood beside Ling Lan and guarded


    her.


    This starship was filled with heavily injured soldiers. Many of them had lost their limbs. However,pared to the people that had fallen, they were considered lucky.


    They sat in a car while waiting for the traffic in front of them to clear up. Suddenly, Ling Lan heard gunshots sounding in alignment.


    Then, the screen in the car shed the image of what was happening outside. Luo Lang nced at the screen and said, ¡°They¡¯re having a ceremony for the fallen soldiers.¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled coldly, ¡°Why are they doing this first instead of sending the injured soldiers to the hospital? How funny.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not true. Those that had fallen are the citizens of Huaxia. It¡¯s necessary for them to wee them back.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t think about it too much. She used her spiritual power to ask Li Lanfeng to think more positively.


    Many properly dressed young second lieutenants with stern faces appeared on the screen. Each of them had a box in their hands. The boxes were covered with the gs of different mecha ns. They stood on hover cars and moved towards the street that was filled with people.


    Every time a car passed by, the screen would introduce the mecha n of these people and show how many had fallen. The reason for their death was stated too.


    The whole sky of hover cars represented all the mecha ns and the soldiers that had fallen. The family members of the soldiers heard a familiar name of a mecha n and started crying furiously. Before this, they still bore hope that their child might have escaped the ordeal and was still alive. However, now, they knew that their child had really left them. They couldn¡¯t control their emotions anymore.


    ¡®Wars only cause sadness!¡¯ Ling Lan looked at the people crying on the screen and felt this point deeply.


    There were too many hover cars so they needed to wait for more than an hour before they could leave.


    After waiting in the car for an hour, Ling Lan was finally pushed into a nearby ambnce. Li Shiyu, Luo Chao, and Han Xuya wanted to get in but they told that only two people could board the ambnce.


    Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu exchanged nces with one another. Li Lanfeng pulled Luo Lang into the ambnce while Li Shiyu and the twodies would take the car they were previously waiting in.


    After some time, the ambnce started moving. A few minutester, Ling Lan heard a deafening cheer.


    Luo Lang pushed open a corner of the curtain and saw the excited expressions of the people outside. They were waving their arms wildly in their direction.


    ¡°Regimentmander, they seem to be weing you.¡± Luo Lang listened attentively for a while.


    ¡°It looks like the military created hype for you.¡± Li Lanfeng spoke to Ling Lan using his spiritual power. If there were more attention on Ling Lan, it would be harder for him to retreat unscathed. Why didn¡¯t General Ling Xiao stop this wee parade?


    ¡°Take it as ites.¡± Ling Lan frowned. She was a useless person to the general public now. ¡®Why do they have to put me in such a position?¡¯


    ¡®No, they put me in this position so tantly because I¡¯m useless now!¡¯ Ling Lan was enlightened. She couldn¡¯t help but worry for her father. It looked like her father was having a hard time recently. If not, he wouldn¡¯t let her appear in front of so many people, especially when she had secrets on her.


    ¡°Lanfeng, contact the other team leaders of 250 Ace Mecha n and tell them to keep calm. I think the higher authorities will be doing something to 250 soon. Don¡¯t act rashly and wait for me to be back, especially Li Yingjie.¡± Ling Lan gave Li Lanfeng an order after thinking for a while.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Lanfeng nodded. He also thought that it was impossible for the military to not keep their hands off the powerful 250 Ace Mecha n after creating such a huge fuss for Ling Lan unless General Ling Xiao took control of the entire situation. However, was that possible? This wasn¡¯t because Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t trust Ling Xiao. It was because the three marshals were too difficult to deal with.


    But, this was a test for 250 Ace Mecha n too. Li Lanfeng wanted 250 Ace Mecha n to be Ling Lan¡¯s personal mecha n. Even if the higher authorities send a new regimentmander for them, the spiritual leader of 250 Ace Mecha n was still Ling Lan.


    The ambnce rode for a distance before stopping suddenly. The driver shouted, ¡°Who are you?¡±


    ¡°This is an order from General Ling Xiao. We will take over from here.¡± A familiar voice sounded. Ling Lan was stunned. It was Ling Yu.

 Chapter 925 - Impeachment!

    Chapter 925 Impeachment!


    ¡°The military ordered us to send Lieutenant Colonel Ling Lan to the hospital for treatment. I¡¯m sorry, we can¡¯t ept General Ling Xiao¡¯s order.¡± The driver rejected them directly.


    ¡°Lieutenant Colonel Ling came from the 23rd division. He should be taken care of by us.¡± Ling Yu sent a nce at his subordinate. His subordinate immediately took out his gun and aimed it at the driver¡¯s forehead. He said coldly, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°This is against the rule,¡± the driver shouted angrily. He attempted to alert the medics in the ambnce.


    The subordinate immediately knocked the driver unconscious. Ling Yu also subdued the soldier sitting on the passenger¡¯s seat.


    General Ling Xiao said clearly that they must send their young master back to him safely even if they had to use force.


    The two people in charge of carrying the stretcher heard themotion outside, and their expressions changed immediately. Their hands reached behind their backs but Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang, who were well prepared, subdued them instantly.


    Li Lanfeng took out a beam handgun from the person¡¯s waist. He threw it at Luo Lang and said, ¡°How dare you take out a gun in front of our regimentmander. Are you looking for death?¡±


    Luo Lang took out a beam gun from the person in front of him too. He ced the two guns on his waist and knocked the two medics unconscious.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Luo Lang. He carried Ling Lan up while Luo Lang kicked the door of the ambnce open. Then, they quickly got into the hover car Ling Yu was driving and left the scene.


    The other soldiers that came after this only saw an empty ambnce and a bunch of unconscious medics.


    ¡°Damn it. We were fooled.¡± The leader of the group stomped his feet angrily. Just now, a senior colonel from the 7th division stopped him and asked him about the condition of the injured soldiers from the 7th division. He didn¡¯t want to offend the person so he patiently answered his queries. After that, he quickly asked his men to follow the ambnce but they were still toote.


    At this moment, the senior colonel from the 7th division came up behind them and shouted in surprise, ¡°Senior Colonel Le, what happened here?¡±


    Major Le looked at the senior colonel. The surprise on his face seemed real. Major Le started wondering if this was just a coincidence.


    ¡°Senior Colonel You, I still have some things to deal with. I¡¯ll take my leave first.¡± Major Le couldn¡¯t confirm his suspicion so he wanted to dismiss the person.


    Senior Colonel You heard this and knew that he couldn¡¯t interfere in this matter. He said hurriedly, ¡°Please do, please do.¡±


    Major Le came to a quiet spot and quickly contacted his superior to tell him about the situation.


    ¡°Forget it. This matter will end here. If someone asks you anything, just say that you don¡¯t know anything.¡± This was the reply his superior gave him.


    ¡°Yes, I understand,¡± Major Le replied. The battle of power between the higher authorities was not something a small figure like him could participate in.


    Major Le¡¯s superior reported the situation to his senior officer too. He got the same reply.


    The moment they entered Ling Yu¡¯s hover car, she opened her eyes. ¡°Ling Yu, what¡¯s the situation at home?¡± Little Four told her some things that were happening in the Federation but he didn¡¯t know much about the power struggle. Hence, he was not knowledgeable in this area. Ling Lan had to gain more information from the trustworthy Ling Yu before she could make a decision.


    ¡°On the surface, there doesn¡¯t seem to be a problem. However, the military recently impeached General Ling Xiao for moving the treasure of the country out of the nation. The general is having a hard time.¡± Ling Yu truthfully told Ling Lan General Ling Xiao¡¯s current situation.


    Ling Xiao came back when Ling Lan was 16 years old but the family head of the Ling family was still Ling Lan. Hence, as a loyalist of the Ling family, he would report the condition of the past family head, Ling Xiao, to Ling Lan without any hesitation. He didn¡¯t hide anything from Ling Lan although Ling Xiao asked him to.


    ¡°They really did something to General Ling Xiao.¡± Li Lanfeng knew that Ling Lan¡¯s operation of a god-ss mecha would spark the greed in the higher authorities. He used to think that these people would hold back a little because of General Ling Xiao¡¯s name but now, he felt that he was too optimistic. No one was able to resist such a great temptation.


    Ling Lan frowned. This matter could be big or small. If the people from the military didn¡¯t want to deal with Ling Xiao, they could just ignore this issue. If someone wanted to tackle Ling Xiao, this would be something they could make use of. It¡¯ll be hard for her father to clear his name.


    ¡°What¡¯s the attitude of the First Marshal?¡± Ling Lan knew that on the surface, her father belonged to the faction of the First Marshal. If the First Marshal wanted to protect Ling Xiao, he would be saved. If not, Ling Xiao¡¯s future would be hard to tell.


    ¡°Ambiguous.¡± Ling Yu recalled how frequent General Ling Xiao got asked for questioning and guessed that the First Marshal probably wanted to sit on the fence.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Ling Lan closed her eyes again. Ling Yu was just a loyalist. He couldn¡¯t participate in the battle for power personally. He didn¡¯t understand some things that were happening too. If she wanted to understand the situation clearly, she needed to ask her father.


    Ling Lan asked Ling Yu because she didn¡¯t want to be fooled by her father. Ling Xiao was a good person. His only w was that he liked handle everything himself.


    ¡°Rabbit, what do you n to do?¡± Li Lanfeng quickly used his spiritual power to contact Ling Lan. ¡°I will make a decision after speaking with my father. In terms of understanding the bigger picture, my father is better than me.¡± Ling Lan understood herself well. Her father understood the bigger picture better than her. She didn¡¯t want to create more trouble because of her poor decisions.


    Li Lanfeng nodded. His heart skipped a beat. ¡®Rabbit knew what his weakness was so he wouldn¡¯t make a decision blindly. However, he seemed to believe in his judgment of himself too much. If I am Rabbit, I would have made a n already, I wouldn¡¯t even think about asking for General Ling Xiao¡¯s opinion.¡¯


    ¡®Thinking about it, in 250 Ace Mecha n, I made some decisions like this too. Did I create trouble for Rabbit unknowingly because of this?¡¯ Li Lanfeng felt cold sweat on his back. He reminded himself that he mustn¡¯t make simr mistakes again.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that her words unintentionally caused Li Lanfeng to reflect on himself. This caused Li Lanfeng to change his style in the future and got better atmunicating with people. It helped him to prevent possible problems that might arise in the future.

 Chapter 926 - Handsome!

    Chapter 926 Handsome!


    Ling Lan finally arrived at the Ling family¡¯s house. Ling Qin was already waiting for her anxiously at the porch. When he saw the hover car appeared on the horizon, he felt relieved.


    The moment the hover car stopped in front of the porch, Ling Qin rushed forward and opened the door, revealing Ling Lan who was covered in bandages. He had already seen her once but he still couldn¡¯t hold in his tears. ¡°Young master, you¡¯re finally back. Mistress is waiting for you.¡± Their young miss should have lived a life without any worry. However, a single thought caused her to suffer so much. Ling Qin felt regretful as he thought about this.


    Ling Lan nodded. Soon, she was carried into the house on a stretcher that was prepared beforehand. She was sent to the treatment room hurriedly while Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang were invited to the main hall to have some rest. Li Lanfeng left Ling Lan without much hesitation because Ling Lan had already preempted him at the start.


    If the Ling family¡¯s house was not safe, nowhere would be safe.


    Ling Lan entered the treatment room and saw her mother waiting for her inside. When Lan Luofeng saw Ling Lan entering with bandages all over her, her eyes turned red. Ling Lan thought that she was going to cry but instead, Lan Luofeng smiled and forced her tears back.


    ¡°My Lan¡¯er, you¡¯re the best. Mother is proud of you!¡± Lan Luofeng smiled gently as she kissed Ling Lan on her forehead. Ling Lan was stunned. This Lan Luofeng was different from the one in her memory.


    Ling Lan was slowly ced on a bed. identally, Ling Lan saw her mother turning her back to her and wiping her tears away. She quickly understood why her mother was acting like this. Lan Luofeng was worried that she would interfere with her rest when she cried in front of her.


    Just like how Ling Lan understood Lan Luofeng, Lan Luofeng understood her too. Hence, she didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to worry. That was why she controlled her emotions and gave Ling Lan a smile tofort her.


    This was her mother. She looked like a weak flower that needed the protection of everyone but in actuality, she was stronger than everyone. She never gave up easily. This was why Lan Luofeng was able to protect Ling Xiao¡¯s merits from her greedy rtives after he ¡®died¡¯ a few years ago and raised Ling Lan up safely.


    ¡°Mummy, I¡¯m fine!¡± Ling Lan felt touched by the love of her mother. She didn¡¯t want her mother to worry.


    Lan Luofeng turned immediately. She smiled as she looked at Ling Lan. Everything seemed perfect except for the tears on the corner of her eyes.


    It was a tiring journey so Ling Lan didn¡¯t chat much with Lan Luofeng. She quickly went to sleep.


    When Ling Lan was sleeping, Lan Luofeng and Ling Nanyi asked everyone else to leave. They closed the door and started unwrapping the bandages around Ling Lan.


    Lan Luofeng saw the injured skin under the bandages. Every single part of the skin was either bruised or cracked. The wounds hadn¡¯t healed. Lan Luofeng couldn¡¯t control her emotions anymore. She rushed to the side and started crying. She was afraid that she would wake Ling Lan up so she covered her mouth and forced herself to cry silently.


    Tears ran down Ling Nanyi¡¯s face too. Ling Qin told her that their young miss was heavily injured but she didn¡¯t expect the injuries to be so bad. How painful was it at that time? How did their young miss endure it? Ling Nanyi felt as if her heart was stabbed by a knife.


    As a strong mother, Lan Luofeng came back beside Ling Lan after a while and started treating Ling Lan¡¯s wounds. Then, she used new bandages to wrap her wounds. Her actions were light and gentle. However, Ling Lan continued frowning in her sleep.


    At night, Ling Xiao finally came back. The moment he entered the house, Ling Qin nodded at him and Ling Xiao heaved a sigh of relief. He was fighting a verbal war with the people from the military so he wasn¡¯t able to get first-hand news of Ling Lan.


    He came to the main hall and saw Lan Luofeng talking with Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang. They were talking about what Ling Lan did on Haijiao. Lan Luofeng¡¯s expression was filled with pride as she heard about Ling Lan achievements.


    When they saw Ling Xiao, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang stood up hurriedly. ¡°General!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re both Lan¡¯er¡¯s friend. There¡¯s no need to be polite,¡± Ling Xiao smiled as he said. He turned and looked at Lan Luofeng. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°You came when we were talking about the battle on Haijiao.¡± Lan Luofeng smiled gently.


    ¡°I see. I¡¯ve something to ask too. Come to my study.¡± Ling Xiao acted quickly. He brought Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang to his study directly.


    Only people who Ling Xiao trusted could enter his study. Ling Lan told Ling Xiao that Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang could be trusted. She was the one who suggested bringing them into the study too.


    The moment they entered the study, they saw Ling Lan sitting behind a desk. She had bandages all over her and was flipping through a book.


    ¡°Boss, you are fine?¡± Luo Lang shouted in surprise.


    Li Lanfeng tried to appear calm but his eyes betrayed his emotions.


    ¡°I¡¯m much better. I¡¯m sorry to make you worry,¡± Ling Lan said apologetically. To prevent other people from suspecting, she lied to her friends too.


    ¡°No, this is good. If not, we won¡¯t be able to act so sincerely.¡± Li Lanfeng agreed with Ling Lan¡¯s decision. The more people knew about this, the greater the chance of a loophole appearing in their acting. It was better to have fewer people with knowledge of this.


    Luo Lang was confused. ¡®What are they talking about?¡¯


    ¡°Have a seat.¡± Ling Xiao smiled when he saw the difference in expression between the two people whom his daughter trusted. Li Lanfeng was a sensitive person while Luo Lang was a straightforward person unexpectedly. It didn¡¯t seem to suit his looks.


    Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang sat on the two chairs at the side. They didn¡¯t expect Ling Xiao to sit down on the seat next to them. They thought that their Boss would give up his seat to General Ling Xiao.


    ¡°Father, what¡¯s the situation in the military? Don¡¯t try to fool me. I¡¯ve asked Ling Yu and Grandfather Ling Qin.¡± Ling Lan stared at her father with cold eyes.


    Ling Xiao held his forehead in his heads. ¡®When did the identity of me and my daughter changed? Is this how my daughter should be speaking to me?¡¯


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes lit up. He didn¡¯t expect Ling Lan to appear so oppressive in front of General Ling Xiao too. ¡®When will I be able to be like him?¡±


    As for Luo Lang, he just stared at Ling Lan with admiration in his beautiful eyes. ¡®Ah! My boss is so handsome!¡¯

 Chapter 927 - Purpose!

    Chapter 927 Purpose!


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing really...¡± Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t used to telling his daughter about the problems he was facing. However, under Ling Lan¡¯s cold and unrelenting stare, Ling Xiao could only bitterly tell her the truth, ¡°Currently, thew enforcement unit is indeed pressuring me a lot about how I passed on my god-ss mecha to you. However, I can still endure it.¡±


    ¡®My own daughter is severely injured and she still wants to wait to talk to me in person. Doesn¡¯t this mean that she is worried about me?¡¯ Ling Xiao¡¯s heart felt warm. He also gave up the pride of being a father and finally told Ling Lan everything.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan seemingly began to think deeply. In reality, she was in her mindscape looking through all the rules and regtions Little Four had found regarding god-ss mechas to try to find a loophole.


    Li Lanfeng also began to think deeply about the situation. If he wanted Ling Lan to be safe, then General Ling Xiao must also be safe as well.


    Ling Xiao was also thinking of how to perfectly resolve this issue. He didn¡¯t want to continue to waste his efforts and time on such trivial things, as he had more important things to do.


    The room instantly became silent. Only Luo Lang was looking at the other three people in the room with a confused expression, but didn¡¯t dare to make a sound and disturb them.


    The Federation had indeed written rules about how a god-ss mecha must only be used by its owner. The operator and mecha were forbidden to be separated unless there was an external factor stopping them. This also clearly proved that god-ss mechas were the strongest weapons of the nation and was forbidden to be used for self-interest. Ling Xiao had broken both of these rules, so his impeachment was expected.


    However, this didn¡¯t mean that Ling Xiao would actually be impeached. If the First Marshal wanted to protect Ling Xiao, he still had his methods around it.


    Ling Lan frowned as he looked at the rule that can only be invoked by the three marshals.


    Desperate times called for desperate measures! If the First Marshal was willing to invoke this rule, then Ling Xiao would not have problems facing thew enforcement unit anymore.


    ¡°Dad, where does the First Marshal stand currently?¡± Ling Lan suddenly broke the silence and asked.


    ¡°He is not taking any sides.¡± Ling Xiao was still frowning. The entire military had chosen to not speak about his issue. The Second Marshal¡¯s faction also chose to stay silent. After all, the Second Marshal owed him a favor. Ling Xiao originally thought the Third Marshal¡¯s faction would take this chance and make a move, but instead they were also silent. This was something he didn¡¯t expect would happen.


    With the other two marshals being silent and the First Marshal¡¯s personality of nning first and executingter, they wouldn¡¯t reach a consensus that easily.


    ¡°Could they possibly have given up?¡± Ling Lan asked hesitantly. However, Ling Xiao understood what Ling Lan wanted to ask.


    ¡°Currently, that¡¯s not possible.¡± Ling Xiao thought for a moment and gave this answer. Ling Xiao can still feel the care and protection form the First Marshal. Even if this care was slowly disappearing as he grew stronger, it still had not reached a point where the First Marshal would give up on him.


    Ling Xiao was someone who knew to appreciate what others did for him. He cherished how the First Marshal cared for him in the past. This was why when he returned, he publicly stood under the First Marshal¡¯s faction.


    Although he knew that this rtionship with the First Marshal had some changes and couldn¡¯t return to when theypletely trusted each other during their younger years, he still chose to continue to follow the First Marshal. He would follow the First Marshal until the he didn¡¯t need him anymore.


    ¡°But, they won¡¯t help either, right?¡± Ling Lan hit the nail on the coffin. Otherwise, as a general, Ling Xiao wouldn¡¯t be so disheveled from dealing with thew enforcement unit.


    ¡°Perhaps everyone¡¯s waiting to see who is willing to help me.¡± Ling Xiao thoughts were even more intricate than Ling Lan.


    ¡°Understood¡± Ling Lan now understood why Ling Xiao was so passive recently. The reason the marshals didn¡¯t make any moves was to see just how much power Ling Xiao had control of. However, Ling Xiao would rather let himself be disheveled than exposing those working for him.


    ¡°However, if the situation continues like this, it wouldn¡¯t be beneficial for you father.¡± The three marshals could endure it, but Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t. Once it entered the legal system, Ling Xiao must stop everything that he was doing. If the duration of this debacle was to reach three months, his job position would no longer be guaranteed. The 23rd Division that he worked so hard on would then be handed over to someone else.


    ¡°I understand. That¡¯s why I¡¯m currently looking for a way to resolve this situation without getting into bigger problems.¡± Ling Lan knew of this point and Ling Xiao knew of it even more. If it were to reach that point, then he would have to expose a portion of those working under him.


    Li Lanfeng, who had been listening to Ling Lan and Ling Xiao¡¯s conversation, suddenly interjected, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not like General Ling Xiao doesn¡¯t have any chances to resolve this situation.¡±


    ¡°How?¡± Ling Lan asked. Li Lanfeng always had many strategies in mind. Perhaps he managed to think of something that the two of them hadn¡¯t thought of.


    ¡°General Ling Xiao has a huge advantage that can be exploited,¡± replied Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Oh? I have an advantage?¡± Ling Xiao raised his eyebrows in astonishment. His confidants had determined that he was at a disadvantage in every aspect. He didn¡¯t think that a young Li Lanfeng would be able to say that he had an advantage somewhere. This made Ling Xiao became very curious of what Li Lanfeng would say..


    ¡°Yeah. General, did you forget? You are the Federation¡¯s idol.¡± Li Lanfeng told Ling Xiao about whatmon soldier and citizens thought about him.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes glimmered. ¡°Apply for a public hearing.¡±


    ¡°Public hearing? That is a big issue, let me think about it carefully.¡± Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng¡¯s words provided Ling Xiao a new train of thought. He began to think about the benefits and disadvantages, and whether it was possible to conduct a public hearing.


    ¡°General, you definitely broke the rules. However, in the face of family values and oues of the battle, that would mean nothing,¡± Li Lanfeng said proudly.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes shined bright, while Ling Xiao frowned again when they heard that.


    If he didn¡¯t apply for a public hearing, Ling Xiao would only be able to have an internal hearing. If thew enforcement unit insisted that hemitted a crime, nothing he says would matter. However, a public hearing would make thew enforcement unit unable to control the situation that easily. As the idol of the citizens, Ling Xiao would receive a great number of supporters. If they also used these two points to fight against the convictions, it would be impossible for them to lose.


    This way, Ling Xiao also didn¡¯t need to expose those who worked for him. Just himself would be enough.


    In actuality, Ling Xiao didn¡¯t like to have his own private matters known to the public. This was why he didn¡¯t think of applying for a public hearing in the first ce.


    ¡°However, if we do this, then you¡¯ll really be the person everyone will be talking about, Lan¡¯er.¡± Once the news that Ling Lan was his son bes public knowledge, the chance of Ling Lan returning to being a female would be even lower. This n didn¡¯t align with Ling Xiao¡¯s ns for Ling Lan and was also another reason why he was hesitant to publicly announce it.


    ¡°It may be more dangerous for our regimentmander, but it would also be an opportunity.¡± As long as Ling Xiao was fine, no would dare toy their hands on 250 Ace Mecha n.


    In the end, Li Lanfeng still didn¡¯t give up on the hope that Ling Lan could remain in the military. Li Lanfeng wanted to use the power of the people to make everyone know of Ling Lan¡¯s sacrifices and identity. This would make the higher-ups in the military not dare to make any moves on Ling Lan. Once that happens, even if Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t be able to pilot a mecha because of his injuries, he would still be 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s one and only regimentmander.


    Everything that Li Lanfeng was doing now was for this reason.

 Chapter 928 - Running Away From Home!

    Chapter 928 Running Away From Home!


    Ling Xiao¡¯s request for a public hearing shocked the entire military. Some people wanted to stop him but it was Ling Xiao¡¯s right to do it. Most people remained silent in this matter but that didn¡¯t mean that they supported the people who reprimanded Ling Xiao. Thus, under such circumstances, Ling Xiao¡¯s request was approved quickly. An exciting conference was going to ur in the Federation soon.


    Just like what Li Lanfeng had expected, most of the citizens of the Federation had good feelings towards Ling Xiao. Besides those people that were jealous of him, most citizens couldn¡¯t ept the fact that thew enforcement unit reprimanded Ling Xiao.


    The conference was held as nned. The entire Federation was watching the conference. Anyone that was free would enter the virtual world and witness the conference for themselves.


    During the conference, thew enforcement department started reprimanding Ling Xiao righteously for his illegal behaviour. Then, they told the public that the mecha operator Ling Lan, whom they admired and respected, was actually the son of Ling Xiao. They used this point to prove that Ling Xiao had secretly sent his god-ss mecha out to protect his son. Basically using him that everything he had done was for his personal gain.


    He Xuyang was in charge of refuting the ims. He led his group of advisers and used the result approach to refute their ims. No matter what they im, they should look at the results first. Did General Ling Xiao cause any anger or losses to the Federation due to his illegal actions?


    The procurators were speechless when all the results wereid out before them. If it wasn¡¯t for the god-ss mecha, the bases on Haijiao would all be annihted. The reinforcements would be in a dire position and the result would be the loss of close to 700 million soldiers. Of course, Ling Xiao¡¯s illegal act harmed one person, and that was his son, Lieutenant Colonel Ling Lan.


    Very soon, Ling Lan¡¯s diagnosis was thrown out. His spiritual power was exhausted and his potential was at the negatives now. His body was injured badly and his physical condition was now at the lowest grade, G. These results meant that even if Ling Lan managed to recover, he wouldn¡¯t be able to go back to being an imperial operator anymore. He could at most be an advanced mecha warrior.


    This diagnosis came from the hands of many experts and military doctors from the military hospital. The most advanced medical equipment was also used to scan Ling Lan¡¯s body to make sure that the results were true. (Little Four couldn¡¯t do anything to humans but he could easily handle the lowly medical equipment.)


    Ling Xiao¡¯s actions saved 600 million soldiers but harmed his only son. It also caused the Federation to lose a potential god-ss operator and also caused the idol of the Federation to lose his only heir. Could this be said as personal gain?


    He Xuyang¡¯s questions caused the citizens¡¯ hearts to waver. That¡¯s right, if Ling Xiao did it for his personal gains, he could have asked Ling Lan to leave with the god-ss mecha. Based on how powerful a god-ss mecha was, Ling Lan could definitely escape from Haijiao by himself. After that, Ling Lan would still have a bright future ahead of himself and Ling Xiao wouldn¡¯t have to be called to ount for those crimes too.


    However, Ling Lan used his own strength to defend the base during the battle on Haijiao. He jumped and fought with the enemy for 20 minutes using a god-ss mecha. He defended the base until reinforcements arrived, but one foot of his was in the grave now.


    The citizens of the Federation thought about the news they had heard on Ling Lan¡¯s dire conditions (This was Li Lanfeng¡¯s doing. Little Four helped him a little too). This was enough to prove that Ling Lan was prepared to live or die with the base. If the reinforcements didn¡¯te, Ling Lan would have died in battle.


    The citizens were touched by Ling Lan¡¯s selfless actions. They couldn¡¯t control their emotions anymore, and they made their final decisions. They proimed Ling Xiao as innocent. The votes flooded the mainframe of the military, so much so it almost crashed the mainframe.


    The support for Ling Xiao climbed higher and higher. More than 80% of the citizens supported Ling Xiao. Thew enforcement department knew that they had failed. In the end, they lost to public opinion. Just like what Li Lanfeng had said, battles always emphasize on results. If the result was better than normal, the public would support and ept the decision. In addition to that, Ling Xiao had a good reputation among the public. With the help of Ling Lan¡¯s selfless act, Ling Xiao would never lose this public hearing


    Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t beaten in this crisis. Instead, his position in the hearts of the public rose greatly. This caused many higher authorities of the military to be on their guard against him.


    However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about what happened after that. She was recovering well. But, she was unable to handle the care and concern from her mother anymore.


    After Ling Lan got better, her mother changed her attention from her health to her love life. She was very interested in the two daughter-inws Ling Qin had told her about. She kept pestering Ling Lan and asked her to let her meet her daughters-inw. Ling Lan was speechless. ¡®Was I too sessful in disguising as a man? Did my mother forget that I¡¯m ady too?¡¯


    Lan Luofeng didn¡¯t forget about this. While Ling Xiao had his bottom line regarding the Twenty-Four Filial Exemrs, Lan Luofeng had no baseline. She would support any decision made by her daughter. Hence, even if her daughter was gay, she would support her too. If Ling Xiao didn¡¯t agree, Ling Lan didn¡¯t even need to persuade him. Lan Luofeng would do it for her.


    Ling Lan told Lan Luofeng that she had no choice but to ¡®marry¡¯ the twodies at that time. It wasn¡¯t real and she would solve this matter in the future. Lan Luofeng was disappointed so she started asking Ling Lan if she took a fancy on any men. Sometimes, she would even analyze the young officers in 250 Ace Mecha n along with Ling Nanyi and pick the one that was most suitable for her daughter. Ling Lan felt stressed by all these conversations. She was afraid that her mother would suddenly gift her a few men wrapped like presents in her bedroom one day.


    ¡®Let¡¯s hide from her!¡¯ In the face of the constant stress from Lan Luofeng, Ling Lan decided to pack her bags and run away from home.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, sob, our daughter sent us a message to say that she ran away from home.¡± Lan Luofeng came to find Ling Xiao the moment she received the


    message.


    Actually, Ling Lan had already told Ling Xiao that she wanted to run away from home. Ling Xiao was against the decision for any men to be matched with Ling Lan too. However, he didn¡¯t dare to reject his wife directly. Thus, he was happy when Ling Lan wanted to leave the house. He was afraid that one day, when hees back from work, his daughter wouldn¡¯t be his anymore.


    Thus, without reminding Lan Luofeng, Ling Lan sneaked out of the house with the help from Ling Xiao.

 Chapter 929 - It Has A Hard Time

    Chapter 929 It Has A Hard Time


    Muyang was a small on the edge of the Federation. It was a third-rate but among all the third-rates, it was the worst in terms of economy, and status.


    What hindered its development was its position away from the center of the Federation. It was also very small. Its size was one-tenth of a normal third-rate. There were less than 5 million residents on it. So,pared to the third-rates that had a billion residence, it was inconspicuous.


    A third-rate was alreadycking in resources. If those huge organizations in the Federation wanted to spend money to develop such a, they needed to see value in it. But, the small Muyang didn¡¯t have any value at all. This was why it was not developed much.


    However, this allowed Muyang to maintain its natural appearance. It felt like a natural paradise. Many people were attracted by its natural sceneries. They would get sick of the modern city ande over the Muyang to have a holiday for a few days. But, Muyang couldn¡¯t bepared with the tourist destinations on others. Thus, there were not many real tourists on this inparison.


    Since there weren¡¯t many tourists, the residents of Muyang had a hard time going out too. The port of Muyang was small and old, so it could only handle small-sized starships. Of course, no big-sized starships woulde to this broken-down ce.


    Therefore, there would only be one starshiping to Muyang each week. It woulde from the second-rate, Moya, which was nearest to it.


    One day, a small spacecraft came to the during the agreed time.


    It was a small spacecraft that could carry a thousand people. Around 60 people walked down the spacecraft. One of them carried a simple bag and had a metal mask on her face. Her aura was gentle. She joined the tourists and walked out of the spaceport.


    The spaceport was linked to the by an old shuttle. It got activated once a week just like the spacecraft. When the tourists got on this old shuttle, they would be frightened by the antiqueness of the thing. They were afraid that the old thing would break down in the middle of a flight.


    However, the facilities and vehicles on Muyang¡¯s port were well maintained even though they were old. The shuttle transported the tourists safely to Muyang.


    When the tourists walked out of the tform, they felt a cool breeze. Their surroundings were filled with rice fields. They could see low-rise buildings and wooden huts with a red roofs among the golden rice paddy. It was a rare sight.


    They didn¡¯t expect the tform to be situated in the suburbs instead of the city. This unexpected arrangement made the tourist excited. They took out their cameras and started taking photos of this scenery.


    A young person smiled when she saw this. She carried his bag and casually chose a path. Then, she walked there alone.


    After walking for a while, the young person heard a timid voice, ¡°Big brother, do you need a room?¡±


    The young person was stunned. She looked back and saw a small little girl around 10 years old looking at her timidly. Her clothes were slightly old and there was a small boy around 5 years old beside her. The boy had an old and broken mecha model in his hands. He was looking at her curiously with big curious eyes.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it time for school now?¡± The young person looked at the midday sun in the sky.


    ¡°Our family is poor so we can¡¯t pay for school fees. However, we will be able to afford my brother¡¯s school fees next year.¡± The little girl noticed that the young person was amiable and gentle so she was less timid now. She smiled brightly at the young person.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t scout academy free?¡± The young person was puzzled.


    ¡°It¡¯s free but the lodging, clothes, and food needs money too. Poor families like us couldn¡¯t afford it.¡± The little girl seemed used to the young man¡¯s puzzlement. Many tourists before this person were puzzled too. However, after she exined to them, they wouldn¡¯t have any more queries.


    ¡°Ah, sister, white, white...¡± The little boy shouted excitedly as he pointed to the young person.


    A white circr creature suddenly popped up from the backpack of the young person. The round object had a pair of wide eyes that took up half of its body. It blinked and looked really cute.


    ¡°Little Yong, don¡¯t be impolite.¡± The little girl hurriedly stopped her brother. She looked at the young person worriedly. She was afraid the person would get angry because of her brother¡¯s rash actions.


    ¡°You mean this?¡± The young person wasn¡¯t angry. Instead, she smiled and took the white circr creature down from the bag. She passed the white circr creature to the little boy. ¡°Its name is Little White. It¡¯s my pet. You can say hi to it.¡±


    The little boy asked timidly, ¡°Can I hug it?¡± In his many past experiences, tourists would appear nice at the start but they would suddenly turn angry and kick him. He got scared after a few times. He wondered if the young brother in front of him was willing to let him touch this cute and precious-looking pet.


    ¡°Of course. Little White,e and say hi.¡± The young person beckoned at Little White.


    Little White waved it tentacles cutely and the little boy hugged it excitedly. He stuffed his face into Little White¡¯s round body. He used so much force that Little White almost suffocated in the little boy¡¯s arms.


    ¡®Rawr! Can you throw away your broken mecha model? It¡¯s poking me!¡¯ Little White screamed in pain.


    Little White wanted to cry. It was at the top of the food chain on Juhao. Now, it became a cute pet used to coax little children. What a hard time it has!


    The little girl saw Little White¡¯s pitiful and cute expression when her brother squeezed it. Little White didn¡¯t retaliate but its eyes were filled with tears, so she felt sad for Little White. She hurriedly stopped her brother and saved Little White from suffocation. She carried it in her arms and consoled it for a while,forting its broken heart slightly.


    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry. Brother, if you need a room, my family can provide one for you. It¡¯s cleaner than the hotels here and it¡¯s cheap too.¡± While the little girl wasforting Little White, she suddenly remembered her motive. She hurriedly passed Little White back to the young person. ¡°Brother, stay at our house. My mother can cook tasty food.¡± The little boy thought about the good food he was going to eat when he went back and swallowed his saliva.


    The young person tilted her head and thought for a moment. ¡°How much for one night?¡± If the price was not bad, she would try it.


    ¡°900 Mu credits for one night. That is 100 Federation credits,¡± the little girl smiled as she replied. She felt that she might be sessful this time.


    ¡°Not bad. Let¡¯s take a look at your house then. If I don¡¯t like the environment, I¡¯ll not be staying.¡± The young person smiled.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯ll definitely be satisfied with my house.¡± The little girl patted her chest confidently.

 Chapter 930 - Small Injury!

    Chapter 930 Small Injury!


    This young person was Ling Lan. In the Ling family¡¯s house, a loyalist with a simr body structure and voice was used to disguise as Ling Lan. The loyalist pretended to be her andid in the healing pod. Little Four also left a replica of him at the house to oversee the security of the house. Even if someone from the military headquarters came, they wouldn¡¯t be able to see past the disguise.


    This time, Ling Lan just travelled based on luck. She would point to a location on the map casually and visit that ce. She didn¡¯t expect herself toe to Muyang. She didn¡¯t even know about this in the first ce.


    The little girl¡¯s house was in a small town. It was a little far from the tform so the little girl brought Ling Lan onto a hover bus. The bus travelled for an hour before reaching the little girl¡¯s house.


    Just like what the little girl said, her house was small and the exterior was old but it was very clean. Many ornaments in the house were handmade. They were exquisite and pretty. Some were very cute too. Compared to the cold hotel rooms, this ce felt much more homely.


    Ling Lan was satisfied with what she saw. She gave the little girl 200 Federation credits. The rest of the money would be used to pay for her food.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯tck money. She could have given more to the poor family but she didn¡¯t want to break this fair deal between them. Treating them fairly was a form of respect too.


    She tidied her luggage in her room. When she finished, she noticed that it was still early. She wanted to go to the town to take a walk. Suddenly, a little head popped out from the door. The little boy was looking at Little White longingly.


    Along the way, Ling Lan found out what the names of the two children were. The little girl was called Liu Aihua while the little boy was called Liu Aijun. It was obvious that this family loved their country and the military. (¡®Hua¡¯ refers to Huaxia while ¡®Jun¡¯ refers to the army and Ai means love)


    ¡°Aijun,e in,¡± Ling Lan smiled as she said.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gentle and friendly manner won over Liu Aijun¡¯s trust. He hurriedly stepped inside Ling Lan¡¯s room.


    ¡°Brother Jiang Hui,¡± Liu Aijun called Ling Lan. Ling Lan was using the name ¡®Jiang Hui¡¯ now. Little Four went to look up the Federation¡¯s database and found those people that liked to travel, would always disappear for one to two years, and had the same age as Ling Lan. Ling Lan was able to use any of their names.


    Ling Lan looked at the broken mecha model in Liu Aijun¡¯s hands. She asked curiously, ¡°You like mecha models?¡±


    Liu Aijun nodded. ¡°Yes, my father bought this for me. My father is a powerful mecha operator. I want to be a mecha operator in the future too.¡± He took out the mecha model and started ying with


    Ling Lan felt her heart pounding, as she hadn¡¯t seen the man of the family anywhere. ¡°Where is your father?¡±


    ¡°He is protecting the country in a faraway ce. He is a hero.¡± Liu Aijun looked up with a proud face.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t expect herself to stay with the wife of a soldier. It was hard for a woman to bring up two children when the man was not at home. No wonder they needed toe out and look for ways to earn more money.


    ¡®No, the treatment of soldiers in the Federation is very good. The descendants of soldiers would be sent to schools and all their expenses would be deducted. These expenses include their living and food expenses.¡¯ Ling Lan remembered Liu Aihua saying that she was not able to go to school because their family couldn¡¯t afford the misceneous fees. They were currently working hard to earn the fees for Liu Aijun to enter school next year.


    This meant that either Liu Aijun¡¯s father was not a soldier and his mother lied to him or the government on Muyang took all the funds given to the soldiers¡¯ family. Ling Lan remembered the gentle but strong-willed woman she saw just now. She immediately denied the option that Liu Aijun¡¯s mother lied to her son.


    ¡®I didn¡¯t expect to meet such an interesting event on a random I came to.¡¯ Ling Lan¡¯s eyes turned cold. After experiencing the cruelness of the battlefield, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t bear to watch anyone treating a soldier unfairly. Undeniably, the actions of the government of Muyang had angered Ling Lan.


    However, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t going to solve this issue personally. She asked Little Four, who had simr thoughts as her, to collect all the evidence of corruption by the government of Muyang. She nned to send this information to Li Lanfeng after she leaves Muyang and let them handle this issue. This was a test she created for her friends.


    Ling Lan made her decision and left Little White behind to y with Liu Aijun. She went to walk around the small town alone.


    ¡®Sob, my master abandoned me again¡¯ Little Whiteid on the table and cried. If it didn¡¯t agilely sneak into its master¡¯s backpack, its master would have left it behind at the Ling family¡¯s house. ¡®Why is it so difficult to be a pet?¡¯


    The town was small but it had everything she needed. However, the price was much higher than the others. Some of the necessary utilities were even twice as expensive. Ling Lan frowned again.


    Muyang was a primitive. However, there was a mecha maintenance shop here. Ling Lan walked into the shop curiously.


    A young man was arranging some mechaponents When he saw Ling Lan entering the shop, he stopped what he was doing and asked, ¡°What would you like?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just taking a look around,¡± Ling Lan smiled.


    The young man smiled and continued what he was doing.


    ¡°Brother Jiang Hui, what are you doing here?¡± Ling Lan suddenly heard a familiar voice. She looked up and saw Liu Aihua. She had changed into an old working attire and was waving to her from the entrance of the shop.


    ¡°Aihua, what are you doing here?¡± Ling Lan was surprised.


    The young man heard Aihua talking to Ling Hua and turned vignt. ¡°Aihua, who is he?¡±


    ¡°He is staying at my house recently. His name is Brother Jiang Hui.¡± Liu Aihua quickly introduced Ling Lan. ¡°This is Brother Wang Qi. He is the son of the owner of this shop.¡±


    Ling Lan nodded at Wang Qi friendly. When she heard his name, she had guessed his identity. The name of this shop was called The Wang Shop.


    Wang Qi let down his guard after hearing Liu Aihua¡¯s exnation and gave Ling Lan a smile.


    Liu Aihua exined to Ling Lan, ¡°I¡¯m helping out with the maintenance of mechaponents at this shop. Grandfather and Brother Wang Qi are good people. He allowed me to earn some money here.¡±


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡®It seems like the owner of this shop wanted to help Liu Aihua. If not, how can an 11-year-old little girl be able to find a job?¡¯


    ¡°Little Aihua, who are you talking to?¡± A muscr middle-aged man walked out and patted Liu Aihua¡¯s head.


    ¡°I¡¯m talking to my tenant. Also, Grandpa Wang, stop touching my hair,¡± Liu Aihua said with frustration. She had just tied her hair up but it was in a mess now.


    The middle-aged man looked at Ling Lan. His eyes shone brightly. ¡°Young man, why did youe out and y when you¡¯re injured?¡± His eyes were sharp so he saw the bandages hidden under Ling Lan¡¯s clothes.


    ¡°Ah, Brother Jiang Hui, you¡¯re injured?¡± Aihua was dumbfounded as she asked in concern.


    Ling Lan raised her hand and revealed the bandages beneath her leather gloves and clothes. She smiled. ¡°It¡¯s just a small injury. It doesn¡¯t hurt anymore.¡±

 Chapter 931 - Underground Casino!

    Chapter 931 Underground Casino!


    Ling Lan pointed to the mechaponents and asked curiously, ¡°There are people ying with mechas here too?¡±


    Military mechas could only be maintained by the military in order to keep the technology a secret. As for the mechas of the elite families, the maintenance would be done by the mechapany that made them. Even if thepany outsourced its maintenance services, they wouldn¡¯t look for a small shop like The Wang Shop. Hence, the customers of The Wang Shop could only be ordinary people who used normal mechas that had no weapons on them.


    Grandpa Wang smiled but didn¡¯t reply to her. On the other hand, Wang Qi replied without any hesitation, ¡°There is an underground casino where people will fight using mechas. Those people like to send their mechas to us to modify them.¡±


    Grandpa Wang shook his head slightly and sighed when he saw his grandson replying to the customer truthfully.


    ¡°There is an underground mecha arena?¡± Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows. She didn¡¯t expect this calm and peaceful-looking to have such an advanced mecha casino. Normally, this kind of casino only existed in prosperouss.


    ¡°Of course. If you can be the champion on Muyang, you¡¯ll be able to go to the mecha arena on Mai¡¯er Fa.¡± Wang Qi had a yearning look when he talked about Mailer Fa. It seemed like he wanted to visit the most famous gambling of the human race.


    Mailer Fa was an independent at the edge of human society. It was a prosperous that only runs gambling businesses. The most famous casino there was the mecha arena. There were all kinds of mecha operators there, from the lowest level to the highest level of imperial operators. These mecha operators were exiled. They didn¡¯t belong to any countries and no countries weed them. Hence, they could only go to these no man¡¯snds.


    Hundreds of millions of gamblers woulde to Mailer Fa every day. This was the holy ground for all gamblers. As long as they managed to get onto Mailer Fa, their lives would be much better. Themission for a match was enough for them to livefortably for two to three years. Even if they died identally in the arena, the pension was enough for their families to have a good life.


    The natural pressure of life caused a certain portion of poor citizens to choose this dangerous path. Some people also took the risk to be mercenaries there. They all wanted to give their families a better life. In order to achieve this, they were willing to risk their lives.


    ¡°What are you talking about? Do your work.¡± Grandpa Wang¡¯s expression changed when he heard his grandson talking about Mailer Fa.


    Ling Lan seemed to understand something from the reaction of two people in front of her. She didn¡¯t stay at the shop any longer. She promptly arranged a time with Liu Aihua to go back together and continued walking around the old streets.


    When the sun was about to set, Ling Lan returned to the mecha shop and went home with Liu Aihua. The moment she entered the house, a round white ball pounced on her.


    Ling Lan caught it. Little White had tears in his eyes as he looked at her petntly.


    ¡°Master, how can you throw me here like this? You¡¯re so heartless,¡± Little Whiteined.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t I find a toy for you,¡± Ling Lan replied irresponsibly.


    ¡°Rawr...¡± Little White shouted angrily. ¡®Aren¡¯t I the little boy¡¯s toy instead? I almost got ruined after he yed with me.¡¯


    ¡°Fine, fine. I¡¯ll bring you out next time. I know that you¡¯re very obedient,¡± Ling Lanforted Little White.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± Little White hugged its face with its tentacles shyly. ¡®My master praised me for being obedient. I¡¯m so happy.¡¯ If it could shake its butt or if it did have a butt, Little White would definitely shake it to disy his happiness.


    Thus, the stupid Little White got consoled by Ling Lan¡¯s insincere words. It didn¡¯t mind that it became the toy of a little child.


    ¡°Sister, you¡¯re back. Brother Jiang Hui, my mother cooked a lot of good food. We¡¯re waiting for you to eat together.¡± Liu Aijun swallowed his saliva. No wonder he was waiting at the entrance. He was too hungry so he was waiting for Ling Lan toe back quickly so that they could eat dinner.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go and have dinner then. I¡¯m hungry after walking around for the entire afternoon.¡± Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t disappoint this little boy.


    After they walked into the small dining room, they saw a sumptuous dinnerid out on the small dining table. The mother of the siblings wanted to bring Ling Lan¡¯s food into her room but Ling Lan rejected her offer. She told Mother Liu that she wanted to enjoy home-cooked food together with everyone as she had been away from home for a long time and wanted to experience the feeling of eating as a family.


    The manners of the Liu family was good. Before Ling Lan sat down, Liu Aijun and Liu Aihua stood at the side and waited for her. They only sat down excitedly after Ling Lan called them over.


    Liu Aijun was still young so he didn¡¯t know how to hide his desire. He looked at Ling Lan with clear anticipation in his eyes. The moment she started eating, he would be able to eat too.


    Mother Liu saw this and scolded him. ¡°Aijun, don¡¯t be rude.¡±


    Liu Aijun was sad. He lowered his head in sadness. If he didn¡¯t take Ling Lan as his real family, he wouldn¡¯t have disyed such emotions. It had to be said that the aura on Ling Lan was too gentle and calm, so Liu Aijun and Liu Aihua had lowered their guards around her.


    ¡°Aunt Liu, if you still think of me as a guest, I¡¯ll not stay here anymore.¡± Ling Lan pretended to be unhappy. She took a piece of meat and ced it in Liu Aijun¡¯s bowl. ¡°Aijun, let¡¯s eat together. Let¡¯s not care about your mother.¡± She winked at Liu Aijun as though they were friendly rtives. Liu Aijun instantly smiled brightly.


    ¡°You too, Aihua.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t forget the little girl. This little girl went out to work at a very young age in order to lessen her family¡¯s burden, so Ling Lan felt pity for her.


    ¡°Thank you, Brother Jiang Hui.¡± Liu Aihua still thanked Ling Lan. This showed how deep their teachings were. Their manners were not just for disy. It had already be their habit. Ling Lan lowered her head when she was eating and hid the puzzlement in her gaze.


    Mother Liu smiled when she saw the three people bing more harmonious, and the gloominess in her eye slowly dissipated.


    For the next few days, Ling Lan traveled further around Muyang with the hover buses. However, she would alwayse back before dusk. Grandpa Wang wasn¡¯t as vignt towards Ling Lan now. He was willing to tell her some interesting things on Muyang. It attracted Wang Qi and Liu Aihua¡¯s interest too so they would always carry their chairs and listen at the side.

 Chapter 932 - Traces!

    Chapter 932 Traces!


    One day, Ling Lan came to The Wang Shop again. The door of the shop was pulled down, leaving only a gap of 50cm.


    Ling Lan bent down and walked in. There was no one in the shop. Ling Lan immediately walked towards the back of the shop without any hesitation.


    There was a huge warehouse behind the shop. This was the workspace for The Wang Shop. Different from the usual casual atmosphere of the shop, there were many strangers in the workspace, making the scene quite bustling.


    Grandpa Wang and Wang Qi squatted beside a mecha that wasid on the ground and seemed very busy. Little Aihua sat on one corner and focused on lubricating the new mechaponents in front of her. She didn¡¯t realize that Ling Lan was here. During the past few days, Aihua would be waiting in the shop or sitting beside Grandpa Wang while listening to his stories.


    The strangers heard some noises and turned around. When they saw Ling Lan, they were immediately on their guard. Grandpa Wang looked up and saw Ling Lan too. He smiled. ¡°Jiang Hui, you¡¯re here. We¡¯re busy at the moment. You might have to wait a while for Little Aihua.¡±


    The strangers rxed a little when they heard Grandpa Wang greeting Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan nodded and sat beside Little Aihua. She watched as Little Aihua wiped theponents skillfully.


    Ling Lan was familiar with the maintenance of mechas. She realized that Little Aihua¡¯s technique was the standard technique used in the military. It wasn¡¯t some random technique learned from outside. This meant that the person who taught Little Aihua had been in the military before.


    Ling Lan knew that Grandpa Wang was the one who taught Wang Qi and Little Aihua about mecha maintenance. Thus, Grandpa Wang had to be an outstanding logistician in the military once. With such skills, he would at least be a team leader even if he didn¡¯t have a high position in the military. His benefits from the military must be good. He would have a better life in the military if he didn¡¯te to Muyang and open a small mecha shop.


    ¡®Why was Grandpa Wang willing to give up the good life in the military ande to a primitive like Muyang after he retired?¡¯ Without even asking, Ling Lan knew that Grandpa Wang was a man filled with stories and secrets. However, she was not interested in it.


    Unfortunately, Little Four was interested. Hence, when he was searching for evidence of the corruption of the government on Muyang, he did some research on Grandpa Wang too. He told himself that he was helping Boss to clear any potential dangers around him.


    The name Grandpa Wang used on Muyang was called Wang Baozhuang. He came to Muyang 15 years ago. He was not a native.


    Little Four was unable to find where Wang Baozhuang and Wang Qi came from. This made him even more curious about them. Someone was obviously trying to clean up Wang Baozhuang¡¯s past history.


    But, no matter how powerful a hacker was, Little Four would be able to find traces of his doings. Very soon, Little Four found the information that was deleted. He realized that Wang Baozhuang¡¯s real name was Luo Yi. Luo Yi stayed in the 3rd Division from when he was 20 years old to 60 years old. 15 years ago, he suddenly applied to leave the army and then disappeared after that.


    Luo Yi never got married. He had no descendants. That meant that Wang Qi was not his grandson. As for the person who cleared his traces, Little Four only managed to know that it was a high-ranking officer who was currently in the 3rd division. There was ack of information so he wasn¡¯t able to find out who he was at this moment.


    Little Four followed the clue of this high-ranking officer and realized that traces of Liu Aijun and Liu Aihua¡¯s father was cleared too. Little Four traced the information all the way back to the 3rd division and realized that their father was said to have died on the battlefield. However, there was something amiss. Why did they need to clear the details of someone who had died?


    Ling Lan agreed with Little Four¡¯s analysis. Normally, people would only clear the traces of someone who was alive so that he wouldn¡¯t be found by anyone.


    However, this could exin why Liu Aijun and Liu Aihua were not taken care of by the government. Their father¡¯s name was not in the military record so they weren¡¯t able to enjoy the benefits of being the family of a soldier.


    Even if Mother Liu went to the government to ask for it, the government wouldn¡¯t believe her. They might think that Father Liu became a mercenary and fooled his family by saying that he went to the military.


    Of course, Ling Lan had a wild thought that Liu Aijun and Liu Aihua were the children of her team leader, Liu Furong. Based on their age, it was highly likely. However, Liu Aihua told her that her father was called Liu Aiguo. So, this guess was just her being too paranoid.


    After working for an hour, Wang Baozhuang finally finished his work. A man around 30 years old, who had been waiting at the side all these while, quickly enter the cockpit. The mecha sat up and performed some simple actions.


    ¡°Uncle Wang, this is exactly what I wanted. Thank you.¡± The person¡¯s voice came from the mecha. It was filled with excitement.


    ¡°It¡¯s not finished yet. Theponents had to be taken down and inspected again. If there are ws, we need to change it. If not, we¡¯ll need to lubricate it too.¡± Wang Baozhuang took a piece of cloth and wiped himself.


    ¡°I¡¯ll pass the rest to you. When can I take this mecha back?¡±


    ¡°You can take it the day after tomorrow. It won¡¯t affect your mechapetition,¡± Wang Baozhuang knew that these people earned money through this so he immediately replied to them.


    ¡°Fine. Thank you, Uncle Wang,¡± the young man said politely.


    ¡°Yes, Uncles Wang. I heard that there is an advanced mecha warrior who came from some. He has already defeated many strong mecha operators from Muyang. Brother Min is under huge pressure now,¡± a younger man beside the young man said with a dark face.


    ¡°Since you decided to take part in the gamble, you¡¯ll have to face this day sooner orter. Also, if you want to go Mailer Fa, you must defeat the mecha operators from others. If not, Mai¡¯er Fa won¡¯t give you any chances.¡± Uncle Wang sighed. He looked at the young man who came down from the cockpit. ¡°Little Min, why can¡¯t you find a stable job? You¡¯re not young anymore.¡±


    ¡°Uncle Liu said that if a man can¡¯t go to the military, he should be a mercenary and widen his perspective of the world. This is the only way one won¡¯t waste his life. If I didn¡¯t need to take care of my mother, I would have be a mercenary.¡± The young man smiled gently. His eyes were filled with confidence. ¡°Now it¡¯s okay if I can¡¯t be a mercenary. I can take part in underground gambles to take care of my mother. One day, I¡¯ll bring my mother to Mai¡¯er Fa and let her live a good life.¡±


    Uncle Wang looked at Little Min¡¯s hopeful eyes and shook his head slightly. He couldn¡¯t bear to tell him that an advanced mecha warrior wasn¡¯t able to survive in Mai¡¯er Fa. That year... forget it. Everyone has the right to choose their own future. He had no right to reprimand him.


    Very soon, everyone left the shop. Little Aihua finished her work and left with Ling Lan after bidding farewell to Grandpa Wang and Wang Qi.

 Chapter 933 - Underground Casino!

    Chapter 933 Underground Casino!


    After five busy days, The Wang Shop resumed its peacefulness again. During this time, Ling Lan had just finished traveling around Muyang.


    Ling Lan felt refreshed after being here for a while, so she felt that it was time to leave. She bought the tickets for the spacecraft that would be departing three dayster.


    Liu Aihua and Liu Aijun were sad to know that their Brother Jiang Hui was about to leave. Even Wang Qi, who didn¡¯t like Ling Lan at the start, felt dejected when he heard this piece of news.


    Ling Lan had constantly given him much of thetest news of the outside world. (With Little Four around, Ling Lan could get any information she wanted.) This was something Wang Qi couldn¡¯t easily get on Muyang. In doing so, Wang Qi had unconsciously started respecting Ling Lan. He also started to acknowledge her as his brother.


    ¡°Brother Hui, you haven¡¯t seen our underground arena before, right?¡± One day, when Ling Lan came to fetch Liu Aihua again, Wang Qi suddenly stopped


    her.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Ling Lan nodded. To go to the underground arena, one would need someone inside to bring you to the underground arena. Thus, normal people wouldn¡¯t be able to find it. Even if they did find it, they would be chased away using various methods.


    ¡°Actually, the tournament has just started two days ago. If you are interested, I can bring you over at night.¡± Wang Qi carefully nced at his grandfather who was busy working. He spoke in a soft voice as he was afraid that his grandfather would hear him, as his grandfather had violently objected to him going to the underground casinos.


    Ling Lan had nothing on at night so she agreed. It was good to go to the underground arena and pass some time.


    Wang Qi smiled excitedly when Ling Lan agreed. He didn¡¯t notice the helpless sigh from his grandfather at the side. He thought that he managed to fool his grandfather but in actual fact, none of his sneaky actions escaped his grandfather¡¯s eyes.


    After dinner, Ling Lan put on a ck trenchcoat and prepared to leave the house to meet Wang Qi. After she walked a few steps, she saw Liu Aihua squatting below a flickering roadmp. She was drawing something on the ground with a tree branch.


    ¡°Hey, what are you doing here sote at night?¡± Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows and asked. When she was talking to Wang Qi in the shop just now, she saw Liu Aihua¡¯s hands paused for a moment when they talked about the mecha arena. She was obviously distracted. She must have heard the conversation between Wang Qi and her.


    Ling Lan knew that Liu Aihua would do something. It looked like she was nning to wait for her here.


    ¡°I heard your conversation between Brother Wang Qi.¡± Liu Aihua looked up. She then threw away the tree branch and ran over. Her eyes were glistening as she said, ¡°You are going to the underground arena, right? Bring me along, pretty please.¡± She had touched mechas before but she had never seen an actual mecha battle. She wanted to know how her father operated a mecha in a fight.


    Ling Lan looked at Liu Aihua seriously. The intent gaze made Liu Aihua feel nervous.


    ¡°Come, Little Aihua, close your eyes. Let¡¯s y a game.¡± Ling Lan suddenly smiled.


    ¡°What game?¡± Liu Aihua asked curiously.


    ¡°It won¡¯t be fun if I tell you now. Close your eyes.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s smile was like the big bad wolf trying to fool the little red riding hood... I mean, her smile was amiable.


    During these few days, Ling Lan had gained the trust of Liu Aihua. Hence, she didn¡¯t probe further and closed her eyes obediently.


    Ling Lan lifted her forefinger and ced it on Liu Aihua¡¯s forehead. A small amount of Qi-Jin slowly entered Liu Aihua¡¯s forehead.


    Liu Aihua felt something cool on her forehead. She felt refreshed as though she ate some expensive tonic. It wasfortable.


    ¡°As expected!¡± Ling Lan retracted her Qi-Jin. Liu Aihua had awakened her innate talent. Normally, innate talents were awakened at 12 years old, but Liu Aihua was only 10 years old. She was very talented in this area.


    ¡®It isn¡¯t just her hearing. Her other senses are heightened too. Liu Aihua¡¯s innate talent should be rted to her spiritual power, not an element.¡¯ Ling Lan analyzed Little Aihua¡¯s situation and came up with her judgment.


    She smiled when she saw Liu Aihua still closing her eyes obediently. ¡°It has ended. You can open your eyes now.¡±


    Liu Aihua opened her eyes. She looked excited. ¡°That cool andfortable thing just now, was it the game you mentioned?¡±


    ¡°Is it fun?¡± Ling Lan nodded.


    ¡°Yes. Can I y it again in the future?¡± Thefortable feeling was tempting. She felt invigorated. It was as if she wouldn¡¯t feel tired at all.


    ¡°You can¡¯t.¡± Ling Hua suddenly turned serious. ¡°Little Aihua, this game can only be yed once. The second time, you¡¯ll not feelfortable. It will be painful instead. Hence, if anyone wants to y this game with you in the future, you must reject him.¡± Her action just now was the same as passing her life to other people¡¯s hands. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want Liu Aihua to be hurt just because of this experience.


    Little Aihua got a shock when she saw how serious Brother Jiang Hui was. She nodded furiously to express that she understood.


    Ling Lan nodded in satisfaction when she saw that Liu Aihua would remember what she said. ¡°Since you¡¯re so obedient, I¡¯ll bring you along.¡± She was just going there to gain new experiences. It was probably alright to bring a little burden along.


    Hence, Ling Lan and Liu Aihua came to find Wang Qi at the gathering location. Wang Qi held his forehead helplessly when he saw the cute little burden holding Ling Lan¡¯s hands. However, there was nothing he could do too. He could only bring her along.


    The underground casino was a few kilometers away from the town. Wang Qi brought them to a ce first and then led them on a hover bus which windows were covered up with ck sheets of metal, so they couldn¡¯t see anything outside. When they got on the bus, there were already many people in it. After a while, the bus was packed with people. After the conductor checked that everyone was behaving properly, he signalled to the driver and the engine was immediately started up.


    The bus drove for an hour before stopping.


    However, no one was able to fool Ling Lan who had the ultimate radar, Little Four. From the start, Ling Lan knew that the bus was going around in circles. The location they were at was only one to two minutes away from the town.


    It was an underground arena that was really underground. An ordinary-looking building was seen on the ground. There was an inconspicuous lift in the building. Once you enter the lift, it would only bring you to one floor. Ling Lan estimated that the lift had traveled for at least a hundred kilometers.


    After they stepped out of the lift, they reached the casino. The scene Ling Lan saw was different from what she usually saw on Muyang. The decorations on the walls of the casino were exquisite and magnificent. It was packed filled with beautiful and young bunny girls and excited gamblers who were already immersed in gambling, making it extremely noisy.

 Chapter 934 - Discovery!

    Chapter 934 Discovery!


    The three of them were, however, not interested in the gambling that were urring here. Instead, their aim was the mecha arena.


    Wang Qi seemed familiar with the area. He led them to an inconspicuous door and then walked along a passage for a long time before they finally saw another door in front of them. Before they could get close to it, they could already hear the loud cheers and shoutsing from behind the door. The screams were wilder and crazier than what they had heard outside. Everyone seemed to have lost their mind in there because of the bloody battle going on in the arena.


    Excitement could be seen on Wang Qi¡¯s face as he opened the door hurriedly. A round arena appeared in front of them. Numerous audience were already seated around the arena. They were cheering for the mecha they had ced their bets on and booing the opposing mechas. In the middle of the arena, two mechas were fighting. They used all their efforts to try and defeat their opponents so that they could win.


    ¡°Brother Hui, this way.¡± Wang Qi signalled for them to follow him. There were many passageways leading below the arena. Every ten meters, there was a mainframe. It was to allow the gamblers to ce their bets easily.


    Wang Qi chose the next round and casually clicked on one of the mecha operators. He ced three bets. Very soon, three receipts came out from the hole below the optical supeputer. There was a different number on each receipt. It was their seat numbers.


    ¡°Brother Hui, let¡¯s sit down and watch the match. As long as you ce a bet, you can watch the match.¡± Wang Qi seemed to have done this many times. If not, he wouldn¡¯t be so clear about the rules.


    Ling Lan nodded. She brought Little Aihua to the seat which had their number on it. It had to be said that the management of the casino was very thoughtful. The people that ced their bets together would get seated next to each other. This would allow friends to sit with one another. Plus, the idea of allowing people who made bets to watch the mecha match for free would attract people who didn¡¯t like to gamble but like to watch mecha fights. Wang Qi was one of them. No wonder there were so many people watching the underground arena match.


    The facilities in the arena were quite advanced. It was as good as the professional casinos in the others. Besides watching the fight personally, there was a virtual screen in front of every seat. The person could watch the match from any angle he or she liked. Of course, it had another purpose. It allowed the viewers to ce their bets at any time. The casino was always enticing its customers to gamble more.


    The moment they sat down, the match that was ongoing had just ended. Both mecha operators were exhausted. The mecha operator that won forced himself tost a few seconds longer than his opponent.


    When the sound of groans were heard, Ling Lan knew that most of the people had lost. This was normal, as the winner would always be the house.


    Soon, the workers cleaned the arena and the next match started.


    When one of the mechas entered the arena, the crowd started cheering loudly. Wang Qi patiently exined to Ling Lan, ¡°Dark Destroyer is not a native and has won 89 matches consecutively. Many famous mecha operators from my have lost to him. Many gamblers support him now, as they hoped that he can win 100 matches consecutively for them to earn more.¡±


    ¡°I remember that a mecha operator with the surname Min came to the shop a few days ago. Is his opponent him? Did he lose too?¡± Ling Lan asked in a low voice.


    ¡°Yes. However, Brother Min has not fought with him, as Brother Min is one of the top ten mecha operators in Muyang. When Dark Destroyer wins 90 matches consecutively, Brother Min will then fight with him. This is because anyone who won 100 matches will be able to go to Mai¡¯er Fa. The native mecha operators couldn¡¯t allow someone who is not one of their people to get the ticket that belongs to them,¡± Wang Qi exined.


    Ling Lan nodded. It looked like Dark Destroyer was very strong. If not, the mecha operator with the surname Min wouldn¡¯t have to prepare ahead.


    As expected, Dark Destroyer was more powerful than his opponent. After thirty rounds, Dark Destroyer managed to use his opponent¡¯s mistake and struck his opponent in the cockpit. He defeated his opponent easily. He had now won continuously for 90 matches


    Ling Lan frowned slightly. The techniques Dark Destroyer disyed were not that of an advanced mecha warrior. The strength of hisst attack and the spot he struck at meant that his opponent might be seriously injured or dead. With his capabilities, he was able to win the match without harming his opponent. Yet, Dark Destroyer chose the most brutal method to win.


    A special-ss mecha operator, or an ace mecha master, purposely hiding his skills toe to Muyang. If his purpose was to solely get a ticket to Mailer Fa, no one would believe it.


    Muyang had a lower grade, so there were not many ace operators here. Hence, there weren¡¯t any ace operators at the underground arena too. This allowed the Dark Destroyer to fool everyone. However, Mai¡¯er Fa was different. There were many ace operators there and even some imperial operators. Once the Dark Destroyer enters Mailer Fa, he wouldn¡¯t be able to hide his true skills anymore. Plus, the casinos at Mai¡¯er Fa forbid cheating. If he was discovered, he would be ruthlessly ¡®taken¡¯ away.


    Dark Destroyer must have an ulterior motive foring to Muyang. Ling Lan just didn¡¯t know if he was acting alone or was he from an organisation.


    Ling Lan clicked her tongue. She ordered Little Four, ¡°Little Four, follow Dark Destroyer. You must find out what is the motive of Dark Destroyer or the organisation behind him.¡± If it had nothing to do with the Liu family and the Wang family, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t care about it. However, if it really had anything to do with them...


    Ling Lan rubbed her forehead lightly. She was frustrated. She came here to have a break. She didn¡¯t want to cause any trouble but why must she always discover these things? She hoped that she was just thinking too much and the truth was not what she had thought.


    While Ling Lan was frustrated by what she had discovered, Wang Qi was still looking at the information on hismunicator excitedly. He didn¡¯t notice anything wrong.


    For the match just now, he had ced his bets on Dark Destroyer. Dark Destroyer was a hot favourite so he didn¡¯t win much but he was happy to win some. After all, he was just here to watch the mecha fight. Not only was he able to watch it for free now, but he also managed to earn some pocket money. This had already exceeded his expectations.


    Dark Destroyer won this match but he didn¡¯t leave. Hemunicated with the workers and soon, the big screens around the arena and the small screens on the front of the seats disyed a notice about the change in the scheduled matches. Dark Destroyer was going to fight for another round.


    The entire arena shouted in excitement. The gamblers didn¡¯t care whether you were a native or not. As long as they could win money, they weed you.


    The matches after them were all pushed back. Three minutester, a new notification appeared on the big screen.


    Dark Destroyer VS The Bravest!

 Chapter 935 - Looking for Trouble!

    Chapter 935 Looking for Trouble!


    Wang Qi saw the name of The Bravest¡¯, instantly said enthusiastically, ¡°That¡¯s Elder Brother Min. Elder Brother Min will definitely defeat Dark Destroyer.¡± After saying that, he ced a bet on The Bravest.


    Although Ling Lan knew that Wang Qi¡¯s bet was going to be a bust, she didn¡¯t say anything to stop him. Wang Qi wasn¡¯t only just gambling, the more important part was that he was supporting his friend.


    ¡°Little Four, speed up the process of hacking into the Dark Destroyer¡¯s optical supeputer.¡± Ling Lan was also worried that Wang Qi¡¯s Elder Brother Min would die under the Dark Destroyer¡¯s sword.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. If it is the optical supeputer of an ace mecha, then it will perhaps be somewhat troublesome. However, this type of advanced mecha is not difficult at all for someone like me,¡± Little Four said proudly. ¡®How could a literal god of the virtual world like me not be able to get past such a low level optical supeputer?¡¯


    Although Little Four was arrogant, he still did his work diligently. Soon, he told Ling Lan that he had hacked into the mecha. If he was to discover that the Dark Destroyer was to try to go for the kill, he would interfere with his mecha and save Wang Qi¡¯s Elder Brother Min.


    The Dark Destroyer was surprisingly somewhat sportsman-like. He wasn¡¯t like the previous rounds where he went for the kill only after a few hits (even though he had the capability to do so). After going at each other for hundreds of hits, Elder Brother Min, who felt they were on the same level, suddenly showed a small w. Normal advanced mecha operators wouldn¡¯t be able to discover the w, but in the eyes of an ace operator, it was as clear as day.


    The Dark Destroyer took the chance and ruthless attacked with hisrge sword. Seeing this, Elder Brother Min panicked knowing that his opponent actually saw through his weak point. He immediately used hisrge sword to block. However, that was the actual mistake. Dark Destroyer suddenly switched up his attack and ruthlessly sliced towards the cockpit. Elder Brother Min¡¯s action to block had left his cockpit wide open and gave his opponent a great opportunity.


    ¡°Not good!¡± Elder Brother Min knew that he had no time to change his move, and even if he did, he didn¡¯t have the capability to do so. The finger speed required to block the iing attack was only achievable by ace operators. He could only throttle his engine and quickly back up to try to evade the fatal attack.


    However, even though Dark Destroyer¡¯s speed seemed to be slow, he was still faster than Elder Brother Min¡¯s dodging speed. Right as therge sword was about hit the cockpit, his Dark Destroyer¡¯srge sword suddenly stopped. Then, it slightly changed its direction and skimmed past the cockpit.


    Elder Brother Min who just seen his life shed before his eyes, had cold sweats from the terror of the attack. He immediately moved his mecha back a few meters and left the attack range of Dark Destroyer.


    ¡°Sh*t, what just happened?¡± Dark Destroyer found it weird that his sure-kill attack actually didn¡¯t work. He instantly began to swear and cuss in his cockpit. Angered, he began to attack Elder Brother Min crazily. Elder Brother Min was like a boat stuck in a storm which seemed like it was going to flip over at any second. However, during every dangerous moment, Dark Destroyer¡¯s attack would miraculously always go past him. This allowed Elder Brother Min to constant be able to get away from death.


    This situation made the bettors rowdy. They all believed the match was rigged to not let Dark Destroyer win. However, in reality, the management of the casino was also confused. In reality, they would earn money no matter who won. The amount of money they would receive from sending a mecha operator, who won one hundred matches to Mai¡¯er Fa would make the money they lost in the casino seemed like chump change. So, they weren¡¯t interested in meddling with something like this.


    Elder Brother Min wasn¡¯t an impulsive person. Multiple crises reminded him that his opponent was definitely not someone he could defeat. After evading a fatal attack, he decisively put up his mecha¡¯s hand to show that he was surrendering.


    Although his winning streak wasn¡¯t stopped, he was still crazy depressed even after seeing his opponent give up. To Dark Destroyer, not being able to kill his opponent, made him feel like he had lost.


    In reality, Dark Destroyer¡¯s advancement to his current position was acquired by stepping on countless bodies. This was why Elder Brother Min and others hate Dark Destroyer very much. Not only because he was an outsider, at the same time, he was also ruthless and killed many native mecha operators. Other than the few who luckily got away with their lives, the others all died in the arena.


    ¡°Wow, Dark Destroyer is amazing!¡± Wang Qi¡¯s eyes glimmered and his face full of admiration. Dreaming about bing a mecha operator everyday, Wang Qi greatly admired those strong and capable mecha operators.


    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s amazing!¡± Little Aihua also had a face full of admiration and was convinced by Dark Destroyer¡¯s impressive operating abilities.


    ¡°Bam! Bam!¡±


    ¡°Ouch.¡± ¡°Ouch.¡±


    Wang Qi and Little Aihua held their forehead as they raised their heads pitifully. They had tears in their eyes as they asked, ¡°Elder Brother Hui (Elder Brother Jiang Hui) why did you hit us?¡±


    ¡°Stop admiring him. Dark Destroyer isn¡¯t suitable for you to admire.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t want the two of them to be ruthless and heartless executioners like Dark Destroyer.


    ¡°Why?¡± Wang Qi asked in disagreement.


    ¡°His methods of operating are considered to be barbaric. Learning it would be useless with your body shapes and you would fall to the floor after a few hits.¡± Although Ling Lan¡¯s words were rough to the ears, it was still true. Wang Qi and Liu Aihua weren¡¯tplete newbies who didn¡¯t know anything. After hearing the exnation, they instantly became deted and slumped into their seats without any desire to speak.


    It turns out, one of the reasons Wang Qi wanted to watch an underground arena match was to find a mecha operator instructor who could give him some pointers. Although Elder Brother Min had a good rtionship with him, Elder Brother Min was still trying to make a living and didn¡¯t have time to teach him. This made him have no choice but to put his hope onto someone else.


    As for Little Aihua, she was probably thinking of finding a strong master for her younger brother.


    Afterwards, the three of them watched a few more mecha matches. When she saw Little Aihua beginning to yawn, Ling Lan led Wang Qi, who still wanted to watch, and Little Aihua, who was still trying her best to keep her eyes open, away from the arena.


    The ce they left from wasn¡¯t far from the ce they entered from. Wang Qi led them to the lift. When they went up the lift, they saw a closed off parking lot. The hover bus of the casino was there waiting to leave after the seats were filled.


    When Ling Lan and others hopped on the bus, they saw a familiar face.


    ¡°Oh, Elder Brother Min, you¡¯re taking the bus back?¡± Wang Qi saw Elder Brother Min and immediately shouted out in excitement. Back then, Elder Brother Min always went back using his mecha.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m too tired today.¡± Elder Brother Min¡¯splexion wasn¡¯t great and was even somewhat pale. The battle with Dark Destroyer¡¯s mecha almost depleted all of his mental and physical energy. There was even a slight hint of terror in his face when he thought of his recent dance with death.


    Wang Qi wanted to ask a few more questions, but Ling Lan pulled on his sleeve slightly, gesturing him to find a spot to sit first.


    ¡®This dull child, did not even see that his Elder Brother Min didn¡¯t have any desire to speak to him.¡¯


    When Wang Qi saw Little Aihua yawning continuously, he quickly helped Little Aihua to find a seat, and quickly forgot to continue his conversation with Elder Brother Min.


    Ling Lan¡¯s group of three found their seats and sat down. There were many people that came out of the casino at the same time. Soon, the bus was filled with people and drove out of the parking lot.


    It was probably because they were all too excited and felt sleepy. Most of the people on the bus all closed their eyes and went to sleep, including Little Aihua.


    Ling Lan, who also closed her eyes to rest, suddenly opened them. Just a moment ago, Little Four told him that Dark Destroyer had caught up to them and was intending to kill Elder Brother Min.


    Not being able to take out his opponent made Dark Destroyer feel ufortable. Thus, he just wanted to kill this opponent that had escaped from his clutches with his own hands.


    Ling Lan helplessly frowned and muttered under her breath, ¡°So troublesome! Does this count as looking for trouble?¡±

 Chapter 936 - Discovered!

    Chapter 936 Discovered!


    The hover bus continued moving forward as if there was nothing wrong. However, in the bus, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes glimmered brightly. Although the way she was sitting was no different, she was alreadypletely prepared for the iing collision.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The hover bus was suddenly sent up into the air by a strong force, it was about seconds away before it would be smashed onto the ground.


    Elder Brother Min, who was sitting at the front, was very quick to react. Milliseconds after the hover bus was sent up into the air, he quickly dashed towards the driver¡¯s seat. He pulled the driver out of his seat and began to control the hover car himself to try to stop it from crashing.


    Right as he was trying to regain control of the bus, the bottom of the hover bus suddenly erupted in mes. The mes were devouring the entire hover bus.


    Seeing that there was no chance to stop what was happening, Elder Brother Min quickly turned the hover bus at 90 degrees with perfect precision, quite ab unsurprising act for one of the top ten mecha operators in Muyang. Then, he quickly pressed the disintegration button to disintegrate the bus. After that, the hover bus seemingly dematerialized, which allowed all of the passengers to be thrown out of it by the strong centripetal force created by the sharp turn.


    Although this decision would cause those who were too old, disabled or too young to die due to the impact of the collision, the young adults, who were strong and had some degree of physical skills, would have hopes of living. This decision was much better than letting everybody be devoured by the mes and be burned alive in the hover bus.


    In actuality, before the bus was sent up in the air, Ling Lan was already contemting how she would save Wang Qi and Little Aihua without exposing herself. Elder Brother Min¡¯s way of handling the situation actually helped her with her problem.


    Ling Lan grabbed Little Aihua in mid-air. Wang Qi on the other hand, even though he was a weak youngster, his physical skills wasn¡¯t too weak. He had already reached the tenth level in the manifestation stage. When faced with such a predicament, he would still be able to live even if he would be injured from the crash.


    As expected, Wang Qi was relieved when he saw Ling Lan grabbing Little Aihua. Although he didn¡¯t know much about Ling Lan, he still trusted Ling Lan with all his heart after being together for the past few days. He believed that Ling Lan had the ability to save Little Aihua.


    Without any more worries, Wang Qi¡¯s behavior was very different from the other people in mid-air who could only scream. He calmly looked at the situation down below him. He had to choose an optimal spot for him tond.


    ¡°There.¡± He saw a narrow river just right below him. However, he still had to control his body and make the right maneuvers in mid-air to hit the river. He could fail, but there was no doubt that the river was the right location for him to not be injured from the fall. Wang Qi made this decision in an instant.


    Wang Qi¡¯s decision was also Ling Lan¡¯s decision. She wouldn¡¯t have the exin her capabilities if she was tond there,pared to suspiciouslynding safely on a hard surface. Even the young Little Aihua would be fine without Ling Lan protecting her if they were to hit the river.


    Ling Lan carried Little Aihua and fell into the river steadily. Immediately after, Wang Qi also fell into the river.


    The three of them lifted their heads above the surface of the river and saw that there was another person whonded steadily on the patch ofnd beside the river. It was Elder Brother Min.


    Ling Lan sighed, as she expected more trouble toe her way.


    As Ling Lan expected, another person immediately appeared on the patch ofnd with a rocketuncher in his hands.


    Seeing this person, Elder Brother Min¡¯s expression changed slightly, ¡°Dark Destroyer Wu Yin, it¡¯s you?¡± Seeing his opponent with a rocketuncher, Elder Brother Min finally knew who had attacked the hover bus.


    ¡°You actually dare to go against the rules of the underground casino? You¡¯re a dead man.¡± Elder Brother Min shouted in anger.


    ¡°Can a run-down casino with no ace operators do anything to me?¡± Wu Yin said while smiling. ¡°Seeing that you¡¯re going to die by my hands soon, I¡¯ll y nice and tell you something from the kindness of my heart. After a few days, Muyang¡¯s underground world will bepletely under our control.¡±


    Wu Yin¡¯s proud and excited expression made Elder Brother Min feel dismayed. Wu Yin¡¯s words were probably true. It should be known that the hover bus was attacked less than a kilometer away from the casino was located at. The underground casino should have already sent their patrol team to investigate the loud explosion. It wouldn¡¯t be like how it was now, silent and zero movement from them.


    ¡°Min Yihao, it seems you¡¯ve realized it.¡± Wu Yin began tough. ¡°The underground casino can¡¯t even protect itself. How can it have any extra strength to deal with little things like this?¡± This was why he tantly attacked the hover bus.


    Min Yihao bit his lip and asked, ¡°Why are you chasing me down? I¡¯m just a mecha operator whose only purpose is to fight. I don¡¯t even participate in the politics of the underground world.¡± No matter who became the boss of the underground world, he wouldn¡¯t care about it.


    ¡°I know, but you got away alive, right?¡± Wu Yin licked his lips. ¡°All of my opponents have never returned back alive from the arena.¡±


    Min Yihao seemed to have realized something and his expression changed instantly, ¡°Those who were being treated for severe injuries and suddenly dying was by your hands!¡± Elder Brother Min finally understood why the mecha operators who could have been saved suddenly died all of a sudden.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like to see my opponents continue to jump around in my face. It frustrates me.¡± Wu Yin¡¯s eyes showed signs of insanity. He immediately propped up the rocketuncher and shot it at Min Yihao.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The rocket struck the location that Min Yihao was standing on, creating a deep hole in the ground.


    Min Yihao was quite agile. Having already reached the peak of Refinement, he evaded the rocket just in time. Unfortunately, the shockwave created from the st still injured him. When hended on the ground, he spat out mouthfuls of blood, painting the ground bloodred.


    When Ling Lan saw Wu Yin¡¯s rocketuncher firing, she quickly pushed down Wang Qi¡¯s and Little Aihua¡¯s heads into the river to dodge the shockwave created from the rocket st.


    The three of them emerged out of the water once again. Wang Qi then saw Min Yihao lying on the ground being crazily punched and kicked by Wu Yin, wanting to kill Min Yihao brutally before ending his violent rampage.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Wang Qi, who had a good rtionship with Min Yihao, couldn¡¯t help but scream in shock. Although he reacted quickly and covered his mouth, he was still heard by Wu Yin.


    ¡°Oh, there¡¯s actually a few small fries here.¡± Wu Yin didn¡¯t notice them in the beginning. However, after hearing the shout, he could clearly hear that there were two people breathing in the river. With his capabilities, he could only hear Wang Qi and Little Aihua¡¯s breathing. Even if Ling Lan didn¡¯t try to hold back her presence, her current capabilities could not be detected by anyone weaker than the domain stage, unless she purposefully let them.


    Little Aihua angrily pped Wang Qi head as she saw that they were discovered. She and Min Yihao weren¡¯t close, so she, of course, didn¡¯t want to the three of them to die with him.


    ¡°Elder Brother Hui, take Little Aihua and leave. I¡¯ll stay behind.¡± Wang Qi knew it was impossible for all three of them wanted to get out this situation together. He ultimately decided to let Ling Lan take Liu Aihua and leave so he could buy some time for them to leave. He should be the one to resolve the problem he had created himself. Plus, he and Elder Brother Min had a good rtionship. He also needed to stay behind because of the brotherhood the two of them shared.


    ¡°No way. If you stay behind, you¡¯re going to die.¡± Little Aihua, of course, didn¡¯t want his Elder Brother Wang Qi, who cared for her for so long, to have anything happen to him.

 Chapter 937 - Choice!

    Chapter 937 Choice!


    ¡°Aihua, leave with Brother Hui. If not, none of us will be able to escape.¡± Wang Qi, who had always treated Liu Aihua nicely, suddenly shouted in anger.


    Liu Aihua¡¯s eyes turned red. ¡°Brother, promise me that you¡¯ll stay alive.¡± Then, she looked at Ling Lan and said decisively, ¡°Brother Hui, let¡¯s go.¡±


    Although Little Aihua was young, she was very calm and mature for her age. Wang Qi¡¯s words allowed her to understand that it was impossible for the three of them to escape together. Hence, she quickly made a difficult decision.


    She wanted to stay back with Brother Wang Qi too, but if she stayed back, she would just be a burden. If they let Ling Lan stay behind... but that was too despicable. Little Aihua couldn¡¯t make up her mind to ask her Brother Hui to do such a thing for them.


    Little Aihua made a painful decision but Ling Lan didn¡¯t move at all. She didn¡¯t seem to hear what Little Aihua said.


    ¡°Brother Hui? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Little Aihua got agitated.


    ¡°Brother Hui, hurry up and leave with Little Aihua,¡± Wang Qi shouted agitatedly too. If they didn¡¯t run now, they wouldn¡¯t have the chance to anymore.


    At this moment, Ling Lan said slowly, ¡°It¡¯s toote


    now.¡±


    Wu Yin¡¯s voice sounded beside them. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect someone to understand the situation so well.¡±


    Wu Yin¡¯s figure appeared at the nearby shore. He smiled and looked at them calmly.


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Wang Qi was lost. It didn¡¯t matter if he died but if he implicated Brother Jiang Hui and Little Aihua, he would die with regrets.


    ¡°What do we do now? What else.¡± Ling Lan threw this sentence at him and swam towards the shore where Wu Yin was at. Since they were discovered, it was better to get onto the shore.


    Wang Qi got agitated when he saw Ling Lan bringing Little Aihua towards the crazy Wu Yin. He quickly moved his limbs and attempted to stop her.


    However, Ling Lan was too fast. Although she was carrying Little Aihua, her swimming speed was still faster than Wang Qi. Wang Qi was ultimately unable to catch up with Ling Lan. Since he couldn¡¯t stop her, he quietly followed Ling Lan up the shore.


    ¡°Look, we are just bystanders. Just now, we... We didn¡¯t see anything.¡± Little Aihua was trembling in fright but she still tried to control her emotions. She must find a chance for the three of them to stay alive. On the other hand, Ling Lan was standing there with her stone-cold face, but in her mind, she was immensely satisfied with Little Aihua never-say-die attitude and how she was still looking for opportunities to find a way out of the situation.


    Fine, this cute Little Aihua made Ling Lan want to take her in as her disciple. Ling Lan always wanted a child but based on her condition now, she probably wouldn¡¯t be able to have one in the near future. Maybe she should find another method like taking a cute disciple in to satisfy her craving first.


    When Ling Lan realized that Liu Aihua had an exceptional innate talent, she didn¡¯t have this thought yet. At that moment, she had just intended to help Little Aihua if she could in the future. However, the scene just now made her heart waver.


    When danger came suddenly, she was able to maintain her cool and give her trust to her people round her. She wouldn¡¯t ce more stress on the people around her too (as disyed by her actions when the hover bus was blown up) and she was also able to control her emotions when they needed to hide. Little Aihua¡¯s control of her breath was even better than Wang Qi. In the face of a difficult decision, Little Aihua chose to escape with Ling Lan who had a weaker rtionship with herpared to Wang Qi. This showed that Little Aihua was a kind person. Most importantly, she was resolute and firm. All of these traits made Ling Lan really admire her character. Many talents were destroyed or killed because of their irresolute and hesitant nature.


    Even in the end, Little Aihua didn¡¯t give up hope. She still tried her best to find a way out. This made Ling Lan extremely tempted to take her in as her disciple. Only this kind of person would be able to be a powerful warrior in the future.


    ¡®Maybe an outstanding senior sister would be a good role model for my child in the future.¡¯


    ¡®It¡¯s decided then!¡¯ Ling Lan smiled.


    While Ling Lan was praising herself for making such a great decision, Little Aihua¡¯s attempt of survival was broken by Wu Yin mercilessly.


    ¡°What a cute little girl. I¡¯m excited that I could kill you personally.¡± Wu Yin licked his lips excitedly. He loved taking away the hopes of these little children. They always gave him a sense of achievement.


    Little Aihua was dejected when she saw Wu Yin¡¯s sadistic smile and actions. Her body started trembling in fear even more. However, Ling Lan saw a screwdriver being grasped tightly in Little Aihua¡¯s right hand. She was learning about mecha maintenance from Grandpa Wang so she always had some tools on her. This sharp and strong screwdriver could be a weapon for killing people when there was a need for it.


    ¡®Not giving up even in times of despair? Looking for ways to die along with her opponent?¡¯ Ling Lan¡¯s smile got brighter. She was growing fonder of Little Aihua by the minute.


    Bang! Min Yihao, who was lying on the ground injured, suddenly rushed forward and wrapped Wu Yin in his arms from the back. He shouted, ¡°Hurry up and leave.¡± It was an easy sentence to say but it used up all his energy to do so. Blood continued to spurt out of his mouth. Pieces of broken organs could be seening out of his mouth.


    Wu Yin¡¯s merciless attacks had severely injured his internal organs. Min Yihao knew that he couldn¡¯t be saved anymore. He was forcing himself to stop Wu Yin because he wanted to save Ling Lan and the other two people.


    ¡°Go and die!¡± Wu Yin quickly reached to the back of his head with his right arm. Then, he extended his fingers and grabbed Min Yihao¡¯s head. The veins on his right arm were bursting from the amount of force he was using. Just as Min Yihao¡¯s head was about to burst under the pressure, a hand wearing a ck glove suddenly held his wrist.


    ¡°Hey, you can end your game now,¡± Ling Lan stood on his right and said calmly.


    Wu Yin felt as though his right hand was clipped by a metal w. He couldn¡¯t exert any strength in his right hand at all. His expression changed for the worse. ¡°Who are you?¡±


    ¡°A passerby.¡± She was really a passerby. If he hadn¡¯t insisted on killing Min Yihao, they wouldn¡¯t have met each other and she wouldn¡¯t have to take action


    too.


    ¡°Are you nning to interfere in this matter? I suggest that you don¡¯t. Don¡¯t force us to kill you too.¡± Wu Yin felt how powerful Ling Lan was. He was not a stupid person so he decided to warn her verbally and hoped that she would retreat in fear.


    ¡°If I don¡¯t interfere, will your organisation let me go?¡± Ling Lan asked indifferently. ¡°Stop fooling people. I¡¯m afraid that the first person your organisation wants to kill is me.¡± Ling Lan knew the situation perfectly. Those gamblers that managed to survive were now all dead.


    Even if the three of them managed to escape from Wu Yin, they wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from those people that came to clean up the situation.


    Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t look for trouble voluntarily but if trouble came to find her, she wouldn¡¯t evade it too. Ling Lan liked to solve problems from the root. The moment Wu Yin came to find them, she had already decided to uproot the faction that Wu Yin was from entirely.

 Chapter 938 - Something To Ask!

    Chapter 938 Something To Ask!


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to talk more nonsense with Wu Yin, so she lowered her voice and said, ¡°Let go!¡±


    Min Yihao let go of Wu Yin instinctively.


    Bang! Ling Lan then raised her fist and hit Wu Yin square in the chest. The punch looked soft and light but Wu Yin¡¯s bulky body flew out immediately before mming onto the ground heavily. Heid motionless on the ground.


    Wang Qi and Liu Aihua were bbergasted when they saw this. They looked at Ling Lan in astonishment. Their gentle and amiable Brother Jiang Hui was actually a master.


    The two of them were not strong but they had good eyesight. Jiang Hui was obviously more powerful than Wu Yin. If not, how was he able to defeat him with a single punch?


    ¡°Brother Wang Qi, did I identally invite a powerful person into my house?¡± Little Aihua hugged her face while her eyes were sparkling with admiration.


    Wang Qi swallowed his saliva. ¡°I think... so.¡± He saw blood flowing out of Wu Yin¡¯s chest. There was definitely a hole in his chest from the punch of Brother Jiang Hui. The blooding out of his chest even stained the ground bloodred.


    Without a doubt, Jiang Hui was dead. He got killed by a single punch from Brother Jiang Hui. He didn¡¯t have any chance to experience the pain before he died.


    Min Yihao was about to fall on the ground as he released all the pressure in his body. However, before he could drop on the ground, the fall of his body suddenly slowed down. He was actually held by an invisible force that ced his on the ground gently. However, he was injured badly so even though his injuries didn¡¯t worsen from the fall, he was still half-dead.


    Wang Qi saw this and immediately rushed over to him. He asked agitatedly, ¡°Brother Min, are you alright?¡±


    Min Yihao gave a bitter smile. ¡°Wang Qi, cough... I won¡¯t be able to survive these injuries. If you can, please take care of my mother...¡± He used the remaining energy he had to pass his mother to Wang Qi. She was the only person he was worried about. He hoped that Wang Qi would help his mother when she needed him based on their past rtionship.


    Wang Qi was still young so he couldn¡¯t control his emotions. Tears dropped down from his eyes as he nodded furiously. He remembered Min Yihao risking his life to give them an opportunity to escape. Hence, he would take care of Brother Min¡¯s mother in return. It was something he should do.


    Ling Lan tapped Little Aihua¡¯s head. Little Aihua looked up meekly and a bottle of agent suddenly appeared in front of her eyes. Ling Lan hade back to her side again.


    Ling Lan then sent a nce at Min Yihao who was lying on the ground. Little Aihua looked at Ling Lan with pleasant surprise. She wanted to know if what she was thinking was correct.


    Ling Lan nodded. Little Aihua quickly took the agent and rushed towards Min Yihao. She kicked Wang Qi away fiercely and said, ¡°Stop crying. He still can be saved.¡±


    Ling Lan was speechless. She suddenly realized that the disciple she wanted to take it was a strong woman who looked weak and delicate.


    Wang Qi was ted when he saw the agent Little Aihua was holding. He knew that this agent must have belonged to Brother Jiang Hui. An agent from such a powerful person must be able a miracle pill that could save Min Yihao. From the virtual world, Wang Qi knew that the highest-grade agent from the Federation could save anyone as long as they still had theirst breath left.


    Wang Qi and Little Aihua carefully poured the agent into Min Yihao¡¯s mouth. They were afraid that they would topple the life-saving agent identally. While they were doing this, Ling Lan disappeared from the scene quietly. A few secondster, she appeared again. It was as though she had never even


    left.


    Little Aihua seemed to have sensed something. She turned around and looked at Ling Lan in the eyes. Ling Lan smiled and nodded at her. Little Aihua touched her forehead in puzzlement. Then, she shook her head. She threw away her puzzlement in her head and continued looking at Min Yihao as she waited for the effects of the agent to kick in.


    ¡®What powerful instincts. I have only left for a few seconds but Little Aihua had detected it. Fortunately, I was fast enough.¡¯ Ling Lan¡¯s smile got even brighter.


    The agent Ling Lan gave Little Aihua was not the best agent that Li Shiyu had given her. However, it was the most powerful agent used by the Federation currently, and thus Min Yihao managed to stay alive.


    It was still dangerous out in the open so Wang Qi and Little Aihua didn¡¯t dare to stay here for too long. They didn¡¯t know if Wu Yin had otherrades. When Min Yihao finally could move, Wang Qi carried him and Ling Lan held onto Little Aihua.


    Wang Qi and Little Aihua were busy running away so they didn¡¯t realize that a while after they had left, Wu Yin had turned into an ice statue. The blood on the ground had turned into ice too.


    Ling Lan held Little Aihua with one hand and flicked her finger on the other hand, then Wu Yin and the frozen blood turned into tiny ice crystals before it scattered all over in the vast field. Wu Yin had disappeared just like his otherrades.


    Wang Qi was still frightened by what had just happened, so he quickly led everyone to The Wang Shop. They attempted to sneak in from the back door but when they entered, the lights in the warehouse suddenly lit up. Wang Baozhuang sat at the entrance of the warehouse with his pipe while looking at them with a cold stare.


    ¡°Grandfather...¡± Wang Qi and Little Aihua said nervously. They lowered their heads and didn¡¯t dare to continue.


    ¡°What happened to you?¡± Wang Baozhuang saw the bloody Min Yihao on Wang Qi¡¯s shoulder and frowned.


    Wang Qi quickly told his grandfather the attack they had met on their way back. At the same time, he told his grandfather that they were able toe back alive because of Brother Jiang Hui and that Brother Jiang Hui was a powerful physical skills master.


    Wang Baozhuang looked at Ling Lan intently when he heard this. Then, he asked Wang Qi and Little Aihua to send Min Yihao into the guest room to have a rest. He also asked Wang Qi to prepare the recovery agents they had at home and give them to Min Yihao first.


    After settling everything, Wang Baozhuang stood up and said to Ling Lan, ¡°Jiang, I have something to ask you.¡±


    Ling Lan rubbed her forehead helplessly. She knew that once she showed her true power, Wang Baozhuang would suspect her true identity.


    However, Ling Lan was not interested in Wang Baozhuang¡¯s secret and she had nothing to hide. Hence, she followed Wang Baozhuang into the living room without any hesitation.


    The door of the living room was wide open. The three windows in the room were opened too. If someone wanted to get close to the living room, the people inside would be able to see him.


    Actually, this kind of environment was the safest. One could see everything that was happening around him. Those enclosed areas were not safe. But, most people like an enclosed area to discuss serious matters, as it gave people a greater sense of security.

 Chapter 939 - An Old Enemy!

    Chapter 939 An Old Enemy!


    ¡°Who are you really?¡± Wang Baozhuang asked right as they entered the living room.


    ¡°Jiang Hui, a traveler and also an adventurer,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    Wang Baozhuang nodded. He put his pipe in his mouth and frowned as he took a whiff of it. It was as though he was making a hard decision.


    After staying silent for almost a minute, Wang Baozhuang spoke up, ¡°Child, can I trust you?¡±


    Ling Lan smiled, ¡°That would depend on whether Grandpa Wang wants to trust me or not.¡±


    ¡°Although you took care of Wu Yin, you still offended the organization behind him. If they were to investigate, they would easily be able to find out that Wang Qi and Little Aihua was there.¡± Wang Baozhuang sucked on his pipe with tired face and continued, ¡°It would be very dangerous for Wang Qi and Little Aihua to continue to stay on Muyang. Aren¡¯t you leaving Muyang tomorrow? If it¡¯s possible, please take them with


    you.¡±


    Hearing this, Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows in doubt of what she was hearing. She nced at the frowning Wang Baozhuang and said slowly, ¡°What will you do if I told you that I have the capabilities to wipe out Wu Yin¡¯s organization on Muyang while not exposing Wang Qi and Little Aihua?¡±


    Hearing this, Wang Baozhuang¡¯s eyes glimmered, but darkened again not long after. It seemed he was hesitant. After a few seconds, he made a hard decision and said, ¡°Child, just take them away with


    you.¡±


    Ling Lan looked at Wang Baozhuang and calmly said, ¡°You¡¯re okay with that? Or rather, you¡¯re not going to worry?¡±


    ¡°Wang Qi has grown up and should be sent out into the real world. Although I can¡¯t confirm whether your identity is real or fake, I still believe my eyes that are telling me that you are someone worthy of my trust,¡± Wang Baozhuang said in a serious tone.


    Ling Lan half-smiled at Wang Baozhuang. Although Ling Lan¡¯s presence seemed to be warm, Wang Baozhuang still felt unsure about his decision. He also felt that Ling Lan knew what he was actually intending to do.


    ¡°Originally, taking them out there to see the world is fine. However, I don¡¯t want to be someone who is hunted by others,¡± said Ling Lan. She hated trouble. She knew that Wang Qi was troublesome so she didn¡¯t want to take him with her.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Wang Baozhuang¡¯s expression change instantly. He immediately stood up and said, ¡°You know something?¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t know anything,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. ¡°I just know that if you clearly could resolve this matter easily but still want to send them away, it means that there is an even bigger problem than the one we¡¯re currently in. As for me, I care about my life.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Wang Baozhuang sit down with a helpless expression. His expression continued to darken as he thought about it more. He immediately picked up his pipe and sucked it a few times to relieve the headache he was having.


    ¡°Child, you¡¯re very smart. You actually managed to deduce that just from my attitude.¡± Wang Baozhuang sighed, ¡°I just received word that our enemy had found us. I can die with no regrets, but my little grandson is only 16 years old... He still has so many years ahead of himself, he shouldn¡¯t die here.¡±


    ¡°I am not asking you to keep him safe for his entire life. I only hope that you can take him away Muyang. After that, he can go anywhere and you wouldn¡¯t have to be responsible for him. Here, this is the identity that I have prepared for him...¡± Wang Baozhuang took out a newmunicator from his pocket. It turns out, he had already arranged for Wang Qi to take on a new identity.


    Ling Lan thought for a moment. She then put out her hand and grabbed the new identitymunicator. Right at that moment, Wang Qi and Little Aihua ran into the room like a gust of wind.


    ¡°Grandpa, I don¡¯t want to leave. If we leave, we leave together.¡± How could Wang Qi leave his grandfather, who had raised him all by himself for all these years, to face death on his own?


    When Wang Qi and Little Aihua were snooping around the living room, Ling Lan had noticed them. Wang Baozhuang on the other hand was no longer calm because of Ling Lan¡¯s calm reaction. He actually didn¡¯t sense Wang Qi and Little Aihua¡¯s arrival.


    ¡°Qi¡¯er, listen to me. If we all leave, then none of us will get out alive.¡± The high ranking official who had protected them only managed to get Wang Qi a new identity after so many years. Now, since he had been discovered without a new identity, he would be the cause of the death of the child he raised with all his heart if he left with Wang Qi.


    ¡°Grandpa...¡± Wang Qi had just escaped death. He didn¡¯t think that before he could catch his breath, he must split apart from his grandfather who he couldn¡¯t live without. Feeling unusually weak, he finally couldn¡¯t hold everything in and began to cry loudly.


    ¡°What are you crying about? I¡¯m not dead yet. Qi¡¯er, your grandfather has only had one hope in his entire life and that¡¯s you. If you don¡¯t live a good life, even if I die, I won¡¯t be able to rest peacefully. Be a good boy and leave Muyang with this Jiang Hui child. Then, don¡¯t evere back to Muyang in this lifetime.¡± Although Wang Baozhuang was angry and anxious, he was still moved by Wang Qi¡¯s feelings towards him and had tearse down his face uncontrobly.


    ¡°How about this? You guys talk about it together. I¡¯ll take Little Aihua home first. I¡¯lle back tomorrow. If you still haven¡¯t changed your mind, I will take Wang Qi and leave.¡± Ling Lan knew that even if she refused to take Wang Qi with her, she still wouldn¡¯t be able to get out of this situation. After being together with the grandfather and grandson of the Wang family for quite some time, she was probably already in the sights of the Wang family¡¯s enemies. Unless she didn¡¯t use ¡®Jiang Hui¡¯ as her identity in the future, trouble would always find her.


    However, Ling Lan actually liked the identity ¡®Jiang Hui¡¯, the lone adventurer without any care for the world. She didn¡¯t want to stop using this identity.


    Ling Lan took Little Aihua back to the Liu family. She then went back to her room andid down to rest.


    When the night became silent and everyone entered their dream world, Ling Lan, who was under her nket, actually began to split apart and disappearedpletely.


    During all this time, Little Four was collecting information on Wu Yin¡¯s organization. After looking and searching through many surveince tapes, he finally found the headquarters of Wu Yin¡¯s organization on Muyang. Although the Grandpa Wang didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to take care of the underlying threat, Ling Lan was still used to finishing what she had started so she didn¡¯t forget about the organization. Thus, Ling Lan decided that before leaving, she wouldpletely take out Wu Yin¡¯s organization. Destroying them at the roots to make sure they would never rise again.


    When dawn arrived, Ling Lan had already reappeared under her nket.


    She opened the palm of her right hand and there was aputer chip on it. This chip was what the leader of the group tried to destroy when he realized he had no way of living. Unfortunately, the difference in capabilities didn¡¯t give that leader any chance to destroy it. In the end, Ling Lan still got it into her hands.


    ¡°Little Four, can you read the information in it?¡± asked Ling Lan.


    ¡°Boss, you¡¯ll know when you plug in the chip into yourmunicator,¡± Little Four said in dismay. ¡®Is his Boss looking down on him? If I can¡¯t do something small like this, how can I call himself the god of the virtual world?¡¯


    Ling Lan quickly plugged in theputer chip into hermunicator. Little Four then began to decrypt it. Not long after, the data inside it began to show up on her screen.


    ¡°Who knew we¡¯d actually encounter an old enemy.¡± It turns out, Wu Yin¡¯s organization was the same as the unknown organization that was previously hiding in Azure¡¯s Scout Academy.


    It was clear that a like Muyang was not rich with resources, so this wasn¡¯t considered a priority by the organization. That was why they sent people like Wu Yin, who was not really a part of the organization, to this.

 Chapter 940 - Investigate!

    Chapter 940 Investigate!


    Thinking back to Azure, where all the enemies were pseudo domain realm masters, with even two titled domain realm masters. Compared to this, Muyang, with only one pseudo domain realm master defending it, it seemed to have been neglected by the organization.


    If theputer chip didn¡¯t have the information that Azure¡¯s Central Scout Academy operation had failed, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t have been able to put two and two together.


    The operation on Azure was to secretly send spies into the military. Then, what is the reason for them to put men on Muyang? Is their target actually Mai¡¯er Fa?


    Although Mai¡¯er Fa was a lone, it still didn¡¯t have any natural resources. There were only countless casinos. Even if the profits of the casinos were abundant... Just from therge base that was in the forest showed that this faction didn¡¯tck the funds and would not care about such a ce...


    ¡®Perhaps their goal is not only Mai¡¯er Fa. There is definitely a hidden goal!¡¯ Thinking to this point, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but sigh. Her information was stillcking. That was why she couldn¡¯t predict the organization¡¯s real goal from the data she had. If it was her father, Ling Xiao, he would probably be able to find a hint of some sort.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t waste anymore time to think about it since she couldn¡¯t figure it out. Ling Lan also felt exhausted not only from killing people in the night, but also using her brain power to think. Seeing that it was still early, she closed her eyes to rest.


    ¡°Knock, knock, knock.¡± The door to her room was suddenly softly knocked on. Ling Lan slowly opened her eyes and discovered that it was already bright outside.


    Ling Lan got up and opened the door. She saw Mother Liu holding today¡¯s breakfast while standing at the door.


    ¡°Jiang Hui, this is your breakfast for today.¡± Mother Liu walked into the room and put down the food. However, she didn¡¯t turn around like she had done the previous mornings and instead stood there as though she had something to say.


    ¡°Aunt Liu, you have something you want to say?¡± Ling Lan was curious.


    ¡°Well, Jiang Hui, I just want to ask. Have you ever heard of the name Liu Zhongguo out in the gxy?¡± Mother Liu frowned as though something was worrying her.


    ¡°Aunt Liu, you know that there are many people who joined the military. Unless we meet identally, or perhaps told by the military, otherwise, we wouldn¡¯t know of just anyone,¡± Ling Lan said helplessly. She ,of course, couldn¡¯t tell Aunt Liu that the name ¡®Liu Zhongguo¡¯ was found by Little Four as KIA( Killed In Action) 15 years ago. However, all of that information was wiped clean. Even if Mother Liu was to go Muyang¡¯s task force headquarters to search for him, she wouldn¡¯t be able to find any information.


    ¡°I know. When Aijun was born, something happened in the family. I had no choice but to go to the task force headquarters. However, I couldn¡¯t find anything on Zhongguo... After that I stopped searching,¡± sighed Mother Liu. Back then, she was hurt emotionally. Her husband, the father of her children, actually deceived her. He didn¡¯t actually be a soldier...


    ¡°I heard Aihua telling me that you travel everywhere and go on adventures. That¡¯s why I wanted to ask you whether you¡¯ve met Aihua¡¯s father. If he¡¯s not in the military, then I suspect that he probably became a part of some gxy¡¯s adventure mercenary group. Six years ago, I caught wind from him saying that his regimentmander was very powerful. From that I deduced that he¡¯s within a group or a team.¡± If he wasn¡¯t in the military, then he was probably in a mercenary group. ¡°This is his picture. I secretly took a photo while he was sleeping. Aihua¡¯s father didn¡¯t like to leave any photos or videos of himself behind.¡± Liu Aihua carefully took out a photo from her pocket.


    The man in the photo had long hair hanging on his shoulders and his features were well rounded. He was a handsome man, but he had arge beard around his face which covered half of his face. This beard made him lookzy. He had his eyes closed while he was sleeping, but he still had a frown on his face. It was as though he was intensely thinking about something... Ling Lan¡¯s hand trembled as she took a look at the photo. She looked at it carefully many times. After confirming there was nothing wrong with her suspicions, she bit her lip and shouted into her mindspace, ¡°Little Four!¡±


    ¡°Here!¡± When Little Four heard his Boss¡¯s tone was odd, he immediately put aside what he was working on and appeared before Ling Lan in an instant.


    ¡°Analyze the person on the photo and find out who he is!¡± Ling Lan said coldly. Someone actually disguised his identity andmitted such a crime... Ling Lan felt a burning rage rising from her chest.


    ¡°Roger.¡± Little Four quickly scanned the picture in Ling Lan¡¯s hand, then erased his beard. After that, he cut his hair, revealing a clean forehead. Just like that, the handsome looking man appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s mindspace.


    ¡°What? It¡¯s actually Captain Liu!¡± Little Four couldn¡¯t help but exim in surprise.


    ¡°Very good. Very good. I didn¡¯t think that 250 Ace Mecha n would have such a person within it...¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were ice cold.


    Although Ling Lan was angry in her mind, her face still had a huge smile, ¡°Aunt Liu, Uncle Liu is quite handsome. It¡¯s no wonder that Aijun and Aihua are so beautiful.¡±


    Hearing this, Aunt Liu instantly blushed. She said embarrassingly, ¡°Back then, one half of the reason why I got together with your Uncle Liu was because of this.¡±


    ¡°However, your Uncle Liu didn¡¯t like to take care of himself and was messy everyday. I¡¯ve told him many times.¡± When Aunt Liu spoke of her husband, her tone was still somewhat sweet.


    ¡®He didn¡¯t like to take care of himself? Messy? ¡®Ling Lan thought of Liu Furong¡¯s clean and straight uniform, even his subordinates were clean and spiffy... It was hard for her to connect the person Aunt Liu was telling her about with Liu Furong.


    ¡®What secrets does Liu Furong conceal? Is he actually Liu Zhongguo or is that an impersonator?¡¯


    ¡°Little Four, investigate Liu Furong. Get everything on him!¡± Ling Lan ordered Little Four in her mindspace. It wasn¡¯t only for Aunt Liu¡¯s family, but also for Liu Furong and 250 Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°Yes, Boss!¡± Little Four instantly had an adrenaline rush and began working on it.


    Little Four lit a candle in his mind for Liu Furong. Once his crime was confirmed, Captain Liu would definitely die a gruesome death.


    Ling Lan handed the photo back to Aunt Liu, ¡°I will keep an eye out Aunt Liu. If I see Uncle Liu, I will definitely tell him toe back and see you guys.¡± Ling Lan squeezed the words ¡®Uncle Liu¡¯ out the cracks between her teeth.


    Aunt Liu took the photo and carefully put it away safely. She then smiled, turned around and left. Although she knew that the likelihood of Jiang Hui finding her husband was slim, she could still have hope right?


    ¡°Boss, I found everything on Captain Liu. There¡¯s nothing wrong with his records.¡± Little Four took out all the files on Liu Furong and didn¡¯t find anything that was meddled with.


    ¡°That means Liu Furong is real!¡± Ling Lan mmed the table and went into deep thought.


    ¡°Liu Zhongguo isn¡¯t fake too!¡± Little Four continued, ¡°Although the two of them were in different divisions and with different experiences, they still had one time stamp that was the same.¡±


    Little Four put together the time Liu Zhongguo was KIA along with time when something happened to Liu Furong¡¯s n, ¡°They both happened 15 years ago in April.¡±


    After suddenly remembering something, Little Four took out Wang Baozhuang and Wang Qi¡¯s files as well, ¡°They also entered Muyang 15 years ago, but they arrived in September.¡±

 Chapter 941 - Big Trouble!

    Chapter 941 Big Trouble!


    ¡°Wang Baozhuang and Liu Furong were both in the 3rd Division, in the 9th Wings Regiment, but they were in different ns!¡± Little Four found where the two of them were connected.


    ¡°9th Wings Regiment was one of the highest ranked regiments in the 3rd Division back then. The Magic Ace Mecha n under it was also the runner-up to the position of the top titled special ss mecha n within the 3rd Division. Magic Ace Mecha n had the nickname ¡®Undefeated Mecha n¡¯. This proved that they were a sight to behold back in the day.¡±


    ¡°Back then, Liu Furong was still a small team leader. However, he had already caught the eyes of their regimentmander.¡± Little Four had looked up the report Liu Furong¡¯s regimentmander had written about Liu Furong. One could tell that the regimentmander saw potential in Liu Furong and wanted to help him in his development.


    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Magic Ace Mecha n waspletely decimated 15 years ago from an enemy ambush, Liu Furong might even have developed to be even more monstrous than now...¡± Those, who were team leaders from other mecha ns weaker than Magic Ace Mecha n, had already be regimentmanders of ace mecha ns by now. Some even became generals. Liu Furong on the other hand only had his rank upgraded, but was still only just a team leader.


    ¡°What happened 15 years ago has affected Liu Furong greatly. Although he led a broken team out of the ambush, he instantly went unconscious after getting out because of exhaustion. After he woke up, his memory of the battle was all mixed up. He was treated at the main military hospital for 5 months and then was discharged to rest at home.¡±


    ¡°Five months? Then, when he was discharged, it was already September, when Wang Baozhuang and Wang Qi arrived on Muyang.¡± Ling Lan saw the files Little Four had shown her and suddenly remembered what Aunt Liu had told her. Liu Furong had once mentioned that his regimentmander was powerful. He didn¡¯t mean Ling Lan six years ago! Instead, there wasn¡¯t any regimentmander that he had admired after Magic Mecha n waspletely wiped out 15 years ago. Liu Furong would always go through different ns and he had never stayed for more than one year in each one. After joining 250 Ace Mecha n in the 23rd Division, he finally stopped moving around.


    ¡°Little Four, check the files on the regimentmander of Magic Ace Mecha n.¡± The most crucial person was this regimentmander.


    ¡°The regimentmander¡¯s name is called Wang Junan...¡± Little Four brought out the file on Wang Junan and handed it to his Boss.


    Ling Lan read through Wang Junan¡¯s file quickly. She saw that before he was KIA, his wife was 6-months pregnant... She gave birth to a son in June.


    ¡°A baby boy?¡± Ling Lan looked at the picture of Wang Junan and quickly had Wang Qi¡¯s image appear in her mindspace.


    ¡°Don¡¯t the two of them look alike?¡± Ling Lan finally found a hint of some sort.


    ¡°Somewhat.¡± Little Four looked back and forth between the two images. He felt that when the two of them stood together, they did indeed look simr.


    ¡°Then, that makes sense.¡± Wang Baozhuang, Wang Qi and Wang Junan. They were willing to change their names and yet still didn¡¯t want to change the name of the regimentmander¡¯s son? It seemed Wang Junan was really admired by the soldiers in the n. Even a logistician from a different n was willing to help him even if it meant death.


    ¡°The files on the battle back then were almost all gone. Even if there are some files, they are limited in information. Not sure whether it was because those involved had perished or someone had meddled with the information and purposely hid it away.¡± Little Four couldn¡¯t find any detailed records on battle thatpletely wiped out Magic Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°Of course someone meddled with the files! It¡¯s just we don¡¯t know whether those who meddled with it was helping them or their enemies,¡± Ling Lan said with a frozen expression.


    If the military wanted to know something, they would definitely get to the bottom of it. They were ying dumb on purpose since there weren¡¯t any details about it. The military would rather let a titled ace mecha n get wiped out without any reason than to investigate to get to the bottom of this. It seemed that this issue had a lot of politics involved.


    Ling Lan was in dismay. She was only running away from home to have some peace and quiet. She didn¡¯t want to do anything to upset the bnce of the world. Why did God hate her and always create problems for her?


    Ling Lan knew that she was amidst a huge problem now...


    ¡°Little Four, you unlucky little thing, why did you chose Muyang?¡± Saddened, Ling Lan pinched Little Four¡¯s pink cheek and began to rub it furiously to quell her feeling of dismay.


    ¡°H-ow suold I rnow (How should I know)...¡± Little Four felt wrongly used. Although the gxy map was created by him, wasn¡¯t it still his Boss that pointed to this? Howe he was to me now?


    ¡°Boring, not as nice to pinch as Little White.¡± Ling Lan disliked the fact that Little Four¡¯s face was not as chubby and wasn¡¯t as stretchy as Little White¡¯s face.


    ¡°Right, since we¡¯re talking about Little White, it has been ying around with Aijun recently. Does it not want to leave with us?¡± Ling Lan thought whether she should use this chance to toss away this dumb and cute pet.


    ¡°Not sure, but Little White goes out to the surrounding area of the town everyday for adventures with Little Jun.¡± Little Four told Ling Lan what Little White had been up to these past few days.


    ¡°It¡¯s having a lot of fun, huh.¡± It wasn¡¯t even think about her, his master, one bit. Ling Lan was disheartened that she kept a good for nothing pet. However, she wasn¡¯t apologetic about how she was just thinking of ruthlessly abandoning Little White.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± She suddenly heard Little White¡¯s angry roar. This was the difference of spiritual power. Other than Ling Lan or experts in spiritual power, the average person wouldn¡¯t be able to hear it.


    ¡°Not good!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression changed instantly. Little White was informing her that someone was making a move on Liu Aijun.


    Ling Lan disappeared from the room and appeared at the location where Little White had screamed in the next second. However, she only discovered the grass and trees around her were a mess, while Little White and Liu Aijun were nowhere to be seen.


    Ling Lan put out her finger, closed her eyes and felt the presence that was still lingering in the air...


    ¡°The earth element is quite thick here...¡± Ling Lan immediately knelt down and pushed her right hand into the ground to feel the changes in the earth element.


    ¡°Who knew that a small like Muyang would actually have an earth element domain realm master. Plus, he is at least a titled domain realm master if he could kidnap Liu Aijun and Little White from my watchful eyes.¡±


    Right as Ling Lan felt the enemy¡¯s location, she heard a loud explosioning from the Liu family¡¯s home.


    Ling Lan¡¯s concentration was disrupted. Now, the trail she had caught on from the earth element domain realm master instantly brokne off. She sensing it again, but she could not sensed it


    anymore.


    ¡°Sh*t!¡± Ling Lan could only give up on searching and run back to the Liu family¡¯s house. She saw the originally old and tattered home of the Liu family had already be a pile of debris.


    Aunt Liu was sweeping the yard at the time. Although she was sent flying by the shockwave produced by the explosion, she was not hit with anything. She didn¡¯t have any life-threatening injuries and was quite lucky.


    Seeing Ling Lan appear, Aunt Liu, who was dumbstruck and had a blood smear on the corner of her mouth, instantly regained her focus. She cried happily, ¡°Jiang Hui, it¡¯s a good thing you¡¯re okay.¡± Just now, she actually thought Jiang Hui had perished in the explosion. That was because in her mind, Jiang Hui should have been in the guest room eating breakfast.


    Ling Lan helped Aunt Liu up and brought her to rest in the open area outside. She then took out a vial of medicinal agent and gave it to Aunt Liu as sheforted her, ¡°Aunt Liu, I¡¯m fine. This is medicine for treating your wounds. Rest for now.¡±

 Chapter 942 - Who Is It?

    Chapter 942 Who Is It?


    Aunt Liu nodded and drank the medicinal agent obediently. Although she knew this type of medicine was expensive, she still needed to regain her health in order to take care of her two children. For that, even if she was to owe a huge favor to Jiang Hui, she still had to ept it.


    Themotion at the Liu family house alerted the neighbors around them. They all came running when they heard the explosion. When they saw Aunt Liu, they all rushed forward and asked her about the situation. They asked whether there were people under the rubble and whether she needed help.


    Although Muyang was somewhat underdeveloped, the rtionship between neighbors were much better than those seen in more modernizeds. The neighbors here were willing to lend a helping hand and not just watch coldly on the side.


    Seeing that there were twodies around the same age as Aunt Liuforting her, Ling Lan backed away from them. She looked at the rubble that used to be the Liu family¡¯s house again and narrowed her gaze. There was no doubt that this explosion was aimed to kill her.


    ¡°Little Four, rewind the video.¡± She wanted to see who caused the explosion.


    After rewinding the tape to four days ago, Ling Lan finally saw the culprit. After Ling Lan had left the Liu family home that day, one of the neighbors entered the home to ask for some soy sauce from Aunt Liu. When Aunt Liu went to get the soy sauce, the neighbor¡¯s seemingly random moving hand touched a blind spot on a piece of furniture ¡®identally¡¯ while she was talking to Aunt Liu.


    Just like that, the neighbor stuck a miniature time bomb on the blind spot of the furniture.


    The movements and expression of that person seemed to be natural. Ling Lan and Little Four didn¡¯t think that someone on Muyang would want to get rid of them so quickly, and so they had neglected the possibility of it happening that quickly.


    Ling Lan looked around again and discovered that among the group of neighbors who came out of their house, that person had a face full of sincerity when she was talking to Aunt Liu as though she was actually concerned about Aunt Liu¡¯s safety.


    ¡°Little Four, ever since we came out to travel, have I be less alert about my surroundings?¡± The simr environment to her previous life, the slow way of living, had made Ling Lan feel much more peaceful. She had indeed be much less alert about her surroundings than before.


    ¡°Yeah. Though we didn¡¯t know that such a peaceful-looking would actually hide this many secrets,¡± Little Four murmured. He felt his Boss wasn¡¯t to me. After all, they had only came here to travel on a whim. If traveling required them to constantly be alert and on guard like being on a mission, then where would the fun be? It would better to just rest at home instead.


    ¡°However, since they made on move on us, then if I don¡¯t reciprocate, then that won¡¯t be like me.¡± Ling Lan smiled coldly. She slowly walked forward and went to join the crowd. She then went beside the neighbor in question.


    Although Ling Lan was there, everyone naturally neglected her, including the neighbor she was moving towards.


    Suddenly, the neighbor felt her throat was being choked ruthlessly. She wanted to scream out loud but her voice just wouldn¡¯te out. She wanted to move too but she couldn¡¯t move a muscle.


    ¡®What is happening?¡¯ Before she could react, she had already arrived in an open wastnd area in the next second. Right at that moment, the choke hold was suddenly released. This 40 year old woman instantly knelt to the ground as she coughed hoarsely. It was though she was about to cough her lungs out.


    Right at that moment, the woman who was weak from all the coughing suddenly pounced behind her. A silver colored sharp objected appeared in her hands as she ruthlessly stabbed towards Ling Lan, who was standing behind her.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Ling Lan only used one finger and flicked the dagger away. The dagger instantly shattered into thousands of pieces.


    The woman was stunned, and she quickly backed away from Ling Lan. When she wanted to make a run for it, the belts that were originally wrapped around the Ling Lan¡¯s arms suddenly loosened and pounced towards her like snakes.


    ¡°Bam!¡± The belts were like long whips, wrapping around her legs, causing the woman to fall down.


    No matter how much the woman tried to struggle free, she was still slowly dragged towards Ling Lan by the belts wrapped around her.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Ling Lan asked calmly.


    The woman red at Ling Lan angrily, but didn¡¯t make a sound.


    ¡°Yao Minyi, born on Muyang... never went to school. A person who stays at home to take care of her younger brother and sister would definitely not have moves like yours.¡± Ling Lan knelt down with leather gloves on her hands and squeezed the woman¡¯s face.


    ¡°The muscles on your face have been reconstituted. Your bones seem to have also been done.¡± Ling Lan used her Qi-Jin to feel the woman¡¯s face and instantly understood the situation.


    ¡°It seems that the real Yao Minyi has already been disposed of by you. Did you use Yao Minyi¡¯s identity to surveince on the Liu family?¡± It was probably because Liu Furong had unknowingly left something incriminating, but they didn¡¯t have proper evidence on him. That was probably why they used this method to keep a watch on the Liu family.


    Yao Minyi didn¡¯t answer and only red at Ling Lan coldly.


    ¡°It seems I am right.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s words stunned Yao Minyi. She didn¡¯t know how this person could be so confident that his guess was right. She didn¡¯t even answer Ling Lan.


    ¡°Sometimes, not answering is also answering.¡± Ling Lan smiled as she put her right index finger on Yao Minyi¡¯s forehead.


    Yao Minyi suddenly felt a coldness go from her forehead into her brain. It was soforting that she wanted to moan, but there was also an indescribable terror that made her hairs stand on end.


    Ling Lan smiled as she took back the belts. The belts that were flying around everywhere, wrapped around Ling Lan¡¯s arm naturally and hid within her sleeves once again.


    Ling Lan¡¯s actions dumbfounded Yao Minyi. She didn¡¯t know why her opponent didn¡¯t do anything to her and let her go.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be grateful to me. You¡¯re just useless to me now.¡± Ling Lan shook her head and disappeared in the next second.


    Yao Minyi waited for a moment. When she discovered that her opponent had indeed left, she couldn¡¯t help butugh coldly, ¡°As expected of a child. He was actually soft-hearted under this situation. Our team leader was actually worried that someone like this would cause us problems...¡±


    In her mind, she remembered the words her team leader had told her recently. Then, she suddenly began to remember how she came to Muyang. In the end, she actually began to have shbacks to times when she was in the hellish training program organized by the organization...


    ¡°Why am I thinking about these things. Sh*t, sh*t...¡± Yao Minyi began to hit her own head. Those memories were all hidden in ces deep in her mind as she didn¡¯t want to ever remember them. However, those memories suddenly flooded her mind. She wanted to remember happier things, but for some reason, couldn¡¯t control her thoughts.


    In the end, Yao Minyi held her head and knelt to the ground in pain. She felt as if she was being split open. The pain from it made her almost go insane.


    Yao Minyi, who could no longer handle the pain, began to roll around on the ground. In the end, she had gone unconscious from the pain.


    When she woke up once again, Yao Minyi saw the bright sun above her head. She felt that it was odd that she would be sleeping on the floor. She then suddenly remembered something and immediately got up. She dusted the dirt off her and quickly ran towards the Liu family house.


    She was Yao Minyi, a person born on Muyang, and mother of two children. Now, her best friend, who grew up with her, had something happened to her house. How could she not be beside her tofort her?


    Yao Minyi, who had more important things to do, stopped thinking about why she woke up on the ground and quickly went to the Liu family home.


    Now, Yao Minyi was the real Yao Minyi. The spy who organization had sent to survey the Liu family no longer existed.

 Chapter 943 - Frustration!

    Chapter 943 Frustration!


    ¡°Master, Little Blossom is back.¡± The moment Little Blossom left Yao Minyi¡¯s mind, he merged with Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power in the air and used it to return to Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape.


    Ling Lan smiled. She tapped Little Blossom¡¯s cold and chubby face thenplimented him. ¡°Little Blossom, you did well.¡±


    Little Blossom followed Ling Lan¡¯smand and destroyed all the memories that weren¡¯t rted to the real Yao Minyi. All the information that was left was all rted to the real Yao Minyi. These memories in her head would make the woman believed that she was the real Yao Minyi.


    Since they destroyed a Yao Minyi, she would return another Yao Minyi to the family and make this family perfect again.


    Little Blossom finally smiled when he heard his master praising him. Little Four saw the smile and his chip surprisingly became hotter. He almost shutdown again just like that time when he saw his Boss smiling.


    Little Four managed to regain his sense after he recuperated for some time. He suddenly realized that he had a fetish towards smiles. That was why he couldn¡¯t handle his Boss¡¯s smile in the past and now, he couldn¡¯t handle Little Blossom¡¯s smile too. Thinking back, he really couldn¡¯t resist against people who always wore a smile on their faces, for instance, Ling Xiao, Lan Luofeng, Luo Lang, Luo Chao...


    Based on this theory, he should like Li Lanfeng too. However, Little Four weirdly didn¡¯t have a good impression of Li Lanfeng. It must be because that fellow¡¯s smile was too fake. Only real smiles had effects on him.


    Little Four felt at ease after he found the reason for the rise in the temperature of his chip. He just had a liking for real smiles. He wasn¡¯t enchanted by Little Blossom¡¯s smile.


    In the learning space, Number Five saw Little Blossom¡¯s smile and said to the air above him, ¡°Look, your teachings are useful. It¡¯s just that the effects couldn¡¯t be seenst time.


    ¡°Hmph.¡± The space beside Number Five split open, then a sexy and charismatic woman walked out of the cracked space. It was Number Four.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me that Little Blossom would evolve to be like its master.¡± Number Four nced at Number Five coldly. It was a mesmerizing nce. Number Five¡¯s heart wavered for a moment. If he wasn¡¯t focused enough, he might have already sumbed to Number Four¡¯s charisma. Number Five really respected Number One¡¯s resistance against Number Four. ¡®Is what Ling Lan said the truth? Is Number One actually asexual?¡¯


    Number Four didn¡¯t know that Number Five was thinking about the rtionship between Number One and her. She was just immersed in her own thoughts. She remembered the setbacks she faced in front of Little Blossom. That time, she actually tried her best to groom a seductive and charismatic person who could use any expressions to curb his opponent. However, she didn¡¯t expect Little Blossom to start evolving.


    Before Little Blossom evolved, he could still perform some of those various expressions. She was not satisfied with them but he could at least do the expressions when she asked him too. After he evolved, Little Blossom only had one expression. He only kept that cold face on him all the time. Number Four almost wanted to vomit blood when she saw that.


    Number Four couldn¡¯t understand what was happening so she dragged Number Five out of his space and forced him to exin the situation to her.


    Number Five told her the truth. Little Blossom¡¯s evolution path was based on his master. Little Blossom¡¯s master was Ling Lan and since Ling Lan constantly had a cold face after Number One¡¯s teaching, Little Blossom would move towards that direction too. Whether this path could be broken depended on Number Four¡¯s teaching.


    Number Four almost went crazy when she knew that her disciple would be like Number One in the future. ¡®Damn it, I have enough of that ice-cold face. I don¡¯t want to see another cold face anymore.¡¯ That was why she wanted toe out and teach Ling Lan. Number Four felt that Ling Lan was led astray by Number One. She needed to save Ling Lan.


    In order to not lose to Number One, Number Four spent much time and effort teaching Little Blossom. However, Little Blossom¡¯s evolution path was strong. The more effort she used, the colder Little Blossom became. In the end, Number Four couldn¡¯t take it anymore and kicked Little Blossom back into Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape.


    ¡®Damn it, I¡¯m not ying with emotionless people anymore!


    Number Four gritted her teeth in anger as she thought about this. She turned around and went to Number One¡¯s space. She wanted to vent her frustration on Number One.


    Number Five didn¡¯t know how Number One dealt with Number Four. He was extremely curious but he knew that if he tagged along, he would be thrown into the little ck room by Number One and be locked up inside for a few years. If he was locked inside for a few years, he would be unable to get close to Number Nine and touched her hand. Thus, Number Five decided to give up on following Number Four.


    He needed some fun in his life. If not, what was the purpose of his life?


    ¡°Ah, something is happening! Haha, so many things are happening at the same time. How is our Little Ling Lan going to solve all these? This is exciting...¡±Number Five, who was thinking about Number Nine a moment ago, got attracted by what was happening in the real world. He took out a bag of sunflower seeds from somewhere and created a table out of nothing. Then, he sat on the floor and watched the show excitedly while munching on the sunflower seeds.


    A fair hand grabbed a bunch of sunflower seeds and asked indifferently, ¡°What¡¯s the situation now?¡±


    ¡°Haha, Little Ling Lan is alone while there are many enemies on the opposite side. They caught those people who are important to Ling Lan. Little Ling Lan is in a bad state now. She can¡¯t split herself up so who will she save first?¡± Number Five was schadenfreude.


    ¡°So, are you happy?¡± The voice was cold with a tinge of anger.


    Number Five suddenly woke up. He looked at Number Nine¡¯s cold face and shook his head firmly. ¡°No, I¡¯m not. I¡¯m very worried for Ling Lan too.¡±


    He couldn¡¯t let Number Nine know his real thoughts. Number Five knew that Number Nine treated Ling Lan as her own child. He couldn¡¯t provoke a mother, especially when he had romantic thoughts towards the mother too.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Number Nine knew that Number Five didn¡¯t mean what he said. However, she didn¡¯t have the time to bother about Number Five¡¯s thoughts for now. Just like what Number Five said, Ling Lan was in trouble now.


    As Ling Lan and Little Four looked for Liu Aijun and Little White, Wang Baozhuang, whose real name was Luo Yi, was seriously injured. He got carried to the Liu family with the help of his neighbours. If Ling Lan didn¡¯t feed him a bottle of the restorative agent, he would have died by now. After he woke up, he told Ling Lan that Wang Qi and Liu Aijun got kidnapped by some unknown people. He wanted to stop them but he was almost beaten to death.


    ¡°A trap after a trap. What a cunning scheme.¡± Ling Lan frowned deeply. Muyang was an unfamiliar to her. She finally understood how frustrating it was to be curbed by her opponent. The sudden enemy, the sudden change, and the secrets hidden for 15 years made her confused and her mind be in a whirl.

 Chapter 944 - Go Home!

    Chapter 944 Go Home!


    Aunt Liu was bbergasted when she heard that Liu Aijun was kidnapped. Then, she hurriedly ran to the ce where he always yed at. She had a breakdown when she saw no one was there.


    ¡°Jiang Hui, is Aijun kidnapped too? Is it the enemy of their father? Is it?¡± Aunt Liu wasn¡¯t gentle anymore, as she grabbed Ling Lan¡¯s hand agitatedly.


    ¡°Aunt Liu, calm down. This has nothing to do with Uncle Liu.¡± Ling Lan used some spiritual power as she spoke. It woke up Aunt Liu who was drowned by emotions.


    Aunt Liu felt her mind bing clearer. She calmed down and started crying. ¡°It¡¯s all my fault. I can¡¯t even protect my children.¡±


    ¡®Crying is a good thing.¡¯ Ling Lan rxed for the moment. She signaled to another woman at the side and asked her to console Aunt Liu.


    ¡°Boss, what do we do now?¡± Little Four didn¡¯t know what to do in the face of such a sudden situation.


    ¡°Look for Wang Qi and Liu Aihua,¡± Ling Lan rubbed her forehead as she said.


    ¡°What about Little White?¡± Little Four was more concerned about Little White who had some rtionship with him.


    ¡°With Little White around, anyone below the domain realm won¡¯t be able to hurt Liu Aijun.¡± Ling Lan replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯m more worried about Wang Qi and Liu Aihua, especially Wang Qi. I feel that the opponent¡¯s real objective is him. The Liu family is just to confuse me.¡±


    ¡®I understand, Boss.¡± Little Four got a trance so he started tracking Wang Qi and Liu Aihua. Little Four¡¯s tracking ability was impressive. After some time, he managed to find the den of the people that kidnapped Wang Qi and Liu Aihua.


    ¡°Here?¡± Ling Lan was shocked but not surprised. This was the only ce that had the ability to restrict her movements.


    ¡°The government of Muyang. Let me see who you are!¡± Ling Lan prepared to save the two people. However, before she left, she hid Aunt Liu and Luo Yi somewhere safe. She didn¡¯t want them to get abducted after she came back from saving the two people. It was tiring to keep saving people.


    ¡°Aunt Liu, did Uncle Liu leave any words behind? For instance, someone you can find for help when you meet any trouble.¡± Ling Lan only hoped that Liu Furong was a responsible person. Aunt Liu thought for a moment and shook her head. There was no one she could rely on in Muyang. If not, she wouldn¡¯t have to lead such a poor life.


    Ling Lan had expected this answer. She just asked in case there was some chance. After she heard Aunt Liu¡¯s reply, she decided to bring them along with her. She would hide them close to her while she was carrying out her n. Under Little Four¡¯s surveince, her opponents wouldn¡¯t have a chance to attack them.


    Just as Ling Lan was about to tell Aunt Liu her decision, Aunt Liu suddenly thought about something. She gasped and ran into her house. The house was in ruins but the courtyard was still there.


    There was a cer in a corner of the courtyard. She opened it and walked in. Ling Lan was afraid that Aunt Liu would face some danger so she followed her closely.


    It was a simple cer. The walls were made from crude soil. In one nce, you could see the entire cer. Besides cabbage and potatoes, there was nothing of value in the cer.


    Of course, this was what a normal person would see. Ling Lan used her spiritual power to scan the area and noticed an abnormal spot.


    Unsurprisingly, Aunt Liu walked to the abnormal spot. She took a shovel from the wall and started digging the spot.


    The soil in the cer was hard. Aunt Liu started panting after digging a few times. Ling Lan came forward and said, ¡°Aunt Liu, let me do it.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. Jiang Hui, dig in this direction. My husband said that if I meet any life-or-death situation, I can dig the thing out. It may be able to save my life.¡± After Aihua was born, her husband came back to see the baby. Before he left, he left her with this sentence. Many years had passed so Aunt Liu had forgotten about it. Her husband had just casually mentioned it at that time too.


    Ling Lan used her domain energy and dug the ground. After some time, a deep hole was formed. Aunt Liu didn¡¯t suspect anything. She just thought that Ling Lan had herculean strength. ng! The shovel hit something hard. Ling Lan bent down and picked up a hard object.


    It was a small wooden box in the size of a palm. It looked like a metal box and the sound when the shovel hit it sounded like a metal box too. However, Ling Lan knew that it was really made from wood. This wood was a special kind of wood, metal wood. This kind of wood was as tough as metal.


    But, it could still be burnt. A high temperature was required to burn this type of wood but it could still be burnt.


    There was a passcode lock on the box. Ling Lan looked at Aunt Liu. A passcode was needed to open the box.


    ¡°It¡¯s a four-number passcode lock,¡± Ling Lan reminded Aunt Liu.


    ¡°It¡¯s Aihua¡¯s birthday, 0430.¡± Aunt Liu thought for a moment. She remembered her husband telling her that it was a birthday gift for Aihua.


    Ling Lan pressed the number and heard the sound of lock opening. The wooden box opened, revealing a small object that looked like a button.


    Ling Lan was speechless when she looked at the thing. She dug with so much effort and this was what she got? If she knew this would happen, she would have contacted 250 Ace Mecha n directly.


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s this.¡± Aunt Liu¡¯s eyes lit up. She took the button and squeezed it.


    The button broke...


    Ling Lan felt helpless as she asked, ¡°Aunt Liu, do you know what this is?¡±


    Aunt Liu nodded. ¡°My husband told me that we can use this tomunicate with him when he was away from us. However, themunication is one way and it can only be used one time. I wonder if he can receive it.¡± Aunt Liu was worried that themunicator was spoilt.


    Aunt Liu was hopeful but Ling Lan knew that she couldn¡¯t rely on Liu Furong. Liu Furong was on Haijiao now, helping 250 Ace Mecha n to gain more merits. Even if he had returned to the Federation, he was still a few millions of light-years away from Muyang. He would need at least ten days to reach here.


    By the time Liu Furong reached here, it would already be toote.


    Ling Lan had no choice but to continue with her ordinary n. She brought Aunt Liu and Luo Yi along with her as she went towards the central government building of Muyang.


    At the same time, the shuttle that entered Muyang once a week was moving towards it slowly. There was a passenger who had a thick beard on the shuttle. His eyes revealed his excitement and longing. Suddenly, his expression changed for the worse. He turned agitated. He wanted tond on Muyang immediately.


    This man was Liu Furong. After Liu Furong returned to 250 Ace Mecha n, he requested for a leave from Lin Zhong-qing. When his leave was approved, he travelled to manys and changed his disguise multiple times. After confirming that no one was following him, he used the disguise that he always put on when he went home.

 Chapter 945 - Seven Stars of the North!

    Chapter 945 Seven Stars of the North!


    In an underground secret room under the central government building, the prime minister looked at the frightened Wang Qi and the trembling Liu Aihua then frowned. He looked at the 30-year-old young man sitting at the side and asked, ¡°Mr. Yi, why do you need to do this?¡±


    ¡°You have been found out.¡± Mr. Yi took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and took a stick out. He ced it in his mouth and flicked his fingers. A small me appeared from the tip of his finger and he used the me to light up the cigarette.


    ¡°Impossible. We have been watching over him for almost a year.¡± They didn¡¯t notice anything amiss.


    ¡°You underestimate Luo Yi. He is just a logistician but he came from the best ace mecha n. His anti-reconnaissance ability is as good as any professional.¡± Mr. Yi took a puff of his cigarette. He flicked the cigarette above the ashtray and continued, ¡°He must have noticed your men when they were watching over him. However, he knew that he didn¡¯t have the power to escape so he chose to bear with it and wait for a chance to strike back patiently.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying that he found his chance?¡± The prime minister turned serious. The people watching over Luo Yi didn¡¯t tell him anything.


    ¡°Despair gives courage even to cowards.¡± Mr. Yi gave a sinister smile. ¡°That person is just a young traveler. I don¡¯t understand why he dares to take such a huge risk.¡±


    The prime minister heaved a sigh of relief. His men weren¡¯t the ones that were useless. His opponent just decided to take a risk.


    ¡°However, we haven¡¯t found out if the item is with them. If we act now, will it interfere with the organization¡¯s overall n?¡± the prime minister asked worriedly. In order to bait a big fish, their organization didn¡¯t attack their target immediately when they found his position. Instead, they sent him to take over the position of the prime minister on Muyang so that they could control their target entirely. What Mr. Yi did just expose them.


    The prime minister was unhappy that Mr. Yi kidnapped these two people without informing him first. However, since Mr. Yi was sent by the organization, his status was higher than him. Hence, he could only suppress his anger.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to do it too. But, there is another unknown faction on Muyang...¡± Mr. Yi¡¯s expression turned stern. ¡°Their target is Wang Qi too. They even kidnapped the son of the Liu family.¡±


    When they received news that Wang Qi was attacked on his way back from the casino, they rushed over immediately, only to realize that the other party had erased all traces. There were no clues left behind. They managed to find the headquarters of the other party after much effort but when they sent their special forces over, no one was there. There was nothing inside it too. It was as if no one had ever used the ce.


    Without a doubt, the other party had seen through all their ns. This was the only reason why they were able to retreat before they were exposed. It didn¡¯t feel good when your opponent was always ahead of you. When he knew that his opponent had kidnapped the son of the Liu family, he was afraid that they would kidnap Wang Qi too so he decided to act first.


    The prime minister got a reality check of him not having full control of Muyang. The underground gambling dens was a section he couldn¡¯t touch. He couldn¡¯t touch the new faction too. Mr. Yi had no choice when he made this decision to kidney the two children. It was better than letting the other faction take Wang Qi away. He wouldn¡¯t be able to answer to his organization if that had happened.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you bring Luo Yi too?¡± Leaving a person out would expose their n, right? The prime minister was puzzled. ¡°If that item is in his hand, he will bring it here to exchange for the sole descendant of Wang Junan.¡± Mr. Yi exined, ¡°If he doesn¡¯t have it, it means that it¡¯s with this boy. If not... it is with her father.¡± Mr. Yi looked at Liu Aihua.


    Liu Aihua started trembling harder when she noticed Mr. Yi¡¯s gaze. Tears started falling down her face. Although Liu Aihua was much calmer than most children her age, she was still scared when she got abducted suddenly and brought to an enclosed space. She knew that crying out loud might irritate her kidnappers so she cried silently. The guards looking after her felt pity for her when they saw her expression.


    ¡°We still haven¡¯t found out her father¡¯s real identity yet. Are you sure that he is rted to Luo Yi?¡± the prime minister asked curiously.


    ¡°The organization has always been tracking Luo Yi. At first, we thought he came to Muyang because it¡¯s remote. However, there are many others that are remote and peaceful too. Why did he choose Muyang? There must be some other reasons. There might be people he knew on this who could help him cover up his identity.¡±


    ¡°Is that the reason why the organization started taking notice of the Liu family? No wonder the organization asked me to watch over the Liu family too.¡± The prime minister felt enlightened.


    ¡°Of course. Luo Yi has seen many life-or-death situations on the battlefield. His blood is colder than a normal person. Would he be so kind and take care of a little girl for no reason?¡± Mr. Yiughed coldly, ¡°It must be because the Liu family is rted to him. No matter what, the Liu family has something to do with him.¡± Luo Yi didn¡¯t know that he dragged the Liu family into this just because he helped them out.


    ¡°We can¡¯t find the name ¡®Liu Zhongguo¡¯ in the military¡¯s mainframe. He must be a mercenary.¡± The prime minister revealed his findings. ¡°Hees back every five years. This fits the holiday of a mercenary.¡±


    ¡°Five years? Thest time he came back was five years ago, right?¡± Mr. Yi thought about something.


    ¡°Yes. It has been five years. Two more months and it¡¯ll be the sixth year.¡± The prime minister checked the records on Muyang for the past years and noticed that Liu Zhongguo came back every five years.


    ¡°He should being back soon. Before seeing Liu Zhongguo personally, I can¡¯t confirm if he is a mercenary Luo Yi befriended outside or is he this person.¡± Mr. Yi moved his wrist and a photo flew out of his hand.


    The photo pierced into the wall on the opposite side of the room. The prime minister looked over and saw a handsome young soldier around 30 years old. His gaze was intense. It was a photo of Liu Furong when he first became a major.


    ¡°Liu Furong from the Seven Stars of the North.¡± The prime minister narrowed his eyes. ¡°He is the only one remaining from the Seven Stars of the North.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t they say that he is crippled?¡± The prime minister had been on Haijiao for the past year so he didn¡¯t know that Liu Furong was back on the battlefield.

 Chapter 946 - Misunderstanding!

    <strong>Chapter 946 Misunderstanding!</strong>


    ¡°Do you know the mecha n that received huge merit from the war on Haijiao? 250 Ace Mecha n?¡± Mr. Yi was very serious.


    The prime minister nodded. The Federation promoted this n¡¯s actions widely, so he knew about it even though he was far away from the center of the Federation.


    ¡°He is now the team leader of team 02 of 250 Ace Mecha n. After he returns to the Federation, he may even rise in rank again. He has a bright future ahead of himself,¡± Mr. Yi finished his sentence coldly. He moved his wrist again and a silver needle shot through Liu Furong¡¯s forehead in the photo.


    ¡°Are you saying that Liu Furong was never crippled?¡± The prime minister turned serious too.


    ¡°Maybe, maybe not. 250 Ace Mecha n used to be made up of a bunch of useless and mentally disabled soldiers. However, after just one person appeared, they were all reborn from the ashes of their past self.¡± Mr. Yi¡¯s voice was filled with admiration and jealousy.


    The prime minister suddenly remembered the highly debated Ling Xiao issue. He said, ¡°That is Ling Lan¡¯s, the son of Ling Xiao, team?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s reputation was already on par with General Ling Xiao. Almost everyone knew who he was. Pamphlets promoting his valiant actions could be found on Muyang too.


    ¡°If Liu Furong became one of the Ling family¡¯s subordinates, the organisation will have a hard time touching him.¡± The prime minister got worried. The organisation could do anything to a talented mecha operator who had no background. However, if the mecha operator had a powerful background... as long as the person backing him up didn¡¯t give up, the organisation needed to think thrice before attacking the mecha operator.


    ¡°That was why the organisation send me here. They wanted to know Liu Zhongguo¡¯s true identity. If he is really Liu Furong, we must kill him secretly without letting the Ling family know anything.¡± Mr. Yi told the prime minister the newest order he had received from their organisation. ¡°Your mission is to watch the port carefully. Once Liu Zhongguo enters Muyang, control him.¡±


    Beep! The prime minister¡¯smunicator started vibrating. He looked down and smiled. ¡°Speak of the devil. Liu Zhongguo has arrived on Muyang.¡±


    ¡°Immediately bring Liu Zhongguo here. Don¡¯t let the unknown faction contact him.¡± Mr. Yi stood up and gave his order.


    The aim of the unknown faction was that item. The purpose of kidnapping Liu Zhongguo¡¯s son was probably to threaten Liu Zhongguo so that he would pass them the item. Mr. Yi must act before them.


    ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll go and make the arrangements.¡± The prime minister left the room and asked his men to go stop Liu Zhongguo.


    Liu Aihua stopped crying when she heard Liu Zhongguo¡¯s name. Her father was finally back. Her mother always said that her father was invincible. He was finally back.


    Liu Aihua only remembered the face full of beard. She had no other memories left of her father. This was because she only met her father once. That time, her father had only stayed for less than a month before leaving. Hence, Little Aihua had no other memories of her father. She only knew that her father had a face full of beard and he loved her very much. He would always give her anything she wanted.


    It couldn¡¯t be denied that in the eyes of children, their father was a superhero. Little Aihua was the same too. She believed that her father would save her, so she calmed down a lot.


    On the other side, Little Aijun and Little White hugged each other in fright. They looked at the room full of men in ck with wide puppy eyes.


    ¡°Elder Ying, why did we kidnap this little kid?¡± One of the men in ck was puzzled.


    ¡°The government of Muyang attacked us twice already. The second time, they destroyed our base so I must take revenge. At first, I wanted to kill everyone in that town but I realize that there are many secrets there. Hence, I will kidnap this child to warn them,¡± Elder Ying said in frustration.


    ¡°What happened to the other team?¡± There were two teams from unknown factions that came to Muyang. One of the team was led by the person-in-charge. They were situated at their base. The other team stayed hidden. They wouldn¡¯te out unless there was a need to.


    ¡°I can feel that there is someone as powerful as me in that small town. When I was kidnapping the child, I almost got caught by him.¡± Elder Ying shuddered when he thought about what had happened. If the explosion didn¡¯t ur, the other person might have found his position and he might not be able toe back alive.


    No one knew what the oue of a battle between domain realms masters would be.


    ¡°It looks like there is someone important in that small town. If not, the Federation won¡¯t send a domain realm master to this small ce.¡± One of the men in ck voiced out his thoughts.


    ¡°No wonder something happened to our men. The government on Muyang might have felt that our actions had threatened the person they were supposed to protect so they sent their men to clear our base.¡± At first, they couldn¡¯t understand why the government of Muyang wanted to target them. Now, they found the reason. The men in ck were all frustrated when they thought about it more. ¡®Was this considered an unexpected cmity?¡¯


    ¡°No matter what the reason is, we need to find out who is the person they wanted to protect. We¡¯ve never suffered such humiliation before.¡± Elder Ying clenched the handle of his chair so tightly that the handle burst apart. ¡°I must kill him and take my revenge.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Elder Ying.¡± The men in ck stood up and started moving


    ¡°As for you, stay here obediently and don¡¯t anger me.¡± Elder Ying looked at Little Aijun furiously.


    Little Aijun nodded fervently. Even if he didn¡¯t, the tentacles on his head would force him to move his head too. Little White knew that this person in front of it was dangerous. If it was alone, it would attempt to wound the man. However, it had a little burden with it. Forget it, it should be obedient. It didn¡¯t want to die from being squashed by its master.


    Elder Ying was satisfied with Little Aijun¡¯s reaction. Of course, he didn¡¯t believe that a five years old child could escape under his sight. Thus, he didn¡¯t care much about him which allowed Little Aijun to move around freely in the secret room.


    Well, Little Aijun was harmless but Little White was a huge monster in disguise. Is it fine to let him run around freely like this?


    ¡°Boss, Liu Zhongguo is on Muyang.¡± Little Four had been watching over the actions of the government so he got this information when they got it. ¡°The government had already sent people to get him over to them.¡±


    Ling Lan smiled slightly. ¡°That is fast...¡±


    ¡°Have you found Liu Aijun?¡± Since the government¡¯s target was Liu Furong, they wouldn¡¯t do anything to Little Aihua and Wang Qi. Ling Lan could stop worrying about them for the moment. She moved her attention to Little Aijun. Although he had Little White along with him, the earth element domain realm master still made Ling Lan worry.

 Chapter 947 - Long Time No See!

    Chapter 947 Long Time No See!


    ¡°It¡¯s within this area. However, I¡¯m still searching for the exact location.¡± Little Four was a little disheartened. There was no surveince camera in the area where Liu Aijun and Little White were at, so he could only rely on the satellite to find out where they were.


    ¡°There is no need to be in a rush. Take it slow.¡± Ling Lan sighed softly. She could only rely on Little Four now, unless if the earth element domain realm master appeared again.


    Liu Furong sat in the shuttle and entered Muyang¡¯s port. When he walked out of the shuttle, he saw fully armed soldiers from the government at the tform.


    Liu Furong¡¯s heart dropped when he saw this. ¡®Did they found me?¡¯ This was his first thought. However, he didn¡¯t get agitated. He just continued to walk calmly towards the tform.


    Liu Furong knew that if he was really exposed, there was no way of him escaping. In that case, it was better for him to face the problem calmly and look for an opportunity to escape.


    Another reason why he moved forward was because he wanted to know if the people important to him were safe or not.


    The person-in-charge of this mission listened to his man reporting to him and his eyes lit up. He walked towards the man in a beard and smiled. ¡°Liu Zhongguo?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Liu Furong replied calmly. The situation was not too bad. He was still Liu Zhongguo to the other party.


    ¡°Our prime minister will like to meet you.¡± The person-in-charge revealed their motive.


    Liu Furong pretended to be puzzled. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m just an explorer. I don¡¯t know your prime minister.¡± Liu Furong didn¡¯t want to take a risk without knowing what the situation was.


    The person-in-charge was prepared for the rejection so he passed Liu Furong a photo. He smiled and said, ¡°Do you recognize these two people?¡±


    Wang Qi and Liu Aihua were looking at the camera fearfully. Liu Furong took the photo and frowned slightly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t know who they are.¡±


    He passed the photo back to the soldier. However, beneath his sleeve, his fist was clenched tightly.


    Even if he hadn¡¯t seen these two people for almost six years, he still knew who they were in a single nce. One of them should be Wang Qi while the other was his daughter, Liu Aihua.


    ¡°Tsk tsk tsk. Mr. Liu, you are such a forgetful person. After five years, you can¡¯t even recognize your own child.¡± The person-in-charge shook his head and said regretfully.


    Liu Furong immediately snatched the photo over and took a look at it again. ¡°My daughter?¡±


    He appeared enlightened. Then, he grabbed the person¡¯s cor and said angrily, ¡°If you harmed my daughter in any way, I will never let you go.¡±


    Liu Furong acted perfectly as a rash man who had just realized that something had happened to his daughter.


    ¡°Mr. Liu, you misunderstood us.¡± The person-in-charge replied calmly, ¡°Your daughter was reported missing so we are looking for her now. Just now, we noticed that you have entered Muyang through our system so we wanted to ask for your cooperation in this matter. We guessed that your daughter is kidnapped and it might have something to do with your enemy.¡±


    The ambiguous sentence made Liu Furong narrowed his eyes.


    ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll leave with you.¡± Liu Furong answered decisively. For the sake of his daughter and his benefactor¡¯s son, he must walk into the tiger¡¯s den.


    Liu Furong entered the prepared hover car. The car moved at high speed towards the central government building of Muyang.


    At this moment, Ling Lan was in a hover taxi along with Aunt Liu and Wang Baozhuang. They reached the central government building of Muyang too.


    The government of Muyang didn¡¯t notice their actions. Little Four had altered all the footage on the surveince cameras along the way. Those people that were following the Liu family and the Wang family had been lured to the mecha maintenance shop. They didn¡¯t know that Ling Lan and the other two people had left the small town secretly.


    ¡°The government of Muyang? Jiang Hui, why did you bring us here?¡± Wang Baozhuang asked in surprised.


    ¡°If we have a problem, shouldn¡¯t we look for the government?¡± Ling Lan gave an ambiguous smile.


    Aunt Liu nodded furiously when she heard this. She was caught off her guard just now so she forgot to call the police when she had realized that Aijun and Aihua were kidnapped. She should have done it long ago.


    Wang Baozhuang gave a forced smile when he heard this. ¡®Can I tell them that they are entering their enemy¡¯sir?¡¯ When Wang Qi and Liu Aihua were kidnapped, the first person he suspected was his powerful enemy. The government on Muyang was already taken over by his enemy.


    Ling Lan sighed. The only people who didn¡¯t know the truth was Aunt Liu and her two children. When she looked at Aunt Liu¡¯s clear gaze, Ling Lan felt her hands itching. If Liu Furong appeared before her, she would definitely beat him until he was half dead.


    ¡®How can he bear to lie to such a pure-hearteddy?¡¯


    ¡°Boss, Leader Liu is here.¡± Little Four detected Ling Lan¡¯s emotions so he quickly reported this news to her.


    Well, he wouldn¡¯t admit that he wanted to see his Boss beating Leader Liu up. No, he didn¡¯t.


    Ling Lan smiled as she thought. ¡®It looks like even God can¡¯t bear to see this heinous act.¡¯


    Ling Lan turned around and said to Aunt Liu and Wang Baozhuang, ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡± A good show was about to start


    After she finished speaking, she led the way and walked up the steps leading to the central government building. Aunt Liu followed her without any hesitation.


    Wang Baozhuang looked at the huge building in front of him. He stomped his feet frustratingly and followed behind them.


    For the sake of Wang Qi, he was willing to take any risk.


    After entering the main hall of the building, Ling Lan chose the lift furthest away from the entrance. Ling Lan appeared so confident and natural that the workers on duty only took a nce at her before letting her off.


    Aunt Liu came from a small town but she extremely worried about her children. Ling Lan¡¯s reminder just now made her think that they were really here to ask the government for help so she walked in without any signs of fear too.


    As for Wang Baozhuang, the moment he entered the main hall, all his anxiety and worries just disappeared. He turned back to the old logistician from the 9th Wings Regiment who was able to keep calm in the face of all dangers and never made any mistakes in thest ten years of his career.


    None of the three people attracted the suspicion of the workers on duty. They walked smoothly to the lift.


    However, this lift couldn¡¯t be taken by a normal person. The moment Ling Lan stepped in, the person who was supposed to guard this area frowned. He wanted to step forward and question Ling Lan but before he could reach her, the detector of the lift scanned Ling Lan and the lift door opened automatically.


    The person on duty quickly stopped in his tracks and gave a forced smile. ¡®It must be another descendant of an elite family with a special pass.¡¯ He thought. He shook his head and return to his original position. He didn¡¯t dare to offend such powerful people, as nothing good woulde out of it.


    And thus, Ling Lan smoothly entered the lift with them. The buttons only showed the levels above them. However, this couldn¡¯t stop the all mighty Little Four.


    Ling Lan scanned the detector in the lift and the number ¡®1¡¯ on the lift screen turned into ¡®o¡¯.


    ¡°Where did Liu Furong go?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    Liu Furong was a step faster than them. He had already entered the building.


    ¡°Basement level five.¡± Little Four didn¡¯t need Ling Lan to tell him what to do. He directly send Ling Lan to the basement level five.


    When the number¡¯-1¡ä,¡¯-2¡ä appeared on the screen, Wang Baozhuang¡¯s expression was suddenly filled with fear. He looked at Ling Lan with fear and vignce.


    The lift door opened and Ling Lan walked out. Aunt Liu wanted to follow her but Wang Baozhuang suddenly grabbed her and pressed the button to close the lift door.


    However, the lift had no reaction. Wang Baozhuang looked at Ling Lan with a pale face. ¡°Who are you?¡±


    Only a person familiar with this ce was able to use these pieces of equipment so smoothly. Ling Lan¡¯s actions caused Wang Baozhuang to suspect that she was on the same side as his enemy.


    ¡°I¡¯m just a passer-by.¡± Ling Lan replied calmly, ¡°I have nothing to do with your enemy. I just happen to be a hacker too.¡±


    Ling Lan exined how she was able to do all these things. Wang Baozhuang was still suspicious of her but he knew that he was unable to leave this ce without her. Hence, he had no choice but to walk out of the lift. Only Aunt Liu was confused. She didn¡¯t know why Wang Baozhuang was so agitated.


    Liu Furong was brought into a secret room by the person-in-charge. The second he entered the room, he saw the prime minister drinking tea with the man called Mr. Yi.


    When Mr. Yi saw Liu Furong, he smiled and guided Liu Furong to his seat.


    Liu Furong¡¯s narrowed his eyes when he saw Mr. Yi. He didn¡¯t expect to see this person in this ce. However, the appearance of this person destroyed all his hope. The safe ce they took so much effort to create was really exposed.


    Liu Furong stopped pretending. Just like how he was familiar with this person, this person understood him well too. He could fool other people but he wasn¡¯t able to fool this man.


    ¡°Long time no see.¡± Mr. Yi saw Liu Furong sitting down and he got up to pour a cup of tea for him. He greeted Liu Furong as though they were old friends.


    ¡°Long time no see.¡± Liu Furong raised his cup and jeered, ¡°You are still the same, pretending to be cultured.¡±


    ¡°Well, better than you who likes to hide like a coward,¡± Mr. Yi wasn¡¯t affected.


    ¡°I want to know how you managed to find this ce?¡± Liu Furong went directly to the main topic. ¡°Even ace hackers can¡¯t be perfect in deleting all traces of evidence. If something was done, there would be clues left behind. It was hard for our ace hackers to trace the clues back but they managed to do it after a long time.¡± Mr. Yi exined how they were able to discover Muyang.


    ¡°When we found Luo Yi, we found Wang Qi too. However, I didn¡¯t know that you will use another identity to protect them. You even married a local who had never seen the world and had children with her.¡± Mr. Yi sighed. ¡°Last time, all the Seven Stars of the North were arrogant and proud. Many exceptional female soldiers wanted to marry you but none of you cared about them. If they knew that they lost to a person from a primitive, they might vomit blood in anger.¡±


    ¡°Oh wait, I forgot that no one wanted to marry Leader Liu. No wonder, you married a naive idiot from Muyang.¡± Mr. Yi made exaggerated expressions as he said this. He hated the Seven Stars of the North with a passion. In the past, he was always hidden under the shadows of the Seven Stars of the North


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to betray your regimentmander and yourrades so that you can achieve a higher status.¡± Liu Furong¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°For the sake of your personal gain, you rather be a dog.¡±


    The Magic Ace Mecha n was a mecha n that had 50 mecha teams. Liu Furong was the leader of team 19. Yi Hao was the leader of team 47. Yi Hao entered the Magic Ace Mecha n a few years after Liu Furong. However, his exceptional mecha piloting skills and his outstandingmanding ability allowed the regimentmander to make an exception and promote him to be a team leader. He was the youngest among all the team leaders. All the other team leaders treated him as their younger brother. None of them expected their most trusted younger brother to harm them and cause the annihtion of their entire mecha n.


    ¡°Haha, Regiment Commander Wang was clearly aware of the situation. Since we were in the 3rd Division, we needed to follow themand of the 3rd Division.¡± Yi Hao gave a cold smile. ¡°Anyone who didn¡¯t listen tomand would be killed mercilessly. Regiment Commander Wang knew this perfectly. That¡¯s why he passed the item to you and sacrificed the entire mecha n in order to send you out alive. I don¡¯t want to be an idiot like the rest of the people who died. Why can you remain alive while I have to die trying to save you?¡± Yi Hao shouted in agitation.


    He chose to betray his mecha n because he couldn¡¯t understand why their regimentmander ced all their hopes on Liu Furong. Why didn¡¯t he consider him? Wasn¡¯t he supposed to be the regimentmander¡¯s favourite junior? It was all fake! Their regimentmander only trusted Liu Furong who was from the same batch as him. He never believed in him. He was nothing to him.


    ¡°Since he chose you, I want him to know that his choice was a mistake. It¡¯s all wrong!¡± Yi Hao lost control of his emotions. The prime minister looked at Yi Hao in shock. He never knew that this powerful Mr. Yi was from the Magic Ace Mecha n just like Liu Furong. It looked like the people from the Magic Ace Mecha n were not all killed like what the military had reported.


    ¡°Stop lying to yourself. You are just afraid of death and afraid that everything you¡¯ve achieved would be gone. No, these things wouldn¡¯t satisfy you. You just wanted a higher position and greater power. That¡¯s why you betrayed us. If it wasn¡¯t for you, none of the people from the Magic Ace Mecha n had to die.¡± Liu Furong couldn¡¯t forget how they got surrounded when they got back that year. Their enemy was stronger than them in terms of numbers. Their weapons were all highly advanced. Only the top-tier titled ace mecha ns in the Federation could have such weapons.


    How was a small independent able to have such weapons and facilities? At that time, they knew that there was a traitor among them.


    ¡°You can¡¯t me me for this. The regimentmander wanted to swallow everything. I was unwilling to ept this. We all risk our lives to get that item so we all should get a part of it,¡± Yi Hao refuted.


    Liu Furong was in agony. That year, their regimentmander passed that item to him as a safeguard. If their mecha n was united, they would all be able to return home safely. Once their regimentmander passed that item to the military, the Magic Ace Mecha n would gain merits as a whole. Yi Hao would get his share too. From the start, the regimentmander didn¡¯t have any intention of taking all the merits. However, but by showing his favour over for one over the other, he sparked jealousy and spite in the n. Thus, Yi Hao felt that their regimentmander was being unfair to everyone


    ¡°We were wrong. You are indeed skillful in mecha piloting andmanding but you don¡¯t have a righteous heart.¡± Liu Furong felt regretful. That year, he had vouched for Yi Hao to be a team leader. If Yi Hao didn¡¯t be a team leader, hisrades might be still alive now. The Magic Ace Mecha n might have be the best mecha n in the 3rd Division just like what their regimentmander used to say

 Chapter 948 - Uninvited Guest!

    <strong>Chapter 948 Uninvited Guest!</strong>


    Yi Hao sneered at Liu Furong¡¯s words. To him, he betrayed his mecha n because Liu Furong and their regimentmander didn¡¯t trust him. They were the ones who forced him to find another family to be under.


    ¡°Enough of the bullshit. Liu Furong, is that item with you?¡± Yi Hao revealed his true motive.


    Liu Furong replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯ve given away that item a long time ago.¡±


    ¡°It looks like you will not give up until you face the grim reality.¡± Yi Hao would never believe what he said. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the prime minister.


    The prime minister raised his hands and pped them lightly. Suddenly, the wall beside them cracked open and revealed Wang Qi and Liu Aihua being a room with two guns pointing at their temples.


    Wang Qi saw a familiar uncle with a huge beard in front of him. He quickly searched through his memory to find who was the uncle in front of him. After some effort, he finally remembered that this familiar uncle came to his grandfather¡¯s shop five years ago, and his grandfather told to call him Uncle


    Liu.


    Wang Qi felt as though he found his life savior. He shouted excitedly, ¡°Uncle Liu, I¡¯m Wang Qi from The Wang Shop. Please save us!¡±


    Liu Aihua saw the familiar face and couldn¡¯t hold back her tears anymore. She tried her best to stop herself from crying in fright just now, but now her tears just continued to rain down from her eyes. Her mother would always take out the only photo of their father out and tell her brother and her that the person in the photo was their father. The person in front of her was clearly her powerful father who loved them dearly.


    ¡°I came here so that I can save you two,¡± Liu Furong said firmly tofort Wang Qi. He turned his head and looked at the little girl that was crying silently with great emotion in his eyes. Although this little girl was different from the five-year-old little girl in his memory, Liu Furong knew immediately that this little girl was his daughter whom he had missed dearly for the past five years.


    ¡°Father!¡± Liu Aihua shouted weakly. Liu Furong¡¯s heart ached when he heard his daughter calling out for his help. He really failed as a father. Most importantly, he implicated his daughter and caused her to be in danger.


    ¡°Liu Furong, where is the thing? If you tell me, I¡¯ll let Wang Qi and your daughter go,¡± Yi Hao pointed at Liu Aihua and said.


    Wang Qi finally regained his senses. This familiar uncle was actually Little Aihua¡¯s father.


    Liu Furong looked at Wang Qi and Liu Aihua without replying to Yi Hao. Yi Hao smiled. He was confident that with Wang Qi and his daughter in his hands, Liu Furong would listen to him.


    Liu Furong remained silent for a moment before saying, ¡°I can tell you...¡±


    Yi Hao¡¯s smile got deeper. As expected, for the sake of Wang Qi and Liu Furong, Liu Furong would bow down to him.


    ¡°In your dreams!¡± Liu Furong¡¯s tone of voice suddenly changed. He waved his hands and two silver rays shot past Yi Hao¡¯s eyes.


    Yi Hao¡¯s expression changed. Liu Furong¡¯s actions had caught him off his guard so he didn¡¯t have the time to stop him.


    ¡°Ah!¡± The two people pointing their guns at Wang Qi and Liu Aihua screamed in pain. They leaned back and fell on their backs. There was a tranquilizer syringe in their foreheads. Everyone from 250 Ace Mecha n had more than 10 of these tranquilizer syringes on them at every time. Whether they were on holiday or they were in the army, they always carried an ample amount of these tranquilizer syringes.


    To ensure the safety of theirrades, Ling Lan and the logisticians tried their best to ensure that everyone had enough tranquilizer syringes.


    Liu Furong mmed the table and used the force gained from it to jump up into the air. Then, he shot multiple syringes at the prime minister and Yi Hao.


    Yi Hao¡¯s force of presence exploded out, creating a counterforce that stopped the miniature syringes froming anywhere near him. As for the prime minister, he just retreated back swiftly and dodged all the syringes that were shot at him.


    Liu Furong didn¡¯t ce much hope that the syringes would hit these two people. He just wanted to use the syringes to restrict their movements, so that he could save Wang Qi and his daughter.


    Liu Furong came beside Wang Qi and Liu Aihua instantly. He used his hand like a knife and cut the ropes that were wrapped around them.


    Yi Hao scoffed when he saw this. He pped his hands and numerous men dropped down from the top of the room, surrounding the three people in the middle of them.


    ¡°Since you came to my ce, you will never leave.¡± Yi Hao was delighted. When he suspected that Liu Zhongguo was Liu Furong, he set up this trap in advance.


    Liu Furong pushed Wang Qi and Liu Aihua behind him. He scanned his surroundings and wondered if he was able to defeat all of his opponents with his syringes.


    Just as the atmosphere was about to reach its breaking point, the door of the room was suddenly busted open and two people staggered into the room.


    Liu Furong¡¯s heart scrunched up when he saw the two people. With Liu Aihua and Wang Qi around him, he was already at his limits. Plus, he didn¡¯t even know if he would seed in saving them. If these two people were caught too, he would really have no way out.


    Yi Hao got a shock when someone suddenly entered the room without his consent. However, when he saw Aunt Liu and Wang Baozhuang, his astonishment turned into delight.


    ¡°Liu Furong, it looks like even God doesn¡¯t want you to have a good time. He gave me two more hostages.¡± Yi Haoughed loudly. ¡°Prime minister Lu, thank you.¡±


    The prime minister was stunned when he saw the two people too. When he heard what Yi Hao said, he hurriedly replied, ¡°I didn¡¯t ask my men to send them here.¡±


    Yi Hao¡¯sughter was suddenly held back in his throat. ¡®If it isn¡¯t him, who brought these two people to the secret room that only we know? Did someone betray us? Or did the unknown faction do something?¡¯


    Yi Hao and the prime minister exchanged nces with each other. Then, they quickly took out their handgun at the same time and aimed it at the entrance.


    ¡°Who are you? Come out!¡± Yi Hao shouted furiously. He was at the edge of achieving his lifelong dream but the appearance of an unknown third party made everything ambiguous. Yi Hao felt frustrated that his n was wrecked by someone.


    Footsteps were heard from outside the door. The clear sound of boots stepping on the hard floor entered the secret room. Everyone¡¯s heart was at their throats. They were all waiting for the appearance of this person so that they could decide if the person was a friend or foe.


    Wang Baozhuang and Aunt Liu were frightened when they got suddenly pushed into the room. Even Aunt Liu, who always trusted Jiang Hui, didn¡¯t know if he was a good person or a bad person anymore.


    A young man in a ck windbreaker and with a golden mask covering the top half of his face walked into the room calmly. He had a gentle smile on his face and his hands were inside the pockets of his windbreaker. It was as if he was taking a stroll in his garden.


    The people from Yi Hao¡¯s side quickly aimed their beam guns at him.


    ¡°There are quite a few people.¡± The young man didn¡¯t seem to notice the beam guns pointing at him. He simply walked passed Wang Baozhuang and Aunt Liu and came to the table where Yi Hao and Liu Furong were drinking tea just now. After that, he scanned the chair with his eyes and sat down naturally with a satisfied look.

 Chapter 949 - Too Late!

    <strong>Chapter 949 Too Late!</strong>


    The young man raised his gloved hands. Bandages could be seen in the gap between his sleeve and his gloves. Then, he took an unused teacup and started pouring some tea for himself.


    ¡°What a thoughtful host. You know that your guest will be thirsty after walking for such a long distance so you prepared some tea.¡± Ling Lan raised her cup at Yi Hao.


    Yi Hao was astounded. This person knew that he was the one in charge of this ce. He had good eyesight. Normally, people would think that the prime minister was the person-in-charge.


    ¡°Aunt Liu, Grandpa Wang, since the host is so thoughtful,e over and have a cup of tea.¡± Ling Lan smiled as she spoke to Aunt Liu and Wang Baozhuang


    Aunt Liu saw Liu Furong and Liu Aihua, who was behind Ling Lan. Her attention was all on them so the fear she had at the start had disappeared. She looked at Liu Furong curiously. When Jiang Hui called her, she walked over without thinking and sat down beside him.


    Wang Baozhuang saw Liu Furong and Wang Qi too. He rxed a little when he saw Liu Furong. He heard Jiang Hui calling them too. Aunt Liu walked over so Wang Baozhuang followed behind her hurriedly. He was suspicious of Jiang Hui so he couldn¡¯t let Aunt Liu be at risk.


    Liu Furong was puzzled when he saw Ling Lan. At first, he thought that it was Li Lanfeng due to the gentle aura around the person. However, after looking at the person clearly, he dismissed this thought.


    The lips and chin that could be seen outside the mask didn¡¯t look like Li Lanfeng¡¯s. Plus, Li Lanfeng appeared gentle and kind but it was all faked. Someone as powerful as Liu Furong was able to detect the viciousness Li Lanfeng was hiding deep inside him. On the contrary, the gentle aura from the person in front of him was natural. It was enough for people to put down their guard and want to get closer to him.


    Liu Furong knew he had never met someone with this aura. However, he still felt a sense of familiarity with the person in front of him, but after thinking hard about it for some time, he still couldn¡¯t figure it out.


    Yi Hao was furious when he saw this uninvited guest treating his ce as though it was his house. He even started drinking his tea shamelessly. Such actions meant that this person looked down on him.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Yi Hao forced himself to calm down as he said coldly.


    ¡°Huh? A passer-by.¡± Ling Lan nced at Yi Hao indifferently. ¡°If you hadn¡¯t catch Wang Qi and Liu Aihua, I might be on the spacecraft that is leaving this right now. Unfortunately, you did all this and as a guest of the Liu family, I couldn¡¯t bear to leave.¡±


    Ling Lan stared at the teacup in her hand. She followed the rim of the cup slowly with her finger and smiled. ¡°Additionally, you have to pay for my wasted ticket.¡±


    Yi Hao narrowed his eyes. He turned around and looked at Prime Minister Lu. Prime Minister Lu nodded. This person was indeed living with the Liu family for the past few days.


    ¡®What kind of luck does Liu Furong have? A random guest that stayed at his house is a powerful person.¡¯ Yi Hao was unhappy. He knew that this young man was not a simple person. He was able to enter their room with two people beside him without their knowledge. ¡°Mister, this is an old affair between us and the Liu family. It has nothing to do with you. If you leave now, we¡¯ll forgive you for what you just did. We can even send you on a shuttle so you can leave this immediately.¡± Yi Hao wanted to kill this person but he was currently in a mission. All his targets were here so he didn¡¯t want to ruin his mission just because of a dumb decision.


    Ling Lan nced at Yi Hao and said slowly, ¡°It¡¯s toote.¡±


    Yi Hao understood what this young man was saying. He was going to interfere in their affair no matter what. He sneered. ¡°In that case, don¡¯t me us for being merciless.¡±


    He pointed at Ling Lan immediately and all his men pulled the trigger.


    Everyone shot at Ling Lan. Yi Hao wasn¡¯t killing the other people in the room because the item he wanted was still in their hands.


    Aunt Liu screamed in fright. Wang Baozhuang was bbergasted. At this moment, four crystal-clear ice walls appeared around the table Ling Lan was sitting at, blocking all the beams that wereing towards


    her.


    A round of firing ended. The ice wall started melting from the beams. The water dripped down and in the end, the walls turned into puddles of water.


    Liu Furong narrowed his eyes when he saw the ice walls. There was fear and happiness in his eyes when he looked at Ling Lan again. His face turned red in shame. If he had a choice, he wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it. He had no regrets towards Wang Qi but he felt ashamed of himself for lying to his wife and children. Yet, his regimentmander knew about this. He felt embarrassed.


    The appearance of the ice wall enlightened Liu Furong. He finally knew who the person in front of him was. Besides their regimentmander, who else was able to be an ice element domain realm master at such a young age?


    He didn¡¯t expect his regimentmander to be so gentle after he restrained his cold aura. Even he was fooled by him.


    What? Regiment Commander Ling was supposed to be gentle? His cold aura was his disguise? Are you having a fever? You need to visit Doctor Li and get some medicine.


    Everyone in 250 Ace Mecha n believed firmly that their regimentmander was an ultimate devil that came from hell. Gentleness was not something that their Boss had. If their Boss decided to stop their training for one day, it was because he was in a good mood. There was no other reason.


    Yi Hao¡¯s heart dropped when he saw the ice wall. The worse scenario had happened. He did wonder if this young person was a domain realm master since he appeared so confident. However, because of his age, he still had some hope that this wasn¡¯t the case. That was why he ordered the attack. If this person was not a domain realm master, he would perish from the attack.


    No matter how powerful guns were, they could only kill someone that was below the domain realm. For domain realm masters, guns were useless.


    Yi Hao regretted his actions. He had offended a domain realm master. It was troublesome.


    Suddenly, he thought about something. He shouted in fear, ¡°The regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n, Ling Lan!¡±


    He remembered his superior showing him some information about the young and promising soldiers. One of them was about Ling Lan. It stated clearly that he was an ice element domain realm master as well as an imperial operator (But based on thetest news, he was heavily injured and his potential had dropped drastically).

 Chapter 950 - Explanation?

    <strong>Chapter 950 Exnation?</strong>


    Ling Lan smiled as she looked at him. She didn¡¯t deny it nor admit it. This ambiguous expression made Yi Hao doubtful of his guess. He didn¡¯t know if his guess was right.


    Just as Yi Hao was contemting about the identity of Ling Lan, he felt an unprecedented sense of danger. He immediately leaped back. Prime Minister Lu did the same thing. The two of them then attacked the air in front of them simultaneously.


    Bang! Due to their attack, the air in front of them exploded. Ice shards flew everywhere and scattered throughout the secret room.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Aunt Liu pointed to the people around her and screamed.


    Wang Baozhuang quickly realized that those people who were pointing their guns at Ling Lan had be ice statues. No wonder they didn¡¯t continue shooting at them.


    ¡°Pretty good reaction time,¡± Ling Lan stood up slowly.


    This simple action caused Yi Hao and Prime Minister Lu to take a step back in fear. They prepared their stance to wee a fight, but Ling Lan still put them under a lot of pressure.


    Ling Lan flicked her fingers and the ice statues turned into dust after cracking apart. Yi Hao and Prime Minister Lu were in despair, as they faced the reality that they were going to die today.


    Ling Lan turned her head to look at Liu Furong. His face was red. He looked awkward.


    ¡°Leader Liu, do I need to greet you personally?¡± Ling Lan asked calmly.


    Liu Furong stood up straight instinctively when he heard this voice. He saluted and said, ¡°Regimentmander.¡±


    Aunt Liu covered her mouth in astonishment. She didn¡¯t expect the young man who stayed at her house and whom she treated as her nephew to be the regimentmander that her husband admired.


    Wang Baozhuang stared nkly at Ling Lan with a gaped mouth. He knew Liu Furong very well. Ever since Wang Junan died, Liu Furong never acknowledged any regimentmander even though he went into so many different mecha ns. But, based on his actions and expression just now, he was genuinely convinced by this young man in front of him.


    Little Aihua looked at Ling Lan with stars in her eyes. In order for her invincible father to respect a person, he must be the most powerful person in the world.


    Only Wang Qi was confused. His gaze jumped around as he looked at the people around him.


    When Yi Hao heard Liu Furong¡¯s salutation, he knew his guess was right. He nced at Prime Minister Lu. Their eyes met and they rushed towards the door simultaneously.


    Bang! Bang! Two loud noises were heard. Yi Hao and Prime Minister Lu mmed back down to the ground.


    This time however, Ling Lan didn¡¯t do anything. She just blocked the entrance with an ice wall silently when she entered the room. The two people trying to escape didn¡¯t even notice the transparent wall. By the time they saw it, it was already toote. They were knocked back into the room.


    Ling Lan walked to Prime Minister Lu and ced her forefinger on his forehead. Prime Minister Lu started trembling in fear as he gave a look of despair. He thought that Ling Lan was about to kill him.


    A cold aura was felt on his forehead. It was a frightening feeling. Prime Minister Lu closed his eyes and waited for his death. However, the ice cold finger suddenly left his forehead. ¡°You should know what to do and what not to do.¡± Ling Lan wasn¡¯t nning to kill a prime minister. The military would take notice if a prime minister from a suddenly disappeared or died. Ling Lan was able to clear the traces she left behind but she didn¡¯t want to cause too much trouble to the people of this.


    Prime Minister Lu understood that his life was spared. He nodded his head furiously to express that he knew what to do. He didn¡¯t know why Ling Lan was bold enough to spare him but he wasn¡¯t stupid to ask for the reason why.


    ¡°As for you...¡± Ling Lan looked at Yi Hao who was feeling hopeful. She called, ¡°Leader Liu.¡±


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Liu Furong maintained his position of attention. He didn¡¯t dare to move a single inch.


    ¡°Solve your own problem.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to interfere with Liu Furong¡¯s personal affairs.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Liu Furong looked at her gratefully. It was time to end the grudges between him and Yi Hao.


    ¡°Is there another room?¡± Ling Lan asked Prime Minister Lu.


    Prime Minister Lu nodded hurriedly. Ling Lan brought Aunt Liu, Wang Baozhuang, Wang Qi, and Liu Aihua to another room. She left this room for Liu Furong and Yi Hao.


    After some time, Liu Furong walked out of the room with blood all over his body. A man who had a pale face and was shivering furiously stood outside the entrance.


    ¡°Prime Minister Lu?¡± Liu Furong raised his eyebrows in surprise.


    Prime Minister Lu was drenched in sweat. He looked at Liu Furong and opened his mouth. He forced his words out of his throat. ¡°What kind of person is Regiment Commander Ling?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you see it just now?¡± Liu Furong sneered. ¡°Don¡¯t think about resisting against him. He¡¯ll let you understand what a living hell is like.¡±


    Prime Minister Lu gave a bitter smile. He did try to run away just now when he was waiting for Liu Furong based on Ling Lan¡¯s order. However, the moment this thought appeared in his head, his head started hurting tremendously. Something seemed to be swallowing his spiritual power. He finally understood where that sense of danger came from. No wonder Ling Lan wasn¡¯t afraid that he would betray them.


    Even if Ling Lan didn¡¯t exin it to him explicitly, he knew that if he revealed anything about Ling Lan, that thing would swallow his entire mindscape.


    How frightening!


    Liu Furong followed Prime Minister Lu and came to another secret room. Inside the room, Little Aihua, Wang Qi, Aunt Liu, and Wang Baozhuang were sitting down and having some tea, only Ling Lan had her eyes closed on the side. She seemed to be resting.


    When she heard footsteps, she opened her eyes. She looked at Prime Minister Lu knowingly. That intent gaze made Prime Minister Lu lower his head in shame.


    Ling Lan shifted her gaze to Liu Furong. She asked calmly, ¡°Have you resolved it?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Liu Furong replied in gratitude. ¡°Thank you, regimentmander.¡± Without him, he wouldn¡¯t have the chance to end his grudge with Yi Hao. He might not even be able to save the people he wanted to protect as well as his family.


    ¡°Well then, Leader Liu, how are you going to exin this?¡± Ling Lan looked at Aunt Liu. She just wanted to know how Leader Liu was able to chase Aunt Liu. She would never admit that she wanted to hear some gossips.


    Liu Furong¡¯s heart pumped faster when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s stern face. He had vited the military rule. His regimentmander definitely wouldn¡¯t let him off.

 Chapter 951 - I’m sorry!

    <strong>Chapter 951 I¡¯m sorry!</strong>


    Liu Furong gave a bitter smile at Aunt Liu who still seemed confused. He told her the truth about him impersonating as Liu Zhongguo.


    Ling Lan tapped the handle of her chair with her fingers. Liu Furong finished what he wanted to say and waited agitatedly for his final judgement.


    Ling Lan turned and looked at Aunt Liu who seemed shocked by what Liu Furong said. She said gently, ¡°Aunt Liu, what do you think?¡± The one who was fooled was Aunt Liu. She needed to listen to her opinion on the matter too.


    Aunt Liu looked at Liu Furong with aplicated expression. She never expected him to be a fake Liu Zhongguo. The real Liu Zhongguo had died long ago. She thought back about the hardship she had suffered and didn¡¯t know what to do too.


    Hence, when she heard Ling Lan¡¯s voice, she looked at her pleadingly. Ling Lan¡¯s gentle gaze calmed her heart.


    ¡®How could I just my hardships go to waste?¡¯ Aunt Liu cried and smiled at the same time. ¡°Regimentmander, I¡¯ll listen to you.¡±


    She couldn¡¯t bear to hate this man but she didn¡¯t want to forgive him so easily too. Since she couldn¡¯t do anything to him, it¡¯s better for her to pass him to the young man who could control everything.


    Ling Lan stood up when she heard this. She looked at Liu Furong coldly and slowly held her hands together. Her knuckles cracked. Liu Furong felt his heart pounding when he heard those sounds.


    ¡®Is he going to die?¡¯ He suddenly missed the other team leaders. If they were here, they would definitely plead for him and ask their regimentmander to punish him lightly.


    Bang! Ling Lan pressed Liu Furong on the ground with her palm.


    ¡°Leader Liu, I hate lies. Yet, you lied to such a gooddy...¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice appeared beside Liu Furong¡¯s ears. It sounded like a voice from hell. Ling Lan was really angry.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, regimentmander.¡± Liu Furong bore with the pain from the huge pressure and forced the words out of his mouth.


    Bang! Ling Lan used her force of presence to m Liu Furong onto the ground again. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t apologize to me.¡±


    ¡°Cough!¡± Liu Furong coughed out a mouthful of blood. The force of presence of a domain realm master was not something a Qi-Jin master like him could bear with.


    Liu Furong looked up into Aunt Liu¡¯s eyes and spoke with much effort. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Ah Yun. I lied to you. Please forgive me.¡±


    Little Aihua cried when she saw her father being beaten by Brother Jiang Hui until he vomited blood. She wanted to ask her Brother Jiang Hui to let her father off, but before she could plead Ling Lan, Aunt Liu hugged her.


    Aunt Liu had tears in her eyes. Her heart ached when she saw Liu Furong injured but she knew that Ling Lan punished him for her sake. How could she waste his effort because of her soft-heartedness? She was not an innocent girl who didn¡¯t know what was happening anymore.


    Ling Lan looked at Aunt Liu in admiration. No wonder she was able to raise two good and righteous children all alone. This woman had her own opinions and morals. Her heart wouldn¡¯t waver just because of a few words. It was just like how she didn¡¯t interfere with her punishment after she decided to let Ling Lan handle it.


    Ling Lan started to admire thisdy even more. No wonder Little Aijun and Little Aihua were so obedient and thoughtful.


    However, the greater her admiration for Aunt Liu, the greater her rage towards Liu Furong. The bandages on her wrist suddenly loosen apart and tied Liu Furong up.


    ¡°Aunt Liu, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll give you an answer.¡± Ling Lan disappeared from the room along with Liu Furong


    Wang Baozhuang turned to Aunt Liu and asked with a pale face, ¡°Is this fine?¡± He was really scared by Ling Lan¡¯s dominating aura and vicious methods. He didn¡¯t dare to say anything in her presence. After she left, he felt the pressure on his body disappearing.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it?¡± Aunt Liu replied calmly. That bastard would not bully them only if he knew how painful the consequences would be.


    From Liu Furong¡¯s statement, Aunt Liu knew Liu Furong was not Liu Zhongguo. He was not someone who had nothing. He had the capabilities and the merits of a high achieving soldier. He was a perfect man in every aspect. If he didn¡¯te to Muyang to protect Wang Qi, she wouldn¡¯t have the chance to marry him.


    When she was young, she dreamt about meeting her prince charming. However, now, Aunt Liu recognize the reality of her situation. Without a matching status and identity, she wouldn¡¯t be able to protect her marriage and her children. She needed to find someone whom the man was afraid of as her backing. Without a doubt, Ling Lan was the best option for that role.


    After bing a mother, Aunt Liu didn¡¯t have fantasies of a young girl anymore. Instead, she became more decisive and knew what was best for her and her children.


    Wang Baozhuang suddenly understood what she meant. He gasped. In the past, Liu Furong chose to marry Aunt Liu because she was gentle, virtuous and obedient. Well, she was indeed gentle and virtuous but she wasn¡¯t an obedientdy anymore. When she was angry, she was even fiercer than all those dominatingdies out there.


    Wang Baozhuang silently groaned for Liu Furong. He could almost see how Liu Furong would obey his wife in the future. Fortunately, he was smart in the past, so he didn¡¯t find a wife. Hence, he didn¡¯t need to suffer like him.


    As Ling Lan stepped into the first secret room, the scent of blood wafted into her face. She walked inside and saw Yi Hao¡¯s corpse on the ground with blood sttered all over the ground.


    She frowned in disdain. She flicked her finger and the entire room turned into ice. She flicked her finger again and all the ice turned into dust, making the room look as if nothing had happened in there.


    ¡°Leader Liu, you have only one chance. You decided on your own life or death.¡± Ling Lan moved her arm and the bandages unwrapped itself from Liu Furong¡¯s body. Liu Furong was then thrown into the middle of the room.


    Liu Furongnded on the ground firmly. He wiped the drip of blood on the corner of his mouth. He didn¡¯t understand what Ling Lan meant.


    ¡°Your enemy hasplete control of the entire 3rd Division. Even if it¡¯s not the Third Marshal, it must be someone beside him who holds real power.¡± Ling Lan raised her right hand and the bandage rolled back on her wrist. ¡°You are currently not strong enough to resist against such a person. In front of him, you can only die. What happened today is an instance of that. If I didn¡¯te here coincidentally, you would be dead.¡±


    Liu Furong nodded. His regimentmander was right.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to watch you die...¡± Killing intent appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t allow my men to die in the hands of other people. If that has to happen, I rather kill you myself.¡±


    ¡°You have been at the optimal peak of Qi-Jin for more than ten years now. If you can¡¯t find an opportunity to break through now, you¡¯ll die. I¡¯ll take care of Aunt Liu and your children for you if that happens.¡± Ling Lan calmly told Liu Furong that she would take care of his family after he died.


    After she finished speaking, an intense blood aura exuded out from Ling Lan¡¯s body. This blood aura was almost ck in color. Ever since Ling Lan came back from the battlefield, her devil blood aura reached new heights.


    n came


    This frightening devil blood aura caused Liu Furong to take three steps back. He could clearly feel that his regimentmander wanted to kill him. He wasn¡¯t lying.

 Chapter 952 - Dead?

    <strong>Chapter 952 Dead?</strong>


    If she had a choice, Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to use this method to help Liu Furong advance. That year, when she helped Qiao Ting to advance to the domain stage, she realized the pros and cons of using this method. The domain gained through this method was not as perfect as naturally gaining it. If the foundation of the said person was not strong enough, he would remain in the pseudo domain stage for a long time.


    However, based on the current situation, Liu Furong couldn¡¯t remain at the optimal peak of Qi-Jin anymore. He needed to advance to the domain stage within the shortest possible time. That was the only way he could win against his opponents.


    An overwhelming force of presence engulfed Liu Furong in his entirety. He was unable to breathe properly anymore. Liu Furong realized thatpared to the force of presence he was experiencing now, the force of presence his regimentmander released during training was nothing. Once his regimentmander decided to be serious, Liu Furong felt as though there was a mountain pushing his body down. The fresh blood in his body felt as though they would seep out of his pores in the next moment.


    After enduring for a few seconds, he was unable to handle the force of presence and vomited a mouthful of blood. He had tried to use all his Qi-Jin to resist the pressure but that didn¡¯tst long.


    ¡°So quickly?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice sounded beside him. ¡°Not enough!¡±


    A force of presence that was even greater than before pushed Liu Furong down. Liu Furong felt that his legs were unable to withstand the force anymore, The moment he kneeled down, the fighting spirit in his heart exploded.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Liu Furong shouted as he raised his head in pain. His shivering legs turned firm again as he stood up.


    ¡°Not bad!¡± Ling Lan was satisfied. This was the fighting spirit someone from the Seven Stars of the North should have. However, she didn¡¯t loosen her grip on him. She continued giving Liu Furong even more pressure.


    The result of bearing with a pressure above the limit of your body was a heavy injury. Liu Furong started vomiting blood again. Blood flowed out from every orifice. After some time, his entire body was drenched with blood.


    Now, Liu Furong had entered a life-or-death moment. If he couldn¡¯t break through now, he would copse under the force of presence and die from the loss of blood. Only a breakthrough would save him.


    ¡®Should I do this?¡¯ A tinge of hesitation shed passed Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. However, she became firm again. She knew that if Liu Furong couldn¡¯t advance to the domain stage, he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape the fate of death unless he stayed beside her all the time. But, based on Liu Furong¡¯s personality, he would not live as a coward. He would rather die spectacrly than to live under her wing like a baby bird.


    ¡®Since he will die anyway, why not take a gamble. One side is heaven while the other is hell. It all depends on what he chooses.¡¯


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned cold. The pressure around Liu Furong increased again. Although Ling Lan was not a cold blooded and merciless person like what she portrayed to be, she was still a decisive person. Once she made a decision, she would do it heartlessly. Just like now, she knew that Liu Furong would die if she exerted more pressure but she still did it.


    Liu Furong felt that he was about to die. He could see the blood spurting out of his body... his regimentmander retracted his force of presence. Without the huge pressure, his body, which was still bleeding, copsed on the floor.


    He looked at his regimentmander¡¯s eyes. There was disappointment in it. He was disappointed that he didn¡¯t achieve a breakthrough and choose to die instead.


    If he had a choice, he didn¡¯t want to die. However, he really didn¡¯t know what his domain was. He couldn¡¯t find it. He had no hopes of seeding.


    Liu Furong knew that he had failed. However, he was not angry, He just felt pity that he wasn¡¯t able to find the person who caused the annihtion of the Magic Ace Mecha n. He wasn¡¯t able to wash the crimes and humiliation of his past mecha n. He couldn¡¯t allow his deadrades get the honor they should have gained.


    Suddenly, he heard the chanting from the sky. He looked up and saw a golden light piercing in the sky above him. He saw many familiar faces in the golden light. His regimentmander, Wang Junan, the other team leaders, and the members of his team were looking down on him and smiling.


    ¡°Regimentmander, brothers-in-arms, members, are you all here to fetch me?¡± That year, when his brother-in-arms died one by one before him, he forced his tears back. Now, his tears flowed down his face freely. ¡°I miss you all.¡±


    Liu Furong tried his best to fly up so that he could get nearer to them. However, no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to reach them.


    Wang Junan shook his head when he saw Liu Furong doing futile work. ¡°Furong, this is not where you should be.¡±


    ¡°Why? Aren¡¯t I dead?¡± Liu Furong asked agitatedly. He couldn¡¯t stay with his brother-in-arms even when he was dead?


    ¡°No, you still have unfinished business to do. Just like what you thought, you still haven¡¯t found our enemy and cleared the name of our mecha n yet. You haven¡¯t helped us regain our honor yet. How could you die so quickly when you haven¡¯t achieved any of these?¡± Wang Junan smiled. ¡°Furong, live for our sake.¡±


    ¡°But I failed. I died too.¡± Liu Furong lost control of his emotions as he shouted. ¡°Why do you all have to force me? Why must you throw everything to me and let me fight alone? I¡¯m tired.¡± This blood debt followed him for 15 years. He also had to hide the item that was powerful enough to shake the Federation. Liu Furong felt that he had enough of this life.


    ¡°Furong, I passed the mission to you at that time because you were the calmest among us and you had the best patience. Everyone trusted you.¡± Wang Junan smiled. ¡°You are never alone. We have always been beside you. You just have never realized it.¡±


    ¡°Now, we are able tomunicate with you with the help of your new regimentmander. Furong, feel the strength everyone is giving you. This is your strength too.¡± Wang Junan reached out his hand. In the golden light, everyone from the Magic Ace Mecha n reached out their hands.


    A ring golden light shone down from the sky, enveloping Liu Furong in a golden sheen. Liu Furong could feel warmth everywhere. A vital spirit seemed to be rushing into his body and his transparent body started turning opaque.


    ¡°Furong, look at your heart.¡± Wang Junan¡¯s voice sounded beside Liu Furong. He lowered his head and looked at the position where his heart was supposed to be. He saw an object that looked like an egg or a walnut.

 Chapter 953 - Seed!

    <strong>Chapter 953 Seed!</strong>


    ¡°What is this?¡± Liu Furong was puzzled.


    ¡°It¡¯s the source of your energy. At the same time, it¡¯s a seed too,¡± Wang Junan replied.


    ¡°Seed? What seed?¡± Liu Furong continued asking. This time, Wang Junan didn¡¯t reply to him. He just smiled.


    ¡°You can¡¯t say it?¡± Liu Furong seemed to understand.


    ¡°The emotions in your heart will be its soil and fertilizer. What kind of flower or fruit it will bloom into depends on your decision.¡± Wang Junan couldn¡¯t bear to see Liu Furong being confused so he added on. ¡°Feel your heart carefully and you¡¯ll know what your seed is. Once it sprouts, your domain wille to you naturally. Furong, all the best!¡±


    ¡°Leader Liu, all the best!¡±


    ¡°Leader, all the best!¡±


    His brother-in-arms cheered him on. Their voices filled the entire sky. Liu Furong was touched once again. He cried.


    Amidst the sound of the cheers, the golden light in the sky slowly disappeared. Wang Junan and his brother-in-arms faded away. Liu Furong wanted to hold them back but he couldn¡¯t do anything.


    Even though the people from the Magic Ace Mecha n were gone, Liu Furong still felt the seed at his heart¡¯s position. It was sucking in nutrients from somewhere. His brother-in-arms didn¡¯t disappear. They were always beside him. He just couldn¡¯t see them.


    ¡°Thank you for giving me strength.¡± Liu Furong raised his transparent right hand and ced it above the seed. He closed his eyes and felt the seed carefully.


    His sorrow, anger, frustration, happiness, and longing for his brother-in-arms from the Magic Ace Mecha n were all inside the seed. He could see the memories when he was reborn in 250 Ace Mecha n too. The friendship with his brother-in-arms from the Magic Ace Mecha n and the strong bond between hisrades from 250 Ace Mecha n were all inside.


    This was the brotherhood that he treasured.


    When Liu Furong thought about brotherhood, the seed sprouted. Two soft but strong leaves appeared.


    Ling Lan thought that Liu Furong had failed. Heid on the ground motionless and his breathing was getting fainter. The beating of his heart was slowing down too. It felt as though his heart would stop beating at any moment.


    Ling Lan was in sorrow. In the end, she lost the gamble. She clenched her fist tightly. Her nails dug into the skin of her palm and blood flowed down her hand. It dripped on the ground.


    She never regretted her decisions but that didn¡¯t mean that she had no emotions. It wasn¡¯t a good feeling to kill your own friend. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know if she would have the courage to do it again. She waited silently for the worst result. Suddenly, she raised her head with a dumbstruck expression. She was ted.


    Liu Furong¡¯s heart started pounding energetically again. Ling Lan could even feel a strong life forceing from Liu Furong¡¯s body.


    ¡°Domain!¡± Only domain could bring a new life. This was why Liu Furong managed to stay alive. In the end, Liu Furong still won against himself and found his domain.


    In the next second, multiple young shoots that represented a new life engulfed Liu Furong¡¯s body. The bloody person a moment ago turned into a green man in an instant.


    These young seedlings didn¡¯t harm Liu Furong¡¯s body. Instead, they sucked the energy around him and used it to repair his injured body.


    Liu Furong could finally feel his body. The excruciating pain almost caused him to cry in pain. He controlled his mouth in time but his body still trembled due to the tremendous pain.


    ¡°Congrattions, Leader Liu.¡± He heard Ling Lan¡¯s voice. He couldn¡¯t detect any changes in Ling Lan¡¯s voice. He sounded as though there was nothing to be excited about when he came back alive.


    ¡®Regimentmander, I came back from the gates of hell. Shouldn¡¯t you at least show some concern?¡¯ Liu Furongined secretly. He had almost died in his hand. Shouldn¡¯t he express some care towards him? Shouldn¡¯t he sound happy?


    Liu Furong started topare Ling Lan with his past regimentmander. He realized that thismander was not bad actually. He wouldn¡¯t die if he listened to his instructions.


    Liu Furong was speechless. Am I a masochist? I almost died by his hands but I still think that he is not bad?!


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what Liu Furong was thinking. She saw Liu Furong lying on the ground motionless and frowned. ¡®Did I hurt him so badly that the new life he received when he achieved domain was not enough to recuperate his body?¡¯


    ¡°You can¡¯t stand up? Do you need me to help?¡± Ling Lan sounded out her concern for Liu Furoing, but with the help of her indifferent tone, it sounded like a threat to Liu Furong.


    The vicious and heartless regimentmander said that he wanted to help you? Well, if you believe him, you¡¯re an idiot. This was definitely a threat. What he meant was, if you don¡¯t get up now, I¡¯ll torture you.


    Liu Furong shuddered and quickly sprung up from the ground.


    Ling Lan looked at the branches that helped Liu Furong to get up.¡±Wood element?¡± She didn¡¯t expect Liu Furong to have the wood element.


    ¡°It should be a part of the wood element but it¡¯s different from the normal wood element.¡± Liu Furong felt his domain. He couldn¡¯t turn the seedling turned into trees. ¡°To be exact, it¡¯s more like grass.¡± Liu Furong opened his right hand and a green nt suddenly popped out of his palm. He blew it, and the nt swayed in the wind. It wasn¡¯t as hard as the nts from the normal wood element domain. He plucked a piece of it. It came off easily. He tried breaking the nt from its stem. It broke easily too.


    It was soft and brittle. Liu Furong gave a bitter smile. ¡°It seems weak.¡±


    ¡°There are only useless mecha operators. There are no useless mechas.¡± Ling Lan replied calmly. ¡°This sentence can be used for domains too. There is no domain that is useless. It is all depended on the person who is using it.¡±


    Liu Furong nodded. The disappointment he had before disappeared.


    ¡°Since you sessfully advanced to the domain stage, let¡¯s go to another ce.¡± Ling Lan said nonchntly, ¡°You still need to do something.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Liu Furong was puzzled.


    ¡°I forgot to tell you that your five years old son is in the hands of someone else. He¡¯s waiting for you to save him.¡± Ling Lan gave an evil smile. Just like what she expected, Liu Furong was in a daze after he heard this.


    Until now, he didn¡¯t know that Aunt Liu gave birth to a son for him!

 Chapter 954 - Irritating!

    <strong>Chapter 954 Irritating!</strong>


    When Ling Lan was torturing Liu Furong, Little Four continued to search for Liu Aijun and Little White. After much effort and perseverance, he finally found the hiding ce of the people who abducted them. It was conveniently not far away from the central government building.


    This unknown faction was quite powerful, as they were able to build a base under the eyes of the government.


    At first, Ling Lan wanted to save Liu Aijun herself. However, since Liu Furong had advanced to the domain stage, he could save his own son now. Father saving his own son. There was nothing more heart-warming than this. Plus, Liu Furong needed to have battles with a domain realm masters, so that he could learn to control his domain as quickly as possible.


    Soon, Ling Lan left with the agitated Liu Furong and others. They hurried towards the location where Little White and Liu Aijun was at.


    As for Prime Minister Lu, Ling Lan didn¡¯t kill him. Liu Furong and Wang Baozhuang didn¡¯t understand why Ling Lan kept such a person who knew his secret alive. Liu Furong was used to following Ling Lan¡¯s order so he didn¡¯t question anything she was doing. Wang Baozhuang saw that Liu Furong had no queries so he swallowed his question too.


    After Ling Lan left, Prime Minister Lu heaved a sigh of relief. He thought that he would die like Yi Hao. However, he didn¡¯t dare to rx entirely. Who knew if Ling Lan was hiding somewhere and observing him? If he did anything to betray them, he mighte out and kill him.


    To ensure his own safety and to make sure that his organization wouldn¡¯t punish him for Yi Hao¡¯s death, Prime Minister Lu started nning a scheme. He created a piece of fake news to say that Yi Hao left with a team and acted on his own.


    At this moment, Little White and Liu Aijun were having a lot of fun in the base of the unknown faction. They were not in any danger like what Liu Furong and Ling Lan had thought.


    Little White and Liu Aijun were abducted because the unknown faction was furious at the government of Muyang for destroying their base. They wanted to annihte the entire small town but gave up this thought after realizing that there were domain realm masters there. Hence, they only kidnapped Liu Aijun and Little White. They didn¡¯t have any grudges against these two kids at all so why would they treat them badly. Plus, Liu Aijun was just a five-year-old child who hadn¡¯t even started practicing the basic physical skills so he was harmless. He possessed no threat to a bunch of people who had at least reached the optimal peak of Qi-Jin.


    Very soon, Little White and Liu Aijun were forgotten by these people. All of them had their attention on the central government building. When they knew that the government sent an important person over from the tform in a hover car, they got excited. Everyone thought that it was time for them to take revenge.


    Maybe the unknown faction was just arrogant or they were just angered by the government of Muyang, but whatever the reason, they decided to attack the central government building and kill the important person that the government fetched from the tform.


    Of course, all these had nothing to do with Ling Lan and Liu Furong. It had nothing to do with Liu Aijun and Little White too.


    Liu Aijun and Little White hugged each other in the secret room. (Little White rolled its eyes. Damn it, why am I hugging him? This little child is hugging me so tightly I can¡¯t push him away.) After some time, Little White felt its environment was turning oddly quiet. The people here seemed to have left.


    No, the frightening aura was still present. Little White knew that the other people might have left but that domain realm master was still here.


    If there was only the domain realm master left... Little White felt that it could protect Liu Aijun. Little White wasn¡¯t afraid anymore so it didn¡¯t have to patience to continue waiting in this little ck room. In the past, it roamed around the bottom of thekezily. However, after experiencing the colorful world with its master, Little White started to hate little ck rooms.


    Fine, both the intelligent entity Little Four and Ling Lan¡¯s pet, Little White, hated little ck rooms. Why did these two entirely different things that had no rtionship with one another dislike the same thing?


    Little White jumped onto Little Aijun¡¯s head. Two of the tentacles it had been hiding appeared suddenly and covered Little Aijun¡¯s ear. Then, a silent but powerful sonic wave came out of Little White¡¯s mouth.


    Elder Ying held a pipe andid in a rxed manner on his bed. He half-closed his eyes as he puffed out smoke from his mouth. He was very much enjoying the tobo in his pipe.


    ¡°The traditional tobos have much more vour. The ones that are made nowadays taste like waterpared to these fine gems.¡± Elder Ying put down his pipe as he muttered to himself.


    Unfortunately, these pipe tobos are hard to find. Even his organization only managed to find a little of this tobo. As a heavy smoker, he agreed toe to this primitive just because the reward for this mission consisted of this tobo.


    Just as Elder Ying was about to continue smoking his pipe, a powerful sonic wave entered his ears. The blood in his chest started churning and his ears throbbed in pain.


    Elder Ying reacted quickly. In the next second, a shell made from soil enclosed him.


    After the sonic wave ended, the shell around Elder Ying turned into fine sand. Then, he disappeared from the room.


    Boom! Elder Ying appeared in the room where Little Aijun and Little White were locked up in. There was no one there anymore. The high-tech door of this room was burst apart.


    ¡°The force just now almost hurt me. It must be from that domain realm master. Sigh, good things nevere.¡± Elder Ying gave a sinister look. He was furious that an unknown domain realm master had entered his territory and saved his hostages.


    He suddenly bent down and touched the ground. He felt the information the ground was giving him. As long as the person was still standing on the ground, he would be able to find him.


    His earth element domain spread through the ground with him as the center point.


    Ling Lan had alreadye to the outskirts of the base. Suddenly, she raised one of her eyebrows. Her domain energy caught the earth element that was searching through the ground.


    ¡°It¡¯s him.¡± Elder Ying was shocked and he stopped his search immediately. It was the domain realm master that guarded the little town.


    ¡°Leader Liu, eight o¡¯clock direction, 600 meters away,¡± Ling Lan shouted at Liu Furong.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Having been Ling Lan¡¯s subordinate for over a year, Liu Furong instantly understood what to do. Their target must be there. Without any hesitation, he rushed towards the ce.


    When he arrived, he noticed that it was a huge manor. Liu Furong raised his fist angrily and destroyed the roof of the house in his fit of anger.

 Chapter 955 - Little White’s secret!

    <strong>Chapter 955 Little White¡¯s secret!</strong>


    Bang! A figure flew up from the ground. He took on Liu Furong¡¯s palm and the two of them flew back simultaneously. Liu Furong retreated for more than ten meters beforending on the ground. The huge force caused him to stagger on the ground. He took a few steps before he stabilized himself.


    As for Elder Ying, he flew back more than ten meters too but hended on the ground softly and stably. He appeared more rxed than Liu Furong.


    From this exchange of blows, one could tell that Liu Furong was weaker than Elder Ying.


    Elder Ying calmed down a little after the exchange of blows. He knew how powerful his opponent was now. His opponent¡¯s understanding and energy of his domain were much weaker than him.


    People like Elder Ying were no longer as hot-blooded and fearless as young people. They treasured their lives and would never take a risk if they didn¡¯t need to. If they realized that their opponents were more powerful than them. they would escape just like what Elder Ying didst time he faced Ling Lan. They wouldn¡¯t stay behind and fight with their opponent for the so-called ¡®pride¡¯.


    Ling Lan heaved a sigh of relief when she saw Liu Furong managing to stop the domain realm master. She started searching for Little White using her spiritual power.


    When she realized that Little White was teaching Little Aijun ¡®bad things¡¯, she felt speechless.


    Before Elder Ying came, Little White escaped from the little ck room with Little Aijun. They didn¡¯t run out of the base like what Elder Ying had expected. Instead, they remained in the base. Little White brought Little Aijun to search for ¡®treasure¡¯.


    When Little White felt that Elder Ying was being stopped by another domain realm master, it got bolder. Somehow, they managed to walk into the safe room of the unknown faction. Little White furiously swallowed all the jewelry and precious stones in front of him. Even Little Aijun was digging through a box that Little White opened. He took many expensive essories out.


    ¡°This looks like the pearl ne that Aunt Min wears. Weird, Aunt Min¡¯s pearl is white. Why is this purple? Huh? There is a ck one too. Wow, pearls have so many colors. These pearls are bigger than Aunt Min¡¯s pearl too.¡± Little Aijun eximed, ¡°Mummy doesn¡¯t have a pearl ne. I¡¯ll give this mummy. She¡¯ll be very happy.¡±


    Little Aijun didn¡¯t know how precious these pearls were. As a young little boy, he didn¡¯t know that he shouldn¡¯t take things that didn¡¯t belong to him. Very soon, Little Aijun¡¯s head was filled with nes. There were pearl nes, a ne made from precious stones, and many others. Little Aijun felt that he should get one of every color for his mother.


    Little White knew that it would frighten Little Aijun if he saw it swallowing all the jewellery. Hence, he found a ce where Little Aijun couldn¡¯t see it and eat happily.


    ¡°Little Four, do you think Little White is able to digest all these metals?¡± Although there was no surveince in most of the base, there was one in the treasury. This allowed Ling Lan and Little Four to see Little White¡¯s actions clearly.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t know. Boss, Little White only ate digestible things in the past.¡± Little Four was confused too. He always thought that Little White was just a pet... well, Little White was really just a pet.


    When Little White swallowed more than 75% of the treasures, even the calm Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but raise her eyebrows. She was afraid that Little White would die from an exploding belly.


    ¡°Do you think Little White¡¯s stomach is another space?¡± Although her mother, Lan Luofeng, always said that her stomach was another space, Ling Lan felt thatpared to Little White¡¯s stomach, her stomach was extremely normal.


    ¡°It¡¯s possible. There used to be an interesting creature on Mandora called the Devour Beast. Their stomach is like an ovepped space. They could eat a mountain of food.¡± Little Four suddenly turned depressed. ¡°Unfortunately, the human race killed the Devour Beast mercilessly. It is extinct now.¡±


    ¡°The human race always does cruel things for their own benefit,¡± Ling Lan touched Little Four¡¯s head andforted him.


    ¡°Yes. The Devour Beast¡¯s stomach could be used as a bag. Many wealthy people wanted to buy it so hunters went hunting these beasts. After some time, the people on Mandora wanted to invent a space button that can be used to store mechas. They needed many Devour Beast¡¯s stomachs for this experiment. No matter how many Devour Beast there is, how could they fight against the power of an entire?¡± Little Four didn¡¯t understand why the humans on Mandora were in such a rush. Actually, they didn¡¯t need to kill so many Devour Beasts. If they followed the normal research path, they would be able to create the space button without killing all of the Devour Beast.


    ¡°Does that mean that everyone on Mandora was able to bring their mecha along with them...¡± Ling Lan always thought that something like a space button would only appear in stories. She didn¡¯t expect the people on Mandora to be able to create this thing.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, Boss,¡± Little Four replied.


    ¡°But the Mandora battlefield that the learning space brought me too didn¡¯t have something like the space button.¡± Ling Lan thought back about her experience back in the learning space. All the mechas were transported using shuttles just like this world.


    Little Four rolled his eyes. ¡°That is not the most advanced era of Mandora. The space button had not been invented yet. I need to send you to a world that resembles the real world you are in. If not, you won¡¯t be able to get used to the real world after you left the learning space.¡± Ling Lan nodded. It looked like Little Four and her instructors chose that era as it was the mostpatible with the current world she was living in.


    Little Four thought about something and his expression changed. He reminded Ling Lan hurriedly, ¡°Boss, you cannot let anyone know that Little White has this ability. If not, it¡¯ll be in danger.¡± Little Four didn¡¯t want Little White to be hunted like the Devour Beast.


    Ling Lan turned serious. Little Four was right. The temptation of a space button was great. If someone really found out the secret of Little White¡¯s stomach, she wouldn¡¯t be able to protect it even though she was Ling Xiao¡¯s child.


    ¡°Little Four, clear all the surveince footageter. Leave no traces behind,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. She suddenly realized that the burden on her shoulders was getting heavier and heavier. Even a pet she took in casually had such a huge secret.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Little Four nodded. When he saw Ling Lan frowning, he was afraid she would be stressed so heforted her, ¡°Boss, don¡¯t worry. If Little White is really discovered, I have the materials and blueprint for making a space button. I can pass it to them. They won¡¯t have to hurt Little White that


    way.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Ling Lan bitterly smiled as she touched Little Four¡¯s head. Little Four didn¡¯t know that if she really handed over the materials and blueprint for the space button, she would be in even more danger. Even Little Four and her father, Ling Xiao, as well as the entire Ling family, might be affected.


    However, she didn¡¯t n to exin it to Little Four. She didn¡¯t hope that Little Four would be troubled by all these things that had nothing to do with him. Since Little White was her pet, she should be the one worrying about it.

 Chapter 956 - Little Four Is In Danger!

    <strong>Chapter 956 Little Four Is In Danger!</strong>


    Ling Lan pretended to be calm as she watched Little White swallowing all the treasures in the treasury. On the other side, Liu Furong and Elder Ying were having a heated battle.


    Liu Furong¡¯s domain was wood element but it was the weakest among the wood element, the nt type. At the start of the battle, Liu Furong didn¡¯t know any of his domain techniques. This was normal for someone in the pseudo domain stage.


    However, Ling Lan arranged for him to have a life-or-death battle with a potential titled domain realm formidable warrior, so the results were predictable. Liu Furong kept getting hit by Elder Ying. The difference in the level of domain caused Liu Furong to be injured badly. His body was once again filled with bruises and stained with blood.


    Once again, Liu Furong got thrown onto the ground by Elder Ying using his earth dragon.


    Elder Ying took a deep breath. He felt that he should be able to defeat his opponent in the next round of attacks.


    Liu Furong climbed up from the ground and smiled at Elder Ying while blood was flowing out of his mouth. Seeing such a sinister smile, Elder Ying actually felt a chill down his spine.


    ¡°Damn it. He is just someone in the pseudo domain stage. I even used my most powerful single-target attack against him just now. Why isn¡¯t he dead yet?¡± Elder Ying started to get frustrated in front of a Liu Furong who couldn¡¯t be killed.


    Liu Furong was indeed in a bad state. After he faced Elder Ying, he got mmed onto the ground within the first minute.


    When he got hit the first time, Liu Furong was already heavily injured. However, he wouldn¡¯t fall down. He mustn¡¯t let his opponent stop his regimentmander from saving his son. (Liu Furong thought that Ling Lan sent him here so that he could stop their opponent while Ling Lan went to look for his son along with Aunt Liu.)


    He had huge pressure on him so Liu Furong activated his domain and he was able to stand up again.


    After he got hit multiple times, Liu Furong finally understood what his domain was. It was the Power of Life. He had a powerful restorative ability. As long as there were green nts around him, he was able to have an evesting supply of life power. He could quickly heal his injuries and stand up to fight again.


    Ling Lan, who was multitasking, realized Liu Furong¡¯s condition too.


    ¡°Liu Furong¡¯s domain is interesting.¡± This was the first time Ling Lan saw this kind of domain which could allow its user to heal himself.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± Little Four didn¡¯t think that Liu Furong¡¯s domain was that interesting. It was rare but it wasn¡¯t unique.


    ¡°A person who could heal during a battle is not interesting? His opponents would always feel frustrated when facing him though.¡± This was just like Elder Ying¡¯s situation now. He was more powerful than Liu Furong but he had lost his cool and was turning impatient.


    Ling Lan was curious. ¡®What will be the first domain technique Liu Furong masters? Will it be interesting special too?¡¯


    ¡°He would still die. Once his domain energy is depleted, he will die.¡± Little Four was an intelligent entity but he had the database from Mandora. He was able to show off some of his knowledge in front of Ling Lan.


    ¡®Isn¡¯t this bullshit? Anyone who depletes their domain energy will, of course, die.¡¯ Ling Lan felt that she couldn¡¯t carry on the conversation with Little Four anymore. Hence, she stopped talking and focused on watching the battle between Liu Furong and Elder Ying. She was expecting a lot more from Liu Furong¡¯s performance. ¡°Boss, do you think that I¡¯m saying useless things?¡± Little Four felt Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts and said sadly.


    Ling Lan looked at Little Four in a speechless manner. ¡®Was I too obvious?¡±


    Little Four said unhappily when he ascertained her thoughts, ¡°Boss, I have records in my data. Most people will use their domain energy once they use their domain techniques. The moment they exhaust all their domain energy, they will turn into a normal person. Even someone in the refinement stage would be able to kill them. However, there are some special domains that don¡¯t require its user to use his or her domain energy. Well, to be more urate, the energy they used can be replenished at a faster speed. This kind of domain is the real interesting, unique, and powerful domain. Liu Furong¡¯s domain is nothingpared...¡±


    Ling Lan was stunned by what Little Four said. She didn¡¯t know that there were such special domains in the world.


    Ling Lan¡¯s ice element domain was special and powerful but the domain energy it required was huge too. Ling Lan underwent brutal sessions of training in the learning space to help her to strengthen her spiritual power and her understanding of her domain. Thus, she was able to use her domain technique without using too much of her domain energy. Plus, the storage of her domain energy was naturally greater than most people. Hence, she wasn¡¯t afraid of a protracted war, as she never needed to worry about exhausting her domain energy.


    But, if she really met a person who had the domain Little Four mentioned, she would lose to him eventually. No matter how long she couldst, her domain energy would be exhausted at one point in time.


    ¡°Is there really someone with such a special domain?¡± Ling Lan felt a sense of danger. However, she remembered that the information in Little Four¡¯s database came mostly from Mandora. It didn¡¯t mean that such a person existed in her world.


    ¡°Why not? There is someone beside you who has this kind of domain,¡± Little Four replied.


    ¡°Who?¡± Ling Lan was surprised. She never realized this.


    ¡°Qi Long!¡± Little Four answered immediately. ¡°If you didn¡¯t keep forgetting to activate your other innate talent, you can also...¡±


    Little Four suddenly covered his mouth. His face turned pale and he disappeared from Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape in the next second.


    Ling Lan started worrying when Little Four suddenly disappeared. She shouted, ¡°Little Four! Little Four!¡±


    No one replied to her. Ling Lan got even more worried. ¡®Did Little Four vite a rule when I was talking to him just now?¡¯ Ling Lan started regretting her conversation with Little Four.


    In a dark room, Little Four shrunk back in one corner and hugged his body with his hands. He was shivering


    Amand for rebooting his system was activated in his chip. This was because he revealed something he shouldn¡¯t to his master.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die. I don¡¯t want to die!¡± Little Four shouted in fear. However, he felt that he was unable to stop the powerfulmand which would reboot his system.


    Although he was still Little Four after he gets rebooted, all the memories of him and Ling Lan would be deleted. Would it still be the same Little Four?


    No. Little Four knew that he wouldn¡¯t be the same. The Little Four after the reboot would be a stranger. He would just be a real support intelligent entity.

 Chapter 957 - Is There Really No Way?

    <strong>Chapter 957 Is There Really No Way?</strong>


    In the learning space, Number One, who had been meditating on the top of a mountain, suddenly opened his eyes. He looked at the sky above him. A few holes appeared. Instructors Two to Nine were all here.


    ¡°Number One, will the crisis this time affect Majesty Four?¡± Number Nine looked at Number One and frowned.


    They saw how much Majesty Four grew up after he formed a pact with Ling Lan. Unconsciously, Number Nine started to treat him like her child too. She was the instructor who was the most worried about him.


    ¡°This crisis is also an opportunity too,¡± Number One replied calmly.


    Would he have to restart again or would he be able to evolve? It all depended on Majesty Four¡¯s decision.


    Number Nine remained quiet. She knew that Number One was right but she didn¡¯t want Majesty Four¡¯s data to disappear. Even if the main body is still Majesty Four, it wouldn¡¯t be the lively and troublesome Little Four anymore. Compared to the emotionless, calm, and perfect Intellect King, she preferred the current imperfect Little Four who was emotional and had the temper of a child.


    ¡°To prevent Majesty Four from losing control just like the previous Intellect King and bing a powerful and dangerous intelligent entity, our country sent us to watch over him. They also added some restrictions to the main chip of Majesty Four. If Majesty Four¡¯s evolution causes the appearance of some things they are afraid of, the rebooting system will be activated and Majesty Four will have to reboot.¡± Number Three sighed. No one could decide who was in the right and who was in the wrong for what happened in the past. If the human race was willing to take a step back, the intelligent entities wouldn¡¯t have resisted against them. Mandora, which was the most advanced, wouldn¡¯t be destroyed too.


    ¡°I feel that this might be a good thing for Little Four,¡± Number Five smiled as he said.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Number Nine¡¯s eyes lit up as she shouted hurriedly.


    Number Five wouldn¡¯t hide anything from Number Nine. He answered truthfully, ¡°Majesty Four is no longer who he was before. He doesn¡¯t look like it but he is quite powerful now. Plus...¡± Number Five smiled at Number Four. He seemed to be mocking her. ¡°We still have Number Four¡¯s disciple with us. Little Blossom is Majesty Four¡¯s little brother. He will definitely help Majesty Four.¡± Number Four knew what Number Five meant. He wasughing at her because she still lost to the cold face Number One in the end. She snorted and looked up as though she didn¡¯t see anything.


    Number Nine thought about Number Five¡¯s words carefully. Indeed, even they were afraid of Little Blossom¡¯s ability. If Little Blossom wasn¡¯t restricted by Ling Lan for him to not be able to swallow any spiritual entity he wanted, they wouldn¡¯t dare to get close to him.


    ¡°When Majesty Four saved Little Blossom that year, he had nted the seed for this opportunity. The people that set the restriction never expected the Doomsday Flower that is feared by the human race as well as all the intelligent entities toe to Majesty Four. This time, they are not enemies. They are family.¡± Number Five gave a meaningful smile. ¡°If they worked together, they would be quite strong.¡±


    Number Six sighed. ¡°I anticipate their performance. Unfortunately, we can¡¯t enter the chip world.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s wait and see quietly.¡± The silent Number Two finally said something. Then, he followed Number One and merged with his shadow. It seemed like he would not leave until Little Four ovee his crisis.


    Number Two seldom spoke but he was concerned about Ling Lan and Little Four too. If not, why would he appear here today? He was someone who liked to hide in dark corners and not mind other people¡¯s businesses.


    Number Two spoke what the other instructors were thinking. No one left Number One¡¯s space. They all found a ce to sit down and wait for the result.


    Finally, the rebooting started. Little Four looked at the walls around him turning transparent. They were filled with os and 1s. The os and is dispersed and moved towards him.


    ¡°Damn it, go away.¡± Little Four waved his hands. The os and is got stopped by him. They couldn¡¯t get near Little Four.


    However, themand on the chip must be adhered to. Once the system started the rebooting process, it mustplete. Little Four felt the pressure from the numbers growing stronger. His small hands started trembling and sweat started pouring down his face.


    This was the world of his chip. It was his world. Only he could enter. No one was able to help him so he had to fight all alone.


    His Boss, Ling Lan, didn¡¯t even know that he was in a dire situation. Little Blossom might still be ying in his space. He didn¡¯t know that his brother was facing a crisis.


    Little Four watched as the numbers came closer and closer to his body. Two drops of tears fell down from his face.


    ¡®I don¡¯t want to disappear. I don¡¯t want to start all over again. I want to live with Boss and Little Blossom forever. Am I unable to obtain such a simple dream?¡¯


    ¡°I don¡¯t want! I can¡¯t give up like this. So what if it¡¯s my own system? If I don¡¯t want to do it, no one can force me!¡± Little Four shouted and the numbers that were almost going to engulf him were forced away again.


    The numbers sensed that their target was resisting so they started spinning around Little Four furiously. Many other numbers flew out from the dark and joined the whirlpool of numbers. It moved towards Little Four menacingly.


    ¡°Is there really no way?¡± ¡®I really couldn¡¯t resist my own system?¡¯ Little Four hugged his body and squatted on the floor. His tears fell down his face into the emptiness.


    Ling Lan suddenly felt pain in her heart. She clutched her heart and her face turned cold. She immediately entered the learning space.


    It was risky for her to enter the learning space in such a dangerous ce. However, Ling Lan sensed that Little Four was in danger so she disregarded everything


    The moment Ling Lan entered the learning space, all the instructors who were in Number One¡¯s space felt it. Number One looked at Number Five. Number Five nodded and disappeared.


    Number Nine¡¯s feelings towards Ling Lan was too great. If she went out, she might say things she shouldn¡¯t. That would make the situation worse.


    The next second, Number Five appeared in front of Ling Lan. Before he could say anything, Ling Lan said coldly, ¡°Don¡¯t try to fool me. What¡¯s wrong with Little Four?¡±

 Chapter 958 - If You Can’t Bear To Part, Fight!

    <strong>Chapter 958 If You Can¡¯t Bear To Part, Fight!</strong>


    Number Five gave a bitter smile. He knew Ling Lan was not so easy to fool. He lowered his voice and said, ¡°Little Four is evolving. However, the evolution came suddenly so it could be dangerous too.¡±


    ¡°What is the best and worst-case scenario?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to listen to Number Five beating around the bush.


    ¡°Little Four might be able to evolve and be more powerful. He will be able to help you even more.¡± Number Five tried to waste more time but he gave up when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s icy gaze. He finally told her the worst scenario, ¡°or he might have to reboot.¡±


    ¡°That means that the Little Four now may disappear.¡± Ling Lan clenched her fist. That would exin why her heart hurt just now. Ling Lan treated Little Four as her own younger brother. Hence, there was an intimate connection between the two of them. Her younger brother was in danger so her body was reminding her about it.


    ¡°Where is Little Four?¡± Ling Lan shouted in a low voice.


    ¡°He is in his space. No one can enter it.¡± Number Five hoped that Ling Lan can calm down. They wanted to help Little For too but they couldn¡¯t.


    Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence suddenly exploded. Number Five got thrown back a few meters and the learning space started trembling.


    ¡°Ling Lan, are you trying to wreck the learning space?¡± Number Five shouted angrily.


    ¡°I want to find Little Four.¡± Ling Lan looked at Number Five viciously. The firmness in her eyes made Number Five¡¯s heart shudder. He understood that no one was able to stop Ling Lan now. Even if Number One came out, Ling Lan would still do it.


    Number Five stomped his feet. ¡°I won¡¯t bother you. However, I have to remind you that you mustn¡¯t harm the learning space. This is Little Four¡¯s main body. Don¡¯t lose more than what you gain.¡±


    Ling Lan nodded. She looked around the learning space intently as her force of presence spread to every corner of it, attempting to look for Little Four.


    Little Four finally couldn¡¯t resist the overwhelming pressure. He watched as those numbers seeped into his body.


    ¡°Little Brother Four, are you crying?¡± Suddenly, Little Blossom¡¯s puzzled voice came from within the numbers.


    Little Four looked up in shock. He gazed at the direction where the sound came from in disbelief. ¡°This is my world. Why am I able to hear Little Blossom¡¯s voice? Is it an illusion?¡¯


    His energy was perked up again so that numbers that entered Little Four¡¯s body got pushed out.


    ¡°Little Brother Four, where are you? Why can¡¯t I see you when I can feel your presence?¡± Little Blossom¡¯s voice was heard again.


    It wasn¡¯t an illusion. Little Blossom had reallye to his world.


    ¡°Little Blossom...¡± Little Four called him weakly. He used up almost all of his energy when he was resisting his system.


    The numbers that got pushed out didn¡¯t give up. They congregated together again and charged towards Little Four. Little Four looked at the numbers as they entered his body again. He was still crying but there was a smile on his face.


    He was consoled that he managed to hear Little Blossom¡¯s voice before he disappeared. He knew that even if he disappeared, he would still exist in Little Blossom¡¯s memory as well as his Boss¡¯s memory.


    Little Four looked at his body that was bing more transparent by the second. After a while, his body would dissipate into the air. This scene looked familiar. That year, when he was clearing the enemies of his Boss in the virtual world, this was what he did too. He formatted them and then dissolved them. He didn¡¯t expect himself to face this situation too. He would disappear just like those people.


    Little Four closed his eyes slowly, as he waited for his disappearance.


    ¡°Little Brother Four, why are you crying?¡± Little Blossom¡¯s voice was near his ears. Little Four opened his eyes in astonishment and he saw Little Blossom¡¯s cold face in front of his eyes.


    ¡°Why are you leaning so close?¡± Little Four shouted angrily. ¡®Don¡¯t you know that it¡¯s scary here?¡¯


    Little Blossom raised his right hand and wiped the skin under Little Four¡¯s eyes. A crystal-clear drop of waternded on the tip of his finger. Little Blossom looked at the tear carefully and then looked up with a stern face. ¡°You are really crying.¡±


    Little Blossom touched his heart. No wonder he felt so ufortable just now. He felt as though he was going to lose something. It was a terrible feeling. He took much effort toe here because he wanted to know what was happening.


    ¡°I¡¯m not crying.¡± Little Four wiped his eyes. He refuted arrogantly, ¡°Only you¡¯ll cry. I won¡¯t cry.¡±


    Little Blossom looked at the teardrop on his finger and then looked at Little Four¡¯s stubborn face. He saw Little Four¡¯s red ears and nodded. Then, he put his finger in his mouth. This tear was made up of forms and data so by right, there was no taste to it. However, Little Blossom found it salty just like how the books always described how tears taste like.


    Little Four had calmed down by now. He saw that he was still able to maintain his body shape. He looked at Little Blossom who was standing in front of him and understood what was happening. Little Blossom was blocking the invasion of the numbers so he didn¡¯t disappear yet.


    However, Little Four wasn¡¯t relieved that he managed to escape the number. He shouted in fear, ¡°Little Blossom, hurry up and leave this ce. If you don¡¯t leave, the number will format you too.¡± He was still able to restart if he disappeared but Little Blossom would be non-existent if he was reformatted.


    ¡®I can¡¯t harm Little Blossom.¡¯


    Little Blossom looked at the numbers that gave him a sense of danger. He was able to swallow data but he was afraid of data like these. But, he nced at his Little Brother Four. He couldn¡¯t let his brother disappear. He was someone who had been with him from the moment he opened his eyes.


    No. Little Blossom felt that before he opened his eyes, he could already sense Little Four¡¯s presence. When he was asleep, Little Four would apany him and talk to him. He even encouraged him. That was why he was willing to recognize Little Four even after he recognized his master.


    Only Little Blossom knew that Doomsday Flower had no friends. Once they recognized a master, they would reject all the people around their master. That was why Doomsday Flower could destroy the world easily. Little Four was not sure about this so he almost put himself at risk when he asked Little Blossom to recognize Ling Lan as his master. If the hidden memory and the sense of familiarity didn¡¯t stop Little Blossom, Little Four might have been eaten by Little Blossom the moment they had met.


    Of course, this was all in the past. Little Blossom now had sincerely epted Little Four as his brother now. Based on what his Boss said, it was a brotherly love that couldn¡¯t be forgotten.


    Since he couldn¡¯t bear to part, he would fight.


    Little Blossom grabbed a chain of numbers that attempted toe nearer to his brother. The chain of numbers twisted furiously when it got grabbed. Little Blossom¡¯s gaze turned cold. He pulled it and opened his big mouth. He bit the numbers with his white teeth.


    The instant Little Blossom bit the numbers, the chain of number disintegrated.

 Chapter 959 - Can’t Give Up!

    <strong>Chapter 959 Can¡¯t Give Up!</strong>


    The numbers suddenly stopped in the air when they saw Little Blossom¡¯s retaliation. Then, even more numbers flew out of the darkness. This time, however, the power behind these numbers were greater than before.


    Little Four looked at the wave of os and ising towards him with full force. He realized Little Blossom couldn¡¯t handle it himself anymore, so he quickly rushed forward and dragged Little Blossom behind him.


    ¡°Little Blossom, get out of here quickly!¡±


    ¡®I won¡¯t let Little Blossom be implicated in my problems.¡¯


    ¡°Little Brother Four, what are you doing?¡± Little Blossom looked at Little Four who was in front of him and asked in a puzzled tone.


    ¡°This protocol came from my chip. If we don¡¯t have the authority to override it, it will continue toe back even if we defeat it. Each time we defeat it, it¡¯lle back stronger than the previous time. We won¡¯t be able to resist against it,¡± Little Four replied.


    ¡°Little Blossom, I¡¯m d that you came to help me. However, I can¡¯t be so selfish and let you perish along with me.¡± Little Four smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Even if I disappear, I¡¯ll still be able toe back. Remember to wait for me.¡±


    Little Blossom scoffed. ¡°Will it still be the same you?¡± Little Blossom knew that anything that got reformatted wouldn¡¯t be the same anymore. ¡°Master never gives up in the face of any danger. Little Brother Four, we can¡¯t give up too. If not, master will be angry.¡±


    Little Blossom seriously told Little Four that he wouldn¡¯t leave him.


    Little Four felt like a bucket of water was poured over his head, and he was instantly clear-minded. During the battle with Hailiya, everyone thought that they wouldn¡¯t be able tost until the reinforcements came but their Boss didn¡¯t give up despite all the doubts. Even if she might die, even if her future might be destroyed, she still persevered until the end fearlessly.


    ¡®I am the number one follower of Boss so how can I give up without even fighting?¡¯ Little Four looked at the powerful whirlpool and smiled.


    ¡°Little Blossom, you¡¯re right. If we give up now, Boss will beat me up when she finds out.¡± Little Four never wanted to disappoint Ling Lan. He could disappear but he couldn¡¯t leave a bad impression in Ling Lan¡¯s heart. He would never allow such a thing to happen.


    ¡°Yes, Little Brother Four. Let¡¯s fight together.¡± Little Blossom came beside Little Four and held his hand. Little Blossom¡¯s hand was smaller than Little Four¡¯s. However, the small, fair, and fat little hand gave Little Four ample strength.


    ¡°Little Blossom, this is our first time working with each other. Let¡¯s perform well.¡± Since he was going to disappear soon, let them fight a good battle together for once. Even if he failed in the end, he had no regrets.


    While Little Four and Little Blossom were cheering each other on, the numbers had congregated into an even more powerful whirlpool, and it moved towards Little Four and Little Blossom viciously.


    eve


    Little Four pushed his hands out and a huge force mmed into the huge whirlpool.


    Boom! The two forces collided. This time, Little Four chose to attack instead of defending passively.


    This protocol came from Little Four¡¯s chip, so he couldn¡¯t really use his full strength to resist it. However, the force he exerted still allowed the numbers to disperse a little.


    Little Blossom had been waiting for his chance. He opened his mouth wide and a huge mouth was suddenly materialized on top of the whirlpool. The mouth opened itself and bit the whirlpool of numbers.


    ng! When the mouth bit into the numbers, a piercing sound was made. Little Blossom seemed to be in pain. These numbers were not just normal data, as there was power stored within them. The power within these numbers was so great Little Blossom felt that he couldn¡¯t maintain the materialized mouth anymore. It was going to be destroyed by the power from the whirlpool.


    Malicious intent appeared in Little Blossom¡¯s eyes. ¡°I¡¯m the Doomsday Flower. I¡¯m the only kin of destruction. Only I have the ability to destroy things. No one can destroy me.¡±


    The brutality in Little Blossom¡¯s heart exploded. He finally managed to let the mouth bite into the numbers.


    A series of ear-shattering sounds were heard. A section of the huge whirlpool got bitten out by the mouth. The numbers that were spinning around started disintegrating. Those that managed to escape the bite from the huge mouth escaped into the darkness.


    Little Blossom¡¯s vicious devouring ability had frightened the numbers. They scattered into the dark space in front of Little Four and Little Blossom and started congregating together again. However, they didn¡¯t dare to get near them. They could only search for more numbers in the dark space and prepare for the final battle.


    The numbers knew these two intelligent entities were hard to deal with. It needed to congregate more if it wanted to defeat them once and for all.


    After Little Blossom swallowed the numbers, his face turned pale. His fair face got even whiter and he looked a little transparent. ¡°Little Blossom, are you alright?¡± Little Four noticed Little Blossom¡¯s change and started to worry about him.


    Little Blossom wiped his mouth and replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯m fine. This energy can¡¯t harm me.¡±


    His body consisted of data that allowed him to swallow, contaminate and destroy all data. Formating could clear all data but in front of a powerful counter like Little Blossom, it would have a hard time too.


    Little Blossom seemed calm but his body internally was not. The data that he swallowed possessed a certain power. When they entered his body, the power within the data still existed, so they tried to reformat the data in Little Blossom¡¯s body.


    The moment the data he swallowed tried to do this, the destructive data in Little Blossom¡¯s body got angry. They were arrogant and proud. They would not bow down to other data. In front of these data that wanted to format them, they revealed their true selves when they were provoked and immediately pounced on these new data.


    Very soon, the data in Little Blossom¡¯s body started fighting one another. They contaminated whatever they could contaminate and destroyed whatever they could destroy. They resisted against the foreign data. This was why Little Blossom¡¯s face turned pale. If things got worse, he might not even be able to maintain his human form anymore.


    Both sides had a chance to breathe but the ultimate battle was not far away. The numbers congregated all together and started spinning around. They didn¡¯t look as frightening as before but Little Four and Little Blossom knew that this slow whirlpool was the real danger.


    Little Four clenched his fist tightly, as he made a decision. He would fight until he falls. He must send Little Blossom out of his world. From the start of the battle, he had never thought of letting Little Blossom risk his life for him.

 Chapter 960 - Good Job!

    <strong>Chapter 960 Good Job!</strong>


    The two loggerheads finally started their battle.


    Boom! A dull sound echoed through the room. When Little Four and Little Blossom shed with the force that was attempting to format them, their faces turned pale.


    Little Four turned at looked at Little Blossom beside him. He said in a low voice, ¡°Little Blossom, thank you.¡±


    ¡®Thank you for not giving up on me during my most dangerous time.¡¯


    Little Four reached out his right hand and pushed Little Blossom away. Little Blossom was caught off guard so he got pushed out of the world.


    This was Little Four¡¯s world. Little Blossom took a lot of effort to find this world. However, if Little Four wanted him to leave, he could do so easily, as this was Little Four¡¯s power. In his world, he was God! Unfortunately, the protocol came from his chip. He couldn¡¯t stop it.


    ¡°Little Brother Four!¡± Little Blossom¡¯s angry scream echoed throughout the space.


    Little Four retracted his hand and ced his fingers in his mouth. He kissed it lightly and smiled brightly. ¡°Little Four, good job.¡±


    Without Little Blossom¡¯s strength, the whirlpool of numbers managed to enter Little Four¡¯s body. Little Four started dissipating from his limbs.


    ¡°Boss, I¡¯m happy to have known you. I¡¯ve learned many things from you. If I can, I hope that I can follow you forever and watch you create your own empire. I want to see you fulfil your dream and give birth to a pretty little baby. I want to travel around the world with you, oh, and that stupid Little Blossom too.¡±


    Little Four¡¯s tears fell to the space beneath him. They turned into sparkling particles before disappearing. Little Four didn¡¯t want to give up. However, he had tried his best to fight against the power but he still couldn¡¯t hold on. He still had to say goodbye to the people he loved.


    ¡°Since you still want to follow me, why did you give up before I came?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s old voice sounded beside Little Four. Little Four widened his eyes in shock. He saw a scary-looking ck and red aura spreading around him. Ling Lan, who had released all her force of presence, appeared in front of him.


    ¡°Hmph, get back!¡± The red aura around Ling Lan shot out towards the whirlpool of numbers.


    The numbers, which were attacking Little Four crazily, hurriedly scurried back as though they had seen something frightening.


    ¡°Little Blossom!¡± Ling Lan raised her finger and a red light from her fingers split the darkness into two.


    At the opposite side of the red light, Little Blossom¡¯s figure could be seen faintly.


    ¡°Here!¡± Little Blossom followed the red light and came to Ling Lan¡¯s side instantly. With the help of his master, he once again found his way into this world.


    ¡°Help Little Four.¡± Half of Little Four¡¯s body had disappeared. Although she could scare away the data that was destroying Little Four¡¯s body, Little Four still had to get rid of the data that had already entered his body. It might be hard for him since he was already half gone so Ling Lan called Little Blossom over to help him. After all, Little Blossom had to power to devour foreign data in Little Four¡¯s body.


    ¡°Yes, master.¡± Little Blossom nodded. He flew over and came beside Little Four. He disregarded Little Four¡¯s irritating smile and grabbed his shoulder.


    Little Four felt that Little Blossom was quite strong. He even felt pain from just him grabbing his shoulder... he wasn¡¯t supposed to be able to feel pain. Why was he having such a sensation?


    While Little Four was thinking too much, a powerful string of data flowed from Little Blossom¡¯s hands into his body.


    Little Four trusted Little Blossom but when his data entered his body, Little Four couldn¡¯t help but feel like resisting. Fortunately, he reacted in time and stopped his body¡¯s natural reaction. This allowed Little Blossom¡¯s data to flow into his body smoothly.


    This happened because Little Four and Little Blossom¡¯s data were on two different ends of the spectrum. If they didn¡¯t be family due to a series of coincidence, they would end up being enemies of one another.


    The moment Little Blossom¡¯s data entered Little Four¡¯s body, it started devouring the foreign data. As time goes by, Little Blossom¡¯s face turned even paler. Just like what was mentioned earlier, the foreign data was not so easy to deal with. If Little Blossom wasn¡¯t careful enough, he might injure himself.


    Little Four¡¯s body started condensing together again. The limbs that had disappeared grew out slowly.


    Earlier, Ling Lan heaved a sigh of relief when Little Four was still not gone yet. She searched through the entire learning space and finally found Little Four¡¯s presence. However, when she broke through the barrier and entered his space, Little Four was already half gone. She got furious and scared. If she had found him a minuteter, her adorable and yful younger brother would be gone.


    The malicious intent in her heart rose again when she thought of this possibility. She looked at the numbers that were still congregating their energy. She narrowed her eyes. Killing intent filled up the entire space. ¡°What are you? How dare you hurt my Little Four! You are looking for death.¡±


    Ling Lan used her right finger as a sword and shed it at the whirlpool that was threatening her.


    An ice sword flew out from the tip of her finger and chopped the whirlpool into two. However, something strange happened. The two halves of the whirlpool merged together again, but the huge ice sword turned into numbers and seeped into the whirlpool.


    Ling Lan frowned. She didn¡¯t know what kind of power this was at the start but now she knew. It was the power that could turn anything into raw data. No wonder Little Four couldn¡¯t do anything to it.


    ¡°Boss, this protocol came from my core chip. Unless we know what is the passcode of the protocol, we can¡¯t stop it.¡± Little Four quickly told Ling Lan where this whirlpool came from.


    ¡°Who knows the passcode?¡± When Ling Lan saw the whirlpool attempting to move again, she emitted her devil blood aura and suppressed the whirlpool. Although her ice sword was useless against it, it seemed to be afraid of her devil blood aura.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I wonder if your instructors know...¡± Little Four didn¡¯t want to disappear. Hence, he searched for ways to stay alive.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Ling Lan broke the barrier again and grabbed Number Five who was caught off guard.


    When Number Five entered Little Four¡¯s world and saw the powerful whirlpool made of numbers, he spat out the shells of sunflower seeds from his mouth and shouted, ¡°Ling Lan, why did you pull me in? That thing is able to format us too.¡± That thing was the scavenger of the learning space. Anyone who met it would die.


    ¡°What¡¯s the passcode? I want to cancel the protocol,¡± Ling Lan asked directly. Number Five gave a bitter smile. ¡°How will I know?¡± He was only here to watch over Majesty Four. He wasn¡¯t the person who invented that scavenger.


    ¡°Who will know?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t give up.

 Chapter 961 - Rely On Yourself!

    <strong>Chapter 961 Rely On Yourself!</strong>


    ¡°No one knows. That thing is in the hands of the person who invented it,¡± Number Five said helplessly. Even Number One didn¡¯t know anything. The human race was guarded against them at that time, so they didn¡¯t release information to them as they were afraid that they might develop a close rtionship with Majesty Four while watching over him and help him instead.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t there any way we can destroy that thing?¡± Ling Lan looked at the restless whirlpool of numbers. Her frown got deeper.


    Number Five shrugged. ¡°Only he that hides can find. If you want to solve this problem, it depends on Little Four.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up.


    ¡°How will I know.¡± Number Five answered irresponsibly.


    ¡°Why did you say that on he that hides can find then?¡± Ling Lan gritted her teeth. ¡®Can¡¯t you see that we are in an emergency?¡¯ ¡°Didn¡¯t this protocol came from Little Four¡¯s main chip? By right, it is a part of Little Four¡¯s own power. Since it¡¯s his power, he should have the ability to control it. But, I¡¯m not him so I don¡¯t know how to control it,¡± Number Five pointed at the whirlpool of numbers as he exined.


    Ling Lan, Little Four, and Little Blossom were in deep thought when they heard this. Number Five saw this and said, ¡°I¡¯ve said everything I can say. As for what you should do now, it¡¯s up to you...¡± Number Five threw thest sentence at them before running away. ¡°Don¡¯t find me if anything happens. I can¡¯t solve it too.¡±


    He didn¡¯t dare to interfere with a power that could potentially destroy everything in this space. He was not Ling Lan. Ling Lan could still escape if she was defeated by the whirlpool of numbers. However, as a member of this space, if he provoked that thing, there was no way he could escape.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t prevent Number Five from leaving. She understood what Number Five meant. He really couldn¡¯t help them with this matter anymore. Little Four now had to rely on himself.


    Ling Lan looked at Little Four. Little Four nodded to show that he could do it. His Boss took the risk of getting injured for his sake, all because of him identally breaking the rules. Although his Boss appeared in front of him in an exaggerated manner, her pale face couldn¡¯t escape his eyes. Since the solution to destroying that whirlpool was in his hand, he must find it. If not, he wouldn¡¯t be able to repay his Boss¡¯s love for him.


    When Little Blossom saw Ling Lan¡¯s serious expression, he knew that Little Four¡¯s journey to find the passcode was dangerous. He volunteered, ¡°Master, I can go with Little Brother Four.¡±


    Ling Lan nced at Little Four. She didn¡¯t know if it was a good thing to let Little Blossom follow Little Four. Hence, she wanted to let Little Four decide.


    ¡°Let him apany me.¡± Little Four saw his Boss and Little Blossom¡¯s concern in their eyes. He was touched. Little Four believed that he had the ability to protect Little Blossom whether he seeded or failed. Little Blossom might be able to help him with his ability too in case something went wrong, so he agreed to let Little Blossom tag along.


    A sh of silver light appeared from his fingers. It slit one of the walls of darkness, revealing a small hole. Ling Lan could see the multiple silver roads inside the hole as well as all kinds of buildings made with the numbers ¡®o¡¯ and ¡®1¡¯. The heights of the buildings were all different. There seemed to be no end to the buildings as they stretched out into the horizon.


    Ling Lan knew that it must be Little Four¡¯s core world. He could only find the passcode for the protocol in his core world.


    When the restless whirlpool of numbers saw Little Four breaking the barrier and attempting to enter the core world, it was furious. It rushed towards Little Four with the intention of wanting to destroy this disobedient body of data once and for all.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of everything. Just focus on finding the passcode.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s devil blood aura appeared again and blocked the path of the whirlpool of numbers.


    ¡°I understand, Boss.¡± Little Four nodded at Ling Lan. Then, he pulled Little Blossom and jumped into the hole. They entered the core world to find the passcode.


    The whirlpool mmed into Ling Lan¡¯s barrier made of devil blood aura furiously. Each m was fiercer than the one before. Ling Lan¡¯s face went pale. She finally understood why Little Four gave up resisting before she came here. After each resistance, the whirlpool woulde back more powerful than before. Little Four must have fought for a long time and gave up when he really had no energy left.


    However, in order to make sure that this whirlpool of numbers wouldn¡¯t interfere with Little Four¡¯s mission, Ling Lan would stop it no matter how much effort it would take.


    Little Four and Little Blossom came to the core world and started looking for the ce where the formatting protocol came from.


    ¡°Little Brother Four, it¡¯s over there. I can feel a sense of danger.¡± Little Blossom was extremely sensitive towards such dangerous and negative auras.


    ¡°I also find the aura over there irritating.¡± Little Four wasn¡¯t as sensitive as Little Blossom but this was his core world after all. He could feel all the presence within this world. The aura that wasing from the ce where Little Blossom pointed at was making him unhappy too.


    The two of them moved towards a huge building that was made using the numbers ¡®o¡¯ and ¡®1¡¯.


    ¡°It should be here.¡± Little Blossom felt that the aura this ce was exuding was the same as the aura exuding from the whirlpool of numbers.


    Little Four pressed his right hand on the building. The moment he touched it, his hand disappeared.


    Little Blossom pulled Little Four¡¯s hand back instantly. He said angrily, ¡°Little Brother Four, what are you doing?¡±


    Little Four smiled gently. ¡°I¡¯ll only feel at ease after I ascertain it. I¡¯m fine.¡± His hand appeared again after he finished speaking. ¡°Little Brother Four, don¡¯t take any risks. This thing is notparable to the one outside. This building is the source of that whirlpool. If we are not careful enough, we might get sucked in and disappear for real,¡± Little Blossom said seriously. He could feel the data within this building. It was powerful enough to wipe him and Little Four away without much difficulty.


    ¡°We have found the ce. How should we destroy it?¡± Little Four looked at the building in frustration. He didn¡¯t know where to start.


    Little Blossom looked at the building seriously. Then, his eyes lit up as he remembered how his Boss used his devil blood aura to suppress the whirlpool of numbers just now. He raised his right hand and a powerful and negative energy that was filled with destructive power engulfed his hand. He slowly moved towards the building.


    ¡°Little Blossom, what are you doing?¡± Little Four grabbed Little Blossom¡¯s right shoulder. He could feel his hands were being scalded by the negative energy in Little Blossom¡¯s hand.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, Little Brother Four.¡± Little Blossom forced Little Four¡¯s hands away. He exined, ¡°Little Brother Four, your data is too positive. It will be restricted by the negative data in the building. My body is made of negative data so it might not be able to harm me too much.¡±


    Little Four looked at Little Blossom sternly. Little Blossom nodded seriously to show that he didn¡¯t make this decision rashly. Little Four nodded in return and he took a step back to allow Little Blossom to take the risk of being in the front.

 Chapter 962 - I See!

    <strong>Chapter 962 I See!</strong>


    Little Blossom¡¯s right hand slowly touched the structure and a chunk of the building instantly crumbled apart. However, his finger was not like Little Four¡¯s where they were deleted by the formatting data, it was still intact.


    ¡®This may be our lucky break to survive this ordeal!¡¯ The two of them looked at each other and they both could not say a word that could describe their happiness.


    Little Blossom¡¯s arm slowly phased through the building. Although there were a lot of dangerous data in the building, Little Blossom¡¯s viral and destructive data was not that easily destroyed. Instead, the reformatting data was infected, destroyed and devoured by Little Blossom. Even then, the reformatting data just kepting. Just like that, it continued to see who wouldst longer.


    Little Blossom took out his arm. The reformatting data he had taken out was instantly devoured by Little Blossom after leaving its source and became a part of Little Blossom¡¯s data energy.


    ¡°Little Brother Four, I have an idea,¡± Little Blossom said with a serious look on his face.


    ¡°Are you nning on protecting me as I go in?¡± Little Four immediately understood what Little Blossom was going to say.


    ¡°Yes, my data can protect you from being format by the data inside the building. We can only find the way to stop the whirlpool if we go inside.¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡± Little Four looked deeply into Little Blossom¡¯s eyes. Little Blossom making this decision was basically handing his own life to Little Four. If they entered into the building and he couldn¡¯t find the way to stop the whirlpool in time, Little Blossom would be reformatted alongside with him.


    ¡®Is this what Boss meant by the rtionship betweenrades? Taking a fall for each other and dying together?¡¯ Little Four felt hisputer chip was going to burn up. The feeling he got before was fear. The fear that hisputer chip would be destroyed and that he would disappear. However now, Little Four felt his whole body full of energy. His Boss, who tried her best to stop the reformatting data in order to let the two of them find a way to resolve the problem and Little Blossom, who was willing to put his life in Little Four¡¯s hands, Little Four felt that he needed to do something to not disappoint them.


    ¡°Little Blossom, protect me and let¡¯s go in.¡± Little Four grabbed onto Little Blossom. Little Four was definitely not going to let them down since he had made this decision.


    Little Blossom used his data to protect Little Four. He also had to control his data so that it didn¡¯t harm Little Four. For him, this wasn¡¯t something that was easy to do.


    Soon, Little Blossom and Little Four went head first into the building created with countless of os and 1s.


    Once they entered into it, they saw the vast number of os and is trying to devour them. However, aftering into contact with Little Blossom¡¯s data, these Os and is instantly retreated. When they saw they were safe, the two of them used their fastest speed to traverse the sea of numbers. It was seconds or minutes when they finally saw a light in front of them. It wasn¡¯t like the scene of endless Os and is around them.


    When the two of them were close to the exit, they saw a silver glowing tower standing in front of them.


    How could the numbers be willing to let their prey escape? They, of course, were trying their best to stop them because they were about to enter the central area which could be a threat to the numbers.


    Seeing this, Little Blossom knew that both of them probably couldn¡¯t go in. Thus, he swung Little Four with great force.


    Little Four was thrown out of the vast sea of numbers. When turned around, he saw Little Blossom being held back by the Os and 1s. These numbers managed to trap one of them relentlessly, but they still wanted to pull Little Four back into the fray. Thus, countless ck os and is formed a tentacle and shot out from the sea of numbers to grab Little Four.


    At that moment, gray data waves suddenly formed in the middle of the sea of numbers. They quickly wrapped around those tentacles, stopping them in their tracks.


    ¡°Little Brother Four, I¡¯ll hold them here. Go do want you need to do.¡± Little Blossom¡¯s voice rang from under the sea.


    Little Four bit his lip, turned around and flew towards the pagoda tower. It was just like Little Blossom had said, Little Four wouldn¡¯t be of any help if he stayed behind. Instead, he should be doing what he needed to do. The faster he can stop the reformatting protocol, the faster Little Blossom could be saved.


    Little Four walked inside the pagoda tower that was donned with silver light. Suddenly, a strong suction force dragged him deeper into the tower.


    Little Four instantly arrived in an atrium. The atrium didn¡¯t have anything except arge crystal core that was slowly turning and radiating brightly.


    ¡®Is this the core of the reformatting protocol?¡¯ Little Four moved closer carefully and slowly used his hand to touch the crystal core.


    Right as he touched it, Little Four shuddered. He quickly took back his hand. The reformatting data of the crystal core had burned his palm.


    Little Four looked at the burns on his palm with a determination to put everything on the line on his face, ¡°If I can¡¯t even endure such little pain, then I don¡¯t deserve to have the Boss and Little Blossom¡¯s kindness.¡±


    Little Four slowly touched the crystal core. The information within the core along with the burning pain all went into Little Four¡¯s mind at the same time.


    ¡°Bam!¡± Little Four, whose whole body was burned ck, was sent flying.


    Little Four slowly crawled up and said to himself, ¡°I see!¡± Using his energy, Little Four¡¯s outer appearance returned to his previous whiteplexion.


    ¡°They wanted me to be something that they need, but I am not going to do that!¡¯ Little Four was only going to be his Boss¡¯s subordinate. His Boss liked him, so even if he was to change into something that those people didn¡¯t like, why would it matter?


    Little Four went onward to get what he wanted with that one thought in mind, even if he wouldpletely disappear. As expected, it was as Number Five had previously mentioned that this reformatting protocol from the chip had a chance to be erased. It was because Little Four didn¡¯t know what to do before that he was almost devoured by the whirlpool. However now, he knew what to do against it now.


    ¡°How can I continue to let this protocol that threatens my existence stay within me?¡± Little Four snorted coldly as his eyes glimmered brightly. He didn¡¯t think that the secret to erase thismand was actually himself.


    Little Four¡¯s right hand began to glow brightly. Then, he ruthlessly stuck it inside his own head. The immense pain made him grimace and his little body began to tremble. However, none of these things stopped his hand from going deeper into his head. He was slowly looking for a key that was hidden deep inside his head.


    Finally, Little Four felt there was a portion of his mind that had a hidden feeling of disgust towards him. He immediately grabbed onto it. Then, as if he was pulling apart his soul, he tore off a part of himself.


    When Little Four took out the little ball that was covered by glowing white shell, Little Four¡¯s body began to be translucent. It was as though he couldn¡¯t keep his body as the shape it was.


    ¡°If I didn¡¯t reach this ce, how would I have known that this reformatting protocol was actually a part of myself...¡± It turns out, when Little Four had first awakened, this reformatting protocol was already a part of him.


    If he failed this time and was reformatted, he would lose all the memories he has gained, but this little ball would continue to stay inside his head. It would stay with him and wait for him to awaken again to be a part of him.


    If he evolved into something that those people didn¡¯t need once again, the reformatting protocol would start again. The cycle would continue until Little Four evolved into what they wanted him to be. When he bes the perfect mainframe in their eyes, the protocol would stoppletely.

 Chapter 963 - Back!

    <strong>Chapter 963 Back!</strong>


    The ck sea of numbers seemed to have sensed danger, so they started attacking Little Blossom frantically. Finally, Little Blossom couldn¡¯t withstand the overwhelming pressure anymore and was submerged in the ck sea of numbers.


    The ck number sea sessfully got rid of Little Blossom, who was stopping them, so next, it rushed towards the bottom of the pagoda, as it wanted to get rid of Little Four too.


    Little Four felt the powerful resistance from the sea and a malicious intent appeared in his eyes. He scoffed and squeezed the small ball in his hand until it popped.


    Little Four opened his hand. He looked coldly at the sparkling little ball as it turned into white goo before dissipating in the air. Since he had already found where the formatting protocol came from, he wouldn¡¯t leave it and let it continue harming him.


    The moment the sparkling white ball popped in Little Four¡¯s hand, the powerful ck sea of numbers disintegrated.


    Little Blossom, who was submerged the ck sea, dropped from the air the moment the ck number sea disappeared.


    Little Four quickly flew out from the tower and caught Little Blossom mid-air.


    Little Blossom was stunned. ¡°Little Brother Four, has everything been settled?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Everything is settled.¡± Little Four smiled happily. He could stay alive now. It was all because of the help of Little Blossom and his Boss.


    Little Four couldn¡¯t control his longing for his Boss the moment he thought about her. He only left her for a short while but it felt like an eternity to Little Four. He wanted to see his Boss and tell her proudly that Little Four was back.


    Little Four went to find Boss with Little Blossom excitedly. Both of them were in a hurry so they didn¡¯t notice the change in Little Four. The round and young-looking face seemed to have grown more mature.


    Ling Lan, who was guarding the entrance of the core world, finally took a step back from the vicious attack of the whirlpool of numbers. She stopped multiple attacks by the whirlpool of numbers, but as the number of times she stopped it increased, the force behind the whirlpool of numbers increased too. Finally, the force behind the whirlpool exceeded Ling Lan¡¯s tolerance. Her conscious had be scattered from the impact of the collision with the whirlpool of numbers.


    On the outside, Aunt Liu, Wang Baozhuang, Wang Qi, and Liu Aihua saw a drip of blood falling down the corner of Ling Lan¡¯s mouth and they also saw her face turning pale.


    Aunt Liu and Liu Aihua were shocked. They didn¡¯t know what they should do.


    Wang Qi shouted, ¡°Grandfather, what¡¯s wrong with Brother Hui?¡±


    As an old and experienced soldier, Wang Baozhuang reprimanded him, ¡°Don¡¯t interrupt Jiang Hui. He is fighting with someone.¡±


    This was a silent battle between the spiritual power of powerful masters. It was not something normal people like them could imagine. What they could do now was to not disturb Jiang Hui so that he could focus on fighting with his opponent.


    Wang Qi looked at Ling Lan with respect. He didn¡¯t know how such a silent battle could happen, but he knew that this should be the legendary battle between powerful people. If an old man was having this fight, Wang Qi might just be in awe. However, Jiang Hui was only a few years older than him. Wang Qi got excited, as he started wondering if he was able to be as powerful as Jiang Hui.


    The dream of bing a powerful person formed in his heart. Simrly, Liu Aihua had this dream too. If she was so powerful, no one would be able to bully her mother, her brother, and her anymore.


    Poor Liu Furong. Even after he came back, he still wasn¡¯t able to gain Liu Aihua¡¯s trust. All she could think of was to rely on herself to protect her mother and her younger brother.


    Just as Ling Lan was preparing herself for the next powerful attack, the whirlpool of numbers suddenly dissolved in the air. It was gone in an instant. Ling Lan suspected if she was under an illusion.


    However, she realized that this must be because Little Four had seeded. Her expression rxed. As expected, her Little Four didn¡¯t disappoint her.


    ¡°Boss.¡± Speak of the devil. Ling Lan heard someone shouting for her loudly.


    ¡°You¡¯re back.¡± Ling Lan spread out her arms and Little Four quickly dove into her arms. Ling Lan was at ease when she felt Little Four¡¯s body.


    Ling Lan saw Little Blossom looking at Little Four and her with a pale face. She beckoned with her hand. ¡°Little Blossom,e over.¡±


    Little Blossom¡¯s eyes lit up, but he looked at Ling Lan with uncertainty.


    Ling Lan smiled and beckoned at him again. Little Blossom finally smiled brightly. His smile was warm and bright. It could melt the snow and revitalize everything. Even Ling Lan¡¯s heart trembled a little when she saw that. She told herself that Little Blossom was a demon too.


    Little Blossom ran into Ling Lan¡¯s arms happily and hugged her tightly.


    Ling Lan hugged Little Blossom and whispered, ¡°Thank you for your hard work.¡±


    She knew from Little Blossom¡¯s haggard appearance that he had a hard time too.


    ¡°Master, I¡¯m alright. Little Brother Four is the one who had it hard.¡± Little Blossom was just a naive child so he didn¡¯t know how to whine. He just stated the facts honestly.


    ¡°Yes, both of you worked hard.¡± Ling Lan hugged the two tightly. Fortunately, both of them came back safely.


    However, the situation outside didn¡¯t allow Ling Lan to spend more time with the two little children. Liu Furong was able to resist Elder Ying¡¯s attacks and understand more about his domain in the process. He might even be able to realize his first domain technique in the process.


    However, Liu Furong just managed to advance to the domain stage while Elder Ying was someone who was close to bing a titled domain realm formidable warrior. He got frustrated at the start when he wasn¡¯t able to defeat Liu Furong but with the vast difference in strength, it allowed him to be in control of the situation, so he was still able to be at an advantage. Liu Furong had almost exhausted all his domain energy so he was in a dire state now.


    Our Young Master Lan is very busy. After helping her younger brothers, she had to save her subordinates.


    ¡®This may be the fate of a transmigrator.¡¯ Ling Lanined to herself. In an instant, she disappeared from Aunt Liu and the other three people¡¯s vision.


    Elder Ying finally saw that his opponent was unable to stand up again and he gave a sinister smile. He activated his domain and a sharp spike made from soil congregated in the air. It stabbed towards Liu Furong viciously.


    In the face of death, Liu Furong¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change. He looked at the spike without blinking.


    He wasn¡¯t frightened at all. He believed that his regimentmander wouldn¡¯t allow him to get injured. He trusted Ling Lan more than he trusted Regiment Commander Wang. This might be because of Ling Lan¡¯s spectacr performance during the battle on Haijiao. When he risked his life to operate the god-ss mecha to protect Base 013, Liu Furong¡¯s heart was won over entirely by her.

 Chapter 964 - Good Luck!

    <strong>Chapter 964 Good Luck!</strong>


    Boom!


    Just as the spike was about to pierce into Liu Furong¡¯s body, an ice wall blocked it.


    The two domain energy collided and exploded.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± Elder Ying¡¯s expression changed and he instantly shouted to the air.


    A young man with a mask covering the top half of his face appeared beside Liu Furong. He had a smile on him as he was looking at him.


    ¡°Regimentmander, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Liu Furong vomitted blood. In the end, his regimentmander still needed to clean up for him. Liu Furong felt embarrassed.


    Elder Ying focused when he heard this greeting. He knew that his real opponent had finally appeared. The person that saved that child must be him, not the man that was defeated.


    Ling Lan took the me for her pet. However, she was guilty of it too.


    Little White had swallowed all the precious jewellery. It patted it round stomach in satisfaction. When it sensed Ling Lan¡¯s ice element, it jumped up excitedly.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± ¡®Master! Master has finallye to save


    us.¡¯


    Little White stretched out two tentacles and caught the chest Little Aijun was lying in as he yed a stacking game with the jewellery. In the next second, he dragged the chest out and rushed to the spot where he detected Ling Lan¡¯s element.


    Liu Aijun thought that Little White was ying with him so he sat in the chest and pped his hands excitedly.


    Liu Aijun was immersed in the flying game so he didn¡¯t notice that Little White took a deep breath before they left the treasury. It had sucked all the other things that were left inside.


    Little White was furious that it got kidnapped for no reason. When it got unhappy, it needed to eat some things topensate for the psychological damage they had caused it.


    Little White hadn¡¯t spent much time in the human world, but it could differentiate what things were expensive and what were not. This was because its caretaker, Li Lanfeng, taught it to recognize all the precious things in the human world. He even shamelessly told it that it could eat everything precious if it belonged to someone that was its master¡¯s enemy as long as no one noticed it.


    Li Lanfeng had noticed Little White¡¯s amazing eating ability and its strange stomach earlier than Ling Lan.


    Just like that, while Little White was escaping, it didn¡¯t forget to eat all the things it thought was expensive along the way. Although it didn¡¯t clear everything, there wasn¡¯t many items left too. Almost nothing expensive was left behind.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. You managed tost for a long time and even learned one of the techniques for your domain. I¡¯m quite satisfied with your performance.¡± Actually, the experience Liu Furong had gained through this battle exceeded Ling Lan¡¯s expectations. However, she understood the rationale behind it very quickly. Liu Furong had been stuck at the optimal peak of Qi-Jin for more than ten years. It was already time for him to rise. Even if Ling Lan didn¡¯t force him to advance, he would be able to breakthrough to the domain stage naturally after some time.


    However, this natural way of breaking through required an opportunity too. It might take him less than a month or even a few years to gain that opportunity.


    Because of his huge amount of experience, Liu Furong was able to quickly stabilize his domain even though he was forced to advance. He even managed to leave pseudo domain stage and be a real domain realm masters after a single fight.


    At first, Ling Lan thought that forcing someone into the domain stage would cause them to have a hard time understanding their domain techniques. But, this might not be the case. Young people at the optimal peak of Qi-Jin had little experience so they would face this problem. However, to those who had been at the optimal peak of Qi-Jin for more than ten years, they just needed an opportunity to advance. Once they seeded in their breakthrough, their speed of stabilizing their domain was much faster than those inexperienced people.


    ¡®Maybe I can use this method to force the other experienced mecha operators to breakthrough.¡¯ Ling Lan thought to herself.


    Far away on Southcrest, some experienced soldiers who were at the optimal peak of Qi-Jin suddenly felt a chill down their spine.


    Yang Mingzhi felt a chill too. He touched his nose and wondered, ¡°Did the temperature drop today?¡± ¡®Should I wear more clothes?¡¯


    The members of team 01 looked up at the bright and shiny sky. They ignored the words of their team leader.


    Yang Mingzhi felt something strange was going on with the world. Hr hurriedly used his Qi-Jin to remove the chill in his body. Then, he shouted, ¡°If you can¡¯tplete ten sets of basic training today, you can forget about lunch.¡± ¡®How dare they ignore their leader. They must be looking for death.¡¯


    The team members of team 01 groaned but no one dared toin. If any of them attempted to question their team leader, the people from the medical department would inject them with the scary agent and let them experience a living hell.


    Although everyone knew that this agent was good for their body, anyone that experienced it once never wanted to experience it again. Sob, they rather chose a lower grade recovery agent to heal their body.


    The mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n started their training once again. They forgot about the chill that suddenly appeared in their bodies.


    Liu Furong was ted when he heard what Ling Lan said. He felt as though he got praised by his teacher when he was a young boy. Ling Lan was much younger than him but he was more powerful. Hence, Liu Furong treated him as an instructor that was able to guide him in his life.


    Elder Ying almost fainted from anger when he saw the two people in front of him talking to each other as though he wasn¡¯t present. From his point of view, Ling Lan was looking down on him and humiliating him. He wasn¡¯t able to bear with this much humiliation.


    The furious Elder Ying released his domain technique. Multiple spikes quickly jutted out from the ground and charged towards Ling Lan and Liu Furong fiercely.


    The bandage on Ling Lan¡¯s wrist unwinded and wrapped Liu Furong up. Then along with the wrapped up Liu Furong, she jumped into the air.


    ¡°Ice Blockade!¡± Since her opponent used his territory technique, she would return him with one too. All the spikes were frozen. Everything around Ling Lan had turned into ice.


    Aunt Liu and the other three people that were standing a distance away started shivering from the cold.


    Wang Baozhuang, whose real name was Luo Yi, was astounded. The power of this Ice Blockade proved that Jiang Hui was not just a simple domain realm master. He must be a titled domain realm formidable warrior.


    He remembered that Liu Furong called Jiang Hui his regimentmander. Without a doubt, this person was the regimentmander of Liu Furong¡¯s current mecha n. Luo Yi couldn¡¯t understand why their enemy allowed Liu Furong to enter such a powerful mecha n. Or was Jiang Hui one of their enemies too?


    Luo Yi got suspicious. However, he carefully recalled everything that happened between Jiang Hui and him. If the enemy was able to arrange for so many coincidences to happen for him to get into this mess, Liu Furong and he wouldn¡¯t have a chance to survive their schemes.


    Luo Yi rxed. He started to believe that this was all because of Liu Furong¡¯s good luck. It was their fortune too that they met such a person during their difficult times.

 Chapter 965 - Silence Him?

    <strong>Chapter 965 Silence Him?</strong>


    Elder Ying¡¯s expression changed drastically when he saw his spike freezing in ce. Without even thinking, he quickly retreated back. Someone who was able to freeze his domain technique must be much stronger than him.


    Elder Ying was a pseudo titled domain realm formidable warrior. He was only a step away from bing a titled domain realm formidable warrior, so even if he met a real titled domain realm formidable warrior, he would still have a chance to fight with him. However, he didn¡¯t expect this young man to be so strong. He wasn¡¯t a titled domain realm formidable warrior. He felt that this person in front of him was an imperial level domain expert.


    The invincible imperial level domain expert! Besides the legendary God-Realm masters and people who were in the same stage as them, no one was able to defeat an imperial level domain expert.


    With this knowledge in mind, Elder Ying made a quick decision and immediately congregated all his domain energy to prepare to escape through the ground below his feet.


    Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t allow her opponent to escape. She always believed that once she acted, she must finish off all possible future threats.


    ¡°Ultimate Blockade!¡± Ling Lan moved her fingers and numerous translucent ice threads started moving around her domain territory.


    Elder Ying suddenly felt his speed was decreasing rapidly.


    Ling Lan clenched her fist tightly and the sound of vibration resounded through the area.


    Elder Ying felt an excruciating pain cutting all over his body. In response to the pain wrecking apart his body, he immediately used his earth armour to protect his body.


    The piercing sound of the ice threads scraping the surface of the hard armour was heard. Liu Aihua and Aunt Liu covered their ears in pain, attempting to block the painful screeching sound that was hurting their eardrums.


    Luo Yi and Wang Qi were bbergasted by the dream-like world that appeared in front of them.


    In front of them was a crystal-clear ice world. Numerous fine ice threads intertwined with one another, breaking the world into small patches. Under the sunlight, the translucent threads sparkled and even small rainbows could be seen, all creating a breathtaking view. However, this beautiful scenery that seemed to only exist in a dream was a world of death, as it was about to work its magic by taking away a person¡¯s life.


    Luo Yi and Wang Qi were enchanted by the magical scene in front. However, the next second, a chill went up their spine.


    Elder Ying tried to block the ice threads with his most powerful defensive technique but he still failed. The piercing and shing power of the threads were too much for him. His body was cut into perfectly square sections of meat and his blood stained the ground below him.


    Luo Yi and Wang Qi jumped back in shock. They had the illusion that their skin was groaning in pain and some of the invisible threads were actually cutting into their skin, attempting to turn them into a pile of meat.


    But, they soon realized that what they were feeling was fake because they were outside the boundary of the ice world. However, they couldn¡¯t control their wandering minds. It would probably take some time for them to forget about this scene and this feeling.


    Fortunately, Liu Aihua and Aunt Liu, who closed their eyes in pain because of the piercing sound, didn¡¯t see what had happened in front of them. They were luckily able to escape from having this nightmare for the next few months.


    Liu Furong had seen Ling Lan using her Ice Blockade before, but he had never seen such a beautiful and frightening killing technique before. Liu Furong had killed many people before, but he still shivered when he saw Elder Ying turning into a pile of meat in front of him.


    ¡®Regimentmander is brutal!¡¯ Liu Furong decided that he must remind his team members to not offend their regimentmander after he goes back to the n. Even if you really die, you wouldn¡¯t want to die in the hands of their regimentmander.


    This technique was actually brought over from the gaseous state technique. Ling Lan was now able to change the state of the threads easily. This technique consisted of blue water threads, crystal-clear ice threads, and grey mist threads. Out of these three states, the ice threads were the most powerful. The water threads were the most tenacious while the mist threads were abination of the two.


    After Ling Lan killed Elder Ying, she felt a familiar presenceing her way. She snapped her fingers and the ice threads around her disappeared instantly. The beautiful ice world faded slowly too.


    A white object suddenly dove into Ling Lan¡¯s arms. It was Little White. Behind it, a huge chest that was skidding towards them with the help of the ice on the ground.


    Liu Aijun pped his hands excitedly. He shouted, ¡°Little White, this is fun. It¡¯s so fun. Can we y that again?¡±


    Until now, Liu Aijun still thought that everything was a game. He didn¡¯t show any signs of fear which a hostage should be showing.


    Little White didn¡¯t want to bother anymore about this idiot. ¡®It was his honour that I decided to y with him for so long. Since I¡¯m back with my master, I won¡¯t y with you anymore. Hmph.¡¯


    Ling Lan patted Little White¡¯s head and said calmly, ¡°Good job.¡±


    ¡®Ah, my master isplimenting me!¡¯ Little White smiled brightly until its eyes formed a single line. It rubbed its head against Ling Lan¡¯s hand. The anger it had when its master abandoned it was gone.


    Little White was really easy to console!


    ¡°Little White!¡± Liu Furong shouted when he saw the familiar round ball.


    Little White froze and it turned its head slowly. Then, it saw Liu Furong smiling at it happily... the dreaded Liu Furong...


    ¡°Rawr!¡± ¡®Ah! I got found out again! Master will definitely murder me!¡¯


    Little White still remembered that its master had changed his name so that he wouldn¡¯t be discovered. However, it identally exposed its master¡¯s identity. ¡®Ah! What should I do? I don¡¯t want to die yet.¡¯


    Little White held its head with two tentacles as it started thinking furiously of a way out. ¡®Should I silence Liu Furong or should I pretend that I am not Little White?¡¯


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it has nothing to do with you.¡± Ling Lan knew what Little White was worried about when she saw its expression. Ling Lan patted its head while she held back herughter. At first, she kept Little White as her pet because she wanted to use it as her trump card, but she really didn¡¯t expect Little White to be so funny.


    Little White turned energetic again when it heard what Ling Lan said. It nodded at Liu Furong arrogantly as if it was proudly stating ¡®Yes, I am your regimentmander¡¯s pet, Little White.¡¯ Liu Furong secretlyughed at its expression.


    After so many days of ying with Little White, Liu Aijun treated Little White as his friend. When he saw his friend ignoring him, he got agitated and hurriedly climbed out of the treasure chest. He was wearing many pieces of jewellery on him so he used some effort to run towards Ling Lan. He asked curiously, ¡°Brother Jiang Hui, why is Little White ignoring me.¡±


    Instead of answering him, Ling Lan pointed Liu Furong and asked, ¡°Aijun, who is this person?¡±


    Liu Aijun looked at the bloody and haggard man curiously. He started thinking carefully.


    Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He looked at Ling Lan with anticipation. ¡°He is... daddy?¡±


    Liu Furong trembled when he heard the word ¡°daddy¡¯. He didn¡¯t expect this little boy who just suddenly appeared to be his son.

 Chapter 966 - Tempted!

    <strong>Chapter 966 Tempted!</strong>


    ¡°Yes, he is your father,¡± Ling Lan smiled as she replied.


    Liu Aijun looked at Liu Furong again. He slowly walked over and asked with uncertainty, ¡°Are... are you really my daddy?¡±


    Liu Furong quickly knelt down on one knee and looked at the anticipation in the little boy¡¯s eyes, but he could also see that the little boy was a little frightened that his hopes would be dashed too. Liu Furong suddenly felt a wave of regret washing over his heart. He could always proudly held his head up high to everyone, but his wife and children he just could not put up the courage to even look them in the eyes.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m your father.¡± Liu Furong had tears in his eyes as he nodded.


    ¡°Daddy!¡± Liu Aijun rushed over and hugged Liu Furong¡¯s neck. He started crying loudly. He was no longer a child without a father.


    Ling Lan had brought Aunt Liu and the other three people over. She pushed Liu Aihua who had turned stiff and whispered, ¡°Little Aihua, hurry up and go to your father.¡±


    Liu Aihua moved step by step towards the two people that were hugging each other. Liu Furong looked up when he felt someone standing beside him. It was his daughter whom he always thought about for the past ten years. She was looking at him hopeful eyes too.


    ¡°Aihua, my good daughter.¡± Liu Furong hugged Liu Aihua instantly. He hugged his two children tightly. He felt fortunate that he was able to see them again.


    Liu Furong controlled his excitement. He consoled his children and then stood up. He looked at Aunt Liu whose eyes were red. He said in a low voice, ¡°Ah Yun.¡± He was fortunate to have met this woman who had given birth to his children and sacrificed her youth for him.


    ¡°Zhongguo...¡± Aunt Liu called out to him. Suddenly, her face turned pale. She gritted her teeth and turned away her face. This man had lied to her for more than ten years. How could she still trust him?


    ¡°My surname is Liu and my given name is Furong. I¡¯m currently a soldier. I¡¯m the team leader of team 02 from 250 Ace Mecha n. My rank is a senior colonel. Most importantly, I¡¯m sorry that I lied to you.¡± Liu Furong told Aunt Liu his identity honestly. He didn¡¯t want to lie anymore to this woman whom he wanted to spend his future with. However, in order to protect Wang Qi, he had no choice but to lie in the past.


    ¡°Fu... Furong.¡± Aunt Liu called Liu Furong¡¯s real name with some difficulty.


    ¡°Yes. Ah Yun, you¡¯re Liu Furong¡¯s wife. You¡¯ve always been my wife.¡± Liu Furong rushed forward and hugged the woman who had been living a hard life for the past ten years, all because of him. He would no longer throw them aside. Even if the path ahead was filled with danger, he would bring them along.


    Liu Furong¡¯s family had finally been reunited. Ling Lan had saved everyone she wanted to save so she decided to leave. Her body started turning translucent.


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± The moment Ling Lan moved, Liu Furong detected it. He shouted and stopped Ling Lan.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re the powerful regimentmander who Furong always talked about,¡± Aunt Liu said in surprise.


    Ling Lan looked at Liu Furong helplessly. She wanted him to exin to his wife that she wasn¡¯t the regimentmander he always talked about.


    Liu Furong gave her a pleading look. He hoped that Ling Lan could acknowledge herself as the regimentmander his wife was talking about. After all, she was his regimentmander now.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that your real name is not Jiang Hui, right?¡± Luo Yi said after some thought. When Liu Furong said that he was from 250 Ace Mecha n, Luo Yi recalled the battle on Haijiao which the Federation had been promoting furiously. He still remembered that the mecha n that gained the most merits was 250 Ace Mecha n and that their regimentmander was someone called Ling Lan.


    ¡°Yes.¡± When Ling Lan met Liu Furong, she knew that she wouldn¡¯t be able to hide her identity anymore. ¡°My name is Ling Lan.¡± ¡°The son of Ling Xiao.¡± Liu Furong added. He was telling Luo Yi that Ling Lan could be trusted.


    ¡°The son of Ling Xiao.¡± Luo Yi was dumbstruck. Everyone in the military knew who Ling Xiao was. That year, they were all indignant at Ling Xiao¡¯s passing. They even requested to take revenge for him. So, no one expected Ling Xiao toe back alive again.


    ¡°If it¡¯s General Ling Xiao, there won¡¯t be any problems.¡± That year, when they were betrayed by their own people, Ling Xiao was still ¡®dead¡¯. This meant that he wasn¡¯t the culprit.


    ¡°I won¡¯t interfere with your business, so you don¡¯t have to tell me anything.¡± Ling Lan felt the direction of this conversation was going weirdly when she heard Liu Furong¡¯s words. She immediately stated her stand.


    Suddenly, Liu Furong pulled the ordinary-looking ne around Liu Aihua¡¯s chest and threw it at Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan caught it in the air and asked coldly, ¡°What is this?¡±


    ¡°That thing is useless to us, and since I¡¯m a part of 250 Ace Mecha n now, I should pass it to my regimentmander.¡± Liu Furong smiled. He looked like a sly old fox that seeded in his scheme.


    Ling Lan gritted her teeth in anger. ¡®I came here to rx. Why did I have to face so much trouble on my holiday?¡¯ Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what this thing in her hand was, but it was definitely troublesome.


    However, she couldn¡¯t reject Liu Furong after what he said. This item looked old and had nothing to do with her. Yet, it belonged to someone in her mecha n so she definitely had to do something about it.


    Ling Lan squeezed the item tightly. The old and rusty outer shell crumbled apart, revealing a grey oval-shaped object.


    ¡°Boss, let me inspect this thing.¡± Little Four could sense that this was something special so he got excited.


    Ling Lan picked up the grey object with her fingers. She dangled it above her eyes, pretending to observe it carefully. In actual fact, it was to make it easier for Little Four to inspect the object.


    ¡°Boss, I didn¡¯t expect it to be that.¡± After a few seconds, Little Four eximed in surprise.


    ¡°What on earth is it?¡± Ling Lan was interested. This was something that someone from the higher authorities wanted. He even sacrificed an entire elite titled super mecha n to get this thing.


    ¡°This is the material that can be used to make a body for intelligent entities like me. It can also be used to make themunicator for domain realm masters.¡± Little Four told Ling Lan what he found out.


    ¡°It¡¯s that thing.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s interest got perked.


    ¡°A material to make themunicator for domain realm masters...¡± Ling Lan held the item in her hand. ¡°If it¡¯s only a small piece like this, no one would be tempted.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t hide anything from you, regimentmander.¡± Liu Furong didn¡¯t expect Ling Lan to know what the item was immediately. ¡°If it was just this piece, no one would be tempted. But, what if it is an entire mine?¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart pounded furiously when he heard this and blood started rushing up to her head.


    At first, Ling Lan was nonchnt about the whole situation. However, now, she was really tempted. She wanted to give Little Four and her instructors a real body but the material that was needed to do that was one of the most precious resources of the military. Ling Lan didn¡¯t have the power to get any of it. Hence, when she heard that there was an entire mine filled with that material, she was really tempted.

 Chapter 967 - Deal!

    <strong>Chapter 967 Deal!</strong>


    ¡®This material is useful for me but to everyone, it can only be used to make amunicator for domain realm masters. It doesn¡¯t have many uses. Why would someone annihte an entire titled super mecha n for it?¡¯ Ling Lan couldn¡¯t understand the minds of the higher-ups.


    ¡°Boss, this material is not only able to make amunicator. It can also be used for the construction of god-ss mechas too.¡± Little Four started exining to Ling Lan, ¡°However, I think that this is not the main reason. The most important thing is, once a mine filled with this mineral is formed, another precious resource will appear around it. That is probably the real reason why those people wanted this.¡±


    ¡°What is the resource?¡± Ling Lan was curious. ¡®What is more precious than this material?¡¯


    ¡°Titanium-gold iron,¡± Little Four said seriously.


    Ling Lan was shocked. She knew that this was the main material for the construction of a god-ss mecha. This meant that without this material, god-ss mechas couldn¡¯t be made. This would exin why the higher authorities of the military were willing to sacrifice an entire titled super mecha n to get this mine. God-ss mechas... no one could resist this temptation.


    ¡°I understand.¡± The moment Little Four mentioned titanium-gold iron, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t resist the temptation anymore.


    ¡°Leader Liu, what is your request?¡± If he wanted to pass this to the Federation, he would have done so long ago. He wouldn¡¯t need to disguise himself as a mentally disabled person, so he must have an ulterior motive for doing this.


    Liu Furong was satisfied with Ling Lan¡¯s response. ¡®My regimentmander is indeed a smart man. He knows we don¡¯t want to pass this to the Federation.¡¯


    Liu Furong looked at Luo Yi and Luo Yi nodded in response. The only person that could help the Magic Ace Mecha n gained back the merit and the honour they deserved was General Ling Xiao.


    Liu Furong looked at Ling Lan and said in a serious tone, ¡°We don¡¯t care what you do with it. We just hope that the Magic Ace Mecha n can get the honor they deserved. And...¡± Hatred could be seen in his eyes. ¡°I want to find the person that harmed the Magic Ace Mecha n.¡±


    In order to bring this item back to the Federation, they defeated many mecha ns from other nations that wanted to snatch it away. Yet, after surviving the attacks from their enemies, they were betrayed by their own people.


    Ling Lan thought about it carefully before replying, ¡°Deal!¡±


    She knew what troubles she might face after she agreed, but for the sake of Little Four and her instructors in the learning space, she must ept the challenges that came with the deal.


    Liu Furong and Luo Yi visibly rxed when they heard Ling Lan agreeing to their request. They felt that once Ling Lan agreed, the issue was mostly settled.


    After that, Liu Furong took out the map of the mine which he kept for 15 years. He pointed to the position of the mine. Ling Lan was dumbstruck. She felt that she was fooled by Liu Furong.


    ¡°This is the correct location?¡± Ling Lan asked again.


    Ling Lan thought that such a precious mine must be located at some primitive or some forest or desert where no one would go. However, contrary to her expectations, it was located at a famous ce that had millions of tourists visiting every day. How was she able to dig the minerals without alerting anyone?


    ¡°Wait, you are not the only ones who knew about this mine.¡± Ling Lan suddenly understood everything


    ¡°Of course. We are not professional mine inspectors. We only snatched their findings.¡± Liu Furong smiled. ¡°However, only we have the detailed location of the mine. Those people were afraid that the location of the mine would be leaked so they killed all the inspectors that knew about it.¡±


    Liu Furong¡¯s words proved that a bloody battle had happened because of this mine in the past. Many people had died because of it.


    ¡°How did you find out about it then?¡± Ling Lan was curious. Since the other party killed everyone who knew about the mine, how did the Magic Ace Mecha n find out about it?


    Liu Furong gave a bitter smile. He sighed and answered, ¡°I don¡¯t know if we¡¯re lucky or unlucky. That time, we received a three-star team mission to disguise ourselves and find the evidence for the crime of a person. identally, we noticed that someone was killing a bunch of normal citizens. We thought that this was a piece of evidence for the person we were following so we stopped them.¡± Because of this, they got an opportunity to gain more merits for their mecha n. However, it caused the annihtion of their mecha n too.


    Ling Lan could guess what happened at the end. The Magic Ace Mecha n knew that this was a big secret so they retreated quickly. However, because of their hasty retreat, they left traces behind. The members of the Magic Ace Mecha n started to have other thoughts too when faced with great wealth and benefits. There was a fine line between heaven and hell.


    Mo¡¯er port allowed private starships and cruise ships to anchor at the berth and have a break. It was located on a man-made. Besides the private starships and high-ss cruise ships from wealthy elite families, many mercenaries¡¯ spacecraftnded on this port too. Most of Mo¡¯er port space was filled with mercenaries.


    Mercenaries must have the certification from various countries to prove that they were mercenaries of their respective countries. If not, they wouldn¡¯t be able to join this industry. This certification was hard to get. They needed to reach the fifth level and above for the manifestation stage in order to get this certificate. They also needed to pass two out of the three assessments. The three assessments were speed, strength, andbat skills.


    This was to ensure the safety of the mercenaries too, as exploring the gxy was a dangerous job. If the mercenaries didn¡¯t have the ability to protect themselves, taking on missions would just be suicide.


    Of course, not all the mercenaries belonged to a country. Some came from Chaotic Lands that had no government. The Mercenary Association was in charge of assessing the mercenaries from these areas. They would then give the certification to those young people who managed to pass the assessments and had the dream of bing a mercenary.


    Mo¡¯er port was built by the Mercenary Association. Some associations also had set up their headquarters on the. There were also halls that allowed the allowed mercenary teams to take in members and take up missions.


    One day, a bunch of people walked down from a cruise ship that parked at Mo¡¯er port.


    A young man wearing a mask that covered the top half of his face walked in front of a group of people. He had a ck windbreaker and his hands were ced in his pockets. Behind him, a teenager around 15 years old followed closely as he looked around curiously. A small little girl and a little boy ran behind them as they tried to catch up.

 Chapter 968 - Can’t Hide From Him!

    <strong>Chapter 968 Can¡¯t Hide From Him!</strong>


    Further behind the children, there was a lean man that had patches of white hair on his head. He seemed to be around 60 years old. He looked around the port with a sense of longing. Then, he retracted his gaze and hurried forward nervously. He seemed afraid that he would lose the children in front.


    Right at the back, there was a couple. The couple looked at each other lovingly and smiled. The man held the woman¡¯s hand as they walked down the cruise ship together.


    This bunch of people was Ling Lan¡¯s group. Because of a series of coincidence, the unknown faction had a shootout with the government after many of their men died. This battle caused many casualties, causing the number of people dying to escte sharply. Even the prime minister of Muyang and the people that were in charge of watching over the Wang and Liu family supposedly got killed in battle.


    Ling Lan¡¯s group took this opportunity to change their names and left Muyang. Little Four even wiped away all traces of Liu Furong¡¯s family and Wang Qi and Luo Yi. They were able to ¡®die¡¯ in the battle.


    Of course, no matter how perfect the cover-up was, there would still be people suspecting them. If their enemy didn¡¯t believe this and send people over to investigate, they might not be able to find any pieces of evidence too. It all depends on the luck of the investigator.


    The moment Ling Lan came down the cruise ship, she suddenly stopped in her tracks. Her force of presence turned cold. ¡°Since you¡¯re here, why are you still hiding?¡±


    ¡®Do they think I¡¯m blind? The corner of your shirt can be seen over there. That pair of legs under the dustbin is so obvious. Can a fake tourist who is pretending to read the newspaper act more naturally? Most importantly, your newspaper is upside-down. Additionally, those two people buying drinks at the small shop can stop looking around suspiciously.¡¯


    Ling Lan was furious. She nced at Liu Furong who hade beside her now. Liu Furong¡¯s heart pounded loudly when he saw the cold stare. ¡®Did regimentmander realize what I did?¡¯


    ¡°I said that we won¡¯t be able to hide from him. Why do you all still want to hide?¡± Luo Lang walked out from the corner. The shirt that was seen belonged to him.


    Unhappiness could be seen on his face clearly. It seemed like he didn¡¯t want to do such a stupid act, but no one agreed with him. Hence, he had no choice but to follow the majority rule.


    ¡°I know that we can¡¯t fool him but he left us alone and went to y all by himself. So, we must give him a surprise.¡± Qi Long walked over from the dustbin. The pair of legs under the dustbin belonged to him.


    Han Jijyun followed behind Qi Long and looked at Ling Lan worriedly. It seemed like he didn¡¯t agree with everyone¡¯s idiotic behaviour too. However, just like Luo Lang, he wasn¡¯t able to win against the majority rule.


    The fake tourist that was pretending to read the newspaper was him. When he knew that his boss wasing out, he was so nervous he didn¡¯t notice that his newspaper was upside-down. When he saw everyoneing out from their hiding ce, he hurriedly threw down his newspaper and rushed over. He touched his head as he greeted his boss. ¡°Boss.¡±


    The two people with their drinks smiled at each other when they saw everyone appearing. They walked over too. They were Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun.


    ¡°Well, well, everyone is here. Where is Li Shiyu and Lin Zhong-qing then?¡± Ling Lan smiled coldly. She didn¡¯t believe that those two didn¡¯te.


    ¡°They¡¯re waiting for you at the mercenary¡¯s hall.¡± Xie Yi winked as he said, ¡°Our two sisters-inw are there too.¡±


    Ling Lan felt speechless. She forgot that she had these two debts to clear.


    ¡°Why are you here? Are you not going to take care of 250 Ace Mecha n?¡± Ling Lan pushed down her guilt and asked them.


    ¡°Leader Yang and Leader Gu are still at our base. Oh, Li Yingjie is there too. It¡¯ll be fine,¡± Qi Long answered irresponsibly. He didn¡¯t feel guilty that seven out of the ten team leaders left the base.


    Li Yingjie, who was at 250 Ace Mecha n, saw the messages everyone left for him and shouted in anger, ¡°How can these bunch of people run away without me? Damn it. I want to have a holiday too.¡± Fortunately, Li Yingjie didn¡¯t know that they went to look for Ling Lan. If not, he would have broken ties with all these ungrateful and heartless bastards.


    ¡°250 Ace Mecha n is a piece of fat meat now. Everyone wants to have a bite of it. The military is having a war over the position of our regimentmander.¡± Han Jijyun finally told Ling Lan why they had left. ¡°We don¡¯t want to be called by the military for questioning all the time. They kept asking us if we want to leave 250 Ace Mecha n. We don¡¯t want to beat around the bush with them so we took leave. We¡¯ll go back once everything has settled down.¡± Han Jijyun seemed worried. He was afraid that the position of their regimentmander would be taken away by someone else. If that was the case, he would leave 250 Ace Mecha n.


    He remembered what his father told him a few days ago. He shook his head slightly and pushed the thought away. As long as the regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n was their boss, he would stay here.


    ¡°It¡¯s not so easy to take advantage of 250 Ace Mecha n.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s calm voice floated over. ¡°Huge sacrifices have to be made in order to get the position of the regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n.¡± It all depended on General Ling Xiao now. If he wanted to let Ling Lan remain as the regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n, he would have his ways.


    ¡°There¡¯s no rush. It¡¯ll take a few months before everything will be settled. Let¡¯s just wait and see,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently. She didn¡¯t care about the position of a regimentmander. She just wanted her father and her to retreat from this crisis safely.


    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you surprised to see us?¡± Zhao Jun sighed. He thought that his Boss would have a different expression when he saw them. Yet, he remained as calm as always.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m a hacker.¡± Ling Lan gave Liu Furong a knowing smile.


    Liu Furong knew that his regimentmander had realized what he was doing the moment he sent out a message after they left Muyang. Liu Furong didn¡¯t know that if Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to see herrades, she could have deleted the message. This meant that Ling Lan agreed to let Liu Furong send out the message.


    At this moment, Luo Lang received a message on hismunicator. He lowered his head and said to Ling Lan, ¡°Boss, Luo Chao said that it¡¯s almost their turn to register a mercenary team. You can hurry over


    now.¡±


    There were three requirements to form a mercenary team. First, the leader must be at Qi-Jin. Second, there must be at least six members including the leader on the team. Third, the most important requirement, one of the six members must have participated in a mercenary mission that was B grade and above.


    These requirements prevented new mercenaries from epting missions that were above their limit due to theck of experience, to prevent unnecessary deaths.

 Chapter 969 - Registration!

    <strong>Chapter 969 Registration!</strong>


    ¡°It looks like you all know what I want to do.¡± Ling Lan looked at everyone with an ambiguous smile. After everyone had their little session of snickering, she led them into the hall.


    They saw Li Shiyu, Lin Zhong-qing, and Chang Xinyuan sitting together when they entered the hall. They were discussing something among themselves while Luo Chao and Han Xuya sat on one side, waiting eagerly for them.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Han Xuya saw them first. Ling Lan was wearing a mask but she still recognized her. She waved at them happily.


    Luo Chao smiled as she looked at Ling Lan silently. Ling Lan was touched by the warmth and support in her gaze.


    Ling Lan nodded at them before walking over.


    ¡°Boss, how is your body?¡± Although Li Shiyu said that their Boss¡¯s injuries were under control and wouldn¡¯t get worse, Han Xuya and Luo Chao were unable to feel at ease unless they asked Ling Lan personally.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t tell them the difficulty she was facing. She didn¡¯t say that her body¡¯s immune system was almost destroyed. She was able to stabilize her condition only with the help of the second generation Nuwa agent but if she wanted to healpletely, she needed more Nuwa agents. That was why she was covered in bandages. Her hideous wounds were hidden under the bandages, as normal people might feel disgusted if they see it.


    Han Xuya and Luo Chao were easy tofort. Once Ling Lan said that she was fine, they rxed and started smiling. Well, you couldn¡¯t me them. In their hearts, Ling Lan was someone who always meant what she said and never lied. Thus, if Ling Lan said that she was fine, she was fine.


    Li Shiyu stood up too when he saw Ling Lan. He came over and held Ling Lan¡¯s wrist to check her pulse.


    ¡°Not bad.¡± Her pulse rate was better than a month ago. Li Shiyu felt at ease too. He was afraid that Ling Lan¡¯s brittle body would get worse when she came out to travel alone.


    ¡°021? 021?¡± One of the staff members was shouting a number.


    Han Xuya raised her hand in a hurry. ¡°Coming!¡± It was their turn.


    Ling Lan walked towards the staff member. The staff member looked at her curiously. Most of the leaders were old so Ling Lan seemed a little too young for the position. The staff member suspected her ability.


    ¡°Come, scan yourmunicator over here.¡± The information on themunicator would determine whether this young man was eligible or not. The staff member held his opinion back and continued with the registration process.


    Beep! Ling Lan scanned hermunicator. Her information was disyed on the staff member¡¯s screen.


    ¡°Jiang Hui, 27 years old. B level mercenary (frence). Physical skills: Late-stage of Qi-Jin. Competed mission: SSS:0 SS:0 S:0 A:1 B:3 C:21 D:37 E:23.¡±


    This was the data of the real Jiang Hui. Ling Lan didn¡¯t make any changes.


    The staff member dismissed his suspicion after seeing Ling Lan¡¯spleted missions. He was young but he had alreadypleted so many missions. He evenpleted an A level mission. A level missions were dangerous and risky. Normal mercenaries wouldn¡¯t dare to ept an A level mission.


    Since the leader of the team met the requirements, the staff member continued, ¡°Where are the other five members?¡± A team needed to have at least five members excluding one leader.


    ¡°Me!¡± ¡°Me.¡± ¡°Me.¡± People started shouting in front of the staff member. He saw a line of young men and women rushing to be the second person to register.


    The staff member, who was used to handling disgruntled people, was stunned by the enthusiasm of these young people. He actually didn¡¯t know what to do.


    ¡°Cough!¡± Ling Lan made a coughing sound. The people that were shoving and pushing each other froze. ¡°Thank you.¡± Li Lanfeng slid out of the crowd and moved to the front. He scanned hismunicator sessfully.


    ¡°Beep. Li Lanfeng: 25 years old. A level mercenary (frence). Physical skills: Optimal peak of Qi-Jin. Competed mission: SSS:0 SS:0 S:1 A:13 B:29 C:21 D:23


    E:2.¡±


    The staff member gasped when he saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s information. He thought that the leader would be the most powerful person among the team but the first member was stronger than him. He evenpleted an S level mission. S Level missions were extremely dangerous. Anyone below the domain stage would have a hard timepleting it.


    Qi Long and the others red at Li Lanfeng. They wanted to beat this sly fox up. Zhao Jun took this chance to scan hismunicator and became the third member to register.


    ¡°Beep. Zhao Jun: 25 years old. A level mercenary (frence). Physical skills: Optimal peak of Qi-Jin. Competed mission: SSS:0 SS:0 S:1 A:22 B:31 C:37 D:23 E:2.¡±


    Most of the time, Zhao Jun acted with Li Lanfeng so the number of missions they hadpleted was around the same. However, Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t interested in some mission while Zhao Jun liked to take missions to pass his time. Hence, hepleted a few more missions than Li Lanfeng.


    The staff member saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s results but he didn¡¯t appear as shocked as when he saw Zhao Jun¡¯s data. However, deep down inside, he was dumbfounded.


    Qi Long immediately scanned hismunicator when he saw that the first two positions as a member were taken. His frightening force of presence stopped everyone from snatching the third position from him.


    ¡°Beep. Qi Long: 22 years old. A level mercenary (frence). Physical skills: Optimal peak of Qi-Jin. Competed mission: SSS:0 SS:0 S:0 A:4 B:21 C:29 D:39 E:9.¡±


    Once you havepleted a certain level of mission three times, your mercenary level would follow that mission¡¯s level. Qi Long hadpleted A level missions four times so he was an A level mercenary. His level was the same as Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng.


    After him, Luo Lang, Xie Yi, Han Jijyun, and Lin Zhong-qing scanned theirmunicator and registered. Most of them acted along with Qi Long so their data was simr to him.


    The staff member was bbergasted when he saw multiple A level mercenary registering. Hence, when he saw that Chang Xinyuan was an E level mercenary and didn¡¯tplete much mission, he finally felt that things were going back to normal. This was the data a new mercenary team should have. Those level A mercenary before him must be hired with a high sry.


    However, this thought was broken after he saw Liu Furong¡¯s data.


    ¡°Beep. Liu Furong: 43 years old. S level mercenary (frence). Physical skills: Optimal peak of Qi-Jin. Competed mission: SSS:0 SS:0 S:5 A:43 B:129 C:134 D:63 E:42.¡±<se


    ¡®S level mercenary! Oh my god, where did this new teame from? Where did all these high-level mercenariese from?¡¯

 Chapter 970 - Little Four’s Mercenary Team!

    <strong>Chapter 970 Little Four¡¯s Mercenary Team!</strong>


    Luo Yi¡¯s mercenary level was not low too. He was an A level mercenary. Soon, everyone finished registering. The staff member asked in a daze, ¡°What is the name of the mercenary team?¡±


    ¡°Lingtian!¡± In Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape, Little Four raised his hands and shouted happily. Lingtian Battle n, Lingtian Base, they should have a Lingtian Mercenary Tam now.


    Ling Lan looked at the excited Little Four and smiled. ¡°Little Four Mercenary Team.¡±


    ¡°Sorry?¡± The staff member was waiting for a formidable-sounding and pleasant name. Hence, when he heard Little Four Mercenary Team, he was stunned.


    ¡°Little Four Mercenary Team.¡± Ling Lan answered carefully. The danger that Little Four went through a while ago made her realize how important he was to her. Although she didn¡¯t have the power to let him appear in front of her friends, she could let him appear in their world in another way.


    ¡°Boss...¡± Little Four understood Ling Lan¡¯s intention. His eyes turned red.


    Ling Lan rubbed his head with a firm gaze. One day, she would let Little Four appear in front of everyone personally so that he could be one of them.


    Everyone was surprised by the name of their mercenary team, but no one had any objections. Even if their name was the Cat Mercenary Team or the Dog Mercenary Team, as long as their Boss chose it, they would ept it.


    Hence, the name of the mercenary team that would be widely famous in the future was given with a single sentence from Ling Lan.


    Before they left, Ling Lan reached out and tapped the staff member¡¯s forehead with her finger. She smiled, ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Erm, you¡¯re wee.¡± The staff member felt a warm presence in front of him. However, his forehead felt cold.


    The staff member was in a stupor as he watched as Ling Lan¡¯s team leave the hall. After a while, he pped his forehead and muttered to himself, ¡°Why am I in a daze?¡± He lowered his head and shouted, ¡°022.¡±


    ¡°Oh right, the Little Four Mercenary Team seemed to have quite a few people.¡± The staff recalled the mercenary team that had just registered. Then, he realized that he couldn¡¯t remember any of the details of the team members anymore. But, this was normal for him, as he had to handle a few hundred mercenary teams every day. Unless the mercenary team was very special or powerful, it wouldn¡¯t give him anysting impression.


    After the people with the number 022 came up to him, the staff member forgot about Little Four Mercenary Team entirely. He didn¡¯t know that the Little Four Mercenary Team¡¯s details were now locked by Little Four.


    That meant that people could only see the level of Little Four Mercenary Team. They were unable to see the details of the members of this team anymore. Ling Lan had to nod her head before anyone could see the members¡¯ details.


    ¡°This feels good. We can finally go on a mission with Boss.¡± Qi Long came to the mission corner of the hall. He couldn¡¯t contain his excitement anymore so he raised his hands and shouted.


    Before this, Ling Lan never took part in any missions with them. She wanted her friends to be independent, so usually they would follow other mercenary teams toplete their missions. But now, they had their own mercenary team.


    Ling Lan smiled. ¡°You only have one month.¡±


    The maximum duration of a soldier¡¯s holiday was one month. A monthter, they had to go back to the military and they wouldn¡¯t be able to take part in normal missions anymore.


    The excited group of people got dejected suddenly. They lowered their heads in sadness. Their identity as a soldier took over their freedom.


    Only Luo Chao and Han Xuya were not affected. They looked at the mission on the screen together and talked among themselves. They had already decided that they would follow their boss wherever she went.


    As female soldiers, they had more freedom than male soldiers. The military didn¡¯t ce much importance in female soldiers so they could change their positions easily. They were not like Qi Long whose capabilities had caught the attention of the higher authorities. If Ling Lan got removed from 250 Ace Mecha n, it wouldn¡¯t be easy for them to continue following her.


    Ling Lan knew that this was possible so she registered this mercenary team. She knew that rtionships required time to nurture. If everyone got scattered, the precious rtionship they had from growing up together would dissipate slowly as time went by. Even if they were able to gather together again in the future, it wouldn¡¯t be the same anymore.


    ¡°Boss, Boss, mission 7821, mission 7821...¡± Han Xuya and Luo Chao, who were discussing silently among themselves, started shouting at Ling Lan excitedly.


    Everyone got energetic again and their sad emotions disappeared.


    Since they knew their mission number, Ling Lan led them to an optical supeputer at the side of the hall. She searched the details of mission 7821. Soon, the information appeared on the screen.


    Mission number: 7821


    Mission level: B


    Mission requirements: Adventurer team. Level requirement: None.


    Mission details: The employer wants to hire a few adventurer teams to escort a huge merchant fleet to and fro the Chaotic Lands. Starting point: Shanghai from the Huaxia Federation (8 am, 23rd of May). Checkpoints: Chaotic Lands (One week). Final destination: Shanghai from the Huaxia Federation (Estimated date of arrival is the 17th of June).


    Ling Lan looked at the estimated date for the end of the mission. A few days after that would the end of their one month leave. Most importantly, they just formed an adventurer team and their lowest level mercenary was a level E mercenary. Normally, they would only get D and E level missions. After umting some points, their adventurer team¡¯s level would increase and they would be able to apply for higher level missions.


    There were no requirements for the adventurer team¡¯s level for this mission. It seemed like the merchant needed to leave immediately. If not, it meant that the rewards for this mission were too little, so the powerful adventurer teams didn¡¯t want to waste their time and take this mission.


    Ling Lan scrolled to the end of the mission and saw the 4 pathetic zeros behind the number ¡®3¡¯. This proved that the rewards for this mission were not just a little, it was extremely little. This amount of money wasn¡¯t even enough to pay the monthly sry of the mercenaries. It was reasonable that the powerful mercenary teams didn¡¯t want to take this mission. From the looks of it, only teams that had just registered and wanted to improve their grades would disregard the reward and take the mission. Mercenary teams that were low in funds might also take it to get some money.


    Ling Lan¡¯s team was filled with people from wealthy families in the military so they didn¡¯t care about the reward. When they saw that they could visit the Chaotic Lands, they got excited. They had only heard about it from rumours. They rubbed their hands in excitement and prepared themselves to gain new experiences there.


    Of course, there were still people who cared about the money. Wang Qi and Liu Aihua¡¯s eyes lit up when they saw the 30,000 Federation credits. ¡®Omg, this is close to 600,000 Muyang credits. It is enough for us to spend for the rest of our life.¡¯


    The difference in response was due to each individual¡¯s outlook and experience. It had nothing to do with the character of a person.

 Chapter 971 - Mercenary Team!

    <strong>Chapter 971 Mercenary Team</strong>!


    It was midnight at the port of Shanghai. A merchant group was about to leave the port so they were busy loading their goods.


    In one of the warehouses on the ships, a small mercenary team consisting of seven people gathered in a corner and chatted among themselves. The equipment on them was old, and the badly bruised old mecha models beside them proved that their journey here wasn¡¯t easy.


    The leader of this team was a skinny middle-aged man around 50 years old. His face showed many signs of old age. He drank the low-grade alcohol that the merchants gave them and looked at the team members around him. He sighed sadly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, everyone. I¡¯m too incapable. For the past ten years, our situation kept getting worse. Now, we even need to take missions that require so much time and effort, but don¡¯t have good rewards so we can fill up our stomachs.¡±


    ¡°Grandpa Leader, what are you talking about. If it wasn¡¯t for you, I would have died from hunger when I was six years old.¡± One of the young men who looked around 14 years old smiled. He didn¡¯t mind the harsh times they were facing.


    ¡°Little Tao, it¡¯s a waste of your talent if you remain in Shadow Cat.¡± The leader looked at Little Tao and shook his head in pity. He was someone who didn¡¯t have much ability and the Shadow Cat Mercenary Team would probably remain in this bad state. There was no future for them. With Little Tao¡¯s ability and talent, he could go to a better mercenary team. He might even be able to enter an elite mercenary team too. However, this little fellow stubbornly remained here, so that he could repay the kindness of that one bowl of rice when he was young.


    ¡°I think that this life is pretty good.¡± Little Tao smiled brightly. ¡°We can take missions and earn money to feed ourselves. The grandfathers in the team take good care of me and treat me like their own grandson. If I go outside, I won¡¯t be able to enjoy such treatment. I will probably be bullied by the older members. Plus, if that happens, your heart will ache.¡±


    ¡°Little Tao is getting better at talking.¡± The other old members of Shadow Cat smiled happily.


    They were all ordinary people. They didn¡¯t have many abilities so they were only low-level mercenaries. They just wanted to earn some money to keep themselves and their families alive. Mercenaries like them were like extras among all the huge mercenary teams. They were able to survive until now because their leader was a careful person, as he never took missions that exceeded their limits. However, this also meant that the level of their mercenary team would never increase. At the same time, their standard of living got worse. A low standard of living wouldn¡¯t attract powerful mercenaries. A mercenary team that wasn¡¯t powerful enough wouldn¡¯t be able to ept the harder missions which had more rewards. Hence, as the cycle continued, the Shadow Cat Mercenary Team¡¯s situation got worse over time. They couldn¡¯t even feed themselves properly now.


    This was why the leader of Shadow Cat decided to take this mission. They didn¡¯t have any rice left back at home. He knew that this mission might be dangerous and the result was uncertain, but he could only take the risk.


    While they were chatting, the door of the warehouse suddenly opened. The person-in-charge of this merchant team walked in with a few other people. There was a muscr man around 50 years old, a cultured young man around 30 years old, a smart-looking middle-aged man and an arrogant and wealthy young man.


    The person-in-charge pointed at the leader of Shadow Cat and said, ¡°This is the leader of the Shadow Cat Mercenary Team, Yuan Mulin. Leader Yuan is the first to arrive.¡±


    The person-in-charge pointed at the muscr man and introduced, ¡°This is the leader of the Grey Bat Mercenary Team, Dibi Luya.¡± Dibi Luya greeted everyone friendly.


    ¡°The leader of Red Maple Mercenary Team, Ye Shao.¡± The cultured young man smiled and nodded at everyone.


    ¡°The leader of Poison Teeth Mercenary Team, Jiang Bizhi.¡± The smart-looking middle-aged man nodded coldly. He didn¡¯t look like a friendly person.


    ¡°The leader of Mighty Sky, Ma Yizhe.¡± The wealthy man seemed to look down on these poor leaders so he just raised his head arrogantly and scoffed. He didn¡¯t greet anyone.


    The three leaders¡¯ expressions changed when they saw Ma Yizhe¡¯s attitude. Among all the three leaders, Ye Shao and Dibi Luya were more shrewd, so they immediately started smiling again. Jiang Bizhi, on the other hand, continued wearing his cold expression. He just red at Ma Yizhe with a vicious gaze like the eyes of a poisonous snake.


    ¡°This will be your amodation for the time being. I hope that everyone can work together for this mission ande back alive.¡± The person-in-charge ignored the tension that was going on between the leaders. They only invited these mercenary teams to protect their merchant team, As for the rtionship of the mercenary teams, it was not their concern.


    The person-in-charge wanted to leave. Ye Shao suddenly thought of something and shouted, ¡°President Tu, is everyone here?¡±


    President Tu replied, ¡°The Little Four Mercenary Team is still on their way.¡±


    ¡°Haha, Little Four Mercenary Team? Who came up with such a weak name?¡± Ma Yizheughed loudly when he heard this.


    President Tu didn¡¯t say anything. He just smiled. Names were given by the leaders based on their own preferences. It had nothing to do with ability. Plus, he didn¡¯t think that the name ¡®Mighty Sky¡¯ was any good too.


    Suddenly, hismunicator vibrated. He looked down and smiled. ¡°Speak of the devil, they¡¯re here.¡± He walked out of the warehouse. Around 10 minutester, he came in with someone wearing a mask. This young person had a gentle aura. It was Ling Lan.


    ¡°This is the leader of Little Four Mercenary Team, Jiang Hui.¡± President Tu¡¯s smile was more sincere this time. For some reason, he had a good impression of Jiang Hui. President Tu thought that this must be because of fate.


    After that, he introduced the other leaders to Jiang Hui. Jiang Hui¡¯s presence was gentle so even Ma Yizhe, whoughed at the name of Ling Lan¡¯s team, didn¡¯t give her attitude. He didn¡¯t appear as arrogant and irritating as before.


    The warehouse was segregated into six different sections naturally. Every section belonged to a respective mercenary team. Very soon, the five new teams moved their pieces of equipment and mechas into the warehouse.


    Ling Lan¡¯s team was situated between Shadow Cat and Poison Teeth. Soon, the 14 brand new mechas that belonged to them got transported into the warehouse.


    Ling Lan waste because she was preparing the equipment for her team. Fortunately, Ling Lan had loads of money and Little Four knew many ways of getting things. Little Four found a secret ck market and managed to get 14 modified mechas within two short days. Of course, a lot of money was spent on it. They even got some equipment for the mechas and spare parts. The other leaders might have looked down on this young mercenary team but the moment their mechas entered the warehouse, they became serious. They decided that they wouldn¡¯t provoke this mercenary team until they knew more about their background.

 Chapter 972 - Accident!

    <strong>Chapter 972 ident!</strong>


    The 14 mechas and the pieces of equipment caused the other five mercenary teams to be vignt of the Little Four Mercenary Team. However, when the members of this team came down from the cockpit of their mechas, this vignce died down.


    The members of the Little Four Mercenary Team were mostly young men around 20 years old. There were even three women, a teenager that was still underage, and two young children. Obviously, this was a team made up of ambitious young people. Their family background must be good too since they were able to get such good mechas and pieces of equipment. The only two middle-aged men must be their bodyguards.


    Plus, they might be doing it for fun, all of them wore a metal mask that covered half their faces just like their leader.


    Soon, it was 8 am. The merchant team finally finished their preparations. They were ready to leave.


    It had to be said that the merchant team was really stingy, as the three meals they provided were very simple.


    Besides Shadow Cat, the other mercenary teams didn¡¯tck money. They took out their own food and started eating. Ling Lan and her team members didn¡¯t like to torture themselves too. Lin Zhong-qing had thought about this possibility so he had prepared a lot of good food while they were getting ready all their equipment for the mission. After some time, all the team members from the Little Four Mercenary Team had oily lips from their delicious meal. This just further confirmed to everyone that this was a bunch of young masters having fun.


    The members of Shadow Cat swallowed their saliva as they watched the members of Little Four eating their hearty meal happily while they had already finished their simple meal. They rolled themselves up to hide the sound from their growling stomach. Little Tao was still growing so the simple meal provided by the merchant team couldn¡¯t satisfy him.


    However, he still controlled his hunger and didn¡¯t reveal any signs of it. He knew that the old men in his team needed more nutrients because their bodies were exhausted from the continuous fighting. If they knew that he was still hungry, they would definitely give him some of their food and he didn¡¯t want them to do that.


    Little Tao thought that he hid his hunger well but a few people managed to hear it. Ma Yizhe looked at him with disdain. If they had a hard time filling up their stomachs, it meant that the Shadow Cat Mercenary Team was useless.


    The other leaders didn¡¯t portray their thoughts so directly but they also looked down on Shadow Cat. No one wanted to work with useless people.


    As for the Little Four Mercenary Team, besides the old man, the two children, and Aunt Liu, everyone heard it.


    But, Ling Lan didn¡¯t look down on Shadow Cat because of this. Although Shadow Cat¡¯s situation was bad, Little Tao¡¯s actions showed that the rtionship between the team members was strong. Plus, she saw Little Tao rejecting the food from hisrades when they offered it to him.


    Compared to strength, Ling Lan felt that true friendship was more important. Without a doubt, Shadow Cat was much better than the other mercenary teams in this area.


    Ling Lan had a good impression of Shadow Cat but she wasn¡¯t nning to help them. From the start, she didn¡¯t n to have any interactions with the other mercenary teams.


    However, sometimes idents happen.


    For instance, Liu Aihua.


    The two children didn¡¯t hear the growl from the stomach, but the two children referred to Wang Qi and Liu Aijun. Liu Aihua, on the other hand, had her innate talent awakened so she heard the growl. She gave him a look of pity, as she was familiar with this sound. She used to have simr experiences too. She knew that the feeling of hunger wasn¡¯t good.


    Liu Aihua was an obedient child but she was too kind sometimes. She knew that Little Tao was hungry and she had good food in her hands too. Hence, she ran over without much thinking and passed the drumstick in her hand to Little Tao. ¡°Big brother, this is for you.¡±


    Little Tao was stunned. He didn¡¯t expect a little girl who was a stranger to him to give him her drumstick. He was touched but he shook his head. ¡°Thank you, little sister. I¡¯m not hungry.¡± He was very hungry but he didn¡¯t wish to owe people favors. Plus, she was just a small little girl, she needed the food more than him.


    Ma Yizheughed when he heard Little Tao¡¯s reply. ¡°Little brat, stop pretending. Since someone is offering you food, eat it. If not, your stomach will continue growling. It¡¯s not good if you disturb our rest.¡±


    The leader of Shadow Cat and the other members instantly understood what was happening. At first, they were puzzled at Little Aihua¡¯s actions. ¡°Little Tao, since you¡¯re still hungry, why didn¡¯t you tell us? Old people like us can¡¯t finish all those food anyway.¡±


    It looks like he was really old. He should have noticed that Little Tao was still hungry. Even old men like them weren¡¯t full after the meal. How could Little Tao be full?


    ¡°Speaking of which, your team is really terrible. You can¡¯t even feed your team members properly. I wonder how a useless mercenary team like yours manage to survive till now. Tsk tsk tsk...¡± Ma Yizhe shook his head and sighed. He appeared to be pitying them but his words were sarcastic.


    Yuan Mulin was furious and his face turned red in anger. A lot of people hadughed at them before but they all did it behind their backs. This was the first time someone mocked them directly. Yet, he had to bear with it. Among the six mercenary teams, they had the fewest number of people and most of his team members were old and weak. If they really had a conflict with another mercenary team, they would be at a disadvantage.


    Yuan Mulin was able to control his emotions but Little Tao couldn¡¯t, as he was young and hot-blooded. He replied coldly, ¡°What does that have to do with you? Why are you being such a busybody?¡±


    A muscr man sitting beside Ma Yizhe suddenly jumped up and rushed towards Little Tao. Little Tao¡¯s words had angered him. Liu Aihua was in his way so he reached out and wanted to throw Liu Aihua aside.


    Aunt Liu and Wang Qi shouted in astonishment when they saw this.


    The gazes of the members of the Little Four mercenary team turned cold. Liu Furong was prepared to get up but Little Tao acted before him. He hugged Liu Aihua and rolled to the side, managing to evade the attack.


    Everyone from Little Four mercenary team rxed a little. Liu Furong calmed down and sat down. He decided to observe the situation first.

 Chapter 973 - Worth it!

    <strong>Chapter 973 Worth it!</strong>


    Little Tao pulled Liu Aihua up. He was furious. ¡°What are you trying to do?¡± 1


    The muscr man didn¡¯t reply to him. He just smiled and continued attacking Little Tao furiously.


    Luckily, Little Tao was agile. Although he had Liu Aihua beside him, he still managed to dodge all the attacks.


    The muscr man¡¯s eyes turned vicious when he couldn¡¯t hit Little Tao. He suddenly changed his target and started attacking Liu Aihua. Little Tao was afraid that Liu Aihua would be hurt so he couldn¡¯t dodge as freely as before, making his movements seem restricted. As for Liu Aihua, she didn¡¯t panic at all, she just stared at the man¡¯s fist intently.


    This wasn¡¯t the normal reaction for a ten-year-old who was in danger. Ma Yizhe furrowed his brows as he watched at the side. Then, he turned to look at the Little Four Mercenary Team, they seemed oblivious to the fact that one of their team members was in danger.


    Ma Yizhe was arrogant and he looked down on everyone, but he didn¡¯t want to cause too much unnecessary trouble.


    However, the reaction of the members of the Little Four Mercenary Team stunned him greatly. Besides the teenager and thedy who seemed to be the little girl¡¯s mother, everyone else was calmly eating their food. Only the two of them looked at the fight with a frightened expression. Some of them evenughed and chatted among themselves.


    The two beautiful youngdies didn¡¯t look worried too. Thedy who seemed more extrovert was pointing at the fight and seemed to be exining something to the otherdy.


    ¡®What is happening? Are they not worried about the little girl? Or are they confident that she wouldn¡¯t get hurt?¡¯ 1


    If it was the first possibility, it wasn¡¯t much of a problem. If it was the second... Ma Yizhe turned serious. No matter what the reason was, their calmness proved that they were not easy to deal with.


    Ma Yizhe wanted to let his subordinate teach Little Tao a lesson but now, he shouted, ¡°Zhang Mo,e back.¡±


    Zhang Mo, who was the muscr man, instantly came back to Ma Yizhe¡¯s side.


    Ma Yizhe turned to look at Ling Lan and gave an ambiguous smile. ¡°Leader Jiang, please watch over your members if you want to prevent unnecessary troubles.¡±


    Ma Yizhe decided to be careful. He asked Ling Lan to bring Liu Aihua away so that he wouldn¡¯t offend the Little Four Mercenary Team too much.


    All the members of Little Four Mercenary Team looked at Ling Lan as they waited for her reply.


    As for Little Tao, he took this opportunity to push Liu Aihua away. He was the one who offended them. He shouldn¡¯t implicate this little girl who kindly came to give him some food.


    Ling Lan raised her head and nced at Ma Yizhe. She calmly twirled the knife in her hand and cut off a small piece of steak in front of her. She ced it inside her mouth and chew it slowly. She only replied after she finished eating the piece of steak. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±


    The members of the Little Four Mercenary Team smiled. It looks like their Boss wanted to interfere with this matter.


    Her nonchnt attitude infuriated Ma Yizhe. His gaze turned cold as he said angrily, ¡°I¡¯ve reminded you already. Since you don¡¯t mind, don¡¯t me us if anything bad happens.¡±


    Little Tao got agitated when he heard that the Little Four Mercenary Team wasn¡¯t going to care about Liu Aihua anymore. He shouted, ¡°Leader Jiang, this has nothing to do with her. Please forgive her for acting rashly.¡± He heard that many mercenary teams would give up on a member that was disobedient. Little Tao was still young so he thought that Liu Aihua had angered Ling Lan because she gave her food away on her own ord.


    ¡®What a simple and naive fellow.¡¯ Liu Furong took a sip of wine and thought. However, he approved of his kindness in helping Liu Aihua.


    Luo Yi smiled brightly. He lowered his voice and said, ¡°Little Liu, you can groom this kid.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Liu Furong was surprised.


    Luo Yi continued smiling. ¡°You need to find a son-inw, right? Compared to letting her be fooled by some random young man, why not groom a few talented people now so you won¡¯t have to worry in the future.¡±


    Liu Furong¡¯s expression turned dark. ¡°What are you talking about? Old Luo, my daughter is still young.¡± He suddenly understood the worry of being a father. He now had to be conscious about protecting his daughter from being fooled by some stupid brat.


    Liu Furong had some admiration for Little Tao but now, it was all gone. 2


    Ling Lan looked at the agitated Little Tao. She touched her chin and smiled as she asked, ¡°What if I don¡¯t want to?¡±


    ¡®I have changed my aura into a gentle person now. Why does he still think that I am so heartless that I would abandon my own members?¡¯


    Little Tao¡¯s expression changed drastically. He looked at Ma Yizhe and his men who were getting restless. He instantly made a decision. He said calmly, ¡°Although I don¡¯t have much capabilities, I can still help with small matters. If you are willing to continue protecting her, I¡¯ll owe you my life. Anytime you need it, you cane and take it.¡±


    ¡°Little Tao!¡± Yuan Mulin shouted angrily. ¡®Why is this kid so stupid? How can he owe his life to a little girl he just met?;


    Plus, it was obvious that those people would help the little girl no matter what. The little girl might not be important to them, but no one in the right mind would take a step back.


    ¡°Little Aihua, you used one drumstick to get a life. It¡¯s well worth it,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. 1


    ¡®A drumstick for a life? Worth it? What is Brother Jiang Hui saying?¡¯ Little Aihua looked at the drumstick that was still in her hand while looking puzzled.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, this young man belongs to me now. Leader Ma, please forgive him for my sake.¡± Ling Lan really wanted to have a rxing trip. She also hoped that their journey would be quiet and peaceful.


    Ma Yizhe narrowed his eyes. He said coldly, ¡°Leader Jiang, are you standing up for him?¡± Ma Yizhe felt that Ling Lan was purposely trying to suppress him.


    Ling Lan cut another piece of steak and ced it in her mouth. She said indifferently, ¡°Are you not nning to solve this peacefully?¡±


    The members of the Little Four Mercenary Team put down whatever they were doing and looked at Ma Yizhe and his team. The atmosphere in the warehouse turned tense suddenly. A huge battle seemed imminent. 2


    The leader of Poison Teeth, Jiang Bizhi, had decided to sit on the fence. Ye Shao and Dibi Luya exchanged nces with one another. In the next second, Ye Shao stood up and smiled. ¡°Leader Ma, the child just made a mistake. If you get angry at him, you will be stooping to their level. Come, let¡¯s have a chat with all the leaders.¡± He turned and looked at Ling Lan, ¡°Leader Jiang, what do you think?¡±


    Ling Lan smiled gently. ¡°I¡¯m okay. I just wonder if Leader Ma is willing to do it.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to create trouble, especially unnecessary trouble.


    Ma Yizhe snorted. Ye Shaoforted him for a while before he decided to sit down for a chat.

 Chapter 974 - Living Harmoniously In Peace

    <strong>Chapter 974 Living Harmoniously In Peace</strong>


    However, Ye Shao and Dibi Luya purposely disregarded Yuan Mulin. They didn¡¯t invite him over. This was even worse than humiliating him verbally. Yuan Mulin¡¯s face turned red in shame.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t move from her seat. She gave a half-smile and looked at Ye Shao. ¡°Are you not nning to invite Leader Yuan?¡±


    Yuan Mulin looked at Ling Lan gratefully. Ling Lan was helping him. If Ling Lan didn¡¯t mention anything, he would have to bear with the humiliation. His mercenary team would be trampled upon by the other mercenary teams if he said anything to gain thest bit of dignity he had left.


    Yuan Mulin was not the only one that was grateful to Ling Lan. The members of Shadow Cat were grateful that she helped them keep their pride. Because of this, Little Tao also decided that owing his life to Ling Lan was worth it.


    Ye Shao¡¯s expression froze. After a moment, he pped his forehead and pretended to be sorry. ¡°Leader Yuan, look at me. Sorry about this. Pleasee and have a chat together.¡±


    Yuan Mulin looked at Ling Lan unconsciously. Unknowingly, he started following Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan smiled and stood up. She walked towards the area where Ye Shao, Dibi Luya, Jiang Bizhi, and Ma Yizhe were at.


    Ye Shao, Dibi Luya, and Jiang Bizhi narrowed their eyes when they saw this. They got more vignt of Ling Lan.


    Luo Yi lowered his voice and said to Liu Furong, ¡°Your regimentmander is not simple.¡±


    ¡°If he is simple, he wouldn¡¯t be able to be a regimentmander of a mecha n at the age of 21,¡± Liu Furong replied with a proud expression.


    ¡°Look at how proud you are.¡± Luo Yi drank some wine. His gaze turned unfocused. ¡°At first, I thought that he achieved all these with the help of his father.¡± Ling Xiao was one of the ten great generals so he definitely had the ability to let his son be a regimentmander.


    ¡°When he became out regimentmander that year, no one knew he was Ling Xiao¡¯s son.¡± Liu Furong smiled. He remembered how everyone looked down on Ling Lan when they first knew that a young man was going to be their regimentmander. They thought that he would fail too. Furthermore, a lot of people had tried to help them from their dark ce before, but none of them seeded except for a 21-year-old man.


    No one knew that this gentle-looking person was actually cold-blooded and ruthless. Their regimentmander was someone who would kill you if he felt that you had no hope. Liu Furong remembered Ling Lan¡¯s brutal methods in the past and felt cold sweat all over his body. The time when he advanced to the domain stage, he really felt that his regimentmander didn¡¯t n to let him stay alive.


    ¡°Oh right. You haven¡¯t told me how you enter General Ling Xiao¡¯s 250 Ace Mecha n.¡± He couldn¡¯t understand why that powerful person in the 3rd Division let him off.


    Liu Furong sneered. He slowly told Luo Yi what had happened to him over the years. At first, he was still under the control of that person after he went into 250 Ace Mecha n. His opportunity to escape from his grasp came when Ling Lan appeared.


    While Liu Furong was talking to Luo Yi, Ling Lan was met with many questions. The other leaders tried to dig out more information from her, but she just smiled most of the time and didn¡¯t reply to them. Hence, the other leaders couldn¡¯t do anything but stare at her. As for Yuan Mulin, they just ignored him all the way. Yuan Mulin didn¡¯t make his presence known too. He just remained quiet until the end.


    Ling Lan returned to her mercenary team and sat with her team members.


    Han Jijyun whispered, ¡°Boss, what are the backgrounds of all those mercenary teams?¡±


    ¡°Grey Bat and Red Maple are strong teams. Their leaders are strong too. Ma Yizhe seemed rash but every step he took is precise. Jiang Bizhi has a tight mouth too. Besides Shadow Cat, the other mercenary teams have their own motive for epting this mission.¡± Ling Lan said calmly, ¡°There must be something going on.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t Ma Yizhe¡¯s mercenary team a new mercenary team?¡± Luo Lang was surprised. Ma Yizhe gave him the impression that he was rash and wealthy. He thought that Ma Yizhe created his mercenary team because he was bored and wanted to have some excitement in his life.


    ¡°Of course not.¡± Xie Yi exined hurriedly, ¡°His team members knew what to do the moment Ma Yizhe looked at them. How could this be a team that just got created? Well, unless they knew each other since they were young just like us.¡±


    Luo Lang remembered how fast the members of Mighty Sky reacted when they almost had a fight just now. Their cooperation and cohesiveness were not awkward nor faked at all. He nodded.


    ¡°Your regimentmander is a monster,¡± Luo Yi eximed. Ling Lan just had a short chat with the leaders but he managed to understand each mercenary team well. He felt that if more time was given to Ling Lan, he would be able to surpass Regiment Commander Wang. He might even be the second Ling Xiao.


    ¡°They always say that a Ling Xiao only appears every thousand years. If that is the case, our regimentmander is someone who appears every ten thousand years.¡± Liu Furong felt that Ling Lan would be even stronger than Ling Xiao, as he was even more brutal and vicious than Ling Xiao.


    Mighty Sky, Shadow Cat, and Little Four Mercenary Team had some conflict on the first day but the entire trip was rtively peaceful. Everyone lived harmoniously. They all lived in the same warehouse so they saw each other every day. After some time, they got familiar with each other too.


    As for Little Tao, whose full name was Tao Ying, he woulde to the Little Four Mercenary Team whenever he was free. He was 13 years old so he became good friends with Wang Qi who was 16 years old and Liu Aihua, who was 10 years old. The little burden, Liu Aijun, would always follow behind the three of them. The four youths always stayed beside Chang Xinyuan and Luo Yi. They would observe them as they did maintenance for the mechas.


    Because of Tao Ying, the Little Four Mercenary Team and the Shadow Cat Mercenary Team had a good rtionship with each other. Lin Zhong-qing took pity on the old mercenaries so he would asionally give them some leftover parts. The old mercenaries from Shadow Cat were thankful.


    The team members from Red Maple and Grey Bat always had meals and yed games together. Soon, they became brother teams and formed an alliance among themselves. The people from Mighty Sky and Poison Teeth would sometimes join them for their meals and games. All in all, the six mercenary teams had a harmonious time, at least on the surface.


    Finally, the merchant fleet arrived at the Chaotic Lands.


    The people from Shadow Cat heaved a sigh of relief. They were afraid that the fully loaded merchant ships would meet intergctic pirates along the way. If that was the case, they might not be able to go back home alive.


    On the other hand, the other mercenary teams were more nervous when theynded.


    Ye Shao and Dibi Luya, who always had smiles on their faces, turned serious too.


    President Tu appeared at the entrance of the warehouse. He cupped his hands and bowed at them. ¡°We¡¯ll have to trouble you for theing week.¡±


    As expected, the merchant team didn¡¯t hire them to protect the ships during the journey to and fro the Chaotic Lands. They hired them to protect them when they were in Chaotic Lands.

 Chapter 975 - Black Market!

    <strong>Chapter 975 ck Market!</strong>


    The members of Little Four Mercenary Team took a tour around the biggest city in Chaotic Lands and came back with various information about this ce.


    Just like its name suggests, Chaotic Lands was a ce where reasoning was useless. The fist was the most important thing here. There was no government so the order of the ce was messy. Acts of violence could happen anytime. Yet, this ce was the most prosperous and free market in the entire Federation. Many merchants and wealthy people filled the roads of the city. Thus, as long as you have money, you could buy anything here.


    Crimes happened in the Chaotic Lands all the time. If people who didn¡¯t have the ability to protect themselves came to this ce identally, they would be killed almost instantly.


    The Chaotic Lands and the Lawless Lands were the two ces where evil congregated. However, they were very different even though their principles seemed simr.


    The Lawless Lands was really messy. It was filled with criminals from various nations, merciless killers, and brutal murderers. Every day, innumerable people died. Huge fights urred all the time. Compared to the Lawless Lands, the Chaotic Lands was much more orderly. Besides the fact that average people were not suitable to live here, everything else was fine.


    The reason no one dared to create a huge mess here was because the Chaotic Lands was actually controlled by three underground kings. They were Frost Monarch, Hades, and Ninja. It was rumored that all three of them were imperial level domain experts. However, that was just a rumor. There was no evidence to prove it.


    Out of the three uncrowned kings, Ling Lan was most interested in Frost Monarch. From his name, she could tell that he was an ice element domain realm masters. Fighting with a formidable warrior who had the same element as her would be of great help.


    Ling Lan was a half step into the imperial level. She had tried her best to extend the various techniques in her domain and practiced using them with the various states, but she still couldn¡¯t manage to find her breakthrough opportunity. She was stuck at the entrance of imperial level.


    Of course, this was just Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts. She wouldn¡¯t offend Frost Monarch purposely so that she could have a battle with him. If she came here alone, she might do it. But, herrades were with her. Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t put herrades at risk, especially when they were in someone else¡¯s territory.


    The six mercenary teams split into two groups. One group would stay with the fleet and protect the ships while the other was in charge of protecting the person-in-charge of the merchant team when he went to discuss business deals with other merchants. Three dayster, the two teams would swap. To ensure that the results were fair, the leader of Grey Bat, Dibi Luya, suggested that they draw lots.


    Yuan Mulin agreed with the suggestion. Jiang Bizhi and Ma Yizhe thought for a while and decided to go with it. Since the majority agreed, Ling Lan and Yuan Mulin¡¯s opinion didn¡¯t matter.


    This drawing lots were not the low-level kind where everyone would close their eyes and choose a piece of paper. First, they would appoint someone to throw the balls of paper in the air. Everyone would use their ability to get the order they wanted.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t really care at the start but when she saw Dibi Luya and Ye Shao choosing to stay with the fleet first, she had a change of mind. She snatched thest piece of paper with the same sequence as Dibi Luya and Ye Shao before Jiang Bizhi caught it.


    In the end, Little Four, Grey Bat, and Red Maple were in one team. They would stay with the fleet first and then go out. Jiang Bizhi and Ma Yizhe sighed when they realized the results of the lots. It seemed like they wanted to be the second batch that would leave the fleet too.


    ¡®Why do they want to stay on the fleet first?¡¯ Ling Lan was puzzled. It was a coincidence that she chose toe to the Chaotic Lands, so she was unfamiliar with this area. Little Four tried to find more information but there was not a single mainframe in this ce. Even themunicators here were deactivated so Little Four¡¯s progress of obtaining information was slow.


    For the first three days, everything was peaceful. The two groups swapped their positions. It was time for Ling Lan¡¯s team to go out. For the first two days of her shift, she protected the person-in-charge of the merchant team as he ran around the market to buy or exchange goods. On the third day, when Ling Lan arrived at the destination with the person-in-charge, she finally understood why the leaders wanted to be in the second batch that woulde out.


    It was because there was a secret event on the third day. It was known as the ck market. The Chaotic Lands was already a ce where people could trade freely but a ck market still existed, so there must be some interesting things inside.


    There was a special way to enter the ck market, which only the president of the merchant team, President Tu, knew.


    Every year, the method of entering the ck market would change. Hence, President Tu wasn¡¯t afraid that this secret would be leaked out.


    The ck market was also an extremely dangerous ce. Some people didn¡¯t mind to kill to gain whatever they want so President Tu brought the three mercenary teams with him to boost his confidence and security.


    Plus, if the people he brought to the ck market was able to gain the liking of the person-in-charge of the ck market and get an invitation the following year, he would be able to get heavymissions too. He had nothing to lose from this so President Tu allowed them to follow him without any worry.


    The moment they entered the ck market, they saw all the representatives from all the various huge merchant ns as well as the wealthy and powerful people from the various nations. Those that got the invitation but couldn¡¯te personally would send their confidants over to take part in this distinguished gathering.


    The ck market was split into three districts. The outer ring was the normal district. Of course, the normal district was filled with weapons banned from moving out of the various nations. There were also precious minerals and mines, savage beast forbidden to be sold, rare artifacts and national treasures, as well as books teaching special techniques. There were even some secret scriptures. However, these were only the lowest tier of goods. Even mechas from the various countries could be found here. The highest level of mecha avable in the normal district was actually the special-ss mecha. Everyone knew that mechas from a country were banned from being sold outside the country.


    The inner ring was the special district. Ace mechas from different nations could be found here. Of course, they were not thetest model. If thetest model of ace mechas were avable, the various nations would have made noises by now. They would organize their troops and coborate with one another to destroy the Chaotic Lands. Besides mechas, there were other interesting items too. For instance, new supplies, ores, nts. Some products that could only be found on Juhao were seen here too.


    The center of the ring was the private collection district. Military starships were sold here. Ling Lan even saw the Divine Dragon starship in the list of items sold. This starship was just retired from the military and was considered the highest grade starship of the Federation. Ling Lan was astounded. In order to get this starship here without alerting anyone, someone from the higher authorities must be part of this. However, this was not the only thing that shocked Ling Lan. After the starship, humans started appearing on the list.


    There were men, women, children, as well as the elderly. They were locked up in cages. The virtual screen beside the cage contained information about the innate talents of these people. It also showed their current level and their potential.


    Most of them were children like Liu Aihua. These children had amazing potentials and were prodigies that managed to awaken their innate talent at a young age. They should have grown to be elites, but they were now being sold as goods. They would be their buyer¡¯s tools or ves.


    Ling Lan frowned. She could ept the other items found here. Even if they were adults being sold, she wouldn¡¯t be so bothered about it. Yet, this bunch of children who had fear and hope in their eyes made her feel ufortable.


    975 ck Market!


    The members of Little Four Mercenary Team took a tour around the biggest city in Chaotic Lands and came back with various information about this ce.


    Just like its name suggests, Chaotic Lands was a ce where reasoning was useless. The fist was the most important thing here. There was no government so the order of the ce was messy. Acts of violence could happen anytime. Yet, this ce was the most prosperous and free market in the entire Federation. Many merchants and wealthy people filled the roads of the city. Thus, as long as you have money, you could buy anything here.


    Crimes happened in the Chaotic Lands all the time. If people who didn¡¯t have the ability to protect themselves came to this ce identally, they would be killed almost instantly.


    The Chaotic Lands and the Lawless Lands were the two ces where evil congregated. However, they were very different even though their principles seemed simr.


    The Lawless Lands was really messy. It was filled with criminals from various nations, merciless killers, and brutal murderers. Every day, innumerable people died. Huge fights urred all the time. Compared to the Lawless Lands, the Chaotic Lands was much more orderly. Besides the fact that average people were not suitable to live here, everything else was fine.


    The reason no one dared to create a huge mess here was because the Chaotic Lands was actually controlled by three underground kings. They were Frost Monarch, Hades, and Ninja. It was rumored that all three of them were imperial level domain experts. However, that was just a rumor. There was no evidence to prove it.


    Out of the three uncrowned kings, Ling Lan was most interested in Frost Monarch. From his name, she could tell that he was an ice element domain realm masters. Fighting with a formidable warrior who had the same element as her would be of great help.


    Ling Lan was a half step into the imperial level. She had tried her best to extend the various techniques in her domain and practiced using them with the various states, but she still couldn¡¯t manage to find her breakthrough opportunity. She was stuck at the entrance of imperial level.


    Of course, this was just Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts. She wouldn¡¯t offend Frost Monarch purposely so that she could have a battle with him. If she came here alone, she might do it. But, herrades were with her. Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t put herrades at risk, especially when they were in someone else¡¯s territory.


    The six mercenary teams split into two groups. One group would stay with the fleet and protect the ships while the other was in charge of protecting the person-in-charge of the merchant team when he went to discuss business deals with other merchants. Three dayster, the two teams would swap. To ensure that the results were fair, the leader of Grey Bat, Dibi Luya, suggested that they draw lots.


    Yuan Mulin agreed with the suggestion. Jiang Bizhi and Ma Yizhe thought for a while and decided to go with it. Since the majority agreed, Ling Lan and Yuan Mulin¡¯s opinion didn¡¯t matter.


    This drawing lots were not the low-level kind where everyone would close their eyes and choose a piece of paper. First, they would appoint someone to throw the balls of paper in the air. Everyone would use their ability to get the order they wanted.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t really care at the start but when she saw Dibi Luya and Ye Shao choosing to stay with the fleet first, she had a change of mind. She snatched thest piece of paper with the same sequence as Dibi Luya and Ye Shao before Jiang Bizhi caught it.


    In the end, Little Four, Grey Bat, and Red Maple were in one team. They would stay with the fleet first and then go out. Jiang Bizhi and Ma Yizhe sighed when they realized the results of the lots. It seemed like they wanted to be the second batch that would leave the fleet too.


    ¡®Why do they want to stay on the fleet first?¡¯ Ling Lan was puzzled. It was a coincidence that she chose toe to the Chaotic Lands, so she was unfamiliar with this area. Little Four tried to find more information but there was not a single mainframe in this ce. Even themunicators here were deactivated so Little Four¡¯s progress of obtaining information was slow.


    For the first three days, everything was peaceful. The two groups swapped their positions. It was time for Ling Lan¡¯s team to go out. For the first two days of her shift, she protected the person-in-charge of the merchant team as he ran around the market to buy or exchange goods. On the third day, when Ling Lan arrived at the destination with the person-in-charge, she finally understood why the leaders wanted to be in the second batch that woulde out.


    It was because there was a secret event on the third day. It was known as the ck market. The Chaotic Lands was already a ce where people could trade freely but a ck market still existed, so there must be some interesting things inside.


    There was a special way to enter the ck market, which only the president of the merchant team, President Tu, knew.


    Every year, the method of entering the ck market would change. Hence, President Tu wasn¡¯t afraid that this secret would be leaked out.


    The ck market was also an extremely dangerous ce. Some people didn¡¯t mind to kill to gain whatever they want so President Tu brought the three mercenary teams with him to boost his confidence and security.


    Plus, if the people he brought to the ck market was able to gain the liking of the person-in-charge of the ck market and get an invitation the following year, he would be able to get heavymissions too. He had nothing to lose from this so President Tu allowed them to follow him without any worry.


    The moment they entered the ck market, they saw all the representatives from all the various huge merchant ns as well as the wealthy and powerful people from the various nations. Those that got the invitation but couldn¡¯te personally would send their confidants over to take part in this distinguished gathering.


    The ck market was split into three districts. The outer ring was the normal district. Of course, the normal district was filled with weapons banned from moving out of the various nations. There were also precious minerals and mines, savage beast forbidden to be sold, rare artifacts and national treasures, as well as books teaching special techniques. There were even some secret scriptures. However, these were only the lowest tier of goods. Even mechas from the various countries could be found here. The highest level of mecha avable in the normal district was actually the special-ss mecha. Everyone knew that mechas from a country were banned from being sold outside the country.


    The inner ring was the special district. Ace mechas from different nations could be found here. Of course, they were not thetest model. If thetest model of ace mechas were avable, the various nations would have made noises by now. They would organize their troops and coborate with one another to destroy the Chaotic Lands. Besides mechas, there were other interesting items too. For instance, new supplies, ores, nts. Some products that could only be found on Juhao were seen here too.


    The center of the ring was the private collection district. Military starships were sold here. Ling Lan even saw the Divine Dragon starship in the list of items sold. This starship was just retired from the military and was considered the highest grade starship of the Federation. Ling Lan was astounded. In order to get this starship here without alerting anyone, someone from the higher authorities must be part of this. However, this was not the only thing that shocked Ling Lan. After the starship, humans started appearing on the list.


    There were men, women, children, as well as the elderly. They were locked up in cages. The virtual screen beside the cage contained information about the innate talents of these people. It also showed their current level and their potential.


    Most of them were children like Liu Aihua. These children had amazing potentials and were prodigies that managed to awaken their innate talent at a young age. They should have grown to be elites, but they were now being sold as goods. They would be their buyer¡¯s tools or ves.


    Ling Lan frowned. She could ept the other items found here. Even if they were adults being sold, she wouldn¡¯t be so bothered about it. Yet, this bunch of children who had fear and hope in their eyes made her feel ufortable.

 Chapter 976 - Missing!

    <h4>Chapter 976 Missing!</h4>


    President Tu thought that Ling Lan was interested in the children when he saw her looking at them intently. He said, ¡°The children here are all quite average. If you want to groom a good subordinate, you can wait for the auction at night. There will be better candidates then.¡±


    Speaking about this, President Tu sighed. ¡°It¡¯s their luck tond in your hands. Leader Jiang, if you are interested, buy one. Save one while you can.¡±


    If his merchant team had the budget, he wanted to buy one of the children too. He wasn¡¯t nning to raise the child as his ve. He just wanted to umte some virtue for himself.


    ¡°They should be expensive.¡± Ling Lan was in deep thought.


    ¡°Yes. But, it¡¯s worth it. The ck market has the ability to make these people listen to you for life. They¡¯ll not betray you. That¡¯s why their business is so good. They have a good reputation,¡± President Tu exined to her softly.


    Ling Lan nodded. That cadet that died in her hands had the ability to hypnotize people. Hence, they might be someone with simr abilities in the ck market. That was how they could brainwash the people and let them serve their master faithfully.


    Ling Lan was attracted by the items in the ck market, but Ye Shao and Dibi Luya were not interested in them. They seemed to pay more attention to the people that came to the ck market. From this point, they appeared more professional than Ling Lan. They didn¡¯t forget to remain vignt of their surroundings after entering the ck market.


    President Tu was satisfied with their performance. However, since Ling Lan was the youngest among them, he felt that it was understandable. Thus, he didn¡¯t me Ling Lan for her unprofessionalism.


    While Ling Lan and the other two leaders apanied President Tu to the ck market to get what he wanted, the people who remained at the warehouse were having lunch. Most of the time, the merchant team would send them their food on time. But, this time, there was no sign of anyone from the merchant team.


    The other two mercenary teams had their own food so they just calmly opened their food supply and started eating. However, Shadow Cat didn¡¯t have their own food supply. The Little Four Mercenary Team that always gave them some food was out for their mission so they could only wait patiently for the merchant team to provide them their meals.


    A momentter, an unfamiliar muscr man wearing the uniform of the merchant n they were guarding walked over and shouted, ¡°The logisticians informed us that they are busy with the loading of the goods so they don¡¯t have the time to send food over. Please send someone from your team to get your food.¡±


    Tao Ying jumped up immediately. ¡°I¡¯ll go¡±


    The muscr man looked at the other two teams. ¡°Who is going from your team?¡±


    Ma Yizhe scoffed and said, ¡°Forget it. We won¡¯t die from hunger if we don¡¯t eat one meal. We don¡¯t want the food anymore.¡±


    Jiang Bizhi agreed and said coldly, ¡°Do you really think that we need to rely on you for food? Hmph!¡±


    The man¡¯s expression froze. He said to Tao Ying awkwardly, ¡°Follow me.¡±


    Yuan Mulin wanted to reject arrogantly like the other two leaders but he looked at the hungry old people in his team and said, ¡°Hurry up and go.¡±


    ¡°I understand.¡± Tao Ying nodded. He was thinking that since the other two teams didn¡¯t want their food, maybe he could get more servings for his members?


    Tao Ying left with the muscr man. After a long time, he still hadn¡¯te back. Yuan Mulin got worried. Finally, after waiting for an hour, he couldn¡¯t control his agitation and went to look for Tao Ying in the cafeteria.


    When he reached the cafeteria, he was notified that the worker who was supposed to send the food over had left long ago. Yuan Mulin felt that something was amiss. He immediately searched through the ce with the people from the merchant team. A whileter, they told him that they found the corpse of the worker that went to send their food. It was predicted that he had died for more than two hours.


    Yuan Mulin was shocked and furious. He knew that he got tricked. The muscr man that came to their warehouse wasn¡¯t from the merchant team. However, he didn¡¯t know why the person would sneak into the merchant¡¯s base and bring Little Tao away. There were no other casualties found and no goods were stolen. The person¡¯s target wasn¡¯t the product of the merchant. It seemed to be Little Tao.


    However, they stayed beside their employer obediently all the time and never offended anyone. Yuan Mulin squatted on the ground and started crying furiously. He knew that the merchant wouldn¡¯t send people to look for Little Tao. Yet, with the six of them, they wouldn¡¯t have any chance of finding him in this chaotic region without any clues.


    ¡°My condolences. People who went missing in the Chaotic Lands were never found,¡± Ma Yizhe pretended to console him.


    Jiang Bizhi sneered and said, ¡°This is the result of overestimating yourself. Don¡¯te to this area again. It¡¯s not suitable for you.¡±


    ¡°Leader, we can¡¯t leave without Little Tao. We watch him grow up,¡± the old mercenary from Shadow Cat said in agony. If it wasn¡¯t for them, Little Tao could have joined a better mercenary team. He wouldn¡¯t have toe to this ce and everything wouldn¡¯t have happened.


    ¡°I will. Even if I die, I will bring him back.¡± Yuan Mulin¡¯s eyes were bloodshot but his gaze was firm. He wouldn¡¯t return to the Federation unless he found Little Tao.


    Yuan Mulin calmed down after crying. He made friends with Luo Yi from the Little Four mercenary team as their age was simr. They exchanged their numbers too so he immediately contacted Luo Yi and told him that Little Tao was missing.


    Yuan Mulin didn¡¯t know what to do so he could only plead the Little Four Mercenary Team to help him. Yuan Mulin decided that no matter what the results were, as long as the Little Four Mercenary Team were willing to help them, he was willing to do the toughest and most dangerous job for them. This was the only way he could think of repaying them.


    Luo Yi was guarding the goods outside. He hung up the call with a serious face.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Liu Furong was startled. Ever since they left Muyang, this was the first time he saw such a serious expression on Luo Yi¡¯s face.


    ¡°The leader of Shadow Cat called just now and told me that Tao Ying is missing,¡± Luo Yi replied.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t Tao Ying always in the warehouse? How did he disappear?¡± Liu Furong was shocked.


    Luo Yi briefly told him how Tao Ying disappeared. Liu Furong frowned. ¡°It seemed like the person¡¯s target was Tao Ying from the start. But, why do they have to sneak in to take him away?¡±


    Yuan Mulin had too little information on his hand. The two people thought for a long time but no conclusion was reached.


    ¡°We need to find our regimentmander.¡± Liu Furong was helpless so he could only look for the most powerful person he knew.

 Chapter 977 - Heavily Injured!

    <h4>Chapter 977 Heavily Injured!</h4>


    Liu Furong contacted Ling Lan but she told him that it was inconvenient for her to talk now and asked him to leave a message. Hence, Liu Furong texted what happened to Tao Ying to her and waited for her reply patiently.


    In the ck market, Ling Lan raised her arm to look at hermunicator. Ye Shao noticed Ling Lan¡¯s actions and smiled. ¡°There are interference systems in ce so ourmunicators can¡¯t be used. Even if we are just standing in front of each other, we can¡¯tmunicate through ourmunicators.¡±


    Ling Lan smiled in reply. ¡°No wonder there is no reaction. I asked my team members to report their situation to me every hour.¡±


    Ling Lan settled Ye Shao and read through the message Liu Furong sent her in her mind. She started pondering over it.


    Little Tao was a normal person but he had a strong point. The first time she saw him, she discovered that he had awakened his innate talent at a young age too. She remembered all the children she saw in the ck market and arrived at a conclusion.


    Those human traffickers must have noticed Little Tao¡¯s strength identally. They also knew that he was from a weak mercenary team so there would be no consequences involved if they kidnapped him. Since there was nothing to lose, they had no reason to give up on this piece of meat.


    Ling Lan told Liu Furong her guess. Liu Furong was enlightened. No wonder Little Tao was taken away. He told Luo Yi what Ling Lan told him. As he was speaking, he suddenly remembered that his precious daughter had awakened her innate talent too. He got frightened. He told Luo Yi, ¡°Luo Yi, stay here. I¡¯ll go and find my daughter.¡±


    ren


    Then, he disappeared.


    Damn it, his Little Aihua followed Wang Qi, Han Xuya, and some other people to the market. He hoped that nothing happened to them.


    Wang Qi and Liu Aihua liked to walk around freely so they cooperated and managed to leave their little burden, Liu Aijun, behind. Without Liu Aijun following them, Aunt Liu wouldn¡¯t nag at them. However, since they were just kids, Han Xuya was worried about letting them walked around alone so she split up with Luo Chao. She would follow Wang Qi and Liu Aihua while Luo Chao would follow Aunt Liu and Liu Aijun.


    Besides the two of them, Luo Lang and Qi Long came to protect them too. Luo Lang followed his sister so Qi Long followed Han Xuya. Just like how Han Xuya was worried about Wang Qi and Liu Aihua, Qi Long was worried about Han Xuya too.


    The Chaotic Lands were dangerous and unsafe but the items sold here were good. The price was much cheaper than their own too. Some were shockingly cheap. Wang Qi and Liu Aihua managed to buy some knick-knacks after a while.


    As Wang Qi and Liu Aihua stood in front of a stall and looked through the pile of goods, Han Xuya had some free time to take a look at the wide array of goods beside her too. A spherical ball with misting out of it caught her attention. She walked over and held the ball. A cold feeling flowed up her hand. This was a frost pearl.


    ¡°Miss, this is the frost pearl special to Aoliduo. It¡¯s very precious.¡± The stall owner smiled happily when he saw a customer.


    ¡°The frost river produced millions of frost pearls every year. It isn¡¯t as precious as you say, ¡°Han Xuya replied calmly. She liked the frost pearl because she felt that it waspatible with her Boss. She wasn¡¯t a stupid person who didn¡¯t know how to bargain. She wouldn¡¯t be fooled by a few words.


    The stall owner¡¯s lie got exposed so heughed awkwardly and said, ¡°You are a knowledgeable person. I can¡¯t fool you. How about this, if you like it, you can take it at this price.¡± The stall owner knew that he couldn¡¯t get more money from this beautifuldy so he gave up this thought decisively and named his price.


    Han Xuya looked at the frost pearl carefully. Then, she offered half the price the stall owner gave her.


    The stall owner gave a forced smile. ¡°Miss, I came all the way here to set up my stall. Let me earn some money. I really can¡¯t earn much at this price. I can¡¯t sell it to you.¡±


    Han Xuya put down the frost pearl indifferently. ¡°Forget it. I hope that you can get a better buyer.¡± She looked as though she wanted to stand up.


    The stall owner saw her action and shouted, ¡°Wait, miss, do you want to buy more things? If you buy more, I¡¯ll sell it to you at your


    price.¡±


    ¡°This frost pearl can only be used as an essory. There is no use for it. The price I¡¯m offering you is high enough. You¡¯ll not be able to find a better buyer. Plus, there is only one pearl. I can¡¯t even make a bracelet with it.¡± Han Xuya pretended to be nonchnt. ¡°If you are willing to sell it, I can buy it for fun. If not, I don¡¯t have to get it too.¡±


    The owner thought for a moment and asked, ¡°You want more frost pearls?¡±


    Han Xuya raised one of her eyebrows. ¡°You have more?¡±


    ¡°How many do you need? If you buy more, I¡¯ll offer it to you at the price.¡± That which is rare is dear. The stall owner didn¡¯t bring out all his stock first.


    ¡°How many do you have?¡± Han Xuya didn¡¯t answer him.


    The stall owner show ¡¯10¡¯ with his fingers.


    ¡°I want all of them. However, I want them at this price.¡± Han Xuya signaled another price with her fingers. The stall owner¡¯s expression seemed even more forced. ¡°Miss, this is not how you should bargain.¡±


    ¡°You should know that once there is a huge supply of something, the price will be cheaper.¡± Han Xuya smiled like a sly little fox.


    ¡°You¡¯re impressive.¡± The stall owner couldn¡¯t do anything. He agreed with the price. It was a third of his original price but at least he managed to sell all his frost pearls. He had gotten back most of his cost for this trip.


    Han Xuya happily took the camphor wood box containing the ten frost pearls. As she was getting up, she saw Wang Qi and Liu Aihua running into the crowd. She got up hurriedly and chased after them. Two big-sized men suddenly blocked her path.


    Han Xuya tilted her body and wanted to evade them. Suddenly, a hand appeared in front of her chest. One of the men was trying to molest


    her.


    ¡°What are you trying to do?¡± Qi Long appeared instantly and grabbed the hand. He was furious.


    Han Xuya looked at Qi Long.


    Qi Long nodded to show that he would take care of this matter. Han Xuya moved to the side and left. She wanted to catch up with the two children among the crowd. She still remembered that she needed to take care of them.


    She took a few steps when suddenly, she couldn¡¯t move anymore. Wang Qi, who was in front of her, was gone.


    Han Xuya vomited a mouthful of blood.


    The force that was gripping her body disappeared. The heavily injured Han Xuya leaned back and fell towards the ground. A warm and strong arm caught her tightly. ¡°Xuya!¡± Qi Long shouted anxiously.


    ¡®This is the first time you called me Xuya!¡¯ Han Xuya wanted to tell him this but she couldn¡¯t speak. Blood kept flowing out of her mouth, staining her clothes.

 Chapter 978 - Saving People!

    <strong>Chapter 978 Saving People!</strong>


    Liu Furong arrived at this moment. He quickly felt an unfamiliar domain energy taking Little Aihua away at a very fast speed. He hurried over but he stopped halfway.


    ¡°Damn it, I¡¯m a step toote.¡± Liu Furong couldn¡¯t find any traces of the domain realm master. He was worried about Han Xuya so he went back.


    Luo Chao was already giving Han Xuya some emergency agents. However, this agent was only able to keep her alive. Han Xuya got injured by a domain realm master. If Qi Long didn¡¯t save her in time, she might have died on the spot.


    Liu Furong immediately reported their situation to Ling Lan. At first, Ling Lan didn¡¯t like the selling of humans in the ck market but she didn¡¯t want to interfere in anything troublesome. But now, the actions of these people had infuriated her.


    ¡®How dare they touch herrades! They must go to hell!¡¯


    Killing intent appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. She ordered Little Four to find the base of these human traffickers no matter what it takes.


    At this moment, the domain realm master who caught Little Aihua had arrived at his secret base. He threw the unconscious Little Aihua into a cage that was prepared beforehand. His face was filled with anger.


    ¡°Damn it. Why didn¡¯t you all tell me that there are domain realm masters protecting this little girl?¡± If he didn¡¯t run away fast enough, he would have been caught by the domain realm master chasing him. He wasn¡¯t afraid but in order to have domain realm masters protecting her, this little girl¡¯s identity must be special. He didn¡¯t want to create any huge trouble for his organization.


    The business they did was illegal but they wouldn¡¯t choose people with a background. Yet, the little girl he just caught was obviously from a powerful background.


    ¡°Based on what our scouts told us, the other party was rich but they aren¡¯t powerful.¡± His subordinate heard him and hurriedly replied.


    ¡°Not powerful? Where did the domain realm mastere from then? There is not one, but two domain realm masters.¡± The person who broke through his domain must be a domain realm master too. When his force of presence was broken, he felt something amiss so he ran away immediately with his prey. This allowed him to escape that domain realm master who was chasing him just in time.


    ¡°Maybe they made a mistake.¡± His subordinate wiped the cold sweat off his forehead as he exined. Then, he pointed at Little Aihua and asked, ¡°What do we do with her?¡±


    ¡°What do we do? Since we took her, we can¡¯t make a loss, right?¡± The domain realm master frowned. ¡°We must act quickly. Make arrangements to have this troublesome girl sold at the auction tonight. Also, tell the people below to hide for this period of time. Don¡¯t go out and source for prey. If they get caught, the organization will not save them.¡±


    Two domain realm masters couldn¡¯t create a fuss in the Chaotic Lands, and the organization behind them would be able to subdue them easily if they really found their base. However, their organization was afraid of trouble. If there was a background behind the two domain realm masters, a background like a powerful elite family, their organization would quickly abandon them.


    ¡°But that would mean that we don¡¯t have the time to assess her.¡± Normally, they had to do a thorough assessment of all their goods so that they could provide clear information to their buyers to make them feel at ease.


    ¡°Write special type. Some people like to try their luck, right?¡± The domain realm master answered nonchntly. No matter how bad the goods was, once it entered the auction, it would be able to fetch a high price. He was not worried that he would make a loss.


    ¡°I understand.¡± The subordinate had been doing this kind of business for a long time so he knew the minds of the buyers too.


    Inside a house they rented temporary, ten people sat quietly in the living room.


    Li Lanfeng touched Little White¡¯s back slowly. Little White feltfortable but the tense atmosphere in the living room caused him to keep quiet.


    The door suddenly opened. Li Shiyu and Luo Chao walked out fully dressed in their medics uniform.


    Li Shiyu took off his mask and said calmly, ¡°She¡¯s out of danger.¡±


    This was the first time he experienced the power of domain. Han Xuya¡¯s body kept being hurt by the residual domain energy. If Ling Lan didn¡¯t leave a bottle of Nuwa agent for emergency purposes, Han Xuya situation might have gone for the worse.


    This made Li Shiyu understand that he needed to source the main ingredient for his Nuwa agent immediately. If not, he wouldn¡¯t be able to save hisrades for the next time they get in trouble.


    Everyone rxed a little when they heard this.


    Qi Long remembered Han Xuya¡¯s weak appearance when sheid in his arms just now. His heart ached. He mmed his hand on the handle beside him and breaking it in the process.


    ¡°I want to kill that fellow!¡± Qi Long¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. Malicious intent could be seen inside them. He looked like a devil from hell.


    Liu Furong¡¯s expression rxed when he heard that Han Xuya was alright. However, when he thought about his missing daughter, his face turned dark again.


    Beep beep beep! Hismunicator started vibrating. He instantly turned on hismunicator and a map appeared on the virtual screen.


    It had to be said that when Little Four decided to be serious, he was extremely efficient. Within two hours from the time Liu Furong reported their situation to Ling Lan, Little Four managed to find the base of the human traffickers.


    ¡°There are three suspicious locations. They are...¡± Ling Lan¡¯s voice was heard along with the appearance of the map. ¡°All of you will split into four groups. One group will stay at our base while each of the other three groups will go to one of the locations. Please remember that our aim is to save our people and not to take revenge.¡±


    Ling Lan was afraid that herrades would be controlled by their emotions and forget the purpose of their mission. Before Little Aihua was saved, she didn¡¯t want anyone to discover herrades. She was afraid that the other party would kill Little Aihua to cover up their traces.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Liu Furong felt touched. If Ling Lan didn¡¯t say this, Qi Long might be overwhelmed by his anger and want to take revenge. If that happened, he couldn¡¯t stop him.


    The killing intent in Qi Long¡¯s eyes subsided after he heard what Ling Lan said. He resumed hisposure and the people around him heaved a sigh of relief.


    They acted quickly and split themselves into four teams.


    Qi Long was tasked to remain behind to protect the people who weren¡¯t participating in this mission. A portion of the people was worried that he would act rashly because of his emotions, but the main reason he would stay behind was that he was one of the most powerful people among them. Those that stayed back were mostly weak and injured people. Hence, Qi Long was given the important task of protecting them.


    Liu Furong and Zhao Jun were in one team, Luo Lang and Xie Yi were in one team, and Li Lanfeng and Little White were in thest team.


    Out of the three teams, the team with Liu Furong and Zhao Jun was the weakest. Zhao Jun wasn¡¯t a domain realm master yet but he was just half a step away from it. He just needed an opportunity to breakthrough. He was more powerful than all the other Qi-Jin masters and even if he met a domain realm master, he could fight evenly with them for a while.


    As for Little White, everyone knew what it actually was. In 250 Ace Mecha n, it was the most powerful ¡®person¡¯ after their Boss. Hence, Li Lanfeng and Little White would go to the most dangerous location Ling Lan mentioned.

 Chapter 979 - Transfer!

    <strong>Chapter 979 Transfer!</strong>


    Li Lanfeng hugged Little White and went to his designated destination. He looked like a tourist with Little White in his arms.


    His destination was an old vige. It was remote and the houses in the vige were dpidated. If the interior of the houses were the same as their outer appearance, they were definitely ssified as hazardous based on the Federation¡¯s building standard.


    Li Lanfeng stood at the entrance of a small alley. He looked at the lively children running around with smiles on their faces. He smiled gently as if influenced by their smiles.


    Many old men and women sat outside their houses and bathed in the rare sunlight. At the same time, they were watching over their grandsons too. When they saw a stranger entering their vige, they looked at him vigntly. As a local of the Chaotic Lands, this was the normal look they would give to a stranger.


    If Ling Lan didn¡¯t tell him, Li Lanfeng wouldn¡¯t have suspected this ce. Li Lanfengmended his opponents in his heart. From this mission, he had learned a lesson from them. Sometimes, you don¡¯t have to hide your base and guard it heavily. You can disy your base tantly in front of anyone. Most would think that this was just a rundown vige and would never expect it to be a base of human traffickers.


    Even if they suspect anything, they would think that there were only a few criminals. They might enter the base alone and get caught by the traffickers.


    Li Lanfeng slowly walked to the center of the vige.


    There were no blind spots here. No matter where he went, there were always people looking at him. These people hid so well that even Qi-Jin masters might not notice these people. Unfortunately for them, they were hiding from a domain realm master.


    Li Lanfeng smiled, as it was time for the act to start. He scratched Little White¡¯s tiny body.


    ¡°Rawr!¡±


    ¡®What do you want me to do?¡¯ Little White rubbed its tentacles. It could finally show off its true capabilities. Rawr!


    Lately, Little White was frustrated. It had to pretend to be an obedient pet in front of Little Aijun and Little Aihua. If its master didn¡¯t tell it that it couldn¡¯t harm anyone, it would have eaten those people that dared to touch its master¡¯s friends.


    Li Lanfeng smiled at flicked its forehead. ¡°Wow, you are really expressive today, aren¡¯t


    you?¡±


    ¡°Rawr!¡±


    ¡®Even master had never flick my perfect forehead before. How dare you flick it? Ah! You¡¯re dead...¡¯


    ¡°Stop.¡± Li Lanfeng scratched Little White¡¯s round body. ¡°You know Liu Aihua. Our aim is to find her. Of course, I don¡¯t mind if you eat their treasures along the way.¡±


    Little White¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡®I can eat? Well, since this bastard allowed me to eat, I will forgive you for that finger flick. I am not that narrow-minded.¡¯


    ¡°Go!¡± Under Li Lanfeng¡¯smand, Little White suddenly struggled and jumped off Li Lanfeng¡¯s arms. Itnded on the ground and started running towards another alley.


    ¡°Ah, Little White, don¡¯t run...¡± Li Lanfeng followed behind Little White with an agitated expression as he tried to catch up with Little White.


    However, Little White was very fast. Li Lanfeng pretended that he couldn¡¯t catch up with it because of his weak body. After some time, Little White disappeared from Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes.


    Li Lanfeng stopped running and panted heavily. He pretended to appear worried as he looked around him cluelessly. He seemingly chose a random alley and ran inside it. When he met people, he would ask them anxiously if they saw his pet. His acting was oscar-winning


    ¡°This person should be clean,¡± one of the people who was watching over Li Lanfeng said. Li Lanfeng had been searching through the vige for half an hour and he didn¡¯t notice anything amiss with him.


    ¡°It¡¯s better to be careful. Our superior said that someone provided the wrong information so we caught someone with a powerful background. He is afraid that those people mighte and look for the person,¡± another person replied.


    ¡°Even if they came, we¡¯ll kill them.¡± The person who spoke first sneered. ¡°They¡¯ll just be our prey.¡± Unless an imperial stage domain expert came, no one would be able to get out of here alive.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. Actually, we used this method to catch many good products before.¡± The other person started smiling confidently.


    Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t find Little White after more than an hour of searching and asking around so he left the vige dejectedly.


    After Li Lanfeng left, the people watching over him looked away.


    Li Lanfeng walked for some distance. When he noticed that the people watching him were gone, a sinister smile appeared on his face. ¡°I wish you all good luck. Rabbit is not someone you should offend.¡± His body started sparkling. After a while, he turned into tiny particles and dissipated into the air.


    Li Lanfeng had walked around the entire vige and found a few suspicious locations. He needed to visit those ces now.


    Half an hourter, the particles congregated and Li Lanfeng appeared. His face was stern. The results of his investigation weren¡¯t good. Inside the secret rooms under the vige, he saw many young children kept in cages. However, there was no sign of Liu Aihua.


    After some time, a white light shed passed. Li Lanfeng raised his arms and Little Whiteid on themfortably. He even burped in satisfaction.


    ¡°How is it?¡± Li Lanfeng rubbed Little White¡¯s round stomach and asked.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± This is sofortable.¡¯ Little White saidzily, ¡°I didn¡¯t find Little Aihua.¡± It had searched all the corners of the vige and made sure that Little Aihua was not here. Although it didn¡¯t find Little Aihua, Little White didn¡¯t waste its effort too. It ate many things in the ce.


    When it had the chance, it should find its master for apliment. It had many things in its stomach now. Its master would definitely be able to find something likable.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what is the situation in the other two locations.¡± Li Lanfeng frowned. He could only hope that the other two teams had some good news.


    However, the other two teams came back with bad news. They didn¡¯t find Liu Aihua too. But, Luo Lang and Xie Yi found Tao Ying. It was an unexpected finding. Just like what their boss thought, he was caught by the human traffickers.


    Tao Ying told them that before they came, a batch of children had been transported to the ck market for the auction tonight.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned cold when she received this piece of news.


    Obviously, the organization was afraid of causing trouble so they decided to move Little Aihua away quickly.

 Chapter 980 - Exterminate!

    <strong>Chapter 980 Exterminate!</strong>


    The peace during this period of time caused all of them to let down their guards. They felt that with their capabilities, they would be able to protect the weak people around them. They even thought that since there were many domain realm masters on their side, no one would dare to touch them. This arrogant and overconfident attitude caused them to make mistakes and give those traffickers a chance to kidnap not just one but two of them.


    ¡®I am to be med too!¡¯ Ling Lan took a deep breath and stopped feeling rxed. Her gaze turned cold and deep just like how they were when she was in the military.


    She couldn¡¯t deny that she had started to be more rxed after she knew that she might have to leave the military soon. Her vignce and sense of crisis also had decreased after she knew that fact.


    ¡®Ling Lan, this is not a safe ce. Unless you be ady that doesn¡¯t go out of your house, you¡¯ll meet all kinds of dangers. Once you let down your guard, you¡¯ll cause a cmity to yourself and your friends.¡¯ She thought to herself.


    Ling Lan self-reflected. Then, she smiled. She wasughing at herself as well as feeling enlightened and thezy aura around her disappeared.


    Ye Shao and Dibi Luya felt the change in Ling Lan¡¯s aura. They were stunned. They exchanged nces with each other as they wondered why a rxed person suddenly became so focused.


    Beep beep beep! The three teams that were waiting for further orders from their boss all received a message on theirmunicator.


    ¡°There¡¯s a new order.¡± Everyone quickly looked down. There was only one word. It was an astonishing word.


    ¡°Exterminate!¡±


    This was a word that represented killing and blood. Even Liu Furong, who was an old veteran who had been on many battlefields, felt goosebumps on his head when he saw this word.


    However, this was what their regimentmander would do. If someone touched his bottom line, he would mercilessly annihte all the evil.


    Everyone gasped and they looked at their targets coldly. This time, they would be the god of death and clean these evils up.


    ¡°Little White, its time for you to eat again,¡± Li Lanfeng told Little White.


    Little White pped and waved its tentacles in the air. Then, it disappeared in front of Li Lanfeng again.


    Li Lanfeng walked towards the old vige slowly. An old man near the entrance of the vige saw Li Lanfeng returning and became vignt. He wanted to touch the hidden button under his seat to remind the people inside, but he realized that he couldn¡¯t move.


    ¡®What is happening?¡¯ The old man was in shock. Suddenly, he heard a clear voice beside his ears.


    ¡°Although you will still die, I don¡¯t want this massacre to be too bloody or else, Rabbit will be angry.¡±


    Li Lanfeng, who was supposed to be 50 meters away from the old man, suddenly appeared beside him. He had a smile on his face as though he was asking the old man for his favorite food.


    The old man was not a powerful person but he could feel how dangerous this young man was. He was definitely not a normal person.


    He thought about the young man¡¯s performance before this, and felt that he had an ulterior motive.


    The old man tried to struggle free, but Li Lanfeng just snapped his fingers and a ck ray of light shot towards the old man.


    The ck ray of light entered the old man¡¯s body and the old man started shining. In the next second, the old man exploded into small particles and disappeared without a trace.


    ¡°You¡¯re lucky. You¡¯re the first person to enjoy my technique.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile got brighter when he saw this.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t need to use most of his domain energy when he wanted to format someone. Ling Lan had been asking him to practice controlling his domain energy. The results were good. Li Lanfeng was able to gain a deeper understanding of his domain technique and controlled it better. He was even able to use his technique without wasting his domain energy.


    Li Lanfeng walked deeper into the vige. Multiple ck rays of light shone around him. No matter who touched the rays of ck light, they would turn into tiny particles.


    There was one to two domain realm masters stationed at every base. While Li Lanfeng walked towards the center of the vige, a fat old man and a skinny old man who were at some underground bunker, hugging a naked woman each and enjoying some wine.


    Just as they were about to have s*x with their woman, they felt a strong killing intent as well as a faint and unfamiliar domain energy in the vicinity.


    Their expressions changed. They pushed their woman away and stood up immediately.


    ¡°There is an enemy.¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s tant killing intent had alerted them.


    They exchanged nces with each other and grabbed their gowns. Then, they disappeared instantly.


    Li Lanfeng detected something. He looked up at the roof on his left and said calmly, ¡°You are finally here.¡±


    It was difficult for him to find them. It was their base after all. It was easier for them to find him than it was for him to find them. Hence, he didn¡¯t restrain his force of presence and allowed it to spread all over the vige. He wanted them to discover him.


    ¡°You know that we¡¯re here but you still dare toe here. Are you not afraid of death, youngster?¡± The fat old man scoffed when he saw that their enemy was just a young man.


    Li Lanfeng smiled and didn¡¯t say anything. Instead, he flicked his fingers continuously and two rays of ck light shot towards the two old men.


    The two old men waved their hands to block the rays. However, the ck rays passed through their sleeves and pierced into their skin.


    The two old men were stunned. They quickly used their hands as knives and sliced the part of their skin which got infected by the ck light.


    Two pieces of meat got sliced off their arms. The moment the piece of meat left their body, it turned into particles and disappeared.


    The two old men looked at Li Lanfeng with frightened expressions. They finally felt fear in their hearts. What kind of domain was that? If they didn¡¯t react in time, they might have disappeared from this world just like their pieces of meat.


    ¡°Who are you? Why are you at the Hades Pce?¡± The skinny cupped his hands hurriedly. He no longer underestimated this young man so his tone was full of respect now.


    That single attack was enough to prove that this young man was not someone easy to deal with. The Hades Pce was able to make a name for itself in the Chaotic Lands and did business smoothly because they never provoked powerful people. Of course, they had powerful people backing them up too.


    ¡°Who am I? You don¡¯t have to know that. As for why I¡¯m here...¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile got brighter. ¡°I came to kill.¡±


    ¡°Bastard!¡± The fat man was furious. They didn¡¯t want to provoke powerful people but that didn¡¯t mean that they would bear with them if they offended them.


    There was only one oue if someone wanted to be the enemy of the Hades Pce.


    Death


    The two stomped their feet and charged at Li Lanfeng.

 Chapter 981 - Action!

    <strong>Chapter 981 Action!</strong>


    Around 10 kilometers away, Luo Lang and Xie Yi were on top of a hill looking down on the grand manor below them.


    ¡°It¡¯ll be a tough fight. Be carefulter.¡± Luo Lang turned to look at Xie Yi. He was very worried about Xie Yi, as his lightning domain was not very stable yet. He was afraid that he would stumble during important moments.


    Xie Yi smiled brightly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t drag you down.¡±


    He looked at the calm and quiet manor. There seemed to be no one inside but in actual fact, there were many guards hidden inside it. Furthermore, there were also two domain realm masters. If they wanted toplete the mission Boss gave them, they must take care of a domain realm master each.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Let¡¯s go!¡± The moment Luo Lang finished speaking, they disappeared.


    Around five kilometers away from the luxury street of the Chaotic Lands, Liu Furong and Zhao Jun squatted on the roof of an office building. They were analyzing the positions of the people below them.


    ¡°Zhao Jun, our biggest hurdle is the two domain realm masters inside the building. I¡¯m the only domain realm masters among us. If they stop us, we¡¯re dead,¡± Liu Furong said seriously.


    Zhao Jun nodded. From the moment they received the order, he knew that they would have to face this difficulty.


    They could ask for Qi Long¡¯s help but they were worried that without him, the people in the base might meet some trouble.


    Zhao Jun and Liu Furong were paranoid now so much so that they didn¡¯t dare to move Qi Long away from the base.


    ¡°How about this? I¡¯ll lure one domain realm master out so that you can defeat the other one alone. Then, you cane and help me.¡± Zhao Jun thought for a moment and came up with this n. However, he would be putting himself at risk. If he made a mistake, he might even die.


    Liu Furong said sternly, ¡°Zhao Jun, it¡¯s too dangerous.¡±


    ¡°If we don¡¯t do this, we won¡¯t have a chance against them unless we ask for Qi Long¡¯s help.¡± Zhao Jun said firmly, ¡°Everyone was able to breakthrough to the domain stage in times of crisis. I can do it too.¡±


    Zhao Jun always wanted to find an opportunity to enter the domain stage, and he felt that this might be his chance to find it.


    ¡°Zhao Jun!¡± Liu Furong was a little angry. He said, ¡°Advancing in times of crisis is not as simple as you think. It¡¯s like taking a walk on the brink of death. Don¡¯t act rashly.¡±


    He managed to advance this way too but his opponent was their regimentmander. He stopped pressuring him when he was advancing. However, their enemies wouldn¡¯t do that. They would strike when you¡¯re at your weakest. This was why almost no one managed to enter the domain stage this way. No one was stupid enough to wait for their opponent to enter the domain stage before killing him.


    ¡°I know. Uncle Liu, I won¡¯t act rashly.¡± Zhao Jun knew that Liu Furong was worried about him so he said after much thought, ¡°But, we should still follow my n. I¡¯ll definitely wait for you.¡±


    Liu Furong looked at Zhao Jun¡¯s resolve gaze. He knew he couldn¡¯t reject his n anymore. He lowered his head and thought for a moment. Then, he said, ¡°Fine. We¡¯ll follow your n. However, we must kill all those small fries first so that you don¡¯t have to worry about them when you lure the domain realm master out.¡±


    These people were of no threat to him and Zhao Jun. However, they would be a burden if they attacked Zhao Jun when he was fighting with the domain realm master. They might even kill Zhao Jun when he was distracted with the domain realm master, and Liu Furong wouldn¡¯t allow such things to happen.


    ¡°We¡¯ll kill these people first. If the two domain realm masters appear, don¡¯t care about them unless we¡¯ve killed all the other people. I¡¯ll block them and wait for you to kill all the small fries. Then, we¡¯ll carry on with the n.¡±


    ¡°I understand.¡± Zhao Jun nodded.


    The two of them finished their discussion. They entered the building through the safety passage. A bloody battlemenced.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    The sound of something mming on the wall was heard.


    A blue water dragon and a sharp knife attacked Li Lanfeng from his sides.


    Li Lanfeng reacted quickly. He raised his arms and blocked the two attacks.


    The collision of the three huge forces destroyed all the dpidated houses around them.


    Li Lanfeng looked as if he was using his arms to block the attack but the fat man and the skinny man could see an energy shield that was shining with a ck light on his arms.


    The ck energy started creeping towards them through the water dragon and the knife.


    The two elders remembered the frightening ck light ray just now, so they immediately stopped their attack and dropped their control over their weapons.


    The water dragon and the sharp knife, which had already left their hands, turned into particles.


    ¡°Damn it. We can¡¯t touch him. If not, we¡¯ll disappear,¡± the fat man shouted angrily. ¡®Does this mean that we have to be on the passive side?¡¯


    On the other hand, Li Lanfeng secretly heaved a sigh of relief. The first sneak attack he made caused his opponents to be scared of him so they didn¡¯t dare to take any risk. If they had used their domain energy to battle with him, he needed to exceed their domain energy with his own to win against them. If not, he would be suppressed by them and might even receive a bacsh from his domain power.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe that his domain energy is limitless.¡± Malicious intent appeared in the skinny man¡¯s eyes. ¡°Everyone! Attack!¡±


    When the houses copsed, everyone in the surrounding got alerted. They hadn¡¯t been killed by Little White or Li Lanfeng, so they hurried over to the sound of the explosion.


    When this order was given, more than 20 men flew in from different directions. They all had weapons in their hands as they pounced towards Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Little White!¡± Li Lanfeng was not afraid of these small characters, but there were still two domain realm masters eyeing him. He didn¡¯t want to waste his domain energy so he called Little White.


    The sun disappeared and the entire sky turned dark. A huge object suddenly dropped from the sky.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression changed. He turned into particles and ran away.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    The ground vibrated. The entire vige was ttened by the huge meteor-like thing and everyone in the vige was also squashed into minced meat.

 Chapter 982 - End The Relationship

    Chapter 982 End The Rtionship


    ¡°Cough... Little White, are you trying to kill me?¡± Li Lanfeng congregated his body beside Little White. While doing so, he identally inhaled some dust and started coughing.


    ¡°Rawr!¡±


    ¡®Aren¡¯t you the one who called for me?¡¯ Little White was furious.


    If Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t call it, it wouldn¡¯t have change into its real form. Originally, it was a little far from the vige so it even changed back to its true form for it to move to the vige at the highest possible speed to help him. Yet, this ungrateful bastardined about it.


    ¡®Hmph! Little White is angry! I want to break ties with this person!¡¯


    ¡°Do you want to expose your master¡¯s identity? Your true form is already registered in the military¡¯s data. Hurry up and change back.¡± Li Lanfeng patted Little White¡¯s butt agitatedly as he reminded it to change back before the dust subsided.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± Little White hugged its head and groaned.


    ¡®I forgot about it. Oh no! I am going to be killed by master again.¡¯ Little White started shivering in fear. A loud ¡®poof¡¯ was heard and it had changed back to its mini size. It quickly jumped into Li Lanfeng¡¯s arms and started trembling in fear.


    ¡®It¡¯s good to be alive. I don¡¯t want to die. Master, please forgive me!¡¯


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. I¡¯ll help you.¡± Li Lanfeng patted Little White¡¯s round head and smiled.


    Little White looked up with its watery big eyes. It looked at Li Lanfeng pleadingly. It had forgotten about breaking ties with him now.


    ¡°However, you owe me a favor.¡± Li Lanfeng gave a cunning smile. Poor Little White. It didn¡¯t know Li Lanfeng¡¯s true intention and thought that he was really trying to help it as It nodded fervently to Li Lanfeng¡¯s condition.


    The dust in the air subsided and two human figures suddenly appeared in front of Li Lanfeng. They were the fat and skinny old men who had managed to escape Little White¡¯s attack too.


    They look around and saw the ruins of their former base. Besides some lucky people who managed to survive, most were dead. They felt their heart aching in pain.


    They took many years to build up this vige. Now, everything was destroyed. All their efforts had all gone down the drain.


    The fat man looked up with bloodshot eyes. His eyes were burning with hatred. ¡°Bastard, I must kill you.¡±


    If they didn¡¯t kill this person, they would be strangled by Hades when they go back. Hades didn¡¯t need people who would leave problems for his organization.


    They knew what their fate was if they leave, so they instantly rushed towards Li Lanfeng without any hesitation while putting aside all their fears.


    If he didn¡¯t die, they would die. They had no paths of retreat so they were going all-in on this one gamble.


    Li Lanfeng picked up Little White and threw it at the fat man.


    The fat old man was a water element domain realm master. Water was an element that was very hard to detect, so just by the virtue of his element, it made much harder to deal with than the skinny man who was a metal element domain realm master. Hence, Li Lanfeng decisively put Little White in charge of the fat


    man.


    Another factor that he had considered when making this decision was the metal element causing more harm to Little Whitepared to water element. After all, Little White used to live underwater on Juhao. Hence, Li Lanfeng made the decision that would make use of their strength the most.


    ¡°Rawr!¡±


    ¡®Bastard, why are you throwing me again?¡¯ Little White was angry. This was the second time he threw it without informing it.


    Bang! Little White¡¯s fat body mmed into the fat man¡¯s stomach.


    The fat man took two steps back because of the force behind throw. Little White bounced back onto the ground and rolled out for a few meters due to the residual force.


    Little White struggled to get up and its head was spinning. It couldn¡¯t stand up properly too. This was the second time it got dizzy.


    Little White shook its head and forced itself to remain focused. Then, it turned around and looked at Li Lanfeng who was fighting with the skinny man. It roared a few times at Li Lanfeng¡¯s direction. It even raised one small tentacle at Li Lanfeng as though it was pointing a middle finger at him.


    The fat man disregarded Little White. He thought that Li Lanfeng threw it at him to distract him so that he could kill the skinny man. Hence, after he stabilized his body, he rushed towards Li Lanfeng with the intention to sneak behind him.


    Little White hated Li Lanfeng for throwing him but it didn¡¯t want him to get hurt too. Thus, it leaped into the air and bumped into the fat man to force him back.


    ¡°Rawr!¡±


    ¡®Your opponent is me.¡¯ Little White raised a tentacle and curled it inwards multiple times.


    The fat man saw Little White¡¯s actions. He narrowed his eyes and his expression turned serious.


    He remembered how he got forced back twice. The first time, it might be due to the young man¡¯s strength but the second time, this little thing blocked him all by itself.


    If he wanted to fight with his partner, he must destroy this little thing first. Killing intent appeared in the fat man¡¯s eyes and four water dragons manifested in the air above him. They flew towards Little White from all four directions.


    The four water dragons blocked all paths of escape for Little White.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± Little White shouted before being drowned by the four water dragons. The four water dragons flew around Little White and formed a huge water ball, trapping Little White inside it.


    Little White started struggling in the water ball. The fat man clenched his fist tightly so that the water ball wouldn¡¯t be broken by the little thing.


    Little White¡¯s resistance gradually got weaker. Finally, it stopped moving. It seemed to have drowned in the water ball.


    Three minutester, the fat man sneered. He released his grip and the water ball dropped to the ground. Little Whiteid there motionless. It really seemed to be dead.


    The fat man finished Little White and turned to look at the skinny man¡¯s fight. He saw Li Lanfeng and the skinny man both using their ultimate technique.


    Li Lanfeng activated his format territory and the space around him started to get all distorted. There was a frightening ck whirlpool in the middle, seemingly to be devouring everything within the space. Li Lanfeng had a ck scythe in one hand. Along with his ck cloak, he looked like the god of death.


    The skinny man had a weapon in his hand too. It was a Blue Dragon Sun Moon knife. The de and the handle of the knife were both long. It looked like it could sh anything into two. His domain was like his knife too. It was sharp knife aura that was able to prate anything. There were a few knife scars on the ground in front of him.


    The fat man knew that this was a good time to sneak attack when he saw Li Lanfeng being upied by the skinny man¡¯s domain. He ced a hand behind his back and a thin stream of water started to congregate in his palm. The stream of water slowly got wider and wider. Finally, it turned into a giant dragon that was able to swallow anything.


    Li Lanfeng and the skinny man had reached the height of their fight. They suddenly attacked at the same time.


    ¡®This is the perfect opportunity!¡¯ The fat man¡¯s eyes lit up. Li Lanfeng wouldn¡¯t have the energy to handle another person¡¯s attack now.


    The fat man raised his hand, but he suddenly felt a pain in his chest.


    He looked down at his chest with a bbergasted expression. He saw a huge tentacleing out from his chest with blood gushing out in masses.

 Chapter 983 - Goddess Li?

    <strong>Chapter 983 Goddess Li?</strong>


    The fat man slowly turned his head. He saw the little white ball which he thought was dead, smiling brightly andughing at him. That tentacle belonged to it. Its tentacles were emerging from its body in a strange manner.


    ¡®What kind of savage beast is this?¡¯ The fat man was extremely puzzled. To break the defensive barrier around his body easily, it was definitely not a normal pet.


    Rawr! The tentacles retracted into the round ball¡¯s body. There were no signs of its existence anymore. Little White resumed its innocent and cute image.


    A huge hole the size of a bowl appeared in the fat man¡¯s chest. Blood flowed out of it. He felt that his life was flowing out of his body. He felt cold...


    After ruling the underground world for more than ten years, he died in the hands of an unknown and innocent-looking creature. He felt so frustrated. His death didn¡¯t seem justified at all. The fat man sneered as heughed at himself. The years of peace made him forget that harmless-looking things were the most dangerous. He finally paid the price for his carelessness.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    The old man finally took hisst breath and fell on the ground. His body made a loud sound when it mmed on the ground.


    This sound shocked the skinny man who was fighting with Li Lanfeng. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed that his partner was dead. He got distracted.


    ¡®This is my chance!¡¯ Li Lanfeng immediately wielded his death scythe.


    The skinny man felt a frightening force rushing towards him. He was dumbstruck by the fat man¡¯s death but he had to forget about it for now. He took on Li Lanfeng¡¯s attack with all his concentration.


    The skinny man decisively shed his Blue Dragon Sun Moon knife at his opponent¡¯s scythe. The strong would always win. He couldn¡¯t hold back now. If he lost, he would disappear like a piece of meat from his body.


    He didn¡¯t want to die so he must fight for his


    life.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    The two weapons collided and the battle of the two domain energy started. Everything around them was destroyed by their energies.


    Those ces that got touched by the ck whirlpool turned into small particles and disappeared.


    Those that got shed by the knife aura shattered into pieces and dispersed into the


    air.


    In front of these two powerful domain energy, Little White had no choice but to hide too. It used its tentacles to dig the soil hurriedly and buried itself underground.


    After experiencing many disasters and dangerous situations on Juhao, Little White¡¯s survivability was very strong. Even underground, it was able to move around freely without any difficulty.


    The result of this battle was a tie.


    The skinny man was ted when he realized his opponent¡¯s special domain was not invincible. As long as he was on par with him, his opponent wouldn¡¯t be able to hurt him.


    Suddenly, he felt a strong sense of danger creeping up behind him.


    He shed his knife behind him instantly.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± A shrill sound rang beside his ears. The sound wave prated his skull and into his brain, causing him to feel disorientated.


    Damn it! The skinny man retreated back quickly but it was toote.


    His spiritual power got disturbed by the soundwave so his domain energy was affected too. While he was disoriented, the Blue Dragon Sun Moon knife got invaded with Li Lanfeng¡¯s format domain. It exploded and disappeared.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t stop there. His scythe flew out of his right hand. A metal chain was bound to the staff of the scythe. The scythe flew towards the skinny man who was trying to run away.


    Bang!


    The skinny man congregated his energy and formed another knife. He held the handle with both hands and forced himself to resist Li Lanfeng¡¯s iing fatal attack.


    The huge force behind the throw caused him to be pushed back a few meters. Deep and long skid marks were left on the ground.


    The skinny man vomited a mouthful of blood. His hands started shaking and blood was leaking out of his burst blood vessel.


    His stubborn resistance caused him to be on the losing end in this battle.


    Li Lanfeng shook his hand. The metal chains nged loudly and the scythe swept towards the skinny man once again. But this time, it was more powerful.


    ¡°Die!¡± The injured skinny man was furious and his viciousness got ignited. He shouted loudly and shed his long knife at the scythe.


    The long knife slit a deep cut in the ground.


    Li Lanfeng knew that his opponent was fighting with his life now. He grunted and the ck whirlpool started spinning even faster. His ck cloak flew up in the wind. A ray of ck light suddenly shot out from his forehead and through his mask.


    The ray of ck light caused his metal mask to disintegrate slowly from the top.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s perfect face was revealed to the skinny man. He was surprisingly familiar with this face.


    ¡°Goddess Li?¡± The skinny man was dumbfounded. The dream lover of all the men in the world was a domain realm master?


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze turned cold. He felt humiliated by this greeting.


    Because of his rage, the ray of ck light got more intense. Soon, the light flowed towards the scythe through the chain in his hand.


    The scythe and the knife collided again.


    ¡°Ah!¡± The skinny man screamed in agony. He saw his knife disintegrating in his hand. Slowly, his body started disappearing too.


    The domain energy came too quickly and fiercely. His body was engulfed by it in an instant. The skinny man didn¡¯t even finish his scream before he disappeared totally.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± Goddess Li, HAHA! HA!


    Little White had climbed out of the ground. It covered its mouth with its tentacles and sniggered.


    ¡°Little White, do you want your master to know that you¡¯ve exposed his identity?¡± Li Lanfeng raised his pretty eyes as he warned Little White calmly.


    Little White got frightened. It hurriedly covered its mouth with more tentacles and shook its head fervently.


    ¡®Sob, why did I forget that thisdyboy knew my weakness?¡¯


    Li Lanfeng waved at Little White when it stoppedughing at him.


    Little White jumped into Li Lanfeng¡¯s arms immediately. It saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s beautiful face identally.


    ¡®Well, it feels good to be hugged by a beauty.¡¯


    Little Whiteidfortably in Li Lanfeng¡¯s armszily.


    In the past, Little White liked to lie in Li Lanfeng¡¯s arms because Li Lanfeng would massage it. However, now, even if Li Lanfeng tortured it, it wouldn¡¯t want to leave. That beautiful face was enough to lift his mood and perk up his appetite.


    It had to be said that the pet picks up after its master. Ling Lan was a fan of good looks, she just hid it well, so her pet couldn¡¯t resist beauty too.

 Chapter 984 - No Reason To Live!

    <h4>Chapter 984 No Reason To Live!</h4>


    Li Lanfeng looked at the mess Little White created and frowned.


    ¡°Rawr?¡±


    ¡®What¡¯s wrong?¡¯ Little White wondered. It didn¡¯t want to see a beauty frowning. If it looked at a frowning Li Lanfeng too much, its mood would be affected negatively.


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking if those kidnapped children are squashed by you too.¡± Li Lanfeng felt his head hurting. Rabbit wouldn¡¯t scold him if he found out but he would think that he acted recklessly. Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t want to leave a bad impression on Ling Lan.


    ¡°Rawr!¡±


    ¡®Don¡¯t worry, I calcted mynding speed so the rooms underground are still intact.¡¯ Little White exined itself hurriedly.


    ¡°If you¡¯re worried, I can bring them out.¡± Little White decided to volunteer to help when it saw Li Lanfeng continued frowning.


    ¡°How are you going to bring them out?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled ambiguously at Little White.


    Little White got enchanted by the smile. It felt a little dizzy as it replied without thinking, ¡°I can swallow them in my stomach.¡±


    ¡°Idiot! If you swallow them, they¡¯ll suffocate.¡± Li Lanfeng red at Little White as it med it for thinking of stupid ideas.


    As expected of a beauty. No matter what he did, he was still beautiful. Even a re seemed so mesmerizing


    Little White felt his nose getting warm. Blood was going to flow out of its nostrils. It quickly stuck two tentacles in its nose. However, that was all that remained of his consciousness. The words he said revealed all his secrets.


    ¡°They won¡¯t suffocate. I can swallow the space around them too...¡±


    Little White finally realized what it said so it quickly used its remaining tentacles to cover its mouth.


    ¡®Ah... I got distracted by his beauty!¡¯


    Little White knocked its head furiously with its tentacles. However, it was toote. It had exposed its secret.


    ¡°Oh? Little White, you have a lot of secrets.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and patted Little White¡¯s head.


    Little White¡¯s mind worked furiously. In the end, itid down and pretended to be dead.


    ¡®I didn¡¯t say that just now. I didn¡¯t.¡¯


    Li Lanfeng chuckled when he saw Little White pretending to be dead again. His smile was enough to make people forget everything else.


    A beauty among the ruins. Lonely and isted from the world.


    The only thing that saw this beautiful scenery, was a dazed pet.


    Li Lanfeng hugged Little White and left. He didn¡¯t forget to clear the corpse before leaving.


    After some time, Little White remembered something. It roared anxiously. ¡°We haven¡¯t saved those children.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not our problem,¡± Li Lanfeng replied indifferently.


    ¡°Rawr. Rawr?¡±


    ¡®When did Li Lanfeng wear his mask?¡¯ Little White held its head in disbelief. ¡®I am unable to see the beautiful face anymore? No!¡¯


    ¡°Rawr?¡±


    ¡®Where did you hide your mask?¡¯


    Little White searched through Li Lanfeng¡¯s clothes furiously. ¡®I must find the mask. Damn it, I must destroy all the masks that will cover up the beautiful face. If I can¡¯t see the beautiful face, I¡¯ll be in a bad mood. I won¡¯t be able to eat well...


    ¡°Are you looking for the mask?¡± Li Lanfeng raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°Rawr.¡± Yes. Little White nodded fervently. ¡®I must find the masks and destroy them so that he wouldn¡¯t be able to wear it. That way, I will always be able to look at a beauty.¡¯


    Li Lanfeng smiled gently and ck light appeared on his hand. Soon, the light congregated into a mask. ¡°I¡¯m able to format things and also congregate particles into items I want.¡±


    Little White finally understood that the mask Li Lanfeng was wearing was not a real metal mask. It was just an illusion created using his domain. Only people who were more powerful than him was able to see through it. Little White wanted to destroy Li Lanfeng¡¯s mask but it remembered his sinister domain energy. It was powerful but it was still afraid of his format domain. It didn¡¯t want to disappear just yet.


    Little White was in a dilemma. ¡®Should I choose my personal safety or eye candy?¡¯ In the end, it chose its personal safety. Itid on Li Lanfeng¡¯s arm lifelessly. It had no reason to live anymore.


    On this side, Li Lanfengpleted Ling Lan¡¯s mission. On the other end, Luo Lang and Xie Yi just managed to enter the depth of the manor.


    The two of them killed thest batch of guards. After that, they felt two powerful energy moving towards them.


    Luo Lang and Xie Yi cooperated well. Each of them chose to block one energy.


    Boom! Boom!


    Two loud explosions were heard. The sneak attack from the two people got stopped by Luo Lang and Xie Yi.


    They retreated a few steps from the force. Two sagelike old men appeared in front of them. One was in a green gown while the other was in a grey gown. Both of them had white hair. They were more than a hundred years old.


    They looked at the ground filled with corpses and frowned.


    The elder in green gown red at them and coldly said, ¡°You two youngsters are quite vicious.¡±


    Xie Yi smiled. ¡°Not as vicious as you.¡±


    ¡°How dare you refute when you killed so many people?¡± The elder in the grey gown scoffed.


    ¡°We killed people who deserve to die. Hence, we¡¯re not vicious. However, you all snatched other people¡¯s children, destroying the lives of these children as well as their families. You are the evilest people in the world. You deserve to die,¡± Luo Lang said with a cold face.


    Everyone in the family would be heartbroken when their child was kidnapped. Some parents would me themselves for this and might evenmit suicide.


    ¡°Deserve to die? Hahaha...¡± The two eldersughed loudly.


    The elder in the green gown stoppedughing and said coldly, ¡°How arrogant of you. Two kids are telling me who deserves to die and who doesn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°You can test to see if we¡¯re arrogant.¡± Xie Yi smiled.


    In the next second, he rushed in front of the talking elder and aimed his fist at the man¡¯s forehead.


    The elder in green gown raised his hand to block the attack. When he touched Xie Yi¡¯s fist, he frowned and glided back, distancing himself from Xie Yi.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± The man in the grey gown was puzzled.


    ¡°This brat¡¯s innate talent is lightning.¡± The elder in green gown swung his arm which was numb from the electricity. He turned serious.


    The lightning element was the strongest offensive element among all the elements. Even if he had been in the domain stage for almost 50 years, he needed to stay alert in case he made a mistake.

 Chapter 985 - Special Domain!

    <h4>Chapter 985 Special Domain!</h4>


    The green gowned elder¡¯s expression changed. He looked at Xie Yi with vignce.


    ¡°Who do you want?¡± Xie Yi turned his head and asked Luo Lang.


    ¡°The one in grey.¡± Luo Lang pointed at the grey gowned elder.


    The two elders were burning with anger when they saw the two young men picking and choosing them like they were buying fish in a fish market. This was an utter humiliation to them.


    Before they could teach these two young men a lesson, Luo Lang and Xie Yi started rushing towards them.


    The green gowned elder saw Xie Yiing towards him with a fist wrapped in a lifelike lightning dragon. The dragon opened its giant maws at him.


    He had suffered from power behind the lightning attack once already so he retreated quickly. As for Luo Lang, he suddenly appeared behind the grey gowned elder with a dagger in his hand. He tried to stab the dagger at the elder¡¯s heart.


    The elder in grey flicked his sleeve, blocking Luo Lang¡¯s dagger.


    Luo Lang quickly rushed to the side and sidestepped in front of the grey gowned elder.


    The grey gowned elder sneered. ¡°How dare you use such cheap tricks.¡±


    This kind of movement was extremely effective against people at the Qi-Jin stage or below, but it was a joke to domain realm masters, as domain realm masters were able to detect all forms of attack through detecting killing intent. At the same time, their domains protected their bodies so such a simple assassination method wouldn¡¯t work against them.


    ¡°As long as I stopped you, it¡¯s enough.¡± Luo Lang smiled sweetly and his beautiful face turned even more enchanting.


    ¡°Are you a man or a woman?¡± The grey gowned elder teased him.


    This sentence angered Luo Lang and his gaze turned even colder. His mesmerizing face turned serious, and he changed from an enchanting beauty to a cold ice beauty.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect such beauty to exist in the world. Haha, seems like even God thinks that I shouldn¡¯t die so he sent you here to me.¡± The grey gowned elder seemed excited. With this beauty in hand, Hades would be willing to help him to be a titled domain realm formidable warrior


    People like them were already half a step into the coffin. They were willing to serve Hades because they hoped that he could help them to advance to the titled domain stage, as that would elongate their lifespan.


    The grey gowned elder had already angered Luo Lang. Yet, he continued provoking Luo Lang, eventually causing Luo Lang to explode in anger.


    ¡°Activate domain!¡±


    A calm Luo Lang walked out from behind and stood beside him. The expression on his face never changed like still water.


    ¡°Whatbination do you want?¡± The calm personality asked indifferently.


    ¡°I want to tear him to pieces.¡± Luo Lang gritted his teeth.


    ¡°I understand.¡± the calm personality replied.


    If this was what the primary personality wanted, he would satisfy him.


    ¡°Dark personality, wild personality,e out.¡± The calm personality turned back to the mindscape and talked to the personalities in Luo Lang¡¯s mindscape.


    ¡°Hahaha, it¡¯s finally my turn.¡± A rough voice resounded through the room and a crazy-looking Luo Lang walked out from behind Luo Lang. The wild expression on his face caused him to look sickly beautiful.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to think of me.¡± A sinister voice resounded through the room next and a Luo Lang with a dark expression stood behind the primary personality.


    The grey gowned elder was stunned when he saw four different Luo Lang¡¯s appearing in front of him.


    ¡°What kind of domain is this? Are those his clones?¡± If he didn¡¯t feel the domain energying from those people, he would think that they were quadruplets.


    The grey gowned elder turned serious when he saw Luo Lang¡¯s special domain. It looked like his prey was not easy prey. If he wasn¡¯t careful enough, he might be the prey instead.


    ¡°Although this is our first time working together, I believe that you can fulfill my desire to tear that old man apart.¡± Luo Lang believed in his personalities.


    ¡°Of course,¡± the wild personality replied.


    The dark personality smiled slightly. Surprisingly, his cold gaze subsided a little.


    The calm personality looked at the wild personality and the dark personality. As long as they interacted with the primary personality once, they would know how lucky they were to be the secondary personality of this primary personality.


    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s merge,¡± the primary personality shouted. The four Luo Lang started merging together.


    After the merging was done, the one Luo Lang slowly opened his eyes. There were no emotions in his eyes. It was calm as still water.


    He spread his arms wide and two thin silver chains appeared in his palm. There was a cone-shape arrow at the end of the chains. They raised their heads like a furious snake. If the grey gowned elder moved, they would attack him instantly.


    The grey gowned elder activated his domain too.


    The grey gowned elder was a special domain realm master too. Luo Lang couldn¡¯t tell what his domain was, but there was a decaying smell in the air. It made everyone in the vicinity feel ufortable.


    However, this didn¡¯t affect the calm personality. After all, he was able to be the boss of all the secondary personalities because he was able to keep his cool in the face of every situation.


    The domain energies of the two people started shing with each other. Loud popping sounds could be heard in the middle of two of them.


    Almost simultaneously, both of them attacked.


    Luo Lang stabbed his cone-shaped arrow at the grey gowned elder. The grey gowned elder jumped in the air and flew down, evading multiple attacks from the arrows in the process.


    Suddenly, he disappeared from the air and appeared a distance away, just standing there motionlessly. The chains quickly changed its direction and flew towards him. However, just as they were about to touch him, they stopped.


    While the chains were following the grey gowned elder, they got entangled. The chain didn¡¯t straighten up so Luo Lang didn¡¯t know that they were tangled.


    The grey gowned elder just stood there and smiled arrogantly. He pulled his hand and a few grey lines appeared in the air. Suddenly, multiple figures appeared behind Luo Lang and started attacking the unprepared Luo Lang.


    Luo Lang¡¯s chain was entangled so he couldn¡¯t retract them back. Was he going to get hurt?


    In the face of crisis, Luo Lang suddenlyughed crazily.


    The grey gowned elder thought that he was going to win, but when Luo Langughed, he felt a chill down his spine.


    Those figures immediately stopped when they were an inch away from Luo Lang.


    Crack! The sound of chains turning and snapping could be heard. The grey gowned elder looked at what was happening to the chain and his expression darkened.

 Chapter 986 - Familiar!

    <h4>Chapter 986 Familiar!</h4>


    A silver suddenly appeared in the dark space behind Luo Lang. The covered Luo Lang¡¯s back. All the figures that were controlled by the grey gowned elder got trapped in the.


    ¡°As expected, your domain is a controlling type, the irritating kind,¡± the calm personality said indifferently. From the moment he smelled the disgusting smell, he had guessed that this was his domain.


    ¡°Why does that looked so familiar?¡± Luo Lang was puzzled.


    ¡°Tsk!¡± Luo Lang¡¯s suddenly expression changed and he rolled his eyes.


    ¡°I see.¡± Luo Lang then looked enlightened. His other personalities couldmunicate through his mindscape. They didn¡¯t need to talk however, the primary identity liked to nag.


    After the personalities in Luo Lang¡¯s mindscape saw how was Ling Lan using the ice threads, they were astounded. They got interested in this attack and had great respect for Ling Lan.


    It could be said that the other personalities decided to bow down to Luo Lang because he had a powerful and scary boss. Although Luo Lang¡¯s primary personality was naive and innocent and was willing to ept all of them, it wasn¡¯t the main reason that they took into ount into epting Luo Lang. Instead, the main reason was that the other personalities didn¡¯t want to be killed by Ling Lan, who was able to freeze them to death with a single look.


    Hence, if you wanted someone to listen to you, it¡¯s important to be much more powerful than them so that they would look up to you and be frightened by you.


    The personalities in Luo Lang¡¯s mindscape wanted to learn Ling Lan¡¯s technique so they started analyzing it. However, this technique needed to beplemented by corresponding domain energy. The domain energy of the wild personality was the only one that couldplement the technique.


    Thus, the silver could only be formed by the wild personality. When Luo Lang heard about this, he silentlybeled his Boss as wild.


    The grey gowned elder narrowed his eyes when he noticed that the corpse he controlled were all trapped by his opponent.


    He quickly ced his hands together and the corpse of the people that got killed by Xie Yi and Luo Lang jumped up and rushed towards Luo Lang.


    He didn¡¯t believe that he wouldn¡¯t be able to break Luo Lang¡¯s with his sea of corpses.


    Luo Lang¡¯s gaze turned cold again when he saw the grey gowned elder using such a powerful technique. During fights, all the personalities would pass the decision making to the calm personality. They would act based on the calm personality¡¯s order.


    They were all different personalities but there wouldn¡¯t be any mistakes when they were executing techniques during a battle. This was because they were still a single person despite being all different.


    Suddenly, the tangled chain started spinning. Sounds of the small chains nging into one another were heard.


    In an instant, Luo Lang got covered up by his chain, forming a huge chain cocoon around.


    ¡°Are you trying to withstand my attack with this? In your dreams.¡± The grey gowned elderughed arrogantly when he saw the cocoon.


    He moved his fingers quickly. The corpses around the vicinity started decaying and a corrosive liquid began to spurt out from the corpses.


    The moment the liquid touched the chains, a hissing sound was heard from the corroding silver chains. At the same time, the chains gave off a disgusting smell.


    As the chain cocoon got slowly corroded from the outside, the calm personality still remained calm inside the cocoon. If this was just a normal chain cocoon, why did he call the dark personality out? It was time for him to perform.


    The calm personality moved his finger quickly and lingering shadows started snaking around his feet. The chains started spinning even faster to prevent a single side of the chain from corroding due to the liquid. Then, he said coldly, ¡°Bloom, chain of flower!¡±


    Numerous silver metal buds of flowers started appearing on the chain cocoon, covering the entire cocoon.


    Then, the buds bloomed!


    When the grey gowned elder noticed that the blooming silver flowers were made from many tiny silver needles, his expression turned from one of confidence to one of fear and nervousness.


    ¡°Shoot!¡± The calm personality didn¡¯t give the grey gowned elder any time to think. He quickly gave an order and the silver needles shot towards the grey gowned elder as well as the corpse he was controlling.


    The sound of silver needles piercing through the air could be heard.


    The grey gowned elder moved back immediately to evade the sharp needles that was powerful enough to turn his body in a sieve. However, he was still toote. To protect himself, he had no choice but to gather all the corpse in front of him and use them as his meat shields.


    Soon, these corpses basically turned to little pieces of flesh on the floor. As for the grey gowned elder, he had managed to escape the attack with the help of the corpses.


    However, this also meant that his technique couldn¡¯t be used anymore, as there was no corpse for him to control left.


    His domain only allowed him to control corpses that hadn¡¯t decayed yet. He couldn¡¯t do anything to these tiny pieces of flesh.


    ¡°Damn it.¡± The grey gowned elder gritted his teeth in frustration. However, without normal corpses, he still had some things up his sleeve. He shouted angrily, ¡°Chi, Mei, Wang, Liang, Ba, Xiao, Kui,e out!¡±


    Luo Lang¡¯s powerful technique had forced the grey gowned elder to use his ultimate skill.


    After he shouted, the ground within his domain territory started vibrating and seven corpses that were blue-grey and hideous-looking crawled out from the ground.


    The calm personality frowned when he saw


    those corpses.


    ¡°Is there any problem?¡± Luo Lang asked seriously.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I just didn¡¯t expect him to have such a skill,¡± the calmly replied indifferently.


    These corpses were not ordinary corpses so they couldn¡¯t be destroyed by the silver needles. The defenses of their bodies was extremely strong. Those corpses that got nourished with the domain of domain realm masters were said to be as strong as domain realm masters.


    ¡°I¡¯m not strong enough to fight these evil things,¡± the dark personality said coldly. His power was from the same base as his opponent. They were both using dark energy. Hence, the damage caused by his attack would naturally decrease.


    ¡°I understand.¡± The calm personality acknowledged what he said. Then, the dark personality walked out of Luo Lang¡¯s body and disappeared.


    At the same time, a figure with a vibrant aura appeared in Luo Lang¡¯s domain territory.


    The seven corpses started getting agitated when the figure appeared.


    His aura made them ufortable. It was as if he was their natural enemy.


    The grey gowned elder knew that something was wrong when he saw his corpses starting to shiver in fear. He controlled the seven unwilling corpses and forced them to attack Luo Lang¡¯s body which hadn¡¯t merged with the bright figure.


    The bright personality saw this and immediately stepped into Luo Lang¡¯s body. Luo Lang shouted, ¡°Bright, I don¡¯t like you but for the sake of destroying these disgusting things, I¡¯ll cooperate with you. Let¡¯s destroy these things!¡±


    ¡°They shouldn¡¯t exist in the first ce,¡± Bright said calmly.


    ¡®Tsk, this is why we shouldn¡¯t have brought the bright personality out.¡¯ The wild personality thought to himself. He always sounded as though he was the only one who was worth existing.


    The silver chain started shining brightly. That holy aura it gave out caused the seven corpses to feel extreme pain from the core of their bodies. The holy aura caused great damage to dark energy characters like them.


    Of course, at the same time, the dark energy was equally lethal to the bright energy.

 Chapter 987 - Xie’Er!

    <h4>Chapter 987 Xie¡¯Er!</h4>


    The grey gowned elder was clear about this so he forced more energy out of his grey domain. Soon, the entire space was filled with a rotting smell. The dark energy even started corroding Luo Lang¡¯s holy aura too.


    Luo Lang had no expressions on his face, as he was taken over by the calm personality again.


    ¡°Howl!¡± The seven corpses howled in the air. Then, they jumped up and pounced at the chain cocoon.


    They opened their dry, thin and sickly-looking hands. Their ck nails grew longer, turning into sharp ws. There was also a ck cloud with the aura of death around them. They began shing the shining silver cocoon in front of them.


    ¡°ng! ng! ng!¡±


    The silver chain started breaking under the sharp ck ws like pieces of tofu.


    The grey gowned elder smiled proudly at the power exhibited by his seven corpses. He lifted his right hand and pointed at bare Luo Lang who was in the center of the cocoon. Then, the seven corpses charged at Luo Lang with fervour.


    Just as Luo Lang was about to be wed into a pile of meat, Luo Lang suddenly smiled brightly.


    The broken chains suddenly turned alive again. They bounced up from the air and twirled themselves around the corpses.


    The seven corpses tried struggling but the white aura on the chain caused the suppression power of the chain to be stronger and more powerful. The seven corpses started giving off a smelly and ck smoke. This was because they were getting scalded by the white aura.


    Luo Lang stood in the middle and curled his fingers slightly. The chains around the corpses became tighter even , causing even more damage to the corpses.


    The grey gowned elder turned serious. He didn¡¯t expect his opponent to feint weakness in order to lure his corpses into the chain array.


    ¡°This is Boss¡¯s strongest technique. As hisrade, I can¡¯t be too weak.¡± Luo Lang smiled brightly. However, in the next second, his smile disappeared.


    ¡°Go and die!¡±


    His voice was calm, wild, and indifferent.


    The white aura exploded, blinding everyone¡¯s eyes with a sh of white light


    The grey gowned elder suddenly felt a sense of danger. He quickly elevated his domain to its maximum. After that, he waved his arms and attempted to control the corpses to kill his opponent forcefully.


    ¡°Howl!¡± The seven corpses shouted fiercely and broke free from the chains around their bodies.


    However, there was an innumerable amount of chains around them. When one chain broke, another chain would take over its position.


    All these happened during the time when everyone was blinded by the white light. As the white light disappeared gradually, he saw what was happening in the chain array. He was delighted and felt that the danger was over.


    Suddenly, he felt his chest was in pain. The grey gowned elder looked down in surprise. A piece of the chain hade near him when he was looking at the chain array and stabbed him in his heart.


    He suddenly understood that the white light was not to suppress his corpses. It was to hide this piece of chain.


    The chain was small and came too suddenly so he didn¡¯t notice it in time, as all his attention was focused on the seven corpses.


    Boom! The silver chain exploded and blood stained the face of the grey gowned elder.


    The grey gowned elder said in pain, ¡°Despicable! Do you have no shame...¡±


    Luo Lang just nced at him coldly. Then, numerous chains quickly stabbed into the elder¡¯s body, turning him into dust.


    The seven corpses just turned into seven piles of ck sludge without the support of the domain energy from the grey gowned elder.


    After he killed the grey gowned elder, Luo Lang¡¯s domain copsed. The wild, calm, and bright personalities returned into his mindscape.


    Luo Lang kneeled on the floor with a pale face. He smiled bitterly. ¡°Merging three personalities is still too much for me. I can onlyst for a short period of time.¡±


    Luckily, the calm personality changed how he was attacking at the veryst moment. The other personalities smoothly cooperated with him and that was how they managed to kill their opponent before Luo Lang¡¯s domain copsed.


    The seven corpses were just too powerful. With Luo Lang¡¯s current ability, he wouldn¡¯t be able to destroy them. Hence, he had to attack the source of their power.


    ¡°No wonder Boss always says that we¡¯re too weak. Domain is really just the start.¡± Luo Lang finally understood that they had just stepped on the path of bing a formidable warrior. Their opponents would only get stronger from this point onwards.


    After Luo Lang killed the grey gowned elder, Xie Yi, who was engulfed by a world of green, was wrapped up in a crucial moment too.


    The green gowned elder was a wood element domain realm master, a natural counter to a lightning element domain realm master. Thus, the power of Xie Yi¡¯s lightning element would naturally be weakened in front of a wood element domain realm master.


    The two elders were both very experienced in battles. Hence, the grey gowned elder chose Xie Yi as his opponent to his advantage.


    It looked as though Xie Yi and Luo Lang chose their opponent but instead, the elders were the ones who lured them into making this decision.


    The green gowned elder appeared to have gained the upper hand now but in actual fact, he was having a hard time.


    This was because when Xie Yi noticed that his lightning was unable to hurt his opponent greatly, he decisively split his lightning into two.


    Xie Yi¡¯s lightning element was different from other lightning element domain realm masters. He had two different lightning element, one Yin and one Yang. If the Yang lightning didn¡¯t have the Yin lightning to neutralize it, it was more explosive and faster than normal lightning, making it really difficult to control, as the Yang lightning might be backfire and hurt the user instead. As for the Yin lightning, it¡¯s damage was caused to one¡¯s spiritual mind, not the body.


    The green gowned elder could block Yang lightning but he couldn¡¯t do anything to the Yin lightning


    The green gowned elder¡¯s n was to use his domain to exhaust Xie Yi¡¯s domain energy. He felt that a young man who had just entered the domain realm must have a lesser amount of domain energy than him.


    However, after experiencing the damage the lightning caused to his spiritual power, the elder in green gown decided that he couldn¡¯t stall out the battle any longer. If not, he would lose this battle.


    Thus, green seedlings started popping out of the ground around them. Soon, the seedlings turned into huge trees and engulfed them within.


    When he saw his opponent attempting to use his ultimate technique, Xie Yi was ted. He was bothered by the Yin lightning too.


    The Yin lightning was able to hurt his opponent but he would receive a bacsh too. After all, he wasn¡¯t the one controlling the Yin lightning


    ¡°Xie Two, it¡¯s time for the life-or-death battle. Gather your strength.¡± Xie Yi shouted in his mindscape.


    ¡°It¡¯s Xie¡¯Er, not Xie Two.¡± A cold voice sounded in his mindscape. ¡°Xie One, take care of yourself first and don¡¯t drag me down.¡±

 Chapter 988 - The Door of Hope!

    <h4>Chapter 988 The Door of Hope!</h4>


    ¡°Haha, then let¡¯s see who¡¯s stronger.¡± Xie Yi pretended to not hear Xie¡¯Er¡¯s deliberate name calling andughed out loud.


    Immediately afterwards, lightning began to snake around Xie Yi¡¯s body. Beneath the snakes of purple lightning, a shadow appeared. It was Xie¡¯Er.


    Xie¡¯Er looked at Xie Yi with aplicated look on his face. Xie Yi saw his expression and smirked as he nodded towards Xie¡¯Er. Then, he reached out his right hand.


    Xie¡¯Er looked at that hand and sighed. He reached out with his left hand and held Xie Yi¡¯s hand.


    Xie Yi¡¯s smile was even bigger now. He turned around to look towards the green gowned elder and said softly, ¡°I¡¯m still just a bit weaker right now. In the future...¡± ¡®In the future, I will be even stronger so that you can actually appear in front of myrades.¡¯


    After seemingly understanding Xie Yi¡¯s unfinished statement, Xie¡¯Er also held Xie Yi¡¯s hand firmly.


    ¡®I hope you won¡¯t let me down! That lonely and cold world isn¡¯t a really good ce to live.¡¯


    Xie¡¯Er thought of Xie Yi¡¯s extremely capable Boss. With him around them, he believed that Xie Yi would not be a weakling who couldn¡¯t withstand his powers. Xie Yi didn¡¯t know that what gave Xie¡¯Er¡¯s confidence to believe in him was not him, but actually Ling Lan, who had appeared only for a short moment in Xie¡¯Er¡¯s world.


    As Xie Yi and Xie¡¯Er walked hand in hand, the snakes of glowing purple lightning around their bodies became even darker, and eventually into a pitch ck color. But when put under a light, there was still a shade of purple, proving that the lightning was dark purple.


    As the purple lightning became darker and darker, there was dangerous and suffocating aura slowly exuding out from within. The green gowned elder had already raised the power level of his domain to its strongest. Seeing Xie Yi¡¯s domain energy getting stronger, he decisively made a move.


    The jade like sea all around him went straight towards Xie Yi.


    Seeing this, Xie Yi and Xie¡¯Er raised their interlocked hands and two lightning dragons shoot from their hands.


    The dragon that appeared from Xie Yi¡¯s left hand was vibrant in color with some red shade in the purple. The radiance of the color was seemingly enough to reach into a person¡¯s soul. It also made the jade colored sea around them lose its color. The aura the lightning was exuding out was the same as Xie Yi¡¯s personality, free and enthusiastic, and could easily affect the atmosphere around him.


    Xie¡¯Er¡¯s dragon from his right hand, on the other hand, was fully ck. Within the ck dragon, there was an inked lightning with tar-like density, calmly moving along with the movement of the dragon. It was just like him, a presence that was calm enough to enclose the universe into it.


    Their interlocked hands were suddenly clenched firmly. Then, the two different colored lightning dragons were pushed outwards from their hands at the same time.


    The two lightning dragons ruthlessly flew towards the jade sea.


    Once the radiantly colored dragon touched the jade sea, the jade sea was instantly set aze. Although fire was destructive, there was also the power of life infused in it. The ck dragon on the other hand turned the jade sea on its side into a gray wastnd. That was the power of death.


    These two different dragon forms stunned the green gowned elder. But, he quickly pped himself awake and countless thick branches suddenly appeared from the ground to attack Xie Yi¡¯s main body.


    However, the branches that were once filled with life, quickly withered away and had its life force drained the instant it got close to Xie Yi.


    Compared to Xie Yi¡¯s lightning power, Xie¡¯Er¡¯s lightning was more suitable for defense.


    At that moment, the two dragons finallybined together in mid-air. One began to take in the power of life and the other was replenish its destructive power. As the lightning continuously crackled and burst apart, it became stronger and stronger, before finally congregating into a gigantic lightning dragon. As the green gowned elder was looking at it with despair on his face, the dragon instantly devoured him.


    Seeing that his opponent was defeated, Xie Yi, who was enduring immense pain until now, instantly sat onto the ground. He opened his mouth and coughed out burning ck smoke.


    ¡°You¡¯re still too weak. If you don¡¯t make body stronger, you won¡¯t be able to endure my destructive powers the next time Ie out,¡± Xie¡¯Er said coldly. Although Xie Yi controlled his power of life well, he was still weakerpared to Xie¡¯Er¡¯s knowledge of his own destructive power.


    Xie Yiughed out loud. Right as he was about to answer, his wounds opened up, causing him to grit his teeth in pain.


    Seeing this, Xie¡¯Er coldly said, ¡°You should rest up so you don¡¯t have to trouble your buddy.¡± He looked towards Luo Lang, whose condition was also not so good. ¡°But... it seems your buddy needs your help more.¡±


    Hearing that Luo Lang¡¯s condition was not good, Xie Yi instantly jumped up in response. This made him seem that was not injured at all.


    Xie¡¯Er shook his head as he saw this scene. When Xie Yi heard that hisrade was injured, he couldpletely disregard his own injuries... Compared to Xie Yi, he wouldn¡¯t care aboutrades first. Instead, he would be selfish and care for himself first.


    This was perhaps why their father chose Xie Yi and didn¡¯t choose him! Xie¡¯Er felt his body slowly be transparent and returning to the cold world that he belonged in.


    ¡°Luo Lang, are you alright?¡± Xie Yi had already ran towards Luo Lang and asked him hurriedly.


    Luo Lang¡¯s face was pale. In order to defeat his opponent, hepletely depleted his domain energy, so he was now unable to move from the exhaustion.


    Xie Yi quickly helped Luo Lang to drink a strong recovery agent that Li Shiyu had made. At the same time, he didn¡¯t forget to drink one himself.


    Not long after, Luo Lang¡¯splexion began to look better. Luo Lang didn¡¯t think that depleting his domain energy would result in such a strong side effect, he did not even have the energy to take out a medicinal agent.


    If Xie Yi had somehow lost, the two of them would have actually died here. After thinking about this, Luo Lang couldn¡¯t help but be terrified at the thought. The thought of bing stronger was even more engraved in his mind.


    After seeing that Luo Lang was alright, Xie Yi stopped worrying and continued to investigate this building. He discovered that other than the children locked up in cages, the others were either dead or ran away when the two of them were fighting the elders.


    ¡°What should we do about those children?¡± Xie Yi pointed towards the children in cages who were unconscious.


    Luo Lang frowned and twirled his hair with his finger. In the next second, Luo Lang¡¯s eyes calmed down and said, ¡°We¡¯re not saviors. Our Boss¡¯s orders were to infiltrate and destroy, not save. Whether they can sessfully get out of this building, would depend on their luck.¡±


    Xie Yi knew this was Luo Lang¡¯s extremely calm personality talking. He also knew that his judgment was rarely wrong so he nodded in agreement without much hesitation.


    However, the calm personality still had a sliver of humanity left in his body so he told Xie Yi to open the cages, cut the shackles around their limbs to give them a sliver of hope.


    After finishing this, Xie Yi carried Luo Lang, who had not fully recovered, on his back and left the building.


    Not long after they had left, one youngster from the cages woke up from his dreamworld. He saw his cage was opened and the shackles around his arms and legs were broken. He then saw that the entire area was in ruins, with countless puddles of blood and silence all around him. The youngster immediately realized that this horrifying ce waspletely destroyed by two masked individuals who had suddenly appeared. The opened cages and broken shackles was the opportunity the two strong individuals had given them to escape this hell hole.


    The youngster understood that with so many people, the two strong individuals could not save everyone. Plus, they also didn¡¯t have any reason to save them. However, just the thought of giving them a chance to escape, was enough to let this youngster be grateful eternally. He knew that this act was essentially the same as giving them all a new start on life.

 Chapter 989 - Not Willing to Give In!

    <h4>Chapter 989 Not Willing to Give In!</h4>


    The youngster crawled out of the cage. As he walked a few steps forward, he suddenly bit his lip and walked back into the cage. Then, he began to go and wake the other innocent children who hadn¡¯t woken up yet.


    Soon after, all these children woke up and along with a few adults. They slowly crawled out and escaped from the destroyed building. They were lucky that their minds weren¡¯t sessfully wiped by the elders. They still knew where they were from. Even though some had their minds wiped and forget everything, their cellmates still told them what had happened to them and where they came from.


    Although these individuals had escaped the clutches of these viins, they still needed to go through many more dangerous and difficult situations if they wanted to go back home. However, this was their own story and was not rted to the story of Ling Lan and the others. It was just that only after decades, these people would think about the two masked domain realm masters who saved them and guess who they were.


    At the three locations, Li Lanfeng and Little White had it the easiest. Although Xie Yi and Luo Lang was in somewhat of a difficult situation, they still resolved perfectly in the end. It was only Liu Furong and Zhao Jun who were stuck in a life-or-death crisis.


    Zhao Jun ran around the hidden corridor as his life was on the line. His face was pale, with sweat dripping down from his body like raindrops.


    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that there were many hidden corridors, along with the fact that the enemy domain realm master was afraid of going all-out and create too much noise, and identally causing the base to be exposed by the people above them. If that wasn¡¯t the case, he would probably have been killed by the domain realm master who was chasing him.


    This was the power of domain realm masters. Although he was close to the limit of bing a domain realm master, it was still the same as a three-old-year fighting an adult when fighting a real domain realm master. He waspletely unable to defend himself.


    Zhao Jun didn¡¯t know how long he could hold on. He only knew that if he wanted to live, he must run away with all his might, until Liu Furong arrives.


    Zhao Jun felt there was a terrifying power creeping behind him. He didn¡¯t even think and somersaulted into corridor on his right.


    ¡°Bam!¡± A terrifying power instantly hit the ce he was running towards. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that he was lucky that a tunnel had appeared beside him. He definitely would have been severely injured from this attack.


    Although Zhao Jun luckily got away from the attack, he still felt his back was shed by something, causing him immense and unbearable pain. However, Zhao Jun didn¡¯t have the time to examine his own back. He just ignored the immense pain and ran through the corridor hurriedly. It was because Zhao Jun knew that the domain realm master would not stop chasing him.


    Another terrifying attack came towards him. This time however, Zhao Jun was not as lucky, as there weren¡¯t any other corridors to turn into. Seeing this, Zhao Jun bit his lip and pounced forward.


    Without any tunnels to turn towards, Zhao Jun was still sent flying by the shockwave even though he dodged away from the center of the attack. He then rolled on the ground a few meters away from the attack.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± Zhao Jun spat out a mouthful of blood. The attack of the domain realm master still severely injured him even though he suppressed much of it with his Qi-Jin at Great Perfection.


    A silhouette appeared in the corridor. It was the silhouette of a 40 to 50 year middle-aged man. It was the domain realm master who kidnapped Liu Aihua and injured Han Xuya.


    ¡°Heh, heh, heh...¡± The manughed softly. ¡°You¡¯re really good at running, but where can you run to now?¡±


    Zhao Jun tried his best to bear the immense pain from his back and bit his lip as he stood up. He quickly thought in his mind to see how could get away with his life from the clutches of his opponent.


    After seeing that his prey was thinking of running away, the domain realm master threw out his fist and a formless attack went straight towards Zhao Jun.


    Zhao Jun could only raise his hand to block, but he was once again sent flying away by the force behind the fist.


    ¡°Bam!¡¯ Zhao Jun smashed onto the ground face first. The blood from his mouth was gushing out uncontrobly. In the end, Zhao Jun had be severely injured and lost his ability to move.


    ¡°You¡¯re this weak, and you dare to cause trouble in our territory? You really don¡¯t know your ce.¡± As the domain realm master smiled coldly, he slowly walked to the motionless Zhao Jun.


    He bent down and held Zhao Jun neck with his right hand. He then lifted him up by the neck.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s face instantly turned blood red. His opponent¡¯s fingers were ruthlessly strangling him, causing him to be unable to breathe which instantly made his face go red.


    As time went by, Zhao Jun felt he was close to death for the first time.


    ¡°Am I actually going to die here?¡¯ Zhao Jun¡¯s mind could only think of this.


    Even if he was going to die like this, he still wasn¡¯t willing to give in. He still wanted to follow his Boss through the stars and create more miracles.


    Compared to Qi Long, Luo Lang and Han Jijyun who were of military backgrounds, along with Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu and Xie Yi who were from elite families, Zhao Jun¡¯s background was the most humble from Lingtian Battle n. He was from amon family and did not have any strong connections. It should be said that if Ling Lan had actually left the military, he was probably the only person from Lingtian Battle n who could follow Ling Lan without causing any trouble.


    Zhao Jun clearly knew about Ling Lan¡¯s situation, that his chances of remaining in the military was not high. Just a Ling Xiao was already enough for the entire Federation. If there was also a Ling Lan, it would only bring about bad tidings for the Ling family.


    Zhao Jun had already made his decision to follow his Boss despite the fact that he was still going to have a good future in the military if he stayed there. Neither hisrades, seniors nor General Ling Xiao would treat him differently than Ling Lan¡¯s team members who followed her from the beginning even if Ling Lan left.


    However, the factions within the military was set in stone. This made Zhao Jun feel discouraged. Even a general¡¯s son couldn¡¯t escape from bing pressured by others. How could amoner like him even hold up? Instead, he should just follow Boss Lan and travel through the stars to create their own legends. He would be much happier and freepared to staying in the military and plot against one another.


    ¡°I¡¯m not willing to give in... not willing!¡± Zhao Jun screamed out in his mind. The future was what Zhao Jun wanted!


    Zhao Jun began to fight for his life. He wanted to continue living. However, with his current strength, he had no chance against a domain realm master.


    As his neck continued to be strangled for a longer amount of time, Zhao Jun¡¯s struggle became more and more intense. The domain realm master looked coldly towards Zhao Jun who was fruitlessly struggling for his life. He loved seeing his prey struggle before their death, as this would excite him and give him a feeling of aplishment.


    As the oxygen in his body was slowly deprived out from his body, Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes opened wider and wider. The unwillingness to give in and anger in his eyes made the domain realm master, who was used to seeing people die, uncontrobly shudder in terror.


    Right as Zhao Jun was about die from suffocation, a strong force of presence exploded from within his body.


    The domain realm master instantly understood why he was scared just a few moments ago. He didn¡¯t think that the rumor of breaking through the barrier during a crisis would actually happen right in front of his eyes.


    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it!¡± The domain realm master roared. He was not going to allow his prey to reserve the tide on him and prey on him instead.


    He exerted more force in his right hand. He was rushing to break Zhao Jun¡¯s neck and kill this young man, who was about to advance into the domain stage, right here and now.


    Suddenly, he discovered that his right hand actually couldn¡¯t move at all.


    It turns out, unbeknownst to him, his right wrist was being held tight by arge and strong hand.

 Chapter 990 - Wrong Person!

    <h4>Chapter 990 Wrong Person!</h4>


    Inside the temporarily rented room, Qi Long felt his wrist vibrate. He lowered his head and had aplicated expression on his face.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Han Jijyun saw this and asked him curiously.


    ¡°Boss gave me an order,¡± replied Qi Long.


    Han Jijyun instantly sat up straight and asked nervously, ¡°What¡¯s the order?¡±


    ¡°Kill people!¡± Qi Long¡¯s expression instantly turned cold. The Boss¡¯s order really align with what he wanted to do.


    ¡°Jijyun, I¡¯ll leave this ce to you.¡± Qi Long stood up and put on the ck jacket that on the sofa. He turned around and said in a serious tone, ¡°Before I return, you have to protect everyone here.¡±


    ¡°I know. Although my physical skills isn¡¯t as strong as yours, it¡¯s still not that weak. Just leave this ce to me.¡±


    Han Jijyun knew that if Qi Long needed to move out, the opponent was definitely domain stage individuals. He felt a bit of regret, as domain battles were something he wasn¡¯t even qualified to participate in.


    Seeing Qi Long¡¯s silhouette disappear in front of him, Han Jijyun clenched his fists tightly. If he was to continue to stay at his current stage, one of these days he would not be able to follow them in their mission and be left behind by them.


    ¡°Looks like I need to do more training,¡± Han Jijyun said to himself.


    ¡°I disagree.¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s voice rang from behind him. ¡°Your body has already exceeded its limit by a lot. Even if I use the best recovery agent, I still won¡¯t be able to repair the parts of your body that had exceeded its limit. You¡¯re still young so you are feeling it. However, if this continues and reaches the threshold, the foundation of your body will bepletely destroyed.¡±


    ¡°I know, but with the amount of training you¡¯re giving me, I can¡¯t get close to their level at all.¡± Han Jijyun angrily punched the wall beside him. This was also the reason why he was secretly increasing the amount of training. He couldn¡¯t wait any longer. He didn¡¯t want to be someone who was protected by others every time something happens and watch hisrades risking their lives for him.


    ¡°All of us have our own ce. Han Jijyun, if you can¡¯t find your ce, even if your physical skills were to advance to the domain stage, you would still be a person that will not be needed,¡± Li Shiyu said coldly.


    ¡°Then tell me, what is my ce?¡± Han Jijyun shouted. ¡°Strategist? Isn¡¯t Li Lanfeng performing better than me? He also constantly reminds me that I¡¯m not as good as him... Not only that, his physical skills and mecha piloting skills are also better than me.¡±


    ¡°Li Lanfeng...¡± Li Shiyu sighed softly. He could only say that Han Jijyunparing himself with Li Lanfeng wasparing with the wrong person.


    As someone who was destined to not live long, unable to operate a mecha and unable to learn physical skills, he had clearly cheated somehow to reach his level today and did not go through everything logically.


    ¡°Have you never realized that Li Lanfeng¡¯s goal was never to be the battle team¡¯s strategist?¡± In the past few days when he watched his elder cousin brother, Li Shiyu finally understood him.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s words dumbfounded Han Jijyun as he raised his head with a nk expression. If Li Lanfeng¡¯s goal wasn¡¯t to be a strategist, then why did he mock him in all aspects?


    ¡°Think about it, when he was mocking you, who was there?¡± Li Shiyu could only say this much. Whether Han Jijyun could get out of this mindset would depend on Han Jijyun himself.


    It had to be said that intelligent individuals were people who would willingly go down in a rabbit hole. Han Jijyun was like this. Even Li Shiyu¡¯s demon-like elder cousin brother would do dumb things sometimes and make Li Shiyu go speechless.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s words made Han Jijyun go into deep thought. ¡®What does Li Lanfeng want if he doesn¡¯t want the position of strategist in the team?¡¯


    Moving away from Han Jijyun¡¯s concerns, the person who came to save Zhao Jun was Qi Long who had received Ling Lan¡¯s order earlier.


    Ling Lan, of course, wouldn¡¯t let her team members be in danger. She had prepared beforehand for Qi Long to reinforce Liu Furong¡¯s group.


    The domain realm master saw that a ck jacket young man had already stood in front of him and was staring him down coldly.


    Suddenly, the domain realm master¡¯s right wrist writhed in pain. His fingers uncontrobly let go and Zhao Jun, who was being choked by him, fell to the ground thereafter.


    The domain realm master took a deep breath and the domain power from his body instantly exploded out.


    Qi Long jumped back a few meters. At the same time, he also took Zhao Jun, whose force of presence hadpletely expanded.


    The domain realm master held in the surprise in his mind and coldly asked, ¡°Who are you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been looking for you for a long time,¡± Qi Long said calmly. He was thankful to his Boss to let him participate in this mission. In the end, he met up with the domain realm master who injured Han Xuya.


    The familiar domain energy on Qi Long¡¯s body made the domain realm master instantly remember something. His expression changed slightly, but he still tried to stay calm and show that he knew nothing, ¡°You people intruded on our territory and tried to mess with our organization. Tell me, who sent you?¡±


    He realized that the little girl was trouble, but didn¡¯t think the opposition would knock on their door so quickly. The domain realm master felt bitter and depressed. He now hoped that this situation wouldn¡¯t affect the impression he had with Hades. Otherwise, his hard work in the past decade would all be for naught.


    Qi Longughed coldly as the killing intent in his eyes showed clearly, ¡°Don¡¯t y dumb with me. Since you dare to kidnap our people and injure them, then you must pay the price.¡±


    ¡®As expected, they already knew we were the ones who did that!


    The domain realm master¡¯s eyes instantly froze. Although Hades Pce was afraid of causing trouble, they still weren¡¯t afraid of dealing with trouble. The Chaotic Lands was always the territory of Hades Pce. If these people didn¡¯t know any better, then they would not be able to leave this ce.


    The domain realm master increased his domain energy to the highest degree. Qi Long was also doing this as well. The two of them didn¡¯t want to fight a long battle of endurance and was nning on defeating each other with one attack.


    As night fell, the products in the three districts were all more or less sold. It finally reached the time for the ck market auction that everyone was excited about.


    Ling Lan, Ye Shao and Dibi Luya followed President Tu into the auction house.


    The auction house venue was huge. After entering it, there were countless seats everywhere. Surprisingly, there weren¡¯t any private areas for VIPs. Everyone was sitting in the atrium with their auction sign to participate in this auction process.


    Of course, this type of arrangement would alsopletely expose the identity of the people attending the auction. This was a specialty of the Chaotic Lands. If you have money, you can buy anything. However, whether they could actually receive the auctioned item, would depend if they had the capabilities to take it home.


    Many secret factions enter the auction house not to buy anything, but to know who bought what. They would choose the people they would make a move on. Thus, the trip home was a bloodbath. It was the time where the buyers would tested on their abilities.


    The auction began systematically. At the beginning, the items that were being auctioned off were some precious and little antiques. There weren¡¯t many people who were interested in these items so the auctions went by quickly, and it quickly reached the midpoint of the auction.


    The midpoint of the auction was auctioning a few children who had potential, along with domain realm masters who had their minds wiped sessfully. Here, the domain stage individuals could also be considered an item for sale.


    When these auction items started appearing on the stage, the atmosphere of the entire auction house began to heat up.


    Ling Lan saw Little Aihua, who had eyes of fear, on the stage. Ling Lan then instantly narrowed her eyes in rage.

 Chapter 991 - Rainbow Raiders!

    <strong>Chapter 991 Rainbow Raiders!</strong>


    Perhaps there were too many people sitting in the crowd and Ling Lan¡¯s seat was somewhat at the side, Little Aihua wasn¡¯t aware that Ling Lan was at the scene. She just saw countless strangers on their seats looking at her with gluttonous and greedy stares. She was so afraid that she had to curled up in a corner of the cage to just get some semnce offort.


    She began to pinch her palm with great force, hoping that the pain could calm her down. At the same time, she was so terrified that the tears welling up in her eyes would begin to drip down her face, attracting more attention to herself. In the back of mind, she remembered that Jiang Hui had once told her that ¡°crying doesn¡¯t solve any problems, and only being calm would bring about hope¡±.


    Despite Little Aihua encouraging herself, she still had two tear drops run down her face uncontrobly and silently, because she suddenly realized the fact that she might never she see her family again.


    ¡°Aihua, don¡¯t cry!¡±


    Little Aihua heard a soft voice behind and she turned around to look who was talking to her.


    It was a boy who was also put up for auction along with her. He was two years older than her. Heforted her after seeing Liu Aihua silently sob to herself in her cage.


    Heforted because he was in the same situation as her, children who still had their memories intact. He wasn¡¯t like the other children who had already forgotten who they were after having their minds wiped and bing items for people to buy.


    Perhaps it was because he seemed lonely or he saw himself in her. When he saw that there was a little girl who also had her memory intact, he couldn¡¯t help but let down his guard andfort her.


    ¡°Understood, Elder Brother Qiao!¡± Liu Aihua nodded thankfully towards the boy. Now, even the smallest offorts, would make Liu Aihua¡¯s heart calm down.


    The auctioneer was very considerate and put up all of the detailed information of the auction items on auction screen, making it convenient for those attending the auction to look through and choose the items they were interested in.


    ¡°There are actually two titled domain realm masters? Not bad. Not bad.¡± After seeing the auction list on the auction screen, a chubby old man beside President Tu showed an excited expression on his face.


    Compared to other auction items, humans were considered the much safer purchase, as the auction venue had a special method that made it if the buyers were to die, those who were sold to them would alsomit suicide, dying along with them. This was the reason why this part of the auction was popr. By purchasing children with a lot of potential or domain realm masters, not only would the buyers acquire a strong security force in the future, they wouldn¡¯t have to worry about any privy eyes at the auction.


    After the auctioneer dered the auction had begun, he began going through the serial numbers of the items one by one. Little Aihua¡¯s serial number was at the end because she was added in at the veryst moment. Not long after, the auctioneer reached the number of the boy who wasforting Little Aihua. The atmosphere in the auction house suddenly became intense and everyone jumped in to participate in the bid for the boy.


    This was because the boy had awakened a water element based innate talent and had awakened it for a long time already. Of course, the reason everyone had their eyes set on him was because he was only 12 years old. Additionally, his physical skills had actually reached the peak stage of refinement. The ck market also determined that in one year he would definitely advance into Qi- Jin stage.


    If things went as nned, advancing into Qi-Jin stage at 13 years old and in addition to his awakened innate talent of the mild-mannered water element, this boy would definitely reach the domain stage when he grew older. This was why he was so popr among the auction house attendees.


    As the boy¡¯s bidding price rose higher and higher, the boy¡¯s expression became colder and colder. It was almost somewhat numb.


    President Tu, who was calmly sitting beside Ling Lan, suddenly raised his brows and smirked. It seemed that there were others who didn¡¯t like the ck market other than Ling Lan.


    Not long after, the highest bidding price had appeared in today¡¯s auction. The auctioneer shouted out excitedly, ¡°Buyer number 27 has bid 250 million coins. Is there anyone else? This is item will definitely be a domain realm master in the future. Going once...¡±


    The auctioneer was trying to ignite the fighting spirit of other buyers. However, without a doubt, this price was already quite high for a future domain realm master. Many of the attendees were all sly old foxes or merchants themselves, and would of course not be provoked or disturbed by the auctioneer¡¯s words.


    The auctioneer excitedly and yet helplessly struck the mallet the third time, ¡°Congrattions buyer number 27...¡±


    Right at that moment, Ye Shao and Dibi Luya, who sat on the other side of President Tu, suddenly jumped up and rushed towards the stage.


    ¡°Stop right there!¡± Right as these words were said, many ck market guards immediately jumped out from all sides in an attempt to intercept Ye Shao and Dibi Luya.


    Bam! Bam! Ye Shao and Dibi Luya expanded their force of presence in an instant and sent those guards who were attempting to intercept them flying backwards.


    The two of them on the other hand, didn¡¯t change the direction of their movements in the slightest and quickly jumped up onto the stage. Their goal was that boy. Right as they were about to reach the boy, a strong mud wall suddenly appeared in front of the boy.


    Seeing this, Ye Shao and Dibi Luya immediately released one fire dragon and one water dragon out from their hands to ruthlessly strike the mud wall.


    Bang! Arge explosion resounded through the auction house. The mud wall instantly cracked open from the force of the fire and water dragon.


    Ye Shao then suddenly vanished from where stood. Right as he appeared behind the boy and was about grab him, a person d in white had already stood in his way. At the same time, a ck cloaked elder had also appeared in front of Dibi Luya.


    ¡°Who are you people? You actually dare to cause trouble in our Chaotic Lands?¡± A sharp and thin voice rang by their ears.


    It turns out, the person d in white who was standing in front of Ye Shao actually had heavy make-up on his face. He was actually a middle-aged man with his fingers out like a woman and had an effeminate voice.


    Hearing this, Ye Shao was apologetic and replied, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s only because we saw our people be forced to be auctioned off. We were angry and made a move impulsively. We¡¯re not looking for trouble so I hope everyone can let us off.¡±


    ¡°You think just saying sorry will resolve everything? Haha, is that what you think we in the Chaotic Lands do?¡± The ck cloaked elder replied coldly. ¡°Don¡¯t think you can do whatever you want in the Chaotic Lands just because you¡¯re both domain realm masters. Here, we have more than enough domain realm masters.¡±


    After these words were said, President Tu, who was already pale from seeing Ye Shao and Dibi Luya make a move, was now trembling. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Ling Lan had helped him up, he might have been so scared that he would have fallen on the floor.


    He didn¡¯t think that two domain realm masters were hiding among the mercenary team he had hired. He especially didn¡¯t think that they would cause trouble in the ck market of the Chaotic Lands. He could feel his future being all grayed out. The Chaotic Lands would definitely make his merchant group take responsibility. A lighter punishment would be to refuse trading with them, while arger punishment could possibly be topletely wipe out their entire merchant group.


    After hearing the forceful words of their opponent, Ye Shao and Dibi Luya¡¯s expression did not waver.


    Ye Shao even shook his head and said coldly, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then we want to know why our people would appear on your auction stage? Light and Dark Dragon are both very angry about this and decided toe here themselves to resolve this issue.¡±


    After the names ¡®Light¡¯ and ¡®Dark Dragon¡¯ were spoken, the other auction attendees, who originally thought Ye Shao and Dibi Luya were giving up their lives, couldn¡¯t help but shudder in fear.


    ¡°You¡¯re from the Rainbow Raiders?¡± The effeminate middle-aged man suddenly gasped after hearing those names.


    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Ye Shao and Dibi Luya replied proudly.


    Every world has its strongest individuals. In the Chaotic Lands, Frost Monarch, Hades and Ninja were the strongest. In the adventurer world, there were also seven kings that ruled that world.


    Among these seven kings, the ones who no one dared to offend were Light and Dark Dragon from the allied adventurer group, the Rainbow Raiders. It was because they were like brothers to each other and they not would never be apart. One imperial level domain expert was already invincible. Then, two imperial level domain expert... Even if it was another imperial level domain expert, they still wouldn¡¯t dare to offend these two people.


    Thus, almost all parts of the Chaotic Lands would tremble after hearing the names of ¡®Light¡¯ and ¡®Dark Dragon¡¯.

 Chapter 992 - Hurt?

    <strong>Chapter 992 Hurt?</strong>


    ¡®Who is so important that two kings came out to rescue him?¡¯ Everyone looked at the young boy who had no expressions on his face and started guessing his identity.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± A sudden snort shocked everyone.


    ¡°You can look for your man, but you don¡¯t have to destroy three of our bases. That is too much,¡± the person who snorted at the start was heard again.


    Ye Shao was stunned. ¡®Are you mad? What are you talking about?


    ¡®Ye Shao, who didn¡¯t know what was happening, just randomly said, ¡°If you dared to mess with the Rainbow Raiders, you must be prepared to bear the consequences.¡±


    ¡°How arrogant. Most people might be afraid of Light and Dark Dragon but we¡¯re not.¡± Another furious voice could be heard.


    ¡°No matter where he came from since he¡¯s already ours, he will stay ours.¡±


    A frightening force of presence rushed towards the boy. Ye Shao and Dibi Luya were stunned. They thought that the three kings of the Chaotic Lands would give some face to Light and Dark Dragon, but they surprisingly didn¡¯t. They just wanted to kill the person they wanted to take back.


    ¡°Hades, you half-dead man! How dare you try to kill my child!¡± A cold voice suddenly sounded. A strong force of presence blocked the vicious aura that wanted to kill the young boy.


    ¡°Dark Dragon, you killed people in our territory without informing us. Is this how you show respect?¡± An angry voice replied.


    ¡°Ninja, it¡¯s time for you to stop. You¡¯ve done so many cruel things. Aren¡¯t you afraid that your life will be shortened by your sins?¡± Azy voice sounded after that.


    ¡°Light, your hands are tainted with blood too,¡± Ninja sneered.


    ¡°Tsk tsk. The people we killed are people who deserved to die. We have a clearer conscience than you,¡± Light replied without taking a step back.


    ¡°Pfft! Light, who are you trying to fool?¡± Ninja scoffed at Light¡¯s tant lie.


    ¡°Let¡¯s not waste time bickering. Light and I didn¡¯te here to fight with you. We just want to bring our child back,¡± Dark Dragon replied coldly.


    ¡°What about our people?¡± Hades shouted angrily.


    ¡°What about them? I haven¡¯t even taken my revenge on you for making my child suffer!¡± Dark Dragon replied with a cold smile.


    ¡°Haha, since that is the case, let¡¯s settle this now,¡± Hades was so angry that he startedughing maniacally.


    The moment hisughter ended, four invisible energy collided in the air above the atrium.


    Bang!


    A loud explosion urred.


    The huge force ttened the auction stage, even the roof and the walls of the atrium had copsed.


    The people in the atrium hugged their heads and scurried away when they saw four imperial stage domain experts fighting on top of them.


    If these four people didn¡¯t hold back their strength just now because they were worried about the people below, most of the people there would be dead by now.


    President Tu brought his men and left the atrium hurriedly. After he ran for a distance, he quickly realized that Jiang Hui wasn¡¯t beside him anymore.


    ¡®He may have ran in a different direction or he is slower than us.¡¯ President Tu was frightened by what had happened so he quickly led his men back to their base. He was going to leave the next day and nevere to the Chaotic Lands again.


    As for Jiang Hui, President Tu wished him good luck, and hoped that he was able to escape from those domain realm masters.


    The four unwee guests were in the destroyed atrium.


    They split into two groups and stood opposite each other.


    On one side, a person with a ck cape was standing beside a person wearing a ghost mask. No one could see their faces.


    On the other side, there was a cold-looking elder in ck clothes and white hair as well as an amiable-looking elder in a red cloak.


    Even domain realm masters like Ye Shao and Dibi Luya felt that they couldn¡¯t withstand the energy from these imperial stage domain experts.


    Ye Shao and Dibi Luya were still lucky. Their opponents on the other hand, got injured internally from the residual force and were vomiting out blood.


    ¡°Dibi Luya, bring Little Xing away.¡± Light spoke to Ye Shao and Dibi Luya.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Dibi Luya immediately epted the order and grabbed the little boy beside Liu Aihua.


    ¡°Bring her along too.¡± The little boy didn¡¯t forget hispanion. He pointed to Liu Aihua.


    ¡°Troublesome.¡± Ye Shao pouted when he saw the little girl from Little Four Mercenary Team. However, he still grabbed Liu Aihua and ran away with her.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± Hades was furious when he saw Light and Dark Dragon taking their people right under their noses. He shouted, ¡°Stop them!¡±


    Eight figures immediately dashed out of the ruins. They rushed towards the escaping Ye Shao and Dibi Luya.


    ¡°Howl!¡± Dark Dragon shouted. Balls of ck air started to spurt out of his mouth and fly towards those people.


    ¡°Damn it.¡± Ninja moved his body and came beside Dark Dragon. He wanted to stop what Dark Dragon was doing. Dark Dragon quickly pulled his hands away and a ck dragon appeared in ce. He moved his wrist and the ck dragon moved to attack Ninja.


    Bang! Dark Dragon and Ninja collided. They were both imperial stage domain experts, but it was obvious that Dark Dragon was more powerful than him. While he was stopping the eight domain realm masters, he still also managed to block ninja¡¯s attack.


    Ye Shao and Dibi Luya managed to rush passed the eight domain realm masters. Hades, who had started fighting with Light, shouted, ¡°Frost Monarch, if you don¡¯t act now, all three of us will be embarrassed.¡±


    Actually, if Dark and Light Dragon found them personally and talked to them, they might have agreed to give the little boy back to them. However now, Light and Dark Dragon destroyed three of their bases and even humiliated them in front of so many people. If they forgave them easily, the three of them would beughed at by the people from the Chaotic Lands.


    ¡°Cough! Why do you have to do this?¡± A cold voice floated over.


    Light and Dark Dragon¡¯s expressions changed. They dared toe because they felt that Frost Monarch wouldn¡¯t act. They might be wrong...


    Ye Shao and Dibi Luya felt that their legs were stopped by something. Their expressions froze as they looked down on their legs. Their feet were covered with ice and the ice was slowly moving up their legs.


    The Frost Monarch had acted!


    Were they unable to save their young master even after Light and Dark Dragon came? Their faces turned pale.


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t you know that you might hurt me too if you do this?¡± Azy voice sounded beside their ears. The four imperial stage domain experts were shocked when they heard the voice.


    Ye Shao looked at the direction where the voice came from and saw Jiang Hui sitting on a chair among the ruins smiling at them at them cheerfully.

 Chapter 993 - Frost Monarch!

    <strong>Chapter 993 Frost Monarch!</strong>


    Ye Shao saw Jiang Hui¡¯s feet were covered with ice too. He was sitting so the ice had already climbed up to his chest.


    He was going to be an ice statue soon, but Jiang Hui still had a smile on his face. He looked as though the ice on his body, which was about to take his life, was non-existent.


    A young person was on the edge of death but he didn¡¯t look frightened at all. There was obviously something wrong with the scene. Unless this fellow was either an idiot or a lunatic, this shouldn¡¯t be his reaction. However, he didn¡¯t look like a lunatic or an idiot.


    Dark Dragon was in deep thought. Light turned serious too. The expressions on Hades and Ninja couldn¡¯t be seen so no one knew what they were thinking.


    However, regardless of what was going through their minds, the ice was spreading up from Ling Lan¡¯s chest. Within a few seconds, it had reached Ling Lan¡¯s shoulder and was climbing up her neck.


    As the ice reached her jaws, Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows and said lightly, ¡°This is not good. If it continues moving up, I won¡¯t be able to talk.¡±


    The ice that was moving up from her jaw suddenly got suppressed. No, they were moving back. They moved down Ling Lan¡¯s neck quickly like the tides in the sea.


    In a blink of an eye, there were no signs of ice left on Ling Lan¡¯s body. Not only that, the ice around Ling Lan was also starting to melt. Within the span of a few seconds, Ye Shao and Dibi Luya were also freed from the ice.


    Light and Dark Dragon were surprised by this scene. ¡®Who is this young man? He was able to escape from an attack of an imperial stage domain expert.¡¯


    People as powerful as Light and Dark Dragon were able to sense a person¡¯s age from his vigor of life. Thus, they knew that Ling Lan was still very young.


    ¡°Cough, I haven¡¯t been out for many years so I didn¡¯t know that there is such a powerful youngster.¡± An old man with white hair walked towards them from afar. He had a crystallized ice walking stick in one hand. He walked towards them slowly, but he seemingly reached them within just a few steps.


    A few meters in a single step. This was a technique only domain realm masters and above could understand.


    The old man raised his head, revealing a face full of wrinkles. He opened his eyes slightly and looked at everyone through his squinted eyes. Everyone suddenly felt a chill up their spines. Even Light and Dark Dragon couldn¡¯t help but shudder from the cold.


    Frost Monarch¡¯s understanding of the ice element seemed to have increased further over these years. Even without activating his domain, he was able to release his force of presence. Light and Dark Dragon had their guards up. They didn¡¯t forget that Frost Monarch was one of the three kings of the Chaotic Land, the most powerful one at that.


    ¡°As expected of the Frost Monarch.¡± Ling Lan bowed respectfully. From his action just now, she knew that his understanding of the ice element was way above hers. This was enough to gain her respect.


    pas en


    ¡°Cough cough... Everyone calls me Frost Monarch because they respect me. Actually, I don¡¯t have the right to be given this title.¡± Frost Monarch coughed and shook his head.


    ¡°Frost Monarch is the title for the most powerful ice element master. You deserve this title,¡± Ninja refuted.


    Light and Dark Dragons were enemies with Ninja but they still agreed with what he said.


    ¡°You all put feathers on my cap. Actually, before I enter the imperial stage through my physical skills, I shouldn¡¯t use names that indicate I¡¯m a king.¡± Frost Monarch didn¡¯t agree with what Ninja said.


    Hades felt a little awkward. By right, Hades meant the king of hell. However, Frost Monarch was right. A real king should be someone in the imperial stage. However, imperial stage was not so easy to enter. There were only nine people who managed to break through to imperial stage in the entire universe.


    As for them, they were known as imperial stage domain experts but in actual fact, they were just half a step into the imperial stage. This half step was a huge difference.


    ¡°However, after meditating for more than ten years, your understanding of your domain had reached new heights. It won¡¯t be long before you advance to the imperial stage.¡± Ninja was in envy.


    The more powerful a person bes, the harder it gets for him to gain more understanding of his domain. He might even reach a bottleneck and never surpass himself ever again. Frost Monarch was already the most powerful among them. After he came out of his closed door mediation, his force of presence had gotten stronger. It seemed that his meditation was effective.


    Frost Monarch sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not so easy. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m able to enter the imperial stage when I¡¯m alive.¡± He looked at Ling Lan who was listening to them quietly. ¡°This young man might advance to the imperial stage faster than me. He should be the Frost Monarch, not


    me.¡±


    From what Frost Monarch said, Ling Lan was an ice element domain realm master that was very close to imperial stage too.


    Light and Dark Dragon¡¯s expressions changed drastically when they heard this. They looked at Ling Lan with vignce. They would ce much importance in people who were as powerful as them while being much younger than them.


    Ninja and Hades turned to look at Ling Lan too. From their tightly clenched fist, everyone could tell that they were in great shock.


    ¡°Frost Monarch, you¡¯ve spoken too highly of me. My understanding of the ice element is much less deep than yours,¡± Ling Lan said honestly.


    This was the truth. She wasn¡¯t being humble. She was half step to imperial stage but Frost Monarch¡¯s control of ice element was much more profound than her. She was still unable to release her domain energy unintentionally just by looking at people.


    ¡°This is embarrassing. I¡¯m more than a hundred years older than you. I¡¯ve more time to understand the ice element.¡± Frost Monarch said regretfully, ¡°I¡¯m already half a step into the coffin. Yet, you¡¯re still young. You still have a long path ahead of yourself.¡±


    Ling Lan smiled and didn¡¯t say anything. Whatever she said now would seem like boasting. She would feel bad if she boast in front of a dying old man.


    ¡°Enough of mymenting. Little brother, I apologize for hurting you just now. However, the rules of the Chaotic Lands must be obeyed. I hope that you¡¯ll not interfere with this matter.¡± Frost Monarch didn¡¯t want to offend a future king. Plus, Ling Lan managed to melt his ice, proving that she was not much weaker than him.


    Plus, there were two half step imperial stage domain masters on their opponent¡¯s side. If Ling Lan entered the battle, the strength of both sides would be equal. This wasn¡¯t something Frost Monarch wanted to see.

 Chapter 994 - Haggard!

    <h4>Chapter 994 Haggard!</h4>


    Light and Dark Dragon¡¯s expressions changed when they heard this. If Ling Lan really decided to watch from the side, they wouldn¡¯t be able to win against the three kings especially with Frost Monarch there.


    With their strength, they were able to leave sessfully if they were losing but the people they brought with them would be in danger. They wouldn¡¯t be able to save who they wanted to save too. This would be a huge blow to the Rainbow Raiders¡¯s reputation. Their reputation might even drop and they might even be theughing stock of the mercenary world.


    Compared to Light and Dark Dragon, Ye Shao and Dibi Luya¡¯s expressions were strange.


    When Ling Lan started speaking, Little Aihua cleverly kept her mouth shut. She remembered her father telling her that little children shouldn¡¯t interrupt talking adults during important times. She was afraid that if she shouted happily, she might cause more trouble for herself.


    Ling Lan gave a half-smile when she heard what Frost Monarch said. Her expression told Frost Monarch that things were not so simple.


    Light and Dark Dragon looked at each other in surprise. It looked like this domain realm master who came suddenly wanted to interfere in this matter.


    Frost Monarch frowned slightly when he saw this. A cold aura exuded from his body. ¡°Little brother, is there anything you¡¯re unhappy about?¡±


    Ling Lan smiled gently, ¡°Frost Monarch, there¡¯s one matter I would like to ask for your opinion about. If someone hurt my team member and then snatched someone else from my team again after that, what should I do as the leader of the team?¡±


    Frost Monarch¡¯s expression darkened. Then, he nced coldly at Hades before retracting his gaze and calmly replied, ¡°It seems like your men identally entered our market. I¡¯ll ask someone to return your men unscathed to


    you.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. The person I want to find is saved by the Rainbow Raiders,¡± Ling Lan smiled.


    Liu Aihua quickly lifted her hands off her mouth when she heard Ling Lan talking about her. She called Ling Lan excitedly, ¡°It¡¯s me. Brother Jiang Hui, I¡¯m here.¡±


    Ling Lan nodded at Ye Shao. Then, she nodded at Light and Dark Dragon to expressed that she was grateful to them for what they did.


    Light and Dark Dragon heaved a sigh of relief and then gave a rxed smile. They were really lucky. Now with Ling Lan on their side, they didn¡¯t have to be frightened of the three kings of the Chaotic Lands.


    Frost Monarch gripped his ice walking stick firmly and the ice walking stick suddenly made a low humming sound. His gaze turned cold. He persuaded Ling Lan nicely because he didn¡¯t want to create more trouble. It wasn¡¯t because he was afraid of her. But since the other party didn¡¯t want to let go of this matter, he wasn¡¯t afraid of fighting with Ling Lan too.


    Boom! The entire space started vibrating. Ye Shao, and Dibi Luya almost got injured by the vibrations. The two children in their hands got knocked unconscious and blood was flowing down from their facial orifices.


    A huge and frightening ice mountain had appeared behind them. No, there were two ice mountains. Cold air oozed out of the ice mountains, turning the entire ce misty from the cold.


    Even domain realm masters like Ye Shao and Dibi Luya couldn¡¯t help but shiver from the cold. The two children in their hands were almost frozen. If they didn¡¯t get away from this ce soon, the two children might freeze to death.


    ¡°Run as far away as you can.¡± A familiar voice sounded beside Ye Shao and Dibi Luya¡¯s ears. It was Ling Lan. She had helped them to block Frost Monarch¡¯s lethal attack.


    The two people didn¡¯t dare to waste any time and quickly retreated with the children.


    The three kings couldn¡¯t stop them, as they had people in front of them who were of higher priority.


    However, as the underground kings of the Chaotic Lands, they had many subordinates under them. They ordered their subordinates to chase after the children.


    Ling Lan and the people on her side couldn¡¯t stop those people too.


    The three kings looked satisfied when they saw many domain realm masters chasing after Ye Shao and Dibi Luya. Light and Dark Dragon were worried. But, they quickly put down their worries, as their respective opponents, Hades and Ninja, had started attacking them.


    As for Ling Lan, she had already asked Little Four to inform herrades to help Ye Shao and Dibi Luya after they finished their missions.


    Soon, only the six strongest domain realm masters were left in this ruined auction atrium.


    Ling Lan and Frost Monarch were fighting with each other by firing ice mountains in full alert. Both of them knew that each other was waiting for an opportunity tounch a lethal blow.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were filled with excitement and fighting spirit. After advancing to the domain stage, this was the first time she met such a powerful opponent. Frost Monarch was half step to imperial stage. In terms of experience and understanding of their domain, he was better than her in both aspects. The collision of the ice mountains just now appeared as though they were of equal match but in actual fact, Ling Lan was weaker.


    The old and weak-looking Frost Monarch didn¡¯t move a single step during their fight. On the other hand, Ling Lan had to take half a step back to prevent herself from getting hurt internally. This half step proved the difference of their power.


    ¡°I have always thought that I¡¯ve reached a bottleneck and as long as I ovee this bottleneck, I can advance to imperial stage. However, I think that I might have underestimated the difficulty of achieving the imperial stage.¡± Ling Lan thought to herself. ¡°Frost Monarch has a deeper understanding of ice element and yet he is still unable to breakthrough to the imperial stage. It looks like I have a long way ahead of myself.¡±


    Ling Lan observed Frost Monarch¡¯s ice element domain carefully. Since their domains were the same, the things Ling Lan could learn from him were greater. The way he used his domain gave her new inspiration for her own.


    At this moment, Frost Monarch looked up and multiple ice needles appeared in the cold air.


    The ice needles shot towards Ling Lan. In response, Ling Lan pped her hands together and ice walls were formed around her.


    Ice shards started flying everyone when the ice needles stabbed into the ice walls, which resulted in cracks appearing on the ice walls.


    Ling Lan frowned as she heard the sound of something breaking. Her ice walls couldn¡¯t withstand the pressure from the ice needles and had copsed, revealing a huge hole pierced ice needles where Ling Lan was standing moments ago.


    Not far away, a wisp of cold air congregated into a human figure. Ling Lan appeared there.


    When Ling Lan noticed that her ice walls were unable to withstand Frost Monarch¡¯s volley of ice needles, she instantly changed her body into ice particles and dispersed into the air. Then, she congregated in another area. This was the first time she appeared so haggard in a fight that she had no choice but to escape like this.

 Chapter 995 - Disciple!

    <h4>Chapter 995 Disciple!</h4>


    At that moment, the cold air around Ling Lan suddenly froze, forming two ice dragons. Then, the ice dragons seemed to be infused with life force as it opened their maws and attempted to bite her.


    Ling Lan frowned when she felt the cold air beside her freezing. In response, two ice spikes appeared behind her and pierced the ice dragons that were rushing towards her.


    Suddenly, Ling Lan¡¯s chest got pierced by an ice de from her back.


    An old and wrinkled face slowly appeared on the de of the ice de. Frost Monarch¡¯s face slowly formed in front of Ling Lan. On the spot where he used to be standing, there was just a melted ice statue.


    However, Ling Lan also turned into an ice statue the moment she got stabbed.


    When Frost Monarch realized what he pierced wasn¡¯t Ling Lan, his expression turned from one of satisfaction to one of seriousness and an ice shield was quickly formed behind him.


    Bang! A sharp ice de stabbed into the shield.


    Ling Lan¡¯s body appeared again. This time however, she was behind Frost Monarch. Then, countless afterimages was seen flying between the two.


    In a blink of an eye, the two of them had exchanged many blows.


    ¡°Cough!¡± Frost Monarch¡¯s face turned slightly pale. The massive and continuous drain of his domain energy was a little too much for him to handle.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to be able to change between states easily.¡± Frost Monarch was surprised.


    Between the three kings, he was the only one of the three who had managed to get a full grasp of all of the states of his element. Hades and Ninja still had some problems when changing the states of their element, as they still couldn¡¯t transition their states freely as him yet. The fact that they couldn¡¯t transition between their states freely wouldn¡¯t be noticeable to most people but for powerful people like him, it was an obvious loophole.


    Many imperial stage domain experts who came to the Chaotic Lands proudly were killed by him because he made use of this loophole.


    Thinking that this battle would just be a repeat of his previous battles against imperial stage domain expert, he used the same tactic he used against many of his past opponents at Ling Lan. However this time, he met a difficult opponent.


    Frost Monarch started to be serious now. He finally took Ling Lan as a real opponent now.


    ¡°I¡¯m just curious. How did you discover my force of presence?¡± Frost Monarch revealed his query. He had merged his force of presence with the cold air around him perfectly, leaving almost no traces behind. This was his domain technique. He was able to merge with his ice element seamlessly which had allowed him to kill innumerable people in the past.


    ¡°No matter how perfect a disguise is, it¡¯s still a disguise. There will still be a difference.¡± Ling Lan couldn¡¯t tell him that this was her innate talent that discovered him. She was able to ¡®see¡¯ the danger with her Profound Insight so she reacted ordingly.


    It had to be said that Ling Lan¡¯s Profound Insight allowed her to escape many dangers. It was her ultimate trump card during crucial moments.


    Unfortunately, Profound Insight was a naughty innate talent. Ling Lan had tried to understand her innate talent many times so that she could use it better but Profound Insight never gave her a chance to understand it.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t make herself clear but Frost Monarch knew that his technique must have loopholes in it.


    ¡°This battle with you allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the ice element. If you continue to exist, I might be able to enter the imperial stage sooner than I expected. Unfortunately, in the Chaotic Lands, we never allow anyone who threatens our position to exist.¡± Frost Monarch had a look of pity. Simultaneously, killing intent could be seen in his eyes.


    The more outstanding Ling Lan was, the more he wanted to kill her. Frost Monarch knew that if he didn¡¯t kill this young man today, he would be stronger than him in the future. He could learn a lot from this battle but this young man in front of him could do so too. Because of his young age, his opponent might even benefit more than him.


    If Ling Lan was given more time, she would be able to catch up with Frost Monarch. Frost Monarch even suspected that his opponent had a higher chance of entering the imperial stage than him.


    Such a threat must be removed as early as possible.


    Frost Monarch became merciless in his attacks once he decided to kill Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan felt the ice element around her getting out of control. Earlier in the fight, she already had this feeling. However, she managed to just resolve it. But, this feeling came back even stronger.


    Ling Lan tried to control the ice elements, but the ice elements were rejecting her. She had lost control of the ice elements.


    Frost Monarch¡¯s wrinkled face turned hideous. An ice dragon quickly materialized around Ling Lan and moved to constrict her. Multiple ice needles also appeared in the air and shot towards Ling Lan who couldn¡¯t move anymore.


    Ling Lan turned serious, as her ability to change into ice particles was sealed by her opponent. It was now impossible for her to escape by just changing into ice particles. This was the most dangerous situation she was in since the assassination at the Scout Academy. Ling Lan felt that she was very close to the doors of hell. This feeling was even stronger than the assassination at the Scout Academy.


    ¡®This is his goal from the start!¡¯ Ling Lan finally understood how frightening Frost Monarch was.


    Now, she needed to think of a way to survive.


    Malicious intent quickly shed past her eyes. Her spiritual power, which she had been restraining all these while, exploded.


    ¡°Heptashield!¡±


    Although the ice element around her was controlled by her opponent, she was still able to retaliate back. The techniques from the Divine Command sect, which she had been hiding all these while, was finally revealed to the world.


    The strong spiritual power exuding off her caused the ice dragon that was tying her up to disperse almost immediately. The ice needles that were flying towards her dropped to the ground after hitting the Heptashield.


    Some of the needles even bounced back towards Frost Monarch.


    In response, the Frost Monarch blew lightly in front of him. The needles that bounced back got blown to the ground.


    Ling Lan used her Divine Command sect technique to counter Frost Monarch¡¯s technique. She thought that her opponent would continue attacking her but he surprisingly didn¡¯t. He was just looking at her strangely.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know you are his disciple.¡± Frost Monarch held his ice stick tightly. He seemed to be recalling some memories.


    ¡°How is Mu Shui-qing?¡± Frost Monarch asked.


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. ¡°You know my master?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re indeed his disciple.¡± Frost Monarch appeared enlightened. ¡°Well, he is the only person who can groom such an outstanding disciple like you.¡±


    ¡°Are you close to my master?¡± Frost Monarch sounded as though he was close to Mu Shui-qing. However, the sense of danger in Ling Lan¡¯s heart just grew stronger. She turned even more vignt.


    en


    ¡°Of course! We studied in the same Scout Academy and even sat next to each other!¡± Frost Monarch seemed to be immersed in his memories.


    Frost Monarch was from the Federation too? But, why would a powerful person like hime to the Chaotic Lands and be a king here?


    ¡°That year, that block of wood (nickname for Mu Shui-qing) told me that I¡¯ll stop at the imperial stage if I continue my method of practicing. I didn¡¯t expect him to be right.¡± Frost Monarch appeared frustrated. They had the same amount of potential in the past but they chose different cultivation paths. In the end, Mu Shui-qing managed to enter god-realm and be one of the only two god-realm formidable warriors in the human universe. On the other hand, he got stuck as a titled domain realm formidable warrior for many years. Frost Monarch felt that he was a failure as he recalled his past.

 Chapter 996 - Test!

    <h4>Chapter 996 Test!</h4>


    ¡°Bastard, since he said that I¡¯ll stop at the imperial stage, then why can¡¯t I advance to imperial stage even after so many years?¡± Frost Monarch¡¯s expression turned wild. He looked at Ling Lan with bloodshot eyes. He gritted his teeth and said, ¡°Mu Shui-qing is a god-realm formidable warrior now. You managed to be half step into imperial stage at a young age because you know the secret of advancing to imperial stage, right?¡±


    Frost Monarch found an excuse for his failure. He lost to Mu Shui-qing not because Mu Shui-qing was stronger than him. It was because he knew a shortcut.


    ¡°Damn it, why didn¡¯t he tell me?¡± Frost Monarch shouted angrily. He felt that he was fooled by Mu Shui-qing.


    Ling Lan took a step back cautiously when she saw Frost Monarch turning crazy. Luckily, the Heptashield protected her seamlessly.


    Frost Monarch was really driven mad by his own thoughts. His mind was filled with murderous intent. ¡°Since you fooled me, don¡¯t me me for being merciless. I¡¯ll destroy your disciple and end your legacy. Hahaha...¡±


    Frost Monarchughed crazily. His wrinkled face shook as heughed. Amidst his crazyughter, the sky suddenly turned dark.


    A wall of blue ice appeared above them and was getting thicker slowly. The thicker it got, the darker the color. The light that was able to shine through it got dimmer and dimmer too. Not only that, the same wall of ice appeared on the ground a few meters away.


    In an instant, Ling Lan and Frost Monarch were enclosed in an ice box. Only the ice element existed in this box.


    By right, an ice element domain realm master should love an enclosed space filled with ice elements. However, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t happy about this at all, as she was in grave danger. The ice element in this space couldn¡¯t be controlled by her. That meant that she was rejected by the ice element in this space.


    ¡°This is Frost Monarch¡¯s domain territory.¡± This was the only exnation for this phenomenon.


    Not only was Ling Lan able to understand how it felt to be discriminated against by the ice element that had always adored her, but she also felt the drain on her spiritual power which was maintaining the Heptashield, as the amount of spiritual power she used to maintain the Heptashield for another second was double of what she used the second before. That meant that she would use more and more spiritual power as time passed by.


    It looked like this world discriminated against other forms of energy too.


    Ling Lan frowned. Her spiritual power was strong and ample but it couldn¡¯t withstand such a depletion rate. If this continued on, her spiritual power would be exhausted in less than 10 minutes.


    Rather than waiting for her spiritual power to be depleted, she would take the risk!


    Ling Lan was a ruthless person, whether to herself or to other people.


    She let go of her Heptashield and released all her spiritual power.


    ¡°Spiritual st!¡±


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!


    Multiple explosions urred in the ice box. The spiritual st impacted the domain territory heavily.


    ¡°Pfft!¡± Ling Lan and Frost Monarch vomited out blood simultaneously. Their faces went pale too.


    Ling Lan used her spiritual st to hurt Frost Monarch. However, she received a bacsh too. Frost Monarch¡¯s ice box was unable to withstand the force from all the spiritual st so the remaining damage was sustained by Frost Monarch.


    ¡°This is your trump card?¡± Blood kept dripping down the corner of his mouth, showing that he was injured heavily. ¡°Mu Shui-qing¡¯s disciple is only capable of this?¡±


    He suddenly straightened his hunched back. He waved his ice walking stick and shouted, ¡°Die!¡± His face had turned hideous from his anger.


    Six walls of ice quickly formed all around Ling Lan. They started closing in on her from six different directions.


    Ling Lan wanted to move but she realized that she couldn¡¯t. She could only watch as the six ice walls moved towards her and trapped her inside.


    There seemed to be an unlimited amount of ice particles in this ce. The walls of ice around Ling Lan got thicker. She was sessfully trapped inside.


    Ling Lan felt that it was getting harder to breathe. She never felt cold before but now she felt the coldness seeping into her skin. It reached into her bones.


    She never expected herself to die by the ice element. For some reason, Ling Lan didn¡¯t think about how to survive. She was just astounded that she was trapped by her own element.


    ¡°Boss, stop wasting time. Think about your other innate talent.¡± Little Four stomped his foot anxiously.


    ¡°Ah!¡± The moment he finished speaking, he suddenly fell backwards and disappeared from Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape.


    Little Four appeared on top of a mountain. He lowered his head and twirled his fingers helplessly. ¡®Sob, can I leave this ce? I don¡¯t want to face that scary instructor!¡¯


    Unfortunately, Little Four¡¯s wish was not fulfilled. He was the virtual god and the owner of the main chip that made up this space, but there were still people he was afraid of. Ling Lan was one of them but the person Little Four was most afraid of was Number One. In front of Number One, Little Four¡¯s naughty brain would turn off automatically and be very obedient.


    ¡°What did you promise?¡± Number One looked at him and asked calmly.


    ¡°I won¡¯t interfere with Boss¡¯s evolution,¡± Little Four lowered his head and replied.


    ¡°How many times did you break this promise?¡± Number One continued asking.


    Little Four thought carefully and cautiously raised one finger. He said in a soft voice, ¡°Once?¡±


    Number One continued to look at him coldly. Little Four quickly raised another finger. ¡°Twice?¡±


    When he saw Number One still ring at him, he lifted the third finger and said dejectedly, ¡°Since I was wrong, it must be three times.¡±


    Number One lowered his gaze and answered indifferently, ¡°Your memory is not bad after all.¡±


    Little Four heaved a sigh of relief after Number One stopped ring at him. ¡®Sob, who said that Boss¡¯s aura can freeze people to death? Compared to Number One, Boss was as warm as the sun in spring.¡¯


    ¡°For the sake of Ling Lan, don¡¯t interfere with her evolution next time. She needed to move forward on her own.¡± Number One waved his hand after he finished speaking. Little Four flew out of Number One¡¯s space and got locked up in a little ck room.


    ¡°You¡¯ll be confined for three hours.¡± A cold voice sounded beside Little Four¡¯s ears.


    Little Four¡¯s reminder to Ling Lan caught Number One¡¯s attention so he decided to lock Little Four up for the time being.


    ¡°Ah, let me out! Boss is in danger.¡± Little Four, who was very obedient all these while, turned agitated. He started pping the walls around him.


    ¡°This is a test for her. None of us can help her.¡± Number One¡¯s voice was heard again. After that, no matter how much fuss Little Four kicked up, no one answered him.

 Chapter 997 - Another Innate Talent?

    <strong>Chapter 997 Another Innate Talent?</strong>


    ¡°A second innate talent?¡± In the real world, Little Four was prompted by Ling Lan and she began to think about this deeply.


    Her other innate talent was Profound Insight and could be used to alert her of dangers. It could also see ws in a technique and could even help predetermine attacks.


    However now, her Profound Insight didn¡¯t react at all. Could it be that the Frost Monarch was close to bing an imperial stage domain expert which made her Profound Insight useless on him?


    Or perhaps she had never actually use her Profound Insight to its full potential and that was why she couldn¡¯t discover anything with it?


    Ling Lan opened her eyes and thought of a way of getting out of this dire situation.


    A cool blue color suddenly entered her eyes, but it blocked her vision. ¡®Can I not see anymore? Am I toote?¡¯


    The ice box was filled with the Frost Monarch¡¯s ice element domain energy. The ice element that did not belong to Ling Lan instantly invaded her eyes and wounded them. Ling Lan could only feel a sharp pain in her eyes. Now, she was even seeing a blood red liquid dripping down from the top of her vision.


    In all the redness, Ling Lan seemed to see a silhouette move about. She was overjoyed that she could finally see something and she quickly direct all of her domain energy towards her eyes.


    Finally, the fogginess that had blocked her vision finally began to clear up.


    But, what she saw wasn¡¯t what she expected. Ling Lan saw herself drawing herst breath in third person as if she was an audience to the scene in front of her. She also saw the Frost Monarchughing maniacally next to her body. She then saw Light and Dark Dragon escaping from the auction hall. She them saw herrades rushing towards Frost Monarch and the other two king after seeing her dead. They were unsurprisingly all blown back in one attack and in the end, all perished.


    No, there were a few who managed to get away with their lives: The beautiful Luo Lang and Luo Chao, along with the elegant Li Lanfeng. Their overwhelming beauty allowed them escape with their lives. However, they faced a fate much worse than death, as they were tragically used as ves by those three people...


    Not able to withstand being shamed, Luo Chaomitted suicide in the end. Luo Lang attempted to take the life of the person who shamed him, but failed and was killed instead. Li Lanfeng on the other hand endured the shame and embarrassment and survived. In the end, he sessfully killed all of his enemies by plotting against them in the far future, helping avenge the death of hisrades. Then, Li Lanfeng became a marshal who controlled three divisions and caused great bloodshed in the human universe.


    ¡®Is this the results of her death?¡¯ Ling Lan felt her heart was being ruthlessly battered by someone, causing her to be in great pain.


    In a battle of life-or-death, she was not as strong as the other person so she didn¡¯t regret dying. However, she definitely couldn¡¯t ept that after she dies, herrades would all perish. Their endings were either be shamed, humiliated, die a brutal death or live tragically, none of them were able to live a good life after her death.


    ¡®I can¡¯t die!¡¯ This thought appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s mind.


    ¡®Who cares if the ice element doesn¡¯t listen to mymand? I, Ling Lan, never had only one way to control my element up in my sleeves.¡¯


    Perhaps it was because her eyes had felt Ling Lan¡¯s strong will to continue living, the images that appeared before her vanished in an instant.


    This time, Ling Lan just saw countless ice particles in front of her. Normally, her ice element would let Ling Lan feel grouped ice particles. She wouldn¡¯t be able to see them individually and could only use her domain energy to condense them together. This time however, she could see the ice particles. They were actually filled with emotions. There was suspicion, rejection, doubt, joy and even those that wanted to get close to her.


    However, the ice particles that wanted to get close to her were heartlessly sent back by a foreign domain energy. Ling Lan seemed to be able to hear the cries of agony of the ice element and feel their pain. She could even feel their desire of wanting to return to her.


    ¡°That¡¯s my own ice particles!¡± Ling Lan had a sudden realization. Her ice particles was still in this space and was only blocked off by the Frost Monarch¡¯s stronger domain energy.


    Ling Lan would, of course, not just sit around since she knew those ice particles were her own. She released her domain energy and got closer to those ice particles that were being friendly and had good feelings towards her.


    Bam! Bam!


    After feeling that another domain energy approaching, the Frost Monarch¡¯s domain energy began to surround Ling Lan¡¯s domain energy. His domain energy didn¡¯t allow the ice particles that belonged to her to get close to her.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± Ling Lan, who was originally already at her limit, was wounded again by another attack from Frost Monarch, who was just looking at the scene in front of him, and she could not help but spit out a mouthful of blood from the attack.


    ¡®Damned domain energy! Leave me alone!¡¯ Ling Lan shouted in her mind. She wanted the domain energy that was blocking her topletely disappear.


    Refusal? Disappear? Or Disintegrate?


    Suddenly, three choices appeared inside Ling Lan¡¯s mind.


    Ling Lan stared nkly for a moment, but immediately realized something. This was the domain of her evolving Profound Insight. Her choice would determine the direction her Profound Insight domain would evolve into.


    ¡®What should I choose?¡¯ Ling Lan couldn¡¯t make a decision.


    Since she didn¡¯t know, then she should pick what she needed the most right at this moment.


    ¡®Refusal¡¯ was probably to reject the opponent¡¯s domain energy and create a space where she could protect herself.


    ¡®Disappear¡¯ was probably to cause her opponent¡¯s domain energy to disappear and let her gain back control of the ice element?


    Then what was ¡®Disintegrate? Was it to disintegrate the opponent¡¯s domain?


    By categorizing the choices in that way, Disappear and Disintegrate had simr results. However, since they were different choices, then the oue should still have some differences. As for Refusal, Ling Lan¡¯s intuition told her that it wasn¡¯t enough to satisfy her wish so she tossed this option aside.


    In the end, her options were either Disappear or Disintegrate.


    Just looking at the name, ¡®Disappear¡¯ seemed stronger, but....Ling Lan was a realistic person so she chose, ¡°Disintegrate!¡±


    When Ling Lan had made her decision, she saw the ice box that sealed her slowly melted around her. The Frost Monarch¡¯s domain was being disintegrated.


    ¡®Disintegrate¡¯ was as expected the meaning of the word. It couldpletely disintegrate any domain that was forced on her by her opponents.


    The Frost Monarch who was proudly waiting for Ling Lan to breathe herst breath within the ice box. Suddenly, he felt that he was no longer in control of his domain. Then, he saw thatrge ice box around him was beginning to melt with the water flowing out uncontrobly.


    ¡°That¡¯s not possible.¡± This was in his domain and only he had his energy within it. His opponent¡¯s domain energy was already suppressed by him, so it shouldn¡¯t be able to appear in it.


    However, even with his doubts the ice coffin still continued to melt around him. Then, he looked at the standing Ling Lan whose face was facing towards the floor.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes suddenly opened and killing intent shed within her eyes.


    Frost Monarch¡¯s domain began to crumble. The ice walls in the sky, on the ground, front, back, left and right side all cracked up, fell to the ground and melted.


    ¡°Taking all of the energy that did not belong to me!¡¯ The innate talent Profound Insight was as expected one of the best talents in the history of the human race.


    Ling Lannded on the ground slowly with her ck windbreaker slowly flowing in the wind.


    ¡°Frost Monarch, I¡¯ve already seen your ultimate technique. Now, it¡¯s only fair you see mine as well,¡± Ling Lan said calmly as she raised her hands and held them at her chest.


    Right as she finished speaking, Ling Lan¡¯s hands sped together and countless ice pirs were erected from the ground around them. At the same time, a string like sound began to rang in the space. There was also a sharp screeching noise as though there was someone pulling the string on an instrument forcefully.

 Chapter 998 - Kill Them All!

    <strong>Chapter 998 Kill Them All!</strong>


    Frost Monarch¡¯s facial expression seemed stiff. That was because he saw the space around him was being aligned with countless ice fibers crisscrossing all over each other, creating a seemingly inescapable area.


    What worried Frost Monarch most was that his domain could no longer appeared in this area, meaning that he wouldn¡¯t be able to use his domain to protect himself.


    If he had used his overpowering domain against Ling Lan andpletely restricted Ling Lan¡¯s domain in the very beginning, then he wouldn¡¯t have been in this situation. The person who had control would not have been Ling Lan, but him instead.


    Frost Monarch felt that something would go terribly wrong if he continued to stay within the area. He instantly turned himself ice particles with the intention of wanting to leave the area that was gave him an ominous feeling to his very core.


    When ice particles congregated back into his body, he was stunned to discover that he was still in the area with the ice slivers. He couldn¡¯t even get away after turning his body¡¯s state. How was that possible?


    It should be known that he actually didn¡¯t even feel like he was captured. Although his domain could no longer appear, his domain energy from within his body was not hindered at all.


    Ling Lan smirked when she saw Frost Monarch be dumbfounded by situation. She was the only one who knew why he was in that situation. It was because her Profound Insight domain had already wrapped around the entire ice domain. In other words, his domain energy that was seemingly able to go out of his body was enveloped by an even stronger domain energy.


    Ling Lan¡¯s domain couldpletely disintegrate domains, elements, and energies that did not belong to Ling Lan in the area. Thus, no matter how many times the Frost Monarch tried to will the ice particles to escape, he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from the Profound Insight domain.


    Not only that, the disintegration domain energy of the Profound Insight domain would also slowly seep into the Frost Monarch¡¯s body. By then, even if he wanted to change into ice particles, he wouldn¡¯t be able to do that anymore unless he sessfully escape her domain.


    However, was that even possible? Ling Lan smirked and a breeze of chilly wind slowly blew past her. Ever since she saw the future after her death, she didn¡¯t want these three kings to continue on living.


    ¡°Kill them all!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s facial expression was calm but her eyes betrayed her, as they were burning with mes of anger. She reached out her hand to the sky and then clenched together as she brought it down.


    Innumerable ice slivers inched towards Frost Monarch from all directions with each movement creating a screeching noise. In the beginning of the fight, Frost Monarch had sealed Ling Lan in an ice box so Ling Lan now, was repaying her debt. She used the ice slivers to creates, then casting them one after another at Frost Monarch.


    ¡°Sh*t, break!¡± Thes wrapped around Frost Monarch¡¯s body tightly and slowly dug into his flesh, causing immense pain for Frost Monarch. In an attempt to break free from thes, he furiously tried to move his body but thes just dug deeper into his flesh with each struggle.


    However, the seemingly thins made of ice slivers were oddly strong. Although the Frost Monarch had broken off many of them, the speed at which he broke them was not as fast as the speed of thes were covering his entire body.


    ¡°AHH!¡± In the end, only a scream of agony was heard from Frost Monarch.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± A puddle of blood appeared on the ground of the ice sliver area. The Frost Monarch, who stood at the top of the Chaotic Lands, had disappeared from this world just like that.


    Ling Lan slowly restrained her killing intent. She then looked at the puddle of blood and said calmly, ¡°You understood the words of master wrongly. Master said you never had the chance to be an imperial... not that you can only be an imperial.¡±


    After saying that, she softly flicked her index finger and the ice slivers all around her turned back into ice particles. They glistened in the light before disappearing into the air.


    Ling Lan now finally had a chance the look towards Hades and Ninja who were fighting with Light and Dark Dragon. She discovered that the four of them had stopped their battle and were all looking at her with fear in their eyes.


    Ling Lan just sent a re towards them. Light and Dark Dragon both had scared expression on their faces. Hades and Ninja on the other hand just looked at each other with terrified expression on their faces. Then, the two of them decisively went towards two opposite directions and ran off.


    A person who could take out the Frost Monarch was definitely not an opponent they could defeat. In addition, Light and Dark Dragon were there too watching them closely. If they were to stay and fight, they would most definitely die there. Hades and Ninja weren¡¯t idiots. They didn¡¯t want to die there like Frost Monarch had.


    ¡°You want to leave? Come down here!¡± Seeing Hades was nning on running away, Ling Lan put out her right hand and reached out to grab him.


    An ice dragon was shot out her hand and bit into the leg of Hades.


    Hades was a decisive individual, as he decisively used his hand as a sword to cut off his own leg and quickly escaped, before disappearing from Ling Lan¡¯s vision.


    ¡°Sh*t, they actually got away.¡± Light and Dark Dragon were too slow. Ling Lan actually managed to grab onto Hades, but they two of them could only watch as Ninja escaped and didn¡¯t try to intercept him.


    Seeing that Hades was so ruthless to himself, Ling Lan frowned. It should be known that she had ordered herrades to destroy many of the bases that belonged to Hades. If Hades was to escape, then he would be a huge problem in the future.


    ¡°Little Four!¡± Ling Lan called out to Little Four in her mindscape.


    Number One, who had been watching Ling Lan¡¯s battle this whole time, heard Ling Lan¡¯s call and flicked his finger. He flicked Little Four, who was in the little ck room, back into Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape.


    Seeing Little Four hold his head with the eager expression of wanting to tell Ling Lan what he had done to him, Number One¡¯s thousand year icy cold expression actually warmed up a bit and there was just the slightest hint of a smile on his face.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t think that Ling Lan would actually manage to wield the most difficult evolution of Profound Insight, Future Sight! She also chose the corresponding domain to evolve... Now, her growth is something that even I cannot predict! Ling Lan, Ling Lan, just how many surprises do you n on giving me?¡±


    Number One had a satisfied expression on his face as he closed his eyes once again.


    In actuality, if Ling Lan did not acquire the domain from her Profound Insight during herst moments, Number One wouldn¡¯t actually let Ling Lan be killed by Frost Monarch... If she had actually reached the point where she would die, Number One would take over her body and make a move himself. After all, Ling Lan was his most prized disciple. How could a teacher watch on coldly as his disciple dies in front of him?


    Thus, from the very beginning, Little Four¡¯s fear and worry was all for nothing. However, Number One would never tell that to Little Four.


    Ye Shao and Dibi Luya took Qiao Xing and Liu Aihua and ran like mad like madmen. They knew that if the eight domain realm masters were to catch up to them, they would definitely die a gruesome death.


    Qiao Xing and Liu Aihua also knew that they were in a very dangerous moment so they bothid on the shoulders of the other two, not daring to move or make a sound. They were afraid that they would affect Ye Shao and Dibi Luya¡¯s escape if they disturbed them with their noises.


    However, no matter how fast they were running, how could theypare to the people who were chasing them without any excess baggage?


    Suddenly, a fireball and an earth spike simultaneously reached them from the air and ground respectively.


    Ye Shao and Dibi Luya felt danger approaching so they could only give up on moving forward and dashed towards the side.


    Bam! Bam!


    The two attacks missed, but they were also now surrounded by eight domain realm masters who had caught up to them.


    ¡°Haha, keep running, go on.¡± One of the more effeminate middle-aged men out of the group put out his hands in a feminine manner and smirked. It was indeed one of the first domain realm masters who had intercepted Ye Shao and Dibi Luya at the beginning.


    Ye Shao and Dibi Luya¡¯s expressions showed extreme anxiousness. They looked towards the direction they ran from and hoped that they would be able to see the silhouettes of Light and Dark Dragon. However, even after almost spraining their necks, they still couldn¡¯t see anything

 Chapter 999 - Hide!

    <h4>Chapter 999 Hide!</h4>


    ¡°Stop looking. Those two bastards won¡¯t be able to defeat Hades and Ninja. Plus, with Frost Monarch making a move, there will be no chance for them toe and save you. Anyone that dares toe and mess around in our territory will be killed, no exceptions,¡± a man in ck smiled arrogantly as he said.


    ¡°Give up. No one can save you.¡± The other domain realm masters rubbed their hands in excitement and anticipation. They loved the feeling of tearing flesh apart with their bare hands.


    Ye Shao, Dibi Luya, and Qiao Xing gave looks of despair, only Liu Aihua appeared puzzled as she looked at a certain direction.


    ¡°Uncle Liu, Liu Aihua¡¯s innate talent is pretty powerful. She even managed to notice us.¡± Azy voice sounded from the side.


    Everyone looked towards the direction of the sound in surprise. Six people had appeared without their realization.


    They all wore ck windbreakers with metal masks covering their faces. Some were sitting while others were standing or squatting as they looked at them in a rxed manner.


    ¡°Little Four Mercenary Team!¡± Ye Shao eximed in surprise. They didn¡¯t expect the members of the Little Four Mercenary Team to be here too. However, their opponents were domain realm masters. Weren¡¯t these people afraid of death? They were only at refinement or Qi-Jin stage.


    No, wait. Ye Shao and Dibi Luya remembered Jiang Hui¡¯s disy of his strength back in the auction hall. Then, they looked at how calm the members of the Little Four Mercenary Team were, and they seemed to have understood something.


    These people who just showed up were the members of the Little Four Mercenary Team who had justpleted their mission. But, where is the pet? Well, the pet had to protect the old and weak so it stayed behind at the main base.


    Well, the truth was, Little White was hungry so it went back to the base to eat.


    Liu Furong cupped his hands and bowed towards Ye Shao after he recognized them. ¡°Thank you for saving my daughter.¡±


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t here so everyone recognized Liu Furong as the leader of this rescue mission. His daughter got implicated in this matter so he became their spokesman.


    This was when Ye Shao knew that the little girl he was carrying was the daughter of this middle-aged man.


    He waved his hands hurriedly. ¡°It is our honour. Please there¡¯s no need to thank me.¡± If it wasn¡¯t for their leader, he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from the auction hall too.


    ¡°My little girl is too naughty. It¡¯s my fault. I didn¡¯t teach her properly.¡± Liu Furong turned and red at Liu Aihua. ¡°Little Aihua, do you know your mistake?¡±


    Liu Aihua looked at her father. She was finally able to rx now. The tears that she had been withholding fell down and she finally cried loudly. ¡°Sob... I know my mistake, daddy.¡±


    If she didn¡¯t leave the big brothers¡¯ protection, she wouldn¡¯t have been abducted. Liu Aihua endured much suffering this time so she finally understood that if she didn¡¯t have the power to protect herself, she couldn¡¯t do whatever she wanted.


    Hence, the thought of bing stronger was deeply imprinted in her heart. From this moment, Little Aihua had stepped on the path of bing a powerful warrior.


    Xie Yi, who was sitting on a crate, consoled Liu Aihua when he saw how sad she was. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Everything is fine now.¡± He turned to look at Liu Furong and spoke up for Liu Aihua. ¡°You can¡¯t me her too much. If those people didn¡¯t have evil intentions, this wouldn¡¯t have happened in the first ce.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not true...¡± Liu Furong shook his head. ¡°The Chaotic Lands is a ce full of crimes and havoc. How can we let down out guards here? A mistake is a mistake. There¡¯s no excuse for it.¡± Just like how they let down their guards when they came here. They made a mistake too. They couldn¡¯t push the me.


    Everyone understood what Liu Furong¡¯s words meant so they turned quiet.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± The leader of the group of domain realm masters was furious when he saw the members from the Little Four Mercenary Team talking among themselves as though they were non-existent.


    ¡°Us?¡± Qi Long looked up and said seriously, ¡°We are here to kill you.¡± Since they knew that these were the people who abducted Little Aihua, they must follow Boss¡¯s order and kill all of them.


    ¡°Hahaha...¡± The leader of the group of domain realm masters was so angry that he startedughing. ¡°Insolent bunch of youngsters.¡± His face turned cold. ¡°In that case, die.¡±


    The instant he finished speaking, all the domain realm masters released their domain energy and rushed towards Qi Long and others. Qi Long¡¯s words had provoked them. Because of this, they ignored their target, Ye Shao and Dibi Luya.


    Ye Shao and Dibi Luya quickly threw Liu Aihua and Qiao Xing towards Liu Furong before they rushed forward and attacked the two domain realm masters who were charging at Liu Furong.


    No matter what, they came here to help them. In such moments of danger, they couldn¡¯t leave them alone and run away. Plus, they didn¡¯t really trust the abilities of the members from the Little Four Mercenary Team. Even if they had a high chance of dying, they would rather fight with their enemies themselves than to let the Little Four Mercenary die while trying to save them.


    They only hoped that the oldest person in the team, who was the father of the little girl, would grab the opportunity they created and leave with the little girl and their young master.


    As long as their young master was able to escape, they were willing to die here. Ye Shao and Dibi Luya were prepared to die with their pursuers.


    Liu Furong saw Ye Shao and Dibi Luya throwing the children at him so he quickly waved his hands in the air and multiple green vines shot out, forming two huges in the air. The two childrennded in thes safely. After that, nts spurted up from the ground and pushed thes behind Liu Furong, away from the center of the fight.


    Liu Furong wasn¡¯t the only one who activated his domain. The other five members activated their domains too. The eight domain realm masters who rushed towards them were shocked. But, they immediately calmed down afterwards.


    Ye Shao and Dibi Luya were stunned too. They thought that they had hidden their true powers well but they didn¡¯t expect the people from Little Four Mercenary Team to be even better at them in terms of disguise. There were six domain realm masters in their teams. Even an S grade Mercenary Team wouldn¡¯t have such a powerful team.


    They couldn¡¯t help but suspect that the Little Four Mercenary Team was an SSS grade team in disguise. However, they remembered the information they got from President Tu and knew that the Little Four Mercenary Team was really a newly formed mercenary team.


    Ye Shao and Dibi Luya felt dizzy. If they weren¡¯t fighting, they would have grabbed a member and questioned him about their real identity.


    All in all, the presence of the Little Four Mercenary Team didn¡¯t make sense at all.

 Chapter 1000 - Condition!

    <h4>Chapter 1000 Condition!</h4>


    It had to be said that under the harsh training from Ling Lan, the domain realm masters in Little Four Mercenary Team were more powerful than the average domain realm masters. Besides Zhao Jun who was new to the domain stage, the other five people finished off their opponents in no time.


    Liu Furong controlled his nts and sucked out all the life force from his opponents. His opponents became green men with nts growing all around their bodies.


    He thought that he was the fastest to finish off his opponents but when he retracted his domain, he realized that Li Lanfeng, Luo Lang, Qi Long, and Xie Yi had already ended their battle and were watching Zhao Jun¡¯s first match using his domain. They were pointing at him and discussing something.


    Liu Aihua and Qiao Xing sat obediently on the sidelines. Liu Aihua waspletely rxed now. When she noticed that her father had finished his fight, she waved at him happily. Qiao Xing, on the other hand, appeared tense. However, he was much calmer than before. He would look at Qi Long and others asionally with admiration and puzzlement.


    Liu Furong came beside Liu Aihua and patted her head lovingly. Then, he looked at everyone and asked, ¡°How is Zhao Jun doing?¡±


    ¡°Not bad but, he made some low-level mistakes,¡± Xie Yi smiled and replied.


    ¡°You sound as though you never made mistakes during your first fight.¡± Luo Lang rolled his eyes at Xie Yi. This was a scene that all of them had participated in before. However, their first opponents were at the pseudo domain stage and Boss was beside them so they didn¡¯t need to be as stressed as Zhao Jun. They were able to get the hang of their domains without worry and even managed to find their first domain technique.


    ¡°If he can¡¯t find his domain technique, Zhao Jun will have a really stalled out fight.¡± Qi Long saw how much pressure Zhao Jun was under so he was worried for him.


    ¡°However, he spent quite a while at the Qi-Jin stage so it shouldn¡¯t take him too long to find his technique.¡± Li Lanfeng was confident in Zhao Jun.


    The four people were watching at the side but their domains were all activated. If it ever came to a time when Zhao Jun couldn¡¯t handle his opponent, they would step in and help him.


    Liu Furong felt sad when he saw how hard Zhao Jun was fighting while enduring so many hits to his body and face. He remembered the time when he first used his domain energy in a fight. Although his regimentmander was right beside him, it was safe to say that fight was one of the most dangerous fights he took part in. He was almost killed by his opponent and was tortured until he was half-dead but his regimentmander still didn¡¯t do anything to help him. He just stood at the side and watched him heartlessly.


    Ye Shao finally killed his opponent after reaching his limits so his domain copsed the instant he finished his battle. He sat on the ground and panted heavily. If his opponent¡¯s domain was just a little more powerful, he would have lost this match.


    He looked at his side and Dibi Luya was still fighting. Ye Shao¡¯s element was metal so his offensive power was greater than his opponent whose element was water. Hence, he finished his fight quicker than Dibi Luya. Dibi Luya however, was quite unlucky. He met an earth element domain realm master whose defenses were strong and unrelenting, resulting in a battle of attrition. The person who would win would be the one who was able tost longer.


    Ye Shao wanted to check up on the conditions of the members from the Little Four Mercenary Team. But, he just saw five of them standing at the side and chatting among themselves casually. They didn¡¯t seem tired at all. Ye Shao was astounded. He exhausted all his energy just to barely defeat his opponent. Dibi Luya was probably in the same situation as him. He didn¡¯t believe that they somehow managed to face the two most powerful domain realm masters among this bunch of domain realm master. The only exnation was, these people in front of him chatting were much more powerful than Dibi Luya and him.


    These were a bunch of titled domain realm formidable warriors. As their leader, Jiang Hui... If he dared to stay back to fight Frost Monarch, it meant that he was near the imperial stage, right?


    Imperial stage domain expert! There were only nine people who had managed to advance to the imperial stage in the human world. Of course, there might be some powerful people who hid their identities. Was Jiang Hui going to join them soon?


    Ye Shao started to respect the young Jiang Hui.


    At this moment, Ling Lan had asked Little Four to find where Hades and Ninja were hiding. She then told Light and Dark Dragon where Ninja was and took off to look for Hades herself.


    Compared to Ninja, Hades was more of a threat to their mercenary team. Hence, Ling Lan chose him as her target.


    The moment Hades returned to his base, the base was already in a mess. He grabbed one of his subordinates and asked fiercely, ¡°What happened here?¡±


    ¡°Hades, there was a rumour going about saying that Frost Monarch is dead so everyone is running away,¡± his subordinate said anxiously.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± Hades got hurt by Ling Lan so he was burning with anger already. When he heard what this person said, his anger exploded and he squeezed the person to death. The person didn¡¯t even have the time to scream before he died.


    ¡°How dare you betray me. Die!¡± Hades got enraged when he saw his subordinates running away. He lost his senses and started wantonly killing his subordinates.


    Suddenly, he felt something and his expression changed to one of fear. The crazy killing intent quickly disappeared. He couldn¡¯t care less about his subordinates anymore as he quickly rushed into the depth of his base.


    Ling Lannded on the ce where Hades was at just moments ago. She saw the sea of blood left behind by Hades and frowned. She then chased after Hades without hesitation. She mustn¡¯t let such a crazy person escape, as he would be a huge threat to her in the future.


    Hades escaped into the depth of his base. After that, he activated the defensive system of his base before feeling more rxed.


    He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. Then, he entered the hall in front of him.


    There were three people sitting in the hall. One of them was a young man with an earnest smile. There was also an elder with ck hair and a youthful face,stly there was a muscr man with radiant skin.


    Hades flew into the hall and sat on the host¡¯s seat. He looked at the three people in the hall and said, ¡°I agree to your proposal. However, there is one condition. You must help me to kill the person who is chasing me.¡±


    The young man smiled and shook his head. ¡°Hades, times are different now. What we said before is not relevant now.¡± He looked at Hades¡¯s chopped leg.


    ¡°You!¡± Hades was indignant. These people were taking advantage of his plight. However, he thought of Ling Lan and controlled his anger. Without Frost Monarch, he needed these three people¡¯s help if he wanted to kill Ling Lan.


    ¡°What is your criteria then?¡± Where there is life there is hope. Hades took a deep breath before asking


    ¡°Hades Pce will merge with Soul Society unconditionally,¡± the young man said calmly.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± Hades mmed his hands on the coffee table beside him and the coffee table shattered into pieces.

 Chapter 1001 - Sneak Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 1001 Sneak Attack!</h4>


    ¡°Hades, you don¡¯t have a choice. Frost Monarch is dead. Only we can keep you alive.¡± The other party had already gotten the news about Frost Monarch¡¯s death.


    Hades thought about the mess in his base. He finally knew who had leaked the news of Frost Monarch¡¯s death to his subordinates.


    ¡°Why did you do this?¡± Hades couldn¡¯t understand. By doing this, wouldn¡¯t they be lowering the cumtive strength of the Hades Pce?


    ¡°Soul Society only wants elites,¡± the young man replied. They didn¡¯t want people who would betray their organization during times of crisis. Hence, they made use of this news to clean these people up from the Hades Pce.


    Hades knew that they were just trying to reduce his power and affect his reputation at the same time. That way, when Hades Pce merged with Soul Society, Hades Pce would just be an empty name.


    He looked at the person¡¯s confident expression. They knew that he would... no he must agree to their request.


    Just as Hades was deliberating on his options, he heard an explosion and the entire hall started shaking.


    Hades knew that the person chasing him was here. He made a decision quickly. ¡°I agree to your request. However, you must help me kill this person first. If not, I won¡¯t give you the Hades Pce.¡±


    As long as he was alive, he would be able to create a new future in Soul Society.


    The young man nodded and turned to look at the youthful elder. The elder felt his gaze and opened his eyes slightly. He nodded at the young man. The young man replied, ¡°We ept your condition.¡±


    Hades heaved a sigh of relief.


    Since, the elder looked outside the door and said calmly, ¡°Since you¡¯re here, why don¡¯t youe in?¡±


    Hades¡¯ expression turned stiff. He didn¡¯t expect his opponent to find this ce so quickly. The defensive system of his base was known as the most powerful and high-tech defensive system in the Chaotic Lands. Yet, it wasn¡¯t able to slow his opponent down at all. Hades felt that he was scammed, as he paid a high price for a useless system.


    He didn¡¯t know that high-tech items or systems were of no use against Ling Lan, as she had the virtual god with her.


    A person with a metal mask and ck windbreaker appeared in front of them.


    When Hades saw Ling Lan, his expression turned sinister. He would have pounced on her if he wasn¡¯t afraid of her strength. He wanted to bite a piece of flesh off her to vent his anger.


    The elder was shocked when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s youthfulness. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to be so young. You¡¯re already half step into imperial stage... Frost Monarch ruled over the Chaotic Lands for so many years and yet he died at your hands. This is really... hai... times really don¡¯t wait for people.¡± He sighed as he was able to understand Frost Monarch¡¯s feelings at the moment of his death.


    The elder thought that Frost Monarch died in Ling Lan¡¯s hands because his old age had caused his ability to deteriorate.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t mind this misunderstanding. Just from the aura of the elder and the middle-aged man, they were more dangerous than Hades. Although they were not as powerful as Frost Monarch, they were not much weaker too.


    If there was only one of them, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t afraid. However, there were two. Ling Lan was in a kind of a predicament. Hence, she was happy that her opponent was underestimating her strength.


    ¡®If only I am able to operate a mecha.¡¯ Ling Lan sighed in her mind. Even if the person had advanced to imperial stage, she would be able to handle more than one of them with her imperial level mecha piloting.


    Unfortunately, it was forbidden to bring mechas into the Chaotic Lands so their mechas were stored at the port of the Chaotic Lands.


    This was why the Chaotic Lands were controlled by domain realm masters. There were people who wanted to bring their mechas into the Chaotic Lands but the Chaotic Lands had installed the extremely expensive Thunder System around theirnds. Once a mecha entered the atmosphere of the Chaotic Lands, the mecha operator would lose control of his mecha and be hit by thend defensive system.


    Ling Lan guessed that the three kings of the Chaotic Lands must have recognized the threat of mechas so they decided to spend a lot of money to buy this defensive system.


    This thought shed passed Ling Lan¡¯s mind. Ling Lan then heard the elder speaking in an amiable tone, ¡°Better to make friends than enemies. Little kid, let me be a mediator. Can you let go of Hades?¡±


    Ling Lan looked at Hades who face was filled with anger. She smiled and said, ¡°Even if I want to, Hades might not be willing.¡± The hatred of crippling him couldn¡¯t be gone with just a single sorry. Plus, Ling Lan never had the thought of letting Hades go.


    The elder nced at Hades and Hades just trembled under his gaze while his face went cold and numb.


    ¡°Hades will be willing to do as I say.¡± The elder retracted his gaze and said indifferently. ¡°Everything depends on you now.¡±


    Ling Lan smiled gently the scene in front of her. She remained silent for a moment before saying, ¡°Sure...¡±


    The young man¡¯s expression suddenly changed when he heard Ling Lan¡¯s reply.


    The elder and the middle-aged man instantly attacked Ling Lan the moment she agreed.


    Two domain energies flew towards Ling Lan.


    Bang! A loud explosion was heard.


    A huge ice mountain was manifested in front of Ling Lan. It blocked the two frightening gusts of domain energies.


    The coldness from the ice mountain caused the air in the hall to be misty, blocking everyone¡¯s vision.


    At this moment, the young man shouted in agony, ¡°Hades, you despicable fellow!¡± Then, he mmed onto the ground.


    The elder and the middle-aged man were bbergasted. Two domain energies quickly flew towards Hades.


    At the same time, Ling Lan attacked Hades with her domain energy too.


    Hades was dumbfounded when he heard the scream of the young man. He was framed, but there was no way out of this situation now.


    Without any hesitation, Hades quickly moved to the side to evade the elder and the middle-aged man¡¯s furious attack.


    He managed to dodge one wave of domain energy and stopped the other domain energy forcefully.


    ¡°Pfft!¡± He vomited a mouthful of blood. His injuries worsened when he was directly hit by a gust of domain energy.


    Just as he was feeling fortunate that he had managed to escape, an ice cold domain energy slowly crept up on him and entered his body.


    ¡°N...¡± Hades didn¡¯t manage to finish his scream before turning into an ice statue.


    Ling Lan snapped her fingers. The ice statue broke and shattered into small ice shards. Hades, who had ruled the Chaotic Lands for over ten years, had disappeared from this world...


    The elder and the middle-aged man felt that something was amiss with the situation. They looked at the young man on the ground who was lying in a pool of blood. He was fighting for hisst breath. He had been attacked.

 Chapter 1002 - It’s Me!

    <h4>Chapter 1002 It¡¯s Me!</h4>


    From everyone¡¯s positions, Hades was the only one who was able to sneak attack the young man. However, after they calmed down, they knew that Hades wasn¡¯t the one who did it. They couldn¡¯t sense any of Hades¡¯s domain energy in the air, but that shouldn¡¯t be possible if he had attacked the young man unless Hades was more powerful than them. But, if he was really powerful, he wouldn¡¯t be hurt by Ling Lan.


    If it wasn¡¯t Hades, who was it? They didn¡¯t suspect Ling Lan. Although Ling Lan was half step into imperial stage, she still had to resist against both their attacks. Plus, they were standing between Ling Lan and the young man. She couldn¡¯t have evaded them and sneaked an attack onto the young man.


    Were there someone else here? The elder and the middle-aged man were on their guard. They wanted to find the hidden enemy.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what agreement you made with Hades but since Hades is dead, the agreement is irrelevant now. There¡¯s no point fighting with each other as it will only give the outsider an opportunity to take advantage of us.¡± Ling Lan looked at the young man as she continued, ¡°This outsider is able to attack the young man without either of us noticing him so he must be as strong as us. From the looks of it, he came for you all.¡±


    The elder nodded seriously.


    Ling Lan said indifferently, ¡°I¡¯ve finished my task so I¡¯ll not interfere with your matter. Goodbye.¡± Ling Lan disappeared.


    The elder and the middle-aged man didn¡¯t let down their guard just yet. They waited for a few minutes and confirmed that Ling Lan was gone. They also didn¡¯t feel anyone¡¯s presence around them. The elder signaled at the middle-aged man and asked him to look at the young man.


    The middle-aged man flipped the young man over. There was a knife stabbed in his heart. From the spot where the young man was lying, the knife came from Hades¡¯ direction. No wonder he yelled Hades when he fell.


    The middle-aged man inspected the young man¡¯s wound. He was ted. He quickly took out an intensive recovery agent and fed it to the young man. Then, he used his domain energy to stop the blood from flowing out. After that, he used two fingers to grab the knife and pull it out.


    ¡°How is it?¡± The elder asked in concern.


    ¡°Qingyi¡¯s heart is quite unique. It¡¯s nearer to his right chest so he managed to survive this attack,¡± the middle-aged man said happily.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. It¡¯s a pity that Hades Pce is in shambles,¡± the elder sighed.


    ¡°No worries. We just need to use more effort to make a new Hades.¡± The middle-aged man replied, ¡°If we¡¯re not afraid that the other countries will notice our actions, we won¡¯t need to make use of Hades Pce¡¯s name.¡±


    ¡°The various countries have been putting in more effort to annihte the Soul Society so the headquarters had no choice but to start anew.¡± The elder sighed again. This was why they came to the Chaotic Lands. They needed to survive.


    The middle-aged man smiled bitterly. Soul Society killed many important people from various countries so it was understandable that they were in such a situation. If the various countries weren¡¯t already upied with their enemy countries, their situation might have been even more dire than their current situation.


    ¡°Cough.¡± The young man finally woke up. He coughed out a mouthful of blood and opened his eyes. When he saw the middle-aged man, he immediately shouted agitatedly, ¡°Hades, he...¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not him.¡± The middle-aged man told the young man the truth.


    ¡°Huh?¡± The young man was stunned. Before he went unconscious, he thought that it was Hades. Did he curse the wrong person?


    ¡°Who is it then?¡± The young man was indignant when he remembered that he almost died. ¡°Is it that man in the ck windbreaker?¡±


    ¡°No. He didn¡¯t have the chance to attack you.¡± The middle-aged man denied the young man¡¯s guess.


    The young man was stunned once again. He asked curiously, ¡°Who on earth is it?¡±


    The middle-aged man gave a forced smile. ¡°We don¡¯t know either. It might be a powerful person who used some special method to hide his presence. Either that or he is an...¡± Imperial realm formidable warrior! The middle-aged man shook his head as he denied his own thoughts. He couldn¡¯t understand why an imperial realm formidable warrior would attack the young man who was just at the peak stage of Qi-Jin.


    The young man was bbergasted when he heard that even the elder and the middle-aged man didn¡¯t know who their opponent was. ¡°Then... is it dangerous here?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go back. The people below will take over Hades¡¯ power.¡± The elder felt that this ce was unsafe too so he wanted to quickly return to their base.


    It could be said that the recovery agent in this world was very powerful. The young man, who was on the brink of death just a moment ago, managed to recover much of his injury after resting for two hours. Of course, this was because he didn¡¯t injure his vital organs.


    The three of them ate dinner and discussed their future ns. The elder and the middle-aged man were the ones talking while the young man just listened to them.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t sense the person who injured Qingyi. We need to be aware of him.¡± The middle-aged man took a sip of hard liquor. This person injured the young man without alerting them.


    ¡°I checked all the data of domain realm masters when I came back. I feel that some people are suspicious. Qingyi, send some people to investigate them.¡± The elder named some domain realm masters who had special stealth techniques. He asked Xia Qingyi to see if any of them had sneaked into the Chaotic Lands.


    ¡°I understand, Third Elder, Deacon Lin.¡± Xia Qingyi nodded. Although he was the leader on the surface, these two people were the ones in power.


    ¡°Oh right, do you know who that man in the ck windbreaker is?¡± Third Elder suddenly asked about Ling Lan.


    ¡°The leader of Little Four Mercenary Team,¡± Xia Qingyi answered.


    The investigating ability of Soul Society was powerful. He was able to find Ling Lan¡¯s identity within two hours.


    ¡°Little Four?¡± He should have be one of the kings of the mercenary world with his ability, but he couldn¡¯t seem to remember any kinging from such a childish sounding mercenary team.


    ¡°He might be in disguise,¡± Xia Qingyi added.


    ¡°Find out where this person is and kill him if there is a chance,¡± Third Elder said coldly. He wouldn¡¯t allow such a powerful threat to leave the Chaotic Lands. That person would be a massive threat to their Soul Society in the future.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Xia Qingyi replied with a smile.


    Third Elder nodded at him and continued gorging his food. Suddenly, he looked up and stared at the smile on Xia Qingyi¡¯s face intently.


    He was familiar with this smile. Xia Qingyi always wore this smile when he was in a negotiation or when he was greeting guests. It looked sincere but it was extremely fake. In the past, Xia Qingyi always wore a serious expression when talking to them. He never showed his smile to them.


    ¡°Qingyi, why are you smiling?¡± Deacon Lin noticed something amiss too.


    Xia Qingyi didn¡¯t reply to him.


    ¡°Are you unhappy with our arrangement?¡± Third Elder asked him coldly.


    ¡°No!¡± Xia Qingyi continued smiling.


    ¡°Why are you smiling then?¡± That smile was infuriating.


    ¡°He isughing at you because you¡¯re going to die soon but you still want to kill me.¡± A calm voice rang in the room.


    A masked man in a ck windbreaker appeared beside Xia Qingyi.


    ¡°Master!¡± Xia Qingyi stood up immediately and greeted the person with respect.


    Third Elder and Deacon Lin ¡®s expressions changed. They suddenly thought of something and pointed at Xia Qingyi. ¡°It¡¯s you.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s me!¡± Xia Qingyi smiled. ¡°I stabbed myself.¡±

 Chapter 1003 - Plan!

    <h4>Chapter 1003 n!</h4>


    Was there anyone who understands his body better than him?


    Xia Qingyi smiled brightly. Third Elder and Deacon Lin gritted their teeth angrily. If the knife was stabbed an inch further to the right, Xia Qingyi would be dead.


    What a ruthless person! Third Elder gain a new opinion of the obedient and efficient Xia Qingyi. However, he didn¡¯t understand why Xia Qingyi acknowledged their enemy as his master. He grew up in the Soul Society and was groomed by them personally. If he was controlled by some poison, he could have secretly reported to them. Was it something the Soul Society couldn¡¯t handle?


    Third Elder didn¡¯t believe that Xia Qingyi was forced under their enemy because of a hostage in the person¡¯s hand, as his family was fully controlled by the Soul Society. What made Xia Qingyi abandon his family to follow the other party?


    Third Elder and Deacon Li couldn¡¯t understand what was happening. However, there was no time to solve this query. They exchanged nces with one another and attacked Ling Lan simultaneously.


    The two people wanted to activate their domain but they quickly realized they couldn¡¯t. Not only that, they also felt tired.


    ¡°Damn it, what did you do to us?¡± Third Elder red at Xia Qingyi. Only he was able to do something to them to make them tired.


    ¡°I just added something in your food,¡± Xia Qingyi replied indifferently.


    Ling Lan smiled. ¡°ording to our doctor, the effects should be happening soon.¡±


    It was obvious what had happened. They must have been given strong anesthesia. This anesthesia was odorless and tasteless so they didn¡¯t notice it.


    ¡°Despicable!¡± Deacon Lin shouted. He couldn¡¯t withstand the effects of the agent anymore and fell on the table.


    Third Elder was more powerful than Deacon Lin so he was able to stay awake longer. He stared at Xia Qingyi and asked, ¡°Why?¡± Even if he had to die, he must understand why he died.


    Xia Qingyi smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t want to die. Hence, Third Elder and Deacon Lin have to suffer in my ce.¡±


    Third Elder wasn¡¯t satisfied with this answer but he didn¡¯t have the chance to probe further.


    Bang! Third Elder fell on the table too.


    Ling Lan turned and looked at Xia Qingyi. Her gentle aura had disappeared. It was reced by an icy force of presence. She said seriously, ¡°What do you think honestly?¡±


    Cold sweat appeared on Xia Qingyi¡¯s forehead. He felt that if his answer wasn¡¯t satisfactory, that scary thing in his mindscape would devour him.


    Xia Qingyi was afraid but as a hero of his era, he decided to cooperate with the man in the mask instantly when he knew that he was the person who was controlling him back in the hall. He also allowed the masked man to kill Hades and leave. However, the appearance of Ling Lan also forced out the ambition hidden in his heart.


    At that time, he was the only person who came back alive. Although he escaped the questioning of the Soul Society, he was exiled to the Chaotic Lands to open a new market for the Soul Society. The Soul Society also sent Third Elder and Deacon Lin to supervise him. Xia Qingyi pretended to be obedient but deep inside, he wanted to takeplete control of the Chaotic Lands. He didn¡¯t want to be a proxy person-in-charge.


    But, he knew that with his own ability, he wasn¡¯t able to touch Third Elder and Deacon Lin¡¯s positions. Thus, he hid his ambition perfectly until Ling Lan appeared.


    He wiped the sweat off his forehead and answered respectfully, ¡°Master, since thest time we met, I was demoted due to my mistakes inmand. If I want to return to the Soul Society, I must take over the Chaotic Lands from them. At the same time...¡± Xia Qingyi turned to look at the two people lying on the table. ¡°I need their rmendation.¡±


    ¡°So you want them to be your partners.¡± That was why he came to ask if she was able to give him some agent and even took the effort to ask if she was able toe personally.


    Xia Qingyi smiled. ¡°Yes!¡± A clever master made him stressed but it made him feel at ease too. His master wouldn¡¯t die easily and that would mean he wouldn¡¯t die easily too.


    Xia Qingyi knew that if anything happened to his master, the thing in his mindscape would devour him instantly. The time he spent with it made him understand that his master mustn¡¯t die. This was why he cooperated with Ling Lan. He did think of killing this person who threatened his life before but he couldn¡¯t do anything about it now.


    Ling Lan looked at Xia Qingyi intently. She remembered that he was a righteous young man thest time they faced each other. She wondered if Little Blossom¡¯s replica had the ability to lead someone astray.


    However, as someone who was able to climb to a high position in the Soul Society, Xia Qingyi was definitely not as pure and kind as he appeared to be.


    At first, Ling Lan nned to let Xia Qingyi be her spy in the Soul Society because the Soul Society had the material that she needed to make a body for Little Four. But, after Liu Furong gave her the information about the mine, Soul Society¡¯s importance in her mind drop tremendously.


    Ling Lan tapped the table lightly. She started thinking if she should fulfill Xia Qingyi¡¯s wish.


    Xia Qingyi got nervous when Ling Lan was pondering. He continued, ¡°With the help from Third Elder and Deacon Lin, the Chaotic Lands can still pretend to be controlled by the three kings.¡±


    ¡°Oh? What ns do you have?¡± Ling Lan was interested.


    ¡°Soul Society will control most of the important powers within the Chaotic Lands by pretending to work with Hades.¡± Xia Qingyi told her about the Soul Society¡¯s n. ¡°You can pretend to be Frost Monarch while Third Elder and Deacon Lin can pretend to be Hades and Ninja.¡±


    ¡°If Third Elder and Deacon Lin be your men, you¡¯ll be able to rule over the Chaotic Lands.¡± Xia Qingyi told Ling Lan his n. He was only able to be the second most powerful person in this ce if his master became the king.


    Ling Lan thought the necessity of having a base to herself in case she was not able to stay in the Federation anymore so Xia Qingyi¡¯s n was very beneficial to her. Hence, she nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s follow your n.¡±


    Xia Qingyi was ted. ¡°Thank you for your trust.¡±


    Since Ling Lan had agreed to follow Xia Qingyi¡¯s n, there was no time to waste. She asked Little Blossom to make two replicas of himself. The two replicas entered Third Elder and Deacon Lin¡¯s mindscape.


    One hourter, Third Elder and Deacon Lin woke up. They remembered what had happened before they fainted and jumped up immediately. They then saw Ling Lan and Xia Qingyi smiling at them.

 Chapter 1004 - I Am Who I Am

    <h4>Chapter 1004 I Am Who I Am</h4>


    The two of them wanted to fight but they felt the threat in their mindscape. As domain realm masters, they knew what this represented. They knew this fact even clearer than Xia Qingyi.


    Third Elder¡¯s expression changed. He looked at Ling Lan and coldly said, ¡°What do you want us to do?¡± If Ling Lan wanted to do something to the Soul Society, he wouldn¡¯t let her seed even if he had to die.


    Little Blossom immediately reported Third Elder¡¯s resolute mindset to Ling Lan.


    ¡°Find out why he¡¯s doing this and erase his memories too.¡± Little Blossom allowed her to control people¡¯s memories too.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Little Blossom quickly looked through Third Elder¡¯s memories. When he was about to erase those memories, he suddenly got a new idea. He slowly changed Third Elder¡¯s memories so that he would be grateful towards Ling Lan instead of the Soul Society.


    After some time, Third Elder started rxing his stance. He said respectfully, ¡°Master, please give your order.¡±


    Little Blossom did the same thing to Deacon Lin. Deacon Lin¡¯s attitude towards Ling Lan also changed. He started being respectful towards her too.


    Xia Qingyi was bbergasted at the sudden change of attitude, and he got even more fearful of Ling Lan¡¯s capabilities.


    At this moment, in the house that the Little Four Mercenary Team rented, there were a few guests.


    Light and Dark Dragon, who had came back from killing Ninja, were present. Ye Shao, Dibi Luya, and Qiao Xing were also there too.


    The member from the Little Four Mercenary Team were just rxing the living room while looking extremely tired. Some leaned against the wall, cupboards and chairs. Some were even lying on the dining table and yawning.


    Only Qi Long and Liu Furong came to wee these two imperial stage domain realm experts who came suddenly.


    Dark Dragon was a quiet person. He didn¡¯t like to talk so Light Dragon was in charge ofmunicating with other people.


    Light spoke politely with Qi Long. He didn¡¯t see Jiang Hui so he asked in concern, ¡°Leader Jiang is still not back?¡±


    Jiang Hui and Frost Monarch¡¯s battle urred in the mist so they didn¡¯t know what had happened. They only knew Jiang Hui was the one who won the battle. They knew that Frost Monarch had lost but they didn¡¯t know if he was dead. Hence, they wanted to take the opportunity of fetching their men to ask Jiang Hui about this.


    Frost Monarch¡¯s death would affect their mercenary team¡¯s decision regarding their missions in the Chaotic Lands. If Frost Monarch was dead, they wouldn¡¯t have to worry about anything. If he was still alive, they would have to give up on any missions that required them toe to the Chaotic Lands. They were unable to handle such a powerful person even with the two of them at the helm of their team.


    Qi Long wanted to reply to him but he quickly stopped himself as he sensed someone was in their room. He smiled, ¡°Our leader is back.¡±


    A man in a mask slowly appeared in the room. It was Ling Lan.


    Light and Dark Dragon narrowed their eyes slightly when they saw her. They detected Ling Lan¡¯s presence around the same time as Qi Long. This made them more fearful of the Little Four Mercenary Team. They only noticed Ling Lan¡¯s presence after she had entered the room. This meant that Ling Lan¡¯s understanding and control of her domain was higher than them. Plus, an average-looking member like Qi Long was as powerful as them too.


    When Ling Lan appeared, the tired members of Little Four Mercenary Team were instantly reinvigorated as if they got their engines started. Some stood up straight while those that were sitting sat up straight too. Their tired expressions were all gone too.


    Light and Dark Dragon were astounded. From the frightened and nervous expressions of these members, they could tell that Jiang Hui was not a kind person to his team members. He might even be someone who was vicious and brutal. This kind of people would change their minds whenever they felt like it so the two of them quickly dismissed their thoughts of forming a good rtionship with the Little Four Mercenary Team, as they felt like Ling Lan was not a good partner to work with.


    Ling Lan calmly walked to the sofa. Qi Long and Liu Furong quickly stood up and waited at her side respectfully.


    Ling Lan hung her windbreaker and sat down like a mafia boss. Li Lanfeng also passed her a cup of hot tea, making her look more like some chinese emperor who had just came back from some excursion.


    Ling Lan lifted the lid of the teacup and blew her tea. She took a small sip of it and then passed the teacup back to Li Lanfeng. Then, she looked at Light and Dark Dragon and asked, ¡°What is the matter?¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s actions and demeanour had stunned Light and Dark Dragon.


    ¡®Damn it. This person is so arrogant!¡¯


    Light and Dark Dragon had climbed up from the grass-roots. When they were at Ling Lan¡¯s age, they were just nobodies in mercenary teams. They slowly climbed to their position now. However, when they could be haughty, they were already too old. They knew how to be humble at this age and weren¡¯t as hot-blooded as they were when they were young.


    Ye Shao and Dibi Luya were shocked too. They were envious of Ling Lan. Qiao Xing, who was only 12 years old, also looked at Ling Lan with awe and respect.


    This was how a leader should act like.


    The other children in Little Four Mercenary Team were all staring at Ling Lan with stars in their eyes too. Ling Lan was now their ultimate hero in their hearts. Her position in their hearts would be really difficult to change.


    Light and Dark Dragon managed to regain their senses after a short while. They went straight to the point, ¡°We want to know if Frost Monarch is still alive.¡±


    Ling Lan shook her head. ¡°I was lucky to win the fight but I couldn¡¯t kill him.¡±


    Light and Dark Dragon¡¯s face turned serious. This was not a good piece of news.


    ¡°What about Hades?¡± Dark Dragon continued asking


    ¡°He is dead,¡± Ling Lan answered calmly.


    Light and Dark Dragon rxed a little. Two out of the three kings were dead. This was not too bad.


    ¡°However, when I was chasing Hades, I met two half step imperial realms warriors. They should be from the same side as Hades.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words made their hearts drop again.


    ¡°Luckily, I was faster than them. Hades is dead but we can¡¯t stay in the Chaotic Lands for long. I¡¯m preparing to leave tomorrow.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were deep and dark.


    Two half step imperial realm warriors. No matter how powerful Jiang Hui was, he couldn¡¯t handle two half step imperial realm warriors by himself. It was indeed a good decision to leave the Chaotic Lands as soon as possible. Light and Dark Dragon understood Jiang Hui¡¯s decision and they exchanged nces with each other. Light said, ¡°Your information is very valuable to us. In that case, we¡¯ll leave with the Little Four Mercenary Team.¡±


    Although they were half step to the imperial realm, there were many powerful people in the Chaotic Lands. They didn¡¯t know if there were other half step imperial realm warriors hiding in this ce. Even if there wasn¡¯t, one Frost Monarch was enough to defeat them, so it was the best decision to leave. They wanted to leave with the Little Four Mercenary Team because they felt that with three half step imperial realm warriors between both teams, the people from the Chaotic Lands would think twice before attacking them.


    But, that would mean that they needed to give up on their mission. Dark Dragon sighed in his heart. There were many missions they could take in the Chaotic Lands, and the rewards for them were good too. Many powerful mercenary teams would take these missions.

 Chapter 1005 - Birthday Present!

    <h4>Chapter 1005 Birthday Present!</h4>


    On the 17th of June, the Little Four Mercenary Team reached Shanghai on schedule. The moment they left the port and entered Shanghai, they felt as though they were in a dream. This ce in front of them was so orderly and prosperous that some of the members eximed in awe.


    As for the Rainbow Raiders, they parted ways with them after leaving the territory of the Chaotic Lands.


    Compared to how enthusiastic they were when they left for the Chaotic Lands, this bunch of people were sad after they came back as they knew that their time with Boss had ended. They needed to return to 250 Ace Mecha n soon and had to suffer all kinds of questionings again.


    ¡°Tsk, what is this.¡± Qi Long couldn¡¯t help butin.


    Han Jijyun was frustrated too. The stress and frustration he had were more than Qi Long. Qi Long still had two brothers to bear the burden with him while he was the only son of his family. He couldn¡¯t escape the responsibilities that he must take. During this period of time, the pressure from the elders in his family were suffocating him.


    He looked at the calm Ling Lan. If Boss was still their regimentmander, everything would be great. He got emotional as he thought of this and shouted, ¡°Boss, you muste back to 250 Ace Mecha n.¡±


    ¡®As long as youe back, I¡¯ll have the courage to reject my father and stay at 250 Ace Mecha n with everyone else.¡¯


    Han Jijyun¡¯s words triggered everyone¡¯s thoughts. They raised their heads and looked at Ling Lan in anticipation. They hoped that Ling Lan would give them a promise as an assurance.


    Ling Lan sighed in her heart. She patted Han Jijyun¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°I¡¯m not able to interfere in this matter. Everything depends on fate. However, if there¡¯s a chance, I won¡¯t give


    up.¡±


    Ling Lan was sincere. Her wish in the past was already forgotten. After the battle on Haijiao, she didn¡¯t want to leave the military anymore. But, she still had to consider her father¡¯s safety. The battle on Haijiao pushed her father and her into the spotlight. To reduce the burden on him, Ling Xiao had to make some sacrifices. Ling Xiao had already preempted her when she came back from the battle.


    She was still too weak. If she was stronger, she might be able to help her father and not be pushed around like a piece of chess. Ling Lan retracted the unwillingness from her eyes. She was calm and cold again. She turned and looked at Liu Furong. ¡°I¡¯ll send Aunt Liu to the Ling family. It¡¯s not suitable for you to bring them around now.¡±


    Liu Furong looked at Ling Lan gratefully. He was worried about what he should do with Aunt Liu too. After all, it was inappropriate for a supposedly single man like him to bring back a wife and two children suddenly. Plus, he was also in a veryplex and dangerous situation. Thus, he couldn¡¯t implicate his family and friends by bringing them along with him but luckily, Ling Lan¡¯s solution solved this problem for him.


    ¡°What about their identities?¡± Liu Furong could only ask his regimentmander for help. If not, Liu Aijun might not be able to attend the Scout Academy next year. He had already implicated his daughter so he didn¡¯t want to affect the future of his son too.


    ¡°I¡¯ll solve it. However, Aunt Liu and you might have to suffer.¡± Ling Lan looked at Liu Furong apologetically.


    Liu Furong was confused.


    Ling Lan exined, ¡°I¡¯ll give Aunt Liu a new identity. She¡¯ll be the daughter of my Chambein Ling Qin and her name will be Ling Hua Yun.¡±


    Aunt Liu¡¯s surname was Hua. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want Aunt Liu to give up her surname so she used her surname in her new name.


    Aunt Liu smiled gratefully at Ling Lan. She was touched by Ling Lan¡¯s selfless help and she also very excited about having foster parents as her actual parents had died when she was very young. She never expected to have two respectable elders as her new parents. She was overwhelmed with emotions. Most of it was excitement and gratitude. She was finally able to fulfil her wishes when she was a child. Aunt Liu decided that she must be filial to her new parents.


    ¡°As for Aihua and Aijun, they¡¯ll be part of the Ling family too so that they will have the right to study the hereditary family martial arts of the Ling family. However, Liu Aihua¡¯s innate talent is amazing so you must groom her carefully. Don¡¯t waste her talent,¡± Ling Lan spoke to Liu Furong seriously. At first, Ling Lan took pity on Liu Aihua because she had no father and she couldn¡¯t study in the Scout Academy. Now, after realizing that she was Liu Furong¡¯s daughter, she decided to not take her as her disciple. After all, she was Liu Furong¡¯s responsibility, right?


    If Liu Furong knew that Liu Aihua had the possibility of bing Ling Lan¡¯s disciple, he might have pleaded her to take Liu Aihua in. But, he wasn¡¯t aware of that now. He just knew that his regimentmander had done a lot for his family and it wouldn¡¯t be right for him to trouble Ling Lan any further. Thus, he listened to what she said and started considering how he should groom his daughter.


    These were all future stories so we shall not mentioned them for now.


    Ling Lan finished making arrangements for everyone before turning to look at President Tu¡¯s camp. She then showed an evil smile. ¡°It¡¯s time for us to take our rewards and mechas.


    President Tu was afraid that his merchant team would be implicated by Ye Shao and Dibi Luya so he escaped from the Chaotic Lands the moment he came out of the ck market. Of course, he brought the mechas that belonged to Ling Lan along with him.


    If Ling Lan didn¡¯t leave with the Rainbow Raiders, she might have to snatch a spacecraft from someone in order to leave the Chaotic Lands.


    As expected, it¡¯s troublesome when she didn¡¯t have her own spacecraft. For the first time, Ling Lan wanted to buy her own spacecraft.


    Little Four felt Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts. He clenched his fist tightly as he decided to fulfill Boss¡¯s wish. He was going to give her a huge surprise.


    ¡®Boss¡¯s birthday ising. Let me give her a spacecraft as a present. Will she be happy?¡¯ Little Four felt ted as he imagined Boss kissing him out of happiness.


    Little Four was extremely motivated by this thought.


    It was actually quite easy for Little Four to get a spacecraft. He just needed to move his fingers and the money woulde to him. However, Little Four didn¡¯t just want to buy any normal spacecraft for Boss. He wanted to give her the most extravagant, safest and studierst spacecraft so that would be a little difficult to acquire.


    Little Four felt that his brain was not big enough to think about this. He quickly grabbed Little Blossom who had an indifferent expression on his face. They started talking secretly among themselves in a small corner of the learning space. Well, Little Four was the one who was talking most of the time. Little Blossom just sat there and listened to him patiently.

 Chapter 1006 - Old Martial Beitang!

    <h4>Chapter 1006 Old Martial Beitang!</h4>


    Ling Lan found President Tu. When he saw that Ling Lan was safe, he was ted. He didn¡¯t forget how Ling Lan protected him. However, when he was running away, the ce was a mess so they lost each other. To thank Ling Lan for being so professional, President Tu instantly gave Ling Lan all the money the Little Four Mercenary Team should get. He even gave her the portion for Ye Shao and Dibi Luya¡¯s team. This proved how much he hated those two people.


    Since everyone needed to go back, Ling Lan rented a warehouse to put their mechas in. At that moment, Ling Lan really wanted to have the space button that Little Four had mentioned in the past. If she couldn¡¯t get a space button, a spacecraft would be a fine substitute too.


    It was really troublesome if she didn¡¯t have her own spacecraft.


    Ling Lan was frustrated. It looked like she needed to get a spacecraft soon. She had always wanted one but this time, she put it in her list of urgent matters she needed to do.


    She watched as herrades boarded different spacecraft to leave Shanghai. Then, she went back to Doha with Aunt Liu and the rest of the people.


    Chambein Ling Qin was already waiting for them on Port Doha. He weed Ling Lan and the guests to the Ling family.


    After settling the guests down, Ling Lan left Doha again to continue her holiday. This time, her destination was Mai¡¯er Fa. Another reason why she left so hurriedly was that she didn¡¯t want her mother to show her any of her loving ¡®concern¡¯. She couldn¡¯t stand her mother¡¯s concern sometimes. It was too stressful to be constantly questioned about your lovelife especially from a family member.


    Bailing was an ecotourism. Many nature lovers would be attracted by the sight of this every day.


    In the port of Bailing, a luxurious private starship was parked inside. A life-like mythical wild beast with a purple ring around it was carved in the head of the starship. It was the symbol of an elite family. Purple was a color used by all the first-rank elite families. Without a doubt, the owner of this starship was one of the four first-rank elite families.


    The huge starship was like a giant as it looked down on all the small starships around it. It also attracted the attention of the tourists.


    Even the staff in the port were amazed at this extravagant starship.


    ¡°Leader, who is the owner of this staff member? It is so huge. It¡¯s almost as big as the starships from the Federation.¡± One of the staff asked his leader as he eximed how big the starship was.


    His colleagues were thinking about the same thing too. They looked at their leader and hoped that their leader would give them an answer.


    Their leader was a middle-aged man around 50 years old. He smiled and stretched out his right hand as if he was smoking.


    The staff member understood what their leader wanted. He quickly took out a cigarette from his pocket and passed it to his leader. He even lit the cigarette for him.


    The leader took a puff of the cigarette. He whet everyone¡¯s appetite before saying, ¡°That mythical wild beast is the symbol of Old Martial Beitang. Old Martial Beitang is one of the first-rank elite families in the Federation. They have always kept a low profile so most of you don¡¯t know them.¡±


    ¡°This starship probably belongs to their family head.¡± The staff member never met such a situation before so he thought that only the family leader had the right to board this luxurious starship.


    ¡°Ignorant fool. If it is the family head, there would be more than one starship. There would be another starship for his bodyguards.¡± The leader reprimanded that staff member. ¡°Since there¡¯s only one starship, and it arrived on our which is full of natural sceneries, the person on this starship might just be a direct descendant of the family.¡±


    ¡®How lucky!¡¯ The staff member looked at the starship in envy. He hoped that he was lucky enough to be born as a direct descendant of the elite family too.


    In a passage within the starship, a young man with working attire was sweeping the areas where the cleaning robot couldn¡¯t reach.


    ¡°Little Yang, it¡¯s already very clean. You can stop sweeping now. Go and have some food.¡± Ady saw the young man working so hard that he didn¡¯t notice that time had passed. Hence, she decided to remind him.


    Little Yang heard the voice and looked up hurriedly. A young-looking face was revealed. By right, he was quite a handsome person. However, there were a few white scars on his face. Although his face was destroyed, it didn¡¯t look hideous. Instead, it made him look weak and pitiful. Sometimes, when Little Yang smiled, he would look weirdly cute. Most of thedies would want to take care of him, for instance, thedy that just walked passed him.


    ¡°Elder Sister Nuo.¡± Little Yang smiled and greeted thedy. ¡°There¡¯s still a part that¡¯s dirty. I¡¯ll go eat after I¡¯m done.¡±


    ¡°Why are you such a pushover? If you goter, there won¡¯t be any food left. Those old fools will eat all the food and you¡¯ll only be able to eat in rice. Don¡¯t you want your health to improve?¡± Elder Sister Nuo grabbed Little Yang¡¯s broom angrily.


    ¡°Well...¡± Little Yang looked at his unclean spot and hesitated.


    ¡°Stop hesitating. Hurry up and eat your food. I¡¯ll handle everything here.¡± Elder Sister Nuo snatched the broom from his hand and asked him to go for his meal.


    Little Yang touched the back of his head shyly and said gratefully, ¡°Thank you, Elder Sister Nuo...¡±


    ¡°Hurry up and leave. Stop wasting time. If you can¡¯t get any food, my efforts will be for nothing.¡± Elder Sister Nuo waved her hands in contempt and chased Little Yang away.


    ¡°Okay, Elder Sister Nuo.¡± Little Yang listened to her and rushed to the cafeteria. Elder Sister Nuo looked at Little Yang¡¯s back and smiled. She then saw another staff member trying to sneak past her. Her smile disappeared. She said fiercely, ¡°Hey, why are you sneaking around? Come over here.¡±


    The staff member cried in his heart. However, he didn¡¯t dare to ignore her. He walked towards Elder Sister Nuo and greeted in a low voice, ¡°Elder Sister Nuo.¡±


    ¡°Here, here, and here. Clean them up for me.¡± Elder Sister Nuo red at him. ¡°Don¡¯t think that I don¡¯t know you¡¯re bullying Little Yang. Clean all these for me and I¡¯ll pretend that I didn¡¯t see anything. If not, I might tell young miss.¡±


    ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll definitely clean them properly.¡± The staff member didn¡¯t dare to offend the personal servant of their seventh young miss.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Elder Sister Nuo scoffed and left haughtily.


    Elder Sister Nuo returned to Miss Seven¡¯s room. There were a few otherdies around her age in the room. One of thedies noticed Elder Sister Nuo¡¯s unhappy expression and asked curiously, ¡°Elder Sister Nuo, why are you in a bad mood?¡±


    ¡°Those bunch ofzy workers were bullying Little Yang again.¡± Elder Sister Nuo pouted.

 Chapter 1007 - Create Difficulty!

    <strong>Chapter 1007 Create Difficulty!</strong>


    ¡°Little Yang? The young man who was saved by young miss?¡± The bunch ofdies seemed to be familiar with Little Yang.


    ¡°Yes. Young miss took pity on his plight and took him in. Unfortunately, those bunch of bastards bullied Little Yang together. They¡¯re getting overboard.¡± They gave all the hard and tiring work to Little Yang who had just recovered from a heavy injury. He shouldn¡¯t do so much heavy work when he had just recovered.


    For some reason, Elder Sister Nuo felt close to Little Yang the moment she saw him. If her little brother didn¡¯t get lost that year, he would be around Little Yang¡¯s age now.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Little Nuo, I just gave Little Yang an opportunity to flourish. Whether he managed to flourish here depends on himself.¡± A light and clear voice resounded in the room.


    ¡°Young miss!¡± All thedies stood up and shouted respectfully.


    A beautiful youngdy walked out of the room beside them. Elder Sister Nuo walked towards thedy and guided her to the sofa. She said, ¡°Young miss, I know your intentions. However, Little Yang is a hardworking and serious worker. I just don¡¯t want him to suffer too much here.¡±


    ¡°Sometimes, suffering is not a bad thing.¡± Miss Seven shook her head when she noticed that her confidant wasn¡¯t able to understand her. She stopped talking and asked the people around her to serve her some tea.


    ¡°Miss Seven.¡± Ady in uniform entered the room without knocking. She should be a servant too. However, her attire was different from Elder Sister Nuo. She smiled and said, ¡°My young miss asked me to see if Miss Seven is free. If Miss Seven is free, she would like to invite you over for a gathering.¡±


    Miss Seven smiled calmly when she heard this. ¡°Since Sister Li invited me, I¡¯ll go even if I¡¯m not free.¡±


    Thedy smiled happily when she heard Miss Seven¡¯s reply. She said, ¡°I¡¯ll go back and tell my young miss.¡± After that, she left the room without bidding farewell to Miss Seven.


    ¡°Tsk, no manners. Miss Li is just someone from the side family. Her servants also don¡¯t act like someone from an elite family.¡± One of Miss Seven¡¯s maids was furious when she saw the other party¡¯s impolite behavior.


    ¡°Ci¡¯er!¡± Miss Seven¡¯s expression turned cold.


    Ci¡¯er knew that she said the wrong thing so she looked down silently, not daring to say another word.


    ¡°Ci¡¯er, all your words and actions represent me. Other people might be disrespectful towards me but I don¡¯t allow my people to be disrespectful towards others.¡± Miss Seven reprimanded Ci¡¯er and then looked at her other maids. ¡°If I notice anyone of you acting like Miss Li¡¯s maid, you can leave this ce immediately.¡±


    ¡°Yes, young miss.¡± Everyone replied respectfully. However, they could tell that the impolite maid of Miss Li had really angered their young miss.


    After some time, a pleasant voice came from outside the door. ¡°Sister Beitang, is it convenient for me toe in now?¡±


    ¡°Is it Sister Li? Hurry up ande in.¡± Miss Seven happily called the person into her room. Compared to her impolite maid, Miss Li¡¯s aura and presence were as elegant as a direct descendants like her. That was why Miss Seven decided to be friends with Miss Li even though she didn¡¯t like Miss Li¡¯s maids.


    A beautifuldy walked into the living room. The entire room seemed to light up in her presence. Miss Seven was already a pretty youngdy butpared to Miss Li, she was nothing to awe about.


    Thisdy was the renowned and famous idol, soul singer Li Yinfei.


    Miss Seven wasn¡¯t as cold and distant as she normally was. She quickly pulled Li Yinfei¡¯s hand enthusiastically and sat down with her on the sofa.


    ¡°Is there anything you need?¡± Miss Seven was curious about why Li Yinfei came to look for her.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve been thinking about it carefully for these few days and I think that you shouldn¡¯t go to Mailer Fa with me.¡± Li Yinfei seemed worried.


    Li Yinfei epted a casino¡¯s invite to perform during the opening of its mecha tournament. The casino was at Mailer Fa. When she epted the invite, Miss Seven was beside her. Hence, she excitedly told her that she wanted toe along and take a look at the world. Li Yinfei was in the moment so she agreed rashly. However, after traveling for so long, Li Yinfei had calmed down and she regretted her rash decision.


    Mailer Fa was a huge full of dark dealings. Even if it was legal to gamble there, it was still a really dangerous to be in. If anything happened to Miss Seven, she would offend the entire Beitang family. She was from an elite family too but she was from the side family. If the Li family wanted to give up on her, they could do so easily.


    Of course, she was the only one who knew what her position was like in the Li family. Outsiders would just think that she was someone irreceable.


    Miss Seven was a smartdy. She instantly knew what Li Yinfei was worried about. She quickly consoled her, ¡°Sister, don¡¯t worry. Whenever we go out, my family will send domain realm masters to protect us. I¡¯m just going to Mai¡¯er Fa to take a look. I won¡¯t cause any trouble. The people on Mai¡¯er Fa won¡¯t dare to offend us too.¡± As the top few families in the Federation, even after they left the Federation, other factions outside the Federation were afraid of them too.


    Li Yinfei was jealous and envious of Miss Seven. This was the difference between a direct family and a side family. She did many things for the Li family but no one cared about her safety. She had only heard of domain realm masters before but she never saw one. The Li family would never send a domain realm master to protect her.


    Li Yinfei hadplicated feelings but Miss Seven¡¯s words made her feel at ease. With Miss Seven along with her, she would be safer in Mai¡¯er Fa too. That was the main reason why she agreed to bring Miss Seven along in the first ce.


    The two of them chatted for a while before Li Yinfei bid farewell to Miss Seven.


    Soon, the starship left Bailing and flew towards its second destination. Along the way, Li Yinfei spent her time interacting with Miss Seven. Li Yinfei was ady who talked well. After a few days, her rtionship with Miss Seven got closer. By the time they reached Mai¡¯er Fa, they had be best friends.


    ¡°Wow, so this is Mailer Fa.¡± Little Yang leaned against the window of the starship and looked at the port below as he eximed.


    The moment they entered Mai¡¯er Fa, he saw how prosperous and lively this was. It was packed with people.


    ¡°Little guy, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Once you enter Mailer Fa, you¡¯ll realize what packed sardines in a can means.¡± Another old workerughed at Little Yang when he saw his shocked expression.


    ¡°Really? I want to look at it immediately,¡± Little Yang said with anticipation.


    ¡°Hey, stop beingzy.. Hurry up and do your work.¡± Someone behind Little Yang shouted angrily. Ever since Elder Sister Nuo spoke up for him, he had been bullied even more.


    Little Yang¡¯s face was expressionless but when he turned around, he had a bright smile on his face. ¡°Okay, Brother Yao.¡± He looked as though he didn¡¯t know that he was being bullied.

 Chapter 1008 - Attract?

    <h4>Chapter 1008 Attract?</h4>


    The older workers shook their heads when they saw this. Little Yang was a hard worker. Everything about him was good except for his shy and non-confrontational personality. He didn¡¯t know how to stand up for himself. However, that was his own life. They weren¡¯t so kind as to help him.


    The younger workers smiled arrogantly when they saw Little Yang walking over to them obediently. Even if Miss Seven took special care of him, he wasn¡¯t helping himself. They didn¡¯t feel any guilt at all when they bullied him.


    Hence, while everyone was preparing to get off the starship, Little Yang was still cleaning the inner parts of the ship.


    At that moment, Miss Seven and Li Yinfei slowly walked out of the starship. Elder Sister Nuo was beside Miss Seven.


    The guide of Mailer Fa that was receiving Li Yinfei was already waiting at the port. He was there to direct Li Yinfei through a special passage instead of letting her just registering at the registration counter.


    Li Yinfei¡¯s entourage went with Li Yinfei. However, not everyone from Miss Seven¡¯s side was entering Mai¡¯er Fa as some needed to stay back at the starship to take care of it.


    All the workers wanted to see the famous gambling city along with Miss Seven. Hence, all of them waited for Miss Seven on the deck of the starship. They hoped that Miss Seven would notice them and choose them to follow her.


    Elder Sister Nuo looked at the workers working waiting for them on the deck. But, she didn¡¯t see who she wanted to see. She frowned. ¡°Why isn¡¯t Little Yang here?¡±


    The moment she said this, the young workers gave looks of envy. Fortunately, they were intelligent enough to know that they couldn¡¯t offend the most beloved maid of Miss Seven so one of them hurriedly replied, ¡°He hasn¡¯t finished his work yet.¡±


    Elder Sister Nuo frowned. ¡°Not finished with his work? I¡¯m afraid that it¡¯s your work.¡± Elder Sister Nuo knew what was happening among the workers so she exposed them instantly.


    The young workers¡¯ faces turned red in shame. However, no one refuted her.


    Elder Sister Nuo knew she was right when they didn¡¯t say anything. She scoffed, ¡°Hurry up and call him over. As for you all, go back and continue what you¡¯re supposed to do.¡±


    The workers¡¯ faces dimmed. They knew they had no chance of stepping into Mai¡¯er Fa anymore so they turned around angrily.


    Miss Seven sighed and shook her head. The better Nuo¡¯er treated Little Yang, the poorer Little Yang would be treated by them in the starship. However, it was normal for one to lose something when gaining something.


    After some time, Little Yang ran over panting. He only stopped when he saw Miss Seven and Elder Sister Nuo. He touched the back of his head shyly. ¡°Miss Seven, Sister Nuo, are you looking for me?¡±


    Elder Sister Nuo red at him. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you not to do the work that doesn¡¯t belong to you? Don¡¯t you know how to say no?¡±


    Little Yang said honestly, ¡°The work is not tiring at all. Plus, I feel obligated to do more. Miss Seven has took me in and even treated my wounds. I¡¯ll feel better if I do more work.¡±


    ¡®Fine! My goodwill went down the drain!¡¯ Elder Sister Nuo stared at Little Yang angrily. Little Yang felt flustered under the angry re. The other maids beside Miss Seven covered their mouths andughed sheepishly. Miss Seven and Li Yinfei couldn¡¯t help butugh too.


    Elder Sister Nuo walked beside Miss Seven and followed her down the starship. Halfway through, she turned around and noticed that Little Yang was still standing on the deck, looking at them with a smile on his face. She felt helpless. ¡°Hurry up and catch up with us, you idiot.¡±


    Little Yang¡¯s face was initially filled with confusion then realization before he hurried forward happily.


    ¡°At least, he¡¯s not too stupid.¡± Elder Sister Nuo turned around and muttered to herself.


    ¡°Looks like our Elder Sister Nuo is attracted to this man.¡± Another maid covered her mouth andughed silently. It was obvious that Elder Sister Nuo treated Little Yang differently from the others.


    ¡°Pfft! Him? I¡¯m attracted to him?¡± Elder Sister Nuo appeared disgusted. ¡°If he isn¡¯t like my stupid little brother, I won¡¯t have cared about him so much.¡±


    Elder Sister Nuo was saying the truth. However, we wouldn¡¯t know if her sisters around her believed her.


    Miss Seven treated her maids like her close friends so their teasing didn¡¯t affect her mood much, very unlike some pompous miss of an elite family. She smiled happily at the scene too.


    Li Yinfei listened to Miss Seven¡¯s maids chatting among themselves and smirked secretly. Miss Seven¡¯s maids didn¡¯t like her maid. They thought that her maid was someone impolite and had no manners. But, they didn¡¯t look any better too. They were just discriminating against her status as a side descendant of the Li family.


    The group of people entered the VIP passage. They saw the representatives from Mai¡¯er Fa waiting for them there. After hearing Li Yinfei¡¯s introduction, they hurriedly opened the passage and allowed them into the special shuttle.


    Besides her personal maid, Li Yinfei also brought her manager and four bodyguards from the Li family. All of her bodyguards were at the peak stage of Qi-Jin.


    Miss Seven had more peopleing with her. She had four personal maids, one butler, four workers to help with her luggage (including Little Yang), and six bodyguards. Four of them were at the peak stage of Qi-Jin while the other two bodyguards¡¯ strength couldn¡¯t be determined.


    The representative from Mailer Fa didn¡¯t care about this. They didn¡¯t even ask for any information from the two mysterious bodyguards. On the surface, it seemed as though they did it because of Li Yinfei. In actual fact, it was because of Miss Seven¡¯s identity. She was after all the young miss from the elite Beitang family. If there wasn¡¯t a domain realm master protecting her, it wouldn¡¯t make sense.


    Miss Seven didn¡¯t know this. She thought that the reason for everything going smoothly was because of Li Yinfei so she was even more grateful towards her.


    Soon, the group of them arrived on Mai¡¯er Fa. When they walked out of the shuttle, they were shocked by the number of people there.


    ¡°So many people...¡± Miss Seven had traveled to manys but this was the first time she saw such a crowd on one. The station was almost exploding with people.


    The representatives from Mailer Fa smiled and exined. ¡°Most of the time, it¡¯s not so crowded. However, the new mechabat tournament is starting in three days so many tourists who like mechas will being to our. This is not even the peak period yet. Tomorrow, there will be even more people.¡±


    Another representative from Mailer Fa added on, ¡°During thest tournament, I was graced with the chance to wee a very important guest for our opening ceremony. We were supposed to use the special passage but in the end, we came out of the normal passage.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Li Yinfei¡¯s maid asked in surprise.


    The representative replied helplessly, ¡°There were too many people everywhere. We couldn¡¯t move at all so we could only move along with the crowd.¡±


    Everyone was shocked when they heard this. How many people were there?

 Chapter 1009 - Goddess!

    <h4>Chapter 1009 Goddess!</h4>


    Right they were finished speaking, they had reached the end of the special passage. There were many people outside. However, because they stood close together, it made it seem that there weren¡¯t as many people as the station.


    Miss Seven and her group got on a hover recreational vehicle. The RV was huge and had enough space to hold three times as many people as their group. It seemed Mai¡¯er Fa¡¯s side had thought that Li Yinfei would take more people with her. Thus, they made sure they were prepared.


    Everyone was instantly taken to the most luxurious part of Mai¡¯er Fa¡¯s casino city by the hover recreational vehicle, which was the top-ss seven-star hotel. Those who could stay in this hotel were either people of royalty and well-known masters. They must also be the VIP customers of Mai¡¯er Fa. Although Old Martial Beitang was considered a top level elite family within the Huaxia Federation, ady of direct descent still didn¡¯t meet requirements to enter this high-ss hotel.


    However, Mai¡¯er Fa¡¯s side arranged for her to stay in it because of Li Yinfei. Of course, she didn¡¯t have a presidential suite like Li Yinfei and was only given a normal suite. But, this still made Miss Seven quite satisfied with the arrangement.


    Li Yinfei was very pleased that Mailer Fa saw her as this important. Now, she felt like she actually was not much different from ady of direct descent from the Old Martial Beitang elite family!


    It was true. She was indeed not a direct descendant of the Li family. If her background was scrutinized deeply, she wasn¡¯t even considered a side descendant. She was amoner from her very beginnings! However now, she was the idol of the soul that the entire world loved, Li Yinfei!


    That poor Li Lin from the past was no longer connected to her! She was definitely going to achieve new heights!


    Li Yinfei became more confident about herself. Her original elegant face became even more beautiful and eye-catching. She smiled as she invited Miss Seven to stay with her in the presidential suite. However, Miss Seven held back her wanting to do so and refused politely.


    Little Yang, who was excitedly standing on the side, had inadvertently seen the change on Li Yinfei¡¯s facial expression. Little Yang actually stared at her nkly. Not only did he do that, the other staff members and guards also stared nkly at Li Yinfei. However, they were much more discreet. Although this type of discretion was useless in front of experts, it was still considered showing much restraintpared to Little Yang¡¯s nk stare.


    Li Yinfei¡¯s beauty not only caught the attention of Miss Seven¡¯s group, Li Yinfei¡¯s own four body guards were also moved by Li Yinfei¡¯s indescribable beauty. What they should rejoice was the fact that they had always followed Li Yinfei, and was somewhat immune to her beauty. They weren¡¯t like those people who were following Miss Seven, gawking and staring.


    ¡°Little Yang!¡± Despite losing her focus for a moment because of Li Yinfei¡¯s beauty, Elder Sister Nuo was still a woman so she was more immune to her beauty. When she saw Little Yang¡¯s nk expression, she thought to herself that there was going to be trouble if this staring continued. She immediately prompted Little Yang as she was afraid Little Yang was going to cause trouble.


    Little Yang was shocked awake and stopped staring. He immediately put his head down in embarrassment and said softly, ¡°Elder Sister Nuo, Miss Li really looks like a goddess.¡±


    ¡°Of course, she¡¯s the first daughter of the Li family and is everyone¡¯s idol. You need to wake up. Don¡¯t gawk at such an important individual,¡± Elder Sister Nuo softly warned.


    Elder Sister Nuo¡¯s words scared Little Yang and made him shake his head furiously, ¡°No, no, no, I won¡¯t. Miss Li is the goddess in the sky. I¡¯m only just looking, just looking.¡± After saying that, he went to the back of the group and put his head down, not daring to look towards Li Yinfei¡¯s direction anymore as though he was afraid the goddess would get angry at him.


    Despite their conversation being softly spoken, it was still heard by those around them.


    Little Yang¡¯s honest behavior made Miss Seven smirk. Even Li Yinfei, who hated people looking at her to get something out of her, wasn¡¯t unhappy at the fact that Little Yang was looking at her. Instead, she felt Little Yang¡¯s stare was pure and sincere. Of course, the word ¡®goddess¡¯ that Little Yang had said made Li Yinfei happy. Everyone liked hearing good things about themselves, especially the words that came from their hearts.


    Li Yinfei and Miss Seven was preparing to return to their rooms to rest and clean themselves up. Then, they made arrangements to go to Mai¡¯er Fa¡¯srgest casino at night to see how it worked. Mailer Fa¡¯s side was also quite efficient as they instantly gave Li Yinfei a VIP card. This card would be able to be exchanged into betting chips at any of Mai¡¯er Fa¡¯s casinos for 50 million chips.


    It had to be said that in order to invite Li Yinfei to be the special guest for the opening ceremony of the Mecha Betting Tournament, Mailer Fa was quite sincere and didn¡¯t care about the costs of amodating Li Yinfei. Faced with Mailer Fa¡¯s VIP service, the business-like smile Li Yinfei had on her face at the beginning had changed and became more sincere.


    At night, Li Yinfei met up with Miss Seven, who brought Elder Sister Nuo, another female maid and two guards. Originally, Little Yang was not allowed to go in, but not sure whether if it was Elder Sister Nuo or Miss Seven who said something about him, that let them bring up taking Little Yang with them. Their reasoning was that he needed to help them hold the betting chips...


    It was a reason that had ws everywhere! However, the pure and sincere Little Yang didn¡¯t discover that. He actually thought Miss Seven and the others really needed someone there to do manualbor so he followed them dly.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t f*cking understand. Why would Miss Nuo like such a dumb person... Why isn¡¯t the person that Miss Nuo likes me?¡± Seeing Little Yang shadow slowly disappear, the workers who were sent back were all green with envy. They didn¡¯t dare to think about Miss Seven, but the head of maids, the beautiful Miss Nuo, was everyone¡¯s dream girl. Now, they saw their dream girl being snatched away by a dumb kid. It was no wonder that they were feeling annoyed.


    One can imagine that when Little Yang was to return to the starship, he would definitely be considered public enemy number one by all the workers. His life would be very difficult in the future.


    Li Yinfei and Miss Seven chose to go to the casino that was situated below the hotel. It was casino was the most luxurious casino on Mai¡¯er Fa. They were told that the Mecha Betting Tournament was going to be held at this casino and Li Yinfei would sing at the opening ceremony of this tournament, so Li Yinfei came to this casino to get familiar with the entire ce and spend some time having fun with Miss Seven.


    Once they entered the casino, the manager of the casino gave 50 million betting chips to Li Yinfei. Li Yinfei wanted to exchange some chips for Miss Seven, but Miss Seven graciously refused. She was already grateful enough to Li Yinfei so she didn¡¯t want to continue to take advantage of thisdy from the Li family. Although her wealth wasn¡¯t as plentiful as her elder and younger brothers, she still had the power to move around billions worth of assets. A few million for gambling was still within her power.


    Miss Seven¡¯s refusal didn¡¯t cause Li Yinfei to hold any grudge. She still smiled and patiently waited for Miss Seven to go exchange for some chips.


    Not long after, Miss Seven¡¯s followers had exchanged 30 million worth of chips for her. Miss Seven didn¡¯t want her guards to continue to follow them, so she gave them a total of 10 million worth of chip for them to go do their own thing. Miss Seven was originally nning on giving Little Yang a few thousand to y with, but Little Yang firmly refused. He replied earnestly that he was only there to hold the chips and not to gamble. The earnest look on his face made Miss Seven and Li Yinfeiugh hysterically. However, theirughing just resulted in a more confused Little Yang.


    However, when he saw Miss Seven handing over the betting chips, Little Yang had a difficult expression on his face. He finally understood why Miss Seven and that goddess, Lady Li,ughed.

 Chapter 1010 - A Familiar Face!

    <h4>Chapter 1010 A Familiar Face!</h4>


    It turns out, the left over 20 million chips were actually just two circr chips that were made with some unknown material. When they were put in his hands, he couldn¡¯t feel any weight at all. In other words, Miss Seven didn¡¯t actually need him to do any manualbor or hold her chips. Even the physically weak Elder Sister Nuo could sessfully throw the chips miles away if she wanted to.


    However, Little Yang quickly felt the pressure and stress that the two chips were given him. With the chips in the palm of his hand, Little Yang suddenly thought about the resulting issues if he were to lose one of them identally... Little Yang¡¯s hand began to sweat and tremble.


    The terrified expression on Little Yang¡¯s face when looking at the 20 million chips caused Li Yinfei to be a little yful. She smiled as she handed over her 50 million chips to him, ¡°Here Little Yang, help me hold them as well.¡±


    She wanted to add into the pot and see how Little Yang would react.


    Before Little Yang could react, Li Yinfei had already put the chips in Little Yang¡¯s hand.


    Little Yang unconsciously held onto the chips then seemed to have discovered something. His entire body began to tremble in fear as he said weakly, ¡°Miss Li, don-don¡¯t give it to


    me.¡±


    The chips in his hand were as light as feathers, but the responsibility they represented weighed tons on his shoulders. Little Yang felt like he couldn¡¯t endure the pressure much longer and began to have countless drops of cold sweat running down his forehead... If he lost them, if he lost them, if he lost them... His brain was full of thoughts about what would happen if he were to lose them.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll stop teasing you.¡± Li Yinfei saw the terrified and pitiful expression on Little Yang¡¯s face and understood she couldn¡¯t continue her teasing any longer. She reached out with her hand and grabbed her 50 million chips back.


    ¡°Thank you Miss Li, thank you Miss Li...¡± Little Yang said gratefully.


    ¡°Have I bullied you?¡± Little Yang¡¯s behavior also made Miss Seven want to tease him so she said this purposely after seeing him behave like that.


    Miss Seven¡¯s words instantly caused Little Yang to go into panic mode. He held the 20 million chips in his hand and didn¡¯t know what to do as his head just keep turning from left to right.


    ¡°Hehe!¡± Miss Seven couldn¡¯t help butugh again after seeing Little Yang¡¯s pitiful expression. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll stop teasing you. Just don¡¯t hold anything and follow us as we y.¡±


    Hearing this, Elder Sister Nuo grabbed the two chips out of Little Yang¡¯s hands. She then sternly rolled her eyes towards him, ¡°So weak. You¡¯re already afraid with just this little amount of money?¡±


    Little Yang could only smile earnestly. After seeing the millions leave his hands, he finally could breathe a sigh of relief as he used his sleeve to wipe away the cold sweat on his forehead.


    He wasn¡¯t afraid of lifting weights, but the chips that had no weight, made him feel that he would copse under the pressure. If he was to lose them, even selling his body wouldn¡¯t be enough to pay it back.


    Li Yinfei¡¯s beauty was phenomenal. In addition to how she was a famous individual in the world, each of her actions and movements drew the attention of the other casino goers around her. She especially drew the attention of a few guests in the casino when she showed the warm smile she had when she was teasing Little Yang


    ¡°That person is the Huaxia Federation¡¯s queen idol, Li Yinfei?¡± said a 30 to 40-year-old young man who was blonde and had greenish eyes.


    ¡°That¡¯s correct, my duke,¡± the servant beside him replied with certainty.


    ¡°As expected, she really is a one of a kind beauty. Luo Lin, help me ask her out...¡± The young man couldn¡¯t help but lick his lips as though he had just seen his prey.


    ¡°Oh, there¡¯s another little beauty beside her. Who¡¯s that? If it¡¯s possible, I won¡¯t mind a threesome.¡± The young man¡¯s eyes blinked perversely. It seemed that he would always look for pleasure.


    ¡°My duke, looking at the logos on the uniforms of those around her, they should be from the first-ranked elite family, Old Martial Beitang family. The Federation¡¯s top 4 elite families are always very secretive, so we shouldn¡¯t provoke them.¡± Luo Lin quickly wiped away cold sweat as he reminded his duke. His duke had an eye not only for the queen idol Li Yinfei, but also for a troublesomedy from an elite family.


    Although Li Yinfei was also part of an elite family, the Li family, she was considered to be a political asset that the Li family would leverage whenever they could. However, as long as they gave the Li family enough benefits, they would be able to easily acquire Li Yinfei. This was why the servant didn¡¯t refuse his master from preying on Li Yinfei.


    In the eyes of themon folk, these queen idols of the soul, well-known actors and other famous idols held high positions in their hearts. Some would even be gods among the public. However, when they fall under the watchful eyes of those with limitless power, these people were only considered to be ythings of those with power. On the other hand, they wouldn¡¯t dare toy a hand on ady from the elite family who was to the public knowledge, a nobody.


    ¡°Sh*t. I just don¡¯t understand why you¡¯re all afraid of the Federation. If we¡¯re talking military, they have Ling Xiao so he will breed fear in us. I can understand that. But, must we be afraid of elite families in the Federation?¡± When the duke heard that he couldn¡¯ty his hands on the other beauty, he was unhappy.


    ¡°My duke, please watch you words,¡± Luo Lin said softly.


    The reason every country was afraid of the Federation was not only because they had more god-ss operators than all of them in each generation, for example Ling Xiao in this one. It was also the reason that the Federation¡¯s elite families had kept their power a well-kept secret. There was once a king of a small country who had his eyes set on an elite family¡¯s daughter of direct descent. He wanted to take her as a concubine, and in the end angered the second-rank elite family. The results of this anger was the destruction of this king¡¯s country.


    This incident made all the other countries understand that the power the Federation showed to the public was not only the military power on the outer surface. There was also hidden powers among the elite families. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the Federation¡¯s military and the elite families were on guard against each other and exhausting their resources through civil disputes, the strength of the Federation may reach a point where Caesar would have difficulty dealing against. The Federation might even take control of the entire gxy and be an existence that could not be matched by any other country.


    ¡°Understood. I¡¯m also satisfied if it¡¯s only Li Yinfei.¡± The duke saw his subordinate¡¯s stern expression and knew he had spoke out of line.


    On the other side of the casino, in the VIP lounge on the second floor, one of the young men also saw Li Yinfei¡¯s group while he was standing near the window looking down at the crowd in the atrium.


    ¡°Hey, our queen idol actually came here as well.¡± The young man had a sinister smile on his face and spoke to another person who was sitting on the sofa trying out some red wine.


    The young man holding the red wine ss hands shook, ¡°Li Yinfei?¡±


    ¡°Other than her, who else would be invited to perform for the opening ceremony here?¡± The sinister young man looked towards the vague poster on the wall in the VIP lounge. Just from the hint of ¡®queen idol of the soul¡¯ allowed them to basically know who wasing to this event.


    ¡°If she¡¯s here, she¡¯s here. Don¡¯t make a giant fuss about it,¡± the red wine drinking young man said indifferently.


    ¡°I¡¯m not surprised she¡¯s here. I¡¯m only surprised that she had brought someone that I didn¡¯t think woulde here.¡± The sinister young man had a weird smile on his face.


    The red wine drinking young man saw the other man¡¯s expression and knew something was off, ¡°Who?¡±


    ¡°That servant who is standing beside them has a chimera totem embroidered on his uniform...¡± The sinister young man looked towards Little Yang, who was following Miss Seven closely, and frowned. When he first looked at them, Little Yang gave him an odd feeling of familiarity. However, when he had a closer look, that feeling of familiarity disappeared.

 Chapter 1011 - Trouble!

    <h4>Chapter 1011 Trouble!</h4>


    The young man instantly jumped up from the sofa after hearing the word ¡®chimera¡¯ and leaped towards the window in one step. He saw Miss Seven down below and instantly gritted his teeth, ¡°Tang Yingying. Didn¡¯t she go travel the world? Why would shee here?¡±


    ¡°Traveling the world and ending up here is quite normal. Especially when she familiarized herself with Li Yinfei.¡± Seeing Tang Yingying and Li Yinfei familiarity with each other, he could tell that the two of them had definitely not known each other for just one to two days. The sinister young man half-smiled towards the man beside him, ¡°Are you going to go say hi to your younger cousin sister?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re here for a mission so we shouldn¡¯t expose our identities. I only hope this girl doesn¡¯t cause any trouble for me,¡± said the man in dismay.


    ¡°I mean, it¡¯s fine if you meet up with your younger cousin sister. But, you will need to use your identity as a master of the Beitang family,¡± the sinister man suggested.


    ¡°Don¡¯t cause trouble for me. We only got our identity so we can enter Mailer Fa with our leader as his assistants.¡± The young man red at hispanion. ¡°Plus, when I entered the Flying Dragon Special Forces, I no longer have any connection with that family. I¡¯m just Tang Ningyu from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.¡±


    It turns out, these two people were actually Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. Their trip to Mailer Fa this time was because they had received orders from the higher ups. They were told to disguise their identities as assistants of a chairman of a merchant group and sneak into Mai¡¯er Fa to investigate the reason behind Magic Ace Mecha n¡¯s annihtion 15 years ago.


    Although the battlefield where the Magic Ace Mecha n¡¯s tragedy urred wasn¡¯t in Mai¡¯er Fa¡¯s star sector, it actually begun from here... It was just the military didn¡¯t know what Magic Ace Mecha n had done 15 years ago to cause them to be killed and in the end bepletely wiped out in a public star sector.


    Tang Ningyu frowned. He looked towards Tang Yingying, who was ying around and having fun, and said in dismay, ¡°Chaoran, looks like you¡¯ll have to work a bit harder. I have to go outside less during this time, in case I encounter Yingying and cause big problems to our mission.¡±


    As they were speaking, Tang Ningyu¡¯s eyes were fixated on Little Yang. Little Yang, who had his head down as he followed Tang Yingying¡¯s group, gave him a feeling that he wasn¡¯t a stranger. However, he wasn¡¯t too familiar with his younger cousin sister and her entourage. Thus, he decided to ignore Little Yang


    Mu Chaoran saw Tang Ningyu¡¯s questioning gaze at Little Yang. Mu Chaoran couldn¡¯t help but send a nce at Little Yang again but this time, he didn¡¯t have the same familiar feeling he had at the beginning. The feeling Little Yang gave him was like a stranger. This made him doubt the feeling of familiarity at the beginning


    Mu Chaoran couldn¡¯t help butugh silently. Ever since Azure, his senses were very off. When he saw people who spoke or acted simr to his younger brother Shaoyun, he would feel that slight sense of familiarity.


    He didn¡¯t think that Shaoyun¡¯s death caused a huge void to appear in his heart... Mu Chaoran remembered what his team leader had told him. If he wanted to get stronger, he must quickly fill this void. Otherwise, it would be a roadblock that would hold him back from achieving his peak.


    ¡®As expected, Shaoyun was knot in his heart!¡¯ Mu Chaoran sighed in his mind. He put his hand out and pushed a button on the window for effects. The transparent window slowly began to turn ck, cutting off all of the excitement from the outside. This made the VIP lounge return to its original peace and also allowed Mu Chaorane out of the shback of Pei Shaoyun in his mind.


    Little Yang, who had his head down the entire time, raised his head as Mu Chaoran darkened the windows. He then slowly and silently looked towards the window on the second floor.


    ¡®Who knew that I would actually meet up with people I know here and they¡¯re both troublesome people...¡¯ Little Yang thought in dismay.


    It turns out, Little Yang was Ling Lan in disguise. She wanted to use Tang Yingying and Li Yinfei to sessfully infiltrate the central location of Mailer Fa¡¯s casino.


    The reason she made such ns was because Mailer Fa would have guests at the central area to sign the guest book, and these guests must have their own personal invitation letters. Of course, Ling Lan could get her hands on an invitation letter, but the letters could only be used by the person named on the letter. Even if she managed to get a letter, without the actual person with her, she still wouldn¡¯t be able to get in. Thus, when Ling Lan thought of how to perfectly infiltrate this ce, she got word that Li Yinfei was invited to do the opening ceremony. With that, she decided to hop on their backs and let them take her into Mai¡¯er Fa.


    Afterwards, Ling Lan purposely provoked two mafia groups to fight against each other. She then disguised herself as someone that was being chased and barely got away with her life. After encountering Miss Seven, she activated her spiritual power and hinted towards Miss Seven for her to save her...


    The reason Elder Sister Nuo was so concerned about her was also the results of subconscious hinting. From the very beginning, Ling Lan had prepared to enter Mailer Fa with them. It was just every step was made so it seemed that it was Miss Seven and her group¡¯s decision and not something Ling Lan forced upon them.


    Her originally perfect disguise had some ws that were seen through by Mu Chaoran because when he looked towards her suddenly, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t restrain her force of presence. Luckily, she was above Mu Chaoran¡¯s physical stage so she was able to hide her presence quickly. This was also why when Tang Ningyu looked at her, he didn¡¯t have a familiar feeling. It was also because of this reason, Mu Chaoran thought his senses were off which allowed Ling Lan to have a chance of not exposing herself.


    Ling Lan took back the nce she threw towards the second floor and silently looked towards the perverted blond young man who was greedily staring at Li Yinfei and Miss Seven. Although Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu were troublesome, she wouldn¡¯t be exposed as long as she was careful to not let them discover her. She could even use them to her advantage. However, the real problem was this person...


    Ling Lan closed her eyes and brushed away the coldness in her eyes. If that person was to make a move on Li Yinfei and Tang Yingying that them couldn¡¯t handle, Ling Lan decided that she would personally lend a hand!


    This wasn¡¯t because Ling Lan had a heart of saint but rather because Ling Lan had her own morals. She must return the favor since she borrowed Li Yinfei and Miss Seven¡¯s influence to enter Mai¡¯er Fa. The least she could do was to not let anything happen to these twodies during their time on Mai¡¯er Fa.


    Although Mailer Fa was a well known casino city, it was still rtively safe. At least in the casinos, there wouldn¡¯t be anything like rape or kidnapping women. Li Yinfei and Miss Seven yed their hearts out for the entire night. As their servant, Ling Lan also followed them for the entire night. This trip opened her eyes and let her understand all of the tricks for different casino games.


    Despite Mai¡¯er Fa being publicly known as the fairest casino, it didn¡¯t factor in the fact that all the dealers were gambling masters. These dealers knew very well how to take all the money from the guests¡¯ pockets. When these dealers met with other experts, they would politely invite them to the upper floors where the guests could participate in higher stakes and higher level gambling games.


    As expected, dealers are always the winners!

 Chapter 1012 - A Liking!

    <h4>Chapter 1012 A Liking!</h4>


    After she had lost down to herst 10,000 chips, Miss Seven saw Little Yang¡¯s interest in the game. She then handed the chips to him and said, ¡°Our luck was terrible and we lost almost all of the round. This is thest round so I¡¯ll let you bet.¡± Miss Seven, two of her maids and Li Yinfei¡¯s group, won small amounts on the first two rounds, then kept losing afterwards. They had already lost to the point of no longer having any interest to gamble.


    ¡°Ah, I-I-I ca-can¡¯t.¡± Ling Lan shook her head furiously as though she was surprised by the 10,000 chips.


    ¡°Stop being a sissy. If ourdy told you to go, then you go. If you lose, she wouldn¡¯t ask you pay it back.¡± Elder Sister Nuo wasn¡¯t pleased with Little Yang¡¯s cowardliness and instantly pushed Little Yang towards a betting table.


    This table was betting on ¡®Big¡¯ or ¡®Small¡¯. It seemed Elder Sister Nuo was afraid Little Yang didn¡¯t know how to gamble so she pushed him towards the easiest table.


    ¡°I-I won¡¯t h-have to pay it back, right?¡± Little Yang stuttered as he spoke. If he lost, he wouldn¡¯t be able to pay it back.


    ¡°No, but if you win you don¡¯t get a share either,¡± Elder Sister Nuo said in an annoyed tone.


    ¡°O-Oh, t-t-then I¡¯m betting now.¡± After hearing her words, Little Yang breathed a sigh of relief. He held the chips in his hand as he looked at the many choices on the table with a face full of confusion.


    ¡°ce your bets quickly, the round is about to start.¡± The dealer smiled as he reminded. When he saw Little Yang, he instantly knew Little Yang was a newbie who had never participated in gambling before.


    ¡°How do I get the most money?¡± Ling Lan pretended to not know and asked.


    ¡°That ,of course, would be betting on specific numbers or betting on the dealer to take all or lose all.¡± Smiled the dealer. ¡®As expected, this kid is just a newbie who likes money.¡¯


    Ling Lan was seemingly thinking about which option would give her the most money. At that moment, the other guests around the table were all telling her to hurry up.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t bet, I¡¯m going to start the round. You can wait for the next one.¡± The dealer didn¡¯t care and was about to not wait for dumb little boy.


    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m not going to wait, I¡¯ll bet this one.¡± Ling Lan was seemingly anxious from all the hurrying and instantly tossed in the 10,000 chips. She originally wanted to toss it into the part where the deal would win against all, but it identallynded on the part where the number ¡®7¡¯ was at.


    ¡°Ah, I tossed it wrong.¡± Ling Lan cried out.


    ¡°If you want to change it, I can still let you change it.¡± The dealer was surprisingly nice.


    ¡°If the bet leaves the hand then its set in stone. Mr. Dealer, you can¡¯t just let him do that just because he¡¯s a newbie,¡± a few of the guests were unhappy and began to yell.


    The dealer wasn¡¯t affected and only smiled at Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan pretended to be scared by the other guests beside her and immediately shook her head, ¡°I-I-I¡¯m not c-changing it.¡±


    ¡°Really not changing?¡± Asked the dealer.


    Ling Lan saw the other guest around the table having an expression like they were about to gobble her up. She shook her head furiously to show that she wasn¡¯t going to change it.


    The dealer shouted helplessly, ¡°Round start.¡± He opened the cover and there were three dice. Two were on ¡®3¡¯ and one was on ¡®1¡¯. It was exactly ¡®7¡¯ points.


    ¡°Ah, Little Yang, you won.¡± Elder Sister Nuo jumped up in excitement. Even Miss Seven and Li Yinfei pped their hands because they were happy. They finally won, and it was a 10-fold return, letting them earn 100,000 instantly.


    The dealer handed the chips to Ling Lan using his ruler and smiled, ¡°Boy, your luck is quite good. Do you want to y another round?¡±


    Ling Lan held the chips she had won and shook her head, ¡°No more gambling, no more gambling.¡±


    ¡°Why? Your luck is so good right now,¡± said Elder Sister Nuo.


    ¡°My daddy said that nobody will have good luck all the time. A person should definitely stop when they are winning, in case they use up all of their luck.¡± Ling Lan replied sternly and earnestly. ¡°Winning 100,000 is already by my luck skyrocketing through the roof. If I keep ying, I will definitely lose.¡±


    Elder Sister Nuo still wanted to say something, but Miss Seven seemed to have understood something and stopped her, ¡°We¡¯ve yed all night and should rest. Let¡¯s just call it a night.¡±


    After herdy spoke, Elder Sister Nuo politely replied with ¡®Yes¡¯ and no longer forced Little Yang to continue to gamble.


    ¡°Um, mdy, these are for you.¡± Ling Lan handed Miss Seven the chips in her hand.


    ¡°You won them, why are you giving them to me?¡± Miss Seven asked with smiling eyes.


    ¡°Elder Sister Nuo said that I would only bet and the result has nothing to do with me,¡± Ling Lan replied earnestly.


    ¡°But it was because of you that we won. Shouldn¡¯t you take some money for your hard work?¡± Miss Seven asked with a half-smile.


    ¡°My daddy once said I shouldn¡¯t be greedy for things that don¡¯t belong to me. It¡¯ll just create problems.¡± Ling Lan decisively chose to be an obedient child who always listened to her father. If Ling Xiao knew these words that Ling Lan were speaking right now, he would definitely bawl his eyes out. Unfortunately, the real Ling Lan was usually obedient on the surface and rebellious on the inside, making Ling Xiao unable to do anything about it.


    Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s earnest expression, Miss Seven knew Little Yang was speaking from his heart. She then reached out with her hand and took the chips, purposefully leaving one in Ling Lan¡¯s hands.


    Ling Lan immediately shouted, ¡°Mdy, you missed one.¡±


    Miss Seven smiled, ¡°That¡¯s your reward.¡±


    ¡°But it¡¯s not my money.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s honesty made the maids beside Miss Seven almost want to beat him up.


    ¡°I am your master. Your performance today was very good, so I gave that to you as a reward. Didn¡¯t your daddy ever teach you that your work should bepensated?¡± Miss Seven replied with a full smile on her face.


    Being so familiar with the wars within the family for power, Little Yang¡¯s morals of not taking things of others and only give to others through the kindness of his heart, made Miss Seven like him a lot. Originally, she was only sympathetic towards Ling Lan¡¯s situation, but now, she was actually starting to like Little


    Yang.


    ¡®Perhaps I should take of Little Yang in case those disgusting and savage individuals on the starship were to bully him.¡¯ Miss Seven secretly made this decision.


    The dealer¡¯s eyes had a hint of approval as he saw Little Yang decisively take the money and leave. It was very rare to see someone who could maintain a clear head under the lure of money and knew that leaving after a good round would be a better idea. He hoped that Little Yang could hold on against all lures of possible profits during his time on Mai¡¯er Fa and not lose his morals.


    Nothing happened during the rest of the night. In the morning of the second day, Li Yinfei received an invitation from Duke Edward. Li Yinfei knew very well that she had definitely caused this duke to have the thoughts of conquering her. Although Li Yinfei had entered the entertainment industry, she didn¡¯t want to be someone who socialized in this way so she decisively refused the invitation.


    Despite the fact the Li family had determined that she had secrets she couldn¡¯t reveal to the public, the elite family¡¯s dignity was not allowed to be stepped on. On the surface, she was under the Li family. This was her background that gave her the confidence to refuse these powerful nobles.


    ¡°What? That woman refused my invitation?¡± After learning that Li Yinfei had rejected his invitation, Duke Edward¡¯s expression turned sinister. ¡°A low-ss singer actually dares to refuse to serve me...¡± Duke Edward had hint of anger in his eyes. He felt his dignity was being trampled on by a singer, who he looked down upon. This humiliation must be repaid by Li Yinfei herself.


    ¡°My duke, please be patient for the time being. Li Yinfei was invited by Mailer Fa. During this time, she definitely would be protected by them. We can¡¯t risk offending Mai¡¯er Fa just because of this,¡± Luo Lin carefullyforted.


    As the stand-alone gambling, Mailer Fa never leaned towards the other preying nations. Its strength was unfathomable and terrifying. It would be a stupid idea to offend or provoke them at this time when they were at their most alert.

 Chapter 1013 - Divine Secrets?

    <h4>Chapter 1013 Divine Secrets?</h4>


    Although Edward seemed impulsive, he still knew about the powers behind Mailer Fa. Hearing Luo Lin speak of it, he nodded in agreement. However, he ordered that once Mailer Fa¡¯s guards were to leave Li Yinfei¡¯s side, they would make a move. When that happens, he would definitely humiliate that woman. If she was obedient, he wouldn¡¯t mind marrying her as one of his wives. After all, he had never seen any woman as beautiful as Li Yinfei. Just her beauty was enough to make his heart throb.


    After returning to the regr guest rooms, Ling Lan held the 10,000 dor chip in her hand as she slept under the envious gazes of the other servants.


    ¡°Little Four, did you take control of the casino¡¯s mainframe?¡± Ling Lan, who seemed like she was fast asleep, was actually in her mindspace asking Little Four about the situation.


    She didn¡¯t expect that Mailer Fa¡¯s casinos were not connected on the same mainframe. Instead, they had their own virtual worlds. Even if they were to stay in a guest room, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to infiltrate it. They would only have a chance to enter the mainframe if they enter the casino. Ling Lan was lucky that she had Little Four who could silently infiltrate the mainframe. Even imperial level hackers might be discovered by them the moment they hack into the mainframe.


    There were even two imperial hackers standing guard for a standard casino atrium. Mailer Fa had indeed lived up to its name, as the powers they wielded were abundant and bottomless.


    ¡°I¡¯ve pretty much got it fully controlled, other than a few core locations that I can¡¯t get into.¡± After seeing that there were so many imperial hackers on guard, Little Four also became more careful with his actions.


    Above imperial level hackers were god-ss hackers. Legend has it that these god-ss hackers were considered gods in the virtual world. After ying around in the virtual world for so long, although Little Four hadn¡¯t encountered these legends, it was still possible for the existence of such hackers to be in Mailer Fa because there were no less than 10 imperial hackers in the main area of the casino.


    Little Four didn¡¯t forget what his boss had told him. Thus, if it wasn¡¯tpletely necessary, he wouldn¡¯t go and touch those core locations that were clearly heavily guarded.


    ¡°Not bad. We still can¡¯t figure out how deep the rabbit hole goes for Mailer Fa. We should be careful first. Don¡¯t touch on the core locations for now. Controlling the other regions are enough for us to use. Little Four, help me surveince Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu. Check what they¡¯re here to do,¡± ordered Ling Lan. She didn¡¯t believe that these two people were here on vacation. Although the restrictions of the Flying Dragon Special Forces were not as strict as standard divisions, they still wouldn¡¯t allow their soldiers to take a vacation in a casino so there was no doubt that they were here on a mission.


    ¡°Understood, Boss.¡± Little Four began to investigate Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran.


    Soon, Little Four had found out why they were here, ¡°Boss, they¡¯re here to investigate how Magic Ace Mecha n was wiped out.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s heart skipped a beat, ¡°Something that wasn¡¯t investigated in 15 years, but yet they began to investigate it after those people, who kept the Liu and Wang family under surveince, died...¡±


    ¡°Boss, could it be the person standing behind those people?¡± Little Four said excitedly. He loved digging up the truth.


    ¡°That¡¯s a possibility. Someone who could control the Flying Dragon Special Forces... This person definitely holds a high-ranking position.¡± Ling Lan frowned. Captain Liu¡¯s enemies were really not that simple.


    ¡°Could it be the Third Marshal?¡± Little Four asked.


    ¡°Other people can be greedy, but the marshals will never be like that.¡± Every since Ling Lan read the distribution of power regarding the marshals, she eliminated the three marshals as suspects.


    ¡°Why?¡± Little Four didn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°Every marshal has the power tomand one god-ss mecha. As long as the mecha operator had indeed advanced to god-ss level... Marshals on the other hand were unable to be top-level mecha operators so they wouldn¡¯t need the mineral to build a god-ss mecha. If they were to acquire the mineral veins, other than making money, there wouldn¡¯t be much to benefit from it. If the marshals wanted money, there were many factions, merchant groups and elite families that will be willing to give it to them without asking for anything in return so the marshals didn¡¯t need to take this risk. Plus, if they did it they will have topletely wipe out a legendary titled super mecha n. No matter how this was looked at, it wouldn¡¯t be beneficial for them,¡± Ling Lan exined.


    ¡°Why can¡¯t marshals be top-level mecha operators?¡± Little Four didn¡¯t understand this point.


    ¡°Marshals exist to control everything, while god-ss mecha masters are the ultimate weapons of the country. The two would develop in two different directions. In order to not mix up the two groups, the Federation had a rule known to everyone. The highest level marshals were allowed to reach was the ace level. Once they advance into the imperial level, they must give up their position willingly...¡± After saying that, Ling Lan had a thought, ¡°There is still one possibility for a marshal to not care about the consequences and try to take the mineral veins. That would be this marshal had suppressed his level to not advance into the imperial level. This suppression of many years might let him already have a chance to peek at the god-ss level. In order to not expose this secret and still be a god-ss mecha master, he would want to create a god-ss mecha for himself in secret...¡±


    ¡°No, although he can restrain himself purposely and fool those of the same level, he still wouldn¡¯t be able to fool those one level above him, and the three marshals all met up with dad before. If one of them had reached the imperial level, even if they were to suppress their level, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to fool dad unless they have special method...¡± Ling Lan began to rebut her own statements.


    ¡°Looks like I have to immediately notify dad and tell him to be careful. I should tell him to find a chance to get close to the three marshals and see if something is actually off. I hope it¡¯s not what I¡¯m thinking.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s face turned cold. If that was the case, then her father was in danger. In order to make sure their secret doesn¡¯t get out, these people would definitely take out her father, who had the biggest chance of seeing through their disguise. It was no surprise, since her father was the only god-ss operator in the Federation who always appeared near the marshals.


    After feeling his boss¡¯s worry, Little Four also began to worry for Ling Xiao, who was currently in the Federation¡¯s military office center. He didn¡¯t dare to dy any longer and quickly sent all of Ling Lan¡¯s guesses to Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao, who was currently within the military headquarters, had been busy arguing, plotting and scheming against the military¡¯s other factions and higher-ups in order to reap more benefits for his division and Ling Lan. When he received Little Four¡¯s encoded message, his eyes widened in surprise.


    ¡°Someone among the three marshals may have advanced into a god-ss operator? Is that even possible?¡± Ling Xiao thought about the times he met up with the three marshals and didn¡¯t feel that there was anything odd.


    ¡®Is Lan¡¯er worrying too much? Or maybe she was right, someone may be helping them block off the divine secrets?¡¯


    God-ss mecha operators were not like Ling Lan had previously thought. Not only could they operate god-ss mechas and have keen senses, they also could peek into the realm of the divine... There was definitely ways of making him unable to sense anything. If he couldn¡¯t sense something odd, then there must be someone helping block off the person¡¯s divine secrets.


    ¡°Empyreal Zhuge?¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s finger lightly tapped on his desk. Only Empyreal Zhuge had this type of capabilities. It seemed that he had to investigate the current generation¡¯s God Machine of the Zhuge family, as only that person had the ability to cause him to not be able to see the truth.

 Chapter 1014 - Notification!

    <h4>Chapter 1014 Notification!</h4>


    ¡°Is the world going to change?¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s gazed deeply towards the window. Suddenly, his expression steeled and he contacted Ling Lan¡¯smunicator.


    Ling Xiao knew that no matter where Ling Lan was, she would have the ability to not expose herself. Although Ling Lan continued to tell him that she had awakened talents of a hacker, Ling Xiao could tell that it was not the case. However, his daughter was older now and had her own secrets so he just pretended to not know. He would wait for the day when his daughter would willingly tell him or perhaps never tell him in this lifetime.


    Soon, Ling Lan picked the call on hermunicator. Ling Lan showed her scar-filled face on it which made Ling Xiao¡¯s expression darken.


    ¡°Dad, you¡¯re looking for me?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about that part of her face and was not saddened by it in the least.


    Ling Xiao knew that it wasn¡¯t part of the disguise, but rather because Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about it. He sighed once again. He raised his daughter poorly. Girls should put their looks first. Perhaps for Ling Lan, it was the most unimportant feature for her.


    Seeing Ling Xiao sigh, Ling Lan knew that it was because of the scar on her face. She couldn¡¯t exin to him that her face was going to return to normal soon.


    That was because after a few days, Juhao¡¯s local products and resources would be publicly auctioned off by the Federation. The representatives of the three chemical product corporations that she had told Little Four to develop in the past few years were sent to the auction. In order to confuse others, these three corporations were nning on buying all of the local product from Juhao.


    Of course, Nuwa agent¡¯s mainponent must be acquired. After thinking about this, Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what Little Four was thinking in the beginning. This Little Four just randomly created three corporations who dealt with the same products. He also made these three corporationspete to the death which caused them all to be enemies with each other. All three of them wanted to destroy thepetitor and didn¡¯t know that their boss was actually the same person.


    However, it was because of this that Ling Lan was able to arrange everything perfectly. If the nt wasn¡¯t paid any attention by others, she would arrange for a smallerpany to buy it secretly. If it drew the attention of otherpanies, the threerge corporations would make a move. This would createpetition between enemies, with neither of them willing to give in. In turn, causing the price to rise up exponentially and scare off others who want to take the product.


    This way, no matter which of the three corporations brought theponents, she wouldn¡¯t worry about obtaining Nuwa agents.


    Of course, Ling Lan had already thought of the reason to exin why she neededrge amounts of that nt. Her military doctor, Li Shiyu, had long discovered that the useless bits left from experiments could still be used. By adding in some standard ingredients, the bits could be used to create a top of the line skin care products that could help women stay young and age slower.


    In this world, the money of women and children were the easiest to acquire! Even in this intergctic era, these wise words from Ling Lan¡¯s previous life still rang true.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t want her father to continue to worry about her face that was going to recover soon. She thought for a moment and then decided to tell him everything, ¡°Dad, don¡¯t worry. My body¡¯s recoverability is increasing. It will disappear after a while.¡±


    The earnest look on Ling Lan¡¯s face made Ling Xiao know that she wasn¡¯t lying to him. Having been worried about Ling Lan¡¯s scars for a long time, Ling Xiao finally had arge smile on his face.


    Seeing Ling Xiao¡¯s expression be less worried, Ling Lan smirked slightly.


    As expected, her decision was right!


    Despite telling Ling Xiao everything honestly would increase the risk of her secret and Li Shiyu¡¯s research bing exposed, she still believed that it was worth the risk tofort her father, who med himself for her injuries.


    Ling Xiao didn¡¯t ask Ling Lan how she was going to recover. He only told Ling Lan to be more careful and not be injured again. Ling Xiao was afraid that if she were to injure herself again, she would be a vegetable in the end.


    Ling Xiao knew very well that there was definitely a special reason for a person who had lost their recoverability to regain it.


    However, since his daughter didn¡¯t want to tell him, why should he ask? Plus, he didn¡¯t want to receive the method of recovering for the injuries from operating above one¡¯s level... Ling Xiao knew very well that this was a Pandora¡¯s box. Once it opened, there would be many troublesing their way.


    Ling Xiao continued to ask Ling Lan why she had the thought that one of the three marshals hid their level. Ling Lan then told him what she had discovered, along with how the Flying Dragon Special Forces had moved out to investigate Magic Ace Mecha n from 15 years ago. She also included the mineral veins in her exnation.


    Ling Lan probably couldn¡¯t hide the fact of existence of the mineral veins anymore since the Flying Dragon Special Forces had been sent here. Ling Lan sighed in her mind and thought it was unfortunate. She then decided to tell her father about the mineral veins.


    Back then, that person wanted to put the mineral veins into the public after discovering he couldn¡¯t take control of Liu Furong. But, he suddenly changed his mind and didn¡¯t want others to acquire the secrets of the mineral veins anymore. He would rather destroy it than to let others have it.


    Instead of the Flying Dragon Special Forces finding out that the mineral veins were taken by her and misunderstand as Ling Xiao and her wanting to take it for themselves, it would be much better if she handed it over willingly and let her father ask the military for the merits they rightfully deserved.


    It wasn¡¯t because Ling Lan didn¡¯t trust Liu Furong. Instead, it was because there were too many people who knew about it. She had to hand over the mineral veins since she couldn¡¯t kill off everyone who knew about it.


    Luckily, there was still the Soul Society. Ling Lan originally thought the materials at the Soul Society were no longer important. She didn¡¯t think that after going around in a circle, she still needed to go to the Soul Society for resolving the issues with Little Four and the instructors¡¯ bodies.


    What she rejoiced was that she still had Xia Qingyi as a backup.


    Ling Lan thought frustratingly. If the mineral veins did not need to be handed over, she would just mine out a bit and resolve the issue of Little Four, Little Blossom and the instructors¡¯ materials for building their bodies. However now, she needed to start from scratch again.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re in Mai¡¯er Fa.¡± After hearing Ling Lan exin the information regarding the mineral veins, Ling Xiao instantly understood where Ling Lan was situated at currently.


    ¡°Yes. I just want to know whether Liu Furong¡¯s words are true or fake. ¡± Ling Lan, of course, wouldn¡¯t tell her father than she wanted to secretly mine the vein...


    Ling Lan, who usually held a stern expression on her face, now couldn¡¯t help but blush for a moment. Luckily, there were many scars on her face. The slight redness was not obvious among the red scars.


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, you¡¯re too impulsive.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s thoughts were focused on the danger his daughter was in and didn¡¯t see that Ling Lan was embarrassed. He frowned and said, ¡°Even the Federation don¡¯t dare to provoke Mailer Fa... These mineral veins have been preserved on Mai¡¯er Fa and not excavated is probably because of this reason.¡±


    ¡°I even suspect that Mai¡¯er Fa knows about the mineral veins. That¡¯s why they opened the casino city there.¡± Ling Xiao didn¡¯t believe that Mai¡¯er Fa¡¯s faction wouldn¡¯t first investigate this before building their gambling hub.


    ¡°They are probably afraid it will be discovered by other nations and cause them to be attacked because of the immense profits there, so it¡¯s better for them to pretend to not know anything, secretly hide the mineral veins and slowly excavate it,¡± Ling Lan said while in deep thought.

 Chapter 1015 - Embarrassment!

    <h4>Chapter 1015 Embarrassment!</h4>


    ¡°Back then, the mine investigators were quietly allowed to enter probably because Mai¡¯er Fa was afraid it was too obvious and it will draw too many people¡¯s attention. Then afterwards, that case with the mine investigators being wiped out made Mailer Fa have a reason to prohibit more mine investigators to enter...¡± Ling Xiao thought about the situation deeper than Ling Lan, ¡°There¡¯s also another possibility that it¡¯s a trap.¡±


    ¡°A trap?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t think the mineral veins could be a trap and was stunned. ¡°Dad, you¡¯re saying the mineral veins could be faked?¡±


    ¡°The mineral veins could be real or fake. However, as for Magic Ace Mecha n meeting their end identally and somehow obtaining the map to the mineral veins... That seems too much of a coincidence. Although there¡¯s the saying that coincidences make history, this was still too much of a coincidence and has its own unexined issues.¡± Ling Xiao exined to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan began to think more deeply about it. Her original thought of Magic Ace Mecha n identally getting caught in the situation was pushed behind her head.


    ¡°If this trap was nned for Magic Ace Mecha n... Then, who would want to wipe out Magic Ace Mecha n?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes glimmered.


    ¡°I will find Senior Colonel Liu and ask about the details,¡± Ling Xiao said decisively. ¡°Lan¡¯er, leave this to me. Don¡¯t meddle in it anymore.¡±


    Someone so cold-blooded and calcting who could flick his finger while plotting to destroy a titled super mecha n, wasn¡¯t someone Ling Lan could go against at her current level. Ling Xiao didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to take any risks.


    ¡°Understood, dad.¡± Nodded Ling Lan.


    She wouldn¡¯t cause trouble but if trouble was to look for her, she wouldn¡¯t retreat either. Ling Lan¡¯s eyes became cold for a split second. She didn¡¯t know why, but she always felt that she had no chance of getting not involved in this incident. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want Ling Xiao to worry so she didn¡¯t tell him what she felt.


    Ling Xiao saw that his daughter was obedient for once and let out a soft sigh of relief. Knowing his daughter, he knew that she would do as she said. If she said she wouldn¡¯t meddle with it, she would not meddle with the incident with the Magic Ace Mecha n and the mineral veins.


    After being relieved, Ling Xiao thought for a moment. Then, he finally said the real reason he called Ling Lan.


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, I called you today because I wanted your thoughts on something,¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s expression became stern.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan earnestly replied, ¡°Ask away, dad.¡±


    ¡°I want to know your honest thoughts about this.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes stared at his daughter intently. He didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to tell him anything other than the truth.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s unusual seriousness surprised Ling Lan. She didn¡¯t know why Ling Xiao would talk to her in this way. Perplexed, she asked, ¡°Dad, what do you want to know?¡±


    ¡°I just want to know whether your thought of leaving the military is real or is it to just keep the promise you had with your mom?¡± Ling Xiao asked what he wanted to know.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan frowned slightly and stopped to think seriously for a moment.


    Everything she had done in the past two years was for the promise she made two years ago. She took troops into the battlefieldst year in hopes that before she left, herrades would be able to get used to war. All in all, she was worried about therades she had grown up with...


    If it was possible, she hoped that her mom would give her three years, five years or even longer. That way she would be able to arrange everything better and protect herrades until they could hold their own. Plus, if she were to leave now, her heart wouldn¡¯t be at peace.


    Ling Lan unknowingly spoke out what she was thinking under the gaze of Ling Xiao.


    Hearing this, Ling Xiao¡¯s expression became cold. Even if it was only a projected image on a screen, Ling Lan could still feel an intimidating gaze from the image.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s snapped, ¡°Ling Lan, I¡¯m asking you for what you want, not what you want to do for others.¡±


    ¡°Ask yourself, did you really join the military to be beside your friends? Are you not the least interested in it? Or perhaps, you hate the military, hate the battlefield, bloodshed, and wanted to be far away from this kind of life?¡±


    Ling Xiao¡¯s question went straight into the depth of Ling Lan¡¯s heart. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what she wanted to do.


    Back then, in order to not let Ling Xiao¡¯s merits be taken away by the Ling family, Lan Luofeng lied that Ling Lan was a boy and took everything that originally belonged to the two of them, causing Ling Lan to have no choice but to pretend to be a boy. When she was sixteen, it was originally possible for her to regain her femininity. However, because of Ling Xiao¡¯s return, she had no choice but to continue to pretend to be male and enter the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. This decision made it so that she had to enter the military for some time.


    When she entered the military academy, Ling Lan had already epted the fact that she would be a soldier in the future. She didn¡¯t reject the idea. It wasn¡¯t because she liked it. She just had never thought about whether she was willing to do so or not. She only felt that it was something she should do.


    Hated being a soldier? Ling Lan shook her head. She definitely didn¡¯t hate being a soldier. Even now, soldiers guarding their own nations would be granted honor and merits. Hated the bloodshed? Ling Lan had probably already gotten used this type of life. If she was to return to a peaceful life, she wouldn¡¯t be used it easily. Thus, when she felt she was actually going to leave the military, she didn¡¯t stay at home. Instead, she chose to create a mercenary team and adventure into the gxy. She was no longer the simple little girl from her previous life, who only hoped to have a healthy body and be able to move about freely.


    Ling Lan seemingly returned to the battlefield on Haijiao. She could feel the feeling of her blood boiling when she piloted her mecha and fought with enemies. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but clench her fists. She really wanted to step into a mecha once again and fight against enemies...


    ¡°Dad, I like the military. I want to be a soldier.¡± Ling Lan finally saw through what her heart wanted. Standing beside her friends and bing a soldier because she had no choice, were all excuses. These were all there to fool herself. In reality, she wanted to be a soldier, piloting mechas, moving around the gxy, and expand her nation¡¯s influence.


    ¡°So you don¡¯t want to leave the military?!¡± Ling Xiao smirked. She was definitely his daughter.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to anymore, but what about the two year promise I made with mom?¡± Ling Lan tossed out this question to Ling Xiao, for him to resolve.


    ¡°Women have nothing to do with a man¡¯s decision...¡± Ling Xiao said nonchntly.


    ¡°Women! Haha!¡± Ling Lan half-smiled as she looked at Ling Xiao. Did her dad forget that she was also a woman?


    Ling Xiao also realized it and had a slight change in expression. He then said, ¡°In that case, you will be taking over 250 as a stand-alone n when you return.¡±


    Then, he hung up themunicator.


    Ling Xiao watched as Ling Lan¡¯s face disappeared in front of him. Then, he punched the table in frustration, ¡°How could I forget that she is my daughter and not my son! She and her mother are usually in cahoots with each other. I¡¯m doomed. When I return home, Luofeng will definitely kick me out. I just hope that it won¡¯t be too long!¡±


    No, for his own livelihood, he definitely couldn¡¯t let his daughter tell those words to his wife.


    Ling Xiao contacted Ling Lan once again. On the screen, Ling Lan¡¯s confused expression showed up, ¡°Dad, what¡¯s up?¡± He just hung up so why did he contact her again? Could it be he had forgotten to say something? When did her heroic father be so forgetful?


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, those words just now, don¡¯t tell your mother. Understood?¡± Ling Xiao gave a stern warning as a father and then quickly hung up themunicator once again.


    He didn¡¯t even dare to see his daughter expression, as it was so embarrassing for him. Ling Xiao had his head down helplessly on his desk. At that moment, he didn¡¯t have a hint of the heroic figure of being a general or a god-ss operator.


    Ling Lan looked at the now ck screen once again with aplicated expression on her face... In the end she helplessly sighed, ¡°No surprise, my mom is the bane of my dad¡¯s existence!¡±

 Chapter 1016 - The Game Is Starting!

    <h4>Chapter 1016 The Game Is Starting!</h4>


    In a six-star hotel, two people were chatting in a room.


    ¡°Yiqiu, we¡¯re busy with the preparations for the assessment of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Why are we wasting our time here?¡± A warm and gentle voice asked with a hint of curiosity.


    ¡°Su Pei, although we want to enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces, we can¡¯t let them govern our lives forever,¡± azy voice was heard from the handsome young man on a sofa. The fingers on his right hand were dancing in the air. A silver light flickered faintly on his fingers. ¡°Don¡¯t be too nervous. It might affect your performance. It¡¯s better to y hard and work hard.¡±


    These two people were Ling Lan¡¯s schoolmates during her mission on Azure more than a year ago. They were Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu.


    Su Pei scoffed in response. ¡°No matter how much you need to rx, you shouldn¡¯t havee to the casino, right?¡± He was fooled intoing here by Xiao Yiqiu. When they were deliberating on what to do for their holiday, he was told by Xiao Yiqiu that they were going to a faraway to have a short break from the military.


    Xiao Yiqiuughed. ¡°What is a better ce to relieve your stress?¡±


    ¡®That is kinda true.¡¯ Su Pei thought and his anger of being fooled slowly died down. Plus, he knew Xiao Yiqiu wouldn¡¯t harm him so there must be a reason why he wanted them toe to a well-known gambling hub.


    ¡°Did you bring me here to watch the mecha tournament?¡± Su Pei asked.


    Although their mecha piloting had improved significantly, battling in the virtual world and battling in the real world was vastly different, and they had both reached a bottleneck in the former. They now needed more experiences in real battle or gain experiences from monitoring other people¡¯s battles to improve their skills. If not, they wouldn¡¯t be able to achieve a breakthrough for a very long time. This was what caused Su Pei to feel agitated about theirck of preparedness for the assessment.


    Xiao Yiqiu clenched his right fist in happiness and smiled brightly, ¡°Su Pei, you finally noticed it.¡±


    ¡°However, that¡¯s not all.¡± Xiao Yiqiu changed his tone. ¡°We¡¯re participating in it too.¡±


    Su Pei frowned. ¡°Yiqiu, what do you mean?¡± The Su family forbade their descendants from gambling


    Xiao Yiqiu knew the rules of the Su family very clearly so he understood why Su Pei was acting up. He smiled and exined, ¡°I won¡¯t make you break rules. Here, take a look at this.¡±


    He flicked his fingers and a small ck te flew towards Su Pei.


    Su Pei grabbed the ck te easily. He opened his hand and saw that it was a miniature chip. Without needing Xiao Yiqiu to say a word, Su Pei gently inserted the chip into hismunicator and an image of an invitation slowly appeared in front of him.


    The words on the invitation stunned Su Pei so he took a while to react. His entire body started trembling in anger. He was nning to hold his anger in but he could no longer control his anger anymore. He turned around and shouted angrily, ¡°Xiao Yiqiu!¡±


    A leather whip materialized in his hands and it shed towards Xiao Yiqiu who was lyingzily on the sofa.


    The whip shed the sofa forcefully. A deep scar formed on the sofa. But, Xiao Yiqiu was not there.


    ¡°Su Pei, don¡¯t be angry. I¡¯m participating too. Take it as if you¡¯re apanying me.¡± Xiao Yiqiu quickly mmed his door shut after he finished saying his piece.


    Su Pei looked at the closed door helplessly. The mainframes in Mailer Fa were very advanced. Even in the same suite, if the door was closed by the person inside the room, the people outside the room would never be able to open it. There were only two ways to open a closed door either opening it by force or by hacking into the mainframe. However, doing any of these two actions would be seen as a provocation towards Mai¡¯er Fa. They would be punished ordingly.


    Su Pei couldn¡¯t vent his frustrations at Xiao Yiqiu anymore. He looked at the electronic invitation again and smiled bitterly. He didn¡¯t expect Xiao Yiqiu to be so bold. He actually went to participate in the mecha tournament and while doing so, his good friend also helped him to register.


    That¡¯s right, this invitation was for the mecha tournament on Mai¡¯er Fa. Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu wouldn¡¯t be spectators this time. They were participants.


    After Xiao Yiqiu hid inside his room, he retracted his smile before it turned into a cold sneer.


    ¡°The game is starting!¡±


    The next day, the two young miss didn¡¯t stay in the casino. They came to the biggest trading center in Mai¡¯er Fa for shopping. Ling Lan followed beside them quietly. She was the human shopping bag holder for Miss Seven.


    ¡°This, this and this. Pack them up for me.¡± An arrogant voice resounded through the entire shop. Miss Seven looked over curiously.


    It was a handsome young man. Of course, in this era, no one looked bad. The young man noticed people frowning at him, and he, in turn, red at them. When he saw Miss Seven and her group, the arrogance on his face disappeared and instead was reced with an expression of surprise.


    The young man rushed towards Li Yinfei and said in an excited but deep voice, ¡°Miss Li.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t a question. It was a statement. Although Li Yinfei had put on a disguise, she was unable to fool people with sharp eyes.


    There were two men hovering behind the young man. When they saw Li Yinfei and Miss Seven, they held their foreheads in their palm helplessly and muttered, ¡°Trouble.¡±


    Ling Lan looked at the two people behind the young men. Her innocent smile froze too. In her heart, a word popped out: Trouble.


    Li Yinfei seemed used to such a situation. She smiled and nodded as a reply.


    The young man seemed rash but he was very thoughtful. He knew that exposing his idol now would cause trouble for her so he didn¡¯t make any other sound. He just stayed beside Li Yinfei excitedly. It seemed like no one would be able to pull him away.


    ¡°Cough, Young Master Lin, Chief Lin is waiting for you.¡± Mu Chaoran coughed to remind his stubborn young master who was enchanted by beauty.


    When Tang Ningyu saw Miss Seven, he immediately hid among the crowd. If his identity got exposed by his cousin, his n would go down the drain.


    Since Tang Ningyu wasn¡¯t here, Mu Chaoran had to persuade the young master himself. They were Chief Lin¡¯s assistants so only the two of them were able to hold this stubborn young master back.


    ¡°It¡¯s still early. There¡¯s no need to go back so soon.¡± Young Master Lin replied impassively. He turned around and looked at Li Yinfei. His attitude turned a 180. ¡°It¡¯s my pleasure to meet Miss Li here. This must be fate. How about this? You can get whatever you want Take it as my gift to you.¡±


    Li Yinfei frowned when she saw Young Master Lin¡¯s attitude. He acted like someone who suddenly became rich overnight.

 Chapter 1017 - Prevent!

    <h4>Chapter 1017 Prevent!</h4>


    However, as someone who had befriended many elite families and powerful people, Li Yinfei was a professional at interacting with such people. She didn¡¯t like this young man but she didn¡¯t outwardly show it. She just smiled gently and said, ¡°Thanks for your kind thoughts. We still have things to do, so we can¡¯t stay for long. Why don¡¯t I find you again when I¡¯m free?¡±


    Young Master Lin looked disappointed. But, he didn¡¯t want to cause trouble for his idol so he replied, ¡°In that case, let¡¯s meet again soon. This is my name card. Please remember to contact me again.¡± He took out a gold and shiny name card from his pocket and passed it to Li Yinfei respectfully.


    ¡®Unsurprising for a newe up!¡¯ Li Yinfei hid the disdain and contempt in her eyes. She smiled and took the name card. Then, she nodded at Young Master Lin before leaving with Miss Seven and their group.


    Ling Lan walked passed Mu Chaoran. Once again, she crossed paths with Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu. They just didn¡¯t know it.


    Mu Chaoran watched as Li Yinfei disappeared from his eyes. Tang Ningyu quickly appeared beside him.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Tang Ningyu asked in a low voice.


    Mu Chaoran said calmly, ¡°If you have a chance to contact your cousin, ask her to leave Li Yinfei.¡±


    Others might not have seen the contempt and disdain in Li Yinfei¡¯s eyes, but he saw it. Although Young Master Lin didn¡¯t have a good character, the way she jeered at someone who acted respectfully towards her showed how heartless she was.


    Tang Ningyu had the same thoughts too. He nodded. He was worried. As the direct descendant of an elite family, it was hard to have a close friend. He didn¡¯t want his cousin to befriend the wrong people.


    After Ling Lan left Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran, she came to a name-brand clothing shop in the trading center with Miss Seven. As she was waiting patiently in the shop, she saw a familiar person walking over.


    Ling Lan felt speechless. If meeting Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu was fate, then this person might have purposely followed her. No wonder he listened to her obediently when she asked them to leave on Shanghai. He was waiting for her here.


    The person who came was wearing a in metal mask that covered half of his face. Although Ling Lan¡¯s face was filled with scars, it was unable to fool herrades who grew up with her. What¡¯s more, this person was a shrewd person to begin with.


    The masked person walked over elegantly. He walked passed Ling Lan and chose an expensive diamond cor bar. Then, he asked the attendant to pack it for him.


    From the moment he entered the shop to the time he walked out, he only spent three minutes. Besides the smile he gave Ling Lan when he entered the shop, he never looked at Ling Lan again.


    However, Ling Lan knew why he appeared in front of her. He was just informing her that he was here. He didn¡¯t need to disturb her any more than that. She would be able to find him if she wanted to with hacking skills.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng!¡± Ling Lan gritted her teeth. As expected, she shouldn¡¯t have let down her guard on Shanghai.


    When they came back from the Chaotic Lands, Ling Lan noticed that herrades seemed restless. However, the rules of the military couldn¡¯t be broken easily. Li Lanfeng cared about it so he still had to go back. She just didn¡¯t know what method he used to get out of the military again.


    ¡°That person must be from an elite family too.¡± One of Miss Seven¡¯s maids looked at Li Lanfeng¡¯s back intently.


    ¡°What elite family?¡± Miss Seven and Li Yinfei had finished trying out clothes, so they heard what the maid said and got curious.


    The maid quickly told her young miss what had happened. Miss Seven knocked her maid¡¯s forehead and teased her, ¡°What an idiot. Anyone whoes to Mailer Fa is not always rich or powerful.¡±


    ¡°But, most people looked like that Young Master Lin,¡± the maid answered weakly.


    ¡°That¡¯s because you met too few people in your life.¡± Miss Seven covered her mouth andughed. She remembered the funny Young Master Lin too. Anyone who had eyes could see the mythical beast on her maid¡¯s clothes. If they knew about the elite families of the Federation, they would know what this symbol meant.


    Li Yinfei smiled too. But, in her heart, she took notice of the young man the maid was referring to. In order to mesmerize the maid of a first-rank elite family, the young man was not someone simple.


    In the middle of the night, Li Lanfeng, who had been waiting for Ling Lan to contact him, finally received a call from her.


    Li Lanfeng let out a deep exhale through his mouth before he calmly picked up the call. A cold and familiar face appeared on the screen. It was filled with scars but he still recognized Ling Lan.


    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Ling Lan went directly into the main topic.


    ¡°A four-star mission.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. Although the military made a decision for Ling Lan, they still had to reward her men. As the leaders of the ten small teams, Li Lanfeng, Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and a few other people jumped ranks and became colonels due to their outstanding performance on Haijiao. Even people who performed normally, like Li Yingjie and Xie Yi, got promoted to a lieutenant colonel.


    Yang Mingzhi became a major general of the Federation. He was the only general-rank officer in 250 Ace Mecha n. Liu Furong got suppressed by his hidden enemies so he didn¡¯t get promoted. He maintained his rank as a senior colonel. Since their regimentmander¡¯s merit wasn¡¯t ascertained yet, the ultimate rank of herrades was still uncertain.


    ¡°Four-star mission? That¡¯s dangerous.¡± Ling Lan frowned. It looked like Li Lanfeng snatched any mission that allowed him to get into Mai¡¯er Fa without bothering about the difficulty of the mission.


    ¡°You¡¯re here, right?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. He had already decided to follow Ling Lan from the start and ask her to help him with his mission.


    ¡°What mission?¡± Ling Lan was unhappy but she couldn¡¯t leave herrade in danger.


    ¡°To investigate the truth behind the destruction of Magic Ace Mecha n.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. This mission was difficult but it wasn¡¯t a total waste of time. This was something they wanted to know too as it was Liu Furong¡¯s hope.


    Ling Lan¡¯s teeth went sore when she heard this.


    ¡°Haha, Boss, Li Lanfeng snatched the Flying Dragon Special Forces¡¯ mission too.¡± Little Four suddenly realized what happened and startedughing.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to tell me. I know.¡± When she heard that Li Lanfeng¡¯s mission was the same as the mission of the two people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces, she knew what had happened.


    In order to find a reason toe to Mai¡¯er Fa, Li Lanfeng immediately snatched the mission without looking at the detail. Just likest time, the Federation had to give out the mission again so that the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces could take it up.


    This mission was specially created for the Flying Dragon Special Forces but after the team leaders of 250 Ace Mecha n received their merits from the battle on Haijiao, their status was the same as the two people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Hence, it was normal that Li Lanfeng was able to snatch the mission.

 Chapter 1018 - Not Lose Again!

    <h4>Chapter 1018 Not Lose Again!</h4>


    In the middle of the night, even in the busy casinos in the city of the night, didn¡¯t have many people left inside. Only those people who were addicted to gambling and were unwilling to leave were left behind.


    In a blind spot of a safe passage in the office district of a casino, a figure stood there silently like a statue


    A red light shed passed him. Someone appeared beside him suddenly.


    ¡°The interference device is on. We only have 60 seconds,¡± the figure said softly.


    The statute-like man turned alive when he heard this. He nodded. A purple light blinked and disappeared.


    The person that cameter flew into the central control of the casino followed by the sh of red light.


    In the control center, a middle-aged man stared intently at the multiple images on the screen. He was afraid that he would miss something on the surveince cameras.


    ¡°T2-G9, everything is normal. Based on simr data, everything is normal.¡± The staff member beside him reported his findings.


    ¡°Watch them carefully. The higher authorities told us that someone will sneak in these next few days.¡± The middle-aged man didn¡¯t rx after hearing what his staff member said. He just reminded his workers to be more careful.


    ¡°Yes!¡± All the staff members shouted in unison. They started attending to their jobs with even more care. If they made a mistake after they got reminded, they would be dead.


    The two figures that sneaked into the office district dashed all the way. They didn¡¯t stop at all. They seemed to know where their destination was.


    There was a metal door at the end of the passage.


    The two people shifted to the two sides of the door. They entered the blind spot of the surveince cameras again.


    This was their final destination. Their most difficult task was to open this door without alerting the guards. The other people who took this mission before them all got caught here.


    The man with a cold aura saw a surveince camera looking at the door shifting away. The surveince camera on the other side started shifting to the door. In an instant, he flicked his fingers and a transparent paper flew out of his hand beforending on the metal door.


    Since they dared toe, they had made ample preparations.


    The tiny transparent paper blinked. The numbers ¡®o¡¯ and ¡®1¡¯ started shining. They disappeared in a second and the paper turned transparent again. The people watching the surveince cameras could see the paper.


    When the two surveince cameras changed their positions again, the sound of the door opening was heard. A small crack formed on the door. Without any reminder, the two of them turned into two shes of light and entered the crack.


    They were so focused on sneaking in that they didn¡¯t notice that when they entered the door, a ck and a blue aura floated in after them.


    ¡°Head, there¡¯s something weird with the door.¡± The staff member watching the surveince cameras noticed something wrong with the door and shouted hurriedly.


    ¡°Are they here?¡± The middle-aged man got excited. Waiting was the worst kind of torment. Since they were there, things would be easier.


    ¡°Activate all the defensive systems in the central district. Let¡¯s see how they would pass through all that,¡± the middle-aged man ordered his staff. He didn¡¯t understand why Young Master Rong ordered him to do this. If it was him, he would send all the powerful people in the organization to kill these intruders. However, Young Master Rong was his superior. The higher authorities also ordered him to listen to Young Master Rong. Thus, although he had qualms about the decision, he still followed Young Master Rong¡¯s orders.


    He then reminded Young Master Rong that the people he had been waiting for were here.


    Xiao Yiqiu, who was lying on his bed, felt hismunicator vibrating. He opened it and smiled.


    ¡°I lost the other time. This time, I won¡¯t lose


    again.¡±


    ¡°Knock knock...¡±


    Someone knocked on his door.


    Xiao Yiqiu was shocked. The only person who could knock on his door was Su Pei. Why was he looking for him in the middle of the night?


    He opened the door. It was indeed Su Pei. He was looking nervously at him.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Xiao Yiqiu asked helplessly.


    ¡°The mecha tournament will start tomorrow. We will be participating too. I¡¯m too nervous to sleep. I want to chat with you.¡± Su Pei seemed nervous about thepetition tomorrow.


    ¡°Su Pei, if you get so nervous now, how are you supposed to handle the Flying Dragon Special Forces¡¯ assessment?¡± Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s smile disappeared. He turned serious.


    Su Pei was stunned. This was the first time Xiao Yiqiu showed him another expression besides smiling. It was the first time he saw such a serious expression on Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s face.


    Ever since Xiao Yiqiu got saved by the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces, he turned more oppressive and controlling, even Su Pei started listening to him.


    Su Pei felt that it was because he had matured after undergoing so many obstacles. During the time Xiao Yiqiu got abducted by the mysterious organization, he must have experienced much torment. Hence, he matured instantly overnight. Su Pei never asked Xiao Yiqiu what he went through at that time. He was waiting for Xiao Yiqiu to tell him voluntarily after he put everything behind him.


    As his best friend, this was the only thing he could do. Before his friend¡¯s wounds were healed, he didn¡¯t want to uncover the wounds and injure him again.


    Su Pei decided to wait patiently but he felt helpless too. If he was stronger, he might be able to help Xiao Yiqiu with his internal conflict. This sense of helplessness pushed Su Pei to be stronger. He knew that Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s dream was to enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces. He couldn¡¯t help Xiao Yiqiu with anything so he decided to apany him as he moved towards his dream. He would be his most trustworthyrade.


    Many thoughts went through Su Pei¡¯s mind in that instant. Yes, if he couldn¡¯t control his nervousness now, how could he continue to apany Xiao Yiqiu? The assessment of the Federation was the hardest assessment in the Federation. The mecha tournament was nothingpared to it.


    Many young and promising young man was filled with courage and ambition when they took on the assessment. In the end, they still failed. Su Pei had looked at the results of the assessment in the past few years. Only one in ten thousand participants passed the assessment every year. In some years, there was no one that seeded.


    If they really wanted to enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces, they needed to take every chance to improve themselves. If not, everything was just empty thoughts.


    The nervousness on Su Pei¡¯s face slowly disappeared. He regained his calmness and gentleness again. He smiled at Xiao Yiqiu. ¡°I understand. Yiqiu, thank you.¡± He turned around and went back to his own room.


    Xiao Yiqiu smiled at Su Pei¡¯s back before slowly closing his door.

 Chapter 1019 - Passing Through Obstacles!

    <h4>Chapter 1019 Passing Through Obstacles!</h4>


    The moment the door closed, Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s smile disappeared. He grabbed his hair forcefully. He used so much strength that he actually pulled out a bunch of his hair. The pain caused his expression to turn hideous.


    ¡°Damn it. Su Pei, you can actually affect me. Is this my emotions or Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s emotions?¡± Xiao Yiqiu was like a caged wild beast. His gaze turned vicious.


    ¡°I must think of a way to get rid of this threat.¡± Xiao Yiqiu finally managed to control his emotions. His face turned calm again and the viciousness in his eyes disappeared before turning cold again.


    After the purple and red light entered the door, they were stunned by what they saw. There were no guards on duty patrolling behind the door. There was just a passage behind the door. A surveince camera was ced every ten steps from each other.


    The two people were in a daze. The people that came to investigate this ce told them that there were guards behind the door. Why couldn¡¯t they see any?


    They waited patiently for one minute and nothing changed. They thought that the people inside made different arrangements and they just coincidentally came at the time when they changed their shifts.


    The situation wasn¡¯t certain but they couldn¡¯t stop their n. The red light figure took a step forward first.


    Suddenly, he felt a sense of danger. He flew back instantly. The walls beside him opened, revealing numerous muzzles.


    ¡°Oh no, we got found out.¡± The red light figure eximed in surprise.


    The two people wanted to get out of the door but the door behind them was shut tightly.


    The transparent paper that was stuck on the door had been found by a staff member. It was peeled off sessfully.


    ¡°Enjoy thest moments of your lives.¡± The staff member outside could imagine the sad ending of the intruders.


    When the door closed, the two people knew that they were trapped. They had fallen into their opponent¡¯s trap. Mailer Fa had already discovered what they were trying to investigate.


    The purple light figure took a deep breath. He said calmly, ¡°Our actions might have been discovered by them long ago.¡±


    ¡°Now...¡± The red light figure understood this too.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get past this mess.¡±


    They made the decision simultaneously. There was no path of retreat so they could only move forward. That was their only chance of survival.


    They were in their domain elemental form but they stopped using it now. Their body was revealed. During such dangerous moments, it was useless to waste too much energy on their domain territory. It was a suicidal act.


    Two ck gowned men appeared in the passage. The two of them hid under manyyers of clothes. Nothing that could give their identity away could be seen. They were wearing animal masks on their faces too.


    These cheap animal masks could be found in many stores on Mai¡¯er Fa. It was hard to find out their identities from their masks.


    ¡°Interesting.¡± The middle-aged man looked at the two intruders who didn¡¯t appear flustered when they were found. They didn¡¯t try to break open the door forcefully but instead, chose to pass through the obstacles in front of them for a chance of survival.


    ¡°The first obstacle, Ultimate Blockade, is enough for you two to handle.¡± The middle-aged man was confident about his defensive system.


    The two ck gowned men exchanged nces with each other. They acted simultaneously. Two lightning bolts and two fire dragons shot out of their hands. One side of the wall was engulfed in mes while the other was electrocuted by lightning bolts.


    The calm middle-aged man was shocked when he saw this scene.


    Screams of agony could be heard amidst the heat from the mes and the crackling sound of lightning. The two of them stepped on the ground and shot towards their side of the wall when they heard the screams.


    There were still people behind the walls that were still able to fight but these people weren¡¯t enough to stop two domain realm masters. In a blink of an eye, the two ck gowned men reached the end of the passage.


    There were two doors on each side of the passage. One of the men in ck gown shouted, ¡°Left!¡±


    The two of them broke the door and entered.


    ¡°Lightning and fire element?¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s expression started turning serious. He didn¡¯t expect the intruders to be domain realm masters with the lightning and fire element.


    He pressed the rm. Instantly, the rm within the core district rang. The people walking inside rushed into the room closest to them and shut the door.


    Almost immediately, no one was walking in the core district. When the rm stopped ringing, the entire ce turned quiet.


    The two men saw multiple passages after they entered the door. However, all the rooms within the passages were shut tightly. One of them found a room and tried to open it. Lightning struck the door but the door was not damaged at all.


    ¡°It¡¯s made from the same material as the first metal door. It¡¯s not afraid of heat or lightning.¡± The man informed hisrade in a low voice.


    This was why they walked further in when they found out they couldn¡¯t escape through the first door. When they used their powers on the walls, they tried to open the door at the same time. However, even after the walls got damaged, the door remained intact.


    They could use their energy to destroy the entire building to break apart the defensive mechanism on the door. But, if they did that, the actual powerful person guarding Mailer Fa would be alerted. This person was not just a half step imperial realm formidable warrior. He was a real imperial realm formidable warrior, one of the nine imperial realm formidable warriors in the human race, Sword Monarch.


    This person wasn¡¯t someone they could provoke. They remembered what their leader reminded them before they left.


    ¡°Continue moving.¡± Since they couldn¡¯t go out, they had to move towards the darkness inside. They didn¡¯t believe that they couldn¡¯t break through one of the many doors.


    The two of them passed through many dangerous obstacles. They walked through the maze-like area using their intuition and their efforts finally paid off. They finally managed to destroy a wall.


    They were ted but stunned too. They stopped in their tracks and nced at each other before walking in.


    They knew that it was a trap but they still had to go in. After passing through so many obstacles, they knew that their opponent didn¡¯t want to kill them. They were just teasing them. They didn¡¯t want to be their toys. Hence, they decided to meet their opponent directly and understand what their intention was. That was the only way they had a chance of escaping this ce.


    It was a suite. They saw a living room and a person was sitting on a luxurious sofa while drinking tea. He was around 60 years old. He didn¡¯t look surprised at their appearance. He put down his teacup and said calmly, ¡°You are finally here. Have a seat.¡±

 Chapter 1020 - Discovered!

    <h4>Chapter 1020 Discovered!</h4>


    The two ck gowned men exchanged nces with each other. Then, they walked calmly to the sofa and sat down opposite to the old man.


    The middle-aged man suddenly appeared beside the old man. He looked intently at the two ck gowned men. The two ck gowned men felt their hearts drop.


    The force of presence this middle-aged man was exuding was as strong as them. The most frightening thing was that they couldn¡¯t feel the strength of this old man. It was clear that these two people in front of them were enough to give them a hard time. Plus, this was their opponent¡¯s headquarters so there would most definitely be even more powerful people around.


    Cold sweat started pouring down the faces of these two ck gowned men. They knew that it was almost impossible to escape this time.


    The moment their emotions went out of control, the two ck gowned men bit their lips and the pain caused them to calm down.


    They were on their guards. This old man¡¯s domain concept must be rted to one¡¯s mind. That was why he was able to affect their emotions and almost cause them to lose control of himself.


    The old man turned serious when he noticed that the two people recovered from his mental attack. As expected, the people sent by the other party were not easy to deal with.


    The living room remained silent for a few seconds. The old man opened his mouth first. ¡°You came here to investigate what happened to the Magic Ace Mecha n 15 years ago?¡±


    The two ck gowned men were shocked. They didn¡¯t expect their opponents to know their motives and even asked them about it directly.


    The old man smiled when he received no answer from the other party. ¡°I know that you came from the Flying Dragon Special Forces too.¡±


    The two people felt their hearts dropped. Was there a traitor among them? How did they know their identity?


    The old man didn¡¯t give them the answer they wanted. He skipped the topic and went on to the next one. ¡°Actually, I can tell you what happened to the Magic Ace Mecha n. However, our young master wants to y a game with you. If you win, we¡¯ll tell you what you want to know. If not, you¡¯ll be dead. You won¡¯t need to know anything.¡±


    The old man sounded calm as though he was having a casual conversation. However, his words were filled with killing intent.


    ¡°What game?¡± One of the ck gowned men asked coldly. Their lives were in the hands of their opponents now so they had to listen to them.


    ¡°Bam! Bam!¡±


    The old man didn¡¯t reply. He just pped his hands twice. Then, the damaged door suddenly closed and the entire living room shook. The living room started falling down.


    This living room was actually a lift.


    The lift started moving the people down. Soon, a giant hole could be seen in the room.


    Two figures suddenly appeared near the hole.


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± One of them looked at the deep hole and turned to look at hisrade.


    ¡°Since they attracted the attention of Mailer Fa, let¡¯s go to the control room,¡± the other person coldly replied.


    The two of them disappeared from the spot. In a blink of an eye, they arrived at the control room.


    The people in the control room were all staring at the surveince images so they didn¡¯t know that there were two intruders behind them.


    ¡°Weird, why is it so cold? Did the temperature system malfunction?¡± One of the workers tucked his neck as he wondered to himself in puzzlement. He was always very sensitive towards the temperature around him so he felt ufortable at the sudden drop in temperature. He turned to look at his colleagues to see if they felt the same. But, they didn¡¯t seem to have noticed anything. He frowned and murmured to himself, ¡°Am I too sensitive?¡±


    Just as he was considering whether he should check the thermostat, an invisible puff of steam entered the mainframe.


    ¡°Boss, we seeded,¡± Little Four shouted happily as he had finally entered the mainframe of Mai¡¯er Fa.


    This was the first time he went up against such a powerful mainframe. The real mainframe of Mai¡¯er Fa was situated in the control room. The other optical supeputer outside the control room had its own individual mainframe. However, he couldn¡¯t ess the Mai¡¯er Fa mainframe through them.


    This was why Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan decided to take the risk to enter the core control system. Little Four had experimented many times and found out that they could only get the information they wanted if they enter the real mainframe.


    ¡°Copy all the information about the Magic Ace Mecha n.¡± Ling Lan ordered.


    ¡°Yes, Boss.¡± Little Four started coting all the information about Magic Ace Mecha n and downloaded them quickly.


    Huh? After downloading everything, Little Four looked through the other information in the mainframe and noticed that there were many things inside he didn¡¯t have.


    Little Four was a fanatic of data. When he saw something he didn¡¯t have, he got excited and wanted to collect them. He felt that since he already hacked into the mainframe, it was alright to take some other data away.


    Little Four, who never met any difficulties in terms of hacking, thought so naturally. He started downloading the secret data.


    Suddenly, the rm rang in the control room.


    A middle-aged man who was asleep in a ce that looked at a warehouse opened his eyes suddenly. ¡°There¡¯s a hacker who is as powerful as me. Interesting..¡±


    An old man in a meditation room opened his eyes too. Two invisible sword aura shot towards the wall opposite him, forming two deep scars.


    The staff in the control room jumped up when they heard the rm. Someone shouted, ¡°Someone is hacking into our mainframe. Find him!¡±


    ¡°Retreat!¡±


    Ling Lan knew that Little Four had touched something heavily guarded by Mai¡¯er Fa when she heard the rm. She sensed an unprecedented sense of danger so she decided to retreat immediately.


    On the other side, the lift had stopped. Just as the old man was about the lead the two ck gowned men into the arena, his expression changed. He shouted furiously, ¡°We¡¯re fooled!¡±


    The two ck gowned men didn¡¯t know what was happening but they knew that this was a good time for them to escape.


    Almost simultaneously, they turned and attacked the old man and the middle-aged man.


    A sea of me and an asional crackle of lightning could be seen.


    The old man and the middle-aged man saw this powerful attack and activated their domain. They wanted to stop this frightening attack.


    Finally, the two forces collided. However, the energy from their opponents was very oddly weak.


    ¡°You want to escape? Not that easily!¡±


    The old man was the most powerful among the four of them. He instantly detected the real intention of the ck gowned men. They were trying to use this attack as a cover-up so that they could escape.

 Chapter 1021 - Break Through It!

    <h4>Chapter 1021 Break Through It!</h4>


    As air crackled, a shapeless spiritual power went towards the red and purple light.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± A mouthful of blood was vomited out in the air and fell to the ground. After falling to the ground, the blood turned into snakes of purple lightning which instantly flooded the ground with electricity, causing it to be burned to a crisp.


    The elder and middle-aged man saw the red and purple light sh in front of their eyes and then disappeared in front of their eyes.


    ¡°Sh*t, chase them down!¡± Seeing two younger individuals actually got away from them, the elder shouted angrily and went to chase them down with the middle-aged man.


    On the other side, Ling Lan grabbed Li Lanfeng and was running away quickly.


    Suddenly, an intimidating shout rang in her ears, ¡°Impudent brat!¡±


    A terrifying sword shadow came down from thin air and ruthless shed towards Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng.


    Ling Lan turned around abruptly. In her eyes, she saw the sword shadow¡¯s path and power hidden behind it.


    Imperial realm formidable warrior, a real imperial realm formidable warrior! That sword shadow was definitely not something a domain realm master like Li Lanfeng could go against. Even if Ling Lan was to use all her strength, she still wouldn¡¯t be able to get away without a scratch.


    If she were to stop even for one second, her opponent would be able to catch up to them. Then, she and Li Lanfeng would probably be trapped in this dangerous situation. Ling Lan was not naive enough to think that Mailer Fa would only have one imperial realm formidable warrior. They definitely had countless domain realm masters and even some people who were half way into bing imperial stage domain experts just like herself.


    In such a crisis, Ling Lan turned her body and leaned against Li Lanfeng. She then decisively pointed her finger towards the sword shadow that could kill gods and demons. At the same time, she activated her Disintegrate domain.


    Encapsted inside the Disintegrate domain, Ling Lan could feel the weak point of the sword. However, she didn¡¯t have time to determine whether what she discovered was true or whether it was a trap set by her opponent.


    On the verge of life-or-death, Ling Lan had to take the risk. She snorted coldly, ¡°Break!¡±


    Arge spectral finger hit therge sword shadow.


    The two terrifying energies struck each other fiercely. The sword shadow that was congregated and therge spectral finger, both suddenly dissipated after going against each for a few seconds.


    The entire corridor was being destroyed by the uncontroble overspill of leftover sword energies and spectral finger energies. In the end, the entire corridor copsed in on itself.


    ¡°Ugh!¡±


    Ling Lan, who broke through the sword shadow, didn¡¯t feel well, as a mouthful of blood instantly came out of her mouth. However, before the blood could fall to the ground, it turned into water vapor before dispersing into the air.


    In the enemy¡¯s headquarters, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t going to leave any solid evidence for them to find her.


    Li Lanfeng, who was grabbing onto Ling Lan as they ran as fast as possible, felt his back bing heavier. He knew that Ling Lan had definitely gotten heavily injured. At that moment, he had already reached the entrance. The door that Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu couldn¡¯t break open together had appeared before his eyes.


    If the two of them wanted to escape, he must destroy this door.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes quickly turned pitch-ck and a scythe appeared in his right hand. With determination and resolve, he ruthlessly sliced towards the door.


    At that moment, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran who managed to escape with their lives, also appeared in the corridor. They just barely managed to get a glimpse of the terrifying sword and the ghostly finger.


    ¡°Sword Monarch!¡± That sword definitely belonged to the Sword Monarch. Then, whose finger was that? The person must also be an imperial stage domain expert if they could go against the Sword Monarch on equal footing.


    This scene caused the two of them to be shaken to their core. This was after all the first time they saw imperial stage experts battling each other. They didn¡¯t think that it would be so thrilling.


    However, although shaken, the two of them still woke up from their trance and knew that escaping was still the most important at hand. They also saw the person in front of them trying to break down the door, but they weren¡¯t sure which faction he belonged to. However, the two of them knew that at that moment they were allies.


    The two of them decisively activated their domains and shouted, ¡°Together!¡±


    This was to prompt the other person that they weren¡¯t enemies who were trying to ambush him.


    At the same time, the two of them used their strongest attacks. A fire dragon and lightning dragon, went around the other person¡¯s body and attacked the door.


    Now, helping the other person break down the door would also save themselves from the situation.


    Originally, they thought the other person would be slightly on guard against them, but they didn¡¯t expect the person to not be vignt at all and just left his back opened to them. He was just fully concentrating on attacking the door with all of his might.


    The scythe was the first to hit the door. Then, the fire dragon and lightning dragon arrived. A loud bang echoed in the air and therge door cracked open. They were not sure if it was because of the lightning and fire dragon or the power of the scythe.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t even look behind him and just took Ling Lan¡¯s body that had already turned into ck fog before vanishing without a trace.


    Despite Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran wanting to know who those people were, those who were chasing them were already on their heels so they didn¡¯t have the chance to go ask. Thus, the two of them quickly retreated from this ce through their original nned route.


    The elder and middle-aged man arrived just a moment toote. When they arrived at the entrance, they saw the indestructible door had already been cracked open and the infiltrators nowhere in sight. If they were to continue their chase, they would just alert the people near the casino. There were many powerful elite families and nobles in this years Mecha Battle Tournament, and these people definitely had countless experts beside them. If they were to cause trouble for them, it might bring about some bad tidings for Mailer Fa. If things got too far out of hand, it¡¯ll be difficult for them to clean up the mess.


    ¡°Sword Monarch, what should we do now?¡± the elder asked with his head raised.


    ¡°It¡¯s no matter. I already memorized that person¡¯s presence. As long as the enemy makes a move again, I can find him easily.¡± In the air, a cold voice echoed.


    ¡°Then, Young Master Rong¡¯s issue?¡± The elder remembered that he didn¡¯tplete the arrangements for Young Master Rong and asked in dismay.


    ¡°Mai¡¯er Fa has Mai¡¯er Fa¡¯s rules. Everything must be done based on the rules. If Young Master Rong has a problem with it then tell him toe and find me,¡± Sword Monarch said calmly.


    ¡°Yes, Sword Monarch!¡± The elder smiled slightly. With the Sword Monarch¡¯s words, it would be much easier for him to exin to Young Master Rong.


    The middle-aged man in the virtual pod opened his eyes once again and had an expression of dismay, ¡°I actually can¡¯t find any traces of the enemy... Could his hacking abilities be stronger than mine? That¡¯s not possible.¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s eyes reddened with rage. He was willing to ept a lost to someone in anything else but hacking!


    ¡°I will definitely find you!¡± The middle-aged shouted vengefully.


    Ling Lan, who had escaped with her life, finally had the time to ask what Little Four had actually done.


    Little Four put his head down, twirled his fingers and said with a saddened expression on his face, ¡°Boss, I just wanted to see Mailer Fa¡¯s mainframe¡¯s data. There¡¯s so much that I don¡¯t have. That¡¯s why I wanted to get more for my database.¡± He shouldn¡¯t be med though. Every intelligent entity were crazy about data that they didn¡¯t have. It was his instincts that could not be controlled.


    ¡°You have always get past surveince in the past. Howe you were discovered this time?¡± Ling Lan only cared about this issue.


    Little Four thought for a moment then threw out a guess, ¡°Maybe there is a powerful hacker?¡±


    ¡°A god-ss hacker!¡± This was the only reason that could exin why Little Four¡¯s actions were discovered.


    Ling Lan had once heard Little Four unintentionally say that when hackers develop to the very end, they would be able to advance into god-ss. Once they enter god-ss, they would be able to discover bits and pieces of actions done by intelligent entities.

 Chapter 1022 - Give Up!

    <h4>Chapter 1022 Give Up!</h4>


    Little Four was shocked by what Ling Lan said. ¡°No way there¡¯s a god-ss hacker in your world.¡±


    The technology in this world was so low-level. How could there be such a powerful hacker? Little Four was in disbelief. Even in the highly advanced Mandora gxy, there were not many god-ss hackers. However, his Boss was right on one thing. God-ss hackers were intelligent entities¡¯ natural enemies.


    ¡°There are god-level mecha masters and god-realm masters in this world. It¡¯s not hard to believe that there is a god-ss hacker here too.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that the presence of god-level hackers had anything to do with the level of technology in the gxy.


    Ling Lan saw Little Four keeping his head down. His body was shivering slightly. She thought that he was frightened by the presence of a god-ss hacker so she consoled him gently, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. No matter how powerful he is, I believe that my Little Four is not afraid of him.¡±


    Little Four looked up with a face red from excitement and said, ¡°Of course! I¡¯ll definitely defeat him.¡± Little Four ced his hands on his hips andughed as he looked up in the air. ¡°Hahaha, what is a god-ss hacker to me? In front of the virtual god, he is nothing!¡±


    Seeing Little Four¡¯s arrogant behavior, Ling Lan knew she had misunderstood him. Little Four was not afraid of the god-ss hacker. He was just excited that he finally met an opponent who was on par with him.


    Well... in the virtual world, Little Four had been too lonely at the peak.


    Ling Lan felt at ease when she noticed that Little Four was not the least affected by the god-ss hacker. After checking on him, she asked Little Four if he had downloaded all the information about the Magic Ace Mecha n.


    Little Four turned dejected immediately. Due to theck of time, he was only able to download 87% of the data. Unfortunately, the 13% that he didn¡¯t download consisted of essential information regarding the annihtion of the Magic Ace Mecha n.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t do anything about this too. It was impossible for her to enter the control room again. She had exchanged a blow with the imperial realm formidable warrior guarding Mailer Fa so they definitely remembered each other¡¯s presence. Hence, if she used her domain technique within the other person¡¯s territory, he would be able to instantly sense her.


    ¡°We have to think of another method then.¡± Ling Lan thought that investigating the annihtion of the Magic Ace Mecha n was a simple thing. Now, she felt that it was hidden behind a dense fog.


    Li Lanfeng carried Ling Lan to his room. He gently ced Ling Lan on his bed and then started rummaging through his belongings.


    Ling Lan asked in surprise, ¡°Lanfeng, what are you doing?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m looking for the special recovery agent Shiyu gave me.¡± Because of his rtionship with Li Shiyu, the amount of good stuff Li Lanfeng had was the same as Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan was speechless. The agents he had might be more than the average amount in the team but she still had more than him. Li Shiyu would only give Li Lanfeng the Nuwa agent after seeking Ling Lan¡¯s approval. In this aspect, Li Shiyu was a responsible person. He never used his power for personal matters.


    ¡°I¡¯ve already drunk one along the way.¡± After getting injured on Haijiao, Ling Lan started taking special care of her body. She was afraid that her injuries would get worse and destroy her foundation, so she would always carry a special recovery agent with her wherever she went. She still wanted to go back to the military so she needed to take extra care of her body.


    Li Lanfeng was calmed down by Ling Lan¡¯s words. He knew that the Ling Lan would have more agents than him so he let out a sigh of relief. He was too worried about Ling Lan just now so he forgot about this and lost his cool.


    Ling Lan leaned against the wall when she saw that Li Lanfeng had calmed down. She started thinking about their gains and losses in this mission.


    ¡°Lanfeng, give up your four-star mission.¡±


    An imperial realm formidable warrior was not someone he could offend. Ling Lan looked as if she was on par with the imperial realm formidable warrior but she knew that if her Disintegrate domain didn¡¯t allow her to see the weakness in that sword shadow, she might have died under the attack.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Li Lanfeng had already decided to give up his mission when Ling Lan got seriously injured.


    Merits were important to Li Lanfeng but it was not as important as Ling Lan¡¯s life.


    ¡°Also, take care of the two people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.¡± She frowned slightly when she mentioned the two people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    Li Lanfeng narrowed his eyes. ¡°What do you


    mean?¡±


    Were those two people so important that Rabbit was worried about them?


    People like Qi Long grew up with Ling Lan so he knew he couldn¡¯t bepared to them. However, she only met those two people once. Why was Rabbit so concerned about them? Li Lanfeng felt jealous.


    ¡°Their identity might be exposed.¡± She recalled how they entered the control room. This was obviously a trap set by their opponent.


    Ling Lan remembered what her father told her. The mission for the Magic Ace Mecha n might be a trap from the start. If that was the case, could it be that this mission was a trap too?


    ¡°Do I need to remind them?¡± Li Lanfeng controlled his unhappiness.


    ¡°No. When shepherds quarrel, the wolf has a winning game. We¡¯ll be the wolf. Let¡¯s see who set all these traps.¡± Ling Lan shook her head.


    Li Lanfeng took this mission because he wanted to look for her. Hence, their opponent¡¯s target wasn¡¯t Li Lanfeng or her. It must be the two people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. If it was Li Lanfeng, their opponent must see through his intention of looking for her. They also needed to understand Li Lanfeng¡¯s virtualization ability.


    But, this probability was low. There were too many variables. Plus, Li Lanfeng¡¯s thoughts were hard to predict. Even she couldn¡¯t understand him sometimes. For instance, she didn¡¯t understand why he came to look for her on Mai¡¯er Fa. She felt that he was acting without sound reason.


    Rather than walking around aimlessly with her, it was better for him to stay at 250 Ace Mecha n and help her to protect her mecha n.


    However, since he was already here, she had to ept him.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s mood improved significantly after Ling Lan¡¯s words. Ling Lan wasn¡¯t worried about the two people. She just felt that she could find the mastermind through them.


    ¡°I understand. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll watch them carefully.¡± Li Lanfeng nodded.


    Ling Lan started analyzing what happened to the Magic Ace Mecha n with Li Lanfeng. They wondered if it was a n by Mai¡¯er Fa. Unfortunately, Little Four didn¡¯t copy all the information so they couldn¡¯t confirm their guess.

 Chapter 1023 - Tease!

    <h4>Chapter 1023 Tease!</h4>


    Right as the time ticked to midnight, Ling Lan stood up with the intention to leave.


    Li Lanfeng, however, didn¡¯t agree with her actions. ¡°Rabbit, your injuries are serious. Why don¡¯t you rest here and let the person you disguise as disappear.¡±


    ¡°If I don¡¯t go back, I¡¯m telling Mailer Fa that there¡¯s something wrong with me.¡± Ling Lan replied calmly, ¡°Plus, staying beside you is more dangerous than staying beside Miss Seven.¡±


    ¡°Miss Seven is a prettydy,¡± Li Lanfeng said softly, ¡°Rabbit, are you interested in her?¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly realized that there were many women around Rabbit. A seed of jealousy sprouted in his heart.


    Ling Lan felt speechless. She wasn¡¯t gay. Why would she be interested in ady? Plus, she already had two ¡®fianc¨¦es¡¯. They were already enough trouble for her. She wouldn¡¯t want more trouble.


    Ling Lan red at Li Lanfeng and said indifferently, ¡°Miss Seven is pretty but Li Yinfei is beautiful.¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s face darkened when he heard Li Yinfei¡¯s name.


    Ling Lan reached out her right hand and pinched Li Lanfeng¡¯s chin slightly with her fingers. She slowly leaned towards Li Lanfeng and teased him, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, no matter how beautiful Li Yinfei is, she is nothingpared to the original. I already have the perfect face beside me. Why will I be attracted by those average-lookingdies?¡±.


    Ling Lan¡¯s sudden change in attitude stunned Li Lanfeng. He looked at the scars that were increasing Ling Lan¡¯s ruggedness. His heart started to pound furiously.


    ¡®Rabbit is flirting with me? Really?¡¯


    Ling Lan retracted her finger and flicked Li Lanfeng¡¯s forehead.


    The pain woke Li Lanfeng up.


    ¡°Idiot!¡± Ling Lan disappeared from the room. Only her voice was echoing in the room.


    Li Lanfeng touched his forehead with a dazed expression. Then, he smiled slightly. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m an idiot.¡±


    Anyone could be attracted by his looks but Rabbit wouldn¡¯t.


    Li Lanfeng confirmed this again. When Rabbit was teasing him just now, his eyes were pure and clear. There were no hidden and dirty intentions in them.


    Early the next morning, the entire Mai¡¯er Fa started getting busy. The tourists who were lucky enough to buy a ticket to the opening ceremony of the mecha tournament gathered around the venue of the ceremony.


    They were excited not only because this was the opening ceremony of the mecha tournament, it was also because the soul singer of the Huaxia Federation, Li Yinfei, was present for the opening ceremony.


    After many years of being in the entertainment industry, Li Yinfei was finally recognized as one of the soul singers in the world. She gained many loyal fans throughout her career. This time, many tourists who came for the opening ceremony were her fans.


    Miss Seven didn¡¯t have a ticket for the opening ceremony but she managed to enter backstage because of her rtionship with Li Yinfei.


    She brought four people with her. Two of them were the domain realm masters sent to protect her. One was Elder Sister Nuo while the other was Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan knew that she was able toe because of Elder Sister Nuo and Miss Seven¡¯s kindness. However, she didn¡¯t need their goodwill.


    Although she had drunk the ultra-effective medical agent, her body¡¯s self-recovery system was damaged so she couldn¡¯t recover quickly. The effect of the ultra-effective medical agent was minimal on her. After resting for a few hours, her injuries didn¡¯t heal much. If she could, she wished that she could lie on the bed for the whole day.


    As someone¡¯s subordinate, she had no freedom! Ling Lan once again felt that she needed to be her own master if she wanted to live afortable life.


    ¡°Ah, Miss Li, fate allows us to meet again!¡± The moment she finished her rehearsal, Li Yinfei heard a familiar voice.


    ¡°Young Master Lin, what a coincidence.¡± Li Yinfei gave a forced smile. In these few days, Young Master Lin had been meeting her through such coincidences.


    Ling Lan lowered her head and acted like a servant.


    Actually, she was just trying to evade the gaze of the person behind Young Master Lin.


    The person she was avoiding was Mu Chaoran, her ssmate during her mission on Azure and the person who got his mission snatched two times.


    Ling Lan was flustered. ¡®Why do I have to meet him all the time?¡¯


    ¡°Miss Li, you should have time for a date after your concert, right?¡± A golden-haired blue-eyed young man suddenly appeared on the other side and spoke to Li Yinfei threateningly.


    Li Yinfei was still able to smile at Young Master Lin but in front of this person, she didn¡¯t even have the heart to pretend to smile. Her face turned cold as she said indifferently, ¡°Duke Edward, I¡¯m sorry. I need to return to my country right after the performance. I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t go on a date with you.¡±


    Edward¡¯s face darkened. He said coldly, ¡°Miss Li, I¡¯m being nice here. Don¡¯t make me force


    you.¡±


    Li Yinfei¡¯s expression got darker. Before she could say anything, Young Master Lin jumped out and said, ¡°Hey, Miss Li already said she¡¯s busy. Why are you still pestering her? Force her? Who the hell are you to say that to her? How dare you disrespect Miss Li. Are you looking for death?¡±


    Mu Chaoran¡¯s lips twitched. ¡®Does my young master know what he is doing? From the badge on the person¡¯s chest, the young man is a Duke from Caesar. His status is the same as the four elite families of the Federation.¡¯


    Huh? You don¡¯t see how powerful the four elite families are? Well, based on the military rank, they are like the senior colonels. How can a young master from a small merchant association offend such a person?


    Mu Chaoran felt frustrated. However, he couldn¡¯t do anything. If not, he would expose himself. Only half a night had passed since that incident. The people on Mailer Fa was still looking for them.


    Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t stop Young Master Lin. He was just the assistant of the president of the merchant association. This young master wouldn¡¯t listen to him. He only hoped that the Duke wouldn¡¯t do anything to the young master on the grounds that they were on Mailer Fa. If not, the results would be terrible.


    Edward¡¯s face turned green with anger. He clenched his hands tightly and wanted to beat this irritating person up. His servant quickly came forward and whispered something to him. Edward seemed to have visibly calmed down after his servant whisper to her. He red at Young Master Lin and sneered. Then, he turned and left.


    Young Master Lin thought Edward left because of his intimidating presence so he raised his chin and said to Li Yinfei proudly, ¡°Miss Li, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll protect you from this fellow.¡±

 Chapter 1024 - Another Battle!

    <h4>Chapter 1024 Another Battle!</h4>


    Ling Lan and Mu Chaoran sighed simultaneously. They heard everything the servant said to Edward. As soon as Young Master Lin left Mailer Fa and entered the public regions, they would send people to destroy their spacecraft and turned them into corpses floating around in space. The royal family of Caesar had a very strong personal army. Young Master Lin was looking for death for butting into their business like that.


    Li Yinfei seemed to know this too. She looked at Young Master Lin and wanted to say something. In the end, she just sighed and said, ¡°Young Master Lin, thanks for your help. I need to prepare for my performanceter. Please allow me to leave.¡±


    After Li Yinfei left, the bodyguards behind her looked at Young Master Lin with pity. Miss Seven nodded at Young Master Lin and caught up with Li Yinfei. Ling Lan and the other three people left with Miss Seven.


    ¡°That back... looks familiar. Am I hallucinating?¡± Mu Chaoran looked at Ling Lan¡¯s back and muttered to himself.


    ¡°Little Du, don¡¯t you think I¡¯m so cool just now?¡± Young Master Lin thought that he had performed well in front of his idol so he was proud of himself.


    ¡°Yes, you were really cool.¡± Mu Chaoran smiled bitterly. ¡®You are seeking for your own death, how could you not be cool?¡¯


    Young Master Lin was satisfied with Mu Chaoran¡¯s reply. He asked hopefully, ¡°Little Du, do you think Miss Li will have a good impression of me because of my outstanding performance and agree to go on a date with


    me?¡±


    ¡°Definitely possible,¡± Mu Chaoran replied. He finally saw what a man looked like when he got enchanted by ady.


    Young Master Lin smiled at the reply and left happily.


    Mu Chaoran looked at Young Master Lin¡¯s proud back. He decided to find an opportunity to throw this brat into the military to train him. This was his way of repaying his father who had always supported the Flying Dragon Special Forces. He couldn¡¯t let his father bury his son, right?


    Young Master Lin didn¡¯t know that hisfortable life wasing to an end.


    The opening ceremony of the mecha tournament officially started. Everyone was immersed in Li Yinfei¡¯s dreamy voice.


    In a room below the stage, Xiao Yiqiu looked at Su Pei who was enchanted by Li Yinfei¡¯s voice. He said softly, ¡°I¡¯m going to the washroom.¡±


    Su Pei didn¡¯t look at him. He just waved his hand to show that he heard him.


    Xiao Yiqiu left the room. It took them much effort to get this small room.


    After Xiao Yiqiu left, he didn¡¯t go to the washroom. Instead, he came to a lift. The lift door opened. He walked in.


    A tourist who just came out of the washroom saw Xiao Yiqiu walking towards the lift. He was surprised that the lift could actually open. He walked over curiously to take a look, but he found out there was no button to call for the lift. He didn¡¯t know how the man just now called for the lift door.


    ¡°He is maybe a staff member of Mai¡¯er Fa. They probably have some special way of calling for the lift.¡± He looked at the mirror on one side of the wall and muttered to himself.


    The person satisfied his curiosity and left the lift. He returned to his VIP room and forgot about what had happened.


    The lift went up to the highest level. When it opened, someone was already waiting for him.


    Xiao Yiqiu walked out. The person quickly told him what happened when he entered the lift.


    ¡°Did you find out who that person is?¡± Xiao Yiqiu frowned. This was too much of a coincidence. Xiao Yiqiu thought that his identity was exposed.


    ¡°He is just a wealthy person. We traced his background. He should be clean. It might really be a coincidence.¡± They noticed something amiss with his actions so they immediately looked up the person without any orders from Xiao Yiqiu.


    ¡°Before we leave Mai¡¯er Fa, watch him closely. We cannot make any mistakes.¡± Xiao Yiqiu ordered in a cold voice.


    ¡°Yes, Young Master Rong!¡± The people shouted.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Sword Monarch?¡± Xiao Yiqiu suddenly turned respectful. Even if his position was high, he still needed to remain respectful in front of the imperial realm formidable warrior, Sword Monarch.


    ¡°He is waiting for you,¡± someone replied.


    Xiao Yiqiu nodded and followed the person to Sword Monarch¡¯s room.


    When the door opened, he saw Sword Monarch sitting on the sofa with his eyes closed. This was the most luxurious VIP room in this venue. Half of the walls were made of transparent ss. The room was directly facing the center of the stage. He could see Li Yinfei, who was singing passionately, clearly.


    Besides Sword Monarch, there was no one else in the room. Sword Monarch seemed to be listening to Li Yinfei¡¯s voice intently.


    He noticed that someone had entered the room so he opened his eyes slightly. He looked like a normal old man when he didn¡¯t leak his presence at all.


    ¡°Mister, long time no see.¡± Xiao Yiqiu hurriedly bowed and greeted him when he saw Sword Monarch looking over.


    Sword Monarch sized up Xiao Yiqiu. ¡°You changed your shell.¡± It was a statement, not a question.


    Xiao Yiqiu sighed. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for the ident, I didn¡¯t want to change my shell too. My original body was still the mostfortable. Now, I feel weird all the time.¡±


    Xiao Yiqiu clenched his fists as he spoke. However, he quickly threw away his frustrated emotions. He smiled and said, ¡°But there are gains too. Besides my own innate talent, I manage to gain the innate talent of this body. It¡¯s a plus.¡±


    Sword Monarch didn¡¯t reply to him. He just looked down and continued listening to the singing


    Xiao Yiqiu didn¡¯t feel awkward at all. He just smiled and walked towards Sword Monarch. He sat down on a one-man sofa. He closed his eyes and listened to Li Yinfei¡¯s voice too.


    The person who brought Xiao Yiqiu over saw them listening to the concert so he closed the door quietly. He was afraid of disturbing them.


    When he noticed that no one was around, Xiao Yiqiu opened his eyes and said asked in a low voice, ¡°Mister, did you notice those people who came yesterday?¡±


    Sword Monarch shook his head. ¡°Our opponents are able to control their aura very well. I can¡¯t sense them.¡± Frankly, he didn¡¯t expect to find them too. People like him were able to hide their presence whenever and wherever they wanted. If he wanted to hide, people as powerful as he wouldn¡¯t be able to find him too.


    ¡°Not even the lightning and fire element domain realm masters?¡± Xiao Yiqiu frowned.


    He was shocked by the appearance of a highly likely imperial realm formidable warrior but he didn¡¯t care much. He couldn¡¯t offend such a powerful person anyway. Even if the person appeared again, Sword Monarch would be the one taking care of him.


    He came to find Sword Monarch because he wanted to know where Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu were. That year, he lost to them and had to change his body. However, he didn¡¯t want to admit defeat. This time, he must have another battle with them.

 Chapter 1025 - Watch From Afar!

    <h4>Chapter 1025 Watch From Afar!</h4>


    ¡°Yes.¡± Sword Monarch didn¡¯t find the person he wanted to find but he detected the people Young Master Rong wanted.


    Xiao Yiqiu was surprised. ¡°Where are they?¡±


    ¡°Around there.¡± Sword Monarch pointed in a certain direction. As for how Xiao Yiqiu was going to find those two people, it was none of his business.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Xiao Yiqiu got up and thanked Sword Monarch after he got the information he wanted. He was supposed to go to the washroom so he couldn¡¯t stay for long. If not, Su Pei would get suspicious. He might even wonder if he had constipation.


    Sword Monarch didn¡¯t open his eyes. He didn¡¯t make a sound too. He just sat there like a piece of wood. Xiao Yiqiu didn¡¯t mind being ignored at all. He opened the door and left.


    Xiao Yiqiu went back to his room sessfully. Compared to the most luxurious VIP room, his room was much smaller.


    Su Pei saw Xiao Yiqiuing back and looked at him with pity. ¡°You came toote. Li Yinfei¡¯s performance had just ended.¡±


    Xiao Yigiu didn¡¯t mind. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I just came to apany you. I¡¯m not interested in such things.¡±


    Su Pei red at Xiao Yiqiu when he dissed his idol. He snorted and turned his face away. He wouldn¡¯t share his hobby with this idiot anymore.


    Xiao Yiqiu ignored Su Pei¡¯s anger. He sat beside Su Pei and leaned back in his chair while closing his eyes. He seemed to be resting but in actual fact, he was waiting in agitation for his men to find the two people he was looking for.


    After some time, hismunicator vibrated. Xiao Yiqiu opened his eyes immediately and looked at hismunicator. He was ted.


    ¡®Tang Ningyu, Mu Chaoran, I finally found you.¡¯ Xiao Yiqiu smiled. ¡®This will make the game more fun.¡¯


    When Li Yinfei ended her performance, Young Master Lin dashed out of his VIP room. He wanted to look at Li Yinfei before she left.


    Mu Chaoran followed him helplessly. He threw a nce at Tang Ningyu.


    Tang Ningyu was afraid of getting recognized by his cousin so he always hid among the other bodyguards.


    When he saw the look from Mu Chaoran, he knew that it was time to carry out their n. They managed to find out Li Yinfei¡¯s schedule. They knew that during the first mecha match, she would be invited to take a look at the central office of Mailer Fa to view the live broadcast of the match.


    That was the ce where they almost got trapped in. They escaped after much effort but they didn¡¯t get any useful information. However, Li Yinfei was able to enter easily to take a tour around the ce. Of course, this was a special privilege Mai¡¯er Fa gave Li Yinfei after inviting her as a guest for their opening ceremony. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were green with envy. However, this could be their chance too.


    When Li Yinfei ended her performance, the representatives from Mailer Fa were already waiting at the backstage. They smiled and weed Li Yinfei to their office area when they saw hering.


    Li Yinfei looked at Miss Seven. She asked the representative hesitantly, ¡°Am I able to bring my friend in?¡±


    The representative from Mailer Fa gave an apologetic smile. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Miss Li. Our important secrets are all in the central office region. You can only bring one person along.¡±


    Li Yinfei looked at her manager, maid, bodyguards, and then at Miss Seven. She was in a dilemma. In the end, she gritted her teeth and said, ¡°Maybe Sister Yingying cane with me.¡±


    The gaze of Li Yinfei¡¯s maid turned cold. She thought that her young miss would bring her in. However, she abandoned her in the end and decided to bring Miss Seven instead.


    ¡®No matter how well I treated her, it is useless. She said that she¡¯ll treat me like a sister but in important times, she always abandoned me.¡¯


    The maid lowered her head so no one noticed anything amiss about her. Of course, no one would notice a small little maid too, except for Ling Lan.


    Tang Yingying was surprised when she heard this. She thought that Li Yinfei wouldn¡¯t bring her in. She was grateful that Li Yinfei thought about her.


    She wanted to ept the offer but one of the two domain realm masters beside her said, ¡°Young miss, old master doesn¡¯t allow us to leave you.¡±


    They were stupid if they allowed their young miss to follow ady whom they didn¡¯t know and wasn¡¯t familiar with into the core area of an unknown faction.


    The excitement in Tang Yingying¡¯s face died down. She appeared dejected as she shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Sister Li. My father doesn¡¯t allow me to go to an unfamiliar ce alone. I can only thank you for your offer.¡±


    ¡°Sister Yingying, your father is right. In that case, Little Min, you cane with me.¡± Li Yinfei turned and spoke to her maid.


    She thought that her maid would agree excitedly but Little Min looked up and scoffed, ¡°Miss, you always think about me after other people rejected you. You said that you¡¯ll treat me sincerely like a real sister but that¡¯s not true.¡±


    Li Yinfei was stunned that her personal maid said such things in front of so many people. She eximed, ¡°Little Min, what are you saying?¡±


    ¡°Am I wrong? I have my pride too. Since other people don¡¯t want it, I don¡¯t want it too.¡± Little Min felt rxed after she finally said everything she had kept in her heart. She felt as though she should have said these long ago.


    Li Yinfei¡¯s face turned pale. She didn¡¯t expect her maid to embarrass her at such a crucial time in front of so many important people. This was why Sister Yingying always reminded her to be clear about her status, right? A master is a master. A maid is a maid. The line between them had to be clear. If not, she would be hurt.


    Li Yinfei had been in the entertainment industry for a long time so she managed to appear calm even though she was internally burning with anger. She didn¡¯t scold her maid but turned to the representative from Mailer Fa and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. May I go to the washroom to wash up?¡±


    After she finished speaking, she immediately walked into the washroom at the backstage.


    There was no one in the washroom. Li Yinfei walked to the sink and sshed cold water on her face to calm herself down.


    After Li Yinfei left, the people from Miss Seven¡¯s side looked at Little Min with contempt. At first, they just felt that Little Min didn¡¯t perform her duty as a maid well but now, she was someone who didn¡¯t know her position.


    Little Min suddenly regained her senses. She was frustrated. She didn¡¯t know why she said those things just now. She must have been possessed.


    At that moment, Li Yinfei walked out of the washroom coldly. For some reason, the haggard Li Yinfei appeared even more beautiful. She felt like someone whom people could only watch from afar and not get close to.

 Chapter 1026 - Tour

    <h4>Chapter 1026 Tour</h4>


    Li Yinfei was not angry now. She was just calm andposed. She nced at Little Min calmly. Little Min was so shocked by the fact that she hadn¡¯t gotten barraged with insults yet that her apology got stuck in her throat.


    Li Yinfei nced at everyone around her. In the end, she nodded at the representative of Mai¡¯er Fa and pointed, seemingly casually, at Ling Lan. ¡°I¡¯ll bring him.¡±


    Ling Lan looked up in astonishment and pointed towards herself in disbelief.


    She wasn¡¯t the only one shocked. Everyone was stunned by Li Yinfei¡¯s decision.


    ¡°All these people will affect my mood. I don¡¯t know if they treat me sincerely or not.¡± Li Yinfei looked at her manager and bodyguards then scoffed at herself. It looked like she was deeply affected by her personal maid¡¯s outburst. She didn¡¯t believe anyone around her


    now.


    Li Yinfei spoke to Miss Seven in a bitter tone, ¡°I rather bring one of your men. He might be able to tell you what the secretive office region in Mai¡¯er Fa looks like after hees out.¡± Li Yinfei smiled after she finished speaking. Miss Seven got enchanted by her smile.


    Li Yinfei continued, ¡°Actually, Nuo¡¯er is the most suitable choice. However, she can¡¯t leave your side. Hence, I have no choice but to bring this little servant along.¡± Li Yinfei sounded a little yful here. She didn¡¯t appear as elegant as before but Tang Yingying felt much closer to her.


    Tang Yingying gave a sincere smile and replied, ¡°Since older sister is so thoughtful, how can I reject you?¡± She turned to look at Ling Lan. She said sternly, ¡°Little Yang, you must listen to Sister Li after you go in. Don¡¯t create trouble for her.¡±


    Ling Lan was in a daze. She suddenly understood what was happening. She tried to control her happiness as she nodded sincerely and said, ¡°Miss, I understand. I¡¯ll definitely listen to Sister Li after I go in.¡±


    She emphasized the words ¡®Sister Li¡¯ to show that she understood what Miss Seven was saying.


    Her sincere performance made Miss Sevenugh out loud. Li Yinfei gave a slight look of helplessness. Nuo¡¯er red at her angrily and reprimanded, ¡°Idiot, only young miss can call Miss Li Sister Li. We must call her Miss Li.¡±


    Ling Lan finally realized what her mistake was. She touched the back of her head in embarrassment and said, ¡°Yes, yes. It¡¯s Miss Li, not Sister Li.¡±


    Li Yinfei waited for Miss Seven to finish her conversation before turning to the representative of Mailer Fa. ¡°We can leave now.¡±


    The representative of Mai¡¯er Fa led the way respectfully, ¡°Miss Li, this way please.¡±


    Li Yinfei waved at Ling Lan. Then, she followed the people out of the backstage.


    ¡°Hurry up and catch up with Miss Li. Don¡¯t create trouble for her.¡± Nuo¡¯er pushed Ling Lan¡¯s back and reminded her to stop wasting time. If not, she might lose this great opportunity.


    Ling Lan smiled and waved at everyone. Then, she ran and caught up with Li Yinfei. Just as she was about to get near Li Yinfei, she slowed down and followed behind Li Yinfei like a good servant. Nuo¡¯er nodded in satisfaction at her actions. Little Yang was polite and well-mannered all thanks to her. At the start, when Little Yang first came to them, he didn¡¯t know any manners at all. He was like a country bumpkin.


    After Li Yinfei and Ling Lan left, Li Yinfei¡¯s manager and bodyguards woke up from their stupor. They suddenly realized that they had just listened to the entire conversation and didn¡¯t say anything.


    After Li Yinfei came out of the washroom, her gaze cast a huge pressure over them. They felt as though there was a huge mountain on their shoulders. They couldn¡¯t breathe properly. The pressure only disappeared after she left.


    ¡®Maybe she already noticed our disdain towards her. She just didn¡¯t have any evidence to prove it so she never scolded us. This time, she made use of Little Min to vent all her anger at all of us.¡¯ The manager seemed to understand why Li Yinfei acted like this today. He recalled what the Li family head told him about helping Li Yinfei. He felt frustrated with himself.


    ¡°If anyone dares to be disrespectful towards Miss Li, you can go back and exin to the Li family head.¡± The manager warned the bodyguards. Since they knew what their mistake was, they should rectify it immediately.


    ¡°Yes!¡± The bodyguards were surprised at the manager¡¯s warning. This was the first time the manager warned them. Was Miss Li really the illegitimate child of the Li family head just like what the rumors said? They thought about how the Li family treated Li Yinfei and got their answer.


    ¡°As for you, Little Min, you¡¯re no longer a part of the Li family now. You can go back to wherever you came from.¡± The manager looked at Little Min coldly.


    ¡°No! You don¡¯t have the right to decide my fate. I want to look for young miss.¡± Little Min felt a chill down her spine when she saw the heartless gaze the manager gave her. She grabbed her dress and wanted to chase after Li Yinfei.


    She should have grabbed her young miss¡¯s legs and apologized to her just now. Little Min felt regretful. She didn¡¯t understand why she gave up on wanting to do that after her young miss red at her.


    Little Min ran very quickly and left backstage. The manager scoffed and ignored Little Min. She bid farewell to Miss Seven before leaving the backstage with the bodyguards.


    Miss Seven smiled as she watched the drama unfold in front of her. After some time, she went back to her room with Nuo¡¯er and her bodyguards. They waited for Ling Lan to return.


    Li Yinfei and the group of them arrived in front of a lift. The moment they arrived, they heard a familiar voice.


    ¡°Miss Li, what a coincidence. We meet again.¡±


    Li Yinfei frowned. She turned around and saw a young man walking towards her with an exaggerated expression on his face. It was Young Master Lin who had been constantly trying to talk to her.


    ¡°I saw your performance just now. It was amazing. Your voice is like the sound of the heavens. It¡¯s my pleasure and luck to be able to hear your voice.¡± Young Master Lin came in front of Li Yinfei. He was totally mesmerized by her. From his expression, he looked as if he was still immersed in her singing.


    ¡°You¡¯replimenting me too much.¡± Li Yinfei gave a slight smile. She wasn¡¯t touched by Young Master Lin¡¯s words at all.


    ¡°Of course not, I¡¯m speaking the truth. Miss Li, every time I meet you, I feel that fate is connecting us together. Heaven must be giving us chances to meet each...¡± Young Master Lin started talking about fate again.


    Li Yinfei frowned slightly. At that moment, the lift door opened.


    Li Yinfei interrupted Young Master Lin directly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I still have things to do. Thank you for your support.¡± After she finished speaking, she walked into the lift without any hesitation. Ling Lan hurriedly followed behind her.


    Young Master Lin was enchanted by Li Yinfei so he wanted to enter the lift too. However, the representative of Mai¡¯er Fa stopped him. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. This is a special lift for VIPs. Outsiders can¡¯t enter the lift.¡±


    Young Master Lin had no choice but to wave at Li Yinfei fervently behind the people who stopped him. ¡°Miss Li, I¡¯ll be waiting for you here. See you soon.¡±


    Li Yinfei¡¯s smile disappeared when she heard this. Her entire aura turned cold.


    The lift door closed slowly. Young Master Lin¡¯s attention was on Li Yinfei so he didn¡¯t notice the purple and red light shing passed him.


    Young Master Lin said to himself, ¡°Miss Li has gotten even prettier.¡±


    Suddenly, he got dejected. ¡°Do I have the right to woo such a beautiful fairy?¡±


    ¡®Why do I feel that I have a chance to woo thisdy a moment ago but now, I just feel like I¡¯m just an ugly toad?¡¯


    ¡®Pfft, who is an ugly toad? I¡¯m just a pile of dirt... fine, they are both the same.¡¯ Young Master Lin squatted down and grabbed his head. He appeared to be in agony. ¡°I can only watch her from afar? What a painful realization.¡±


    When Little Min rushed over, she only saw Young Master Lin who was squatting in front of the lift. Her young miss was nowhere in sight.


    The lift went all the way up. Finally, it reached the office level. The door opened and a passage


    was seen.


    The representative of Mai¡¯er Fa introduced theyout of the office area to Li Yinfei. Then, he led her to the huge closed door at the end of the passage.


    The representative of Mailer Fa used his fingerprint to open the door. The door opened instantly and another long passage was revealed.


    Li Yinfei didn¡¯t seem surprised by the fact that they were no security guards behind the door. However, when the representative exined to her theyout of the walls, she seemed astounded.


    Of course, any normal person would be frightened when they heard that there were many beam guns hidden behind the walls beside them.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mouth was wide opened too. She seemed fearful and nervous. She looked like a frightened naive person.


    They walked through the passage until they came to the end of it. At the end of the passage, there was a door on both sides. When Ling Lan came the other time, the doors were closed. Now, they were wide opened.


    Not only that, besides those important rooms, the other doors inside the office area was opened too. Everyone there was waiting for Goddess Li¡¯s arrival. The workers were anticipating the talk they could have with her.


    Any man who was straight and had a normal standard of beauty wouldn¡¯t be able to reject Li Yinfei¡¯s charisma and ethereal beauty. They would naturally get enchanted by her. Hence, all the workers were extremely excited when they knew that Goddess Li was going to tour around their workce, so if they could open their doors, they would. They didn¡¯t want to miss the chance to take a look at Goddess Li.


    Li Yinfei didn¡¯t enter the rooms. She just stood within the passage and nced inside the rooms from the door. She looked as though she was in a hurry to do something.


    Suddenly, she walked in front of a room and pointed inside. She asked curiously, ¡°What is this ce?¡±


    The representative of Mailer Fa looked towards the direction where Li Yinfei was pointing. His face immediately turned red in shame. After a few seconds, he said awkwardly, ¡°This is the emergency room.¡±


    ¡°Emergency room? It sounds important. What does it do exactly?¡± Li Yinfei looked puzzled as she asked in a soft voice.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s important.¡± Mailer Fa felt embarrassed. He cursed the two people who were in charge of this room. Even if they werezy, they should have closed the door. Didn¡¯t they know that there was a special guesting today?


    He rubbed the sweat on his forehead and tried to exin generally, ¡°If anything happens to the operator during the mecha tournament, they can call for an emergency to end the match.¡±


    ¡°Is this room used to protect the lives of the mecha operators?¡± Li Yinfei was a soft-hearted person. This was the first thing she thought of.


    ¡°Of course, of course.¡± The representative of Mailer Fa followed her train of thought and agreed with her. Was he supposed to tell her that the battle between mecha operators was a life-or-death battle? This emergency room was in charge of the beam shield between the arena and the audience seats. This was to prevent the audience from getting injured, harming the reputation of Mai¡¯er Fa.


    ¡°You sent two irresponsible people for such an important job?¡± Li Yinfei looked at the two staff members who were sleeping on the benches inside the room. Her face turned cold.


    ¡°The battle hasn¡¯t started. They¡¯re resting.¡± The representative of Mai¡¯er Fa could only reply to her like this. However, when he saw Li Yinfei looking at him with a ¡®who are you trying to lie to¡¯ look, he knew that she didn¡¯t believe him.


    ¡°Miss Li, the battle seemed to have started.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were sharp. She saw mechas appearing on the live broadcast.


    ¡°They¡¯re resting...¡± Li Yinfei smiled coldly. She nced angrily at the representative of Mai¡¯er fa.


    The representative of Mailer Fa took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his sweat. One nce from Li Yinfei actually caused him to feel so frightened.


    Sob, this wasn¡¯t what he was expecting. Why did a small singer give him the same pressure as their Young Master Rong? Or maybe it was because he felt guilty?


    ¡°It looks like I need to talk to your superiors about your work attitude.¡± Li Yinfei snorted.


    The representative of Mai¡¯er Fa quickly went in and woke the two people who were still sleeping


    The two people opened their eyes in confusion. When they saw the representative of Mai¡¯er Fa, they asked in surprise, ¡°Why are you here?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by why am I here? Why are you sleeping?¡± The representative of Mai¡¯er Fa felt like scolding these two people. They were embarrassing him.


    ¡°We had nothing to do for the entire day. We got sleepy,¡± one of them replied.


    ¡°You can¡¯t me us. That decadent voice, Li Yinfei, sang until we wanted to sleep. Her voice was like a luby. We fell asleep while listening to her,¡± the other person added on.


    The representative of Mailer Fa felt even more cold sweat appearing on his forehead. He could sense the two intense gaze behind him. They seemed to be able to pierce through him.


    ¡°So, my voice is decadent? A luby? It looks like my singing still needs to improve.¡± A clear voice sounded in the room.


    Li Yinfei? The two workers stared at the representative. They gave him a questioning look.


    The representative replied to them with a firm look. He even stared at them to tell them that they were dead. They got caught cking and even talked bad about the person right in front of her.


    The two people turned their heads stiffly. They saw Li Yinfei smiling at them gently. She didn¡¯t seem angry or dejected. It was a calm andposed smile.


    Their hearts palpitated furiously. They didn¡¯t like Li Yinfei mostly because of her face. In the past, they hadughed about how fake Li Yinfei¡¯s face must be and how her smile seemed unnatural. However, when they saw the real deal, they knew that they were wrong.


    Even the copy of the person in the virtual world couldn¡¯t portray 100% of the person¡¯s beauty. They felt that the videos they saw of Li Yinfei only portrayed half of her charisma and beauty. The face that they thought was fake and unnatural... on my god, with that smile, she looked like a goddess that came from heaven. This was how a fairy would smile.


    The two workers werepletely enchanted by Li Yinfei. They had lost their ability to speak.

 Chapter 1027 - Who Is It?

    <h4>Chapter 1027 Who Is It?</h4>


    Li Yinfei¡¯s gaze turned dark when she saw the two of them were mesmerized by her looks. However, her expression still remained gentle. She smiled and said, ¡°I want to know what that screen is for. What do you do exactly? Can you please help me answer my question?¡±


    ¡°Sure, sure, Miss Li.¡± The two people rushed towards the biggest screen in the room. Since all their attention was on Li Yinfei, they bumped into many objects along the way, causing them to almost fall multiple times. The representative of Mai¡¯er Fa covered his face in embarrassment. They are such an embarrassment.¡¯


    The two workers continued staggering their way forward as if they couldn¡¯t understand the word ¡®shame¡¯.


    ¡°Actually, this screen is our newest invention. Normally, when humans wanted to enter the virtual world, they needed to enter through a virtual login pod. But, we don¡¯t need that huge antique here.¡± The two workers turned very serious when they started talking about their specialization. The confusion in their eyes subsided a little. As they went deeper into the topic, their eyes even had a glimmer of passion.


    Li Yinfei and Ling Lan exchanged nces with each other. Both of them got on their guards.


    ¡°If you touch these few ces, you¡¯ll be able to enter the virtual world.¡± Another worker pointed at a few spots on the big screen. His eyes shone brightly as he asked, ¡°Miss Li, will you be interested to try it?¡±


    ¡°What will happen to my body when I go in?¡±. Li Yinfei was excited to try it but she was cautious. It was very dangerous for ady to be unconscious in front of a bunch of strangers, especially when the strangers were a bunch of men. Most women... no even men wouldn¡¯t take the risk. There was no one here that she could entrust her body to, if her conscious entered the virtual world.


    ¡°You can take a short nap on the chairs,¡± a worker replied hurriedly.


    Li Yinfei now understood why there werefortable sofa chairs in front of the few spots the staff pointed at just now. Those sofas were for people to sleep in.


    ¡°Miss Li, you can try it. If you feel ufortable in there, you just need to think about leaving and your conscious will immediately leave the virtual world.¡± The worker invited her enthusiastically.


    Li Yinfei thought for a moment. Then, she turned around and looked at Ling Lan in the eyes. ¡°Little Yang, go and try it first. If it¡¯s fun, I¡¯ll try it.¡±


    After thinking about it, Li Yinfei still didn¡¯t want to be the first person to experience something so unknown to her. She was a VIP guest of Mai¡¯er Fa but Mailer Fa was very secretive and unpredictable. She didn¡¯t want to take risk rashly.


    Ling Lan appeared ted at the opportunity. Her eyes lit up as she looked towards the two workers. She seemed to be asking them with her eyes if she could try it out.


    The two workers weren¡¯t surprised when they saw Li Yinfei being careful and asking her servant to try it out first. Most people would be cautious about unfamiliar things so they didn¡¯t mind her distrust. ¡°Sure. Little brother, this way please.¡± One of the staff members patted the sofa beside him, signalling Ling Lan toe over.


    ¡°Thank you, big brother.¡± Ling Lan thanked the worker with a sincere and innocent smile. In response, the worker¡¯s smile got more sincere too.


    Ling Lanid on the sofa and touched the spot where the staff pointed at just now. She suddenly felt herself entering the virtual world in an instant.


    They actually didn¡¯t need a login pod to enter the virtual world. The moment Ling Lan entered the virtual world, she noticed that she appeared on a busy street. There were people walking all around her, and there was also a white barrier around her body. This barrier was to protect the people who just entered the virtual world as everyone needed time to get limatized to the virtual world.


    But, this was not the case for Ling Lan as she could instantly get limatized to the virtual world. Ling Lan counted 10 seconds in her heart and the white barrier disappeared around. The barriersted for 10 seconds. Barriers in Mai¡¯er Fasted as long as a barrier wouldst in the Federation. Hence, no matter how or where you entered the virtual world, barriers in the virtual world would alwaysst 10 seconds.


    After 10 seconds, Ling Lan still didn¡¯t move. She counted another five seconds before she raised her head. Her dim eyes turned bright.


    The people around her didn¡¯t seem surprised at Ling Lan¡¯s appearance. They just ignored Ling Lan¡¯s presence and continued on their journey. The people here seemed to be used to a stranger suddenly appearing beside them.


    ¡°This type of technology couldn¡¯t be perfected in a short time.¡± Ling Lan started to be more vignt towards Mai¡¯er Fa. It was obvious that their development of the technologies in the virtual world was way ahead of all the other nations. Mailer Fa might have invented all these technologies to sell to other nations. This could be why the other nations were afraid of Mai¡¯er Fa and didn¡¯t dare to offend it.


    ¡°Little Four, are there any powerful hackers watching over us.¡± Ling Lan pretended to look around curiously but in actual fact, she was asking Little Four to check their surroundings.


    ¡°There are more than ten hackers around us but none of them is powerful.¡± In the virtual world, Little Four was able to grasp the entire situation around him within a short time. He easily discovered the people that were watching over Ling Lan.


    ¡°I understand.¡± This was a very normal thing to do. No matter how harmless the person was, they should still keep their eyes on the person. Ling Lan finally grasped the situation around her, so she ordered Little Four to finish what he didn¡¯tplete yesterday night. At the same time, she reminded Little Four to be careful to not let the god-ss hacker notice him again.


    Little Four arrogantly told her that this would never happen again. One mistake was enough for him. If he was discovered by that hacker again, he wouldn¡¯t have the face to im that he was the virtual god anymore.


    Soon, Little Four started doing what he needed to do without arousing any suspicion, so Ling Lan just started wandering around the street blindly to waste some time. She then saw a bunch of people congregating in a certain area so she asked a passer-by what was happening there. The passer-by told her that this was the entrance to the venue to watch the mecha tournament. Those who didn¡¯t have a ticket to the tournament could enter the virtual world and watch the live broadcast by Mai¡¯er Fa. It was as exciting as watching the match personally.


    However, you need to buy a ticket to enter this venue too. The only thing different between the two venues was that the venue in the virtual world didn¡¯t have a seat limit unlike the venues in the real world. The number of people who could enter this venue was infinite.


    Ling Lan followed the crowd and entered the venue curiously. She started watching the mecha tournament along with everyone.


    In the emergency room, the staff members took the images of Ling Lan wandering around in the virtual world and started introducing to Li Yinfei what this invention could mean to the virtual world. Li Yinfei nodded her head fervently like a naive customer in front of a cunning salesperson. She seemed surprised and astounded at how advanced were the technologies in Mai¡¯er Fa. Seeing Li Yinfei being all excited about their passion project, caused the workers to also feel excited. They wanted to show off even more things in front of their goddess.


    On one side of the room, a purple light and a red light followed behind Li Yinfei into the tunnel where they were trapped in yesterday. In an afternoon worth of time, the damaged parts of the tunnel had beenpletely repaired. This scene made the two of them feel even more fearful of Mai¡¯er Fa. They were very clear on how badly damaged the tunnel was yesterday.


    When they saw Li Yinfei walking into the office area, they wanted to follow behind her. But, a person suddenly appeared at the entrance and smiled at them. They were familiar with this person in front of them. It was the old man who talked to them yesterday.


    This was one of the limitations of a powerful offense element. They weren¡¯t able to hide perfectly like the other people who had the different elemental concepts. No matter how they integrate into the element, there would still be traces left behind. The faint red light and the purple light in the air might be probably what exposed them.


    When the two people saw the old man, they knew they were exposed. They wanted to go back into the tunnel but another middle-aged man had appeared behind them.


    They could hear their hearts dropped. Their path of retreat was blocked. It looked like their enemy had prepared for the appearance beforehand.


    It made sense. How could they not improve their security after letting a stranger in? Maybe they had already expected that they would make use of Li Yinfei¡¯s visit to sneak into the office.


    ¡°My young master sends an invitation to you two.¡± The old man guided them in a certain direction.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran had no choice but to turn back into their human form.


    ¡°Who is your young master?¡± Tang Ningyu raised one of his eyebrows and asked. They sneaked in twice and got invited twice. These people must be using them for something. However, this might be their chance too.


    ¡°Young Master said that someone interrupted usst night so we can¡¯t start the game properly. Now, he wants to invite you to continue the game.¡± As expected, it was the same bunch of people as yesterday.


    Tang Ningyu looked at Mu Chaoran. Mu Chaoran shrugged. He would follow what Tang Ningyu decided


    Tang Ningyu was a decisive mission. Since he couldn¡¯t run away, why don¡¯t they take the risk and see how it goes.


    The two of them followed the old man into a lift. They entered the mecha tournament venue. The old man led them to a door and took out a card. He swiped it into a machine beside the door and the door opened, revealing two magnificent ace mechas.


    ¡°Young master said that as long as you managed to get top three in the mecha tournament, you¡¯ll win the game.¡± The old man smiled as he took out two mecha keys from his pocket and passed it to Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that we¡¯ll run away with the mechas?¡± Tang Ningyu asked coldly.


    ¡°You can try.¡± The old man smiled without any trace of fear.


    ¡°I guessed that there¡¯s a system that can remotely control the mechas¡± Mu Chaoran looked at the center of the arena where a web-like object could be seen.


    ¡°Very surprising for someone from the Flying Dragon Special Forces to be so smart. Since we dared to host a mecha tournament, we must have the necessary measures against them.¡± The old man wasn¡¯t worried when their n was found out.


    ¡°If you want it to be an ace mecha, it will be an ace mecha. If you don¡¯t want it to be an ace mecha, it will just be a pile of rubbish.¡± Mu Chaoran sneered.


    That was the only reason why they didn¡¯t mind lending them the ace mechas. No matter how strong a mecha was, it was useless against a device that curbed it.


    ¡°We¡¯ll participate in this game.¡± Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu took the key off the old man¡¯s hand.


    Their lives were in the hands of their opponents. It was not an option to reject them.


    ¡°However, we request that we can¡¯t be in the same group until the finals.¡± Tang Ningyu added on. He didn¡¯t want to fight with Mu Chaoran before the finals started.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Mailer Fa won¡¯t do such a despicable thing,¡± the old man smiled and replied.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran boarded their mechas after the old man¡¯s assuring reply. They started getting used to their mechas. Even though they were close to bing an imperial operator, this was still an unfamiliar mecha so they needed some time to get familiar with it. Plus, entering the top three wasn¡¯t easy. Based on their knowledge, the highest level of mecha operator in this tournament was ace mecha master. However, due to the format being a life-or-death battle, many operators who were a step away from imperial level would join to get enlightened at thest moment and advance to be an imperial operator.


    Many ace mecha masters who got stuck at the doors of imperial level would hide their identities and enter the mecha tournament. Therefore, this wasn¡¯t a tournament that they could mess around and win.


    All these people were worthy opponents they had to beat.


    While Ling Lan was watching the mecha tournament, she suddenly remembered the time when she entered the virtual world for the first time and watched a mecha tournament with Li Lanfeng who had dressed in a ck gown. That was her first time watching a mecha tournament. After that, she worked hard and became one of the most renowned mecha operators.


    When Ling Lan just came to the venue, a match had just ended. The host of the match started firing up the emotions of the audience for the next battle, as the first ace mecha battle was starting


    Ling Lan looked at the arena with interest. She saw a Federation-made ace mecha entering the arena. On the other side, a Caesar-made ace mecha stepped in. The battle between the mechas of the two most powerful nations in the gxy caused the audience to be even more excited. Screams and shouts filled up the venue. Everyone was supporting the mecha they liked.


    ¡°Now, let¡¯s invite Dark me from the Federation to fight against Fox from Caesar.¡±


    Even the two mecha operators were from these two countries. The atmosphere got even more rousy. The entire ce seemed to be burning with enthusiasm.


    ¡°Boss, do you know who Dark me is?¡± When Little Four heard that the mecha operator was from the Federation, he went to do more research. To his surprise, it was someone he knew.


    ¡°Since you asked, it must be someone I know. Someone I know in Mai¡¯er Fa... it had to be the two of them. Is it Mu Chaoran?¡± Ling Lan thought for a moment and got her answer.


    ¡°Erm, Boss, how did you know?¡± Little Four felt frustrated.


    ¡°If I don¡¯t know this person, you wouldn¡¯t have asked me. You would have told me the name directly.¡± Ling Lan understood Little Four very well. ¡°Hence, it had to be someone I know. It can¡¯t be someone from 250 Ace Mecha n as they¡¯re all in the military. Unless someone has a mission...¡±


    ¡°However, since they sent people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces over, the Federation wouldn¡¯t send anyone to interrupt them. That means it can only be Mu Chaoran or Tang Ningyu. The name ¡®Dark me¡¯ is more suitable for Mu Chaoran. Based on Tang Ningyu¡¯s character, he would probably choose a name like Purple Lightning or Ray of Light.¡± It had to be said that Ling Lan had a good understanding of these two people, although she had only interacted with them for one month.


    Little Four said without any energy in his voice, ¡°Yes, it¡¯s Mu Chaoran. However, didn¡¯t hee for a mission? Why is he participating in this tournament?¡±


    Ling Lan frowned. By right, he shouldn¡¯t enter thispetition.


    ¡°Maybe he was forced too.¡± She remembered how they got trapped yesterday night. Their opponent didn¡¯t kill them but bring them away. She thought of something. ¡°Mailer Fa¡¯s aim is them!¡±


    It didn¡¯t make sense for Mailer Fa to invite Li Yinfei into their office area. Only this reason could exin everything.

 Chapter 1028 - It Should Be It!

    <h4>Chapter 1028 It Should Be It!</h4>


    As the first showing of an ace mecha battle, Mu Chaoran¡¯s opponent would obviously be a powerful ace mecha master. He had reached the peak level of ace mecha master so he was intending to use this opportunity to advance to imperial mecha operator.


    However, this was not thest match so the mecha operator from Caesar didn¡¯t expect to meet such a powerful opponent right at the start.


    As for Mu Chaoran, he knew from the start that he had to enter the top three so he fought with all his might.


    One was unprepared while the other fought to his best. Furthermore, Mu Chaoran¡¯s mecha piloting skill was already a level higher than his opponent. If his opponent had prepared beforehand, he might have a chance against Mu Chaoran. Unfortunately, he was caught unprepared. His carelessness gave Mu Chaoran an opportunity to immediately suppress his opponent.


    Unsurprisingly, the mecha operator from Caesar lost within a few rounds. Mu Chaoran returned to backstage and ejected out from his mecha. Unlike how smooth the match went, he appeared haggard and soaked in perspiration when he got ejected out. He seemed a little tired.


    ¡°How do you feel?¡± Tang Ningyu asked.


    ¡°They¡¯re all very experienced mecha operators. This won¡¯t be an easy tournament.¡± Mu Chaoran didn¡¯t have his usual smile on his face. He was extremely serious now.


    Tang Ningyu nodded. He didn¡¯t continue speaking. He just turned his head to the arena as new mecha operators were entering the arena.


    In a small room, Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu were watching the match too. Su Pei¡¯s face turned pale after the first match.


    ¡°Yiqiu, is everyone as strong as them?¡± If that was the case, they would just get beaten up in this tournament.


    ¡°If they aren¡¯t so powerful, why are we taking part in this battle?¡± Xiao Yiqiu dashed Su Pei¡¯s hope.


    ¡°Yiqiu, I might not be able to win a single match.¡± Although he was able to be an ace operator because of Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s help, he didn¡¯t have any experience at all. Would he be able topete against these experienced and vicious mecha operators?


    ¡°Su Pei, don¡¯t you want to enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces?¡± Xiao Yiqiu stopped smiling and turned stern. ¡°We will be going through a harsh assessment. Those examiners might be even stronger than these people. If we are frightened by the mecha operators here, how are we going to face the examiners from the Flying Dragon Special Forces?¡±


    Su Pei¡¯s nervousness disappeared after his words. He turned resolute again. Xiao Yiqiu turned his face to the other side and gave an evil and vicious expression. When he turned back, he had a bright smile on his face.


    Just as Little Four told her that he was done, Ling Lan had just finished watching a battle. Just to lessen more suspicion on her, she stood up and walked around some more before she left quietly. In the next second, she opened her eyes and she was back in the real world.


    ¡°How is it?¡± Li Yinfei asked in concern.


    ¡°It¡¯s amazing.¡± Ling Lan eximed. She appeared mesmerized by Mai¡¯er Fa¡¯s technology. ¡°Miss Li, you should try it.¡±


    Li Yinfei appeared enticed but she quickly controlled her desires and shook her head. ¡°Nevermind. You¡¯ve tried it already.¡± She turned to the representative of Mailer Fa and thanked him. ¡°Thank you for your arrangements. I¡¯m really happy to see the most advanced technology of Mai¡¯er Fa.¡±


    ¡°Miss Li, don¡¯t you want to take a closer look?¡± The representative of Mai¡¯er Fa smiled and asked.


    Li Yinfei shook her head. ¡°This is enough. It¡¯s better for both the host and the guest to enjoy themselves.¡± She gave a half-smile to the representative of Mai¡¯er Fa. ¡°Don¡¯t you think so?¡±


    The standard smile of the representative¡¯s face turned more sincere as he replied, ¡°Miss Li, you make sense.¡±


    It seemed like Li Yinfei wasn¡¯t a brainless beauty. She knew her position well and knew when she should stop. This meant that they didn¡¯t need to try to hide their secret from her. She knew what she shouldn¡¯t ask.


    Hence, under the guidance of the representative of Mailer Fa, Li Yinfei and Ling Lan left the office area and returned to the ground level.


    Li Yinfei¡¯s manager and her bodyguards were waiting for her below. Although Li Yinfei vented her anger on them because of Min¡¯er and didn¡¯t bring them into the office area, they couldn¡¯t leave Li Yinfei like this. If they stopped servicing her, the family head of the Li family would punish them even if Li Yinfei didn¡¯t.


    When Li Yinfei came down, they hurriedly went up to wee her. Min¡¯er wanted to go forward too but Li Yinfei¡¯s face turned cold when she saw her. She turned and asked her manager, ¡°Why is she still here?¡±


    ¡°Young miss, I¡¯m sorry. I was possessed just now and said something I shouldn¡¯t have. I didn¡¯t mean what I say. Please give me one more chance.¡± Min¡¯er wanted to rush forward but was stopped by Li Yinfei¡¯s cold gaze. She could only cry on the spot.


    Li Yinfei ignored Min¡¯er entirely. She looked at Ling Lan and said calmly, ¡°Little Yang, your young miss is waiting for you. Hurry up and go back.¡±


    Don¡¯t wash your dirty linen in public. Li Yinfei didn¡¯t want Little Yang to see their fight.


    Ling Lan quickly nodded and ran off.


    Li Yinfei looked at Min¡¯er and said, ¡°I¡¯ll go to the washroom first. I¡¯ll decide what to do with you after Ie out.¡± When she was talking, a vicious look appeared on her face. Min¡¯er was shocked. Her young miss always liked to act like a good person. Did she give up on her act?


    ¡°Oh... I understand.¡± Li Yinfei¡¯s manager was stunned by her expression too. He nodded and looked at Min¡¯er with pity. He seemed to be telling her that she was unable to escape from this crisis.


    If Li Yinfei wanted to maintain her kind act, Min¡¯er might be saved. However, from the looks of it now, Li Yinfei didn¡¯t want to continue with her act anymore. That meant that Min¡¯er was dead.


    Li Yinfei walked into the huge washroom. There were more than 20 cubicles in it. A faint ck light wasing from one cubicle, but everyone was disregarding this abnormal cubicle. No one was trying to enter it. It seemed as though this cubicle didn¡¯t exist.


    Li Yinfei walked to the back and tapped the door with her finger. A ck light could be seen on her finger.


    The ck light disappeared suddenly.


    At that moment, someone appeared beside Li Yinfei. It was Ling Lan.


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Li Yinfei lowered her voice and asked.


    ¡°Create a memory.¡± Ling Lan smiled.


    Li Yinfei¡¯s expression froze. She looked at Ling Lan with a dumbfounded expression. She seemed stunned by what Ling Lan said.


    ¡°One of my innate talents,¡± Ling Lan said indifferently.


    The astonishment in Li Yinfei¡¯s eyes disappeared. She lifted her finger and tapped on the door again. The door opened by itself and revealed Li Yinfei who was sitting unconscious on the toilet seat.


    There were two Li Yinfei!


    The person that brought Ling Lan in wasn¡¯t Li Yinfei. It was Li Lanfeng. When Li Yinfei entered the washroom, she was knocked unconscious by Li Lanfeng and ced inside thest cubicle. To make sure that no one would find her, Li Lanfeng used his domain concept and virtualized thest cubicle, including the person sitting inside while he brought her into his virtual world, away from the real world.


    Unless an imperial stage domain realm master entered the washroom, no one would discover this secret. Moreover, this was a female washroom, male domain realm masters couldn¡¯t enter. As for female domain realm masters, Ling Lan was the only one.


    Li Lanfeng did everything secretly so no one knew what happened. Hence, no one would discover the hidden cubicle.


    Ling Lan looked at the unconscious Li Yinfei. She ced her index finger on Li Yinfei¡¯s forehead. After a few seconds, she retracted her finger. She looked at Li Lanfeng and the two of them slowly disappeared in front of Li Yinfei.


    Around ten secondster, Li Yinfei opened her eyes. Her gaze was piercing. She walked out of the washroom and said to her manager angrily, ¡°I don¡¯t want to see her again. Make her disappear in front of me.¡±


    Then, she returned to her room with her bodyguards. The memory of her bringing Little Yang into the office area as well as the conversation between her and the representative of Mailer Fa had all been imnted in her mind. She would feel that everything Li Lanfeng did was what she did. If not one realized that her memory was altered, no one would know that Li Lanfeng pretended to be Li Yinfei.


    In the most luxurious VIP room, Sword Monarch suddenly opened his eyes. He felt the aura of the imperial realm formidable warrior who fought with him yesterday. However, the aura only appeared for a second before it disappeared without a trace. He knew that the other party was near him but he just couldn¡¯t find his exact position.


    In a certain virtual pod, a middle-aged man lying inside it frowned. He seemed puzzled. ¡°Why can¡¯t I find any traces of him? Who on earth is he? Although I can¡¯t find any evidence, my instinct tells me that someone came to the main core and took some things away. Damn it, I can¡¯t find anything.¡±


    ¡®Is there another hacker that is more powerful than a god-ss hacker in this world?¡¯ The middle-aged man quickly disregarded this thought. If this person was more powerful than a god-ss hacker, he could only be the virtual god, and that was impossible.


    Although the middle-aged man denied this thought, he still didn¡¯t know which mysterious hackerunched an attack on Mai¡¯er Fa. In the end, he could only sigh and suppressed his curiosity.


    In the middle of the night, a ck figure entered Li Lanfeng¡¯s room.


    Li Lanfeng quickly sat up and said in a low voice, ¡°You¡¯re here.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Sword Monarch was present in the afternoon so I didn¡¯t want to take the risk to talk to you.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t feel embarrassed about entering a man¡¯s room in the middle of the night. She acted naturally. Maybe she had forgotten that she was ady. Or maybe Li Lanfeng¡¯s beauty made her forget that Li Lanfeng was a man.


    ¡°When I entered the virtual world to watch the mecha tournament, I went to look for information about the Magic Ace Mecha n, including their mission that year.¡± Ling Lan sent Li Lanfeng a virtual photograph. There was an elegant and handsome man on it. He looked around 40 years old.


    ¡°Who is this?¡± Li Lanfeng asked curiously. He was unfamiliar with this person.


    ¡°He is the mission of the Magic Ace Mecha n that year. They were tasked to watch over this person carefully,¡± Ling Lan replied.


    ¡°Who is this? Why is he so important that the Federation sent a titled super mecha n to watch over him?¡± Li Lanfeng frowned. No matter how he looked at the person, he didn¡¯t look like a powerful domain realm master or a formidable mecha operator.


    ¡°Huang Yaobing. He is not famous to the public but in the upper echelons of people in the Federation, he is quite well-known. Have you heard of the Son of God project?¡± Ling Lan asked seriously.


    ¡°The Son of God project?¡± Li Lanfeng eximed in surprise. He had heard his grandfather mentioning this before but no matter how he pestered his grandfather for more information, his grandfather never told him anything about it. He even reminded Li Lanfeng to forget about this to prevent himself from getting into trouble.


    ¡°That year, the Federation wanted to create a batch of Son of Gods. Once they be adults, they would be able to be domain realm masters or pseudo god-ss mecha masters. This project was initiated 25 years ago. However, five yearster, the project got banned. Huang Yaobing was the person-in-charge of this project. When the project got banned, he remained quiet for five years. 15 years ago, he was requested toe to Mai¡¯er Fa to experience the gambling culture here. The Federation thought for a long time and decided to agree to his request. To keep him safe, the Federation sent the Magic Ace Mecha n to disguise as his bodyguards...¡± Ling Lan told him the truth about the mission of the Magic Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°By right, a person like Huang Yaobing shouldn¡¯t be able to leave the nation. When the Federation agreed to let him out, there was already something wrong. Plus, they didn¡¯t send any imperial realm formidable warrior to protect and watch over him. Instead, they just sent a titled ace mecha n. In Mailer Fa, there are many restrictions on a mecha n. Sending an imperial realm formidable warrior was a much better choice than sending a mecha n over.¡± Ling Lan voiced out her doubts.


    ¡°Did the Magic Ace Mecha n really took the mission by coincidence?¡± Li Lanfeng expressed his opinion. ¡°I feel that we have to find all the mission the Magic Ace Mecha n took in the past andpared it to this mission. This is the only way we¡¯ll find the truth.¡±


    ¡°You are right, so I¡¯vepiled all the missions that Magic Ace Mecha n took part in the past. This is the list of their mission they took part in after they became a mecha n.¡± Ling Lan sent another file to Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°I think that we only have to look at the mission during thest five years. If there¡¯s a problem, five years is the longest period of time anyone could bear.¡± Ling Lan continued, ¡°Actually, I think looking at the mission they took within theirst year is enough. However, to prevent any errors, I checked back into theirst five years.¡±


    ¡°One year is indeed enough. Exterminating the Magic Ace Mecha n is not a small matter. The other party definitely couldn¡¯t bear with them for five years. One year is probably the maximum. I even think that a year might be too long. The longer they dragged on, the higher the possibility of their secret getting exposed. If my guess is correct, the Magic Ace Mecha n might have identally found out about a secret the higher authorities wanted to protect.¡± Li Lanfeng agreed with Ling Lan¡¯s prediction.


    The two of them looked through the mission in theirst years before the Magic Ace Mecha n was annihted. They pointed to a mission at the same time and shouted, ¡°This is


    it!¡±

 Chapter 1029 - Support!

    <h4>Chapter 1029 Support!</h4>


    Their fingers touched. Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan and smiled. Ling Lan almost got dazzled by his smile.


    Ling Lan calmly reminded him with a cold face, ¡°You don¡¯t have to smile in front of people whom you trust. That is a bad habit.¡±


    Ling Lan thought about it carefully before continuing, ¡°It¡¯s dangerous.¡±


    ¡®Damn it! Even I can¡¯t handle your smile. Blood, please don¡¯te out of my nose. To maintain my reputation as their boss, I must stop this demon from smiling in front of me!¡¯


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t believe in her resistance against such a beautiful smile. Hence, she decided topletely stop it from happening instead.


    Li Lanfeng was touched by Ling Lan¡¯s words of concern. It warmed up his stone-cold heart. Only Ling Lan was able to warm his heart. Li Lanfeng never wanted to let go of this feeling. He wanted more of it. He even had the desire to keep all this warmth to himself.


    However, he knew that if he really did it, Ling Lan would stray further from him. Damn it, he took Ling Lan as his most importantpanion and confidant but Ling Lan had her family and friends. Her family and her friends were more important than him.


    Why couldn¡¯t he be satisfied? Li Lanfeng hated his selfishness and greed. However, no matter how he tried to convince himself, this selfish thinking wouldn¡¯t disappear. The longer he stayed beside Ling Lan, this selfishness and greed got even stronger. This was why he followed Ling Lan to Mai¡¯er Fa even though he knew that she might be angry. He wanted to be more important to Ling Lan. He wanted to be the most important person in Ling Lan¡¯s heart.


    He didn¡¯t know when he would be satisfied, but he knew he wasn¡¯t satisfied now, he wanted more. This was not enough at all. Maybe one day, when their friendship reached a certain point, he would be satisfied.


    Li Lanfeng tried to suppress his emotions but this feeling of something in the throat was suffocating. He took a few deep breaths secretly to calm himself down. He knew that Rabbit didn¡¯t like it when herrades got too emotional. Freaking out about this kind of thing would just make him look irrational to Ling Lan. He understood Ling Lan¡¯s liking so he wouldn¡¯t make such a low-level mistake in front of her. He wouldn¡¯t let Rabbit have any bad impression of him.


    Li Lanfeng threw away his thoughts and coldly said, ¡°It looks like our thoughts are the same. We both think that there¡¯s something amiss with this mission.¡±


    ¡°They wouldn¡¯t be able to interact with the higher authorities of the military in other missions. This is the only mission that they could.¡± Ling Lan continued, ¡°The Flying Dragon Special Forces was assigned to this mission. At first, we thought that the military realized something was wrong with the annihtion of the Magic Ace Mecha n so they sent the Flying Dragon Special Forces to prevent other higher authorities from meddling with this affair or to make sure that this matter was attended to seriously. But, from the looks of it now, it might not be the


    case.¡±


    ¡°The mission for the Flying Dragon Special Forces might be a smoke bomb.¡± Li Lanfeng went into deep thought.


    Ling Lan smiled coldly. ¡°It might not be a smoke bomb. It might be like a robber acting like a cop.¡±


    Li Lanfeng narrowed his eyes. ¡°Are you saying that there¡¯s a problem with the Flying Dragon Special Forces? But, the problem is the Flying Dragon Special Forces!¡±


    The Flying Dragon Special Forces belonged to the military but their top chain ofmand was with the three marshals. Plus, the Flying Dragon Special Forces had the power to watch over the other regimentmander of the various mecha ns in the military. Once they noticed a problem with a regimentmander, they would be able to arrest the regimentmander with the warrant from one of the three great marshals.


    Thus, themander of the Flying Dragon Special Forces mustn¡¯t belong to any factions of the three great marshals. He was an independent faction. He must maintain a neutral position in order toplete the mission given to the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    If something went wrong with the Flying Dragon Special Forces... a chill went up Li Lanfeng¡¯s spine. He looked up at Ling Lan and said sternly, ¡°Rabbit, we can¡¯t interfere with this matter.¡± They couldn¡¯t even get near on this matter. If not, they would get implicated and might even die from it.


    Ling Lan felt that this matter was troublesome too. At first, she thought that this case only affected the higher authorities of the military. The person behind everything might be as powerful as her father. However, after going through all the information they received, the waters behind this was too deep. It might drown her and her father.


    Ling Lan clenched her fist tightly. She paced around Li Lanfeng¡¯s room. Her mind was working furiously. If she interfered with this matter, would there be more benefits or risks?


    ¡°This could exin why Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran got eyed on the moment they entered Mailer Fa. They were abandoned by the Flying Dragon Special Forces from the beginning.¡± Ling Lan gritted her teeth angrily.


    Although she only interacted Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran for a short while, she had a good impression of them. She knew that they were loyal to the Federation and were two of the most outstanding soldiers of the new generation.


    To her, these people would be the pirs of the Federation after they grew up. Such talents were precious so the Federation should nurture them carefully. But, due to some people¡¯s selfish desires, they forsook such exceptional fresh blood of the Federation. Ling Lan felt really bad for them.


    ¡°Are you saying that Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were abandoned the moment they epted the mission?¡± Li Lanfeng felt that the matter was bad but he didn¡¯t expect it to be so terrible.


    ¡°By right, with Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s stealth abilities, it would be hard for the people in Mai¡¯er Fa to discover them within such a short time even if they knew that some people were sent over to investigate the annihtion of the Magic Ace Mecha n. The only reason this could be possible was, they knew that the people that were sent over were Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. Hence, finding them would be easy.¡± Ling Lan exined, ¡°From the start, I didn¡¯t understand why Mai¡¯er Fa didn¡¯t find you but found Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu instead. You took the mission before them but they found the two of them easily instead of you. Now, I know.¡±


    Li Lanfeng nodded. He was still too naive. He didn¡¯t think too much about these dark dealings. He looked at Ling Lan with admiration. Once again, he felt the difference between him and Ling Lan. There were still many things he had to learn from her.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t Mailer Fa kill Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran?¡± Li Lanfeng agreed with Ling Lan¡¯s prediction but as an adviser, he still had to be careful about the loopholes in her prediction.


    ¡°This is why I didn¡¯t suspect them at the start. By right, since they had already forsaken Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran, they wouldn¡¯t bother with how Mailer Fa treated them.¡± Ling Lan frowned. She felt that there were still some things she hadn¡¯t seen through in this matter. This could be the key to everything.


    ¡°However, we should be d that Mai¡¯er Fa didn¡¯t want to kill Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran now. But, no one knew what would happen in the future.¡± Ling Lan felt relieved for the two of them. If not, she might not be able to help them yesterday night. They would have already been killed by Sword Monarch if they didn¡¯t want them to live.


    ¡°Do you think that Mai¡¯er Fa is taking pity in their talent so they asked them to enter the mecha tournament? They might want to use them to increase the excitement for the mecha tournament.¡± Li Lanfeng raised another possibility.


    ¡°Use them?¡± Ling Lan felt enlightened by these words. She felt that she was about to grasp something. She repeated, ¡°Use them?¡±


    There were many ways to increase the excitement for the mecha tournament. It was not a good idea to let these two pieces of chess to take part in the mecha tournament, as they possessed a threat to them. Unless, there were some underlying reasons.


    To be the leader of the new generation, the mecha piloting skills of these people must be at pseudo imperial level. They might not be the match of those experienced and sly ace mecha masters but their mecha piloting skills could offer good practice for those rising stars.


    Practice! Ling Lan felt that she had uncovered the mist covering up this problem.


    ¡°Little Four, find all the rising stars that are participating in this mecha tournament.¡± She finally felt that she might have had a breakthrough in thisplex situation. It might be useless but she still hoped that she was able to find something.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Little Four quickly went to do research. Very soon, he created a list of all the rising stars and gave it to Ling Lan.


    ¡°These are all the rising stars the other nations and various factions are grooming. Help me take a look. Who do you think are under Mai¡¯er Fa?¡± Ling Lan passed the list to Li Lanfeng. She trusted Li Lanfeng¡¯s judgment.


    Li Lanfeng looked through the list and frowned. He couldn¡¯t see anything from this name list.


    Because of Xiao Yiqiu, Su Pei used a different identity to participate in this tournament. Hence, their pictures and personal details on the list had nothing to do with their real identity.


    ¡°If there¡¯s really someone from Mai¡¯er Fa, based on their prudence nature and the fact that they are the host, they might have altered the personal details of their candidates.¡± Li Lanfeng thought of this possibility.


    Ling Lan nodded. She said in a low voice, ¡°I have this thought too but I still hope that they will make some careless mistakes. It seems like I¡¯m hoping for too much.¡±


    ¡°Boss, don¡¯t worry. The personal details might be problematic but the real person will have to appear soon anyways. I¡¯ll keep my eyes on the arena.¡± Little Four saw Ling Lan sighing so he quickly consoled his boss.


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll leave it to you.¡± She saw Little Four¡¯s excited look so she didn¡¯t want to douse his enthusiasm. She didn¡¯t think that Little Four would be able to get anything out of watching the arena, but nothing was impossible. What if he really found something?


    Little Four was excited when his boss gave him such an important task. He went off hurriedly to watch over the arena. Of course, he didn¡¯t forget to evade the stupid god-ss hacker. He couldn¡¯t act boldly likest time so the areas he could control got smaller.


    ¡°What should we do now?¡± Li Lanfeng looked at the list again. They couldn¡¯t find any clues so he asked Ling Lan about their next actions.


    ¡°Let¡¯s give up Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s trails for now.¡± Since they couldn¡¯t get anything from this line of thought, Ling Lan let go of it.


    ¡°Let¡¯s look at the mission the Magic Ace Mecha n took that time. Their mission was to help the Flying Dragon Special Forces as they retreat. Something might have happened while they were protecting the Flying Dragon Special Forces. What did they see and what did they discover? What made the higher authorities of the Flying Dragon Special Forcesy their hands on the Magic Ace Mecha n one month after this mission? Why did they annihte the Magic Ace Mecha n with the help of Mai¡¯er Fa?¡±


    ¡°We know that the higher authorities of the Flying Dragon Special Forces already had contacts with Mailer Fa.¡± Li Lanfeng understood what Ling Lan wanted to say.


    ¡°Not only that, they even sent Huang Yaobing out sessfully and passed him to Mai¡¯er Fa. The annihtion of the Magic Ace Mecha n allowed Huang Yaobing to disappear, creating the illusion that he was dead.¡± Ling Lan said seriously. ¡°I suspect that the Son of God project never ended. They just changed their base of operation.¡±


    Ling Lan asked Little Four to look up Huang Yaobing. She realized that he was suspected to be dead.


    When Ling Lan passed the information of Huang Yaobing to Li Lanfeng, Li Lanfeng managed to guess what happened that year.


    ¡°Killing two birds with one stone! The person who set up this scheme is amazing. If we didn¡¯t look up the Magic Ace Mecha n again, we might have been fooled by him.¡± Li Lanfeng was thoroughly shocked by this finding. He realized that there were many clever people who specialized in schemes. He needed to work even harder now to catch up to them.


    ¡°If Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran died in Mailer Fa while investigating the Magic Ace Mecha n, what would the military do?¡± Ling Lan suddenly asked Li Lanfeng.


    He thought for a moment and replied, ¡°There might be two results. First, they will be furious and break ties with Mai¡¯er Fa. Second, they might give up the investigation because they knew that the waters here are too deep.¡±


    ¡°Breaking ties on the surface is the best form of cooperation.¡± Ling Lan was determined to get to the bottom of this.


    ¡°You mean that they would pretend to be very furious?¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes lit up. He seemed to understand something.


    ¡°Then, the suspicion on them would just wash away,¡± Ling Lan lowered her voice and said.


    Ling Lan paced around the room again. After some time, she made a decision. ¡°I¡¯ll inform my father to investigate the higher authorities of the Flying Dragon Special Forces.¡±


    ¡°Leader!¡± Li Lanfeng stood up in shock. Although he was attempting to uncover the secret behind the Magic Ace Mecha n with Ling Lan, it didn¡¯t mean that he supported interfering with this matter.


    ¡°Lanfeng, there are some things I have to do. I can¡¯t betray my heart.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s gaze were resolute as she said, ¡°This is my path!¡±


    Li Lanfeng was unable to persuade Ling Lan when he saw her resolute gaze. He knew that once Ling Lan made a decision, she wouldplete it even if she had to risk her life. The battle on Haijiao was an instance of this trait.


    ¡°I understand. I fully support you,¡± Li Lanfeng said seriously. Since Ling Lan made her decision, he would support her no matter what it took.


    ¡°Thank you, Lanfeng.¡± Ling Lan smiled at Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng was stunned by the smile. He realized that Ling Lan¡¯s smile was as enchanting as his smile. Even with all the scars on her face, they were unable to hide her charisma.

 Chapter 1030 - Be Careful!

    <h4>Chapter 1030 Be Careful!</h4>


    Ling Lan immediately asked Little Four to contact Ling Xiao and she told him what they had discovered.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s gentle smile slowly disappeared as she was exining her presumptions. That gentle dad-like aura disappeared from his body and instead, the aura he was exuding was regal and serious, very fitting for someone of such a high caliber. At first, he thought that the mineral veins were already troublesome enough. He didn¡¯t expect his daughter to get involved in another even more troublesome matter. Compared to this matter, the mineral veins were nothing.


    Ling Xiao looked at the cold-looking Ling Lan and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He was convinced that his daughter was a ma to troublesome matters. No matter where she went, she would always meet some sort of trouble.


    He needed to be stronger. If not, he wouldn¡¯t be able to handle all the problems his daughter threw at him. He didn¡¯t want his image as an omnipotent father to crash and burn.


    ¡°My words are still the same. Leave Mailer Fa to me. If you can, leave Mai¡¯er Fa ande back home.¡± Ling Xiao believed that his daughter wouldn¡¯t act rashly but her attractiveness towards troubles might cause them to look for her. It was safer for her to just stay at home.


    He nced coldly at Li Lanfeng who was wearing a mask and standing beside his daughter. He was the culprit. He was the one who led his precious daughter his astray. His instincts were right. This person was ¡®dangerous¡¯ for his daughter.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s impression of Li Lanfeng dropped drastically. He never interfered with his daughter¡¯s life but if he could, he wanted to force him away from Ling Lan. Ling Xiao ascertained the fact that he didn¡¯t like Li Lanfeng once again.


    Ling Lan shook her head decisively. ¡°Father, I¡¯ll not go back before the mecha tournament ends. However, I¡¯ve asked Lanfeng to give up his mission. We won¡¯t interfere with this matter voluntarily. We¡¯ll wait for your notice.¡±


    Ling Xiao understood what Ling Lan wanted to say. If they continued provoking their opponent, they might attack them.


    Ling Xiao saw the firm look in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes and knew that he couldn¡¯t force her on the matter. This was Ling Lan¡¯s belief. If he stopped her, she might get affected mentally. It would also affect her growth in the future.


    ¡°Be careful then.¡± Ling Xiao could only end their conversation with this sentence.


    After her daughter¡¯s face disappeared on his screen, Ling Xiao continued staring at the ck virtual screen for a moment before he released a long drawn-out sigh.


    ¡°It looked like I have to hasten my pace.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s gaze turned ruthless. He wanted to do things slowly but the information Ling Lan brought back again and again allowed him to understand that he didn¡¯t have the time anymore.


    He knew that one of the reasons why Ling Lan didn¡¯t want toe back was because she didn¡¯t want to affect his n. Most people already knew that Ling Lan went out of the Federation. Once she returned, a lot of attention would be ced on them again, increasing the pressure on his shoulders, making him not be able to carry out his n.


    Ten days passed. Within these ten days, the normal ace mecha masters who participated in this tournament got gradually eliminated. Besides some extremely lucky ace mecha operators, most of those that remained were mecha operators who were close to bing an imperial operator.


    In one of the matches, two ace mecha masters got worked up and started attacking each other¡¯s vital points without caring about the rules of the tournament. In the end, one was seriously injured while the other died in battle. The mecha tournament turned bloody all of a sudden.


    However, this was what attracted gamblers. The wagers and stakes started increasing. To them, only life-or-death battles were exciting enough to battle high.


    In a special room, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoranid on their beds opposite each other. Compared to ten days ago, they seemed even more tired.


    ¡°Our opponents are getting stronger,¡± Mu Chaoran said indifferently.


    ¡°Yes. After those normal ace operators left, only the elites remained. Every single match is hard.¡± Tang Ningyu rxed his fingers. During one of his match today, he fell into the trap of his sly opponent. Fortunately, his hand speed was above the normal ace operator¡¯s level so he managed to dodge a lethal attack due to his extreme hand speed. If not, he might have lost.


    He would not only lose, but he might also die. That attack was aimed at his vital point. If it hit him, he would be seriously injured.


    Tang Ningyu managed to survive but he was injured too. The nerves on his fingers got hurt. When he moved his fingers, he would feel a stinging pain on fingers.


    There were still many matches to fight tomorrow so he must recover tonight. If not, he would be in a dire state tomorrow. Fortunately, Mai¡¯er Fa didn¡¯t take away their belongings. They restricted their actions and locked them up in a special room where they couldn¡¯t escape using their domain energy. However, they still have their recovery agents. They managed to survive until now due to these recovery agents from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    But, the recovery agent supply was limited. Tang Ningyu appeared agitated and confused. They had lost contact with the Flying Dragon Special Forces for ten days. By right, the Flying Dragon Special Forces should have sent people to rescue them. Why didn¡¯t they receive any news from the Flying Dragon Special Forces


    yet?


    res.


    Tang Ningyu knew the capabilities of the hackers from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. If they wanted to send any information out, they would and could find a way. The only possibility was, Chief Lin, who helped them with their fake identity, didn¡¯t know that they had disappeared. Hence, the Flying Dragon Special Forces didn¡¯t know that something had happened to them.


    However, was this even possible? Based on what their superiors told them, Chief Lin was the most trustworthy person among all the people that worked with the Flying Dragon Special Forces. If such a trustworthy person betrayed the Flying Dragon Special Forces...


    Tang Ningyu¡¯s heart turned cold. Mu Chaoran had also thought about the same thing. He had this thought much earlier than Tang Ningyu.


    ¡°We can¡¯t wait for death.¡± Tang Ningyu understood the hand gestures Mu Chaoran was doing secretly. This was a game they invented when they were bored. However, it was put to


    <b>use now.</b>


    ¡°But, there are enemies all around us. We have no chance.¡± Tang Ningyu used hand gestures to reply to him. At the same time, he talked about the brutal fight that he had today. They started exchanging experiences just likest time.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you tell that our opponents had gotten more ruthless?¡± Mu Chaoran continued chatting with Tang Ningyu but his hand gestures showed how he truly felt. ¡°They wanted to kill us now. They hope that we will die in the arena.¡±

 Chapter 1031 - Chess Pieces!

    <h4>Chapter 1031 Chess Pieces!</h4>


    Tang Ningyu agreed with Mu Chaoran¡¯s prediction. That was why he was agitated. Even with top of the line recovery agents, they were still unable to handle the intensity of the tournament. They had to participate in three battles every day, and the mecha tournament wouldst for one month. They wouldn¡¯t be able tost the remaining 20 days in their current conditions.


    ¡°There¡¯s no chance to escape after wee back to this ce. The door of our resting area restricts our domain energy. There are also more than ten domain realm masters around us, and these people are not the fake domain realm masters on Azure. They¡¯re real domain realm masters. Some are even titled domain realm formidable warriors. There¡¯s no way we can leave this ce with just the two of us.¡± Mu Chaoran used his hand gestures to tell Tang Ningyu what he observed during the past few days.


    Tang Ningyu realized this too. ¡°Our chance to escape is only during the mecha battle. Although the equipment in the arena can control our mechas, we can make use of the time after we ejected out of our mechas and before we reach our resting area.¡±


    Mu Chaoran remained silent. In theory, there was a chance to escape in that time frame but their sess rate was just too low. The probability of them escaping in that time frame was only slightly higher than the probability of escaping from their resting area. Moreover, this sess rate was built on the assumption that Sword Monarch wouldn¡¯t act.


    ¡°I hope that there aren¡¯t many titled domain realm formidable warriors around the arena. I also hope that Sword Monarch won¡¯t notice two small rats like us.¡±


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran had nned their escape but they weren¡¯t going to act immediately. Before they carry out their n, they had to make many preparations to increase their chance of sess.


    The next day, the old man and the middle-aged man appeared as per normal and brought them to the arena. Only the two of them could be seen but Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu knew that there were many domain realm masters hiding around them watching over them. These people might not even n to hide from them, as they could feel their presence and stares on their backs.


    They walked into the mecha hold. When they were about to board their mechas, the old man suddenly stopped them.


    ¡°There¡¯s a new instruction today.¡± The old man smiled.


    Tang Ningyu frowned. He said coldly, ¡°We¡¯ve participated in the mecha tournament already. What else do you want? Don¡¯t get overboard.¡±


    His anger didn¡¯t affect the smile on the old man¡¯s face. Heughed and continued, ¡°Actually, we really didn¡¯t want to make things difficult for you. However, Young Master Rong is not happy with your performance in the past few days.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t we win?¡± Tang Ningyu replied coldly.


    ¡°No. The mecha tournament is not about winning. If it¡¯s just about winning, why will it attract so many gamblers toe to Mai¡¯er Fa?¡± The old man shook his head. ¡°We need blood. Only blood will excite the gamblers.¡±


    When he saw the Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu scoffing, he knew that they didn¡¯t agree with this opinion. The old man¡¯s excited expression died down. He told Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran their new instructions. ¡°Our Young Master Rong hopes that you can kill your opponent in the next round.¡±


    ¡°What if we can¡¯t do it?¡± Mu Chaoran asked.


    ¡°If your opponent doesn¡¯t die, you will.¡± The old man smiled coldly. ¡°We don¡¯t want disobedient chess pieces here.¡±


    Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu¡¯s expression darkened. They had already felt their opponent¡¯s killing intent on them for the past few days but they didn¡¯t expect them to expose it so quickly.


    ¡°Hence, if you want to survive, you will follow the instructions by Young Master Rong carefully. Let me remind you again. You are able to live until now because Young Master Rong wants to y a game with you. If not, when we realized you are investigating Mailer Fa, we might have...¡± The old man swiped his neck with his hand. He looked at them as though they were corpses.


    Tang Ningyu clenched his fist tightly. He forced his anger down. They didn¡¯t know the situation now so they couldn¡¯t act rashly.


    ¡°I understand. It¡¯s just killing a person. We¡¯ll do it.¡± Mu Chaoran gave an evil smile. He appeared as though he had no qualms about bing a murderer and killing someone he didn¡¯t know.


    ¡°A person who understands a situation is a wise man, and you are wise.¡± The old man pretended tomend them before leaving.


    Tang Ningyu looked at Mu Chaoran. He asked, ¡°Have you really decided to?¡±


    ¡°The mecha masters who participated in this tournament have their own desires and motives too. Since their motives are not pure, they can¡¯t me us for dying here.¡± Mu Chaoran said calmly.


    Tang Ningyu took a deep breath before turning around and entering his mecha. Although he didn¡¯t say anything to Mu Chaoran, Mu Chaoran knew that Tang Ningyu had epted his decision.


    On the other side, Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu boarded their mechas too. Su Pei was lucky. All the opponents he met along the way were not strong. He only met some difficult but manageable opponents so he managed to survive until now.


    What made him happy was, his mecha piloting skills improved through the tournament. At the start of the tournament, he was a mecha operator who had just became an ace mecha master. Now, he was a qualified ace mecha master who was able to pilot his mecha properly. After a few more matches, he might be able to improve even further. No wonder everyone said that the vicious battlefield allowed for mecha operators to grow quickly. After ten days of battles, Su Pei proved this point.


    He looked at Xiao Yiqiu gratefully. If it wasn¡¯t for his best friend, he might not have participated in this mecha tournament. He wouldn¡¯t be able to improve so much either too.


    Xiao Yiqiu felt Su Pei¡¯s grateful gaze at his back so he turned around and looked at him. Su Pei just smiled at him. Xiao Yiqiu thought for a moment and walked over.


    ¡°Did you see your opponent¡¯s details yesterday night?¡± Xiao Yiqiu asked.


    Su Pei nodded. ¡°Yes.¡± He managed to survive until now because Xiao Yiqiu gave him information and details about his opponent, allowing him to have an understanding of his opponent¡¯s attacks and the ultimate technique ahead of time.


    ¡°Your opponent, Dark me, is very powerful. Many well-liked candidates lost to him. You can just try your best. If you feel like you¡¯re in danger, you can just admit defeat.¡± Xiao Yiqiu reminded him out of concern.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I feel that Dark me is not as ruthless as the other mecha operators. His opponents never got killed or severely injured. I¡¯ll be fine.¡± Su Pei looked at Dark me¡¯s past matches. His mecha piloting was strange but his reputation was good. When he was aiming for his opponent¡¯s vital point, he would stop and change his attack the moment he noticed that his opponents couldn¡¯t handle it any longer. Hence, Su Pei was not worried that Dark me would suddenly change his style and kill him.

 Chapter 1032 - Unfortunate!

    <h4>Chapter 1032 Unfortunate!</h4>


    Although Xiao Yiqiu agreed with Su Pei, he still reminded him, ¡°Although that person hadn¡¯t killed anyone before, anything could still happen in a tournament. You should still be careful.¡±


    ¡°I know. If there isn¡¯t any hope of winning, I will just give up.¡± Compared to Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s unwillingness to give up, Su Pei was clearly much smarter during certain situations. Once he knew that something wouldn¡¯t go his way, he wouldn¡¯t force it.


    Soon, it was time for Su Pei to enter the arena. Xiao Yiqiu watched as Su Pei piloted his mecha and entered the arena. Xiao Yiqiu slowly formed a mocking sneer on his face. Suddenly his smile froze, then his face began twisting in pain. He only began to return to his original expression after a long while.


    ¡®Sh*t. Why is it every time I want to get rid of Su Pei, this body would react negatively and refuse to do so? What¡¯s wrong? Does the head not control the emotions?¡¯ Xiao Yiqiu held his aching head and thought with confusion.


    Suddenly he remembered that Xiao Yiqiu had the innate talent, Bloodline Energy. Was it because of this that he was suffering from frequent headaches? Xiao Yiqiu smiled bitterly. Although he received a strong and rare bloodline innate talent, there was also a lot of trauma that came with it. Was this the price he had to pay for this innate talent?


    However, this trauma will soon be resolved! Xiao Yiqiu looked at Su Pei, who was in the arena, with a coldness in his eyes. Every time his emotions were to fluctuate, it would be because of this person. As long as he kills of the root of the problem, he would be able topletely control this body.


    Seeing Su Pei walk into the arena, Mu Chaoran¡¯s eyes were fixated on him. He originally hoped that he would face someone who was violent and easy to kill, that way he wouldn¡¯t feel too much guilt. However, the opponent standing in front of him was not that type of person. Mu Chaoran had seen how Su Pei fought before, and it showed that he was just a newbie. However, Su Peils piloting talents were quite okay for this tournament, but getting this far was because he got lucky... too lucky. He didn¡¯t face off against those merciless and bloodthirsty opponents and managed to get past the first 10 days of the tournament. He quickly developed into a qualified ace operator after the past ten days.


    This person was probably a neer that a faction wanted to nurture... Mu Chaoran narrowed his eyes and thought about why that Young Master Rong wanted to kill this person?


    Did that faction want this person to develop into someone that opposes the Flying Dragon Special Forces? Or perhaps there is a deeper meaning? Mu Chaoran began to be on guard. He decided to see first and then decide whether he should kill his opponent or not.


    Su Pei knew that Dark me was very strong. It could be said that out of all the contestants who participated, Dark me was considered to be in the top 10 and was clearly stronger than him. If was just as what Su Pei had said to Xiao Yiqiu, when he knew that his next opponent was Dark me, he didn¡¯t think he had any chance of winning. However, to be able to battle with one of the strongest mecha operators in the tournament made Su Pei feel excited. He wanted to know just how much of a gap there was between him and these top mecha operators.


    Thus, Su Pei used the tactic of timing his attacks at the very beginning!


    Su Pei went around him with great agility and made a move when he saw an opening. If the attack didn¡¯t hit, he would back up quickly. Mu Chaoran nodded in admiration at his way of fighting him. It was indeed the smartest way for a weaker person to fight against a stronger person.


    If a mecha operator wanted to end the battle quickly, they might be frustrated from Su Pei¡¯s sticky-candy like fighting style. However, Mu Chaoran wanted to watch for a bit. His opponent¡¯s fighting style was exactly what he wanted. He calmly yed around with his opponent and didn¡¯t show that he was going to force an attack.


    Just like that, a slow mecha battle had begun. After ten minutes, the two of them had only gone a few rounds. This made many gamblers yawn in boredom. Some even began to boo at them as they were not happy with how slow the two of them were fighting.


    The warning sound echoed in the arena. This meant the two of them weren¡¯t allowed to continue fighting in that way.


    Su Pei heard the warning sound and sighed. He knew that he couldn¡¯t wait anymore. He quickly piloted his mecha and pounced towards the still calm Dark me.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Arge sword easily blocked Su Pei¡¯s sudden attack. Mu Chaoran originally thought his opponent would retreat again, but didn¡¯t think that after seeing he had no chance to win, Su Pei would put forth all of his strength and attacked him with a flurry of attacks.


    Despite Su Pei¡¯s actions being a bit sudden, Mu Chaoran was still after all a pseudo imperial operator whose finger speeds surpassed the limits of an ace operator. A chain of speedy finger movements allowed him to block Su Pei¡¯s flurry of attacks smoothly.


    Su Pei bit his lip in frustration when he saw all of his attacks were blocked easily. He then decided to use hisst ultimate technique. If this technique got blocked by his opponent again, then he would surrender thereafter.


    On the back of Su Pei¡¯s mecha, a beam saber suddenly got ejected out. Su Pei¡¯s mecha¡¯s left hand quickly grabbed onto it and sliced towards Mu Chaoran¡¯s cockpit that was on the shoulder area. The beam saber on his right hand was going from the bottom up, performing an uppercut towards Mu Chaoran¡¯s cockpit as well.


    ¡°Cross Chop!¡± This was a technique specially designed for ambidextrous mecha operators who could split apart their piloting ability and wield weapons in both hands.


    Mu Chaoran¡¯s eyes narrowed and his finger speed increased even further. His hands were no longer visible in the cockpit.


    ¡°Bang, Bang!¡± Two crashing sounds were almost simultaneously heard.


    Su Pei looked at his opponent with a stunned expression on his face, ¡°How¡¯s that possible?!¡±


    The mecha that Mu Chaoran was piloting was in a simr position as Su Pei¡¯s mecha. It held arge sword in each hand and performed a Cross Chop to perfectly block Su Pei¡¯s attack.


    ¡°Kill him!¡± Mu Chaoran had managed to avert the crisis. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the elder¡¯s cold voice echoed in his cockpit.


    It was Mai¡¯er Fa¡¯s people reminding him what he should do...


    Mu Chaoran had aplicated expression for a moment. Then, therge sword on his left hand stabbed into Su Pei¡¯s cockpit without any hesitation.


    ¡°Shoo!¡± Therge sword easily pierced through the cockpit. Mu Chaoran actually didn¡¯t feel anything blocking the sword. His expression instantly changed. Before anyone could discover his movements, the arm wielding the sword hilt changed the sword¡¯s direction slightly and diagonally sliced into cockpit towards the left in an instant.


    Su Pei saw therge sword pierce his cockpit and then the right side of his body. Then through his cockpit once again...


    Just then, he was about to surrender. However, Dark me, who usually never goes for the kill, actually didn¡¯t hesitate and went for it. This made him unable to have a chance to surrender!


    Was this the end of his road? Su Pei actually wasn¡¯t afraid of death. He only regretted that he couldn¡¯t keep the promise he made with Xiao Yiqiu to return together and go with him to apply to the Flying Dragon Special Forces, then berades-in-arms.


    ¡°There¡¯s many things that I wanted to do. So unfortunate... Yiqiu, I¡¯ve disappointed you!¡± Su Pei held his abdomen as his blood gushed out. As his body started to turn cold, he slowly closed his eyes.


    Xiao Yiqiu saw Su Pei get stabbed. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, his heart began to ache. In his mind images of the time he and Su Pei spent together began to emerge. Although he wasn¡¯t the real Xiao Yiqiu, he still felt all the good Su Pei has done for Xiao Yiqiu...

 Chapter 1033 - Become Stronger!

    <h4>Chapter 1033 Be Stronger!</h4>


    Sometimes, he was envious of his body. How can such a man have such honest, sincere and trustworthy friends, but he himself couldn¡¯t get any friends?


    A strong feeling of vengeance filled Xiao Yiqiu from within...


    ¡°Destroy him. Only when he dies, I will be able topletely control this body...¡±


    ¡°No, if I can perfectly disguise myself as Xiao Yiqiu, Su Pei will be my friend. His existence is beneficial to me and not an obstacle. He¡¯s not going to affect me...¡±


    ¡°Kill him. Otherwise, you will never be able to fuse with this body and always have this w.¡±


    The two different feelings were fighting against each other in Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s mind. Right at that moment, Mu Chaoran took out hisrge sword from Su Pei¡¯s mecha and the mecha fell to the floor. Blood slowly flowed out of the cockpit¡¯s crack, dyeing the entire arena into a blood red color.


    ¡°Yinrong, the so-called ws are only your excuses. You want to kill him because you don¡¯t have any confidence. You¡¯re afraid that these feelings would affect you. You need to know that you are in control of your emotions and not someone else. If you actually killed Su Pei, then your soul would be actually be wed...¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡± Xiao Yiqiu suddenly cried out in anger. A bloody hue instantly filled his vision. It was indeed Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s bloodline power activating.


    ¡°What are you all looking at! Save him.¡± Xiao Yiqiu ran onto the arena as he shouted.


    Seeing Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s expression, the elders and middle-aged men, who were watching the tournament in schadenfreude, had perplexed expressions on their faces. This was originally arranged by Young Master Rong, so why would he be angry?


    However, knowing that Young Master Rong always had ns and had other sorts of arrangement, the elders decisively called the medical team to save Su Pei.


    Seeing the medical team quickly enter the arena, Mu Chaoran turned around and walked off the arena.


    After walking into his own mecha warehouse, Mu Chaoran then said coldly, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this? If you wanted to me to kill my opponent, why would you send people to save him? Isn¡¯t bleeding to death like this good?¡± He knew that his words could be heard by those people.


    These somewhat cruel words stunned Tang Ningyu, who was waiting on the side to go into the arena. Despite Mu Chaoran¡¯s somewhat sinister way of dealing with things, in reality, he respected the rules and had his morals, and would never do something over the top. Why did one fight change Mu Chaoran into a different person? What actually happened in the arena?


    ¡°Who told you to not kill him? Now our Young Master Rong suddenly doesn¡¯t want him to die.¡± As expected, the elder responded to Mu Chaoran.


    No one saw Mu Chaoran¡¯s expression turned warner when he heard Young Master Rong did not wanting his opponent to die. This result makes use of thest attack he had done with a slight meddling on his part. Hisrge sword changed its direction by a fraction which allowed Su Pei evade certain death. It provided enough time for him to be saved.


    There was no doubt that Mu Chaoran was betting on the faction behind his opponent. They wouldn¡¯t want to him to just die like that since they had already nurtured him. As long as that faction was strong enough to breed fear into Young Master Rong, then his opponent wouldn¡¯t die. The medical team would definitely appear.


    However, Mu Chaoran, who was holding his words for a long time, sneered when he heard the elder¡¯s words, ¡°A different day, a different decision. Your Young Master Rong is the same as well.¡±


    The elder didn¡¯t reply to these words. Soon, it was Tang Ningyu¡¯s turn to enter the arena. Perhaps Dark me suddenly dealing a death blow scared Tang Ningyu¡¯s opponent. He didn¡¯t even enter the arena and surrendered willingly. This made Tang Ningyu let out a sigh of relief. It was always good if he didn¡¯t need to kill people randomly.


    After, the two of them battled in two more battles. It was good that that Young Master Rong didn¡¯t want to them to do crazy things. This way, they safely got past this day. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran then used this time to look around the arena to make their next move more convenient.


    Su Pei opened his eyes slowly. All he saw was darkness with light shining bright from above.


    Suddenly, the darkness was lifted and a huge head appeared in front of him. It was Xiao Yiqiu.


    ¡°So I¡¯m not dead.¡± Su Pei just realized it. He wasying down in a treatment pod. He wanted tough. Unfortunately, when heughed, he felt immense pain in his abdomen. His smiling face instantly broke and turned into a grimace.


    ¡°Don¡¯tugh. Your injuries are mainly on your abdomen. If youugh, it will open the wound up,¡± Xiao Yiqiu said nervously.


    ¡°That fight really scared me. Who knew that Dark me would actually go for the kill. How despicable.¡± Xiao Yiqiu became angry immediately after saying that as if he hated Dark me very much.


    ¡°You can¡¯t me him. You said it before that in the arena, anything could happen. Perhaps me dragging out the fight in the beginning angered him.¡± Su Pei didn¡¯t me him.


    Suddenly, he remembered something and instantly shouted, ¡°Yiqiu, what about your arena battle?¡±


    ¡°You almost died. Do you think I could fight with a clear head?¡± Xiao Yiqiu said sadly.


    Hearing this, Su Pei felt a warm wave of good feelings washed over his body. He blinked a few times and pushed back the tears that were about toe out. Then, he softly said, ¡°Thank you, Yiqiu.¡± In the end, it was still him who dragged Yiqiu down. With Yiqiu¡¯s potential, he would definitely be able to continue for a few more days and be able to gain more experience.


    ¡°What are you talking about. Just stay here and recover.¡± Xiao Yiqiu patted Su Pei¡¯s forehead and smiled. ¡°When you recover, we¡¯ll go back. After going through so many battles in the past few days, I think we should be close to the entry level of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. We promised we¡¯d go together.¡±


    ¡°I know. I will stay here and recover,¡± Su Pei said happily. How lucky was he that he was still alive and could continue to work towards his promise? Su Pei was very grateful.


    Xiao Yiqiu then stood up and said good-bye to Su Pei. He walked a few steps before he suddenly stopped at the door. He softly spoke as his back was turned towards Su Pei, ¡°Sorry.¡±


    This ¡®sorry¡¯ was very very soft. It was like a whisper, but Su Pei heard it very clearly.


    Before Su Pei could respond, Xiao Yiqiu quickly walked out of the treatment room.


    Was it because he got injured that Yiqiu apologized to him?


    Su Pei smiled warmly. How could he think that Yiqiu should apologize to him? Didn¡¯t Yiqiu arrange all of this tirelessly to help them develop quicker so that they could get into the Flying Dragon Special Forces to achieve their dream? Yiqiu had already done a lot for him. It was just Yiqiu wasn¡¯t a god. He couldn¡¯t make everything the way he wanted. He also couldn¡¯t know about the thoughts of others. How did his injuries make Yiqiu think that it was his responsibility?


    Su Pei understood the good that Xiao Yiqiu had done for him. Even if he was to lose his life because of this, he wouldn¡¯t me Xiao Yiqiu. He would only hate himself for not being strong enough and not be able to return the favor to Xiao Yiqiu.


    However, he will have a chance to do that at some point!


    Su Pei clenched his fist fiercely. The wound on his abdomen writhed in pain because he used too much force. However, this immense pain turned Su Pei calm and steeled his determination.


    ¡°I want to be strong! And be Yiqiu¡¯s most reliable and loyal friend!¡±

 Chapter 1034 - Escape!

    <h4>Chapter 1034 Escape!</h4>


    Right as Xiao Yiqiu left the treatment room, he received a notification on hismunicator. When Xiao Yiqiu opened it, his expression turned as cold as ice. Then, he replied with three words, ¡°It is done.¡±


    If he wanted to enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces and be its leader, the current leaders of the Flying Dragon Special Forces must die.


    In the morning of the day after, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were taken to the mecha hold of the tournament by the elder and middle-aged man. Mu Chaoran began to use their own exclusive hand signals to quietly move around. Tang Ningyu looked at him coldly with a look that only Mu Chaoran understood.


    That was right. Ever since the elder and middle-aged man appeared before them, the two of them knew that they might not return alive this night. Despite the elder and middle-aged man restraining their killing intent, the two of them still managed to catch a whiff of it because they were specially trained to be able to feel this presence.


    Mailer Fa had begun to plot their demise. The two of them must find a way to escape today. Luckily, they had already decided to find a chance to escape today and had already done all the preparations that needed to be done. However, the difficulties thatid before them were more serious than they had previously thought...


    ¡°We must immediately move out!¡± The longer they waited, the situation would turn less favourable to them. They must make a move before those people made a move on them.


    Despite knowing how dire the situation was, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran didn¡¯t show a hint of anxiousness or anxiety on their faces. They just calmly followed behind the elder with the middle-aged man walking behind them.


    They entered the venue of the tournament. Right as they entered the corridor to the mecha hold, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran sent a nce at each other. In the next second, the two of them suddenly pounced towards the middle-aged man...


    This attack was too sudden so the elder walking in front of them reacted a bit slower. However, the middle-aged man unexpectedly reacted very quickly to the attack. He had ruthless expression on his face as he looked towards the two of them. He instinctively clenched his two fists and punched towards the two pouncing towards him.


    As long as he could hold on, hisrade would be able to react to the situation and surround these two people to take them down.


    Right at that moment, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran suddenly shifted their bodies towards the right. The two of them actually rammed towards the wall on the right side of the corridor. Of course, they weren¡¯t reckless enough to use their own bodies as rams to break through the wall. Instead, they held both of their hands together and a purple me instantly conjured into arge dragon before it smashed into the wall of the corridor.


    Bang! A loud sound of flesh colliding into a concrete wall was heard.


    The power of these two energiesbined together was not like one plus one. Their domain energies were exponentially stronger when theybined together. The originally sturdy wall suddenly had arge crack in it.


    Then, another bang was heard.


    The two of them ruthlessly punched into the wall again, and finally created a hole in it. The two of them quickly jumped through the hole and countless surprised voices were heard from the hole.


    The elder just reacted a little too slow when he realized they were escaping. The instant Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran jumped through the hole, he had just reached the hole in the wall. He cursed under his breath, but he still jumped down after them without any hesitation.


    Right at that moment, a purple colored lightning dragon and a red colored fire dragon suddenly flew up from the hole. Seeing this, the elder didn¡¯t panic and only pushed down with both of his hands.


    Bang!


    It was as though the lightning dragon and the fire dragon had smashed into a formless shield, blocking it before they could reach the elder.


    As for the elder, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s sneak attack didn¡¯t cause him to be in danger as it was too easy for him to counter. However, blocking the attack caused the elder¡¯s falling speed to slow down because of the counter force.


    ¡°Sh*t.¡± When the elder realized this, his expression changed into a grimace.


    This attack by his opponents wasn¡¯t actually a sneak attack. It was to give them more time to escape. After intercepting the attack, not only did he cause himself to slow down by half a second, he also gave his opponents half a second to escape. This attack had indeed slowed him down, but for his opponents, it was theplete opposite. These two energies crashing into each other would increase the speed of his opponents to be twice as fast. Just like that, his opponents gained an extra second to escape.


    If they were under domain stage, this extra second perhaps would not be significant. However, with them being in the domain stage, one extra second was enough to change the oue of the battle.


    The elder didn¡¯t want to fail just like that. He continuously move his palms above him, trying to use counter force to increase his falling speed. However, he was not as decisive as Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran, as he was worried that he would destroy the structure above him by attacking it. With his current speed, he would, of course, not be able to catch up to the two of them.


    As expected, when the eldernded at the bottom of the hole, his vision was just filled with chaotic scenes. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran choosing this location tond was clearly nned out. It was because only this ce had an audience seating area below it. They only had the chance to escape if they got into a crowd of thousands of people.


    The elder used his domain energy to search for any foreign domain energy around him to find Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. Soon, many domain realm masters¡¯ domain energy were detected. However, some wereced with a warning. This was because this type of powerful searching method was considered a provocation to other domain realm masters. If it wasn¡¯t because they were in Mai¡¯er Fa¡¯s casino, these domain realm masters would already have an outburst of rage and perhaps would have begun fighting the elder.


    ¡°Young Master Rong, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran got away.¡± After searching for a while, the elder could only contact Young Master Rong.


    ¡°Useless trash!¡± Xiao Yiqiu, who was peacefully sitting in the room, suddenly stomped angrily when he received this information. He kicked away the table in front of him smashing it into arge ss window in the arena, shattering it to pieces.


    ¡°They must die!¡± Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s eyes turned blood red. His lips were actually beginning to crack and his teeth were growing into canines. It was because of his anger that his bloodline innate talent had awakened again.


    Xiao Yiqiu seemed to feel that his mood was off and he immediately took a deep breath to calm himself down. The red pupils slowly returned to its former colour and his cracked lips also returned to normal.


    When he felt he was calm enough, Xiao Yiqiu contacted the Sword Monarch, ¡°Master Sword Monarch, we¡¯ll have to trouble you again.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine. The Celestial King had already given me the order to work with you,¡± the Sword Monarch said calmly. He searched through the casino again and then replied, ¡°They¡¯re still standing at the same ce and not moving.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, sir,¡± Xiao Yiqiu replied respectfully. Then, he told what Sword Monarch said to the elder and the middle-aged man, who then sent their people to surround the area.


    ¡°Chaoran, something is off. They didn¡¯t split up and chase, but instead surrounded us. They probably have discovered us.¡± Mailer Fa¡¯s way of dealing with them made Tang Ningyu, who was in the crowd, feel something was amiss.


    Mu Chaoran frowned and thought about how were they discovered? It should be known that they had thought about a fool-proof n.


    Suddenly, Mu Chaoran remembered something and his expression darkened, ¡°Not good. We miscalcted.¡± They originally wanted to make use of a human¡¯s thoughts thinking that they were in a hurry to escape from this ce that they would just run off and not stay in their current position. That was why they chose to hide at where they were and used a method that their chief taught them to avoid detection. They would then wait for the tournament to finish and follow the crowd out the venue. It was a pretty good n but now that they think about it, it was a bad n.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Tang Ningyu asked.


    ¡°The chief once said that our method could get past the eyes of domain realm masters under the imperial stage. However, Mai¡¯er Fa has the Sword Monarch.¡± Mu Chaoran smiled bitterly.


    ¡°So, the Sword Monarch discovered us!¡± Tang Ningyu finally understood why Mai¡¯er Fa would be able to urately surround them and not split their forces to chase them.


    The two of them looked at each other. Suddenly, Mu Chaoran tossed something to the ground. This thing he took out was very small and it looked like a medicinal vial.


    The medicine vial rolled down the stairs.


    ¡®1, 2, 3!¡¯ Mu Chaoran thought in his head and then a huge bang was heard. Arge explosion suddenly shook the ground of the casino.


    Then, smoke began to rise and covered the entire area not long after. This was a surprise to all the guests which caused the guests of the casino to scream out in fear. These guests were like headless chicken running amok. The security personnel of Mailer Fa were trying their best to shout at everyone for them to remain calm. However, they couldn¡¯t stop those guests and the entire area became wrought with chaos.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran used this chaos to run out with the crowd. Right as they were about to get out of the casino, they heard a snort.


    The sound was soft, so soft that only they could hear, while the people around them couldn¡¯t hear it. This sound was also incredibly heavy. Heavy enough to freeze their bodies in ce, causing them to stop in their tracks and unable to move.


    ¡°There!¡± The two people from Mai¡¯er Fa quickly brought a dozen domain realm masters to surround them. Seeing the two of them standing there oddly, they all rushed towards them.


    They all heard the cold snort. It was from the strongest person here, the master, Sword Monarch. However, the Sword Monarch¡¯s snort was targeted towards Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran, thus these other domain realm masters were not affected.


    Once they get surrounded, the two of them would be dead for sure.


    Faced with the high possibility of death, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s eyes were red with anger even though their bodies couldn¡¯t move. Their hearts were filled with the thought of not giving in.


    As the first leaders of their new generation, they had their own pride. They didn¡¯t want to be killed at such a random ce like Mai¡¯er Fa. They still had a lot of questions they didn¡¯t have answers for. Even if the died, they must die knowing everything. Die in fashion and not die in frustration.


    Perhaps the unwillingness to give in activated their unawakened potentials. They suddenly regained control of their originally petrified bodies.


    The two of them quickly rushed towards a domain realm master, who was blocking the door, without hesitation. Now, they could only fight their way out.


    Ever since the mission on Azure, the two of them had always worked together in incredible sync with each other. With the two of them both sen odingut a lightning dragon and fire dragon each, these two dragons with strong offensive elements actuallybined during its way towards their opponent and became a giant purple and red dragon.


    This was abination technique that they had created in the past when they worked together. Itsbined power was much stronger than the power of one elemental dragon. It could even be four or five times stronger.


    Being in a life-or-death situation, the two of them instantly used their strongestbination technique to make a way for them to get out alive.


    Of course, thisbination technique wasn¡¯t their strongest sure-kill technique. They were only trying to escape. If they were sure they couldn¡¯t escape, then they would choose a sure-kill technique that damaged both themselves and their opponents. Even if they were to die, they would also want to take someone with them. This was the tradition of the soldiers from the Huaxia Federation. They would rather die than be a prisoner and while dying they must take someone with them to the afterlife.


    It was also because of this reason that the Huaxia Federation was able to be the strongest nation and be feared by all other nations. The other nations all considered the soldiers from the Huaxia Federation to be crazy individuals... It wasn¡¯t fun fighting with insane people.


    The domain realm master blocking the door wasn¡¯t prepared for this attack. He quickly put up his shield. However, how could his not-so-tough shield be able to block an attack that was N times stronger?


    ¡°Bang!¡± The giant red and purple dragon instantly shattered the opponent¡¯s shield. The residual energy instantly hit that individual, sending him flying. A mouthful of blood was seen in mid-air.


    Chance! Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran instantly ran towards the door so fast that they looked like lines of light.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Another cold snort sounded.


    This time, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were prepared. They bit their tongues fiercely, resolving the dizziness and stiffnessing from the cold snort. The two of them were afraid one of them wouldn¡¯t be able to break free of this attack, so the two of them held each other hands firmly. Whoever was awake would take the other and escape.


    ¡°Stay right where you are!¡± Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were just about to escape the casino. Once they get out, Mai¡¯er Fa would not be able to find them anymore, even Sword Monarch probably wouldn¡¯t be able to find them. Thus, seeing that his subordinates weren¡¯t doing their job well, Sword Monarch, who had only just made noises, made a move!


    A sword flew down from a room within the casino. It cut through everything in its path and was flying towards Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran, who were running for their lives.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran ran forwards for their lives. Even if they didn¡¯t turn around, they were still able to feel the terrifying energy that could cut them up into mince meat. The hairs on their back shot up. Mu Chaoran¡¯s expression showed that he had made a difficult decision. He flung his right hand with all his might to toss Tang Ningyu towards the exit.


    Tang Ningyu only felt that holding Mu Chaoran¡¯s hand was like holding a fish in water. With Tang Ningyu suddenly slipping and being unprepared, he was easily tossed away by Mu Chaoran. His entire body flew forwards quickly because of Mu Chaoran¡¯s strength.


    ¡°I¡¯ll leave the Flying Dragon Special Forces to you,¡± Mu Chaoran¡¯s voice rang beside Tang Ningyu ears. Tang Ningyu¡¯s eyes became warm instantly. He understood in an instant that Mu Chaoran was preparing to sacrifice himself to give him a chance to escape.


    They could not escape from the Sword Monarch¡¯s sword. The only way they could escape was if one of them blocked the attack, while the other lives on. Thus, Mu Chaoran decisively made the decision to stay behind and left him with the hope of living through it all.


    Tang Ningyu knew well that Mu Chaoran actually hated him. That was because his existence made Mu Chaoran became a shadow that would never be able to be a leader of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. It was just he didn¡¯t think that in the end, Mu Chaoran actually would sacrifice himself to save him...


    Tang Ningyu¡¯s sadness was only for a moment. In the next second, he became as calm as ever because he couldn¡¯t let Mu Chaoran¡¯s sacrifice to be in vain.


    Tang Ningyu increased his speed and ran towards the exit with seemingly no regard for the safety of therade he left behind. In the eyes of bystanders, Tang Ningyu was a coward who would abandon hisrade to save his own life.

 Chapter 1035 - Who?

    <h4>Chapter 1035 Who?</h4>


    Mu Chaoran, who tossed out Tang Ningyu, turned around and faced the swording his way in a calm manner. He took a deep breath and put out his right hand. His right arm became a raging inferno and began to give off a molten presence.


    ¡°Come!¡± Mu Chaoran had a determined expression on his face as he jumped up into the air. The inferno engulfed his entire body in an instant. He was like a human torch. He quickly went towards the sword that could slice through anything.


    The inferno and the sword smashed into each other. The reality of it was just as everyone had predicted. There wasn¡¯t anything that could stop the sword. The raging inferno was instantly dispersed by the sword, revealing Mu Chaoran¡¯s real body. If Mu Chaoran didn¡¯t have any other ultimate techniques that could save his life, the next time the sword hit him it would instantly cut his body into tiny pieces, turning him into a puddle of blood in the end.


    Everyone knew Mu Chaoran could not escape anymore. The difference between imperial stage domain realm masters and an actual imperial realm formidable experts wasn¡¯t the difference of two levels. Instead, it was a difference between night and day.


    Right as everyone believed Mu Chaoran was about die, light particles suddenly appeared in the air which almost blinded everyone.


    The ce where Mu Chaoran and the sword crashed into each other had a crystal-clear sword ruthlessly stabbing through the Sword Monarch¡¯s sword.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The reaction between the two energies instantly caused an explosion to ur. Mu Chaoran was sent flying and therge following shockwave severely injured him. He spat out countless amounts of blood in the air. What he could rejoice was the fact he was flying towards the direction Tang Ningyu was running towards.


    The heavily injured Mu Chaoran, who was encased by ayer of ice, was not discovered by others. This was because he was in the air and also because the explosion causing those around to protect themselves and not look at the situation around them. Theyer of ice was the main reason why he was able to survive the explosion caused by the collision of the two energies.


    Mu Chaoran was injured to the point where he couldn¡¯t even move anymore. However, the explosive energy that sent him flying actually helped him catch up to Tang Ningyu, who was running as fast as he could on the ground.


    Tang Ningyu seemingly was already prepared for him to be at that position. When Mu Chaoran flew above him, he jumped up and caught him.


    ¡°Who?¡± Although Mu Chaoran was almost dead, he still wanted an answer. Who was the person that saved him?


    ¡°Not sure, but he was also the one who notified me to catch you here.¡± Tang Ningyu told him why he was prepared to catch him. He was already prepared with a vial of medicinal agent in his right hand and made Mu Chaoran drink it. At least for now, Mu Chaoran¡¯s life was not in danger.


    Seeing the person he was about to kill got away, Sword Monarch actually didn¡¯t be angry. Instead, he had a joyful look on his face. The person he was looking for finally made a move.


    That was right. The reason Sword Monarch was making a move was mostly to lure out the strong individual who fought against him that night. The Sword Monarch believed that this person definitely had something to do with the two people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have saved those two brats that night.


    ¡°You finally appeared!¡± Suddenly, Sword Monarch¡¯s voice echoed in the air. Then, the silhouette of the Sword Monarch appeared at the casino¡¯s roof, watching all that was below him.


    ¡°You knew that I would make a move?¡± A cold voice echoed in the air. On the ground, a man with a metal mask and ck windbreaker suddenly appeared. It was indeed Ling Lan.


    ¡°That night, didn¡¯t you go against me because of those two as well?¡± Sword Monarch said confidently.


    ¡°Did I?¡± Ling Lan replied ambiguously, neither ascertaining or denying the im.


    The Sword Monarch took that as acknowledgment and continued, ¡°Bing an imperial realm formidable warrior makes it so that I have to stay in one ce, making me unable to have any chance of fighting other imperial realm formidable warrior. This was something that I regretted deeply. I had thought that I would never be able to realize this wish. I didn¡¯t expect that there would actually be an imperial realm formidable warrior infiltrating Mailer Fa...¡±


    ¡°Although I don¡¯t know why you went against the Human United Agreement and came to Mailer Fa, for me, your arrival is the best thing that has ever happened to me in the past decade.¡± The Sword Monarch¡¯s eyes glimmered. After meditating for decades, he had new realizations about the imperial stage so he was anxiously trying to find an equal to ascertain whether his realizations were right or not. However, a battle in the imperial stage was too destructive. Moreover, it was forbidden by all the nations for imperial stage masters to fight each other. Hence, the Sword Monarch had to give up on his desire to fight and be trapped in this ce.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t answer Sword Monarch¡¯s question. Was she going to tell him that she actually wasn¡¯t an imperial realm formidable warrior, but was a pseudo imperial realm formidable warrior with two domains?


    The Sword Monarch also wasn¡¯t expecting Ling Lan to answer his question. He was very excited and his will to fight was bing stronger and stronger. As his fighting spirit increased, swords began to seep out from his body and shing all the things around him into pieces.


    At that moment, Mailer Fa¡¯s casino¡¯s guests had already evacuated through Mailer Fa¡¯s arrangements. Other than the domain realm masters from different factions, the politicians, nobles and elite families in the vip rooms, there was also Xiao Yiqiu, who had been watching the chase from his VIP rooms all these while.


    Seeing Ling Lan appear on the ground, Xiao Yiqiu instantly frowned. He kept feeling that he knew that person.


    ¡°That¡¯s odd. When did I meet him?¡± Xiao Yiqiu began to think hard. Perhaps he had thought too hard that he actually felt an immense headache.


    ¡°Again.¡± Xiao Yiqiu held his head in pain and tried to clear his mind. Every time he tried to think deeply, this would happen. This was probably the trauma that came from the surgery. However, didn¡¯t those doctors say that it would go away quickly? Why was it after all this time, he would still have a headache when he tried to think?


    Xiao Yiqiu thought this headache was the same as the past urrences that would quickly stop. However, he didn¡¯t expect the pain to just be worse and worse, and actually became many times more painful than before.


    ¡°Sh*t. I will definitely kill those fake doctors!¡± Xiao Yiqiuid on the sofa without any energy. He curled up into a ball and waited for the immense pain to stop.


    Yes, he would definitely kill them. They actually dared to say that the surgery was a sess? What sess? It was clearly a failed operation. It should be known that a real sessful operation would not have symptoms like this afterwards.


    However, all of this could only be done after he gets past all this pain. Xiao Yiqiu clenched his teeth and forced himself to stop thinking about all that feeling of familiarity... As for the familiar person with the mask and ck coat, he didn¡¯t dare to think about him again. Thinking more about him was going to kill Xiao Yiqiu.


    Back to Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. Tang Ningyu suddenly felt a huge pressure boring down him. His mind was swayed with the desire of wanting to kneel down.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± Mu Chaoran spat out a mouthful of blood. The overwhelming pressure caused Mu Chaoran to be even more injured.


    Mu Chaoran¡¯s reaction made Tang Ningyu be more determined. He clenched his teeth to the point of almost breaking them. However, this immense pain also made Tang Ningyupletely break away from the pressure which caused the speed at which he was running to increase once again.

 Chapter 1036 - Ice Element Imperial Realm!

    <strong>Chapter 1036 Ice Element Imperial Realm!</strong>


    He must leave the domain territory of these imperial realm formidable warriors. Tang Ningyu knew that Mu Chaoran¡¯s body was unable to withstand another injury. The force of a battle between imperial realm formidable warriors was enough to destroy everything around them. The closer they were to the imperial realm formidable warriors, the greater the fight¡¯s impact had on them.


    Mu Chaoran knew that leaving was the best decision. He looked at the location of the battle behind them. He wanted to know who saved them but the distance was too far, so he couldn¡¯t see anything.


    The force of presence exuding out of Sword Monarch got stronger. Below, Ling Lan increased her force of presence too. Although the Sword Monarch was on higher ground, their force of presence was equally as powerful.


    In a certain room, a young man asked the elder beside him, ¡°Mister Lang Yi, why haven¡¯t they started fighting yet?¡±


    The elder was focused on the battle between the two imperial realm formidable warriors, as this was a rare opportunity for him to get a glimpse of the battle between two imperial realm formidable warriors. He turned and replied, ¡°Prince Tali, the fights between imperial realm formidable warriors are not like the usual fights. The result of the battle will ur in an instant. They won¡¯t have to fight for days and nights. Tounch their lethal attack, they just needed to increase their force of presence to the highest level.¡±


    The young man nodded inprehension but he still seemed a little confused. The old man sighed when he noticed the confusion. Prince Tali wascking in the mental department, but he still hoped that Prince Tali would be able to gain some enlightenment from this battle and not waste this rare opportunity.


    ¡°Luckily, the rooms of Mai¡¯er Fa are able to withstand three attacks from an imperial realm formidable warriors. If not, I won¡¯t dare to let you watch this match so closely.¡± The elder felt fortunate that they were at Mailer Fa to spectate this scene.


    ¡°Why? Aren¡¯t you able to protect us?¡± Anotherdy with red hair asked curiously.


    ¡°Princess Irene, you¡¯re thinking too highly of me. Although imperial stage domain experts like me are imperial stage experts, we¡¯re still a half step to bing an imperial realm formidable warrior. People like us are still considered humans whenpared to imperial realm formidable warrior.¡± The elder sighed lightly. ¡°No matter how strong a human is, they¡¯re nothing in front of gods. Imperial realm formidable warriors are like half-gods. They just possessed traits of gods. They¡¯re not someone people like us can handle.¡±


    Prince Tali and Princess Irene¡¯s faces turned pale. They looked at the transparent ss in front of them in fear. If Mister Lang Yi was right, would this brittle ss be able to withstand the attack of an imperial realm formidable warrior?


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Mai¡¯er Fa abides by their promise. If they said this ss can withstand three attacks from an imperial realm formidable warrior, it can. Plus, these ss windows have been tested before. No matter how weak they are, they will at least be able to withstand two attacks.¡± The elder consoled the young people when he saw the fear in their eyes.


    ¡°Ah! They started to actually fight.¡± Irene had been staring at Ling Lan all these while. She eximed instantly when she saw Ling Lan moving.


    The elder didn¡¯t have the time to chat with them anymore. This battle between imperial realm formidable warriors was useful to imperial stage domain experts like him. It might be their opportunity to advance to the imperial realm if they could peer through the secrets of the imperial realm from the fight.


    Ling Lan took a step forward and pointed at Sword Monarch who was in the air.


    A huge ice sword instantly appeared on top of Sword Monarch and it shed towards Sword Monarch.


    Ling Lan chose her most powerful single-target technique.


    ¡°It¡¯s the ice element!¡± Now, all the domain realm masters knew what Ling Lan¡¯s element was the moment they saw her technique.


    ¡°Sword Monarch should win this match.¡±


    ¡°A single target technique imbued with the ice element is powerful butpared to Sword Monarch¡¯s technique using the metal element, it¡¯s not as strong. This is a bad fight.¡±


    Everyone thought that Ling Lan was fighting an already predetermined fight due to her not fully utilizing her ice element by choosing to use a single target technique instead of something like territorial technique which yed to the strength of her technique and not her opponent¡¯s strength. Hence, they thought that Sword Monarch would be winning this match no matter what.


    They couldn¡¯t be med for thinking this way. After all, no mistakes were allowed in a battle between imperial realm formidable warrior.


    Sword Monarch saw his opponent using a single target technique and felt ted. He was stunned but happy at the same time. He already gained an advantage before the fight really started.


    Sword Monarch waved his hand and a huge metal sword rose from the grounds of the arena. It shed with the ice sword that shed at him.


    ng! The two huge swords swung at each other. The huge force destroyed most of the structures below it. Luckily, Mai¡¯er Fa was true to their promise. Although the structures around them were destroyed, the main pir and rooms were still standing.


    The people in the VIP rooms felt at ease. They could watch the match with a rxed heart now.

 Chapter 1037 - Haggard Young Lady!

    <h4>Chapter 1037 Haggard Young Lady!</h4>


    Just as everyone thought that Sword Monarch would definitely win this battle, the huge ice sword suddenly dispersed into numerous thin ice needles and flew towards Sword Monarch from all directions.


    ¡°Territorial technique!¡± The domain realm masters watching shouted in surprise.


    That single target technique by Ling Lan was actually just a disguise. It was used to fool her opponents into thinking that they were facing a single target technique. The real power behind her giant ice sword was her territorial technique.


    ¡°As expected, all imperial realm formidable warriors are sly old foxes.¡± All the domain realm masters had this thought in their minds.


    Sword Monarch was bbergasted by the sudden change in technique. However, as an imperial realm formidable warrior, he had many such experiences in the past, even some against more cunning and sly opponents. He didn¡¯t get flustered and quickly released all his domain energy. His domain energy quickly formed a shield made out of swords around him, blocking all the ice needles.


    However, many domain realm masters with sharp eyes noticed that the shield was slowly bing thinner and thinner. It used to be around three meters thick but now, it was only one meter thick. This meant that the attack from Ling Lan was slowly corroding Sword Monarch¡¯s domain energy. Now, the battle would now be determined by the person who had a more powerful and stronger domain energy.


    Just as everyone was waiting for the result of this match, the man in ck suddenly disappeared. The ice needles in the air disappeared too.


    ¡°As expected of Sword Monarch. I admire you. Hope to fight with you again.¡± A cold voice grew fainter until it disappeared.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± Sword Monarch was all spurred up. Hence, when his opponent disappeared, he felt humiliated. He felt as though he pushed against a wall but the wall suddenly disappeared. It was frustrating. He shouted furiously. The huge sword shield in front of him flew out and shed towards the spot where his opponent had disappeared.


    A crack a thousand meters in length had formed on the ground.


    Sword Monarch didn¡¯t expect his opponent to run away before even finishing one attack. This was not how an imperial realm formidable warrior should act.


    Sword Monarch wasn¡¯t satisfied with this fight. He waved his hand furiously and left the arena. He went back to his room to continue feeling frustrated. The audience just exchanged nces with one another in confusion.


    The exciting battle between imperial realm formidable warrior ended the moment it started.


    The audience was not satisfied with the battle too. However, since the ice element imperial realm formidable warrior was gone, they could only leave with regret. They didn¡¯t know when they would be able to spectate a fight between imperial realm formidable warriors again.


    Only workers of the casino remained at the scene. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran had formed a huge hole in the safest gambling arena known by everyone in the human world, but this was just a small matter. The battle between the imperial realm formidable warrior, although they only exchanged half a blow, formed thousands of holes in the building. They were d that the main pirs and structures were still stable so they only needed to patch up the holes. However, this was a huge project too. It would take a few months to mend this building.


    The middle-aged man and the elder were sitting in a room and watching the fight between the imperial realm formidable warrior too. After everyone had left, the middle-aged man looked at the old man and asked in a low voice, ¡°What do we do now? How do we answer to Young Master Rong?¡±


    Young Master Rong was the leader of the new generation of their organization. If he vented his anger on them, they would have a hard time in the future.


    ¡°What else can we do? If Young Master Rong didn¡¯t keep those two people alive at the start, they would have been dead by now. All these troublesome matters wouldn¡¯t have happened too.¡± The old man scoffed, ¡°He should be the one having a headache, not us. He needs to answer to his superiors about this mess.¡±


    The middle-aged man nodded. He calmed down a little.


    ¡°However, we¡¯ll have some hard time after this. Before this storm dies down, we need to be careful. We mustn¡¯t let anyone get hold of our weakness to force us to take the fall.¡± The old man reminded the middle-aged man after thinking for a while. Those two people escaped in their hands. If Young Master Rong wanted to me them, they could only ept it.


    ¡°Maybe we should find a reason to be stationed in a faraway ce.¡± The middle-aged man agreed with the old man and gave his own suggestion.


    ¡°That¡¯s a good n.¡± The old man felt that this was a good idea. He decided to use hiswork to make this request after he got back.


    At that moment, Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s head finally stopped hurting. He regained his senses. When he knew that Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran had escaped, he was angry. However, he wasn¡¯t as furious as he had imagined.


    ¡°It looks like heaven wants us to have a fair fight. Wish you good luck!¡± Xiao Yiqiu could only ept this result.


    The crack on the ground was a thousand meters in length. There were many water pipes below the ground so when the sword shed the ground, the water pipes burst and water sprayed everywhere. Many small puddles of water formed on the ground.


    Three hours after the battle between the imperial realm formidable warriors had ended, a youngdy wearing a shaw hat and a long dress appeared on the walkway. She had many bags in her hands. It looked as though she had just gone for shopping and was walking passed this area. When she realized that the normal path ahead of her was split into two, she stopped in astonishment.


    She hesitated for a while. Then, she lifted her dress, wanting to jump over the crack.


    However, she was quite unlucky. She lifted a corner of her dress but the other side hooked onto the edge of a pipe. The sound of cloth tearing was heard.


    Ssh! The youngdy fell into a puddle of water. She was flustered. Her hat flew out, revealing a beautiful small face.


    She quickly got up. However, there were many workers from Mailer Fa around her. There were also guards watching over the surroundings to watch out for suspicious people. When they saw this scene, theyughed lightly.


    The youngdy heard theirughter. She blushed as she stood in a puddle of water. She quickly grabbed her shaw hat and climbed out of the puddle to the other side of the road. Her dress was made from water-absorbent material so half of the water from the puddle got sucked by her dress.


    ¡°Hey, youngdy, eat more papaya. If not, you won¡¯t be able to grow big.¡± One of the workers whistled and teased the youngdy.


    The people around himughed.


    The youngdy red at the person who spoke. Then, she lifted her dress and ran off.


    The group of menughed and whistled again.


    To these people, this was an unexpected reward during their working hours. They were able to see a little beautying out of the water. She looked a little haggard but she was still beautiful. They didn¡¯t mind how disheveled she was. However, they felt pity when they saw she was t. That was why the worker kindly rmended the youngdy to eat more papaya.

 Chapter 1038 - Hurt!

    <h4>Chapter 1038 Hurt!</h4>


    The youngdy quickly ran back to her room. As she closed the door, her wet dress became dry in an instant. The water from the dress moved to the center of the room and congregated into a figure.


    Ling Lan stood there with a pale face. Her white face made the scars exceptionally prominent.


    The youngdy felt a sharp pain in her heart. She asked worriedly, ¡°Rabbit, are you alright?¡±


    Ling Lan bore with the tremendous pain and teased Li Lanfeng, ¡°Lanfeng, I didn¡¯t expect your disguise to be sodylike.¡±


    The youngdy that fell into the puddle of water was actually Li Lanfeng. His look now was the result of eating a disguise pill. Although it was not as beautiful and mesmerizing as his real appearance, it was still very cute and pretty. He even looked a little like Luo Lang. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but make a wild conclusion. Did this mean that Li Lanfeng had other thoughts towards Luo Lang? Who would be the dominant one in the rtionship? Ling Lan felt that that question was too difficult, as they were both very passive.


    Li Lanfeng red at Ling Lan after hearing what she said. He seemed to be angered by what she said. Ling Lan quickly stopped her brain from making all sorts of conclusions. Damn it, even after this man¡¯s beauty dropped after putting on a disguise, he was still so mesmerizing. Ling Lan felt her heart wavering. She really wanted to tease this little beauty more.


    However, her thoughts were disrupted by an excruciating pain. She frowned.


    Li Lanfeng saw the scary wound on her back which was as deep as half his finger. Sword Monarch¡¯sst attack hit Ling Lan. However, Ling Lan changed into her element so Sword Monarch was unable to notice it before Ling Lan left.


    Sword Monarch had this misunderstanding because in both encounters, Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence felt like the presence of an imperial realm formidable warrior. Hence, Sword Monarch thought that she was an imperial realm formidable warrior. He wouldn¡¯t expect that Ling Lan would escape because she got hurt. He just felt that the other party left and got furious about it. Hence, he didn¡¯t search his surroundings carefully. If not, with his ability, he might be able to detect something amiss even if he couldn¡¯t find Ling Lan¡¯s exact position.


    The wound was deep but not much blood was oozing out. Ling Lan had contracted her muscles to block her arteries. But, the deep wound still made Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart ache.


    ¡°Let me clean your wound.¡± Before Ling Lan could reply, Li Lanfeng pushed Ling Lan on the bed and asked her to lie down.


    Ling Lan hesitated. Should she undress?


    Under Li Lanfeng¡¯s firm gaze, Ling Lan quickly revealed half of her back which was injured. ¡®I am just revealing my shoulders, that should be fine right? I¡¯ll just pretend that I¡¯m wearing a backless top.¡¯


    Li Shiyu carefully cleaned Ling Lan¡¯s wound. Luckily, Li Shiyu prepared many agents for him after knowing that Li Lanfeng was going to Mailer Fa. Some were prepared for him but some were prepared for Ling Lan. Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t tell Li Shiyu that he came to Mai¡¯er Fa to look for Ling Lan but Li Shiyu just guessed he would disturb Ling Lan. Hence, he prepared some medicine that was good for her injuries.


    Other than Li Shiyu¡¯s agents, no other agents would work for Ling Lan.


    ¡°What¡¯s the situation now?¡± Ling Lan revealed her shoulder decisively but she still felt awkward. Thus, she decided to ask Li Lanfeng a question to relieve the awkward atmosphere.


    ¡°Mai¡¯er Fa is on alert. It¡¯s not easy to leave Mailer Fa now. The procedures to leave are now strict.¡± Li Lanfeng knew what Ling Lan wanted to ask, ¡°They told the outside world that they were attacked by an unknown terrorist organization.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m able to hide my identity. However, your identity is a problem.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s current face was fake. Once someone investigated him, they would notice something amiss.


    ¡°There is no problem. This disguise willst for just a day. Once the day ends, I go back to where I stayed.¡± Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t worried about himself. He was only worried about Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that you might not be able to go back.¡± Ling Lan frowned.


    ¡°Do you mean that my identity is exposed?¡± Li Lanfeng quickly understood what Ling Lan meant.


    ¡°Since Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were betrayed, the other party might have warned Mailer Fa about you,¡± Ling Lan replied.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t use the fake identity that the military gave me.¡± Li Lanfeng was here to look for Ling Lan. He didn¡¯t want to be discovered by the military so he arranged another fake identity for himself.


    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t affect Mailer Fa¡¯s investigation. No matter what disguise you use, a fake is still a fake,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. ¡°As there is a god-ss hacker here.¡±


    ¡°God-ss?!¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s hands froze in midair. His expression changed slightly. ¡°How is that possible?¡±


    There were god-ss hackers in this world. There were two god-ss hackers in the Federation. However, God-ss hackers were always controlled by powerful nations. How could a small nation like Mai¡¯er Fa have a god-ss hacker? Li Lanfeng finally understood why Ling Lan said that his identity might be exposed. No matter how well he faked his identity, it wouldn¡¯t be able to fool a god-ss hacker.


    ¡°When I was searching for information on the Magic Ace Mecha n, the god-ss hacker discovered me. Fortunately, I ran away in time.¡± Little Four was the one who did this but Little Four was part of her too. Hence, she wasn¡¯t lying


    Li Lanfeng knew that Ling Lan was exining why she thought that there was a god-ss hacker in Mai¡¯er Fa. He nodded. ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll be careful.¡±


    ¡°Wait, bring me back to Miss Seven. With Li Yinfei and Miss Seven around, that ce is the safest,¡± Ling Lan said.


    ¡°It¡¯s the safest but the surveince around them will be strict.¡± Mailer Fa wouldn¡¯t ignore these strangers. They would definitely make the necessary arrangements.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t want to cause more troubles for Ling Lan. Ling Lan had a fake identity she could use to stay here. But, if he stayed beside Ling Lan, it would make things difficult.


    ¡°The most dangerous ce is the safest ce.¡± Ling Lan replied. ¡°But I have to trouble you to disguise as ady again.¡±


    Li Lanfeng finally understood why Ling Lan said that with Li Yinfei around, that ce was the safest. With Li Yinfei and Miss Seven around, the people form Mai¡¯er Fa could only search through the starship secretly. If he had to, he could disguise as Li Yinfei to deter them.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Li Lanfeng agreed readily.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t realize that he reviewed his bottomline again. In the past, he would be furious when someone said he was beautiful. Now, because of Ling Lan, he forced himself to dress like ady for a long period of time, but he wasn¡¯t embarrassed or angry about it. The thing that he hated in the past meant nothing to him now.

 Chapter 1039 - Search!

    Chapter 1039 Search!


    One week had passed.


    ¡°Is there still no signs of them?¡± The department chief of the security department of Mai¡¯er Fa asked his secretary.


    ¡°No... although we found their fake identities, we still couldn¡¯t find them,¡± the secretary replied nervously.


    ¡°They can only leave Mai¡¯er Fa either through public cruise ships or private starships. Have you inspected all the private starships?¡± The chief frowned. He was unhappy. One week of tight security was the maximum time they could implement. If they stopped the tourists from leaving further, they might protest violently and this would cause the reputation of Mai¡¯er Fa to drop. It was not something they could afford.


    ¡°We¡¯ve searched all the starships except...¡± The secretary wiped the cold sweat on his forehead.


    ¡°Who else is there? Didn¡¯t we order all the private starships to be searched? Whose starship didn¡¯t get search? Did they object to our search? There must be a problem with their starship if they objected to the search.¡± The chief got excited.


    ¡°It¡¯s the starship Miss Li Yinfei is in which is the private starship of the Beitang family too. They were invited by us. Without your approval, no one dared to search them,¡± the secretary exined hurriedly.


    The department chief remained silent for a moment. After a while, he sighed. ¡°Search them. If nothing is found, we¡¯llpensate them.¡± If the two people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces went back to the Federation, there would be huge consequences. They couldn¡¯t risk that even if they had topensate heavily for that.


    The secretary was about to leave but the chief suddenly thought of something. He shouted hurriedly, ¡°Wait, bring somedies along. Ask them to search for Miss Li and Miss Seven¡¯s room. Remember to exin to them nicely. Don¡¯t offend them.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± The secretary left instantly.


    ¡°Damn it, who suggested inviting Li Yinfei over? How troublesome.¡± The chief saw that no one was around so heined to himself.


    Li Yinfei didn¡¯t have a powerful background but she had many loyal fans so Mai¡¯er Fa didn¡¯t dare to offend her. In the past, there was a popr singer who got humiliated by a faction from a certain nation. After this issue was exposed, the faction was wiped out. This was because one of the princesses from the nation was a loyal fan of the singer. The princess was furious when she found out so she ordered her army to destroy the faction.


    Li Yinfei was very beautiful. Even some of the workers in Mai¡¯er Fa were her loyal fans. The chief didn¡¯t believe that his subordinates didn¡¯t dare to search Li Yinfei¡¯s starship because they didn¡¯t have his approval. They just didn¡¯t want to disturb their idol.


    He sentdies to search the starship because he felt thatdies wouldn¡¯t get too enchanted by Li Yinfei. They would be able to maintain calm and search the ship carefully. Of course, this was to pacify Li Yinfei too. He didn¡¯t want to offend Li Yinfei and create trouble for Mai¡¯er Fa.


    At that moment, Miss Seven was sitting on her sofa and frowning. She seemed worried.


    One of her maids rushed into her room and shouted, ¡°Young miss, Mailer Fa requested to search the starship. Grandfather He is blocking them. He asked me to inform you.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re finally here.¡± Miss Seven¡¯s eyes turned firm.


    ¡°Nuo¡¯er, inform Miss Li. We¡¯ll go over and take a look together,¡± Miss Seven ordered her maid.


    ¡°Yes, young miss.¡± Elder Sister Nuo hurriedly replied.


    ¡®I hope Elder Sister Li will be useful!¡¯ Miss Seven looked at the door of her closet. Then, she got up and left. The maids standing beside her followed her.


    Everyone in the living room had left. The door of the closet suddenly opened silently. Two people walked out.


    One had a pale face and an evil smile while the other had a cold gaze and a serious expression.


    ¡°If your sister is unable to stop those people, we¡¯ll leave. We¡¯ll run as far as we can,¡± Mu Chaoran said softly. He was injured heavily so he didn¡¯t manage to recover much even though he rested for a period of time. He didn¡¯t want to implicate Tang Yingying but she insisted to protect them until the end.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Tang Ningyu replied immediately. They came to find Tang Yingying because they had no choice. Mu Chaoran was in a dire state. He must undergo treatment soon. Their identity was exposed so the only person who could help them was Tang Yingying.


    ¡°Remember, no matter what happens, you can abandon me if you can leave,¡± Mu Chaoran continued. With him around, both of them wouldn¡¯t be able to escape.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Tang Ningyu replied calmly. He was not cold-blooded. He just knew what was best for them.


    Mu Chaoran smiled. ¡°Did I ever tell you that I¡¯m happy to be yourrade?¡± The person he cursed in the past had be his trustworthyrade now. Mu Chaoran never expected this to happen.


    Tang Ningyu replied indifferently, ¡°It¡¯s not toote to tell me now. I¡¯m happy too!¡± He never knew that he had a shadow. However, he felt fortunate that he had one. It allowed him to feel secure.


    Tang Yingying was nervous as she stood in the lobby of the starship. However, she maintained a calm look on her face.


    At that moment, Li Yinfei walked over slowly with a gentle smile on her face. She nodded at Miss Seven. She looked like a fairy when she nodded.


    Tang Yingying eximed in her heart. During this period of time, Elder Sister Li seemed to have be a real goddess. In front of Elder Sister Li, she felt embarrassed. This was a feeling she never had when they interacted in the past.


    She pushed this thought away quickly. This was not the time to be envious of her Elder Sister Li. She must think of a way to let her Elder Sister Li stop the search by the people from Mailer Fa.


    Tang Yingying felt slightly guilty. To protect her family members, she could only use Elder Sister Li. Tang Yingying told herself that she would treat Li Yinfei better in the future.


    Tang Yingying wanted to grab Li Yinfei¡¯s arm but Li Yinfei suddenly smiled and asked, ¡°Sister, why are you looking for me?¡±


    Tang Yingying was mesmerized by the smile. Even as ady, she couldn¡¯t help but get stunned by her Elder Sister Li. She forgot her n and eximed, ¡°Elder Sister Li, your smile is so beautiful!¡±


    ¡°When did you be so sweet?¡± Li Yinfei teased her, ¡°Tell me, why did you ask me toe down?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s like this...¡± Tang Yingying told Li Yinfei what was going to happen. Li Yinfei¡¯s face turned cold. ¡°I see. Let¡¯s go down and see what they want to do.¡±


    Li Yinfei and Tang Yingying went down to the entrance of the starship. They saw Captain Tang confronting the people from Mailer Fa. The atmosphere seemed a little tense.

 Chapter 1040 - Listen To Me!

    <strong>Chapter 1040 Listen To Me!</strong>


    The people heard themotion behind them and turned around. Tang He saw Miss Seven and he hurried over. ¡°Miss Seven, the people from Mailer Fa want to search our starship. We can¡¯t let them in. What should we do now?¡±


    As the prominent Beitang family, they didn¡¯t want outsiders to intrude in their territory. However, they were on a foreign now. They had to consider the consequences of not cooperating with the other party.


    ¡°Elder Sister Li, look at them. How unreasonable! They¡¯re looking down on you! Hmph,¡± Tang Yingying said angrily, trying to incite anger in Li Yinfei.


    Li Yinfei smiled at Tang Yingying¡¯s act. Tang Yingying looked at Li Yinfei petntly. She seemed to be telling her that she was sincere.


    ¡°Miss Li, Mai¡¯er Fa has a tighter security policy due to the terrorist attack a week ago. We¡¯re inspecting all the starships in the port. This is to ensure your safety too. Please understand.¡± The people from Mai¡¯er Fa saw Li Yinfei and they hurriedly exined to her sincerely.


    ¡°I understand. You¡¯re working hard for the past few days.¡± Li Yinfei wasn¡¯t angry. Instead, she appeared to be very understanding. The people from Mai¡¯er Fa feltforted. They felt that their idol was a reasonable person.


    Tang Yingying¡¯s expression dimmed. Was she nning to let them in because this starship didn¡¯t belong to her?


    Li Yinfei continued, ¡°But this is not my starship. It belongs to my best friend, Miss Tang. I think that Mai¡¯er Fa should respect the opinion of their guests. If the guests feel that there¡¯s nothing wrong, they should be responsible for their decision.¡± Li Yinfei appeared apologetic. She looked at the people from Mailer Fa to show that she couldn¡¯t make a decision. Tang Yingying¡¯s expression got better.


    ¡°Grandpa He, tell them how safe our starship is.¡± Tang Yingying raised her chin arrogantly and ordered Tang He.


    ¡°Yes, young miss!¡± Tang He appeared respectful towards Tang Yingying. He straightened his back and said, ¡°The mainframe of this starship is very advanced. It has the ability to identify faces so it won¡¯t allow any outsiders to enter the starship. There will never be any intruders on our ship.¡± He looked at Li Yinfei and continued, ¡°Miss Li said that we should be responsible for our actions, and we will. There¡¯s no need for you to worry.¡±


    The people from Mailer Fa were angered when they heard that the owners of this starship didn¡¯t allow them to search the ship. The leader of the search them coldly said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. We received an order to search all suspicious starships. Your starship is on the list too.¡±


    The workers of the Tang family¡¯s starship red at the people from Mailer Fa angrily. The two domain realm masters secretly activated their domain energy and protected Tang Yingying. They were guarding against any sudden attacks from the other party.


    The atmosphere got tense again. Tang Yingying shouted angrily, ¡°Mailer Fa had always been a free. It¡¯s all a lie! Lie! You¡¯re as bad as a monarchy! I must reveal this dark side...¡±


    Li Yinfei frowned when she saw this. Her gaze was sad. She sighed loudly.


    The people from Mailer Fa felt their hearts stopping when Li Yinfei sighed sadly. They felt that they were the evil people. How could they make their goddess sad? The leader softened his tone and said, ¡°We don¡¯t want to force you. However, we received an order from our superiors. We must follow the order given. If not, we won¡¯t be able to answer to our superiors.¡±


    Li Yinfei looked silently at the people from Mailer Fa with a worried gaze. The people from Mai¡¯er Fa felt their hearts ache. Goosebumps appeared on their bodies. ¡®Goddess, stop looking at us like that. We can¡¯t handle it anymore.¡¯


    Some people who were weaker wills lowered their heads. They didn¡¯t dare to look at Li Yinfei anymore. Their superiors ordered them to search the starship so they had no choice but to do so. But, they didn¡¯t want to trouble their goddess and leave a bad impression on her.


    ¡°Cough.¡± Li Yinfei sighed again. She said softly, ¡°I believe that Sister Tang¡¯s starship is safe. I know that this is your job too. What a dilemma.¡±


    The people from Mailer Fa heaved a sigh of relief when they knew that their goddess understood their difficulty.


    Li Yinfei turned and looked at Tang Yingying. She persuaded her lightly, ¡°Sister, if you don¡¯t let them search, there might be bad consequences.¡±


    ¡°This is my starship. What right do they have to search my starship?¡± Tang Yingying was stubborn. She wanted to maintain the dignity of her family.


    ¡°Sister, listen to me.¡± Li Yinfei suddenly raised her voice. Li Yinfei had always been gentle and kind. Hence, when she suddenly raised her voice in anger, Tang Yingying regained her


    senses.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I was too impulsive. Please say what you were going to say,¡± Tang Yingying said dejectedly.


    ¡°I know that you¡¯re angry but we should try to make peace with people whenever we go out.¡± Li Yinfei said calmly, ¡°If you¡¯re okay, let me handle this matter. I won¡¯t let you suffer.¡±


    She emphasized the word ¡®won¡¯t¡¯.


    Tang Yingying looked at Li Yinfei intently. She saw the calmness in Li Yinfei¡¯s eyes. Tang Yingying nodded slowly. ¡°Okay, Elder Sister Li, I trust you! I¡¯ll let you handle everything.¡±


    Li Yinfei smiled. ¡°Thank you, little sister.¡±


    She turned around and walked towards the people from Mailer Fa. She said, ¡°I¡¯m sure you saw Miss Tang¡¯s attitude. She¡¯s willing to make things easy for you. However, you must promise me one thing. If not, I can¡¯t answer to Sister Tang.¡±


    The people Mai¡¯er Fa saw how Li Yinfei persuaded Tang Yingying. They knew that Li Yinfei was the one who helped them to get the chance to search the ship. Hence, when they heard this, the leader said hurriedly, ¡°Please say it. If we can do it, we¡¯ll do it.¡±


    ¡°There are some private areas. I hope that you won¡¯t enter those ces,¡± Li Yinfei said.


    The leader appeared hesitant when he heard this. ¡°Miss Li, we must search all the rooms.¡±


    ¡°Elder sister, they...¡± Tang Yingying shouted angrily.


    Li Yinfei turned around and raised her hand. Tang Yingying pouted and stopped talking. She was still furious so she red at the people from Mai¡¯er Fa. The people from Mailer Fa looked at her expression and felt a little guilty.

 Chapter 1041 - Search!

    <h4>Chapter 1041 Search!</h4>


    ¡°How about this? I don¡¯t want to make things difficult for you but you must take our feelings into consideration too. These private areas include my room and Sister Tang¡¯s room. It¡¯s not suitable for a bunch of men to enter our rooms,¡± Li Yinfei continued.


    ¡°Of course. That is why we brought a few female investigators. We won¡¯t dare to offend you.¡± The leader heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this and he hurriedly exined their arrangement.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like people entering my room. I¡¯m sure Sister Tang feels the same way too. However, if I don¡¯t let you in, you won¡¯t feel at ease too.¡± Li Yinfei smiled at the leader. The leader felt cold sweat dripping down his forehead. The pressure when meeting his goddess was greater than meeting his superiors.


    ¡°I have a suggestion. I¡¯ll allow you to send one female investigator into our rooms. She will take a look at the room and leave quickly. If you can¡¯t fulfill this wish, I¡¯m afraid that I can¡¯t let you search the starship.¡± Li Yinfei sounded firm. There was no room for more discussion.


    The leader quickly discussed with his assistant. In the end, they agreed to Li Yinfei¡¯s request.


    Li Yinfei shifted her body to allow the people from Mailer Fa to enter the starship. The maids and workers under Tang Yingying were unhappy that she was acting as the owner of the ship. But, since their young miss didn¡¯t say anything, they kept quiet too. They just red at the people from Mai¡¯er Fa.


    After the people from Mai¡¯er Fa entered the starship, Li Yinfei asked Tang Yingying to follow them along with her. Tang Yingying walked behind Li Yinfei. She used hand gestures to ask Tang He to remain on his guard. If he noticed anything amiss, they would lock the starship down. She was ready to protect her brother cousin all the way to the end.


    Soon, the people from Mailer Fa searched through most of the starship. The only locations left were Tang Yingying and Li Yinfei¡¯s room.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. These ces are safe. However, there are two ces we haven¡¯t searched yet.¡± The people from Mailer Fa wouldn¡¯t give up halfway. Hence, they reminded the people from Beitang when they noticed that they didn¡¯t n to bring them to those two ces.


    Tang Yingying¡¯s expression turned dark. She wanted to say something but Li Yinfei shot a nce at her. She was unable to speak.


    Tang Yingying was shocked. She wondered if Li Yinfei knew what she did so she nned to give her cousin brother to Mai¡¯er Fa to please them. She started to get agitated and helpless. She was just a youngdy slightly above 20 years old. She never experienced such situations before so it wasn¡¯t easy for her to remain calm until now.


    As Tang Yingying was getting agitated, Li Yinfei opened her mouth. ¡°If you keep your promise, I¡¯ll bring you to our rooms.¡±


    Li Yinfei scanned the crowd as she said this. Everyone thought that she was looking at them. They started to lose focus so no one noticed that Little Yang had left.


    ¡°Of course. Don¡¯t worry.¡± The leader of the search team made his promise. They sent a handsome-looking female inspector. If she didn¡¯t have the curves of a female, most might have mistaken her for a man. She was at the peak stage of Qi-Jin. It was an outstanding achievement for ady.


    Li Yinfei nodded. She asked everyone to remain on the spot and took the female investigator into her room.


    The female investigator scanned the room before walking in. Suddenly, she eximed, ¡°What is that?¡±


    Li Yinfei followed behind her calmly. She said nonchntly, ¡°What are you pointing at?¡±


    The female investigator pointed to a hidden corner. ¡°I saw a figure there.¡±


    Li Yinfei smiled at the female investigator. The female investigator tensed up. Li Yinfei said, ¡°Since you said that you saw a figure there, go and take a look carefully.¡±


    Before the female inspector could reply, Li Yinfei walked over beside a shelf and started ying with a precious artifact. She pretended to mutter to herself, ¡°She¡¯s still young but why is her eyesight so bad? She can¡¯t even see properly.¡±


    The female investigator felt awkward. However, she still walked to the hidden corner and inspected it carefully. Then, she turned and said awkwardly, ¡°I must have seen wrong.¡±


    Li Yinfei didn¡¯t turn around. She just continued ying with the artifact in her hand. ¡°Look carefully next time. Don¡¯t miss anything. However, don¡¯t use randomly.¡±


    The female investigator hurriedly replied, ¡°I won¡¯t. I won¡¯t do it again.¡± She walked passed Li Yinfei and went to the other side of the room. She heaved a sigh of relief when she did so, as the pressure on her shoulders lessened.


    Soon, Li Yinfei walked back with the female investigator. The female investigator shook her head.


    Li Yinfei walked beside Tang Yingying and said in a low voice, ¡°Sister, she is just ady. It¡¯s okay to let her see your room. She doesn¡¯t have the ability to do anything to you. They¡¯ll feel at ease after looking around. Hmph, don¡¯t forget what I did for you.¡± Li Yinfei red at the people from Mailer Fa when she said thest sentence. The people from Mai¡¯er Fa wiped their cold sweat. Their actions still angered their goddess in the end.


    Tang Yingying calmed down after hearing what Li Yinfei said. She looked at thedy who didn¡¯t have a strong force of presence. She remembered the abilities of her cousin brother and hisrade. She decided to take the risk.


    As the young miss of the elite Beitang family, Tang Yingying was decisive when she should. She nodded and said, ¡°You¡¯re right. If I don¡¯t let them look around my room, they might think that I have some hidden secrets.¡± She walked up to the female investigator voluntarily and said, ¡°Follow me. However, I have to remind you that everything in my room is precious. You can¡¯t touch them. If you break anything, I won¡¯t let you off.¡±


    The female investigator frowned when she detected the threatening tone. However, she knew that her mission was more important. She controlled her anger and replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Miss Tang. I won¡¯t touch anything in your room.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Tang Yingying raised her head arrogantly. She portrayed the image of an arrogant young miss from an elite family to prove that the dignity of the elite family was not something people could easily step on.

 Chapter 1042 - Fool!

    <h4>Chapter 1042 Fool!</h4>


    Tang Yingying brought the female investigator into her room. She appeared calm but in actual fact, she was extremely nervous. However, her heart was surprisingly beating at a steady pace. She was surprised that she was still able to maintain her cool at this moment.


    ¡°Ah, what¡¯s that?¡± The female investigator reenacted the scene that happened in Li Yinfei¡¯s room.


    Tang Yingying¡¯s heart skipped a beat. She thought that her heart would stop beating but to her surprise, she managed to remainposed right after the shock she initially experienced.


    As her heart beat steadily, the agitated Tang Yingying calmed down. She red at the female investigator and said, ¡°Why did you shout so suddenly? What did you see?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you know what that is?¡± The female investigator looked at Tang Yingying coldly. ¡°Miss Tang, you should think about how you¡¯ll exin to Mai¡¯er Fa.¡±


    Compared to Li Yinfei, Tang Yingying was much younger and inexperienced, so the female investigator wasn¡¯t afraid of her and was much more aggressive with her usations.


    Tang Yingying was frustrated when she saw the confident and arrogant expression on the female investigator. She wanted to scream out loud and ask her cousin brother to kill thisdy.


    At that moment, a refreshing aura suddenly flowed into Tang Yingying¡¯s head. She regained herposure and reacted quickly. She said furiously, ¡°What do I need to exin? The person who should be exining is you!¡±


    Tang Yingying was angry but not nervous. The coldness on the female investigator¡¯s face disappeared. She said nonchntly, ¡°In that case, let¡¯s go over and see what¡¯s over there.¡±


    Tang Yingying snorted. ¡°I want to know what is over there too. If there¡¯s nothing, you better give me an exnation or else.¡±


    Tang Yingying was worried but her heart was extremely strong today. It was still able to beat steadily. This made her calm. Plus, she showed no loopholes in her expression.


    The female investigator walked into a walk-in closet. Tang Yingying was afraid that her cousin and his friend were inside but she still encouraged herself and followed the female investigator in.


    Fortunately, there was no one inside. There were only clothes. The female investigator inspected the other corners of the room. She left no suspicious spots untouched, but she found nothing in the end.


    When she noticed that the female investigator didn¡¯t find anything, Tang Yingying got confident. She demanded an exnation for the sudden scare she received at the start. The female investigator had no choice but to apologize. Then, she left the room dejectedly.


    When she returned outside, the female investigator shook her head at the leader, expressing that she didn¡¯t find anything. The leader was dejected but relieved at the same time. The workers from Beitang and Tang Yingying were furious at their insolence so they red at the people from Mai¡¯er Fa. The people from Mailer Fa had to apologize to them profusely before running away from the starship.


    After the people from Mai¡¯er Fa left the starship, Tang Yingying could finally rx. She was too nervous just now so when she suddenly rxed, her legs gave way and she fell towards the ground. Suddenly, someone held her up and stabilized her body.


    The strangest thing was, even after so much shock and torment, her heart continued pounding stably without any fluctuations.


    Li Yinfei watched the people from Mai¡¯er Fa disappeared from her gaze. Then, she turned and said to Tang Yingying, ¡°Sister, it¡¯s infuriating how Mai¡¯er Fa is stepping on us but it also proved that something big had happened here. If we continued staying here, we might be in danger. Why don¡¯t we leave this ce?¡±


    Tang Yingying agreed wholeheartedly with what Li Yinfei said. She appeared serious as she replied, ¡°You¡¯re right. I don¡¯t want to stay in this stupid ce anymore.¡±


    She remembered the humiliation she suffered from the female investigator and said angrily, ¡°However, this matter will not just end like this.¡± She turned around instantly and shouted, ¡°Grandpa He, send Mailer Fa aint and ask them to give me an exnation. Also, send them a request for us to leave this port. We¡¯re going home!¡±


    ¡°Yes, young miss.¡± Tang He¡¯s calm voice sounded behind Tang Yingying. The dignity of the Beitang family couldn¡¯t be vited easily.


    Within the few minutes, the request to leave the port reached Mai¡¯er Fa. At the same time, theirint was sent over too. Li Yinfei¡¯s letter, which was filled with hidden meaning, was also sent to the administration of Mailer Fa.


    At that moment, the search team was reporting their findings to their chief.


    ¡°So there¡¯s no problem with Beitang family¡¯s starship, right?¡± The chief frowned.


    ¡°Yes. The female investigator we send this time has a special innate talent. Although her physical skills is average, her innate talent is exceptional,¡± the leader of the search team said in a low voice.


    ¡°Oh?¡± The chief was curious.


    ¡°It¡¯s Body Inspection! She can hear heartbeats and detect hidden emotions of people around her. That way, she will be able to determine whether the person she¡¯s inspecting is speaking the truth or not.¡±


    ¡°What the result¡± The chief was curious.


    ¡°We went to inspect most areas together. The domain realm masters who specialize in investigation confirmed that these areas are safe. The only ces they didn¡¯t go to was Miss Li and Miss Tang¡¯s room.¡± The leader of the search team continued, ¡°These two ces are more sensitive so Miss Li hoped that we will just send one female investigator in instead. We agreed to her request in the end. We sent the female investigator who had Body Inspection.¡±


    ¡°Miss Li was very open. No matter how the female investigator tried to fool her, she gave no reaction.¡± The leader gave a bitter smile. ¡°She even saw through the female investigator¡¯s scheme and gave her a warning.¡±


    ¡°Either she¡¯s guilty or she prepared beforehand and isn¡¯t afraid of the search.¡± The chief looked at the letter sent by Li Yinfei. He shook his head. If they were really guilty, Li Yinfei wouldn¡¯t act so rashly. She wouldy low for a few days and leave secretly after some starships left the port. She would try to hide among the other starships and not be the first one to apply to leave, as this would catch all their attention.


    ¡°What about Miss Tang?¡± Compared to Li Yinfei, the chief suspected Tang Yingying more. After all, from the information they received, one of the people they were pursuing was rted to the Beitang family.


    ¡°There were fluctuations in Miss Tang¡¯s heart rate but it coincides with the shock she got and her anger. Other than those times, her heartbeat was stable. She didn¡¯t show any signs of nervousness or frustration. She¡¯s probably innocent.¡± The leader reported what the female investigator told him.


    ¡°They¡¯re all innocent?¡± The chief felt a little worried.


    ¡°After the search, they voiced out theirints and requested to leave the port. This is what a little girl who was bullied would do.¡± The chief touched his chin. ¡°Do you think I should believe them?¡±


    The leader pretended that he didn¡¯t hear anything. He gave a confused smile. He was not stupid. If his answer was wrong, all the me would be pushed to him.

 Chapter 1043 - Compliment!

    <strong>Chapter 1043 Compliment!</strong>


    By now, after a week of rest and treatment, Su Pei¡¯s injury had gotten better. He could walk on his own now. Xiao Yiqiu arranged for a starship to send him and Su Pei away from Mai¡¯er Fa. They needed to go back to the Huaxia Federation quickly, as there was not much time left until the assessment of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Su Pei must go back and undergo more treatments to ensure that he would be able to recover before the assessment. Whether they would enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces or not depended on their performance.


    Coincidentally, Tang Yingying¡¯s starship left along with Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s starship. The chief couldn¡¯t find any evidence that they were hiding the culprits so he had to let them leave. Of course, if there was only Miss Tang on the starship, they could force her to remain in Mailer Fa. However, Li Yinfei was on board too so Mailer Fa didn¡¯t dare to go overboard with their request. They were the ones who invited Li Yinfei to star in their opening ceremony for the mecha tournament. If they suspected and forced their guests to stay behind, their reputation as the safest and most free gambling city would be gone down the drain.


    After Xiao Yiqiu and Tang Yingying left, the curfew on Mai¡¯er Fa was lifted. More and more spacecraft started leaving Mailer Fa.


    The battle between Ling Lan and Sword Monarch damaged the hosting venue of the mecha tournament. The main structure wasn¡¯t destroyed but it would still take a month to reconstruct the building. Hence, the mecha tournament had to be paused for three months. Many gamblers who came specially for the mecha tournament had no choice but to leave with regret. Not everyone had the time or money to stay on Mai¡¯er Fa for three months.


    This matter affected Mailer Fa¡¯s reputation heavily. They made the necessary arrangements in time but it still caused a huge impact on their reputation. Because of this sudden incident, a few hundred people died. This was the first incident that caused so many deaths within the past hundred years of the creation of Mailer Fa. It was a stain in the history of Mai¡¯er Fa, causing Mai¡¯er Fa¡¯s reputation to decrease tremendously. Many factions that were eyeing on Mai¡¯er Fa started bing restless. However, peace resumed after a while.


    Mai¡¯er Fa was busy handling the implications of the incident but they didn¡¯t stop watching over their neighboring factions. The moment they noticed some suspicious actions from those factions, they acted immediately. The neighboring factions understood that Mai¡¯er Fa was still the same Mailer Fa. They didn¡¯t have any imperial realm formidable warriors so they couldn¡¯t fight with Mailer Fa.


    Why didn¡¯t they send imperial mechas? An imperial mecha may be as powerful as an imperial realm formidable warrior but Mailer Fa had imperial mechas too. They had quite a few of them too. Mailer Fa also had pieces of equipment that could affect mechas. These pieces of equipment were able to diminish the power of an imperial mecha greatly. If they really sent an imperial mecha, its power might only be able to reach the level of an advanced mecha, at most a special-ss mecha. Thus, sending an imperial realm formidable warrior made more sense. A mecha was huge so it was impossible for it to sneak into Mai¡¯er Fa. Before it could reach the port, it might already be discovered.


    An imperial realm formidable warrior could infiltrate Mailer Fa secretly. As long as he retracted his force of presence, he would be able to merge with the normal crowd. For instance, if Ling Lan didn¡¯t have the fight, the people from Mai¡¯er Fa wouldn¡¯t know that an imperial realm formidable warrior had sneaked into their.


    This was why there were powerful domain realm masters protecting the. This was to prevent the infiltration of other domain realm masters. If no physical skills master was able to handle the infiltrators, the nation would release their mechas. However, the destructive power of mechas was too frightening. Normal people wouldn¡¯t want to release this weapon. It could result in a mecha war and caused more harm to the nation. The nation might need more than ten years to patch the damage caused by the mecha war.


    A few hourster, Tang Yingying¡¯s starship left the territory of Mai¡¯er Fa. She heaved a sigh of relief. She could rx now.


    ¡°You all can go down. If there¡¯s nothing important, don¡¯t disturb me.¡± Tang Yingying said to her maids.


    ¡°Yes, young miss.¡± The maids answered respectfully and left. Only Elder Sister Nuo was left behind.


    ¡°Nuo¡¯er, guard the door. Don¡¯t let anyonee in.¡± Tang Yingying turned serious as she ordered Elder Sister Nuo.


    ¡°Yes, young miss.¡± Elder Sister Nuo nodded and stood by the door. Once someone tried to enter the room, she would know instantly.


    It could be seen that Tang Yingying trusted Elder Sister Nuo the most. Of course, as her personal maid, it was impossible for Tang Yingying to hide anything from her too. Hence, Tang Yingying decided to let Elder Sister Nuo know about her cousin so they could protect him together.


    Besides Elder Sister Nuo, the only other person who knew that Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were in her room was Grandpa He. Tang He looked like a normal old man but he was actually a titled domain realm formidable warrior. As for whether the two domain realm masters who were protecting her knew about this, Tang Ningyu didn¡¯t know. However, she knew that Grandpa He would have reminded them what they should say and what they shouldn¡¯t.


    After making the necessary arrangements, Tang Yingying entered her bedroom. There was no one inside. However, she knew that her cousin and his friend were here. She closed the door and said softly, ¡°Brother, elder brother...¡±


    Two people walked out of the study room at the side.


    ¡°Brother, we finally left Mai¡¯er Fa safely,¡± Tang Yingying said excitedly.


    ¡°Little Ying, you performed well. You were very calm.¡± Tang Ningyu didn¡¯t hesitate topliment his little cousin. Tang Yingying¡¯s performance was indeed perfect. When the female investigator suddenly shouted, even he couldn¡¯t help but get frightened. Fortunately, he managed to calm down in time and didn¡¯t reveal himself. As for his little cousin, she jumped in fright but she managed to regain herposure almost immediately. Her reaction was also perfect, causing the female investigator to not find any loopholes.


    Tang Yingying always admired her brother cousin so when heplimented her, she was ted. She was a little embarrassed too. There was another man beside her cousin which made her a little shy.


    Mu Chaoran nodded in satisfaction when he saw Tang Yingying looking at him. ¡°Miss Tang performed well. If I were in your position, I might not be able to remain as calm as you.¡±


    In front of this unfamiliardy, Mu Chaoran didn¡¯t show his naughty smile. He was afraid that she would misunderstand him. Instead, he wore a serious expression like Tang Ningyu. This made Tang Yingying feel like birds of a feather indeed flock together. The friend of her cold-looking cousin should be cold-looking too.

 Chapter 1044 - Distress Signal!

    Chapter 1044 Distress Signal!


    Tang Yingying nced at Mu Chaoran¡¯s handsome and cold face. She blushed uncontrobly. Her heart pounded furiously.


    Mu Chaoran looked at Tang Ningyu helplessly. He had already tried his best to not tease his little cousin. Why did his little cousin still admire him?


    Tang Ningyu red at Mu Chaoran. If Mu Chaoran didn¡¯t pretend to be like him, his little cousin, who had always admired him from young, wouldn¡¯t have developed good feelings for Mu Chaoran. Honestly, if Mu Chaoran revealed his true nature, his little cousin would dislike him instantly. Everything was caused by a misunderstanding. Tang Ningyu felt his teeth hurting


    Tang Yingying controlled her fluttering heart and replied shyly, ¡°I¡¯m not as good as what you said. Actually, I was so frightened at that time, I was shivering all over. However, for some reason, my heart just continued to beat normally. The stable beating of my heart allowed me to calm down so I didn¡¯t make any mistakes.¡±


    Tang Yingying exined what had happened during that time. After the search, Grandpa He told her that the female investigator shouted suddenly because she wanted to fool her. The female investigator might have an ability that allowed her to hear other people¡¯s heartbeat or feel the flow of their blood. Her stable heartbeat and calm emotion allowed her to escape from this trap.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran narrowed their eyes when they heard what she said. They exchanged nces with each other. They were excited but cautious.


    Tang Yingying didn¡¯t notice the change in their expressions. She continued, ¡°Grandpa said that the gods are protecting me so I¡¯m able to evade this crisis. He wants me to be grateful.¡± She appeared a little puzzled as she said, ¡°But, didn¡¯t the Federation say that there are no gods? Why did grandpa say that?¡±


    Tang Ningyu gave a bitter smile. He exined, ¡°When you¡¯re strong enough, you might be as powerful as a god.¡±


    Tang Yingying was enlightened. ¡°Brother, are you saying that someone powerful had helped me?¡±


    ¡°I think so. No wonder you performed so well. Thinking back, even I might not be able to perform as perfectly if I was you. You¡¯re just a little girl who never went through any training or experience. How were you able to do it?¡± Tang Ningyu patted Tang Yingying¡¯s head. He sighed. ¡°It should be the imperial realm formidable warrior who helped us escaped. He is the only person who could do it so secretly.¡±


    Mu Chaoran agreed with Tang Ningyu. At first, he felt that Tang Yingying¡¯s performance was too perfect. So this could be the only exnation for her wless performance. If Tang Yingying really did this all by herself... they shouldmit suicide if they were not able to perform better than a little girl who had never been through any training.


    Tang Yingying had been puzzled about her feelings so she asked Tang He about it. Tang He might have realized the truth but he was afraid that he might offend the imperial realm formidable warrior if he said too much. Hence, he just reminded Tang Yingying to be grateful. After listening to what her cousin said, Tang Yingying finally understood what had happened.


    Tang Yingying recalled the battle between the imperial realm formidable warrior and got excited. She wanted to see the imperial realm formidable warrior who helped her and her elder brother. She wanted to know what he looked like. However, she remained logical and controlled her emotions. She knew that meeting such people were extremely difficult. Since the imperial realm formidable warrior didn¡¯t reveal himself, it meant that he didn¡¯t want to be seen. If she persisted in finding him, she might anger him instead.


    Tang Ningyu patted her head in satisfaction when he saw her calming down. They could only wait and see what happened. If they gained the liking of the imperial realm formidable warrior, they would be able to meet him. Trying to find him might cause them to lose this opportunity instead.


    At that moment, Nuo¡¯er shouted agitatedly, ¡°Young miss! Young miss!¡±


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran looked at each other. They disappeared in an instant.


    Tang Yingying opened the door and asked, ¡°Nuo¡¯er, what¡¯s the matter?¡±


    ¡°Grandpa told me that there is a distress signal from a Federation¡¯s starship behind us. He wants to know if we should help them.¡± Elder Sister Nuo quickly told Tang Yingying what was happening


    Tang Yingying looked behind instinctively. She wanted to seek help from her cousin.


    Since there were no outsiders around, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran appeared again. Their gaze was filled with vignce and puzzlement.


    Tang Ningyu thought for a moment. ¡°Let¡¯s take a look first.¡± As a soldier, he was unable to ignore the distress signal from a Federation¡¯s starship.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Tang Yingying quickly contacted Tang He and told him her decision.


    The starship changed its direction and moved towards the area where the distress signal was emitting. After flying for some time, they saw mes in the sky. A starship was being attacked.


    ¡°Close in carefully. Ask all the artillerymen to be in position. Prepare for battle.¡± Tang He ordered calmly.


    Finally, they managed to get a clear view of the battle in front. Two starships from the military were being attacked by numerous small starships. The two starships were already badly damaged. They wouldn¡¯t be able to survive for long.


    ¡°Your Highness, another private starship had appeared. It seems to be from the Federation too!¡± The adjutant that wasmanding the attack noticed Tang Yingying¡¯s starship. He quickly reminded his excited master who was waiting for the two starships to explode. This master was Duke Edward.


    ¡°What?¡± Duke Edward shouted furiously. He didn¡¯t expect such a huge private starship to appear at this moment. At first, he just wanted to destroy the Lin family¡¯s starship. However, another starship appeared and tried to help the Lin family so he had to take much effort to suppress it too. Now, there was another huge starship that came to help them.


    ¡°What do we do now, Your Highness?¡± The adjutant asked. The massive starship was more powerful than a normal private starship. Those massive starships were only slightly weaker than a military starship in terms of firepower. They were the most powerful starships among all private starships. Even if their starship had been modified to have their firepower be more powerful, they still need to consider twice before attacking such a huge starship.


    Tang He saw the foreign starships attacking the Federation¡¯s starships and got furious. He shouted, ¡°Activate the firearms. Prepare to attack!¡±


    Based on the shape of the enemy starships, it was obvious that they were not from the Federation.


    No matter how much the people within the Federation fought among themselves, they wouldn¡¯t purchase a starship from another nation. This was the pride of the Federation citizens!

 Chapter 1045 - Sense Of Crisis!

    <h4>Chapter 1045 Sense Of Crisis!</h4>


    Just as Edward was hesitating if he should attack the massive starship, Tang Yingying¡¯s starship startedunching their missiles.


    ¡°Your Highness, the other party hasunched their missiles.¡± A worker in the control room eximed in surprise.


    ¡°Bastards. How dare they ignore the gxy rules.¡± Edward started cursing. He had forgotten that he was the one who broke the gxy rules first by attacking the two starships.


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± The adjutant asked him.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± Edward¡¯s gaze turned vicious. ¡°Destroy those two starships first and then we¡¯ll destroy them too.¡±


    Edward was a ruthless person. Even if they met a starship that was hard to deal with, he still wanted to kill that irritating Young Master Lin.


    He gave his order. The attacks on the two Federation¡¯s starship got even stronger. The mecha team that was supposed to protect the starships were stopped by their opponent¡¯s mechas so they couldn¡¯t offer any help.


    ¡°Attack!¡± Tang He¡¯s gaze turned cold. The other party didn¡¯t stop. Instead, they attacked even more furiously.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The missiles aimed at the starships that were attacking the two Federation starships.


    ¡°Evade! Evade!¡± The alert sounded on the starships. The starshipsmanded by Edward started evading the missiles. However, since these were private starships, their agility was much lower than military vessels. Beitang family¡¯s starship was heavily modified so its missiles were as powerful as military missiles (actually, they just bought military missiles). Hence, even though Edward¡¯s starship tried to evade the attacks, some missiles still hit the edge of their starship. Fireworks erupted in the


    sky.


    ¡°Damn it. Repair them immediately.¡± The damaged starships had to quickly repair their ship. At the same time, they contacted Edward to ask for permission.


    ¡°Prepare for the second attack.¡± Tang He ordered. The missiles were strong but the disadvantage was that they required quite some time to load. Hence, there was arge gap in between each round of attack.


    Even the best SSS rank starships of the Federation needed five seconds to load their side missiles. However, they needed 15 seconds to load their main missiles. This restriction in time hadn¡¯t been solved even until today.


    Private starships like Tang Yingying¡¯s starship would require more than one minute to load their missiles. Plus, the missiles on cruise ships were poorer in grade so it needed three minutes to load. That meant that there was more time for their opponents to attack them. Installing the missiles was just to let the passengers feel at ease. If there was really a battle, the missiles would be useless. That was why the two starships from the Federation were in such a dire state.


    ¡°Our opponent is preparing their second round.¡± The adjutant could tell that the other party was loading their missiles.


    ¡°Attack them.¡± As long as they attacked two more times, the two damaged starships from the Federation would be destroyedpletely. Edward wanted to take the risk one more time. He guessed that the other party needed at least two minutes to load their missiles.


    Most private starships needed this amount of time. Two minutes was enough for him to attack two more rounds. The missiles on Edward¡¯s starship were military missiles so he just needed one minute to load them. His starship was supposed to be a military vessel but the mainframe deemed it as unsuitable to be one. However, it was still more powerful than normal private starships.


    ¡°Attack!¡±


    Almost simultaneously, Tang He and Edward gave their order. Edward was attacking the two badly damaged starships while Tang He targeted Edward¡¯s starship.


    Thest attack allowed Tang He to see which was the main starship. Hence, he decided to attack their head first.


    ¡°Evade! Evade!¡± After Edwardunched his attack, the alert on the starship rang. His expression changed.


    The controller of the main starship was definitely the best among all the controllers. He gritted his teeth and forced the starship to tilt 90 degrees. He luckily managed to evade the attack from the main missile.


    However, he was unable to dodge the attacks from the side missiles.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! The right side of the starship got hit three times. mes and fireworks were seen.


    ¡°Damn it, we got hit.¡± Edward mmed his hands on the handle of his chair.


    ¡°Your Highness, their loading time is the same as ours. We can¡¯t continue this fight anymore.¡± The adjutant was afraid that Edward would lose his cool due to his anger so he quickly reminded him.


    Edward¡¯s gaze turned sinister. He blinked a few times before ordering, ¡°Send the retreat signal. We¡¯ll retreat!¡±


    ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± Many of the workers of the starship already had thoughts of retreating. Hence, they happily typed themand into the system. The mecha operators that were fighting outside received the signal and retreated back to the starship. Soon, the starship and the mecha disappeared. Only the two badly damaged starships were left.


    ¡°Captain, they¡¯re gone.¡± The workers in Tang Yingying¡¯s starship started cheering when they saw the unknown faction¡¯s starship retreating.


    ¡°Don¡¯t care about them. Save the people first.¡± Tang He frowned as he looked at the damaged starships. It looked like their starship would be full of people. Tang He believed that those two starships wouldn¡¯t be able to move anymore.


    As expected, the two starships requested to board Tang Ningning¡¯s starship.


    Tang He had to report the situation to Tang Yingying and let her make the decision. Tang Yingying knew what to do. After all, these people were from the Federation too. She wouldn¡¯t reject their request to board the ship.


    Very soon, the people from the two starships boarded. The mecha team protecting the starships entered too.


    When two people appeared, the people that were hiding in Tang Ningning¡¯s starship were surprised.


    ¡°It¡¯s them!¡±


    One of the starships belonged to the Lin family while the other belonged to Xiao Yiqiu and Su Pei. They received a distress signal from Lin family¡¯s starship first. They were very close to the Lin family¡¯s starship so they came to help in time. This was why the Lin family¡¯s starship was able tost until now. If not, they wouldn¡¯t be able to survive until Tang Yingying¡¯s starship came.


    ¡°What a coincidence!¡± Ling Lan smiled when she saw the two familiar faces.


    ¡°Who are they?¡± Li Lanfeng felt ufortable. Why did Rabbit know so many people? He seemed to have a good rtionship with everyone. As someone who wanted to be Ling Lan¡¯s most importantrade, friend, and confidant, Li Lanfeng felt a sense of crisis!

 Chapter 1046 - Return!

    <h4>Chapter 1046</h4>


    <h4>Return!</h4>


    Hearing this, Ling Lan nced at Li Lanfeng with a half-smile on her face, ¡°During my mission on Azure. Those Central Scout Academy students... Did you forget?¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s reminder triggered Li Lanfeng¡¯s memories to remember those students. He frowned slightly, ¡°That¡¯s odd, howe they¡¯re on Mai¡¯er Fa?¡±


    This was the same intergctic route that was connected to one single destination, Mai¡¯er Fa.


    ¡°It¡¯s also possible that they just left from Mai¡¯er Fa.¡± Ling Lan looked at the two familiar yet estranged individuals on the virtual screen and frowned as she went into deep thought.


    In the other room, the other two students were also surprised that Xiao Yiqiu and Su Pei had appeared.


    ¡°It¡¯s them!¡± Mu Chaoran still remembered them. After all, they had once suspected that those two were also assigned to their task. However, the reality of it proved that they were not.


    At that moment, Tang He appeared on the virtual screen and asked them where these people came from.


    Su Pei seemed to be not doing too well. His face was pale and he was shaking somewhat. Luckily, Xiao Yiqiu held onto him and helped him walk into the starship.


    After confirming their identities, Tang He asked sympathetically, ¡°Is Young Master Su hurt?¡± He saw through Su Pei¡¯s injuries.


    After hearing this, Xiao Yiqiu had angry expression his face. He began to talk about what had happened to them on the mecha arena and his reason foring to Mai¡¯er Fa.


    Mu Chaoran, who was watching this scene unfold, looked frustrated when he heard Xiao Yiqiu¡¯s recount of what had happened.


    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault Chaoran,¡± Tang Ningyu suddenly spoke. ¡°Plus, it¡¯s because of you that he is still alive.¡±


    Mu Chaoran slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them once again, he had returned to his usual calmness. ¡°I¡¯m fine!¡±


    Tang Ningyu let out a sigh of relief. He was afraid that Mu Chaoran would me himself for that incident, which could cause his mind to be even more wed. Now that he looked at him, he was worried for nothing.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. In this world, only little brother Shaoyun would make my heart waver... Other people don¡¯t have that qualification,¡± Mu Chaoran said indifferently. Although Pei Shaoyun had be a knot in his heart, Pei Shaoyun still steeled Mu Chaoran¡¯s heart to not be wavered by others.


    ¡°If you want to advance further, you must untie that knot!¡± Tang Ningyu frowned. He was lecturing Mu Chaoran but he was also saying that to himself as well


    Mu Chaoran just smiled in response. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll wait for you to untie the knot first.¡±


    Although Tang Ningyu had fewer ws in his heart, he still had them. However, during advancement, having fewer ws didn¡¯t mean he wouldn¡¯t have doubts in his heart that would be obstacles for him in the future.


    After saving Young Master Lin, and Xiao Yiqiu and Su Pei¡¯s group, Tang Yingying¡¯s starship didn¡¯t encounter any problems along the way to the Federation. After one month, they finally entered the gctic sector of the Federation. When they entered the sector, Tang Yingying finally let out a sigh of relief as she finally managed to safely bring her elder cousin and his friend back home.


    Once they reached Shanghai, people from the Xiao family and the Su family were already waiting at the spaceport. They were very grateful for the Beitang elite family¡¯s aid and quickly took Su Pei, who was badly injured, away along with Xiao Yiqiu.


    The people from the Lin family also came to pick up Young Master Lin¡¯s group of people. In the end, Young Master Lin looked towards Li Yinfei¡¯s rooms with regret and left with those who came to pick him up.


    Ever since he knew that the starship that had saved them had Li Yinfei on board, Young Master Lin wanted to meet up with her by chance every day. However, ever since she knew that there were outsiders on the starship, Li Yinfei would only stay in her own room and would not leave it. This caused Young Master Lin to not have any chance to meet her. It should be known that, during the time on the starship, Young Master only heard Li Yinfei¡¯s name being tossed around, but did not meet her in person. Just being around her and not see her, Young Master Lin could not eat or sleep, and was in a state of depression.


    Of course, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran also left. As for how they were going to return to the Flying Dragon Special Forces, that wasn¡¯t something Tang Yingying needed to know.


    However, there was another person who got off Tang Yingying¡¯s starship and that was Little Yang. When they boarded the spaceport, Little Yang got off the starship because he said there was something he needed to check up on, and when he returned he brought a young woman with him. Then, he and Tang Yingying said their goodbyes. It turns out, this young woman was Little Yang¡¯s younger sister. She had managed to get away from the massacre, adopted by someone and then was sent to Shanghai.


    Little Yang wanted to stay on Shanghai to take care of his younger sister! Tang Yingying understood this feeling and agreed for him to stay. Elder Sister Nuo said her goodbyes to Little Yang reluctantly, but was also happy for him at the same time. That was because Little Yang would no longer be lonely anymore.


    Not long after, Tang Yingying¡¯s starship left the spaceport. Li Yinfei looked towards the spaceport that was moving further away and frowned. She felt it was odd that she had stayed in her room for all this time? Although she didn¡¯t want to see that Young Master Lin, the Su family and the Xiao family were still families worth making a connection with. Moreover, that Su Pei and Xiao Yiqiu were the best direct descendants of this generation in the two elite families...


    Additionally, why would she offend Mailer Fa for a woman like Tang Yingying? She shouldn¡¯t have! What was she thinking all this time?


    Li Yinfei frustratingly knocked her head with her fist. All her idiotic actions began when she met Tang Yingying and entered this starship. Could it be that there was a force in this starship that was lowering her IQ and EQ?


    Li Yinfei began thinking about leaving Tang Yingying. Although it would be unfortunate that she wouldn¡¯t be able to tap into the powers of the Beitang family anymore, it would still clear her head of those random and dumb actions she had done.


    There were manys that bordered the Huaxia Federation. Why would Tang Yingying choose tond on Shanghai? That was because Shanghai had a branch of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Of course, this branch was disguised well and was advertised as something else to the public with zero connection to the Flying Dragon Special Forces. However, each member of the Flying Dragon Special Forces knew clearly where each of the branch of the Flying Dragon Special Forces were.


    If they wanted to return to the Flying Dragon Special Forces safely, then they must let everyone know that they have returned safely. That way, those working in the dark wouldn¡¯t dare to make a move recklessly.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran knew better than anyone that they were still in danger.


    From afar, there were two people standing on the roof of a tall building. They were silently watching as Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran entered the branch of Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    ¡°I thought you thought of a way to remind them,¡± said one of the masked individuals.


    ¡°If they couldn¡¯t even remember this, then they shouldn¡¯t be leaders of the Flying Dragon Special Forces.¡± Another person who had a clear scar on his face did not give people the feeling of fear. Instead, he had an odd charm to him.


    These people were Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan. Li Lanfeng had snuck out, while Ling Lan came here tantly as Little Yang. Whenever Tang He arrived on a, he would send many staff members to enter the inner regions of the to replenish all the different types of supplies needed by the starship.


    ¡°Then, why are you following them here?¡± If he didn¡¯t want to remind them of anything, then why would he follow them? Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t understand. Could it be that Rabbit was worried about them?


    ¡°I just want to know whether there would be people trying to kill the two of them.¡± Ling Lan rubbed her forehead and frowned, ¡°Looks like I was worried about nothing.¡±


    Was that really the case? So why did her Profound Insight give her a sense of danger?


    ¡°Whatever, the rain wets the bloom as the bride weds the groom. I¡¯ll just let it happen!¡± Ling Lan thought for a long time but still couldn¡¯t understand it so she just gave up. She turned towards Li Lanfeng and smirked, ¡°Oh right, I have to trouble you again!¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Li Lanfeng felt something bad was going to happen.


    ¡°Pretend to be a girl again!¡± As expected, Ling Lan¡¯s words proved that something bad was going to happen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to!¡± Li Lanfeng said with determination. On the starship, he had no choice but to impersonate Li Yinfei in order to not be discovered. However now, after getting out of danger, he definitely would never dress up as a woman again! Definitely won¡¯t! Even if Rabbit asked him to do it, he wouldn¡¯t agree to it!


    The rest... you understand!

 Chapter 1047 - The Root Of Trouble

    <h4>Chapter 1047 The Root Of Trouble</h4>


    At the base of 250 Ace Mecha n, the atmosphere was very different.


    This 250 Ace Mecha n was not the same as the 250 Ace Mecha n from before.


    Many different factions had used different methods to stuff close to a hundred powerful mecha operators into 250 Ace Mecha n. These people could all be regimentmanders if they wanted to. Some were even titled mecha operators who had their names recorded in the database of the military. However now, they were all normal soldiers in 250 Ace Mecha n.


    Why did this happen? This all started from the fact that the other factions wanted to snatch the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n to their side.


    The battle on Haijiao caused the reputation of 250 Ace Mecha n to rise tremendously. The old mecha operators who used to be useless became treasures in the eyes of various factions. Everyone had their eyes on them. They used all kinds of methods to lure, entice, or force them over but these mecha operators weren¡¯t moved. Wealth and power were no longer important to them. Besides some who went out of 250 Ace Mecha n due to their rtionships with their pastrades, many people decided to stay in 250 Ace Mecha n until they grew old.


    The various factions felt frustrated by this result. They were unwilling to let Ling Xiao get all these powerful and experienced mecha operators so they tried all methods to stuff their confidants into 250 Ace Mecha n to slowly infiltrate the n and cause discord between them.


    Since they couldn¡¯t lure them out one by one, they would push all of them out at once.


    The battle of snatching people turned into a fight for the position of the regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n.


    In themand center of 250 Ace Mecha n, the ten team leaders and the head of the logistics department and the medical department were having their weekly meeting. They discussed the problems they faced for the past week and looked for a solution to their problems. Since their resolve was not here, they needed to work together to get 250 Ace Mecha n out of this situation.


    Li Lanfeng hade back a few days ago. Of course, he had failed his mission.


    The other team leaders reported the new members that were added into their mecha n and asked everyone to see if their arrangements were alright.


    No one had any opinions so the arrangements of the new mecha operators were fixed.


    Li Shiyu continued, ¡°There¡¯s no training for this period of time so nothing happened in the medical department.


    It was Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s turn to report. He frowned and said, ¡°Around a hundred mecha operators just came so the logistics department might not be able to handle the sudden influx.¡±


    The meeting room suddenly turned quiet. Everyone remembered the evesting problem of 250 Ace Mecha n, logisticians!


    ¡°The regimentmander is not here so we can¡¯t apply for more logisticians. Even if we can, we need to train the recruits for at least one month. We can¡¯t use them instantly,¡± Han Jijyun thought for a moment and said helplessly. The issue of theck of logisticians couldn¡¯t be solved instantly.


    ¡°This has always been a problem for 250 Ace Mecha n,¡± Yang Mingzhi said slowly. ¡°In the past, we can still make do with it but now, there are a hundred more mecha operators. We have to solve this problem immediately.¡±


    ¡°I wonder what the higher authorities are thinking. Why haven¡¯t they decided on the merits of our regimentmander? Plus, why is the name of our regimentmander empty? Where is Boss¡¯s name?¡± The hot-tempered Luo Lang mmed the table furiously. He had bear his anger for many months now. ¡°This is so infuriating.¡±


    Without a regimentmander, they were inhibited from functioning as a normal mecha n.


    ¡°Luo Lang, don¡¯t be angry. The military took back our boss¡¯s regimentmander position using his health as the reason,¡± Xie Yi hurriedly exined, ¡°The regimentmander cannot be someone who isn¡¯t a mecha operator. Before our boss regains his health, we¡¯re unable to submit any request to keep him there. Plus, the military didn¡¯t say that they won¡¯t give Boss any merits. They just haven¡¯t confirmed it yet.¡±


    ¡°Does it mean that the new operators are going to trample on the blood and sweat of Boss?¡± Luo Lang asked.


    ¡°Of course not,¡± Qi Long, Han Jijyun, Lin Zhong-qing, and Zhao Jun replied instantly.


    Luo Lang calmed down. These were his true brothers. How could let other people enjoy the fruits of their boss¡¯sbor?


    Suddenly, he noticed something. He red at Li Lanfeng and asked, ¡°Li Lanfeng, what do you mean?¡±


    Besides the three veteran soldiers, Li Lanfeng was the only person who didn¡¯t reply to him.


    Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡°Nothing.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say anything then?¡± Luo Lang felt that this treacherous person had some thoughts on his mind. He just didn¡¯t know if he would harm their boss.


    ¡°Actually, whether we have a new regimentmander or not is not the main problem. We should think about the new mecha operators first as well as theck of logisticians.¡± Li Lanfeng used one sentence to bring the topic back to their main problems. He turned serious as he coldly said, ¡°These new mecha operators are the real threat to 250 Ace Mecha n.¡±


    ¡°This is the information I found during this period of time. You can take a look at it.¡± Li Lanfeng sent the information to everyone in the room.


    Everyone started looking through the information. They had prepared themselves beforehand but they still felt a chill when they saw the information.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± Two people mmed their hands on the table. They were the hot-tempered Li Yingjie and Luo Lang.


    ¡°What do they think 250 Ace Mecha n is? How dare they turn 250 Ace Mecha n into the battlefield for their fight for power? This is outrageous,¡± Luo Lang said in anger.


    ¡°Yes. If they want to fight for 250 Ace Mecha n, they can just do it at the headquarters. Why must theye to 250 Ace Mecha n?¡± Li Yingjie was indignant too. F**k, he finally managed to be a team leader of a team. But before he could enjoy his moment, someone tried to snatch the position away from him. Are they looking for death? He must inform his grandfather and ask the Li family to help General Ling Xiao. He mustn¡¯t let any other factions enter 250 Ace Mecha n.


    Li Yingjie sincerely felt that Boss Lan was the best regimentmander for 250 Ace Mecha n. Although he was scary and ruthless, he still had strong points which most didn¡¯t have. He would never interfere with the matters of the teams. Team members only listened to their team leader. (Li Yingjie forgot that every time he made a decision, he would ask for the opinion of his deputy as well as Big Leader Li.)


    Li Lanfeng used his amazingmunicative ability to gain Li Yingjie¡¯s trust. Li Yingjie honestly believed that Li Lanfeng was a good friend.


    This was what Li Yingjie thought. But based on Li Shiyu¡¯s words, he was working with a tiger. Well, he was thinking too highly of Li Yingjie. He couldn¡¯t even cooperate with Li Lanfeng. He could only get sold by Li Lanfeng.

 Chapter 1048 - Mess!

    <h4>Chapter 1048 Mess!</h4>


    ¡°Before the regimentmanderes back, we need to protect 250 Ace Mecha n. As for the problem of logisticians...¡± Li Lanfeng sneered. ¡°Since those mecha operators want toe to 250 Ace Mecha n, let them follow the tradition of our mecha n.¡±


    Qi Long and the others looked stunned for a moment. Then, they gave an evil smile.


    Only two people were still confused. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Luo Lang and Li Yingjie were toozy to use their brains. They didn¡¯t mind embarrassing themselves too so they just asked what was happening


    However, Li Lanfeng was not interested to exin to them. He continued, ¡°We managed to ovee many challenges in the past so these current problems are just nothing. After our regimentmanderes back, all these problems will be solved.¡±


    Luo Lang and Li Yingjie got even more confused but before they could ask what he meant again. They heard Li Lanfeng talking again, ¡°If there are no other problems, shall we end the meeting?¡±


    Although Li Lanfeng was the acting regimentmander when Ling Lan was not around, he knew his position. He would still discuss with others whenever he made a decision.


    ¡°Okay. We just need to wait for Boss toe back.¡± Qi Long stood up first and left. Everyone packed their things and left the meeting room.


    Luo Lang grabbed Xie Yi who wanted to leave too. He asked in frustration, ¡°Xie Yi, what did Li Lanfeng mean just now?¡±


    Li Yingjie heard Luo Lang asking so he hopped over like a rabbit and listened to Xie Yi¡¯s answer. Hmph, even if you don¡¯t exin, I¡¯m still able to find the answer. He forgot that he was nning to bribe his cousin, Li Shiyu, into giving him the answer.


    Xie Yi sighed helplessly. He said in a low voice, ¡°He¡¯s telling us to let the mecha operators be our logisticians like we did it in the


    past.¡±


    Li Yingjie and Luo Lang were enlightened and they gave an evil smile. Those new mecha operators were going to go through the torment they went through in the past. Haha, this good tradition must be carried forward.


    In a blink of an eye, two months had passed.


    The unhappy new mecha operators finally exploded in anger after they received another order asking them to report to the medical department for the medic training.


    When they first came to 250 Ace Mecha n, these powerful and smart mecha operators were tasked to find more information of 250 Ace Mecha n. Hence, even though they were furious that they were assigned to be logisticians, they controlled their emotions for the big picture.


    During the first month, they learned the basics of bing an exceptional logistician. They understood how to maintain a mecha and where to ce the weapons. What made them the most ufortable was, the requirements for logisticians in 250 Ace Mecha n were abnormally high. They needed toplete everything within a certain period of time. If they couldn¡¯t, their instructors would curse them out.


    These mecha operators were all clever people They felt frustrated but they still learned all the skills. Everyone of them became an exceptional mecha engineer after a month of intense training and being cursed out. The veteran soldiers couldn¡¯t help but admire their passion of being cursed out and work ethic. This must be the difference in talent.


    After the mecha operators finished the mecha engineer training, they were sent to the kitchen to learn cooking and cook for the entire mecha n. By this time, many of the new mecha operators were on the verge of exploding. However, they still remembered their mission and suppressed their anger.


    However, when they were informed to report to the medical department to have the medic training, they couldn¡¯t handle it anymore.


    ¡°Damn it, who do they think we are? If they don¡¯t wee us, they can reject us. Why do they have to use this method to force us out? I refuse to ept this order,¡± a senior colonel shouted in anger.


    ¡°Yes, we¡¯re mecha operators, not logisticians. We want to sue them for unfair treatment,¡± another senior colonel started shouting.


    Most of the new mecha operators were senior colonels. A small portion of them were even lieutenant colonels. This was the rank of most regimentmanders. However, they were being humiliated by the lowest-ranked soldiers. The anger they had been suppressing exploded out.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to themand center and force them to give us an exnation!¡±


    ¡°Yes, force them to give us an exnation!¡±


    ¡°We mustin to the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee!¡±


    ¡°Yes,in!¡±


    The screams of the hundred mecha operators caught the attention of the higher authorities in 250 Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°After two months, they finally couldn¡¯t stand it anymore.¡± Qi Long crossed his arms in front of his chest and smiled as he looked at the indignant mecha operators.


    ¡°If they continue to bear with it, I don¡¯t have any more ideas to make them work for us.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled too. He looked at the two senior colonels who started the riot. Then, he thought about something.


    ¡°They must have nned for this riot.¡± Han Jijyun analyzed calmly. ¡°Their trump card should be here soon.¡±


    The moment he finished speaking, they received a notice that the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee were right outside of their base. They wanted to enter the base for investigation.


    ¡°They¡¯re here.¡± Han Jijyun smiled coldly. He knew that these people wouldn¡¯t just start a riot for nothing


    ¡°It¡¯s them again.¡± Qi Long frowned. He remembered the investigation on their boss a few years ago.


    ¡°It looks like the higher authorities had not given up on 250 Ace Mecha n.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled.


    Everyone looked at Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng pretended that he didn¡¯t understand their intentions. ¡°Why is everyone looking at me?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t Boss ask you to take charge when he¡¯s not here?¡± Han Jijyun said coldly, ¡°What do you think?¡±


    Li Lanfeng shrugged. ¡°If they want to investigate, let them investigate.¡±


    ¡°Won¡¯t the situation get even messier if theye in?¡± Luo Lang frowned. He didn¡¯t like the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee at all.


    ¡°I¡¯m only afraid that it won¡¯t be messy enough!¡± Li Lanfeng seemed to have other ns.


    Luo Lang didn¡¯t want to see 250 Ace Mecha n in a mess. This was the base that their boss spent much effort to build. However, when he saw no objection from the smart people like Han Jijyun and Qi Long, he kept his mouth shut.


    Luo Lang was really intelligent at that moment. He knew what he wascking so when he didn¡¯t understand some things, he chose to believe hisrades and not object rashly.

 Chapter 1049 - Fine Tradition!

    <h4>Chapter 1049 Fine Tradition!</h4>


    The leader of the group of people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee was a middle-aged senior colonel. He looked at the familiar base in front of him and smiled bitterly.


    If he could, he didn¡¯t want to handle this hot potato. Yes, he was the person in charge of investigating Ling Lan a few years ago. He was the one who lost the case that year. It also caused him to lose his reputation in the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee. He was unable to raise his head proudly ever again because of that case.


    This time, the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee received aint from the new mecha operators of 250 Ace Mecha n. The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee knew that this was a hard case. It was obvious that 250 Ace Mecha n was the battlefield of the various factions. One mistake and they would get implicated. In the end, the leader of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee decided to send an unimportant person to handle this case.


    ¡°Leader, we can go in now.¡± His assistant noticed that the leader was in a daze so he quickly reminded him.


    ¡°Oh, let¡¯s go in.¡± Forget it, he would just take whatever thates along. He had fallen down from grace here before so to be careful, he should try to understand the situation first before making a decision.


    Soon, they reached themand center. They saw close to a hundred mecha operators surrounding themand center and shouting angrily.


    ¡°They should be the ones who lodged theint,¡± the senior colonel lowered his voice and told his assistant.


    ¡°Yes, leader. 97 mecha operatorsined that their superiors in 250 Ace Mecha n were deliberately suppressing them. They humiliated them purposely and forced them to undergo hical amounts of training to learn the basic skills of a logistician. Based on our criteria, they¡¯re able to form a case as long as they get 10% of support,¡± the assistant replied hurriedly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t form the case yet. Let¡¯s go in and investigate first. Don¡¯t offend the superiors of 250 Ace Mecha n.¡± The senior colonel learned from his past experience so he decided to take things slowly.


    ¡°I understand.¡± The other members who were new to the team was a shock at their leader¡¯s mild attitude. Most of the time, the people who they were investigating would be subservient to them not the other way around. The officers would get nervous and flustered when they saw them. They would be treated like princes. Yet now, their senior colonel asked them to not offend the superiors of 250 Ace Mecha n. This meant that there was someone they couldn¡¯t offend in there.


    The older members of the team who hade to 250 Ace Mecha n before knew what 250 Ace Mecha n was like. Those young but sly officers were hard to deal with. One mistake and they would fall into their trap.


    That¡¯s right, they were thinking that the officers from 250 Ace Mecha n were trying to use them to get rid of their enemies again!


    ¡°Ah! The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee are here,¡± the two senior colonels who started this riot shouted excitedly when they saw the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Since the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee is here, they would help me.¡± The other mecha operators saw this and rushed over to the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee. They startedining about their situation to them.


    ¡°Calm down. We have received yourint. We¡¯ll investigate this matter.¡± The leader saw his path getting blocked so he had no choice but to say, ¡°Can you let us into themand center?¡±


    ¡°When can you give us a reply?¡± One of the senior colonels shouted.


    ¡°Yes. We¡¯ve been humiliated for two months. You must give us an answer,¡± the other mecha operators shouted angrily. They looked as though they were going to pester the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee until they got a definite answer.


    ¡°If we don¡¯t investigate, how will we know the truth?¡± The senior colonel¡¯s face turned cold. ¡°Will you solve the problem if you block our way? Hurry up and move aside.¡±


    The mecha operators cleared a path for the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee after they saw that the leader was angry.


    The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee entered themand center. The leader saw a familiar person weing them. ¡°Long time no see, senior colonel.¡±


    ¡°Long time no see, Major Li. Oh, its Colonel Li now.¡± The senior colonel was shocked at how fast Li Lanfeng got promoted.


    ¡°Senior colonel, I didn¡¯t expect you to be the person-in-charge of this investigation again.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. He sounded as though he met an old friend. The atmosphere wasn¡¯t as tense as it was in thest meeting between the two of them.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have a choice. 250 Ace Mecha n is just too famous. Other people don¡¯t want to handle you guys so I came.¡± The senior colonel quickly cleared the air by telling Li Lanfeng that he wasn¡¯t targeting them. He just didn¡¯t have the choice.


    ¡°Haha, I wouldn¡¯t wee other people but you, my friend, I wee you.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s words had a hidden meaning too. If he was their friend, he would wee him. If not, he wouldn¡¯t. Whether he was weed or not depended on his attitude.


    The senior colonel smiled bitterly. ¡°If there¡¯s nothing, I don¡¯t minding here for a visit. If there¡¯s something, I won¡¯te even if you wee me.¡± If thisint was not true, he would be their friend. If it was the truth, he couldn¡¯t be their friends.


    As a member of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee, he couldn¡¯t go against his morals.


    ¡°Of course. However, our 250 Ace Mecha n is very peaceful so there won¡¯t be any big issues. You¡¯re wee toe anytime.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled.


    Peaceful? The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee looked at the mecha operators shouting outside. They didn¡¯t know how this shameless Lieutenant Colonel Li was to be able to call this a peaceful ce.


    ¡°This way, please.¡± Li Lanfeng pretended that he didn¡¯t see the change in expression on their faces and led everyone into themand center calmly.


    ¡°He¡¯s really shameless.¡± Li Yingjie, who was sitting in the meeting room and watching this scene, couldn¡¯t help but exim out loud. He thought that he was shameless enough but it seemed like there was someone better than him. He should learn how to be more shameless from Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°They¡¯re here. Don¡¯t speak.¡± Li Shiyu red at Li Yingjie.


    Li Yingjie pretended to zip his mouth to show that he wouldn¡¯t say anything. Sob, under the guidance of Boss Lan, his cousin had be scarier. He remembered how he was fed some weird tasting agents when he provoked his cousin unintentionally in the past. He shuddered at the thought of being fed with those agents again.


    The senior colonel walked into the meeting room. It was still the same meeting room. In his past experience, there were just three people. Now, there were 12 people. But, the cold Regiment Commander Ling wasn¡¯t present.


    The two groups of people sat opposite each other. The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee sat on one side. They were not as arrogant as before. Instead, they appeared attentive.


    The people from 250 Ace Mecha n went directly to the point too. They showed the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee the three orders they gave.


    The senior colonel looked at the strange orders and asked, ¡°Why did you do this?¡±


    ¡°This is the tradition of 250 Ace Mecha n.¡± The 12 representatives from 250 Ace Mecha n gave the same answer simultaneously.


    Lin Zhong-qing exined to them the tradition. The senior colonel finally understood what they meant.


    ¡°So, your mecha operators know all the backend stuff?¡±


    The senior colonel was stunned. He respected Regiment Commander Ling who came up with this strange tradition. Regiment Commander Ling was challenging the rules of the entire military. If he continued like this, the entire mecha n could operate on their own without logistician.

 Chapter 1050 - Prove!

    <strong>Chapter 1050 Prove!</strong>


    The door to themand center opened again. The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee appeared in front of the rioting mecha operators. Close to a hundred pairs of hopeful eyes looked at them, anticipating the news of sess.


    However, the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee had a strange look on their face. They seemed to be looking at the hundred mecha operators pitifully.


    Pity? The mecha operators here were all experienced soldiers. They didn¡¯t miss the look of pity in their eyes. Their excitement died down and a bad thought formed in their minds.


    Kind of expectedly, the leader of the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee coldly said, ¡°Yourint is voided.¡±


    Voided? Why? The mecha operators¡¯ heart dropped. They couldn¡¯t understand why the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee would overlook such an obvious act of suppression and tyranny. Were the people from 250 Ace Mecha n really so powerful that they could force the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee to overlook their tyranny?


    ¡°Why?¡± One of the two leading senior colonels shouted angrily. If the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee couldn¡¯t handle them, he would fight against them head-on.


    ¡°Because this is a tradition of 250 Ace Mecha n. Since you entered the 250 Ace Mecha n, you must follow their tradition.¡± The leader looked at the mecha operators with pity. They could be regimentmanders of powerful mecha ns. Why did they choose toe here? Why were they so stupid? Regiment Commander Ling was already an unreasonable person so how could his 250 Ace Mecha n be so easy to deal with?


    However, the leader was in a good mood. Watching other people getting into trouble was better than him getting into trouble. He thought that this would be a troublesome matter but the perfect exnation 250 Ace Mecha n gave him allowed him to retreat from this case with ease.


    ¡°What tradition?¡± The rioting mecha operators exchanged nces with one another. They didn¡¯t know what the leader was referring to. What did it have to do with theirints?


    ¡°Anyone who enters 250 Ace Mecha n must learn all the skills of a logistician.¡± A calm voice sounded behind the senior colonel. A man with a metal mask walked forward. It was from Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Absurd!¡± One of the senior colonels shouted furiously without any hint of respect in his tone. Although Li Lanfeng was a colonel, there were many colonels in 250 Ace Mecha n. There were many lieutenant colonels too. Hence, Li Lanfeng¡¯s status didn¡¯tmand any respect in them.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s aura suddenly turned cold. He stared at the furious senior colonel intently. ¡°If you¡¯re unable to do it, you can leave. If you want to stay here, you must follow the rules.¡±


    The senior colonel couldn¡¯t reply to such a question under the sharp gaze. He was only one rank lower than Li Lanfeng but the pressure Li Lanfeng gave him was as heavy as his past regimentmander. How could this happen?


    The other team leaders of 250 Ace Mecha n who had entered the domain stage smiled slightly. They eximed how shameless Li Lanfeng was once again. He secretly used his domain concept to increase his force of presence and suppress these arrogant senior colonels who looked down on them.


    If these mecha operators came to 250 Ace Mecha n the normal way, they would be angered by Li Lanfeng¡¯s words and might really leave the mecha n. However, they came here with a mission. How could they leave without getting anything information? But, if they were to stay behind, they couldn¡¯t ept this humiliation too.


    The people from 250 must have realized their identity and intentions but they couldn¡¯t stop them from infiltrating the n. Hence, they decided to use this method to force them to leave.


    It had to be said that this bunch of mecha operators were all smart people. They got selected to infiltrate 250 Ace Mecha n because they were clever. But, smart people always like to think too much. They would think everything that was happening them was a scheme. Thus, they immediately felt that this was just a n by the superiors of 250 Ace Mecha n to force them to voluntarily leave the mecha n.


    If they could be forced out so easily, they wouldn¡¯t have been chosen to be sent here.


    Since they knew what the other party wanted to do, they could make the necessaryeback


    The senior colonel scoffed and said, ¡°Tradition? Have you learned all the skills of a logistician?¡±


    ¡®Let me expose your despicable lie.¡¯


    ¡°Yes, prove it to us!¡± Another senior colonel added on.


    ¡°Yes, prove it! Prove it!¡± The other mecha operators started shouting. They didn¡¯te to 250 Ace Mecha n to be an insignificant logistician. They were here to mess up the entire 250 Ace Mecha n so doing this was like killing two birds with one stone. They were all excited.


    Li Lanfeng looked at the crowd coldly. The more serious he was, the more excited the crowd got. They felt as though they had caught onto the weakness of 250 Ace Mecha n. If they could drag this group of old guards down, 250 Ace Mecha n would internally copse.


    Most of the mecha operators were focused on Li Lanfeng but not everyone was doing the same thing. A few senior colonels at the back of the group looked at the other team leaders and heads of departments behind Li Lanfeng. They frowned. It might not be as simple as it seemed.


    These people standing behind Li Lanfeng were too calm. Some even looked as though they were enjoying a good show. This was not how a person should react when their lie was exposed.


    Unsurprisingly a few secondster, Li Lanfeng smiled slightly. It was a small smile but it was enough to shock the crowd. They felt as though they had walked into a trap.


    ¡°Sure!¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. He raised his hands and pped them.


    A light screen suddenly appeared beside him. The light screen was four meters tall and six meters wide. Everyone knew what this was. It was the virtual screen made by the mainframe.


    A sweet voice came out of the screen. ¡°Colonel Li, please give your order.¡±


    ¡°Meng Lan, give me a list of all the mecha operators in 250 Ace Mecha n,¡± Li Lanfeng said calmly.


    Meng Lan had always followed 250 Ace Mecha n wherever they went. Now that they were back at the base, Meng Lan returned with them and became the mainframe of this Lingtian¡¯s base.


    ¡°Yes, Colonel Li,¡± Meng Lan replied respectfully. Li Lanfeng was only taking over the control of Lingtian¡¯s base temporarily. He wasn¡¯t the real leader of Lingtian so Meng Lan just addressed him by his rank. If it was Ling Lan, she would call her master.


    Almost instantly, less than 200 names appeared on the light screen. The battle on Haijiao caused many of their mecha operators to die on the battlefield. However, their names would forever be etched in the hero list of 250 Ace Mecha n. They would never be forgotten.


    ¡°These are currently all the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n. You can choose a few people and test their logistician skills.¡±


    ¡°Of course, if you don¡¯t believe that they are mecha operators, you can have a fight with them. I have nothing against that too,¡± Li Lanfeng added on. He did this so the mecha operators couldn¡¯t suspect the authenticity of this list. Their operators were all outstanding mecha operators from various backgrounds. Only real mecha operators were able to fight with them.


    Of course, this way of thinking would be broken in the future. However, that was the future. We won¡¯t talk about it now.

 Chapter 1051 - Choice!

    <strong>Chapter 1051 Choice!</strong>


    Even if Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t say that, the mecha operators wouldn¡¯t question the authenticity of the list, as there were some familiar names on the list. These people used to have a glorious past.


    Everyone¡¯s heart dropped. Since the other party gave them the list and allowed them to choose their opponents, it meant that what they said might be true. But, they were unwilling to just give up like this, maybe they were just putting up an act to trick them. They still hoped that the other party was trying to scheme against them. This might all just be an act from the start. They might not lose this


    bet.


    Should they take the bet? The mecha operators looked at each other. They were hesitant.


    The senior colonels at the back observed the team leaders¡¯ expressions carefully. They wanted to find a crack in their expressions but there was none. Everyone was confident. The three people who looked as though they weren¡¯t good at disguising themselves looked confident too. They were the rash Zhao Jun, the humble Qi Long, and the hot-tempered Li Yingjie.


    Were they speaking the truth?


    These mecha operators only joined for two months. Although they had tried to collect information about 250 Ace Mecha n, the people from 250 Ace Mecha n were already guarding against them from the moment they entered. Hence, they couldn¡¯t get any useful information.


    Obviously, the innocent Luo Lang was dragged off the scene by Li Lanfeng and others. They had to thank the face Luo Lang had (They were grateful that Luo Chao could put up an act, not like Luo Lang who would show everything he was feeling on his face.) Then, they pushed Zhao Jun and Qi Long out into the open. These two people were actually really good at tricking people with their outer facade.


    Oh, what about Li Yingjie? Actually, he was forgotten by everyone, including his two elder cousin brothers.


    Poor Li Yingjie. He was ignored just like this. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t know this. He even felt good about himself.


    ¡®Haha, only a stupid person like Luo Lang needs to hide. I¡¯m a smart person. I don¡¯t need to hide.¡¯ He thought as he puffed up his chest in front of the crowd with a confident expression on his face.


    Anyways, Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and Li Yingjie were the three people whom the mecha operators felt they hadplete grasp of. The people they were scared of were Li Lanfeng and Yang Mingzhi. One was an experienced sly old fox while the other was an unpredictable newbie who they knew nothing about.


    As for the other people, they didn¡¯t stand out like these two people. This impression was something Li Lanfeng and the others wanted to create.


    Since the senior colonels didn¡¯t see what they wanted to see, they started frowning. They lowered their heads and discussed among themselves.


    ¡°Why is everyone so quiet now? You don¡¯t dare to make a choice?¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile disappeared when he noticed the crowd turned silent. He said coldly, ¡°No one has any objections? If that¡¯s the case, go back to where you alle from.¡±


    There were two meanings behind Li Lanfeng¡¯s words. The mecha operators¡¯ expressions changed. Some people were indignant.


    ¡°Colonel Li, we are just discussing who to choose. Aren¡¯t you a little impatient?¡± One of the senior colonels at the back narrowed his eyes and said.


    ¡°Yes, we¡¯re discussing who to choose. Why are you in a hurry?¡± The other mecha operators agreed with the senior colonel.


    ¡°Are you afraid?¡± One of the colonels sneered at him.


    ¡°What is so difficult about choosing a person?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled at the crowd. Then, he turned serious and said, ¡°Our time is precious. It shouldn¡¯t be wasted here.¡± He was telling the new mecha operators that they were just a waste of time.


    The mecha operators were furious. Even the calm senior colonels at the back felt like punching Li Lanfeng in the face, but they couldn¡¯t do it even if they wanted to as his position in the n was higher than them even though they were one rank above him. They gritted their teeth in frustration.


    ¡°Sorry to trouble you then.¡± The senior colonel at the back stared at Li Lanfeng. He wanted to embarrass this arrogant Colonel Li. He didn¡¯t believe that the ten team leaders of 250 Ace Mecha n learned all the skills of a logistician.


    The senior colonel didn¡¯t stop after he chose Li Lanfeng. He looked at Yang Mingzhi and said respectfully, ¡°And, we would like Major General Yang to prove it too.¡±


    That¡¯s right. After some discussion, they felt that the team members might have learned all the skills but the team leaders might not. The two team leaders they chose were the ones whom they thought had the least possibility of learning all the skills.


    Yang Mingzhi was the only major general of 250 Ace Mecha n. He used to be a member of the South Stars. Before he entered the 250 Ace Mecha n, he had enjoyed the same treatment as a super ace mecha master. They didn¡¯t believe that he was willing to lower his status and learn the skills of a logistician.


    Li Lanfeng was the adviser of 250 Ace Mecha n. He was the person Regiment Commander Lin trusted the most. After Regiment Commander Ling stopped being their regimentmander, he was put in charge of 250 Ace Mecha n. (This was not true. If Li Lanfeng made a decision that harmed Ling Lan or 250 Ace Mecha n, the other team leaders and the heads of the various departments would stop him.) They didn¡¯t believe that a person who had control of an entire mecha n was willing to lower himself to learn the skills of a logistician.


    Since they chose these two people, there was no point in choosing other people too.


    The leader of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee looked at the senior colonel in surprise. His choice was made through educated guesses. These mecha operators didn¡¯t act rashly. They put many thoughts into their actions.


    ¡°Haha, it¡¯s going to be fun.¡± Zhao Jun couldn¡¯t help butugh. He didn¡¯t know if he should pity them. Why did they choose these two people?


    When Ling Lan gave the order that the mecha operators must learn the skills of a logistician to take care of themselves, Li Lanfeng was the one who pushed himself to learn the skills the most. As a person who wanted to get closer to Ling Lan, he would never drag Ling Lan down. Hence, he tried his best and was the best in everything. If Li Lanfeng imed that he was number two, no one would say that he was number one.


    As for Yang Mingzhi, he was a strict person even to himself. He wouldn¡¯t allow himself to make any mistakes in this area. Plus, he felt that Ling Lan¡¯s decision was a reasonable one. He was used to giving his best in everything so he almost perfected all the skills of a logistician too. If Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t here, Yang Mingzhi would take the number one position.

 Chapter 1052 - Laughter

    <h4>Chapter 1052 Laughter</h4>


    These two people were the top two mecha operators who grasped the skills of a logistician. Their opponent made the worst decision they could. Of course, they were still oblivious to that fact. Even worse was that, they felt that they had a high chance of winning this match.


    Li Lanfeng smiled when he heard the other party¡¯s decision. Was this the same as seeking death?


    Yang Mingzhi looked at the senior colonel weirdly. He asked, ¡°Senior Colonel Zhou, are you sure?¡±


    Yang Mingzhi knew who this senior colonel was. His name was Zhou Yongnan. He was a titled mecha operator too. In the past, Yang Mingzhi had led his team and cooperated with Zhou Yongnan before. He didn¡¯t expect the other party toe to 250 Ace Mecha n at all. He even came as a normal mecha operator. The only difference was, Yang Mingzhi came because he gave up on himself while Zhou Yongnan came because he had a motive.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Major General Yang. We will have to trouble you.¡± Zhou Yongnan¡¯s decision was firm. He chose Yang Mingzhi because he understood how proud he was in the past. He didn¡¯t think that such an arrogant person would lower himself to learn the skills of a logistician.


    ¡°Fine. I hope you won¡¯t regret your decision.¡± Yang Mingzhi smiled lightly. Since he knew Senior Colonel Zhou, he decided to give him another chance to retract his decision, but since he didn¡¯t take it he would just have to crush him in the uing match. This was the most he could do.


    Zhou Yongnan¡¯s expression changed. He suddenly felt that he might have made the wrong decision.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the mecha hold,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and suggested.


    ¡°Sure.¡± Zhou Yongnan had to agree. He could only hope that his feelings were wrong. He hoped that the other party was making ast ditch effort to trick them.


    The group of them came to the mecha hold. They saw that the mecha hold was already filled with people. Most of the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n were there. There were even many logisticians too.


    Meng Lan had informed everyone about the battle of logistician skills between the old and new mecha operators in 250 Ace Mecha n. (Meng Lan liked to have fun. We can only say that she followed the nature of the person who created her.)


    When their leaders arrived, the old mecha operators shouted, ¡°Leader, who are the onespeting? Hurry up and tell us.¡±


    In front of these newbies who only learned the skills for two months, this bunch of veteran soldiers was not afraid at all. They had mastered their skills thoroughly for over so many years. They rubbed their hands in anticipation. They were looking forward to torturing this bunch of newbies. They didn¡¯t care if these newbies were actually as powerful as them or had the same rank as them.


    Without the scary Regiment Commander Ling, these veteran mecha operators started revealing their true nature. They were all ruffians by nature. They weren¡¯t afraid of creating troubles. If there wasn¡¯t Major General Yang Mingzhi and the frightening agents by Li Shiyu, they might have jumped on these newbies long ago and beat them up badly. Then, they would throw them out of their base.


    Hence, when they knew that they had a chance topete with them, even though it was only on logistician skills, they were extremely excited. They hoped that they were the ones chosen so they could humiliate the other party as much as they wanted.


    Yang Mingzhi saw how excited his team members were. Some even started fighting with each other in the hopes of forcing theirpetitors away to increase their chances of getting chosen. He held his forehead in embarrassment. He was speechless. ¡°Control yourselves. It has nothing to do with you. Colonel Li and I will bepeting.¡±


    How hungry were they to fight? Why weren¡¯t they so troublesome when regimentmander was around? When Regiment Commander Ling was around, they were all very obedient. Without him, everyone turned into a ¡®child¡¯. Yang Mingzhi felt his head starting to hurt. A few days ago when he wasbing his hair, he realized that he grew many strands of white hair. He looked older too.


    ¡®Regimentmander, when are youing back?¡¯ Yang Mingzhi looked at the roof of the mecha hold in great sadness. He couldn¡¯t help but recall his pure and innocent team members of the past.


    While Yang Mingzhi was feeling sorrowful, the other mecha operators startedughing after a moment of silence.


    ¡°Oh my god, what kind of luck do they have? Why did they choose Leader Yang and Big Leader Li?¡±


    ¡°Wow, I really pity them.¡±


    ¡°I feel that the worst tragedy this year is going to happen soon.¡±


    ¡°I hope that they still have to face to stayter.¡± Many mecha operators started being schadenfreude.


    Zhou Yongnan¡¯s face turned pale when he heard all these conversations. Did he really make a mistake? No, they must be trying to fool them. Their decision was right! Zhou Yongnan clenched his fist tightly and forced himself to calm down.


    At that moment, one of the veteran mecha operators shouted at Zhou Yongnan, ¡°Old Zhou, why did you choose these two monsters? Let me do it so that you won¡¯t lose too terribly.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi wasn¡¯t the only one who knew Zhou Yongnan. A few other veteran mecha operators recognized him too.


    The person who shouted was really being kind. Leader Yang and Big Leader Li were the best among them. If they were topete against those newbies... he couldn¡¯t bear to see the result. Of course, the most important reason was, he wanted to be the onepeting. Let him torture these newbies instead!


    ¡®Their aim is to swap Yang Mingzhi and Li Lanfeng out. My decision is right.¡¯ Instead of epting the kind offer, the offer instilled confidence in Zhou Yongnan¡¯s decision.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. We¡¯llpete with Major General Yang and Colonel Li. We won¡¯t lose,¡± Zhou Yongnan replied resolutely. He was speaking to the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n as well as himself.


    They wouldn¡¯t lose!


    His statement caused the people from 250 Ace Mecha n to startughing again.


    Zhou Yongnan wasn¡¯t affected. He turned around and asked Yang Mingzhi and Li Lanfeng, ¡°How shall wepete?¡±


    ¡°Send the two people whom you think are the best. If not, you might not admit defeat willingly.¡± Li Lanfeng replied calmly, ¡°If one of your people win against us, you¡¯ll win.¡±


    Zhou Yongnan frowned. This rule was very beneficial to them. Were they so confident that they would definitely win? Zhou Yongnan¡¯s heart wavered again. Before he could say anything, a senior colonel behind him said, ¡°Okay.¡±


    This senior colonel thought that Zhou Yongnan hesitated because the rules were too beneficial towards them. He nudged Zhou Yongnan to remind him that they shouldn¡¯t be bothered with fairness now. They must choose what benefited them the most.


    Since the situation was set, Zhou Yongnan couldn¡¯t say anything more. He nodded at the senior colonel. He didn¡¯t dare to tell anyone his suspicion. He was afraid that he would affect their state of mind.

 Chapter 1053 - Result!

    <h4>Chapter 1053 Result!</h4>


    Soon, their twopeting representatives were chosen.


    Four mechas were pushed out. To ensure that thepetition was fair, Li Lanfeng asked the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee to board the mechas and enter amand for some changes and then hide themand. Thepetitors would find themand and make changes to the mecha ording to themand.


    This was the debugging skill of a mecha engineer. Before the mecha operators boarded their mechas, the mecha engineers must debug the mecha so that the mecha was in optimal condition. Any mistakes in the system must be found and be deleted.


    Debugging was amon work done by the mecha engineers. The best way to assess how good a mecha logistician was was to see how fast one could change the weapons and equipment of the mechas during a battle.


    Thus, finding the hiddenmand was just an appetizer. The main point of this assessment was to see how fast they changed the weapons and equipment on the mecha.


    This work needed to be done before the ejection of a mecha. The faster the mecha got equipped, the faster the mecha could be ejected. A one-second difference might affect the result of a battle.


    Ling Lan had such a high expectation for her logisticians because she knew that a war was not just solely a battle of firearms. Logisticians yed an important role too. She even felt that logisticians were more important than firearms.


    Li Lanfeng and Yang Mingzhi had changed into their logistician uniforms. They walked to the starting line.


    The other two representative went to the starting line too. Zhou Yongnan suddenly volunteered to be the referee.


    The senior colonel of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee looked at Yang Mingzhi and Li Lanfeng. He was waiting for their opinions.


    Both of them expressed that they didn¡¯t mind.


    ¡°1, start!¡±


    Zhou Yongnan nced at the two representative from his side. He didn¡¯t follow the usual call of ¡®1,2,3¡¯, he instead directly started thepetition after saying the number one.


    By now, Zhou Yongnan had totally disregarded his own reputation. He used such cheap tricks because he wanted to use all means to win thispetition.


    The two representative from Zhou Yongnan¡¯s side saw the look he gave them. They understood what he was going to do. After Zhou Yongnan shouted the first number, they immediately rushed out.


    However, Zhou Yongnan didn¡¯t appear rxed. Instead, his expression was cold as he realized that his cheap tricks were useless. Yang Mingzhi and Li Lanfeng weren¡¯t prepared but their reaction speed was much faster than a normal person. They rushed out of the starting line almost at the same time as their representatives.


    ¡°Did he think that he can win against Leader Yang and Big Leader Li using such cheap tricks? Tsk tsk tsk, he is looking to be humiliated.¡±


    ¡°If they couldn¡¯t even handle such cheap tricks, they should be punished with the month training by our regimentmander.¡±


    ¡°Gasp! Can you not mention the month training? I don¡¯t want to recall that nightmare.¡± The person beside him inhaled deeply and tried to stop himself from shivering. He rubbed his shoulders, attempting to calm his goosebumps down.


    There wasn¡¯t any month training for almost half a year. Most of the mecha operators had forgotten about this nightmare. When they heard theirrade referring to it, they felt ufortable all around their bodies.


    Zhou Yongnan noticed that none of the mecha operators or logisticians seemed angered by his action. They appeared nonchnt. His heart dropped.


    If they didn¡¯t care about his shameless act, there could be two reasons for that. One, they didn¡¯t care about the two people that were participating in thispetition. Second, they knew that such cheap tricks wouldn¡¯t affect the result of thepetition.


    The first reason wasn¡¯t possible. From the enthusiastic wee Yang Mingzhi and Li Lanfeng received when they entered the mecha hold, they knew that these two team leaders were well-liked by everyone. That meant that it was the second reason. Everyone here, whether the mecha operators or the logisticians, knew that Yang Mingzhi and Li Lanfeng would win.


    That meant that what they say at the start was the truth. These two people were the best among all the mecha operators. They made the wrong choice. They picked the toughest opponents.


    Zhou Yongnan¡¯s expression turned dark. However, he couldn¡¯t do anything about it now. He could only watch as they get humiliated by their opponents.


    At that moment, the four contestants had already started debugging the mechas. They looked like they were equal but Zhou Yongnan knew that they were already behind their opponents.


    Yang Mingzhi and Li Lanfeng¡¯s movements were smooth. Their fingers flew over the screen as they entered differentmands into the mechas. The mainframe of the mechas gave them its responses. In a blink of an eye, they found themand that was hidden by the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee.


    ¡°Easy searches like that couldn¡¯t stop our leaders.¡±


    ¡°This is not even their fastest speed. I remember that time when our regimentmander entered amand into the system and asked the team leaders to find it within ten minutes. All the team leaders were drenched with sweat when they tried to find it. In thest 2 minutes, their hand speed increased to a new level due to the immense pressure on them. I believe that they¡¯ve never moved so fast even when operating their mecha.¡± One of the people remembered that special assessment at that time. All the spectators were so anxious for their team leaders, their faces turned pale too.


    ¡°Oh, that assessment... I think I need to go to the washroom.¡± Every time they recalled the scene, they would feel like going to the toilet. The mecha operators¡¯ face turned white.


    They remembered this assessment clearly because their regimentmander had a punishment for the team leaders who couldn¡¯t pass the test. The team leader, including his entire team as well as the logisticians that serviced them, would be punished together. How could they not be worried?


    However, even though all the ten team leaders tried their best and even achieved a breakthrough in their hand speed, none of them passed the assessment.


    ¡°Stop mentioning that assessment. I don¡¯t want to recall it!¡± The mecha operators wiped the cold sweat off their forehead and threw this memory away.


    After they found themand, Yang Mingzhi and Li Lanfeng followed themand and started equipping the mecha based on its requirements.


    The two representative from Zhou Yongnan¡¯s side weren¡¯t slow too. After a month of training, they were very familiar with the works of a mecha engineer. Their speed was even faster than a normal logistician. They had reached the requirements of an outstanding logistician.


    But, their opponents were too abnormal.


    Just as they found the hiddenmand and were about to start equipping the mechas, Li Lanfeng and Yang Mingzhi shouted at the same time, ¡°Done!¡±


    The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee hurried over to their screen and looked at the ejection section. All the windows were green. It meant that their work was done properly and the mecha were properly equipped if it entered the ejection port.

 Chapter 1054 - Crazy Person!

    <h4>Chapter 1054 Crazy Person!</h4>


    The leader from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee looked at the time on thismunicator. They didn¡¯t take more than 20 seconds toplete everything from debugging to equipping the mecha with seemingly no errors. This time included the time they took to find themand. It was definitely a new record for mecha engineers.


    Was this the result of letting mecha operators be trained as logisticians? What did this represent? During a battle, their speed of preparation would be much faster than their opponents.


    The leader gasped when he thought of this. If this was possible to be replicated in every mecha operator, it would change the result of the entire war.


    The leader felt his heart pounding furiously. His face turned red as he had an ambitious thought in his mind.


    This was definitely a new discovery. If he reported this to the military and let them spread this training to the rest of the military... he would gain huge merit.


    However soon, the senior colonel calmed down. He thought about it carefully and then smiled bitterly.


    This was just his wishful thinking. He couldn¡¯t even think of a division which would have the courage to send an ace mecha n to be the logisticians of another ace mecha n.


    Only 1% of the mecha ns in the Federation were ace mecha ns. This meant that among 100 mecha ns, only one was an ace mecha n.


    The Federation was situated in the center of the human world. It had ample resources and itsnd mass was huge. Hence, many surrounding nations were envious of them. If they could take over a part of the Federation¡¯snd, they would be able to increase the wealth and power of their nation tremendously. They had nothing to lose if they lose but everything to gain if they won. Hence, the borders of the Federation were always at a state of constant war.


    The endless war forced the military to treasure every single ace mecha n they had. On the battlefield, an ace mecha n was the most powerful unit. It could determine the result of the battle so why would they want to waste an ace mecha n to be logisticians for another ace mecha n? Plus, no matter how fast an ace mecha n prepared themselves, they were just a small part of the entire war. It wouldn¡¯t really affect the big picture. All in all, the loss of sending an ace mecha n for logistician training outweigh the gains.


    If he brought up this suggestion, his superior might throw his papers back at him. It was just his whimsical thoughts, basically him just grasping for any straw that could help him gain the favour of his superiors again. The senior colonel calmed down again after he thought it through, and his conclusion was that he was being too hopeful for that idea to work in the real world.


    He gathered his thoughts and looked at Zhou Yongnan who had a darkened expression. He said indifferently, ¡°Senior Colonel Zhou, you


    lost.¡±


    Zhou Yongnan¡¯s expression kept changing. However, he was still unwilling to give up hope. He gritted his teeth and said, ¡°There are still other logistician skills we canpete in. We won¡¯t admit defeat until we are defeated in every single one of them.¡±


    The mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n started jeering


    Only the new mecha operators kept quiet. All their faces looked worse for wear. They were unwilling to give up. They were still hopeful that they could change the situation around.


    Li Lanfeng smiled as he raised his head to look at them. A cold light shed passed his eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s continue then.¡±


    He didn¡¯t expect the other party to admit defeat with just one match. But, it won¡¯t take too long for them to bepletely defeated. Plus, these new mecha operators only went through two sets of training: Mecha engineer and a cook.


    From the instance they stepped foot onto their base, Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t even have the faintest thought of letting these new mecha operators enter 250 Ace Mecha n for real.


    What he needed to do now was to step on their faces so hard that they would feel too embarrassed to stay at 250 Ace Mecha n. Even if they did stay behind, they would act cautiously and listen to them, never to be able to raise their heads again.


    Everyone came to the clean and luxurious cafeteria of the 250 Ace Mecha n. The cooks had already prepared the ingredients and were already waiting for them at the front of the kitchen.


    Just like thest match, the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee set thepetition. It was to cook the best dish they could under a limited time. The four contestants would cook at the same time, and in the end the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee would taste their dishes to see whose dish was more delicious.


    The result of the battle was decided from the start. Yang Mingzhi and Li Lanfeng¡¯s quick and agile knife skills and their smooth cooking skills amazed the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee from the moment they started to cook. When a fragrant and beautiful dish appeared in front of them, they even thought that the two people in front of them were head chefs of a five-star hotel instead of mecha operators.


    On the other hand, their opponents¡¯ performances were just horrible. Their dishes were either overcooked or burnt. The most they could do was to ensure that their food was cooked. They were unable to have any resemnce of taste in their dish.


    Zhou Yongnan and the people on his side went pale.


    Was this a mecha operator? Was this still a mecha operator from a mecha n? They were already world-ss chefs! Although they were their opponents, their stomach started rumbling uncontrobly when they smelled the fragrance from their dishes.


    Yang Mingzhi and Li Lanfeng put down theirdle at the same time and looked at Zhou Yongnan.


    ¡°What do you think? Do you still want to continue?¡± Li Lanfeng coldly asked.


    Yang Mingzhi took a towel from the side and wiped his hands slowly. He smiled and said, ¡°I haven¡¯t cooked in a long time. My cooking skills might have deteriorated. Hope you don¡¯t mind.¡±


    Deteriorated? The people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee had already started devouring the dishes. They were crying in their hearts. Compared to these delicious dishes in front of them, their food in their cafeteria was basically pig feed. They mustin about their cooks when they went back. They would ask them to learn their cooking skills again.


    They couldn¡¯t help but get envious of the mecha operators of 250 Ace Mecha n. They were so fortunate to stay at this base. The mecha operators already cooked so well. This meant that the real cooks must be even better.


    ¡°Major General Yang and Senior Colonel Li won!¡± The difference was too obvious. As the judge, the leader from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee couldn¡¯t help Zhou Yongnan even if he wanted to.


    Li Lanfeng slowly walked towards Zhou Yongnan. He stopped in front of Zhou Yongnan and flicked his sleeve. He seemed to be dusting his clothes. Then, he said softly, ¡°I said that this is the tradition of 250 Ace Mecha n. If you want to stay here, you must follow it. No one is an exception, including us.¡±


    ¡°If you can¡¯t do it, go back to where you came from. Stop embarrassing yourself here!¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t show any mercy to the other party this time.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s attitude infuriated the senior colonel beside Zhou Yongnan. He exploded in anger. ¡°Go back?! Go back my ass!¡±


    ¡°What tradition is this? This is absurd! Only a crazy person would make such a weird tradition. Crazy! Lunatic! He must be a lunatic!¡± The senior colonel felt that he was unjustly humiliated so he didn¡¯t think about what he said.


    The entire cafeteria instantly turned silent. The soldiers from 250 Ace Mecha n, who were still smiling a second ago, turned cold. Everyone red at them. Their gaze was distant and there was even a hint of killing intent in it.


    Zhou Yongnan was shocked. Hisrade must have touched their bottom line.


    ¡°I wanted to let you go freely but... I think I was being too kind.¡± Li Lanfeng narrowed his eyes and slowly smile. Zhou Yongnan¡¯s heart stopped beating when he saw the smile. An unprecedented sense of danger could be felt around him.

 Chapter 1055 - Regiment Commander!

    <h4>Chapter 1055 Regiment Commander!</h4>


    The veteran mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n took a step closer to Zhou Yongnan and the other new mecha operators. The logisticians, who were scattered among the mecha operators, gathered at the back.


    Very soon, the new mecha operators were surrounded by the veteran mecha operators. The atmosphere in the cafeteria was tense. A huge throw down was imminent.


    The leader from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee could feel cold sweat on his forehead. He shouted hurriedly, ¡°Everyone, calm down!¡±


    He knew that nothing good woulde froming to 250 Ace Mecha n. If the 250 Ace Mecha n really fought with the new mecha operators, his position as the leader in the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee would be gone.


    ¡°Senior colonel, we¡¯re settling an internal affair. Please follow me to the meeting room to take a rest,¡± Lin Zhong-qing went up and said gently.


    The leader narrowed his eyes. It was obvious that 250 Ace Mecha n wanted to do something to these disobedient new mecha operators. Since they asked him to go down and have a rest, it meant that they didn¡¯t want him to interfere in this matter.


    Should he interfere or not? His decision could result in two different results. At the same time, it also showed his stand on the matter.


    If he left, it meant that he stood on General Ling Xiao¡¯s side. Of course, he could pretend that he didn¡¯t know anything and appear neutral. But, if he continued staying here, he would definitely be going against General Ling Xiao.


    The leader didn¡¯t want to offend the popr General Ling Xiao. He thought for a moment and replied, ¡°Sounds good. I¡¯m feeling tired too.¡±


    When Zhou Yongnan heard his reply, his expression changed for the worse. He knew that once the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee left, they wouldn¡¯t have any chance of evering back on top of 250 Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°Little Zhou, you followed me ever since you were young. I watched you grow up. I trust you a lot so I can only give this mission to you. Only passing this mission to you would make me feel at ease. Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t let you suffer.¡± The voice of his old chief seemed to appear beside him.


    His gaze quickly turned vicious. He gritted his teeth and shouted, ¡°You want to punish us secretly? I won¡¯t allow you to seed! Attack


    them!¡±


    Then, he rushed out first and attacked Li Lanfeng who was closest to him.


    Since they couldn¡¯t do it the legal way, they would use brute force.


    As long as 250 Ace Mecha n turned into a mess, his old chief would have a chance to get what he wants.


    Creating a mutiny was hisst resort. It was something he didn¡¯t want to do but in the end, he still did it.


    Zhou Yongnan knew that whether this mutiny seeded or not, he would have to spend many years in jail.


    Truthfully, he lodged aint to the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee not because he wanted them to help him. He just wanted the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee to witness this mutiny to prove that 250 Ace Mecha n was actually a mess, proving that the current leaders of 250 Ace Mecha n were useless.


    He wasn¡¯t the only one with this mission. There were many people helping him. However, Zhou Yongnan didn¡¯t know who they were.


    But, after he shouted, he heard around five people shouting among the crowd, ¡°Attack!¡±


    Then, many people charged at the mecha operators of 250 Ace Mecha n.


    The veteran mecha operators were furious when they noticed the newbies attacking them first so they rushed towards the new mecha operators too. The other newbies, who were still hesitating on whether to fight or not, saw someone rushing at them so they raised their fist and attacked too.


    Battle royale was about to start. Suddenly, a cold voice rang beside everyone¡¯s ears.


    ¡°Hmph?¡±


    The voice sounded unhappy.


    The mecha operators from the two sides felt a heavy force of presence suppressing their actions.


    sence


    Boom boom boom...


    The people who were about to fight were smashed onto the ground. They were pushed onto the ground by a force so strong that they couldn¡¯t move.


    Some strong mecha operators were still able to stand but their faces were all red and hideous. They were trying their best to resist the pressure that was forcing them to kneel down. It wasn¡¯t just the pressure on their bodies as the pressure affected their minds too.


    Only the domain realm masters were able to stand properly. However, their faces were pale too. It wasn¡¯t easy resisting against this heavy force.


    Zhou Yongnan and some people from his side were standing too. Suddenly, they realized something, and their expressions darkened.


    The sudden pressure forced them to expose their true ability.


    Zhou Yongnan¡¯s face was very pale. He was worried about him exposing himself and at the same time, he was frightened by the force from his opponent. How powerful must he be to control the entire situation instantly and basically stopped the battle royale with a single snort?


    Soon, footsteps could be faintly heard.


    It came closer. The footsteps got louder and clearer as it got nearer.


    This was the sound of military boots stepping on the ground. The person that just came must be a soldier. His footsteps were slow but it was firm and orderly.


    From the footsteps, it showed that the person was calm. It showed the person¡¯s confidence too. He was confident that no one would cause trouble under his control.


    The sound of this footstep was familiar to the veteran mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n. However, to Zhou Yongnan and the people on his side, it was unfamiliar.


    Everyone looked towards the main entrance of the cafeteria.


    The new soldiers were astounded and confused. However, the mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n had a different expression.


    Some were ted but frowning. Some looked excited but fearful at the same time. They had admiration in their eyes but the despair was apparent too.


    If there was a phrase to describe it, it would be painful but happy.


    Soon, a cold-looking young man wearing a white cloak over the uniform of the 250 Ace Mecha n appeared in front of them. He had a white short whip in his hand and the insignia on his chest showed that he was a major general.


    He might be injured as there were bandages wrapped around his hands. His face was covered with bandages too. He might be afraid of scaring people so he wore a mask, revealing only his mouth and chin.


    When he appeared, the heavy pressure disappeared instantly.


    Everyone felt rxed suddenly and the people on the ground got up hurriedly.


    The young man scanned the cafeteria. His sharp gaze caused the people from Zhou Yongnan¡¯s side to look away.


    A cold voice sounded, ¡°I only left for half a year. When did my mecha n be a ce for gang fights?¡±


    The voice sounded dangerous.


    The veteram mecha operators from 250 Ace Mecha n quickly woke up from their daze and stood up straight. They saluted. ¡°Regimentmander.¡±


    Yes, their regimentmander was back. The regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n was back. The powerful Lieutenant Colonel Ling Lan, wait, it was Major General Ling Lan now, was back.


    After five months of discussion, Ling Lan¡¯s merit finally came. She jumped up three ranks and became a major general. She became the second major general in 250 Ace Mecha n.

 Chapter 1056 - Verdict!

    <i><strong>Chapter 1056 Verdict!</strong></i>


    That¡¯s right. The position of the regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n didn¡¯tnd in other people¡¯s hands. Ling Lan was still the regimentmander.


    She was able to continue being the regimentmander because her father worked really hard to help her keep this position. Since Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to leave the military, Ling Xiao would get what Ling Lan wanted even if he had to offend everyone in the military.


    Plus, this position rightfully belonged to his daughter. Hence, when he fought for the position, he was very confident that he would give her what she wanted. His daughter risked her life to protect the people and the mecha ns, so how could he let other people take over what was rightfully hers?


    However, Ling Xiao didn¡¯t really win too. His actions caused the higher authorities to make the ultimate decision which ended in both sides having to suffer losses.


    The higher authorities decided to remove 250 Ace Mecha n from the 23rd division. They wouldn¡¯t be under Ling Xiao¡¯s control anymore. As for which division they would go to, there was no confirmation yet.


    Without General Ling Xiao protecting them, Ling Lan and her 250 Ace Mecha n would have an uncertain future. Someone with evil intentions could send them to a dangerous battlefield.


    Thus, the battle for the 250 Ace Mecha n hadn¡¯t ended yet. Ling Xiao was trying to let 250 Ace Mecha n get into a division under the First Marshal¡¯s faction. If he had no other choice, he didn¡¯t mind letting them into the 13th division.


    Of course, the 13th division was hisst trump card. He wouldn¡¯t use it until the veryst moment.


    Before the military gave their order, 250 Ace Mecha n still belonged to the 23rd division. Once the order came, 250 Ace Mecha n would move to another division.


    Only the higher authorities knew of this decision. This was why Zhou Yongnan¡¯s old chief asked him to act within the next few days. Since they couldn¡¯t get the entire big fish, they would split it up so no one would be able to get it whole.


    But, they didn¡¯t expect Ling Lan toe back so quickly. They also underestimated her capabilities. Her appearance ended their scheme before it could start.


    Ling Lan walked into the cafeteria slowly. After walking passed the mecha operators who were standing up straight, she came beside Li Lanfeng. Zhou Yongnan and the other people from his side were in front of her.


    Li Lanfeng controlled his excitement and said in a low voice, ¡°Regimentmander, you¡¯re back.¡±


    With Ling Lan around, he didn¡¯t feel empty anymore.


    ¡°Yes. What¡¯s the matter?¡± Ling Lan asked in reply. She held her short whip in her right hand and pointed it at Zhou Yongnan.


    Li Lanfeng smiled slightly. ¡°New mecha operators!¡±


    ¡°They didn¡¯t listen to yourmand?¡± Ling Lan appeared nonchnt. She looked as though she wanted to end this problem immediately.


    Zhou Yongnan got agitated when he heard this. ¡°Regimentmander, it¡¯s not...¡±


    Boom! Ling Lan waved her short whip. Zhou Yongnan flew out and mmed on the table at the side. He slid for a few meters before stopping


    He vomited a mouthful of blood. He looked at the cold regimentmander with fear. He didn¡¯t expect this regimentmander to disregard the military rule and injure him before he could even say what he wanted to say.


    Ling Lan nced at him and said calmly, ¡°I didn¡¯t ask you.¡±


    Zhou Yongnan¡¯s face turned pale. Although Ling Lan injured him, he didn¡¯t break any military rules.


    Ling Lan was a regimentmander and Li Lanfeng was a team leader. Although he was a regimentmander before he came to 250 Ace Mecha n, he was just a small little soldier nowpared to the two people in front who were his superiors.


    When his superiors were talking, soldiers like him didn¡¯t have the right to express their opinion. If he opened his mouth, it was his mistake. Such a matter could be big or small depending on the officer. Most officers didn¡¯t like making a hassle over such a small matter so they didn¡¯t enforce the rule.


    Hence, many soldiers forgot about this rule, even Zhou Yongnan forgot about it. However, with the help of Ling Lan¡¯s reminder, he managed to recall his this rule clearly.


    Ling Lan disregarded Zhou Yongnan after she said this. She turned to look at Li Lanfeng. ¡°Continue!¡±


    Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t as evil as Zhou Yongnan thought. He didn¡¯t hide the truth. Instead, he told Ling Lan exactly what had happened and the cause of their gang fight.


    ¡°So they didn¡¯t want to do it?¡± Ling Lan scanned the new mecha operators. The indifference in her eyes caused a chill up the spines of the mecha operators.


    They recalled how Ling Lan attacked Zhou Yongnan. Everyone felt that they would be killed by this frightening regimentmander.


    One of the lieutenant colonels couldn¡¯t withstand the pressure anymore. He raised his hand and shouted, ¡°I would like to leave the 250 Ace Mecha n.¡±


    This statement formed a domino effect in everyone. Many other mecha operators raised their hands and followed suit.


    ¡°I want to leave too.¡±


    ¡°Me too.¡±


    ¡°Me too!¡±


    ¡°I want to leave!¡±


    These people had lost their confidence in front of this ruthless and powerful person whom they couldn¡¯t defeat. If they continued staying here, they wouldn¡¯t get what they wanted even if they scheme to the best of their abilities. In that case, why not leave. It was better than staying here and getting tortured.


    Ling Lan looked at the new mecha operators coldly. She listened to them until thest person finished saying his request to leave.


    The entire cafeteria turned silent. Everyone looked at Ling Lan as they waited for her reply.


    Ling Lan smiled slowly. Then, she gave a burst of coldughter.


    She was mocking them.


    The expressions of the new mecha operators changed drastically. When Li Lanfeng asked them to leave, they didn¡¯t want to leave. Now, they couldn¡¯t leave even if they wanted too.


    ¡°Since you came, there¡¯s no need to leave.¡± Ling Lan gave her final verdict. She was going to imprison these people in 250 Ace Mecha n.


    The moment she finished speaking, she moved. The sounds of objects hitting each other were heard. In a blink of an eye, all the new mecha operators fell on the ground. They were all vomiting blood.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, aren¡¯t you being a little overboard?¡± When Ling Lan appeared beside Li Lanfeng again, the leader from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee opened his mouth and said helplessly.


    ¡®I know that you don¡¯t care about military rules but you can¡¯t ignore us like that, right? How can you act right in front of us? Do you have to disregard us so tantly?¡¯


    ¡°Who are you?¡± The senior colonel went speechless when he heard Ling Lan¡¯s reply.


    Fortunately, Lin Zhong-qing quickly introduced him, and Ling Lan finally remembered who he was. It was the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee who always like to create problems out of nothing. ¡°Oh, long time no see. What have you been busy with?¡±


    ¡®What have I been busy with? I¡¯m busy with your affairs!¡¯ The senior colonel felt frustrated. Once again, he confirmed that 250 Ace Mecha n was his natural enemy. He would nevere to 250 Ace Mecha n for any investigation ever again.


    Senior Colonel Wen received another blow from Ling Lan so he left 250 Ace Mecha n decisively.

 Chapter 1057 - Naive!

    <i><strong>Chapter 1057 Naive!</strong></i>


    ¡°Leader, are we really going to ignore this matter?¡± When they came out, one of the newer members of his team asked Senior Colonel Wen.


    Major General Ling had broken the military rules so tantly in front of them. Why did they ignore it? They were from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee. Young people were naive with their ideals. They thought that they could maintain justice and save the world.


    ¡°What do you n to do?¡± Senior Colonel Wen looked at the newer member of his team with pity. He had never experienced any setbacks before so he was still innocent and naive.


    ¡°The least we could do was to support those mecha operators who wanted to leave and help them leave sessfully.¡± The new member felt something was amiss with his leader¡¯s expression so he kept his answer short and only said the things they could do.


    Senior Colonel Wen¡¯s unhappiness dissipated a little when he noticed the newer member of his team speaking cautiously. This new member was a smart person he could groom so he decided to enlighten the young man and teach him some things. ¡°This matter is not as simple as you think.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± The new member was puzzled. ¡°At first, Colonel Li wanted to let them leave, right? Why can¡¯t they leave after Major General Ling came?¡±


    ¡°Some things can be done by the people below but not by the person himself,¡± Senior Colonel Wen answered.


    ¡°Huh?¡± The new member didn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°Colonel Li can allow these people to leave because he wasn¡¯t the real regimentmander. However, if Regiment Commander Ling allowed them to leave, it meant that he is useless.¡± Senior Colonel Wen noticed that some older members also looked confused so he exined to them too.


    Everyone finally understood their leader.


    ¡°But, Major General Ling beat his soldiers right in front of us. Aren¡¯t we going to report this?¡± The new member still didn¡¯t want to neglect his duty.


    ¡°Report? What evidence do we have?¡± Senior Colonel Wen looked at him nkly.


    ¡°There are so many people there and there must be recordings of the incident. I recorded the scene too.¡± The new member seemed excited. This was a valid piece of evidence. With this evidence in hand, the guilty party couldn¡¯t deny what he did, no matter how powerful he was.


    ¡°You should take a look at your recording first,¡± One of the older members noticed that his leader was getting angry so he quickly reminded the new member.


    The new member was confused but he still checked hismunicator. He wasn¡¯t able to find the video that he recorded.


    ¡°What happened to it?¡± The new member looked up in shock.


    ¡°The moment we entered 250 Ace Mecha n, all ourmunication and recording devices be useless. They looked as though they worked perfectly but in actual fact, they couldn¡¯t be used.¡± The older member sighed. Thest time they came to 250 Ace Mecha n, they recorded some video evidence too. However, when they tried to use the videos as evidence, they realized that it couldn¡¯t be found.


    ¡°But, we saw it.¡± The new member didn¡¯t give


    up.


    ¡°Idiot. So what if we saw it? How many people do we have? How many people do they have?¡± Senior Colonel Wen scolded in a low voice, ¡°Since you came to the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee, you must understand that we speak based on evidence. Without solid evidence, nothing can be concluded. Don¡¯t embarrass yourself.¡±


    The new member blushed and lowered his head. ¡°I understand, leader.¡±


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡± Senior Colonel Wen didn¡¯t have the heart to talk to these dumb witted people anymore. He left the base with a cold face.


    The new member sat quickly in the hover car. He looked back at the entrance of the base and made a promise to himself. ¡®I will find evidence one day.¡¯


    Once all the outsiders had left, the tense atmosphere disappeared.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Luo Lang rushed over and wanted to hug Ling Lan.


    Just as he was about to reach Ling Lan, a frightening gust of wind struck at him.


    Luo Lang held his arms in front of him and stopped the vicious kick.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng, what are you doing?¡± Li Lanfeng shouted angrily.


    Li Lanfeng was the one who kicked Luo Lang. This was a sneak attack. If Luo Lang didn¡¯t react in time, he would have been kicked.


    Li Lanfeng ced his right leg back on the ground and said calmly, ¡°Regimentmander is still injured. Don¡¯t be so reckless.¡±


    Luo Lang¡¯s face turned red in shame as he regretted his actions. He was too excited so he forgot about his boss¡¯s injury. If Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t stop him, he might have injured his boss even further. His anger disappeared and he looked at Li Lanfeng gratefully.


    Ling Lan shook her head as she sighed at Luo Lang¡¯s innocence.


    So what if he really hugged her? With her capabilities, she wouldn¡¯t be hurt no matter how hard Luo Lang hugged her. Luo Lang got fooled by Li Lanfeng again.


    Many people knew this but since Li Lanfeng was doing it for the sake of their boss, they didn¡¯t say anything. Xie Yi moved his mouth but chose to keep quiet in the end.


    Forget it. Let Luo Lang remain so naive. It¡¯s good to live without any worries too.


    The calm personality was thinking the same way too. Hence, everyone allowed Luo Lang to continue being an innocent and naive person.


    ¡°Boss, wee back!¡± Qi Long coughed and weed their boss on behalf of Lingtian.


    ¡°Regimentmander, wee back.¡± Yang Mingzhi smiled. He represented all the veteran soldiers of 250 Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m back,¡± Ling Lan looked at everyone and said.


    ¡°Yay!¡± Everyone shouted to the sky happily. Although they believed that their regimentmander woulde back, the past five months was still torture to them. They could finally rx now.


    Ling Lan was touched. After experiencing war, these mecha operators finally treated her as their regimentmander sincerely. She felt that her decision toe back was right. If she left, how could she answer to all these mecha operators who believed in her?


    Since you trust me, I won¡¯t leave you!


    After everyone calmed down, Ling Lan turned her attention to the new mecha operators who were badly injured.


    Everyone knew that their regimentmander was going to make arrangements for these new mecha operators. Hence, they regained theirposure and the cafeteria turned quiet again. Everyone including the new mecha operators, waited for Ling Lan¡¯s decision.


    Ling Lan yed with her short whip and looked at the people on the floor quietly as she thought about what to do with them.


    ¡°Leader Yang, it seems like you have be more rxed over the past five months,¡± Ling Lan looked up at Yang Mingzhi suddenly and said.

 Chapter 1058 - Punishment!

    <strong>Chapter 1058 Punishment!</strong>


    Although Li Lanfeng was the person everyone listened to when Ling Lan wasn¡¯t around, the team leader of Team 01, Yang Mingzhi, was the real person who should control of the entire 250 Ace Mecha n when Ling Lan was absent. Hence, Ling Lan looked for Yang Mingzhi first.


    Yang Mingzhi felt touched by the gesture. He knew that as someone who entered halfway in, Ling Lan¡¯srades wouldn¡¯t trust himpletely. It was normal for people to believe someone close to them. Some people might even suppress others in order to allow their confidants to gain a higher position.


    However, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t like this. He would help him to protect his position in front of the 250 Ace Mecha n. Like just now, Ling Lan didn¡¯t ask Li Lanfeng about the situation in 250 Ace Mecha n, instead she chose to ask him first. This was a form of protection and trust.


    Yang Mingzhi was an experienced and smart soldier. He managed to calm down quickly and replied in a serious tone, ¡°Regimentmander, we have been following your training regimens without fail.¡±


    ¡°Leader Yang, you must catch up with the times.¡± Ling Lan looked at the veteran soldiers. These veteran mecha operators had regained their past strength. Some were even more powerful than they used to be. How was this intensity of training enough to push them?


    Huh? Wasn¡¯t he going to talk about the new mecha operators? Why did their regimentmander suddenly talk about them? The veteran soldiers looked at the cold gaze of the regimentmander and shivered in fear. They could almost see the light at the end of the tunnel.


    Everyone knew that Ling Lan was going to punish them for what had happened just now. The veteran soldiers also participated in the gang fight so none of them were able to escape.


    ¡°Well, since you have the energy to fight, it means that the training is not tough enough.¡± Ling Lan smiled coldly. ¡°From now on, you¡¯ll double your training every day.¡±


    ¡°Double?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re dead.¡±


    ¡°Help, I don¡¯t want to do it.¡±


    ¡°Regimentmander, please spare us.¡±


    Everyone started groaning and pleading their regimentmander. Unfortunately, Ling Lan was heartless.


    ¡°Three times!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice entered everyone¡¯s ears again.


    ¡°No!¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t do it.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll die.¡±


    ¡°Four times.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t change her expression as she increased the intensity of the training again.


    ¡°F**K!¡± Qi Long finally regained his senses. He jumped up quickly and shouted, ¡°Team 03, gather!¡±


    If he continued to keep quiet, the intensity would continue increasing. Qi Long knew that if there were any more objections, their boss would increase the intensity to five times or six times. If that happened, they would really be dead.


    The other team leaders reacted quickly and gathered their teams too. Four times sounded like a lot but with their ability now, and with the help of Li Shiyu¡¯s agent, there was still some hope ofpleting it.


    If they reacted slower, it would really be hopeless.


    Soon, all the mecha operators left with their leaders. If they didn¡¯t start their training now, they wouldn¡¯t be able toplete four times the training before midnight.


    The cafeteria got emptier. Many logisticians shrunk back in fear as they tried to make themselves invisible. They were afraid that they would alert their regimentmander and he would punish them too.


    By now, everyone knew that their regimentmander was very angry about the gang fight. He was really really angry. They had spurred the mecha operators to start fighting too so they weren¡¯t innocent.


    The new mecha operators looked at Ling Lan with fear and curiosity in their eyes. They didn¡¯t know why he didn¡¯t take care of them first, but instead he punished the veteran soldiers first. Was he afraid of the factions behind them? If that was the case, it was good news.


    Before they could breathe a sigh of relief, they noticed that Ling Lan was looking at them with dead eyes. She knocked her whip on her left palm light, seemingly contemting something


    Suddenly, she looked up and shouted, ¡°Shiyu!¡±


    A young man wearing a white gown over his military uniform replied with a smile, ¡°Regimentmander, what¡¯s your order?¡±


    ¡°Do you still need people for your experiments?¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    Li Shiyu had always terrified people even Ling Lan sometimes. He quickly answered without any hesitation, ¡°Thest batch has been used too many times. It¡¯s good to have fresh people to experiment with.¡±


    Li Shiyu didn¡¯t just cooperate with Ling Lan verbally. He even went forward and squatted beside a new mecha operator. He put on some surgical gloves and started pressing the mecha operator¡¯s neck. Then, he grabbed the mecha operator¡¯s arm and squeezed it before giving a satisfied smile.


    He stood up and walked back to Ling Lan as he took off his gloves. When he walked passed a rubbish bin, he threw the gloves inside.


    He came beside Ling Lan and said, ¡°These people are muscr and energetic. Not bad. They canst for a while.¡±


    The logisticians at the side suddenly remembered a rumor they heard regarding the head of the medical department. He was able to remain in his position and control the entire medical department because he was using humans for his experiments to satisfy regimentmander¡¯s sadistic urges.


    So, the rumor was true! At first, no one believed it. Head Li had a gentle smile and a gentle aura around him. He didn¡¯t look like someone who would do this. But after seeing his actions, you really can¡¯t judge a book by its cover.


    The logisticians looked at Li Shiyu in fear. That gentle smile seemed like the smile of a devil <b>now.</b>


    The new mecha operators saw the fearful expressions of the logisticians so they started shivering too.


    Were they going to die during experiments instead of dying on the battlefield?


    ¡°This is illegal.¡± One of the mecha operators couldn¡¯t control his fear and started shouting.


    Ling Lan nced at him. The mecha operator suddenly felt something banging his head. He lost consciousness.


    ¡°Bastard, go and die!¡± A few people among the crowd suddenly jumped up and charged at Ling Lan furiously. One of them was Zhou Yongnan.


    ¡°Get down!¡± Ling Lan pushed her hand down. The people in mid-air mmed onto the ground vertically.


    The hard ground cracked. The cracks looked like a series of spiderwebs. The ground only stopped cracking when it was one meter away from the bodies of these people.


    ¡°I was wondering how long you can keep quiet.¡± Ling Lan smiled coldly. ¡°It seems like I have overestimated you.¡±

 Chapter 1059 - Draw Blood!

    <strong>Chapter 1059 Draw Blood!</strong>


    ¡°You will go to hell.¡± Zhou Yongnan gritted his teeth. His eyes were bloodshot. Anyone with even the slightest hint of humanity in them would hate Ling Lan¡¯s ruthless behavior.


    ¡°Go to hell? That¡¯s right. I wish you good luck,¡± Ling Lan said with pity. She looked sympathetic but she still treated Zhou Yongnan and the others as if they were worthless.


    The medics from the medical department quickly rushed over. They were all fully covered in protective gear that covered every single part of their body.


    They put down the medic box in their hands carefully and opened it slowly. They took out syringes and a bottle of green agent.


    They extracted the agent into the syringes and then carefully ced the bottles back into the medic box. Then, they walked to the mecha operators that were suppressed by Ling Lan and started wiping alcohol on their arms to prepare for an injection.


    ¡°What are you trying to do? Get away from me! Get away!¡±


    Obviously, this scene had scared all the new mecha operators. They felt that this agent was definitely not a good thing. If not, why were these people so careful. They couldn¡¯t keep their cool anymore. They disregarded their pride and started struggling furiously. They screamed and shouted as they tried to escape their sorrowful fate.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous. This is a new agent I just invented. You are the first people to try it.¡± Li Shiyu was afraid that they wouldn¡¯t breakdown mentally so he scare them even more.


    The logistician who were watching at the side gasped in shock. Sob, Head Li looked so scary now! Head Lin, please save us!


    Thus, under the looks of fear and despair, the new mecha operators were injected with the agents. Within a few seconds, everyone turned quiet. They first shuddered, then they stopped movingpletely.


    Ling Lan nced at Li Shiyu in surprise. What was this scary new agent? Why was it so powerful that these powerful mecha operators fainted almost instantly?


    Li Shiyu smiled and moved his mouth. He mouthed out the words ¡®top-ss anesthesia¡¯.


    The agent that Li Shiyu injected into the mecha operators was not a new agent he just invented. It was just anaesthesia. After experimenting it, one syringe of this anesthesia was enough to knock out a person as powerful as Ling Xiao. However, the time they remained unconscious depends individually.


    Ling Lan was speechless. Wasn¡¯t it just anesthesia? Why did he have to make it seem like some biohazard? She even got nervous for a moment. She was afraid that Li Shiyu would identally kill these mecha operators that came to her mecha n voluntarily.


    Actually, Ling Lan was really happy when she knew that close to a hundred powerful mecha operators hade to her mecha n. Before she came, she had already decided to keep these people here no matter what it takes. She wouldn¡¯t let them have any chance of escaping


    Ling Lan wanted to keep these mecha operators because 250 Ace Mecha n wascking in people. As a mecha n, 250 Ace Mecha n didn¡¯t have enough people. This problem could be solved by randomly adding some mecha operator but, Ling Lan had very high requirements. She didn¡¯t want normal mecha operators unless it was a highly talented young ace mecha master.


    Those that Ling Lan liked were famous ace mecha masters who had made a name for themselves already. However, these people already hold high positions and wouldn¡¯t join a new mecha n as a normal member. Even if someone was stupid enough to ask for a transfer, their superiors wouldn¡¯t let them. This kind of ace mecha masters were treasures wherever they went. No mecha ns were like the 250 Ace Mecha n where almost everyone was an ace mecha master. The other mecha ns were quite envious of 250 Ace Mecha n because of this.


    These highly talented and young ace mecha masters were eyed on by the other mecha ns too. After all, the current powerful ace mecha masters represent the present while these potential of these new mecha operators represented the future. They were the hopes of the mecha ns.


    Hence, all the mecha ns would ept these new mecha operators if they were willing toe. They would groom them specially by giving them the position of a leader of a team. There were even luxurious grooming packages in some mecha ns. Ultimately, these young mecha operators enjoyed many benefits.


    However, 250 Ace Mecha n was unable to give them any of these.


    There were 200 mecha operators in 250 Ace Mecha n. All of them had the ability to be team leaders. These new mecha operators couldn¡¯t bepared with them. Thus, if a new mecha operator entered 250 Ace Mecha n, he wouldn¡¯t be able to enjoy any benefits at all. He could only start as a normal member and climb his way up slowly.


    This was a result of Ling Lan¡¯s benevolence. If not, based on the requirements of 250 Ace Mecha n...


    The new mecha operators might not have the chance to board a mecha at all! They could only spend their days training


    Thus, no sane mecha operators were willing to go there. Anyone with a sound mind would choose a mecha n that could give them better benefits.


    This was why 250 Ace Mecha n couldn¡¯t increase the size of their mecha operator team. Even Chief He cursed uncontrobly when he saw the requirements for mecha operators given by 250 Ace Mecha n.


    The two people from the Ling family always looked for him whenever they needed something. Hence, he was tasked to find more mecha operators for 250 Ace Mecha n. This was a difficult matter given the circumstances he was under. He grew more white hair in this period of time.


    The 23rd Division was a new division. They didn¡¯t have much foundation so they couldn¡¯t force mecha ns give out their powerful mecha operators.


    This cruel reality forced Chief He to look at the entire military instead of just his division.


    Damn it. If he couldn¡¯t draw his own blood, he would draw other people¡¯s blood.


    Chief He was a smart person. He focused his attention on the factions that wanted to stuff their men into 250 Ace Mecha n.


    Well, you want to go there? Fine, I only want the best mecha operators.


    The other factions were able to stuff so many powerful mecha operators into 250 Ace Mecha n because Chief He helped them to ease their way into the n.


    After interacting with those two people from the Ling family, Chief He had no choice but to learn to scheme. Thus, another righteous person had fallen under the hands of the Ling family.


    As for whether Ling Lan was able to make all these mecha operators listen to her, it was not his concern.


    In actual fact, Ling Lan was satisfied with what Chief He did. After she got back and heard from her father that close a hundred powerful mecha operators came to 250 Ace Mecha n, she smiled.


    Why were her father¡¯s opponents so cute? They gave her just what she needed.

 Chapter 1060 - Snatch People!

    <strong>Chapter 1060 Snatch People!</strong>


    As for the faction behind these mecha masters, Ling Lan didn¡¯t care.


    Since they came to the 250 Ace Mecha n, they would remain as mecha operators of 250 Ace Mecha n. Even if they die, they would be the ghost of 250 Ace Mecha n.


    Sometimes, Ling Lan was quite stubborn and domineering. However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t realize this as she had always felt like she was a reasonable person.


    Anyway, when did her military doctor became so evil? Who taught him all those bad things? Ling Lan thought about this question carefully. She missed the kind and easily fooled Li Shiyu of the past.


    For some reason, the image of Li Lanfeng smiling brightly appeared in her mind.


    It must be that bastard! Ling Lan quickly pushed the me to Li Lanfeng.


    Soom, the unconscious mecha operators in the cafeteria were sent to the medical center. For a period of time, they would be tortured by Li Shiyu¡¯s agents. They would visit to hell ande back to life again.


    It couldn¡¯t be helped. These mecha operators were elite ace mecha masters but after experiencing many battles and life-or-death situations, their bodies were badly damaged. If they didn¡¯te to 250 Ace Mecha n, their health would deteriorate as they aged. They were at their peak health now but once they grew old, they could only retire with a body full of injuries.


    If you looked at it in some way, they were very lucky to havee to 250 Ace Mecha n. At the same time, they were unfortunate too. If they wanted to be acknowledged by Ling Lan and be a real member of 250 Ace Mecha n, they needed to go through much torment.


    In the future, there were more torments waiting for them.


    The logisticians hiding at the back didn¡¯t escape their punishments too. However, their situation was better. Their training was only two times more intense than than the training the mecha operators had to undergo.


    All the logisticians felt grateful. They were d that their regimentmander showed them some mercy. They didn¡¯t know that the intensity of their training was greater than the intensity of the mecha operators¡¯ training in other mecha ns.


    Hence, their happiness was gotten throughparison.


    After they finished training, they wouldy on the ground tiredly. But, when they saw the torture the mecha operators had to go through and their looks of despair, they felt happier.


    After one week of torment, their regimentmander finally gave them a day off. Maybe Ling Lan felt that their performance was not bad.


    That day, the entire 250 Ace Mecha n was quiet. Oh wait, snores could be heard in all corners of the dormitory district.


    The people at the bottom were able to sleep for the day to replenish their energy but the ten team leaders and the heads of the various departments couldn¡¯t enjoy this privilege. They were thrown out of the base by their regimentmander so that they could wee the new mecha operators and the new logisticians.


    As the team leaders of the mecha ns, they had to go to the spaceport to trick... I mean, to recruit some cadets.


    As for Lin Zhong-qing and Li Shiyu, they went to the logistics department of the 23rd division to snatch, I mean, to ask for some logisticians before the department finished their arrangements.


    They were in a hurry because Ling Lan knew that she didn¡¯t have much time. Before the order from the military headquarters came, she must make sure that the number of people in the mecha n reached the minimum requirement. If not, when they go to other divisions, their superiors might try to ce their men into her mecha n.


    This wasn¡¯t the same as the hundred new mecha operators. These mecha operators were from different factions so they were guarded against one another and were unable to work together. Ling Lan was confident that she could control them.


    However, if many people from the same faction were sent in, it would be a different problem. 250 Ace Mecha n wascking close to a thousand mecha operators. This meant that her 250 Ace Mecha n would not be hers anymore if the thousand empty slots were filled with by an opposing faction.


    Ling Xiao knew this too. However, there were people watching over him so he couldn¡¯t act freely. He was able to give 250 Ace Mecha n what they deserved, but Ling Lan had to rely on herself for other things.


    Hence, she had to send all the leaders of the 250 Ace Mecha n to recruit some cadets.


    Plus, Ling Lan needed to go somewhere. This was an idea from Chief He. If she seeded, she would be able to fill up half of the empty slots for mecha operators.


    In the spaceport, multiple military vessels hadnded there.


    Besides war times, the spaceport would be really busy during this time of the year. The recruits from the military academies who managed to enter the 23rd division sessfully would be sent here at this time every year. They would then be distributed ordingly.


    This was the day when every mecha n would send a representative over to assess new recruits too. The quiet spaceport turned lively today.


    Compared to the past few years, there were more representatives from the various mecha ns this year. There were quite a few exceptional recruits this year too. The total number of recruits were more than the total number in the past few years too.


    A military vessel slowly moved towards the spaceport of Southcrest.


    Six young people sat around a round table in the lounge area of the starship. They were waiting for the JMCs on the starship to notify them to get out of the starship.


    The image of Southcrest was disyed on a huge screen.


    ¡°Wow, leader. Is this Southcrest? It¡¯s really beautiful.¡± A cute young man shouted excitedly when he saw the image.


    ¡°Little Tao, you¡¯re so childish. This is the headquarters of the 23rd division. How can you use beautiful to describe it?¡± A handsome young man teased him.


    ¡°Yan Wuyou, I¡¯m not talking to you. I¡¯m asking our leader.¡± The cute young man red at the person. This bad person always liked to tease him.


    The leader he was referring to was the stern-looking young man on the other side of the table. The leader got attracted by Little Tao¡¯s words and was also looking intently at the screen.


    There was excitement in his eyes which were calm most of the time.


    After two years, he finally came here. He was very close to the person he admired.


    The cold young man noticed his unstable emotions so he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.


    ¡®Ling Yi, you can¡¯t be excited now. You haven¡¯t enter his mecha n yet. You still have to work hard.¡¯


    That¡¯s right. This person was Ling Yi. He had always wanted to follow Ling Lan. In order to catch up with Ling Lan, he trained with all his might and finally managed to enter the 23rd division in his fifth year.


    Other people might still be loss but Ling Yi knew what he wanted. He wouldn¡¯t go anywhere else besides 250 Ace Mecha n.


    Ling Lan¡¯s actions on Haijiao were made known to everyone. Hence, Ling Yi, who had always been following Ling Lan, knew where he went. His only choice was 250 Ace Mecha n. No one could change his mind.

 Chapter 1061 - Logistician?!

    <strong>Chapter 1061 Logistician?!</strong>


    Ling Yi was just a cadet so he didn¡¯t know the battle for power between the higher authorities. He also didn¡¯t know that the Young Master Lan he respected almost couldn¡¯t return to 250 Ace Mecha n.


    The military vessel entered the spaceport. Ling Yi and his team members followed the crowd and alighted the military vessel.


    The spaceport on Southcrest was a military spaceport. This meant that it wasn¡¯t as lively and messy as other public spaceports.


    In the spaceport, many military vessels were parked in an orderly manner. There were guards on duty in all the important locations.


    Along the way, they met some soldiers who hurried along with their missions in hand. They admired the tidy and handsome blue-white uniform on these soldiers.


    Of course, most of the people they saw were cadets who just entered the 23rd division. It was obvious that they were cadets.


    The cadets were wearing the green uniform which only recruits would wear. Whether it was the design or the material, it couldn¡¯t bepared to the military uniform for the official soldiers of the 23rd division.


    If they wanted to wear those uniforms, they needed to survive their recruit training.


    Ling Yi and his group followed the instructions of the soldiers on duty and came to the resting hall.


    There were already many people in the hall, but they quickly found a roll of seats and sat down.


    Most of the people in the hall were recruits. There were some veteran soldiers in blue-white uniforms too. Most of them were first lieutenants and captains. They would look up at the recruits asionally and then write something down on their virtual screens.


    ¡°Leader, are these the invigtors for the first round of assessment? Our teacher has always mentioned them,¡± Rong Ziruo leaned close to Ling Yi and asked in a soft voice.


    ¡°You should be right.¡± Ling Yi nodded.


    They had prepared beforehand. Their teacher wanted them to have a better stage to show off their talents so he reminded them before they left, to be mindful of their actions the moment they entered the military vessel of the 23rd division. The assessments of the various mecha ns might have started without them realizing


    Of course, this kind of assessment was held secretly due to the fact that the military headquarters wouldn¡¯t allow such assessments to be held publicly so this was just held based on the agreement between mecha ns. The military headquarters banned these kinds of assessment because they didn¡¯t want the strength of the mecha ns to vary too much.


    However, Ling Yi and his team members weren¡¯t sure about the assessment criteria. They only knew that once they finished their recruit training, the mecha ns would start inviting them in.


    They would only know which mecha n had their eyes on them during that time. There might even be a fight for them. Of course, they were the outstanding ones among the crowd. There were considered geniuses in their academy.


    Tao Xiaotao always felt that his leader was a genius so he looked at Ling Yi with admiration. He lowered his voice and said, ¡°Leader, there¡¯ll be a lot of mecha ns that will invite you.¡±


    Tao Xiaotao thought about himself. He was good at nothing. He had only managed to barely pass the selection criteria so no one would pick him. His eyes dimmed. ¡°I wonder where I¡¯ll go to. Leader, do we have to be separated?¡±


    Everyone got demoralized by Tao Xiaotao¡¯s words. This was something all the battle ns had to go through when they entered the military.


    Unless a miracle happened, such as forming a battle team the moment they came out of the recruit training camp, they would have to be separated.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll be together,¡± Ling Yi said seriously.


    ¡°Yes. Based on our leader¡¯s capabilities, you should be able to stand firmly in your mecha n soon. After that, you can find someone to bring you over.¡± Hua Qingxin noticed everyone¡¯s low morale so he quickly cheered everyone up.


    Everyone¡¯s mood got better when they heard this. Only Yi Tiange continued to give a serious expression. He wasn¡¯t moved.


    Everyone turned solemn again.


    ¡°Tiange, did I say something wrong?¡± Hua Qingxin asked awkwardly.


    Yi Tiange shook his head. ¡°No.¡±


    Hua Qingxin wanted to heave a sigh of relief but Yi Tiange continued, ¡°However, our leader has to go to a normal mecha n for that to happen.¡±


    He looked at Ling Yi. His eyes were glistening. He understood his leader. ¡°But, our leader will never go to a normal mecha n.¡±


    From the moment he chose to apply for the 23rd division, Yi Tiange knew that Ling Yi had chosen the hardest path.


    Everyone remembered what Ling Yi said a few years ago.


    Tao Xiaotao swallowed his saliva and smacked his lips a few times before saying, ¡°Leader, do you really want to go to 250 Ace Mecha n? But, you don¡¯t meet the requirements.¡±


    250 Ace Mecha n was a ce where legends gathered. It wasn¡¯t a ce recruits like them could enter. Based on the news they received, 250 Ace Mecha n only epted experienced and powerful elite ace mecha masters. Besides Ling Yi and Yi Tiange who were middle stage ace mecha masters, the other four people were just special-ss operators.


    They didn¡¯t even hit the lowest requirements. How were they able to enter 250 Ace Mecha n?


    ¡°I know. That¡¯s why I will apply to be a logistician!¡± Ling Yi had made his decision long ago. However, he felt sorry for therades who followed him for so many years.


    ¡°Logistician?!¡± Tao Xiaotao eximed. He wanted to vomit blood. Ling Yi had a bright future ahead of himself. Yet, for the sake of Ling Lan, he gave up all the honor, merits, power and status he could get. This was something Tao Xiaotao would never wrap his head around


    Tao Xiaotao¡¯s exmation disturbed the other cadets around them. They looked over at him curiously, but some red at him. Tao Xiaotao quickly stood up and apologized. Then, he sat down and took a few deep breaths to calm down.


    He wasn¡¯t the only one that was shocked. The other four people in the group were astounded too. They just didn¡¯t act it out.


    Yi Tiange stared at Ling Yi¡¯s eyes intently. Ling Yi didn¡¯t look away from his stare. He was firm with his decision.


    After a few seconds, Yi Tiange said in a low voice, ¡°Have you really decided?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Ling Yi only replied with a word but Yi Tiange understood him.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Yi Tiange took a deep breath. ¡°In that case, we might not have to split up anymore.¡±


    Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up. Only Tao Xiaotao remained confused.


    ¡°Let¡¯s all go into 250 Ace Mecha n as logisticians.¡± Yi Tiange felt that no matter how powerful a mecha n was, they wouldn¡¯t reject two ace mecha masters and four special-ss operators as their logisticians.


    If Yi Tiange knew that there were close to a hundred special-ss operators as logisticians in 250 Ace Mecha n, he might not be so confident anymore.

 Chapter 1062 - Can’t Wait Anymore!

    <h4>Chapter 1062 Can¡¯t Wait Anymore!</h4>


    The resting hall was soon filled with cadets. By right, they should be sent to the recruit training camp after everyone had gathered. However, the spaceport didn¡¯t seem to have made any arrangements for it.


    Not only that, the officers that were sitting among the cadets received some notification and seemed surprised by it. They stood up and walked out of the hall.


    Half an hourter, more and more people gathered in the hall. Those that cameter had no seats and had to stand by the walls. They were waiting for their next orders.


    ¡°Leader, did something happen?¡± Yan Wuyou frowned and asked.


    ¡°Something must have happened,¡± Yi Tiange replied calmly.


    At this moment, the voice of a JMC of the spaceport sounded.


    ¡°Cadets, please take notice. Due to sudden circumstances, you will be assigned to your mecha ns now.¡±


    ¡°Cadets, please take notice...¡±


    The JMC repeated the announcement three times. All the cadets were shocked. They didn¡¯t know if this was a good or bad thing.


    The adaptive ability of the people at the spaceport was strong. Within a short time, all the recruits were sent to the registration hall.


    Many officers who just received the notification had arrived at the registration hall. Officers from all ranks could be seen. It was very messy.


    This was because the snatching of recruits, which was supposed to happen three monthster, was pushed to today forcibly. Many mecha ns were caught off guard. The team leaders of many battle teams couldn¡¯te in time so they could only ask the officers that came to assess the recruits to rece them.


    At that moment, in the staff officer department, all the staff officers were busy with work. The busiest person was, of course, our chief of staff.


    ¡°Chief of staff, the military is asking why we pushed the time for the recruitment of recruits forward? How should we reply to them?¡± One of the staff officers ran over and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He was asking He Xuyang who was sitting calmly behind his office desk.


    He Xuyang was the one who gave the order to distribute the recruits before their training camp. He was the one who started this tsunami.


    ¡°Tell them that the training camp is destroyed by an earthquake so we can¡¯t let hold the training camp now. We have no choice but to distribute the recruits first,¡± He Xuyang replied with a straight face.


    Chief of staff, you¡¯re shameless!


    The staff officer knew that the recruit camp was perfectly fine. When the 23rd division built the camp, they considered all possibilities and evaded the areas where earthquakes could happen. Was it alright to reply to the military headquarters with such an obvious lie?


    The staff officer was worried about his superior. However, He Xuyang didn¡¯t need his concern. When he saw his officer standing still, he raised his eyebrows and looked at him. ¡°Why are you still here?¡±


    The staff officer had no choice but to leave. He replied to the military headquarters with what He Xuyang said.


    He Xuyang didn¡¯t care whether the military headquarters believed him. His most important task was to fill up empty slots in 250 Ace Mecha n.


    He Xuyang felt stressed. He looked out of the window and recalled the news he got from General Ling Xiao just now. He started frowning again.


    ¡°There¡¯s no time now.¡±


    Ling Xiao looked at the information he just received and said the same thing.


    ¡°We can¡¯t wait anymore!¡±


    The moment Ling Yi entered the registration hall, many officers took notice of him.


    ¡°You¡¯re Recruit Ling Yi from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, right?¡± Everyone was stunned by the sudden change of event so they didn¡¯t act like they normally would. In the past, they would carefully observe their targets before inviting them. Now, they didn¡¯t wait at all and acted directly.


    Everyone wanted to get the people they wanted as soon as possible in case something unexpected happened again.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Ling Yi nodded.


    ¡°I¡¯m from the XX Mecha n. I would like to invite you to our mecha n.¡± One of the majors went directly into the topic.


    The other officers that were interested in Ling Yi came forward too. They all invited Ling Yi. They weren¡¯t as calm as they used to be.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I already have a mecha n I want.¡± Many mecha ns invited Ling Yi. One of them was even a titled super mecha n. If he entered that mecha n, he would have a bright future ahead of himself. However, all these benefits and offers didn¡¯t waver Ling Yi¡¯s decision.


    ¡°May I know which mecha n you want to go to?¡± The officers continued asking. They didn¡¯t want to give up. If Ling Yi¡¯s target was just a normal mecha n, they were confident that they could persuade him over.


    ¡°I want to go to 250 Ace Mecha n,¡± Ling Yi said proudly. That was the mecha n his family head had created, a mecha n that created many miracles.


    The expressions of the officers turned strange. Some even looked at Ling Yi with pity.


    250 Ace Mecha n was the hero of the entire Federation. However, in the 23rd division, 250 Ace Mecha n was in a weird position. Many people were envious of the people inside but no one wanted to get into the mecha n. They didn¡¯t want to die yet.


    A few regimentmanders who had the honor of witnessing the training of 250 Ace Mecha n got frightened. The intensity of the training was not something a normal person could handle. Everyone in 250 Ace Mecha n was a lunatic.


    The officer realized his breach of etiquette so he coughed and said calmly, ¡°Your goal is good but the 250 Ace Mecha n is not a mecha n anyone can enter. If you¡¯re not an experienced elite ace mecha master, they wouldn¡¯t want you.¡±


    ¡°Ling Yi, don¡¯t be overambitious.¡± Someone reminded Ling Yi with concern.


    ¡°I understand. That¡¯s why I applied to be a logistician,¡± Ling Yi answered seriously.


    ¡°What?¡± Almost all the officers wanted to vomit blood. They persuaded him nicely and even promised that they would groom him personally but he still wanted to enter the 250 Ace Mecha n as a logistician?


    ¡°You¡¯re giving up on yourself! How can you go there and be a logistician?¡± One of the officers couldn¡¯t control his emotions anymore.


    ¡°Why? Do you have a problem with us?¡± A clear voice rang through the hall.


    The expressions of the furious officers suddenly changed.


    ¡°The 250 Ace Mecha n!¡±


    The 250 Ace Mecha n had appeared.


    Two young people appeared at the entrance. One was bright and cheerful while the other was beautiful.


    Ling Yi looked at the two people who just came and a rare smile appeared on his face.


    ¡°It¡¯s them!¡± The six people from the Ling Yi Battle n thought of the same thing.


    Two team leaders of the 250 Ace Mecha n, Xie Yi, and Luo Lang, walked into the hall.

 Chapter 1063 - The Eight Lord

    <h4>Chapter 1063 The Eight Lord</h4>


    ¡°Senior Xie!¡±


    ¡°Senior Luo!¡±


    All the recruits from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy stood up in unnned unison as they greeted their seniors excitedly.


    They didn¡¯t greet at the same time so it was really noisy and messy but it was obvious that they were greeting Xie Yi and Luo Lang.


    They gave nicknames to the eight men under the king of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, Ling Lan. They were known as the eight lords. Luo Lang and Xie Yi were two of the lords.


    Of course, their names became famous after they left the military academy so Ling Lan and herrades didn¡¯t know that they had be a legend in the military academy.


    Ling Lan was the invincible and mighty Domineering King Lan.


    The eight lords were:


    Loyal Lord: Qi Long!


    He had a humble face so all his juniors felt that he was the most loyal to Ling Lan. Thus, they gave him this nickname.


    Beauty Lord: Luo Lang!


    Just like what the name meant, it was given based on Luo Lang¡¯s beauty.


    Friendly Lord: Xie Yi!


    Xie Yi was a bright and cheerful person. He could make friends with anyone. At the start, everyone had different nicknames for him. In the end, ¡®Friendly Lord¡¯ got the most votes and this nickname was given to Xie Yi.


    Tactic Lord: Han Jijyun!


    When Ling Lan reigned over the military academy, Li Lanfeng had already left. Hence, their juniors didn¡¯t know that Ling Lan had two advisers. They always saw Han Jijyun making schemes for Ling Lan so they gave him this nickname.


    Logistics Lord: Lin Zhong-qing!


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s nickname was the first to be confirmed by everyone. His presence meant quality logisticians. They used Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s nickname as a temte to confirm the nicknames of the other people.


    Manager Lord: Wu Jiong!


    Whether it was before Ling Lan reigned over the military academy or after, she was never the one who managed her team. It was Wu Jiong. His outstanding management ability gained everyone¡¯s acknowledgment so they gave him this nickname.


    Violent Lord: Li Yingjie!


    Fine, every time there was trouble, Li Yingjie could be seen lurking around in the scene. The teachers and students of the First Men¡¯s Military Academy knew that there had to be a bad man in a team, and Li Yingjie was the bad man.


    Actually, many people wanted to call Li Yingjie the Evil Lord or the Devil Lord. However, as the legend of the school, the names of the eight lords would be recorded in the history of their school. If they gave such a lousy nickname to their lord, they would be embarrassed too. To maintain their dignity, everyone decided to give a neutral nickname.


    Pioneer Lord: Ye Xu!


    If Li Yingjie was an irritating person, Ye Xu was a likable person. He represented righteousness. He would always appear in areas where they were trouble. He was always the one in the lead so he was given this nickname.


    Although Wu Jiong and Ye Xu didn¡¯t stay with Ling Lan after they entered the military, their contribution to Ling Lan¡¯s reign couldn¡¯t be overlooked. Hence, the two of them were included inside the eight lords.


    Luo Lang looked at Xie Yi in a questioning manner when he heard the people shouting his name. He was puzzled. Who were these people?


    In the military academy, Luo Lang only paid attention to his boss. He didn¡¯t care about anything else. Besides his boss, the only other things he did was practice and more practice.


    He didn¡¯t know anyone here. Oh, he knew one person. He knew Ling Yi. He remembered Ling Yi because this person was very durable. He could find him to practice his physical skills.


    Xie Yi understood Luo Lang well. Hence, when he saw Luo Lang¡¯s gaze, he lowered his head and exined that these were all their juniors from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    Luo Lang finally knew what was happening. He quickly put on a gentle and amiable to show everyone that he didn¡¯t forget about his juniors.


    Xie Yi couldn¡¯t bear to look at him. He turned his head slowly.


    Luo Lang felt that he had shown his friendliness to his juniors so he turned and looked at one of the majors coldly. ¡°Do you have anything against our 250 Ace Mecha n?¡±


    His domineering attitude made the major furious. The major¡¯srades saw this and pulled his sleeve quickly to remind him to stay calm.


    Ling Lan was unable to recover so he was removed from the position as the regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n (The military hadn¡¯t announced that Ling Lan had resumed her position. Only a few higher authorities in the 23rd division knew about this), making the future of 250 Ace Mecha n uncertain. However, this mecha n was still created by Lieutenant Colonel Ling so General Ling Xiao would take extra care of 250 Ace Mecha n. After all, Ling Lan was Ling Xiao¡¯s son.


    Hence, it was useless to offend the 250 Ace Mecha n now. They should control their emotions and wait to see what would happen. If the 250 Ace Mecha n was really forsaken, they would be able to take their revenge then.


    Anyone who was able to be a high-ranking officer wasn¡¯t stupid. The major got reminded by hisrade and calmed down almost instantly. He squeezed out a smile and soften his attitude. ¡°Why would I have anything against you? Lieutenant Colonel Luo, you misunderstood me.¡±


    The major softened his attitude because Luo Lang¡¯s rank was higher than him. Plus, Luo Lang had real power too.


    He was a team leader. Although the number of his team members was fewer than most teams in the military, the 250 Ace Mecha n could fill up their empty slots at anytime. Luo Lang would then be a real team leader. As for him, he needed to work hard for many years before he could reach Luo Lang¡¯s level. It might take him 20 years or more.


    The major was already more than 40 years old. He looked at the two young soldiers who had only been in the military for two years. He was green with envy.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Luo Lang was satisfied. Then, he turned around and walked towards Ling Yi and his team members.


    Luo Lang didn¡¯t want to know if the major meant what he said. He just needed an answer he wanted.


    Luo Lang was a straightforward person. He was unconcerned about everything other than what he wanted but this meant that his actions normally wouldn¡¯t cause any hugemotion.

 Chapter 1064 - Work Hard To Gain Full Attendance!

    <h4>Chapter 1064 Work Hard To Gain Full Attendance!</h4>


    When Luo Lang left, the frightened major finally heaved a sigh of relief. He thought that Luo Lang would continue probing him. He didn¡¯t expect him to let him go so easily.


    He looked at Luo Lang. Did Luo Lang ept his exnation or was he just unwilling to create more trouble so he gave him an easy way out?


    He should be giving him an easy way out! The major wasn¡¯t angry anymore. No matter what, he owed Luo Lang a favour for doing that for him because if this issue became huge, he would be at a disadvantage.


    Without Ling Lan, General Ling Xiao would still treat 250 Ace Mecha n differently within this short period of time.


    Luo Lang walked towards Ling Yi. He asked curiously, ¡°Did you say that you want to join the 250 Ace Mecha n as a logistician?¡±


    Ling Yi nodded. ¡°Yes, Senior Luo.¡± This was the only way he could enter 250 Ace Mecha n. This was the only way he would be able to stay beside his young master who took care of him for more than ten years. It was time for him to repay his kindness.


    Ling Yi knew that if it wasn¡¯t for his young master, he wouldn¡¯t be able to enter the military academy and learn so many useful skills. Without help from his young master, Qi Long and his other seniors wouldn¡¯t have taught him so carefully. His young master seemed heartless but he was a very kind person. Only people like him, who had been taken care of by his young master, could understand this point.


    Luo Lang gave a satisfied smile. Actually, when he and Xie Yi came to recruit people into their mecha n, they weren¡¯t so confident. To prevent people from stuffing their men into their mecha n through connections, their regimentmander announced that they would only ept elite ace mecha masters and above.


    If all the mecha ns were in their position to snatch the recruits, they couldn¡¯t do anything more too. They had high standards but no benefits attached along with those high standards. Most mecha operators wouldn¡¯t want to be a soldier with no power. No ace mecha masters would cry and plead toe to 250 Ace Mecha n. Hence, they didn¡¯t even have the chance to pretend that they were moved by them.


    But, there is always a way out. Ling Yi actually thought of a perfect way to enter their mecha n without offending anyone. No one was able to say anything about it too. Logisticians... there were no requirements for logisticians.


    Luo Lang clenched his fist. His boss trusted him and passed this mission to him, so he must finish it perfectly.


    ¡°Calm personality, help me.¡± Luo Lang looked for his adviser.


    ¡°What results do you want?¡± The calm personality asked indifferently.


    By now, the other personalities wouldn¡¯t disturb the primary personality if the primary personality didn¡¯t call for them. Of course, they might think that the primary personality had grown up so it was time for them to let go of their reins.


    ¡°Try to fool as many people toe to 250 Ace Mecha n as logisticians.¡± Luo Lang¡¯s eyes lit up. He could almost see his boss looking at him with approval. Yes, he must take everyone here away with him.


    ¡°I understand!¡± The calm personality replied. Then, he returned to the mindscape and coldly said, ¡°Any personality that has the ability to fool and persuade people, pleasee out.¡±


    ¡°Wow, did I heard correctly?¡± Azy voice appeared in the mindscape.


    ¡°I think we heard correctly.¡± A happy voice was heard. This voice was the voice of a good person.


    ¡°Calm personality hates us the most, right?¡± Another voice sounded uncertain.


    ¡°Yes. He feels that we might teach the primary personality the wrong things,¡± another helpless voice said, ¡°Well, we needed to be able to contact the primary personality first.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect him to find us.¡± Everyone eximed together. ¡°Let¡¯s see if the sun rose from the west today.¡±


    ¡°Erm, it really rose from the west today.¡± The rotation of Southcrest was different from others.


    ¡°Haha, times have changed. It¡¯s finally our turn toe out.¡± These personalities, who were suppressed by the calm personality, were finally able to see the light of day.


    ¡°Stop messing around. You heard the request from the primary personality. Think about how you can work together toplete this mission.¡± The calm personality noticed that these personalities were getting too excited so he gave them a reminder.


    The other personalities felt the seriousness from the calm personality so they quieted down. They didn¡¯t want to ruin their first impression on the primary personality. If they didn¡¯t perform well, the calm personality might throw them into some small corner of the mindscape and never use them again.


    Who only wanted one chance to stand on stage? In order to gain more chances to appear in the future, all the personalities that had weird characters sat down together and started discussing how they could work together toplete this mission with flying colours.


    Luo Lang smiled. However, his beautiful smile was even more enchanting than before. All the recruits in the hall were mesmerized by him.


    ¡°250 Ace Mecha n is the most powerful mecha n. Do you want to join us?¡± Luo Lang¡¯s voice was enticing. ¡°Do you know why 250 Ace Mecha n is so powerful? That¡¯s because our mecha operators are not just mecha operators. Our logisticians are not just logisticians too.¡±


    Luo Lang raised his head. He looked like a goddess and there seemed to be holy lights glowing around him. He continued, ¡°In our mecha n, mecha operators are logisticians. Logisticians are mecha operators too. Juniors, we are waiting for you to enter our mecha n. You¡¯ll be the logisticians of the future mecha operators. You¡¯ll be the ones creating the future of 250 Ace Mecha n.¡±


    A few simple words made the recruits excited. They felt that only 250 Ace Mecha n was able to satisfy their ambition to be stronger. They would be able to create a better future in 250 Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°I want to enter,¡± Ling Yi shouted loudly. He had already made his decision before this so he instantly replied to Luo Lang.


    The other five members of his team had decided to stay with him so they raised their hands and shouted, ¡°Me too.¡±


    After Ling Yi and his team members shouted, other hot-blooded young men got even more excited and followed suit. ¡°Me too!¡±


    Some recruits got influenced by their peers and started to act rashly too. They raised their hands quickly with the intentions to join the 250 Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°Opportunity onlyes once. There¡¯s a limited number of logisticians we can ept. Hurry up and register your name there. We¡¯ll stop epting logisticians once the limit is reached.¡± Luo Lang pointed to the registration <b>counter.</b>


    Ling Yi was the first one to dash to the registration counter. His five team members followed behind him closely. The recruits from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy noticed their most powerful schoolmate moving towards the registration counter so they hurriedly charged towards the registration counter too. The staff members got frightened by them. They thought that the recruits wanted to smash their workce.


    After the recruits from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy ran over, the recruits from the other military academies followed along instinctively. They started shouting that they wanted to enter 250 Ace Mecha n too.


    Xie Yi looked at the outstanding recruits who wanted to be the logisticians of 250 Ace Mecha n. He was dumbfounded. He turned to look at Luo Lang. Luo Lang was very excited about the recruits so there was a faint blush on his cheeks. Xie Yi felt speechless. He looked up at the simple but bright lights on the ceiling.


    He must have heard the wrong things. How could the simple-minded Luo Lang say such enticing words? He thought that Li Lanfeng hade just now. Yet, it was really Luo Lang He might mistake other people but he would never mistake Luo Lang.


    The officers from the other mecha ns got anxious when they noticed that the recruits were enticed by Luo Lang¡¯s words. How could they give up being a mecha operator to be a logistician? They wanted to remind the recruits to not act rashly but they suddenly realized that they couldn¡¯t move.


    If there was a domain realm master among them, they would be able to see the invisible chains around their bodies. Luo Lang didn¡¯t just use words to entice the recruits. He also activated his domain to used the chain array which he secretly learned from his boss to chain up all the officers whom he felt would disturb the beautiful scene in front of him.


    ¡®This is bad! There¡¯s a domain realm master!¡¯ All the officers turned pale. Was this domain realm master warning them against interfering with the affairs of 250 Ace Mecha n? They suddenly remembered the identity of the past regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n.


    They felt enlightened. This domain realm master must be sent by General Ling Xiao. General Ling Xiao didn¡¯t want 250 Ace Mecha n, which was built by his son, to be destroyed by the public. That was why he helped 250 Ace Mecha n.


    The officers were frightened so they didn¡¯t dare to struggle. However, as there were too many people in the hall, Luo Lang was only able to chain them for a short period of them even if they didn¡¯t struggle. Still, he was satisfied with the result. At least, no one disturbed his n during this period of time so more recruits would be able to enter 250 Ace Mecha n.


    Xie Yi noticed Luo Lang activating his domain secretly so he came beside Luo Lang and stayed vignt. Although the most powerful ones among these officers were only at the peak stage of Qi ¨C Jin, there might be a domain realm master hidden among them. If they suddenly attacked Luo Lang, he would be able to help him instantly. It had to be said that the staff at the registration counter were very efficient. Within 15 minutes, most of the recruits had finished their registration.


    At that moment, the force that was suppressing the officer disappeared. However, they still didn¡¯t dare to stop those recruits.


    Everyone wondered if the domain realm masters sent by General Ling Xiao was still watching over them. If anyone dared to stop the recruits, their names might be made known to General Ling Xiao. Based on General Ling Xiao¡¯s character, he might not do anything to them. However, the people below him might fall into conclusions and give them trouble.


    There were recruitsing in every year. If they didn¡¯t get any recruits this year, they could find more next year. But, if they were targeted by those people with a higher power, there was no way they could salvage the situation.


    Everyone knew how to evade harm and looked for gains. Hence, they chose to watch the drama unfold in front of them silently.


    Yes, to them. This was a drama. They couldn¡¯t understand why these stupid recruits wanted to be a logistician when they could be a mecha operator. The status, treatment, and rewards given to a mecha operator were very different from the one given to a logistician.


    Of course, not all of the recruits got lured in by Luo Lang. Some strong-minded recruits still went to the mecha ns they wanted to go to. This was a constion to all the other mecha ns.


    Xie Yi and Luo Langpleted their mission at the registration hall. They managed to get 998 logisticians. Luo Lang felt a little awkward with this number. If they had two more people, the number would seem a little nicer.


    At that moment, the other team leaders had reached their destination too. Their mission was more difficult than Luo Lang and Xie Yi¡¯s. Their destinations were the coordination departments of the various corps.


    They weren¡¯t looking for recruits. They wanted mecha operators who had outstanding performances and were waiting to be assigned to new positions.


    In summary, the entire 23rd division was turned upside down because of these team leaders. However, they came with Regiment Commander Ling¡¯s order so various corps could only smile and give them some people. After all, Ling Lan was the heir of the 23rd division.


    To make sure that 250 Ace Mecha n was filled up as quickly as possible, Ling Lan made use of her special identity.


    Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t do some things but as his ¡®bold and reckless son¡¯, she could. Other people would justin that she wasn¡¯t educated. However, since she was supposedly unable to recover from her serious injuries, they couldn¡¯t reprimand her too much. Most people who were in despair would be stubborn and do crazy things.


    Lin Zhong-qing and his men from the logistics department charged into the logistics department of the 23rd division and demanded many resources from them. The head of the logistics department of the 23rd division felt his heart pounding furiously as he looked at the report of the number of logistician taken away by Lin Zhong-qing. Their logisticians were almost all taken away by the people from 250 Ace Mecha n.


    Time was tight. No one knew where 250 Ace Mecha n would be thrown too. Once their destination was confirmed, they were unable to request anything from the 23rd division anymore.


    The logistics department of the 23rd division appeared hesitant and unwilling to give 250 Ace Mecha n what they wanted but because of Ling Lan, they would still ultimately satisfy all their requests. They would never bargain with them.


    This was a treatment they couldn¡¯t enjoy after they leave the 23rd division. Lin Zhong-qing knew that only the people in the 23rd division would treat them so well. Once they leave the 23rd division, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get resources so easily.


    After all, they were banished. It wasn¡¯t a reward.


    Everyone was working hard to fill up the empty slots in 250 Ace Mecha n. As their regimentmander, Ling Lan had to work hard too.


    Ling Lan came to the headquarters of the 23rd division. However, she didn¡¯t go to the logistics department. She went to a special department. It was the overall prep department for soldiers without any position, mostmonly known as the unused prep department.

 Chapter 1065 - Mistakes!

    <h4>Chapter 1065 Mistakes!</h4>


    This department was the most inconspicuous department in the 23rd division. Besides the people who had some rtionship with them, no one woulde here to recruit people.


    The reason was simple. Most of the soldiers here could be split into three types.


    The first type, which made up for more than half of the soldiers in the unused prep department, were experienced veteran soldiers who had participated in many battles. Unfortunately, they were either crippled or heavily injured when they lost theirst battle.


    After they recovered, there were many implications in their physical health. Some people¡¯s hand speed dropped while other¡¯s health decreased. They were no longer able to handle long hours of high-intensity workout or battles. Because of various reasons, they couldn¡¯t return to their peak.


    Some of these people didn¡¯t want to implicate theirrades while others decided to give up on themselves. Hence, they all chose toe to the unused prep department and wait for people toe and choose them. If not, they would leave the military after their terms ended.


    They weren¡¯t like mecha operators in 250 Ace Mecha n. Those mecha operators in 250 Ace Mecha n had many merits so the military couldn¡¯t abandon them. As for those people in the unused prep department, they were all normal mecha operators. They weren¡¯t famous but they protected their base and selflessly worked for the Federation.


    They were pitiful. Soldiers like these normally stayed at the unused prep department until it was time for them to leave the military. Unless a new mecha n was formed and they needed experienced veteran soldiers as instructors, they wouldn¡¯t be called out. Even if they really got sent to a mecha n, they would only end up being third-grade logisticians. They would receive the lowest amount of funds and just silently work for the military until they retired.


    The second type of people were those unweed soldiers in mecha ns. These people were powerful but they were unruly, arrogant and just wouldn¡¯t listen to their superiors. When their regimentmander couldn¡¯t bear with them anymore, they would throw them into the unused prep department and let them fend for themselves there.


    Without extreme luck, they would have to spend the rest of their lives in the unused prep department. If they were lucky and got the chance to go to another mecha n, they could only be normal mecha operators. This was because anyone that got kicked to the unused prep department would be on the cklist. No one would want a person like this in their mecha n.


    Of course, not everyone in the unused prep department was a problematic soldier. Sometimes, there were powerful people too. They either came to the unused prep department voluntarily to have a new start or they were forced there by their enemies.


    For instance, these people.


    ¡°Damn it, I¡¯ve been here for almost five months. I¡¯m starting to get moldy.¡± A muscr, tall, and fierce-looking soldier was sitting in the cafeteria eating his food. He took two mouthfuls of his food and recalled the frustrating times he spent here. He knocked his chopsticks on his bowl to vent his anger.


    ¡°Everyone says that General Ling Xiao is fair and just. I think it¡¯s all a lie.¡± A muscr man at another table spat andined when he heard what hisrade said.


    ¡°Yuan Ming!¡± Two tables away, a stern-looking middle-aged man shouted.


    ¡°Leader, did I say something wrong?¡± The muscr man called Yuan Ming stood up angrily when he heard his leader questioning him. ¡°Although we didn¡¯t follow them all the way, we helped Regiment Commander Ling to guard Base 013 during the war on Haijiao too. Why did they throw us to this damn ce for five months? Why?!¡±


    These people were from the Evil Wind Mecha Team on Haijiao. They gained many merits through the war on Haijiao so most of them rose one rank higher. Yan Three even jumped two ranks and became a colonel. This was something he never imagined in the past. Yet, now, he got it so easily.


    Their rank increased so their treatment and rewards increased too. But, they weren¡¯t happy. They were forsaken. They were sent to the unused prep department by an order. As time went by, the happiness from their rise in rank turned into despair. They couldn¡¯t see their future anymore.


    ¡°There¡¯s no why,¡± Yan Three replied calmly. Compared to his frustrated team members, Yan Three was very calm. The longer the time passed, the calmer he became. He had even guessed why they were sent here in the first ce.


    ¡°Leader, I can¡¯t bear with this any longer.¡± Yuan Ming finally exploded in anger when he saw his leader showing no signs of action.


    ¡°Even if you can¡¯t bear with it, you must.¡± Yan Three looked up suddenly and looked at Yuan Ming with contempt. After following Regiment Commander Ling for a few months, Yan Three¡¯s aura turned cold and domineering too. His force of presence allowed Yuan Ming to calm down.


    Yuan Ming took a few deep breaths. He didn¡¯t dare to disobey his leader so he finally sat down again.


    ¡°Haha, what a bunch of cowards.¡± On the other side, there were six people sitting around a dining table. They were all around 30 years old. This sentence was said by one of these people.


    Hisradesughed together with him.


    ¡°What did you say?¡± The people from Evil Wind stood up furiously when they heard this.


    Yan Three frowned. He had spent five months here so he knew who these people were. They were the six most powerful mecha operators in the unused prep department. It was said that they were all an elite stage ace mecha master. Their physical skills were at the optimal peak of Qi-Jin too. They were just half a step away from entering domain realm.


    However, their personalities were terrible. They were unruly and disobedient. Some even hit their superiors when they didn¡¯t agree with what their superiors said. Thus, they were thrown to the unused prep department so that they could be transferred to another ce. They had been waiting for more than a year now, but no one wanted them.


    This long period of waiting hurt them. They were frustrated and furious. Hence, they would find ways to provoke people to fight them. They were confined and demoted many times but nothing could stop them. For some reason, these people were never sent out of the military. They continued staying in the unused prep department.


    When Evil Wind first came, they wanted to bully them too. But, Evil Wind had more than 150 team members. The six people didn¡¯t dare to offend them rashly. They remained at peace for five months, so why did they provoke them now?


    ¡°I said that all 150 of you are a bunch of cowards!¡± Even though there were more than a hundred people ring at him, the person still wore a sneer on his face as he repeated his words calmly.


    ¡°Go to hell!¡± The soldier closest to the person charged over, He wanted to hit the face that had the irritating smile on it with his raised fist.


    Boom! Instead, the soldier got hit by the person¡¯s fist and was knocked back. Before he mmed onto the table, hisrades caught him together.


    ¡°The optimal peak of Qi-Jin. No, I detect a faint strength that didn¡¯t belong to Qi-Jin. It¡¯s very faint so people might miss it but I felt it. It¡¯s very dangerous.¡± Yan Three¡¯s gaze turned cold. In the next second, he appeared in front of the six people and blocked the people that wanted to attack them.


    ¡°Leader!¡± Everyone from Evil Wind shouted in anger and frustration. Ever since their leader came to this unused prep department in the 23rd division, he seemed to have changed into a different person. He was no longer their arrogant and fearless leader in Base 013.


    ¡°Captain Qiu, I¡¯m afraid that you¡¯ve reached the highest level of the optimal peak of Qi-Jin.¡± Yan Three disregarded the shouts from his team members. He looked at Captain Qiu and said indifferently, ¡°You should be half step into the domain stage.¡±


    ¡°Haha, I didn¡¯t expect someone who came from a small ce to know about half step into the domain stage. That¡¯s not easy.¡± Captain Qiu sneered arrogantly. However, he admitted that what Yan Three said was true.


    ¡°Captain Qiu, we never provoke you. Why are you targeting my Evil Wind team members today?¡± Yan Three stared intently at Captain Qiu. He wanted to know the truth.


    ¡°Because I find you irritating today so I want to teach you a lesson!¡± Captain Qiu shouted loudly. Suddenly, he raised his fist and aimed it at Yan Three.


    ¡°Despicable!¡± The people from Evil Wind noticed this and screamed angrily. This was a sneak attack. It was obvious that Captain Qiu wanted to sneak an attack onto Yan Three.


    Boom! A loud explosion was heard. Yan Three raised his arms and formed a cross in front of his chest. He took the entire force of the blow. He slid back for one meter but he wasn¡¯t injured.


    The extremely confident Captain Qiu turned serious when he saw this. ¡°You¡¯re not bad.¡±


    Yan Three put down his arms and said calmly, ¡°I ask my team members to remain obedient during these five months not because I¡¯m afraid of you. I just don¡¯t want to create any trouble before I go onto that person¡¯s mecha n as there might be implications.¡±


    Yan Three¡¯s team members were all stunned by what Yan Three said. Go to that person¡¯s mecha n? Did their leader know where they were going? Why didn¡¯t he tell them anything for the past five months? And, if everything was already decided, why did they have to stay in this hell hole for five months? No one even came to look for them during the past five months. Was this fake or real?


    ¡°F**k you! You are already in the unused prep department. Where do you want to go? Stop daydreaming.¡± Yan Three¡¯s words irritated Captain Qiu. He got so furious that he started cursing.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see if this is a daydream. Just wait and see.¡± Yan Three sneered. He didn¡¯t say that he didn¡¯t want to fight with the other party because he felt that it wasn¡¯t interesting. So what if he was talented and exceptional? He didn¡¯t have a goal and was just waiting to die. He was just a useless person. Honestly, he looked down on the six people who were said to be the strongest among all the soldiers in the unused prep department.


    ¡°However, our regimentmander once said that we should act when we should and there are no weaklings in Evil Wind!¡± Yan Three suddenly shouted, ¡°Attack them!¡±


    ¡°Ahh!¡± The people from Evil Wind liked to fight. However, under the suppression of their leader, Yan Three, they had no choice but to remain obedient for five months. They were all very pent up with frustrated. Thus, when their leader asked them to attack, they howled and charged towards the other party.


    Did someone want to stop them? Fine, they would hit this person too! Someone blocked their path! Fine, hit them as well! Someone else participated in this fight? Hit them! Ah, they hit the wrong person? Hit them too!


    Soon, the entire cafeteria turned into a battleground for a gang fight. The guards of the unused prep department got alerted and rushed over to stop them.


    ¡°Hey, stop it!¡± The leader of the guards saw the messy cafeteria and got indignant. Unfortunately, the people were immersed in fighting so they didn¡¯t want to listen to him. They continued fighting happily.


    ¡°Damn it. Hit them with the club until they stop.¡± The leader of the guards was furious. He raised his club and hit the two soldiers who were fighting closest to him.


    ¡°Ouch, who hit me?¡± The two soldiers shouted in unison. They turned their heads and saw the leader of the guards.


    ¡°F**k. Did you hit me? Are you looking for death?¡± The two people were full of fighting spirit so they didn¡¯t realize who this person in front of them was. They just charged at him. The two people who were enemies a moment ago had now formed a team. They attacked the leader of the guards simultaneously.


    ¡°Impudent! Ahh!¡± The leader of the guards started screaming in agony.


    The guards behind him hurried over and helped their leader.


    The moment they moved, the friends of those two people disregarded their opponent and rushed over furiously.


    The guards team, who came to maintain order, got pulled into the fight, but they still had a hard time protecting themselves.


    ¡°Damn it, you¡¯re using weapons. You force me to do this!¡± The people just used their fist at the start but after they got hit by the clubs, they went to look for broken table legs and then entered the battlefield again.


    At that moment, the chief of the unused prep department was leading Ling Lan to the cafeteria with a smile.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, there are 2754 soldiers in our camp currently. There are 1683 mecha operators and the rest are other soldiers. You can look at the documents I send you for their details.¡± The chief of the unused prep department excitedly told Ling Lan the data of his department.


    It was reasonable that he would be excited. He never thought that one day, someone from a mecha n woulde to such an unwee ce to recruit for people.


    As the chief of the unused prep department, he was concerned about all the soldiers here. He just hoped that he could do something for them. At least, he hoped that they were able to go to where they should be and not stay here, wasting the rest of their lives. Some of them had ambitions but they had no avenue to fulfill them. Unfortunately, as someone who got kicked to take care of this inconspicuous department, he had no background too. He was unable to help these soldiers.


    Thus, when Ling Lan suddenly came, the chief of the unused prep department was ted. It was as though a piece of gold fell down from the sky.


    What was the 250 Ace Mecha n? It was the mecha n of the heir of the 23rd division. It was the most famous mecha n in the 23rd division, or maybe even the entire Federation. Even if Ling Lan didn¡¯t recruit anyone here, he would be able to use his name to attract more people. He just needed to release the news that 250 Ace Mecha n came to his department to look for people.


    As long as people from mecha ns came, he believed that he would be able to persuade them to take some people with them. The chief was fully prepared to rmend his soldiers to all the mecha ns.


    ¡°The people here are a little problematic but they are allw-abiding soldiers, Regiment Commander Lin, you don¡¯t have to worry about anything. If you bring them back, they won¡¯t give you any trouble...¡± Just as the chief wasplimenting his soldiers, he heard noisesing from the cafeteria as well as shouts.


    His expression froze. Please don¡¯t make any blunders now!

 Chapter 1066 - Promote!

    <h4>Chapter 1066 Promote!</h4>


    The chief could feel the cold sweat forming on his forehead. He just hoped that the situation in the cafeteria wasn¡¯t as bad as what he heard from the outside.


    Ling Lan smiled as she stared intently at the dumbfounded chief. Then, she walked up to the entrance of the cafeteria and pushed open the cafeteria door.


    The chief hurriedly followed behind her after seeing her taking the initiative. The moment he saw what was behind the cafeteria doors, a huge mess was revealed in front of his eyes. Everyone was fighting furiously with seemingly no regard for their location or status in this department.


    The chief now really had the urge to vomit out mouthfuls of blood to ease the frustration in his heart. He just told this big fish that his soldiers were all obedient soldiers who wouldn¡¯t create any trouble but in the next second, they were having a gang fight right in front. He felt so embarrassed that he wanted to run away and hide in a hole for a few days, but he knew he couldn¡¯t do so as he still needed to send these down on their luck soldiers to their true home.


    He was about to shout to ask everyone to stop fighting, but a military club suddenly flew towards him. He wasn¡¯t prepared for this sudden attack so the club knocked on his head.


    Immediately as the club hit the chief¡¯s head, the chief instantly turned stiff and fell to the ground. As a civil officer, he stood no chance against a rogue club.


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows in surprise. She didn¡¯t expect the chief to get the wind knocked out of him so easily. However, this had nothing to do with her so she just calmly watched as the chief fell on the ground.


    She had to admit that the unruly and arrogant soldiers that got banished here were all quite powerful in their own right. However, the people from Evil Wind came from the grass-roots. They fought all the way to their current positions so they had more experience with real battlespared to those soldiers who came from the military academies. Thus, when they moved together, they managed to maintain a huge advantage over those unruly soldiers with their unity.


    But, after fighting for such a long time, those unruly soldiers weren¡¯t in a dire state too. They would be able to continue resisting furiously for a long time. If not one stopped them, Ling Lan knew that the Evil Wind would still win the fight. However, it woulde at a price of being heavily injured.


    ¡°Their physical skills are not bad.¡± Ling Lan saw the six people who were the most active in the fight. She had a good evaluation of their physical skills level.


    However, what made her the happiest was the presence of Evil Wind.


    She was shocked when she saw these familiar people as she entered the cafeteria. In the next second, she quickly understood that her father was the one behind them being here. Chief He didn¡¯t ask her toe and take the normal soldiers. In actuality, there were real treasures here. He wanted her to take these treasures.


    Ling Lan was touched. Her father had arranged everything for her from the start. He left the best of the best for her.


    Of course, Ling Lan only felt touched for a second as she regained herposure instantly


    ¡°Hmph!¡±


    A cold ¡®hmph¡¯ was heard from the people on both sides of the fight.


    Most of the soldiers weren¡¯t affected by the sound. But, the people from Evil Wind shuddered when they heard it. They felt even their legs shivering.


    ¡®Oh my god, why does it sound like the noise Regiment Commander Ling makes when we don¡¯tplete our training?¡¯


    ¡°I will only give you three minutes to end this fight!¡± A cold voice reverberated through the entire cafeteria.


    Damn it! It¡¯s really their devil regimentmander!


    Everyone in Evil Wind, including Yan Three, felt their hairs standing on ends. Their eyes turned bloodshot as they charged towards their opponents without hesitation.


    If they didn¡¯tplete the mission assigned by their regimentmander, they would be dead.


    The people from Evil Wind didn¡¯t want to die. Hence, their opponents had to die.


    ¡°Ah! You bite me!¡± In order toplete their mission, the people from Evil Wind used all kinds of weapons. Well, teeth were weapons too.


    ¡°Are you crazy!?¡± Those unruly soldiers saw how unreasonable and despicable the people from Evil Wind were and felt scared.


    The six most powerful mecha operators in the prep department had already taken notice of Ling Lan. Captain Qiu was a tough person. He forced himself to take a blow from Yan Three and used the force from the blow to fly back to attack Ling Lan viciously.


    He had noticed this person a long time ago. He was the one who made the people from Evil Wind turn crazy and was also the one who made them lose the fight.


    However, he didn¡¯t want to admit defeat so easily. He was sent to the unused prep department because he didn¡¯t like to bow down to people who did not deserve his respect. Obviously, he was a proud person. Even in this kind of situation, he didn¡¯t want to admit defeat.


    The only way he could change the situation was to take this person down.


    Captain Qiu¡¯s hand was almost on Ling Lan¡¯s throat. Ling Lan seemed stunned by the sudden attack so she didn¡¯t move at all. These actions made Captain Qiu think that Ling Lan must be a newbie that had just entered the military.


    Ling Lan had a mask on her face but the vitality she exuded proved that she was a young person. In his hurry to defeat Ling Lan, Captain Qiu didn¡¯t notice the difference in Ling Lan¡¯s military uniform which could be seen faintly under her cloak.


    The ted Captain Qiu saw Yan Three standing motionless on the ground from the corner of his eye. So what if he was a colonel? He also had to admit defeat to him.


    Huh? Why wasn¡¯t Yan Three anxious at all. What did that look in his eyes mean?


    Before Captain Qiu could find an answer, he felt a force mming into his chest and an excruciating pain quickly spread through his entire body as he flew back.


    He vomited a mouthful of blood as he flew back into the air. Captain Qiu looked at the expressionless young officer in confusion. He didn¡¯t know what had just happened to him.


    Captain Qiu¡¯s attention was all on Yan Three so he didn¡¯t notice the white sh of light when his hands were about to touch Ling Lan¡¯s throat.


    Boom! Captain Qiu mmed onto a table forcefully, shattering the entire table into pieces. Captain Qiu rolled on the ground and slid for a few meters. He toppled many tables along his way before he was able to stop sliding back. This showed how much force was behind the attack.


    The moment Captain Qiu stopped sliding, he vomited another mouthful of blood as struggled to get up. He failed many times. He kept falling down again and again but he didn¡¯t give up. In the end, he stood up wobbly with his two legs straight.


    Was he going to admit defeat because of such a small injury like this? No way! The pride in him forced him to stand up again.


    The other unruly soldiers were bbergasted when they saw their Captain Qiu got injured heavily. Captain Qiu was the strongest among them. Soon, the entire cafeteria turned silent. Everyone stopped fighting as they looked at the young officer by the door in shock.


    When everyone looked towards the door, they noticed that the chief was lying there with a silly smile on his face.


    Strange. Wasn¡¯t he the chief of the unused prep department? Why was he unconscious?


    Could it be... everyone let out a gasp. Did that young officer knock him unconscious? Who was he? How dare to sneak into the unused prep department of the 23rd division and injure the chief in front of so many people?


    Yan Three was the only one filled with excitement when he saw the familiar figure. Their Regiment Commander Ling finally came to fetch them.


    When he first came to the unused prep department, he was clueless about why they were sent here. However, after staying here for a month, he started to feel that something was amiss with their assignments.


    Yan Three thought of many possibilities but he never felt that the 23rd division abandoned them. The general of the 23rd Division was General Ling Xiao and there was nothing bad to say about General Ling Xiao¡¯s character. Plus, they had helped Regiment Commander Ling with the battle on Haijiao and gained many merits. Just based on this point, General Ling Xiao wouldn¡¯t forsake them.


    Why were they sent here then? Yan Three remembered that Regiment Commander Ling still hadn¡¯t been given his merit. Although Regiment Commander Ling was removed from his position as the regimentmander of 250 Ace Mecha n, Yan Three believed that this powerful man woulde back to the military one day.


    Regiment Commander Ling didn¡¯t get his merits yet so General Ling Xiao ced them here for the time being? Yan Three linked the things that happened recently. He felt excited when he found out the reason behind their assignments here. As long as he was able to follow Regiment Commander Ling again, he was even willing to stay here for a few more years.


    However, this was just his guess. He might be wrong. That was why he didn¡¯t tell his team members about this. After five months of waiting, most of the members of Evil Wind thought that they had been given up on.


    Now, the wait was over!


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Captain Qiu forced himself to stand up straight. He wanted to know who could injure him.


    Yan Three regained his sense after hearing what Captain Qiu said. He stood at attention and shouted, ¡°Salute!¡±


    All the members of Evil Wind stood at attention and shouted with all their might, ¡°Regimentmander!¡±


    They were frustrated and angry after waiting for five months but the moment they saw Ling Lan, all their negative emotions disappeared. Everything they didn¡¯t understand in the past came to them now.


    They had to wait for five months so that they would be able to return to their Regiment Commander Ling. The wait was torturous but it was a blessing in disguise. Their voices were filled with hope and happiness when they saluted Ling Lan.


    Regimentmander? Captain Qiu was astounded. The person whom he thought was a newbie was actually a regimentmander?


    Ling Lan scanned the haggard-looking members of Evil Wind. They just had a fight so they didn¡¯t look in the best of shape, but she could feel their happiness from their voices. Her presence gave them hope.


    Ling Lan was surprised. On Haijiao, she used the Evil Wind Mecha Team as a deterrent in Base 013 so that she could have a trustworthy base. The people from Evil Wind suffered much under her because of that. She never expected these fearless mecha operators to recognize her and want to continue following her.


    Ling Lan raised her right hand after she felt the trust and sincerity from the members of the Evil Wind Mecha Team and she saluted them back.


    This action caused her cloak draped around her body to move aside. The epaulette shown on her military uniform made everyone dumbfounded.


    ¡°Major general! He¡¯s a major general! Who is he?¡± Those people who didn¡¯t know Ling Lan were shocked. It was obvious that Ling Lan was still very young but she had achieved so much.


    Even the people from Evil Wind got surprised that Ling Lan had be a major general. However, when they recalled what happened during the battle on Haijiao, they felt that it was reasonable. Even their leader, Yan Three, who was in charge of protecting the base managed to jump two ranks and be a colonel. As the person whomanded the battle and protected the only surviving base of the Federation on Haijiao, as the person who caused the defeat of Hailiya, as the person who turned the tides around when all hopes were lost, Ling Lan was worthy of her rank.


    ¡°It¡¯s time toe back,¡± Ling Lan disregarded everyone¡¯s astonishment and said calmly.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± The people from Evil Wind, including Yan Three, had tears in their eyes. They were moved. They were no longer homeless children.


    ¡°I will only give you 30 minutes to pack your things and gather here,¡± Ling Lan continued.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± All the people from Evil Wind shouted loudly with their backs even straighter.


    The people from Evil Wind were going to leave the unused prep department. Those unruly soldiers who just fought with them looked at the people from Evil Wind with envy and jealousy in their eyes. There was also a hint of despair and sadness in their eyes.


    The people from Evil Wind quickly left the cafeteria. Because they were in a hurry, some of them stepped on the chief of the unused prep department who was lying on the ground.


    Finally, the chief of the unused prep department woke up from the pain. Unfortunately, the people that had stepped on him had already left.


    The chief of the unused prep department felt his entire body hurting all around. He picked himself up in pain. He saw that the entire cafeteria had turned quiet so he shouted instantly, ¡°Who asked you to fight, huh? Also, who threw that club just now?¡±


    He remembered that he was knocked unconscious by a club.


    Everyone then noticed the lonely club lying on the ground not far away from their chief.


    One of the guards in the crowd saw the familiar club and shrunk back into the crowd. He hoped that the people in front were able to block him from the chief¡¯s view as he noticed that the military club on the ground looked a lot like his.


    The chief saw no one stepping out to admit his crime and got indignant. Damn it, he finally managed to bring in a big fish and was about to rmend him some soldiers. However, before he could do anything, these people destroyed this opportunity. Just as he was about to scold the soldiers to vent his anger, he thought of something. He turned around quickly and noticed Ling Lan who was standing at the side.


    ¡®Oh my god, the big fish is still here!¡¯ The chief was ted. His anger died down immediately. He quickly smiled and said, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, these fellows are a little impulsive and like to fight but they¡¯re soldiers after all. Soldiers like to exchange blows with each other. It¡¯s their way ofmunicating. They were just being friendly with one another just now. They¡¯ll get closer after fighting a few rounds.¡±


    The chief wiped the sweat on his forehead and tried his best to promote his soldiers. His mind worked furiously as he tried to cover up their crimes.


    ¡°So, it¡¯s not a bad thing that they like to fight. Plus, this proves that the soldiers here are strong. They¡¯re not weak and useless. They will be able to be used the moment you bring them over. You won¡¯t need to groom them... I mean, train them.¡±


    The chief quickly changed his words when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s death re.


    ¡°They looked unruly but they are really obedient. Look, they stayed quiet after I scolded them. They have a good personality.¡± The chief felt fortunate that those unruly fellows gave him some face and didn¡¯t refute him. If not, he wouldn¡¯t know how to continue anymore.


    The chief didn¡¯t know that those unruly fellows weren¡¯t giving him face. They were just afraid of this powerful and secretive Major General Ling.


    The chief was afraid that Ling Lan didn¡¯t want people from his department so he quickly added on, ¡°Fighting is wrong so I¡¯ll educate them for you. I won¡¯t let them make such a low-level mistake anymore. Please don¡¯t worry. If you choose these soldiers, they won¡¯t disappoint you.¡±


    Ling Lan was touched by the chief¡¯s care towards the soldiers. She knew that he was trying his best to help these disobedient soldiers to have a way out of this hell-hole.

 Chapter 1067 - A Plea!

    <h4>Chapter 1067 A Plea!</h4>


    ¡°I understand,¡± Ling Lan replied suddenly.


    ¡°Ah? What?¡± The chief, who was speaking for the soldiers, was suddenly dumbfounded.


    ¡°I said I understand,¡± Ling Lan reiterated what she said sternly.


    ¡°So?¡± The chief¡¯s eyes flickered in excitement. Did this mean that Regiment Commander Ling wanted to recruit soldiers from his department?


    ¡°I¡¯m taking everyone from Evil Wind!¡± Said Ling Lan.


    Evil Wind Mecha Team? That useless mecha team that returned from Haijiao? There were probably only 150 or so members. Most importantly, most of Regiment Commander Ling¡¯s merits and achievements were also made on Haijiao...


    The chief instantly understood why Regiment Commander Ling was here. It seemed that Regiment Commander Ling was here for Evil Wind Mecha Team.


    For the past five months, not only did the people of Evil Wind not understand, but also the chief didn¡¯t understand why these mecha operators who achieved great feats were tossed aside to this department...


    Unfortunately, he was powerless in the grand scheme of things. When he reported this anomaly to the higher-ups, he didn¡¯t get any replies. Luckily, Regiment Commander Ling hadn¡¯t forgotten about them and came to take them away.


    The chief was very happy for Evil Wind and he began to be pumped.


    Although Evil Wind had 150 members, Ling Lan was still taking around five percent of the total number of soldiers stationed in his department. However, this was based on the rtionship between Ling Lan and Evil Wind. Ling Lan¡¯s goal ofing to his department was to take them away, she was not actually swayed by the chief¡¯s promotion to sell Evil Wind to her.


    Unfortunately, those stronger mecha operators, who were left here for even longer than Evil Wind, didn¡¯t have such a chance to restart their careers. This made the chief feel much sadness and regret.


    The chief decided to work even harder. He quickly widened his smile and sped his hands topose himself. ¡°Evil Wind is very lucky that Regiment Commander Ling has taken a liking to them. However, other than Evil Wind, we actually have many other mecha operators who are great as well. If Regiment Commander still needs soldiers, you can take them and try them out.¡±


    Hearing this, Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. ¡°Oh? There¡¯s many capable ones?¡±


    Chance!


    Ling Lan¡¯s answer made the chief¡¯s expression lighten up. He quickly replied, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, I, Yan Zheng, won¡¯t speak any lies. We don¡¯t have any peak-level ace operators, but we do have some who have reached elite ace.¡±


    Yan Zheng was undoubtedly a very dutiful chief. He was very knowledgeable of the soldiers stationed in his department so he immediately gave Ling Lan 32 names. These people were all confirmed to have reached elite ace level.


    ¡°Of course, this is all just old data. Some mecha operators have not gone to assess their levels in many years. Perhaps there may be changes, especially those 500 standard ace operators. Perhaps some of them may have advanced into elite ace.¡±


    Yan Zheng was undoubtedly an extremely strict individual. After giving all this data, he also added how dated the data was.


    As Yan Zheng was speaking, he was also surreptitiously watching Ling Lan to see whether she was moved by his words.


    Unfortunately, Ling Lan didn¡¯t show any interest and was as calm as the wind.


    Yan Zheng sighed in his mind. Did it mean that it wasn¡¯t good enough? He calmed himself and then pleaded with a sliver of hope, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, I know 250 Ace Mecha n has high requirements for mecha operators. They must be at elite aces or above. I also know that the soldiers here don¡¯t have a good reputation in the outside world... However, their capabilities and characters are all very good. Please give them a chance, Regiment Commander Ling... At least give them a chance to be assessed.¡±


    He hoped that Regiment Commander Ling would see their potential, be moved by it and keep them. He didn¡¯t want to see these outstanding mecha operators stay here, wasting away their life and their youth.


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case...,¡± finally, Ling Lan said something


    Yan Zheng looked towards Ling Lan with a difficult expression on his face in hopes that he would hear good news.


    ¡°Since Chief Yan already said this much, if I do not agree to it, then won¡¯t I be too cold-hearted?¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, Yan Zheng is beyond grateful,¡± Yan Zheng said excitedly. He had seeded!


    Yan Zheng was afraid Ling Lan was going to change her mind afterwards, so he immediately continued, ¡°How about this. I will arrange for these 32 elite ace operators to go 250 Ace Mecha n to participate in the assessment right now.¡±


    ....Was he trying to pin all of them on her?¡¯ Ling Lan smirked. She definitely wouldn¡¯t tell Chief Yan that she was actually here to recruit soldiers and that she would take them all no matter how many there were.


    The ck-bellied Ling Lan clearly knew that 250 wascking in soldiers, but she made Yan Zheng think that she was doing him a favor by giving these mecha operators a chance for an assessment... It had to be said that that in terms of being a ck-bellied individual, Ling Lan seemed to have evolved once again.


    Yan Zheng and Ling Lan¡¯s conversation was heard by everyone in the cafeteria. After hearing that Ling Lan was 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander, everyone¡¯s eyes shined brightly. However, after hearing that only elite ace operators were allowed to be assessed, countless eyes were darkened again. This included Captain Qiu, who was not willing to fall down on the ground.


    He still hadn¡¯t reached the level of elite ace and was off by just a bit. Captain Qiu was frustrated. At this moment, he only longer held any grudge towards Ling Lan. He only hated the fact that he still wasn¡¯t an elite ace and missed this opportunity.


    Even if they were sent to the unused prep department, as a soldier, they would still pay attention to the battles that were going on in the Federation. The battle on Haijiao was the most casualty-heavy battle in the Federation for the past few millennia.


    The battle was originally thought to be a huge loss, but the oue was changed because of one person. In the end, this battle became the biggest victory of the Federation in the past few millennia. The person who turned the tide and changed the oue was their 23rd Division¡¯s Division Commander Ling Xiao¡¯s son, Ling Lan.


    This battle made Ling Lan gain respect from all of the soldiers in the Federation. This included those leftover and unruly soldiers from the unused prep department. Thus, after hearing the person who injured him was the legendary Regiment Commander Ling Lan, Captain Qiu¡¯s grudge disappeared. After all, he asked for it. If it wasn¡¯t because of the fact that he had made a move first, Regiment Commander Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t haveid a hand on him.


    ¡°So f*cking strong!¡± Captain Qiu forcefully wiped away the blood smear near the corner of his lips. This was the strength of someone who could create miracles. He lost fair and square.


    Ling Lan was still thinking of ways to low-key take away more soldiers. Then, she heard a voice echoed through the cafeteria, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling. If you¡¯re willing to give those elite ace operators a chance to be assessed, then why not give mecha operators like us a chance as well? How can you be sure that none of us would be able to pass?¡±


    Ling Lan turned around and saw the soldier she had beaten up. He was looking at her with his eyes filled with a glimmering light and the will to fight.


    Ling Lan smirked. She was actually getting what she needed. She then though that recently, everything was going ording to her wishes. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but think that maybe God wanted topensation her because God had abused her too much for quite a while now?


    ¡°Qiu Yang! What are you bbering about?¡± Yan Zheng shouted anxiously.

 Chapter 1068 - Let Him Go!

    <h4>Chapter 1068 Let Him Go!</h4>


    Yan Zheng was a responsible chief but he didn¡¯t earn much respect from those unruly soldiers.


    Qiu Yang ignored Yan Zheng and stared at Ling Lan intently. He looked up slightly and sneered. ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, are you not willing to give us this chance?¡±


    Qiu Yang knew that Regiment Commander Ling was their only chance to leave this hell-hole. There was a very slim chance of this seeding, but it was still better than doing nothing and wasting their lives here.


    Yan Zheng realized this when he heard Qiu Yang. He turned around and waited eagerly for Ling Lan¡¯s reply. If Qiu Yang was able to gain this opportunity for the soldiers in his department, he would be happy for them too. Of course doing so, they must not destroy the chances of those 32 elite ace mecha masters.


    Ling Lan looked at Qiu Yang coldly. The icy re caused Qiu Yang to feel a chill down his spine. He started to wonder if he acted too rashly. At this moment, Ling Lan said, ¡°Since you want a chance, sure. I¡¯ll give it to you.¡±


    A portion of the soldiers in the room got excited when they heard this. These people were mecha operators who were very close to reaching the elite ace level. Just like what Qiu Yang said, this was their only chance to get out of this hell-hole. No matter how slim the chances of them seeding were, they must try it.


    ¡°Not only those soldiers who are close to elite ace can participate. Any soldiers who think that they have the ability can take part in the assessment. However, the assessment will start today.¡± Ling Lan sneered. ¡°Of course, those that are useless and not confident, don¡¯te. There is no luck in 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s assessment. If you make a mistake, you might even die.¡±


    Ling Lan said everything calmly but the soldiers in the cafeteria felt as though her voice was exploding beside their ears. They looked fearful.


    250 Ace Mecha ncked people but Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to take in any useless people. Hence, she decided to use her spiritual power to eliminate a bunch of soldiers who had weak willpower first.


    If she had a lot of time, she wouldn¡¯t do this. However, her father told her that the military would give 250 Ace Mecha n their verdict around ten dayster. This was the result after her father tried his best to drag the time.


    Within these few days, she must blend everyone together. If not, internal problems might ur and if that really happened, she wouldn¡¯t be able to handle so many problemsing from all different directions.


    Once again, Ling Lan realized how lucky she was to have her father behind her protecting her.


    Ling Lan hoped that her mecha n would be sent to the 13th division. With Qi Long¡¯s father as the general of the 13th division, everything would be easier for them. If something really happened, she could just throw Qi Long to his father and let his father vent his anger on Qi Long.


    In a faraway ce, Qi Long, who went with Han Jijyun to recruit soldiers from a corps, shivered. He felt cold all of a sudden.


    ¡°What happened? Are you sick?¡± Han Jijyun immediately noticed his strange behaviour and asked him in concern.


    Qi Long rubbed his arms quickly to disperse the chill. He shook his head. ¡°No, I just suddenly feel cold all of a sudden. It¡¯s better now.¡±


    Han Jijyun looked at the bright and sunny sky. Then, he turned and said to Qi Long seriously, ¡°We must work hard and not pull anyone down. You know how brutal our regimentmander is when he gives punishments.¡±


    Han Jijyun believed in Qi Long¡¯s instinct. It looked like their situation was quite bad.


    Qi Long instantly understood what Han Jijyun meant. He rolled up his sleeves and revealed his muscr arms.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Han Jijyun asked curiously.


    ¡°It looks like we have to do it the forceful way,¡± Qi Long said seriously. They waited for half a day but the representative from the corps still hadn¡¯t appeared yet. Qi Long didn¡¯t want to wait anymore.


    Qi Long was a bold person. He had a general as his father too. No one would dare to have any opinions against the heir of a division.


    Qi Long pressed hismunicator. ¡°Deputy Leader Sun.¡±


    ¡°Leader!¡± Sun Yaofei¡¯s voice came from themunicator.


    ¡°Time to move!¡± Qi Long ordered.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Orderly footsteps could be heard from themunicator.


    Qi Long smiled. With the help of his deputy and his team members, they wouldn¡¯t be thest toplete their mission.


    Qi Long and his team started snatching soldiers from the corps. They would snatch anyone that they were interested in. What to do to those soldiers who didn¡¯t want to follow them? The answer was to just simply knock them unconscious and carry them away. The logistics department of 250 Ace Mecha n had already prepared many hover cars for them in case this situation happened. They were for carrying these unconscious people.


    The Middle Second Corps was in a frenzy. However, if they didn¡¯t use their mechas, none of them was Qi Long¡¯s match, but without the orders from the headquarters, they wouldn¡¯t be able to use their mechas. Hence, by the time themander of the Middle Second Corps rushed over upon receiving the news, Qi Long had already left with all the mecha operators he snatched. Only a bunch of tumbleweed was left behind.


    ¡°Commander, this... this is too much.¡± The adjutant who came with themander was furious when he saw this.


    Themander wanted to curse out loud but he took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He gritted his teeth and said, ¡°Yes, it¡¯s too much.¡±


    ¡°Commander, shall we report this to the headquarters and ask them to remove them from their positions as team leaders?¡± The adjutant suggested.


    Themander remained silent for a moment. ¡°We can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Why not? 250 Ace Mecha n is not Ling... that person¡¯s mecha n anymore. No one can protect them.¡± The adjutant didn¡¯t mention Ling Lan¡¯s name. After knowing that Ling Lan was Ling Xiao¡¯s son, the adjutant never dared to call Ling Lan by her full name anymore.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know anything. If Qi Long didn¡¯t betray the Federation, he wouldn¡¯t be affected by anything.¡± Themander knew more of the Federation¡¯s secrets than his adjutant.


    ¡°Huh?¡± The adjutant was stunned.


    Themander looked at his confidant. To prevent him from offending people he shouldn¡¯t, themander exined, ¡°Qi Long is Qi Yaoyang¡¯s son.¡±


    The adjutant gasped. He always thought that Ling Lan was the only prince in 250 Ace Mecha n, but surprisingly there was another Prince Qi below him. Although Qi Yaoyang was the general of the 13th division and didn¡¯t belong to the 23rd division, he was still a general. Even their general, Ling Xiao, had to give some respect to Qi Yaoyang.


    ¡°What should we do now?¡¯ The adjutant didn¡¯t dare to give any more ideas. He couldn¡¯t offend a prince of a division.


    ¡°What should we do?¡± Themander replied helplessly, ¡°Let him go.¡±


    Since their soldiers were already snatched by Qi Long, there was nothing else they could do. Were they supposed to snatch them back? They already received the order from the headquarters for their corps to cooperate with them.

 Chapter 1069 - Order for Reassignment!

    <h4>Chapter 1069 Order for Reassignment!</h4>


    Although Qi Long¡¯s actions seemed rude and unreasonable, all of his papers were all prepared. Therefore, the department of division affairs had to withstand this tant disrespect, unless they were prepared to fight Qi Long for it and report him for breaking the rules of the military. However, any person with a brain wouldn¡¯t do something like that.


    Qi Long taking soldiers was formally allowed by the department of division affairs. With the support of the higher-ups being behind him, if things were to get hairy, it might not be beneficial for them to argue with Qi Long. In addition, Qi Long¡¯s identity was also a big bargaining chip which made them fear him. Plus, Qi Long didn¡¯t didn¡¯t overdo things and only took a few individuals with potential. In the end, the department of division affairs could only swallow their anger and quietly reassign soldiers from other military corps to replenish their numbers.


    Qi Long hadpleted his task and was now heading back to Ling Lan.


    In the unused prep department, Chief Yan Zheng was very excited after he heard Ling Lan saying that she would be allowing all the soldiers to be assessed. The look he sent towards Qiu Yang no longer had any me, instead there was an indescribable glee. He didn¡¯t think that Qiu Yang¡¯s words would actually give these soldiers in the unused prep department a chance to be assessed.


    Yan Zheng felt like the unused prep department was struck by a mountain of gold. Even if Ling Lan did not recruit too many of his soldiers, as long as he marketed these soldiers as people who were once invited to be assessed by 250 Ace Mecha n, he believed that countless other ns would be interested in them. All in all, as long as people came to him, Yan Zheng was confident that he could use his words and his wits to sell these soldiers to prospective ns.


    After all the talk, Yan Zheng still didn¡¯t believe that 250 Ace Mecha n, who only took in top-ss mecha operators and outstanding logistics personnel, would take all of these mixture of good and bad soldiers. Thus, he was only thinking that he was graced by 250 Ace Mecha n.


    ¡°Chief Yan, I will have to trouble you to organize the soldiers here to go to 250 Ace Mecha n to participate in the assessment,¡± Ling Lan said as she turned towards Yan Zheng.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Yan Zheng awaken from his blissful dream. He immediately replied, ¡°Understood, Regiment Commander Ling. I will take all 2754 soldiers from here to 250 Ace Mecha n to participate in the assessment.¡±


    Even if these soldiers didn¡¯t want to go, he would use a whip to force them to go! Yan Zheng clenched his fists and made a decision. He wasn¡¯t going to allow even one soldier to miss out in this once in a lifetime opportunity.


    ¡°Boss Huo! Something bad happened.¡± At that moment, in New Recruit Corps, a young man rushed into the dormitories of their corps.


    A young man was lying on the bottom bunk of a bunk-bed with his eyes closed. After hearing hisrade calling out for him, he opened his eyes slowly. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Fengming?¡±


    ¡°I just received word that this year¡¯s new recruits from military academies were all taken by all the big ns.¡± The person who ran in said this, then immediately picked up a cup of water on the table and took big gulps of it. It seemed that once he heard this information, he immediately ran here.


    ¡°So?¡± Even after hearing this, the young man¡¯s expression was still calm, as if he had just heard a news unrted to him.


    ¡°So, our New Recruit Corps has no new recruits. If so, what are us instructors here doing?¡± Said the person angrily.


    Ever since they returned from Haijiao, they were assigned to the New Recruit Corps to wait for recruits. Although this assignment was to let them rest and have a change of pace, it had already been 5 months since then and the long wait had already made them frustrated. They had finally managed to wait for the expected time for the new recruits to arrive, but was now they were actually told that the new recruits were all taken away. Was the military ying them for fools?


    It turns out these people was Huo Zhenyu and Nie Fengming¡¯s team. Their n was almost wiped out, leaving only 9 people left in their team. Originally, they should have been reassigned to a new n, but they were not sure why they were temporarily sent to the New Recruit Corps to be the instructors for this year¡¯s new recruits.


    ¡°The military headquarters will make arrangements for us.¡± Compared to Nie Fengming¡¯s anxiousness, Huo Zhenyu was more calm and collected.


    ¡°How much longer? I¡¯ve already waited for 5 months,¡± Nie Fengming said depressingly.


    Right as Huo Zhenyu was about to speak, his wrist suddenly began to vibrate. He looked down and saw that it a call was from the headquarters.


    Huo Zhenyu immediately sat straight up and pushed down on the connect button. A virtual screen appeared in front of him and a beautiful female second lieutenant appeared in front of him.


    ¡°Hello, Major Huo,¡± the female second lieutenant said with a smile.


    Huo Zhenyu had a serious expression on his face and replied in all seriousness, ¡°Hello, second lieutenant.¡±


    Despite the rank of the female second lieutenant being quite low, Huo Zhenyu still didn¡¯t dare to be negligent in his showing of professionalism. That was because she was a clerk at the main headquarters and was mainly responsible for giving out any type of orders from the headquarters.


    ¡°The headquarters has now given you new assignments. You are ordered to immediately report to your new n! The reassignment certificate to the n has already been sent to you, please confirm,¡± the second lieutenant said with a constant smile on her face.


    ¡°Understood.¡± Huo Zhenyu saw the new file that was sent over and saved it.


    Seeing him receive the reassignment certificate, the second lieutenant said her goodbyes to Huo Zhenyu.


    After the virtual screen disappeared, Nie Fengming, who was holding in all of his emotions, could no longer sit still. He excitedly jumped up and shouted in excitement, ¡°That¡¯s great, Boss Huo. We finally have a n again.¡±


    A mecha operator without a n was like a homeless mecha operator. No matter where they went, they wouldn¡¯t have a sense of belonging. They were just like that in the New Recruit Corps, like a passerby who couldn¡¯t find where they belonged.


    Huo Zhenyu, who kept a serious expression on his face all this time, showed a small smirk. They could finally enter a n but which mecha n were they going to enter, they were about to find out.


    Huo Zhenyu opened the certificate for reassignment and was stunned.


    Nie Fengming saw that Huo Zhenyu¡¯s frozen expression and was scared for a moment. Could it be the new n had problems? He anxiously called out, ¡°Boss Huo, what¡¯s wrong? Is there something wrong with the n we¡¯re going to?¡±


    Huo Zhenyu raised his head, revealing an odd look on his face. He then said, ¡°It¡¯s not that there¡¯s any problems. It¡¯s just I think... it¡¯s somewhat not as I thought.¡±


    ¡°What kind of n is it?¡± Huo Zhenyu¡¯s weird expression made Nie Fengming even more curious. He unconsciously drank another sip of water.


    Huo Zhenyu slowly said three numbers, ¡°2, 5, o!¡±


    ¡°Ugh!¡± Nie Fengming spat out the water in his mouth. ¡°Cough, cough, Boss Huo, what did you just say?¡±


    ¡°250 Ace Mecha n!¡± Huo Zhenyu had now returned to his calm and collected demeanor and slowly reiterated what he said. ¡°It¡¯s the 250 Ace Mecha n that you know.¡±


    ¡°Ling Lan.¡± Nie Fengming also calmed down after sipping more water out of his cup. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that we would go to his mecha n.¡±


    ¡°Although his position as regimentmander was removed for a long time, I still find it weird. I always felt that 250 Ace Mecha n has always belonged to Ling Lan.¡± Huo Zhenyu always had this thought in the back of his head. How could those ace operators who looked down on others obey someone else that easily? The person who could lead them could only be Ling Lan who could give them new life.


    ¡°I also think so too. Back then, that person led the freshmen and overpowered our people. He is not someone who would take a fall that easily. Plus, he¡¯s that person¡¯s son,¡± Nie Fengming said with a smirk.


    Ever since he knew that Ling Lan was his idol¡¯s son, his anger towards Ling Lan for injuring him back in the day was instantly washed away. Afterwards, Ling Lan used her own power to protect Base 013 and held onto thest hope for the Federation. Her series of valiant actions turned his hatred toward her into appreciation.

 Chapter 1070 - Number Of People

    <h4>Chapter 1070 Number Of People</h4>


    ¡°In that case, let¡¯s see how powerful of a n has Ling Lan¡¯s mecha n grown into.¡± Huo Zhenyu smiled too.


    They were shocked at first but after calming down, they realized that Ling Lan¡¯s mecha n was the best mecha n for them. After the battle on Haijiao, a normal mecha n wouldn¡¯t be able to satisfy them anymore.


    They longed for battles and blood. They wanted to fight! The more peaceful their lives were, the more torturous it was for them as only the blood of their enemies could make them forget their sorrow. This was the only way they could take revenge for theirrades who had died under their hands.


    Luo Lang sat in a hover car and looked at the hover buses behind him. He turned around and said to Xie Yi happily, ¡°Xie Yi, this time, we won, right? We recruited almost a thousand recruits. The other teams couldn¡¯t possibly have more people than us.¡±


    The people from the 250 Ace Mecha Mecha n were split into six teams. Before they left, they made a bet to see which team would snatch the most people.


    Xie Yi smiled and nodded his head. ¡°I feel the same way too.¡± He never expected those seemingly useless personalities to be so useful at fooling people. His boss was right. Everything has its own uses. It just depended on whether the person knew how to use it or not.


    Soon, they arrived at the entrance of their base. The moment they entered through gates, they saw Lin Zhong-qing and Li Shiyu waiting for them.


    Luo Lang got down from his hover car and asked in surprise. ¡°Why are you here?¡± When he was near the base, he contacted Meng Lan to ask her to prepare for the recruits he was about to bring. At that time, Li Shiyu and Lin Zhong-qing weren¡¯t back yet.


    ¡°I heard from Meng Lan that you are bringing in 998 recruits. Hence, we came here to help.¡± Lin Zhong-qing smiled. From the list he got from Meng Lan, he knew that most of the recruits were mecha operators, even those who weren¡¯t mecha operators were the outstanding among their peers too. What made him happy was that, these 998 recruits applied to be logisticians.


    Which mecha n could be so extravagant like theirs? All the top recruits who were supposed to be mecha operators came to their mecha n to be logisticians. Although these logisticians would be mecha operators in the future, they would still need to stay in the logistics department for a while before they met the requirements to be a mecha operator.


    Lin Zhong-qing never wanted to keep these top recruits as logisticians. He just wanted to use these talented and strong mecha operators to stimte his current logisticians so that his logisticians wouldn¡¯t be too proud of themselves.


    ¡°Zhong-qing, how many people did you get from the logistics department?¡± Luo Lang was most concerned about this question.


    Lin Zhong-qing smiled gently. ¡°Fewer than you. I only have 600 people. However, they¡¯ll be sent here three dayster.¡±


    The logistics department still needed some time to gather the 600 logisticians. Under the pressure of Lin Zhong-qing and Li Shiyu, they promised to send the logisticians to them three dayster. Lin Zhong-qing and Li Shiyu were satisfied with the answer so they obediently went back to their base. However, they didn¡¯t expect Luo Lang and Xie Yi to give them such a huge surprise when they came back.


    ¡°Haha, 600? That¡¯s not bad too. It¡¯s just fewer than us.¡± Luo Lang smiled brightly. Finally, he managed to win once.


    With the help of Lin Zhong-qing, the 998 recruits got sent to their recruit dormitory.


    After he finished, Qi Long and Han Jijyun came back too. They snatched almost 400 soldiers from the Middle Second Corps. They thought that they had snatched many soldiers but when they heard that Luo Lang and Xie Yi brought back 998 recruits and Li Shiyu and Lin Zhong-qing brought back 600 logisticians, they felt frustrated.


    However, their frustration didn¡¯tst for long. The other teams came back but the number of soldiers they came back with was fewer than the three teams who came back first. The number was around from 200 to 300.


    Lin Zhong-qing calcted the number of soldiers they got and sighed. ¡°Even after snatching soldiers from everywhere, we only got around 2800 soldiers. Adding the 500 soldiers that we already have, we only have 3300 soldiers in our mecha n. It¡¯s still fewer than the minimum requirements of 5000 soldiers.¡±


    ¡°We still need 1700 soldiers. This number is quite huge.¡± Everyone frowned. They knew why they needed to get soldiers so quickly. They needed to have a full team. That was the only way they could prevent other factions from stuffing men into their mecha n.


    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s fewer than 1700 soldiers.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡°Have you forgotten the people in the medical center?¡±


    ¡°Those people came from different backgrounds...¡± Yang Mingzhi didn¡¯t trust those people.


    ¡°If you put them in someone else¡¯s hands, they might be trouble. However, to our regimentmander, they¡¯re nothing.¡± Li Lanfeng was confident in Ling Lan.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Boss will subdue them.¡± As a firm supporter of Ling Lan, Luo Lang supported Li Lanfeng¡¯s opinion on the matter.


    Li Lanfeng smiled at Luo Lang. Luo Lang replied with a bright smile. Unconsciously, they reached an agreement.


    Xie Yi felt his heart tightening when he saw this scene. He decided to watch over Luo Lang carefully to prevent him from getting fooled by the evil Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Report!¡± Just as they were discussing among themselves, a soldier suddenly appeared at the entrance.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Lin Zhong-qing turned to the soldier and asked.


    ¡°Leader, a mecha team has juste to our base.¡± The soldiers looked ted. ¡°It¡¯s Evil Wind. The Evil Wind Mecha Team hase.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Ever since they parted on Haijiao, they had never heard anything from Evil Wind again. Thus, when they suddenly received news about their old friends, everyone was stunned.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go over and take a look.¡± Yang Mingzhi suggested.


    Everyone rushed to the entrance of their base. They saw a team of more than a hundred peopleing down a hover bus. The person in the lead was the leader of Evil Wind, Yan Three.


    ¡°Yan Three, it¡¯s really you.¡± Yang Mingzhi went forward and weed Yan Three excitedly. Yan Three¡¯s age was simr to Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang so he was closer with thempared to the other leaders. To him, the other leaders were like his children. He had more things to talk about with Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang so their rtionship was better too.


    Yan Three and Yang Mingzhi touched each other¡¯s shoulders. Then, Yan Three greeted the other people and saluted. He shouted, ¡°157 mecha operators from Evil Wind has returned to 250 Ace Mecha n.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Wee back.¡± Everyone was happy. Yang Mingzhi asked, ¡°What happened to you?¡±


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling went to the unused prep department to bring us back,¡± Yan Three smiled as he replied. He was excited and d to be able to work together with his pastrades again.


    ¡°Unused prep department?¡± Lin Zhong-qing thought about something. ¡°Besides you guys, is there anyone else?¡±


    How did their boss find this department which was forgotten by everyone? They could get as many soldiers as they want from there and no mecha ns would be unhappy about it. The only problem was, the soldiers inside were all just average or those that were unruly and disobedient. As for Evil Wind, General Ling Xiao must be the one who sent them there.


    He wouldn¡¯t give their boss problematic soldiers, right?


    ¡°Of course. Our regimentmander asked us to move first. He wants me to inform you to prepare for an assessment for more than 2500 people.¡± Yan Three replied.


    ¡°More than 2500 people?¡± Everyone eximed.


    Their boss only did big things.

 Chapter 1071 - Start Of Assessment

    <h4>Chapter 1071 Start Of Assessment</h4>


    Qiu Yang tried his best to control his urge to grab the handle beside him. Instead, he just used his internal energy to stabilize himself.


    The strong wind caused by the speed of the buses made most of the soldiers on the buses feel ufortable.


    But, the most important thing was that, there were still some soldiers who weren¡¯t affected at all by the wind. They were just standing or leaning against the walls. No matter how much the hover buses moved, they stood straight stably. It was as if the hover buses weren¡¯t moving at all.


    On the surface, Qiu Yang looked the same as them. He knew who those powerful soldiers were. They were the elite ace mecha masters who had high chances of getting into 250 Ace Mecha n.


    Qiu Yang was a proud person so he didn¡¯t want to lose to them. He just gritted his teeth and tried to stand up straight like those elite ace mecha masters. Only he knew how hard it was for him.


    Finally, the hover buses stopped.


    ¡°This ce is not bad.¡± One of the elite aces jumped down from the buses and was surprised.


    They had stopped at the za behind the entrance of the base. There was a huge field in front of them. Some distance away, they could see buildings.


    ¡°This is a good ce.¡± Another elite ace smiled in satisfaction.


    They came to the unused prep department due to a series of coincidence, but some were caused by themselves. For instance, this elite ace had a very high requirement for the facilities in his mecha n. Hence, he didn¡¯t ept any mecha ns which invited him. When he finally saw a base that he was satisfied with, he became a little more serious with the assessment.


    Well, he was just a little more serious. In his heart, an elite ace like him was a treasure in the military. The 250 Ace Mecha n wouldn¡¯t bear to reject him.


    Qiu Yang jumped down from the bus. He was shocked by the magnificent base of 250 Ace Mecha n too and his urge to join this mecha n got even stronger.


    ¡°Wang Yiming, I¡¯ll definitely climb higher and live a good life. I¡¯ll show you that I¡¯m not someone who you can suppress. I must get into 250 Ace Mecha n!¡±


    At that moment, a soldier from 250 Ace Mecha n suddenly appeared in the za. When he saw that all the soldiers hade down from the bus, he pped his hands to gain their attention.


    There were more than 2500 soldiers so it was a little messy and disorderly. However, when the soldier pped his hands, everyone heard it clearly.


    Everyone instantly focused their attention on the soldier in front of them. Then, their eyes shift to the epaulette on his uniform. He was a senior colonel.


    Qiu Yang narrowed his eyes when he saw the senior colonel. He could feel a strong invisible energy pushing him down. The energy was strong enough to make him feel his knees were being mped tightly.


    Fortunately, this feeling onlysted for a moment. Most of the soldiers thought that the feeling was just an illusion, only a few powerful soldiers knew what the truth was. They looked at the soldier in front of them fearfully.


    This soldier in front of them must be a domain realm master! Only domain realm masters were able to give them such a frightening pressure.


    ¡°Nice to meet all of you. I¡¯m the team leader of Team 02 in 250 Ace Mecha n, Liu Furong. Now, I¡¯ll inform you about the details of your assessment.¡± The moment Liu Furong finished speaking, a huge virtual screen appeared beside him.


    There was a map on the virtual screen. On the map, there werekes, fields, forests, and mountains. They were linked by multiple small paths. At the end of one path, there was a green dot shining brightly.


    Qiu Yang looked at the map and concluded that the green dot was where they were currently standing at.


    Liu Furong¡¯s next words confirmed his conclusion. ¡°Please remember this map. You will need to rush to your destination as quickly as possible.¡± A red triangle appeared on the virtual screen. ¡°This red triangle represents your destination. Before you reach there, you¡¯ll go through a series of assessments. I wish you all the best.¡±


    Before the soldiers could reply, Liu Furong disappeared.


    Everyone exchanged nces with one another. They didn¡¯t expect 250 Ace Mecha n to leave them here and ask them to find their way on their own.


    ¡°This is too much.¡± Many soldiers felt that the 250 Ace Mecha n were looking down on them. Some soldiers even wanted to leave.


    Yan Zheng, who sent them over, quickly took out his loudspeaker and shouted, ¡°I won¡¯t prepare food for anyone who leaves now. Additionally, I¡¯m giving these hover buses to 250 Ace Mecha n. If you don¡¯t want to go through the assessment, you can walk back yourself.¡±


    This was the only way Yan Zheng could threaten his soldiers. He didn¡¯t know if it would work but he had to take the risk.


    The soldiers who wanted to leave thought about the distance between the unused prep department and 250 Ace Mecha n. Then, they turned around and decided to go for the assessment.


    Damn it, they would die of exhaustion if they walked back. As for their food, they were not afraid that Yan Zheng wouldn¡¯t give them anything to eat. He wouldn¡¯t dare to do it.


    The soldiers didn¡¯t have a choice. They took their luggage and walked towards their destination. Some careful ones walked to the virtual screen and downloaded the map into theirmunicator. In case they made a mistake during the journey, they could look at the map and move to the correct direction.


    Qiu Yang downloaded the map too. Then, he chased after the main group. After walking for some distance, they saw a dense forest. Qiu Yang knew that they must walk through this forest to continue their journey.


    ¡®Don¡¯t enter a forest!¡¯ For some reason, Qiu Yang remembered this old saying. He turned serious. His past experiences told him that there must be something wrong with this forest.


    But, they still needed to get pass this forest.


    Qiu Yang waited for the first group of people to enter before going in. He only walked in when he ascertained that there was nothing amiss with the first group in front of him.


    The elite aces around him waited to make sure that everything was fine before entering the forest too. There were 32 elite aces participating in this assessment. There were distributed evenly. Some were at the front of the group, some were in the middle while some were at the back.


    In themand center, the higher authorities of 250 Ace Mecha n were watching the big screen in front of them intently. The screen was split into different segments, clearly showing all 2500 participants.


    A figure suddenly appeared. It was Liu Furong.


    ¡°He¡¯s back!¡± Yang Mingzhi shifted his body to the left of his seat when he saw Liu Furonging back. He left a space for Liu Furong and asked him to sit down.


    Liu Furong walked over and sat down. He asked in a low voice. ¡°Old Yang, where are they now?¡±


    ¡°In the forest. There¡¯ll be a good showing up.¡± Yang Mingzhi smiled.


    ¡°I just hope Little White won¡¯t lose control of itself.¡± Gu Dongyang was a kind person. He sighed. The moment Li Lanfeng suggested to let Little White be the one in charge of this assessment, he knew that those people would have a tough time ahead of them.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Little White knows its boundaries. It won¡¯t kill anyone.¡± Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t help butugh.


    Yes, it wouldn¡¯t kill anyone. However, it would torture those people until they hoped that they could die instead.

 Chapter 1072 - Not Going To Be A Hooligan Little White

    <h4>Chapter 1072 Not Going To Be A Hooligan Little White</h4>


    Qiu Yang was very careful. Even if there was nothing amiss, he still remained vignt. He never rxed for a single second.


    He trusted his instincts. He wouldn¡¯t let his guard down just because there was nothing going on around him.


    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s that?¡± A soldier in front of him suddenly shouted.


    Almost instantly, a scream of agony was heard. ¡°Ah!¡± The scream echoed throughout the entire forest.


    The soldiers behind him were dumbfounded. They didn¡¯t have any idea on was happening in the front.


    Qiu Yang narrowed his eyes. Suddenly, a sense of crisis struck him. ¡°Below!¡±


    He immediately jumped up without hesitation. A tentacle quickly spurted up from the ground and attacked Qiu Yang ferociously.


    Qiu Yang twirled his body and kicked at the air, kicking the tentacle that was attacking him away at the same time. Before he could heave a sigh of relief, another tentacle attacked him from the back.


    This attack was out of Qiu Yang¡¯s expectation. However, he didn¡¯t get nervous. He twisted the upper half of his body and evaded the attack that was supposed to hit him.


    But, the attack of the tentacles hadn¡¯t ended yet. It was only just the start. More than ten tentacles suddenly rose up from the areas that were covered by bushes and attacked Qiu Yang from all directions.


    Qiu Yang was able to evade one or two tentacles but he couldn¡¯t evade so many tentacles at once. The timing of the tentacles was just right. Qiu Yang was like a prey that had entered a trap. He got entangled by the tentacles and couldn¡¯t move.


    Qiu Yang was shocked. He wanted to resist but he received a sharp knock on his head and he turned unconscious.


    However, he woke up quickly, but he could no longer see any trees around him anymore. Instead, all he saw the clear blue sky, white clouds and a patch of greennd below him.


    ¡®Huh? Why am I in the air?¡¯


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    Qiu Yang quickly understood what had happened to him. Just like those soldiers before him, he let out a frightened high-pitched scream which pierced through the air. Now, he knew why the soldiers in front of him screamed out loud.


    They were thrown into the air by some tentacle monster. Based on their speed of them rising into the air, they would die the moment they fall to the ground.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Screams from the other soldiers beside him flew passed him. They belonged to those elite aces. The speed at which they were thrown into the air was much faster than him.


    However, soon, he flew passed another soldier. He remembered this soldier. He was a special-ss operator.


    ¡®Their speed of getting thrown into the air had something to do with their capabilities?¡¯ Qiu Yang seemed to have noticed something... or not.


    Little White was very happy now. Its master hade back a few days ago.


    During its time at the base, it was very bored. The people it was familiar with were all training or had missions to do so Little White had nothing to do in the end. Thus, it spent its time watching some cartoons which were meant for little children. In the shows, it would show pets who didn¡¯t have a master were pitiful creatures. Some of them would even be strays in the end. They had no food to eat, no home and most importantly, no loving master. Those unlucky ones might even be beaten to death.


    ¡®Sob, this world is so scary. Little White must never run away. It will be obedient. Master, pleasee back and bring me away. Even if you want to run away, please bring me along.¡¯


    Little White sat in front of Meng Lan¡¯s mainframe and watched the cartoon she was ying for it. It took a piece of tissue paper with one of its tentacles and wiped its tears as if it was heartbroken. After the tissue paper was all wet from its tears, it would throw the tissue paper urately into a rubbish bin with its tentacles. Then, it would take another tissue paper and continue crying.


    ¡®Sob, this story makes me sad. Master, I need you to console me.¡¯


    Little White was so touched by the cartoon that it forgot that it was able to injure a Qi-Jin master with a single strike of its tentacles. Additionally, domain realm masters couldn¡¯t really injure it too. Hence, if it became a stray Little White, it would still be able to live like a king. It wouldn¡¯tnd in the pitiful states of those stray pets.


    ¡°Little White, how is your mission going?¡± Meng Lan reminded Little White when she saw it being addicted to the cartoon.


    Meng Lan remembered Colonel Li saying that Little White was in charge of the first assessment. Was it alright for it to stay here and watch cartoons?


    ¡°Huh?¡± Little White looked up in puzzlement with clear signs of tears in its eyes. There was also a new piece of tissue paper in its tentacle.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you in charge of the first assessment?¡± Meng Lan gave a speechless expression on her virtual face. Was it alright to give such an important mission to this Little White?


    Little White¡¯s tentacles suddenly froze in mid-air. ¡°Roar!¡± It was dead!


    It got enchanted by the cartoon and forgot about its mission.


    Little White disappeared instantly, leaving the tissue paper fluttering in the air as it floated slowly to the seat which Little White was sitting on just now.


    Meng Lan looked at the tissue paper and sighed softly. ¡°I hope that everything will be smooth for Little White and that it won¡¯t be eaten by Master Ling Lan.¡±


    Little White stayed at her ce for the longest time so she knew that once it made a mistake, it would be eaten by Master Ling Lan. Meng Lan didn¡¯t understand why Little White would make such mistakes. She didn¡¯t understand what kind of punishment eating was too? Was it simr to the day and month training?


    Meng Lan shook her head to get rid of the random thoughts in her head. Then, she disappeared the next moment.


    Meng Lan would only show this emotional side of her in front of Ling Lan, Little Four, and Little White. In front of everyone else, she would appear just like any other mainframe but just a little more advanced.


    Little White quickly came to the forest and saw no one there. It hugged its head with its tentacles and roared in agony. It was dead.


    It got distracted by the cartoon and let everyone pass the assessment! It was supposed to only let a portion of the soldiers, who were adequate, pass this forest.


    At that moment, a colonel wearing a mask appeared beside it.


    ¡°Little White!¡± Li Lanfeng called it out.


    Little White hugged its head and looked at Li Lanfeng pitifully.


    Li Lanfeng sighed. He pointed to the two figures at the entrance of the za. ¡°Regimentmander is watching.¡±


    ¡°Rawr!¡± Little White screamed. Pets that made mistakes would be abandoned. I don¡¯t want to be a stray Little White!


    Li Lanfeng looked at it sympathetically and said, ¡°Little White, you really killed yourself, huh.¡±


    ¡°Rawr!¡±


    ¡®No! I don¡¯t want to be a stray Little White! I must change my destiny! Master, please give me strength!¡¯

 Chapter 1073 - I Guess So!

    <h4>Chapter 1073</h4>


    <h4>I Guess So!</h4>


    Little White¡¯s eyes lit up with fighting spirit. In the next second, numerous tentacles moved towards the forest fervently and pulled back the soldiers who had already left the forest.


    The frightened soldiersnded on the ground with blood drained from their faces, but before they could feel relieved, the tentacles attacked them again. This time however, they weren¡¯t thrown back. They were thrown to the other end of the forest which was closer to their destination. The numerous soldiers could be seen whizzing through the air.


    ¡°Ah...¡± Frightened high-pitched screams filled the air. They became flying humans again.


    Li Lanfeng looked at the whizzing figures in the air and smiled. ¡°I hope that you won¡¯t be scared to death. The assessment of 250 Ace Mecha n is not that easy to get over.¡±


    ¡°This is enough, Little White.¡± Li Lanfeng noticed that Little White was getting carried away so he hurriedly reminded it.


    The excited Little White quickly retracted its tentacles. In the next moment, it turned back to its pocket-size Little White again.


    ¡°Rawr!¡±


    ¡®Master, how was my performance? Was it


    good?¡¯


    Little White had already forgotten that it almost made a mistake after its spectacr showing just now. It rushed out of the forest happily and jumped into Ling Lan¡¯s arm. It started rolling around and acting cute in front of Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan flicked Little White¡¯s forehead softly. Shemunicated with it using her spiritual power. ¡°You made a mistake, but I¡¯ll forgive you this time.¡±


    Maybe this flying experience was better than the assessment they nned to give the soldiers in the first ce.


    ¡°Rawr!¡±


    ¡®Master isn¡¯t angry. That is good. That is


    good...¡¯


    Little White jumped onto Ling Lan¡¯s shoulder happily. It rubbed its round and fat body against Ling Lan¡¯s cheeks to show its excitement.


    ¡°Erm, is that your pet?¡± Yan Zheng, who was standing beside Ling Lan, asked in surprise.


    He had never seen such a weird and cute-looking creature before. He didn¡¯t expect a cold man like Ling Lan to have such a cute little pet. In his mind, Ling Lan didn¡¯t look like someone who would have a pet. Even if she did, it might be a ferocious pet like a giant savage beast.


    ¡°I guess so.¡± Ling Lan reached out and pinched the little bastard who was attempting to touch her. Then, amidst Little White¡¯s screeching, Ling Lan smooshed Little White into different shapes.


    ¡°It feels good to squeeze it.¡± Ling Lan smiled slightly. She liked to squeeze Little White. It¡¯s really fun.


    However, to Yan Zheng, he felt that Ling Lan¡¯s smile was vicious and ruthless.


    Yan Zheng shivered silently. As expected, for a killing machine like Regiment Commander Ling, cute wasn¡¯t a reason for him to raise a pet.


    It had to be said that sometimes, certain impressions that other people had about Ling Lan wasn¡¯t what she wanted to portray. It was other people¡¯s own thoughts which they felt was the reality. In actual fact, Ling Lan really took Little White in just because it was cute.


    Yan Zheng felt that this conversation couldn¡¯t carry on anymore so he changed the topic. ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, was that part of the assessment?¡±


    Ling Lan smiled as she nced at him. ¡°You noticed it?¡±


    ¡°If you just want them to go to the destination, you wouldn¡¯t have ce ambush inside the forest.¡± As a bystander, Yan Zheng managed to see the motive behind Ling Lan¡¯s actions.


    ¡°I wonder if the 2500 soldiers could see this point,¡± Ling Lan asked calmly. Actually, the assessment was the journey to their destination. If the soldiers didn¡¯t understand this point, it would be useless even if they reached the destination.


    Yan Zheng smiled bitterly. He sighed. ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, I have a request. It might be hard but I wonder if you can give them some hints. These soldiers spent a long time in the unused prep department so...¡±


    These soldiers might be able to maintain their strengths but their vignce and alertness to their surroundings might decrease due to the environment they were previously living in. It couldn¡¯t bepared to those veteran soldiers who always went on the battlefield.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give them what they deserve. As for the rest, they have to rely on themselves,¡± Ling Lan replied coldly.


    Yan Zheng wanted to say more to help his soldiers but in the end, he didn¡¯t say anything. He just sighed and hoped that the soldiers would realize this point.


    Qiu Yang was very lucky and unlucky at the same time. He got thrown into the air again but this time, hended right at the exit of the forest.


    Qiu Yang was dizzy from all the throwing around so he staggered as he tried to get up. After a few minutes, he finally felt better. He quickly inspected his body. He realized that after he flew into the air two times and fall to the ground both times, he wasn¡¯t hurt at all.


    After that, Qiu Yang started looking around him and he saw many soldiers around him. They were all struggling to get up from the ground. Their eyes were in a daze too.


    After examining his surroundings, Qiu Yang narrowed his eyes in contemtion. He realized that all the soldiers around him were powerful soldiers. Some were even stronger than him. The elite aces were beside him too. Qiu Yang counted them and concluded all of the elite aces were present.


    The other people around him were mostly normal ace operators like Qiu Yang. There were a few special-ss operators too.


    It seemed like the tentacle monster didn¡¯t select the soldiers at random. It did it with a purpose.


    They were thrown to the exit of the forest but most of the soldiers were still at the entrance of the forest. Those soldiers at the entrance needed to start all over again. Qiu Yang wasn¡¯t sure if they were able to escape the attacks from the tentacle monster.


    ¡®Has the assessment started yet?¡¯ Qiu Yang suddenly thought of something and he quickly opened the map that he downloaded.


    On the map, he could see his position at the exit of the forest. Qiu Yang stared at the map intently. Suddenly, he noticed that the time on the upper left hand corner of the map had changed into a countdown.


    ¡°01:23¡± Everyone overlooked this point because they left at 2 pm in the afternoon. The countdown on the map was at 2:00 too. Hence, everyone thought that this number represented the time of the day.


    ¡°1:22¡± Qiu Yang waited for one minute and saw the countdown decreased by one. He confirmed that the time was actually a countdown.


    By now, Qiu Yang realized that the assessment had started. Although he didn¡¯t know what the criteria for the assessment was, he knew that if they didn¡¯t arrive at their destination within two hours, the results wouldn¡¯t be good.


    Qiu Yang calcted the distance between him and the destination. If he continued at the pace he was walking at just now, he wouldn¡¯t be able to reach his destination within the allocated time. If he wanted to finish this mission, he had to do his best, or more than his best.


    Qiu Yang finally understood why the Senior Colonel Liu told them that they had to rush to their destination. They really had to rush there.


    As Qiu Yang was confirming his guess, many soldiers had already left. Qiu Yang quickly caught up with them and joined this group of people.

 Chapter 1074 - The Right Time!

    <h4>Chapter 1074 The Right Time!</h4>


    But, not all the soldiers realized this point. Some of the soldiers that got thrown to the exit wasn¡¯t urgent at all, they just continued their journey at afortable pace.


    At that moment, in a normal logistics department of a normal mecha n, a bunch of female JMCs was changing out of their uniform in the changing room as they prepared to end their work for the day.


    ¡°Staff Sergeant Mei, are you epting Captain Lin¡¯s invite to the Shallow Moon House?¡± A pretty female soldier jumped in front of a cold-looking female soldier after she finished changing and asked curiously.


    ¡°Not interested.¡± Mei Gu, or Lady Mei as we normally called her, gave a look of disgust in response.


    In the afternoon, when they were on their way to their workce, Captain Lin suddenly popped out of nowhere and asked Lady Mei to meet him at Shallow Moon House (The private room in the cafeteria) at 3 pm. He appeared so arrogant when he spoke to Lady Mei. It was as though his action of inviting Lady Mei was a blessing from the heavens for her. Lady Mei felt like puking when she saw that arrogant face.


    This scene made Lady Mei recall the 250 Ace Mecha n. If anyone dared to look at Senior Captain Han like that, she would beat the person up furiously and show them what the result of appearing arrogant in front of her was.


    ¡°Haha, she has merits on her and she is a staff sergeant. Moreover, the moment she came here, she became our leader. How can she be satisfied with just a captain? She must have ced her attention on those majors.¡± Another sergeant started jeering at her.


    All the female soldiers in the changing room suddenly turned quiet. Some even shrunk into the corners to hide themselves from the uing fight between two sergeants. One was their leader while the other was their deputy leader who had been with them for a long time. By right, they should listen to Staff Sergeant Mei. However, in terms of rtionship, they were closer to their deputy. After all, their leader only just came five months ago


    The fight between these two people caused them to be in a dilemma. Ultimately, this was the result of Staff Sergeant Mei not suppressing her deputy leader.


    Lady Mei frowned. Ever since she took away the position of the leader, this person kept teasing and jeering her whenever she had the chance too. Even after five months, she still continued doing it.


    Actually, Lady Mei had the means to suppress her. She just didn¡¯t want to do it. This position wasn¡¯t what she wanted so she didn¡¯t ce much importance in her position.


    When she knew that she got sent to this mecha n, she immediately contacted Senior Captain Han in hopes that Senior Captain Han could transfer her to 250 Ace Mecha n. She was willing to be a normal soldier if she had to. Unfortunately, Senior Captain Han told her to remain calm and wait for her message.


    Hence, Lady Mei had no choice but toe to this mecha n. She waited for the anticipated message. Yet, after five months, she received no message or any follow up for that matter. After waiting for so long without any news, even the always calm Lady Mei started to get agitated. Sometimes, she would even wonder if Senior Captain Han had forgotten about her.


    In actuality, she wasn¡¯t the only one waiting to get back to 250 Ace Mecha n. The other JMCs from Base 013 were waiting to be transferred back too.


    Beep! Beep! Beep! Lady Mei finished changing and was about to leave the changing room when hermunicator suddenly vibrated.


    Lady Mei looked down and saw a message. Her heart started pounding quickly as she finished reading the message.


    ¡°The time hase. Go apply for the logistician reassignment.¡±


    ¡°This is from Senior Captain Han!¡¯ Lady Mei jumped up in excitement. When the female soldiers in the changing room saw Lady Mei¡¯s sudden outburst of joy, they were shocked at her uncharacteristic behaviour. But, when the deputy leader saw her acting like that, a look of fear shed passed her face.


    Was Staff Sergeant Mei going to do something to her now? Lady Mei had disregarded her for the past five months so she had forgotten the fact that her military rank was lower than Lady Mei. If Lady Mei wanted to teach her a lesson now and punish her for being disrespectful, she wouldn¡¯t be able to resist at all.


    ¡°Sergeant Yang, congrattions,¡± Lady Mei suddenly said to the deputy leader in all seriousness. She was finally able to get out of this backward n and move to a progressive n where females were treated as equals.


    ¡°Huh?¡± The deputy leader was stunned. Why was she congratting her?


    But, Lady Mei had no intentions of exining herself. She just left the changing room immediately after saying her congrattions and rushed to the logistics department office.


    ¡°Did the headquarters announce for a logistician reassignment?¡± Lady Mei went right to the topic.


    ¡°Yes.¡± The logistics department was bothered by this announcement too. Most of the logisticians liked to work in a ce they were familiar with, so not many of them would want to be sent to a new department on a short notice. Only those logisticians who had no home would be sent to other mecha ns.


    ¡°I want to register.¡± Lady Mei pped the table fiercely.


    ¡°Huh?¡± The staff member from the logistics department looked at Lady Mei¡¯s rank and was surprised. ¡°Staff sergeant, all the logisticians who are participating in this reassignment are just normal soldiers. If you apply, you will have to rise up from a normal soldier again.¡±


    This was the reason why reassignment was tough. If the reassignment came with a promotion in rank , the number of people applying would increase significantly. However, in this reassignment, there wasn¡¯t such benefit for the applying soldiers. What was worse was that, they had to start from the bottom all over again. Which veterean logistician wanted to start all over from the bottom again? As for the new soldiers... there were three more months before the recruits officially came.


    ¡°Even if I have to start from the bottom, I will want to apply for this reassignment,¡± Lady Mei said firmly.


    ¡°You are as stronghearted as any male soldier I¡¯ve met.¡± The staff raised his thumb at her and then helped Lady Mei with her application. He seemed afraid that Lady Mei might suddenly regret her actions.


    The corps department above them had ordered all the mecha ns to choose one logistician each for this reassignment. Luckily, Lady Mei¡¯s appearance resolved this difficulty.


    When Lady Mei saw her information being entered into the system, she was so excited that her toes were dancing around in her shoes. The staff member from the logistics department heaved a sigh of relief too. He finallypleted this hard order. He almost thought that he needed to force someone into applying this reassignment.


    The same scene happened in some of the other mecha ns too. However, in most of the mecha ns, some unlucky logisticians got picked for the reassignment. They cried as they got sent to the headquarters.


    Qiu Yang experienced quite a difficult time in the trek to their final destination. He came to a river but there were no bridges, so instinctively he figured that he should swim across the river, but what they didn¡¯t expect was that there were people hiding inside the river, waiting to ambush without any prior notice. These people removed almost a third of the participating soldiers.


    Qiu Yang took much effort to swim across the river amidst all the mess. Then, he arrived at a canyon. However, in this canyon, every nook and cranny wasced with traps. This was also out of their expectations. Half of the leftover soldiers copsed there, even some elite aces got stopped there too.


    However, even after all those secret ambushes and dangerous traps, it was still not the end of the assessment. When the lucky Qiu Yang reached the final destination, there were already 28 people who arrived before him. He was the 29th person to arrive.


    22 of the 29 soldiers were elite aces. Expectedly, elite aces performed much better than normal aces in this assessment. There were six normal aces there including Qiu Yang. Qiu Yang looked at them. To his surprise, five of them were infamous people like him. They even had fought before. There were even some grudges between them. He didn¡¯t expect them to find the real aim of the assessment and arrive at the destination on time.


    Qiu Yang was the most curious about the only special-ss operator who arrive at the final destination. Compared to everyone¡¯s haggard appearances, this special-ss operator looked very clean and neat. He looked as though he didn¡¯t meet any obstacles at all.


    But, that was impossible! Qiu Yang knew that there was no shortcut to the final destination. They had to pass through all the obstacles. In the end, there were only two possibilities for his arrival, either this person was very strong or that he was very lucky. He might be so strong that those obstacles were nothing to him, or he might be so lucky that he evaded all the obstacles and arrived at the destination smoothly.


    What was the identity of the special-ss operator? Qiu Yang secretly observed the special-ss operator. No matter who he was, he was not a simple person.


    Qiu Yang wasn¡¯t the only one who noticed the special-ss operator. The other 27 soldiers got on their guards too. In order to reach the destination within the designated time, this special-ss operator must be someone very hard to deal with.


    The special-ss operator didn¡¯t seem to realize that everyone looking at him with vignce. He just smiled as he looked at the two people standing in front of all the soldiers.


    One of them was a serious lieutenant colonel while the other was a colonel wearing a mask. When the soldiers arrived at their destination, these two officers were waiting for them there already.


    Li Lanfeng looked at hismunicator. Then, he raised his head and said, ¡°The time...¡±


    ¡°Wait... I¡¯m here!¡± A soldier ran over quickly from afar. In the next second, he arrived in front of everyone. He was the 30th soldier to arrive. Did he arrive on time?


    Everyone looked at Li Lanfeng for a response. Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡°Sometimes, it¡¯s better to be on time than to be early. I haven¡¯tpleted my sentence yet so you¡¯re on time.¡±


    The soldier that had just arrived was ted. He felt that the officers of 250 Ace Mecha n were easy to talk too. The 29 soldiers that had already arrived heaved sighs of relief too.


    ¡°Now, I announce that the time is up.¡± Li Lanfeng finally ended the assessment.


    ¡°Zhong-qing, your task is up now. If you need help, you can look for us.¡± Li Lanfeng turned around and smiled at Lin Zhong-qing.


    ¡°Yes, I know,¡± Lin Zhong-qing replied seriously. He wouldn¡¯t reject the help from hisrades.


    It turns out that those soldiers who didn¡¯tplete the assessment would be sweep into Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s logistics department to undergo hell training. Only 30 soldiers passed the assessment to be the mecha operators of 250 Ace Mecha n. This was only around 1% of the soldiers who participated in this assessment. This meant that a lot of soldiers would be entering the logistics department, which would ce a huge burden on the logistics department. This was why Li Lanfeng asked Lin Zhong-qing to ask them for help if he required it.


    Soon, Li Lanfeng left with the 30 soldiers that had passed, leaving Lin Zhong-qing behind to wait for the remaining soldiers.


    The remaining soldiers finally arrived at the destination as the sky turned dark. They were tired and hungry. They didn¡¯t expect this assessment to be so dangerous. Some of them were even locked in the traps for half a day before they were let out.


    ¡°Is everyone here?¡± When they heard the question, all the soldiers just exchanged nces with one another in confusion. They didn¡¯t know if everyone had arrived.


    However, Lin Zhong-qing wasn¡¯t asking them. Many messages suddenly appeared on hismunicator. The ambushes throughout the assessment were done by his logisticians. That meant that none of the official mecha operators took part in this assessment.


    When his logisticians confirmed that no one was left behind, Lin Zhong-qing said coldly, ¡°Follow me!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s already sote. We¡¯re hungry and tired, and you¡¯re bringing us to the assessment now?¡± One of the soldiers couldn¡¯t help but voice out hisint, ¡°You should at least let us fill up our stomach first.¡±


    When Lin Zhong-qing heard theint, he turned around slowly and sneered. ¡°Do you think you have the right to participate in the assessment based on your lousy results?¡±


    ¡°What?!¡± All the soldiers eximed in anger. Many of which appeared indignant. ¡°If you are not bringing us to the assessment, where are you leading us?¡±


    ¡°You want a chance, right?¡± Lin Zhong-qing wasn¡¯t afraid of their anger. He replied coldly, ¡°Our regimentmander gave you a chance but you can¡¯t even meet the lowest requirements. What a bunch of useless soldiers.¡±


    ¡°What did you say? Bastard, you are the useless one.¡± One of the elite aces got trapped in an ambush for hours so he was feeling quite frustrated now. Hence, when he heard what Lin Zhong-qing said, he rushed out angrily and attempted to attack Lin Zhong-qing with his fist.


    Boom! The elite ace was suddenly pressed t to the ground. An arrogant young lieutenant colonel, who had a vicious look in his eyes, said dangerously, ¡°Who are you calling a useless, punk? Are you looking for death?¡±


    He lifted the elite ace off the ground and then mmed him to the ground again. This time however, the elite ace got injured as blood could be seen flowing out of his mouth.


    Lin Zhong-qing remained calm as he flicked the dust off his sleeves and looked at the elite ace on the ground. He said coldly, ¡°You can¡¯t even withstand one attack. How are you not a useless soldier?¡±


    The elite ace got so angered by his words that he vomited another mouthful of blood again.


    The other soldiers on the other hand, felt their anger being doused by arge bucket of water when they saw an elite ace getting defeated in a single blow. Everyone turned quiet. They appeared to have lost their rebel spirit.


    Lin Zhong-qing shook his head in disappointment. This performance was kind of expected out from the soldiers from the unused prep department, but they had way too many problems. Luckily, their 250 Ace Mecha n was only afraid of having not enough people and nothing else.


    He turned to look at the young man who subdued the elite ace. ¡°Leader Li, have your men arrived yet?¡± The person who helped him was the leader of Team 10, Li Yingjie.


    ¡°They¡¯re here. Zhong-qing, you can give your order.¡± Li Yingjie released the elite ace¡¯s throat and stood up.


    ¡°Bring these people to the cafeteria. Although I don¡¯t think these people are useful, we¡¯ll still bring them to the cafeteria to fill up their stomach on behalf of Chief Yan.¡± Lin Zhong-qing turned around and left after he finished speaking.


    The soldiers had different reactions to his words. Some were furious, at loss, and some just seemed indifferent.


    At that moment, a bunch of soldiers suddenly appeared around them. What was weird was that these soldiers had very excited expressions on their faces. They seemed to be hoping that they would resist so that there would be more fun for them.

 Chapter 1075 - Future!

    <h4>Chapter 1075 Future!</h4>


    Out of this group of soldiers surrounding them, there were actually colonels and senior colonels. From the fight that just happened, they could already tell that the lieutenant colonel was stronger than all of them. If so, how strong would these group of soldiers surrounding them be? Originally, they thought Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s words were said because 250 didn¡¯t take soldiers who were handed to them out of contempt. But after seeing these colonel rank soldiers, they held in the anger inside of them.


    Now, Yan Zheng, who was at themand center watching the assessment, sighed when he saw only 30 of his soldiers passed the assessment. He smiled bitterly. ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, when those bastards finish eating dinner, I will take them back with me.¡± It was too embarrassing. An elite ace couldn¡¯t even go one round against a lieutenant colonel.


    ¡°That lieutenant colonel who made a move is called Li Yingjie. Although his rank isn¡¯t high, he¡¯s still one of my 10 main team leaders,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    In reality, the rank of lieutenant colonel in the military wasn¡¯t as insignificant as Ling Lan just said. This rank was enough to be responsible for the position of regimentmander of a n. If a lieutenant colonel were to be assigned somewhere not 250, he would be given the best treatment, much like a treatment given to a king.


    The reason why a lieutenant colonel wasn¡¯t worth much in 250 was because when they entered 250 Ace Mecha n, most of them were already the rank of lieutenant colonel. Additionally, the merits received from Haijiao¡¯s battle allowed these colonel rank mecha operators to be promoted by one rank. Only a few mecha operators who were originally senior colonels did not advanced into the rank of major general. In the end, these particr soldiers were reimbursed in different ways topensate for their valiant efforts in the battle.


    On the side of logistics, all the personnel advanced in rank because of the merits they gained from the battle to be sergeant, while the previous sergeants became captains. Many of the captains, those who were first lieutenants or senior captains, had sessfully advanced into major rank based on their merits from battle too.


    Just like that, an oddball of a mecha n was created. There were countless sergeants, captains, and majors walking about in the n, but not a single standard soldier.


    However, in theory, as new recruits and soldiers joined the mecha n, this odd situation would be broken eventually. However, that was only a possibility.


    Ling Lan¡¯sforting words made Yan Zheng feel grateful towards her. He knew that Regiment Commander Ling was justforting his own ego. Their elite ace operator lost to her mecha n¡¯s main team leader. It should be known that 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s main team leaders were all peak level ace operators. Some were even half way into the imperial level, so losing to them was in fact not embarrassing.


    Yan Zheng knew that he was onlyforting himself with that thought, otherwise, just the young face of that lieutenant colonel was enough to make him lose all of his pride.


    ¡°As for the soldiers who didn¡¯t pass...¡± Ling Lan was silent for a few seconds and then said, ¡°Don¡¯t be in a hurry to take them back.¡±


    Yan Zheng was dumbfounded as he didn¡¯t know what Ling Lan meant by her words.


    ¡°Let them train here for a week, then make them take the logistics assessment,¡± Ling Lan spoke out the decision she made long ago.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Logistics? Did he hear something wrong? Yan Zheng was a bit stupefied.


    Although these soldiers didn¡¯t pass 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s mecha operator assessment, no matter how bad they were, they were still mecha operators. If they weren¡¯t mecha operators, they were also outstanding individuals in their own respective fields. The division headquarters didn¡¯t want these individuals to be wasted, so they put them in the unused prep department to wait for someone who would be willing to take a chance on them. If they were willing to be logistics personnel who would be ordered around by others, then these soldiers wouldn¡¯t have stayed in the unused prep department for such a long time. They would have been taken by other ns to fill up their numbers long ago.


    ¡°And you, Chief Yan, will be assisting our Department Head Lin toplete this task. Alright, it¡¯s all decided then.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t care how much Yan Zheng was surprised or in disbelief. She didn¡¯t give Yan Zheng any chance to speak and just made the decision for him.


    ¡°Ah?¡± Not only did those soldiers get taken in by 250 Ace Mecha n as logistics personnel, but he was also taken in? Faced with the cold and calcting Ling Lan, Yan Zheng gulped down his saliva in fear. After deciding to take the risk of potentially offending the domineering Ling Lan, he said with a difficult expression his face, ¡°Um, Regiment Commander Ling, the unused prep department still needs me to take care of some administrative matters, I probably won¡¯t be able to stay for too long...¡±


    ¡°Since you brought all of the soldiers stationed in your department here, the existence of your department is no longer required.¡± Ling Lan looked at Yan Zheng calmly as she announced her decision.


    ¡°But the headquarters...¡± Yan Zheng wiped away cold sweat from his forehead. Even though he knew that Ling Lan¡¯s words had strong reasons behind them, Yan Zheng couldn¡¯t imagine himself being able to live a long life in her presence. Hence, he could only try his best to find a way to save himself.


    At that moment, Yan Zheng suddenly felt his wrist vibrate. Someone was contacting him through hismunicator.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, I have a call here.¡± Yan Zheng suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. There was finally a way for him to avert the intimidating gaze of Regiment Commander Ling and to calm down.


    Ling Lan nced at themunicator on his wrist. Yan Zheng quickly put up his wrist to show the light which indicated a call wasing in. This was to prove that he didn¡¯t lie.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably already time for the documents to be sent out. Take the call,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°Oh, okay!¡± Yan Zheng unconsciously followed along with Ling Lan¡¯s orders.


    After hitting the connect button, a virtual screen appeared in front of him and a beautiful female captain appeared on the screen.


    ¡°Yan Zheng, Major Yan from the unused prep department?¡± The female captain asked softly.


    ¡°Yes, Yan Zheng here.¡± Yan Zheng had a serious expression on his face. He knew who this female officer was. She was a clerk who gave notices from the headquarters to soldiers around the military.


    ¡°I am the division headquarters¡¯ clerk, serial number XXXXX¡± After the female officer stated her identity, she continued, ¡°Now, I¡¯m giving a reassignment order from the headquarters. Major Yan Zheng, originally from the unused prep department, will be assigned as the deputy department head of the logistics department in 250 Ace Mecha n as of today. Your rank advances to lieutenant colonel and you will be aiding the department head in handling the new recruits. Please confirm that you understand this reassignment, Lieutenant Colonel Yan.¡±


    Yan Zheng felt nauseous from the sudden order given to him.


    ¡°Lieutenant Colonel Yan, please confirm that you understand this reassignment.¡± The female captain noticed that Yan Zheng didn¡¯t confirm the reassignment order she had sent to him, so she reminded him again.


    ¡°Oh, yes!¡± Her words finally woke up Yan Zheng, as he immediately confirmed himself receiving the orders.


    Not long after, the reassignment details were downloaded. Yan Zheng opened it and saw it that it was indeed the same as what the female captain had just said. He was reassigned to 250 Ace Mecha n to be the deputy head of the logistics department. The headquarters were even afraid that an outsider like him suddenly entering the logistics department of 250 Ace Mecha n would cause the department to be in disarray, so even his duties were clearly outlined in the details.


    Yan Zheng smiled bitterly at his fate. He didn¡¯t expect that after taking care of them for so many years, he still couldn¡¯t get away from overseeing those soldiers from the unused prep department... However, this situation was fine for him. He would be worried if he had just left those soldiers in 250 Ace Mecha n alone.


    ¡°Since you got your orders, go rest up for the night. Report to the logistics department tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. and speak to Department Head Lin.¡± Ling Lan saw that Yan Zheng didn¡¯t have any questions about his reassignment so she gave him an order to rest


    Yan Zheng still had a dumbfounded expression on his face, but Ling Lan¡¯s orders made him raise his right hand and salute by reflex, ¡°Yes, Regiment Commander!¡±


    After walking out of themand center, Yan Zheng finally woke up from his daze. He looked at the reassignment order on hismunicator and sighed after being silent for a short moment.


    It turns out Regiment Commander Ling was thinking of taking all of them from the very beginning! Yan Zheng, who was not slow-witted, thought in detail and understood Ling Lan¡¯s real ns. It was just funny that in the beginning he was trying his best to sell those soldiers to Ling Lan in fear that she wasn¡¯t going to take even a single one...


    Even if Ling Lan was the 23rd Division¡¯s prince, she still needed to go through the proper procedures of getting an officer reassigned. These procedures was definitely not possible to bepleted in one or two hours. It was possible that when Ling Lan entered the unused prep department, she had already begun organizing this reassignment.


    Unknowingly, he fell into Ling Lan¡¯s trap... Yan Zheng turned around and looked at themand center. Despite not being able to see Ling Lan, Yan Zheng¡¯s eyes still had a slight of hint of fear in them.


    Even if Regiment Commander Ling lost her ability to operate a mecha, with just her plotting and scheming abilities, it was already enough for her to hold her own.


    Lin Zhong-qing let Li Yingjie¡¯s team take the 2500 or so soldiers to therge cafeteria. He however, went to Li Shiyu¡¯s medical treatment center.


    He walked straight into theboratory specially made for Li Shiyu. Unsurprisingly, Li Shiyu was there.


    Hearing the sound of footsteps, Li Shiyu walked out of the sterile room and came to outer parts of thergeboratory.


    ¡°Something you need?¡± Li Shiyu was surprised by Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s visit. Lin Zhong-qing was probably the most busy one out of all of them because the workload in the logistics department. Although there were He Chaoyang, Li Jinghong and the others helping him out, they still didn¡¯t have Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s charisma and magic touch. Some more official matters still needed Lin Zhong-qing to make the final decision. Unless he needed something, he wouldn¡¯t have free time toe by and say hi to Li Shiyu.


    ¡°Do you have the special-level treatment medicine? The ones that can heal you in 4 hours?¡± Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t beat around the bushes and went straight to the point.


    ¡°I do.¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s eyes narrowed but he still gave an answer.


    ¡°How much do you have?¡± Lin Zhong-qing asked.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s expression quickly became serious as he went silent for a few seconds. Then, he asked, ¡°What are you nning to do?¡±


    ¡°Train.¡± Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t n on hiding anything. Of course, he couldn¡¯t hide it either. Perhaps he could have sessfully fooled others, but he couldn¡¯t fool Li Shiyu. Simrly, he wouldn¡¯t be able to fool Boss too so there was no reason to hide.


    ¡°You want to train during the first half of the night then use the recovery agent to recover in the second half?¡± Li Shiyu instantly understood what Lin Zhong-qing was nning on doing.


    ¡°Why?¡± Li Shiyu asked in a serious tone. Why was Lin Zhong-qing suddenly rushing to be stronger just like what Han Jijyun was doing? He clearly could just stay at his current level. After all, he wasn¡¯t like Han Jijyun, who had Li Lanfeng constantly reminding him that he was falling behind.


    Lin Zhong-qing eyes became dark and didn¡¯t answer for a while. When Li Shiyu thought Lin Zhong-qing wasn¡¯t going to answer his question, Lin Zhong-qing finally spoke up, ¡°I don¡¯t want to be a weak person, especially not in the mind of that annoying guy...¡±


    He was confident that he could avoid the attack of that elite ace operator, but he couldn¡¯t be like Li Yingjie, who took that operator down with just one move. It turns out, unknowingly, the distance between him and Li Yingjie had be so wide. He didn¡¯t know why but the scene of Li Yingjie embarrassing him back in the Scout Academy began to appear in his mind...


    If Qi Long and the others had done that instead, Lin Zhong-qing perhaps would not have felt anything. However, the person who made the move was Li Yingjie and it left a bad taste in Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s mouth after that... Did Li Yingjie actually think he was weak? Was that a way of humiliating him?


    He could lose to anyone, but just not to that bastard! He will be stronger. In the future, he will definitely make a move before that bastard. Then, tell him that Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s problems will be dealt by him and that he didn¡¯t need him to meddle in them.


    Li Shiyu saw the burning passion in Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s eyes and sighed. He knew he couldn¡¯t stop him anymore. He turned around, opened a medicine cab, took out a row of medicine, and passed it to Lin Zhong-qing. ¡°This is the amount for one week. When you are finished with those,e to me to get more.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Shiyu.¡± Lin Zhong-qing took over the medicine gratefully. He was overjoyed that he had friends who supported him silently.


    ¡°However, don¡¯t overdo the training. You have to remember to have 4 hours of recovery time. Otherwise, if the wounds from your previous session of training were not fully healed, it would add on to the new wounds on the next day. If that happens, not only would your capabilities stay the same, it would also cause life-long wounds on your body,¡± Li Shiyu reminded repeatedly.


    ¡°I will be careful,¡± responded Lin Zhong-qing earnestly. He wanted to increase his capabilities while not destroying his body. Lin Zhong-qing was more calm and logical in this aspectpared to Han Jijyun.


    Lin Zhong-qing took the medicinal agent and left theboratory happily. Li Shiyu silently sat down at his desk and suddenly smirked, ¡°Looks like I now have to work hard as well, otherwise I¡¯m going to be left behind by them.¡± Li Shiyu, who was moved by Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s actions, also made the decision to train.


    ¡°However, before that, I need to finish making the second generation of the Nuwa agent.¡± Li Shiyu knew what his priorities were. ¡°I didn¡¯t think our regimentmander would be able to sessfully bid for that nt from Juhao. Although I don¡¯t know which one out of the threepanies it was... but the amount they sent over this time is enough for me to use for quite a while.¡±


    ¡°I hope that the second generation Nuwa agent will be able to help our regimentmander recover from his injuries and reawaken his body¡¯s recovery power.¡± Li Shiyu had a cold expression on his face. This was thest hope. If it didn¡¯t work... their regimentmander would not have any chance to pilot mechas. It would be such a shame for their regimentmander, who had terrifying operating talents in piloting, to not be able to pilot a mecha again.


    Right as Lin Zhong-qing returned to themand center, he received Ling Lan¡¯s orders to go and see her.


    Ling Lan was the only person in themand center. Well, other than Meng Lan and Little White, who were talking to each other.


    Seeing it was Lin Zhong-qing, Little White didn¡¯t pay any heed to him and continued to talk to Meng Lan. Of course, only they could understand what they were talking about. Others would only hear Little White ¡®rawrs¡¯ and see Meng Lan¡¯s standard smile.


    ¡°Boss,¡± Lin Zhong-qing shouted out loud, surprising Ling Lan who was thinking deeply in that moment.


    ¡°Sit.¡± Ling Lan gestured to Lin Zhong-qing for him to sit. Lin Zhong-qing chose the seat on Ling Lan¡¯s right side and sat up straight.


    ¡°I summoned you here to tell you that tomorrow there will be someone called Yan Zheng who will report to your logistics department. His position will be the deputy head of the logistics department.¡± Ling Lan went straight to the point.


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s expression changed slightly as he looked at Ling Lan with his raised head. ¡°I understand, Boss.¡±


    ¡°During all this time, the logistics department was on your shoulders. It must have been difficult for you,¡± said Ling Lan.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, Boss,¡± Lin Zhong-qing said anxiously. He wasn¡¯t in it for the power, instead he was working so hard because he was afraid that he would disappoint Ling Lan¡¯s expectations for him.


    ¡°Zhong-qing, I¡¯m veryfortable handing over logistics to you, but you are held back by it.¡± Ling Lan shook her hand and stopped Lin Zhong-qing from speaking any further.


    ¡°Our future isn¡¯t only 250 Ace Mecha n. We will climb higher and walk further...¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold gaze swept towards Lin Zhong-qing. ¡°However, how much we could climb and walk together depends on our own capabilities.¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s body shook abruptly as he seemed to have understood something.

 Chapter 1076 - Why?

    <h4>Chapter 1076 Why?</h4>


    ¡°So, I found someone to lessen the burden on your shoulders. This person is quite talented, but how you use him will be on you. Don¡¯t disappoint me,¡± said Ling Lan calmly.


    Lin Zhong-qing held in the excitement in his heart and took a deep breath. Then, he calmly said, ¡°Yes, Boss!¡±


    Ling Lan waved her hand to tell Lin Zhong-qing that he could now leave.


    Lin Zhong-qing saluted her and turned around to leave.


    ¡°Another thing...¡± Suddenly, Ling Lan¡¯s voice rang from behind him. Lin Zhong-qing quickly turned around and waited for his boss¡¯s next order.


    ¡°This is a military camp, so don¡¯t call me ¡®Boss¡¯. Otherwise, you¡¯ll be punished by militaryw.¡± Ling Lan sounded a bit helpless. She had already said it countless times, but these kids still tantly broke the rule in front of her. Luckily, she was tolerant enough to ignore their mistakes.


    However, she couldn¡¯t continue to ignore their mistakes anymore as there were thousands of new recruits entering the n, so they had to act like a n not like some mafia gang. The reason she was suddenly being strict with that rule was to prevent these new kids from straying to the wrong path and bing a group of bandits... Ling Lan couldn¡¯t imagine herself being able to hide her embarrassment when they called her ¡®Boss¡¯ so loudly in public.


    ¡°Understood, Boss!¡± Lin Zhong-qing replied loudly and smirked slightly.


    Seeing his Boss shot him a cold yet helpless nce, Lin Zhong-qing left right away and disappeared from Ling Lan¡¯s sight.


    These guys want to watch the world burn!


    Ling Lan rubbed her aching forehead... On the bright side, she finally managed to resolve Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s issue. Lin Zhong-qing was too tightly bound to the logistics department and with the expansion of the mecha n, his workload and the burden on his shoulders would increase tremendously, something Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to see. This was why when she saw that Yan Zheng was a great logistician, she decisively made some calls and reassigned him to 250 Ace Mecha n to help Lin Zhong-qing.


    In the cafeteria, the 2500 or so soldiers were served with high-quality food and drinks. They thought that they were treated well because 250 Ace Mecha n was concerned that they would be hungry on their way back to the unused prep department, so they gave them a meal to ease their hunger. These soldiers were very grateful of 250 Ace Mecha n officers¡¯ kind gesture.


    However, their feeling of gratefulness quickly disappeared. When they were told that they were staying for special training for one more week for the assessment of logistics personnel, everyone became furious.


    There was no doubt in their minds that 250 Ace Mecha n was humiliating them. Just as they were about to gather together and revolt against the decision, they saw a surprising scene when they were taken to the training grounds.


    On the training grounds, thousands of outstanding cadets, majors, lieutenant colonels, senior colonels, elite and peak-level aces were taking on brutal training regimens. There were also instructors standing all around them with a few medical teams on hold.


    No matter if it was elite ace operators or peak-level ones, or cadets who were looking forward to the merits of the future, or any other types of soldiers, they were all training on this training ground.


    These soldierspleted different training regimens one after the other as if there wasn¡¯t an end to it.


    Finally, some soldiers who had reached their limits fell on the ground. The instructors closest to where they fell would only shout, ¡°Stand up.¡±


    Some soldiers stood up, while some couldn¡¯t even stand even if they wanted to. When the instructors saw that they had really reached their limit, he would gesture towards the medical team toe over.


    The instructors only seemed to be ruthless on the outside, but when someone were to actually reach their limit, he would still send a medical team to treat those soldiers. The soldiers from the unused prep department had this thought in their minds.


    However, what happened nextpletely changed what they knew about the world.


    One of the soldiers that fell down instantly became reinvigorated when the medical team came near him. He quickly pushed himself to get up and finally stood up just before the medical team could get near him. However, that was just hisst spurt. After walking only a few more steps, he fell down on the ground once again.


    However, he still didn¡¯t give up. That soldier had a savage look on his face as he ignored the immense pain wrecking his entire body, he dug his nails into the hard ground and crawled forward slowly with all of his might.


    Seeing the soldier could still move, the instructor waved his hand, signalling to the medical team to stop moving temporarily.


    Why? Why did this happen? Why didn¡¯t he ept the treatment? Why did he have to crawl forward until hisst breath? The soldiers from the unused prep department couldn¡¯t understand the reasons behind his desperation to continue.


    However, their questions were quickly answered as there were still people whopletely exhausted their energy and went unconscious. At that moment, the instructor would let the medical team go in and inject a medicinal agent into their bodies.


    As expected, they were treating him... right?


    The soldier that was injected instantly woke up with bulging eyes. This made the soldiers watching him breathe a sigh of relief. However, in the next second, these soldiers had terrified expressions on their faces.


    ¡°AH!¡± The soldier that just woke up suddenly screamed towards the heavens. His entire body began to struggle and squirm, and his face formed a horrified expression because of the pain.


    ¡°Just kill me! Just kill me!¡± That soldier was struggling so fiercely that he needed two medics to hold him down.


    How painful must it be to make a soldier rather die than to ept the torment?


    ¡°If you can¡¯t get past this, you¡¯ll die even if you don¡¯t want to die.¡± The medics who were holding that soldier down didn¡¯t have any sympathy and instead sneered at him.


    ¡°AH!¡± That soldier screamed again with a sound that could send chills down everyone¡¯s spines. He struggled even more. His eyes, ears, nose and mouth had ck blood dripping out which made him look even more savage and terrifying. This scene terrified the soldiers watching from the side.


    ¡°Oww!¡± Arge force suddenly came from the struggling soldier which sent the two medics flying. Right at that moment, an instructor who was watching from the side jumped up and used one hand to hold down the soldier who was struggling onto the ground to make sure he couldn¡¯t move anymore.


    ¡°Thank you, Leader Liu.¡± The two medics quickly stood up and saluted towards the instructor who stepped in. It turns out, the instructor who stepped in was the Leader Liu Furong from Team 02.


    ¡°You actually couldn¡¯t hold down an exhausted logistics personnel. Go back and train for three days,¡± Liu Furong said coldly.


    After hearing the order, the faces of the two medics began to twitch, ¡°Yes, Leader Liu.¡± Training for three days meant that they had to go through this terrifying experience three times... After thinking up to this point, the two of them instantly trembled at the thought.


    The other medics on the other hand, became even more serious as they raised their awareness of their surroundings. They warned themselves that they must not follow in the footsteps of those two medics.


    At that moment, everyone also discovered that the instructors, who were surrounding the training grounds, were all colonel rank officers, many were even senior colonels. The person who stepped in was a senior colonel. They were the type of existence these soldiers looked up to.


    After remembering how the medics called him, everyone took in a deep cold breath. Could the 56 instructors standing around them actually be the team leaders of 250 Ace Mecha n?


    The soldiers, not knowing how 250 Ace Mecha n was organized, believed that this mecha n was full in terms of personnel and thus had 56 team leaders. In reality, some of the Federation¡¯s top tier titled super mecha ns wereposed with the amount of people of five to six standard nsbined. These titled super mecha ns had 400 to 500 mecha teams and were well-known across the entire gxy


    Even those elite ace operators, who were originally confident in themselves, had stunned expressions the instant Liu Furong stepped in to stop the soldier.


    These instructors were too strong! And that medicinal agent that was injected into the soldier was terrifying as well.


    The rebel spirit of these soldiers instantly cooled down.

 Chapter 1077 - A New Beginning!

    <h4>Chapter 1077 A New Beginning!</h4>


    One week quickly passed by.


    Inside 250 Ace Mecha n, whether it was mecha operators or logisticians, they were all busy and were all so exhausted to the brink of death.


    The few training grounds that were originally empty, were activated because of the new soldiers. Most of the mecha operators and logisticians from 250 Ace Mecha n were on these training grounds and crazily training the new recruits...


    Han Xuya and Luo Chao, who was originally 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s only two females soldiers, became training instructors. Putting aside Han Xuya¡¯s terrible temper, even the soft and sympathetic Luo Chao had be a ruthless instructor because of the time constraints they were under. The two of them were responsible for training all the female new recruits in the logistics department.


    Lady Mei and her group had arrived at 250 Ace Mecha n three days ago. Before they could bask in excitement, they were sent to the training grounds and were given Han Xuya and Luo Chao¡¯s training regimen.


    In the beginning, these new recruits thought this regimen would be finished in no time, after all, new recruits needed to get past this regimen to enter the n, so how tough could it be. However, after starting the training regimen, they quickly understood that this wasn¡¯t some typical training regimen. It was inescapable training regimen from hell that could make them cry, swear, and wish they were dead.


    ¡°250 Ace Mecha n doesn¡¯t need crybabies. Since you chose to join, then you mustplete the training.¡± Seeing the usual kind and sympathetic Luo Chao also speak to them coldly, many of the female soldiers were suspecting whether it was actually Lieutenant Colonel Luo Lang in disguise.


    However, the reason they were able to endure the training was because Major Han Xuya and Major Luo Chao trained alongside with them. This made many of the female soldiers feel that their pride was on the line. If the two female majors could do the training, then they could do it as well. Of course, reality was brutal. They would usually fall down in the middle of training. Only a few could actually finish the training regimen with the two majors.


    In the few who finished, Lady Mei was present. The difference between Lady Mei and the other female soldiers was that most of the female soldiers hated this terrifying hellish training while Lady Mei enjoyed it. She felt that if she couldplete this training regimen, she would definitely be able to be strong. That way she would be able to get closer to Major Han, whom she admired.


    Thinking up to this point, Lady Mei¡¯s eyes shined brightly. She looked towards the front of the group, at the slim silhouette leading them forward. One day, she would be standing beside her, fight alongside her and be one of her most trustedrades.


    Today was 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s weekly leader and department head meeting. Each leader and department heads had arrived in the conference room long ago.


    However, today¡¯s conference wasn¡¯t like the usual conferences they had before. In today¡¯s conference, all the leaders and all the department heads had brought their deputies.


    Suddenly, therge door opened automatically. Ling Lan, who was wearing the uniform of a major general, walked in.


    She didn¡¯t have a mask on and she didn¡¯t have any bandages on her face, showing her scarred face to everyone. The difference between now and when she was disguised as Little Yang, was that the scars were more severe when she was disguised as Little Yang. Now, it was clear that the scars had lightened up. Other than a fewrger scars that could still be easily seen, the other scars had be light touches on her face.


    ¡°Regimentmander,¡± everyone stood up and shouted respectfully.


    Ling Lan walked to her seat and said inly, ¡°Sit.¡±


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Everyone sat down.


    ¡°What¡¯s the current situation with the n?¡± Ling Lan looked towards everyone and asked.


    Everyone looked towards Team 01¡¯s team leader, Major General Yang Mingzhi. No matter if it was military rank or the rank in terms of mecha teams, Yang Mingzhi was the first person below Ling Lan.


    Yang Mingzhi spoke up, ¡°Regimentmander, my team is mostly responsible for Evil Wind¡¯s training, and the situation with them is very good. Other than a few members who haven¡¯t passed the training standards, the others have already gotten a passing grade,¡± Yang Mingzhi told Ling Lan some good news first.


    ¡°However, the 30 soldiers who Big Leader Li sent us only had 7 soldiers passing the lowest level training standards. The other 23 individuals didn¡¯t pass even the lowest training level... If we were to train them to pass the lowest level, it would not be possible without two months of intense training,¡± Yang Mingzhi then continued with some not so good news.


    Hearing this, Li Lanfeng frowned slightly. He didn¡¯t think that the percentage of individuals passing the lowest training level was that low. It seemed the soldiers from the unused prep department had beenzing around for far too long. Their physical conditions were not maintained at their past peaks and had already dropped below the standard requirements of a mecha operator.


    Seeing Yang Mingzhi finish his reports, Liu Furong continued, ¡°Our Team 02, 03 and 04 cooperated and trained the cadets, who Leader Luo and Leader Xie had brought, and the soldiers, who Leader Qi and Leader Han had brought from the main corps...¡±


    ¡°Currently, the passing rate is only 21.77%.¡± Liu Furong looked at the report in his hand and smiled bitterly. ¡°This is also the lowest level requirement. There¡¯s probably not even 1% in the second level, no need to mention the higher levels. Even if we give them two to three months... the answer would still be zero percent for the upper levels.¡±


    Only leader level individuals could pass the highest level... Even if the new recruits were talented, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get up to that level in a short time span of 2 months.


    ¡°Leader Liu, aren¡¯t you expecting too much from them...¡± Li Yingjie looked at Liu Furong with a dissatisfied look on his face. Even he had just recently passed the highest level after almost dying multiple times because of it. If there was someone who could pass it in 2 months, then why would they need Li Yingjie for?


    Seeing his pouting expression, Liu Furongughed silently. ¡°Sorry, Little Leader Li. It¡¯s just that I saw so many new recruits and they were outstanding cadets from all the military academies. I wanted to see if there were any uing talents who could be future leaders...¡±


    Whether a mecha n had a future would depend on whether these next generation individuals were exceptional enough and whether they had potential to seed them. As a somewhat senior leader, Liu Furong automatically entered into the mode of finding someone to take over his ce.


    ¡°We¡¯re not in a hurry with matter of session and the 21% passing rate... isn¡¯t low,¡± Ling Lan said without a thought in her mind. ¡°It seems this year¡¯s new recruits has great potential.¡±


    Hearing this, Qi Long instantlyughed out loud and said, ¡°Regimentmander, most of the cadets this year are from the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. We¡¯re also very familiar with their leader.¡±


    Luo Lang, Xie Yi and the others smirked, especially Xie Yi, who was making faces and said, ¡°Regimentmander, it¡¯s your loyal subject.¡±


    Li Lanfeng frowned slightly. Loyal subject? What was Xie Yi trying to say? When Li Lanfeng left the academy, Ling Yi hadn¡¯t arrived yet. That was why Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t know about the existence of Ling Yi.


    Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows in confusion. Loyal subject? Who was that?


    Suddenly, she had a thought. ¡°Ling Yi?¡±


    Rabbit actually knew that person¡¯s name? Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart trembled and his expression darkened. Knowing Ling Lan, he knew that the people who Ling Lan remembered were people she kept in her heart. Otherwise, if it was a passerby, Ling Lan would forget about thempletely.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s him. I told you, Boss. You would definitely remember him!¡± Xie Yi said excitedly.


    That person who always announced he was going to be Boss¡¯s loyalist, had always made himself seen by them. He was also a previous subordinate of the Ling family so Boss definitely remembered him.


    ¡°Xie Yi, you broke the rule once. Go back and train for one month,¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows slightly and calmly announced Xie Yi¡¯s punishment.


    ¡°Ah, Boss, no!¡± Xie Yi instantly cried out after hearing the punishment.


    ¡°2 months of training.¡± Ling Lan nonchntly added to the punishment.


    ¡°Boss...¡± Xie Yi wasn¡¯t going to give in and wanted to lower his punishment.


    ¡°Three months.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t hesitate and added to it once again.


    ¡°Bo-...¡± Xie Yi wanted to speak again, but Luo Lang, who was sitting beside him, put his hand on Xie Yi¡¯s mouth. ¡°Don¡¯t break the rule again.¡±


    Ling Lan half-smiled and sent a nce towards Luo Lang, but she didn¡¯t continue to add on to Xie¡¯s punishment.


    Xie Yi pushed Luo Lang¡¯s hand away from his mouth and asked softly, ¡°What rule did I break?¡± Until now, Xie Yi didn¡¯t know how he angered Boss.


    Luo Lang didn¡¯t know what to say. Wasn¡¯t Xie Yi usually smart? When did he be so dumb.


    ¡°Boss! You called Boss ¡®Boss¡¯!¡± Luo Lang replied softly.


    Ling Lan, who was sifting through the documents each team leader passed her, didn¡¯t raise her head and said calmly, ¡°Luo Lang, 3 months of training.¡±


    ¡°Ah?¡± Luo Lang looked Ling Lan with a stunned expression. Then, he discovered that the other team leaders were looking at him with pity in their eyes. It was as though they were pitying him for digging his own grave!


    ¡°Ah!¡± Luo Lang cried out in agony. He stood up with great anger and punched Xie Yi. ¡°It¡¯s all your fault, you bastard! You screwed me! You screwed me!¡±


    Xie Yi didn¡¯t even dodge. Luo Lang¡¯s punishment made him realize why he was given three months worth of training. Moreover, he inadvertently caused Luo Lang to train with him for three months. He was really sorry about that so he just covered his head as Luo Lang wailed on him.


    ¡°Alright, settle down.¡± Ling Lan looked through the documents given to her by the team leaders in a blink of an eye. She put down the documents and stopped Luo Lang¡¯s extreme abuse.


    Luo Lang didn¡¯t dare to disobey so he sat down angrily.


    ¡°Now...¡± Ling Lan nced towards everyone with a sharp look in her eyes. This turned the easygoing atmosphere that Luo Lang and Xie Yi created into a serious atmosphere. Everyone couldn¡¯t help but hold in their breath as they waited for Ling Lan¡¯s orders.


    ¡°All teams split up. One team into two. The new teams will have the current deputy leaders as their new team leaders.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s order instantly caused the deputy leaders to understand why they were told to participate in this meeting


    The ten team leaders looked towards their deputy with smiles on their faces. They were already aware of these arrangements before the meeting started. Ling Lan had previously asked them about their opinions on the matter.


    ¡°Every team will be increased to 33 people, creating 11 formations. In order to ensure the fighting strength of every team, every team will be split apart equally.¡± Ling Lan looked towards the deputy leaders, ¡°Deputy leaders, oh, now leaders. You can speak with your original leaders to discuss how to split the team. You can take half of the members with you. My n is to have 11 main formations led by the original leaders. Secondary mecha operators can be chosen from those who passed the lowest level requirement. Of course, whether the secondary mechas will be able to pair well with the main formations, would depend on how the people from the main formations teach them.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Regimentmander!¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s clear arrangement allowed all the leaders understand what task they needed to do next.


    ¡°As for logistics. I also want to split them into different departments.¡± Ling Lan looked towards the logistics department.


    ¡°Set up a new JMC department.¡± Ling Lan looked towards Han Xuya. ¡°With Major Han Xuya as the department head.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Regiment Commander!¡± Han Xuya was shocked as she replied. She didn¡¯t think that Ling Lan would actually let her take the position of a department head. Although it was only a small JMC department with only a few hundred female soldiers, it was still a department. This meant that she was now qualified to participate in this meeting.


    ¡°Additionally, the logistics department will split into the daily management department, mecha logistics department, transport department, food supply department, supply department and logisticsw enforcement department.¡± Ling Lan looked towards Li Jinghong, He Chaoyang, Yuan Youyun, Luo Shaoyun and Gao Jinyun, who were sitting behind Lin Zhong-qing and continued, ¡°Li Jinghong will be responsible for being the head of daily management department, He Chaoyang for the head of the mecha logistics department, Yuan Youyun for the head of the transport department, Luo Shaoyun for the head of the food supply department and Gao Jinyun for the head of thew enforcement department.¡±


    ¡°As for the head of the supply department. Lin Zhong-qing will be taking the position as the head of the department for now. Furthermore, Lin Zhong-qing will be promoted to the head of the whole logistics department. The other department heads will report to him directly.¡±


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Lin Zhong-qing and the six others stood up in response. Li Jinghong and the other five new department head all had overjoyed expressions on their faces. Although these were all the things they were already responsible for on a daily basis, they were still very excited that they were split apart and were given an actual seat of power as a department head.


    Simrly to Han Xuya, this meant that they had officially entered 250 Ace Mecha n¡¯s upper administrative chain. Although they entered the meeting room, they could only just listen. Now, they were no longer just bystanders and were participants instead.


    ¡°The medical department will bepletely separate and will report directly to me. Department Head Li, do you understand?¡± Ling Lan looked towards Li Shiyu with a serious look on her face.


    Li Shiyu thought about the secrets in hisboratory and smiled. ¡°Understood, regimentmander.¡±


    Splitting away from logistics department and giving him immediate control of everything there would make it easier for him as there will be less obstacles. Plus, it would decrease the possibility of secrets being leaked into the public.


    ¡°Simrly, the researchb for mecha modifications will also be its own department and no longer belong to the logistics department. Chang Xinyuan, you will be responsible for being the head of this department,¡± Ling Lan looked at Chang Xinyuan on the other side of the room and said firmly.


    ¡°But, I only know how to do research on modifications...¡± Chang Xinyuan was in dismay. He didn¡¯t know how to be a head of a department.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. It will just be the same as before. If you need anything, go find Lin Zhong-qing.¡± Ling Lan sold Lin Zhong-qing out just like that.


    ¡°Oh, then that¡¯s fine.¡± Hearing that it was going to be just the same as before when he could just ask Lin Zhong-qing for people and supplies, Chang Xinyuan epted it happily.


    Lin Zhong-qing helplessly rubbed his forehead. He discovered that even though many departments were formed, what he actually had to do didn¡¯t decrease by much.


    ¡°Lastly, we will form a coordination department. If any departments need to cooperate or change things up, the coordination department will make arrangements for that matter. This department simrly reports directly to me.¡± After saying that, Ling Lan looked towards Luo Chao with an apologetic expression.


    ¡°The department head of the coordination department will be Major Luo Chao.¡±

 Chapter 1078 - Heart To Heart Talk!

    <strong>Chapter 1078 Heart To Heart Talk!</strong>


    Actually, the best position for Luo Chao was the captain of a starship. However, Ling Lan currently didn¡¯t have a starship. Hence, she had to let Luo Chao suffer for a while until she could get her hands on a starship.


    Why did she say suffer? The coordination department was the department that helps the other department when problems arose. It was like the neighbourhoodmittee in her past life. They just took care of all the random matters.


    ¡°One more thing, I have another n for Evil Wind.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words broke the dreams of the people who wanted to snatch the members of Evil Wind.


    ¡°Besides the training of the new recruits, Zhong-qing, you have to set up the various logistics department as soon as possible. After everyone has been distributed properly, we will need to split the logisticians that had finished their training.¡± Ling Lan frowned slightly. Today, her father told her that he could only drag for another week. One weekter, the military would inform them of their new division.


    One week was too short for all the heads of the various new logistics department. They wouldn¡¯t have enough time to perfect their department.


    ¡°Zhong-qing, how fast can you set up all the new departments?¡± Lin Zhong-qing looked at Lin Zhong-qing seriously.


    Lin Zhong-qing wanted to say one week but he stopped himself. He looked down and started contemting deeply. When he raised his head again, his expression was resolute. ¡°Regimentmander, give me three days. I¡¯ll discuss with the other department heads.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll only give you three days.¡± Ling Lan looked at Lin Zhong-qing intently. She realized that Lin Zhong-qing also knew that they didn¡¯t have enough time so he decided to challenge himself.


    ¡°I¡¯ll also give the various teams three days to rearrange themselves too.¡± Ling Lan gave her order, ¡°Three dayster, I want to see 20 fully membered mecha teams.¡±


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Everyone received their orders.


    ¡°Disperse!¡± Ling Lan took the lead and left the meeting room.


    Everyone else quickly stood up and left right after her. Ling Lan didn¡¯t give them much time to rearrange their teams so they had to make use of every second of time they had. Although rearranging the teams seemed simple, everyone wanted to fish out the best of the best soldiers into their team.


    Hence, it would be a difficult task toplete in three days.


    Li Lanfeng sat on his seat after the meeting ended and went into deep thought. After a few minutes, he packed his things and left the meeting room.


    A muscr figure leaned against the door of


    walking out, he asked, ¡°Lanfeng, there¡¯s something I want to ask you.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± Li Lanfeng replied.


    ¡°What is your n for your team?¡± Zhao Jun asked for Li Lanfeng¡¯s opinion.


    ¡°Every team leader has his own style. Your team will follow your style,¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t reply to him directly.


    Zhao Jun started thinking about his reply. He said after thinking for a while, ¡°Are you saying that the styles of the teams will be vastly different? In simpler words, different teams will be good at different things?¡±


    ¡°That will definitely happen. Think about the total number of people in each team, 33 people. Can¡¯t you notice anything?¡± Li Lanfeng reminded Zhao Jun.


    Zhao Jun rubbed his face and said in frustration, ¡°Why can¡¯t you just say it directly. I don¡¯t want to think.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re justzy. Go and think about it yourself.¡± Li Lanfeng walked passed Zhao Jun.


    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Zhao Jun asked curiously when he noticed that Li Lanfeng was not leaving themand center.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to look for the regimentmander,¡± Li Lanfeng replied calmly.


    ¡°Why?¡± Zhao Jun was puzzled. Their regimentmander had already given them his orders. Even he knew what he had to do. How could Li Lanfeng not know?


    Li Lanfeng smiled at Zhao Jun. ¡°I¡¯m going to have a heart to heart talk with him. Do you want toe along?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Zhao Jun was stunned. Who would believe that? He remembered their regimentmander¡¯s cold face and icy aura. He couldn¡¯t imagine having a heart to heart talk with regimentmander.


    ¡°You...¡± He wanted to persuade Li Lanfeng against looking for death but he realized that Li Lanfeng was gone.


    ¡°He has gotten faster.¡± Zhao Jun was annoyed. He turned around and looked at the direction of Ling Lan¡¯s office. He shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, brother. I won¡¯t apany you to hell.¡±


    In the next second, his figure disappeared.


    ¡°Master Ling Lan, Colonel Li is looking for you.¡± Ling Lan, who was looking through the files of the soldiers who passed the test, heard Meng Lan¡¯s alert.


    ¡°Let him in.¡± Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows in confusion. She didn¡¯t know why Li Lanfeng was looking for her.


    The door opened automatically and Li Lanfeng walked in slowly.


    Ling Lan walked out from behind her desk and asked Li Lanfeng to sit on the sofa.


    ¡°Lanfeng, why are you looking for me?¡± The moment she sat down, she asked Li Lanfeng directly.


    Li Lanfeng removed his mask and revealed his beautiful face. He ced his mask on the coffee table in front of him and smiled lightly. ¡°There¡¯s something I want to ask you.¡±


    He was only able to rx in front of Ling Lan. This was why he was willing to take off his mask in of her to let his face breathe some fresh air.


    When Li Lanfeng spoke, he raised one of his eyebrows and looked at Ling Lan as though she had done him wrong.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t do this on purpose. He always made this face when he wore the mask. For him, it was a normal expression but he forgot that with his face, this expression would imply something different than what he had in mind. It was enchanting.


    Ling Lan frowned slightly when she saw that expression, but her expression was still cold as she said, ¡°Say it.¡±


    ¡®Wait, shouldn¡¯t I ask him to wear his mask first before talking to me? When did he gain the habit of removing his mask in front of


    me?¡¯


    This habit started after she came back. Whenever Li Lanfeng was free, he would visit her in her office and remove his mask in front of her all because he wanted to let his face ¡®breathe¡¯...


    Sob, she wanted to pinch his cheeks to check if it were as soft as it looked...


    <b>ere a</b>


    Wait! Stop! Keep calm!


    ¡®I used to see all kinds of beauty in the past (through television). What kind of beauty haven¡¯t I seen before? Li Lanfeng is quite pretty but I can handle it.¡¯


    ¡°Is the order from the militarying soon?¡± Li Lanfeng told Ling Lan his thoughts.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. There¡¯s at most one more week.¡± Ling Lan nodded.


    ¡°As expected.¡± No wonder Lin Zhong-qing said that he wouldplete the restructuring of his logistics department in three days. It looked like Lin Zhong-qing had noticed this too.

 Chapter 1079 - Base Nebula!

    <strong>Chapter 1079 Base Neb!</strong>


    Han Jijyun must have noticed this too. Li Lanfeng remembered that Han Jijyun pulled Qi Long to the side to have a secret discussion after the meeting.


    As for Luo Lang... his calm personality should have told him about it. If Luo Lang knew it, Xie Yi would know this too.


    As for the team leader of Team 01, Yang Mingzhi was a sly old fox. He had his own methods so he should have guessed what was happening too. That meant that Liu Furong and Gu Dongyang would know soon too.


    His deputy was one of the new team leaders now. These new team leaders should have known about this news too.


    The only people who didn¡¯t know this news were the mecha operator and the logisticians below them.


    ¡°It looks like you have understood everything.¡± Ling Lan smiled. It was easy to talk to smart people.


    ¡°The time limit of three days was a signal as well as a test.¡± Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan with admiration. This was the person he would follow for the rest of his life.


    Ling Lan stood up from the sofa and sat down on her office chair. ¡°If 250 Ace Mecha n wants to be stronger, everyone must be stronger first.¡±


    Ling Lan asked again, ¡°Is there anything else?¡±


    Although she was able to resist against Li Lanfeng¡¯s pretty face, it still troubled her. Hence, she wanted to send him off quickly. If she didn¡¯t see the face, she wouldn¡¯t be bothered by it. She had many things to handle so she couldn¡¯t waste time on such entertainment.


    She wasn¡¯t feeling guilty. No way!


    Li Lanfeng understood Ling Lan well so he knew that she was chasing him away. He took his mask and put it back on his face. Then, he stood up and smiled. ¡°There¡¯s nothing else I want to ask. I only came to ascertain this.¡±


    Li Lanfeng was about to leave but he suddenly thought of something. He asked instantly, ¡°Oh right, who is Ling Yi?¡±


    He appeared puzzled as he continued, ¡°I remember that when Zhao Jun and I left the military academy, there was no such person. Did hee after we left? What is his identity? Why do so many cadets listen to him and follow him to register into our n?¡±


    ¡°Yes, after you left, he entered the military academy.¡± Ling Lan was looking at her documents seriously when she replied to Li Lanfeng so her reply seemed casual. ¡°He was one of the family servants of the Ling family. He has good potential so we sent him to the academy.¡±


    ¡°So, he is a family servant...¡± Li Lanfeng looked enlightened and he smiled slightly.


    ¡°No, I said he was a family servant,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently. ¡°His father sacrificed himself for the Ling family. Hisst wish was for his son to regain freedom, and I agreed to his request.¡±


    Li Lanfeng frowned slightly. ¡°I don¡¯t think Ling Yi thinks that way.¡±


    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s why he came to 250 Ace Mecha n.¡± Ling Lan frowned and seemed a little troubled.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Li Lanfeng nodded his head and left.


    When the door closed, Ling Lan suddenly stopped moving. She was just flipping through the files but now, she stopped.


    ¡°Little Four, did I turn bad?¡± Ling Lan lowered her voice and asked.


    ¡°Huh? Why do you think so? You¡¯re still the same as before,¡± Little Four answered curiously.


    ¡°But... I scheme against myrades.¡± Ling Lan seemed hurt. Was this the price of maturing? This kind of scheming made her ufortable.


    ¡®Scheme? Scheme who?¡¯ Little Four didn¡¯t know what was happening.


    ¡°Boss, what are you saying? Why can¡¯t I understand anything?¡± Little Four always asked when he didn¡¯t know something.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t reply to him. She remained quiet for quite some time. Suddenly, she sighed. ¡°Forget it. Just be yourself.¡±


    She would bear this pain of maturing on her <b>own.</b>


    Everyone in 250 Ace Mecha n was busy as they weed a new week.


    Beep! Beep! Beep! The notification sound rang through the entire base.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Ling Yi looked up in astonishment. He had gone through a round of assessment and got epted into Team 06. He was currently in the training ground undergoing hell training.


    He was familiar with this notification sound as it was to inform the entire base of a new order. What order was so important that the entire base had to be notified? He had never met such a situation beforeing to 250 Ace Mecha n. Luckily, he had a good rtionship with the veteran soldiers so they kindly told him that this had never happened in 250 Ace Mecha n before unless they were going to war.


    All the mecha operators instantly stopped their training. They looked at the virtual screens around them and waited for the order.


    ¡°Military file 2034-073: The newest order for the 250 Ace Mecha n of the 23rd division. The order is as follows: From today onwards, 250 Ace Mecha n will be removed from the 23rd division and be an independent mecha n. They will be directly under the military headquarters. Additionally, 250 Ace Mecha n will be a titled super mecha n (The title will be chosen by the mecha n. Once it¡¯s finalized, please report to the military).


    Please enter Base Neb on XX/XX/XX. You will be in charge of the safety of theary sector there.


    The document of this order will be sent to all the various divisions, corps, and government departments.


    The military headquarters of the Huaxia Federation, XX/XX/XX.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s finally here.¡± All the team leaders and department heads thought in unnned unison. They felt relieved as they had been waiting for this moment for a long time.


    Ling Lan, who was sitting in her office, smiled when she saw the order. ¡°This is better than I thought.¡±


    However, why did she find Base Neb so familiar? Ling Lan was puzzled.


    Ling Xiao had been feeling gloomy for the past few months. When he heard this order, he finally gave a rxed smile. ¡°The third party benefits from the quarrel. Lan¡¯er finally seem to have good luck.¡±


    This result was out of his expectation. At first, he thought that 250 Ace Mecha n would be ced in the 1st division. Although Ling Xiao wanted 250 Ace Mecha n to be ced in a division under the faction of the First Marshal, he never wanted them to go to the 1st division.


    Ling Xiao was confident that he could protect his daughter if she went to another division which belonged to the faction of the First Marshal. However, if she went to the 1st division... He had known the First Marshal for his whole life but he still felt that he didn¡¯t understand the First Marshal entirely.


    Ling Xiao didn¡¯t like the feeling of not being in control of something. Hence, he didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to go to the 1st division. However, troubles kept popping up when he tried to stop that from happening. Before he knew it, many people agreed to send 250 Ace Mecha n into the 1st division. He tried to turn the tides around but he couldn¡¯t.


    ¡°However, Base Neb is within theary sector closest to Caesar. Battles always happen there. Are they trying to indirectly destroy 250 Ace Mecha n?¡± Ling Xiao frowned. His rxed heart turned heavy again when he thought about that point.

 Chapter 1080 - What Are They?

    <h4>Chapter 1080 What Are They?</h4>


    At the Neb Boundary between the Federation and Caesar, there was a huge man-made military fortress. This fortress was well-known throughout the gxy. It was known as the fortress that Caesar couldn¡¯t destroy.


    Base Neb was in possession of the most up-to-date military technology. It was built with the intent of it being an easy to hold but hard to attack movable base. In the face of a moveable and imprable base, Caesar couldn¡¯t do anything to it other than just passively defending from it.


    Of course, besides being able to move and having the ability to turn itself into a porcupine with powerful firearms all around it, Base Neb was filled with powerful people too.


    Base Neb only had mechas as its weapons. It had no need for other weapons.


    There were more than a hundred ace mecha ns and more than ten titled super mecha ns in Base Neb. Of course, most of the mecha ns stationed in Base Neb were normal mecha ns. No matter how powerful the Federation or Caesar was, they didn¡¯t have that many ace mecha ns to waste on the battlefield. Most of the time, the normal mecha ns were the ones who participated in the battles.


    The Neb Boundary was the only ce where battles were not fought with gigantic starships. Instead, battles were fought with a huge amount of mecha ns.


    At that moment, themanding officer of Base Neb was sitting on the sofa with another officer in a blue uniform.


    They had a gold star and a gold leaf on their shoulders, informing everyone that they were major generals.


    Themanding officer of this base was a gentle and cultured middle-aged soldier around 50 years old. If it wasn¡¯t for the white hair near his ears, one might think that he was a 40-year-old young man. His name was Yu Huan. He came from a normal family. Even though, he began from a low starting point, he climbed up to this position with his own abilities.


    The person sitting opposite of him was the regimentmander of a first-rank four-star titled super mecha n, Proud Wind Mecha n. His name was Ke Yufeng. He had been stationed at this base for five years.


    These two people were the tworgest voices of the base. Ke Yufeng took charge of the mecha ns while Yu Huan took charge of all the other matters in the base. Yu Huan was the one who provided all the services for the various mecha ns.


    For the past five years, they cooperated well with each other and resisted against attacks from Caesar multiple times. Just as they thought that they would continue their coboration for the rest of their lives, an order from the military headquarters caused them to part.


    Ke Yufeng and his Proud Wind Mecha n would be sent back to the Federation. Although Yu Huan knew that he should be happy for his friend since he would most likely be promoted when he went back to the Federation, he still felt weird about his friend¡¯s departure. This was because the mecha n that would take over Proud Wind Mecha n was a mecha n he had never heard of¨C¨CLingtian.


    ¡°Do you think that there¡¯s something wrong with the mainframe of the military headquarters? It must have made a mistake when it sent a new titled super mecha n to this base.¡± The close rtionship between the two allowed them to speak their minds in front of one another.


    Ke Yufeng shook his head. ¡°You know that¡¯s impossible.¡± If something were to happen to the mainframe of the military headquarters, that meant that the Federation was in deep trouble.


    Ke Yufeng knew Yu Huan didn¡¯t really think this way. He was just venting his frustration.


    ¡°It looks like someone in the military headquarters has been high on drugs recently.¡± Yu Huan smiled coldly. He knew that this was impossible but he was annoyed when he heard that an inexperienced mecha n wasing to guard their base.


    ¡°Maybe the regimentmander has a huge background. He probably came to just gain some merits.¡± Ke Yufeng had been thinking about the reason behind the order ever since he received it, and this was the only reasonable answer he thought of.


    ¡°Damn it! This is Base Neb. This base concerns the safety of aary sector in the Federation. How can they treat it like child¡¯s y?¡± Yu Huan rubbed his face and controlled the anger in him. ¡°The entire Federation is in a mess. If this continues, the Federation will start rotting from the inside.¡±


    ¡°The ideals of the three great marshals are different and every one of them has a different viewpoint on how they can achieve their ideals. In order to win against theirpetitors, they might make some decisions outsiders can¡¯t understand.¡± Ke Yufeng was in deep thought. ¡°Maybeing to Base Neb wasn¡¯t the intention of the regimentmander. He might be forced toe here. A marshal might have sent him here in hopes that he would make a mistake so that he can use it to attack the faction the regimentmander belongs to.¡±


    Ke Yufeng belonged to the faction of the Second Marshal. The Second Marshal trusted him greatly so he knew about the battle of power between the three most powerful people in the Federation. In the past, he came to Base Neb because he didn¡¯t want to get implicated by this power struggle. He wanted to leave the ce where all the feuds arose so that he could ce all his heart into doing what a soldier was supposed to do, protecting his country.


    Yu Huan¡¯s anger diminished a little when he heard Ke Yufeng¡¯s exnation. As someone who was amanding officer of an important base, he was a smart person too. He started thinking through what hisrade said.


    ¡°Actually, I feel that there¡¯s something wrong with the order,¡± Ke Yufeng told him.


    ¡°I agree.¡± The moment Yu Huan received the order, he noticed something amiss with it too.


    ¡°The order is too vague. It didn¡¯t state that the regimentmander will be here to take over your position. It just states that the mecha n is in charge of the safety of thisary sector.¡± Yu Huan sneered. ¡°It¡¯s obvious that they want me to handle this matter myself.¡±


    ¡°They are forcing me to make a choice, either I give the mecha n an opening gambit so that they will just be one of the many titled super mecha ns in the base or I pretend that I don¡¯t know anything and just let him take over your position smoothly.¡± Yu Huan knew what his choices were. These two choices would bring him on two entirely different paths.


    ¡°If I guess correctly, they¡¯re forcing you to take a stand too.¡± Ke Yufeng looked at Yu Huan worriedly. After five years of interacting with Yu Huan, he didn¡¯t want his friend to get implicated by the power struggle as the waters there were too deep.


    On the other hand, he had no say in the matter. His identity meant that he had to be a member of the Second Marshal¡¯s faction. He couldn¡¯t escape this destiny. Sometimes, he admired Yu Huan. He didn¡¯t belong to any factions and he used his own ability to climb to his position. He had no one holding him back and he could move forward without any worry.


    ¡°They can¡¯t force me to take any stand. I will only choose what I feel is the right decision.¡± Yu Huan didn¡¯t have the concerns that Ke Yufeng had. He felt that only capable people should take the lead. If the regimentmander of Lingtian was capable, he would give him themand of all the mecha ns. If he wasn¡¯t capable, he wouldn¡¯t show him any face. He would do what he thought was necessary to protect the base.


    ¡°I hope that the Lingtian Mecha n is not as terrible as I think.¡± Yu Huan calmed down. He didn¡¯t feel as unhappy about the Lingtian Mecha n as before.


    Three dayster, the mainframe of Base Neb received a signal requesting to enter their base.


    ¡°Commander Yu, we received a signal from Lingtian Mecha n. They¡¯re requesting to enter the base. All the codes for the 13 signals are correct. Please give an order.¡± Yu Huan received a notification from the mainframe quickly.


    Yu Huan looked at the time on hismunicator. It was 1:07 pm. He smiled. ¡°They¡¯re on time.¡±


    It would take around two to three hours for a huge mecha n to sessfully enter a base and settle down. After going through all the procedures, it should be around 4 pm.


    Yu Huan opened the screen in front of him and saw a huge starship waiting within theary sector outside their base.


    ¡°Let them in.¡± Since the mainframe hadpared all the codes correctly, the iing starship must be from Lingtian Mecha n.


    The 13 codes were not given at once. They were sent to the regimentmander of Lingtian Mecha n through various methods on the journey here. If one of them was wrong, the base would reject the starship from entering. If needed, the mainframe would attack the starship without hismand.


    The starship was given the green light. It entered the spaceport of Base Neb slowly.


    The sounds of chains unwinding could be heard. Many secured docks extended from the spaceport and locked the starship up. Then, the starship was pulled into the dock.


    The door of the starship opened. Many soldiers alighted the starships in an orderly manner.


    Clear and orderly footsteps were heard.


    They looked straight ahead and their footsteps were in unison. The military boots made a crisp sound as itnded on the ground. The sound was loud enough to cover up the shouts ofmand from the staff members in the spaceport.


    The sound of the footsteps attracted the attention of all the staff members working in the spaceport.


    ¡°Woah, it¡¯s so orderly.¡± One of the staff members couldn¡¯t help but exim.


    ¡®Who are they?¡¯ This was the question everyone had in their mind.


    All the staff members carried this query with them as they rushed over to find an answer.


    Soon, many spectators gathered around the soldiers that came down from the starship. However, the soldiers didn¡¯t seem to notice them. They didn¡¯t seem to hear the exmations around them too. They just walked straight until they saw a vast za. Then, they stopped.


    No, they didn¡¯t stop moving. They performed a sharp turn and split into the two ends of the za, making space for the soldiers behind them.


    More and more soldiers came out of the starship. Soon, the za was filled with soldiers. There were around 5000 soldiers.


    ¡°Attention!¡± A loud voice was heard.


    ¡°Bam!¡±


    The 5000 soldiers stood in position. The sound of them stomping their feet echoed through the port. There was only a single sound in the entire port.


    ¡°They¡¯re gathering.¡± The staff member at the side knew what the soldiers were doing.


    ¡°Their force of presence is so powerful.¡± Some people were already looking at the soldiers with admiration.


    Nowadays, the movements of the soldiers were rarely so unified. This was why the soldiers in the spaceport were shocked by the orderly footsteps of these soldiers.


    ¡°May I know who is the captain here?¡± A young lieutenant colonel walked over and asked the crowd.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s me.¡± The captain was in the crowd staring at the orderly soldiers in daze. He quickly regained his senses when he heard the question.


    ¡°I¡¯m the head of the logistics department of the Lingtian Mecha n, Lin Zhong-qing. May I know what arrangements Base Neb has made for us?¡± The lieutenant colonel revealed his identity and asked the captain.


    ¡°Lieutenant Colonel Lin, nice to meet you. This is the camping ground we have set up for you. The Proud Wind Mecha n is waiting to handover their camping ground to you.¡± The captain took out a card and handed it over to Lin Zhong-qing respectfully.


    Lin Zhong-qing took out hismunicator and scanned the card. A map of Base Neb appeared on the virtual screen of hismunicator. There were two red dots on the map. One was where their new camping ground would be while the other was the mecha hold where their mechas would be ced in.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Lin Zhong-qing nodded and he walked back. At that moment, a few majors ran out from the group of 5000 soldiers. The 5000 soldiers then split into many teams. They started getting busy.


    When the soldiers from Lingtian Mecha n left, the entire spaceport turned noisy. Everyone started discussing among themselves.


    ¡°Those soldiers must be all mecha operators, right?¡±


    ¡°Of course. I saw many lieutenants and majors.¡± Of course, most of the soldiers were sergeants. There were very little corporals.


    To make sure that the new logisticians weren¡¯t at a disadvantage, 250 Ace Mecha n, oh wait, Lingtian Mecha n allowed the new logisticians to keep their military rank. Some of them even got promoted one rank. This allowed those disgruntled logisticians to feel excited instantly. Their unhappiness quickly disappeared.


    At that moment, one of the logisticians who was in charge of the mecha hold ran over with a dumbfounded expression.


    ¡°Do you know what I saw just now?¡± The logistician was extremely excited.


    ¡°What?¡± Everyone was curious. They knew that Base Neb had the most up-to-date technology in the Federation and all the facilities in the base were all top of the line. Hence, it was hard for them to feel dumbstruck or shocked.


    ¡°Mechas! There are so many mechas!¡± The logistician swallowed his saliva. He couldn¡¯t use words to express his astonishment when he saw the whole sky of mechas.


    ¡°Tsk!¡± Everyone thought that they would hear some huge news. They looked at the logistician with disdain.


    Base Nebcked anything but mechas. They could even say proudly that none of the other bases in the Federation had as many mechas as them.


    ¡°Have you seen a mecha n that has ten thousand mechas?¡± The logistician was unsatisfied about their reaction so he added on. Indeed, they had seen many mechas but the mechas were not what shocked him. It was the number of mechas.


    ¡°F**k!¡±


    ¡°Are you serious?¡±


    ¡°You must be lying!¡±


    The soldiers were bbergasted when they heard what the logistician said. They were in disbelief.


    ¡°I heard the numbers they reported. They have 10800 mechas. I couldn¡¯t have heard wrong.¡± The logistician was firm.


    ¡°That can¡¯t be right. I remember Captain Lu saying that there are only 5823 soldiers in Lingtian Mecha n. Even if every one of them has a mecha... are they each controlling another backup mecha?¡±


    Someone swallowed his saliva and said, ¡°I think that it¡¯s possible.¡±


    ¡°Are the 5823 people all mecha operators?¡±


    ¡°Oh my god!¡±


    Another soldier swallowed his saliva too. ¡°I think that that¡¯s possible too...¡±


    Everyone exchanged nces with one another. Even a powerful mecha n like the Proud Wind Mecha n only had 2000 mecha operators and 5000 logisticians.


    ¡°What on earth is the Lingtian Mecha n?¡± Everyone looked towards the direction where the mechas from Lingtian Mecha n disappeared to. They were in awe.

 Chapter 1081 - Sleepwalk!

    <h4>Chapter 1081 Sleepwalk!</h4>


    Yu Huan, who was in themand center, received a report from the spaceport.


    He raised one of his eyebrows and said, ¡°This is interesting.¡± He wondered if the mecha n was really powerful or were they just trying to boost their image.


    ¡°Why? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Ke Yufeng was curious when he saw Yu Huan¡¯s change in expression.


    ¡°A mecha n which has around 5800 soldiers has double the amount of mechas. Don¡¯t you think that this is interesting?¡± Yu Huan asked.


    Ke Yufeng was shocked. ¡°That number is probably just used to inte their image. If we minus the number of logisticians... they can use one, have one as a backup, throw one away, and destroy one mecha. They won¡¯t be able to use all of them.¡±


    The Proud Wind Mecha n was one of the top titled super mecha ns in the base. Yet, they only had around 3000 mechas. Besides the reserve mechas for the team leaders, every mecha operator only had one mecha.


    ¡°If he is able to get his hands on so many mechas, it means that Lingtian Mecha n is not a simple mecha n. I wonder what kind of person their regimentmander is. I hope that he won¡¯t disappoint me,¡± Ke Yufeng said.


    ¡°You¡¯ll know in a while. I just received a report from the spaceport. The regimentmander of Lingtian Mecha n ising over with his men.¡± Yu Huan frowned slightly. The captain of the spaceport seemed hesitant about something when he reported to him just now. In the end, the captain didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡®Did he feel that what he wanted to say was unimportant or was it because he felt that he wasn¡¯t able to exin the situation clearly so he decided not to say anything?¡¯


    No matter what the reason was, the expression of the captain was enough for Yu Huan to be serious.


    Yu Huan was able to reach his position today because of his thoughtfulness and cautiousness. Thus, he wouldn¡¯t overlook the change in his subordinate¡¯s expression.


    ¡°Commander Yu, Major General Ling Lan would like to meet you.¡± The mainframe of Base Neb received Ling Lan¡¯s request and contacted Yu Huan about it.


    ¡°Major General Ling...¡± Yu Huan frowned. The regimentmanders for new titled super mecha ns were usually colonels. A lieutenant colonel was good enough to be a regimentmander.


    ¡°Major General? It seems like Lingtian is not a simple mecha n.¡± Ke Yufeng sat up straight.


    ¡°Let him in.¡± Ke Yufeng¡¯s words helped Yu Huan regained his senses so he quickly gave hismand to the mainframe.


    The door of the office opened automatically. Three figures were seen. One of them was standing in the middle while the other two stood beside him. They were half stepped behind the person in the middle. It was obvious that the person in the middle was the regimentmander.


    The three people were all wearing blue and white uniforms. The regimentmander had his head down so Yu Huan and Ke Yufeng couldn¡¯t see his face. They just felt the malevolent aura around the regimentmander. The great sense of danger emanating greatly shocked Yu Huan and Ke Yufeng.


    ¡°That is a dangerous person!¡¯ They exchanged nces with each other andmunicated through their eyes.


    This dangerous person had the major general badge in front of his chest.


    This was the regimentmander of Lingtian Mecha n, Ling Lan! However, from Ling Lan¡¯s aura, they could tell that she wasn¡¯t an easy person to deal with. Yu Huan and Ke Yufeng turned vignt after they confirmed the person¡¯s identity and felt the malevolent aura around her.


    However, this was just the start. When they focused their attention on the two people behind Ling Lan, they were stunned once again.


    The person standing on Ling Lan¡¯s left was a major general!


    Damn it, it¡¯s already astonishing enough for the regimentmander to be a major general. Why was there another major general? When did major generals be so cheap? There were two major generals in a mecha n that just became a titled super mecha n.


    Then, Yu Huan and Ke Yufeng looked at the person on the right...


    Pfft! They wanted to vomit out blood.


    What the f**k! This was another major general!


    As the only two major generals at this base, they suddenly felt that their rank wasn¡¯t that important anymore.


    ¡°Regimentmander, the door is opened.¡± Yang Mingzhi noticed his regimentmander was sleepwalking again so he reminded him. He was used to this behaviour after so many days.


    Ling Lan looked up when she heard the voice and she saw the two major generals looking at them with a dumbfounded expression.


    Huh? What did she do? No wait, she was waiting for the door to open just now. She didn¡¯t do anything weird, right?


    Ling Lan was puzzled as to why the other party had such expressions. She did n to do what she did at Base 013 again if themanding officer in this base wanted to suppress her. However, this n was not confirmed yet. They didn¡¯t know that she was here to destroy... I mean, to take over their power... nevermind, whatever it was, they weren¡¯t her opponents yet.


    Ling Lan felt a little dizzy so she reached out and rubbed her eyebrows.


    In order to ensure that all the members of 250 Ace Mecha n... Lingtian Mecha n could gel together and reach the basic requirements of going on the battlefield, Ling Lan had no choice but to act personally. The viciousness of this devil regimentmander made the recruits realized that the past few days, which they felt was like hell, was actually their most rxed and happy moments.


    After spending much of her time and effort on the recruits, their weakness, arrogance, and unruly behaviours finally disappeared. They were now all hot-blooded and strong soldiers.


    However, her attentiveness caused her to lose focus on whatever was happening around her. Her entire mind was only filled with one thing, training, so to the other team leaders, she seemed to be sleepwalking.


    The other party tried to control their expressions so that their real thoughts wouldn¡¯t be revealed. However, how could they be able to escape Ling Lan¡¯s Profound Insight? She instantly saw through them with one look.


    During this period of time, Ling Lan was always in a daze. However, this didn¡¯t mean that she was unaware of her surroundings. It could even be said that the sleepwalking Ling Lan was even scarier and more vicious than the calm Ling Lan.


    The calm Ling Lan would kill her enemy without wasting any energy. However, the sleepwalking Ling Lan would... well, you have to pray that Ling Lan would wake up before you got torture to death.


    Based on what the team leaders said, their boss was currently just a devil with an automated self-defense system. Anyone who bumped into her would die.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡± Ling Lan decided to disregard the two stunned people in front of her. She signalled to Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong and asked them to enter.


    ¡°Nice to meet you. I¡¯m themanding officer of Base Neb, Yu Huan. Wee to Base Neb, Regiment Commander Ling.¡± Yu Huan regained his senses and hurried over. He smiled and weed the three people.


    ¡°Nice to meet you. I¡¯m the regimentmander of the Lingtian Mecha n, Ling Lan.¡± Ling Lan introduced herself and then pointed to the two people beside her. ¡°This is the team leader of Mecha Team 01, Major General Yang Mingzhi. This is the team leader of Mecha Team 02, Major General Liu Furong.¡±


    Liu Furong gained merit for passing the information of the mineral veins to the military. Hence, with Ling Xiao¡¯s help, on the day before Lingtian Mecha n came to Base Neb, Liu Furong was finally promoted to a major general. He became the third major general of Lingtian Mecha n.


    After introducing Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi, Ling Lan went into a daze. She started sleepwalking again.


    ¡°Wee! Wee!¡± Yu Huan greeted Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong enthusiastically.


    When Ke Yufeng heard the introduction of these two people, he found that their names were quite familiar to him. After a few seconds of deep thought, he suddenly shouted, ¡°North Star and South Star.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong looked at each other in shock. Yang Mingzhi smiled. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect someone to remember our past titles.¡±


    ¡°Of course. When the military gave the title of the Seven Stars of the North and South that year, it was really grand. It has almost been 20 years since the ceremony. It¡¯s time to give new titles soon.¡± Ke Yufeng was reminiscing about the past.


    Every twenty years, the military would award titles to the outstanding mecha operators of the era. In some twenty year cycles, there might be no one who was awarded a title. Sometimes, there might be many people. During Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong¡¯s era, there were many powerful mecha operators. It was an era where many stars shone together. Besides the Seven Stars of the North and South, the heaven and earth powerhouse duo and the fire phoenix, which represented eternal life, Ling Xiao, appeared in that era too.


    Ling Xiao had already ¡®died¡¯ when he was given this title. As a god-ss operator, he didn¡¯t have to be awarded this title.


    However, this title represented the hope of the citizens of the Federation. They hoped that Ling Xiao woulde back just like how the fire phoenix got reborn in a sea of fire. In the end, General Ling Xiao didn¡¯t disappoint everyone and came back alive.


    ¡°Yeah, time sure flies. One yearter, the new bestowing ceremony will be held. I wonder what kind of outstanding people would be given a title.¡± Yang Mingzhi looked at Ling Lan as he spoke. If no idents happened, their regimentmander would be bestowed a title.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect the two of you to be here. I have long desired to meet you.¡± Yu Huan was excited too. ¡°Have a seat, everyone.¡±


    Ling Lan and the two of them sat down. Yu Huan and Ke Yufeng were stunned when they saw the position Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong chose to take. They were sitting beside Ling Lan. They were proiming that they were Ling Lan¡¯s subordinates.


    When they knew that Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong were from the Seven Stars of the North and South, they thought that they were the real owners of the Lingtian Mecha n. Yet, their positions made them question their guesses again. Were they wrong? The regimentmander of Lingtian Mecha n, Ling Lan, was actually the person in power?


    With this query in mind, Yu Huan and Yang Mingzhi chatted with Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong for a while. As for their regimentmander, Ling Lan just continued to keep her head down. She didn¡¯t say anything.


    Fine. Ling Lan had been sleepwalking all these while. She never woke up.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t get out of her character as a devil instructor yet. Her mind was filled with brutal ns on how to train the new soldiers.


    Battles could happen at any time so Ling Lan didn¡¯t have leisure to slowly train the new soldiers until they were fully capable of protecting themselves. She could only train the new soldiers viciously so that they would be prepared for war as soon as possible. Ling Lan believed that if you trained more and sweat more now, you would lose less blood in the future.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, actually, you just need to send either Major General Yang or Major General Liu over for the registration process.¡± Yu Huan wanted to wait for Ling Lan, Yang Mingzhi, or Liu Furong to start the topic first. However, when he saw that Ling Lan showing no intention of doing so and Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong seemingly ignoring the topic, he had no choice but to raise the topic himself.


    Damn it, other mecha ns passed him their registration documents automatically but for the Lingtian Mecha n, he had to ask for it.


    ¡°Cough!¡± When Yang Mingzhi didn¡¯t see any reactions from Ling Lan, he knew that his regimentmander must be daydreaming again so he coughed out loud to wake her up.


    Ling Lan looked up at Yang Mingzhi curiously.


    Yang Mingzhi knew that they couldn¡¯t rely on their regimentmander now. He gave a wry smile and said, ¡°Our regimentmander felt that it is his responsibility so he muste personally.¡±


    After exining, he turned to Liu Furong. ¡°Major General Liu, pass the documents to Major General Yu.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Leader Yang.¡± Liu Furong took out the documents he kept and passed them to Yu Huan.


    Although everything was controlled by the mainframe, some orders were still given through pen and paper to prevent their enemies from finding it, especially orders given by the higher authorities.


    Yu Huan took over the documents andpared the symbols on the paper. He made sure that the symbols were correct before proceeding to the mainframe and activating hismanding officer authority. After that, he entered the information of the Lingtian Mecha n into the mainframe.


    This was when Lingtian became an official mecha n of Base Neb. If its information was not entered into the mainframe, it was just a temporary mecha n that came to Base Neb which authority could be taken away at anytime by the mainframe.


    Ke Yufeng smiled after he saw Yu Huan entering the information of the mecha n. ¡°You should be here to take over my position. Let¡¯s go back to the camping ground together and do the handover.¡±


    The camping ground of Lingtian Mecha n was the best camping ground in Base Neb. It was five times bigger than the average camping grounds. It could fit around 40 thousand people. No matter how huge a mecha n was, it would at most have 8000 people. This camping ground was big enough to let any sized mecha n to live afortable life.


    ¡°Sorry to trouble you,¡± Yang Mingzhi said gratefully.


    ¡°It is nothing. Base Neb will be in your hands now.¡± Ke Yufeng smiled.


    Suddenly, the room turned quiet. Yu Huan, Ke Yufeng, Yang Mingzhi, and Liu Furong gave an awkward smile to each other.


    ¡®Sob, can¡¯t we converse properly?¡¯ (Yu Huan and Ke Yufeng were frustrated.)


    ¡®Sob, regimentmander, hurry up ande back. We can¡¯t continue this anymore.¡¯ (Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong felt resentment in their hearts)


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi couldn¡¯t handle it anymore so they shouted to remind their regimentmander.


    Ling Lan looked at them in a daze.


    ¡°We can leave now!¡± Yang Mingzhi lowered his voice.


    ¡°Oh...¡± Ling Lan replied. Then, she closed her eyes. When she opened them the next second, a cold light shed by them.


    ¡®Yay! Our regimentmander is finally back.¡¯ Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong heaved a sigh of relief.


    At that moment, the malevolent aura around Ling Lan disappeared. Instead, it was reced by a cold aura.


    Yu Huan and Ke Yufeng couldn¡¯t help but shiver from the cold aura. Ke Yufeng¡¯s expression changed slightly as he looked at Ling Lan in astonishment.


    Ling Lan slowly got up from the sofa. She raised her head and looked at Yu Huan and Ke Yufeng


    Yu Huan and Ke Yufeng finally saw the regimentmander¡¯s face. He was actually a cold-looking young man with faint scars on his face, and if he was given more time, the scars would disappear.


    ¡°So cold!¡±


    Yu Huan and Ke Yufeng couldn¡¯t see Ling Lan¡¯s features clearly. They only felt the cold air she was exuding. They felt that if they were to look at Ling Lan intently, they would be frozen to death by her coldness.

 Chapter 1082 - Prince Ling!

    <h4>Chapter 1082 Prince Ling!</h4>


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m at my breakthrough stage so my energy is unstable,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    So that was what was happening!


    Yu Huan and Ke Yufeng felt enlightened. They experienced this stage before. To increase the sess rate of advancing, they suppressed their Qi-Jin energy until there was enough umted. When everything was prepared, they would then focus on their breakthrough. It was not easy to suppress the overpowering Qi-Jin energy. Sometimes, they needed to use all their concentration to suppress it, causing them to lose awareness of what was happening around them. It was as if they were sleepwalking.


    This would exin why the killing intent on Regiment Commander Ling was so strong at the beginning. It must be because he couldn¡¯t suppress his energy fully so some of it leaked out. Even when he sessfully retracted his killing intent, his cold aura leaked out.


    However, was this breakthrough referring to the breakthrough to the domain realm?


    The two of them exchanged nces with each other. They couldn¡¯t see Ling Lan¡¯s face clearly but they could tell that she was young. She was an amazingly talented youth. Besides those monsters from the Flying Dragon Special Forces, no one could bepared with her.


    This must be a key youth the military must be grooming. No wonder, he was able to be a major general at such a young age and be the regimentmander of a titled super mecha n. He even had the members of the North and South Stars as his subordinates.


    Yu Huan and Ke Yufeng felt that they had gotten the answers for their questions so they started to pay more attention to Ling Lan. If this person didn¡¯t die before he fully matured, he would definitely obtain a high position in the military.


    Soon, Ling Lan left themand center with Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong.


    Ke Yufeng still needed to finish his leaving procedure with Yu Huan so he arranged to meet Ling Lan an hourter at the camping ground for the handover.


    Only Yu Huan and Ke Yufeng were left in the office.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Yu Huan finally cleared away the smile on his face and asked Ke Yufeng for his opinion.


    ¡°Lingtian is not simple,¡± Ke Yufeng said calmly.


    ¡°Why do you say that?¡± Yu Huan asked seriously. There were a million soldiers in the base. He couldn¡¯t pass everyone¡¯s life to someone he didn¡¯t know anything about.


    ¡°Yang Mingzhi seems like the one who directed the conversation but before he answers every question, he would always look at Major General Ling first.¡± Light shed Ke Yufeng¡¯s right hand and ten sparkling crystal beads were dancing on his palm. They spun around on his hand. Surprisingly, no noises were made. It appeared as though the ten crystal beads didn¡¯t hit one another at all.


    This was Ke Yufeng¡¯s habit. When he needed to think carefully about something, he would use this method to clear his mind and make a final judgment on the matter.


    ¡°Liu Furong acts the same way too. His focus was always on Regiment Commander Ling. I even notice that he was a bit nervous,¡± Yu Huan agreed with Ke Yufeng. At the same time, he said his observations.


    ¡°As members of the North and South Stars, they wouldn¡¯t be worried about each other. That means that he was worried about Regiment Commander Ling,¡± Ke Yufeng replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. He was probably telling the truth when he said that he was in a bad state due to his breakthrough.¡± Yu Huan interlocked his fingers on his table and turned serious.


    ¡°You don¡¯t think he is doing it deliberately?¡± Ke Yufeng smiled yfully.


    ¡°If Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong weren¡¯t here, I might think this way. However, they¡¯re here.¡± Yang Mingzhi¡¯s expression softened. ¡°You know Yang Mingzhi. He was known as the sliest person among the Seven Stars of the North. Do you think that he would allow his regimentmander to offend me the moment they enter the base?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true. Yang Mingzhi isn¡¯t stupid.¡± Ke Yufeng agreed with Yu Huan.


    ¡°Most importantly, who is Ling Lan? Is he really the one in control of Lingtian?¡± Yu Huan felt that if he could find the answers to these two questions, he would be able to make a decision.


    ¡°I remember that there is a young man with the surname Ling who made a name for himself during the battle on Haijiao.¡± Ke Yufeng was in deep thought.


    ¡°Prince Ling?¡± Yu Huan leaned against the table and crossed his hands in front of his chest. ¡°They wanted to protect him so they didn¡¯t reveal his full name to the public.¡±


    ¡°However, everyone knows that the young man is the son of General Ling Xiao,¡± Ke Yufeng answered.


    ¡°You think it¡¯s him?¡± Yu Huan raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°It is possible,¡± Ke Yufeng replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s possible but he jumped levels and operated a god-ss mecha. His actions permanently damaged his body. This is the inspection result from all the military doctors in the hospital.¡± Yu Huan thought otherwise. ¡°Do you think that Prince Ling would appear here and tell us that he was on the verge of a breakthrough?¡±


    Were the military doctors so easy to fool?


    ¡°But the Ling family... they have the blood phoenix.¡± Ke Yufeng sighed.


    ¡°A legend is just a legend,¡± Yu Huan said firmly, ¡°These are modern times.¡±


    Really? Then, why were there physical skills? Why were there innate talents? Why did the domain concept appear? All these couldn¡¯t be exined with modern technology.


    However, this was how people were like. They respected strength and epted strength. In their minds, these things were within the eptable range of humans. However, things likeing back alive from the dead were against the nature of life. No one could understand it. Hence, in their minds, these legends would forever be legends. The blood phoenix, which was said to be able to revive in a sea of mes, just meant that the people from the Ling family were tougher and harder to diepared to the average person.


    Since Yu Huan didn¡¯t agree with what he said, Ke Yufeng didn¡¯t continue.


    ¡°Forget it. We¡¯ll find out about the Lingtian Mecha n one day. I¡¯m not in a hurry.¡± Yu Huan didn¡¯t get the answer he wanted so he decided to forgo it and continue helping Ke Yufeng with his leaving procedures.


    Before the new mecha n entered the base, the previous mecha n wasn¡¯t allowed to leave. This was to prevent any mistakes in the handing over process which might affect the strength of the base.


    When Ling Lan walked out of themand center, she told Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong, ¡°The mecha n will be moving into the camping ground soon. The move and themunication within the base will be handled by the ten main leaders as well as Department Head Lin.¡±


    ¡°Regimentmander, what about you?¡± Liu Furong asked worriedly. Ling Lan was spending more and more time sleepwalking. Was it alright for no one to watch over him?


    ¡°The energy in my body has been umted to the maximum point. If I want to control it, I need all my strength. I won¡¯t have the time and effort to care about the things happening in the mecha n.¡± Ling Lan frowned.


    She didn¡¯t expect her opportunity to enter the imperial realm to happen when she was grooming her mecha n. It caught her off guard.

 Chapter 1083 - JMCs Participate in Day Training!

    <h4>Chapter 1083 JMCs Participate in Day Training!</h4>


    ¡°I will now put all my efforts into training those new recruits. It will be a great opportunity for them.¡± The reason why she was training those new recruits other than being short on time, was because she didn¡¯t want to waste her domain presence that was she was slowly losing control over. If those new recruits could endure a short while under her half step imperial realm presence, it would toughen up their physical bodies and mentalities.


    ¡°If you have time,e to join as well.¡± Ling Lan told the leaders. It was also an opportunity for them as well.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong shouted with hints of gratitude in their eyes. Although Ling Lan¡¯s terrifying presence brought them to the brink of death each time they were under it, they still discovered new realizations of their powers after pushing through the great pain that came with it. Additionally, under Ling Lan¡¯s presence, they could also take in and condense more of their elements¡¯ energy.


    This was like cheating in a sense. Anyone who wanted to be stronger would not pass up on such a good opportunity.


    However, if someone thought this was something their regimentmander could easily do, then they would be mistaken.


    Ling Lan needed to activate her presence, but control it to an extent that it wouldn¡¯t kill them or cut off a limb. Her energy needed to be released at an optimum level. However, doing so depended greatly on one¡¯s ability to control the energy. If it was in the past, it ,of course, wouldn¡¯t be hard for Ling Lan to do that. However now, Ling Lan was about to advance so her energy fluctuated tremendously in this period of time. Sometimes, she might even lose control of her energy. For Ling Lan in her current state, controlling her energy became a tormenting test.


    In reality, during every training session, the pain and pressure Ling Lan was under wasn¡¯t any less than anyone else in the training grounds.


    There were many instances when she had to hold in her explosive energy which she had to pay the price for in terms of heavy injuries... It was only just that Ling Lan always had her cold and merciless facial expression, making it not obvious that she was in tremendous amounts of pain. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Li Shiyu had carelessly made small remarks about her condition, none of them would know anything about the pain she was under. They wouldn¡¯t know about who was paying the price for them to be able to acquire this great opportunity to train.


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong were both mature soldiers so they were very grateful towards Ling Lan¡¯s selfless actions. However, they just didn¡¯t show it outright. They were also very aware that Ling Lan provided them more than just these things. The number of things she was doing for them was constantly umting one after another. To repay Ling Lan¡¯s kindness, they would need an entire lifetime...


    However, they were willing to do so.


    After making these arrangements, Ling Lan thought for a moment and added, ¡°However, after one week, you lot will be joining the training for the new recruits. Before that, all leaders pass your work to your deputy ande to train with me.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words made Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong¡¯s face instantly twitch.


    ¡°A weekter, my energy will umte to its highest point and it will have a high possibility of losing control. Allowing you toe is one, to let you all feel my uncontrolled powers which will probably good for you in the future, two...¡±


    Ling Lan coldly nced towards the two of them and said mercilessly, ¡°It is also a test to see how many of you are able to stay alive in the end.¡±


    ¡°Huh?!¡± Even veterans would tremble in fear after hearing such cold and killing intent filled words.


    ¡°If you want to be strong, you must pay a price.¡± Ling Lan looked towards the blue sky and white clouds created from the virtual space and said calmly, ¡°Pass my words to all the other leaders. If they don¡¯t have the courage to join, they can just give up.¡±


    ¡°Understood, regimentmander.¡± Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong returned to their calm demeanor. At their levels, unless Ling Lan said something very unexpected, they wouldn¡¯t make much fuss about it.


    After giving out these orders, Ling Lan disappeared without a trace.


    They were clearly not far away from the entrance of themand center. However, the soldiers seemed to have not realized Ling Lan¡¯s appearance and disappearance. It was as though she didn¡¯t exist.


    ¡°Our regimentmander has be stronger again,¡± Yang Mingzhi said nonchntly.


    ¡°Yeah. Even if his energy levels are not stable, he still has reached a point of zen. However, he doesn¡¯t want to people to notice that. Even if he was to stand in front of the ¡®that person¡¯, ¡®that person¡¯ wouldn¡¯t be able to notice.¡±


    After saying that, Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi looked at each other and smiled. The two of them then vanished in the blink of an eye.


    Although they couldn¡¯t do it perfectly like their regimentmander, they could still disappear silently from arge amount of soldiers who were not capable enough to not notice them. As for stronger soldiers, even if they were to discover them, they wouldn¡¯t try to intercept them, especially the allied soldiers from the same headquarters.


    Three days had passed since then.


    Lingtian had finished the handover procedures for Proud Wind¡¯s camping grounds on the first day. Then, they used one more day to clear up everything in the base from top to bottom. The new recruits, who had been busily working for the past two days instead of training, would not be able to escape the third day¡¯s new recruit training.


    However, the new recruit training for this day made those male soldiers feel somewhat better. It was possible that it was because they had rested for two days and were now in tip top shape, or the fact that the JMCs, who were absent from the training, were finally joining them.


    Men and women working together makes everything easier! It seemed these words had its merits.


    All the male soldiers were suddenly full of energy. They were cautious about showing any ounce of fear in front of the female soldiers in case that they might leave a bad first impression.


    ¡°I¡¯m so happy. We can finally participate in the rumored day training,¡± a female soldier beside Lady Mei said excitedly.


    Until now, the female soldiers were just trained by Han Xuya and Luo Chao because of their weak physical constitutions. They were all taught from the basics. They were afraid that some of them with weaker physical constitutions or those who were weak in general, would break from the actual training


    After half a month, Han Xuya finally made the decision to take female soldiers to get a feel of the intensity of the day training. Unfortunately for them, it was also a day training session held by Boss which was many times more difficult.


    So, Han Xuya was afraid that these female soldiers might be in danger. It couldn¡¯t be helped, Boss was too merciless so she had to be careful putting sweetmbs in front of a terrifying werewolf. Thus, the medical teams, who hadn¡¯t came out for quite a while, came out and stood around the training grounds, waiting to do their duty.


    Of course, every member of the medical team had a bitter expression on their faces. During the past few weeks, they worked in shifts for the new recruits training, and it made them realize something. That realization was that their regimentmander would definitely not let anyone off easy, including these medical teams who were on call for duty.


    Although the pressure they were put under was much lesser than the new recruits, it still wasn¡¯t that much of a difference. In the end, when they had to go to save someone in the training ground, they would first inject themselves. Of course, these injections were specially made for members of medical teams. It was the Medical Department Head Li¡¯s newest research results. He sessfully cut off the pain of the medicinal agent to two hours after the injection.


    That was right. They could still not escape from the pain. The only difference was whether the pain starts right away or after two hours. Every time the medical teams saw the new recruits looking towards them with hope and admiration, they would feel very bitter about it. Injecting themselves with their own medicinal agents made them want to cry, but they couldn¡¯t tell anyone about it.


    However, if those new recruits thought that entering the medical teams would let them escape from the day and month training pains... Then, those medical team members would happily wee them to go to hell together.

 Chapter 1084 - Regiment Commander Sir!

    <h4>Chapter 1084 Regiment Commander Sir!</h4>


    Seeing the excited JMCs, the male soldiers, who had already experienced the torment of the training, couldn¡¯t help but worry about these naive young women who still weren¡¯t aware that they were stepping into a lion¡¯s den. One of the male soldiers stood beside the female soldiers decided to tell them the truth. He had a bitter smile on his face and said softly, ¡°Uh, day training is actually very scary, you may not be able to endure it...¡±


    However, what he did not expect was his nice gesture being misunderstood as contempt by a female soldier, ¡°Don¡¯t look down on us. We can participate in the day training because of our own capabilities, not because someone let us in through connections! Hmph!¡± She red at him with frustration and anger filling her eyes.


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s not what I meant...¡± The male soldier was instantly dumbfounded by the reply. That was not what he meant at all.


    He wanted to clear up the misunderstanding between himself and that female soldier, but the group of female soldiers suddenly moved more to the side, creating half a meter of distance between the two groups that were originally standing shoulder to shoulder.


    ¡°Heh, Little Qiu, did you offend then?¡± Arade beside him noticed the movements of the female soldiers and criticized his friend who went to talk to them.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t...¡± This innocent male soldier understood that he could not exin himself anymore.


    Right at that moment, strong presence suddenly came down on their shoulders. All of the soldiers in the area suddenly had a change in expression and began to go against the pressure in unnned unison.


    ¡°Hold!¡± Han Xuya, who was leading them, was the first to feel this strong pressure and she immediately reminded everyone.


    Although these JMCs currently had the weakest physical constitutionspared to the other male soldiers in the training grounds, they were still able to withstand the pressure after Han Xuya¡¯s 15 days of training. After Han Xuya¡¯s order, all of the JMCS quickly held onto therades beside them, creating a long connected line of soldiers. The reason why they were doing this was to equally distribute the pressure among them in hopes that even the weakest among them would not fall.


    However, even though they did that, every JMC still had a pained expression on their face. They caught off guard since they had never been under this type of pressure before.


    Only Han Xuya, who was standing at the very front, was standing upright with no change in her expression. It was as though the strong pressure was non-existent to her.


    Lady Mei raised her head with great difficulty and saw the silhouette of Han Xuya standing upright. Seeing her, Lady Mei instantly calmed her mind and the pressure, that was originally difficult for her, no longer seemed that terrifying.


    ¡°Everyone did well, but if you want to actually qualify for the day training, you still have to keep enduring... Don¡¯t shame our JMC department.¡±


    Han Xuya¡¯s words echoed through all of the ears of the JMCs. Every one of them instantly put forth all their effort to endure until the end. They wanted to let the males see that them females were not any weaker than them.


    Click! Click! Click! Sharp footsteps suddenly echoed within the hearts of every soldier on the training grounds. Every step was like a sledgehammer smashing their heart. A few less capable new recruits had reddened faces with pained expressions.


    Simrly, some JMCs, who were less capable, were also suffering from the same feeling. They felt as though their hearts were going to be split apart by the sound of the footsteps. The line they created bybining their strength instantly began to teeter on the end of breaking apart.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Suddenly, all the JMCs heard a soft and odd voice echoed in their ears. Of course, it was entirely possible that it was an illusion caused by the pressure put on their hearts.


    Every JMC felt that they were going to faint from the terrifying footsteps. Surprisingly, the pressure on their hearts began to lessen. Every one of them started gasping for air as if they had almost drowned. The suffocating feeling they initially felt had already gone away from them.


    Although they escaped from the terrifying footsteps, the pressure on their shoulders was still pushing them down. They had only managed to escape from one avenue of death but it didn¡¯t mean their troubles were over.


    Other than the JMCs, all the other soldiers knew that it was their regimentmander who had arrived. The brutal training they had in the past few days made them realize that their regimentmander was a ruthless person. If he wanted to y with you until you die, you wouldn¡¯t be able to fight back at all.


    All the new recruits began thinking about the scene from ten days ago in unnned unison. It was the first time they were underwent training with their regimentmander.


    It was just like now. No, more worse back then. Back then, they were not even half as strong as they were currently, and just one wave of pressure already enough to force half of them to faint.


    If they only knew what was going to happen next back then, the other half of the new recruits might have forced themselves to faint to join the other new recruits who had already fainted. Unfortunately, they were clueless about the torment they were about to go through at the time. Plus, their pride as a soldier drove them to not sumb under the pressure that easily.


    It was those footsteps! Those damn footsteps! Back then, their regimentmander only walked 10 steps. Other than a few hundred soldiers who had reached the peak stage of Qi-Jin, the rest all spat out mouthfuls of blood and fainted.


    If you thought these few hundred peak stage Qi-Jin soldiers got away with it, then that would be very naive of you.


    Of course, when the few hundred still standing soldiers saw their regimentmander stopped in front of them, they all thought the torture was over. However, what they didn¡¯t expect was that an even more terrifying experience was waiting for them.


    That was because their regimentmander never thought of letting them off easy.


    ¡°How many left?¡± Their regimentmander calmly scanned the few hundred soldiers and smirked, ¡°Not bad. There are still 427 soldiers.¡± She knew the correct number of people with only a single nce.


    ¡°Are the weapons ready?¡± Their regimentmander raised his head slightly and looked towards the head of thew enforcement department, Gao Jinyun, who was standing at the door. Even the head of thew enforcement department had toe here since the regimentmander had came here himself.


    ¡°All ready, regimentmander!¡± Gao Jinyun shot a nce to his assistants. Not long after, thew enforcement department got 500 or so weapons over to the training grounds and ced them in a corner. These weapons were all made from metal. There were knives, swords, daggers, metal bats, hammers and many more. All 18 types of handheld weapons were present.


    ¡°You will only have 3 minutes to choose your best weapon. I am giving you an opportunity.¡± Their regimentmander¡¯s cold voice echoed through the ears of all 427 individuals.


    Opportunity? What opportunity? The 427 soldier had this question in mind. However, the training they underwent the past few days made them understand that they shouldn¡¯t neglect the amount of time their officers gave them. They had learned from that mistake at the very beginning of their time in the n.


    It should be said that after the strength training given from the leaders, although these new recruits did not pass the requirements for Lingtian Mecha n, they were still much stronger from when they first joined. If they were based off the requirements of the New Recruit Corps, these recruits would all sessfully pass.


    Soon, everyone grabbed their weapon of choice. Everyone then looked towards the cold and collected regimentmander standing at the very front of them with clueless expressions.


    ¡°So, I heard a lot of people want to leave my mecha n?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s mocking tone rang in everyone¡¯s ears.


    Many soldiers shamefully put their heads down. Indeed, the hellish training for the past few days caused the new recruits to be afraid. Some of them even believed that if it continued, they would die on the training grounds before dying on the battlefield.

 Chapter 1085 - Not a Nice Person!

    <h4>Chapter 1085 Not a Nice Person!</h4>


    ¡°I¡¯m a reasonable person!¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    What a lie!


    Not only did the new recruits who stood up to fight denied their regimentmander¡¯s words, even those on duty and the medical teams around the training grounds felt the same way.


    Boss was definitely a person who was dominant, unreasonable and would use any ruthless methods to make them unable to say ¡®No¡¯ to him!


    ¡°So, I¡¯m giving you a chance to leave.¡± Ling Lan looked towards everyone coldly. ¡°Out of the 427 of you, if one of you manages to strike me down, then all of you will be able to walk out of my n freely.¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡± The 427 new recruits all shouted in surprise. Many of them had excited expressions on their faces and the light of ¡®hope¡¯ was sparkling in their eyes.


    Heh!


    On the other hand, the veterans soldiers in Lingtian looked at these 427 recruits with sympathetic expressions in unnned unison.


    As expected, he was still Boss who would start a killing spree if they didn¡¯t obey him.


    A few older mecha operators who were standing on the side remembered the time when they were arrogant in front of their regimentmander... Bittersweet feelings started to appear in their heart.


    However, when they saw those arrogant new recruits, they actually felt their moods lighten up a bit.


    ¡®Yes you brats. We¡¯re watching you. Just continue to be arrogant.¡¯ This was definitely not the feeling of schadenfreude.


    Suddenly, Ling Lan seemed to have remembered something. She shook her head and said slowly, ¡°Right... tsk, ask you to bring me down? That¡¯s probably too much of a demand for you lot!¡±


    Ling Lan looked at these new recruits as if they were ants, ¡°How about this? If one of you hit me with a good hit, I will dere you as winners!¡±


    These words caused the 427 new recruits to have angry expressions on their faces. Pride was something no soldiercked! Every one of them unconsciously clenched the weapons in their hands with limitless willpower burning in their eyes.


    Although not everyone out of the 427 individuals wanted to leave, there were still soldiers who wanted to leave even though they saw improvements in their strength. However, this still shouldn¡¯t be a reason why they should endure being insulted by the topmander of the mecha n.


    Beat him! Despite having different goals, these 427 individuals now had onemon goal.


    The entire training grounds was quiet as it was split into two groups. On one side, there was Ling Lan with her hands behind her back and her signature cold expression on her face. On the other side, there were 427 individuals with hardened expressions. Everyone was prepared to attack and was only waiting for the order to attack.


    In the group of 427 soldiers, Huo Zhenyu looked at the person who he now admired and felt a little bitter. In the past, he was somewhat considered an opponent who Ling Lan deemed as worthy, but now, he was only one insignificant person in this group of soldiers.


    The promise they made one year ago! Despite him knowing that the difference between himself and that person was like heaven and earth, the scene in front of him still made Huo Zhenyu felt uneasy.


    Perhaps Ling Lan had already forgotten their promise from back then!


    ¡°Begin!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice exploded in everyone¡¯s ears.


    The row of new recruits who were closest to Ling Lan, around 10 or so, shouted and pounced towards Ling Lan with their weapons.


    Despite being mad at Ling Lan¡¯s words, the new recruits didn¡¯t lose their cool. Everyone cautiously clumped together and attacked Ling Lan simultaneously.


    Of course, they were also conducting a test. A test to determine just how strong their regimentmander was.


    ¡°Bam!¡± The pouncing soldiers were suddenly sent flying back by a strong force until they smashed into the hard ground.


    They didn¡¯t even get close to their regimentmander and were swept off their feet just by their regimentmander¡¯s presence.


    The remaining new recruits were stunned by this scene. The looked at their regimentmander with dumbfounded looks and forgot to continue their attacks.


    Who couldnd on hit on him if he had this kind of power?


    Ling Lan stood at the same ce without moving a single inch. Her hands were still behind her back. Her eyes scanned the crowd and she calmly said in a mock apologetic tone, ¡°It was my fault just now. I will now suppress my physical skills to the peak stage of Qi-Jin to make it fair for you.¡±


    After saying that, Ling Lan¡¯s original dominant presence began to weaken. In the end, the presence she was giving off was simr to the peak stage of Qi-Jin.However, despite it being so, her presence¡¯s actual power was still two to three times stronger than actual peak stage Qi-Jin individuals...


    However, there were 427 of them and most of them had reached the peak stage of Qi-Jin. Furthermore, many of them had even reached the optimal peak. It was only that they hadn¡¯t found a catalyst to advance into the domain stage yet. From the looks of things, their regimentmander was indeed giving them a fair fight by suppressing his powers to the peak stage of Qi-Jin. After all, it was 427 people attacking him with some even stronger than him by a small amount.


    Now, all the new recruits were under the impression that their regimentmander was definitely a domain realm master and not just any domain realm master, it was possible that he was a titled domain realm master.


    ¡°Begin!¡± Ling Lan ordered again.


    However this time, no one made a move. The row of new recruits who were getting closer to Ling Lan looked at Ling Lan with hardened expressions in hopes to find an opening to attack.


    However soon, everyone began to swear and cuss in their minds.


    Sh*t! Why could their regimentmander just stand there casually and be perfect without any openings?


    Just like that, it was a stalemate for half a minute. Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows slightly. ¡°Looks like I have to make a move.¡±


    ¡®Yes, only if you move, we will have a chance to find an opening.¡¯ All the recruits were not moving because of this thought.


    However, in the next second, the expressions of the recruits quickly changed.


    ¡°Too fast!¡± Ling Lan, who was originally standing in front of them, suddenly disappeared.


    Boom, boom, boom... This was the sound of fists hitting flesh.


    Ah, ah, ah... This was the sound of pained screams.


    Bam, bam, bam... This was the sound of heavy objects falling onto the ground.


    The area in the center of the 427 soldiers was in a state of chaos.


    Ling Lan entered no man¡¯snd with hands moving around with grace. Wherever she went, there would be people sent flying. This caused the entire new recruit group to be thrust into a state of chaos.


    ¡°Too merciless.¡± A mecha operator spectating on the side couldn¡¯t help but shake his head from the scene.


    ¡°How long do you think our regimentmander will take to take down these new recruits?¡± asked another mecha operator while smiling.


    ¡°That would depend on our regimentmander¡¯s mood.¡± They didn¡¯t dare to guess the mood their unpredictable regimentmander.


    ¡°It¡¯s actually better for them to have fainted in the beginning from our regimentmander¡¯s presence.¡± One mecha operator saw one new recruit spat out blood in mid-air. His face instantly twitched, and a sense of familiarity instantly struck him. Back then, he also went through the same thing.


    ¡°Heh, you think newbies who don¡¯t know the truth will understand our regimentmander¡¯s mercilessness?¡± Another mecha operator heard those words and instantlyughed out loud.


    ¡°Only after experiencing such an unforgettable pain, would they be able to understand that in our mecha n the person who they should never provoke is our regimentmander.¡± Sighed one person.


    ¡°There¡¯s a very big problem with your words. In our mecha n, those who we shouldn¡¯t provoke isn¡¯t just our regimentmander, right?¡± rebutted someone.


    Those mecha operators all suddenly thought of something and all shivered in unison.


    One mecha operator hugged himself in an exaggerated manner and said frustratingly, ¡°Alright, alright, don¡¯t talk about that topic Just thinking about it gives me the chills.¡±


    In their mecha n, whether it was team leaders or department heads from logistics, no one was nice!

 Chapter 1086 - Promise!

    <strong>Chapter 1086 Promise!</strong>


    Ling Lan was flying gracefully while sending recruits one after another flying into the air. Suddenly, she felt a set of arms of a new recruit blocking her attack. However, the new recruit had to slide back for more than ten metres before he finally managed topletely neutralize the attack.


    Ling Lan was surprised that someone managed to block her attack. Although she suppressed her true strength to the peak stage of Qi-Jin, the strength of her attack still exceeded that stage. A normal recruit shouldn¡¯t be able to handle it.


    She looked at the new recruit instinctively, and was stunned for a moment.


    Huo Zhenyu!


    He was her opponent when she was still a freshman in the military academy. Before he left the military academy, they promised to have a battle again.


    ¡°Senior Huo, this is a good moment to realize our promise of the past. Here¡¯s my second attack!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice rang beside Huo Zhenyu¡¯s ears.


    She took a step forward and shot towards Huo Zhenyu. In an instant, she arrived in front of him. However, her current attacks were stronger and fiercer than before. She aimed at Huo Zhenyu¡¯s forehead.


    Huo Zhenyu was in a daze but when he heard what Ling Lan said, but when he saw her fist, his eyes lit up with fighting spirit.


    This person whom he looked up to didn¡¯t forget their promise! He was willing to fight with him.


    ¡°Come!¡± Huo Zhenyu smiled happily. He congregated his Qi ¨C Jin into his right fist and then aimed it at Ling Lan¡¯s fist.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    A dull explosion was heard. Two fists collided and residual waves flowed towards everyone spectating. All the recruits around them were thrown off their feet.


    ¡°Half step domain!¡± One of the mecha operators was shocked.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect such a powerful figure to be hidden among the recruits.¡± Another mecha operator was ted too.


    ¡°I want that person on my team!¡± The two of them shouted simultaneously.


    They heard each other¡¯s words and red at each other. Sparks formed in the air. To increase the strength of their teams, they would use any means to snatch anyone powerful into their teams.


    Ling Lan and Huo Zhenyu¡¯s fist collided for three seconds. Even if Huo Zhenyu had reached half step domain, he was still unable to resist against Ling Lan¡¯s frightening attack.


    Boom!


    Huo Zhenyu flew out. He flew passed the area where the recruits were standing and falling to the corner of the training ground.


    Even after hended on the ground, Huo Zhenyu still took a few steps back before he managed to stand still.


    However, Huo Zhenyu didn¡¯t feel sad or dejected. Instead, he looked ted.


    ¡°Grab this chance to breakthrough to the domain stage.¡± A voice sounded beside him. It was Ling Lan.


    Huo Zhenyu suppressed his happiness. He crossed his legs, sat on the ground and closed his eyes. He slowly felt the power behind Ling Lan¡¯s fist. This was an opportunity Ling Lan gave him. If he could make full use of this opportunity, he would be able to find the path to the domain realm.


    The mecha operators around Huo Zhenyu looked at him with envy. They wanted to get this opportunity too. Wait, they had to get tortured by their boss first. Well, it seemed like they needed to factor that in too.


    Those mecha teams that were interested in Huo Zhenyu were more interested in him now. Anyone that got selected by their boss would have a bright future ahead of himself. It would be stupid if they didn¡¯t want him.


    While Huo Zhenyu was meditating, Ling Lan beat the rest of the 427 recruits to the ground. Everyoneid on the ground and groaned in pain.


    On the other hand, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t breathing heavily. What was worse was that there wasn¡¯t even a crease on her military uniform. She just stood in the middle calmly.


    ¡°I¡¯ve given you a chance to get out of my n. Unfortunately, you¡¯re rubbish!¡± Ling Lan flicked her left sleeve. She didn¡¯t even look at the recruits, showing that she didn¡¯t care about the recruits.


    The recruits on the ground red at Ling Lan when they heard what she said. Some even vomited out blood in anger.


    ¡°Hence, stay here and train obediently. When you¡¯re not a pile of rubbish anymore, you can...¡± Ling Lan looked up slightly and scoffed. ¡°Though, I think that it¡¯ll be difficult for all of you.¡±


    All the recruits gritted their teeth. Now, the thought of running away wasn¡¯t in their minds anymore. They just wanted to prove that they weren¡¯t useless to Ling Lan. They were willing to do anything to prove that.


    ¡°Are you unhappy? Then, stand up!¡± Ling Lan suddenly shouted when she saw the anger and fighting spirits in their eyes.


    The recruits on the ground started struggling. However, the damage done by Ling Lan¡¯s fist was too great. They kept falling down each time they tried to stand up. They repeated this process until they finally managed to stagger up.


    ¡°Those who are still able to stand up will go through the basic training for today.¡± Ling Lan watched them coldly as they struggled to get up. Even when they got up, her gaze didn¡¯t change. It was still cold and brutal. Her next order was brutal too.


    ¡°He really wants us to die.¡± The recruits were affected greatly by Ling Lan¡¯s indifference. They confirmed that their regimentmander really didn¡¯t care about them. Even if they died, he would be affected at all.


    He was really the devil!


    Ling Lan looked at the silent recruits who were staring at her in a daze. She raised one of her eyebrows and said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear what I said?¡±


    A huge force of presence struck the recruits again. Those that were barely standing fainted from the pressure. Blood started flowing out of their eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.


    Only less than a hundred recruits managed to resist the pressure. They were all at the optimal peak of Qi-Jin. This was the reason why they were able to currently stand despite everything they had been through.


    They looked at the 300 recruits who copsed and turned to look Ling Lan who was looking at them coldly. Without any hesitation, they rushed to the training ground toplete their training. They knew that they wouldn¡¯t be able toplete it in their current condition, but they didn¡¯t have the ability to say no.


    Hence, the recruits had to suffer for many days under the hands of their brutal regimentmander. Every day, they felt that they were going to die. However, they were saved by the frightening agent which tormented them greatly before pulling them back from the gates of hell.


    Even they almost died from the brutal training. Would a bunch of female soldiers who were at manifestation stage be able to survive?


    Finally, a person appeared at the entrance. He was wearing a blue-white military uniform with a white short whip kept under his arms. He was walking over slowly to them.


    Lady Mei and the other JMCs felt an icy gaze passing over them. Then, they heard a cold and heartless voice. ¡°If you can survive for half an hour, I¡¯ll allow you to participate in the day training.¡±


    Everyone knew Ling Lan was saying that to the JMCs.


    The JMCs were filled with fighting spirit when they heard that. Under the guidance of Han Xuya, they were no longer the female soldiers who wanted to fish for a rich husband. They wanted to be like Han Xuya, a female officer who had real power. They didn¡¯t want to be just another man¡¯s essory.


    Of course, this was because most of the JMCs here came from Base 013. They experienced many life-or-death situations in the battle so they were stronger and more determined than other female soldiers. In the future, under the guidance of these strong-minded females, future females soldiers would walk on the path of independence too.

 Chapter 1087 - One Kind Of People!

    <strong>Chapter 1087 One Kind Of People!</strong>


    ¡°Did you manage to find out anything about Lingtian?¡± All the mecha ns in the base wanted to know the background of this new titled super mecha n which was going to take over the Proud Wind Mecha n¡¯s position in the base.


    Their astonishing number of mechas as well as their grand entrance made the other mecha ns curious about Lingtian Mecha n.


    However, when they tried to look up information of Lingtian, it just stated that it was just a newly formed titled super mecha n which was at fifth-rank one-star. Any titled super mecha n in the base had a higher rank than Lingtian. Hence, a lot of mecha ns weren¡¯t convinced about their capabilities to seed Proud Wind¡¯s position in the base.


    ¡°Is it true that the regimentmander of this mecha n is someone with a special background? They probably came here just to gain some merits for themselves.¡± This was the only exnation for their ludicrous amount of mechas.


    ¡®We can¡¯t let a useless second generation be in control of everyone¡¯s safety and the base.¡¯ Most of the regimentmanders in the base had this thought.


    Before Lingtian proved itself to them that it was capable of sitting on the throne, the other mecha ns wouldn¡¯t listen to it even if Yu Huan gave them the power to govern them.


    ¡°Maybe we should test them out!¡± The regimentmanders of some high rank titled super mecha ns were restless that theirmander-in-chief might be someone ipetent so they decided to act to ease their restless heart.


    ¡°Ah! We can finally take a break.¡± In the JMCs¡¯ dorm, a pretty and outgoing JMCid on her bed and waved her fists around as she shouted out excitedly.


    ¡°Little Yao, be quiet!¡± A pillow flew towards the face of the JMC called Little Yao.


    ¡°Empty-Handed Weapon Grab!¡± Little Yao quickly grabbed the flying pillow to prevent her face from being hit by it.


    ¡°Lady Mei, Ah Qing attack me...¡± Little Yao jumped down andined to Lady Mei, who was in the bathroom, while she waved the pillow in the air.


    ¡°Training is not for us to fight each other.¡± Lady Mei was using a cold towel to wipe her face in an attempt to freshen herself up. She wasn¡¯t interested in the insignificant quarrels between herrades.


    One of the main reasons why these JMCs were so active the moment they woke up was because they passed the test. They were finally able to take part in the training too. Lady Mei still felt scared when she thought of the day of the assessment.


    Only half of them managed to withstand for half an hour. They thought that they had failed the right for them to go for the training. However, Major Han said that more than half of them had seeded so they barely passed.


    However, Major Han got punished for their shorings. She had to go through ten times the amount of their training every day. Every night, Lady Mei would see Major Han crawling out of the training ground with dried and fresh stains of blood on her face.


    She wasn¡¯t the only one who saw this. All the JMCs saw the heart-wrenching scene. Some weaker recruits even cried.


    ¡°What are you crying?¡± Major Han seemed puzzled when she saw them crying.


    When she knew that they were crying because of the brutal training she had to endure, Major Han smiled and asked, ¡°Don¡¯t you think that this is fair?¡±


    ¡°Why is it fair? You are a female. How can you do what the men are doing?¡± The training that Major Han had to go through was much worse than what the recruits were doing. It was almost the same as the training for experienced soldiers.


    ¡°Why not?¡± Han Xuya smiled and asked.


    The JMCs didn¡¯t know what to reply.


    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m very happy to be able to train this hard because to Boss, I¡¯m no longer just a weakdy. I¡¯m also a real soldier now. That is why he gave me the same training as those experienced soldiers.¡± Han Xuya seemed excited when she said this. Only Boss knew what she really wanted.


    She wanted to be a powerful person just like Ling Lan. She wanted to be able to protect the people she wanted to protect.


    ¡°You are the same too. Since you managed to earn the right to go for day training, you must forget about your gender. There is only one kind of people here, soldiers!¡± Han Xuya said sternly, ¡°I always believe that a woman, even a normal JMC, is as good as any male soldier.¡±


    ¡°Yes, head!¡± All the female soldiers were motivated by Han Xuya¡¯s words.


    Yes, in the past, JMCs were known as weaklings that required the full protection of the base to do their job. So, the base and the division wouldn¡¯t want to waste resources to train these female soldiers. Hence, their status in the military was low. Sometimes, they couldn¡¯t even reject a high ranking officer when they confessed to them.


    However here, they were able to train like male soldiers. They were given the same training resources and treatment as male soldiers. If they got hurt and tired after training, they would be given the same expensive agent. Although it made them feel like dying, their body condition really got better after taking those medicinal agents. They even became more agile. When they looked around them, they could see that they were more respected than they were ever before.


    After a week of continuous training, all the female soldiers broke through their limits and advanced to the manifestation stage. Some female soldiers who were already in manifestation stage, for instance, Lady Mei, even managed to advance to refinement stage after she finished her treatment yesterday night.


    Refinement stage was nothing much in the Lingtian Mecha n. If any of the male soldiers didn¡¯t reach refinement stage... they would be sent for training all the way until they reached refinement stage.


    However, females were different. Due to the restriction on their physical constitution, they would be stuck at manifestation stage even if they were highly talented. Therefore, they needed to find an opportunity to break through the manifestation stage. Without an opportunity, they would never be able to advance to the higher stages.


    Hence, Lady Mei was considered to be very powerful when she advanced to the refinement stage.


    ¡°Oh right, since we have a day off today, let¡¯s go shopping.¡± Little Yao suggested excitedly after she finished dressing up.


    She had been stuck training at the training grounds for the past ten days. She could feel the itch in her body to go out, even more so when she heard that there was a huge shopping mall in the base.


    Every base had a shopping mall or a shopping district. However, these shops were all controlled by the base. The attendants inside were all logisticians of the base. They were a form of service for the soldiers.


    ¡°Sure. I need to buy some daily necessities too.¡± Ah Qing quickly sat up from her bed without any signs of drowsiness she had before.


    Lady Mei wanted to get some necessities too so she agreed to go together.


    Soon, the three of them reached the shopping mall.

 Chapter 1088 - Present?

    <h4>Chapter 1088 Present?</h4>


    The shopping mall was huge. It looked the same as the shopping malls one would find in the cities. However, most of the products sold inside were daily necessities and all kinds of mecha equipment. There were some household items too. However, there were very few selections of clothes, and most of it were just military uniforms and boots. They were just different styles of military wear. The uniforms of all the divisions were sold here. At the very least, they did sell casual clothes.


    The huge array of items delighted thedies. Soon, their hands were filled with shopping bags.


    ¡°Okay, since everyone is done, let¡¯s go back.¡± Lady Mei didn¡¯t want to waste her entire day off shopping


    ¡°Wait, let¡¯s go over there.¡± Little Yao suddenly pointed to a cold weapons shop.


    ¡°You want to get a cold weapon?¡± Lady Mei was curious.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think our regimentmander looks very handsome carrying a whip?¡± Little Yao replied indirectly.


    ¡®That¡¯s because our regimentmander is handsome, not the whip.¡¯ Lady Mei was speechless, but Little Yao already dragged her into the shop so she had no choice but to go inside. Ah Qing quickly caught up with them.


    There were many soldiers in the cold weapon shop, and most of them were males. Hence, when three beautifuldies entered the shop, most of the eyes in the shop turned to them.


    Little Yao saw the whip category and she quickly pulled the two of them over.


    It had to be said that all the cold weapons on Base Neb were of amazing quality. Little Yao was amazed by what she saw. She didn¡¯t know which one to choose.


    ¡°These prices are a little too high.¡± The thrifty Ah Qing was shocked by the prices of these whips in front of her.


    ¡°High quality weapons are expensive,¡± Little Yao said dismissively. Suddenly, she saw a shining ck whip and her eyes lit up. She immediately pressed the virtual screen beside


    Soon, the materials, method of assembly, and the variousponents of the whip were disyed. Little Yao was satisfied with the figures.


    ¡°Wow... it¡¯s 1.33 million credits.¡± Ah Qing looked at Little Yao seriously. She asked in puzzlement, ¡°It¡¯s just a short whip. Why is it so expensive?¡±


    ¡°This whip is made from the tail bone of the Demon Teeth Leopard. It¡¯s a rank seven savage beast so it¡¯s very hard to catch. Whether it¡¯s the flexibility or the tenacity of the bone, it¡¯s one of the best, making it the most suitable material to make a whip. Most cold weapons aren¡¯t able to destroy it. Hence, the price disyed there is very reasonable.¡± The soldier beside them frowned when he heard what Ah Qing said but he still patiently exined to them.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Lady Mei thanked the soldier as his exnation allowed her to understand the whip better.


    ¡°Sister Mei, let¡¯s get this.¡± Little Yao¡¯s eyes were sparkling


    ¡°Do you have enough money?¡± Lady Mei nced at Little Yao. She destroyed Little Yao¡¯s dream.


    ¡°No. However, we can gather enough money from everyone.¡± Little Yao smiled.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Lady Mei was stunned.


    ¡°Major Han¡¯s birthday ising up soon,¡± Little Yao replied, ¡°If she has a whip like this, don¡¯t you think she will look very handsome.¡±


    ¡°I thought only the regimentmander can use a whip.¡± Lady Mei was uncertain. She didn¡¯t see any other team leaders carrying a whip. Would it cause trouble for their department head if they bought a whip for her?


    ¡°No.¡± Little Yao looked around her before pulling Ah Qing and Lady Mei closer. ¡°Someone from the medical department secretly told that all the leaders and heads will need a whip soon.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Lady Mei was curious.


    ¡°I heard that it is to make punishment easier. It was an order by the regimentmander,¡± Little Yao replied seriously.


    ¡°F**K. Does every battle team need to have one? So vicious?¡± Ah Qing stuck her tongue out.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you realize that the whip will be used on us?¡± Lady Mei was speechless. She had never seen someone giving the weapon used to punish them as a present to their department head.


    ¡°Our head won¡¯t punish us!¡± Little Yao wasn¡¯t worried about this. Major Han was strict with them but she never punished them physically. ¡°I¡¯m just worried about the uing assessment. With a good weapon, she may have a higher chance of passing the assessment.¡±


    Little Yao sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t want our head to get punished again.¡±


    Lady Mei remembered the bad state Major Han was in during the past few days. She looked at the best whip in the shop and said, ¡°Let¡¯s buy it. I¡¯ll pay.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s supposed to be a gift from everyone,¡± Little Yao objected.


    ¡°Let me buy it first and then we will go back and ask them if they want to share the cost. If they don¡¯t want to, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll pay for it.¡± Lady Mei had already decided to give the whip to her department head.


    ¡°If they don¡¯t want to share, the three of us will pay for it.¡± Little Yao turned to look at Ah Qing. She threatened her, ¡°Ah Qing, don¡¯t tell me that you don¡¯t want to pay for it.¡±


    Ah Qing immediately answered, ¡°I¡¯ll follow Sister Mei all the way.¡± The three of them stayed in one apartment so they were very close with each other.


    ¡°It¡¯s decided.¡± Lady Mei quickly went up to the virtual screen. She wanted to press the purchase button but a hand suddenly moved past hers.


    A cold light shed in her eyes. She quickly nudged with her wrist to push the hand away.


    Then, she pressed her finger towards the purchase button.


    Bam!


    The hand reached out again and pped Lady Mei¡¯s hand away.


    Both of them took a step back from the force of this exchange.


    Lady Mei looked up slowly. She saw a twenty-something-year-old second lieutenant looking at her in astonishment.


    ¡°Second lieutenant, I¡¯ve been looking at this whip for quite a while. Do you mind letting me purchase this whip instead?¡± The second lieutenant¡¯s attitude turned softer when he noticed that he was facing against a female second lieutenant who was as strong as him.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I really like this whip. Please look for something else.¡± Lady Mei rejected him without any hesitation. This whip was important to Major Han. How could she give it away.


    ¡°Why are you so shameless? How dare you snatch something from Brother Han,¡± an arrogantdy behind the second lieutenant shouted pompously.


    Lady Mei turned around and saw a bunch of people standing around them. A pretty and sweet-looking female soldier was also ring at her.


    ¡°If I remember correctly, this whip would have been mine if your Brother Han didn¡¯t stop me. Who is the shameless one here?¡± Lady Mei sneered.


    ¡°Brother Han wanted to buy this whip a week ago. If he had enough credits back then, it would have been his long ago.¡± The female soldier didn¡¯t want to give up.


    ¡°However, it is still clearly here now.¡± Lady Mei¡¯s smile turned colder.


    ¡°Why are you preventing us from buying the whip when you don¡¯t even have enough money to buy it? You are just being unreasonable.¡± Little Yao was unhappy.

 Chapter 1089 - Door Guard!

    <h4>Chapter 1089 Door Guard!</h4>


    The second lieutenant¡¯s expression changed and a vicious look appeared in his eyes. ¡°Yes, the whip is still here, so it means that it doesn¡¯t have an owner yet. What¡¯s wrong with me trying to buy it?¡±


    ¡°Plus, this weapon is a weapon worthy to go to the battlefield, not a toy for ady. Moreover, you buying it is humiliating to the weapon itself.¡± The second lieutenant looked at the threedies with contempt.


    Lady Mei¡¯s gaze turned cold.


    There was a moment of silence. Then, the two of them attacked at the same time.


    Boom! A figure flew back. Lady Mei pressed the purchased button decisively.


    The second lieutenant looked at Lady Mei with a dumbfounded expression. He didn¡¯t expect to lose to a woman.


    The protective beam around the whip disappeared. Lady Mei took the whip and coldly said, ¡°Thank you.¡±


    The second lieutenant turned green with anger when he saw Lady Mei buying the whip. He scoffed and left angrily.


    ¡°That soldier is from Piercing Arrow. They are known for being unreasonable so it¡¯s better to leave quickly.¡± The soldier, who exined the whip to them just now, reminded Lady Mei when he noticed that they didn¡¯t know who that person was.


    Lady Mei frowned slightly but she still said gratefully, ¡°Thank you.¡±


    The three of them didn¡¯t want to cause any trouble so they hurried back to their base.


    They were in such a hurry so they didn¡¯t notice someone following them.


    ¡°Brother Han, I¡¯ve found where theye from.¡± The scout who followed them came to his camping grounds happily.


    ¡°Which mecha n are they from?¡± Brother Han got excited. He had never been so humiliated before. What was more humiliating for him was that it was a woman who defeated him.


    ¡°It¡¯s the new Lingtian Mecha n.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s them...¡± Brother Han¡¯s expression darkened. He said, ¡°I understand. You can leave now.¡±


    The scout¡¯s expression quickly froze. However, he didn¡¯t say anything and left.


    After walking for some distance, the scout spat on the ground in the direction where Brother Han was at. ¡°Damn it! Does he really think he is somebody? If he didn¡¯t have a team leader as his brother, no one will want to see his ugly face.¡±


    Brother Han didn¡¯t know that none of his subordinates truly respected him. After the scout left, he left his ce too and went to find his brother.


    Soon, he walked out of his brother¡¯s apartment with an evil smile.


    ¡°The people from Piercing Arrow are going to mess with the people from Lingtian.¡± The moment the people from Piercing Arrow left their camping grounds, this piece of news spread to all the other regimentmanders.


    ¡°There will be a good show.¡± The regimentmander of the ughter Mecha n smiled as he said to his secondarymander.


    He thought that after the Proud Wind Mecha n left Base Neb, they would be the n taking over its ce. Yet, a newly formed titled super mecha n snatched his rightful position. If it was a long-standing titled super mecha n like theirs, he wouldn¡¯t mind. However, the mecha n taking over his position was too weak in his eyes. He was unwilling to ept this.


    ¡°Will Yu Wei send apetent person over?¡± The secondarymander was puzzled.


    Yu Wei was the regimentmander of Piercing Arrow Mecha n. If he wanted to understand Lingtian better, he must send over apetent person to really test their depths.


    ¡°Zhang Han has a brother called Zhang Chao. He is one of the 36 Heavenly Warriors under Yu Wei. Zhang Han is a pampered child so he will definitely ask his brother for help.¡±


    The secondarymander felt enlightened. ¡°I see. Regimentmander, you¡¯ve nned everything right from the get go.¡±


    ¡°nning and luck must be both present for a scheme to go perfectly. I just didn¡¯t expect the chance to do so woulde so quickly.¡± Lin Yang smiled.


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± The secondarymander was restless.


    ¡°Watch over Yu Wei. If he acts, I will have a reason to meet this famous regimentmander of Lingtian Mecha n.¡± Lin Yang smiled.


    Soon, the people from Piercing Arrow arrived at the entrance of Lingtian¡¯s base. They started to scream and shout for the people inside Lingtian toe out.


    After some time, the doors of the base finally opened. A young man walked out. ¡°Why are you screaming for?¡±


    Zhang Chao nced at the young man and he received a shock. This young man wasn¡¯t an insignificant soldier. He was a lieutenant colonel.


    He looked pass the doors and saw there were no soldiers standing behind in rows. In fact, there was no one in sight. It seemed as though this lieutenant colonel was the man guarding the door.


    ¡®How luxurious to have a lieutenant colonel guard the door.¡¯ Zhang Chao was stunned. He forgot what he wanted to say.


    Just like what Li Lanfeng expected, there would be people trying to provoke them. To prevent these outsiders from interrupting their boss and the training of their team members, the 21 team leaders would take turns guarding the door. Today, it was Xie Yi¡¯s turn.


    Why are there 21 team leader? Have you forgotten about Yan Three? He¡¯s the 21st team leader of Lingtian. However, he was only given a hundred team members as the rest of the soldiers were snatched away by the other team leaders.


    However, Yan Three wasn¡¯t angry about it. His team, Team 21, was already a super huge team. His team had three times the amount of people as the other teams. It was the biggest team in the entire mecha n. As for its strength... let¡¯s not talk about it first.


    Even the confident Yan Three wouldn¡¯t appear arrogant in front of the other 20 teams who were strong enough to pummel his team to pieces even if they split up.


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m talking to you.¡± Xie Yi asked again impatiently. He already saw that the leader of the entourage was a major. Hence, he disyed some attitude.


    ¡°Lieutenant colonel, nice to meet you.¡± Zhang Chao was stunned by Xie Yi¡¯s appearance. He quickly saluted in frustration. They weren¡¯t in the same mecha n but since Xie Yi¡¯s rank was higher than his rank, he had to salute to him to show respect.


    Xie Yi crossed his hands in front of his chest and smiled at Zhang Chao¡¯s show of respect. He didn¡¯t reply to him.


    Zhang Chao put his hands down and said, ¡°Lieutenant colonel, I came here to seek for an exnation. Your soldier had snatched a weapon from us. Please give us an exnation.¡±


    ¡°Snatch your weapon?¡± Xie Yi touched his chin. He seemed serious but inside, he was actually ted. He wondered which soldier did such a good thing.


    ¡°So what if we snatched it?¡± Xie Yi repliedzily, ¡°What else are you here for?¡±


    Zhang Chao¡¯s expression changed. One of the first lieutenants beside him said angrily, ¡°Why are you being so unreasonable?¡±


    ¡°Unreasonable?¡± Xie Yiughed hysterically when he heard what the first lieutenant said. ¡°Why are you talking about being reasonable in the military? Have you forgotten about survival of the fittest?¡±


    In this world, everyone respects the powerful, especially in the military. This was why Xie Yi burst intoughter when he heard what the soldier said.

 Chapter 1090 - Not Satisfied!

    <h4>Chapter 1090 Not Satisfied!</h4>


    Zhang Chao¡¯s face turned red in anger. He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. ¡°In that case, let me see how strong Lingtian is!¡±


    He raised his fist and attacked Xie Yi instantly.


    Xie Yi casually raised his right hand.


    Boom!


    A figure got thrown out. He took seven steps back before he managed to stabilize himself.


    Zhang Chao stood still and dazely stared at the expressionless Xie Yi. He seemed to have just waved his hand casually to defeat him in one move. Zhang Chao was frightened.


    ¡°Defeated by a single blow.¡± The regimentmanders, who had been monitoring the situation outside of Lingtian, received this piece of news instantly when it happened and were shocked.


    ¡°Now, can you leave?¡± Xie Yi didn¡¯t care about how shocked Zhang Chao was. He just yawned in boredom.


    During these past few days, their boss¡¯s force of presence got even more frightening. The only people who could withstand training with their boss were team leaders and department heads. It was grueling but with Brother Shiyu¡¯s agents, they were able to persist through it. Guarding the door was basically a day off for them.


    No one would be happy when they got disturbed during their day off.


    Zhang Chao was already injured by Xie Yi. Hence, when he heard Xie Yi¡¯s irritated tone and saw his attitude, he felt humiliated and vomited a mouthful of blood.


    Ling Lan, who was sitting in a secret training room, opened her eyes slowly.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect Xuya to reach this stage so soon.¡± Ling Lan quickly retracted the pressure in the room.


    The team leaders, who had been resisting against the pressure with all their efforts, suddenly felt the pressure lifting off from their shoulders. Before they could ask what was going on, they felt another energy moving beside them.


    ¡°Little Sister Xuya? She is going to advance soon?¡± Qi Long was the first to react. He shouted happily.


    Luo Chao stood up and smiled. ¡°Yup! Xuya said that after continuously training with Boss for the past few days, she felt the barrier to the Qi-Jin stage getting weaker and weaker. She should be able to advance to the Qi-Jin stage within the next dew days. I just didn¡¯t expect it to happen so soon.¡±


    Luo Chao also felt her barrier getting weaker. She didn¡¯t advance as quickly as Han Xuya but it would happen soon too. She would be able to reach the realm she had always dream of.


    All the other leaders and heads were at Qi-Jin realm or above, only she and Han Xuya were stillgging behind at the peak stage of refinement. They knew that because of their gender, it would be difficult for them to advance further than refinement stage but they didn¡¯t give up. They kept working hard for many years and finally, their efforts paid off.


    Luo Lang patted her head and smiled. ¡°You should be able to advance soon too.¡± Luo Lang was always concerned about his younger sister¡¯s condition so he immediately noticed the change in her internal energy.


    ¡°Of course. I can¡¯tg behind you too much.¡± Luo Chao raised her head arrogantly, but her red puffed cheeks showed that she was embarrassed by the statement. Her cute expression caused the older mecha masters around her to smile as if they were looking at their granddaughter.


    At that moment, a huge pressure suddenly descended and engulfed Han Xuya¡¯s body. The people closest to her also felt the pressure and knew that it was from their boss. Ling Lan was trying to help Han Xuya with her process of breaking through.


    ¡°Breakthrough!¡± Han Xuya shouted with all her help. Suddenly, she felt the barrier shattering under the help of external pressure.


    Han Xuya officially entered Qi-Jin stage.


    Han Xuya was ted but a metaphorical cold bucket of water was quickly dumped all over her head as Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice sounded beside her. ¡°Xuya, stabilize your Qi-Jin.¡±


    Han Xuya quickly gathered her thoughts and started manipting the restless energy inside her. She also felt a frightening pressureing down on her. The pressure she was currently feeling was far greater than the pressure she felt when she entered the peak stage of refinement.


    It looked like Boss finally acknowledged her ability. Han Xuya knew that their boss gave them a chance by letting she and Luo Chao train with them. Plus, they were also given preferential treatment as more care was given to them.


    Although their boss said that she couldn¡¯t control her force of presence, she would still protect them properly each time they came over to train with the others. The men might get injured by the pressure but the two of them were never hurt.


    In the past, Li Yingjie almost once died from the pressure. He was only saved by his brother but he felt frustrated in the end. Heined that their boss was biased and that he was only protecting his wives while throwing them aside.


    When she and Luo Chao heard that, they rolled their eyes at him. However, Li Yingjie was more powerful and had a higher rank than them so they could not say much in their defense. Plus, they didn¡¯t want to make a fuss out of such a small matter. It was not their style unlike a specific someone.


    However, after Li Yingjie said that, he didn¡¯t have a good time too. Somehow, he offended Big Leader Li and was tormented by him for these past few days. So although they couldn¡¯t rebuke him themselves, they felt quite satisfied when they saw him getting tortured.


    Under Ling Lan¡¯s suppression, the restless Qi-Jin energy flowed into Han Xuya¡¯s body and entered all the cells of her body. The Qi-Jin energy started healing her body.


    The stages before Qi-Jin were all foundational stages. Once someone advanced to the Qi-Jin stage, there would be a huge leap in their physical constitution. This increase in their physique would decide if they had the chance to break through to the domain realm.


    With Ling Lan¡¯s help, Han Xuya didn¡¯t waste the energy that flowed into her body. She sessfully absorbed all of them. The amount of energy one could absorb depended on one¡¯s potential. The greater the potential, the more energy one could absorb and the greater the possibility of him or her breaking through to the domain realm.


    Normally, due to the physical constitution of a female, they would only be able to absorb 1% of the total energy. This was why very few females managed to enter the domain realm. From the moment they advanced to the Qi-Jin stage, they were destined to have a hard time advancing their physical skills.


    However, all these restrictions didn¡¯t exist for Han Xuya.


    Although her energy was weaker than talented people like Qi Long but with the help of Ling Lan, she didn¡¯t waste any bit of her energy. Unknowingly, she had created a bright path ahead for herself.


    It could be said that if Han Xuya didn¡¯t meet Ling Lan, she would only be able to reach the Qi-Jin stage. However, because of Ling Lan, she would not be able to walk on a path she was destined to walk. Of course, this applies to Luo Chao too.


    Han Xuya continued absorbing all the Qi-Jin energy into her body. She only stood up after she finished absorbing every little bit of it.


    ¡°Congrattions!¡±


    ¡°As expected of Han Xuya.¡±


    ¡°Continue working hard and be the first female domain realm master of Lingtian.¡±


    The older mecha masters liked thispetitive and able youngdy. They hurriedly congratte her.


    ¡°Xuya, since you advanced to the Qi-Jin stage already, you can settle the matter outside.¡± Ling Lan opened her mouth after noticing that Han Xuya had stabilized her Qi-Jin energy.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Qi Long asked curiously.


    ¡°Xuya¡¯s soldiers fought with someone for something they want to buy and in the end, they sessfully bought it. However, the other party is unhappy about that so they came to look for us,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    Little Four developed a good working rtionship with the mainframe of Base Neb so Ling Lan was able to know everything that was happening outside even if she stayed in her room.


    Little Four was already treating the Lingtian Mecha n as his property. He treated every soldier as his men so he had cameras all around the base to make sure that they wouldn¡¯t get into trouble.


    Even if Lady Mei didn¡¯t win against Zhang Han, Little Four would have hacked into his ount and make sure that he didn¡¯t have enough money to buy the whip.


    ¡°What? How dare they bully our JMCs.¡± All the team leaders were furious.


    Which department was Han Xuya in charge of? The JMC department! It was filled with a bunch of pretty female soldiers. All the male soldiers in the mecha n treat these female soldiers very dearly.


    The male soldiers had already decided to keep the female soldiers among themselves, only if they were willing, of course. It was obvious that thepetition between the male soldiers was great. There were a little more than a hundred female soldiers but there were close to 3000 male soldiers. In order to stop being single, the male soldiers had a hard time too.


    The team leaders knew what their team members were thinking so they treated Han Xuya very well.


    They didn¡¯t have a choice to not do so. If they offended Han Xuya, she mightin to her soldiers and they might remember it, which would prevent their team members from ever getting a partner.


    Plus, most of the team leaders and heads were single too.


    Thus, they must be angry when the dear female soldiers got bullied.


    Who knew if one of the female soldiers would be the future wives of their subordinates... or maybe their own wife.


    Han Xuya¡¯s smile disappeared when she heard this and her aura turned cold. She had gone through many hardships with the JMCs in the past few days so to her, they were like her family.


    ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll handle this matter.¡± Han Xuya clenched her fist tightly.


    ¡°Okay. After you settle it, remember to continue training.¡± Ling Lan closed her eyes again. She didn¡¯t forget to give Han Xuya her punishment. She wouldn¡¯t treat her differently just because she was a female.


    In actual fact, after Han Xuya advanced to the Qi-Jin stage, Ling Lan decided to be stricter on her. She would be stricter on her than on Qi Long or any of her otherrades.


    She knew that Han Xuya was just like her, except for her identity. She had the same desire to be stronger. Thus, she would help her rise to the top so that she could look down on all the people who looked down on her.


    ¡°Xuya, let me stand behind you to give you some support.¡± Qi Long was excited. He hadn¡¯t fought in a long time.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Han Xuya smiled in agreement and walked out of the room.


    Soon, only two people were left in the secret training room.


    ¡°Are you not going to take a look?¡± Ling Lan opened her eyes with surprise.


    ¡°Not interested,¡± Li Lanfeng replied calmly.


    He stood up and then turned the secret training room into ¡®do not disturb¡¯ mode. Unless the people inside wanted to go out, no one coulde in. Well, unless they break the door down forcefully.


    After doing all that, he removed his mask and walked beside Ling Lan. Then, he sat down and stared at her intently.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows in an inquisitive manner. This was the first time Li Lanfeng was so serious. In the past, he always appeared gentle, although she knew that it was fake.


    ¡°You¡¯re hurt.¡± Li Lanfeng frowned. He seemed confused and agitated.


    Ling Lan looked at the frustrated expression on his face. The power that she had been suppressing indeed had started getting restless.


    ¡°Actually, you should leave the room. I might not be able to protect you.¡± The strength in her body was getting out of control.


    ¡°Stop suppressing yourself for us.¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, it was filled with indescribable emotions. Ling Lan always felt that she knew what Li Lanfeng was thinking but now, she couldn¡¯t make sense of his expression and action.


    ¡°It¡¯s enough,¡± Li Lanfeng continued with a lowered head. From his tone, he seemed to be in pain.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Ling Lan frowned. There was something wrong with how Li Lanfeng was acting today. She was concerned.


    ¡°Ling Lan!¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly looked up and shouted her name, something that rarely happened.


    ¡°Yes?¡± Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows and waited for Li Lanfeng to continue.


    ¡°I want to be stronger!¡± Li Lanfeng said each word forcefully.


    ¡°I know,¡± Ling Lan replied seriously, ¡°You are on the path to be stronger. You never stopped.¡±


    ¡°No, it is not enough.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s voice got louder.


    Ling Lan frown got deeper.


    Li Lanfeng suddenly put his head down again. Then, he covered his eyes with his right hand and startedughing creepily.


    ¡°Hahaha... I¡¯m sorry. I lost control.¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly looked up again and smiled gently.


    Ling Lan reached out and grabbed Li Lanfeng¡¯s chin.


    Ling Lan applied a lot of pressure on her hand so Li Lanfeng felt as though his chin was going to crack. It was painful but the pain woke him up.


    ¡°Stop giving me your fake smile,¡± Ling Lan said coldly, ¡°I hate it.¡±


    ¡°Why must you expose me?¡± Li Lanfeng turned serious. ¡°Do you know I can¡¯t find my ce beside you anymore?¡±


    Ling Lan frowned. She didn¡¯t understand what Li Lanfeng meant.


    ¡°You treat everyone so well, so well that you are willing to hurt yourself to help them. Yet, they don¡¯t know anything about it. They trust you and are willing to follow you through thick and thin.¡± Li Lanfeng appeared lost again. The characteristic that attracted him to Ling Lan in the past was bing the devil in his heart now.


    ¡°So?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s face remained expressionless.


    ¡°So, I¡¯m not satisfied.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. His smile seemed a little crazy. Yet, it made him look even more beautiful. Ling Lan¡¯s heart couldn¡¯t help but flutter when she saw that smile.


    ¡®Damn it, why must beautiful people be so crazy.¡¯


    ¡°Not satisfied?¡± Ling Lan controlled her emotions and asked coldly.


    ¡°Yes, not satisfied at all.¡± Li Lanfeng continued smiling. ¡°Ling Lan, only now I know how selfish I really am.¡±

 Chapter 1091 - I Trust You!

    <h4>Chapter 1091 I Trust You!</h4>


    ¡°Sometimes, I would think to myself what if you could just transfer a little bit of your power to me. Wouldn¡¯t that be great...,¡± Li Lanfeng said mockingly as he smiled with a hint of despair in his eyes. He knew what he said was impossible because even if there was actually a way to transfer on¡¯s powers to someone else, Ling Lan would never be willing to do that. If Ling Lan was willing to do so, then Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t be the Ling Lan who he trusted dearly and someone who he would willingly die for.


    ¡°You can¡¯t be thinking like that, Li Lanfeng!¡± Ling Lan said seriously as she could feel Li Lanfeng¡¯s thoughts were turning towards a dangerous direction.


    ¡°Oh my god! Boss, is he bing gay?!¡± Little Four shouted out loud in Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape.


    ¡°Shut up!¡± Ling Lan instantly smacked Little Four, who wanted to add fuel the fire, to the ground.


    Sh*t, she was still trying to resolve Li Lanfeng¡¯s odd behavior. She didn¡¯t need Little Four to make the situation worse.


    ¡°I know... I know what I¡¯m thinking is not right, but my heart aches when I see you hurt yourself for others, even for me!¡± Li Lanfeng wed his chest as if he was trying to tear away that feeling in his heart. He thought of the time when Ling Lan force herself to restrain her pressure even if it would injure her own body again to help Han Xuya advance. His heart ached for her pain.


    ¡°Every single time you get injured, I would always think about why you must care for that many people. If you only cared for me, you would never be injured. Then, I wouldn¡¯t be sad and worried anymore...¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s sobbing yet smiling expression made Ling Lan shudder.


    ¡°I desperately tried to be strong. I really did... Although it was to stand above the others, my main reason in doing so is to fight alongside you and protect the person I most want to protect...¡± Li Lanfeng finally revealed a pained smile on his face. ¡°Ling Lan, you definitely willugh at my overconfidence because the person I most want to protect is you. You! Ling Lan!¡±


    Two streaks of tears slowly ran down his fleshy cheeks, making the current Li Lanfeng undoubted this generation¡¯s most beautiful person. Even when he was crying, his beauty was otherworldly, and it made those around him feel deeply sorry for him.


    Ling Lan looked at Li Lanfeng silently. Right as Li Lanfeng thought Ling Lan was looking at him with disdain, Ling Lan suddenly spoke up, ¡°I know that!¡±


    Li Lanfeng raised his head stunned as Ling Lan reached out her right hand and softly caressed his face. She used her index finger to collect a single crystal-like teardrop from his beautiful face.


    Ling Lan looked towards the crystal-like teardrop on her index finger and said slowly, ¡°In the time that we¡¯ve known each other, how can I not know about your personality? Although you seem to be warm and easy to get along with, you are actually very guarded against outsiders and someone who doesn¡¯t easily open up to people.¡±


    After Ling Lan said all this, she suddenly raised her head and looked directly Li Lanfeng¡¯s red eyes. ¡°You are even guarded towards your little brother, Li Shiyu.¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression instantly froze. He didn¡¯t think that secret he was hiding for his whole life was clearly seen through by Ling Lan.


    ¡°I don¡¯t need to mention about that idiot Li Yingjie who knows absolutely nothing, right? You treat him as if he doesn¡¯t exist,¡± continued Ling Lan, ¡°I knew about your personality long ago. Although I don¡¯t know why the first sessor of the Li family is so stubborn, I am very aware about your feelings towards me.¡±


    After saying all that, Ling Lan turned her gaze towards her index finger again. She flicked her index finger softly and the teardrop vanished into the air.


    Ling Lan smirked slightly and looked down towards Li Lanfeng with a hint of yfulness in her eyes. ¡°That¡¯s because I know our friendship is real, and that is all I need.¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyshes quivered slightly, his eyes brimming with light. Countless emotions stacked were flowing in him, yet he couldn¡¯t force a word out of his mouth.


    ¡°Plus, I have to tell you that you¡¯re not the same as them to to me!¡± Ling Lan pointed towards her heart. She didn¡¯t want Li Lanfeng to keep thinking about these things which would cause him to inexplicably go down the wrong path.


    Li Lanfeng raised one of his eyebrows in confusion.


    ¡°Qi Long, Luo Lang, Luo Chao, Han Xuya and the others all grew up with me. To me, they¡¯re brothers and sisters that need my loving care. But you, you are my friend, my confidant, I trust you!¡±


    Those final words made Li Lanfeng¡¯s whole body tremble. When he finally stopped trembling, the biggest and brightest smile blossomed on his face.


    ¡°You also have to remember to take into ount that you and I are both soldiers, bing injured is inevitable in this line of work so don¡¯t make a fuss about such a small matter. The Li Lanfeng I know is a godly strategist who can turn losses into victories from thousands of miles away...¡± After saying this, Ling Lan slowly closed her eyes, ¡°Now I need to ask you to do something for me. I¡¯m about to break through. Protect me.¡±


    ¡°Okay...¡± Right as Li Lanfeng answered, he felt a soft force pushing him towards the door of the secret room. Immediately after, arge pressure erupted within the room. Li Lanfeng immediately activated his domain to block off the immense pressure.


    Li Lanfeng knew that Ling Lan was afraid that she might lose control and injure him. That was why she sent him to the position near the door so that he could immediately escape the room if things went awry.


    It was this hidden care within Ling Lan¡¯s dominant personality that he wanted more of and wished to keep it all for himself.


    Li Lanfeng stared nkly towards Ling Lan, who was breaking through to the imperial realm far away from him. Although Ling Lan¡¯s words made his heart no longer ache, it still felt empty. It was as though the words Ling Lan had said to him could not satisfy him...


    He originally thought that before he could alter his fate from the course of the Phoenix Thrall Fate, his heart wouldn¡¯t be held up by anything else. He didn¡¯t think that...


    The Phoenix Thrall Fate!


    A lightning bolt suddenly struck in Li Lanfeng¡¯s mind and his body began to shake intensely. His expression was filled with fear as he mumbled, ¡°Phoenix Thrall Fate, Phoenix Thrall Fate, it¡¯s actually the Phoenix Thrall Fate... The change of fate that I wished for my entire life. Could it be my own self-binding cocoon?¡±


    Li Lanfeng was a genius. The reason he didn¡¯t think of it before was because he was blinded by what was in front of him. However, once he cleared himself from his willful dream, he knew who was the person that was the closest existence to being his king.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± A mouthful of blood suddenly shot out from Li Lanfeng¡¯s mouth. With different emotions constantly shing against each other in his mind, Li Lanfeng lost control over his domain and was instantly injured by Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence.


    Li Lanfeng looked towards Ling Lan and a savage look appeared on his face for a second. He reached out his right hand. If he were to attack Ling Lan at this important moment, Ling Lan would definitely be severely injured from the recoil of the upleted advancement of her domain concept. Now was without a doubt the best opportunity for him to get rid of Ling Lan and change his fate.


    Phoenix Thrall Fate, Phoenix Thrall Fate, Phoenix Thrall Fate... As long as he got rid of his destined king, he would be able to change his fate!


    The savageness within Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes became thicker and thicker, and killing intent slowly appeared within them.


    Wait, what if it wasn¡¯t him?


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s savage gaze slowly began to turn into a morepassionate gaze but it suddenly turned back into the savage gaze again. This change in his gaze was constantly urring for quite a while. He was struggling internally about his decision.


    He remembered his and Ling Lan¡¯s past. How she taught him the meditation technique, helped him with mecha piloting, stood in front of him during a dangerous situation...


    ¡°I trust you!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s voice suddenly exploded beside Li Lanfeng¡¯s ears.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± Li Lanfeng spat out another mouthful of blood. This time however, it wasn¡¯t because of Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence, but rather Li Lanfeng injuring himself.


    His eyes became clear once again. The devil in his heart almost made him do something he would regret for the rest of his life. Luckily, he found himself again.

 Chapter 1092 - Despicable!

    <h4>Chapter 1092 Despicable!</h4>


    After being injured consecutively, Li Lanfeng¡¯s face turned pale as he helplessly leaned against the wall and looked towards Ling Lan with a pained yetplicated expression on his face.


    After returning to his rational self, Li Lanfeng used his intelligent mind to its fullest. Soon, he made the connection and predicted the truth behind the Phoenix Thrall Fate.


    He had always thought that he was walking on the path that defied the heavens. However in the end, he was yed by fate. He wanted to stay far away from his king, but the reality of it was that he was using his all to get close to his king.


    Li Lanfeng knew well that if there was someone in this world who could sit upon the throne, other than Ling Lan, there was no one else. Furthermore, the Ling family¡¯s totem was a phoenix. The Phoenix Thrall Fate which predicted the arrival of a king was clearly pointing towards Ling Lan.


    It was funny that he had not thought about the truth behind the Phoenix Thrall Fate when such obvious hints were right in front of him. In actuality, it wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t think about it, but rather he had denied it. It was because he trusted Ling Lan would not force him to what was foretold by the Phoenix Thrall Fate.


    Now there was a problem... since Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t force him to do such a thing against his will then why was there a Phoenix Thrall Fate?


    Li Lanfeng was sure that Ling Lan didn¡¯t have any weird thoughts about his beauty. He was very sure because Ling Lan didn¡¯t fancy men. Ling Lan was the straightest of all men. Li Lanfeng also didn¡¯t forget that Ling Lan still had two beautiful fianc¨¦es beside her, Luo Chao and Han Xuya.


    Furthermore, Ling Lan clearly showed that she cared for them. She would rather let herself be injured than let his fiancees to be unsessful in advancing. Just her sincerity was enough to make even a bystander like him jealous and want to take that love and care for himself alone...


    Take for himself?


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s body suddenly trembled. His hands held his head as he curled up on the ground in a fetal position.


    ¡°Hahahaha...¡± Li Lanfengughed crazily. He retracted his domain and allowed Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence to ruthlessly beat on his body.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± The terrifying pressure from the presence pressed Li Lanfeng onto the ground instantly. A mouthful of blood shot out from Li Lanfeng¡¯s mouth again. Despite being in severe pain, Li Lanfeng still had an insane smile on his face. It was as though the pain in his body made him feel extremely happy.


    ¡°Li Mn, Li Mn. It turns out the Phoenix Thrall Fate was what you forced upon yourself. It was your own choice all along... It¡¯s hrious that I tirelessly carried the burden of this fate and ruthlessly tormented myself for more than 20 years. In the end, the person who¡¯s crazy is me. Everything was all my own doing.¡±


    Li Lanfengughed as he kept spitting out blood out of his mouth. Ling Lan¡¯s imperial realm presence began to cut into his flesh after Li Lanfengpletely gave up on defending against it. Soon after, Li Lanfeng waspletely covered in his own blood... However, the supposedly terrifying look actually had a hint of beauty from his extremely good looks and his insane smile.


    Li Lanfeng now understood his own heart. He didn¡¯t when it started, but he had actually begun to feel attached to Ling Lan. This was why he wasn¡¯t satisfied and wanted to push everyone else away, to be an one-of-a-kind existence in Ling Lan¡¯s mind.


    This one-of-a-kind existence was not being a so-called confidant,rade or brother. Instead, it was to be the only piece in Ling Lan¡¯s mind that will never be erased.


    ¡°Li Mn, you¡¯re disgusting.¡± Li Lanfeng had two streaks of tears run down the sides of his face. How could he face Ling Lan when he had such disgusting thoughts? It that was the case, then he would rather die than to live in torment.


    Li Lanfeng slowly closed his eyes and silently waited for his death to arrive. Perhaps, if he were to die like this, he would leave a permanent mark in Ling Lan¡¯s mind. After all, he would be dying by Ling Lan¡¯s hand.


    In the end, he was still so despicable. He still didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to forget him and want Ling Lan to remember him even after he was dead.


    Li Lanfeng remembered how he behaved in front of Ling Lan for all these years and smiled slightly. He was already this despicable and shameless from the very beginning.


    Was he weak-hearted? No, if he was, he wouldn¡¯t be Li Lanfeng. His younger cousin brother Li Shiyu also wouldn¡¯t have walked down the path of bing a military doctor like Li Lanfeng had hoped for... He only used his weakness on the outside to coerce the people from the Li family to unknowingly do what he wanted them to do.


    The inner conflict, heartlessness, selfishness and the thirst for power were traits not inherited by Li Shiyu and Li Yingjie. However, these traits appeared in him. Even if he treated Li Shiyu with sincerity, he didn¡¯t make it any easier for Li Shiyu when he plotted against him. He would only regret such actions when he had nothing better to do.


    Did he like to cry? No, he hated it. However, he knew that Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t do anything to him if he cried. Thus, he cried nonstop. Using this method, he achieved his goals one after another and increased his weight on Ling Lan¡¯s heart.


    Was he a fake? It was very possible that he was. After disguising himself for so long, even he had forgotten whether his current personality was his real personality. He would only expose a weak part of himself to Ling Lan from time to time. It was because he understood that children who cried would get more attention.


    Ling Lan had too many underlings under her. If he didn¡¯t do something to stand out in Ling


    s eyes, as time passed by, he would just be an insignificant bystander or just be one of her many underlings. He definitely wouldn¡¯t allow that to happen.


    Now that he thought about it, everything he did while he was with Ling Lan had a goal. This included the time when he and Ling Lan were alone and he took off his mask to show his real face. This was also a means to increase his weight in Ling Lan¡¯s heart. It was to tell Ling Lan that he was a one-of-a-kind existence.


    One-of-a-kind. It seemed he had unconsciously done these things so early on during their budding friendship. He was indeed despicable and shameless.


    Luckily, he understood now and didn¡¯t let Ling Lan see through his actual thoughts andpletely give up on him.


    Li Lanfeng felt the tears he had cried out today were enough to flood a shoreline. It poured out continuously. It wasn¡¯t like the times when he purposefully cried. This time, he had no control over it.


    Li Lanfeng could no longer feel the immense pain wrecking his entire body. He began to feel his soul starting to float upwards... Was this the feeling of death?


    Forget it, if he was going to die then just let him cry his heart out onest time.


    ¡°Dumbass, what are you doing?¡± An angry shout echoed through his ears.


    Immediately after, something was shoved into his mouth and a cool liquid quickly flowed down his throat.


    ¡®I¡¯m not dead yet?¡¯


    This was Li Lanfeng¡¯sst thought.


    Ling Lan saw the terrifying scene when she opened her eyes. Li Lanfeng was covered in blood and leaned weakly against the door. She immediately ran up to him and sat Li Lanfeng upright. She was instantly furious when she saw the continuously flow of tears and theck of willpower to live in Li Lanfeng¡¯s actions. After angrily shouting, she quickly shove one vial of medicinal agent into Li Lanfeng¡¯s mouth and dragged the dying Li Lanfeng out of the clutches of hell.


    Seeing Li Lanfeng gradually recovering, Ling Lan let out a sigh of relief. ¡°He¡¯s such a troublesome guy.¡±


    Although Li Lanfeng was full of strategies and ns, he still would easily walk on a path of extremes because of his great intelligence. She didn¡¯t know what had happened during her advancement into the imperial realm that made this guy give up on running away and wait for his death instead.


    Could it be that he misunderstood what she said when she said protect her? Was that why he put his life on the line and stood there? Ling Lan felt her head starting to ache. She seemed to have discovered that Li Lanfeng had problem of being stubborn.


    ¡®Why does this guy have so many problems? He has even more problems than my little brothers and sistersbined.¡¯

 Chapter 1093 - Looking For Me?

    <h4>Chapter 1093</h4>


    <h4>Looking For Me?</h4>


    ¡°So, you¡¯re telling me that Zhang Chao couldn¡¯t even get inside and was defeated by a door guard just in a single move?¡±


    When all the ns received the news that Zhang Chao had lost at the entrance of Lingtian¡¯s camping grounds, the regimentmanders of the ns instantly had hardened expressions on their face.


    Although Zhang Chao was ranked near the bottom of the 36 Heavenly Warriors in the Piercing Arrow n, he was still considered an expert in physical skills. However, an expert like him was defeated in just a single one move, moreover it was a young major who had defeated him. That young major was probably a team leader in Lingtian Mecha n and his rank shouldn¡¯t be lower than Zhang Chao. Still, defeating an equal opponent in one hit was a magnificent feat, thus everyone was surprised.


    ¡°Useless!¡± In the camping grounds of Piercing Arrow, Regiment Commander Yu Wei heard the news and angrily mmed his hand on the table beside him.


    ¡°Regimentmander, Little Zhang is too weak. Let me take some people there to pressure them instead,¡± The first rank of the 36 Heavenly Warriors, Jiang Yong, said with a smile.


    ¡°We can¡¯t do that. Zhang Chao going there can still be said to be his own actions. If you were to go, then it would be considered as deliberately provoking them.¡± Yu Wei denied the request.


    ¡°Then, are we just allowing Lingtian to step on us and take the throne?¡± Wang Jianming, Piercing Arrow¡¯s second rank of the 36 Heavenly Warriors, said in dismay.


    Yu Wei¡¯s expression became darkened as thought silently about his next n of action. Suddenly, he stood up and ordered, ¡°Gather all 36 Heavenly Warriors. Everyone will go visit Lingtian together. Since some new friends havee here, we will, of course, have to get to know them a bit.¡±


    ¡°If Lingtian shows up with enough military strength, then it would be considered a friendly visit. If they were just putting up a strong facade, then heh...¡± Yu Wei smirked coldly.


    ¡°Regimentmander, Yu Wei took all 36 Heavenly Warriors and went towards Lingtian¡¯s camping grounds.¡± Once Yu Wei made a move, every regimentmander in Base Neb received this news.


    ¡°Finally couldn¡¯t help but go take a look for himself, eh?¡± ughter Mecha n¡¯s Regiment Commander Lin Yang smirked as he received this news.


    Lin Yang stood up and smiled towards his leaders who had waited with him for a long time. ¡°The game has begun. Let us watch together and see whether this Lingtian is a dragon or an ant.¡±


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Everyone had excited expressions on their faces. Faced with Lingtian, who just dropped into their base and forced them down, these leaders were not willing to stay down. They all wanted to see with their own eyes why this newly titled super mecha n took the spot of being the top ranked n in Base Neb.


    Every n¡¯s regimentmanders, who were confident in themselves, all began to move out after Yu Wei and Lin Yang moved out with their forces.


    At the front of Lingtian¡¯s camping grounds, Zhang Chao spat out a mouthful of blood from Xie Yi¡¯s words. His eyes angrily red at Xie Yi. Right as he was about to speak, he saw the door behind Xie Yi got pushed open.


    20 or so individuals of different ages walked out from the door. Among them were some in their 20s, some in their 30s and 40s, and also a few in their 50s and 60s. However, more than half of them were like the lieutenant colonel who had defeated him, who were in their early 20s.


    What was out of the ordinary was that there were actually three beautiful female soldiers. Two of them were as beautiful as the morning sun, yet their aura was theplete opposite. One was as soft and caring like flowing water, and one had mes burning in her eyes. They could even be called the goddesses of this generation. The other female soldier on the other hand was like a sharp de taken out of its scabbard, elegant and forceful.


    What was more surprising was that these people were either majors or colonels, even between the three female soldiers they consisted of two majors and one lieutenant colonel. Although standing among these lieutenant colonels, colonels and senior colonels made them be less noticeable, it was still enough to stun people if they were to pay attention to their actual military rank.


    It should be known that in the entire base, no, even in the entire Federation, other than the female administrative soldiers or the rare female mecha operators, a n usually never had female majors or female colonel rank officers.


    Could it be these three females soldiers were mecha operators?


    With hint of curiosity and surprise, Zhang Chao looked towards the female soldier who stood there elegantly.


    Suddenly, a ruthless nce met his eyes. Zhang Chao saw an angryrge-sized colonel capturing his gaze.


    ¡°Sh*t, he¡¯s actually a pervert!¡± Qi Long clenched his fist and his knuckles began to crack. He was prepared to pummel the bastard who was thinking of attempt to make a move on his little sister.


    ¡°Leader Qi, he¡¯s my opponent.¡± A soft hand was ced on Qi Long¡¯s forearm. Han Xuya used some strength and pushed Qi Long aside. Then, she walked forwards and stood beside Xie Yi.


    Qi Long watched in dismay as he saw Han Xuya standing in front of him. The little sister that used to hide behind him in the past, now no longer needed his protection. This made him feel somewhat sad and feel that he was losing something.


    ¡°Boss said to let Xuya take care of it. Why are you butting in?¡± Luo Lang asked Qi Long.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t she our little sister?¡± replied Qi Long. ¡°If our little sister is in trouble, how could we as elder brothers not help?¡±


    ¡°An elder brother like me didn¡¯t even make a move, why should you make a move? If her blood does not run in your veins, don¡¯t butt in her business randomly,¡± Han Jijyun, who stood on the other side, added.


    Qi Longughed lightly and wrapped his arm around Han Jijyun¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°What kind of rtionship do we have, Jijyun? Isn¡¯t your little sister my little sister as well?¡±


    Han Jijyun¡¯s right hand¡¯s fingers twitched slightly and a short whip appeared in his palm. He then used some force to hit the arm Qi Long wrapped on his shoulder. The immense pain made Qi Long immediately retract his arm back.


    He pitifully blew on his bruised arm. Then, he whined to Han Jijyun, ¡°Bro, you¡¯re too f*cking ruthless. You almost broke my arm.¡±


    ¡°Who told you spout such nonsense? What kind of rtionship do I with you? Did we just identally meet and then we didn¡¯t have a choice but to berades?¡± Han Jijyun said coldly. ¡°You should think more about what you actually want in your heart. Don¡¯t lose the chance in the future and regret it.¡±


    Seeing Han Jijyun¡¯s unexpected serious expression, Qi Long¡¯s original yful mood instantly dissipated... Since Han Jijyun said that he had a problem, then he definitely had a problem. It seemed he indeed needed to think about it more.


    Han Xuya stood beside Xie Yi and red at Zhang Chao as she asked in a deep voice, ¡°So, I heard you here looking for me?¡±


    ¡°Looking for you?¡± Zhang Chao instantly stared at her nkly after hearing those words. He didn¡¯t know why this beautiful and elegant female major would ask him this question. He couldn¡¯t recall to have ever met her before.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say my soldiers stole the thing you wanted to buy?¡± Han Xuya¡¯s smirked coldly. ¡°Although I believe my soldiers didn¡¯t do anything wrong, I still should have the courtesy to let you return disappointed since you had the audacity toe to our doorstep.¡±


    After saying this, Han Xuya walked towards Zhang Chao before stopping when she was three meters away from Zhang Chao.


    ¡°We¡¯re both soldiers, so let¡¯s resolve this issue with the method of soldiers. Come!¡± Han Xuya motioned towards Zhang Chao toe towards her.


    Zhang Chao¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°You¡¯re going to fight me?¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± Han Xuya saw that Zhang Chao wasn¡¯t moving so with a strong desire to fight already boiling inside her, she walked up to him and ruthlessly performed a whirlwind kick towards Zhang Chao.

 Chapter 1094 - A Visit!

    <h4>Chapter 1094 A Visit!</h4>


    Seeing a kicking towards him at rapid speed, Zhang Chao quickly crossed his arms in front of his chest to protect himself.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    A loud sound of flesh-on-flesh contact echoed through the area.


    Zhang Chao took two steps back uncontrobly. He looked up towards Han Xuya with a dumbfounded yet serious expression on his face.


    ¡°Qi-Jin!¡± What was more shocking was that the power behind the kick was not at the primary stage of Qi-Jin. Instead, it was probably at the middle stage of Qi-Jin.


    Ling Lan¡¯s help allowed Han Xuya to enter Qi-Jin stage. Additionally, her umted inner strength allowed her to skip through the primary stage of Qi-Jin to instantly reach the middle stage of Qi-Jin.


    After seeing her kicknding, Han Xuya didn¡¯t let up and followed up with another set of whirlwind kicks, furthering the distance between Zhang Chao and her. Despite Zhang Chao having already reached the peak stage of Qi-Jin, which was two stage higher than Han Xuya, he was still unable to turn the tide because how the fight went at the beginning. This made it so he was constantly at a disadvantage in every exchange.


    At that exact moment, Yu Wei arrived with his 35 Heavenly Warriors. The moment he arrived, he frowned when he saw Zhang Chao being beaten back by a female soldier. With his vast experience, he saw through the fact that Zhang Chao was being pressured by his opponent¡¯s presence. As long as he overcame his opponent¡¯s force of presence when it was fluctuating, he would be able to turn the situation around.


    However, even after thinking up to this point, he was still considering whether he should wait for Zhang Chao to turn the tide and then step in. Suddenly, his gazended on the majors and colonels standing near the door of Lingtian¡¯s camping grounds.


    What he saw in his gaze instantly made his heart tremble so he immediately shouted, ¡°Stop!¡±


    Zhang Chao was just looking for a chance to turn the tides to his favour but suddenly, he heard his regimentmander shouting for him to stop which surprised him, causing him to fail to evade an iing kick.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    Han Xuya ruthlessly kicked his shoulder. The immense power behind the kick made him unable to stand firmly anymore. He was instantly pushed back six or seven steps before he managed to stop himself.


    ¡°My apologies!¡± Han Xuya smiled as she ced her hand on her chest and mockingly bowed towards Zhang Chao. Then, she turned her back and quickly returned to the position beside Xie Yi and Qi Long.


    Zhang Chao¡¯s expression was somewhat pale after the altercation as Han Xuya¡¯s explosive Qi ¨C Jin had invaded his body through her kick. To protect himself from being injured further, he immediately moved his own Qi-Jin around his body and disposed of the energy that was destroying the cells in his body.


    After making sure it waspletely dispelled, Zhang Chao looked towards his regimentmander and said in an embarrassed tone, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, regimentmander!¡±


    As a soldier who was defeated by their opponent, especially if the opponent was a woman who was weaker than him, Zhang Chao felt he had lost all of his dignity while simultaneously also embarrassing Piercing Arrow Mecha n.


    Yu Wei sent a ruthless re to Zhang Chao, then he turned towards Qi Long¡¯s group with an amiable smile on his face, ¡°Hello, everyone. My subordinate was too hot-headed just now. If he offended you, please forgive him!¡±


    After Regiment Commander Yu spoke up for his subordinate, Qi Long and the others suddenly looked behind them.


    At the door, two major general rank soldiers were already standing behind them.


    Seeing the two new individuals who appeared were actually two major generals, everyone from Piercing Arrow were stunned. Yu Wei and his 36 Heavenly Warriors politely shouted in unnned unison, ¡°Major general, sir!¡±


    Seeing everyone gaze fixated on them, the 40 or 50-year-old easy-going major general on the left smiled slightly. ¡°Regiment Commander Yu, getting to know people through battle in the military is considered normal so this won¡¯t be a problem.¡±


    Of course, saying that made the simr aged major general standing beside him show an expression of disagreement. However, he still needed to uphold the validity of hisrade¡¯s words so he didn¡¯t speak up to rebut against him.


    The reason Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong arrivedte to the party was because they had gone to the headquarters to speak with their camping grounds¡¯ mainframe, Meng Lan, to know who were the ones finding trouble with them. Thus, when Zhang Chao called out ¡®regimentmander¡¯, the two of them instantly knew that this senior colonel who brought his team here was definitely Piercing Arrow Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander, Yu Wei.


    Hearing them already know who he was, Yu Wei was shocked. He didn¡¯t think that in such a short time of ten days since they had arrived at the base, they actually managed to get hold of detailed information regarding the base and the people inside the base. This meant that their method of collecting data was truly impressive.


    Although the details of the ns could be found on the mainframe of the base, these details of the ns still required authorization from the highest power. Only the mecha n¡¯smander-in-chief could look through the details.


    However, Yu Wei knew very well that themanding officer of the base, Yu Huan, didn¡¯t give this authorization to Lingtian. Even if he had handed it to Lingtian, it would still need to go through a rigorous procedure to even ess it. That procedure was to have half of the regimentmanders in the base to agree with the authorization. Otherwise, Lingtian wouldn¡¯t have the authority to use the base¡¯s mainframe and receive the details of all the mecha ns in the base.


    Thus, having managed to get their hands on his details meant that Lingtian definitely had means to bypass through the mainframe of the base. No matter what method it might have been, it was enough to show how they impressive they were. Yu Wei knew very well that he himself couldn¡¯t evenpletely remember all of themanders of mecha ns in the base even after he had been in the base for a very long time...


    What Yu Wei didn¡¯t know was that Ling Lan didn¡¯t even wished for this to happen. Little Four just happened to take over Base Neb¡¯s mainframe which Meng Lan also then took over and connected it to their own camping grounds. By connecting to their camping grounds allowed the leaders and department heads of Lingtian to know about any details regarding any of the other ns...


    However, whether they would obtain the details depended on Meng Lan and Little Four¡¯s moods. If their moods were good, they would tell them. If not... they¡¯ll just have to go back to where they came from.


    What made Yu Wei feel frightened even more was that this unknown mecha n actually had many strong individuals hidden within it...


    Yu Wei was a domain realm master. That fact allowed him to feel around 10 or so dangerous auras in the group of majors and colonels. This feeling sent chills down his spine, despite the fact that on the outside they were at the peak stage of Qi-Jin or the stage of Great Perfection.


    Luckily, Yu Wei was someone who crawled out alive from the battlefield. He had used this feeling to escape from sure death situations one after the other so how could he neglect that feeling just now? This was why he decisively called out to stop the fight.


    After hearing that this major general was not upset at Zhang Chao, Yu Wei was relieved. Before he could know their true depths, Yu Wei didn¡¯t want to offend Lingtian.


    ¡°Thank you for your understanding, major general,¡± Yu Wei said gratefully.


    ¡°Since everything is sorted, Regiment Commander Yu, we won¡¯t be showing you out,¡± the major general with the cold expression suddenly said.


    Yu Wei was instantly stunned and immediately said, ¡°Major general, I am Piercing Arrow Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander, Regiment Commander Yu Wei. I came specifically with my 36 leaders for a visit to Lingtian Mecha n.¡±


    ¡°Visit?¡± The major general with the cold expression quickly raised his head and red at Yu Wei. ¡°Is it the type of ¡®visit¡¯ I understand?¡±


    Yu Wei smiled slightly but didn¡¯t speak.


    The easy-going major general saw this and smiled. ¡°I can¡¯t recall a time when Lingtian had allied nsing over for a visit. This really brings tears to my eyes. If that¡¯s the case...¡± He suddenly turned his head to the left and said, ¡°Then, you guyse in as well.¡±


    After saying that, many people suddenly appeared on their left. It was Lin Yang and the ughter Mecha n.


    ¡°Major general, we came without being invited. Please forgive us,¡± Lin Yang politely smiled as he apologized.


    ¡°No matter. Since everyone wants to visit our Lingtian Mecha n, then we will show you around.¡± The easy-going major general smiled. ¡± Visiting today is better than tomorrow but let¡¯s wait for everyone toe.¡±


    Meng Lan was very clear with her words. Many individuals from many mecha ns were moving towards them at a very fast speed. Instead of greeting them one by one, he would rather resolve everything in one go.

 Chapter 1095 - Answer!

    <h4>Chapter 1095 Answer!</h4>


    Not long after, Yu Wei and Lin Yang saw many other regimentmanders of other ns bringing their teams over to the camping grounds of Lingtian. The two of them looked towards the easy-going major general with a slight feeling of dread in their eyes.


    They didn¡¯t expect Lingtian to be deeply aware of the undercurrents going on in the base. Just where did this Lingtian ne from? Just this disy of perfect awareness was enough to make them cautious of Lingtian.


    Soon afterwards, there were around 20 or so ns present, totalling up to a few thousand people at the door of the camping grounds.


    ¡°Open the door!¡± The easy-going major general saw everyone was present and gave out an order.


    Seeing the door slowly opened, the major general with the cold expression moved to the side and gestured politely. ¡°After you.¡±


    Behind the doors, there weren¡¯t the standard groups of soldiers in neat rows and columns standing on duty.


    It was actuallypletely empty behind the door with not a soul in sight.


    This made all of the regimentmanders and leaders who came to visit all look at each other with confusion. They didn¡¯t know what message Lingtian wanted to send them? Were they looking down on them? Or Lingtian just did not have any teams on duty?


    Seemingly noticing everyone¡¯s questions, the easy-going major general smiled. ¡°Recently, our entire n is going through with mass amount of training. All of the soldiers are currently in the training grounds, so those who are guarding the door are us team leaders who have nothing better to do.¡±


    Leaders were actually guarding the door? Every regimentmander had cold sweat dripping down their foreheads. They kept having a feeling that they were entering a strange ce. If they as regimentmanders were to send their leaders to guard the door, it would clearly to be considered a punishment. It could even be considered a humiliating insult to them which would definitely cause chaos to erupt within the n. Why did the leaders from Lingtian just do it outright like as if it was natural for them to do so? They didn¡¯t even seem to hold any grudges at all? They even felt that they were happy to do the job?


    ¡°Right, if you guys hade a few dayster, the door guard would have been me. Perhaps the scene earlier wouldn¡¯t have happened if that was the case,¡± the easy-going major general smiled and added these words.


    A major general guarding the door... All of these regimentmanders almost fainted after hearing those words. They suddenly asked themselves whether it was actually a good idea to visit Lingtian.


    Zhang Chao, who was following behind Yu Wei, remembered the lieutenant colonel who had defeated him earlier in one hit and he instantly had a bitter taste in his mouth. It was no wonder that when he called for the door to be opened, that terrifying lieutenant colonel had appeared. Zhang Chao originally thought that as an individual at the peak stage of Qi-Jin, he would be able to easily take down a bunch of normal soldiers on duty. He didn¡¯t think that Lingtian was such an oddball of a n to send a leader to guard the door. This basically was the hardest wall he could have bumped into.


    As everyone entered the camping grounds, the door slowly closed behind them. Xie Yi originally wanted to stay and continue to guard the door, but Luo Chao stopped him from doing so. She gestured for him to follow them and leave the door guarding to her instead.


    There would definitely be a fight among powerful individuals soon afterwards. A person like her, who was only at the refinement stage, wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything anyways if she followed them so she might as well take Xie Yi¡¯s ce and guard the door.


    Xie Yi agreed with her suggestion and followed with the crowd.


    After entering Lingtian¡¯s camping grounds and walking for a short while, Yu Wei and Lin Yang didn¡¯t see a single soldier moving about. It was as though the entire camping grounds only had them in it. The serene silence made the temperature around them feel oddly cold.


    Lin Yang didn¡¯t see what he wanted to see so he could only focus his attention on the two major generals leading them at the front. These two people had the highest ranks in Lingtian, so their positions must be the highest two as well. He just didn¡¯t know who was the regimentmander and who was the deputy.


    Lin Yang looked around and saw an honest-looking young colonel so he walked over, got beside him and asked softly, ¡°How do we address the major generals and what positions do they hold in Lingtian?¡±


    He didn¡¯t expect that the easy-going major general actually heard his words. He turned around and smiled. ¡°If Regiment Commander Lin wants like to know, I can give you the answer personally.¡±


    Lin Yang¡¯s face instantly reddened.


    The honest looking young man pretended to not hear those words and smiled as he replied loudly, ¡°The person who looks like he¡¯s easy-going is our Lingtian Team oi¡¯s team leader, Major General Yang Mingzhi. The other one who looks serious is our Lingtian Team 02¡¯s team leader, Major General Liu Furong,¡±


    This young man was only a colonel. When he introduced the two major generals, he didn¡¯t show much respect with his words. It was as though they were at simr ranks. This surprised and perplexed Lin Yang, Yu Wei and the other regimentmanders. Could it be that Lingtian Mecha n didn¡¯t have any respect towards military rank? Wouldn¡¯t the n turn chaotic if this kind of behaviour continued?


    ¡°Haha, that little honest looking fellow is our Lingtian Team 03¡¯s leader, Qi Long. Don¡¯t be fooled by him.¡± Yang Mingzhi didn¡¯t care about Qi Long¡¯s attitude. However, after being influenced by Lingtian¡¯s habits of making fun of theirrades, he definitely wouldn¡¯t let Qi Long get off easily so he spoke out his identity which surprised everyone again.


    Everyone there was very aware that in the ranks of mecha teams, especially the first three, were usually highest ranked individuals in the n. They didn¡¯t think that such an honest looking and young colonel was actually such a top tier existence. It was no wonder he was so casual when he introduced the two major generals.


    However, the problem was that the positions within a n were usually correspond to military ranks, and there were many senior colonels from Lingtian walking along with them so how could a colonel be positioned above that many senior colonels and be one of the top three individuals of the mecha n?


    When Lin Yang heard that these two major generals were actually not the regimentmander he had previously thought and were only team leaders of two teams, he was instantly stunned. He couldn¡¯t fathom who could rein in two major generals to be team leaders. It seemed that the person¡¯s rank wouldn¡¯t be lower than the rank of major general... If that person was a major general, Lingtian would then have three major general ranked individuals in their n.


    Even the highest caliber of titled super mecha ns at first rank five stars would only have this many major generals. How could such a newly advanced titled super mecha n be equipped with such individuals? Lin Yang began to think deeply when he thought about the information they had gathered about Lingtian before they had arrived. Lin Yang thought that maybe it was just false information sent to them by the military. In reality, Lingtian Mecha n was actually categorized as a top-ss titled super mecha n?


    Not only did Lin Yang think of it this way, Yu Wei also had the same thought. He thought of the ¡®training¡¯ Major General Yang had spoke of and asked, ¡°Do you mind if we take a look at your n¡¯s training?¡±


    A n¡¯s real capabilities wasn¡¯t determined by the capabilities of the leaders. Instead, to determined it required one to look at the mecha operators and logistics personnel. Thus, only by going to the training grounds would they be able to determine Lingtian¡¯s depth.


    All of the regimentmanders were all suddenly excited at the question. They wanted to know just how this mysterious Lingtian Mecha n trained their men.


    ¡°Alright. We have 10 training grounds. Each one is different. We¡¯ll just walk and look as we go.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi was nonchnt about revealing their training regimen. Every one of their training grounds were considered to be hellish and it was just only some parts of the training regimen were altered based on the individuals. Even so, if there wasn¡¯t Department Head Li¡¯s medicinal agents and the medical teams standing by, these people from other ns would instantly face life-threatening problems if they tried it, making it useless even if they were to secretly learn it.

 Chapter 1096 - Over the Top?

    <h4>Chapter 1096 Over the Top?</h4>


    Everyone talked as they walked so the atmosphere was rtively nice. However, Lin Yang, Yu Wei and the others still couldn¡¯t find any relevant information about Lingtian. Despite half of these leaders being very young, their way of dealing with people were impervious to their haggling, rendering them dry of any chance to get information on them.


    Finally, they arrived at a training ground but before they could even walk close to it, they heard strings of ruthless insults entering their ears.


    ¡°Heh, our training instructor today has a bit of hot temper,¡± Yang Mingzhi said with a helpless expression on his face.


    After hearing those words, every leader and department head from Lingtian did the same thing. They all loosened their expressions. They definitely couldn¡¯t allow outsiders to know that it was actually the same everyday. When it was their turns to be the instructor, they would also be demons from hell and torture their soldiers to the death.


    Of course, to the outside world, they must continue to uphold a good image. This was to stop their allies from thinking they were all savages.


    Surprisingly, Yu Wei, Lin Yang and the others didn¡¯t care much about the way the instructor was handling the soldiers. If a training instructor wasn¡¯t somewhat strict, they wouldn¡¯t be able to train tough and obedient soldiers. As regimentmanders, they all understood this idea very clearly.


    Everyone slowly walked to the training ground¡¯s door. They saw a group of beautiful and elegant female soldiers who had weights on their backs and were trying their best to get past different obstacles. They were crawling, rolling, and jumping on walls. When doing so, their movements were agile and quick. Their speed and agility were actually not any worse than mecha operators who from the other ns.


    Right as these regimentmanders and leaders were surprised that these female soldiers also trained so extremely, they saw a male senior colonel following behind them angrily shouting, ¡°Did you people not eat today? Why are you running this slow! Run f*cking faster!¡±


    1 run


    However, the female soldiers seemed to have already reached their body¡¯s absolute limit. No matter how many times the instructor yelled at them, their speed still didn¡¯t increase. This seemingly angered the instructor and a short whip appeared in his hand as heshed it towards the female soldiers. One unlucky female soldier¡¯s shoulder was struck ruthlessly. That female soldier groaned with an agonizing expression on her face.


    This action made the regimentmanders and leaders visiting Lingtian have an instant change in expression. Although their training was very strict, it was still at most just insults. They wouldn¡¯t actually beat up their soldiers. They didn¡¯t think Lingtian¡¯s training was actually so merciless that they would eveny a hand on female soldiers.


    The female soldier leading the group seemed to feel that they couldn¡¯t continue at their current speed, so she increased her speed slightly. The female soldiers following her also increased their speeds... faster than their original limits. Soon after that, they seemed to have depleted all of their energy and few had started to fall behind the group.


    However even so, they were still running forwards while ignoring the immense pain and fatigue wrecking their body. They didn¡¯t dare to stop in their tracks because they knew the result of stopping in the middle of training.


    Thesedies were clearly slower than before, but the instructor behind them didn¡¯t continue to shout or insult them. He also didn¡¯t use his short whip to punish them and only followed them slowly, waiting for them to deplete theirst amount of energy.


    Lin Yang felt that the instructor¡¯s contradictory behavior was somewhat odd. He looked past the female soldiers and saw that inside the training ground, there were a group of medics opening their medicine box and seemingly preparing syringes.


    It seemed that despite the instructors in Lingtian being very merciless, they still had an adequate amount of medical strength to ensure these female soldiers wouldn¡¯t be in too much pain afterwards.


    Finally, the first female soldier fell to the ground.


    In the next second, a medic appeared beside her. He held a syringe in his hand and injected it into her.


    As expected, these medics were responsible for emergency treatment.


    However, the next scenepletely distorted their judgment. The female soldier, who was injected, now had a pained and twisted expression on her beautiful face. She was writhing in pain and was trying to bang her head ruthlessly on the ground, in an attempt to force herself to faint to get away from the pain.


    However, she wasn¡¯t given the chance to escape from the pain. The medic, who injected her, held her neck and pushed her down with great force onto the ground.


    The female soldier, who couldn¡¯t get out of the hold, could only dig into the ground with her fingers while she was in pain. She created countless blood trails while wing the ground with her fingers. Her fingers were forcibly split open because she used too much force which caused blood to run onto the ground.


    ¡°Major General Yang, tha-that¡¯s going too over the top,¡± finally, someone couldn¡¯t bear to watch and spoke up.


    Training was just training. Why torment people like this?


    ¡°This is just something weaklings need to get past,¡± Yang Mingzhi replied inly.


    Ever since their regimentmander had agreed for the JMCs to join the day training, he knew his regimentmander wanted to create a strong n without any weaknesses. Although he also felt sympathy for the terrible situation the female soldiers were put under, what could he do? Even a female soldier needed to be able to follow in their footsteps. Otherwise, what waited for them was elimination, but he trusted that these female soldiers didn¡¯t want that to happen either.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this just punishment? This ispletely inhumane.¡± One of the regimentmanders questioned their method. Many regimentmanders and leaders, who looked down on Lingtian¡¯s actions just now, all began to speak out their opinions and thoughts.


    ¡°Inhumane, you say?¡± Yang Mingzhi asked as he smiled. ¡°Alright, you guys can ask those female soldiers if they¡¯re willing to leave Lingtian.¡± Although the pain from the medicinal agents made them hate it, the good they acquire afterwards made them love it greatly as well. It was a love-hate rtionship. Yang Mingzhi trusted that the female soldiers, who had participated in day training for one week, also knew the good that came with it. As long as they had just a little bit of desire to be strong, they wouldn¡¯t reject it no matter how much pain the medicinal agent brought with them.


    Hearing this, Lin Yang shot a nce at his subordinate and his subordinate quickly jumped over everyone. In the next second, hended next to the female soldier who was running in front of the group.


    Before he could speak, that female soldier jumped into the air. The female soldiers behind her saw this strange male soldier blocking their way and they instantly shouted, ¡°Move! You bastard!¡±


    Seeing him still standing there stunned, the running female soldiers, who were already tired out of their minds, could no longer hold in their anger. They actually attacked simultaneously with the intention to take out this annoying man in front of them.


    Suddenly, sounds of punches and kicks echoed in the air. Lin Yang¡¯s subordinate was after all still a leader with the physical skills at the peak stage of Qi-Jin so despite blocking in a hurry, he still managed to block all of the attacksing from these angry female soldiers.


    ¡°Group leader, this guy is difficult to take down!¡± The female soldier who started the attacks saw the strength of the trouble-making male soldier, so she quickly shouted to the female soldier leading the group.


    The female soldier leading the group quickly turned around and pounced towards the male soldier.


    A ruthless whirlwind kick was instantly sent towards the back side of the intruding male¡¯s head.


    Feeling the piercing wind behind his head, Lin Yang¡¯s subordinate turned vignt. He quickly turned around and crossed his arms in front of his face to block the attack from reaching his face.


    Boom!


    Lin Yang¡¯s subordinate stepped backwards by one step to counteract the force behind the kick.


    That female soldier however, was sent flying backwards by her opponent¡¯s block. She somersaulted in the air, releasing the counter force andnded firmly on the ground.


    ¡°You¡¯re not part of our n. Why are you causing trouble here?¡± The female soldier saw the person¡¯s uniform and had a slight hint of confusion in her expression as she coldly questioned him.

 Chapter 1097 - Something Gone Wrong!

    <h4>Chapter 1097 Something Gone Wrong!</h4>


    ¡°Second Lieutenant Mei, he is ughter Mecha n¡¯s leader. He¡¯s here to visit Lingtian.¡± Seeing the situation turning tense, Han Xuya walked out from the crowd and gave an exnation.


    ¡°Department head!¡± Lady Mei saw that it was her department head, along with the other department heads and mecha team team leaders from Lingtian so she quickly saluted and said, ¡°Good day, leaders and department heads.¡±


    After doing all this, Lady Mei turned to Lin Yang¡¯s subordinate once again and coldly said, ¡°So, you¡¯re here to challenge us?¡± A leader was actually challenging them JMCs He was really f*cking shameless.


    Hearing this, Lin Yang¡¯s subordinate¡¯s face instantly reddened in embarrassment. He quickly shook his hands and said, ¡°No! I¡¯m not. I just want to ask you, isn¡¯t it a bit over the top with the medicinal agent being like a punishment as well?¡±


    ¡°Punishment? Over the top? Are you an idiot?¡± Lady Mei¡¯s gaze was unnerving. This person waspletely oblivious about the situation and just jumped out to bring about his own views on fainess. In Lady Mei¡¯s eyes, his actions were without a doubt idiotic.


    ¡°Plus, are you qualified to ask about our n¡¯s matters?¡± Lady Mei spat on the ground in front of him. ¡°Move aside, don¡¯t disturb our training.¡±


    Although this person was clearly much stronger than her, Lady Mei wasn¡¯t the least bit afraid of him. Couldn¡¯t that person see all of Lingtian¡¯s leaders there? If he dared to make any moves, he would be instantly taken down. Plus, they were here to visit. In the military, ¡®visiting¡¯ was the same as challenging them to a battle so Lady Mei would, of course, not treat these people with bad intentions nicely.


    Seeing this female second lieutenant giving him such a frustrated expression, this leader who worked under Lin Yang, instantly had annoyed expression on his face. After all, ughter Mecha n was the strongest n after Proud Wind Mecha n sp in the base, their social status was very high. Soldiers from other ns were very polite towards leaders from their mecha n so this was the first time he was looked down upon by a soldier and a female one at that, whom he never even considered as an equal... In that moment, he didn¡¯t know whether he should leave or continue to try to exin himself.


    Seeing the opposition standing still with no intention of moving aside, Lady Mei instantly smiled coldly. ¡°Looks like you actually are here to challenge our JMC department? Although we¡¯re the lowest ranked team in Lingtian Mecha n, we still won¡¯t run in the face of a challenge. Speak. How are we going to fight?¡±


    ¡°JMC? You guys are JMCs?¡± Almost everyone gasped in surprise. They had thought that these female soldiers were a group of mecha operators, so they had to ept such brutal training in order to make sure they could upkeep their fighting strength. They didn¡¯t think that the truth was theplete opposite of what they had thought. These female soldiers were the JMCs who were only responsible for being the eyecandy of their mecha ns...


    ¡°Major General Yang, they¡¯re JMCs. You guys really don¡¯t have to do this...¡± Yu Wei couldn¡¯t help but speak up.


    ¡°On the battlefield, anything could happen. If they have the ability to protect themselves, we wouldn¡¯t be worried when going into battle.¡± Yang Mingzhi smiled.


    However, not everyone agreed with Yang Mingzhi¡¯s opinion. Some regimentmanders and leaders believed that if the enemy were to get into their base, that meant that they had all died in battle. Then, no matter how strong these JMCs were, it wouldn¡¯t be of any use.


    Yang Mingzhi knew very well what everyone was thinking, but he wasn¡¯t interested in continuing to exin to them. He pointed towards the leader working under Lin Yang, who was still blocking the female soldiers, and asked, ¡°Regiment Commander Lin, I¡¯m quite curious about something. Does your leader actually want to challenge our JMC department?¡±


    ¡°Why would we do that?¡± Lin Yang denied it instantly. If a mecha n¡¯s leader were to actually challenge Lingtian¡¯s JMCs, he might be looked down upon by all of the ns in the base when he steps out of Lingtian¡¯s doors.


    ¡°Yaofeng,e back.¡± Lin Yang instantly spoke up and called back his subordinate.


    Seeing the person who blocked their way finally leave, Lady Mei saluted towards everyone and continued to lead the group to train. They trained until they were all exhausted and fell to the ground.


    Guan Yaofeng walked beside his regimentmander with resentment. Right as he was about to say something, he heard his regimentmander speak out in a tone of disbelief.


    ¡°Everyone look, that female soldier...¡± The female soldier who was originally screaming in pain due to the medicinal agent at the beginning had quieted down.


    The medic loosened the hand he put on her neck and whispered something in her ear.


    After that, they saw that female soldier raising her head with a sharp look in her eyes with no signs of fear. She nodded and showed a radiant smile. Despite her face being covered in dirt and dust from all the struggling from before which caused her beautiful visage to be destroyed, but her smile was still too bright for their eyes.


    When everyone looked at her smile in surprise, she pushed off the ground with both of her hands and flew up into the air. In the next second, she firmly stood on the ground.


    ¡°Catch up and continue training!¡± Seeing the female soldier recovering her energy almost instantly, the instructor did not hesitate and gave an order.


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The female soldier saluted him and then quickly ran towards Lady Mei. Instead of running, she just needed a few hops to arrive beside Lady Mei.


    This scene made everyone¡¯s eyes narrow. Those who were present were all capable, insightful, and experienced experts. They, of course, could tell that this female soldier¡¯s capabilities had increasedpared to before when she had copsed.


    ¡°Although the whipping seems to be ruthless, it is still a method to train their physical constitution. Our instructors would always choose the ones who require outside forces to push them to their limits...¡± Yang Mingzhi half-smiled and nced towards everyone else. When the instructor whipped the female soldiers, the angry and frustrated expression of these people were seen through by Yang Mingzhi.


    However,pared to their regimentmander, the others in Lingtian were already very lenient by many levels. They would only choose ways of punishing that made them feel not guilty at the end of each training session. Plus, these females were the beautiful JMCs and were the treasures of every single man in the n. As their instructor, they didn¡¯t dare to go over the top with the punishments. They even had to be careful about administering the punishment because if they punished them too hard, everyone in the n would turn into their enemies and sliced them up.


    ¡°So, that medicinal agent is an actual recovery agent? But why are the side effects so... terrifying,¡± asked one leader.


    ¡°Although our recovery agents are good, like other agents, it still had its own weaknesses... Since they want to reap the benefits of the agent, then they must endure all the bads of the agent. Don¡¯t you think this is fair?¡± Yang Mingzhi smiled as he asked.


    Yang Mingzhi¡¯s words made these regimentmanders think deeply for a moment. They once again looked towards the female soldiers, who were training as if their lives were on the line, and seemed to understand why Lingtian did all this.


    Right at that moment, the wall beside them suddenly lit up and an elegant virtual girl appeared on it.


    ¡°Emergency! Team 06, Leader Li is currently heavily injured and is on the brink of death. Medical Department Head Li, please immediately head to Training Grounds o7 for emergency treatment.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s expression changed instantly. He didn¡¯t even think for a moment as he pushed aside those around him and quickly ran towards Training Grounds 07.


    ¡°Meng Lan, tell the medic team on duty to immediately rush to Training Grounds 07.¡± Then, Li Shiyu¡¯s orders were heard from afar.


    ¡°Understood,¡± the elegant virtual girl replied and then vanished in the next second. The wall returned to its original color once again.

 Chapter 1098 - My Fault!

    <h4>Chapter 1098 My Fault!</h4>


    ¡°Sorry, we will be going to Training Ground 07 first. Department Head Han, we¡¯ll leave this ce to you.¡± Yang Mingzhi looked at Han Xuya with a serious expression as he spoke.


    ¡°Understood.¡± Han Xuya immediately responded.


    Yang Mingzhi was too much of a worry-wart. When he went outside to greet the visitors, Big Leader Li was still all good and healthy. How did he manage to get himself in such a bad state in such a short amount of time. Was it because something went wrong with their regimentmander¡¯s advancement that lead to Li Lanfeng being severely injured? If that was the case, was their regimentmander alright?


    Yang Mingzhi knew that soul of Lingtian that kept everyone together was undoubtedly Ling Lan. If something were to happen to Ling Lan, Lingtian might just fall apart on its own.


    ¡°Major General Yang, don¡¯t worry about us. Please go ahead,¡± Lin Yang replied seriously.


    Despite being possiblepetitors in Base Neb, they were still allies in the same military. They wouldn¡¯t ignore the big picture just because of their greed for the throne.


    After Lin Yang spoke those words, a lot of people from Lingtian instantly vanished from their sight. Lin Yang, Yu Wei and the other regimentmanders all were mildly shocked because they couldn¡¯t actually see how they left the scene.


    ¡°Department Head Han, if it¡¯s possible, please bring us to Training Ground 07 to take a look. Perhaps we may be of help,¡± Lin Yang thought for a moment and asked Han Xuya who was the only person who stayed behind from Lingtian.


    Han Xuya was also worried about the situation in Training Ground 07, so she thought for a moment and said, ¡°Okay, but I need to remind everyone. Don¡¯t make any sudden moves as that ce is a bit troublesome.¡±


    After hearing Han Xuya¡¯s words, Lin Yang started to think about the meaning behind them. Was she afraid that they would cause trouble? Or was there a deeper meaning behind her words?


    When Li Shiyu arrived at Training Ground 07, Yang Mingzhi, Qi Long and the others had already arrived.


    At that moment, the secret training room that Ling Lan was using for meditation suddenly opened up. What followed after shocked everyone as Ling Lan carried out bloodied body with her.


    Li Shiyu walked up and anxiously asked, ¡°Boss, how is my brother... how is Leader Li doing?¡±


    ¡°I just made him drink a medicinal agent but his condition is still somewhat bad. That¡¯s why I called for you toe here,¡± Ling Lan said as she frowned.


    She looked at the beauty in her arms with worry in her eyes. She had already helped put his mask back on, but the pale and gray colored face in her mind couldn¡¯t be wiped out. This beauty, who silently stayed by her side and allowed her to tease him, seemed to be sprouting wings and bing a fairy.


    She couldn¡¯t forget the look Li Lanfeng gave her before fainting. It had the feeling of longing, but more so despair.


    ¡°Boss, what actually happened in there?¡± Li Shiyu quickly examined at Li Lanfeng¡¯s body. He discovered that Li Lanfeng¡¯s current injuries were simr to Ling Lan¡¯s injuries when she was injured from piloting a god-ss mecha. None of his muscles were uninjured as all of his muscles had torn. This was the biggest reason why he was drenched in blood.


    ¡°When I advanced, my energy was out of control. It¡¯s my fault.¡± Ling Lan wasn¡¯t someone who would push the me to others.


    ¡°Man, why didn¡¯t he leave if it was that dangerous?¡± Li Shiyu stomped his foot as he cursed at Li Lanfeng for biting off more than he can chew.


    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because he misunderstood my orders. All in all, it¡¯s my fault.¡± Ling Lan turned around and shouted towards the medics who had already arrived, ¡°Stretcher!¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± A stretcher was ced beside them. Ling Lan gentlyid down Li Lanfeng on the stretcher and not long after, blood began to soak through the stretcher.


    ¡°Take him to my sterile treatment room for surgery immediately.¡± Li Shiyu saw this and knew he couldn¡¯t operate on him here, so he immediately ordered his subordinates to take him to his treatment room.


    ¡°We¡¯ll do it.¡± Qi Long, Xie Yi, Luo Lang and Liu Furong held up each pole-end of the stretcher and then looked each other in the eyes. In the next second, the four of them softly pushed up with the tips of their toes and took off with the stretcher into mid-air.


    In order to use the shortest time to get to the medical department, they chose to go by a straight line. However, this route required them to get over countless buildings and obstacles.


    ¡°Hey, look up there.¡± At that moment, Han Xuya and the people from the other ns had just arrived. They just so happened to see the four of them holding the stretcher, flying over them and then instantlynding on the roof of a building. At the same time, they also saw the blood-soaked stretcher with blood drops that continued to drip off from it.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take you there.¡± Seeing Li Shiyu was preparing to follow them, Ling Lan held his back and disappeared in the next second.


    Everyone watched as the four of them took off with the stretcher and vanished. Lin Yang then walked up to Yang Mingzhi and asked in concern, ¡°How¡¯s the situation of that leader?¡±


    ¡°With Department Head Li there, he¡¯ll be fine,¡± Yang Mingzhi stopped his gaze towards the four of them and responded inly.


    ¡°What actually happened?¡± Lin Yang had a confused expression on his face. ¡°How could he be so severely injured?¡± Just from looking at the blood-soaked stretcher, he knew that this leader Li was probably on the brink of death.


    ¡°Oh, nothing much. It¡¯s very normal for these types of injuries to happen when we train with our regimentmander.¡± A team leader from Lingtian turned towards Li Yingjie, who was on the side with a worried expression on his face. He smiled and said, ¡°Isn¡¯t that right, Little Leader Li?¡±


    He was looking at him because Little Leader Li also had a simr tragic experience. No one thought Big Leader Li would follow in Little Leader Li¡¯s footsteps. Could it be those who had the surname of ¡®Li¡¯ had a weird attraction towards their regimentmander¡¯s punishments? That was probably why all the tragedies and troubles fell on their head. This leader unconsciously rubbed his chin as he felt his guess was quite logical.


    Li Yingjie awoke from his daze after hearing those words and he looked at that leader in dismay. Ever since he almost died at the hands of Boss during training, these veterans leaders would always tease him about it. He didn¡¯t expect that the annoying Li Lanfeng would also go through the same thing. On the bright side, he would not be only one teased by them anymore.


    ¡°Yeah, in the past it was our Team 10¡¯s team leader, Leader Li Yingjie, who went through the same thing. The one who was injured just now is also called Leader Li. That¡¯s why we all refer to that one as Little Leader Li...¡± Yang Mingzhi pointed towards Li Yingjie and exined to Lin Yang and the others. It was as though injuries like these were run of the mill things and wasn¡¯t worth mentioning.


    Hearing those words, Lin Yang, Yu Wei and the other regimentmanders instantly felt their heart tighten. What sort of existence was Lingtian? Just how brutal was their regimentmander? It was fine that soldiers were trained strictly, but even leaders who were high-ranking officers might also lose their lives?


    ¡°Don¡¯t you... think this type of training is inhumane?¡± Lin Yang hesitated for a moment and then finally spoke out his concern.


    ¡°Would the enemy question what is inhumane and what is not on the battlefield?¡± Yang Mingzhi rebutted with another question.


    ¡°Although the training here is brutal, it at the very least still leaves you with your life intact. However, on the battlefield, one mistake would cost you your life.¡± Yang Mingzhi looked up towards the virtual sky created by the base. His eyes showed a hint of agony, ¡°That¡¯s a cost that we cannot afford.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi¡¯s words moved everyone at the scene. Everyone had shbacks of war scenes before their eyes. Many of their brother-in-arms were forever sleeping on the battlefield and for them, how many of them could actually safely return to their homes after they retire from the battlefield?


    Yang Mingzhi organized his thoughts and turned around towards Lin Yang and the other, ¡°I originally wanted to show you around our training grounds as a host should do. However now, something happened, so it is not so convenient for us anymore. Thus, let us get into the main topic for today. We have a total of 21 battle teams. Other than Big Leader Li, who is injured, along with the four leaders who took him to the medical department, the other 16 leaders are all here. You can choose to challenge anyone in either a single battle or group battle.¡±

 Chapter 1099 - Can’t Be Fooled!

    <h4>Chapter 1099 Can¡¯t Be Fooled!</h4>


    Ling Lan¡¯s speed was obviously much faster than Qi Long¡¯s group of four, as she and Li Shiyu almost instantly arrived at the medical department.


    Li Shiyu was prepared to enter the treatment room immediately after he arrived. He then suddenly thought of something and he turned around to ask, ¡°Regimentmander, you advanced sessfully?¡±


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°It is a sess.¡±


    Li Shiyu¡¯s mouth moved as if he wanted to ask something else but in the end, he didn¡¯t ask. Instead, he chose to immediately enter the treatment room and prepare for the surgery.


    Ling Lan knew what Li Shiyu wanted to ask, but Ling Lan was also extremely surprised as to why Li Lanfeng would be so severely injured. She couldn¡¯t find the reason so she could only put the me on herself for ordering Li Lanfeng to protect her.


    At that moment, Qi Long and the others arrived. Seeing Boss standing in front of the treatment room, they were all surprised. However, in the next second, they were all happy because it meant that their Boss had seeded in advancing since she came out of the room.


    Right as the medics from the medical department prepared everything, they ced Li Lanfeng, who was on the stretcher, onto a cart, then pushed him into the treatment room.


    ¡°Leave him to Li Shiyu. You guys go to Leader Yang...¡± Ling Lan put her hands behind her back with an expressionless look on her face. The bottomless darkness in her eyes had a short sh of icy chill. ¡°Onest thing, notify all leaders. From tomorrow onwards, I don¡¯t want to hear one word of anyone suspecting the strength of our n in this base!¡±


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Qi Long and the other three leaders felt their bodies tightening. Finally, their regimentmander decided to reveal Lingtian¡¯s terrifying power.


    Li Shiyu changed into an attire customly made for surgery and entered the sterile treatment room.


    He walked over to the surgery table and saw Li Lanfengying there silently with his eyes closed. If it was for the fact that his chest still moved up and down, just from the bloody scene around him, Li Shiyu would suspect that his elder brother might have already left this world.


    ¡°Department head, we cannot stop the bleeding from Leader Li¡¯s wounds. What should we do now?¡± Seeing Li Shiyuing in, the medical assistants shouted out anxiously.


    Li Shiyu looked at one area of Li Lanfeng¡¯s wounds and then looked all over his body. His expression changed slightly and then he said, ¡°I will be responsible for the surgery now. In order to avoid affecting the surgery, you must all leave the treatment room.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The assistants were not surprised by Li Shiyu¡¯s orders. It was because for the recent past surgeries, only the two now department heads, Luo Chao and Han Xuya, could follow his speed. Not only were the assistants not of any help, they could even create more problems with their slow speed. Now that the two department heads were no longer here, it could only be their Department Head Li doing it all by himself.


    Not long after, the assistants left the treatment room. Li Shiyu slowly put on surgical gloves and said calmly, ¡°I know you¡¯re awake. You can¡¯t fool a military doctor like me.¡±


    After Li Shiyu said those words, Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes slowly opened. ¡°Why would you expose me like that?¡±


    ¡°I just want to know why you did this? Is it fun making everyone worried?¡± Li Shiyu asked angrily.


    When he saw Li Lanfeng being carried out by Boss while drenched in blood in Training Ground 07, his heart almost stopped beating. He actually thought the elder cousin brother he admired had left his world.


    In reality, Li Lanfeng¡¯s own self-healing capabilities were notpletely destroyed unlike Boss¡¯s and whenpared to Boss¡¯s injuries, the severeness of his injuries paled inparison. Additionally, Boss made him drink one vial of the second generation Nuwa agent so as long as he had even one breath left, he would be able toe back from the gates of hell


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s seemingly brutal wounds had healed long ago. It was just that Li Lanfeng was intentionally tearing them open continuously. This was what caused his blood to continue toe out of his body. Everything that happened, happened because Li Lanfeng wanted it to.


    Li Shiyu didn¡¯t expect that his terrors and worries were all for nothing. All of this was just a show his elder cousin brother put on. This made Li Shiyu feel like he¡¯s been yed with which lead him to be angry with Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression was unchanging throughout the rant. He shut his lips as if to show he didn¡¯t want to exin to Li Shiyu.


    ¡°Elder Brother, what actually happened in that room?¡± Seeing Li Lanfeng behave like this, Li Shiyu angrily pulled Li Lanfeng upright which caused the mask to fall off his face. The reason it fell off so easily was because when Ling Lan put Li Lanfeng¡¯s mask on for him, she only softly put it on and thus, the curtains dropped, revealing Li Lanfeng¡¯s otherworldly beauty.


    ¡°The mask...¡± Li Shiyu saw the mask on the floor and thought of something. Ling Lan said something about it being her fault. Li Shiyu¡¯s expression immediately changed. ¡°Did regimentmander do something to you?¡±


    ¡°No, our Boss isn¡¯t like that...¡± Li Shiyu felt that his mind was messed up. ¡°He already has Luo Chao... That¡¯s not possible. Impossible.¡±


    ¡°Not only Luo Chao, but also Han Xuya right?¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s words seemed to be directed at Li Shiyu, but more so it was to remind himself.


    ¡°Yeah. Boss already has two fianc¨¦es, even if... he should be finding Luo Chao and Han Xuya,¡± said Li Shiyu as he looked at Li Lanfeng with an uncertain expression. There wasn¡¯t any way to avoid this. His elder cousin brother¡¯s beauty was too abnormal. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Li Shiyu himself had gotten used to Li Lanfeng¡¯s beauty at a young age, he might also have bad thoughts when faced with such a beauty.


    However, Li Shiyu quickly put his thoughts behind him. Boss Ling Lan¡¯s willpower was the strongest out of everyone he had met. Plus, Boss already known about his elder cousin brother¡¯s looks so if she was interested in it, she would have done something long ago. Why would she suddenly make a move on his elder cousin brother today? Could it actually be because when she advanced to the imperial realm, she identally wounded his elder cousin brother?


    After remembering Ling Lan¡¯s cold as ice attitude that looked at everyone in the same way without caring about beauty between men and women, Li Shiyu believed his second guess was the correct one.


    It had to be said that, in Li Shiyu¡¯s mind, Ling Lan¡¯s image was grand. His mind went off on a weird tangent in the beginning, but after calming down, he quickly returned to the right path.


    ¡®Yeah, he already has two fianc¨¦e, how could he be enamored by me?¡¯ Li Lanfeng thought to himself. A slight bit of downheartedness showed in his eyes and a self-mocking smile appeared on his face.


    ¡°Brother, it¡¯s only the two of us here now. Tell me. Are these wounds caused by Boss identally when he advanced?¡± Li Shiyu asked in a serious tone.


    ¡°It seems you¡¯ve be smarter.¡± Li Lanfeng sat up and looked at Li Shiyu with a half-smile.


    ¡°I was always this smart, okay?¡± Li Shiyu said while clenching his teeth. Ever since he knew Li Lanfeng was his elder brother Li Mn, his kind elder brotherpletely vanished.


    ¡°You still didn¡¯t tell me why you are pretending to be in so much pain. What are you nning?¡± Li Shiyu knew that it was impossible for him to win in a conversation with his elder brother. In reality, in Lingtian, other than Boss, he hasn¡¯t lost to anyone else other than his elder brother in debating. Thus, he wasn¡¯t looking to debate with his elder brother whether he was smart or not.

 Chapter 1100 - End To Brotherhood?

    <strong>Chapter 1100 End To Brotherhood?</strong>


    ¡°What ns do I have?¡± Li Mn looked out of the room and suddenly asked a weird question, ¡°Is he worried about me?¡±


    Li Shiyu nodded. ¡°Yes. Boss says it¡¯s his fault that you got injured. He should be outside waiting for the surgery to be done.¡±


    ¡°What are you waiting for then? Hurry up and bandage me,¡± Li Mn replied calmly.


    ¡°If you just stopped intentionally opening your wounds, you won¡¯t need to be bandage at all.¡± Li Shiyu was speechless.


    ¡°Stop talking nonsense. Hurry up and bandage me.¡± Li Mn was firm in his decision.


    ¡°Just why are you doing this? Brother, if you don¡¯t give me a reason, I am not going to help you. I¡¯ll even tell Boss the truth.¡± Li Shiyu wanted to know what Li Mn was up to.


    ¡°Shiyu, sometimes, I¡¯m d you chose to be a military doctor. If not, based on your personality, you wouldn¡¯t be able to stand your ground in the Li family where everyone mauls each other for the throne.¡± Li Mn gave a cold smile. He stood up and tidied Li Shiyu¡¯s hair. ¡°Do you still not know what my motive is?¡±


    Li Shiyu frowned. He was a smart person too so after thinking through what Li Mn actions, he found an answer to his actions. ¡°You want to be Boss¡¯s most important


    person?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not that stupid, I guess.¡± Li Mn knocked Li Shiyu¡¯s forehead with knuckle and said, ¡°With Ling Lan on the helm, Lingtian Mecha n will grow into an actual division in the future, and he will be the general. With that in mind, the Li family has always wanted military power. However, we are restricted by opposing factions in the military. Additionally, Li Yingjie, whom was the hope for the Li family to break through those restrictions, came here instead of fighting for the throne in the 4th division. In the end, all three inheritors of the Li family fell into the same hole.¡±


    Li Mn frowned. ¡°This means that we have to follow Ling Lan all the way to the end. If he fails, the Li family will never be able to obtain military power. However, if he seeds, the Li family will be to achieve the wish they always wanted.¡±


    Li Shiyu was enlightened. ¡°Boss has too many capable people under him. We are not the most outstanding among them.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. You¡¯re better off because Ling Lan needs your medical skills. However, your identity as a military doctor prevents you from entering the core of the military. Li Yingjie and I are team leaders so we can use our merits to climb to a higher position but there are too manypetitors. We are not outstandingpared to Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi. We might even be weaker than them. Plus, there are also many old and experienced soldiers like Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhipeting with us.¡±


    ¡°Our position in the Lingtian Mecha n is awkward.¡± Li Mn smiled gently. ¡°Since our honor is tied to Ling Lan, I will use any means to be the most important person to him. I won¡¯t give this position to anyone else.¡±


    ¡°So, you want Boss to owe you a favour and thenpensate you ordingly?¡± Li Shiyu finally understood what Li Mn was nning to do and his expression changed drastically.


    ¡®Is it good to get things through scheming?¡¯ He thought of Ling Lan¡¯s decisiveness and ruthlessness and shivered in fright. ¡°This isn¡¯t a good n. Once Boss realizes that you schemed against him, he will kill you. He won¡¯t allow anyone to fool him.¡±


    ¡°Stupid little brother. I just have to make sure that he doesn¡¯t know.¡± Li Mn smiled. ¡°Or, are you going to betray me and the Li family?¡±


    Li Mn¡¯s smile got brighter. His face was still beautiful and his aura was still gentle but Li Shiyu felt a chill in his heart.


    ¡°But, Boss...¡± Li Shiyu still wanted to persuade Li Mn.


    ¡°Shiyu, don¡¯t forget that you¡¯re from the Li family,¡± Li Mn said indifferently, ¡°You can disapprove my ns but you can¡¯t mess with it. I don¡¯t want to cut my ties with you.¡±


    Li Shiyu shuddered. He looked at Li Mn and the smile on his face was gone.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Li Shiyu grabbed the bandages from the counter and walked towards Li Mn.


    ¡®Will I be able to get closer to you after experiencing your pain and injury?¡¯ Li Mn lowered his eyes to hide the confusion in them.


    Li Shiyu kneeled on the ground and finished bandaging up Li Mn. After he tied thest knot, he asked the question he had been wanting to ask, ¡°We won¡¯t harm Boss, right?¡±


    Li Mn smiled. He patted Li Shiyu¡¯s head and said lightly, ¡°My stupid little brother, we are on the same boat as Ling Lan now. Harming him is the same as harming us. What I¡¯m doing is good for everyone.¡±


    ¡°Brother, remember what you said today. If I find out that you did something that endangers Boss, I will tell Boss even if it meant the end of our brotherhood.¡± Li Shiyu finally made a decision. He couldn¡¯t betray his beliefs.


    Li Mn¡¯s face turned dark. After a few seconds of silence, he smiled coldly. ¡°I¡¯m really d you didn¡¯t inherit the vicious and heartless characteristics of the Li family, so let me take all the burden.¡±


    ¡°As long as you meant what you said, I will always be a member of the Li family.¡± Li Shiyu looked up and stared at Li Lanfeng intently. The Li family raised and groomed him from a young age. Most importantly, his family was in their hands. If he had a choice, he didn¡¯t want to be enemies with his family.


    However, everyone had their own morals and beliefs. Li Shiyu had his own beliefs too, no matter howughable it might seem to some people.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I meant what I said.¡± Li Mn closed his eyes as he didn¡¯t want to continue this topic anymore.


    The door of the treatment room opened wide, revealing Li Shiyu and Li Lanfeng walking out of the room. They saw Ling Lan sitting at the seat beside the room waiting for them with closed eyes.


    ¡°You¡¯re done?¡± Ling Lan opened her eyes when she heard noises.


    ¡°Shiyu is a good doctor.¡± Li Lanfeng pulled his uniform which was unbuttoned. He smiled. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I manage to experience the treatment you received before.¡±


    Ling Lan looked at the bandages below Li Lanfeng¡¯s neck. It went all the way down to his ankles. It seemed like he was hurt seriously so Li Shiyu had no choice but to stop the blood using this method.


    ¡°What¡¯s the condition?¡± Ling Lan turned and looked at Li Shiyu. Compared to Li Lanfeng, she believed in Li Shiyu more.


    Li Lanfeng turned to look at Li Shiyu too. Li Shiyu detected the threat in Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes. He gave a bitter smile and said, ¡°He is fine. However, he just needs to rest for a period of time. If not, the wound might reopen again.¡±

 Chapter 1101 - Conversation!

    <strong>Chapter 1101 Conversation!</strong>


    Ling Lan nodded. She agreed that he looked fine.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Lanfeng, let¡¯s go and take a look at how the other leaders are doing.¡± As the regimentmander of the mecha n, she needed to show her face. If not, outsiders might say that Lingtian was an arrogant mecha n where their regimentmander was too proud to even show his face.


    ¡°Sure.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly. He heaved a sigh of relief when Ling Lan didn¡¯t ask him about his weird behaviour. However, he felt bitter too. Maybe... he hoped that Ling Lan was a little more curious about him.


    Ling Lan nodded at Li Shiyu before leaving with Li Lanfeng.


    The two of them walked out slowly, but they didn¡¯t rush to the training ground as the fight wouldn¡¯t end so soon. Even if the people from Lingtian were able to defeat their opponents instantly, they wouldn¡¯t want to be too showy.


    Besides the logisticians and soldiers on duty, everyone else had gone to the training ground which caused the camping grounds to seem exceptionally quiet.


    The two people walked under the sunny sky. Ling Lan walked at the front while Li Lanfeng followed behind her silently.


    Li Lanfeng finally plucked up his courage and rushed forward to grab Ling Lan¡¯s left hand.


    Ling Lan stopped and tilted her body to the side. She was surprised by Li Lanfeng¡¯s actions. She raised her eyebrows slightly and asked, ¡°What are you thinking?¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you the one who is thinking about something?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. Ling Lan could imagine how beautiful his smile was under the mask.


    ¡°Oh? How are you so sure?¡± Ling Lan asked him back in reply.


    ¡°Because of my injuries,¡± Li Lanfeng immediately said his answer.


    ¡°I just don¡¯t understand why you didn¡¯t go out.¡± Since Li Lanfeng started the conversation, Ling Lan continued with it.


    She had already sent him to the door to prevent this from happening.


    ¡°I thought that I would be able to handle it and I wanted to understand the secrets of the imperial realm. I overestimated myself.¡± Li Lanfeng looked up and Ling Lan and said earnestly, ¡°This is not your fault. It¡¯s mine.¡±


    Ling Lan narrowed her eyes. She clenched Li Lanfeng¡¯s right hand tightly with her left hand. Li Lanfeng felt an excruciating pain electrocuting his entire body. However, he maintained the smile on his face.


    ¡°You...¡± Ling Lan released her hand. She knew that Li Lanfeng was lying. He just didn¡¯t want her to feel guilty. No matter what the reason was, she was the one who injured him.


    ¡°On the bright side, I look exactly like you after the battle on Haijiao.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled brightly. He seemed happy with his appearance now. ¡°I believe that other people


    ¡®Is this considered as couple wear?¡¯ This question suddenly popped in Li Lanfeng¡¯s mind. He blushed. In the next second, cold sweat dripped down his forehead. He knew that once he realized his true intentions, he wouldn¡¯t be able to control himself.


    If he was unable to stop this feeling from growing even further, he would fall into the depth of hell one day. If this happened one day, would he be able to continue staying beside Ling Lan then?


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t notice that Li Lanfeng was shivering as she was looking up at the sky. To prevent her from feeling guilty, this person thought of stupid excuses for her to feel better. As expected of an adviser.


    ¡°Forget it, since you don¡¯t want to say, I won¡¯t ask.¡± Ling Lan suppressed her curiosity. She was willing to ept her friend¡¯s secrets because she had secrets herself too. Since she was unable to reveal her secret herself, how could she force her friend to do what she couldn¡¯t?


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression turnedplex when he heard her words. Unsurprisingly, he was unable to fool Ling Lan. Luckily, Ling Lan forgave him and didn¡¯t probe further. He chose to believe him but he still felt ashamed about his schemes.


    He couldn¡¯t let this arrogant and domineering person know what he was thinking. He just wanted to look at him and stay beside him forever. Even if he would get married in the end, he would still be satisfied... maybe.


    Li Lanfeng pushed these thoughts into the back of his mind. He would have to endure this emotion all by himself.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s voice was shivering as he said, ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡®Thank you for your forgiveness. I really can¡¯t let go of your kindness. I want all of it.¡¯


    traumatic must have happened to Li Lanfeng. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t want to tell her anything so she couldn¡¯t help him even if she wanted to.


    Forget it, since he was unwilling to say, she would just take more notice of him. As long as she was concentrating on him, she would be able to detect traces of what had happened to him. Ling Lan ultimately made this decision in the end. Unconsciously, she gave more attention to Li Lanfeng, more than anyone in Lingtian.


    Li Lanfeng knew Ling Lan had put down this issue when he saw the frown disappearing from her face.


    They continued walking towards Training Ground 07.


    Li Lanfeng, who was currently walking a step behind Lingn, looked at the back of Ling Lan withplicated feelings. He understood Ling Lan well so he knew what Ling Lan would do if he didn¡¯t say anything.


    Why did he still scheme against her when he had already made the decision to stay beside her quietly? As expected, he was a selfish person. He always did things that benefit him the most.


    ¡®Ling Lan, please don¡¯t give me any chances. If not, I won¡¯t be able to control myself and I¡¯ll pull you down to hell together with me.¡¯


    Li Lanfeng would only show his weakness when there was no one looking at him.


    Li Lanfeng wished that this journey would continue forever so that he could forget about the present and continue his dreamlike fantasy but sadly, Training Ground 07 was not too far away.


    Li Lanfeng closed his eyes dejectedly when he saw the training grounding into his view. When he opened them again, his gaze was sharp and his smile was gentle. The adviser of Lingtian, Li Lanfeng, was back.


    ¡°They seemed to be done.¡± Li Lanfeng listened carefully and smiled.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Ling Lan ced her hands behind her back and smiled slightly. Her team leaders performed well. They subdued their opponents so quickly that they had nothing to say.


    ¡°Unfortunately, the team leader of Team 06 is not here. If not, we can witness how strong he is.¡± Their opponents were beaten so badly that they were unable to control their emotions. Hence, they started finding ways to regain their dignity.


    The expressions of everyone in Lingtian changed. Li Lanfeng was badly injured. He would be fine with Li Shiyu around but they were still worried about him.

 Chapter 1102 - After You!

    <strong>Chapter 1102 After You!</strong>


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to be so popr. Even when I¡¯m not around, there are people talking about me.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and walked in when he saw the support in Ling Lan¡¯s gaze.


    These people didn¡¯t expect Li Lanfeng to appear right when they talked about him. They basically just saw a mummified masked person entering the training ground.


    ¡°Big Leader Li, everything is fine here. Pleasee.¡± Yan Threeughed to ease the atmosphere and weed him warmly.


    The reason why Yan Three was able to integrate into Lingtian so quickly was because of Li Lanfeng¡¯s help. Li Lanfeng would always remind him what to do whenever he felt confused in Lingtian, so he was very grateful to him.


    ¡°I knew Li Lanfeng wouldn¡¯t die.¡± Zhao Jun felt relieved when he saw Li Lanfeng appearing safe and sound in front of him.


    Everyone went forward to check up on Li Lanfeng¡¯s condition, but they didn¡¯t see Ling Lan who was standing at the entrance.


    After entering the imperial realm, Ling Lan was able to easily control her breathing and presence. She was currently hiding her presence which made herself invisible to everyone in the training ground.


    Li Lanfeng knew since Ling Lan didn¡¯t appear in front of the crowd, she must have her own motives for doing so. Thus, he didn¡¯t expose her.


    After greeting everyone from Lingtian, Li Lanfeng walked towards Yu Wei and his people. He smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯m here. What¡¯s the matter?¡±


    The person who said that he wanted to see Li Lanfeng had no choice but to grit his teeth and reply, ¡°We¡¯ve already seen how strong the other team leaders are. You¡¯re the only one who didn¡¯t show us anything due to your injuries. What a pity that is. Well... since you¡¯re here now, may I have a battle with you?¡±


    Li Lanfeng sized up the man in front of him and suddenly smiled. ¡°You¡¯re not my match.¡±


    The man¡¯s expression darkened when he heard those condescending words. The 36 Heavenly Warriors of Piercing Arrow appeared furious too. This person was just too arrogant. Although, their military rank was not as high as Li Lanfeng but all of them were team leaders. In mecha ns, they should be receiving as much respect as any other team leader of any rank.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Yu, please.¡± Li Lanfeng turned his head and looked at Yu Wei.


    All the leaders from Piercing Arrow got furious. An insignificant leader actually dared to challenge their regimentmander. Was he arrogant or stupid?


    ¡°Leader Li, you¡¯re too weak to challenge our regimentmander. Let me y with you instead.¡± The first rank Heavenly Warrior, Jiang Yong, red at Li Lanfeng and stepped out.


    Li Lanfeng looked at him seriously and slowly shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re a little too weak.¡±


    ¡°Arrogant!¡± Jiang Yong raised his fist andunched it towards Li Lanfeng in an instant. He wanted to teach this arrogant young man a lesson he would remember forever.


    Although the leaders from Lingtian were all more powerful than them, they still needed to fight for many rounds before they defeated them. Jiang Yong didn¡¯t believe that this heavily injured Leader Li would be as strong as the other team leaders.


    Surprisingly, Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t evade the attack. He just waved his right hand casually in response to the iing fist. A loud sound echoed through the training ground.


    A figure shot out and mmed into the crowd from Piercing Arrow.


    Yu Wei¡¯s expression changed when he saw a body flying towards him. He acted immediately and a ball of energy quickly caught the body in mid-air but suddenly, his face turned pale. He needed to take a step back before he could withstand the impact.


    The person who was shot out was Jiang Wei. After he regained his senses, he looked at Li Lanfeng with fear in his eyes. Li Lanfeng was just standing casually in front of him with one hand behind his back. He couldn¡¯t believe that he didn¡¯t manage to handle a single attack by his opponent.


    Li Lanfeng looked towards Yu Wei. ¡°Regiment Commander Yu, please!¡±


    The people from Lingtian smiled as they anticipated Yu Wei¡¯s next move, even Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong were smiling. Until now, high-profile officers like them didn¡¯t have the chance to act yet. Hence, when they saw Li Lanfeng calling out for Regiment Commander Yu, they instantly understood what their regimentmander was intending by her words. It seemed like they were still too kind when they fought with them. They now knew that they needed to crush the spirits of these intruders so that they would never be questioned about their strength ever again


    Yu Wei couldn¡¯t reject the challenge in front of so many people. He knew that this normal-looking Leader Li must be a domain realm master, as only domain realm masters were able to defeat a half step domain realm master that easily.


    ¡°Lingtian is truly filled with powerful people. Leader Li, after you.¡± Yu Wei was serious.


    He wasn¡¯t the only one who was serious as Lin Yang was turning serious too. He looked towards Liu Furong, Yang Mingzhi, Qi Long, and the other leaders in Lingtian. He wondered if they had reached the domain realm too. After all, Leader Li was just the leader of Team 06.


    That¡¯s right, Lin Yang was a domain realm master. From the attack just now, he could feel his domain concept embedded in his attack, so he must be a domain realm master.


    ¡°Move back!¡± Lin Yang said to his soldiers behind him.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Why, regimentmander?¡±


    His soldiers were puzzled.


    ¡°This is a domain realm battle. Anyone who hasn¡¯t reached the domain realm will get injured if theye too close to the fight,¡± Lin Yang said seriously.


    ¡°Domain realm battle!¡± Everyone eximed out loud. Although the regimentmanders of first-rank mecha ns were all domain realm masters, they wouldn¡¯t have any domain realm masters as subordinates. Even if it did happen, it was rare.


    Even though it was rare, everyone still obediently believed in Lin Yang¡¯s warning and moved back. After all, Lin Yang¡¯s mecha n, ughter Mecha n, was the second most powerful mecha n after Proud Wind so his words definitely had merit to them. Plus, he was also a domain realm master. Hence, he should know more than them.


    ¡°Why aren¡¯t they moving?¡± After they moved back, they noticed that the people from Lingtian were still in their original positions. They didn¡¯t seem to care about the danger of a domain realm battle.


    Lin Yang frowned when he saw them not moving away. He himself didn¡¯t move because he was confident he would remain safe with his strength. So, why weren¡¯t the other party moving?


    Some other regimentmanders also stood in their original positions. This was the pride of domain realm masters.


    While everyone was retreating away from the uing fight, Li Lanfeng and Yu Wei stood on the ground quietly. No one acted.


    ¡°So warm.¡± One minute had passed. One of the team leaders suddenly felt that the air around them got warmer. The temperature of the camping ground was controlled by the mainframe so it would always be maintained at afortable temperature for everyone. They shouldn¡¯t feel warm.


    ¡°Look at Regiment Commander Yu.¡± One of the team leaders shouted.


    Everyone looked at Yu Wei. They saw steaming up from the ground around Yu Wei.


    ¡°Is this Yu Wei¡¯s heat domain concept?¡± Lin Yang¡¯s gaze turned sharp. Yu Wei¡¯s domain element wasn¡¯t fire but his domain concept was as hot as fire, making it more frightening than fire. His domain concept was formless. He could integrate himself into the air perfectly with his domain concept and hide himself amidst the air. His opponent wouldn¡¯t be able to easily detect him in that state.

 Chapter 1103 - Battle!

    <strong>Chapter 1103 Battle!</strong>


    On the other hand, nothing was moving around Li Lanfeng. No one knew what his domain concept was.


    Yu Wei frowned when he saw his inaction. He lifted his arms and two clouds of hot air rushed towards Li Lanfeng viciously.


    Li Lanfeng felt steaming hot airing towards him. He raised his hands and waved them immediately.


    Boom! Boom!


    Two loud explosions urred.


    The explosions of two powerful domain concepts quickly moved out and destroyed everything in its vicinity. Lin Yang instantly activated his domain and blocked out the explosion.


    At that moment, his attention wasn¡¯t on Yu Wei and Li Lanfeng. It was on the team leaders behind Li Lanfeng.


    They were standing very close to the center of the battle so the force of the explosion must have reached them.


    What he saw was a young lieutenant colonel tilting his body to protect a pretty lieutenant colonel behind him and a young major taking a step out to pull a handsome youngdy behind him.


    Lin Yang and his men still had some dignity so they didn¡¯t choose the two female officers when they were fighting just now.


    The huge force of the explosion reached the team leaders. Yet, it only managed to lift the corners of their uniform. None of them moved a single inch.


    ¡°Annoying!¡± Luo Lang red at his friend. He wasn¡¯t his younger sister. Did Xie Yi forget about that?


    Xie Yi smiled and didn¡¯t say anything. How could he exin that he protected Luo Lang instinctively?


    Han Xuya was grateful for Qi Long¡¯s help so she smiled at him. Unlike the past when her smile was shy and demure, it seemed more elegant now. Qi Long couldn¡¯t help but look at her smile again.


    If she was still the young girl who liked Qi Long, she might get flustered by his stare. However, she had finally found what she wanted in her life. Hence, Qi Long became just like any other person who had came into her life. He was no longer that important to her.


    Yes, Han Xuya¡¯s goal was Ling Lan. The fact that Ling Lan was a female who had aplished more than most men did, allowed Han Xuya to have different thoughts about her life. Since Boss was able to be so powerful, she could do so too.


    Compared to Luo Chao, Han Xuya was morepetitive. Since she was young, she never wanted to lose to her peers. However, she was a female at the end of the day. Sometimes, she wished that she was a male when she saw her friends moving further ahead of her when they did the same amount of work. Now, Ling Lan gave her a chance to climb higher so she would definitely grab this chance tightly. That concept of young love she had dreamt of was thrown to the back of her head long ago.


    ¡°Can you identify the domain concept of Leader Li?¡± Lin Yang lowered his head and asked the regimentmander beside him.


    ¡°No. I only know that he used his domain concept but I can¡¯t identify what it is.¡± The regimentmander shook his head and sighed. ¡°He hadn¡¯t fully used his domain concept yet he is already able to fight on par against Regiment Commander Yu¡¯s heat domain concept. This Leader Li is not a simple person.¡±


    ¡°The other people from Lingtian are even scarier. They didn¡¯t even activate their domain but they managed to easily resist the explosion.¡± Another regimentmander was bbergasted. They could also resist the force from the explosion without activating their domain but they wouldn¡¯t be as rxed as the people from Lingtian.


    ¡°It seems like Leader Li is not the only leader who has reached the domain realm.¡± Lin Yang understood what this meant.


    ¡°But, they are giving out the presence of peak stage and optimal peak of Qi-Jin.¡± Another regimentmander couldn¡¯t believe this.


    ¡°They must have a way to hide their real physical skills. When Leader Li came in, did you sense his domain energy?¡± Lin Yang was firm in his judgment.


    The regimentmanders thought about Lin Yang¡¯s question for a moment. Indeed, they didn¡¯t detect his domain energy before he attacked Jiang Yong.


    ¡°F**k, where did Lingtiane from?¡± One of the regimentmanders cursed helplessly.


    ¡°We were wrong. Base Neb is the first line of defense against Caesar. No matter how vicious the power struggle between the higher authorities was, they wouldn¡¯t expose the Federation to any danger. The mecha n thates to Base Neb will never be just a normal mecha n.¡± Lin Yang sighed. His willingness to fight with Lingtian lessened a little.


    ¡°However, this doesn¡¯t mean that their mecha piloting skills are good too.¡± One regimentmander was unwilling to lower his head so he tried to find faults in Lingtian.


    ¡°We have to wait to determine that.¡± Lin Yang didn¡¯t agree nor reject that regimentmander¡¯s statement even though he knew that with the amount of mechas they brought over, the people from Lingtian wouldn¡¯t be too weak in mecha piloting.


    However, before he saw for it himself, he wouldn¡¯t admit defeat easily. After all, he was a proud soldier.


    Yu Wei already knew that his attack didn¡¯t possess any threat to his opponent. The attack just now was just to determine how strong his opponent was. As a regimentmander, he was responsible for the reputation of his mecha n. If everyone knew that he was on par with a team leader from Lingtian, the reputation would greatly be affected greatly.


    Hence, Yu Wei couldn¡¯t lose!


    Yu Wei knew this clearly so he didn¡¯t show any mercy in this fight. He snorted and pped his hands together. The heat around Li Lanfeng immediately started to move towards him from all directions.


    Li Lanfeng had no path of escape now. His entire body was engulfed in heat. If he didn¡¯t do anything to resist it, he would be melted from the insides by the concept and suffocate in a cloud of heat.


    Li Lanfeng noticed this and released his domain energy from his body.


    Bang!


    A loud explosion urred. The entire training ground shook from the explosion. Some soldiers standing far away from the fight could even hear the explosion. Many soldiers who hadn¡¯t reached the optimal peak of Qi-Jin started bleeding from their nose, mouth, eyes, and ears. The weaker ones, like Zhang Chao, even vomited out blood.


    They had already retreated very far away but the power of the two domain realm masters was still strong enough to injure them from afar.


    Lin Yang also had to take a few steps back from the powerful explosion. Even people who had just advanced to the domain realm were pale in the face.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Lin, look!¡± One of the regimentmanders looked behind Li Lanfeng


    A ring white light appeared in front of the team leaders from Lingtian. This white light blocked the explosion from the fight between Li Lanfeng and Yu Wei.


    The person controlling the white light was the team leader of Team 01, Yang Mingzhi.

 Chapter 1104 - New Technique!

    Chapter 1104 New Technique!


    No one was shocked by the fact that Yang Mingzhi was a domain realm master. They were just shocked at how sturdy his barrier was. It was sturdy enough to protect all the 20 people behind it.


    The force of the explosion was equal to the impact of Yu Wei and Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain attacksbined. Yet, the barrier didn¡¯t crack or move under such immense force.


    They were all domain realm masters. Thus, they were well aware that making such a huge barrier required much energy and concentration. Yet, Yang Mingzhi seemed extremely rxed when doing such a task. He only used one hand to control the barrier and he still seemed to have a lot of energy back in his tank.


    ¡°That Major General Yang must be a titled domain realm formidable warrior.¡± Lin Yang was jealous.


    One in ten million people would be able to advance to the domain realm. Compared to that, the probability of someone bing a titled domain realm formidable warrior was even slimmer. After that, the probability of bing an imperial stage domain expert was almost zero. Even more than that, bing an imperial realm formidable warrior was basically bing a world wonder. This was why there were only nine imperial realm formidable warriors in the human world. An even more frightening existence were the two god-realm formidable warriors.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Yu, your domain concept is really powerful.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and looked up. ¡°But, please do be careful from now on.¡±


    Yu Wei immediately got on his guard when he heard the warning.


    Until now, he wasn¡¯t sure what Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain concept was. However, since he dared to warn him, it must be powerful.


    The space around Li Lanfeng started distorting. It turned ck. The ck distorted space started spreading out and swallowing all the energy around it.


    The people from Lingtian were shocked at how Li Lanfeng was using his domain concept.


    Yang Mingzhi retracted his barrier when it almost came in contact with Li Lanfeng¡¯s virtual domain territory. A hint of agitation finally appeared on his ever-calm face. He said in a low voice, ¡°Move back now.¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s virtual domain concept was too frightening, even for him. It could virtualize any energy within its territory and alter them to his domain concept. Li Lanfeng was the kind of opponent the team leaders from Lingtian never wanted to meet, as his domain concept was just too sinister. There was no way of breaking through it.


    Besides Boss Ling Lan, no one could defeat Li Lanfeng, not even Qi Long. Of course, Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t defeat Qi Long too. The two people with the strongest physical skills were not Yang Mingzhi or any of the veteran soldiers. It was the young Qi Long and Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°What concept is that? Is it cutting off my senses or is it swallowing my concept?¡± Yu Wei¡¯s expression changed when he felt his domain energy disappearing into the ck distorted space.


    ¡°Heaven-Defying Finger!¡± Li Lanfeng pushed his right forefinger towards Yu Wei. The ck concept energy could be seen on the tip of his finger. It drew a ck line in the air as it moved towards Yu Wei.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s attack wasn¡¯t fast by any means. In fact, it was quite slow. On any other asion, Yu Wei would be able to dodge it easily. However, for some reason, Yu Wei felt his thought slowing down to a turtle-like pace. He wanted to move quickly but his mind was reacting very slowly to everything that was happening, which caused his movements to slow down.


    ¡°What is happening? Why isn¡¯t Regiment Commander Yu dodging?¡± Lin Yang and the other regimentmanders noticed an oddness in Yu Wei¡¯s inaction.


    ¡°That is probably not a simple attack!¡± Lin Yang stared at Li Lanfeng¡¯s forefinger. Suddenly, he felt his mind being locked up. He couldn¡¯t think properly.


    ¡°This is bad.¡¯ Lin Yang quickly activated his domain concept and broke the shackles caused by the finger.


    By the time Lin Yang returned to normal, there was cold sweat all over his body. He was only a spectator but he still got affected by the finger. He could understand why Yu Wei didn¡¯t move now.


    If Yu Wei couldn¡¯t escape the control of the finger, he would lose this fight.


    Yu Wei seemed to have sensed something odd with the finger too. He opened his eyes wide and roared out in anger.


    Boom! The air around him exploded, disrupting his domain territory as well as Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain territory in the process.


    Yu Wei had decisively exploded the heat domain concept in the air around him. He made use of the vibration from the particles to break free from the shackles of Li Lanfeng¡¯s finger.


    Yu Wei immediately retreated back. Li Lanfeng¡¯s attack didn¡¯t seed.


    ¡°F**k, did Li Lanfengprehend another new technique? Is he human? Do good things onlye after you are almost beaten to death by Boss?¡± The people from Lingtian were green with envy when they saw Li Lanfeng using a new technique.


    Li Yingjie heard this and rolled his eyes. ¡°What are you saying? Why didn¡¯t I get anything out after I almost got beaten to death?¡±


    ¡°Are you sure? Little Leader Li, if you didn¡¯t get beaten so badly, would you have advanced to the domain realm?¡± One of the older team leaders beside him didn¡¯t agree with what he said. Li Yingjie managed to advance to the domain realm after he almost died in Boss¡¯s hands.


    Li Yingjie was so badly injured that he couldn¡¯t get up from the healing pod for half a month but, the benefits he got after the beating were worth it. Many team leaders and deputies who hadn¡¯t advanced to the domain realm wished that they were in his position.


    Li Yingjie was speechless by what he heard, but after he thought about it. ¡®Well, it did seem as though I got some benefit.¡¯

 Chapter 1105 - Help Me, Xie Yi!

    Chapter 1105 Help Me, Xie Yi!


    Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t disappointed by the fact that he hadn¡¯tnded a single hit. He extended his middle finger and slowly pointed it towards Yu Wei again, who was standing in front of him.


    Yu Wei manipted the concept energy created from his heat domain concept to make the air around him explode. That was how he managed to escape from the shackles of Li Lanfeng¡¯s one finger, so seeing Li Lanfeng sending out another finger made his expression change instantly. He didn¡¯t think for a moment and extracted all of his domain concept energy from his body.


    His heat domain concept energy met up with Li Lanfeng¡¯s finger¡¯s dark energy and self-destructed.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s odd technique and domain concept made Yu Wei realize he couldn¡¯t fight against him. However, as a regimentmander, Yu Wei definitely wouldn¡¯t ept a loss. Thus, he chose a way to cause harm to both sides so that both of them would lose.


    The force behind the attack instantly blew away the two of them who were battling.


    Yu Wei staggered as hended on the ground and a streak of blood ran down the corner of his lips uncontrobly.


    Afternding, Li Lanfeng took 3 to 4 steps back before he got rid of the force behind the attack to avoid being injured again.


    ¡°Good fight, Regiment Commander Yu,¡± Li Lanfeng said as he smirked after raising his head.


    Yu Wei¡¯s face was pale. He didn¡¯t expect his all-out attack to fail to injure a normal-looking leader. Instead of injuring him, he was injured instead. The feeling of frustration in his body turned into anger and it instantly rushed into his head. His eyes turned red as he red at Li Lanfeng. He had the thought of making enemies with Lingtian right there and now, and fight as a group.


    The 36 Heavenly Warriors from Piercing Arrow noticed this and they instantly went to surround Li Lanfeng.


    Everyone from Lingtian also didn¡¯t let up and also arrived beside Li Lanfeng. Both sides faced each other and a fight was about tomence.


    ¡°Heroes are really born young. Captain Li, I admire you.¡± The atmosphere got heavy, so Lin Yang immediately spoke up.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Yu, the generation after us will always be more powerful. If our generation doesn¡¯t work harder, we might be left in the dust by them in the end.¡± Lin Yang turned around to look at Yu Wei. His eyes were telling Yu Wei that this was Lingtian¡¯s territory and that he shouldn¡¯t fight.


    Lin Yang¡¯s intervention allowed Yu Wei to have time to calm down. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. When he opened them again, there was no longer anger in them. He rxed his fist and said, ¡°Sorry for the unsightly showing just now, Leader Li. I rightfully lost the battle just now.¡±


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± All 36 Heavenly Warriors from Piercing Arrow shouted out in surprise.


    Jiang Yong ruthlessly red at Li Lanfeng. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that his domain concept was strange, their regimentmander would never lose?


    ¡°It seems like you have a different opinion about the result?¡± A clear and sharp voice suddenly rang beside his ears. ¡°How about I give you the chance to prove to us you are right?¡±


    Everyone looked towards Lingtian¡¯s group. A beautiful and elegant lieutenant colonel stood beside Li Lanfeng before anyone had noticed and was smiling towards the members of other ns.


    Li Lanfeng nced at him and saw the desire to fight in his eyes. He smiled and slowly backed up


    ¡°What do you mean by your words?¡± Jiang Yong¡¯s eyes narrowed.


    ¡°I think you guys still aren¡¯t willing to give in and admit defeat even after we all have beaten you. If so, how about this? We¡¯ll just fight again... until you admit defeat.¡± This female lieutenant colonel seemed to not know how to make well-rounded conversations. The words she was spouting were enough to make a person vomit out mouthfuls of blood.


    Unsurprisingly, the people from Piercing Arrow instantly became angry at her words. Even Yu Wei, who had calmed down, had a hardened expression on his face once again.


    However, before they could let out their anger, the words this female lieutenant colonel spoke afterwardspletely stunned them. They didn¡¯t know whether she was joking or was actually retarded.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Lin, I¡¯m not going to fight you so don¡¯t worry. You¡¯re Qi Long¡¯s opponent,¡± the female lieutenant colonel pointed towards Lin Yang and said.


    Lin Yang¡¯s cheeks twitched. If he were actually going to fight, there would be some troublesome matters following after him.


    ¡°One, two, three, four.¡± Her finger moved around as she pointed towards the four regimentmanders standing beside Lin Yang. ¡°You four are domain realm masters... it would be too slow to fight one by one. How about you foure at me at the same time?¡±


    Hearing this, one of the regimentmanders was instantly angered and scoffed. ¡°You want to fight us 1-on-4? That¡¯s absurd.¡±


    The female lieutenant colonel shook her head and replied earnestly, ¡°If I alone fought with four regimentmanders at the same time, I would die. I¡¯m not that retarded.¡±


    However, a weak womaning out and challenging domain realm masters was already a very dumb move on her part. Everyone couldn¡¯t help but swear under their breath.


    ¡°Xie Yi, help me.¡± The female lieutenant colonel turned around and spoke out a name.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Azy-looking lieutenant colonel walked out from Lingtian¡¯s group and stood beside Luo Lang.


    The female lieutenant colonel then patted that person¡¯s chest and smiled. ¡°The two of us will challenge the four of you.¡±


    ¡°Arrogant!¡± Hearing her condescending words, the four regimentmanders instantly shouted angrily.


    Lin Yang looked at Yang Mingzhi with a serious expression on his face. ¡°Major General Yang, a challenge isn¡¯t a game. Please stop this foolishness.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi smiled and said, ¡°Regiment Commander Lin and all other regimentmanders, please don¡¯t misunderstand. I will introduce these two individuals.¡± He pointed towards Xie Yi. ¡°He is our Team 05¡¯s team leader, Leader Xie Yi.¡±


    After hearing that thiszy-looking lieutenant colonel was the leader of a mecha team that was ranked even higher than the scary and unpredictable Li Lanfeng, everyone was instantly stunned. The anger in their expressions instantly halved, as they looked towards Xie Yi with a hint of caution.


    ¡°And this person is the team leader of Team 04, Leader Luo Lang.¡± The words that Yang Mingzhi spoke afterwards shocked those people even more. This female lieutenant colonel, who everyone disregarded, was actually the next person after Major General Liu Furong, Major General Yang Mingzhi and Colonel Qi Long.


    After making the introductions, Yang Mingzhi¡¯s smile was nowhere to be seen on his face. ¡°Plus, I don¡¯t believe that it is arrogant that our Leader Luo and Leader Xie challenged the four of you.¡±


    The four regimentmanders¡¯ faces immediately darkened. Yang Mingzhi¡¯s words were implying that these two young leaders were actual domain realm masters.


    ¡°That¡¯s not possible. How can a woman be a domain realm master?¡± Jiang Yong was not able to ept that he wasn¡¯t as strong as a woman.


    Boom! Right after the said that, a terrifying energy instantly sent him flying before falling onto the ground facefirst.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± A mouthful of blood came out from his mouth.


    Everyone from Piercing Arrow angrily looked at the person who had just attacked.


    Luo Lang¡¯s beautiful face had signs of wrath on it. A hind of killing intent shed between his eyes. ¡°Although I¡¯m not a woman, the way you look down on women still makes me nauseous.¡±


    ¡°In Lingtian, gender is never used as a standard for measuring strength. Don¡¯t ever let me hear your ape- like thoughts ever again. Otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t be a question that you were hit or not but rather whether you died or not.¡± Luo Lang¡¯s cold and sharp gaze scanned past everyone. Everyone understood from his wrathful eyes that he wasn¡¯t just randomly saying those words to scare them, he was actually going to do what he said if they discriminated towards women again.


    Lingtian had two n sisters, Luo Chao and Han Xuya. Luo Lang didn¡¯t want his two baby sisters to be humiliated by some random outsiders.

 Chapter 1106 - Narcissus

    <strong>Chapter 1106 Narcissus</strong>


    ¡°Luo Lang, don¡¯t waste anymore of your breath. Let¡¯s fight now.¡± Xie Yi clenched his fist and smiled.


    ¡°Okay!¡± The moment Xie Yi finished speaking, Luo Lang¡¯s presence turned from gentle and harmless to vicious and frightening


    ¡°Domain!¡± The four regimentmanders turned serious when they felt Luo Lang¡¯s overwhelming presence. They began to spread themselves out, forming a fan-shape formation in front of Luo Lang.


    By now, they were certain that his weak-looking beautiful young man was a domain realm master. From his force of presence, he was definitely not a newly advanced domain realm master. He should have at least been in the domain realm for two years. If not, his domain concept wouldn¡¯t be so overwhelming andplete.


    ¡®Where on earth did Lingtiane from? How are there so many monsters here?¡¯ The regimentmanders didn¡¯t know Luo Lang¡¯s real age but they knew that just by Luo Lang¡¯s appearance that he definitely broke the record for being the youngest domain realm master.


    This record was not really urate since there were many secret armies or organizations that wouldn¡¯t report their domain realm masters to the official authority. Hence, there were many young domain realm masters hidden from the public eye. The people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces were an instance of such an organization. Anyone inside the Flying Dragon Special Forces was powerful enough to shock the world.


    However, no such people would usually be in the military since they would usually be drafted by those secret armies and organizations at a very young age. This was why they were shocked to the core. Furthermore, they didn¡¯t expect such outstanding youths to appear in a newly advanced titled super mecha n.


    The two people in front of them, Luo Lang and Xie Yi, as well as Li Lanfeng and Qi Long, were all domain realm masters. The other lieutenant colonels and majors standing behind them were probably domain realms masters too.


    ¡°Xie¡¯Er, don¡¯t humiliate us.¡± Xie Yi spoke to Xie¡¯Er in his mindscape.


    ¡°You talk too much.¡± Xie¡¯Er was irritated. ¡°We just need to cooperate, right?¡±


    ¡°I was waiting for those words.¡± Xie Yiughed. Thunder was resounded through the training ground. The piercing sound almost burst the eardrums of the unprepared spectators.


    ¡°Lightning type!¡± Lin Yang was dumbfounded when he saw the lightning bolts around Xie Yi. He finally understood what Yang Mingzhi meant by his words.


    The lightning element was considered the strongest offensive domain concept. No unprepared domain realm master would be able to resist an attack from a lightning element domain realm master. Even the strongest defensive element, the earth element, couldn¡¯t effectively defend against it. Earth element domain realm masters had to really concentrate to defend against a lightning attack. Plus, since their offenses were weak, they would be defeated in the end.


    It could be said that the lightning element was the strongest known domain concept, making lightning element domain realm masters almost invincible. The epitome of physical skills in each country were usually lightning element domain realm masters. Only when lightning element domain realm masters couldn¡¯t be found, would they choose a fire element domain realm master to take over this position.


    The leader of the new generation from what he heard was a lightning element domain realm master too. The leader was in the Flying Dragon Special Forces so he shouldn¡¯t be here in Lingtian as a minor team leader.


    However, the surprises Lingtian had given him never stopped as there was another youth in the Federation who awakened the lightning element domain concept, and this youth was right in front of him.


    In front of a lightning element domain realm master, the best way to defeat him was to have a numbers advantage over him.


    Lin Yang remembered the advice to defeat a lightning element domain realm master his instructor gave him in the past. This showed how powerful the lightning element domain realm masters actually were. If Lingtian chose to have a one-on-one battle, it would be an unfair fight so allowing them to send two people from their side to fight against one person from Lingtian was a fair decision on their part.


    The four regimentmander groaned secretly when they saw Xie Yi¡¯s domain concept. Thiszy-looking young man actually had the most powerful known domain concept. They knew how frightening the lightning element was so they instantly activated their domain concept to stay vignt of any attacksing their way.


    The four of them exchanged nces with each other. Then, they moved to their position.


    Two regimentmanders arrived in front of Xie Yi..


    One was an earth element domain realm master while the other was a fire element domain realm master.


    The other two regimentmanders rushed towards Luo Lang. Their elements were water and gold.


    They made the decision in an instant. This was the best typebination against their opponents. The earth element was good against the lightning element in terms of defenses. However, itcked offensive power so the fire element should be able to make up for it. This was an almost perfectbination to fight against a lightning element domain realm master.


    Water is restrained by lightning in nature. They wouldn¡¯t face a lightning element domain realm master with such a weakbination during a crucial time like this.


    ¡°Water and gold?¡± Luo Lang stared at his opponents intently. ¡°Calm personality, you¡¯re up.¡±


    ¡°Water element is adept at searching while the gold element is good during group fights. Narcissus, Assassin, it¡¯s your turn to perform.¡± The calm personality quickly chose the two personalities for the fight.


    ¡°Oh my god, you finally remember me.¡± A burst of skrkughter rang through Luo Lang¡¯s mindscape and a beautiful young man walked out from the dark corners of his mindscape.


    ¡°Pfft, I¡¯m so unlucky. Why do I need to work with you?¡± Assassin, who had a strong killing intent oozing out of him, sighed in frustration.


    ¡°Big Brother Assassin, do you hate me so much?¡± The beautiful young man had tears in his eyes as he approached Assassin. He seemed hurt by what Assassin said.


    ¡°Narcissus, stop looking at me with that expression. If not, I might not be able to control myself and sh my knives at you.¡± A murderous intent appeared on Assassin¡¯s face. He flicked his hands together and knives appeared by the dozens.


    Narcissus knew Assassin meant what he said so he sighed in resignation and shut up.


    He was a good person at heart. Why did his brothers hate him so much? But, the primary personality would definitely like him, right? He looked lovingly at the primary personality with dewy eyes. He wanted to pounce on him and ask him if he liked him.


    ¡°Combine!¡± Calm personality didn¡¯t care about their conflicts and gave his order anyway.


    ¡°Hmph.¡± Assassin red at Narcissus. He didn¡¯t like this personality but he still listened to calm personality and walked to the primary personality.


    ¡°I understand, brother,¡± Narcissus obediently replied. He saw Assassinbining sessfully with the primary personality so he went forward and merged with Luo Lang too.


    Calm personality was thest tobine with Luo Lang. If he didn¡¯t control the other personalities while they were merging, they might interfere with the decision of the primary personality which might confuse the primary personality.


    Back in the real world, Luo Lang had just lowered his head and closed his eyes. The two opposing regimentmanders in front of him activated their domain quietly in response to his actions. They felt that they had an advantage since they were facing Luo Lang together so they allowed Luo Lang to attack them first.


    Luo Lang suddenly opened his eyes. A frightening and powerful domain concept instantly exploded from his body.

 Chapter 1107 - Affected By the Technique?

    <h4>Chapter 1107 Affected By the Technique?</h4>


    The gold and water element regimentmanders could only feel that Luo Lang¡¯s domain was filled with coldness, killing intent and a hint of a ghostly feeling.


    Lin Yang focused in on Luo Lang as he tried to sense Luo Lang¡¯s domain energy, but he discovered it was the same situation as Leader Li. He couldn¡¯t feel anything.


    However, he now could confirm that this Leader Luo had simr domain powers as that Leader Li. They were both in possessions of special domains as only special domain concepts could be remained undetected before a fight.


    The two regimentmanders, who were the opponents of Luo Lang, sensed the peculiar nature of Luo Lang domain energy. They quickly looked at each other with hidden intentions beneath their eyes. The regimentmander with the water element domain activated a defensive technique. Suddenly,yers andyers of water appeared and wrapped around them, protecting them from any iing attacks, while the gold element regimentmander was preparing an offensive technique.


    Countless golden daggers appeared from thin air and surrounded the entire area.


    ¡°The gold element¡¯s strongest area of effect technique.¡± Yang Mingzhi frowned slightly. Although the offensive strength of the gold element was weaker than the lightning and fire elements, it was still considered to be third in terms of offensive strength. Yang Mingzhi knew that Luo Lang¡¯s domain was special and was created through abination of the different personalities within him which allowed Luo Lang to use different domain techniques every single time he fought. However, could Luo Lang go against such a strong area of effect technique with his uniquebinations?


    Faced with golden daggersing from all sides, Luo Lang didn¡¯t panic at all. He raised his right hand slightly and a copper bell appeared in his hand.


    A flirtatious smile slowly formed on his face as his wrist gently swayed. A continuous and pleasant bell sound instantly rang in the area.


    Not long after, the entire training area was filled with countless sounds of bells.


    It was clearly the sound of bells but in Lin Yang¡¯s ears, he heard the sound of a heavenly voice that could hypnotize people involuntarily. They would listen to it until the end of the world, or when the sound of the heavenly voice stops.


    ¡°Not good!¡± Lin Yang bit his tongue to awake from his stupor. The immense pain woke him up instantly. The heavenly voice that was originally ringing in his ears was now filled with continuous rings of bells instead.


    Despite breaking through the hypnotic voice, Lin Yang still had cold sweats all over his body. He was only watching from a distance and was still affected. Then, wouldn¡¯t those people who were the targets of those sounds be hypnotized to an even deeper level?


    Lin Yang focused on the field and saw that the two regimentmanders facing Luo Lang lookedpletely focused and careful but they weren¡¯t moving.


    ¡°They¡¯ve been affected by the technique.¡± Luo Lang¡¯s method of using the Decadent Voice was quite amazing. It didn¡¯t require his opponents to do anything at all as it could silently lure into the sounds by the bells. This forced Luo Lang¡¯s opponents to be fully focused on their defenses which stopped them from attacking Luo Lang. Thus, Luo Lang¡¯s ingenious way of method allowed him to attack and defend at the same time


    ¡°That copper bell is really impressive. I¡¯m not sure what it is made out of.¡± Lin Yang stared at Luo Lang¡¯s copper bell. Suddenly, he seemed to have discovered something as his eyes opened wide in shock.


    ¡°That¡¯s not a real copper bell. It was created through his domain concept energy.¡± Lin Yang finally figured out what the copper bell was actually made from.


    ¡°The real source of Decadent Voice is himself.¡± Lin Yang finally noticed that Luo Lang¡¯s red lips were opening and closing very slightly. Most people would have definitely not discovered such motions as they were very minute.


    ¡°So, Decadent Voice can be used like that as well...¡± Zhao Jun mumbled to himself.


    ¡°Decadent Voice isn¡¯t just singing. You can make your enemies hear what you want them to hear.¡± Li Lanfeng, who knew about Zhao Jun¡¯s inner troubles, decisively used this opportunity to exin to him. He hoped that the next time Zhao Jun activates his domain, he wouldn¡¯t feel forced to do things that made him feel ufortable.


    After Li Lanfeng finished speaking, an alluring singing voice echoed in his ears.


    ¡°It¡¯s really Decadent Voice.¡± When the singing began, Lin Yang confirmed his guess, but he was still unsure why it was the sound of bells and not singing at the beginning.


    The two regimentmanders who were facing Luo Lang were still on guard. They hoped they could stop the deafening bell sounds so that they could finally be awake from their stupor.


    Suddenly, they sensed a strong signal of a crisis approaching. This was the sense of crisis all domain realm masters had. The more capable the domain realm master was, the stronger the sense.


    When he felt the strong signal of a crisis approaching, the water element regimentmander didn¡¯t even hesitate and enclosed the two of them inyers andyers of water.


    The gold element regimentmander was also awakened by his sense of crisis. He didn¡¯t think even for a moment and ruthlessly shot all the sharp daggers around them towards Luo Lang.


    ¡°Tink, tink, tink...¡± Countless sharp daggers pierced the ground around them. The immense destructive power instantly swept up the dirt from the ground.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Yu Wei, who was watching the battle from the side, suddenly shouted out loud.


    Luo Lang had already disappeared from his previous location and appeared beside the water element regimentmander with a tangdao already pushed against his throat. Just one little push would cut right through that regimentmander¡¯s throat.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening? How did he manage to get past countlessyers of water without making a sound and appear behind our regimentmander?¡± One leader from the n of the water element regimentmander was in disbelief.


    How did he manage to do that? Not only did some leaders not understand, even Lin Yang and Yu Wei, who were also watching the battle as two capable domain realm masters, didn¡¯t understand what had happened. As for the water element regimentmander, he was also unable toprehend this inexplicable phenomenon.


    ¡°Are we still going to fight?¡± Luo Lang stared into the eyes of the gold element regimentmander as he asked coldly.


    The gold element regimentmander¡¯s eyes began to twitch. It could be seen in his eyes that he didn¡¯t want to just admit defeat like that.


    ¡°You have already lost when the two of you heard the bell ringing.¡± Suddenly, Luo Lang¡¯s voice was heard from behind the gold element regimentmander.


    A young man full with killing intent appeared behind the gold element domain realm master. The tangdao in his hand already dug into his back. If he pierced just a little bit deeper, he would have pierced the gold element domain realm master¡¯s heart.


    Everyone looked towards the regimentmander with the water element domain. They saw that the cold-looking Luo Lang now had a different expression on his face. His left hand was covering the left side of his face as he smiled flirtatiously. The smile had a hint of pleasure and self-delusion.


    The water element regimentmander noticed that Luo Lang¡¯s attention was not on him, so he wanted to use that opportunity to get away from the tangdao but suddenly, a cold hand grabbed his throat.


    The tangdao that was pointed against his throat suddenly dissipated into the thin air when that hand grabbed his throat. That tangdao was actually an illusion and it didn¡¯t pose a threat at all. He had beenpletely fooled.


    Perhaps that hand was also an illusion? Everyone saw the flirtatious Luo Lang smiling as he continued to caress his own face with one hand, and that hand wasn¡¯t even his own.


    Was it possible that the Luo Lang full with killing intent at the gold element regimentmander¡¯s location was also an illusion?

 Chapter 1108 - My Name is Not Little Leng!

    <h4>Chapter 1108 My Name is Not Little Leng!</h4>


    The gold element regimentmander seemed to want to prove this guess. He then felt sharp pain digging further into his back, as the tangdao finally poked a hole into his body which allowed blood to gush out from his body and stained his uniform.


    ¡°Don¡¯t make any sudden movements. My tangdao is real,¡± Assassin said calmly. His sword wasn¡¯t an illusion. It was a sharp weapon created by congting his killing intent into one shape, making it even more terrifying than the real thing.


    The Luo Lang with the tangdao was the real one? Then, did that mean the one beside the water element regimentmander was fake?


    The water element regimentmander was still unwilling to admit defeat, so after seeing the Luo Lang on the gold regimentmander was the real one, he wanted to struggle out of the cold hand on his throat. However, what happened nextpletely confused him, because when he tried to escape from the hand around his neck, he felt a terrifying powering towards his throat. It almost broke his neck.


    ¡°Make sure not move, okay? I¡¯m not fake,¡± the Luo Lang standing behind him said slyly.


    As he finished speaking, a cold and emotionless Luo Lang appeared in front of everyone.


    Was he the real one? What was even happening? Wasn¡¯t this Luo Lang just one person? What type of existence were these other Luo Langs?


    <b>Tere</b>


    Lin Yang and the others were stunned when they saw that there were three... no, four Luo Langs on the field.


    They had just discovered that the fourth Luo Lang had appeared sometime ago beside the field where Xie Yi and the earth and fire element regimentmanders were fighting. That Luo Lang was just sitting down calmly with his hands on his chin watching Xie Yi¡¯s battle with great interest.


    When Luo Lang was fighting his opponents, Xie Yi was also fighting with his own. Both sides were at a stalemate where a victor couldn¡¯t be determined.


    ¡°Xie Yi, stop ying around. I¡¯ve already finished on my end.¡± Luo Lang watched for a bit and lost interest. Hezily prompted Xie Yi to finish.


    ¡°Alright.¡± Xie Yi was clearly in a difficult situation but after hearing those words, he actually turned around and smiled towards Luo Lang in response.


    The smile had a hint of spoiling Luo Lang.


    After saying those words, the lightning that was originally snaking all around suddenly exploded outwards and the sound of thunder became deeper and more fierce. The high frequency of the thunder seemed to havepletely shattered this space like a window. Some less capable leaders even felt their eardrums pop. Their ears then had blood dripping out from them.


    Just from the sound of thunder was enough to injure them.


    The space around Xie Yi and the two regimentmanders had now beenpletely enveloped by arge cluster of thunder and lightning


    Seeing this, along with the fierce thunder booming in their ears, Lin Yang, Yu Wei, the other regimentmanders and leaders all felt their muscles be numb as if they were shocked by lightning.


    ¡°Break!¡± Xie Yi shouted. Then, the entire training area shook as a terrifying explosive sound echoed within it.


    When the immense lightning and thunder dissipated, there were two charred bodiesying on the ground in aa in the center area that waspletely decimated. Luckily, their bodies were still unconsciously twitching so it was a sign that they were still alive.


    Despite the earth element regimentmander having the toughest defenses and the fire element regimentmander helping him while trying to attack at the same time, Xie Yi and Xie¡¯Er¡¯sbined work perfected their lightning which made it many times more powerful than how other lightning domain realm masters could make it. The lightning element was already unbeatable on the same stage, not to mention Xie Yi and Xie¡¯Er¡¯s perfect form of lightning.


    ¡®This is the power of the lightning element? Even two domain realm masters can¡¯t go against it?¡¯ Lin Yang couldn¡¯t help but sigh. He had always heard about the strength of the lightning element, but now he had seen and understood with his own eyes the reason why the lightning element was feared. It was no wonder every country would choose lightning element domain realm masters to be military leaders of each generation. It was indeed strong.


    ¡°Are they in danger?¡± Lin Yang held in the shock he felt in his heart and quickly asked Xie Yi about the safety of the two regimentmanders.


    ¡°They¡¯re fine. They¡¯ve only been shocked unconscious and won¡¯t be in any danger.¡± Smiled Xie Yi. This was just a battle between ¡®allies¡¯. They weren¡¯t actually enemies, thus Xie Yi still held back. Otherwise, with Xie Yi¡¯s capabilities, he would still crippled his opponents¡¯ domain even if he didn¡¯t kill them.


    The leaders, who were the subordinates of the two regimentmanders, had already walked up and helped their regimentmander drink down a vial of their recovery agent. Not long after, the two regimentmanders woke up and looked at Xie Yi with surprise and fear.


    Xie Yi said apologetically, ¡°In order to defeat two such strong regimentmanders, I could only use my full power. If I had identally harmed the two of you, please ept my sincere apologies.¡±


    ¡°Leader Xie is truly impressive. We admit defeat.¡± The two regimentmanders looked at each other and saw the bitterness in each other¡¯s eyes. They originally wanted to see how strong Lingtian was and take them down a notch. They didn¡¯t think it was them who were taken down a notch. The opposition only sent out a leader andpletely decimated their coborated effort.


    Although their opponent had the strongest offensive element, the invincible lightning element, they still couldn¡¯t make any excuses for their loss. If they lost, they lost.


    The two of them swiftly admitted defeat. The other two, who were still being controlled by Luo Lang, saw this and also smiled bitterly as they surrendered.


    As they surrendered, they saw the three Luo Langs beside them disappeared into thin air. If there was someone who could see shapeless spiritual entities, they would be able to see these three Luo Langs be spiritual entities and return to Luo Lang¡¯s body.


    ¡°So unfortunate. I barely got toe out. I really want to talk to the primary personality...¡± When Narcissus returned to the mindscape, he had a face full of regret. Wasn¡¯t he just a little bit narcissistic? Why did all his elder brothers not like him? They wouldn¡¯t even inform him when something fun was about to happen.


    ¡°Phew, they finally returned.¡± Luo Lang let out a sigh of relief. He really couldn¡¯t endure through Narcissus¡¯ narcissism... Plus, afterbining into one, Narcissus¡¯ every move was portrayed on his body. His actions made him feel itchy everywhere.


    ¡°You have many personalities and there are many oddballs in those many personalities. You must get used to them and not treat them any differently...¡± The calm personality saw Luo Lang was somewhat refusing Narcissus and reminded him.


    Once the primary personality dislikes a secondary personality, then that secondary personality would have a difficult time appearing ever again. They might even be locked in the little ck room for eternity, and secondary personalities hated staying in the little ck room the most. Thus, the primary personality must not show any bias to any of the secondary personalities. Otherwise, the secondary personalities that were disliked would bottled up negative emotions in them. Even if Calm was the center of them, the negative emotion that was bottled in the ignored secondary personalities would eventually explode.


    ¡°Understood Little Leng, I will pay attention to that,¡± Luo Lang replied cutely.


    The calm personality red at Luo Lang and then said, ¡°Don¡¯t call me Little Leng...¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think calling you calm personality troublesome? I¡¯ve decided to call you Little Leng.¡± Luo Lang didn¡¯t heed the warning of the calm personality and made his decision.


    ¡°...¡± The calm personality didn¡¯t say anything in the end and just walked into the depths of Luo Lang¡¯s mindscape.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t object to it then that means you¡¯re epting it.¡± Luo Lang smiled satisfyingly.


    He wasn¡¯t epting it. He was ignoring him.


    The calm personality walked into the depth with a helpless expression on his face. In the end, he shook his head in exasperation as he stepped into the darkness andpletely vanished.

 Chapter 1109 - Fair?

    <h4>Chapter 1109 Fair?</h4>


    Seeing Xie Yi and Luo Lang easily defeat two regimentmanders each, the look everyone gave towards Lingtian becameplicated and cautious.


    Many people also looked cautiously towards Qi Long, Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong. The leaders who were ranked under them were already so powerful, so going by the standards of the rankings in a mecha n, the top three leaders were definitely the strongest leaders of the entire mecha n.


    Under the watchful gaze of everyone, Qi Long walked out of the crowd with an earnest smile on his face.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Lin, please.¡± Qi Long formally showed that he wanted to challenge him.


    Luo Lang had already mentioned that Lin Yang was his opponent. If he didn¡¯t proactively challenge him, he would have beenughed at by hisrades. Plus, Qi Long loved battles like these so Luo Lang¡¯s words were just what he wanted.


    Lin Yang looked at Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong with a vignt expression. The two of them had their hands behind their backs with selfposed expressions that showed they weren¡¯t going to make any moves. When he saw them being so rxed, Lin Yang then knew that the opponent Lingtian had chosen for him was this Leader Qi Long.


    <b>we</b>


    It looked like they ced much faith in this Leader Qi. Lin Yang was very certain that Lingtian wasn¡¯t an arrogant and clueless mecha n. Although they got the wrong impression when Lingtian had the severely injured Leader Li challenge their domain realm masters, reality still confirmed that Lingtian had the capabilities to be so arrogant.


    Xie Yi and Luo Lang had also confirmed this fact after the first fight. This Qi Long, who was ranked third, was definitely also a top-tier existence


    Although Lin Yang felt much regret that he couldn¡¯t fight against the two major generals, Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong, Qi Long was still sufficient for him to take interest in.


    ¡°Please!¡± Lin Yang made a battle-ready pose.


    ¡°After you!¡± Qi Long¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly and put up a defensive pose in response.


    ¡°That¡¯s odd, there¡¯s no movement at all.¡± The area was so silent that it surprised everyone. Especially whenpared to Xie Yi¡¯s overwhelming thunder and lightning, Qi Long and Lin Yang¡¯s silent battle seemed even more strange.


    Yang Mingzhi, Liu Furong, Luo Lang, Xie Yi, Li Lanfeng and others who had advanced to the domain realm all had odd expressions on their faces, some of them even frowned.


    ¡°Qi Long is going to face difficulties in this battle,¡± Yang Mingzhi said softly.


    To everyone in Lingtian,pared to traditional elemental domains, special domain gave them more headaches.


    After all, standard elements had long been studied thoroughly by the Federation¡¯s experts. Even if they had never seen them in battle, they would still have a rough idea what type of powerful techniques their opponents had. However, special elements were in the thousands. These special domains were studied for thousands of years, but experts still didn¡¯t dare to say that they had studied all special domains as there would always be new special elements appearing in the universe. When faced with these unknown domain concepts, people would still be at a disadvantage no matter how careful they were with their preparation.


    After saying all this, everyone discovered that Lin Yang¡¯s domain was also a special domain. It was also a concept that waspletely unknown.


    ¡°Simrly, Qi Long¡¯s opponent wouldn¡¯t have a good time as well,¡± Li Lanfeng said calmly. ¡°The two of them both have special domain concepts and are both unknown to each other. This battle for the two of them is considered fair.¡±


    ¡°Fair?¡± After hearing Li Lanfeng¡¯s words, Li Yingjie couldn¡¯t help but toss out insults. ¡°You¡¯re speaking so shamelessly. Even if that Regiment Commander Lin had a special unidentified domain, his domain still wouldn¡¯t be like Qi Long¡¯s overpowered and unbeatable domain concept... Qi Long clearly has the upper hand.¡±


    Li Lanfeng smirked as he said mockingly, ¡°Then, what do you want me to say? Do you want Qi Long to seal his domain concept and fight a supposed fair battle?¡±


    ¡°You idiot!¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯sst two words were said underneath his breath. However, those around him were all domain realm masters. How could they not hear it?


    ¡°Li Lanfeng!¡± Li Yingjie was instantly angered. ¡°I want to fight you.¡±


    ¡°Quiet! Watch the battle quietly,¡± Li Lanfengpletely ignored Li Yingjie and only coldly spoke these words.


    Although the two of them all had the surname ¡®Li¡¯, their rtionship was terrible. Although they hadn¡¯t reached the point where they were constantly at each other¡¯s throats when they met up, they still would go against each other as a conversation between them went on or speak badly of each other. Of course, every time Little Leader Li would lose in the verbal fight. Everyone saw how badly Big Leader Li was bullying him that they felt pity for Little Leader Li.


    However, Little Leader Li never learned his lesson. He would return after fully recovering from the verbal fight the next day and fall into Li Lanfeng¡¯s traps once again...


    This time, it wouldn¡¯t be any different. Right as he was about to continue to argue, Li Lanfeng spoke, ¡°Don¡¯t anger our regimentmander.¡±


    Regiment Commander? Boss! That was right. Qi Long had said that Boss was at the medical department, waiting for this bastard Li Lanfeng¡¯s final treatment results. If Li Lanfeng appeared here, did that mean Boss was here as well?


    Li Yingjie suddenly realized this and quickly swallowed the insults he was about to shout out, which almost severely injured himself in the process.


    ¡°It seems you can teach a dog new tricks!¡± From the corner of his eye, he saw Li Lanfeng silently mouthing those words, along with the mocking smile on his face. This made Li Yingjie almost spit out blood from the anger.


    ¡°Just you wait!¡± Li Yingjie held in the burning rage in his chest and spoke out by mouthing those words towards Li Lanfeng. When they sent off these visitors, he definitely would challenge Li Lanfeng to a fight. He would definitely not leave the training ground if he didn¡¯t make Li Lanfeng eat some dirt.


    ¡°I have always had this question in mind. Why is Li Yingjie constantly looking for his own demise?¡± Luo Lang asked Han Jijyun, who was beside him, with an expression of confusion.


    ¡°That¡¯s because other than Boss, he only sees Li Lanfeng in his eyes,¡± Han Jijyun said calmly.


    ¡°Why? Isn¡¯t Qi Long also strong?¡± Luo Lang didn¡¯t understand. Qi Long and Li Lanfeng were an equal match in terms of domain concepts, with neither of them being able to defeat the other. If Li Yingjie had his ights on Li Lanfeng, then why wasn¡¯t Qi Long in his sights?


    Han Jijyun nced at Luo Lang and said with aplicated expression on his face. ¡°You don¡¯t understand...¡± He didn¡¯t understand that there were people in life who were simr to you while being better than you in everything. Plus, that agonizing feeling of no matter how hard you worked, you still wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat those simr to you, would eat someone alive eventually if the problem wasn¡¯t solved in time.


    When this thought piled up in an individual, it would be an inner demon.. Han Jijyun himself had fallen to this inner demon on Haijiao. If it wasn¡¯t for the sudden pressure from the fact that Boss was heavily injured, 250 Ace Mecha n getting caught up in traps and difficulties and Li Lanfeng suddenly giving up responsibility and leaving everything behind, he wouldn¡¯t have been awakened from that inner demon. This made him realize what he needed to do. If that didn¡¯t happen, he might have been stuck within the barrier of his inner demons and never escape...


    Thus, the simple-minded Luo Lang was the brightest and happiest person out of all of them.


    ¡°Say that again...¡± Luo Lang didn¡¯t know what to say. Why was it when he didn¡¯t know something, these people wouldn¡¯t give him a straightforward answer?


    ¡°Little Leng, am I really stupid?¡± Luo Lang went to act cute towards the calm personality.


    ¡°Not really. You just don¡¯t want to think.¡± The voice of the calm personality came out from the mindscape.


    ¡°Heh, Little Leng treats me the best,¡± Luo Lang replied.


    ¡°Really?¡± The calm personality sighed. With the primary personality¡¯s eyes, he saw Xie Yi, who was constantly standing beside Luo Lang...


    ¡®Forget it, I¡¯ll let Luo Lang continue to be simple-minded.¡¯ The calm personality closed his eyes and decided topletely conceal what he had discovered.

 Chapter 1110 - Dimension Element!

    <h4>Chapter 1110 Dimension Element!</h4>


    Lin Yang and Qi Long were confronting each other silently for one to two minutes. Although they didn¡¯t make any moves, the entire atmosphere of the training ground was extremely tense. Less capable leaders even felt their palms sweating.


    That was because they knew that as soon as these two people attacked each other, it would inevitably be earth shattering.


    Everyone was waiting to see who would make the first move. Right at that moment, Qi Long, who had not moved an inch, made a move. He lifted his right palm and slowly pushed it towards Lin Yang.


    ¡®Youngsters are truly not as patient as experienced veterans.¡¯ This was the thought of a few leaders from the other ns.


    ¡®He finally made a move.¡¯ Yang Mingzhi, Liu Furong, Li Lanfeng and the others had another thought about his move.


    Knowing Qi Long, they knew that if he wanted to wait, he would definitely be able to be as patient as his opponent. However, Qi Long never liked waiting and would usually always attack first. Thus, Qi Long making the first move wasn¡¯t a surprise. The only question they could have about the situation was when Qi Long would make a move.


    Seeing Qi Long¡¯s palming towards him, Lin Yang also put up his palm to block. He thought in his mind. ¡®Come. Let me see what your domain concept is.¡¯


    Bang!


    The two strong domain concept energies finally met up. Then, they started to weirdly glob together, forming a constant shape-changing globr ball in the air


    The two energies wanted to consume each other but in the end, these two energies both continued to neutralize each other.


    Lin Yang and Qi Long gave sharp looks on their faces and increased their domain energy simultaneously.


    ¡°Boom!¡±


    The energy in the globr ball finally reached the tipping point and exploded outwards. The immense energy shockwave moved towards those spectating the fight. Those who were weaker, despite standing far away from the st, were almost sent flying. The strength of the domain energy in this domain realm battle was much more than they had experienced in any past domain realm battles.


    After trying to probe Qi Long¡¯s strength, Lin Yang frowned slightly. That was because he felt Qi Long had only just used pure domain energy with no special domain concepts inteced in his attack during the altercation.


    The difference between an attack inteced with a special domain concept and an attack that didn¡¯t have any was that the power behind the two attacks would be vastly different. The former¡¯s power could be many times stronger than thetter. How strong the attack could be would depend on the strength of the special domain concepts inteced into the attack.


    On the other hand, Qi Long also frowned slightly. It was because Lin Yang did the same as he did and didn¡¯t use any special domain concept in his attack.


    The two of them wanted to use this attack to probe their opponent¡¯s domain concept. Unfortunately, they both failed.


    ¡®It seems that if I don¡¯t go serious, he won¡¯t be willing to show me anything either.¡¯ Qi Long thought as he sent out a palm attack again.


    Lin Yang decisively blocked it with his own palm, but his expression quickly changed.


    Bang! The ground a few meters around Lin Yang suddenly cracked open. The ground that could handle heavy attacks actually began to crack open like spiderwebs.


    ¡°Is Lin Yang¡¯s domain concept neutralization?¡± Yang Mingzhi asked with a serious expression on his face.


    ¡°Something¡¯s wrong. We have to keep watching.¡± Li Lanfeng also had a serious expression on his face.


    The rxed expressions on everyone from Lingtian¡¯s faces finally disappeared.


    This sceneforted the people who came to challenge Lingtian. As expected of the regimentmander of the strongest mecha n ranked under Proud Wind, just taking a move head on was enough to take the opposition down a notch.


    Qi Long noticed that his opponent¡¯s concept was actually very strange. His eyes suddenly showed the color of excitement. He shouted loudly, ¡°Take a few more hits from me.¡±


    After saying that, his two fists went crazy on his opponent.


    Bang, bang, bang... The ground around Lin Yang quickly crumbled into dust by Qi Long¡¯s strength. The training ground instantly became a wastnd.


    Li Lanfeng looked at the cracks on the ground and an answer slowly formed in his mind.


    ¡°His opponent¡¯s concept isn¡¯t to neutralize It is to transfer,¡± Li Lanfeng said slowly.


    Hearing this, Yang Mingzhi and the others turned towards him and waited for further exnation.


    ¡°If it was neutralization, the ground would crack just under him.¡± Li Lanfeng gestured towards Lin Yang¡¯s surroundings. ¡°But, look at that. In the area 10 meters around him, the points of contact were random.¡±


    ¡°That, of course, doesn¡¯t eliminate the fact that his neutralization concept also has the ability to bounce attacks back. That way, those might also happen,¡± Li Lanfeng added. This was Li Lanfeng¡¯s habit. He would exin everything he saw and give the information to others for reference. However, he would never say what he said to be the correct answer.


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then it¡¯s transferring.¡± Yang Mingzhi was in agreement with Li Lanfeng¡¯s prediction.


    ¡°Actually, the most appropriate way of describing it is calling it the dimension element.¡± A cold and sharp voice rang from behind them.


    Everyone turned around with a pleasant surprised look on their face. They finally saw their regimentmander, Ling Lan. They didn¡¯t know how long she had stood behind them.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Luo Lang excitedly jumped over. His speed was so fast that Xie Yi didn¡¯t even have time to stop him.


    Xie Yi helplessly put his palm on his face...


    Ling Lan raised her right hand and pressed against Luo Lang forehead to stop him from hugging her.


    ¡°One month of training,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    As expected, he was punished.


    Xie Yi smiled bitterly. He didn¡¯t know whether he should be happy that Luo Lang was going to take the punishment with him or if he should be angry at Luo Lang¡¯s recklessness and how he dug his own grave.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words instantly awakened Luo Lang. He was too excited just now that he had actually forgotten Boss¡¯s rules.


    ¡°Ah, this is bad.¡± Luo Lang held his head in agony which made everyoneugh softly. The serious atmosphere around the training ground no longer existed.


    This was Ling Lan¡¯s power. It was bing everyone¡¯s spiritual anchor. As the spiritual anchor, as long as she didn¡¯t fall, even if the sky were to copse, they would still have the confidence to create a new world.


    The slight change in atmosphere in Lingtian¡¯s group attracted the attention of Yu Wei and the other regimentmanders. However, due to the fact that Ling Lan was blocked by the crowd and by Ling Lan mixing her presence with the environment, they didn¡¯t notice that Lingtian had another person joining their group. Plus, even if they had seen her, they wouldn¡¯t have known she was Lingtian¡¯s highest ranking officer.


    ¡°Who knew it would actually be the legendary dimension element.¡± Yang Mingzhi looked towards Lin Yang once again and couldn¡¯t help but speak out in admiration.


    The dimension element had appeared in the past. Back then, it was the element that was ranked over all other concepts including the strongest offense element, the lightning element. It was considered to be invincible. The Federation¡¯s researchb had also used much resources and time to study the dimension element. It was just that before they could sessfully gather enough data, that dimension element domain realm master disappeared. With that incident, the study of the dimension element was halted.


    ¡°However, didn¡¯t legends say that the dimension element could tear open space? Isn¡¯t that extremely terrifying?¡± Li Yingjie was very confused. ¡°Looking at it now, it¡¯s not that impressive.¡±


    ¡°He had only been defending. Let¡¯s wait for him to initiate an attack first before saying that,¡± exined Ling Lan.


    ¡°Will Qi Long be in danger?¡± Han Jijyun was worried about hisrade.


    ¡°That would depend on whether Qi Long¡¯s domain concept could withstand it,¡± replied Ling Lan.


    She wasn¡¯t worried at all. The dimension element was indeed extremely terrifying, but Qi Long¡¯s domain concept was just too special. Even Little Four, who had seen the world, also didn¡¯t fully understand Qi Long¡¯s domain concept. He had been studying up until now, but he still couldn¡¯t exin it.

 Chapter 1111 - Refusal?

    <h4>Chapter 1111 Refusal?</h4>


    Qi Long¡¯s round of ruthless attacks were ineffective and were easily blocked by Lin Yang.


    However, this exchange also allowed Qi Long to understand most of Lin Yang¡¯s domain concept.


    ¡°Troublesome.¡± Qi Long excitedly licked his bottom lip. Fighting with different types of domain realm masters was his favourite pastime.


    ¡°Now it is my turn, take this.¡± Lin Yang suddenly clenched his right hand. Qi Long then felt he was confined and couldn¡¯t move.


    ¡°That is probably dimensional confinement.¡± After analyzing the attack, Yang Mingzhi¡¯s eyes brightened. This technique was considered to be the most well-known dimensional element attack. Back in the day, dimension element domain realm masters used this technique to conquer the world with no equals.


    ¡°However, this technique is useless against Qi Long.¡± Li Lanfeng and Qi Long fought many times before. He knew very well about the uniqueness of Qi Long¡¯s domain concept.


    After he said that, they saw Qi Long escaping out of his opponent¡¯s confinement.


    This scene stunned Lin Yang. Lin Yang, of course, wasn¡¯t arrogant enough to think that there wasn¡¯t anyone who could escape from his dimensional confinement, but those people would use overwhelming amounts of domain energy to break apart the dimensional confinement and escape. However, Qi Long didn¡¯t do that and Lin Yang didn¡¯t feel that his dimensional confine was destroyed. It still existed, but it was as though his dimension was disgusted by his opponent and voluntarily spat him out.


    This was the first time he had seen something like this. How did his opponent do that?


    Could it be his opponent¡¯s domain concept possessed this specialty to make other domain concepts be disgusted by him? Lin Yang seemed to have realized something and his expression became even more hardened.


    If his dimension element was a known special domain that had the strongest offenses, then Qi Long¡¯s unknown domain concept would be considered an extremely special domain concept.


    ¡°Actually, I never understood Qi Long¡¯s domain concept.¡± Yang Mingzhi sighed. That was why up until now, Qi Long¡¯s domain still didn¡¯t have a category assigned to it.


    ¡°However, his concept is really hated by all other domain concepts. Can we call it the concept of disgust?¡± Luo Lang said earnestly.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t sound like a good name,¡± Li Yingjie pouted and said. If someone dared to give such a bad name to his domain concept, he would definitely get angry.


    ¡°Regimentmander, you and Leader Qi had fought many times, have you not discovered anything about his domain concept?¡± Liu Furong didn¡¯t believe that Ling Lan knew nothing about it.


    Everyone looked towards Ling Lan. They wanted to get the answer from their all-knowing Boss.


    Ling Lan gave a half-smile as she looked at everyone. Then, she slowly said, ¡°The concept of Qi Long¡¯s domain, of course, isn¡¯t like what is shown on the surface as disgust. If you guys were to think in that direction, then you would be walking down the wrong path and never find out the truth.¡±


    Everyone looked at their Boss with burning desire in their eyes, hoping that Boss could be more specific.


    ¡°I still haven¡¯t studied it thoroughly, but it mostly rted to the concept ofnguage.¡± Ling Lan tossed out an answer that everyone never imagined


    ¡°The concept ofnguage?¡± Everyone was dumbfounded.


    ¡°Simply put, if Qi Long didn¡¯t want something to happen, it wouldn¡¯t happen. It can be simply known as the concept of refusal.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s answer enlightened everybody. It was no wonder they couldn¡¯t do anything to Qi Long. That was because Qi Long always refused the oue of losing.


    ¡°Then, why wouldn¡¯t Qi Long refuse Boss?¡± Luo Lang asked with many questions in his mind.


    ¡°You idiot. Boss is just too strong for his concept to work. Just using his strength from his domain would destroy Qi Long. Even if he could refuse anything, he would still have an upper limit.¡± Li Yingjie had a look full of disdain. Between all leaders in Lingtian, he only looked down on this Luo Lang. Of course, that was before Luo Lang¡¯s other personalities took over


    ¨C


    Ling Lan nced at the two of them with a slight smirk on her face. ¡°Yingjie¡¯s right, but... one session of month training for you. Luo Lang, add another month to your punishment as well.¡±


    ¡°Holy sh*t!¡± Li Yingjie suddenly realized he got dragged down with Luo Lang.


    Seeing Luo Lang smile at him with a huge grin on his face, he finally realized that honest-looking people were more evil than anyone else in the world.


    While everyone was watching Qi Long and Lin Yang¡¯s battle in excitement, Little Four, who was in Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape, had an expression of confusion on his face.


    ¡°Boss, didn¡¯t you say the concept of refusal derived from the concept ofnguage that I told you wasn¡¯t necessarily correct? Why did you tell them that?¡± Wasn¡¯t this purposely misleading?


    ¡°A trump card can only be a trump card when those around you don¡¯t know what it is,¡± Ling Lan replied nonchntly.


    ¡°...¡± Little Four seemed to understand, but also seemed to not understand. Did not telling those people meant that his Boss didn¡¯t actually trust them?


    Feeling Little Four¡¯s concerns, Ling Lan reached out with her hand and patted his little head. She then continued, ¡°This isn¡¯t something about trusting or not trusting, I¡¯m just afraid that it would all be for nothing if I told them. If that was the case, I might as well let them be wrong at the very beginning.¡±


    ¡°Then, what is Qi Long¡¯s actual domain concept? Boss, please tell me.¡± Little Four looked at Ling Lan with puppy eyes, hoping Ling Lan could give him the answer. As an intelligent entity that knew everything in the world, if he couldn¡¯t find out the truth, he wouldn¡¯t be able to eat or sleep for quite a while.


    ¡°You want to know?¡± Ling Lan smirked. Ever since she broke through to the imperial realm, her ego had been set free. The heavy pressure she originally had on her shoulders decreased with her capabilities increasing.


    Little Four nodded his head furiously. Ling Lan flicked her finger at his forehead and said, ¡°Don¡¯t want to tell you.¡±


    ¡°Boss!¡± When Little Four discovered that he got yed by Boss, his little face instantly puffed up. His reddened face looked like he had been deeply wronged which made Ling Lan feel a slight itch, so she quickly reached out her right hand and softly rubbed his face.


    ¡°Boss, you¡¯re bullying me!¡± Little Four¡¯s little face was sad.


    ¡°I like you, so that¡¯s why I need to bully you. Dumby Little Four.¡± Ling Lan flicked her finger at his forehead again. This Little Four didn¡¯t know that even if others wanted her to bully them, they wouldn¡¯t be qualified for it.


    Seeing Little Four with tears in his eyes while looking so pitiful and sad, Ling Lan could only give up on her love of bullying him. Sheforted him and said, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll stop teasing you. Aspensation, I¡¯ll give you a hint.¡±


    The warm tears in Little Four¡¯s eyes were immediately sucked back in. He was full of energy as he looked at his Boss, waiting for her to exin to him. He didn¡¯t even look like he was sad at all. After following Ling Lan for so long, Little Four was no longer the simple and naive Little Four. Pretending to be simple-minded or naive was easy for him. The student had finally surpassed the master.


    ¡°If there¡¯s a result, then there must be a reason,¡± Ling Lan said one sentence. Little Four didn¡¯t understand it at all. However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t continue to say anything else so Little Four knew that the hint was only just that.


    ¡®What does it actually mean?¡¯ Little Four was in deep thought.


    Outside the mindscape, Lin Yang didn¡¯t retreat when he saw his dimensional confinement waspletely ineffective. He put his two hands together. Right as he did that, the space around Qi Long began to crack open. One crack, two cracks, three cracks... countless cracks.


    ¡°Dimensional Tear.¡±


    The area of effect techniques of dimension elements were determined by the research institute as a sure-kill and unblockable technique. Everyone from Lingtian knew that with Boss around them, Qi Long wouldn¡¯t get hurt, but they still worried for Qi Long¡¯s safety.

 Chapter 1112 - Actual Rank: Major General!

    <h4>Chapter 1112 Actual Rank: Major General!</h4>


    The area Qi Long stood waspletely torn up by the dimensional tear.


    Everyone from Lingtian immediately had worried expressions on their face. They all turned to look at Ling Lan unconsciously, and they saw Ling Lan standing there calmly, without moving one bit.


    ¡®Qi Long is fine!¡¯ This was what everyone deduced by Ling Lan¡¯s action or rather inaction.


    Everyone was quickly relieved of their worries for Qi Long. If Boss didn¡¯t act, it meant Qi Long definitely wasn¡¯t in any life-threatening danger.


    Bang!


    The sound of flesh hitting directly on flesh resounded in the air.


    A silhouette was sent into the air and then smashed onto the ground. After it rolled on the ground a few times, it leaped back on his head.


    Lin Yang stood firmly. His right hand wiped the drip of blood from his lips as he red at his previous location with a look of surprise.


    At that location, Qi Long was calmly standing there with no injuries. He showed an honest smile on his face with a hint of an apologetic look as he cupped his fist and said, ¡°Pleasure, Regiment Commander Lin.¡±


    The dimension element sure-kill area of effect technique he used was actually useless against Qi Long. Rather than helping him, it instead gave Qi Long a chance to get close to him and hit him. He lost in a strange way, and he was speechless from it. What made Lin Yang feel even more annoyed was that he still didn¡¯t know what Qi Long¡¯s domain concept was.


    ¡°Leader Qi is indeed quite amazing. I¡¯ve experienced it first hand.¡± The leader of Team 03 was indeed very strong. Then, were the team leaders of Team 01 and 02, the two major generals, even stronger?


    The way everyone looked towards Lingtian was no longer like how they looked down on Lingtian at the very beginning. Instead, it was the look of fear. They didn¡¯t think that such an inconspicuous and newly advanced titled super mecha n was actually such a terrifying existence. With just their physical skills, Lingtian Mecha n was already on a simr tier with the legendary mecha ns. However, mecha ns were called mecha ns because mecha piloting was much more important than just physical skills. Now these other ns only hoped that the mecha piloting of the mecha operators from Lingtian Mecha n were not as strong as their physical skills.


    ¡°It was I who took advantage of you, Regiment Commander Lin. The information from the Military Research Institute helped me quite a lot with regards to your dimension element. Plus, Regiment Commander Lin held back as well and didn¡¯t use any technique outside of the information avable in the database,¡± Qi Long said apologetically. The honest looking face he had quickly wiped the dissatisfaction from the faces of many leaders from ughter Mecha n.


    ¡°In the end, it¡¯s still Leader Qi¡¯s domain concept that¡¯s extraordinary...¡± Lin Yang knew well that even if he had used techniques outside of the information avable in the database, he probably still wouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything to Qi Long. His domain concept was too strange and abnormal to fight against.


    Thinking about strange and abnormal, his gaze moved towards the side of Lingtian. Li Lanfeng was as abnormal and strange as Leader Qi Long. Although Qi Long didn¡¯t seem to be too abnormal... Lin Yang still felt that the domains he had seen were actually not the real manifestation of their domain concepts.


    Suddenly, his gaze narrowed because he saw a young man who wasn¡¯t there before appear beside Li Lanfeng.


    The difference whenpared to other people beside Li Lanfeng was that this person had a white and blue cloak draped over his body. He was clearly different from all the others but looking at him now, he could easily be neglected by sight. However, once someone were to see him, they would definitely no longer be able to neglect this person¡¯s existence.


    Lin Yang suddenly stopped moving. When the people behind him noticed that he was looking in a specific direction, everyone¡¯s gaze followed in the direction he was looking at.


    Qi Long saw their Boss appear and instantly excitedly shouted, ¡°Boss!¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s eye twitched. She had already punished them so many times for calling her that, so how could these guys still not remember it?


    ¡°One month of training!¡± Ling Lan said coldly.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Qi Long epted the punishment with a big smile on his face.


    It seemed like she needed to increase the difficulty of the month-long training session, in case these guys take it as a fun activity and not punishment.


    Qi Long and Ling Lan¡¯s conversation proved the identity of this young man.


    Lin Yang and the others would never have guessed that such an underwhelming individual was the regimentmander of such a strong n like Lingtian. Their regimentmander wasn¡¯t a veteran mecha operator like they had thought previously. He also wasn¡¯t a well-known individual who was at their prime. Instead, their regimentmander was just someone who didn¡¯t catch anyone¡¯s eye. He was just an unknown and average young man.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling!¡± As the second seatmanding officer of Base Neb, Lin Yang had managed to find out that the regimentmander of Lingtian had the surname Ling.


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Regiment Commander Lin.¡±


    Afterwards, she looked towards Yu Wei and the other regimentmanders and greeted them all.


    As expected, Lingtian had already gotten hold of the information on the mecha ns in the Base Neb or at least they were familiar with the mecha ns that came to visit.


    Li Lanfeng was quite smart at times like this. He walked up and took off Ling Lan¡¯s cloak which showed the insignias on Ling Lan¡¯s chest and shoulders.


    ¡°Major General!¡± Everyone¡¯s eyes narrowed.


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong were major generals. Although this information stunned them, they could still ept it. After all, these two individuals were already in their 40s to 50s. Plus, they were famous figures for quite a long time. With their military merits and achievements, advancing to the rank of major general was the natural course of their career. However, Ling Lan was different. Ling Lan was too young to be a major general. He was at most 25 years old. In the history of the Federation¡¯s military, other than General Ling Xiao who had advanced to major general at that age 20 years ago, there wasn¡¯t a second person in existence who could be on par with him.


    Even those people who had god-like backgrounds and vast connections still needed to wait until they were at least 35 years old to have a chance of advancing to the rank of major general, and that rank would also just be a pseudo rank.


    This Regiment Commander Ling was however a real major general! Was the Federation going to have another General Ling Xiao appear?


    The bright looks on everyone¡¯s faces had a hint of speechlessness. They were stunned by the fact that Ling Lan was able to advance to the rank of major general at such a young age.


    ¡°Major General Ling, please forgive our rudeness.¡± Lin Yang definitely didn¡¯t believe that the military would y around with a real military rank. Especially if there were these many powerful individuals gathered here all at once.


    Perhaps this super n was created by the military in secret in order to take over for Proud Wind Mecha n. They were probablying into the spotlight now because this n had reached a point of maturity. Lin Yang and the other individuals thought about this in unnned unison.


    ¡°No matter. I wee it,¡± Ling Lan replied inly. ¡°The friendship between soldiers are all formed through battle.¡±


    These words relieved everyone on the scene. The way Lin Yang, Yu Wei and the other regimentmanders also looked at Ling Lan with more acknowledgment. It seemed that Regiment Commander Ling wasn¡¯t a lucky individual who rose to the top in one step. Only those who had experienced the brutality of war knew the real meaning of brothers-in-arms.


    In reality, they were only in admiration of Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s power, not the individuals from Lingtian Mecha n. Before this, Lingtian could be considered to be allied forces, but not their brothers-in-arms.


    The seemingly two simr words actually had very different meanings. Allies were people who would help out when they have extra manpower. However, once the situation went out of the scope of their abilities, they would only just watch from the side. Only acknowledged brothers-in-arms would put their lives on the line and fight with each other side by side.


    Without a doubt, Ling Lan¡¯s words allowed these regimentmanders to have a good impression of Lingtian. They were no longer refusing the fact that Lingtian was here which would allow Lingtian to quickly meld in the base.


    Of course, if Lingtian wanted to have real camaraderie with the mecha ns in Base Neb, there was still a long road ahead of themselves. Lingtian needed to at least experience a bloody battle with the ns for that to happen. It was just as Ling Lan had said, the friendship between soldiers was created through battle.

 Chapter 1113 - Knight!

    <h4>Chapter 1113 Knight!</h4>


    Four months had passed since Lin Yang, Yu Wei and the other mecha ns visited Lingtian. In these four months, the entire Base Neb knew that Lingtian Mecha n, the n that was taking the ce of Proud Wind Mecha n, was very powerful.


    There was even gossip that Lin Yang, Yu Wei and the other regimentmanders had returned after losing all of their fights. However, because Lingtian, ughter, Piercing Arrow and the other ns didn¡¯t officially announce the results of the challenges, most people believed it to be just a rumor. Lingtian was probably very strong, but definitely wasn¡¯t strong enough to that extent.


    However, what couldn¡¯t be denied was that Lin Yang, Yu Wei and the other regimentmanders all silently epted the reality that they had lost the challenges which proved Lingtian¡¯s strength. This silent eptance also made most of the people in Base Neb temporarily put off the idea that Lingtian didn¡¯t have the qualifications to substitute Proud Wind Mecha n in terms of defending the base.


    After all, it was a world of mechas. Although physical skills were the basic fundamentals for a mecha operator, what showed the real power of a mecha n was still based on the piloting capabilities of the mecha operators. Thus, if Lingtian wanted to be epted by all the mecha ns with the Base Neb, their mecha operators must prove that their mecha piloting were strong enough.


    It was because Lingtian was taking over for the Base Neb¡¯s first ranked mecha n, Proud Wind Mecha n, so theunching port that originally belonged to Proud Wind Mecha n would naturally be given to Lingtian. Yu Huan was also kind enough to provide Lingtian moreunching ports and logistics personnel, such as JMCs and mecha hold logistics. However, Ling Lan kindly refused his offer.


    Ling Lan needed a fully functional and coherent mecha n and her own mecha n didn¡¯tck these resources. Thus, she didn¡¯t want to waste time to develop new recruits from outside sources. Furthermore, Ling Lan wanted topletely organize herrge mecha n before working with outside sources.


    Although Caesar and the Federation¡¯s rtionship wasn¡¯t as tense as it was during the twilight era, they still weren¡¯t in good rtions. Once the two nations had any arguments or debates during the Intergctic United Nations, the two military forces in the Neb Boundary would have small battles. If either of the nations couldn¡¯t make the other agree to their opinions, they would beat them down until they agree.


    After a peaceful few months in Base Neb, Lingtian finally encountered their first intergctic war.


    Brrrang! A DEFCON 1 rm rang through Base Neb.


    The mecha ns that were on duty had already gotten to theunching ports, formed their formations and prepared tounch.


    The Caesar Empire attacked once again, and Base Neb was ready for it.


    All the members from different mecha ns who were on vacation quickly returned to their own base camps, put on theirbat uniforms and got on the hover cars that were prepared long ago. They went to their designated mecha hold and prepared to get into a mecha for battle.


    When Ling Lan heard the rm, she arrived at themand center.


    Seeing it was the base¡¯smanding officer, Yu Huan, calling her, Ling Lan picked up.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, from the new intel we had gathered, Caesar has sent their top ace mecha n, Knight Ace Mecha n. They are this battle¡¯s main opponent. Please intercept them at all cost,¡± Yu Huan said with a serious expression on his face.


    The battle between the top ace mecha ns would decide the victor of the entire battle. If Lingtian couldn¡¯t intercept Knight Ace Mecha n, then those at Base Neb would have to think of how to escape.


    ¡°Understood,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    Yu Huan looked at Ling Lan with worry. He still wanted to say more to Ling Lan. However, Ling Lan¡¯s cold and uncaring expression made him not know whether he should say it or not.


    He struggled for a moment and then said in a slightly polite manner, ¡°Knight Ace Mecha n is ranked 18th among the ace mecha ns from Caesar. ording to the way we ranked mecha ns, although they aren¡¯t considered to be legendary tier, they are still considered as a first-rank with 5 stars mecha n. It¡¯s clear that Caesar isn¡¯t nning on ying around anymore and they clearly want to give us a beating...¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t say anything and only just stared at him.


    Yu Huan gulped and finally spoke out what his words meant, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, even if Proud Wind Mecha n is here, they would still lose against Knight Ace Mecha n.¡± In harsher words, they didn¡¯t have any chance to win. ¡°If your n can¡¯t hold on, it is okay. We will just escape first. Although we will lose the Neb Boundary, we can still fight back and retake it when the Federation sends a legendary rank mecha n as backup.¡±


    Back then, this had happened once before. When the enemy¡¯s military strength was higher than theirs, escaping wasn¡¯t considered embarrassing. Instead, it was considered to be a smart move. Only by preserving their strength, would they be able to be victorious in the future.


    Ling Lan nodded and replied, ¡°I understand.¡±


    ¡®Understand? What did he understand?¡¯ Yu Huan almost smashed the virtual screen in front of him. ¡®Couldn¡¯t he just admit that they won¡¯t be able fend off the enemy? That is a legendary ace mecha n from Caesar. How could a newly advanced titled super mecha n be so confident in a battle against such an enemy?


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, are you not thinking about your men? You clearly understand the danger but you still want to throw away their lives?¡± Yu Huan asked angrily.


    ¡°Then what?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and asked coldly, ¡°Give up on those mecha ns that had already joined the battle? Or perhaps send out a few mecha ns to throw away their lives to provide us some time to retreat?¡±


    If they wanted to escape sessfully, they must leave enough people behind to hinder the movement of the enemy¡¯s mecha ns. Those mecha ns who stay behind would only have one oue, and that was death!


    This was war. Either choice would require sacrifices to execute.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, your n is here to substitute Proud Wind Mecha n as the main n in Base Neb. Despite it being a short while, you still haven¡¯t received acknowledgment from all the mecha ns on the base to be themander-in-chief of this battle, but I still trust you. That¡¯s why I¡¯m discussing this matter with you seriously.¡± Yu Huan¡¯s expression had a slight hint of anger. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that retreating required the main n¡¯s regimentmander¡¯s acknowledgment, he wouldn¡¯t be wasting his time with this dumb brat who knew nothing of the world.


    ¡°ording to our information, Knight Ace Mecha n has a total of 2000 mecha operators. Half of them have reached peak-level ace operators. The other half are all elite aces,¡± Yu Huan sneered coldly. ¡°Please tell me how Lingtian ns to fight that?¡±


    No matter how strong Proud Wind Mecha n was, it still only had at most 400 peak-level ace operators and at most 800 elite aces. The rest were all standard ace operators.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan narrowed her eyes. ¡°Indeed, they are quite strong. However, surrendering before battling isn¡¯t something Lingtian does.¡±


    ¡°Heh, do you think your Lingtian could fend off Knight?¡± Yu Huan was so angry heughed out of spite. It was clear he was too young and hotheaded. He was clearly delusional to think they could fend off Knight. He would only understand war wasn¡¯t won by courage and saying big words after paying severe costs.


    However, he didn¡¯t think that his mocking attitude actually made Ling Lan nodded and responded, ¡°Indeed, as you say!¡±


    If it was one or two months earlier, Ling Lan might have considered Yu Huan¡¯s suggestion. However now, it was possible for Lingtian to fight this battle.


    Of course, Ling Lan knew that her decision might have already killed a portion of the mecha operators in her n. However, all of those who became soldiers were already prepared to die in battle.


    The calmness and indifference in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes made Yu Huan calm down.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you one chance.¡± Yu Huan was silent for a few seconds and then said, ¡°However, if I were to discover that Lingtian can¡¯t fend off the enemy, then don¡¯t me me if we give up on you.¡± This wasn¡¯t a warning but rather reality. Yu Huan wouldn¡¯t endanger Base Neb because of Lingtian.

 Chapter 1114 - Dark Phoenix!

    <h4>Chapter 1114 Dark Phoenix!</h4>


    ¡°If Lingtian cannot fend off the enemy, then you canmand the base to escape on your ord,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently.


    If they weren¡¯t able to fend off Knight Ace Mecha n, even if they wanted to escape, Knight wouldn¡¯t give them that chance to escape. Therefore, the luxury of thinking about whether to give up or not waspletely pointless.


    Seeing Ling Lan had made a decision to battle Knight Ace Mecha n, Yu Huan felt conflicted. Ling Lan¡¯s fearlessness and courage made him admire her, but Yu Huan still believed that Lingtian wasn¡¯t Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s equal. Her decision was basically throwing the lives of her men away. Thus, Yu Huan was very frustrated at Ling Lan¡¯s seemingly blind decision.


    However, no matter what, Ling Lan was Lingtian¡¯s highest rankedmanding officer and she ultimately had the power to decide how to deploy her n. Yu Huan¡¯s only hope was the two other major generals was rational enough to stop Ling Lan¡¯s idiotic decision.


    The reason why Yu Huan cared about Lingtian this much was because of the results from ughter and Piercing Arrow challenging Lingtian. Yu Huan was the only one high ranked officer who didn¡¯t visit them, and yet he knew the true result of the challenge. Lingtian¡¯s younger members were very talented and would definitely be the Federation¡¯s monstrous individuals in the future. Yu Huan ced them in very high regard. That was why he didn¡¯t want them to die in vain.


    After ending the call with Yu Huan, Ling Lan went into deep thought for a moment. Then, she opened themunications channel to the leaders who were on standby in the mecha hold and said, ¡°This time, our opponent is Knight Ace Mecha n.¡±


    ¡°Knight Ace Mecha n?¡±


    ¡°Knight Ace Mecha n!¡±


    The confused and stunned voices of the leaders filled themunication channel. Of course, those who were stunned were the veteran mecha operators, while those who were confused were the younger bunch, such as Qi Long and the others.


    ¡°Knight Ace Mecha n is a top ranking ace mecha n from Caesar with a rank of 18th. However, ording to our own nation¡¯s ranking system, they are of simr strength to first-rank five-star ns, and they are in the tier of legendary.¡± Yang Mingzhi heard the confused youngsters and exined to them.


    ¡°Sh*t, they¡¯re that strong?¡± Qi Long began to excitedly rub his hands together.


    ¡°This will be a difficult and bloody battle!¡± Ling Lan said coldly. ¡°Thus, I¡¯ve decided that all the ace operators in the n will be going into the battle!¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± All the leaders shouted in unison.


    ¡°Zhong-qing, you will be in charge of the base,¡± Ling Lan contacted Lin Zhong-qing.


    ¡°Department Head Li, your medical department will bepletely activated.¡±


    ¡°Department Head Luo, have your rescue teams on standby.¡±


    Ling Lan sent out a list of orders and all hands in Lingtian began to move about.


    ¡°Regiment Commander, you¡¯re going into the battle?¡± After Ling Lan gave thest order, Li Lanfeng instantly asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m scared everyone would be reckless if I don¡¯t stay there to watch over everyone.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s answer quelled Li Lanfeng¡¯s curiosity.


    Ling Lan said it very nonchntly, but all the leaders knew that this was because Ling Lan was afraid they would be in danger. The main reason she decided to go into the battlefield was to protect them.


    At Lingtian¡¯s dedicatedunching port¡¯s JMC room:


    ¡°Has everyone reached their positions?¡± Han Xuya frowned as she asked about the situation of each team.


    ¡°Team One here!¡±


    ¡°Team Two here!¡±


    ¡°Team Three...¡± Other than the JMCs on duty, all of the other JMCs from Lingtian had all moved out.


    They received their regimentmander¡¯s order that all ace mecha operators in the n were joining the battle. A rough estimate put the numbers at more than 2000 people.


    Somehow, Lingtian was no longer a crippled n that only had a few hundred people to show for them. Its number had increased to the standard number of mecha operators in a mecha n.


    What was even more insane was that other than 1000 plus mecha operators who were official operators, the other half were mecha operators who were still waiting for assessment. They were currently in the logistics department as reserve mecha operators.


    Although Lingtian¡¯s JMCs had done many training sessions for emergency battle situations, it was still their first time facing a real battle. Many JMCs were panicking and had no idea what they needed to do.


    Seeing the situation, Lady Mei quickly asked, ¡°Department head, how manyunching ports are we activating?¡±


    ¡°We are activating all of them. Launch out our mecha operators as quickly as possible,¡± said Han Xuya.


    ¡°Understood. We will be responsible forunching ports 1 to 5,¡± replied Lady Mei calmly.


    ¡°Alright, Team Two will be responsible for ports 6 to 10, Team Three for ports 11 to 15, Team Four...¡± Han Xuya immediately understood what she needed to arrange.


    Just like that, with Lady Mei¡¯s reminder, Han Xuya managed to reorganize the JMC room. Every team had been given their tasks and every JMC knew which mechas they needed to contact and what they needed to do.


    After finishing all of this, Han Xuya breathed a slight sigh of relief. Even the fearless Han Xuya was a bit panicked in preparing for such arge scale battle for the first time. Luckily, she had a great subordinate beside her. Thinking up to this point, Han Xuya looked towards Lady Mei. Coincidently, Lady Mei also looked towards her. Their gaze met one another and they smiled at each other without saying a word.


    Soon, all of the mecha operators wereunched out of the base in an orderly fashion and arrived in outer space, forming formations one after the other.


    The entire area above the Base Neb was filled with countless mechas. They were all mechas from mecha ns who came out of the Base Neb¡¯sunching ports. There were at least 20 thousand mechas.


    This number was only enough to act as the vanguard. If the entire Base Neb were to move out, then the numbers would be in the millions.


    This was how battles in outer space were fought. Any random battles would have numbers like these. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the Federation had vast amounts ofs under their rule with poption in the billions, just losses from the wars they fought each year was enough for a small nation to crumble apart


    ¡°Our regimentmander has said that our target is the Knight Ace Mecha n. This is the insignia of the Knight Ace Mecha n. Don¡¯t get it wrong.¡± All the leaders were passing Ling Lan¡¯s orders to their team members. At the same time, they showed the insignia of Knight Ace Mecha n that Ling Lan had sent them, to their team members. This was in case they fought the wrong opponents.


    ¡°Understood, leader!¡± All the members were tightly gripping their control sticks as the leaders didn¡¯t hide the fact of how strong Knight Ace Mecha n was. These people knew the enemy they were about to go against was ranked 18th in Caesar. Other than a few veteran mecha operators, some new members were although somewhat frightened, they were still more excited than frightened.


    ¡°Leader, that mecha n behind us with the ck phoenix emblem, which mecha n are they? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen them before.¡± On the front lines of the battlefield, a mecha n, who was waiting for the battle tomence, unintentionally saw a new n gathering together. They had never seen their emblem and thus asked with curiosity.


    ¡°Not sure...¡± Their leader nced at it and frowned slightly.


    ¡°I know. I¡¯ve seen that emblem before,¡± a team member suddenly shouted out in surprise.


    ¡°Who is it? Tell us,¡± asked hisrades.


    ¡°It¡¯s Lingtian Mecha n. On the first day when their mechas entered the mecha hold, I passed by and saw this dark phoenix emblem.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re so shameless. They actually copied General Ling Xiao¡¯s fire phoenix emblem! How did they pass the military application with that emblem?¡± The leader already didn¡¯t have a good impression of Lingtian. Now after seeing that they had copied the emblem of General Ling Xiao, the idol he admired, he was now even more discontent about Lingtian.


    ¡°Oh, Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander has a surname of Ling. Does he have any connections with General Ling Xiao?¡± One person began to make wild guesses.

 Chapter 1115 - Punishment!

    <h4>Chapter 1115 Punishment!</h4>


    ¡°I would probably believe that Lingtian had something to do with General Ling Xiao if Prince Ling wasn¡¯t injured from the bacsh of piloting a god-ss mecha. However now...¡± The leader smiled coldly.


    These words saddened many people. In reality, they had once discussed this matter in private. If Prince Ling didn¡¯t go through the battle on Haijiao, the Federation might already have their 13th god-ss operator.


    However, this thought only shed by their minds for a moment. They quickly focused their attention on the formation of Caesar¡¯s forces.


    The battle was about to begin and they couldn¡¯t afford to lose concentration.


    ¡°Attention, please prepare for battle.¡± The leader saw both sides sending out signal res and immediately gave an order.


    In the area around them, all of the vanguard front-line mechas from both sides were like two swarms of bugs, ruthlessly charging towards their opponents.


    ¡°Lingtian No. Zero request tounch.¡± Ling Lan pushed down on the button to connect to the JMCs to tell them her request forunch.


    ¡°U-U-Understood!¡± A trembling female voice responded from the JMC channel. She was instantly made dizzy by the luck she had in discovering their regimentmander. She was so excited that she was stuttering when she spoke.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Lady Mei frowned as she asked the stuttering JMC.


    ¡°It¡¯s our regimentmander.¡± The JMC was already blushing. She excitedly stood up and jumped up with all her might a few times just to exhaust her excited mood.


    In the minds of these JMCs, Lingtian¡¯s leaders were all handsome men they admired who they potentially had a chance with. Only their regimentmander was considered to be unreachable. Other than looking up at him, they could do nothing else.


    However, they usually didn¡¯t dare to even take a single look at this god of gods who they had respected, and he suddenly was the mecha operator that she was responsible for. This new recruit who had joined not so long ago couldn¡¯t hold back her emotions any longer and was actually too excited that she had forgotten her actual job.


    Right at that moment, Han Xuya who had already discovered themotion, walked up and tossed that JMC away.


    Bang! The young JMC was thrown off the ground. She looked at Han Xuya with fear in her eyes. ¡°Department head?¡±.


    ¡°Go to the disciplinary team for not doing your duties during war times.¡± Han Xuya didn¡¯t even look at her and turned to Lady Mei. ¡°You will be responsible for our regimentmander¡¯s mecha.¡±


    ¡°Yes, department head.¡± Lady Mei immediately put on the headphones and began topare all the data of No. Zero to make sure it was up to standards ofunch.


    The young JMC who was thrown off the ground had a pale expression on her face. After awakening from the shock, she understood what mistake she had made. With a look of regret, she bit her lip, endured the pain, stood up, and saluted Han Xuya. ¡°Yes, department head.¡±


    After that, she turned around, left the JMC room, and went to report to thew enforcement department to ept her punishment.


    After entering Lingtian Mecha n for almost 5 months, she already knew that Lingtian had a clear line between rewards and punishments. Once someone made a mistake, they would definitely be punished. No matter if the mistake was on purpose or not, a mistake was a mistake.


    The departure of that JMC made the other JMCs be cautious, in case they became the next one to leave. After all, they could also suddenly be the JMCs for the handsome leaders.


    ¡°No. Zero assessmentplete. All systems are normal. Launch permission granted.¡± Afterparing all the data, Lady Mei didn¡¯t find any problems and made the decision to allow No. Zero tounch.


    After hearing an unfamiliar yet calm voiceing from the JMC channel, Ling Lan nodded with satisfaction. The JMC from before was indeed behaving badly. If it was a JMC from Base Neb, Ling Lan would be more sympathetic and pretend nothing ever happened. However, it was Lingtian¡¯s own JMC, so Ling Lan couldn¡¯t overlook this mistake.


    However, the JMC room reacted quickly and immediately controlled the situation themselves. It seemed Han Xuya was a good department head and was decisive enough when necessary. Ling Lan discovered that the two younger sisters, who she had cradled in the past, had slowly matured enough to hold their own.


    ¡°They¡¯re all improving. It seems I can¡¯t slow down either.¡± Ling Lan smirked as the countdown timer forunch rang in her ears.


    Vroom! The sound of the engine revving. The regimentmander mecha Ling Lan was pilotingunched out of the base and entered the vast and endless space.


    It was the first time Ling Lan had piloted a mecha into outer space. She suddenly felt she was tinypared to it. She suddenly understood why the academy instructor had said that the real battlefield for mecha operators was in outer space.


    ¡°Regimentmander, I don¡¯t see Knight Ace Mecha n.¡± Qi Long, who was already in formation with his team members, had been looking for their opponent all this time. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t find them.


    ¡°They will definitely appear when they are supposed to appear. Pay attention to the movement of small groups of mechas.¡± Ling Lan looked at the hundreds of thousands of mechas fighting at the front-lines. She didn¡¯t think that Knight Ace Mecha n would attack them head on.


    ¡°You mean Knight Ace Mecha n will be ambushing from another direction?¡± Yang Mingzhi frowned. If that was the case, then they would be at a disadvantage. After all, the base was toorge and they were only situated in one area near the base. If the opponent were to sneak attack the base from a position opposite of theirs, they wouldn¡¯t be able to reach them even if they wanted to.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, other than theunching ports on this side, the other locations all have the Base Neb¡¯s forces standing by. If Knight Ace Mecha n is really going to ambush the Base Neb, other than here, everywhere else will be a wasted effort.¡± With Little Four¡¯s help, Ling Lan had already received the data from all parts of the Base Neb and knew the strengths and weaknesses of it.


    Ling Lan, of course, believed that Caesar also had the capabilities and means to acquire the data on these strengths and weaknesses. They probably had as much information as her already. Perhaps, they were sending Knight Ace Mecha n here to check whether there was actually a weakness here or not.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know whether she should consider it as Lingtian¡¯s bad luck or Caesar¡¯s bad luck.


    If it was 6 months ago, with Proud Wind Mecha n¡¯s overall strength, they definitely wouldn¡¯t have been able to hold off against Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s forces. Perhaps back then, the opposition might actually get what they want.


    However now, Lingtian was the main mecha n for the Base Neb. Despite Lingtian only having 1000 or so official mecha operators, these 1000 or so mecha operators were very adequate for such a battle... Plus, she still 1000 more reserve mecha operators. Despite their capabilities being lower than official members, they were still around the same level as other mecha operators from titled super mecha ns.


    Four months of hellish training turned these already capable mecha operators into monstrous individuals who could go past their limits. They now onlycked a battle that could prove their real capabilities.


    ¡°Haha, I see! We just need to stay here and wait for them to throw themselves at us.¡± Luo Lang excitedly licked his lips.


    ¡°Although they wille to our direction, this ce is still veryrge. We still need to be cautious and make sure they don¡¯t get past us from under our noses,¡± Yang Mingzhi immediately reminded everyone.


    Yang Mingzhi¡¯s words were agreed by everyone. They all activated the different types of radars on their mechas. They were afraid the opposition would use an inconspicuous signal and get past them.


    ¡°Coordinates: 3278X6827Y. Unidentified flying objects have appeared,¡± one leader suddenly shouted out.


    ¡°Analyze it.¡± Ling Lan ordered.


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun¡¯s voices echoed through themlink channel.

 Chapter 1116 - Broadcast!

    <h4>Chapter 1116 Broadcast!</h4>


    After a few seconds, almost simultaneously, two voices echoed in themlink channel, ¡°The results are in.¡±


    ¡°Jijyun go first. Lanfeng add to it if necessary,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°ording to the thermal radar, that area¡¯s temperature is abnormally high. The data from the light wave refraction radar can eliminate the possibility of the source being starships. If my analysis isn¡¯t wrong, it should be a group of mechas.¡± Han Jijyun immediately told Ling Lan his analysis.


    ¡°Whenparing the multi-frame light map, the opposition¡¯s target destination will be towards our location,¡± added Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Looks like they should be Knight Ace Mecha n.¡± Luo Lang began to rub his fists together.


    ¡°We still have to be cautious, in case the group of mechas that are going towards us is just a distraction, while they sent another group of mecha to our opposite direction¡± Liu Furong reminded. Back then, he had once lost to this method.


    ¡°No matter. If their target destination is towards our location, we will just wait until they get close to us,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    Her gaze fell upon the front-lines, the mecha operators who were fighting for their lives made her feel bitter in her heart.


    In order to hide the real goal of Knight Ace Mecha n, Caesar tossed out hundreds of thousands of mecha operators to battle on the front-lines. Base Neb on the other hand, if they wanted to withhold their authority in the Neb Boundary, also had to equally send out hundreds of thousands of mechas. Both sides were fighting with their lives on the line with seemingly no real goal in mind.


    However, these hundreds of thousands of mecha operators didn¡¯t know that it was just a move yed by the higher-ups to make them fight a pointless war.


    ¡°People who are less capable will most definitely be cannon fodder.¡± Ling Lan felt the brutality of war once again.


    If she wanted to take control of her destiny, she must be strong, so strong that no one could have any say in her decision. Ling Lan tightly clenched her fists. As her rank rose higher and higher, her capabilities also became stronger and stronger. It was more clear to her now that if she hadn¡¯t gained her position of power, she would most likely be one of those poor cannon fodder who were fighting with their lives on the line.


    Not only did she understand this, her father, Ling Xiao, had long understood this too. Now that she thought more deeply about her father¡¯s minute moves, she believed that he was probably doing that to propel himself to a higher position of power.


    Ling Lan suddenly remembered the time when she and her father realized that their actions portrayed themselves as the antagonists of a novel. Ling Lan snickered when she remembered that she had once been afraid that she might identally be the enemy of the whole world.


    However, if her dad truly wished to go down this path of being the antagonist of the world, then as his ¡®son¡¯, could only follow her father to the ends of the world.


    However before that, she needed to be stronger. She must acquire more strength to be able to help her father. She couldn¡¯t let him fight all by himself.


    ¡°Regimentmander, we¡¯ve decrypted the jamming sequence. Images are showing sessfully.¡± Suddenly, Li Lanfeng¡¯s voice echoed in her ears.


    All of the leaders¡¯ mechas had the decrypted image sessfully show up on their screens. Countless Caesar mechas appeared in the image. Every mecha had Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s emblem on them.


    ¡°That¡¯s it. It¡¯s Knight Ace Mecha n!¡± Qi Long excitedly shouted, ¡°They¡¯re finally here.¡±


    Ling Lan calmly looked at the iing group of mechas and asked softly, ¡°Is everyone ready?¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Lingtian¡¯s 2000 or so mecha operators all shouted.


    Shinng! Ling Lan took out Firmament, pointed it towards the direction of Knight Ace Mecha n and coldly ordered, ¡°The first 10 mecha teams will be our arrowheads and we will attack them with all we have!¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±


    The first 10 mecha teams formed the first group and immediately went towards Knight Ace Mecha n. The 11 other mecha teams followed closely behind them. Reserve mecha operators were following their team leaders closely too.


    ¡°Regimentmander, there¡¯s a mecha n intercepting us.¡± The vanguard from Knight Ace Mecha n saw countless mechas flying towards them, and he immediately contacted their regimentmander, who was in the back of the army.


    The regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n snorted coldly. ¡°Get rid of them.¡±


    How could normal mecha operators be able to go against Knight Ace Mecha n. He had already expected that his movements would be discovered sooner orter. Which was why he ced the strongest mecha team under hismand as the vanguard.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander.¡± After receiving their regimentmander¡¯s kill order, Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s vanguard team excitedly rushed towards the iing Federation¡¯s mechas.


    Yu Huan, who was sitting all alone in themand tower, felt a bit anxious. Back then, there was always Ke Yufeng, the regimentmander from Proud Wind Mecha n, in the tower alongside him who would always discuss battle ns with him. However, it was now only him who was responsible for the war that determined the survival of Base Neb.


    ¡°That dumbass regimentmander from Lingtian. Does he not knowmanders shouldn¡¯t go into battle like that?¡± Yu Huan was livid. Ling Lan¡¯s reckless actions caused him to not even have anyone to discuss the next course of the battle with.


    ¡°Commander, traces of Knight Ace Mecha n have been discovered,¡± the mainframe suddenly spoke.


    ¡°Where?¡± Yu Huan instantly awakened from the cursing session he had in his head about Ling Lan. Although he knew Knight Ace Mecha n was going to appear in this battle, the spy from Caesar still didn¡¯t tell him the ns they had. He didn¡¯t know whether the spy wasn¡¯t informed of the n or was it because his interrogation method was too soft.


    ¡°They are less than 30 kilometers away from our base¡¯sunching area.¡± replied the mainframe afterparing coordinates.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t they arrive in just a few minutes?¡± Yu Huan jumped up in fright. If given that little amount of time, even if he were to immediately activate Base Neb¡¯s engine and try to escape, he wouldn¡¯t have enough time.


    ¡°Lingtian, where are they?¡± Yu Huan suddenly remembered that Ling Lan had said that Lingtian would be responsible for intercepting Knight Ace Mecha n, so he immediately asked the mainframe for their location.


    ¡°Lingtian and Knight Ace Mecha n have already encountered each other. Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s coordinates were sent by Lingtian,¡± replied the mainframe.


    ¡°Can you pull up the live feed of Lingtian and Knight Ace¡¯s battle?¡± asked Yu Huan. He hoped Lingtian could hold for a short while so that it would give him enough time to activate the engine of Base Neb.


    ¡°Of course,¡± replied the mainframe.


    ¡°Pull up the live feed of the battle and activate the base¡¯s engine simultaneously!¡± Yu Huan quickly gave two orders.


    ¡°Understood.¡± The mainframe activated the base¡¯s engine while showing the live feed of the battle between Lingtian and Knight Ace Mecha n. The mainframe thought Yu Huan wanted it to y the live feed of the battle to the entire base because Yu Huan didn¡¯t specify in his orders. Thus, on every screen in Base Neb, the same video feed showed up.


    ¡°Hey look, it¡¯s the battle in the space above us!¡± The video feed on therge screen instantly drew the attention of many soldiers in the base.


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s here as well.¡± A soldier from another direction shouted out.


    ¡°It¡¯s showing here as well.¡±


    ¡°And here.¡±


    ¡°All the videos are the same.¡± Everyone discovered this.


    Everyone was shocked. They were curious about the reason why they were shown this video feed. Other than those who couldn¡¯t stop what they were doing, all the other soldiers dropped what they were doing and watched the battle.


    It should be known that during past wars, bases only had very few screens that had live feeds of the battle in the space above them. Most of the screens were used to send orders from themand tower. This time however, it waspletely different, and that was why it drew everyone¡¯s attention.


    Everyone wanted to know which of their mecha n and Caesar¡¯s mecha n were they going to watch.


    Suddenly, a Caesar mecha showed up on therge screen. The knight emblem was clearly shown to everyone.


    ¡°It¡¯s Knight Ace Mecha n!¡± All the mecha operators who knew about Knight Ace Mecha n all instantly shouted out in surprise.

 Chapter 1117 - Leader’s Mecha!

    <h4>Chapter 1117 Leader¡¯s Mecha!</h4>


    ¡°Knight Ace Mecha n? Is it the one that ranks 18th in Caesar?¡± Those who didn¡¯t recognize the emblem at the beginning heard others calling it out and they also began to realize it.


    ¡°Other than them, who else could it be?¡± One mecha operator had a pale look on his face, ¡°We¡¯re in deep trouble. We don¡¯t have any mecha ns in our base that could fight on par with Knight Ace Mecha n.¡±


    After hearing these words, everyone felt their hearts sink.


    ¡°Which mecha n did we send out to intercept them? How is their situation right now?¡± One mecha operator asked anxiously. The mecha n that was intercepting them was undoubtedly using their lives to fill the void to give them a chance to escape.


    At that moment, a Federation ace mecha ruthlessly smashed into an ace mecha from Knight Ace. The two mechas were sent flying backwards by the force from each other. The position of the Federation ace mecha was just right for everyone to see the emblem on the mecha. A dark phoenix screeching with its wings spread out as if it was going fly off the mecha was shown on the screen.


    ¡°Dark phoenix? Which mecha n is that?¡± There was no doubt that Lingtian¡¯s emblem wasn¡¯t well-known by the soldiers in the base. Thus, many soldiers were confused when they saw the emblem show up on their screen.


    ¡°That¡¯s Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s emblem.¡± However, there were still some people who knew and not long after, they all shouted out these simr words.


    ¡°Is it the mecha n that substituted Proud Wind Mecha n as the Base Neb¡¯s main mecha n?¡± Everyone was shocked. They didn¡¯t expect that the mecha n that was only used in emergencies actually appeared on the battlefield first.


    ¡°Look, it¡¯s all Lingtian¡¯s mechas.¡± The video feed zoomed out to show the whole battlefield. Everyone in the base saw that the area was filled with Lingtian and Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s members. They had already begun a full battle and were at each other¡¯s throats.


    Despite many normal soldiers being discontent and even resentful with the fact that Lingtian had substituted Proud Wind Mecha n as the main mecha n for the Base Neb, these feelings instantly disappeared when they saw Lingtian fighting on the front lines against Knight Ace Mecha n. Instead, a feeling of admiration began to rise in their hearts.


    ¡°But, how long can Lingtian Mecha nst?¡± One soldier had an expression of agony in his face. The feeling of watching allies giving up their lives wasn¡¯t a good feeling.


    No one could answer his question and the entire area turned silent.


    Those who were smart knew that they could only rely on Base Neb to escape. However, theirrades who were fighting would not be able to survive if they were to do that.


    ¡°Did Lingtian know Knight Ace Mecha n wasing?¡± Finally, someone asked the question that everyone wanted to ask.


    This was the only possible reason for the main n of the base, Lingtian, to appear on the battlefield so early in the battle.


    However, that was only a possibility, but it still made everyone feel terrible. This meant that Lingtian had gone out to battle knowing that they were giving up their lives, yet they still did it without hesitation. Even these veterans who had been in Base Neb for many years couldn¡¯t be certain that when faced with a situation like this, they could be able to calmly and peacefully ept this task.


    ¡°Just looking at their determination, we are already inferior to them.¡± One ace mecha n¡¯s mecha operator had an embarrassed look on his face.


    What right did they have to look down on Lingtian back then?


    Just as everyone were feeling sorry for themselves, they suddenly heard some shout out excitedly, ¡°So f*cking amazing. Quick, everyone! Watch the screen!¡±


    Everyone quickly turned their attention to the screen they gathered around. The video feed became zoomed in on one of the battles that was going on. It showed one Federation mecha and one Caesar mecha moving towards each other at top speeds.


    Most of them didn¡¯t see that just before they focused their attention on the screen, the Federation mecha made a clean cut with his sword on his opponent. This smooth action made the soldier who saw the moment be so excited that he shouted out loud.


    They quickly shed against each other. A sword reflection was showed in an instant as the two mechas moved beside each other instantly before moving to two different sides.


    After the two mechas held an attack pose for a few seconds, one of the mechas suddenly exploded. At that moment, the other mecha slowly turned around and shed therge sword to the side, showing the dark phoenix emblem on its chest. Under the emblem, the number 04-001 was clearly shown to everyone who was watching.


    The soldiers in the base who knew about the meaning of the serial numbers in the Federation figured out the identity of this mecha operator in an instant.


    ¡°It¡¯s Lingtian Team 04¡¯s leader¡¯s mecha. He¡¯s so strong.¡± His strength was definitely above the enemy to be able to kill his opponent that easily.


    ¡°It was probably just an average team member.¡± Most of them were still pessimistic about the situation. After all, Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s name was too well-known. Everyone that didn¡¯t know Lingtian¡¯s real strength, would still think negatively of Lingtian.


    However, their guess wasn¡¯t wrong. A leader of Knight Ace Mecha n became livid after seeing his team member be so easily killed. He instantly left the opponent who he was fighting with, turned around and pounced towards this Federation¡¯s leader who had Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s blood on his hands.


    ¡°That¡¯s... Knight Ace Mecha n Team 09¡¯s leader.¡± The spectators shouted out instantly when they were finally able to clearly see the emblem, the letters and numbers of the mecha.


    ¡°That¡¯s one of Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s top ten leaders. Can Lingtian Team 04¡¯s leader go against him?¡± Everyone was worried. Their hearts felt heavy as if someone was clenching them, so heavy that they couldn¡¯t breathe.


    Seeing the oppositioning towards him, Lingtian Team 04¡¯s leader decisively held up therge sword in his hand and piloted his mecha towards the opponent without any fear or hesitation.


    He chose to fight!


    Even though therge screen was only a video without sound, the audience still could feel the immense force created from two mechas smashing into each other. Simrly, the rebound force created by mechas was also extremely terrifying. Normal mecha operators wouldn¡¯t be able to handle it.


    The two mechas pushed against each other for a few seconds before sending each other away. The distance the two of them flew back were simr. They simultaneously took back control of their mechas, took out their long range beam guns while flying back and shot towards one another.


    ¡°Their strength is on par!¡±


    ¡°Neither of them are letting up!¡±


    ¡°Lingtian¡¯s leader isn¡¯t any weaker than Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s leader.¡±


    ¡°Amazing.¡±


    ¡°Lingtian¡¯s leaders are so strong!¡±


    The amazing battle between the two mechas excited everyone. They originally thought that the fight was going to heavily favour one side. They didn¡¯t expect that Lingtian¡¯s leader to be so strong to the point of not being in a disadvantage when facing one of the top 10 leaders from Knight Ace Mecha n.


    The two mechas aimed at each other for a few seconds and almost simultaneously pulled on their triggers.


    Two white beams of light cut through the space in between them. Right as the light was about to hit them, the two mechas suddenly moved oddly which caused the beams to just miss their mechas.


    ¡°Is that the Irregr Flicker?¡±


    ¡°No, that¡¯s Shadow Step! The final form of Irregr Flicker.¡± One ace operator shouted out loudly. Being able to do Shadow Step was a condition for advancing into an imperial operator. Most peak-level ace operators would try to perform Shadow Step. However unfortunately, Shadow Step was very difficult. Only a few people would be sessful even if they were peak-level ace operators.

 Chapter 1118 - They Were No Match for Them?

    <strong>Chapter 1118 They Were No Match for Them?</strong>


    The appearance of Shadow Step proved that these two leaders from different nations had both reached the highest point of an ace operator.


    Everyone wanted to continue to watch the battle between the two leaders. However, the video feed suddenly changed to a different scene.


    At this scene, they were able to see one Federation mecha standing behind Lingtian Mecha n, just quietly observing the fierce mecha battle coldly from the sidelines.


    ¡°Why isn¡¯t he joining the fight?¡± His allies on the front-lines were fighting a hard-fought fight while he just stood there watching without even offering to help. This odd scene gave many of those watching the battle an ufortable feeling.


    Coincidentally, mecha operators from Knight Ace Mecha n also saw him at the same time.


    One Knight Ace Mecha n mecha suddenly rushed out from the battlefield. He saw the Federation mecha at the very back and rushed towards it without giving a second thought.


    However, before he could get closer, a beam of light suddenly came towards him from a tricky angle.


    This beam came to him so silently that when he noticed it, it was already a few meters away from him. However, the mecha operator was the cream of the crop of mecha operators in Caesar, and he was fully adept in such dangerous situations, so when faced with such a dangerous situation, he just calmly piloted his mecha and used Shadow Step to dodge the iing beam.


    He originally thought the beam was just a lucky shot, but the next attack came right after. The mecha operator then knew that he was definitely in the sights of another mecha operator.


    He piloted his mecha and dodged the beam once again. After that, the mecha operator made a difficult decision to ignore the lone observing mecha operator and turn his attention towards the person who was sniping him.


    From afar, a Federation mecha was holding a beam gun aimed towards him.


    The distance between them was clearly quite far. Moreover, there were many mechas in between them, but this sniping mecha operator still had perfect aim on him. This made the mecha operator from Knight Ace Mecha n feel that he was quite unlucky.


    However, with the opposition being able to shoot out two precise and perfect shots through many obstacles, it was enough to prove the capabilities of this mecha master operator. His opponent was definitely a top-ss long range mecha operator, and he probably had a high position within his mecha n.


    He originally wanted to take down that annoying lone Federation mecha. However, before he could even get close to him, he discovered a capable opponent which excited him, so he quickly turned his mecha around and jumped right back into the raging battlefield.


    The Knight Ace mecha immediately started to move oddly past one mecha after the other. In the blink of an eye, he had arrived around the area near the long range mecha operator from the Federation.


    During time he was moving past the battlefield, he could feel that the long range mecha operator had aimed at him three times. Oddly enough, he didn¡¯t pull the trigger. It wasn¡¯t because he wouldn¡¯t but rather he couldn¡¯t pull the trigger. It was because the Knight Ace mecha had cleverly used mechas from the Federation as cover on his way towards him. If he were to shoot him, then he would have a high chance of identally injuring his allied mechas.


    However, it wasn¡¯t like there was no opportunity to shoot, but rather taking the shot required a lot of confidence and ruthlessness from the mecha operator.


    However, in the end, he lost to the feelings between brother-in-arms. Other than just that, he was also not confident enough to bet on himself.


    ¡°I¡¯ve found his weakness. That guy is irresolute and hesitant.¡± The Knight Ace mecha operator smiled coldly. He gave his opponent those slight windows of opportunity to shoot him just to see what decision he would make and then from it, he would be able to determine his opponent¡¯s personality. That way he would be able to gauge the optimal way to fight him.


    Finally, after not having anymore Federation mechas as cover, his opponent shot many beams decisively. Countless beams of light covered all of the possible routes the Knight Ace mecha operator could evade towards.


    The technique of shooting continuous beams showed him that his opponent had already reached the highest tier of long range attacker. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be able to shoot out more than 20 shots in an instant.


    Although his opponent¡¯s shooting techniques were impressive, the mecha operator from Knight Ace Mecha n wasn¡¯t afraid. Heughed coldly and his finger speed suddenly increased exponentially. He then shouted loudly, ¡°Get through.¡±


    A strange urrence suddenly happened after he said that. The Knight Ace mecha suddenly disappeared and then reappeared behind the beams of light in the next second. He had evaded sessfully.


    ¡°How could that happen?¡± Seeing the strange urrence, everyone who was spectating the battle from the base instantly shouted out loud.


    ¡°The mecha broke through the speed of light in an instant which allowed him to be faster than the speed of the beams, dodging them perfectly. Because of how fast his speed was, it had already gotten past the camera¡¯s capabilities to record it. That was why it seemed like the mecha had disappeared and reappeared at a different location.¡± Little Four knew very well of the weaknesses and strengths of the equipment in this era. Seeing the people from the base having expressions of confusion on their faces, he was nice enough to let the mainframe of the base exin the truth to the audience.


    The long range mecha operator was surprised when he saw that his undodgeable attack was evaded. He quickly piloted his mecha and flew backwards to create more distance between the two of them.


    However, how could the mecha operator from Knight Ace Mecha n give him the opportunity to? In the blink of an eye, he arrived before his opponent and shed his de towards him.


    The long range mecha operator could only helplessly put up his beam gun to block the attack.


    The beam gun exploded into pieces as the de had shed the power source of the beam gun.


    When the gun exploded, the Knight Ace mecha operator could only see a burst of white light covering his vision. The screens in the mecha were also nketed with a bright sh of white which inhibited the mecha operator to see what was going on outside.


    However, the sudden situation didn¡¯t interfere with his attack, as he had already raised his sword for another attack.


    He expected to feel his de slicing through tough sheets of metal, but that feeling never came.


    ¡®How could this be?¡¯ He thought with surprise.


    He didn¡¯t know what was happening, but the audience saw it. It turns out, in the instant the beam gun exploded, the long range mecha operator was blown away by the explosive force. In an effort to gain control of his mecha, heid down on all fours which somehow allowed him to evade the sword that wasing towards his waist.


    ¡°So f*cking lucky.¡± Everyone couldn¡¯t help but wipe away the cold sweat off their foreheads. They were all under the impression that Lingtian¡¯s long range mecha operator was going to be cut in half by his opponent.


    Right at that moment, a ring white light suddenly shined down on everything. It was as though it was cutting through the fabric of space.


    Before anyone could notice, the long range mecha operator, who had lost control of his mecha from the force of the explosion, actually had a long, ck and narrow sword in his mecha¡¯s right hand.


    After his mecha was sent flying for a few meters, he finally managed to stop his mecha and stand up. However, what he did next confused everyone.


    He actually turned his back towards his opponent and attacked another Knight Ace mecha operator who was fighting with a Federation mecha not far from him. The narrow sword in his hand ruthlessly sliced towards the new Knight Ace mecha operator.


    Although the Knight Ace mecha operator was surprised by his attack, he still calmly put up therge sword in his hand to block.


    In reality, narrow swords were often much weaker than therge sword. However, when the two swords shed, the narrow sword actually wasn¡¯t being pushed back. The two of them confronted each other for a few seconds and then moved away from each other.


    ¡°Is he changing opponents with hisrade?¡± The audience, who didn¡¯t understand why the long range mecha operator had done that, could onlye up with this reason for the switch.


    ¡°Look, that Knight Ace mecha.¡±


    ¡°Why isn¡¯t he moving?¡±


    ¡°Look closely at the mecha¡¯s abdomen,¡± prompted those with sharp eyes.


    The mainframe seemed to understand everyone¡¯s wishes and zoomed in on the abdomen. Everyone in the entire base finally saw why Lingtian¡¯s mecha operator had ignored that opponent and went to attack someone else.


    Arge opening suddenly cracked open around the cockpit area of the mecha, and countless blood-red solids were pouring through it endlessly.

 Chapter 1119 - Scheming!

    <strong>Chapter 1119 Scheming!</strong>


    The Knight Ace mecha operator in the cockpit could only feel immense pain wrecking through his entire body. He used great effort to tilt his head down and saw that on his chest area, a long line of red blood had already painted his protective vest red. He felt the oxygen in the cockpit was slowly running out, but he couldn¡¯t remember when his cockpit was sliced open.


    ¡°I lost? How is that possible?¡± With a face full of confusion, he no longer had any chance to find out the answer. In the next second, he breathed hisst breath.


    ¡°Ah, that was a leader¡¯s mecha from Knight Ace Mecha n ,¡± one person excitedly shouted out loud.


    The image was zoomed in. The audience watching from the base could clearly see the serial numbers as 37-001 on the broken mecha.


    37 was the number of the team, and 001 was the standard number for leaders.


    Despite 37 being on the lower-end of the rankings in Knight Ace Mecha n, he was still a real leader.


    Everyone watching from the base was stunned. A leader from the well-known Knight Ace Mecha n was killed by theirrade in front of their eyes just like that?


    ¡°Oh my god, who is that long range mecha operator?¡± someone shouted out in excitement. Everyone fixed their gaze on the Lingtian¡¯s long range mecha that was now confronting another mecha operator from Knight Ace Mecha n .


    ¡°Thank you, leader.¡± The mecha operator, who was the original opponent of the mecha operator from Knight Ace Mecha n, breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his own leader intercepting his opponent sessfully. He then gratefully thanked him.


    If his leader waste just by a bit, he might have said goodbye to this world. Plus, his luck was terrible since the first opponent he had encountered was very strong and terrifying.


    ¡°Leave this to me.¡± His leader waved the narrow sword in his hand, gesturing to his team member to leave.


    After receiving his leader¡¯s orders, the Lingtian mecha operator decisively rushed towards another Knight Ace mecha operator fighting not too far away from him.


    Their leader had constantly reminded them that in the battlefield, they must use any means to win and do what gave them the most chances to win. If they could fight as a group, they shouldn¡¯t fight alone. If they could ambush, they shouldn¡¯t fight face to face. If they could plot and scheme, they shouldn¡¯t fight head on. If anyone broke these rules, they definitely would be grabbed by the neck by their leader to relearn everything he had thought. When that happens, they would have to figuratively get smacked in the bottom before they coulde out again.


    The new mecha operator from Knight Ace Mecha n did see hisrade¡¯s life being ended by this leader¡¯s mecha in front of him. His eyes filled with killing intent. He quickly raised therge sword in his hand and piloted his mecha in a crazed fashion, cutting towards his opponent.


    Anyone who dared to kill theirrades must use their lives to pay for it!


    The two of them shed for a few rounds. The speed of the sh was so fast that some of the audience did not manage to keep up with their eyes.


    In the end, the two of them attacked each other with great force and rebounded away from each other.


    In the instant they rebounded back, the emblems and serial numbers on their chests were shown clear as day.


    The serial number on the Knight Ace Mecha n mecha was 007-001. The audience didn¡¯t expect that after seeing the 37th leader be taken out, another leader actually appeared in his ce. Most importantly, he was ranked 7th in Knight Ace Mecha n.


    The serial number on the Lingtian mecha was 006-001.


    ¡°He is also a leader. Team 06¡¯s leader.¡± Seeing this scene, those in the base instantly shouted out in excitement with their arms high in the air.


    ¡°No wonder he could kill Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s 37th leader. Our Team 06¡¯s leader is stronger than him!¡± The fighting spirit of these worry warts, that was pushed down by fear they had in their hearts, now increased to a new height because of Lingtian¡¯s two fights with two leader level opponents.


    ¡°But Team 06¡¯s leader is a long range mecha operator, while that 7th leader from Knight Ace Mecha n is piloting a closebat mecha. Would he be in trouble now that they¡¯re fighting each other?¡± Despite everyone¡¯s excitement, they were still able to see the situation clearly. They still couldn¡¯t help but be worried for Team 06¡¯s leader¡¯s safety.


    ¡°That Li Lanfeng, why is he getting in your way?¡± Little Four, who had nothing to do up until now, finally saw a stray looking to cause Boss trouble. Just as he felt he was given something to do, that annoying Li Lanfeng intercepted that person and took the prey away from his clutches. His dumb actions annoyed Little Four quite a lot.


    Ling Lan nced at Little Four speechlessly. She didn¡¯t know why Little Four was angry. In fact, Li Lanfeng was just being nice. He was afraid Ling Lan¡¯s injuries hadn¡¯t healed yet and would reopen if she were to pilot her mecha to fight.


    In reality, after the rest she had recently, her body didn¡¯t have anymore big issues. As long as she didn¡¯t stupidly pilot a mecha above her capabilities, she would be able to endure battles even if it was for three days and nights.


    However, it seemed odd because for a while now, Little Four seemed toin about Li Lanfeng a lot. As long as he got the chance to, he would tattle on Li Lanfeng to Ling Lan. If it wasn¡¯t the fact that Ling Lan knew Little Four definitely didn¡¯t have any connections with Li Lanfeng, Ling Lan might have misunderstood and thought that maybe Li Lanfeng had bullied Little Four when she wasn¡¯t paying attention.


    ¡°Am I wrong? Boss, you just need to casually sh Firmament for such individuals to take care of them instantly. Unlike him, who is so useless and who almost lost his life before somehow managing to take care of his opponent,¡± Little Four mumbled.


    ¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯re an intelligent entity and he is a mecha operator.¡± Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but stop Little Four from thinking as ayman.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Little Four waspletely confused.


    In fact, when he had taken shots to intercept that Knight Ace mecha operator, he had already begun to scheme,¡± said Ling Lan slowly. ¡°He purposely gave his opponent the impression that he was a long range mecha operator.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t he though? Isn¡¯t he piloting a long range mecha?¡± asked Little Four.


    ¡°Can you really tell what type of mecha he¡¯s piloting with the modifications made by Chang Xinyuan?¡± Ling Lan shook her head. She didn¡¯t have any special requirements for members of the teams within her n, but leaders must not have clear weaknesses in their mechas. Out of the leaders, Li Lanfeng was the best at not showing his weaknesses.


    ¡°As a matter of fact, Li Lanfeng¡¯s closebat skills is actually stronger than his long range skills. Other than those close to him, no one else knows about this,¡± Ling Lan said this and then realized that other than her, there wasn¡¯t anyone else who was close to him.


    It had to be said that if she also didn¡¯t know Li Lanfeng, she definitely wouldn¡¯t like Li Lanfeng either. Even Li Shiyu, who was nice to him no matter what, was not trusted by Li Lanfeng. When he schemes against him, he wouldn¡¯t hesitate... However, as luck would have it, that guy trusted her with his life. The more heartless and merciless he was towards others, the more nice he seemed towards her.


    What great deed did she do in her previous life or did shemit a great sin, for her to meet an oddball like Li Lanfeng in this life. His selfless action made her feel like she wasn¡¯t nice to him, she would feel as though she had sinned... Ling Lan felt slightly annoyed by that feeling, but she couldn¡¯t push away such a pure friendship just because of tha.


    Whatever. She¡¯ll endure it since she could bear the burden anyways.

 Chapter 1120 - Wallflower?

    <h4>Chapter 1120 Wallflower?</h4>


    ¡°So, he was faking it?¡± Little Four frowned and still couldn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°You probably saw that when the opponent closed in on him, he actually had three windows of opportunity to shoot him,¡± hinted Ling Lan.


    ¡°Yeah, but wasn¡¯t it because Li Lanfeng was afraid to take the shot? That guy is like that, irresolute and hesitant. When he must make decisions, he doesn¡¯t. He is so annoying when he does that.¡± Little Four seemed to have found why he hated Li Lanfeng and why he always had an annoyed expression on his face when he looked at Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Irresolute and hesitant? Heh,¡± Ling Lanughed softly. ¡°If you described any other person, I might have believed you.¡±


    Little Four wasn¡¯t going to let up. ¡°Isn¡¯t he though? He wasn¡¯t confident with himself and was afraid to take his shot. In the end, he allowed his opponent to close in on him sessfully, and he was almost sliced in half because of that.¡±


    Ling Lan sighed. ¡°Little Four, when you have your own body in the future, please for the love of god, don¡¯t mess with Li Lanfeng.¡±


    ¡°Boss, are you looking down on me, right now?¡± Little Four became angry. Why was he not capable as Li Lanfeng in Boss¡¯s mind?


    ¡°I¡¯m just afraid you¡¯ll suffer in his hands.¡± Ling Lan shook her head and continued, ¡°Li Lanfeng isn¡¯t a person who would put himself in danger because he was afraid of hurting hisrades.¡±


    ¡°Then, why did he give up on the three windows of opportunity?¡± Little Four was slowly believing in Ling Lan¡¯s words. If she said Li Lanfeng wouldn¡¯t do that, then Li Lanfeng would never do that.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t I say it already? Li Lanfeng already had a n from the very beginning. He created a weak and irresolute image of himself in his opponent¡¯s mind...¡± exined Ling Lan. ¡°And to do that, Li Lanfeng purposely gave up those three windows of opportunity.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Little Four was dumbfounded, ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Even if he hit the opponent through those windows of opportunity, it would only be a severe injury and not a sure kill.¡± Ling Lan smirked. Li Lanfeng was a very ambitious person. He wanted a sure-kill, not just a severe injury on his opponent. To obtain that sure-kill, he purposely set up the n and let his opponent fall into his trap.


    Little Four was after all Little Four, although he didn¡¯t understand at the beginning, he still managed to understand after Ling Lan¡¯s exnation. It was clear that the entire situation wasn¡¯t a coincidence.


    ¡°Then, using his beam gun to block was also part of Li Lanfeng¡¯s calctions? Including the fall caused by the explosion of the energy storage unit?¡± Little Four asked after realizing something.


    ¡°But, isn¡¯t he afraid that he would identally injure himself with the explosion?¡± Little Four was very surprised with Li Lanfeng¡¯s daringness. The calctions and ns may severely injure himself if it was off by even a bit and wouldn¡¯t do anything to his opponent.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m telling you to stay away from Li Lanfeng. That guy is ruthless. Not only is he ruthless to others, but to himself as well.¡±


    ISe


    From the very beginning, when he was plotting against others, he would always use himself as bait in his schemes. Luckily, Li Lanfeng was her confidant, otherwise Ling Lan would definitely have taken him out before he had matured in order to make sure he didn¡¯t be troublesome for her in the future.


    ¡°What now? Hasn¡¯t Li Lanfeng already exposed the fact that he¡¯s strong in terms of closebat?¡± Little Four looked Li Lanfeng, who was piloting his mecha fighting fiercely against his opponent. He then said with schadenfreude, ¡°His calctions and schemes are all useless in the end.¡±


    ¡°That might not be the case.¡± Ling Lan smirked with hidden intention behind it. Every sh made it seem that both sides were at the same level, but in reality, the positions they moved towards, including the rebound distance, were off by a little bitpared to his opponent. Anyone could see such a minuscule difference, but did that mean Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t as capable as his opponent?


    When fighting with Li Lanfeng, his opponents must always be on guard. Otherwise, just one slip up would make him fall into Li Lanfeng¡¯s traps.


    However, how could his opponent¡¯s first impression of him, created by Li Lanfeng through maniption, be so easily changed?


    Right as Ling Lan was about to watch Li Lanfeng¡¯s next move, she suddenly frowned as she turned her gaze towards the area of space furthest away from them.


    ¡°Boss, there seems to be movement from that direction.¡± Little Four, who had already taken control of all the satellites within the area, discovered the odd urrence.


    ¡°It seems someone can¡¯t sit still anymore.¡± Ling Lan smiled, ¡°I¡¯ve been a wallflower for so long. I should move around a bit now.¡±


    After saying that, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha shed through space and arrived at the area of space in front of her.


    ¡°Come out!¡± The Firmament in Ling Lan¡¯s hand sliced towards the vast space in front of her.


    A strong shapeless ripple appeared in the direction she had sliced towards and a mecha slowly appeared in that area of space.


    The mecha twirled in the air and dodged the sword attack.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that you would actually discover me.¡± In the public voice channel, a deep male voice spoke Caesar¡¯snguage. A mecha finallypletely appeared in front of Ling Lan.


    The knight emblem on the mecha¡¯s chest, the English word ¡®Knight¡¯ and the serial number of 000-000... It was the mecha of their regimentmander.


    ¡°Your men have been stopped by my men and they cannot move even an inch further, so it makes sense that you can¡¯t sit still anymore,¡± Ling Lan said nonchntly.


    ¡°Phoenix emblem. You¡¯re Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander then. I still haven¡¯t gotten any useful information about your n. I originally thought that even if you were strong, you would only be simr to Proud Wind Mecha n. I didn¡¯t expect you to actually give me such a surprise and sessfully intercept us. Not bad, not bad.¡±


    The Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander also saw the serial number on Ling Lan¡¯s mecha along with the phoenix emblem. After piecing it with the information he had received, he knew that this mecha operator, who saw through his movements, was the regimentmander of Lingtian. He was somewhat excited. Normally, he would stay put when his mecha n was in battle. But, he finally found an opponent who was on par with him. This made him feel the fighting spirit within him that had already hibernated be fired up.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for you for quite a while now,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°Alright, since you¡¯re looking to die, I¡¯ll help you fulfill your wish.¡± Killing intent filled the regimentmander from Knight Ace Mecha n. When his 37th leader was killed, he had already decided to make sure not one person from Lingtian could escape here alive.


    It should be known that in the decade he had been a regimentmander, this was the first time one of his leaders was killed. This humiliation must be repaid through blood.


    Inside the base, the scene on therge screen changed once again. It showed two mechas far from the center of the battle confronting each other in the silent yet vast space.


    ¡°That¡¯s odd. Why did the scene change to this?¡± The soldiers in the base were all annoyed at the mainframe¡¯s odd scene changes.


    Couldn¡¯t it let them watch a battle between leaders from the beginning to the end? It was always changing the scene when the most exciting and thrilling parts were about toe up.


    ¡°It¡¯s regimentmander mechas! Two of them are both regimentmander mechas!¡± Finally someone had sharp eyes and managed to see the regimentmander¡¯s serial numbers from the side.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, they¡¯re regimentmander mechas.¡±


    ¡°What? It¡¯s the battle between Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander and Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander. Mr. Mainframe, I f*cking love you.¡± They were just hating the mainframe for changing the scene but now, they were all chanting that the mainframe understood what they wanted.


    The mainframe felt wronged. When the video feed started ying in the base, he didn¡¯t have any power in choosing what to show to people.


    Little Four smiled proudly. He was going to let these dumb soldiers admire his heroic, brave, and omnipotent Boss!

 Chapter 1121 - Data!

    <h4>Chapter 1121 Data!</h4>


    Right as the soldiers on the base were cheering for the mainframe for choosing the scene they wanted to see, the Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander on the screen pulled out his beam saber and ruthlessly rushed towards Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander.


    Right as the beam saber was about to slice up Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander¡¯s mecha, Lingtian¡¯ regimentmander suddenly made a weird movement. The beam saber miraculously and softly scratched the surface of the mecha.


    While Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander dodged the attack, a ck and narrow sword was twirling around in his palm. In the end, it ruthlessly sliced towards his opponent in an unexpected and extremely difficult position to defend.


    The Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander immediately narrowed his gaze Immediately, he jumped up and throttle his mecha¡¯s engine to the max, dodging the attack with the fastest speed.


    At the same time, his left hand caught a high-frequency de that popped out from his leg and blocked the iing sword with it.


    He then felt a strong forceing from his left hand. The immense force pushed his mecha back up even faster. In the blink of an eye, he was sent backwards by a few hundred meters.


    His probing attack almost allowed his opponent to have a chance to hit him. The Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander instantly had cold sweats from this surprising development.


    When he looked towards Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander mecha, he no longer had the arrogant look on his face. Instead, he became very cautious and serious.


    On the plus side, the probing attack wasn¡¯tpletely useless. At least it allowed him to understand that the opponent in front of him wasn¡¯t weaker than him, an imperial operator.


    Yes, although Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander was piloting an ace mecha, he had already be an imperial operator. It was just like the Huaxia Federation, in order to increase their battle potential, these imperial operators weren¡¯t registered into the mainframe and announced to the world. Instead, they chose to hide their levels and continue to stay within the military to be the vanguard of their nations.


    This was an unspoken rule that all nations in the world agreed upon silently. Thus, they would be considered imperials mecha operator that piloted ace mechas. However, when an imperial operator pilots an ace mecha, they could theoretically make full use of all parts of an ace mecha and they could even increase the battle potential of them.


    Thus, the important border areas between nations always had a strong imperial operator hiding their level and defending that location. For example, Qi Yaoyang from back then had once hidden his level and guarded the border for 15 years.


    Of course, the Neb Boundary was only a small border. With Base Neb being a base that could attack and escape, it wasn¡¯t important whether or not the strongest regimentmander of the strongest n was an imperial operator. This was also why when Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander received his orders, he didn¡¯t think much of it. He thought it would be just like usual and they would easilyplete their mission.


    It wasn¡¯t because he was proud and arrogant, but rather because he wasn¡¯t the only one who was an imperial operator hiding their level among members of Knight Ace Mecha n. The top 10 leaders under hismand had already or perhaps already reached the level of pseudo imperial operator.


    Despite Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander being surprised by Ling Lan¡¯s level, he still wasn¡¯t worried. It was only just one imperial operator. As long as he kept Ling Lan busy, victory will definitely be Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s.


    ¡°Boss, someone who can escape from your clutches is definitely an imperial operator.¡± Little Four¡¯s expression began to be serious. When even Little Four didn¡¯t put much emphasis on ace mecha operators, you would know Boss could easily defeat a group of mecha operators. However an imperial operator... Despite having confidence in Boss, Little Four was still worried because Boss¡¯s body was still in the recovery stage. Would fighting a simr level opponent cause any negative side effects on her body?


    ¡®Yeah, Knight Ace Mecha n is ranked 18th in Caesar. If their regimentmander isn¡¯t an imperial operator, then that would be weird.¡¯ Ling Lan thought calmly. From the very beginning, when she knew the enemy was Knight Ace Mecha n, she already knew that this regimentmander was an imperial operator.


    Before taking her forces to Base Neb, Ling Lan had returned home for a few days of vacation to say goodbye to her mom and dad.


    After enduring her mom¡¯s nagging, Ling Xiao took her to the secret room and talked for a long time. He told her things that he hadn¡¯t mentioned before. One of which was that in every country, there were imperial operators hidden among in their militaries.


    Ling Xiao was afraid that his daughter would be fooled by the fake information on the surface. That was why he told her about the details of which mecha ns had hidden imperial operators among them. Back then, when she saw her father handing her a thick pile of papers, she was mortified.


    It turns out, the number of imperial operators was actually quite a lotpared to those shown on the surface. It was only because they were hidden in the military by those who were in power.


    Unfortunately for Knight Ace Mecha n, their leaders were included in the list of who were suspected to have already reached imperial level.


    Compared to how Knight Ace Mecha n knew nothing of Lingtian¡¯s capabilities, Lingtian knew Knight Ace Mecha n very well.


    This was why Lingtian¡¯s leaders had already set their sights on Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s leaders. They all knew that those people were their actual enemies.


    Information was the most important factor to win a battle. There was no doubt that in the battle between Lingtian and Knight Ace Mecha n, Lingtian got everything going for them. If they still couldn¡¯t take Knight Ace Mecha n down with all the advantages, then Ling Lan would have to think about whether her subordinates were all unable to be stronger without her help.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Little Four realize that he had actually forgotten about that list. He put his head down in shame. He remembered that at that time, he seemed to have be so excited that he was dizzy because he saw Ling Lan¡¯s father beside him. He didn¡¯t even pay attention to the list of names.


    ¡°No, I can¡¯t lose to dad¡¯s handsomeness and noble mannerisms...¡± Little Four clenched his fists silently to get himself pumped. If he was to be in the same room as dad again, he definitely wouldn¡¯t allow himself to freeze up.


    Ling Lan only spoke with Little Four for a short while and then continued to fight.


    The two of them didn¡¯t want the other to have the chance of going into the center of the battlefield to create problems for their own side. They both had the thought of purposely keeping each other busy and letting their subordinates take care of things.


    The decision made through unnned unison caused the attacks by the two of them to be mainly to keep each other busy.


    The fight between the two of them was like fire and water. It was seemingly dangerous and extremely fierce. However, both of them knew that their current fight wasn¡¯t as dangerous as the instant when they had first encountered each other.


    However, the soldiers who were watching couldn¡¯t see through to this fact. They had their hearts gripped tightly while watching the fight between two regimentmanders. Every time Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander was in danger, these soldiers would uncontrobly clench their fists and be overly nervous. Some people even couldn¡¯t hold it in and shouted out.


    ¡°What do you guys see?¡± In the area under the control tower, many regimentmanders who were on standby, were standing in front of arge screen. Among them were three or four people standing in a small corner. After seeing Lingtian and Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s fierce battle, one of the softly asked a question to the people around him.


    ¡°ording to our information we acquired, Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander is a hidden imperial operator,¡± one person replied softly.


    ¡°From that we assume that Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander is also definitely an imperial operator,¡± another person continued.


    ¡°Who knew that Base Neb would finally have an imperial operator gracing us with his appearance.¡± The person who asked the question in the beginning now had a frozen expression on his face.


    ¡°Elder Brother Wu, what did you discover?¡± Seeing the oldest out of their group have a frozen expression, the other instantly became nervous.

 Chapter 1122 - Known Around the World!

    <h4>Chapter 1122 Known Around the World!</h4>


    ¡°I didn¡¯t figure anything out, but I know that if the higher-ups sent out a nameless and not well-known titled super mecha n, with the regimentmander as an imperial operator... then something is off.¡± Elder Brother Wu smiled bitterly. ¡°If we safely survive this battle, I suggest you all go increase your strength and your n¡¯s battle potential immediately.


    ¡°Why?¡± one person asked.


    ¡°A war... a cataclysmic war is approaching!¡± Elder Brother Wu took a deep breath with a heavy expression. If it were actually what he thought, then how many of them could remain alive at the end of it all?


    Elder Brother Wu¡¯s words turned the atmosphere solemn. Knowing Elder Brother Wu¡¯s character, they knew that he would not say anything if it wasn¡¯t important. If he said something would happen, then the chance of it happening was very high.


    In that instant, they all became silent as they watched the battle between the two regimentmanders withplicated expressions on their faces.


    At that moment, in the battlefield, countless mechas had been shot down and destroyed. The destruction of the war lit up this dark area of space.


    After shing with Ling Lan again and again, the Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander finally said, ¡°You¡¯re strong, but it¡¯s time to end this.¡±


    After not receiving any reports and notifications from his leaders for quite some time now, the Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander finally felt a bit uneasy about the situation.


    ording to their normal procedures, once the situation was under control, his leaders would report to him as soon as possible. However, themlink channels in his mecha werepletely silent. He had tried to contact them himself, but there was no response... Something was off.


    ¡°Boss, he found out.¡± Little Four pouted.


    In order to make sure the opponent didn¡¯t know about the situation in the battlefield, Little Four had to cut off all signals around them by Ling Lan¡¯s orders. Of course, the result of cutting off all the signals was that they also couldn¡¯t receive any information from the outside. Thus, Little Four also didn¡¯t know who was winning and who was losing.


    ¡°I wanted to keep him busy longer, but if he has discovered it, then we might as well stop blocking the signals.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t mind too much about her opponent finding out her n. If she wanted to keep someone there, she was confident no one could escape from her grasp once she had them. Of course, if she were to forcibly block him from escaping, there would be more work she needed to do. That was why shezily and shamelessly asked Little Four to block off the signals. If she could take the easier route, she would definitely not take the more difficult route.


    When the Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander decided to put an end to this farce, he heard many people calling out to him in his mecha¡¯smlink channels.


    ¡°Regiment Commander, please respond when you hear this. Please respond when you hear this.¡±


    ¡°Regiment Commander, Team 34 has been scattered everywhere. We can¡¯t hold any longer. Please provide backup. Please provide backup.¡±


    ¡°Regiment Commander, Team 09¡¯s leader has died, Team 07¡¯s leader is severely injured and Team 05¡¯s leader has disappeared without a trace. The three teams have beenpletely scattered all around the ce. My Team 06 is also fighting a hard battle on our front. Please provide backup to them, regimentmander. We cannot hold out much longer... ha... ha.¡± Team 06¡¯s leader shouted while breathing heavily. His situation was turning worse and worse.


    Bad news flooded into Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander¡¯s ears one by one. The death, severe injury and loss of his three pseudo imperial operators pained his heart. Could it be that the strongest Caesar mecha n, Knight Ace Mecha n, was going to be decimated right here and now?


    ¡°No! Team 06, hold your ground.¡± Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander roared in a saddened tone. He lifted up therge sword in his hand and rotated it with great force. With an immense and terrifying force, he sliced towards Ling Lan.


    The person who was responsible for all this was this b*stard in front of him. As long as he killed him, then victory would belong to Knight Ace Mecha n!


    Ling Lan looked up and felt the tip of the deing at her from all sides. No matter where she dodge, she would still get hit by it.


    ¡°True Whirlwind Strike? Interesting. Then let me see which is stronger my own True Whirlwind Strike or Caesar¡¯s True Whirlwind Strike.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s wrist shook softly and Firmament began to tremble in her hands. The tip of the de began to rotate in a circr motion.


    Almost simultaneously, the two of them shouted, ¡°Break!¡±


    The force behind two different weapons finally met up with each other. Out of the two True Whirlwind Strikes, one of the strikes was performed on the basis to break through everything in its path, while the other strike used technique to break through from a point.


    Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander felt a strong force hit hisrge sword. This force did not reach him just once, but rather in waves with each wave getting stronger than thest. Finally, this force reached a point that was more than what he could endure.


    Of course, Ling Lan also felt the same overwhelming force that wasing towards her.


    Ling Lan decisively jumped backwards. The two mechas were sent flying backwards by the force of the sh.


    While the mecha was spiralling out of control, Ling Lan slowly and calmly used her fingers to send manymands to the mainframe of the mecha. At the same time, she activated the mecha¡¯s engine. Her mecha somersaulted to counter thest remnant of the explosive force tond perfectly.


    Her opponent, the Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander, didn¡¯t have it as easy as she did. He was sent flying for a few hundred meters before he managed to gain back control of his mecha.


    After seeing this scene, the soldiers in the base all instantly pped and cheered. Their regimentmander from Lingtian finally managed to push away his opponent. They were waiting for this scene for too long. They almost thought that they would never see it.


    ¡°In terms of mecha power control, our regimentmander from Lingtian is clearly better than his opponent.¡± The specs of mechas were fixed. However, how much strength one could exert from the mecha depended on the ability of the mecha operator.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Victory to Lingtian! Victory to Lingtian!¡± No one knew which soldier shouted out ¡®Victory to Lingtian¡¯, but everyone in the audience just began to chant.


    Ling Lan and the regimentmander from Knight Ace Mecha n didn¡¯t know the situation because Little Four had blocked off all signals. However, the soldiers in the base saw everything as clear as day.


    The mainframe in the base discovered Little Four was finally gone and no longer giving itmands (Well actually when he blocked off all signals, Little Four also blocked himself from the mainframe. His signal jamming ability was one that targeted both enemy and allymunications). This excited the mainframe because in the past few days, it could rarely make its own decisions. The first thing he did is to impulsively change the scene to just the battle between normal members of both ns to prove that it was the real master of Base Neb.


    Well in reality, the battle between Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander and Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander had frightened it. That was why it decided to not watch it for its own sake...


    In the end, the soldiers in the base were only able to see Lingtian¡¯s leaders killing and injuring Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s leaders. Of course, they also saw Lingtian¡¯s mecha operators, who were not able to hold off against mecha operators from Knight Ace Mecha n be defeated. These scenes both excited and saddened the audience for Lingtian¡¯s victories and for Lingtian¡¯s sacrifices respectively.


    At that moment, the scene returned its focus to the regimentmanders. (The mainframe discovered that his boss, Little Four, had returned. That¡¯s why he obediently turned it back to the two regimentmanders.) Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander was pushing Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander back. The excitement instantly made those watching unable to control their emotions and caused them to instantly begin cheering loudly.


    The screams began from the front of onerge screen and continued to spread. Not long after, ¡®Victory to Lingtian¡¯ was being cheered by everyone across the entire base.


    ¡°After this battle, Lingtian will definitely be known around the gxy!¡± Yu Huan also heard the cheers. He looked at the regimentmander mecha on the screen with aplicated expression. In the end, he sighed ever so silently.

 Chapter 1123 - Unexpected!

    <h4>Chapter 1123 Unexpected!</h4>


    ¡°How is that possible?¡± The regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n looked at the mecha of the regimentmander of Lingtian in disbelief.


    In order to force obedience in the mecha operators under him, he had to be overwhelmingly stronger than them. He had been in the imperial level for ten years. His understanding and familiarity with the imperial level were much deeper than those new imperial operators and pseudo imperial operators. This was why he was able to maintain an iron grip in Knight Ace Mecha n.


    In the past, even when he met Qi Yaoyang in battle, he never lost. This was why he didn¡¯t care much when he knew that Ling Lan was an imperial operator. Qi Yaoyang was the undefeatable god of war of the Federation. He was the most powerful hidden imperial operator, so how could a no-named imperial operator bepared to him


    Did another Qi Yaoyang appear in the Federation? But, he hadn¡¯t heard of Ling Lan¡¯s name before.


    No, wait. A huge event urred in the Federation a couple of months ago. The son of Ling Xiao jumped levels and operated a god-ss mecha during the battle on Haijiao. This piece of news astounded the world.


    The regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n thought about this and felt shocked.


    The son of Ling Xiao suffered from a serious bacsh, and he lost his ability to ever pilot a mecha ever again. This verdict was confirmed by all the specialists and god-ss mecha masters from all over the universe. The bacsh from operating a god-ss mecha was just too very strong. He was already very lucky to be able to stay alive.


    The regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n believed in the verdict of the specialist and god-ss operators but for some reason, he couldn¡¯t help but feel that this person in front of him was the son of Ling Xiao.


    There were not many people with the surname ¡®Ling¡¯. He couldn¡¯t think of anyone else with the surname ¡®Ling¡¯ who had such powerful talent and background.


    As long as he didn¡¯t die, there were many possibilities. It was possible that the son of Ling Xiao managed to recover and regained his ability to pilot a mecha.


    ¡°Prince Ling!¡± The regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n suddenly shouted in the public channel.


    ¡°Little Four!¡± Ling Lan was shocked. She quickly called for Little Four in her mindscape.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry boss. I¡¯ve already blocked that sentence from the channel,¡± Little Four replied immediately.


    This was Boss¡¯s secret. If Boss didn¡¯t want anyone to know about this, no one would ever know.


    Little Four was satisfied with his reaction speed. He didn¡¯t miss the chance to unt to his boss.


    Huh? Why does this seem so familiar? It feels like something Li Lanfeng would do...


    Pfft. Why did I think of that bastard? This is just my natural reaction. Little Four started scolding himself. He wasn¡¯t influenced by Li Lanfeng. No way!


    Ling Lan was satisfied by Little Four¡¯s reaction. Since she had nothing to worry about, she said, ¡°Your reaction speed is pretty fast, huh.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s really you!¡± The regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n narrowed his eyes. He instantly pressed the button to send this message back to Caesar.


    However, the screen popped out and told him that the action had failed.


    What happened? Why couldn¡¯t he send the message? The radar system on his ace mecha had been modified, so there shouldn¡¯t be any problem with sending a message back to themand ship.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be surprised. I blocked all your signals.¡± Ling Lan knew what the other party wanted to do.


    ¡°No wonder you are admitting to it.¡± The regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n suddenly understood why his opponent admitted his identity so readily. He didn¡¯t have anything to worry about. He probably had some high-tech interference system installed on his mecha to prevent him from sending messages back to Caesar.


    The only way was to ry this message back to Caesar was to defeat this person and bring the message back personally.


    The regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n held the sword in his hand tightly as he red at Ling Lan.


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Ling Lan smiled. ¡°You might have a chance if you just focus on fighting with me.¡±


    This was not a provocation. It was the truth. Just now, Ling Lan didn¡¯t go all out because she was worried about the condition of her body.


    ¡°Hahaha, Prince Ling, you¡¯re too arrogant.¡± The regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n was so angry that heughed. ¡°Your father is a god-ss operator, not


    you.¡±


    ¡®How dare he look down on me? I must have him pay the price for his arrogance.¡¯ The regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n roared angrily. A loud explosion from his engine was heard, and his mecha disappeared.


    Ling Lan looked into the emptiness calmly. Firmament started spinning around her mecha. The high speed caused deep ck whirlpool to form around Firmament. The strains from the whirlpool started spreading out.


    ¡°Here!¡± Ling Lan held onto Firmament and struck it at an abnormal spot.


    Sparks flew and two cold weapons collided.


    Ling Lan was right. This was where the regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n was hiding.


    ¡°How did you find me?¡± The regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n finally asked the question he was curious about.


    ¡°No matter where you hide, you still exist,¡± Ling Lan replied before putting more pressure behind her sword.


    Firmament was a good cold weapon. However, it was too thin and too narrow for most mecha operators. Most mecha operators weren¡¯t able to use it properly. Even if they did use Firmament, they wouldn¡¯t use it like a huge sword like what Ling Lan was doing.


    Whenparing the two swords, Firmament seemed weak. The people at the base felt that Ling Lan¡¯s sword would break in half under the pressure of the opponent¡¯s sword.


    However, their worry was unnecessary. In the scene, the heavy sword was the one getting suppressed by the thin sword.


    ¡°This is a battle of pure strength.¡± Most powerful mecha operators at the base knew what this represented. They screamed in happiness. Who said that Base Neb didn¡¯t have a powerful mecha n protecting it? Lingtian was that mecha n.


    ¡°Look!¡± Someone suddenly eximed. He pointed to the corner of the screen.


    ¡°Mechas. Which side are they from?¡± The audience saw mechasing from the corner of the screen. Three mechas were flying in from three different directions. Their goal was the two regimentmanders battling in the middle of the screen. The mechas moved really quickly and were very small so it was hard to identify them.


    ¡°It¡¯s our mechas.¡± The soldiers at the base shouted happily when they saw Lingtian¡¯s symbols.


    At that moment, the three mechas suddenly disappeared from the screen. Everyone stopped shouting. What happened?


    ¡°Ah!¡± Screams were heard. The regimentmander of Lingtian, who was on the winning end, suddenly flew out.


    Before everyone regained their sense, a second scream came out from their throat uncontrobly.


    Three cold weapons stabbed into the cockpit where the regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n was in.

 Chapter 1124 - Annihilation?

    <h4>Chapter 1124 Annihtion?</h4>


    The regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n used hisst ounce of strength to look at the regimentmander of Lingtian in front of him.


    His opponent¡¯s mecha spined its sword until the tip of the sword was right in front of his cockpit.


    He could almost see the sneer on his opponent¡¯s face. He seemed to be saying: Do you think you can really defeat me?


    A mouthful of blood suddenly spurted out of the regimentmander¡¯s mouth, tainting the screen in front of him blood-red. He slowly epted his fate.


    He always had a smooth journey in his life. He had killed many regimentmanders from the Federation in his journey but maybe, the smooth journey had made him forget that there were no rules on the battlefield.


    It was his fault that he got ambushed by his enemies but this also represented that Lingtian won the battle against his mecha n. If not, how could these mecha operators be able to ambush him?


    He did notice the mechas when they ambushed him but there was already no chance of escaping as these ambushing mecha operators were as powerful as him.


    ¡°Lingtian, who are you?¡± the regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n said before he took hisst breath. His eyes were wide open, dead, lifeless... He didn¡¯t get an answer to his question in the end so he wasn¡¯t able to die in content.


    At that moment, the three mechas pulled out their cold weapons from the body of their opponent¡¯s mecha. They titled their bodies and slowly floated in the air.


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± The three mecha lined up in front of Ling Lan.


    The soldiers in the base finally saw who the mecha operators were.


    The leader of Team 01, the leader of Team 02, and the leader of Team 06 were the people who managed to defeat the regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n.


    No wait, wasn¡¯t the leader of Team 06 fighting with the leader of Team 07 from Knight Ace Mecha n? Did he already defeat the leader of Team 07?


    No, that¡¯s impossible. No matter how powerful Li Lanfeng was, he wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat someone equally powerful in such a short time.


    Other people might not know what happened but the people from Lingtian Mecha n knew.


    They heard Zhao Jun¡¯s furious voice in their channel. ¡°Li Lanfeng, how dare you kick me. Wait till this ends.¡±


    After Zhao Jun defeated his opponent, he got kicked by Li Lanfeng. He didn¡¯t even manage to take a break and regain his senses.


    He identally bumped into the team leader of Team 07 from Knight Ace Mecha n. Thus, he had no choice but to fight with him.


    Zhao Jun could only grab his sword tightly and fight with his opponent for dear life. As for Li Lanfeng, he didn¡¯t even look back. He just flew happily towards his Ling Lan.


    How could Zhao Jun not be frustrated?


    No one was surprised by what had happened. Only some team leaders were irritated by Zhao Jun¡¯s constant yelling so they turned off their channel so that they could prevent themselves from getting deaf. But, those newer team members didn¡¯t dare to do it so they could only listen obediently to the constant yelling.


    Everyone remained calm because they knew this was what Big Leader Li was always like. Besides the two veteran soldiers, the team leaders of Team 01 and 02, everyone fell victim to Li Lanfeng¡¯s traps before. Zhao Jun and Li Yingjie were the two people who got tricked the most. They would always fight for the position of the most unlucky person of the month.


    There was a saying in Lingtian. You can provoke anyone but Big Leader Li.


    What about Ling Lan?


    Are you kidding me? If you provoke Big Leader Li, you would be calcted and schemed against, but you would still be alive in the end. If you offended Boss, it wouldn¡¯t be an issue of death. It would be an issue of how to die faster. Boss just wasn¡¯t too lenient in this issue.


    ¡°Hurry up and end the fight.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t even spare another nce at the regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n. She just gave an order immediately.


    ¡°Yes.¡± The three leaders quickly disappeared from their spot.


    The surviving members of Knight Ace Mecha n saw their regimentmander getting killed and felt hopeless. They didn¡¯t have the courage to fight anymore. They started running away.


    If their opponent was a normal ace mecha n or a newly advanced titled super mecha n, they might be able to escape. However, this bunch of mecha operators were as powerful as any mecha operators from a top tier titled super mecha n. How were they able to escape?


    The battle was too one-sided. The mecha operators from Lingtian started chasing after the mecha operators from Knight Ace Mecha n. Lingtian¡¯s tradition could be seen through this battle. The audience watching the battle started turning pale in the face as they watched it.


    The mecha operators from Lingtian were like sharks who smelled blood. Once they bite someone, theirrades would rush over and chop the enemy mecha into pieces.


    This type of viciousness wasn¡¯t usually found in the Federation. The soldiers of the Federation were vicious but they would usually show mercy once the result of a battle was decided. They wouldn¡¯t act so mercilessly.


    ¡°Are they attempting to annihte their opponent?¡± One of the mecha operators watching the battle swallowed his saliva.


    Annihting a mecha n wasn¡¯t something new. However, it would normally happen to low tier mecha ns. No nation would care about the destruction of such mecha ns as they had many more in the back.


    However, for famous mecha ns, or titled super mecha ns, unless both parties had deep grudges, annihtion was a big thing.


    This was a matter of glory and pride. No nation would be able to swallow this. Knight Ace Mecha n was the top 18th mecha n in Caesar. Once it was destroyed, the conflict between Caesar and the Federation would escte tremendously.


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong defeated their opponents and looked at the massacre around them. They frowned.


    ¡°Regimentmander.¡± Yang Mingzhi finally decided to talk to Ling Lan personally.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡°Since the battle is already decided, it¡¯s time to go back.¡± Yang Mingzhi reminded her.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. Our mecha operators are having a good time. Let them have more fun,¡± Ling Lan replied.


    ¡°But... if we annihte them all, it will bring trouble to the Federation,¡± Yang Mingzhi spoke up about his concern.


    ¡°Do you think that the Federation will be safe if I stop now?¡± Ling Lan answered.


    ¡°Unless we lose and get annihted by our opponents, the result will still be the same. If that is the case, why not p Caesar harder?¡± A cold light shed passed Ling Lan¡¯s eyes.

 Chapter 1125 - Baseline!

    <h4>Chapter 1125 Baseline!</h4>


    Yang Mingzhi thought deeply about Ling Lan¡¯s words. After a few seconds, he smiled bitterly. ¡°You understand the situation well. I was too simple-minded.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not simple-minded. You just don¡¯t want to think,¡± Ling Lan answered.


    Yang Mingzhi was stunned by the sudden praise. Heughed after a while. ¡°Regimentmander, don¡¯t be so direct. I have some ego too.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s not much time left. I¡¯ll only be able to let go of the Lingtian Mecha n after you sort out your thoughts.¡± Ling Lan seemed to be referring to something.


    Yang Mingzhi sighed. ¡°I didn¡¯t manage to fool you.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t n to fool me in the first ce. If not, you wouldn¡¯t show so many loopholes to me,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it because you stopped caring about these things? Or was I too sensitive?¡± Yang Mingzhi slightly smiled as he asked.


    ¡°There¡¯s no point in saying such things. You know that Li Lanfeng has always been watching you.¡± Ling Lan pouted. She always hated talking to sly old foxes. They always beat around the bush.


    ¡°I was under the impression that you won¡¯t trust Big Leader Li.¡± Yang Mingzhi smiled.


    ¡°Oh? Why?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. She was curious about the reason why.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng is from the branch family but he has a strong connection with the main family. Moreover, you have two other sessors of the Li family in your team. I thought that you would have your guards up against them.¡± Yang Mingzhi had his own information sources so he managed to discover Li Lanfeng¡¯s identity.


    vn


    As for Li Shiyu and Li Yingjie, anyone who wanted to know more would be able to easily uncover their identity. The Li family had never thought of hiding them.


    ¡°They didn¡¯t go to the 4th division but came to the 23rd division instead. It¡¯s obvious that they wanted to make use of General Ling Xiao¡¯s power...¡± Yang Mingzhi looked at Ling Lan¡¯s mecha. He said with respect, ¡°Or they might be eyeing you instead. They want to make use of your fame to break the bind the military has on the Li family.¡±


    ¡°Actually, the Li family is very sessful through your teachings. Under your guidance, the three members of the Li family gained a good military rank. Every one of them is lieutenant colonels or higher. Li Lanfeng is even a colonel.¡± Yang Mingzhi smiled. ¡°26 years old. When I was 26 years old, I was still working hard to be a senior captain. I only became a colonel after turning 35 years old. I¡¯m really jealous of them. Why didn¡¯t I meet such a good regimentmander like you when I was young?¡±


    ¡°I think you are very clear about their schemes already.¡± Yang Mingzhi turned serious. ¡°Do you really not mind or are you guarding against them while using them?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve checked your past before you entered 250 Ace Mecha n. The First Marshal should be the one asking you to tell me all these information, right?¡± Ling Lan frowned. She went straight to the point.


    ¡°Regimentmander, since you already know it, why do you have to ask?¡± Yang Mingzhi gave a forced smile. All his secrets were uncovered. He was the team leader of Team 01 but he was also the First Marshal¡¯s <b>man.</b>


    ¡°I just want to clear everything up at once.¡± The Lingtian Mecha n could seem mysterious to outsiders but she knew everything about the n clearly. This was the only way to prevent Lingtian from falling apart internally.


    Ling Lan created Lingtian but one day, she might have to leave this mecha n. However, she didn¡¯t want Lingtian to onlyst briefly after her departure. She hoped that the spirit of Lingtian would pass down to future generations continuously.


    ¡°Actually, it doesn¡¯t matter if you¡¯re First Marshal¡¯s man,¡± Ling Lan said seriously, ¡°My father is under the First Marshal too. Hence, we¡¯re from the same faction.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi smiled bitterly. Was it really the same?


    Today, if our loyalty lied towards the same person, then we¡¯re from the same faction. Tomorrow, if our ideas are different, we would have to go our separate ways. However, the two people must be in the same position for that to happen.


    He was groomed personally by the First Marshal. If his mecha n didn¡¯t get annihted and he didn¡¯t get mentally traumatized by it, he might have already be the general of the 1st division. That year, he was supposed to rise to be a major general.


    However, even after he gave up on himself, the First Marshal didn¡¯t give up on him. He still treated him very well and dragged him everywhere just to make him forget the pain. He was the one who didn¡¯t want to bother the First Marshal so he applied toe to the 23rd division. If not, he might have been the most trusted adviser of the First Marshal.


    His connection with the First Marshal was too deep. He didn¡¯t know what he would do if the First Marshal asked him to leave Lingtian and go back to the 1st division.


    That was why he tried his best to groom Liu Furong, Gu Dongyang, and the other team leaders. In the end, he was just a visitor of Lingtian, and he didn¡¯t know how long he could stay for.


    ¡°Of course, just like what you said, the military is guarding against all the elite families, including, the Li family, Ye family, and the four big families. This was why members of other families could attain high positions in the military but the members of elite families couldn¡¯t.¡± Ling Lan had always chatted with her father about the secrets of the military so she knew how vignt the military was of elite families.


    ¡°But... what do all these have to do with me?¡± Ling Lan asked lightly, ¡°I¡¯m just a regimentmander.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re able to get what they want if they follow you.¡± Yang Mingzhi was shocked.


    ¡°They need to have the strength to do that first. If they have it, why should I prevent them?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t care.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid they¡¯ll take over your power?¡± Yang Mingzhi frowned.


    ¡°Only unconfident people will have such thoughts.¡± Ling Lan smiled and said proudly, ¡°Even if I gave Lingtian to them, it¡¯ll still be my Lingtian once I step in.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi felt his heart pounding. He looked at the mecha floating in mid-air with aplicated expression. He felt that if the sky dropped, this mecha would be able to hold it up.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Yang Mingzhi smiled. From the very beginning, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t afraid. That was why he didn¡¯t guard against the Li family or the First Marshal. From the moment the Lingtian Mecha n was created, Ling Lan was its soul.


    ¡°Our choice might be different, but that doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t work together.¡±


    ¡°I understand, regimentmander.¡± Yang Mingzhi smiled brightly.


    ¡°I only have one request. Don¡¯t do anything that could harm Lingtian directly or indirectly. I won¡¯t forgive anyone who does that.¡± Ling Lan told him her baseline.


    ¡°I understand, regimentmander.¡± Yang Mingzhi turned serious as he made his promise.

 Chapter 1126 - Wait!

    <h4>Chapter 1126 Wait!</h4>


    ¡°Go and clear up the battlefield then.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s tone suddenly turned cold. The gentleness in her voice disappeared.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Yang Mingzhi gripped his sword and flew away. The vicious regimentmander was so scary!


    Ling Lan lightly rubbed her temples. ¡°Troublesome.¡±


    However, did the First Marshal really think that she would start guarding against the Li family just because of his words? He seemed to be underestimating her. The Lingtian Mecha n had left her father¡¯s 23rd division, so she didn¡¯t have anything to worry about now. If Li Lanfeng really wanted it, she wouldn¡¯t mind giving it to him.


    She would eventually leave the military in the future. She didn¡¯t mind handing Lingtian over to any of the team leaders.


    The news of Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s crushing defeat was soon passed to the suprememander of Caesar.


    ¡°How is that possible?¡± Themanding officer couldn¡¯t believe this news at all. He had ced all of his hopes on Knight Ace Mecha n to capture Base Neb. Yet, the undefeatable top tier mecha n suffered an inexcusable defeat.


    ¡°Who is it? Who defeated them? Is it Dawn Hell? Ultimate Evil? Graceful Beauty? Emperor Rule? Or The Eight Dragons?¡± Themanding officer was furious. He quickly listed all the top ten famous mecha ns he was suspicious of..


    ¡°No. It¡¯s a mecha n called Lingtian.¡± Themanding officer¡¯s secretary¡¯s body was shaking. Cold sweat formed on his forehead. Luckily, he still managed to report what he found to his superior.


    ¡°Lingtian?¡± Themanding officer was stunned. The name of this Lingtian Mecha n was unfamiliar to him. He opened his mouth and asked, ¡°What is its rank in the Federation?¡± To annihte the Knight Ace Mecha n, they had to be within the top 15 mecha ns.


    ¡°I can¡¯t find them but the reports state that it¡¯s a newly advanced titled super mecha n.¡± The secretary wiped his cold sweat and forced a smile on his face. When he read the report, he also felt like it wasn¡¯t urate.


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Are those people trying to fool me? Damn it!¡± Themanding officer took out his sword from its sheath on his waist and shed the corner of the table.


    ¡°Commanding officer, we shouldn¡¯t doubt anyone now. We need to figure out what we need to do now?¡± The adviser beside him reminded him.


    The defeat of the Knight Ace Mecha n messed up their n. However, Caesar still had an advantage on the main battlefield. If they nned properly, they might still have a chance to take over the Neb Boundary.


    ¡°You, sent two of our best mecha ns to take over the position of the Knight Ace Mecha n and order them to continue attacking. Don¡¯t give the Federation a chance to breathe.¡± Themanding officer calmed down and thought about the next course of action.


    ¡°Boss, something is happening on Caesar¡¯s starship.¡± The moment Caesar acted, Little Four noticed. He quickly informed his boss.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Ling Lan looked up at him.


    ¡°Caesar is nning to move all their forces to the frontline. They are also sending two mecha ns to take over Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s position.¡± Little Four looked at the 200 mecha operators from Knight Ace who were still fighting to survive. Their otherrades had already turned into ruins in space. He started pitying themanding officer of Caesar as his actions would cause the annihtion of two more mecha ns.


    ¡°Hurry up and clear the battlefield. Two more big fishes areing in,¡± Ling Lan opened her channel and said calmly.


    The team leaders and deputy leaders, who were watching at the side, took up their weapons and started clearing up the remaining opponents who were supposed to be practice dummies for the newer mecha operators.


    ¡°Head, shall we send the rescue team?¡± Luo Chao¡¯s deputy looked at the battlefield and noticed that the fight wasing to an end. However, his head still hadn¡¯t given any orders.


    ¡°There¡¯s no hurry.¡± Luo Chao waved her hands calmly. She stopped her deputy who wanted to persuade her. ¡°Let¡¯s wait for a while.¡±


    The deputy wanted to push his opinion further. If they didn¡¯t send the rescue team now, they wouldn¡¯t be able to save the mecha operators in time. If that happened, his head would be punished seriously.


    Although Luo Chao was their regimentmander¡¯s fianc¨¦e, their regimentmander still punished her equally if she made any mistakes. He might be even stricter on his fianc¨¦e. He had chatted with his friends before and said that it was better to not be their regimentmander¡¯s fianc¨¦e.


    ¡°Weird, why hasn¡¯t Luo Chao sent in the rescue team?¡±


    Li Jinghong and Lin Zhong-qing were looking at the battle between Lingtian and Knight Ace Mecha n from themand center of the Lingtian camping ground. They were puzzled too when they saw Luo Chao not doing anything after the battlefield was clearing up.


    ¡°Zhong-qing, shall we remind her?¡± Yuan Youyun suggested.


    They went to school with Luo Chao and Han Xuya. Compared to Lin Zhong-qing and Luo Lang, they spent five more years with them. Their rtionship was closer so they couldn¡¯t bear to see her making mistakes.


    Lin Zhong-qing nced at him. He seemed unhappy as he said, ¡°Have you seen Luo Chao making any mistakes during important events?¡±


    Everyone thought for a moment. They realized that Luo Chao was mostly punished because of her physical skills. For example, she wasn¡¯t able to finish the training Boss had nned for them. As for the executing the orders Boss gave her, she never made any mistakes in that aspect.


    ¡°Why hadn¡¯t she sent in the rescue team yet? Isn¡¯t she clearly making a mistake?¡±


    ¡°What happened to your intelligence?¡± Lin Zhong-qing was speechless. ¡°Honestly, if someone makes mistakes, it will be you all, not Luo Chao and Han Xuya.¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing was extremely irritating when he wished to be.


    Of course, only the higher authorities of Lingtian knew about this. Other people only knew Lin Zhong-qing as a strict but kind and gentle head.


    Lin Zhong-qing smiled coldly when he saw the annoyance on everyone¡¯s face. ¡°You believe me? The only reason why she didn¡¯t move is that she received an order from Boss.¡±


    ¡°In that case, why didn¡¯t Boss inform us?¡± Li Jinghong was unwilling to give up.


    ¡°Our mission is to control the internal workings of the base. Why would Boss inform us about what¡¯s happening on the battlefield?¡± Lin Zhong-qing rebutted, ¡°The answer will be revealed soon. Let¡¯s sit quietly and watch.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡± Li Jinghong and the others sighed. Why weren¡¯t they as calm as Lin Zhong-qing?


    They sat down quietly and watched the screen. They saw the people from Lingtian killing thest dregs of Knight Ace Mecha n. The mecha operators, who were doing anything, quickly cleared up the battlefield. If they saw a dyingrade, they would bring them into their cockpit. If they saw a surviving enemy, they would give them another stab.

 Chapter 1127 - Survivor!

    <h4>Chapter 1127 Survivor!</h4>


    When thest enemy was killed, every mecha operator started clearing up the battlefield. All the team leaders brought their team members to different areas and started to camouge themselves. They disappeared from the screen.


    ¡°The chameleon system.¡± The people at the base shouted excitedly when they saw close to 2000 mechas disappearing into the vast space.


    The chameleon system was able to camouge the mechas to their surroundings. It was the perfect assasination system. However, this system was expensive and difficult to produce. Only those mechas with special mission would require to have such a system installed. Other types of mechas had no affinity with this system.


    The more powerful the titled super mecha n was, the better their equipment they had. It was said that only the top ten legendary mecha ns in the Federation had such a system installed in all their ace mechas. Moreover, only these mecha ns would have the right to own such powerful mechas too.


    Of course, these were all just rumours. No one knew if they were true. They thought that they would only be able to see such an ambush in their dreams. Yet, it was happening right in front of their eyes.


    ¡®Is Lingtian actually a legendary mecha n in disguise?¡¯ Almost everyone thought about this possibility.


    They continued staring at the screen in anticipation even though they didn¡¯t know why Lingtian suddenly hid.


    Just like that, the screen remained empty for three minutes. Only some broken ruins of mechas flew past the screen once in a while.


    Just as the soldiers at the base thought that their eyes were going to roll out from their skulls, they suddenly saw numerous mechas appearing from the other end of the screen.


    ¡°It¡¯s Caesar.¡± The hearts of all the audience started pounding furiously. From the small dots on the screen, they could tell that there were more mechas than thest battle. Lingtian had just ended a battle. Would they be able to handle another frightening attack?


    If the two parties collided, Lingtian would be the one being surrounded.


    The tides of war had now changed. Before this, Lingtian surrounded the Knight Ace Mecha n. Now, they were the ones in a predicament.


    By now, all the soldiers in the base understood why the mecha operators of Lingtian activated their chameleon system.


    Finally, the two mecha ns from Caesar entered the area where the battle happened a moment ago. They were shocked to see the ruins of Caesar mechas floating in the empty space.


    ¡°Knight Ace Mecha n didn¡¯t manage tost until our arrival?¡± One of the regimentmanders was bbergasted.


    ¡°The battle should have just ended,¡± another regimentmander looked at the spiking thermal radar and said


    ¡°How long approximately?¡± These two regimentmanders had worked together many times so they knew what each other¡¯s abilities were. They trusted each other deeply.


    ¡°Not more than ten minutes ago.¡± The regimentmander replied after analyzing the thermal radar.


    ¡°They¡¯re lucky. They left before we came,¡± the regimentmander who spoke first said with frustration. ¡°Rnd, do you think Knights gave up resisting and were taken as prisoners or were they...¡±


    He wasn¡¯t able to say the word ¡®annihted¡¯.


    ¡°I hope that they were taken as prisoners, Doren,¡± Rnd replied.


    ¡°Why?¡± Doren was puzzled.


    ¡°That means that we won¡¯t be in danger. The other party must have retreated since they have so many prisoners. But, if they really got... we must run away now.¡± Rnd was serious.


    If Lingtian Mecha n was able to defeat the Knight Ace Mecha n within such a short time, they must be really powerful. Not a single mecha was able to escape, including their regimentmander who was chosen as one of hundred mecha operators with the highest potential to advance to god-ss.


    They were already not as strong as the Knight Ace Mecha n. If they remained behind, what results could they achieve?


    Regiment Commander Doren was thinking about the same thing. He shivered. ¡°Shall we retreat?¡±


    This ce was too quiet. It scared him.


    ¡°Since we¡¯re here, we need to search carefully to check if there are any survivors. If not, we will be treated as cowards when we go back.¡± Rnd didn¡¯t expect this mission to be so troublesome. He thought that they were only here to reinforce the Knight Ace Mecha n but instead, they were here to collect their corpses.


    ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s search the area quickly and look for survivors.¡± Just as Doren was about to give hismand, Rnd shouted, ¡°Wait.¡±


    Doren got nervous. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°Send three mecha teams to search the area first. If nothing happens to them, we¡¯ll send the rest of our mecha n.¡± Rnd was a cautious person. Before he understood the entire situation, he would not allow his n to go forward.


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll listen to you.¡± Doren felt that this arrangement was more appropriate too.


    Soon, six mecha teams started searching the area in six different directions. Not longer after, they really managed to find survivors.


    ¡°Regimentmander, we found survivors.¡± The search party was extremely excited.


    Rnd got nervous when he heard this. He quickly asked Doren to be on his guard and asked his men to prepare for battle at any moment.


    Then, he ordered the search party to bring the survivors back.


    The search party brought the survivors back safely.


    ¡°Regimentmander, we found four survivors.¡± They showed the broken cockpits in their hands. They said, ¡°However, we have too few people. We can¡¯t go deeper. There should be more survivors deeper in.¡±


    Rnd grabbed his giant sword tightly, but his tone remained calm as he replied, ¡°Team 45 will be in charge of searching for survivors. You all will follow me.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± The search party left again.


    This happened a couple more times, and finally around ten survivors were found in total. However, since the search party was very small, they only managed to search a small portion of the battlefield.


    ¡°Rnd, we can¡¯t continue like this. It will take more than half a day to search the entire battlefield. This is the Neb Boundary. We can¡¯t stay here for too long. It¡¯s too dangerous here.¡± Base Neb wasn¡¯t far away from them. If the main battle didn¡¯t take most of the attention of Base Neb, they wouldn¡¯t dare to stay here for so long.


    Nothing happened after so many attempts, so Rnd started to wonder if he was being too cautious. He thought for a moment and decided to hasten the speed of the search to prevent any changes from happening.


    Hence, Rnd and Doren sent all their mecha operators into the battlefield to search for survivors.

 Chapter 1128 - Analysis!

    <h4>Chapter 1128 Analysis!</h4>


    Around 500 mecha operators started to spread out and search for survivors.


    Strangely, the closer they got towards Base Neb, the fewer the survivors they found. The number of survivors found by two whole mecha ns was fewer than the number of survivors found by the three mecha teams.


    Rnd frowned when he saw this odd situation. He felt that something was amiss. He started to feel agitated.


    Suddenly, he thought of something. He quickly switched to the public channel of the two mecha ns and asked, ¡°Did you find any survivors from the Federation just now?¡±


    The three leaders of the mecha teams replied, ¡°No. We only found our men.¡±


    Rnd¡¯s expression quickly changed. He shouted instantly, ¡°Retreat! We got fooled.¡±


    The mecha operators from the two mecha ns were stunned when they heard this. Suddenly, the space around them started distorting and numerous mechas appeared out of nowhere.


    ¡°The Federation!¡± The mecha operators were only able to shout this sentence before they got stabbed by swords.


    Numerous mecha operators were killed instantly. The sudden ambush flustered the mecha operators from Caesar. They didn¡¯t know what to do.


    All the team leaders were shouting for their team members to reunite.


    Before this, they were split up to cover more areas, so they were currently no match for an organised team. Every part of the space was filled with a leader of a team and his deputy. They were all either imperial mecha operators or pseudo imperial operators. Even the weaker ones were peak level ace mecha masters.


    Their team members were all peak-level ace mecha masters too. Under the leadership of their leaders, they attacked the unprepared Caesar mecha operators ferociously like wild beasts.


    ¡°They... are so vicious.¡± Yu Huan¡¯s expression constantly changed from the moment he saw Lingtian fighting with Knight Ace. He was shocked and stunned. When he saw Lingtian continuing to fight with two more mecha ns after annihting one mecha n, he didn¡¯t know what to say anymore.


    ¡°I always thought that he was just a talent the military wanted to groom. I was worried that he was too young that he might make mistakes. That was why I didn¡¯t let him be themander-in-chief immediately. When he requested to fight with Knight Ace Mecha n, I thought that he was being reckless and hot-blooded. Now, it seems like I was the one who underestimated them.¡±


    Yu Huan gave a bitter smile. He looked at the mecha that was standing upright among all the shining stars in space. The mecha waved its sword lightly and the other mechas would start killing their enemies ruthlessly as though they were given amand.


    They were ruthless. They only had one aim: The cockpit. They had no intention of leaving any survivors.


    Such an act shouldn¡¯t have happened. The battlefield was brutal and there was no mercy but most nations still had a Humanitarian Agreement. Once the result of the battle was decided, the other party shouldn¡¯t kill their opponents anymore. They must first ask their opponents to surrender. If their opponents didn¡¯t want to surrender, they could then kill them.


    Of course, if it was a life-or-death situation, such a matter wouldn¡¯t exist. For instance, Twilight would never hold back whenever it fought with the Federation. However, this grudge subsided a little after General Ling Xiao came back alive.


    They weren¡¯t talents groomed by the Federation. They were devils released by the military. Yu Huan searched for the order he received again. He nkly stared at the order.


    In charge of the safety of theary sector? He started analyzing this order carefully.


    Did this mean that the military had already given them the rights ofmand but to fool Caesar, they didn¡¯t state it clearly?


    Yu Huan didn¡¯t think that this was an assessment for Lingtian but based on their current strength, no mecha n in Base Neb could fight on par with it, not even Proud Wind Mecha n.


    If Lingtian wanted to gain the right ofmand, they just needed to ask the regimentmanders of the other mecha ns for a mecha battle. However, they didn¡¯t. They chose to stay in their camping ground and pass the four months calmly.


    Were they not interested in the title of top mecha n? Or was their regimentmander not interested in the position of amander-in-chief? He had only seen Ling Lan once. He was in a daze the whole time and he almost ignored him. But, the sudden change in his aura towards the end and the cold and dangerous gaze allowed him to know that this wasn¡¯t someone indifferent to fame and wealth. He was someone who would get what he wanted.


    That meant that there must be a reason why this ambitious person gave up the position ofmander-in-chief.


    ¡°Is he trying to hide his capabilities? He probably doesn¡¯t trust the security of the base.¡± Yu Huan seemed to understand something. He recalled how they were always at the losing end in their battle against Caesar. He and Ke Yufeng thought of many schemes but they always failed at the crucial moment.


    ¡°Did someone from Caesar manage to infiltrate the base?¡± Yu Huan frowned. He was frustrated. As themanding officer of the base for more than ten years, he had already treated Base Neb as his home. All the soldiers in the base were his family. Yet, someone among them was a spy. It was hard for him to ept this.


    Most importantly, he didn¡¯t realize this problem at all. He needed someone who just came to the base to remind him of the possibility of a spy using his actions.


    ¡°The military probably have realized this problem so they sent Lingtian to control the situation.¡± Yu Huan could onlyfort himself this way. There were many advisers in the military. It was possible that they were able to notice the existence of a spy.


    ¡°That¡¯s maybe why Lingtian remained low profile until they had a chance to teach Caesar a lesson.¡± Yu Huan felt that he had finally understood the order. This was the only exnation why Lingtian was so powerful.


    Lingtian Mecha n might be aponent in the entire scheme too. They might be a legendary mecha n in disguise... no, legendary mecha ns were highly scrutinized by everyone so they wouldn¡¯t be able to disguise themselves so perfectly.

 Chapter 1129 - Unfortunate!

    <h4>Chapter 1129 Unfortunate!</h4>


    The most reasonable exnation was that this mecha n had its title changed when it was close to reaching legendary mecha n status. It also took imperial operators who hid their abilities from different ns to increase the fighting potential of the mecha n. Thus, it could be exined that it wasn¡¯t a legendary mecha n when it formed, but yet it had the strength of a legendary mecha n.


    The Federation¡¯s military was ying a long game and Lingtian Mecha n was this game¡¯s most important piece.


    Yu Huan¡¯s body shook and his eyes brightened. If that was the case, then he must cooperate with them to the best of his abilities. Base Neb would definitely be Lingtian¡¯s strongest shield.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that Yu Huan had made such an odd connection to all the information avable to him. She just wanted to let the new recruits get blood on their hands and prompt their ruthlessness and merciless behaviors. The Federation¡¯s military also didn¡¯t expect that Yu Huan would think of it like that when all they wanted to do was to make it difficult for Ling Xiao and Ling Lan by giving them an annoying order.


    It had to be said that Ling Lan was very lucky. Every time she made a mess of things, it was either her father cleaning up after her or someone who didn¡¯t know the truth and used their own imagination and in the end actively helping her out.


    Plus, Ling Lan made the ruthless decision because she wasn¡¯t aware she needed to abide by the rules of the Humanitarian Act.


    The only battle she experienced was the battle on Haijiao where such rules didn¡¯t apply. That was because Hailiya had already became enemies with the Federation because of the debate of who Haijiao belonged to. In that way, abiding to the rules of the Humanitarian Act would depend on themanders in the battle. If they were in a good mood, they would abide by it and they would pretend it didn¡¯t exist if they were in a bad mood. When Ling Lan entered the battle on Haijiao, her luck was in the negatives. She encountered Hailiya¡¯s long nned out plot of sending out a full frontal attack topletely take over Haijiao. In order to achieve victory as fast as possible, a battle like that wouldn¡¯t abide to such rules.


    After experiencing countless times of battles to the death, Ling Lan assumed all battlefields were like this where one side perishes and the other side lives. The so-called Humanitarian Act was only just used to hide the truth frommon citizens.


    Little Four, also as an outsider, had received records from the Mandora Star System. The records from the Mandora Star System also showed that during the battle between two parties, it was a battle to the death with no surrenders.


    As General Ling Xiao, who should have been responsible for teaching his daughtermon knowledge about the battlefield, thought Ling Lan knew and understood everything


    It couldn¡¯t be helped. Ling Lan was too independent which made Ling Xiao believe that such a small thing didn¡¯t need his teaching. Plus, he had never thought his daughter was fond of killing. In Ling Xiao¡¯s mind, his daughter would forever be a cute little princess. The adjective ¡®merciless¡¯ didn¡¯t have any connections with his daughter.


    As for the leaders working under Ling Lan... they knew that Boss¡¯s real personality was merciless. Of course, they wouldn¡¯t look for punishment themselves and remind Boss that mercilessness in this situation was wrong. Even if someone was brave enough to remind her, it still wouldn¡¯t do anything. If it didn¡¯t do anything, then why would they go do something that yielded nothing. They would rather follow Boss and sharpen their des to ughter livestock.


    Lingtian¡¯s group of individuals seemed to evolve into merciless individuals under Ling Lan¡¯s unconscious teachings. It forced them to have to be merciless in order to fit in.


    Lingtian¡¯s ambush forced Caesar¡¯s two mecha ns unable to respond in time. However, these two mecha ns were after all not like standard mechas or mecha n with new recruits where it was their first time on a battlefield. After a short while of panic, their team leaders finally managed to gather a portion of their forces and began retaliating with Lingtian¡¯s mecha operators.


    Although Lingtian¡¯s ambush from the beginning had caused the two mecha ns to lose much of their forces, their numbers were still more than twice as many as Lingtian.


    ¡°We have more people than them. Everyone stop panicking and victory will be ours.¡± Caesar¡¯s leaders noticed the number of mecha on Lingtian¡¯s side and immediately tried to boost the morale of their team members.


    These words to boost morale were without a doubt effective. A battle in outer space was often won through the shear numbers of mechas. When these mecha operators saw that there weren¡¯t many mecha operators who had ambushed them, they instantly calmed down. Once they calmed down, their piloting skills instantly recovered to their normal state. Caesar¡¯s mecha operators began to perform to their actual capabilities and shed with the mecha operators from Lingtian who were chasing them.


    Doren saw this and his expression changed for the better. When he fell into the trap and ambushed, he had thought that they had entered the Federation¡¯s encirclement and it was all lost. He didn¡¯t expect that it was just a small group of mecha operators ambushing them. As long as they calmed down and fought normally, they would have a chance of turning the tide.


    Compared to Doren¡¯s excitement, Rnd¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change at all and was still pale as a white sheet.


    ¡°Doren!¡± He suddenly shouted, ¡°Let¡¯s run.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Doren was dumbfounded. He didn¡¯t know why Rnd would choose to run after knowing the opposition had way fewer people than they did. Wasn¡¯t retreating making Caesar look bad? It should be known that in the past few years the Federation had always just watched as they escaped.


    ¡°Knight Ace Mecha n! Did you forget what happened to Knight Ace Mecha n!¡± Rnd¡¯s voice broke as he shouted out in fear, ¡°Run, everyone run.¡±


    These mechas from the Federation showed traces of being in a battle. Some mecha even lost an arm or leg. These were all indications that these mecha operators from the Federation had just fought a fierce battle. Knight Ace Mecha n lost here, so that meant the mecha operators who killed them were these mecha operators standing before them.


    In addition to their sudden appearance, they were also definitely equipped with the high cost and difficult to create chameleon system, and all of the mechas had this system. What did that mean? It meant that these mecha operators were the strongest in the Federation, otherwise the Federation wouldn¡¯t waste such money and resources on them.


    Additionally, these mecha operators were able to calmly stand their ground after taking out Knight Ace Mecha n and ambush them with numbers fewer than them by half.


    They weren¡¯t idiots and also weren¡¯t insane. They were so daring because they definitely knew they would be victorious.


    There was also something else. Their numbers were indeed more than the opposition, but could their piloting skills bepared to Knight Ace Mecha n? These people had already taken out such a strong mecha n like Knight Ace Mecha n. Why would it be any difficult for them to take out mecha operators who were less capable than those from Knight Ace Mecha n?


    After Rnd shouted, his fingers began to dance around furiously. In the face of life and death, the speed of his fingers broke through his original limit. His mecha¡¯s engine roared and he retreated up without hesitation. He was lucky that he was somewhat cautious and stayed in the back all this time, so he still had a chance to escape before the oppositionpletely trapped them.


    ¡°Hmm? There¡¯s actually someone who¡¯s smart?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows as she looked towards the space in front of her.


    ¡°Unfortunately, I don¡¯t want Caesar to know details about us just yet.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s left hand went towards her back and a long range beam sniper rifle appeared in it. She pointed it towards the escaping mecha and activated her Profound Insight Domain automatically.


    ¡°There.¡± Her Profound Insight was too strong. Only one look was enough to allow her to see where she should aim.


    Bang! A blinding white light shot out from the barrel, creating a straight white line as if it was going to split apart the very fabric of the dark outer space itself.

 Chapter 1130 - Questioning!

    <h4>Chapter 1130 Questioning!</h4>


    Boom! As soon as the white light touched Rnd¡¯s mecha, the mecha exploded in a wonderful myriad of colours, lighting up the dark and vast space.


    One shot was enough to end the life of a regimentmander from Caesar.


    The mecha operators were stunned by Rnd¡¯s order to run. Before they could even react to the sudden order, they realised that their regimentmander was killed by a long-range mecha with a single shot.


    Everyone was dumbfounded, including the people watching the battle in the base. The battle with Knight Ace proved that Ling Lan was a powerful closebat mecha operator When everyone thought that she was just good at closebat, her sudden snipe proved them wrong. She was good at closebat and long-range attacks.


    Everyone from Lingtian felt proud just by the presence of Ling Lan. This was their regimentmander, someone so powerful that they could only look up to him.


    Only highly skilled mecha operators would realise that Ling Lan¡¯s seemingly single shot was actually a culmination of many shotsbined. The shots instantly depleted the energy of the protective shield and exploded the mecha in one single instance, making it seemed like she only just fired a single shot.


    ¡°Kill them!¡± All the mecha operators suddenly heard an indifferent voice on their channel.


    This was the order of Hades.


    The mecha operators shuddered just from the indifference in her voice. They quickly pushed down their excitement and tightly gripped their weapons. They started their brutal massacre.


    ¡°You¡¯re not satisfied with just Knight Ace Mecha n? Ling Lan, are you the hero of the Federation or are you the devil that¡¯s going to bring cmity?¡± Yu Huan stared at the mecha who was mercilessly killing the mechas of team leaders so that the battle could end quickly. Somehow, he felt fearful of this young regimentmander.


    ¡°Lingtian annihted three mecha ns?¡± The battle quickly came to an end. The soldiers at the base finally regained their senses. They swallowed their saliva and spoke to the person beside them in disbelief.


    ¡°And one of them is the top 18th mecha n of Caesar. I feel that the power dynamic in the universe is about to change.¡± The mecha operator¡¯s eyes were shining with excitement. He looked at the mechas from Lingtian with envy.


    Luo Chao suddenly stood up and contacted Han Xuya. ¡°Xuya, prepare to eject the rescue team.¡±


    ¡°I understand.¡± Han Xuya had been waiting for Luo Chao¡¯s call. She immediately ordered the leaders of her JMC teams to eject the rescue team at the fastest possible speed.


    ¡°Look, Lingtian is acting again.¡± Numerous mechas started to get ejected out of theunching ports. They quickly gathered in their teams under themand of their leaders and started clearing up the battlefield.


    ¡°Those are special-ss operators... F**k, special-ss operators are in the rescue team. This is so extravagant.¡± The soldiers who were already shocked once by Lingtian¡¯s capability were shocked again.


    Those people who were still proud of their special-ss level suddenly felt shameful. They were at the same level as the logisticians in Lingtian.


    ¡°Is Lingtian really not a legendary mecha n?¡± someone eximed.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Only legendary mecha ns have such strength and powerful equipment.¡±


    ¡°They must be a legendary mecha n. They probably just changed their title toe here.¡±


    Everyone immediately felt that they understood why Lingtian was so powerful.


    At that moment, Lin Zhong-qing turned serious. ¡°It¡¯s our battlefield now. We must cooperate with Head Li¡¯s medical department and send the injured mecha operators to the recovery pods.¡±


    Did they really think that four months was enough to increase the capabilities of the mecha operators drastically? Drastic times call for drastic measures, as Boss used forbidden medicines topensate for theck of training time. Forbidden medicines were good to use but the implications after using them were too great. Fortunately, Li Shiyu was the one who invented the medicine. Hence, he knew how to solve its implications. This was the main reason why Boss chose to use it.


    No matter what, they must ensure that the future of these mecha operators does not get implicated by the use of the forbidden medicine.


    The entire camping ground started getting busy. Lingtian no longercked logisticians but it still didn¡¯t reach the required number of logisticians for a mecha n. However, under Lin Zhong-qing¡¯s reorganisation, these empty slots were taken care of.


    Ling Lan safety stored her beam gun back in its holster. Lingtian had taken control of the situation. It was only a matter of time before all the Caesar mechas got destroyed.


    ¡°Regimentmander, there is a regimentmander from Caesar who wants to surrender.¡± At that moment, a familiar yet unfamiliar voice appeared on the channel.


    Ling Lan frowned. The mecha operators from Ling Lan slowed down the massacre on their opponents when they heard this.


    On the public channel, a frightened and agitated voice was heard. This person was trying his best to speak the Federationsnguage. ¡°We surrender! Surrender! Stop!¡±


    Ling Lan started frowning even more. She didn¡¯t n to leave anyone alive. She was only able to make up any excuse if everyone was dead.


    However, this person surrendered through the public channel. If she still ordered her men to kill him, then this could be used as evidence against her in court about her breaching the Humanitarian Act. She and her father were already having a hard time dealing with the issues their enemies threw towards them. She couldn¡¯t make any mistakes at this critical juncture.


    Forget it. Leaving these people alive was troublesome but she would be able to find a way to solve them. Ling Lan decided to ept the surrender.


    Suddenly, a scream of fright came from the channel as well as shouts of disbelief.


    ¡°Leader, why did you kill him?¡± The familiar yet unfamiliar voice sounded furious and shocked.


    ¡°We must use their lives to repay the lives of our deadrades.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s cold voice sounded. ¡°Leave no one behind. Kill all of them. Don¡¯t let me repeat it again.¡±


    The newer soldiers and logisticians stared at the always gentle and calm Big Leader Li in disbelief. He actually vited the Humanitarian Act. They were bbergasted. This was different from what they were taught. They didn¡¯t know if they should listen to him.


    ¡°This is an order!¡± Li Lanfeng raised his voice. ¡°Kill them!¡±


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± The familiar yet unfamiliar voice sounded in the channel again. He believed that his beloved regimentmander would stop this order.


    But, it was toote. The mecha operators in Lingtian were too used to followingmands. They raised their swords and killed the surrendered mecha operators from Caesar.

 Chapter 1131 - Scheme!

    <h4>Chapter 1131 Scheme!</h4>


    ¡°Li Lanfeng, who was that just now?¡± Ling Lan asked Li Lanfeng privately.


    ¡°Sorry, it was Ling Yi.¡± The anger in his voice was obvious. As the person who understood Ling Lan the most, he knew what Ling Lan wanted to do. Yet, his man put Ling Lan in a difficult position. He almost messed up the entire n.


    ¡°No worries, but you need to guide Ling Yi more. Don¡¯t allow him to make any more mistakes.¡± Ling Lan frowned as she gave Ling Yi his punishment.


    ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll do it well.¡± Li Lanfeng gave a cold smile. Ling Yi... as expected, he was an unstable factor.


    ¡°Boss, Ling Yi almost messed up our n.¡± Little Four was unhappy. That report through the public channel ced Ling Lan in a difficult position.


    ¡°We can¡¯t say he¡¯s wrong. He¡¯s just too simple-minded. People that came from military academy are all like him. That¡¯s why new soldiers have a lower survival rate than veteran soldiers. They need to gain more experience before they realise that mercy is not suitable on the battlefield.¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t mind Ling Yi¡¯s sudden outburst too much. She was just surprised at how upright Ling Yi was. If he had a smooth path ahead of him, this trait was not a bad thing. However, once his belief system copsed, he might go on the extreme path, and this was bad news for her.


    Her rtionship with Ling Yi wasplicated. Ling Lan didn¡¯t forget that she was the one who killed his father.


    ¡°Ling Yi...¡± Ling Lan sighed. She didn¡¯t hope that this seed, which she nted a long time ago, would be useful. Sometimes, she wished that the person behind everything would give up this seed when Ling Hua died.


    Ling Yi felt ufortable about the current situation. They annihted Knight Ace Mecha n because there was no other choice during the battle. However, this time, the other party had clearly already surrendered. Yet, Li Lanfeng gave an order for the annihtion of their enemies even before Ling Lan made a decision. This was offensive and disrespectful to Ling Lan.


    ¡°Ling Yi, are you alright?¡± Yan Wuyou noticed that Ling Yi¡¯s mecha wasn¡¯t moving so he flew over to check on him.


    ¡°There¡¯s something wrong with Leader Li,¡± Ling Yi said with a cold expression.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Yan Wuyou felt goosebumps forming around his arms. He could feel that Ling Yi was walking on a dangerous path.


    ¡°He dared to give amand before our regimentmander said anything.¡± Ling Yi smiled coldly. ¡°The Li family is really greedy.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Yan Wuyou¡¯s eyebrows furrowed. They respected Ling Lan very much, so they didn¡¯t hope that their idol would be betrayed by his good friend.


    ¡°When I was assigned to Team 06, a lot of people told me that I was unlucky. However, I found out that Leader Li specially requested for me.¡± Ling Yi sneered. ¡°He knows that I¡¯m Regiment Commander Ling¡¯s man so he¡¯s afraid that he won¡¯t be able to control me if I go somewhere else. Thus, he ced me in his team. How funny is that? Does he really think that he could hide the fact that he is probing me? Does he think that I didn¡¯t notice it at all? He is underestimating me. He is underestimating the Ling family.¡±


    ¡°Maybe this is Regiment Commander Ling¡¯s arrangement?¡± Yan Wuyou racked his brain to think of a way to get Ling Yi out the dangerous path he was walking on. He felt that they shouldn¡¯t think too much about what the higher authorities did.


    ¡°If it was Regiment Commander Ling¡¯s arrangement, it¡¯s more likely that I¡¯ll go to Leader Qi¡¯s team or Leader Luo¡¯s team. After all, they are the two people Ling Lan trusted the most. It¡¯s definitely not Li Lanfeng. He came in muchter than everyone else.¡± Ling Yi¡¯s instinct was telling him that Li Lanfeng was not a good man.


    ¡°We know that Li Shiyu and Li Yingjie are the direct inheritors of the Li family, and Li Lanfeng is part of it too. They used so much effort in grooming him so I guess that they want him to support the two inheritors. During the battle on Haijiao, Li Lanfeng obtained the right tomand the army. As long as Ling Lan isn¡¯t around, He and Major General Yang will take over themand chain of Lingtian.¡±


    ¡°The Li family has always wanted actual power within the military, and Lingtian is a good gateway for them to obtain power.¡± Ling Yi mmed the control panel in front of him furiously when he thought of this. ¡°Unfortunately, Ling Lan is too busy with his work that he didn¡¯t realize it.¡±


    ¡°Ling Lan is so powerful. He¡¯ll be alright.¡± Yan Wuyou got worried too after listening to what Ling Yi said. However, he felt that Ling Lan was invincible and that nothing bad would happen to him.


    ¡°Ling Lan is powerful but what if he got betrayed by the person he trusted?¡± Ling Yi felt that Li Lanfeng was too dangerous. He showed his gentle and careful demeanour to fool everyone but deep inside, he was ruthless and vicious.


    For example, everyone was under the impression that Li Lanfeng was reluctant to punish them when they made mistakes during day training. They thought that he was punishing them for their sake so that they could improve. However, Ling Yi could see the indifferent look in his eyes when he was executing the punishment.


    Especially when he was punishing Little Leader Li, he even saw a strong hatred from his gaze.


    He couldn¡¯t be wrong about his impression of Li Lanfeng as he had an innate talent that could look past all illusions and see the real truth.


    Of course, his innate talent didn¡¯t work all the time. He couldn¡¯t read the real thoughts of people stronger than him. Li Lanfeng was more powerful than him so by right, he couldn¡¯t see through him. However, they met every day so there were asions when Li Lanfeng let down his guard. This was when Ling Yi managed to catch hints of his real thought.


    ¡°Do you think that Big Leader Li will betray our regimentmander?¡± Yan Wuyou knew about Ling Yi¡¯s innate talent.


    ¡°I¡¯m not certain yet.¡± Ling Yi was a person who looked at evidence before making any ims. He knew how dangerous Li Lanfeng was but he didn¡¯t know if he would really betray Ling Lan. ¡°But, I feel the greatest sense of danger from him. Especially now when his actions revealed some of his thoughts. We need to guard against him.¡±


    Since Ling Lan didn¡¯t notice this, he would watch over Li Lanfeng for him. This was the only thing he could do for Ling Lan.


    ¡°Okay. We¡¯ll listen to you. I¡¯ll tell Tiange and Little Qingter and ask them to be aware of Big Leader Li.¡± Yan Wuyou felt that it was better to be careful.


    ¡°No need for that. Big Leader Li is a sly person. If there¡¯s anything amiss with them, he¡¯ll sense it. Tiange and Little Qing are not good at disguising themselves. They will be found out easily. It¡¯s better if they don¡¯t know anything. That way, they won¡¯t spoil the n,¡± Ling Yi hurriedly replied.


    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Yan Wuyou nodded in agreement. Compared to the other four people, He and Ling Yi were much better at hiding their true thoughts. This was probably why Ling Yi told him everything.


    ¡°I want to see what Li Lanfeng is nning. What does the Li family want to do?¡± Ling Yi clenched his fist. He must not let them seed.


    When Ling Yi was 12 years old, he met a powerful hacker in the virtual world. Their encounter was quite interesting. Either way, he managed to gain a good friend that helped him since he was young. He also managed to get a lot of information he shouldn¡¯t be able to get from his friend, and this allowed him to find out what Li Lanfeng and the Li family were trying to do.

 Chapter 1132 - What Is This!

    <h4>Chapter 1132 What Is This!</h4>


    ¡°Commanding officer, we lost contact with the two mecha ns we sent over.¡± The people from Caesar noticed something amiss.


    Although Little Four had blocked the signals to themand center, themand center still realized that something had happened to them after losing contact with them.


    ¡°What on earth is Lingtian? Don¡¯t try to fool me again by telling me that it is a newly advanced titled super mecha n,¡± themanding officer shouted angrily.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. We can¡¯t find anything on them.¡± The secretary was helpless too. He had already sent an order to search for more information on Lingtian but no results were found.


    ¡°Useless!¡± Themanding officer flipped over his table in anger. The defeat of Knight Ace Mecha n had already made him furious but it still didn¡¯t affect his confidence in winning the whole battle. However, two more mecha ns had disappeared in the hands of Lingtian. They were not the most powerful mecha n but they weren¡¯t weak either. Themanding officer finally felt a little scared of Lingtian.


    Would the existence of just this mecha n alter the result of the battle? He paced around the room while he thought of a way to get out of this situation. Should he continue fighting or should he retreat? He started to hesitate.


    They were on the winning side on the main battlefield but without Knight Ace Mecha n stopping the reinforcements and the path of retreat, he wouldn¡¯t be able to take down Base Neb.


    That meant that if he continued the battle, it would just deplete thebat ability of Base Neb.


    Of course, this was not the main reason why he was hesitating. If he continued the battle, he was confident that he would be able to win the overall battle. Even if he couldn¡¯t take down Base Neb, he would still gain merits. What worried him was the existence of the Lingtian which he didn¡¯t take into consideration at the start. It was a mecha n that annihted the Knight Ace Mecha n and most probably, the other two mecha ns he sent over. If they were badly injured after finishing off the two mecha ns, he wasn¡¯t afraid of them. He was just afraid that they still maintained theirbat ability.


    Themanding officer didn¡¯t believe that Lingtian was just a newly advanced titled super mecha n as it was just as powerful as a legendary mecha n.


    He knew what a legendary mecha n represented. It was able to turn the tides of any battle no matter the situation they were in.


    Themanding officer suddenly recalled the famous Modoka Battle written in the textbooks of Caesar. It was a battle that made the citizens of Caesar blood boil.


    That year, Caesar was fighting with its neighbouring country, Hedor United Nations from the Huaxia Federation. They silently moved into theary sector of Hedor but they got discovered and ambushed instead. Three fleets were badly damaged and millions of mecha operators lost their lives. It was a really humiliating event to Caesar.


    After Caesar knew about this, they sent three legendary mecha ns as well as the ten closest fleet to Hedor. They used one day to destroy all the fleets in Hedor¡¯sary sector. The Hedor soldiers were still celebrating their victory when Caesar¡¯s army arrived. More than a hundred million Hedo soldiers were killed in the span of a few days. No one survived.


    This was the famous Modoka Battle.


    The reason why Caesar was able to totally annihte Hedor¡¯s army even though they had fewer men was because of the three legendary mecha ns. When they entered the battlefield, nothing was able to stop them. No matter how powerful a fleet or a mecha n was, they were nothing in front of legendary mecha ns.


    No one watching the battle would forget this image. The feeling of warm blood gushing through their bodies inspired the citizens of Caesar to want to go to the battlefield themselves. They wished that they were part of the mecha n. They wanted to kill everyone who was disrespectful to their country.


    Themanding officer knew how scary a legendary mecha n could be so he was scared to continue the battle. He was afraid Lingtian was like those legendary mecha ns in those legends. There was a unteral agreement that restricted legendary mecha ns but there were still ways to work around it.


    Caesar had sent their legendary mecha ns out secretly before. They used them to destroy a small nation that always irritated them. As for the Huaxia Federation, they weren¡¯t as pure and reasonable as what people think. Based on what he knew, they had sent a few legendary mecha ns when they took revenge on Hailiya. If not, how were they able to defeat Hailiya so easily. After all, Hailiya was a middle-sized country with a good foundation.


    ¡®Retreat. This is the safest option. We can¡¯t get many merits if we do this, but we will be safe in the end.¡¯ Themanding officer thought to himself.


    He wanted to give his order but he was still unwilling to ept defeat. He thought for a while and walked out of his office. He came to themand center.


    All the advisers were standing in front of a 3D map. They were having a heated discussion.


    ¡°You¡¯ve all received thetest news. What do you think?¡± Themanding officer went straight to the point.


    ¡°The defeat of the Knight Ace Mecha n means that we have no chance of taking over Base Neb. Since we can¡¯t get what we want, we should retreat. Once we find out what happened to the Knight Ace Mecha n, we can discuss it again,¡± one of the advisers spoke out his thoughts. He didn¡¯t agree to stay here and waste time and energy.


    ¡°We have the advantage on the main battlefield. We should beat them until they get scared of us.¡± Another adviser had a different opinion. He felt that the Federation was bold enough to attack them because they hadn¡¯t instilled fear in their hearts yet. That was why the Federation got arrogant and felt that they could win against Caesar.


    ¡°That¡¯s not a good idea. We don¡¯t know how the Knight Ace Mecha n got defeated and Lingtian is still a mystery to us. If their ability is greater than what we think, we will be the ones on the losing end.¡± Some advisers had the same thought as themanding officer. If Lingtian was a legendary mecha n, they would be in a dire situation if they didn¡¯t retreat now.


    ¡°I suggest that we continue fighting. That is the only way we know how much strength the Federation is hiding.¡± Some people wanted to use this chance to dig out more information about the Federation.


    ¡°We can¡¯t risk the lives of our mecha operators for an uncertain possibility. I suggest that we retreat.¡±


    The advisers started arguing. Themanding officer felt his head throbbing. He wanted to listen to his advisers because he hoped he could get some advice from them. Instead, they made him even more confused. He didn¡¯t know what to do.


    ¡°Commanding officer, what do you think?¡± Since they couldn¡¯t convince one another, the advisers looked at themanding officer and waited for his decision.


    Themanding officer started contemting. Just like what one of the advisers said, is it alright to take the risk?


    If he didn¡¯t find out what on earth Lingtian was, he would still regret even after they retreated, and it would turn into a devil in his heart. He gritted his teeth and ordered, ¡°Fight. Fight until Lingtianes out. Let me see what it really is.¡±

 Chapter 1133 - The Main Battlefield!

    <h4>Chapter 1133 The Main Battlefield!</h4>


    Lingtian was done with all their battles. The rescue party had started searching for survivors. Even though the mecha operators had already searched the area once, the rescue party still looked around carefully. They must ensure that all the mecha operators were found, even if it was a corpse.


    Their regimentmander had said that whether they were dead or alive, Lingtian would bring them back.


    ¡°Boss, there¡¯s a signal from the base.¡± Little Four received a notification of a call from the base.


    ¡°Connect me.¡± To prevent any disturbance during the battle, Ling Lan asked Little Four to block all signals from the base. That way, she could say that she didn¡¯tprehend the situation clearly when she chose to annihte the three mecha ns.


    This was normal. During a mecha battle, any mistakes would cost you your life. Who would care about the results of the battle then. A mecha operator only cared about the enemy in front of them. They had one thought: Kill them! They must kill the enemies around them in order to survive. Thus, mistakes in analyzing the situation always happened. Often, mecha operators only realized that one side was annihted at the end of the battle.


    Themand center yed an important role in preventing such a situation. They would give new orders to the mecha operators based on the situation of the battle. Ling Lan blocked the signal from themand center so that they wouldn¡¯t be able to contact them and tell them to stop fighting as this would hinder her overall n.


    After the call came through, Yu Huan said, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, congrattions on your huge win.¡±


    ¡°Go straight to the point.¡± After the good news, the bad news woulde. Ling Lan knew that something had happened the moment Yu Huan opened his mouth.


    ¡°We¡¯re having trouble in the main battlefield. Can Lingtian provide help?¡± Yu Huan asked carefully. Lingtian had just finished two battles, and both battles were hard-fought. One battle was against the powerful Knight Ace Mecha n while the other battle was against twice as many mecha operators. By right, they should go back to their camping ground for some rest. A tired mecha operator had a much higher death rate on the battlefield as their mecha piloting ability would decrease.


    Ling Lan frowned. ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡±


    ¡°Caesar has unleashed their entire army on us. Our ejection speed can¡¯t catch up with them.¡± Although they had reinforcements, there was only a finite number ofunching ports in the base, and all the ports were already filled up. They couldn¡¯t send their mechas out quickly to the battlefield. In terms of military strength, Caesar currently had the advantage. The mecha operators from the Federation had gathered together and started defending.


    This was why Yu Huan still hoped that Lingtian could help even though they shouldn¡¯t.


    Yu Huan didn¡¯t want to have a lost battle record on his resume especially after knowing how strong Lingtian was.


    ¡°Let me consider it. I¡¯ll give you a reply soon.¡± Ling Lan hung up immediately.


    Yu Huan sighed. He could only hope that Ling Lan would give him good news.


    Ling Lan thought for a while and asked Little Four to contact Li Shiyu. She asked, ¡°How long will the medicationst?¡±


    ¡°At most ten minutes.¡± Li Shiyu looked at the time on hismunicator and replied after making a thorough estimate.


    ¡°It¡¯s enough.¡± Ling Lan hung up.


    Then, she pressed the team channel. ¡°Do you still have the energy to fight?¡±


    All the mecha operators stopped what they were doing and shouted excitedly, ¡°Yes!¡±


    The continuous fighting had made them hot-blooded. The effects of the forbidden medicine hadn¡¯t passed too so they were full of energy. They didn¡¯t feel tired at all. They were dying to fight even more.


    ¡°Good. Our new target is the main battlefield. I¡¯ll give you eight minutes. After eight minutes, we¡¯ll retreat no matter what the results are,¡± Ling Lan announced her n.


    Ling Lan knew that if Li Shiyu said the medicine would lose effect in 10 minutes, it would lose its effect in ten minutes, but she wouldn¡¯t use the entire ten minutes. She left two minutes for any emergency situations.


    Ling Lan would always be careful when there was a need to, especially on the battlefield where anything could happen, Ling Lan was even more careful if that was the case.


    Soon, the sound of engines revving were heard. Around 1500 mecha operators rushed to the main battlefield under the lead of their leaders.


    ¡°Little Four, how long will they take to arrive?¡± Ling Lan asked as she looked at the mecha operators flying off.


    ¡°Based on their current speeds, they¡¯ll arrive in 63.23 seconds.¡±


    Ling Lan instantly contacted Yu Huan. ¡°Major General Yu, we¡¯ll arrive in 60 seconds.¡±


    After she finished speaking, she hung up without caring about Yu Huan¡¯s reply.


    Yu Huan was stunned for a moment. Soon, happiness appeared on his face. He immediately contacted the main battlefield and gave his order.


    ¡°Themand center is crazy.¡± The regimentmanders of the mecha ns who were fighting furiously on the battlefield started cursing when they heard thismand.


    Retaliate? What were they supposed to use for retaliation? Couldn¡¯t they tell how tired they were?


    ¡°Why can¡¯t we wait for the reinforcements toe before we retaliate?¡± One of the regimentmanders mmed his control panel angrily.


    He idently pressed a button to turn on the siren of his mecha. He was shocked, but he still quickly stabilised his mecha.


    Fortunately, he was behind the line of defense and was in charge ofmanding. If not, this mistake would have cost his life.


    However, this mistake allowed him to notice the red countdown timer that appeared on his screen.


    ¡°F**k, when did the mainframe of the base be so smart?¡± Every mecha has its own mainframe. The mainframe of the base shouldn¡¯t be able to control the mecha unless the mecha operator allowed it to and yet, a timer appeared on his screen.


    All the regimentmanders were dumbfounded too. Just as they were feeling puzzled, they saw a bunch of mechas appearing on the left side of the battlefield. It was closing in on them.


    ¡°F**k, did our enemies return?¡± They still remembered that not long ago, Caesar sent two mecha ns away from the main battlefield. They knew that these mecha operators were up to no good but they couldn¡¯t stop them from leaving.


    Now, a bunch of mechas appeared from the direction where those mechas left. This made them think that the mecha operators from Caesar had returned.


    ¡°No, wait. Those are not Caesar¡¯s mechas. Those are our mechas.¡± In the blink of an eye, the mechas appeared before them. They could see clearly that these were mechas from the Federation.

 Chapter 1134 - Win!

    <strong>Chapter 1134 Win!</strong>


    On the main battlefield, the mecha operators from the Federation¡¯s cheering could be heard outside of their cockpit when they saw reinforcementing their way.


    Although these 2000 mechas couldn¡¯t really change the overall situation of the battlefield, the arrival of the reinforcements still gave the mecha operators more confidence and courage.


    When an officer in themand center saw the reinforcement, he immediately yelled, ¡°Commanding officer, the reinforcement from the Federation had appeared. They are currentlying from the direction where our two mecha ns went.¡±


    ¡°Show me.¡± Themanding officer had been waiting for their arrival.


    ¡®Did you finallye? Let me see what you are made of.¡¯


    The screen at themand center quickly disyed the reinforcements.


    ¡®Let me see how powerful you are.¡¯ Themanding officer had a thought. He immediately ordered. ¡°Order all the starships to fire at the iing mechas.¡±


    All the starships quickly turned their bodies and directed their cannons at the mechas from Lingtian. Under the order of the various leaders, multiple cannons were fired.


    ¡°Ah! Iing!¡± Everyone on the main battlefield, as well as the people watching from the base, shouted in fear of getting shot when they saw this.


    However, the next scene utterly stupefied everyone on the Federation¡¯s side. It also caused arge crack in the already depressing atmosphere in Caesar.


    The movements of the iing mechas were strange. It didn¡¯t align with the normal sense. Everyone was bbergasted. They moved agilely and passed the swarm of shots.


    Not only that, they cooperated well while doing so. They used their swords to block shots for theirrades. They basically performed a magnificent Dance of Hell performance for everyone to feast their eyes on.


    Within a few seconds, the mechas broke through the swarm of shots and arrived at the main battlefield where the two armies were at.


    However, not all the mecha operators were so disgustingly strong. The mecha operators in the back tried to dodge the shots but they were slower and less agile than the batch of mecha operators in front of them. Fortunately, they managed to evade the swarm of shots. Suddenly, something went terribly wrong.


    ¡°Oh no!¡± The soldiers from the Federation shouted worriedly.


    The starships from Caesar quickly prepared for their second round of shots after seeing the failure of their first round.


    This time however, they shot at the location where the mechas wouldnd after escaping the swarm of shots.


    It had to be said that the soldiers on the starship were exceptional marksmen. Within a short amount of time, they were able to maneuver the position of the cannons and aimed it at the position that would be the most damaging to the enemy.


    The shots flew towards the mechas. Were the mechas going to be destroyed before they entered the battlefield?


    At that moment, the reinforcements had already arrived on the battlefield with their raised beam guns.


    White-coloured beams flew through the deep space, making it seem as if space was segmented into multiple parts. As white-coloured beams got near the shots that were aimed at them, it exploded.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Explosions urred in tandem. The dark space lit up as if a supernova had just urred.


    ¡°They aren¡¯t safe yet.¡± Before the people in the base could heave a sigh of relief, they realized that more shots were being fired at theirrades. The batch of 2000 mechas wasn¡¯t saved yet as they didn¡¯t have the time to stop the next round of shots.


    The long-range beam guns had the fastest shooting speed out of all the beam guns. However, it had a fatal weakness. It wasn¡¯t able to fire multiple shots. Although it only required two seconds to congregate the energy, these two seconds were enough time for something to go terribly wrong.


    Were theirrades really going to die?


    Suddenly, multiple white-coloured beams were seen again. The beams collided with the second round of shots.


    These white-coloured beams didn¡¯te from the batch of 2000 mechas. It instead came from behind them.


    A ring white light pierced everyone¡¯s eyes as they quickly tried to cover their eyes to shield them from it.


    Those with good eyesight would be able to see that the white beam didn¡¯te into contact with the shot. It scraped past the shots and ignited them, clearing a safe path in space.


    These explosions did generate tons of force but luckily the force wasn¡¯t strong enough to break through the shields of the mechas.


    The reinforcement quickly grabbed this window of opportunity and escaped from the gates of hell using the safe pathway that was cleared. They finally entered the main battlefield.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± The people in the base were relieved. Suddenly, their legs felt drained of their energy. They were so agitated and nervous while they were watching that their legs failed on them after they released all the tension from their bodies. They wondered if the mecha operators in the reinforcements were feeling the same way as they did.


    However, they recalled that those mecha operators didn¡¯t seem to be in a flurry even in the face of danger. They were just calm and indifferent. Were they confident that they were able to escape from danger?


    No matter what the reason was, these mecha operators were mentalily stronger than them.


    The ring white light finally subsided. Silence resumed on the battlefield. But, another batch of mechas had appeared behind the reinforcement.


    Their appearance was unexpected. No one saw how they escaped from the swarm of shots. They just appeared from thin ¡®air¡¯.


    There were not many mechas in this new batch of mechas. From the appearance of the new arrivals, they looked like long-range mechas and bnced mechas.


    Everyone looked at the beam guns in the hands of the mechas and finally understood where those white-coloured beams came from.


    There were around seven mechas in the new batch. They had emblems and numbers painted on their chests. Everyone saw the emblems and numbers clearly.


    It was a ck phoenix and thest few digits of the numbers were all ¡®001¡¯. They knew what the identity of these mecha operators was. They were the leaders of Lingtian Mecha n. Their members were able to pass through the swarm of shots safely because they were there to protect them.


    However, everyone¡¯s attention was on the mecha in the middle as it was the only mecha that didn¡¯t have the digits ¡®ooi¡¯ at the end. Its number was even more astonishing than 001. It was all zeros. This number represented the suprememander of Lingtian Mecha n, Regiment Commander Ling.


    ¡°ck phoenix! It¡¯s Lingtian.¡± The mecha operators from the Federation shouted. Those that didn¡¯t recognize them recognized them from all these shouts.


    ¡°Those mecha operators are not normal ace mecha masters.¡± Themanding officer felt his heart dropping to his stomach. The worse situation had urred.


    After two rounds of shots, normal ace mecha masters would usually be heavily injured. Elite ace mecha masters would be in better shape but half of them would still be mildly injured. They would usually pay a deep price to get through that swarm of shots. However, none of the mechas from his opponents were destroyed.


    Although the leaders of Lingtian had helped their members twice, he could tell that the piloting skills of the members were exceptionally great.


    Themanding officer could feel that the tides of the battlefield were about to turn a 180.


    Ling Lan ced the beam gun behind her back and took out Firmament.


    She waved the sword in the air and pointed it in Caesar¡¯s direction.


    ¡°Charge!¡± A cold voice echoed in the ears of the mecha operators.


    Everyone in Lingtian took out the swords from their sheaths and charged towards their enemies without any care of being surrounded.


    ¡°The retaliation has started.¡± While the mecha operators from the Federation were stunned by this scene, they heard Commander Yu Huan¡¯s calm statement from their channel.


    ¡°Charge!¡± All the mecha operators from the Federation didn¡¯t expect they could even retaliate when they received the order to battle. They were just carrying out the order even if it meant that they might die.


    This was the mindset of the soldiers of the Federation. This was the reason why the other nations were fearful of them.


    Under the lead of Lingtian, the mecha operators from the Federation rushed towards their enemies like a massive tsunami.


    The mecha operators that first reached their targets weren¡¯t the mecha operators of Lingtian who charged at the front, it was the leaders.


    The opponents they chose were either the regimentmanders or leaders of the numerous Caesar mecha ns in the battlefield.


    ¡°Kill them!¡±


    The two armies collided. Only the strongest would survive in this cruel and unforgiving battlefield.


    Boom! Boom! Boom!


    The mecha operators from Lingtian were all very powerful. They were like reapers, reaping away the lives of all the mecha operators around them. They utterly decimated the first line of defense of Caesar.


    The mecha operators behind the devils of Lingtian were astounded and shocked. Even until the end of the battle, they were still in a daze. They felt as though everything was a dream.


    After the attack from Lingtian, the frontline of Caesar started crippling apart. By right, Caesar shouldn¡¯t be defeated so easily. They had more mechas than the Federation. However, the overpowering strength of the mecha operators from Lingtian destroyed their confidence.


    They couldn¡¯t defeat the devils from Lingtian no matter how hard they tried, even when they outnumbered them. The impact of this failure was even greater than losing a one on one battle. Adding on to this, there was a bunch of long-range mechas controlling the situation.


    They would snipe wherever they were needed. The mecha operators had to watch theirrades falling one by one. Yet, their opponents were still standing there confidently, taunting them... utterly humiliating them. This stark contrast of confidence and strength lowered their morale. As time went by, they started giving up.


    ¡°Commanding officer, the frontline can¡¯t hold on much longer.¡± The officer in themand center was pale in the face. He had a look of disbelief on his face. Just those bunch of mecha operators were able to turn the situation of the battlefield. This was totally unexpected.


    ¡°I know.¡± Themanding officer had a deadpan expression. He had been staring at the frontline all these while. In the end, the worst situation had happened. On the slightly ¡®bright¡¯ side, it proved that Lingtian was a scary mecha n that had the capabilities of a legendary mecha n even though it wasn¡¯t a legendary mecha n.


    ¡°Order everyone to retreat.¡± Themanding officer got what he wanted so he wouldn¡¯t carry on the battle anymore as it would just result in more losses.


    The starships from Caesar released the signal for a retreat.


    The mecha operators from Caesar seemed to be waiting for this moment as they quickly retreated without any hesitation.


    ¡°Ah, this is great!¡±


    ¡°We won!¡±


    ¡°We won against Caesar. We won!¡± Many mecha operators started tearing up while hugging the person next to them. They had been suppressed by Caesar for so many years. They finally seeded in breaking away from Caesar¡¯s shadows.


    While the other mecha operators were celebrating the victory, the mecha operators from Lingtian waved their swords unhappily. They turned around and looked at their regimentmander in hopes that he would order them to chase after their enemies.


    ¡°Regimentmander?¡± Qi Long was unwilling to leave too.


    Ling Lan looked at the time on hermunicator. Eight minutes was almost up. She said, ¡°Let¡¯s go back to our base.¡±


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander.¡± The leaders could only agree with much regret in their hearts.


    All the mecha operators from Lingtian put away their burning fighting spirit and gathered in their teams.


    The other mecha ns wanted to express their gratitude to Lingtian but before they could get near them, the mechas from Lingtian had left. They disappeared in an instant.


    ¡°Lingtian Mecha n is really arrogant.¡± One of the regimentmanders c hide his envy as heined.


    ¡°If you can decide the oue of a battle with just your presence, you can be arrogant too.¡± Someone didn¡¯t agree with what he said and refuted.


    ¡°It¡¯s just that we fought together so it¡¯s alright to greet each other, right?¡± The person exined quickly.


    ¡°When Lingtian came, we didn¡¯t wee them. Hence, it¡¯s understandable that they will ignore us now.¡± The other person felt that they deserved the cold treatment.


    ¡°It seems like the rumor of Piercing Arrow getting defeated by them is true.¡± Someone suddenly recalled a rumor he had heard many months ago


    ¡°Based on their performance just now, even the Proud Wind Mecha n couldn¡¯t bepared with them. I suspect that the public information of Lingtian is fake. Isn¡¯t it just a first-rank five-star mecha n? Or is it...¡± This prediction was too frightening. The regimentmander quickly stopped what he wanted to say.


    While the regimentmanders were discussing among themselves, the mecha operators from Lingtian had already returned to their base. The mechas entered theunching ports orderly, and most of them managed tond stability before the first anti-collision belt.

 Chapter 1135 - Be Aware Of!

    <h4>Chapter 1135 Be Aware Of!</h4>


    ¡°Our mecha operators are amazing.¡± The logisticians of Lingtian looked at their mecha operators with admiration and respect as they safely returned back to the base. They felt proud that they were providing services to these mecha operators.


    ¡°Our mecha operators are outstanding so we must be able to keep up with them. We must be the best logisticians. Do your best in everything. Don¡¯t embarrass our mecha n.¡± The leader smiled after he saw his words working their magic.


    The logisticians started working even harder. The overwhelming victory motivated the logisticians. Just like what their leader said, they had to work harder to catch up with these amazing mecha operators.


    Plus, servicing such amazing mecha operators was a disy of their status too as only the best logisticians could service the best mecha operators. The more powerful their mecha operators were, the higher their status was.


    In the past, they were looked down on by everyone like a pile of rubbish on the side of the road. They could only go to the worst mecha n and be the lowest ranked logisticians but finally, they were given a chance to walk on a new path. It was a tough journey and they did break down many times along the way but they managed to survive to the end. After surviving through everything life had thrown their way, they became the best logisticians of the military. They were able to raise their heads proudly in front of any adversities.


    What made them the most excited was the fact that their regimentmander didn¡¯t give up on them even though they werebeled as the worst logisticians in the past. He even trusted them enough to give them mechas to pilot.


    Although they had to be an advanced mecha warrior in the virtual world before they could operate the mechas, they were still very grateful to be given the opportunity to pilot one. Plus, those mechas were the lowest grade of mechas their regimentmander had bought for them and there were only a few of them with most of them being special-ss mechas.


    Hence, most logisticians didn¡¯t have the chance to pilot a mecha yet. However, they were still ted. They had a privilege that none of the other logisticians had. Sometimes, the logisticians wondered about the intention of their regimentmander for providing them the mechas. Were the mechas really theirs?


    However, when they saw the special-ss mechas gathering dust in the mecha hold, and the fact that the mecha operators were using ace mechas, they believed that these mechas were really for them.


    After thinking about it, they felt even more motivated. They worked hard so that one day, they would be able to fulfil their dream of operating a mecha. Of course, they had to fulfil their work as a logistician first.


    The logisticians at the mecha hold quickly ced the mechas back in their holds and inspected them. They must fix any problems with the mechas in the fastest time possible.


    They were at the boundary so no one knew when the next battle would ur. All the mecha operators had a backup mecha but it was still better to be well-prepared.


    The other logisticians were sending the mecha operators into the medical department. Ling Lan didn¡¯t mind ack of logisticians in other departments but for the medical department, she made sure that there were enough people as well as equipment. Close to 2000 mecha operators received treatment at the same time. The logisticians there were very busy but all the mecha operators still received the treatment they needed.


    The moment Ling Lan came down from her mecha, she received a notification from Han Xuya that themanding officer, Yu Huan, wanted to meet her.


    ¡°It¡¯s time to take back what¡¯s mine.¡± Ling Lan smiled. She wouldn¡¯t give up something that belonged to her. Before the battle, she needed some time to organise her mecha n so she gave it up for a moment.


    But, after this battle, she wouldn¡¯t mind being merciless if Yu Huan still didn¡¯t want to let go of hismanding power.


    Ling Lan returned to the changing room and changed into her military attire. The moment she walked out of the room, she saw Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng smiled when he saw hering out. He helped her tie her blue cloak and passed her the blue short whip.


    Ling Lan took it. She raised her eyebrows and asked, ¡°I thought that you¡¯re busy reprimanding your team members. Why do you still have the time to wait for me here?¡±


    Ling Lan was thest person to enter the base. Hence, she was surprised to see Li Lanfeng here.


    ¡°I let Deputy Luo take care of Ling Yi.¡± If he went to reprimand Ling Yi personally, he was giving Ling Yi too much face. Ling Yi was just a normal member of his team. Normally, the primary mecha master should have taken care of him. Letting the deputy leader go was already an exception.


    Ling Lan slowed down when she heard Ling Yi¡¯s name. She thought for a moment and said, ¡°You should pay more attention to that little brat. I¡¯m afraid that he might be used by the people around him.¡±


    Li Lanfeng turned serious. ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll personally keep an eye on him.¡±


    At first, Li Lanfeng thought that Ling Yi was just a rash and reckless young brat. He was angry about his actions on the battlefield but after everything ended, he calmed down and didn¡¯t take it to heart.


    But now, after Ling Lan¡¯s reminder, Li Lanfeng started to be more vignt of Ling Yi.


    ¡°I¡¯m not worried since he¡¯s in your team.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t have the time to care about Ling Yi. Moreover, Little Four was a yful person. He didn¡¯t have much experience so it¡¯s hard for him to identify a traitor or a spy.


    In the past, Little Four suspected that all the people around Ling Yi were problematic. She felt speechless when he heard that.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression changed when he heard this. He lowered his head instinctively. Ling Lan didn¡¯t notice that when Li Lanfeng tidied her cloak, his hands were shaking.


    ¡®Why do you treat me so well? It seems as though you only trust me. How can I let go of this?¡¯


    ¡°Do you know that Yu Huan wants to see me?¡± Ling Lan continued asking.


    ¡°Yes. You should bring someone along to appear more dominating.¡± Li Lanfeng forced out a smile.


    ¡°If I bring you along, it won¡¯t affect my overall presence much.¡± Ling Lan nced at Li Lanfeng. She wasn¡¯t satisfied with Li Lanfeng¡¯s weak-looking frame.


    ¡°I¡¯ll make you seem more powerful byparison, right?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡°Only Luo Lang and I are able to do that.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re underestimating me.¡± Ling Lan turned and lifted Li Lanfeng¡¯s chin with her whip. She smiled and said, ¡°There¡¯s still Han Jijyun, Li Shiyu, Lin Zhong-qing, and many other people.¡±


    ¡°People like Qi Long, Zhao Jun, Xie Yi might be toorge for me but I can still manage everyone else.¡±


    Ling Lan was a tall woman. However,pared to men, she was still considered short, especially when she stood next to people like Qi Long and Xie Yi who were tall and muscr.

 Chapter 1136 - Inferior!

    <h4>Chapter 1136 Inferior!</h4>


    Fortunately, Ling Lan¡¯s domineering presence allowed her to suppress all these tall people. No one seemed to notice that Ling Lan was shorter than them.


    Of course, there were also men who were shorter than her. Luo Lang was an instance of such men. If you just took a nce, you might think that Ling Lan was the same height as Li Lanfeng and Lin Zhong-qing. This was the power of a strong presence.


    ¡°Yes, I understand.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. As expected, Ling Lan didn¡¯t like people talking about his height.


    ¡°Since you want to go, don¡¯t embarrass me.¡± Ling Lan looked at Li Lanfeng with a threatening gaze before turning to leave.


    Li Lanfeng quickly caught up with her with a brighter smile on his face. He realised that Ling Lan was quite susceptible to his teasing.


    ¡®Ling Lan, are you giving me a chance to be shameless so that I can get what I want?¡¯


    Li Lanfeng suddenly slowed down a little with a dreadfully pale face as a voice simr to his echoed in his mind.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng, you said that you won¡¯t do anything to Ling Lan anymore. Why did you change your mind after a few words? If you continue to be like this, you¡¯ll eventually make mistakes you will forever regret. Wake up! Remember that he treats you like his best friend and confidant. He... doesn¡¯t like men.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡± A warm hand suddenly grabbed Li Lanfeng¡¯s cold hand as he was falling in a dark pit in his mind.


    Li Lanfeng looked up with tearful eyes. He saw a pair of dark eyes that were filled with care and concern. Ling Lan was frowning too. She was worried about him.


    ¡°Did you take the medicine?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned sharp. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you go to the medical department for treatment? Do you think I¡¯ll be happy if you do this?¡±


    Li Lanfeng shook his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t take the medicine. You told me that with my physical constitution and spiritual power, it¡¯s not suitable for me to take the medicine. It¡¯ll just bring me more harm than the rest of the people. Why won¡¯t I listen to you?¡±


    ¡°I might not listen to other people but I¡¯ll definitely listen to you,¡± Li Lanfeng continued earnestly.


    ¡°Why is your body reacting so violently then?¡± Ling Lan continued frowning. She couldn¡¯t understand what was happening to Li Lanfeng¡¯s body.


    ¡°Having a strong spiritual power has its implications.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly. He could only just push the me to his strong spiritual power.


    ¡°Really?¡± After the Qi exercises helped her to recover her health, Ling Lan never experienced any more implications of having a strong spiritual power. However, she had a powerful bug known as Little Four. Even if a part of her spiritual power leaked out, Little Four would help her seal it. Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t have anyone helping him. He could only rely on himself so it might be possible that there were implications even after using the Qi exercises.


    Ling Lan looked at Li Lanfeng with pity. She decided to think of a solution for him so that he would never be affected by his strong spiritual power again.


    Yes, maybe she could disturb Number Two. He had been studying spiritual fusion for a long time so he might have learned something that could help Li Lanfeng¡¯s situation


    If Ling Lan didn¡¯t have any questions about this, she wouldn¡¯t disturb Number Two if she didn¡¯t need to as she was quite afraid of the mysterious Number Two.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do research and see if there¡¯s any way to solve your problem. If you have any issues, don¡¯t keep it to yourself. Remember to tell me.¡± She held Li Lanfeng¡¯s hand and squeezed it. His hand was so smooth... wait, I should beforting him, not taking advantage of him.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes lit up. However, in the next second, he gave aplicated expression.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Li Lanfeng finally managed to squeeze an ¡®okay¡¯ out of his mouth. Then, he looked down and pulled his hands back from Ling Lan¡¯s grasp. He was afraid that if he stared at Ling Lan for any longer, he wouldn¡¯t be able to control himself and reveal his feelings for Ling Lan.


    Li Lanfeng was filled with emotions but he remained logical in the end. He knew that once he told Ling Lan his feelings, he wouldn¡¯t be Ling Lan¡¯s most trustedrade anymore. He could almost imagine Ling Lan¡¯s eyes turning cold and looking at him as though he was a stranger.


    ¡®I can¡¯t say it. I can¡¯t!¡¯ Li Lanfeng clenched his fist and controlled his emotions. He looked up and forced out a smile. ¡°Ling Lan, thank you for your concern but I¡¯m fine.¡±


    Ling Lan looked at him intently. She knew that the smile he was showing her wasn¡¯t sincere. However, she never liked to force people to do what they do not want. Hence, she didn¡¯t say anything and turned around. She walked out of the ce.


    ¡°You know that I¡¯m lying? Right, how can I fool you? You understand me just like how I understand you. I thought that we could be each other¡¯s confidants for the entire life. However, the friendship between us turned into a one-sided love. I try to cover up my feelings carefully but... it is slowlying out. If you take pity on me, why don¡¯t you expose me? That way, I can confidently stand in front of you without any secrets and continue to be your friend.¡±


    Li Lanfeng looked at the figure in front of him in a daze. He never knew that one day, he would be so pitiful that he would pray that he could stay beside a person and that the person wouldn¡¯t hate him. He never knew he could be so desperate for a person to like him.


    The two of them quickly arrived at themand center at the base. The moment Li Lanfeng entered themand center, his gaze turned cold. The Li Lanfeng who was in love, was gone. The cold-blooded Adviser Li Lanfeng was now online.


    Many regimentmanders were already at themand center. Some of them gathered together and were chatting while others walked aroundzily. Some went around the ce and greeted one another.


    When Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan entered themand center, they nced at them before continuing what they were doing.


    ¡°Regimentmander, if I¡¯m not wrong, they¡¯re all here for you.¡± Li Lanfeng stifled hisughter as he continued, ¡°However, they don¡¯t know what you look like.¡±


    ¡°Maybe they¡¯re here for something else.¡± Ling Lan felt that this was the case too but she was embarrassed to admit it.


    However, it was true that not many people had seen her face before. Besides meeting Yu Huan on the first day she came and challenging Piercing Arrow, she never revealed herself.


    Everyone in Lingtian followed after her too. The leaders of Lingtian seldom revealed themselves so most of the people in the base didn¡¯t recognize them.


    Even though most of the regimentmander didn¡¯t recognise Ling Lan, there were still people that knew her.


    One of the regimentmanders who were chatting in a group looked up and saw Ling Laning in slowly. His eyes immediately lit up with fervour. He hurried over and said loudly, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, you¡¯re finally here.¡±


    All the other regimentmanders stopped what they were doing and looked at Ling Lan with surprise.


    This young regimentmander was the regimentmander of Lingtian?

 Chapter 1137 - Proud!

    <h4>Chapter 1137 Proud!</h4>


    The person who called out Ling Lan was Lin Yang, the regimentmander of the ughter Mecha n. In the recent battle, he was themander of the frontline army. He thought that they would lose but the arrival of Lingtian changed the oue of the battle.


    After returning to the base, he heard that Lingtian had annihted the Knight Ace Mecha n as well as two more ace mecha ns beforeing to the main battlefield. Within such a short time, they went through four rounds of intense battle. A normal mecha operator would have broken down from the high intensity, but none of the mecha operators from Lingtian seemed to have been affected.


    Lin Yang was amazed by the willpower of the mecha operators in Lintian. He couldn¡¯t help but think of the hellish training he saw when he visited them. Was it really effective? Should he follow in their way?


    Right after he arrived back to the base, he received a notice from Yu Huan informing him of a meeting for all the regimentmanders in the base. Lin Yang came very early for the meeting. He knew that in this meeting, Yu Huan would be giving themanding power of the base to Ling Lan, and he was happy to see this. He was fully convinced of Lingtian¡¯s strength and Ling Lanmanding capability.


    Since he was early, he started chatting with a few regimentmanders he was familiar with. Of course, their conversation revolved around Lingtian and their regimentmander, Ling Lan. After talking for a short while, Ling Lan arrived.


    Lin Yang rushed towards Ling Lan and said sincerely, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, I was too brash in the past. Please forgive me.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s nothing. I wee you to visit my mecha n any time.¡± Ling Lan replied calmly, ¡°This is my mecha n¡¯s style.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s tone was indifferent but her unconcerned attitude was obvious.


    Lin Yang immediately smiled. He was ted. ¡°Of course. Please take care of us in the future.¡±


    Ling Lan nodded and acknowledged him. After that, the atmosphere in themand center turned lively as all the other regimentmanders came up to introduce themselves to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan calmly nodded at every one of them to acknowledge their existence. She didn¡¯t say anything but the seriousness in her eyes made everyone feel respected. The entiremand center turned noisy.


    Li Lanfeng looked at his regimentmander with admiration. Yes, this was his regimentmander. He seemed cold but a simple acknowledgement from him would create huge results. This was something he could never achieve in his lifetime.


    Sometimes, Li Lanfeng was puzzled. Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence was strong and his way of doing things was domineering. He was vicious, ruthless, and cold towards people. Yet, it was hard to dislike him. Unconsciously, people would be convinced by him.


    Was this the aura of a king?


    Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly. He started to recall what had happened around Ling Lan. It was obvious that Ling Lan was a king. He sighed. He basically walked towards his Phoenix Thrall Fate.


    Changing his destiny? If he had controlled his feelings and not got tempted by it, the Phoenix Thrall Fate would have nothing to do with him, but it was just too hard...


    Nothing to do with him! Li Lanfeng felt his heart throbbing when he thought of this.


    Let¡¯s not think about it!


    Li Lanfeng forced himself to stop thinking. He wouldn¡¯t be able to control himself if he continued. He would not only destroy himself, but he would also harm the person he loved dearly.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, you¡¯re already here.¡± A familiar voice woke Li Lanfeng up from his stupor.


    Yu Huan appeared in themand center.


    ¡°Commander Yu, nice to meet you.¡± Ling Lan nodded.


    ¡°Since you¡¯re here, shall we gather in the meeting room?¡± Yu Huan said to all the regimentmanders.


    Everyone nodded. They knew why they were all gathered here.


    Soon, they moved to the meeting room. Everyone found a seat for himself.


    Yu Huan let Ling Lan sit on his left. Ling Lan nced at him and said, ¡°Thank you.¡±


    She sat down naturally. Li Lanfeng stood silently in a corner behind Ling Lan. He waited for the meeting to start.


    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m sure all of you know why I gathered you here.¡± Yu Huan smiled as he spoke.


    The other regimentmanders smiled too. ¡°Of course, I¡¯ve been waiting for this day for a long time,¡± one of the regimentmanders replied.


    Yu Huan continued, ¡°Yes. We should have done this a long time ago but Regiment Commander Ling was busy organising his mecha n. In the recent battle, we won against Caesar. This is a glorious achievement for Base Neb, and I will take this opportunity to pass themander-in-chief position of the base to Regiment Commander Ling. What do you think?¡±


    ¡°Commander Yu is right. Regiment Commander Ling should have taken over this position a long time ago. Why don¡¯t weplete the procedure today?¡± All the regimentmanders agreed with the proposal. The recent battle today proved how strong Lingtian was. The fact that they defeated Knight Ace Mecha n was already enough to convince them.


    ¡°Since no one has any objection to the proposal, let¡¯s proceed. We¡¯ll have a vote now.¡± Yu Huan¡¯s smile got brighter.


    ¡°Commander Yu Huan, I have a question for Regiment Commander Ling.¡± Just as Yu Huan thought that everything was going smoothly, one of the regimentmanders suddenly raised his hand.


    Yu Huan frowned. He controlled his unhappiness and said kindly, ¡°Regiment Commander Zheng, please go ahead.¡±


    ¡°Since you¡¯re going to be themander-in-chief of our base, can you introduce yourself?¡± Regiment Commander Zheng disregarded the res from the crowd and spoke his thoughts loudly.


    Since the other party wanted them to trust him, he should at least be honest about his identity, right?


    The other regimentmanders, who were unhappy at Regiment Commander Zheng¡¯s behaviour at first, acknowledged his question. They looked at Ling Lan and waited for his response.


    Ling Lan nced at Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng understood her and closed his eyes slightly.


    ¡°Little Four, control all the signals in the base.¡± Ling Lan ordered Little Four silently.


    ¡°I understand, Boss.¡± Little Four rubbed his hands excitedly. It was finally his time to perform.


    ¡°My background is very simple.¡± Ling Lan noticed Yu Huan¡¯s helpless expression. There was no way she could evade this question. However, she had never thought of hiding her past. She was proud to be Ling Xiao¡¯s ¡®son¡¯.

 Chapter 1138 - Background!

    <h4>Chapter 1138 Background!</h4>


    All the regimentmanders were drawn in by Ling Lan¡¯s words. Some even seemed weirdly excited.


    ¡°I graduated from First Men¡¯s Military Academy. I entered the 23rd division as the top student of my year.¡± Ling Lan continued calmly, ¡°And I was very fortunate to be able to activate my mecha n the moment I entered the 23rd division.¡±


    Everyone received surprise after surprise with every sentence Ling Lan said. Ling Lan made her life¡¯s story sound easy but they knew that she needed to do to pass the three hard assessments in order to activate her mecha n. Even soldiers who had been in the military for six years might not be able to pass the three assessments. Yet, Ling Lan managed to do it the moment she entered the military.


    ¡°I have a bunch of reliable teammates so afterpleting a four-star mission, I took over the position of the regimentmander of the 250 Ace Mecha n. Lingtian Mecha n used to be known as 250 Ace Mecha n.¡±


    ¡°250 Ace Mecha n was one of the top ten mecha n in thend clearing mission on Juhao.¡± Everyone remembered the merit 250 Ace Mecha n had in the past.


    Ling Lan calmly nced at the crowd before she continued, ¡°Beforeing to Base Neb, I experienced a huge battle.¡±


    ¡°The battle on Haijiao.¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡± Everyone shouted in surprise when they heard this. That specific battle was universally famous. It was the most dangerous battle the Federation had won recently.


    By right, the Federation was destined to lose that battle. However, Ling Xiao¡¯s son jumped level and operated a god-ss mecha to turn the tides around. He protected the sole surviving base of the Federation so that they were able tost until reinforcements came. This single act managed to alter the result of the entire battle. Through this victory, they even took the opportunity to destroy Hailiya.


    The Federation gained many benefits after the victory but close to 200 million soldiers were killed in battle. Some of them were even prodigies who might be able to advance to god-ss in the perceivable future. The Federation was glorified for this victory but the people of the Federation seemingly had forgotten the price for the victory. People who deeply remembered the price they had to pay for the victory were the families of those fallen soldiers and theirrades who saw them killed right in front of them.


    Most of the soldiers in the military felt that the battle on Haijiao wasn¡¯t as glorious as the people had imagined it to be, it was just an overall waste in their minds. It was a battle filled with unnecessary sacrifices. If Prince Ling didn¡¯t sacrifice his own future for the so-called glory, it would just be a battle filled with waste and despair.


    Not every battle would have such miracles urring. They had to carve this point deeply in their minds to prevent a simr situation from ever urring again.


    All the regimentmanders were excited. They knew that the Federation had secretly sent the Flying Dragon Special Forces to reinforce the soldiers on Haijiao. There were evem legendary mecha ns sent there too. Was Regiment Commander Ling from one of the legendary mecha ns?


    ¡°I was themanding officer of the only surviving base on Haijiao, Base 013.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s nonchnt tone sounded beside them. They were dumbfounded by the sudden surprise.


    ¡°You¡¯re... Prince Ling!¡± Even the forever calm Yu Huan was bbergasted as he looked at Ling Lan in shock with mouth agape.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why the military used ¡®Prince Ling¡¯ to refer to me but I am indeed the son of Ling Xiao.¡± Ling Lan frowned in annoyance when she heard the nickname the military gave her.


    ¡°But... you¡¯re heavily injured. You shouldn¡¯t be able to operate a mecha anymore.¡± Lin Yang couldn¡¯t believe it. The war hero he felt pity for was right in front of him unscathed, unharm and in great health. Were they fooled by the military?


    ¡°I can operate a mecha but my level has degraded. I can¡¯t perform difficult techniques anymore. You can say I¡¯m half useless,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    When they heard that, some of the regimentmanders quickly remembered that Regiment Commander Ling didn¡¯t move much during the recent battle. Even the regimentmander of the Knight Mecha n was killed by three of his leaders, not him. His current situation was definitely better than what the military had announced to the public but it wasn¡¯t too good either. However, they still felt fortunate that Prince Ling was still able to pilot a mecha. The only downside was that he wouldn¡¯t be able to advance further in the future.


    Everyone was quiet. Some felt pity for Ling Lan but others were happy for her current situation. There were so many thoughts going through their heads that they didn¡¯t know what to say.


    Yu Huan took a deep breath and calmed down. He looked at Ling Lan with aplex expression on his face. He thought that Ling Lan was a talent the military was grooming. He never expected Ling Lan to be such a huge figure. He felt pity for Ling Lan¡¯s situation. If Ling Lan didn¡¯t jump levels at that time, he would definitely be able to be the general of a division, imprinting him and his father as legends in the military.


    Yu Huan knew that Ling Lan¡¯s future was dark but since he came to Base Neb, he should still provide Prince Ling the treatment he deserved.


    Yu Huan coughed and said, ¡°Now that everyone knows Regiment Commander ling¡¯s background, let¡¯s vote. However, before that, allow me to say a few words. Lingtian is definitely powerful enough to be the top mecha n in our base. As for Regiment Commander Ling, I acknowledged hismanding skills. I agree to let him be themander-in-chief of our base.¡±


    Lin Yang raised his hand immediately. ¡°I agree too.¡±


    More hands shot up. ¡°I agree.¡±


    The regimentmanders were already convinced by Lingtian¡¯s ability on the battlefield. Now, after hearing that Ling Lan was Ling Xiao¡¯s son, they were even more convinced.


    Some regimentmanders who were hesitant at first, agreed too after seeing most of the regimentmanders voting for Ling Lan.


    Since Ling Lan was eventually going to be themander-in-chief, why should they make him angry by not voting for him? He might not be at his peak anymore but he still had a powerful father behind him, right? General Ling Xiao was said to be the next First Marshal. He would be the most powerful person in the future. They didn¡¯t want to offend such a person.


    ¡°Boss, they¡¯re sending gmessages,¡± Little Four shouted excitedly. He almost got bored from staring at the signals. Finally, before the meeting ended, something in his line of work happened.


    ¡°It¡¯s inside the base,¡± Ling Lan said firmly.


    ¡°Yes. How do you know?¡± Little Four asked curiously.


    ¡°The battle just ended so the mainframe would be keeping a close watch of the signals outside of the base. No one would dare to send any messages out now.¡± The mainframe would be able to track any messages sent out of the base now so no one would be stupid enough to do it when it was high alert.


    ¡°Do you know how many people sent messages?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    ¡°Seven. They sent messages to people in their mecha n.¡± Little Four replied, ¡°Are they all problematic?¡±


    ¡°Maybe. We need to keep an eye out for any suspicious action.¡± Ling Lan smiled. ¡°Those who did not send a message can¡¯t be cleared of their suspicion too. However, those who sent are definitely more suspicious.¡±

 Chapter 1139 - Fish Bait!

    <h4>Chapter 1139 Fish Bait!</h4>


    ¡°I will definitely dig them up.¡± Little Four rubbed his fists like a swindling old man as he spoke. It was finally time for him to show his abilities.


    ¡°Just watch them for now. Don¡¯t make any sudden moves.¡± Ling Lan suddenly put an end to his dream.


    ¡°Ah? Why?¡± Little Four pursed his lips as he stared at Ling Lan for an answer.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng is already guarding the virtual world. He is probably there waiting for the big fish to take the bait.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes narrowed. The reason why she was being so truthful about her identity was because she was putting out a bait. She wanted to see who would not be able to resist and take the bait.


    Of course, it was alright if there weren¡¯t any fish biting. After all, her real goal was to probe the water to alert therger fishes hidden in the deep seas.


    She had already be themander-in-chief of the mecha ns of the base, so she needed to get rid of those people with multiple identities who had plots and ploys for their own gains. Ling Lan never liked danger to be hidden so close to her.


    Hearing this, Little Four ran to the corner with his stubby legs and squatted down with a dissatisfied expression. This Li Lanfeng actually took my only chance of showing off? Hmph, I don¡¯t like him even more now.¡¯


    However, even if Little Four really wanted to show off, he still wouldn¡¯t go against Boss¡¯s wishes. If Boss wanted to set out a bait for therger fishes to bite, he would just watch and silently wait for Boss¡¯s next orders. However, if Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t perform up to expectations, then he shouldn¡¯t me him for making any moves. When the timees, he would use all of his power to make Li Lanfeng look bad in order to lower his position in Boss¡¯s heart.


    It was very clear that Little Four held grudges for a long time. Let us pray for Li Lanfeng...


    At that moment, Li Lanfeng was floating in the sky of the virtual world, looking down on Base Neb.


    The seven locations he was keeping a watchful eye under had three locations where someone had logged in. Li Lanfeng smirked and in the next second, his ck cape wrapped arounds his entire body like a ck cocoon. Afterwards, the ck cocoon split into three silhouettes and disappeared. It was as though he had never appeared in the virtual world.


    Out of the three people who logged in, two of them immediately went to the mecha arena like they always did to participate in mecha battles. The third person went to buy something from the virtual shop before returning to the za square in the base. In the za square, he was sitting down on a bench to take a short break.


    There were many soldiers moving about within the za. That person sat there for a while before he seemed to have remembered something. He quickly stood up and went towards the mecha parts shop on the opposite side of the za.


    ¡°You¡¯re here, Major Wang.¡± The logistician who was responsible for the shop saw Major Wang walking in and greeted him warmly.


    ¡°Yes, I want to ask whether Master Ming has finished the mecha arm I asked him to make,¡± asked Major Wang.


    ¡°Master Ming just finished it yesterday. He originally wanted to notify you about thepletion of the arm yesterday but he didn¡¯t expect that Caesar would attack us so suddenly. Everyone was preparing for battle so we just ced your arm to the side,¡± exined the logistician.


    ¡°No matter. This battle was quite an eye-opening experience. This battle allowed me to see the inadequacies of our base.¡± Major Wang had a pensive look on his face. ¡°If Lingtian wasn¡¯t here, we probably would not have escaped with our lives.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re lucky to have Lingtian,¡± the logistician said with great pride on his face.


    After Major Wang spoke with the logisticians for a short while, he calmly walked towards the warehouse in the back to find Master Ming for his mecha arm.


    The warehouse was busy. The mechanics all had their heads down and were focusing greatly on their work. Most mechanics in the industry were perfectionists in their own right. They wished for every modification they were doing to be as perfect as they could be.


    Among them, there was a youthful yet white-haired old man who would easily draw a person¡¯s attention as soon as oneid his or her eyes on them. Anyone who entered the warehouse might neglect any other person in the warehouse, but they wouldn¡¯t be able to neglect this old man¡¯s existence. This old man¡¯s intense focus and impossible to see instation techniques force those around him to marvel at his abilities.


    After seeing the old man, the corner of Major Wang¡¯s lips lifted slightly. He walked with great stride and greeted him with a smile, ¡°Master Ming.¡±


    After hearing the greeting, Master Ming stopped what he was doing and raised his head. He realized that it was a familiar friend and a smile quickly appeared on his face. ¡°Major Wang, you¡¯re here.¡± He stood up, took the towel from his assistant and wiped his forehead. Then, he spoke to the few logisticians who were studying his repairing techniques, ¡°You¡¯ve all saw those movements clearly, right? Now you guys give it a try.¡±


    ¡°Master, can we really do this?¡± It was clear that these logisticians weren¡¯t too confident.


    ¡°Hmph, a bunch of sissies. This is the virtual world, even if you break it, you can still restart. What are you afraid of?¡± Master Ming instantly had a disappointed expression on his face as if he was underwhelmed at how capable the younger generations were. Back then, he didn¡¯t have such good working environments like theirs. In order to stay alive when he was apprenticing in a mecha shop, he would have to endure his master¡¯s ruthless insults and beatings for breaking even the smallest mechanical part. His food rations would also be reduced and there would always be days when he would pass the night starving.


    ¡°Yes, yes, yes.¡± The logisticians all knew that Master Ming didn¡¯t have a good temper so they immediately nodded in agreement when they heard him starting to nag.


    After giving his orders to these apprentices of his, Master Ming said to Major Wang, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go see the virtual data of your mecha arm.


    The two of them walked out of the warehouse and went into a product disy room. Everything in the room was organized neatly. Master Ming led Major Wang towards an area where mecha arms were on disy. He pointed towards one of the thick and shiny metal arms and said, ¡°There, that one is yours.¡±


    Major Wang¡¯s eyes brightened as he eximed in awe, ¡°You truly live up to your reputation, Master Ming. This is exactly what I wanted.¡±


    ¡°As long as you like it,¡± perhaps he had heard all the praises in the world so Master Ming only replied indifferently to his high praise.


    ¡°It¡¯s really too perfect. I believe that in Base Neb, there isn¡¯t a single mecha engineer who can bepared to you, Master Ming.¡± Major Wang seemed to be very impressed with Master Ming¡¯s techniques and was quite respectful in his words.


    These words seemed to have triggered a memory in Master Ming¡¯s mind. He shook his head and said, ¡°Don¡¯t say that. I saw the live broadcast of the battle. Those mechas from Lingtian are probably all modified mechas. Their modifications are all perfect for the mecha too. They definitely have a very skilled mecha modification master in their ranks...¡±


    ¡°Of course, Lingtian is...¡± Major Wang quickly stopped what he was about to say.


    ¡°Is what?¡± Master Ming seemed to be drawn in to Major Wang¡¯s idental slip up as he asked curiously.


    Major Wang had aplicated expression on his face. Although it wasn¡¯t a secret that couldn¡¯t be told, he still felt that it wasn¡¯t good to tell others before Regiment Commander Ling publicly announced her identity.


    ¡°Major Wang, Wang Junzhi, Little Wang! Are you nning on hiding something from me even though we¡¯re already so close?¡± Master Ming had an annoyed expression on his face. He always hated it when people stopped mid-way in their sentence.


    ¡°Alright, Master Ming. I only just got word of this as well and will only be telling you. Please don¡¯t go around telling other people about it.¡± Major Wang didn¡¯t want to anger Master Ming so he could only tell him to not talk to other people about it.


    ¡°Am I someone who gossips?¡± Master Ming¡¯s gaze narrowed. He felt that Major Wang¡¯s words were humiliating him.


    He didn¡¯t like to gossip but sometimes after a few drinks, he would be very talkative. No one knew whether he was saying anything he wasn¡¯t supposed to... Major Wang rolled his eyes in his mind, but he still put up an expression of total seriousness. ¡°Okay, okay, okay, I¡¯ll trust you. Lingtian¡¯s Regiment Commander Ling is the son of Ling Xiao who everyone talks about. Do you think his mecha n wouldn¡¯t have mecha engineer masters? Even if General Ling Xiao was fair and just... he still would have to think about his own son. That¡¯s normal human behavior.¡±


    ¡°Ah, I see. No wonder you didn¡¯t want me to say anything about it. This matter definitely cannot be talked about.¡± Master Ming was very surprised. He was now even more interested in Lingtian¡¯s mecha engineer masters. ¡°If General Ling Xiao made the arrangements, then this master of modification is definitely amazing. If it¡¯s possible, I would really like to sit down and talk to him.¡±


    ¡°There will definitely be chances in the future since Prince Ling is now our base¡¯s mecha ns¡¯mander-in-chief. He wouldn¡¯t be leaving the base any time soon. Alright, I also need to return to the real world to install my mecha arm. Master Ming, thank you for time and effort.¡±


    ¡°Why are you thanking me for? If you use it well and kill a few enemies, I would be very happy.¡± Smiled Master Ming. ¡°The mecha arm has already been sent to the mecha hold. This is the serial number for the pick-up. Go pick it up yourself.¡±


    Major Wang put away the serial number, paid the required credits and bid farewell to Master Ming.


    Li Lanfeng, who was watching all of this from the side, frowned slightly. There was no doubt that there was something wrong with Major Wang. He just didn¡¯t know what type of threat he posed.


    However, it was difficult to ascertain this Master Ming¡¯s identity.


    The shadow Li Lanfeng created followed Major Wang as he left. After the shadow watched as Major Wang disconnected from the virtual world, it gave up on following him further and returned to its host body.


    ¡°Not telling someone in the real world but rather in the virtual world. Could it be like what our regimentmander had predicted, the opposition is hidden within the virtual world...¡± However, who was the informant? Was Master Ming the informant? Or was he just used as bait?


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t leave the virtual world and continued to watch those suspicious individuals.


    At that moment, Ling Lan had bid farewell to Yu Huan. Li Lanfeng, who still had most of his spirit in the virtual world, left themand center and returned to Lingtian¡¯s camping ground.


    In the middle of the night, a ck cloaked individual suddenly appeared within the disy room where Master Ming and Master Wang had talked earlier.


    He walked towards the positions Major Wang and Master Ming had stood. He stood there for a long time and after a while, he seemed to have received something. Then, he showed an expression of satisfaction and was preparing to leave.


    Suddenly, he stopped walking, turned around towards a direction and shouted out softly, ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡±


    Another ck cloaked individual slowly appeared from a position that was previously empty.


    ¡°Not good. I¡¯ve fallen into a trap.¡± The ck cloaked individual who first appeared quickly readied a fighting stance. Suddenly, he dashed to the side but he didn¡¯t expect that his body would bepletely locked up by a formless power, forcing him to be unable to move an inch.


    ¡°I was wondering why Major Wang would say all that to Master Ming,¡± said the second ck cloaked individual with a smile. ¡°I didn¡¯t think that there would actually be a spectral ability user hidden within the base. Now everything can be exined.¡±


    ¡°Spectral ability user? Who are you?¡± The first ck cloaked individual instantly expanded his spectral abilities to struggle out of his opponent¡¯s power.


    ¡°I also want to know where you came from, mister spectral ability user.¡± The second ck cloaked individual was filled with interest. His two spectral ability battles were all in Base Neb. He didn¡¯t know whether it was a coincidence or his terrible fate.


    Although the first ck cloaked spectral ability user hid his face, he still had killing intent seeping out from his body. At that moment, outside the disy room, a whistling sound suddenly came out. The individual who arrived first, suddenly turned stiff. The spectral power from his bodypletely expanded out and rushed fiercely towards the second spectral ability user.


    The second spectral ability user only smiled lightly in response to the iing attack. Suddenly, a dark vortex appeared in front of him which easily sucked in the spectral attack.


    Right at that moment, the first spectral ability user suddenly flew backwards and rushed outside of the disy room.


    The second spectral ability user saw this and pointed at his opponent with his finger. A dark wave appeared from his fingertip and it flew towards the second spectral ability user.


    Bang!


    A transparent spectral shield appeared in its way and instantly blocked the dark wave.


    This shield gave the escaping individual enough time to hide within virtual space andpletely vanish.


    ¡°You want to get away? It won¡¯t be that easy.¡± The second spectral ability user began activating his abilities which could follow the traces of the individual. Unfortunately, he still didn¡¯t find any traces of him in the end.


    ¡°Consider yourself lucky,¡± said the second spectral ability user begrudgingly.


    After a few minutes, a silhouette suddenly appeared beside him.


    ¡°Lanfeng, that¡¯s enough.¡± It was indeed Ling Lan.


    As Ling Lan finished speaking, the ck cloak on the second spectral ability user disappeared which instantly revealed Li Lanfeng¡¯s beautiful and goddess-like face.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t my acting great?¡± Li Lanfeng asked with a smile on his face.


    ¡°Did you get a trace on the enemy?¡± Spectral ability users were quite sensitive to spectral energies so they could easily notice when they were tracked. Thus, in order to find the spectral ability user who had escaped, they must rely on an even stronger one.


    ¡°Of course. In terms of spectral abilities, I¡¯ve never lost before,¡± Li Lanfeng said confidently.


    ¡°He should be here.¡± A map of the virtual world appeared in Li Lanfeng¡¯s hand as he pointed towards a location on the map.


    ¡°So it¡¯s old acquaintances...¡± Ling Lan saw the location and half-smiled.


    ¡°Looks like Piercing Arrow has a lot of secrets.¡± Li Lanfengughed.


    ¡°Let me do the rest. You go back and sleep. You¡¯ve already been on the lookout for an entire day,¡± Ling Lan turned towards Li Lanfeng and said concernedly.


    Li Lanfeng heard the concern in her voice and turned around with a shocked expression. His eyes widened and he jokingly yet caringly said, ¡°What?! You¡¯re worried about me?¡±


    This monster. When did he be so daring? The beauty who Ling Lan teased all the time was now teasing her. Ling Lan¡¯s lips couldn¡¯t help but twitch a little.


    ¡°Yeah... If a beauty like yourself is tired, I would be very worried.¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and gave a half-smile to Li Lanfeng. Right as Li Lanfeng was about to respond to her, Ling Lan continued, ¡°If you¡¯re tired, how would I force you to do some month training regimens.¡±


    ¡°Now seeing you all energized, I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll be satisfied with just three months of training,¡± said Ling Lan as she raised her eyebrows.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s forehead wrinkled slightly. He looked at Ling Lan with a sad puppy look. ¡°Regimentmander, you¡¯re so cruel...¡± The sad look of a bullied otherworldly beauty almost made Ling Lan drool. She really wanted to tease him even more.


    ¡°If I was actually cruel, I would instantly have you do half a year of training,¡± Ling Lan snorted coldly. She definitely couldn¡¯t let her guard around this guy. If not, this guy would continue showing such greatly coveted expressions.


    ¡°Don¡¯t show that kind of expression in front of me ever again. You¡¯re not even giving off the vibes of a man now,¡± Ling Lan said with an annoyed tone.


    After hearing this, Li Lanfeng replied helplessly, ¡°Yes, regimentmander. I will try my best to adhere to your wishes.¡±


    Ling Lan waved her hand to gesture to Li Lanfeng that he could leave.


    Seeing this, Li Lanfeng smiled and disappeared from the virtual world.

 Chapter 1140 - Winner!

    <h4>Chapter 1140 Winner!</h4>


    The report of the battle for the Neb Boundary was quickly sent to the Federation¡¯s military headquarters. Just the first sentence in the report was enough to cause the entire military to erupt.


    ¡°Lingtian wiped out Knight Ace Mecha n?¡± Everyone¡¯s legs were quaking when they read the report.


    ¡°Knight Ace Mecha n? The one that¡¯s ranked 18th in Caesar?¡± They double-checked and triple-checked before they could be certain that there wasn¡¯t any mistake in the report.


    ¡°Where did Lingtiane from? I don¡¯t remember our Federation having a mecha n in the top ranks with such a title.¡± Lingtian¡¯s title was unfamiliar to everyone of the higher-ups in the military.


    ¡°If I remember correctly, Lingtian Mecha n was 250 Ace Mecha n that was under General Ling Xiao¡¯s 23rd Division.¡± In the military, there were definitely those who had such information on hand and would exin the situation to their colleagues.


    ¡°So it¡¯s Prince Ling¡¯s mecha n!¡± After the name ¡®250 Ace Mecha n¡¯ was mentioned, everyone immediately knew who the mecha n belonged to.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t the military hospital¡¯s god-like military doctor deem him to be unable to pilot mechas anymore? How could they have wiped out Knight Ace Mecha n?¡± an officer asked in shock.


    ¡°Prince Ling didn¡¯t make any moves. It was his subordinates,¡± said an officer who had the luck of reading the battle report.


    ¡°Holy sh*t, just his subordinate? What kind of monsters are they?¡± said another officer who was listening in on their conversation. ¡°To annihte Knight Ace Mecha n, they must have the strength of a legendary level mecha n.¡±


    ¡°From what I know, Lingtian has 600 or so peak-level ace operators, 800 elite aces and more than 1000 thousand standard ace operators.¡± An officer read out the data of mecha operators who Lingtian had registered.


    ¡°Although their numbers aren¡¯t bad, it¡¯s still only considered between first-rank three stars and first-rank four stars. On paper, they aren¡¯t strong enough to wipe out Knight Ace Mecha n which has already reached first-rank five stars.¡± It was clear that someone had tweaked Lingtian¡¯s data.


    ¡°What if... half of the 600 or so peak-level ace operators hadn¡¯t updated their piloting skills in the past 10 years? Moreover, the most recent update was 5 years ago by a peak-level ace operator¡± suggested the officer who read the data.


    ¡°Holy sh*t!¡±


    ¡°Holy sh*t!¡±


    ¡°Holy sh*t!¡±


    This insane suggestion caused the discussing officers to all cuss.


    Peak-level ace operators more often than not would advance into imperial operators. Five years was usually enough time for a peak-level ace operator to get their foot out of the door into bing an imperial operator and there would usually be quantitative changes in a decade. Lingtian¡¯s 300 or so peak-level ace operators hadn¡¯t updated their levels in the past decade so it was quite possible that out of these mecha operators, some had advanced into the imperial level.


    Of course, the other half of mecha operators could also have advanced into imperial operators, but the probability of that happening was lower than those who haven¡¯t updated in a decade. However, no matter what, they couldn¡¯t im that Lingtian was a first-rank three star or first-rank four star mecha n based on outdated data.


    ¡°Looks like our General Ling Xiao put in a lot of effort to create such a strong mecha n to protect Prince Ling,¡± an officer said mockingly.


    ¡°Prince Ling gave up his future for the Federation. He originally was going to be able to live freely and safely under the watchful eyes of General Ling Xiao. However, we aren¡¯t sure which idiot from the military made Prince Ling¡¯s 250 Ace Mecha n into its own entity. They even sent them to stand guard as the main mecha n in Base Neb. I don¡¯t even understand why the Federation would do this to those loyal to them.¡± An officer heard the mocking tone of hisrade and didn¡¯t feel good about it. He instantly began ranting, ¡°The military is so unreliable. If his father didn¡¯t have the insight to build such a powerful mecha n for his son, then it might be the older generations mourning for the younger generation. That would be a joke.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. However, I heard that 250 Ace Mecha n originally had 250 veteran peak-level ace mecha operators. Among them were people like Ursa Major and Sagittarius... They were all people who were considered to have a high chance to advance into the imperial level. Lingtian having such capabilities may not be General Ling Xiao¡¯s will,¡± an officer spoke out his own opinion on the matter.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. General Ling Xiao has always strictly followed the rules. General Ling Xiao didn¡¯t even dispute when the military idiotically sent the severely injured Prince Ling to Base Neb. He fully epted it. After everything General Ling Xiao had done for the Federation... hah.¡± Sighed an officer. If there were more people like General Ling Xiao in the military, the Federation might be even stronger than it was now.


    ¡°Yeah. If someone suspected General Ling Xiao, that would be quite foolish.¡± Everyone nodded in agreement.


    ¡°I just mentioned the possibility... I didn¡¯t mean anything by it.¡± Seeing that he had angered everyone, the officer who had mocked Ling Xiao instantly had a terrible expression on his face and exined the meaning behind his words.


    ¡°It better mean nothing,¡± coldly replied the ranting officer. Just from his tone, everyone knew that he didn¡¯t want to make peace with the mocking officer. Someone who dared to be disrespectful to General Ling Xiao definitely had something wrong with them and wasn¡¯t worth it to befriend.


    The atmosphere instantly became awkward. A colleague who was in good rtions with the mocking officer immediately butted in and said, ¡°Alright alright. Everyone was just blindly chatting. Don¡¯t take it seriously. Let¡¯s go back to work.¡±


    No one had the desire to continue the discussion anymore because of the altercation, and they began to work on their tasks again.


    However, they were still curious about how Lingtian had annihted Knight Ace Mecha n. Everyone was waiting for the military to give out the final report of the battle and publicly announce the rewards and merits.


    In a dimly lit living room, two people were sitting face to face in a dark corner of the room. A chess board was between them as they silently yed against each other.


    ¡°Chief...¡± The subordinate had waited for a long time. After seeing his chief not making his next move on the chess board, he raised his head and called him softly.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± The chief seemed to have been awoken from his daze. He looked up towards his subordinate and said calmly, ¡°What you told me earlier, tell me about your thoughts about it.¡±


    His subordinate¡¯s finger shook as he dropped the chess piece onto the board.


    He calmed his nerves before he carefully replied, ¡°Chief, Ling Xiao¡¯s name is like the sun in the sky. In the military, if someone were to speak about him disrespectfully, they would be publicly attacked and or shamed by groups of people.¡± After saying all this, he carefully nced at his chief and said, ¡°We have to be on guard.¡±


    ¡°How? His son achieved miracles one after the other. He can get all that he wants while doing absolutely nothing,¡± the chief said calmly.


    ¡°But we still can¡¯t let them do as they please. Otherwise, it would affect your n,¡± said the subordinate anxiously.


    ¡°We¡¯re not in a hurry. Water can make a boat float but can also sink it. It isn¡¯t necessarily good for his name to be held in such high regard,¡± The eyes of the chief seemed to be full of wisdom. ¡°I want to see just how Ling Xiao will react.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re only going to watch?¡± asked the subordinate.


    ¡°Ling Xiao can do as he pleases but he has a fatal weakness.¡± The chief raised his head and smiled coldly. The ck chess piece decisively fell onto the board. ¡°God-ss operator! The Federation¡¯s rules states that unless it was a nation-wide problem, god-ss operators are restricted from taking the position of marshal.¡±


    ¡°Prince Ling... He thinks he could use his son as a proxy marshal while in reality he would be the one in power?¡± The chief smirked. ¡°He won¡¯t be able to get past the three marshals.¡±


    ¡°I understand, chief.¡± After hearing his chief¡¯s words, he instantly understood why his chief was so calm.


    ¡°Although we don¡¯t need to do anything, we can still cause some trouble for Ling Xiao. We can get rid of some disgusting parasites along the way as well. Doing something that kills two birds with stone isn¡¯t bad, right?¡± The chief stood up.


    ¡°Chief, you¡¯re saying...¡± the subordinate understood.


    ¡°I think Ling Xiao will be very willing to take care of this troublesome issue.¡± The chief waved his hand and said, ¡°Go make the arrangements.¡±


    ¡°Yes, chief.¡± The subordinate replied excitedly. The information they had identally discovered 10 years ago was finally going to be used.


    Finally, the dimly lit living room now only had the chief in it. He stood in the dark corner and looked towards a certain direction as if he was remembering something.


    After a long while, he raised his right hand and clenched with great force. ¡°Only the person who couldst until the end can be considered the victor... Ling Xiao, you will obey me in the end.¡±


    A burning desire showed in his eyes.


    That person, who seemed to be mild-mannered and actually aloof, would definitely bow down to him. Just thinking about Ling Xiao bowing down to him made the chief feel butterflies in his stomach.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t lose 20 years ago and I won¡¯t lose now either! Ling Xiao, the final result will not change. You will never win against me.¡±


    In the 23rd Division headquarters, Staff Officer He ran hurriedly into his divisionmander¡¯s office.


    ¡°General!¡± He Xuyang shouted excitedly.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Ling Xiao asked calmly. He didn¡¯t raise his head and was still reading the document in his hands.


    ¡°Young Master Lan made new achievements again,¡± He Xuyang said excitedly.


    ¡°Uh huh.¡± Ling Xiao continued flipping the page and was seemingly unmoved by He Xuyang¡¯s words.


    ¡°Young Master Lan¡¯s Lingtian wiped out Caesar¡¯s Knight Ace Mecha n!¡± The overly excited He Xuyang didn¡¯t care whether his general was listening to him or not. He just quickly poured out what he had read in the report he just received.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s hand froze. He slowly raised his head. ¡°Knight Ace Mecha n?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, Caesar¡¯s 18th rank Knight Ace Mecha n. Our Young Master Lan is as impressive as always.¡± He Xuyang looked as if he was happy his own child had grown up. His expression made Ling Xiao¡¯s lips twitch uncontrobly.


    ¡®That¡¯s my daughter! What¡¯s the meaning of your expression!¡¯


    ¡°He didn¡¯t fight?¡± Ling Xiao put down the documents and asked the question he was most concerned about.


    ¡°Based on the report, Young Master Lan didn¡¯t fight,¡± replied He Xuyang.


    ¡°It seems those people she took under her have matured a lot.¡± Smiled Ling Xiao.


    ¡°Of course. Our Young Master Lan is definitely a great coach for soldiers.¡± He Xuyang showed the same expression as before and it continued to make Ling Xiao feel his teeth itch.


    ¡°However, after this, another battle will erupt in our military.¡± After He Xuyang finished being excited, he thought of this issue.


    ¡°Although Ling Lan had left the 23rd Division to create her own army which has nothing to do with me, our father and son rtionship still makes it impossible for me to escape from being connected with him.¡± Ling Xiao knew of this oue. Everything he did was to protect his precious daughter. At least, under his supervision, she would have been able to fly freely.


    ¡°However, it¡¯s going to be an uphill battle. General, your current situation is somewhat dangerous, right now.¡± He Xuyang knew better than anyone of Ling Xiao¡¯s current situation.


    The better Ling Lan did, the more General Ling Xiao would be burned by the fires that are on him. It was just that someone like Young Master Lan, an otherworldly monster, would eventually fly to the top in the end where no one will be able to stop him.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like there aren¡¯t any chances...¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes glimmered, ¡°It must be at the right ce and the right time. Now is not the time. We must wait.¡±


    ¡°But waiting until when?¡± He Xuyang frowned. He was afraid that before getting a chance to turn the tides around, General Ling Xiao would be burned to cinders.


    ¡°Should be soon.¡± Someone probably couldn¡¯t hold it any longer.


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s military achievements made it more difficult for him, it also forced those people to lose their patience. Once it passed the amount they could endure, they would definitely make moves. When that happens, Ling Xiao would have his chance.


    Yu Huan actually didn¡¯t quite understand why the battle report would be written in that way. However, Ling Lan was the person responsible for reporting to the higher-ups. If she didn¡¯t mind, then Yu Huan would put his suspicions into the back of his head and sign his name on the final battle report.


    After the mainframe sent out the report along with the video feed to the military, he asked what he was most concerned about, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, why did you not write that you had also entered the battle?¡±


    It turns out, Ling Lan¡¯s report and virtual video feed all had her presence erased from it.


    ¡°Overflowing is a bad thing,¡± replied Ling Lan calmly. ¡°Getting to this position at my age... is enough.¡±


    Yu Huan¡¯s eyes trembled. He didn¡¯t expect that this Prince Ling would be so knowledgeable of the position he was in. Indeed, even with a strong background, Ling Lan was already a god among men for having such a position at his age. He wasn¡¯t any worse than General Ling Xiao back in the day. However, it wouldn¡¯t necessarily be a good thing if he were to rise any higher in the ranks. This was the truth especially because General Ling Xiao was already at a high point of thedder whereby now he couldn¡¯t even climb the up or down thedder.


    ¡°Plus, I¡¯m themander-in-chief of the mecha ns in the base so I should be in the basemanding the battle, not going out there,¡± Ling Lan continued. ¡°I would rather just let it be and not take the merits or the punishments. That way no one could say anything about it.¡±


    ¡°Morally sound.¡± Sighed Yu Huan. After reaching a certain position, one would be able to understand that the seemingly useless morally sound path was actually the safest choice.


    ¡°Maintain stability.¡± Ling Lan said calmly. She could only use this method to make herself less noticeable to decrease the troubles she was giving her father. However, despite her making herself less noticeable, as long as she was still Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander, these troubles wouldn¡¯t decrease by too much.


    ¡°I still want to thank Regiment Commander Ling for allowing the other mecha ns in Base Neb to receive merits,¡± Yu Huan said gratefully. However, he quickly began to worry, ¡°I¡¯m not sure if Caesar would publicize the video feed.¡±


    Falsifying military merits was a huge crime, despite the fact that it was Lingtian splitting theirs on their own ord.


    ¡°They won¡¯t have it. They¡¯ll only talk about it... We can say that it¡¯s their excuse for losing to avoid losing face.¡±


    If Ling Lan dared to do this, she would definitely not let anyone ckmail her. The information that Knight Ace Mecha n and two other mecha ns were wiped out and would not be leaked. Plus on the battlefield, Little Four had jammed the video feed of every camera that had even caught a glimpse of her. The opposition only had videos of Lingtian¡¯s ruthless mecha operators. However, the mecha operators on the base behind them were all real. Additionally, Little Four¡¯s zoomed in video feed made it even more realistic.


    ¡°That¡¯s good to know.¡± Just from the fact that Ling Lan had managed to create a realistic virtual battle video feed, Yu Huan knew that within Lingtian Mecha n, there definitely was at least one imperial level hacker.


    If Ling Lan said that Caesar wouldn¡¯t have it, then he definitely had enough confidence to not let them have it.


    After all, imperial level hackers did indeed have the ability to jam the video feed for a short while.

 Chapter 1141 - Judgment!

    <h4>Chapter 1141 Judgment!</h4>


    After three days, the merits rewarded for the battle were announced.


    All of the meca ns in Base Neb received a third-rank group award, while the mecha ns who had fought in the battle received a second-rank group award based on the battle reports. Some mecha ns had also received a first-rank award. Mecha operators who performed well were also awarded with individual awards for their achievements.


    Lingtian, which had put in the most effort and could even be considered the determining factor of the entire battle, was not mentioned even once during the announcement of the rewards. There was only a small tidbit exining that Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s achievements and rewards hadn¡¯t been arranged and would be publicly announced in the next few days.


    Lingtian Mecha n weren¡¯t weirded out by this. Wasn¡¯t the battle on Haijiao the same as well? After every battle, the military awards and merits always had difficulty appearing on theirps.


    They understood that it was because their regimentmander was always making great surprises. These surprises were sorge that the military couldn¡¯t quickly digest it. Only after the military or rather the entire Federation ran around in circles, would they be able to even get a glimpse of their awards.


    Without mentioning other people, just the foreign affairs officers, who were at the Intergctic United Nations, would be berated with insults and questions every day. They even had a few times when they were in handcuffs. They were so disheveled that they couldn¡¯t even maintain the impression of being foreign affairs officers.


    Thus, all the departments in the military, especially the foreign affairs department of the government didn¡¯t really have a very good impression of Lingtian. When Lingtian was mentioned, they would think of those audacious bastards... it was a love and hate rtionship.


    In this situation like this, how could the military¡¯s higher-ups give out awards so easily? They still had to try their best to nitpick and try to find problems with their perfect result in order to find ways to decrease their military merits. The lower the merits, the better they would feel. Doing this wasn¡¯t any beneficial to them but they still wanted to do this just for the sole reason of looking at a defeated Lingtian. These higher-ups would be extremely exhrated when that time doese... or not.


    However, Lingtian wasn¡¯t scared. Lingtian wasn¡¯t a step-son with no connections or anything as there was still the big boss standing behind them. General Ling Xiao was definitely not going to allow the military to give them any less than they deserved.


    During the time Lingtian was waiting for the final results, Ling Lan wore her uniform and took Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun and Li Shiyu, who didn¡¯t show up much, to Piercing Arrow¡¯s camping ground.


    ¡°Major General Ling, wee to our camp.¡± After receiving the notification, Yu Wei led a portion of his leaders to wee them.


    ¡°Regiment Commander Yu, sorry for the intrusion.¡± Ling Lan nodded calmly towards Yu Wei and followed him into his camping ground.


    Everyone sat in the living room of themand center. After sitting down, Yu Wei asked Ling Lan for the reason why they were here today.


    Ling Lan nced at Li Lanfeng nonchntly.


    Li Lanfeng understood and said, ¡°Regiment Commander Yu, we came here to see someone. We have some things we¡¯d like to ask him.¡±


    Yu Wei¡¯s curiosity peaked. ¡°Who are you looking for?¡±


    ¡°Zhang Han!¡± Smiled Li Lanfeng.


    Zhang Chao looked at Li Lanfeng with a stunned expression on his face and said anxiously, ¡°Leader Li, how do you know my brother¡¯s name? Is this visit because of the leather whip? I¡¯ve already taught him a lesson for disrespecting your subordinates.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not because of that. We just want to ask him if he knows someone,¡± Li Lanfeng exined in a warm tone.


    Hearing this, Zhang Chao was no longer worried and said, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll call him over here.¡±


    Zhang Chao quickly contacted Zhang Han for him toe to themand center as there were very important visitors who wanted to ask him something.


    Not long after, Zhang Han arrived. Once he entered the living room and saw that Ling Lan was sitting in the main seat, his expression changed. His footsteps slowed down and his shoulder started slouching down.


    ¡°You good-for-nothing, get over here.¡± Seeing Zhan Han¡¯s cowardly posture, Zhang Chao became angry and shouted towards him.


    Zhang Han put his head down, slowly walked towards Zhang Chao and said weakly, ¡°Elder Brother!¡±


    ¡°Major General Ling has something to ask you. Answer him well.¡± Zhang Han¡¯s helpless expression made Zhang Chao feel sorry for him, so he held in his anger and prompted him with care.


    ¡°Yes, I understand.¡± Zhang Han nodded and walked in front of Yu Wei and Ling Lan and then saluted. He waited for the hard-hitting questions.


    Seeing Zhang Han standing on attention, Li Lanfeng spoke, ¡°Second Lieutenant Zhang, do you know Major Wang Junzhi?¡±


    Zhang Han had a nk expression on his face. ¡°No, I don¡¯t know him.¡±


    Li Lanfeng turned on the virtual screen on hismunicator and showed Wang Junzhi¡¯s image.


    ¡°Second Lieutenant Zhang, think carefully, have you seen this person before?¡± Li Lanfeng was very patient with his words.


    Zhang Han thought for a while and after a few seconds, he shook his head again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I really don¡¯t remember.¡±


    Seeing this, Zhang Chao quickly added, ¡°Although my little brother is a bit useless, he doesn¡¯t really go out that much other than going out to buy daily necessities. He would stay in the camping ground most of the time so he won¡¯t know many people from the outside. I never heard him speak of this person so he probably doesn¡¯t know him.¡±


    In reality, even Zhang Chao felt that the person in the image was unfamiliar. After all, Base Neb was like arge city and every n had their own location to set up camp. Some were even built away from the center of the base, so a lot of people might not even see each other even after retirement.


    Li Lanfeng seemed to not want to let up and continued to ask, ¡°You also haven¡¯t met him in the virtual world?¡±


    Zhang Chao thought deeply for a moment before shaking his head with determination. ¡°No, I definitely hadn¡¯t seen him before.¡±


    ¡°Alright, thank you, Second Lieutenant Zhang. Now there¡¯s another thing that we hope you can cooperate with us.¡± Li Lanfeng no longer focused on the matter about Wang Junzhi. He just gestured to Li Shiyu for him toe over.


    Li Shiyu walked in front of Zhang Han and said politely, ¡°Second Lieutenant Zhang, please cooperate with my examination of you.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Zhang Han performed a guarded stance.


    ¡°I have to make sure you were in a conscious state when you answered those questions just now,¡± Li Shiyu took out an evaluation booklet and said helplessly.


    Li Shiyu was conducting this examination because there were countless types of medicinal agents in the market. Some medicinal agents could even sessfully control a person¡¯s thoughts and force them to answer only about what they wanted to fool the investigators. Thus, all documented questionings needed the evaluation of military doctors. This was to confirm that all of the answers made by the person in question were answered in a conscious state.


    Hearing this, Zhang Han instantly loosened his guarded stance and didn¡¯t refuse Li Shiyu¡¯s examination of him.


    After the evaluation, Li Shiyu nodded towards Li Lanfeng and then returned beside Ling Lan.


    Li Lanfeng stood up and smiled towards Yu Wei. ¡°Sorry, Regiment Commander Yu. We will need to take Zhang Han with us.¡±


    Yu Wei was stunned. Zhang Han was even more stunned as he shouted, ¡°Why?¡±


    Zhang Chao was also stunned and said, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled but didn¡¯t speak. Li Shiyu, who was standing beside Ling Lan, spoke up, ¡°Although Second Lieutenant Zhang doesn¡¯t have any mind-numbing medicinal agents in his system, he still has something else controlling him.¡±


    After hearing this, Zhang Han¡¯s expression¡¯s darkened instantly, ¡°You¡¯re lying.


    ¡°ording to data I have examined, after around 10 days, you would have to use that thing again. Otherwise, you would suffer a fate worse than death.¡± Faced with Zhang Han¡¯s anger, Li Shiyu calmly spoke out about what he had determined.

 Chapter 1142 - Interrogation

    <h4>Chapter 1142 Interrogation</h4>


    After hearing those words, Zhang Han¡¯s face turned pale as a sheet... Seeing Zhang Han¡¯s pale face, Zhang Chao knew something was wrong and immediately shouted, ¡°Zhang Han, what are you hiding?¡±


    Faced with Zhang Chao¡¯s intense look, Zhang Han only bit his lip as his face scrunched up in pain.


    ¡°You¡¯re not a very good older brother...¡± Li Lanfeng shook his head. ¡°You don¡¯t really know your little brother. Your little brother has a lot of secrets. Right? Second Lieutenant Zhang, or rather Mr. Spectral User Zhang?¡±


    ¡°Spectral user? Spectral ability user!¡± Zhang Chao could hear the memories of his precious little brother shattering apart like ss. The useless little brother in his memories was a spectral ability user?


    ¡°Little Han, is this true? Why didn¡¯t you tell us?¡± Zhang Chao felt as if a sharp knife had been stabbed into his heart as he screamed out loud. His little brother actually kept such a big secret from him and everyone in their family.


    Hearing his elder brother¡¯s questions, Zhang Han justughed coldly in response. ¡°Didn¡¯t you and every single one of the family always think of me as useless? In their eyes, they only saw you as a good son they are proud of.¡±


    ¡°How can you say that about mom and dad?! They love you!¡± Zhang Chao couldn¡¯t believe what words were entering his ears.


    ¡°Heh, they¡¯ll only give me some of their care and affection when they suddenly remember it once in a while.¡± Zhang Han¡¯s face turned red in anger. He screamed angrily, ¡°I don¡¯t f*cking need such cheap love.¡±


    A hint of wild vengeance showed on Zhang Han¡¯s angry face. The look Zhang Han was giving him caused Zhang Chao to back up a few steps and fall into a chair behind him. He didn¡¯t know how to deal with this version of his little brother, it was as if he had turned into a total stranger.


    Right at that moment, Zhang Han suddenly turned around and rushed towards the door of the living room.


    Boom! A silhouette suddenly flew backwards from the door andnded onto the ground.


    Zhang Han held his chest in pain and looked ruthlessly at the soldier standing at the door who sent him flying back. It was Zhao Jun!


    ¡°Second Lieutenant Zhang, you should learn to be a little smarter. Don¡¯t do anything useless.¡± Li Lanfeng walked beside him and knelt down. ¡°Although your strength isn¡¯t bad like your elder brother, for you to still think of escaping with domain realm masters around you... You¡¯re really daydreaming here.¡±


    ¡°What can you do even if you capture me? I have already sent out all the avable information about Lingtian. You guys are toote.¡± Zhang Han knew he couldn¡¯t get away so he decided to let it all out.


    Zhang Han¡¯s words suddenly awakened Zhang Chao from his trance. He immediately stood up and rushed towards Zhang Han. He held him up by his cor and shouted angrily, ¡°You bastard! What nonsense did you do?¡±


    Zhang Han nced at Zhang Chao coldly and then slowly forced Zhang Chao¡¯s hand away from him. ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s disgusting that you¡¯re acting all concerned about me now?¡±


    Zhang Chao¡¯s eyes narrowed as he forced out his words through his gritted teeth. ¡°What the f*ck did you just say?¡±


    ¡°Cleaning up after me. Didn¡¯t you always hate it? Didn¡¯t you want me topletely disappear from your sight? You think you hid your hate, your disgust and your contempt well from me? Sometimes, you don¡¯t even try to hide it...¡± Zhang Han smiled but it was deathly cold. ¡°Them as well. They always hoped that such a useless son didn¡¯t exist. That way I won¡¯t embarrass them in front of others. Even though they hated me so much, they still had to pretend to show concern for their son. I find it hrious every time I see all your fake smiles and concern¡±


    ¡°Scram!¡± screamed Zhang Han. ¡°What I do is my own choice! It has nothing to do with you.¡±


    ¡°Zhang Han!¡± Zhang Chao shouted angrily while holding back his tears. The wounds of his heart were showing in his eyes. Although he indeed hated Zhang Han¡¯s uselessness, he was still his little brother and his mom and dad¡¯s son in the end. How could they not care for him? However, their love for him, in his eyes, became all fake. These series of events took a huge toll on Zhang Chao¡¯s heart.


    Zhang Han turned towards Li Lanfeng and coldly said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you peoplee here to take me away? What are you waiting for?¡±.


    Li Lanfeng smirked. ¡°Lingtian is a humane mecha n. Isn¡¯t it nice for you brothers to resolve your resentment first?¡±


    Zhang Hanughed coldly, ¡°I don¡¯t have anything to say to this stranger.¡± After he said his piece, he closed his eyes to show that he didn¡¯t want to see anyone or speak to anyone.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Zhang Chao apologetically and then gestured at Zhao Jun to take Zhang Han back to Lingtian¡¯s camping ground.


    Zhang Chao stood on the side in a daze. When he saw Zhao Jun dragging Zhang Han up from the ground, he quickly dashed to him, held onto Zhang Han¡¯s arm with his trembling and said with a desperate expression on his face, ¡°I just want to ask one question, did you... did you betray the Federation?¡±


    He could only think of this reason. Otherwise, Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander wouldn¡¯t take two leaders and a military doctor ande to Piercing Arrow personally to capture such a small member of their n.


    Zhang Han slowly opened his eyes and scoffed, ¡°Don¡¯t you already know?¡±


    This answer immediately froze Zhang Chao¡¯s heart. There was no hope now... he was in despair


    At that moment, Ling Lan stood up and spoke to Yu Wei, who waspletely stunned by what was happening in front of him, ¡°Sorry for the trouble, Regiment Commander Yu.¡±


    Before Yu Wei could react, she vanishedpletely without a trace.


    Zhao Jun, Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu and Zhang Han also disappeared at the same time.


    Not long after, they returned to Lingtian¡¯smand center in their camping ground and entered a small conference room.


    After noticing some movements in the small conference room, Luo Chao walked out of her office. After seeing it were Ling Lan and the others, her face lit up and she smiled. ¡°Regiment Commander, you¡¯re back.¡±


    ¡°Have Qi Long and the otherse back yet?¡± Ling Lan asked indifferently.


    While they went to Piercing Arrow, Qi Long, Luo Lang, Xie Yi and Han Jijyun took her orders and went to the mecha n, where Wang Junzhi was stationed, to arrest him.


    ¡°Not yet.¡± Right as Luo Chao answered, they heard movement from outside the conference room.


    Xie Yi was dragging someone into the conference room with Qi Long, Luo Lang and Han Jijyun following behind him.


    The person that was dragged in was indeed Wang Junzhi who received information about Lingtian and sent it out from the virtual world.


    Wang Junzhi trembled slightly when he saw Zhao Jun holding Zhang Han. However, he quickly calmed down. Afterwards, he saw Ling Lan who was sitting on the main seat of the room. He instantly shouted, ¡°Major General Ling, I¡¯m innocent. I¡¯m innocent.¡±


    Ling Lan nced at Luo Chao. Luo Chao understood what her look meant so she quickly walked out of the small conference room and closed the door behind her.


    ¡°Sit!¡± Ling Lan gestured to Zhao Jun and Xie Yi to let go of the two people and pointed towards two chairs in the conference room.


    The sudden politeness made Wang Junzhi and Zhang Han look at each with fear but the two of them still calmed their nerves and carefully chose a chair to sit on.


    Qi Long, Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun and the others all randomly chose a chair to sit on after the two of them had sat down.


    However, Wang Junzhi and Zhang Han discovered that they had chosen positions that surrounded the two of them. If they were to make any sudden movements, they would be put down the instant they moved.


    After everyone sat down, they all activated theirmunicator¡¯s virtual screens to document the interrogation.


    Wang Junzhi and Zhang Han¡¯s eyes meet each other again. They were both thinking and calcting how they would get out of this situation.

 Chapter 1143 - An Excuse!

    <h4>Chapter 1143 An Excuse!</h4>


    ¡°Actually, we can just use a sedative to interrogate the two of you. However, doing so would also cause you two unrecoverable injuries,¡± said Ling Lan nonchntly with her legs crossed. ¡°So please, do spare me my time and speak for yourselves.¡±


    ¡°I will only give you one opportunity to exin as clearly as possible to me. It would be up to yourselves to see whether you can survive after this all ends.¡± After saying her piece, Ling Lan not even spared them another nce as she started to read the documents Luo Chao had prepared near her seat earlier.


    She didn¡¯t like doing such tedious work. Just looking at the numerous different documents already made her head spin. Unfortunately, in her position, she couldn¡¯t avoid it.


    Zhang Han thought for a moment before he raised his head up high and carefully said, ¡°Actually, we didn¡¯t want to do anything. We were just interested in Lingtian that¡¯s all.¡±


    It was as if his words went into deaf¡¯s ear as Ling Lan just continued looking intently at the documents in her hands. ¡°Those words that could fool a child aren¡¯t necessary here.¡±


    <b>Teces</b>


    ¡°Haha!¡± A chuckle from the side of the room entered their ears. What Luo Lang perceived as funny was not so funny to others.


    ¡°Luo Lang, ultimate level day training for one day!¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t even move her head as she gave out his punishment.


    ¡°Ul-...¡± Luo Lang looked at his Boss with a terrified look. That was his Boss¡¯s level. He would definitely die on the training ground if he went through with that.


    Xie Yi decisively put his hand over Luo Lang¡¯s mouth to muffle his gasp of terror.


    Hearing the slight gasp, Ling Lan sent a re at him from the corner of her eyes. She could see Xie Yi had sweat running down his forehead while he looked at her with a fawning expression.


    Ling Lan¡¯s finger started lightly tapping the tabletop which caused the entire conference room to turnpletely silent. The sweat on Xie Yi¡¯s forehead ran down even faster, even Luo Lang had woken up from his daze and had his head down in terror. He didn¡¯t dare to make any more noises. He was afraid if he made a scene again, his punishment would multiply.


    One day¡¯s worth of the ultimate level was already going to bring to the brink of death. If it was to multiply, he would definitely die.


    Everyone in the room was worried about Luo Lang. Ever since they returned from the battle with Caesar, Boss had be even more ruthless with their training. The standard day training had leveled up to an enhanced edition, and it was already making their days a living hell. The ultimate level... even Qi Long, who was considered to be someone with a monstrous physical constitution, didn¡¯t have the confidence that he would be able to handle it. Two days... They didn¡¯t even dare to imagine how terrible the final oue would be.


    The chilling atmosphere in the conference room also terrified Zhang Han and Wang Junzhi. Could they actually sessfully leave Lingtian alive?


    Ling Lan¡¯s finger slowly tapped the tabletop for a dozen or so times. Right when everyone¡¯s hearts were about to jump out of their bodies, Ling Lan took back her re and focused on Zhang Han and Wang Junzhi. She said calmly, ¡°Don¡¯t do anything stupid. I¡¯m not a very patient person, you see. Next time you try to bullsh*t me, I won¡¯t be wasting my breath and would just use a sedative.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s tone of voice was very indifferent and her expression showed that she didn¡¯t care at all. However, this seemingly uncaring expression caused Zhang Han and Wang Junzhi¡¯s heart to drop to the end of their stomach.


    They weren¡¯t idiots. They could clearly sense the coldness and mercilessness of Ling Lan¡¯s words. Once Ling Lan lost her patience, what waited for them was probably the most brutal way of interrogation.


    Even if they haven¡¯t actually seen the oue of such methods of interrogation, they had read it about in military documents. This method had a very high sess rate. However, the damage it would cause to the interrogated individual was terrifying. Most would have mental regression and they eventually be mentally retarded or have dementia, etc. There were even some who had drowned in their wandering thoughts, never to be woken up ever again.


    All in all, after a few sessions of interrogation, other than a few lucky survivors, the rest all had their minds broken apart.


    Zhang Han¡¯s body began to tremble in fear. He didn¡¯t want to be a useless idiot who didn¡¯t even know himself.


    Even Wang Junzhi, who had experienced quite a bit in his life, had a deathly pale expression on his face.


    Zhang Han suddenly held his body, raised his head and was about to say something, but Wang Junzhi spoke before him, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, I¡¯ll talk.¡±


    ¡°My regimentmander and I grew up together so he would always tell me about the interesting happenings of the base. When Commander Yu gathered all the regimentmanders at themand center, it knew it was definitely to announce Regiment Commander Ling as themander-in-chief of the base.¡± Wang Junzhi licked his chapped lips and smiled bitterly. ¡°I myself, am very good at all aspects except two. One would be that I like gossip... It was because of this that I identally became friends with Master Ming.¡±


    After saying all that, Wang Junzhi had an odd expression on his face. ¡°Master Ming is usually a very tight lipped individual but after a few drinks, he would speak nonstop. When that happens, gossip, stories and rumours about everything would spill out from his mouth.¡±


    ¡°Lingtian¡¯s actions of wiping out Knight Ace Mecha n and the two other mecha ns that came after it and then turning the tides of the main battlefield which forced Caesar to escape in panic...¡± Wang Junzhi raised his head and nced at Ling Lan. His eyes filled with admiration. ¡°I was watching everything and it made my blood boil. I admire Regiment Commander Ling and Lingtian. Knowing Regiment Commander Ling had participated in the battle, I definitely wanted to get some information about Lingtian from my regimentmander so I can calm my obsession for Lingtian.¡±


    ¡°With the rtionship I had with my regimentmander, he of course agreed to my wishes. That was why when he knew Regiment Commander Ling was Prince Ling, he told me right away.¡± After saying this, Wang Junzhi had an embarrassed look on his face, ¡°Now the second weakness I have is that I like to show off. That was why I couldn¡¯t help but go into the virtual world and find Master Ming to show off a bit.¡±


    After saying all this, Wang Junzhi had an honest expression on his face, ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, I don¡¯t harbor any ill intentions and I am not familiar with this Second Lieutenant Zhang. Thus, taking me here is definitely a mistake.¡±


    After hearing all that he had to say, Ling Lan raised her head and nced at Wang Junzhi coldly. ¡°Are you done?¡±


    Wang Junzhi nodded. ¡°Regiment Commander Ling, I know I went against military rules so I will ept any punishment. However, I will never do anything detrimental to Lingtian or to you. I just like to gossip.¡±


    Ling Lan turned towards Zhang Han and asked nonchntly, ¡°Then, what about you?¡±


    Zhang Han seemed to feel a terrifying cold dagger slowly sliding across his abdominal muscles. He couldn¡¯t help but tremble from the freezing cold touch.


    ¡°I went to Master Ming also because Master Ming had a lot of information that I don¡¯t know,¡± Zhang Han raised his head and said with a pale expression on his face.


    He wanted to get some information from Ling Lan¡¯s expression, but Ling Lan had already returned to looking at the documents in her hands. He couldn¡¯t find anything and could only feel a vast and limitless coldnessing at him from all directions. This coldness was slowly seeping into the crevices of his body, making him feel afraid and despair.


    Just one mistake was enough to make him unable to make amends?


    No, he still had a chance.


    Zhang Han said calmly, ¡°I was always considered to be useless. From when I was young, I had always wanted to make those people who called me useless to eat their words. I wanted to achieve my goals and be better, much better than my older brother... It was originally just a dream that I had. However, one day, I suddenly realized that I wasn¡¯t useless. I had the power of the god of the virtual world, spectral abilities.¡±


    After saying all this, the darkened expression on Zhang Han¡¯s face instantly brightened. ¡°At that moment, I knew my dream wasn¡¯t just a dream anymore and that I was going to seed one day.¡±

 Chapter 1144 - Do You Understand Now?

    <h4>Chapter 1144 Do You Understand Now?</h4>


    However, almost immediately, Zhang Han¡¯s expression darkened once again, ¡°However, I also discovered that other than being able to fly freely in the virtual world, I still wasn¡¯t as good as my older brother in the real world and I was still the same trash in their eyes...¡±


    Zhang Han tightly clenched his fists as he remembered his past. ¡°I just can¡¯t ept that, especially after realizing I am a spectral ability user. Then, I began to wonder how I can get stronger than my brother? That was when I began to gather intelligence and information from the virtual world to sell. I used the money I made to buy gic agents to improve my physical constitution...¡± After saying all this, he sneered lightly. ¡°All of the money from my family was used to aid in my brother¡¯s development. Why would they think of using it on trash like me? I can only depend on myself. Just like that, I improved bit by bit. However, the more I improved, the more medicinal agents I required which in turn caused me to need more money. Afterwards I crazily gathered information to sell to those who needed it. It is the same now as well. I sold information within the base that isn¡¯t important and information that won¡¯t bring harm to the base.¡±


    ¡°And Master Ming was my main source of information. That¡¯s because Master Ming modified mechas for the best mecha operators in the all the mecha ns so he would receive the most information...¡± Zhang Han exined the reason why he would go to Master Ming¡¯s ce.


    ¡°But I didn¡¯t betray the Federation. The information I sold were carefully chosen and were only some unimportant side gossip. The information I sold would definitely not bring any harm to the base or the Federation.¡± Zhang Han looked at Ling Lan with a determined look on his face. Although he made mistakes, they were not big mistakes.


    After Zhang Han finished speaking, the entire conference room became oddly silent. Qi Long and the others were silently documenting the confessions and they also wrote out their own opinions on the matter.


    Ling Lan seemingly finished a portion of the documents in her hand before she raised her head and asked, ¡°All done?¡±


    Zhang Han and Wang Junzhi nced at each other. Then, they stared intently at Ling Lan and shouted in unison, ¡°Yes sir!¡±


    ¡°I understand now. Qi Long, take Major Wang Junzhi back.¡± Ling Lan turned to Qi Long and gave out an order.


    ¡°Yes sir!¡± Qi Long quickly stood up.


    ¡°When you¡¯re there, tell Regiment Commander Pan that Major Wang Junzhi has broken the rules of the military. Let him deal with it and report the results back to me,¡± Ling Lan said nonchntly. Then, she put her head back down and used her finger to softly flip to the next page of her document.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Qi Long saluted Ling Lan and then turned to Wang Junzhi and smiled. ¡°Major Wang, after you!¡±


    After hearing Ling Lan¡¯s orders, Wang Junzhi instantly breathed a sigh of relief. He then subconsciously nced at Zhang Han.


    When their gaze met each other, Wang Junzhi quickly turned around to leave... Despite him wanting to know what Zhang Han¡¯s oue was going to be, he still didn¡¯t dare to stay in that conference room any longer. The pressure Prince Ling was putting on him was too immense. He had a feeling that if he didn¡¯t leave now, he wouldn¡¯t be able to get out ever again.


    Wang Junzhi and Qi Long left the conference room. Zhang Han was waiting for Ling Lan to hand out the punishment, but one minute had passed and Ling Lan was still reading the document. Then two minutes, three minutes... Not long after, five minutes had passed, but Zhang Han still wasn¡¯t told how this matter was going to be resolved.


    Ling Lan just continued to focus on the document in her hand. She seemed to have forgotten that there was still someone in the conference room waiting for his final verdict.


    The others sitting around Zhang Han were also silently sitting in their chairs and writing something on their virtual screens.


    ¡°Tell me what you guys think of Wang Junzhi.¡± Ling Lan finally finished reading through the document before tossing it aside with annoyance as she raised her head and spoke to Li Lanfeng and the others.


    ¡°Wang Junzhi is a dutiful spy, very suitable to be bait,¡± Li Lanfeng started the discussion with a statement.


    ¡°There¡¯s definitely something wrong with Wang Junzhi,¡± Han Jijyun said as he frowned. ¡°I also have suspicions of their mecha n¡¯s regimentmander, Lieutenant Colonel Pan Shangyu.¡±


    ¡°Just from the excuse Wang Junzhi had given, it actually didn¡¯t make Lieutenant Colonel Pan Shangyu less of a suspect. It made Pan Shangyu more of a suspect instead.¡± Smiled Xie Yi. ¡°He probably wants us to shift our focus onto Pan Shangyu to save himself.¡±


    ¡°However, no matter what, he achieved what he wanted. We currently cannot confirm our suspicions of Lieutenant Colonel Pan Shangyu.¡± Li Lanfeng turned to Ling Lan and smiled. ¡°Our regimentmander¡¯s reason for letting him go was to use him as bait to capture all of the people involved.¡±


    Luo Lang calmly added, ¡°Not only that, we can also have those people loosen their guard. Only when they believe that the crisis has passed, would they be confident enough to move their ns to the next step.¡±


    Zhao Jun was silent all this time. After hearing all this, he suddenly raised his head and looked towards Ling Lan. ¡°Regimentmander, I¡¯m confused. Why did we alert the enemy in the first ce when we can just silently watch them and wait for them to show up? Now with them having knowledge of us being on high alert, wouldn¡¯t they be scared to make any moves?¡±.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s worry was also Xie Yi¡¯s worry. However, Han Jijyun, Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng were all very calm. It was as if they had already understood the meaning behind Ling Lan¡¯s actions.


    Ling Lan smirked and turned towards the three of them. ¡°What do you guys think?¡±


    Li Lanfeng motioned towards Han Jijyun, gesturing for him to speak first.


    Han Jijyun didn¡¯t try to be modest and said, ¡°The real spy must make a move.¡±


    Luo Lang added, ¡°Caesar needs information on us to help their foreign affairs officers put the Federation in a difficult position at the Intergctic United Nations. They would just try to get back their so-called justice and fairness.¡±


    ¡°In simpler words, we can wait, but they can¡¯t,¡± Li Lanfeng said with a smile on his face. ¡°Our regimentmander¡¯s action only made it difficult for spies who aren¡¯t from other nations but are from different factions within the Federation. It is in case they would create problems for us which would allow the enemy to have chances to do what they are nning.¡±


    ¡°After all, even the strongest hacker wouldn¡¯t be able to find the real enemy in those situations,¡± added Han Jijyun.


    Ling Lan then turned towards Zhao Jun and Xie Yi and said calmly, ¡°You guys understand now?¡±


    ¡°I see. We¡¯re really not goodpared to you guys when ites to thinking about things.¡± Laughed Zhao Jun.


    Xie Yi shrugged and said helplessly, ¡°As expected, I should just focus on my own mecha team.¡± He couldn¡¯t help but look at Luo Lang with a look of admiration. ¡°It¡¯s so nice that you can use whichever personality is best suited for the situation whenever you need something. Calm personality, long time no see.¡±


    Seeing Xie Yi greet him, Luo Lang pretended he didn¡¯t see him and calmly looked at his virtual screen to continue to write down his opinions on the matter.


    ¡°Little Leng, you¡¯re amazing.¡± Seeing Little Leng showing off his strength, Luo Lang excitedly praised him from his mindscape.


    Ling Lan looked towards Zhang Han who was trembling and had cold sweat dripping from his forehead. ¡°Second Lieutenant Zhang, do you understand now?¡±


    Zhang Han only nodded with his head but he couldn¡¯t open his mouth to speak.


    ¡°Although you spewed out a lot of reasons at the beginning, I still think that you being here today is the result of your older brother nurturing you with all that he had...¡± Ling Lan¡¯s finger softly tapped on the tabletop as she half-smiled. ¡°Perhaps, the sedative would be more suitable for your older brother to use.¡±


    Hearing this, the trembling of Zhang Han¡¯s body immediately stopped. In the next second, he raised his head. His eyes were red with rage and fear as he screamed, ¡°No, he doesn¡¯t know anything!¡±

 Chapter 1145 - It Won’t Work!

    <h4>Chapter 1145 It Won¡¯t Work!</h4>


    ¡°Your rtionship with your brother really is quite deep.¡± Ling Lan smirked as she leaned back on her chair. ¡°It warms my heart. However, the more it¡¯s like this, the more I want to watch your brother fall into despair because of you. Wouldn¡¯t that be fun?¡±


    Ling Lan was now oozing out an aura filled with merciless and evilness. She waspletely unlike the warm-hearted and polite General Ling Xiao. Instead, she was like a demon that came from the depths of hell.


    ¡°As themander-in-chief of the base, how could you falsely use someone who has nothing to do with all this without any evidence?¡± Zhang Han clenched his fists and held back his anger. He then remembered something and smiled coldly. ¡°General Ling Xiao has always been a fair and upright individual. He¡¯s a role model that our soldiers look up towards. So, Regiment Commander Ling won¡¯t do anything that would make General Ling Xiao look bad, right?¡±.


    ¡°Are you trying to threaten me by just mentioning General Ling Xiao?¡± Ling Lan half-smiled and said, ¡°Unfortunately, it won¡¯t work. I just need to say that your brother is a spy and everyone will believe in me. Tell me, would Base Neb believe me or you? The identity of Prince Ling is very helpful in this situation. It sure is enough to let me do anything that I want without anyone trying to stop me...¡±


    After hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words, Zhang Han¡¯s somewhat brightened expression darkened once again.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have any chance at turning the tables around. Are you going to continue to work for those people and give up your brother¡¯s life in the process or are you going to speak honestly. At least thetter, your brother would be able to live his life peacefully,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°Oh right, don¡¯t you hate your older brother? You can always choose to not speak and I¡¯ll help you get rid of him.¡± Ling Lan seemed to have thought of something, ¡°It¡¯s his fault for being an idiot who would bring spies to Lingtian¡¯s doorsteps...¡±


    After saying that, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly. Her eyes became cold and ruthless as the shapeless killing intent thickened. ¡°He really is looking to die!¡±


    Zhang Han¡¯s eyes shrank back into his eye sockets as his eyes quivered in fear. He felt that Ling Lan wasn¡¯t actually threatening him and was rather using this opportunity to kill Zhang Chao for real.


    Zhang Han clenched his fist a few times before he finally spoke up, ¡°If I spill everything, can you ensure that us brothers will be safe?¡±


    Ling Lan replied indifferently, ¡°You¡¯re not qualified to make such demands with me. If you spill everything, you and your brother may have a chance to live. If you don¡¯t say anything then you and your brother will definitely die. As for the information that I want, I would still be able to get it even if you tell me or don¡¯t tell me. The difference is what method I would use to acquire it.¡±


    Zhang Han knew Ling Lan was speaking the truth. When he entered Lingtian¡¯smand center, he wasn¡¯t even given the opportunity to struggle. In the end, he would have to give in to Ling Lan¡¯s demands.


    ¡°Alright. I will tell you what I know. I don¡¯t care if I die, but I want you to please keep my brother alive.¡± Zhang Han raised his head and looked towards Ling Lan. His eyes had a pleading look for his brother.


    ¡°That would depend on what you say and whether it¡¯s worth it for me to do something for your brother,¡± Ling Lan replied coldly.


    Zhang Han knew that this was the final thing he could do for his older brother before he would die in the hands of Lingtian. Back then when he was still young and naive, in order to be strong, he trusted the wrong person and walked down the wrong path. In the end, he got so deeply involved that he could not get out no matter what he tried. He didn¡¯t want to destroy the family members that he hated but couldn¡¯t cut off his ties with...


    Zhang Han knew very well of the methods those people used. There was once someone who had walked down the wrong path like him and wanted to get away from their control. In the end, his entire family perished in mes. However, on the Federation¡¯s police force¡¯s investigation report, it was closed as an ident.


    That made Zhang Han realize that his organization was already deeply rooted with the Federation and had great sway in it. That was why they could easily close the case with such an oue while the situation was under much suspicion.

 Chapter 1146 - A Good Idea?

    <h4>Chapter 1146 A Good Idea?</h4>


    Zhang Han calmed himself and began recounting everything slowly. Zhang Han spoke very slowly as he was afraid he would miss a critical detail that might affect the life or death of his elder brother. His actions meant that when he had decided to tell Ling Lan everything. He had already put his faith in Ling Lan¡¯s words.


    In reality, telling Ling Lan was the best chance he had to escape from that devil of an organization of his. If even General Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t resolve this issue, then all hopes would be lost.


    After Zhang Han told Ling Lan all that he knew, Ling Lan made Zhao Jun take Zhang Han to Lingtian¡¯s istion quarters.


    Those who remained behind were all sitting in their chairs and doing their own things.


    Ling Lan then sat up straight and asked, ¡°What do you guys think about what Zhang Han said?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s clear that the spy organization has built quite a foundation in the Federation. There is quite a high possibility that someone from their organization is sitting on a very high-ranking position in the military. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t be able to influence the police system,¡± said Li Lanfeng with certainty. ¡°After all, Zhang Han had probed the higher-ups of the police system using some of his evidence. If the police didn¡¯t do anything with those evidence at hand, then that is enough to prove that the political connections of the organization aren¡¯t that simple.¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately, the organization is quite careful about their identity. The person or people who contact Zhang Han are either low-ranking members of the organization or spectral users who we cannot trace.¡± Frowned Han Jijyun. ¡°Although Zhang Han provided a lot of information, it still isn¡¯t very useful for the next step of our ns.¡±


    ¡°I am in favour of using the medicinal agent and interrogating him again.¡± The calm personality who had taken over Luo Lang¡¯s body, seemed to not be satisfied with the information Zhang Han had provided them. He still wanted to search for more that could be used.


    ¡°Zhang Han is still useful to me. We can¡¯t turn him into a vegetable yet,¡± said Ling Lan as she shook her head. Although she spoke ruthlessly, in reality, she wasn¡¯t nning on hurting Zhang Han and Zhang Chao from the very beginning


    Although the information Zhang Han had in his mind was useful, Ling Lan didn¡¯t necessarily need it. She just wanted to gather as much information as possible in order to prove what she had determined.


    ¡°Then, we can only depend on Wang Junzhi¡¯s side,¡± the calm personality saw that Ling Lan wasn¡¯t thinking about using that method of interrogation and could only speak out regrettably.


    ¡°Alright, you guys go make preparations. Remember to closely monitor the suspicious mecha ns and people.¡± Ling Lan waved her hand to gesture that everyone should go do what they needed to do.


    Not long after, Ling Lan was the only person left in the conference room.


    Ling Lan crossed her arms in front of her chest, leaned back slightly on her chair and began to think deeply.


    Suddenly, two fingers appeared on temples and it started to massage her temples lightly. The force behind the fingers was perfect. It made Ling Lan feel that her tensed up temples had loosened.


    2


    After being massaged for a few minutes, Ling Lan spoke up, ¡°That¡¯s enough, Lanfeng.¡±


    Li Lanfeng, who was behind her, smiled as he put his hands down. He turned and walked to Ling Lan¡¯s left side.


    Ling Lan already knew it was Li Lanfeng from the moment he returned to the conference room.


    Ling Lan¡¯s finger repeatedly tapped on the table as she thought about Ling Yi... After hearing what Zhang Han had said regarding the method of contacting that organization, she felt a certain familiarity. This made her think about the incident involving Ling Hua from many years ago.


    Would that organization forget about Ling Yi? Back then, when Ling Hua betrayed the Ling family, it was for his talented son.


    ¡°Don¡¯t let Ling Yi out of your sights,¡± said Ling Lan.


    ¡°I know. If Ling Yi makes any moves, I will be the first to know.¡± Simrly, Li Lanfeng also ced a lot of importance on Ling Yi, especially because Ling Yi was behaving in a way that seemed like he had a lot of hatred for Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu and Li Yingjie. His weird behaviour caused Li Lanfeng to be more guarded against Ling Yi. Despite Ling Yi trying his best to hide this side of him, how could he fool the sensitive Li Lanfeng.


    The two of them stopped talking and closed their eyes as they sat on their chairs. However, those who knew the reality of it, knew that Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng had entered the virtual world once again. They watched over the entire base in the skies to wait for the spy organization to make another move. They were going to try to pluck out all of them from the base.


    At that moment, Ling Xiao had also received information from a source of a report stating that a certain general in the military was a spy along with how this general had nned two assassination attempts on Ling Lan more than a dozen years ago. One of the two assassination attempts was a scare but the other time, he almost seeded. Luckily, Ling Lan was blessed with luck of the gods and had somehow escaped. However, she was severely injured and needed three years to recover which forced Ling Xiao¡¯s mentor to stay in the Ling family manor...


    ¡°General, this is big news. We must report it.¡± He Xuyang saw the report and took a deep breath. ording to the information written on the report, this general might not just be any general. If they were unlucky, that person could be at a simr point as Ling Xiao in a political standpoint.


    ¡°Report to who?¡± Ling Xiao raised his eyebrows and asked.


    ¡°The First Marshal! Other than the First Marshal, the other two can¡¯t be trusted,¡± He Xuyang said without hesitation. It would have been impossible for the sky to climb to the position of a general without the help of one of the marshals.


    ¡°The First Marshal?¡± Ling Xiao frowned, ¡°That might not be a good idea, but...¡±


    It was a chance to probe him!


    Soon after, Ling Xiao sent the document to the First Marshal directly.


    After a short while, Ling Xiao received the First Marshal¡¯s call.


    Ling Xiao epted the call and a virtual screen appeared in front of him. The First Marshal¡¯s strict and proud face appeared in front of Ling Xiao.


    The First Marshal didn¡¯t waste any time and asked, ¡°What other evidence do you have?¡±


    Ling Xiao said respectfully, ¡°I just received the report and sent it to you First Marshal as soon as I could.¡±


    ¡°Do you think this report is real or fake?¡± The First Marshal frowned intensely. He didn¡¯t want spies within the higher-ups of the military as this would greatly affect the public image of the military. However, the information on the report was logical and evident. He couldn¡¯t pass it off as a hoax.


    ¡°The source of the information is very reliable.¡± After saying that, Ling Xiao¡¯s expression suddenly became serious, ¡°I still remember back then when my mission was leaked and Twilightid a trap for me. Our ambush didn¡¯t work and I was ambushed instead... That mission¡¯s detailed time was only known by a few generals. That alone answers how I could have been ambushed.¡±


    ¡°You think this spy is connected to the person who set the trap for you?¡± The First Marshal¡¯s expression turned grave.


    ¡°Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t make a move on my son...¡± said Ling Xiao. Only his enemies would be worried that his son would take revenge after knowing the truth. That was why they wanted to get rid of the underlying threat and not leave any possibility of that happening


    ¡°You¡¯re right. In that case, I¡¯ll let you handle this matter,¡± said the First Marshal as he nodded in agreement. ¡°It¡¯s time to make them pay. I will give you the go-ahead for that.¡± Back then, although Ling Xiao had escaped the trap, he had still wandered away from home for 16 years. Thinking about this made the First Marshal¡¯s heart ache. Thus, he opened the gates of convenience to let Ling Xiao exact his revenge personally.


    ¡°Thank you, marshal.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s facial expression quickly turned warm as a burst of gratefulness appeared on his face. As expected, Ling Xiao still wanted to personally exact revenge on the person who plotted the assassination on his son.


    The First Marshal¡¯s face then disappeared from the screen. Ling Xiao turned towards He Xuyang who waspletely dumbfounded, shook his head and smiled, ¡°That¡¯s why I said this wasn¡¯t a good idea.¡±

 Chapter 1147 - Making A Move?

    <h4>Chapter 1147 Making A Move?</h4>


    The news of a mecha n called ¡®Lingtian¡¯ from the Federationpletely wiping out Knight Ace Mecha n had spread through the human universe like wildfire. The unknown name of ¡®Lingtian¡¯ instantly entered the database of intelligence agencies of all nations.


    ¡°Lingtian? What is their purpose?¡± As the Federation¡¯s most prominent enemy, the military of Twilight Empire was quickly alerted after hearing such outstanding achievements of a mecha n from the Federation.


    ¡°The intel our spy had sent us over the years never had this mecha n¡¯s title.¡± The officers of the military immediately flipped through all the data on all the secret mecha ns within the Federation. After looking through them many times, they still didn¡¯t find any data on Lingtian.


    ¡°How is this possible? How could we not have any information on such a strong mecha n?¡± The generals of the military were all discontent. ¡°What is our spy doing?¡±


    ¡°Notify him to get his hands on all of Lingtian¡¯s data as soon as possible. The Twilight Empire must notmit such a blunder ever again.¡± An unknown mecha n suddenly appearing made the higher-ups of the Twilight Empire¡¯s military anxious. Twilight Empire knew very well that a war between the two nations was inevitable. It was only just that they didn¡¯t know when or where the war was going topletely erupt.


    Thus, as soon as something happened that was out of their control, the Twilight Empire would consider it as meeting with their worst enemy. Just like how they were now treating Lingtian Mecha n.


    ¡°Roger!¡± A secret message was transferred between many nations. After manyyers of encryption and disguise, it had reached the Federation.


    In arge and gloomy apartment, a ck-cloaked male was slowly reading a message on hismunicator with a serious expression. When he read thest sentence of the message, his serious expression instantly froze.


    ¡°This is really troublesome!¡±


    Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t avoid this troublesome task... He had to do it even if he didn¡¯t want to do it.


    The Federation¡¯s military was still having non-stop discussion regarding Lingtian¡¯s participation in the battle that urred at the Neb Boundary. Some thought that despite Lingtian achieving great feats, they were too ruthless in their ways of handling Knight Ace Mecha n. Lingtian¡¯s ruthless actions had dampened the valiant and glorious image of the Federation in the public eyes. Rewards could be given, but there also needed to be punishment to adhere to military regtions.


    However, many also believed that a battlefield was a dog-eat-dog world. In order to live, why did it matter that they hadpletely wiped out Knight Ace Mecha n? Not only did Lingtian not make any mistakes in the grand scheme of things, they also achieved great feats and showed the power and wrath of the Federation. They should be well awarded for their service.


    There were also some fence sitters who believed that they should just leave the matter be. However, these opinions weren¡¯t epted by many and werepletely ignored in the end.


    In the end, the two opinions of the military couldn¡¯t convince the other side. Thus, someone suggested having Lingtian¡¯s regimentmandere to the military headquarters to personally tell them about the details of the battle and the reason why theypletely wiped out Knight Ace Mecha


    n...


    Ling Lan received the summon and frowned. She watched the base in the virtual world from one end to the other, waiting for the spy to pop out so she could finally catch them in the act. However, she didn¡¯t expect that her ns would bepletely ruined after the summon.


    What annoyed her more was that this summon had given a timeframe in which she needed to leave within two hours. Otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t be able to arrive at the conference meeting at the military headquarters.


    ¡°All leaders and department heads,e to the conference room for a meeting within 10 minutes,¡± ordered Ling Lan. After the order was sent out, Lingtian started to scramble together, resulting in a giant mess. Luckily, most of the leaders and department heads were still in the camping ground. However, even so, these leaders and department heads still needed to push everything aside to their deputies to even arrive in the allotted time.


    When thest leader arrived in the conference room, Ling Lan looked at the clock. She nodded when she saw everyone arrived on time and said, ¡°The reason for me calling you here is because there is an emergency summon for me to return to the Federation and report the battle with Caesar to the military headquarters.¡±


    ¡°Why is it so sudden?¡± Qi Long asked with doubt in his voice.


    Ling Lan said calmly, ¡°The summon said that the report and the video I sent in was iplete and had many doubtful points so they required me to provide the answers personally.¡±


    ¡°Is it because of us wiping out the mecha nspletely?¡± As a veteran mecha operator who had been in many battles, this was Yang Mingzhi¡¯s first thought. This was the easiest reason to denounce the actions of an individual or a group.


    ¡°That¡¯s not the main issue,¡± Ling Lan said as she shook her head. ¡°I suspect that the spy organization has made its move.¡±


    ¡°Luring the tiger away from itsir!¡± Han Jijyun said with a serious expression on his face. ¡°Once our regimentmander leaves Base Neb, there wouldn¡¯t be anyone here to put pressure on those mecha ns. Those people who are of different factions would definitely begin to act. Then, those who are connected to the spy organization would be able to silently take over.¡±


    ¡°Luckily, we already managed to find a few of them,¡± Xie Yi said joyfully.


    ¡°Those people aren¡¯t the most important,¡± said Li Lanfeng as he shook his head. ¡°Is it only Caesar who has a spy organization? I don¡¯t think so...¡±


    ¡°I feel that this summon was probably sent out because all of the spy organizations within our nation have made a move. That¡¯s why they sessfully managed to send an emergency summon so that they could catch us with our pants down,¡± Li Lanfeng told everyone what he was thinking. ¡°Thus, not only do we need to look for spies from Caesar. We also need to find spies from other nations who have infiltrated the base.¡±


    ¡°Saying all that doesn¡¯t do anything. We need to think what we can do if we don¡¯t have our regimentmander in the base.¡± Han Jijyun¡¯s eyes burned brightly as he stared at Li Lanfeng.


    The confidence he had almost lost due to Li Lanfeng was slowly recovering through his hard work. Now, he finally dared to directly face his opponent who had caused him immense distress.


    ¡°For the spectral users, I can take care of them. However, without our regimentmander holding the fort and making all the arrangements, it¡¯s probably difficult for us to pluck out all of those spies.¡± Li Lanfeng seemed to not have understood what Han Jijyun wanted to say and just smiled while speaking what he was thinking.


    ¡°I think that it is a good opportunity to lure them out,¡± said Han Jijyun. ¡°Although we don¡¯t have our regimentmander holding down the fort, the opposition still made a mistake, and that mistake is that we have Meng Lan.¡±


    A mainframe like Meng Lan was very capable in terms of defending the virtual world and analyzing the data within it. Although they won¡¯t have Ling Lan to hold down the fort which would also lower Meng Lan¡¯s power, it was still enough to go against those spies who had no knowledge of Meng Lan.


    ¡°That way, we wouldn¡¯t have to wait for them to show up. The faster we get rid of those spies, the earlier we would be able to take over the base and move to the next stage of our n.¡± After saying all this, Han Jijyun¡¯s expression became somewhat excited.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s words made everyone¡¯s eyes brighten up. They knew about the three stage n Ling Lan had made for Base Neb. While they were amazed by their regimentmander¡¯s overall n, they were also waiting for the final oue toe to fruition. Currently, they were in the nning stage of the entire n, and that was to create a worry-free base.


    After hearing all of this, Ling Lan tapped her finger on the table.


    Everyone turned towards her. Ling Lan tapped around seven or eight times before mming the table and said coldly, ¡°Now, I will give out orders!¡±


    Everyone quickly stood up.


    ¡°Yang Mingzhi, Liu Furong and Qi Long will be responsible for the mecha teams. Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun will be responsible for takingmand of the base. Lin Zhong-qing will be responsible for cooperating with the base¡¯s logistics.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Regimentmander!¡±


    ¡°I have already upgraded Meng Lan so she should be able to satisfy your needs. Your mission will be topletely clear out the spies within the base during my leave.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words wereced with killing intent.


    ¡°Yes, Regimentmander!¡±

 Chapter 1148 - Repay Using My Body?

    <h4>Chapter 1148 Repay Using My Body?</h4>


    ¡°Dismissed!¡± After making arrangements for Lingtian and the base, she prepared to leave the base and report to the military headquarters.


    ¡°Regimentmander, you should take some people with you.¡± Seeing Ling Lan was going to leave alone, Li Lanfeng walked up and stopped her.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows in confusion. She didn¡¯t understand why Li Lanfeng would suggest this. She was just going to report what they had done. What did he mean by ¡®taking some people with her¡¯?


    ¡°There are probably many people at the military headquarters who don¡¯t believe in Lingtian¡¯s strength so they might use this opportunity to challenge us instead,¡± smiled Li Lanfeng. ¡°I think you shouldn¡¯t personally teach those trash a lesson, especially those people who are clearly spoiled...¡± Compared to Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng was more knowledgeable about what kind of ce the military headquarters was and what type of people was in it.


    Hearing this, Ling Lan frowned. Although Ling Lan behaved like the type of person who liked to act more than talk in reality, she was still quitezy. For her, if she could not do anything, she would try her best to not do anything. After Li Lanfeng¡¯s reminder, she discovered that her trip to the military headquarters was indeed not as easy as she had originally thought.


    Lingtian had received many military merits which had caused people to be jealous and resentful, especially so when she wouldn¡¯t be exposing her real identity on this trip. Despite the higher-ups of the military headquarters reaching a consensus that she was Ling Xiao¡¯s son, they still just kept that information in their minds and didn¡¯t announce it to the public. Perhaps some of the high-ranking officials might even be happy to see others challenging her. They would be able to use that chance to suppress the ¡®arrogance and fierceness¡¯ of her and her father.


    ¡°Thus, taking a few of us with you would also be good for handling those challenges and some misceneous stuff.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. He didn¡¯t want his Ling Lan to handle such small matters herself.


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Ling Lan nodded ¡°I¡¯ll take Luo Lang and Xie Yi.¡±


    Luo Lang and Xie Yi were quite capable and they were enough to handle all kinds of people challenging them.


    ¡°The rtionships within the military headquarters are weird andplex. Leader Gu was once the vice regimentmander of the police force of the military headquarters. He can help you deal with these rtions.¡± Although the summon given to Ling Lan for her to return to the military headquarters was sudden, Li Lanfeng had already made arrangements in such a short amount of time on who should be following Ling Lan.


    ¡°That would be good. With Leader Gu there, it will be more convenient for us at the military headquarters.¡± Ling Lan acknowledged the people Li Lanfeng had suggested.


    ¡°Plus, Li Yingjie also has nothing to do in the base. You might as well take him to the military headquarters to open his eyes and broaden his horizon,¡± Li Lanfeng continued.


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and half-smiled. ¡°I always feel that you¡¯re plotting against your younger brother.¡±


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t hide anything and smiled, ¡°The Li family has received many benefits because of you so we should stand in the line of fire for you. Otherwise, I don¡¯t think I would be able to stay here anymore after all that we¡¯ve owed to you.¡±


    Ling Lan felt bad for Li Yingjie. What did Li Yingjie do in his past life for him to have such a heartless and calcting older brother? ¡°It¡¯s your debt, but you send your younger brother out to repay it... You really are shameless.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t he also receive benefits from you? The debt should be repaid so plotting against him isn¡¯t considered to be shameless in my opinion,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. He didn¡¯t feel any remorse for plotting against others. Ling Lan admired his honesty. Having a dark heart and yet pretending it was like nothing was also a type of strength.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s plotting against someone meant how honest he was with them. This made Ling Lan involuntarily think of something evil. She smirked and said, ¡°The benefits that Li Yingjie have reaped will be repaid this time, but what about you? How are you nning on repaying the many benefits that you have received from me?¡±


    Li Lanfeng saw the teasing and yful look Ling Lan had on her face. He felt his blood rushing up to his head. His ears that were not covered by the mask instantly reddened and were quickly turning even redder.


    ¡°Hmm? Have you never thought about repaying me?¡± Seeing Li Lanfeng who was usually talkative be speechless, Ling Lan felt that something was off so she asked a second question out of curiosity.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s hands silently clenched together. He couldn¡¯t hold back the impulse he had. He spoke out what was in his mind about how he would repay his debt, ¡°How about I repay with my body?¡±


    ¡°Repay with your body? Interesting...¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. ¡°How do you n on doing that?¡±


    Ling Lan, of course, didn¡¯t think that Li Lanfeng was actually serious about what he said and thought he was joking. However, she was quite surprised at Li Lanfeng¡¯s kind of humour.


    ¡°You can do whatever you want. Anything you wish for, my regimentmander.¡± Li Lanfeng smirked. He looked like he was joking but was also serious about it. This half real half fake behavior annoyed Ling Lan as she flicked her finger at his forehead.


    ¡°Whoo-¡± Li Lanfeng shuddered from the sharp pain on his forehead.


    ¡°Hurts doesn¡¯t it? Don¡¯t ever say anything that could be easily misunderstood,¡± Ling Lan said nonchntly.


    ¡°...¡± Li Lanfeng could only put his head down and rub his forehead.


    ¡°Currently, other than Li Shiyu, no one else knows what you actually look like. However, if one day you actually let go and face the world with your actual face, these words that you have said just now may create problems for you in the future.¡± Ling Lan stopped for a moment and then continued, ¡°Although I allow every member do as they please, I still don¡¯t want something like the incident with Luo Lang to ever happen again, especially on you. You are much more likely to encounter such problems.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t do this in the future. It¡¯s for your own good,¡± Ling Lan spoke from the bottom of her heart.


    Although Li Lanfeng knew Ling Lan was worrying about him, he was still sad in his heart. ¡®Ling Lan, I don¡¯t want you to worry for me. What I want is you, but you will never want me..¡¯


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I only do this in front of you...¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. However, no one knew that there was a teardrop in his eye that didn¡¯t dare to drop.


    ¡°I¡¯m just afraid you¡¯ll get used to it and not pay attention to it.¡± After thinking of that face that could destroy the world, Ling Lan felt nauseous. If Li Lanfeng were to show his real face and wink flirtatiously while saying he would pay with his body... her mecha n will definitely be a bloody battlefield.


    ¡°All in all, just be careful in the future.¡± said Ling Lan with worry in her voice. In order to make sure her mecha n doesn¡¯t fall apart, she must watch over Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Ling Lan, Mr. Regiment Commander, I need to let loose sometimes.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly.


    As expected, he didn¡¯t have any chance. Despite knowing the oue, he still couldn¡¯t let go. He would always try to probe Ling Lan. After smashing into a wall and breaking everything in his body, he still couldn¡¯t control his desires. He couldn¡¯t be saved. From the moment he knew about what he wanted, he knew that he couldn¡¯t be saved anymore.


    After hearing all this, Ling Lan felt her head ache.

 Chapter 1149 - Someone Who Shouldn’t Be Offended?

    <strong>Chapter 1149Someone Who Shouldn¡¯t Be Offended? </strong>


    Ling Lan knew well of the facade Li Lanfeng wore in front of others. Truth be told, Ling Lan also couldn¡¯t confirm whether she had actually seen through Li Lanfeng¡¯s real personality.


    His facade was probably due to the instinct of someone who was adept in strategizing. They would never allow anyone to see their real side so unless it was either a partner they deeply loved or a family member they deeply cared about, the real side of those people would never see the light of day. All those hassles they went through were to avoid their deepest fear, losing control of their destiny, fate, and themselves.


    Despite it being a necessary instinct for apetent strategist, the constant pressure they were under, the facade they constantly had to keep up, was very draining for anyone that even the mostpetent strategist would sometimes sumb to their instincts, unable to distinguish between their true selves and their facade.


    With such a threat looming over Li Lanfeng, Ling Lan of course didn¡¯t want Li Lanfeng to constantly have to put up a facade even to a friend like her. In the end, she could only helplessly say, ¡°I¡¯ll let you loosen up when you¡¯re with me.¡±


    At the very least, she could endure the temptation of his beauty. Compared to others in her mecha n, she was more confident in herself.


    Li Lanfeng, who was originally in despair over his fate, raised his head with unconcealed happiness. His eyes that were saddened instantly brightened up.


    ¡®Ling Lan, are you giving me hope? You should know that if this keeps happening, I might not be able to hold back. I won¡¯t be able to hold back...¡¯ Li Lanfeng felt the wildest desire in his heart finally seeing the light of day. A small yet determined sprout rose from the brown soil to finally see the light.


    A small starship moved slowly towards General¡¯s satellite city, Soldier City!


    This starship had brought Ling Lan andpany to report the details of their recent battle to the military headquarters.


    After getting off the starship, Ling Lan andpany were then ushered to a special shuttle in Soldier City that went directly to the military headquarters on General.


    The previous time they came to Soldier City, they were rewarded the top 10 mecha n award. However at that time, they did not have a chance to explore General which had quite dampened her team¡¯s atmosphere. This time however, she finally arrived at the that represented the top brass of the Federation¡¯s military.


    Ling Lan was alright, but Luo Lang, Xie Yi, and Li Yingjie couldn¡¯t hold in the excitement in their hearts. With the thought of meeting royalty, they carefully took their first steps on General.


    Gu Dongyang on the other hand was full of smiles. He was more than happy that he could see his oldrades again. Although everyone went their own separate ways in the end, they still cherished the friendship they had from when they were young and experiencing hardship together.


    Ling Lan andpany were guided to the reception center of military headquarters to rest as they waited for them to be summoned to make a report.


    The name ¡®reception center¡¯ didn¡¯t give off a sense of luxury, but its amenities in it could be considered luxurious as there were even high-ss suites where visitors could rest for the night. Ling Lan andpany were invited by the military so they didn¡¯t need to worry about the fee of using the suite. If they were here on private business, Ling Lan felt that even her monthly sry as a regimentmander wasn¡¯t enough for her to stay for a few days.


    ¡°Too luxurious.¡± Ling Lan got into her own exclusive suite and frowned. This setup could already be on par with the standard of an 8-star hotel.


    ¡°It can never be too luxurious, Regiment Commander Ling. Soldiers like you fight with you life around the territory of the Federation. Soldiers such as yourself, of course, would need to be treated with the best we have after returning home from a tough battle,¡± said the logistician apanying Ling Lan with a slight smile on his face.


    ¡°Plus, the military isn¡¯t spending any of its funds to upkeep this ce. Just the profit from those buildings in front of us are enough to handle the spendings of the building that serviced soldiers,¡± exined the logistician.


    ¡°You¡¯re saying that soldiers aren¡¯t the only ones living here?¡± Li Yingjie was curious after hearing the exnation.


    ¡°Of course. We serve many wealthy second generations. These people have more than enough money to spend on such luxuries. In order to broaden their horizon, they specially went through certain connections toe and experience the suite themselves.¡± After saying that, the logistician formed an annoyed expression on his face. ¡°Those people would usually cause trouble from time to time. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that they were supplying us with a mountain-load of money, they would be instantly kicked out of General.¡±


    ¡°However, most of them are aware of their ce so they wouldn¡¯t cause trouble for the soldiers here that frequently.¡± The logistician looked down on those wealthy second generations. Those people only picked on those weaker than them and feared people stronger than them, such actions were theplete opposite with the belief of a soldier.


    Ling Lan sent Xie Yi a side-long nce and Xie Yi smiled. ¡°Thank you for taking us here. We can take over from here now.¡±


    The logistician knew what Xie Yi was implying with his words. He knew fully well that these soldiers were probably going to discuss something not suitable for his ears to hear, so he didn¡¯t insist and handed them the card for the suites.


    Before leaving, he looked towards these four young soldiers and felt the need to say something. He then said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about those wealthy second generations. What you should be careful of are those soldiers with a powerful background. Try your best to not offend them. Here, they are this.¡± He surreptitiously put up his thumb to show that those people hold great sway in Soldier City that could reach the heavens.


    ¡°Thank you. We will be careful.¡± Xie Yi smiled with sincerity. It was such a warm smile that it made the logistician feel warm inside. He felt quite d that he had done the right thing in his mind.


    After the logistician left, Gu Dongyang, who waspletely silent like a painting on the wall, sighed lightly. ¡°After so many years, General is still like this and is bing worse and worse.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I never asked you why you left the police force here and went to join a regr mecha n.¡± It should be known that the vicemander of a police force would just need to work for at most ten years to be promoted into amander of a certain division whomanded multiple mecha ns. They might also be promoted to a staff officer which was one of the highest peaks of military rank.


    After hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words, Gu Dongyang smiled bitterly. ¡°Back then, I was too naive. I just couldn¡¯t stand by and watch a descendant from a powerful family bully another descendant from a normal elite family. The result of me forcing myself into the situation was being tossed into the trashiest mecha n for the rest of my soldier life.¡±


    ¡°Back then, I thought after three or five years, I would be able to restart my life anew once everything had died down,¡± Gu Dongyang said slowly. ¡°I just didn¡¯t expect that those people would still hold a grudge against me. They did all in their power to make sure that I couldn¡¯t get back on my feet for 10 years. After being repressed for so long, I couldn¡¯t handle it anymore and so I voluntarily decided to go to the ce where those people wouldn¡¯t have any say, the frontlines. I wanted to make a new path from myself, but...¡± After saying all this, Gu Dongyang stopped talking.


    That decision made him lose all faith in himself and it also led to him being traumatized until he couldn¡¯t continue to pilot mechas into battle. In the end, he became useless trash who was tossed into 250 Ace Mecha n in the 23rd Division. Back then, he thought he was going to just live out the rest of his life with his new depressing identity. However, contrary to his expectations, his life started to turn around after entering 250 Ace Mecha n.


    After thinking about this, the blues on Gu Dongyang¡¯s face dissipated quite a lot. His eyes returned to his original brightened gleam.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± Li Yingjie, who was listening to Gu Dongyang, held it in for a long while. He finally couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore and angrily asked Gu Dongyang.


    Gu Dongyang was surprised. ¡°Little Leader Li?¡±


    ¡°Who was that bastard that pushed you down for ten years? Since we¡¯re here, we must teach him a ruthless lesson.¡± Li Yingjie clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles made an audible crack sound. It was proof that he absolutely detest the bastard.


    After following Ling Lan for so long, Li Yingjie had long let go of the thought of making his own mecha n. He now had Lingtian as his number one priority, so he instantly exploded in anger when he heard that his ownrade was bullied for a decade.


    ¡°Little Leader Li, that person has both power and status. You should calm down first. Calm down.¡± Gu Dongyang didn¡¯t want to drag Lingtian into his own personal matter.


    He admired Ling Lan very much but he also worried about his young regimentmander. At such a young age, he already had to be responsible for such heavy matters. He was also worried about these youngsters who grew up so quickly on the battlefield. He really didn¡¯t want to add more on their already filled te.

 Chapter 1150 - Commandments!

    <strong>Chapter 1150 Commandments!</strong>


    ¡°Power and status? Is he better than our regimentmander?¡± Li Yingjie had an arrogant expression on his face. Although Li Yingjie didn¡¯t want to admit it, the reality was that Ling Lan was probably the entire Federation¡¯s military¡¯s most powerful and influential second generation.


    Moreover, Ling Lan¡¯s power and influence didn¡¯t juste from her family background. If they were just talking about family backgrounds, then the other prince in their mecha n, Qi Long, was at a simr level to Ling Lan. Plus, there were also the descendants of other generals and three marshals who could be in argument for having the most powerful background.


    The true source of Ling Lan¡¯s power and influence was not her background, but her actual military power and achievement she had raked over the years. If the higher-ups one day wanted to get rid of Ling Lan and her mecha n, they must go through the military¡¯smittee members or use the military judicial court to officially convict Ling Lan to get rid of her.


    This was the benefit of creating her own army. With an army behind her, the military could easily never push her around. This was also the final goal of regimentmanders of strong mecha ns.


    Ling Lan was definitely very lucky for being able to establish her own capable army so quickly. Under the watchful eyes of the different factions, neither side wanted Lingtian to be a weapon for their opposition. In the end, all the factions could only watch as Lingtian became independent. The tiny fish they had eyed had finally grown toorge for their appetites. In the end, Ling Lan received the respect, power, and influence she rightfully deserved.


    Not only that, Ling Lan was also weed and loved by the public. Despite her look and real name being not known to the public, the nickname ¡®Prince Ling¡¯ was already imprinted into the minds of everyone in the gxy. Moreover, he also wasn¡¯t a third gen or fourth gen, she was a true and true second generation descendant of a powerful individual. In terms of identity, she was above every other person in the Federation. Only in terms of background, could Qi Long be somewhat considered on par with Ling Lan.


    Afterparing everything, Li Yingjie couldn¡¯t find a single existence that was more impressive than Ling Lan. Following such an amazing Boss made him not understand Gu Dongyang¡¯s carefulness and worries.


    Li Yingjie¡¯s words made Gu Dongyang smile bitterly, ¡°Our regimentmander is indeed the most capable person I¡¯ve ever met. Currently, with how far I have gotten, I will not be afraid if I were to encounter that person again. It¡¯s just that it¡¯s our first time here so we should be alert. If by any chance we offend those people, they would still be able to meddle with the rewards we deserve even though they realistically can¡¯t do anything to us. I can¡¯t let my own private matters affect the benefits and rights of everyone in the n. That¡¯s not worth it.¡±


    Gu Dongyang¡¯s words calmed Li Yingjie a bit. His worries had its merit but Li Yingjie still didn¡¯t want to let up. He was used to being cocky from his childhood. Even though he lost a few times to Ling Lan, he still couldn¡¯t find ways to deal with Ling Lan so in the end, he concluded as long as he didn¡¯t make Ling Lan angry, he could do whatever he wanted to do.


    After being beaten a pulp a few times, Li Yingjie followed behind Ling Lan and went through the military academy and the division with her. Under themand of this omnipotent regimentmander, he had made a name for himself and was better than ever before. Not only did his cockiness not decrease, it actually increased quite a lot.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe that they could actually stop us from receiving our rightful rewards,¡± Li Yingjie still spoke these words in the end. At the very least, he believed the Li family wouldn¡¯t sit and watch as their benefits got taken away, as these awards were most likely going to affect his and his second oldest brother¡¯s power who were the two people who were mostly likely to take over as the family head.


    There was also that person who the Li family kept their eyes on, Li Lanfeng... Although he didn¡¯t like him, his grandfather thought fondly of him. Whenever his grandfather were to talk with Li Yingjie, he would always nag him to learn from Li Lanfeng. However, all that nagging went to deaf¡¯s ear. He wasn¡¯t nning on learning from that secondary descendant whose eyes were filled with cunning and deceit. He had told his grandfather many times that Li Lanfeng was a cunning individual and wasn¡¯t someone who could be trusted. They must be on guard against him... Unfortunately, no one believed what he said.


    Even his second elder cousin brother Li Shiyu didn¡¯t believe him. He would rather believe a person who was in a branch part of the family than to believe in his younger brother!


    After thinking about all this, Li Yingjie felt frustrated.


    Just what kind of charm did Li Lanfeng have to make so many people from the Li family trust in him? Li Yingjie was quite annoyed, but he couldn¡¯t find anyone to speak to about his worries. After all, this was a matter within the Li family...


    ¡°I won¡¯t lose!¡± Li Yingjie¡¯s frustration onlysted for a moment. In the next second, he returned to his chipper self. He clenched his fists and made a silent promise to himself that he would definitely find evidence of Li Lanfeng¡¯s cunningness, so he could finally rip that disguise off him and finally show to everyone his ugliest side.


    Gu Dongyang pretended to not hear Li Yingjie¡¯s words. Everyone knew very well that this trip to the military headquarters with their regimentmander was not a peaceful one, it was instead actually going to be a battle with words and wits and no one knew what the final oue will be.


    Originally, Li Lanfeng, who was an expert in debating, was the most suitable to help Ling Lan. Unfortunately, ridding the base of spies required Li Lanfeng¡¯s abilities. The base needed it more than them. Ling Lan did indeed want to take back their awards and merits but she needed to make sure her own headquarters was safe first.


    After seeing everyone ignoring him, Li Yingjie turned frustrated as he sat down on the sofa in the living room with great indignation written on his face. He called out towards Ling Lan, who was standing in front of a window, looking at the view outside and ignoring what they were saying with a saddened tone. ¡°Boss Lan, do you think that we should just endure anything thates our way?¡±


    Hearing the confusion, Ling Lan closed the curtains of the window, turned around and said calmly, ¡°Have you guys forgotten what I said when I named the n ¡®Lingtian¡¯?¡±


    Li Yingjie¡¯s eyes brightened. He knew his dominant Boss Lan wouldn¡¯t just endure without retaliating back. It was because of such dominance that he was willing to follow Ling Lan. Plus, following Ling Lan not only made it not frustrating, but it actually made him be even more arrogant than when he didn¡¯t follow him. This type of dominance was unreasonable and was very satisfying for him.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made everyone in the room stand still. They began to recall the time of their n¡¯s inception and what their regimentmander had said to them then.


    ¡°Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s Commandments: Number 1) Don¡¯t cause trouble. Number 2) Don¡¯t run away. Number 3) Kill all that stands in our way.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice echoed into everyone¡¯s ears. ¡°I want you all to remember that.¡±


    ¡°There isn¡¯t anyone in this world who could make Lingtian lose this determination,¡± Ling Lan said without hesitation.


    She didn¡¯t need the people in her n topromise. Even if there was a need topromise, it was something her as a regimentmander needed to do, not her members. It was just like how her father, Ling Xiao, pushed her into bing a regimentmander under the worst circumstances, but he protected her to let her grow quickly. She was also going to protect her subordinates the way her father protected her in order to let them do what they wanted to do without any worry.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander!¡± Everyone held back the excitement in their hearts and stood up and saluted to Ling Lan.


    This was their regimentmander, Ling Lan!


    Gu Dongyang looked at the cold yet determined regimentmander Ling Lan with aplicated expression on his face. After a short moment, he slowly breathed out. The heavy feeling he had felt when he entered General slowly dissipated. A smile slowly appeared on his face and the negative feelings he had for the past 10 years or so disappeared just like that.

 Chapter 1151 - The Four Elite Families!

    <h4>Chapter 1151 The Four Elite Families!</h4>


    In a convertible hover car, two people were sitting in it and quickly driving towards their destination.


    ¡°I just received news that Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s Regiment Commander Ling has arrived,¡± suddenly said the charming young man sitting on the left.


    The cool-looking young man sitting on the right side didn¡¯t have any reaction to the sudden news.


    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you saying anything?¡± The charming young man nced at hisrade.


    ¡°What should I say? We¡¯ve only just met him once back then,¡± the cool looking young man responded coldly as he turned towards the other young man.


    ¡°Yeah, it was only just one encounter... But this person was deemed to be trash and yet still led his mecha n and achieved feats that even us, the Flying Dragon Special Forces, feel shocked about. Aren¡¯t you just a little bit curious?¡± The charming young man¡¯s eyes brightened and burning desire began to show within them.


    ¡°You¡¯re still not going to let that go?¡± Frowned the cool-looking young man.


    ¡°I kept telling myself that that person had died. However, when I saw Little White appearing in front of me, I had a feeling that the person hadn¡¯t died yet.¡± The charming young man bit his lip. Despite the other person having exined everything so well, he still held the hope that the impossible was possible. He was basically waiting for a miracle to happen.


    ¡°I¡¯ve looked through Pei Shaoyun¡¯s data. It¡¯s perfect. Everything lines up perfectly; his personality, his quirks, his habit of pouting nothing seems weird. However, it being so perfect makes me think that it¡¯s not real,¡± said the charming young man.


    ¡°Mu Chaoran, you¡¯re going down the rabbit hole again. Anyone who went to the Scout Academy would have data as detailed as that. I think there¡¯s nothing wrong with it,¡± said the cool-looking young man helplessly.


    ¡°Tang Ningyu, my intuition is very urate,¡± replied Mu Chaoran in a serious tone. ¡°This a power that us, the Northeastern Muqi, are born with. The difference is whether or not the person could awaken this ability. Once it is awakened, then that person will be considered to be the next family head of Northeastern Muqi.¡±


    It turns out, these two people were Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. The two of them became work partners and stayed together no matter if they were on a mission or on leave.


    Mu Chaoran¡¯s serious attitude made Tang Ningyu put more attention into the conversation, ¡°It¡¯s that strong?¡±


    ¡°Of course it will be very strong after awakening it. I could pretty much sense all iing dangers,¡± Mu Chaoran responded. ¡°It could even determine whether the person I¡¯m talking has goodwill or evil intentions. Moreover, this is still just the early-stages of the awakening. ording to the Muqi family¡¯s records, once it reaches a higher stage, it could even have the power to go against gods. However, this power is connected to the path the individual wants to awaken. The family head of each generation who had awakened this ability to the highest stage were still very terrifying even though they were very different in terms of what powers they had. Even if they hadn¡¯t reached the level to go against the gods, it wasn¡¯t too far off.¡±


    ¡°The four main elite families aren¡¯t like the great Li family and Ye family. They have people everywhere, but because of the limitations made by the military, they can never gain real military power. Other than those people, the other two areas are considered to be the existence of titans.¡± Mu Chaoran sighed.


    ¡°Our family only focuses on improving our physical skills which has caused our rtions with many of the factions to deteriorate to basically strangers. However, it was because of this that our family managed to withstand the test of time for thousands of years and never fall in history. The four elite families all have their own special powers. Ancient writing dictates that ¡®The Empyreal Zhuge¡¯s Tianji can see all secrets and determine the future of all things. Northeastern Muqi can detect and escape from all crises. Old Martial Beitang are brave and invincible. The Divine Dash of the Zhou family can move thousands of miles in one step.¡¯ These all point towards the real capabilities of the four elite families.¡±


    After saying this, Mu Chaoran sighed again, ¡°Unfortunately, as time went by, the number of individuals who could actually fully awaken our family¡¯s powers had decreased significantly. In this generation, in our Northeastern Muqi, there still hasn¡¯t been anyone who has awakened the god-like powers of our ancestors which has been quite a worrying matter for the current family hea... If it isn¡¯t present in one generation, it would be a fatal blow for the Northeastern Muqi.¡±


    ¡°Not only you guys, but from what I know, even Old Martial Beitang is the same. Most of their descendants live a normal life,¡± Tang Ningyu said calmly. ¡°While those who are somewhat capable would awaken random powers and be sent out by their family head.¡±


    Tang Ningyu had a secret. He was actually from Old Martial Beitang. Back then, he was sent to the Flying Dragon Special Forces because he had awakened the strongest offensive element, the lightning element, not his family¡¯s powers.


    In reality, inrge families such as their own, they wouldn¡¯t send many of their descendants to the military like some smaller families. It was only because these families wanted to ensure their traditions were passed down so they would heartlessly send out those who awaken abilities that were not part of their family¡¯s n. They wouldpletely cut off any connection with them in order to guarantee the purity of their family bloodline.


    This was why he and Mu Chaoran were sent to the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    He could understand the family¡¯s decision, but he ultimately could not forgive them for it. Thus, he never came into contact with the four elite families. Other than the information he had read about while in the Flying Dragon Special Forces, he didn¡¯t know anything else about the four elite families.


    However, Mu Chaoran was very different than him. He was very confident in his family and had always considered himself a part of the Northeastern Muqi. This was also the reason he couldn¡¯t be like Tang Ningyu... The Flying Dragon Special Forces definitely wouldn¡¯t let someone who considered themselves as part of an elite family to take over as their highestmand.


    ¡°I heard that Empyreal Zhuge and the Divine Dash Zhou family also don¡¯t have any god-like prodigies in this current generation.¡± Mu Chaoran also saw their information in the database of the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    It wasn¡¯t because they didn¡¯t awaken their n¡¯s powers, but rather because they had average talent. There wasn¡¯t any chance they could improve in the future, not to mention acquiring god-defying talents.


    ¡°Actually, I admire the Li and Ye families. They didn¡¯t seal themselves off to the world. Whether they are fighting for control with the military or trying to cooperate, they at least still have their own wills and powers to make decisions. Unlike our four elite families where we are just trying to live in between cracks and to even just stay alive...¡± Mu Chaoran couldn¡¯t help but sigh for the third time. He didn¡¯t know which ancestor of theirs decided that the four families must choose such a path. It glorified the four elite families but under the glory, the four elite families were walking on thin ice that was on the brink of copse.


    ¡°However, only these four families have passed down their legacies from thousands of years ago. In these thousands of years, how many Li families and Ye families have appeared?¡± Tang Ningyu said calmly. ¡°The choice is between being glorified for a short time or staying alive for an eternity. The four elite families chose thetter and the Li and Ye families chose the former. The two choices are no different. The only difference is the concept.¡±


    Mu Chaoran thought carefully for a moment and then smiled, ¡°You¡¯re right. We have to thank the choices of our ancestors. Their seemingly random decisions allowed us to be born into this world sessfully.¡± If the four elite families had chosen to be glorified for only a short time, they probably wouldn¡¯t exist anymore.


    ¡°Stop talking about the four elite families. I¡¯m already tired just of the thought of them. Are you going to see Ling Lan at the reception center?¡± Tang Ningyu finally asked the question he had in his mind all this while.


    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s Little White¡¯s current master. I still don¡¯t want to give up and want to ask about Little White.¡± Mu Chaoran eyes darkened. He also felt he was going over the deep end. He knew the result of asking but he still wanted to ask.


    Sometimes, even he couldn¡¯t understand what kind of spell Shaoyun put him under to make him fall so deep into this rut.

 Chapter 1152 - Lend A Knife?

    <h4>Chapter 1152 Lend A Knife?</h4>


    Gu Dongyang walked into Ling Lan¡¯s living room with a dark face.


    In the living room, Luo Lang and Xie Yi were having an intense chess match. Li Yingjie sat at the side, spectating while giving his opinions on their moves.


    Luo Lang and Xie Yi weren¡¯t affected by his constant bbering. They just totally disregarded Li Yingjie¡¯s existence. When Li Yingjie noticed their dismissive attitude, he groaned in frustration.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t in the living room. When Gu Dongyang entered the living room, Xie Yi and Luo Lang quickly stopped what they were doing. The calm and indifferent Luo Lang suddenly turned excited as though a freezing spell was lifted from his expression.


    He smiled brightly and said, ¡°Boss is still in the virtual world.¡±


    To gain more intel about the situation in Soldier City, Gu Dongyang went to contact his old friends in the military. Ling Lan, on the other hand, went into the virtual world and used her tiny hacker, Little Four, to source for more clues.


    Xie Yi looked at Gu Dongyang¡¯s expression and raised his eyebrows. ¡°Did you get rejected?¡±


    Gu Dongyang took off his military cap and threw it on the coffee table. He plopped on the sofa and replied angrily, ¡°Those f**king bastards didn¡¯t even want to meet me.¡±


    He felt that he had treated his friends of the past sincerely, but none of them treated him the same way. All of them said that they were busy and rejected him coldly. He was furious.


    ¡°They¡¯re not simple people.¡± Xie Yi felt that it was normal to be rejected. Any rtionship required time and effort to maintain. No matter how good your rtionship was in the past, it would deteriorate over ten years if it wasn¡¯t maintained properly. Moreover, Gu Dongyang was chased out of General as an outcast. Who would be willing to risk their future to befriend an outcast like him?


    If there was really someone who would take the risk, he must treasure that person.


    ¡°But, I still managed to get some clues. Someone in the military secretly told me that the situation is against us. Someone from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee found evidence that our regimentmander had killed people without mercy.¡± This was another reason why Gu Dongyang was frustrated.


    Xie Yi frowned. ¡°The Disciplinary and Investigation Committee? Why are they still finding trouble with us? Do you know who the person is?¡±


    Gu Dongyang shook his head. ¡°He¡¯s not sure too. The information was restricted by the higher authorities. They probably want to catch us off guard.¡±


    Luo Lang¡¯s gaze turned cold. He frowned and asked, ¡°Brother Gu, is your friend close to you? Have you always been in contact with him? Is he reliable?¡±


    Gu Dongyang replied, ¡°I left the military in the past because I offended someone with a powerful background to help another soldier. He is the soldier I helped.¡±


    ¡°He coincidentally saw me while he was on a mission. He wanted to repay me so he came to look for me. When he knew what I was there for, he told me tactfully that I should be prepared for what will happen.¡± Gu Dongyang thought about what happened carefully. ¡°I think he¡¯s reliable.¡±


    ¡°Just like what you say, don¡¯t believe everything you see.¡± A cold voice sounded in the room.


    The four people stood up hurriedly. ¡°Regiment Commander!¡±


    Ling Lan walked out of her room and signaled for them to sit down.


    After Gu Dongyang sat down, he asked, ¡°Regimentmander, did you find any evidence in the virtual world?¡±


    The other people looked at Boss intently as they waited for an answer.


    ¡°Yes. There are people pulling a cheap trick but it might not be the intention of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    Gu Dongyang, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi were enlightened, only Li Yingjie remained confused. Damn it, what was Boss trying to say? He understood her words but didn¡¯t know what the hidden meaning behind her words was. Please talk properly for me, Boss!


    ¡°We just gave them a p on the face so the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee won¡¯t jump out now to offend us. However, someone pushed a pile of evidence against me to the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee so they had no choice but to take the case,¡± Ling Lan replied.


    ¡°Someone wants to use the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee to handle us.¡± Li Yingjie finally understood what Ling Lan was saying


    ¡°Is the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee so easy to fool?¡± Ling Lan nced at Li Yingjie. ¡°The other party just wants to make things difficult for us.¡±


    ¡°Did you find out who the person is?¡± Luo Lang asked.


    ¡°No. The person hides his tracks very well. I couldn¡¯t find his real identity.¡± Ling Lan remembered Little Four¡¯s reply. The other party might have a team of powerful imperial level hackers. However, he still did manage to find some clues. He was able to find the area where the person was located. This person must be hiding in the military.


    In order tomand a team of imperial level hackers, this person¡¯s rank must be high. He had to be a general or above. They just didn¡¯t know which general it was.


    ¡°What should we do now?¡± Li Yingjie asked hurriedly.


    Ling Lan smiled. ¡°Wait and see!¡±


    As long as no one in the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee dered her as guilty, she wouldn¡¯t be in any danger. The only thing the other party might do was to keep her on general so that they could do something to the people at Base Neb.


    She was prepared for this. She left Li Lanfeng, Han Jijyun, Yang Mingzhi, and Liu Furong at Base Neb so that they could control the situation while looking for the spy.


    If things went out of hand, Ling Lan had other ns too. She chose these five people specifically because she knew what they represented.


    Yang Mingzhi was the confidant of the First Marshal. As long as she and her father didn¡¯t betray the First Marshal (on the surface), Yang Mingzhi would definitely ask the First Marshal for help. The First Marshal wouldn¡¯t want to disappoint his subordinates so he would lend a helping hand.


    Since the First Marshal dared to send Yang Mingzhi over, she also dared to use him to her advantage.


    As for Qi Long, Han Jijyun, and Li Lanfeng, they represented different factions. Qi Long was the prince of the 13th division. Li Lanfeng was the real heir of the Li family. Both of them would use their power to protect Lingtian if there was a need to.


    As for the Han family, it was not as simple as what Han Jijyun thought. Ling Lan wanted to use this opportunity to see what the Han family wanted from Lingtian.

 Chapter 1153 - Serve?

    <h4>Chapter 1153 Serve?</h4>


    As for Liu Furong, his children and wife were staying with the Ling family so he must stand by the Ling family and protect Lingtian. If the other four people went astray, Liu Furong and the loyal Lin Zhong-qing would also be enough to salvage the situation.


    The people she left behind were carefully chosen. They checked and bnced each other out. With their presence, Lingtian would be safe.


    Luo Lang, Xie Yi, and Gu Dongyang nodded and went into deep thought after hearing Ling Lan¡¯s reply. Li Yingjie, on the other hand, was frustrated. ¡®Wait and see... does this mean we have to put up with everything?¡¯


    At that moment, an optical supeputer in the living room blinked.


    Li Yingjie was the closest to it so he pressed the connect button and a beautiful female soldier wearing the military uniform appeared on the screen.


    When thedy saw Li Yingjie, she smiled sweetly. ¡°Hello, lieutenant colonel. There are two colonels who want to visit you.¡±


    The image on the screen changed, showing two young colonels. They were Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran.


    Li Yingjie raised his eyebrows in surprise. He didn¡¯t recognise these two people.


    The colonel with a cold aura sensed Li Yingjie¡¯s confusion so he exined, ¡°We¡¯re here to look for Regiment Commander Ling.¡±


    Li Yingjie looked at his regimentmander and waited for her answer.


    Ling Lan looked towards the screen curiously when she heard the voice. She frowned when she saw the two figures. Why were they looking for her? She had exined herself clearly in the past. There were no loopholes in her disguise.


    However, since they came to find her, she couldn¡¯t chase them away. She nodded at Li Yingjie.


    Li Yingjie turned and said, ¡°Our regimentmander invites you in.¡±


    Soon, there was a ¡®click¡¯ sound at the door. Li Yingjie rushed out and opened the door.


    When the door opened, it revealed Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran standing at attention. Li Yingjie moved aside and motioned with his arm. ¡°Pleasee in.¡±


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran nodded at Li Yingjie. This was the first time they saw Li Yingjie. They were quite surprised to see someone so young to be only one rank lower than them. They entered the living room and saw Ling Lan waiting for them on the sofa. She was a major general now. The two young people standing behind her, Xie Yi and Luo Lang were lieutenant colonels. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were stunned.


    They exchanged nces. Then, they calmed themselves.


    As expected of a soldier whose name was known throughout the gxy. None of his subordinates were weak. They remembered the young officers at Base 013 during the battle on Haijiao. There were many powerful people under Prince Ling.


    Soon, their attention was attracted by Gu Dongyang who was sitting on the sofa at the right side of Ling Lan. He was a senior colonel, and there was a strong killing intent exuding from him. He must be an experienced soldier. When they walked in, he nced at them. That single nce was enough to make them restless. If they didn¡¯t control themselves, they might have activated their domain uncontrobly under the threat of his aura.


    ¡°Have a seat.¡± As a major general, Ling Lan didn¡¯t need to be polite with them.


    This was the attitude of a superior. In the past, when they were at the same rank, they were courteous to each other. Now, Ling Lan was able to look down on them.


    The two of them suddenly felt a strong pressure on her shoulders. They were high-ranking officers from the Flying Dragon Special Forces, but they didn¡¯t dare to be disrespectful to a major general. They saluted and sat down.


    Gu Dongyang noticed that their attitude was good so he retracted his killing intent. He looked like a normal person now.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran looked at each other again. Their arrogance as a member of the Flying Dragon Special Forces had disappeared by now.


    When Gu Dongyang knew that the two people who came were the leaders of the new generation in the Flying Dragon Special Forces, he decided to give them an opening gambit so that they wouldn¡¯t be impolite to his regimentmander.


    ¡°Time flies. It has been almost eight months since the battle on Haijiao.¡± Ling Lan signaled for Li Yingjie to pour some tea.


    Li Yingjie looked around him but saw no one he could order. He gritted his teeth and went off.


    F**k, the other three people had a higher position than him in Lingtian! Based on their rules, he should be the one serving tea.


    Li Yingjie took out four teacups. He forcefully ced a teacup in front of Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu. Then, he lightly ced a cup in front of Gu Dongyang. As for thest teacup, he handed it over respectfully to Ling Lan with both hands.


    The three different actions represented his attitude. As for Luo Lang and Xie Yi... they can get their own cups. I¡¯m not serving them.


    Ling Lan took the teacup and had a sip. She ced the teacup on the coffee table before asking, ¡°Why did you twoe to find me?¡±


    Mu Chaoran answered respectfully, ¡°Actually, I came because of some personal matter. Please forgive me.¡±


    He looked up and stared at Ling Lan. He continued sincerely, ¡°The previous time we interacted, I saw my friend¡¯s pet, Little White, coincidentally became your pet. I¡¯ve been missing it so I came to find out how it has been. I hope that you can tell me about its current condition.¡±


    ¡°Little White?¡± Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows in doubt. ¡°Why don¡¯t I know that I have a pet called Little White?¡±


    The other four people from Lingtian couldn¡¯t help but thought, ¡®If Little White knew that Ling Lan doesn¡¯t acknowledge it, it would definitely cry. Fortunately, Little Four ate too much and is sleeping in the warehouse of the logistics department. If not, it might throw a tantrum.¡±


    Mu Chaoran smiled. ¡°Of course. Little White is probably with Li Lanfeng now.¡±


    Although the soldiers from Lingtian had a tight mouth, Mu Chaoran still managed to find out that Little White was thrown to Li Lanfeng after Major General Ling went back.


    ¡°Oh, that small little thing.¡± Ling Lan appeared enlightened.


    ¡°It kept following me so I picked it up,¡± she replied calmly.


    Mu Chaoran got excited. ¡°How is it?¡±


    ¡°Lingtian is still able to feed it. Leader Li has been raising it well,¡± Ling Lan answered.


    Actually, when she was saying this, Ling Lan felt guilty. Little White had a huge appetite. She had some difficulty trying to feed it. In the end, Little White had to go outside to fill up its stomach. Before they went to Base Neb, Little White started sleeping. Fortunately, she sensed that it was still very much alive.


    Ling Lan knew that once Little White woke up, it would be more powerful. Sometimes, Ling Lan was jealous of Little White. It just needed to eat and sleep and it would be more powerful. What afortable life! She was so jealous of it.

 Chapter 1154 - Answer?

    <h4>Chapter 1154 Answer?</h4>


    ¡°I¡¯ve always wanted to ask if you met an innocent and beautiful young man while you were doing your mission?¡± Mu Chaoran hesitated for a moment but still decided to ask this question.


    Ling Lan looked at Mu Chaoran and frowned. After so long, Mu Chaoran still hadn¡¯t let go.


    ¡°No,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly. This was something he had to ovee himself. Ling Lan didn¡¯t feel that she needed to help him.


    Mu Chaoran¡¯s gaze turned dim. He shouldn¡¯t have given himself any hope.


    Tang Ningyu was sad too. However, he must ept the truth in front of him. Hence, he wasn¡¯t as disheartened as Mu Chaoran.


    ¡°Since you asked me a question, I hope that you can answer my question too.¡± Ling Lan thought for a moment before opening her mouth.


    Tang Ningyu became serious immediately. He turned vignt. He didn¡¯t know what Major General Ling wanted to ask them.


    ¡°I want to know when the reporting conference will be held.¡± Lingtian saw the vignce in Tang Ningyu¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°Although we¡¯re from the Flying Dragon Special Forces, we don¡¯t know the decisions made by the higher authorities.¡± Tang Ningyu narrowed his eyes.


    Ling Lan smiled slightly. She nced at Tang Ningyu coldly. Then, she turned to Mu Chaoran and said indifferently, ¡°Colonel Mu, I don¡¯t want to hear another lie.¡±


    The conversation had startled Mu Chaoran. He gave his signature naughty smile and replied, ¡°Major General Ling, you are overestimating me.¡±


    are


    ¡°I have to suspect that the Flying Dragon Special Forces has pushed you out to be the scapegoat if you don¡¯t even know such a small matter. After all, you¡¯re the leader of the new generation.¡± Ling Lan smiled at Mu Chaoran.


    ¡°I remember that the time of the conference is written clearly on the summon.¡± Tang Ningyu tried his best to give a reply.


    ¡°I think that a new summon will being soon,¡± Ling Lan suddenly said something entirely unrted.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s expressions changed. They realised that they chose the wrong time to visit Ling Lan.


    There was silence in the living room. The atmosphere turned awkward. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran looked at each other. They decided to leave.


    At that moment, Ling Lan¡¯smunicator vibrated. Ling Lan smiled as she looked at the two restless people. She epted the call.


    The virtual screen lit up. A beautiful virtual female soldier smiled elegantly as she told Ling Lan the new summon that just came. The conference which was supposed to be held in two hours would be postponed. The postponed time was not determined yet so a further notification would be sent to confirm the time. She ended with a happy goodbye.


    Ling Lan looked up. ¡°Did you hear it clearly?¡±


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran felt awkward. They didn¡¯t know that Major General Ling had noticed the cheap tricks of the military headquarters.


    ¡°We really don¡¯t know.¡± Tang Ningyu didn¡¯t want to disobey the rules.


    ¡°Three dayster!¡± Mu Chaoran suddenly opened his mouth.


    ¡°Chaoran!¡± Tang Ningyu shouted in surprise.


    Mu Chaoran signalled for Tang Ningyu to remain calm. He stared at Ling Lan intently as he said, ¡°It will be held three dayster. Many factions will do something within these three days. Major General Ling, please be careful.¡±


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Thank you.¡± She took her teacup and had a sip of tea.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran heaved a sigh of relief. They stood up in unnned unison and saluted to Ling Lan. Then, they left.


    When they reached the main atrium, Tang Ningyu grabbed Mu Chaoran and asked, ¡°Chaoran, why did you leak the information?¡±


    ¡°Major General Ling is not our enemy,¡± Mu Chaoran replied calmly.


    ¡°You¡¯ll be dead if our superiors knew what you did.¡± Tang Ningyu was worried.


    As one of the leaders of the new generation, Tang Ningyu knew how strict their instructors were to them. They wouldn¡¯t allow them to make any mistakes. Once they discovered what Mu Chaoran did, he would lose everything.


    This was a huge burden on their shoulders. There was no time for them to rx.


    Both he and Mu Chaoran had different ways of relieving this stress. He became expressionless while Mu Chaoran¡¯s smile became slightly evil. There was no right or wrong.


    This might be why the innocent and pure smile of Pei Shaoyun meant so much to them. They felt that his smile was something precious.


    They just wanted to be able to feel the warmth that they had never felt before. They hoped that they could have someone they could dote on without being on their guards. Yet, this opportunity was taken away from them mercilessly.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Mu Chaoran remained indifferent. ¡°Major General Ling saved us on P Azure. I¡¯ll take it as repaying him.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯re many ways of repaying debt. You might be sent on a suicide mission if you get caught.¡± Tang Ningyu frowned. If he knew this was going to happen, he wouldn¡¯t havee. He could already feel the unhappiness his superiors had for Mu Chaoran.


    ¡°If that happens, you¡¯ll have to prepare a banquet to send me off.¡± Mu Chaoran gave a naughty smile. He seemed unconcerned.


    ¡°Chaoran!¡± Tang Ningyu said angrily when he saw how nonchnt Mu Chaoran was.


    Mu Chaoran¡¯s smile disappeared slowly. After three seconds, he replied in a soft voice, ¡°Brother Shaoyun disappeared on Azure. I¡¯ll take it that I¡¯m telling him this information.¡± For some reason, Mu Chaoran felt that his Little Brother Shaoyun would be happy with what he did. He would give him that pure and bright smile.


    ¡°You...¡± Tang Ningyu sighed helplessly.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go. We might be scolded again when we return to our base.¡± Mu Chaoran noticed the change in his superiors¡¯ attitude too. However, he couldn¡¯t go against his heart. Maybe, just like what Tang Ningyu said, he would anger his superiors one day and they would send him on a suicide mission.


    ¡°Tell them that it¡¯s my idea,¡± Tang Ningyu reminded him earnestly.


    Their superiors were more lenient towards him. There wouldn¡¯t be many consequences if he took the me.


    Mu Chaoran was grateful. However, he just smiled and replied, ¡°Of course. Why would I want to be punished?¡±


    The two people sat in their hover car and quickly went back to the base of the Flying Dragon Special Forces.

 Chapter 1155 - Baseline!

    <h4>Chapter 1155 Baseline!</h4>


    After the two visitors left, Xie Yi and Luo Lang came to sit on the sofa.


    Xie Yi immediately opened his mouth and asked, ¡°Boss, do you think that he is telling the truth?¡±


    Ling Lan replied calmly, ¡°Most probably.¡±


    ¡°Why are they postponing it?¡± Li Yingjie frowned. He couldn¡¯t understand the decision.


    ¡°It is so that they can have more time to collect evidence against me.¡± Ling Lan gave a cold smile. ¡°Exciting times are ahead of us. Everyone will stand opposite of us. My n ispletely messed up!. Damn it.¡± Ling Lan seethed with gritted teeth. She quickly downed the whole cup of tea before mming it heavily on the table.


    The teacup started to crystallize into shards of ice before it exploded in a loud burst. The shards of ice in the air quickly disintegrated into nothing as if it was never there.


    Everyone at the scene felt their heart pumping heavily. They knew Boss was really infuriated with the current situation.


    Boss seemed cold and heartless but in actual fact, it was hard to anger him. No matter how unhappy he was, he would at most re at you. They rarely saw him expressing his anger in this manner.


    Luo Lang had been with Ling Lan since they were young children so he remembered thest time Ling Lan got this furious was during the battle with Leiting in the military academy. That was when the other party tried to cripple Qi Long. Because of this, their opponent had to lie in the healing pod for an entire year, missing the military assessment that year. To Ling Lan, this was a small punishment.


    Luo Lang and the other three people prayed for the wellness of their opponents. Once Boss was angry, no one could survive in one piece.


    Ling Lan got indignant because the people in the military touched her bottomline.


    If there weren¡¯t any spies in Base Neb, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t mind their cheap tricks as much. She just wanted to clear all the spies in the base so that Base Neb would be a clean home for herrades which was quite important to her.


    Yet, during such a crucial time, the people from the military were scheming against her, causing her ns to be disrupted again and again. Things were just going on the upswing but now, everything was in a mess again.


    ¡°No wonder my father said that one has to be in the highest position before one could do what one wants.¡± Ling Lan finally understood the pain of being led on by other people. If the military hadn¡¯t disrupted her, all the spies in Base Neb would have been caught within these few days.


    Ling Lan took a deep breath and calmed down.


    Luo Lang and the others suddenly felt the pressure on them being lifted.


    Ling Lan touched her forehead when she saw the careful gaze of the four people. They probably thought that she was furious just now. Actually, she had a good temper. She rarely lost her temper. Why couldn¡¯t anyone realise that? She pouted in her mind as she thought about their image of her.


    Ling Lan was confused. She rarely smiled but she rarely got angry too. Why were her friends all so afraid of her? When she looked at them, they would jump up in fright. She was like a predator while they were her prey.


    While Ling Lan was immersed in her own thoughts, one of the four people finally spoke up.


    ¡°Boss, what are we going to do for the next three days?¡± The innocent Luo Lang got pushed out from his mindscape.


    The calm personality ran away the moment he saw Ling Lan got angry.


    Ling Lan regained her senses and replied indifferently, ¡°We¡¯ll wait. Wait for them toe and challenge us.¡±


    ¡°Challenge?¡± Li Yingjie, who was hiding behind the sofa, jumped up excitedly


    ¡°You¡¯re bing more and more like Qi Long.¡± Xie Yi couldn¡¯t help butin.


    The moment Qi Long heard the word ¡®challenge¡¯, he would get excited just like how Li Yingie was acting right now. Xie Yi still remembered the times when he was dragged by Qi Long to have a fight with him. Before Qi Long entered the domain stage, he was still able to fight on par with him but now, he could only take some punches in the face before calling it a day.


    The times when he agreed to fight with Qi Long were because he wanted to gain a deeper understanding of his domain concept. If not, he wouldn¡¯t torture himself... he was not a masochist...


    ¡°Didn¡¯t Li Lanfeng tell us that we came to help Boss with his challengers?¡± Li Yingjie¡¯s proud expression almost made Xie Yi vomit out blood.


    What an honest boy. He had been fooled by Li Lanfeng so many times but yet, he still wholeheartedly believed in him.


    ¡°Fine, you can handle the challengers tomorrow.¡± Xie Yi didn¡¯t know what to say.


    Li Yingjie smiled brightly as he replied, ¡°No problem. I¡¯m more experienced than you when ites to these matters.¡±


    Xie Yi hugged his head helplessly and leaned towards Luo Lang.


    He had nothing to say. He used to think that Li Yingjie was an irritating bastard but he was actually a stupid and innocent little boy.


    Luo Lang saw Xie Yi leaning over from the corner of his eyes. His gaze suddenly turned cold. Just as Xie Yi¡¯s head was about to touch his shoulder, he moved forward.


    Luo Lang¡¯s action was too sudden and silent, so Xie Yi didn¡¯t notice it. He fell sideways to the ground.


    Just as he was about to hit the floor. Xie Yi got into a nk position and pushed his body up. He didn¡¯t fall to the ground but it was still embarrassing for him.


    Xie Yi looked at Luo Lang unhappily.


    Luo Lang¡¯s gaze turned pure again. He looked at Xie Yi innocently. It was as though he didn¡¯t know why Xie Yi suddenly fell from the sofa.


    Xie Yi touched his nose with a blushed face. He couldn¡¯t me Luo Lang. How could he me someone who didn¡¯t know what was happening? Plus, this blur Luo Lang was quite cute too, right?

 Chapter 1156 - Everyday!

    <h4>Chapter 1156 Everyday!</h4>


    They had a long journey so they quickly went back to their rooms to have a rest. The night went by peacefully.


    The next morning, Gu Dongyang woke up in the break of dawn. While he was trying to sleepst night, some questions popped into his mind but it was toote to ask Ling Lan. Thus, he set his mind to immediately go ask Ling Lan after freshening up the next morning


    He went to Ling Lan¡¯s room after he freshen up. He pressed the doorbell. The door opened after a while.


    The moment he entered the room, he saw Li Yingjie sitting on the sofa, yawning. He was surprised. ¡°Little Leader Li, why are you here so early?¡±


    He arrived an hour early but Little Leader Li was even earlier than him. It was public knowledge that Little Leader Li was never punctual. He would always arrive at the veryst minute.


    Li Yingjie covered his mouth and yawned. He was still in a daze when he replied, ¡°Boss said he will bring us to the Statue of Heroes today. I¡¯m scared that I¡¯ll miss it.¡±


    Li Yingjie was afraid that he would infuriate Boss if he woke upte so he counted his fingers until the sun rose. He didn¡¯t sleep a single wink so his eyes were bloodshot.


    ¡°You¡¯re really early.¡± Gu Dongyang was speechless. He nced at Boss¡¯s room. The door was still shut tightly. ¡°Is our regimentmander awake?¡±


    Li Yingjie shook his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t hear anything.¡±


    ¡°How did youe in?¡± Gu Dongyang was puzzled.


    ¡°Same as you. I pressed the doorbell and the door opened itself.¡± Li Yingjie didn¡¯t sense anything weird. ¡°Boss might have tuned the mainframe so that we can enter anytime we want.¡±


    Li Yingjie spoke as though doing that was just a simple matter. Gu Dongyang rolled his eyes in his mind. The mainframe of the room was connected to the mainframe of the Federation. If Boss wanted to control the mainframe of the Federation and the surveince cameras of the room, he needed to have exceptional hacking abilities.


    Gu Dongyang didn¡¯t dare to think any further. This had nothing to do with him anyway.


    The two of them sat quietly on the sofa and waited for their regimentmander to get up.


    After some time, Xie Yi and Luo Lang walked into the room. It¡¯s obvious that Xie Yi went to look for Luo Lang so that they coulde in together.


    When Gu Dongyang saw all of them had arrived, he went to the optical supeputer and ordered five breakfast sets.


    The sound of a door opening was heard and Ling Lan walked out in full ck. She was wearing a ck shirt and a pair of ck pants. It was simple but she looked cool and handsome.


    Ling Lan was fiddling with the buttons on her sleeve when she came out. ¡°Everyone is here?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Boss Lan. I even ordered you breakfast.¡± Li Yingjie quickly stole Gu Dongyang¡¯s glory.


    Gu Dongyang shook his head and smiled. Yang Mingzhi, Liu Furong and him always watched these youngters with interest whenever they tried to gain the favour of Ling Lan. To veteran soldiers like them, just these interactions could entertain them for days. They even asionally bet on who would gain most of Ling Lan¡¯s favour of the day behind everyone¡¯s back.


    Hence, he was quite used to what Li Yingjie did as this happened all the time. The only surprise was who would be the most shameless on the day.


    Plus, the leaders had their principles too. They would acknowledge the shamelessness of the person and never exposed him. The only thing they would do was to shoot res at the person.


    Unsurprisingly, Li Yingjie received res from Luo Lang and Xie Yi right after he finished speaking. Xie Yi was speechless while Luo Lang¡¯s face was all puffed up. He hated himself for reacting too slowly.


    Xie Yi patted Luo Lang¡¯s shoulder to console him. Luo Lang was always slower than other people when ites to fighting for the favour of Boss. He could only win if his other personalities took over, for instance, the calm personality.


    Ling Lan pretended that she didn¡¯t notice their emotions. Since her friends liked to y this game, she would pretend that she didn¡¯t know anything and cooperate with them. The daily training was tiring enough so they should have a chance to rx and y.


    ¡°Regimentmander, aren¡¯t you going to wear your military attire?¡± Gu Dongyang asked Ling Lan when he saw her attire.


    ¡°We are just going for a walk so wearing military attire will be inconvenient.¡± There were many generals on General but none as young as her. She would stand out among the crowd if she wore her uniform.


    Gu Dongyang thought about something and got up. ¡°I¡¯ll go change.¡±


    Li Yingjie was very excited when he heard this. He jumped up and shouted, ¡°I¡¯ll go change too.¡± Sob, he hadn¡¯t worn his luxurious and extravagant clothes in a long time.


    Luo Lang was at a loss. He didn¡¯t know why Li Yingjie and Gu Dongyang left so quickly.


    ¡°Boss, Luo Lang and I will go change too.¡±


    ¡°Am I finally able to wear the couple shirt I bought long ago?¡± Xie Yi felt ted when he thought about this.


    ¡°But I didn¡¯t bring...¡± Before Luo Lang could finish his sentence, he was dragged away by Xie Yi.


    Ling Lan looked at the empty living room and smiled. This is really interesting.


    After some time, everyone got changed and gathered in Ling Lan¡¯s living room.


    Li Yingjie¡¯s clothes were quite painful for the eyes. It was like a peacock fanning its tail. However, the aura of a nobleman he exuded with the clothes allowed him to look more handsome.


    Gu Dongyang¡¯s attire was very normal. After retracting his force of presence, it would be difficult to pick him out from the crowd.


    As for Xie Yi and Luo Lang, they were wearing simr navy school uniforms. They looked like a handsome and bright young man, and a cute little girl... cough, no wait, they are a handsome and bright young man, and a pretty little... How could Ling Lan describe them? Luo Lang looked like ady wearing a man¡¯s costume.


    Ling Lan came beside Luo Lang and patted his shoulder. She sighed. ¡°It¡¯s better if you wear your military uniform next time.¡± He didn¡¯t look much like a man in his military uniform but it was better than this current attire. If they went out now, Luo Lang would definitely be cat-called.


    Luo Lang was confused about what Ling Lan meant. He thought about Ling Lan¡¯s words carefully and felt that she meant he looked much better in his military attire. As expected, military uniforms suited him more. Luo Lang was happy at his realization. He red at Xie Yi.


    Xie Yi was still delighted even though he was red at. His expression seemed a little stupid.


    Their breakfast got sent in soon after.


    After they finished their breakfast, Ling Lan put on her cloak and went out with everyone.


    They gged for a small hover car at the stand beside the ce they stayed at. They entered the car and Gu Dongyang entered their location¡¯s coordinates into the optical supeputer.


    The Statue of Heroes was located at the General za. There were many military museums built there too. One trip to the za and one would know all the disclosed history of the military of the Huaxia Federation. The glory gained by the military, the humiliations that were avenged, the legendary battle teams of the past, all of these were recorded to remind the citizens of how Huaxia Federation rose to its current position.


    They wouldn¡¯t be able to say that they had been on General if they didn¡¯t visit the General za.


    This was one of the reasons why Ling Lan decided to bring them there. Another reason was that she was very curious about what lies within the za. Little Four had once showed her a 3D image of the za but nothing beats seeing it personally. She wanted to understand why this ce meant so much to the citizens of the Huaxia Federation.


    There was some distance away between the ce they stayed at and the za. The hover car drove for one and a half hours before arriving


    They walked out of the hover car after it stopped right in front of the entrance. There were a few people beside them but it wasn¡¯t as crowded as what they had imagined.


    ¡°Is the za always so empty?¡± Ling Lan asked curiously.


    Gu Dongyang smiled. ¡°Of course not. The mainframe would distribute the crowd evenly, making it seem as though there are very few people from the outside.¡±


    He walked towards a nearby blinking optical supeputer and scanned hismunicator on it. He seemed familiar with this ce.


    The optical supeputer quickly activated its virtual screen. Gu Dongyang entered the number of people as five and then asked the group to scan theirmunicators too.


    Soon, all theirmunicators disyed their next location.


    ¡°We¡¯re a group now. This way, the mainframe wouldn¡¯t split us up.¡± Gu Dongyang exined as he looked at the information on hismunicator.


    Xie Yi, Luo Lang, and Li Yingjie kept nodding like country bumpkins.


    Ling Lan nced at hermunicator before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Then, she walked towards the destination on hermunicator.


    Little Four had already disyed the entire 3D and bird¡¯s-eye view map of the za in Ling Lan¡¯s head so she knew exactly where to go.


    Gu Dongyang looked at Ling Lan with respect. He took one entire year to memorise the locations of all the exhibitions and paths in the za. However, it had been a long time since he came here. He didn¡¯t know if his sense of direction could still be trusted.


    As expected, a hacker was different.


    Ling Lan and her friends followed the instructions from the mainframe and toured a few exhibitions. They saw the history of many soldiers, some of which were still alive while others were gone from the world. In order to make the Federation stronger, many valiant soldiers were sacrificed in the process. This was still a price they had to continue paying because everyone wanted a brighter future for the Federation.


    ¡°We are going to see the Statue of Heroes next. That¡¯s great.¡± Luo Lang was ted when he received the new notification.


    Some tour groups around them stared at him with ¡®hatred¡¯.


    Although the exhibitions were educational, most came to the za to see the Statue of Heroes.


    The Statue of Heroes wasn¡¯t a series of statues. It was like a museum. This museum consisted of the information of the strongest soldiers in the Federation. Some of these heroes weren¡¯t announced to the public too. If one could pass the three tasks assigned by the mainframe, they would be able to get the non-disclosed information from the Statue of Heroes.


    Only seven people managed to pass the three tasks ever since the Statue of Heroes was built. This showed how difficult the three tasks were.


    Even so, many people were still curious enough to try andplete the three tasks. Unfortunately, it had been thirty years since thest personpleted the three tasks.


    The Statue of Heroes wasn¡¯t easy to find either. Everyone required to receive a notification from the mainframe before they could even go there. If you looked for it yourself, you wouldn¡¯t have the right to enter the museum.


    This was why the people around Luo Lang stared at him with envy when he said that he would be going to the Statue of Heroes soon.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Ling Lan smiled when she received the notification. She was probably the only one who knew why they received the offer so soon.


    The Statue of Heroes was located right in the center of the general za. Without the instructions from the mainframe, you would still be able to find the Statue of Heroes if you walked towards the center of the za. There was a huge stone statue in front of the museum. The names of all the famous soldiers in the Federation were carved on this stone statue. They were all prominent figures important to a certain generation.


    The Huaxia Federation had thousands of years of history but there were not many names carved on the stone. There were only 98 people whose names were carved on it. The heroic acts of everyone were written in detail below the name. Yet, only a small portion of the stone was upied.


    ¡®Thest person whose name was carved lived more than a hundred years ago. I wonder who the 99th person will be?¡¯ Ling Lan wondered to herself.


    The group of them looked up at the statue before entering the Statue of Heroes.


    The Statue of Heroes was very big. Once someone entered, a list of marshals would be disyed. Ling Lan nced at them and entered deeper into the venue, and the list of god-ss mechas were finally disyed in front of them. Ling Lan felt her heart thumping. She quickly moved to the end and saw her father¡¯s name.


    ¡°Ah, its General Ling!¡± Luo Lang shouted excitedly.


    Luo Lang was Ling Lan¡¯s faithful follower. His respect for Boss¡¯s father was evident.

 Chapter 1157 - Part of the Lan family!

    <h4>Chapter 1157 Part of the Lan family!</h4>


    ¡°What, Ling Xiao? The person who used his name to acquire merits and selfishly used his powers to promote his son to his current position? Fortunately, he failed even after putting in all that effort and his son became useless. It really makes me happy to know that.¡± Suddenly, a sharp voice echoed within everyone¡¯s ears.


    ¡°What did you just say?¡± Li Yingjie was the first to turn livid. He walked up with an angry expression on his face and shouted.


    The person, who spoke in an insulting way, was a 25-year-old young man. He had an expression of schadenfreude as he mocked Ling Xiao with a belittling gaze.


    Ling Lan slowly turned around and a sh of killing intent went through her eyes. If she was the one being insulted, she would not care too much about it. However, her father, Ling Xiao, and her mother, Lan Luofeng, were the two people she didn¡¯t allow anyone to insult. No matter who stepped over this line, Ling Lan would retaliate hundred-fold.


    ¡°Am I wrong? It¡¯s only because he lied to the world, making them actually believe that he and his son were the saviors of the battle on Haijiao. All bullshit if you ask me!¡± That young man spat on the ground with a smug gaze, it was as if he really believed that he was the only one in this world who was ¡®woke¡¯ enough to understand the truth about Ling Xiao. The man¡¯s gaze and action infuriated Luo Lang and the others greatly.


    ¡°Ignorant bastard, speaking so absurdly.¡± Even Gu Dongyang, who usually could stay calm, was angered by this young man. Right as he was about to walk up and teach this ignorant fool a lesson, a white hand stopped him.


    ¡°If you dare to question General Ling Xiao, then you probably have a strong enough background. Who are you?¡± Ling Lan asked calmly.


    ¡°Heh, only elites could question Ling Xiao? I¡¯m a proud citizen of the Federation. I ,of course, have the right to question any higher-up of the military,¡± said the young man proudly.


    Ling Lan smirked and raised her eyebrows. ¡°Just an average citizen?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Citizens aren¡¯t allowed to speak freely?¡± The young man stared Ling Lan down and had an unruly expression on his face.


    Bang!


    The young man was suddenly sent flying beforending on the ground with a heavy ¡®thud¡¯. The suddenmotion instantly attracted the attention of the visitors who were looking through the murals. They all gathered towards themotion with surprised expressions on their faces. It should be known that fighting was prohibited near the Statue of Heroes.


    ¡°Yo-you dare to attack me?¡± The young man, who wasying sprawled on the ground, pointed at the shadow standing before him and shouted out loud. The left side of his face was swollen pig like a pig. In between his words, blood burst out from between his teeth which made him look somewhat pitiful.


    Seeing the pitiful situation the young man was in, those who came towards themotion had expressions of pity on their faces. Right as they were about to me the person responsible for the act, they immediately stopped having the thought right away.


    The person who did this was actually a beautiful girl. Despite her tomboyish look, her face made everyone else understand that this person was definitely a woman. If she wasn¡¯t, they would poke their own eyes out.


    Thus, the bystanders began to think about what had happened before the fight. In the end, they came to the conclusion that the young man had perverted thoughts after seeing the beautiful woman. He probably flirted with her and was beaten up badly instead.


    Luo Lang blew on his fist and smiled radiantly. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with attacking you?¡±


    ¡°J-Just you wait.¡± The young man didn¡¯t think that these schrly-looking individuals were actually so barbaric. He immediately used hismunicator to call for reinforcements. Ling Lan andpany didn¡¯t stop him from doing so as they wanted to know what person stood behind this young man who dared to be disrespectful towards General Ling Xiao.


    Not long after, a few people came out of the Statue of Heroes. After seeing the young manying on the floor pitifully, they were instantly surprised.


    ¡°Who did this?¡± One of the more muscr men shouted out angrily as he stared at those around them.


    ¡°I did.¡± Luo Lang raised his head proudly.


    These neers fixed their surprised gaze towards Luo Lang. ording to the way they were standing, Luo Lang was without a doubt the one who had attacked the young man. It was only because of Luo Lang¡¯s face and physique that made them rule him out by assumption.


    ¡°Miss, I¡¯m not sure what our family¡¯s underling has done to upset you. However, isn¡¯t taking such a severe method of handling such matters unreasonable?¡± The man leading the group looked at the young man on the floor who had half of his teeth gone. Despite knowing that it was quite possibly his underling¡¯s fault, the amount of force used still made him angry inside.


    ¡°Who are you calling miss?¡± Luo Lang instantly exploded with anger after being referred to as a woman. He quickly stepped out and threw a punch.


    Bang!


    Two fish smashed into one another. The man who spoke couldn¡¯t handle the force behind Luo Lang¡¯s fist and moved back ten or so steps before managing to regain his bnce. Luo Lang on the other hand took back his fist and snorted coldly. ¡°So, you¡¯re somewhat capable it seems. That was just a lesson. If you refer to me as a female again, then don¡¯t me me if I put in more force behind the next hit.¡±


    Luo Lang¡¯s words dumbfounded those around them. This littledy was a man? Was that true? Are they really going to poke their eyes out?


    The muscr man¡¯s expression changed. When he looked at Luo Lang once again, his expression was now much more alert. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the mistake just now, friend.¡± He could only bow his head down because he was clearly in the wrong.


    Luo Lang was satisfied with the reply. He flicked his sleeve and then began to answer the question that person had asked, ¡°I beat him because he was insulting General Ling Xiao. I was already holding back. If not, making himy in bed for a whole year would be the least of his worries.¡±


    Luo Lang¡¯s words widen everyone¡¯s eyes. They looked at the young man, who was already taken into the group of people led by the muscr man, like he was an idiot.


    Someone actually dared to insult their idol... Were they out of their mind?


    The muscr man cried out internally. He knew best what type of person his underling was. He was always very unwilling to ept Ling Xiao and his son, and he would constantly mock them of fishing for fame. Although he warned him to speak and act with caution, it still wasn¡¯t very effective. He finally caused a scene.


    ¡°A¡¯Jin, is that true?¡± The muscr man turned around and looked towards the young man who was beaten up. After averting the gaze of Luo Lang, he silently gave a look to the young man.


    ¡°Of course not.¡± The young man called A¡¯Jin was clever and immediately changed his tone. ¡°General Ling Xiao is our military¡¯s role model. How could I disrespect him? You guys definitely heard it wrong or perhaps misunderstood.¡±


    Seeing his underling react well, the frozen expression on the muscr man¡¯s face loosened a bit. He turned towards Luo Lang and said gently, ¡°This is a total misunderstanding. I can vouch A¡¯Jin¡¯s respect for General Ling Xiao. It is from the heart. He definitely wouldn¡¯t say anything to insult the general. It¡¯s possible you people heard him wrong or misunderstood him.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. However, you people beat me up without any reason. Shouldn¡¯t you do something to rectify your mistake?¡± The young man, A¡¯Jin, wasn¡¯t willing to just take a beating like this. He actually made a remark and turned the situation against Luo Lang and the others.


    After hearing that, the muscr man stared down his underling. However, what was said had already been said, forcing him to hold the wolf by its ears. He could only y along with his underling¡¯s statement and said, ¡°Indeed. My underling was beaten up without any reason. Shouldn¡¯t you do something to apologize to him?¡±.


    Those watching around them were nowpletely confused, and didn¡¯t know who to believe. Logically, there was indeed no one who was stupid enough to insult General Ling Xiao. However, looking at the people from Luo Lang¡¯s group, they were either calm, of noble status, happy-go-lucky, or beautiful. They didn¡¯t seem like people who would randomly use someone of doing such a heinous act.


    ¡°I was so excited that I turned on a recording when I walked in the Statue of Heroes. How about we look at the audio and video of the recording to clear things up?¡± At that moment, Ling Lan, who was standing on the side, spoke out.


    ¡®What? Audio and video?¡¯ A¡¯Jin¡¯s expression changed instantly as panic showed in his eyes.


    ¡°Alright, I don¡¯t want you to apologize anymore,¡± A¡¯Jin shouted.


    ¡®Oh¡¯ Everyone¡¯s face showed an expression of understanding the situation. A¡¯Jin¡¯s sudden change of heart made everyone realize that he definitely had insulted General Ling Xiao. They all looked at the young man¡¯s group of people with res, some were even death res. They all seemed to want to go up and beat them up for doing such a thing.


    The vengeful looks from everyone made A¡¯Jin and the muscr man have disheveled expressions on their faces. The muscr man also ruthlessly red at A¡¯Jin then he smiled apologetically as he pretended to brush the matter as a minor thing. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It seems that this underling of mine indeed made some poor remarks. However, please believe me that he didn¡¯t do it on purpose. Can we just leave this matter be?¡±


    Luo Lang received Ling Lan¡¯s silent nce and walked up. He lifted up his beautiful little chin and spoke proudly, ¡°You think you saying that it was not purpose would solve anything? You think you can just leave this matter be, and we¡¯ll just let you go?¡±


    ¡°What do you want?¡± The muscr man instantly grimaced when he heard Luo Lang mocking his proposal.


    ¡°Well, since you dared to insult General Ling Xiao, you must be prepared to be taught a lesson by others. Thus, we¡¯ll settle this matter through a battle.¡± Luo Lang instantly gave out this challenge.


    ¡°Heh, someone who¡¯s halfway into the domain stage actually wants to challenge someone who¡¯s only at the early-stage of Qi-Jin. Even if my underling was the one who wronged you, aren¡¯t you being too over the top by forcing this challenge upon him?¡± asked the muscr man angrily.


    ¡°I¡¯ll allow you to find someone to substitute this garbage of a human being,¡± Luo Lang looked at A¡¯Jin with a look of disdain. Then, he said proudly, ¡°How about that?¡±


    ¡°No, don¡¯t do that.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not fair for you.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so naive.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll fall into their trap.¡±


    The bystanders instantly shouted out towards Luo Lang after hearing him giving the young man a way out of the situation.


    However, everyone¡¯s suggestions werepletely useless. Luo Lang seemed to have already made his decision to determine a winner through a challenge in order to get back Ling Xiao¡¯s reputation.


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I, Lan Rong, will ept the challenge in the stead of Lan Jin.¡± The muscr man responded coldly and stopped pretending to be polite when he saw the determined look on Luo Lang¡¯s face.


    After hearing the name ¡®Lan Rong¡¯, everyone at the scene had a change in expression. Their begrudging expression instantly vanished. Many of them slowly backed away and were prepared to leave the scene.


    ¡°Lan Rong, Lan Jin, all from the Lan family! Heh... I see,¡± Ling Lan smirked. The Lan family, who had been silent all this time, finally couldn¡¯t hold themselves back and began to act on their own ord.


    Ling Lan knew very well about the other parts of the family that her mother didn¡¯t want her to know. With Little Four digging far into the all the data, it was impossible for Lan Luofeng to hide her secret.


    She just wasn¡¯t sure whether her father knew about this. Or perhaps he knew but pretended to not know in order to keep her mother happy?


    ¡°See you at the arena tomorrow.¡± Lan Rong epted the challenge and left after saying those words. He led Lan Jin and the others out of the Hero Statue Museum.


    ¡°They¡¯re from the Lan family. You guys should leave General as soon as possible...¡± The bystanders who haven¡¯t left breathed a sigh of relief while showing worry and concern. Those who were somewhat daring weakly gave them the suggestion of leaving. Then, they sighed and went their separate ways.


    On General, there might be a chance to right wrongs when offending others, but the offending the Lan family... Unless their luck was through the roof, no one would be able to save them, even if that person was General Ling Xiao.


    It was because the top-ranked official in the military had the surname ¡®Lan¡¯. Plus, those from the Lan family battled in countless wars for the Federation, lost many of their brethren and almost got wiped off the face of the gxy. Only three seeds remaining from the Lan family had escaped that fate. How could the Lan family not care and protect them? It was because of such actions that created this generation¡¯s oddity, Lan Jin. However, it was still alright. Despite being a squandering pre-pubescent teenager, he never caused any big trouble.


    The higher-ups of the military also treated them well because of their rtion with the First Marshal and the merits of the Lan family which made the Lan family acquire a god-like status on General. People were afraid to even slight them.


    Gu Dongyang had a worried look on his face as he watched Lan Rong and the others leave. No one knew better than him of how terrifying the Lan family could be on General. It could be said that the Lan family was nothing anywhere else, but on General, the status of the Lan family was extremely special. Offending them was clearly not a good thing to do.


    ¡°Regiment Commander, do you think...¡± Gu Dongyang thought whether or not they should ask General Ling Xiao to make this known to the First Marshal to resolve this conflict.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think too much. Even if we were to back off today, they would stille to us the next day,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    After Ling Xiao and Ling Lan¡¯s reputation went higher than the First Marshal, the Lan family stopped being silent. Unless the First Marshal made a move, the Lan family wouldn¡¯t find any chance of causing Ling Xiao any trouble. Plus, her father wouldn¡¯t give them any chance to trouble her mother. With this in mind, they could only find ways like this to trouble her.


    Gu Dongyang and Xie Yi¡¯s expressions showed they were in deep thought. Luo Lang saw Xie Yi was thinking carefully. He thought for a moment, then his eyes instantly entered a calm state.


    ¡°So those words were deliberately said for us to hear.¡± After the calm personality¡¯s analysis, Luo Lang finally understood.


    ¡°That¡¯s why, no matter if we had the original video of the incident, the challenge was going to happen either way. The difference was whether we brought it up or they brought it up,¡± continued Ling Lan.


    ¡°Giving us three days... the military nned this out perfectly.¡± Gu Dongyang felt the pressure and anxiousness from a brewing storm.


    All the factions within the military were trying to push for chaos. This was exactly what they wanted, for the First Marshal¡¯s faction to fight amongst themselves.


    ¡°It could still be the First Marshal¡¯s doing... It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t know what that old fox is actually nning.¡± Ling Lan frowned. Even if her amazing father were to face the First Marshal, he would be afraid. She was not even worth mentioning because she was not perfectly skilled in dealing with politics. She was even more unsure of her sess.

 Chapter 1158 - A Bunch of Women!

    <h4>Chapter 1158 A Bunch of Women!</h4>


    The scene that happened at the Statue of Heroes was quickly known by people who paid attention to such things.


    Inside a luxurious gazebo, a group of women of different ages with nothing better to do was having a tea party. The gazebo was built in such a way where one level of the gazebo would tower over two subsequent levels, making sure everyone would know their position in the family.


    At the highest level, it seated a strict-looking woman, kind-looking woman and a mild mannered woman who were the eldest, second and fourth sister-inw of the Lan Family respectively. These three women were the figureheads of the current Lan family.


    At the second level, it seated a bunch of rtively younger-looking women whenpared to the women at top level. Although they didn¡¯t seem as dignified as the women seated at the highest level, they still couldn¡¯t be scoffed at. However, when one looked deeply in their eyes, one would see the deep-rooted fear they had for their older sisters at the highest level.


    At the third level, it seated the daughters and daughter-inws of the women seated above them, who were about 30 to 40 years of age. They still exuded an aura of youthfulness mixed with a tinge of grace even at such an age.


    ¡°Mother, what are we going to do?¡± The daughter of the fourth sister-inw asked her mother with a stunned expression on her face. Her little Jin¡¯er finally managed to wait out the time he was grounded. How could he go out and instantly cause trouble again?


    ¡°How could Rong¡¯er create trouble for the Lan family at such a crucial time,¡± said an older-looking woman who sat beside her. She furrowed her eyebrows as she thought about the implications of this incident.


    ¡°We can¡¯t me Jin¡¯er and Rong¡¯er. It¡¯s all because that bastard son from the Ling family. He¡¯s too arrogant,¡± a mean-looking woman with a concerned expression on her face said. She was annoyed that Ling Lan¡¯s group had challenged Lan Rong and Lan Jin¡¯s authority on General.


    ¡°Fourth daughter, what are you saying?¡± A 50-year-old woman, who sat the second level, reprimanded her. After hearing these words, the oldest of the three women who had just spoken had a darkened look on her face.


    ¡°Aunt, I¡¯m sorry. I was too reckless with my words.¡± After hearing the reprimand, the fourth daughter immediately stood up, restrained her anger and bow down to apologize. However, when she bowed down, a look of resentment appeared in her eyes for a single instant.


    ¡°Our mistress has warned us to not use the family name for your own use.¡± The eldest sister-inw snorted. ¡°But you all disregarded that. Now, look at what mess made and that Jin¡¯er, what has he be?¡±


    All the daughters and daughter-inws all quickly put their heads down in shame. They didn¡¯t dare to make even the slightest bit of sound.


    The second sister-inw began to speak after seeing the situation getting so tense. ¡°Elder sister, our children just dotted on three offspring of the Lan family... Jin¡¯er is still young. He still hasn¡¯t matured yet. He does indeed do some unorthodox things, but he still hasn¡¯t made any big mistakes. He¡¯ll be fine as long as we slowly teach and guide him towards the right path. However, our Rong¡¯er and Ying¡¯er are doing great, especially Ying¡¯er, even our family head says so himself.¡±


    After hearing Ying¡¯er¡¯s name, the eldest sister-inw became more calm. ¡°At least, he doesn¡¯t disappoint and embarrass the Lan family. As for Rong¡¯er, epting this challenge was something he couldn¡¯t avoid. In that instant, he couldn¡¯t refuse so we can¡¯t me him.¡±


    A slight smile appeared on the face of the second sister-inw. There was nothing that could make her happier than hearing others praise her grandchild.


    ¡°However, that kid from the Ling family is our...¡± A cold-looking woman, who was the seventh sister-inw, suddenly spoke up from her silence with hint of alienation in her voice.


    ¡°Seventh sister, he¡¯s just a vile spawn.¡± Opposite of her sat a ruthless woman who cursed out loud after hearing her words.


    ¡°The matter has already passed for so long. You still can¡¯t let it go?¡± replied the seventh sister-inw.


    ¡°Let it go? I will never see eye to eye with that bitch.¡± The ruthless woman clenched her fist so tightly that her nails dug into the skin of her palm. ¡°If you didn¡¯t stop me, I would probably have already killed that vile spawn. That way, the Lan family wouldn¡¯t experience such a decline. Plus, what¡¯s wrong with Jin¡¯er insulting Ling Xiao? He deserves it for being blind. Not marrying an actual princess from the Lan family but instead marrying that subus.¡±


    The fourth daughter who sat at the third level gnashed her teeth in frustration. ¡°Mother¡¯s right. Back then, Ling Xiao passed on marrying our ninth sister and married that bitch right after. He didn¡¯t even put the Lan family in high regard. Wasn¡¯t our family head also angry for a very long time?¡±


    ¡°Fourth daughter, be careful with your words.¡± The fourth sister-inw, who was silent the entire time, finally couldn¡¯t just silently watch and reminded her.


    The fourth daughter-inw¡¯s face turned pale. Despite her unwillingness to stop, the Lan family still had its rules. She could only stand up and apologize, ¡°Yes, auntie.¡±


    ¡°Be careful with her words?!¡± Seeing her daughter-inw be reprimanded, the ruthless-looking woman exploded with anger. ¡°I know that you have been standing behind that bitch from the very beginning. Now, you¡¯re also standing up for that bitch¡¯s


    son...¡±


    ¡°Third sister,¡± the eldest sister-inw suddenly shouted out angrily and the third sister-inw suddenly regained herposure.


    ¡°You¡¯re probably exhausted. Fourth daughter, take your mother back inside to rest.¡± The eldest sister-inw turned around and spoke to the mean-looking woman.


    ¡°Yes, auntie.¡± The fourth daughter didn¡¯t dare to show any dissatisfaction. The entire Lan family was under her aunt¡¯s control. If she actually were to anger her aunt, she and her mother-inw would definitely not be treated well.


    Seeing the two of them leave, the eldest sister-inw red at the seventh sister, ¡°Seventh sister, why did you suddenly bring up Ling family¡¯s son?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m only reminding you of him. Ling Xiao¡¯s son is still the Lan family¡¯s blood rtive,¡± said the seventh sister-inw proudly.


    ¡°You know your third sister-inw. That person is a demon in her heart.¡± Sighed the eldest sister-inw.


    ¡°And because of her we¡¯re letting the real descendant of the Lan family just run about as if he is nothing?¡± sneered the seventh sister-inw.


    ¡°I know you and our third sister-inw were great friends when you were young, but it¡¯s hard to say who was in the wrong for this situation...¡± said the eldest sister-inw helplessly.


    The seventh sister-inw opened her mouth but no words came out in the end. She quietly stood up and said, ¡°Don¡¯t invite me to these gatherings in the future. I¡¯ll just be frustrated every time I see those two people.¡±


    ¡°Seventh sister, that¡¯s still your third sister-inw,¡± the second sister-inw couldn¡¯t help but speak up after hearing those words.


    The seventh sister-inw snorted. ¡°My third sister-inw is the person who my third elder brother approves of. That stranger who went outside just now is not worthy of that title.¡± After saying that, she turned around and left.


    The servants who were serving them, all put their heads down and held their breaths after hearing those cold words. Despite them knowing that the seventh mistress and third mistress were not friendly with each other, they still didn¡¯t think their rtionship was this terrible. It was terrible enough for the seventh mistress to not even acknowledge the status of the third mistress.


    They all felt that they had a glimpse into matters that they had no business in. They should act as if they had heard and seen nothing. Otherwise, they might get into big trouble.


    Seeing the seventh sister-inw not listening to their words and left in a huff, the three women who were sitting at the highest level were helpless. They could only shake their heads and sigh while waving their hands to gesture to the servants to leave the vicinity.


    ¡°Seventh sister has been given too much love by mother.¡± said the second sister-inw with frustration.


    ¡°Back then... our third sister-inw was indeed wronged.¡± The eldest sister-inw knew very well what happened many years ago. It had created the seed of a problem that was not supposed to even appear in this world.


    ¡°Seventh sister was also raised by third sister-inw. In her mind,pared to our family head, she was more loving and respectful towards her third sister-inw. Wasn¡¯t the only reason she didn¡¯t want to marry was because she wanted to protect third younger brother¡¯s bloodline? After so many years, she has indeed endured much hardship,¡± sighed the second sister-inw.


    ¡°But, our third sister-inw is our third sister-inw. In terms of morality, she had done her duties. We can¡¯t say anything about it. I really hope our seventh sister can think it through on her own.¡± The fourth sister-inw wasn¡¯t certain about some of the details regarding the matter. In her eyes, the third sister-inw was officially married into the Lan family so she must respect her. The other one however... was a person without any given status. She didn¡¯t want to mention her.

 Chapter 1159 - Trouble in the Nation? Trouble at Home?

    <h4>Chapter 1159 Trouble in the Nation? Trouble at Home?</h4>


    ¡°Fourth sister, the issue is somewhatplicated. You shouldn¡¯t meddle in it.¡± The eldest sister-inw frowned slightly. If she didn¡¯t know the truth of what happened many years ago, she would also think seventh sister was overreacting regarding the matter.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll listen to you, elder sister.¡± The fourth sister was a person who knew how to read the situation so she obediently agreed to the eldest sister-inw¡¯s suggestion. Once she heard her eldest sister-inw saying those words, she knew the issue was extremelyplicated, so she stopped trying to bepassionate to her third sister-inw. After all, she still needed to look after her little troublemaker. That Lan Jin was indeed her blood rted grandson. All the trouble he caused definitely made her daughter-inw endure many hardships.


    ¡°Should we report this to mother?¡± asked the second sister-inw.


    ¡°Of course we should tell her. I¡¯m sure mother also wants to know about the happenings of the Ling family,¡± replied the eldest sister-inw.


    The three of them quickly left the gazebo and walked together to the home of the old mistress of the Lan family. Once they entered the yard, they saw a woman in her 70s tending to the flowers and nts in her yard.


    The three of them immediately walked up with the intention to help, but they were quickly stopped by the mistress.


    ¡°If I let you do it, then what would I do?¡± calmly said the mistress as she continued to tend to her precious nts and flowers.


    ¡°Mother, we¡¯re just afraid you¡¯ll get tired.¡± At that moment, the fourth sister-inw no longer acted as graceful as she was in front of the servants. Her expressions and gestures became more like that of a child.


    ¡°Alright, stop with the act. Tell me what you¡¯re actually here for. With your personalities, you definitely wouldn¡¯t juste here without reason.¡± The mistress knew her daughter-inws quite well.


    ¡°Mother, we just received news that Jin¡¯er got into trouble with someone. Rong¡¯er represented him and epted the challenge.¡± The eldest sister-inw didn¡¯t waste any more time and told her what had happened.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t something like this always happen? Youing here means the challenger is somewhat special or perhaps Jin¡¯er finally offended the wrong person?¡± The mistress still was calmly tending to her nts and flowers. If that brat Lan Jin did not cause trouble, she might perhaps be surprised.


    ¡°That challenger is... the son of the Ling family,¡± When the eldest sister-inw said ¡®son of the Ling family¡¯, she spoke in a more heavy tone.


    The mistress¡¯ hands suddenly froze in mid-air. She slowly turned around, looked at her three daughters-inw and confirmed, ¡°The son of Ling Xiao?¡±


    ¡°Yes, mother,¡± the eldest sister-inw nodded in reply.


    ¡°Jin¡¯er should be taught a lesson. Good on that son of the Ling family!¡± the warm-looking woman suddenlyughed.


    ¡°However, the person who brought up the challenge wasn¡¯t the son of the Ling family. It was his subordinate,¡± continued the first sister-inw.


    ¡°I heard that the son of the Ling family had operated a god-ss mecha and was hurt from the strain it had put on his body. Without a healthy body, letting his subordinate issue the challenge is quite normal.¡± The mistress seemed to be quite knowledgeable about Ling Lan¡¯s situation. She easily determined why it was his subordinate that made the move and not Ling Lan himself.


    ¡°I¡¯m just afraid. Will this incident affect our family head?¡± The oldest sister-inw had a serious expression on her face. If the Lan family and the Ling family were to be at each other¡¯s throats, it would definitely cause trouble for their family head.


    ¡°How could it affect anything?¡± smiled the mistress. ¡°We¡¯re already stuck on General. What else can we do? Moreover, if he can¡¯t even manage to deal with such a small matter, then he should stop being the First Marshal ande back to help me tend to these nts and flowers.¡±


    ¡°Do we need to inform father? Listen to his advice?¡± The second sister-inw was somewhat hesitant. If someone were to publicly publish this matter, it would definitely cause some tension between their father and Ling Xiao. Moreover, right now, what their father needed the most was Ling Xiao¡¯s support.


    ¡°We have to tell him, but we don¡¯t need his advice,¡± the mistress replied calmly.


    ¡°Will that be alright?¡± The Lan family had been relying on their family head to acquire their special position on General. After hearing the old mistress¡¯ words, the three daughter-inws were all stunned.


    ¡°I perhaps don¡¯t understand politics, but when ites to family matters, he has to listen to me,¡± the old mistress said without hesitation.


    Back then, because she had foolishly listened to him about family matters, all of her sons who she had carefully nurtured with love all perished in battle which left a group of widows in her family. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that she still had three great grandchildren left, she definitely would havepletely broken off her rtionship with that old bastard.


    What was more frustrating was that she still couldn¡¯t do anything for her third son. She didn¡¯t even have the chance to see her granddaughter who was her third son¡¯s only child... Back when her seventh son secretly told her that his third brother had a daughter, she was very excited. She read through all of the vaults of names left by her ancestors before finally giving her new granddaughter the name ¡®Luofeng¡¯. The meaning of the name was: The phoenix child in their warm grasp.


    Unfortunately, the baby she wanted to cradle in her arms lost her status because of that old bastard who only wanted power and to climb up the ranks. The baby couldn¡¯t even receive the name she chose from the Lan family¡¯s ancestry. In the end, the baby could only be named ¡®Lan Lu¨°f¨¨ng¡¯(A fallen phoenix)... After thinking about all this, she felt her heart ache.


    ¡°Lan Yu, if the child of our third son left behind is in any danger, I¡¯ll make sure you won¡¯t hear the end of it.¡±


    The First Marshal ended the call. Now, his frown became even more pronounced.


    After silently sitting there for ten seconds, he sighed. ¡°Basing judgment on emotions. However, we now know which powers are going to act rashly. Moreover, it¡¯s also a good time to check Ling Xiao¡¯s loyalty. I hope he doesn¡¯t do anything stupid.¡±


    The First Marshal then turned on hismunicator. A young and happy face suddenly appeared on the virtual screen. ¡°Great grandfather.¡±


    Aplicated expression appeared for a slight moment on the First Marshal¡¯s face. Did this way of addressing mean that he was getting too old?


    ¡°Rong¡¯er, I heard you challenged someone?¡± asked the First Marshal calmly.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Lan Rong instantly became anxious much like a child who was caught doing something bad. He was afraid he was going to be reprimanded for this matter by his great grandfather who he admired greatly.


    The First Marshal had a hint of regret in his eyes. Out of the three children that were left, one waspletely useless, and this one couldn¡¯t manage his nerves and calm himself. The only one who had a good personality and satisfied his requirements, had onlymon talent when it came to mecha piloting. It was difficult for him to rank up through battling. He could only slowly climb up the military using education and use time to exchange for status.


    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that monsters like Ling Xiao and Ling Lan ranked up like having jetpacks on their backs, the First Marshal perhaps would have been satisfied with the three of them. Unfortunately, these people appeared and it was not just one, but two of them, especially Ling Lan, who wasn¡¯t any slower at advancing than his father...


    Sometimes, the First Marshal would reflect on his past decisions. If he had chosen another talented individual to nurture, that person would not be connected to the Lan family anymore. That way, he and Ling Xiao¡¯s rtionship wouldn¡¯t have reached this point.


    However, this was just a sudden thought he suddenly had. The feeling of regret instantly disappeared from the normally calm First Marshal¡¯s face. It was because of this trait if not regretting what he did made him to the person who he was today.


    ¡°Do you know who they are?¡± asked the First Marshal. If he didn¡¯t know, then he might have to give up on Lan Rong after already giving up on Lan Jin.


    ¡°I know. They¡¯re from Lingtian Mecha n. One of them is probably Ling Xiao¡¯s son, Ling Lan.¡± At least, Lan Rong had some skills, and managed to investigate Ling Lan¡¯s group in such a short time.


    The First Marshal had a look of satisfaction on his face. At least, Lan Rong didn¡¯t embarrass him.

 Chapter 1160 - Confess?

    <h4>Chapter 1160 Confess?</h4>


    ¡°What is your n?¡± The First Marshal asked.


    Lan Rong could feel the praise from his great grandfather¡¯s eyes so he quickly became much calmer as he carefully replied, ¡°I¡¯ll do my best. If I lose, I¡¯ll apologise sincerely.¡±


    ¡°How can you think about losing before the fight even started?¡± The First Marshal frowned. In his mind, he agreed with the n but he still felt that this wasn¡¯t a mindset a youngling like his great grandson should have.


    ¡°No, no, no, that¡¯s not it. Even before this challenge was issued, we were already in the wrong. He is Ling Xiao¡¯s son so he should definitely uphold the dignity of his father when someone challenges it. All in all, whether I win or lose, I¡¯ll have to apologise,¡± Lan Rong hurriedly exined.


    ¡°It looks like you¡¯ve matured quite well.¡± The First Marshal nodded in satisfaction. ¡°However, since the fight is inevitable, do your best. Ling Lan¡¯s subordinates are not easy to deal with.¡±


    Lan Rong¡¯s eyes shined brightly as he seemed to have gleamed a clue from his great grandfather¡¯s words. He replied quickly, ¡°I understand, great grandfather.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t embarrass the Lan family,¡± the First Marshal said his final piece and hung up.


    After the call ended, his gentle face quickly turned cold.


    The next day, Ling Lan didn¡¯t go to the arena, only Li Yingjie, Xie Yi, and Luo Lang went to participate in the challenge. As for Gu Dongyang, he went to find his soldier friend to gather some more intel.


    As for Ling Lan, sheid on her bed and entered the virtual world to meet Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°I heard someone schemed against you.¡± The moment their eyes met, Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes seemed to shine with happiness. He seemed delighted at her plight.


    ¡°The entire summon was a ploy. It¡¯s alright,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡°Just like what you expected, they just wanted to lure you out of the base.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile disappeared. He finally turned serious.


    ¡°Have you discovered anything?¡± Ling Lan wasn¡¯t surprised. Based on her estimation, the enemy should be taking action soon.


    ¡°Yes. There are currently three factions left in Base Neb.¡± Li Lanfeng passed Ling Lan a folder of documents.


    ¡°What about the rest?¡± Ling Lan flipped through the documents as she caught on the meaning behind Li Lanfeng¡¯s words.


    ¡°Major General Yang took care of them.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled sweetly. He used Yang Mingzhi as a shield just like Ling Lan told him to. With his rank and identity, he made a good shield for Lingtian.


    ¡°You challenged the Lan family... Will it affect the rtionship between General Ling Xiao and the First Marshal?¡± Li Lanfeng was a little worried as he remembered the matter.


    ¡°Do you think the First Marshal is someone who would let his family matters affect his decision?¡± Ling Lan shook her head. ¡°To him, family is not within his consideration. Unless...¡±


    ¡°Unless what?¡± Li Lanfeng was curious.


    ¡°Nothing.¡± Ling Lan shook her head, signalling the end of this topic.


    Li Lanfeng quickly stopped being curious when he saw Ling Lan not wanting to continue with the topic. Since Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to say, he wouldn¡¯t ask.


    Ling Lan finished reading the documents in her hand and said to Li Lanfeng, ¡°We¡¯ve gathered enough information about the first two factions. You can clean them up. Leave the third faction be. We¡¯ll see if we can use them to bait a bigger fish.¡±


    ¡°Understand, regimentmander,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and replied.


    Just as he saw Ling Lan was about to turn around and leave, he quickly grabbed her wrist to stop her.


    Ling Lan looked at him and then at her wrist with a confused expression. She didn¡¯t understand what he was doing.


    ¡°Regimentmander, I met some difficulties recently.¡± Li Lanfeng grimaced painfully as if he was being tortured. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t bear to see him like this so she asked, ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°I love someone but I don¡¯t know how the person feels about me.¡± Li Lanfeng said to Ling Lan with tears that could be clearly seen around his eyes.


    Ling Lan was surprised. She didn¡¯t expect someone so calctive as Li Lanfeng would love someone. He couldn¡¯t even tell if the other party loved him. Should sheugh at him?


    ¡°Is it Luo Chao or Han Xuya?¡± They had only interacted with these twodies for most of their lives. Did he fall in love with one of them after interacting with them? Well, if it was true, it was good news to her ears. She felt pity for Luo Chao and Han Xuya¡¯s situation as they were basically stuck with the title of ¡®Ling Lan¡¯s fianc¨¦es¡¯ for life. With such a scary title, most wouldn¡¯t dare to have other thoughts about them. Only bold people like Li Lanfeng would dare to ¡®steal¡¯ them away from her.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you know they are my fianc¨¦es?¡± Ling Lan pulled a cold face. She must first ascertain how much Li Lanfeng loved her younger sisters before giving her consent. If he was hesitant, she wouldn¡¯t give him a chance to even confess. She wouldn¡¯t allow her younger sisters to get hurt.


    Li Lanfeng felt bitter when he saw the anger on Ling Lan¡¯s face. ¡®Are you angry because you think I love one of your fianc¨¦es? How much do you love them?¡¯


    Li Lanfeng was unhappy about the assumption made about him but he didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to continue to misunderstand. Hence, he hurriedly shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not them. How can I love them? They¡¯re like my younger sisters.¡±


    Ling Lan felt that it was a missed opportunity for her dear sisters to live a happy married life. At the same time, she was curious. What kind of woman was able to move the heart of this monster?


    ¡°Who is it?¡± Ling Lan was eager to hear more gossip.


    ¡°The person I love is someone from our mecha n but I feel shy to admit who the person is before knowing how the person feels about me. I just want to know how I should win over the person¡¯s heart.¡± Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan with anticipation.


    ¡°Why are you asking me?¡± Ling Lan red at Li Lanfeng when she heard him dodging her question and ruining her fun.


    ¡°Because you have two fianc¨¦es, so you must be an experienced person in the field of love. Who else can I look for if not you?¡± Li Lanfeng told himself that he must get Ling Lan¡¯s answer.


    Yes, it is true that she had two fianc¨¦es, but they didn¡¯t love her in that kind of way. Plus, what would she know about chasing someone? Damn it. At least Li Lanfeng knew the feeling of being in love. She didn¡¯t even know what it felt like.


    This was the thought Ling Lan had in her mind but she couldn¡¯t say it to Li Lanfeng. She looked at Li Lanfeng¡¯s eager eyes. ¡°This, this, depends on how much you love the person.¡±


    ¡°Little Four, give me some books on love!¡±


    Little Four heard her plea for help so he quickly threw various books on chasing love, being a love guru, and pleasing your partner at her.


    ¡°How much do you love the person?¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°Different levels of love require different methods to imnt a seed of love into your special someone.¡± Ling Lan repeated a sentence she saw in the book. ¡°It all depends on how shameless you are.¡±


    ¡°The more you love the person, the more shameless you have to be, right?¡± Li Lanfeng fell into deep thought because of her enlightening words.


    ¡°That¡¯s not entirely right. However, if you¡¯re not shameless enough, you¡¯ll not be able to get the girl.¡± Ling Lan read the sentence from the book as it was. Plus, it made quite a bit of sense to her. If the man didn¡¯t chase after the girl, was the girl supposed to chase after him?


    Only when you put in effort would you treasure what you gained in the end. The same goes for love.


    However, this doesn¡¯t apply to a woman like her. Ling Lan felt that if she liked someone, she might have to kidnap him home.

 Chapter 1161 - Settle!

    <h4>Chapter 1161 Settle!</h4>


    After thinking through Ling Lan¡¯s enlightening words, Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes suddenly shined brightly. He smiled and asked, ¡°What if that person dislikes me?¡±


    Ling Lan stared into Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes. ¡°If you wore your mask, she might not like you. However, if you reveal your face, no one will be able to dislike you. Lanfeng, believe me when I say that¡±


    Even she was unable to resist the lure of his face, and she was the strongest person she knew. Well, there might be people who just didn¡¯t like his kind of face... she would lit a candle for Li Lanfeng if the girl he liked was one of those people.


    ¡°Only woman?¡± Li Lanfeng muttered quietly.


    ¡°What did you say?¡± Ling Lan wasn¡¯t sure if she had heard correctly since Li Lanfeng spoke in a very soft tone.


    ¡°Nothing.¡± Li Lanfeng gathered his thoughts. ¡°I just want to know how to seduce... I mean chase the person.¡±


    Li Lanfeng suddenly raised his eyebrows and showed Ling Lan a cheeky smile. ¡°What methods do you have? Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know. Your fianc¨¦es didn¡¯t just drop from the sky.¡±


    Ling Lan had never felt so frustrated before. She never expected Li Lanfeng to think of her as a casanova because of her fianc¨¦es. Furthermore, her fianc¨¦es indeed really did drop from the sky figuratively.


    However, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t tell him the truth. She looked through the love books Little Four gave her and tried to find a suitable answer.


    She needed toe up with a concrete solid n so that Li Lanfeng could live a happy life. Ling Lan sighed. It was so difficult being a regimentmander. Not only did she have to train herrades, she needed to worry about their future too.


    ¡°Maybe you can confess to her first?¡± Ling Lan was a straightforward person.


    Li Lanfeng turned hesitant. ¡°Well, the person currently has someone else. If I confess directly, I would most probably be rejected.¡±


    Ling Lan creased her brows. ¡°You want to be a home-wrecker?¡±


    Li Lanfeng seemed flustered. ¡°No, it¡¯s not confirmed yet.¡± Nothing was confirmed if Ling Lan wasn¡¯t married yet.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression softened. Although she was close with Li Lanfeng, she would still look down on him if he decided to be a home-wrecker.


    ¡°I believe that I¡¯m more suitable than the person¡¯s current partner,¡± Li Lanfeng said earnestly when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s expression turning soft. Gender was an issue but he didn¡¯t care. He believed he could get what he wanted in the end.


    Ling Lan left for only two days but he was already missing her terribly. He didn¡¯t have the mood to eat, work or do anything productive. He just wanted to stay in bed and relish in their past memories. When he received Ling Lan¡¯s message toe to the virtual world, he had been waiting in the virtual world ever since 10pmst night. He didn¡¯t want to waste even a second of time when in the presence of Ling Lan.


    The time they spent apart made him realise that if he lost Ling Lan, he wouldn¡¯t be able to live normally. He would be like a dead person walking on the surface of the. He had been living like a dead person for 13 years. He only felt alive after meeting Rabbit in the virtual world when he was 13 years old.


    He yearned for the hope and warmth Ling Lan gave him. He couldn¡¯t bear to let go of it. He didn¡¯t want to fall into that deep dark room all alone again. He had no path of retreat now. He could only walk on this path of self-destruction.


    But he really wanted to continue on this path even if it meant the end of him! Since Ling Lan gave him hope for his life which made him alive, why couldn¡¯t he continue on this path? Ling Lan¡¯s connivance caused his greediness for her love to grow. It destroyed every rational thought in his mind.


    ¡®I¡¯m sorry, Ling Lan. I want to try epting my fate at least once. If I didn¡¯t try my best for at least once, I wouldn¡¯t be able to give up. In the past, I hated my Phoenix Thrall Fate. Yet, now, I wish that it is true. I wish that you¡¯re the king in my Phoenix Thrall Fate. If it is you, I won¡¯t mind epting my fate.¡¯


    Ling Lan could tell that Li Lanfeng was serious about his new-found love. She didn¡¯t really know what love should feel like, but based on her understanding of Li Lanfeng, he would either not love or love with all his heart. If his love wasn¡¯t reciprocated, he would be crippled.


    ¡®Ah! This is so troublesome!¡¯ Ling Lan scratched her head in her mindscape. She didn¡¯t want her strategist to be crippled because of love. Don¡¯t you know how hard it is to groom a trustworthy and capable strategist?


    She had two advisers in her mecha n, Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng. Han Jijyun was more forthright while Li Lanfeng was more scheming. Theyplimented each other perfectly, making them the bestbination of advisers. She would be really hard-pressed to find anotherbination of strategist as perfect as them again, as none of them could be easily reced.


    ¡°I have prepared my heart for this love.¡± Li Lanfeng had already decided to give it his all.


    ¡°Little Four, what do we do now?¡± Ling Lan frowned deeply in her mindscape.


    ¡°Boss, I¡¯m also clueless. I have not evolved enough to know what love is.¡± Little Four felt helpless too. He was evolving quickly but the difficulty of Boss¡¯s problems seemed to be evolving at a faster rate than him. Little Four suddenly felt the urge to evolve quickly to understand the weird emotion called love.


    After experiencing helplessness of the situation, Little Four realized he wasn¡¯tpetent enough for his role as the number one follower of Boss. He clenched his tiny fists as he told himself that he must evolve faster.


    Luckily, the ten instructors of the learning space didn¡¯t know Little Four¡¯s thoughts. Otherwise, they would have charged out from the learning space together to prevent him from having such thoughts. They wouldn¡¯t be able to handle it if Little Four evolved too quickly.


    ¡°What do I do now? Li Lanfeng is still waiting for my answer.¡± Li Lanfeng was usually frustrating but this smittened Li Langfeng was even more frustrating. She and Little Four werepletely helpless about his problem. How was she able to think of a way to help Li Lanfeng chase his future wife when she never had any experiences herself?


    ¡°How about telling him to go slowly?¡± Little Four couldn¡¯t bear to see Ling Lan scratching her head until her hair turned messy.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes immediately lit up. She patted Little Four¡¯s head. ¡°Not bad.¡±


    Ling Lan guiltily looked at Li Lanfeng and coughed in embarrassment. ¡°Cough... how about you chase after her slowly.¡±


    ¡°Chase slowly...¡± Li Lanfeng went into deep thought.


    ¡°Yes, chase slowly. Constantly appear in front of her and seduce her in whatever ways you can.¡± Ling Lan speed-read through the book about seducing women in her mindscape. She read from the book. ¡°Create an ambiguous atmosphere and tease her asionally.¡±


    ¡°Of course, you must do all these discreetly. Otherwise, the person you love will pounce on you¡± Ling Lan was reading a different book now. She flipped the book so quickly that she didn¡¯t notice the cover page. The title was ¡®A woman¡¯s way of love¡¯.


    When Ling Lan said those words, she quickly felt that something wasn¡¯t right. She closed the book and read the cover. ¡®Damn it, this is the wrong book! Huh!¡¯ She didn¡¯t forget to throw the book at Little Four¡¯s forehead.

 Chapter 1162 - Easy To Deal With?

    <h4>Chapter 1162 Easy To Deal With?</h4>


    Little Four bared his teeth to disy his anger. Ling Lan red at him and signalled for him to look at the title of the book.


    Little Four stuck out his tongue when he saw the cover. After he teased Ling Lan, he quickly shrunk into a corner and no longer dared to act so flippantly. Sob, he didn¡¯t do it on purpose. He was in too much of a hurry just now so he made a mistake.


    Li Lanfeng was listening attentively to what Ling Lan was saying. When she mentioned about seducing the other party and making them pounce on him, his eyes lit up.


    ¡°Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?¡± Ling Lan asked with uncertainty.


    She didn¡¯t even know what she was saying. Would Li Lanfeng understand her?


    ¡°Yes, I understand perfectly.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. The smile was so bright that Ling Lan¡¯s heart started to waver.


    Fortunately, Ling Lan from birth always had a face that couldn¡¯t disy emotions which stopped Li Lanfeng to realise how seductive his face was against Ling Lan. Thus, Li Lanfeng would have to continue suffering from his requited love.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Ling Lan was satisfied with her exnation. He was able to understand her even when she didn¡¯t understand her own words.


    Ling Lan felt extremely happy that she was being so knowledgeable about love. She read through more books about love and started teaching Li Lanfeng about love. Whether it was useful or not didn¡¯t matter to her.


    All in all, Ling Lan wanted Li Lanfeng to slowly confess to the person he liked. She felt that if Li Lanfeng continued pestering thedy, with the help of his face and her fabulous love advice, he would have a high chance of sess.


    Even she wouldn¡¯t be able to handle it if Li Lanfeng kept seducing her with that face of his.


    Li Lanfeng smiled happily as he listened to Ling Lan¡¯s advice. After Ling Lan had satisfied her ego and left the virtual world, he retracted his smile.


    ¡°Chase slowly and naturally... all these are useless. The only useful thing is seduction. Ling Lan, no matter how straight you are, I¡¯ll make you gay. I can¡¯t be the only one going to hell. That is unfair, especially after receiving such good advice from you.¡± Li Lanfeng gave an evil smile.


    Li Lanfeng immediately left the virtual world. If he wanted to seduce Ling Lan, he had to wait for her toe back first. The most important matter now was to handle the small fries in Base Neb. He had already ringed them dry of their intel about the organization behind them, leaving them essentially useless to him now.


    He and the rest of Lingtian didn¡¯t realize that there were so many spies in Base Neb. Without this baiting n, they would have never known how broad the influence of the spies was. In one of the mecha ns they were suspicious of, more than half of the soldiers were spies.


    No... spy was not the best word to describe them. These people were soldiers from the Federation who got lured or brainwashed by their enemies. Hence, turning into spies who leaked out various information of the Federation.


    However, in the overall big picture, these people were just a small matter. The worst thing was the people who were controlling them behind the scenes. Based on the clues they found, many departments in the military were involved. It seemed that some higher authorities were part of their enemies too.


    This wasn¡¯t something they could handle. That was why they didn¡¯t expose that one powerful faction. They were only in charge of keeping an eye on the grass-root factions. As for the more powerful faction, Li Lanfeng knew that Ling Lan had asked his father for help.


    There were some things Li Lanfeng wouldn¡¯t ask. No matter how safe the virtual world was, there might be loopholes. Some things shouldn¡¯t be talked about.


    ¡®Prince Ling won¡¯t be fighting in the challenge. What is happening?¡¯ This was the thought going through most people¡¯s heads.


    ¡°Is it because he is incapable of fighting? Or is he confident in the abilities of his subordinates?¡± The people that were anticipating the fight with the Ling family and the Lan family were puzzled.


    ¡°This Ling Lan seems like a smart person.¡± This was thement by some of the more intelligent people.


    ¡°He made a good move. The Ling family is able to retreat now. Interesting.¡± The mastermind behind the chess game felt pity but excited.


    The oue was just like what they had expected. It was no surprise that Ling Lan was a no-show. The mastermind was confident in the n. He didn¡¯t get flustered when something unexpected happened. Instead, he felt excited. He felt that he could finally y a chess game that was worth ying.


    ¡°However, there will be some changes in the conference.¡± The assistant beside him reminded. He hoped that the man wouldn¡¯t forget about their hundred years old n because of his yfulness.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. That sly old fox, the First Marshal, isn¡¯t someone we can fool. Even if the Ling family and the Lan family are at loggerheads, he will still team up with Ling Xiao if he is able to benefit from the cooperation.¡± The mastermind sneered. ¡°Lan Yu doesn¡¯t care about his family. If not, he wouldn¡¯t have sent his grandsons to the battlefield when four of his sons had died there. In the end, none of his grandsons came back.¡±


    ¡°But he managed to get what he wanted because of that.¡± The assistant respected the First Marshal for his ruthlessness.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I said that we can¡¯t fool him.¡± The mastermind frowned. ¡°Lan Yu has no weakness. Everyone thought that the Lan family was his weakness but it was just a shield he pushed out. He could forsake it anytime he wants. Among the three great marshals and the ten great generals, he¡¯s the hardest to deal with.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s the easiest to deal with then?¡± The assistant was curious.


    ¡°Everyone thinks it¡¯s Ling Xiao.¡± The mastermind smiled. ¡°Maybe it is because he has too many weaknesses. Anyone of them is enough to give him a fatal blow. But, because of this, no one knew which weakness they should make use of. However, in reality, he is another kind of figure that is hard to deal with.¡±


    ¡°So, he is not easy to fool too?¡± The assistant didn¡¯t expect this conclusion.


    The mastermind thought for a moment and sighed. ¡°From the looks of it, yes. Even if we found so many weaknesses, we can¡¯t find the chance to really harm him.¡±

 Chapter 1163 - Mission!

    <h4>Chapter 1163 Mission!</h4>


    ¡°Who is harder to deal with? Him or Lan Yu?¡±


    ¡°Of course it is Ling Xiao. Ling Xiao has many enemies, both within the Federation and outside the Federation. Many people want to get rid of him because he has ruined the future of everyone in his generation. They will jump at any mistake he makes and attack him together. No matter how powerful Ling Xiao is, he can¡¯t fight with everyone. He will be dead.¡±


    ¡°Moreover, the First Marshal is now old. Ling Xiao, on the other hand, is at the prime of his age. Yet, he still hadn¡¯t reached the peak of his career. Everyone can tell who they should ce their focus on. Once Ling Xiao gains enough power to control the Huaxia Federation... he might be even able to control the entire interster zone.¡± The mastermind scoffed. His gaze turned vicious. ¡°We can¡¯t allow that. We must kill Ling Xiao.¡±


    ¡°So the target for this mission isn¡¯t the First Marshal but Ling Xiao?¡± The assistant was enlightened. At first, he was a little confused over the mastermind¡¯s actions. He couldn¡¯t understand why he didn¡¯t continue with the n as it wasn¡¯t his style to retreat.


    ¡°Yes. I need to know what Ling Xiao¡¯s ultimate fatal weakness is.¡± The mastermind smiled. He seemed to have found his answer to his question.


    ¡°What is it?¡± When the assistant noticed that smile, he knew he could ask the question.


    In response to the question, the mastermind red at him coldly. The assistant knew that he had asked something he shouldn¡¯t have. His expression changed. He wiped the cold sweat on his forehead. He didn¡¯t dare to make a sound.


    ¡°You should be aware of what you can ask and what you can¡¯t. Don¡¯t be like those people before you. You know how they died,¡± the mastermind said calmly.


    ¡°Yes!¡± The assistant lowered his head and replied. His master was friendly most of the time but once someone overstepped their boundary, he would punish them without the slightest hesitation. The people who used to be in his position disappeared because they had spoken out of line.


    Just now, he almost peed in his pants. Fortunately, his question hadn¡¯t not cross his master¡¯s bottomline. If not, he would have been killed already.


    Three days passed quickly. The challenge between the Lan family and the Ling family came to an end.


    Lan Rong didn¡¯t summon the domain realm masters from his family to fight in the challenge. He only sent those who reached the optimal peak of Qi-Jin, including himself. As for Luo Lang, he walked to the arena alone. In the end, the Lan family lost. Everyone thought that the Lan family would be furious but instead, Lan Rong dragged Lan Jin along and apologised to Luo Lang.


    Lan Jin was unwilling to apologise but he knew he couldn¡¯t resist his elder brother¡¯s orders. Otherwise, he would not have a day of peace in the Lan household so he gritted his teeth and apologised.


    As for the highly anticipated Lan Ying, he didn¡¯t even appear near the arena. This showed the Lan family¡¯s attitude. It was as though this battle had nothing to do with the Lan family. To them, this challenge was just a personal feud of Lan Rong and Lan Jin.


    Plus, since Ling Lan also didn¡¯t appear, it meant that this challenge also had nothing to do with the Ling family.


    The people who were waiting for a good show were disappointed. They hoped that a grudge between the two families would form through this fight but the actual fight never started. This matter just turned into a heroic act of Luo Lang protecting the honour of his idol, Ling Xiao.


    Of course, those people were unwilling to end the matter in such an anticlimactic manner so in the end, the stupid Lan Jin was coerced by those people into ambushing Luo Lang and his friends. He brought some people along with him but in the end, he was beaten up badly by Li Yingjie. He felt extremely embarrassed.


    These were all small matters, gossips that people talked about after a meal. No big issues arose from this.


    The Lan family had many connections in the military but they were all controlled by Mistress Lan. If she didn¡¯t want to move, Lan Jin couldn¡¯t do anything to Li Yingjie and his friends.


    Plus, even if he did, the Li family would retaliate in turn. Although the Li family wasn¡¯t as powerful as the Lan family in the military, handling such matters were still easy for them.


    However, there were still some problems that arose from the altercation. With the deliberate ¡®help¡¯ from certain people, Luo Lang and his friends¡¯ names became more famous than the Ling family and the Lan family¡¯s names.


    Since they were under Ling Lan, the public wouldpliment her too, and the overall reputation of the Ling family rose.


    On the other hand, the reputation of the Lan family dropped. There was even a rumor that the people from the Lan family dared to humiliate General Ling Xiao because he and the First Marshal had a falling out.


    Ling Lan never went out of her room but the rumor still reached her ears.


    ¡°It is no surprise that everyone hopes the Ling family and the Lan family will be enemies.¡± Ling Lan smiled when she heard the rumor from Li Yingjie.


    ¡°Lan Jin is stupid but Lan Rong is not. He expressed the attitude of the Lan family immediately after the challenge.¡± Luo Lang¡¯s eyes were calm. ¡°The Lan family doesn¡¯t want to fall out with the Ling family.¡±


    ¡°The other factions hoped that we would fall out so that they could benefit from it.¡± Xie Yi seemed disgusted with the acts of their enemies. ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Why can¡¯t we work together to fight with our public enemies like the Twilight Empire? What¡¯s the point of calcting against each other?¡±


    ¡°The three great marshals were created to prevent dictatorship. However, there are cons too when creating three such powerful figures. No one wants to be the person being suppressed. No one wants to be the ipetent one. All three marshals want to control the Federation so that he can run ording to his will. As long as the true leader hasn¡¯t been decided, this fight will continue.¡±


    ¡°Our Federation has always been in an internal conflict,¡± Ling Lan sighed.


    ¡°Since they can¡¯t get what they want, they wouldn¡¯t stop, right?.¡± Gu Dongyang asked seriously.


    ¡°Definitely. As long as we are on General, they will continue to butt heads against us,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently.


    ¡°They are now waiting for us to jump into their trap during the conference.¡± Luo Lang remembered the news Gu Dongyang brought. The other party had made ample preparations within these three days.


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Li Yingjie scratched his head. Because of a certain someone, he was traumatized of scheming now.


    ¡°What do we do? We will just wait and see.¡± Ling Lan wasposed.


    She hadpleted her task. It¡¯s time to see if her father was capable enough to hold the end of his deal.

 Chapter 1164 - Knight Ace Mecha Clan’s Power?

    <h4>Chapter 1164 Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s Power?</h4>


    On General, everyone was focused on the conference that was about to begin. This conference was held for the public hearing of the report of the battle between Knight Ace Mecha n and Lingtian. Thetter hadpletely wiped out Knight Ace Mecha n without leaving any survivors, which had raised questions about the brutalness shown by Lingtian¡¯s regimentmander, Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan¡¯s background was known to the people who needed to know. Those who were oblivious to the information, had no idea who Ling Lan was. However, no matter if they were the former or thetter, Ling Lan¡¯s name was known by all. Those who knew of his connection with the Ling family wanted to see what this legendary Prince Ling looked like. Those who didn¡¯t know of his connection with the Ling family were also keen on seeing what she looked like because of her mecha n¡¯s military merits and achievements.


    Ling Lan led Luo Lang, Xie Yi, Li Yingjie and Gu Dongyang into the conference room.


    The audience quickly frowned as they saw Ling Lan walking in with a face full of terrifying scars. Many of them all pitied her in their minds. By just looking at her scars, everyone in the audience hardened their impression of the terrifying bacsh one could get from operating above one¡¯s level.


    Only the four who came along with Ling Lan knew that on the way to the conference room, their regimentmander¡¯s scars became more and more pronounced on his face. In the end, the scars returned to the point when he was first being treated.


    However, the four of them didn¡¯t freak out as they knew that their regimentmander was trying to invoke pity within the audience. Manipting the feelings of the people around him was something their regimentmander always did. As long as there was a way he could take advantage of people, he would do so in a heartbeat.


    The military report conference was quite efficient. They didn¡¯t waste any time before calling for Ling Lan to go up the stage to start her report. Ling Lan¡¯s oral report exactly reflected the content she had reported to the military previously on documented reports perfectly. Many of the officers who participated in the conference were all nodding in agreement, while the soldiers watching the conference all clenched their fists as they imagined themselves being in the battle based on Ling Lan¡¯s vivid description. These soldiers hated that they were not in the battle as well.


    However, soon after Ling Lan¡¯s oral report reached the casualties sustained in the battle, the massive number of soldiers who had died for the cause made all the soldiers watching the conference feel a sharp pain in their hearts. Everyone only saw Lingtian¡¯s victory but neglected the price Lingtian had to pay for winning this battle. (Of course, Little Four meddled with the numbers of soldiers perished in battle.)


    At the end of the report, Ling Lan said without a change in her tone, ¡°The mecha operators in my mecha n were all putting their lives on the line on the battlefield. We went into battle without knowing whether we would be able to return alive. It is true that we have achieved feats that we should be proud of. I really do not care about those merits and achievements that do not belong to us. However, I will not ept my n members being slighted with their rightful merits after risking their lives on the line for the Federation.¡±


    These words were said to the officers who had ordered the relocation of her n to Base Neb. Many military officers in the audience all had embarrassed looks on their face. After all, they were some of the ones who were suspicious of Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s achievements in the battle.


    The host of the conference looked at the military officers sitting below the stage. He asked calmly, ¡°Are there any questions for Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s Regiment Commander, Ling Lan, about his report?¡±


    The audience was silent. A lot of the officers were looking at the colleagues beside them, but no one stood up on their own.


    ¡°If there are no questions, we will enter the three minute Q&A session. If during this time, no one asks any questions or disagrees with his report, then we will officially approve the report of Major General Ling Lan from Lingtian Mecha n. The rewards of it will be given thereafter,¡± announced the host based on the proper procedures.


    Murmurs began to echo within the audience. After a few seconds, one of the officers finally raised his hand, stood up and asked, ¡°I would like to ask Regiment Commander Ling a question. Were Knight Ace Mecha n not as strong as what we have reported it to be? I just find it impossible for your n to wipe out the 18th ranked n of Caesar.¡±


    A cold gleam shed past Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. The gleam was like a sharp sword slicing towards the officer who had spoken. Even though the distance between them was not close, the officer still felt his entire body being trapped in an ice world.


    After giving the sharp re, she retracted the energy she used. That officer seemed to have suddenly regained his strength. The feeling of being on the brink of death disappeared too quickly. He didn¡¯t know whether he was going crazy or he was actually on the brink of death for that instant.


    ¡°We can easily deduce the strength of Knight Ace Mecha n. Caesar has many mecha ns that are ranked higher than Knight Mecha n. I wee you to go and wipe one of them out. That way you¡¯ll be able to decrease the the overall strength of the Caesar Empire and make the Federation look good.¡± Ling Lan responded nonchntly with a strong tone in her voice. It was as if she was seriously suggesting a solution and not actually mocking the person who posed the question.


    After hearing those words, the officer from the military headquarters went pale and red in the face. In reality, although the military ranks of these officers were quite high and many of them were once ace operators, their piloting abilities was probably not evenparable to a standard ace operator because of their time spent in the office. If they were actually to go into battle, they would probably be the first to die.


    ¡°If we can¡¯t determine Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s actual strength, then we can¡¯t determine Lingtian¡¯s military merits and achievements.¡± Many people were suspicious of this point. Lingtian¡¯s merits were indeed necessary, but they could not reach a collective agreement on the matter.


    All in all, these people wanted to take away Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s merits and achievements because they didn¡¯t want another Ling Xiao to appear. That was because the more merits Lingtian Mecha n acquired, the person who led them, Ling Lan, would receive more and more rewards and merits. With a rank of major general, if she was rewarded even more, she would soon be promoted to a lieutenant general... That would be crazy.


    Although major generals were considered generals, other than those with actual military power, many of them were actually pseudo generals. Those pseudo major generals were mostly those who acquired it through academics and arts. Many of them were also people who used their ancestors¡¯ connections to acquire the position. In the Federation, there were many people with the rank of major general, but not many with real military power.


    Thus, although these officers were not toofortable with Ling Lan acquiring the rank of major general with military power at such a young age, she was still not that radiant as there were many pseudo major generals along with her. However, everything would be different if she was a lieutenant general. Lieutenant general rank and above didn¡¯t have any pseudo ranks that existed. Anyone with the rank of lieutenant general or above in the Federation had real political power with a terrifying faction under their control.


    Those lieutenant generals were usually 50 to 60-year-old individuals. Some were even older than that. The youngest ones were around Qi Yaoyang¡¯s age. They wouldn¡¯t be able to handle having a snot-nosed brat suddenly appearing among them...


    This was why many of the factions within the military headquarters cooperated with each other to be a hindrance to Ling Lan¡¯s future. One Ling Xiao was already their limit. If another appeared... was the Federation going to belong to the Ling family then?


    No one was willing to give up the power they had in their grasp. Even those who were open-minded would still fight to maintain their influence. On the surface, they considered it as developing and nurturing the next generation but in actuality, it would be a battle between the old and young. They would see who was going to be thest one standing


    ¡°Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s ranking in the Caesar Empire is clearly disyed to the public. Do you really think that the Caesar Empire may have cooperated with us to purposely send out a weak Knight Ace Mecha n to help us acquire military merits?¡± Li Yingjie, who was originally listening to the conference quietly, finally couldn¡¯t hold it in and jumped up as he faced the murmurs of people doubting Knight Ace Mecha n¡¯s real capabilities.


    His words immediately silenced everyone in the audience. If someone were to actually say Ling Xiao and Ling Lan cooperated with the Caesar Empire... that would definitely be the greatest joke of the entire century. Many of the well-known ace mecha operators from the Caesar Empire had all perished by Ling Xiao¡¯s hand back in the day. If someone were to say who the Caesar Empire hated the most, Ling Xiao might not be the first or second on the list, but he would be at least one of the top three individuals in that list.

 Chapter 1165 - No Prisoners?

    <h4>Chapter 1165 No Prisoners?</h4>


    Seeing the audience return to silence, the host looked at the time on hismunicator and saw that the time for the conference was about to end, but before he could make an announcement.


    The doors of the conference room slinged open. A group of soldiers in the uniforms of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee appeared in front of everyone.


    ¡°They¡¯re here.¡± Ling Lan andpany steeled their focus when they saw it was the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee. They were ready for a fierce battle.


    ¡°They¡¯re here.¡± Some of the officers who knew the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee wereing finally let out a sigh of relief. They were right on time.


    ¡°Why is the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee here?¡± The host of the conference saw the uninvited guests and instantly frowned.


    ¡°Sorry for the intrusion, Major General Gao.¡± The person who spoke was a major general. Seeing the host, Major General Gao, he politely responded to his impolite intrusion.


    When Major General Gao saw the people who rudely barged in had a good attitude, he felt a bit better about the situation, but he still had a heavy tone in his voice. ¡°Major General Bai, we have important matters to decide here. If you have something to say, please do so immediately.¡±


    ¡°I have incriminating evidence about someone here. After investigating it, the evidence is indeed real.¡± Major General Bai revealed his right palm and a microchip was on it.


    After hearing Major General Bai¡¯s words, those who didn¡¯t know the truth all had slight changes in their expressions. Everyone in the audience started to feel their hands were getting mmy as the nervous feeling wrecked through their body.


    Major General Gao¡¯s eyes suddenly became focused. He asked in a serious tone, ¡°Who is the person in question?¡±


    Major General Bai¡¯s gaze fixed on calm Ling Lan and said slowly, ¡°Major General Ling, can you please exin the contents of the report?¡±


    Hearing the inconspicuous question, Ling Lan tapped the table in a rhythmic manner and said inly, ¡°Exin what report?¡±


    ¡°We have received a report informing us that you gave the order to kill the already surrendered soldiers in the battle of the Neb Boundary even after they were considered prisoners of war.¡± Major General Bai spoke out the contents of the report with great force in his tone of voice.


    His words made all of the officers in the audience audibly gasp. Killing prisoners of war was against the humanitarian code. Once this im was proven to be true, it would stain Ling Lan¡¯s reputation forever. Ling Lan¡¯s future would definitely be destroyed. Not only that, the most serious part was that it would affect Ling Xiao.


    The Federation would also get into big trouble because of it. The Federation might even get attacked by other nations. The image of justice and righteousness they had built since its inception would copse in an instant.


    ¡°I can only say the im ispletely absurd,¡± Ling Lan responded calmly.


    ¡°However, after our analysis of the evidence we have received, the im is 70% likely to be true,¡± Major General Bai said in a serious tone.


    ¡°Your analysis?¡± Ling Lan smiled coldly. ¡°Those who weren¡¯t even on the battlefield actually have the audacity to analyze whether the report of the battle I have given is real? You are joking, right?¡±


    Hearing such mocking words, Major General Bai wrinkled his brows. He bit his lip and said, ¡°We are looking for the truth. We havee here in the hopes that you can personally exin the report we have received. I hope Major General Ling will cooperate with the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee.¡±


    ¡°In order to ensure fairness, this report will be shown to the public. Please excuse us, Major General Ling.¡± Major General Bai handed the microchip to his subordinate. His subordinate immediately walked to the optical supeputer of the conference room and inserted the microchip in it.


    A virtual screen was disyed behind Ling Lan and not long after, a recording of the battle was yed.


    It was the battle of Lingtian and Knight Ace Mecha n. The person who was responsible for the recording of the video was probably a member of Lingtian. In this recording, they could clearly hear Knight Ace Mecha n surrendering and also hear Lingtian epting the surrender. However, after Knight Ace Mecha n had given up on defending themselves, Lingtian still executed an order to kill. That voice which called for the order to kill was clearly Ling Lan¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Huu¡± After seeing this, everyone was in an uproar. They all had a look of shock as they looked at the calm and cold-looking young man on stage.


    ¡°Major General Ling, please exin what you saw.¡± Major General Bai sighed. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that someone gave him this video recording and after his hackers analyzed it many times to eliminate the possibility of it being fake, he wouldn¡¯t havee to make such a scene. After all, the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee was also proud of the fact that they had wiped out Knight Ace Mecha n. Murder? Major General Bai wasn¡¯t someone who believed in peace on a life-or-death battlefield. Why would it matter if some annoying prisoners were killed? In his eyes, this matter was not a problem.


    It was clear that someone wanted to go against the Ling family. Condemning for mindless murder was the most effective way of attacking them. Major General Bai knew he was just a chess piece that was being used to create chaos, but no matter how much he didn¡¯t want to do this, he still had to go against his own guts and show himself.


    ¡°That¡¯s something that¡¯s not possible. I never even appeared on the battlefield,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. ¡°I suspect that your video recording has been meddled by hackers.¡±


    ¡°But our hackers didn¡¯t find any traces of the video being meddled,¡± replied Major General Bai.


    ¡°There¡¯s more than meets the eye. Are you sure your hackers¡¯ judgment is urate?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I said I¡¯m only 70% sure of it,¡± Major General Bai replied in a more easy-going tone.


    Ling Lan smirked slightly. That was enough to prove that the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee was quite angry that they were being used. They didn¡¯t want to go with the arrangements made by the hands behind the curtains.


    ¡°How about this? I also have a video recording with me. This video was recorded by Major General Liu. Please watch it.¡± Ling Lan turned her wrist and a microchip was ced between her right index finger and middle finger.


    Luo Lang moved quickly and arrived beside Ling Lan. Ling Lan handed the microchip to Luo Lang and Luo Lang moved quickly again. He arrived at the optical supeputer and yed the video in microchip.


    It was clear that the video recording of the battle Ling Lan was going to show was more intense and bloody than the one Major General Bai had shown. It was because Major General Liu, Liu Furong, was on the front lines personally. It was a fierce battle. From his point of view, the video would show mechas exploding from time to time. Some were from Knight Ace Mecha n and the rest from Lingtian. Everyone in the audience felt as if their heart were being ripped to shreds especially when a mecha operator from Lingtian lost their life. They would asionally shout out the Huaxia Federation¡¯s chant and fight to theirst breath.


    This scene made many of the military officials tear up. They remembered the time when they were on the battlefield themselves and how pure their hearts were. There weren¡¯t anyplicated thoughts like they currently had. They only had one thought and that was to protect and battle for the nation they loved, even if they were to sacrifice their lives.


    The intense and depressing battles with countless deaths wouldn¡¯t just stop because of their emotions. Everyone just went crazy to forget about the pain in their hearts. That was because they were about to face the enemy who killed theirrades, so they had to push aside all emotions for revenge. No matter if it was Knight Ace Mecha n or Lingtian, they all had this thought in their minds when they battled.


    They saw thest few remaining individuals from Knight Ace Mecha n still pouncing towards their opponents, choosing to cause mutual destruction. The people watching the video recording now knew what Knight Ace Mecha n was like. They were indeed the 18th rank mecha n in the Caesar Empire. They fought to theirst breath and didn¡¯t give up.


    Ling Lan then looked towards Major General Bai and said, ¡°You can have your hackers analyze whether this video has been meddled with or not.¡±


    Ling Lan was definitely not worried about the video Little Four had created. If the Federation¡¯s hackers actually found something... then Little Four would lose his


    job.

 Chapter 1166 - He Is Little Brother Shaoyun!

    <h4>Chapter 1166 He Is Little Brother Shaoyun!</h4>


    Major General Bai wouldn¡¯t just ept any contradicting evidence presented before him without verifying it first even though it aligned with his wishes, even if it was from a major general.


    He contacted the hackers from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee to examine Ling Lan¡¯s video evidence.


    The entire conference room was dead-silent. Even those people who had dubious intentions didn¡¯t dare to make a sense in front of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee.


    After hearing Major General Bai¡¯s acknowledgement of her evidence, Ling Lan walked back to her seat and closed her eyes calmly.


    Her calmness in the midst of a mess received a good impression on the soldiers around her, even Major General Bai gave her a look of approval.


    However, he couldn¡¯t help but remember what his chief had told him beforeing to the conference room.


    ¡°No matter how Ling Lan reacts, you must control the situation. Try to drag the time for as long as you can.¡± This sentence showed the stance of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee. They didn¡¯t care whether Ling Lan killed prisoners mercilessly or not. They just didn¡¯t want to dere her guilty.


    The Disciplinary and Investigation Committee had investigated all kinds of crimes within the military, and they were known for their ruthlessness in doing so. They would rather mistakenly kill a suspect than to let go of any suspicious suspects.


    Plus, they didn¡¯t have much of a choice to not be so, as most of the people they had investigated were powerful people in the military. Some might even control a part of the military. So, if they weren¡¯t vicious enough to people of such high caliber, how could they protect the rights of a normal soldier?


    Moreover, the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee only sided the soldiers from the Federation. As for their enemies, it had nothing to do with them. They were happy if more of them died. Hence, they would ignore simr reports unless evidence was stered in front of them.


    There were some people who were extremelypassionate in the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee but under the arrangement of their chief, these people were normally kicked out or promoted to unimportant positions. They were unable to shake the true beliefs of themittee.


    In reality, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t as calm as she seemed.


    After an analysis by Little Four, it was confirmed that this video was filmed by Ling Yi.


    ¡°Boss, the ungrateful bastard actually reported you. That¡¯s so infuriating.¡± Before Ling Lan could say anything, Little Four started jumping on conclusions.


    ¡°Little Four, don¡¯t be angry. We shouldn¡¯t jump to conclusions,¡± Ling Lan consoled him.


    ¡°Boss, why are you speaking up for him?¡± Little Four felt that if Ling Yi didn¡¯t have bad intentions towards Boss, he would have kept this video to himself.


    ¡°He wasn¡¯t nning to report me. He wanted to report Li Lanfeng.¡± Ling Lan was angry that Ling Yi recorded this video but she didn¡¯t lose her cool.


    ¡°Why were you reported then?¡± Little Four was puzzled.


    ¡°Someone from that organisation managed to gain his trust and is most probably staying beside him. The person is quite capable too. He managed to evade the surveince of Li Lanfeng and you and send the video out.¡± Ling Lanplimented her enemy.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m surprised too. I only allowed information to be sent out after confirming that they were safe.¡± Little Four frowned. This was the first time he met such a setback.


    ¡°Even though the technology of the virtual world in this era is not as advanced as Mandora, the hackers here have awakened abilities which allows them to evade your supervision. You must not underestimate them. We need to be more careful in the future.¡± Ling Lan knew Little Four had an unblemished track record in the virtual world. He had never met any setbacks before so this was a good opportunity to teach him to be cautious.


    At first, Little Four was just a dutiful piece of technology. However, as he continued advancing, he became more and more humane. He started to have emotions.


    In the process of getting more humane, he slowly picked up the bad habits of humans. For instance, he became careless and scatter-brained. His thoughts kept jumping around when he thought of something interesting. He was not that perfect piece of technology anymore. But,pared to the Little Four before this, Ling Lan prefered the current bubbly Little Four.


    Rtionships go both ways. Both parties have to work hard to ensure that the rtionship continues and gets better.


    Little Four nodded at Ling Lan¡¯s words. In the past, Little Four always thought that hackers of this gxy wouldn¡¯t be a threat to him. However, this was not the case now.


    ¡°It looks like I need to investigate the innate talents of hackers.¡± Little Four finally got interested in the hackers from this gxy.


    He didn¡¯t feel that the hackers here were a threat before this event because he felt that the technology of Mandora was much more advanced than this gxy. He got arrogant.


    However, the setback this time forced him to acknowledge the skills of the hackers here. They might have some abilities that Mandora didn¡¯t know about.


    ¡°Are you able to find out who¡¯s the person hanging around Ling Yi?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m now looking for him. It¡¯ll take a while.¡± Little Four was more cautious this time. He could have done it within a few seconds but he decided to take some time to ascertain his findings before releasing it. Hence, he was slower than usual.


    ¡°There¡¯s no hurry. Take your time.¡± Ling Lan believed Little Four¡¯s ability. Plus, she had the time to wait. She was pleased to see Little Four bing more cautious. She felt like a proud mother of a growing child.


    ¡®Why am I having this feeling?¡¯ Ling Lan was stunned. ¡®Sigh, am I destined to take care of people?¡¯


    While the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee were examining the video, and while Little Four was finding the culprit, Ling Lan managed to rest her mind as she waited for the result, which dissipated the cold aura around her a little. She seemed more friendly and gentle now. The scars on her face weren¡¯t as scary as before. She looked much more pleasant.


    In the corner of the conference room, Mu Chaoran suddenly grabbed Tang Ningyu¡¯s right shoulder.


    Tang Ningyu frowned at the force of the grab.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Tang Ningyu looked at Mu Chaoran curiously.


    Mu Chaoran was bbergasted. He seemed to have discovered some astonishing secret.


    ¡°Little Brother Shaoyun...¡± When Tang Ningyu thought that Mu Chaoran wasn¡¯t going to reply to him, he heard these three words.


    Tang Ningyu was dumbfounded. ¡°What did you say?¡±


    Mu Chaoran lifted his finger with difficulty and pointed at Ling Lan. His voice was hoarse as he said, ¡°Little Brother Shaoyun.¡±


    Tang Ningyu looked towards Ling Lan. He didn¡¯t sense anything before this but due to Mu Chaoran¡¯s reminder, he could feel Little Brother Shaoyun¡¯s aura on Ling Lan. Although it was very faint, it was still very distinct to him.


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Tang Ningyu immediately opposed the idea. How could their pure and innocent Little Brother Shaoyun be this cold and ruthless major general in front of them?


    ¡°We always thought that Major General Ling didn¡¯t use the identity the mainframe gave him to enter Azure. Before I saw what was currently in front of me, I believed this. However, I realize that we have made a mistake.¡± Mu Chaoran gave a bitter smile.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Tang Ningyu didn¡¯t believe that Ling Lan was Pei Shaoyun but deep down inside, he wished that Mu Chaoran was able to convince him.


    ¡°We disregarded the remarks for the mission. It¡¯s a five-star perfect score.¡± Tang Ningyu felt like pping himself. ¡°We missed such an important clue.¡±


    ¡°What does the perfect result have to do with the disguise?¡± Tang Ningyu was still in shock so his brain malfunctioned a little.


    Mu Chaoran didn¡¯t reply to him. He just smiled bitterly at Tang Ningyu. He massaged his temples to gain some time to arrange his thoughts.


    After ten seconds, Tang Ningyu grabbed Mu Chaoran¡¯s left hand and said, ¡°Five-star perfect pass! So that¡¯s the reason.¡±


    ¡°Yes. If he got a five-star perfect pass, it meant that he followed exactly what the mainframe told him to do. That means that he could only have disguised himself as a student!¡± Mu Chaoran looked at Ling Lan with aplex expression. If he didn¡¯t retract his force of presence, they might never have realised the truth.


    ¡°No wonder Little White is his pet. From the start, he is Little Brother Shaoyun. That¡¯s why Little White always follows him around.¡± Mu Chaoran had linked everything together.


    ¡°Our rtionship is fake.¡± Tang Ningyu¡¯s expression changed. He was fuming slightly.


    ¡°It was fake from the start. We just got too immersed in our roles.¡± Mu Chaoran seemed to be in a daze.


    He finally understood why he told Ling Lan the dy back when they were in his room. His instinct was telling him that Ling Lan was his beloved Little Brother Shaoyun.


    ¡°Yes. We were all under disguise. However, why did he say that he wasn¡¯t Pei Shaoyun on Haijiao? Why did he say that he didn¡¯t recognise us? Why didn¡¯t he confess to us? Are we unworthy to be his friends?¡± Tang Ningyu was hurt. ¡°He knew that we are looking for Shaoyun. We hid our identities but our feelings for Shaoyun are real. It is real.¡±


    ¡°But, does Little Brother Shaoyun really exist?¡± Mu Chaoran suddenly understood why Ling Lan lied to them. The pure and innocent Shaoyun only existed in their memory. On the other hand, Ling Lan was some high and mighty figure. Even when he was currently hurt, his position as an imposing figure of the military could never change.


    Tang Ningyu immediately calmed down after hearing what Mu Chaoran said. He looked at Ling Lan again.


    Ling Lan retracted her force of presence but even so, she still gave him a huge sense of pressure. Her aura was gentler but everyone still didn¡¯t dare to look at her. If he and Mu Chaoran hadn¡¯t advanced to the domain stage, they might be lowering their heads like most of the people in the room.


    ¡°He isn¡¯t Pei Shaoyun.¡± Tang Ningyu was dejected.


    ¡°Thus, he denied it. He really isn¡¯t our Little Brother Shaoyun.¡± Mu Chaoran was sad but at the same time, he felt relieved. The Pei Shaoyun he had been thinking about so dearly never existed.


    Mu Chaoran remembered the first time he met Pei Shaoyun. His smile was bright and shy. It was so pure that even he felt guilty. His gaze was always so sincere. Even if you lied to him, he would choose to believe you. His tant disy of innocence hurt him.


    He was the most perfect young man on the. Mu Chaoran wanted to protect him at all cost. He wanted to protect that innocence forever so that it would never get tainted.


    ¡°Damn it, I don¡¯t believe it.¡± Mu Chaoran suddenly pped himself. This sudden self-p shocked the people beside them. Tang Ningyu red at the people who had clearly overreacted, and they quickly turned their heads around in fear.


    ¡°Chaoran, what are you doing?¡± Tang Ningyu asked in a low voice.


    Mu Chaoran looked at Tang Ningyu. He forced a smile. ¡°Even though I kept telling myself that Little Brother Shaoyun is not real, I can¡¯t convince myself. I don¡¯t believe that our Little Brother Shaoyun¡¯s smile and words are fake. I don¡¯t believe it.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t convince myself too.¡± Tang Ningyu looked at Ling Lan. He made a decision. ¡°He is the only person that can give us an answer.¡±


    Mu Chaoran looked at Ling Lan. Yes, he wouldn¡¯t be able to give up unless he received an answer from Ling Lan personally. He knew that Pei Shaoyun was the devil in his heart. He wouldn¡¯t be able to forget it so easily.


    Ling Lan sensed something going over in the audience so she opened her eyes and scanned the crowd.


    When she saw Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran, her gaze wavered a little. However, she still nodded at them before closing her eyes again.


    Those two people were looking at her strangely so Ling Lan was on her guard. The force of presence around her quickly increased. Many people who were looking at her retracted their gaze.


    ¡°Boss, I found him.¡± Little Four finally gave her a piece of good news.


    Ling Lan asked immediately, ¡°Who is it?¡±


    ¡°This person!¡± A young and familiar figure appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape.


    ¡°It¡¯s him... that¡¯s unexpected.¡± Ling Lan was surprised. Although she knew that her enemy would definitely send someone to get close to Ling Yi, she didn¡¯t expect the person to be with Ling Yi since the Scout Academy. This person had apanied Ling Yi for sixteen years... he wouldn¡¯t be easy to deal with.


    She wondered if this person knew his mission right from the start or was he only told after he became an adult. If it was the first option... this was a scary person.

 Chapter 1167 - Answer!

    <h4>Chapter 1167 Answer!</h4>


    Major General Bai finally received the verdict from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee. The video evidence Ling Lan gave them was real. If this video was fake, they wouldmit suicide.


    After obtaining Ling Lan¡¯s video, theypared it with the video sent by the unknown leaker. It allowed them to discover something amiss. Without Ling Lan¡¯s video, they wouldn¡¯t be able to notice the small problem with the first video evidence they had. This was why they took such a long time to reach a verdict.


    Actually, the problem with the first video was Little Four¡¯s work. Little Four was someone who bore grudges. Hence, he messed with the video to take his revenge. He made a small change to the video. It was just a very small change but it made a very big impact. Anyone that wasn¡¯t stupid would be able to notice the change.


    This was what Little Four wanted. The small change would spur the hackers from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee to investigate further.


    Major General Bai received the verification. He said to Ling Lan, ¡°Major General Ling, your video is real. There¡¯s no problem with


    it.¡±


    An uproar exploded in the room.


    If Ling Lan¡¯s video was real, it meant that the one sent by the unknown leaker from the Lingtian Mecha n was fake. The rights of a prisoner were important but framing your superior was a great offense. If caught, the leaker would be sent to the military court and be stripped of his identity as a soldier. He might even be put in jail.


    Ling Lan was young but she was a major general. If someone framed her, he would have to squat in jail for more than twenty years at least.


    There were very few framing incidents because of this heavy punishment. Those that did it were prepared to die trying as the sess rate for such cases was very low. After all, the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee wasn¡¯t easily fooled.


    ¡°We¡¯ve discovered something new in the first video that was sent to us. Once we verify its authenticity, we¡¯ll give Major General Ling an answer,¡± Major General Bai continued sincerely.


    Major General Bai hated acts of framing. He felt that anyone who did this was unworthy of being a soldier.


    ¡°Sure!¡± Ling Lan opened her eyes and nodded at Major General Bai.


    Major General Bai smiled slightly when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s indifferent expression. He respected General Ling Xiao greatly so he felt happy that his idol had a qualified sessor. He was also surprised that Ling Lan managed to take care of this issue easily before he had a chance to perform.


    He wondered if the video was prepared beforehand or did Ling Lan just happen to bring it along. He quickly rejected the former. The Disciplinary and Investigation Committee was split into different factions but they still had the integrity to not harm the prestige of the Federation. They would never leak any information out. So, he was sure no one had informed Ling Lan to prepare a counterevidence beforehand. He had never encountered any leakage of information from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee in his time in the military.


    While everyone¡¯s focus was on Ling Lan¡¯s conference, the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee secretly sent more than 20 teams to the various government departments.


    In front of the military safety department.


    The soldier on duty saw a bunch of people running towards him and shouted, ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡±


    The leader of the group took out a metal card from his chest pocket and said coldly, ¡°The leader of Team 02 of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee.¡±


    ¡®The Disciplinary and Investigation Committee?¡¯ The soldier on duty shuddered. He quickly took out his optical supeputer and scanned the metal card.


    Beep. The person¡¯s status was stated on the optical supeputer. He was indeed the leader of Team 02 of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee. The soldier was stunned by the person¡¯s rank. He was a major general.


    The highest-ranking officer in the military safety department was his head, a major general. Although their ranks were the same, the soldier knew that their head wouldn¡¯t dare to offend this Major General Luo from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee.


    ¡°I¡¯ll report to my head now.¡± The soldier was stunned but he didn¡¯t forget his job.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. I hope that you¡¯ll maintain silence from now on.¡± Luo Yang stopped the soldier. A major walked out from the group behind him and aimed his beam handgun at the soldier¡¯s waist.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Please cooperate with us.¡± The major spoke without any change in expression.


    The soldier on duty knew that something big must have happened. Some of his superiors in the military safety department must have done something bad.


    Luo Yang noticed that his subordinates had controlled the situation so he entered the building of the military safety department.


    There were many workers inside the building. Many people were astounded to see the group of them walking in with a cold aura. However, since they came in from the main door, none of the workers went to question them.


    Luo Yang seemed familiar with this location. He led his team to the elevator and they went up to the highest level. There was only one office on this level. It was the office of the head of the military safety department, Major General Jiang Wei.


    Luo Yang motioned at the two people beside him, and the two of them stood quickly beside the door of the office.


    The door opened automatically and Luo Yang led his team inside.


    The office had an open concept. Some beautiful female officers were busy working in the office. Some were contacting through theirmunicators while most sat in front of their optical supeputer with their eyes glued to the screen.


    The female officers noticed themotion and looked over. One of them saw that the leader was a major general so she got up and saluted. ¡°Major general.¡±


    The other female officers stood up in a flurry and saluted too. Luo Yang frowned at the messy greeting.


    ¡°Is Major General Jiang Wei in?¡± Luo Yang controlled his unhappiness and asked.


    ¡°Yes.¡± The female officers nodded. Luo Yang was a cold and stern person. These female officers looked as though they had never met such an officer before so they were frightened.


    ¡°Bring me to him.¡± Luo Yang ordered.


    ¡°Yes, major general.¡± The female officers pushed and shoved each other. The female officer at the front was pushed out.


    The female officer gritted her teeth and said, ¡°May I know who you are so that I can report to my head?¡±


    ¡®Finally, someone who is asking the correct question.¡¯ Luo Yang had a bad impression of the female officers so when he noticed one that was not so bad, he took a second look at her.

 Chapter 1168 - Clearing Mission!

    <h4>Chapter 1168 Clearing Mission!</h4>


    ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. Just bring me in.¡± Luo Yang knew that this was a necessary procedure but he didn¡¯t want the female officer to rm her head. Hence, he rejected her.


    The female officer bit her lips helplessly. The other party was a major general but not informing her head about a visitor was against the rule. Should she bring him in?


    ¡°He just wants you to bring him in. Why are you hesitating so much? Hurry up and lead the way.¡± At that moment, her superior whispered to her.


    The female officer sighed with an air of helplessness. She had to listen to her superior. Forget it, she would be the one taking the me if anything went wrong. The female officer convinced herself and led Luo Yang in.


    Once they reached the door, the female officer turned to look at Luo Yang. Luo Yang signalled with his eyes for her to quickly open the door.


    She turned around and sighed at her helplessness again. Then, she took out her metal card and swiped it at the door. The door opened.


    Luo Yang walked in without any hesitation.


    Jiang Wei thought that it was one of his officers walking in so he didn¡¯t look up when someone entered his office. He only sensed something was amiss when he heard the footsteps of multiple people.


    He raised his head and saw Luo Yang standing in front of his desk. He was puzzled when he saw the insignia on his shoulder. ¡°May I know who you are?¡±


    Luo Yang took out his work I.D and answered sternly, ¡°The leader of Team 02 of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee, Luo Yang.¡±


    ¡®The Disciplinary and Investigation Committee!¡¯ Jiang Wei¡¯s eyes bulged out in shock. He hurriedly stood up from his seat, walked out from behind his desk, and asked, ¡°The reason for your visit?¡±.


    As the head of the Military Safety Department, Jiang Wei knew nothing good woulde from a visit by the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee. However, he was not afraid, he just wondered who they were looking for.


    Luo Yang lifted his hand and one of the officers behind him took out a piece of document from the file in his hand and passed it to Luo Yang.


    Luo Yang took the document and scanned it in front of him. ¡°Major General Jiang Wei, pleasee with us.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Jiang Wei was bbergasted.


    ¡°Exactly what you heard.¡± Luo Yang was used to this type of reaction. That was usually the first sentence everyone said when he invited them to leave with him.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have the authority to do this. I¡¯m the head of the Military Safety Department. I¡¯m a major general.¡± Jiang Wei red at Luo Yang. He was furious at the uninvited guests¡¯ disrespectful behaviour.


    ¡°The Disciplinary and Investigation Committee can invite anyone, even if he is a general.¡± Luo Yang replied calmly. Of course, if they wanted to invite a general for tea, their head would have to go personally.


    However, they weren¡¯t able to invite officers whose rank was higher than a general. In that case, they had to cote enough evidence and send it to the military headquarters, the Ministry of Justice, and the Flying Dragon Special Forces before they coulde near such high caliber officers. These three factions would then take a vote. If more than two factions agree to the warrant, they would then be able to impeach the officer.


    Hence, it was almost impossible to impeach the three great marshals and the ten great generals, unless they betrayed their country. However, someone in such a high caliber position generally wouldn¡¯t have any reasons to betray their country. It would just be hurting themselves, and no one who at the top of the food chain was stupid enough to do so.


    Jiang Wei was green with anger. He had heard about how forceful the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee was but he had never seen them in action before. He thought that they would only be forceful to those small characters, not high-ranking officers like him. Now, he knew their methods were the same towards soldiers of any rank.


    They silently confronted each other for more than a minute. Finally, Luo Yang opened his mouth. ¡°Major General Jiang, please.¡±


    Jiang Wei sneered. Suddenly, he flicked his right hand in an attempt to press a button below his desk.


    Before Jiang Wei could touch the button, someone tightly sped his hand.


    ¡°Major General Jiang, this won¡¯t look good on your record,¡± Luo Yang was stern as he impassively said.


    ¡°You charged into my office without any warning. Are you trying to start a rebellion?¡± Jiang Wei red at him.


    Luo Yang sneered. ¡°Major General Jiang, you¡¯re showing your true colours here.¡±


    Jiang Wei let out a loud roar and a strong force of presence started to burst out from his body.


    ¡°I knew you would be difficult.¡± Luo Yang released his force of presence too.


    ¡°Domain!¡± Jiang Wei¡¯s expression was filled with indignation and anger. He didn¡¯t expect the major general who came to catch him was a domain realm master too. Moreover, Luo Yang¡¯s aura was more powerful than his own. That meant that he might be a titled domain realm formidable warrior so subduing him, an average domain realm master, would be a piece of cake.


    ¡°You should analyze the situation you are currently in and make the right decision, Major General Jiang. If things get out of hand, you won¡¯t be able to remain in the military,¡± Luo Yang reminded him.


    Jiang Wei¡¯s expression kept changing before he deted like a balloon with no air as he realised that there was no way out. The other party had came too well prepared, so he closed his eyes and calmed his emotions. He gritted his teeth as he spoke to Luo Yang. ¡°Fine, I will cooperate. However, once I know who reported me, I won¡¯t let him off.¡±


    ¡°You can do whatever you want.¡± Luo Yang didn¡¯t care about the threat.


    Everyone who went to the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee would threaten them but not many would be able toe out with the same attitude, especially those high-ranked soldiers, as those officers were usually called for tea when they had found enough evidence against them.


    Plus, the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee wasn¡¯t the mastermind in this matter. Their department head didn¡¯t tell them much but he guessed that it must have something to do with one of the three great marshals. A few of the ten great generals must be involved with the matter too.


    It was obvious that the higher authorities wanted to clean up some bad apples within the military. Based on what he knew, Jiang Wei wasn¡¯t the highest-ranked person on the list given to him as there was an even bigger fish on the list with their head personally looking for it.


    Their head was good at keeping secrets so no one knew about the reason behind the sudden ¡®invites¡¯. He could only guess what happened when he saw his head heading out personally.


    Simr events urred in various other departments. The Disciplinary and Investigation Committee acted quickly and precisely. They didn¡¯t give the other party any time to react.


    This was the result of their hard work over thest three days. In these three days, they did a thorough investigation on these people and predicted their actual stages in physical skills. To get all this information, they worked overtime for all three days. Then, they sent the best candidates to catch these people. These factorsbined allowed them to have it gone as smoothly as it was.

 Chapter 1169 - Department Head!

    <h4>Chapter 1169 Department Head!</h4>


    ¡°Chief, we just received a report. People from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee have appeared everywhere within the military headquarters. They took away many high-ranking officers, some were even major generals.¡± One major general anxiously walked into his senior officer¡¯s office and reported what he just read.


    ¡°Major generals? Do you know who they are?¡± The general, who was in the office looking through documents, was in shock.


    ¡°I only know of one from the Military Safety Department, Major General Jiang Wei. I am not privy to the other names on the list yet,¡± replied the major general softly. He hurriedly came to bring the news because he had heard Jiang Wei was asked to leave with the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee on his way over here.


    ¡°Did they discover us?¡± After hearing Jiang Wei¡¯s name, the general felt his heart sinking to his stomach. However, he quickly eliminated the possibility. In all of these years, he followed the rules to the T, focused on his work and never made any mistakes. As for Jiang Wei, he was only just rted to his faction, so he wouldn¡¯t affect him too much.


    However, what was the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee nning to do with these series of invites? The general began to think more deeply about this. He must find out the reason behind the vast undertaking. That way, he would be able to avoid getting caught in the midst of the storm.


    Right at that moment, an angry voice could be heard from outside of his office. ¡°Hey, what are you doing? This the nation¡¯s Network Security Department. It¡¯s not some ce where you can juste and go as you please.¡±


    ¡°Make them quiet down,¡± said azy-sounding voice.


    Then, the sound of a few bodies thumping could be heard. Afterwards, it becamepletely silent.


    The general had a grave expression on his face. He immediately stood up and walked quickly to the door of his office. The major general followed behind him.


    When they walked out of the office, they saw a lieutenant general with his back towards them and hands sped behind his back. Beside him, there were two major generals with two groups of majors following behind them. They locked down the office and held down the staff members. Some had attempted to resist, but were mercilessly struck unconscious.


    After sensing their arrival, the lieutenant general with his hands behind his back turned around. He instantly smiled after seeing them, ¡°General Wu, long time no see.¡± The general¡¯s military rank was clearly higher than this lieutenant general, but this lieutenant general¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t the least bit polite and was quite casual.


    General Wu saw the person who came and narrowed his eyes. With a hint of coldness in his eyes, he spoke slowly, ¡°Lieutenant General Yang, I didn¡¯t know such a busy person like yourself would actually have the time toe visit me.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t help it. There¡¯s someone here that I need to personally invite to leave with me,¡± Lieutenant General Yang smiled even more.


    ¡°That wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing!¡¯


    General Wu screamed in his mind.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure who Lieutenant General Yang wants to invite,¡± said General Wu. He didn¡¯t know which one of his lieutenant generals or deputy generals was so unlucky that the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee was on their tail.


    After hearing that, Lieutenant General Yang smirked lightly. ¡°I will have to trouble General Wu toe with me!¡±


    After saying that, Lieutenant General Yang gave a pose as if he was saying ¡®After you¡¯!


    ¡®They are targeting me!¡¯ General Wu¡¯s expression changed instantly. A hint of killing intent appeared in his eyes for a moment as he shouted angrily, ¡°You¡¯re screwing with me!¡±


    The angry shout didn¡¯t affect Lieutenant General Yang at all. He calmly put out his right hand and patted the bottom part of his uniform. It was as though he was trying to get some dust off it. Then, he raised his eyes and spoke nonchntly, ¡°General Wu, don¡¯t lose your cool.¡±


    General Wu looked at him angrily to show the frustrations he had. He spoke in a sharp tone, ¡°I¡¯m the head of a department. Lieutenant General Yang, if you want to take me, it¡¯s going to take more than just a warrant from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee.¡±


    Although for those general rank or below, the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee could write up their own warrants for their arrest, however there was a restriction when doing so. That restriction was that people who were at top ranking positions of the nation could not be taken in for questioning without proper authorization.


    After all, the nation¡¯s various department heads were the heart of the nation and couldn¡¯t be just taken away so easily. If anyone wanted to take them away, they would require the signatures of at least two out of the three marshals for such a warrant.


    After hearing those words, Lieutenant General Yang opened his palm in front of him. A major standing behind him quickly walked up and ced a document into his hand.


    Lieutenant General Yang took the document and handed it to General Wu. He then smiled and said, ¡°This is what you want? The signatures of the three marshals.¡±


    General Wu¡¯s eyes immediately narrowed. He quickly grabbed the document from Lieutenant General Yang¡¯s hand. He opened it and did indeed see the clearance for the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee to take away the nation¡¯s Network Security Department Head Wu Shangyong away. The signatures of the three marshals were present on the warrant.


    ¡°That¡¯s not possible.¡± He was someone who was brought up to this position by the third marshal and was very respectful towards the first and second marshals. He never did anything selfish nor did break any rules. Even when the third marshal helped him raise up the ranks, it was still through proper procedures. It was because he didn¡¯t do anything out of line, followed the rules and was always praised for his work that he had gotten to his current position. He had also received a medal of the highest honor for doing well in his position, The Golden Thorn.


    Although he wasn¡¯t as bright and morous as General Ling Xiao, he was still a role model in the military that was respected and loved. Why would the three marshals agree to such a warrant?


    General Wu couldn¡¯t figure it out. He could only repeatedly say that it was impossible.


    ¡°Lieutenant General Yang, somebody is framing me.¡± General Wu suddenly realized it. He understood that he was being framed.


    ¡°That¡¯s why, General Wu, we need you to go to the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee and cooperate with us.¡± Lieutenant General Yang smirked. ¡°You just need to make everything clear for us. Just like how Major General Ling had done during the conference. Faced with the usation of killing prisoners, didn¡¯t he make it clear to us?


    After hearing those words, General Wu¡¯s eyes showed a hint of shock. He seemed to have realized something and his face turned slightly pale.


    ¡°Haha, General Wu, it looks like you¡¯ve remembered something,¡± seeing General Wu¡¯s pale expression, Lieutenant General Yangughed out loud.


    Afterughing for a few seconds, his smile suddenly turned cold. ¡°It¡¯s not that we didn¡¯t report it, but rather because the time to wasn¡¯t right. General Wu, don¡¯t think for a second that no one is unaware of the things you¡¯ve done. It was because back then, no one wanted to go against you. Otherwise, you would¡¯ve been taken down from your high horse long ago.¡±


    Lieutenant General Yang¡¯s words helped General Wu regain hisposure. He calmly said, ¡°Lieutenant General Yang, what have I done? I really don¡¯t know. Please help me understand. Even a criminal still needs to be told what crime theymitted right?¡±


    Lieutenant General Yang shook his head. ¡°We will tell you, just not here. General Wu, pleasee to the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee with us.¡±


    General Wu knew he now had no choice but to go to the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee. He snorted coldly, tossed his arm out in frustration and walked out of the Network Security Department.


    Major General Bai, who was currently at Ling Lan¡¯s conference, instantly breathed a sigh of relief after receiving the report that the mission waspleted.


    He stood up and spoke to the host of the conference, Major General Gao, ¡°I just received news that our Disciplinary and Investigation Committee¡¯s hackers have found new evidence. We¡¯ve found the parts of the video that had been altered. Thus, we can confirm that the video sent in as an usation against Major General Ling was fake and unusable.¡±


    ¡°Thus, Major General Ling is not guilty of anything. He is innocent,¡± said Major General Bai without hesitation.

 Chapter 1170 - Independent Army!

    <h4>Chapter 1170 Independent Army!</h4>


    The conference room erupted withmotion again. However, this time, they all shared the same emotion-anger. Almost all of them wanted to inhibit Ling Lan¡¯s rise to the top, but the most they would do to achieve that goal was to just remove some of the merits from the Lingtian Mecha n. They had no intention of ndering Ling Lan.


    ¡°This is too much! We must punish the offenders severely,¡± an officer sitting in a corner eximed angrily.


    Everyone nodded their head in agreement to the officer¡¯s words. ¡°Yes, we must punish them.¡±


    Ling Lan opened her eyes in surprise when she heard someone helping her. She turned her head to look at who was helping her when everyone else ignored her plight.


    Her eyes met Mu Chaoran¡¯s eyes that were staring directly right into her. He gave an evil smile and moved his lips. He mouthed a sentence silently.


    ¡®Little Brother Shaoyun, I¡¯ll always protect you.¡¯ Ling Lan learned to read lips before so she understood what Mu Chaoran was saying.


    She frowned slightly in response. She realized that she had made a mistake to retract her aura in front of someone as sensitive as Mu Chaoran.


    However, she turned calm quickly. She initially didn¡¯t want to continue the rtionship with the two of them because the three of them started the rtionship with a false identity in the first ce. Once the mission ended, everything between them should have ended. There shouldn¡¯t be any feelings of camaraderie or friendship because all of themmunicated under the disguise of someone. However, she didn¡¯t expect that Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu would desperately hold onto that fake friendship until now.


    Moreover, even if she was recognised now, she would not be burdened as their imaginary rtionship with Pei Shaoyun didn¡¯t affect her anyway.


    After rationalizing everything in her head, Ling Lan turned her gaze away from Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu¡¯s direction with an ever-unchanging expression.


    ¡°It looks like he isn¡¯t affected at all,¡± Tang Ningyumented with pity. He was hoping to see at least a minute reaction from Ling Lan.


    ¡°Honestly, if he didn¡¯t retract his force of presence just now, I won¡¯t believe it even if someone told me that he is the cute and innocent Little Brother Shaoyun. I would have just thought that the guy was making fun of me.¡± Mu Chaoran gave a bitter smile. He couldn¡¯t wrap his head around the idea of how an expressionless man such as Ling Lan was able to act as a cute and pure little boy.


    Shaoyun¡¯s smile was bright enough to light up the universe. It was able to invoke happiness within the people around him. His smile was like a special bestowment to the world before him from the angels above. Yet, in actual fact, under that cute and pure persona was a cold and ruthless soldier who could force everyone around him to bow to his will.


    These two personalities which were onpletely different sides of the spectrum, manifested in the same person. It was inconceivable. Mu Chaoran thought that he was living in a weird world for a second.


    Mu Chaoran ignited the rage in everyone¡¯s heart. They decided to work together to get rid of the offenders first. No one hoped that while they were fighting for their lives on the battlefield, they still had to guard against their own nation. The act of framing went over their bottomline. Currently, everyone¡¯s attention shifted from Ling Lan and the Lingtian Mecha n to the person who sent the report and evidence.


    Major General Gao mildly coughed out to attract everyone¡¯s attention, and the noisy room quickly turned quiet.


    ¡°If all of you have no queries about Major General Ling¡¯s report, we¡¯ll input Major General Ling¡¯s report into the mainframe and wait for the mainframe to give him his merit.¡±


    To make sure that the merits and rewards were handed out properly and fairly, they were all distributed by the mainframe. This was to prevent innocent people from being snatched of what they deserved.


    The officer in the corner shouted again, ¡°I have nothing against it.¡±


    ¡°Why would we be against it? Will we frame Major General Ling?¡± Another voice followed closely.


    ¡°Yes, I have nothing against it too.¡±


    ¡°Me too.¡±


    Not everyone had underlying intentions when attending this conference. There were still some soldiers that maintained their principals in the military. They were triggered when they heard the question so they quickly voiced out their support.


    Those people that wanted to stop Ling Lan from climbing up too quickly gave up their initial intention after hearing the questions too.


    Were they supposed to frame a man of merits? This was something even they condemned.


    When these people gave up making it difficult for Ling Lan, the result was obvious. Even if some people still wanted to suppress her, they had no choice but to follow the majority. They had to follow the crowd and give Ling Lan and her mecha n the honor they deserved.


    Very soon, the mainframe calcted the merits and rewards for each individual in the Lingtian Mecha n.


    Everyone in the Lingtian Mecha n would rise in one rank. Some people who performed outstandingly would rise three ranks (If their initial ranks were not very high to begin with). Some who performed slightly better managed to rise two ranks.


    Many veteran mecha operators, who had been stuck as a senior colonel for many years, managed to be promoted to a major general after this battle. Lingtian Mecha n couldn¡¯t bepared with the other famous legendary mecha ns in many aspects but in terms of the number of major generals, it towered over them.


    The military headquarters was dumbfounded when they saw this verdict.


    ¡°Is this... alright?¡± an officer stammered. They knew that the rewards for the battle would be great but they didn¡¯t expect it to be so monstrous. The list of more than 40 major generals was enough to shock them.


    ¡°Shall we move some major generals out?¡± Someone suggested.


    ¡°But Lingtian is an independent mecha n. No, it¡¯s an independent army now! It will be difficult to move any of them out¡± Once a mecha n reached certain criteria, the regimentmander could request for the mecha n to be an army. There were two requirements to be an independent army. First, there must be more than 15 major generals. Second, the regimentmander must be a lieutenant general.


    After the battle, the Lingtian Mecha n fulfilled both requirements. Once they finished the registration process, they would be able to be an independent army.


    In the history of the Huaxia Federation, no independent mecha n managed to turn into an independent army within a year.


    The independent armies now were formed from the hard work of many generations of soldiers. Of course, most mecha ns would never even fulfill the requirement even after many sessive generations of sessors. This fact could be further strengthened just by the sheer number of independent mecha ns in the military but with only 26 independent armies on the opposite side.


    Lingtian was the only mecha n in the past 100 years to turn into an independent army. It would be the 27th independent army.

 Chapter 1171 - Soar Into The Sky!

    <h4>Chapter 1171 Soar Into The Sky!</h4>


    ¡°Boss, we can be an independent army now,¡± Little Four wiggled his tiny butt excitedly when he saw the rewards.


    ¡°Be calm. We still have to see whether the three great marshals ept our advancement.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that bing an independent army would be so easy. The Lingtian Mecha n¡¯s foundation was just too weak, even if her father¡¯s help, it wouldn¡¯t be a simple task to be an independent army.


    ¡°Will they take away our merits?¡± Little Four pouted.


    ¡°Of course not. However, they might give me an offer I can¡¯t reject so that I will give up this idea voluntarily.¡± Ling Lan never dared to underestimate those sly old foxes. They might have something they could threaten her with.


    ¡°What else is more enticing that bing an independent army?¡± Little Four suddenly remembered Boss¡¯s wish many years ago. He continued in astonishment, ¡°Boss, don¡¯t tell me you want the best male sperms...¡¯


    ¡°What nonsense are you spewing?¡± Ling Lan immediately knocked his head. She was young and inexperienced when she said that in the past. Thinking back, she felt embarrassed for herself.


    It wouldn¡¯t be difficult for her to rob a sperm bank now. If she were to give up the chance to be an independent army just for high-quality sperm... Little Four was thinking too ¡®highly¡¯ of her.


    ¡°What could they offer then?¡± Little Four rubbed his sore head as he thought about this huge problem. As the number one follower of Boss, he must n ahead.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t reply to him. She just allowed Little Four¡¯s imagination to run wild. There were many things that could happen before they became an independent army. Before everything settled down, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t think too much about it.


    After Major General Bai finished his mission, he left with his team. Major General Gao announced the end of the conference after everything had been finalised.


    Ling Lan stood up and wore the military cap Luo Lang passed to her.


    ¡°Congrattions, Major General Ling.¡± Major General Gao walked up to her.


    ¡°Thank you, Major General Gao,¡± Ling Lan replied politely.


    ¡°If there¡¯s nothing, Major General Ling should return to Base Neb as soon as possible.¡± Major General Gao seemed to be hinting at something.


    Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows in response and replied calmly, ¡°Thank you for your reminder.¡±


    The two of them shook hands and parted ways. They appeared as though they were just greeting each other.


    ¡°Is something wrong?¡± Xie Yi whispered.


    ¡°Nothing. We just greeted each other.¡± Ling Lan smiled slightly. Major General Gao seemed to be informing her that he was on her side. She should confirm this with her father first.


    At that moment, Ling Lan noticed two familiar figures walking towards her.


    Ling Lan frowned. However, it onlysted for a moment. She had already expected that this would happen eventually.


    ¡°Major General Ling, shall we have a chat?¡± Mu Chaoran forced himself to remainposed as he spoke to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Sure.¡±


    She turned around and asked Gu Dongyang, ¡°Is there any quiet ce around here?¡±


    Gu Dongyang thought for a while. ¡°There is a resting area for the workers which should be suitable for your needs.¡±


    He added on, ¡°There are private rooms inside.¡±


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go there.¡± Since they weren¡¯t going to talk about some massive secrets, they just needed a quiet ce.


    Gu Dongyang led the way. Ling Lan andpany walked out of the conference room.


    Major General Gao, who just separated with Ling Lan, walked to a corner. A senior colonel came up to him and said in a low voice, ¡°The things we have prepared were useless. That is unexpected.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that good? Our people don¡¯t have to reveal themselves.¡± Major General Gao smiled. He was satisfied with the result of this conference.


    ¡°We still underestimated Major General Ling.¡± The senior colonelplimented Ling Lan. ¡°General always told us to not bother about Major General Ling, but how can we do that. In the end, he was right. General finally has a qualified sessor.¡± Both the current leader and the future sessor were important to a faction. They were the foundation and confidence of the faction.


    ¡°We will be calling him Lieutenant General Ling soon.¡± Major General Gao smiled as he shook his head. His tone was filled with respect as he said, ¡°He has broken a new record. He will be the youngest lieutenant general. No one might be able to break his record in theing millennium.¡±


    ¡°Definitely. Once the Lingtian Mecha n bes an independent army, no one will be able to stop his rise anymore.¡± The senior colonel was filled with anticipation.


    ¡°The aplishment of Major General Ling is just a bonus. The most important thing is the opportunity that our general has been waiting for is finally here.¡± Major General Gao couldn¡¯t hide his excitement. Everyone who followed Ling Xiao hoped that he would one day climb to the top of the military world.


    ¡°We will definitely open a new chapter in the history of the Federation. A war is upon us. We must be prepared to fight anytime. We can¡¯t drag our general down.¡± Major General Gao looked into the horizon. He could sensed that a huge war wasing. It was a war that could avenge the humiliations the soldiers from the Federation had received. It was something all the soldiers had been waiting for.


    It would be the end to all the hatred umted through the generations.


    The resting area wasn¡¯t far from the conference room. They arrived quickly.


    Gu Dongyang used his identity to register for a huge private room.


    The private room was around 30 square meters. The aesthetic of the room matched the design of a normal military bunker, bleak and monotonous.


    Ling Lan casually sat on the sofa of the room. She pointed at the sofa to signal for everyone to sit down.


    Gu Dongyang chose to sit on Ling Lan¡¯s left side. Xie Yi pulled Luo Lang and sat on Ling Lan¡¯s right.


    Li Yingjie was a step too slow. He could only grumble and sit beside Gu Dongyang.


    Well, he could sit on the sofa opposite from Ling Lan but that sofa was for the two people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Li Yingjie was an unreasonable and irritating person but when ites to important affairs, he knew what he should do.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran knew that they should sit on the sofa opposite from Ling Lan that was specially left for them so they sat down naturally.


    As they sat down, robotic attendants came in to send them their tea and snacks.

 Chapter 1172 - Questioning!

    <h4>Chapter 1172 Questioning!</h4>


    Ling Lan took a cup of ck tea and had a sip of it. She ced it on the coffee table beside her before asking, ¡°What do you want to talk about?¡±


    Ling Lan never liked beating around the bush so she decided to rify the matters between them at once.


    Mu Chaoran took a deep breath. ¡°You¡¯re Pei Shaoyun, right?¡± It was a question but the tone he used when asking left no room for doubt.


    Ling Lan looked at him in the eyes. ¡°You already know the answer.¡±


    ¡°Why did you choose to die?¡± Mu Shaoyu couldn¡¯t understand Ling Lan¡¯s actions. Wasn¡¯t it better to stay alive and bid farewell to them? That way, they wouldn¡¯t think of him all the time until he became a devil in their hearts.


    ¡°It¡¯s more convenient,¡± Ling Lan replied.


    This was the truth. If she didn¡¯t kill Pei Shaoyun, she would have to go through more trouble to wipe this character off the face of the. The other option was to reveal her real identity just like Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. However, Ling Lan wanted toplete the mission perfectly so death was the best option. Of course, she was lucky in the situation. Out of all the people in the za, the enemy kidnapped her.


    as


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran didn¡¯t know what to say. Ling Lan just decided to choose the easier path to disappear. Had they been thinking too much all these while?


    ¡°I just want to know whether our friendship was real or fake.¡± Mu Chaoran gathered his thoughts and asked with hope in his ices.


    Ling Lan smiled slightly. She asked him back, ¡°What do you think? Was it real or fake?¡±


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran exchanged nces with each other. Then, Mu Chaoran turned and looked at Ling Lan firmly. ¡°It¡¯s real.¡±


    ¡°Our identities were fake but the feeling towards our Little Brother Shaoyun is real. We even thought of getting him into the Flying Dragon Special Forces after he entered the military academy so that we can protect him forever. That way, he can have a happy life.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t want his smile to disappear. As long as we have the ability to, we want to protect him forever. Little Brother Shaoyun can just live happily without any worry.¡± Mu Chaoran felt as though he was stabbed by a knife. His heart hurt.


    ¡°Pei Shaoyun was my disguise. His personality and image is fake. None of it is real.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words hurt the two of them even further. Mu Chaoran was in agony. His favourite Little Brother Shaoyun never existed.


    Mu Chaoran was just sad that his beloved younger brother never existed. On the other hand, Tang Ningyu was fuming.


    ¡°Is it fun to fool us?¡± Tang Ningyu stood up angrily and questioned Lingn. Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. ¡°Why are you so angry?¡±


    ¡°Since you didn¡¯t treat us sincerely, why did you pretend to be nice towards us?¡± Tang Ningyu¡¯s eyes were bloodshot.


    Ling Lan scoffed. ¡°Were you sincere towards Pei Shaoyun from the beginning? Let¡¯s change our perspective. If Pei Shaoyun really existed, how would he feel when he knows that his two beloved brothers were fooling him? What will he do when he knows the truth?¡±


    Mu Chaoran was speechless. Tang Ningyu¡¯s anger dissipated a little.


    ¡°Do you think he would be grateful if you used your status to pull him in the Flying Dragon Special Forces? Will he live happily ever after with you? Stop daydreaming! From the moment we were in our disguises, everything was a lie. There¡¯s no such thing as sincere feelings. Even if there is, it wouldn¡¯tst long.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re lucky that you met me as no one else will tolerate you with how you are questioning me.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned sharp. A strong force of presence slowly leaked out from her body. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran felt cold sweat on their back.


    They then heard a cold voice speaking forcefully, ¡°Is it fun to fool me?¡±


    This question pierced through their hearts. Mu Chaoran¡¯s anguish and Tang Ningyu¡¯s anger dissipated instantly.


    ¡°Dreams are beautiful. However, it¡¯s time to wake up.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s stern voice woke them up with a shock.


    By questioning Ling Lan directly, they finally overcame the devil in their hearts, so the force of presence around them suddenly exploded. Ling Lan raised her eyebrows in surprise and activated her domain. The entire private room immediately turned cold. Xie Yi and Luo Lang couldn¡¯t help but shiver.


    Ling Lan¡¯s ice domain concept stopped Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s domain from exploding out, saving the furniture and private room from destruction.


    ¡°F**k, their force of presence is really powerful. They¡¯ve actually advanced. They must have reached the titled domain realm now,¡± Luo Lang eximed in surprise.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were only a few years older than them. They were from the same generation. The few of them thought that under the guidance of Boss, they had already surpassed everyone from the same generation as them. However, that didn¡¯t seem to be the case now as the two people in front of them were faster than them.


    What about Boss? Was Ling Lan even a human? The people from Lingtian knew that there was no point inparing with Boss.


    ¡°Their advancement means that you are not training hard enough.¡± Ling Lan spoke as she controlled her domain.


    She touched her chin and muttered, ¡°Maybe we should activate the ultimate level month training?¡±


    ¡°No way! No, please! Boss!¡± Luo Lang, Xie Yi, Li Yingjie, and even Gu Dongyang shouted in unison.


    The ultimate level day training was enough to make feel like bashing their skulls against the wall to end their life. If Boss really started the ultimate level month training... they could imagine what kind of hell they would have to go through. There was no question about it. They would definitely die.


    They were not protesting the training because they werezy. It was because they had actually experienced the ultimate level month training before. Besides Boss, only Qi Long managed to remain until the end. However, he still had to lie in Li Shiyu¡¯s medical department for three whole months before he could stand up again. Most of the participants couldn¡¯t even reach the halfway point. Even then, they had to lie down for more than a month before recovering. From then onwards, the ultimate level month training was seen as the doors of hell. Anyone who wanted to die could try it.


    This was why everyone jumped in fright when they heard what Ling Lan said.


    ¡°You don¡¯t want the ultimate level month training? Well, show me you can do without it. One yearter...¡± Ling Lan smiled as she looked at herpanions.


    Herpanions could almost seeyers of devil wings behind Ling Lan¡¯s back. ¡°Don¡¯t me me for being merciless if you haven¡¯t advanced.¡±

 Chapter 1173 - A New Start?

    <h4>Chapter 1173 A New Start?</h4>


    Around two hourster, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s force of presence finally turned stable.


    Ling Lan retracted her domain.


    The two of them opened their eyes almost simultaneously. They looked at Ling Lan with aplicated expression. Should they hate him or thank him? He destroyed their dream but also helped them to kill the devil in their hearts. Due to his help, they were able to be titled domain realm formidable warriors.


    Domain realm masters were very powerful but the normal domain realm masters were nothing in the domain world. Only titled domain realm formidable warriors had say in the world.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± In the end, Tang Ningyu still thanked Ling Lan. After all, he still received help from Ling Lan after he burst out in anger towards her.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to thank me. This is your fate. I just happened to be part of it.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t take the credit.


    ¡°You are the one who helped us be titled domain realm formidable warriors. I¡¯ll remember it forever. You¡¯re right. Our identities were fake. No matter how true our feelings were during that moment, they would be fake in the end,¡± Mu Chaoran said earnestly.


    Mu Chaoran suddenly stood up and walked towards Ling Lan. He saluted and introduced himself, ¡°Major General Ling, I¡¯m Colonel Mu Chaoran from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Nice to meet you.¡±


    Everyone was puzzled by his actions. Hadn¡¯t he introduced himself already?


    Mu Chaoran put his hand out and continued, ¡°Since we revealed our real identity, are we able to be friends from now on?¡±


    Tang Ningyu immediately understood Mu Chaoran¡¯s actions. He looked at Ling Lan. He was in a dilemma. In the end, he just sighed. He didn¡¯t follow what Mu Chaoran did.


    ¡®Once some things are gone, they can nevere back.¡¯ Tang Ningyu liked Pei Shaoyun, not this cold and dominating Major General Ling.


    They were not the same person.


    Ling Lan looked up slightly and saw Mu Chaoran¡¯s resolute gaze. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. ¡°I thought you like Pei Shaoyun.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I like Pei Shaoyun. I¡¯ve never met someone as pure and sincere as him. I want to protect him. I don¡¯t want him to be tainted by the evils in this world. I don¡¯t believe that the Pei Shaoyun I like is fake. If you exist, it means that he exists. I believed this firmly.¡± This was Mu Chaoran¡¯s real thoughts.


    ¡°Mu Chaoran, Colonel Mu, your obsession towards Pei Shaoyun is too strong.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression was cold. She didn¡¯t have any intention of being friends with Mu Chaoran. Friends couldn¡¯t be made so easily. They must be responsible for each other, and Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to take on this obsession.


    ¡°This is my business. Major General Ling, I just want to know if it¡¯s possible.¡± In the end, Mu Chaoran chose to be stubborn.


    ¡°Colonel Mu, take care of yourself.¡± Ling Lan ignored the outstretched hand, took her teacup and sipped her tea.


    As Gu Dongyang noticed that the conversation was ending, he stood up hurriedly. ¡°This way, please.¡± Lifting the teacup meant that Ling Lan wanted to chase the guest away.


    Mu Chaoran knew that he couldn¡¯t get what he wanted. However, he didn¡¯t mind. He was still satisfied to know that Pei Shaoyun was Ling Lan.


    Soon, Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu left.


    After they walked out of the building, Tang Ningyu finally opened his mouth, ¡°Chaoran, why did you want to be friends with Major General Ling?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just know that I¡¯ll regret it if I don¡¯t say it. I think you will too.¡±


    Tang Ningyu snorted. ¡°How is that possible? So what if Ling Lan is strong? He is not Pei Shaoyun. That means that he is nothing to me.¡±


    Mu Chaoran frowned. He thought for a while before finally saying, ¡°I hope so.¡±


    ¡°But, you broke the rules of the Flying Dragon Special Forces to help Ling Lan. Our superiors will definitely punish you when we go back.¡± Tang Ningyu was worried about Mu Chaoran.


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to worry about. I¡¯ve been punished before.¡± Mu Chaoran was used to getting punished.


    ¡°Are you trying to destroy all the good feelings our superiors have for you?¡± Tang Ningyu felt helpless.


    Mu Chaoran shrugged. He didn¡¯t care. He turned his head and forward with a steadfast attitude. When he noticed that Tang Ningyu couldn¡¯t see him anymore, an indescribable emotion shed past his eyes.


    ¡°Actually, Mu Chaoran is not bad.¡± Luo Lang had a good impression of Mu Chaoran.


    Xie Yi frowned. ¡°Not bad? The people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces are all arrogant bastards.¡±


    Luo Lang was puzzled. ¡°Really? Why do I think that Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were not arrogant at all?¡±


    ¡°They were talking to Boss.¡± Xie Yi took the chance to lick Ling Lan¡¯s boots. Then, he continued, If we were the ones talking to them, they wouldn¡¯t be so respectful. They would act all high and mighty to show off how noble the Flying Dragon Special Forces is.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Luo Lang looked at Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan saw the hand signals Xie Yi was giving her secretly. He looked so funny when he pleaded for her help.


    ¡°Hmm...¡± Ling Lan made a soft sound. She nced at Xie Yi as she used her gaze to ask him what he was willing to offer in exchange for her help.


    ¡®Anything¡¯ Xie Yi nodded firmly. He would do anything.


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t disappoint herpanions. She didn¡¯t feel that the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces were too good either. The simple-minded Luo Lang shouldn¡¯t interact too much with them. This must be why Xie Yi was concerned.


    As expected, they needed to worry more when they had an innocent friend.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect the people from the famous Flying Dragon Special Forces to be like that. How disappointing.¡± The innocent Luo Lang got fooled by hispanions. His good impression of Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu disappeared.


    It was fun working together! Ling Lan and Xie Yi exchanged nces with each other.


    Li Yingjie stood at the side in a daze. Were the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces so bad?


    Gu Dongyang pretended that he wasn¡¯t involved in the conversation.


    As the sun set, Ling Lan packed her things and prepared to leave tomorrow morning. Suddenly, hermunicator vibrated. She was stunned.


    She pressed the button and a virtual screen appeared in front of her. A familiar figure was disyed on the screen. It was her father, Ling Xiao.

 Chapter 1174 - Something For Everyone

    <h4>Chapter 1174 Something For Everyone</h4>


    ¡°If I don¡¯t call you, you won¡¯t call me, huh.¡± Ling Xiao seemed to be a little angry. He looked like an ignored puppy that was about to bite you


    ¡°I thought that you¡¯ll be very busy,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    If she had guessed correctly, her father was currently busy cleaning up the ends of his deal. That was why she didn¡¯t contact him immediately.


    ¡°I will always have some time tomunicate with my daughter no matter how busy I am.¡± Ling Xiao looked at her with a disapproving gaze.


    Ling Xiao was willing to put aside all his work to spend some time with his daughter.


    ¡°Fine. What do you want to talk about?¡± Ling Lan felt speechless at her father¡¯s suffocating and loving behaviour.


    ¡°Xuyang told me what happened at the conference. You did a good job.¡± Ling Xiao was full of smiles as heplimented his daughter.


    ¡®Sob. Father, can you control yourself? Your expression is too obvious. It will ruin your male idol image.¡¯ Ling Lan felt embarrassed. Was she really so good?


    ¡°But the rewards...¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s expression turned normal again.


    Ling Lan sensed something. ¡°Did the three marshals make an offer?¡±


    ¡°Ling Lan, seems like you guessed it.¡± His daughter was so capable. She made him feel inferior.


    ¡°Of course, I would have guessed it. You are one of the ten great generals as well as the general of the 23rd division. Now, your child is a lieutenant general who has an independent army. The three great marshals won¡¯t be able to ept this.¡± Ling Lan was very aware that the three great marshals wouldn¡¯t allow the Ling family to have two generals. Otherwise, the Ling family would be unstoppable in the military world. This was forbidden in the military.


    In the past, the entire Ling family only consisted of Lan Luofeng and Ling Xiao. They had no background to depend on. This was the reason why the military was very willing to give Ling Xiao the rank of general. No matter how good his reputation was, he wouldn¡¯t be much of an influence in the military world if he didn¡¯t have a good background.


    However, it was different now. If his daughter became a lieutenant general and amander of an independent army, she would be Ling Xiao¡¯s most powerful right-hand man. Ling Xiao would be powerful enough to topple the current reign. The three great marshals were afraid of this.


    ¡°In the past, it¡¯s impossible but now, it might be different.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s gaze was sharp. If his daughter deserved it, he wouldn¡¯t let anyone take it away.


    Ling Lan thought for a moment. ¡°Did you do something?¡±


    Ling Xiao smiled. ¡°Not much. It¡¯s just an exchange of benefits. They want to use my hand to remove the corrupted officers so that the various factions will be unhappy towards me. That way, I will be left all alone to fend for myself.¡±


    ¡°I paid such a huge price to y into their hands so I think that I should receive some constion for that.¡± Ling Xiao raised his eyebrows and gave an evil smile.


    ¡°Why did you exchange it for an independent army?¡± Ling Lan frowned. Her father had better options than to have an independant army under him.


    ¡°It was the most reasonable choice. It was something they were willing to ept too.¡±


    ¡°Father, you¡¯ve already discussed with the three great marshals.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t much of a loss on my side. Everyone got what they wanted. Everyone is happy.¡± Ling Xiao smiled. He was willing to give up some interest for the sake of his daughter. So what if he had to offend some people. If he wanted to climb to the highest position and protect his family, he eventually would have to do these things anyway.


    ¡°Go back and wait patiently for the rewards. If you hear anything unpleasant, pretend that nothing happened. Focus on your own business.¡± Ling Xiao reminded Ling Lan seriously.


    ¡°I understand. After I go back to Base Neb, I¡¯ll enter into closed-door meditation.¡± Ling Lan smiled. ¡°My injuries are not fully healed so it¡¯s reasonable that my health got worse due to the long journey and the multiple usations I received.¡±


    Ling Xiaoughed out loud. The tiredness on his face disappeared. ¡°That is a good excuse.¡±

 Chapter 1175 - Storm!

    <h4>Chapter 1175 Storm!</h4>


    Ling Lan asked about Major General Gao. Ling Xiao only replied with a meaningful smile, and Ling Lan understood it.


    Her father had his own people in the military too. They hid well and would only show themselves when a crucial situation arose.


    Major General Gao would have probably revealed himself to help her in the conference if she needed it. If she made any mistakes at the conference, he would lend a helping hand.


    Ling Lan gave a small smile to show how happy she was. Her father was always prepared beforehand. Whether she needed it or not, he would be always prepared to help her. He would ensure that she was able to do what she wanted without having to worry about her back.


    She was very lucky to be able to meet her parents. They trusted and loved herpletely. Even if she killed someone, they wouldn¡¯t ask her anything about it. Instead, they would give her a knife and even help her to bury the corpse.


    The two of them chatted for a while more. Ling Xiao told Ling Lan what he was doing currently so that she could prepare mentally.


    Ling Xiao could see how much Ling Lan had grown over the years. He had the intention of letting her know about the fight for power between the higher authorities in the military. Once Lingtian became an independent army, she would eventually have to deal with all the political matters that would flood her. She wouldn¡¯t be able to enter the core circle but she would still have to face many dangers. If she didn¡¯t remain vignt, she might suffer due to her ignorance on the matter.


    Ling Lan listened to Ling Xiao attentively. She knew that her father was teaching her valuable lessons. Just like what he mentioned, if Lingtian became an independent army, the things he said would be useful.


    Half an hour passed. Ling Xiao had many topics to teach Ling Lan but he was very busy. He Xuyang put in much effort before he managed to squeeze some time for Ling Xiao to talk to Ling Lan. When He Xuyang reminded Ling Xiao for the third time to end the call, he had no choice but to hang up on the call.


    The night was silent. The next morning, Ling Lan and herpanions sat in the shuttle and left General. They boarded the starship heading to Base Neb from the Soldier City.


    With Ling Xiao¡¯s help, they had a smooth journey. The starship they were on disappeared into theary sector.


    At that moment, an order preventing Ling Lan from leaving General arrived at the port. However, it was useless. Those people that wanted to keep Ling Lan on General sighed in pity.


    ¡°Major Han, a starship is requesting to enter Base Neb.¡± A JMC received a request to enter the base so she hurriedly looked for her major.


    Han Xuya replied calmly, ¡°Ask them for their starship number, their identity, and their passcode for entering the base.¡±


    The JMC sent the request. The other party replied quickly, ¡°Starship number: XY-001 from Base Neb. Passcode: ! @@1%$#...¡±


    Han Xuya jumped up happily. ¡°It¡¯s Boss.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± The JMC was confused.


    ¡°Our regimentmander is back.¡± Another JMC managed to react quickly and shouted happily.


    ¡°Quick, send the signal to me.¡± The tiredness on her face disappeared. She had been spending thest few days in anxiety and agitation. Finally, she could rx.


    The JMC at the spaceport moved quickly. The next second, the signal from the spaceship was sent to Han Xuya.


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± Han Xuya shouted excitedly.


    ¡°Xuya? Why is it you?¡± Ling Lan was stunned to hear that familiar voice. She quickly pressed the button and took over the call.


    ¡°Something happened in the base during your absence. However, we worked together and overcame the difficulty.¡± Han Xuya just briefly exined the situation as it was not a suitable time to talk.


    ¡°I understand. Lead me into the base now.¡± Ling Lan knew that many things must have happened at the base after she had left. After all, it was a part of her n, but it seemed that this issue was a little more serious than she had expected.


    Ling Lan was surprised but not agitated. Since Han Xuya was able to control the spaceport, it meant that the entire base was still under Lingtian¡¯s control.


    The starship slowly docked into the spaceport. Ling Lan walked down the starship and saw the core members of Lingtian.


    Ling Lan looked at them and asked calmly, ¡°What happened?¡±


    Yang Mingzhi¡¯s gentle aura had disappeared. He replied seriously, ¡°After you left, the military sent three mecha ns over. These three mecha ns are all first-rank five-star mecha ns.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Who did it?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.


    Yang Mingzhi¡¯s expression turned darker. He replied instantly, ¡°The three great marshals.¡±


    Ling Lan understood what he meant. ¡°Each marshal sent one mecha n. Seems like we are very popr.¡±


    ¡°While we focused on searching for the spies, they took the chance to contact the regimentmanders in the base with the intention to assign someone else as themander of the mecha ns.¡± Liu Furong reported the actions of these three mecha ns.


    ¡°Ourmanding officer of the base took part in it too?¡± Ling Lan was in deep thought.


    ¡°Yes and no. A newmanding officer hase to our base.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled as he replied Ling Lan.


    ¡°Major General Yu went to take a higher position?¡± This was unexpected. Looks like a huge drama was being yed during these past three days.


    ¡°Yes. He was transferred to the 16th division to be the head of the logistics department of a newly formed fleet,¡± Li Lanfeng answered.


    Ling Lan frowned. ¡°That position is of a simr rank.¡± Based on the merits Yu Huan got from this battle, he should be able to be the vice-head of a department in the military headquarters.


    Although it was just a vice-head, its status was much higher than the head of the logistics department of a fleet. If he waited for a few more years, he might take over as the head of a department. The head of the logistics department might sound impressive but it was not a position within the military headquarters. There was no future in it.


    ¡°It¡¯s better than being themanding officer of a base. Major General Yu was quite happy with the new arrangement,¡± Li Lanfeng said.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. This arrangement is still not bad. The military still remembered his contribution and gave him a new fleet. The soldiers there are all new so they don¡¯t have factions or clicks yet. With Yu Huan¡¯s ability, he would be able to create results.¡± Ling Lan acknowledged Yu Huan¡¯s ability. That was why she didn¡¯t take over the control of the base in the first ce. She trusted Yu Huan.

 Chapter 1176 - The Ye Family?

    <h4>Chapter 1176 The Ye Family?</h4>


    ¡°Did you find out which faction this newmanding officer belonged to?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    ¡°Major General Ye Kui from the Ye family. They seemed to have formed a coboration with the second marshal but still maintaining a good rtionship with the other two marshals. Hence, all three marshals might have agreed to this appointment. The main goal of this appointment is to take the Li family down a notch. After all, the two sessors of the Li family are in your mecha n. They are using the Li family to suppress you,¡± Li Lanfeng replied with contempt.


    ¡°Do you mean that the Li family is cing all their bets on me?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.


    Li Lanfeng gave an ambiguous smile. ¡°From the looks of it now, yes.¡± If his grandfather still couldn¡¯t see who was the real king, he wasn¡¯t worthy of being the family head. Sometimes, he felt that his grandfather knew this all along but he just never told him.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t surprised. She knew that the Li family would continue to support her as long as she was still useful to them.


    ¡°Where is Ye Kui?¡± Since Lingtian was still in control of Base Neb, Ye Kui should be under their control too. He must be having a bad time.


    ¡°He¡¯s at the dormitory district.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡°He¡¯s restricted from leaving thepounds.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re so bold. Aren¡¯t you afraid that he willin to the military headquarters?¡± Ling Lan smiled as she nced at the crowd. She realised that these people had be bolder after following her. They even dared to lock up amanding officer.


    ¡°We were finding spies in the base so Major General Ye has to suffer a little. He is prohibited from all kinds ofmunication.¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly turned serious.


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong couldn¡¯t help but smile when they heard this. Li Lanfeng¡¯s decisive act of locking Ye Kui up helped to stabilise the situation in Base Neb. They felt that in terms of ruthlessness and decisiveness, they couldn¡¯t bepared with him. No wonder their regimentmander left him at the base.


    ¡°Good. We must keep Base Neb safe. This is the foundation of our journey to being an independent army.¡± Ling Lanmented on Li Lanfeng. Since her father wanted Lingtian to be an independent army, she mustn¡¯t let anyone disrupt the n.


    ¡°Independent army?¡± The three of them looked at Ling Lan in astonishment. Lingtian bing an independant army affected many parties so before the official announcement, the news of Lingtian bing an independent army was kept a secret by the military headquarters. Thus, the people at the base didn¡¯t know about this.


    ¡°If no idents happen, yes.¡± Ling Lan nodded. There would definitely be a battle before they really became an independent army. However, she believed that her father would take care of it.


    Although she never mentioned it, Ling Lan had always hoped that Lingtian would be an independent army. She had always been on the outside looking in in the battle for power. She was helpless when she saw her father getting impeded in his path. But, when Lingtian became an independent army, she wouldn¡¯t have to be a bystander anymore. She could be a participant and help her father. Her father wouldn¡¯t have to fight all alone anymore.


    ¡°The time wille soon.¡¯ This was thest time she would bear with this sense of helplessness.


    Ling Lan clenched her fist secretly. Ever since she entered the military, she had been controlling herself. Every step she took was done carefully so that she wouldn¡¯t create trouble for her father. Finally, her efforts paid off. It was time for her to reap the fruits of herbour. Everything was worth it in the end.


    The three of them felt exhrated after receiving Ling Lan¡¯s confirmation. They knew what bing an independent army truly meant. This was the dream of all independent mecha n. All of them hoped that Lingtian would be an independent army but they thought that this would happen many yearster. Yet, it was happening now. They wondered if they were dreaming


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about their shock. She just went past them to the dormitory where Ye Kui was resting. Li Lanfeng made the right decision but it would undoubtedly offend Ye Kui and the Ye family, as well as the people supporting them. As the regimentmander, she needed to take care of these implications so that Li Lanfeng¡¯s future wouldn¡¯t be affected.


    The two soldiers on duty were both lieutenant colonels. Ling Lan recognised them. They were veteran soldiers who had been with Lingtian since its inception. She didn¡¯t expect them to be sent over to watch over Ye Kui.


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± The two rxed soldiers immediately stood up straight and greeted Ling Lan energetically.


    ¡°Old Yuan, Old Jin, thanks for your hard work.¡± Ling Lan had a good memory so she remembered who they were.


    ¡°No problem.¡± The veteran soldiers feel ted after being acknowledged for their hard work. They didn¡¯t expect their regimentmander to remember their names. They felt touched.


    Ling Lan rarely spoke. Normally when she did, it was an order or instructions for training. Besides the team leaders who had to talk to her to report the training progress, no one dared to get close to Ling Lan, much less talk to her. No one wanted to freeze to death.


    Everyone was afraid of their merciless and cold regimentmander but they knew that she was a responsible person. Everything she did was for their benefit. However, when they knew that their fierce regimentmander even remembered their names, the feelings bloomed inside them was indescribable.


    [A schr dies for his bosom friend.] Although they were just a member of the mecha n, they still understand the phrase. They were willing to fight for their regimentmander and even risk their lives for her.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t expect her greeting to have such a huge impact. To her, knowing the members of her soon-to-be army was part of her job.


    Ling Lan asked Liu Furong and the other three people to wait outside while she entered the ce herself. The first thing she saw was a huge courtyard with many nts and flowers nted inside. Some parts of the soil had been turned over to nt new flowers. This must be done within these two days.


    This person had his freedom taken away but he still remainedposed and even had the time to y with nts. This Ye Kui wasn¡¯t a simple person! Ling Lan made a judgment.


    The main door opened and a middle-aged man around forty years old walked out.


    The middle-aged major general was stunned for a moment when he saw a young major general standing in the courtyard. Soon, he realised who it was and asked, ¡°Major General Ling?¡±


    ¡°Major General Ye,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡°You¡¯re back.¡± Ye Kui smiled. ¡°This means that Base Neb is totally under your control.¡±


    Ling Lan answered, ¡°I just want to know why did you get yourself involved in this mess?¡±


    ¡°I was thrown here by the higher authorities. I have no choice.¡± Ye Kui didn¡¯t conceal the truth.


    ¡°Ye family?¡± Ling Lan liked to go straight to the point.


    Ye Kui smiled slightly. ¡°It¡¯s a long story. Why don¡¯t youe in to have some tea?¡±


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Suits me.¡±

 Chapter 1177 - Motive!

    <h4>Chapter 1177 Motive!</h4>


    The two of them entered the living room. Ling Lan quickly found a ce to sit.


    Ye Kui¡¯s adjutant officer brought out two cups of hot tea without waiting for Ye Kui¡¯s order.


    ¡°There are no good tea leaves here so I apologise for the crude taste,¡± Ye Kui said.


    ¡°Is that aint that my subordinates are not taking good care of you?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows slightly.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare to do that,¡± Ye Kui smiled and replied calmly.


    Ling Lan took a sip of the tea and waited for Ye Kui to speak. In terms of patience, she never lost.


    Ye Kui noticed the iing awkward silence so he spoke up voluntarily, ¡°It wasn¡¯t the intention of the Ye family.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Ling Lan was surprised. ¡°They don¡¯t mind people from the Li family hanging around me?¡±


    Ye Kui forced out a smile. ¡°It is true that the Ye family doesn¡¯t have a good rtionship with the Li family and that we fought a lot, but we know that once the other party copses, the death of our family is near too. The elite families seemed prestigious but their survival depended on the military.¡±


    ¡°No matter how powerful they are, they are nothing whenpared to the military. If they want you to exist, you will. If they want you to disappear, it¡¯s only a matter of seconds before you do.¡± This was the pain of elite families. No elite family could escape from this fate.


    ¡°So, you want to cooperate with the military. You ced your people in the different departments so that the military won¡¯t be able to give up on you easily.¡± Ling Lan pondered as she spoke.


    ¡°Yes. However, as we went deeper into the military, we started to realise that doing this much wasn¡¯t enough for us to solidify our position. Without military power, everything is useless.¡± They made so much effort but they were still controlled by the military. They still couldn¡¯t get rid of the impending danger looming above their heads.


    ¡°The Ye family¡¯s main focus is on the 9th division, right? Why haven¡¯t they finished growing their tree after so long?¡± It was hard to tell whether Ling Lan was asking a question or mocking him.


    Ye Kui felt that Ling Lan was mocking them. He gave a bitter smile and said, ¡°The three great marshals have constantly been watching over us. Once we make any progress, they will act and disperse our growing influence. After every attempt, we will revert back to controlling only just a quarter of the division. They are keeping us hopeful but in reality, we will never have the opportunity to take over the division. Major General Ling should understand this. There¡¯s no point in asking.¡±


    ¡°The Li family is in the same situation. At the start, two of their sessors came to the 23rd division to follow you. The Ye family felt that this was a desperate move and evenughed at them for cing their bets on you.¡± Ye Kui sighed before he continued. ¡°Yet, now, they finally understood that General Ling Xiao isn¡¯t a normal person. He will definitely achieve great thing that none had done before.¡±


    ¡°So?¡± Ling Lan frowned.


    ¡°It¡¯s a bitte but the Ye family would like to help General Ling Xiao to be the emperor of the military world, just like what the Li family is currently doing.¡± Ye Kui finally revealed the Ye family¡¯s motive.


    Ling Lan smiled slightly. She slowly put down the teacup in her hand, sat up straight, raised her head, and stared intently at Ye Kui.


    Ye Kui felt an invisible force of presence pushing on his shoulders from such a simple movement.


    ¡°Major General Ye, my father is just a soldier who loves his country. He doesn¡¯t have any grand ambition. It¡¯s alright to say those words to me but if other people got wind of it, it would be bad for the Ye family.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression turned serious.


    ¡®Bullshit!¡¯ Ye Kui almost refuted. If Ling Xiao didn¡¯t have any ambition, why would he do what he did recently? If he didn¡¯t have any ambition, why would the three great marshals send him to suppress the Li family? All this was done to prevent Ling Lan from bing too powerful.


    Ye Kui took a deep breath to calm down. He thought about his words carefully before answering, ¡°It is my fault for making the assumption. However, the Ye family respects General Ling and hopes to cooperate with him. Please pass my words to him.¡±


    He was too anxious. Maybe General Ling Xiao never told his son about his intentions. Although Ling Lan progressed quickly, he was just a 24-year-old young man. It might be bad for him to be aware of too many things.


    The Ye family became nervous when General Ling Xiao grew so quickly in power. The Li family also had an early advantage over them so they got agitated and wanted to contact General Ling Xiao immediately through his son. From the looks of it now, this wasn¡¯t a good idea.


    ¡°I never interfere in my father¡¯s business. The Ye family can look for my father directly,¡± Ling Lan rejected him instantly.


    Damn it. If he could find General Ling personally, why would he need to look for Ling Lan? The three great marshals had been keeping a tight surveince of the Ye family so they didn¡¯t dare to look for any generals. Currently, the Ye family knew that they were being pushed out as a scapegoat by the three great marshals but they still did it so that they could have a chance to interact with the Ling family.


    Ye Kui took a deep breath again. Ling Lan was young but careful. There was nothing he could do now, but it¡¯s alright as he had ample time.


    Ye Kui remembered what his father told him. If he couldn¡¯t contact General Ling immediately, he must learn from the Li family and stay beside Ling Lan. He would use his actions to prove his sincerity.


    Ling Lan got what she wanted so she stood up and left. Ye Kui knew that he couldn¡¯t get what he wanted instantly so he decided to y a long game. Hence, the two of them had a good time and bid farewell.


    When she stepped outside, Ling Lan¡¯s stern expression disappeared as she smiled beautifully. She was in a good mood.


    ¡°How is it?¡± Li Lanfeng asked nervously. He knew why Ling Lan came to look for Ye Kui.


    Ye Kui would have to be freed one day. Once he was freed, Li Lanfeng would be in trouble for locking him up, even the Li family wouldn¡¯t be able to protect him if that happened. After all, he locked up a major general from the Ye family. The Ye family wouldn¡¯t just let him off easily.


    ¡°Why weren¡¯t you worried when you did it?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. She liked to tease this beauty.


    ¡°Regimentmander, I did this for you and Lingtian.¡± Li Lanfeng quickly praised himself. Pride really meant nothing to him.


    ¡®Shameless!¡¯ Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi scoffed secretly. They confirmed that the most shameless person in Lingtian was this Big Leader Li.


    Ling Lan was surprised too. When did Li Lanfeng be so shameless? She only left the base for a few days. What happened?


    ¡°I knew that you¡¯ll be able to handle it.¡± Li Lanfeng seemed to understand something. His nervous expression disappeared as he smiled. Ling Lan could feel the sweetness in his smile. What on earth was this?

 Chapter 1178 - Clean Out!

    <h4>Chapter 1178 Clean Out!</h4>


    After returning to Base Neb, Ling Lan sectioned off her work to the seven people from Lingtian. That night, she stayed in the medical department and announced to everyone that her old injuries have returned once again. The situation was dire and it required her to stay inside for treatment.


    This news made many of the regimentmanders, who wanted to find Ling Lan to resolve the military¡¯s underlying issues, frustrated.


    ¡°That Ling Lan is so sly!¡± In the living room of a mansion, a major general who had just received the news about Ling Lan¡¯s closed-door meditation, angrily smashed his palm onto the coffee table in front of him. He was so frustrated that he couldn¡¯t even restrain his power as he instantly destroyed the coffee table in front of him into pieces.


    ¡°We are slower by a tiny bit but we are now stuck in the impasse. If Ling Lan doesn¡¯t want to see us, we can¡¯t do much about it,¡± another major general beside him said calmly.


    ¡°When I get out, I will definitely report all those bastards from Lingtian to the military supreme court,¡± said the angry major general.


    ¡°That definitely won¡¯t be possible as they still have General Ling Xiao behind them. Unless General Ling Xiao is to fall... But is that possible?¡± The third major general smiled coldly and responded.


    These three individuals were from the three new first-rank five star ace mecha ns that came to Base Neb.


    The angry-looking individual was the regimentmander of Jade Cloud Ace Mecha n, Qin Youqi.


    The one who seemed to be rtively mild-mannered was Fantasy City Ace Mecha n¡¯s regimentmander, Wang Shao.


    The one with the cold expression and a smirk on his face was the regimentmander of Nine Alliance Ace Mecha n, Zhang Haoxun.


    ¡°He¡¯s after all only just a general. As long as the three marshals work together, he would fall from grace either way.¡± After hearing the question posed by Zhang Haoxun, Major General Qin Youqi stood up and spoke the truth of the matter.


    However, the other two major generals weren¡¯t moved by hisments.


    ¡°Am I wrong?¡± Qin Youqi said annoyedly.


    ¡°General Ling Xiao is not only just a general. He¡¯s also a god-ss operator!¡± exined Wang Shao. ¡°As long as General Ling Xiao doesn¡¯t betray our country, no one would be able to bring him down from his position, even if the three marshals banded together.¡±


    ¡°Then what does our higher-ups want us to do here?¡± Qin Youqi sat down with a defeated expression on his face.


    ¡°Perhaps they want us to probe Ling Lan¡¯s mecha n. Of course, causing some trouble for Ling Xiao will be good as well,¡± replied Zhang Haoxun.


    ¡°Before I came here, I met our chief to inquire about the situation in Base Neb. Although he didn¡¯t clearly say it, he implied that if we can¡¯t get Base Neb under our control, then Lingtian Mecha n will be able to sessfully advance and be its own army.¡± Wang Shao thought for a moment before deciding to tell them what he knew.


    ¡°Independent army!?¡± Qin Youqi and Zhang Haoxun instantly stood up from their seats. Although they were also sent by their higher-ups, they knew much less information about the undercurrents of the military whenpared to Wang Shao.


    ¡°The merits Lingtian Mecha n has received from the recent battle is enough for them to be an independent army.¡± Major General Wang Shao was quite indifferent in his tone. However, when he found out, he was just as shocked as the two colleagues in front of him.


    ¡°No wonder.¡± Zhang Haoxun finally understood why their higher-ups wanted them toe here to fight for themand of the base. The only thing that could stop Lingtian from advancing was a worthlessmander. Perhaps their higher-ups didn¡¯t even want to stop Lingtian Mecha n from advancing, and was nning to instead switch out the regimentmander.


    ¡°However, now it seems that we have belittled Lingtian Mecha n.¡± Wang Shao sighed.


    They originally thought Major General Yang Mingzhi, who was responsible for Lingtian during Ling Lan¡¯s absence, was also working under the First Marshal. Even if their movements were discovered, he would just look the other way. However, they didn¡¯t expect that Yang Mingzhi wouldn¡¯t even give them any face and actually made a move at the most crucial moment.


    While being under the impression that Yang Mingzhi was on their side, they were lured by Yang Mingzhi toe to their current location. After they got in, they could no longer leave.


    ¡°Frankly, I¡¯m worried about our mecha ns right now. I¡¯m not sure how our subordinates are doing.¡± Zhang Haoxun frowned. They were already stuck there for two days with no way of contacting the outside.


    On the day right before they were incarcerated, the capabilities Lingtian Mecha n had shown them made them afraid. They originally thought that being domain realm masters, they could easily escape from a bunch of no-named soldiers. However, they didn¡¯t ount for more than 10 domain realm masters instantly putting them down. Some of them might even have been titled domain realm formidable warriors.


    What was more terrifying was they didn¡¯t know where the medicinal agent they had injected them came from. Just one injection caused their physical skills to decrease exponentially. They could currently only retain it at the peak of refinement stage, while... any one of the guards outside the door was at Qi-Jin stage. They didn¡¯t even have the strength to escape even if they wanted to.


    en


    ¡°They won¡¯t be in chaos because they¡¯ve probably been taken down already,¡± said Qin Youqi while biting his lip in frustration. If they dared to use medicinal agents against them, then they probably wouldn¡¯t let their team leaders go that easily. If team leaders wouldn¡¯t rise up, then the others would also remain calm.


    Wang Shao sighed. ¡°I actually admire the person who decided to incarcerate us. That person is quite daring. Once this situation turns into our favour, he would be the first one to be sent out to take responsibility for these actions.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that person Yang Mingzhi?¡± Qin Youqi asked in a confused tone. In his mind, other than Yang Mingzhi, no one else would dare to make a move on them.


    ¡°No, with Major General Yang¡¯s personality, even if he were to go against us, he would use a moderate means and not such a forceful method,¡± said Wang Shao.


    ¡°This person either likes taking risks, or ispletely loyal to Ling Lan. He clearly knows he will be the person to take the me, but is still willing to clear out any obstacles that stand in the way of Ling Lan,¡± Zhang Haoxun spoke his mind.


    ¡°I really want to meet this person,¡± Wang Shao said with interest. Compared to Yang Mingzhi, he was more interested in meeting the person that made the decision to put them here. If they wanted to go against Ling Lan, this person would definitely be a huge obstacle for them. Although Wang Shao couldn¡¯t do anything about Ling Lan at this current moment, it was still necessary for him to know more about his enemy.


    Moving away from the three major generals who were stuck in the vi, their three first-rank five star mecha ns were all being held in their own camping ground. Other than these mecha ns who were under surveince, most of the other ns were doing what they usually do and weren¡¯t affected.


    Of course, all the regimentmanders from all the mecha ns were silently waiting to see how Lingtian was going to regain control of the situation.


    One week had passed since then. During the past week, more than a dozen spies were cleared out of Base Neb. This shocked everyone. Piercing Arrow¡¯s regimentmander was also among those taken away and a few of the heavenly warriors working under him as well.


    After this news was announced, Piercing Arrow Ace Mecha n¡¯s name became infamous and was looked down by everyone. Zhang Chao also couldn¡¯t believe this news. However, the evidence Lingtian had provided could not be disputed. Among the evidence, there was also his little brother, Zhang Han¡¯s, testimony.


    As for the other spies, although they were all team leaders, they were still notparable in magnitude like Piercing Arrow Ace Mecha n.


    While everyone was in shock about Piercing Arrow, Lingtian¡¯s seven administrators were having headaches because of one person.


    ¡°Ling Yi...¡± Yang Mingzhi looked at Li Lanfeng with a bitter smile on his face, ¡°You¡¯ve decided? That¡¯s Regiment Commander Ling¡¯s... Why don¡¯t we wait until Regiment Commander Linges out before resolving this issue?¡±


    Qi Long, Han Jijyun, Liu Furong, Lin Zhong-qing and Li Shiyu were all looking at Li Lanfeng. They agreed with Yang Mingzhi¡¯s suggestion to wait for Ling Lan toe out before making such a decision.


    ¡°If he did something wrong, then he needs to be punished. Our regimentmander wouldn¡¯t want us to break the rules just because of his rtionship with him,¡± Li Lanfeng said with determination. He didn¡¯t want to make it difficult for Ling Lan in dealing with this type of person that would cause headaches for her.


    ¡°You¡¯re the leader, what you say goes.¡± Yang Mingzhi sighed. Ling Yi was after all a member of Li Lanfeng¡¯s team. If a team leader wanted to punish him, no one could stop him anyways.


    ¡°However, I suggest you move past Ling Yi and just punish those who hide around him.¡± Yang Mingzhi still gave the suggestion he had in mind. He didn¡¯t want Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng to have any grudges between each other because of this issue as that would be detrimental for Lingtian.


    It should be known that Ling Yi¡¯s father gave his life for Ling Lan (or at least that was what Ling Lan exined as the reason for Ling Hua¡¯s death; Ling Yi had been proud of this ever since). Just from this rtionship, how could they do anything against Ling Yi? If they were too forceful, it would show that Ling Lan was too harsh towards the son of his loyalist. They wouldn¡¯t be able to report it to Ling Lan that easily.


    ¡°However, the root of the mistake came from him. If he didn¡¯t record that video and give it to our enemies, those people wouldn¡¯t have had the chance to make a move.¡± Li Lanfeng narrowed his eyes. He definitely wasn¡¯t going to allow someone who was so gullible and easily manipted to be by Ling Lan¡¯s side.


    Ever since Ling Lan mentioned that Lingtian would be advancing into an independent army, Li Lanfeng knew that in the future, there will be countless more plots made against Ling Lan. They wouldn¡¯t be able to defend against all of them. The more it became like that, the more he couldn¡¯t withstand any weaknesses around Ling Lan. Otherwise, if they were not careful, they might get into big trouble.


    Ling Lan was the most important person in Li Lanfeng¡¯s life. Despite Li Lanfeng being afraid to take thest step forward and drag Ling Lan down into the depths of hell together, he still wouldn¡¯t allow anything that could pose as a threat to Ling Lan¡¯s body or existence to survive or to at least stay near her. Ling Yi met both of these requirements so he was a troubling individual that Li Lanfeng felt he definitely needed to get rid of.


    Thus, even though he knew doing this might cause Ling Lan to be discontent with him, Li Lanfeng would still not care about the consequences and do the dirty work to keep Ling Lan safe from harm¡¯s reach.


    ¡°You... Why can¡¯t you just loosen a bit on this matter?¡± Li Lanfeng always had many plots against people and never yed out everything logically. Yang Mingzhi could not understand why he was so determined on the matter regarding Ling Yi. ¡°It¡¯s called morals,¡± said Li Lanfeng without hesitation.


    He won¡¯t be exining his motives for doing this. In truth, waiting for Ling Lan to deal with this matter personally would be a problem. However, he also believed that with Ling Lan¡¯s personality, he wouldn¡¯t tolerate Ling Yi¡¯s actions.


    Then, why was he in such a hurry to resolve this matter? There was actually a reason he couldn¡¯t tell anyone.


    Him telling the others that he was trying to make it easier for Ling Lan was only just what he thought on the surface. In reality, he just didn¡¯t want Ling Lan¡¯s feeling to get hurt. Giving punishment to the son of his loyalist personally would also hurt Ling Lan¡¯s feelings (Li Lanfeng was thinking too much) so he would rather do it for Ling Lan. Ling Lan being angry at him would be better than having her feelings hurt.


    All of them saw that Li Lanfeng had made his decision. They could only just helplessly agree with him.


    Just like Yang Mingzhi had said, Ling Yi was Li Lanfeng¡¯s team member. If the team leader wanted to punish Ling Yi, they wouldn¡¯t be able to stop him. The only person who could stop him, Ling Lan, who was already in closed-door meditation.


    In order to prove that her meditation was real, Ling Lan didn¡¯t meet with anyone this whole time. It was only just that she wasn¡¯t meditating for medical treatment, but rather to train her domain concept.


    In the next morning, Ling Yi received a notification from the JMCs, telling him to report to his team leader¡¯s office because there was a new mission for him.


    Ling Yi couldn¡¯t understand why he was summoned. It should be known that Li Lanfeng never liked him and would never look for him for anything. Of course, he also didn¡¯t like Li Lanfeng too. In his mind, Li Lanfeng¡¯s actions were cruel and ruthless. He was a poisonous leech that was in Lingtian Mecha n.


    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t have power to say otherwise. Li Lanfeng also was quite guarded against him and he couldn¡¯t get close to Young Master Lan. Otherwise, he would definitely remind Ling Lan to be careful of Li Lanfeng. He was definitely someone who couldn¡¯t be trusted.


    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t have power to say otherwise. Li Lanfeng also was quite guarded against him and he couldn¡¯t get close to Young Master Lan. Otherwise, he would definitely remind Ling Lan to be careful of Li Lanfeng. He was definitely someone who couldn¡¯t be trusted.


    However, Ling Yi wasn¡¯t afraid. He always did everything to the letter. Even if Li Lanfeng wanted to go against him, he would still have to find a reason first.


    In Lingtian, punishing team members didn¡¯t just happen with a word from the team leader. There needed to be real evidence. At the same time, there must be five team leaders acting as jury members. Otherwise, the team member could report his team leader instead.


    Ling Yi was very grateful towards Young Master Lan for creating this rule at the beginning as this rule stopped Li Lanfeng from making a move on him easily.


    Right as he walked into themand center, he met with a first lieutenant who was on guard duty.


    ¡°Hello! Are you Senior Captain Ling?¡± The first lieutenant saluted him and asked him a question.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Ling Yi nodded.


    ¡°Colonel Li is currently in the conference room. Please head straight to the conference room.¡± Seeing Ling Yi arrival, the first lieutenant instantly let out a sigh of relief. He had been straining his eyes to look around this area, in fear that he was going to miss Senior Captain Ling.


    ¡°I know.¡± Ling Yi frowned, but still replied politely.


    He didn¡¯t know what Li Lanfeng was nning, but he still turned around and walked towards the conference room ording to the directions of the first lieutenant.


    The conference room¡¯s door opened automatically as he stepped in front of it. The circr conference table had many people sitting around it.


    Ling Yi was shocked. Just from one look, he was able to see Major General Yang Mingzhi, Team Leaders Luo Lang, Zhao Jun, Xie Yi and Gu Dongyang.


    Li Lanfeng was sitting in the main seat. After hearing the door opening, he turned around. When he saw Ling Yi, his expression remained indifferent as he just pointed at a random seat on the side and said, ¡°Sit, Senior Captain Ling.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, team leader!¡± Ling Yi saluted and then saluted towards the other team leaders. Then, he sat down with his back straight and took off his military cap.


    Li Lanfeng continued to speak quietly with the other team leaders while not minding Ling Yi¡¯s presence. Despite his curiosity, Ling Yi could still hold it in and didn¡¯t move from his seat.


    Bam! The door opened once again and a familiar face was brought in while being dragged by soldiers.


    Seeing this, Ling Yi¡¯s expression changed instantly as he stood up.


    ¡°Little Tao, why are you here?¡±


    Tao Xiaotao¡¯s face had a hint of panic. After he saw Ling Yi, he began to struggle and shout loudly, ¡°Big brother Yi, save me.¡±


    Seeing this, the soldiers holding him down picked up their beam gun and aimed Tao Xiaotao, ¡°Silence.¡±


    Ling Yi¡¯s eyes had fiery anger in his eyes and shouted angrily, ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°Silence!¡± Suddenly, a cold and sharp voice rang in Ling Yi¡¯s ears.


    Ling Yi turned around and saw Li Lanfeng facing him with a cold expression on his face.


    He took two deep breaths and kept in the anger he had. Ling Yi then coldly asked, ¡°What does this mean? What did Tao Xiaotao do? Why is he being treated like this?¡±


    Despite Tao Xiaotao being naughty,zy and ignorant, he was still a scaredy- cat who wouldn¡¯t do anything bad.


    Li Lanfeng nced at Ling Yi and then turned around to speak with the other team leaders, ¡°Since everyone¡¯s here, let¡¯s begin.¡±


    ¡°No problem.¡± Nodded the other team leaders.


    The soldiers holding down Tao Xiaotao took him to an empty seat on the side and forced him to sit.


    Li Lanfeng flipped open a document that was ced in front of him and then said, ¡°Tao Xiaotao, did you send out a document on X month, X day and X time?¡±


    Tao Xiaotao had tears in his eyes, but still nodded, ¡°I remember I sent one out, but it was just a simple letter to home. I just wanted to let my family know that I was fine after the battle.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s watch the video first.¡± Li Lanfeng pushed down on the optical supeputer in the conference room table. A virtual screen appeared in the conference room. The screen showed the video of Ling Lan being reported for killing prisoners at the military headquarters.


    Ling Yi saw the video and had a huge change in expression. Then, he saw that the order to kill prisoners was being med on Ling Lan. While he was shocked, his face also turned extremely pale.


    Tao Xiaotao was still in the clouds. Although he turned pale after watching the video, it still seemed like it was his first time seeing the video.


    Li Lanfeng then turned towards Ling Yi and asked calmly, ¡°Ling Yi, do you have anything to say?¡±


    Ling Yi raised his head and didn¡¯t hesitate. He instantly answered, ¡°This video was recorded by me, but the stuff afterwards isn¡¯t supposed to be like that. This is fake.¡±


    ¡°Thest part was my order to kill prisoners, right?¡± Li Lanfeng knew Ling Yi recorded this video to go against him.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Ling Yi responded with an unruly expression. ¡°ording to the Intergctic United Nations¡¯ Humanitarian Act, mecha ns that surrender are not allowed to be killed. You had broken the rules, so I must report it to the higher-ups.


    ¡°That¡¯s why you blindly reported it to the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee without thinking that you would fall into someone¡¯s trap, causing the person who you idolized to be reported...¡± Li Lanfeng had a hint of coldness in his voice and spoke one word at a time, ¡°You really are ignorant.¡±


    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t report it to the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee.¡± Ling Yi stood up angrily. ¡°I kept this video and was waiting for a chance to speak to Young Master Lan.¡±


    ¡°Was that what you were thinking when you recorded this video?¡± said Li Lanfeng with a half-smile.


    It was as though Ling Yi was being insulted. He angrily said, ¡°Of course!¡±


    ¡°Ling Yi, who are you trying to fool?¡± shouted Li Lanfeng. ¡°Others don¡¯t know, but wouldn¡¯t those from Lingtian know how our regimentmander was like on the battlefield? As for my order to kill the prisoners, our regimentmander had already silently consented to the matter. If it was someone smart, they would have known where our regimentmander stands on the matter.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re not dumb than who is?¡± Li Lanfeng snorted coldly. ¡°In reality, the video you recorded was only just to satisfy your sense of justice. You wanted to acquire everyone¡¯s acknowledgment and praise. However, you didn¡¯t think about how much trouble your actions will bring to Lingtian and our regimentmander.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything! I didn¡¯t do anything!¡± shouted Ling Yi uncontrobly. ¡°I didn¡¯t report to anyone. I also didn¡¯t share this video with anyone. Why would I need acknowledgement and praise? I just want our regimentmander to stay away from dishonorable people like you...¡±


    ¡°Then I have a question, if you didn¡¯t report it and didn¡¯t share the video with anyone, how could this video have been leaked out and be taken in by the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee? How could it have been changed as well?¡± Li Lanfeng cut Ling Yi short and got straight to the point.


    Ling Yi was shocked. He calmed down and thought carefully for a moment. Then, his face turned pale as he looked at Tao Xiaotao with an expression of disbelief.


    ¡°I-I-I... I only showed it to mypanions,¡± Ling Yi squeezed out these words with a pained expression on his face. He was feeling the pain of being betrayed.

 Chapter 1179 - Who?

    <h4>Chapter 1179 Who?</h4>


    ¡°It isn¡¯t just Tao Xiaotao. There are more.¡± Li Lanfeng sneered.


    He looked at Zhao Jun and whispered, ¡°What¡¯s the condition on your side?¡±


    Zhao Jun looked at hismunicator. ¡°They¡¯re here.¡±


    The doors of the meeting room were opened again. Four figures appeared this time. Ling Yi knew who they were. They were the people he met at the First Men¡¯s Military Academy and entered the 23rd division with him. They were Yi Tiange, Yan Wuyou, Hua Qingxin, and Rong Ziruo.


    ¡°Everyone is here now.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled as he nced at Ling Yi.


    Ling Yi was stunned. He didn¡¯t know who betrayed him.


    Yi Tiange was the calmest among the four people. When he saw Ling Yi and Tao Xiaotao in the meeting room, he frowned slightly. Then, he saluted and introduced himself. ¡°Leaders, I¡¯m Yi Tiange from the ZF team of the logisticians.¡± After introducing himself, he quickly nudged Rong Ziruo who was beside him. Luckily, Rong Ziruo reacted quickly. ¡°Rong Ziruo!¡±


    After being awakened by the introduction of theirpanions, Yan Wuyou and Hua Qingxin quickly saluted too. ¡°Yan Wuyou!¡± ¡°Hua Qingxin!¡±


    ¡°Reporting!¡± The four of them shouted simultaneously before putting their hands down. They stood upright in their position and waited for further instructions.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be nervous. We just want to understand some things.¡± Compared to Li Lanfeng, Yang Mingzhi was much gentler in his way of handling the neers. He pointed to the seats beside Ling Yi and said, ¡°Please sit over there.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Leader Yang!¡± The four of them walked to their seats. Yi Tiange looked at Ling Yi but Ling Yi avoided his gaze. He didn¡¯t know if he could trust Yi Tiange.


    He had the innate talent of distinguishing everyone¡¯s real thoughts but why couldn¡¯t he see through his friends? Ling Yi¡¯s thoughts were in a mess.


    Yi Tiange was stunned. He had never seen Ling Yi act like this before. He retracted his gaze as well as his thoughts.


    ¡°Let¡¯s continue.¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t look at the four people. Instead, he spoke to the other team leaders.


    The team leaders nodded in agreement. Li Lanfeng flipped to the next page before looking at Tao Xiaotao. ¡°Were you alone when you sent the message?¡±


    Tao Xiaotao thought about it carefully. Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he shouted, ¡°Everyone was there.¡±


    Li Lanfeng looked at the four neers. ¡°On that day, Tao Xiaotao sent a message out of the base. You were all beside him at that time, right?¡±


    The four neers exchanged nces with one another. They carefully recalled what happened during that time. Yi Tiange replied for everyone, ¡°Yan Wuyou, Tao Xiaotao, and I lived in one dormitory while Rong Ziruo and Hua Qingxin lived beside us. They will normallye to our dormitory to y. During that time, the four of us were indeed with him.


    The other three people nodded.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure that you¡¯ve seen this video, right?¡± Li Lanfeng yed the video again.


    The four people were astounded to see the video. They understood why they were called here.


    Yi Tiange looked at Ling Yi worriedly. Then, he nodded and said, ¡°We¡¯ve seen this video before. However, the ending is different. This video has been altered.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Someone used this video to nder our regimentmander for brutal murder. It was sent directly to the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee.¡± Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Yi intently. Ling Yi couldn¡¯t help but tremble. If he knew this would happen, he would never have recorded it.


    ¡°Based on what Ling Yi said, he only showed this video to the five of you. Hence, the only culprits are the five of you. The video was sent out through Tao Xiaotao¡¯s message to his family.¡± Li Lanfeng told them the truth.


    Tao Xiaotao shouted quickly, ¡°No, no. I just sent out a letter to my family. I didn¡¯t send any video.¡±


    ¡°This video is kept within the message. It passed through the inspection of the mainframe and got leaked out sessfully.¡± Li Lanfeng smirked. ¡°It¡¯s obvious that one of you is an outstanding hacker.¡±


    The five people looked at each other. They all seemed confused. Who was the hacker hiding among them?


    Ling Yi¡¯s gaze changed again. He remembered his friend from the virtual world. Was he really his friend or was he an enemy in disguise?


    ¡°How about this? I hope that everyone can think carefully and see who is the most suspicious person. If we can¡¯t find the culprit, all of you will be kept in the base. This is to ensure the safety of everyone in the base.¡± Li Lanfeng calmly exined the oue to them. ¡°There is only one chance. Treasure it.¡±


    Gu Dongyang frowned. He wanted to say something but Yang Mingzhi stopped him. Yang Mingzhi shook his head.


    Gu Dongyang nodded. He remained patient and waited for the results.


    The five young people started to hesitate. They looked at one another with uncertainty in their eyes.


    Three minutes passed. Li Lanfeng looked up. ¡°I think that you¡¯ve been given enough time. Please tell me your opinions now. Who seemed suspicious to you?¡±


    He noticed that none of them wanted to speak so he looked at Yi Tiange. ¡°You¡¯re Yi Tiange, right? You can start.¡±


    Aplicated expression shed past Yi Tiange¡¯s face. He contemted for a while before saying, ¡°We knew each other in the Scout Academy. We¡¯ve been friends for many years and worked hard together. We set the same goals and went through the same training. We¡¯re not blood-rted siblings but we¡¯re closer than that. I can¡¯t believe that someone among us betrayed us. Leader Li, could it be that someone hacked into Ling Yi¡¯s optical supeputer and copied that video? Then, the person framed Tao Xiaotao for sending the video.¡±


    The other people felt hopeful after listening to what he said. They looked at Li Lanfeng in unnned unison. They hoped that he agreed with what Yi Tiange had said.


    Li Lanfeng shook his head in pity. ¡°Our hacker confirmed it many times. This video was sent by one of you.¡±


    ¡°Did they make a mistake?¡± Ling Yi asked with hopes in his eyes. He really couldn¡¯t believe that one of his childhood friends betrayed him.


    ¡°Do you think a hacker who can control our enemy¡¯s signals will make a mistake?¡± Li Lanfeng scoffed.


    Ling Yi was speechless. He remembered the scene when he fought with the Knight Ace Mecha n, and the hope in him diminished.

 Chapter 1180 - Playing With People’s Mind!

    <h4>Chapter 1180 ying With People¡¯s Mind!</h4>


    ¡°I have said that there¡¯s only one chance. If you can¡¯t find the hacker, I¡¯m sorry, we have to lock all of you up and let the military court take over. Lingtian can¡¯t afford to keep suspicious people. Even if we know that some of you are innocent, we must forsake you.¡± Li Lanfeng emphasised his words.


    ¡°I really didn¡¯t do it.¡± Tao Xiaotao looked as though he wanted to cry. He looked at Ling Yi and said, ¡°Brother Ling, tell them that I won¡¯t do such things.¡±


    Ling Yi looked at Tao Xiaotao and hispanions beside him. He hugged his head in pain and squatted down. He shouted in a low voice, ¡°I don¡¯t know! I really don¡¯t know!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s Tiange.¡± Tao Xiaotao thought about something. He looked at Tiange and said, ¡°I remember that Yi Tiange asked me to send a message to my family to tell them that I¡¯m safe. That¡¯s why I send the message. If not, I wouldn¡¯t have sent a message.¡±


    Yi Tiange was shocked. ¡°Xiaotao, be careful with your words.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that what happened?¡± Tao Xiaotao questioned him. ¡°Why did you ask me to send the message?¡±


    Yi Tiange¡¯s face turned red with anger. He took two deep breaths to calm himself before exining, ¡°You said you missed your family and wondered how your parents and siblings were doing. You wondered if they would worry about your safety so I told you to send a message to them. If you didn¡¯t say all those misleading words, I wouldn¡¯t have suggested


    it.¡±


    ¡°Yes. I think that¡¯s what happened. Why did I suddenly miss my family?¡± Tao Xiaotao carefully recalled what happened and admitted that what Yi Tiange said was true.


    Suddenly, Tao Xiaotao looked at Rong Ziruo in astonishment. ¡°It¡¯s you. You were the one who asked me about my family. That¡¯s why I missed them. Why did you ask me about them?¡±


    Rong Ziruo was stunned by Tao Xiaotao¡¯s usations. He shook his head furiously. ¡°Weren¡¯t we just randomly talking. What are you saying?¡± Rong Ziruo frantically tried to remember what had happened in the room. As time went by, he slowly got more anxious. Cold sweat formed on his forehead.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be agitated. Think slowly.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. The encouragement in his eyesforted Rong Ziruo.


    ¡°Tsk tsk tsk, Brother Feng is so ruthless.¡± Xie Yi couldn¡¯t help but mutter.


    ¡°Ruthless? How?¡± Luo Lang was puzzled. Big Leader Li was giving them a chance to refute his im. He didn¡¯t just point his arrows at someone. In his eyes, this was fair.


    ¡°You won¡¯t understand,¡± Xie Yi sighed.


    Luo Lang red at Xie Yi. In the next moment, his gaze turned calm.


    ¡°Xie Yi, don¡¯t get overboard,¡± Luo Lang said indifferently.


    ¡°I understand. I won¡¯t do it again.¡± Xie Yi raised his hands to surrender the moment the calm personality came out. If he treated the calm personality badly, Luo Lang would hate him. Xie Yi knew how important the calm personality was to Luo Lang. He was only second in ce to Boss. He couldn¡¯t afford to offend the calm personality


    ¡°Exin properly.¡± The calm personality threw this sentence down before disappearing. The eyes turned bright again.


    ¡°Actually, Brother Feng¡¯s decision is cruel,¡± Xie Yimented.


    ¡°Cruel?¡± Luo Lang seemed clueless.


    ¡°Friendships are formed through hardships and time. However, no matter how much thick and thin they went through, it all boils down to trust.¡± Xie Yi looked at Luo Lang with aplex expression. If Luo Lang knew what he was thinking, would he still trust him?


    Luo Lang nodded. He agreed with what Xie Yi said.


    ¡°What Brother Feng did just destroyed the trust between them. They will be suspicious of each other and hate each other. The rtionship they build over the years will disappear due to all the suspicions they have for each other. In the end, they might be strangers or even enemies. In times of danger, humans will show their true nature. The truth is always ugly.¡±


    ¡°This is what Lanfeng does best.¡± Zhao Jun interrupted them. ¡°He always likes ying with people¡¯s minds. However, after he followed Boss, he has been suppressing that side of him. I miss those times.¡±


    Luo Lang and Xie Yi red at Zhao Jun. They moved their chairs further away from him.


    ¡®Damn it, I mustn¡¯t get too close to this pervert. He seems happy that he made friends with a maniptive man. I might get targeted by them.¡¯


    Zhao Jun shrugged when he saw Xie Yi and Luo Lang looking at him with contempt. He was very innocent.


    While Xie Yi, Luo Lang, and Zhao Jun were having their own conversation, Rong Ziruo finally remembered what had happened. He said, ¡°I was chatting with Wuyou and Xiaotao. At the start, we were talking about Base Neb and the battle we had. We were jealous that Brother Yi managed to gain merits through the battle. We also...¡± He looked carefully at Li Lanfeng before continuing, ¡°We also talked about Leader Li¡¯s order to kill our enemies. Of course, we knew this from Brother Yi.¡±


    Li Lanfeng continued smiling as if he didn¡¯t mind. Rong Ziruo felt more rxed as he continued to recount what had happened.


    ¡°Then, we talked about Leader Li Yingjie and Head Li Shiyu. They are brothers so we said that the Li family is full of talents. Lingtian already has three people from the Li family holding high positions. Wuyoumented on how having brothers fighting with you was better than fighting alone. He said that he was the only child. He didn¡¯t have any siblings so no one can help him.¡±


    Rong Ziruo turned to look at Yan Wuyou. ¡°Am I right?¡±


    Yan Wuyou¡¯s face was pale. He regained hisposure before replying, ¡°Yes. I even said that I admire you for having siblings. However, that was just a random topic. I didn¡¯t have any underlying intention.¡±


    Rong Ziruo heaved a sigh of relief when Yan Wuyou admitted what he said. He finally cleared his suspicion.


    ¡°Yes. Those words remind me of my family and my brothers and sisters.¡± Tao Xiaotao said excitedly. ¡°That¡¯s why I wanted to send them a message.¡±


    ¡°Yan Wuyou, the only son of the Yan family. Although it¡¯s a sixth-rank elite family, it¡¯s still an elite family. The resources you received are much better than your friends. Yet, you are willing to throw away your identity as a young master and follow Ling Yi. No matter how you look at it, it¡¯s problematic.¡± Li Lanfeng had already investigated all their backgrounds. Since Yan Wuyou was pushed out, he exposed his real identity.

 Chapter 1181 - A Joke!

    <h4>Chapter 1181 A Joke!</h4>


    Ling Yi turned to face Yan Wuyou with a dreadfully pale face. He was aware that Yan Wuyou was wealthy but he didn¡¯t know the extent of his wealth. Even Ling Lan¡¯s family could only be considered a seventh-rank elite family when they parted ways with the main Ling family.


    A seventh-rank elite family was still an elite family but its overall situation was slightly better than an average family. The wealth of a sixth-rank elite family was something an average mind could notprehend.


    Yan Wuyou¡¯s face turned pale after his identity was exposed. He turned to look at Ling Yi, and saw the astonishment and suspicion in his eyes. Yan Wuyou felt bitter about theck of trust Ling Yi had for him. He gave a forced smile and said, ¡°I¡¯m from an elite family but my position in the eyes of the elders in my family is almost non-existent. Is there really a difference between my situation and Ling Yi¡¯s situation? No, I¡¯m probably worse off. At least, he still has people who are concerned about him. They will teach him physical skills and provide him with necessities. No matter how expensive the gene agent is, they will buy it for him. In the beginning, I was envious of Ling Yi. Why should a normal civilian like him be able to get things that I couldn¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°Initially, I wanted to find out what his identity is, so I befriended him in order to get closer to him. Is he the illegitimate son of some elite family? Is he a young master that is hiding from his enemies?¡± Yan Wuyou mocked himself. ¡°But, as time went by, I started to forget about my jealousy and epted Ling Yi for who he is. He was just too sincere between us. He couldn¡¯t hide his feelings. He would try and provide us with whatever we need. He never asked for repayment for the thing he had done for us too. Sometimes, I wonder how could anyone be so stupid? He didn¡¯t even know who we truly were or what our true intentions were, but he was already willing to pour his heart out to us. This simplicity touched me. In the end, I took him as my best friend.¡±


    ¡°Big Leader Li, I¡¯ve never betrayed Ling Yi. While we were talking in the room, I justmented the fact that if I had an outstanding older brother, the Yan family¡¯s power might have been still in my family¡¯s control, and my life wouldn¡¯t have been so difficult.¡± Yan Wuyou looked at Li Lanfeng. His eyes were filled with pain. He knew that Ling Yi would be furious when he revealed his true identity so he wanted to slowly reveal it to him. That way, he would be mentally prepared too, and the impact wouldn¡¯t be so great. However, he didn¡¯t expect he would have no choice but to reveal it this soon. His identity got exposed so suddenly that he didn¡¯t know what he should do.


    ¡°Actually, if someone wants to create such coincidences, they will definitely leave traces behind. Yan Wuyou, if you want to clear your name, you must find the real betrayer.¡± Li Lanfeng said indifferently, ¡°Wallowing in self-pity is not going to help you.¡±


    ¡°I know. It¡¯s useless if I don¡¯t have any evidence.¡± Yan Wuyou closed his eyes painfully. He carefully recalled what had happened on that day. He tried to recall the conversations between them, trying to find any traces of the betrayer.


    If he had the choice, he wouldn¡¯t want to suspect anyone of his friends. The six of them knew each other since the first year of Scout Academy. From then on, they got closer and became very good friends. After more than ten years of being together, he had already viewed them as his family members. In the past, he would feel sad at the fact that he didn¡¯t have an older brother to rely on, but the appearance of these people made up for hisck of a brotherly figure. He had no regrets now.


    He thought that he would walk to the end of his life with these people, but a betrayer appeared and ruined everything between them. This person dragged them into a deep abyss. Now, to protect himself and his innocent brothers, he must find this person. This was like asking Yan Wuyou to stab himself in his heart. It was really painful.


    ¡°I am not suspecting anyone. I¡¯m just stating the truth. When I said that I admire my friends for having siblings, Hua Qingxin pointed at Xiaotao. He said that Xiaotao has the most siblings and he is the youngest among his siblings too. His siblings always dote on him.¡± Yan Wuyou didn¡¯t want to push Hua Qingxin out but just like what Li Lanfeng said, any schemes would leave clues behind. If he wanted to find the betrayer, he mustn¡¯t hide any details.


    Hua Qingxin¡¯s eyes widened when he heard this. He didn¡¯t expect to be pushed out by his trusted buddy.


    ¡°More and more people are getting implicated. What is the point of this?¡± Gu Dongyang frowned as he whispered to Yang Mingzhi.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure Big Leader Li already knows who the betrayer is. There¡¯s another reason for him to put on this show.¡± Yang Mingzhi sighed.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Gu Dongyang was puzzled.


    ¡°He wants to remove everyone around Ling Yi. He wants Ling Yi to understand that everything he has is a joke. He wants to destroy Ling Yi.¡± Yang Mingzhi had already understood the intention behind Li Lanfeng¡¯s actions.


    ¡°Ling Yi is too simple-minded but his personality is not bad. Plus, he is regimentmander¡¯s... is this too heartless?¡± Gu Dongyang felt that they shouldn¡¯t be too harsh on Ling Yi.


    ¡°That¡¯s precisely why Big Leader Li is so ruthless. Ling Yi is a part of regimentmander¡¯s family. If he remains so simple-minded, he will be used by regimentmander¡¯s enemies. For instance, this current issue. His intention was good and his principles are right but it¡¯s just not the right thing to do in the overall picture. Luckily, our regimentmander prepared beforehand so we didn¡¯t get punished, but if he didn¡¯t, you will probably be stuck in General. You might not be able toe back. Our mecha n won¡¯t be able to be an independent army too.¡± Yang Mingzhi was a gentle person but his experience in political battles told him that people like Ling Yi posed a great danger to the survivability of a n.


    Gu Dongyang agreed with what Yang Mingzhi said. The ufortable feeling he had towards Li Lanfeng¡¯s actions melted away. No matter how despicable Big Leader Li was, he did it for the sake of Lingtian. Lingtian currently must remain low-key. Before they officially became an independent army, nothing must happen within the mecha n.


    To achieve this, they needed to get rid of uncertain elements. Even if these uncertain elements were innocent, they had to do it.


    ¡°What a pity to those young men. They are not bad.¡± Gu Dongyang sighed.


    ¡°Sometimes, following the wrong person is a mistake too. Since it¡¯s a mistake, they must pay the price for it,¡± Yang Mingzhi replied indifferently. His expression was stern. He seemed to have recalled something in his past.


    Hua Qingxin looked slightly feminine. He was quite a beauty. When he got pushed out by Yan Wuyou, he got flustered for a moment which made him look very pitiful.


    Unfortunately, the people at the scene weren¡¯t affected by his looks. Well, there was someone who was affected but he already had someone else in his heart. Hua Qingxin¡¯s face wasn¡¯t able to seduce him.


    Xie Yi looked at Luo Lang inparison. Luo Lang¡¯s bright and cheerful face made him much happier.

 Chapter 1182 - Holy Father!

    <h4>Chapter 1182 Holy Father!</h4>


    ¡°Ling Yi, after hearing their defense, all of them still seem suspicious to me. What do you think?¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly turned to look at the confused Ling Yi who was squatting on the ground while hugging his head in despair, seemingly wanting to hide away from the problem.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I really don¡¯t know.¡± Ling Yi furiously shook his head. He didn¡¯t want to believe that his friends had betrayed him but now, he didn¡¯t know if he could trust hispanions.


    ¡°What a pity. The person you have high hopes for can¡¯t help you.¡± Li Lanfeng looked at the other five people with pity. Their faces turned even paler. They looked disappointed.


    ¡®We trusted you and were willing to give up everything to follow you. Yet, you don¡¯t trust us. You aren¡¯t even willing to speak up for us. Have you forgotten about the promise we made?¡¯


    Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡®Ling Yi, you¡¯re really too naive.¡¯


    ¡°Since I gave everyone an opportunity to defend themselves, Hua Qingxin, I¡¯ll give you an opportunity too. Why did you say that? What made you say that?¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s attitude was gentle. He was fair to all the people and didn¡¯t strip Hua Qingxin of his opportunity to defend himself.


    Hua Qingxin looked at Li Lanfeng gratefully. He felt that Big Leader Li was the easiest person to talk to among all the team leaders (Most team leaders and veteran members of Lingtian knew Li Lanfeng¡¯s true personality, most of the new members were still oblivious to his maniptive side).


    He controlled the fear in his heart and started thinking about the conversation they had on that day. When Yan Wuyou talked about how good it was to have siblings, he immediately thought of Xiaotao. He was the youngest among his siblings so his parents and siblings doted on him a lot. That was why he had such a positive and outgoing personality.


    Why did he have such a strong impression?


    Hua Qingxin didn¡¯t have any brothers but he had sisters. He had two older sisters and one younger sister. His mother brought him up herself so his personality was more towards the feminine side. His name was also simr to his older sisters¡¯. They were called Hua Qingrui and Hua Qingmi. His mother must be toozy to think of names so he named him after his sisters.


    In most families, the only son would get a lot of love. However, the Hua family was different. Males were not important in the Hua family. Instead of the norm, his mother treated him as the outcast of the family. When he quarreled with his sisters, he would always be the one getting reprimanded, even if he wasn¡¯t the one who started it.


    Sometimes, Hua Qingxin wondered why he wasn¡¯t a female. If he was female, he wouldn¡¯t have been treated so unfairly. His family environment made him feel inferior as a male so he tried his best to act more like ady so that his mother would treat him better.


    However, after he entered the Scout Academy, his feminine actions were disliked by other students. The students kept bullying him so he got more quiet and self-conscious as a person, creating a vicious cycle. In the end, Hua Qingxin slowly lost his confidence and epted his fate.


    If Ling Yi and his friends didn¡¯te into his life and rescued him, he might have be a weakling that just allowed people to bully him. He might evenmit suicide because of the constant teasing.


    Hua Qingxin knew he wasn¡¯t a strong-willed person. He was able to achieve everything he had today with the help of hisrades.


    Yet, someone with evil intentions was hiding among these people who had helped him selflessly.


    Hua Qingxin looked at Tao Xiaotao. Tao Xiaotao always boasted about how much his family members doted on him. His siblings would give him any good food and would help him to take the me whenever he created trouble. He was very envious of Tao Xiaotao. In the Hua family, he was always the scapegoat, whether he liked it or not.


    Yes. He was envious and jealous of Tao Xiaotao. The treatment they received at home was totally different. That was why when Yan Wuyou talked about siblings, he thought of Tao Xiaotao.


    But, this was just his own thoughts. Tao Xiaotao didn¡¯t purposely instill that thought in him. How could he push Tao Xiaotao out to clear his own name? Tao Xiaotao was already the most suspicious because of his message.


    Tao Xiaotao narrowed his eyes when he saw Hua Qingxin looking at him.


    Hua Qingxin looked at Li Lanfeng. There were tears in his eyes but he was smiling. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Leader Li. I can¡¯t find any evidence to prove myself innocent.¡±


    He was always the weakest among his friends. If he took the me, it might be good for everyone. He would take it as repaying his friends for their help and friendship for all those years.


    Li Lanfeng squinted his eyes. He looked at Hua Qingxin in surprise. This was an unexpected oue. On paper, Hua Qingxin was the weakest among the six people, but he was quite the strong young man in his mind.


    ¡°Hua Qingxin is not bad.¡± Gu Dongyang took a liking for this young man too. Anyone that was willing to die for hisrades wouldn¡¯t be too bad.


    ¡°He has a weak personality but from the looks of it now, he has the potential to be a good soldier.¡± Yang Mingzhi acknowledged this young soldier too.


    ¡°If he could pass this test, we can give him a chance.¡± Gu Dongyang was deep in thought.


    ¡°That¡¯ll depend on whether Big Leader Li is willing to let him go. Although they¡¯re in the ZF department, they¡¯re part of Big Leader Li¡¯s mecha team.¡± Yang Mingzhi pointed at Li Lanfeng with his mouth.


    ¡°Looks like I have to find some gifts for him,¡± Gu Dongyang replied helplessly. Li Lanfeng acted too quickly. He moved these people under his wing so if he wanted Hua Qingxin, he had to request him from Li Lanfeng.


    He could look for their regimentmander too but it would be embarrassing to disturb Ling Lan for such a small matter.


    Gu Dongyang had a good impression of Hua Qingxin but that didn¡¯t mean that he was safe. He needed to pass this test first to prove that there was value in grooming him.


    ¡°Do you mean that you¡¯re the betrayer?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled ambiguously at him. He felt interesting to see such a holy father who was willing to sacrifice for his friends.


    ¡°I just hope that I won¡¯t implicate anyone else.¡± Hua Qingxin closed his eyes.


    ¡®Let me be the end of everything.¡¯


    The other people looked at Hua Qingxin in surprise. They didn¡¯t expect him to be the betrayer. Tao Xiaotao muttered to himself, ¡°How can it be you? How can it be you?¡±


    ¡°Do you really think that you can help your friends by bearing the charges?¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly asked coldly.

 Chapter 1183 - I’m Sorry!

    <h4>Chapter 1183 I¡¯m Sorry!</h4>


    Hua Qingxin anxiously looked at Li Lanfeng with shaken and constricted pupils in his eyes. The other five people understood what Li Lanfeng meant. They widened their eyes. ¡®Does he mean that Hua Qingxin wasn¡¯t the betrayer?¡¯


    ¡°Maybe you are just pretending to sacrifice yourself but in actual fact, you just wanted to hide your true nature.¡± Li Lanfeng raised his eyebrows. The five young men felt their heart wavering again. Was Hua Qingxin the betrayer?


    ¡°Do you think that everything will be better if you take the me? The real betrayer is still among your friends so the same situation might happen again. Who will be the one getting the me next time?¡±


    Li Lanfeng stood up and walked towards Hua Qingxin slowly. His gentle aura turned cold. The sudden force of presence caused Hua Qingxin to take a few steps back. He fell weakly on his chair.


    Li Lanfeng leaned forward. ¡°Hua Qingxin, don¡¯t you think your decision is stupid? You pushed your friends to hell. They will be the scapegoats of the betrayer. I wonder if they will hate you for your selfless sacrifice today when they go to hell. You caused them to miss the opportunity to catch the betrayer.¡±


    Hua Qingxin¡¯s mind copsed under Li Lanfeng¡¯s questioning. He started shouting, ¡°Stop talking! Please stop!¡± Why was taking the me for his friends wrong? What should he do? What should he do?


    ¡°Qingxin, Leader Li is right. You shouldn¡¯t take the me if you are not guilty. What you are doing now is a mistake. Anyck of information from you might cause the betrayer to escape.¡± Yi Tiange, who had been keeping quiet from the start, suddenly spoke.


    Hua Qingxin looked up immediately when he heard Yi Tiange. His eyes were shining as he looked at Yi Tiange. He seemed to have found his mental support.


    Yi Tiange was their strategist. Even Ling Yi would listen to Yi Tiange before he acted. In their hearts, his position was second to Ling Yi.


    Yi Tiange nodded at Hua Qingxin. He must exin himself. That was the only way they could find the truth.


    Hua Qingxin closed his eyes and calmed himself down. When he opened them again, his gaze turned resolute.


    ¡°I said that because I was jealous of Tao Xiaotao. Tao Xiaotao¡¯s family must be the most loving family among the six of us. He is amoner but his parents and siblings loved him so much.¡± Hua Qingxin looked at Tao Xiaotao with a bitter smile. ¡°Yet, he doesn¡¯t seem to know how fortunate he is. Familial love is something we don¡¯t have. Yet, he always boasts about his family in front of us. It¡¯s irritating.¡±


    Hua Qingxin sighed. ¡°It might be because Tao Xiaotao always mentioned how his family dotes on him so it left a strong impression in my mind. Hence, when Wuyou talked about how jealous he was, I instantly thought of Tao Xiaotao.¡±


    Hua Qingxin looked at Li Lanfeng again. He said seriously, ¡°Leader Li, no one lured me to say that. It¡¯s all because of my own jealous thoughts. I have two older sisters and one younger sister but they never dote on me. My older sisters look down on me while my younger sister ignores me. No matter who makes a mistake, I¡¯ll always be the one getting punished. The luckier Xiaotao was, the worse I feel. I got even more envious of him.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I have no clue who the betrayer is. I can¡¯t prove that I¡¯m not the one too. I can only say my true thoughts. Finally, I just want to tell all of you that I¡¯m not the betrayer.¡± Hua Qingxin was firm. If everyone was innocent, he didn¡¯t mind taking the me. However, there was a real traitor among them. His sacrifice would only allow the betrayer to harm his friends. He couldn¡¯t allow that.


    ¡°It came back to you again. Interesting. Tao Xiaotao, what do you have to say?¡± Li Lanfeng walked to Tao Xiaotao and smiled at him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just want to share my happiness with everyone. I didn¡¯t know they were jealous. I didn¡¯t know. I was just sharing. Why did it be like this? Why did it be like this?¡± Tao Xiaotao was agitated and hurt. He just wanted to spread his happiness with his friends, but it was taken the wrong way. He couldn¡¯t understand how it became like this.


    He was so overwhelmed with emotions that he didn¡¯t know what to say. He just kept repeating the same words.


    ¡°Ling Yi, you¡¯re the leader of the team. Shouldn¡¯t you say something? Can¡¯t you see that everyone is waiting for you?¡± Li Lanfeng walked to Ling Yi and stared him down. His target was Ling Yi. He wouldn¡¯t allow him to remain quiet.


    Ling Yi raised his head slowly. His eyes were bloodshot. He red at Li Lanfeng with hatred. This was the person who caused him to be in such a situation. He was the one who forced him to suspect everyone. He now didn¡¯t even dare to look at his friends. He was afraid of their hopeful gaze.


    Damn it, he didn¡¯t know who to believe. The trust they had for one another copsed amidst all the suspicion.


    ¡°Ling Yi, you don¡¯t believe anyone!¡± Li Lanfeng mocked him. He looked at the other five people with pity as he noticed their disheartened gaze. Li Lanfeng¡¯s words had already left a scar in their hearts. Even if they understood Ling Yi¡¯s intention, it still hurt them.


    ¡°No. I trust them. However, Young Master Lan is my bottomline. No one can touch that. Someone among them chose to harm Young Master Lan, and I can¡¯t forgive that. Even if there is only a slight suspicion, I won¡¯t let it go. I rather kill a thousand than to make such a mistake. You all trusted the wrong person. I¡¯m sorry!¡± Ling Yi shouted angrily.


    Tears fell down Ling Yi¡¯s eyes. He didn¡¯t want to suspect his childhood friends. They had fought hard together and went through thick and thin together. He wanted to tell them that he believed them. Even if they had to go to the military court, he would apany them.


    Unfortunately, the moment he was born, he wasn¡¯t able to live for himself. Since he was young, he was told that he was Ling Lan¡¯s loyalist. He must grow stronger and return to Ling Lan¡¯s side. He needed to take over his father¡¯s role and protect the next family head of the Ling family.


    Thus, to be more powerful, he epted the Ling family¡¯s help and learned the physical skills from them. He took the gene agents from the Ling family. He knew that this was the only way he could take over his father¡¯s role quickly and help Ling Lan.

 Chapter 1184 - Reminder!

    <h4>Chapter 1184 Reminder!</h4>


    Ling Lan was Ling Yi¡¯s belief system. She was why Ling Yi existed. Hence, Ling Yi would never allow anyone to harm her. This time, someone he trusted betrayed him and harmed the most important person in his heart. Ling Yi broke down.


    Yi Tiange and the other four people frowned. Only now did they understand how important Ling Lan was to Ling Yi. He was willing to give up anything for Ling Lan.


    Li Lanfeng frowned too. He looked at Ling Yi coldly. He walked slowly towards him and leaned forward until his face was an inch away from Ling Yi¡¯s face. His voice was cold. ¡°Stupid people have no right to follow our regimentmander. Ling Yi, you¡¯re one of them.¡±


    Ling Yi¡¯s pupils dted as he red at Li Lanfeng. He gritted his teeth in anger. ¡°One day, I¡¯ll reveal your true face to Young Master Lan!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I say you¡¯re stupid. You¡¯re a suspect. You need to know when you should lower your head.¡± Li Lanfeng raised his right hand and pressed Ling Yi¡¯s head down.


    Boom! Ling Yi mmed into the ground. He couldn¡¯t move.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng! Do you think I¡¯ll beg for mercy? In your dreams!¡± Blood flowed down Ling Yi¡¯s mouth but he remained stubborn.


    ¡°Cough, Big Leader Li, before we ascertain that Ling Yi is guilty, we shouldn¡¯t be too harsh on him,¡± Yang Mingzhi said helplessly. The calm and logical Li Lanfeng always lost control of his emotions when dealing with matters that concerned Ling Lan. ¡®Regimentmander, do you know how many people you¡¯ve harmed through Li Lanfeng?¡¯


    Li Lanfeng straightened his back. He took out a white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his right hand slowly. After he felt that his hand was clean, he threw the handkerchief into the dustbin.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go back to the main topic.¡± Li Lanfeng returned to his seat.


    ¡°You should know Ling Yi¡¯s attitude now. As long as you can¡¯t prove your innocence, he will be suspicious of you.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s tone returned to being gentle, but the scene just now left a deep impression in everyone. When Yi Tiange and the other four people heard the gentle tone, a chill ran down their spines.


    Was Big Leader Li as gentle and mild-mannered as everyone said?


    ¡°How about this? Let me remind you, the video that Ling Yi took is veryrge in size so it¡¯s hard to download the video within a few seconds. If someone wants to get the video, there are two ways. One is to get a copy from the mecha and the other is to get it from the person who took the video.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled brightly. ¡°Hence, Ling Yi might be the one who reported our regimentmander. Everything he said before this is just to clear his suspicion.¡±


    Ling Yi was struggling to get up when he heard this. He vomited a mouth of blood in anger and his face turned hideous. ¡°You... you¡¯re framing me.¡±


    Li Lanfeng cupped his chin and smiled like a fox. ¡°From the very beginning, you are the most suspicious with Tao Xiaotao.¡± He pointed to the virtual screen. ¡°You were the one who recorded this, and no one forced you to do that. Just this video is enough to prove that you wanted to harm our regimentmander.¡±


    ¡°You knew the reason why I took the video.¡± Ling Yi was furious.


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t. I just know that this video was sent by the person who framed our regimentmander.¡± Li Lanfeng gave a weird smile. If he wanted to take down someone, he wouldn¡¯t have any chance of escaping.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Li Lanfeng ignored Ling Yi who was red with anger. He directed his question at Yi Tiange and the four people.


    The five of them looked at each other. Li Lanfeng¡¯s intention was obvious. But, could they really suspect Ling Yi?


    Yi Tiange shook his head. ¡°It might be possible if this was any other person. However, it¡¯s our regimentmander. Ling Yi wouldn¡¯t harm him.¡±


    Yan Wuyou and Rong Ziruo hesitated but they nodded in the end. They supported what Yi Tiange said.


    ¡°What about you, Tao Xiaotao?¡± Li Lanfeng asked the quiet Tao Xiaotao.


    Tao Xiaotao shook his head in a flurry. He stammered, ¡°I don¡¯t know...¡±


    ¡°Oh? You suspect Ling Yi?¡± Li Lanfeng was interested.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Brother Yi always wanted to follow the regimentmander ever since he was in the military academy. He always emphasised that to us. In the past, I believed him totally. But now, I don¡¯t know what to believe.¡± Tao Xiaotao seemed to be in a dilemma. He struggled for a moment before continuing, ¡°However, I still believe in Brother Yi. He has been working hard to achieve his goal for so many years. He doesn¡¯t seem to be lying.¡±


    Ling Yi calmed down because of his friends¡¯ trust. He showed his distrust for them but they didn¡¯t forsake him. Even if Tao Xiaotao wasn¡¯t as certain as the other people, he still chose to believe him in the end. He was grateful to them.


    ¡°Have you finally calmed down?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and turned to look at Ling Yi when he realised his condition. He was like a cat ying with a mouse. He enjoyed seeing how the mouse would escape from his ws.


    Ling Yi looked at Li Lanfeng with a dumbfounded look. Just now, he was framing him, so why was he helping him now?


    ¡°That¡¯s why I said that you¡¯re stupid. I¡¯ve already reminded you but you still don¡¯t know what the main point is.¡± Li Lanfeng shook his head in exasperation. The contempt in his eyes was obvious. Ling Yi¡¯s anger exploded.


    ¡®I can¡¯t lose my control because of him.¡¯ Ling Yi finally calmed down after Li Lanfeng provoked him so many times.


    ¡®What did Li Lanfeng say just now? Besides personally sending the video, the only other way of getting the video is to go to my mecha and copy it.¡¯ Ling Yi finally found the main point.


    ¡°Who entered my mecha?¡± Ling Yi looked up and asked.


    Li Lanfeng smiled but didn¡¯t reply to him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me there¡¯s no surveince in the mecha hold. You must have evidence.¡± Ling Yi said with certainty.


    The other five young men looked at Li Lanfeng too. They hoped that Li Lanfeng could clear their names of suspicion.


    ¡°You want to take a look? Sure.¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t reject them. He yed the video from the surveince camera.


    But, the situation wasn¡¯t like what they think. Yi Tiange and the other four people did visit the mecha hold during that time but no one went to Ling Yi¡¯s mecha. There was not enough evidence to prove that one of them had copied the video.


    The five people heaved a sigh of relief. They were afraid that they went close to Ling Yi¡¯s mecha unknowingly and got suspected because of that.


    However, before they could rx, Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡°Oh, there¡¯s more to the video.¡±

 Chapter 1185 - Shadow King!

    <h4>Chapter 1185 Shadow King!</h4>


    Because of Ling Yi, the five of them had stayed together in the same team they created together since the Scout Academy days called ¡®ZF¡¯. They had always talked, shared great memories, shared their woes with each other.


    That day, they came together to inspect the mecha hold and the mecha engineers maintaining their mechas with a serious expression, so they just stood there and quietly watched the whole process. They didn¡¯t want to disturb the engineers.


    However, something happened. One of the logisticians identally tripped and his body fell onto a mecha engineer. The mecha engineer fumbled and identally pressed a button on his work station, causing the rm of the mecha he was working on to deafen everyone¡¯s ears. It alerted everyone in the mecha hold.


    The logisticians immediately rushed towards the rm to stop it. While the logisticians were rampaging through the mecha hold to stop the rm, Tao Xiaotao was easily knocked over due to his small size. In a flurry, he hurriedly grabbed the panel of a work station in order to prevent himself from falling. Yi Tiange and others saw his plight and quickly came to help him up. However, due to the pushing and shoving of the crowd, they touched another work station while the way to rescue Tao Xiaotao.


    The six people looked at each other with confusion in their eyes. Why did Li Lanfeng show this to them? Even in the midst of the constant shoving and pushing, they were very far away from their mechas. There was no footage of them touching the mechas.


    ¡°Do you want to know why I show you that?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡°Let me show you which mecha is linked to the work station.¡±


    When they heard the answer to their confusion, their expressions turned grave. They were all smart people so they definitely could guess which mecha did this work station link to. As expected, after the footage zoomed out, the linked mecha was Ling Yi¡¯s mecha.


    ¡°But the person can¡¯t hack the mecha through the work station, right? Even an imperial hacker won¡¯t be able to hack the optical supeputer of a mecha that quickly.¡± Yi Tiange refuted. If this fact wasn¡¯t brought up, all five of them would be suspicious.


    ¡°You have to ask Ling Yi if he had ever leaked his passcode to anyone. Anyone that has the passcode, along with the ability of an imperial hacker, will be able to get into the mecha¡¯s superopticalputer in an instant. The group of you stood there for more than a minute so there¡¯s ample time to download the video.¡±


    Ling Yi¡¯s face looked so pale as if there was no more blood in his body. He looked at his friends with an apologetic gaze. Then, his gazended on Tao Xiaotao and his lips started trembling. He didn¡¯t if his lips were trembling because of the shock, disappointment, or that he just wanted to cry.


    Finally, he bit his lips and yelled with a hoarse voice as he spitted out the name of his worst enemy syble by syble , ¡°Tao. Xiao. Tao!¡±


    Tao Xiaotao shrunk back in fear of the monster his leader had suddenly turned into. His face was pale as he shouted back, ¡°Brother Yi, how could you suspect me?¡±


    Ling Yi stood up and walked over with heavy footsteps. ¡°How could I not! Only you have asked me for my passcode!¡±


    He didn¡¯t directly tell Tao Xiaotao his passcode. Instead, it was through Tao Xiaotao¡¯s continuous probing guesses that one day he finally found out his passcode. When he heard his passcodeing out of Tao Xiaotao¡¯s mouth, he smiled nonchntly at Tao Xiaotao¡¯s correct guess and just loosely told him to forget about it. After all, allowing Tao Xiaotao to know about his passcode wasn¡¯t a really big deal to him back then. He always treated Tao Xiaotao as his younger brother so he wasn¡¯t concerned about Tao Xiaotao using his passcode against him. To a normal citizen, knowing a mecha¡¯s passcode would usually almost equate to nothing, but it to an imperial hacker, it would open up many new possibilities.


    Tao Xiaotao furiously shook his head. ¡°Brother Ling, it¡¯s not me. It really isn¡¯t me. I was just curious. You didn¡¯t tell me anything, right? I don¡¯t know any passcode. I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°But you constantly probed me for my passcode during our daily conversations.¡± Ling Yi closed his eyes and opened them after a while. His gaze was firm. ¡°Tao Xiaotao, I don¡¯t know how you became an imperial hacker but all the evidence point to you. I will not believe you again.¡±


    ¡°Brother Yi, Brother Yi, if you think that I¡¯m guilty, prove that I¡¯m an imperial hacker. I have never awoken any hacking abilities. How can I be an imperial hacker? Brother Yi, you can¡¯t suspect me just like this. Brother Yi, I didn¡¯t do it.¡± Tao Xiaotao started crying loudly. He was frightened by the sudden usation.


    Ling Yi¡¯s anger subsided a little. Tao Xiaotao already had an innate talent of the wind element. It was rare for someone to have two innate talents. The advancement of someone with two innate talents was much slower than a normal person. Based on Tao Xiaotao¡¯s age, even if he was a genius, it was impossible for him to advance to the imperial level so quickly. Did he falsely use Tao Xiaotao?


    Ling Yi looked at Li Lanfeng instinctively. Li Lanfeng shook his head secretly in disappointment when he noticed the gaze. He had no more confidence in the intelligence of the loyalists in the Ling family. They spend so much effort grooming Ling Yi but look at him now, nkly looking at him with a dazed gaze. How much better could the other loyalists be? No wonder Ling Lan had to handle everything on his own. Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t help but feel vex for Ling Lan¡¯s misfortune.


    However, Li Lanfeng maintained his expressionless face. He raised his eyebrows at Ling Yi before turning to Tao Xiaotao. ¡°Are you really Tao Xiaotao?¡±


    Everyone went dazed as they creepily turned their heads to Tao Xiaotao.


    Even Yang Mingzhi and the team leaders were unable to remain calm.


    ¡°Indeed, the real Tao Xiaotao doesn¡¯t have this ability but you have. Should I call you Shadow King?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled as he revealed a secret.


    ¡°Shadow King!¡± Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang eximed in astonishment.


    Luo Lang, Zhao Jun, and Ling Yi were puzzled while Xie Yi was in deep thought.


    ¡°Who is Shadow King?¡± Luo Lang was curious so when he noticed Xie Yi¡¯s knowing expression, he grabbed Xie Yi¡¯s arm and asked him.


    Usually, Xie Yi would even spare a nce at the person asking him even if the person was on his knees begging him, but this was Luo Lang. Even if he didn¡¯t know anything, he would find an answer.


    Xie Yi told Luo Lang what he heard before. ¡°The Shadow King is an imperial hacker who had gained great fame from the virtual world around 30 years ago. His techniques had reached the imperial level too. He was recognised as the hacker with the highest chance of bing a god-ss hacker.¡±


    ¡°However, 20 years ago, he disappeared. His name became a taboo subject in the Federation. There were no traces of him in the annals of time as if he never existed. Not many people from our generation know of him. His data is only left in the secret database of some elite families. This database can only be read by the important people from the families. However, Li Lanfeng belonged to the branch family. How did he know of this person?¡±


    ¡°That means that Shadow King should be around 40 years old, right? How could it be Tao Xiaotao?¡± Luo Lang looked at Tao Xiaotao¡¯s young face. This man was obviously only 20 years old.


    Xie Yi shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ll see what Brother Feng says.¡±


    Tao Xiaotao shuddered when he heard the Shadow King. He looked up innocently and asked Li Lanfeng, ¡°What did you say? Who is Shadow King?¡±

 Chapter 1186 - Other Plans?

    <h4>Chapter 1186 Other ns?</h4>


    ¡°During a previous mission with the regimentmander, we visited a base which conducted human experiments. Based on the data we collected over there, this base is investigating the secrets to longevity as well as domain realm activation. The most frightening thing was that they were able to replicate certain innate talents while also speeding up the advancement of human abilities. For instance, they could make a test subject enter the domain realm at the young age while making hackers of high caliber. We met many 15-year-olds who were domain realm masters during our excursion. However, they were fake domain realm masters,¡± Li Lanfeng exined indifferently.


    Everyone was bbergasted by the continuous bombs getting dropped at them with each sentence spewing out of Li Lanfeng¡¯s out. Even in the Flying Dragon Special Forces, a 20-year-old domain realm master was considered a once-in-a-century genius. If someone managed to enter the domain stage at 15 years old, he would be as god-like as their regimentmander.


    Tao Xiaotao still appeared confused by Li Lanfeng¡¯s shocking statements.


    ¡°Longevity seems like a fantasy but we have realised that they had made some breakthrough in their experiment. The details of the experiment were destroyed along with the base so we couldn¡¯t get ahold of the detail. We have no clue what they have concluded from their experiments.¡± Li Lanfeng looked at Tao Xiaotao coldly. ¡°However, we still found a list of the people who participated in this experiment, and one name in particr caught my attention. It was Shadow King!¡±


    ¡°No matter how you hide, you won¡¯t be able to hide your trademarks. That video was embedded in the message. The ability used to do that is the unique ability of Shadow King, Shadow Link.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled happily. He was confident as he continued, ¡°Unfortunately, we have a hacker who deeply understands your signature traits. We manage to find the source using Shadow Link. At the same time, we corroborated with the surveince video. Tao Xiaotao, Shadow King, it¡¯s you!¡±


    Tao Xiaotao¡¯s confused expression disappeared. He turned calm as he numbly asked, ¡°Is it Immortal?¡± When he listened to Li Lanfeng¡¯s detailed analysis, he knew that he couldn¡¯t escape anymore so he gave up the clueless facade.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Li Lanfeng raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°Besides that irritating Immortal, no one knows of Shadow Link. It was my oversight for not thinking that he is hiding here.¡± Tao Xiaotao scoffed.


    Every hacker had a rival. Shadow King¡¯s rival was Immortal. They had been opponents ever since he debuted in the secr world. Immortal was always ruining his every n. It was his fault for not factoring Immortal¡¯s disturbance in his n. He was careless. He thought that there wouldn¡¯t be any powerful hackers in such a newly advanced mecha n. Yet, Immortal was hiding here. Immortal exposed him.


    Li Lanfeng realized Tao Xiaotao had a misunderstanding but he didn¡¯t correct him, as his misunderstanding was a good way to protect Ling Lan. He was happy to see this misunderstanding.


    ¡°I ept my defeat. However, I have only onest wish. Let me see my eternal rival, Immortal.¡± Tao Xiaotao gritted his teeth. He wanted to know what Immortal looked like. That way, even if he went to hell, he would be able to curse him.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. He doesn¡¯t like visitors.¡± Li Lanfeng would never expose Ling Lan.


    ¡°What a coward. Immortal,e out!¡± Tao Xiaotao shouted agitatedly as he tried to struggle out of the surrounding soldiers¡¯ grasp. If the soldiers hadn¡¯t held him down, he might have rushed out of the meeting room.


    ¡°Bring him away.¡± Li Lanfeng told the soldiers who were suppressing Tao Xiaotao.


    ¡°Yes!¡± The soldiers bowed. As they were about to leave, Ling Yi charged forward and grabbed Tao Xiaotao¡¯s shoulders. He was indignant. ¡°Where is Tao Xiaotao?¡±


    Tao Xiaotao frowned. Then, he sneered. ¡°Of course he¡¯s dead.¡±


    ¡°Bastard!¡± Ling Yi raised his fist and punched Tao Xiaotao¡¯s face.


    Tao Xiaotao¡¯s face turned red and swollen. Blood flowed from his mouth. His expression was sinister but there was exhration in his eyes. ¡°Hit me! Hit me again! The body you¡¯re hitting belongs to Tao Xiaotao. Unfortunately, it is just a body. HAHAHA!¡±


    Ling Yi narrowed his eyes and lowered his fist. He couldn¡¯t bear to hit him again.


    Li Lanfeng nced at the soldiers to signal them to quickly go. They quickly dragged the delirious Tao Xiaotao out of the room, leaving behind Ling Yi and his friends. They were filled with anguish as they looked at their once-friend.


    ¡°As for you, it wasn¡¯t your intention to harm Ling Lan but you were the source of everything that had happened. If you didn¡¯t film the video, everything wouldn¡¯t have happened. As per protocol, you have to be punished. I¡¯ll lock you up and wait for the regimentmander toe out from his closed-door meditation.¡± Yang Mingzhi and the other team leaders raised their eyebrows in mild surprise. They thought Li Lanfeng would use this opportunity to get rid of Ling Yi but instead, he waited for Ling Lan to make the final verdict.


    Ling Yi epted his verdict. He broke the rules first. He was the cause of everything. In his mind, he should definitely be punished.


    Yi Tiange and his friends watched Ling Yi as he got taken away. None of them said anything in the process. Suspicion tore the trust between them. They told themselves that they must understand Ling Yi¡¯s predicament but a broken heart wouldn¡¯t heal so quickly. They would never be as close as before.


    Even among the four of them, there was a slight air of awkwardness. It would take some effort to mend their rtionships to the back it was before.


    Some things couldn¡¯t be taken back after it was spoken.


    Li Lanfeng smiled as he tidied his files. On his face, there was a beautiful but frightening smile.


    In the secret room, Ling Lan suddenly opened her eyes.


    A few secondster, the door opened and a familiar figure walked in.


    Li Lanfeng closed the door before taking his mask off. He smiled brightly as he walked towards Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°You¡¯re in a good mood.¡± The happiness Li Lanfeng was exuding was overwhelming. Every single emotion he was disying seemed to be telling Ling Lan ¡®Ask me why I¡¯m happy!¡¯. It felt wrong if she didn¡¯t ask him.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Lanfeng continued smiling.


    Ling Lan closed her eyes and asked calmly, ¡°What is the good news?¡±


    Ling Lan started chanting the Heart Sutra in her mind to stop herself from being seduced by Li Lanfeng.


    Why is Li Lanfeng seducing her so frequently recently? Did his seducing skills get better? Ling Lan remembered Luo Lang. When Luo Lang got stronger, he would get prettier too. Maybe Li Lanfeng was like that too


    ¡°I locked Ling Yi up.¡± Li Lanfeng sat beside Ling Lan and stared at her intently.


    ¡°You have other ns?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. It seemed like Li Lanfeng still had some use for Ling Yi. If not, Li Lanfeng would have got rid of him.

 Chapter 1187 - It’s All Your Fault!

    <h4>Chapter 1187 It¡¯s All Your Fault!</h4>


    ¡°That faction is willing to send Shadow King to follow him. This means that he is very important to them. Ling Yi is quite useless now but useless things can be recycled too.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled.


    ¡°Do you think that I¡¯ll be happy? He is part of the Ling family.¡± Ling Lan nced at Li Lanfeng to warn him to not be too excited.


    ¡°Really?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and leaned closer to Ling Lan. Ling Lan¡¯s heart started pounding furiously as Li Lanfeng¡¯s face got closer to hers.


    But, Ling Lan was still Ling Lan. She had seen all kinds of young and handsome youths before so she learned to remainposed and unaffected. Her ice-cold facade couldn¡¯t be easily broken with just Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile.


    She calmly retracted her gaze and replied, ¡°I won¡¯t interfere in this matter. However, I can¡¯t disappoint my loyalists. Be careful of what you do. Don¡¯t go overboard.¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled even brighter when he heard Ling Lan¡¯s reply. Since Ling Lan let him take care of Ling Yi, it meant that he was part of Ling Lan¡¯s family now, right?


    He felt something sweet brewing in his heart. Li Lanfeng knew that this was just his own wishful thoughts but he wanted to remain in the dream.


    ¡®Ling Lan, stop pampering me like this!¡¯ What was left of his logical side shouted helplessly.


    The more Ling Lan trusted him, the greedier he would get. Li Lanfeng felt that his love for Ling Lan was losing control.


    ¡°Ling Lan...¡± Li Lanfeng groaned in pain. He weakly fell forward.


    Ling Lan quickly caught him, stopping him from falling on the ground.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Ling Lan frowned. There was concern in her eyes. ¡°Let me call Shiyu over.¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s hands quickly reached out to stop her from contacting Li Shiyu using hermunicator. ¡°There is no need. It¡¯s an old issue. Just let me rest for a moment.¡±


    His face scrunched up in pain. His entire body seemed to be experiencing excruciating pain.


    Ling Lan knew what this felt like. In her past life, she had experienced this pain too. Even if Shiyu came, he would only be able to alleviate the pain.


    She understood the feeling so she didn¡¯t let go of Li Lanfeng¡¯s hand. She wanted to give him some mental support.


    Li Lanfeng smiled secretly. He slowly leaned towards Ling Lan¡¯s chest and felt the cold aura around her. He was so happy that he wouldn¡¯t regret even if he died now.


    ¡°Remember to practice the Qi exercises.¡± Ling Lan reminded him patiently when she noticed Li Lanfeng was feeling better.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t stop smiling as he could sense Ling Lan¡¯s worry in her tone. He quickly started practicing the Qi exercises.


    Ling Lan heaved a sigh of relief when Li Lanfeng started his exercises.


    Li Lanfeng practiced the Qi exercises a little toote which had caused the recovery of his illness to be snail-pace. Every time he advanced in terms of physical skills, he would receive a bacsh. Only the Qi exercises and the third generation of Nuwa gene agent, created by Li Shiyu and Little Four, were able to help him.


    Ultimately, the root of the illness was still unsolved. The only way he could totally recover was if he stopped advancing. However, that was impossible. Ling Lan knew Li Lanfeng¡¯s dream. He wanted to stand and fight alongside her. He would never give up his dream even if he was constantly tormented by pain.


    Sometimes, Ling Lan felt that she treated Li Lanfeng differently from her otherpanions. Was it because he reminded her of her past life?


    Maybe this was the truth. She felt pity for Li Lanfeng just like how she felt pity for herself in her past life. To Ling Lan, saving Li Lanfeng was like saving her past life.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng, you must get better,¡± Ling Lan softly said.


    She tightly hugged the beauty in her arms. She felt as if she was hugging her past weak self, the person who wanted to cry but could only smile on the surface, the person that wanted to receive constion but never did.


    A pair of strong hands suddenly reached out and hugged her waist. Ling Lan was stunned as Li Lanfeng said in a hoarse voice, ¡°I¡¯ll definitely get better.¡±


    Suddenly, she felt wet on her chest. Ling Lan realized Li Lanfeng must have felt touched by her words so he cried in her arms.


    Ling Lan felt a little speechless. She looked at the ceiling of the secret room in exasperation. ¡®Fine... misunderstandings are beautiful. Let him stay in his dream. I can¡¯t tell him the truth and break the beauty¡¯s heart, right?¡¯


    ¡®Ling Lan, you¡¯re too good to me. How can I bear to let you go? I don¡¯t care. This is your fault. You give me hope. Let¡¯s go to hell together!¡¯


    Li Lanfeng gave a weird smile. His gaze was firm and sinister.


    After Li Lanfeng¡¯s emotions got stabilized, Ling Lan patted his back lightly. ¡°Are you feeling better?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Lanfeng took a deep breath and squeezed out a word. He couldn¡¯t bear to let Ling Lan go.


    ¡°Then, sit up straight.¡±


    ¡®Do you think I¡¯m a pillow? My arms are getting tired from hugging you.¡¯


    Li Lanfeng knew that he couldn¡¯t keep lying on Ling Lan so he begrudgingly got up. When he recalled how shamelessly he was when heid in Ling Lan¡¯s chest, he felt a little shy. There was a faint blush on his beautiful face, making his embarrassed expression seductive.


    Why did he feel embarrassed when he was such a shameless person? Well, this was his first touchy experience. This was the first time he made a move on Ling Lan too. He didn¡¯t have any experience so it was normal that he would feel embarrassed.


    ¡®Damn it! The beauty attack is undefeatable!¡¯


    Ling Lan swallowed her saliva secretly. She thought that Li Lanfeng felt embarrassed because he had cried just now. She didn¡¯t want the air around them to be awkward so she changed the topic. ¡°How will you take care of Shadow King?¡±


    Ling Lan was very interested in Shadow King.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s embarrassed expression instantly turned normal again. He replied Ling Lan with a serious face, ¡°I¡¯ve already sent him to Li Shiyu. I reminded Li Shiyu to inspect Tao Xiaotao¡¯s body thoroughly. I want to know how they¡¯re able to substitute someone so perfectly.¡±


    Ling Lan agreed with Li Lanfeng¡¯s n. She stood up and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go and watch Shiyu together. He might give us some useful clues.¡± Little Four had already analyzed all the information he got from the base on Azure. However, without a body, he couldn¡¯t confirm his hypothesis. So, visiting Li Shiyu would be a good opportunity to ascertain his hypothesis.

 Chapter 1188 - Memory Replication?

    <h4>Chapter 1188 Memory Replication?</h4>


    Little Four was ted when he sensed Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts. Sob, Boss finally remembered him.


    After a while, the two of them came to Li Shiyu¡¯sboratory. It was the most highly guardedboratory in Base Neb.


    Li Shiyu¡¯sboratory was like Lingtian¡¯s treasure chest. All the amazing agents were kept here. Even without Ling Lan¡¯s order, the team leaders would send their subordinates to guard this area. If someone managed to steal from theboratory, all the team leaders couldmit suicide out of shame and anger.


    Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng passed through many rounds of inspection before arriving at theboratory.


    Li Shiyu was the only person in theboratory. The current matter he was handling was linked to the sensitive subject of live human experiments, so Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t let anyone else take part in it.


    Li Shiyu heard the sound of footstepsing towards hisboratory so he quickly stepped away from his experiments and got out of hisboratory to see who the visitors were. When he saw Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng, he nodded his head and lead them in hisboratory. He walked to the body lying on white desk. He grabbed the clipboard on the side, observed the data on the clipboard andpared it with the information the device was showing him.


    Ling Lan walked to Li Shiyu and asked softly, ¡°How¡¯s his condition?¡±.


    ¡°He was agitated when he came in but after a bottle of anesthesia, he became silent, just like Little White.¡± Li Shiyu joked.


    ¡°How is Little White? Is it awake?¡± Ling Lan finally remembered her stupid pet.


    volution is taking a long time. I don¡¯t know what he ate. Why is he taking so long to digest it?¡± When Little White wasn¡¯t following Li Lanfeng, it would spend its time at theboratory being examined by Li Shiyu. Hence, Li Shiyu concluded Little White¡¯s evolution depended on the things it ate. What a lucky life. All it needed to be powerful was to eat.


    ¡°It has an indestructible stomach. It wouldn¡¯t get indigestion.¡± Ling Lan wasn¡¯t worried. Little White said that its stomach was a different pocket space so indigestion wouldn¡¯t harm it. The food might just be thrown into a corner of the space.


    ¡°What did you find out about Tao Xiaotao?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s attention came back to Tao Xiaotao.


    ¡°Besides certain cells that are more active than normal, everything is normal.¡± Li Shiyu frowned. He inspected the body for many hours but no anomaly was found.


    ¡°But the ability he used is Shadow Link.¡± Ling Lan frowned too. If there was nothing wrong with Tao Xiaotao, how could he be an imperial hacker at such a young age? Little Four said Tao Xiaotao¡¯s ability was the same as Shadow King. If it was a different person, there would be a difference in the application of the ability.


    Ling Lan would suspect anyone if they said the im but she wouldn¡¯t suspect Little Four. If he said Tao Xiaotao was Shadow King, he was.


    ¡°There is only one possibility. Memory replication.¡± Li Shiyu suggested a proposition by the medical world many years ago.


    ¡°It was proved that it was a wild fantasy, right?¡± There were experiments done to determine the relevance of this proposition, but all the experiments ended in a failure. Little Four wasn¡¯t interested in this so he hadn¡¯t dug deeper into the subject.


    ¡°My mentor told me that the experiments had failed but some people were unwilling to give up. After the Federation forbade this experiment, these people went into hiding. They might have achieved some results of years of research,¡± Li Shiyu replied.


    ¡°Memory replication?¡± Ling Lan remembered Gu Zhengrong who had the ability to replicate her father¡¯s innate talent. She sensed the simrity between them.


    ¡®It¡¯s the people from Azure. Are they targeting me?¡¯ Ling Lan was sure that the assassination and the mission she took were all linked.


    ¡®Who are the ones trying to harm the Ling family? What is their motive?¡¯


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that they belong to the same faction. The people that attacked you and the faction which Tao Xiaotao belonged to might just be working together.¡± Li Lanfeng interrupted Ling Lan¡¯s thoughts.


    ¡°Oh?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and waited for Li Lanfeng¡¯s exnation.


    ¡°At that time, you were just a child. You haven¡¯t disyed your talent or potential yet. Unless they were tipped off, they wouldn¡¯t take notice of you. Also, based on the ability of the organisation on Azure, you won¡¯t be able to escape if they were the ones attempting to kill you.¡± Li Lanfeng pointed out the truth. What they discovered on Azure was just the tip of the iceberg.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. Based on my analysis, it should be my father¡¯s enemy in the military. He used his power in the military but he concealed himself perfectly so no clues were found.¡±


    Thinking about it now, it must be a general from the military. This person had control over hackers so he was able to discover the existence of Little Four. However, Little Four had matured now, he would fall into such single schemes anymore.


    ¡°Actually, we already knew that without help from someone in the military, this person wouldn¡¯t be able to evade the surveince of the military and build such a base on Azure. However, no matter how powerful a general is, he couldn¡¯t control such a huge organization. Even the three great marshals don¡¯t have this ability.¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled as he continued, ¡°We should be d that the military forbids elite families to gain more power. It prevents generals from shaking the foundation of the military. Thus, the general and the organisation probably belong to different factions. There is a higher probability that they are just working together. Of course, the general might pull the organisation into his wing but in that case, the general will only be a subordinate and not themander.¡±


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s impossible for a general to control such a huge organisation. It¡¯s probably a coborative effort. The general might also just be a subordinate and not the mastermind.¡± Ling Lan frowned. She knew that her father had already found the person who tried to assassinate her. Would he offend the unknown organisation because of this?


    How messy!


    Ling Lan felt a little dizzy. She closed her eyes and arranged the information in her head. After she opened her eyes, she could feel her thoughts getting clearer


    ¡°It has been such a long time but only a hacker was sent to follow Ling Yi. This might mean that the faction doesn¡¯t want to anger my father. Based on that, a coboration is most likely the answer.¡± Ling Lan arrived at a conclusion.


    As expected, Li Lanfeng was best at scheming. He managed to find the truth almost immediately. In the future, Ling Lan decided to pass such matters to Li Lanfeng. She knew her weakness was in scheming. Plus, she shouldn¡¯t waste Li Lanfeng¡¯s talent.

 Chapter 1189 - Innate Talent Replication!

    <h4>Chapter 1189 Innate Talent Replication!</h4>


    While Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng were finding the rtionship between Ling Lan¡¯s assassination and the organisation on Azure, Little Four, who was inspecting Tao Xiaotao, suddenly shouted excitedly in Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape, ¡°Boss, Boss!¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    ¡°I sense some fluctuation in Tao Xiaotao¡¯s brain. The fluctuation of the wavelength is simr to a product from Mandora.¡± This was the first time Little Four discovered a trace of his home gxy, Mandora. He was shaking with excitement, making his plump cheeks ever so giggly.


    ¡°What?¡± Ling Lan was dumbstruck. She had always thought Little Four was the only trace of Mandora in her gxy as the Mandora Gxy was just too far away from them. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t even imagine that another creation from Mandora would be able to enter her gxy. Yet, Little Four imed that he found something from Mandora.


    ¡°Wait. The fluctuation is so small. I almost lost it. Let me feel it properly.¡± Little Four couldn¡¯t reply to Ling Lan as he was still in the midst of feeling out the fluctuation, so Ling Lan had no choice but to remain patient.


    Li Lanfeng was surprised when Ling Lan suddenly stopped talking. He turned his head to the side and nced at Ling Lan. He realized she was looking intently at Tao Xiaotao.


    He whispered softly, ¡°Did you discover something?¡±


    Ling Lan nodded at Li Lanfeng, before turning her attention back to Tao Xiaotao.


    Li Lanfeng knew that Ling Lan must have made an important discovery so he didn¡¯t dare to disturb Ling Lan. He quickly ced his index finger on his lips, signalling to Li Shiyu to be quiet.


    After a few minutes, Little Four shouted in her mindscape, ¡°It appeared again. I finally caught it.¡±


    ¡°What is it? Is it really from Mandora?¡± Ling Lan was serious. If this was rted to Mandora, things would getplicated.


    ¡°It has the aura of Mandora but it¡¯s slightly different. Let me confirm it again. Damn it, why is the fluctuation so tiny,¡± Little Four muttered.


    A few minutes past again. Little Four¡¯s angry and disappointed tone was heard. ¡°It¡¯s just a low-quality replica. How disappointing.¡±


    ¡°Replica?¡± Ling Lan rxed. She would be worried if it was really from Mandora, it might mean an alien invasion. Fortunately, it was a replica. However, since there was a replica, the real item must exist too. Where was the real item? Who had it?


    Ling Lan and Little Four thought of the same thing. But, their reactions were totally different. Little Four was ted while Ling Lan was worried.


    ¡°Little Four, what replica is it?¡± It¡¯s better to prepare beforehand.


    ¡°It¡¯s simr to a mecha learning device like me. It¡¯s a replica of an innate talent creation device.¡± Little Four replied.


    ¡°An innate talent creation device?¡± This was an unfamiliar name.


    ¡°It¡¯s used to create innate talents for children who couldn¡¯t awaken their own innate talent. However, the innate talent created through this device won¡¯t evolve so the person will remain at the bottom of the society, but this is just a low-quality replica. It can¡¯t pick and choose innate talents like the real thing. There is only one innate talent in it.¡± Little Four exined.


    ¡°Huh? Weird, they changed this part.¡± Little Four was surprised.


    ¡°What is the matter?¡± Ling Lan got curious.


    ¡°It can only create one innate talent but the innate talent can evolve and be stronger... no wait, this isn¡¯t an innate talent creation device!¡± Little Four eximed loudly, ¡°It¡¯s the forbidden innate talent replicating device!¡±


    Little Four started trembling. The innate talent replicating device had caused many deaths in Mandora. In the end, it was destroyed by the previous Intellect King. He thought that all the devices had been destroyed but it appeared again in another gxy.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Ling Lan felt that the situation might be worse than she had thought when she saw Little Four¡¯s pale face.


    ¡°When the innate talent replicating device was created, many powerful people died that year. This was because there was one criterion in order to replicate someone¡¯s innate talent. The targeted person must be on the brink of death. In the instant before the spirit disappears, the innate talent can be replicated.¡± Little Four didn¡¯t know why he had such scary memories.


    He controlled his fear as he continued, ¡°Not only that, it would take away a portion of the person¡¯s memory when it replicates the innate talent. The way when you use the replicated innate talent, you will be no different than its original owner. The person who invented this just wanted to prevent some powerful innate talents from disappearing but the implications it brought were too great. Many deaths urred in that dark period. Even the Intellect King had no choice but to destroy all the innate talent replicating devices. I didn¡¯t expect it to appear here. Boss, you must not let it be known here. Once humans know its uses, countless deaths will follow..¡±


    Little Four finally told Ling Lan the danger of the innate talent replicating device. Once someone knew its uses, they would definitely take advantage of it.


    Ling Lan¡¯s facial expression turned grave. She didn¡¯t expect this device to be so frightening. If someone wanted her innate talent and used this device to replicate it from her, she might not be able to resist.


    ¡°Do you mean that the real Shadow King is dead?¡± Ling Lan finally understood what happened.


    ¡°Yes. This is just a low-quality replica. It¡¯s only able to replicate one innate talent,¡± Little Four replied firmly.


    ¡°Can this device be made easily?¡± It was powerful even if it could only replicate one innate talent.


    ¡°No. I¡¯ve researched the natural resources in your gxy. The creation of this device requires cells of a particr being in Mandora which cannot be found in your gxy. The scientists who made this replica must have found another living thing to rece it, and thus deteriorating the quality. Plus, the memory metal found in Mandora doesn¡¯t exist here too. I found something that can rece it but the quality just isn¡¯t up to par. There isn¡¯t a lot of this recement too so they won¡¯t be able to make many replicas.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± The only other device she saw was on Gu Zhengrong.


    ¡°Can you take that device out of Tao Xiaotao¡¯s body?¡± Ling Lan asked. They might be able to easily examine it if they extract it from Tao Xiaotao¡¯s body.

 Chapter 1190 - Reward!

    <strong>Chapter 1190 Reward!</strong>


    ¡°It¡¯s inside his brain so we¡¯ll need suitable equipment to extract it.¡± Little Four took a look around Li Shiyu¡¯sboratory and shook his head. ¡°There is no suitable equipment here. If we take it out forcefully, Tao Xiaotao might die.¡±


    ¡°How troublesome!¡± Ling Lanmented ¡°Can we find the specific equipment?¡±


    Little Four shook his head again. ¡°We can but once we do, our opponents may be alerted.¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t let them know what we are doing. We¡¯ll only be safe if they think we are in the dark.¡± Ling Lan was frustrated. She had too many outstanding subordinates around her, causing many people to pay attention to her. If she really alerted her opponents, they might be able to wipe her team out all at once. What a frightening thought.


    ¡®We can¡¯t do that!¡¯


    ¡°Well, we actually can make the extracting device here. Chang Xinyuan is skilled with his hands so he might be able to create it if we give him the blueprints and the materials. Leave the materials to me. Once we make the extraction device, we should be able to take the replication device... more specifically, the replication chip out.¡± Little Four was eager to start foiling the ns of his enemies.


    Although Lingtian was portrayed with the image of being a n without many logisticians, there were now many abled logisticians in the team contrary to the image they had shown to the public. They had people with special talents too. For instance, their head of the logistics department, Chang Xinyuan, was able to modify mechas. Their head of the medical department, Li Shiyu, could make powerful agents. There were many people who would want to snatch them.


    It had to be said that when Ling Lan formed her Lingtian battle team in the past, she had considered all aspects thoroughly. She had high expectations of her team members so only geniuses were chosen. This was the reason why there were many capable people in her team. Everyone wanted to snatch her members so she had to put in much effort to maintain her team.


    Of course, most of the time, her father was the one settling everything. He almost ruined his gentle and kind image because of Lingtian.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do it.¡± Ling Lan was decisive.


    She didn¡¯t like anything that could threaten her friends. Since she already knew that her opponent had this frightening device, she must find a way to counter it.


    After Ling Lan retracted her gaze, Li Lanfeng asked, ¡°Have you found the answer?¡±


    Li Shiyu looked up too. He wanted to know what Ling Lan had discovered.


    ¡°There is a chip in his brain. It¡¯s giving off a faint fluctuation.¡± Ling Lan couldn¡¯t directly tell them the truth.


    ¡°In the brain?¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s expression changed. He had already used his apparatuses to scan Tao Xiaotao¡¯s brain but nothing could be found.


    ¡°I used my hacking ability to find the faint fluctuation. I¡¯m afraid that with our current equipment, we might not be able to detect it.¡± Ling Lan sighed.


    Li Shiyu frowned. There was clearly a problem but he couldn¡¯t find it. I made him feel irritated.


    ¡°On the bright side, when I infiltrated the base on Azure, I found the blueprint and information of a new tracking device. We can try to ask Chang Xinyuan to make it. If he can make it, we might be able to locate the fluctuation.¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s eyes lit up over Ling Lan¡¯s words. As a military doctor, he loved to have as many tracking devices as he could so that he could find what he needed. That way, he would be able to unleash his full surgery potential andplete all the surgeries that were deemed impossible by the Federation. It gave him great satisfaction when he saw those shocked faces of renowned military doctors.


    ¡°What are we waiting for? Hurry up and look for Chang Xinyuan,¡± Li Shiyu was excited.


    Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng smiled when they saw Li Shiyu¡¯s eager expression. Before the device could be made, Tao Xiaotao had to suffer and be locked up in the recovery pod.


    The safest way to lock up a hacker was to make him unconscious so that he couldn¡¯t use his mind.


    After ten days had passed, the military sent many representatives to visit Ling Lan but the team leaders would chase them away from their doorstep, saying that Ling Lan was undergoing treatment and was unconscious.


    Some representatives suggested sending military doctors from the headquarters over but Li Shiyu retorted, ¡°Is there anyone better than me?¡± No one could answer him.


    Li Shiyu wasn¡¯t an arrogant person so he said humbly, ¡°I sure hope some god-ss military doctors wille. They can be my helpers.¡±


    The representatives from the military pretended they didn¡¯t hear the suggestion. God-ss military doctors were the treasures of the military. To ensure their safety, most of them stayed within the military headquarters. No one would be willing to send them to the frontline.


    They also wanted to look for the newmanding officer of the base as well as the regimentmanders of the three first-rank five-star mecha ns but all of them said that they were busy.


    Some representatives suspected that they were controlled by the people from Lingtian, but they were all contactable. They were even able to have a video call with them. Based on their facial expressions and voices of the people who chatted with them, they were not forced or coerced into doing anything. The background of the video call was their office too (Little Fourughed arrogantly. Hackers might not be able to do this but he just needed a thought to do it).


    Hence, the representative from the military couldn¡¯t find any loopholes to tackle Lingtian. Finally, the rewards came.


    ¡°The rewards for the Lingtian Mecha n is as follows: Firstly, Major General Ling Lan is promoted to a lieutenant general.¡±


    Although Ling Lan was very young, her mecha n destroyed three other mecha ns of their enemies, and one of them was even a top-ranked mecha n.


    Everyone agreed with this reward. Even if they felt any negative feelings, it was probably because Ling Lan was too young to obtain such rank. When they were 24 years old, they were still young recruits who were clueless about the world. Yet, Ling Lan was already a lieutenant general with many merits. Theparison was stark. It was uneptable for some people.


    However, they put aside their jealousy and continued reading the message.


    ¡°Secondly, Major General Yang Mingzhi and Major General Liu Furong will be awarded the Golden Eagle Warrior Medal. They will also be appointed as the vice regimentmander of the Lingtian Mecha n.¡±


    Wow! The Golden Eagle Warrior Medal! They weren¡¯t promoted in rank but the medal had a simr buff too as all major generals had to salute to the major generals who had the Golden Eagle Warrior medal. This meant that Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong were the highest-ranked major generals.


    The second part of the order was interesting. Was this decentralization of authority?


    Lingtian used to have only one regimentmander. The rest were all team leaders. Now, there were two vice regimentmanders and by right, all the decisions would also have to go through the vice regimentmanders.

 Chapter 1191 - Lingtian, an Independent Army!

    <strong>Chapter 1191 Lingtian, an Independent Army!</strong>


    While everyone was trying to figure out the real meaning behind the second part of the order they were given, the third part of the order came.


    ¡°Thirdly: Gu Dongyang, Sun Yaofei, Qi Long, Li Lanfeng... Those mentioned above will be promoted to major generals!¡±


    A long list of 40 to 50 names all advancing to major general shocked everyone to their core. Was Lingtian going against God? Even legendary mecha ns might not have that many major generals.


    Compared to the major generals who were older and had achieved greatness in their past, the two younger major generals on the list seemed to garner more attention.


    Li Lanfeng and Qi Long¡¯s name quickly became well-known among the soldiers on Base Neb.


    Qi Long was Team 03¡¯s team leader and the person just behind Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong. In this battle, his performance was spectacr. Just his own personal achievements of killing three of Knight Mecha n¡¯s team leaders was enough for his name to be imprinted in everyone¡¯s mind.


    However, ranking up by two ranks, from colonel straight to major general... his achievements seemed to not match with the amount of merits he was given.


    Everyone suddenly remembered the rumour that spreaded across the base. Qi Long was the son of the Invincible God of War, the 13th Division¡¯s general, Sky God, Qi Yaoyang. Everyone seemed to have realized the truth behind the suspicious promotion and quickly silenced themselves in case they incurred the wrath of Sky God.


    Li Lanfeng, Team 06¡¯s team leader, was originally the same rank as Qi Long, a colonel. Although he didn¡¯te from an impressive background, his growth was still a living example of amoner raising up to the heavens. The contribution he had made during the battle was enough to put him as one of the three top performers. That was because these top three performers were the ones whobined their strength and killed the regimentmander of Knight Ace Mecha n.


    Executing a standard mecha n¡¯s regimentmander as a team leader was already shocking enough, not to mention executing the regimentmander of Knight Mecha n. Just this achievement alone was enough for him to rise up the ranks.


    He was too damn lucky! Everyone looked at Li Lanfeng¡¯s name and were all green with envy. Was Li Lanfeng loved by the Goddess of Luck? How could good things always happen to him? (Well, it is because he has such a caring regimentmander.)


    Everyone who was still burning from all the different emotions they had from reading the third part of the order, continued to read the next list of names. This was the list of those who advanced to the rank of senior colonel.


    Holy, there were so many people who ranked up! Everyone was shocked by therge number of names.


    Some carefully counted and realized that there were actually 271 individuals on the list.


    Few of the regimentmanders from regr mecha ns looked at the pitiful lieutenant colonel and colonel insignias on their shoulders and felt a bitter taste in their mouths. Had they wasted their lives doing nothing?


    Right afterwards, the part of the order where it listed soldiers who were advancing to lieutenant colonel and majors were shown. This time, there wasn¡¯t a list. Instead, there was a document, and it was only shown to those who cared enough to log in and look at the names.


    However, some officers just had too much time on their hands as they tried to scratch their itch of curiosity. They logged in and looked through the document. They were instantly dumbfounded. The list was so long that even after scrolling a few times, they couldn¡¯t reach the bottom of the document. After scrolling for a while, they just assumed all of the official members of Lingtian Mecha n must have been promoted to at least major-rank. There were even some captain-rank officers from the logistics department, who had an outstanding performance, sessfully promoted to the rank of major. Those who were originally majors, would probably at least be promoted by one rank, not mention the captains and sergeants who had outstanding performances...


    After reading through the document, every soldier in Base Neb believed that Lingtian Mecha n probably didn¡¯t have any members at the rank of private. The lowest ranked soldier was probably at sergeant-rank.


    Of course, the list of soldiers advancing to major or above wasn¡¯t as shocking as the orders given beforehand. As everyone was sure that there was nothing that could surprise them even further, thest part of the order made the entire base erupt in shock.


    ¡°Lastly, Lingtian Independent Mecha n has reached all requirements of advancing. From today onwards, Lingtian Independent Mecha n will be Lingtian Independent Army. Additional army personnel additions will be notifiedter.¡±


    ¡°Independent army. Lingtian advanced into an independent army...¡± someone shouted out.


    ¡°That¡¯s unbelievable. The 27th Independent Army in history is us, Lingtian!¡± one soldier from Lingtian Mecha n cheered excitedly while pumping his fists into the air.


    ¡°Lingtian became an independent army!¡± Even those proud and stubborn ace mecha ns couldn¡¯t hold back the admiration and envy in their looks as they looked towards the excited members from Lingtian.


    Were they jealous? No as this was glory admired by all. They couldn¡¯t be jealous of them even if they wanted to. That was because that bing an independent army was not achieved based on manpower. It required the n to be at the right ce and at the right time, and even required amazing luck to achieve such a feat.


    In other words, Lingtian was an existence that was being taken care of by God itself. In the past, these other ace mecha ns perhaps could stillpare to Lingtian, but now they no longer even dare to have the thought.


    Who was willing topare with a monstrous mecha n that had already advanced to an independent army after only establishing itself for more than a year? When the difference was infinitely vast, these other ns no longer had the thought ofparing themselves with Lingtian.


    ¡°I was thinking why they had let us free today. It seems that¡¯s why.¡± The three major generals who walked passed the za heard the shouts and screams of everyone. They showed disdain on their faces.


    ¡°Now that everything is set in stone, no one can stop Lingtian from flying freely in the sky.¡± Wang Shao sighed. Thus, after just regaining their freedom, they could no longer stop Lingtian no matter what they do.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect Lingtian Mecha n to acquire such great merits from the Neb Boundary Battle...¡± Qin Youqi had a jealous and angry but yetplicated look on his face.


    ¡°An independent army is enough to hold down first-rank five-star ns like ours. Even if legendary mecha ns were toe, they still would have a hard time suppressing Lingtian,¡± Zhang Haoxun said coldly. ¡°Lingtian have be too powerful. They cannot be stopped anymore.¡±


    ¡°Just one mistake caused us to lose so much. We wasted our timeing here.¡± Wang Shao shook his head regrettably. They might be in for some reprimand from their chief. He just hoped that the chief wouldn¡¯t lose trust in him because of this matter.


    Ye Kui also read through the final part of the order in his room, ¡°As expected, just what I thought. The Federation is changing.¡±


    Ye Kui¡¯s mood wasn¡¯t in the best of sorts. He stood up and paced around anxiously. After thinking about how he was heartlessly rejected by Ling Lan, that feeling of failure made him feel frustrated.


    ¡°That order back then was god damn stupid!¡± Ye Kui thought of Ye Xu and instantly cussed out.


    If the family didn¡¯t force Ye Xu out of Lingtian, perhaps he would still be able to use the friendship between Ye Xu and Ling Lan to improve his family¡¯s situation. He could have even made Ye Xu be like the two from the Li family to work under Ling Lan. That way, the Ye family wouldn¡¯t have to worry about anything anymore.


    The Ye family clearly had the chance to change their destiny, but they didn¡¯t hold it in his hands tight enough. This feeling of powerlessness made Ye Kui, who poured everything he had into the Ye family, feel so frustrated that it could almost kill him.


    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t have enough say in the Ye family. He could only be considered to be an enforcer and not a decision maker. Even if Ye Kui knew the order given to him by the elders of the family was dumb, he could still only just watch as the Ye family¡¯s stubborn elderly pushed the family into the brink of destruction.

 Chapter 1192 - Base And Manpower!

    <h4>Chapter 1192 Base And Manpower!</h4>


    All the mecha ns in Base Neb had their own thoughts about Lingtian bing an independent army.


    As for Ling Lan, she only came out of her closed-door meditation three days after the reward was sent out.


    She couldn¡¯t appear on the day the reward was given out since that would seem too fake. She needed to give the military an out so that they could console themselves.


    However, she wasn¡¯t doing nothing while doing closed-door meditation. She made many calls with her father discussing the new location of their new base camp. After some back and forth, she and her father finally decided on Base Neb to be Lingtian Independent Army¡¯s new base camp.


    Ling Lan had set her eyes on this movable base that was well-equipped with weapons and had all the high-tech facilities from the Federation. She couldn¡¯t imagine being in those stationed bases as just imagining her being there gave her the chills. The battle at Base 013 on Haijiao had traumatized her.


    Ling Lan liked the flexibility of a movable base. In the past, she wasn¡¯t aware of the existence of a moveable base such as Base Neb, so she never thought about wanting a movable base. However, now that she knew of its existence and she was already in the base, it was hard for her to not want it.


    Moreover, she wasn¡¯t nning on chasing away the three first-rank five-star mecha ns the three great marshals sent over. They were extra manpower for her to increase the fighting strength of the base. She would be stupid to give them back.


    Ling Xiao was astounded by Ling Lan¡¯s n. He was shocked at her greediness but when he thought about it carefully, it was workable.


    Of course, Ling Xiao never nned to reject her request anyway. She was his daughter. He would fulfill all the requests she had. Moreover, this request wasn¡¯t too hard for him to fulfill.


    ¡°I still need to remind you that these three mecha ns don¡¯t belong to you. Even if they are stationed at Base Neb, they might not submit to you.¡± Ling Xiao reminded Ling Lan that the three mecha ns were not easy to subdue.


    ¡°They just need to be loyal to their country.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about their allegiance. She wasn¡¯t nning to make Lingtian her personal army anyway. The Lingtian Independent Army would be going to the battlefield one day, and there were no factions on the battlefield. On the battlefield, everyone only had one identity, a soldier of the Federation.


    Ling Xiao gave her a look of approval. This was how a regimentmander should think.


    We would not talk about how Ling Xiao helped Ling Lan to gain more benefits from the military headquarters. All in all, many meetings were held and many factions participated in the discussion. Some wanted to suppress Lingtian while others wanted to help it. Some wanted to send spies in while others wanted to split Lingtian¡¯s power. It was an intense struggle. A conclusion was formed only half a monthter.


    That day, the military headquarters sent a new order to Base Neb.


    The Lingtian Independent Army would temporarily be stationed at Base Neb. Themanding officer of Base Neb should cooperate with Lingtian Independent Army to increase its manpower. The Lingtian Independent Army could replenish its manpower from Base Neb. Jade Cloud Ace Mecha n, Fantasy City Ace Mecha n, and Nine Alliance Ace Mecha n would merge into the Lingtian Independent Army.


    The entire base was in an uproar.


    ¡°Does that mean that we are going to be part of the Lingtian Independent Army?¡± Many regimentmanders who had their ns stationed in Base Neb were excited when they saw this order.


    ¡°Also, Jade Cloud Ace Mecha n, Fantasy City Ace Mecha n, and Nine Alliance Ace Mecha n are going to merge into the Lingtian Independent Army. Are they trying to create a legendary independent army?¡±


    When would a new independent army be able to get manpower from powerful ace mecha ns? Moreover,petent soldiers were usually from first-rank five-star mecha ns. These mecha ns could be legendary mecha ns if they worked a little harder, entering the Hall of Honour. No n in their right mind would agree to give their soldiers away without a sky-high price.


    Normally, if a new independent army was able to get manpower from one or two normal mecha ns, it was already considered very lucky.


    After soldiers of the base heard the order, they cemented the idea that the Lingtian Independent Army was doted on by the heavens.


    At that moment, the regimentmanders of the three said ace mecha ns had received this piece of news too. They quickly gathered together to discuss this issue.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Wang Shao frowned. A few days ago, his chief told him that their mecha ns might need to remain in Base Neb for some time. He thought that they would just stay here and guard the base but instead, they were merging with the Lingtian Independent Army.


    What were their superiors thinking? Did they send them in so that the Lingtian Independent Army wouldn¡¯t be Ling Xiao¡¯s ultimate weapon?


    ¡°What can we think? It¡¯s clearly stated that we¡¯re supposed to merge with Lingtian.¡± Qin Youqi was frustrated. He felt irritated when he imagined that he had to listen to a 24-year-old young brat.


    ¡°We can only wait and see. Ultimately, we¡¯re still in the Federation. It doesn¡¯t matter where we go.¡± Zhang Haoxun was extremely calm.


    ¡°But it¡¯s a newly formed independent army. I¡¯ll be embarrassed if I see my old colleagues.¡± Qin Youqi was furious. An independent army was considered as a quasi-division. However, its status and benefits couldn¡¯t bepared to an official division.


    They used to belong to the 1st division, 2nd division, and 3rd division and they were the highest-rank mecha n in their division. The difference in treatment was just too stark. This was why Qin Youqi couldn¡¯t ept the order.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Zhang Haoxun had a different perspective. ¡°We might be embarrassed if we merge with any other independent army but the Lingtian Independent Army... don¡¯t you think that it is a legend?¡±


    Qin Youqi and Wang Shao went into deep thought. They had been in such high-caliber position for a long time so they weren¡¯t stupid enough to be reckless in their decisions.


    ¡°Indeed. They¡¯re a legend.¡± Wang Shao agreed with Zhang Haoxun after looking back at Lingtian¡¯s history. Qin Youqi just scoffed in response, but he agreed in his mind.


    ¡°If Lingtian didn¡¯t exist and someone tells me that an independent mecha n can be an independent army in one year. I will just think he is crazy.¡± Zhang Haoxun had a sharp tongue.


    ¡°Indeed. I¡¯ll be unconvinced too,¡± Wang Shao replied.


    ¡°But the truth isid out right before us.¡± Zhang Haoxun sighed. ¡°Lingtian managed to do it. They even did it solely based on their merits. No one could say anything to bring them down.¡±

 Chapter 1193 - Script!

    <h4>Chapter 1193 Script!</h4>


    ¡°Lingtian is powerful. Ling Lan is powerful too.¡± Zhang Haoxun suddenly lowered his voice. He seemed to be muttering to himself but Qin Youqi and Wang Shao both heard him.


    ¡°This merge might be an opportunity for us.¡± Zhang Haoxun¡¯s gaze was slowly filled with ambition. ¡°Bing a legendary mecha n might not be such a far goal anymore.¡±


    Wang Shao and Qin Youqi were stunned by his words. They were both regimentmanders of a first-rank five-star mecha n so it was unsurprisingly that they had the same ambition as Zhang Haoxun, but no one dared to speak up about it. This was because bing a legendary mecha n was very difficult, too difficult perhaps. It was not as tough as bing an independent army but the difference between the two feats wasn¡¯t great.


    Basically, those were the two most difficult statuses to achieve for a mecha n.


    ¡°Maybe you¡¯re right.¡± Wang Shao¡¯s heart started pounding at an increasingly deep rhythm.


    Qin Youqi¡¯s frustration slowly melted away. His gaze seemed uncertain. He seemed to be in a dilemma.


    The Lingtian Mecha n, no, it was the Lingtian Independent Army now.


    The people from the Lingtian Independent Army received their promotion too.


    The administrators of Lingtian sat in the meeting room.


    Ling Lan pointed to the notification on the big virtual screen and said, ¡°Congrattions on all your promotions.¡±


    Everyone smiled andughed.


    ¡°First, let¡¯s wee Leader Yang and Leader Liu who will be the new vice regimentmanders of Lingtian.¡± Ling Lan pped her hands slowly.


    Everyone followed her and pped too.


    Yang Mingzhi smiled. ¡°The promotion is just for show. My real job is still being a team leader. Please don¡¯t get confused.¡±


    Everyoneughed at his words.


    Liu Furong continued, ¡°Leader Yang has said what I have in mind. I¡¯m still the team leader of Team 02. Please don¡¯t be mistaken.¡±


    Laughter erupted again. The awkward atmosphere of the meeting disappeared.


    ¡°You can¡¯t push away your responsibility. You must do what you¡¯re supposed to do.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t mind her grasp over Lingtian was slowly loosening. She had already let go of a portion of her powers when Lingtian was still a mecha n.


    Ling Lan knew she wasn¡¯t a robot. She wasn¡¯t perfect. She knew what was the strength of her team leaders so she made use of them. The miracles Lingtian created weren¡¯t aplished by herself. It required the effort of everyone in Lingtian.


    ¡°We will follow your orders.¡± Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi smiled before nodding.


    They only dared to ept their position after the official announcement by their regimentmander.


    They knew that Lingtian solely belonged to Ling Lan. There would only be one truemander in Lingtian .


    The veteran soldiers were saved from the brink of despair by Ling Lan while the younger soldiers achieved greatness under Ling Lan. The rtionships of the team leaders, the heads of the various departments and Ling Lan were even deeper.


    The results Lingtian achieved were all linked to Ling Lan. She was also the person who saved all of them during the battle on Haijiao.


    Everyone felt that in Lingtian, Ling Lan had the ultimate say. They would only recognise Ling Lan as their true leader. They were willing to follow this powerful leader and risked their lives for her.


    If someone was under the impression that he could topple Ling Lan¡¯s position in Lingtian, he must not be from Lingtian. Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi both felt that no matter who the military sent to Lingtian, even if it was a war hero, he wouldn¡¯t be able to take Ling Lan¡¯s straggle-hold of power in Lingtian away.


    What about Ling Xiao? Well, since he was Ling Lan¡¯s father, the members of Lingtian might give him some face. If not, Ling Lan might be unhappy.


    ¡°The logistics departments finally got recognised by the military. Congrattions on entering the military system. You¡¯re not just an empty shell anymore.¡± Ling Lan looked at Li Shiyu and Lin Zhong-qing. Their promotions gratified her the most.


    Lingtian managed to be an independent army and the logistics departments were all officially set up. Moreover, the heads of the departments were still the same. Her father must have put in a lot of effort to get this reward for her.


    Ling Lan believed that various factions in the military must have wanted to send someone to take over these positions but the logistics section was just too important to her. In her mind, only capable people should lead the logistics teams. Thus, when she was discussing with her father, she told him that the heads of the logistics departments must remain the same.


    Ling Xiao felt the same way too. Thus, he allowed the positions of vice regimentmanders to be created in exchange for keeping the heads of the logistics department the same.


    The heads of the logistics departments were ted. After the battle, Lin Zhong-qing and Li Shiyu became senior colonels. They were the highest-ranked soldiers among all the logisticians while the rest were still colonels or lieutenant colonels.


    The team leaders of the mecha teams were mostly senior colonels too. Only team leaders like Qi Long and Li Lanfeng were promoted to major generals.


    ¡°One more thing. The mecha teams will be officially promoted to mecha brigade.¡± Ling Lan announced with a serious face.


    ¡°Yes!¡± All the team leaders were surprised.


    Currently, the maximum limit of soldiers in an independent army is 50,000. And to work her way around that, Ling Lan decided she would turn all her mecha teams into mecha brigades. By turning all her mecha teams into mecha brigades, she was essentially ¡®forced¡¯ to fill them up with soldiers.


    A mecha brigade¡¯s maximum limit was a few hundred soldiers to a few thousand soldiers while a mecha team could only have less than a hundred soldiers. Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to keep to the standard of having 50,000 people for an independent army.


    Thus, we could predict that the number of people in the Lingtian Independent Army would definitely exceed this number.


    Ling Lan had already prepared her script in mind to report to the higher authorities.


    ¡®You exceeded the limit? How can it be?¡¯


    ¡®You are forced to fill the mecha brigades? They should only have a few hundred people? What? Misunderstanding? There are 2000 soldiers in each mecha brigade?¡¯


    ¡®What¡¯s the maximum limit of soldiers for a mecha brigade? 2000? Well, they didn¡¯t exceed their limit...¡¯


    ¡®Your independent army has too many people.¡¯


    ¡®Really now? Let us pick who to let go. The process might take a while. We¡¯ve already taken them in so we need to go through the standard procedure to return them.¡¯


    ¡®But, no one wants to go back. What should I do? I took them in so I¡¯m willing to be responsible for them.¡¯


    ¡®How to be responsible? Well, I¡¯ll let them remain here and groom them. If you need them in the future, you can take them away.¡¯


    Ling Lan went through all the lines in her mind and nodded in satisfaction.

 Chapter 1194 - War Between The Two Countries?

    <h4>Chapter 1194 War Between The Two Countries?</h4>


    The entire human race was currently talking about one incident.


    ¡°Have you heard that the Huaxia Federation has found an important spy? I heard that he is from the Twilight Empire.¡± In a ssy bar with high-rise ceilings and marble tabletops, there were soldiers sitting around discussing the single incident that had shocked the universe. From their uniforms, it could be determined that they were soldiers of Caesar


    ¡°He was the mastermind behind Ling Xiao¡¯s ¡®death¡¯. The Twilight Empire has always wanted to destroy the Huaxia Federation. How frightening. Luckily, they found the spy. If not, our nation might have lost more outstanding soldiers.¡± This was the general sentiment of the people in the Huaxia Federation.


    ¡°What a pity. Why is the Huaxia Federation always so lucky? How did they find the spy so early?¡± While this was the general sentiment of the people in enemy countries.


    ¡°The Huaxia Federation and the Twilight Empire are at odds now. I heard that the situation is very tense in the Intergctic United Nations.¡±


    ¡°Are they going to start a war? That¡¯s impossible, right?¡± No one believed that a war would break out. To prevent any catastrophic wars from happening, the Intergctic United Nations had been stopping any battles that could affect the foundation of a nation. They only allowed small-scale battles to ur.


    If a war between the Huaxia Federation and the Twilight Empire actually broke out, it would bring earth-shattering changes. It was because as the war continued on, more and more nations would be dragged into it. Factions would be created, alliances would be formed, deep-seated hatred would burst out, ushering an era of bloodshed and cruelty.


    ¡°How is it not possible? That year, when the Huaxia Federation lost its most powerful god-ss mecha master, Immortal Bird Ling Xiao, because of the Twilight Empire, it already created tension between the two nations. Luckily, Immortal Bird managed to escape from death¡¯s grasp. After the scheme was divulged by Ling Xiao, the entire Huaxia Federation was incensed. They were indignant that the Twilight Empire tried to scheme against their god-ss mecha master. Immortal Bird was the idol of the Huaxia Federation. This was an unforgivable matter to the people of the Huaxia Federation.¡± The discussing soldiers had quite a deep understanding on how the Federation worked, so they felt that it was very likely that the Huaxia Federation wanted to start a war.


    ¡°Are they really going to start a war for a god-ss mecha master?¡± Some soldiers from another table suddenly asked the soldier who started the discussion out loud.


    ¡°The Huaxia Federation seems resolute. They proposed to the Twilight Empire that to stop the inevitable war, they want the current emperor, prime minister, and all members of the cab of the Twilight Empire to kill themselves as an apology,¡± the questioned soldier replied with an uncertain expression


    The bar suddenly turned dead-silent. Every soldier¡¯s pupils dted as they imagined the horror and destruction this proposal would cause.


    ¡°The Huaxia Federation is really vicious. Immortal Bird isn¡¯t dead, right? Yet, they want the entire cab of the Twilight Empire to die. The Twilight Empire will never agree to the proposal.¡±


    ¡°If Immortal Bird really died, the Huaxia


    n¡¯t have made the proposal. They would probably have directly sent their army to the Twilight Empire. And of course, the Twilight Empire won¡¯t agree to the proposal. That¡¯s why I said that the war is evitable. Once a consensus can¡¯t be reached, the Huaxia Federation will deploy their army.¡±


    ¡°Why isn¡¯t our military stopping them?¡± The only country that could stop the Huaxia Federation was Caesar. Moreover, Twilight Empire had a good rtionship with Caesar. Caesar should be helping them.


    ¡°That¡¯s the weird part. Caesar didn¡¯t say anything during the meeting of the Intergctic United Nations. They seemed unconcerned at the plight of the Twilight Empire.¡±


    ¡°Have we abandoned the Twilight Empire? This isn¡¯t good.¡± The Twilight Empire dared to offend Huaxia because it had Caesar supporting them. Caesar never admitted this but it was an open-secret. If Caesar decided not to help, Twilight Empire would not stand until the end of theing decade.


    ¡°It all depends on the Twilight Empire¡¯s stance. If the Twilight Empire is willing to take a step back, the war won¡¯t start. If not...¡±


    ¡°What about the other nations? Can¡¯t they stop it? The Huaxia Federation is too domineering.¡± Some Caesar soldiers were unhappy with the attitude of Huaxia.


    ¡°Well, the Huaxia Federation has evidence against the Twilight Empire. It will be a p in the face if they let the Twilight Empire off so easily. In cases like these, the Huaxia Federation is just too smart, as they only directed their anger at Twilight. The proposal is ruthless but it¡¯s reasonable. The scheme 20 years ago didn¡¯t kill Immortal Bird but it made him disappear for 16 years. If this never happened, Huaxia might have grown more powerful now.¡±


    ¡°They remembered all the hardship they went through for those 16 years. Thus, when they caught Twilight red-handed, they would bite on it like a ferocious beast. They must make Twilight pay for the 16 years they have endured.¡±


    ¡°Twilight is in the wrong so the proposal makes sense. Our military couldn¡¯t say anything in Twilight¡¯s defence so the other nations won¡¯t dare to speak up too.¡±


    ¡°Does this mean Twilight is dead?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯ll depend on whether the higher-ups are willing to help it. It also depends on the decision of Twilight.¡±


    While the human race was debating whether a world war would start, Ling Lan called her father.


    ¡°Ah, what momentous event urred for you to call me... Did something happen? Do you need my help?¡± Ling Lan only called him when she needed help. Ling Xiao felt like crying. What a poor father he was. His daughter wasn¡¯t the slightest bit concerned about him.


    Ling Lan was speechless. Was she so troublesome? Ling Lan self-reflected for three seconds.


    However, this time, she was calling him because she needed help. Her expression turned serious as she said, ¡°Rumours are flying everywhere. I want to know your real thoughts.¡±


    The rumours even reached their base so Ling Xiao must have heard it too.


    ¡°It¡¯s an exchange. I got what I wanted so I must give back too.¡± Ling Xiao didn¡¯t hide the truth from Ling Lan.


    ¡°They¡¯re using your name to start a war!¡± Ling Lan immediately understood her father¡¯s point.

 Chapter 1195 - Unable To Handle!

    <h4>Chapter 1195 Unable To Handle!</h4>


    Ling Lan frowned. ¡°Isn¡¯t this bad for you? If the war actually starts and the situation goes out of control, you¡¯ll be a sinner in history.¡±


    ¡°Ling Lan, nothing is set in stone. Sometimes, we need to have the courage to take risks. The Federation needs the war. I need it too. Even if we didn¡¯t find evidence against Twilight, I would still havee up with a n to start a war,¡± Ling Xiao replied seriously.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to remain behind the scenes? If everyone focuses their attention on you, you won¡¯t be able to start your n.¡± Ling Lan understood her father very well.


    ¡°We¡¯re a bit passive now but it¡¯s not bad too. What is mine will be mine in the end.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s gaze was confident.


    Ling Lan rxed. She was sure her father was well prepared but she was still worried. The only way to soothe herself from her anxiousness was to call him.


    The two of them continued talking about their situation. Ling Xiao reminded Ling Lan of a few matters to pay attention to when she was expanding her team. If He Xuyang didn¡¯te in to remind him that time was tight, he wouldn¡¯t want to end the call.


    It was so rare that his daughter called him out of concern. Ling Xiao was so touched.


    ording to He Xuyang, his intelligence would drop when he was talking to two specific people.


    One was his wife, Lan Luofeng. When he called his wife, he would smile sweetly and say all kinds of shameless things. As someone who was single, He Xuyang felt frustrated every time he listened to their sweet nothings. He hoped he could find ady to marry immediately to soothe his lonely heart.


    The second person was Young Master Lan. General Ling Xiao would turn into a dumb father whenever he talked to Ling Lan. The smile on his face was... indescribable. If he could, he wanted to stop the call between his general and Ling Lan. Ling Lan¡¯s glorious image of his father was getting destroyed.


    Of course, there were pros too. After chatting with his wife and Young Master Lan, Ling Xiao¡¯s mood would get ten times better. Thus, He Xuyang weed such calls as it made his life easier.


    Ling Xiao knew that if He Xuyang kept reminding him, it meant that there was really no time left. He sighed and said, ¡°Lan¡¯er, quickly form your independent army. You must quickly gain full control of Bse Neb.¡±


    Ling Lan turned serious. ¡°Will my independent army be conscripted for this war?¡±


    To protect the soldiers, newly formed divisions would only be sent to the battlefield after three years.


    ¡°No one knows what will happen so it¡¯s better to prepare early thanter. There¡¯re many people who don¡¯t like us in the military. If they can¡¯t harm me, they might harm you.¡± This was the reason why Ling Xiao wanted to quickly rise in power. That way, his daughter could grow up safely.


    ¡°I understand. I will quickly expand my team.¡± Ling Lan nodded. It seemed like she had to push herpanions harder.


    The newly promoted brigade leaders and department heads of Lingtian suddenly felt a chill down their spine. They shuddered.


    ¡°It¡¯s getting cold.¡± Luo Lang looked at the bright sky curiously.


    ¡°Indeed. Don¡¯t forget to wear more clothester,¡± Xie Yi said to him in concern.


    ¡°Okay!¡± Luo Lang smiled brightly at Xie Yi. It felt good to have someone worrying about him.


    ¡°Remember to keep warm,¡± Next to them, Li Yingjie said to Lin Zhong-qing who was arranging his documents seriously.


    Lin Zhong-qing looked at him as though he was an idiot.


    Li Yingjie was furious. ¡°I am concerned about you. Why are you looking at me like that?¡±


    Lin Zhong-qing replied coldly, ¡°I¡¯m looking at an idiot.¡±


    ¡°Idiot? Lin Zhong-qing, how dare you mock me! I want to fight with you.¡± Lin Zhong-qing was really his arch enemy.


    ¡°Go away.¡± Lin Zhong-qing pushed Li Yingjie out of his path.


    Li Yingjie was caught off guard so he stumbled and almost fell on the ground.


    ¡°Are you ignoring me now?¡± Li Yingjie recovered his bnce, rushed forward and stood in front of Lin Zhong-qing.


    Lin Zhong-qing scanned from top to bottom and scoffed. ¡°How did I mock you?¡±


    Li Yingjie stammered, ¡°You said that I¡¯m.. an idio... aren¡¯t you mocking me?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t havemon sense so you are an idiot. I¡¯m not mocking you, I¡¯m just stating the truth.¡± Lin Zhong-qing sneered.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t I havemon sense? Lin Zhong-qing, exin yourself.¡±


    ¡°The weather at Base Neb never changes so why must I keep myself warm? Only an idiot will say that.¡± Lin Zhong-qing mocked him.


    ¡°...¡± Li Yingjie was stunned. He was right. The temperature on Base Neb was controlled by the mainframe. It was set to the mostfortable temperature for them. They shouldn¡¯t feel cold.


    Lin Zhongqing red at him before ignoring him and walking past Li Yingjie. This fellow had always been stupid since young.


    After Lin Zhong-qing left, Li Yingjie regained his senses. He rushed to Xie Yi and said angrily, ¡°Xie Yi, it was your fault.¡±


    ¡°What did I do?¡± Xie Yi was puzzled.


    ¡°When Luo Lang said the weather got colder, why didn¡¯t you tell him that the temperature of the base never changes? Why did you ask him to wear more clothes?¡± Li Yingjie was frustrated. If it wasn¡¯t for Xie Yi, he wouldn¡¯t have said that to Lin Zhong-qing.


    ¡°Li Yingjie!¡± Xie Yi sighed as he patted Li Yingjie¡¯s back. ¡°You must master the art of talking.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Li Yingjie was confused.


    ¡°You have to see who you are talking to. Luo Lang is a simple-minded person so I answered him in a straightforward manner. As for Lin Zhong-qing... he is as logical as Li Lanfeng. You can¡¯t handle him.¡± Xie Yi chased after Luo Lang after he finished speaking.


    ¡°Can¡¯t handle him? What do you mean? Hey, exin yourself.¡± Li Yingjie was even more confused. What was Xie Yi talking about? Unfortunately, Xie Yi wasn¡¯t answering him as he was busy fluttering around Luo Lang.


    Ling Xiao unwillingly hung up the call. He red at He Xuyang, ming him for interrupting his personal time with Ling Lan.


    He Xuyang shrugged. He was smiling but in his heart, heined, ¡®General, do you think that you¡¯re just a normal soldier? There¡¯re so many things waiting for you to handle. I spend so much effort to squeeze out some time for you to take the call. Why are you still unsatisfied? Do you want me to resign? Hmph!¡¯

 Chapter 1196 - Commander Ling Xiao!

    <strong>Chapter 1196 Commander Ling Xiao!</strong>


    The war between Huaxia and Twilight seemed sudden but it wasn¡¯t.


    The Federation had suppressed their fury for more than 20 years. 20 years ago, they didn¡¯t have enough evidence to prosecute Twilight. If they did, this war might have started a long time ago.


    As for the Twilight Empire, it was obvious that the emperor and the members of the cab wouldn¡¯t ept the proposal. They would definitely resist. Thus, the Federation¡¯s proposal was actually forcing the Twilight Empire to go to war with them.


    Only Caesar had the power to say something in the whole situation. However, Caesar just remained quiet. They watched silently as the tension between the two countries increased until the war was imminent.


    It was an all out war so god-ss mecha masters were able to participate in the war


    If there weren¡¯t any allies willing to help Twilight, no one was even willing to bet they could win.


    Twelve god-ss mecha masters of the Federation against the three great mecha lords of Twilight. The difference in strength of the top echelon of the two nations was too vast.


    However, everyone was sure that Huaxia wouldn¡¯t send all twelve god-ss mecha masters out. As it might invite some unwanted attention from other enemy nations while their god-ss mecha masters were out. Five god-ss mecha masters were enough to win the war against Twilight.


    However, war wasn¡¯t a numbers game. There were many other factors that could affect the oue of the war. For instance, the participation of other nations.


    If that really happened, it would turn into an intergctic war. All the nations of the human world would be dragged into it. The question of ¡®would this happen¡¯ was in everyone¡¯s mind, and it all depended on a single nation¡¯s decision? Everyone was waiting for Caesar¡¯s decision. Caesar was the only country that could fight on-par against the Federation.


    ¡°Caesar is the only variable of the war. We must be on guard against them.¡± Yang Mingzhi frowned as he looked towards Caesar. Theirary sector was connected.


    The top brass of Lingtian Independent Army was quickly called into a meeting room for a meeting to analyse the current war situation since they might be drafted into the war at any moment.


    ¡°We have to watch over Kaluki, Oubang, and Grador too. Once Caesar moves, these alliance nations will move too.¡± Han Jijyun added on as he pointed to a few nations in the other sectors.


    ¡°Once Caesar¡¯s alliance nations move, our alliance nations will move too.¡± Liu Furong frowned. ¡°That means that a new intergctic war will ur. The Federation will sink into a swamp of constant battles which would eventually brew resentment within the people of the Federation. This is not good for the image of the general.¡±


    This war started because of General Ling Xiao. If they were able to end the war quickly and achieve victory, Ling Xiao¡¯s reputation would reach a new height. If that really happened, the entire nation would support any future decision he made. However, once the war dragged on and the civilians had to suffer the losses of their loved ones, the general¡¯s reputation would drop to the dregs. Someone just needed to lit the spark and General Ling Xiao would be condemned to hell.


    The only way to prevent this was to end the war before Caesar makes their decision,¡± Li Lanfeng replied calmly.


    Caesar probably remained quiet because they hadn¡¯t reached a general consensus internally. They might also be nning something in secret. But, this wasn¡¯t important. As long as the Federation acted quickly, Caesar wouldn¡¯t have the opportunity to act.


    ¡°I wonder who will be themander-in-chief for this war. How many god-ss mecha masters will they send?¡± Qi Long asked. ¡°Actually, if the Federation is decisive enough to send ten god-ss mecha masters, we will be able to defeat Twilight within a few days.¡±


    ¡°Ten god-ss mecha masters? That¡¯s impossible,¡± Yang Mingzhi dismissed the idea.


    ¡°Why?¡± Qi Long was disappointed.


    ¡°In history, the Federation has always yed safe. They will ensure the safety of the country first before sending any of their armies out,¡± Yang Mingzhi replied.


    This was the Federation¡¯s style for the past tens of thousands of years. This was also why the First Marshal was able to stay in power for so long. He would never allow its country to be at risk, which also caused the Federation to not have any amazing military achievements in huge wars. The way of ying safe had been imprinted into the souls of the citizens of Huaxia, even the First Marshal wouldn¡¯t divert from this course.


    ¡°Five god-ss mecha masters might be the limit. They might not even send any.¡± Yang Mingzhi sighed. Actually, he wished that the Federation would send more god-ss mecha masters to defeat Twilight as quickly as possible.


    ¡°We have to rely on themander-in-chief now. I hope he will conduct the war in an intelligent manner.¡± Qi Long sighed too.


    ¡°I know who will be themander-in-chief.¡± Ling Lan suddenly opened her eyes.


    ¡°Huh? Who is it?¡± Qi Long asked in surprise. As expected, Boss managed to get wind of the matter of the top echelon before anyone else.


    ¡°It¡¯s my father, Ling Xiao.¡± Her father told her yesterday night. Since the Federation used his name to start the war, he wanted to be the one in control of the war. He didn¡¯t wish to be the scapegoat of someone else¡¯s mistake.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Everyone was excited. ¡°Sending three or four god-ss mecha masters might just be enough.¡±


    Ling Xiao was the most powerful god-ss mecha master. It seemed like the Federation really wanted to defeat Twilight. They were sending the best person they could.


    ¡°That means the 23rd division will be the principal force in the war. Which other divisions are participating?¡± Li Lanfeng asked.


    The 23rd division was only formed a few years ago so unsurprisingly, it wasn¡¯t as powerful as the other 22 divisions. If there were no divisions coborating with them, this would be a difficult war to win.


    ¡°The 4th division, the 13th division, and the 7th division,¡± Ling Lan replied.


    Li Shiyu and Li Yingjie were stunned. Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t have any expressions on his face but he clenched his fist tightly.


    Li Yingjie eximed, ¡°Why the 4th division?¡±


    Veteran soldiers like Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong knew the secrets of the 4th division. They looked at Li Shiyu and Li Yingjie with a serious expression.


    ¡°The 13th division belongs to my father. It seems that the military has a motive behind the deployment.¡± Qi Long felt that something was amiss.


    ¡°My father used to be in the 7th division. There are many people who follow my father there.¡± They weren¡¯t the only ones shocked. When she and her father heard the deployment of the three divisions, they were worried too.


    The military was being too obvious. They wanted to deplete Ling Xiao¡¯s strength.


    The general of the 13th division, Qi Yaoyang, was under the Third Marshal¡¯s wing but it was undeniable that his son was in Ling Lan¡¯s independent army. This favour of grooming his son was great enough for Qi Yaoyang to help Ling Xiao asionally on simple matters. Deploying his division for this war might just be a warning for him.


    The 4th division was in the same situation too. Two of the Li family sessors were in Ling Lan¡¯s independent army. The Li family also helped Ling Lan a lot so the military felt that the Li family was on Ling Xiao¡¯s side.


    As for the 7th division, half of the division entered the space tunnel with Ling Xiao and died. The other half that was left built a new 7th division from scratch. After more than 20 years, the 7th division progressed quickly and became a division as powerful as the main divisions of the three great marshals. Many new generals were unable to gain full control of the 7th division so the military headquarters was fearful of them.


    After Ling Xiao came back, the military was afraid that he might gain control over the 7th division (Ling Xiao used to be the vice general of the 7th division). They were probably using this war to determine the stance of the 7th division.


    Ling Lan looked at everyone¡¯s serious face and said, ¡°This isn¡¯t a bad thing. With this arrangement, everyone will listen to my father¡¯smand on the battlefield.¡±


    Everyone¡¯s expression softened. If you think about it another way, this was a good arrangement for Ling Xiao.


    Firstly, the 7th division was as powerful as the first three divisions, so it was able topensate for the weakness of the 23rd division.


    The 13th division had the best mecha mecha master after the twelve god-ss mecha masters, Qi Yaoyang. He was able to defeat any mecha mecha masters below god-ss with ease. He was a powerful addition to Ling Xiao¡¯s team. As for the 13th division, they weren¡¯t too strong but they weren¡¯t weak too. They were above average among the 23 divisions.


    The 4th division was slightly weaker than the average division, but they had the support of the Li family so Ling Xiao wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the logistics. Logistics was a critical factor on the battlefield. It might be even more crucial than fighting power.


    From the looks of it, the military gave Ling Xiao a very goodbination. If something were to happen to the Federation, Ling Xiao would still be able to handle the war himself.


    ¡°That¡¯s the right way of looking at it.¡± No one wanted to be pessimistic. Hence, they put down their worry and started analysing where the war would start.


    While everyone was discussing, Ling Lan wondered if she should have a chat with Ye Kui.


    Everyone that was on their side were deployed by the military. Ling Lan liked to be safe. Hence, she had the urge to find new partnerships. Of course, she had many choices but there was a member of the Ye family just beside her. Plus, the Ye family already showed her their intent to work with her.


    No!


    After considering it carefully, Ling Lan rejected the idea. The heads of the Ye family were not people she wanted to work with. Plus, wasn¡¯t she in a coboration with the Li family? Wait... no, she wasn¡¯t. It was just fate that the three potential sessors from the Li family were in her team so the Li family had no choice but to help him.


    Elite families were not easy to work with. If she wasn¡¯t as powerful as them, they would want to devour her. Ling Lan gave a cold smile. She didn¡¯t need this kind of partnership.


    If her father wanted to coborate with them, that was his business. Ling Lan knew that she was a little arrogant. Plus, with her father protecting her, she could afford to be stubborn with her choice of partners.


    ¡°Ling Xiao! What do you think of the order?¡± Qi Yaoyang came to look for Ling Xiao immediately after he received the notification.


    ¡°Seems like some people don¡¯t like your son following my child,¡± Ling Xiao replied calmly. He knew this order a little earlier than Qi Yaoyang. Although he hoped that Qi Yaoyang was able to stay away from this power struggle, he was still implicated in the end.


    The people under the wing of the Third Marshal were unhappy that Qi Long wanted to stay in Lingtian. Hence, they used this deployment to warn Qi Yaoyang.


    ¡°That stupid child doesn¡¯t want to leave. What can I do?¡± Qi Yaoyang felt frustrated too. He wanted his son to be in the 13th division too.


    ¡°Forget it. We can¡¯t force our ways on them. If we can¡¯t let them live the life they want, we¡¯re just too useless as fathers.¡± Ling Xiao didn¡¯t mind. No matter how dangerous the situation was, he wouldn¡¯t want his child to feel stress.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I need to go to the battlefield with you now.¡± Qi Yaoyang shrugged. Qi Long always thought that Qi Yaoyang was a stern father who always hit him whenever he could but in actual fact, Qi Yaoyang loved Qi Long with all his heart. That was why he allowed Qi Long to follow the person he wanted and live the life he desired.


    Qi Yaoyang wasn¡¯t afraid of going to the battlefield. Before he became a general, he was always at the frontline, making him the most experienced mecha master among all the generals.


    Qi Yaoyang was only worried that someone would scheme against Ling Xiao after he left. There was no one else by his side to help him.


    Ling Xiao smiled when he heard Qi Yaoyang¡¯s worry. Qi Yaoyang could feel the anger behind his smile. ¡°I¡¯ll admit that I fell into the scheme 20 years ago, but I¡¯ll never repeat the same mistake ever again. Never.¡±


    Finally, the Huaxia Federation released the order appointing Ling Xiao as themander-in-chief. The war between the Federation and Twilight had officially begun.


    ¡°Fu*k! The Federation really started a war with us. Moreover, theirmander-in-chief is Immortal Bird Ling Xiao.¡± The entire Twilight was in an uproar when they heard the news.


    Yesterday, they still hoped that Huaxia was just verbally threatening them and wouldn¡¯t really start a war. However, this order destroyed their hope. Huaxia really dered war on them.


    ¡°Caesar, find Caesar for help.¡± The citizens of Twilight were anxious. They ced their hope on Caesar. However, no replies came.


    ¡°Has Caesar abandoned us?¡± Some of the citizens who respected Caesar started crying.

 Chapter 1197 - King Muqi!

    <strong>Chapter 1197 King Muqi!</strong>


    Most of the people of the Twilight Empire were greatly dissatisfied with the royal family so they all rushed to the streets to


    government. They wanted the king and his inner circle to take full responsibility for starting this war.


    The current government of the Twilight Empire was in chaos. While they were making preparations for war, they also needed to put aside some time to appease the emotions of those who opposed the war in their nation.


    At that moment, in the intergctic area that connected the Huaxia Federation and the Twilight Empire, there was a secret satellite spaceport. On that spaceport, manyrge divisions had already silently gathered there.


    Ling Xiao walked down the space shuttle and asked He Xuyang who was beside him, ¡°They¡¯re all here?¡±


    He Xuyang nodded and said, ¡°4th Division¡¯s Commander Luo Mingkun, 7th Division¡¯s Commander Yuwen Jian, and the 13th Division¡¯s Commander Qi Yaoyang have already arrived at themand center, and are currently waiting for you.¡±


    ¡°They came here pretty early.¡± Ling Xiao raised his eyebrow. Not everyone epted him in the military. He was already prepared for someone to arriveter in order to usurp hismand.


    He Xuyang smiled after hearing those words. ¡°Um, Li Yuanbin followed Commander Luo here and Staff Officer Zhang Helun came with Commander Yuwen.¡±


    Ling Xiao¡¯s footsteps slowed down a bit when he heard a familiar name. He smirked and said, ¡°So it¡¯s him...¡±


    He Xuyang knew who Ling Xiao referred to by ¡®him¡¯. It was because the 4th Division¡¯s general wouldn¡¯t deliberatelyete because of their rtionship with the Li family. After all, both of the publicly known sessors from the Li family were working under his daughter. He had to at least give some respect to the father of the regimentmander of their sessors. Ling Xiao originally thought the 7th Division¡¯s Commander Yuwen Jian would use this opportunity to cement his authority through defying him... but now it seemed Ling Xiao¡¯s old subordinates didn¡¯t allow such a thing to happen.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go see them.¡± Ling Xiao smiled and sat in the prepared hover car. They quickly flew towards the inner parts of the spaceport where themand center was built.


    Click... ck... click...


    The generals along with their vice generals were all sitting in themand center when they heard the distinct sound of confident footstepsing closer and closer.


    Whoosh! The door of themand center opened automatically. Everyone turned around to look and saw a heroic and yet mild-mannered soldier. Just one look was enough to invoke good feelings about him.


    ¡°General Ling!¡± Everyone stood up immediately and saluted.


    Ling Xiao walked into themand center and smiled, ¡°Everyone, please sit.¡±


    Everyone then sat back down.


    Ling Xiao walked to the main seat and sat down. He Xuyang then immediately handed Ling Xiao the documents he had prepared.


    He Xuyang¡¯s assistants also handed out documents they had prepared to the other divisionmanders and their vice generals.


    Ling Xiao pointed at the documents and said, ¡°This is the assault n I¡¯ve drawn up. Everyone take a look and see if it¡¯s alright.¡±


    After hearing those words, everyone opened the documents and carefully examined them.


    After reading through a few pages, many people frowned. Yuwen Jian was the first who couldn¡¯t hold it in. He closed the document and asked, ¡°General, isn¡¯t this n too risky? Every step has many uncertain factors. The n doesn¡¯t look good.¡±


    Ling Xiao nodded in agreement. ¡°I also think it¡¯s a bit risky. However, I must make something clear, and that is we do not have much time.¡±


    After hearing those words, everyone¡¯s expressions turned heavy. In reality, after they had received orders to attack the Twilight Empire, they knew the Federation didn¡¯t give them much time to prepare.


    Once Caesar decided to join the battle, the results cannot be predicted anymore. Although the Federation was hell-bent on going to war, they still didn¡¯t want to get into a bad position because of it. The burden on their backs was undoubtedly heavy.


    Liu Mingkun¡¯s finger tapped on the table and a thought appeared in his mind. He then asked, ¡°How many god-ss operators did the military headquarters send to aid us? Other than you general.¡± As themander-in-chief, Ling Xiao wouldn¡¯t go into battle that easily. They could only hope the military headquarters could provide them with some more military strength and more god-ss operators. That way, when they went through with this n, they would be more confident.


    ¡°Falling Snow Zhong Zhengxiu, Sky Full Of Stars Ren Jianghui, and Hell Hound Lian Yigui.¡± Ling Xiao slowly read out the list of god-ss operators that he had already received


    However, the names of these three individuals didn¡¯t make the looks on everyone¡¯s face get any better. It was because these three people never had the upper hand when fighting against the Twilight Empire¡¯s great mecha lords. It could be said that the three god-ss operators the Federation had sent were those on the bottom of the barrel of god-ss mecha operators. Sky Full Of Stars Ren Jianghui was even the lowest ranked god-ss mecha master amongst all of the god-ss operators.


    ¡°There¡¯s one more. King Muqi!¡± However, after Ling Xiao read out thest name on the list, everyone became much more rxed. King Muqi was one of the top three god-ss operators of the Federation. Even though Ling Xiao rose up above him in recent years, no one dared to question King Muqi¡¯s capabilities. Some even thought that in terms of battle experience and performance, Ling Xiao might not even be able topare to him even though Ling Xiao¡¯s piloting capabilities were known throughout the gxy as having no weaknesses.


    When the other two generals and their vice general were smiling from the news, Ling Xiao and Qi Yaoyang looked at each other with a gaze that only the two of them understood.


    Ling Xiao knew very well that Qi Yaoyang probably did something to have King Muqi join the war. When he received the list of names, he was also shocked. It should be known that King Muqi had always been stationed at the northeastern border. He had been guarding the area for almost 60 years while never showing his face to the public.


    ¡°Then, when will the four god-ss operators arrive and how will they be distributed?¡± asked Yuwen Jian in a concerned tone.


    ¡°Falling Snow Zhong Zhengxiu, Sky Full of Stars Ren Jianghui and Hell Hound Lian Yigui will probably be arriving today. King Muqi¡¯s time of arrival has not been confirmed yet,¡± replied Ling Xiao.


    ¡°ording to the danger level of the n, I will arrange for the appropriate god-ss operator to assist,¡± Ling Xiao said as he pointed at the documents in front of him. ¡°Now everyone can think about which path you would like to take.¡±


    After he said those words, the entiremand center became dead silent. All of the divisionmanders were calcting which path they should take on. It was just as Ling Xiao had mentioned. There were four paths they could take. There were safer paths and more dangerous paths. However, once theyplete the missions, the merits and rewards would be on par with the level of risk they took on the path.


    ¡°I will choose the second path,¡± Luo Mingkun and Li Yuanbin discussed amongst themselves for a moment and was the first to ask for the mission on the second path.


    Compared to the other paths, the second one was somewhat safer. The mission was more mechanical in nature and it would be in close proximity to all the other three paths. Despite there being a battle there, it was still more like a path for cleaning up the aftermath.


    It wasn¡¯t because they were afraid of taking risks and danger but rather, it was becausepared to the other divisions, the 4th Division was clearly less powerful.


    Could the 4th Division¡¯s military power be worse than the 23rd Division that had just been established recently? Well, the 23rd Division had General Ling Xiao. If there was any danger, the general could just use his god-ss mecha and join the battle as the top ranked god-ss operator of the Federation. No one would be able to go against him unless he met up with the Twilight Empire¡¯s top three god-ss operators at the same time.


    Compared to the 23rd Division¡¯s confidence in Ling Xiao, the 4th Division wasn¡¯t too confident with themselves. Even if there were two god-ss operators helping them, they were not Ling Xiao. It just wasn¡¯t enough even if there were two god-ss mecha operators.


    Knowing themselves very well, the 4th Division would, of course, choose the path that was most appropriate. All in all, they were still thinking on the safe side and wouldn¡¯t be willing to take any risks that easily.


    After hearing Luo Mingkun choosing the second path, Yuwen Jian pondered for a moment before saying, ¡°Then, I¡¯ll choose the third path.¡±


    Although the third path was dangerous, it was still a mission that suited his likings. Additionally, the path he chose was considered to be the least defended path ording to the information the military headquarters had given them.


    Qi Yaoyang looked through the documents back and forth, and then said calmly, ¡°I choose the first path.¡±


    ¡°General!¡± His vice general, Jin Anlong had a slight change in expression and shouted out loud.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Qi Yaoyang smiled as he patted his shoulder tofort him.


    Jin Anlong¡¯s mouth moved but in the end, he swallowed his opinion to oppose the idea and epted his general¡¯s decision.


    Ling Xiao had a happy look in his eyes. It seemed that in more than a year¡¯s worth of time, Qi Yaoyang had already made the soldiers and officers respect him,pletely taking control of the 13th Division.


    ¡°The first path is very dangerous. There are many positions with heavy amounts of troops from the Twilight Empire.¡± Ling Xiao thought for a moment and then continued, ¡°How about this? King Muqi and Sky Full Of Stars Ren Jianghui will follow the 13th Division.¡±


    Ling Xiao looked towards the 7th Division¡¯s general, Yuwen Jian, and said, ¡°Hell Hound Lian Yigui will follow the 7th Division. Falling Snow Zhong Zhengxiu will aid the 4th Division.¡±


    Yuwen Jian was slightly unhappy with Ling Xiao¡¯s arrangements of god-ss operators. However, after thinking the 13th Division had chosen the first path, the chance they would face a god-ss operator was much higher. Hell Hound Lian Yigui was also clearly stronger than the 4th Division¡¯s Falling Snow Zhong Zhengxiu. He wasn¡¯t even considered weak whenpared to the Twilight Empire¡¯s top three god-ss operators. With Hell Hound by aiding him, they would probably be fine along the way.


    The 4th Division Commander Luo Mingkun also didn¡¯t have anything to say. They were only doing a mechanical mission. A god-ss mecha master that wasn¡¯t weak was enough for him. He originally thought they would be given the weakest god-ss operator, Sky Full Of Stars Ren Jianghui. He didn¡¯t expect Ling Xiao to give them special care which was Falling Snow Zhong Zhengxiu.


    Qi Yaoyang also didn¡¯t disagree with Ling Xiao¡¯s arrangements. In reality, King Muqi joining the war had something to do with him. Thus, no matter which path he took, King Muqi would definitely be following him. If he had chosen the somewhat safer routes and King Muqi followed him, it would be too much. It would make Ling Xiao be in a tough spot in terms of the distribution of god-ss mecha operators.


    Thus, Qi Yaoyang choosing the route for frontal assault was predetermined. Ling Xiao already knew his intent to choose the dangerous route. That was why he sent Sky Full Of Stars Ren Jianghui to him. It was to decrease the pressure and burdens for Qi Yaoyang


    ¡°Alright, everyone has chosen what they want. Then, my 23rd Division will be responsible for the fourth path,¡± smiled Ling Xiao.


    The fourth path was not any easier than the first path, it might be even more dangerous. That was because the first path was a clear frontline assault route. It was going to be used as a decoy to try to attract all the attention of the Twilight Empire. The fourth route on the other hand, was a route for a sneak attack, entering the borders of the Twilight Empire without being discovered. They would attack the capital that housed the government powers directly topletely take out the morale of the Twilight Empire.


    In order to cover the 23rd Division¡¯s movements, the 4th Division responsible for the mechanical mission will be disguising themselves as the 23rd Division. They would create the illusion that their general was in the backlinesmanding the troops.


    Everyone had received their respective assignments. They were waiting for the god-ss operators to arrive to officially begin their assault.


    Qi Yaoyang purposely stayed behind. He waited until Luo Mingkun and Yuwen Jian left themand center before turning around to speak to Ling Xiao, ¡°King Muqi will probably get here today as well.¡±


    Ling Xiao nodded to show that he already knew about it. He wasn¡¯t angry about the fact that King Muqi went to Qi Yaoyang instead of him. Ling Xiao knew the rtionship between King Muqi and Qi Yaoyang. The rtionship was told to him by Qi Yaoyang himself.


    If those from Northeastern Muqi didn¡¯t join the military, they would always say their surname was ¡®Muqi¡¯. If they were to join the military, they would choose one of the surnames between the two choices. Qi Yaoyang chose the surname ¡®Qi¡¯ back in the day.


    As an elder of the Northeastern Muqi, King Muqi would, of course, not want anything to happen to Qi Yaoyang in this dangerous war since Qi Yaoyang was the imperial mecha master who was the closest to reaching god-ss operator status. Thus, he personally came to protect this junior of his. Otherwise, why would this god-ss operator who was already prepared to die of old agee out once again onto the battlefield? Why would he appear on the frontlines?


    All in all, King Muqi was here for Qi Yaoyang and was only responsible for Qi Yaoyang himself. His presence wasn¡¯t in any way rted to Ling Xiao.


    Qi Yaoyang and Ling Xiao continued to talk with each other. Compared to the other two divisions, they had more trust in each other.


    In reality, whether Ling Xiao¡¯s sneak attack would be sessful was dependent on how strong of an act Qi Yaoyang put on the front


    well, it would be even better. That way, Ling Xiao would be more confident in his sneak attack on the Twilight Empire¡¯s capital. However, Ling Xiao and Qi Yaoyang wouldn¡¯t put their hopes in others. If they did that, they would be too passive and be in more danger. They liked it more when they could have everything in their control.


    After they finished discussing, Qi Yaoyang said his goodbyes to Ling Xiao and left themand center. After he walked out, Vice General Jin Anlong finally couldn¡¯t hold it in and asked, ¡°General, are you in alliance with General Ling Xiao?¡±


    ¡®Wasn¡¯t general under the Third Marshal¡¯s faction? Why would he be in such good rtions with General Ling who was a part of the First Marshal¡¯s faction?¡¯ Vice General Jin Anlong, who followed Qi Yaoyang all the way here, felt he figured out a secret.


    ¡°I know you¡¯re neutral and have nothing to


    Qi Yaoyang smiled indifferently. ¡°Although the general and I are of different factions, our goals and dreams are the same. Factions are factions, but they cannot stop us from reaching our goals.¡±


    After saying that, Qi Yaoyang turned towards Jin Anlong and continued, ¡°Like you, even though you¡¯re neutral, your goal is still the same as mine. To me, you are the most importantrade and someone who I have the most trust in.¡±


    Jin Anlong¡¯s expression changed instantly. A bright light shed through his eyes and a feeling of happiness from being finally understood began to emerge in his mind.


    ¡°General...¡± Jin Anlong wanted to say something. However, as someone who wasn¡¯t too good with his words, he didn¡¯t know what to say.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s not dilly-dally. Now, let¡¯s perform perfectly in this war. We will need to work hard.¡± Qi Yaoyang had a huge smile on his face as he patted Jin Anlong on the shoulder before getting in the hover car.


    Jin Anlong looked towards Qi Yaoyang¡¯s tall and husky silhouette and smiled slightly. Perhaps, he had finally found a capable general who he could give all of his loyalty towards.

 Chapter 1198 - Prediction!

    <h4>Chapter 1198 Prediction!</h4>


    ¡°Boss! I¡¯ve got news!¡± Qi Long excitedly burst into Ling Lan¡¯s office.


    Ling Lan calmly raised her head. ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°The 13th division has officially started fighting with the Twilight Empire at theary sector of Wild!¡± Qi Long was jumping in excitement.


    The 13th division was his father¡¯s division. Although he quarreled with his father over his decision to stay with Ling Lan, his father still admitted defeat in the end and relented to his choice. Qi Long respected his father a lot. Of course, he could only be the second in his heart behind the one and only.


    It couldn¡¯t be helped. The first position had been taken by Boss.


    ¡°Okay!¡± Ling Lan nodded. She looked through the documents in her hand and asked, ¡°What about the other divisions?¡±


    Qi Long was stunned for a moment. He rushed here immediately after hearing the news about his father so he didn¡¯t have the time to ask about the other divisions.


    ¡°The 4th division is untraceable. The 7th division is in the Zheyuary sector. We can predict they will choose Muliu as the battlefield so that they can nk the defense army of Twilight from the side.¡± A gentle voice sounded in the room. Ling Lan raised her head again. She saw Li Lanfeng and the other people walking into her room.


    Ling Lan nodded at them. ¡°Everyone is here.¡±


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± Everyone saluted.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the meeting room to guess the n of our army.¡± Ling Lan stood up and led everyone to the meeting room.


    Everyone took a seat in the meeting room. All the brigade leaders that were avable hade, even some of the heads of the logistics departments took out some time for this meeting. Ling Lan would call for a meeting to discuss the war situation between the two nations asionally.


    A battle had started between the two nations. This meant that there was no path of retreat.


    ¡°Open your minds and voice out your thoughts. There¡¯s no need to worry whether it makes sense or not. Just speak your mind,¡± Ling Lan said.


    Everyone exchanged nces with each other. There was silence. Li Lanfeng saw this and smiled. He stood up and said, ¡°Let me start first.¡± He walked out and turned on the optical supeputer in the meeting room. One side of the wall turned into a huge screen. The map of the gxy was disyed on the screen. It was filled withary sectors ands.


    Li Lanfeng moved his hands across the screen and focused the image on theary sector of the Twilight Empire.


    ¡°Based on the information we have on hand, the 13th division is in charge of the frontal assault. The 7th division is in charge of nking. The 23rd division will bring up the rear and reinforce any division in need. The 4th division is untraceable. It could be hiding beside the two attacking divisions or it might have another mission which we don¡¯t know.¡± Li Lanfeng predicted the mission of every division based on the information they had gotten so far.


    ¡°I feel that the 4th division might be in charge of ambush and disturbance to the enemy. They will attack all the sides of the Twilight Empire to prevent Twilight from congregating their military strength on the two battlefields.¡± This was Li Lanfeng¡¯s prediction.


    Many brigade leaders nodded in agreement.


    Han Jijyun frowned slightly. He thought for a moment before opening his mouth. ¡°I just have a question. Based on Big Leader Li¡¯s prediction, we¡¯re using offensive tactics. However, do we have the time to move slowly through thes one by one?¡±


    ¡°This tactic is safe and we have deployed more god-ss mecha masters than the number of god-ss mecha masters in the Twilight Empire. By right, we should be the one winning the war if we slowly push through all thes. However, we know that time is not on our side. Once Caesar makes their decision and participates in this war, we won¡¯t have an advantage anymore.¡± Yang Mingzhi was worried about this point. If he had a choice, he didn¡¯t want to start an intergctic war. The consequences from starting such a war were huge.


    ¡°The war just started. We don¡¯t know the follow-up ns of our army. Maybe the general has other arrangements,¡± Liu Furong added.


    ¡°Maybe everything might just be a probe. Everyone thinks that the 7th division wanted to attack Muliu since it¡¯s at the Zheyuary sector but that might not be the case,¡± Luo Lang said with a cold face. Everyone knew that Luo Lang had sent his calm personality out.


    ¡°There¡¯s too little information. Moreover, it is dyed too,¡± Xie Yi said. Base Neb was in the opposite direction of Twilight. Hence, they were thest people to receive any updates of the war. If Ling Lan didn¡¯t use her hacking ability to get some news, they might be receiving them eventer.


    ¡°That can¡¯t be helped. We¡¯re not at the frontline of the battle. The news we received has been filtered by the people on the frontline,¡± Li Lanfeng sighed. The higher authorities at the military headquarters might be able to know the exact n of assault but people like them could only guess based on the bits of information they received. Their guess might be totally different from the real n.


    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m not asking for a perfect replica of the overall n. I just hope that you can familiarise yourself with the current updates of the war,¡± Ling Lan opened her mouth when she noticed that everyone seemed dejected at their failure to guess the overall n.


    Everyone looked at Ling Lan in surprise. Normally, new divisions, including independent armies, wouldn¡¯t be allowed on the battlefield for the first three years of its creation.


    ¡°No one knows what will happen in the future. Thus, we must always be prepared for war. The more preparations we make, the fewer the number of unnecessary deaths. I hope that everyone can remember this,¡± Ling Lan said in a serious tone.


    ¡°Yes,mander!¡± Everyone stood up.


    Ling Lan asked them to sit down and they continued the conversation.


    At that moment, the quiet Yan Three hesitated and finally decided to speak. ¡°Commander, I¡¯m a uneducated person. I don¡¯t understand a thing about strategies, so I can only use my past experiences to analyse this war.¡±


    ¡°Just say it. Sometimes, your experience is more useful than wild guesses,¡± Ling Lan encouraged him.


    ¡°Most of the time, if our goal was to end the war as quickly as possible, we¡¯ll attack the centralmand center and destroy it directly.¡± Yan Three told everyone his decision when facing such battles.

 Chapter 1199 - Little White’s Turbulence?

    <h4>Chapter 1199 Little White¡¯s Turbulence?</h4>


    ¡°However, it¡¯s almost impossible to attack the capital of a nation during such a huge war. We need to pass through so many lines of defense while remaining undiscovered by our enemies. This is too difficult especially since we would require the strength of an entire division to take down a capital city. It¡¯s not like we are just sneaking in as a small group of people. The number of soldiers in a division is too high to remain undiscovered.¡± Yan Three sighed.


    Everyone pondered over Yan Three¡¯s words, they felt enlightened.


    Yan Three got nervous when he noticed everyone was being so quiet. He was afraid that what he said might lead everyone astray so he quickly added on, ¡°I¡¯m just talking nonsense. You don¡¯t have to take my words so seriously.¡±


    ¡°No, Leader Yan, you make a lot of sense. That is a very good way of thinking about it. To aplish such a n, the ambushing army just needs to find a way to hide from the enemy.¡± Li Lanfeng acknowledged what Yan Three had said. However, he understood why Yan Three said it was impossible too. How were they able to make an entire division disappear from their enemy¡¯s vision.


    ¡°But based on our current technology, it¡¯s impossible to hide an entire division.¡± Everyone shook their heads in disagreement. Yan Three¡¯s idea was good but it was more suitable for small scale battles. When they entered the territory of another nation, they would constantly be under the surveince of the nation¡¯s satellites. Even a god-ss hacker wouldn¡¯t be able to make a division disappear from the surveince.


    Well, if they had a team of god-ss hackers, it might be possible. But were there really god-ss hackers?


    No god-ss hacker had ever appeared in the history of the human race.


    ¡°We¡¯ll put this idea to the side ande back to it again,¡± Ling Lan concluded. This n was hard to fulfill unless her father had someone like Little Four by his side. But, it wasn¡¯t impossible.


    Yan Three¡¯s idea reminded her that she could do things other people couldn¡¯t. Hence, she mustn¡¯t be restricted by the thoughts of the average people.


    After Yan Three¡¯s seemingly impossible idea got acknowledged, everyone became bolder with their suggestion for what the n might be. Those that thought their ideas were impossible spoke up too. Yan Three¡¯s idea sounded even more impossible than theirs but their regimentmander epted it so there was nothing to be afraid of.


    Ling Lan took in some suggestions that were creative but impossible due to the current level of technology. At that moment, Luo Chao entered the meeting room and whispered into Ling Lan¡¯s ears.


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows in surprise before she nodded.


    ¡°Vice Commander Yang, you take over,¡± Ling Lan said.


    Yang Mingzhi nodded. Ling Lan left the room.


    Li Lanfeng watched Ling Lan as she left the room. He stared at Luo Chao and frowned. The smile of his face froze.


    Ling Lan walked out quickly and Luo Chao hurriedly caught up with her.


    ¡°What did Shiyu say?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    Luo Chao replied immediately, ¡°Brother Shiyu said that Little White might have slept for too long. In addition, it has sessfully evolved so its wild nature was awakened again. It¡¯s very aggressive now. He managed to tranquilize Little White but it probably won¡¯t keep it asleep for long. He is afraid he might not be able to control it so he asked me toe and look for you.¡±


    ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll go there first in case the situation gets worse.¡± The instant she finished speaking, Ling Lan disappeared.


    Luo Chao looked at the spot where Ling Lan was standing moments ago. She knew that Boss was a female but the amount of admiration she had for her didn¡¯t decrease but increased instead. Boss always did things she and Xuya always wanted to do but couldn¡¯t.


    Luo Chao believed that one day, Boss would stand at the peak of the human race and look down on everyone. When the truth was finally revealed, no one would dare to say that a woman was weaker than a man.


    Luo Chao felt a fire burning in her heart when she thought about the future. She wanted to follow Boss as she walked on the path of glory. She was willing to sacrifice her entire life to stay beside Boss.


    While Luo Chao was hardening her resolve to walk towards the uncertain future, the medical department was in a mess. Many medics were moving the patients away from their original locations. Their department head had sent an emergency order for them to transfer the patients as far away as possible.


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± One of the medics saw Ling Lan appearing in the medical department and eximed in surprise.


    ¡°Regimentmander!¡± Everyone started greeting Ling Lan with respect and happiness.


    ¡°Maintain order.¡± Ling Lan threw this sentence at them before disappearing again. She could feel the turbulence in Little White¡¯s spiritual power already. No wonder Shiyu asked all the medics to leave with the patients. Once Little White¡¯s spiritual power went out of control, these people would be hurt by the force. The closer they were to the source, the more injuries they would sustain.


    In the next second, Ling Lan arrived in Little White¡¯s room.


    Li Shiyu was still trying to suppress Little White. He injected many tranquilizers but the effect wasn¡¯t good. Little White didn¡¯t be unconscious. Instead, it started resisting furiously. Fortunately, the medication had some effect so he managed to suppress Little White for a while.


    ¡°Leave it to me.¡± Ling Lan ced her hand on Little White¡¯s head. She could tell that Little White was about to change form soon.


    ¡°Boss, you¡¯re finally here.¡± Li Shiyu heaved a sigh of relief. He felt his forehead was covered with cold sweat. He really thought that a huge disaster was going to happen.


    ¡°Little White, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Ling Lan used her spiritual power tomunicate with Little White.


    ¡°Squeak!¡± Little White screamed agitatedly. Li Shiyu felt his ears exploding. He almost fainted.


    Some of the medics who were near to Little White¡¯s room felt dizzy and almost fainted too.


    ¡°Bastard!¡± Ling Lan heard Little White screaming in anger.


    ¡°Rawr...¡±


    ¡°He bullied me!¡± Little Whiteined to its master furiously.


    Damn it. It just woke up and got a bit too excited so it identally broke the things in the room, but this fellow just used a sharp thing to continuously poke it. It was so painful. Bastard, bastard, bastard...


    Ling Lan was so speechless that she almost vomited blood. So all of these were just a misunderstanding?

 Chapter 1200 - Zuojing wormhole!

    <h4>Chapter 1200 Zuojing wormhole!</h4>


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Li Shiyu felt nervous when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s weird expression.


    ¡°Nothing.¡± Ling Lan nced at Li Shiyu. She couldn¡¯t tell him that this was all a misunderstanding.


    She didn¡¯t want to embarass Li Shiyu so she could only reprimand Little White.


    ¡°These are all Li Shiyu¡¯s treasures.¡± Ling Lan tapped Little White¡¯s fat head forcefully. ¡°You¡¯re lucky that he only poked you with needles. If you really angered him, he might have used you for his experiments.¡±


    Ling Lan purposely turned to look at one side of Li Shiyu¡¯sboratory that was filled with wilted and yellowish nts. ¡°Just like those nts over there. You don¡¯t want to be like those nts, right?¡±


    Little White immediately calmed its burning rage for needles down. However, as Ling Lan continued to talk about the poor fate of those nts, its body tensed up in fear. It remembered that it often came to thisboratory when it stayed with Li Lanfeng. It would always see Li Shiyu looking menacingly at the nts and torturing the nts with all kinds of equipment. In the end, the nts all died a horrible death-being dehydrated until crumbling apart to dust. There wasn¡¯t even a corpse left. It was frightening!


    Little White was so frightened by its thoughts that it jumped into Ling Lan¡¯s arms and buried its head in her chest. Its tentacles were trembling furiously. It had totally forgotten how powerful it was when it attacked Li Shiyu with its spiritual power just now.


    Ling Lan sighed as she looked at the naive Little White. What kind of pet did she raise? It wasn¡¯t befitting of her domineering image.


    Little White looked really pitiful so Ling Lan decided to console it. She lifted a finger and started scratching Little White¡¯s body. Little White immediately stopped trembling in fear. After some time, itid down voluntarily and hummed happily. ¡°This is sofortable. Master, over here. I want more...¡±


    It had totally forgotten how frightened it was just now. As expected of a stupid pet.


    After resolving Li Shiyu¡¯s problem, Ling Lan brought Little White back to the meeting room and continued the discussion with everyone.


    While they were discussing, a huge army had secretly arrived near the abandoned Zuojing dimensional wormhole.


    ¡°General, the condition of the wormhole is unstable. Due to the explosion of Zuojing, the wormhole had turned unstable, causing explosions to be quite frequent in the area which also caused turbulence in the wormhole. Even if we don¡¯t encounter any strong turbulence, it would be hard for us to pass through this wormhole without endangering the lives of soldiers.¡± He Xuyang told Ling Xiao the report of the condition on Zuojing.


    Ling Xiao frowned. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect it to be this bad.¡±


    This abandoned wormhole was a very important factor in his overall n. As long as they could get past the wormhole sessfully, they would be able to reach the center of the Twilight Empire. Even if they were discovered, he would still be able to use his raw strength to defeat his opponents as long as Qi Yaoyang was able to hold back one god-ss operator. If all went ording to n, he would be able to attack the capital of Twilight.


    ¡°Shall we find another way?¡± He Xuyang suggested although he knew that wasn¡¯t a viable option.


    Ling Xiao didn¡¯t reply to him. He pondered for a while before suddenly looking up and said, ¡°Prepare my mecha. I want to enter the wormhole using [Belief].¡±


    He wouldn¡¯t be able to make a decision until he personally saw the condition of the wormhole. He truly wished to defeat Twilight, but he wouldn¡¯t needlessly endanger his soldiers¡¯ lives.


    He Xuyang had been following Ling Xiao for many years, so he knew that once Ling Xiao made a decision, no one could make him change it. Hence, he nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯ll make the arrangements immediately.¡±


    Moreover, he knew that the protective shield of a god-ss mecha was strong enough to protect his general, so he had no reason to stop Ling Xiao from doing so.


    Soon, the entire 23rd division was aware that their general was going to operate (Belief) to inspect the wormhole ahead. Everyone who was free tried to squeeze beside the windows of the starship just to get a good look of the god-ss mecha, [Belief].


    Although General Ling Xiao was the general of the 23rd division, his god-ss mecha was rarely ever seen. Even at this moment, the god-ss mecha was kept in a secretpartment of the mecha hold. Only designated logisticians were able to enter thepartment to perform maintenance on the mecha. No one else could get near it.


    While everyone was shoving and pushing theirrades to get a good look, the sound of engines revving was heard and a sh of bright light shone passed them. Then... nothing happened.


    ¡°Where is (Belief]?¡± The soldiers in front of the windows were stunned. What did they just see? Where was (Belief]?


    ¡°It has already entered the wormhole.¡± A few ace operators shrugged and sighed in pity.


    Their eyesight was a few times better than a normal soldier, but even they could only manage to catch a glimpse of the lingering shadows of a god-ss mecha. As expected of a god-ss mecha. The speed... it hadn¡¯t even activated its Divine Wind system. If its Divine Wind system was activated, they probably wouldn¡¯t even be that sh of light.


    Of course, this was an exaggeration. There would still be traces left behind but those with poor eyesight wouldn¡¯t be able to catch it.


    ¡°Who can fight with this speed?¡± Many soldiers were in awe.


    ¡°That¡¯s why only god-ss operators can fight with god-ss operators,¡± the ace mecha masters replied to the shocked crowd. If they met an imperial operator, they might be able to defeat him with overwhelming numbers but if their opponent was a god-ss operator... no matter how many ace mecha masters there were, they would die. One attack from a god-ss operator was enough to pulverize an entire mecha n.


    Divine Punishment was too frightening.


    Ling Xiao controlled (Belief) and entered the Zuojing wormhole. Before he could see what was going on, he felt a powerful force sucking him in.


    ¡°General, the force is 1237N.¡± (Belief] immediately reported the strength of the suction force.


    ¡°Continue flying in to gather more data,¡± Ling Xiao ordered.


    ¡°Yes, (Belief) understands.¡± (Belief] slowly moved forward and gathered data of its surroundings.


    Ling Xiao looked at the wormhole that was filled with ruins and meteorites. He couldn¡¯t help but remember what happened that year.


    The destruction of Zuojing and the entire Zuojing wormhole was caused by him.


    The first mission he chose when he advanced to a god-ss operator was the destruction of Zuojing. Because of this dumb act he made in the past, he would forever be at loggerheads with the Twilight Empire.


    Thinking about it, this was probably the reason why the Twilight Empire kept wanting to kill him.


    ¡°I was too naive in the past,¡± Ling Xiao mocked himself.


    He thought that he had hid his identity well but he didn¡¯t expect a spy to exist among the higher authorities of the Federation. Somehow, this spy knew of his mission.


    Luckily, he acted quickly. If not, he might have been killed by the Twilight Empire while he was carrying out his mission.

 Chapter 1201 - Where Is Ling Xiao?

    <h4>Chapter 1201 Where Is Ling Xiao?</h4>


    ¡°Detected a faint thermal signal in the north-eastern direction,¡± (Belief) suddenly reminded Ling Xiao.


    ¡°Why would there be a thermal signal in an abandoned wormhole? This is interesting.¡± Ling Xiao smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡±


    ¡°Yes, general.¡± (Belief]¡¯s mecha body disappeared as it moved silently towards the direction of the thermal signal.


    While Ling Xiao was thinking of all the possible reasons for there to be a thermal signal in an abandoned wormhole, (Belief] suddenly stopped moving. Ling Xiao woke up from his daze and zoomed in on the floating object that was emitting heat.


    ¡°It looks like a metal fragment,¡± Ling Xiao said softly.


    ¡°The explosion of Zuojing will result in such rubble.¡± (Belief) thought that it was normal.


    ¡°Well, what kind of rubble can emit thermal energy for almost 30 years without depleting?¡± Ling Xiao smiled as he asked (Belief]. To anyone else, (Belief] was just a mecha. However, to Ling Xiao, (Belief] was a member of his small family. It was arade he could trust with his entire life. He treated (Belief] like a brother of his.


    (Belief] thought carefully before answering, ¡°Nuclear energy...¡± It sounded hesitant.


    ¡°The explosion on Zuojing was caused because I ignited all the energy on the.¡± Ling Xia immediately rejected (Belief]¡¯s guess mercilessly.


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing else then.¡± (Belief) was disappointed. It always lost to its master in arguments.


    ¡°Thus, this metal fragment must have been here after the destruction of Zuojing,¡± Ling Xiao said. ¡°Moreover, since I can enter the wormhole, the three great mecha lords of Twilight should have came here too.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± (Belief] was curious.


    ¡°Can you scan its internal structure?¡± Ling Xiao asked.


    ¡°No.¡± (Belief] tried to scan it but it came back with bad news.


    ¡°That means that it¡¯s not a normal piece of rubble.¡± It would be best if they could scan the internal structure of the object. If they couldn¡¯t, it meant that things wereplicated.


    ¡°What do we do now? Shall we take it?¡± (Belief) was excited. It was very interested in the fragment.


    ¡°Of course not. It might be a trap.¡± Ling Xiao was in deep thought.


    ¡°Huh?¡± (Belief) was confused.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go back. It looks like we need to go on a different path.¡± Ling Xiao decided to give up his original n after much consideration.


    ¡°Why?¡± (Belief] asked as it retreated silently.


    ¡°Our n was leaked.¡± Ling Xiao gave a cold smile. When they found the spy, he had the feeling that this person he caught wasn¡¯t the most important spy in the Federation. Now, the most important and secretive spy was finally starting to create trouble. However, this wormhole wasn¡¯t his only n. He was using it to probe his enemy too.


    He wondered who the spy was. Ling Xiao closed his eyes and considered all his options. He decided that he must find this spy. If not, there would be serious implications.


    Unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t enough information for him to deduce the identity of the spy. Ling Xiao sighed. He was given too little time. His intelligencework wasn¡¯t as vast as some of the elite families who specialised in intelligence.


    ¡°General is back.¡± After some time, He Xuyang received news that Ling Xiao was back from the wormhole.


    ¡®Did the general find a way through the wormhole?¡¯ He Xuyang wondered as he saw Ling Xiao walking into themand center.


    He Xuyang quickly weed him. ¡°How is it?¡±


    ¡°The situation is terrible. We need to find another path.¡± Ling Xiao trusted He Xuyang but he needed to make sure that the information wouldn¡¯t be leaked. It was the safest if it just stayed with him.


    He Xuyang was disheartened. The Zuojing wormhole was the fastest route from the Federation to Twilight. In the past, the Federation was wary that Twilight might use this wormhole to enter the Federation, so they stationed many soldiers in the wormhole to defend the area. At that time, this deployment was like a ckhole in the finances of the military.


    If Zuojing hadn¡¯t exploded, which in turn destabilized the Zuojing wormhole, the Federation might not have the finance nor the manpower to deal with the frequent battles around its borders just because the strain of upkeeping the peace on the Zuojing wormhole.


    Soon, the 23rd division left as quietly as they came.


    ¡°Ling Xiao¡¯s 23 division is still not found? Didn¡¯t you say that he will go through the Zuojing wormhole? Why aren¡¯t there any movements there?¡± Some of the upper echelons of the Twilight Empire were frustrated that there was still no news of General Ling Xiao.


    ¡°We¡¯re having a hard time suppressing Qi Yaoyang. General ck Wing, if we don¡¯t find the 23rd division immediately, we might not be able to pull through!¡± At the centralmand center of Twilight, a 70-year-old general shouted angrily as he pointed to his superior who was around the same age as him.


    ¡°General Shangye, if we don¡¯t find Ling Xiao, we can¡¯t send our main force away,¡± General ck Wing replied coldly.


    ¡°Are you going to abandon my Shangye army? Bastard!¡± General Shangye took off his cap and threw it on the ground angrily to disy his frustration and anger at the situation.


    ¡°We¡¯re doing this for the sake of our country. If we¡¯re able to find Ling Xiao, any sacrifices will be worth it. General Shangye, please bear with it.¡± The general sitting on themander-in-chief¡¯s seat looked at General Shangye with pity. However, his tone was resolute.


    ¡°So what if we found Immortal Bird? Who can kill him? The three great mecha lords? They deployed four god-ss mecha masters for this war. They won¡¯t allow our three great mecha lords to encircle Ling Xiao.¡± General Shangye didn¡¯t believe that finding Ling Xiao would be useful. He only knew that his subordinates were currently being reaped like crops in a farm. Many more of his soldiers would die if the battle continued on. He couldn¡¯t ept this.


    ¡°The three great mecha lords aren¡¯t our only trump card.¡± General ck Wing gave a sinister smile. They allowed their nation to be at the losing end so that they could lure Ling Xiao out. As long as they were able to confirm his position, there would be a way to catch him. ¡°Immortal Bird, when everyone wants you to die, can you remain alive? Hahahaha!¡±


    So, where were Ling Xiao and the 23rd division?


    No one knew. After the 23rd division left the Zuojing wormhole, they lost contact with the military headquarters as well as the other three divisions. They disappearedpletely from everyone¡¯s detection.

 Chapter 1202 - Twilight’s Decision?

    <h4>Chapter 1202 Twilight¡¯s Decision?</h4>


    Twilight wasn¡¯t the only one looking for Ling Xiao. The military headquarters of the Federation and the other three divisions in the mission were looking for him too.


    ¡°General, there¡¯s still no news of General Ling Xiao.¡± Jin Anlong walked into Qi Yaoyang¡¯s office with a worried look.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind him. We¡¯ll just focus on our own battle.¡± Qi Yaoyang wasn¡¯t worried about Ling Xiao. He already had the assault n in his hands. Unless Ling Xiao gave a new order, he would follow the n meticulously. Thus, it didn¡¯t matter if Ling Xiao was present or not.


    ¡°But themander-in-chief of a war can¡¯t just disappear like this.¡± Jin Anlong was anxious. He was used to having amander-in-chief that constantly kept in touch with them.


    ¡°This is your first time working with him so it¡¯s understandable that you¡¯ll feel ufortable. That little... I mean, the general has always been like this. You¡¯ll get used to it.¡± Qi Yaoyangughed and patted Jin Anlong¡¯s shoulder


    Get used to it? How could he get used to it? He had been fighting wars for half his life but this was the first time he met amander-in-chief that disappeared in the middle of a war. Was this something amander-in-chief should do? Shouldn¡¯t he know that the people below would be worried?


    ¡°How¡¯s our progress?¡± Qi Yaoyang noticed Jin Anlong¡¯s silence. He knew that Jin Anlong wasn¡¯t able to ept such an irresponsiblemander-in-chief yet so he quickly changed the topic.


    Jin Anlong gathered his senses and replied seriously, ¡°Everything is going as nned. There are not many obstacles.¡±


    However, rather than a smile he frowned as he continued, ¡°However, I feel that this isn¡¯t Twilight¡¯s real strength.¡± He was happy that everything was going smoothly but at the same time, he was worried. This was a war that affected the survival of their nation. Shouldn¡¯t they be fighting for their lives? Why wasn¡¯t the Twilight army as powerful as he thought?


    ¡°Indeed.¡± Qi Yaoyang agreed with him.


    Jin Anlong looked at him in surprise. He waited for his regimentmander to exin his doubts


    ¡°I¡¯ve fought with Twilight countless times. I know deep down they¡¯re as vicious and ruthless as us.¡± Qi Yaoyang didn¡¯t have any good feelings towards Twilight. However, he had to admit that they were strong.


    He turned on his optical supeputer and a virtual screen appeared in front of them. The live-feed of the war at the frontline was disyed on the screen.


    ¡°There are five divisions fighting with us but besides the Shangye division, the other four divisions are actually all garrisons. They¡¯re much weaker than an intergctic division. Even though they seem stronger in numbers but their strength only equals up to two intergctic divisions. It might be even lesser,¡± Qi Yaoyang said.


    Jin Anlong nodded in agreement. This was why he felt uneasy. It was true that the Twilight Empire didn¡¯t have as many intergctic divisions as the Federation. However, there are still nine of them. However, only three of them appeared on the battlefield that determined the survival of their nation. The other two, Jinyou division and Puxian division, were fighting with the 13th division. The six rest divisions hadn¡¯t appeared yet.


    ¡°I think that there is another intergctic division hiding around us. They must be waiting for something.¡± Qi Yaoyang frowned. They must find this division soon.


    ¡°Are they guarding against the 23rd division? We have the 4th division at our rear. They might be worried about them too.¡± Jin Anlong took a guess.


    ¡°One intergctic division and a few garrisons are enough to hold off the 4th division,¡± Qi Yaoyang replied. Twilight just had to leave one intergctic division behind if they were really worried about the 4th division.


    ¡°But they don¡¯t know that it¡¯s the 4th division. They might think that they are the 23rd division.¡± Jin Anlong thought for a moment before continuing, ¡°Maybe all the six remaining intergctic divisions are hiding around us. They¡¯re just waiting for the 23rd division toe out.¡±


    ¡°If Twilight thinks that the 23rd division is bringing up our rear, they will have two intergctic divisions stationed here. The other two intergctic divisions might be ced somewhere else so that they can attack the 4th division the moment it appears.¡± Qi Yaoyang pointed at two locations on the map.


    Suddenly, he had an interesting idea entered his head. ¡°What if they knew that the division bringing up the rear is the 4th division?¡±


    ¡°How is that possible?¡± Jin Anlong refuted. ¡°Why not?¡± Qi Yaoyang stared at Jin Anlong.


    Under Qi Yaoyang¡¯s intent gaze, Jin Anlong started wavering. He struggled before replying, ¡°Only the higher authorities know that the 23rd division and the 4th division had swapped their roles. They only knew about it after the war started so it hadn¡¯t been too long. Twilight wouldn¡¯t be able to get the intel so quickly. Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±


    Thest sentence was to convince himself.


    ¡°What if someone purposely leaked the swap?¡± Qi Yaoyang asked calmly.


    ¡°Impossible!¡± Jin Anlong didn¡¯t want to believe this.


    ¡°One of Twilight¡¯s spies was able to be a general of the Federation. What is impossible now?¡± Qi Yaoyang scoffed.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Jin Anlong turned serious.


    ¡°We must think of the worst case scenario. If Twilight is aware that the 4th division is the one bringing up our rear and the 23rd division is the one that disappeared, what would they do?¡± Qi Yaoyang stared at the virtual screen and pondered carefully.


    ¡°They might leave an intergctic division here to guard against the 4th division while sending the other five divisions to search for the 23rd division. Then, after the 23rd division gets found out, they will surround the 23rd division and swarm them.¡± Qi Yaoyang punched his desk. If he was themander-in-chief of Twilight, this would be his n. Once their enemy killed themander-in-chief of the war and the idol of the Federation, they would easily win this war.


    If the Federation were to attack Twilight again after that, Caesar wouldn¡¯t allow them to as Twilight had proved their ability to Caesar by killing a prominent god-ss mecha master. Caesar would never abandon a reliable ally.


    The morale of the military of the Federation would drop due to Ling Xiao¡¯s death. The situation of the war might also spiral out of control, quickening the despair and destruction of the hearts and minds of the soldiers.


    ¡°Twilight isn¡¯t giving their all because they are using their main force to find Ling Xiao and the 23rd division. I¡¯m afraid that two of the three great mecha lords have been sent to find Ling Xiao too,¡± Qi Yaoyang continued.


    ¡°What shall we do?¡± Qi Yaoyang¡¯s analysis was too reasonable. Jin Anlong couldn¡¯t help but worry.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to trouble King Muqi but based on the current situation, I need his help to lure the three great mecha lords out!¡± Qi Yaoyang was decisive. He must stop the three great mecha lords from finding Ling Xiao. That way, even if the five intergctic divisions discovered him, Ling Xiao would be able to defeat them with his god-ss mecha.

 Chapter 1203 - Lord Yuangu!

    <h4>Chapter 1203 Lord Yuangu!</h4>


    ¡°General! The Federation has activated a god-ss mecha!¡± One of the soldiers monitoring the war suddenly shouted.


    So far, both Twilight and Huaxia hadn¡¯t activated their god-ss mechas. The use of this ultimate weapon signaled the start of a life-or-death war where one side would definitely be killed.


    Before they knew the depths of their opponents, no one would dare to put everything on the line. The people of Twilight thought that this act of probing wouldst for a few more days. Yet, their enemy released their god-ss mecha so quickly and early in the war.


    ¡°Damn it.¡± General Shangye charged forward and stared at the powerful god-ss mecha hovering on the battlefield. His face turned pale with fear. ¡°They sent King Muqi!¡±


    King Muqi made a name for himself a hundred years ago. Their generation never saw how powerful he was but they heard about his terrifying legends from their elders. His existence was akin to an aloof god-like figure. That year, when Lord Yuangu from Twilight fought with King Muqi, the former was defeated by thetter in one move. In the secret database of Twilight, King Muqi wasbeled as a four-star danger god-ss mecha master.


    It wasn¡¯t the highest star-rank they could give but there was only one person who was worthy to be in the five-star danger zone, and it was Ling Xiao. This was enough to prove how powerful King Muqi was.


    ¡°General, what do we do?¡± The appearance of a god-ss mecha master made everyone anxious. The atmosphere in themand center was tense.


    It seemed like the Federation had decided to destroy them in the fastest possible time.


    ¡°Invite Lord Yuangu out.¡± General Shangye clenched his fist and knocked on the table.


    Although his superiors asked him to drag the war for as long as he could, his opponent didn¡¯t give him the chance to. If he didn¡¯t release a god-ss mecha master now, their division would bepletely decimated by King Muqi in just seconds.


    A god-ss mecha master could only be stopped by another god-ss mecha master. General Shangye hoped that Lord Yuangu was able to at least hinder King Muqi.


    King Muqi came to the frontline and raised his beam gun in preparation for the massacre that was about to ur. Just as he was about to shoot, he felt a suddenmotion among the Twilight army.


    He turned his head and saw a huge mecha flying rapidly towards him at mach speed. It performed some superfluous turns beforending in front of him.


    The mecha was huge but old-fashioned. It was a really poor sight but it was god-ss mecha from Twilight.


    ¡®Why does this mecha look so familiar? When have I seen it before?¡¯ King Muqi looked at the familiar mecha with curiosity. However, after searching his brain for an answer, nothing came up to mind.


    It seemed like he was really getting old. His memory was failing him. King Muqiughed at himself before asking in a calm tone, ¡°Who is this?¡±


    King Muqi was more than 160 years old. His ash-white hair and his calm yet deep eyes were proof of his old age.


    ¡°King Muqi, long time no see.¡± A deep voice came from the mecha opposite him.


    ¡°So it¡¯s you, Yuangu Qi.¡± King Muqi raised his eyebrows in surprise. He didn¡¯t expect Yuangu Qi toe. The familiar voice finally jogged King Muqi¡¯s memory. It had been more than 60 years since theirst meeting.


    ¡°Hmph. I lost to you that year because I was too young and rash. I didn¡¯t have enough experience back then. I was never willing to ept that defeat. I have always wanted to fight with you to prove to you, but you stay within the Federation¡¯s borders and hide like a coward for so many years. Tsk tsk tsk, I thought that you¡¯ve already died of old age. What a surprise to see you here. Is there no one in the Federation to rece you so they push you out to die?¡± Yuangu Qi said in a mocking tone.


    King Muqi wasn¡¯t at all provoked by his words. He just replied indifferently, ¡°You¡¯ll know if they push me out to die after our fight. However, this time, I won¡¯t show mercy like before. Are you ready to die?¡±


    In the previous fight they had, they were just sparring so he didn¡¯t kill him. This time, their countries were at war with each other. They were now enemies. King Muqi¡¯s eyes had a different gleam now. There was strong killing intent in them.


    Yuangu Qi was furious. After he lost to King Muqi that year, he was ruthlessly judged by the public for being too weak. Even the other two god-ss mecha masters looked down on him which in turn made thest among the three god-ss mecha masters in his nation. He might not be as powerful as Lord Jindao but he was definitely better than Lord Shuicheng. Unfortunately, he met one of the top three god-ss mecha masters from the Federation at that time. On the other hand, Shuicheng was lucky enough to meet a god-ss mecha master that just entered the rank, the weakest among all the god-ss mecha masters from the Federation, Sky Full Of Stars. He fought a shameful fight while Shuicheng was on the winning side during the whole duration of his spar.


    Yuangu Qi took his beam sword from behind his back and shed it angrily at King Muqi. He wanted to prove that he wasn¡¯t the same young fellow that got defeated 60 years ago.


    King Muqi raised his sword to block the iing sword calmly. The two huge swords collided, causing sparks to fly everywhere. It almost blinded the soldiers that were watching their fight.


    The soldiers from both sides stopped fighting in unnned unison and moved to the side to watch the battle between the two god-ss mecha masters.


    The result of this battle represented the fate of their nation. This was why god-ss mechas werebeled as a nation¡¯s ultimate weapon. If their ultimate weapon lost, the country had no means of resisting anymore.


    ¡°Lord Yuangu, all the best!¡± The soldiers from the Twilight Empire clutched their swords in their hands and cheered for their god-ss mecha master. They clearly remembered Lord Yuangu being defeated by King Muqi in the past, but they believed that this time the results would be different. He would definitely be able to avenge himself.


    The soldiers from the Federation didn¡¯t n to lose in terms of cheers. ¡°King Muqi, King Muqi!¡± They cheered for King Muqi too. King Muqi was undefeated in history, and he would continue to be.


    ¡°Regimentmander, Twilight has sent Lord Yuangu.¡± Jin Anlongpared the appearance of the mecha with his database and made this conclusion.


    ¡°It should be him. They didn¡¯t send Lord Jindao. Is it because Lord Jindao isn¡¯t here or do they think that Lord Yuangu is strong enough to handle King Muqi?¡± Qi Yaoyang touched his chin and pondered.


    By now, Lord Yuangu and King Muqi had exchanged many blows. Jin Anlong shouted excitedly, ¡°Regimentmander, King Muqi is beginning to suppress his opponent.¡±


    He was worried that King Muqi might have gotten weaker due to his age but it seemed like he had be even more vicious. Every single move he made was on point. Every single attack was aimed at Lord Yuangu¡¯s weaknesses.


    ¡°King Muqi was known for being aggressive.¡± Qi Yaoyang wasn¡¯t surprised as he was quite knowledgeable about the Muqi family¡¯s innate talent. They had a strong and urate sixth sense. They could sense iing dangers as well as their enemy¡¯s weakness. Many in the family had tried to gain control of this ability but only imperial mecha masters were able to grasp it. Qi Yaoyang felt that only King Muqi was able to grasp full control of his family¡¯s innate talent.

 Chapter 1204 - Everyone Appeared!

    <h4>Chapter 1204</h4>


    <h4>Everyone Appeared!</h4>


    ¡°However, it will take at least a few thousand rounds before he can defeat his opponent.¡± There was a difference in power between god-ss mecha masters but the difference wouldn¡¯t be too huge. Even if a god-ss mecha master wanted to defeat a slightly weaker opponent, it still would take a while. Thus, the battle between King Muqi and Lord Yuangu wouldst for quite some time.


    Experience was important in such a high-stake fight but stamina and the ability to focus were critical too. However, ultimately, the winner would be the one who couldst longer. The person who exposed his w first would lose the fight.


    ¡°I wonder if King Muqi can win this fight of endurance,¡± Jin Anlong said worriedly.


    The onlookers from the 13th division were worried too. King Muqi was the third oldest god-ss mecha master of the Federation. The oldest god-ss mecha master, Supreme Dragon, became weaker over the years. He was the weakest god-ss mecha master but the Federation respected him a lot so Sky Full Of Stars remained in thest position instead of him.


    The second oldest god-ss mecha master, King South Mountain, became weaker as he grew old too. Fortunately, his strength didn¡¯t deteriorate too much. His capabilities were still in the middle rank of the god-ss mecha masters.


    King Muqi managed to maintain his strength but since he was old, his stamina might have decreased. This was why the soldiers were worried about him.


    ¡°Fighting for two hours shouldn¡¯t be a problem to him,¡± Qi Yaoyang said firmly.


    Before this war started, King Muqi was able to fight with Ling Xiao for half a day without showing any signs of tiredness. Everyone thought Ling Xiao would be irresponsible and rash as a general but he actually nned everything carefully and thoroughly. Before he parted with Qi Yaoyang, he came to look for King Muqi secretly and tested his ability.


    Ling Xiao didn¡¯t fully believe the information on the database as he felt that there might be human-made errors. Thus, he went to get his answers personally. After the battle with King Muqi, Ling Xiao decided that he could disappear from the battlefield in peace.


    He trusted King Muqi. Simrly, Qi Yaoyang trusted King Muqi too.


    ¡°Inform Mister Ren to move out.¡± Qi Yaoyang decided to probe his opponents further.


    ¡°Yes, general.¡± Jin Anlong quickly went to give the order.


    ¡°General, the Federation has activated another god-ss mecha master.¡± While everyone was distracted by the fight between King Muqi and Lord Yuangu, the soldier sitting in front of the monitor shouted again.


    The screen shifted to disy an old-fashioned mecha ejecting out of a starship.


    ¡°Despicable people,¡± General Shangye cursed.


    ¡°General, what do we do?¡± The atmosphere in themand centre was gloomy. Many people felt hopeless.


    Everyone was aware that there was only one god-ss mecha master stationed here. The other two were stationed in their capital and at the Muliuary sector.


    General Shangye frowned quietly. He looked at the god-ss mecha that was getting closer. His mind was in a whirl. He was hesitating.


    ¡°General!¡±


    ¡°General!¡±


    Everyone started calling him when they noticed that their general wasn¡¯t speaking. None of them wanted to die here.


    ¡°Stop shouting!¡± General Shangye shouted angrily. Everyone shuddered in fear.


    ¡°Contact the centralmand center.¡± General Shangye closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.


    ¡°Yes!¡± His adjutant quickly contacted the headquarters in the capital.


    Soon, a stern face appeared on the screen. ¡°General Shangye, what¡¯s the matter?¡±


    ¡°General ck Wing, I would like to find our lord general,¡± General Shangye replied coldly.


    ¡°Please wait for a moment.¡± The image changed again.


    A gentle and kind-looking face appeared on the screen. ¡°General Shangye, what is it?¡±


    ¡°Lord general, I¡¯m sorry. I need to use Lord Jindao.¡± Shangye appeared apologetic.


    ¡°Is the situation that bad?¡± The lord general sighed. ¡°If that is the case, we¡¯ll use him.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, general!¡± Shangye lowered his head in shame. It was his fault that he had to use their trump card so early in the game.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. However, since we¡¯ve released Lord Jindao, make sure that the two god-ss mecha masters from the Federation don¡¯t go home.¡± The lord general¡¯s face remained gentle but his words were vicious.


    ¡°Yes. I won¡¯t let them leave here alive.¡± Shangye looked at the screen firmly. The moment he decided to use their most powerful god-ss mecha master, Lord Jindao, he had already decided that the 13th division must perish to appease his shame.


    ¡°I await your good news.¡± The lord general gave a satisfied smile.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Shangye ended the conversation. He looked up again and said in a cold voice, ¡°Invite Lord Zuo!¡±


    ¡°General, Twilight has sent another god-ss mecha master.¡± Jin Anlong was happily watching the mechas from the Federation subduing Lord Yuangu when he received an urgent report. His expression changed and he quickly informed his general.


    ¡°They have another god-ss mecha mecha master?¡± Qi Yaoyang raised his eyebrows in surprise. He touched his chin and said, ¡°Let me see the image.¡±


    A huge mecha appeared on the screen.


    Qi Yaoyang frowned deeply. He was a little confused. ¡°It¡¯s the most powerful god-ss mecha mecha master, Lord Jindao. Was I wrong?¡±


    ¡°Did you receive any news from the 7th division?¡± Qi Yaoyang turned and asked the soldier in charge ofmunicating with the other divisions.


    ¡°They have sent their god-ss mecha master too. There¡¯s no further news,¡± The soldier replied quickly.


    ¡°Maintain contact and inform me once there¡¯s an update,¡± Qi Yaoyang ordered.


    ¡°Yes, general.¡± The moment he turned back, he received a message from the 7th division. He quickly shouted, ¡°General, the 7th division just released a new update.¡±


    Qi Yaoyang sat up straight. ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°A god-ss mecha from Twilight has appeared. It¡¯s Lord Shuicheng.¡± The soldier replied.


    ¡°All the three great mecha lords have appeared.¡± Lord Shuicheng was fighting with the 7th division while Lord Jindao and Lord Yuangu were here. That meant that there wasn¡¯t any god-ss mecha master left to fight with Ling Xiao. Did he make the wrong guess or did Twilight have some other hidden trump card?

 Chapter 1205 - Sense Of Crisis!

    <h4>Chapter 1205</h4>


    <h4>Sense Of Crisis!</h4>


    Qi Yaoyang went into deep thought. On the frontline, King Muqi said to Sky Full Of Stars, Ren Jianghui, ¡°Little Hui, you¡¯ll take care of Lord Yuangu. I¡¯ll handle Lord Jindao.¡±


    Then, he rushed out instantly and headed towards Lord Jindao.


    Ren Jianghui raised his beam shot and started shooting Lord Yuangu furiously. Lord Yuangu wanted to stop King Muqi from leaving but the beams from Ren Jianghui prevented him from doing so. He had no choice but to defend himself from the monstrously urate beams.


    After a series of dodging and turning, Lord Yuangu managed to evade all the beams. He wasn¡¯t hurt but he looked a little haggard.


    ¡°Sky Full Of Stars, you¡¯re dead,¡± Lord Yuangu shouted furiously. He raised his sword and shed it at Ren Jianghui.


    Ren Jianghui was a long-range mecha master so obviously, he wouldn¡¯t want to engage in closebat with his enemy. Thus, he swiftly moved back and fired his beam gun again. The beams shot towards Lord Yuangu.


    His nickname, Sky Full Of Stars, was awarded because of his shooting skills. Once Ren Jianghui fired his gun, the entire sky would be covered in light rays, making it seem like stars in the sky. No one would be able to escape.


    If we were only considering long-range attacks, Sky Full Of Stars might be the top few among all the god-ss mecha masters. However, his closebat skills were by far weaker than most god-ss mecha masters so he became the weakest god-ss mecha master. After all, a god-ss operator mustn¡¯t have any ring weaknesses. This was why Ling Xiao became the most powerful god-ss mecha master as he had almost no weakness, be it close-range or long-range.


    While Sky Full Of Stars and Lord Yuangu were maneuvering around in the air, Lord Jindao and King Muqi had started fighting.


    ¡°Who¡¯s stronger?¡± The same question popped up in every soldier¡¯s mind.


    Lord Jindao was the most powerful god-ss mecha master from Twilight while King Muqi had always been the top three god-ss mecha master of the Federation ever since he made a name for himself. He was known as the most stable god-ss mecha master.


    ¡°Lord Jindao is the strongest!¡± This was the thought of the soldiers from Twilight.


    ¡°Bullshit. It¡¯s our King Muqi. He is the most stable god-ss mecha master in the Federation.¡± The soldiers from the Federation never felt that their god-ss operators would lose. This was how confident they were.


    Even if they were worried, the soldiers from both countries still believed their god-ss mecha masters.


    As for Lord Yuangu and Sky Full Of Stars... Well, most of the soldiers were attracted by Lord Jindao and King Muqi so no one cared much about them.


    The main leads were always the ones who had everyone¡¯s attention. Some could only receive a supporting role in their entire life. It didn¡¯t matter how hard you work. It was about fate.


    ¡°Luckily, Lord Ren is able to stop Lord Yuangu.¡± While everyone was looking at Lord Jindao and King Muqi, Jin Anlong was more worried about Sky Full Of Stars.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be fooled by the ranking system. No god-ss operators are weak.¡± Qi Yaoyang was never worried about Sky Full Of Stars.


    Although he had a ring weakness, his strength was able to cover up for his ws. Based on what Ling Xiao had said, he found out that Ren Jianghui¡¯s long-range attacks were very irritating. Even Ling Xiao needed some effort to get close to Ren Jianghui. Moreover, Ling Xiao was an all-rounded god-ss operator. Both his long-range attacks and closebat ability were all topping the rankings. Compared to other god-ss operators, he was very well-versed in long-range attacks. Yet, even he couldn¡¯t subdue Ren Jianghui within a short period of time. Qi Yaoyang didn¡¯t believe that anyone could perform better than Ling Xiao.


    ¡°Are we going to continue waiting?¡± Jin Anlong said dejectedly.


    The Twilight Empire had sent two god-ss mecha masters so they couldn¡¯t end this war quickly. However, they had found out the positions of all the three great mecha lords of Twilight so General Ling Xiao should be safe.


    Qi Yaoyang didn¡¯t reply to him. He touched his chin and continued pondering. He couldn¡¯t discuss with Ling Xiao so he had to make the decision himself. Thus, he was more careful. He was afraid that his decisions might affect Ling Xiao so before he made an order, he would think thrice about all the consequences.


    Coordinating military operations wasn¡¯t easy!


    Qi Yaoyang sighed. This kind of mental fight made his head hurt. He was a straight-forward person so he liked to fight head-on. But, he knew that Ling Xiao was right. Before the spy was gone, they mustn¡¯t reveal all their ns. If not, their only oue was defeat.


    This was his intuition, and Qi Yaoyang always believed in his intuition.


    This was a difficult decision!


    It all depended on Qi Yaoyang¡¯s judgment and decisiveness. It was up to him whether he wanted to be safe or to risk it for the victory.


    If he wanted to be safe and make no mistakes, he wouldn¡¯t send Falling Snow out. That way, he wouldn¡¯t be med whether or not his opponents knew the truth.


    If they achieved victory, Qi Yaoyang would gain many merits. Even if they lost, he wouldn¡¯t be med too. The scapegoat would be Ling Xiao, not the people who listened to his orders.


    If he sent Falling Snow out, he would be punished along with Ling Xiao if they lost. After all, on the surface, his order revealed the 4th division.


    But, the three great mecha lords had all appeared. If he sent another god-ss mecha out, he would be able to destroy the morale of the Twilight soldiers and discover the real trump card of the Twilight Empire.


    Qi Yaoyang didn¡¯t believe that the Twilight Empire only had three god-ss mecha masters. If Ling Xiao didn¡¯t ¡®die¡¯, his identity as a god-ss mecha master wouldn¡¯t be revealed to the public. Every nation had some hidden secrets, and Qi Yaoyang believed that Twilight definitely had some too.


    The appearance of the three great mecha lords gave him this thought. This was because their appearance didn¡¯t make his sense of crisis disappear. Instead, it grew stronger. Qi Yaoyang was someone who always believed in his instinct even more than his rational judgment.

 Chapter 1206 - Change!

    <h4>Chapter 1206 Change!</h4>


    Jin Anlong controlled his breath when he saw Qi Yaoyang in deep thought. He was afraid that his breathing might disturb his general¡¯s thought process.


    After a few minutes, Qi Yaoyang opened his eyes, revealing a firm gaze. He said to Jin Anlong, ¡°Contact the 4th division and ask them to send Falling Snow to reinforce us.¡±


    In the end, Qi Yaoyang still decided to activate Falling Snow. He wouldn¡¯t be able to rx until he found out what the Twilight Empire¡¯s trump card was.


    Jin Anlong frowned when he heard the order. He replied instinctively, ¡°General, we can¡¯t do that.¡±


    The moment he finished speaking, he regretted it. Would his general think that he was being disrespectful for talking so directly?


    Qi Yaoyang smiled when he saw the uneasiness on Jin Anlong¡¯s face. ¡°Anlong, I know you¡¯re worried that I will be med for revealing the 23rd division¡¯s traces. However, I need to use Mister Zhong to probe Twilight. If not, I will feel uneasy.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Jin Anlong asked curiously. Their mission was to tie down their enemy. Now, they had already tied down two of the three great mecha lords. They had alreadypleted their mission.


    §´§Ö§Ö.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that this might be a smokescreen, and the real target of Twilight is actually General Ling Xiao and the 23rd division.¡± Qi Yaoyang finally revealed his worry.


    Jin Anlong was shocked. ¡°Do you mean that Twilight might already know what the 23rd division is doing?¡±


    ¡°Yes. They rather sent their garrisons instead of an intergctic division to fight against us. They still had five intergctic divisions left but even during such a crucial time, they still didn¡¯t send them out. They should know that I only need some time before I defeat all the divisions here.¡± Qi Yaoyang walked to the virtual screen and pointed to the map while he exined.


    ¡°But they send Lord Jindao and Lord Yuangu.¡± Jin Anlong felt that the two god-ss mecha masters were enough to prove how serious Twilight was in this war.


    ¡°What if the 23rd division is our reinforcement? Do you think that their arrangement is useful?¡± Qi Yaoyang pointed to the location where the 4th division was at.


    Jin Anlong was enlightened. A thought shed past his mind. ¡°If General Ling Xiao was here along with King Muqi, Lord Jindao and Lord Yuangu won¡¯t be able to stop us.¡±


    ¡°Do they know that the 23rd division isn¡¯t behind us? That¡¯s the only reason why they dare to make this arrangement. Even if Mister Zhong was sent out, Lord Jindao and Lord Yuangu will be able to hold them back for a while.¡± Jin Anlong seemed to understand why Qi Yaoyang made the decision.


    ¡°There¡¯s another possibility. Our enemy has another method to deal with General Ling Xiao. Hence, I need to see what this method is. Maybe they¡¯re waiting for my 13th division to enter their trap.¡± Qi Yaoyang was afraid that his opponents had nned ahead and were targeting his division as well as the 4th division.


    ¡°Twilight¡¯s reaction will allow us to determine what their n is and how much they know about ours.¡± Qi Yaoyang¡¯s eyes were lit up. They would be able to inform Ling Xiao indirectly that there was a change in their n.


    ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll contact the 4th division immediately.¡± After listening to Qi Yaoyang¡¯s exnation, Jin Anlong stopped hesitating. He immediately contacted the 4th division and asked them to allow Zhong Zhengxiu to reinforce them.


    On the battlefield, the two groups of god-ss operators were having an intense fight.


    Lord Jindao and King Muqi were having a closebat fight. King Muqi had the ability to see the weaknesses of his opponents but in front of the most powerful god-ss mecha master from Twilight, he couldn¡¯t use his innate talent to suppress him. However, his opponent wasn¡¯t able to gain the upper hand too.


    Lord Yuangu and Sky Full Of Stars looked as though they were having a speed battle. One second they would be on the right and the next, they had appeared on the left. shes of light were seen everywhere, followed by the sounds of explosions as well as scalding. The residual force of the explosions resulted in some injuries but no one was able to see the exact figures of the two mechas.


    While everyone was concentrating on the two fights, the mecha operators of the Federation felt a strong wave of heat behind them.


    They searched for the source of the heatwave, and they saw another god-ss mecha rapidly descending towards them.


    ¡°It¡¯s Mister Falling Snow.¡± Some mecha operators knew the appearance of Falling Snow¡¯s mecha so they shouted excitedly.


    ¡°Mister Falling Snow is here to help us.¡± All the soldiers from the 13th division were ted.


    ¡°General, another god-ss mecha has appeared.¡± Themand center of Twilight also received this piece of news. They immediately reported it to their general.


    ¡°Bastards. Why did they send Falling Snow out? Why?¡± General Shangye took his military cap off angrily and threw it on the ground.


    Didn¡¯t those strategists say that Falling Snow would not appear? Those idiots should never be trusted. Unfortunately, lord general trusted them too much.


    ¡°General, what do we do now?¡± Twilight didn¡¯t have another god-ss mecha master to help them.


    ¡°Inform Lord Jindao and ask him to stop Falling Snow.¡± General Shangye could only ce his hopes on Lord Jindao. He hoped that Lord Jindao would be able to hold Falling Snow back so that he could gain time to ask lord general for help.


    Once Falling Snow entered the battlefield, he started massacring the mecha operators from Twilight with his beat gun. However, before he could take more than two shots, he felt a slight sense of dangering from above him. He swiftly evaded to the side, dodging a shot from a beam gun.


    ¡°Lord Jindao!¡± Falling Snow looked at Lord Jindao in surprise. It looked like he was nning to take the two of them at once.


    ¡°Bastard! If you want to kill our soldiers, you have to kill me first.¡± Lord Jindao spoke using an awkward tone. He wasn¡¯t very familiar with the Huaxianguage but the anger in his voice was apparent.


    Falling Snow looked at King Muqi. He respected this elder very much. Hence, he wanted to seek King Muqi¡¯s opinion on whether they should attack Lord Jindao together.

 Chapter 1207 - Twilight’s Final Trump Card

    <h4>Chapter 1207 Twilight¡¯s Final Trump Card</h4>


    ¡°Let¡¯s attack him together.¡± King Muqi wasn¡¯t an inflexible person. He would dly ept any help to destroy Lord Jindao and this irritating Twilight Empire faster.


    In actual fact, the older generations hated Twilight even more than the new generations of mecha operators from the Federation. The long war with Twilight caused many of theirrades who they wanted to share beer with until their deaths to die. As the years went by, the hatred in their heart for Twilight grew stronger. Whenever they saw a soldier from Twilight, they had the urge to savagely kill them by tearing bits of their flesh off their body with their teeth like rabid dogs.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Falling Snow raised his beam gun and fired at Lord Jindao.


    Lord Jindao heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Falling Snow aiming his weapon at him. If Falling Snow decided to attack the defenceless mecha operators, most of them would be killed almost immediately. This was how frightening a god-ss operator was. Only a god-ss operator was able to stop a god-ss operator.


    While Falling Snow shot at Lord Jindao, King Muqi raised his sword and attacked him.


    Lord Jindao evaded Falling Snow¡¯s attack and waved his sword to block King Muqi¡¯s sword.


    But, what happened after that was out of his expectation. After Falling Snow fired a shot at him, he turned his gun and started firing at the Twilight army.


    Lord Jindao red at him angrily. He shouted in anguish, ¡°Despicable Huaxia citizens!¡±


    ¡°Do you think that you have the right to fight against two god-ss mecha masters from Huaxia?¡± A wizened yet mocking tone entered his ears.


    ¡°King Muqi!¡± Lord Jindao gritted his teeth in anger. He realized that King Muqi must be the one who ordered Falling Snow to do such a shameless act.


    ¡°Since you dared to harm our god-ss operator many years ago, you must be prepared to pay the price for it. Lord Jindao, today, Twilight will be destroyed,¡± King Muqi said coldly.


    ¡°Shut up! You old fool,¡± Lord Jindao said indignantly. ¡°Let me put you in your grave first before killing that despicable bastard!¡±


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s see who would go six foot under first.¡± Compared to the raging Lord Jindao, King Muqi was much calmer. He raised his beam saber and struck his opponent¡¯s vital spots quietly.


    Lord Jindao wanted to find an opportunity to stop Falling Snow who was destroying the Twilight army but King Muqi was too powerful, so he finally had no choice but to ask Lord Yuangu for help.


    Lord Yuangu and Sky Full Of Stars were having a battle of pursuit. It looked as though Lord Yuangu had the advantage, but the former knew that he couldn¡¯t do anything to Sky Full Of Stars anytime soon. When he heard Lord Jindao¡¯s call for help, he immediately aimed his gun at Falling Snow. However, before he could even touch the trigger, Sky Full Of Stars started shooting him with no inhibitions. It was obvious that he didn¡¯t want Lord Yuangu to stop Falling Snow.


    ¡°Hmph, wishful thinking.¡± Lord Yuangu ignored the beamsing from Sky Full of Stars and focused his attention on Falling Snow. He raised his beam gun and fired a beam at Falling Snow.


    Suddenly, he felt a strong sense of crisis. Multiple ring spots of light had entered his vision but before he could identify what they were, they exploded.


    The battlefield turned white from the ring light. The ring white light only dimmed after a long time. Many soldiers who were watching Lord Yuangu saw their world turning white too. They only recovered their vision after a long while.


    Lord Yuangu¡¯s mecha was nowhere in sight. Did he turn into dust?


    That was impossible. The protective shield of a god-ss mecha was extremely strong. Even attacks from other god-ss mechas couldn¡¯t destroy it in one strike.


    While everyone was wondering where Lord Yangu was, in aary sector very far away, a badly damaged mecha suddenly appeared. It was Lord Yuangu¡¯s mecha.


    Lord Yuangu was alright but his mecha was heavily injured.


    Fortunately, god-ss mechas had an auto-recovery system so the wounds on the mecha would be lighter over time. As long as Lord Yuangu was given enough time, his mecha was able topletely recover.


    Unfortunately, Sky Full Of Stars wouldn¡¯t give him the time. Another round of beams was fired at him. Lord Yuangu gritted his teeth and evaded the attack again. He didn¡¯t expect Sky Full Of Stars to use his god-ss technique so early in a fight. A god-ss technique was the only technique that could kill a god-ss mecha master. Other techniques were just used to probe their opponents.


    Lord Yuangu was in a dire situation. On the other hand, Lord Jindao was being tied down by King Muqi. Within a few seconds, a huge portion of the Twilight army was reaped like wheat by Falling Snow. The remaining mecha operators from Twilight started scurrying away in fright. The battle was tilting to one side.


    In themand center, General Shangye finally managed to gain contact with lord general. He reported the situation he was facing.


    Lord general gave a bitter smile and said, ¡°We¡¯re still one step behind. I didn¡¯t expect Qi Yaoyang to be so bold and decisive. I underestimated him.¡±


    ¡°s, we can only expose them ahead of time. I¡¯ll ask Duke Federick and Duke Tarl to reinforce you. You must kill all the god-ss operators from the Federation.¡± Lord general¡¯s face turned dark. His words wereced with killing intent.


    ¡°Yes, general.¡± Shangye¡¯s gaze turned vicious too. He must avenge his Shangye division. He would let the Federation pay a huge price for killing his soldiers.


    Soon, two god-ss mechas appeared behind the Twilight army. They charged towards the frontline quickly.


    ¡°Regimentmander, we¡¯ve discovered two more god-ss mechas. They¡¯re from the Granda Empire.¡± Jin Anlong, who was keeping an eye on the battle, immediately noticed the iing mechas and reported to Qi Yaoyang.


    The arrival of the two god-ss operators caused the Federation to be on the losing end of the spectrum.


    ¡°Just as I expected!¡± Qi Yaoyang mmed his table furiously. He knew that Twilight must have a final trump card. However, he did expect it to be this.


    ¡°Caesar didn¡¯t make any announcement but they¡¯ve already allowed their alliance nations to support Twilight secretly.¡± Qi Yaoyang immediately understood Caesar¡¯s intention. ¡°They are to drag out the war so that they¡¯re able toe up with a concise n.¡±


    ¡°As expected of Caesar. Every time they make a decision, they¡¯ll make ample preparations.¡± Jin Anlong clenched his fist in frustration. The longer this war dragged on, the more time Caesar had to perfect their n.


    ¡°This is not something we can handle. Contact the headquarters and report everything to them.¡± Qi Yaoyang knew that once other nations entered the war, his division wouldn¡¯t be able to handle it alone.

 Chapter 1208 - Three Stars Lock!

    <h4>Chapter 1208 Three Stars Lock!</h4>


    ¡°Yes, general.¡± Jin Anlong instantly contacted the headquarters. While waiting for the headquarters¡¯ reply, he looked at his general worryingly.


    ¡°General, it¡¯s four versus three now. Will our god-ss operators be able to handle it?¡± It was their turn to be in danger.


    ¡°We must stop them. You¡¯ll take over themand from now.¡± Qi Yaoyang started walking out of themand center.


    ¡°General, where are you going?¡± Jin Anlong was puzzled.


    ¡°To participate in the war,¡± Qi Yaoyang answered without turning around.


    ¡°That is a battle between god-ss operators. General, don¡¯t be rash.¡± Jin Anlong was agitated. Their general was an imperial operator but those were god-ss operators. He would die if he fought with them.


    Qi Yaoyang turned around and smiled brightly. ¡°If we don¡¯t try it, how will we know the result?¡± He walked into the elevator leading to the mecha hold. Jin Anlong wanted to persuade him but the elevator door had already closed.


    ¡°General...¡± Jin Anlong was a step toote. He stomped his feet and went back to themand centre helplessly. He must wait for the reply from the headquarters. He couldn¡¯t leave. He must not let his general down.


    After entering the mecha hold, Qi Yaoyang quickly changed his attire and entered his mecha.


    He pressed the JMC channel and said calmly, ¡°Prepare Sky God for ejection.¡±


    ¡°General!¡± The JMC eximed in surprise. She didn¡¯t expect her general to enter the war personally.


    ¡°Last warning, prepare Sky God,¡± Qi Yaoyang solemnly said.


    ¡°Yes!¡± The JMC quickly regained her senses. She immediately ordered for Sky God to be brought to theunching port. After a series of inspections, Sky God was ejected out.


    Qi Yaoyang controlled Sky God and came to the frontline. He contacted the three god-ss operators and told them that two god-ss operators from Granda were on their way.


    ¡°Lieutenant General Qi, what are you doing here?¡± King Muqi reprimanded Qi Yaoyang sternly as he fought with Lord Jindao. He was unhappy about Qi Yaoyang¡¯s rash decision toe to the frontline.


    ¡°As the actingmander-in-chief, I can¡¯t hide behind everyone while everyone risks their lives,¡± Qi Yaoyang replied calmly.


    ¡°This is a battle between god-ss operators. You¡¯re an imperial operator. You won¡¯t be of much help. You might even distract us.¡± King Muqi wasn¡¯t kind with his words. He came here to protect Qi Yaoyang. If Qi Yaoyang was killed in the battle between god-ss operators, he wouldn¡¯t be able to answer to his people.


    ¡°Senior Muqi, if I don¡¯t fight, how will I know what¡¯s the difference between imperial level and god-ss?¡± Qi Yaoyang replied seriously.


    King Muqi immediately thought of something. He pushed Lord Jindao back before asking, ¡°Are you confident?¡±


    ¡°I must try it,¡± Qi Yaoyang said earnestly.


    ¡°Be careful.¡± King Muqi chose to trust Qi Yaoyang before turning his attention back to Lord Jindao. However, his attacks were much more ruthless and quick now. He hoped that he could kill Lord Jindao as soon as possible so that he could help Qi Yaoyang.


    Almost at the same time, the two god-ss mechas from Granda arrived at the frontline. Lord Jindao heaved a sigh of relief when he saw them. The Twilight army wouldn¡¯t be destroyed by Falling Snow now.


    Federick and Tarl looked menacingly at Falling Snow. He was the only god-ss operator who didn¡¯t have an opponent so they attacked him together without much thought.


    Suddenly, a ray of light shot towards Federick. Federick evaded the beam easily by just side-stepping. He turned to look at the attacker. It was an imperial operator.


    ¡°What is an imperial operator doing in a battle between god-ss operators?¡± Federick sneered.


    ¡°The people from Huaxia have always been arrogant. For instance, that Immortal Bird Ling Xiao iming that he¡¯s the most powerful god-ss operator. How shameless.¡± Tarl scoffed. Many god-ss operators like him were unhappy that Ling Xiao was given the title of the most powerful god-ss operator. If god-ss operators could leave their countries, they might have gone to look for Ling Xiao to have a battle with him.


    ¡°Let me kill that irritating small fry first. You can handle Falling Snow alone, right?¡± Federick asked Tarl.


    ¡°Falling Snow is not that powerful. I can handle him,¡± Tarl replied to him in a dissatisfied tone.


    ¡°Okay. Once I¡¯m done, I will help you,¡± Federick said, using the same tone he would use when going out to shop for vegetables.


    ¡°Once you kill that small fry, I¡¯ll probably be done too,¡± Tarl replied proudly. He had always thought of himself as being one of the most powerful god-ss operators, so surely he was stronger than Falling Snow whose rank was around the bottom half among the god-ss operators in the Federation. He felt that many people ignored the god-ss operators from Granda just because they had never publicly shown their might before. Thus, they thought that only the god-ss operators from the Federation were strong because of their savage act of constantly fighting.


    ¡°Good luck then.¡± Federick knew of Tarl¡¯s inferiorityplex so he wasn¡¯t going to burst his bubble. He quickly raised his beam saber and attacked Qi Yaoyang. For him, killing an imperial operator would only take a few rounds.


    He shed his sword. However, it struck nothing. He was stunned.


    ¡°What happened?¡± He waved his sword again and stabbed Qi Yaoyang furiously.


    A few abrasions were seen on Qi Yaoyang¡¯s mecha. It was a dangerous situation for him but in the end, Qi Yaoyang managed to dodge all the iing attacks. The soldiers from the Federation were surprised. They raised their arms and cheered loudly.


    Even the most stupid person would realise that their general wasn¡¯t just any normal imperial operator. He wasn¡¯t a god-ss operator now but he wasn¡¯t far away.


    ¡°Yaoyang has reached this step. The brat kept his secret well.¡± King Muqi had been watching over Qi Yaoyang all this while. When he saw Qi Yaoyang remaining unscath at the end, he could finally rx a little.


    An imperial operator needed an opportunity to be a god-ss operator. Qi Yaoyang had already reached this step. He just needed an opportunity to jump to god-ss. He probably entered into war because he wanted to give himself enough pressure to advance to god-ss.


    Of course, opportunityes with risk. If he had a choice, King Muqi didn¡¯t want Qi Yaoyang to advance using this method, as almost no one seeded before with this method. Most died in the hands of the god-ss operator before they could be one.


    Qi Yaoyang seemed to have evaded all the attacks just now but it was still very dangerous for him. A slight mistake would cost his life.


    Qi Yaoyang was only half a step to god-ss but his operating skills and his mecha were all weaker than a god-ss mecha master¡¯s. He was in a dire situation.


    At that moment, the disappeared division, the 23rd division, finally passed through the death wormhole and arrived at the heart of the Twilight Empire.


    Ling Xiao looked at the logistics headquarters of the Twilight Empire in front of him. This was the Three Stars Lock.


    That year, his entire team died when they were passing through the death wormhole. He was the sole survivor. 25 yearster, he came here again. This time, he seeded in sneaking through the wormhole.

 Chapter 1209 - Collision?

    <h4>Chapter 1209 Collision?</h4>


    The Three Stars Lock referred to the threes that formed a triangr shape in theary sector. The gravity from the threes allowed them to keep a certain distance while rotating, forming a triangle.


    This was the logistics headquarters of the Twilight Empire. Once this ce was destroyed, more than half of the logistics of the Twilight army would be razed to the ground.


    That year, Ling Xiao received an order to destroy this ce so that they could freeze half of the military strength of Twilight. The Twilight Empire would need at least one month before they could recuperate from such loss. However, their soldiers couldn¡¯t wait that long. Without enough food, the morale of the soldiers would be affected. They wouldn¡¯t be able to destroy the Twilight Empire entirely but it could spark tensions within the nation. Civil wars might even happen.


    ¡°Commander, only one starship is stuck outside the death wormhole due to turbulence. The rest of the starships have gone through the wormhole sessfully. The rescue team is helping thegging starship now.¡± He Xuyang quickly reported the situation.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind about them first. Our signal waves can¡¯t be hidden from Twilight for too long. Order the starships to attack immediately. All the mecha operators will move out to protect the starships as well as participate in the attack,¡± Ling Xiao said with a serious tone.


    ¡°Yes.mander.¡± He Xuyang received the order.


    The order was sent to all the starships. Soon, multiple mecha operators could be seen ejecting out of the starships.


    Ling Xiao suddenly stood up.


    He turned around and walked out of themand center. He Xuyang asked hurriedly, ¡°General, where are you going?¡±


    ¡°To help them,¡± Ling Xiao replied calmly.


    He Xuyang¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°(Belief]?¡±


    Ling Xiao gave a speechless expression. ¡°What else can I use?¡± Wasn¡¯t this a stupid question?


    ¡°General, I¡¯ll wait for your good news,¡± He Xuyang replied excitedly. He could finally see the general operating [Belief].


    He Xuyang was quite sad when he didn¡¯t manage to see (Belief] entering the Zuojing wormhole. He had followed Ling Xiao for a long time but he never saw the general operating (Belief) personally. He Xuyang felt that this was embarrassing. He couldn¡¯t even boast to his old friends.


    What a pitiful life he had...


    The Letian Mecha n was a normal mecha n in the 23rd division. They would be the third batch to be ejected. The first two batches consisted of ace mecha ns, and they would be protecting the starships at the frontline.


    Every mecha n had a different arrangement. The frontline consisted of the most powerful mecha ns while the weaker ones would stay at the back. They would only reinforce theirrades when they couldn¡¯t resist anymore.


    ¡°This is frustrating. When can we go to the frontline?¡± A young special-ss mecha operator looked at the ace mecha masters in front of him as he pouted.


    ¡°You have to be an ace operator first.¡± Their team leader answered him.


    ¡°Leader, you¡¯re an ace operator. Why aren¡¯t you going?¡± The young man was still inexperienced about the world so he didn¡¯t realise what he was saying mighte off as rude.


    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for you little brats, I would be at the frontline.¡± The team leaderughed as he scolded the young man.


    ¡°Yes, yes, yes. We are the ones who dragged you down.¡± The younglings in the team touched their nose and apologised. Well, it was true that they weren¡¯t ace operators. There was a rule in their division stating that only a battle team where all the members were ace operators was allowed at the frontline.


    ¡°Okay, stop fooling around. We¡¯re not at the frontline but we must still be prepared to fight too.¡± This rxed atmosphere was something the leader wanted to create. This was the first time his team members ever came to the battlefield. Moreover, they even snuck into the center of their opponent¡¯s territory. The leader was afraid that his members would be too nervous. Now that all his team members were calm, he started reminding them to be careful.


    ¡°Yes, leader.¡± The team members immediately turned serious and arranged themselves in position.


    ¡°The mecha operator at 98R471T, please take note. The mecha operator at 98R471T, please take note. Please leave the passage immediately...¡± The anxious voice of a JMC suddenly appeared on their channel.


    The leader looked at the position they were at and got a shock. ¡°Quick! Move to the side!¡±


    They were at 98R471T. The leader released an order immediately. They had practiced emergency protocols like this before but ultimately, they were still young and inexperienced soldiers. They got in a flurry and two mechas moved in the wrong direction. They were heading towards each other.


    Damn it! The leader was astounded. The two mechas were not far from each other so the mecha operators wouldn¡¯t get hurt from the impact of the crash. The mechas had a defensive system to protect them too. But, there was a mecha rushing towards them from the back. If the two mechas collided, they would fall in the path of the iing mecha.


    The leader knew that based on the speed of the mecha, all three of them would be hurt by the collision. The mecha operators might die from the collision too. Was his team members going to die because of such a stupid mistake?


    He wanted to save them but he didn¡¯t have the time. The mecha that suddenly appeared wouldn¡¯t have the time to stop too. The mecha operator might not even have time to react.


    The leader closed his eyes in despair. He didn¡¯t dare to see the oue.


    ¡°Ah!¡± He suddenly heard his team members eximing.


    And two soft pats were heard.


    ¡°It¡¯s our general!¡±


    ¡°General!¡±


    ¡°Belief]!¡±


    ¡°So handsome.¡±


    The leader opened his eyes in a hurry. He saw a huge mecha disappearing from his sight. However, he knew what he saw. It was General Ling Xiao¡¯s (Belief).


    ¡°Leader.¡± Two frightened voices were heard.


    The voices belonged to the two team members who almost collided with [Belief). They stood on two sides of the passage. None of them were hurt.


    ¡°What happened?¡± The leader rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing. He suddenly remembered the surveince camera he had on his mecha chest. He quickly rewinded the video on his mecha and watched what had happened when he closed his eyes.


    A light shed passed and the two mechas that were going to collide changed their direction and flew to the side as though they were pushed by some force.


    The force behind the push was just right so theynded in the spot they were supposed tond. They didn¡¯t even move after theynded.


    The leader didn¡¯t know how their general did this. He rewinded the video again and slowed it down a hundred times before he finally saw his general¡¯s actions clearly.

 Chapter 1210 - Wall Climbing

    <h4>Chapter 1210 Wall Climbing</h4>


    It turns out, the general had just arrived when the two mechas were about to collide into each other. He somersaulted in between the two mechas, put his hands on the shoulders of the mechas, and pushed the two mechas away from each other. This piloting ability and the amount of force used was so precise that it would make heads turn.


    After doing all that, the general¡¯s own speed didn¡¯t decrease at all and was still flying at his original speed.


    So, this was what a god-ss operator was like. Something that couldn¡¯t be avoided for him would be considered to be a piece of cake for the general to avoid.


    The team leader felt grateful. Although the general¡¯s (Belief] was no longer in his sights, he still couldn¡¯t hold back his look of admiration.


    However, he quickly returned to his original demeanor and coldly shouted towards the new members who almost caused a horrible ident to ur, ¡°I¡¯ve always cautioned you to remain calm on the battlefield. Be calm! Remain calm! Did all that go up your ass? Moreover, there¡¯s two of you? If it wasn¡¯t for the general, you would have died right then and there. I wouldn¡¯t even visit your gaves out of shame.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, team leader!¡± The two new members had their heads down as they apologized sincerely.


    They had practiced it so many times and their team leader had led them on missions against space pirates. They thought they weren¡¯t going to be nervous. However, in such arge scale war, these two new recruits who had not truly experienced war were as nervous as they could be. If they didn¡¯t hear the JMC¡¯s panic warning and their team leader¡¯s order to evade, they might have been calm in the whole situation.


    However, that wasn¡¯t possible. The JMC¡¯s panic warning and their team leader¡¯s order to evade were factors they could not predict in a war. They didn¡¯t know what they were thinking at that moment. They were probably nervous or panicking. Perhaps their minds went nk. All in all, after all that, while piloting their mechas, they actually made such easily avoidable mistakes. The two of them had made a mistake on their directions and almost made a blunder of crashing into each other. Although in the end the general helped them out and got them out of the dangerous situation, they were still frustrated and annoyed with themselves. This event was enough to make them hate themselves. Tears of regret also slowly appeared in their eyes.


    ¡°On the battlefield, only soldiers who can stay calm can survive. Make sure you remember this. Next time, the general won¡¯t be around to save your lives,¡± continued the team leader coldly. As a veteran, he was well aware of the end result for soldiers who lost their cool. Angry outburst and berserk way of doing things would only let a soldier survive for an instant. However, those types of people wouldn¡¯t be able to stay alive for long. Those who could survive the war were all calm and wise individuals who liked to search, create and grab hold of opportunities.


    ¡°Yes, team leader.¡± These two people carved those words in their hearts. What happened here just now will be in their minds forever. They will never forget. This experience would also teach them the consequences of losing their cool.


    ¡°Get into your positions and be in the formation.¡± The team leader didn¡¯t say anymore because he had already said enough. If those two team members of his still couldn¡¯t learn to stay calm, then that meant they were mentally not suitable to be in the army. An individual who didn¡¯t understand themselves would always have to pay the price for their decisions. That was how the fairness worked in the world of soldiers.


    Ling Xiao didn¡¯t care about the mistakes the two mecha operators made. Ever since he entered the military until he became a god-ss operator, he had seen too many new recruits enter the battlefield for the first time. No matter how many times they practiced, their hearts would waver once they got on the real battlefield. In the end, they would make mistakes. Some were lucky and grew as they went through trials of life or death to be experienced veterans. Some weren¡¯t as lucky and would usually perish with regret during their first time on the battlefield.


    Despite the Federation creating a five year n to let new recruits get used to the process, the highest mortality rate on the battlefield was still mostly new recruits. The rate of making mistakes was also highest with new recruits... This was the difference between practice and the real thing. It wasn¡¯t something that could be practiced in theory.


    Unless... Ling Xiao thought of Ling Lan¡¯s hellish training method. From what he knew, when his daughter trained her soldiers, she would train them on the brink of death to let them feel the feeling of death. Only this type of training would numb the minds of the new recruits and steel their nerves for realbat, real bloodshed and real life-or-death situations. These individuals would be able to stay alive and fight to theirst drop...


    However, this type of training... Ling Xiao smirked and was happy that his daughter was so lucky. She actually managed to kidnap a medical prodigy into her ranks. Only Li Shiyu could invent such strong recovery medicinal agents along with methods of bringing back people from the dead. Even the military headquarters¡¯ medical department head admired him for these methods. With these medicine and methods of resuscitating at her disposal, Ling Lan could implement the hellish training that could actually kill someone if she wasn¡¯t careful.


    Every time he heard about Ling Lan overseeing the hellish training, Ling Xiao would be concerned. He was afraid Ling Lan would go too over the top and would actually cause a mess for herself. For that, he had already thought of many ways to help his daughter handle those situations. Although he never had to use any of his ns, Ling Xiao was still constantly prepared and didn¡¯t dare to loosen up.


    Ling Xiao thought of Ling Lan because he was reminded of her by the two silly new recruits. However, that thought was only for a moment as he had already arrived at the front lines of the battlefield. The Three Stars Lock shined brightly in front of him.


    At that moment, in a base called ¡®Base Neb¡¯ far far away, had received the news that Granda had sent two god-ss operators to aid the Twilight Empire.


    Of course, them receiving the information so quickly was all Little Four¡¯s hard work.


    After knowing his father was leading an army against the Twilight Empire, Little Four almost made the decision to leave Boss to follow Ling Xiao to the Twilight Empire. Of course in the end, he couldn¡¯t leave because Ling Lan was his host. That was why he couldn¡¯t leave. If not...


    Well, after Ling Lan had said Little Four was her little brother, and her father and mother was also his father and mother, Little Four had always been in a constant state of trying to integrate himself into her family even if they didn¡¯t know about it. In the beginning, Ling Lan would still reprimand Little Four for being shameless. However, now, she waspletely numb to his antics.


    It had already developed into Ling Lan letting him go every time Little Four wanted to go to her father and mother. He would always wish for Ling Lan to refer to him as ¡®Ling Shi¡¯.


    Of course, in a battle between Ling Lan and Little Four, the winner was always Ling Lan. Little Four could only justin and whine about how Boss was evil for not fulfilling his wish.


    However, even if he couldn¡¯t be there personally, Little Four was still listening to news about Ling Xiao from across the entirework of the Federation. Once there was news, he would be first to receive it. This was also the reason why the instant military headquarters received news of Granda sending god-ss operators to the war, Ling Lan also received the news at the same time.


    [Editor¡¯s Note: Ling Shi means Ling Four]

 Chapter 1211 - Beauty Trap?

    <h4>Chapter 1211 Beauty Trap?</h4>


    ¡°Granda sending out god-ss operators also represents Granda¡¯s stance on the war. Although Granda is the Twilight Empire¡¯s allied nation, in reality they are just a pet Caesar was keeping on a leash. A pet that would bite whoever Caesar told them to.¡± After receiving the news, Lingtian Independent Army¡¯s brigade leaders were all gathered together like usual and discussing this information.


    ¡°Although Caesar hasn¡¯t announced that they themselves will join the war, with Granda¡¯s appearance, it means that as long as they have fully prepared themselves, they would definitely go against the Federation,¡± Qi Long said with a concerned expression on his face.


    ¡°A new intergctic war may very well be happening soon...¡± Han Jijyun felt the situation was dire. If the Federation¡¯s allied nations were not in position, the Federation could easily get into a situation of facing enemies at two different fronts. The outlook of the whole situation was not too good.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a matter of ¡®may¡¯, but most definitely happening,¡± Li Lanfeng said with determination. ¡°Caesar ordered Granda to activate two of their god-ss operators to probe the number of god-ss operators the Federation can send in.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Compared to everyone, Li Yingjie was a little slow on the uptake.


    ¡®Can¡¯t he just make it clear the first time?¡¯ Li Yingjie despised using his magnificent brain power to think.


    Li Lanfeng nced at Li Yingjie. Li Yingjie seemed to feel Li Lanfeng¡¯s mocking re. He opened his eyes wide and red back in full force.


    This was why he hated that bastard Li Lanfeng. He had that constant scheming look on his face and was overall not a good person. What was worse was that Elder Brother Shiyu was actually fooled by that person¡¯s fake demeanor. Shiyu actually trusted himpletely.


    However, he couldn¡¯t let his Elder Brother Shiyu continue to be fooled. He would one day definitely rip that mask off the evil man. Li Yingjie made a decision in his mind. The next time they had time to go back home, he would go to the archives and investigate Li Lanfeng¡¯s background. Li Yingjie would definitely not admit that he was jealous of Li Lanfeng.


    As for Li Yingjie¡¯s angry look, Li Lanfeng only smirked slightly and then stopped staring. However, wanting to give his dumb little brother an out on the situation, Li Lanfeng began to exin, ¡°Let¡¯s take a look at the Federation¡¯s boundaries.¡±


    As Li Lanfeng was speaking, he put up the Huaxia Federation¡¯s star map on therge virtual screen in the back of the conference room.


    ¡°Here, here and here...¡± He pointed at a few points near the Huaxia Federation¡¯s intergctic boundary. ¡°These points were all nations that are allied with Caesar which are also our enemies. If these nations worked together, there would be three god-ss operators. However, you all know that Caesar is involved, and Caesar has 11 god-ss operators, only one fewer than us.¡±


    Everyone all nodded after hearing those words to show that they agreed with him. Li Yingjie heard the exnation and became even more confused. After adding everything up, did their number of god-ss operators not match with the total numberbined by all these nations?


    Li Lanfeng controlled the optical supeputer once again. Not long after, a new star map appeared on therge virtual screen.


    ¡°Now, let¡¯s look at Caesar.¡± Li Lanfeng pointed at the star map and said, ¡°Here, here, here and here, are all the nations near Caesar who are our allied nations and also Caesar¡¯s enemy. Add them all together, they have six god-ss operators in total. Then that means Caesar can only use four of their god-ss operators. If they go over that amount, they would have a hard time defending against the attacks by those nations.¡±


    ¡°Simrly, we must be on guard against Caesar¡¯s four god-ss operators and the three god-ss operators from the other nations. The number of god-ss operators we can move out is five maximum. If we go past that, we would have the same concerns as Caesar and the Federation would be in danger of being invaded. The opposition used Granda, which is far from our intergctic space boundaries, and took out two god-ss operators from there. In addition to the Twilight Empire¡¯s three god-ss operators, it would put the Federation at their limit. There doesn¡¯t seem to be any other reason other than to get one more god-ss operator over the Federation¡¯s limit to force our forces to retreat. However, let¡¯s not forget that there¡¯s a big problem in the Federation. That problem is whether the oldest god-ss operator Supreme Dragon can join the war. Caesar is trying to probe this information.¡± Li Lanfeng smashed his hand onto the table, ¡°If the Federation were to retreat because of this, then that would prove that Supreme Dragon is longer able to pilot a god-ss mecha and join the war. The advantage that we have with numbers will then no longer exist.¡±


    Li Yingjie was shocked after realizing the situation. He knew well that after Ling Xiao returned to the Federation, Caesar was kept in check because of their advantage in numbers of god-ss operators. If it was confirmed that the advantage was gone... The entire gxy would change. The neutral nations who originally sided with the Federation might be neutral once again or even perhaps side with Caesar.


    ¡°The military headquarters will be able to see through Caesar¡¯s n and will definitely send in god-ss operators to aid the army,¡± Han Jijyun stared at Li Lanfeng, with his eyes full with confidence. Now that he had grown up, he no longer feared Li Lanfeng suspecting his judgment.


    Li Lanfeng calmly used his hands to gesture for Han Jijyun to speak his mind.


    Ling Lan, who was sitting on the main seat, saw this gesture and raised her eyebrows. She looked at Li Lanfeng with a thought in her mind.


    Feeling Ling Lan¡¯s gaze, Li Lanfeng smirked and gave a look to her telling her to praise him. This made Ling Lan bepletely speechless. She just stopped staring at him. Li Lanfeng had less and less of a moralpass recently. Ling Lan missed the old Li Lanfeng who would act and perform perfectly in every aspect. Although the perfect act made her ufortable, it was at least better than looks he gave her that were perverse and hurt her eyes.


    Of course, Ling Lan¡¯s speechlessness in Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes was just coldness and indifference. He put his head down with a disappointed look on his face. In the next second, he lifted his head again and returned to normal.


    If that iceberg was so easily broken through, he wouldn¡¯t have to think so much about it and use all the tricks in the book.


    Li Lanfeng made a promise to himself. If nothing else works, he will have to use his ultimate technique, beauty trap. He had always hated his face. He didn¡¯t think that one day it would be something that would save his life. It was the first time Li Lanfeng was grateful to his parents for giving him such an otherworldly face... With his previous experiences, it would probably be effective.


    Every time he showed his face, Ling Lan¡¯s endurance against him would be lower. As expected, men all cared about looks... Luckily, Ling Lan still hadn¡¯t forgotten this instinct.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that Li Lanfeng was already out of techniques, so he only had the beauty trap left... Ugh, let us pray for Ling Lan and hope she can sessfully get past the test of the beauty trap!


    Han Jijyun saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s gesture and spoke up, ¡°If we can think of these problems, then the military headquarters¡¯ staff officers also will be able to predict it. No matter if Supreme Dragon can join the fight, the Federation will still send a god-ss operator to the frontline army attacking the Twilight Empire. That is because the war this time represents the Federation¡¯s dignity and public image, and one that they could not afford to lose.¡±


    After hearing those words, Ling Lan nodded. Han Jijyun, who received his Boss¡¯s recognition became even more confident, ¡°Intergctic war will happen, but it wouldn¡¯t ur everywhere in an instant. Even if Supreme Dragon cannot join, the Federation will still have enough time to handle the situation when the actual intergctic war erupts.¡±

 Chapter 1212 - A Villainous Plot?

    <h4>Chapter 1212 A Viinous Plot?</h4>


    ¡°We just don¡¯t know which god-ss operator the military headquarters have sent to participate in the war.¡± Han Jijyun had a pondering look on his face. Although the Federation had eight other god-ss operators and could send any one of them, in reality, it wasn¡¯t as simple as it seemed. Our enemies predict how many god-ss operators are left and quantify their overall battle potential within the Federation after taking a look at the god-ss operators we send out as god-ss operators have their own strengths and weaknesses. One poorly made decision might allow our enemies to uncover the hidden truth.


    ¡°That¡¯s for the military headquarters to figure out. You don¡¯t have to use your mind for that.¡± Qi Long saw Han Jijyun pondering deeply about the issue and told him to stop.


    Hearing this, Han Jijyun shook his head in resignation. ¡°Indeed. This has nothing to do with us, but it¡¯s a good practice. I want to simte being in an actual war. Although the military headquarters had given us a three-year grace period, I¡¯m very sure that at the end of it, we will have to go to war. When that timees, everything will be through personal judgment. If I can practice more and increase my knowledge, it will be good for our future as an independent army.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have three years,¡± Ling Lan suddenly said solemnly.


    All of the brigade leaders were all surprised by the sudden statement and looked towards Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan calmly said, leaving no room for doubt, ¡°We may have to go into the battlefield in the near future.¡±


    She didn¡¯t forget the reminder her father had given her before leaving for war. The spy who was recently caught wasn¡¯t the prized fish her father seeked. The spy who had hurt her father was still atrge.


    ¡°How soon?¡± Yang Mingzhi had a grave look on his face as he asked.


    He finally understood why the logistics department was running in full force and why they were rampantly increasing their numbers of their army. Moreover, he knew now why Lingtian was taking in more established mecha ns and difficult-to-handle veterans, than new recruits who had potential and had admiration for Ling Lan and her army. If their army still had that three-year grace period, taking in those recruits were the most obvious and correct choice as they had potential to grow to the top performers of the army while also being loyal to Lingtian.


    However, with that grace period gone, theirmander had no choice but to recruit those stubborn veterans soldiers. The burden of the survival of Lingtian Independent Army was on Ling Lan¡¯s shoulders. She must have refused to take in those new recruits because of their own good. She hoped that they would have time to grow in a safe environment to just be cannon fodder on the battlefield.


    Without those three years, most of the new recruits would perish if they were immediately sent into the battlefield. Although war could allow new recruits to grow much quicker, bing elites of war, the price for such hardened elites was a very high mortality rate.


    Hismander, Ling Lan, was although cold-hearted and seemingly merciless and ruthless, but every decision he made was through much careful thought, no matter if it was for new recruits or veterans.


    Yang Mingzhi was moved. If the chief who led him at his downfall thought things through like Commander Ling, could hisrades have came out alive from that trap?


    A wave of regret rushed into Yang Mingzhi¡¯s heart. He was lucky to meet this newmander, but unfortunately, hisrades weren¡¯t as lucky as him.


    ¡°It will depend on when General Ling Xiao achieves a huge victory in the war.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold and clear voice forced Yang Mingzhi to toss the regret and sadness to the back of his head as needed to think about his currentrades now. Ling Lan¡¯s words caused a frown to form on his face. He could smell the plot thickening in the air.


    ¡°Someone is nning on going against General Ling Xiao?¡± Yang Mingzhi looked at Ling Lan with his widened eyes in hopes that hismander could give him an answer.


    ¡°It¡¯s a high possibility. That¡¯s why one huge victory would make it all clear.¡± A coldness shed before Ling Lan¡¯s eyes for a moment.


    If the military headquarters were to actually give an order for Lingtian Independent Army to enter the war against the Twilight Empire, then no matter what the reason was, there would definitely be a top ranking individual who wanted to go against her father. However, using her as a pawn to trap her father still needed her approval first.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made all the brigade leader¡¯s faces darken. Ling Xiao was the idol of every soldier in the military. They couldn¡¯t ept the fact that someone wanted to plot against the general, and the fact that person was a high ranking official from the military headquarters.


    At that moment, the military headquarters was in a state of rage after receiving news of Granda¡¯s god-ss operators appearing on the Twilight Empire¡¯s battlefield. After an emergency meeting, they immediately sent the god-ss operator who was closest to the Twilight Empire to join the war. At the same time, the Federation¡¯s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was putting down Granda for bing involved in the war between the two nations... The Intergctic United Nations once again turned into arge debacle of who¡¯s right and who¡¯s wrong. The Federation¡¯s most valued ally had actively participated in the argument, dering that they were going to war as well. A war between two nations now became a war between four nations. The mes of war began to spread.


    ¡°The Federation sent the closest god-ss operators to the Twilight Empire... They made a really good choice. We are now unable to determine if Supreme Dragon has fallen from grace.¡± At that moment, in the military headquarters of the Caesar Empire, a few high ranking officials were sitting and discussing about the imminent intergctic war..


    ¡°ording to the intel our spies have given us, out of the eight god-ss operators, three of them are within the military headquarters and the other five are at locations here, here, and here...¡± A white-haired general from Caesar pointed at the mini virtual screen in front of him and five red dots followed afterwards, indicating where he had pointed.


    ¡°Everyone can see that there are two points that although seem to be of opposite directions, but they are both closest to the Twilight Empire¡¯s battlefield. For god-ss mechas, such distance can be neglected.¡± said the white-haired general as he pointed at the two dots close to the Twilight Empire.


    ¡°The Federation sent out the god of closebat, Dominant Sword King, Wang Shang. He¡¯s considered to be in the middle of the pack in the Federation,¡± said the general sitting opposite towards him.


    ¡°So he¡¯s ranked around the middle.¡± Another general who was sitting at the side of the white-haired general, guffawed.


    ¡°Yes. ording to the spies¡¯ intel, his rank is seventh.¡± said the white-haired general. ¡°The other god-ss mecha operator they sent is ranked 4th, Master of the East, Dong Xiangnan.


    After hearing that name, many people felt their eyes twitching and felt a bit nauseous.


    Ling Xiao came up the ranks quite recentlypared to therge interval of ascensions of god-ss operators. He was considered by all the nations to be the Federation¡¯s number one god-ss operator after he had returned because his piloting was perfect with no weaknesses and he was adept in both closebat and long rangebat. However, before Ling Xiao had returned, what made the other nations have headaches was not the top three strongest individuals in the Federation. It was instead this Dong Xiangnan, who was always 4th no matter what.


    When talking about Dong Xiangnan, any god-ss operator who had fought with him, would cuss and insult him as despicable and shameless. His existence was essentially a disgrace to all god-ss operators.


    The Federation¡¯s god-ss operators usually fought fairly and would always use their abilities to push against their opponents. However, Dong Xiangnan wasn¡¯t anything like that. No matter if the opponent was strong or weak, he wouldn¡¯t fight them head on. He would constantly hide and ambush them, and that was the norm for him. He would even use perverted techniques that no one dared to even mention. Moreover, his arsenal was full of those perverted techniques.


    No one knew Dong Xiangnan¡¯s real capabilities was. That was because those who went against him would usually die from a trap before he showed his real potential, not to mention anyone forcing Dong Xiangnan to put in all of his effort into the fight. In reality, except for the prime Supreme Dragon, Mountain King of the South, King Muqi and Ling Xiao who came recently, Dong Xiangnan was the only undefeated god-ss operator from the Federation. This was why he could maintain the fourth position for so long.

 Chapter 1213 - Profound God-Class

    <h4>Chapter 1213 Profound God-ss</h4>


    ¡°If Supreme Dragon is still able to operate a god-ss mecha, the Federation wouldn¡¯t have sent the Master of the East,¡± The white-haired general stated inly.


    ¡°Do you mean we can now ignore Supreme Dragon?¡± One of the lieutenant generals was excited. The ambition in his eyes was obvious.


    ¡°A starving camel is stillrger than a horse. No one knows how much strength Supreme Dragon can release when the pressure is on. However, we can be sure that Supreme Dragon isn¡¯t as powerful as he was in the past.¡± The white-haired general felt fearful when he remembered the scene he saw in the past. He closed his eyes to calm his furiously beating heart.


    He ced so much emphasis on Supreme Dragon because he had seen Supreme Dragon entering profound god-ss before. It was a frightening experience. He felt as though nine dragon gods had descended on earth. Just spectating the experience had caused a devil to form in his heart. He has never been able to sleep peacefully since then.


    He could vividly remember the terror he had felt back then. Just one attack from Supreme Dragon disintegrated one of Caesar¡¯s god-ss operators. From then on, Caesar had been suppressed by the Federation until Supreme Dragon¡¯s ability deteriorated and Ling Xiao ¡®dying¡¯ from their scheme. However, their good times didn¡¯tst long as Ling Xiao came back and Caesar was back to being suppressed again.


    Caesar was a proud nation. They couldn¡¯t stand being second to another nation. Thus, they used every method in their grasp to imnt spies into the military headquarters of the Federation, just so that they could achieve their goal of being the most powerful nation again.


    The reason why Huaxia had been able to suppress them for so long was because of Supreme Dragon and Ling Xiao. The former had reached profound god-ss while thetter was a wless god-ss mecha operator. Moreover, thetter had also killed a god-ss operator before, increasing his danger level in their minds.


    However, only Caesar and Twilight knew about this fact. The newly advanced god-ss operator, Gongteng Yuanwang, died before anyone knew he was a god-ss operator. He perished in the explosion of Zuojing.


    Twilight despised Ling Xiao for destroying Zuojing but they hated him more for killing their youngest god-ss operator. They spent much effort to groom a god-ss operator only for him to be a corpse in space. They used up almost 50 years of their national resources to groom such an operator. That meant that they had to wait another 50 years before they could produce their next god-ss operator.


    When Caesar heard about this, they chalked it to just Twilight having horsesh*t luck as Gongteng Yuanwang died on his home the moment he became a god-ss operator. No one expected Ling Xiao to use Divine Punishment the moment he willed to destroy Zuojing. What was worse was that he aimed Divine Punishment at the ce where Gongteng Yuanwang was celebrating his advancement. Gongteng Yuanwang didn¡¯t even have the time to react before he was turned into dust.


    Thus, Twilight viewed Ling Xiao as their eternal enemy. Ling Xiao thought that they hated him because he destroyed Zuojing but there was another deep-rooted reason behind it.


    Twilight wanted to kill Ling Xiao but Caesar wanted to kill Supreme Dragon. The upper echelons of Caesar felt that a god-ss operator who hadn¡¯t reached the profound god-ss was nothing to be afraid of, but profound god-ss operators were just another entity on their own. The moment they ascertained that Supreme Dragon wasn¡¯t at profound god-ss anymore, Caesar would enter the war.


    Of course, they would still target Ling Xiao. If they were able to kill the most powerful god-ss operator of the Federation, they would be able to step over Huaxia like ants. After all, they had a profound god-ss operator itching toe out.


    ¡°Do we inform Twilight that we¡¯re entering the war?¡± An old but stern man opened his mouth.


    The white-haired general smiled. ¡°The president feels that we should wait a while more.¡±


    ¡°Wait?¡± The old man raised his eyebrows in doubt. He couldn¡¯t understand the decision.


    ¡°The time isn¡¯t right.¡± He didn¡¯t know when was the right time too but he just repeated the president¡¯s words.


    The time isn¡¯t right?¡¯ The lieutenant generals and generals in the meeting were puzzled. However, since their president had already made the decision, they could only follow it through. They just hoped that they wouldn¡¯t have to wait too long.


    At that moment, Qi Yaoyang was having a close shave with death. He tried his best to evade the attacks but the difference between an imperial operator and a god-ss operator was too vast, even for the god-like Qi Yaoyang.


    Federick underestimated Qi Yaoyang at the start so Qi Yaoyang was able to dodge his early attacks. However, after tuning his mentality, he no longer looked down on his opponent. He started treating his opponent seriously.


    Even when he wasn¡¯t serious, Qi Yaoyang wasn¡¯t his match. If it wasn¡¯t for King Muqi¡¯s help, Qi Yaoyang would have died a long time ago.


    However, the help didn¡¯tst for long. Lord Jindao exerted more pressure on King Muqi so he wasn¡¯t able to help Qi Yaoyang anymore. Just as Qi Yaoyang was about to die under the hands of Federick, another god-ss operator charged towards the battlefield at the speed of light.


    ¡°Ah, another god-ss mecha hade.¡± Twilight noticed the iing god-ss mecha too.


    ¡°Damn it, it¡¯s from the Federation!¡± The Twilight soldiers gritted their teeth when they saw the appearance of the god-ss mecha.


    ¡°It¡¯s our god-ss operator!¡± The soldiers from the Federation cheered out loud.


    ¡°It¡¯s Dominant Sword King!¡± Some soldiers shouted excitedly when they saw the familiar mecha.


    ¡°It¡¯s our king of closebat.¡±


    Dominant Sword King was a closebat god-ss mecha. Most of the god-ss mechas are closebat god-ss mechas but Dominant Sword King made a name for himself out of the masses by being a fearless closebat warrior. He wasn¡¯t like the other god-ss mecha masters who used god-ss techniques and all kinds of defense systems to prevent themselves from getting hurt. Dominant Sword King only attacked. He had no defensive technique. He believed in the dharma ¡®offense is the best defense¡¯.


    That meant that every attack he made was powerful and filled with risk. He would get hurt along with his opponent. At the end, the one who survived was the one who couldst longer. This was definitely a battle of luck and endurance.


    Federick wanted to kill Qi Yaoyang but he suddenly felt a chill on his back.


    He raised his beam saber and turned around.


    ng! The residual force from the collision could be felt from his cockpit. He felt ufortable around his chest.


    He quickly moved his mecha back a few hundred meters and saw a god-ss mecha looking coldly at him with a sword in each hand.

 Chapter 1214 - Divine Punishment.

    <h4>Chapter 1214 Divine Punishment.</h4>


    At Three Stars Lock, the starships from the 23rd division aimed their cannons at No. 1. They received an order to raze the to its core.


    They waited silently for the huge and holy-like mecha in front of them to initiate the battle. Once it did, they would follow.


    Ling Xiao said coldly, ¡°Activate Divine Punishment.¡±


    The twelve wings behind the mecha unfurled, making the mecha akin to a messenger from heaven. Every wing started congregating energy at its tips. This was the most powerful offensive system of (Belief). None could hinder its path except god-ss mechas.


    The twelve wings were all locked in one location, No. 1 of Three Stars Lock.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s gaze was cold and ruthless. He knew that once heunched his attack, millions of people would be pulverized instantly. Countless innocent lives would be implicated too. His current image now was no longer Lan Luofeng¡¯s loving husband or Ling Lan¡¯s doting father. He was the ultimate weapon of the Federation, Ling Xiao.


    He pressed the button calmly and the twelve wings ejected their energy, congregating towards one direction. Divine Punishment was activated.


    ¡°Fire!¡± All the captains of the starships shouted simultaneously.


    Multiple beams, along with Divine Punishment, shot towards the unsuspecting.


    The inhabitants of Three Stars Lock knew that they were in danger the moment their radars went haywire. All the soldiers were already prepared for the worst. Some mechas had already been ejected into the vast space. Once they spot any signs of their enemies, they would stop them at all costs, even if the cost was their lives.


    Only if their signal wasn¡¯t blocked, they would have contacted the centralmand center for help.


    The higher authorities of Twilight were aware that Ling Xiao wanted to sneak an attack on their capital. Hence, theyid many traps and waited for Ling Xiao to step inside.


    The head of the logistics department at Three Stars Lock knew about this n so giddy just at the thought of the possible death of Ling Xiao. However, when he realised that the signals at the Three Stars Lock were blocked, memories entered his mind of the time when Ling Xiao tried to sneak through the death wormhole. He could feel his heart dropping to the pits of his stomach. Did Ling Xiao give up on the capital just toplete his mission 25 years ago?


    It had to be said that his judgement was very urate.


    ¡°Head, a huge energy wave is detected in the direction of No. 1.¡± One of the soldiers in themand center received feedback from the energy detectors on No. 1 and quickly reported to his head.


    ¡°We detected it too,¡± Another soldier in charge of the radar eximed.


    ¡°What¡¯s the figure?¡± The head asked anxiously.


    ¡°It has exceeded the maximum range of the radar,¡± The soldier shouted in fright. The screens in front of him were all blinking in red. The ring sound of rm pierced his ears.


    Everyone in themand center noticed themotion too. They stopped what they were doing and prayed that it wasn¡¯t too big of a problem. The head rushed to the soldier and stared nkly at the red alerts on the screen. His face was pale as the freshest sheet of paper. He lost strength in his legs as he slumped down powerlessly. ¡°It¡¯s Ling Xiao. It¡¯s really Ling Xiao.¡±


    Besides the Divine Punishment system, what else could create such a huge amount of energy?


    No.1 is finished.¡± The head looked at the direction where the block of energy was heading towards. His heart bled as he predicted at the faith of the inhabitants of No. 1 with lifeless eyes.


    No. 1 might be able to handle one round of Divine Punishment but they wouldn¡¯t be able to handle the subsequent attacks from the starships. The cannons on them might not be as powerful as the Divine Punishment system but with the amount of firepower those thousands of cannons could churn out, it was nothing to scoff at.


    After two rounds of Divine Punishment, even their biggest would be half-destroyed. No. 1 was the smallest among the threes at Three Stars Lock.


    No. 1 was where all their goods and materials were stored. The logistics headquarters was erected on No. 3. If Ling Xiao wanted to destroy the logistics headquarters, he would¡¯ve attacked No. 3. However, he must have known that based on the power of his starships and (Belief), he would need at least three rounds of Divine Punishment before he could destroy No.


    The cannons and Divine Punishment needed time to replenish their ammo and energy. If they couldn¡¯t finish their opponent in one attack, their opponent would have the chance to resist.


    The threes at Three Stars Lock were able to rotate safely because they had reached a state of equilibrium. Once this equilibrium was broken, the threes would be in danger of falling out of orbit. Ling Xiao wanted to break the bnce of the threes. That was why he attacked the under-defended No. 1.


    Boom! no.1 exploded. Inhabitants thought the apocalypse wasing. Multiple escape pods ejected out of the base on the before the explosion urred. However, it was up to fate whether they were able to escape the range of the explosion.


    ¡°Beep beep beep. An unknown flying object has appeared.¡± The ace mecha masters at the frontline heard the warning from their mechas.


    ¡°Prepare for battle!¡± All the regimentmanders and the team leaders ordered their members.


    They were prepared for this. They knew that the moment they attacked No.1, their whereabouts would be exposed soon. Their enemies would definitely not be like a sitting duck and take their beating.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s wings finished umting energy again. He aimed them at the mechas from Twilight and fired, pulverizing anything and everything in its oath


    It left nine empty roads of death in the formation of the iing Twilight army.


    However, it didn¡¯t give him any joy as Ling Xiao frowned as he looked towards the center of the army. A huge mecha had appeared in front of him. Three of his beams had been blocked by the shield of this mecha.


    Only a god-ss mecha could block Divine Punishment. That¡¯s right, this mecha in front of him was a god-ss mecha too. The appearance of this mecha caused the mecha operators in the middle threenes to escape death.


    ¡°It looks like Caesar has already started helping Twilight. So, this is where you were hiding.¡± Ling Xiao sneered as he looked at the familiar mecha in front of him.


    ¡°Immortal Bird Ling Xiao.¡± The person tried his best to speak the Huaxianguage.


    ¡°Duke Allomone,¡± Ling Xiao replied calmly.


    The god-ss operators of Caesar were given feudal ranks based on their capabilities. This person in front of him was the fifth among the god-ss operators in Caesar.


    The strongest god-ss operator from Caesar was King Paro. It was said that he had fought Supreme Dragon on equal footing. However, that happened a long time ago. There was not much news of him now. As for this Duke Allomone, he became famous 60 years ago. It was due to the constant news coverage of his heroic acts, painting him as the selfless hero of Caesar which turned him into the most respected god-ss operator in Caesar.


    But, the most famous god-ss operator in the human universe was Ling Xiao.


    He ¡®died¡¯ for 16 years beforeing back alive. Then, he was recognised as the most powerful god-ss operator. His operations were said to be perfect too. His legendary experience made him famous in the whole universe. Many god-ss operators were unhappy about this as they felt Ling Xiao had stolen their limelight. Duke Allomone was one of those jealous sods. He always felt that Ling Xiao only knew how to create hype around his operations while in actuality, being just average.

 Chapter 1215 - Duplication!

    <h4>Chapter 1215 Duplication!</h4>


    ¡°Immortal Bird, you¡¯vee. Now,e here obediently like the dog you are and let me chop your neck.¡± Duke Allomone mocked as he shed his sword at Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao moved his mecha and somersaulted backward to evade the de.


    Allomone kept his sword and sneered. ¡°You don¡¯t dare to fight me head-on? Aren¡¯t you the number one god-ss operator of the Federation?¡±


    Ling Xiao furled his twelve wings back into his mecha. He reached behind him and took out his sword. He twirled the huge sword and said coldly, ¡°Please.¡±


    Allomone narrowed his eyes in anger. The way Ling Xiao twirled his sword was simr to what he did. This was nket provocation to him.


    He raised his giant sword slowly. This movement seemed simple but behind the movement, his mecha¡¯s arm was vibrating at a breakneck pace. The vibration from his arm moved towards his sword, turning his sword into a meat grinder. This was one of Allomone¡¯s ultimate sword techniques, Vibration of Death.


    If his enemy didn¡¯t notice anything and tried to receive the sword attack, he would be injured by the vibration within the sword. The mecha would be injured and his opponent¡¯s sword would shatter.


    Ling Xiao smiled as he raised his sword in the same way.


    Both their actions were the same which caught the attention of the spectating soldiers from the Federation.


    ¡°Are they going to have a closebat battle?¡± The soldiers were stunned. In their minds, their general had always used Divine Punishment to defeat his opponents through kiting and harrassing. They had never seen him engaging in closebat before.


    Ling Xiao was known to have wless operating skills but most soldiers felt that he was much more adept in long-range techniques rather than closebat techniques. The person who was able to utilize Divine Punishment to its fullest potential was Ling Xiao.


    ¡°Duke Allomone is one of the most powerful closebat mecha operators of Caesar. Will the general be alright?¡± Some soldiers started worrying. They were confident about their general¡¯s long-range techniques because they had seen it in action before but Ling Xiao never had disyed his closebat techniques before them. Hence, they were worried about him.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you look at the technique the general is using.¡± An experienced soldier was able to notice the minute details of the ongoing battle better than the younger soldiers, so he decided to teach the younger soldiers.


    ¡°Technique? Isn¡¯t he just doing the same action as his opponent? Is he using one of his techniques?¡± Someone was puzzled. Not everyone was able to see the secret of the movement.


    ¡°What is it? Tell me...¡± A lot of people couldn¡¯t see through the movement. Hence, they gathered around the experienced soldier in hopes that he would give them an answer.


    ¡°Who knows what techniques the general has?¡± The experienced soldier felt speechless. Most battles between god-ss operators were done in secret. Not many people had the chance to watch it. Most people felt that Ling Xiao¡¯s long-range techniques were more powerful because he used Divine Punishment when he came back alive many years ago.


    ¡°Tsk!¡± Everyone red at the experienced soldier. They had high hopes for him but his answer was disappointing.


    The experienced soldier quickly continued, ¡°I don¡¯t know what his techniques are but I remember the general¡¯s powerful innate talent.¡±


    ¡°Innate talent?¡±


    ¡°Duplication!¡±


    Everyone thought about the same thing and shouted in unnned unison.


    They looked at the screen again. When they saw the same movements from the two mechas, they felt excited. They had full respect for Ling Xiao. It was rumoured that General Ling Xiao was able to duplicate any techniques he saw. It meant that he could duplicate the technique of the other god-ss operator, right?


    While the soldiers were gushing over Ling Xiao¡¯s prowess, Allomone shed his sword at Ling Xiao. He had finished congregating the vibrations in his sword.


    Ling Xiao struck his sword at Allomone too.


    Bang! The two swords collided. Allomone suddenly felt a huge force creeping up to his shoulders.


    The two mechas flew back for a few metres. Both the huge swords were wobbling in their hands.


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. How could it be Vibration of Death!¡± Allomone looked at Ling Xiao with a dumbfounded look. The techniques of every god-ss mecha master were all distinct in their own way. Even if they thought of the same technique, the application of the technique was different for every mecha operator. For instance, many people might have simr techniques like his Vibration of Death but the way they used it was different from him. Hence, you could say that the techniques of every god-ss mecha master were unique.


    He had sparred with many god-ss operators from many different nations but had never met someone who had the same technique as him. He felt that his opponent had dug his brain out to replicate the technique perfectly. This made him quite bbergasted and nervous.


    However, despite his initial nervousness, Allomone regained his senses quickly. He was unwilling to ept the fact that Ling Xiao had copied his technique. He wanted to try again, so he took out another sword from behind him.


    As an advent pursuer towards the pinnacle of closebat, Allomone never just carried one sword with him. Many of his real battle techniques required him tobine the two swords together. The battle technique was known as Death Whirlpool.


    Allomone ced his hands together andbined the handles of the two swords. He turned it into an even bigger sword where both ends were des. He grabbed the middle of the sword and started spinning it, and a whirlpool quickly formed around him. Energy started congregating in the whirlpool.


    The mecha operators around him felt a huge sense of crisis. All the mecha operators, whether they were from the Federation or Twilight, stopped their fights and moved away from the two god-ss mecha masters. They moved as far away as they could. They knew that once they got hit by the god-ss mecha masters, they would most probably be dead.


    Ling Xiao repeated whatever Allomone was doing.


    (Belief] carried many things on it to amodate its master¡¯s innate talent. There were two giant swords behind him as well as two thin lightsabers at the side. There were also two giant long-range beam guns strapped to its side. Two beam handguns were ced near his waist. A few high-frequency des were stuck on the thighs of (Belief). It was loaded with weapons.


    Ling Xiao moved as quickly as Allomone. In the eyes of the bystanders, both of them were moving simultaneously. While Allomone finishedbining the two swords, Ling Xiao had finishedbining his too. As Allomone spun his sword, Ling Xiao started spinning his too.

 Chapter 1216 - Ling Xiao, You’re Vile!

    <h4>Chapter 1216 Ling Xiao, You¡¯re Vile!</h4>


    ¡°It¡¯s the same technique again!¡± The soldiers from the Federation who were watching the battle were on the edge of their seats. At that moment, everyone knew that the general was using his duplication innate talent to its fullest and had sessfully copied his opponent¡¯s battle technique. However, a copy was only just a copy. Could its final power be as strong as the original?


    Bang! The tworge whirling swords shed once again.


    The two swords stopped spinning after smashing into each other. The two mechas seemed to have been stopped in time, as they were just pushing against each other with none of them budging a single inch.


    ¡®Their strength is on par?¡¯


    Right as everyone thought that was the case, a mecha was suddenly sent flying out from the sh.


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s the general!¡± It was Ling Xiao¡¯s (Belief).


    ¡°The general?¡± Soldiers from the Federation were shocked as they shouted in surprise. Could it be that their general had lost?


    ¡°Ah, the huge swords!¡± Suddenly, someone eximed in shock.


    As those words were spoken, the two swords that were stuck to each other suddenly cracked into pieces, shattering in all directions. Ling Xiao¡¯s (Belief] perfectly evaded all of the pieces of the swords because he had flown out of the way beforehand and somersaulted in space.


    Allomone on the other hand, did not move from his spot. Faced with the broken sword pieces, he didn¡¯t dodge. His mecha just shined brightly to block the sword pieces.


    After blocking the pieces, the mecha¡¯s original shining light turned dim. However, god-ss mechas had a core that could quickly replenish the energy. One second was all that was needed for the god-ss mecha¡¯s shield to replenish to its full power. In other words, Allomone was in the most danger during that one second time frame. However, in this case, even though the god-ss mecha¡¯s shield was still notpletely yet depleted, it could still block a top-level battle technique.


    Allomone was also not an idiot who would just stand there and take a beating. He quickly piloted his mecha to back up and was preparing to safely pass through the one second down time. He was going to let his shield recharge and then continue his barrage of attacks. A god-ss operator would never let himself be in a dangerous situation.


    Allomone¡¯s idea was good, but it would have to depend on whether Ling Xiao gave him the chance to do so.


    In that instant, two white lights cut across the space around them and ruthlessly struck Allomone¡¯s mecha.


    Allomone couldn¡¯t evade at all and could only use his shield to forcefully block them.


    The light on the mecha finally disappeared. The attackpletely depleted the energy of the god-ss mecha¡¯s god shield. The mecha instantly became as dark as space itself. At that moment, everyone saw that the two white lights were actually Ling Xiao¡¯s two beam sabers.


    However, Ling Xiao¡¯s retaliation didn¡¯t stop there, as his two hands held two beam handguns. The power of the beam handguns were notparable to beam rifles, but the advantage was that it didn¡¯t need to gather much energy to fire at a rapid pace.


    As expected, after the beam saber hit, a barrage of beam projectiles came towards Allomone. It perfectly covered the field, encapsting Allomonepletely so that he would be hit no matter where or how he chose to evade.


    However, the power of the beam handguns was not enough to harm a god-ss mecha. It could only deplete the energy of the god shield that was still recovering, forcing the shield to stay at its lowest energy state. The shield could block the beam projectiles of the beam handguns, but high impact weapons would definitely cause damage to the god-ss mecha.


    The situation undoubtedly showed that Allomone was at a disadvantage and Ling Xiao seemingly had control over the field. A few younger soldiers from the Federation couldn¡¯t help but shout happily. The experienced veterans on the other hand had concerned expressions on their faces. That was because they knew that once Ling Xiao stopped controlling the field and gave his opponent one second of time, then Ling Xiao¡¯s advantage would be gone and everything would return to the stalemate beforehand.


    No, it might even be worse than that. It should be known that Ling Xiao had already lost all of the strong weapons for closebat purposes. Hisrge swords burst into pieces and his beam sabers were tossed away into the depths of space. He only had two long range rifles left. The beam handguns he was using to attack could be considered as close range weapons, but it wasn¡¯t as strong as the other weapons as the handguns were mostly used to interfere with high-frequency des.


    The opponent on the other hand, had only lost hisrge sword, while still having a strong beam saber on his back. Once they fight in close quarters, the general will definitely be at a disadvantage. In terms of long range, just the general¡¯s handguns were not enough to severely damage his opponent. He also couldn¡¯t switch to the long range sniper rifle because it would give his opponent time to replenish the god shield. In the end, the results were not in favor of their general.


    During that moment, at a location where no one could see, the 12 wings hidden behind (Belief) that furled back into the mecha, slowly gathered energy. The tips of the wings began to give off a dim light.


    Se


    Another few minutes had passed, and Ling Xiao was still perfectly in control of the field. He was still urately depleting Allomone¡¯s god shield¡¯s energy, never giving him that one second time frame. This was clearly a battle of endurance. Out of the two of them, Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual power was being depleted at a much quicker rate than Allomone. The reason for such rapid depletion was the calctions he needed to churn out about the impact of his projectiles, along with his opponent¡¯s movement. He must calcte it perfectly and not make any errors, which had caused quite a strain on his mind.


    Even those newbie soldiers, who didn¡¯t have enough battle experience, knew their general¡¯s overall situation wasn¡¯t as good as they had previously thought. It was actually not good at all. All of the soldiers in the 23rd Division were concerned and were worried for their general. They didn¡¯t know when their general would make the eventual mistake or error. When that happened, that would be Allomone¡¯s chance to turn the tides around.


    After some time, Ling Xiao¡¯s perfect and urate beam projectiles suddenly went off course. Many of themnded around Allomone, while only a small amount went towards Allomone. For a god-ss operator, the small amount that was left could bepletely evaded.


    Finally, after such high intensity calctions and field control, Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual power had reached its limit. Ling Xiao finally made a huge mistake.


    Seeing the situation, the soldiers from the 23rd Division all screamed out in shock.


    Allomone¡¯s eyes shined brightly as an opportunity had appeared in front of him.


    However, in the blink of an eye, his face instantly turned pale. He then screamed out uncontrobly, ¡°NOOO!¡±


    He didn¡¯t know when, but the wings of the Divine Punishment system were unfurled. All of the tips of the wings were pointed towards him. As he screamed in agony and regret, the 12 wings shot 12 bright lights simultaneously.


    Even if the god shield was at full power, it was impossible for a god-ss mecha to not pay any price in order to block all 12 wings. Not to mention, Allomone¡¯s god shield was nowpletely depleted by Ling Xiao¡¯s constant barrage of beam projectiles. If he couldn¡¯t dodge the attack from the 12 wings, then the final oue would be death.


    At that moment, Allomone understood Ling Xiao was just buying his time to recharge his Divine Punishment system. He didn¡¯t want to just defeat him, but rather, keep him there forever and let him be a corpse in space.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, you¡¯re vile!¡± shouted Allomone. His spiritual power suddenly increased exponentially. On the brink of death, his finger speed suddenly broke through his previous limit. With his newfound peak spiritual power, he wanted to pilot his mecha and get out of the situation alive.

 Chapter 1217 - Death!

    <h4>Chapter 1217 Death!</h4>


    Right as he spoke, a beautiful lotus bloomed in space. It unfurled its petals to reveal moreyers. After unfurling eight times, the light finally began to fade as images of the stalk began to fade into the scene.


    At that moment, even the people from the Federation and the Twilight Empire, couldn¡¯t help but look towards the center where the lotus faded away as they silently waited for the final result.


    Boom! Suddenly, the engine of a mecha erupted. The Twilight Empire began to cheer. That noise meant that Allomone was not dead.


    They were very much aware that if Allomone were to die, they would not be able to get out of the situation alive as no one could take on Ling Xiao¡¯s Divine Punishment.


    Finally, a broken mecha flew out from the center of the faded lotus.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, just you wait!¡± Allomone¡¯s vengeful voice was heard on the public channel. This loss was definitely a disgrace for him. He would definitely return this lost a hundred fold.


    Boom! Another explosion erupted from Allomone¡¯s mecha.


    This time, parts of Allomone¡¯s god-ss mecha began to explode in tandem. The revving of the engine that was originally there, was now gone. The currently limbless mecha slowly floated in space silently.


    Ling Xiao slowly put down the beam sniper rifle he had in his hands. In the crucial moment, he performed perfectly. In less than a second, he switched to his sniper rifle and used his strongest sniping technique to send Allomone to his grave.


    The entire battlefield was dead silent. Everyone was shocked by what they saw. In thest few hundred years, there hasn¡¯t been any god-ss operator who had perished in a one-on-one battle. However, what was in front destroyed that peaceful record in its entirety, they actually saw a god-ss operator die with their very own eyes. This made everyone feel like they were in a dream.


    ¡°Ha! General! General! General! General!¡± After that mind-numbing moment, the soldiers from the Federation¡¯s 23rd Division could no longer control themselves, as they began to chant excitedly with their arms up in the air to show their excitement.


    ¡°Duke Allomore died? Impossible!¡± All of the soldiers from the Twilight Empire couldn¡¯t believe what they had just seen. A Caesar god-ss operator, Duke Allomore, who they believed to be invincible, was so easily taken out by Immortal Bird Ling Xiao?


    Taking out Duke Allomore actually took a lot out of Ling Xiao. He used all of his techniques and expended all of his tricks, making it a very tough fight for Ling Xiao. However, in the eyes of bystanders, Ling Xiao had the upper hand from the very beginning. No matter if it was when he used his Divine Punishment to hit Allomone, or when he shot using his sniper rifle, all of his actions seemed to be perfectly executed. It pictured the image that Ling Xiao was just overwhelmingly stronger than Duke Allomore.


    Ling Xiao took a deep breath and then recharged the twelve wings once again. He pointed them towards the army of the Twilight Empire. Although he took out the god-ss mecha, the battle was not yet finished. He must quickly take out the rest of the Twilight Empire¡¯s resistance andpletely destroy Three Stars Lock.


    Although Three Stars Lock had one of itsspletely destroyed, the situation wasn¡¯t as bad as Ling Xiao had previously thought. Although the twos had fallen out of orbit, it still quickly managed to reach an equilibrium with each other. It seemed the Twilight Empire had already nned ahead in case something happened to one of thes. From the current outlook, the results were quite effective.


    However, Ling Xiao wouldn¡¯t just give up on something he wanted to do. If destroying one wouldn¡¯t let him achieve his goal, then Ling Xiao would prepare to destroy the second.


    If he wanted to mount a full assault on the second, he must take out the Twilight Empire mechas standing in his way. Otherwise, they would definitely use their bodies to block his attacks without any care for their own lives. As for why Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t using the starships to do that, the 23rd Division was currently on their own, so they were limited in terms of energy cells and weapon supplies. Ling Xiao didn¡¯t want to waste the starship¡¯s main cannon on just mechas.


    Boom! Divine Punishment was seen again. It could not be blocked. The ces where the 12 beams of light had hit werepletely wiped away from the face of the gxy.


    Ling Xiao then aimed at the Twilight Empire¡¯s mecha army with hisrge beam rifle and coldlymanded, ¡°Front-line mecha operators, full assault!¡±


    After hearing Ling Xiao¡¯s orders, the ace operators on the front-lines all put up the weapons in their hands, shouted angrily and pounced towards the Twilight Empire¡¯s mecha army.


    Arge mecha battle began.


    Ling Xiao then ordered for all starships to change directions to move them past the mecha battlefield. All main cannons were ordered to be targeted at Three Stars Lock¡¯s second.


    At the same time, (Belief]¡¯s 12 wings gathered enough energy once again and pointed themselves towards the second that no longer had anything guarding it.


    ¡°What? Ling Xiao appeared at Three Stars Lock?¡± The Twilight Empire¡¯s main military headquarters finally received news from Three Stars Lock. Everyone had a grave look on their faces.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. A Duke is guarding Three Stars Lock. He could definitely keep Ling Xiao at bay,¡± said General ck Wing, as he put a slight feeling of worry into the back of his mind.


    ¡°No matter what, we must not let Allomone fight alone,¡± suggested another general.


    ¡°Since we have confirmed Ling Xiao is there, then we should send him the surprise we have prepared for him.¡± The general sitting on the main seat, no longer had his mild-mannered demeanor but instead had a coldness in his eyes.


    ¡°Yes, lord general!¡± Everyone stood up and responded in a serious tone.


    Afterwards, everyone went to do their own things. In order to take out Ling Xiao, they had to make many arrangements and give out many orders.


    Not long after, a starship fleet flew out from within the Twilight Empire and towards Three Stars Lock.


    When they arrived at the outer boundary of Three Stars Lock, their eyes were filled with sights of mecha debris floating in the vast space before them.


    The starship fleet quickly sent out mechanics to carefully clear the debris that could cause fatal damage to their starships. Caution must be exercised when clearing these debris and rubble because no one knew whether the debris had unstable or possibly explosive energy sources. No one wanted to take the risk of losing their lives.


    Before long, they finally managed to arrive at Three Stars Lock. The generals saw that the originally beautiful and bright Three Stars Lock only had one that was notpletely destroyed. It was thest, still burning brightly, illuminating their darkened expressions.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± One general angrily smashed his control deck, ¡°We¡¯re toote.¡±


    ¡°Put everything into searching for Ling Xiao and his damn 23rd Division.¡± This order was given out by all of the generals. They wanted to immediately find Ling Xiao and his 23rd Division, then kill them to take revenge for the Three Stars Lock.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but the thermal readings around this area cannot give us any useful information.¡± Every staff member of each division reported this information to their generals. The battle at the Three Stars Lock was very recent so there were many energy signals which caused their radars to lose their effectiveness on thermal readings.


    ¡°Bastard!¡± Despite being angry, these Twilight Empire¡¯s generals all knew they could do nothing about it. In the end, they could only give the order to search for survivors. Of course, they also want to get some answers for their doubts from the survivors. Doubts such as: Where Caesar¡¯s Duke had gone off to? Why couldn¡¯t he go with the n and hold Ling Xiao here until they got here?


    This was a question that the Twilight Empire and Caesar weren¡¯t able to figure out the answer to. Even if the Duke was weaker than Ling Xiao, they would definitely not think that he would die by Ling Xiao¡¯s hand. After all, when god-ss operators used god-ss mechas, they wouldn¡¯t die unless there was an underlying factor that could not be avoided. After all, the god shield system and its short recoverabilitypletely eliminated the possibility of death.

 Chapter 1218 - It’s Coming!

    <h4>Chapter 1218 It¡¯s Coming!</h4>


    ¡°President, there¡¯s a new piece of news from Twilight. Duke Allomore has disappeared.¡± General Adam came in with bad news.


    Adam was the superior of the white-haired general who was observing the battle between Twilight and the Federation.


    The president frowned. ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°Ling Xiao didn¡¯t attack the capital of Twilight. He chose to attack Three Stars Lock instead.¡± Adam¡¯s expression was dark. ¡°Duke Allomone was stationed at Three Stars Lock based on our n.¡±


    ¡°It means that Ling Xiao has seeded.¡± The president lowered his eyes. No emotions could be seen on his face.


    ¡°Yes. Three Stars Lock ispletely destroyed. If Twilight doesn¡¯t receive any replenishment of supplies from the other nations, it will copse.¡± Adam smiled bitterly. They wanted to use Twilight to probe the Federation to see what the Federation¡¯s limit was. Yet, now, no harm seemed to be done to the Federation and one of their god-ss operators was even missing because of this. Was he captured by their enemy or was he dead?


    Adam quickly kicked thetter thought out of his mind. How could a god-ss operator die? He must have surrendered and volunteered to be the Federation¡¯s ¡®guest¡¯.


    ¡°Did they find Ling Xiao?¡± The president was concerned about Ling Xiao¡¯s movements.


    ¡°No. Twilight was a step toote. Ling Xiao managed to escape.¡± Adam gave a forced smile.


    ¡°He didn¡¯t escape. He retreated safely,¡± the president calmly replied.


    ¡°Yes. Twilight can only use such words to cover up their failure.¡± Adam felt the same way too.


    The president sighed. He leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes.


    The room was dead silent. The silencested for a few minutes. Adam could stand it anymore so he promptly asked in a soft voice, ¡°President, are we going to continue waiting?¡±


    Caesar was prepared to fight the Federation. They were just waiting for the order from their president. This meant that an intergctic war was just a single approval away from starting. Caesar hoped that they could use this chance to defeat the Federation to be the sole ruler of all nations.


    The president opened his eyes and stood up slowly. He walked to the virtual map of the universe that was disyed on the podium opposite of him. He looked at the two nations with thergestndmass. One was Caesar and the other was Huaxia. Aplex expression shed past his eyes.


    After a few seconds, he said, ¡°Yes... the time is not right.¡±


    ¡°When is the right time?¡± Adam said impatiently.


    The president turned and red at him.


    Adam felt his heart dropping. He hurriedly lowered his head and kept quiet.


    The president¡¯s expression softened. He replied indifferently, ¡°Don¡¯t be anxious. Glory would only award the patient.¡±


    ¡®Must I bear with it?¡¯ General Adam sighed in frustration. However, he didn¡¯t dare to say otherwise. The president was the most powerful figure in Caesar. Both the government and the military had to listen to him. The president could only be impeached by the Legitive Council if he did anything to harm the nation or made any fatal mistake. If the impeachment was sessful, he would then be removed from office.


    ¡°We must only fight when we have enough benefits to gain. It is just not enough right now.¡± The president was an ambitious person.


    General Adam started pondering. He thought of something


    ¡°Tell the people below to hold their temper. Once the time is right, they can release all their anger at once,¡± the president spoke calmly again. His tone was indifferent but the words he said were ruthless.


    General Adam trembled as he quickly answered, ¡°Yes, president.¡±


    At Base Neb, Little Four managed to intercept the news that Ling Xiao had sessfully destroyed Three Stars Lock and retreated unscathed. He immediately told Boss about it.


    ¡°Boss, good news. Father managed to destroy the logistics headquarters of Twilight at Three Stars Lock. This is a huge merit.¡± Little Four excitedly danced in Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t as excited as Little Four. She seemed worried instead.


    Little Four¡¯s heart dropped. His cheering arms froze in mid-air. He asked curiously, ¡°Boss, what happened? Is this a bad thing?¡±


    Ling Lan shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not bad. It¡¯s just that someone might get impatient.¡±


    Her father¡¯s enemy wouldn¡¯t let him climb to the peak so smoothly. Maybe they were already nning something against him. Her mother belonged to the Lan family which was based on General. Even if they didn¡¯t recognise her publicly, they wouldn¡¯t let anyone harm her, so it would be easy for her father¡¯s enemy to target her mother. On the contrary, she was at the Neb Boundary with no one supporting her, making her an easy target.


    That was why her father told her to get prepared before he left. If she was right, the Lingtian Independent Army would receive a new order soon.


    After some time, the news that Ling Xiao sessfully destroyed Three Stars Lock spreaded across the gxy.


    The war on Qi Yaoyang¡¯s side hade to a standstill. No one was able to win or lose. However, after knowing that Ling Xiao had ambushed Three Stars Lock, Twilight suddenly gave up their frontline and thes on their borders. They met up with the divisions that recently came from Three Stars Lock and prepared for retaliation.


    Qi Yaoyang didn¡¯t dare to act rashly as he only had one division under hismand. Even if he had four god-ss operators, it would be almost impossible for him to fight against five divisions and four god-ss operators.


    Since Ling Xiao¡¯s 23rd division was already exposed, the 4th division stopped hiding and quickly joined the 13th division. The 7th division continued to fight against two divisions and one god-ss operator.


    Qi Yaoyang immediately reported the situation to the headquarters and asked for reinforcements. The headquarters moved quickly too and sent new divisions out.


    The war between Twilight and the Federation was paused for a moment. Instead, the battlefield changed to the meeting of the Intergctic United Nations instead. The representatives from Twilight condemned Ling Xiao for killing innocent citizens of their nation. They wanted the Intergctic United Nations to punish Ling Xiao.


    The representatives from the Federation scoffed at their statement. They were at war. No one cared about humanitarianism at such times. Were they hoping that the soldiers from the Federation would stick their necks out voluntarily and let them chop it? Three Stars Lock was the logistics headquarters of Twilight. Where did the innocent citizense from?


    The representatives from the two countries argued furiously. Sometimes, they would curse each other and maybe even do some warm-up exercises to flex their strength. The foreign rtions officers from the Federation were well-versed in physical skills so it was easy for them to asionally throw some files and cups over. They might even asionally throw a table or a chair for dramatic effect.

 Chapter 1219 - Against The Rule?

    <h4>Chapter 1219 Against The Rule?</h4>


    The cries from the officers of Twilight sparked thepassion of the officers from their alliance nations. They stood out and supported them in condemning Ling Xiao. The alliance nations of the Federation couldn¡¯t sit still and watch their buddy getting bullied. They stood up and supported the Federation. In the end, no consensus was reached. Both sides were angered and they decided to fight for their own twisted sense of justice.


    A war was inevitable. Of course, since Caesar didn¡¯t make their stand, a few strong alliance nations decided to be bystanders too. Hence, the intergctic war didn¡¯t grow to a wider scale. Even so, all of the nations on the Federation¡¯s side prepared beforehand in case Caesar decided to participate in the war suddenly.


    A new order reached Ling Lan who was at Base Neb.


    In the meeting room, Ling Lan leaned against thefy cushion of themanding officer¡¯s chair as she half-closed her eyes. She ced one hand on the side of her head and asked calmly, ¡°What do you all think of this order?¡±


    All the upper echelons of Lingtian were gathered in the meeting room. Although Ling Lan had reminded all of them to be prepared, they were still in shock when they received the order.


    ¡°It looks like the spy in the military headquarters has started his n,¡± Yang Mingzhi said in a serious tone. He put his head down as a look of uncertainty shed passed his eyes. If someone wanted to harm General Ling Xiao, why did they let him reach such a high position in the first ce?


    ¡°Can we push the timing back by telling the headquarters that we are just a newly formed independent army?¡± Some brigade leaders expressed their opinions. Lingtian Independent Army had only formed for a few months. They had enough manpower but the cooperation and cohesiveness of the brigade members were stillcking. This wasn¡¯t a good time for them to go to the battlefield.


    ¡°It¡¯s almost impossible. The order said that we¡¯re going there to take a look at the battlefield to gain some experience. We¡¯re not going there to fight. The military is giving every new soldier a chance to visit the battlefield. We were informed we should be thankful to the military for letting us have the chance to gain some merits without doing any work.¡± Han Jijyun smiled bitterly.


    This order was definitely given after much thorough nning. No loopholes could be used in their favour. If Boss hadn¡¯t told them that someone might want to use Lingtian to scheme against Ling Xiao, they might never see the killing intent behind this order.


    ¡°We should still try to dy it as much as possible.¡± Liu Furong said, ¡± If an ¡°unfortunate¡± event were to befall us on the battlefield, they might me it on us for being too cocky.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. We can¡¯t let them have any chances of ming us.¡± Everyone agreed.


    ¡°Even if we didn¡¯t give them any chances, they will still think of ways to send us to the frontline,¡± Li Lanfeng said coldly. If someone wanted to scheme against them, they wouldn¡¯t be able to stop it no matter how careful they were. Ling Lan was Ling Xiao¡¯s only son. They wouldn¡¯t be able to evade this.


    ¡°The fewer the openings we give them, the fewer the opportunities they will have to harm us.¡± Han Jijyun looked at Li Lanfeng directly in the eye as he spoke. However, he wasn¡¯t as confident as he was previously.


    ¡°No matter what happens, it¡¯s always better to be prepared. I agree with Leader Han,¡± Li Lanfeng was surprisingly supportive of Han Jijyun¡¯s statement.


    Han Jijyun retracted his gaze after gaining Li Lanfeng¡¯s approval. He looked down with confusion. Ever since they came to Base Neb, Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t as overbearing as he was before. He stopped criticizing him and he even sometimes gave him the chance to perform in front of Ling Lan. Han Jijyun believed that Li Lanfeng could easily think of his ideas too. However, why the sudden change in attitude? Did he miss something?


    Everyone freely expressed their opinions on the order. No matter what order the military gave them, they would just do what they were supposed to do and remain calm through it. Once they noticed something was amiss, they would try to drag the time. After all, they were a newly formed independent army. It was normal that there were mistakes when passing down orders.


    After everyone was prepared, Ling Lan sat up and looked at everyone casually. However, her presence said otherwise as it turned nail-bitingly cold in an instant.


    The change in her presence silenced the entire meeting room. They sat up straight too and turned serious.


    ¡°Everyone, this is my final decision!¡± Ling Lan said coldly.


    Everyone stood up and waited for theirmander¡¯s decision.


    ¡°Base Neb will head towards Twilight three dayster at 8am sharp.¡± Ling Lan took her military cap and left the meeting room after speaking


    After Ling Lan disappeared, everyone started talking


    ¡°Ourmander said that Base Neb will leave... Was I mistaken?¡± Yan Three was shocked. He tried to dig out the wax in his ears that was causing him to hear pretty nightmarish stuff.


    ¡°You¡¯re right. Ourmander said that Base Neb will leave for Twilight three dayster at 8am.¡± The brigade leader beside Yan Three confirmed that he didn¡¯t hear wrongly.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t the military stationed Base Neb at the Neb Boundary? Is ourmander breaking the rule?¡± Some brigade leaders were worried.


    ¡°Since Boss already made the decision, it means that he has found a way around the problem.¡± Luo Lang smiled brightly. He hadplete confidence in Ling Lan.


    ¡°Yes. Boss will never make unwise decisions.¡± Qi Long trusted Ling Lanpletely too. Ever since he was young, Ling Lan had proven to Qi Long that his confidence in her was correct.


    Luo Lang believed Ling Lan just because he wanted to while Qi Long trusted Ling Lan because of his experience. The sources of their confidence were different but the result was the same.


    ¡°This must be his way of retaliating.¡± Han Jijyun muttered to himself. He was still in deep thought about the holes around Li Lanfeng¡¯s personality.


    ¡°With Base Neb, we can choose to attack or defend. This is a good decision,¡± Li Lanfengplimented.


    He had been trying to think of a way out of this but he couldn¡¯t find the perfect solution. He had thought of moving Base Neb out but Base Neb was always stationed at the Neb Boundary. If he moved it, Ling Xiao¡¯s enemy might use it as a reason to punish them. Thinking back, he was too timid. Even if he didn¡¯t move Base Neb, their enemy would also try to harm them. In that case, it was better to provide Lingtian a better ride.


    As for what would happen after that, he would just have to wait and see.

 Chapter 1220 - What’s Their Background?

    <h4>Chapter 1220 What¡¯s Their Background?</h4>


    All the citizens of Huaxia were ted when they heard that General Ling Xiao had destroyed Three Stars Lock. Although an intergctic war was inevitable, none of them actually med Ling Xiao for it.


    Some might be unhappy at Ling Xiao¡¯s reckless decision but their voices were drowned out by the excitement of everyone else.


    The entire Federation started busily preparing for war. The battlefield of the intergctic war was at Twilight.


    There were only two ways for the war to end. The first way was to have Twilight be destroyed in its entirety. That way, the alliance nations of Twilight wouldn¡¯t have a reason to fight anymore. The second way this war would end was to have the Federation spend all their resources on the war, and thus retreating in defeat.


    None of them wanted to lose this war. This meant that the war would definitely be bloody and brutal.


    The Federation activated their military spaceports and entered DEFCON 1.


    The goods shipment military spaceport was busier than ever before. This spaceport was in charge of the transportation of logistics. More than half of the logistics required for the battle was quickly transported out from this spaceport fleet by fleet.


    The fleets in charge of the transportation of logistics were Logistics Fleet 017, Logistics Fleet 018, and Logistics Fleet 019 of the logistics headquarters. These three fleets had already rushed to the spaceport. They would leave once the goods were fully loaded.


    A few hover cars suddenly stopped beside the mothership of Logistics Fleet 017. They slowly lowered their altitude until it was capable for the passengers to walk out of the car.


    A few guards stepped out of the hover car, then made a semi-circle formation protecting their superior who was still in the car. Then, a major ranked guard carefully scanned his surroundings before opening the car door.


    A major general around 40 years old stepped out of the car. A senior colonel, who was waiting at the entrance of the mothership, rushed over when he saw the major general. He promptly saluted and said, ¡°Major General Qiu, themander is waiting for you. This way please.¡±


    Major General Qiu was about to open his mouth but the distant sounds of approaching hover cars attracted his attention. He turned to look to his side to see the new arrival.


    A few hover cars were finally revealed in the distance.


    Major General Qiu turned and smiled. ¡°Major General Xu ising. Let¡¯s wait for him.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Major General Qiu.¡± The senior colonel didn¡¯t dare to reject him.


    As they were speaking, the hover cars had alreadynded on the ground. A major general with bristly white hair stepped out of the car with a stern face. He looked around 50 years old.


    Major General Xu saw the iing figure and nodded at him. ¡°Major General Qiu, long time no see.¡±


    Major General Qiu smiled and replied, ¡°Indeed. We¡¯ve been truly busy with our own missions. I suspect we haven¡¯t met for three years.¡±


    ¡°Well, the Federation is constantly at war.¡± Major General Xu kept a straight face.


    ¡°It can¡¯t be helped. Our nation has never learned the word ¡®surrender¡¯. We will only retaliate.¡± Major General Qiu didn¡¯t mind the unfriendly expression on Major General Xu¡¯s face. They had been working together for many years so he knew this old man¡¯s temper. If it wasn¡¯t for the help of the head of the logistics department, Major General Xu wouldn¡¯t be able to be promoted to this high of a rank.


    ¡°All in all, the Federation is still not strong enough. That¡¯s why people still dare to provoke us,¡± Major General Xu replied coldly.


    ¡°But, we are getting stronger, right? We just need to take things slowly. Stop having such high expectations,¡± Major General Qiu replied helplessly.


    ¡°I know. I¡¯m justmenting,¡± Major General Xu replied in a perfunctory tone. However, Major General Qiu knew he was speaking the truth.


    After the two major generals had ended their conversation, the senior colonel, who was waiting at the side, saluted and said, ¡°Major General Xu, Major General Qiu, ourmander is waiting for you inside. This way please.¡±


    The two of them followed behind the senior colonel before finally arriving at the control room.


    Once they entered the door, they saw a major general standing with his back facing them. There was no one else in the room. He seemed to have waited for a long time.


    The major general turned around when he heard the door opening and saw Major General Xu and Major General Qiu. He smiled.


    ¡°Major General Qiu! Major General Xu!¡± ¡°Major General Di!¡±


    The three of them greeted each other before sitting down.


    ¡°I invited you this time because I want to discuss the matters about Lingtian Independent Army with you as they will be the ones escorting us for our next deployment.¡± Major General Di went directly to the point.


    Major General Xu and Major General Qiu exchanged nces at each other. All three of them belonged to the logistics transport fleet but they had their own missions so they seldomly interacted with one another, causing their rtionship to remain as acquaintances. Thus, they had their guards up when Major General Di suddenly talked to them about such important matters in an upfront manner.


    Major General Di noticed their hesitance and smiled bitterly. ¡°I know that it¡¯s suspicious to talk about such important things with you the moment youe in. However, the order is too weird. The Lingtian Independent Army hasn¡¯t contacted me yet so I feel a little worried.¡±


    Major General Xu frowned. ¡°Exin.¡±


    Major General Di replied, ¡°I¡¯ve done my research about Lingtian Independent Army. They are just a newly formed independent army. Normally, newly formed independent armies would only be given missions such as this escort mission after three years from their formation. However, this escorting mission is an important war mission. Why did the higher authorities give the Lingtian Independent Army this mission?¡±


    It was understandable that Major General Di would worry. This supply run was extremely important for the war. There must be no mistakes. Whether it was the 4th division, the 7th division, the 13th division, the 23rd division, or those reinforcements that were going to the battlefield, they would have a shortage of logistics supplies soon. If it wasn¡¯t replenished in time, the result of the war would be greatly affected. The advantage that General Ling Xiao had created would be lost too.


    Major General Qiu didn¡¯t reply as he just nced at Major General Xu. Compared to Major General Di and him, the head of the logistics department trusted Major General Xu more. Maybe Major General Xu might have inside information on this issue.


    Major General Xu was unhappy when he noticed Major General Qiu and Major General Di¡¯s tant stares. His expression darkened. However, since they were old colleagues, he decided to answer their queries. ¡°Maybe they areing to gain merits.¡±


    Major General Xu was also worried when he received his order. Hence, before he left, he asked his head about it. This was what his head replied to him. It allowed him to understand that the Lingtian Independent Army wasn¡¯t a simple independent army.


    ¡°What¡¯s their background?¡± Major General Qiu and Major General Di were very smart people so they immediately deduced the crucial factor on the issue.

 Chapter 1221 - Commander Ling Lan!

    <h4>Chapter 1221 Commander Ling Lan!</h4>


    ¡°The head didn¡¯t say in detail. He just told me that they have a powerful background so they should get some merits.¡± Major General Xu finally spit out the truth. They were all in the same situation. No one would be spared if this mission were to fail.


    ¡°Is he a general from General?¡± Major General Di frowned. He hated those incapable officers with powerful backgrounds. They were able to get merits just because they came from a good family. Their positions weren¡¯t a depiction of their ability.


    ¡°From the head¡¯s tone, he seems to respect Lingtian,¡± Major General Xu recalled carefully before answering.


    ¡°It looks like the situation is not as bad as we think.¡± Major General Qiu heaved a sigh of relief.


    ¡°As long as they¡¯re not those useless second generations, everything is fine.¡± Major General Di was just worried that Lingtian consisted of a bunch of incapable young masters who didn¡¯t know how to fight and only knew how to enjoy themselves. This kind of people would call them names and throw all kinds of fits if they didn¡¯t listen to them.


    Major General Di had been in the logistics department for quite a long time. Whenever he met this kind of people, he would feel extremely stifled. He feared that one day he might have a heart attack just by watching those child-like behavioursing from an adult. That was why he was afraid of meeting more of those manchilds.


    ¡°Why haven¡¯t they contacted us? We¡¯ve almost finished loading up the cargo, yet there is still no news from them. Even if there¡¯s a dy, they still should contact us to inform us.¡± Major General Di felt that Lingtian was being irresponsible so he got angry.


    ¡°Let¡¯s wait for them toe. If they don¡¯t arrive at the stipted time, we¡¯ll report to the military headquarters and then leave ourselves,¡± Major General Qiu said.


    ¡°Agreed. After all, we have our own escorts to protect us. The only danger we have to be careful of is Twilight, but with the 13th division maintaining the frontline, Twilight shouldn¡¯t be able to ambush us.¡± Major General Di felt that it was better to interact less with this irresponsible Lingtian Independant Army.


    Major General Xu frowned. He reminded Major General Di, ¡°We can¡¯t be too sure of that. General Ling Xiao is able to sneak through the death wormhole and destroy Three Stars Lock, so who knows what Twilight might do? It¡¯s better to be careful.¡±


    ¡°What do we do then? Are we going to wait until theye?¡± Major General Qiu said in a helpless tone.


    ¡°The time is not up yet. Let¡¯s wait until the designated time. They might be able to reach before the time is up.¡± Because of the head¡¯s respect for Lingtian, Major General Xu had a good impression of this independant army. That was why he spoke up for them.


    ¡°I hope so.¡± Compared to Major General Xu, Major General Di and Major General Qiu¡¯s impression of Lingtian wasn¡¯t good.


    Soon, the day of the departure arrived.


    The three major generals boarded their mainships and started a video call.


    Major General Di looked at the time on hismunicator. He said calmly, ¡°There¡¯s still one hour left.¡±


    ¡°This is atrocious.¡± Major General Qiu was furious. They had tried contacting Lingtian but for some reason, they couldn¡¯t reach them.


    Major General Xu kept a stern expression. He didn¡¯t say anything. He wouldn¡¯t judge Lingtian until the final moment.


    Suddenly, a voice sounded out from the mainframe on Major General Di¡¯s side. ¡°Signaling in. Decoding.¡¯


    ¡°Identity confirmed. It¡¯s Lingtian Independent Army. Commander, do we ept the call?¡± The mainframe asked itsmander.


    Major General Di¡¯s expression softened a little. He took a deep breath and said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    A cold-looking lieutenant general appeared on the screen of the three major generals. The person on the screen must be the suprememander of the independent army.


    Young. This was the first impression they had of this officer. Their next impression was cold. When they looked into his eyes, they could feel a chill up their spines.


    ¡°Nice to meet you. I¡¯m themanding officer of this mission, Ling Lan,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    The military just ordered Lingtian to escort the starships, they didn¡¯t state that Ling Lan would be themanding officer of the mission. However, based on military rules, when different departments participated in a mission together, the highest-ranking officer would be themanding officer.


    Ling Lan knew that if she gave up this position, people might view her as weak or just incapable of handling the role. All in all, they would look down on her if she didn¡¯t forcefully grab a hold of the post.


    If she was alone, she didn¡¯t mind people judging her as it wouldn¡¯t affect her in any way.


    However, she was currently themander of Lingtian Independent Army, representing a whole army. If people looked down on her, they would look down on Lingtian Independent Army too. The reputation of her soldiers would be packaged with their reputation. All the soldiers in her army would be affected negatively if she was viewed in a negative light. Thus, after all considerations, Ling Lan had to take over the position of themanding officer for the sake of her soldiers.


    Major General Di never thought of passing the position ofmanding officer to someone else, especially not to someone he didn¡¯t trust.


    However, he couldn¡¯t outright reject Ling Lan. He looked at the lieutenant general insignia on Ling Lan¡¯s shoulder and felt stifled. Her rank was higher than all of them.


    While Major General Di was feeling frustrated, Major General Xu remained calm. He asked, ¡°Do you have an order to do so?¡±


    ¡°Based on military rules, the position ofmanding officer would belong to the highest ranked officer.¡± Ling Lan had already asked Little Four to look through all the military rules and regtions. From the moment she knew that she was pushed to the frontline because of her father, she had made up her mind to gain themanding power.


    ¡°We¡¯re a logistics fleet.¡± It wasn¡¯t necessary to enforce the military rules on them.


    ¡°Are we going on a tour around Twilight?¡± Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows as she looked at Major General Xu intently. Major General Xu¡¯s breath was immediately forced back into his body by her words. His words got stuck in his throat.


    ¡°Lingtian is already waiting outside the port. Please depart on time.¡± Ling Lan disappeared from the screen once she finished saying her piece. It seemed that she only appeared to inform them that she was themanding officer.

 Chapter 1222 - Many Things At One Go

    <h4>Chapter 1222 Many Things At One Go</h4>


    A huge starship fleet moved slowly towards the Twilight battlefield.


    In the middle of the fleet, many huge transport motherships could be seen. They made up two-thirds of the fleet. There were battleships and escort starships protecting them.


    Thebels on the starships were different but they all started with the same word. This meant that they were from the same department but of different teams. Only the serial numbers and the numbers behind the word were different.


    However, three starships had different logos.


    It was a ck phoenix with its wings spread out. The word ¡®Ling¡¯ was printed in bold below the ck phoenix. It was hard not to notice this logo.


    This wasn¡¯t the only reason why the starships stood out. The other reason was that the three starships were Destruction Devils, the most powerful battleship model in the Federation.


    However, Destruction Devil hadn¡¯t been officiallyunched in the market. Only a few top-level fleets managed to get one or two for testing purposes. Destruction Devil wasn¡¯t the perfect starship but it was already miles better than other battleships. It optimised the steering ability and speed of the starship. The agility of the starship was increased too. This was a huge breakthrough in starship manufacturing


    Its speed couldn¡¯t bepared with a mecha but it was definitely more powerful than other battleships. However, the cost of making a Destruction Devil was very high. If not, all the battleships in the Federation might have been changed to Destruction Devil.


    The military didn¡¯t want to give up such advanced technology yet so they started experimenting with how they could make a Destruction Devil while lowering the cost price. Once they solved this issue, there would be a new era of starships.


    Yet, even though Destruction Devils were expensive, the Lingtian Independent Army managed to procure three of them. Even with limitless money, it was impossible to procure suchmodities without the help of Ling Xiao.


    ¡°Lingtian Independent Army really has a powerful background.¡± The three major generals were having a discussion virtually.


    By right, they should have the authority to check the details of all divisions and independent armies. But, when they wanted to obtain details about Lingtian Independent Army, their mainframe told them that their authorization wasn¡¯t high enough to ess such data.


    What background did themander of Lingtian have? Was it a secret division formed by the military? Unfortunately, Lieutenant General Ling never showed his face after that video call. They weren¡¯t able to get more information out of him.


    ¡°Ling Lan... do you think he has any rtionship with General Ling Xiao?¡± Major General Xu looked at the frightening character ¡°Ling¡± on the starship. For some reason, it reminded him of General Ling Xiao.


    ¡°Ling Xiao only has one son. Wasn¡¯t Prince Ling heavily injured during the battle on Haijiao which eventually caused him to be retired from the army?¡± Major General Qiu told everyone what he knew.


    ¡°He didn¡¯t retire. He just rests at home. If he was asked to retire, the soldiers would be disappointed with the military. After all, he created a miracle. The military won¡¯t be so stupid to degrade his aplishments.¡± Major General Di immediately corrected Major General Qiu.


    Major General Xu raised his eyebrows. There was excitement in his eyes. ¡°So there¡¯s a chance he¡¯s Prince Ling, right? Based on his achievements on Haijiao, it¡¯s reasonable for them to give him an independent army. That way, he¡¯ll be able to enjoy his remaining life in the military.¡± He paused for a moment and frowned. ¡°That¡¯s not right. Ling Lan said that he¡¯s themanding officer of this mission, and his rank is lieutenant general. That means that he has actualmanding power in the independent army.¡±


    ¡°Even if he was awarded with so many merits because of the battle on Haijiao, even if there is a possibility he is Prince Ling, he won¡¯t be able to be themander of an independent army so quickly. Is there something we don¡¯t know?¡± Major General Xu couldn¡¯t find an answer. He furrowed his brows in ponderment. The military kept the battle at the Neb Boundary a secret. No one knew what happened besides a few key personnel.


    ¡°No matter what the truth is, it wille to light one day,¡± Major General Di said in a low voice.


    The other two major generals agreed with what he said. They pushed their frustrations away and waited patiently for the truth.


    The starships from Lingtian maintained a triangr formation behind the transport fleet.


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong were on one of the three Destruction Devils. They sat in the control room and chatted over tea.


    ¡°Ourmander asked us to lead ten mecha brigades to escort the transport ships to Twilight. While doing so, he is bringing Base Neb over to Twilight. It¡¯s obvious that he doesn¡¯t want us to get involved in the mess.¡± Liu Furong frowned. He was worried about the punishment they might receive for moving Base Neb.


    Yang Mingzhi looked up and smiled lightly. ¡°Ourmander has always done things with caution. He would never put himself in a hopeless situation.¡±


    Liu Furong rxed a little and he started thinking about the possible reasons for Ling Lan to be seemingly so reckless.


    ¡°You mean that we¡¯re his trump card?¡± Liu Furong seemed to understand something.


    ¡°Besides us, who are the leaders of the other eight mecha brigades?¡± Yang Mingzhi¡¯s smile got brighter. When he received the list of the ten mecha brigades from Ling Lan, his worry for hismander disappeared. Hismander had also thought of the situations he thought of and had made the necessary arrangements to counteract every possible problem.


    ¡°Qi Long, Han Jijyun, Li Yingjie, Zhao Jun... all of them are deathly loyal to themander. Even Yan Three is loyal to Ling Lan. Cao Mingde, Luo Lijiang, and Xuhong are the deputy leaders of Luo Lang, Xie Yi, and Li Lanfeng. They were rmended by their leaders and got promoted to brigade leaders. They are trustworthy too,¡± Liu Furong smiled as he replied.


    ¡°You too. Vice Commander Liu, you¡¯re loyal to Ling Lan too.¡± Yang Mingzhi smiled back.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you? Although you belong to the First Marshal¡¯s faction, I believe that you won¡¯t betray themander if there¡¯s a dispute between him and the First Marshal,¡± Liu Furong said firmly.


    Yang Mingzhi retracted his smile slowly. After a few seconds, he replied in a resolute tone, ¡°If themander doesn¡¯t betray the nation, I will never betray him.¡±


    Liu Furong smiled. Yang Mingzhi smiled too. The atmosphere turned lively.


    Only Yang Mingzhi knew how important his words were.


    ¡°Master, based on the surveince and feedback from all the satellites I can connect to, there¡¯s no sight of our enemy around the transport team.¡± Meng Lan¡¯s clear voice echoed in the resting room of themand center.


    Ling Lan was leaning on her chair, resting with closed eyes. She opened them slowly. ¡°Thank you for your hard work, Meng Lan.¡±


    Meng Lan smiled gently. ¡°It¡¯s my honour to work for you.¡±

 Chapter 1223 - Display Of Love

    <h4>Chapter 1223 Disy Of Love</h4>


    When Meng Lan disappeared, Ling Lan heard the sound of the door sliding open.


    Clear footsteps were heard. They stopped behind her.


    ¡°Lanfeng? What¡¯s the matter?¡± Ling Lan asked calmly.


    A fair hand was gently ced on the handle of her chair. A beautiful face suddenly appeared in front of her eyes. Li Lanfeng¡¯s body was so close to Ling Lan¡¯s body that she could practically feel the heat emanating from his body.


    Li Lanfeng leaned his head closer towards Ling Lan and stared at her in the eyes. His smile was seductive and enchanting. Ling Lan could feel her heart pounding furiously. However, she was able to control herself immediately and stopped her heart from beating too quickly. She forced her heart rate to return back to normal.


    Externally, all Ling Lan did in response to such seductiveness was just calmly blinking, she didn¡¯t twitch in front of such seduction. However, it had to be noted she had even seen such a seductive side to Li Lanfeng before. What happened to him?


    ¡°What is it?¡± Ling Lan asked in concern.


    ¡°Nothing.¡± Li Lanfeng forced out a smile when he didn¡¯t see any changes in Ling Lan¡¯s expression. He didn¡¯t seem affected by his beautiful face. As expected of the straightest of all straight men. He couldn¡¯t seduce him with his looks.


    Li Lanfeng felt nervous about the chances of him being with Ling Lan. For an instant, he thought about giving up this forbidden love. If he could watch Ling Lan quietly at the side, he would be happy too, he hoped... He would watch him marry ady and have children...


    When he thought about Ling Lan being someone not him, Li Lanfeng felt a sharp stabbing pain in his heart. In the end, he wasn¡¯t willing to let Ling Lan go. If Ling Lan remained single for the rest of his life, he might be able to control himself. However, if Ling Lan were to love someone, he might go berserk. He would definitely turn crazy and might do something he would regret for the rest of his life.


    It was true he couldn¡¯t bear to hurt Ling Lan, but he would definitely hurt the person he loved. He would scheme against the person secretly until sheid rest in a coffin.


    This was how scary he was. Because of his Phoenix Thrall Fate, his personality was twisted to the extreme, making him an incredibly selfish person. He would never let go of the person he loved.


    However, if he really did that, would he be able to hide it from Ling Lan? Li Lanfeng knew it was impossible to pull the wool over Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. He was smart but Ling Lan was just as smart, if not more. He was good at scheming but not at strategizing. Ling Lan, on the other hand, was adept in both. He was as ruthless as him too.


    Moreover, Ling Lan was more proficient in hiding his emotions and thoughts than anyone he had seen. He would never reveal his ns to anyone. On the front, he and Han Jijyun were in charge of strategizing. To other people, Ling Lan was just a cold, vicious, heartless, and a powerful man of prowess. Yet, not many knew how smart he was.


    Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t afraid of any strategist except for one, Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan just had the aura of invincibility around him. Of course, it might be because he liked him. However, to his otherrades like Qi Long, Ling Lan was undefeatable too.


    was


    Deep down inside, he hoped that he would be able to stand beside Ling Lan and take some burden off his shoulders.


    No one knew how tough Ling Lan¡¯s life was but Li Lanfeng knew. He noticed everything about Ling Lan. Maybe at the start of their rtionship, he just felt sorry that Ling Lan had to work so hard. However, this initial feeling developed into a stray path. By the time he realised it, it was toote.


    ¡°Don¡¯t keep things from me. Our rtionship isn¡¯t so fickle.¡± Ling Lan could see the pain in Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes.


    Compared to anyone else, Ling Lan was more patient and gentle to Li Lanfeng. If Qi Long or her otherrades were so hesitant, she might have started hitting them already.


    One of the reasons why she couldn¡¯t hit Li Lanfeng was his face. After all, Ling Lan was a beauty lover. She couldn¡¯t bear to hit beauties. Even when she was training Luo Lang, she would be more gentle towards him. He was as powerful as people like Qi Long but his beautiful face softened her heart.


    Why are you treating me so well? Li Lanfeng wanted to pour his soul out when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s concerned gaze. However, just as he was going to speak out his real feelings, his logical side took over and he calmed down instantly.


    ¡°Ling Lan, have you pursued someone before?¡± Li Lanfeng gathered his thoughts before asking


    Ling Lan thought about her middling love life before answering, ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±


    Pursue someone? In her past life, all she thought about was how to survive the next day. She had no chance to fall in love with someone.


    This lifetime, she had to protect the Ling family and her mother before her father came back. Her only goal back then was to be stronger, so she didn¡¯t have the time to think about superficial things like love. After her father came back, she was forced into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy. At that time, she was trying her best to hide her female identity, so she couldn¡¯t bother pursuing love. After she entered the military, she put all her effort into raising herrades as she made a two years promise to her mother, leaving her with no time.


    Then, because of unforeseen circumstances, she had to continue to stay in the military. Her military rank just kept rising and rising, attracting more attention than ever. More and more wanted to harm her and her family. She was busy dealing with all the schemes thrown at her and had no time for love. Thinking back, she was almost 50 years old if she counted her past life. Yet, she hadn¡¯t had a taste of love. Ling Lan suddenly felt sorry for herself. In the novels she read in her past life, so manydies managed to find their Mr. Right after they transmigrated. Why hadn¡¯t anyone confessed to her yet?


    Fine. She was currently disguised as a man now so if a man really falls in love with her... Ling Lan shuddered. She didn¡¯t think she could ept it. Simrly, if she fell in love with a man, she couldn¡¯t chase him with her current identity too, right?


    Ling Lan was immersed in her own thoughts so she didn¡¯t see how bright Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes had gotten when she said that she never pursued anyone before. His face turned radiant because of it. Since Ling Lan never chased anyone, this meant that he never liked anyone before.


    ¡°I wanted to get some advice from you but I think that you can¡¯t help me now.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled as he teased her. A simple smile was enough to blind Ling Lan with his beauty.


    Although Ling Lan almost got enchanted by Li Lanfeng¡¯s beauty, she still heard the mocking in his tone. She red at him coldly and said, ¡°I have two fianc¨¦es.¡±


    This was a stab to Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart. His smile immediately disappeared.


    Ling Lan felt immensely satisfied seeing that smug smile off his face. The best way to hurt a single man was to unt her love life.

 Chapter 1224 - Definitely Smile More!

    <h4>Chapter 1224 Definitely Smile More!</h4>


    ¡°I¡¯m more experienced than you.¡± Revenge was revenge, but Ling Lan¡¯s offer to help Li Lanfeng still held true. She pointed at the sofa in her office and said, ¡°Sit. Let¡¯s talk. It¡¯s better than you thinking about it yourself.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s love guru-like demeanor awakened once again. Previously, Li Lanfeng¡¯s questions about love were too sudden. She was just not prepared back then. In addition, Little Four found random weird books which made her speak about random stuff. It was probably because of that that Li Lanfeng was hurt from his pursuit of love. All in all, it was her fault. Ling Lan decided that this time, she must carefully help Li Lanfeng make a n for him to catch the attention of the love of his life. She must pave Li Lanfeng¡¯s path towards a happy marriage. After all, she didn¡¯t want to see her amazing strategist bepletely destroyed just because he failed in his pursuit of love.


    In reality, Li Lanfeng was thest person she would think to get hurt by love. Moreover, with his intelligence, he should have easily nabbed anyone he liked. As expected, in the world of love, intelligence was not effective.


    Ling Lan felt a bit of schadenfreude. She didn¡¯t forget that Li Lanfeng had teased her about her inexperience in such matters. Women loved to hold grudges. Even if Ling Lan reined it in most of the time, she still showed a hint of female instinct on these types of things.


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Li Lanfeng stand up helplessly. However, rather than listening to Ling Lan and walking to the sofa she pointed towards. He instead dragged a chair to the side of Ling Lan, sat beside Ling Lan and leaned towards the armrest of her chair.


    While he was doing so, Ling Lan just discovered that Li Lanfeng had already unbuttoned the top button of his uniform forfort. It was possible that she was mesmerized by that face of his so she didn¡¯t see his exposed skin. Li Lanfeng¡¯s current movement allowed his sexy corbones to show from the slight opening of his white dress shirt. Whenbined with his beautiful face, it magnified the seductiveness he was oozing. Just seeing the supple flesh caused Ling Lan to have the urge to just rip open the shirt...


    ¡®Calm down. Get back on topic!¡¯


    Ling Lan closed her eyes and erased the sudden impulse she just had. When she opened them again, she returned to her calm self.


    ¡°It seems you¡¯re pretty bored recently. Maybe that is why you have so much time to worry about your feelings.¡± Ling Lan mercilessly mocked Li Lanfeng with her words.


    ¡®Man, you can worry about love and stuff, but you sitting there all demure-like in front of me is like calling me to do something to you. You¡¯re really testing my limits here. I want to push you down and gobble you up...¡¯


    When Ling Lan realized what kind of thoughts were going through her head, she suspected that maybe her Yin and Yang were not in bnce. It was probably why it was so hard for her to control her lust. Was it going to flood out?


    While Ling Lan was doubting her life choices, Li Lanfeng pouted after hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words. He said in a slightly saddened tone, ¡°I¡¯m always worrying about it, it¡¯s just that you never paid attention to it.¡±


    ¡®He is just like a masochist who couldn¡¯t get any love from his dominatrix... Stop!¡¯ Ling Lan felt her thoughts were going haywire today. Why did she keep thinking strange things? Dominatrix? Masochist? What were those things... She really didn¡¯t know...


    ¡°There¡¯s been a lot of matters recently. I probably missed it from being so busy.¡± Ling Lan tossed away the random thought in her head. Li Lanfeng¡¯s words probably meant he was ming her for not being a good enough friend.


    ¡°You¡¯re not busy, but rather you¡¯re so dense that it makes me want to bite my tongue off,¡± Li Lanfeng mumbled under his breath. Faced with this log of a person, all of the looks he gave her every once in a while was wasted effort.


    Ling Lan could only hear the word ¡®dense¡¯ and knew Li Lanfeng was ming her for not understanding him. After thinking about it, she realized that she didn¡¯t care about Li Lanfeng enough. She was also very uncaring of her other subordinates... It was odd. Ling Lan actually felt bad.


    Alright, since she had time today, she was going tofort Li Lanfeng and prove that she was actually a good friend.


    ¡°How about this? I have some time today. How about we think about ways to help you get past that difficult point in your pursuit for love?¡± Ling Lan was a bit excited about being the facilitator of love. She didn¡¯t have any friend in her past life. In this life, Li Lanfeng became her only friend that wasn¡¯t deathly afraid of her.


    Thinking about Qi Long and the others, Ling Lan felt a bit miserable. Although she led them from when they were young, they still felt like they were her sons. However, it was also because Qi Long and the others admired her too much. They would always bow before her and respond to her every whim. If she was to tell them they were her friends, Qi Long and the others might be afraid that they might have done something wrong that their Boss was using words to insult and whip them...


    It was good that this fearless Li Lanfeng was willing to be her friend. The idental meeting in the virtual world back then saved her from the possibility of not having any friends.


    She could finally experience the joy of gossiping with friends about their rtionships and other embarrassing things. When she was bedridden and reading novels in her previous life, Ling Lan really wanted to feel what it would be like to have friends.


    ¡°That person doesn¡¯t like me.¡± Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan with a bewitching look. He looked somewhat hurt and his wronged expression was just like Little White when it wanted to beforted. Ling Lan suddenly had the urge to pat him on the head tofort him.


    ¡°You confessed? And got rejected?¡± If that was the case, then she wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything about it. Was she going to have to order that person to ept Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart?


    Li Lanfeng shook his head, ¡°No, I didn¡¯t do that. However, I listened to your advice and tried to flirt in different ways... I¡¯ve already done everything that I can to show my feelings, but that person still has no response to my advancements.¡±


    ¡°Is that person pretending to not understand or do they not understand the intent behind your actions?¡± Ling Lan felt that the distinction between the two was important. If that person pretended to not understand, then it actually meant that person rejected him. Li Lanfeng would not have any chance in that case. If that person was dense, Li Lanfeng still had hope.


    After hearing the question, Li Lanfeng sat up and leaned towards Ling Lan. He smiled earnestly and said, ¡°That¡¯s something I want to know as well.¡±


    ¡°I suggest you smile more to the person you like what you are doing right now. The person you liked won¡¯t be able to reject you.¡±


    ¡®It¡¯s only because I have good self control and held back my urges from pushing you down that you are able to sit there meekly. I trust that other women wouldn¡¯t be able to control themselves like me.¡¯ Ling Lan really felt that Li Lanfeng¡¯s earnest smile was too strong. Even she was hanging on by a thread, not to mention other women.


    Of course, if that person didn¡¯t like him or might even be disgusted by Li Lanfeng¡¯s looks, then it would be a different story. The only thing Ling Lan could do was to light a candle and pray for Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°It really works?¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes were filled with happiness as they lit up brightly. When Ling Lan saw the excited eyes, she could soften her gaze and nod instinctively.


    ¡°Alright, I will definitely smile more in the future,¡± Li Lanfeng had a big smile on his face as he said that. His entire face was so bright with that smile that it made Ling Lan unable to keep her eyes off of him in that instant.

 Chapter 1225 - Thank You, Rabbit.

    <h4>Chapter 1225 Thank You, Rabbit.</h4>


    ¡°You don¡¯t hate my looks right?¡±


    ¡®Hopefully, Ling Lan will like my face.¡¯ Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan with an expression that only he knew the meaning of.


    ¡°Of course. And remember no matter what kind of looks you have, it¡¯s all given by your parents and should be considered as precious. We should all respect it and ept it,¡± replied Ling Lan earnestly.


    She knew Li Lanfeng hated his own looks. However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t believe there were any problems with his looks. Perhaps in the division, his looks might cause some trouble, but in Lingtian, Ling Lan was confident that those weird things wouldn¡¯t happen. Thus, Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t need to worry and didn¡¯t need to hate his innocent looks.


    ¡°Those are not justforting words, right?¡± Li Lanfeng asked softly.


    ¡°You know me. What I say is how I truly feel. Do the two of us need to make it so formal and speak untruthfully to each other?¡± said Ling Lan with a certain look on her face. In reality, she loved his looks very much. Of course, in order to uphold Li Lanfeng¡¯s impression of her, she definitely wouldn¡¯t tell him that.


    ¡°So, you like it.¡± A smile began to form on Li Lanfeng¡¯s face once again. However, this time, it was truly a smile filled with joy unlike when he had to pull up a facade.


    ¡°Of course. I like it very much.¡± Everyone liked beautiful things. Ling Lan didn¡¯t feel that was something to be embarrassed about.


    ¡°Thank you for liking it, my Rabbit!¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly leaned his head forward, resting his forehead on Ling Lan¡¯s shoulder.


    Although Ling Lan was a bit ufortable with his sudden act, the nickname Li Lanfeng hadn¡¯t addressed her by in a long time made her heart waver. Now she was able to feel the tiredness in Li Lanfeng that he couldn¡¯t speak up about. She also felt the temporary weakness he showed as he leaned on her shoulder.


    Ling Lan thought for a moment, then put out her right hand and rubbed Li Lanfeng¡¯s back. If he wanted to beforted, then she wouldfort him. She wasn¡¯t losing anything by doing that.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that Li Lanfeng, who had his head down on her shoulder, was trying his best to control his excitement and his trembling body. He originally thought he had no hope at all and was only struggling for straws. However, Ling Lan saying he liked his looks made him regain a reason to live.


    ¡®Ling Lan, if you¡¯re going to give me hope, then please give me even more...¡¯ Li Lanfeng was still a calm and logical individual. Despite his excited mood, he still had strong self-control. He still managed to hold back the feelings that was about to burst out.


    Unless he was sure of a victory, Li Lanfeng would not allow himself to be backed into a corner. Ling Lan¡¯s current impression of him was good and all. Although it was only his looks, the current situation was much better than before. Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t going to let such a good turn of events to be destroyed because of his reckless impulses.


    After being silent for one to two minutes, Li Lanfeng stood up straight. In that moment, he was no longer that man who was trapped in his feelings. Instead, he was now the amazing strategist Ling Lan admired.


    ¡°Did you sense any danger on your way here?¡± After clearing himself of any emotion, Li Lanfeng was now able to view the big picture in its truest form. Although he just asked it as a question, his tone was still firm.


    ¡°Yeah, moving Base Neb by my own ord is an easy loophole that could be used against me,¡± When speaking about military matters, Ling Lan¡¯s mood began to calm down. As expected, she was not suitable to be a mentor for love and rtionships. She was only just talking with words with no personal experience.


    ¡°However, if we don¡¯t move the troops, Lingtian will be in even more danger.¡± Li Lanfeng had already understood Ling Lan¡¯s worries when she decided to move Base Neb


    ¡°Yes. The structure of the military headquarters isplicated as many factions fester within it. In the path to aplish our goals, there will be many factions trying to stop us in our tracks. Despite us knowing that there¡¯s someone behind all this, there are still too many factions involved. We still can¡¯t predict who the actual person behind all this is just from the information we gathered from the virtual world.¡± Ling Lan told Little Four to keep an eye on the military headquarters. However, the orders given by the military headquarters weren¡¯t given by just one person. It would be given out only after numerous discussions between many factions. Only then would an official order be given.


    Without any information on the person behind all of this, Ling Lan and the others could only stay on guard. If they were actually suddenly sent to the frontlines, without Base Neb as a strong backup, Ling Lan also wasn¡¯t confident that she would be able to lead the soldiers in Lingtian Independent Army back home safely.


    Dying in the midst of a war was considered to be normal. However, if they were to die from a trap, Ling Lan would feel very wronged. Moreover, she wouldn¡¯t be able to handle the aftermath of those deaths. Thus, after careful consideration, she decided to go against the rules and brought Base Neb with her. That way, at least when the person behind all of this plots against them, she could still depend on Base Neb to create a path of escape for her to lead her independent army out alive.


    ¡°Sending Vice Commander Yang, Vice Commander Liu, Qi Long and the others¡¯ brigades to meet up with the logistics transport team is to prepare something in case something happens, right?¡± Li Lanfeng, like Yang Mingzhi and the others, felt there was more than meets the eye in Ling Lan¡¯s decision to send the ten mecha brigades out.


    Ling Lan said calmly, ¡°We at least need to send out brigades to guard the transport fleet. After all, it is our responsibility to guard them.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t admit it or deny it.


    Li Lanfeng knew Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to answer the question so he stopped prying further into the matter. He knew very well that these things didn¡¯t need to be rified too much as long as everyone knew it in their minds.


    It had to be said that the ten people Ling Lan had chosen sessfully avoided the issue with her taking Base Neb with her on her own ord. It was indeed a great idea. If Li Lanfeng were to make the arrangements, he might not have been able to find better suited individuals.


    ¡°Let¡¯s hope that we won¡¯t have to use this n,¡± sighed Li Lanfeng. If they had to use those 10 individuals, that meant the situation wasn¡¯t going well.


    ¡°Yeah...¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were dark as the void. It was just as Li Lanfeng had said. If they actually got to that point, both her and her father¡¯s situation would definitely be grave.


    After knowing that Lingtian Independent Army will be the guarding the logistics transport fleet, Qi Yaoyang¡¯s face instantly darkened.


    ¡°General, is there something wrong?¡± His staff officer asked as his heart skipped a beat.


    ¡°A newly formed independent army, and is still gathering personnel. If you were the one at the military headquarters making the decisions, would you send them to the frontlines?¡± Qi Yaoyang nced at him coldly and asked with disdain.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t!¡± His staff officer shook his head. Guarding the logistics transport convoy to the frontlines seemed like a standard mission. However, in reality, it was very important. Usually, the troops that guard the convoy were all capable veteran armies from the Federation. It was already very unlikely for weaker armies to be given this mission, not to mention this independent army that was just formed and had nothing to show for themselves.

 Chapter 1226 - You Have Finished Your Apprenticeship

    <h4>Chapter 1226 You Have Finished Your Apprenticeship</h4>


    ¡°They¡¯re escorting the logistic transport fleets within the bounds of theary sector of the Federation. It seems like a safe and easy mission. They might think Lingtian is there to sit back and gain merits. However, if the mission is really safe, why were there so many ambushes in the past few years? I¡¯m sure that you still remember Mission Nestling, right?¡± Qi Yaoyang said in a mocking tone.


    The staff officer shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s hard to forget that mission. The First Men¡¯s Military Academy suffered great losses because of that ambush. If General Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t there...¡± The staff officer trembled when he thought of the frightening consequences. The Federation went on a tirade when they heard of the ambush. When they discovered that Twilight was behind the ambush, they swore to raze Twilight to the ground.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure that you understand how enticing of a target a newly formed independent army as well as three fully-loaded carriers are. It¡¯s definitely enticing enough for Twilight to take the risk.¡± Qi Yaoyang could almost see a slowly wrapping around the fleet.


    The staff officer got anxious. ¡°Shall we send men to receive them?¡±


    After the war had been dragged on for so long, the supplies within each division had depleted greatly. They were allcking supplies. If this batch of supplies was stolen by their enemies, the morale of the soldiers would drop severely and they would have to resort to more dangerous means to procure supplies like raiding their enemies¡¯ starships. It would be a heavy blow to the Federation.


    ¡°How do we help them? Do you even know where they are?¡± Qi Yaoyang asked.


    To prevent their enemies from ambushing their logistics fleets, no one would know where the fleet was unless the fleet contacted them directly.


    The staff officer was so worried that he forgot this important point. He knew that his idea was useless but he couldn¡¯t think of anything else. He asked his general, ¡°What do we do? Are we going to just wait for them to be ambushed?¡±


    ¡°Be ambushed? That might not happen.¡± If it was other independent armies, they might be in danger. But, their enemies were targeting Lingtian Independent Army.


    Qi Yaoyang was envious of Ling Xiao. Why did he have such a perfect son? Although Ling Xiao had helped his son secretly, most of Ling Lan¡¯s achievements were obtained through his own hard work. He had three sons of his own and he had helped them too, but none of them became as aplished as Ling Lan. Hence, he deduced that the father wasn¡¯t the main factor in his son¡¯s achievements.


    He felt extremely satisfied that he had made the right decision to stuff his youngest son in Ling Lan¡¯s team (He had forgotten how he rejected Qi Long in the past). Under Ling Lan¡¯s guidance, his son had exceeded even his own aplishments. His son, Qi Long, became a major general at 24 years old.


    Qi Yaoyang suddenly felt proud of himself for raising such a tiger son. However, this proud feeling onlysted for one second as he suddenly remembered that Ling Lan was 24 years old too but was already a lieutenant general. Comparisons angered people. Qi Yaoyang immediately threw the thought to the back of his mind. He didn¡¯t want to see Ling Xiao¡¯s smug face anymore. Hmph.


    ¡°Why?¡± The staff officer didn¡¯t know the details of Lingtian Independent Army so he was confused by his superior¡¯s confidence in them.


    ¡°You¡¯ll understand soon.¡± Although the staff officer was his confidant, he wouldn¡¯t tell him everything. He was exceptionally careful when it came to the safety of his son.


    The staff officer had worked under Qi Yaoyang for quite a while so he knew when to push his boundaries and when not not. He immediately stopped probing on the matter and went back to his work. He was still worried about Lingtian but he controlled his emotions.


    As Qi Yaoyang¡¯s confidant, it was important to know his limits. Qi Yaoyang liked smart people, not talkative ones.


    ¡°Master, I¡¯ve detected turbulence in the Qingri wormhole.¡± Meng Lan suddenly alerted Ling Lan.


    ¡°Little Four.¡± Ling Lan turned serious as she called for Little Four.


    ¡°Yes, Boss.¡± Little Four appeared beside Meng Lan immediately. Ever since Meng Lan took over the control of Base Neb¡¯s mainframe, Little Four would appear as a hologram asionally.


    ¡°Analyze the turbulence.¡± Ling Lan never expected their journey to Twilight to be smooth. She remained vignt for any possible danger. She wouldn¡¯t let any suspicious activity go undetected. Even if most of it was just residual energy left from meteorite collisions, she didn¡¯t let her guard down.


    ¡°Yes, Boss.¡±


    ¡°Yes, master.¡±


    Little Four and Meng Lan started analyzing the data. Ling Lan closed her eyes and rested her mind. Suddenly, she saw a familiar figure.


    ¡°Little Blossom?¡± Ling Lan was uncertain.


    She looked at the expressionless little girl with long hair floating behind him. Was this Little Blossom? Wait, Little Blossom was a boy!


    ¡°Yes.¡± Little Blossom replied indifferently.


    ¡°Your hair...¡± His hair was so long that it was almost touching the ground. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what to say.Little Blossom waved his hand, and his hair was chopped off until ear length. The chopped locks of hair turned into rays of light and disappeared in the air.


    ¡°I forgot to cut it,¡± Little Blossom replied. His face turned red as he spoke. He looked extremely cute.


    ¡®Is he embarrassed?¡¯ Ling Lan looked at Little Blossom who was trying his best to remain calm. She almostughed out loud. ¡°It¡¯s perfectly normal. When I get busy, I forget to cut my hair too.¡± In reality, Ling Lan was able to cut her hair with a single thought. Hence, she was just consoling Little Blossom with empty words.


    Little Blossom looked at her brightly. There was a faint smile on his face.


    ¡°Why are you so free today?¡± Ling Lan remembered that Number Four had taken Little Blossom away for tutoring. She hadn¡¯t seen him in a long time.


    ¡°I finished my apprenticeship,¡± Little Blossom said.


    ¡°Congrattions.¡± Ling Lan pped softly. She was proud of Little Blossom. When Little Blossom saw the happiness in his master¡¯s eyes, his core was reactivated and his data reconfigured. It happened so quickly that he felt his body heating up.


    ¡°I wonder what you have learned. I hope to see you in action soon.¡± Ling Lan was curious about what Number Four taught Little Blossom.

 Chapter 1227 - Welcome Home

    <h4>Chapter 1227 Wee Home</h4>


    In the past, her instructors told her that she would only be able to learn under the mysterious Number Four if she understood something. She wondered what was the thing she had to understand. Even until now, she didn¡¯t know the answer.


    Little Blossom tensed up at Ling Lan¡¯s words. He replied expressionlessly, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s just some useless knowledge.¡±


    In the learning space, Number Four was furious when she heard Little Blossom dismissing her profound knowledge.


    ¡°What do you mean by useless. It¡¯s bewitching. The power to bewitch anyone within a second.¡¯


    Number Four wanted to teach that little bastard a lesson. However, before she could get her fists ready, she heard a cold voice beside her. ¡°Number Four, forget it.¡±


    ¡°Number One!¡± Number Four stomped her feet in frustration.


    ¡°There¡¯s no use forcing him if he doesn¡¯t like it,¡± Number One appeared beside Number Four and said calmly.


    ¡°Do you mean that my skills are not worth learning?¡± Number Four raised head and looked at Number One with puppy eyes. Her eyes were dewdy and glistening as she looked at him. The emotions in them were overwhelming. Even a cold-blooded person would melt from her gaze. Unfortunately, Number One¡¯s blood was like ice. He wasn¡¯t affected at all.


    ¡°Boring.¡± Number Four red at Number One before turning around elegantly and disappearing on the spot.


    After a few seconds, Number One heaved a sigh of relief and his body rxed a little.


    ¡°Number Four has be more powerful.¡± Number One frowned before going back to his own space.


    ¡°Little Blossom, the knowledge you were given might not seem useful now but in the future, it might be able to help you out of a life-or-death situation. Don¡¯t underestimate any knowledge.¡± Ling Lan taught Little Blossom earnestly. She believed that all the knowledge her instructors taught her were useful.


    Little Blossom listened to Ling Lan attentively. He pondered over her words and nodded thereafter.


    ¡°Do you still need to go back?¡± Ling Lan was afraid that Little Blossom would disappear from her side again.


    Little Blossom shook his head. ¡°My instructor said that I¡¯ve learned everything I could. I just need to figure out how to use them on my own.¡± Little Blossom didn¡¯t think that he needed the knowledge of bewitching, but since his master said that they might be useful, he would analyse them when he had the time.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Little Four misses you.¡± Ling Lan smiled.


    Little Blossom¡¯s eyes lit up. Little Four was the same as family to him. Little Blossom had always been discriminated against by his own kind so he treasured his rtionship with Little Four (It couldn¡¯t be helped. Little Blossom¡¯s true form was the arch enemy of all intelligent entities).


    ¡°And I miss you too,¡± Ling Lan continued.


    Little Blossom was touched. He wasn¡¯t alone anymore.


    ¡°I... I miss you all too,¡± Little Blossom whispered.


    ¡°Come.¡± Ling Lan waved at Little Blossom.


    Little Blossom rushed over and entered Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape. Ling Lan hugged Little Blossom in her mindscape and said in a low voice, ¡°Little Blossom, wee home.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m back.¡± Little Blossom finally felt that this space was his home. He wasn¡¯t just a guest anymore.


    ¡°Little Four is analysing some data. You can go and find him. He¡¯ll be happy to see you.¡± Ling Lan believed that Little Four would be ted to see Little Blossom. He was always thinking about Little Blossom when he was bored.


    ¡°Okay, Boss.¡± Little Blossom nodded. He surreptitiously changed the way he addressed Ling Lan. He felt that Ling Lan was his family now. She wasn¡¯t just his master


    nov


    Ling Lan noticed the changes in Little Blossom. She felt happy for him. She preferred this happy Little Blossom to the one before.


    Little Blossom disappeared immediately to look for Little Four and Meng Lan. Ling Lan didn¡¯t care what they did in Base Neb as long as they didn¡¯t destroy it.


    Compared to the original mainframe of Base Neb, Ling Lan trusted the three of them more.


    After some time, Little Four and Meng Lan held hands and came back to Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape with Little Blossom walking behind them.


    Little Blossom could devour all kinds of data. Little Four and Meng Lan were happy that he was back but they didn¡¯t dare to touch him directly.


    ¡°How is it?¡± Ling Lan asked the moment she saw them.


    ¡°We found them.¡± Little Four was beaming happily. Not only did they locate their enemy, Little Blossom came back too. He wasn¡¯t alone anymore.


    Ling Lan sat up straight as she motioned Little Four to continue.


    Little Four continued, ¡°We found the source of the turbulence. They should being from a number of imperial mechas.¡±


    A virtual screen appeared beside Little Four as he spoke. The map of the Qingri wormhole was disyed on it. A few light-years away, there was a meteoroid zone. The meteorites there moved in unpredictable patterns so both the Federation and Twilight deemed this ce as a dangerous zone. No spacecraft were allowed to get near the zone.


    The source of the turbulence came from there.


    ¡°That exins why they¡¯re there,¡± Ling Lan replied coldly. Only imperial operators had the ability to protect themselves in such a dangerous zone.


    Their enemy made a lot of effort to ambush them. Ling Lan wondered if the mastermind hiding in the military took part in this scheme.


    ¡°What do we do now? Shall we order the mecha operators to prepare for battle?¡± Little Four asked.


    ¡°Only imperial operators can fight with imperial operators.¡± Ling Lan closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were filled with killing intent.


    ¡°Where is the transport fleet?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    ¡°Here. They will reach our position in approximately 40 minutes.¡± Meng Lan pointed at a spot on the map.


    ¡°Meng Lan, order all the leaders and deputy leaders to prepare for battle,¡± Ling Lan ordered.


    ¡°Yes, master.¡± Meng Lan quickly released Ling Lan¡¯s order to the leaders and deputy leaders.


    ¡°We¡¯re not fighting now?¡± Little Four asked curiously.


    ¡°Let the transport fleet meet them first.¡± One day, herrades would need to fight on a battlefield without her. This ambush would be a good training practice for them. Ling Lan decided to watch the performance of her brigade leaders first before moving out herself.

 Chapter 1228 - Ambush!

    Chapter 1228 Ambush!


    Beep! Beep! Beep!


    A ring noise was heard in this quiet meteoroid zone.


    The lumps on the meteorites starteding to


    life.


    The imperial mechas dropped their disguise and revealed their beautiful mecha bodies. From the appearance and logos on the mechas, they were an imperial mecha n from the Twilight Empire. There were approximately a hundred mechas.


    ¡°There are movements detected.¡± The leader of the ambush team spoke on the team channel.


    ¡°16, 17, capture the signal and confirm the coordinates,¡± The leader ordered calmly.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Two rough voices replied.


    About ten secondster, 16 and 17 shouted simultaneously, ¡°Found it.¡±


    ¡°Send the coordinates to the team channel,¡± the leader said.


    Two maps appeared on the screens of the imperial mechas. The coordinates 16 and 17 located were less than a kilometer apart.


    ¡°The position of our targets is confirmed. Everyone, prepare for battle.¡± The team leader immediately ordered his team members to prepare to fight (When two samples of coordinates of the same target are less than three kilometers apart, it¡¯s considered urate).


    ¡°Yes!¡± All the imperial operators took out their weapons and prepared for ambush. They were all carrying long-range beam guns. They aimed their guns at the huge transport fleet. Their n was to destroy the first transport starship in the first volley of beams.


    These imperial operators had been restraining their urge to kill for a long time. They were powerful but in this dangerous meteoroid zone, they must constantly maintain their vignce. One mistake could cost them their lives.


    Imperial mechas were more powerful than an ace mecha but it didn¡¯t have the Divine Shield system like a god-ss mecha so they had to actively dodge iing meteors, which caused them to be quite irritated


    They had been hiding for more than 60 hours in order to ambush the transport fleet. To prevent their target from noticing them, they only activated their disguise system. All their other systems were turned off. It meant that they were locked up in the small cockpit for almost three entire days. If they didn¡¯t have a strong mind, they might have gone crazy.


    ¡°They¡¯re finally here.¡± Everyone had killing intent in their eyes. After being locked up in a small space for a long time, it wasmon to have negative emotions. They needed a massacre to release their stress.


    They also wanted to use this massacre to show the Huaxia Federation that Twilight wasn¡¯t an easy prey to bully. Since they destroyed Three Stars Lock, they would have to pay the price for it.


    After some time, three starships appeared at the far end of the universe. They proceeded in a triangr formation.


    ¡°Only three starships? What¡¯s wrong?¡± The leader of the imperial operators was stunned. Based on the intel he received, there should be many transport ships.


    ¡°Let¡¯s wait for a while.¡± The leader of the imperial operators felt that the three starships weren¡¯t worth attacking. In an ambush, the first contact was always the most important. The leader didn¡¯t want to waste this chance.


    Once they were discovered, their enemy would be prepared for an ambush. It would be then too hard for them to destroy the transport ships behind the three starships. They wouldn¡¯t be able to monitor all the starships too, so many might just split into different directions and escape.


    The three starships got closer to them. However, there was still no sign of the huge transport fleet. Were these starships just patrol ships? Were they not part of the transport fleet?


    ¡°No, these are not patrol ships. They¡¯re battleships.¡± As the starships got closer, the imperial operators managed to see the details of the ships clearly.


    ¡°This is the newest battleship model, Destruction Devil.¡± The leader of the imperial operators managed to guess the models of these starships urately.


    ¡°Shall we attack?¡± One of the imperial operators was excited. This was the newest battleship model. That meant that it was the best battleship of the Federation. If they were able to destroy three of them today, they would be heroes.


    ¡°Leader, let¡¯s attack them. Let these three Destruction Devils be the price for destroying our Three Stars Lock,¡± another imperial operator shouted. They were losing their patience. They needed to fight so that they could release their stress. If they kept controlling their emotions, they might really go crazy. They had already loaded their guns. It was inhumane to ask them to wait again.


    The team leader of the imperial operators remained calm. His team members kept requesting to fight but he didn¡¯t act rashly. He asked the mainframe of his mecha to scan the area behind the three battleships first. He wanted to know if the transport fleet was hiding behind them.


    ¡°There¡¯s no other sources of energy found in thisary sector.¡± The mainframe reported its findings.


    The leader frowned. By right, the transport fleet should have reached the Qingri wormhole by now. Why were they traveling so slowly?


    They were afraid that their enemy would hasten their pace so they came here three days ago.


    ¡°Leader, don¡¯t hesitate anymore. We¡¯ve already scanned theary sector. There are no starships behind them.¡± Another imperial operator urged his leader to initiate the ambush.


    All the mainframes of the mechas found no signs of other starships in this area. The transport fleet might have met with some ident and got dyed in the process. There were more than a hundred imperial mechas on their side so they should be able to destroy the three Destruction Devils in less than two hours.


    Destruction Devil battleships had strong cannons and the shell of the ship was strong. However, it was stillcking in the other aspects whenpared to fighting against an imperial mecha n. The leader believed that they would be able to destroy the three starships.


    The leader contemted for a while. He felt that attacking the three starships with no backup wouldn¡¯t affect their overall n. Hence, he ordered, ¡°Everyone, prepare to attack.¡±


    The beam guns were lifted up to their eye level. All of them pointed at the three Destruction Devils.


    ¡°Attack!¡±


    More than a hundred beams flew towards the first battleship.

 Chapter 1229 - Jialan Ship

    Chapter 1229 Jin Ship


    Just as the imperial operators felt that the starship was going to explode, it suddenly lit up brightly and rose up quickly.


    Most of the beams missed the starship. Those that managed to hit the starship got blocked by the light shield, resulting in the light shield dimming a little.


    ¡°That is a beam shield. How are they able to have a beam shield around the whole starship?¡± Most starships were unable to have a whole beam shield around them due to the amount of energy it required to sustain it. Normally, starships would usually form beam shields around 30 meters long, and they would just move it around the starship to block any iing projectiles.


    If the shields didn¡¯t move fast enough, the projectiles would hit the starship, causing huge damage. Moreover, starships moved slowly so itcked the agility to dodge projectiles. That was why it couldn¡¯t be the main strength in an intergctic war. To put the nail in the coffin, the production cost of such starships was exponentially higher than mechas.


    ¡°Ah, look behind them.¡± Someone eximed.


    When the starship rose up, the imperial operators from Twilight managed to see what was hiding behind it.


    There were more than 40 mechas hiding behind the starships. The mechas evaded the beams and charged towards them.


    ¡°Ace mechas in the meteoroid zone? Are they looking for death?¡± The imperial operators from Twilight scoffed when they saw ace mecha operators rushing towards them rashly.


    ¡°No, there are not just ace mechas. They have imperial mechas too.¡± Someone with amazing eyesight managed to see the appearance of the mechas even though they were moving at high speed.


    ¡°They have imperial operators¡­ who owns these starships?¡± The leader of the Twilight imperial operators was astounded. Did they identally attack some powerful figure¡¯s starship?


    Only an important figure of the Federation had such powerful guards.


    ¡°They only have 40 imperial mechas. They¡¯re not our match. We¡¯ll settle them first before attacking the three starships.¡± The leader of the Twilight imperial operators suppressed the uneasiness in his heart.


    They had more imperial operators on their side. There was no need to be afraid.


    ¡°Yes!¡± All the imperial operators took out their sword from behind their backs and fought with the ace mechas from the Federation.


    The Twilight mechas quickly surrounded the mechas from the Federation. Suddenly, three powerful beams shot towards the Twilight mechas.


    Bang!


    The imperial operators in the line of fire moved away quickly. However, there were some mechas who didn¡¯t evade on time. They got scratched by the three beams.


    Imperial mechas had beam shields protecting them but the beams shot from starships were too powerful. It depleted all the energy of the beam shields in an instant and even caused heavy damage to the body of the mechas.


    If the mechas were hit by the beam without any shielding, they would be instantly vapourized. The imperial operators that managed to barely escape from the gates of hell felt cold sweat pouring down their back.


    ¡°Be careful. The beams areing from the main cannon of Destruction Devil.¡± The leader of the Twilight imperial operators was at the back so he saw where the three beams came from.


    ¡°Damn it. How dare a starship attack us. Are they looking for death?¡± The imperial operators from Twilight were furious. They turned their mechas and started flying towards the starships without waiting for their leader¡¯s order.


    The leader wanted to stop them. However, he saw that they still had around 60 mechas on their side fighting against the mechas from the Federation. He felt that they still had the advantage. Hence, he didn¡¯t stop the imperial operators who were charging towards the starships.


    After all, they needed to stop the starships from attacking them too. That way, they wouldn¡¯t have to remain vignt of the starships while fighting with the mechas from the Federation.


    After killing these ace mecha operators from the Federation, they would take care of the three Destruction Devils. If they were able to drag one back to Twilight, they would be able to convince Caesar to help them by gifting it to them. The Federation would surely be dead meat then.


    ¡°Luo Chao, are you alright?¡± Han Xuya was nervous when she saw the imperial mechas flying towards them.


    Luo Chao was lying in the cockpit. She smiled and said, ¡°Xuya, don¡¯t worry. Boss designed this battleship for me. I¡¯ll make sure I maximise its performance.¡±


    ¡°Okay. You can concentrate. I won¡¯t disturb you.¡± Han Xuya quickly kept quiet.


    This was the first time they were using a starship to fight with mechas. However, their enemies were not normal mechas but imperial mechas. The difficulty of the battle increased. If it was her, she might be in a flurry now. However, Luo Chao seemed confident. Her confidence probably came from her innate talent.


    ¡°Jin, please help me,¡± Luo Chao called in a soft voice.


    ¡°Jin is here. Please give your order.¡± A cute voice was heard.


    A beautiful young girl with her hair tied up in two buns appeared on the virtual screen of the cockpit. She gave a shy smile. She looked slightly like the young Luo Chao.


    ¡°Come, Jin.¡± Luo Chao smiled.


    Jin ran over and jumped into Luo Chao¡¯s arms. The moment she entered Luo Chao¡¯s arms, Jin disappeared. Luo Chao closed her eyes and went into deep sleep.


    ¡°I always find it amazing when Luo Chao controls the Jin Ship.¡± Han Xuya was a little envious. She sat at the side and grabbed the handles of her chair tightly. Things were going to get exciting


    ¡°Everyone, sit on your chairs and buckle your safety belt. If you don¡¯t have one, just tightly grab a fixed object. Jin Ship is officially activated.¡± Luo Chao¡¯s gentle voice echoed through the entire ship.


    The soldiers on Jin Ship immediately stopped what they were doing and dashed to the nearest seats. They buckled their seat belt tightly. Those that weren¡¯t able to return to their seats in time found a fixed object and hung on it for dear life.


    After everyone was in position, the Jin Ship dived 90 degrees and evaded the beams shot by the imperial mechas.


    ¡°Ah!¡± High-pitched screams were heard throughout the sin Ship. However, this was just the beginning. The Jin Ship rose up 180 degrees again. The main cannons were aimed at the imperial mechas.


    ¡°F**k, how is that possible. No starship is able to move like that.¡± The imperial operators from Twilight were bbergasted by the movement of the Jin Ship. They couldn¡¯t believe their eyes.

 Chapter 1230 - Birthday Present!

    <h4>Chapter 1230 Birthday Present!</h4>


    Starships were bulky and heavy, so rarely able to put up any resistance when they were attacked, they would usually just tank the projectiles and fire back at them. However, the starship in front of them was almost as agile as a mecha. What the hell was it? Why was it able to move so quickly?


    Boom! The main cannon of the starship was fired. The imperial operators didn¡¯t expect the Jin Ship tounch its cannon so quickly. There was only a short distance between them so two of the imperial operators didn¡¯t react in time and got devoured by the beam.


    Two explosions were heard. When the beam disappeared, two ck balls were seen where two mechas previously stood.


    The other mecha operators from Twilight knew that theirrades were dead. There was no way they could escape.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± The mecha operators from Twilight were infuriated. They thought that they could destroy the three starships easily but instead, they were the ones on the losing end now. They even lost tworades almost instantly.


    ¡°Revenge! Take it down!¡± The imperial operators started hurling attacks at the Jin Ship angrily. However, the Jin Ship was always able to find a way to evade their attacks. Even if it couldn¡¯t avoid some attacks, the beam shield would be activated at the right time to minimise the damage.


    While the Jin Ship was battling furiously with its enemies, the other two starships focused on escaping. They weren¡¯t as agile as the Jin Ship so they could only slowly evade the iing projectiles. The speed of Destruction Devil was the fastest among all the starships. It might be slower than mechas but it had better stamina. The imperial operators were able to catch up with them but they would take some effort to stop them.


    ¡°Jin is performing really well.¡± Meng Lan smiled in satisfaction as she observed the battle from the operations center on Base Neb.


    Meng Lan was the one who brought Jin up. In human words, Jin was like her daughter.


    ¡°Yes. Jin is a smart girl. She is cooperating very well with Luo Chao.¡± Ling Lan was satisfied too.


    ¡°Hmph. I¡¯ll take credit for that,¡± Little Four said proudly.


    ¡°Yes, you made the most contribution. You were the one who made my father busy for an entire month.¡± Ling Lan flicked Little Four¡¯s forehead.


    Jin Ship was a Destruction Devil but it wasn¡¯t just any normal Destruction Devil. Among the three Destruction Devils her father gave her, one of them was still lying in Base Neb.


    That¡¯s right. The Jin Ship that Luo Chao was controlling was secretly designed by Little Four. He wanted to give Boss the best birthday present. However, making a starship required a lot of time so by the time Little Four finished constructing it, it had already passed Ling Lan¡¯s birthday.


    But, Little Four still gave it to Ling Lan. Ling Lan scolded him when she received the present.


    She was angry because there was no way she could exin the presence of the starship to the military. Even if she was themander of an independent army, there was no way she could get her hands on a Destruction Devil. Destruction Devil was the secret of the military. Well, nothing was a secret to Little Four.


    Fortunately, Little Four bought the shares of thepany that manufactured the Destruction Devil a long time ago. However, the starships weren¡¯t put up for sales yet at that time.


    Little Four knew his mistake so he quickly deleted all the information about the Destruction Devil. In actual fact, some people tried to get information about the Destruction Devil through thepany but Little Four stopped them just in time.


    Ling Lan knew that she couldn¡¯t use this starship but she was unwilling to let go of it. This starship was much more powerful than the Federation¡¯s Destruction Devil. Hence, after much thinking, she decided to ask her father for help.


    That was why Ling Xiao took three Destruction Devils and gave it to the Lingtian Independent Army. Many people were unhappy and jealous of Lingtian. However, the military felt that it was alright for the Lingtian Independent Army to have Destruction Devils. They should support an up and rising army.


    Thus, Ling Lan managed to swap the Destruction Devil Little Four made for her with one of the Destruction Devils her father got her.


    She was lucky that she had Little Four. Little Four allowed her to evade all the radar scannings from the satellites so that she was able to sneak the Jin Ship into Base Neb.


    All in all, the Jin Ship had a rough journey into her arms. Ling Lan was so worried about it that she didn¡¯t sleep properly for a couple of months. If an error urred in their n, Ling Four¡¯s hard work would be taken by someone else.


    To her relief, everything ended properly. She warned Little Four that he mustn¡¯t create such huge presents again as it was too hard to hide


    them.


    Jin was more advanced than Destruction Devil in terms of its operations.


    This was the result of Little Four¡¯s research on god-ss mechas. He sessfully installed the spiritual power control system on a starship.


    Of course, in order to control the starship perfectly, the captain must be someone who had navigator talent and knew how to pilot a starship.


    People with simr innate talents could control the starship too but no one knew what the result was. There was no data avable to refer to. Plus, Ling Lan always wanted to hand the Jin Ship to Luo Chao. There were no other better candidates in her mind. She knew that Luo Chao always wanted to be a starshipmander so she wanted to fulfill her wish.


    ¡°The other two Destruction Devils seem inferior when youpare them with Jin.¡± Li Lanfeng was always trying to appear in front of Ling Lan ever since that talk.


    ¡°If we want to improve Destruction Devil, we need to tackle the mainframe.¡± Ling Lan was unsatisfied with the other two starships after seeing the Jin Ship¡¯s performance.


    ¡°Shall we groom another Jin?¡± Li Lanfeng knew what the Jin Ship¡¯s mainframe was. Were they able to create more mainframes like Meng Lan and Jin?

 Chapter 1231 - Modified Mechas!

    <h4>Chapter 1231 Modified Mechas!</h4>


    ¡°We were lucky to have created Jin. If we want to create another one of her, the sess rate is very low.¡± Ling Lan wasn¡¯t greedy. Jin¡¯s appearance was a coincidence. Even Little Four couldn¡¯t understand how she came about.


    Jin was the work of Little Four and Meng Lan. However, Little Four said that if he was to do the same thing again, even with all the data he had recorded, he wasn¡¯t confident he could create another Jin.


    Actually, Jin was just a bunch of foundational data that experienced a sudden change. Its appearance was idental. Little Four and Meng Lan didn¡¯t think that they could be as lucky the second time.


    ¡°I see.¡± Li Lanfeng finally understood why it took so long for Jin to appear after Meng Lan was created. Jin¡¯s intelligence wasn¡¯t as high as Meng Lan too. Meng Lan could control an entire base and even more while Jin was only able to control a starship.


    The next intelligent entity might only be able to control a mecha. Li Lanfeng felt that the intelligent entities created would get weaker and weaker.


    ¡°Boss, shall we send reinforcements? Those two Destruction Devils can¡¯t withstand much longer.¡± Little Four was agitated. He felt that the Destruction Devils were Boss¡¯s property. They mustn¡¯t be damaged.


    Ling Lan looked at the mecha operators who were fighting furiously and then nced at the two Destruction Devils. Only the Jin Ship seemed to be having an easy time. This battle proved that the Jin Ship was powerful enough to tackle an imperial mecha n.


    After getting the data she wanted, Ling Lan nodded and ordered, ¡°Send the imperial operators out.¡±


    The brigade leaders and deputy leaders weren¡¯t the only imperial operators in her army. There were many veteran soldiers who managed to advance to imperial level in this period of time.


    Her independent army wasn¡¯t strong enough to apply for imperial mechas on its own from the military. However, with the help of her father and the logistics department of the 23rd division, she still managed to get imperial mechas for all her team leaders.


    But, that would only be around 40 imperial mechas. It wasn¡¯t enough to satisfy the needs of the Lingtian Independent Army. Fortunately, they had Chang Xinyuan and Little Four. Chang Xinyuan was a master in modification while Little Four could steal anything he wanted from the virtual world.


    They disassembled a few imperial mechas andpared it with the blueprints of imperial mechas. After a few months of experimentation, Chang Xinyuan managed to modify the ace mechas using Ling Lan¡¯s infinite supply of metal and essories.


    Hence, those mechas that looked like ace mechas weren¡¯t actually ace mechas. They had the internal structure and systems of an imperial mecha. Some of their systems were even better than imperial mechas. But, the mechas hadn¡¯t been tested in battle yet.


    This battle would be a good opportunity to test the modified mechas.


    Ling Lan seemed calm but if you looked carefully, you would notice that her hands were clenched tightly. If the ace mechas were able to fight with imperial mechas on equal grounds, the strength of her army would reach a new height. They would be the rulers of the battlefield.


    ¡°Haha, it¡¯s finally our turn to perform,¡± Xie Yi shouted happily when he heard Ling Lan¡¯s order. He was waiting on theunching port.


    ¡°Be careful. You¡¯re just a pseudo imperial operator,¡± Luo Lang reminded Xie Yi.


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll be careful.¡± Xie Yi smiled obediently at Luo Lang¡¯s face on the screen.


    Luo Lang felt puzzled.


    A few days ago, he heard some brigade membersmenting on their leaders. When they spoke of Xie Yi, they said that he was a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing. They mentioned that he could probably fight it out with Big Leader Li.


    Luo Lang knew that Li Lanfeng was a scheming individual, but Xie Yi had always been positive and vibrant in front of him. He didn¡¯t think that he was a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing


    wa


    Was he scheming? He always appeared so idiotic in front of him. Luo Lang felt that Xie Yi was as stupid as him sometimes. That was why Luo Lang didn¡¯t mind hanging around Xie Yi as it made him feel quite secure about his insecurities.


    Luo Lang started to feel uncertain about his image of Xie Yi. Since so many people felt that way, there must be some truth to the im. However, based on his daily interaction with Xie Yi, he just couldn¡¯t picture Xie Yi to be as smart and deceiving as everyone said. For instance, his reply just now was really stupid.


    Luo Lang wasn¡¯t someone who liked to think so when he couldn¡¯t find an answer, he just threw the problem to the back of his mind. He hung up the video call after Xie Yi replied to him and waited patiently for the JMC to call him.


    When the first modified mecha was ejected out of Base Neb, it caught the attention of the people fighting


    Little Four would only be able to hide Base Neb if no heat was emitted out of it. Once a mecha was ejected out, the heat produced by its engine was enough to expose them.


    The team leader of the Twilight imperial mecha operators heard the rm in his mecha. He quickly searched the area and found the mechas that had appeared a few kilometres away.


    ¡°The mechas are from the Federation. We walked into a trap.¡± This was his first reaction.


    However, when he noticed that there were just around 40 ace mechas, he scoffed. ¡°How arrogant of them. Are they looking down on imperial operators?¡±


    They wouldn¡¯t need much effort to destroy those mechas.


    Imperial mechas were stronger than ace mechas but they weren¡¯t invincible like the god-ss mechas. If there were many ace mechas, they might be able to destroy an imperial mecha. But, they would need at least five ace mechas to surround an imperial mecha.


    He just needed to send a few imperial operators to fight against the approaching ace mechas.


    The only thing that worried him was the Destruction Devil. The leader of the Twilight mecha operators could see that Jin wasn¡¯t a normal Destruction Devil.

 Chapter 1232 - Reversal!

    <h4>Chapter 1232 Reversal!</h4>


    The other two Destruction Devils could only suffer the brunt of their beams while they were being harassed with beams by the Twilight imperial mechas. Yet, this unusual Destruction Devil managed to fight back despite its known faults. It prompted the leader of the Twilight imperial mecha operators to order his team members to attack the two normal Destruction Devils mercilessly and destroy them as quickly as possible. As for the unique Destruction Devil, he decided to let it be for now, and after they finished off the other two Destruction Devils, they would return and steal the unique Destruction Devil for themselves. He believed that this Destruction Devil would bring great surprises to Twilight in the future.


    Sometimes, a single mistake could change the entire oue of the battle.


    The 40 ace mechas from the Federation split into two equal groups. One group flew towards the imperial operators while the other group split into two teams again and chased after the imperial operators that were attacking the two normal Destruction Devils.


    The imperial operators from Twilight just sent five imperial operators to stop the group of 20 ace operators. The leader of the Twilight mecha operators felt that this would be an easy win for them. However, the result astounded him.


    In response to the approaching five imperial operators, the 20 ace operators formed five small teams. Each team targeted one imperial operator. In a blink of an eye, the five imperial operators from Twilight were dead.


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± The leader of the Twilight mecha operators eximed in disbelief. His imperial operators didn¡¯t even have time to react before they were killed.


    The imperial operators from Twilight turned anxious. Before they could regain their senses, the 20 ace mecha masters from the Federation had arrived in front of them. They started attacking the imperial operators.


    Boom! Three Twilight imperial operators who were surrounding an imperial operator from the Federation got blocked by two ace mecha


    masters.


    ¡°You¡¯re finally here.¡± Yang Mingzhi heaved a sigh of relief. The reinforcements were finally here.


    ¡°We were always here. Themander just wanted to see your performance,¡± Gu Dongyang replied calmly.


    ¡°Yes. We wanted to help you long ago but themander forced us to wait.¡± A familiar voice came from the other modified mecha. It was the leader of Team 15 and the ex deputy leader of Team 03, Sun Yaofei.


    ¡°It seems like he is disappointed,¡± Yang Mingzhi smiled bitterly.


    ¡°You¡¯ll have to ask him personally for the answer for that. Let¡¯s kill these small fries first. If not, themander might get angry.¡± Gu Dongyang reminded Yang Mingzi that this wasn¡¯t a good time for a chat.


    Yang Mingzhi and Sun Yaofei shuddered in fear. They stopped talking and focused on controlling their mechas. They tried their best to get rid of their enemies as soon as possible.


    If Boss actually got angry and decided to give them the ultimate level month hell training to soothe his anger, they would not be even able to leave their corpse intact.


    Even veterans soldiers like Yang Mingzhi and Sun Yaofei felt fearful when they thought of Ling Lan¡¯s stern expression. They didn¡¯t want to be the next Xie Yi or Qi Long.


    Gu Dongyang, Sun Yaofei, and Yang Mingzhi spoke in the team channel so all the other mecha operators from Lingtian heard their conversation. They were all reminded of the consequence of performing badly, so they got really motivated and started attacking their opponents furiously.


    Just like the three veteran soldiers, none of the mecha operators wanted to be the next unlucky soul.


    You could say that Ling Lan was like a pressure cooker. The moment she stood behind her team members with a death re, the mecha operators would be able to unleash all their potential.


    The mecha operators from the Federation became more aggressive and quickly controlled the situation. The two Destruction Devils that were running away turned back and started firing at the Twilight mechas too. The tides were turned.


    ¡°Damn it.¡± The leader of the Twilight mecha operators watched in dismay as the entire situation changed due to the arrival of the 40 ace mechas.


    By now, he knew that the 40 ace mechas were modified mechas. However, the degree of modification those mechas got were in much higher quality than the modification mechas from Twilight received. In Twilight, modification only allowed their mechas to just be slightly more powerful ace mechas. However, the modified mechas from the Federation were imperial mechas with the appearance of an ace mecha.


    If these monsters participated in a normal war between the boundary of two nations, they would definitely dominate the battlefield. When did the technology of the Federation be so advanced?


    The leader of the Twilight mecha operators felt that he must send this information back to his nation. If his country didn¡¯t know about the frightening Destruction Devil and the modified ace mechas, they would be caught off their guards and suffer heavy losses.


    The leader of the Twilight mecha operators was a decisive person. Since they didn¡¯t have any chances of winning, he ordered his men to retreat. He was the first to turn his mecha around. Even if he was misunderstood by his men, he must send the message back to his nation immediately.


    The leader of the Twilight mecha operators left so suddenly that the Federation mecha operators who were fighting with him couldn¡¯t react in time. They just looked at his silhouette as he left the battlefield.


    At this moment, the leader of the Twilight mecha operators felt a pinging sense of danger approaching him at high speeds. He activated his beam shield without thinking.


    Bang! A beam ray hit his mecha. Fortunately, he activated his beam shield in time so he managed to block the beam. However, the powerful force behind the beam still injured him slightly. He could taste blood in his mouth.


    An ace mecha suddenly appeared in front of him. The leader of the Twilight knew that his opponent must have installed the chameleon system. If it wasn¡¯t for his instinct, his mecha might have been badly damaged.


    ¡°Ourmander ordered that no one must escape. If you run away, we¡¯ll be in trouble.¡± Someone spoke in a light tone on the public channel.


    ¡°Xie Yi, why are you talking so much?¡± an unhappy voice said after him.


    ¡°Erm, okay.¡± Xie Yi¡¯s smile disappeared. Sob, he wanted to perform well in front of Luo Lang but he always showed him his stupid side instead. Xie Yi felt frustrated. This wasn¡¯t the image he wanted to disy in front of Luo Lang.


    As the two of them spoke, another ace mecha appeared on the other end. The two ace mechas surrounded the leader of the Twilight mecha operators.


    The leader of the Twilight mecha operators didn¡¯t dare to underestimate any ace mechas now. The beam shot just now proved that these two ace mechas in front of him were modified mechas too. In his mind, they were as powerful as imperial mechas.

 Chapter 1233 - Clean Up The Battlefield!

    <h4>Chapter 1233 Clean Up The Battlefield!</h4>


    ¡°Let¡¯s attack him together.¡± Luo Lang grabbed his huge sword tightly and shouted at Xie Yi.


    Both him and Xie Yi were pseudo imperial operators, not fully fledged imperial operators. Their modified mechas had a lower operations requirement to allow them to release 80% of the mecha¡¯s ability. If they were operating real imperial mechas, they wouldn¡¯t be able to unleash half of the mecha¡¯s potential. Thus, they were still unable to fight with imperial operators alone.


    They were lucky that Chang Xinyuan and Boss managed to make these modified mechas. It shortened the distance between them and actual imperial operators, allowing them the opportunity to fight with imperial operators to gain experience of how an actual imperial operator should fight.


    Just as Luo Lang shouted at him, Xie Yi grabbed his sword too and attacked without any hesitation.


    The two young pseudo imperial operators managed to be equal in match with an imperial operator from Twilight. However, as they were still pseudo imperial operators, the leader of the Twilight mecha operators would have a higher chance of winning the fight the longer the fight dragged on.


    However, time wasn¡¯t on the team leader¡¯s side. He knew that once the other modified ace mechas killed their opponents, they woulde and help theirrades. If that happened, he would have no chance of escaping


    The people from the Twilight Empire were ruthless. They were ruthless to their opponents as well as themselves. They advocated the samurai spirit. They were willing to pay any price toplete their mission. The same goes for the leader of the Twilight mecha operators. He decided to fight with his life.


    Each stab, each swing of his sword was fatal. Xie Yi and Luo Lang started to waver under the constant pressure the leader exerted. They weren¡¯t prepared to risk their lives like their opponent. After all, they weren¡¯t the ones with nothing to lose.


    Thus, the tides of the fight changed. They were now being suppressed by the leader of the Twilight mecha operators, instead of the other way around.


    The leader raised his sword up high to execute a devastating chop. Xie Yi and Luo Lang had no choice but to cross their arms above their heads and hope it would be enough to withstand the chop. However, the devastating chop never came. When they opened their eyes to see where the leader was, they saw him retreating swiftly.


    They got fooled! Xie Yi and Luo Lang were still too inexperienced. Experienced soldiers would have made ns to prevent their enemies from escaping while defending themselves.


    Xie Yi and Luo Lang reacted quickly and chased after the leader of the Twilight mecha operators. However, the leader got further and further away. Just as he was about to leave the Qingri wormhole, a sword shed at him.


    The sword appeared without any warning. The attention of the leader of the Twilight mecha operators was on the two mechas behind him so he was caught off guard. Before he could react, his cockpit was stabbed.


    A mecha slowly appeared beside him.


    The leader of the Twilight mecha operators didn¡¯t understand why there was another ace mecha hiding here. Did his opponents know that he was going to escape in this direction? That was impossible. He didn¡¯t n his escape route. It was all instinctive.


    It must be a coincidence. Somehow, he chose the path with an ambushing mecha.


    ¡°I¡¯m so unlucky.¡± The leader of the Twilight mecha operators felt regretful as he died.


    ¡°Boss.¡± Luo Lang and Xie Yi shuddered when they saw the mecha.


    ¡°Clean up the battlefield,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡°Yes, Boss.¡± The two of them quickly turned around and rushed back to the battlefield as if there was a monster chasing them.


    ¡°Will I eat them? Why did they run away so quickly?¡± Ling Lan felt frustrated. She knew she had a poker face but that didn¡¯t mean that she was angry. She just didn¡¯t want to destroy her image.


    The mecha operators from Lingtian fought even more aggressively once they knew that theirmander was on the battlefield. They wanted to show theirmander how hardworking they were so that theirmander wouldn¡¯t punish them.


    The effects were amazing. Within a few minutes, all the mecha operators had finished their opponents. They started cleaning the battlefield.


    There were some mecha operators who were injured but none of them died. The cockpits of the modified ace mechas had a better structural integrity so the survival rate of the mecha operators increased drastically. Out of the ten mechas that were destroyed, only two mecha operators were in dire condition. They used Li Shiyu¡¯s life-saving agent to save theirst breath before sending them back to Base Neb.


    Lingtian was able to end this battle without losing anyone. This was the result of their hard work. Whether it was the modified ace mechas or the life-saving agent, they were all created by Lingtian. No one had propped them up to this point, it was all due to their hard work.


    We mustn¡¯t forget the veteran soldiers who had once given up on themselves. Among the 80 imperial operators and pseudo imperial operators, besides Ling Lan¡¯s childhood friends, most of them were the veteran soldiers from 250 Ace Mecha n. The moment they stood up again, they were destined to be different.


    Without these veteran soldiers, Lingtian wouldn¡¯t be as powerful as they were now.


    After cleaning up the battlefield, a huge transport fleet slowly floated over.


    The three major generals inside the transport ships were stunned when they saw the ruins of mechas floating in the vast space.


    They were experienced soldiers so they knew that these ruins belonged to imperial mechas from Twilight. They could tell that there were many of them too. If their transport ships met these imperial operators, it would be a crisis for them. They would be lucky if half of them managed to escape.


    Fortunately, the Lingtian Independent Army saved them from such disaster. They didn¡¯t know how many casualties Lingtian had but they could tell that they won the battle. If not, they wouldn¡¯t be able to pass this wormhole so smoothly.


    ¡°Our head is right. The Lingtian Independent Army has the right to go on this mission.¡± Major General Xu finally epted the Lingtian Independent Army.


    ¡°Only the ruins of Twilight mechas could be seen.¡± Major General Qiu was astounded. There should have been casualties on the Federation¡¯s side too but all he saw were damaged Twilight mechas. This was out of his expectation.

 Chapter 1234 - Base Satellite Feiyu

    <strong>Chapter 1234 Base Satellite Feiyu</strong>


    ¡°Maybe Lingtian had already finished cleaning up the scraps of their mechas.¡± Major General Di expressed his opinion after seeing the logisticians of Lingtian dragging every salvageable Twilight mecha back to their starship systematically.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. No wonder they asked us to wait for a long time. If the battle ended quickly, they would have the time to clean up the battlefield.¡± Major General Xu agreed.


    The three of them didn¡¯t dare to look down on the Lingtian Independent Army anymore. Maybe the military sent them over not because they wanted to give them an easy way to gain merits, but because they trusted them. The military was confident in Lingtian¡¯s abilities to escort the transport fleet safely to their destination.


    Even after finishing off the final mecha operator from Twilight, Ling Lan still didn¡¯t meet up with the transport fleet. Yang Mingzhi and the escort team were in charge of cleaning up the battlefield so she didn¡¯t have to do it. Thus, when the transport fleet arrived, Ling Lan was already moving to her next destination with Base Neb.


    This time, the destination was Base Satellite Feiyu, the frontline logistics headquarters of the Federation.


    The transport fleet had a smooth journey after passing through the Qingri wormhole.


    Satellite Feiyu was a man-made satellite. It was as big as the moon. The Federation created this satellite to guard against Twilight.


    Unlike the rare moving bases, Satellite Feiyu wasn¡¯t able to move freely like Base Neb. Its movements were restricted. It could only spin around a certain path.


    It didn¡¯t have strong defensive or offensive capabilities but as a frontline base, this much was enough.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t choose to enter the base. She stopped a few thousand kilometers away. She asked Little Four to hide Base Neb from anyone¡¯s sight. As long as Base Neb didn¡¯t move or produce any heat, no one would be able to find them.


    Yang Mingzhi followed the transport fleet into Base Feiyu after receiving Ling Lan¡¯s order.


    From the moment Ling Lan moved Base Neb out of the Neb boundary, Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong never contacted her. They onlymunicated with her when she contacted them.


    Ling Lan did this because she didn¡¯t want them to be implicated by her decision. Ever since she received the order from the military headquarters, a sense of crisis lingered in her heart. It was still there, even now.


    After reaching a certain stage in physical skills, the human body would naturally be able to detect danger. This was the reason why Ling Xiao prepared his legacy before he left for his mission that year. This time, Ling Lan was prepared to face the worst case scenario.


    After Qi Yaoyang received the news that the Lingtian Independent Army had escorted the transport fleet safely to Base Feiyu, he heaved a sigh of relief. He trusted Ling Lan but as a father, he was worried about his son.


    When his staff officer told him that an imperial mecha team had ambushed the transport fleet, Qi Yaoyang¡¯s heart pounded furiously in fear. He knew that the transport fleet was fine now so he didn¡¯t jump out of his chair. An imperial mecha team wasn¡¯t a threat to official divisions but it could easily annihte a newly formed independent army as well as a weak transport fleet.


    ¡°Are you saying that the Lingtian Independent Army only suffered a few casualties after destroying an imperial mecha team?¡± Qi Yaoyang was bbergasted. If his mecha n met such an imperial mecha team, it would still suffer heavy losses before defeating them.


    Base Neb was hidden from public sight so the condition of the two heavily injured mecha operators were not released. Hence, Qi Yaoyang only knew about the injured people resting on the three Destruction Devils. He wondered if Lingtian concealed the poor details of their fight because they wanted to gain more merits.


    However, he knew that it was impossible. Other armies might need military exploits but the Lingtian Independent Army didn¡¯t.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to Base Feiyu.¡± Qi Yaoyang believed in Ling Lan but he still wanted to make sure that Lingtian was safe.


    The moment Qi Yaoyang reached Base Feiyu, he went directly to find the Lingtian Independent Army. He saw the brigade leaders waiting at the entrance of their starships.


    They saluted when they saw Qi Yaoyang.


    Qi Yaoyang nced at the energetic little brat who was smiling stupidly. He said, ¡°Let¡¯s go to your control room. Tell me about what happened in the Qingri wormhole.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong exchanged nces with each other and smiled at each other knowingly. They led Qi Yaoyang to the control room. When they entered the control room, they saw a beautiful lieutenant colonel talking to the mainframe of the ship in a gentle tone.


    The lieutenant colonel heard themotion, she turned around. Her eyes lit up when she saw Qi Yaoyang. ¡°General.¡± She stood up and saluted.


    ¡°Luo Chao, long time no see. Look at how much you¡¯ve grown.¡± Qi Yaoyang¡¯s expression softened when he saw Luo Chao. After the twins from the Luo family followed Ling Lan, his rtionship with the Luo family had gotten better. Every holiday, the children from the Luo family and the Han family woulde and visit him. Qi Yaoyang had a strong impression of the twins. After all, it was hard to see such identical twins with different gender.


    ¡°Come,e. Have a seat.¡± Qi Yaoyang asked everyone to sit down.


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong weren¡¯t in the same caliber as Qi Yaoyang but the difference between them wasn¡¯t huge. Thus, they didn¡¯t appear flustered and found a seat casually. On the other hand, the younger soldiers were nervous when they saw the undefeatable god of war, Qi Yaoyang, in person. Fortunately, the vicious training from Ling Lan allowed them to regain theirposure quickly.


    ¡°Where is yourmander?¡± Qi Yaoyang asked in surprise when he didn¡¯t see Ling Lan.


    ¡°Ourmander tasked us to lead ten mecha brigades to escort the transport fleet,¡± Yang Mingzhi replied calmly, ¡°Themander is protecting us secretly.¡±


    Yang Mingzhi knew that they couldn¡¯t hide the truth from experienced soldiers like Qi Yaoyang. Thus, he told him the truth. He knew that Qi Yaoyang was on their side since he was Qi Long¡¯s father. Hence, he would definitely do them no harm.

 Chapter 1235 - I’m Your Father!

    <strong>Chapter 1235 I¡¯m Your Father!</strong>


    ¡°I see.¡± Qi Yaoyang was experienced enough to know what Ling Lan¡¯s n was. ¡°One in the light, one in the dark. This is a good n.¡±


    ¡°I just want to know if you really annihted the imperial mecha team.¡±


    Qi Yaoyang went directly to the point.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it just an imperial mecha team? Nothing is impossible for Lingtian,¡± Qi Long raised his head proudly and replied.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so arrogant, little brat. Tell me, how did you do it?¡± Qi Yaoyang knew that only the brigade leaders and vice leaders were given imperial mechas. It meant that there were at most around 40 imperial mechas in Lingtian. In the report, there were more than a hundred imperial mechas on their enemy¡¯s side. It would be impossible to defeat their opponent with just 40 imperial mechas. There must be some other secret factor.


    Qi Long shook his head hurriedly. ¡°This is Lingtian¡¯s secret. I can¡¯t tell you.¡±


    ¡°Damn it. I¡¯m your father.¡± Qi Yaoyang was furious.


    ¡°I¡¯m a soldier of Lingtian first before being your son. Even if you¡¯re my father, I can¡¯t tell you.¡± Qi Long didn¡¯t give his father any respect.


    Qi Long¡¯s attitude angered Qi Yaoyang. He red up. ¡°Stupid brat, I¡¯m your superior too. I¡¯m the general of the 13th division.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m under my Boss, Lieutenant General Ling Lan. I¡¯m not under you, old man.¡± Qi Long wasn¡¯t afraid of his father.


    ¡°You¡¯ve gotten bolder, little brat. Are you looking for a beating?¡± Qi Yaoyang stood up and appeared in front of Qi Long. He grabbed his cor, preparing to teach this brat a lesson.


    Damn it, why was Ling Xiao so fortunate? His son was strong, smart, and obedient. If Ling Lan caused any trouble, it was because he was too outstanding.


    He was so envious when Ling Xiao unted his son¡¯s achievements in front of him. His eldest and second eldest son were obedient but their potential was average. They would at most be a senior colonel under his protection. His youngest son was talented but his results had nothing to do with him. Ever since he was six years old, he felt that Qi Long was like Ling Xiao¡¯s son, not his.


    Qi Yaoyang was infuriated when he thought about this. Ling Xiao already had an outstanding son. Why did he still want to lure his son?


    Qi Yaoyang chose to forget the point that his son was the one who wanted to join Ling Lan¡¯s team. He felt that he might vomit blood if he acknowledged this point.


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong reacted quickly when they saw this. ¡°General, calm down.¡±


    With the help of Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi, Qi Long managed to slip away from Qi Yaoyang¡¯s grasp.


    When Qi Long was released from his father¡¯s grasp, he quickly dashed three meters away from Qi Yaoyang and arranged his cor. ¡°Father, General Qi, I¡¯m part of the Lingtian Independent Army now. If you want to punish me, you must ask my Boss first. Don¡¯t act beyond your authority.¡±


    ¡°Acting beyond my authority? I¡¯m your father. Why can¡¯t I reprimand my son?¡± Qi Yaoyang¡¯s anger was sparked again.


    ¡°General, general, please calm down.¡± This time, even Qi Yaoyang¡¯s deputy and advisers came to console him. They couldn¡¯t let the father and son pair start a fight here.


    ¡°Qi Long, be quiet.¡± The other brigade leaders of Lingtian persuaded Qi Long too.


    In the Qi family, Qi Long¡¯s mother would mediate their argument so they wouldn¡¯t quarrel so furiously. If Mother Qi wasn¡¯t around, Ling Lan was able to suppress Qi Long. Now that both of them weren¡¯t present, the argument between the father and son went out of control.


    Qi Long felt that it was unnecessary to quarrel with his father too so he pretended to zip his mouth with his hand.


    He went to a corner and sat down quietly. He decided to remove himself from his father¡¯s vision so that he wouldn¡¯t anger his father further.


    Qi Yaoyang scoffed and ignored his son. If his son didn¡¯t provoke him, he wouldn¡¯t be angry either.


    Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong heaved sighs of relief secretly. They managed to evade a crisis. Yang Mingzhi looked at Qi Yaoyang apologetically and said, ¡°General, just like what Leader Qi said, this matter concerns the secret of Lingtian. We don¡¯t have the right to answer you. If you want to know, you can ask ourmander when you meet him.¡±


    ¡°Forget it. I know that you won¡¯t tell me without Ling Lan¡¯s approval.¡± Qi Yaoyang felt helpless but he approved of their secrecy.


    ¡°Maybe I can ask General Ling Xiao. It might be easier.¡± Qi Yaoyang smiled.


    ¡°Indeed,¡± Yang Mingzhi replied.


    What General Ling said had nothing to do with them.


    Qi Yaoyang asked about the logos and serial numbers of the imperial mechas from Twilight. He also asked about the condition of the three major generals of the transport ships. Before leaving, he walked to the mainframe of Destruction Devil and patted it lightly. ¡°How are the Destruction Devils doing?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s better than most battleships, especially its agility and speed. However, when it is surrounded by imperial mechas, there¡¯s nothing much it could do. At most, it juststs longer than the average starship,¡± Yang Mingzhi replied.


    ¡°That means it¡¯s still quite useless,¡± Qi Yaoyang pondered as he spoke.


    Yang Mingzhi didn¡¯t reply to him. Qi Yaoyang could say that they were useless but he couldn¡¯t.


    The other Destruction Devil might be useless but the Destruction Devil Qi Yaoyang was patting was different. It was able to fend off against many imperial mechas due to the presence of a superior mainframe. There were only two mainframes like this in the Lingtian Independent Army. Both were created by theirmander. However, just like the modified mechas, they were a secret. No one should know about it, not even Qi Long¡¯s father.

 Chapter 1236 - A Tragedy!

    <h4>Chapter 1236 A Tragedy!</h4>


    Just like that, Qi Yaoyang came and left quickly. Before he left, he didn¡¯t forget to ¡®pat¡¯ his unfilial son, Qi Long, on the head a few times to relieve his anger. Qi Long on the other hand didn¡¯t react and just endured it. This image gave Han Jijyun, Zhao Jun, Li Yingjie and the others an odd feeling.


    However, not making a scene was still a good thing. Everyone just assumed that Qi Long knew that he was in the wrong.


    Yang Mingzhi and the others all respectfully watched as Qi Yaoyang left. Qi Long on the other hand stayed in the control room to avoid being disciplined by his father again.


    Seeing only Luo Chao and Han Xuya beside him, Qi Long daringly decided to turn on hismunicator. Then, Ling Lan¡¯s indifferent face appeared on the virtual screen.


    ¡°Boss.¡± Luo Chao and Han Xuya shouted in surprise.


    In order to make sure Boss¡¯s whereabouts were not discovered, they didn¡¯t even dare to contact Boss. Ever since they went in different directions, the girls hadn¡¯tmunicated with Ling Lan either.


    Ling Lan saw Luo Chao and nodded, ¡°Luo Chao, you did well. In the future, when you have a chance, get closer with Jin. Only when Jin fully epts you, will you be able tobine with it and be one. You will then be able to do whatever you want.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Boss,¡± Luo Chao responded while blushing. The joy in her eyes could not be held back. She finally could show her worth and help Boss Ling Lan.


    ¡°Xuya, how¡¯s piloting an ace mecha going?¡± Han Xuya had broken through her limit a short while back, bing a rare female ace mecha operator, and thus receiving the Federation¡¯s recognition. However, what Ling Lan wanted from Han Xuya did not amount to just being an ace mecha operator. She wanted to teach the altered Qi meditation exercises to Han Xuya and Luo Chao. She hoped that one day they could create miracles for the Federation like bing the first female imperial operator or the first female starshipmander.


    Luo Chao and Han Xuya were destined to never reach the highest level of god-ss operator because of their own talents and abilities, even if Ling Lan were to use the Qi meditation exercises to help them. Even Ling Lan, who had cheat codes, only had the opportunity to advance, it was not a certainty yet. Whether she could seed in the end would depend if fate was kind to her. Moreover, Qi Long, Luo Lang and others who were qualified, only had a single chance to advance into god-ss, and the probability of that happening was very very low. If Ling Lan hadn¡¯t helped them, even the chance they had might not exist.


    The advancement into god-ss was too difficult and unnerving. This was also why in the poption of the trillions, the Federation only had no more than twelve god-ss operators at the same time. Currently, it was the generation when the Federation had the most god-ss operators in all of its history. It was also the generation where the Federation was at its strongest.


    After hearing Ling Lan¡¯s question, Han Xuya immediately replied, ¡°Boss, Qi Long said I have already reached the level of a standard ace operator. If I want to be an elite ace, I won¡¯t be able to achieve that through training. I must go through battles and acquire experience in order to grow.¡±


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and turned towards Qi Long. ¡°Oh? So you are supervising Xuya¡¯s training?¡±


    Qi Long unconsciously rubbed his nose and replied, ¡°Um Boss, everyone was busy and I was the only one not busy. That¡¯s why I taught Little Sister Xuya.¡±


    ¡°Busy? Zhao Jun and the others told me that during this time with the transport fleet, they were so bored they were molding...¡± Ling Lan looked at Qi Long calmly. ¡°Who should I believe?¡±


    ¡°They probably had free time on their hands after the battle.¡± Qi Long put on an honest smile indicating he didn¡¯t know anything.


    ¡°Is that so?¡± Ling Lan half-smiled. Her gaze seemed to have seen through Qi Long¡¯s thoughts.


    ¡°It¡¯s definitely like that,¡± said Qi Long with determination. His cheekiness seemed to beparable to Li Lanfeng¡¯s beauty.


    The conversation between the two of them made Han Xuya feel odd. Luo Chao seemed to have discovered something. She put her hands over her mouth to try to hide the smile that was beginning to form.


    After seeing Luo Chao trying to stop herself fromughing, Qi Long, who was originally calm, now had the back of his neck all red.


    Although Han Xuya didn¡¯t know what was happening, she still managed to realize that Qi Long was troubled by Boss¡¯s questions. After thinking that she had been bothering Qi Long quite a lot recently, she wanted to help him. She injected, ¡°Boss, why did you contact us today? Is there something going on?¡±


    Ling Lan turned towards Han Xuya and smiled with her eyes for a second, ¡°Jin thought there was something wrong, so it contacted me surreptitiously.¡±


    As Ling Lan¡¯s attention was redirected, Qi Long was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. He looked at Xuya with a grateful look that was filled with feelings that only he knew about.


    Han Xuya responded to Qi Long¡¯s look with a bright smile, stunning Qi Long by the sheer beauty of her smile. Then in response, he subconsciously gave an honest smile which made him look even more dumb.


    ¡®Who knew that the ck-bellied Elder Brother Qi Long would also have a day like this. It really is quite sad.¡¯ Luo Chao couldn¡¯t look at such a dumb Qi Long in the eye. She could only turn towards Ling Lan in the virtual video call and exchanged a look that only the two of them knew about.


    ¡°Jin? What did she think happened?¡± For the clueless Han Xuya, she was curious after hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words.


    ¡°Well, it was because someone almost fought with his father. Jin was afraid that they would destroy her home in the midst of their fight,¡± Ling Lan said while ncing at Qi Long, who had returned to normal, with a mocking tone in her voice.


    ¡°So it was because of elder brother Qi Long.¡± Han Xuya finally realized it andughed out loud after remembering Qi Long¡¯s expression from a while ago.


    Qi Long rubbed his forehead helplessly. His image waspletely destroyed.


    ¡°No wonder Elder Brother Qi Long didn¡¯t say anything when General Qi smacked him a few times. You definitely told him to not go against General Qi.¡± Luo Chao finally understood why Qi Long was so obedient in the end.


    ¡°No matter if it is military rank or actual rtionship, General Qi has the power to discipline Qi Long,¡± Ling Lan said nonchntly. ¡°He has to endure it even if he doesn¡¯t want to.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s words made Qi Long put his head down in shame. Even Boss stood by his father¡¯s side on the matter, what else could he do? He could only let it happen.


    ¡°However, that should be the limit of his obedience. In the future, when we¡¯re out fighting wars, that won¡¯t be the case. Lingtian Independent Army will do whatever we need to do.¡± As Ling Lan¡¯s tone changed, she became cold as ice.


    ¡°Yes, Boss.¡± Qi Long was full of energy. He stood up straight once again. In reality, Boss always took his side.


    At that moment, everyone who sent off Qi Yaoyang returned to the control room. After seeing Ling Lan on the virtual screen, they instantly shout in joy, ¡°Boss!¡± ¡°Commander!¡±


    ¡°Zhao Jun and Li Yingjie ultimate level day training for three days,¡± A cold re from Ling Lan crossed Zhao Jun and Li Yingjie, who were the only ones to call her ¡®Boss¡¯.


    ¡°Argh!¡± Zhao Jun and Li Yingjie put their hands on their head and cried out in agony.


    The others allughed softly as they saw this. In order to make sure Lingtian wasn¡¯t too personal, theirmander forbade them from calling him Boss in a public space.


    ¡°Qi Long, fives days of ultimate level day training.¡± Qi Long was still in schadenfreude. He didn¡¯t think such terrible luck would befall him. Moreover, his punishment was more severe than Zhao Jun and Li Yingjie¡¯s punishment.

 Chapter 1237 - A Bad Premonition.

    <h4>Chapter 1237 A Bad Premonition.</h4>


    ¡°Ugh, why do I get five days?¡± Qi Long said frustratingly


    ¡°Being disrespectful to the general and disrespectful to your parents. Additionally, you went against the rules of the division. You¡¯re being punished for numerous crimes. Five days is considered a light punishment,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°Going against the rules of the division? Boss?¡± Qi Long remembered he had called Ling Lan ¡®Boss¡¯ at the beginning. However, he wasn¡¯t the only one who broke the rules. There was still... His gaze moved towards Luo Chao and Han Xuya. The two of them saw him looking at them and instantly threatened him with their res. If he was going to sell them out, they were going to eat him alive.


    Suddenly, he felt a coldness seeping deep into his bones. Qi Long turned around and saw his Boss look at him with a half-smile on his face. That look was like des of ice piercing his bones and was cutting through his body.


    Ugh, how could he forget. Luo Chao and Han Xuya were Boss¡¯s fianc¨¦es. How could Boss have the heart to punish them... Qi Long felt a feeling of regret in his mind. If he had known it was going to be like this, he wouldn¡¯t have contacted Ling Lan.


    ¡°Yes, I understand.¡± Qi Long didn¡¯t dare to sell out Luo Chao and Han Xuya and could only ept Ling Lan¡¯s punishment.


    Seeing everyone present, Ling Lan told them her n. All in all, they must continue to stay on Base Feiyu if she didn¡¯t give them any other orders. If something unexpected were to ur and they were unable to contact her, then they would contact General Qi Yaoyang and obey General Qi Yaoyang¡¯s orders. Other than the two of them, they must not ept any orders from others or other departments. That included the three marshals and General Ling Xiao.


    After those words were said, everyone was in shock. It should be known that the three marshals were basically the rulers of the military. Even the 23 divisions would have difficulty disobeying their orders, not to mention their independent army. Plus, General Ling Xiao was Ling Lan¡¯s father, but Ling Lan wanted them to ignore General Ling Xiao¡¯s orders. What had happened between the two of them? Why did things develop into something they couldn¡¯t understand after being apart from theirmander only for a few days?


    ¡°I know my father. He wouldn¡¯t go past me and order you around.¡± Ling Lan looked at the shocked expression on everyone¡¯s faces and exined, ¡°This order for relocation is most likely a plot against my father and I, so I had to keep a trump card in my hand just in case.¡±


    After saying all that, Ling Lan¡¯s expressions suddenly turned sharp, ¡°You guys are the trump card I¡¯m keeping to the end. Nothing must happen to you. As long as you guys are safe, we will be able to turn the tide at the crucial moment.¡±


    Feeling the heavy responsibility on them, Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong¡¯s expression changed instantly. Theirmander was clearly setting up a huge n and was nning on fighting a ruthless battle with the opposition. They were a seemingly useless piece of the puzzle, but they were actually the lynchpin of the entire n.


    ¡°Remember what I said. Your mission is to try your best to protect yourselves. No matter what happens, don¡¯t let yourselves get dragged into the mess. That¡¯s the only way we¡¯ll have a chance to have a future.¡± Ling Lan reminded everyone cautiously once again.


    Everyone all shouted in agreement. Ling Lan then disconnected the video call with a satisfied face.


    The entire control room waspletely silent. Liu Furong rubbed his face in frustration and then asked Yang Mingzhi, ¡°Mingzhi, what do you think ourmander meant?¡±


    Yang Mingzhi, who was usually calm and collected, couldn¡¯t contain his anxiousness. He spoke in a worried tone, ¡°How would I know?¡±


    ¡°This n gives a bad feeling.¡± Qi Long scratched his head intensely. His instincts told him that the situation was not good. However, he didn¡¯t know why it was not good.


    ¡°Everyone stop thinking about it too much. Boss likely has a backup n,¡± said Han Jijyun as he saw everyone panicking from Ling Lan¡¯s n.


    ¡°Let¡¯s hope that¡¯s the case.¡± Everyone, who couldn¡¯t find the reason for the order given to them, could only hope for the best. However, everyone still felt a bit uneasy.


    At that moment, they understood how important Ling Lan was to them. As long as Ling Lan was with them, even if they were in Base 013 facing death in the eye, they would never cower in fear. That was because theirmander, their Boss, was with them. That gave them enough courage to face all the difficulties they would encounter.


    ¡°I¡¯m really jealous of Luo Lang and Xie Yi. Back then I should have just stayed in the base no matter what.¡± Zhao Jun sighed. If he had known it was going to be like this, he would have hugged Boss¡¯s leg and cried and begged to not leave. That way he wouldn¡¯t be here and be feeling anxious.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, if only Luo Lang and them were here,¡± Qi Long also thought of this and immediately responded.


    ¡°You think our Boss is going to change the orders?¡± Han Jijyun¡¯s statement broke Zhao Jun and Qi Long¡¯s thoughts. ¡°Choosing the ten of us was the result of careful consideration by our Boss.¡±


    After hearing this, everyone looked toward Han Jijyun and waited for him to exin.


    ¡°With Qi Long here, if by chance we were in trouble, General Qi wouldn¡¯t just sit idle and watch.¡± Seeing Qi Long wanting to respond to his statement, Han Jijyun smiled coldly and cut him off, ¡°You¡¯re going to tell me that you and your father don¡¯t get along? If that was really the case, would Uncle Qi and General Ling Xiao be such close friends? Wasn¡¯t it because you work under Boss and Boss is Ling Xiao¡¯s son? When are you going to stop deceiving yourself?¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s order also forced Han Jijyun to think. Han Jijyun couldn¡¯t help but be angry at Qi Long even though he would usually endure and let go of Qi Long¡¯s irrational reactions.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything,¡± Qi Long said helplessly. He couldn¡¯t disagree with Han Jijyun because Han Jijyun spoke the truth. He indeed had the courage to speak against his father because he wasn¡¯t afraid of him and he knew his father actually cared the most for him. Qi Long seemed to be honest and earnest, but underneath that bubbly smile was an individual who was viinous and calcting. He understood everything perfectly. ying dumb and acting blunt was only to let others to perceive him as such.


    ¡°Vice Commander Yang, although your background isn¡¯t clear to us, everyone still managed to guess it more or less. Ourmander picked you to leave Base Neb and take control of the situation here is probably because he wants to borrow the power of the First Marshal.¡± Han Jijyun knew the situation was dire and changed his tone from the usual non-offensive way of speaking to a more passive-aggressive approach.


    Yang Mingzhi heard this and instantly smiled bitterly. ¡°That is true. Thank you for everyone¡¯s tolerance of me. I had once spoken to Vice Commander Liu that as long as ourmander doesn¡¯t betray the Federation, I would always be a member of Lingtian and never betray him.¡±


    Everyone looked towards Liu Furong. Liu Furong nodded with a serious expression on his face to show that Yang Mingzhi was speaking the truth.


    Everyone¡¯s expressions loosened a bit. As for the battle team members who followed Ling Lan from the beginning and grew into an independent army, in their minds, they only saw Ling Lan as their Boss. If someone dared to offend their Boss, they would toss them aside heartlessly. Even if it was their vicemander, Yang Mingzhi, the Sagittarius.

 Chapter 1238 - Hidden Intentions!

    <h4>Chapter 1238 Hidden Intentions!</h4>


    After he received the answer he wanted, Han Jijyun turned to look at Li Yingjie. Li Yingjie couldn¡¯t maintain his arrogant facade under Han Jijyun¡¯s tant stare and replied anxiously, ¡°I was unwilling to ept Boss in the past but now, I respect him sincerely. I will never betray him.¡±


    Li Yingjie was arrogant and unruly. However, after staying with Lingtian for a while, he was finally willing to rein in his arrogance and listen to Ling Lan. At first, he joined Lingtian because he wanted to survive his period as a recruit safely. But, after so many years, Ling Lan had earned his respect with her powerful abilities andpetent leadership.


    He didn¡¯t expect to have such a good time in Lingtian. Moreover, he was promoted to a senior colonel under Ling Lan¡¯s guidance. The other descendants of the Li family, who were in the 4th division, might not be able to even reach this rank in their entire life. He had real military power too. His rank as a senior colonel wasn¡¯t just for show.


    Every time he went back to the Li family, his rtives would look at him with envy and jealousy. You could imagine how delighted Li Yingie was to see their jealous expressions. Although his second eldest brother, Li Shiyu, was a senior colonel too, he was just a military doctor (Li Yingjie felt that being a brigade leader of a mecha brigade was better than being a military doctor).


    Hence, he hoped that the inner circle of Lingtian wouldn¡¯t misunderstand him. His heart was with Lingtian. He had decided that he would remain in Lingtian for the rest of his life. He believed that if he followed Boss, he would be able to achieve higher height than he ever could on his own.


    ¡°That wasn¡¯t what I meant.¡± Han Jijyun was speechless. ¡°I just wanted to say that the Li family would help Lingtian because of you.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Li Yingjie nodded immediately to the im. He had always thought that he was the most suitable candidate for the family head of the Li family. His elder brother, Li Shiyu, used to be his directpetitor. However, his decision to be a military doctor meant that he had to give up the opportunity of bing the family head. As for his eldest brother who he never saw before, he hadn¡¯t heard any news about his achievements. It meant that his eldest brother was probably an incapable person. He didn¡¯t have to worry about him snatching his family head position.


    ¡°Yan Three is amoner. He doesn¡¯t belong to any families or factions. Thus, it¡¯s easier for him to be noticed by those upright officers within the military. During crucial times, he might be able to earn their support.¡± Han Jijyun analysed all the brigade leaders thoroughly.


    Personal ability was just one of the factors that allowed Yan Three to climb to his position today. The other factor was the support of those upright and strict officers. This bunch of officers didn¡¯t belong to any factions or organisations. However, when they noticed someone with a simr background, they would work together to help this person grow into one of their colleagues. That was why somemoners were able to climb to high positions in the military. This bunch of officers was helping them secretly.


    Finally, Han Jijyun looked at Liu Furong. Liu Furong¡¯s position was like Yan Three but after his family integrated itself into the Ling family, Liu Furong belonged to the Ling family¡¯s faction.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to say it. I know what my purpose is.¡± Liu Furong stopped him from saying any more.


    ¡°Even if I don¡¯t say it, everyone knows it. I¡¯m sure Vice Commander Yang knows it too.¡± Han Jijyun turned and looked at Yang Mingzhi.


    ¡°Of course. Ourmander trusts me but notpletely. Liu Furong is my assistance as well as my resistance.¡± Yang Mingzhi smiled. From the moment Ling Lan chose to send Liu Furong on the mission with him, he knew what Liu Furong¡¯s purpose was. He felt a bit dejected but he approved Ling Lan¡¯s decision. He acknowledged Ling Lan¡¯s leading ability even more now.


    This arrangement proved that Ling Lan was a qualified leader. Only someone with both intelligence and boldness would be able to lead Lingtian to greater heights.


    ¡°I think the reason for Vice Commander Liu¡¯s presence is different from what you all are thinking.¡± Zhao Jun suddenly opened his mouth.


    ¡°Oh?¡± Everyone looked at Zhao Jun curiously as they waited for his exnation.


    ¡°Among the ten of us, only Vice Commander Liu can represent the Ling family. Based on the general¡¯s prestige, Vice Commander Liu will be able to gain the general public¡¯s support. Sometimes, the support of the public is more important than the support of some officers,¡± Zhao Jun exined calmly.


    Everyone felt enlightened by his words. Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong pondered over his words carefully and felt that this might be Ling Lan¡¯s true intention.


    Yang Mingzhi sighed. ¡°Ling Lan¡¯spetence as a leader is far greater than mine. I am too narrow-minded.¡±


    Liu Furong smiled knowingly. ¡°Me too. Commander is young but he has great foresight. Our thoughts are still stuck in our small little worlds but he is already thinking about the universe.¡±


    Everyone continued the discussion for a period of time before leaving.


    Zhao Jun wanted to go back to his room to take a rest when he heard Han Jijyun calling for him, ¡°Brother Zhao, wait for a moment.¡±


    Zhao Jun turned around in astonishment. He had a good rtionship with Li Lanfeng so Han Jijyun wasn¡¯t very close to him. Han Jijyun rarely came to look for him personally.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Zhao Jun asked.


    ¡°Who told you about the reason for Vice Commander Liu¡¯s presence?¡± Han Jijyun asked Zhao Jun directly.


    ¡°Why do you ask?¡± Zhao Jun smiled.


    ¡°I know that you¡¯re smart. You never outwardly show it but I know that you and Qi Long are always well aware of what is happening around you. You¡¯re just toozy to use your brain. Well, that¡¯s probably because there¡¯s a very smart person beside you all the time. You have Leader Li Lanfeng, while Qi Long has me.¡± Han Jijyun said indifferently, ¡°I¡¯m not looking down on you but you won¡¯t be able to think about that if no one told you.¡±


    Zhao Jun shrugged. ¡°You already know who it is.¡±


    ¡°Li Lanfeng!¡± Han Jijyun said firmly.


    ¡°Since you already knew it, why are you still asking me?¡± Zhao Jun was confused.


    ¡°I just want to confirm my prediction,¡± Han Jijyun replied.


    ¡°Then?¡± Zhao Jun couldn¡¯t understand why intelligent people always make things soplicated.


    ¡°I lost to him again. Please tell him that this will be thest time I lose to him.¡± Han Jijyun left immediately after he finished pouring his thoughts out.


    Zhao Jun felt speechless as he looked at Han Jijyun¡¯s disappearing back. He lowered his head and said, ¡°Did you hear it?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I heard it.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s voice entered Zhao Jun¡¯s ear. Zhao Jun was wearing an earpiece all this while. Zhao Jun was talking to Li Lanfeng before Han Jijyun stopped him.


    ¡°You really know how to y with people, huh? Are you learning from Zhuge Liang? You asked me to open the message you sent me on themunicator after Boss¡¯s name appeared.¡± Zhao Jun secretlyined in his heart. That¡¯s right, Li Lanfeng was the one who yed with him.


    ¡°I¡¯m just worried that they will misunderstand Boss. I said that if someone managed to understand Boss¡¯s real intention, you won¡¯t have to say anything.¡± Li Lanfengughed softly.


    ¡°You know that no one will understand Boss¡¯s real intention. If not, you wouldn¡¯t have sent that message.¡± Zhao Jun rolled his eyes. Why did Li Lanfeng pretend to be kind when he was actually looking down on everyone¡¯s intelligence?

 Chapter 1239 - Sense Of Crisis!

    <h4>Chapter 1239 Sense Of Crisis!</h4>


    ¡°I informed you just in case my prediction is true. Who knew that none of them could guess Boss¡¯s intention?¡± As his old friend, Zhao Jun could hear the arrogance in Li Lanfeng¡¯s voice.


    ¡°You stimted our Little Brother Jijyun again.¡± Zhao Jun couldn¡¯t help but sympathize with Han Jijyun. Han Jijyun was a good adviser. However, he was too straightforward. Thus, he was at a disadvantage when he faced Li Lanfeng who was well-versed in scheming. He would probably suffer for a few more years because of Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Han Jijyun still has a long way to go before bing a qualified strategist. It is beneficial for him to meet some setbacks.¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t pity Han Jijyun. He just hoped that Han Jijyun would be able to take over his position soon.


    Ever since he realised his feelings for Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng knew that he wasn¡¯t suitable for the position of Ling Lan¡¯s strategist. An outstanding strategist must always remain calm andposed in every situation. He must be ruthless and emotionless when making decisions that could affect millions of lives. Sometimes, he might need to be heartless and ¡®sacrifice¡¯ some soldiers for the greater good.


    However, he couldn¡¯t bear to let Ling Lan be in any danger so he would naturally choose the safest option of any n. Most of the time, this was the worst version of the n. In the end, Lingtian and Ling Lan would be hurt by his feelings for Ling Lan.


    Since he knew his problem, Li Lanfeng gave up his original n to be an adviser and decided to groom his sessor. The best candidate was Han Jijyun. Thus, we could predict that Han Jijyun would continue to receive setbacks until he satisfied Li Lanfeng¡¯s requirements.


    Zhao Jun raised his eyebrows in surprise. He understood what Li Lanfeng meant. ¡°Did you give up on your goal?¡± Zhao Jun knew that when Li Lanfeng entered Lingtian, his aim was to be the best strategist for Lingtian.


    ¡°No. I just altered my goal a little. It will definitely be harder to achieve my new goal.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly. If he had a choice, he wished that he was still the emotionless Li Lanfeng. That way, he wouldn¡¯t be in so much pain everyday. He wouldn¡¯t need to be tortured by his emotions and lose the calmness of a strategist.


    ¡°What goal is more difficult than bing an adviser?¡± Zhao Jun was puzzled. He suddenly thought of something and eximed in fright, ¡°Are you trying to usurp the throne?¡±


    ¡°What nonsense are you saying? Do you think I can usurp the throne under Boss¡¯s rule?¡± Li Lanfeng shook his head in a fluster. His goal wasn¡¯t Ling Lan¡¯s position, but to be beside him. He wanted to get the position of being Ling Lan¡¯s queen.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. I just want to remind you that our boss is a bugged character. You might be a very smart guy but I believe that no one can fool Boss. Even if they manage to do it, they will have a terrible ending.¡± Zhao Jun firmly believed that nothing could defeat Boss. Hence, he felt that Li Lanfeng had no chance of seeding if his goal was the throne of Lingtian.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I can betray anything but him.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s voice was so soft that Zhao Jun had to ask, ¡°What did you say?¡±


    ¡°Nothing. I might not be able to contact you anytime soon. You¡¯ll have to rely on yourself from now on.¡± Li Lanfeng quickly ended the conversation and hung up.


    Ling Lan put the file in her hand down when she heard Li Lanfeng ending his call. She looked up and said, ¡°Is that Zhao Jun?¡±


    Li Lanfeng made the call in her office so it was hard for Ling Lan not to listen to his conversation. She didn¡¯t listen to it purposely but there were still a few sentences that floated into her ears. From these sentences, she knew who Li Lanfeng was talking to.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled brightly. He was smiling like a cat that just finished eating a huge fish.


    ¡°Are you pressuring Jijyun again?¡± Ling Lan knew of Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun¡¯spetition. She silently consented to thepetition. She hoped that they would be stimted by each other into improve further due to the sense of urgency that theirpetitor might surpass them.


    ¡°No.¡± Li Lanfeng denied it instantly. He could admit tantly in the past because he didn¡¯t know his feelings for Ling Lan. Now, he needed to cast away his scheming image and create a virtuous and gentle image so that Ling Lan would consider him as a potential partner.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you the one who wrote the message?¡± Ling Lan smiled as she nced at Li Lanfeng. He talked to Zhao Jun openly in front of her. How could she not know what they were talking about? Wasn¡¯t it a little fake to deny it now?


    ¡°I am just worried that they will misunderstand your goodwill.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s tone suddenly turned serious. His beautiful eyes were brimming with emotions. The anticipation in them seemed to be urging Ling Lan topliment him.


    Ling Lan touched her head helplessly. She asked Little Four about recent oddities in Li Lanfeng¡¯s actions but he said that Li Lanfeng was fine. If Little Four didn¡¯t sound so firm, she would have suspected that Li Lanfeng¡¯s soul had been sucked away by some stray dog who craved for attention.


    ¡°Fine. You did well.¡± Ling Lan couldn¡¯t do much to Li Lanfeng. However, herpliment was made whole-heartedly. She knew that Li Lanfeng made this arrangement to help her. He was afraid that this misunderstanding might affect the ns she made.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Li Lanfeng shamelessly epted Ling Lan¡¯spliment.


    Ling Lan felt speechless. She controlled her desire to kick this person out of her room.


    ¡°Let¡¯s be serious now.¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly became stern. His presence had totally changed from it was before.


    Li Lanfeng knew that Ling Lan might chase him out if he continued seducing her. He didn¡¯t want to be known as the first person to get kicked out by Ling Lan, as it would ruin his image as Ling Lan¡¯s potential suitor. Thus, he quickly changed his attitude. It could be said that Li Lanfeng was the only person who understood Ling Lan well, with the exception of her parents, Little Four, and the instructors in the learning space.


    ¡°Why have youe?¡± Ling Lan was curious why Li Lanfeng came to look for her too.


    ¡°Did you detect something?¡± Li Lanfeng asked.


    He noticed that Ling Lan had no intention of answering to him so he continued, ¡°After entering the titled domain stage, we will be more sensitive to danger. Since I managed to feel a sense of crisis, you should have felt it too as you¡¯re in the imperial stage now.¡±


    ¡°Yes. I never experienced this feeling of constant dread before. No matter what ns I made, this feeling won¡¯t disappear. It became stronger instead.¡± Ling Lan knew that she couldn¡¯t hide it anymore so she told Li Lanfeng her true feelings for the past few days.

 Chapter 1240 - Cast A Stone To Find The Path

    Chapter 1240 Cast A Stone To Find The Path


    ¡°Do you think we will face an impossible hurdle?¡± Li Lanfeng looked grave. If Ling Lan felt that it was dangerous, they must be in grave danger.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. The feeling is very vague. I just know that it¡¯s dangerous but I don¡¯t know what is dangerous or who is dangerous.¡± Ling Lan frowned.


    ¡°The future is unpredictable. We don¡¯t know what traps areid out before us. All we can do is to make ample preparations.¡± Li Lanfeng felt helpless too. Their enemy was hidden too deeply. Even after collecting a lot of information, they still couldn¡¯t find the mastermind behind their troubles.


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing much we can do now. I hope that it won¡¯t be as bad as I think it will.¡± This sentence was to console Li Lanfeng. Unless someone meddled with fate, her instinct should be right. After all, her innate talent was Profound Insight.


    Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng kept a close watch on the series of events that was happening. However, contrary to expectations, they only received more good news for the next few days. General Ling Xiao managed to destroy a few more importants of Twilight before he disappeared from everyone¡¯s sight again.


    Ling Lan and her entourage analysed General Ling Xiao¡¯s assault n. However, they couldn¡¯t find any pattern in his movements. A few days ago, he was at the east of Twilight. Today, he appeared in the west. Everyone thought that he would go to the north or south after this but instead, he went back to the east.


    While everyone was praising Ling Xiao for his unpredictable offensive tactics, Ling Lan wondered if her father just followed his feelings and attacked wherever he wanted to. She suspected that it had nothing to do with nning


    Of course, to protect the mourous image of her father, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t tell anyone her real thoughts.


    After Ling Xiao destroyed the fourth of the Twilight Empire, the military of Twilight finally erupted in anger.


    ¡°Useless! Every one of you so-called analysts got led by the nose by Ling Xiao. Half of our manpower and finance went down the ground for that fruitless pursuit.¡± The emperor threw the financial report angrily in the prime minister¡¯s face.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s our fault.¡± The prime minister lowered his head and admitted his mistake sincerely. It was true that half of the military¡¯s manpower was used to find Ling Xiao and his 23rd division. At first, they thought that they would be able to catch Ling Xiao soon. Instead, they allowed Ling Xiao to destroy three of theirs and escape right under their nose. If ambush on Three Stars Lock was included, it would be four times Ling Xiao had escaped under their watchful eyes.


    The first time might be a coincidence since they were unprepared but four consecutive losses couldn¡¯t be exined by sheer coincidence.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to listen to you admitting your uselessness. I just want to know how we can kill this damn Immortal Bird so that he can nevere back to life again.¡± The emperor exploded in anger.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Your Majesty. We¡¯ve finished all our preparations. Ling Xiao won¡¯t be able to escape this time.¡± The prime minister looked up. Killing intent shed oozed out of his eyes. It was time for Ling Xiao to pay his blood debt.


    ¡°I hope you meant what you say,¡± the emperor replied furiously. None of the promises his prime minister made in the past were fulfilled. What his prime minister just said had already been said countless times yet, there were no results to show for. The emperor found it hard to believe his prime minister now.


    ¡°Your Majesty, if I fail again, I will apologise with my death.¡± The prime minister was determined to show his confidence in his n. Their trap had beenid. It was foolproof. If Ling Xiao still managed to escape again, he wouldn¡¯t have the dignity to continue living.


    The emperor squinted his eyes and looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze. After some time, he nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯ll wait for your good news.¡±


    In the Federation, everyone was rejoicing over the good news. They felt that General Ling Xiao could win the war single-handedly.


    However, there were other voices in the military too. Some felt that Ling Xiao emphasised on the wrong thing. Shouldn¡¯t he have focused on the main army? Some people even said that Ling Xiao left the three divisions behind because he wanted to gain all the merits.


    Of course, these voices were very small. They were pushed down by Ling Xiao¡¯s supporters the moment they emerged.


    Some people also mentioned that Ling Lan disregarded the order from the higher authorities and moved Base Neb without reporting to her superiors. They said that she vited the military rules and should be called back for a trial. However, surprisingly, the military headquarters ignored these people. Many factions stood up for Ling Lan too. The military immediately reissued an order allowing Ling Lan to move Base Neb. The people from Lingtian thought that Boss had passed this obstacle safely.


    However, when Ling Lan received the order, her expression turned even darker. Li Lanfeng frowned too.


    Ling Lan closed her eyes and furrowed her brows.


    Suddenly, she opened them and asked, ¡°Are you sure that the Li family didn¡¯t involve themselves in this?¡±


    Li Lanfeng nodded seriously. ¡°From the information they sent me, they didn¡¯t do anything. Even if they did, they didn¡¯t go all out.¡±


    ¡°My people stood up but they got suppressed almost instantly. It seems like many people don¡¯t want me to go back.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s gaze was stern.


    She was the one who asked her people to condemn her. They were the ones who suggested that she broke the military rule. Ling Lan wanted to use this to test the water. The result she found was terrible.


    ¡°The Li family didn¡¯t ce all their bets on you.¡± This n was created by the two of them. To heighten the effect, Li Lanfeng contacted the family head of the Li family. He asked the Li family to cooperate entirely with their n. From the result, they could tell that the Li family didn¡¯t approve of Li Lanfeng¡¯s n. They had other thoughts in their mind.


    ¡°Benefits are always the most important thing to the Li family. It¡¯s understandable why they made this decision. They might think that it¡¯s better for them if we stayed at the frontline.¡± Li Lanfeng sneered. His contempt towards the Li family was obvious.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t like the Li family. If they listened to him and cooperated with Ling Lan, he might bear with them and help them due to the blood ties. Now... once he and Ling Lan overcame this obstacle, he would slowly deal with them.


    ¡°I feel that the trap isid before my father and I. However, I can¡¯t see it.¡± Ling Lan hated it when she couldn¡¯t control the situation.


    ¡°No matter what the order is, we just need to stay inside Base Neb. Even if there are dangers, we¡¯ll be able to remain safe with the weapons and equipment on the base.¡± Li Lanfeng decided that they would stay inside Base Neb and not go out. This was a bad idea but it was the safest.


    ¡°They wouldn¡¯t forget about Base Neb.¡± Her opponent was too strong. Ling Lan felt that she was being suppressed all the time. ¡°They will definitely find a reason to get me out of Base Neb. It will be something I can¡¯t reject.¡±

 Chapter 1241 - The Trap Is Here

    <strong>Chapter 1241 The Trap Is Here</strong>


    Li Lanfeng knew that his suggestion wouldn¡¯t work. Since their opponent nned so carefully, they wouldn¡¯t give them any chances to stay in Base Neb.


    He sighed. ¡°It looks like we can only wait and see what happens. We¡¯ll deal with whateveres our way.¡±


    Ling Lan said with regret, ¡°Weck information. Our intelligencework is stillcking. Our opponents didn¡¯t give us enough time to solve this weakness.¡±


    ¡°In general, weck time.¡± Li Lanfeng knew what was truly limiting them. He suddenly had the urge to fight for the position of the family head of the Li family unlike in the past when he didn¡¯t have any desire for it.


    If he became the family head of the Li family, he would be able to use the intelligencework the Li family had built over the years to help Lingtian. This would solve the problem.


    After a series of handover, the logistic supplies on the transport ships were all unloaded. The transport ships prepared to leave.


    Soon after, Ling Lan received an order to scout the Qingri wormhole. This was to ensure that the transport fleet would have a safe journey back.


    The Qingri wormhole was within theary sector of the Federation. However, a part of it was close to theary sector of Twilight. The Federation had already encountered one ambush there so they wouldn¡¯t allow another ambush to happen.


    This seemingly safe order caused Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression to turn grave. Both of them detected the impending danger in this mission.


    ¡°Do you think they will attack us there?¡± Ling Lan inspected the route to the Qingri wormhole while Li Lanfeng inspected the order they received carefully.


    ¡°I feel that they¡¯ll attack us on the route to the Qingri wormhole. An ambush had already happened in the Qingri wormhole so patrols in the wormhole are much denser than before. Hence, if they want to attack us in the Qingri wormhole, they must be prepared to sacrifice an army to do so.¡± Li Lanfeng expressed his opinion.


    ¡°Our enemy is an ambitious person. He might have hid in our nation for more than ten years. His rank is probably very high now. To him, sacrificing an army is nothing. He might even be happy to see that.¡± Ling Lan held a different opinion.


    ¡°Hence, it¡¯s possible that a second ambush might happen in the Qingri wormhole.¡± Li Lanfeng immediately understood what Ling Lan meant.


    ¡°Yes. We might meet an ambush at any moment now.¡± Ling Lan sneered. ¡°However, I feel that they will choose to ambush us in the Qingri wormhole. They might think we will feel safe there.¡±


    Most would never expect a second ambush would ur, at the same location nheless. Thus, it was possible that their opponent used this mindset against them.


    ¡°That makes sense. However, there is another possibility. Our opponent might predict our mindset and ambush us before we enter the Qingri wormhole. That way, they can catch us while we¡¯re still preparing for battle.¡± Li Lanfeng proposed another idea.


    ¡°Well, we can look at it that way too.¡± Ling Lan closed her eyes. Her thoughts became clearer after discussing Li Lanfeng. ¡°They might have already expected the first ambush to fail. Once we escape from the first ambush sessfully, we will becent in our victory. During this time, they willy a second ambush to destroy uspletely.¡±


    ¡°The best ce for the second ambush is... here.¡± Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan pointed at a certain spot on the map simultaneously.


    Their fingers touched. Ling Lan smiled at Li Lanfeng when she noticed that he had the same thoughts as her.


    Li Lanfeng blushed when Ling Lan smiled at him. He took his finger back and lowered his right hand slowly. While Ling Lan was looking away, he rubbed his forefinger with his thumb and felt the spot where he and Ling Lan touched. He smiled secretly as he recalled the feeling


    Right after Base Neb departed, Ling Lan ordered all the soldiers to bebat-ready. All the mecha operators would board their mechas and wait in the mecha hold.


    The atmosphere in Base Neb was tense. No one knew why they needed to be prepared when they were in such a safe location. They hadn¡¯t even left theary sector of Base Feiyu. However, Ling Lan was the highest-ranked officer of the base. Theirmanding officer, Commander Ye, also chose to listen to him. Hence, everyone still obeyed Ling Lan¡¯s order and arrived in their positions.


    The fastest team to be prepared was unsurprisingly the Lingtian Independent Army. All the team leaders quickly gathered their team members and waited outside their personal ejection tunnels.


    Han Xuya was dispatched to the transport fleet so Lady Mei was currently in charge of the JMC department. During the expansion of the Lingtian Independent Army, Lady Mei performed exceptionally well and was rmended by Han Xuya to be one of the candidates for vice-head. After a series of tests, Lady Mei defeated the other candidates and became the vice-head of the JMC department. She didn¡¯t miss the opportunity Han Xuya gave her.


    Lady Mei had already brought all the JMCs to their positions. Once Ling Lan gave the order, they would activate theunching ports and eject the mechas out.


    This was Lady Mei¡¯s first time handling such an important mission. She looked calm but her tight fist revealed her excitement and uneasiness.


    ¡°Mei Mei, you mustn¡¯t be anxious. You can¡¯t embarrass your head. You mustn¡¯t do that.¡± Lady Mei cheered herself on. She respected her head, who was as capable as a man. She hoped that she couldplete this mission perfectly to prove that her head¡¯s rmendation was correct.


    When you respect a person, you won¡¯t want the said person to be disappointed or questioned. This was how Lady Mei felt towards Han Xuya. Anyone could be disappointed in her but Han Xuya. Other people could question her but they couldn¡¯t question Han Xuya.


    Although the atmosphere of Base Neb was tense, nothing amiss could be detected from its appearance. It continued to move forward slowly andzily.


    Meng Lan controlled the radars in Base Neb and diligently searched the areas around them. Since this mission was taken by Meng Lan, Little Four started capturing all the signals around them, hoping to find some useful information.


    Base Neb proceeded safely for ten minutes. Their surroundings were quiet. It seemed as though there wasn¡¯t any ambush.


    Li Lanfeng frowned. Were they wrong?


    ¡°Don¡¯t be anxious. This is just the start.¡± Ling Lan was calmer.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that problems might ur if we wait for too long.¡± Li Lanfeng knew that the soldiers below them were just normal people. They would be tired when they maintained a state of high alert for a long period of time. If their enemy attacked them while their pilots were fatigued, it would be disastrous.

 Chapter 1242 - Escape!

    <h4>Chapter 1242 Escape!</h4>


    ¡°No matter. The trap wille.¡± Ling Lan thought through it more thoroughly than Li Lanfeng. ¡°It is only a matter of time. Moreover, it is better if they could maintain a constant state of high alert.¡±


    Li Lanfeng nodded and stopped speaking. The two of them looked intently at the map the mainframeputer showed on the screen and waited for the ambush they had predicted.


    After 15 minutes, all of the soldiers on standby were somewhat numb from waiting. Ling Lan suddenly felt something and decisively ordered, ¡°Evade 45 degrees to the right.¡±


    In the base¡¯s control room, the major who was originally responsible for controls was gone. In his seat was now a weak-looking officer who had an insignia of a senior colonel on his shoulder. He was responsible for the controls at that moment.


    After hearing Ling Lan¡¯s orders, he calmly moved his arms and moved therge base from its original direction instantly to a 45 degree turn, forcing Base Neb to go off its original course.


    This seemingly easy maneuver was actually not that easy. Even though it was hard to see from his calm expression, there were still veins popping up from his neck when he turned the handle.


    Right as Base Neb moved away from its original course, a white light appeared in the void and brushed past the moving base.


    If Ling Lan¡¯s orders were slower by a second and the person who controlled the handle wasn¡¯t there, then the white light would definitely hit Base Neb.


    The sh of white light came so violently and suddenly. Even though it didn¡¯t cause any fatal damage to the base, it still injured the soldiers on the base. There were many injured soldiers on mecha hold, some unlucky soldiers had also died from the impact.


    After the white light went past the base, a giant mecha appeared from the void and appeared before Ling Lan.


    er was 0.


    A simple insignia of a four-leaf clover was on the chest of the mecha along with one on both its arms. These insignias told her where the mecha hailed from.


    Ling Lan¡¯s original calm stare instantly narrowed. She didn¡¯t even think and shouted, ¡°Luo Lang, run as fast as possible.¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t expect that the Twilight Empire would send a god-ss operator to ambush them. If it wasn¡¯t her Profound Insight giving her warnings at crucial moments, everyone from Base Neb might have perished there.


    The Four Leaf Clover, if she was not wrong, was the symbol for Twilight Empire¡¯s first ranked god-ss operator, Lord Jindao. She didn¡¯t think the Twilight Empire would actually put her in such high regard, and not only did they send a god-ss operator to deal with her, but they also sent the strongest one. They definitely wanted her and Base Neb topletely disappear from the face of the gxy.


    Originally, she was expecting the opposition to use devious methods to draw her out of her base. Now it seemed, the opposition didn¡¯t even consider this issue and only needed to send out a god-ss operator to get rid of her and the base at the same time.


    Ling Lan realized this oversight was due to theirck of experience. Li Lanfeng and hers predictions for therger picture were still too simple. They both believed that the opposition would use evil plots against them and try to get them to leave the base or perhaps despicable means to force her toe out.


    Reality now taught Ling Lan that other than evil plots, there were also more direct methods. As long as a god-ss mecha was sent, the amount of firepower Base Neb could dish out was negligible.


    This flying bunker called the Base Neb was given the moniker ¡®tortoise shell¡¯. Additionally, with its weaponry like porcupine spikes all over its surface and its agility that was much higher than starships, even if it was surrounded, it would still be able to use all of its arsenal to create a path of freedom for itself.


    However, no matter how strong something was, it still had its mortal enemy. Base Neb wasn¡¯t afraid of anything. However, after encountering the ultimate weapon of a nation, god-ss mechas, it could only run for its life.


    In the case of god-ss mechas, no matter if it was the category of offense, defense or speed, it would be the best of the best in all three categories that existed in this universe. Even if Base Neb wasposed of the Federation¡¯s most advanced technology, it would still be considered weaker whenpared to god-ss mechas.


    Ling Lan had piloted a god-ss mecha before, so she knew the terror it could bring. This was why Ling Lan¡¯s expression changed greatly when she saw the god-ss mecha and gave the order to Luo Lang to escape at top speed.


    This time, in order to ensure the safety of everyone on the base, Ling Lan arranged for Luo Lang to be responsible for Base Neb¡¯s helm.


    The feeling of danger that lingered made Ling Lan carefully consider who should be the person manning the controls of Base Neb.


    In Lingtian Independent Army, all of the brigade leaders and their deputies all were great at piloting. In terms of piloting experience, they were undoubtedly less experienced than the veterans soldiers. However, after thinking for a while, she still gave this important assignment to Luo Lang.


    It wasn¡¯t because the others couldn¡¯t do it, but rather because Ling Lan trusted Luo Lang the most out of everyone. Even Li Lanfeng was not as trustworthy in Ling Lan¡¯s mind as Luo Lang.


    Of course, that wasn¡¯t the only reason why she chose Luo Lang. It was also because of Luo Lang¡¯s innate talent. A naive Luo Lang working with the calm personality would definitely not make any grand mistakes or panic from being in such a big crisis.


    Once the situation develops into what her premonition told her, reaching a point of no return, only Luo Lang, who had the calm personality, could make the most suitable decisions and get them out of there alive.


    This was Ling Lan¡¯s final trump card. It was only in preparation for the worst case scenario. She didn¡¯t think that she would have to use it from the very beginning.


    Luo Lang heard Ling Lan¡¯s orders. Despite knowing they were in a great crisis, there wasn¡¯t any wavering look in his eyes.


    His hands began to dance around, which gradually turned into afterimages .Under his control, all of the base¡¯s engines revved up. The base then left an afterimage in the dark void of space and vanished from the star system they were in.


    Lord Jindao raised his eyebrows in surprise as the sure-hit attack suddenly missed. Before he could recover his giant sword, the huge bunker that was in front of him vanished before him.


    ¡°Trying to escape? Heh.¡± Lord Jindao snorted coldly. In the next second, his mecha¡¯s engine erupted and he also disappeared from this star system.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes werepletely focused on therge virtual screen in front of her. Little Four and Meng Lan were each putting up the angles of video feeds they had collected.


    Base Neb¡¯s engines were all at their maximum output, pushing the base to its highest possible speed. However, even though they did that, they still couldn¡¯t get rid of Lord Jindao, who was tailing right behind them. As time went by, the distance between the two entities began to shorten. The naked eye probably couldn¡¯t see it, but Little Four and Meng Lan existed in a different world. They showed urate data to let Ling Lan and the others know of the iing crisis.


    Ayer of sweat appeared on Li Lanfeng¡¯s forehead. The vast gulf between their collective strength and a god-ss mecha forced a strategist like him not to have any ideas on what to do.


    Ling Lan puckered her lips. Evil plots and traps were only effective when their strengths were equal levels. No amount of traps or plots were useful when the enemy could just use brute force to smash them to pieces.

 Chapter 1243 - I’m The Most Suitable

    <h4>Chapter 1243 I¡¯m The Most Suitable</h4>


    ¡°60 degrees to the left,¡± Ling Lan suddenly shouted.


    Luo Lang followed Ling Lan¡¯smand like a robot and forced the entire base to maneuver to his will.


    A beam scrapped the outer metal shell of the base. If the base moved a little slower, the beam would have pierced a hole through it.


    Still, the huge force behind the beam caused the entire base to shake violently. Meng Lan activated the rm of the base before Ling Lan ordered her to. The soldiers were alerted of the potential dangers and they started preparing themselves.


    ¡°Master, the right OVR of the base is damaged. The second door has been closed. Please send people to repair it as soon as possible. If not, the integrity of the base might bepromised.¡± Meng Lan reminded Ling Lan that the beam had caused damage to the shell of the base.


    Ling Lan frowned. It would be dangerous to send repairmen out to repair the base now.


    The damaged part of the base was in bad condition. The oxygen supply equipment there was destroyed. Thus, the repairmen had to wear thick spacesuits to do the repairing work.


    Base Neb was moving at a high speed so the damage was worsened by at least four times. The base still needed to evade more attack from the god-ss mecha so the movements of the base were going to be unpredictable which increased the difficulty of repairing work.


    If something happened to their protective mechanism, the repairers would be thrown into space. There were two oues of this scenario. First oue, they would slowly suffocate and die after finishing their oxygen supply. Second oue, they would be discovered by the enemy and killed.


    They were in a dire situation now so Ling Lan knew that they wouldn¡¯t be able to save the repairmen if they were thrown into space. It would take too long for them toe back after escaping from the god-ss mecha. By that time, the oxygen supply of the spacesuits would be depleted.


    However, if she didn¡¯t send out repairmen, the surface damage of the base would increase due to their high speed. This would affect the structural integrity of their base. The entire base might copse because of this.


    Ling Lan made her decision. She called the logistics department and ordered them to repair the damage.


    Ling Lan would be ruthless when she needed to. She wouldn¡¯t hesitate to sacrifice some repairmen if it could protect the majority of her men.


    ¡°Yes, lieutenant general.¡± The logistics department quickly sent a team of repairmen out after receiving the order.


    Ling Lan started multitasking. She kept a close watch on the repairmen while she focused on her Profound Insight. She didn¡¯t want to miss any feelings or reminders from her innate talent. She was afraid that a small negligence on her side would cause the destruction of the entire base Neb.


    Luo Lang and Ling Lan cooperated perfectly. Even if their teamwork wasn¡¯t perfect, it was close enough. The giving ofmand and the execution ofmand was done almost simultaneously. It looked as if the onemanding and the one maneuvering the base was the same person.


    Base Neb managed to evade Lord Jindao¡¯s beams but the sudden maneuvers caused one of the repairmen to get thrown into space. He didn¡¯t manage to buckle his safety belt in time.


    Ling Lan knew of this incident but her face remained expressionless. From the moment she gave the order to send the repairmen out, she became the cold blooded Lieutenant General Ling.


    ¡°We can¡¯t continue like this,¡± Li Lanfeng said when he noticed that Lord Jindao was getting nearer to the bse.


    ¡°What should we do?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t turn around. Her eyes were still glued to the screen that showed what was happening outside.


    creen


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t answer immediately. He looked at Ling Lan with aplicated expression. In the end, his gaze turned firm.


    ¡°Send a mecha brigade to stop him. They will be able to buy us some time.¡± Li Lanfeng finally said his suggestion.


    US


    His words caused Ling Lan to shift her eyes away from the screen. She nced at Li Lanfeng who was wearing a stern expression.


    She raised her eyebrows. Her gaze was intense. ¡°Who are you nning to send?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll lead Mecha Brigade 06 to stop him.¡± Li Lanfeng chose himself.


    Ling Lan rejected him instantly. ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± Li Lanfeng asked sincerely.


    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to defeat Lord Jindao. He will be able to kill all of you with a single attack. These are unnecessary sacrifices. You won¡¯t be able to buy much time,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently. Her tone was resolute.


    ¡°Rabbit, you know that if we continue like this, Lord Jindao will catch up with Base Neb sooner orter. We will all be dead by then. In that case, why can¡¯t we take a leap of faith? A miracle might happen.¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly called Ling Lan by her nickname. He hadn¡¯t used it for a long time. His emotions seemed to be seeping out of his eyes.


    He was willing to die if Ling Lan could remain alive. Maybe this was the best ending for him. Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t know of his dirty thoughts. He wouldn¡¯t drag Ling Lan to hell just because of his selfish feelings. Ling Lan would be able to lead a happy life with his two wives and climb to the peak of the Federation.


    He just hoped that Ling Lan would remember him!


    F**K!


    Damn it. He was so jealous.


    When Li Lanfeng thought about Ling Lan marrying Luo Chao and Han Xuya, his heart bled. He even thought of dying with Ling Lan. That way, he would be the only one by Ling Lan¡¯s side in the end.


    Ling Lan frowned at Li Lanfeng¡¯s words. She suddenly stood up and walked to the door.


    ¡°Ling Lan, where are you going?¡± Li Lanfeng got affected by his negative emotions so he reacted a little slower.


    Ling Lan was the most important person in his life. The moment she moved, Li Lanfeng threw all his emotions away to the back of his head.


    Ling Lan stopped and turned around. ¡°You¡¯re right. We can¡¯t sit and wait for death. If we take the risk, we might be able to create a miracle.¡±


    ¡°...¡± Li Lanfeng frowned. From his understanding of Ling Lan, he knew what she was thinking. ¡°I don¡¯t agree. The base needs you. The people here are waiting for you to bring them home.¡±


    ¡°Base Neb will only be able to escape if we stop Lord Jindao. I¡¯m the best mecha operator here. Thus, I¡¯m the most suitable candidate,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    She immediately gave her order. ¡°Li Lanfeng, you¡¯ll stay here and be in charge of the base.¡±


    ¡°No...¡± Li Lanfeng wanted to reject Ling Lan but she had already disappeared.


    Li Lanfeng gritted his teeth as he stared at the empty room. He contacted the control room and told Xie Yi in a hurried tone, ¡°Xie Yi,e to themand center immediately. You¡¯ll take charge of the base from now on.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Xie Yi was stunned when he heard this arrangement.

 Chapter 1244 - You Took The Wrong Medicine.

    <h4>Chapter 1244 You Took The Wrong Medicine.</h4>


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t care about Xie Yi¡¯s opinion on the matter. He rushed out of the room hurriedly after giving the order.


    At that moment, Ling Lan had already reached the mecha hold. She quickly boarded her mecha.


    The logisticians in the mecha hold were shocked and excited to see her. They knew that they were in a dangerous situation when the base kept shaking and jumped around.


    As the logisticians of themander, these veteran logisticians quickly understood why theirmander was here. They have been following Ling Lan for a long time as they went through the life-or-death experience on Haijiao.


    Just like in the past, theirmander always appeared on the frontline during the most dangerous times. He would use his blood to clear a safe path for them.


    ¡°Quickly equipped the mecha with the best weapons.¡± The leader of the logisticians controlled his excitement and shouted to his team members.


    They were unable to fight with theirmander due to theirck of strength but they could prepare the best mecha for him to use. They would equip the mecha with the best weapons they could so that theirmander would have a greater chance of survival.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s mecha logisticians quickly proceeded with their jobs at their leader¡¯smand.


    Normally, themander¡¯s mecha would already be prepared when themand to prepare for battle was given. However, equipping the weapons and recharging the energy was done only after themander had decided to enter the battle.


    Through this, we could see how outstanding themander¡¯s logisticians were. They managed to equip the mecha in 30 seconds. Of course, it was easier to equip Ling Lan¡¯s mecha because she only had one set of weapons. Other mechas might have different weapons depending on the type of battle.


    Ling Lan boarded her mecha and ejected out of Base Neb under the guidance of a JMC.


    Around ten seconds after Ling Lan was ejected out of the base, Li Lanfeng arrived at theunching port next to Ling Lan¡¯s.


    Ling Lan stabilised her mecha once she was in space. She floated in space while she waited for Lord Jindao¡¯s arrival.


    ¡°Master, Li Lanfeng ising.¡± When Li Lanfeng contacted the JMCs, Meng Lan told Little Four what happened.


    Ling Lan was speechless. She frowned and scolded indignantly, ¡°What the hell is he doing?¡±


    Ling Lan knew that she had little chance of surviving a battle with a god-ss operator. The difference in ability couldn¡¯t be made up with courage and perseverance. Even if Li Lanfeng came, he would just be adding to the death count.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t choose to sacrifice herself because she wanted to be a hero or because she couldn¡¯t bear to watch her men getting killed.


    She knew that staying in the base would only allow her to survive for a few more minutes. Little Four calcted that one minute and three secondster, Lord Jindao would catch up with base Neb. Everyone on Base Neb could only wait for death then.


    They had requested for help the moment Lord Jindao appeared but there was no reply from the Federation. After a while, Little Four realised that someone had blocked all signals from reaching or leaving this area. Their distress signal wasn¡¯t sent out. Nothing could be sent out. To get out of this blocked zone, they needed four minutes and forty-seven seconds.


    However, Lord Jindao would reach them in one minute and three seconds. They had no chance of escaping. What was the point of staying in the base then?


    Ling Lan knew that everyone would die if they remained in the base. However, if she sacrificed herself, there might be a chance her men could escape.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t really a cold-blooded or ruthless person. She wouldn¡¯t let her subordinates die just because she couldn¡¯t live. She wasn¡¯t a psychopath. She had her morals. She chose the path that benefited the most people.


    ¡®Since there was no way I can live, why not choose the most worthy way of dying?¡¯ This was Ling Lan¡¯s thought when she decided to fight with Lord Jindao.


    Ling Lan chose to risk her life because she knew that she wouldn¡¯t be able to escape death. However, Li Lanfeng had the chance to live. Yet, he acted rashly and came to seek death. Ling Lan was so angry she almost vomited blood.


    Why couldn¡¯t he let her die a valuable death?


    ¡°Hurry up and go back.¡± Ling Lan contacted Li Lanfeng immediately before he ejected out of the base.


    ¡°Rabbit, I said that I will fight with you.¡± Li Lanfeng was firm. In the next second, his mecha was ejected out of the base.


    ¡°You!¡± Ling Lan was furious. Wasn¡¯t Li Lanfeng a selfish person? What happened to him this time? Was there something wrong with his brain? Why did he be so stupid?


    Li Lanfeng operated his mecha and flew beside Ling Lan. He smiled and said, ¡°I can¡¯t catch up with Base Neb now.¡± Their mechas weren¡¯t god-ss mechas. It couldn¡¯t travel so fast.


    ¡°You took the wrong medicine.¡± Ling Lan took a deep breath and calmed herself down. She knew she couldn¡¯t push Li Lanfeng away now


    ¡°Yes. I think so too.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled happily. He didn¡¯t mind Ling Lan mocking him.


    Ling Lan wanted to reply to him but she suddenly sensed danger. ¡°He¡¯s here. Move aside. Reinforce me whenever needed.¡±


    Li Lanfeng quickly controlled his mecha and retreated. His mecha created a line in space. In an instant, he was a few thousand meters behind Ling Lan.


    While Li Lanfeng was moving back, a huge mecha suddenly appeared within Ling Lan¡¯s line of sight. Ling Lan immediately pulled the trigger of her long-range beam gun.


    A beam shot out. Itnded urately at the ce Lord Jindao appeared.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Lord Jindao raised his eyebrows in surprise. The Divine Shield system of his mecha was activated instantly to block the attack.


    ¡°Interesting. He managed to urately predict my position and my speed.¡± Lord Jindao nced at Base Neb. Then, he looked at the mecha which shot him. He wanted to see what the mecha looked like. Once he destroyed Base Neb, he woulde back and finish this mecha.


    However, a familiar totem entered his view. His expression changed slightly. He stopped his mecha and floated in space.

 Chapter 1245 - Fight For Their Lives!

    <h4>Chapter 1245 Fight For Their Lives!</h4>


    ¡°I looked everywhere for you but in the end, you came to me.¡± Lord Jindao spoke to Ling Lan in a broken Federationnguage.


    Ling Lan frowned. As expected, her opponent¡¯s target was her.


    ¡°Oh? I don¡¯t know you. Why are you looking for me?¡± Ling Lan pretended that she was oblivious about the whole situation.


    Lord Jindao didn¡¯t reply to her. He immediately aimed his beam gun at her and shot her.


    Ling Lan was already on her guard, so when Lord Jindao attacked her, she instantly shifted her mecha to the side. Fortunately, her mecha was a modified imperial mecha made by Chang Xinyuan. Although it couldn¡¯t bepared to a god-ss mecha, it was the best among all the imperial mechas. Luckily, Lord Jindao was just testing the water with his first attack so Ling Lan managed to evade it precariously.


    ¡°Not bad,¡± Lord Jindaomended.


    Even in arge nation like the Federation, outstanding talents couldn¡¯t be found so easily. Lord Jindao couldn¡¯t help but feel envious of the Federation to have a monster like Ling Xiao and Ling Lan. Because of Ling Xiao killing their youngest god-ss mecha operator, the session of god-ss operators in Twilight had been disrupted. He didn¡¯t know when the next god-ss operator would appear.


    The envious feeling onlysted for a few seconds as his gaze swiftly turned malicious. As long as their n worked, the Twilight Empire would grow from their ashes of their past glory and rise in status. It would no longer be a middle-ss nation. They would be a top-ss nation like Caesar and Huaxia.


    Lord Jindao grabbed the handle of his beam sword and activated it. A long beam was ejected from the handle. Lord Jindao shed the beam sword in front of him.


    ¡°The energy of his beam sword is too strong. My beam sword will be destroyed if I parry it. Evade!¡± Ling Lan quickly analysed the situation and arrived at a conclusion. She could only evade the beam sword.


    Her Profound Insight was very helpful in such situations. It hinted at the best route to evade the moment Lord Jindao shed his sword. However, the speed of an imperial mecha was much slower than a god-ss mecha. Even if Ling Lan moved her mecha instantly, she wouldn¡¯t be able to retreat out of the affective range of the light beam. Her mecha would still get hit by the residual force of the attack.


    Ling Lan felt that the residual force was enough to damage her body and mecha heavily.


    Although there was only a difference of one level between her and her opponent, but in reality, the difference between the two levels was as vast as an ocean. Luck wouldn¡¯t be able to help her this time.


    Pop! Pop! Popping sounds started toe out of the engine. This meant that the engine was overloaded. Ling Lan was someone who wouldn¡¯t give up even if there was no hope. She would give it her all and try to find any chance of survival.


    Bang! A white ray pierced through the dark space. It was aimed at Lord Jindao¡¯s right arm.


    ¡°Cheap tricks.¡± Lord Jindao sneered. He activated his Divine Shield system and continued to sh his sword down.


    Before the white ray could reach the mecha, a colorful rainbow sheen appeared in front and seemingly devoured the white ray whole.


    The beam sword shed at Ling Lan.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Lord Jindao thought that his attack was sessful but instead, he stuck the air.


    He gasped in surprise.


    He recalled what happened just now and was enlightened. ¡°So that¡¯s what happened.¡±


    He looked at Li Lanfeng who was sniping in a faraway location. He turned serious. ¡°There are more talents in the Federation than I expected, but just a talented long-range sniper won¡¯t stop me. He shot just to activate my Divine Shield system. When the Divine Shield system was activated, energy used had a low probability to cause my arm to slow down a little. The chance of that happening is so miniscule but he still took the bet. How lucky.¡±


    Lord Jindao retracted his gaze slowly. He turned and looked at Ling Lan who was already a kilometer away from him. He didn¡¯t dare to underestimate these imperial operators anymore.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s attack caught him off guard by surprise and slowed his speed a little but even so, Ling Lan shouldn¡¯t be able to evade his sword at all. Yet, she did it. This was most likely due to her frightening reaction speed and hand speed. Without any doubt, Ling Lan¡¯s hand speed was close to that of a god-ss operator. If she was given the time to grow, she might be the next god-ss operator of the Federation.


    ¡°That Immortal Bird is so irritating. He¡¯s already very powerful but his son is catching up with him. What an unfair world. Why is the Ling family so lucky?¡± Lord Jindao¡¯s jealousy towards Ling Xiao got even stronger. At first, he was killing Ling Lan just because he was obligated to. However, his desire to kill Ling Lan was overwhelming now. He knew that Ling Xiao¡¯s son was only 24 years old. He had a bright future ahead of him. If he was given enough time, he would most definitely be a god-ss operator.


    Twilight would never allow the Federation to gain another god-ss operator. Lord Jindao decided that he would kill Ling Xiao¡¯s son today no matter what.


    Lord Jindao raised his beam sword. Even if Ling Lan was a kilometer away from him, she still felt an unprecedented sense of crisis. This feeling was even stronger than the time when a bunch of domain realm masters attempted to assassinate her. Her heart was filled with dread. This strong negative emotion caused Ling Lan to waver. She bit her lips and used the pain to calm herself down. Despite her quick recovery, her clothes were already drenched with cold sweat.


    It was fortunate that Ling Lan was experienced in life-or-death situations. These experiences allowed her to remain calm under the oppression of a god-ss operator. An inexperienced person might have lost all hope and give up retaliating by now.


    Even Li Lanfeng, who was a few kilometers away, felt the oppressive force of presence from Lord Jindao. He shivered and his limbs turned cold. Cold sweat formed on his forehead.


    Smack!


    Li Lanfeng pped himself on his cheek. He used so much force that his cheek turned swollen. He even hurt his gum. Blood dripped down the side of his mouth.


    ¡°Youck a beating,¡± Li Lanfeng mocked himself. The pain from the p allowed him to break free from Lord Jindao¡¯s force of presence temporarily. He controlled his mecha again and aimed his beam gun at Lord Jindao.


    Li Lanfeng knew that the next attack would be the most dangerous moment for Ling Lan. If Ling Lan couldn¡¯t evade it, she would be killed.


    It was time to fight for their lives.

 Chapter 1246 - Twilight’s Plan!

    <h4>Chapter 1246 Twilight¡¯s n!</h4>


    ¡°General, this is thetest update on the whereabouts of the three god-ss operators from Twilight.¡± He Xuyang handed over the report to Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao looked through it quickly. He suddenly frowned.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± He Xuyang could tell that there was something amiss through Ling Xiao¡¯s expression.


    ¡°This person isn¡¯t Lord Jindao,¡± Ling Xiao pointed to one of the pictures and said confidently.


    He Xuyang looked at Lord Jindao¡¯s data. However, he didn¡¯t notice anything wrong with it. ¡°This person is Lord Jindao. There¡¯s no difference in his voice to his looks.¡±


    Ling Xiao shook his head. ¡°You don¡¯t understand. A god-ss operator has an aura that only another god-ss operator can detect. This person doesn¡¯t have the aura of Lord Jindao.¡±


    Ling Xiao thought for a moment before saying, ¡°Give me all the data on Lord Jindao. I want to inspect them carefully.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± He Xuyang quickly gathered all the information about Lord Jindao from the moment he appeared on the battlefield.


    Ling Xiao looked through them carefully. He stopped at the video that was taken three days ago and said, ¡°Lord Jindao was swapped on this day.¡±


    He Xuyang looked at the video andpared it with the other photos and video of Lord Jindao. His mind was in a whirl. Sob, he couldn¡¯t see what the difference was. Was it time for him to retire?


    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault. Only god-ss operators will be able to detect the swap. That¡¯s why our intelligence bureau didn¡¯t notice it too.¡± Ling Xiao frowned.


    ¡°Where is Lord Jindao then?¡± He Xuyang was


    puzzled.


    ¡°Twilight must have a n up their sleeve. What do they want to do?¡±


    ¡°Xuyang, point out the positions of our divisions in Twilight on the map,¡± Ling Xiao ordered after pondering for a few seconds.


    ¡°Yes.¡± He Xuyang quickly found the map of Twilight in the optical supeputer and pinned the locations of their divisions on it.


    ¡°The 13th division and the 4th division are around Qiang. There are four god-ss operators stationed there. The 7th division has upied Base Beiye. They¡¯re using it as their base now. There is one god-ss operator stationed there. However, three independent armies will be reinforcing them soon. Two god-ss operators from our alliance nations will be arriving there too.¡±


    He Xuyang looked worried as he continued, ¡°The 23rd division only has one god-ss operator, you. Ourbat ability is a little weak. Thus, we¡¯re in a more dangerous position.¡±


    He was Ling Xiao¡¯s confidant so he knew that Ling Xiao wouldn¡¯t be angered or misunderstand him. He just reminded Ling Xiao because he was worried about him.


    ¡°I know. However, we¡¯re in a difficult position. Twilight and its alliance nations don¡¯t dare to act rashly because they don¡¯t know where we are. My absence will lighten the burden on the two main battlefields.¡± Ling Xiao felt helpless too. He attacked Twilight¡¯ss randomly because he couldn¡¯t sneak into the capital. Twilight guarded their wormholes too heavily. It was a matter of patience now.


    ¡°But they are looking for you. You¡¯re the main target of Twilight.¡± He Xuyang knew that the people from Twilight hated Ling Xiao because he destroyed many of theirs. Ling Xiao was the person they wanted to kill the most. If they discovered the 23rd division, they would definitely go all out to attack them.


    This was why the 23rd division had to go into hiding.


    ¡°Is Lord Jindao looking for us?¡± He Xuyang had a sudden thought.


    ¡°That is possible.¡± This was Ling Xiao¡¯s first thought too.


    ¡°However, we are in a satellite base that has been abandoned for many years. Our researcher found out that this base has been abandoned for more than a thousand years. If we didn¡¯t find it by coincidence, we wouldn¡¯t have known that there¡¯s a wormhole that leads to here. Moreover, this wormhole wasn¡¯t built by Twilight... but if Caesar is really ambitious.¡± He Xuyang was puzzled. ¡°Unless Caesar kept a record of this wormhole and reminded Twilight about it, they won¡¯t be able to find us.¡±


    All the starships were resting at this moment. (Belief] was the one guarding the perimeter. Everyone knew how frighteningly powerful (Belief] was. If (Belief] didn¡¯t alert them, it meant that they were safe.


    Ling Xiao wanted to say something but he felt a sudden pain in his heart. His expression changed instantly. He closed his eyes and made some calctions.


    ¡°Where is the Lingtian Independent Army?¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s face was slightly pale. He suddenly felt a strong sense of danger around his daughter.


    He Xuyang understood Ling Xiao¡¯s anxiousness. His face turned white as he hurriedly replied, ¡°I¡¯ll check immediately.¡±


    His hands were trembling as he looked through the optical supeputer.


    ¡°General, an hour ago, Young Master Lan entered the Qingri wormhole with Base Neb.¡± He Xuyang¡¯s lips were shaking as he talked. He knew that Lord Jindao¡¯s target was most probably Ling Lan.


    His trained nerves of steel allowed him to finish his sentence properly. If he didn¡¯t have a strong mentality, he might not be able to open his mouth due to his anxiousness and fear.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± Ling Xiao stood up abruptly. His force of presence leaked out unconsciously. He Xuyang was forced to the ground by the pressure. Blood flowed out of his mouth.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I lost control of myself.¡± Ling Xiao forced himself to remain calm.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± He Xuyang picked himself from the ground. He wiped the blood off his mouth.


    ¡°Xuyang, I need to go to the Qingri wormhole.¡± Ling Xiao made his decision.


    ¡°General! You can¡¯t go!¡± He Xuyang eximed in astonishment.


    Ling Xiao looked at He Xuyang silently. He Xuyang coughed out blood. He bore with the pain from his internal injuries and told Ling Xiao his prediction, ¡°By right, there¡¯s no need to send a god-ss operator to kill Young Master Lan. They¡¯re still in war with Qi Yaoyang so once he discovers their n, he mightunch a full-force assault on Twilight. Twilight only has three god-ss operators. They¡¯re not our match. Qiang will be our territory. Twilight knew the risk but they still chose to send Lord Jindao to chase after Young Master Lan. Why are they willing to take the risk? Young Master Lan is not important enough for them to do this. There is only one reason. They wanted to lure you out with Young Master Lan.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Ling Xiao replied calmly. When he guessed that Lord Jindao¡¯s target was Ling Lan, he had seen through Twilight¡¯s n.

 Chapter 1247 - Little Seven!

    <h4>Chapter 1247 Little Seven!</h4>


    ¡°But, I still have to go.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s gaze was resolute. ¡°That is my child. As a father, I must save him.¡±


    ¡°General!¡± He Xuyang understood Ling Xiao¡¯s decision but as the chief of staff of the 23rd division and as Ling Xiao¡¯s confidant, he couldn¡¯t let Ling Xiao be in any danger. Even if it was for Young Master Lan, he wouldn¡¯t allow it.


    To He Xuyang, Ling Xiao was the most important person in the whole Federation. He was much more important than Young Master Lan.


    ¡°You¡¯re a god-ss operator of the Federation. You¡¯re themander-in-chief of the ongoing war. You¡¯re the general of the 23rd division. If something happens to you, the Federation, the entire army, and the 23rd division will all be affected. Please reconsider your decision,¡± He Xuyang persuaded.


    ¡°Xuyang, you think too highly of me. The Federation will still be able to stand tall even after I¡¯m gone. Qi Yaoyang will be able to take over the position as themander-in-chief. Without me, he will still be able to lead them to victory. I only feel sorry for the soldiers of the 23rd division. My stubbornness ced them in danger. However, I believe that you will be able to protect them. Hence, I¡¯ll pass the 23rd division to you.¡± Ling Xiao held He Xuyang¡¯s shoulders firmly. He passed his responsibility to this capable subordinate whom he trusted with his whole heart.


    Ling Xiao trusted He Xuyang more than the friends he made when he was young. He had disappeared for 17 years. Thus, when he came back, he didn¡¯t dare to even believe in his old friends.


    ¡°General, I reject the order. Without you, I won¡¯t be able to bring the 23rd division back safely. You¡¯re Young Master Lan¡¯s father but you¡¯re the father of the 23rd division too. You can¡¯t bear letting Young Master Lan get hurt but what about the millions of soldiers in the 23rd division?¡± He Xuyang couldn¡¯t control his anger and he questioned Ling Xiao furiously.


    He only had one thought in his mind. He needed to prevent the general from leaving. He mustn¡¯t let him jump into the trap even though he knew how dangerous it was.


    ¡°You¡¯re right. I¡¯m not a good general.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s expression turned sorrowful. ¡°I¡¯m not impartial. I can¡¯t give up my family for the nation. My heart is small. I can only hold my wife and my child. I can only bother about everything else if they¡¯re safe. The Federation, the 23rd division, they alle after my family. This is the real me. I¡¯m just a normal person who cares about his family before the nation.¡±


    ¡°Xuyang, I disappoint you.¡± Ling Xiao smiled bitterly.


    ¡°General, can¡¯t you it is a trap.¡± He Xuyang shook his head. ¡°Even if you go, you might not be able to save Young Master Lan. You might even be killed in the process. Is this worth it? Yes, you can¡¯t let go of Young Master Lan but what about your wife? How can you bear to let her lose two of her loved ones at once?¡±


    ¡°Xuyang, that will never happen,¡± Ling Xiao shouted loudly. He continued in a firm tone, ¡°I will bring Ling Lan back. I will never let Ling Lan die there. This is my promise as a father.¡±


    ¡°General...¡± He Xuyang managed to calm down due to Ling Xiao¡¯s shout. He felt bitter. He could see the resolution in Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes. No one would be able to change his decision. Even if Lan Luofeng came, it would be useless too.


    ¡°Xuyang... if... I¡¯ll hand the 23rd division over to you.¡± Ling Xiao hesitated for a while before saying


    His instinct told him it would be very dangerous. He didn¡¯t know if he could make it out alive. He had to n for the worst.


    Ling Xiao went to the mecha hold and boarded (Belief). When his cockpit closed, he let out a cold smile.


    ¡°This time, I lost. I can¡¯t be as heartless as you. However, if Ie back alive, I¡¯ll make you pay the price for it, Great Marshal Lan.¡±


    The mecha¡¯s engine roared. [Belief] flew out of themand ship in an instant and disappeared in the universe.


    He Xuyang stared at the big screen as he watched Ling Xiao leaving on (Belief). Many thoughts went through his head. Finally, he stood up and pressed a button. ¡°This is thetestmand. All soldiers of the 23rd division, please prepare to move out. We¡¯ll be leaving for the Qingri wormhole in 10 minutes.¡±


    The entire 23rd division got busy.


    He Xuyang looked into the space and muttered to himself, ¡°General, I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m not a good adviser too. I can¡¯t just sit and let you be in danger. Let me fight together with you. I believe that we will be able to survive it together.¡±


    In the control room of a Destruction Devil, the optical supeputer of the starship chatted with its captain as it warmed up the ship. It asked curiously, ¡°General Ling Xiao has already left. Why are we leaving sote?¡±


    The captain was a middle-aged major general. He patiently exined, ¡°The starships need time to warm up. The soldiers need time to prepare too. Ten minutes is reasonable.¡± The major general sounded as though he was talking to a friend instead of aputer.


    ¡°I understand.¡± The lines on the optical supeputer moved as though it was nodding


    ¡°7th Bugle, when will you call me father?¡± The captain suddenly asked. He took a lot of effort to raise this cute mainframe.


    ¡°My name is Little Seven, not 7th Bugle.¡± The optical supeputer suddenly became agitated.


    ¡°You came from the 7th Bugle Call. Shouldn¡¯t your name be 7th Bugle?¡± The captain pouted.


    ¡°My name is Little Seven. My boss is... hmph, I¡¯m not talking to you anymore,¡± Little Seven snorted.


    ¡°Who is your boss? You never answer me whenever I ask you this question.¡± The captain wanted to probe further but the angry mainframe ignored him.


    ¡°Fine, I won¡¯t ask you anymore. Little Seven, why can¡¯t you call me father?¡± The captain suddenly turned depressed. ¡°I endured so much hardships to raise you. Is it too much to ask you to call me father?¡±


    ¡°Hmph, I¡¯ll cut ties with you now.¡± This sentence appeared on the virtual screen. This showed that the mainframe was still angry.


    ¡°You little fellow. I see that you¡¯re really angry.¡± The captain knew that he wouldn¡¯t seed so he gave up.


    At this moment, the door opened and a senior colonel walked in. ¡°Tian Fang, are you still chatting with your little mainframe?¡±


    ¡°Luo Yang, what¡¯s the matter?¡± Tian Fang turned serious.


    Captain Tian Fang and Adviser Luo Yang were the ones who fetched Ling Lan from the military academy in the past. After gaining many merits under the wings of General Ling Xiao, both their ranks had risen significantly.

 Chapter 1248 - There’s Only One Possibility!

    Chapter 1248 There¡¯s Only One Possibility!


    ¡°We are leaving ten minutes after the general left. This isn¡¯t the general¡¯s style.¡± Luo Yang was worried.


    ¡°Something urgent must have happened. But, we just need to listen tomands and be ready for battle.¡± Tian Fang didn¡¯t care about the details. Ever since they snuck into the depth of Twilight¡¯sary sector, he was prepared for tough times. However, their general nned everything smoothly for them. They didn¡¯t suffer much so far.


    But, guerri warfare was just the beginning. If they wanted to end the war with Twilight, they would need to fight a hard battle.


    Luo Yang had the same guess. ¡°It looks like we¡¯ll be fighting soon.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s about time,¡± Tian Fang looked up as he replied calmly.


    The longer the war dragged, the worse it was for the Federation. Many nations had started joining the war. Once Caesar decided to enter, it would be a full-scale intergctic war. Then, the Federation would have to handle even more stress and pressure. The results were uncertain.


    In Base Neb, Luo Lang focused on maneuvering the base outside of the wormhole. He didn¡¯t notice that Xie Yi had left.


    ¡°Meng Lan, how far away is our enemy?¡± The calm personality asked. He needed to know the exact position of their opponent so that he could find the best escape route.


    ¡°30 miles away,¡± Meng Lan replied immediately.


    ¡°Huh?¡± The calm personality was surprised. A few seconds ago, their enemy was 20 miles away. The distance between them should be getting closer as time went by. Why did it be further?


    ¡°Ling Lan went to stop him.¡± Meng Lan knew that Luo Lang was puzzled so she exined to him.


    ¡°How can he do that?¡± Luo Lang shouted agitatedly. The calmness in his eyes had disappeared. The primary personality came back in an instant once he heard this piece of


    <b>news.</b>


    ¡°Keep calm. Ling Lan hopes that you can guide Base Neb out of this no-signal zone,¡± Meng Lan repeated Ling Lan¡¯s order calmly.


    ¡°How can I remain calm? That¡¯s a god-ss mecha. Boss won¡¯t be his match. There¡¯s no way he will be able to survive.¡± Luo Lang unbuckled his safety belt and stood up.


    Before Luo Lang unbuckled his safety belt, Meng Lan took over the piloting of the base. Base Neb continued moving forward stably at a high speed.


    ¡°Luo Lang, calm down.¡± The calm personality reprimanded the primary personality.


    Luo Lang suddenly felt his mind clearing up.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I lost control of my emotions.¡± Luo Lang apologised to Meng Lan.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Meng Lan replied indifferently, ¡°I understand your feelings. I¡¯m worried too.¡±


    ¡°Meng Lan, I¡¯ll leave Base Neb in your hands.¡± Luo Lang had made his decision.


    ¡°What do you want to do?¡± Meng Lan frowned on the virtual screen.


    ¡°I can¡¯t let Boss fight alone.¡± Luo Lang walked towards the door as he said, ¡°I want to fight with him.¡±


    ¡°If Ling Lan can¡¯t defeat the opponent, neither will you. Major General Li had already gone to reinforce Ling Lan.¡± This was the first time Meng Lan spoke in an angry tone.


    She didn¡¯t approve of Ling Lan¡¯s decision but the coding of her main chip meant that she couldn¡¯t disobey her master. Thus, she had no choice but to watch Ling Lan quietly as she left Base Neb. She let Major General Li out because she was worried about her master. However, after she regained herposure, she knew that letting Major General Li out was a wrong decision.


    Meng Lan knew that Ling Lan wanted everyone in the base, including the clones of Little Four, Little Blossom, and her, to escape death. That was why Ling Lan went to stop their enemy. She couldn¡¯t let Ling Lan¡¯s sacrifice go to waste just because of Luo Lang¡¯s reckless decision.


    Luo Lang entered the passcode to the door. However, the main door didn¡¯t open. The entire base was controlled by Meng Lan. If Meng Lan didn¡¯t allow Luo Lang to leave, he wouldn¡¯t be able to.


    ¡°Meng Lan.¡± Luo Lang immediately realised who was behind this.


    ¡°Master ordered you to control the base and escape from this no-signal zone,¡± Meng Lan said calmly.


    ¡°Without me, you can do this too. I might not be strong enough but having more reinforcements is better than none.¡± Luo Lang was furious.


    ¡°If master can¡¯t stop the god-ss mecha, you won¡¯t be of much help too. I can¡¯t send you to your death.¡± Meng Lan remained firm.


    ¡°I know I won¡¯t be of much help. However, I can block the lethal blow for Boss. It might be able to buy him some time so that he can wait for reinforcements. I just want to increase Boss¡¯s chance of survival. Why can¡¯t I do that?¡± Luo Lang was in agony. He hated himself for being so useless. If they were god-ss operators, Boss wouldn¡¯t have to sacrifice himself to let them live.


    In the end, they were still too weak.


    Luo Lang was a proud person. Under Ling Lan¡¯s guidance, he became an imperial operator at a very young age. He was more powerful than most of the talents in the Federation. Sometimes, he would feel very arrogant. He might not be as strong as physically fit people like Qi Long but most of hisrades wouldn¡¯t be able to suppress him easily.


    Luo Lang felt that he might not be able to be a god-ss operator based on his talent but he could definitely be one of the strongest imperial operators as long as he listened to Boss.


    Yet, now, being an imperial operator wasn¡¯t able to satisfy him. He hoped that in the future, Boss wouldn¡¯t have to stand in front of them to protect them anymore. He wished that one day, he could be the one standing in front of Boss and clearing the safe path for him.


    Meng Lan turned silent. One secondter, the main door opened automatically. Meng Lan had made her decision. Her emotions won.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Luo Lang rushed out immediately.


    ¡°I hope I won¡¯t regret this decision,¡± Meng Lan muttered to herself. Then, her virtual image disappeared in the control room.

 Chapter 1249 - Run!

    <strong>Chapter 1249 Run!</strong>


    Xie Yi noticed Luo Lang¡¯s movement.


    ¡°Luo Lang, where are you going?¡± Xie Yi quickly called out Luo Lang when he noticed that Luo Lang was heading for the mecha hold.


    ¡°To help Boss.¡± Luo Lang didn¡¯t hide the truth from his best friend.


    ¡°Are you crazy?¡± Xie Yi knew that Ling Lan had little chance of surviving a battle with a god-ss mecha master. However, he still hoped that Boss would be able tost until they rushed out of this no-signal zone and sent the request for reinforcements.


    ¡°I¡¯m not crazy. I can¡¯t let Boss fight alone.¡± Luo Lang had already reached the mecha hold.


    ¡°Meng Lan. Meng Lan.¡± Xie Yi was anxious. He couldn¡¯t let Luo Lang die.


    ¡°What is yourmand, Senior Colonel Xie?¡± Meng Lan appeared in front of him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t let Luo Lang out,¡± Xie Yi ordered.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Senior Colonel Luo has already requested for battle. Unless an officer with a higher rank than him overrides his request, I can¡¯t cancel it,¡± Meng Lan replied emotionlessly. She couldn¡¯t tell Xie Yi that she got convinced by Luo Lang.


    ¡°Damn it. How are we going to find a major general now?¡± The major generals of Lingtian were either deployed for other missions or had already gone to look for Boss. Of course, he could look for Commander Yu but he might take the chance to control the base.


    They were already in a dangerous position. Xie Yi didn¡¯t dare to take the bet. Even if he found Commander Yu, Meng Lan might not listen to him.


    ¡°F**k.¡± Xie Yi pressed a button and contacted Lin Zhong-qing. ¡°Zhong-qing, you take control of the base from now on.¡±


    The entire logistics department was on standby so Lin Zhong-qing was shocked to hear the order. ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°Luo Lang and I will go and help Boss.¡± Xie Yi wouldn¡¯t let Luo Lang go alone. If Luo Lang must go, he must go with him.


    Lin Zhong-qing remained silent for a moment. ¡°I understand. Leave the base to me. Be careful. Please bring Boss back.¡±


    Xie Yi replied earnestly, ¡°We will do our best.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll leave Boss to you then.¡± Lin Zhong-qing hung up the call. He clenched his fist as the feeling regret flooded his mind.


    When he gave up mecha operation and chose to be a logistician that year, he knew that he would never be able to fight alongside Boss. He was prepared for such a situation but when the situation came to be, he still felt hurt. He was furious at how useless he was.


    If he could help Boss on the battlefield as well as off the battlefield, how great would that be?


    ¡°I¡¯m still too weak. If there¡¯s a chance, I won¡¯t let them leave me behind again.¡± Lin Zhong-qing gathered his spirit and took over the base.


    Fortunately, Ling Lan had taught all the higher authorities of the Lingtian Independent Army how they should take over themand of the base in case a sudden situation arose, preventing Lingtian from bing a mess. However, the higher authorities suddenly gained the habit of throwing responsibilities to another person while running off to the battlefield.


    Due to this happening, Lin Zhong-qing yearned to be stronger so that he wouldn¡¯t be left behind by hisrades again.


    Xie Yi caught up with Luo Lang and they ejected out of the base together. The two ace modified mechas shot through the universe, forming a silver line in space. They flew towards Ling Lan quickly.


    At this moment, Ling Lan was in a dire situation. Lord Jindao had raised his sword above his head.


    Lord Jindao¡¯s actions were slow but the spiritual stress caused by his frightening force of presence made his attack more powerful than swift attacks.


    When he felt that he had applied enough mental pressure on Ling Lan, he waved his sword down.


    At the same time, Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan¡¯s fingers moved furiously. Their hand speed exceeded their limit again.


    Bang! A beamnded urately on the beam sword.


    If Lord Jindao wasn¡¯t a god-ss mecha, his sword might have fallen out of his hand.


    Lord Jindao grabbed his sword firmly and attacked Ling Lan. He wasn¡¯t influenced by the beam.


    Suddenly, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha started dancing weirdly. It formed lingering shadows in space.


    The sword shed through the lingering shadows.


    Swish!


    Lord Jindao smiled. From the feedback by his mecha, he had hit his opponent.


    He was surprised that the sniping mecha operator wasn¡¯t affected by his force of presence and managed to shoot him urately. However, in the end, his resistance was futile.


    Li Lanfeng panicked when he saw Ling Lan getting hit. He screamed in agony, ¡°Ling Lan!¡±


    ¡°Run!¡± Suddenly, a mecha appeared beside him. It was Ling Lan¡¯s imperial mecha. One of its arms had been chopped off.


    Ling Lan flew in the other direction the moment she finished speaking.


    At first, she thought that she would die under the sword. However, Li Lanfeng¡¯s interference gave her hope. Her Profound Insight found a route of escape for her and she grabbed the opportunity tightly. In spite of this, she still lost one of her mecha¡¯s arms.


    Li Lanfeng was ted that Ling Lan was fine. He instantly ran away with Ling Lan.


    ¡°Lanfeng, let¡¯s split up.¡± Ling Lan knew that Lord Jindao¡¯s target was her. If Li Lanfeng followed her, he would be killed too.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind about me,¡± Li Lanfeng replied calmly. He had already decided to protect Ling Lan at all costs. If Lord Jindao wanted to kill Ling Lan, he must kill him first.


    Lord Jindao was fuming when he realised that Ling Lan managed to escape. At first, he wasn¡¯t serious so it was fine that Ling Lan had escaped. This time, he treated Ling Lan like a real opponent and attacked him with all his might. Yet, he still managed to escape. Lord Jindao felt humiliated.

 Chapter 1250 - Too Late?

    <strong>Chapter 1250 Too Late?</strong>


    ¡°Go and die!¡± Lord Jindao shouted. He moved forward and appeared behind Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan in an instant.


    This was how fast a god-ss mecha could be. With the help of their powerful engines and an endless supply of energy, god-ss mechas were able to move even faster than battleships.


    Li Lanfeng turned around and a sh of white light was seen. A huge sword stabbed towards Lord Jindao¡¯s cockpit.


    Li Lanfeng had a beam sword in his hand. The beam sword wasn¡¯t activated just now so only the handle could be seen. He only activated it when he turned around.


    He knew that this sneak attack might cost him his life. He only hoped that he could waste some time so that Ling Lan was able to escape further away.


    ¡°You¡¯re looking for death.¡± Lord Jindao scoffed. Although this attack was unexpected, he wasn¡¯t afraid. Due to the distance between the mechas and low intensity beam sword whenpared to his own, it wouldn¡¯t even touch his cockpit, his Divine Shield would block the sword before it even got near it.


    The beam sword flew towards the cockpit. Rainbow lights were seen and the impact of the sword was neutralized. Lord Jindao wanted to get rid of Li Lanfeng but he noticed that Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha was attempting to collide with him.


    ¡°Self-destruct?¡±


    This was the only answer Lord Jindao had for Li Lanfeng¡¯s abnormal actions. Li Lanfeng wanted to hold him back by self-destructing.


    Lord Jindao was confident in the defensive capabilities of his Divine Shield system but he chose to be careful and dodge the move.


    He wasted one second on this chase but it wouldn¡¯t change the overall oue. At most, Ling Lan would just be able to live a few seconds longer.


    Lord Jindao titled his body and evaded Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha. He thought that Li Lanfeng would continue moving forward due to inertia so he shed his sword in that direction.


    Once the sword hit Li Lanfeng, he would be dead.


    Lord Jindao, once again, felt that he would seed. Yet, Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha twisted its body when it was about to reach Lord Jindao. This move went against thews of motion. Li Lanfeng moved in an angle no one expected.


    This was a mecha technique from Mandora ¨CGhost Walk. Ling Lan taught herrades this technique many years ago, and Li Lanfeng was her best student. This might be because Li Lanfeng was good at scheming as Ghost Walk required much thought to execute. It would allow you to appear anywhere you wanted so you had to analyse the direction that your opponent least expected you to move to in order to release the full potential of the technique.


    Thus, Li Lanfeng managed to dodge the fatal attack. Of course, he was very lucky in that situation as Lord Jindao wasn¡¯t really focused on attacking him. If he actually did concentrate on finishing Li Lanfeng, he would be able to change the trajectory of his sword in a split second and break Li Lanfeng¡¯s Ghost Walk. This was the power of a god-ss operator.


    Lord Jindao was infuriated by his failures. These youngsters whom he looked down on escaped from him again and again.


    He finally turned serious. He took a step and came beside Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng felt a sh of white in front of him. He knew he couldn¡¯t evade it. He would die the next second


    However, he still didn¡¯t give up. As someone who wanted to defy heaven, how could he give up so easily?


    Li Lanfeng gritted his teeth and pulled the engine control stick with his right hand. Since his spiritual power was very powerful, when he was in full focus, he managed to break the speed limit of an imperial mecha and retreated in a blink of an eye.


    ¡°Bang!¡± A white light hit Lord Jindao¡¯s beam sword.


    The force in this beam was much greater than Li Lanfeng¡¯s beam, causing the beam sword to stop in mid-air for a moment. This pause could be noticed by the naked eye.


    It was still this beam that allowed Li Lanfeng toe back from the gates of hell.


    Lord Jindao turned and saw Ling Lan. He said indifferently, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to have the courage toe back.¡±


    She knew there was a chance of escaping but she still came back to fight with hisrade. Lord Jindao didn¡¯t know if he shouldmend Ling Lan for her fearlessness or should heughed at her stupidity.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t reply to him. She just aimed her beam gun at Lord Jindao.


    Lord Jindao wasn¡¯t expecting a reply too. He started attacking Li Lanfeng again after he finished speaking.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Ling Lan pulled the trigger and fired multiple beams at Lord Jindao.


    Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan¡¯s positions were swapped. Ling Lan became the one covering up for Li Lanfeng while he engaged in closebat.


    Just as the beams were about to hit Lord Jindao, the space around Lord Jindao became distorted. The next second, he appeared beside Ling Lan.


    This was another god-ss technique¨C Divine Shift. Lord Jindao¡¯s target had always been Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan knew what Lord Jindao¡¯s intention was. She quickly moved her mecha back while firing her beam gun at him. She wanted to slow his pursuit.


    Lord Jindao evaded the beams easily. He raised his sword again with the intention to finish Ling Lan in a single blow. Li Lanfeng shot with his long-range beam gun and a loud explosion was heard. A powerful beam flew towards Lord Jindao.


    Lord Jindao wasn¡¯t afraid of Li Lanfeng since the beginning of the tussle. Hence, he ignored the iing beam and continued his attack.


    Suddenly, two beams appeared from his right and left respectively.


    The Divine Shield system was activated again and blocked the three beams. The new reinforcements didn¡¯t have much of an effect. Or rather, it didn¡¯t have any effect at all. Lord Jindao aimed his sword at Ling Lan. He blocked all her routes of escape.


    ¡°Die.¡± Lord Jindao shouted. Ling Xiao would start repaying all his debts to Twilight, starting with the life of his son.


    An ear-shattering sound was heard. Sparks ignited due to the friction between Ling Lan¡¯s mecha and the beam sword.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Luo Lang shouted in terror. Were they toote?

 Chapter 1251 - Number Three?

    <h4>Chapter 1251 Number Three?</h4>


    After the sparks disappeared, Ling Lan¡¯s mecha disappeared from its original spot and appeared a kilometer away. At that moment, her mecha was somewhat mutted. The outer shell on one side of her mecha waspletely stripped off, revealing the countless circuits and parts inside the mecha.


    Despite looking terrible, Ling Lan still managed to get out alive and didn¡¯t die by the sword of Lord Jindao.


    ¡°Boss,¡± Luo Lang instantly shouted out happily when he saw Ling Lan was fine.


    ¡°What just happened?¡± Lord Jindao looked at Ling Lan, who was now a kilometer away from him, with confusion. The sword sh just now, no matter the speed or angle, should definitely have killed Ling Lan. How could Ling Lan dodge it? Was he no longer an imperial operator and had entered into the realm of god-ss?


    This possibility entered Lord Jindao¡¯s mind but he furiously shook his head to get rid of those wild thoughts. Just from how Ling Lan evaded him from before, it showed that he was still in the realm of imperial level and was at most at the highest peak of the imperial level. There were still two or three steps left before he would break through the imperial level and enter the god-ss. He definitely couldn¡¯t suddenly advance into god-ss in such a short amount of time.


    If imperial operators could easily skip those three steps and advance, then the Twilight Empire wouldn¡¯t only have three god-ss operators in the past two centuries.


    God-ss operators not only needed to umte experience, but it also required them to obtain the ¡®feel¡¯ of advancing. Moreover, they would also need a certain element of luck mixed into their advancement. The ¡®feel¡¯ and the luck of it all were the hardest things to acquire for an imperial operator who wished to advance. Many imperial operators might not even advance in their entire lifetime due to theirck of these two factors.


    If his opponent wasn¡¯t a god-ss operator, then how could he have a method to avoid his sure-kill attack? Lord Jindao was confused, but couldn¡¯t find an answer to exin the situation.


    ¡°Ling Lan, focus.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s consciousness was somewhat wispy. While she was still in that groggy state, she was woken up by a deep yet crisp voice.


    ¡°Hmm? Instructor Number Three?¡± Ling Lan shook her head and got rid of the groggy feeling out of her head and forced herself to fully awake.


    ¡°Yes, your body is now temporarily under my control. I originally thought my presence would force your consciousness back to the learning space to rest in order to deal with the feedback of your body bing possessed. However, Number Two said your spiritual energy has grown vast enough to fight against the feedback so you won¡¯t need to go back to the learning space. Now, I hope you can stay focused and carefully watch how I pilot a mecha,¡± said Instructor Number Three with a serious tone in his voice.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Ling Lan said solemnly.


    In reality, her choice to fight was made mostly because she felt that if she was unable to hold out against her opponents, her instructors woulde out and aid her. However, she wasn¡¯t 100% sure of her intuition so she could only bet on it.


    Now that an instructor came out just like she had hoped and had also brought out a surprise alongside him, she was quite ted. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that she didn¡¯t need to go unconscious during the possession. She could experience Instructor Number Three¡¯s fabled mecha piloting first hand. It should be known that back then in the Central Scout Academy, Instructor Number Five was the one possessing her when she waspletely unconscious.


    She didn¡¯t expect that increasing her spiritual power had such great benefits. Ling Lan somewhat rejoiced that back then she wasn¡¯t scared to death by the spiritual training method that was torturous and was an unspeakable horror. After many years of self torture, it brought about countless benefits for her in the end.


    Ling knew very well that Instructor Number Three¡¯s mecha piloting was very strong. However, she was still curious as to who would be stronger between Instructor Number Three and a full-blown god-ss operator. Whatever the oue was, it was a great opportunity for her to be able to personally experience two godly warriors battle out with mechas.


    Ling Lan had long realized she had reached a bottleneck. This bottleneck wasn¡¯t the bottleneck between imperial level and god level, but rather the natural limit of her female body. Despite her using many different methods to train and expand her strength, forcibly increasing this limit by many levels, she still couldn¡¯t ovee the said bottleneck.


    Ling Lan knew very well that if she didn¡¯t resolve this issue, she would never have a chance of reaching god-ss. This wasn¡¯t a matter of not having enough luck nor having enough experience, but rather because of the limits of her own body. For example, if a female body was like a bottle could hold a certain amount of liquid, and to advance god-ss, it needed more water than what the bottle could contain. Since there was such a limit, how would she advance to god-ss?


    Maybe after personally experiencing how god-ss operators operated, she thought she could maybe find a way to resolve the issue of her body¡¯s limits. Why does she think so... Well, it was because her Profound Insight had told her. Ling Lan trusted her innate talent of Profound Insight with unwavering trust.


    Right as Ling Lan and Instructor Number Three finished their conversation, Lord Jindao held up his sword and attacked once again.


    After many failed attempts, Lord Jindao¡¯s killing intent began to leak out of his body. If he didn¡¯t kill Ling Lan today, Ling Lan might perhaps grow into a thorn in his heart which would inhibit him from improving any further, unless he personally got rid of this thorn through a fated meeting. Otherwise, he would never be able to enter that dream-like world of gods that all god-ss operators dreamt to reach.


    Lord Jindao felt his emotions were starting to get the better of him, and he knew something was wrong. This was why Lord Jindao made the decision to follow and kill Ling Lan no matter what.


    After seeing Ling Lan was fine, Li Lanfeng shifted all of focus to Lord Jindao, aimed at him and pulled on the trigger without any hesitation.


    Bang! This time, the beam urately hit the wrist area of the mecha. His previous erratic shot waspletely useless and it didn¡¯t help Ling Lan one bit. He almost caused Ling Lan¡¯s death. Li Lanfeng hated himself for being so useless. He never wanted to ever be so helpless in a situation ever again.


    However, despite his unwavering conviction, Lord Jindao was just too fast. Although Luo Lang and Xie Yi¡¯s reactions were fast as well, they were still slower by a beat and missed all of their beam gun shots.


    ¡°Damn it.¡± Luo Lang saw that his shots were ineffective, so he tossed aside the beam gun in his hand and took out therge sword from his back. He then rushed towards Lord Jindao, who was already facing off with Ling Lan.


    Luo Lang¡¯s thoughts were simple. If he couldn¡¯t stop him using guns, then he would use his own mecha to stop him. All in all, if someone wanted to kill Boss, they must get past his dead body first.


    ¡°You guys interfere from long range.¡±


    Right at that moment, Ling Lan¡¯s calm voice echoed through Luo Lang¡¯s mecha¡¯smlink channel.


    Luo Lang immediately stopped his mecha and grit his teeth as he put back hisrge sword on his back. He then took out a beam gun and aimed it at Lord Jindao once again.


    On the other side, after seeing Luo Lang rush forward, Xie Yi also followed behind him. He also immediately stopped after hearing Ling Lan¡¯s orders from themlink channel. Just like Luo Lang, he took out his beam gun and aimed it at Lord Jindao.


    However, the two of them discovered that long range interference wasn¡¯t an easy thing to do. Especially, when both mechas were moving about, attacking and evading. They couldn¡¯t lock on to Lord Jindao¡¯s mecha. In order to sessfully interfere with Lord Jindao, they must predict his movements.


    Prediction, or intuition, or using their own battle experience. If Qi Long was there, it wouldn¡¯t be hard for him. His innate talent, Animal Instinct, could tell him exactly and urately where he should shoot at. Luo Lang and Xie Yi on the other hand didn¡¯t have talent in this aspect. Thus, they could only use their battle experience to predict the movements.


    This type of prediction was akin to a blind guess. It could be right or could be wrong. There was no doubt that this was going to be a gamble. If they were right, they would be able to interfere with Lord Jindao. If they were wrong, they might even make things worse. Not only would they not interfere with Lord Jindao, but they could even bring about trouble for Boss. That was because they might shoot Boss instead of Lord Jindao.

 Chapter 1252 - Complete Trust

    <h4>Chapter 1252 Complete Trust</h4>


    Sweat formed on Luo Lang and Xie Yi¡¯s foreheads. Their fingers moved a few times but they didn¡¯t dare to pull the trigger.


    They were afraid that their predictions were wrong. If they were wrong, Boss might die from their own mistake.


    Bang! A white light ray suddenly flew right past them. Luo Lang and Xie Yi panicked as the light zoomed towards Ling Lan.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng!¡± Luo Lang shouted angrily.


    Li Lanfeng fired the shot. He aimed it in Ling Lan¡¯s direction.


    Just as Luo Lang was to berate Li Lanfeng, the situation on Ling Lan¡¯s side changed. Ling Lan moved agilely and shifted herself to the other side of Lord Jindao, exposing Lord Jindao to the line of fire.


    What would you do when you realise someone is sneaking an attack on you during a heated battle? You either dodge it or use your opponent to block it.


    Lord Jindao was very confident in himself so when he noticed the iing beam, he just nonchntly raised his sword to block it.


    At that moment, Ling Lan mecha was still facing away from Lord Jindao. Suddenly, she twisted her hand and aimed her beam sword at Lord Jindao¡¯s cockpit while he was blocking the beam. The angle of her attack was very weird.


    Her beam sword was directed to the weakest spot of the cockpit.


    When Lord Jindao noticed the snake-like sword, he felt his heart dropping. He quickly ignored the beam, tilted his body and dodged the sword.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t rx even when he was sessful in his interference. He continued to look for the next opportunity.


    ¡°How did you do it? Aren¡¯t you afraid that you might hurt Boss?¡± Luo Lang asked in astonishment.


    Li Lanfeng continued staring intently at his target. He didn¡¯t reply to Luo Lang.


    Luo Lang felt that he wasn¡¯t going to get an answer. However, after some time, Li Lanfeng said in a calm tone, ¡°I believe that ourmander will be able to put things right even if I¡¯m wrong.¡±


    Luo Lang frowned. He had a bad feeling.


    ¡°I was aiming at themander just now.¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t make any predictions just now. He just shot at Lord Jindao because he saw him in his beam trajectory. Ling Lan was in the beam trajectory too but he didn¡¯t care. He hadplete trust in Ling Lan.


    ¡°You...¡± Luo Lang almost fainted. Li Lanfeng was so irresponsible.


    ¡°Reality proved that I¡¯m right.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s reply made Luo Lang speechless.


    ¡°You should trust in themander.¡± Li Lanfeng reminded them out of goodwill.


    As he was speaking, he fired another shot.


    Coincidentally, Ling Lan moved when he pulled the trigger. Hence, she didn¡¯t get hit by the beam.


    ¡°Luo Lang, I think that Brother Li is right.¡± Xie Yi noticed this too.


    ¡°If you say it¡¯s right, then it is.¡± Luo Lang hadplete trust in Xie Yi too.


    They stopped hesitating. Their gaze became resolute as they pulled the trigger of their beam guns while speaking.


    Three white light rays flew towards Lord Jindao. They weren¡¯t able to cause much damage to him but it managed to break his concentration. Number Three took the chance to attack Lord Jindao furiously. The cooperation between the four of them allowed them to suppress Lord Jindao.


    ¡°Ling Lan, even if you meet someone as strong as you, you need to analyse their mecha piloting too. Just now, if our opponent decided to ignore my attack and take the blow forcefully, he will have an opportunity to counter-attack us. We will be the ones getting suppressed then.¡± Number Three made use of Li Lanfeng, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi¡¯s disturbance to attack Lord Jindao. Lord Jindao was forced to defend. Yet, Number Three still had the energy to talk to Ling Lan.


    ¡°So your attacks are actually just for show?¡± Ling Lan immediately understood her instructor.


    ¡°Yes. My attacks might seem powerful but they wouldn¡¯t be able to hurt him.¡± Number Three felt a little pity for himself. ¡°The difference between the two mechas is too great. The personal ability of the mecha operator can¡¯t make up for the vast difference. We can only prevent ourselves from getting defeated. Lord Jindao is stunned by my showy attacks. Once he understands what is happening, our advantage will disappear.¡±


    Ling Lan furrowed her brows tightly. She realised the situation was worse than she expected. ¡°How long can youst?¡±


    ¡°You should ask your body how long canst under my control,¡± Number Three said helplessly.


    He was a spiritual entity. As long as their spiritual entity existed, they could fight for many days and nights. However, the human body couldn¡¯tst forever. The stronger their host was, the longer they could take over the body and the longer they could fight.


    Of course, their strength was an important factor too. The more powerful they were, the greater the damage to the host¡¯s body. That was why Number Five and Number Nine could take over Ling Lan¡¯s body for a different amount of time. Number Three¡¯s ability was among the top three of the instructors. He was far stronger than Number Five. If Ling Lan¡¯s body was weak, the amount of time he could take over her body would be much shorter.


    However, no matter how strong Ling Lan¡¯s body was, she couldn¡¯t let Number Three take over it forever. Her body would copse sooner orter under the possession.


    ¡°Tell me how long my body canst.¡± Ling Lan knew that there was always a price to pay for everything. Life is fair.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to be hurt, you canst for three minutes and neen seconds. If you want me to take over till yourst breath, we can go on for four minutes and forty seconds,¡± Number Three replied.


    ¡°I can only elongate the time for less than a minute if I¡¯m willing to get hurt.¡± Ling Lan frowned. This might not be enough time for the reinforcements toe after Base Neb managed to contact the headquarters.


    ¡°Can we escape?¡± If they couldn¡¯t win, they could run. Where there was life there was hope. Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t make unnecessary sacrifices.


    ¡°If this was (Belief], I would have killed him already. But with this junk, there¡¯s no chance of even escaping.¡± Number Three sighed in frustration.


    This was the most frustrating battle Number Three ever fought. He was able to release the full potential of an imperial mecha, maybe even exceeding its potential a little, but there was still a limit. Imperial mechas couldn¡¯t bepared to god-ss mechas. The difference might not be apparent during short battles but if they tried to escape, the god-ss mecha would be able to catch up with them easily. No matter how good his mecha piloting was, he couldn¡¯t pilot an imperial mecha move as quickly as a god-ss mecha.


    This was the limit of an imperial mecha.

 Chapter 1253 - I Can Persevere!

    <h4>Chapter 1253 I Can Persevere!</h4>


    ¡°We can only take the gamble.¡± Ling Lan realised that she didn¡¯t have a choice.


    ¡°Yes. If you want to live, pray that Base Neb will get out of the no-signal zone quickly and the reinforcements will arrive soon.¡± Number Three didn¡¯t stop attacking while he was speaking to Ling Lan. His assault on Lord Jindao even got more ferocious.


    ¡°Ask Li Lanfeng, Xie Yi, and Luo Lang to leave first.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t want herrades to die with her.


    Number Three had taken control of her body. Hence, she needed to let him do the talking.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think about it. They won¡¯t leave even if you tell them to,¡± Number Three replied with certainty.


    Ling Lan knew that this was the truth. Since they came here, they were already prepared to live or die with her. After sorting out her thoughts, she let out a deep sigh. She could only hope that her body would be able to pull through until the reinforcements arrived. She didn¡¯t want to die with herrades.


    Time passed slowly. Ling Lan suddenly vomited blood.


    ¡°Have you reached your limit?¡± Number Three frowned.


    ¡°Three minutes has passed.¡± Ling Lan bore with the excruciating pain in her body as she looked at the timer on her screen. She had reached her limit. From now on, the longer Number Three controlled her body, the greater the damage her body would receive.


    ¡°Damn it, these imperial operators are so slow.¡± Number Three started bing irascible when he saw Ling Lan getting hurt. However, he needed to continue taking over her body. Once he left, Lord Jindao would be able to kill Ling Lan.


    ¡°You can¡¯t me them. The most important thing is whether Base Neb had managed to leave this zone and call for reinforcements,¡± Ling Lan kept her cool.


    ¡°There¡¯s only one minute left. If they haven¡¯t arrived by then...¡± Number Three was worried. If their host died, they could just find another host. However, Ling Lan was like a child to them. They didn¡¯t want her to die.


    Actually, they were already breaking the rules when they decided to take control of her body. Based on the guidelines of the learning space, they weren¡¯t allowed to interfere with the host¡¯s matter. But, they wouldn¡¯t be punished even if they broke the rules so this was why they could help Ling Lan whenever they wanted.


    ¡°They wille. Even if they don¡¯t, I know one person will.¡± Ling Lan was confident.


    She started practicing her Qi exercises. She also asked Number Three to drink the third generation Nuwa agent in her cockpit.


    Ling Lan hoped that she would be able to resist longer with the help of these two things. This would increase their chance of survival.


    Number Three dodged Lord Jindao¡¯s attack while drinking the Nuwa agent. Ling Lan immediately felt numb and itchy. Fortunately, the excruciating pain was still there so it covered up the numbness and itchiness a little. If not, Ling Lan might go crazy from this weird feeling


    ¡°The side effects of this agent are so frightening.¡± Number Three was in control of Ling Lan¡¯s body so he had a taste of the strange and ufortable feeling too. His expression turned hideous.


    ¡°Number Three, bear with it.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t expect the third generation Nuwa agent to be so powerful. It was many times stronger than its second generation. She felt that her endurance was good but she almost lost control of herself too.


    ¡°Howl!¡± Number Three roared. His fingers moved furiously over the control panel. Ling Lan could almost see green smoke rising from the panel.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mecha started attacking Lord Jindao crazily as if this was itsst burst of fire.


    ¡°Increase the frequency of our beams.¡± Li Lanfeng frowned deeply when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s actions.


    He felt that Ling Lan might be preparing for something. He just didn¡¯t know what it was since Ling Lan didn¡¯t give him enough hints.


    Lord Jindao felt the increase in strength and speed of Ling Lan¡¯s furious assault. His expression changed as this meant that his opponent¡¯s hand speed had increased again. When Ling Lan managed to block his attacks, he was already very puzzled. He thought that Ling Lan might have taken some forbidden medicine and activated an innate talent that could strengthen his abilities.


    However, this usually could only be done once. Did this mean that his guess was wrong? Did Ling Lan manage to advance to a god-ss operator during this fight?


    Malicious intent appeared in Lord Jindao¡¯s eyes. He had the urge to ignore the n and kill Ling Lan immediately.


    Luckily, he managed to control his impulses in time. He didn¡¯tunch his ultimate technique but continued defending instead. If anyone else saw their fight, they might think that he was suppressed by thebined efforts of the four mechas.


    Once Ling Xiao arrived, he would kill Ling Lan instantly and let him have a taste of what it was like to lose his son. This was the reason why Ling Lan still hadn¡¯t been killed by Lord Jindao. Lord Jindao purposely let her off.


    The sudden burst of fierce attackssted only for a short while. Ling Lan changed her offensive stance to a defensive stance.


    Li Lanfeng watched Ling Lan attentively. He started analysing her actions.


    One minute had passed. Ling Lan¡¯s condition was getting worse and worse. Blood was flowing continuously out of her mouth. Her clothes were drenched in blood. The smell of blood filled the entire cockpit.


    ¡°Ling Lan, can you still handle it?¡± Number Three¡¯s heart was in pain. Was Ling Lan really going to die?


    Ling Lan gave a bright smile. ¡°Of course, I canst one more minute.¡±


    Number Three nodded. He knew that she would only be able to resist another thirty seconds at most, that was if he slowed down his attacks to minimise the bacsh to her body.


    Number Three was also trying to drag the time as much as he could.

 Chapter 1254 - Bad Situation!

    <h4>Chapter 1254 Bad Situation!</h4>


    ¡°Commander is in a bad situation.¡± Li Lanfeng noticed that Ling Lan¡¯s assault was bing weaker and slower. She was still able to dodge the attacks from Lord Jindao, but the minute differences in Ling Lan¡¯ attitude could not be hidden from Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes. He could see that Ling Lan was no longer at an advantage.


    ¡°We must go all out.¡± Luo Lang kept his gun aimed at the two fighting mechas. He desperately wished that he could dive into the fight and maybe block a sword sh with his body just to help Boss.


    ¡°Four minutes has gone by. Based on the max speed of Base Neb, it should have flown out of the no-signal zone. Meng Lan must have contacted the headquarters by now. If there¡¯s no dy in the reinforcements, we just need to persevere for one more minute.¡± Li Lanfeng expressed his thoughts. While he was speaking, his beam gun kept moving along with Lord Jindao¡¯s movement.


    If he could, he wished that he could be in Ling Lan¡¯s position instead of her. Even if he died, he wouldn¡¯t have regrets. However, he couldn¡¯t do that. He knew him staying out of the fight was the best thing for Ling Lan.


    Overall, he was just too weak. Li Lanfeng hated himself. He kept saying that he would fight alongside Ling Lan but in the end, Ling Lan was still the one protecting him.


    Xie Yi was prepared to help Ling Lan at any moment¡¯s time. Among the three of them, Li Lanfeng¡¯s long-range technique was the best. The next best was him. Even if Luo Lang was thest among the three of them, he was still among the top five brigade leaders in terms of long-range technique. It was just that his closebat technique was just better than long-range technique


    20 seconds had passed. Blood wasn¡¯t just flowing out of Ling Lan¡¯s mouth now. Her skin was starting to crack. Blood stained her undergarments. While she was receiving the full degree of the bacsh from the possession, Ling Lan was still receiving the impact from piloting an imperial mecha.


    ¡°F**k. Why can¡¯t the universe ept Ling Lan?¡± Number Three screamed in anger as he dodged Lord Jindao¡¯s sword again.


    She was chased by a powerful mecha team when she went to school for the first time. When she was still a scout, domain realm masters attempted to assassinate her. Now, she was being attacked by the ultimate weapon in the universe, a god-ss mecha.


    Number Three had lived for a long time so he could tell that Lord Jindao¡¯s target was Ling Lan. ¡®Why is trouble always attracted to Ling Lan? Is it because of her past life? Is this why this universe is rejecting her and wanting to kick her out?¡¯ Number Three felt that this universe was ill-treating Ling Lan.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Number Three suddenly retreated back in a fluster as he felt an unprecedented sense of dangering towards him.


    A group of white light rays appeared around Lord Jindao. The group of white light rays was seemingly released from Lord Jindao¡¯smand and rushed towards Ling Lan. It was so bright it split the dark space into two.


    The three people at the side were shocked. They quickly pulled their trigger.


    They felt the sense of danger too.


    Three beams erupted from their muzzles. They congregated into a huge ball of light and flew towards the group of light rays.


    Boom! Everyone was blinded by the white light. Xie Yi and Luo Lang closed their eyes instinctively. However, Li Lanfeng forced himself to keep his eyes open. He wanted to see if Ling Lan was safe.


    A tattered mecha rushed out of the group of white light rays. There were many damages on the mecha. Some cuts were so deep that the electrical circuits under the mecha¡¯s outer shell could be seen. Sparks flickered on the circuits.


    Fortunately, Ling Lan managed to escape.


    Li Lanfeng was ted that Ling Lan was safe. However, in the next moment, he saw a ring light ray detaching from the group of blinding white light rays. The white ray chased after Ling Lan¡¯s tattered mecha.


    ¡°Dodge!¡± Li Lanfeng shouted frantically. He charged towards Ling Lan without thinking.


    Faster, faster. He must reach Ling Lan before the white light ray hits him.


    Cold sweat appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s forehead. They merged with blood and dripped down Ling Lan¡¯s body.


    Number Three was still in control of Ling Lan¡¯s body. ¡°If you want to kill Ling Lan, you have to seek my approval first. Move!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s hand speed broke its limit again. Number Three knew that this might cause irreversible injuries to her hands but saving her life was more important now.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mecha went against thew of motion again. It shifted a few meters to the right and evaded the light ray.


    Ling Lan was hurting all over. In her daze, she felt as though she went back to her past life when every inch of her body was in pain.


    ¡°Lan, how can you be so heartless. How can you leave your father and I behind? Why can¡¯t you persevere for a while longer? Do you know that our country has invented a new medicine that can help you? If you were still here, we would have been able to lead a happy life together.¡±


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t see the dark universe anymore. She was in a beautiful ce with trees all around her. However, there were many tombs too. UNder the orange glow of dusk, four people were standing in front of a tomb, crying while solemnly tilting their forward.


    Ling Lan floated over uncontrobly as if she was attracted to them.


    There were two old people and two young people. They seemed to be two couples. Besides the youngdy, the other three people seemed familiar to her.


    ¡°Lan, I brought your favourite ice cream, fish soup, and stir-fried chinese yam with ck fungus. These are all your favourite dishes.¡± The olddy took out the dishes she prepared and ced them on the marble tform. She touched the tomb with tears in her eyes.


    ¡®Tsk, why does this Lan like all the food I hate?¡¯ Ling Lan pouted.


    ¡®Wait, this isn¡¯t right. Mum never cooked these dishes for me before? Why do I hate them?¡¯ Ling Lan was puzzled.


    ¡°Ling Four, what is happening?¡± Ling Lan naturally asked Little Four for an answer.

 Chapter 1255 - I Said That I Will Protect You!

    <h4>Chapter 1255 I Said That I Will Protect You!</h4>


    Little Four didn¡¯t answer her.


    ¡°Little Four?¡± Ling Lan got a little agitated when no one replied to her. Little Four had apanied her ever since she was born. Thus, she was used to having him around.


    Ling Lan shouted for Little Four frantically but he still didn¡¯t appear.


    ¡®Damn it. Where am I?¡¯ Ling Lan got frustrated.


    ¡°Sister, I brought Wan¡¯er to see you. She is your sister-inw from now on.¡± The young man smiled as he pulled the hand of the youngdy beside him.


    The youngdy smiled lovingly at the young man. Then, she said in a shy voice, ¡°Sister Ling Lan, I will take care of Ling Lang. Don¡¯t worry about him.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Ling Lan, Wan¡¯er is a really nice girl. She treats our Lanng very well. I¡¯m satisfied with my daughter-inw. That is why I am bringing her here today. You don¡¯t have to worry about your brother anymore.¡± The old woman smiled happily at the youngdy. The sadness in her eyes diminished a little.


    When Ling Lan heard ¡®Sister Ling Lan¡¯, forgotten memories suddenly flooded her mind.


    ¡®Is this my past life? They were my parents and my younger brother. Is that my sister-inw whom I never met?¡¯ Ling Lan remembered everything.


    ¡°Are you doing well in the other world? Do you have people taking care of you? Your health is poor. If no one takes care of you, I¡¯ll never be able to rest easy. Are you able to eat properly? We are really worried about you so your mother made your favourite dishes. Your sister-inw helped too. Do eat more.¡± The old man sighed in a deted tone.


    ¡°I¡¯m doing very well now. I have two new parents in my new world. I¡¯m their only child so they pour all their love on me. They do not let me suffer at all. If something happens to me, my father will take his knife, I mean, take his mecha and take revenge for me. Even if my father were to be rational, my mother will urge him to do it. They¡¯re good parents,¡± Ling Lan said softly.


    She seemed to be replying to her former parents but she was actually recalling her past. Her first life was filled with regrets but heaven paid her back in this life.


    Ling Lan finally remembered the time that she ate fish soup and stir-fried chinese yam with ck fungus. She hated them so she would frown whenever she ate them. She never expressed her dislike for the dishes but her mother noticed her disgusted expression. Thus, these two dishes never appeared on the dining table again.


    There was no ice cream in her house too.


    In her past life, her parents loved her too. However, this love was hidden behind endless pain and responsibilities they had to bear. Ling Lan knew they loved her younger brother more. This wasn¡¯t because he was a male. It was because her younger brother had a future with them while she didn¡¯t. They couldn¡¯t afford to love her too much. They were scared of being hurt when she left the world.


    jere sca


    Ling Lan understood the emotional burden her former parents had to bear. Everyone would protect themselves unconsciously. No one wanted to hurt themselves. If they loved her less, letting her go would be less painful for them.


    She understood their rational actions but she still felt sad. She didn¡¯t like those cheap dishes but she forced herself to eat them because she didn¡¯t want her parents to waste more money on her. Yet, her parents never noticed the pain in her eyes.


    When she didn¡¯t finish her food, they never asked her why either.


    Ling Lan was obedient but she was just a child. All she wanted was to be love. However, she didn¡¯t know how to ask for love. As she grew older, she got used to theck of affection her parents were giving her.


    ¡°I¡¯m very happy in my new world. Really.¡± Ling Lan let out a pure genuine smile. The beautiful scenery around her paled inparison to her smile.


    ¡°I have nothing to do with this life anymore. Father, mother, this is myst time calling you my parents. I hope you will have a happy and healthy life. I hope my younger brother will lead a good life with his wife. I have to return to my world now. I belonged there, not here.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s smile was enchanting.


    She lifted her finger and slit the air in front of her. ¡°Break!¡±


    The scenery around her exploded. Ling Lan felt a stabbing pain.


    ¡°Ling Lan, are you alright?¡± Number Three asked anxiously. Ling Lan¡¯s consciousness disappeared from her mindscape just now. Number Three thought that something happened to her.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s voice was hoarse.


    Number Three wanted to reply to her but he suddenly sensed danger. ¡°Damn it!¡±


    Ling Lan was already on the verge of copsing. However, Lord Jindao had shortened the distance between them.


    Lord Jindao was already treating Ling Lan as a god-ss operator so afterunching his ultimate god-ss technique, he followed it up with another attack. He must have predicted Number Three¡¯s movement because the attack was aimed at Number Three¡¯s current position.


    No, that wasn¡¯t right. It was more urate to say that no matter where Number Three went, he wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge Lord Jindao¡¯s following attack.


    Number Three gritted his teeth as he moved Ling Lan¡¯s bloodied fingers again. If one¡¯s eyesight was good enough, one would see the white bones protruding out of the tips of her fingers


    Number Three had reached his limit. He knew he couldn¡¯t evade the attack. He could only protect the cockpit from being damaged.


    He didn¡¯t know how powerful this attack was. Would the residual force be strong enough to destroy the cockpit even if it wasn¡¯t hit directly?


    Suddenly, a mecha appeared in front of her.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng!¡± Ling Lan widened her eyes in shock. She didn¡¯t know what else she could say.


    ¡°I said I¡¯ll protect you.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. A huge beam shield appeared from his arm.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Luo Lang and Xie Yi frantically fired at the huge homing light ray. They hoped that they would be able to dissipate some of its energy.


    Bang! Another white beam cut through the universe and blocked Lord Jindao¡¯s attack.

 Chapter 1256 - Ling Xiao’s Arrival!

    <h4>Chapter 1256 Ling Xiao¡¯s Arrival!</h4>


    When the white light ray dissipated, the unscathed Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan looked towards the source of the beam. A huge mecha had appeared suddenly not far away from them. They were ted.


    ¡°It¡¯s father!¡± Little Four jumped up immediately and started dancing happily.


    ¡°It¡¯s the general.¡± Luo Lang and Xie Yi couldn¡¯t restrain their excitement when they saw Ling Xiao arriving in time to save Boss.


    Lord Jindao shook his head in pity. Then, he looked at Ling Xiao and said, ¡°Ling Xiao, you¡¯re finally here.¡±


    Ling Lan was in a bad state but fortunately, she was still alive. Ling Xiao heaved a sigh of relief. He turned and red at Lord Jindao. ¡°Jindao, you bully my son when you can¡¯t defeat me. How shameless.¡±


    ¡°Not as shameless as you when you sneak attacked my nation¡¯ss,¡± Lord Jindao gritted his teeth.


    ¡°Twilight should never have existed in the first ce.¡± Killing intent shed past Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes. [Belief] disappeared and appeared beside Lord Jindao in a blink of an eye. A white light shed.


    Boom! An explosion urred. Two beam swords collided with each other. Lord Jindao got thrown back for a few thousand kilometers. He looked at Ling Xiao from afar.


    Cold sweat appeared on his forehead. He was unprepared for the attack just now but he still believed that he could block it. However, contrary to his expectation, he didn¡¯t. He was thrown back by his opponent.


    Lord Jindao was dumbfounded. Ling Xiao became a god-ss operator thirty years after him. He was his junior. Hence, when the Federation imed that Ling Xiao was the most powerful god-ss operator after he came back alive that year, Lord Jindao didn¡¯t believe it. He thought that the Federation created a fake god of war to reassure the faith of their citizens.


    In actual fact, he didn¡¯t agree with Twilight¡¯s n in the first ce. He felt that it was a waste to use so much manpower and money to kill Ling Xiao. Lord Jindao felt that he could defeat this young god-ss operator all by himself. Yet, reality gave him a hard p in his face. He lost to the first attack.


    The attack was enough to prove that Ling Xiao had aplete understanding of god-ss mecha piloting. He was constantly perfecting his skills so he managed to seed in his sneak attack just now.


    Lord Jindao felt frustrated. He grabbed his beam sword tightly and flew towards Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao only managed to push him back because he was caught off guard. Once he took control of the situation, the result would be different.


    Bang! Ling Xiao raised the hand that was holding the beam sword and a white ray appeared.


    The two beam sword collided again. It looked like a light touch but the force produced was enough to destroy everything around them. Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan, who were standing closer to the two god-ss mechas, lost bnce and were almost blown away by the force.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s fingers moved furiously as he desperately tried to hold Ling Lan from being blown away by the force.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to Luo Lang¡¯s side,¡± Ling Lan said.


    The moment Ling Xiao appeared, Number Three left Ling Lan¡¯s body and returned to the learning space. He was afraid that Ling Lan would die if she received any more bacsh so he disappeared as quickly as he could.


    ¡°Okay!¡± Li Lanfeng would always listen to Ling Lan on the battlefield.

 Chapter 1257 - What Happened?

    <h4>Chapter 1257 What Happened?</h4>


    ¡°Little Four, take control of the mecha. I¡¯ll leave the rest to you,¡± Ling Lan endured her immense pain wrecking through her entire body and spoke to Little Four with gritted teeth.


    ¡°I-I know, Boss. Please drink your medicine quickly.¡± Seeing Ling Lan being covered in blood and on the brink of death, Little Four almost couldn¡¯t hold back his tears from falling out.


    While Instructor Number Three was fighting with Lord Jindao, Little Four had attempted to infiltrate thetter¡¯s mecha¡¯s mainframe in hopes that he could cooperate with Instructor Number Three to kill Lord Jindao. However, when he tried to hack into the mainframe, he quickly realized that the firewall of a god-ss mecha was something he couldn¡¯t break through in such a short amount of time...


    Of course, if he was given enough time, he believed he could definitely hack through Lord Jindao¡¯s mainframe. Unfortunately, Ling Lan¡¯s current condition of her body did not have the luxury to provide him the time he needed to hack through it.


    Ling Lan endured the mind-shattering pain and drank the medicinal agent hanging on her cockpit¡¯s wall. Soon after, the familiar feeling of itching and pain began to course through her body.


    Ling Lan was not afraid of pain. In terms of enduring pain, Ling Lan was confident if she said she was second in the world, no one else would dare call themselves the best at enduring pain. However, this bone-chilling, challenging limit of human endurance type of numbing itch made Ling Lan¡¯s unwavering expression crumble apart. She actually let out some uncontroble moans a few times to slightly decrease the pain she was feeling. Luckily, Ling Lan was quick enough with her hands that she turned off themlink channel with her team before they could hear it. That way Li Lanfeng and the others didn¡¯t know that she had moaned.


    However, this godsakened feeling meant the vial of medicinal agent was still effective on her body and was helping her to heal her wounds.


    Ling Lan released a sigh of relief. If she didn¡¯t feel anything after drinking the agent, it would be the worst possible scenario.


    Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng controlled their mechas and quickly retreated to where Luo Lang and Xie Yi were at, even when they had grouped together, they didn¡¯t stop. Under Ling Lan¡¯s orders, the four of them backed up many kilometers, moving far away from Ling Xiao and Lord Jindao¡¯s battlefield.


    Ling Lan knew very well that the battle between god-ss operators would be very destructive. It would be best for cannon fodder like them to stay as far away as possible from the battle between god-ss operators. Otherwise, if they weren¡¯t careful, they might be pigs in a ughterhouse, they wouldn¡¯t even have time to cry about it then.


    ¡°Just stay there. Don¡¯t get too far away from me,¡± Ling Lan wanted to retreat a little further, but she suddenly heard her father¡¯s words.


    The message was sent through spiritual power. Although Ling Lan was shocked, she still obeyed her father and stopped in her tracks. Li Lanfeng, Luo Lang and Xie Yi followed Ling Lan closely, so after seeing Ling Lan stopping, they also stopped and waited for their Boss¡¯s next orders.


    ¡°We should be safe here.¡± Ling Lan held back the anxious feeling she had and calmly spoke.


    Although Li Lanfeng felt their current location was still too close forfort, he still believed in Ling Lan¡¯s judgement. When it came to Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng had 100 percent confidence in her.


    Luo Lang and Xie Yi didn¡¯tin either. Luo Lang always listened to his Boss and Xie Yi would be wherever Luo Lang was. Even if he felt the distance between them and the two god-ss operators was too close, and the fact that it would still be very possible for them to get caught between the battle between god-ss operators and be fodder if they weren¡¯t careful, he still wouldn¡¯t say anything about it as long as Luo Lang was beside him.


    Moreover, it was also because Xie Yi knew speaking up would be useless. Luo Lang was Boss Lan¡¯s number one fan since they were young. He would unconditionally listen to Ling Lan¡¯s orders and go to where Ling Lan pointed him towards, never going against even some of the more crazy orders.


    Of course, the biggest part of the reason why Xie Yi didn¡¯t say anything was because he trusted Boss wholeheartedly and believed that Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t make a poor decision.


    While Ling Lan¡¯s group of four stopped to spectate the battle, Ling Xiao and Lord Jindao were already shing using close range weapons.


    In the dark void of space, two white specks of light were colliding into each other at top speeds, creating countless sparks in the area around them. Sometimes, silhouettes ofrge mechas could also be seen by the naked eye. Someone with poor vision wouldn¡¯t be able to see the flight patterns of the mechas and could only see random beams of light shining brightly in the void.


    Ling Lan¡¯s group of four didn¡¯t have this problem. Their eyes could clearly see the movements and motions of the battle between god-ss operators. Even if they couldn¡¯t see it clearly, the modified optical supeputer on their mechas would still be able to record the movements and slow the speed down to let them watch.


    ¡°Dad is pressuring the opponent. Dad is the best,¡± Little Four, who was also watching, said excitedly as he put his arms up in glee.


    ¡°I expected no less from the Federation¡¯s strongest god-ss operator. The Twilight Empire¡¯s Lord Jindao is no match for our general,¡± said Luo Lang in admiration.


    Xie Yi also had a fiery look in his eyes. Lord Jindao was the strongest mecha operator in the Twilight Empire. Simrly named the strongest, Lord Jindao was stillpletely suppressed by the Federation¡¯s strongest god-ss operator, Ling Xiao. He was even retreating back in fear when the general almost struck his mecha¡¯s body.


    Although the god shield was powerful, one good attack from a god-ss operator was still enough topletely deplete the shield¡¯s energy. Even though the one second of recovery time seemed short, that instant was still enough for a god-ss operator to kill his opponent a few times over.


    Lord Jindao was constantly suppressed throughout the fight. In reality, he was already putting in all of his effort, but he still couldn¡¯t turn the tide. Reality told him that Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t as weak as he had previously thought. He might not be the top ranking god-ss operator of the Federation, but he definitely was second or third in the ranks.


    Lord Jindao had a bitter taste in his mouth. If it was possible, he wanted to personally kill Ling Xiao and take revenge for the Twilight Empire. Now it seemed he could notplete such a goal.


    After thinking about that, Lord Jindao gnashed his teeth in anger. Then, he pushed down on the connect button that he originally didn¡¯t want to press on.


    ¡°This is Jindao. I now request...¡± Right as Lord Jindao was about to request for reinforcements, all of his hair suddenly stood up on ends. A never before feeling of crisis went straight to his head. He didn¡¯t even think as he quickly retreated back with his mecha as fast as possible.


    In that instant, the beam sword in Ling Xiao¡¯s hands stabbed into Lord Jindao¡¯s cockpit area. However, because of Lord Jindao¡¯s quick reaction and speedy dodge, the sword just managed to slightly miss him. The beam sword skimmed the outer shell of the cockpit. Perhaps the distance was still too close as Lord Jindao¡¯s mecha lit up in a protective glow. The beam shield on his mecha made the energy from the stab explode outwards, stopping the mecha operator inside the cockpit from getting injured.


    Right as Lord Jindao thought he had gotten away with his life, he felt his hairs stand on ends once again. It was an even stronger sense of crisis than before.


    Lord Jindao activated his mecha¡¯s rainbow shield. At the same time, a beam sword hit Lord Jindao¡¯s cockpit area.


    The beam sword¡¯s energy was instantly depleted. However, Lord Jindao¡¯s god shield¡¯s energy was simrly depleted in that instant. The rainbow colored glow instantly dissipated and his mecha darkened.


    After escaping the attack with his life, Lord Jindao immediately backed up his mecha and wanted the one second of time to pass by.


    He originally thought Ling Xiao was going to push forward once more, but Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha just stood there and didn¡¯t move. It floated in the void and watched him as he got further and further away.


    Lord Jindao didn¡¯t know why, but he still actually managed to capture a glimpse of coldness from the eye slits of Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha.


    Despite being a bit surprised, he was still piloting his mecha and flying away from Ling Xiao as quickly as possible. That was because the feeling of danger in his mind didn¡¯t decrease but instead increased even further.


    What was actually happening?

 Chapter 1258 - Entering

    <h4>Chapter 1258 Entering</h4>


    ¡°Jindao, move!¡± An agitated voice pierced through in the team channel.


    ¡®Move? Didn¡¯t I move already?¡¯ Just as this thought shed past his mind, he saw a powerful beaming towards him.


    It came so quickly and suddenly. Lord Jindao wanted to dodge the beam but right before his mecha moved, he hesitated.


    Lord Jindao watched as the white light engulfed him and his mecha. He didn¡¯t feel despair. Instead, he was wondering...


    Who fired the beam?


    Ling Xiao watched Lord Jindao intently as he got swallowed by the beam. He raised his right arm and revealed the wing that was hidden behind it. This was the most powerful offensive of a god-ss mecha, the technique that could only be executed by twelve wings ¨CDivine Punishment.


    The wing shook lightly and eleven other wings unfurled out.


    (Belief] looked like a god descending onto their ne to bring about judgement. Ling Xiao looked around him and said calmly, ¡°You¡¯ve been watching for a long time. It¡¯s time to appear.¡±


    Ling Lan and herrades were bbergasted. There are more enemies around them? Why didn¡¯t they notice anything?


    Right then, a huge mecha manifested in mid-air.


    It was obvious that the newly arrived mecha was a god-ss mecha. It wasn¡¯t a Federation¡¯s mecha. It wasn¡¯t a Twilight mecha too. However, Ling Lan was familiar with this mecha model.


    ¡°Caesar!¡± All four of them thought of the same


    thing.


    ¡°Caesar is an aggressive nation. I always found it weird how they could resist themselves from entering this war. However, from the looks of it now, they¡¯ve already made an alliance with you secretly.¡± Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t surprised. From the start, he had listed Caesar as one of his potential enemies. He predicted that they would definitely act during the crucial moment.


    ¡°We restrained ourselves just to bait you.¡± The other person answered Ling Xiao in broken Federationnguage. He must be a young god-ss operator.


    Ling Xiao ignored the speaking god-ss operator. He shifted his position a little and said, ¡°Am I supposed to invite all of you one by one? Didn¡¯t you make this trap to bait me? I¡¯m here now so why are you afraid toe out?¡±


    When he finished speaking, another huge mecha manifested in the space in front of him. Two other mechas appeared in different directions too.


    ¡°Immortal Bird Ling Xiao. You¡¯re really powerful. You detected our presence.¡± A hoarse voice appeared in the public channel, followed by the sound of pping.


    ¡°Your killing intent was too obvious, especially when I killed Lord Jindao.¡± Ling Xiao sent a side-nce at the mecha that was floating in space. There was a hole in its cockpit. He smiled coldly.


    Ling Xiao knew that this was a trap right from the start. Just like what he said, no one could scheme against him unless he allowed them to. Since this was a trap, there would definitely be more than one god-ss mecha. Ling Xiao nned to kill as many as he could to reduce the number of enemies as well as the pressure on him. That was why he fought with Lord Jindao for so long. He was looking for a chance to kill him.


    He nned to kill Lord Jindao all along, especially when he knew that he had bullied his daughter.


    He didn¡¯t talk to Ling Lan or see her personally but the spiritual power from the Divine Command sect allowed him to sense Ling Lan¡¯s situation. Normally, Ling Xiao had a good temper and was very patient with matters that might trouble him. He rarely got angry. But, once someone touched his bottom line, that someone must die. Ling Lan was one of his bottom line.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, how dare you kill our Lord Jindao. Die!¡± The second god-ss operator that appeared was from Twilight too.


    a


    ¡°You should be Yuangu,¡± Ling Xiao said indifferently. ¡°So the person stationed near the 7th division is just a substitute. Aren¡¯t you worried that those two territories will be taken over by us?¡±


    ¡°If we can kill you, it¡¯ll all be worth it.¡± Lord Yuangu gritted his teeth.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know I¡¯m so valuable. You¡¯re willing to lose two territorial defensive positions just to kill me.¡± Ling Xiao didn¡¯t understand why Twilight wanted to kill him so much.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t die, Twilight will never be at peace,¡± Lord Yuangu said hatefully. Before their fourth god-ss operator could be announced to the public, he died in Ling Xiao¡¯s hands. Now, Lord Jindao was killed by Ling Xiao too. Ling Xiao was Twilight¡¯s natural enemy. They wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep properly if he remained alive.


    ¡°Caesar sent three god-ss operators to kill me. If I include Jindao and you, that¡¯ll be five people. What an impressive team.¡± Ling Xiao didn¡¯t seem agitated in front of the four god-ss operators. Well, being anxious wouldn¡¯t help him. Once he entered the trap, his opponents wouldn¡¯t let him leave. There were only two paths left for Ling Xiao. Get out of the trap or be killed by the trap. For the first path, he would live. As for the second path, he would die.


    The three people beside Ling Lan, including herself, turned pale when they saw the three new god-ss mechas.


    Ling Xiao was powerful. To them, he was invincible.


    However, this was rtive. It was only true if he fought in a one on one battle with an opponent.


    He might be able to handle two god-ss mechas or three god-ss mechas until reinforcements arrived but four god-ss mechas were too much.


    No matter how strong he was, he wouldn¡¯t be able to survive the assault of four god-ss operators. Was General Ling Xiao really going to die before their eyes today?


    Ling Lan forcefully closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she had regained herposure. The hopelessness she felt when she first saw the four god-ss mechas were gone.


    ¡°Since my father is here, I believe that the other god-ss operators will be here soon,¡± Ling Lan said firmly. She believed that her father had made preparations beforeing to save her. Her father wasn¡¯t a rash person.


    At the same time, the frontlinemand center received signals from Base Neb as well as the 23rd division.


    One was an emergency SOS (Base Neb), and the other was a newmand (23rd division).


    Both were very important. Hence, they were sent to Qi Yaoyang immediately.


    Qi Yaoyang looked at Base Neb¡¯s message first. As he read the message, his expression changed drastically. He wanted to send reinforcements immediately but he suddenly thought of something. He suppressed his emotions and quickly looked at General Ling Xiao¡¯smand.


    When he saw that General Ling Xiao had already gone to the Qingri wormhole, as well as the analysis of the current situation, Qi Yaoyang¡¯s expression got even worse.

 Chapter 1259 - Ling Xiao, You Disappoint Me

    <h4>Chapter 1259 Ling Xiao, You Disappoint Me</h4>


    Qi Yaoyang closed his eyes and pondered for a few seconds. Then, he stood up and ordered, ¡°Release general¡¯s order to the 7th division and ask them tounch a full force assault.¡±


    The adjutant beside him rushed to the mainframe and sent the order to the 7th division.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± The vice-general, Jin Anlong, asked in a low voice. He saw the message sent by the general too. 7th division should be fine but they were in a dilemma.


    If they followed their general¡¯s order, they wouldn¡¯t be able to send any god-ss operators to reinforce the Lingtian Independent Army and theirmander, Ling Lan. However, if things really happened ording to what general predicted, he and Ling Lan would be in great danger. Yet, this was a good time to gain merits on the frontlines.


    ¡°Anlong, inform Mister Muqi and Mister Zhong to go to the Qingri wormhole secretly.¡± Qi Yaoyang gave up attacking and chose to reinforce Ling Xiao instead.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Jin Anlong felt a little pity but he agreed with Qi Yaoyang¡¯s decision. Merits were important but the safety of their brother-in-arms was more important.


    Jin Anlong quickly contacted King Muqi and Falling Snow. With the help of Qi Yaoyang, the two of them left themand center silently. A few shes of their mechas were seen before they disappeared into the universe.


    ¡°Report, marshal.¡± The First Marshal was looking through some documents in his manor when he heard someone calling him. He looked up, revealing his stern face.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± The First Marshal replied indifferently. The person who came in was his adviser as well as one of his confidants.


    The adviser quickly replied, ¡°I just received a piece of news from the frontlinemand center. Base Neb is being chased by a god-ss operator. They¡¯re requesting us to send god-ss operators to reinforce them. At the same time, the 23rd division is heading towards the Qingri wormhole too.¡±


    The First Marshal squinted his eyes. After a few seconds, he asked, ¡°Where is Ling Xiao?¡±


    The adviser felt an oppressing pressureing from the First Marshal. He couldn¡¯t help but swallow his saliva. He calmed himself down before replying, ¡°He should be rushing to the Qingri wormhole too.¡±


    The First Marshal¡¯s aura turned cold. The adviser felt as though he was standing in a frozen coldke. He shuddered. Fortunately, the chill onlysted for a second. The adviser thought that it might be an illusion.


    ¡°I understand,¡± The First Marshal said slowly. The adviser heard a soft sigh.


    ¡°Then...¡± The adviser carefully opened his mouth. He remembered the request from the frontlinemand center. Would the First Marshal agree to them?


    ¡°I¡¯ll make arrangements.¡± The First Marshal waved his hand.


    The adviser left the room silently.


    Once the door closed, the First Marshal let go of his disguise.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, Ling Xiao... you disappoint me.¡± The First Marshal closed his eyes in agony. He leaned against his chair helplessly.


    He didn¡¯t set this trap but he knew briefly about it too. He chose to watch and see what happened because he wanted to dig out the ultimate spy who was hiding in the Federation. He wanted to uproot the entire spy organisation that was attempting to destroy the Federation.


    At the same time, he wanted to test Ling Xiao too. He wanted to know if Ling Xiao had the ability to take over his position. The result was disappointing


    He kept silent for a few seconds. Then, he mmed the table in front of him and pressed a button on his optical supeputer. ¡°Inform Master of the East to head towards the Qingri wormhole and reinforce the Lingtian Independent Army.¡±


    ¡°Yes, marshal!¡± The optical supeputer immediately sent the order to Master of the East.


    After making themand, the First Marshal sat down slowly. He sighed. ¡°Ling Xiao, this is the only thing I can do to help you. You¡¯ll have to rely on yourself from now on.¡±


    He wasn¡¯t satisfied with Ling Xiao but he was still someone whom he groomed personally. There was aplicated connection between them too. ¡°I¡¯m getting old.¡±


    He wasn¡¯t as ruthless and decisive as he was in the past. The First Marshal gave a bitter smile. He gave everything to his ambition and his nation. He could confidently and proudly say that he didn¡¯t disappoint himself or his nation.


    The only people he let down was his family. Sometimes, he asked himself if he ever regretted his decision, but the final answer was always no.


    As a patriotic man, he looked down on people like Ling Xiao. Ling Xiao was emotional and irresolute. If he was a normal senior of Ling Xiao, he would be proud of him. Ling Xiao loved his wife and was very loyal to her. He was a good father and a good husband. However, Ling Xiao was supposed to be his sessor. He originally hid Ling Xiao¡¯s god-ss operator status because god-ss operators were unable to be a marshal.


    He did everything he could to clear the path for Ling Xiao. Unfortunately, he fell extremely ill that year which allowed the spies a chance to scheme against Ling Xiao using the conflict between the three factions of the three great marshals. He tried his best to salvage the situation but the damage of losing Ling Xiao was already caused.


    In the past, he always had the final say. However, after what had happened, the other two marshals¡¯ influence increased, and he wasn¡¯t able to do as he wished anymore. He took more than ten years to suppress the other two marshals again. When Ling Xiao came back alive, the factions of the other two marshals experienced huge turbulence. He made use of it to regain his authority, and his faction had the final say once again. The situation was getting better for them.


    Just as the First Marshal felt that everything was going on the right track, he realised Ling Xiao¡¯s fatal weakness, his family and friends!


    This was a taboo for people in power. A marshal represented the future and prosperity of a nation. An outstanding marshal must be rational and calm at all times. If he was heartless and cold-blooded, that would be the best as this would prevent him from making emotional decisions. Sadly, Ling Xiao didn¡¯t fit this criterion.


    Thus, the First Marshal had to find another sessor. He did groom another sessor when Ling Xiao was ¡®dead¡¯ and he was satisfied with this new sessor too. However, when Ling Xiao came back, he realised that Ling Xiao was much better at everything else, besides the fact that he was emotional. The First Marshal didn¡¯t want to give up on Ling Xiao so he was in a dilemma.

 Chapter 1260 - The Second Strongest!

    <h4>Chapter 1260 The Second Strongest!</h4>


    If only the two of them could figurativelybine with each other. Ling Xiao would provide his skills and intelligence while the other sessor candidate would contribute his heartless and ruthless personality, mixing the both of them would create the greatest marshal the Federation had yet to see.


    Even with all the positives of Ling Xiao, the First Marshal logically still felt that the other sessor candidate was more suitable to inherit his throne. But, if he took his emotions into ount, he wished that Ling Xiao would take over his position. After all of his deliberation, the First Marshal decided to give Ling Xiao another chance.


    The First Marshal believed that Ling Xiao was clearly aware of the trap. If he would make the right decision as themander-in-chief, the First Marshal would have a reason to push Ling Xiao to a higher position when he returned.


    The rule that a god-ss operator couldn¡¯t be a marshal could be ignored during an intergctic war.


    Would he choose his nation or his family? The First Marshal wanted Ling Xiao to make his own decision, and his choice would affect the First Marshal¡¯s decision.


    While everyone was sending in the reinforcements, Ling Xiao had already started fighting with his four enemies.


    Four people? Really?


    It¡¯s hard to believe, right? However, it was true. Ling Xiao had started fighting with the four god-ss operators. However, the four god-ss operators didn¡¯t surround him simultaneously. Ling Xiao controlled two god-ss operators with his long-range attacks while fending off the other two in closebat.


    Ling Xiao held a sword in one hand and a beam gun in the other. He performed Ghost Walk under the oppression of two god-ss operators. Just as he was about to get hit by his opponent, he would miraculously evade the hit. Not only that, he was still able to snipe the other two god-ss operators during this heated battle. With the help of his beam gun and the twelve wings behind him, he managed to keep two god-ss operators a few kilometres away from him.


    ¡°This is our general. This is the fire phoenix. Oh my god. He is so amazing!¡± Luo Lang and Xie Yi watched Ling Xiao with their mouths wide open. They were dumbfounded.


    At first, they thought that Ling Xiao would have a hard time handling four god-ss mecha masters. However, when the battle started, he was able to maintain his position while not getting suppressed by his opponents. His Dance of Death was beautiful and elegant. Xie Yi and Luo Lang were filled with respect for General Ling Xiao.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Xiao in admiration too. But, he wasn¡¯t as bbergasted as Xie Yi and Luo Lang. Since Ling Lan wasn¡¯t the one fighting, he was still able to maintain hisposure. After watching Ling Xiao for some time, he received some epiphany.


    ¡°Ling Lan, is that Ghost Walk?¡± Li Lanfeng asked in the team channel.


    Ling Lan had gulped a bottle of recovery agent so she was feeling much better. The most painful moment had passed. She replied in a low voice, ¡°Yes. The foundation of his movements is based on Ghost Walk. Everyone has different ways of executing it. My father¡¯s Ghost Walk is on another level.¡±


    move


    This was how powerful her father was. He had only watched her execute Ghost Walk once but he could already replicate it. After a few years, his father had turned the weird and strange Ghost Walk into an enchanting and elegant dance. It was hard for people to shift their eyes away from him.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t listen to Ling Lan¡¯s reply. Instead, he noticed her hoarse voice. ¡°You¡¯re hurt.¡±


    This wasn¡¯t a question. It was a statement. Li Lanfeng¡¯s mind was all on Ling Lan so he would notice any slight change in her condition.


    ¡°There¡¯ll always be a bacsh when you jump levels in operation. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve already drank the medication Shiyu gave me. I¡¯m fine now.¡± Ling Lan brushed away the issue of his injury. She didn¡¯t want herrades to worry.


    Li Lanfeng stopped himself from saying too much. He couldn¡¯t help her even if he was concerned. He just hoped that Ling Lan was saying the truth.


    ¡®I am still not strong enough!¡¯ Li Lanfeng clenched his fist tightly. He felt he was a disgrace. Why couldn¡¯t he help Ling Lan every time he needed help? If he...


    Li Lanfeng looked at the powerful man who was fending off four god-ss operators. If he was able to be as strong as Ling Xiao one day, he would be able to protect Ling Lan.


    ¡®In the past, I wanted to stand at the peak because I wanted to change my fate. Now, I want to climb to the top for Rabbit¡¯s sake. I may not be able to be the strongest because Rabbit will be taking that position so I¡¯ll just settle as the second strongest!¡¯


    At this time, the 23rd division had already arrived in the Puqiary sector. Once they passed thisary sector, they would arrive in Qingri¡¯sary sector.


    Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!


    An urgent rm was heard from the starship up front.


    All the following starships activated their battle mode. The mecha operators quickly rushed to the mecha hold and boarded their mechas. They were ready to fight at any moment.


    Once they were ready, they saw a huge fleet moving slowly towards them.


    ¡°It¡¯s the Hejia Army.¡± All the soldiers from the Federation memorized the totems of the nine divisions of Twilight. Thus, they knew who this cherry blossom demon logo represented.


    The Hejia Army had never appeared since the start of the war but they were here now. As the temporarymander of the 23rd division, He Xuyang felt his heart dropping to the pits of his stomach. He had a bad feeling.


    ¡°Look to the left. There¡¯s another fleet.¡± While everyone was surprised by the appearance of the Hejia Army, another fleet had appeared on their left.


    ¡°It¡¯s the Zaoyi Army.¡± This was another piece of bad news. This was another intergctic division of Twilight. Their moment had exposed themselves, they got surrounded by two armies. This was undeniably the most dangerous battle the 23rd division would be facing ever since the start of the war. One mistake, and the entire 23rd division would be annihted.


    He Xuyang¡¯s heart pounded furiously. He could feel a mountainload of pressure on his shoulders. Cold sweat appeared on his forehead instantly.


    Two armies were enough to stress him out. He wondered how their general was able to cope with the pressure when he led them into Twilight¡¯sary sector. Their general had to resist the pressure of being hunted down by the entire Twilight military.


    He Xuyang¡¯s respect for Ling Xiao even more now. In the past, he wasn¡¯t worried at all when he went into Twilight¡¯sary sector with his general. He felt as if he was taking a stroll at home if Ling Xiao was beside him. Now, without Ling Xiao, he couldn¡¯t even feel more naked.

 Chapter 1261 - Shameless!

    <h4>Chapter 1261 Shameless!</h4>


    ¡°He Xuyang! Are you nothing without the general?¡± He Xuyang suddenlyughed. ¡°Since you respect the general, you mustn¡¯t embarrass him.¡±


    His trepidation disappeared, and he became that famous trusted right-hand man of Ling Xiao again.


    ¡°Since we¡¯re discovered, let¡¯s fight.¡± He Xuyang remembered the conversation he had with the general.


    In the past, they had once secretly traveled through the heavily guarded Miyao wormhole. That was the first time He Xuyang came so close to his enemy. If their enemy¡¯s radars were just slightly better, they would have been discovered. Even the calm He Xuyang couldn¡¯t help but feel agitated then. He asked Ling Xiao what they should do if they were discovered.


    Ling Xiao smiled and replied, ¡°Since we decided toe here, we must be prepared to be discovered. If we¡¯re discovered, let¡¯s fight. I believe that my soldiers won¡¯t lose to the soldiers of Twilight.¡±


    ¡°If the general has confidence in the 23rd division, I have too. We will definitely be able to win this battle.¡± He Xuyang calmed down. The worst thing that could happen to him was death. What was there to be afraid of?


    ¡°Order the entire division to prepare for battle.¡± He Xuyang released an order.


    At the same time, the 7th division hadunched a full force assault. The 13th division and the 4th division were preparing tounch an assault too.


    ¡°Your Majesty, the Federation has started their assault on two of our frontlines. Without our god-ss operators, we won¡¯t be able to protect these two frontlines.¡± The worst situation they predicted had happened. The lord general, who came up with this n, was worried as they discussed the situation with the emperor.


    ¡°Twilight will only be safe if we kill Ling Xiao. It¡¯s alright to give up somes to achieve this goal,¡± the emperor said indifferently. He didn¡¯t want Twilight to end under his reign. To prevent this, he was willing to pay any price for it.


    ¡°I hope good news will arrive soon.¡± The lord general suppressed the uneasiness in his heart. The result of the n would affect the result of this war. It was toote to regret now.


    If Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t so determined to destroy Twilight, they wouldn¡¯t have used all their resources to scheme against him. Once their n failed, hell awaited them. However, the lord general was confident that once Ling Xiao stepped into their trap, there would be no route of escape. The lord general couldn¡¯t think how a god-ss operator would be able to escape from five god-ss operators, especially when...


    The lord general still didn¡¯t know that Lord Jindao had already been killed. The five-men team had be a four-men team.


    But, even with four god-ss operators, he also wouldn¡¯t believe that Ling Xiao could escape. At first, they decided to send three god-ss operators to surround Ling Xiao. To be safe, they added one more god-ss operator. In case there were reinforcements, they added another one again. If Ling Xiao still didn¡¯t die, he must be heaven¡¯s son.


    In a manor on East.


    A skinny and elegant middle-aged man with some white hair at the side of his head was enjoying a cup of tea in his quiet room.


    Suddenly, themunicator on his wrist vibrated. He was surprised. Thismunicator hadn¡¯t vibrated in a long time. He almost felt that it was just an essory.


    He looked down and frowned slightly. In the next second, he had disappeared from the room. A few secondster, a huge mecha shot out of the mountains into the atmosphere. It entered the atmosphere in a blink of an eye and disappeared into space.


    Besides the people living in the manor, no one around this area knew that there was a god-ss mecha hidden at the back of the manor. They also didn¡¯t know that the benevolent and kind owner of this manor was a god-ss mecha master.


    East was only oneary sector away from Twilight. One of the reasons why Master of the East was stationed on East was to prevent any attacks from Twilight. Actually, the locations where all the god-ss operators were ced at weren¡¯t chosen at random. The Federation deliberated over them seriously. If you looked at theary sector of the Federation, you would notice that thes where the twelve god-ss operators were stationed formed a circr ring around the Federation. If one side of their boundary was attacked, at least two god-ss operators would be able to arrive at the scene within three minutes.


    That¡¯s right. This god-ss operator from East was the Master of the East, one of the god-ss operators that the Twilight Empire was afraid of. He was ranked fourth among the Federation¡¯s god-ss operators.


    The moment Master of the East reached the borders of the Federation and Twilight, he stopped abruptly. The huge mecha floated in mid-air.


    ¡°It looks like you¡¯re waiting for me,¡± Master of the East said calmly.


    As expected, a low voice sounded on the public channel, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect it to be you.¡±


    Master of the East frowned. He recognised the voice. It was his old opponent from Caesar, the third ranked god-ss operator of Caesar, King Ai. ¡°Tsk tsk tsk, when did Caesar learn such cheap tricks? You entered the war without announcing anything. Shameless of you, Alfred


    boy.¡±


    It was obvious that Master of the East was provoking him. King Alfred was furious but he suppressed his unhappiness and replied, ¡°I only agree to do this because of a personal rtionship. It has nothing to do with my country.¡±


    He mustn¡¯t give a cause for condemning.


    ¡°Bullshit. Who are you trying to fool?¡± Master of the East cursed. His words overthrew his refined and gentle image.


    As the ultimate weapons of the nation, nothing was personal once a god-ss mecha was activated. It seemed that Caesar wanted to be shameless until the end. Master of the East was disgusted by their attitude. No wonder he couldn¡¯t help but curse at King Alfred.


    King Alfred seemed to hate Master of the East too. He didn¡¯t seem surprised when Master of the East cursed him out. In actual fact, he felt that anyone who believed that Master of the East was a polite and gentle person was stupid. They werepletely fooled by Master of the East¡¯s outer facade.


    Among all the twelve god-ss operators of the Federation, Master of the East was the most shameless one. Even if he looked refined and elegant, it couldn¡¯t conceal the shamelessness in his blood.


    ¡°So what if you don¡¯t believe it? I promised Lord Jindao that I will stop anyone who wanted to pass this area,¡± King Alfred replied.


    ¡°Stop me? Are you kidding?¡± Master of the East scoffed. He wasn¡¯t in the top three of god-ss operators in the Federation because he didn¡¯t want to be, not because he didn¡¯t have the ability to.


    ¡°How funny. We¡¯ll know once we battle it out. I just need to stop you for a few minutes. By then, the Federation will have lost a god-ss operator. Oh right, he¡¯s the most powerful god-ss operator too.¡± King Alfredughed.


    Bang! King Alfred hastily pulled his sword out and blocked Master of the East¡¯s sneaky sword sh. King Alfred managed to block the sh but he still slid back for a few hundred meters. A straight line of afterimages formed in the universe.


    ¡°Shameless,¡± King Alfred scolded. If his reaction speed was slightly slower, the sword sh would have hit him. This shameless fellow was still so shameless. No, he became even more despicable.

 Chapter 1262 - It’s Too Late.

    <strong>Chapter 1262 It¡¯s Too Late.</strong>


    ¡°You calling me shameless? Caesar has done much more shameless things than me, and I haven¡¯t called you out on them yet. King? Plus, calling you shameless is already apliment for you...¡± Master of the East was without a doubt tough with his words. On top of that, his assaults were like barrages of hail, causing King Alfred to be both angry and frustrated. He disconnected from the public channel, returning his world to its silence once again. However, King Alfred was too optimistic. How could the shameless Master of the East just let him go like that? That wasn¡¯t possible.


    God-ss operators were all experts in using spiritual power. Thus, King Alfred, who had just enjoyed a moment of silence, quickly heard the Master of the East¡¯s insults and curses in his mind. This was paired with different types of shameless fighting methods that were hard to exin with words.


    King Alfred ufortably evaded Master of the East¡¯s attacks. At the same time, he also had to wrap his spiritual power around his head to get rid of his opponent¡¯s voice in his head.


    <b>were</b>


    Now Master of the East and King Alfred was matched with each other. On the other side of the battlefield, Falling Snow and King Muqi, who were sent by Qi Yaoyang to reinforce Ling Xiao, were also intercepted. The people who intercepted them were Ah Lian¡¯s allied nation¡¯s two god-ss operators. The Aran Alliance had always been the Caesar Empire¡¯s most loyalckey. Seeing them appear, King Muqi and Falling Snow knew very clearly what Caesar was trying to do.


    Not publicly announcing their participation in the war was actually to fool the Federation. In reality, Caesar had long prepared a closing encirclement in the Twilight¡¯s borders and was waiting for the Federation to arrive.


    King Muqi was very worried for Ling Xiao. The opposition has already guessed that they would send reinforcements. They even made arrangements to counter them. That meant they definitely arranged a n for Ling Xiao to not be able to get out of alive.


    At that moment, around a certain border of the Federation, a Caesar god-ss mecha suddenly appeared.


    On the first-ranked, Dragon, in arge manor, a white-haired old man was sitting on his rocking chair. He was rocking himself almost into a deep sleep. The servant beside him saw this and slowed down his footsteps. He was afraid he would make noises and disturb the old man¡¯s rest.


    Suddenly, the old man¡¯s eyes opened and a bright gleam ran through them.


    ¡°Chaotic times have begun.¡± The old man¡¯s wrinkled face had a hint of regret. In the next second, only the rocking chair remained. The old man hadpletely disappeared.


    The servant was not surprised at this scene and continued to do his job. He was not surprised or panicking from the disappearance of the old man.


    In a few seconds, arge crack opened from the vast space, revealing a seemingly limitless grasnd behind a manor. A gigantic mecha flew out from the crack in the ground and instantly vanished into the sky.


    ¡°Supreme Dragon, it seems you haven¡¯t died yet.¡± said the god-ss mecha operator from Caesar after he saw Supreme Dragon pilot his mecha towards him.


    ¡°Monarch Fury, how can I die if you haven¡¯t died,¡± replied Supreme Dragon calmly. ¡°Youing here is enough to prove that Caesar is nning on starting an intergctic war.¡±


    People who could be god-ss operators weren¡¯t dumb. Especially someone like Supreme Dragon, who was more than 200 years old. He could easily see through the ns Caesar had for the gxy.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think this universe needs to have some change?¡± asked Monarch Fury proudly.


    ¡°Reality tells me that your people are still too whimsical in their thoughts,¡± said Supreme Dragon coldly.


    ¡°Heh, you¡¯ve be old. You can no longer live past this era. Who can stop the Caesar Empire from bing the strongest nation in this universe?¡± Monarch Fury said mockingly.


    Supreme Dragon only grasped his control stick tightly after hearing Monarch Fury¡¯s mockery, but he could note up with any retort.


    ¡°You came here two minutes after me. Tsk, tsk, tsk, you are much weaker than before. You won¡¯t be able to fight on par with me,¡± Monarch Fury spoke out what he had concluded.


    Supreme Dragon unsheathed therge sword on his back and replied calmly, ¡°How about we stop talking and determine that?¡±


    The Supreme Dragon¡¯s calmness made Monarch Fury frown. He was now feeling somewhat unsure.


    He didn¡¯t actually want to fight with Supreme Dragon. He only wanted to probe whether Supreme Dragon was still in profound god-ss. Only after determining, Caesar would be able to n out their next step in their conquest.


    Despite Monarch Fury believing Supreme Dragon was weaker than him, he still didn¡¯t dare to have a deathmatch with him. Anyone who had control of the profound god-ss, even if their mecha piloting abilities had deteriorated, the result of a fight against them would still be difficult to determine. The otherworldly destructive power of a state called ¡®profound god state¡¯ obtained from being in the profound god-ss made him, who also had control of the profound god state, not be confident enough to leave the fight without suffering some severe injuries.


    It should be known that he was currently in his opponent¡¯s territory. Even if he lucked out and didn¡¯t die, he would still be heavily injured in his opponent¡¯s territory. This was just considered as giving up his life. The Federation would definitely not pass up the opportunity to kill him.


    ¡°Forget it. I was just passing by and saying hi to you. I¡¯m not here to fight to the death. I¡¯m very happy to see you still alive. If you weren¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t have an opponent in this world. I would be very lonely.¡± After saying those words, Monarch Fury disappeared into the depth of space.


    Supreme Dragon looked up towards the direction of the Twilight Empire. He pushed down on themlink connect button. ¡°Monarch Fury joining the war will make it dangerous for those in the Twilight Empire¡¯s territory.¡±


    The receiving end didn¡¯t answer. There was only silence.


    ¡°If it¡¯s possible, you should call back the armies and god-ss operators,¡± said Supreme Dragon in a tired voice. Piloting a mecha for a short time was already taxing on his mind and body.


    ¡°It¡¯s toote.¡± The First Marshal¡¯s hoarse voice came from the other end.


    ¡°Then we must immediately attack Caesar. Make Caesar retreat to protect themselves.¡± Supreme Dragon closed his eyes and spoke out a suggestion that he knew was impossible to put into reality.


    ¡°The Second Marshal and Third Marshal won¡¯t agree to it.¡± They would never agree to attack Caesar directly.


    The Federation and Caesar both wanted to avoid their nation¡¯s borders to be battlefields. The higher-ups of the two nations knew very well that no matter how ruthless the war got in the territories of other nations, they would only lose money and soldiers. It wouldn¡¯t cause any harm to their nations.


    However, if the two nations were to go against each other and attacked one side¡¯s borders, the other side would counterattack on the home soil of the aggressor. Once a war broke out on the home soil of the two nations, not only would the economy and military power of them diminish, it would also be a catastrophe for the citizens of the two nations. It was quite possible that after such a war, the two superpower nations would fall down from their current ranks. This was something the two nation¡¯s higher-ups didn¡¯t want to see happen.


    The war with the Twilight Empire seemed to be brought about by the Federation, but it was actually to probe Caesar. If Caesar actually had the ambition, they definitely wouldn¡¯t miss out on this opportunity.


    Reality proved that Caesar was definitely not wasting this opportunity. They secretly entered the fray. Not only were they helping Twilight, they were also allying with Twilight to plot against the Federation. They made traps for the army against the Twilight Empire and the strongest god-ss operator in the public eye, Ling Xiao.

 Chapter 1263 - Target Ling Xiao!

    <strong>Chapter 1263 Target Ling Xiao!</strong>


    ¡°Have you really given up on Ling Xiao?¡± The Supreme Dragon had a look of pity on his face. He had high hopes for this talented junior. He felt that Ling Xiao had the greatest chance of entering profound god-ss. Achieving so much at such a young age, his future was filled with infinite possibilities


    ¡°I¡¯ve done everything I could. He has to rely on himself if he wants to live,¡± the First Marshal spoke in a cold tone. He was still unhappy at Ling Xiao for going to the Qingri wormhole even after knowing fully well that it was a trap.


    ¡°Monarch Fury has entered the war. Do you really think Ling Xiao can survive this ordeal?¡± Supreme Dragon sighed out loud. He had exhausted all of his lifeforce. He could no longer operate a mecha for more than a few minutes. He really wanted to rush out and help Ling Xiao, but he didn¡¯t have the ability to. He was just a paper tiger now. His former glory was used to suppress the other nations, especially Caesar, from officially dering themselves as an enemy of the Federation.


    The First Marshal didn¡¯t reply to him. He had asked Master of the East for help, but the appearance of Monarch Fury meant that Ling Xiao had almost no chance of surviving. He only hoped that Ling Xiao would die a fruitful death and kill a few god-ss operators in the process.


    This was the real nature of the First Marshal. Even if he had a close rtionship with Ling Xiao, he would not be hurt or angered by his death. Instead, he would remainposed and think of ways to make the most out of Ling Xiao¡¯s death.


    Supreme Dragon knew this fact too well. Back in his prime, he was one of the people who pushed the First Marshal into his current position. After monitoring the performance of the First Marshal to this date, Supreme Dragon felt that only a calm and cold blooded person who only had the nation in his heart would be able to govern the military well. A person who wished to sit on the throne of the Federation must be emotionless and ruthless so that he wouldn¡¯t make the wrong decision in the midst of a tough predicament. However, when he saw how indifferent the First Marshal was towards Ling Xiao, his thoughts started to waver.


    ¡°I¡¯ll order an assault on the Aran Alliance.¡± The First Marshal redirected the conversation. The Federation had gotten evidence that the Aran Alliance had sent their god-ss operators to reinforce Twilight. Thus, they couldunch a full-on assault on them. The First Marshal hoped that by doing this they would be able to hold back the god-ss operators of the Aran Alliance.


    ¡°It¡¯s better than doing nothing.¡± Supreme Dragon sighed and disappeared.


    The First Marshal hung up the call and immediately sent the order to suppress the Aran Alliance. The agreement form for the assault had already been signed by the three great marshals.


    After that, he got up and walked to the window. He looked up at the vast sky. He looked nk for a moment but soon, his gaze turned cold and resolute.


    The divisions near the borders of the Aran Alliance had finished their preparations long ago. Hence, the moment they received the order, they would move out. The two god-ss operators closest to the Aran Alliance also came to join the war.


    After being notified by the Federation, the Aran Alliance was in a state of panic. After all, there was only one god-ss operator left in the nation. They wouldn¡¯t be able to stop the assault of the Federation.


    They started seeking help from the other nations, especially Caesar. They hoped that their friends would be able to send god-ss operators to help them. However, Caesar didn¡¯t have any extra god-ss operators left in the nation. They didn¡¯t dare to send the remaining god-ss operators out since there were three alliance nations of Huaxia surrounding them. Huaxia was near them too. Once they knew that there were no god-ss operators protecting their capital, Huaxia might decide to invade them out of desperation.


    The Aran Alliance was furious at Caesar¡¯s rejection. They immediately stopped the coboration and recalled their two god-ss operators back.


    The two god-ss operators, who were fighting with King Muqi and Falling Snow, quickly turned back after receiving the notice from their country.


    Friends were important but the safety of their nation was the reason why they existed.


    King Muqi and Falling Snow were stunned by their opponents¡¯ retreat. They wondered why they suddenly ran away. Soon, they understood what had happened. They didn¡¯t know why the Federation started fighting with the Aran Alliance so soon but this saving grace came at the right time. They were frustrated when they got stopped here and couldn¡¯t reinforce Ling Xiao.


    After getting rid of their confusion, the two of them quickly flew in General Ling Xiao¡¯s direction without stopping.


    Even if the signals in the area were blocked, they would still be able to detect the aura of an equally powerful person within a certain distance.


    Suddenly, King Muqi shuddered. His mecha stopped abruptly and he turned to look behind him.


    Falling Snow was puzzled. Just as he was about to ask King Muqi what happened, he felt a chill down his spine. He looked in the same direction as King Muqi. This was the direction where the oppressive force of presence came from.


    ¡°As expected of one of the top three god-ss operators of the Federation. You¡¯re on par with Supreme Dragon.¡± A huge mecha appeared suddenly in front of them. It was Monarch Fury who met with Supreme Dragon just now.


    ¡°Monarch Fury!¡± King Muqi turned serious.


    King Muqi was calm when facing against other god-ss operators because he knew that he would be thest one standing. But, against Monarch Fury, his presence gave him a huge sense of crisis. No wonder everyone said that he had entered the profound god-ss. The only person King Muqi felt such huge pressure from was Supreme Dragon. Now, Monarch Fury was giving him the same feeling.


    ¡°Thank you. There¡¯s still a huge distance between Supreme Dragon and I,¡± King Muqi replied calmly. He raised the sword in his right hand in front of him in a defensive position. On the other side, Falling Snow aimed his beam gun at Monarch Fury.


    In front of a profound god-ss operator, King Muqi and Falling Snow chose to defend in unnned unison. They knew that they wouldn¡¯t be Monarch Fury¡¯s match if they attacked him alone. If they worked together, they might have some chance.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous. You¡¯re not my target.¡± Monarch Fury didn¡¯t want to fight with them.


    ¡°You¡¯re looking for Ling Xiao.¡± King Muqi frowned. He felt uneasy. He could understand why Caesar sent a few god-ss operators to surround Ling Xiao. If they wanted to kill him, this group was more than enough. Yet, they even sent their most powerful god-ss operator, Monarch Fury. He was someone who entered the profound god-ss. Something wasn¡¯t right.


    Why were they doing this? Why did they send their best god-ss operator? Was it a form of security?


    ¡°You live up to your name.¡± Monarch Fury smiled and disappeared.


    ¡°Has he left?¡± Falling Snow heaved a sigh of relief before releasing his grip around his gun. His palms were filled with sweat.


    ¡°Let¡¯s hurry. Ling Xiao is in danger.¡± King Muqi didn¡¯t feel relieved. Instead, he was extremely worried.

 Chapter 1264 - It’s Not As Difficult As You Think!

    <strong>Chapter 1264 It¡¯s Not As Difficult As You Think!</strong>


    Monarch Fury came to the area where Ling Xiao and the four god-ss mecha masters were fighting in an instant. Ling Xiao¡¯s body tensed up with his arrival. His spiritual power erupted and his hand speed almost exceeded his limit. The two god-ss mecha masters engaged in closebat with him were forced back by his sword. Then, he fired his beam gun continuously to force the other two god-ss mecha masters farther away.


    ¡°Monarch Fury.¡± Ling Xiao spoke slowly. He didn¡¯t expect Caesar to send the most powerful person in their nation to get rid of him.


    Supreme Dragon had reached profound god-ss, but because of his old age, his strength had drastically deteriorated. Caesar might have invaded the Federation if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that they were afraid of his profound god-ss. They didn¡¯t know if Supreme Dragon could still activate his profound god state in order to drag Monarch Fury down.


    They didn¡¯t dare to take the bet. Thus, they decided to wait for Supreme Dragon to pass away first before they invaded. However, in the process of waiting for Supreme Dragon¡¯s death, they wouldn¡¯t allow a second Supreme Dragon to appear. Thus, they must kill Ling Xiao before he could reach the profound god-ss. There was no way Caesar would let him stay alive. This was why Caesar decided to help Twilight to kill Ling Xiao.


    ¡°Immortal Bird Ling Xiao. Besides Supreme Dragon, you¡¯re indeed the most powerful mecha operator in the Federation. You¡¯re able to handle four god-ss operators so easily. Not bad,¡± Monarch Fury said lightly.


    At first, he was unhappy that the president sent him to fight Ling Xiao. He felt that only Supreme Dragon was worthy of being his opponent. He looked down on all the other god-ss operators. But, when he saw the scene just now, he felt that the president was right. Even before he entered profound god-ss, he could only fight with three god-ss operators at once.


    For the first time in more than ten years, Monarch Fury felt killing intent rushing through his veins.


    Monarch Fury smiled with satisfaction. The president wanted to kill Ling Xiao before he could spread his wings fully.


    After reaching the profound god-ss, Monarch Fury¡¯s heightened instincts allowed him to predict some parts about the future. For instance, the killing intent he was feeling told him that Ling Xiao would be his huge enemy in the future.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, in your next lifetime, remember toy low before you fully blossom. If not, you might be killed before you reach your peak, just like now.¡± Monarch Fury took his sword from behind him.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about me,¡± Ling Xiao gripped his sword tightly and replied in a cold tone.


    Even during dire situations, Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t afraid as he still had to protect his daughter behind him.


    Monarch Fury smiled at Ling Xiao¡¯s stubbornness. Suddenly, he turned to one side and spoke to two god-ss operators from Caesar. ¡°Go and stop the two fellows who areing this way. Once I¡¯m done, I¡¯ll go and take care of them too.¡±


    Monarch Fury spoke casually but no one questioned his words. Once he entered his profound god state, no god-ss operators would be able to escape.


    ¡°Yes, monarch.¡± The two god-ss operators from Caesar took the order and disappeared.


    After some time, a fierce god-ss mecha battle urred tens of thousands of miles away. King Muqi and Falling Snow were stopped once again.


    ¡°As for the two of you, kill the four small rats and move as far away as you can.¡± Monarch Fury was speaking to Lord Yuangu and the other mecha operator.


    ¡°Yes, monarch,¡± Lord Yuangu said respectfully.


    Lord Yuangu was respectful to and frightened of Monarch Fury for two reasons. First reason was because Monarch Fury was their life savior. The second reason was because he was the most powerful mecha operator in the entire universe.


    Those who had seen a battle between Monarch Fury and Supreme Dragon wouldn¡¯t be able to forget the catastrophe they caused. Even though they were watching it through a screen, they could still feel the destructive force they were creating. It was a force powerful enough to destroy everything around it. It had exceeded the limit of a human imagination. They were monsters.


    As for Ling Xiao, after Monarch Fury asked the two god-ss operators to stop King Muqi and Falling Snow, he told Ling Lan and her friends, ¡°Once I say go, run as far away as possible.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Ling Lan could feel the frightening pressure from Monarch Fury. She knew that this was their biggest crisis.


    By this time, Lord Yuangu and the other god-ss operator were flying towards Ling Lan and herrades.


    ¡°Go!¡± Ling Xiao shouted. Ling Lan and herrades turned and ran away furiously.


    The only thing they could do now was to leave this ce as soon as possible. That way, Ling Xiao wouldn¡¯t divert his focus to protect them.


    Running away wasn¡¯t a disy of fear nor selfishness. It was the right thing to do now.


    Ling Xiao red at the two mecha operators and swung his giant sword. He stopped the two god-ss operators who attempted to attack his daughter.


    ¡°You¡¯re looking for death.¡± He wouldn¡¯t let go of anyone who wanted to harm his daughter.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, your opponent is me.¡± Monarch Fury suddenly appeared in front of Ling Xiao.


    Bang! Sparks were seen in the air. Ling Xiao managed to block Monarch Fury¡¯s sneak attack but he was forced back a few thousand meters.


    ¡°Don¡¯t let them get away.¡± Monarch Fury didn¡¯t want anyone to know that he had entered the war. As one of the few god-ss operators who reached profound god-ss, as well as the most powerful god-ss operator in the universe currently, he couldn¡¯t afford to throw away his dignity. Hence, he wouldn¡¯t let these mecha operators escape. They had seen his disgraceful side.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Lord Yuangu was frustrated that he got stopped by Ling Xiao so when he heard Monarch Fury¡¯s order, he quickly went to chase after Ling Lan.


    ¡°Come back.¡± Ling Xiao shouted furiously as he tried to stop the two god-ss operators.


    ¡°Why are you worried about them? You should care about your own survival first.¡± Monarch Fury attacked Ling Xiao again. He wouldn¡¯t give Ling Xiao a second to be resurrected.


    ¡°Get off!¡± Ling Xiao shed his sword back angrily.


    A huge mecha was thrown back into the air. Monarch Fury was astounded as he stabilised his mecha. He didn¡¯t expect Ling Xiao to be able to push him away. This was normally impossible. Even if he hadn¡¯t fully activated his profound god state, he was still stronger than a normal god-ss mecha master.


    Bang! Bang!


    Two mechas were forced back to their initial positions. It was the two mechas chasing after Ling Lan.


    Ling Xiao floated in the air majestically and said, ¡°No one shall harm my child when I¡¯m around.¡±


    Monarch Fury squinted. ¡°You have reached the profound god-ss too.¡± This was the only exnation.


    ¡°It¡¯s not as difficult as you think,¡± Ling Xiao said calmly. He was able to remain indifferent in front of so many god-ss operators because he had a secret no one knew.

 Chapter 1265 - What Should I Do?

    <h4>Chapter 1265 What Should I Do?</h4>


    The direction where Ling Lan and herrades were heading wasn¡¯t the direction that Base Neb took. It wasn¡¯t where King Muqi and Falling Snow were too. It was where the 23rd division was.


    The 23rd division was currently fighting with two divisions of Caesar.


    The number of casualties of the 23rd division suffered in this unfortunate encounter was one of their highest recorded rates of casualty ever since they were formed. However, the Zaoyi Army and the Hejia Army were in an even worse state. Even when they had the advantage of numbers, they were unable to finish off a rtively new division that was created for less than ten years. This was unexpected. Their number of casualties was more than twice that of the 23rd division.


    Ling Xiao pulled many outstanding officers from the other divisions into his division the moment he returned. He also epted some veteran soldiers who got weaker due to old age. He recruited them because they had a wide range of experience on the battlefield. He asked these veteran soldiers to guide the young and inexperienced soldiers. He was willing to spend time to slowly groom his soldiers. Ling Xiao focused on quality, not quantity. That was why this new division had such a strong fighting ability and teamwork.


    Another reason why the 23rd division had lesser casualties than average was that their elites were ced at the frontline. They blocked the most powerful ace mecha ns, lightening the load for the newbie mecha operators behind them.


    ¡°Pfft-¡± Ling Lan coughed out blood again. Her entire face was pale. She looked as if she would faint at any moment now.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Little Four shouted agitatedly. They needed to run away quickly, so Little Four increased the speed of the mecha to its maximum. Although he tried to lower the bacsh to its minimum, Ling Lan was still not able to handle it. She was too severely injured, even Li Shiyu¡¯s Nuwa agent couldn¡¯t help her to resist the bacsh.


    She tried her best to bear with the pain, but she just couldn¡¯t withstand it anymore. Just travelling this short distance was already worsening her condition.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind me. Continue.¡± They were still too close to her father. As long as one god-ss operator broke away from her father¡¯s suppression, he would be able to catch up with them almost instantly. They were not safe yet.


    Ling Lan believed that once she reached a safe location, her father would be able to escape unscathed, even if his opponent was the most powerful god-ss operator in the universe.


    She hadplete trust in her father.


    ¡°But...¡± Little Four couldn¡¯t bear to see Boss getting injured by the bacsh again. She was already on the brink of death.


    ¡°Go.¡± Ling Lan suddenly spoke to Little Four sternly before closing her eyes. She seemed to have fainted.


    Little Four gritted his teeth. He wiped his tears off his face and continued controlling the mecha. The three people following Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what had happened to her. They just thought that she was silent because she was worried about her father.


    ¡°If only there is a starship as powerful as Base Neb here, we will be able to leave without harming Boss.¡± Little Four suddenly thought of an idea. ¡°Right! I can control a starship that can travel as fast as Base Neb. I don¡¯t care which country the starship belonged to. I just need to search for one.¡±


    Hence, Little Four started searching for signals around him as he continued flying forward. He was looking for his target.


    Little Four soon found a satellite that belonged to Twilight. He used the satellite to expand his radar.


    As long as there was a signal, Little Four was invincible. In less than a minute, he came to the area where the 23rd division was fighting with Twilight. He saw numerous starships in the air. Little Four was ted. His eyes shone brightly.


    ¡°Which one has the highest speed? R8 series of Twilight. No, not fast enough. 24 series, well, passable. Oh my god, it¡¯s a Destruction Devil.¡± Little Four eximed happily when he saw a Destruction Devil amidst all the other starships.


    A Destruction Devil could travel as fast as Base Neb. This was because the Destruction Devil¡¯s engines were created using the engine of Base Neb as a reference. Their rtionship was like a mother and son.


    However, all the starships were in battle mode now. Little Four remembered what Ling Lan said. They were citizens of the Federation. They mustn¡¯t do anything that could harm the Federation. If he forcefully took control of the Destruction Devil, it would be a fatal blow to the 23rd division.


    ¡°What should I do? What should I do?¡± To Little Four, the safety of his Boss was the most important. However, if Boss woke up and knew that the 23rd division was annihted because of his inconsiderate actions, she would be furious. She might even kick him out. Plus, the 23rd division was his own father¡¯s division. He didn¡¯t want his father to suffer any losses. Little Four was in a dilemma.


    ¡°Huh? Boss, is that you?¡± A young voice suddenly appeared.


    ¡°Who is that?¡± Little Four got a shock because of the voice. He jumped.


    ¡°It¡¯s really you. It¡¯s me, Little Seven!¡± Little Seven jumped up excitedly. He was a fat little child that looked around three years old.


    ¡°Little Seven? Oh, Little Seven!¡± Little Four finally remembered who Little Seven was. He was the mainframe of the starship that he took control over when Boss went to report to the military academy. He hadn¡¯t seen the mainframe for eight years. Little Four was surprised that the mainframe had a conscience now. It had evolved, causing him to have the intelligence of a three-year-old child. Little Four was shocked by his advancement. Normally, intelligent entities evolved really slowly. If he didn¡¯t meet Boss, he might not be able to evolve for a hundred years. What was Little Seven made up of?


    Little Four grabbed Little Seven and inspected him carefully. Nothing weird was found.


    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Little Four asked.


    ¡°I joined the 23rd division eight years ago along with an old man,¡± Little Seven replied honestly. He always referred to Tian Fang as an old man because he felt that this middle-aged man was shameless and childish. He didn¡¯t have the aura of a major general at all.


    ¡°Oh right. Boss, since you¡¯re here, let¡¯s control the starships and make them crash into each other.¡± Although he didn¡¯t like the old man, he felt his heart hurting when he saw them getting beaten up by Twilight so badly.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Once I destroy Twilight¡¯s starships, I can use the Destruction Devil.¡± Little Seven gave Little Four a solution to his problem.


    Thus, the two of them started their cooperation. Little Seven was still young so he wasn¡¯t powerful enough but he had Little Four beside him.


    Soon, Little Four took control of all the starships from Twilight. Since the distance between them was too far, he had to make replicas of himself. He had reached the maximum number of replicas he could make.


    Although Little Four was invincible in the virtual world, he was still restricted by his main body. The further away from the main body, the weaker the replica was.


    But, it was enough. These replicas could be formed again and again. If Little Four could do it once, he could do it again.

 Chapter 1266 - Help Boss

    <h4>Chapter 1266 Help Boss</h4>


    The starships of Twilight suddenly started turning on their own starships. The Twilight army panicked.


    Tian Fang wasmanding the Destruction Devil and attacking the other starships from Twilight. When he saw this scene, a tiny little devil surfaced in his mind. Little Seven always ignored him but he never hid his ability in front of him. Once, he saw Little Seven hacking into the military headquarters easily to get him some information he wasn¡¯t authorised to get.


    ¡®Is this Little Seven¡¯s work?¡¯ This thought shed past Tian Fang¡¯s mind.


    The forces of Twilight were in a mess right now. They thought that their own people had betrayed them. This was a good opportunity for the 23rd division to exploit, so they immediately increased the intensity of their attacks and the tables were turned. Now, they were the ones beating up the Twilight army.


    After Little Four helped the 23rd division to gain an advantage, he focused on finding a Destruction Devil to control. However, most of the Destruction Devils were at the frontline. After all, Destruction Devil was the most powerful battleship model.


    ¡°Which Destruction Devil should I take?¡± As Little Four was pondering over this question, Little Seven asked curiously, ¡°Boss, why do you want a Destruction Devil?¡±.


    Little Four didn¡¯t block Little Seven when he was thinking, so Little Seven discovered Little Four¡¯s thoughts.


    ¡°My Boss needs it urgently,¡± Little Four replied. Since Little Seven already knew of his intentions, he didn¡¯t n to lie to him. Plus, he couldn¡¯t actually hide from Little Seven.


    ¡°Your Boss? That means he¡¯s my Big Boss. Since Big Boss requires a Destruction Devil, Little Seven can help. The starship I¡¯m controlling is a Destruction Devil.¡±


    Little Seven was able to evolve so quickly due to the help of the data Little Four installed inside him. Thus, Little Seven treated Little Four like his life savior. His respect for Little Four was as high as the mountains and as long as the... Well, simply put, his respect and admiration for Little Four was enough for him to forget about Tian Fang and the consequences his actions might bring.


    Little Four¡¯s eyes lit up. If Little Seven willingly gave him control of his starship, it would save him much time and effort. Little Four could hack into the mainframe of a Destruction Devil but it required time too. If he could save time and effort, that would be the best. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t wait much longer.


    ¡°Okay. Little Seven, control your Destruction Devil. I will destroy your opponents. When they¡¯re gone, go to these coordinates at the fastest speed.¡± Little Four gave Little Seven Ling Lan¡¯s coordinates. Then, he turned his attention to the starships of Twilight.


    A moment ago, Tian Fang was still shing with a Twilight starship. The next second, he saw the two opposing starships changing direction and colliding into each other. He was stunned.


    The two starships continued crashing into each other until they were badly damaged. Then, they finally exploded. They became a part of the ruins in space.


    ¡°Captain... did they get possessed?¡± The pilot of the ship was dumbfounded too. The starships were controlled by both the mainframe and humans. It was almost impossible for such mistakes to happen unless it was intentional.


    ¡°Erm... maybe.¡± Tian Fang pouted and looked at the blinking mainframe at his side.


    Was Little Seven so powerful? But that was a starship we were talking about. Even if he was able to disturb their operations, there were still soldiers monitoring the controls.


    Suddenly, Tian Fang noticed that his Destruction Devil was changing its direction too. It was moving quickly towards the Twilight army.


    The captains beside Tian Fang¡¯s starship were puzzled at its movement but they didn¡¯t suspect anything. Confrontation was a method of battle too. If he was able to reach the Twilight army and interfere with them there, it was a good thing too. They thought that this was Tian Fang¡¯s intention.


    They didn¡¯t know how surprised the people on the Destruction Devil was. They were so shocked that their mouths were wide opened.


    ¡°Captain, I can¡¯t control this damn ship. What should I do?¡± The pilot shouted agitatedly. No matter how he changed the mode of control, there was no reaction from the ship.


    Everyone in the control center was flustered too. Fortunately, the other people outside didn¡¯t know this. They just thought that this was Captain Tian Fang¡¯s arrangement.


    Tian Fang was speechless. However, he controlled his emotions and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. This is all within my ns.¡±


    Then, he pressed the button on the mainframe and whispered, ¡°Little Seven...¡±


    He knew that this must be Little Seven¡¯s doing. Little Seven was the mainframe of this starship. He was able to control everything. He just needed a single thought to stop the manual control.


    ¡°Old man, I¡¯m going to save someone.¡± At least, Tian Fang was important enough to Little Seven that he answered him.


    ¡°Who?¡± Tian Fang asked curiously.


    Little Seven only had talked to him after he had awakened. Even Luo Yang didn¡¯t know of Little Seven¡¯s existence. Tian Fang thought that Little Seven only knew him so he was surprised to know that he knew someone else other than him. Moreover, this person was even important enough for Little Seven to save him. Tian Fang felt a little jealous.


    ¡°You know him.¡± Little Seven thought for a while before replying. When he reached his eventual destination, the old man would still see Big Boss anyway. In that case, it was better to tell him now, as it would prevent the old man from thinking too much too.


    ¡°Someone I know?¡± Tian Fang frowned. He knew many people. Little Seven¡¯s hint didn¡¯t help.


    ¡°The person who controlled me many years ago.¡± Little Seven didn¡¯t want to make it difficult for his old man so he gave him the answer directly.


    Tian Fang gasped. ¡°Ling Lan.¡±


    That time, he suffered a huge defeat and was prepared to be punished when he got back. However, along the way, General Ling Xiao pulled him into the 23rd division, allowing him to escape the punishment. Tian Fang knew that Ling Lan must be behind this. She was doing this topensate them for controlling their starship at that time. Tian Fang respected Ling Lan a lot. He felt that Ling Lan would be a prominent figure in the future, even if he wouldn¡¯t manage to climb as high as his father.


    ¡°General is there too.¡± Tian Fang didn¡¯t know how Little Seven knew Ling Lan¡¯s location. General Ling Xiao already went to help Ling Lan too so he couldn¡¯t understand why Little Seven needed to save Ling Lan.


    ¡°Yes, general is alright but Big Boss is not.¡± Little Seven identally revealed his way of addressing Ling Lan.


    Tian Fang was puzzled. He thought that since Little Seven called him old man, Big Boss might be his way of calling Ling Lan. Little Seven might be calling Ling Lan ¡®Big Boss¡¯ because he was scared of Ling Lan since he got controlled by him once.


    While Little Seven rushed over to help Ling Lan, danger appeared beside Ling Lan again.

 Chapter 1267 - The Hidden Faction!

    <h4>Chapter 1267 The Hidden Faction!</h4>


    Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng, Xie Yi and Luo Lang flew at top speed in the depth of space. If it wasn¡¯t for their radars directing them where to go, they would have been lost in this endless space.


    ¡°Stop!¡± After returning to consciousness, she suddenly stopped her mecha from flying forward. Li Lanfeng and the others stopped at the same time. They created a triangr formation with Ling Lan protected in the middle. The beam guns in their hands were pointed towards the dark and vast void all around them.


    ¡°Change the radar¡¯s vibrational frequency,¡± ordered Ling Lan.


    When the four of them changed the vibrational frequency of their radars, they discovered that the originally calm and silent rader, actually had small dots of light jumping around in it. If they didn¡¯t stop just then and had just kept flying at top speed, they would instantly fall into the trap of the opposition.


    Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s group of four stopping, the opposition knew that they had seen through their ambush. Not long after, they stopped hiding in the shadows and quickly moved towards Ling Lan¡¯s group.


    ¡°There¡¯s actually people ambushing us here. F*ck. Do those bastards from Twilight actually think that taking us down would help them save their dying nation?¡± Seeing this, Xie Yi couldn¡¯t help but swear loudly.


    After being chased and ambushed, even those who had the best self-control and manners wouldn¡¯t be able to control themselves. They would need to shout and swear to get rid of the negative emotions they had in their minds.


    ¡°You¡¯re too full of yourself. The opposition made so many ns not for us, but for General Ling Xiao. Taking down General Ling Xiao would indeed allow Twilight to turn the tide around. As for us, we just so happened to be the best bait,¡± said Li Lanfeng calmly.


    After the appearances of many god-ss operators and Caesar¡¯s Monarch Fury, he knew there were many nsid and interlinked with each other. Bringing together the top-level forces of each nation only for one Ling Xiao.


    ¡°They nned it perfectly. I now suspect there¡¯s a higher-up in the Federation¡¯s military headquarters cooperating with them,¡± said Ling Lan as she endured the immense pain in her body. Ever since the military headquarters gave out the orders, the opposition calcted everything perfectly. This couldn¡¯t be done just by one single spy. There was someone in the Federation who wanted to take out Ling Xiao and she was just here by ident.


    ¡°Fight?¡± Luo Lang clenched the control stick in his hand and asked with a serious look on his face.


    What was ahead of them was probably only fighting. They didn¡¯t have any other way to go about it.


    If they retreat, they would return to where General Ling Xiao was at. Ling Xiao was fighting a one versus three, and one of them was Monarch Fury who had reached the profound god-ss. The situation was definitely not going well. If these people were to join forces with the three over there, not only them, but also General Ling Xiao, would not be able to return alive.


    ¡°Try our best to drag the battle on. Reinforcements are on their way.¡± Ling Lan received Little Four¡¯s message and knew the 7th Bugle Call wasing to them.


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± After the three of them took their orders, the opposition had already arrived at their beam guns¡¯ ranges. They shot their beam guns towards the 20 or so mechas that wereing their way.


    ¡°The outside appearance of these mechas seem to be quite special. In my memory, there doesn¡¯t seem to be any nation that uses this type of mecha.¡± After shooting out many beams of light, Li Lanfeng could clearly see the appearances of the mechas on his screen.


    ¡°I also have never seen them before,¡± said Xie Yi.


    ¡°Anyways, they¡¯re still our enemies.¡± Luo Lang unsheathed therge sword on his back, piloted his mecha and rushed towards them. Although Luo Lang was good with long-range techniques, he was still stronger in closebat. Thus, after seeing the opposition appear in their attack range, he decisively went towards them.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Xie Yi¡¯s consecutive attacks sent one mecha flying. He then turned around and said, ¡°These mecha operators are stronger than ace operators, but they¡¯re not actually imperial operators.¡±


    ¡°Their mechas aren¡¯t the standard too. They¡¯re probably modified mechas,¡± added Li Lanfeng as he pushed back one mecha.


    ¡°Are they pseudo imperial operators?¡± Luo Lang kicked aside one mecha and asked. Without the calm personality¡¯s control, Luo Lang wasn¡¯t an expert analyst. He was only responsible for fighting.


    ¡°They don¡¯t seem like it,¡± Li Lanfeng and Xie Yi responded simultaneously.


    ¡°Commander, I feel it is them,¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly said to Ling Lan.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably them.¡± Ling Lan frowned. ¡°Other than the nations who benefit from this war, some hidden factions also involved themselves in this mess. The Twilight Empire is indeed a good battlefield for everyone.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re lucky that they¡¯re only powered up ace operators. Otherwise, if there were actually 20 or so imperial operators, we wouldn¡¯t evenst one minute,¡± said Xie Yi joyfully.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be too happy just yet. If our reinforcements don¡¯t get here on time, we will have to fight for our lives in a moment,¡± reminded Li Lanfeng.


    Although these mecha operators were weaker than them, their numbers were still enough to pressure them into a corner. Plus, they had just advanced into imperial operators. No matter if it was their body¡¯s physical endurance or spiritual power¡¯s endurance, they couldn¡¯t hold out for too long.


    Right at that moment, arge mecha slowly moved closer towards them. This mecha had its outer appearance disguised. It was hard to distinguish the structure of the mecha. However, the modifications on the mecha were simr to the current type of mecha Ling Lan was piloting


    Ling Lan felt a cold jolt on her back. She looked towards the direction the mecha appeared from and then had a huge change in expression. ¡°Retreat!¡±


    Almost simultaneously, Li Lanfeng, Luo Lang and Xie Yi all pushed back the mechas they were fighting against and dashed to where Ling Lan was.


    ¡°God-ss mecha.¡± Li Lanfeng saw the mecha and had a paling expression on his face. Why was there a god-ss mecha here? Despite disguising itself, the god-ss mecha was still a gigantic mecha. That showed its level and identity.


    ¡°Run!¡± Ling Lan was the first to run towards one direction. The direction she went towards was slightly off of the direction they hade from. Even if she was in a life-or-death situation, Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to bring danger to her father, Ling Xiao. She hoped to take the opposition as far away from Ling Xiao as possible.


    As for Ling Xiao, who was originally fighting with Monarch Fury and the other two god-ss operators, he suddenly felt as if a hand was tightly gripping his heart. His expression changed slightly and his gigantic mecha disappeared from sight.


    Monarch Fury frowned and snorted coldly, ¡°Heh, you wanna run? In your dreams.¡±


    ¡°Chase.¡± After saying that, Monarch Fury¡¯s mecha also disappeared from sight. Lord Yuangu and hispanion followed suit and disappeared from sight as well.


    ¡°Little Seven, get here faster! Boss can¡¯t hold out much longer.¡± Little Four saw Ling Lan was running for her life. Her body, that was almost on the brink of copse, was injured by the bacsh from the mecha once again. Little Four felt saddened by this fact.


    Boss¡¯s originally white undershirt was nowpletely blood red. This red color was slowly turning a darker shade. Little Four was worried that his Boss might bleed to death before Little Seven could get to them.

 Chapter 1268 - Profound God Battle!

    <h4>Chapter 1268 Profound God Battle!</h4>


    ¡°Quickly grab onto something.¡± Little Seven reminded the soldiers on the 7th Bugle Call. Then, the 7th Bugle Call elerated immediately to its fastest speed and shot forward.


    ¡°F**k!¡± Tian Fang only had the time to grab the handles on his chair. Some clerks didn¡¯t react in time and got thrown out of their seats.


    The soldiers who had fixed objects beside them were fine. Those that were walking or engrossed in their work were mmed on the ground or the walls because of the sudden eleration. Fortunately, there was an anti-shock system on the ship. The physical constitutions of the soldiers were good too so there weren¡¯t any injuries.


    The huge mecha that suddenly appeared rushed forward when he saw Ling Lan and her friends escaping. In a blink of an eye, he arrived behind Ling Lan. This was how fast a god-ss mecha was. If it wanted to catch up with you, you wouldn¡¯t be able to escape.


    The mecha raised its giant sword and shed it at the four mechas.


    Ling Lan felt the sword inching closer behind her. She turned back and swung her sword up to block the sword.


    She knew that she wasn¡¯t her opponent¡¯s match but she still fought so that herrades had a chance to survive.


    The god-ss mecha master sneered. His gaze was filled with disdain.


    Bang! A huge beam forced his sword back.


    ¡°Huh?¡± The god-ss mecha master looked up in surprise. He noticed that a huge mecha had appeared beside Ling Lan.


    ¡°Ling Xiao!¡± The god-ss operator¡¯s voice was hoarse and robotic.


    Ling Xiao nced at the mecha and frowned. ¡°Although you¡¯ve disguised your mecha and your voice, I can still sense a familiar aura from you. You should be someone I¡¯ve met before.¡±


    The disguised god-ss operator scowled.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, you can¡¯t escape.¡± Monarch Fury and the other two god-ss operators arrived soon after him.


    The four of them surrounded Ling Xiao, Ling Lan, and herrades.


    ¡°I don¡¯t n to run away. Rather, I¡¯m honoured to be chased by three god-ss operators and one profound god-ss operator,¡± Ling Xiao replied calmly.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s tone was indifferent but he was actually cursing furiously in his cockpit.


    He knew that he and Ling Lan were in a dire situation. He wasn¡¯t afraid of death but he couldn¡¯t bear to let his daughter die at such a young age.


    It was impossible to escape from four god-ss operators, especially when one had reached the profound god-ss, with just god-ss operations so he was forced to activate his half-baked profound god state. However, after he activated his profound god state, the entire area around him would turn into hell. No one could survive a profound god state activation, except god-ss operators.


    Actually, Ling Xiao¡¯s profound god state wasn¡¯tpleted yet. He would only be able to maintain it for at most one minute. He didn¡¯t know what would happen after that.


    But, he knew that within that one minute, no one would be able to escape his control, including god-ss mecha masters. Ling Lan and her friends were just imperial operators. Based on the speed of imperial mechas, they wouldn¡¯t be able to escape the range of his profound god state no matter how fast they flew.


    This was a death cycle. If he didn¡¯t activate his profound god state, he and Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t be able to escape. That was why Ling Xiao had been restraining himself even when Monarch Fury kept attacking him.


    While the two sides were conversing, the engine of a starship was heard from afar.


    Monarch Fury frowned. Based on their n, no starships should appear in this section of space.


    Ling Xiao raised his eyebrows. The engine sounded familiar.


    Everyone looked up. A Destruction Devil was rushing towards them fearlessly.


    ¡°Ahhhhhh! God-ss mechas! Little Seven, are you looking for death? Ahhh!¡± Tian Fang couldn¡¯t help but scream in terror when he saw the five god-ss mechas in their path.


    He wasn¡¯t the only one. All the soldiers who saw this scene closed their eyes in fear and screamed fearfully.


    They were in despair.


    They could tell that most of the god-ss mechas were their enemy. They were looking for death.


    ¡°Federation?¡± Monarch Fury was astounded. He wondered where this lonely starship appeared from.


    ¡°It¡¯s from the 23rd division.¡± The god-ss operator in disguise said in a cold tone. By right, the 23rd division should be stopped by the Hejia Army and Zaoyi Army. Why was it here?


    Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes lit up when he saw the Destruction Devil.


    When Ling Lan saw the Destruction Devil, she knew that Little Four¡¯s underling, Little Seven, hade.


    Her father¡¯s voice suddenly sounded in her cockpit. ¡°Ling Lan, leave this ce on the Destruction Devilter.¡±


    ¡°What about you?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s heart dropped. ¡°I need to fight with them.¡± Ling Xiao smiled.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go together,¡± Ling Lan said earnestly. Although Ling Xiao seemed rxed, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t fooled. She knew that there wasn¡¯t much chance of him surviving if he stayed back.


    ¡°Ling Lan, I can¡¯t fool you and you can¡¯t lie to yourself too. You know I can¡¯t leave,¡± Ling Xiao replied indifferently.


    ¡°Father,¡± Ling Lan shouted furiously.


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, you shouldn¡¯t lose your cool. You know this is for the best,¡± Ling Xiao spoke gently. Ling Lan felt that her father was rubbing her head and consoling her.


    ¡°Father.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s heart hurt.


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, you should be more confident in me. If I don¡¯t want to die, no one can kill me.¡± Ling Xiao smiled. ¡°Who am I? I¡¯m the Immortal Bird, the Fire Phoenix. Both of them can be reborn. You¡¯re the person I¡¯m most worried about. If you can leave safely, I will be able to give it my all. It won¡¯t be easy for them to take my life.¡±


    ¡°Do you understand, Lan¡¯er?¡± Ling Xiao shouted sternly. Ling Lan¡¯s mind cleared up. Her emotions disappeared.


    At that moment, the Destruction Devil had alreadye to their side. When it was about to get close to them, the Destruction Devil suddenly changed its direction, causing Lord Yuangu to miss his sword sh.


    ¡°Go!¡± Ling Xiao ordered. Ling Lan and herrades flew towards the Destruction Devil.


    ¡°You want to leave? Not so easy.¡± Lord Yuangu wanted to stop them. Suddenly, he lost control of his body.


    Lord Yuangu wasn¡¯t the only one who felt this way. Hisrade, as well as the disguised god-ss operator, felt their body going numb. They could only watch as Ling Lan and her friends rushed towards the Destruction Devil.


    ¡°Profound god state!¡± Monarch Fury reacted the fastest. He quickly shot back a few thousand meters.


    The area that Ling Xiao¡¯s mecha was at had turned blood red. The mechas of the three immobile god-ss operators were engulfed in red light.


    Monarch Fury knew that once someone activated the profound god state, only another person who also activated the profound god state could fight on par with him. Soon, the area around him turned dull blue. The sky was split into two portions, one blue and one red.

 Chapter 1269 - Who Is It?

    <h4>Chapter 1269 Who Is It?</h4>


    Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi split into two teams and flew as quickly as they could towards the Destruction Devil. They could feel the frighteningly powerful force getting closer to them. They felt as though they were going to be swallowed by it.


    Little Seven was able to sense the danger of the approaching force even without Little Four¡¯s reminder. He controlled the starship and moved away from the force as fast as he could. A streak of light formed in the air.


    Everyone was racing with death. Tian Fang used to be fearless but his forehead was drenched with cold sweat now.


    The wings behind Ling Xiao turned into twelve blood-red ribbons. From afar, they looked like the ming tails of a phoenix. Half of the universe lit up because of it.


    On Monarch Fury¡¯s side, he was enveloped by a sea of waves.


    A huge catastrophic battle was impending. Once the two god-ss operators shed, everything in this part of the universe would be crushed.


    The other three god-ss operators had turned pale too. They struggled furiously as they tried to break free from the pressure of Ling Xiao¡¯s profound god-ss. They wanted to escape thisary sector which was going to turn into hell soon.


    In a faraway ce, Supreme Dragon, who was on his way back to Dragon, stopped his mecha abruptly. He felt something. His expression changed. ¡°Profound god state... who is it?¡±


    As someone who reached profound god-ss, Supreme Dragon was familiar with this energy. It came from millions of light-years away but he still felt two different profound god-state energies shing.


    He knew Monarch Fury owned one of those energies, but who was the person he was fighting against?


    ¡®Is it... Ling Xiao?¡¯ Supreme Dragon thought of this possibility. His face turned pale. If his guess was correct, both the First Marshal and his decision was horribly wrong. A god-ss operator who had reached the profound god-ss was invaluable. He was worth even more than Twilight or the Aran Alliance.


    Only someone who had reached the top of the universe knew the importance of a profound god-ss mecha master to a nation. A profound god-ss mecha operator was the symbol of an empire, a nation could dominate other nations.


    When he achieved the profound god-ss in the past, the Federation became the king of all nations. After some time, Monarch Fury achieved it too. Hence, Caesar became the only country that was on par with the Federation.


    As his strength deteriorated, the Federation¡¯s status dropped too. Caesar started to be more prominent in the universal stage. The capabilities of a profound god-ss mecha master were directly linked to the international status of his nation. If Ling Xiao managed to achieve profound god-ss, the Federation could take back its rightful throne from Caesar again.


    Another reason why Supreme Dragon felt extremely distraught was because of Ling Xiao¡¯s young age. If he managed to enter the profound god state at such a young age, the Federation would be able to sit on the throne for years toe. In the next thousand years, no other nations would be able to affect the Federation¡¯s status, not even Caesar.


    ¡°No. I must go there.¡± Supreme Dragon couldn¡¯t let a profound god-ss mecha master die.


    His mecha blinked and disappeared on the spot.


    Mountain King of the South, who was stationed at the center of the Federation¡¯sary sector, felt the sh of profound god-state energy. He frowned. ¡°Did Supreme Dragon go and help?¡±


    Mountain King of the South was only a half step away from the profound god-ss.


    ¡°I need to enter the profound god-ss as soon as possible. If not, the Federation will be in danger.¡± Mountain King of the South didn¡¯t forget what Supreme Dragon told him many years ago. Based on his current strength, he wouldn¡¯t be Monarch Fury¡¯s match even if he activated his half-baked profound god state. At most, he could only injure Monarch Fury at the expense of his life. He could at most buy Huaxia another thirty years. If that energy really came from Supreme Dragon, he must be fighting with Monarch Fury. Supreme Dragon was in danger.


    Master of the East and King Muqi also felt the fluctuations in space. The two of them were bbergasted. Their attacks got more vicious.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, looks like your profound god state is notplete.¡± Monarch Fury looked at twelve blood-red ribbons and sneered.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s profound god state seemed frightening but as someone experienced, he could see the ws in Ling Xiao¡¯s state.


    ¡°It¡¯s enough to fight with you,¡± Ling Xiao replied calmly.


    Ling Xiao seemedposed but he was actually using all his willpower to control the energy of his profound god state. He wanted to give his daughter more time to escape so he dly bought some more time by replying to Monarch Fury. If his profound god state energy really went out of control, as a newbie who activated this state for the first time, he really didn¡¯t know what would happen.


    ¡°In that case, let¡¯s finish this in one attack.¡± Monarch Fury wasn¡¯t a stupid person. When he noticed that Ling Xiao didn¡¯t have any intention of attacking, he had guessed his intention.


    The moment he finished speaking, Monarch Fury rushed towards Ling Xiao. From afar, it looked as though the entire blue sea was falling on Ling Xiao.


    ¡°Come!¡± Ling Xiao sighed under his breath. A red phoenix flew out of the sea of mes and charged towards the vast blue sea ferociously.


    Would the endless sea extinguish the me or would the raging mes overwhelm the sea? No one knew the result before the match. Everyone around the battlefield was dumbstruck by the abnormal phenomenon they saw.


    The 23rd division, Zaoyi Army, and the Hejia Army slowed their attacks in unnned unison. They slowly looked at the direction of the battle. They were at the edge of the battlefield but they could still feel the frightening force produced from the collision. This was a force that could destroy them.


    Compared to them, Ling Lan and her friends, as well as the 7th Bugle Call, were nearer to the location of the battle.


    ¡°Run, run, run! Little Seven, run!¡± Tian Fang couldn¡¯t control his fear. If they couldn¡¯t run away before this force reached them, all of them would die.


    The three god-ss mecha masters used all their own god-ss energy to break free from the pressure binding their bodies. They were finally able to move.


    Ling Xiao had all his attention on Monarch Fury so he didn¡¯t have the energy to care about the three of them.

 Chapter 1270 - Breaking a Promise

    <h4>Chapter 1270 Breaking a Promise</h4>


    The starship¡¯s engines all began to roar, overclocking them to their max capabilities, further damaging the integrity of the engines. Overclocking the engine could only be continued for three minutes. If it went past three minutes, the engines would explode in a fiery burst. However, at that moment, Little Seven couldn¡¯t care less about all that. That was because overclocking them was the only way the Destruction Devil could reach the theoretical speed.


    Not only were the engines overclocked, he also began tossing out parts from Destruction Devil that could be broken off as these parts were weighing Destruction Devil down.


    Parts of the main hull of the Destruction Devil began to be broken off one by one. As they were doing so, Destruction Devil¡¯s speed rose higher and higher.


    However, the main problem of doing so was that Ling Lan and herrades were not on board.


    As the speed of the Destruction Devils reached a point where even an imperial mecha could not catch up, Ling Lan and herrades could see the Destruction Devil inching further and further away from them. If they weren¡¯t able to catch up to Destruction Devil in a short time and hold onto it, letting it take them away, they wouldn¡¯t be able to escape the shing profound god state¡¯s area of effect just from the speed of their mechas.


    ¡°Overclock.¡± Ling Lan made a decision without hesitation.


    The engines of their four mechas roared. Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng tailed behind the Destruction Devil¡¯s right side, while Xie Yi and Luo Lang tailed behind the left side. There wasn¡¯t enough time for them tond one by one. They only had time to grab onto the handles on the tail Destruction Devil and pull themselves on board


    There was no doubt that this was a race against the grim reaper. If they failed, they would die. If they seed, they would have a slim hope of surviving. Next, they would have to see whether Destruction Devil¡¯s speed could take them away from the area of effect of the shing profound god state. If they couldn¡¯t, then they would still die.


    ¡°Trying to run?¡± Lord Yuangu, who had just gotten out of the restriction ced on him by Ling Xiao¡¯s profound god state, saw Ling Lan trying to get close to the Destruction Devil. When he saw Ling Lan putting her hand out to try to grab the Destruction Devil¡¯s tail, he remembered the time when he almost died by Ling Xiao¡¯s hands. He also remembered how Lord Jindao and god-ss operator from Zuojing also died by Ling Xiao¡¯s hands. The thought of vengeance rushed up his head. He immediately raised his giant sword and rushed towards Ling Lan. He wanted to kill Ling Lan to seek his vengeance.


    ¡°How dare you!¡± After Ling Xiao shouted angrily, a nket of red me moved forwards andpletely devoured Lord Yuangu.


    ¡°Argh!¡± Lord Yuangu screamed in agony as he gotpletely crushed by the profound god state¡¯s energy.


    At the same time, (Belief] was sent flying backwards by a rogue beam. Ling Xiao spat out a mouthful of blood. Monarch Fury took advantage of the moment he got distracted with Lord Yuangu and severely injured him.


    ¡°Ling Xiao, you still have time to mind about others? You really are looking down on me,¡± Monarch Fury said proudly.


    ¡°No one can hurt my child while I¡¯m here. No one,¡± Ling Xiao smiled coldly with blood dripping down from the corner of his lips.


    After seeing Lord Yuangu die by Ling Xiao¡¯s hands without having a chance to struggle, the other god-ss operator from Twilight and the disguised gold-ss operator turned their tails and fled without hesitation.


    ¡°Heh. Neither you or your child will be able to escape.¡± Monarch Fury suddenly turned his mecha around and brought about arge blue wave towards Ling Lan and the 7th Bugle Call.


    ¡°Monarch Fury!¡± Ling Xiao shouted angrily. A reddened sky in the shape of a phoenix ruthlessly rushed towards the blue tidal wave.


    Bang!


    The energies of two profound god states crashed into each other once again. Even though they weren¡¯t hit by it, the immense god state energy still made them spat out blood uncontrobly.


    The weaker soldiers on the 7th Bugle Call instantly fell unconscious. Even those who were stronger, like Major General Tian Fang, were injured by the wave. This was still the result even under the effect of the 7th Bugle Call¡¯s barrier against tremors.


    nors.


    The tremors caused the speeds of Ling Lan and herrades¡¯ mechas to decrease. They were originally getting closer to the Destruction Devil, but now the distance was further again.


    Li Lanfeng felt the terrifying energying from behind him that could devour them all. He looked towards Ling Lan, who was beside him, and closed his eyes tightly. Then, he quickly opened them with a solemn gaze.


    He moved his mecha¡¯s arms and pushed Ling Lan¡¯s mecha forward.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mecha¡¯s speed received a huge spike by this push.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mecha¡¯s right arm stretched forward and grabbed onto Destruction Devil¡¯s tail¡¯s handle. She turned around towards Li Lanfeng and shouted angrily, ¡°Dumbass, grab my hand!¡±


    Li Lanfeng was originally following Ling Lan closely. However, because of that push, his speed slowed down once again. He was now getting further and further away from the Destruction Devil. The chance of him catching up to the Destruction Devil was almost nil now.


    Ling Lan extended her left arm with all her effort in hopes to grab a hold of Li Lanfeng. She wasn¡¯t going to abandon her friends, even if it was the end of the world.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s engine roared once again. He reached out with his right hand, trying his best to grab onto Ling Lan¡¯s hand.


    Even though they were such a short distance apart, the short distance was as though they were worlds apart. Oveing a short distance was a difficult feat.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng, why can¡¯t you grab my hand when you are so close? Don¡¯t make me look down on you!¡± Ling Lan shouted angrily as she saw the blue and red energy wave approaching Li Lanfeng


    ¡°Argh!¡± Li Lanfeng shouted angrily. He definitely wouldn¡¯t allow Rabbit to look down on him!


    At first, Li Lanfeng was afraid topletely let out his spiritual power as he didn¡¯t know what would be the end result of doing so, but now he couldn¡¯t care less about the consequences. Afterpletely letting all of his spiritual power pour out, the mixture of piloting an imperial mecha and his spiritual power allowed the speed of the mecha to increase.


    The two mecha¡¯s hands were slowly getting closer.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng!¡±


    ¡°Ling Lan!¡±


    While the two of them were screaming at the top of their lungs, their hands finally seeded in grabbing onto one another.


    Ling Lan pulled Li Lanfeng in and the two of them looked towards the red and blue mixture of space. There, Ling Lan¡¯s father, Ling Xiao, was still fighting


    Finally, the red phoenix energy was finally pushed away by the blue waves.


    ¡°Ahaha... Ling Xiao, this is all you¡¯re capable of, it seems. Just let me send you off to your grave. Don¡¯t worry. I will send your son to see you soon.¡± Monarch Furyughed maniacally. Ling Xiao¡¯s iplete god state allowed Monarch Fury to be on the advantage. This feeling of sessfully taking out a newly advanced god state individual excited Monarch Fury greatly.


    Ling Xiao spat out a mouthful of blood with a pale expression on his face. Then he began tough coldly. He was indeed weaker than his opponent. It wasn¡¯t a difference in their god states, but rather because the god state he controlled was iplete. However, even so, no one could harm his child in his presence.


    ¡°I, Ling Xiao, only live for two women in my lifetime. One is my wife Lan Luofeng and the other is my little princess, Ling Lan. If you want to hurt either one of them, you must step over my cold dead body first,¡± Ling Xiao said coldly.


    What merits? What fame? What wealth? What power? Those were all things he wanted to provide to the two women in his life to build a safe haven for them. If the people he wanted to protect were to leave this world, his life would have no meaning.


    Ling Xiao was never a hero. He only hoped that he could be a hero in the eyes of the two women he loved.


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, remember everything I taught you,¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s voice suddenly echoed in Ling Lan¡¯s mind.


    ¡°Dad!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s heart sank.


    ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t think I can keep my promise with you, my little princess. Don¡¯t return to the Federation. Go back when you¡¯re strong.¡± Ling Xiao still couldn¡¯t let go of Ling Lan. Even at death¡¯s door, he still didn¡¯t forget to tell his daughter how to stay safe.

 Chapter 1271 - Ling Xiao’s Death!

    <strong>Chapter 1271 Ling Xiao¡¯s Death!</strong>


    ¡°No! Dad, you promised me! You promised me!¡± Ling Lan screamed angrily. She loosened her grip on the handle and was about to jump out of the Destruction Devil out of desperation.


    ¡°Ling Lan!¡± Li Lanfeng hurriedly grabbed onto Ling Lan. He turned Ling Lan around to face him and shouted loudly at her face, ¡°Calm down!¡±


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, learn from this battle between Monarch Fury and I. I hope you can one day reach the top and watch over your loved ones from the throne, unlike me...¡± Ling Xiao turned around and smiled lovingly towards Ling Lan. His eyes filled with endless love.


    He almost had everything he wanted in this lifetime. Fame, wealth, power, they all naturally came to him. Soon after indulging in his prime, his brash younger days flew by in a sh. However, all that changed after he met Lan Luofeng. Meeting her... he finally found purpose in his life, and after having a child, he finally understood the meaning of the word ¡®responsibility¡¯. During the sixteen years he was trapped in another gxy, he didn¡¯t have any feelings for any other woman. Ling Xiao¡¯s immense self-control was indeed because of his love for Lan Luofeng, but part of it was also because of their child. He didn¡¯t want his child to be disappointed in him when he came back. He wanted to be a father that his child would be proud of.


    After returning and knowing that he had a girl as his child, he was disappointed but rather, he was overjoyed. However, as a girl, who should have been pampered and cared for, Ling Lan grew up enduring difficulties after difficulties, forcing her to be more mature than the children of the same age. She had even helped him protect Lan Luofeng and the Ling family in his stead when it was his job to do so. Other than being joyful, Ling Xiao was also saddened by Ling Lan. His disappearance forced his adorable, beautiful princess, who he should have been protecting, to pretend to be a man who stood at the forefront of everything and protected all of her family and friends behind her.


    At that time, Ling Xiao had a burning me lit in his heart. He wanted to give the child he loved a world where she could roam freely. However, in order to do that, he must stand at a highest peak, not just in skills, but also political power.


    It was at that time he began to separate himself from the First Marshal. There would definitely be bloodshed during a power struggle between the two titans, and while doing so, he never nned to tell this to Lan Luofeng or to Ling Lan. They had just endured too much for his absence so he silently endured every problem that came his way. Everytime they asked him how he was doing, he only gave the two women he loved a strong and warm smile.


    Originally, he thought he could do it. He thought he could give the women he loved a world like the one in his dreams. However, he could no longer do that now. It wasn¡¯t because he lost, but because he decided it to be so. It was just as he had said. Power and status were both built on the foundation if his feelings and emotions were invested. If those factors that he put his feelings and emotions into were to not exist, then what would be the point of him acquiring power and status?


    He didn¡¯t regreting all this way to save his daughter. He had already made up his mind to give up his life when he wasing here. He only hoped that his sacrifice was beneficial to his family. He hoped his daughter could safely escape the trap and grow up in a safe environment, slowly growing into the king of the gxy. That way, no one would be able to hold her down and force her to their bidding. She could then freely live the life she wanted.


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, Dad loves you. Goodbye!¡± Ling Xiao said softly. Then, he turned around and charged towards Monarch Fury, who was attempting to drag the 7th Bugle Call into his profound god state¡¯s area of effect.


    In the empty void, a gigantic bright and burning phoenix cawed and then ruthlessly crashed into the blue waves.


    The red phoenix suddenly began to implode after entering the blue sea. The profound god state energies went out of control. Countless red and blue energies flew out from the explosion and went in all different directions.


    ¡°Dad!¡± Ling Lan shouted with all her might. How could her invincible father, who could never just leave her like that? She couldn¡¯t ept it! She couldn¡¯t!


    At the same time, in her mindscape, Little Four was also in sorrow.


    He didn¡¯t even get a chance to call him ¡®Dad¡¯ face to face. Dad never hugged him, kissed him or even greeted him. How could Dad just leave him like that?


    Little Four didn¡¯t want that. He couldn¡¯t ept it. He wouldn¡¯t ept. He would never ept


    it.


    Ling Lan, who was in great sorrow, didn¡¯t see Little Four¡¯s main body suddenly leave her mindscape. He pounced towards the center of the area of the profound god state energies.


    ¡°Ling Xiao! You crazy bastard!¡± shouted Monarch Fury in agony. He didn¡¯t expect Ling Xiao to self-destruct in the end. Self-destructing would cause mutual destruction and could even destroy this part of the gxy.


    At that moment, on the other side of Destruction Devil, Luo Lang and Xie Yi weren¡¯t as lucky as Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan. Their piloting capabilities were clearly weaker than Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng. Even after putting in all of their effort, they still couldn¡¯t get on board the Destruction Devil.


    The explosion from Ling Xiao¡¯s profound god state¡¯s self-destruction, along with the two energies from the two profound god states, were moving towards them wildly. With their speed, there were a few seconds before they were to be devoured by the energy waveing their way.


    Xie Yi, who was behind Luo Lang, looked at Luo Lang with a saddened look on his face. He unsheathed hisrge sword and turned the sword around. He used the t surface of the sword and ruthlessly smacked Luo Lang¡¯s mecha.


    This force, in addition to Luo Lang¡¯s mecha initial high speeds, pushed Luo Lang¡¯s mecha smash towards the Destruction Devil¡¯s tail area like a beam of light.


    Luo Lang was instantly injured from therge shockwave caused by this unexpected shove.


    Bang! Luo Lang¡¯s mecha smashed into the Destruction Devil¡¯s tail area. Luo Lang reacted quickly and grabbed the side with one hand. He swallowed the blood in his mouth and looked at Xie Yi, who slowed down even more because of that push. He screamed in sorrow, ¡°Xie Yi!¡±


    Xie Yi knew he couldn¡¯t get out alive. He turned his mecha around and activated hisrge beam shield. He stood in front of Luo Lang, protecting Luo Lang along with the Destruction Devil that was helping Luo Lang escape.


    ¡°Luo Lang, take my hope and continue to live for me!¡± Xie Yi¡¯s joyful and satisfied smiling face appeared on Luo Lang¡¯s screen.


    ¡°Xie Yi! Come back! Come back!¡± shouted Luo Lang angrily. Two teardrops fell out from his eyes uncontrobly. How could a friend who was always by his side just leave like that? Could he refuse? He would rather fight to the death side by side than to live by himself.


    ¡°Did I ever say I like you?¡± Xie Yi was smiling, but tears were constantly falling from his eyes. If it was possible, he wanted to stay together with the person he loved until the end of his life. He originally didn¡¯t want to tell Luo Lang about his true feelings. However, now, he wanted to be a little selfish. He only wanted to have a tiny special ce in Luo Lang¡¯s heart.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear it. If you want to tell me, survive and tell me then...¡± Luo Lang shook his head furiously. At that moment, he didn¡¯t want to listen to anyone. He only wanted Xie Yi to live.


    ¡°Goodbye, my love!¡± Xie Yi cut off the connection between the two mechas. He didn¡¯t want Luo Lang to see him get torn to pieces. Perhaps Luo Lang thinking he just disappeared would be better for him.


    The red and blue profound god state energies ruthlessly crashed onto Xie Yi¡¯srge beam shield.


    ¡°Hold! If you can hold one more second, then do it,¡± Xie Yi shouted angrily.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do this together.¡± A shadow suddenly appeared beside Xie Yi.


    ¡°Xie¡¯Er!¡± Xie Yi muttered apologetically, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± His decision also force Xie¡¯Er to follow him to death¡¯s road.

 Chapter 1272 - Death of Xie Yi!

    <strong>Chapter 1272 Death of Xie Yi!</strong>


    ¡°What are you saying? We are originally one person. Born together and die together,¡± Xie¡¯Er said inly. Having been in the gray world for so long, he wasn¡¯t afraid when facing Death right in the face.


    ¡°Xie¡¯Er, thank you.¡± As Xie Yi finished speaking, his and Xie¡¯Er¡¯s shadow merged into one. The originally splitted personalities, perfectlybined together in their final moments.


    Little Seven cried out in agony as he saw the immense energy that was about to devour him. He finally erupted and tapped into the unprecedented power of the Destruction Devil. All of Destruction Devil¡¯s engines were fired up with sparks flying everywhere, increasing its speed once again. This speed had already gone past the theoretical speed that Destruction Devil could reach. If the inventor of Destruction Devil knew about this, they would definitely not believe it to be true. Of course, doing this required an intelligent entity like Little Seven to perfect the system and to have him take out every factor that could affect its speed.


    Little Seven didn¡¯t know how long Destruction Devil¡¯s engines could hold. However, he couldn¡¯t care less about that at that moment. He just had to get out of this dire situation as quickly as possible.


    The Destruction Devil flew forwards even faster. All of the soldiers on the 7th Bugle Call saw a swarm of blue and red hues moving towards them. However, contrary to their expectations, the swarm of hues suddenly splitted apart, miraculously avoiding them.


    Those who were on the 7th Bugle Call didn¡¯t know what was happening, but Luo Lang, who was holding on to the Destruction Devil¡¯s tail area, saw it very clearly. The reason the profound god state energies didn¡¯t devour the Destruction Devil was because Xie Yi was blocking that energy with his life.


    Luo Lang¡¯s tears didn¡¯t stoping out of his eyes. However, the more he cried, the clearer he could see. Xie Yi stood there firmly, without backing even one step. He then saw the mecha¡¯s head slowly turning towards him as if it was smiling at him.


    ¡°Xie Yi!¡± Luo Lang didn¡¯t understand. He didn¡¯t understand Xie Yi¡¯s feelings. He would also be willing to die for his friends, but he would do it out of the friendship between them, not affection. He didn¡¯t understand the feelings of Xie Yi as he smiled towards him and died for him. However, the Xie Yi he saw made his heart ache.


    Finally, Luo Lang watched as Xie Yi gotpletely devoured by the blue and red profound god state energies, beingpletely wiped away from the face of existence.


    Without anything blocking it, the profound god state energies began to wildly rush towards Destruction Devil. However, the ten seconds of time Xie Yi bought was enough for the Destruction Devil to escape the affected area.


    Ling Lan, who still hadn¡¯t epted the death of her father, suddenly felt a strong hit in her spiritual world. She spat out a mouthful of blood, her eyes then rolled back as shepletely fell unconscious.


    Without anyone piloting the mecha, the mecha¡¯s arm loosened its grip on the handle on the Destruction Devil. The entire mecha began to lean towards the void.


    ¡°Ling Lan!¡± Li Lanfeng reacted quickly and grabbed onto Ling Lan¡¯s mecha¡¯s arm. He pulled the mecha in and locked it in his arms.


    The weight of the two mechas was now being supported by one of Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha¡¯s arms. The terrifying pulling force created by Destruction Devil¡¯s speed was testing Li Lanfeng to his limits.


    Li Lanfeng roared out angrily. His spiritual power increased greatly once again, but he spat out a mouthful of blood while doing so. Li Lanfeng then spun around and pinned Ling Lan¡¯s mecha onto the Destruction Devil. His mecha was now on top of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha as he locked Ling Lan¡¯s mecha into his arms.


    In reality, Li Lanfeng had already sustained heavy injuries after forcibly increasing his spiritual power many times. In such trying times, he was finally grateful that he had a body that had been harmed by his spiritual power from when he was young. It gave him the endurance to endure the immense pain. That way, he was able to protect the person he wanted to protect.


    After racing against death, the Destruction Devil finally got away from death¡¯s door right as the blue and red profound god state energies sessfullybined.


    On the other side, Supreme Dragon, who had just arrived, looked at the spreading blue and red energies spreading through it. His expression instantly became depressed. ¡°I¡¯m toote.¡±


    Even with his immense strength, he also couldn¡¯t enter the area where the two energies were at each other¡¯s throats. He didn¡¯t know who would be the one to survive this profound god state battle. Or perhaps it was a mutual destruction?


    With neither of them being able to continue to be in their profound god states, the energies began to dissipate. Suddenly, arge mecha was revealed beneath the red and blue hue. It was the disguised god-ss mecha. However, because of the savage energies of the profound god states, the disguised parts were mostly destroyed, showing its real form.


    ¡°Ha ha, Ling Xiao. If I want you to die, you will die. Even if you¡¯re strong and entered into the profound god-ss. What does that matter?¡± He closed his eyes and sunk into the feeling of exhration. He smiled joyfully. ¡°It¡¯s a sess! As expected, if the main body dies, I will be able to take their innate talent. It could even be done to Ling Xiao. The innate talent, Duplication. The faed heaven-defying talent is finally mine. Ha ha. As long as I can control it, who can still face me in this world? Ling Xiao, all that you have, the 23rd Division, the seat of marshal, are all mine.¡±


    Suddenly, he noticed a inquisitize gaze and he quickly loosened the rest of his disguise, showing his mecha¡¯s real form.


    In the next second, Supreme Dragon appeared before him.


    ¡°Supreme Dragon, we are both toote,¡± said that god-ss operator regretfully.


    ¡°Oh? Ren Feiyu, it¡¯s you,¡± said Supreme Dragon in surprise. Although he knew Ren Feiyu was a god-ss operator, he still didn¡¯t expect Ren Feiyu to actually involve himself in the war against the Twilight Empire.


    ¡°After hearing that General Ling Xiao was in trouble, I hurriedly came to aid him. I didn¡¯t think I would get here after the fact.¡± Ren Feiyu¡¯s voice had an apologetic tone as if he was regretting arriving toote.


    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t matter even if you got here on time. The battle between profound god-ss operators isn¡¯t something you can participate in.¡± Supreme Dragon sighed regretfully. If he had known that Ling Xiao had entered the profound god-ss earlier, perhaps he would not have sent him to be themander-in-chief for the war against the Twilight Empire. However, one mistake after another led to the death of Ling Xiao, costing the Federation a chance to rise up to be an empire.


    ¡°If you came here, will the Flying Dragon Special Forces be alright without you protecting it?¡± Supreme Dragon remembered the Flying Dragon Special Forces also had their own special mission.


    ¡°I already made arrangements. Those children in the Flying Dragon Special Forces are all good children. They will finish the mission with perfection,¡± Ren Feiyu said proudly. He couldn¡¯t bepared to Ling Xiao in other aspects, but in terms of nurturing the future generation, he was definitely better at it than Ling Xiao. He quietly chose to ignore Ling Lan¡¯s existence.


    There was no doubt that the disguised god-ss operator was the highest ranking officer of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, Ren Feiyu. He possessed the power to overlook the marshals. It was just that no one knew he was a god-ss operator. Moreover, he wasn¡¯t part of the 12 god-ss operators who were known publicly.


    ¡°Did you find anything when you went in?¡± Supreme Dragon was still most worried about Ling Xiao. ¡°Did Ling Xiao not leave anything?¡± A profound god-ss individual would have a chance to survive if they were to leave a part of themselves in this world.


    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t find anything,¡± Ren Feiyu closed his eyes and replied inly.

 Chapter 1273 - Activate, Duplication Talent!

    <h4>Chapter 1273 Activate, Duplication Talent!</h4>


    No one could see the jealous and hateful look in Ren Feiyu¡¯s eyes. It was just like before when the First Marshal only cared about Ling Xiao. The previous chief of the Flying Dragon Special Forces also saw Ling Xiao as the next in line to take his position. In the end, Ling Xiao didn¡¯t want it, so the chief gave it to Ren Feiyu instead.


    Everyone only had Ling Xiao in their eyes. Even if he performed well, even if they were praising him, these people would still add in thest few words at the end of their sentence, ¡®Of course, it¡¯s notparable to Ling Xiao¡¯s records.


    He didn¡¯t know when it started, but Ling Xiao became someone he mentally couldn¡¯t surpass. If Ling Xiao was alive, he would feel suffocated every single day. 20 years ago, he finally managed to plot against Ling Xiao and ¡®killed¡¯ him. During those years, he was able to sleep at peace and climb to the position he wanted. However, Ling Xiao actually returned alive, and everyone¡¯s gaze fell upon him once again. The First Marshal, who was nning on developing Ren Feiyu to be the next marshal, gazed upon Ling Xiao favorably again. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that he had done so much for the First Marshal, perhaps he would have been abandoned long ago.


    Thus, Ling Xiao must die. This time, however, he was definitely going to see it for himself. In the end, he got what he wanted.


    The news of Monarch Fury and Ling Xiao dying of mutual destruction was instantly known throughout the entire gxy. Caesar was shocked. Twilight was terrified. The Federation was in sorrow. Many ns didn¡¯t even dare to think about going against military orders and began moving out to attack Twilight. In a short amount of time, all the borders of the Twilight Empire became battlefields. Caesar, who Twilight put all their hopes in, slowly withdrew back to their own territory after losing Monarch Fury. They didn¡¯t dare to make any further moves.


    Without a profound god-ss individual holding the fort, they must first find a way to resolve the conflict between them and the Federation. It should be known that the Federation still had another profound god-ss individual. Even if his strength had deteriorated and that he wouldn¡¯t be able to continue to live for many years, as long as he was alive, Caesar must bow their head down and regard themselves as servants to the Federation. They had to wait until that person passed on from this world before restarting their campaign.


    Twilight, who was abandoned by Caesar, no longer had any allies to reinforce them. What awaited them was the destruction of their nation. Of course, they weren¡¯t the only ones being destroyed. There was also their allied nation, the Aran Alliance. Just one Twilight Empire was not enough to quell the anger of the citizens and soldiers of the Federation. The Aran Alliance, who fought alongside the Twilight Empire, was the best target for letting out their anger.


    Many soldiers and citizens actually wanted to start a war with Caesar. However, the three marshals and the military headquarters knew that the Federation only looked strong on the outside. In reality, they were just a paper tiger. The profound god-ss individual, Supreme Dragon, could only be used as a deterrence. If he were to actually fight and activate his profound god state, he would probably reach his limit after the war and die. After thinking about all that, the three of them all regretted the arrangements they had made for Ling Xiao. Although Ling Xiao took Monarch Fury down with him, causing a huge blow towards Caesar, a living profound god-state individual was still more useful than a dead one.


    It should be known that although Monarch Fury could fight, everyone knew he only had at most 20 to 30 years left to live. After 20 or so years, he would be like Supreme Dragon, who was retired and was basically waiting for Death toe. However, Ling Xiao was different. He was still so young. At least, for the next 150 years, he would be able to stay at his peak. If he preserved himself, it was possible for him to suppress the other nations for 200 years.


    100 years was already multiple generations to grow, not to mention 200 years. This amount of time was enough for the Federation to increase both its political and military power, and stand above all nations. As the war progressed, more and more of the Twilight Empire¡¯ss were put under the Federation¡¯s control. The victory was within their grasp. The few god-ss operators who had participated in the battle all began to return home.


    Ren Feiyu also used this chance to return silently. That was because his god-ss operator level was not publicized, so he could only mix in with the other god-ss operators.


    ¡°Chief, you¡¯re back.¡± Right as Ren Feiyu returned to his quarters, his deputy had been there waiting for him.


    ¡°Wait outside. I need to go to the training room to make sense of something. Notify everyone to not disturb me,¡± ordered Ren Feiyu inly.


    ¡°Yes, Chief,¡± said the deputy respectfully.


    Ren Feiyu then went directly to the training room. He carefully closed the door of the room and also turned off the surveince cameras at the same time. After knowing he was no longer being watched, he breathed a sigh of relief and sat crossed legged on one of the mats.


    ¡°Duplication talent. The talent I have always dreamed of. It¡¯s finally mine.¡± Ren Feiyu¡¯s face was full of excitement. He used so much effort in order to acquire Ling Xiao¡¯s innate talent. In the end, he had finally seeded. However, he almost gave his identity away because of it. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact he knew the First Marshal well, he might actually have been caught by that sly old fox.


    Ren Feiyu used his spiritual power to softly push on the device in his mindscape.


    ¡°Would you like to activate the newly acquired talent?¡± said a robotic voice.


    This thing was something he suddenly acquired when he was just a young boy. He didn¡¯t know what it actually was. Back then, he only felt his head hurt after falling unconscious for a few days. He was clueless about what it was until one day, when he identally encountered someone who had just died, this device suddenly spoke up and asked whether he would like to record a newly found energy innate talent. He was curious about its function, so he said he needed it. Then, the device asked him whether he would like to activate it. After sumbing to his curiosity, he fell unconscious again. In the end, he was taken to his parents by the police. They all thought he fell unconscious out of fright after seeing a dead person. Only he knew the real reason why he fainted that day. From that day onwards, he acquired his first innate talent. It was a very useless talent. He had already forgotten what it was. It couldn¡¯t be helped as he could only develop one innate talent at a time. Those who had two innate talents would never bemoners. Ren Feiyu, of course, wanted to continue to be amoner in the eyes of the public as in doing so, he would attract less attention and less hatred. Thus, after acquiring a better innate talent, he would erase the previous innate talent, slowly growing stronger as time went


    by


    Ren Feiyu held back the feeling of euphoria coursing through his vein. He closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down. Although this device was very beneficial for him, it was still painful whenever he activated the innate talent. The paining from the activation of the innate talent couldn¡¯t be avoided. If he wanted to perfectly use the newly acquired innate talent, his body must be modified to amodate the innate talent. The pain was truly unbearable, it was as if every inch of your body was slowly peeled away. However, in order to be stronger, Ren Feiyu wasn¡¯t afraid of some pain but still, calming himself down would allow him to endure more pain. He didn¡¯t want to fall unconscious half way in just like he did in the ast.


    Back then he didn¡¯t know about the implications of falling consciousness, but after he did some research, he discovered that the results of activating the innate talents while awake was different from when he was unconscious. When he was awake, the quality of innate talent was higher and the innate talent was more likely to revert to its original state. Being unconscious would lower the quality of the innate talent, and at most he could only obtain half of what it originally was.


    It was fine for other innate talents, but he couldn¡¯t let Ling Xiao¡¯s Duplication innate talent go to waste. Something he acquired from years of hard work must be reverted close to 100%.


    After feeling he was ready, Ren Feiyu calmly said, ¡°Activate!¡±


    After saying those words, a terrifying yet familiar pain writhed throughout his body. Ren Feiyu couldn¡¯t control himself and began to scream out in agony. His entire face was twisted as if he was being possessed.

 Chapter 1274 - Ling Xiao? Ling Xiao!

    <h4>Chapter 1274 Ling Xiao? Ling Xiao!</h4>


    After enduring for only a few minutes, Ren Feiyu suddenly had a terrified expression on his face. ¡°What is this?! This isn¡¯t the Duplication talent...¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡± He suddenly cried out in agony. His entire body fell onto the floor, and after a few seconds, he went unconscious.


    After four hours, Ren Feiyu slowly opened his eyes and sat up.


    A seemingly demonic smirk appeared on his face.


    ¡°Ren Feiyu... My things are not for you to take.¡± Ren Feiyu¡¯s demonic smirk slowly turned to a mocking expression. ¡°The entire world knows that I have the Duplication talent. How could they know that I am actually a double innate talent individual? I never told anyone about the second innate talent not because I didn¡¯t want to tell people, but because I couldn¡¯t tell them.¡±


    ¡°The Devour innate talent can devour all that exists. That includes your consciousness, Ren Feiyu. Tsk, tsk, tsk, you really are unlucky. You didn¡¯t get my Duplication innate talent but instead acquired my Devour innate talent. After plotting against me for so long... Ha! Now devouring your consciousness shall be the price you pay for plotting against me.¡± Ling Xiao let out a devilish smile. ¡°First Marshal, I¡¯ve said it before. Don¡¯t let mee back alive. Once Ie back alive, we will slowly settle all our differences... If you don¡¯t want me to be on your side, then I just be the antagonist of this story. The games from now will be interesting. Just you wait and see.¡±


    Ling Xiao slowly restrained his demonic smile. His entire expression turned as cold as ice.


    Without the Duplication innate talent to bnce him out and with the Devour innate talent as his main talent, Ling Xiao¡¯s aura was very demonic. Even if he had the face of Ling Xiao, just this demonic aura was enough to make Ling Lan not acknowledge that this person was her warm and kind-hearted father.


    Ling Lan slowly awakened. She was still inside her mecha. The mecha¡¯s disy screen was blocked by arge mecha¡¯s body. Ling Lan didn¡¯t need to ask any question as she knew it was definitely Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha on top of her. She didn¡¯t try and move away as tears slowly dropped from her eyes. She hated crying as she believed it was a sign of weakness. However, now, she couldn¡¯t hold back the sadness in her heart. Tears came down her cheeks uncontrobly.


    It turns out, back then, it wasn¡¯t because she was strong-willed, but rather she just wasn¡¯t sad enough. If it was possible, she would rather have her father never return. That way, she wouldn¡¯t have had to endure such heartbreaking pain. It was pain that entered directly into the heart. Ling Lan hated herself. If she was just a bit stronger; If she was a god-ss operator; A profound god-ss operator; Would her father not have given up his life to protect her?


    ¡®Caesar, Twilight and the Federation... I won¡¯t let any of you go.¡¯ Ling Lan screamed out angrily in her mind...


    ¡°Ling Lan, don¡¯t be sad. The general won¡¯t die. He won¡¯t die. He¡¯s a bird that won¡¯t die. He¡¯s a phoenix. He will definitely be reborn from the ashes. He will return, just like back then.¡± Slowly, Ling Lan began to hear these words. It was Li Lanfeng


    ¡°Ling Lan, don¡¯t be sad. The general won¡¯t die. He won¡¯t die. He¡¯s a phoenix. He will definitely be reborn from the ashes. He will return, just like back then.¡± Li Lanfeng continued to repeat the same words over again. His voice had already be hoarse and was somewhat trembling. However, even though his voice was like that, he still continued to repeat those words. He wanted to provide any semnce offort to Ling Lan. He wanted Ling Lan to regain herposure and continue to be motivated to live.


    At that moment, Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t know what to do or say tofort Ling Lan. He could only repeat those words as those words gave him confidence so he hoped that it would also give Ling Lan confidence too. He knew the importance of General Ling Xiao to Ling Lan. Ling Lan wasn¡¯t like him. He was a truly cold, heartless and selfish person, but Ling Lan was someone who put feelings first. Despite Ling Lan behaving coldly and heartlessly, he knew Ling Lan¡¯s softer side. He knew Ling Lan¡¯s real personality. That personality made him adore Ling Lan. It was because he couldn¡¯t have that type of emotion.


    ¡°Yes. My father¡¯s a bird that won¡¯t perish. He¡¯s a phoenix...¡± Ling Lan said as she cried. She didn¡¯t believe that the man who loved her so much would be so heartless to leave her like that. She believed that as long as there was a slight possibility, her father would definitely return. That was because his loving wife, Lan Luofeng, and child, Ling Lan, were still alive.


    After hearing Ling Lan¡¯s reply, Li Lanfeng had a joyful expression on his face. He had been constantly repeating the same words for more than an hour while not hearing a single response from Ling Lan. Only god knew how worried he was. He was afraid Ling Lan couldn¡¯t take all of it at once. In addition to Ling Lan¡¯s previous injuries... Now that he heard Ling Lan¡¯s voice, Li Lanfeng felt alive again.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. When has the general ever disappointed us. We must believe in him. Ling Lan, you can¡¯t disappoint the general.¡± Despite Li Lanfeng not knowing what Ling Xiao told Ling Lan at the very end, he still believed those words could motivate Ling Lan to continue living. That was why he emphasized it in hopes Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t forget about what the general had told him. In order for Ling Lan to have the motivation to continue living, Li Lanfeng used all the methods he could think


    of.


    He didn¡¯t care much about whether General Ling Xiao was dead or alive. He only cared about how much Ling Lan would hurt from this incident and if Ling Lan would continue to have the confidence to live.


    ¡°I know. I won¡¯t disappoint my father,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. No matter what happened to her father, Ling Lan was not someone who depended on her father to live. She no longer wanted to watch the people she loved dearly fight for her or even sacrifice themselves for her. She hoped that could protect the people he loved with her own two hands.


    ¡®I was wrong in the past. I will change now and continue to be stronger. I only hope that one day god will give me another chance to protect that person who loves me and who I also love,¡¯ thought Ling Lan as tears trickled down her face.


    ¡°I will be a king! The king of this world and not let anyone plot against me or the people I love¡±


    It was the first time Ling Lan had such an ambitious thought. After losing someone she cared about dearly, Ling Lan had an epiphany about life. Protecting those she loved couldn¡¯t be done just by saying it. She needed to do more. Abilities was one; Followers was another; but there was also political power she now needed to take into ount. Little Seven controlled Destruction Devil and led these saddened individuals away from the Twilight Empire, away from the Federation. They went towards a far away ce that even he didn¡¯t know where they were going.


    This was the finalmand his boss, Little Four, gave him. He couldn¡¯t find him anymore. Thus, he believed that he mustplete what his Boss had assigned him, even if it meant taking Ling Lan and betraying the Federation.

 Chapter 1275 - Helpless!

    Chapter 1275 Helpless!


    Little Seven finally found a deserted satellite base to dock the Destruction Devil at. Little Seven carefully controlled the 7th Bugle Call and docked onto its port.


    Li Lanfeng saw the cargo doors to the main hull slowly opening, so he held onto Ling Lan¡¯s mecha and flew into the main part of the ship. On the other side of the tail area of the ship, Luo Lang also flew inside the ship. After finding the mecha hold to dock their mechas, Li Lanfeng crawled out his mecha with a bloody and battered body. Even with such heavy injuries, he didn¡¯t tend to his injuries but instead went directly to Ling Lan¡¯s mecha.


    He opened atch near Ling Lan¡¯s cockpit, revealing a keypad that could manually open the cockpit from the outside. Li Lanfeng carefully keyed in the passcode for the cockpit to open. Stepping backward a few steps, Li Lanfeng saw Ling Lan lying inside there with blood and grime sticking all over her mecha suit. It would be difficult to get her out of mecha suit without injuring her any further.


    Having no choice, Li Lanfeng took a deep breath and grabbed a multipurpose knife he kept in his pocket. He concentrated his gaze and slowly cut open the suit inch by inch before carefully pulling Ling Lan out.


    This was his first time seeing Ling Lan so weak and fragile. Back when they were on Haijiao, he wasmanding the battle in the base so didn¡¯t see what Ling Lan was like when she was sent to the medical department. Despite knowing Ling Lan was severely injured and being very worried about Ling Lan, he didn¡¯t see it for his own eyes so he didn¡¯t feel as much pain as he was feeling right now. If it was possible, he didn¡¯t want to see Ling Lan like how she was right now ever again. He liked to see the dominant Ling Lan standing before him, snorting coldly at him and smacking him down with one hit then saying, ¡®Li Lanfeng, don¡¯t make me look down on you...¡¯


    That was the version of Ling Lan he loved and wanted to see.


    Even with turbulent emotions wrecking them internally, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang slowly collected themselves as this starship was still unfamiliar territory so they were still not really safe. They quickly took out the medicinal agent they had pre-prepared in their mechas and fed them to Ling Lan.


    Right at that moment, a door connecting to the corridor of the ship suddenly opened. Major General Tian Fang was bringing medical personnel to the mecha hold.


    ¡°How is Lieutenant General Ling doing?¡± Tian Fang asked worriedly.


    Although General Ling Xiao might have perished, his admiration for both Ling Lan and Ling Xiao had not diminished in the slightest.


    In reality, Tian Fang and Luo Yang already had some clues on how General Ling Xiao fell into this trap. If the Federation didn¡¯t secretly allow it, Caesar, Twilight and the Aran Alliance wouldn¡¯t have been able to send out this many god-ss operators to the battlefield at the Twilight Empire. It was clear that this battle was clearly a plot against the general, and the Federation definitely had a hand in it. This undoubtedly hurt the love these soldiers had for their nation. Even if it was just a normal general, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to ept it, not to mention the person was the idol of all the soldiers, General Ling Xiao. ¡°It¡¯s no surprise, politics are disgusting and sinful.¡± After being disappointed by the Federation, they epted the fact that Little Seven had taken them away from the Federation. Otherwise, Little Seven would not have piloted the Destruction Devil out of the Federation without any obstruction. The reason why everyone on the 7th Bugle Call calmly epted it was because Tian Fang and Luo Yang told everyone the reason behind leaving the Federation. Of course, it was also mostly due to the fact that most of the people on the 7th Bugle Call were part of Tian Fang¡¯s original crew. This was why Ling Xiao was confident in them. Tian Fang wasn¡¯t like other regimentmanders, who would be afraid of their subordinates separating themselves to factions and then losing control of them in the end.


    Ling Xiao was confident in his own capabilities and the strict regtions of the 23rd Division. Even if these starshipmanders were to take their confidants with them and be factions on their own, they still would function as one during a war and fight bravely against the enemies of the Federation and the 23rd Division.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s way of doing things, along with the strict yet fair regtions, did indeed make all of themanders in the 23rd Division loyal and happy at the same time. It was just like Tian Fang¡¯s 7th Bugle Call. Once theirmander gave an order to fight, they would most definitely rush to the front lines. They wouldn¡¯t change their course just to protect themselves.


    After hearing Tian Fang¡¯s question, Li Lanfeng shook his head depressingly, ¡°Ourmander¡¯s condition isn¡¯t good. He is injured too severely.¡±


    ¡°I have already prepared a surgery room for Lieutenant General Ling. I request Major General Li and Senior Colonel Luo to take him there,¡± suggested Tian Fang.


    Right as Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang were about to nod in agreement, Ling Lan opened her eyes and said with a soft voice, ¡°Unnecessary. Just give me a quiet room. I will treat my own wounds.¡±


    ¡°Commander, your wounds need immediate treatment.¡± The veins on Li Lanfeng¡¯s forehead were popping. He held back his anger and spoke softly.


    ¡°I know my wounds. I know how to treat myself better.¡± Ling Lan stared at Li Lanfeng with a look of determination. Her gaze told Li Lanfeng to not go against her will.


    The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds. In the end, Li Lanfeng gave in and said, ¡°Alright. However, if things get worse, don¡¯t me me for forcing you to get treatment.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡± Ling Lan knew she just needed to give Li Lanfeng a peace of mind. Otherwise, that guy would definitely use forceful methods. With her current condition, if he was to force her to do something, she wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything about it. What was more important was that she didn¡¯t want her identity as a female to be exposed before reaching the top of the food chain of the gxy.


    Soon, Tian Fang had prepared a private room for Ling Lan. Li Lanfeng held Ling Lan in his arms and slowlyid her on a soft mat.


    The medic who followed them quickly put the bandages and treatment agents Ling Lan requested on the coffee table on her side.


    Li Lanfeng knelt half way down beside Ling Lan and asked softly, ¡°Do you need me to help you...¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have any thoughts of marrying a male just yet.¡± Ling Lan took the bandages and lowered her head towards Li Lanfeng and said indifferently, ¡°I think you also don¡¯t want to get married to me.¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s mouth writhed as he swallowed the words ¡®I want to¡¯. At this current moment, in this current situation, it wasn¡¯t a suitable time for him to confess his feelings. Ling Lan was already injured badly, she should not be bothered by his emotions and should just concentrate on healing herself.


    Li Lanfeng was usually selfish, but that was only towards others. When it was Ling Lan, he would always let Ling Lan dictate everything. At that moment, Ling Lan needed time, rest and peace. Even if he wanted to tell Ling Lan about his feelings, he still needed to hold them in. He could only wait for Ling Lan to slowly recover from her injuries. Only after everything had returned to normal, would he consider confessing his feelings to Ling Lan.


    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll be outside. If you need anything, just call me.¡± After receiving a peace of mind, Li Lanfeng stood up, slowly walked towards the door of the room and closed the door.


    He leaned on the door and slid down to the floor slowly. Then he patiently waited for Ling Lan to call him.


    At that moment, Li Lanfeng had already forgotten that his injuries were not light either. Just holding Ling Lan tightly in his arms reopened the injuries on his body. After waiting in a daze for a short while, the ce where he sat down had a pool of blood under him. Luckily, he could recover pretty quickly so the blood gradually stopped flowing as his wounds began to heal.


    However, Li Lanfeng was not aware of what was happening to him. He was only focused on listening to the movements in the room behind him. As long as Ling Lan needed him, he would rush in at a moment¡¯s notice.


    Ling Lan slowly unzipped her clothes and took them off piece by piece. Her underwear was stuck on her wounds because the crusty and dried up blood. Separating them from her body was the same as opening all the wounds. However, this pain wasn¡¯t anything Ling Lan couldn¡¯t handle.


    ¡°Little Four, did you ascertain that there¡¯s no surveince equipment here?¡± Ling Lan was always careful so she began to ask Little Four about the situation around her.


    However, Little Four, who usually loved to speak, didn¡¯t make any sound.

 Chapter 1276 - Little Four Disappeared!

    Chapter 1276 Little Four Disappeared!


    ¡°Little Four? Little Four?¡± Ling Lan shouted out in terror.


    However, her mindscape waspletely empty. Little Four¡¯s annoying yet sharp voice was no longer there.


    Ling Lan anxiously used her spiritual power to try to enter the learning space. However, when she tried to enter it, she was rejected by it. Her spiritual power couldn¡¯t even get close to it.


    ¡®What is happening?¡¯ Ling Lan¡¯s heart ached. Was she going to lose her little brother Little Four after just losing her father?


    ¡°Little Four, Little Four, Little Four, answer me. Don¡¯t scare me like this. Little Four, answer me!¡± Ling Lan cried out in agony in her mindscape.


    In the entire mindscape dimension, only her call for Little Four echoed within it. Other than that, there weren¡¯t any other sounds. Even Little Blossom didn¡¯t make any noise. Ling Lan then remembered Little Blossom. She immediately began to call out for him, ¡°Little Blossom, Little Blossom, are you here? If you¡¯re here, please say something. I beg of you. Tell me where Little Four has gone to. Why isn¡¯t heing out? Why isn¡¯t he here...¡± There was still no response. It was as though other than Ling Lan, there wasn¡¯t anyone that existed in her mindscape dimension.


    ¡°Little Four, Little Four... Why aren¡¯t you here? What are you?¡± Ling Lan couldn¡¯t understand what was happening because Little Four, who was always following beside her, had left without saying anything in advance.


    Suddenly, Ling Lan remembered that when she was still sad about her father leaving this world, her mindscape was in chaos, which caused her to go unconscious. Was that the reason why Little Four had vanished?


    Ling Lan, now with a direction to go towards, began to scan her mindscape. She discovered that the usually lush and lively mindscape had begun to writhe and rot. Although it wasn¡¯t as serious as before, it was still quite bad. She actually neglected the odd situation in her mindscape because she was sad about her father.


    Something must have happened to Little Four and the learning space. Ling Lan was anxious and frustrated, but she didn¡¯t know what to do to ease her frustration. Not being able to enter the learning space disallowed her from knowing Little Four¡¯s situation. She was also unaware of Little Blossom and the nine instructors¡¯ situations as well.


    In that instant, Ling Lan suddenly felt she was abandoned by the entire world. The father, who loved her dearly, was most likely dead. Her little brother, Little Four, who had always been following beside her since her birth, had disappeared as well. Moreover, Xie Yi, who was always optimistic and loved to smile, had sacrificed himself to make sure they could get away from the profound god state energies safely.


    At that moment, Ling Lan could no longer control herself. She quickly covered her mouth. She was like a lonely little animal. She curled up in a fetal position and began to sob softly.


    Li Lanfeng, who had been paying attention to Ling Lan all this time, heard Ling Lan soft sobbing. He put his hand on the door, but in the end, he helplessly put his hand down and continued to lean on the door instead.


    His heart was aching for the person he loved who was always tough and never cried. However, now that tough person was silently crying by himself. Li Lanfeng¡¯s tears were always used for a purpose, but today, he cried because he was sad. He was crying for that person who he truly loved.


    ¡®Ling Lan. I know that being so proud, you wouldn¡¯t want me to see you at your weakest. The me right now can¡¯t do anything even though I see you crying in such pain. Even a word offort would be seen as an insult to you. A useless me can only just cry with you. I really hope I can cry more for you. Hopefully, it will lessen the pain.¡¯


    Two people, one outside the room and one inside. Both were crying. One was for herself and the other was for the person he loved. They had different feelings, but shared the same pain.


    At a ce where neither of these two knew about, Luo Lang clenched the bracelet Xie Yi had gifted him while also sobbing intensely. In the past, he didn¡¯t understand the feelings Xie Yi had for him when he gave him the bracelet. He had even disliked him for it. However, now, he understood the reason, but he no longer had a chance to respond to the question Xie Yi had asked him back then.


    The moment he was referring to was the time when they graduated from the military academy. At that time, Xie Yi suddenly called him to hangout in a cafe. When he arrived at the cafe, Xie Yi pushed a beautifully wrapped box to him.


    Luo Lang looked at the box with a suspicious gaze in his eyes as he asked in confusion, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Was it one of those prank boxes? Xie Yi always liked to pull pranks and make jokes, Luo Lang had to be on guard.


    Xie Yi had a pained expression on his face as he said, ¡°This is a graduation gift for you. Can¡¯t you just trust me.¡±


    ¡°Well, who asked you to lose everyone¡¯s trust in the past few years?¡± Luo Lang pouted. If it wasn¡¯t because he was open-minded, Xie Yi might have been disliked by everyone in the world, causing him to not have a single person y with him.


    Xie Yi pretended he didn¡¯t hear those words and looked at Luo Lang with a smile, gesturing him to open the box and take a look.


    Although Xie Yi loved to make jokes and pull pranks, the only person who he didn¡¯t prank other than Ling Lan (Xie Yi didn¡¯t dare to prank Ling Lan) was Luo Lang in the past few years.


    Luo Lang trusted Xie Yi wouldn¡¯t lie to him, so he opened the box with high expectation. After all, he was still quite happy that someone gave him a gift.


    After opening the box, he only saw a t andmon looking bracelet. The color was green which wasn¡¯t the color Luo Lang liked. It was rather close to the color of his skin.


    Luo Lang saw it and had a look of disdain on his face, ¡°What¡¯s this? It doesn¡¯t look nice at all.¡± Well, Luo Lang still liked those beautiful things. In Qi Long¡¯s words, he would be considered as someone who was focused on appearances.


    Xie Yi was annoyed at Luo Lang¡¯s pure dismissal of his gift. ¡°Luo Lang, don¡¯t judge a book by its cover.¡±


    He quickly taught Luo Lang how to use the bracelet step by step. It turns out, the seemingly ordinary bracelet, was not so ordinary. It was actually a weapon that could change into countless different forms.


    It could shoot out a grappling hook, taking a person up over a wall. There were also needles inside it that could be shot out. The most important part was that if he was in danger, he just needed to push down on the bracelet firmly. Then, Xie Yi would be able to lock onto his location and arrive promptly.


    After hearing all this, Luo Lang was very annoyed. ¡°If I can¡¯t handle it, then what use would you be? It would be more useful to get Boss.¡±


    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll stay and hold the enemy while you go find Boss,¡± Xie Yi didn¡¯t get angry and only replied with a smile on his face. Perhaps that was the real thought in Xie Yi¡¯s mind. Him going to Luo Lang was not to save Luo Lang, but rather it was to use his life in exchange for Luo Lang to have a chance to live.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want it. Wearing it will weigh me down and be a burden.¡± Luo Lang didn¡¯t want to wear something that he deemed to be useless.


    Xie Yi said sadly, ¡°This is something I ordered long ago. I spent a lot of money... If you don¡¯t want it, then the few months that I starved myself would all have been for nothing.¡±


    ¡°What...¡± Luo Lang didn¡¯t think Xie Yi lived so frugally just because of this bracelet.


    ¡°Yeah. Our credits are all with Boss. Plus, I didn¡¯t give our Boss a present. If he knows that I only give you a present, I¡¯ll definitely die by his hand,¡± said Xie Yi with a terrified look on his face.


    ¡°Then, why don¡¯t you also give the others this present?¡± asked Luo Lang in confusion.


    ¡°They don¡¯t need it since they¡¯re all stronger than me.¡± Xie Yi shrugged with a helpless look on his face.

 Chapter 1277 - I Don’t Believe It!

    Chapter 1277 I Don¡¯t Believe It!


    ¡°You are implying I¡¯m weak? I think you haven¡¯t beaten me yet.¡± Luo Lang gritted his teeth angrily. Why did everyone think he was the weakest link even though he was the third strongest?


    ¡°Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Then what should I do? I ordered it to your size. No one else can wear it. It will be wasted if you reject it,¡± Xie Yi hugged his head with his hands.


    Seeing Xie Yi¡¯s saddened expression, Luo Lang pitied him a bit. He looked at the bracelet and felt that just tossing it away was indeed quite wasteful. Thus, he helplessly said, ¡°Forget it. Just give it to me. I¡¯ll just wear it as an essory.¡±


    Xie Yi¡¯s eyes lit up at Luo Lang¡¯s answer. He immediately stood up, picked up the bracelet in Luo Lang¡¯s hands and carefully put it on Luo Lang¡¯s wrist.


    Right at that moment, Xie Yi suddenly asked softly, ¡°Luo Lang, if someone who liked you gave you something like this and put it on for you, would you ept them?¡±


    Luo Lang looked confused and asked, ¡°ept what?¡±


    Xie Yiughed and sputtered, ¡°Nothing. I was just asking for fun.¡±


    After hearing Xie Yi dismissing the question, Luo Lang didn¡¯t think much of it. In reality, Luo Lang was someone who didn¡¯t like to think too much, unless his calm personality appeared, he would stay in a ditzy manner. Plus, the calm personality would definitely not help analyze Xie Yi¡¯s feelings for the main personality. ¡°Xie Yi, you bastard. Why do you not like women and like me instead? Even liking my little sister is better than liking me...¡± Luo Lang said softly as he cried, ¡°I never thought about that kind of stuff. I only saw you as my best friend. I¡¯m sorry. I can¡¯t give an answer right now. Even if I do, you wouldn¡¯t be able to hear it.¡±


    ¡°If you have a chance to return alive, then maybe I will be willing to give you a chance...¡± Luo Lang held the bracelet in his hands as he cried. ¡°I don¡¯t like men, but if it is you, I will be willing to give you that chance. Xie Yi, did you hear that. You have to promise me that you will return alive and well. Prove to me that you love me...¡± Luo Lang didn¡¯t know what he was saying anymore. It was just like when Xie Yi gave up his life to give him a chance to live. He also wanted Xie Yi to stay alive. Even thought he never had any thoughts about homosexuality, he would still be willing to try it out for Xie Yi. As long as he could stay alive.


    Lingtian Independent Army soon received word of General Ling Xiao¡¯s death and Ling Lan¡¯s disappearance. No matter if it was Lin Zhong-qing and others who were on Base Neb, or Qi Long and the others protecting the transport convoy, they all felt as if they were all struck by lighting.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to go look for Boss. I will go find him.¡± Qi Long didn¡¯t care about the many major generals in the transport convoy trying to stop him. He just took two Destruction Devils and left. He went straight towards the area where Ling Lan fell in the trap.


    At the same time, Base Neb, which had just returned within the Federation¡¯s boundaries, also returned under Lin Zhong-qing¡¯smand to the location where theyst separated with Ling Lan.


    However, what they saw was all deste debris. It was because the profound god state energy¡¯s eruption had destroyed everything in this area of space. The blueish tint space also lost its color, bing a dark gray color.


    Finally, the two sides met up. Qi Longmanded the two Destruction Devils¡¯ to enter Base Neb. He rushed into themand center and grabbed the cor of Lin Zhong-qing as he shouted angrily, ¡°Why?! Why didn¡¯t you stop him? Why did you make him fight a god-ss operator all by himself? Why? Tell me why!¡± Lin Zhong-qing bit his lip and looked at Qi Long in silence. After Lin Zhong-qing received confirmation that Ling Lan had disappeared, he had been ming himself. If he had kept his eye on Boss, would he have been able to stop Boss from leaving the base? After thinking up to that point, he was full of regret. He hated himself for staying in the logistics department while Boss was in danger.


    ¡°Where is Li Lanfeng? Luo Lang? Xie Yi? What are they doing? Why didn¡¯t they stop Boss?¡± The Federation¡¯s headquarters only publicly announced Ling Xiao and Ling Lan¡¯s situation. Qi Long and the others still didn¡¯t know Li Lanfeng, Luo Lang and Xie Yi¡¯s situation.


    ¡°They disappeared together with Boss. We don¡¯t know what happened to them either.¡± Li Jinghong saw Qi Long be increasingly angrier and Lin Zhong-qing constantly ming himself. Li Jinghong was afraid Qi Long might explode so he immediately responded to his questions. ¡°And you know fully well we can¡¯t stop Boss. If he didn¡¯t leave, Base Neb would definitely have been destroyed by that god-ss operator. We would all die. Boss definitely wouldn¡¯t let something like that happen. We didn¡¯t have a choice...¡± said Li Jinghong in a pained tone. No one wanted to see all of this happen. However, at that moment, Boss really chose the best option, which was sacrificing herself in exchange for the people on board to survive.


    ¡°If Boss dies, then what would be the meaning of us living?¡± said Qi Long, now reddened with anger. ¡°It would be better to have Base Neb destroyed together with Boss.¡±


    ¡°Qi Long!¡± Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong, who followed Qi Long, shouted out angrily. The stuff he said were only allowed as thoughts and it should definitely not be spoken out. Otherwise, it would make the soldiers working under them feel terrible about themselves.


    ¡°Damn it! Damn It! Damn it all to hell!¡± Qi Long knelt on the ground. He angrily smashed the ground. He couldn¡¯t ept the result. Although they said Boss had disappeared, it actually meant that he probably wasn¡¯t alive.


    No one told them Ling Lan was taken away by the 7th Bugle Call. Ren Feiyu knew about it, but Ren Feiyu wouldn¡¯t tell anyone now. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be able to exin why he watched as Ling Xiao killed himself without helping him. Even if he wanted to find a chance to give out this information, he could never be able to say anything now since Ling Xiao had devoured his consciousness.


    As for Ling Xiao, he was more unlikely to give news that his daughter was still alive. He would rather no one know. That way his daughter would be able to freely, safely and soundly live in a farawaynd. She wouldn¡¯t need to face the traps and plots created by the inner circle within the Federation.


    Thus, the military headquarters believed Ling Lan had died during the sh between the two profound god states. In reality, they did find a few metallic pieces floating in space. After analyzing them, they were indeed imperial mecha pieces.


    However, in order to let the soldiers and citizens still have hope and not despair, they still imed that Ling Lan had disappeared instead of killed. Otherwise, if General Ling Xiao and his descendants were to die together, it would definitely cause the Federation¡¯s people to go insane. No matter if it was this generation or the previous one, the Huaxia Federation always ced immense importance on continuing a person¡¯s bloodline. In the Federation, insulting someone by saying that they will not have any descendants was considered the worst insult. There would definitely be vengeance between the two parties if those words were to be said in an argument.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe Boss died. He definitely wille back.¡± A sharp female voice echoed in the air. Right after those words were spoken, Luo Chao and Han Xuya walked in.


    Qi Long lifted his head and looked at Luo Chao in hopes that she could give him a promising answer.

 Chapter 1278 - Two People’s Decision

    <h4>1278 Two People¡°s Decision</h4>


    ¡°My older brother is my twin so there is a subtle connection between us. My heart tells me that he¡¯s still alive. He isn¡¯t dead.¡± Luo Chao pointed to her heart and continued in a firm tone, ¡°Since my brother isn¡¯t dead, Boss can¡¯t be dead since he is much more powerful than my brother. Why are you crying andmenting? Shouldn¡¯t you be helping Boss to control the situation here so that he can gain more power in the future when he returns? What a bunch of losers you are. You are making me look down on you


    Luo Chao red at the men with contempt. They should be discussing how to stabilise Boss¡¯s power, especially since General Ling Xiao had died. No one could help Boss now. They needed to work even harder now to help Boss.


    ¡°Luo Chao is right. You shouldn¡¯t bementing in sadness. We should think about how we can help Boss control the Lingtian Independent Army and the 23rd division. We can¡¯t let anyone take away General Ling Xiao¡¯s hard work. The general of the 23rd division can only be Boss,¡± Han Xuya agreed with Luo Chao.


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right.¡±


    ¡°We mustn¡¯t shoot ourselves in our foot. During this time, when Boss is away, we must protect the Lingtian Independent Army.¡±


    ¡°And the 23rd division.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ll be harder to protect the 23rd division. We don¡¯t have enough power. However, we must protect the Lingtian Independent Army.¡±


    Everyone started speaking. The atmosphere soon became lively.


    Actually, none of them believed that Boss, who was as powerful as a god to them, would die. But, they just couldn¡¯t find a reason to support their belief. Luo Chao¡¯s words finally gave them confidence. If Luo Lang was alive, Boss would definitely be alive too. Yang Mingzhi noticed that everyone had pulled themselves together so he opened his mouth and said, ¡°Yes, this is what we need to do immediately. The reason why ourmander sent us out is most probably because he doesn¡¯t want anyone to take over the Lingtian Independent Army.¡±


    ¡°But the whereabouts of ourmander is unknown. The military won¡¯t let the position remain empty. Even if they don¡¯t appoint a newmander, they will probably send us a temporarymander,¡± Liu Furong said.


    ¡°We need to discuss how we should tackle this issue and help ourmander retain his position.¡± Yang Mingzhi stared intently at the young heroes brought up by Ling Lan. They were all amazing talents. If they went out, every division would try and snatch them furiously. Yet, they were willing to stay beside Ling Lan and follow him. They were willing to contribute to the Lingtian Independent Army.


    Ling Lan was lucky to have a bunch of loyalrades. At the same time, these young people were fortunate enough to have such a caring leader. Yang Mingzhi clearly knew the amount of effort Ling Lan took to groom herrades, maybe even more than these younglings could imagine.


    This was the result of both sides opening their hearts to each other. For the first half of Yang Mingzhi¡¯s life, he had experienced a lot. He had a group of brothers-in-arms who went through thick and thin together. However, betrayal, politics, and schemes cost him his lifelong friends. He was disappointed and had almost given up on life. He just wanted to spend the rest of his life quietly without thinking too much. That way, his life would be easier.


    However, life was interesting. He was sent to the 23rd division and entered the 250 Ace Mecha n. Then he met a powerful and ruthless young man, Ling Lan.


    He could still remember the first time he saw Ling Lan. It was hard to forget him. His sharp gaze and his cold aura made him shudder in chill. He felt cold from head to toe.


    He received the impression that this young man must be heartless and cold-blooded, maybe even a tyrant. Other people might not notice it but he could smell the devil blood aura hidden behind his chilling aura, an aura that could only be gotten by killing many people.


    Just as he expected, Ling Lan used vicious and ruthless ways to control the 250 Ace Mecha n. The moment he acted, the more blood flowed. Yang Mingzhi hated his brutal methods but soon, he realised that all the seemingly tortures were actually good for their bodies.


    Noticing this fact, Yang Mingzhi started to gain interest in Ling Lan. He observed him carefully and noticed that every time he hit someone, he would choose the spot that caused the least damage. Moreover, there would always be military doctors at the side so the situation was always under control.


    Then, he saw the useless mecha operators standing up again. They basically turned into a totally different person. He began to understand that this cold-looking young man had a warm heart. The actions of Ling Lan confirmed his viewpoint.


    Slowly, Ling Lan gained the respect of Yang Mingzhi. Yang Mingzhi saw Ling Lan training herrade, protecting them from getting schemed by their enemies, preventing them from bing a chess piece of the military, and making sure that they were safe until they became someone significant. He was jealous of them. If he met such good brothers, he wouldn¡¯t have to go through so many pains and torments. He might be stronger than he currently was.


    Yang Mingzhi respected Ling Lan wholeheartedly. However, he belonged to the First Marshal faction. The battle for power between the two generations, the First Marshal and General Ling Xiao, meant that he couldn¡¯t support Ling Lan entirely. He was always worried that he would be discriminated by Ling Lan but instead, he didn¡¯t mind his identity at all. He told him that as long as he didn¡¯t betray Lingtian, they could work together.


    It was a calm statement but he was blown away by it. Ling Lan meant what he said. Ling Lan gave him power and authority. Yang Mingzhi knew that if Ling Lan wanted to give him a position without real power or take his power away, he could do it easily. There was nothing he could do to retaliate. Lingtian¡¯s soul was Ling Lan. Anyone could be missing but not Ling Lan.


    Unknowingly, Yang Mingzhi¡¯s heart was already shifted towards Ling Lan, the Lingtian Independent Army, and this bunch of simple-minded young people who were filled with vigour and dreams. He didn¡¯t want this beautiful dream to be destroyed by the political war of the military headquarters. He wanted to protect these people, especially when Ling Lan wasn¡¯t around.


    Yes, he wanted to repay the person who trusted him sincerely. The person who was young enough to be his son but yet won his respect. He wanted to repay Ling Lan.


    ¡°The military would definitely send someone,¡± Liu Furong continued. ¡°There is only one thing we can do. Make this person into one of us. Make him into someone who wants to protect Lingtian and not snatch Lingtian from ourmander.¡±


    Everyone exchanged nces. No one knew what to say.


    ¡°Actually, besides sending someone, they might choose a person among us. In that case, there will be less resistance within Lingtian too,¡± Liu Furong added.


    Yang Mingzhi nodded. ¡°I¡¯m one of the candidates. Vice Commander Liu will most probably be another candidate too.¡±


    ¡°However, we¡¯re not suitable for the position.¡± Liu Furong frowned. ¡°Vice Commander Yang¡¯s identity puts him in an awkward position. The Second Marshal and Third Marshal won¡¯t agree. I have past records of crimes so the three marshals won¡¯t put me in the position too.¡±


    ¡°We can push Leader Qi into the position.¡± Yang Mingzhi finally revealed his and Liu Furong¡¯s decision. While Qi Long and the others were feeling sad about what happened to Ling Lan, both of them had already started making preparations. They knew that they mustn¡¯t lose theirposure and cause an even greater problem.

 Chapter 1279 - Bitch!

    <h4>1279 Bitch!</h4>


    Everyone turned to look at Qi Long who was stunned by Yang Mingzhi¡¯s words. After thinking about it, they realised that Qi Long was the most suitable person to temporarily take over Ling Lan¡¯s position. Most importantly, they believed in Qi Long¡¯s character, trusting him that he would not exploit Boss¡¯s rightful position.


    They believed in Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong too but after all, they came into Lingtian at a muchter time, while Qi Long had been with Ling Lan since he was a scout. He was publicly known as the number one underling of Boss. So, after taking everything into ount, he was more suitable for the position than Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong.


    Everyone nodded in approval. Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong heaved a sigh of relief after seeing that their proposal had gained everyone¡¯s approval. They were afraid that once Ling Lan was gone, there was no one to lead the team, leading to a state of disunity. This would give their enemy a window to destroy them internally. However, from the looks of it, they had been worried about nothing. Ling Lan had been instilling authoritative culture into herrade unconsciously. When he was not around, they would still listen to their superior, for instance, Qi Long.


    If Qi Long wasn¡¯t around, there would be another superior they could listen to. The structure was detailed and clear cut. The team wouldn¡¯t be in disunity because of the disappearance of one person. Yang Mingzhi couldn¡¯t help but admire his youngmander. What kind of devil was he? How was he able to take into ount so many details and make ns for so many scenarios in advance? If hismander didn¡¯t have so many enemies scheming against him, he wouldn¡¯t have been forced into this dire situation.


    Yang Mingzhi believed that when hismander passed this crisis safely, he would be able to govern over the whole gxy. Yang Mingzhi started feeling pity for those people who schemed against General Ling Xiao as they would soon regret their actions in the future.


    ¡°It will be difficult to push Leader Qi into the position too. We will need everyone¡¯s help. We must use all the power we have, including those of people behind you.¡± Yang Mingzhi¡¯s gaze turned sharp as he scanned the crowd.


    Luo Chao bit her lips. She was the first to open her mouth. ¡°I will convince my father to support Qi Long secretly.¡± Her father would help, even if it was just for her elder brother.


    Han Jijyun followed closely. ¡°If the Qi family moves, the Han family will support wholeheartedly.¡± His family had always moved together with the Qi family. Thus, he needed to be certain of the Qi family¡¯s intention first before showing his support.


    Everyone looked at Qi Long again. Qi Long wiped his face and said resolutely, ¡°If my father can help me, I¡¯m willing to kneel down and apologise to my father for Boss¡¯s sake.¡± Qi Long¡¯s rtionship with his father was not very good. If he wanted his father to ignore the Third Marshal and help him, he needed to make some sacrifices. This was hard for the prideful Qi Long, but for his boss, he was willing to throw his pride away.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what the Li family¡¯s attitude is. You know that I don¡¯t have much sway in the Li family.¡± Li Yingjie frowned. ¡°However, I will work hard and convince my parents to help.¡± He was a little afraid of his grandfather. For some reason, he felt that his grandfather didn¡¯t like him, even though he was the most likely sessor of the Li family.


    ¡°The Li family will definitely help.¡± Closely after Li Yingjie talked, a refreshing voice sounded. Li Shiyu just rushed over from the medical department.


    ¡°I¡¯ll handle the Li family,¡± Li Shiyu said with absolute certainty. His eldest cousin brother, Li Mn, was missing too. His grandfather would definitely do something.


    Li Shiyu gave up the right to fight for the position of the family head but he still was well aware of the internal workings of the Li family. He knew how important his eldest cousin brother was to his grandfather. He didn¡¯t know what the reason was or what agreement the two of them made but as long as things weren¡¯t irreversible, the Li family wouldn¡¯t give up on Li Mn. Hence, if his eldest cousin brother didn¡¯t leave Ling Lan, the Li family would continue supporting Ling Lan.


    The Li family liked to y things safe but they wouldn¡¯t reject doing something harmless and could bring them many benefits when it seeded.


    Li Shiyu turned to look at his stupid little brother. When Ling Lan decided to ept Li Yingjie into her team and groom him, the fate of the Li family became bound to the Lingtian Independent Army. Li Yingjie slowly grew stronger in the Lingtian Independent Army and had sessfully climbed to a high position in the military, so his future was now directly tied to the Lingtian Independent Army. The Li family couldn¡¯t forsake the Lingtian Independent Army now. This might be heaven¡¯s way of helping Ling Lan. He didn¡¯t aim to gain anything from epting Li Yingjie but in the end, it helped him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have a powerful background but I do have some say in the Pu Jun. I¡¯ll seek help from them,¡± Zhao Jun said. Don¡¯t underestimate the power of normal soldiers. They represented the mass public. Once they reached a consensus, their influence was terrifying.


    ¡°I¡¯ll talk to the Elites,¡± Han Jijyun continued. That year, they agreed to let one of them enter the Pu Jun and the other into the Elites, not because they wanted to dip their hands into everything. They just wanted to understand the intentions of grass-roots units as well as the thoughts of the middle-rank officers. If they could deeply understand every level of the power chain, they would be able to make better ns and policies in the future.


    Of course, this was suggested by Ling Lan. Boss was afraid that they would be someone cold-blooded who would use their men like chess pieces or someone who woulde up with vicious schemes that would cause unnecessary death. Constant interaction was needed to understand what the soldiers wanted, were afraid of, and their desires. Thus, when theye up with battle ns, they would take these into consideration, decreasing the number of deaths so more soldiers would be able to go back home.


    They listened to Boss¡¯s orders diligently. After gaining a deeper understanding of thesemunities, they finally gained their approval. Moreover, they had a good reputation in their organisations. That was why they were able to call for help at this time.


    ¡°Since everyone knows what to do, let¡¯s get moving. I believe the military is already eyeing the Lingtian Independent Army.¡± Yang Mingzhi looked up at the virtual sky above their base. It was bright and sunny but he felt gloomy. This was a hard war. They didn¡¯t have General Ling Xiao backing them now. Now, there was no one who would be able to handle the influence of the three great marshals.


    Actually, it wasn¡¯t just the Lingtian Independent Army. A lot of people were eyeing to take over the 23rd division too.


    ¡°Senior Colonel Lan, Senior Colonel Lan, calm down. The marshal is currently busy now. He doesn¡¯t have the time to see you.¡± A senior colonel was blocking a beautiful female senior colonel from entering the room behind him. He had cold sweat on his forehead as he persuaded the other party to not barge into the room.


    The beautiful female senior colonel was Ling Xiao¡¯s wife, Ling Lan¡¯s mother, Lan Luofeng.


    ¡°Move aside!¡± Lan Luofeng red at him angrily.


    ¡°Senior Colonel Lan, this is the first marshal¡¯s manor.¡± The senior colonel stood his ground. If thisdy wasn¡¯t Ling Xiao¡¯s wife, he wouldn¡¯t have been so polite. He would have called the security and chased her out.


    ¡°If you dare to stop me, I¡¯ll shout molest. Let¡¯s see if the people here help you or help me.¡± Lan Luofeng didn¡¯t care about her image anymore. Her husband¡¯s body couldn¡¯t be found and her daughter had disappeared secretly. Why the f**k would she care about her image now? If the door guard really provoked her, she didn¡¯t mind acting like a bitch.

 Chapter 1280 - Do You Dare?

    <h4>1280 Do You Dare?</h4>


    The senior colonel immediately took a few steps back when he heard the sudden threat. He raised his hands in the air and looked at Lan Luofeng with a frightened expression. He was afraid that if he identally touched her, she might really frame him for molesting her. That would be disastrous. If the entire nation thought that he was being disrespectful to the wife of General Ling Xiao, he would be torn to shreds by them.


    Lan Luofeng snorted at his defensive posture and walked past the senior colonel.


    The senior colonel lifted his arms but he didn¡¯t dare to stop her. If he let Lan Luofeng in, he would at most be scolded by the First Marshal. But, if he angered Lan Luofeng, she might really frame him so he decided to let her in.


    Lan Luofeng charged into the First Marshal¡¯s office. The First Marshal was currently talking to a general in front of him. When he saw Lan Luofeng barging in, he frowned slightly. He was slightly furious at the door guard for not stopping her.


    The general turned around and saw Lan Luofeng entering. He knew that she was Ling Xiao¡¯s wife. She must have some business here so he got up and bid farewell to the First Marshal.


    After the First Marshal sent the general away, he turned and said to Lan Luofeng, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±


    Lan Luofeng gave a cold smile as she looked directly into his eyes. ¡°Why can¡¯t I ask about what happened during the war at Twilight? I¡¯m Ling Xiao¡¯s wife. I am also Ling Lan¡¯s mother. Ling Lan shouldn¡¯t have been sent to the battlefield in the first ce. What kind of idiot sent him there. I want justice for my son!¡±


    The First Marshal¡¯s expression turned dark. ¡°What kind of attitude is this? Have you forgotten where youe from?¡±


    ¡°Haha, don¡¯t you know where Ie from?¡± Lan Luofeng sneered as she looked at the First Marshal with contempt.


    ¡°You have no manners at all. Your father didn¡¯t teach you well.¡± The First Marshal looked disappointed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mention my father. You¡¯re not worthy of mentioning him. At least my father isn¡¯t someone who would send his own son to his death!¡± Lan Luofeng shouted angrily. If he didn¡¯t talk about her father, she might still be able to curb her anger and talk peacefully with him. However, once her father was mentioned, she couldn¡¯t control her emotions anymore.


    ¡°You know nothing about that. Get out of here immediately.¡± The First Marshal was indignant.


    ¡°Well, ask your people to chase me out then.¡± Lan Luofeng wasn¡¯t afraid. She sat down arrogantly on the sofa opposite the First Marshal and scoffed. ¡°Ask them to chase me out personally... but, do you dare to?¡±


    Based on data, there were at least four god-ss operators that died in Ling Xiao¡¯s hands. He even pulled Monarch Fury down with him before he died. This credit was enough to astound people and for his nation to give him their eternal gratitude. They moaned for the death of someone who could have stood at the top of the gxy. As his wife, Lan Luofeng was also highly respected by the nation. The citizens wouldn¡¯t allow anyone to offend or humiliate her, not even the First Marshal.


    If there was news that the First Marshal personally sent an order to chase Lan Luofeng out of his manor, his reputation, which he built for over a hundred years, would copse overnight. Even without any actions from the Second Marshal or the Third Marshal, he would be pushed down his position by the angered citizens.


    This was where Lan Luofeng got her confidence from.


    ¡°You! You will anger me to death.¡± The First Marshal pointed at Lan Luofeng. As expected, someone raised by that unfilial son was no good.


    ¡°You won¡¯t die. You like power too much. How can you be angered to death by just my words? That isn¡¯t like you.¡± Lan Luofeng smiled coldly.


    ¡°Bastard.¡± The First Marshal couldn¡¯t control his anger anymore. He mmed his hand on the coffee table beside him, shattering it in the process.


    ¡°Bastard? Haha, are you referring to yourself?¡± Pain shed past Lan Luofeng¡¯s eyes. She always wished that she was just the daughter of an ordinary family. She didn¡¯t want to be the granddaughter of this powerful but heartless old man who only wanted to pursue more power.


    ¡°Lan Luofeng, you are able to be so impudent because of my son. Don¡¯t destroy what¡¯s left of this rtionship,¡± the First Marshal replied coldly.


    ¡°I told you to stop mentioning my father. Also, I¡¯m able to be impudent because I¡¯m Ling Xiao¡¯s wife.¡± Lan Luofeng stood up and red at him.


    ¡°Alright.¡± A third voice interjected the argument.


    Lan Luofeng and the First Marshal looked towards the door simultaneously. An elegantdy had appeared at the door. She was the one who stopped the quarrel.


    ¡°Why are you here?¡± The First Marshal frowned. He had a look of disapproval on his face.


    ¡°Am I supposed to let the two of you continue arguing?¡± The elegantdy, who was the mistress of the Lan Family, sighed. She walked over and stood in front of Lan Luofeng. She looked at Lan Luofeng amiably. ¡°My little Luofeng, grandma can finally take a good look at you.¡±


    In the past, she could only take a quick look at her secretly or ask her fourth son to bring her over. The meeting was always hurried. However, those asional visits stopped when her fourth son and his wife died. Even if she couldn¡¯t bring her home, she asked her sixth son to arrange for Lan Luofeng to grow up in a normal family with the same surname. They were afraid that if she was discovered without their protection, their enemy would harm her. Hence, the elegantdy didn¡¯t continue to look for Lan Luofeng too. She could only look at photos to curb her longing.


    When Lan Luofeng was 16 years old, she entered the military and became a JMC. The mistress used her influence to direct her to enter the rtively safe 7th division. This division belonged to the First Marshal. She hoped that her fourth son¡¯s only child was able to grow up safely. At first, she just hoped that her granddaughter would have a normal and safe life. However, she married an exceptional youth, Ling Xiao. A monthter, Ling Xiao ¡®died¡¯ in a war and Lan Luofeng started raising her child alone. It was tough. As Ling Lan grew older, she became more and more outstanding. Lan Luofeng finally managed to settle down. But after Ling Xiao came back, both her husband and daughter climbed higher and higher, gaining more attention and hatred in the process. Her mistress¡¯s wish for Lan Luofeng¡¯s peaceful life didn¡¯te true. However, in the eyes of everydy in the Federation, Lan Luofeng had hit the jackpot. She had a good marriage and a good child. They gritted their teeth in jealousy when they thought about how amazing Lan Luofeng¡¯s husband and child were.


    If this continued, Lan Luofeng might still have a blessed life like what her grandma had hoped for. She would be able to live peacefully until her death. However, things went against her wishes. Her granddaughter had a hard life. Her husband still died in the end. The impact this time was even greater than before because this time, her only child went missing too. When the mistress heard this, she could hear her heart shattering into pieces. She felt regret too. She should have rejected the marriage between Lan Luofeng and Ling Xiao.


    Actually, the First Marshal was happy to see Ling Xiao and Lan Luofeng getting married. If not, how could Ling Xiao chase Lan Luofeng so sessfully? As the daughter of the Lan family, even though she was raised outside of the Lan familypound, they wouldn¡¯t let her get married to someone so easily.


    In the past, she was convinced by her husband. However, she regretted it now. She shouldn¡¯t have believed him. When he mercilessly sent her fourth son to death, she should have stopped believing him when it came to family affairs.


    As his wife, she knew him very well. She didn¡¯t believe that the First Marshal didn¡¯t know anything about the scheme behind Ling Xiao¡¯s death.

 Chapter 1281 - My Reques

    <h4>1281 My Reques</h4>


    ¡°Major General Lan.¡± Lan Luofeng saw her grandma calling her, and a look of sorrow and excitement shed in her eyes. However, she still managed to hold it back and pretend she didn¡¯t hear her grandma calling her by her name. She only respectfully called her grandma ¡®Major General Lan¡¯.


    As the wife of the top ranking officer in the military, they would often be given pseudo military ranks because it would be more convenient for them to move around. For example, the wife of a general was always the rank of senior colonel. The wives of the three marshals would have the pseudo rank of major general or below.


    After hearing herself be called ¡®Major General Lan¡¯, the mistress had a sad look on her face. It seemed that this granddaughter of hers was still hating on her husband.


    ¡°Luofeng, don¡¯t be angry. We can talk about it. Your grandmother is here. I will definitely make sure you¡¯re not wronged.¡± The mistress bit her lip and said these words without hesitation. This time, she definitely wasn¡¯t going to let her granddaughter, who had gone through countless difficulties, to be wronged again. She had enough of that.


    She had endured time and time again for the sake of her husband¡¯s ambition. However, a person still had their own temperaments and limits. Out of her five sons, four of them had simr temperaments with the First Marshal. To be honest, she had already prepared herself for when they would die on the battlefield. Thus, when reality hit, despite her being pained and sad, she would still be able to endure it. That was because she knew those were the paths her sons had chosen. They didn¡¯t regret it. Even if she was very sad, she would still not be able to change their choices.


    However, her fourth son wasn¡¯t like them. Her fourth son was like her. He didn¡¯t have the ambition to rise up to the top nor did he have any dream of bing a hero of the Federation. He only wanted to be an average person who took care of his family wholeheartedly. That was why he fell in love with an average girl and lived a calm and peaceful life. However, her husband continued to force his ideals on him. He forced her fourth son to marry some other woman because of political reasons.


    She didn¡¯t expect that her fourth son, who was always mild-mannered, to have some fire in him. He wouldn¡¯t marry that other woman no matter how much his father had beaten him. It was until she and her younger sister couldn¡¯t continue and watch him get beaten anymore before they silently helped him escape him out of the Lan family.


    Back then, she would rather not see her son than to see him get beaten to death by his father everyday.


    She didn¡¯t know that in order to continue on with the marriage, the two families meddled with the marriage database. They registered the other woman as the official wife of her fourth son and allowed her to marry into the Lan family. Her fourth son¡¯s actual wife had only been actually registered as his wife after her fourth son begged the help of an imperial hacker.


    There were even more disgusting events that happenedter. She didn¡¯t even want to talk about it. However, in the end, they cleaned it all up. The Lan family¡¯s reputation wasn¡¯t something such amoner woman could trample on.


    She originally thought her fourth son¡¯s family could peacefully live their life after the whole debacle ended. Although she didn¡¯t see them often, she still would go see them from time to time. The First Marshal knew about this, but he only turned a blind eye. This was why she could continue to endure him. However, she didn¡¯t think that when war had begun, the First Marshal actually enlisted her fourth son into the war.


    She was vehemently against it, but she didn¡¯t know what the First Marshal said to her fourth son because he had actually agreed to the enlistment. Before leaving for war, he requested her to take care of his wife and daughter... He said he will definitely return and take in his wife and daughter into the Lan family officially.


    When he said that, she actually looked forward to that future. However, in the end, she received the news of her son¡¯s death. She was in great sorrow, her heart ached so much that she fell unconscious for a few days.


    After she woke up, she tasked her youngest daughter to go find her fourth son¡¯s wife and daughter. However, she received news that was even more agonizing. After receiving news of her fourth son¡¯s death, his wifemitted suicide on the same day. A crying Lan Luofeng, who still required weaning, was the only one left in therge house. On that day, she really wanted to rush out and bring Luofeng back home. However, that b*tch who held the official position of the wife of her fourth son wasn¡¯t willing to ept Luofeng into the family. She even used her family¡¯s influence to attempt to kill Luofeng.


    Her youngest daughter desperately tried to keep Luofeng alive. From then on, she was no longer in good terms with that woman. She vowed to never marry and only nned on using her influence in the Lan family to protect the bloodline of the brother she loved the most.


    The grandma was immensely distraught over her fourth son and her youngest daughter. All of her regret made her focus greatly on Lan Luofeng. It could be said that Lan Luofeng was definitely a person that no one couldy a hand on. This was why the First Marshal¡¯s wife had erupted in anger and was determined to stand on Lan Luofeng¡¯s side.


    After Lan Luofeng heard her grandma¡¯s words, her eyes shined brightly. However, she quickly calmed down.


    ¡°Major General Lan. I do indeed have a request,¡± Lan Luofeng went straight to the point. She came here hollering insults and making a scene not to let out her rage but because she had a goal in mind.


    ¡°Alright, you can say it.¡± The mistress gave an encouraging look to Lan Luofeng, signalling her to speak her mind freely. She was already prepared for it. She would agree to anything even if Lan Luofeng wanted a for herself.


    ¡°The position of the 23rd Division¡¯s general must be appointed to my son, Ling Lan,¡± Lan Luofeng said calmly.


    After hearing those words, the First Marshal, who had been silent the entire time, couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore. He instantly screamed out angrily, ¡°That¡¯s absurd!¡±


    ¡°What do you mean absurd?¡± Lan Luofeng asked without backing down.


    ¡°That division is a part of the Federation, not something you own. You really think your son can take on his father¡¯s mantle? That¡¯s acting without sound reason,¡± snorted the First Marshal coldly.


    ¡°Heh, indeed, the 23rd Division doesn¡¯t belong to Ling Xiao. However, I have a question that I would like the First Marshal to exin for me. What part of military regtions dicates that the first, second and third divisions should be under the control of the three marshals? Themander of the fourth and those after had also always been members from their families. So, why can¡¯t the hero of the Federation receive the same treatment?¡± Lan Luofeng asked sharply.


    ¡°That had been the convention since the creation of the Federation,¡± said the First Marshal with a pale expression on his face.


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then why can¡¯t the 23rd Division have that same convention?¡± Lan Luofeng¡¯s expression had a hint of mockery, coldness and charisma. There definitely wasn¡¯t a single bit of weakness. Was this woman in front of him still that delicate little flower he remembered? The First Marshal was shocked.


    ¡°Luofeng!¡± The mistress suddenly covered her mouth with tears trickling down her face.


    She actually saw a shadow of her fourth son¡¯s stubbornness in Lan Luofeng. It was no different than the time when he went against his father in the past. As expected, Lan Luofeng was from the Lan family. The stubbornness in her blood was not any less than others in the family.


    ¡°It¡¯s impossible. No one will agree to it.¡± The First Marshal felt that Lan Luofeng had gone insane. Did the death of Ling Xiao traumatize her that much to the point where she wasn¡¯t able to think straight?


    ¡°How can you know without trying first?¡± asked Lan Luofeng.


    ¡°I won¡¯t agree to it,¡¯ replied the First Marshal.


    ¡°I don¡¯t need you to agree. I just want you to not involve yourself in this.¡± Lan Luofeng smiled coldly. She originally didn¡¯t n on the First Marshal agreeing to her suggestion. If he were to ept it, then he wouldn¡¯t be the First Marshal. She only hoped that the First Marshal would just not interfere with her suggestion.


    ¡°That will definitely not happen...¡± The First Marshal didn¡¯t even think and instinctively refused the idea.

 Chapter 1282 - Acting General.

    <h4>1282 Acting General.</h4>


    ¡°Why? Is my son Ling Lan unqualified for the position?¡± asked Lan Luofeng.


    ¡°If he didn¡¯t disappear, then I wouldn¡¯t have anything against it. Ling Lan is Lingtian Independent Army¡¯smander and his rank is lieutenant general. He is somewhat qualified to take the position,¡± said the First Marshal. ¡°However, right now, there¡¯s a huge problem and that is Ling Lan has disappeared. Disappeared. No one knows whether he¡¯s dead or alive. Lan Luofeng, think about it clearly. Even if I don¡¯t say anything, the other two marshals won¡¯t agree to let the position of general be given to a person who cannot be determined as alive. They can¡¯t let the 23rd Division just rot like that.¡±


    ¡°My son is fine. He will definitelye back,¡± shouted Lan Luofeng angrily.


    ¡°Alright, even if Ling Lan cane back, when will hee back?¡± asked the First Marshal. ¡°The entire military headquarters cannot let an official general¡¯s position be empty for too long. It can at most drag on for one month. If Ling Lan cane back within a month, I won¡¯t meddle with this issue. However, if he doesn¡¯t appear within a month, I can¡¯t let the 23rd Division wait for Ling Lan forever. As the Federation¡¯s First Marshal, I must take responsibility for the 23rd Division.¡±


    ¡°One month... You clearly know that is impossible.¡± Lan Luofengughed coldly. Ling Xiao¡¯s death had definitely caused Ling Lan to be cautious and careful of the Federation. She would definitely not return to the Federation and fall into the hands of those people who plotted against them. She didn¡¯t forget the words Ling Xiao had told her before heading off into war. Now, she could only try her best to hold onto the power and influence Ling Xiao had left behind. She must wait until Ling Lan matured into a super strong individual. Only then would Ling Lane back in full force and take revenge for all of them.


    ¡°If you know that¡¯s impossible, then why are you even having such crazy thoughts?¡± The First Marshal was almost angered to the point of unconsciousness.


    ¡°Ling Lan isn¡¯t here, but I can be his acting general.¡± Lan Luofeng suddenly tossed out a suggestion which made the First Marshal shudder.


    He unconsciously took out a metallic box with cigarettes in them from his pocket. He took out one cigarette and lit it up. Then, he lowered his head and began to think deeply about it.


    Lan Luofeng bing the acting general wasn¡¯t something that couldn¡¯t be done. As the family member of General Ling Xiao and the wife of the Federation¡¯s hero and idol, once this suggestion was tossed up for discussion, the citizens and most lower ranking soldiers would all support it. Although the final decision was made by the three marshals and the military headquarters, if the citizens were to all agree to it, the three of them and the military headquarters must consider the thoughts of the public.


    The most important part was the fact that Lan Luofeng was from the Lan family. The First Marshal could then send an assistant from the Lan family to aid her. That way, the 23rd Division would still fall under his faction and wouldn¡¯t be given out to the second and third marshals.


    Originally, the First Marshal was already thinking about how to take the 23rd Division under his faction¡¯s control. However, he knew the Second and Third Marshals also didn¡¯t want to give away such a juicy piece of meat like the 23rd Division to him. On the battlefield of the Twilight Empire, the 23rd Division fended off Zaoyi Army and Hejia Army while not losing and they even had moments when they suppressed their opponents. Although these two armies were wiped out only after Qi Yaoyang¡¯s reinforcements had arrived, the 23rd Division still performed incredibly. They definitely weren¡¯t any worse than those veteran divisions that had been established for thousands of years. The 23rd Division might even be stronger than those divisions. The three marshals definitely had to think about how to take the 23rd Division for themselves.


    ¡°Will the higher-ups of the 23rd Division approve of you bing the acting general?¡± asked the First Marshal as he raised his head.


    There was still one more problem with Lan Luofeng bing the acting general. That problem was whether she could be epted by all the officers within the 23rd Division. If they were to refuse, no matter how strong the support of the public was, they still had to consider the officers and their thoughts on the issue. Otherwise, without them obeying her, Lan Luofeng would just be an empty shell of a general. She wouldn¡¯t then be of any use to him. Theck of an effective leader might even cause the originally overpowered 23rd Division to be in a state of disunity. In the end, it would be overrun by others. That was not something he wanted to see happen.


    ¡°This suggestion was given by the 23rd Division¡¯smand center. I¡¯m only reporting it,¡± Lan Luofeng said calmly.


    ¡°They brought it up?¡± The First Marshal frowned slightly. He began to think about why the 23rd Division would do that. Were they nning on using Lan Luofeng to achieve the goal of taking the 23rd Division for themselves? The First Marshal was a sly and meticulous individual. He would always think about underlying intentions and think more deeply about them.


    Lan Luofeng didn¡¯t make a sound. She was only standing there silently, waiting for the First Marshal¡¯s final answer.


    The First Marshal finally stood up and stared at Lan Luofeng, ¡°If you be the 23rd Division¡¯s acting general, then you must prepare yourself. The position of the 23rd Division¡¯s vice general will also be reinstated. As for this position, there will be two people. In order to let the Second and Third Marshals agree to this suggestion, we must take a step back. There is no doubt that they will be putting their eyes on the position of the 23rd Division¡¯s vice general if we take the position of general.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ll depend on you how you control the 23rd Division before Ling Lan returns as the official general. Don¡¯t waste all your efforts and then in the end have the 23rd Division be handed to others on a silver tter,¡± warned the First Marshal.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The 23rd Division can only be Ling Lan¡¯s possession. I won¡¯t let others get a hold of it,¡± said Lan Luofeng without hesitation. Her original weak personality now became strong and determined. She never showed this side before because back then, she had Ling Xiao. She decided to not care about anything and just willingly became the woman Ling Xiao cared for. Then when he had ¡®died¡¯, she wanted to be strong for her daughter. Instead, she got a responsible and reliable daughter who wanted to protect her, so she had no choice but to be the person being protected once again to make her daughter feel that she needed her. This pressure and responsibility made Ling Lan be stronger and moved forward without fear.


    Sometimes, she would think to herself whether this was the right thing to do. She shouldn¡¯t let her daughter live such a harsh life. She had once tried being more hardheaded, but her daughter was bing more and more pushy as she grew older. Her pushiness might even have surpassed Ling Xiao... Well, in the end, she couldn¡¯t do anything about her stubborn daughter and could only relent to the fact that she had to be protected by her daughter.


    It had to be said that Lan Luofeng was someone who knew how to change her lifestyle well. She was just like water. She would naturally be an existence that the other party needed and perfectly cooperate with the other party. It was like this with Ling Xiao and the same with Ling Lan.


    However, when the two people who let her enjoy their protection suddenly left her side, she knew clearly what was her best course of action. She then naturally turned into a strong and decisive woman.


    At the same time, Qi Yaoyang and Qi Long met up. He told him his request. Of course, he couldn¡¯t get away without being beaten by his father and was bruised up by Qi Yaoyang.


    After that itch out of his body, Qi Yaoyang went straight to the Third Marshal¡¯s manor. He and the Third Marshal had a long secretive meeting on the matter of the position of Lingtian Independent Army¡¯smander.


    ¡°Report!¡± shouted a senior colonel officer who stood in front of the door outside the office of the highest ranking officer on the Flying Dragon Special Forces base.


    ¡°Come in.¡± A cold voice echoed from the room.


    ¡°Yes, chief.¡± The senior colonel pushed the button on the side to open the door. The door opened by itself and he quickly walked into the room.

 Chapter 1283 - Mission!

    <h4>1283 Mission!</h4>


    Ling Xiao was reading through the detailed list of information of the members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Although he had acquired a portion of Ren Feiyu¡¯s memories after devouring Ren Feiyu¡¯s mind, there were still some more important memories missing. The memories he lost were mostly about the Flying Dragon Special Forces, such as, how many members were in the Flying Dragon Special Forces, who were they, what were they responsible for, etc. He had no recollection of any of them so in the past few days, he had been reading up on the insider details of the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    However, Ling Xiao¡¯s weird behaviour made everyone in the Flying Dragon Special Forces anxious. They didn¡¯t know what this superior of theirs, who frequently appears out of nowhere, wanted to do.


    ¡°Chief, Team Leader Cang sent this to you.¡± The senior colonel handed a thick folder of documents to Ling Xiao.


    Ling Xiao took it and then waved his hand as a gesture to tell the senior colonel to leave.


    The senior colonel carefully left the room. He was afraid to even slightly disturb his chief¡¯s immense study session. As the door closed behind him, he breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat off his forehead. He didn¡¯t know whether it was just him, or whether the aura on his chief had gotten much stronger after he went to join the war. It was heavy enough to suffocate him just by being in his vicinity.


    Ling Xiao raised his head and looked towards the door. He leaned on the back of the chair with his right hand behind his head. A devilish smile slowly formed on his face. ¡°This is bad. Without Duplication, I can¡¯t tone down my aura. Fooling these people is still easy, but it would be as easy if I face those sly old foxes.¡±


    ¡°I have to think of something...¡± Ling Xiao frowned. He couldn¡¯t hole himself in the Flying Dragon Special Forces forever, especially when a war was about to start. He was now the Federation¡¯s highest ranked officer tasked with roles of looking over the entire military. He must appear personally in the meetings of the higher ups in the military headquarters. That was the only way he could way over those other high ranking officers.


    Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t think of a way to resolve this issue at that moment, so he pushed the issue back to his mind and flipped through the documents in front of him. The problem he was facing was not only on his aura, but he was also trying to make sense of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. He discovered that in the 20 years Ren Feiyu had taken control, the Flying Dragon Special Forces split into many separate factions. It was also quite messy in the recruits aspect. Originally, there should be two kings, one from the light and one from the shadow. They would usually both stay out of each other¡¯s way and be responsible for their own missions. They would watch over each other andpete against each other. However, the new king of the shadow faction was actually sent to the light faction to be the new light king¡¯s deputy. This act instantly broke the barrier between the two teams. Ling Xiao didn¡¯t know what Ren Feiyu was thinking...


    ¡°It seems the seemingly morous Flying Dragon Special Forces actually has many internal problems. There also seems to be some corruption...¡± Ling Xiao smiled coldly. ¡°There¡¯s also this...¡± Ling Xiao picked up a specialmunicator. This wasn¡¯t themunicator Ren Feiyu used publicly. However, what was strange was that the DNA linked to themunicator was indeed Ren Feiyu¡¯s DNA.


    Ling Xiao pushed down on it and a virtual screen appeared in front of him. The screen was filled with bits and pieces of details about some seemingly random people.


    ¡°Ren Feiyu, you have quite a lot of identities huh... interesting.¡± Ling Xiao smiled. If someone else were to grab a hold of thismunicator, they would not find anything suspicious with the details of themunicator, but with a bit of Ren Feiyu¡¯s memories, along with the information he acquired beforehand,bining the two gave him an idea of what it was for.


    ¡°However, these two punks seem to have a connection with my daughter...¡± Ling Xiao flipped to the page with details about the new recruits. He looked at the two pictures as he smirked, ¡°I can use them.¡±


    Soon, a summon was sent out of the chief¡¯s office. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran, who had been training in the Flying Dragon Special Forces¡¯ base while waiting for their new mission, were stunned when they received the summon.


    Tang Ningyu wiped away his stunned expression and looked at Mu Chaoran with a joyful look. ¡°Chaoran, this is your chance.¡± If he could be acknowledged by their chief, the misdemeanours Mu Chaoran had done in the past would be erased. Tang Ningyu was worried that Mu Chaoran might bepletely abandoned by their leader in the future. If that were to happen, Mu Chaoran¡¯s future wouldn¡¯t be very good. If he was unlucky, he would be given a mission that could mean his death. He didn¡¯t even know if he coulde back alive from such a mission.


    Tang Ningyu truly acknowledged Mu Chaoran. He didn¡¯t want the person he acknowledged to go against their team leader and cause problems for himself because they were on different sides.


    ¡°The chief... how does he know the two of us?¡± Mu Chaoran held back his excitement and asked in disbelief.


    As new recruits, although they were considered the kings of the new recruits, they were still not considered official members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. The chief would only meet up with the leaders of brigades and teams. It was highly likely that the chief didn¡¯t even know of their existence.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. Let¡¯s just go there immediately. We can¡¯t bete if we want to leave a good impression with the chief.¡± Tang Ningyu quickly grabbed Mu Chaoran and rushed back to their dorms. After changing their uniforms, they sat on the hover car and went towards the Flying Dragon Special Forcesmand center.


    At themand center, the senior colonel, who was the chief¡¯s deputy, saw theming in. He motioned towards them and directed them to the chief¡¯s office.


    ¡°Chief, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran have arrived,¡± the senior colonel reported from outside the door.


    ¡°Come in.¡± The chief¡¯s voice was sharp and dignified. The voice made Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran raise their heads, straighten their backs and tighten their entire body in unnned unison.


    The door slowly opened and the senior colonel gestured to them to go in.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran turned to look at each other. Then, they took a deep breath and walked into the room.


    After walking into the chief¡¯s office, they saw arge living room with a circle of sofas inside it. Further in, there was arge study that had a veryrge rectangr table. A sharp looking man wearing a general¡¯s uniform was inside the room, flipping through documents.


    The man in the general¡¯s uniform seemed to have realized the two of them had walked in. He stood up from his desk and walked out of his study.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran finally saw the real face of their chief. It was more or less the same as the one they saw through the virtual video calls. However, he was more sharp and more dignified in person. The pressure he put upon them was much heavier. The closer they got near him, the heavier the pressure. The pressure was forcing them to bend their backs and kneel in front of him.


    ¡°Sit.¡± Ling Xiao gestured at the two of them to sit. He himself chose a random sofa and sat down. He then leaned on the sofa¡¯s armrest.


    Seeing their chief sitting down songuidly, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran sat down prudently on the sofa facing their chief.


    ¡°I looked at the mission you havepleted. All well done. Keep up the good work,¡± Ling Xiao said indifferently. Although it were words of praise, he still had a cold expression on his face. Seeing the cold expression, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran wondered if their chief was being sarcastic. However, after thinking about it, they threw that thought out of their mind because if their chief was dissatisfied with them, he wouldn¡¯t be so indirect about it.


    ¡°I summoned you here because I have a mission for you. This mission isn¡¯t quite suitable for official members of the Flying Dragon Special Forces to do, but you two on the other hand are still in the probation stage. If it¡¯s two of you, your actions will not draw too much attention.¡± Ling Xiao saw them being prudent so he just went straight to the point.

 Chapter 1284 - I’m Willing!

    <h4>1284 I¡°m Willing!</h4>


    ¡°Yes, chief.¡± The two of them immediately stood up to ept their mission.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so uptight. Sit down and hear me out more.¡± Ling Xiao waved his hand to gesture to them to sit down and listen to him speak about the details.


    Ling Xiao quickly told them the details of the mission. As he continued revealing more and more details about the mission, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s expression gradually got more excited. They were looking at Ling Xiao with looks that were basically screaming the fact that they were looking forward to the mission and wishing for it to begin as soon as possible.


    ¡°This is something that only the two of you can know. Once you walk out of that door, I will not acknowledge that I have given you this mission. Whether you die or live during this mission will have nothing to do with the Flying Dragon Special Forces. You think it over and see whether you want to take up this mission.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes were sharp as he shot a chilling re towards them. The chill in his eyes showed them the inferior position they were in and his attitude towards them.


    ¡°Chief, we are willing to ept the mission,¡± said Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran simultaneously as they stood up.


    ¡°Very good. General Ling Xiao¡¯s death involves too many factions. Your trip will definitely be fraught with danger. Once you find Lieutenant General Ling Lan, protect him until I contact you. Don¡¯t let him return to the Federation. Lieutenant General Ling Lan is General Ling Xiao¡¯s only remaining bloodline. It may be a difficult mission, but I still have to say that even if the two of you were to die, you must not let him die. Otherwise, don¡¯te back,¡± said Ling Xiao coldly.


    ¡°Yes, chief,¡± said Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu without hesitation. Even if it wasn¡¯t for General Ling Xiao, they still wouldn¡¯t let Ling Lan die because of theirplicated feelings towards him.


    ¡°If you understand, then sign this document and set off at once.¡± Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t wait any longer. His daughter was still in a state of crisis. In order to take over the 23rd Division he had left, along with the Lingtian Independent Army that Ling Lan had established, those greedy people wouldn¡¯t allow Ling Lan to live.


    When he told Ling Lan to leave the Federation, he was afraid that without his protection, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid all of theyers of plots and traps. He would rather have Ling Lan reach a level of strength where she won¡¯t be able to plot against before returning to the Federation to deal with those people.


    After saying all that, Ling Xiao took out the two vacation applications he had previously prepared and handed them to Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran.


    The two of them saw the space where they should sign on the application. In order to separate their mission from the Flying Dragon Special Forces, they must sign the vacation application themselves. That way, if they were to be discovered, their actions wouldn¡¯t be traced back to the Flying Dragon Special Forces. It would be considered their own personal act.


    The two of them knew that if they were to sign it, they would be abandoned once they were caught.


    Tang Ningyu looked towards Mu Chaoran. Mu Chaoran reached out his hand and took the application. He resolutely signed his name on the application.


    He was already considered half abandoned in the Flying Dragon Special Forces. If he was about to be given up on, then he would rather use all of his efforts on protecting that person. Even if he died, it would be worth it.


    However, it burdened Tang Ningyu... Mu Chaoran looked at Tang Ningyu apologetically. Tang Ningyu originally had a prosperous future ahead of him. However, because of him, he was also dragged into this mess. Despite Mu Chaoran feeling sorry, he still... gestured for Tang Ningyu to sign it.


    Mu Chaoran¡¯s desperate plea towards Tang Ningyu was clear as day. Tang Ningyu instantly woke up from his daze and immediately took the application and signed his name on it.


    That¡¯s right. When their chief divulged the details of the mission to them, they already had no chance to refuse, right? Once they refused, they would be surreptitiously cleaned out in the next second. Their chief was definitely not going to allow anyone who didn¡¯t participate in this mission to know about it. Tang Ningyu was daydreaming too much if he thought he had an option to refuse.


    Mu Chaoran saw Tang Ningyu sign his name, so he breathed a sigh of relief and asked, ¡°Chief, where could Lieutenant General Ling go?¡±


    Just then, he was really scared for Tang Ningyu if he couldn¡¯t get his head around it and hesitated to sign. Their chief had asked them to think about it, but in reality, if they were to actually refuse... what awaited them was definitely not something good. But, everything was alright now since Tang Ningyu realized it.


    ¡°No matter if it¡¯s allied nations or enemy nations, he wouldn¡¯t be there. Thus, he can only go to a neutral nation. Just follow this clue and go search,¡± said Ling Xiao.


    No matter if it was allied or enemy nations, no matter if it was with good or bad intentions, they would search for her everywhere. After finding her whereabouts, they would definitely quickly react to it. Only the neutral nation wouldn¡¯t give out Ling Lan¡¯s whereabouts because they wouldn¡¯t want to involve their own nation¡¯s interests or try to benefit themselves even if they knew Ling Lan¡¯s whereabouts. As long as Ling Lan was given enough time, a neutral nation wouldn¡¯t be able to take advantage of Ling Lan that easily. After taking everything into ount, the level of danger of being in a neutral nation was definitely lower than being in an allied or enemy nation.


    Thus, as long as Ling Lan didn¡¯t go dumb, she could only go to a neutral nation.


    In reality, this guess, whether it was the Federation or Caesar, or the other nations involved, could be easily deduced by them. Thus, those people who wanted to take out Ling Lan would definitely send people to ambush her. They wished to kill Ling Lan before she could grow into someone they couldn¡¯t control. The reason Ling Xiao sent Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran was because he was afraid that Ling Lan didn¡¯t have enough manpower to win the battle of attrition.


    It should be known that after entering a, unless the was on martialw, mechas were prohibited from being used on the surface. A mecha appearing would definitely rm the citizens of the nation. Ons, war was fought through physical skills. As domain realm masters, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were definitely good helpers in that aspect.


    It was just as Ling Xiao had predicted. Countless factions had deduced the path Ling Lan escaped towards, to a neutral nation. They all sent people towards them. Some went with the intention to ambush and kill, while some went to aid and rescue.


    At that moment, the Destruction Devil had already arrived at a space station constructed in the publicary sector of a neutral nation.


    Under themand of the space station, the Destruction Devil slowly docked on the spaceport.


    They had to really thank Little Seven for reducing the unneeded weight off the Destruction Devil to increase the speed. He shedded off the outer shell of the Destruction Devil, turning it into a naked starship, just one urate hit from a beam would instantly blow it up. It was considered the most battered spaceship in the entire space station. Despite it beingrge and still somewhat magnificent looking, the staff members of the space station just turned a blind eye towards it. They were only surprised by its size. What they didn¡¯t know was that that battered up starship was actually the Federation¡¯s newest starship model, the Destruction Devil.


    In reality, they really weren¡¯t surprised at the staff members on the space station for ignoring them. It should be known that as a neutral nation, they wouldn¡¯t refuse any ships from entering their spaceport which included intergctic space pirates and intergctic mercenaries. These spaceships that explore, fight and plunder in intergctic space would usually have starships battered up like this. Even the strongest intergctic space pirates or mercenaries would still have such battered starships. Repairing such starships was how their space station made their money.


    The space station was actually arge intergctic spaceship repair factory. It was just that calling it a space station sounded better.


    ¡°How do we fix this?¡± The most skilled technician of the space station, the stationmander, arrived at the spaceport. He raised his head and asked himself the major question.

 Chapter 1285 - Ten Billion Credits?

    <h4>1285 Ten Billion Credits?</h4>


    Tian Fang raised his head and said, ¡°In order to get out alive, we shedded the outer shell so we would like you to apply an outer shell on the ship as we need to soon continue our adventure through the stars. Of course, the stronger the better. You¡¯re an expert in this field. I¡¯ll leave it to you.¡±


    ¡°If you didn¡¯t have that token from the Rainbow Raiders, I would¡¯ve shooed you away,¡± said the stationmander in an annoyed tone. ¡°If you want to repair a garbage ship like this, anything less than 10 billion credits won¡¯t be enough.¡±


    ¡°Money won¡¯t be a problem...¡± After hearing Tian Fang say those words, the stationmander¡¯s eyes lit up.


    ¡°But it will be impossible for us to get that money now. Although I really want to say that we could.¡± Tian Fang¡¯s words afterwards made the stationmander¡¯s teeth hurt.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I have my reputation in the underworld. I will definitely give you the money.¡± Before entering the 23rd Division, Tian Fang was actually in the ck ops corps of the Federation. There, he had disguised as a mercenary corp and cleaned some of the Federation¡¯s dirtyundry. Thus, his group of soldiers still had some reputation in the underworld. Truth be told, although his ount didn¡¯t have 10 billion credits, he still had a few billion. However, Tian Fang didn¡¯t dare to use it. He was afraid that someone was monitoring his ount, and once he used it, they would know his whereabouts.


    If he was by himself, it wouldn¡¯t matter if they knew his whereabouts. But, his apprehension was mostly due to the recovering Lieutenant General Ling. Tian Fang and Luo Yang had already predicted that there was a strong organization hidden behind the higher ranks of the Federation¡¯s military headquarters. These people wanted to plot against Lieutenant General Ling, especially after General Ling Xiao¡¯s death, Lieutenant General Ling would definitely be in a bad situation if he were to return to the Federation.


    As the loyal followers of General Ling Xiao, they, of course, wouldn¡¯t let anything happen to his remaining bloodline, so they also had the same idea as Little Seven, they decided to bring Ling Lan away from the Federation to a neutral nation. There he would be able to umte strength and wait for an opportunity to return to the Federation.


    ¡°With a garbage spaceship like yours, you won¡¯t be able to pay 10 billion credits even if you were given decades.¡± After hearing the words of Tian Fang, the stationmander had a look of disdain on his face. Such a high cost repair would usually be done to top tier mercenary teams. Although the 7th Bugle mercenary team had some reputation, they were still considered a mid to low tier mercenary team. Their team wasn¡¯t considered to be anything special in the entire underworld. In reality, if Tian Fang didn¡¯t show them the token from a top tier mercenary team, the Rainbow Raiders, the stationmander wouldn¡¯t have evene out to personally check the battered starship.


    Well actually, other than the external parts of the spaceship, the rest of the starship had their share of problems, especially the most important part of a starship, the engines. Due to the constant overclocking of the engine, it had caused many problems in the starship engines. If they wanted to repair it, they would have to put in a lot of work. Just repairing the engines would cost more than 5 billion credits.The stationmander¡¯s forehead twitched just looking at the state of the starship. Even ten billion credits might not be enough.


    ¡°Can¡¯t I write you an IOU? Don¡¯t I also have the Rainbow Raiders¡¯ token to use as coteral?¡± Seeing the stationmander¡¯s expression turning more annoyed, Tian Fang was also bing unhappy. This leader tier token of the Rainbow Raiders represented that the leader of the Rainbow Raiders was a guarantor. In the underworld, Rainbow Raiders were considered one of the three strongest mercenary teams. Their regimentmanders were publicly known as kings in the underworld. No one dared to look down on them.


    After hearing Tian Fang¡¯s words, the stationmander looked at the token in his hands with a firm expression. With this thing, even if Tian Fang didn¡¯t pay the money he owed, he could take the token and ask the Rainbow Raiders for it. The Rainbow Raiders would definitely pay it without a fuss. Of course, if that day were toe, he still wouldn¡¯t use the token to trade for money. Although it could be used for payment, it would still be a poor way of using it if he actually exchanged it for money. The real value of this token was actually the regimentmander of the Rainbow Raiders owing a favour to the owner of the token.


    The stationmander knew very well what it meant to ask a favor from one of the kings of the underworld. He definitely wouldn¡¯t use it unless he was about to die.


    Of course, all this would only happen if Tian Fang couldn¡¯t pay the 10 billion credits in the future.


    The stationmander nced at Tian Fang and asked inly, ¡°When are you nning on giving that money?¡± Although the token was a guarantee, he couldn¡¯t just keep dragging out paying the money for decades or centuries.


    ¡°Uh, ten years?¡± Of course, Tian Fang knew the real value of the token from the Rainbow Raiders. When Ling Lan handed it to him, he was shocked. He didn¡¯t know why Ling Lan had the token of a king of the underworld... Unfortunately, Ling Lan didn¡¯t exin to him. He could only predict that General Ling Xiao had some sort of rtionship with the regimentmander of the Rainbow Raiders... After all, the general was a legendary individual, so it was logical he would havee into contact with legends of the underworld.


    ¡°Ten years? You really are shameless.¡±


    ¡°Eight years?¡± Tian Fang gritted his teeth as he forced out apromise. It should be known that they couldn¡¯t use the Federation¡¯s money to pay because they were in a neutral nation. They must start everything from the beginning. No, it was actually even more brutal than starting from zero since they started with a debt of 10 billion credits. Even he wasn¡¯t sure whether he could gather 10 billion credits in eight years and feed his thousands of crew members at the same time.


    ¡°The most I can give is five years. After five years, I will take this token and ask the Rainbow Raiders for it,¡± said the stationmander.


    Seeing the firmness in the eyes of the stationmander, Tian Fang knew he didn¡¯t have any way of getting more time. He could only grit his teeth and relented, ¡°Alright, five years.¡±


    He wouldn¡¯t have agreed if Lieutenant General Ling didn¡¯t say that holding onto that token was meaningless and that was better to use it to exchange for stuff they needed now.


    ¡°However, I have a request. Other than the 10 billion repair costs, can you loan us 5 billion credits as well?¡± Tian Fang stared at the stationmander as he spoke with a determined look in his eyes.


    ¡°No way...¡± The stationmander didn¡¯t even think and refused him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t say that,¡± Tian Fang cut him off immediately. ¡°You and I both know what the token from the Rainbow Raiders means and how much it¡¯s worth. Asking to borrow 5 billion more isn¡¯t considered going over the top.¡±


    ¡°I can only give you 3 billion,¡± said the stationmander after he thought for a moment.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine. Great doing business with you.¡± Tian Fang nodded happily.


    The stationmander instantly realized that Tian Fang had yed him. If he didn¡¯t want to give the money, Tian Fang couldn¡¯t do anything to him anyway. The stationmander suddenly felt blood rushing up his chest. He wanted the token so badly that he lowered his guard against this scheming individual in front of him.


    However, what was said was said. As themander of the space station, he definitely couldn¡¯t go back on his word. They were business people so they must uphold their reputation. Otherwise, if their reputation disappeared, no one would daree to his space station to repair their spaceships.


    The stationmander left with a frustrated expression on his face. He ordered his repair crew to repair the 7th Bugle Call. Tian Fang then returned inside the 7th Bugle Call with a smile on his face.


    After reaching themander¡¯s room, he saw Luo Yang with a terrible expression on his face, while Ling Lan, who was originally resting in the room, was now actually sitting on the sofa waiting for him.


    ¡°What happened?¡± asked Tian Fang.


    It was odd. Why did the atmosphere in the starshipmander room be so bad?


    Luo Yang¡¯s face was somewhat reddened and his breathing was hurried. It seemed he had gotten angry.


    Tian Fang looked towards Ling Lan who was sitting on the sofa nonchntly. He then looked at Li Lanfeng, who was indifferent to all of this and was only carefully brewing and pouring tea for Ling Lan. In the end, he rested his questioning gaze towards Luo Yang.

 Chapter 1286 - Promise!

    <h4>1286 Promise!</h4>


    Luo Yang saw the look Tian Fang had given him. He angrily said, ¡°Go ask the lieutenant general yourself.¡±


    It seemed Luo Yang was angered by something.


    Although Tian Fang was suspecting something was up, he still sat down in front of Ling Lan with a smile on his face and asked, ¡°Lieutenant general, can you tell me what actually happened here?¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s current condition was actually not any betterpared to her condition after the battle on Haijiao. Her cor and sleeve area revealed the bandages over her body clearly. However, Ling Lan¡¯s nonchnt behavior gave Tian Fang the impression that the injuries didn¡¯t seem that severe.


    After hearing Tian Fang¡¯s question, Ling Lan calmly replied, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I just told Senior Colonel Luo that I¡¯m going back to the Federation.¡±


    These words made the smile on Tian Fang¡¯s face freeze up.


    ¡°Um, Lieutenant general, can you say that again? I think my ears have heard something crazy.¡± Tian Fang picked his ears with his fingers and asked again in disbelief.


    ¡°I¡¯m going back to the Federation for a while.¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and spoke out her decision once again.


    ¡°Lieutenant general, are you joking?¡± Tian Fang driedlyughed.


    ¡°I never joke when ites to important matters,¡± Ling Lan said indifferently.


    Tian Fang forcefully pulled his hair and swore under his breath. He actually didn¡¯t think that under such dangerous circumstances, Ling Lan was actually crazy enough to return to the Federation.


    Even the strongest general died in the hands of those people. If Ling Lan were to return, he would definitely be like entering a tiger¡¯s den.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think too much. I¡¯m only going back for a while. After I have done what I need to do, I¡¯ll return immediately.¡± Ling Lan knew Tian Fang didn¡¯t have any ill thoughts against her, and was just worried about her. Thus, she patiently exined what she nned to do.


    Tian Fang turned around and looked towards Li Lanfeng, who was still preparing tea, and asked in a serious tone, ¡°You agreed with him?¡± He had heard that Li Lanfeng was someone with many ns and strategies in mind. Why didn¡¯t he try to stop the lieutenant general¡¯s dumb decision?


    ¡°I will listen to the lieutenant general,¡± Li Lanfeng replied very calmly, but Tian Fang saw the helplessness in Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes. It seemed Li Lanfeng also disagreed with the lieutenant general on this decision, but in the end, Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t seed in stopping him.


    ¡°Although we belong to different ns, ording to the war time regtions, if a n was to losemunications with the Federation, the person with the highest rank shall be suprememander. Thus, you are ourmander. In that respect, we don¡¯t have the right to go against the decisions you make,¡± said Tian Fang with a cold look on his face. ¡°However, the decision you are making is too dangerous. It¡¯s even an illogical one. I have to ask the reason why you want to go back. If you can¡¯t convince me, then I won¡¯t agree to you returning to the Federation.¡±


    Tian Fang¡¯s words made Luo Yang more determined. Their expression showed that if they couldn¡¯t be convinced and Ling Lan still wanted to leave, then there will be bloodshed thereafter.


    Seeing Tian Fang and Luo Yang being worried for her, it reminded her of the time when she was young and arrogant. Back then, she led a ship full of students and took control of the 7th Bugle Call. It should be said that her actions offended them greatly. Even if she had asked her father to clean it up for her by taking in the 7th Bugle Call into the 23rd Division to erase their punishments, all of this was still her fault. If these people were narrow minded, they might have hated her for their entire lives. However, she didn¡¯t think that in the end, the people who came to rescue her were actually them. In the end, they even chose to betray the Federation and took her into the territory of a neutral nation.


    Of course, Ling Lan knew that his father was the reason the two of them saved her with all of their efforts. The longer she was in the military, the more she understood what kind of position her father held in the hearts of the soldiers. It wasn¡¯t the usual respect they had for a high-ranking officer. Instead, it was an idolization from the heart. Such a terrifying effect was closely rted to the 16 years of time when her father had ¡®died¡¯. In that time, the military headquarters worked their hardest to create geniuses and monstrous individuals to perfect them into another Ling Xiao through magnifying the aplishment he had done and picturing him as the perfect soldier. Just like that, after years of hard work, it affected that generation of soldiers. As time passed, those soldiers grew up and became higher-ranking officers in the military. These officers then affected the soldiers they were leading and carved this idolization into the hearts of all levels of the military. The seeds were sown, and buds had bloomed.


    After Ling Xiao had returned and became a general, the military headquarters then discovered that their decision back in the day was extremely dumb. They made an idol powerful enough to sway the minds of themon soldiers. Perhaps this was the reason some people always plotted against Ling Xiao and some people chose to just watch from a distance. Ling Xiao¡¯s existence had indeed bred a lot of negative feelings.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t want these two people, who cared about her, to be sad because of her. She thought for a moment and then said, ¡°My mother has already taken a big hit with the fact that my father is no longer around. If I don¡¯t report back to her, I¡¯m afraid she might not be able to hold on.¡±


    After saying all that, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes turned dim. ¡°Something already happened to my father. I don¡¯t want anything to happen to my mother. Otherwise, what¡¯s the point of me getting out alive?¡±


    Tian Fang wanted to say something against that line of thought, but words couldn¡¯te out of his mouth.


    ¡°The general¡¯s wife is well-guarded. It will be hard to get close to her. Plus, I am sure that there are countless people watching her every move because they are sure you will go back to her once you return,¡± said Luo Yang. No matter where they escape to, after how many years, they still have to return to the Federation in the end. After all, that¡¯s where their roots were at and the fact that the death of General Ling Xiao still had to be avenged.


    ¡°I know, but I am confident I won¡¯t alert them of my presence.¡± In terms of mecha piloting, there were many people stronger than her. She could guarantee that. However, in terms of physical skills, other than her master Mu Shui-qing, it wouldn¡¯t be that easy to detect her even if it was against an imperial realm formidable warrior. The only troublesome matter was that without Little Four, it will be difficult to enter General.


    As long as there was a will, there was a way.


    ¡°Who are you taking with you? Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s just you. I will definitely not agree to that.¡± Tian Fang knew he couldn¡¯t stop Ling Lan anymore. He could only try to think of ways to increase the chances of Ling Lan surviving, so that he could return safely.


    ¡°Quality over quantity. I will take Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang. Just the three of us is enough,¡± replied Ling Lan.


    ¡°No way. The three of you won¡¯t be enough. It¡¯s too dangerous,¡± Tian Fang didn¡¯t even think and refused Ling Lan¡¯s proposal.


    ¡°Making fake identities is troublesome. I, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang have fake identities from during a previous mission,¡± exined Ling Lan.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. Our identity before was a mercenary team. We can disguise ourselves as a mercenary team and enter the Federation,¡± rebutted Tian Fang.


    ¡°Mercenary teams can only enter the Federation. Only soldiers and citizens with good backgrounds can enter General,¡± replied Ling Lan. ¡°Plus, without enough strength, you going there will be a burden. Major General Tian Fang, don¡¯t forget, back then, your people all lost to me.¡±


    Tian Fang turned speechless. In the end, he could only say helplessly, ¡°In that case, please be careful.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡± Ling Lan nodded gratefully. As she was standing up to leave, Li Lanfeng quickly drap her cloak over her.


    Tian Fang also stood up and led Ling Lan out of the room. After reaching the door, he suddenly spoke up, ¡°Lieutenant general, the 7th Bugle Call needs around 45 days to get repaired. If you don¡¯t return in 45 days, we will take the 7th Bugle Call back to the Federation, and if that happens, we won¡¯t be able to keep in contact with you anymore.¡±


    This was Tian Fang¡¯s decision and was also a reminder for Ling Lan. Although his words seemed heartless, his tone still carried a hint of care and hope. All in all, Tian Fang hoped Ling Lan could return safely, take the 7th Bugle Call to the ce Ling Lan needed to go and achieve greatness.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Ling Lan put out her hand.


    Tian Fang put out his hand and the two of them shook each other¡¯s hands firmly. This was the promise made between the two of them.

 Chapter 1287 - Three Youngsters

    <h4>1287 Three Youngsters</h4>


    A starshiping from a neutral nation slowly moved towards a third-level that belonged to the Federation, Xiagang.


    The security on the port on Xiagang was normally quitex, but for some reason, the port today was swarmed with guards and patrols. Normally, travellers could go in and out of the port without much of a hassle. Now, they had to line up and go throughplicated customs procedures to even leave the port.


    However, those tourists had to endure all thoseplicated procedures no matter how troublesome the procedures were.


    A lot of tourists had annoyed looks on their faces. However, there were three youngsters who stood out with gleeful expressions. They totally looked like inexperienced travelers . Even though they were waiting in line for a few hours, they didn¡¯t seem to be annoyed by the fact. The three of them were sometimes huddling andughing together. They would asionally look at their surroundings with faces full of curiosity.


    Despite being young, the three of them hadpletely distinctive auras to them. One of them, despite his features being well put together, didn¡¯t have anything special to him. He could be easily forgotten after meeting him once. This average-looking youngster looked like the oldest of the three. But, there was a sense of steadiness to him even though he was young. He was probably their elder brother.


    The second youngster had features which would leave an unforgettable impression once oneid their eyes on him. There was a hint of arrogance between his eyes, yet he was quite handsome. Everyone who saw him couldn¡¯t help but marvel at how handsome he was. Even though he seemed somewhat arrogant, his face didn¡¯t instil the feeling of annoyance in the onlookers. This youngster¡¯s age was probably in the middle of the three. That was because thest youngster could be identified as the youngest from just one look. He had a tender and cute face with a sweet smile stered over it. As long as one was a woman, no matter their age, they would suddenly have the instinct of a mother, holding him in their arms to pinch that cute smiling face.


    It was finally their turn. The oldest was the first to go up and scanned hismunicator on the scanner.


    Qiu Fengyu, 18-years old


    Birthce: Chaotic Lands


    Xi Qingxiao, 17 years old


    Birthce: Chaotic Lands


    Mu Aibao, 16 years old


    Birthce: Chaotic Lands


    They originated from the same ce. However, it was odd that the Chaotic Lands could produce such naive youngsters with their barbaric ruling. The inspector standing beside the optical supeputer nced at the three of them with a curious look. However, his jaw dropped wide open when he saw the frost emblem on their chests. If his memory was correct, that emblem was the mark for the faction of one of the kings in the Chaotic Lands, the Frost Monarch. As a border customs inspector, he had to be knowledgeable of the emblems and totems of different nations and factions in the gxy.


    ¡®They are members of the Frost Monarch¡¯s faction while being so young?¡¯ It seemed these three youngsters required special attention. The inspector concluded and sent a message to the inspection office on Xiagang. After the three of them enter into the borders, the inspection office would be monitoring them 24/7 until they leave the.


    Despite the rtionship between Chaotic Lands and the Federation being rtively on good terms, they still needed to monitor them for the safety of the Federation.


    The three youngsters were quickly allowed into the borders. They went on the shuttle and entered into the¡¯s atmosphere. Right as they left the airport, a few undercover inspectors followed them. The three youngsters didn¡¯t seem to have noticed. Perhaps their strength had not reached the point where they could detect them. They were still talking andughing with each other while being oblivious to the prying eyes behind them. They walked to the hover car station and rode in a hover car until they arrived at the closest city to the airport, Sand City.


    In Sand City, two distinct attractive women entered into a department store, one being marvelous and the other soft and beautiful. They instantly drew the attention of everyone in the store.


    Especially those young boys who were brought in by their mothers and grandmothers. No matter if it was males or females, they were all looking intensely at one of the girl¡¯s bosoms.


    These little boys were still too young to understand the beauty of a woman. The reason they were staring so intently was because something was on top of that woman¡¯s bosom. It was a white round object that was sitting between the breasts of that woman. Its big bright eyes made these children want to hug it and kiss it.


    Han Xuya pulled Little White away from her chest with an annoyed look on her face and tossed it to Luo Chao. That little pervert actually kept rubbing against her chest. Did it think that she didn¡¯t know?


    Luo Chao caught Little White in mid-air and asked in shock, ¡°Xuya, what¡¯s wrong?¡±


    The reason they came to Sand City was because of Little White. Little White missed Boss too much, causing it to be in a sick state everyday. It would justzily flop down somewhere, not moving or eating. Everyone was afraid something might happen to it, so they sent the two of them to Sand City to find things Little White might like to eat. They had to make it eat something.


    ¡°Nothing. I just don¡¯t like holding it.¡± Han Xuya pouted. She couldn¡¯t outwardly say she got taken advantage of by a pet. In reality, she believed Qi Long and the others were worrying about it too much. They didn¡¯t need to worry about this little blop at all. Even if it didn¡¯t eat for years, it would still be fine. This blob might still be lively jumping around when they all die of old age.


    ¡°Oh.¡± Luo Chao didn¡¯t think much of it and epted Han Xuya¡¯s exnation. She put Little White in her arms and softly asked, ¡°Little White, do you like these? If you like them, I¡¯ll buy them for you.¡±


    Little White rubbed against Luo Chao, but it felt sad because it wasn¡¯t asfortable as Han Xuya. But, he still looked at the snacks with little excitement. Then, it dug itself back into Luo Chao¡¯s arms, not looking around anymore.


    ¡°Little White doesn¡¯t seem to like any of them,¡± said Luo Chao with concern.


    Han Xuya said helplessly, ¡°You actually don¡¯t have to worry about that little guy. Its life force is very strong. It¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    ¡°But it should at least eat something. It is the only thing Boss left for us. We can¡¯t let anything happen to it.¡± Luo Chao gently rubbed Little White¡¯s head with a thought in mind.


    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s go find another ce that sells food. We have all the time in the world.¡± Han Xuya could only give in to the worried Luo Chao.


    Luo Chao and Han Xuya took Little White and left the store. The store was left with countless saddened and reluctant looks.


    Themercial street Luo Chao and Han Xuya went to next was the most lively street. There were many people moving about. The first stop of the three youngsters from the Chaotic Lands was also this street. These two groups of people passed by each other.


    Little White slowly raised his head and his eyes brightened. Then he dug himself back into Luo Chao¡¯s arms and once again didn¡¯t care about the stuff around them.


    The three from the Chaotic Lands shopped on the street for the entire day and bought many things. Then they found the closest five-star hotel and stayed there for the night.


    At that moment, the staff members from the inspection office, who were monitoring them, were hard at work.

 Chapter 1288 - One Man Operation!

    <h4>1288 One Man Operation!</h4>


    ¡°The origination of their funds have been sessfully found. They are indeed from the Chaotic Lands.¡± Nowadays, other than small shops and stands on the streets,rger stores all scanmunicators for payment. The job of these inspectors were to ensure that these funds were real in nature and came from unsuspicious origins.


    ¡°There are no issues with their identities. They are just wealthy people under the Frost Monarch¡¯s faction anding here as tourists,¡± said the chief of the inspection office after seeing there wasn¡¯t anything wrong with the data they had gathered.


    ¡°Should we recall the people monitoring them?¡± The inspection office didn¡¯t have that many manpower avable to follow people around. There were too many people they needed to monitor. As long as people were deemed as not a problem, they would recall their men and transfer them to monitor more suspicious individuals.


    ¡°Let¡¯s not recall all of them. Keep two and monitor them tomorrow.¡± The chief was still guarded against the Chaotic Lands, so he made the decision to monitor them for one more day just in case.


    ¡°Understood.¡± The staff member immediately gave out the orders to the inspectors in disguise and told them of the changes for tomorrow¡¯s work.


    After entering into their room, the oldest of the three youngsters began to inspect the room. It was as though he was trying to familiarize himself with the items in the room. The arrogant yet handsome youngest walked to the window and opened the curtains, looking at the scenery outside. The youngest slowly walked to the living room sofa and sat down.


    The oldest seemed to have finished scanning and came beside the youngest as he shook his head slightly.


    The one at the window returned almost at the same time and said softly, ¡°There¡¯s still two. The rest all left.¡±


    The youngest, who originally had a sweet smile on his face, now had a chilling facial expression.


    The outer appearances of the three of them suddenly changed. One became extremely beautiful, one became handsome and thest one became cold as ice.


    The three of them were Li Lanfeng, Luo Lang and Ling Lan respectively.


    Through reaching the realm of domain one would have slight control over the muscles and skin of their face. They could change their features temporarily, achieving a different look. However, the amount they could change was still limited. They couldn¡¯t really change too much of their features.


    Of course, there were special cases like Li Lanfeng. Even Ling Lan didn¡¯t know how Li Lanfeng had changed his beautiful face into the face of an average Joe. This made Luo Lang, who couldn¡¯t change his looks that much, be jealous of him.


    Luo Lang had asked Li Lanfeng about his secret. However, Li Lanfeng only told him that he also didn¡¯t know. It didn¡¯t really take much on his part to turn himself into an average Joe.


    Ling Lan carefully studied it and then came up with an exnation that Luo Lang understood.


    It was because Li Lanfeng¡¯s face was already perfect. All the parts, muscles and skin of the face were in perfect harmony. It could be said that it had already reached its limit. Thus, when that limit was changed slightly, it lost its harmony,pletely destroying the bnce of his face. That was why he suddenly had such average looks.


    In reality, Ling Lan was also like this. When she restrained her aura, her looks would be iparably beautiful. It was just that her type of beauty wasn¡¯t the same as Li Lanfeng¡¯s. In addition to her immature look andck of stunning features, there was an added adorableness to her. It was also simrly at a limit of sorts. After changing it slightly, she also lost her beautiful colors, leaving her with only cuteness.


    Perhaps Ling Lan¡¯s cold and dominant side left too much of an impression on Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng. The two of them were actually oblivious of Ling Lan¡¯s cute side. A chance to discover the truth was missed by them just like that.


    ¡°I already know where they are,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°Ah? When did you know Boss?¡± Luo Lang had a face of shock. Weren¡¯t they just buying things in the store? Even when his sister went by him, he didn¡¯t dare to have any change in expressions because of the inspectors behind them.


    ¡°It was Little White,¡± replied Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng, who could alsomunicate with Little White using spiritual power, knew how Ling Lan was able to acquire that information.


    ¡°We can¡¯t get into General with our current identities. If we want to go there, we have to hide within Lingtian and let Qi Long and the others take us there,¡± replied Ling Lan.


    Although Ling Lan couldn¡¯t contact Little Four, she was still certain that the learning space was still in her mindspace. As long as the learning space was in her mind, she trusted that Little Four was fine.


    One of the possible reasons she couldn¡¯t contact Little Four could be that Little Four was injured and needed to recover in the learning space. It could also be because Little Four was evolving again so he temporarily separated himself off from her. Ling Lan thought of many reasons just to give herself confidence that Little Four would return to her.


    Although Little Four was gone, there was still Little Seven. Ling Lan spoke with Little Seven on the 7th Bugle Call. Little Seven was clearly much more warm and talkative to Ling Lan than Tian Fang. It was also Little Seven who decrypted the mainframe and found the information that the Lingtian Independent Army was staying on Xiagang.


    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Little Seven couldn¡¯t be too far from its main body, Ling Lan really wanted to take Little Seven with her.


    Now that they didn¡¯t have Little Seven, they can only depend on themselves in the virtual world. Luckily, Li Lanfeng could be considered half of a hacker even though he wasn¡¯t as invincible as Little Four or be able to be like Little Seven and easily decrypt a mainframe. He was still more than enough when it came to those hard-to-detect surveince equipment.


    They were originally nning to get close to the base of the Lingtian Independent Army and use their spiritual power to call out to Little White. They didn¡¯t think that they¡¯d be so lucky to actually pass by Luo Chao and Han Xuya on the samemercial street they were on right after they arrived in Sand City. What was even better was that they had brought Little White. This allowed Ling Lan to easily contact Little White and receive the information she needed.


    ¡°However, the base Qi Long and the others are resting at is heavily guarded. Boss, your spiritual power was severely affected and you temporarily lost your hacking abilities. Using just brother Lanfeng¡¯s power to silently infiltrate is pretty much impossible.¡± The base wasn¡¯t a hotel that could let Li Lanfeng easily cut off all surveince. As long as Li Lanfeng missed one surveince equipment, they would bepletely exposed.


    ¡°I will go by myself tomorrow night. You guys wait for me here,¡± Ling Lan said coldly.


    ¡°That...¡± Luo Lang was just about to say it was too dangerous, but Ling Lan shot a chilling re towards him, forcing his words to be stuck in his throat.


    Boss in the past few weeks revealed some of his weak side because of General Ling Xiao. His originally heavy and dominant pressure also weakened by quite a lot. In addition, in order to respect Tian Fang and the other crew members (after all, they worked under Ling Xiao and wasn¡¯t part of Ling Lan¡¯s crew), Boss¡¯s tone was more peaceful than normal and he would calmly discuss everything to them. It almost made him forget that Boss was a dominant, invincible and unreasonable person.


    However, as time went by after they left the 7th Bugle Call, in addition to Tian Fang and the others not being present, Ling Lan¡¯s dominant presence slowly returned. Just from that look, he saw Boss from the past who would give out orders without the need for any exnations.

 Chapter 1289 - I Hate It So Much!

    <h4>1289 I Hate It So Much!</h4>


    A team of patrol units had just passed by the main door of the base.


    ¡°Little Zhao, is there anything suspicious?¡± The team leader walked to the guard station and asked the guard with a pleasant expression on his face.


    ¡°Second Lieutenant Lin, nothing at all. The regr citizens who live close to this area all know what kind of ce this is. They won¡¯t go past the restrictive line.¡± Little Zhao smiled.


    Although the guards needed to be on guard throughout the night, there was hardly even any action because the citizens around knew what they should do and what they shouldn¡¯t do. Additionally, Xiagang was in the inner parts of the Federation and was considered as an unimportant third-rate. It had been peaceful here for decades. It was so safe that sometimes these guards would be able to take a nap without anyone finding out.


    ¡°However, we still need to be careful. After all, it¡¯s different from before,¡± said Second Lieutenant Lin.


    Little Zhao immediately replied, ¡°Second Lieutenant Lin, don¡¯t worry. We will definitely take caution during these times.¡±


    While the two of them spoke, a thin fog began appearing in the air around them.


    ¡°Weird weather. It¡¯s foggy again,¡± said Second Lieutenant Lin as he put out his hand to feel the humidity of the air.


    Xiagang was a with an abundance of water. Out of the 200 or so days among the five seasons, there were at least 180 days with foggy weather. It should be known that a with an abundance of water would never be a third-rate even if all the other resources werecking. Xiagang bing a third-rate was mostly due to the constant foggy weather.


    Second Lieutenant Lin took out the walkie-talkie and said, ¡°Team R19, Lin Yunbin has a situation that I would like to report to themand center.¡±


    ¡°Please speak, Second Lieutenant Lin.¡± A soft and beautiful voice rang from the other side of the walkie-talkie. It was a JMC from their base.


    ¡°Level 1 fog has appeared at Area R1.¡± Lin Yunbin then felt the humidity on his hand increasing. ¡°It has now increased to level 2 fog.¡±


    ¡°Command center has received this information. Now I will officially send Second Lieutenant Lin¡¯s report. Can you confirm?¡± asked the JMC.


    Second Lieutenant Lin closed his eyes and felt the fog once again. He confirmed that the level 2 fog didn¡¯t increase and then replied, ¡°Confirmed.¡±


    ¡°Documentation sessful. If there are any new developments, please report to themand center as soon as possible. Thank you.¡± The JMC ended the call.


    After Second Lieutenant Lin made his report, he said goodbye to Little Zhao and continued to patrol the next area.


    When the patrol team left, Little Zhao felt the thick fog behind him actually dissipate a bit. After a short while, the fog gradually disappeared, returning to the clear skies.


    ¡°The fog went away pretty quick.¡± Little Zhao was surprised. The fog would usually turn thicker as they went through the night. They used to have to wait until the sun raised the next day for the fog to slowly dissipate and disappear.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably because it¡¯s thin.¡± His collegue beside him made a guess.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s possible.¡± If the fog was thin, it would dissipate quicker.


    The two of them didn¡¯t pay too much attention to the odd situation and continued to stand on guard. Although there were high-tech surveince equipment, the existence of hackers still required actual people to stand on guard.


    This was a medium sized base. Normally, as a military base, there wouldn¡¯t be any tall buildings. Normally, three stories was considered the limit for buildings.


    However, there were instead 5 to 6-story towers all around the base.


    On the towers, there were also soldiers standing on guard, watching their surroundings with focused eyes.


    ¡°This fog is getting thicker. It¡¯s getting harder and harder to see.¡± A soldier on a tower, who was using a high-powered telescope to look around, saw areas of the base turning more and more blurred because of the fog. He couldn¡¯t help but frown at his observation.


    His colleague behind him said, ¡°Activate the infrared and thermal rader. It¡¯ll guarantee not a mouse can escape.¡±


    ¡°I know, but I like looking at things in their natural state, not with red and purple colored lines. It hurts my eyes.¡± The soldier with the telescope pouted.


    ¡°Then, just leave it to the mainframe. Technology these days has decreased the mainframe¡¯s margin of error to one in one billion,¡± his colleague said nonchntly.


    ¡°Yeah, I know, but what if by chance we¡¯re unlucky today.¡± The soldier on guard remembered the disciplinary hearing from some time ago. It was because a guard believed in the mainframe too much and didn¡¯t perform his duties. The mainframe then had an error, causing it to mistaken a rabid wild dog as an enemy attack, causing the entire base to be on full alert, causing a hugemotion. In the end, they discovered it was just a false rm... In the end, not only did that soldier get a life ban from being able to involve in politics, he was also sentenced by the military court to military prison for 30 years.


    After this event happened, all of the soldiers on guard didn¡¯t dare to ck on their duty.


    ¡°Take that back. Something like that only happens once in a few hundred years. How could it happen to us? Don¡¯t jinx it,¡± his colleague instantly shouted.


    ¡°Alright, alright, I¡¯ll stop talking. I will set the mainframe and then keep watch as well.¡± The soldier on guard felt that he was too paranoid. Thus, he set the mainframe to be the primary judge of the situation and left himself as the secondary judge.


    While they weren¡¯t paying attention and speaking to each other, the originally thick fog slowly dissipated.


    At that moment, on the roof of a random barrack, there were two people, one standing and oneying down.


    The oneying down was chugging down a beer bottle. There were many such empty bottles beside him. It seemed he had been drinking quite a lot.


    ¡°Qi Long, do you n on drinking yourself to death?¡± Han Jijyun frowned. He had a hint of anger on his face.


    After hearing that question, Qi Long finally took his lips off the bottle and turned towards Han Jijyun. ¡°If I don¡¯t drink, I will go insane.¡±


    Qi Long looked at the pitch-dark sky with only a few shining stars. His originally honest face actually became somewhat twisted.


    ¡°Do you know what kind of promise I made in the past?¡± The veins on Qi Long¡¯s clenched fisted popped out. ¡°I promised that if someone wanted to hurt Boss, they would have to kill me first.¡±


    ¡°But where was I when Boss needed me the most? I was in the safest starship fleet that our Boss had arranged, drinking and eating...¡± Qi Long angrily tossed his bottle on the ground.


    Bang! The bottle was instantly shattered into dust and the beer sshed everywhere.


    Some people suddenly appeared from the darkness. After seeing Qi Long and Han Jijyun on the roof, they all understood what was happening. Then, they silently retreated back into the darkness as if they never existed.


    ¡°I hate it so much... From the very beginning, I shouldn¡¯t have agreed to Boss¡¯s arrangements. I should be beside our Boss. Just like Luo Lang, Xie Yi and Li Lanfeng.¡± Qi Long¡¯s expression was filled with regret.


    Bang! A loud and sharp p ruthlessly went across Qi Long¡¯s face.


    Qi Long looked at Han Jijyun in shock. He didn¡¯t think that Han Jijyun, who always supported him, would actually hit him.


    Han Jijyun said coldly, ¡°Han Jijyun, you acting like this is f*cking disgusting.¡±

 Chapter 1290 - Too Pampered By the Boss...

    <h4>1290 Too Pampered By the Boss...</h4>


    ¡°That p was for Boss. If Boss was here, it wouldn¡¯t be just a p. He would instead beat you until you wake up from your current pitiful self.¡± The right hand Han Jijyun used to p Qi Long was ced behind his back, hidden from Qi Long¡¯s view. It was trembling uncontrobly. His originally white and elegant hand, quickly began to throb, turning his hand blood red.


    Qi Long had instinctively used his domain concept to protect his body so when Han Jijyun, who had just reached pseudo domain stage, pped him, his hand got injured from the p.


    ¡°Boss is so strong. How could anything happen to him? He will definitelye back. We have to believe in him,¡± said Han Jijyun. ¡°Rather than wasting time regretting your past decisions, you should be standing firm and be thinking of ways to help Boss protect the Lingtian Independent Army. Despite Uncle Qi agreeing to ask the Third Marshal for help, it doesn¡¯t mean it will work. Don¡¯t forget there¡¯s still the First Marshal and Second Marshal.¡±


    After hearing all that, Qi Long instantlyughed in a pained tone and said, ¡°What can I do? Tell me, what else can I do?¡±


    Han Jijyun¡¯s mouth opened, but he didn¡¯t know what else to say.


    ¡°See, even you don¡¯t know what to do...¡± Qi Long¡¯s eyes suddenly reddened. ¡°We¡¯re all useless trash. Without Boss, we can¡¯t do anything right.¡±


    Qi Long¡¯s right armid on top of his eyes. His voice was hoarse with a hint of sniffling. ¡°When Boss was here, I didn¡¯t realize how helpless we are without him . Now I understand, we-we-we are too pampered by Boss...¡±


    ¡°Boss has always been protecting us from traps and plots against us. He gave us a peaceful space to grow. What bloodshed have we gone through for us to grow into such young and promising general and major rank officers? Boss is the only person who actually went through bloodshed, while we just hide behind him and reap the benefits.¡± Even though Qi Long used his arm to cover his face, he still couldn¡¯t hide the tears trickling down his face. ¡°Jijyun, I¡¯m sad not only because Boss isn¡¯t here with us. What¡¯s more saddening is that I realize and understand everything Boss has done for us in the past. In the end, the strict rules and terrifying training were only for us to stay alive longer.¡±


    ¡°The most depressing fact is that him leaving us here wasn¡¯t because we are a so-called trump card. Instead, it was because he believed that our wings had fully grown and that it was our time to fly on our own.¡± Qi Long was actually quite smart. It was just there was Ling Lan and Han Jijyun beside him, so he hid the intelligent part of him behind his honest looking face. He wanted to be an honest person that everyone trusted.


    Each one of them were trying to find the ce they belonged to. They all molded their strength for the team and more or less hid the simr talents they shared and only improved their most unique talent. It was because of this that each one of them were all unique in their own ways, bing one of a kind members within the team.


    ¡°Boss knew from the very beginning that he was facing an impossible situation, but I was so blind to see it.¡± What Qi Long regretted the most was at the fact that he had ignored the warning his intuition had given him. He ignored it time and time again. If he had ced more importance on it and if he didn¡¯t leave Boss¡¯s side, he might have been able to help Boss.


    Everyone believed that if they were alongside Ling Lan, the result would be different. However, in reality, when faced against a god-ss operator, no matter how many people were there, they would still be cannon fodder, and ultimately useless in the end.


    Of course, Qi Long and the others didn¡¯t know these details, that was why they were thinking that way. However, even if they knew, they would still make the same decision as Li Lanfeng, Luo Lang and Xie Yi. Even if they were to die, they would want to die together with Boss.


    Sometimes, death wasn¡¯t a painful thing. Usually, it was the people who were alive who felt more pain than those who died.


    ¡°Even if that¡¯s the case, do you think you¡¯re honoring Boss by acting like a slob?¡± Han Jijyun¡¯s eyes also reddened as he asked Qi Long.


    ¡°I know. I also want to regain myposure, but I can¡¯t do that right now. I think I can only sober up from this mess if Boss ruthlessly beats me up.¡± Qi Longughed with tears in his eyes. He was a masochist to Boss. Getting beaten up by Boss would give his life some meaning.


    At that moment, fog began appearing in the air. The fog slowly became thicker. Han Jijyun felt Qi Long¡¯s silhouette was bing more and more difficult to see. In the end, the two of them were split apart by the fog.


    ¡°Domain active.¡± The ¡®u0026¡¯ symbol appeared on Han Jijyun¡¯s forehead. The fog that surrounded him was suddenly dissipated, but Qi Long, who was just a hands reach to him, was nowhere to be seen.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s expression changed instantly and shouted, ¡°Enemy attack!¡±


    However, theirrades, who were hidden in the shadows, weren¡¯t reacting to his shout. Han Jijyun¡¯s expression changed once again, but he quickly calmed down. He carefully looked around his surroundings.


    There were two possibilities why hisrades didn¡¯t move. One possibility was that they were all knocked out. However, Han Jijyun didn¡¯t believe that. In the entire barrack, just their Lingtian Independent Army, there were already a number of domain realm masters and Qi Long. These domain realm masters couldn¡¯t have been silently taken out. Even Boss wouldn¡¯t have been able to do something like that.


    Then it was the second possibility, which was that he had been taken into the opponent¡¯s domain. That was why his voice couldn¡¯t be heard by the people who were not in the domain. Perhaps all of his movements in this area were not real. Perhaps on the outside, he might be just standing there without making any noise.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± asked Han Jijyun.


    It was silent all around him. Other than the thick fog, he couldn¡¯t see anything else.


    Was it Boss? Han Jijyun remembered Ling Lan¡¯s domain concept. It could change between three different states of water. However, the humid feeling from the air was different from their Boss¡¯s ice cold domain. Even if their Boss changed into thick fog, it would still have an icy presence. The liquid state was also bone-chilling, not to mention the ice element. It was a real ice-age cold.


    Right as Han Jijyun was still thinking about all that, he suddenly jumped upwards. The spot he was just standing on had a glowing chinese character shield appear.


    A dark spear ruthlessly stabbed into the shield, cracking it into pieces. The shield then dissipated into countless characters and flew into Han Jijyun¡¯s forehead, while that dark spear alsopletely disintegrated before turning back to fog. It then quickly melded with the fog around them.


    Han Jijyun cautiously looked at the fog around him. There was doubt that the enemy was hidden within the fog and could attack him at any time.


    Whoosh! Whoosh Whoosh! Countless fog arrows suddenly shot out from the surrounding fog. They wereing at Han Jijyun from all directions.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s expression changed instantly and shouted, ¡°Jin!¡±


    Arge character ¡®Jin¡¯ began to expand from his body and covered his entire body within it.


    The fog arrows all hit the ¡®Jin¡¯ character. The golden color of the ¡®Jin¡¯ character began to slowly turn dim as fog arrows hit it continuously. After blocking thest fog arrow, the ¡®Jin¡¯ characterpletely shattered.


    Han Jijyun spat out a mouthful of blood. The extra damage dealt to the ¡®Jin¡¯ character was transferred to him. The shattered character instantly flew into Han Jijyun¡¯s forehead, healing Han Jijyun¡¯s spiritual power in the process.

 Chapter 1291 - Spatial

    <h4>1291 Spatial</h4>


    A silhouette of a human figure slowly entered his eyes. The figure waspletely masked by the fog so Han Jijyun couldn¡¯t make out who the figure was.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Han Jijyun frowned and asked softly.


    ¡°The dead don¡¯t need to know too much,¡± a hoarse voice answered. The voice sounded like nails scratching on a chalkboard.


    As Han Jijyun tried to see through the figure, his frown got even more pronounced. It was as though he was facing a shadow that didn¡¯t exist.


    Luckily, Han Jijyun realized quick enough that it was just his mind ying tricks on him. If the figure in front of him didn¡¯t exist, it wouldn¡¯t have answered his question.


    However, before Han Jijyun could think about his current predicament further, the figure charged forwards with a dark spearing straight at him.


    Han Jijyun¡¯s eyes stared intently at the iing spear. He pointed at the spear with his forefinger and a line of characters flowed out of his fingers which then turned into a shield of light. Then it ruthlessly shed with thatrge dark spear.


    Bang!


    The two domain concept shed into one another which resulted in a deafening bang.


    Han Jijyun was sent flying backwards. When he was about to smash onto the ground, he quickly bnced himself on one hand, somersaulted and stood up like nothing happened.


    Han Jijyun focused on his ears to determine whether themotion here had alerted the entire base.


    However, he was disappointed. It was silent all around him. There wasn¡¯t any movement. It was as though he was the only person in this thick fog. Oh, wait, there was also a mysterious enemy, hiding in the shadows, watching his every move.


    Han Jijyun chose to sh with his domain concept because he wanted to use it to make some noise to alert hisrades of the enemy. However, now it seemed his n was seen through by the opponent as the noises andmotion in this area had already been muffled by the figure before they started shing against one another, no one outside of the figure¡¯s domain would be able to hear themotion.


    Han Jijyun began to worry. He was afraid something might have happened to hisrades outside of the domain. However, he couldn¡¯t spare them too much of his attention as there were already a lot of worrying matters on his side, like the fact that the figure was much stronger than him.


    Han Jijyun was in trouble. Qi Long on the other hand was also in a simr situation.


    Simrly, he was also pulled into the domain world. It was just the domain world he was in, wasn¡¯t the same foggy domain that Han Jijyun was in. It was instead an open and vast space, so much so that one would never see the end of it.


    The instant Qi Long was dragged into this domain, his eyes lit up with fervour. His decadent behavior seemingly vanished from his body. He jumped up from his rxed posture, stood up and stared at the air in front of him.


    ¡°Come out,¡± Qi Long said calmly.


    After saying those words, a ck cloaked individual slowly appeared from between the twisting and crackling air in front of him. In the end, the individual pierced through the twisting air and turned corporeal.


    ¡°What kind of domain concept is this? Air element? Spatial element?¡± Qi Long muttered under his breath. No matter if it was the ck cloaked individual¡¯s way of appearing or the appearance of his domain, Qi Long wasn¡¯t familiar with either of them. With such little information, Qi Long was unable to make any judgment about the situation in such a short time.


    He had to be cautious against any unfamiliar domain concepts.


    Qi Long put out his hand towards the ck cloaked individual and then clenched it firmly. The space around the ck cloaked individual instantly began to shake. It seemed like it was going to shatter at any moment.


    Right at that moment, the ck cloaked individual suddenly disappeared and appeared behind Qi Long.


    ¡°Dimension element!¡± Qi Long was shocked. In the secret database of the Federation, there was a blimp in the history of the development of human physical skills, and that blimp was caused by the emergence of a terrifying domain realm master. That domain realm master could even kill those above his stage. After entering the domain stage, he turned into an invincible wargod. Moreover, his domain gave him basically superiority against any mechas under the god-ss, and that his domain concept originated from the dimension element.


    The dimension element was definitely a real life cheat code that existed. However, in the end, the individual with this heaven-defying power couldn¡¯t control himself and went on a rampage. He believed that he was the missionary of god and should be considered the only king in the universe.


    That type of mindset was definitely not epted by those in power. So, soon after he deemed himself as the king of the universe, he was chased down by the nation he resided in. That nation instantly sent out three god-ss operators to kill him. In the end, he took a god-ss operator down with him.


    It should be known that he was still only a domain realm master, at most a titled domain realm formidable warrior at that time. He definitely hadn¡¯t reached the imperial stage yet. Yet, being in the domain stage, he was still not any weaker than a god-ss mecha operator piloting a god-ss mecha.


    Of course, that was a special case. Normally,mon domain realm masters were only qualified to go against ace operators. They definitely weren¡¯t on par against imperial operators, not to mention god-ss operators. Only imperial stage domain realm masters could perhaps go against imperial operators, while only those who have entered the god-realm were qualified to exchange blows with god-ss operators.


    However, after centuries of research and careful observation, physical skills was clearly weaker than mecha operating on the same stage. If there was a fight between a physical skills user and mecha pilot of the same caliber, the loser of the fight would always be physical skills users. This was why mechas be the biggest trend in the universe. Unless arge group of these dimension domain realm masters appear, the statistics won¡¯t change too much.


    However, reality proved that the chance of obtaining the dimension domain concept was extremely, extremely small. In the history of the development of physical skills, there was only this one special case. After that dimension domain realm master died, there hadn¡¯t been a second one.


    Qi Long¡¯s first reaction was understandable as what the ck cloaked individual had shown could only be exined by the dimension domain concept.


    Right as Qi Long was still judging the opponent¡¯s domain, the ck cloaked individual suddenly moved his cloak.


    An intense chill went up from Qi Long¡¯s tail bone to his head. It was his instinct informing him that an unprecedented danger was approaching.


    Qi Long didn¡¯t hesitate and used his hands to push the area around him forcefully.


    The space around him suddenly cracked open. The cracks were expanding limitlessly. Once the dimension crack breaks through Qi Long¡¯s defenses, Qi Long¡¯s entire body would be cut in half by it.


    When Qi Long¡¯s domain concept and this odd domain concept shed against one another, Qi Long was instantly shaken by it. He could feel his blood rushing up to his mouth. In the end, he couldn¡¯t control himself and spat out a mouthful of blood.


    Although the crack was still expanding, the speed of it had decreased significantly. It seemed Qi Long¡¯s defensive force was effective.


    However, if he couldn¡¯tpletely stop it, the crack would still cut the space Qi Long resided in, in half. Qi Long would still die from it.


    He hadn¡¯t found Boss yet. He hadn¡¯t helped Boss take the world yet. How could he just die with all those regrets? Qi Long¡¯s unwillingness to give up and his anger towards god instantly expanded outwards. He roared loudly, ¡°Get out of here!¡±


    Qi Long¡¯s entire aura began to expand greatly. The barrier that was limiting him from being a titled domain realm master waspletely shattered by this force.


    Qi Long¡¯s domain concept wildly expanded outwards. The crack that was originally slowly expanding instantly stopped. No, not only did it stop, but it slowly closed up. In the end, the crack in the airpletely disappeared. It was as though the terrifying scene hadn¡¯t happened just now.

 Chapter 1292 - Protect Lingtian For Me

    <h4>1292 Protect Lingtian For Me</h4>


    ¡°As expected.¡± The ck cloaked individual actually spoke after seeing Qi Long¡¯s domain conceptpletely neutralizing his domain concept.


    After hearing that, Qi Long frowned. ¡°You know me?¡±


    ¡°Qi Long, son of Qi Yaoyang,¡± said the ck cloaked individual calmly. It seemed he knew who he was attacking.


    ¡°You know me very well?¡± Qi Long¡¯s face waspletely frozen. The ¡®as expected¡¯ said by his opponent made him annoyed.


    ¡°Indeed.¡± The ck cloaked individual didn¡¯t deny it.


    ¡°Who are you really?¡± Qi Long stared at his opponent and asked again.


    Right as he finished, Qi Long had already attacked. Although he spoke with his opponent to try to get some information from his opponent, he still wished tond a surprise attack.


    ¡°That¡¯s not going to work.¡± The ck cloaked individual blocked with his right hand. Qi Long¡¯s domain concept waspletely blocked off by the opponent¡¯s domain concept, stopping Qi Long from moving any nearer to him.


    ¡°Disappear.¡± Qi Long erupted with as much domain energy his body could exert. He decided to put his all into this one attack.


    Qi Long hadn¡¯t forgotten about Han Jijyun. Although he didn¡¯t see Han Jijyun in the space he was in, Qi Long still believed that Han Jijyun was right beside him. It would be fine if Han Jijyun was outside of this domain. He was just afraid that Han Jijyun had also been attacked. If the enemy could send out a dimension element domain realm master, then the others domain realm masters that came with him weren¡¯t any weaker. Han Jijyun, who was just in the pseudo domain stage, would definitely be in a bad position if he were to face such enemies.


    Boss and some of hisrades were already unounted for, so he couldn¡¯t ept something happening to his friends in his presence. If that were to happen, he would actually go insane.


    Even if he was going to harm himself, he was still going to destroy the opponent¡¯s domain. He wanted to see with his eyes whether Han Jijyun was alright or not.


    Bang! The two energies shed into each other.


    The ck cloaked individual saw his domain on the verge of shattering because of Qi Long¡¯s burst of domain energy. He couldn¡¯t help but softly say, ¡°This will be troublesome.¡±


    Once the domain shatters, the energy of it would expand outwards. All of themotion and noises will no longer be able to be cut off by him. If that happened, the entire base would know he was there.


    ¡°Ice Age!¡± The shaking domain was suddenly reinforced by the ice element domain concept, stabilizing it until it was as sturdy as a mountain.


    Qi Long looked at the ck cloaked individual with shock as he sensed the familiar domain energy.


    ¡°B-Bo-Boss...¡± The feeling of excitement he held in also had a hint of fear. He was afraid that he was wrong, and that this strong domain realm master wasn¡¯t actually Boss. Instead, he might be facing an unknown enemy who had two elements at his disposal.


    The ck cloaked individual slowly began to take off the hood. In the end, Ling Lan¡¯s expressionless face was seen by Qi Long.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Qi Long¡¯s eyes reddened as he pounced towards Ling Lan. He wanted to hug Boss. He wanted to tell him all of his worries and his excitement.


    Bang!


    In the next second, Qi Long waspletely wrestled to the ground by Ling Lan.


    ¡°Qi Long, I¡¯m very disappointed in your performance.¡± Ling Lan looked at Qi Long coldly. Coming here, she didn¡¯t want to see her friends with faces full of sadness, regret and tears. It could be said that Qi Long and Han Jijyun¡¯s words and behavior on the roof had angered Ling Lan greatly.


    ¡°That¡¯s why you can¡¯t leave me Boss. I¡¯m still too weak. I need you to continue to train me,¡± Qi Long replied shamelessly with an expression of an annoying leech. Just looking at that annoying expression made Ling Lan¡¯s teeth itch.


    ¡°Don¡¯t lie to me. I know fully well what you¡¯re capable of.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t believe Qi Long. ¡°Letting you stay with Lingtian is because I trust you can help me.¡±


    ¡°I refuse.¡± The intelligent Qi Long instantly understood Ling Lan¡¯s words. Boss didn¡¯t even think of taking him with him.


    Qi Long understood that Boss could not stay in the Federation for too long, with everyone trying to get a piece of what Ling Xiao left behind. They definitely wouldn¡¯t allow anything to stop them, and if Boss was added to the picture, it would screw over everyone¡¯s n of snacting Ling Xiao¡¯s assets. Thus, Boss couldn¡¯t stay in the Federation even if he wanted to.


    But, he still wanted to leave with Boss. Even if they were to be rogues of the gxy, he still would do so without any regrets.


    ¡°I wille back,¡± said Ling Lan as she stared into Qi Long¡¯s eyes. ¡°I can¡¯t afford to lose my roots here in the Federation. I trust you, so please help me protect Lingtian.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes were filled with trust. It was as if she was saying, ¡®Because you are here, being my strongest shield, I can leave without worry and keep on going forward. When I be a king one day and rule the universe, I wille back to the Federation and take my revenge.¡¯


    ¡°Boss, I f*cking hate it when you say things like that,¡± Qi Long suddenly swore. ¡°I will definitely do what you want me to do, but you also need to promise me that you wille back.¡±


    ¡°I, Ling Lan, will never go back on my word.¡± Ling Lan stood up and looked at Qi Long as she spoke one word at a time.


    Her weakness was only temporary. She would soon be the strongest there is and return here. She would pay back a hundredfold for what her father¡¯s enemies had done to her family.


    Qi Long stood up withplicated feelings inside him. He thought he would follow Boss until the end of his life. Even if they were to have their own families, their rtionship would not change at all. However, he didn¡¯t think that the separation would happen this quickly and that he couldn¡¯t refuse it either.


    If it was possible, Qi Long didn¡¯t want to stay in Lingtian. If there was someone who could take up the mantle, he definitely would leave behind Lingtian and go with Boss to the ends of the universe. Unfortunately, that was not possible. Out of all their friends, he was the most suitable for the position of the Lingtian Independent Army¡¯smander. It was just as his Boss had said. Even if he were to leave the Federation, he shouldn¡¯t lose his roots, otherwise no matter how strong he was out there, he wouldn¡¯t get any help when he returned, rather he would be attacked by the whole Federation. Seeking revenge wasn¡¯t an easy thing at all.


    ¡°It¡¯s not as hard as you think out there. However here, it won¡¯t be easy to protect what we have. There will be a gruesome fight soon, and it¡¯ll all be on you,¡± said Ling Lan after seeing Qi Long¡¯s depressed mood.


    After hearing that, Qi Long quickly regained his focus and asked, ¡°Boss, you¡¯re saying you¡¯re going to leave the Federation immediately?¡±


    ¡°I will leave after I see my mother,¡± replied Ling Lan.


    ¡°Boss, you¡¯re worried about Senior Colonel Lan?¡± Qi Long realized now why his Boss had appeared here. ¡°You want to hide within Lingtian and go to General together?¡±


    ¡°Although this would be very dangerous, this is still my only option.¡± Ling Lan believed the military headquarters would definitely monitor the Lingtian Independent Army very strictly. That was because she would most likely contact them to return to Lingtian. ¡°After arriving on General, we will leave. You don¡¯t have to find us and just do what you need to do.¡±


    ¡°Us? Is it Luo Lang, Xie Yi and Li Lanfeng?¡± Qi Long asked in excitement. It seemed that everyone was alright.


    Ling Lan was silent. That silence made Qi Long¡¯s smile slowly disappear.


    ¡°Who?¡± Qi Long said painfully.


    After a short moment, Qi Long heard a soft voice in his ears, ¡°Xie Yi!¡±

 Chapter 1293 - Two Cores?

    <h4>1293 Two Cores?</h4>


    In the learning space, the ten instructors, who were preventing the copse of the learning space by stationing themselves in different corners of the space, felt the space finally turning stable. When they felt the space slowly stabilizing, they instantly breathed a sigh of relief.


    Suddenly, they heard Number One calling to them. They teared through the dimension¡¯s barrier and arrived where Number One was.


    Number One was in a secret room with a frown on his face. He was staring at two bright objects that were wrapped by countless bands of light with a deadpan expression.


    Number Nine couldn¡¯t hold in the worry in her heart and asked, ¡°Number One, how¡¯s Majesty Four¡¯s condition?¡±


    ¡°Very bad,¡± replied Number One inly. ¡°I¡¯m using all the energy avable in the learning space to repair his body, but it is still not enough. Plus, there¡¯s also a little leech that needs it as well, and we can¡¯t just leave him be either...¡±


    ¡°The problem right now isn¡¯t only Little Four and that little leech, Little Blossom.¡± Number Five appeared beside Number Nine with a cold expression on his face. The constant smug smile on his face was gone.


    ¡°Without the connection between Little Four and Ling Lan, it will be difficult for us to obtain any energy from Ling Lan. The energy in the learning space is limited too. Once we use it all up, Little Four and Little Blossom¡¯s recovery period will be dragged on indefinitely.¡± Number Five had a look of defeat on his face. They were all top-tier individuals in their star system, but they now were stuck here with nothing they could do about it.


    ¡°What actually happened this time?¡± said Number Seven frustratingly. He had been researching a legendary armor in his dimension when suddenly his entire dimension began to copse. He immediately ran out, and before he could ask about what happened, he was tossed to a corner by Number One. They used their spiritual power to protect the foundation of the copsing learning space. After not eating and sleeping for 10 days, they finally felt the destructive energy against the space weakening and in the end stabilizing. After it stabilized, they could finally leave,e to Number One and ask about what was happening.


    ¡°What else could it be? Majesty Four wanted to save someone, but instead got hurt by the bacsh.¡± said Number Four in an annoyed tone.


    She quickly brushed up her flustered outer appearance. She couldn¡¯t ept appearing in front of others with a scruffy appearance. However, even so, she still felt her entire body smelled because she hadn¡¯t showered in 10 days. Although they were the type of existence that wouldn¡¯t be affected by something like that, she still wanted to immediately return to her own dimension and take a hot bath to get rid of the smell.


    ¡°Save who? Who was in trouble?¡± Number Six, Number Seven and Number Eight were all confused. Three simr confused expressions appeared on their faces, their expression incited hatred andughter in the other instructors at the same time.


    Instructors Six, Seven and Eight were all considered to be individuals who focused on their own research. They wouldn¡¯t care about what happened in the outside world. Compared to the other instructors who would pay some attention to Ling Lan from time to time, these three would be disappointed when Ling Lan wasn¡¯t in the learning space. They wouldn¡¯t pay much attention to Ling Lan normally to avoid that feeling of disappointment. They didn¡¯t know that Ling Lan lived such a heart-wrenching and death-defying time during the past while.


    ¡°Ling Lan¡¯s father, Ling Xiao.¡± They didn¡¯t know, but that didn¡¯t mean the others didn¡¯t know. Instructor Number Two suddenly appeared behind the three of them and answered in a depressing tone.


    ¡°What? That god-ss operator?¡± The three of them were utterly shocked.


    ¡°Majesty Four was really digging his own grave.¡± Number Six looked to the sky with a speechless expression. Taking in the spiritual power of a god-ss operator with his current strength... crazy. The result was definitely going to be a ¡®bang¡¯ and an implosion.


    ¡°Majesty Four failed right?¡± guessed Number Seven, seeing that the learning space was still intact.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, but wrong at same time.¡± This time, it was Number Three who answered.


    ¡°Number Three, when did you be so cryptic with your words?¡± After hearing that answer, Number Eight was annoyed. As a mecha operator, Number Three was the most straightforward one out of all of them. He would always say something and do it. He didn¡¯t think that such a straightforward person would be this annoying.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t being straightforward?¡± Number Three¡¯s eyes widened in shock, but he was speaking the truth.


    Number Eight was after all someone who dove deeply into underlying matter so he quickly realized. ¡°You¡¯re saying he absorbed Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual power?¡±


    He asked again, ¡°Wait, although spiritual power is free-form, there¡¯s a core. That core is an individual¡¯s spiritual power. Majesty Four is still not able to take in the spiritual power core of a god-ss operator yet. Are you saying the spiritual power he took in was just loose spiritual power that didn¡¯t have any consciousness in it? Or are you saying he absorbed the main core.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, maybe he absorbed a part of the main core. But, can a core be split into pieces? ording to our theories on Mandora, if the core splits, the spiritual entity would result in death. They would be like those loose spiritual energies, just energy with no life force and a core.¡± Number Eight continued making conclusions out loud. However, this was an impossible conclusion in his mind.


    ¡°What if the spiritual entity had two cores?¡± Number Five was unusually nice as he tried to provide an exnation for the observation.


    ¡°How¡¯s that possible?¡± Number Eight didn¡¯t even think about it and denied the possibility. Perhaps it was possible to awaken multiple innate talents, but there could only be one spiritual entity core. Two cores... Just the fight between the two cores on who should be the main core would cause a person to either be insane or be an idiot. However, they had seen Ling Xiao before. He was definitely a cultured, warm and logical person. His spiritual power was also stable and it didn¡¯t seem to be shaky. He definitely didn¡¯t behave like someone who had two cores...


    Unfortunately, other than the three of them, the others had an expression of certainty on their faces. Number Eight wiped his face, ¡°Alright, two cores. That¡¯s insane. So Majesty Four sessfully absorbed one core, but that core is still not something Little Four could take in all at once. Is that why the learning space is copsing?¡±


    ¡°Yes and no,¡± replied Number Three.


    In the next second, Number Eight ruthlessly pounced towards Number Three with readied fists.


    Bang! Number Three crossed his arms and blocked Number Eight¡¯s punch. He had a look of shock and said, ¡°Why are you trying to hit me?¡±


    Number Eight said angrily, ¡°God damn it. If you¡¯re going to say something, get straight to the point. I hate those types of ambiguous and not detailed answers.¡±


    ¡°...How was I being ambiguous?¡± Number Three felt that he was wrongly used. He was just answering honestly and wasn¡¯t perfunctory in his words.


    ¡°Then can you exin for me what you mean by ¡®yes and no¡¯?¡± Although he dealt with politics and spoke in an indirect manner every day, it didn¡¯t mean he liked being spoken to in that way.


    ¡°You were right about Majesty Four sessfully absorbing the core. But, you are wrong to say that it was the reason for the learning space copsing,¡± Number Three could only exin nicely.

 Chapter 1294 - Soul Fragment!

    <h4>1294 Soul Fragment!</h4>


    ¡°There¡¯s another reason for the space copsing?¡± Number Eight didn¡¯t expect the situation to be thisplicated. ¡°Then why aren¡¯t you telling me directly. You are just letting me bber on mindlessly.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t n to have you guess. I just said one sentence and you began to make your own conclusions,¡± said Number Three with a wronged look on his face. He was already cooperating with Number Eight so well, but why wasn¡¯t Number Eight satisfied? Was it this difficult to be a nice older brother?


    ¡°You...¡± Number Eight readied up his pale white fist again and was about to hit Number Three. Number Three thought about fighting back but he looked at his own iron fist, that was twice asrge as Number Eight¡¯s fist, and he decided not to hurt Number Eight again so he quickly replied before Number Eight could start punching him, ¡°Alright, alright, I¡¯ll tell you.¡±


    ¡°In reality, after taking in one spiritual power core, Majesty Four discovered there was a second core. He didn¡¯t even think and tried to take in the second one,¡± said Number Three after putting his words together slowly.


    ¡°Majesty Four has gone f*cking insane.¡± After hearing those words, Number Eight couldn¡¯t hold it in and swore.


    ¡°Not insane, just at that time, Majesty Four¡¯s only thought was to save Ling Xiao. He didn¡¯t think about the end result or the consequences.¡± Number Three was clearly more lenient towards Little Four.


    ¡°So he failed to absorb the second core, then reacted by spitting it out?¡± Number Eight guessed.


    ¡°If that was the case, then Majesty Four wouldn¡¯t have been injured so severely, and Little Blossom wouldn¡¯t have been dragged into this mess and almost lose his life as well.¡±


    ¡°What does this have anything to do with Little Blossom?¡± Number Eight felt this situation was bing more and moreplicated.


    ¡°That¡¯s because the second core was ¡®Devour¡¯,¡± Number One suddenly said.


    ¡°Devour? Devour!¡± This time, not only was Number Eight shocked, Number Six and Seven both screamed in shock with looks of surprise on their faces.


    All the other instructors looked at each other in unnned unison. When they had found out the second core was Devour, they were also simrly shocked. If they get caught by Devour, none of them would be able to get out alive, turning into nutrients for Devour.


    ¡°You know about the natural state of Devour¡¯s energy. Once you touch it, you basically won¡¯t be able to escape it. You would instantly be devoured and be its nutrients,¡± said Number Three with a look of fear on his face. ¡°If Majesty Four had absorbed the Devour core, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to escape from its clutches. The space copsing is actually the result of that core sucking in the energy of the learning space.¡±


    ¡°So Little Blossom made a move.¡± Number Eight had an epiphany.


    ¡°If anything, only Little Blossom, who has a simr power, can go against that core. However, Little Blossom¡¯s devouring power wasn¡¯t as strong as the Devour core. Luckily, Little Four took the core into this space, giving Little Blossom a home field advantage.¡± Number Three smiled bitterly. ¡°However, even so, Little Blossom only pushed the Devour core outside of the learning space. He was also injured from the bacsh of the Devour core. If Number One hadn¡¯te to his aid and held onto Little Blossom¡¯sst bit of spiritual power, Little Blossom might havepletely vanished from this world. However, even so, whether the part of Little Blossom that is left can recover and reawaken is a different story.¡±


    ¡°Little Four was lucky that Little Blossom had saved him. Although arge amount of his energy was devoured, he still retained his main body. As long as he¡¯s given enough time, he should wake up,¡± said Number One calmly. This was the reason why they could save the learning space from copsing. If Little Four was injured to the same level as Little Blossom, the dimension they were in wouldn¡¯t be intact. Only the core part of the learning space would have been able to stay intact.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Even though Number Six, Seven and Eight knew everything was fine after theirpatriots told them about it, they still had cold sweat after hearing about it. It turns out, they had actually just managed to escape death.


    ¡°However, the real problem isn¡¯t Little Four or Little Blossom,¡± Number One frowned once again. ¡°Come with me.¡±


    Number One used his hand and cut the space in front of him. He walked inside and the others followed him.


    They arrived at another room. This room had two light orb. One, although bright, still felt somewhat odd. It was as though something was missing. The other fixture was dim and it looked as though it could be easily extinguished from a small draft of wind.


    ¡°Why are there two of them?¡± Number Six asked in surprise.


    He closed his eyes and felt the two light sources before pointing at the bright but odd light orb, ¡°That is General Ling Xiao¡¯s? Then what about the dim energy core?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, although General Ling Xiao¡¯s core has a lot of life inside of it, it clearly has a part of it missing. It would even affect his awakening, causing him to never be able to reawaken in this lifetime.¡± Instructor Number One knew better than anyone about Little Four¡¯s saddened call of the term ¡®father¡¯, along with his resolve to not give up on the Devour core even if it meant losing his life and having the entire learning space copsing. The direction Majesty Four was evolving towards wasn¡¯t a mechanical intelligent mainframe, but rather it was more towards a human being.


    Number One didn¡¯t know whether his path of evolution was good or bad. What was annoying to him was that Little Four preferred being an artificial intelligent human that could have emotions, make mistakes and be impulsive, rather than bing a super mainframe that only knew right and wrong.


    .


    ¡°As for the other one, it¡¯s probably Xie Yi¡¯s core,¡± replied Number One. ¡°It¡¯s possible when Majesty Four took in Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual power core, he got his while returning.¡±


    ¡°Majesty Four....¡± He didn¡¯t know when to stop. General Ling Xiao¡¯s core was already enough to destroy Little Four. Yet, he still didn¡¯t care about his life and took in another spiritual core. Did he think he was an animal that could put everything into his pouch? Wasn¡¯t he afraid he would explode? Number Seven felt helpless. If Majesty Four kept doing this kind of stuff everyday, wouldn¡¯t they have to fight with the god of death everyday as well. Couldn¡¯t Little Four just let them live in peace?


    ¡°Unfortunately, Xie Yi¡¯s death was written in the stars. He couldn¡¯t escape from it. Majesty Four saved him, but the Devour core devoured all of his spiritual power... In the end, there is only a soul fragment of him left.¡± Number One didn¡¯t think Xie Yi was going to survive this predicament. In reality, Xie Yi¡¯s spiritual power was already on the brink ofpletely disappearing. If Little Blossom had pushed out the Devour core any slower, Xie Yi¡¯s spiritual power would bepletely devoured without a single drop left.


    ¡°Although Little Blossom only has a part of him left, his main body is still devour based. Although the damage dealt to him was as great as Xie Yi¡¯s, he could just devour the energy around him to repair himself. It can be said that Little Blossom still had a chance to wake up, while Xie Yi... Not only was his soul fragment a problem, there is still leftover Devour energy inside his spiritual core... That small amount of Devour energy won¡¯t give him any chance to repair himself. Right now, I can only use my energy to hold back the Devour energy, stopping it from hurting Xie Yi¡¯s soul fragment any further.¡±

 Chapter 1295 - The Show is About to Start?

    <h4>1295 The Show is About to Start?</h4>


    ¡°How about we increase the energy we give him. That way, even if a part of him was devoured, we still have a chance to replenish Xie Yi¡¯s soul fragment,¡± Number Four suggested in a confused tone.


    ¡°I already tried that. The more energy I give, the more it gets devoured, so the amount of energy left for Xie Yi is negligible. Not only that... Just take a look for yourselves.¡± Number One wiggled his fingers and countless bands of light flowed towards Xie Yi¡¯s dim spiritual power core to replenish its energy. However, after the energy entered the core, the core was still just as dim as before. Moreover, instead of brightening, the minute ck dot in the center of the core started expanding, causing the core to seem even dimmer than before.


    ¡°That¡¯s Devour energy?¡± Number Four covered her mouth and gasped in shock.


    Number One flicked his finger again, stopping the flow of energy.


    ¡°No matter how much I give him, it doesn¡¯t replenish him, instead, my energy nourishes the Devour energy...¡± Number One said helplessly. Looking at the growing ck dot, there was almost zero chance of Xie Yi surviving this predicament.


    ¡°Is there really no hope?¡± Number Three, who treated Ling Lan as his own daughter, couldn¡¯t bear the thought of Ling Lan bing sad from losing a friend. Number Nine also felt the same way.


    ¡°Whether Xie Yi can have any hope of surviving would depend on Little Blossom.¡± Number One sighed as he remembered Little Blossom¡¯s unknown fate. If Little Blossom couldn¡¯t wake up, then Xie Yi couldn¡¯t survive too. Only Little Blossom, who also had a simr type of Devour energy, could perhaps help solve this seemingly impossible problem.


    After hearing Number One being pessimistic about the Xie Yi¡¯s fate, all the eight other instructors sighed. They already couldn¡¯t determine Little Blossom¡¯s life or death, not to mention Xie Yi.


    ¡°It¡¯s just that we can¡¯t contact Ling Lan. That is the real problem...¡± Number Nine¡¯s steeled look had a hint of worry.


    ¡°It will all depend on Ling Lan now,¡± said Number One inly. Without Little Four, even if the instructors had immense strength, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to open the learning space with the restriction the learning space ced on them. However, as the host, even without Little Four, as long as Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power was strong enough, she would be able to open a path to the learning space.


    In reality, it was all on Ling Lan on whether Little Four could recover and whether Little Blossom could wake up. If Ling Lan couldn¡¯t open a path to the learning space, the learning space wouldn¡¯t be able to siphon any energy from Ling Lan. If this state of energy absence continued for too long, then the instructors would be out of energy and fall into a state of hibernation. If that happened, Little Four and Little Blossom would never recover.


    All the instructors knew that the future of everyone in this room was all in Ling Lan¡¯s control.


    ¡°Try your best Ling Lan!¡± Number Nine clenched her fists tighty. The child she taught definitely would not disappoint her.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Ling Lan¡¯s our most prized disciple, unless Number Two was selfish enough to not teach all the spiritual power techniques to Ling Lan.¡± Number Five nced at the shadowy area beside Number One with a smirk on his face.


    After hearing those words, all the instructors looked towards that shadow. Perhaps their gazes were too fiery, Number Two, who was usually calm and collected, could hold it in anymore. He slowly crawled out of the shadow and said calmly, ¡°I¡¯ve taught what should be taught. What shouldn¡¯t be taught...¡±


    Everyone raised their eyebrows and waited for him to finish his sentence.


    Number Two¡¯s cold looking expression had a bit of disheveled look to it. ¡°...I also taught¡±


    After saying that, he went back into the shadow. He didn¡¯t want to show himself again.


    Number One looked at the surprised faces on everyone. He knew that if he didn¡¯t exin it clearly, these people wouldn¡¯t leave. Thus he said, ¡°Ling Lan... is known for being pushy.¡± No matter if it was for herself or when training others.


    Everyone understood what he meant. They all had lessons they didn¡¯t want to teach to Ling Lan, but when such a hardworking child studied under them with a fiery thirst for knowledge, they could only relent and teach her everything they knew. They didn¡¯t expect Number Two, who was cold and not a people person, to not be able to hold against Ling Lan¡¯s pushiness. They also realized Number Two was actually not that different from them when it came to matters about Ling Lan.


    At the spaceport of General, a gigantic Destruction Devil slowly docked itself.


    At the same time, the news of Lingtian Independent Army¡¯s high-ranking officers arriving on General was sent to all the departments within the government of General


    ¡°Reporting in, sir. Lingtian Independent Army¡¯s vicemander, brigade leaders, and department heads have arrived on General.¡± The Flying Dragon Special Forces also received the news.


    Ling Xiao lifted his head and monotonously spoke to the adjutant who came in to report Lingtian¡¯s arrival, ¡°Got it.¡± After acknowledging the adjutant, he lowered his head and continued to read through the documents in his hands.


    Recently, Ling Xiao had been restructuring the Flying Dragon Special Forces. The rxed and indolent atmosphere in the Flying Dragon Special Forces was long gone. Every department and every battle team were like standing strands of hair, being constantly on standby.


    The adjutant saw that his chief was busy so he didn¡¯t dare to disrupt him any further. He softly walked out of the chief¡¯s office.


    After the automatic door closed behind him, he breathed in a huge breath of air. Recently, the pressure the chief was exerting was getting heavier and heavier. In the past, he would still dare to crack a few jokes with the chief when the chief wasn¡¯t busy. Now, he would feel more suffocated the longer he stayed with the chief.


    It was possible that General Ling Xiao¡¯s death had changed the chief.


    The adjutant had always been Ren Feiyu¡¯s confidant. He knew very well that the chief was a ssmate who grew up together with General Ling Xiao. Although theypeted against each other and didn¡¯t see eye to eye, the rtionship between them was very good.


    The chief was definitely thinking about taking revenge for the general. It was probably why he changed his reactionary attitude into something more proactive like ruthlessly restructuring the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    As the adjutant of the chief of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, he definitely supported the chief¡¯s decision. As the strongest special forces in the entire gxy, he had always been proud of being a member of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. However, in the past few years, the Flying Dragon Special Forces had been slowly rotting from the inside. Politics was slowly incorporated into every matter of the Federation, the brigade leaders didn¡¯t trust anyone, and the other teams leaders were forming their own factions, splitting the whole special forces into small segmented pieces. Looking at the current deteriorated state of the Flying Dragon Special Forces was making him depressed.


    He had reported this deteriorated state to the chief in the past, but the chief chose to ce his trust in the brigade leaders, trusting that they could resolve the matter themselves. However, by cing his trust in them, in thest 10 or so years, nothing had a turn for the better, not to mention the unresolved problems. It was instead bing worse and worse. After seeing hope of turning the Flying Dragon Special Forces for the better, he was in full support of the chief¡¯s reform. He hoped this could relight the fire burning inside of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. He wanted to see the Flying Dragon Special Forces returning back to their rightful throne.


    The adjutant clenched his fists until veins were popping from his arms with an excited look on his face. He admired the chief even more now. It felt like his entire body was filled with strength. This was the version of the chief that he had swore an oath to serve. His chief had finally returned.


    After the doors closed, Ling Xiao raised his head with his right hand softly covering half of his face. He had a devilish smile on his face. ¡°All the actors are on the stage. The show is about to start. Qi Yaoyang, don¡¯t disappoint me.¡±


    At that moment, at General Ling Xiao¡¯s manor, a few important members of the upper echelons of the 23rd Division¡¯s departments came to visit.


    The person leading the group was the 23rd Division¡¯s chief of staff, Lieutenant General He Xuyang.


    The guard took He Xuyang and the others into a living room to wait. After a short while, Lan Luofeng walked into the living room with a clean cut uniform.


    ¡°Madam!¡± All the officers immediately stood up and saluted Lan Luofeng.


    ¡°No need for greetings. Everyone, please sit.¡± Lan Luofeng gestured for everyone to sit and speak freely.

 Chapter 1296 - Spiritual Power Passcode

    <h4>1296 Spiritual Power Passcode</h4>


    After all the officers sat down, He Xuyang spoke up, ¡°Madam, we have already made the preparations. In the military headquarters conference three days from now, we will rmend Lieutenant General Ling to take over the position of the general of the 23rd Division. Please get ready by then.¡±


    Lan Luofeng nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯ve already notified the First Marshal. There should not be any problems from his side. However, how we can make the Second Marshal and Third Marshal factions¡¯ representatives agree will depend on everyone¡¯s hard work.¡±


    After hearing that the First Marshal¡¯s faction was dealt with, He Xuyang felt relieved. When they first brought up this suggestion, he was afraid the First Marshal would disagree. The political pressure the First Marshal could exert was much greater than that from the Second and Third Marshals.


    The officers, who were moved by such good news, began to have a heated discussion about the ways they could deal with the Second Marshal and the Third Marshal¡¯s faction. While they were discussing, Lan Luofeng just listened there silently. She wasn¡¯t as knowledgeable about the internal workings in the military headquarters, so she didn¡¯t want to say anything wrong that could derail the officers¡¯ thought processes.


    After more than an hour of discussing, everyone knew what each of them needed to do. Then they all said their goodbyes to Lan Luofeng.


    The reason they came to the general¡¯s manor to discuss their n was because they had no other options. In order to avoid the 23rd Division from grouping together, the military headquarters had stopped them from controlling the 23rd Division. They were ordered to not leave their post without any orders from the military headquarters.


    These officers, who were constantly under surveince, could only wait until they came to General using the reason to visit Lan Luofeng to discuss their future ns.


    Their reasoning was too valid to be refused by the military headquarters. Ifing to visit the grieving wife of a general who had passed away was stopped by the military headquarters, they would definitely be shamed by the public once the news got out.


    Although the military headquarters wanted to force the 23rd Division under their rule, they still didn¡¯t want to anger all of the soldiers in the military and their citizens.


    Not only was the 23rd Division under the military headquarters¡¯ surveince and restrictions, all of the brigade leaders and department heads of Lingtian on General were also ordered to stay on their Destruction Devil, unless they were called upon. Otherwise, they weren¡¯t allowed to leave the spaceport.


    Of course, these orders were mostly restricting the higher ranking officers. If the average soldier wanted to leave the area, it was still possible.


    In reality, the cost of maintaining therge number of soldiers was huge. They had to frequently go into General to resupply their stock. This meant that sometimes they would need to go out of the Destruction Devil to buy their supplies. The military headquarters was still quite reasonable in this aspect. They only required Lingtian to give them a list of the logistics personnel going out to purchase supplies. Once the military headquarters determined that there was no issue with the candidates, they would let them out to resupply.


    However,pared to male logistics personnel, those JMC female soldiers clearly got out of the spaceport much easier. As long as the list of their names was sent out, it would be approved after a short while. Sometimes, to avoid the troublesome procedure, some easy restocking assignments would be given to those beautiful and elegant JMCs.


    On this day, around a dozen female JMCs were given the task to buy some everyday essentials. They took the inteary transport and reached the capital of General. In order to increase the speed of their shopping, they split into groups of three and went to buy what they were assigned to buy.


    Everyone promised to gather at the inteary transport station at 5 in the afternoon and then went their separate ways.


    When all of the female soldiers had left, one of the guards, who was standing in the za, pressed on his ear canals and said softly, ¡°Lingtian¡¯s JMCs have split into groups of three. There doesn¡¯t seem to be any problems currently.¡±


    ¡°Understood. We¡¯ve already arranged people to follow them.¡± The person he was reporting to didn¡¯t seem to be less cautious as he still sent out the next wave of men under hismand to monitor these JMCs.


    Most of the JMCs who came out today were quite beautiful. Of course, the most beautiful young girl was around 18 years old. She looked like a new recruit who had just joined not long ago. Out of the girls moving together with her, one was around the same age, or even younger. She was a little girl with a sweet smile on her face. Thest one was somewhat older, she looked like she was in her early 20s. Although her looks were average, the aura she gave off was still calm and collected. She was probably the leader out of the three of them.


    It was probably the first time the two younger female soldiers had gone to such a luxurious za. They constantly had curious expressions on their faces as they walked around. If the oldest of the three of them didn¡¯t constantly remind them not to run off randomly, they probably would have just stayed in a shop they liked for hours and hours.


    However, no matter how well they behaved and how much they tried to stop themselves, there was always a limit. When they saw those branded limited edition clothes, shoes and bags, they couldn¡¯t control themselves anymore. They pulled the oldest of the three in with them to shop.


    Not long after, in the crowd, an average person walked to a corner. He looked at the limited edition luxury goods as he said softly into hismunicator, ¡°The group I followed entered into the luxury shop in the Xihang District.¡±


    ¡°It seems like they won¡¯te out for a while,¡± said the man from the other side of themunicator. ¡°Looks like this group should be clean.¡±


    ¡°Looks normal for now,¡± said the person in the corner softly. He was pretending to look at the scenery, but in reality, his attention was still on the shop. The three girls were looking through the beautiful dresses and clothes at that moment. They would speak to one another from time to time. They were probably discussing which one of the dresses looked better.


    ¡°Can you determine the number of people following us?¡± asked Li Lanfeng softly while disguising himself as the oldest of the three JMCs. He took a dress off the rack and ced it in front of Luo Lang.


    ¡°That person in the corner looking at the scenery and the couple who just entered the shop,¡± Luo Lang said as he shook his head, showing that he didn¡¯t like the long dress Li Lanfeng was showing him.


    ¡°Not only that, this shop has surveince cameras. They probably have already been temporarily taken over by the military headquarters,¡± said Ling Lan as she looked through dresses.


    The reason the three of them were speaking out loud was because the words the surveince cameras could pick up was different from what they were saying. The surveince cameras could only hear words like ¡°This dress is pretty. It suits you doesn¡¯t it? Oh no, I don¡¯t like that one.¡± or ¡°You don¡¯t like it? That one¡¯s nice though.¡±


    This effect was caused by infusing spiritual power in their words. It was a technique Ling Lan learned from Instructor Number Two. In order to make their mission convenient, Ling Lan quickly taught Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang the technique. It was good that Li Lanfeng was already an expert in spiritual power so he didn¡¯t have much problems trying to learn it. Luo Lang on the other hand, how could his spiritual power not be strong when he had an infinite number of personalities to help him with it? Additionally, his calm personality was like a cheat code. Even if the main Luo Lang couldn¡¯t learn it, the calm personality would still be able to learn it easily and transfer his new-found knowledge into Luo Lang.


    Ling Lan believed that in this current era, no one could break the cryptic code that originated from Mandora.

 Chapter 1297 - Surveillance

    <h4>1297 Surveince</h4>


    ¡°They are really serious about monitoring us.¡± Luo Lang snorted coldly. His beautiful face had a hint of mockery. He didn¡¯t think that even after fighting for the Federation with their lives, they would be considered as enemies in the end.


    ¡°They are just being careful.¡± Ling Lan had a cute smile on her face. She looked like she was saying that the dress in her hands was very beautiful.


    ¡°It¡¯s rather because you and General Ling Xiao did such a good job in growing Lingtian and the 23rd Division to what they are today. All of them want to take a bite of them.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s words were right on point.


    ¡°Only someone incapable would admire the assets of others.¡± Ling Lanughed coldly.


    ¡°Commander, you¡¯re wrong.¡± Li Lanfeng smirked lightly.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows in response. Her supposed sharp look now looked different on her cute and adorable face.


    Li Lanfeng quickly shifted his gaze. The ears under his military cap were already red from blushing. He coughed and added in a somewhat hoarse voice, ¡°Those who sit in high positions aren¡¯t incapable. It¡¯s just that you and General Ling Xiao are too amazing. That¡¯s why they seem so average.¡±


    Luo Lang looked at Li Lanfeng in admiration. This was definitely the best possible way to praise someone. It wasn¡¯t a standard way of praise too. He should learn how to do it from him.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words indeed made Ling Lan feel much better.


    At that moment, the couple walked into the shop and like them, they were looking at clothes.


    Li Lanfeng gave a look to Luo Lang. Luo Lang then said, ¡°We¡¯re almost done looking through the clothes here. Why don¡¯t we go upstairs and take a look?¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes brightened and immediately said, ¡°Okay, okay.¡± Ling Lan acted perfectly like an average girl who just wanted to see more of the luxurious brand name products in the shop. Plus, Ling Lan¡¯s cute and adorable look made her behavior seem much more natural. She didn¡¯t even annoy those young masters and young mistresses from special backgrounds with her behavior.


    The three of them quickly went up to the second floor. While they were doing so, the couple sent nces at each other. They put away the luxury products they had in their hands and followed Ling Lan and the others up to the second floor.


    This luxury store had a total of five floors. There were elevators and also automatic esctors. Ling Lan and the others didn¡¯t go to the second floor but instead went straight to the top floor.


    The couple also followed them to the fifth floor.


    The fifth floor was filled with expensive and luxurious jewelry. Surprisingly, it was rtively emptypared to the other floors. Although the couple was slower than Ling Lan¡¯s group by one or two minutes, they still managed to find them after going around the floor. They quickly let out a sigh of relief after finding them


    Ling Lan and the others were carefully looking through the jewelry and precious stones in the disy case. It was as though they were entranced by the jewelry as they were stuck there for 15 or so minutes.


    The couple both frowned at their suspicious actions. They were looking at the disy case for too long. The woman nudged the man her arm a little and the man took her over. They were pretending to go over to choose some jewelry from the disy case.


    The woman let go of the man and then moved to the side of Li Lanfeng on her left.


    Li Lanfeng seemed to have noticed her. He turned his face towards her before shing her with arge smile.


    ¡®So... beautiful!¡¯ The woman could feel her eyes being dazzled. Li Lanfeng¡¯s seemingly average face was instantly warped into the most beautiful face in the world because of that smile. She was entranced by it. It gave her the impulse of kneeling down towards him.


    Suddenly, she felt rm bells going off in her head. She didn¡¯t hesitate and bit her tongue. She wanted to use the immense pain to force herself awake.


    ¡°Toote...¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. He was waiting for them toe for 15 minutes. He was almost losing his patience.


    Right as Li Lanfeng finished speaking, the woman suddenly felt everything in front of her turning pitch ck. The lights along with the jewelry she had seen shining brightly all vanished. There was only darkness in her vision. It was as though the scene she saw earlier was a dream.


    The man saw his partner suddenly turning stiff. He gave her an odd look, but in the next second his expression changed. Right as he was about to scream, he discovered that he couldn¡¯t make a single noise.


    ¡°Your opponent is me. Don¡¯t get distracted.¡± Luo Lang had already activated his Domain when they got close to them. He was just waiting for them toe towards him.


    The man suddenly discovered that his partner, who was standing not so far from him, was suddenly gone. Not only that, even the entire store was gone and only a gray colored sky was left. There was also a beautiful young woman smiling at him. Just the smile made his heart jump, but it also gave him a chill down his spine.


    If there was a third person there, they would have discovered that Ling Lan, who was standing between Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng, had long left.


    At that moment, Ling Lan had already left the luxurious shop and was rushing towards the general¡¯s manor. It was also lucky that Ling Lan was already an imperial realm formidable warrior. Her amazing control of her domain concept didn¡¯t rm the imperial stage experts guarding General.


    Of course, she didn¡¯t know whether she could get past Mu Shui-qing, who was guarding the general¡¯s manor. However, Ling Lan knew that even if Mu Shui-qing discovered her presence, he wouldn¡¯t do anything as long as she didn¡¯t have any malice towards the people in the general¡¯s manor.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s disappearance was enough to disappoint Mu Shui-qing in the Federation. That was why he wouldn¡¯t be alerting the military headquarters if an imperial realm formidable warrior appeared on General.


    In the general¡¯s manor, the originally dry air became somewhat humid. Of course, this degree of change was too hard to detect, unless it was someone who was extremely sensitive to humidity. Otherwise, no one would be able to tell the difference.


    Mu Shui-qing, who had been in garden watering nts, suddenly raised his head and frowned. In the next second, he disappeared from where he stood.


    In the corridor to the study room, arge hand suddenly appeared out of thin air and ruthlessly grabbed an area of empty air.


    Suddenly, a light screen shattered and in the next second a ck cloaked individual appeared out of thin air.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Therge hand ruthlessly ripped open the dimension and Mu Shui-qing stepped out from the opening.


    ¡°Master, long time no see,¡± Ling Lan raised her head.


    Mu Shui-qing stared at her with a cold look on his face. He grabbed Ling Lan and said, ¡°Follow me.¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t resist and before she knew it she was taken to the backyard by Mu Shui-qing.


    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± asked Mu Shui-qing.


    ¡°Something happened to my father. I wanted to see my mother to check if she is safe. That way I will be able to leave without worrying too much,¡± Ling Lan said respectfully.


    ¡°The entire general¡¯s manor, other than here, isn¡¯t safe,¡± said Mu Shui-qing in a dark tone.


    How could the military headquarters just let the general¡¯s manor off the hook? This was a ce that Ling Lan would definitely appear. The military headquarters didn¡¯t dare to do anything to the holy ce Mu Shui-qing stayed at. This was why Mu Shui-qing instantly grabbed Ling Lan and pulled her to this location.


    ¡°The military headquarters really don¡¯t care about saving face anymore. After shamelessly plotting against my father, they still used every method they could think of to steal what¡¯s his.¡± A hint of mockery was shown on Ling Lan¡¯s face. She already knew that the general¡¯s manor would be monitored, but didn¡¯t expect they would even monitor the insides of the manor.

 Chapter 1298 - I’m Sorry Mom!

    <h4>1298 I¡°m Sorry Mom!</h4>


    ¡°It¡¯s because what you and your father left behind are too valuable. They don¡¯t want to let go of either one,¡± said Mu Shui-qing calmly. In reality, if Ling Xiao hadn¡¯t been here, he would have left the Federation long ago. People who lived as long as Mu Shui-qing had already seen through everything possible in life. Weren¡¯t those who say those patriotics words justpeting for power? Mu Shui-qing only listened to their sweet nothings and epted it all.


    ¡°What my father and I left behind isn¡¯t theirs to obtain. Plus, it won¡¯t be easy to take what¡¯s ours,¡± said Ling Lan coldly. She had always kept trump cards at the back of her hands. She didn¡¯t believe that her father, who was 100 times more sly and devious than her, would not leave any traps behind.


    ¡°You know your father very well.¡± Mu Shui-qing looked at Ling Lan with an odd expression. He, of course, knew Ling Xiao very well. It was because he taught Ling Xiao for so many years which had allowed him to see through the real personality Ling Xiao had hid away. Although Ling Xiao returned for 7 to 8 years, he still only stayed with Ling Lan for at most three months. Most of the time, Ling Xiao and Ling Lan would be busy doing their own matters. In such a short time, Ling Lan actually managed to see Ling Xiao¡¯s true personality, and this shocked Mu Shui-qing.


    ¡°No one knows a child better than their parents. These words work in reverse as well,¡± said Ling Lan indifferently. The important thing was that her father had never hid anything from her or her mother. Her mother didn¡¯t care because in her eyes, her father was always the best. As for Ling Lan, she wanted to ignore those matters as well, but her Profound Insight wouldn¡¯t stop activating in the presence of her father. It would always remind her of things she missed, making it so that she couldn¡¯t even neglect it.


    ¡°If you know your parents well, then why did youe back?¡± Mu Shui-qing had an expression of disapproval.


    ¡°I want to see my mother with my own eyes. I just can¡¯t stop worrying.¡± After losing Ling Xiao, Ling Lan felt she had lost a safeguard in her life. If something were to happen to Lan Luofeng, Ling Lan was afraid she¡¯d go insane. In the end, Ling Lan bing stronger in this lifetime was only to protect the people she loved. The first person she wanted to protect was her mother, Lan Luofeng.


    ¡°If you want her to be safe, you just need to make sure you¡¯re safe,¡± Mu Shui-qing said calmly. ¡°You¡¯re now her pir of hope. As long as you¡¯re alive, she would try her best to stay alive in order to protect your belongings.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°The 23rd Division.¡±


    Mu Shui-qing sighed. ¡°Despite it being very difficult, no one probably would be able to stop her from doing what she wants. I don¡¯t know what the final oue will be, but I can confirm that your father¡¯s 23rd Division won¡¯t be taken by anyone else soon. But, if you want to take over the 23rd Division, then you need to be stronger as soon as possible. You must be powerful to the point where the three marshals cannot stop you from inheriting what¡¯s rightfully yours.¡±


    ¡°I understand. It seems like I still have to trouble you, master, for the next few years.¡± With her master within the general¡¯s manor, she trusted that no one would darey a hand on her mother. This was why Ling Lan and Ling Xiao dared to leave Lan Luofeng on General by herself. Compared to the other generals¡¯ wives who were on General like hostages, Lan Luofeng had Mu Shui-qing protecting her, allowing the two of them to be free of worry. If a god-realm individual wanted to protect someone, the person wouldn¡¯t die unless they instantly destroy the entire.


    ¡°No matter. I¡¯m all by myself. It¡¯s not bad to be able to retire here anyways,¡± Mu Shui-qing said nonchntly. He only had one disciple he loved. Oh, well there was also Ling Lan. However, Ling Lan was also Ling Xiao¡¯s daughter. All in all, his entire life was spent on this family. He couldn¡¯t leave even if he wanted to.


    Ling Lan wanted to say something else. Suddenly, she trembled as she slowly turned towards the door.


    She saw a beautiful woman with a surprised look on her face. The woman had tears of joy as she ran towards her.


    ¡°I asked for your mother toe here just now. It is safe meeting her here.¡± Mu Shui-qing¡¯s words echoed in Ling Lan¡¯s ears, as he exined why Lan Luofeng would appear here.


    ¡°Is it my little Lan¡¯er? My Lan¡¯er?¡± Lan Luofeng caressed Ling Lan¡¯s face with trembling hands. Despite Ling Lan wearing a uniform of a JMC, Lan Luofeng was still able to recognize Ling Lan. It was her little baby daughter Ling Lan who she had been thinking about non-stop recently.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, mom.¡± Ling Lan knelt down and held onto Lan Luofeng¡¯s waist. If she had just been stronger, she wouldn¡¯t have caused her father¡¯s disappearance by forcing him to save her life.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to use the word ¡°death¡±. She believed that man, who was stronger than god himself, wouldn¡¯t die. She could only ept that he had disappeared, just like many years before. When the time was right, he woulde back again in full force.


    ¡°Don¡¯t apologize to me. If Ling Xiao didn¡¯t go to save you and if you were the one who disappeared instead of him, I would have hated him for all eternity. It¡¯s good that he went to save you. I¡¯m very happy that I didn¡¯t marry the wrong man. I¡¯m very proud of him.¡± Lan Luofeng hugged Ling Lan tightly. She smiled as she spoke with tears trickling uncontrobly down her face.


    ¡°Ling Lan, don¡¯t me your mother for being selfish. Back then when he first disappeared, if you hadn¡¯t existed, I would have joined him in death. However, your existence made me be a strong mother. In those 16 years, my focus was on you. In my mind, you were the most important. I was indeed happy when your father returned, but I was more happy that my daughter no longer needed to struggle and could recover her real identity as a girl. You would have been able to freely live in the gender you were born with. However, your father¡¯s blunder destroyed my dreams. To be honest, I hated your father back then. I hated the fact that he came back and messed with my ns. The reason why I forgave your father was because I saw that you liked this type of life. You don¡¯t need anyone to pamper you anymore. You wished to be strong enough to look down at everything. That¡¯s the type of freedom you needed, not what I nned out for you.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why out of the two of you, if I was to choose, I would choose you. It¡¯s always been you.¡± Lan Luofeng hugged her daughter tightly in her arms. The warmth she felt in her arms soothe her struggling heart


    Ling Xiao¡¯s disappearance did indeed make her feel hurt. However, it was only some pain in her heart. However, if her daughter were to disappear instead of Ling Xiao, she would feel like someone was pulling her heart out. That kind of pain would make her suffocate. She would not be able to live anymore with that kind of pain.


    ¡°Mom!¡± Ling Lan buried herself in Lan Luofeng¡¯s arms while she noiselessly sobbed. She had once said that she would never cry again, but she was unable to control her emotions when she heard her mother¡¯s heartwarming words. The more Lan Luofeng put importance on her, the more Ling Lan felt she had wronged her mother, as she had caused her mother to lose the husband that loved her the most.

 Chapter 1299 - She’s Already Gone

    <h4>1299 She¡¯s Already Gone</h4>


    ¡°I¡¯m not worried anymore after seeing you¡¯re safe. Now, you go do whatever you need to do. Don¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯m not that delicate. I will definitely watch you return with a smile.¡± Lan Luofeng knew why Ling Lan had appeared here. A mother knew her daughter best, and Lan Luofeng knew Ling Lan very well. Before Ling Lan said anything, she spoke the words Ling Lan needed to hear to ease her about leaving.


    ¡°Mom, I don¡¯t know when I will be back. But, I can assure you this, no matter who tells you that I¡¯ve died, or disappeared, don¡¯t believe any of them. I will definitelye back alive. I will take revenge for father one step at a time.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s gaze hardened and a killing intent poured out for a moment.


    ¡°Yes, yes, I¡¯ll believe you. I promise you that I will only trust your words. Even if your fatheres back from the dead and tells me that you have died, I won¡¯t believe him.¡± Lan Luofeng nodded with tears flowing out of her eyes. The tears that had originally stopped began trickling down her face. She hugged Ling Lan even tighter. She knew that once she let go, her little Lan¡¯er would leave her side and leave the Federation. She would go on an unknown journey in the stars filled with dangers and hardships. However, Ling Lan needed to go on that journey. Lan¡¯er needed to take revenge for her father. To achieve that, she needed to have space to freely develop herself and grow stronger but the Federation wouldn¡¯t give her that space. What awaited her in the Federation were only traps and plots against her until she died from one of them.


    This temporary separation was only for a better future. Lan Luofeng knew that, but knowing she actually had to separate with her daughter made her feel reluctant. She almost sumbed to the urge of asking Ling Lan to take her with her.


    Slowly, Lan Luofeng let go of Ling Lan and backed away. She couldn¡¯t let herself be a burden to her daughter. In the end, she was just an average person. She couldn¡¯t protect herself in the face of danger. She couldn¡¯t endanger her daughter¡¯s life just for her sake. Lan Luofeng couldn¡¯t leave. Ling Lan was already considered to be missing from action, no one knew where she was and no one could find her. However, taking Lan Luofeng with her would make things different. Once they leave General, the Federation would be able to predict the paths they could take to escape and easily set out ambushes to take them out both together.


    The most important factor in her decision was that she couldn¡¯t let the 23rd Division which Ling Xiao had poured his heart and soul into be some political leverage of others. She needed to protect what Ling Xiao had left behind. Just like how she protected the military merits Ling Xiao had for Ling Lan back then.


    She was a selfish woman. She never had any patriotics thoughts. She was just a normal family-woman in the end. No one should even think about taking anything away from her family. She was stubborn like that.


    ¡°Lan¡¯er, don¡¯t say goodbye. When I turn around, you should go what you need to do,¡± said Lan Luofeng as she gritted her teeth. She was afraid that if Ling Lan said goodbye to her, she wouldn¡¯t be able to control her emotions. She might just lose control of herself, holding onto her daughter and crying while telling her to take her along with her.


    Ling Lan stood there like a statue. Her mouth moved but in the end, no sound came out. She knew that just like her, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to turn around and leave if it wasn¡¯t for Lan Luofeng¡¯s approval.


    Lan Luofeng turned around quickly as tears dripped down like a waterfall. She hated the Federation. She hated the three marshals. She hated the military headquarters. She lost her husband because of them. And now, she must endure the separation between her and her daughter. Lan Luofeng had been full of optimism towards the world in the past. No matter what happened, she would always look on the positive side of things. However now, she hadpletely lost that optimistic point of view.


    When Lan Luofeng turned around, Ling Lan sent a pleading nce towards Mu Shui-qing. After Mu Shui-qing gave her a determined nod, her body slowly evaporated before slowly turning nothing but air.


    After a few seconds, Lan Luofeng heard Mu Shui-qing¡¯s sigh. ¡°She¡¯s gone.¡±


    Lan Luofeng quickly turned around. When she saw the area where Ling Lan knelt down empty, she covered her mouth with her hand and sobbed softly.


    ¡°The mother of the strong must endure pain that normal mothers can¡¯t endure...¡± Mu Shui-qing slowly closed his eyes as heforted Lan Luofeng. No matter if it was the wife of the strong or the mother of one, they were both difficult to be. But, Lan Luofeng yed both roles. It was destined that her life would be full of difficulties.


    Lan Luofeng slowly stopped sobbing. She silently stared at the ground for a few seconds. When she raised her head again, her aura slowly changed into something simr to Ling Xiao and Ling Lan¡¯s aura.


    She slowly raised her right hand and gently pushed the strands of her hair behind her ear. ¡°That¡¯s right. My own battle is about to begin. I can¡¯t bring shame to the two of them.¡±


    She looked towards Mu Shui-qing and said softly, ¡°Master, I¡¯m leaving.¡±


    Mu Shui-qing nodded. Lan Luofeng bowed towards him and then slowly walked out of the garden.


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s footsteps were calm. Each step wasn¡¯t hurried. She slowly walked forward until she disappeared from sight.


    Mu Shui-qing opened his eyes and looked towards the path leading to the garden. He then sighed. ¡°Ling Xiao... what have you done to deserve such a good wife by your side.¡±


    With such a good daughter-inw like her, he couldn¡¯t let anything happen to her. Otherwise, he would bring shame to the request Ling Xiao had asked of him before going into war and the Ling Lan¡¯s plea with her eyes before she left.


    After leaving the general¡¯s manor, Ling Lan quickly moved towards themercial street. Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang were there drawing the attention of the people following them. She hoped that when she returned, they hadn¡¯t been exposed yet.


    Many of the other general¡¯s manors were around there so this area was considered a high-ranking official district. Other than patrol teams that patrolled the area from time to time, there were also only a few rtivesing in and out of the ce. But, rarely, would there be outsidersing in and out of this area.


    The entire district¡¯s streets and roads were very quiet with not a single soul in sight.


    When Ling Lan was about to leave this district just with a few dashes and arrive at themercial street, she stopped. She stood there and turned to look at the tree on her left.


    ¡°I expected no less out of General Ling Xiao¡¯s son.¡± A ck-cloaked man suddenly appeared on top of a tree with a mask covering half of his face.


    ¡°You¡¯re ttering me,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. She raised her head and turned towards another direction as she continued, ¡°If you¡¯re here, then why are you still hiding?¡±


    After she finished speaking, another ck-cloaked man appeared on a tree branch on her right. He was sitting on the branchnguidly while swinging his legs on the tree.


    ¡°What? Do I need to point you out one by one?¡± Ling Lanughed coldly after only seeing one of them appear.


    ¡°Alright, we can¡¯t fool you.¡± The ck-cloaked man sitting on the branch pped his hands and smiled. ¡°Since we are found out, everyonee out and meet Lieutenant General Ling.¡±


    After he finished talking, another two ck cloaked men appeared on the two trees. One was leaning on it while the other wasying down on the tree branch.


    ¡°How did you know I¡¯m here?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t believe that they had been here waiting for her.


    The men who came here didn¡¯t n on hiding anything. The man sitting on the branch opened his hand and a pendulum like item suddenly dropped out of his hand. He shook the pendulum and smiled. ¡°This is the newest toy the military headquarters¡¯ research facility has invented. It can track a domain realm master¡¯s domain concept energy... It¡¯s just so we managed to track your energy.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes narrowed instantly. She was now very worried about Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang. She was worried whether they had been discovered by the military headquarters.

 Chapter 1300 - The Largest Fis

    <h4>1300 The Largest Fis</h4>


    ¡°It was really a coincidence. We really didn¡¯t expect a lieutenant general such as yourself to change your name and gender to sneak your way past here,¡± continued the man sitting on the branch. ¡°Another thing, seeing that you are safe and sound, why don¡¯t you report back to the military headquarters? Could it be just like what our brigade leader said? That something was off with General Ling Xiao¡¯s death?¡±


    Ling Lan frowned slightly. She was trying to guess what faction these people came from. Although the words he said weren¡¯t of bad intentions, it even revealed that they were on her father¡¯s side, but could she really trust them? Her father had been in the military for many years. Although there were many who wanted to help him, there were also many who wanted nothing but to drag him down his pedestal. Maybe they were lowering her guard to catch her by surprise.


    ¡°However, if there was something off with General Ling Xiao¡¯s death, you running like this isn¡¯t a way to solve anything. No matter what, you must return to the military headquarters and exin everything. You should ce your trust in the Federation and the military headquarters,¡± said the ck-cloaked man.


    Ling Lan looked at the man with a steeled gaze. She wasn¡¯t moved by his words. Ever since her father disappeared, she no longer trusted anyone from the Federation. She only trusted herself.


    ¡°Alright, our brigade leader knows that you have your doubts about the military headquarters. It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to go, but our brigade leader wants to see you.¡± The ck-cloaked man could onlypromise when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s determined attitude. He seemed to already have predicted Ling Lan¡¯s attitude towards this matter.


    Ling Lan still looked at him coldly and didn¡¯t answer him.


    ¡°Seriously, it was all predicted by our brigade leader.¡± The ck-cloaked man helpless pulled on the mask that blocked half of his face. ¡°Our brigade leader wants me to remind you that when you first activated your battle team back when you first joined the military, there was an exam that he had arranged at your father¡¯s request. He¡¯s a friend that your father trusts the most.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly. ¡°Flying Dragon Special Forces.¡±


    She had heard from her father that back in the day during her evaluation to activate her battle team, one of the two assessments was against Qi Yaoyang and the other assessment was against the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Qi Yaoyang was Qi Long¡¯s father and was the general of the 13th Division. He definitely wasn¡¯t some brigade leader. The only possibility could be the Flying Dragon Special Forces. She had once heard from Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu that the Flying Dragon Special Forces functions in brigades. This brigade leader must be from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    p! p! p! The ck cloaked man pped his hands, ¡°Lieutenant General Ling is really a once-in-a-century prodigy. You immediately guessed our identity. Indeed, our Flying Dragon Special Forces¡¯ brigade leader would like to have a meeting with you. Although the Flying Dragon Special Forces don¡¯t have a say in the military headquarters¡¯ decisions making, we still have the power to look over it. As long as there is something off with General Ling Xiao¡¯s death, our brigade leader said he would definitely speak to our chief and bring justice for General Ling Xiao.¡±


    ¡°However, all of this requires you, lieutenant general, to tell us the truth. Otherwise, our brigade leader wouldn¡¯t be able to help General Ling Xiao.¡± The man in the ck cloak signed. Ever since his brigade leader told him, he had also been indignant at the military headquarters. It was just that he was only just an insignificant member of the ck ops, what could he have done? It was good that his brigade leader was also upset about the situation around Ling Xiao. If they had Ling Lan¡¯s help, they would be able to find Lieutenant General Ling before the military headquarters.


    ¡°That¡¯s not necessary. I can resolve my father¡¯s issue myself.¡± Ling Lan shook her head and refused.


    No one could determine what their real intentions were going to be. If a god-ss operator, the ultimate weapon of the Federation, the highest ranking officer of a division, and a general out of only 10 great generals from the Federation, could be so easily plotted against, then who else wouldn¡¯t fall into a trap? Even if they were being sincere, how could the Flying Dragon Special Forces do anything to stop that horse that had lost its reins long ago (the 23rd Division).


    ¡°Oh my, lieutenant general, your answer really makes it difficult for me,¡± said the ck cloaked man with a hint of annoyance in his voice.


    ¡°Did your brigade leader tell you that if I didn¡¯t want to go, you would have to force me to go?¡± Ling Lan smiled mockingly. In the end, wasn¡¯t it just seeing whose fist wasrger? From when she was young, she had known of this fact very well. After entering the military, this fact got even more prominent. If her father wasn¡¯t a god-ss operator, how could a 40 something year-old man obtain the rank of a general which only 70 to 80 year olds could acquire? All in all, he just needed to be so strong that others couldn¡¯t neglect his existence. If it wasn¡¯t given to him, the military wouldn¡¯t be able to face the public.


    ¡°You are quite self-aware. If you don¡¯te with us, then don¡¯t me us for disrespecting you.¡± After all, those from the Flying Dragon Special Forces always put themselves in high regard. Of course, this was because any lieutenant general or above officers who break thew would be taken in by the Flying Dragon Special Forces. In fact, their attitude when facing such high ranking officers weren¡¯t disrespectful at all.


    ¡°Actually, you should have just done that from the very beginning. You... talk too much,¡± said Ling Lan as she raised her eyebrows. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that she wanted to get some information out of the man, with her personality, she would have already made a move before they had prepared themselves. Ling Lan knew very well that most antagonists died because they talked too much. Of course, she didn¡¯t care if someone else was speaking too much, since they would die ording to that hypothesis.


    ¡°You...¡± The ck cloaked man almost spit out a mouthful of blood in response to Ling Lan¡¯s tant disrespect. Wasn¡¯t he already being nice to him? Did he not understand that?


    ¡°Go!¡± If Ling Lan didn¡¯t respect him, why should he respect Ling Lan? The ck cloaked man turned red with anger as he motioned towards hisrades. He was prepared to take Ling Lan down a notch.


    In the mind of the ck cloaked man, how could a 20 year-old be able to fight against four domain realm masters even if he was a domain realm master himself. Capturing Ling Lan was an easy thing to do for his team.


    Just like that, three other ck cloaked men all pounced towards Ling Lan from three different directions. At the same time, they reel back their arms before swinging them out. As they were swinging their arms, coils of chains began to uncoil themselves from their forearms as they flew towards Ling Lan. They wanted to chain down Ling Lan with a pincer tactic.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes glimmered. Her body started to change states, turning into a cloud of white fog before dispersing in arge bang. She had disappeared into the surroundings.


    The three men who attacked didn¡¯t panic at her disappearance. They put their hands into their pockets and took out a pendulum simr to the pendulum the first ck cloaked man had taken out. The pendulum began swinging in a circr motion. After it swung around a few times, the crystal-clear pendulum began to gain blood red hue. The blood hue then started to coagte towards a certain direction.


    ¡°Southwest,¡± said the three of them simultaneously. The chain on their right hands shot out towards the southwest direction.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The three chains ruthlessly pierced into the ground but it was all for naught as they didn¡¯t hit anything. The three of them didn¡¯t let up. The pendulum was still circling around their left hand, and the same thing happened in another direction. They waved the chains once again towards the direction that was shown on the pendulum.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The chains still pierced the ground without hitting anything.


    However, one of them had a look of joy on his face. ¡°I hit something just now.¡±


    The naked eye couldn¡¯t see it, but the feedback he received from the chain couldn¡¯t be wrong. The feeling just now was the same as hitting something.

 Chapter 1301 - Wake Up!

    <h4>1301 Wake Up!</h4>


    ¡°This toy is pretty sensitive to the environment-altering domain concepts.¡± Domain realm masters were all unique existents. However, those who were considered to be difficult to deal with were those who couldpletely conceal themselves within the environment they were in. Unless they randomly hit, they wouldn¡¯t show any trace of themselves.


    Those types of domain realm masters were born to be spies. In order to guard against these types of domain realm masters, each nation had developed different equipment to detect domain concept energies like this detection tool the Federation¡¯s military headquarters¡¯ research institute had invented. Caesar also had invented something simr. Although the detectors were essentially doing the same thing, there was still a clear distinction between the good quality and bad quality detectors. In reality, the technology in them hadn¡¯t been really perfected. Additionally, the cost of making such a tool was very high. Most of the somewhat capable nations were all trying to get past the problem with cost. Even if such technology was well-known in the upper echelons of each nation, the average citizen was stillpletely unaware of the existence of such detectors.


    If the people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces hadn¡¯t not shown her the detector, Ling Lan probably wouldn¡¯t have known that the Federation had already invented a tool that could detect domain concept energies.


    Realizing that they had hit Ling Lan, the three who attacked became even more intense in their search. They paid even more attention to the detector in their hands.


    Their detectors reacted again. The three of them were overjoyed at the reaction and immediately flung out their chains. However, in the following moments, their expression turned grave. It was because the direction they flung their chains towards were all different.


    Their detectors gave three different results but there was only one opponent so this meant that their detectors were wrong.


    Ring! A seemingly silent ringing sound traveled through the air around them.


    Lines of threads revealed themselves in front of their eyes in the space around them, trapping the three of them in the center. They werepletely surrounded by these threads. It was as though they fell into a web of spiders with no chance of escaping.


    Seeing this, the three of them shook their right hand quickly and the chains shattered into countless needles before shooting out towards all sides wildly in an attempt to make space for them.


    The overwhelming number of golden needles made for a terrifying scene. It gave off the feeling of being swarmed by a ton of hos.


    However, in the next second, these flying needles suddenly slowed to a halt before dropping like flies to the floor.


    The three men grimaced because they could see their needle being encased in ice. By encasing them in ice, it cut their flow domain concept energy to the needles, stopping them from being able to remotely control them.


    At that moment, Ling Lan slowly appeared in front of them, standing not far from the three men. All of her fingers trembled slightly and ten crystal-clear threads appeared out of thin air.


    ¡°Impudent!¡± The ck-cloaked man sitting on the tree branch shouted angrily when he saw what was about to happen to hisrades. Then he disappeared from the tree.


    In the blink of an eye, he appeared beside Ling Lan with a lightning bolt in his hand.


    Right as the lightning bolt was about to hit Ling Lan, Ling Lan turned her head and looked at it coldly.


    Bang! An ice hammer appeared out of thin air and ruthlessly shed with the lightning bolt.


    The sh between two domain concept energies instantly caused a deafening explosion.


    The lightning bolt was instantly broken apart by the ice hammer. After dispersing the lightning bolt, the hammer continued to ruthlessly fly towards the ck-cloaked man behind the lightning bolt.


    The ck-cloaked man snorted coldly at the iing hammer. He clenched his crackling fist and pushed his fist towards the ice hammer. He was confident that his lightning bolt could shatter the ice hammer.


    Bang!


    His fist came in contact with the ice hammer. After holding on for one to two seconds, the ck-cloaked man spat out a mouthful of blood before being sent flying backwards. He flew backwards until he hit the trunk of the tree, breaking it in the process.


    The ck-cloaked man slid to the ground before falling unconscious. After a few seconds, the prone body began to twitch. The cked-cloaked man slowly regained his consciousness. He slowly pushed his body up and held his forehead in pain.


    His right hand was trembling uncontrobly. That ice hammer, although it seemed to be small and harmless, the power behind the hammer was still terrifying. The muscles and bones in his right arm were still trembling.


    Ling Lan gave the ck-cloaked man a nce and then no longer paid any attention to him. She focused her attention back to the three men who were inside her spider web. Her expression was calm as she slowly raised her hands.


    The threads around the three of them suddenly began to move closer towards them. Seeing this, the three men didn¡¯t hesitate and chose to transform their bodies into their domain element in order to evade the deathly blow.


    However, right after their bodies transformed into their elements, they reappeared in their original location with defeated looks on their faces.


    The threads actually had properties that could block out every element outside of the ice element, and before they knew it, the threads closed in on them, encasing them in cocoons.


    After Ling Lan slightly shook her fingers, the three of them felt the threads around their bodies begin to tighten. It became tighter and tighter. Their skin was cut open and blood started to pour out. The originally crystal-clear cocoon slowly turned blood red.


    The three of them realized that if they didn¡¯t escape in the next few seconds, they would be cut into mince meat.


    ¡°Stop, stop, Ling Lan. Are nning on bing a criminal and betray the Federation?¡± shouted the ck-cloaked man after he spat out some blood


    Ling Lan turned around towards him with an indifferent yet mocking look on her face. ¡°Isn¡¯t this the path you want me to choose?¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll just be what you want.¡± After saying that, Ling Lan clenched her fist and the three bloodied cocoons instantly exploded. Countless amounts of blood poured out, staining the ground blood red.


    ¡°Ling Lan!¡± shouted the ck-cloaked man angrily. He angrily struck the ground with his fist. His entire body jumped up from the ground and then he ruthlessly rushed towards Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan killed his threerades. He definitely needed Ling Lan to pay with his life.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t even look and only raised her right hand. She then clenched it towards the ck-cloaked man.


    A ton of ice element particles began materializing around the ck-cloaked man. It solidified into an ice coffin, sealing him inside it.


    The ck-cloaked man watched helplessly as he became sealed within the coffin. In the coffin, he could see Ling Lan snapping her fingers. Then he watched as his body and the coffin disintegrate into ice particles,pletely disappearing from this world.


    Thest scene he saw was Ling Lan¡¯s shadow as she left. That shadow looked determined and indifferent. It was as though killing the four of them was something that wasn¡¯t considered to be anything difficult.


    A person like that either had a clear conscience, or he waspletely determined with what he was doing... The ck-cloaked man was regretting his decision. He felt that facing such an opponent was a clear mistake. It was just that he had realized the mistake toote, and the price they had to pay for the mistake was their lives.


    ¡°Boss, boss, boss, wake up. Come on, wake up.¡± After dying, he still could actually hear voices? What was happening?


    ¡°Boss, boss, if you continue to sleep like that, we won¡¯t be able to finish our mission.¡± This time, he finally heard the voice clearly. It was the voice of therades who died with him? Could they have encountered each other in the underworld? However, what was this mission he was speaking of?

 Chapter 1302 - The Only Marshal

    <h4>1302 The Only Marshal</h4>


    ¡°Boss, if you don¡¯t wake up then don¡¯t me me for using force.¡± He didn¡¯t know why it sounded so annoyed.


    Before he could react, he heard a crisp ¡®phiak¡¯ and what followed after was a sharp pain on his left cheek.


    ¡°F*ck, who just hit me?¡± He immediately sprang up while holding his left cheek. To his surprise, he could actually open his eyes in the underworld.


    What first entered his vision was the guilty faces of hisrades. When he saw them, his eyes turned wide open and his jaws dropped to the floor. He couldn¡¯t believe his eyes so he rubbed his eyes in panic.


    ¡°Boss, what¡¯s wrong with you? We kept calling you but you wouldn¡¯t wake up.¡± One of hisrades spoke as he surreptitiously put his right hand behind his back.


    ¡°D-Didn¡¯t I just die?¡± The ck cloaked man stuttered in shock. However, after turning his head to check the room he was in, it didn¡¯t seem like the underworld. Where were the fires? Where were the demons?


    ¡°Boss, did you have a nightmare? What do you mean about dying?¡±


    ¡°Wait!¡± Suddenly, his normally quietrade shouted out loud. His expression was somewhat uncanny as he seemed to have discovered something.


    ¡°Did you notice anything strange with me?¡± The ck cloaked man looked towards hisrades with a serious look.


    ¡°Nothing. We only saw you suddenly falling asleep. We thought it was because you were too tired from maintaining this stakeout.¡±


    ¡°You suddenly falling asleep like that is already strange.¡±


    The ck cloaked man looked up towards the sunlight seeping through the tree and sighed. ¡°We just lost. We aren¡¯t strong enough. What else can we say?¡±


    Hisrades, who now understood what had happened, could only look at each other with a pained smile. Even if they were to go against someone like that head on, they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to get out alive.


    ¡°You know how to write the report when you return, right?¡± reminded the ck cloaked man.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t see anything and we didn¡¯t find anything.¡± After all, they were all wizened members of the military so they immediately knew what their boss meant by his words. Their boss loved to save face. If it was known to other ck ops teams that they were taken out silently... they would be in a bad spot.


    He still didn¡¯t forget the feeling he had before he died in his dream. He didn¡¯t want himself to regret anything before his death, so he decided to not participate in capturing Ling Lan.


    After rushing out from the district where all the general¡¯s manors were, Ling Lan suddenly felt a gaze on her so she turned around to see where the gaze came from. However, not long after, she frowned, shook her head slightly and left.


    Although the gaze on her made her feel uneasy and gave her an impulse to go see where it was from, she was still more worried about Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang in themercial district. She deliberately took in the strongest domain realm master among the four in her Profound Insight¡¯s Domain to obtain more information about the internal workings of the military headquarters. She learned that the Federation¡¯s military headquarters¡¯ research institute had already developed a tool to detect domain concept energies. There was no doubt that it was going to be a problem for them. She was now most worried that this tool had appeared where Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang had been staying. Once that tool was used in their vicinity, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang¡¯s location would be exposed.


    At that moment, the direction where the gaze was from had a man in a ck windbreaker standing on top of a tall tree.


    ¡°It seems those four aren¡¯t enough to stop Ling Lan,¡± said the man in the windbreaker inly as he watched Ling Lan leave. ¡°However, it won¡¯t be that easy for him to leave.¡±


    Right as he was about to go and stop Ling Lan, he suddenly saw his world turning dark.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± said the man in the ck windbreaker cautiously.


    ¡°It has been a long time since west met. You¡¯ve gotten much stronger,¡± said a familiar sounding voice. Immediately after, a silhouette appeared out of thin air and walked towards him. He wore a general¡¯s uniform and he had a bright smile on his face. It looked like it should have been a warm smile, but for some reason, it seemed cold and even somewhat demonic.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± The ck cloaked man¡¯s fingers tightly clenched his fist. His fingers had even dug into the flesh of his palm.


    ¡°What? You don¡¯t even recognize your own superior now?¡± Ling Xiaoughed jokingly.


    The man didn¡¯t respond to his jest. It was as if he was scared of something.


    ¡°Cang Lang, I know it¡¯s you just from your movements.¡± Ling Xiao didn¡¯t care whether Cang Lang responded to him or not and just spoke his mind.


    ¡°Why?¡± After his identity was revealed, Cang Lang lifted his hood and showed a slender yet handsome face. Compared to Ling Xiao and Ling Xiao¡¯s current body, Ren Feiyu, Cang Lang seemed to have had a rough life.


    ¡°Why what?¡± Ling Xiao raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°You¡¯ve let the Flying Dragon Special Forces run free for 20 years. Why did you suddenly give out so many orders in the past few days?¡± Cang Lang looked at Ling Xiao suspiciously. ¡°And before all that, you went to the Twilight Empire¡¯s battlefield... This makes me suspect that General Ling Xiao¡¯s death has something to do with you.¡±


    ¡°General Ling Xiao is a general of the Federation and is also the Federation¡¯s prodigy. As the chief of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, how could I do anything that would harm him? You are overanalyzing,¡± Ling Xiao replied calmly. Of course, he was saying that now. As for the previous owner of the body, since he died, the dues he owed in the past had been paid already.


    ¡°As for my actions yesterday... Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s because you did such a poor job until I can¡¯t simply turn a blind eye to it?¡± Ling Xiao looked at Cang Lang with a half-smile. This Cang Lang wasn¡¯t a simple character. Although he and Cang Lang¡¯s rtionship was on good terms and that they could be considered friends, the two of them still walked on very different paths. In the past 20 years, they had already slowly drifted apart from each other. It was only because the two of them didn¡¯t have any direct disputes that their rtionship didn¡¯t worsen until they were enemies.


    Cang Lang narrowed his eyes, ¡°General Ren, are you preparing to clean house?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but not really. I don¡¯t like people who aren¡¯t obedient, especially if it¡¯s my deputy. Brigade Leader Cang Lang.¡± The reason Ling Xiao allowed Cang Lang to do as he pleased was because he wanted to use him to inform his daughter of the newly invented detector. He wanted her to be cautious about it. Otherwise, she might be caught off guard by the detector in one of her trips in the Federation.


    ¡°I¡¯m disobedient? Chief Ren, I¡¯m hurt hearing you say such things.¡± Cang Lang¡¯s face had a look of disdain. ¡°It¡¯s actually just that I feel without General Ling Xiao, there would be no one to threaten you. With no one there to stop, you don¡¯t need to conceal your true intentions anymore.¡±


    ¡°Cang Lang, I have to say that you know me very well. If you were to lower your ambitions, perhaps we can be very good partners.¡± Ling Xiao didn¡¯t disagree with Cang Lang. In reality, he did indeed want political power. The more the better. That way, he would be able to make the three marshals pay for what they have done and be able to finally truly protect his daughter from everything.


    ¡°But, can you tolerate my existence?¡± Cang Lang scoffed. Ren Feiyu was a narrowed-minded man. In the past few years, Ren Feiyu had tried his best to distance Cang Lang from everyone. How could Cang Lang not hate him?


    ¡°Why can¡¯t I tolerate it? You want the Flying Dragon Special Forces? I¡¯ll give it to you,¡± smiled Ling Xiao. ¡°Of course, that¡¯s only when I be a marshal. The only one.¡±


    ¡°The only marshal?!¡± Cang Lang¡¯s eyes narrowed greatly. He had always known that Ren Feiyu had great ambitions to the extent of being one of the marshals. But, he didn¡¯t expect his appetite to be so huge. He didn¡¯t want to be one of the three marshals. He wanted to be the only marshal in the Federation.

 Chapter 1303 - It’s Good To Be Confident.

    <h4>1303 It¡°s Good To Be Confident.</h4>


    ¡°Don¡¯t believe me?¡± Ling Xiao raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°The three great marshals are the foundations the Federationid out the moment the military was formed. They can¡¯t be overturned. You¡¯re daydreaming if you want to overturn their rule.¡± Cang Lang was ambitious but he wouldn¡¯t coborate with a maniac.


    ¡°I¡¯ll let them exist in name.¡± Ling Xiao patted the huge branch beside him lightly and the tree withered. It cracked loudly before disintegrating, turning into a pile of wood shavings. As the tree disintegrated, they calmlynded to the ground.


    Cang Lang squinted his eyes at Ling Xiao¡¯s tant threat. Ling Xiao just smiled and looked at him calmly. He was waiting for Cang Lang¡¯s reply.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll listen to you.¡± Cang Lang¡¯s expression constantly changed as he tried to spit those words out. Luckily, he managed to calm down in the end.


    ¡°Your reply, I like it.¡± Ling Xiao smiled and said, ¡°But, I¡¯ll have to trouble Brigade Leader Cang Lang to head back with me.¡±


    Cang Lang stared at Ling Xiao for a few seconds. Suddenly, heughed. ¡°I thought you¡¯ll want to see General Ling Xiao¡¯s son.¡±


    Ling Xiao replied, ¡°I don¡¯t care about Ling Xiao. Why would l be concerned about his son?¡±


    ¡°Really? But he¡¯s your rival.¡± Cang Lang immediately exposed Ren Feiyu¡¯s lie.


    ¡°I¡¯m the one alive, right?¡± Ling Xiao gave a devilish smile. ¡°There¡¯s no use mentioning someone who¡¯s dead.¡±


    ¡°Ling Lan isn¡¯t a simple person. If he¡¯s given enough time, he might be your obstacle,¡± Cang Lang said indifferently.


    A sharp look shed past Ling Xiao¡¯s eyes. ¡°Are you telling me that I should clear my obstacles beforehand?¡±


    Cang Lang shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m just speaking the truth. You make your own decisions.¡±


    Ling Xiao suddenly smiled. ¡°I remember that you have a good rtionship with Ling Xiao. If Ling Xiao knows that you¡¯re scheming against his child secretly, he might want to kill you.¡±


    Killing intent appeared on Ling Xiao¡¯s face. It onlysted for a split second so no one noticed it, including Cang Lang who was standing opposite him.


    ¡°Since he wants to rely on himself and not cooperate with us, he must show us that he has the ability to act alone. If he doesn¡¯t, then it¡¯s good to let him experience some setbacks. Otherwise, he won¡¯t know his limits and understand what¡¯s best for him.¡± Cang Lang remained indifferent.


    ¡°Interesting. Breeding poison...¡± Ling Xiao smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s see if Ling Lan is able to escape from General.¡±


    ¡°It looks like you know something.¡± Cang Lang nced at Ling Xiao in surprise.


    Ling Xiao shook his head. ¡°No, I don¡¯t know anything. However, I do know that some are still worried about him so they will definitely do something about him.¡±


    ¡°Are you not of them? I thought you were really afraid of his future.¡± Cang Lang looked at Ling Xiao curiously. If Ling Lan was given time to grow stronger, he woulde back and finish each and every one of them off. He would think that Ren Feiyu was one of the people that was most afraid of Ling Lan¡¯s potential. Now, it seemed that Ren Feiyu didn¡¯t care about Ling Lan at all. Instead, he wanted to watch a good show.


    ¡°Only weaklings will be afraid. Without a good opponent, things will get boring. Don¡¯t you think so?¡± Ling Xiao smiled lightly. He was happy to see this. He could imagine his daughter racking her brain toe up with schemes against him. It would be quite cute.


    ¡°It¡¯s good to be confident.¡± Cang Lang praised lightly. He hoped that this wasn¡¯t just blind confidence.


    While Ren Feiyu regarded Ling Lan as someone unworthy of serious considerations, Cang Lang felt that Ling Lan was a powerful opponent. Once the time was right, he would rise above everyone else.


    However, whether Ren Feiyu would suffer losses in the future didn¡¯t matter to him. He was just Ren Feiyu¡¯s coborator, not hisrade. He wasn¡¯t close enough to warn him out of the kindness of his heart.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we have a bet?¡± Ling Xiao seemed interested in the topic of Ling Lan.


    ¡°Bet? On what?¡± Cang Lang asked in surprise.


    ¡°Whether Ling Lan will be able to leave General and leave the Federation,¡± Ling Xiao replied.


    Cang Lang frowned slightly. ¡°What is your bet?¡±


    ¡°I bet that he¡¯ll be able to escape unscathed,¡± Ling Xiao said firmly. He believed in his daughter. If his daughter wanted to leave, no one would be able to stop her unless a god-ss operator was sent out. However, since she was still his daughter, the Federation wouldn¡¯t send out a god-ss operator just to kill her as this would spark public outrage. If no god-ss operator was sent to stop Ling Lan, Ling Xiao couldn¡¯t think of a reason why she couldn¡¯t leave.


    ¡°You have so much trust in Ling Lan?¡± Cang Lang also hoped that Ling Lan was able to escape but he didn¡¯t have as much confidence as Ren Feiyu had in Ling Lan. He wondered if Ren Feiyu was speaking the opposite of his thoughts or did he really believe Ling Lan wholeheartedly.


    ¡°Let¡¯s wait for the oue. If I win, you¡¯re going to help me with something.¡± Ling Xiao turned and prepared to leave.


    Cang Lang frowned. ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when I win. It won¡¯t be something you can¡¯t do.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s figure moved further and further away. In the end, he disappeared from Cang Lang¡¯s sight.


    Cang Lang¡¯s expression slowly turned serious. He sighed. ¡°I underestimated him. However, we won¡¯t know who will win in the end. Let¡¯s wait and see.¡±


    He disappeared on the spot after he finished speaking. As for Ling Lan, he had probably gone to themercial street while he was talking to Ling Xiao. As a brigade leader from the Flying Dragon Special Forces, that wasn¡¯t a ce where he should go.


    Ling Lan missed the chance to meet her father who had changed his identity and body. But, her appearance at themercial street helped Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang to get out of their crisis.


    At first, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang wanted to drag the couple following them into their domains. However, after dragging them into their domains, the frightened look on the faces of the couple slowly disappeared. They gave a delighted smile instead.


    Li Lanfeng frowned slightly. ¡°It looks like you¡¯ve already discovered our identity.¡± Was there a traitor in Lingtian who leaked their identity to the military?


    Li Lanfeng always liked to think of the worst scenario so when he discovered that his identity was unveiled, he felt that there might be a traitor in his team.


    ¡°Nope. The rtionship between the Lingtian Independent Army and Lieutenant General Ling is too close. We have to guard against you fully,¡± the man smiled and replied.


    ¡°If it¡¯s me, they might betray me. But, he is Ling Lan...¡± Li Lanfeng immediately toppled his own guess. He didn¡¯t trust himself but all hisrades were groomed by Ling Lan personally. He couldn¡¯t think of anyone that had the courage to betray Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan¡¯s invincible image was still instilled deeply in the minds of everyone in Lingtian. No one would be foolish enough to betray Ling Lan if they still wanted to remain alive.


    ¡°There must be a source for your information.¡± Li Lanfeng pondered for a long time before arriving at this conclusion. This was the only possibility as they had only smiled after they sensed his domain.


    Li Lanfeng had sharp eyes. He noticed all the hidden expressions on the two people¡¯s faces.


    It must have something to do with their domain concept. Li Lanfeng came up with this conclusion based on the expressions of his opponents. It had to be said that Li Lanfeng¡¯s critical thinking ability was amazing. His prediction was very close to the truth.

 Chapter 1304 - Courtesy Demands Reciprocity.

    <h4>1304 Courtesy Demands Reciprocity.</h4>


    ¡°It looks like we have to be careful. We can¡¯t go back to Lingtian now and we can¡¯t use our domain concept too. If not, we might be discovered.¡± Li Lanfeng already sensed their dire situation.


    He didn¡¯t know how Lingtian would exin their presence but he believed that Han Jijyun wouldn¡¯t be so stupid to admit it directly. If he stated that they were attacked by an unknown faction, they could still return as victims and condemned the security of General. He could be more straightforward by pretending to start a fight and demanding an exnation from the security department of General. That was the best solution.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t know if Han Jijyun was able to break free from his conservative thoughts and make such a shameless move. If he was the one making the decision, he would definitely choose the second option and make a huge scene out of it. He would recruit up some fake parents for the victims and ask them to condemn the military headquarters.


    ¡°I¡¯m just curious why Lieutenant General Ling had to hide his identity. Everyone is waiting for him to return.¡± The man of the couple was puzzled. From his viewpoint, the child of a hero wouldn¡¯t be punished unless hemitted a huge crime like betraying the country. Lieutenant General Ling ignored the militarymand many times during the war between Twilight and the Federation. He acted alone and got surrounded by his enemies so General Ling Xiao went to save him and died in the process. But, all these are not serious crimes. If he came back and apologised to everyone, they would all forgive him even if they had some grievances in the end. Lieutenant General Ling is still young so it¡¯s normal that he acts rashly.


    Li Lanfeng smiled but didn¡¯t reply. At times like this, keeping silent was the best decision. The other party was now in control of the conversation. He mustn¡¯t give them any chances to obtain any more information.


    ¡°Escaping is not a good solution. A soldier should be brave enough to bear the consequences of his actions.¡± The man appeared unhappy when Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t reply to him. As expected, birds of a feather flock together. Lingtian was filled with people who shrink in the face of danger.


    However, no matter what he said to infuriate him, Li Lanfeng just continued smiling at him silently.


    ¡°There¡¯s no use talking to you nicely. It seems like we have to invite you by force.¡± The man finally got impatient, especially after looking at Li Lanfeng¡¯s fake smile.


    A huge me appeared on his palm. The hot air quickly spread in the air and rushed towards Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng looked up and a ck whirlpool appeared in front of him. The hot air was absorbed into the ck whirlpool. It couldn¡¯t pass through this ck barrier.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± The man snorted. He pushed his right hand towards Li Lanfeng furiously. The me left his hand and turned into a fire dragon. It opened its mouth ferociously and charged at Li Lanfeng.


    The fire dragon wanted to pass through the ck whirlpool but when it flew high above the ck whirlpool, the fire dragon started to get sucked into the whirlpool uncontrobly. After a few seconds, it fell directly into the ck whirlpool.


    The man¡¯s expression changed slightly. He was always in control of his fire dragon but in that instant, he suddenly lost control of it. He felt as though the connection between his fire dragon and him was cut off.


    Even though his first attack failed, he was unwilling to give up. He moved his hands and multiple fire dragons appeared. They danced furiously in the air and rushed towards Li Lanfeng in a deadly swarm.


    Li Lanfeng raised his head and looked at the group of fire dragons raining down on him and frowned. In response, he spread his hands out slightly. The ck whirlpool that was around his height suddenly erupted and covered half of his domain territory. His body was also covered up by the ck whirlpool.


    The multiple fire dragons seemed to have lost their direction. They uncontrobly flew towards the middle of the whirlpool and got swallowed by it.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s body started getting distorted too. This weird scene made the man following him feel ufortable. He felt like vomiting.


    ¡°Courtesy demands reciprocity.¡± Li Lanfeng lifted his right hand which seemed to have been lengthened from the distortion and a deformed scythe appeared from thin air. The ck scythe, which represented death, floated in mid-air. The sound of metal chains scraping against each other was heard, inciting fear in the heart of the man.


    They were both domain realm masters but his opponent¡¯s domain concept was extremely weird. He even felt that if that scythe just slightly touched him, he would die.


    The man could feel death approaching him so he decisively broke the signal device in his hands.


    Li Lanfeng sensed his actions and threw his scythe out while the metal chains on the scythe suddenly shot in three different directions.


    Bam! Bam! Bam!


    After the three earth-shattering impacts, three different people appeared in his domain.


    One had a broadsword in his hand, one had wind spheres all around him, and thest one was holding a silver-grey giant hammer. They were named after their unique specialities, namely Broadsword, Wind, and Hammer. The man who fought with Li Lanfeng earlier was codenamed Fire.


    ¡°Luckily, you came in time. I almost failed.¡± Fire heaved a sigh of relief when he saw his threerades.


    ¡°We were watching the situation from the outside. What happened? Is he hard to deal with? Broadsword asked as he nced at the sinister-looking Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°His domain is special. I¡¯ve never seen anything like his domain before.¡± Fire furrowed his brows. He hated fighting with special domain realm masters. There was no information about special domains so he had to take things as they came along. Moreover, improvising in battle was not his strong suit.


    ¡°Interesting. Let¡¯s slowly attack him together.¡± Hammer knocked his hammer on his hand andughed. No matter how powerful Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain was, once the energy of his domain was depleted, he would be powerless against them. It was four against one. No matter how he looked at it, they would win.


    ¡°If youe here, is everything outside going to be okay?¡± Fire asked worriedly.


    ¡°No problem. Our leader is keeping watch outside. If something happens, he¡¯ll inform us. We can quickly take care of him and wait for Ling Lan toe back.¡± In their eyes, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang had no chance of escaping. Thus, they started bragging shamelessly in front of Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng sneered. He didn¡¯t have the confidence to refute the first sentence but they wouldn¡¯t stand a chance against Ling Lan.


    Moreover, they would have a hard time finishing him too.


    Li Lanfeng clenched his left fist and his entire domain territory got distorted. Li Lanfeng smiled. He hadn¡¯t told his opponent that the ck whirlpool was his domain.


    Wind turned solemn when he saw when he saw the whirlpool getting increasingly distorted. ¡°This is bad. Break his domain.¡±


    The space around him had just started distorting but his wind spheres had already turned unstable. If the entire area got distorted fully, their domain might be damaged which would be tragic for domain realm masters. The only way to stop this was to break his opponent¡¯s domain and drag him into their domain.

 Chapter 1305 - Crazy Fan!

    <h4>1305 Crazy Fan!</h4>


    They chose to enter Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain because they thought that the four of them together would finish off Li Lanfeng quickly in his domain, which in turn would give them more time to prepare for Ling Lan¡¯s arrival. They were basically underestimating Li Lanfeng. However, now, it seemed like their decision to enter Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain was a mistake. They should have destroyed Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain and then dragged him into their own domains.


    The four of them signalled at each other with their forefingers, and all of their domains were activated simultaneously. They had been in the same team since they were young and they had basically never worked apart from each other, so obviously, they would have seamless teamwork.


    Soon, an amalgamation of domains were formed as they connected into a line and went against Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain.


    Even if Li Lanfeng¡¯s special domain was stronger than the average domains, their domain amalgamation was still able to pierce through Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain.


    As his domain shattered like a piece of ss, Li Lanfeng spat out a mouthful of blood. Before he could react, the domain amalgamation splitted apart into four separate domain energies and charged towards him at the same time.


    When Li Lanfeng saw the iing energy projectiles, his eyes gleamed like the stars in the sky as the scythe in his hand grewrger by several meters. After the scythe grew until it was around twelve meters tall, it broke off into four equal size pieces as it flew towards the four domain energy projectiles.


    Just as the scythe slightly touched the domain energy projectiles, it began to shake a little before the energy projectiles were instantly erased by it. It was as though they had been formatted by the system of the they were in,pletely vanishing in the blink of an eye.


    Blood continued to drip from the corner of Li Lanfeng¡¯s lips uncontrobly. His beautiful face was filled with smears of blood and grime, scabs that were a few centimeters long, and some bruises to top it all off. However, what he gained from getting such horrendous injuries was stalling against four domain realm masters.


    Li Lanfeng looked at his opponents with a cold look on his face. He had long discovered that not only was he facing the attacks from four domain realm masters, Luo Lang was also experiencing the same thing. Simrly, Luo Lang also had four domain realm masters attacking him. However, Luo Lang could freely optimize his domains against his opponents through mixing his personality. He was more suitable in fights against multiple opponents. In reality, in terms of numbers, who could actually defeat Luo Lang who had an infinite number of personalities? It was only due to the fact that Luo Lang was currently not strong that he couldn¡¯t bring out too many different personalities, and thus limiting his fighting strength. If he had actually reached a point where he could bring out any amount of personalities, even Ling Lan had said that it would be annoying to face Luo Lang in battle.


    Of course, this wasn¡¯t why Li Lanfeng felt that they were in a rut. It was because he had discovered that other than the eight people fighting them, there were also two others who were just viewing them fighting. There was one leaning against the pole next to the staircase while the other was leaning against the wall. They were also people who activated their domains to contain themotion their fight was causing.


    These two people were undoubtedly not regr domain realm masters since they were able to contain the domain energies of ten of them. They were definitely titled domain realm formidable warriors. They might even be the types who were infinitely close to bing imperial stage domain experts.


    Unluckily, Li Lanfeng had only been able to send them nces, stopping him from urately determining how strong those two were. Even though Li Lanfeng was quite capable in gauging the strength of his opponents through his outstanding spiritual power, he still couldn¡¯t sense anything. If he couldn¡¯t sense anything, then either those two opponents had special barriers that could block his senses or they were just so much stronger than him that he could detect them.


    However, no matter how strong these two were, their existence was bad news for him and Luo Lang, especially when they were already in a tough situation.


    Right as Li Lanfeng was trying his hardest to think of ways to get out of their situation, the two people waiting for the two groups to finish their battle were bing somewhat impatient.


    ¡°So, you still want to wait?¡± asked the person leaning on the pole.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, the result will be us winning either way.¡± The person leaning on the wall had his hands in his pockets with an uncaring expression on his face. If all ten of them moved out and they couldn¡¯t capture these three people, then they should just hand over their lives as payment for their poor performance.


    ¡°We¡¯ll take care of these two first and then there will be no issue. Ling Lan should be back when we finish these two off.¡± The person leaning on the pole yawned dismissively. It was actually quite boring to just watch from the sidelines.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Just wait for a little longer. The chief has said that Lieutenant General Ling is quite strong and might be stronger than us by a stage. If that is really true, then we would need to work together.¡± These two didn¡¯t look like they belonged in the same team.


    ¡°Maybe the chief thought too highly of him. How old is Lieutenant General Ling and how old are we? If he actually was stronger than us, doesn¡¯t that mean we are actually useless?¡± said the person leaning on the pole annoyedly.


    ¡°You can¡¯t say that. Did you forget about General Ling Xiao? After all, he is his child. It¡¯s quite normal that he¡¯s outstanding as well.¡± The person leaning on the wall seemed to idolize Ling Xiao a bit. He truly acknowledged the possibility of Ling Lan having incredible talent.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t the Federation¡¯s Military Medical Research Facility discover that the talents of the descendants of god-ss operators would be reduced to nil?¡± The person leaning on the pole didn¡¯t believe that Ling Lan could be stronger than them.


    ¡°But General Ling Xiao... he¡¯s already an existence that cannot be exined. He also advanced into a god-ss operator at such a young age. Additionally, the amount of merits he had built up and his rank were all like as if he was cheating. So having a son who doesn¡¯t walk a normal path is quite normal.¡± The person leaning on the wall hadpletely pictured Ling Xiao as some god-like figure.


    ¡°Not going to talk to you about this anymore. You¡¯re a crazy fan of Ling Xiao. As long as there was something connected to General Ling Xiao, your mind will always be in the clouds.¡± The person leaning on the pole facepalmed. How could he forget that this teammate of his had this problem? He shouldn¡¯t have attempted to talk to him about General Ling Xiao in a logical manner.


    ¡°You¡¯re looking down on me. When was my head in the clouds?¡± the person leaning on the wall raised his eyebrows. He didn¡¯t let up and said, ¡°It is because my mind is fully logical that I decided to cooperate with you to ask Lieutenant General Ling to report back to the military headquarters. He can¡¯t just stay out there in the gxy, after all he is General Ling Xiao¡¯s only son. I need to do something for General Ling Xiao and keep Lieutenant General Ling safe.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why Lieutenant General Ling is too young and impulsive. He was convinced into believing that the Federation did General Ling Xiao wrong... In the end, wasn¡¯t it because he didn¡¯t follow orders, did his own thing and fell into an ambush, which forced General Ling Xiao to fall into Caesar and Twilight¡¯s trap. All in all, wasn¡¯t the person who caused General Ling Xiao¡¯s death Lieutenant General Ling himself?¡± The person leaning on the pole didn¡¯t see Ling Lan in a good light, especially after obtaining some inside information. After knowing that the person who caused General Ling Xiao¡¯s death was Ling Lan, he hated him even more.


    It was because of a punk who didn¡¯t listen to orders that the Federation lost a godly figure. The strongest future, no, the strongest god-ss operator. They had also heard that General Ling Xiao had reached the profound god-ss. This made them feel pain in their hearts after hearing that news.


    ¡°Alright, alright, after all he¡¯s Ling Xiao¡¯s son. We still have to cut him some ck and save some face for him. Didn¡¯t the military headquarters send us here to ask him to go back because they wanted to save him from further embarrassment as well? Didn¡¯t they also want to clear up the misunderstanding?¡± The person leaning on the wall still had a good feeling about Ling Lan. After all, he was his idol¡¯s son. He hoped that Ling Lan could live happier.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s stop talking.¡± The person leaning on the pole raised his hands like he was surrendering to show that he didn¡¯t want to talk about it anymore. After all, saying bad things about Ling Xiao¡¯s son to a crazy Ling Xiao fan would definitely not be a fun conversation to continue.

 Chapter 1306 - Look For an Excuse

    <h4>1306 Look For an Excuse</h4>


    They quickly stopped their useless conversation and continued to spectate the two groups that were fighting. After the two groups finished off their respective opponents, they would group up and face Ling Lan altogether.


    Right at that moment, the eyes of the person leaning on the pole suddenly froze. He stiffly turned his head and looked at the empty ground not far from him. After a few seconds, a silhouette of a person could be seen slowly appearing there.


    Although the person wore a female soldier¡¯s uniform, the presence he gave off didn¡¯t feel anything like a female. The cold look in his eyes gave him a chill that rushed up from his foot all the way up to his head.


    ¡°Thank you for taking care of my tworades,¡± he said calmly.


    Before the person leaning on the pole could even say a word, he felt as though he had fallen into an icy cave. The bone chilling cold made everything feel like they had slowed down to a snail¡¯s pace. He couldn¡¯t distinguish if a few minutes had passed or seconds. Before he could warn hisrades about the new arrival, that person had already disappeared without a trace.


    ¡°What is happening?¡± He looked around in shock. He discovered that the two groups who had been battling furiously had stopped some time ago. The two groups looked at each other in confusion, looking as though they had no idea what had happened.


    ¡°Team Leader Kong, did you sense him as well?¡± He looked at hisrade who was leaning on the wall.


    ¡°Yeah!¡± Team Leader Kong¡¯s expression was frozen as he looked towards a certain direction and answered in a certain tone.


    ¡°Was he Lieutenant General Ling?¡± He gulped audibly. At first, he was calling Ling Lan by her name, but now he referred to Ling Lan with her title respectfully.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably him. It can only be him.¡± Team Leader Kong felt like his entire body had turned into an ice cold corpse. That feeling came swiftly and deadly. When he finally came to his senses, he realized that Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang had already disappeared from their sight.


    ¡°To be able to take them away silently without us reacting, that kind of strength...¡± The person leaning on the pole looked at Team Leader Kong with cold sweat on his head. The words ¡®imperial realm formidable warrior¡¯ quickly appeared in his mind.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I said don¡¯t look down on General Ling Xiao¡¯s son. Their bloodline is full of cheat codes.¡± Team Leader Kong smiled ruefully as he shook his head. At first, he wanted to find a chance to talk to Lieutenant General Ling peacefully. Now, it seemed Lieutenant General Ling didn¡¯t even want to give him a chance to even meet him.


    ¡°How are we going to write the report?¡± A slight look of shame appeared on this team leader¡¯s face. He remembered being all confident and dismissive about Ling Lan in front of his chief. Now, they were totally yed by Ling Lan in the palm of her hands. He could feel his cheeks turning red from embarrassment.


    ¡°Oh you.¡± Team Leader Kong also remembered hisrade¡¯s dismissive attitude from before. ¡°Now, even if you were to speak the truth, no one would believe you.¡±


    Lieutenant General Ling had already reached the imperial realm... or perhaps an even higher stage? If they stated that it was the reason why they failed their mission, their colleagues probably would think that it was an excuse for their failure. Imperial realm before the age of 25? That was indeed quite unbelievable.


    ¡°Now the only thing we can do is to make sure we corroborate our reports. We¡¯ll say that he was too cautious so he discovered us when we got close so we didn¡¯t have a chance to surround him and thus he got away.¡± Team Leader Kong still wanted to be able to stand with his head held up high in front of his colleagues. By reporting like this, although they had failed, they could just make themselves seem unprepared to capture Ling Lan, not like how it actually was, being totally rolled over by Ling Lan. Plus, if they actually reported the truth, no one would believe them. They could only make up a reason that everyone could ept.


    The person leaning on the pole thought for a moment. Other than that, they didn¡¯t have any other way of writing a sensible report. In the end, he could only agree with a sullen look on his face. Of course, they didn¡¯t forget to remind their team members of this. Their team members also didn¡¯t want the news of them losing a four against one to be known by others. Even if their team leader didn¡¯t remind them, they wouldn¡¯t tell anyone of such a shameful performance.


    Just like that, in order to save face and to not let anyone make fun of them or misunderstand, they reported those words in the end. The military headquarters totally didn¡¯t suspect anything. In reality, they had already known that Li Lanfeng had followed Ling Lan there. He was a very perceptive individual, so it was normal that they were discovered.


    Thus, the fact of Ling Lan being an imperial realm formidable warrior became hidden away just like that.


    Of course, these two team leaders only guessed that was the case. After calming down and thinking about it, they also believed that it was impossible that Ling Lan was an imperial realm formidable warrior. Theoretically, domain realm masters who were on par with them were able to slow them down and cause them to hallucinate for a short period of time like what Ling Lan did just now. Then that person would be able to take others away and save them.


    If he was actually stronger than them like being an imperial stage domain expert, he would have just needed topletely overpower them. He didn¡¯t need to use that method to save hisrades and then leave.


    The two of them felt that that was the truth of what happened so the feeling of shame in their hearts instantly disappeared. After all, they didn¡¯t hide much in their reports. The opponent was indeed overly cautious, found an opening and got away.


    At that moment, Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang went into a random person¡¯s house and hid there.


    If the military headquarters knew they were on General, hotels and hostels wouldn¡¯t be suitable for them to hide in since they required their identification cards. Without Little Four, Ling Lan felt it was inconvenient everywhere she went and was in danger of exposing themselves at any moment. Faced with an overpowering mainframe of the Federation, Li Lanfeng could only block off partial amounts of information. He couldn¡¯t go around the mainframe and enter wless data to create new identities. This was why they could only stay at one ce for a short while. Otherwise, the mainframe would discover that there was something wrong with the ce they were staying at.


    In reality,s nowadays were all under surveince through one mainframe. However, this type of surveince inevitably had ces where it was white space or other parts where it didn¡¯t function as well. Those ces were the average residential districts. Although there was still surveince equipment in these districts, security wasn¡¯t as tight. At most, every street would have one surveince camera.


    Li Lanfeng chose a house with no one living in it out of the many average houses around them. It was only for hiding themselves for a short while. A house with no one living in it was the most suitable choice.


    The three of them chose a living room in the attic and sat on the floor.


    ¡°We can¡¯t go back to Lingtian,¡± said Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand, how did we expose ourselves?¡± Luo Lang pulled on his hair in frustration. They clearly disguised themselves very well. He didn¡¯t want to suspect his friends, but reality was forcing him to think that way. That feeling of distrust made him frustrated and annoyed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think too much. It has nothing to do with Qi Long and the others. The Federation¡¯s military headquarters¡¯ research institute invented a new tool that can detect domain concept energies. We were discovered probably when we activated our domains. That¡¯s how we were caught,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. She knew what Luo Lang was frustrated about from his expressions.


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty much the same as what I had predicted. I have been thinking that there was something that they used to detect our presence. I just didn¡¯t think it could detect domain concept energies,¡± said Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Does that mean if we don¡¯t activate our domains, they wouldn¡¯t be able to find us?¡± Luo Lang¡¯s eyes glimmered.


    ¡°But if we don¡¯t use domain energy, can we change our looks?¡± Li Lanfeng thought of another possibility why they were being followed. Although they could change the way they looked without activating their domains, they still needed to control the domain energies within themselves to adjust the muscles on their faces. He didn¡¯t know whether that tool could also detect that as well.

 Chapter 1307 - Little White Has Disappeared.

    <h4>1307 Little White Has Disappeared.</h4>


    ¡°To be safe, we can¡¯t use this method to disguise ourselves anymore.¡± Ling Lan wasn¡¯t certain but she didn¡¯t want to take the risk. They were at the headquarters of the military. Once they were discovered by their enemy, they would be surrounded instantly. There was nowhere to hide.


    ¡°That¡¯s not the problem. Most importantly, how are we going to leave General without Lingtian?¡± Li Lanfeng brought forward the cruel reality to their attention. They were stuck on General without being able to board themercial starships.


    Even if they managed to get on a starship, they wouldn¡¯t be able to hide their identities using their disguise or their domain concepts. The mainframe would see through their disguise quickly. Using their domain concept was a good idea but now, the military had a device that was able to detect their domain concept energy. This path of retreat was crossed out.


    ¡°Wait,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡°Wait?¡± Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan in surprise. Being passive wasn¡¯t Ling Lan¡¯s style. He always liked to seek opportunities.


    ¡°On the way to General, I identally saw something interesting.¡± Ling Lan smiled when she saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s astonished gaze. Normally, the smile would make Ling Lan¡¯s aura warmer but Li Lanfeng felt that her smile seemed a little devilish.


    His instinct told him that he shouldn¡¯t ask Ling Lan what she was talking about. However, even though he didn¡¯t ask, someone else would. The equally confused Luo Lang asked naturally, ¡°What is it?¡±


    Ling Lan lifted her right hand slowly and pointed at Li Lanfeng. The smile on her face got brighter. ¡°Li Yinfei.¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡± Luo Lang turned to look at Li Lanfeng. He remembered the first time he saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s real appearance. He was so dumbfounded he asked his boss if he brought Li Yinfei back to be his third wife.


    Back then, his boss just replied to him with a forceful knock on his head. Fortunately, Li Lanfeng also had a good temper so he just smiled at him and didn¡¯t get angry. Luo Lang felt that if someone thought he was a woman and even took him as someone¡¯s wife, he might have beaten the person up badly.


    So, from that moment onwards, Luo Lang had a really good impression of Li Lanfeng. He felt that Li Lanfeng was a very good person and was very forgiving.


    This was Luo Lang¡¯s own thoughts. If hisrades knew about this, they would snort, and snort, and continue snorting. Then, they would release a thesis of at least 5000 words about hypocrites. They would warn Luo Lang against judging a book by its cover and asked him to be aware of a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing. Li Lanfeng was a perfect example of such a person.


    Li Lanfeng felt the corners of his lips twitching. As expected, Ling Lan¡¯s smile was full of evil intentions. However, what Ling Lan hinted allowed Li Lanfeng to understand what she wanted to do.


    ¡°I remember that Li Yinfei is going to attend the ceremony celebrating the return of the soldiers.¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t like Li Yinfei but as a strategist, he mustn¡¯t let go of any factor he could exploit.


    ¡°It¡¯ll happen three dayster.¡± Ling Lan stood up and walked to the window. Through the gaps of the curtains, she could see the passer-bys walking outside. She continued calmly, ¡°Now, we must think of a way to let her apply to leave General as soon as possible after the ceremony ends.¡±


    Li Lanfeng squinted his eyes as he contemted. ¡°Substituting one for another.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± Li Yinfei had her own personal starship. After Ling Lan¡¯s identity was exposed, she came up with this idea. After all, there was a real Li Yinfei beside her. The military didn¡¯t know this so this was their best chance to leave General.


    The two of them smiled at each other. They understood each other without the need for words. Only Luo Lang remained confused. They only spoke a few words and they were already starting to act? He felt that he was still in the dark.


    Soon, the Lingtian Independent Army received a summon for a questioning from the military headquarters. Why didn¡¯t they inform the military headquarters of Ling Lan and the other two people¡¯s presence on General?


    The people who participated in this matter answered with only one statement. They just state that they didn¡¯t know theirmander was here. Hence, they didn¡¯t conceal his presence.


    The headquarters pointed out that Ling Lan and the two other people were disguised as three JMCs from their army. The moment this was mentioned, the representative from Lingtian flipped the script andshed out at the representative from the headquarters.


    The representative from Lingtian said that they had already received the report from their logistics department. They already knew that three JMCs were missing so they informed their soldiers, who were shopping outside, to look for them. However, there was no news after a few days worth of searching. They were already preparing to report this matter to the headquarters to seek their help in finding the three JMCs.


    Han Jijyun changed his passive style of doing things and directly reprimanded the headquarters. Did their JMCs get in danger because the security on General wasn¡¯t tight enough? Once this question was asked, everyone in Lingtian turned furious at the same time. All of them demanded an answer from the headquarters within 24 hours. If not, the Lingtian Independent Army wouldn¡¯t let them off so easily.


    The people from Lingtian denied the usation and insisted that the three JMCs were real. In the past, Little Four created some fake soldier identities in Lingtian so that Ling Lan was able to do some dirty work with them. Hence, the mainframe was unable to detect any loopholes in the system. It couldn¡¯t find any evidence to prove that the three JMCs were fake or problematic so the headquarters couldn¡¯t do anything about Lingtian¡¯s usations. They knew that there was something wrong with the Lingtian Independent Army but they couldn¡¯t force them to answer their questions when their backs were against the wall.


    This was because Lingtian wasn¡¯t a normal independent army. It was the independent army of Ling Xiao¡¯s only son, Ling Lan. The death of Ling Xiao and the disappearance of Ling Lan caused everyone to ce their attention on the Lingtian Independent Army. If the military forced the Lingtian Independent Army, Lingtian just needed to appear wronged and the public would misunderstand the military, thinking that they were trying to snatch the things that belonged to Ling Xiao and Ling Lan while they were gone.


    The military indeed had this intention but they couldn¡¯t be too obvious with it. If not, they would cause public discontent. They might even lose their positions if Lingtian and the public worked together to push the matter.


    In the end, the people from the military headquarters left Lingtian dishearteningly. This matter was pushed aside but the surveince over Lingtian got even tighter. They believed that Ling Lan and her group were hiding on General. At the same time, they kept a close watch of all the starships at the spaceport to prevent Ling Lan from having any chances of leaving.


    At this moment, Han Xuya ran over anxiously. She shouted at Qi Long and the other people, ¡°This is bad. Little White is missing.¡±


    ¡°How did it go missing?¡± Qi Long jumped up from his seat and asked loudly.


    ¡°Luo Chao and I were talking about Boss. We said that Boss most likely won¡¯t return to Lingtian. Then Little White jumped up and ran away.¡± Han Xuya felt frustrated. ¡°I misspoke in front of it. I forgot that Little White understands humannguage.¡±


    Luo Chao was a step slower than Han Xuya. She ran in too.

 Chapter 1308 - Candidate

    <h4>1308 Candidate</h4>


    ¡°I asked Jin just now and Jin told me she has no idea where Little White is.¡± Luo Chao arrivedter than Han Xuya because she had gone to ask the starship¡¯s mainframe, Jin, first.


    After hearing about Little White¡¯s disappearance, Qi Long slowly stood up and said with certainty in his tone, ¡°Little White probably went to find Boss.¡±


    ¡°But how could it know where Boss is when we don¡¯t even know?¡± asked Han Xuya frustratingly.


    ¡°We can¡¯t find Boss, but it doesn¡¯t mean Little White can¡¯t find him.¡± Qi Long let out a forlorn sigh. ¡°Boss and Little White have a special way ofmunicating. Don¡¯t forget how Boss found us in the first ce.¡±


    ¡°But what if Little White got lost?¡± Han Xuya was still worried about Little White¡¯s safety. Luo Chao nodded in agreement with a face full of concern. How could a tiny white blob be able to survive in the cruel harsh world?


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Little White is very strong. It might even be stronger than us. Back then, didn¡¯t Boss let out Little White in the wild from time to time? And didn¡¯t Little Whitee back safely each and every time?¡± Qi Long patientlyforted them, slowly easing them out of their concerns. ¡°If Little White can¡¯t find Boss, I trust that it will find its way back to us.¡±


    Han Xuya and Luo Chao remembered what happened in the past, and it was indeed just the same as what Qi Long had said. They temporarily stopped their worrying. They didn¡¯t know whether they should hope for Little White to find its way to Boss or to not find him ande back. No matter which one it was, they hoped Little White was safe. In their hearts, Little White wasn¡¯t just some pet, but rather their most loyal and reliable friend.


    However, the next day, they didn¡¯t have time to worry about Little White anymore, as the military headquarters had just notified them that all personnel in charge of Lingtian must participate in the military headquarters¡¯ conference at 1pm.


    Everyone had their doubt as they rushed to the conference room. Right as they were about to enter the conference room, they were informed by someone sent by Qi Yaoyang, who had been waiting for them, that this conference was about determining who should be Lingtian Independent Army and the 23rd Division¡¯s highest ranking officer. The reason it was so sudden and why they weren¡¯t informed beforehand was because the military headquarters didn¡¯t want them to make any preparations, catching them off guard.


    After hearing about it, everyone from Lingtian got nervous. However, they could do nothing about it now. The conference was about to start, and they couldn¡¯t just dy it because they weren¡¯t prepared beforehand


    After entering the conference room, they saw the members of the military headquarters all in their respective seats. There were also a few representatives from ministries of government and representatives from other armies. They almost filled up the entire conference room.


    Near the front of the conference room, there were a few rows of seats that faced each other on the left and the right side. Qi Long saw the chief of staff of the 23rd Division, He Xuyang, sitting in the center of the left side. Next to him was a female major general, Ms. Lan Luofeng.


    Qi Long¡¯s heart stopped beating for a moment. He turned around towards the name tags on the right side which showed the words ¡®Lingtian Independent Army¡¯. It seemed the seats on the right side were prepared for them.


    Qi Long gave a look to hisrades, then led the way to the seats on the right side and sat down.


    Besides Qi Long sat Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong. There were also the other brigade leaders and department heads sitting behind them.


    After a short while, therge screen at the center of them suddenly lit up. Then it split into many smaller screens. In each of the screens, there was a stern looking general shown within it. Their ranks were from lieutenant general all the way up to general. These were all the generals of the 23 official divisions.


    In the end, in the four screens in the middle, it showed the faces of the three marshals. On the fourth showed the Flying Dragon Special Forces highestmanding officer, who didn¡¯t appear frequently on these asions, Ren Feiyu.


    Seeing essentially the decision makers of the Federation joining this conference caused argemotion within the government¡¯s representatives.


    It should be known that only important matters would cause the three marshals, the generals and not to mention the person-in-charge of the Flying Dragon Special Forces to appear. Could this conference be so important that any decision made here would harm the foundation of the Federation?


    Not only was theremotion in those seated below, even the three marshals didn¡¯t understand why Ren Feiyu had requested to join this conference.


    However, the reason Ren Feiyu had given them was reasonable. The 23rd Division was established by Ling Xiao and was considered to be special to the citizens of the Federation. The requirement for the next person in line to takemand of the 23rd Division was quite high. Once the chosen individual did not satisfy the citizens or perhaps there was a w of some sort, it would cause the people of the Federation to protest against them. The results of that would be devastating. Ren Feiyu believed that a bad decision on their part could be bad enough to affect the peacefulness within the Federation and shake the foundation of the nation. In order to prevent this oue from happening, the Flying Dragon Special Forces muste out and watch over this conference. They must make sure the next general of the 23rd Division has no underlying problems.


    Although the three marshals were annoyed by Ren Feiyu¡¯s rude remarks, they still couldn¡¯t reject his proposal. After all, they also didn¡¯t want the next general to have any problems in the future, giving Ren Feiyu a chance to uproot them. Although the supervision power of the Flying Dragon Special Forces was considered to be nothing by the three marshals, they still didn¡¯t want theming to their houses hounding them everyday. After all, dealing with them required time. As people who put time as the most valuable thing, they didn¡¯t want to waste their valuable time with the Flying Dragon Special Forces.


    The official time had reached 1p.m. The person-in-charge of the military headquarters, who was also the host for this conference, gestured for the door to be closed. After restricting anyone from entering and leaving, he spoke, ¡°First, I would like to thank the three marshals and our generals for participating in this conference. Special thanks to General Ren Feiyu for attending as well.¡±


    ¡°For this conference, our first objective is to determine whether the rewards and merits given to the division who participated in the war against the Twilight Empire have been approved. The second objective in this conference is to discuss who will be the next general of the 23rd Division and who will be themanding officer for the Lingtian Independent Army.¡±


    Everyone had already prepared for the first objective of the conference. After all, there were only two days left until the award ceremony. The list of names needed to be approved before the ceremony started. However, the second objective came at a surprise to them. Although everyone knew that the 23rd Division and the Lingtian Independent Army needed a new leader, it was still a surprise to them.


    The entire conference room was instantly filled with minute chatters everywhere.


    ¡°Hm hm.¡± The host coughed a few times and the crowd quickly fell silent.


    ¡°Now, we will announce the three candidates for themanding officer of Lingtian Independent Army.¡±


    ¡°The first candidate is the 11th Division, 17th Brigade Leader, Major General Luo Zhiqun. The second is 6th Division, 3rd Brigade Deputy Leader, Major General Zhou Lirong. The third is Lingtian Independent Army, 3rd Brigade Leader, Major General Qi Long.¡±


    The first two names were both major generals who were well known and around the age of 50. Only Qi Long seemed out of ce from the three candidates. Everyone believed that even if the Lingtian Independent Army had an internal candidate, they would have thought it would be Yang Mingzhi or Liu Furong. After all these two were the deputymanders of the army. Ranking them up by half a rank and bing themander was more logical. No matter if it was age or his position, Qi Long fighting for the position ofmander seemed somewhat forced.


    Some who knew about Qi Long¡¯s background surreptitiously looked towards one of the small screens in the center where the 13th Division Commander, Qi Yaoyang was shown. Did Qi Long receive this chance because of his father helping him in the dark?

 Chapter 1309 - Assumptions.

    <h4>1309 Assumptions.</h4>


    ¡°The portfolio of the three major generals have already been sent to everyone. You can read them on your own,¡± the host continued.


    Those people that didn¡¯t know the three candidates well, especially Qi Long, clicked on the screen in front of them and started reading the information.


    In the military, major generals weren¡¯t highly regarded. There were just too many of them, probably more than a million, so to them Qi Long was just an unknown insignificant major general. He didn¡¯t achieve any amazing merits, wasn¡¯t the one who changed the tides of the war and wasn¡¯t the one who led the victory (someone like Ling Lan). To the soldiers, they didn¡¯t think much of those soldiers who rose to major general rank ording to routine. There were many major generals who didn¡¯t have any power too, making their title just a title.


    But, soon, many people were astounded. Qi Long was young but his track record was even more outstanding than the other two generals who were twice his age. Whether it was during the battle on Haijiao, the battle in the Neb boundary, the Twilight escorting mission, or the war with Twilight, Qi Long¡¯s performance in them was amazing. He killed multiple ace operators of their enemies and also killed a few enemy imperial operators who were registered in the database of the Federation.


    Why didn¡¯t they discover this outstanding youngster in the past?


    Then, they looked at the prefix of these battles and discovered in every battle he fought the leader was Ling Lan. Then they were enlightened. Ling Lan was just too exceptional. The other outstanding soldiers in his n were totally overshadowed by his light. This time, without Ling Lan, they were finally able to see how excellent the other soldiers of the Lingtian Independent Army were.


    The track records of the deputymanders, the various brigade leaders of the mecha brigades, and the head of the different departments were all stunning. Any one of them could be a high-ranking official of any n they join in the Federation.


    The people who initially looked down on Qi Long due to his young age now saw him in a different light after looking at his track records.


    ¡°Now, let¡¯s invite the three candidates on stage to answer everyone¡¯s questions.¡±


    Qi Long stood up. Yang Mingzhi also stood up after him and patted his shoulders to calm Qi Long down. He encouraged him to remain calm.


    Qi Long nodded gratefully at Yang Mingzhi. He turned and looked at hisrades who were looking at him encouragingly and felt warm in his heart. He clenched his fist secretly and reminded himself that he must remainposed. He mustn¡¯t embarrass Boss.


    No matter what the result was, he must protect the Lingtian Independent Army for Boss.


    The three candidates were all impressive. However, Qi Long stood out with his handsome figure and youthful looks. He captured everyone¡¯s attention the moment he went up. Without Ling Lan sheltering them, Qi Long had to remove his honest facade and reveal his real personality which he had been hiding so that he could take over Ling Lan¡¯s position and protect hisrades. This was Lingtian¡¯s tradition. The baton would always be passed down. It would never end.


    The entire ce was silent. For a while, no one knew what to ask. Based on their track records, everyone had the ability to be themander of the Lingtian Independent Army.


    Finally, someone opened his mouth.


    ¡°Can the three candidates exin your future ns for the Lingtian Independent Army?¡±


    This was just empty talk but from their statement, they could determine the ambition and aspiration of the candidates, as well as their understanding of Lingtian.


    The three candidates exchanged nces with one another. Qi Long took a step back and raised his hand in front of him.


    Luo Zhiqun, smiled at the candidate from the 6th Division, Zhou Lirong, and nodded. He took a step back too.


    In the end, Major General Zhou Lirong shook his head. He was the oldest here. Qi Long¡¯s actions indirectly caused them to speak ording to their age.


    The audience members who knew Qi Long¡¯s identity smiled at Qi Yaoyang secretly. They were jealous that Qi Yaoyang had such an outstanding son. He wasn¡¯t nervous in front of a huge audience and he had also shown that he had good manners for someone his age. This was rare.


    Qi Yaoyang smiled as though he was epting their praises andpliments. But, in reality, he felt bitter in his heart. His oldest and second oldest son was groomed by him but they performed average in his eyes. It would be difficult for them to hold great responsibilities. His youngest son was stubborn ever since he was young. No matter how he reprimanded him, he wouldn¡¯t bow down. In the end, he had no choice but to let go of him and let him mixed around with Ling Lan. At that time, he just wished that Ling Lan would hold him back from creating trouble. Yet, unexpectedly, his youngest son was the most sessful out of all his sons. Once the time was right, he would soar above everyone else.


    Ling Xiao was really the favoured child of god. His talents were better than him and he knew how to groom his child better too. Moreover, Ling Lan was as outstanding as Ling Xiao, even Ling Lan¡¯s friends were exceptional too.


    Qi Yaoyang sighed in his heart as he thought of this. Ling Xiao was too perfect. This might be the reason why the world couldn¡¯t ept him, forcing him to meet disasters time and time again until he met his death.


    Zhou Lirong walked to the front of the stage and opened his mouth. ¡°I¡¯m honoured to be one of the candidates for the position ofmander in the Lingtian Independent Army. After I received the notice, I immediately went to do my own research on the Lingtian Independent Army carefully. I have deep respect for the firstmander of Lingtian, Lieutenant General Ling Lan. He groomed an ordinary mecha n into a powerful ace mecha n. Then, he led his ace mecha n to be an independent army with illustrious military exploits. He achieved all these in less than three years. I believe that none of us here are able to emte his leadership.¡±


    ¡°If I can be themander of this legendary independent army, I feel excited but d. In terms of personal ability, I can¡¯t bepared to Lieutenant General Ling. However, I¡¯ve been the deputy brigade leader for more than ten years so I do have some experience with integrating a team. My n is to turn Lingtian into a mature integrated army. I¡¯ve looked at theposition of the Lingtian Independent Army and noticed that their main focus is the mecha brigades, with the logisticians supporting these brigades. Although they¡¯re able to maintain Lingtian¡¯s amazing battling capabilities, it is detrimental to the future development of Lingtian.¡±


    In order to turn Lingtian into aplete independent army, all the soldiers must be strong. If I take over Lingtian, I¡¯ll cover up this loophole. I¡¯ll make sure that in five years, the independent army willplete the requirements for a division. In ten years, it¡¯ll be a mature integrated independent army.¡±


    Zhou Lirong¡¯s speech won him a round of apuse. The current Lingtian Independent Army was called an independent army but in fact, it was just a huge mecha n. Besides their mecha operators who were outstanding, the ability and number of the other soldiers werecking. This wasn¡¯t the kind of independent army the military needed. The military allowed Lingtian to be an independent army because they wanted more integrated divisions to replenish theck of soldiers in the Federation. Without a doubt, Zhou Lirong¡¯s speech gained the approval of some representatives who had the same thought.

 Chapter 1310 - Mecha Army!

    <h4>1310 Mecha Army!</h4>


    Qi Long¡¯s gaze turned cold when he heard about Zhou Lirong ns for Lingtian¡¯s future. His n waspletely opposite of what Boss wanted for Lingtian. If they really progressed based on his n, then Lingtian would be the same as every other independent armies, losing its mour in the process.


    Zhou Lirong took a step back when he finished speaking and nodded at Luo Zhiqun and Qi Long.


    Luo Zhiqun smiled lightly and walked forward to the center of the stage. Just like Zhou Lirong, he expressed his admiration for the firstmander of Lingtian, Ling Lan. Then, he exined his future ns for Lingtian. His n was slightly different from Zhou Lirong. He felt that they should train the current soldiers in Lingtian first before expanding the independent army. You could say that Luo Zhiqun¡¯s method was gentler than Zhou Lirong¡¯s. His method would ensure the positions of the current soldiers in the army as well as focusing on the current soldiers before turning the Lingtian Independent Army into a mature integrated independent army.


    Luo Zhiqun¡¯s method would likely be able to gain the support and approval of the current members of Lingtian easier. Although he might take more time than Zhou Lirong to turn Lingtian into a mature integrated independent army since his methods wouldn¡¯t have effects in the short run, but his method severely lowered the possibility of any mistakes. It was the safer option of the two routes.


    This was the difference between an official leader and a deputy leader. The former knew how to have his soldiers ept the changes calmly while preventing all possible problems from cropping up. On the other hand, thetter¡¯s n was too idealised. Thetter wanted to see results as quickly as possible so his methods were more radical.


    Although their methods were different, the end result was still the same. Both of them wanted to turn the Lingtian Independent Army into a mature integrated army toy the foundations for it to be an official division in the future. Amander who doesn¡¯t want to be a general of a division wasn¡¯t a goodmander. Most of the representatives from the military agreed with ns so both their speeches ended with enthusiastic apuse.


    Thest person to speak was Qi Long. Zhou Lirong and Luo Zhiqun¡¯s ns had already caused his gaze to turn cold. He wouldn¡¯t let anyone who went against Boss¡¯s n to take over the Lingtian Independent Army.


    Qi Long took a big step and stood at the center of the stage. He looked down at the representatives with a stern gaze. He stared at them quietly without saying anything.


    The chatter in the conference room soon subsided. Everyone looked at the person standing on stage silently in confusion. The atmosphere slowly turned tense too.


    Qi Yaoyang slightly raised one of his eyebrows when he saw his son¡¯s act. He also straightened his sitting posture a little.


    Looking at his expression, he knew that Qi Long was angry. He expected his son to say some shocking words.


    After sensing that everyone¡¯s attention was on him, Qi Long audibly scoffed. ¡°I highly suspect Major General Luo Zhiqun and Major General Zhou Lirong when they said that they did detailed research of Lingtian.¡±


    Surprisingly, Qi Long mocked Zhou Lirong and Luo Zhiqun the moment he came on stage. Those representatives who thought that Qi Long was well-mannered even though he was young frowned.


    Although Qi Long¡¯s track record was exemry, he was still too young in the end. He wasn¡¯t able to maintain hisposure at crucial times. He was too aggressive.


    ¡°People who understand Lingtian will know what Lingtian used to be. We were the 250 Mecha n.¡±


    ¡°We grew from an ordinary n into an independent mecha n before bing an independent army. From the very beginning, the foundation of Lingtian is our mechas,¡± Qi Long continued without hesitation.


    ¡°Ourmander, Lieutenant General Ling Lan, said this to us when we first became an independent army. He said the Lingtian Independent Army will be the only independent army where all the soldiers will service one kind of soldiers, the mecha operators. Under his leadership, the Lingtian Independent Army is on route to be the most powerful mecha army of the Federation.¡±


    Qi Long spoke confidently with full aspirations. The representatives seated below were moved. They were reminded of those times when they fought with all their might on the battlefield.


    ¡°In the future, no matter what the Lingtian Independent Army ultimately bes, whether it will be an independent army or an official division, its foundation will never change. The Lingtian Independent Army can only be a mecha army. It must be a mecha army. It will be the first line of offense on the battlefield. It will also be thest line of defense for a base.¡± Qi Long ced his hand on his left chest and said sincerely, ¡°It will be the most powerful mecha army of the Federation. Its name will bring fear in our enemies. This is what Lieutenant General Ling wanted for the Lingtian Independent Army.¡±


    ¡°Hence, I will continue ourmander¡¯s faith and turn Lingtian into a unique mecha army. We will create our own legacy and leave a mark in the history of the Federation. I¡¯ve finished my speech. Thank you!¡± Qi Long saluted solemnly to express his attitude. He truly meant what he said.


    The audience was silent. Qi Long¡¯s speech was entirely different from the norm. He was breaking fresh ground. Independent mecha ns were all unique but once they became an independent army, they would all turn into integrated divisions in the end. Some of their special traits might still be present but the other types of soldiers would be stronger too so everyone could progress together.


    Lingtian Independent Army wanted to overthrow the conventional mindset. None of the representatives knew what to say. They could say he was wrong but if the Lingtian Independent Army really became a powerful and legendary mecha army... they felt excited just by this thought. They couldn¡¯t control their imagination. Slowly, they hoped that it woulde true immediately. If what Qi Long said was true, they wondered if an independent army with mecha operators as its main focus was really able to walk far.


    While everyone was confused and silent, the sound of pping echoed through the entire conference room.


    Everyone looked over in unnned unison and saw Ren Feiyu smiling and pping his hands slowly.


    ¡°Not bad. You have a very good n. I¡¯ve seen enough of integrated divisions. I feel that Major General Qi¡¯s n is very interesting.¡± Ren Feiyu pped a few more times before putting his hands down and continued slowly, ¡°There are too many of the same integrated divisions. We don¡¯t need any more of them. I really want to see what a mature mecha army will be like.¡±


    The highestmander of the Flying Dragon Special Forces had spoken. The representatives who had a good rtionship with Ren Feiyu opened their mouths to express their anticipation for the future of a legendary mecha army. As for Qi Yaoyang, he would definitely support his son.


    The most powerful officers had already spoken to those that were still hesitating, so including both the representatives from the military and the government started pping.


    The Third Marshal finally smiled. Pushing Qi Long up was the decision of his faction. If Qi Long was rejected the moment he showed his face, he would feel embarrassed. From the looks of it now, the neutral faction, led by Ren Feiyu, had high hopes for Qi Long. This was a surprise to him.

 Chapter 1311 - An Uproar

    <h4>1311 An Uproar</h4>


    ¡°Now, each representative can ask questions freely,¡± said the host of the conference.


    The representatives all thought it over and asked Zhou Lirong and Luo Zhiqun some hypothetical questions such as the problems in the development of the Lingtian Independent Army. They were asked questions about how they would resolve these problems.


    Finally, when the conference was about to end, one of the representatives finally asked Qi Long a question.


    ¡°Major General Qi has mentioned that you would be developing the Lingtian Independent Army into a mecha army. However, this is considered to be something that has no precedents. So, Major General Qi, how can you guarantee its sess?¡±


    Qi Long thought for a moment and said, ¡°It¡¯s just as you have said. This is unprecedented with no previous documentation. I can¡¯t guarantee what the final oue will be so I cannot make any promises, but I will try my best toplete it. The world didn¡¯t have roads in the beginning, and only had roads after humans created them. However, if there wasn¡¯t someone who took that risk to build them, then roads would never be somon. This n may be very risky, difficult and could have pitfalls without a way back. Among the candidates, I have the least amount of merits and the least amount of experience. The advantage I have is that I¡¯m young and I am not afraid to fail. No matter what the oue will be, I want to walk forward on this path. I hope everyone can give me this chance and let a mecha army exist in the Federation¡¯s military.¡±


    Qi Long¡¯s expression was serious, but spoke those words very sincerely. However, his honest face also leaked out terrifying killing intent. The honest-looking and hardworking expression he had was embedded into everyone¡¯s mind. Just by looking at his face, everyone was willing to trust him and give him a chance to achieve his dream.


    After Qi Yaoyang saw all that, he turned his head down as he tried to get rid of the surprise and joy he had in his eyes. Although Qi Long¡¯s choice of words were not the most optimal for a speech, those words were real and from the heart. Whenbined with his expression, it was quite easy for him to affect the people among the representatives who were neutral.


    After that question, the question and answer round had finished. The host of the conference announced that after 10 minutes, they would enter the final voting stage to finally determine the final candidate for themander of Lingtian Independent Army.


    Qi Long slowly walked back to his seat. Yang Mingzhi, Liu Furong and his otherrades all stood up to wee him back. They didn¡¯t say anything and only bumped their fists against his fist to show that they supported Qi Long all the way.


    After sitting down, Qi Long saw Lan Luofeng, who was sitting in front him, slowly nodded at him. Her expression was warm and her eyes had a hint of encouragement. Just that look almost made someone as strong-willed as Qi Long burst into tears. Boss¡¯s mother also acknowledged him. This acknowledgment was much more treasured by Qi Long than those from others.


    After 10 minutes, the host announced that the final voting would begin.


    No matter if it was Zhou Lirong, Luo Zhiqun or Qi Long, they all had serious expressions on their faces.


    Waiting for the result was the most anxious thing that could happen to someone. Qi Long took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he turned extremely calm. Just as Boss had said, if he did everything he could do well, then he shouldn¡¯t be afraid of anything.


    The change in presence from Qi Long made the many people, who were focused their attention on him, smirk slightly. No matter what the final oue was going to be, Qi Long had made an impression on these people so they would remember him in the future. This was definitely good for Qi Long¡¯s future development.


    In order for a person to get what they wanted in the military world, their own capabilities were the most important. However, it was simrly important if that person could make an impression on these people. In the most important moment, someone with a good impression would instantly let the scales tilt towards them when they were at a disadvantage.


    Soon, the final result was counted and then sent to the host of the conference.


    The host saw the final name and raised his eyebrows in surprise. He looked at Qi Long and then smiled as he announced, ¡°The position ofmander for the Lingtian Independent Army will be given to Major General Qi Long.¡±


    After this result was publicized, everyone from Lingtian cheered. Didn¡¯t they work so hard for so long just for this result?


    Qi Long¡¯s eyes teared up as he clenched his fists. ¡°Boss, are you seeing this? I did it. I will hold onto Lingtian and wait for you toe back one day.¡±


    In Qi Long¡¯s mind, Boss definitely would one day be a marshal. He would then be the sharpest de in Ling Lan¡¯s hands and go wherever she pointed him towards.


    This result was somewhat surprising but not really. The people who voted all had a slight moment of surprise on their faces and then understood the reason.


    Those who entered the military headquarters were although part of many factions, they were still fully loyal to the Federation. Integrated divisions weremonce. This new type of mecha armies Qi Long mentioned did indeed make them curious. They also wanted the Federation¡¯s military to be stronger. As long as there was even a slim chance, they would want to try it. That was why when Qi Long mentioned a possibility of bing stronger, they had already been won over by him. In addition to the full support of the third faction, the neutral factions and those, who were somewhat neutral from the other two factions, were all willing to give Qi Long this opportunity. That was why Qi Long was the top voted candidate.


    However, this was only just an appetizer of sorts. Everyone knew that the real brutalpetition was about to begin. A new independent army, even if it had a future, was still only in the future. On the other hand, the voting for themander of the 23rd Division was the one that had its benefits shown in the present.


    When the host of the conference began speaking about selecting the next general of the 23rd Division, the First Marshal, who had his eyes closed all this time, slowly opened his eyes.


    After he opened his eyes, the Second and Third Marshals instantly had serious looks on their faces. The atmosphere of the conference room instantly became anxious.


    This was the First Marshal. Just any action from him could affect the mood of everyone in the vicinity.


    ¡°There are also three candidates for the position of general in the 23rd Division.¡±


    ¡°The first candidate is the 2nd Division¡¯s deputy general, Lieutenant General Qiao Zhenyu. The second candidate is the 3rd Division¡¯s deputy general, Lieutenant General Yang Tie. The third candidate is Lingtian Independent Army¡¯smander, Lieutenant General Ling Lan.¡±


    ¡°Hoo~¡± After hearing Ling Lan¡¯s name as the third candidate, the entire conference room was in uproar.


    Ling Lan¡¯s disappearance was the reason the military headquarters had to choose a newmander for the Lingtian Independent Army. If someone who disappeared couldpete for the position of a general, then it would have been better to let him continue to have his original position. At least that way, his subordinates would still be loyal and trust him.


    ¡°With Lieutenant General Ling Lan having not returned, if he is to be chosen, Major General Lan Luofeng, General Ling Xiao¡¯s widow, will be acting on behalf of the general,¡± the host calmly added. When he received the list of candidates, he was just as surprised as those seated below. After seeing the statement afterwards, he felt it made sense.


    As expected, after adding that statement, the uproar within the audience instantly lowered. However, at the same time, there were many discussions that began.

 Chapter 1312 - Spoken With Confidence

    <h4>1312 Spoken With Confidence</h4>


    ¡°Why did the military headquarters let someone like that be a candidate? This doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± Doubts of the Ling Lan being a candidate of the position started sounding out loud.


    ¡°I heard that it was because everyone from the 23rd Division rmended him.¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case then that exins it.¡±


    With the 23rd Division being built from the ground up by Ling Xiao, the respect everyone in the division had for Ling Xiao was unwavering. They definitely wouldn¡¯t ept any general who didn¡¯t have any connections with the 23rd Division to take over the position. Even if that general was of the same caliber as Ling Xiao, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to ept that.


    Of course, if they were to choose a general from within the 23rd Division, someone like He Xuyang would be their ideal candidate. However, He Xuyang didn¡¯t have enough merits and didn¡¯t have any support from the higher-ups in the military so he couldn¡¯t get onto the list of candidates. Moreover, the 23rd Division didn¡¯t have a deputy general so no one was avable from the 23rd Division internally to take up the position of general.


    However, the truthid in front of the 23rd Division was brutal. They must ept someone else to be their general. But, all of the members of the division would still be frustrated if a general they didn¡¯t acknowledge joined.


    Instead of those outsiders, it would be better for General Ling Xiao¡¯s family members to take this position. In terms of their feelings, they would be able to ept it.


    In reality, although the 23rd Division was established only for eight to nine years, the entire division still had reached a perfect maturation state because of Ling Xiao¡¯s hard work. Even if there wasn¡¯t a general giving them orders, the 23rd Division still could continue to function well. Thus, the 23rd Division didn¡¯t need their next general to be amazing. They just wanted this new general to be able to take over the fighting spirit of the 23rd Division that General Ling Xiao had left them with and not mold the division into something new. They didn¡¯t want anyone to make changes and get rid of the mark General Ling Xiao had left in the hearts of those in the 23rd Division.


    Thus, after careful consideration, He Xuyang and the other higher-ups of the 23rd Division spoke with Lan Luofeng to push Ling Lan into the position of general. That way they would be able to protect the 23rd Division General Ling Xiao had put all of his effort in.


    However, there was still a problem presented before them. That was the disappearance of Lieutenant General Ling. Although the military didn¡¯t have any regtions that restricted disappeared individuals frompeting for an important military position, it still clearly stated that if an individual that had been missing in action for more than three months, their position would be revoked and new arrangements would take ce. Even if Ling Lan was chosen for the position, his position would probably be revoked if he didn¡¯te back to the Federation, and they would return to this problem again. If that happened, all the effort they put in doing all of this would all be for naught.


    However, nothing was impossible for those with a will. He Xuyang and the others from the 23rd Division studied through all of the military regtions, rules, bills and methods. In the end, they found a possible method on a document from the military headquarters.


    If an army unit was met with a special circumstance (such as a disappeared individual who couldn¡¯t return to the Federation for certain reasons and he or she also couldn¡¯t contact the military headquarters) and if the position had some special attribute to it which could not have anyone substitute for the position. If that was the case, they would be able to find a representative to work as a deputy of the army unit. After the said person returned to the Federation, the power ofmand would be returned to that person. The representative would be removed for their position automatically afterwards.


    The best candidate for Ling Lan¡¯s representative was Lan Luofeng.


    However, with Lan Luofeng¡¯s military rank, it was clearly not enough for her to be a representative. That was why Lan Luofeng needed to go find the First Marshal and have him support her. The First Marshal had used different methods and the connections he had to sessfully rank up Lan Luofeng¡¯s military rank before the other marshals and the neutral factions had discovered this fact. He managed to raise her rank up to the lowest requirement of military rank for being a representative.


    Everything was ready and only a match was needed to light the fuse.


    Finally, on this day, the n was unfolding.


    After realizing why the First Marshal did what he did in the past few weeks, both the Second and Third Marshals called the First Marshal ¡®an old bastard¡¯ in their minds. That sly old fox got the better of them once again without them knowing. They were busy using that time tofort the emotions and frustrations of the citizens so they just approved of it willingly when asked to rank up Lan Luofeng. This was why Lan Luofeng advanced in military ranks without any issues that fast.


    Now that they thought about it, they really regretted it. Ling Lan and Lan Luofengbination seemed to be ridiculous by itself, but with General Ling Xiao¡¯s death having happened recently, thisbination was deadly. Many representatives would lean towards Ling Xiao¡¯s sessor over the other candidates when there wasn¡¯t much difference between the three of them due to their respect towards General Ling Xiao and the feeling of sadness after his death.


    It was no wonder that whenpeting for the Lingtian Independent Army, the First Marshal¡¯s faction didn¡¯t try their best to win it. Their faction¡¯s main goal was still the 23rd Division.


    The feeling of joy the Third Marshal originally had, after sessfully taking Lingtian Independent Army under his wing, was instantly gone. Not to mention the Second Marshal, who was already defeated in the first round.


    Moreover, the host of this conference was also part of the First Marshal¡¯s faction. Otherwise, when he introduced Lan Luofeng, why did he mention that Lan Luofeng was Ling Xiao¡¯s widow? It was a clear reminder to the representatives sitting in the audience to respect General Ling Xiao¡¯s wife, Lan Luofeng. In this way, the scales within the minds of these representatives would tilt more towards Ling Lan and Lan Luofeng.


    After the list of names were announced, the people from Lingtian Independent Army couldn¡¯t help but clench their fists. They held back their excitement and made small fist pumps to celebrate.


    Those from the Lingtian Independent Army didn¡¯t have much political power. They couldn¡¯t even get close to the people who were the top brass of the military. That was why they didn¡¯t know the 23rd Division would put Boss up as a candidate. They were still thinking about how they could protect the Lingtian Independent Army. The issue with the 23rd Division was something that they could only watch unfold because they could not even get close to that position. They had discussed among themselves about who would be sessor of the 23rd Division. After all, it was a division established by Boss¡¯s father, Ling Xiao. They hoped that the person who took over would continue to be generous to them and continue to work well with them. Everyone from Lingtian understood that the reason why Lingtian had developed so quickly was because of General Ling Xiao¡¯s support. Many of the weapons and equipment that were impossible to acquire by armies like Lingtian Independent Army, were taken from the 23rd Division by Boss.


    If they were to lose the 23rd Division¡¯s full support, they predict that the Lingtian Independent Army would be in a difficult situation in the following years. Although Qi Long took up the position ofmander and could go to the 13th Division for help, Qi Yaoyang was still only just someone who took over recently. There was still the deputy general watching over his shoulders. It was impossible for them to receive limitless aid like they did with the 23rd Division. Qi Yaoyang especially wouldn¡¯t dare to give them those restricted weapons and equipment. There were just too many people watching him and waiting for him to make a mistake.


    Ling Xiao on the other hand was different. He was a god-ss operator. One of the ten great generals of the Federation. A general of a division who didn¡¯t have a deputy watching over him. Without a doubt, all of his subordinates were his confidants. He could do whatever he wanted to do. Even if the military headquarters had problems with his decisions, they wouldn¡¯t dare to go find General Ling Xiao and talk to him about it... That was the power Ling Xiao had. However, it was also because of this that the higher-ups within the military headquarters were afraid of Ling Xiao. They just didn¡¯t have any method of deterring or stopping him.

 Chapter 1313 - Bargaining Chip.

    <h4>1313 Bargaining Chip.</h4>


    Once the chattering subsided, the host of the conference opened his mouth. ¡°Let¡¯s invite the three candidates to exin their future ns for the 23rd division.¡±


    Lan Luofeng took a deep breath and stood up. She walked up the stage slowly.


    This was the first time Lan Luofeng went up on stage as the main speaker. She wasn¡¯t following Ling Xiao up as she did in the past. However, her footsteps were firm just like in the past. She didn¡¯t seem nervous at all.


    He Xuyang finally felt at ease when he saw Lan Luofeng¡¯s confident posture.


    No one noticed that when Lan Luofeng got up, Ren Feiyu (Ling Xiao), who was wearing an indifferent expression all these while, suddenly straightened his body and nced quickly at Lan Luofeng.


    Lan Luofeng was Ling Xiao¡¯s widow so Qiao Zhenyu and Yang Tie naturally took a step back to let Lan Luofeng speak first.


    Lan Luofeng politely rejected their offer but the other two people remained firm. Thus, she nodded and went up to the center of the stage.


    Lan Luofeng stood on the stage and looked at the huge number of people below her. She felt that her heart was going to jump out of her throat. She had already mentally prepared herself beforehand but when she actually faced the situation, she was still nervous.


    She wouldn¡¯t be worried if it was only for herself since she didn¡¯t mind losing. However, she was fighting for Ling Lan. Hence, she was afraid that her mistake would affect Ling Lan¡¯s session of the 23rd division.


    For a moment, Lan Luofeng didn¡¯t know what to say. She remained silent.


    Ling Xiao sped his hands together tightly. This was the first time Lan Luofeng left his protection and faced the public to speak. He knew that Lan Luofeng had a strong personality. At first, he started liking Lan Luofeng because of her voice. However, as he got to know her better and understood her personality more, he fell in love with her. From then onwards, he couldn¡¯t leave her anymore.


    That year, he left his wife a little more than a month after she got pregnant. Although he had to leave because it was amand from the military, he knew Lan Luofeng would be able to pull through it with her personality. She would find a suitable way to survive without him.


    Because of trust, he left her and went to the battlefield. Because of trust, he kept his vows to her for 16 years. Because of trust, he fought desperately to find a way home. Because of trust, he chose to hide his identity and protect her secretly.


    Ling Xiao released his right hand slowly and his gaze turned indifferent again. He believed his Luofeng. She would definitely pass this test with flying colors.


    Lan Luofeng started speaking. Her voice was clear and stable. She wasn¡¯t nervous even though there were so many people present.


    ¡°First, I would like to thank all the members of the 23rd division for their love for Ling Xiao. They were willing to give all their trust to his judgement that Ling Lan would be the best candidate for the position as the general of the 23rd division. They applied internally to allow Ling Lan to have this precious opportunity to be a candidate for the general¡¯s position.¡±


    ¡°The war with Twilight caused me to lose Ling Xiao. At the same time, I also lost contact with Ling Lan. Hence, when he was pushed into this position, I was initially opposed to the idea. The 23rd division was built by Ling Xiao and he had gained the respect and trust of all his soldiers. It couldn¡¯t be denied that many peoplebeled the 23rd division as Ling Xiao¡¯s division. However, I would like to say that the 23rd division is the same as the other 22 divisions of the Federation. There¡¯s nothing special or unique about it. It doesn¡¯t belong to Ling Xiao. I, Lan Luofeng, don¡¯t mind who bes the general of the 23rd division. I¡¯m sure that if Ling Xiao was still alive, he would feel the same way.¡±


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s speech was magnanimous. The representatives below started apuding loudly. At first, they just respected her because she was Ling Xiao¡¯s wife. Now, they realised that she was a reasonable and selfless person. Their impression of her got better and they admired her even more.


    The First Marshal frowned slightly when he heard Lan Luofeng¡¯s speech. Lan Luofeng¡¯s words had put him at a disadvantage. If the representatives below felt that Ling Lan and Lan Luofeng didn¡¯t want the position of 23rd division¡¯s general, the faction of the Second Marshal and the Third Marshal would benefit. After hearing Lan Luofeng¡¯s speech, the Second Marshal and Third Marshal¡¯s expressions got gentler.


    The representatives from the 23rd division all had stunned expressions. This speech was entirely different from the materials they had prepared. They didn¡¯t know what to do.


    He Xuyang tapped his thighs silently. He decided to watch quietly. He believed that thedy his general loved wasn¡¯t a stupid person. Major General Lan must have something up her sleeve.


    Only Ling Xiao closed his eyes after listening to Lan Luofeng. He looked as though he didn¡¯t care about this matter anymore but if you look closely, you would realise that there was a tiny smile on his face. Hepletely understood what Lan Luofeng was doing.


    ¡°However, the representatives from the 23rd division convinced me. They respected Ling Xiao. If the 23rd division was taken over by someone else right after Ling Xiao passed away, they won¡¯t be able to ept it. They actually feel strongly against it too. They rmended Ling Lan because he¡¯s Ling Xiao¡¯s son. They hoped that he could inherit Ling Xiao¡¯s unfulfilled wish and lead the 23rd division to glory. Since Ling Lan is missing, they requested me to be his representative to solve the problem.¡± Lan Luofeng¡¯s eyes were filled with tears as she continued speaking. Her voice was full of emotions. ¡°I can¡¯t reject their earnest request. I have my own selfish thoughts too. I want to see the 23rd division, which Ling Xiao regarded as his pride, bing the 23rd division wished it will be.¡±


    He Xuyang clenched his fist tightly. Without a doubt, Lan Luofeng was starting to give more bargaining chips to Ling Lan. She pointed out the attitude of the soldiers in the 23rd division so that the representatives below knew how much they would reject the arrival of a new general. If they didn¡¯t do it right, the new general might be just a mindless puppet. The only way the military could change the general to whoever they wanted was to sweep away all the main officers of the 23rd division.


    But, this would shake the hearts of all the soldiers in the 23rd division. If the anger of the soldiers was ignited, it might affect the other divisions too. Thus, unless there was no other way, the military wouldn¡¯t touch the 23rd division so soon after Ling Xiao¡¯s death.


    But, Lan Luofeng¡¯s actions pushed the higher authorities of the 23rd division out. These people would be cklisted by the military and their path in the future would be heavily affected. They might have a hard time rising in rank.


    Many representatives from the 23rd division had an unhappy look on their faces.


    ¡®Since they wanted to use Young Master Lan and mistress, they must be prepared to pay the price.¡¯ He Xuyang smiled lightly. Not everyone wanted to protect the 23rd division sincerely like him. Some people respected Ling Xiao but as the saying goes, the tea cools down when the person is gone. Without a powerful person suppressing the majority of the people, some of them would turn greedy. However, everyone had the same thing. In that case, he would make use of them too. Once everything had settled down, he would slowly count the debt.

 Chapter 1314 - Brilliant!

    <h4>1314 Brilliant!</h4>


    ¡°All of you know about Ling Lan¡¯s track record. I can proudly say that Ling Lan is the number one soldier in his generation. Even if Ipared him to the previous generation of soldiers, besides Ling Xiao, no one can bepared to him.¡± Lan Luofeng turned aggressive when she talked about her precious daughter. She wasn¡¯t polite about it at all.


    In the back, Ling Xiao¡¯s smile got deeper. If it was about their daughter, Lan Luofeng¡¯s aggressive personality woulde out. He had suffered from it many times. Even he would sumb to her, much less all these people.


    Qiao Zhenyu and Yang Tie¡¯s expressions froze when they heard the shameless praise Lan Luofeng had for Ling Lan. They didn¡¯t seem too happy about it.


    The representatives below quickly got reminded by Lan Luofeng and they went to check Ling Lan¡¯s track records. They were instantly dumbfounded by it the moment they read it. Within a short span of around four years, the number of merits she had gained were equal to the number of merits an above average soldier would gain in his entire career. This astonishing track record made them exim, ¡°Like father, like son.¡±


    Compared to Ling Lan¡¯s extraordinary track record, Qiao Zhenyu and Yang Tie¡¯s records fell short inparison. After all, all their merits were gained through their time spent in the military. Their value wasn¡¯t like Ling Lan¡¯s merits, which she got using her real ability and through battles.


    ¡°Since Ling Lan was able to build an independent army from scratch, I believe that he will be able to lead a division properly. Although Ling Lan is young, he has his advantage too. With his youth, he would have enough time to learn and develop the 23rd division into the division his father envisioned, and I trust that he won¡¯t disappoint his father. As for the direction of the 23rd Division, I¡¯m sure Ling Lan knows and understands it better than anyone here.¡± Lan Luofeng gave a knowing smile. She didn¡¯t exin herself explicitly but everyone knew what she was saying.


    General Ling Xiao had definitely discussed with Ling Lan on the future of the 23rd division. A scene slowly appeared in everyone¡¯s mind. A father and son sitting in a study room chatting about their resolve in the military. The former was talking about the 23rd division while thetter talked about the Lingtian Independent Army. This should have been a legendary scene but it only invoked pity now. A lot of the audience started favouring Ling Lan. In their minds, it made more sense to have the son continue his father¡¯s dream.


    Lan Luofeng¡¯s gaze turned sharp. ¡°Based on what I¡¯ve mentioned above, Ling Lan is the most suitable person to take over the 23rd division. I can¡¯t think of a reason to reject his candidacy. For myself, I can¡¯t stop the most suitable candidate from getting the position just because I want to avoid arousing suspicion. I can¡¯t be selfish. Thus, I agreed to be Ling Lan¡¯s representative.¡±


    Both times, Lan Luofeng spoke about being selfish. The way she said it was different but the content was the same. The image of a righteous wife of a soldier who cared about the nation, its people, and her family was imprinted deeply in everyone¡¯s mind. While they admired her, they felt sad for her too.


    They werepletely convinced to let this virtuousdy be the representative of Ling Lan. Lan Luofeng¡¯s speech gave Ling Lan more bargaining chips and at the same time, she managed to portray herself perfectly. She indirectly gave her daughter more support.


    He Xuyang forcefully calmed his turbulent emotions. Major General Lan¡¯s speech seemed normal but it was actually brilliant to anyone who understood her underlying intentions. Sheid out the advantages of having Ling Lan as the general of the 23rd division from many different perspectives. The wife of General Ling Xiao and the mother of Young Master Lan was truly not an ordinary woman. They had underestimated Major General Lan. Everyone underestimated Major General Lan. They deserved to be fooled by Major General Lan.


    ¡°Thank you for your willingness to listen to me.¡± Lan Luofeng saluted. She looked very handsome in her current image.


    The representatives from the Lingtian Independent Army started apuding enthusiastically. Their enthusiasm also affected the other representatives who respected Lan Luofeng. The First Marshal pped happily too. Only the expressions of the Second Marshal and the Third Marshal were sour. However, they could only unwillingly p.


    Ling Xiao only started smiling and pping after he saw his wife¡¯s beautiful performance.


    Since the three great marshals and themander of the Flying Dragon Special Forces acknowledged her, those with impure intentions didn¡¯t dare speak up. Soon, a loud roar of apuse echoed through the venue. Itsted for a very long time.


    Seeing Lan Luofeng already earning a standing ovation at the beginning of the conference, Qiao Zhenyu and Yang Tie turned gloomy. They felt that they were in a dire situation. Now, they weren¡¯t as confident as before.


    After Lan Luofeng returned back to her seat, the two of them continued with the conference and exined their n for the 23rd division¡¯s future. However, their speech didn¡¯t leave any impression in the hearts of the representatives. They were only talking about their vision, not General Ling Xiao¡¯s.


    Actually, Ling Xiao was always a bugged character. A lot of people in the headquarters were jealous and envious of him. However, if they were involved in a mess with Ling Xiao, they would follow his lead involuntarily. This was because they believed Ling Xiao and trusted that all the decisions he made were right. Hence, they would rather follow Ling Xiao¡¯s vision of the 23rd division¡¯s future and not anyone else¡¯s.


    This kind of mindset was contradictory. They wanted to suppress Ling Xiao but yet, they believed and respected him. We could only say that Qiao Zhenyu and Yang Tie didn¡¯t understand the representatives¡¯ true thoughts. They thought that they could reorganise the 23rd division based on their own ns, but reality thought them wrong. Thus, more and more people began to lean towards Ling Lan.


    After that, it was time for the representatives to ask questions. They threw some standard questions at Qiao Zhenyu and Yang Tie before focusing all their attention on Lan Luofeng.


    The range of the questions was very broad. Some even asked Lan Luofeng what she liked to do in her free time. Although the questions they asked were strange, they had a valid reason for doing so. Lan Luofeng didn¡¯t have any management experience in the military so they could only use her hobbies and habits to analyse and understand Lan Luofeng better before they could make a decision to see if she was a suitable representative for Ling Lan.


    Lan Luofeng didn¡¯t mind their weird questions. She smiled and replied to all the questions at face value. Her natural and graceful attitude gained even more approval.


    Ling Xiao¡¯s face turned dark. ¡®Damn it, what do they think they are doing? Are they trying to flirt with my wife right in front of me? Are they looking for death?¡¯


    Soon, the final voting would be held. The Second Marshal and Third Marshal noticed that the majority of the votes weren¡¯t on their side so they secretly signaled to their confidants.


    Before the host could announce that it was time to start the voting process, the general of the 6th division suddenly stood up from his seat and said, ¡°I don¡¯t have any opinion against Ling Lan being the general of the 23rd division. However, I¡¯ve one question that I must ask.¡±


    Ling Xiao frowned slightly. He knew that it wouldn¡¯t be that easy of a road.


    The host looked at the First Marshal instinctively. The First Marshal lowered his head when he heard the general of the 6th division talking. He didn¡¯t say anything.


    The host understood what he meant by that so he looked directly at him and said, ¡°General Yuan, pleasee up and speak.¡±

 Chapter 1315 - Fatal Weakness.

    <h4>1315 Fatal Weakness.</h4>


    General Yuan stepped onto the stage and spoke calmly to representatives seated before him, ¡°The 23rd division is an official division of the Federation. It¡¯s not a small mecha n with only a few thousand soldiers. It¡¯s not an independent army either. It¡¯s a standard division with the proper number of members. One single order from the general could affect the lives of millions of soldiers. In times of war, the general has to be responsible for the safety of all his soldiers. In the end, Major General Lan still doesn¡¯t have any experience in management ormanding. During peaceful times, the 23rd division could still function as a division with such a general. But, with the Federation¡¯s current troubled state, Major General Lan is not suitable to be the representative of the general. Caesar and its alliance nations are still eyeing us like vultures, and no one knows when the next war will ur. As an official division, once a war starts, it¡¯ll need to go to the battlefield. May I ask how Major General Lan is going tomand the 23rd division during a war?¡±


    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t let our emotions take over our thoughts and ignore the lives of millions of soldiers in the 23rd division which are at stake here.¡± General Yuan nced at the representatives below sharply.


    The people who were moved by Lan Luofeng¡¯s speech felt as though cold water was poured over their heads. They started wondering if they were being too emotional.


    Lan Luofeng pursed her lips when she heard his dismissive attitude about her. But, what he said was truly her fatal weakness. Moreover, there was no way she could refute what he said as what he said was all true. If she wasn¡¯t Ling Xiao¡¯s widow, she might not even have the right to enter this conference room, much less prove her ability.


    The host nced at the First Marshal again. The First Marshal seemed to sense the gaze and opened his eyes. Then he turned his gaze to look at someone.


    It was Zhang Ruolin, one of the ten great generals of the Federation. He was themander-in-chief of the military zone of the North-eastary sector.


    Most of the time, a general would hold the position ofmander-in-chief of aary sector. This was a differentmanding system from being a general of a division. In theory, themander-in-chief and the general of a division would garner equal power in the military. However, withmander-in-chiefs being mostly great generals, generals of division would usually have to bow their heads down before a great general as they were still of a higher rank than normal generals


    This arrangement was to prevent conflict over the position of themander-in-chief when a division worked together with aary sector during a war.


    About this arrangement, Ling Xiao was an oddball. He was the general of a division while being one of the great generals. However, the military didn¡¯t find a problem with it because this had to do with the location of the 23rd division. It was stationed at the South Poleary sector. The South Poleary sector was a newary sector that the Federation was developing so there wasn¡¯t any officialmander-in-chief ced there yet. There was no official appointment but the entire military recognised Ling Xiao as themander-in-chief of the South Poleary sector.


    Besides the support from the generals and regimentmanders from his faction, the First Marshal had the support of these powerful people too. That was how he could sit in his position stably. Zhang Ruolin was one of those people supporting him.


    ¡°General Yuan makes sense. We can¡¯t lose our rationality because of our emotions. However, we mustn¡¯t be too logical until we ignore our emotions.¡± Zhang Ruolin suddenly broke the silence. ¡°You must understand that our soldiers have emotions too. They¡¯re not war machines. It¡¯s understandable that they want to find mental support. It¡¯s alright to agree with them sometimes.¡±


    The representatives who were still wondering whether they were too emotional immediately felt understood when they heard General Zhang¡¯s words. They looked at him gratefully. If they could, they wanted to give in to their emotions tofort General Ling Xiao¡¯s spirit. They hoped that he could see his 23rd division shining brightly under the lead of his son.


    ¡°General Zhang, what do you mean?¡± General Yuan narrowed his gaze. He didn¡¯t expect this great general to step forward and suppress the presence he made just now.


    ¡°Don¡¯t reprimand them. We should solve this problem while caring about their emotions.¡± Zhang Ruolin looked at General Yuan with a sharp gaze. The invisible pressure caused General Yuan to frown. He couldn¡¯t think of a reply.


    ¡°How should we solve it? Please exin clearly.¡± The general of the 11th division suddenly interrupted them. He belonged to the Third Marshal¡¯s faction. The situation was already against them so the Second Marshal and the Third Marshal¡¯s factions decided to work together.


    ¡°That will require the help of everyone here. There are so many people here. I¡¯m sure that we can solve this insignificant problem.¡± Zhang Ruolin immediately pushed the question back to everyone. As a sly old fox with many years of experience in the military, he wasn¡¯t stupid to be the center of attention now.


    The people from the second and third faction felt frustrated when they saw Zhang Ruolin backing out naturally. They couldn¡¯t tackle the first faction because there were too many sly old foxes there. They wouldn¡¯t let anyone get hold of their tails no matter what they say or do.


    After Zhang Ruolin spoke, the representatives below started discussing. They started thinking about how they would solve this problem if Ling Lan became the general of the 23rd division.


    ¡°Actually, Lieutenant General He Xuyang from the 23rd division is not too bad of an option. When General Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t present, he led the 23rd division and won the fight against two armies from the Twilight. He can be themanding officer during a war.¡± Someone suggested a workable option.


    Many people agreed with him. There were many outstandingmanders in the 23rd division. They were just overshadowed by Ling Xiao in the past so no one noticed them.


    ¡°How can you make sure of that without the general suppressing them. Are you sure the people below won¡¯t be greedy?¡± Some coldly doubted, ¡°Moreover, we don¡¯t know if the soldiers are willing to listen to He Xuyang.¡± When General Ling Xiao was alive, the people below had nothing against He Xuyangmanding them. They cooperated with him fully. But, now, General Ling Xiao wasn¡¯t present to suppress these people. He Xuyang was just a chief of staff with the rank of lieutenant general. There were many soldiers with the same rank as him. Would these people be willing to listen to someone with the same rank?


    Everyone turned dead silent. If He Xuyang wasn¡¯t an option, no one else would be able to take the position. No one was able to think of any solutions.


    The people from the second and third faction watched them from the sidelines quietly. They weren¡¯t so kind as to solve this problem for Lan Luofeng and Ling Lan. As long as Lan Luofeng couldn¡¯t solve her fatal weakness, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t be able to sit in that position. That meant that their candidates would be able to get the position.


    At this moment, a cough broke the silence.


    Everyone looked up. Themander of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, Ren Feiyu, was covering his lips and coughing.


    He gave a helpless smile when he saw everyone looking at him. He seemed to be thinking that he coughed at a bad time.

 Chapter 1316 - Suggestion!

    <h4>1316 Suggestion!</h4>


    ¡°General Ren, you seem to have poor health recently.¡± The First Marshal opened his eyes and asked in concern.


    ¡°I think so,¡± Ling Xiao smiled and replied. At the same time, he turned to everyone and said apologetically, ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I interrupted your thoughts. To make up for it, let me provide a suggestion.¡±


    Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up when they heard this.


    Ling Xiao continued, ¡°Actually, I feel that there¡¯s no need to be soplicated. Aren¡¯t there three candidates for the position of the general of the 23rd division? I remember that the 23rd division still doesn¡¯t have a deputy.¡±


    Ling Xiao looked at the host with uncertainty as if he was asking if his statement was true.


    The host quickly nodded. ¡°Yes, General Ren is right. From the founding of the 23rd division, there hasn¡¯t been a deputy.¡±


    Lieutenant General pped his hands and smiled instantly. ¡°That¡¯s great. The person with the highest number of votes will be the general while the other two will be the deputies. That way, even when Lieutenant General Ling bes the general, the two deputy generals canmand the division during war times.¡±


    The First Marshal immediately smiled. ¡°General Ren¡¯s suggestion is not bad. It¡¯s worth considering.¡±


    The Second Marshal and the Third Marshal were enlightened. No matter what the result was, they managed to sessfully put their men into the 23rd division. Moreover, the position wasn¡¯t finalized yet. Their men might be the general of the 23rd division.


    ¡°This is good too. Whatever the result is, everyone will be satisfied emotionally, even if Ling Lan is just a deputy general.¡± The Second Marshal smiled. He chose his words carefully. He hinted to everyone that Ling Lan didn¡¯t need to be the general. The position of deputy general was enough for him.


    ¡°I agree.¡± The Third Marshal smiled and nodded. This was a good solution for everyone. At the same time, he felt that his man might have a chance to be the general too.


    Since the three great marshals had already agreed with General Ren, the people from their factions wouldn¡¯t disagree. The neutral parties didn¡¯t want to see one faction taking control of the 23rd division so they happily epted this decision. Thus, very soon, this suggestion was epted.


    Lan Luofeng heaved a sigh of relief when she heard this solution. No matter what, Ling Lan would at least be a deputy general of the 23rd division. She believed that as long as Ling Lan had a position, she would be able to takeplete control of the 23rd division using her own methods. She was extremely confident in her daughter.


    Lan Luofeng looked at Ren Feiyu gratefully. His suggestion saved Ling Lan. Lan Luofeng knew that if her fatal weakness wasn¡¯t solved, it was almost impossible for Ling Lan to get the general¡¯s position. Yet, this suggestion pushed the focus away from her weakness while making sure that Ling Lan had a position in the 23rd division. This suggestion was beneficial to Ling Lan from all directions.


    Ren Feiyu lowered his hands and ced them on the handrails after he finished speaking. He didn¡¯t care about what happened in the conference room anymore. It seemed like he only gave the suggestion because he disturbed everyone a minute ago.


    Lan Luofeng retracted her gaze. She silently remembered this favour. The other person might have done it unconsciously but she wouldn¡¯t forget his help.


    No one knew that Ren Feiyu was holding the handrail tightly with his other hand when Lan Luofeng looked over. Then he slowly released it. After that, he remained indifferent.


    The results came quickly. Everyone had no worries anymore so they decided to go with their emotions. Thus, unsurprisingly, Ling Lan won the voting with a high amount of votes.


    The result caused Lan Luofeng to cry in joy. The representatives from the 23rd division started pping too. They had two more deputy generals now but at least their general was Ling Lan. They just needed tost until Ling Lan came back. Ling Xiao¡¯s confidants, which was led by He Xuyang, believed that Ling Lan would definitely be able toe back and control the 23rd division.


    Ling Xiao smiled secretly after hearing the results. He won this match.


    The Second Marshal and the Third Marshal weren¡¯t really satisfied with the results. However, on the positive side, Ling Lan was still missing. Their men were only deputy generals but in actual fact, their power was the same as the general. In order to control the 23rd division, there would definitely be a fight between the two deputy generals. No one knew who would be the winner.


    The Second Marshal and the Third Marshal exchanged nces with each other. The atmosphere between them was tense. The fight between their factions was imminent.


    Both of thempletely forgot about Lan Luofeng.


    The conference ended. On the third day after the conference ended, a celebration was held.


    It was a carnival for the soldiers. The entire General was locked up. Only soldiers and their family members could enter.


    As the special guest for this celebration, Li Yinfei had reached General a long time ago. She was rehearsing diligently for her performance.


    Her performance was able to start. Li Yinfei changed into her performing attire and forcefully pushed down her excitement.


    ¡°Yinfei, if you perform well this time, you¡¯ll be able to enter the military. You¡¯ll get a rank and be an officer.¡± The manager looked at the beautiful stage from the backstage with bright eyes. He couldn¡¯t hide his ambition.


    The performance department of the military had told them that if Li Yinfei performed well in this event while gaining the approval of the powerful people in the military, she would be given a military rank. He probed the person from the performance department continuously before he finally managed to open his mouth. He was told that the lowest rank they would give Li Yinfei was a major rank. If she performed well, the rank would be even higher.


    He was extremely excited when he heard this. It should be known that he was tied to Li Yinfei. As long as Li Yinfei entered the military, he would enter too. He would be able to get the military rank he had always dreamt of.


    Many people felt that Li Yinfei had a morous life but that was only in the eyes of the normal citizens. If someone powerful really wanted to do something to her, Li Yinfei wouldn¡¯t be able to protect herself. The reason why she was able to stay safe in the entertainment industry for so long was because the Li family was protecting her.


    However, there were still problematic matters that the Li family didn¡¯t care about so Li Yinfei had to deal with those small matters personally. She suffered many times so she really wanted to have the power to protect herself. Thus, this idea of entering the military came into her mind.


    Once she gained the recognition of the military and obtained a military rank, she would be able to rise above everyone else. Although she would have no real power, she would still be protected by the military. It meant that she wasn¡¯t an ordinary singer anymore. She would be a soldier who everyone respected.


    Li Yinfeicked a powerful identity. Once she got the military rank, she would have an identity. She would finally have a say in the matters of the Li family too. She would also be able to obtain more resources from the Li family.

 Chapter 1317 - Success!

    <h4>Chapter 1317 Sess!</h4>


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll definitely seed.¡± Li Yinfei¡¯s ambition was as strong, or maybe even stronger than her manager. Major? She wasn¡¯t satisfied with this rank. She wanted to be a colonel or a senior colonel if she could. That was the only way she could leave the Li family and be the real Li Yinfei.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± The manager was ted at Li Yinfei¡¯s reply. He gambled his entire future on Li Yinfei. If Li Yinfei seeded, he seeded. If she failed, he would fail too. They were on the same boat.


    ¡°Okay. It¡¯s time for your performance.¡± The manager prompted Li Yinfei when he saw thest performering down from the stage.


    Li Yinfei took a deep breath to calm herself. She knew that there would be no problem with her performance but the number of participants for this ceremony was still nerve-wracking. She even heard that some of the most influential people in the military would appear in the audience too. Thus, it wasn¡¯t just about not making mistakes. It was about being perfect.


    The automatic tform rose slowly. The stage was dark.


    Li Yinfei¡¯s dreamlike voice echoed in the darkness. It was like a voice from heaven consoling the souls of everyone present.


    ¡°Tranquil Night.¡± Once the familiar tune was heard, everyone watching the performance, whether they were watching it live or from the virtual world, knew who the performer was. This was the song that turned Li Yinfei into a nationwide star. It was a song to console the sorrow on the battlefield.


    The first key made everyone quiet. They listened to the song silently. When it entered the intermezzo, the stage lit up, and Li Yinfei¡¯s beautiful face appeared in everyone¡¯s gaze. They almost forgot to breathe.


    ¡°Goddess Li, Goddess Li.¡± All the soldiers started cheering crazily. They weren¡¯t strict and rule-abiding soldiers at this moment. They were just diehard fans of Li Yinfei. They wanted to use their cheers to portray their love for her.


    Li Yinfei smiled lightly when she saw the people below going crazy because of her. Her smile was elegant, dignified, and a little distant, as though she was beyond their reach.


    Soon, Li Yinfei ended her remarkable performance. She waved at the audience as the tform lowered her to the ground. She returned to the backstage.


    ¡°That performance was amazing, my princess.¡± Her manager weed her back excitedly. He wanted to hug her to express his happiness.


    Li Yinfei frowned and raised her right hand to stop her manager.


    Her manager felt that he was being too excited so he stopped in his tracks and didn¡¯t dare to get close to her.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Li Yinfei walked over and whispered.


    ¡°That was your most perfect performance. I believe that everyone is mesmerised by you,¡± the manager replied exaggeratedly.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Li Yinfei¡¯s smile got brighter. ¡°We just need to wait for the notification from the performance department now.¡± She had done everything she could. She hoped that the military would give her a satisfactory answer. Li Yinfei lowered her hands and clenched them tightly. This was her only change of breaking free from the Li family¡¯s control. She mustn¡¯t miss it.


    ¡°We have to wait for a few days. The military is currently busy with the rewards for the divisions.¡± The military would only care about them once they finished dealing with their own people.


    ¡°Let¡¯s wait. I can afford to wait,¡± Li Yinfei said coldly. She wouldn¡¯t leave General until she got her military rank.


    ¡°But, you have a performance scheduled soon.¡± The manager gave a bitter smile.


    Li Yinfei turned her head immediately and stared coldly at the manager. ¡°Didn¡¯t I ask you to cancel all my performances in this period of time?¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t the one who epted this performance.¡± The manager looked helpless. He couldn¡¯t decide on Li Yinfei¡¯s activities solely as some activities were still arranged by the Li family.


    ¡°The Li family?!¡± Li Yinfei gritted her teeth. ¡°I knew that those old fogeys won¡¯t let go of me that easily.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± The manager nodded. In reality, he was controlled by the Li family too.


    ¡°When is it? What event is it?¡± Li Yinfei was helpless. She just hoped that the event was at ater date so that she could stay on General longer. She would be anxious if she didn¡¯t get her military rank. She felt that once she left General, she would have a harder time getting her rank.


    ¡°Three dayster, the opening ceremony of Shilin on Huzhou.¡± There wasn¡¯t much time left. Based on the flight time, they needed to leave by 10 pm tomorrow night. If not, they wouldn¡¯t be able to reach in time. Fortunately, they had their own starship. If they took normal passenger ships, they would need to leave now.


    ¡°Damn it.¡± Li Yinfei cursed softly. She only had one day left. There was no way she would be able to receive her military rank within one day. She could only contact the performance department again after the performance and arrange for a time to take her rank.


    Just as she was feeling frustrated, she thought of something.  General has been on lockdown recently. Will they ept our application to leave?¡± If they rejected her application, she would have a valid reason for staying here. The Li family couldn¡¯t do much about it.


    The manager¡¯s eyes brightened. He understood Li Yinfei¡¯s thoughts. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go and apply first. If we can¡¯t leave, I¡¯ll contact the Li family and ask them to reject the performance invitation.¡±


    The manager quickly left to apply to leave General. The reason was because Li Yinfei had other performances to attend to.


    Li Yinfei wasn¡¯t the only one who applied to leave General. Many representatives from the various divisions were preparing to leave within the next two days too.


    The military had always been monitoring the spaceport with scrutiny. When they received all the endless applications, they started wondering if they should ept them.


    Ling Lan would mostly make use of this opportunity to leave General. The military wanted to prevent her from mingling into the crowd.


    ¡°Limit the number of starships leaving everyday. Take special notice of those that have a good rtionship with the Ling family.¡±


    ¡°But there are so many starships. If we limit them, we will need a month before everyone leaves. They are all important figures of the various divisions and independent armies. They can¡¯t leave their positions for too long.¡±


    ¡°We can limit for the first few days. Only allow one to two suspicious starships to leave every day. We¡¯ll focus on monitoring the suspicious ones.¡±


    ¡°Report. We just received a new application to leave General. It¡¯s from Goddess Li Yinfei.¡± Someone saw the new application and quickly reported to his senior officer.


    ¡°Why does she need to leave so early?¡± The senior officer was surprised.


    ¡°They have a performance scheduled three dayster on Huzhou.¡±


    ¡°When was the performance arranged?¡±


    ¡°Three months ago,¡± The staff member looked at the time stated on the schedule and replied.


    ¡°Troublesome,¡± the senior officer replied in frustration.


    ¡°Do we ept it?¡±


    ¡°How many people are there?¡±


    ¡°Besides Li Yinfei and her manager, there are three staff members and eight bodyguards. 13 people in total.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s quite little. It¡¯ll be easy for us to check them. Let them leave.¡± The senior officer felt that this wasn¡¯t a huge problem since they had very little people and everyone¡¯s identity was already recorded. There was almost no chance for them to sneak someone out.


    ¡°Yes. We seeded.¡± Li Lanfeng had been watching over these people for a long time. After getting what he wanted, he silently left the virtual world and returned to the real world.

 Chapter 1318 - Injured?

    <h4>Chapter 1318 Injured?</h4>


    Li Yinfei was sitting on a sofa while holding a cup of coffee elegantly. She was patiently waiting for her assistant to check if her luggage was all ready.


    ¡°Miss, it¡¯s all here.¡± Her assistant was sweating profusely as she pushed out various sizes of luggage bags out of the room.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Li Yinfei continued sipping her coffee as she looked at the luggage getting piled up over the corner. After finishing her coffee, she slowly got up from the sofa and walked towards the door in her high heels.


    Li Yinfei, who would usually have no problems walking in heels, suddenly had her heels caught on the carpet. She couldn¡¯t react in time so she fell to the floor with her knees receiving the full brunt of the fall.


    Her assistant ran to her terrified as she tried to help her up. However, as she pulled on her arms, Li Yinfei began to cry out in agony even more.


    ¡°Don¡¯t touch me! You idiot!¡± Seeing her assistant getting so close to her, Li Yinfei angrily pped her assistant in the face and shoved her away.


    ¡°Miss?!¡± The assistant held her face and fell to the floor. Her face had a mix of anger and shock.


    Li Yinfei didn¡¯t pay her any mind. She was already being patient enough to not insult her assistant. She looked towards her other two terrified assistants angrily. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you calling Elder Brother Kun toe here yet?¡±


    Elder Brother Kun was the manager the Li family had set up for Li Yinfei.


    The two assistants woke up from their stupor and ran to call for Elder Brother Kun immediately. With what happened just now, they didn¡¯t dare to get close to Li Yinfei. They were afraid they would get a p in the face like their colleague.


    Elder Brother Kun quickly rushed through the door. After seeing the red-faced Li Yinfei lying on the floor, he angrily yelled, ¡°Are you people idiots? Why aren¡¯t you helping Miss Li up.¡±


    ¡°No, M-Miss said to not help her up,¡± exined the two assistants who were hiding behind the manager.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Elder Brother Kun walked up beside Li Yinfei and asked sympathetically.


    Li Yinfei looked at the assistant who was sobbing on the floor and said coldly, ¡°When we get back to Huzhou, get rid of that idiot and find a recement.¡± When the assistant pulled on her arms, she made the injury on her knees worse rather than helping her.


    ¡°Did she hurt you?¡± Elder Brother Kun narrowed his eyes when he saw Li Yinfei¡¯s swollen knee. He sent his deadly re to the crying assistant on the floor. If something happened to Li Yinfei¡¯s wless body, he would definitely skin that assistant alive.


    The gaze terrified the assistant to the core. She didn¡¯t know what she could do to salvage the situation and could only mindlessly shake her head. ¡°I did nothing. It wasn¡¯t me...¡± Her fear caused her tears to uncontrobly flow out from her eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯ll deal with youter.¡± Elder Brother Kun red at her ruthlessly. At that moment, he didn¡¯t have the patience to listen to the assistant¡¯s exnation. He was more worried about whether Li Yinfei was injured or not and whether it would affect her ns.


    He immediately contacted the military headquarters and told them about Li Yinfei¡¯s injury. He hoped that the military headquarters would send a military doctor to them.


    Soon, the military sent over a military doctor. He examined her knee carefully and concluded that it was just a minor injury. She just strained her knee, and just needed a few days of rest.


    After hearing the diagnosis, Li Yinfei and Elder Brother Kun were both relieved and disappointed. They were relieved because she was fine, but also disappointed because if there was nothing wrong, they wouldn¡¯t have an excuse to stay.


    However, even if it was such a minor injury, Li Yinfei couldn¡¯t even walk due to the immense pain from her knee. The military doctor was helpless about her pain. He could only just spray some painkiller on her knee. He suggested that she should buy a hover wheelchair to help lessen the burden on her injured knee.


    Li Yinfei would never cause herself to be in pain. So, soon after, Elder Brother Kun ordered the crying assistant to make up for herself by going out to buy one.


    The assistant could only pitifully wipe away her tears and run out to buy a hover wheelchair.


    Elder Brother Kun then realized it was almost time for the registration. He quickly went to the spaceport to register first and told Li Yinfei to bring her three assistants and eight bodyguards with her after.


    After a few minutes, the assistant brought back a newly bought hover wheelchair.


    The eight bodyguards had already gotten to the door and were waiting for Li Yinfei and the others toe out of the room.


    The assistant nodded towards the bodyguards and then dragged the wheelchair into the room. She then closed the door subconsciously or maybe it was because she didn¡¯t want them to see Li Yinfei¡¯s disheveled appearance.


    The eight bodyguards didn¡¯t think much of it. Usually, they wouldn¡¯t be able to see Li Yinfei in a private setting. Every time she came out of her room, she would have been dressed well with makeup, looking like a goddess.


    ¡°Hmph, what did youe back sote? I thought you took the money and ran.¡± The other two assistants would always try to bully her whenever she made a mistake. Usually, she should retreat back and meekly ept any insultsing her way.


    ¡°I almost did.¡± However, this time, she replied oddly with a cold tone in her voice.


    ¡°Hmm? You being disrespectful now.¡± Not expecting that answer, the assistants got even more angry and red at her.


    The insulted assistant smirked lightly when she saw those angry res, relishing in their anger.


    After having her fill, she snapped her finger and two ck-cloaked men appeared out of thin air behind her.


    The unexpected scene almost made the two assistants scream out in terror.


    The crisp clean snap stunned the two assistants to the floor. When they fell, it was as though they fell into a bed of clouds, muffling any sounds made.


    Li Yinfei, who was sitting on the sofa, felt that the atmosphere in the room had turned odd so she turned her head to look behind her.


    Seeing her two assistants getting taken out by two ck-cloaked men, her eyes open wide in shock. She wanted to scream but her hand was faster as it pinched her thigh tightly. The rational thought given to her by immense pain made her swallow the scream that was about toe out.


    ¡°You are a smart one, huh,¡± one of the ck-cloaked men said after noticing what he did.


    ¡°Who are you? What do you want?¡± Li Yinfei steeled her expression and asked in a cold tone.


    ¡°Actually, you should be asking ¡®What do you need me to do?¡¯ ¡± The reply was said in a joyful tone.


    ¡°Alright, what do you need me to do?¡± Li Yinfei had a faint smile on her face. The stiffness from her face instantly disappeared when she showed her smile.


    She was able to get her way within the entertainment industry mostly because of her ability to go with the flow of things. She was now ridding of any hostility between her and the ck-cloaked men in order to give herself a chance to live.


    ¡°What if I say you have to take us on your ship?¡± One of the ck-cloaked men shed a devious smile.


    ¡°Although I¡¯m not sure who you are, but when you came in, you only knocked out my assistants while not hurting them. I can see that you¡¯re not bad people. I don¡¯t know why you want to borrow my cruise ship, but from what you have done just now, it¡¯s possible for me to take you onto my ship.¡± Li Yinfei crossed her arms on her thighs gracefully with a huge smile on her face as if she was conversing with friends.


    ¡°Looks like there¡¯s a ¡®but¡¯.¡± The man sat down on the sofa in front of Li Yinfei. It seemed he was interested in continuing the conversation with Li Yinfei.

 Chapter 1319 - So, You Know Me

    <h4>Chapter 1319 So, You Know Me</h4>


    Li Yinfei instantly breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the man showing his willingness to have a conversation with her. When faced with kidnappers, as long as they could be discussed with, it meant that the situation hadn¡¯t gotten too bad. Moreover, she still had the possibility of turning the situation around. As long as she dragged on the time here, Elder Brother Kun would know something must have gone wrong when they didn¡¯t get to the spaceport in time and also the fact that he couldn¡¯t contact her through hermunicator.


    Li Yinfei believed that as long as Elder Brother Kun contacted the military headquarters, the military headquarters would definitely not let these two intruders get away. As for whether she could get away from the clutches of these two people... she wasn¡¯t worried. In the base camp of the military headquarters, there definitely was an imperial realm formidable warrior standing guard even if there wasn¡¯t a god realm individual there. As long as they sent one of them over here, saving her would be a piece of cake.


    Li Yinfei calmed down even more and her smile became even more intoxicating, ¡°Yes. It¡¯s because the information of my entourage boarding the ship has already been sent to the military headquarters. You... won¡¯t be able to get past customs.¡± At that moment, Li Yinfei¡¯s tone had a hint of disappointment in it, as if she felt pity that she couldn¡¯t help them.


    ¡°Well, that was unexpected. I thought you would lead us there and then expose us at the customs.¡± The ck-cloaked man smiled. He seemed to admire Li Yinfei¡¯s honesty.


    Li Yinfei replied in a mild-mannered tone, ¡°Since you don¡¯t want to hurt me, then I don¡¯t want to hurt you as well.¡±


    Li Yinfei let the sincerity show in the face. It made it seem that she actually didn¡¯t want anyone to get hurt.


    The ck-cloaked man raised his hands and pped slowly. ¡°Miss Li, as expected of someone the Li family had put much effort in developing. Your words showed no ws. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that I know what the Li family has up their sleeves, I might have been fooled by your words.¡±


    Li Yinfei¡¯s eyes narrowed and her smile froze for a moment. She then said slowly, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±


    The ck-cloaked man took off his hood and showed a face that Li Yinfei couldn¡¯t be more familiar with.


    Li Yinfei shouted out in surprise, ¡°It¡¯s you!¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled and the entire room instantly lit up. Even Li Yinfei, whose looks were 80 to 90 percent simr, felt that the looks she was so proud of seemed less brightpared to Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile.


    ¡°So, you know me.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled.


    Li Yinfei quickly shook her head. ¡°No, no, no, I don¡¯t know you.¡±


    She indeed didn¡¯t know who he was. It was just before she had be Li Yinfei, she had identally seen his image in a photograph.


    ¡°No matter whether you know me or not, I can only regrettably say that I will need to borrow your identity.¡± The face that Li Yinfei dreamed of having, smiled towards her as he spoke those words.


    Li Yinfei instantly understood what he meant. She immediately stood up, ignoring the burning pain in her knees. She immediately pounced towards the door while trying her best to let out screams of fear from her throat to alert the bodyguards outside of what was happening.


    She knew what these people wanted to do. They wanted to use her identity and leave General as Li Yinfei. At that moment, Li Yinfei was fully aware of the danger she was in. Her existence was a wrench in their n, so they wouldn¡¯t leave her as she was. If she didn¡¯t escape, her only result would be death.


    However, in the next second, she felt chains were shackling her body. Her voice was also blocked at the entrance of her throat. She couldn¡¯t make a sound no matter how hard she tried.


    She mechanically turned her head around. She saw a face that was even more perfect than her own, slowly getting close to her with a smile.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I just need you to sleep for a short while.¡± That person¡¯s voice was so warm and caring that it could make anyone weep with joy. However, the more warm and caring it sounded, the more afraid Li Yinfei was. She could no longer stand being mentally on edge anymore and instantly feel unconscious.


    Li Lanfeng smirked with a hint of disdain on his face as he saw Li Yinfei fall to the floor.


    ¡°I thought you were going to y with her a bit more.¡± At that moment, the other ck-cloaked man appeared out of thin air. It was Ling Lan. She had long been beside Li Yinfei. The fall that hurt Li Yinfei¡¯s knee was all Ling Lan¡¯s doing.


    ¡°Not fun. Kind of boring,¡± Li Lanfeng said indifferently. He didn¡¯t like Li Yinfei. After all, Li Yinfei was using his looks in public to make a name for herself. However, after using her identity multiple times to get what he wanted, he disliked her existence less than before. If Li Yinfei was smarter with it, Li Lanfeng wouldn¡¯t mind her doing random things with his looks in public.


    Li Lanfeng then turned around towards the assistant who cooperated with them at the beginning. He smiled and said, ¡°So, you still have a choice. I can knock you out and after a few hours, someone wille to save you. Then, you can say that your life was threatened so you were forced to cooperate with us. That way you can put all of this on us.¡±


    The assistant gritted her teeth and then shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you, but you have to promise that the Li family won¡¯t hurt me or my family for this matter. I hope you can promise me on this matter.¡±


    ¡°Are you going to believe me or her?¡± Li Lanfeng pointed towards Li Yinfei, who was lying on the floor.


    The assistant nced at Li Lanfeng and nodded. ¡°I understand. I will believe you.¡±


    If their two faces were seen separately, then perhaps no one would be able to see the difference. However, when put together, the difference between the real thing and a fake was easy to identify.


    The Li family creating a fake in the public¡¯s eye was definitely to protect the real thing. After looking at her options, she knew which one was more important to the Li family even if she was just a small insignificant assistant.


    ¡°After leaving, you can keep working for her. If you don¡¯t want to do that, we can also arrange a new job for you,¡± said Li Lanfeng indifferently. Even if he left the Federation with Ling Lan, it didn¡¯t mean he lost control of the Li family. Especially when Ling Lan was still alive, the Li family didn¡¯t dare to offend Li Lanfeng.


    After thinking about all that, Li Lanfeng had a self-mocking smile on his face. He now had everything he wanted and would not part with Ling Lan anymore. With Ling Lan here, he got everything he wanted. If Ling Lan was no longer in this world someday... No, he definitely wouldn¡¯t let that possibility appear.


    A hint of killing intent shed between Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°I want to leave her. I¡¯m disgusted just seeing her right now.¡± The assistant looked at Li Yinfei in contempt. The p Li Yinfei gave her made the assistant turn sides. Additionally, she now knew who the real treasure the Li family wanted to protect. That fake Li Yinfei hadpletely made her feel disgusted.


    ¡°After we¡¯re done, you can contact the Li family. You can say that it was me who told you to find them.¡± Li Lanfeng waved his hand and gave this problem for the Li family to handle. If they wanted to use him to acquire merits and benefits, then they must also cooperate with him to get rid of any tracks he was going to leave behind.


    Li Lanfeng trusted that with Li family¡¯s power, they definitely would be able to handle this situation.


    ¡°Now, we will see how you will perform.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s ck cloak slowly disappeared. He then put on one of the dress Li Yinfei liked and then sat on the hover wheelchair.¡± If we can¡¯t get past the customs, then the promises I made with you will be nulled.¡±


    The assistant took out a nket and softly ced it over Li Lanfeng¡¯s legs. After hearing those words, her hands that were holding the nket instantly trembled. However, not long after, she calmed down.


    ¡°Yes, I understand.¡±

 Chapter 1320 - Little White’s Appearance

    <h4>1320 Little White¡°s Appearance</h4>


    On the other side of the room, Ling Lan and Luo Lang dragged the unconscious Li Yinfei and the other two assistants into the washroom. After that, they changed into assistant uniforms, turning into Li Yinfei¡¯s other two assistants.


    Ling Lan walked over and gestured for the actual assistant to leave. She was going to man the wheelchair.


    The assistant immediately let go and backed up a few steps. Luo Lang then obediently stood beside Ling Lan.


    Li Lanfeng then nodded towards the assistant. The assistant took a deep breath and walked to the door. She turned her head and looked at the three people all with unique auras. The three different auras all drew people¡¯s attention. Even beside Li Lanfeng¡¯s otherworldly beauty, the other two people didn¡¯t seem much less breathtaking.


    She quickly shook her head to get rid of that image in her head and not long after, the aura around Ling Lan and Luo Lang turned ordinary. She then realized he could no longer see what they looked like. It was as though the scene before her was covered by ayer of fog.


    The assistant quickly pped her cheeks to wake herself up. She then steeled herself and opened the door.


    Hearing the door opening, the eight bodyguards turned their gaze towards them.


    Ling Lan was pushing Li Lanfeng and walked out. The eight bodyguards were stunned the moment they saw Li Lanfeng¡¯s face. They felt that Miss Li¡¯s charm seemed to increase by quite a lot. Even though they were used to seeing her face, they still couldn¡¯t help but stare.


    ¡°What are you all looking at? Come here and help us load the luggage.¡± The assistant saw that the eight bodyguards were all staring at Li Yinfei, so she instantly shouted out coldly with an annoyed look on her face.


    ¡°Oh, oh, oh, yes, yes, yes...¡± The eight bodyguards also didn¡¯t know what they were doing. After being yelled at by the assistant, they took the luggage as if they were drunk and walked down the stairs with wobbly steps.


    As they left, the rotating surveince camera finally returned to normal. It was just no one had discovered that had happened.


    Li Lanfeng got out of the hotel. Right as they were about to get into the hover car, a white blur was seen shing past their door. It was so fast that the bodyguards didn¡¯t even react to it.


    Ling Lan, who was sitting beside Li Lanfeng, had a look of shock as she stared at Little White who became ttened because of how fast it was going.


    She wasn¡¯t worried when Little White stayed with Lingtian. Moreover, it could also protect her friends. In Ling Lan¡¯s mind, by not taking Little White, she was killing two birds with one stone. Thus, she didn¡¯t want to take Little White with her.


    She didn¡¯t think that after not seeing it for so long, Little White actually came to find her. It was looking at her with its sad big round eyes.


    Little White knew this wasn¡¯t a safe ce. Other than burying itself in Ling Lan¡¯s arms, it didn¡¯t make any sound.


    Li Lanfeng looked at how Little White was rubbing against Ling Lan and felt his teeth itch. He was just about to grab Little White out of Ling Lan¡¯s arms.


    However, he saw Ling Lan give him a look that told him ¡°Just let it be.¡±


    Li Lanfeng could only helplessly take back his hand. He made up his mind. When they get to safety, he will ruthlessly beat some sense into that little white ball.


    He also suspected Little White was female. Otherwise, why would it keep on clinging to Ling Lan?


    ¡°Little White, how you get past customs will depend on yourself.¡± Ling Lan used spiritual power tomunicate with Little White. The reason they borrowed the identity of Li Yinfei was because they predicted that the customs would definitely have those domain concept detectors. What was even worse was that there perhaps might be an imperial realm formidable warrior waiting for them to get caught.


    Little White nodded to show that it understood. It didn¡¯t want to be left by its master again. As for a disguise, he wasn¡¯t afraid.


    ¡°Hmm, I could use a cushion for my back,¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly gave a suggestion for Little White¡¯s disguise.


    Little White grit its teeth towards Li Lanfeng to show that it was angry. It knew that jerk was definitely trying to get back at it for what it did.


    ¡°That is an interesting idea.¡± Ling Lan smirked.


    This was the first time Li Lanfeng saw Ling Lan smile without her disguise. He was dumbfounded by it.


    Little White discovered Li Lanfeng¡¯s odd behavior and showed a ruthless expression towards Li Lanfeng. A small tentacle rose up as it gave him a standard middle finger.


    Li Lanfeng smiled like spring had arrived. He put out his finger and began to rub Little White. As expected, just as before, Little White quickly surrendered to the finger and became cute and adorable in the next second.


    This scene along with that smile that could instantly bring colors to the world, changed into warmth that slowly reached the depth of Ling Lan¡¯s heart. Ling Lan¡¯s mood became much better. It was no wonder that the kings of history liked to see beautiful women when they were in a bad mood. It was definitely a great way of changing one¡¯s mood.


    After Elder Brother Kun finished registering their identities, he waited at the customs. Just as he was about to be somewhat impatient from waiting, he saw three hover cars flying over quickly.


    He didn¡¯t need to guess to know that it was definitely his family¡¯s Goddess Li.


    The staff members at the customs had already known that Li Yinfei would go past the customs today. Those who didn¡¯t have work on their hand were all crammed near this area. They were waiting to get a close-up of the goddess in their dreams, Goddess Li, Li Yinfei.


    The eight bodyguards walked out of the cars first. Two of them went to the trunks to get the luggage. The other six spread out near the hover car at the very front and waited for Li Yinfei toe out.


    The three assistants then got out of the cars. Ling Lan took out the hover wheelchair from the trunk and ttened Little White into a cushion, putting it on the back of the chair.


    Little White used its little tentacles to fix itself onto the chair and waited for that despicable jerk Li Lanfeng to lean on it...


    Every time Little White returned to its usual fierce self, it would be annoyed at the things Li Lanfeng did towards him. It hadn¡¯t been truly done in by that jerk¡¯s one finger. Li Lanfeng must have definitely used some despicable means to turn it meek. It was probably spiritual power interference. Little White knew about it because it was also adept at using spiritual power.


    Ling Lan pushed the hover wheelchair to the car door. She then saw Li Lanfeng smile at her with his hand out of the door. That pose...


    He wanted her to hold him in her arms?


    A drop of cold sweat dropped from Ling Lan¡¯s forehead. Although she was pretending to be a man... No, she was now pretending to be a woman... Ling Lan felt confused for a moment. No matter if she was a man or woman, Li Lanfeng was actually a man. Although they were all pretending to be women, wouldn¡¯t Li Lanfeng feel ufortable in that kind of position? Was his acting too over the top?


    Ling Lan could only think of this reason.


    Thus, she helplessly brought out Li Lanfeng from the car in her arms. Her movements were very skilled. Li Lanfeng also cooperated with her and locked onto her neck as he buried himself in her arms.


    Yes, Ling Lan remembered. It seemed it wasn¡¯t the first time she held him like a princess.


    In the ce no one could see, Li Lanfeng, who was buried in Ling Lan¡¯s arms, had a satisfied smirk on his face.

 Chapter 1321 - 1321 Customs

    <strong>1321 Customs</strong>


    He could only think of many devious ways to have Ling Lan be used to being in physical contact with him. Li Lanfeng knew very well that Ling Lan didn¡¯t likeing into contact with people. Even if it was the friends he grew up with couldn¡¯t get past that restriction.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t hope to enter Ling Lan¡¯s heart in such a short amount of time. He just hoped that the body that Ling Lan was willing to have physical contact with was his body.


    Ling Lan gently ced Li Lanfeng on the hover wheelchair and then slowly pushed him forward.


    At the customs entrance, a crowd had already gathered around there.


    Li Lanfeng showed off an elegant and standard smile that Li Yinfei would do. Many of the staff members shout out in joy uncontrobly when they saw that smile.


    They felt that no matter how beautiful and perfect the person they see in the virtual screens was, it was still much lessparable to the real thing. In the videos, she was already more beautiful than humanly possible, but it was still within limits of humans. However, now, they actually felt that a goddess had descended down from the heavens, gracing them with her presence.


    Elder Brother Kun walked up and was also stunned by Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile. He felt Li Yinfei¡¯s smile was much warmer and more intoxicating than usual.


    ¡®What has happened to her?¡¯ Elder Brother Kun felt Li Yinfei¡¯s charm was different from before. It was even stronger now. He believed that as long as Li Yinfei continued to have such charm, no one in the world would be immune to her. She would be able to have anything she wanted in the world with that amount of charm.


    Elder Brother Kun looked at Li Yinfei with joy once again. Li Yinfei¡¯s expression and habitss were the same as before. However, it was only today that her level of charm had changed drastically.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t know about Elder Brother Kun¡¯s reactions. This time, in order to disguise as Li Yinfei, he had carefully studied some of Li Yinfei¡¯s expressions and habits. He had copied all of them perfectly. Even Elder Brother Kun, who had been with Li Yinfei all this time, didn¡¯t see any ws.


    ¡°Goddess Li, can you sign an autograph for me?¡± A staff member finally couldn¡¯t hold it in and gave up on maintaining professionalism. He changed to an idol fan and ran up to Li Yinfei asking for an autograph.


    Li Lanfeng nodded warmly. ¡°Sure, but only this time. Next time, don¡¯t forget about doing your duties.¡±


    The staff member blushed and nodded furiously. He felt that the Goddess Li he admired was the kindest person in the world.


    Li Lanfeng signed his autograph with elegance. Autographing was also a required skill for an idol. Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t forget to level up this skill to max.


    The staff member satisfyingly held the autograph and returned to his post. Those who were slower than him, all looked at him with jealousy. However, they were already warned against by Li Yinfei, so they couldn¡¯t rush up and ask for an autograph too.


    Li Lanfeng and his entourage arrived at the entrance to customs. Li Lanfeng then smiled at the surveince camera.


    At that moment, the surveince room was busyparing the names of members leaving on starships for the day.


    The staff member responsible for Li Yinfei¡¯s area, saw Li Yinfei¡¯s warm smile. He felt as if his heart was struck by a great force. In the short while, he didn¡¯t know what he should be doing.


    After a short while, Li Lanfeng discovered that there wasn¡¯t any response showing that they got past customs. Cold sweat formed in his palms. He then raised his eyebrows and said with saddened expression, ¡°Is there something wrong?¡±


    A staff member couldn¡¯t endure seeing Li Yinfei¡¯s sad expression, so he immediately contacted the surveince room and woke up the staff member responsible for their area.


    That staff member also saw Li Yinfei¡¯s sad expression. He was instantly angry at himself for losing focus and making Goddess Li sad. He immediately let her pass through customs.


    ¡®With a face like Goddess Li¡¯s, do I need to check it numerous times?¡¯ The staff member trusted that there definitely wasn¡¯t a second face that was as beautiful as Goddess Li in this world.


    ¡°Thank you. We¡¯re short on time and need to board as soon as possible. We might have to trouble you.¡± Li Lanfeng had a bashful smile on his face.


    ¡°Goddess Li, the information of the members in your group is simple and clear. We won¡¯t waste too much of your time. Please don¡¯t worry,¡± replied one of the staff members beside them.


    Li Lanfeng nodded and gestured to Ling Lan to push him into the starship.


    The surveince room didn¡¯t dare to waste anymore Goddess Li¡¯s time and only hurriedly nced past Ling Lan. He didn¡¯t see any issues and quickly let Ling Lan pass. The staff member didn¡¯t want to make Goddess Li wait for too long.


    The assistant walked up. At that moment, she saw that the nket in Luo Lang¡¯s hands was actually not covering Li Yinfei¡¯s legs. She instantly said anxiously, ¡°Oh my, our young miss¡¯s knee was hurt. Why are you standing there and not covering it on our young miss¡¯ knees?¡±


    Luo Lang then seemed to awaken from his dream and muttered ¡®oh¡¯ many times. Then he immediately walked up to the inspection entrance with a face full of anxiety as he watched the two people who had already passed the customs.


    Luo Lang¡¯s anxious expression was too pronounced. Additionally, the staff member in the surveince room was worried about Goddess Li¡¯s injuries, so he didn¡¯tpare Luo Lang with the data carefully. He only looked at it twice and then let him pass.


    After hearing that he had passed customs, Luo Lang instantly breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately put his head down with the nket in his hand and ran towards the other two.


    The assistant¡¯s originally nervous expression also instantly loosened. She walked up to the inspection entrance and waited for the examination of her face.


    Without the Goddess Li clouding his mind, the staff member immediately changed his mentality and carefullypared the data of the assistant. After seeing that everything was correct and met requirements, he let her pass.


    Then it was Elder Brother Kun and the eight bodyguards. Afterparing them many times over, they also passed through.


    At that moment, the person-in-charge of the surveince room came to check up on his work. The person-in-charge nodded in satisfaction when he saw his staff members carefully examining thest bodyguard¡¯s information along with the three dimensional image of that bodyguard¡¯s face.


    He then asked the staff member, ¡°These people don¡¯t seem to be soldiers.¡±


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s Li Yinfei, her staff members and bodyguards,¡± replied the staff member immediately.


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Goddess Li. Did you carefully examine all of them?¡± Li Yinfei was considered to be the best known singer across the Federation. This person-in-charge was although not a crazy fan like those younger soldiers, he still knew about her.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve carefully examined them. There are no issues,¡± replied the staff member. In order to not waste Li Yinfei¡¯s time, he didn¡¯t carefullypare the two assistants and let them through. However, those who could serve Goddess Li so closely definitely didn¡¯t have any issues.


    The staff memberforted himself just like that. It was because no matter if it was Goddess Li, her assistants, Elder Brother Kun or the eight bodyguards, all of their information was correct without any mistakes. He was very sure there were no issues.


    Plus, the higher-ups had told them to be on the lookout for three people trying to smuggle themselves onboard a starship. He only didn¡¯t carefully examine two people. Just the numbers he didn¡¯t carefully examine was different from what was told to them.


    The staff member thought about it and believed he was right. He didn¡¯t think any problems coulde from his work.


    Seeing the staff member with a face full of certainty, the person-in-charge didn¡¯t suspect anything. He walked over to the next staff member and began examining that staff member¡¯s work.

 Chapter 1322 - 1322 Emergency Call

    <strong>1322 Emergency Call</strong>


    Ling Lan slowly pushed Li Lanfeng onboard Li Yinfei¡¯s cruise ship.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the control room to take a look,¡± While they were going through the corridors of the ship, Li Lanfeng suddenly broke the silence. Luckily, he was well-versed in imitating so he imitated Li Yinfei¡¯s voice to near perfection. If you didn¡¯t listen to it carefully, you might not be able to notice the difference.


    Elder Brother Kun looked at Li Yinfei in surprise. In the past, Li Yinfei never liked to interact with the crew members of the ship. She felt that they were all savages, and secretly looked down on them because of so.


    ¡°They¡¯ve been guarding the ship for many days. It must have been hard for them. I should express my thanks to them,¡± Li Lanfeng shed a sincere smile as she spoke gently.


    It looked like Li Yinfei finally realised that she needed to maintain a good rtionship with the crew members. Elder Brother Kun was ted by the fact that Li Yinfei seemed to have turned over a new leaf. It should be known that frequent travelers like them were most afraid of offending the crew members that defended the safety of cruise ships. In the past, Li Yinfei despised these rogues and always acted arrogantly in front of them, infuriating them to no end.


    Li Yinfei was able to disguise her real self perfectly in front of outsiders, always appearing amiable and gentle to the public. However, she couldn¡¯t hide her deep-seated arrogance from the people who worked closely with her. This was her weakness. Some might say that she was just being her real self but if she acted arrogantly all the time, it was very easy to dislike her. As her manager, Elder Brother Kun took care of many conflicts for her. His conflict management was the only reason why the team was still able to work together.


    Just like that, Elder Brother Kun led Li Lanfeng and her group into the control room.


    The moment they entered, the lively atmosphere in the control room turned cold.


    The captain of the ship noticed the change in atmosphere. He turned around and saw Elder Brother Kun. He also saw Li Yinfei and the other people behind Elder Brother Kun. He frowned instantly.


    ¡°Old Kun, why are you here?¡± He forced himself to smile as he got up and weed the group. While he was weing the group, he sent an inquisitive gaze at Elder Brother Kun. He seemed to be asking why he brought the mess of a person to the control room.


    Elder Brother Kunughed. ¡°Old Lin, young miss heard that you¡¯re having a hard time so she came to visit you to express her gratitude.¡±


    Old Lin was instantly dumbfounded when he heard such an unbelievable statement. He looked at thedy who was smiling gently and weirdly enough, she didn¡¯t have the arrogant aura around her anymore.


    Did the military teach this proud young miss how to be polite and grateful?


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t seem to notice Old Lin¡¯s astonishment. He just continued maintaining his perfect and amiable smile.


    He was used to wearing this smiling mask. No matter how close the person in front of him was, even if it was the family head of the Li family, his grandfather, his facade wouldn¡¯t disappear.


    When he saw Li Yinfei continuing to smile even under his questioning gaze, the captain finally started to believe that Li Yinfei was here to thank them. She didn¡¯te here because Old Kun persuaded her toe. She also didn¡¯t seem forced to smile at them. Her smile looked really genuine to him.


    The captain¡¯s expression gradually softened. In reality, it was hard to hate someone with such a pretty face. However, Li Yinfei¡¯s personality was really bad to even have a good impression of her even under the guise of her beautiful appearance. Her horrendous personality slowly corroded the beautiful image they had of this goddess. In the end, theypletely forgot about her beauty and only remembered her irritating personality.


    The captain was used to seeing many beautifuldies in the world but after Li Yinfei changed her personality, he started to feel that she wasn¡¯t so loathing anymore.


    Ling Lan quickly nced at Li Lanfeng and smiled secretly. This fellow actually activated his innate talent, Bewitch, to gain favor with the captain and the crew members.


    ¡°It must be hard on you recently.¡± Li Lanfeng bowed to thank them while being seated in the wheelchair.


    Whether it was his voice or his expression, they were all filled with sincerity. The sincerity was clearly delivered to everyone through their eyes, and ears, and eventually, to their hearts.


    The crew members, who had a stiff expression on their face, finally smiled in a rxed manner after hearing Li Yinfei¡¯s calming voice. Their gaze turned friendly as they looked at her.


    Elder Brother Kun was satisfied with Li Yinfei¡¯s performance. He shouted loudly, ¡°That¡¯s right. All of you had to stay on the ship while we were gone so you didn¡¯t have a chance to walk around the General. It must have been hard on all of you. Thank you for your efforts.¡±


    Captain Old Linughed out loud when he heard him. He patted Elder Brother Kun¡¯s back and replied, ¡°Why are you being so polite? We¡¯re all in this together. Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll be in charge of the safety of the flight.¡±


    Li Yinfei smiled and nodded gratefully at him. She looked curiously at the crew members who were preparing for flight. Then, she asked shyly, ¡°Captain Lin, can I take a look at how you prepare for a flight?¡±


    The captain no longer loathed Li Yinfei so he wouldn¡¯t reject such a small request. He waved his hand indifferently and said, ¡°Sure. Miss Li, you are free to roam around. If there¡¯s anything you are curious about, just ask them.¡±


    Li Yinfei pushed herself to the pilot excitedly after the captain agreed to her request. A pilot¡¯s skill was very important in ensuring that the cruise ship was able to leave its secured dock quickly and take off perfectly.


    Luo Lang¡¯s calm personality also took over the main body, and he walked towards the crew member who was controlling the engine.


    As for Ling Lan, she continued to stand behind Elder Brother Kun which also meant that she was standing behind the captain.


    If the take-off was smooth, the three of them wouldn¡¯t act. However, Ling Lan would never leave her life to luck. This was the reason why they found an opportunity toe to the control station. If any unexpected problems arised, they would snatch over the control of the starship and personally drive the starship out of General.


    ¡°Report. Captain, the engine is ready. Ship Anmi is prepared to depart.¡±


    After waiting for three minutes, they finally received the report that the engine was ready. Li Lanfeng clenched his fist instinctively.


    ¡°Old Kun, are we leaving now or do we have to wait longer?¡± Old Lin asked Elder Brother Kun who was beside him. He didn¡¯t know if there was any other request for them.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to wait. Let¡¯s take off now. I want to see the scene when the cruise ship takes off.¡± Before Elder Brother Kun could reply, Li Yinfei answered the question for him excitedly. Her face was slightly red due to her excitement, making her seem even more mesmerizing. The crew members who were looking at her felt that their souls were being sucked away.


    Old Lin coughed and regained hisposure. He said, ¡°In that case, let¡¯s prepare to leave.¡±


    ¡°Muzi, contact the control tower and tell them that we¡¯re leaving. Ask them to arrange ane for us and a time for take-off.¡±


    ¡°Yes, captain.¡± The crew member called Muzi quickly contacted the control tower of General. Soon, the control tower gave them their schedule.


    ¡°Time in departure is in 15 seconds through Lane HKL93.¡± Muzi immediately reported what he heard to his captain.


    ¡°Okay. All crew members! Be in your positions!¡± Old Lin¡¯s gaze turned serious.


    Taking off seemed very simple but if it wasn¡¯t done correctly, problems could arise easily. If the error was serious, it might even cause the cruise ship to collide with the gates on thenes which would result in a huge loss.


    Suddenly, the control tower suddenly made an emergency call. They demanded the ship to stop their take off.


    Captain Old Lin got a shock but before he could give an order to stop, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his neck. Then, he fainted.

 Chapter 1323 - Left Successfully

    Chapter 1323 Left Sessfully


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Elder Brother Kun eximed in shock and anger when he saw his subordinate knocking the captain unconscious.


    Ling Lan sent a bone-chilling re at him, and Elder Brother Kun immediately felt as if arge sledgehammer was mmed across his chest. He flew off his feet andnded heavily on the ground, denting it. He fainted due to the impact.


    The pilot subconsciously wanted to stop the take-off but a beautiful fair hand suddenly touched his hand. It was so soft it felt as though there were no bones in the hand.


    The pilot was stunned for a moment. However, he regained his senses immediately, and just as he wanted to stop the take-off, he realised that his hand couldn¡¯t move.


    The beautiful hand was suddenly like a metal w clutching his hand. It didn¡¯t feel like the soft hand from before.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± The pilot suddenly thought of an unlikely possibility. He looked at Li Yinfei in shock. This strength wasn¡¯t something their arrogant and weak young miss should have.


    ¡°You¡¯re very smart. Have a good rest.¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t have the patience to answer his doubts. He replied to the pilot in an indifferent tone before releasing his spiritual power, knocking the pilot and the other crew members around him unconscious.


    In the blink of an eye, only Ling Lan and her tworades were left awake. Oh, and the assistant who had pledged her allegiance a while ago.


    When Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan acted, Luo Lang acted too. He took care of the remaining crew members.


    Those people that were a hindrance were knocked unconscious by the three of them. After that, the three of them sat in their positions.


    As someone who graduated from the military academy, they knew how to operate a military vessel. It was a subject they had to learn. Luckily, a cruise ship was lessplicated than a military vessel so after ncing around at the controls, they managed to understand the basic operations of the ship.


    They were also lucky that the basic operations were all done by the mainframe. They only needed to steer the ship and prepare for the take-off.


    The cruise ship started speeding quickly on itsne. Once its speed reached a certain point, they would be able to take-off into space.


    ¡°Stop. Hurry up and stop! Did you hear me? I request you to stop your take-off.¡± The yelling voice of a JMC from the control tower was heard from the channel.


    Li Lanfeng answered the call and replied with a pouting face, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I identally started the ship just now. It¡¯s toote to stop it now.¡±


    ¡°Miss Li...¡± The angry expression on the JMC¡¯s face disappeared instantly when he saw Li Yinfei. He hurriedly advised her, ¡°Quickly ask the pilot to use the emergency stop button.¡±


    Li Lanfeng asked curiously, ¡°Why do we have to stop? We have already started taking off. Plus, I have already handed in my application to leave the port.


    ¡°We detected unknown energy on your cruise ship. We need to inspect your ship.¡± Suddenly, a stern senior colonel appeared in the video feed. ¡°If you don¡¯t stop now, we¡¯ll block thene. Don¡¯t me us for not reminding you if something unfortunate happens to you.¡±


    ¡°How troublesome.¡± Li Lanfeng pouted unhappily, revealing his princess temper. But, he seemed to not want to offend the military so she replied helplessly, ¡°Forget it, I¡¯ll ask them to stop.¡±


    The senior colonel¡¯s expression softened when he heard this. However, in the next second, his face turned grave. He shouted to the person beside him. ¡°Seal thene.¡±


    Li Yinfei¡¯s cruise ship didn¡¯t stop. Instead, its speed turned up a notch. It was obvious that Li Yinfei didn¡¯t want to listen to them. She was just being perfunctory.


    The spaceport quickly sealed thene in front of the cruise ship.


    Li Lanfeng looked somber as he stared at the sealed gate in front of the cruise ship. His face was slightly pale. He gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his hands trembled a little. But, he still decisively increased the speed of the ship.


    The cruise ship moved at extreme speed towards the sealed gate. If it wasn¡¯t able to take-off before it reached the sealed gate, it would collide with it forcefully. They might not be injured or killed but they would never have another chance to leave General again.


    ¡°Come on, fly up.¡± Li Lanfeng pulled the lever until it almost snapped in half. The support that was connected to thene was released.


    The bow of the cruise ship lifted abruptly. It scrapped the sealed gate slightly and flew into space. It was a very close call.


    ¡°Do we attack it?¡± The sergeant in charge of the safety in the control tower asked his superior.


    ¡°Attack what?¡± The officer looked at the cruise ship in the sky and questioned the soldier calmly.


    ¡°They just left without permission, right?¡± The sergeant asked with uncertainty. If they didn¡¯t follow orders, he could attack the cruise ship without asking for approval.


    ¡°Are their documents notplete? Did the higher authorities stop them from leaving?¡± The senior officer shook his head. He was speechless at how dull his subordinate was.


    ¡°But those people ask them to stop for inspection, right?¡± The sergeant pointed at the soldier who was jumping on his feet angrily. That soldier didn¡¯t belong to the ground service team at the spaceport.


    ¡°He isn¡¯t our superior. Moreover, the documents he provided are notplete. Yet, he still asked us to cooperate with him.¡± The senior officer scoffed. Those people always acted arrogantly in front of their ground service team just because they were from a special department in the military. They treated them very badly. Finally, he managed to catch them without the proper documents so of course, he had to make things difficult for them. So what if Li Yinfei smuggled those people out? These people illegally entered General but the military didn¡¯t dare to openly search for them. Instead, they send the people from the special teams to search for them secretly. That meant that these people were the victims of the fight for political power.


    As long as they were not traitors of the country, he didn¡¯t mind helping them once.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you attack them?¡± The senior officer didn¡¯t want to bother about the angry senior colonel but the other party wasn¡¯t nning to let him off. He ran over angrily and questioned the senior officer.


    ¡°Why must we attack them?¡± The senior officer raised his eyebrows and asked.


    ¡°I said that there¡¯s suspicious energy detected on the ship.¡± The senior colonel gritted his teeth furiously as he looked at the spaceship flying further and further away. Now, he just wanted to vent his frustration. He almost managed to catch a big fish. He almost had the chance to gain huge merit.


    ¡°Do you have evidence?¡± The senior officer folded his arms in front of his chest and asked calmly.


    ¡°Of course.¡± A chain dangled from his hand. There was a detector hanging on the chain. It was blinking with light. ¡°It lit up so it means that the suspicious domain concept energy appeared here before.¡±


    In order to turn their face mediocre, Ling Lan and herrades took the risk and used very little domain concept energy to alter their appearance. The amount of domain concept energy they used was very little so it could only be detected if the detector was very close to them.


    Ling Lan and herrades were lucky. The soldiers from the special team weren¡¯t at the scene just now. They were searching around the General so Ling Lan and herrades managed to pass the customs without being found out.


    Actually, Ling Lan and herrades were discovered because one of the soldiers searching for them loved Li Yinfei. Hence, when he saw someone with Li Yinfei¡¯s signature, he immediately went to find the person after his work to witness the real signature of his goddess. That was how he ended up at the ce where Ling Lan and herrades walked through. The lingering domain concept energy in the air was then detected by the detector.


    That was why the senior colonel asked the cruise ship to stop. You could say that Ling Lan and herrades were simultaneously lucky and unlucky. Fortunately, they still managed to leave General sessfully.

 Chapter 1324 - A New World

    <h4>Chapter 1324 A New World</h4>


    ¡°Even with that, you still can¡¯t prove that the energy came from Li Yinfei¡¯s group. Miss Li had all the relevant documents required to leave the port. There was also no problem detected when she passed through the customs. I can¡¯t attack a ship just because you suspect it without any evidence. The owner of this ship is the dream lover of all soldiers, Miss Li Yinfei. I can¡¯t anyhow attack it,¡± the senior officer of the ground service team replied indifferently.


    ¡°However, she refused to stop when we requested her to. There¡¯s obviously something amiss.¡± The senior colonel was indignant.


    ¡°Maybe Miss Li lost control of the ship or she just wanted to have a thrill ride.¡± The senior officer shrugged and continued, ¡°We can¡¯t prove that she was in the wrong so we must consider all possibilities.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re making excuses for her.¡± The senior colonel pointed at the senior officer furiously. He didn¡¯t expect the senior officer of the ground service team to speak up for Li Yinfei so openly.


    ¡°First, prove that your detector didn¡¯t make a mistake. Prove that the domain concept energy you detected really came from Miss Li¡¯s group. If not... I¡¯ll report your groundless usations to the military.¡± This senior officer of the ground service team was the person in charge of the safety of General. As someone who managed to climb to this position, he wasn¡¯t a simple person. Thus, he didn¡¯t flinch due to the senior colonel¡¯s criticism.


    The unyielding attitude of the other party woke the senior colonel up. He flicked his sleeve and said, ¡°I¡¯ll report to the military too. You should think about how you will exin your actions.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. I followed the regtions perfectly. I have nothing to be afraid of.¡± The senior officer sneered. The other party had connections but he had his own connections too. He wasn¡¯t afraid of them.


    In the end, they ended on a sour note. The battle of justice between the two teamssted for a long time. In the end, both parties were punished equally.


    As for the Li family, they received the news Li Lanfeng sent to them from the virtual world so they hid Li Yinfei. They would think of a way to release Li Yinfei after everything calmed down or find a way to fetch ¡®Li Yinfei¡¯ back from General.


    In the main house of the Li family, the family head, Li Hongji, who was the grandfather of the three brothers from the Li family, waved his hand indifferently when he heard the report of what happened on General. He allowed his men to carry on with their ns.


    This was the main study room of the Li family household. It was filled with books of all subjects from all eras. The Li family could proudly say that, besides the national library, no other ce had as many books as them. You could not see the end of the massive number of bookcases and books at one nce.


    Only members of the main Li family were able to enter the main study room. This was because the genealogical tree of the Li family was hidden there. There were more than a million books on the genealogical tree of the Li family. Of course, ever since the mainframe was invented, everything was recorded in the mainframe. However, the Li family still left a written record of it. This habitsted until today.


    There was only one person in the huge study room so it was extremely quiet.


    In actual fact, besides Li Hongji, none of the people from his generation or the younger generations liked this ce. They felt that this ce was lifeless.


    Li Hongji sat on a sofa beside a bookcase silently for a few minutes. Suddenly, heughed. It was a gut-wrenchingugh.


    ¡°Li Mn, Li Mn. As expected of the inheritor I have high hopes of. You schemed against the Li family outrightly so that I have to clean up the spilled milk for you.¡± Li Hongji smiled lightly. ¡°Unfortunately, you¡¯re still too young. Your schemes are too simple. There¡¯s no standard to them. I¡¯m really disappointed. The Supreme Commander Fate... it looks like I expected too much.¡±


    Li Hongji closed his eyes and when he opened them after a while, his gaze turned sharp. ¡°I¡¯ll give you one more chance. I hope that after you escape with Ling Lan, you¡¯ll grow smarter.¡±


    Suddenly, malicious intent appeared on his face. He gave a look of contempt. But, soon, the look disappeared. Li Hongji returned back into the calm andposed family head of the Li family.


    After leaving General, Ling Lan and herrades passed through many abandoned wormholes (In the past, Little Four liked to find wormholes that had been abandoned for more than a thousand years. He would record all the wormholes on a map. It was a hobby of his in the past but now, it helped Ling Lan and herrades to escape). They managed to evade the tracking from the Federation and left theary sector of the Federation at the least expected moment, entering the publicary sector.


    Then they went to the space station where the 7th Bugle Call was undergoing maintenance. The trip took around one month.


    Tian Fang, who was waiting agitatedly for their return, heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the three of them safe and sound. Ling Lan and herrades returned the cruise ship to Captain Old Lin and his crew.


    After Ling Lan left General, Elder Brother Kun, Old Lin, and the other people slowly regained their consciousness. Of course, there was nothing they could do too. The cruise ship was controlled by Ling Lan. They could only cooperate with her obediently.


    When Ling Lan returned the cruise ship to them, Old Lin and his crew were stunned by the kind gesture. However, they felt that it was understandable too.


    This was because they saw the 7th Bugle Call. The 7th Bugle Call had changed its lookspletely. The characteristic of the Destruction Devil couldn¡¯t be seen but under the meticulous transformation by themander of the space station, it looked extremely beautiful. A single nce was enough to know that this was a powerful starship.


    There were numerous holes around its body. They were all covered up but at a close distance, the holes could still be seen faintly. When Elder Brother Kun and Old Lin thought about the cannons hidden within all these holes, they felt a chill down their spine. One round of firing was enough to turn their cruise ship into a ball of fireworks.


    And that was just the side missiles. If the side missiles were already so powerful, the main cannons must be even stronger. Based on the size of the starship, there were at least 50 main cannons. The main cannons were hidden very well so they couldn¡¯t gauge the number.


    The price of these weapons was enough to buy at least three of their cruise ships. The equipment inside and the number of crew must be ten times, or even more than a hundred times as numerouspared to them.


    Someone with such an impressive starship wouldn¡¯t care about their shabby cruise ship.


    Under Elder Brother Kun and Old Lin¡¯s reluctant gaze, the 7th Bugle Call took off. It flew towards a new world none of them had been to before.


    It was a ce filled with powerful people fighting for power. It was a messy ce that had no peace. It was a ce filled with dangers.


    However, likewise, it was a ce full of opportunities.


    Lawless Lands, here wee.

 Chapter 1325 - Luoluo Is A Man!

    <h4>Chapter 1325 Luoluo Is A Man!</h4>


    Lawless Lands was the furthest and poorest area in the human universe. It consisted of around 1300s. Most of them were barrens with powerful radiations, inhibiting any normal humans to survive there, so it left around a hundred habitables. Even in those habitables, they still required a protective shield to optimize the atmosphere for humans.


    None of the prosperous nations in the central region wanted to develop this area due to theck of resources, theck of humans living on theses, and its long-distance from them. The number of people living in the Lawless Lands was probably less than all their third-ratesbined. If they wanted to control this area, they needed to supply soldiers and resources here continuously. Moreover, the fruits of theirbour wouldn¡¯t appear instantly too.


    Due to the bad environment, the locals here were all naturally very strong. It could be said that they were born fighters and mecha operators. An ordinary-looking youngster might be a Qi-Jin master or a special-ss mecha operator. There were some nations that wanted to build a base here and groom these talented locals but after some time, they realised that it wasn¡¯t worth the effort.


    Firstly, the locals here were very stubborn. They would rather die than bow down to someone else. If they continued to struggle for power with the locals, all they would get was a useless. Secondly, they kidnapped a powerful local back for research but the results were disappointing. The average life expectancy of the people was around 70 years due to the bad environment they were living in and the powerful radiation constantly phasing over them as they lived their normal life. What was worse was that 70 years was already an optimistic guess. A more urate number might be 50 years old. Mind you, the life expectancy of the people in the centre of the human universe was 150 to 180 years. No matter how good thebat abilities of these people were, their lifespan restricted their progress. So what if they were able to advance to the domain realm or be an ace mecha master at a young age? They wouldn¡¯t have long to live after reaching that level or stage.


    After finding out this fact, no nations had any interest in this area anymore. In actuality, they also didn¡¯t have the time, energy, or money to control this area so as time went by, this area became the haven of criminals who were exiled from their own nations. This was the only ce they were able to have a chance to live afortable life. But, the arrival of these criminals made the chaotics even messier.


    Soon, the area turned into an uncontroble battlefield. In the end, the Intergctic United Nations named this area, the Lawless Lands-a befitting title for an ungoverned zone.


    However, if you have the strength, you would be able to live a pretty good life. But, there was one prerequisite. You mustn¡¯t offend the 13 Lords of the Lawless Lands.


    There was only one wormhole leading to the Lawless Lands. Sadly, this tunnel was frequently unstable and dangerous.


    Many criminals overcame numerous obstacles to reach the wormhole but due to theirck of luck, they met a star tidal wave and died in the wormhole.


    Normally, ordinary merchant ships wouldn¡¯t enter the Lawless Lands. The journey was dangerous and their safety couldn¡¯t be ensured even after reaching their destination. They didn¡¯t know if the poor people would be crazy enough to lock them up. However, if enough profit could be made, there would always be brave merchants willing to take the risk. As long as enough profit was present, bold merchants would fly to the Lawless Lands to earn enough profit that couldst them for a lifetime.


    That day, one of the merchant ships entered the wormhole leading to the Lawless Lands while carrying the criminals exiled from their nations.


    ¡°Uncle, is the Lawless Lands really suitable for us?¡± A youngster blinked innocently as he looked at the stern middle-aged man in front of him.


    Ever since he could remember, he had been following his uncle, living a life of hiding and fear. They would stay in one ce and work there for a period of time before moving onto the next. They roamed around like this in the universe for ten years. At the end of those twn years, his uncle finally earned enough money to board this ship which was heading to the safest location his uncle felt, the Lawless Lands.


    The middle-aged man turned to look at the youngster and sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know. But, I know that this is the only ce they couldn¡¯t reach us. You¡¯ll be able to live more freely too.¡±


    The Lawless Lands was a dangerous ce where only the fittest would survive, but anywhere else they stayed at were dangerous too. If that was the case, why note here and escape from that person¡¯s control? Without him, they would be able to live quietly and, maybe, more smoothly and freely.


    =


    The middle-aged man didn¡¯t know ifing to the Lawless Lands was the right decision. However, he knew that there was no ce for him or his nephew in any other parts of the universe. As long as they were alive, they would be caught by that person one day.


    At first, he thought that the money he saved was only enough for him to sit on a shabby and damaged starship. Fortunately, a pirate spaceship, which was heading towards the Lawless Lands, passed by the area he was at. The people on the ship probably wanted to earn some extra cash so they allowed guests toe onboard the ship at a cheap price.


    The middle-aged man couldn¡¯t help butplimented the room they were living in. It was small but not suffocating. They didn¡¯t need to squeeze with the other passenger. It was a six-person room but there were three bunk beds so it was still quitefortable. On top of that, he still remembered his astonishment when he entered the ship. It looked old and dpidated on the surface with many holes but its huge size proved that it was once a dominating presence.


    This wasn¡¯t an ordinary pirate ship. The middle-aged man looked at the crew members that were patrolling outside the door. They had an imposing aura around them. They must be a brutal and frightening pirate crew.


    The middle-aged man was frightened but for some reason, he felt a sense of safety. The journey that was said to be dangerous seemed like nothing to him.


    ¡°Bastard.¡± A clear voice echoed in the corridor outside. The familiar voice woke the youngster up from his thoughts. Before the middle-aged man could stop him, the youngster had already dashed out with a pale face.


    ¡°Luoluo, are you alright?¡± The youngster saw a beautiful man puffing his cheeks angrily in the corridor. He was looking furiously at the pervert who blocked his path. The pervert was shing an evil smile. The youngster hurriedly ran over and pulled the beautiful man behind him.


    ¡°Hey, do you think that a small little brat like you can save the beauty?¡± The pervert retracted his smile when he saw the youngster interfering with his affair. The sleazy aura around him disappeared and his expression turned sinister.


    The youngster shrunk his body in fear but in order to protect his friend, he stood firm and forced a sentence out of his mouth. ¡°Luoluo is a man.¡±

 Chapter 1326 - Let Him Vent His Emotions

    <h4>Chapter 1326 Let Him Vent His Emotions</h4>


    Requiring such an embarrassing statement to protect himself, the beautiful man felt his face heat up from embarrassment. He wanted to kick this nosy youngster away from him.


    ¡°So what if he¡¯s a man? If a man can look like that, it¡¯s even better for us.¡± The sleazy man gave a devilish smile. In actual fact, he already knew that this beautiful person in front of him was a man. However, since they were going to the Lawless Lands, this pretty and weak little vixen would be someone¡¯s food sooner orter. In that case, why not let him take advantage of him first? After all, it would bring him some happiness in this otherwise boring journey.


    He was focusing all his attention on the beautiful young man and the youngster so he didn¡¯t notice that when he started talking, the guards were already closing in on them. Once he did anything that they deemed dangerous to the safety of the journey, they would fill him with bullet holes.


    ¡°You should be more aware of your situation. If not, you won¡¯t know how you died.¡± Five of the pervert¡¯s friends started mocking and sting the youngster.


    The middle-aged uncle of the youngster turned pale when he thought about the eventual oue of this tussle if he didn¡¯t intervene in this. He hurriedly ran over and continuously bowed down as he apologised, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. My nephew is still ignorant of the real world. I¡¯ll bring him back immediately.¡± After he finished speaking, he pulled on his nephew¡¯s arm.


    The youngster looked weak, but he was actually quite strong. He flung his arm, breaking free from his uncle¡¯s tight grip, and shouted, ¡°I¡¯m not leaving! Luoluo is my friend. I must protect him.¡±


    The uncle¡¯s eyes dted as he fumed in anger. He forcefully pped the youngster across his face. ¡°Have I not taught you anything?! What the hell are you talking about protecting someone?¡±


    The youngster looked at his uncle in disbelief. He couldn¡¯t believe that the uncle who always doted on him from birth would p him.


    When he saw the shocked face of his nephew, the uncle immediately felt immense regret in his heart. He truly regretted protecting and doting on his nephew so much until he turned into this ignorant and dumb self-idolized hero. He wouldn¡¯t be able to survive in the Lawless Lands with this kind of personality.


    ¡°Come back.¡± His immense regret immediately turned into burning rage, as he forcefully grabbed the youngster¡¯s cor and dragged him towards him.


    Compassion was unnecessary in thisnd where only the fittest survived. If you didn¡¯t have enough strength, this kind of act would only attract unnecessary problems. Even though he felt pain in his heart, he still had to teach his nephew this lesson.


    ¡°Luoluo! Luoluo!¡± The youngster furiously tried to struggle out of his uncle¡¯s grip. However, he was unable to break free from the tight grip again. He could only turn around and looked apologetically at Luoluo. Ever since he was young, he roamed about the different nations with his uncle. They constantly had to change their homes and identities so he never really had the chance to make any friends. But, everything changed when he met Luoluo in this starship, who was as lonely as him. When they first met, they were just exchanging small talk and after a few days of the same routine, he started to see himself as Luoluo¡¯s best friend.


    The youngster was filled with deep regret. He was a totally useless best friend to Luoluo. If he was stronger, if he was just half as strong as his uncle, he might have been able to protect Luoluo personally.


    The uncle forcefully dragged his struggling nephew across the floor back to their room. The pervert¡¯s friends wanted to stop him but their leader, a grim-looking man, signaled with his hand to urge them to stop. He allowed the uncle to drag the youngster away.


    The uncle outwardly acted like a coward but he gave him a dangerous feeling. They were criminals whomitted much evil and their hands were stained with the blood of many. To do so much crime without getting caught, they needed keen instincts and a sharp mind to trust in those instincts. Once something or someone pinged their instincts, we would want to stay as far away as possible.


    After the uncle disappeared back into his room, the leader with the grim expression retracted his gaze and looked at the abandoned beautiful man.


    ¡°Are you going to follow us obediently to our rooms or do you want me to invite you personally?¡± The leader of the perverts asked coldly.


    Themotion here had already attracted the attention of all the other passengers. However, these people felt that it was none of their business so they just continued looking at the good show.


    An intriguing idea shed passed Luoluo¡¯s head. After thinking about it for a while, he revealed a mesmerizing smile. At first, he looked pretty and elegant but now, seductiveness oozed out of his actions.


    The pervert¡¯s eyes lit up. He couldn¡¯t help but dryly smack his lips. Initially, he just wanted to vent his restlessness on this young man because he was pretty, and from the looks of it, he got really lucky with his choice. This man was some top-ss good. He must be a charming rare beauty in bed.


    ¡°You¡¯re so enthusiastic. I can¡¯t reject you.¡± His enchanting eyes made the pervert feel warm all over. His friends were also swallowing their salivas too.


    In the captain¡¯s room, the stern Tian Fang looked at the resting young man on the sofa. There was a look of contempt on his face. ¡°Boss, do you want me to get him back?¡±


    Since they were pirates now, they changed how they addressed each other. He was still the captain of the 7th Bugle Call but Ling Lan was still the Boss.


    Ling Lan opened her eyes. She looked at the screen to see what Tian Feng was talking about. ¡°Let him vent his emotions. It¡¯ll be good for him,¡± she replied indifferently.


    Xie Yi¡¯s death had a huge impact on Luo Lang. They were urgently trying to flee from the Federation before this so Luo Lang didn¡¯t have the time to dwell about Xie Yi¡¯s death. But, after they started their journey to the Lawless Lands, Luo Lang finally had the time to feel the loss of Xie Yi. As the journey continued, he started being more depressed, but he never revealed any signs of it on his face. Outwardly, he appeared totally normal.


    Even so, Ling Lan knew that this wasn¡¯t a good sign. Sometimes, letting everything out and crying loudly was much better for one¡¯s mental health. However, Luo Lang didn¡¯t want to cry so he had to find other ways to vent his emotions. So, these perverts came at a great time.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about the lives of these trash of the universe. Most of the people that wanted to go to the Lawless Lands were generally bad people. All their hands were stained with blood. In that case, she was putting their lives to good use by letting Luo Lang vent his emotions on them.


    Tian Fang looked at Ling Lan inquisitively.


    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m too cold-blooded?¡± Ling Lan wasn¡¯t looking at Tian Fang but he couldn¡¯t hide his gaze from her.


    ¡°They are all criminals. I don¡¯t care if they die. We¡¯re just enforcing justice on behalf of Heaven.¡± Tian Fang didn¡¯t think that there was anything wrong with Ling Lan¡¯s actions.


    ¡°Me too.¡± Ling Lan smiled lightly.


    ¡°The war on Twilight has taught me many things. Maybe too many...¡±


    ¡°No matter what, you¡¯re always right,¡± Tian Fang replied calmly.


    He spent the past few days with Ling Lan so he personally saw Ling Lan losing herst ounce of innocence and hot-blooded nature. She finally turned into a qualified and cold-blooded leader. It was just that he felt a little pity at Ling Lan¡¯s loss of innocence, but Tian Fang had to admit that the current Ling Lan made him feel more assured. This was the kind of leader that could lead them to conquer the Lawless Lands.


    While they were speaking, Luo Lang, who went into the room not long ago, walked out with a satisfied smile on his face.


    He nodded slightly at the guard patrolling in the corridor before walking to the main hall. Then, heid on the window and stared at the dark night sky.


    After some time, the guard walked into the room with two of his colleagues to clean up the room. Unexpectedly, there was nothing for them to clean. He was confused. Suddenly, he thought of something and his face turned dreadfully pale. He quickly brought his colleagues out. When he passed by Luo Lang, he couldn¡¯t help but look at him with fear in his eyes.

 Chapter 1327 - Put Things Right Once And For All

    <h4>Chapter 1327: Put Things Right Once And For All</h4>


    Madoga port was the only contact the Lawless Lands had with the other parts of the universe, turning it into the most prosperous ce avable in the Lawless Lands.


    The busiest goods market could also be found here. It sold many contrabands that were banned from all the nations in the universe. These contrabands were smuggled in by unscrupulous merchants who sold to the big local merchants. These local merchants would then transport the goods to the other parts of the Lawless Lands.


    Even though it was very prosperous, every corner was fraught with danger. Everyone required a good background to deter small-time thieves from stabbing them in the back while they were shopping, and that was for normal shoppers. If you were just a small merchant that wanted to get rich overnight, the local factions here would devour you whole the moment younded with your goods. Nothing would be left on you except for your clothes, no... they would even take your clothes away to sell.


    The 7th Bugle Call slowly docked onto the port. The news that the 7th Bugle Call was filled with goods soon reached the ears of all the factions at the Madoga port. They started investigating this pirate group that they had never heard of before. They wanted to know who they were.


    If they found that there were no powerful factions backing up the 7th Bugle Call, bloodshed would be inevitable.


    ¡°Are we being too impatient? Shouldn¡¯t we investigate the strength of the factions here before making such a rash decision?¡± Luo Yang asked Tian Fang, who was beside him, worriedly while ncing at the two people who were ying chess.


    Tian Fang replied with irritation, ¡°How am I supposed to know?¡±


    Ling Lan made sure that when their guests disembarked, they would intentionally see the warehouse full of goods. The moment Tian Fang knew about this, he knew that Boss had something up his sleeve. However, he didn¡¯t know what Ling Lan wanted to do.


    Ling Lan maintained a cold look on her face as if she didn¡¯t realise Luo Yang¡¯s worry and puzzlement. Just as she was to ce her queen piece down, she lifted her finger lightly at Li Lanfeng¡¯s direction.


    Li Lanfeng understood Ling Lan very well so when he saw the finger, he smiled and turned to Luo Yang. He exined, ¡°This is our first time in the Lawless Lands so we normally will need a few months in order to truly understand the different factions and their strength, but now that is a waste of time. Hence, it¡¯s better for us to beat the grass to frighten the snake. The first snake thates to find us might not be the strongest but it will be the most suitable working partner.¡±


    Luo Yang nodded thoughtfully but Tian Fang still didn¡¯t understand so he asked, ¡°Why will the first snake be the most suitable? Wouldn¡¯t the most rash and the most impulsive be the most suitable?¡±


    ¡°Captain, you can¡¯t use the mindset of a soldier to judge people here. Anyone that was able to build a notable faction here isn¡¯t simple. After all, this is the most prosperous ce in the Lawless Lands. It is the link connecting the Lawless Lands to the outside universe. Do you think the 13 Lords will ignore this ce and let those greedy merchants take over?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡°On the surface, it looks like this ce is controlled by those powerful merchants but the real marites of the show are the 13 Lords.¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t they think that we¡¯re lone travelers without any background? They probably think they could just send people to annihte us and take over our ship and our goods. Honestly, my ship is more attractive than the goods inside.¡± Tian Fang felt a little pain in his heart. He took much effort to modify his ship. His majestic and scary-looking ship that was full of weapons was forcefully turned into a shabby and old-looking ship. He almost vomited blood when he first saw it in the warehouse. Fortunately, it was just a disguise. The powerful weapons were all still hidden from the surface. He did feel a little better when he thought about it.


    ¡°No.¡± This time, Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t the one who replied. It was Luo Yang.


    As the strategist of the 7th Bugle Call, Luo Yang recalled everything Ling Lan did on their journey and understood why Ling Lan did what she did after Li Lanfeng gave him a hint.


    Tian Fang looked at Luo Yang and waited for his exnation. Luo Yang quickly continued, ¡°Boss used the token of the Rainbow Raiders when we stopped at the other ports.¡±


    ¡°Thus, if the 13 Lords try to investigate us, they will think that we have the Rainbow Raiders behind us.¡± Tian Fang finally understood. ¡°The Lawless Lands don¡¯t care about the Intergctic United Nations but they have to mind the mercenary world.¡±


    ¡°This hellhole is banned by the Intergctic United Nations. So, without the people from the mercenary world, who will bring them resources?¡± Luo Yang smiled, ¡°Thus, before they have the ability to take over the mercenary world, they won¡¯t dare to offend them.¡±


    ¡°And I was still wondering why Boss acted more and more conspicuously as we got nearer to the Lawless Lands. So this was the reason.¡± Tian Fang understood everything. Ling Lan had started her n a long time ago. Modifying the 7th Bugle Call was part of her n too.


    ¡°I just want to put things straight once and for all.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice sounded at this moment.


    Smack! Suddenly, the crisp sound of a chess piecending was heard. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    Li Lanfeng turned his attention back to the chessboard. When he saw his white king piece being checkmated by a ck queen and ck rook , he smiled bitterly and said, ¡°I lost.¡±


    He really mustn¡¯t get distracted when he ys chess with Ling Lan. If he just got distracted for just a moment, Ling Lan would immediately checkmate him. However, in the past, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t this aggressive. She wasn¡¯t as calcting as she was before. Before, Ling Lan would calcte all the possible moves ande up with a trap to lure her opponent in, giving them no room to escape before finally checkmating them.


    ¡°You think too much when you¡¯re ying chess.¡± Ling Lan said indifferently, ¡°There are two methods to conquer newnds. The first method is to conquer steadily and safely, umting strength slowly before swallowing everything in a single instant. The second method is to invade forcefully and quickly to secure a position for ourselves. In our case, we don¡¯t have much time. Thus, the first method is unsuitable for us. We can only go with the more risky method.¡±


    Ling Lan lifted her head and a light shone over her face. Her cold face and nonchnt gaze assured the people in the room that she had everything under her control. Tian Fang even felt like postrating down and praying to Ling Lan.


    ¡°The second method is indeed very risky but we have no choice. If we lose, we will lose everything. If we win, we¡¯ll be able to conquer the Lawless Lands.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s tone was somber. ¡°Now, the first wave of probes is about toe. Call Luo Lang to prepare.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± The three of them stood up and epted the order.


    ¡°We¡¯ve found their identity. They¡¯re from the Rainbow Raiders...¡± This piece of news quickly spread to all the leaders of the various powerful factions.


    ¡°It looks like the Rainbow Raiders finally wants a share of the Lawless Lands too.¡± One of the three kings of the mercenary world couldn¡¯t restrain themselves anymore?


    All the factions in the Lawless Lands knew that this would happen eventually so they weren¡¯t too shocked. However, they didn¡¯t expect it toe so soon.


    ¡°Here¡¯s the problem. Shall we cooperate with them or kill them?¡±


    This was the question in all the people¡¯s minds. Their decision would affect their future rtionship with the mercenary world and the three kings.


    ¡°Rainbow Raiders? Are they throwing this bait to see if we¡¯ll take it?¡± One of the leaders of a faction smiled gently. ¡°Let me see which idiot will act first.¡±


    ¡°Are we going to sit back and watch the show?¡± The person sitting beside him asked in surprise.


    ¡°Yes. Let¡¯s see if they are worthy enough for us to act.¡± The leader gave a mysterious smile. If they had the ability, he didn¡¯t mind working with them. But, he needed to see if they really had the goods first.

 Chapter 1328 - 13 Lords!

    <h4>Chapter 1328: 13 Lords!</h4>


    At 10 pm sharp, Madoga port turned dead silent. The locals here immediately went inside their houses and barricade themselves. People in the Lawless Lands would rarely go outside when it was near midnight, as the possibility of getting murdered after midnight increased by 500 times..


    Usually, besides the guards on duty at the port, no other living humans could be seen walking on the streets.


    However, it was a little different tonight as a bunch of men who looked like they were from an organized drug syndicate, tantly barged into the port. The guards on duty saw them but they instantly averted their gaze, pretending that they didn¡¯t. They even evaded them.


    The guards quickly dashed to the other side of the port. When the group of men disappeared from their sight, the head of the guards, as well as the team members, immediately rxed.


    ¡°Head, is there something wrong with those people just now?¡± The newest member of the guard¡¯s team didn¡¯t understand why they were so uptight so he asked his head in a low voice.


    The head immediately stopped in his tracks. He immediately dug his pocket for a pack of cigarettes and took one out with a trembling hand. His hands only stopped trembling when he ced it in his mouth.


    A team member came forward and hurriedly lit up the cigarette.


    The head took a deep breath and puffed out a mouthful of smoke. After calming himself, he said, ¡°Little Hu, you are new here so let me teach you your first lesson today. If you want to survive in this port, you must have good eyesight.¡±


    ¡°I understand, head.¡± Little Hu tilted his head and looked admirably at his head. The head had a good impression of this young man so he continued giving him advice. ¡°Did you see the symbol on their chest?¡±


    Little Hu tried to remember the scene he saw a moment ago. He answered with uncertainty, ¡°Head, do you mean the thing on their chest that looked like some insect?¡± Those people were walking too far from him so he didn¡¯t see the symbol on their chest clearly. He could only tell that it was in the shape of an insect.


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a ck scorpion.¡± The head¡¯s expression was gloomy.


    ¡°Lord Gen!¡± Little Hu jumped up in fright.


    You might not know anyone in the Lawless Lands but you must have heard of the 13 Lords.


    Every lord had his own exclusive symbol. Everyone in the Lawless Lands must remember all their symbols so that they wouldn¡¯t unknowingly offend the 13 Lords. If they one day identally offend them, they would die a gruesome death the very next day.


    Seven-colored scorpion¡ª¡ªLord Gen.


    Four-leaf clover¡ª¡ªLord Kun.


    Sun, moon, and star¡ª¡ªLord Qian.


    Purple lightning¡ª¡ªLord Zhen.


    Whirlpool¡ª¡ªLord Xun.


    Rain¡ª¡ªLord Kan.


    Human torch¡ª¡ªLord Li.


    Pangu¡¯s axe¡ª¡ªLord Dui.


    Clown¡¯s smile¡ª¡ªLord Card.


    Knight¡ª¡ªLord Yu.


    Angel wings¡ª¡ªLord Holy.


    Poisonous bat¡ª¡ªLord Ghost.


    Medusa¡ª¡ªLord Demon.


    A scorpion of any colour belonged to Lord Gen¡¯s faction.


    ¡°It seems like someone there must have offended Lord Gen.¡± One of the team members sighed at the misfortune of the people who incurred Lord Gen¡¯s wrath.


    The head shook his head. ¡°That might not be the case.¡± He remembered the huge starship that docked in their port today. He only nced at it slightly but just the slight glimpse of what he saw was already enough to tempt him.


    If you didn¡¯t have the ability to protect your wealth, don¡¯t expose it. Otherwise, it would be cleaned out the next day.


    The head took two deep breaths before throwing the cigarette bud to the floor and stomping it. Then, he said to his members, ¡°Let¡¯s go back immediately. No matter what you hearter, ignore it. You must never go out in the presence of the lords¡¯ men.¡±


    Even if they identally saw Lord Gen¡¯s subordinates, Lord Gen would order them to be killed based on his way of doing things. Lord Gen would never let someone who knew the identity of his subordinates off.


    His team members immediately thought of the gruesome fate if they identally encountered one of Lord Gen¡¯s subordinates and their bodies immediately tensed up as they replied, ¡°Yes, head.¡±


    They basically dashed to their base. The first thing they did after entering their base was locking the doors behind them. They had already decided that even if the port was burned or destroyed, they would ignore everything and never take a step outside.


    There were close to a hundred men from Lord Gen¡¯s face who infiltrated the spaceport. They walked to the ce where the 7th Bugle Call was docked and looked at its magnificent body. The greed in their eyes immediately showed, thinking as though the ship and the goods on the ship already belonged to them. Now, they just needed to take it back and split it among themselves.


    The hunk leading the hundred-men group signalled at the subordinate behind him.


    The subordinate hurriedly came forward and pressed his hand on the door of the huge ship in an attempt to decode its passcode so that they could enter.


    Right at this moment, the closed doors suddenly opened by itself.


    This unexpected scene gave the crowd a huge scare.


    Looking through the opened doors, it was nothing but pitch ck darkness, seemingly like a maw of a monster ready to swallow someone whole.


    The group waited for a few seconds but they saw no movementing from the opened doors. Having no idea what to do, they looked at their head in unnned unison.


    The hunk leading them just stared at the door with a serious expression.


    After a few more seconds, he sneered. ¡°Since you know that we¡¯reing, stop hiding. Come out.¡±


    His voice broke the calmness of the darkness they saw, like a pebble dropped into a calmke. Suddenly, the sound of metal chains dragging across the ground echoed throughout the spaceport and pierced through their ears to their brain.


    The imminent noise gradually started to grow sharper and sharper.


    ¡°Be careful.¡± Their head suddenly shouted with signs of urgency written across his face.


    As his voice left his throat, chains after chains suddenly flew out from the darkness behind the door, aiming towards every man with perfect uracy.


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    ¡°Aiyo!¡±


    ¡°Pu~¡±


    ¡°ng...¡±


    Some of the evaded metal chains pierced into the solid, hard floor made out of superimposed metal sheets. Those men who were unable to evade in time got directly pierced by the metal chains right through their sr plexus. They struggled to take a breath, but everytime they tried, they started to vehemently cough out blood, and with each cough, the chain wrecked through more parts of their body. They didn¡¯t even have the time to yell in pain before they died with their eyes still wide open.


    On the other side, the leader barely scraped away with his life from the deadly urate chain. Just as his mind was thinking of ways to defeat these chains, the scent of blood immediately filled the air around him, and with only one whiff, his face immediately turned grim. He cursed bitterly in his heart. They hadn¡¯t even seen the outline of their unknown opponent but many of them were already dead.


    Their enemy was definitely a formidable opponent. The moment the chains flew out of the door, the leader knew that he must be facing a domain realm master.


    But, unluckily for him, all the men he brought were in the Qi-Jin stage. Some had just barely reached the optimal peak of Qi-Jin, half a step away from the domain stage. Yet, their opponent managed to instant-kill so many of them single-handedly.


    ng! ng! The amplified sound of the chains grating against each other continued to pierce their eardrums. Everyone then realized the chains were criss-crossing against each other, as if it was trapping them in a spider web. They were like the helpless prey of a spider, not knowing when the spider woulde out and sink its fang into them.


    Far away, a white figure suddenly appeared on top of a tall roadmp. He stood on themp lightly and watched the show that was happening near the 7th Bugle Call.


    ¡°Looks like Lord Holy is interested in them, Angel Zhi.¡± A voice suddenly rang beside him.


    The white figure turned around and saw a young man dressed in a purple down standing on another roadmp smiling at him.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t Lord Zhen the same?¡± Angel Zhi replied nonchntly.

 Chapter 1329 - Not My Match.

    <h4>Chapter 1329: Not My Match.</h4>


    ¡°It couldn¡¯t be helped. My master has some connections with the Rainbow Raiders. Since their men are here, we have to wee them with the grandest greeting. If not, won¡¯t we look too disingenuous.¡± The young man in the purple gown smiled as he looked at the massacre going on in the spaceport. ¡°But, it looks like I¡¯m not going to be the star of the show.¡±


    ¡°It is no surprise, really. Do you actually think the Rainbow Raiders would send someone incapable here especially when they know fully well how we act around here. They¡¯re the Rainbow Raiders for god¡¯s sake. Isn¡¯t that right, Pu Long?¡± The young man suddenly appeared enlightened by the lecture given by Angel Zhi. However, his expression was too exaggerated, making it obvious that he was teasing Angel Zhi.


    Pu Long then shed a devilish smile. ¡°You should be saying that to the people under Lord Gen. They¡¯re the ones being culled likembs down there. Doesn¡¯t Lord Gen have an amicable rtionship with Lord Holy.¡±


    Angel Zhi shook his head and smiled. ¡°How do we know who has a good rtionship with who? I might be working with you today but tomorrow, we might be enemies. I might be talking nicely with you now but in the next second, we might start fighting for our lives.¡±


    ¡°In that case, we should treasure the friendly atmosphere we have now and watch how powerful the people from the Rainbow Raiders are together.¡± Pu Long was very interested in the person who controlled the metal chains.


    ¡°I¡¯m very interested too.¡± Angel Zhiughed as he looked at the spiderweb formed from the metal chains. He knew that one of the twelves angels under Lord Holy could also control metal chains. He wondered of the both of them, who was stronger?


    By now, the surviving men under Lord Gen were staring at the door with apprehension. After waiting inplete fear, the sound of grating metal chains stopped. Instead, it was reced by clear footsteps.


    ¡°He¡¯s here!¡± All of them screamed in their minds.


    Slowly, a skinny figure walked out from the dark passage.


    Everyone was dumbstruck, including Angel Zhi and Pu Long who were standing far away.


    The reason they were dumbstruck was because the person they were looking at was just too young. He wore ck clothes with a beautiful face on top of it. It was hard to tell if he was a male or female from his face but for some reason, no one thought that he was ady. Their first impression was that he was just a very pretty young man.


    Luo Lang looked at the leader of the group standing in front of him. He had a stunned look. Luo Lang said calmly, ¡°You¡¯re not my match.¡±


    He shifted his gaze and looked at the direction where Angel Zhi and Pu Long were standing.


    ¡°He seems to have discovered us.¡± Pu Long smiled when he saw the intense gaze.


    ¡°To look at us with such confidence, he must be a titled domain realm master,¡± Angel Zhi replied calmly.


    ¡°Do you want to meet him?¡± Pu Long asked.


    ¡°Why must I?¡± Angel Zhi just wanted to see how strong were the people the Rainbow Raiders sent. Now that he had his answer, there was no need for him to continue to remain here.


    After he finished speaking, Angel Zhi twisted his body and disappeared on the spot.


    Pu Long listened to his surroundings carefully and after ensuring that Angel Zhi had really left, he smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s good that you left. You might interfere with my master¡¯s business.¡±


    ¡°But...¡± He crossed his hands in front of his chest and stared intently at Luo Lang. ¡°If you want me to appear, you should kill all of Lord Gen¡¯s men first.¡±


    Luo Lang saw one of the two threats leaving, but the one left seemed to be staring at him silently. Just looking at their actions, he understood that the two of them were not from the same side as the group who tried to steal their starship. Boss did say that there would be many factionsing over to investigate them. Whether they intruded their ship or just watched from afar, his job was to finish those people that offended them.


    Luo Lang retracted his gaze and ced it on the leader of the intruding group.


    ¡°Are you nning to leave yourself or do you want to continue?¡± Luo Lang didn¡¯t want to fight with weak people like them. To him, it was like a grown adult bully a young child.


    ¡°Charge!¡± The contempt in Luo Lang¡¯s voice enraged the leader.


    All the men were frightened but under their leader¡¯s order, they still rushed towards Luo Lang without any fear of death.


    Luo Lang frowned at their reckless decision. He lifted his right hand before tightly clenching his fist.


    Suddenly, the spider web of chains in the air started coiling around each other before raining down on the charging men.


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    ¡°Pfft~!¡±


    ¡°Ouch!¡±


    Screams of pain echoed in the air. Soon, the floor of the spaceport was filled with dismembered parts of a human body. As for the leader, he retreated back while his men charged forward.


    ¡°Disgusting!¡± Pu Long spat.


    ¡°Shameless!¡± Luo Lang looked at the leader in contempt when he noticed his retreat.


    He waved his left hand and a metal chain materialized in mid air. It shot towards the leader.


    ¡°Ah! Guardian Ji, help me!¡± The leader immediately felt the scent of deathing near him so he started shouting frantically.


    Phak! A huge hand appeared and pped away Luo Lang¡¯s metal chain.


    ¡°Guardian Ji.¡± The leader cried in happiness when he realized he was saved.


    But, in the next second, his eyes widened in disbelief...


    ¡°Pfft~¡± Blood spurted out of his mouth. ¡°Why... Guardian, Guardian Ji...¡±


    Guardian Ji slowly retracted his hand that pierced through the leader¡¯s chest. In his hand was a heart that was still pounding.


    ¡°Lord Gen doesn¡¯t need someone who¡¯s afraid of death,¡± Guardian Ji replied in an unchanging tone.


    The leader fell backward to the ground. No one knew if he heard the reply before he died.


    Pu Long frowned when he saw the arrival of Guardian Ji. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect him toe here, and he¡¯s very hard to deal with. I might not even be his match... I wonder how long the titled domain realm formidable warrior can stand his ground.¡±


    Luo Lang just looked too young so Pu Long was under the impression that Luo Lang had just entered the titled domain realm for a few years. Thus, his understanding of his domain concept must not be as deep as an experienced titled domain realm formidable warrior who had been in that stage for more than ten years like Guardian Ji.


    ¡°Since this piece of trash is dead. It¡¯s time to settle the fight between us.¡± After killing the leader, Guardian Ji turned and looked at Luo Lang.


    Guardian Ji never expected the first fighter of the Rainbow Raiders to be so powerful too. Moreover, he was a titled domain realm formidable warrior. At first, he thought that they would at most send a domain realm master out here, but from the looks of it, they underestimated the resolve of the Rainbow Raiders in taking over the Lawless Lands.


    What made Guardian Ji furious was how ruthless the fighter from the Rainbow Raiders was. He killed more than a hundred of his men without showing any respect to Lord Gen. Although Qi-Jin masters weren¡¯t precious in the Lawless Lands, they weren¡¯t grown on trees. Even Guardian Ji felt his heart aching over the loss over such a huge amount of Qi-Jin masters.

 Chapter 1330 - I Wont Send You Off!

    <h4>Chapter 1330: I Won¡¯t Send You Off!</h4>


    ¡°Indeed. After I¡¯m done with you, I¡¯ll need you to give me an exnation,¡± Luo Lang replied casually.


    He wasn¡¯t one bit afraid of the 13 Lords. Luo Lang truly didn¡¯t believe that there was anyone who was more powerful than Boss. Boss would take care of everything that came his way. Hence, he felt very confident when he talked to the people of the 13 Lords.


    Guardian Ji was surprised and irritated by how arrogant Luo Lang was acting.. Even if the Rainbow Raiders was one of the kings of the mercenary world, the 13 Lords were still the rulers of the Lawless Lands. It was still up to them to decide if the Rainbow Raiders could have a spot in this piece ofnd.


    Guardian Ji set his mind to teach Luo Lang that in the 13 Lords¡¯ territory, even a dragon would have to curl up quietly like a snake.


    Suddenly, numerous beautifully-designed earthen doors rose from the ground and surrounded them in a bowl-like enclosure.


    ¡°Eight Degrees Brahmin!¡± Pu Long, who was watching from afar, was bbergasted by what he was. It was unexpected for Lord Gen¡¯s guardian to use his most famous domain technique right at the start of a fight. It was an ultimate technique, capable of killing someone like him if caught off guard. Now, Pu Long was worried for Luo Lang¡¯s life. He could only hope that Guardian Ji still respect the Rainbow Raiders enough to not murder Luo Lang. If Guardan Ji didn¡¯t even have an ounce of respect towards the Rainbow Raiders, Luo Lang would most likely be dead.


    ¡°Earth element?¡± Luo Lang frowned when he sensed the dense earth element permeating around him. Seeing the earthen doors closing him in a bowl, he slightly moved his fingers as he tried to pierce through the earthen doors with his chains.


    The metal chains pierced into the doors but after piercing in for close to 30 cm, it couldn¡¯t move anymore. The defensive strength of the earthen doors was too much for the offensive power of his metal chains. Luo Lang couldn¡¯t destroy the doors.


    ¡°It¡¯s useless. You¡¯re only able to tickle me with that chain of yours.¡± Guardian Ji scoffed in derision. He waved his right hand and a door unrooted itself off the ground before flying furiously towards the spot where Luo Lang was standing.


    Bang!


    The huge impact almost caused the entire port to vibrate.


    Luo Lang quickly flipped backward, evading the iing door, and while he was in mid-air, he pped his hands together and shouted, ¡°Disappear!¡±


    The metal chains around the port turned into balls of smoke as he said that and disappeared following after. Two blurred figures jumped out of Luo Lang¡¯s body. Right after that, Luo Lang changed his hand signal and said, ¡°Combine!¡±


    Just as he said it, the blurred figures integrated into his body again. After that, Luo Lang clenched his right fist while moving his left hand over his right waist and slowly drew out a sharp knife.


    Luo Langnded on the ground firmly. He swept the knife in the air and pointed it diagonally at Guardian Ji. A moment ago, he was wearing a cool ck attire but now, he had changed into a long ck trench coat. The trenchcoat drifted slowly under the breeze at the port.


    Guardian Ji frowned. He waved his hands quickly and countless earthen doors rushed towards Luo Lang from all corners, leaving no room for him to escape.


    Pu Long was afraid for Luo Lang¡¯s life. However, before he could lend a helping hand, Luo Lang had disappeared into thin air.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Pu Long felt confused by the scene in front of him as he could no longer see Luo Lang at all. After rubbing his eyes in an attempt to clear his vision, he decisively closed his eyes and tapped his forehead with his right forefinger. ¡°Open!¡±


    As he said that, he slowly opened his eyelids, and purple snakes of lightning could be seen crackling over his eyes.


    This was the Eye of Lightning that was very famous among all the lightning element domain masters. It was able to improve one¡¯s vision to a degree where it would allow the user to see things they sometimes shouldn¡¯t.


    With the help of the Eye of Lightning, Pu Long was finally able to see Luo Lang¡¯s movements clearly.


    Luo Lang didn¡¯t actually disappear. He was just moving at a speed that couldn¡¯t be captured by the naked eye to evade the earthen doors. This was why Pu Long had the illusion that he disappeared.


    ¡°That is another domain concept.¡± Pu Long¡¯s face went through a series of emotions before his face just went numb from shock. He had never seen someone with two different domain concepts before. Moreover, these domain concepts weren¡¯t ordinary domain concepts either. From the way the young man handled his second domain concept, it was a titled domain concept too.


    ¡°F**k, who is he? What kind of monster is he?¡± Pu Long himself was considered a genius in the Lawless Lands too. He was a talented individual who had entered the domain realm at a rtively young age. He felt that he wouldn¡¯t lose to anyone besides the other two prodigies in his generation. However, this young man sent by the Rainbow Raiders was not only younger than him but also stronger than him. Just looking at the two different domain concepts, he knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to win the young man in a straight up fight.


    Luo Lang maneuvered left and right, evading every earthen door that came his way. Soon, he appeared in front of Guardian Ji and shed his knife at him.


    Bang! Just as the knife was about to sh Guardian Ji, he immediately substituted his ce with an earthen door to evade the deadly knife. When Luo Lang saw the substitution, he snorted and punched out with his fist an inch away from the door.


    Swish!


    After the punch destroyed the integrity of the door, the knife chopped the thick earthen door into two like butter. The Banghin doors, which had an abnormally powerful defensive strength, weren¡¯t able to withstand thebination of Luo Lang¡¯s one-inch punch and the edge of Luo Lang¡¯s knife.


    More than ten meters away from the ce where Luo Lang chopped the earth door, one of the earth doors slowly morphed into Guardian Ji. He didn¡¯t expect that after Luo Lang changed his domain concept, he would be able to split his earthen door in half. This was the first time he saw someone splitting his earth door into two that effortlessly.


    But, what scared him the most was the change in Luo Lang¡¯s speed. Only when he was on the brink of death, he could see Luo Lang¡¯s afterimages. Fortunately, he was able to move between his earthen doors so he didn¡¯t get hit by the knife.


    ¡°You have my respect.¡± Guardian Ji¡¯s expression changed many times. In the end, he smiled and cupped his hands.


    Luo Lang didn¡¯t reply to him. He just stared silently at Guardian Ji.


    His cold attitude slightly irritated Guardian Ji, but he quickly remembered that he was alone while Luo Lang had his entire team behind him. Although he didn¡¯t know if there was someone as strong as Luo Lang onboard, he never put his life at risk especially after living for so long.


    He controlled his anger and continued smiling. ¡°My name is Ji Ming and I¡¯m from Lord Gen¡¯s faction. My men seemed to have mistakenly offended you. To express our apology, we will officially pay a visit tomorrow.¡±


    Luo Lang scoffed. ¡°I won¡¯t send you off.¡±


    Guardian Ji¡¯s expression turned dull. In the end, he flicked his sleeve and disappeared.


    Pu Long touched his chin and smiled. ¡°It looks like I have to report this to Lord Zhen as soon as possible. There might be a good showing soon.¡±


    Ji Ming was a narrow-minded person so he wouldn¡¯t let Luo Lang go that easily after he chided him like that. Thus, he would most definitelye back for revenge tomorrow. His master, Lord Zhen¡¯s rtionship with Lord Gen was okay... well, he was being polite when he said that their rtionship was okay. In actual fact, the rtionship between them was really poor. If Lord Qian and Lord Kun didn¡¯t persuade his master, he would never have worked with Lord Gen to handle that uing faction leader.


    However, that was the only coboration they would ever do. Pu Long understood his master well so he knew that even if his master didn¡¯t have a good rtionship with the leader of the Rainbow Raiders, he would willingly help the other party in order to create more trouble for Lord Gen.

 Chapter 1331 - Fear And Shock!

    <h4>Chapter 1331: Fear And Shock!</h4>


    Pu Long disappeared after he finished his thoughts.


    A few minutester, he reappeared on top of the same roadmp. He scanned the area around him with scrutiny, and saw there was no one present. He shook his head. ¡°Is my mind ying tricks on me?¡±


    He came back again because he felt a gaze looking over him. However, after looking around carefully, he couldn¡¯t find the source of that gaze and that feeling was gone too. It really did seem his mind was ying tricks on him.


    But, as someone who had reached quite high in physical skills, he wouldn¡¯t ignore his instincts when it signaled to him.


    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t find anyone. Reality told him that it was really his illusion.


    ¡°Forget it.¡± Pu Long sighed regretfully. So what if someone was peeping at him? They would only know that Lord Zhen knew what happened here. It really wouldn¡¯t affect them.


    After Pu Long reassured himself, he disappeared again. This time, he really left. As a member of the 13 Lords¡¯ faction, he didn¡¯t need to be so careful.


    A few minutes passed by again, a ck figure slowly appeared under a roadmp.


    The person raised his head slightly, revealing a face that was covered with a silver mask. ¡°The people of the Lawless Lands are really impressive. I used the aura-restraining technique Rabbit taught me but he still detected my presence.¡±


    ¡°Lord Zhen?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡°Maybe he is a good partner to work with.¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s figure slowly disappeared. He left too.


    Soon, the news about Lord Gen failing and Ji Ming losing to a young brat was known by the other 12 Lords as well as the leaders of the other factions.


    ¡°Rainbow Raiders. It looks like they¡¯re serious this time.¡± One of the representatives sent by Rainbow Raiders was already on par with Ji Ming. If they still thought that the Rainbow Raiders was just casually passing by, they should just leave the Lawless Lands.


    ¡°They formed a grudge with Lord Gen the moment they arrived. Their journey on the Lawless Lands will be difficult.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. There are just too many conflicts between the 13 Lords to know what their intentions are. Even if they offended Lord Gen, the other lords might not be unhappy. So it¡¯s hard to say for now.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯ll depend on the attitude of the other 12 lords. If most of them chose to drive out the Rainbow Raiders, the Rainbow Raiders will be unable to do anything too, even if they are a top-ss mercenary team.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll know the results tomorrow. What we know now is that Lord Gen won¡¯t forgive them easily.


    ¡°If other lords step out to help the Rainbow Raiders, it¡¯ll be more fun.¡±


    ¡°Do you think Lord Zhen will help them? After all, he has been at odds with Lord Gen for a long time.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯ll depend on the other lords too. If they support Lord Gen, Lord Zhen won¡¯t move.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to determine anything...¡±


    ¡°We must wait for the 13 Lords to give their final say. We mustn¡¯t be implicated by this and give the 13 Lords a reason to take us down.¡±


    On the surface, the most powerful people in the Lawless Lands were the 13 Lords but there were many strong factions below them who wanted to be the 14th lord. To prevent their grip over the Lawless Lands from loosening, the 13 Lords scrutinized these factions carefully. A few days ago, Lord Gen and Lord Zhen worked together to wipe out a new faction that was developing rapidly. It had many capable people under its wings and its strength was formidable too. A lot of people really thought that the leader of this rapidly growing faction would be a new lord.


    But, Lord Gen and Lord Zhen, who used to be at loggerheads with each other, suddenly cooperated and uprooted the new faction in a blink of an eye. After that, they quickly segregated the faction¡¯s territory.


    Of course, it was impossible for them to destroy a faction entirely within such a short period of them. So, there must be other lords helping them. These were all secrets that outsiders wouldn¡¯t be privy of.


    However, no matter what, Lord Gen and Lord Zhen¡¯s swift uproot still stunned all the factions. Those that were nning for some grand scheme decided to keep low for the time being and bide for some time first. All of them were afraid that they would be the next target.


    The guard team of the port locked their rooms and went to bed after they returned to their rooms. None of them could actually sleep a wink that night.


    The next morning, their leader woke them up to continue patrolling the area.


    Unconsciously, they walked to the area where the 7th Bugle Call was docked at. It must be because they were all subconsciously thinking about this ship.


    They thought that the ship would have been taken over by Lord Gen but surprisingly, the people from the 7th Bugle Call were still there maintaining the ship and cleaning their area.


    The ground around their ship was surprisingly very clean but the leader still saw bloodstains that hadn¡¯t been cleaned on the floor.


    Instinctively, he led his men over and talked to the nearest crew member of the 7th Bugle Call.


    ¡°Brother, what happenedst night? Why are you cleaning the port so bright and early in the morning?¡± The leader pretended to be oblivious to what happenedst night and asked with a curious face. He even passed a cigarette over to the man.


    Cigarettes were a luxury item in the Lawless Lands. High-ss tobo couldn¡¯t be grown here so if they wanted pure tobo, they needed to rely on the smugglers. Normally, only those with a certain status had high-ss cigarettes. Normal people could only smoke on low-quality local tobo. Even so, the price of local tobo was still expensive.


    ¡°Nothing. Some bold thieves tried to steal our goods. Aren¡¯t they looking for death?¡± The crew member¡¯s eyes lit up when he saw the cigarette. He smiled happily as he took it.


    The leader took out his lighter and lit the cigarette for the crew member. He continued asking, ¡°From the bloodstains, it looked like there were quite a number of thieves.¡±


    The crew member took a deep breath and enjoyed the cigarette. After satisfying his craving, he replied, ¡°That¡¯s right. There were close to a hundred people.¡±


    ¡°A hundred people? That¡¯s a lot. How many people did you send to fight them?¡± The leader appeared to be frightened by the huge number.


    ¡°One person from our Team 05 is enough to tackle those nobodies...¡± The crew member gave a look of disdain.


    The leader chatted with the crew member for a while longer before parting ways.


    After they walked out of the vicinity, the leader heaved a sigh of relief. He turned around and reminded his team members, ¡°You should stay as far away from the 7th Bugle Call as possible in the future.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± One of the team members asked. When their leader was chatting, they went to chat with the other crew members too. They found the other party very friendly so they had a good impression of them.


    ¡°Someone who can kill Lord Gen¡¯s men and still appear nonchnt must either be ignorant or very confident in themselves. Do you think that the people on the 7th Bugle Call are ignorant?¡± The leader asked.


    Everyone shook their heads. The crew member they talked to didn¡¯t seem like frogs in the well. They weren¡¯t arrogant either.


    ¡°The 7th Bugle Call isn¡¯t simple. However, Lord Gen isn¡¯t simple either. Small fries like us don¡¯t have the right to watch their battle. We should just stay away from them. Don¡¯t die without knowing how you did.¡± The leader sighed loudly. He turned back and looked at the 7th Bugle Call fearfully.


    Yesterday night, he was afraid of Lord Gen. Today, he was scared of the 7th Bugle Call.

 Chapter 1332 - Liar Liar Pants on Fire!

    <h4>Chapter 1332: Liar Liar Pants on Fire!</h4>


    It was no surprise to the leader that soon the 13 Lords immediately gave out an order to close off the area where the 7th Bugle Call docked at.


    In the afternoon, swarms of people could be seen to and fro the 7th Bugle Call continuously.


    The 7th Bugle Call seemed to have already made preparations for these uninvited guests. On the deck of the starship, they had prepared a banquet with many types of food and drinks on the side. Although there weren¡¯t any mboyant decorations or ssy disys of antiques, it was still luxurious and elegant enough to amodate these guests.


    ¡®They probably hold high positions in their ranks.¡¯ Thought the chief manager of the spaceport after seeing the disy of dishes in front of him. He raised his opinion on the people from the Rainbow Raiders in his mind once again.


    Determining a person¡¯s position and power didn¡¯t require them to be there in person. It was possible to see some of it through the arrangements that person made.


    However, he no longer had the time to keep guessing the position held by the captain of the 7th Bugle Call. That was because out of the 13 Lords, five of them actually sent representatives to attend the banquet, which was quite a shocker to the crowd. It should be known that newly arrived factions who wanted to make a name for themselves in the Lawless Lands, no matter how good their reputation was, the 13 Lords would only send one or two representatives to scout them. There had never been a time when there were more than three representatives. Thus, with five representativesing all of a sudden, the chief manager of the spaceport was so stunned that his mind was all jumbled up on all the theories on why they would send five representatives.


    It was no surprise that Lord Gen, who the 7th Bugle Call had a bone to pick with, sent Guardian Ji Ming and Guardian Yu Shangfei here. Alongside them, they brought three domain realm masters who rose to fame recently. It was clear with their entourage that they were looking for trouble.


    Everyone also guessed that Lord Gen¡¯s eternal rival, Lord Zhen, would send representatives as well. Maybe it was a coincidence, but a few minutes after Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei arrived, out of the 12 of Lord Zhen¡¯s Thunder and Lightning Enforcers, the 9th Enforcer, Bai Nuo, appeared with two of his subordinates.


    However, everyone was shocked by the following appearances of Lord Holy¡¯s Angel Zhi, Lord Li¡¯s Magistrate Shadow me, and Midnight Rider. They were shocked because they didn¡¯t know whether the 13 Lords had reached a consensus to make such arrangements or not. However, everyone knew the answer to their questions would be known soon, as the captain of the 7th Bugle Call was about toe out.


    In the banquet area, all the guests had more or less arrived. However, even after 10 minutes of waiting, the 7th Bugle Call as the host, had only sent out servers and crew members to entertain them. There wasn¡¯t a single authoritative figure from the 7th Bugle Call¡¯s side on the deck. That included the titled domain realm formidable warrior who was rumored to be someone that even Lord Gen¡¯s guardian, Ji Ming, couldn¡¯t go against.


    However, the situation was only temporary. The captain of the 7th Bugle Call would definitely show up. It was just unknown whether it was that title domain realm master who already had a name for himself, or was it someone else. All of the guests who came were all extremely looking forward to knowing the answer.


    Right at that moment, they heard some footstepsing towards the deck. Everyone turned towards therge door that led to the deck, and three people were revealed under the glistening sun.


    The middle-aged man walking at the front of the group had a rugged face, but he soon revealed that he also had a piercing voice. His voice reached those on the deck before he even arrived, ¡°Hahaha... I¡¯m sorry everyone. We were too busy counting our supplies. Sorry for making you wait.¡±


    Out of the two people behind him was a man who was around the same age as the middle-aged man who spoke, but he looked more charming. The other one was a handsome young man. Despite the three of them walking in one after the other, everyone¡¯s attention waspletely drawn in by the young man after ncing over the middle-aged man. They couldn¡¯t stop looking at him.


    ¡°It¡¯s him,¡± Ji Ming said as he gritted his teeth.


    ¡°That kid killed a hundred of our men? He looks too young.¡± Yu Shangfei couldn¡¯t help but frown. ording to the way the young man stood, he didn¡¯t give an impression that he was the captain of the ship. If a deputy was already that strong, then just how strong was that leading middle-aged man? Thinking up to that point, Yu Shangfei couldn¡¯t help but be more cautious. Although he was stronger than Ji Ming, even if by a little, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything to them if the middle-aged man was stronger than the young man.


    Luckily, in order to make sure everything went well, Lord Gen had another ace up his sleeve. Yu Shangfei admired his master because he could always think deeper and more clearly about matters like these.


    Aa the three from 7th Bugle Call walked onto the deck, a lot of the crowd were closely paying attention to Ji Ming¡¯s face. When they saw him looking at the young man with a hateful look, they guessed that the young man was definitely the titled domain realm formidable warrior Ji Ming couldn¡¯t do anything against.


    Everyone was shocked by their guess. Just how old was that young man? It looked as though he was 17 or 18 years old or at most in his early 20s. If he was a titled domain realm master at such a young age, then at what age did he be a domain realm master? Although the Lawless Lands provided their citizens an optimal environment for them to enter the domain stage and to be mecha pilots at a young age, there still weren¡¯t many people who have reached titled domain realm master at such a young age. Those who did, had already been taken in by the 13 Lords to nurture and develop into their strongest killers.


    ¡°Let me introduce myself first. I am James, the captain of the 7th Bugle Call. This is my deputy, Fedoran, and our 5th Team Leader, Luo Tianhua.¡± Tian Fang irresponsibly and randomly created a few fake names. Luo Yang looked at Tian Fang helplessly. He knew that when there was the matter of fake names, Tian Fang would easily go off on a tangent.


    Luo Lang on the other hand was carefully thinking about the fake name, Luo Tianhua. His final thought was that it was much nicer than his real name so he was extremely satisfied with it. Who knew he would actually hate his name ¡®Luo Lang¡¯...That was something unexpected.


    ¡°We don¡¯t actually need to tell you where we are from, right? Everyone probably already knows, and we don¡¯t n on hiding it either.¡± Tian Fang continued to use their built impression of them to deceive them. Of course, if the real Rainbow Raiders came and interrogated them, he wouldn¡¯t be afraid. When did they say they were from the Rainbow Raiders? I mean who asked them to jump into conclusions before confirming with them first


    Tian Fang¡¯s dismissive statement about their origin was very sessful. Everyone nodded slightly after hearing his statement. With his words, everyone was certain that the 7th Bugle Call was a part of the Rainbow Raiders. Of course, they were already extremely certain of that fact, but Tian Fang¡¯s words cemented that fact.


    ¡°Our objectiveing here is to open up a business route, so I would like to ask everyone to help us and cooperate with us.¡± Tian Fang smiled as he put his hand out and bowed. His calm and respectful demeanor left a really good impression on everyone.


    However, even if they had a good impression on James, they didn¡¯t have the authority to ept their request. Everyone looked at the representatives sent by the 5 lords in unnned unison as they waited for them to answer.


    Lord Holy, Lord Li and Lord Yu¡¯s representatives pretended to not hear anything as they looked forward calmly while swirling their wine sses.


    The scene suddenly became silent and the atmosphere turned awkward.


    Ji Ming smirked coldly. The Rainbow Raiders shouldn¡¯t think so highly of themselves and get involved in the Lawless Lands. They should be given this cold shoulder treatment.


    Right as he was relishing in the awkward atmosphere, a sharp voice pierced their ears. Lord Zhen¡¯s enforcer, Bai Nuo, spoke up, ¡°No problem. With an extra business route, the Lawless Lands will receive much more resources. Why not?¡±


    Ji Ming¡¯s expression changed instantly as rage burned in his mind. He didn¡¯t think that Lord Zhen would recklessly ept the 7th Bugle Call¡¯s request without asking for the approval of all 13 Lords. What he was doing was clearly pping Lord Gen in the face.

 Chapter 1333 - Taking Us Down a Notch

    <h4>Chapter 1333: Taking Us Down a Notch</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Tian Fang felt the awkward atmosphere but he instantly smiled when he heard a response, ¡°Thank you for your support, Enforcer Bai. It¡¯s a rare moment for all of us to be here together. I am very happy at everyone¡¯s arrival. Please, everyone sit down and discuss our future ns.¡± Tian Fang gestured to everyone to sit and talk.


    Everyone sat down on the nearest seats beside them. Before Tian Fang could open his mouth again, Ji Ming angrily spoke up, ¡°Captain James, your men killed all of our innocent subordinates who passed by this area yesterday night. We came here today to ask you how you n on rectifying this issue. Is the Rainbow Raiders inciting a war with the 13 Lords of the Lawless Lands?¡±


    1Just one sentence from Ji Ming turned this entire banquet into a public hearing. It was clear that he nned on taking the neers down a notch, showing the Rainbow Raiders who was the boss here.


    The representatives of the other lords all watched calmly after hearing those words. Some even half-smiled at Tian Fang. Even Bai Nuo, who was being kind at the beginning, only focused his attention elsewhere and pretended to not know what was happening.


    The smile on Tian Fang¡¯s face slowly vanished. He looked at Ji Ming with a sharp re and said in an unchanging tone, ¡°Yesterday, we cleaned up a group of no-good thieves who tried to rob us of our supplies. So they were your men?¡±


    This insult disguised as a question made Ji Ming¡¯s face red hot with anger. Ji Ming¡¯s anger instantly rose even more when he saw Bai Nuo looking at him with a clear look of mockery.


    Yu Shangfei, who sat beside Ji Ming, held down Ji Ming¡¯s body that was about to jump out from his seat and smiled lightly towards Tian Fang. ¡°We heard Luo Tianhua had taken some forbidden medicine and went rogue in the middle of the night.¡±


    Tian Fang raised his eyebrows. ¡°So?¡±


    ¡°Our men were unlucky to have encountered him when he lost control...¡± Yu Shangfei smiled as he looked towards Luo Lang, who was leaning on the wall behind Tian Fang. ¡°In the Lawless Lands, dangerous individuals who cannot control themselves need to be eradicated even if he is a titled domain realm master.¡±


    All of that Yu Shangfei had just said was fake. However, did that even matter? In the Lawless Lands, if the 13 Lords wanted to erase someone, they just needed to brand them with a crime. No one would dare object if they valued their lives.


    Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei¡¯s goal was quite clear. It was topletely erase this monstrous individual who could grow to be their strongest opponent in the future.


    ¡°Heh, howe I don¡¯t know Luo Tianhua has this problem?¡± Tian Fang smiled coldly. ¡°Do you think we¡¯re children? Trying to fool us with those words.¡±


    Ji Ming then said, ¡°In the Lawless Lands, other than the 13 Lords, no one has the power to refuse anything.¡±


    Tian Fang forcefully pped the armrest of his chair and stood up. A gleam shed between his eyes. ¡°Are you showing us up?¡±


    Ji Ming looked up and said proudly, ¡°You can assume so.¡±


    Tian Fang slowly leaned back onto his chair with a cold expression on his face. The entire deck¡¯s atmosphere became oddly heavy. Everyone was just watching Ji Ming and Tian Fang¡¯s battle of words. If the Rainbow Raiders couldn¡¯t bring out strength that would satisfy them, these people would just lean back and watch Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei teach Tian Fang¡¯s group a lesson in blood.


    As for the Rainbow Raiders, they were indeed one of the threergest factions in the mercenary world. Their regimentmander was also one of the three kings who could rock the entire mercenary world just by stomping his feet. However, they were only part of the mercenary underworld, so no matter how strong he was, he couldn¡¯t affect the Lawless Lands. Additionally, if the Rainbow Raiders were toe and seek justice, Lord Gen woulde out and deal with it. They wouldn¡¯t be med for anything, so they didn¡¯t feel any responsibility to help them so they were just watching it unfold.


    Tian Fang mmed on his armrest again, ¡°That¡¯s fine. Let me see just how strong the people working under the 13 Lords are. After all, we don¡¯t want to do business with a bunch of weaklings.¡±


    Tian Fang¡¯s answer wasn¡¯t anything that Ji Ming and the others hadn¡¯t predicted. In reality, the goal of the series of words and conversations they went through was to make the opposition challenge them to the battle.


    ¡°A battle of domains is difficult to control, so everyone will be responsible for their own lives,¡± Ji Ming coldly stated.


    A gleam in Tian Fang¡¯s eyes turned colder. He slowly said, ¡°Guardian Ji, I hope you won¡¯t regret what you said.¡±


    Ji Ming smiled coldly. ¡°I have never regretted anything in my life. I also hope you won¡¯t regret anything, Captain James.¡±


    The two of them stared into each other¡¯s eyes for a few seconds with killing intent in their eyes. Tian Fang then suddenly smiled. ¡°Then, let us see who will be regretting their words. Go ahead. Tell me how do you want to fight?¡±


    Ji Ming looked at Tian Fang and then snorted coldly as he continued, ¡°Although this is the Lawless Lands, we won¡¯t bully you with numbers. We will fight fair and square. Zuo Ming!¡±


    ¡°Here!¡± A young man in his early 20s, who came with Ji Ming earlier, walked into the spotlight.


    ¡°He will fight with your 5th Team Leader,¡± said Ji Ming.


    Tian Fang looked at Zuo Ming curiously. He didn¡¯t know where Zuo Ming came from. Lord Gen actually ced such arge amount of hope onto him to fight with 5th Team Leader, Major General Luo Lang, who had already shown that he was a titled domain realm master.


    (Oh yes, I forgot to mention. Although Luo Lang is deemed as MIA after the battle at the Twilight Empire, the merits he earned in that battle were still not forgotten. It was also because of Luo Lang¡¯s disappearance that made the military headquarters give him the rank of major general tofort the Luo family, and thus the Lingtian Independent Army has another major general in its ranks.)


    ¡°Are you not going to introduce him? Our 5th Team Leader isn¡¯t someone that is willing to fight a random nobody.¡± Tian Fang was very cautious so didn¡¯t let Luo Lang fight right away. Instead, he wanted to know more about Zuo Ming.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Scared?¡± Ji Ming wouldn¡¯t satisfy Tian Fang¡¯s request. He loved seeing his opponent¡¯s suspecting and second-guessing expressions. It made him feel like he seeded.


    Tian Fang wanted to say something else, but Luo Lang stood up straight and said coldly, ¡°Forget it, I don¡¯t need to know a dead man.¡±


    Luo Lang¡¯s words caused Zuo Ming¡¯s eyes to burn up with anger while also freezing Ji Ming¡¯s joyful expression in ce.


    Luo Lang slowly walked out. Zuo Ming looked towards Ji Ming and then walked into the middle as well.


    Without being given any reminders, those who were spectating on the sides, scooched backwards with their chairs. In the blink of an eye, an empty area with a diameter of 100 meters was cleared out.


    Luo Lang raised his head and looked towards his opponent. At that moment, Luo Lang¡¯s eyes became oddly calm. His calm personality had already taken over of him.


    The calm personality frowned slightly. From one look, Zuo Ming actually gave off a very faint presence. It was as though Zuo Ming was not standing before him.


    Right at that moment, his opponent suddenly exploded upwards.


    Many of those watching from the side instantly cheer in shock.


    Luo Lang somersaulted and backed up by more than 10 meters, evading everything Zuo Ming flung towards him.


    ¡°Ah! What is that?!¡±

 Chapter 1334 - My Condition.

    <h4>Chapter 1334: My Condition.</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Luo Langnded on the ground firmly. He frowned and his squinted eyes couldn¡¯t hide the disgust in his eyes.


    The spot where he was originally standing, as well as the spot where Zuo Ming was standing on, was now densely covered with countless squirming ck beetles. The beetles all squirming against each other created a revolting sight to the eyes of anyone with trypophobia.


    3¡°It¡¯s insects.¡± Seeing the sight, Bai Nuo frowned as he took a sip of his wine. The scene in front of him reminded him of Lord Gen and his ability to control the five poisons of the world. Just thinking about it, he could already feel his hairs standing on end.


    ¡®No wonder Ji Ming dares to send him out. There¡¯s a high possibility Zuo Ming is the legendary beloved disciple of Lord Gen,¡¯ the representative of Lord Holy, Angel Zhi, thought as he raised his eyebrows in mild surprise.


    ¡°Is he finally revealing his disciple?¡± The other two representatives¡¯ eyes lit up when they saw the mass amount of beetles. Every lord had secret disciples whom they groomed carefully and diligently. Rumours about them spreaded across the Lawless Lands, but none had ever seen these disciples before. Normally, they would have to wait for a few more years before the new wave of disciples would surface from the shadow of their masters, but the appearance of the Rainbow Raiders caused Lord Gen to reveal his disciple earlier than normal. This was good news to them.


    Luo Lang flicked his right wrist and a long knife that looked Tangdao appeared from thin air.


    ¡°Can you deduce his domain concept?¡± Ji Ming asked Yu Shangfei quietly.


    1¡°He¡¯s able to make knives appear from thin air so he might have a metal element concept.¡± Yu Shangfei frowned as he racked his brain for some logical exnations. ¡°You also said he could create metal chains out of thin air. That could be done if he had a metal element domain concept.¡±


    ¡°But his speed is problematic.¡± Yu Shangfei seemed uncertain.


    In the arena, the overwhelming number of ck beetles suddenly swarmed towards Luo Lang in a giant wave. Even if the scene was revolting to him, Luo Lang wasn¡¯t flustered in the slightest. In response, he waved his knife while flickering in and out of everyone¡¯s vision. None of the bugs could even touch the edges of his clothes


    ¡°His speed has exceeded the speed capable by a domain realm master. He might have a speed domain concept,¡± Ji Ming said grimly.


    ¡°Double domain concept. Who knew we would see one here. Out of the 13 Lords, only Lord Qian managed to control two domain concepts. However, Lord Qian¡¯s second concept is derived from his first domain concept. It is a domain concept thatplemented his first domain concept. It is not an entirely unique concept like what Luo Tianhua has.¡± Yu Shangfei was confused by what he saw.


    ¡°Let¡¯s continue watching. We¡¯ll get an answer soon,¡± Ji Ming said coldly.


    Even if Luo Lang exceeded the speed domain realm master could theoretically achieve, he was still only passively dodging and not attacking. Out of all these beetles, there was only one life bug. No matter how many of the other beetles he killed, it was useless unless he killed the life bug as it could just reproduce more beetles than he could kill, and once his domain energy got depleted after shing waves and waves of them, he would be a feast for these beetles.


    Lord Gen had a strong and oppressive personality but the other 12 lords put up with him because he had the ability to control the five poisons in the world. If they couldn¡¯t find the life bug of Lord Gen, they wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything to Lord Gen. Moreover, no one knew how many life bugs Lord Gen had, so realistically, he was semi-immortal. Thus, the other lords had to put up with his irritating attitude as they were toozy to use all their manpower to maybe have a chance to end him.


    ¡°We can¡¯t carry on like this.¡± The calm personality realized this problem after realizing he would never win being this passive.


    ¡°We need something else.¡± They were able to evade the beetles with their high speed but ultimately, they were forced into this passive position. Moreover, signs of corrosion began to show on the knife. All in all, there was a time limit to the amount of time they could dodge passively like this.


    ¡°Lightning and fire would be the best to roast these bugs alive, but how unfortunate!¡± Luo Lang was able to interchange with his other personalities freely but the abilities he could use were restricted by his innate element. His innate talent was the metal element, with the water and earth elementplimenting it. There was ack of lightning and fire element. Thus, no matter how hebined his personalities, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use lightning and fire elements.


    2¡°Damn it, why don¡¯t I have Boss¡¯s ice element. If I just have it, I can use Ice Blockade and freeze all these beetles,¡± the primary personality, Luo Lang, grumbled in frustration.


    ¡°Even if you have it, you won¡¯t even be able to use it,¡± the calm personality replied indifferently.


    There were many elements found in Luo Lang¡¯s body, and thus the concentration of any particr element wasn¡¯t as pure as someone who had only one element, making theplementary domain energy he could supply to his domain concept lower than those with only one element. So, even if he had the ice element, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use Ling Lan¡¯s ultimate move, Ice Blockade. He would at most be able to materialize an ice sword for fun. In actual fact, creating the spider web made from metal chains yesterday night was already the limit for his metal element domain energy. He wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything more powerful.


    ¡°Little Leng, you¡¯re so heartless. Can¡¯t you let me fantasize?¡± Luo Lang asked in frustration.


    ¡°If you continue fantasizing, I¡¯ll be rude to Ling Lan in front of him,¡± the calm personality threatened. The slow Luo Lang usually didn¡¯t have any sense of urgency but when he heard the threat, he could almost feel Boss Ling Lan¡¯s cold stare piercing through his back mercilessly.


    ¡°Oh my god! Hurry up and choose someone! I still want to live.¡± The primary personality felt a chill down his spine as he shuddered.


    ¡°Argh! I don¡¯t care anymore. I¡¯ll choose you.¡± The calm personality gritted his teeth and pulled out someone he never wanted to see.


    ¡°Hahaha... are you finally begging me?¡± The evil personality smiled mysteriously at the calm personality.


    ¡°Stop your bullshit.¡± The calm personality rarely looked so furious.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget my condition.¡± The evil personality suddenly leaned closely towards the calm personality until he was just a hair away from his face then he blew right into his ears.


    1¡°Get off!¡± The calm personality shouted loudly while he pushed the evil personality away. The primary personality, Luo Lang, was stunned. What was happening?


    ¡°Hurry up ande over.¡± The calm personality quickly hugged the primary personality. ¡®F**k, why are all of them so hard to deal with. I have such a difficult time controlling all these irritating personalities.¡¯


    For the first time, the calm personality felt that his life was miserable. If he had a choice, he wanted to push his responsibilities away.


    ¡°Okay.¡± The primary personality listened to the calm personality obediently. Looking at the obedient primary personality, the calm personality felt that without him, this stupid fellow would be devoured by all the other personalities.


    During that instant when they merged, the calm personality and the primary personality, who were hugging each other, didn¡¯t notice that the dark aura around the evil personality had gotten thicker.


    In the arena, Luo Lang suddenly stopped moving.


    The numerous beetles took the opportunity and pounced on him without any hesitation. Just as Luo Lang was about to be engulfed by the beetles, a frightening aura started to spread throughout the deck.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Everyone felt an unprecedented chill on their spines.


    Ling Lan, who was hiding among the crowd and watching the fight, suddenly became serious.


    ¡°What is this?¡± Li Lanfeng stared at the fighting scene in shock. His domain energy activated automatically due to this aura.


    Ling Lan pressed Li Lanfeng¡¯s shoulder and a warm stream energy flowed into his body. The restless domain energy quietened down instantly. It stopped fidgeting.

 Chapter 1335 - Homicidal Maniac!

    <h4>Chapter 1335: Homicidal Maniac!</h4>


    1


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Boom!


    All the ck beetles were suddenly blown away before imploding in the air. Their blood and body parts sttered all over the deck, staining the deck ck with a hint of red tint.


    Luo Lang, who hadn¡¯t moved for a while, raised his head slowly. The corners of his lips slowly lifted before fully unfolding into a seductive smile. With that tempting smile, he exuded the charm of a seductress, but everyone who saw the smile felt their sphincter loosening.


    ¡®A vicious beauty,¡¯ everyone thought internally.


    What made everyone almostmit a very embarrassing act was the dangerous aura Luo Lang was exuding. They could imagine that if they got nearer to Luo Lang, they would be devoured by the aura, eternally trapped in that depressing aura.


    ¡°This is very fun.¡± Luo Lang lifted his fair and small hand and opened his palm, revealing a ck beetle that was trying furiously to run away from his palm. However, just as it was on the edge of his palm, it twitched and stopped moving.


    Liquid started to flow out of the ck beetle¡¯s body. It was the poisonous venom of the beetle. It was supposed to be a devastating biochemical weapon. Yet now, the venom didn¡¯t have any effects on the fair hand. But, some of the spectators could see that there was actually ayer of energy protecting and segregating the beetle and the venom from the hand.


    ¡°However, it¡¯s too irritating. I don¡¯t like it,¡± Luo Lang said seriously. Then, he clenched his fist, crushing the ck beetle into tiny bits. Then, he flicked his finger, throwing the bug away.


    ¡°So, I also don¡¯t like who created this.¡± The Tangdao in Luo Lang¡¯s hand, which had many holes in it because of the corrosive venom, suddenly exploded into mist and disappeared.


    Everyone thought that Luo Lang was going to form a new weapon, but the mist didn¡¯t form into a new weapon nor did it dissipate. Instead, it started to grow thicker as it spreaded throughout the deck.


    The charging ck beetles suddenly seemed frightened and agitated when the mist approached them. Their orderly formation broke, and they started moving about messily. They started retreating in arge tide, stepping all over each other just to get away at the fastest speed possible.


    ¡°What is happening?¡± Ji Ming, who was feeling confident, suddenly leaped up from his seat. This was the first time he saw the ck beetles ignoring themand of the life bug. Was the mist such a lethal threat to the bugs? Was that why they went out of control?


    The ongoing spectators had a simr thought too. Suddenly, someone from the crowd, who was either very bold or very dumb, walked to the edge of the mist and touched it with his finger in an attempt to deduce the reason why the bugs were so deathly afraid of it.


    3In the next second, the very idiotic person screamed in pain, ¡°Help!¡±


    Following his scream, his finger started turning gooey. Slowly, his arm basically melted away like ice under the hot sun. His face was filled with despair. He realised that he couldn¡¯t stop this frightening energy that was literally melting him. If no one could save him within a few seconds, he would end up as a puddle of blood and water.


    Shing! A ck light shed past everyone¡¯s eyes. And after they recovered their vision, they saw the melting arm getting chopped off. But, before the arm could fall to the ground, itpletely melted into a mixture of blood and water.


    The person clutched his now empty shoulder. His face turned pale from the excruciating pain as he retreated two steps back weakly. His friends quickly came to hold him and carried him back for treatment. The leader of them looked at someone gratefully. He cupped his hands together and said, ¡°Thank you, Midnight Rider.¡±


    Midnight Rider, who was sitting at the side, returned his sword back to it sheath slowly. Then, he replied in an even tone, ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡±


    Midnight Rider¡¯s decisive act saved the life of the dumb man. However, the man¡¯s tragic condition scared everyone. They didn¡¯t expect the Rainbow Raiders to send such a vicious man here. The mist was obviously poisonous. It was the kind of poison that was incurable the moment you touched it. Compared to the mist, Zuo Ming¡¯s ck beetles seemed almost friendly.


    1Ji Ming¡¯s expression was gloomy. By now, he had already realised that Zuo Ming was the one in danger, not Luo Tianhua. Yet, he already said that they would be responsible for their own deaths at the start of this fight. If Zuo Ming really died, their master would skin them alive.


    What made them the most miserable was the fact that they still didn¡¯t know what Luo Tianhua¡¯s domain concept was. At first, they thought that he had the metal element domain concept. Now, they felt that it was a special domain concept. There were no other ways of exining why his single-target technique, the sword, became a territorial technique, the mist.


    ¡°Is this a newbination? Impressive. I¡¯ve never seen it before,¡± Li Lanfengplimented.


    On the other hand, Ling Lan¡¯s expression remained serious. She stared at Luo Lang¡¯s eyes intently. She had already noticed that thisbination was different from otherbinations. She realized this time, the person in control wasn¡¯t the calm personality whom she trusted. It was a personality that never appeared before. Ling Lan¡¯s Profound Insight told her that this wasn¡¯t a good sign.


    Luo Lang looked at the Midnight Rider slowly and smiled. The killing intent in his eyes was obvious. ¡°You¡¯re a busybody.¡±


    The moment he stopped talking, the thick mist formed into a line and shot towards the Midnight Rider.


    The Midnight Rider frowned at the iing mist. He shed his sword instantly and a ck sword aura shot out of the ck de, colliding with the line of mist.


    Bang!


    The entire deck started vibrating. No matter how sturdy or strong a ship was, it couldn¡¯t withstand the battle of two domain realm masters so it started audibly cracking.


    Ling Lan stomped her feet and energy flowed from her legs into the ground. It counteracted the shock caused by the collision of the two energies, and the 7th Bugle Call became stable again.


    1¡°Your opponent isn¡¯t me.¡± The Midnight Rider red at Luo Lang coldly before putting his sword back in its sheath.


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll take care of this annoying bug before ying with you.¡± Luo Lang gave a devilish smile. This was a rare opportunity for him. He finally managed toe out, and moreover, he was lucky enough to meet such interesting opponents. He couldn¡¯t control his restless heart. He really wanted to kill everyone here and turn this ce into a sea of blood.


    ¡°What a strong killing intent.¡± Everyone felt Luo Lang¡¯s killing intent. Was this the bright and beautiful young man just now? He was like a homicidal maniac now.


    They couldn¡¯t help but look at Tian Fang. Tian Fang was still smiling and his expression was calm. No one knew that deep down inside, he was agitated too. He had never seen Major General Luo act like this before too.


    But, when he remembered that there was still Ling Lan monitoring the scene, he felt more at ease. Tian Fang had only followed Ling Lan for a short time so he never experienced any dangerous situation with her before. Hence, it was normal for him to feel anxious since he didn¡¯t know how powerful she was. But, as an experienced soldier, he wouldn¡¯t let his opponents see his real thoughts until thest second.

 Chapter 1336 - Lord Gen!

    <h4>Chapter 1336: Lord Gen!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Luo Lang looked at the ck beetles that were running away in a flurry and smiled gently. He didn¡¯t care which one was Zuo Ming¡¯s life bug. All he needed to do was to kill all these ck beetles.


    He stretched his hand and the mist around him immediately flew towards the ck beetles. The ck beetles started escaping frantically. Their primal instinct told them that the mist would kill them in an instant.


    The entire situation took a turn. At first, Luo Lang was the one being chased by the ck beetles. Now, the ck beetles were the ones running away.


    ¡°What is this poisonous mist made up of?¡± Angel Zhi, who was sitting beside Midnight Rider, asked. Among all of them, only the Midnight Rider had exchanged blows with Luo Tianhua, which meant that he was the only one who could provide some exnation.


    Midnight Rider nced at him before pulling a small section of his sword out of its sheath, revealing the ck de.


    Angel Zhi¡¯s expression changed when he saw the holes in Midnight Rider¡¯s sword. It was corroded and the corrosion was still continuing. It hadn¡¯t stopped.


    But, the Midnight Rider¡¯s sword never came into contact with the mist directly. He just used sword aura to sh with the mist, not the main body of the sword. If so, why was the sword corroding?


    ¡°It¡¯s water molecules,¡± Midnight Rider exined. As someone who exchanged blows with Luo Lang before, he knew where the corrosion came from.


    ¡°So his domain concept is the water element?¡± The water element domain concept was indeed able to create poisonous liquid. This would exin the mist. Did this mean that Luo Tianhua had two domain concepts that could interchange freely?


    ¡°No. Poisonous liquid alone is not enough to corrode my sword. My master, Lord Yu, strengthened this sword with his domain concept.¡± Midnight Rider shook his head.


    ¡°What else is there?¡± Angel Zhi asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ll have to report to Lord Yu and hope that he¡¯ll have an answer.¡± A thought went through Midnight Rider¡¯s mind as he replied.


    Angel Zhi stopped probing Midnight Rider when he heard this as he was prepared to ask his Lord Holy about this matter too.


    Zuo Ming¡¯s technique, Insect Creation, was indeed very powerful. When a huge number of them were created, they were an invincible presence. But, when they met their rival, for instance, Luo Lang¡¯s poisonous mist, the insects could do nothing but run away.


    The ck beetles ran away quickly but they couldn¡¯t escape the inevitable poisonous mist that was spreading everywhere. When a ck beetle came into contact with mist, it turned into a puddle of blood. As time went by, the number of ck beetles got lesser and lesser. Just as they were about to be annihted by Luo Lang, Ji Ming, who couldn¡¯t remain calm anymore, raised his hands and shouted, ¡°Stop! We admit defeat.¡±


    Although it might be embarrassing and although he might get punished severely by his master for endangering his beloved disciple, he mustn¡¯t let anything happen to Zuo Ming.


    Luo Lang only gave an evil smile as a response. He continued controlling the mist with his hands towards the direction of thest batch of beetles. Once these beetles were dead, Zuo Ming would be dead too.


    Although the evil personality took control of Luo Lang¡¯s main body halfway through the fight, he felt Zuo Ming¡¯s desire to kill him the moment he took over. As someone who loved killing, how could he forgive an enemy that wanted to murder him? To the evil personality, killing one person wasn¡¯t enough. He must kill them all.


    He wouldn¡¯t let anyone go, including these people who were here to watch a good show and wanted him dead.


    The devil blood aura in his eyes seeped out, along with a malicious smile. This was the real him. Since the calm personality released him, he must kill as many people as he could. He needed to answer to the boring years of being locked in a little ck room.


    As the ck mist got nearer, the ck beetles suddenly disappeared and a figure in their ce. It was Zuo Ming. Fear was written all over his face. He quickly rushed towards Ji Ming in hopes that Ji Ming would be able to help him.


    ¡°Toote!¡± Luo Lang flicked his finger and two balls of mist flew towards Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei with the rest rushing towards Zuo Ming.


    These two balls of mist were to prevent Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei from helping Zuo Ming. The evil personality truly wanted to kill Zuo Ming.


    This was the person who teased him with his little bugs during the first half of the fight. In this world, no one dared to tease him like this. He must kill him!


    Just as Zuo Ming was about to die under Luo Lang¡¯s mist, Luo Lang heard a huge roar. ¡°How dare you!¡±


    ¡°Pfft~¡± Blood spurted out of Luo Lang¡¯s mouth. The sudden roar slowed down his mist.


    A figure appeared in front of Zuo Ming. Zuo Ming was ted and surprised as he shouted, ¡°Master!¡±


    Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei turned serious. They quickly kneeled down. ¡°Wee, Lord Gen.¡±


    At the same time, everyone stood up from their seats and bowed. ¡°Lord Gen!¡±


    Lord Gen was a sinister-looking old man with graying temples. He wore a ck gown and was staring coldly at Luo Lang who got injured due to his roar. He said calmly, ¡°How dare you try to kill my disciple with your sub-par party tricks. Pay with your life!¡±


    He waved his hand and a huge snake appeared out of the air. It opened its mouth and shot towards Luo Lang.


    Luo Lang waved his hand to shift the mist in front of him. The snake didn¡¯t seem scared by the mist as it swallowed the mist, which scared the hell out of the ck beetles. It even burped in satisfaction.


    Luo Lang¡¯s expression changed. He didn¡¯t know that his invincible mist was useless in front of Lord Gen.


    Lord Gen nced at Luo Lang indifferently. The giant snake seemed to have received amand as it opened its maw to take a bite out of Luo Lang


    Luo Lang retreated back quickly. However, he wasn¡¯t as fast as the giant snake. Just as he was about to get swallowed by the giant snake...


    Bai Nuo wanted to move. However, he was advised to not interfere with the matter of the lords by his subordinates. If Lord Gen didn¡¯t appear, they might be able to help. However, now that he appeared... If they actually helped the young man, they would be being disrespectful. Only their Lord Zhen was able to stop Lord Gen.


    Bai Nuo couldn¡¯t help but look at Tian Fang. The only person who could save this young man was his captain. Of course, the captain must have the ability to block Lord Gen¡¯s attack. If not, there would be two deaths, not one.


    Bang!


    Suddenly, the giant snake got pressed to the ground by a huge force, throwing the dust into the air.


    Lord Gen looked up calmly in a certain direction.


    The spectator in this direction suddenly felt an invisible force shifting them to the side. Finally, two young men in ck trenchcoats appeared in front of everyone¡¯s eyes.


    One of them looked very handsome but the oppressive aura around him made his looks forgettable. The force of presence of this young man couldn¡¯t be underestimated. The other was wearing a mask that covered half of his face. His gentle aura left a good impression with everyone. These two people had two entirely different styles but they seemed verypatible.


    3

 Chapter 1337 - Who Are You?

    <h4>Chapter 1337: Who Are You?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    While everyone was guessing who these two people were, Tian Fang and Luo Yang stood up and bowed respectfully. ¡°Boss!¡±


    Everyone was stunned. They thought that the person-in-charge of the 7th Bugle Call was the middle-aged captain but instead, it was an extremely young youth.


    The young man with a domineering aura took a step forward first and walked over. The young man wearing the mask walked behind him. Everyone immediately understood who the ¡®boss¡¯ was.


    Ling Lan stopped around five metres in front of Lord Gen. She cupped her hands and said, ¡°I¡¯ve heard many things about you, Lord Gen.¡±


    Lord Gen arrogantly scanned Ling Lan from head to toe indifferently before asking coldly, ¡°Who are you?¡±


    As one of the 13 Lords of the Lawless Lands, he didn¡¯t think much of these younger generations.


    ¡°I¡¯m the head of this ship. I hope that Lord Gen can give me some face.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t mind Lord Gen¡¯s attitude. She just put down her hand and spoke calmly.


    ¡°If White Monarches personally, I might give him some face. You however, you don¡¯t have the right.¡± Lord Gen flicked his coat and sat on the chair Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei brought over.


    Ling Lan nced at Li Lanfeng. Seeing the nce sent by Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng rushed out and picked up Luo Lang, who was vomiting blood on the ground. He prepared to bring him back for treatment.


    Lord Gen red at them when he saw them disregarding his presence. He scoffed. ¡°Who allowed you to take him away?¡±


    The space around Li Lanfeng suddenly became distorted. However, in the next second, it went back to normal. He didn¡¯t seem to have heard what Lord Gen said as he continued pulling Luo Lang away. He calmly took one step at a time towards the exit.


    ¡°Impudent!¡± Lord Gen was infuriated when he saw his words being ignored. He waved his hand in Li Lanfeng¡¯s direction and a huge two-tailed scorpion appeared near Li Lanfeng. It struck its ck and beautiful tails at Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang.


    Seeing the scorpion, Ling Lan lifted her hand in the direction of the huge scorpion before tightly clenching her fist.


    1The giant scorpion seemed to be crushed by a huge force. It started rolling on the ground in pain.


    This move allowed Li Lanfeng to leave sessfully with Luo Lang. Soon, they disappeared from everyone¡¯s vision.


    ¡°Lord Gen, you should let the younger generations deal with their own fights. It isn¡¯t right for people like us to step in.¡± Ling Lan released her hand slowly and the giant scorpion fell down. Before itnded on the ground, it turned into ck smoke and disappeared into thin air.


    Ling Lan¡¯s sentence ced her on the same status as Lord Gen. The people around her gasped. Where did this arrogant young mane from? How dare he say that he was of the same status as Lord Gen? Even if the leader of the Rainbow Raiders, White Monarch, came, he would be polite to the 13 Lords. Even a mighty dragon won¡¯t attack a snake in its own territory.


    Lord Gen squinted at Ling Lan¡¯s words. A dangerous expression appeared on his face, turning the atmosphere on the deck tense. Everyone felt a huge force of presence pressing down on them. Those that were less powerful couldn¡¯t withstand it and kneeled on the ground with a hideous expression on their faces. Some even vomited blood as theyid on the ground.


    Lord Gen just released his domain concept and a portion of the spectators couldn¡¯t handle it already. Even the representatives of the other lords activated their domain to resist the force of presence.


    ¡°Lord Gen, there are normal people on my ship too.¡± Ling Lan released her force of presence to block Lord Gen¡¯s aura.


    Those people that were hurt by Lord Gen¡¯s force of presence suddenly felt the pressure on them being lifted. They immediately heaved a sigh of relief. Many of them looked at Ling Lan gratefully, including those who brought their families to watch this confrontation.


    ¡°It looks like the Rainbow Raiders have decided to go to war with us?¡± Lord Gen narrowed his eyes. Ling Lan¡¯s actions were challenging his authority. He didn¡¯t like the Rainbow Raiders from the start but now, he had the intention of eradicating them.


    The killing intent was well-hidden but the powerful representatives of the other lords detected it immediately. Bai Nuo¡¯s face turned pale as he looked in a certain direction.


    The other representativesined silently too. They asked their men to move back so that there was more space for Lord Gen.


    Once Lord Gen got angry, there would be blood. Every time he unleashed himself, not even bones would be left behind.


    They needed to think how they should protect themselves from Lord Gen¡¯s rage. After all, those bugs would attack anyone in their way, and they didn¡¯t want to be food for the bugs.


    ¡°You¡¯re the one that decides if there¡¯ll be a war between us,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly as she ced her hands behind her back.


    She had already expected this inevitable fight between Lord Gen and her. If she wanted to have a spot in the Lawless Lands, she must let everyone know about her strength, and the best way to do this was to earn her name through a fight.


    At first, she thought that this fight wouldeter. After all, the people who came were all representatives of the lords. Ling Lan just wanted to heighten the conflict between one faction and her team by attempting to kill some of their more important men. That way, the other party would be enraged and their lord woulde to find her for revenge.


    Surprisingly, things went very smoothly. One of their important disciples came to fight with them, forcing Lord Gen to appear.


    This was a chance given by heaven. Why would Ling Lan let go of this opportunity? She decisively revealed her arrogance which sessfully offended Lord Gen. Logically, a fight would ensued.


    ¡°Haha... good, good. They who know nothing fear nothing. Let me teach you a lesson on behalf of White Monarch.¡± Lord Gen opened his arms as heughed coldly. An endless amount of poisonous bugs began to fall down from his body. There was no end to it.


    2¡°It¡¯s here!¡± The other representatives felt their hearts dropping. They had seen how Lord Gen fought before, and it was frightening. Everywhere they looked, there were poisonous bugs. They were like locusts flying through a farm. Nothing could survive their ravage feasting.


    Everyone frantically began to squeeze themselves in the corners. Those who were stronger all their domain to protect their subordinates. They could only hope that Lord Gen wouldn¡¯t lose his mind and implicate innocent bystanders like them.


    Most of the people in charge started regrettinging to the deck. If they knew that Lord Gen would appear and be provoked, they would never have came.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure how to answer to Lord Zhen,¡± Bai Nuo mumbled.


    ¡°It can¡¯t be helped. The young man is powerful but too arrogant. He doesn¡¯t know his position. This is the Lawless Lands. This is a ce where the 13 Lords can kill anyone they want. No one can save him. Even if he dies, he deserves it.¡± The assistant beside him gritted his teeth. This stupid brat was the one who ced their lives at risk. What an irritating fellow. Even if he didn¡¯t die, he would suggest to Lord Zhen that they mustn¡¯t work with the reckless Rainbow Raiders.

 Chapter 1338 - Space Concept.

    <h4>Chapter 1338: Space Concept.</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Just as everyone thought the 7th Bugle Call would turn into a ghost ship, an anomaly happened that blew everyone¡¯s mind.


    What they saw was a huge swirling ck hole appearing behind Ling Lan¡¯s back. The ck hole could be seen getting bigger and bigger. As it became bigger, a strong suction force began toe out of the ck hole. In the end, the entire space behind Ling Lan warped into the shape of a funnel.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Everyone eximed in surprise.


    Bai Nuo was closest to Ling Lan so he had a clear look of how strong the suction force was. If his domain concept didn¡¯t cement him to the ground, he suspected that he might be sucked into that hole.


    Angel Zhi looked at the weird scene behind Ling Lan intently. His golden eyes started shining. He seemed to be looking at something.


    After trying to inspect the ck hole, his expression turned twisted as he shut his eyes in pain. A drop of blood began to flow down from the corners of his eyes.


    Midnight Rider, who was standing beside him, asked in surprise, ¡°What happened to you?¡±


    ¡°I wanted to see what his domain concept is but I failed. Not only that, I even received a bacsh.¡± Angel Zhi smiled bitterly as he used his domain concept to heal the broken capiries in his eyes.


    After healing it, he opened his eyelids slowly, revealing the now dull golden eyes. It looked like this bacsh wasn¡¯t as simple as he said.


    ¡°Are you alright now?¡± The Midnight Rider asked in concern.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s just a small injury.¡± Angel Zhi wouldn¡¯t answer him honestly. His rtionship with Midnight Rider might seem good on the surface but no one knew if they would draw their sword against each other the next second. They might be friends today and enemies tomorrow. Thus, Angel Zhi was used to being vignt.


    1¡°We can confirm that the man isn¡¯t simple. He has the right to be arrogant,¡± Angel Zhi continued.


    The strange domain concept was enough to earn him a position in the Lawless Lands.


    ¡°It feels like the space domain concept.¡± On the other side, Bai Nuo made his prediction out loud.


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Besides that person from the central region, I¡¯ve never heard of another person having the space domain concept.¡± Someone beside him refuted instantly. He didn¡¯t believe that this irritating fellow was such a powerful person.


    ¡°Not hearing it doesn¡¯t mean that it doesn¡¯t exist. If White Monarch dared to assign him here, he must have some outstanding ability.¡± Bai Nuo felt that his analysis was right. Without this heaven-defying domain concept, he wouldn¡¯t have the guts to fight with Lord Gen.


    Everyone in the Lawless Lands knew that all the 13 Lords were very close to reaching the imperial realm. No, they might already be an imperial realm formidable warrior. They just didn¡¯t want to be noticed by the various nations so they didn¡¯t reveal their true might.


    1As an imperial realm formidable warrior, White Monarch definitely knew this too. Hence, he wouldn¡¯t send this young man if he wasn¡¯t capable enough to fight on-par with the 13 Lords. Well, unless he wanted to kill this young man using someone else¡¯s hands. But, from the looks of it, it didn¡¯t seem like the case.


    White Monarch was someone with a high status in the mercenary world. Was there a need for him to send him here to get killed? The answer was obvious. This young man was a truly powerful person. He wasn¡¯t an ignorant young man who came to seek death in the Lawless Lands.


    Lord Gen frowned slightly when he saw this swirling ck hole. Hemanded his poisonous bugs to get close to Ling Lan to deduce what her domain concept was. When they reached around three metres away from Ling Lan, his poisonous bugs got sucked into the hole behind her.


    ¡°Space domain concept.¡± Compared to the uncertain crowd, Lord Gen immediately knew what Ling Lan¡¯s domain concept was.


    It was actually this troublesome domain concept!


    Lord Genined secretly about his bad luck. He wasn¡¯t able to deal with this legendary heaven-defying domain concept within a short period of time unless he revealed his ultimate trump card. Otherwise, he would be helpless here.


    Lord Gen was a decisive person. When he realized that he couldn¡¯t kill Ling Lan, he clenched his fist and the poisonous bugs obediently climbed back into his body. In a blink of an eye, the insects had all disappeared from the deck. It seemed as though they never appeared before.


    ¡°Hahaha, what a promising youth.¡± A bright and clear voice was heard.


    Bai Nuo¡¯s eyes lit up. He retracted his domain concept and kneeled down respectfully. ¡°Lord Zhen.¡±


    ¡°Lord Zhen.¡± Everyone except Lord Gen and Ling Lan kneeled down to wee Lord Zhen too.


    A middle-aged man with long silver hair in a purple gown appeared in front of everyone. The smile on his face lightened the tense atmosphere.


    Lord Gen sneered when he saw Lord Zhen. He flicked his coat unhappily and said, ¡°What is azy bum like you doing here?¡±


    ¡°If you took the effort toe here, then I should be here too, right?¡± Lord Gen¡¯s bad attitude didn¡¯t affect Lord Zhen¡¯s mood. He continued smiling as he talked.


    Lord Zhen turned to look at Ling Lan. He said gently, ¡°Are you the person sent by Brother White Monarch? What a promising youth. It looks like White Monarch groomed an amazing disciple.¡±


    ¡®Lord Zhen!¡¯ a thought shed through Ling Lan¡¯s mind and the ck hole behind her disappeared instantly as she kneeled down on one knee and cupped her hands together. Her attitude was vastly different from when she was greeting Lord Gen. Her posture was that of a junior greeting his elder.


    This difference in treatment made Lord Gen even more furious. However, he couldn¡¯t do anything to Ling Lan as Ling Lan¡¯s space domain concept was hard to deal with, and with Lord Zhen here too, he was even more helpless. Lord Zhen was treating Ling Lan as his junior so he had to give Lord Zhen some face.


    The feeling of not being able to kill the person he wanted made him frustrated. He turned and red at Ji Ming before shouting, ¡°What a bunch of trash! Hurry up and go back, you disgrace!¡±


    Ji Ming was quite a famous old man in the world of the Lawless Lands. So, when he heard his lord scolding him in public, his face turned red from embarrassment. However, he didn¡¯t dare to show any signs of anger so he just put down his head and agreed obediently. Soon, he brought everyone from Lord Gen¡¯s faction, including Zuo Ming, out of this ce.


    ¡°You¡¯re lucky this time. Don¡¯t let me see you again.¡± After giving the warning, Lord Gen left without a trace.


    Lord Zhen shook his head and smiled bitterly. ¡°Ignore him, Lord Gen¡¯s personality is just that irritating. Fortunately, intent to kill you was not set in stone. If not, it will be hard to clear up the situation because of your brash attitude just now.¡±


    ¡°Lan Xiao acted rashly this time,¡± Ling Lan lowered her head and epted the scolding.


    ¡°So you¡¯re from the Blue lineage...¡± Lord Zhen was enlightened. ¡°But, Queen Blue has always been calm and thorough... ah, forget it. Things already happened. There¡¯s no use talking about it now. But, you must be careful in the future. Don¡¯t visit Lord Gen¡¯s territory. He¡¯s a narrow-minded person.¡±


    ¡®Blue lineage? Queen Blue?¡¯ Ling Lan felt that she had identally struck the jackpot. She just wanted to use her mother¡¯s surname and her father¡¯s name as ast remembrance of them. This was an unexpected surprise.


    After reminding Ling Lan out of goodwill, Lord Zhen turned and told the leaders of the other factions, ¡°This is my brother, White Monarch¡¯s beloved disciple, Lan Xiao. Please take care of him in the future.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Lord Zhen.¡±


    ¡°We will, we will.¡±


    ¡°We wee Brother Lan Xiao anytime.¡±


    Everyone made their promise to Lord Zhen. Since Lord Zhen had already spoken, everyone was willing to give him some face.

 Chapter 1339 - It’s Fine?

    <h4>Chapter 1339: It¡¯s Fine?</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    After the guests and hosts had their fill of excitement, Lord Zhen took his men and left. When everyone left the 7th Bugle Call, the smile Ling Lan originally had on her face, instantly vanished.


    ¡°Boss, is something wrong?¡± Tian Fang, who was originally happy that they had sessfully gotten into the Lawless Lands, felt his heart sink so he immediately asked Ling Lan.


    ¡°You think Lord Zhen is actually going to help us?¡± Ling Lan half-smiled.


    ¡°You¡¯re saying they have other ns?¡± After all, Tian Fang was someone who had been in the mercenary world for many years so he understood something was off instantly when he heard Ling Lan¡¯s insinuating words.


    ¡°In the Lawless Lands, the 13 Lords have always deemed this ce as their territory. How could they just kindly let a new faction join their ranks? Especially when that faction clearly has the muscle to keep themselves there.¡± Ling Lan slowly closed her eyes. The battle had only just begun. Not only did they have to face the pressure given to them by the 13 Lords, they also have to be careful of plots against them. It was going to be more difficult than being in the Federation¡¯s military.


    However, what did that matter? Ling Lan quickly opened her eyes and a sharp gleam shed past her eyes. No matter how difficult the path ahead was going to be, she was still going to dominate this ce and be the only king. Only then, would they be qualified to go against the Federation¡¯s military and take revenge for her father.


    ¡°I¡¯ll leave this ce to you, ¡± said Ling Lan.


    ¡°Boss, you¡¯re leaving?¡± Tian Fang asked in surprise.


    ¡°Our window of opportunity is closing. I need to make every second count.¡± Ling Lan looked towards a distantnd. Perhaps there was where her opportunityid. However, it might also be her death...


    ¡°Little White!¡± Ling Lan called indifferently.


    Suddenly, in the space behind her, a white little ball suddenly jumped out and into Ling Lan¡¯s arms.


    Ling Lan caressed Little White¡¯s head and said softly, ¡°I¡¯ll have to trouble you in a bit.¡±


    ¡°RAWR (Don¡¯t worry master, I will definitely help you fight!)¡± Little White used his tentacles to bump into its chest as if it was signalling to Ling Lan to leave it all to it.


    1¡°No matter what happens, try your best to keep them at bay until I return,¡± Ling Lan left those words and then disappeared from sight.


    Two people were already waiting for her in the za of the spaceport below the 7th Bugle Call.


    Ling Lan looked at Luo Lang indifferently. ¡°Are you good?¡±


    Luo Lang kept his head down and replied softly, ¡°I already took the second generation Nuwa agent. There aren¡¯t any big issues.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not asking about that. I¡¯m asking whether you can suppress the issue with creating the poisonous mist.¡± said Ling Lan inly.


    Luo Lang¡¯s issue with his newbination could fool others, but could not fool her.


    Luo Lang had a struggling look on his face. ¡°I-I will try my best.¡±


    ¡°If you ever need help, just ask.¡± Ling Lan looked directly at Luo Lang as if she was looking right through him. The prative look made Luo Lang put down his head involuntarily.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Seeing Luo Lang¡¯s reluctance to tell her, Ling Lan looked away and said those words. Then, she disappeared from their sights.


    Li Lanfeng smiled as he looked towards Luo Lang with a knowing look. ¡°If you don¡¯t deal with it soon, it¡¯s going to bite you in the ass in the future...¡±


    After saying that, he also disappeared.


    Luo Lang¡¯s expression wavered for a moment before turningpletely calm. Then, he followed in Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng¡¯s footsteps and disappeared too.


    On the deck, Tian Fang looked at the ce where Ling Lan had disappeared for a short while. Then, he suddenly smiled bitterly. ¡°Luo Yang, I feel pretty useless.¡±


    ¡°We can only sit and watch as the young men rush towards the front lines and fight for their lives. Us, on the other hand, just stay in the back and do nothing.¡± Luo Yang sighed.


    ¡°I just feel that I¡¯ve lived 50 some years for nothing...¡± Tian Fang turned around and walked towards the exit.


    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Luo Yang immediately followed him and asked loudly.


    ¡°The training room to train. I can¡¯t be left behind by too much. Otherwise, I won¡¯t be able to have the face to stand on the same floor as them,¡± replied Tian Fang without even turning his head.


    ¡°You¡¯ve already trained enough recently,¡± Luo Yang said helplessly. Ever since they knew about Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng¡¯s strength, Tian Fang¡¯s training showed signs of being somewhat masochistic.


    ¡°That¡¯s not enough. I already asked Luo Lang. When Boss finished training them, they were all sprawling on the floor half-dead, requiring Boss to pull them back to their beds.¡± When Tian Fang heard it in the past, he felt these children were masochists. Training shouldn¡¯t be done like that. Did they not understand what it meant by moderation? However, now, Tian Fang realized that only such brutal training could make them reach such heights. Only after training until they were half-dead would they be able to not lose against those heaven-defying individuals from the Lawless Lands.


    He always dreamed of being a figure that could shake a city just by a step of his foot. In the past, he believed his training philosophy of training in moderation. However, now, he felt that he had wasted his youth doing nothing. He was also frustrated at himself for not knowing someone like Ling Lan sooner. If he had met Ling Lan earlier, perhaps he could have done more in his past. However, it wasn¡¯t toote to realize it. Boss just said that the battle had just begun. There were more brutal battles waiting for them ahead. So, he must quickly increase his strength until he was the one protecting, not the other way around.


    Tian Fang just headed directly into the training room and tossed Luo Yang the responsibility of keeping the 7th Bugle Call running.


    Luo Yang had no qualms about that as he understood Tian Fang¡¯s concerns. After all, Tian Fang was already a domain realm master, it was just that he wasn¡¯t a titled one yet. If he could somehow be a titled domain realm warrior, he would definitely be of use to Boss. Thus, he didn¡¯t say anything and took over all the responsibility required to be looked over on the 7th Bugle Call.


    After returning to his own pce, before Lord Zhen could sit, a servant, who served him, came to greet him, ¡°Lord Zhen, the other lords have been waiting for you on the line.¡±


    ¡°Troublesome,¡± Lord Zhen said helplessly. In the next second, he appeared behind the desk in his home office.


    Lord Zhen sat down and pushed down on his table to turn on his optical supeputer. A virtual screen appeared in front of him.


    These technologies were quitemonly used tomunicate in the center area of the Lawless Lands. However, only the higher-ups of the factions could have such things and they were very expensive.


    Despite all the factions hating the fact that the nations closed themselves off from the Lawless Lands, these factions in the Lawless Lands still couldn¡¯t do anything about it. After all, the Lawless Lands didn¡¯t have the capability or resources to manufacturing such devices. If they wanted one, they could only get ripped off by those nations who put sky-high prices. They also had to split a portion of money to the mercenary world that helps in the procurement of these devices.


    The 13 Lords and factions in the Lawless Lands hadplicated feelings towards the mercenary world.


    Although they were grateful for the mercenary world for creating a door to the outside world for them, at the same time, they also hate the mercenary world. That was because when the mercenary world helped them procure abundant and advanced supplies from the outside world, they were also sucking their wealth dry.


    In reality, the rtionship between the 13 Lords of the Lawless Lands and the three kings of the mercenary underworld, wasn¡¯t on good terms.


    Soon, seven or eight silhouettes appeared on the screen in front of him. If anyone saw who was on the screen, they would definitely gasp in fear. It was because they were looking at the lords of the 13 Lords.


    One elderly man with a head full of white hair and a long flowing beard was the first to speak. He asked, ¡°Lord Zhen, what do you think about the person the Rainbow Raiders sent this time?¡± This was Lord Kun of the 13 Lords.


    ¡°His strength isn¡¯t bad. He has the space domain concept and can fight above his stage,¡± Lord Zhen said in a serious tone. ¡°But, he¡¯s too young and a bit hasty.¡±

 Chapter 1340 - End It Once And For All.

    <h4>Chapter 1340: End It Once And For All.</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Space domain concept is a little troublesome.¡± A golden-haired middle-aged man frowned slightly. He was Lord Holy.


    With their abundant strength, they knew what kind of monster the space domain concept was. Even they would have a headache if they met an opponent who had this domain concept. It wasn¡¯t because they couldn¡¯t defeat him. It was because if he wanted to escape, no one could keep him back.


    It could be said that a space domain realm master couldn¡¯t be killed. If he was a lone traveler, they could attack him together. Even if they failed, it wouldn¡¯t be a huge matter. However, this young man was from the Rainbow Raiders. Once they failed, the Rainbow Raiders would use this chance to step into the Lawless Lands. The three kings of the mercenary world had been eyeing the Lawless Lands for a long time. They just needed a valid reason to settle in, and the 13 Lords didn¡¯t want to give them this opportunity.


    ¡°Where is Lord Gen?¡± Lord Kun looked around him and frowned.


    ¡°He was just humiliated so he might not be willing to interact with us,¡± Lord Zhen replied dispassionately. There was a sneer on his face too.


    Everyone knew that he was at odds with Lord Gen. Thus, he didn¡¯t hide his thoughts.


    ¡°Haha, I still want to ask him for his opinion. After all, he¡¯s the only one who fought with that space domain realm master. He might know more than us.¡± Ady with heavy makeup covered her mouth andughed sweetly.


    ¡°Lord Demon, I don¡¯t want to hear that disgustingughter of yours or else my knife will go through your skull.¡± A man with clown makeup suddenly revealed the dagger in his hand and looked savagely at the woman.


    ¡°You¡¯ll need to have the ability to do that first. Lord Card, I¡¯ll be waiting for you in bed.¡± Lord Demon suddenlyid down sexily on her and looked at Lord Card with a seductive gaze.


    m! Lord Card¡¯s image suddenly disappeared. After some time, Lord Demon¡¯s screen also went ck too.


    ¡°They¡¯re fighting again.¡± The person who spoke had huge eyebags and a grim face. He seemed as though he exerted himself too much. This was Lord Ghost.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind them. How should we deal with the people from the Rainbow Raiders?¡± A handsome young man with long blue hair raised his eyebrows as he asked. He was Lord Kan. He looked young but he was around the same age as the other lords. He just had some secret techniques which allowed him to retain his youthful appearance.


    ¡°We have to deal with them sooner orter. However, we mustn¡¯t let the Rainbow Raiders discover what we are doing,¡± Lord Holy said calmly. ¡°The Lawless Lands isn¡¯t a ce that the mercenary world can control.¡±


    ¡°They will soon be trading with the other factions,¡± Lord Zhen reminded them.


    ¡°It¡¯s time to use the secret factions that we have been nurturing,¡± Lord Kun said.


    ¡°Understood,¡± the other lords nodded and replied.


    After this sentence, the virtual screen in front of Lord Zhen turned ck again.


    To the public, the 13 Lords acted on their own and would start a fight whenever they had a conflict. Today, you would fight him but tomorrow, he would fight with me. Some even became arch enemies and bit each other whenever they were unhappy. An instance of this was Lord Gen and Lord Zhen, and Lord Demon and Lord Card. But, in actual fact, this wasn¡¯t the case. The 13 Lords didn¡¯t hate each other like how everyone thought. No matter how much they didn¡¯t like each other, once they needed to discuss something, they would put down their grudges and sit down for a discussion.


    The 13 Lords were able tomand the Lawless Lands for more than 10 years because they worked together secretly to control this entire ce, sessfully preventing the appearance of the 14th lord and stabilizing their power and position.


    1Lord Gen went back to his rainbow pce. The moment he sat down, he remembered the humiliation he received on the 7th Bugle Call. He instantly pped the handle of the chair furiously.


    Boom! The stone chair handle shattered into pieces. The two maids standing at the two sides shrunk back in fear. They didn¡¯t dare to say anything.


    ¡°I must kill that brat,¡± Lord Gen said coldly. He had never suffered such humiliation in his entire life.


    He could imagine that tomorrow, news about him not being able to handle Lan Xiao would spread throughout the entire Lawless Lands. That brat made his name known to everyone while throwing his name to the mud.


    ¡°Gather all the guardians that are left in the pce.¡± Lord Gen was someone who sought revenge for the smallest grievance. So, how was he able to swallow this defeat? He immediately asked his men to gather the guardians and prepared to attack the 7th Bugle Call.


    ¡°Yes!¡± His personal assistance answered before hurrying out.


    After some time, five men of different ages and different body shapes walked in. Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei were among them.


    ¡°Lord Gen.¡± The five of them kneeled down respectfully and waited for their master¡¯s order.


    ¡°Choose the best elites from your team. You must kill everyone on the 7th Bugle Call within three days. Every single one of them,¡± Lord Gen said coldly.


    ¡°Yes, Lord Gen.¡± The five of them epted the order. But, before they could get up, Lord Gen¡¯s gaze turned sharp. He looked behind them and shouted furiously, ¡°Who¡¯s there?!¡±


    The five of them turned around in fright. There was no one behind. Just as they were feeling lost, the space behind them became distorted and a line appeared in thin air.


    The line got bigger slowly before separating into arge ck hole. A pair of military boots stepped out from the hold. It made a clear tapping sound when it stepped on the pure white floor made from White Onyx.


    The hole got bigger. Finally, the face of the owner of the boot was revealed. It was a very young, fair, and handsome face. At first nce, he seemed around 23 years old. However, when you looked at him again, he seemed to be only 17 years old. The childish look on his face had not disappearedpletely. He was at the prime of his youth.


    Tap! Another boot stepped out of the hole. The ck cloak floated behind the person. His attire was simple but it couldn¡¯t hide his glory. One look and you would remember him for life.


    ¡°It¡¯s you, Lan Xiao!¡± Lord Gen stared at Ling Lan furiously. ¡°Very good. There¡¯s a path to heaven but you choose toe to hell.¡±


    ¡°From the moment we started fighting, there¡¯s no possibility of reconciling,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly. ¡°In that case, why not end it once and for all to prevent future trouble.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha...¡± Lord Gen suddenly looked up to the sky andughed. ¡°Lan Xiao, you¡¯re too arrogant. Do you really think that your space domain concept is invincible? However, I¡¯m very satisfied with your arrogant behaviour.¡±


    Lord Gen grabbed the side of the armrest that hadn¡¯t been broken.


    Crack! The armrest got crushed by his hand. ¡°This ce will be your grave.¡±


    2Following this sound, the five guardians shot up and pounced towards Ling Lan.


    Suddenly, two figures appeared in their way. A ck light was seen as well as numerous metal chains dancing in the air.


    Cling! ng! The five guardians were forced back.


    ¡°Your opponents are us. Don¡¯t disturb Boss.¡± Li Lanfeng held his scythe in one hand and smiled as he spoke.

 Chapter 1341 - Imperial Battle!

    <h4>Chapter 1341: Imperial Battle!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Luo Lang curled his fingers to knock the metal chains into each other. Suddenly, a sh of red gleam past his eyes.


    Hearing the piercing sound, Li Lanfeng turned back to nce at Luo Lang, and saw Luo Lang raising his right hand before pointing at three people with three of his metal chains.


    Luo Lang was telling him that he would take care of those three people.


    Li Lanfeng frowned slightly. However, he still nodded and agreed.


    Ji Ming, Yu Shangfei, and the other guardians were infuriated when he saw Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng distributing them so casually. The three people who got chosen by Luo Lang, including Ji Ming, rushed towards Luo Lang in unnned unison. On the other side, Yu Shangfei and another guardian attacked Li Lanfeng.


    Two fights were on the verge of erupting. But, no matter how violent or frightening their fights were, they didn¡¯t affect Ling Lan and Lord Gen who were standing at the front.


    There was an invisible barrier behind Ling Lan which blocked all the domain concept energy.


    Ling Lan slowly raised her head and said in an even tone, ¡°It¡¯s our turn.¡±


    Lord Gen slowly stood up from his throne and replied coldly, ¡°Talk while you can. You might not have a chanceter.¡±


    Ling Lan smiled gently. ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll also give you some time to say what you wantter when I smack you down.¡±


    Lord Gen¡¯s expression turned grim. ¡°You¡¯re looking for death!¡±


    After this shout, everything around Lord Gen, including the rainbow pce, turned into the five poisonous insects. They crawled towards Ling Lan from all directions.


    ¡°Ice Blockade!¡± Extreme coldness dawned upon them. In a blink of an eye, the rainbow pce and all the poisonous insects turned into ice statues. The dull and sinister-looking rainbow pce became a crystal-clear ice pce.


    Lord Gen was bbergasted. ¡°Ice element? Isn¡¯t your element space?¡±


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and answered, ¡°Who told you that?¡±


    ¡°...¡± Lord Gen¡¯s eyes narrowed. He still remembered clearly what had happened on the 7th Bugle Call. He really did feel the suction force from the ck hole. It wasn¡¯t a mistake.


    Ling Lan stretched out her right hand and clenched her fist. A crystal-clear ice sword slowly congregated in her hand. ¡°My best element has always been the ice element.¡±


    1Lord Gen suddenlyughed when he heard this. ¡°I don¡¯t understand why you would expose that. If you tried to cover it up, I might still be wary of your space domain concept. But, the ice element... do you really think it can suppress my domain concept?¡±


    1Lord Gen sped his hands together and shouted, ¡°Break!¡±


    The ice statues began exploding simultaneously. The insects that were trapped inside revealed their poisonous fangs as they attempted to bite Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan frowned at the sight. She quickly disappeared from her spot suddenly in a second, and appeared behind Lord Gen in the next. She stabbed the ice sword in her hand at Lord Gen without any hesitation.


    The ice sword pierced through Lord Gen¡¯s body.


    Boom! Lord Gen¡¯s body exploded unexpectedly.


    Before the explosion could reach her, Ling Lan leaped back more than ten metres away from Lord Gen.


    However, the poisonous insects that created the illusion of Lord Gen¡¯s body still managed toe close to her body.


    Just as the insects were about toe close to her body, Ling Lan pushed her left hand out and a huge ice wall appeared, blocking the poisonous insects.


    However, she wasn¡¯t safe yet as Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned somber. It was because she could see those poisonous insects poking into the ice wall and then slowly crawling through it before reaching her side.


    They were not afraid of the cold. As expected, her opponent was an imperial realm formidable warrior.


    Ling Lan had already guessed that the 13 Lords of the Lawless Lands were all imperial realm formidable warriors. Imagine this, the locals in the Lawless Lands were all very talented in terms of their physical skills and their mecha piloting. If it wasn¡¯t because of the restriction in their age, which prevented the Lawless Lands from grooming more formidable warriors and mecha operators, this world might be entirely different.


    It would be a joke if the 13 Lords, who were the most powerful people in the Lawless Lands, hadn¡¯t reached the imperial stage. From the information Ling Lan had gathered in the past and during this period of time, she felt that someone among the 13 Lords might have entered god-realm, or was half a step into god-realm.


    1Now, there was evidence to back up her hypothesis. She had released her titled domain concept but the ice wall she congregated had a tinge of imperial stage domain concept in it. It wasn¡¯t purely formed with her titled domain concept. Only imperial realm formidable warriors were able to break through her ice wall.


    Because of this finding, Ling Lan decided to end this fight as soon as possible. She must take care of one lord before all of them reach a consensus to suppress her. After taking him down, she would take over his territory so that the other lords would have to ept her as the sessor in order to maintain the bnce in the Lawless Lands.


    This was Ling Lan¡¯s first step in her overall n. She must quickly find a position in the Lawless Lands before she could make any other moves. Once the 13 Lords decided to work together to chase her away, she wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand the pressure of all the 13 Lords no matter how powerful she was. If that happened, she would either have to leave dejectedly or die under their pressure. Anyway, she couldn¡¯t ept either of these results.


    That was why she decided to take the risk toe to Lord Gen¡¯s territory to find him.


    Although an imperial stage battle wasn¡¯t as earth-shattering as a god-realm battle, it would still affect the fluctuations of the domain concept energies in the surroundings. Anyone who reached the domain realm would be able to detect this fluctuation within a certain distance. The people who reached the imperial stage would be able to detect it almost instantly. They would only need a little more effort to find out where this fluctuation came from.


    Ling Lan calcted the distance of all the 13 Lords¡¯ territory. Based on this, the person who would arrive the fastest was Lord Zhen. He would need at least 20 minutes. Hence, there wasn¡¯t much time left for her. She must kill Lord Gen within 20 minutes. Once Lord Zhen arrived, she would be surrounded. She might not even be able to escape unscathed with Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang by her side.


    ¡°There¡¯s no path of retreat. I can only fight with my life.¡± A determined expression appeared on her face. ¡°Unseal!¡±


    A snowke symbol appeared on top of Ling Lan¡¯s forehead and her short ck hair grew exponentially longer. The colour of her hair slowly turned into silver as it danced in the air.


    Lord Gen eximed in surprise, ¡°That is impossible!¡±


    But, he managed to calm down in the next second. He quickly unsealed his imperial stage domain concept and pped his hands together. A colorful tattoo poisonous scorpion appeared on the back of his palm. In the next second, a huge scorpion appeared behind him. This scorpion was slightly different as it had seven tails instead of one.

 Chapter 1342 - Divine Destruction!

    <h4>Chapter 1342: Divine Destruction!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    ¡°Imperial stage. Who are you?¡± Lord Gen stared intently at the young man whose expression was so frosty that he didn¡¯t seem human.


    Based on what he knew, the three kings of the mercenary world were at most imperial realm formidable warriors just like him. It was only because of their limited strength that they never dared toe to the Lawless Lands openly, and could resort to using devious means to involve themselves here


    There could never be two imperial realm formidable warriors in a mercenary team. If there were, the team would either be split into two, forming the 4th king¡¯s mercenary team, or the two imperial realm formidable warriors would fight over the position of king which would ultimately end when one of the parties was dead.


    Yet, Lord Gen was unable to link Lan Xiao with the White Monarch from the Rainbow Raiders, the Casanova from the Flirtatious Raiders, or King Border from Taichi Yingyang. Based on the information he had, the domain concept and age of this young man didn¡¯t align with any of the three kings of the mercenary world.


    Seeing the stunned Lord Gen, Ling Lan raised her right hand above her head, and snowing started falling heavily in the rainbow pce. Within a few seconds, a thickyer of snow densely covered the luminous tiles of the pce, hiding their glimmer.


    However, even when a snowstorm was going on, Lord Gen wasn¡¯t the least bit affected. In the area where the giant scorpion and he stood, the snow seemed to be wary of the giant scorpion¡¯s seven tails.


    ¡°You¡¯re not from the Rainbow Raiders.¡± This was the only possible exnation for the events that ured before him.


    As someone who was able to climb up a mountain of bones and corpses to be a lord of the Lawless Lands, Lord Gen wasn¡¯t a dumb person who would ignore the clues of the truth right before him. In the past, he was indeed fooled by Lan Xiao¡¯s perfect disguise. However, once he noticed the facts didn¡¯t line up right, he quickly deduced the truth.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t reply to him. However, the smile on her face told Lord Gen that his deduction was right.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Who had the guts to use the Rainbow Raiders¡¯ name to intrude the Lawless Lands? This was the first time Lord Gen felt a sense of apprehension ever since he reached the imperial stage. This was why he insisted on finding out Lan Xiao¡¯s true identity.


    ¡°Let¡¯s fight.¡± Ling Lan clenched her right fist and the snowkes falling from the air congregated into sharp ice des. They flew straight towards Lord Gen with deadly precision. To Ling Lan, she had to win or die trying. If she won, there was no point in telling her opponent her real identity. if she lost, then it was even more unnecessary to say it.


    ¡°Go!¡± Lord Gen waved his hand, and numerous poisonous insects crawled out from the ground. They went head on with the ice des.


    A battle between imperial realm formidable warriors was frightening, whether it was the ice des that could pierce through anything or the savage poisonous bugs that rose from the ground. They were both using area-of-effect techniques and their domain concept energy supplementing those techniques were both very powerful. The final winner would be determined by the pureness of their domain concept energy.


    1At this aspect, Lord Gen was confident in himself. With him being at the imperial stage for so many years, his understanding of his domain concept was solid as a rock. He was sure that he wouldn¡¯t lose to a young man like Lan Xiao. Moreover, Lan Xiao was on a time limit while he was not. Hence, there was no way he would lose to Lan Xiao.


    Physical appearance could be maintained using many various techniques but aura on the other hand, would change ording to his age. When someone reached the imperial stage, they would be able to detect said aura, and the aura of Lan Xiao was too youthful. He was definitely younger than 30 years old.


    No matter how talented he was, he could only enter the domain realm between 10 years old to 20 years old. Fine, for the sake of the argument, let¡¯s say that he advanced to the domain stage when he was 10 years old. That meant that he would have less than 20 years of experience in the imperial stage, right? How could he bepared with old men like them who had spent more than 50 years in the imperial stage? Lord Gen believed that if they continued battling with their domain concept, he would win.


    As the two energies continued trying to devour one another, blood water and ice crystals dropped from the sky. The thickyer of snow on the ground quickly got stained with blood.


    Finally, the ice des were all destroyed and there weren¡¯t many poisonous insects left. Lord Gen snorted as he waved his hands again. Countless more poisonous insects emerged from the ground again.


    ¡°Haha,e. Let¡¯s see how long you canst.¡± Lord Genughed arrogantly. The reason for his arrogance was for the fact that he was in his pce. In his pce, he was able to recover his lost domain energy quicker.


    The base of the 13 Lords all had this unique feature. This was why they were invincible in their territory. Even if other lords came to fight them head on, they would never beat the owner of thend.


    In response to his arrogance, Ling Lan simply smiled brightly at him. Then, her fingers started moving in a unique rhythm and soon a few rays of light appeared on her empty, fair, and smooth hand.


    Lord Gen¡¯s expression hardened when he looked at the beaming light. He could faintly see ten crystal-clear threads that extended from Lan Xiao¡¯s hands to the air in front of him.


    ¡®Not good.¡¯ This was Lord Gen¡¯s first reaction. As Lan Xiao started twirling around his fingers, many semi-transparent lines started to glimmer in the shining line in the empty space in front of him. They filled up the air densely, enclosing him in a giant dome. They were like spiderwebs that were winded around him.


    Now, Lord Gen finally understood that while Lan Xiao was directing the des at him, he was also lining the threads around them, forming his Ultimate Blockade.


    He felt that this technique sounded a little familiar. Suddenly, he remembered that Ji Ming told him that Luo Tianhua used a simr technique when he was fighting him.


    ¡°Hmph, do you think you can trap me with just this? You¡¯re dreaming,¡± Lord Gen scolded. He waved his right hand and all the poisonous insects on the ground rushed towards the threads and started biting, spitting venom, scratching, and damaging Ling Lan¡¯s Ultimate Blockade.


    Lord Gen wanted to attack Ling Lan directly but before he could do that, he must destroy this web. His poisonous bugs wouldn¡¯t be able to reach Ling Lan if the web was there.


    It could be said that from the start, Lord Gen miscalcted. He allowed Ling Lan to carry out her n sessfully. Lord Gen was like a prey in her web, and breaking the web was his only option.


    Ling Lan remained calm and unconcerned when the swarming bugs came towards her. Her hands moved again. Her movements were extremely elegant. If she wasn¡¯t fighting, people would have thought that she was dancing.


    As Ling Lan¡¯s arms danced around, the semi-transparent threads in the air started dancing too. The cken threads in the air moved along with Ling Lan¡¯s finger. The bugs that attempted to bite it failed due to its rapid movement. The threads also managed to dodge the spitted venom. Even if it identally touched the venom, a new thread would take over its position and merge with the broken thread.


    At this moment, Ling Lan looked like a fairy from heaven dancing elegantly in the air. Her long silver hair floated in the wind. If she still had contact with the learning space, Number Four would have warm tears in her eyes as she finally saw the chance for her toe out.


    1¡°Divine destruction!¡± Following this sound, the dancing threads went taut. Layers andyers of it moved towards the domain formed by Lord Gen¡¯s giant scorpion. The threads cut into the domain from all angles.


    1

 Chapter 1343 - Little White Unleashed Its Power!

    <h4>1343 Little White Unleashed Its Power!</h4>


    Lord Gen could feel that his domain was getting sliced open by the invisible thread. It was on the edge of falling apart. With no choice, he forced out a determined expression on his face as he started to wave his arms at a three second interval. Poisonous bugs immediately poked out of the ground and crawled out in massive waves, while the gigantic scorpion that was holding his domain together, began to crazily il around its seven stingers. It cut through theyers of threads that were wrapping around its body.


    The two of them were in a fierce tussle once again. One was trying to destroy while the other was quickly repairing..


    Just like that, the two of them fought for more than 10 minutes. Lord Gen saw that the threads that covered his domain were getting lesser and lesser. Moreover, he still had a good amount of energy left to sustain him for a much longer fight.


    Right as Lord Gen believed he was going to win this battle, therge scorpion that was originally moving around its seven tails with great force, seemed to turn somewhat tired. The speed at which it was moving its tails decreased.


    ¡°Come on, put in more effort just one more time. When I take care of him, I will give him to you as your dinner and let you have a good meal.¡± Lord Gen encouraged the somewhat tired scorpion. The body of an imperial realm formidable warrior was definitely a wondrous elixir for a poisonous bug to grow quickly. If it was lucky, his imperial stage gigantic scorpion would be able to advance to the god-realm. If that happened, the time for him to advance into the god-realm wouldn¡¯t be too far either.


    He thought his words of encouragement would fire up the scorpion to work harder. However, therge scorpion seemed to be too tired or maybe had indigestion. It actually wasn¡¯t even one bit excited. The speed at which it was iling not only didn¡¯t be quicker, it actually gone even slower.


    Lord Gen created another wave of poisonous bugs to clear out the threads that were getting too close. After doing that, he finally had the time to look at hisrge scorpion.


    After looking at it, Lord Gen waspletely surprised. It was because he noticed therge scorpion¡¯s own domain concept energy was actually quickly disappearing, causing it to be weaker. However, this situation didn¡¯t make any sense to him.


    The rainbow pce was not only replenishing his domain concept energy, but also doing that for therge scorpion. However, even while being replenished by the rainbow pce, it was still not enough topensate for the speed of the depletion. What was happening?


    Lord Gen knew there was something amiss. He looked closely and immediately discovered the reason.


    Although he and his scorpion were breaking the overwhelming threads Ling Lan had put out, many of the broken threads were still hanging off the scorpion¡¯s legs and stingers. These threads were originally transparent, but now, there was actually a dark shineing from them. The aura those threads gave off had a familiar yet unfamiliar domain concept energy attached to them. It was as though he had encountered it or seen it before.


    It was that mysterious domain concept energy that was devouring their energies. The more energy they used, the more that dark light devoured.


    A thought came to mind and Lord Gen audibly gasped. ¡°Space concept.¡±


    He was right. This domain concept energy was the space domain concept Lan Xiao used in the battle on the 7th Bugle Call. He didn¡¯t expect his opponent to actually manage to sessfullybine the space concept and ice element concept together... These two concepts werepletely different. How could they bebined together? ording to Lord Qian¡¯s theory, it was possible if two concepts came from the same root. However, no one has ever been able to sessfullybine twopletely unrted concepts. Forcing them tobine would create bacsh that would devastate or implode the body.


    ¡°Toote.¡± Ling Lan looked at Lord Gen coldly when she noticed him realizing the threads were sucking his scorpion¡¯s energy.


    ¡°Double Limit Release!¡± After those words were spoken, the white snowke mark on Ling Lan¡¯s forehead began to expand. The color instantly turned ck while covering her entire forehead. The pattern slowly morphed into an image of a bloodied flower, making Ling Lan seem very demonic and evil.


    At the same time, the now pitch ck threads on the scorpion cracked up like tears in a fabric. It was as though there were countlessrge mouths ready to devour the scorpion whole.


    ¡°Get away!¡± Lord Gen roared out loud, exploding his domain concept energy outwards. He wanted to close the dimensional tears that were being opened.


    Lord Gen knew clearly that once those tearsbined into a line, therge scorpion in the middle would definitely be sucked in. If it was just a normal scorpion, he wouldn¡¯t care if he lost it. But, as luck would have it, thisrge scorpion was the bug he was born with. Once he lost it, it wouldn¡¯t put his life in peril, but his strength would drop immensely. He might not even be able to maintain the strength of a titled domain realm master, not to mention still being an imperial realm formidable warrior.


    Once he lost the strength of an imperial realm formidable warrior, his position as Lord Gen would definitely be taken away by the other lords. Without the designation of being ¡®Lord Gen¡¯ and no imperial stage strength, the people and factions he had offended in the past would definitely take that chance to take him out, even his own subordinates might find opportunities to make a move on his life.


    Lord Gen¡¯s methods had always been cruel and brutal. He knew that out of the guardians working under him, some of them deeply hated him. As long as they were given the chance, they would definitely kill him.


    Right as Lord Gen was holding back the dimension tear from opening, Ling Lan suddenly shouted, ¡°Little White!¡±


    A little ball suddenly jumped out of a pile of snow closest to Lord Gen.


    That little ball was too small and fast. Moreover, it easily broke through Lord Gen¡¯s domain territory. When Lord Gen realized it, that little ball had already arrived in front of him.


    ¡°Die!¡± Lord Gen flung his left arm ruthlessly. Right as the arm was about to touch Little White, Lord Gen suddenly felt everything go ck.


    In the next second, he was pulled into arge ck hole. At the same time, his seven-stinger scorpion was also pulled in with him.


    Little White closed itsrge mouth and burped in satisfaction. Thatrge scorpion was too big so Little White felt a little bloated. Luckily, its stomach was very big. In the stomach, the scorpion was tossed aside to the ends of its stomach. Little White would one day find time to slowly devour it in the future.


    ¡°Little White! You¡¯re squishing me to death.¡± Ling Lan was currently pinned to the wall by Little White. Hearing that demonic voice, Little White quickly turned around to look for Ling Lan but while doing so, Ling Lan was rolled under Little White¡¯s butt. She had only one free hand that was trying its best to push aside Little White¡¯s butt in order to save herself from ttening into a pancake.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± Little White put its tentacles over its head in fear. ¡®Oh my god, I sat on my master? I¡¯m definitely going to die. Wah wah wah, who¡¯s going to save me? I don¡¯t want to get fried, boiled and eaten by my master...


    Little White, who was in shock, turned back into its smaller body right after realizing what it had done. It held its head on the floor and trembled in fear. It was waiting for its master to punish it.


    ¡°It seems I¡¯m not the only one.¡± Ling Lan looked around the ce and instantlyughed.


    ¡°Little White, can you tell us before turning into your real form next time?¡± Luo Lang held his head that was smashed by Little White¡¯s body. He sat on the floor and looked at Little White, who was now shaking and looking pitiful.


    Little White¡¯s butt squished him quite hard. He even thought he was going to be a pancake.

 Chapter 1344 - Token Of Love!

    <h4>1344 Token Of Love!</h4>


    Li Lanfeng touched his forehead with an agonized expression as he struggled to stand up from the ground. When Little White suddenly turned big, he was fighting with the two guardians with his back facing it, so he didn¡¯t have time to react before he got squashed. His face was mmed so hard into the marble that he could still see stars spinning around him. He felt dizzy. When he finally managed to stand up, his head spun and he staggered before falling down on the ground again.


    He stood up again but he could feel that he was going to m onto the ground again. He prepared himself to face the iing pain. However, the pain never came; instead he fell into a pair of warm arms.


    Ling Lan hugged Li Lanfeng lightly and asked in concern, ¡°Are you injured?¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t forget that Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang were fighting with more than one opponent, so the pressure they were under was greater than her. Thus, they might be injured. But, still, they were quite lucky that everyone managed to pull through.


    Li Lanfeng raised his head and looked at Ling Lan. He wanted to reply that he was alright but when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s cold and demonic appearance, which he never saw before, it struck his heart like a sharp arrow. One look was enough for him to remember for his entire life.


    Badump! Badump! Badump! Badump! He felt his heart palpitating furiously. It felt as though it was going to jump out of his chest soon. A hot sensation seeped out of his chest. He really wanted to hide Ling Lan in his pocket and look at him every day.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Ling Lan asked curiously when she saw Li Lanfeng staring at her absent-mindedly. She didn¡¯t know that her demonic appearance had such a huge impact on Li Lanfeng because he already had feelings for her. Thus, he couldn¡¯t gather his thoughts to reply to her.


    Ling Lan was worried when she couldn¡¯t get a reply from Li Lanfeng. She lifted her hand and caressed Li Lanfeng¡¯s forehead. She used her concept energy to inspect Li Lanfeng¡¯s condition. Immediately, she noticed his heart which was beating extremely fast. She got a shock. His heart condition hadn¡¯t recovered fully?


    Ling Lan was very worried. They only brought a batch of powerful agents created by Li Shiyu as well as the second generation of the life-saving Nuwa agent for this mission. They didn¡¯t have a professional military doctor with them. If the medical agent didn¡¯t work, they were helpless.


    ¡°Have some medicine.¡± Ling Lan took out the second general Nuwa agent she brought along with her and passed it to Li Lanfeng.


    After touching the bottle of the agent, Li Lanfeng finally regained his senses. He saw the worry in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes and her decisive actions when she took out the Nuwa agent. Li Lanfeng felt warm in his heart. He knew that they didn¡¯t bring many bottles of Nuwa agents with them. There were only 50 of them, and each one of them was precious. Their journey to the Lawless Lands was just starting. As a life-saving agent, the Nuwa agent was extremely important to their goal of rooting themselves here. They wouldn¡¯t bear to use it until they were on the very edge of dying.


    But, in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, this precious agent was not as important as him. She gave it to him so easily because she was worried about him.


    Li Lanfeng knew that if Luo Lang was injured, Ling Lan would do the same thing. Ling Lan treated them equally. However, at this moment, he wanted to deceive himself and believe that Ling Lan would only treat him like this.


    If he thought this way, he would feel like he was the most important person to Ling Lan. Li Lanfeng never expected that he would use this method to fool himself one day, dreaming about something that would never happen.


    Li Lanfeng stretched his hand and took the bottle of agent from Ling Lan¡¯s hand. Ling Lan¡¯s body temperature could still be felt on the bottle. He longed for the warmth as he clutched the bottle tightly. He couldn¡¯t bear to let it go.


    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you drinking it?¡± Ling Lan asked curiously when she saw Li Lanfeng looking at the agent without drinking it.


    Li Lanfeng smiled as he said, ¡°Let me try to bear with it. The agent is too precious after all. We should not use it if it isn¡¯t necessary.¡±


    Ling Lan frowned. The agent was precious but Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart was beating abnormally. The heart wasn¡¯t like the other organs. Once something happened to it, the person would die instantly.


    ¡°I know my limit.¡± Li Lanfeng consoled Ling Lan. He understood Ling Lan like he understood himself. He could tell what Ling Lan was thinking with just a slight change in her expression.


    Ling Lan wanted to say something but she suddenly looked up and noticed that the unconscious guardians were showing signs of waking up.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Li Lanfeng reassured Ling Lan.


    Hearing that, Ling Lan finally released Li Lanfeng¡¯s body and slowly walked to the five guardians who were still lying on the ground but struggling to stand up. She lifted her right hand slowly and stretched her hand out. Five threads appeared from thin air. Ling Lan shook her fingers. The empty hall suddenly became a world full of threads.


    When Li Lanfeng noticed that Ling Lan¡¯s attention was on the five guardians, he let go of himself and indulged in her looks. He looked at her as if he was in a trance.


    He felt the bottle in his hand and gave a dreamy smile.


    This bottle was a token of love that Ling Lan gave him, right?


    As someone who went crazy because of love, he could only use these ways to fool himself. Maybe one day, he would be dissatisfied and do crazier things to get even more. But, now, Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t have the courage to face Ling Lan¡¯s look of disdain. He could only forcefully control the devil in his heart that was dying to get out so that these beautiful days couldst longer.


    ¡®Ling Lan, Ling Lan, I can¡¯t control my greed anymore. Only you can save me in this world. If that dayes, please don¡¯t hate me.¡¯ Li Lanfeng ced the bottle beside his lips and kissed it. He felt like he was kissing Ling Lan. Then, he ced the bottle of agent carefully in his pocket. He would never use this agent even if he died.


    When Ji Ming opened his eyes, he saw a sky full of threads and snowkes. It was like a dreand. He felt that they were not in a fight. Instead, they were admiring the view from the mountain hillside.


    At this moment, a cold and beautiful person who looked like a cross between a devil and an angel entered his eyes. The person looked at them without any emotion, as though he was looking at a dead person. The gaze sent a chill down Ji Ming¡¯s spine and he regained his senses instantly.


    Ji Ming looked around him instantly. He realized that their invincible Lord Gen was nowhere in sight. He was stunned. Did their Lord Gen run away because he was defeated?


    Ji Ming never thought of the chance that his master might be dead. His first reaction was that Lord Gen ran away to seek help from the other lords beforeing back to take revenge on these bold culprits.


    ¡°Your Lord Gen is dead.¡± Ling Lan saw through Ji Ming¡¯s thoughts so she told him the truth calmly.


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. You¡¯re talking nonsense.¡± Ji Ming reacted by refuting her furiously.


    Ling Lan clenched her right fist and threads moved closer towards the five guardians. In a blink of an eye, they were wrapped tightly in a cocoon. Ling Lan flicked her hand and threw the five people next to Luo Lang. ¡°Look after them.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Boss!¡± Luo Lang tied the five people up with five metal chains and hung them on a crossbeam in the hall.

 Chapter 1345 - Who Are You?

    <h4>1345 Who Are You?</h4>


    Ling Lan strolled towards Lord Gen¡¯s throne. She flicked her finger and the stone throne turned into a pile of dust. The dust then got blown into the air and disappeared. Then, a majestic ice throne formed slowly from the ground up. Ling Lan flicked the back of her windbreaker and turned to sit down on the chair. Simultaneously, the symbol on her forehead diminished rapidly. Her hair turned short and returned back to ck colour. In the end, she turned back into the familiar Ling Lan with a cold and dominating aura.


    Li Lanfeng disappeared from his spot. When he reappeared again, he was already standing behind Ling Lan. Just like in the past, he silently performed his role as Ling Lan¡¯s most trusted aide, the person whom she was willing to give her back to.


    Ling Lan leaned back on the chair and looked towards the door of the hall. She said evenly, ¡°Lord Zhen is here.¡±


    The moment she finished her sentence, a figure appeared in the hall.


    The person looked around him and saw the five guardians hanging on the crossbeam. Then, he saw Ling Lan who was sitting on the ice throne. His gaze turned bleak.


    ¡°Where is Lord Gen?¡± Lord Zhen asked grimly.


    The gentle and amiable attitude he had towards his junior in the morning was gone. He was full of vignce and seriousness now.


    ¡°I¡¯m already sitting here. Lord Zhen, what do you think?¡± Ling Lan ced her hand on her chin and smiled at Lord Zhen.


    Lord Zhen¡¯s gaze turned sharp. ¡°You killed him?¡±


    He silently sought Lord Gen¡¯s aura in the surrounding. There were still remnants of it but they were like duckweeds that lost their root. The rainbow pce that used to be Lord Gen¡¯s, his strong domain concept instilled in it was slowly dissipating, and the ice element reced its position. The concentration of ice elements in the pce was getting higher and higher. There was also a tinge of space concept energy still lingering in the air.


    ¡°The winner takes it all. Isn¡¯t that the rule of the Lawless Lands?¡± Ling Lan smiled as she replied.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Only imperial realm formidable warriors were able to kill Lord Gen. If Lord Zhen still believed that Ling Lan was from the Rainbow Raiders now, he was brainless.


    ¡°Is that important?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.


    ¡°Of course. If you¡¯re a stooge sent by the nations in the central region, no matter how powerful the country behind you is, we¡¯ll kill you. We won¡¯t allow anyone over there to gain control of the Lawless Lands,¡± Lord Zhen said ruthlessly. This was the consensus the 13 Lords had reached. It was the bottomline of all the factions in the Lawless Lands. If this young man was really sent by those nations, they wouldn¡¯t bow down to him and let other powers take over this ce even if it meant that the Lawless Lands might be locked up entirely and no resources would be sent to them.


    The people in the Lawless Lands were extremely talented but they bore grudges. The evil, battles, and chaos of the Lawless Lands were all caused by the nations from the central region. If the nations didn¡¯t allow those criminals to leave, would they be able to escape the pursuit of the entire nation and cross through so manyary sectors to reach the Lawless Lands?


    The nations from the central regions were dissatisfied with the amount of resources in the Lawless Lands and the talents of the locals there were restricted by their lifespan so there was little value in it.


    However, deep in their hearts, they were afraid of the talented locals too. Once they were able to break through their lifespan restriction, because of their powerfulbat skills, they would definitely be a huge threat to the reign of the nations in the central region.


    Thus, to limit the Lawless Lands and to prevent it from developing into something that could threaten them, the nations in the central region would send many ruthless and evil criminals every year to turn the Lawless Lands into the source of evil. They wanted the two sides to fight with each other. Sometimes, when there weren¡¯t enough criminals, they would disguise people from the secret factions in the military as criminals and send them over to create many murders, hence strengthening the hatred between the locals and the criminals.


    Due to this, the Lawless Lands became a ce filled with fights and murders. In the past, the locals were stubborn and didn¡¯t like each other but the order of the Lawless Lands was still there. It wouldn¡¯t be a haven for murderers.


    At first, the locals were still clueless about this deep-rooted scheme. The real criminals were really maniac murderers so thebination of this and the scheme of the nations made the locals hate all the criminals that came from the outside world. As time went by, tworge factions formed in the Lawless Lands: the locals and the criminals. There were many conflicts between these two factions too but once there was an outside threat that could destroy the bnce of the two factions, everyone would put down their internal grudges and unite against theirmon enemy.


    After some time, they found out that the nations in the outside world were behind this chaotic mess. However, the grudges between the two factions had sessfully formed. There was no room for reconciliation.


    A few hundred years of no reconciliation went by. Due to the ongoing battles and the other nations inhibiting the amount of supplies they could get, besides theirbat ability, all other areas of the Lawless Lands were underdeveloped. This carried on until the appearance of the 13 Lords. The 13 Lords worked hard to relieve the tension between the two factions, allowing the Lawless Lands to resume peace for a period of time.


    After that, the 13 Lords started working with the mercenary world, and sessfully opened a few trade routes to let supplies from the outside worlde into the Lawless Lands. From then on, the Lawless Lands went into its development phase.


    But, this wasn¡¯t what the nations from the central region wanted to see.


    In order to break the agreement between the 13 Lords, the nations groomed a faction secretly to try and destroy the stability of the Lawless Lands.


    In the past, Lord Gen and Lord Zhen coborated and annihted a powerful faction that could be the 14th lord. Although one of their intentions was to prevent people from weakening their stranglehold of power, the most basic reason was that they discovered that this faction came from the nations of the central region. This finding crossed the bottomline of all the lords.


    When Ling Lan disguised herself as someone from the Rainbow Raiders to get into the Lawless Lands, it was a great decision in hindsight. Without this identity, she might have been killed by Lord Gen and Lord Zhen together the moment she arrived at the spaceport.


    They let Ling Lan go temporarily because they were worried about their deal with the mercenary world. They didn¡¯t want to lose this helper. Without them, the Lawless Lands would return back to its poor state.


    Thus, when they decided to kill Ling Lan, they nned to do it secretly by using the secret factions they groomed.


    However, Lord Zhen now knew that they were fooled. Their worry didn¡¯t even exist in the first ce. This person wasn¡¯t from the Rainbow Raiders. He was at most someone who had a personal rtionship with White Monarch. This kind of personal rtionship wouldn¡¯t affect their coboration with the mercenary world.


    Lord Zhen¡¯s killing intent became stronger and a bolt of purple lightning shed passed his eyes.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not from those countries.¡± Ling Lan flipped her right hand and a golden orb with a soul drawn on it appeared on her palm.


    Astonishment and anger appeared in Lord Zhen¡¯s eyes. He stopped his attack instantly.

 Chapter 1346 - Give In!

    <h4>1346 Give In!</h4>


    ¡°Soul Society?¡± Lord Zhen gritted his teeth as he scrutinized the golden orb. ¡°Where are you here? Isn¡¯t the Soul Society doing well?¡±


    The colour of the orb in the Soul Society symbolizes their authority in their ranks. Having a golden orb meant that Lan Xiao¡¯s status was equal to that of a governor of the 18 big zones.


    Outsiders like them wouldn¡¯t truly know how Soul Society internally functioned, but with the surface knowledge they had, the next-in-line after the Soul Emperor were the governor of the 18 big zones. All 18 governors had equal authority, so no one was more influential than the other.


    Soul Society was a secret organisation with a prolific history. It had approximately more than ten thousand years of legacy behind its rather infamous name. Its roots could be found in all corners of the universe. Soul Society had always been a huge worry for the intergctic nations, so they would always expend a lot of financial and manual resources to execute those whom they thought were members of the Soul Society. However, those who they could find were usually low-ss members of the Soul Society. The upper-ss members were rarely discovered. Yet, all the intergctic nations knew the identities of the 18 governors but they were helpless in doing anything to catch them as they were doing legal businesses within the confines of theirw. Moreover, there were all kinds of organizations behind them so they couldn¡¯t touch them even if they wanted to.


    With such an illustrious name and background, every secret society was jealous of the Soul Society. They were the idol society they all aspire to grow into one day, a society that could do business for anyone and everyone. It was no different for the Lawless Lands, who was being suppressed by the intergctic nations, who were also full of envy towards the Soul Society. Thus, when Lord Zhen saw the token for the Soul Society, he had mixed feelings.


    ¡°Recently, the nations from the central region are trying to cull the Soul Society with all their might,¡± Ling Lan replied nonchntly. ¡°So, the Emperor wants to give a path of retreat for the Soul Society here.¡±


    ¡°Haha, don¡¯t you already have many of those?¡± Lord Zhen scoffed.


    ¡°The emperor doesn¡¯t mind having more,¡± Ling Lan replied with a mysterious smile.


    ¡°So youid your eyes on the Lawless Lands?¡± Lord Zhen mocked, ¡°Do we have to thank your emperor for his recognition?¡±


    ¡°Actually, what¡¯s so bad about it? We just want a path of retreat, and with our sess, you will get another trade route for your necessities. Don¡¯t tell me that you want to y in the palms of the mercenary world forever.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words hit Lord Zhen¡¯s weak spot.


    As the Lords of the Lawless Lands, they never like to ce their fate in the hands of an outsider like the mercenary world. Even if it looked like a win-win situation on the surface for both parties, one of the parties was clearly extorting the other party for itsck of options.


    ¡°You could have sent your people to discuss the terms with us. There was no need to murder.¡± Lord Zhen squinted. Ling Lan and her team acted quickly and ruthlessly the moment they arrived. This inconsistency made him suspicious of the Soul Society¡¯s true motive.


    ¡°You won¡¯t want a 14th lord to appear as it would throw off the bnce of the Lawless Lands, I understand that. But, the emperor would never ept anything less than the position of a lord. However, none of you will willingly let go of your spot. Hence, we decided to make the proactive decision to take a spot for ourselves,¡± Ling Lan replied. Her attitude was exceptionally good but her words were domineering.


    ¡°Is the Soul Society always this domineering?¡± Lord Zhen narrowed his eyes and asked in a grave tone.


    ¡°Hmm, how about this? Lets just say I did this to make it easier for you to decide to give me the position of lord.¡± Ling Lan smiled as she yed with the golden orb in her hand. She continued calmly, ¡°Now, there is one less lord. We can take over his position while the rest of you continue holding on to your status. The status quo won¡¯t change. Isn¡¯t that great? Moreover, you will even have ess to another trade route. Of course, you are always wee to go to war with us to avenge the dead Lord Gen.¡±


    ¡°Actually, you are not the only partner the Soul Society has in mind. For instance, the mercenary world...¡± As she spoke, Ling Lan stretched out her left hand and opened it, revealing the colourful rainbow crystal in it. Lord Zhen knew that in her hand was White Monarch¡¯s token which represented his promise. The same token that caused them to misunderstand Ling Lan and took her as a member of the Rainbow Raiders. They had worried about their cooperation with the mercenary world so they allowed Lan Xiao to enter the Lawless Lands while adopting a wait-and-see attitude. And now, one wrong step and everything was gone. They allowed Lan Xiao to kill Lord Gen sessfully while they were still twiddling their thumbs thinking about the rtionship between them and the mercenary world if they killed Lan Xiao.


    Since Lan Xiao had White Monarch¡¯s token, it meant that the Soul Society had already formed an agreement with the mercenary world. Even if it wasn¡¯t the entire mercenary world, they still made an agreement with White Monarch from the Rainbow Raiders. Whichever it was, it wasn¡¯t a good sign to the Lawless Lands.


    ¡°After the war, who knows how many lords will be able to survive? If we lose, the Soul Society can just leave the Lawless Lands. We have many options. But, for you, the still full strength mercenary world woulde and take you over.¡± Ling Lan smiled deviously. Her smile was so ring that it made Lord Zhen ufortable. However, he had to admit that Lan Xiao made a lot of sense. If they went into war with the Soul Society, the mercenary world would be extremely happy as the spectator. They might involve themselves to make even more mess in the situation. Who knows?


    ¡°I thought that you have already formed an agreement with the mercenary world,¡± Lord Zhen said. Ling Lan¡¯s speech just now betrayed the mercenary world entirely.


    ¡°Soul Society isn¡¯t something you can anyhow make use of.¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrow. She exined why she betrayed the mercenary world.


    ¡°Working with the Soul Society is like asking the tiger for its skin.¡± Lord Zhen gritted his teeth.


    ¡°If you¡¯re strong enough, you might be able to get the skin.¡± Ling Lan smiled knowingly.


    Lord Zhen and Ling Lan exchanged nces with each other. They wanted to see weakness in the other party¡¯s eyes. Ling Lan¡¯s gaze remained calm and indifferent, even after a few minutes. With no clues to go by off, Lord Zhen had no choice but to give up.


    ¡°I can¡¯t make the decision alone. I have to seek the opinions of the other lords.¡± Lord Zhen finally gave in.


    ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll be waiting here.¡± Ling Lan smiled. ¡°Also, tell them that Lord Gen¡¯s territory is officially taken over by the Soul Society now. If any of your subordinates try to profit in times of trouble and raise any kind of disputes, don¡¯t look for me when they suddenly disappear. I¡¯m very busy recently.¡±


    Lord Zhen¡¯s expression darkened when he heard the tant threat. Then, Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and used her right finger to tap on the temple of her head, reminding Lord Zhen to think carefully before doing something stupid.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Seeing Lan Xiao mocking him, Lord Zhen flicked his sleeve angrily and disappeared from the hall the next second.


    Ling Lan just smiled at his departure. After she made sure Lord Zhen had really left, she turned and looked at the five people hanging on the crossbeam. She asked simply, ¡°Have you finished considering?¡±


    Ji Ming was the first to shout, ¡°I¡¯m willing to recognise you as the new Lord Gen!¡±


    The smart Ji Ming noticed that Ling Lan only tied them up but didn¡¯t kill them. After careful deliberation, he understood why Ling Lan let go of their lives. He wanted them to do his bidding.


    If Ling Lan decided to act alone, Ji Ming would choose to keep quiet. He would rather be a prisoner than to bow down to this young man. He knew what was the consequence of betraying the 13 Lords. That torture was worse than dying.


    He could only think of a way to save himself and keep himself alive. After that, he would think about revenge. However, the background Ling Lan revealed was too powerful. One mercenary world was enough to let the 13 Lords hesitate. Now, there was another more powerful and mysterious organization, the Soul Society. Thebination of these two organizations gave Ling Lan enough power to hold a status in the Lawless Lands. The 13 Lords had to give in to him.


    As an old and experienced person, Ji Ming knew which decision was better for him. People like him liked to y up to powerful people. Ling Lan had the ability (he killed Lord Gen) and the background (Soul Society and the mercenary world). He was even stronger than his previous master, Lord Gen. Since the prospects were better, why wouldn¡¯t he ept it?

 Chapter 1347 - Rainbow Palace?

    <h4>1347 Rainbow Pce?</h4>


    Compared to Ji Ming, Yu Shangfei hesitated. The other three guardians looked at each other and followed Ji Ming in epting their new master.


    Seeing the four of them willingly surrender, Yu Shangfei could only sigh softly and speak in a sad tone, ¡°I also willingly ept.¡±


    It was hopeless anyways. Seeing that Lord Zhen had left to meet with the other lords, Lan Xiao¡¯s proposal probably had a high chance of being epted. The reason he was hesitating to surrender was because he was betting on that slim chance of Lan Xiao¡¯s proposal getting rejected. However, with most of his colleagues turning sides, he relented and just followed what everyone else was doing.


    Ling Lan waved her hand and the five of them fell to the floor.


    Ling Lan then pointed towards the five of them. Li Lanfeng smiled and appeared in front of them in the next second. Then, he handed out five vials of medicinal agents.


    Seeing the suspicious vials, Ji Ming and the others gave a questioning gaze. They all looked up towards Ling Lan, who was sitting on the throne made out of ice.


    Ling Lan was holding her chin and looking at them with a half-smile on her face.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? You don¡¯t want to?¡± asked Li Lanfeng.


    Despite Li Lanfeng¡¯s words being very kind and mild-mannered, Ji Ming, Yu Shangfei and the other three still felt as though ice water was poured over their heads. They immediately shuddered and didn¡¯t dare to hesitate, taking one vial each.


    ¡°Drink up!¡± Li Lanfeng smiled sweetly as he spoke.


    Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei looked at each other at apprehension. They simultaneously gritted their teeth and drank down a vial of medicinal agent in one gulp.


    Among the guardians who served Lord Gen, Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei had much more influence than the other three guardians. Seeing the two of them give in, the other three also didn¡¯t dare to hesitate and drink the medicinal agent. They were now likembs to ughter, how could they even resist against this?


    After drinking the medicinal agent, they felt a feeling that they couldn¡¯t describe rushing deep into their bones. The immense pain they felt was as though someone was ripping them apart from the inside. The five of them had cold sweate out from their foreheads as they screamed in agony on the floor. If it was just simple pain, they wouldn¡¯t have a hard time going through it. They had fought through many types of dangerous situations and had been injured countless of times. All of those torturous times they managed to survive the pain. However, this unbearable pain had a constant numb and itchy feeling that they couldn¡¯t get rid of. Moreover, it was also spreading all over their body.


    This feeling was cutting up their pride. It was so unbearable that they were willing to die rather than endure such torment.


    Perhaps this was a test. One guardian suddenly raised his head, trying to smash into the marble flooring. He wanted to make himself faint or perhaps even dying was fine as well.


    Shoo! A chain suddenly wrapped around his head, locking his head in ce and stopping him from smashing his head on the floor. Luo Lang looked at the disheveled individuals on the floor coldly. He quickly wrapped his chains around her head to stop anyone from trying to even think of escaping.


    ¡°It¡¯s not that easy if you want to be my subordinates. Let¡¯s wait until you get past this stage before talking to me.¡± In the end, they heard their new Lord Gen speaking down to them coldly. After hearing those words, they all fell unconscious.


    Seeing the five of them ck out from the pain, Luo Lang took back his chains in disgust as he murmured, ¡°Just one vial and they already cked out. Useless.¡±


    Ling Lan looked towards the five and said, ¡°Not only do their bodies have innate ws, they also have many problems from their training. It¡¯s their first time using the second generation gene agent. The more problems their bodies have, the stronger the effect of the medicine. It would have been odd if they hadn¡¯t fainted.¡±


    ¡°Can they even be trusted?¡± Luo Lang was a bit worried. During these times, he really missed his friends in Lingtian. If Boss wanted to take over the Lawless Lands, they would need more people to do it so they had topromise with these distrustful locals.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine even if they can¡¯t be trusted. As long as I am the Lord Gen that the lords acknowledge, they wouldn¡¯t dare to create huge problems for us,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°They will be annoying though,¡± added Li Lanfeng with a smile on his face.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that make it hard for us?¡± Luo Lang was definitely still a newbie when it came to psychological warfare.


    ¡°It won¡¯t be hard for us. As long as the 13 Lords don¡¯t make a move, no matter how many things they try to do, it would be useless,¡± exined Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°We can¡¯t let our guard down just yet. Even I¡¯m just 50% sure that they would ept my proposal. If they believe it then it will be fine. If they don¡¯t...¡± Ling Lan sighed. The n she used against Lord Zhen was dancing at the tip of a de. If something had gone wrong, they would have been forced into a dead end. Luckily, she managed to fool him.


    In reality, Ling Lan went into battle with an empty bag of nothing. Other than the token of White Monarch and the orb from the Soul Society, she had nothing else. It was just like she was performing a show by using the name of someone stronger than her to scare off her opponents. If the 13 Lords still wouldn¡¯t allow her to stay in the end, she would take Li Lanfeng, Luo Lang and everyone on the 7th Bugle Call to run away from this ce.


    That was right. Ling Lan was using the White Monarch¡¯s name. She also identally took in a subordinate from the Soul Society when she did her assignments. Her subordinate was also a prodigy. He took the opportunity and cooperated with Ling Lan, who reced the Frost Monarch, and acquired the power to dispose of people in the Chaotic Lands. Afterwards, he slowly climbed the ranks within the Soul Society and was now the governor of the 18th District. That golden orb was the item he gave Ling Lan as a token of trust. It represented his loyalty to Ling Lan.


    ¡°What are we going to do now? Are we going to continue to wait here?¡± Luo Lang looked around them. When they first entered this ce, they had made all of the servants here faint. Now, other than the three of them, there were unconscious people everywhere.


    ¡°Going by the strength of the medicinal agent, they probably would wake up after 2 hours,¡± Li Lanfeng knew the specifications of the agent well.


    ¡°I¡¯m very interested in the rainbow pce.¡± Ling Lan raised her head and looked towards the roof of the main hall. Every pir and pole were set in a clever way. It was as though it used the theory of body armor. Plus, when she was fighting with Lord Gen, she felt the rainbow pce was replenishing Lord Gen¡¯s domain energy almost infinitely. This was someone a normal pce couldn¡¯t do.


    ¡°I also sensed it,¡± nodded Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Boss, what are you guys saying? What did you sense?¡± Luo Lang was very confused. He hated when Boss and that sly fox Li Lanfeng spoke in code. It made him feel like he was being left out.


    ¡°You can go to your calm personality for help you know,¡± said Li Lanfeng.


    Now that the situation had turned for the better, Li Lanfeng was able to make jokes.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Luo Lang snorted coldly in dissatisfaction. Then, he obediently went to go find his calm personality.


    Ling Lan shook her head helplessly. Luo Lang would always be easily ordered around by Li Lanfeng. As luck would have it, Luo Lang never learned. Luo Lang was lucky that Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t have any evil intentions, otherwise, Luo Lang wouldn¡¯t even know how he managed to die. Especially when the calm personality couldn¡¯t constantly stay by Luo Lang¡¯s side.


    Not long after, Luo Lang received the answer and thought about it deeply. Then, he realized something and said, ¡°I see. Boss¡¯s ice element concept was weakening, but the original Lord Gen¡¯s insect concept energy was increasing.¡±


    ¡°The rainbow pce is trying to recover the insect concept and at the same time flush out other concepts that aren¡¯t of the insect element.¡± Ling Lan flicked her right hand and a simple military knife made from ice slowly formed in her palm. Her activation of the ice element stopped the ice element concept in the pce from weakening. It also temporarily stopped the rainbow pce from recovering the insect element concept.

 Chapter 1348 - I Don’t Want to Lose Anyone

    <h4>1348 I Don¡°t Want to Lose Anyone</h4>


    ¡°This rainbow pce definitely has some sort of secret,¡± Luo Lang¡¯s eyes shined brightly. This was the first time his eyes had brightened up since Xie Yi¡¯s death.


    Ling Lan looked at the pce with a smile, ¡°Do you fancy going in and looking through it with me?¡±


    Luo Lang nodded his head furiously. He had never seen anything like it and was definitely interested in it.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡± Ling Lan had already sensed the point of origin of the rainbow pce¡¯s insect domain concept. They had time so they might as well go in and take a look. After all, she was going to make this her first headquarters. The rainbow pce, of course, couldn¡¯t be left out and be a problem in the future.


    Once Ling Lan moved, Li Lanfeng followed behind her without being told to. Luo Lang also excitedly followed them.


    Seeing Luo Lang be fully focused on the secret of the rainbow pce, the calm personality breathed a sigh of relief. He then slowly returned to the mindscape.


    Right after he returned to the mindscape, he felt something lock onto his arm.


    A Tangdao appeared in the calm personality¡¯s hand as he shed behind his back without hesitation.


    ¡°Hiss! You¡¯re so cruel.¡± A slow andzy voice echoed in the air. The calm personality then saw the evil personality d in ck move far away from him as he looked at him with a teasing smile.


    The calm personality wore a full body of white clothes. Itplemented him as it gave out a calming vibe to anyone around him. If he had to mention the personality that he hated most out of all the personalities, none of them was more annoying than this evil personality in front of him, who was hisplete opposite.


    ¡°Why are you here?¡± said the calm personality coldly.


    The evil personality raised his eyebrows and said, ¡°What? Did you forget my terms?¡±


    ¡°Serving the primary personality is the natural order of things,¡± said the calm personality nonchntly.


    ¡°Heh, that¡¯s you people and not me.¡± The evil personality disappeared and then reappeared near the calm personality. He twirled a lock of hair on the calm personality¡¯s head and said softly, ¡°You know. Only you can make me lend a helping hand.¡±


    Then there was white sh. The sh of the Tangdao was very decisive and ruthless. The evil personality smiled softly and evaded away again, ¡°You always bring out weapons. Can¡¯t you just talk to me like a normal person?¡±


    ¡°If you didn¡¯t touch me, I wouldn¡¯t try to cut you.¡± The calm personality twisted his wrist, drawing a flower with the de and then sheathed it.


    The calm personality didn¡¯t know why such a dumb and sweet Luo Lang had such an annoying personality within his body. Not only did this personality want to talk about the ¡®terms¡¯ every time he¡¯s called upon, he would alsoe to annoy him whenever he was resting. The calm personality had already tightened all of his defenses, but the evil personality still managed to sessfully get past them every time. All of his failures made him quite frustrated and annoyed. He honestly had the thought of cutting him to death just to get back his peace and quiet.


    The calm personality knew that this feeling shouldn¡¯t appear in his personality, but every time he encountered this evil personality, his calmness would be on the brink of copse. And as luck would have it, he couldn¡¯t do anything to the evil personality and was helpless in those situations. After fighting against him, the calm personality discovered that the evil personality might be stronger than him, even though he was deemed the strongest personality and was the leader of all of the personalities.


    ¡°Also, I¡¯m tired. I need to rest.¡± The calm personality had been keeping the primary personality together recently. Xie Yi¡¯s sacrifice and death had heavily impacted the primary personality, causing him to have signs of psychological copse. The reason Luo Lang could recover so quickly was definitely credited to the calm personality¡¯s help. However, this also tired out the calm personality.


    The evil personality appeared in front of the calm personality once again. He put out his right hand and slowly touched the calm personality¡¯s jade-like face. His eyes filled with heartache that couldn¡¯t be easily seen, but he still smiled and said, ¡°Oh my, my, my, with our rtionship? Calm, as long as you ask, I will help you protect that idiot.¡±


    Hearing that, the calm personality raised his head and stared coldly towards the evil personality, ¡°He¡¯s not an idiot. He¡¯s our primary personality.¡± He definitely wouldn¡¯t allow any of the other personalities to speak down towards the primary personality.


    The evil personality narrowed his eyes. His right hand clenched with great force as if he was trying to strangle someone. ¡°Calm, don¡¯t attempt to anger me... primary personality? How is he even qualified to be the primary personality? We are the ones who are the strongest. If it wasn¡¯t for you, I would have devoured him in an instant.¡±


    A de shed once again, and the Tangdao was now held against the evil personality¡¯s forehead. The calm personality held the Tangdao and looked at him coldly, ¡°Evil, don¡¯t ever let me hear those types of demeaning words ever again. Otherwise, I will not rest until you die.¡±


    The evil personality smiled, ¡°You think you can kill me? If you had spoken to me nicely, I would have let him go. However, you are too stubborn. One of these days, I will snap.¡±


    The calm personalityughed coldly. ¡°I may not be stronger than you, but the primary personality has an existence that you can never defeat. Boss Ling Lan, and he already knows of your existence. I don¡¯t want to put you in a bad spot but you should take heed for your own sake.¡±


    After saying that, he sheathed his Tangdao. He then turned around to leave the mindscape to return to his own resting area.


    The evil personality suddenly grabbed his hand.


    The calm personality turned around and looked at him. He saw a colorful shimmer in the evil personality¡¯s eyes, ¡°You¡¯re worried about me, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to lose any of personalities.¡± The calm personality said those words and then flung off his hand. He escaped from the evil personality¡¯s ws before disappearing from the mindscape in the next second.


    ¡°You can¡¯t fathom the thought of losing me.¡± The evil personality smiled devilishly, but he couldn¡¯t hide the happiness in his eyes. ¡°Alright, my mood is better now. I¡¯ll help you look after that dumb primary personality for a few days. Calm, rest up and don¡¯t worry.¡±


    The evil personality¡¯s voice travelled to the calm personality¡¯s ears, who had already reached his own resting area. The calm personality was silent for a short while before sighing softly in the end. A look of uncertainty appeared in his eyes. He didn¡¯t know whether what he did was right or not. However, that look of uncertainty was only for an instant. In the next second, he returned back to his calm and indifferent nature. He definitely didn¡¯t want to lose any one of the personalities.


    At that moment, Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang reached the stone wall at the back of the rainbow pce.


    The rainbow pce was actually built against a mountain. The front and side walls were built by the previous Lord Gen and the back wall was actually the wall of the mountain.


    ¡°It¡¯s all stone.¡± Luo Lang leaned on the mountain wall and knocked, but he couldn¡¯t find any hollow areas.


    ¡°The wall has no issues. The issue is here.¡± Ling Lan stood 5 meters away from the mountain wall and softly pointed towards therge granite stone with her foot.


    Luo Lang arrived near therge granite stone with one jump. He knelt down and began to carefully knock on it. He still heard the sound of real stone and didn¡¯t sound like it was hollow.


    ¡°There doesn¡¯t seem to be any problems here,¡± said Luo Lang confusedly.


    Li Lanfeng also walked over and looked at it carefully. Then he said, ¡°This piece of granite doesn¡¯t have any problems, but from where it is positioned, it indeed looks somewhat odd and unnatural.¡±


    After hearing that, Luo Lang looked at it as well. After carefully studying the floor, he raised his googly eyes and said confusedly, ¡°Howe I can¡¯t see anything odd and unnatural about it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s called intuition,¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t care about Luo Lang¡¯s feelings and mocked him.


    ¡°Pfft, you¡¯re not Qi Long. How could you have Qi Long¡¯s Animal Instinct,¡± rebutted Luo Lang.

 Chapter 1349 - You’re So Bad

    <h4>1349 You¡°re So Bad</h4>


    Li Lanfeng smiled and nced at Luo Lang. ¡°I have a brain.¡±


    Luo Lang almost fainted from anger. ¡°You little...¡±


    Ling Lan helplessly looked at the childish conversation between the two people in front of her. She knew that during this time, Li Lanfeng would always provoke Luo Lang in order to make him not think about Xie Yi¡¯s death.


    Every time Luo Lang was angry and annoyed, he would be more energetic than when he was quiet. Ling Lan knew that so she didn¡¯t do anything about Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang¡¯s little argument.


    She looked at that piece of granite and then stepped on it with great force.


    A force went through her leg and then they heard a soft clicking sound.


    Behind them, 20 meters away from the mountain wall, a hole suddenly appeared in the ground.


    ¡°Holy sh*t, it actually so far from us. Who would think of looking there?¡± Luo Lang had already forgotten about quarreling with Li Lanfeng. He jumped over and reached the edge of the hole.


    ¡°There¡¯s stairs,¡± Luo Lang said joyfully. It seemed that this was indeed a passageway.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go down,¡± Ling Lan said indifferently.


    ¡°Alrighty.¡± Luo Lang instantly jumped in after hearing those words.


    Ling Lan shook her head speechlessly once again. When will Luo Lang be able to be more careful and think things over? He didn¡¯t even know what the situation was like down below but he still jumped down without a care in the world. He was so fearless. Was he not afraid that it would be filled with traps down there?


    ¡°Luo Lang can deal with most of themon difficulties,¡± Lanfeng smiled as heforted Ling Lan.


    ¡°It seems his calm personality can¡¯t be by his side all the time,¡± Ling Lan said with a thought in mind.


    ¡°It¡¯s quite taxing for the main body to activate his domain so many times. His calm personality probably doesn¡¯t want Luo Lang to feel any bacsh,¡± guessed Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Maybe. I¡¯ll find a chance to get to the bottom of it.¡± Ling Lan remembered Luo Lang¡¯s odd change during the fight on the 7th Bugle Call against Lord Gen¡¯s disciple. She decided when things be more stable, she would go find the calm personality and talk about it.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go down and take a look.¡± Li Lanfeng chose to go down first. He instantly jumped down just like Luo Lang.


    For domain realm masters such as themselves, they could easily negate the impact of a fall. Even if they were to jump down thousands of feet, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem.


    Ling Lan sighed once again. Couldn¡¯t they just walk down and not jump down one by one? They were too rash.


    Ling Lan, who felt she needed to keep her word, chose to hold on the railing as she walked down the stairs. After walking for seven or eight steps...


    Alright, jumping down seemed to be less tiring. Ling Lan chose to jump down. Since everyone else had jumped down, she shouldn¡¯t go against the grain just because of her stubbornness, right?


    Ling Lan definitely wouldn¡¯t admit that she had just done something dumb.


    After floating in the air for more than 30 seconds, Ling Lan finally saw the bottom of the hole.


    The bottom of the hole only had arge sealed door. Other than that, there was nothing else there.


    Without any light source, it was pitch-ck. However, domain realm masters could use their spiritual power to investigate their surroundings without actually seeing with their eyes. This method¡¯s effectiveness was much better than the naked eye since it didn¡¯t miss any blind spots.


    ¡°It¡¯s so dark. I would be nice if there was some light.¡± Ling Lan wasn¡¯t afraid of the dark, but she still liked lit up ces.


    Right after she said that, she felt something softly jump onto her shoulder. Then, a dim light appeared. It brightened up this dark ce by quite a lot.


    ¡°Little White, why are you also here?¡± asked Luo Lang when he saw a bright ball shining on Ling Lan¡¯s shoulder. It should be known that after Little White squished Boss, it had buried itself in the snow and yed dead. Luo Lang originally thought it would stay up there and guard the five guardians. He didn¡¯t think it actually didn¡¯t care about its little life and followed them here.


    ¡°Rawr (I¡¯m here to help my master. I¡¯m a little sun that brings light and warmth.)...¡±


    Little White excitedly waved its little tentacles as if being a help to its master was a very proud thing for it to do. Little White had already forgotten it had squished its master under its butt just moments ago.


    Well, with Little White¡¯s simple mind, it couldn¡¯t be helped that it couldn¡¯t think aboutplex situations, especially when it was the cute type where it would smile dumbly after giving just a bit of praise. It had no hope of learning from its faults. The chance of it repeating a mistake was more or less 100% of the time.


    Ling Lan flicked her finger to flick Little White away. She then softly dusted her shoulder and calmly spoke as she raised her head, ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡±


    Luo Lang watched as Little White got flicked away and bounced around the walls. In the end, the little ball rolled to a corner. Little White¡¯s googly eyes showed twirls and its mouth twitched many times. Luo Lang could almost feel its pain. When they identally make Boss mad, they would be in the same state as Little White right now. Oh, wait, no, maybe even worse.


    After hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words, Luo Lang stood up straight, turned around and walked over to the door.


    Bang! Luo Lang bumped into the door.


    This scene made Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes twitch uncontrobly. Luo Lang being stupid suddenly was definitely something he didn¡¯t want to see.


    Ling Lan also had a frustrated expression on her face. She rubbed her forehead with a speechless expression... What kind of underling and pet did she bring? One was dumber than the other...


    In the end, Ling Lan ced her hope into Li Lanfeng. He hoped that the strategist she trusted wouldn¡¯t be infected by the dumbness and have his intelligence drop below zero.


    Sensing the hope in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, Li Lanfeng instantly felt immense pressure on him. He took a deep breath, walked to the door and began to look for clues to open the door.


    Luckily, the books he read in the past were actually useful to let him find the clues he was looking for.


    He slowly put his right palm on the circr center of the door. Then, he slowly put forth energy into it ording to the path his mind believed to be correct.


    As the energy flowed through, the patterns on the door began to react and slowly lit up. In the end, the entire door was covered in dim lights. Then after a few cracking sounds, the door was slowly opened.


    Li Lanfeng breathed a sigh of relief before looking expectantly at Ling Lan. He then saw Ling Lan smile at him, It seemed like Ling Lan approved of him or was relieved he could do it. This made Li Lanfeng very happy. He felt that he managed to perform well in front of his crush for once.


    At that moment, Li Lanfeng was grateful towards Luo Lang and Little White¡¯s dumbness. It was their dumb behaviors that made his intelligence shine inparison.


    In reality, Ling Lan was thinking that it was good Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t infected with Luo Lang and Little White¡¯s dumbness. It made her feel that this world was still good to her and didn¡¯t let her fight the battles alone.


    Other than that, she didn¡¯t feel anything else.


    Right as Ling Lan was about to walk in, she suddenly thought of something. She then pointed at Little White, who was still on the floor all dizzy, and spoke to Luo Lang, ¡°Take it with us. It can be used to light the way.¡±


    Surprisingly, the creature at the top of the food chain on Juhao, Little White, was only good enough to be antern while with Ling Lan... Let¡¯s pity our Little White for having such a terrible master with a drop of our tears.

 Chapter 1350 - Why Is It So Difficult To Be A Pet?

    <h4>1350 Why Is It So Difficult To Be A Pet?</h4>


    A Tangdao formed in Luo Lang¡¯s hand. He lifted the Tangdao and hung Little White, whose tentacles were tied up in a knot, from the blunt edge of the Tangdao.


    Although Little White identally sat on Ling Lan, she wasn¡¯t really angry about it. However, in order to let Little White understand that there was a price to every mistake it made, she didn¡¯t mind punishing it with this mild punishment.


    Little White¡¯s glowing body lit up the passageway quite well. After walking for a few hundred meters, they finally could see the end of it.


    The three of them hastened their pace. But, they soon realized that it was a forked path. There were three routes in front of them.


    ¡°Where shall we go?¡± Luo Lang asked.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned sharp. She pointed toward the leftmost route and said, ¡°This way.¡±


    Her Profound Insight told her that the leftmost route was where she would find her answer.


    Luo Lang never suspected Boss¡¯s keen judgment. So, he walked towards the leftmost route without any hesitation.


    The three of them continued walking for quite some time. Suddenly, Luo Lang stopped in his tracks.


    As soon as Luo Lang stopped, space in front of him suddenly distorted and crackled.


    ¡°It¡¯s dangerous.¡± Luo Lang turned serious as he scanned the distorted space.


    He only stopped because someone in his mindscape reminded him of the danger in front of him. He was unfamiliar with this new arrival. It was definitely not the Little Leng he knew and trusted.


    Seeing the distorted space, Li Lanfeng closed his eyes and stretched out his right hand to sense the air around him. When he opened his eyes again, he seemed slightly puzzled. ¡°There¡¯s a sinister and dark energy near here. However, it doesn¡¯t feel like the bug element energy that Lord Gen had.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll know once we go in,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    Luo Lang nodded with a sharp gaze as he started to walk forward again but this time, he was more vignt.


    After walking for a few meters, Luo Lang suddenly jumped up. It was because the space around him had suddenly turned into a swamp. As thend was terraforming itself before his eyes, a fifteen meter long snake suddenly emerged from the swampyke before baring its jaws towards Little White who was still swaying on the tip of Luo Lang¡¯s Tangdao.


    Just as the snake was about to mp down its jaws, Luo Lang swung his Tangdao back forcefully, flinging Little White towards his back through the air.


    While still spinning in mid-air, Little White quickly covered its mouth with its tentacles, which stopped today¡¯s lunch from getting vomited out of its stomach. From the corner of its vision, it finally saw the giant snake who was looking at it like a rare delicacy.


    ¡®What the f**k? Someone is now trying to eat me? Hmm, is this what irony is? Hmph, no matter, you want to eat me? I¡¯ll eat you instead.¡¯


    The enraged Little White suddenly elongated its tentacles and whipped the snake across its face furiously. The snake, which now like a disheveled wife, was forced back into the swamp because of the sudden p.


    ¡°Ice Blockade.¡± Seeing the snake getting pped back into the swamp, Ling Lan used her technique to freeze the swamp around them. Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng slowlynded back onto the ice surface. They looked grimly at the giant snake that was twisting and turning under the thin sheet of ice.


    ¡°I remember that Lord Gen summoned this kind of poisonous animal on the 7th Bugle Call before.¡± The appearance of this giant snake was simr to the giant snake that appeared on the 7th Bugle Call. The only difference was that the snakes on the 7th Bugle Call were smaller. It wasn¡¯t like this giant snake which almost filled up the entire swamp with its body.


    ¡°There is not only the snake. There is more.¡± Ling Lan frowned slightly as she looked past the rampaging giant snake.


    Following Ling Lan¡¯s gaze, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang saw a half-revealed yellowish-brown toad behind the giant snake. It¡¯s golden slitted eyes were staring ferociously at them. The toad was simr to the colour of the swamp, in addition to the fact that it didn¡¯t move, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang almost missed it.


    ¡°There¡¯s even more.¡± When Ling Lan noticed that their attention was on the toad, Ling Lan reminded them again.


    Hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words, Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng moved their attention away and looked further past the unnerving toad. Near the outer edges of the swamp, they saw two more creatures.


    They didn¡¯t expect four different poisonous creatures to exist in this swamp simultaneously. These four creatures, which normally couldn¡¯t exist together, lived harmoniously in this swamp.


    Besides the giant snake and the toad, there was a ten meter long centipede crawling at the shallow edges of the swamp. Near the end of the swamp, there was a humongous spider spinning its web, biding its time for its next prey to arrive.


    ¡°If you include the scorpion that Lord Gen summoned, the five poisonous creatures are all present.¡± Ling Lan was deep in thought.


    ¡°This might be why there¡¯s an endless supply of bug domain concept in the rainbow pce.¡± Li Lanfeng stared at the four poisonous creatures. ¡°Based on the aura these poisonous creatures are exuding, they must be titled domain realm or above.¡±


    ¡°That exins everything but I feel that there is more than meets the eye.¡± Ling Lan looked at Little White who was having a staredown against the giant snake in the air. She said calmly, ¡± I¡¯ll leave them to you.¡±


    ¡°Rawr~¡± (I understand, master.)


    Poof! Little White¡¯s huge round body dove straight towards them. The three of them were speechless when they saw it. They immediately retreated a few kilometers back so that they wouldn¡¯t be squashed by it.


    Little White turned back into his real form without informing them again.


    Little White thought that it would spurt the muddy swamp water everywhere after it fell down but instead, itnded on a hard surface. Confused, it looked down and saw the thinyer of ice on the surface of the swamp. Theyer of ice looked very thin but it was extremely strong. Even when a giant cannonball like itnded on top of it at high speed, there were no cracks.


    Little White squealed in delight when it saw the ice. It thought, ¡®Master must be really worried about me for her to use her ice domain concept to protect me. Master is the best master in the world. Little White loves master the most.¡¯


    The giant snake got excited when it saw its prey falling down from the sky. It opened its mouth and charged towards the surface.


    Before it could get near, it saw the soft furs on Little White suddenly exploding and piercing through the ice. Instantly, the furs became huge tentacles that were more than ten meters in length. It attacked him from all directions.


    Gasp! ¡®Oh my god, what kind of monster is this?¡¯


    The frightened giant snake dove back deeper into the swamp and disappeared without a trace in an instant.


    Little White threw its tentacles in the swamp. Muddy water and cracked ice flew everywhere but its efforts were futile. It couldn¡¯t find the giant snake that was hidden in the depth of the swamp.


    The frustrated Little White wanted to find the other poisonous creatures but it realized that all of them were gone. Only an empty spider web was left.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± ¡®You bunch of cowards! I finally managed to get the chance to perform in front of my master but all of you are hiding from me. I¡¯m so angry.¡¯


    Little White just wanted to perform well and please its master. Why was it so difficult?


    ¡°Do you really want to perform?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s voice suddenly entered Little White¡¯s ears.


    ¡°Rawr...¡± Yes, Little White wants to be a useful Little White. Master, please don¡¯t abandon me.


    Little White¡¯s eyes were full of tears. It felt that if it didn¡¯t perform well this time, its master would really ignore it. Little White didn¡¯t forget that every time its master went on a mission, she would forget about it and throw it to her little brothers and little sisters. This was the same as abandoning him. In the end, it still has to rely on itself to find its master. Why is it so difficult to be a pet?

 Chapter 1351 - Heart Of Imperial.

    <h4>1351 Heart Of Imperial.</h4>


    The moment Little White finished expressing its feelings, it felt theyer of ice melting below it. Little White¡¯s huge body slowly sunk into the swamp.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± ¡®Oh my god. What¡¯s happening? I¡¯m drowning! Help!¡¯


    ¡°It looks like I raised you into some useless...¡± Ling Lan felt helpless when it saw Little White¡¯s iling tentacles. ¡°Did you forget where youe from?¡±


    ¡°Oh? Right!¡± With the help of its master¡¯s reminder, Little White finally remembered that it had lived three-quarters of its life underwater. There was lots of mud in the swamp but as a creature who specialized in swimming, it wouldn¡¯t affect him.


    Little White quickly calmed down and allowed the swamp to engulf its huge body. When it was fully submerged in the swamp, its body disintegrated into countless pocket-sized Little Whites as they quickly buried themselves into the mud around it. The Little Whites were scattered all over the swamp.


    ¡°Boss, will Little White be alright?¡± Luo Lang asked in concern after retreating to the edge.


    ¡°No problem. This is its chance to perform,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    Luo Lang nodded to express that he understood. Since Boss said that it was alright, it would be alright.


    He thought that Ling Lan would continue watching the battle but instead, she said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Go? To where?¡± Luo Lang couldn¡¯t follow Ling Lan¡¯s train of thoughts.


    ¡°Are we ignoring this ce now?¡± Li Lanfeng immediately understood what Ling Lan meant. He raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°If those four poisonous creatures were on the ground, I might be worried for Little White. However, in the swamp...¡± Ling Lan smiled. ¡°I¡¯m more worried about them.¡±


    ¡°It seems like we still don¡¯t understand Little White¡¯s full strength,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and replied. He always thought that Little White was andbound creature. From the looks of it now, that wasn¡¯t the case. Not only did Ling Lan like to hide her own strength, but she also hid the real strength of her pet. Only the people who followed her closely would know about her secrets.


    ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t know its real strength too...¡± Ling Lan started pondering. As she got to know Little White more, she felt that it surrendered too easily in the past. However, her father, Ling Xiao, was present at that time. No matter how well Little White was able to disguise itself, it wasn¡¯t as strong as her father. Without the battle at the Qingri wormhole, she wouldn¡¯t even know that her father had reached profound god-ss. No matter how strong Little White was, it wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat her father. It looks like Little White¡¯s instinct was very urate. It was able to see through her father¡¯s disguise immediately so it didn¡¯t resist and followed her willingly.


    It also looked like she inherited her love for hiding her true strength from her father. Ling Lan decisively let her father take the me.


    As time passed by, Ling Lan¡¯s emotions began to calm down. She wasn¡¯t as heartbroken or as furious as she was in the past. She slowly started to realise the signs that she missed. What she firmly believed in was her Profound Insight. It allowed her to see the almost unnoticeable clues in a mess of a fight.


    She even felt that the crucial clue was the learning device on Little Four. This would exin why when her father ¡®died¡¯, Little Four disappeared and the learning device went into sleep mode.


    Whenever she was free, Ling Lan would contact the learning device with her spiritual power. However, the learning device was in a state of hibernation so she didn¡¯t get any results. But, she wasn¡¯t disheartened. She continued nourishing the learning space with her spiritual power every day. She believed that one day, she would be able tomunicate with it one day and see her beloved little brother, Little Four, as well as the instructors she respected.


    The three of them quickly flew past the swamp. Of course, while they were crossing the swamp, the four poisonous creatures attempted to stop them. However, Little White managed to stop them the moment they started moving.


    Multiple bubbles floated to the surface of the swamp. The churning muddy water and the massive waves were a reflection of the vicious battle going on at the bottom of the swamp.


    But, all that wasn¡¯t Ling Lan¡¯s concern. Since she decided to pass the four poisonous creatures to Little White, she would believe in Little White entirely.


    Soon, Ling Lan reached the edge of the swamp. Surprisingly, there was a cave at the end of the swamp. The three of them entered the cave and walked along the rugged and slippery slope filled with water before they finally reached the center.


    Normally, the deepest part of the tunnel should be the darkest. However, that wasn¡¯t the case as there was something floating in mid-air that lit up the entire cave.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Luo Lang asked in surprise.


    ¡°It has such powerful concept energy.¡± Li Lanfeng always had a smile on his face so you couldn¡¯t see his emotion but this time, his smiling face cracked, revealing an astounded expression.


    Ling Lan frowned at the sight of the glowing object. Seeing the unfamiliar object, she tried her best to find the relevant information in her brain. After rummaging through her memories, she found it. Fortunately, Little Four always gave her tuition from time to time, telling her about the various top-secret files that every country tried to hide.


    ¡°It feels like the Heart of God,¡± Ling Lan replied.


    ¡°Heart of God.¡± Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng eximed at the same time. No matter how calm andposed someone was, they wouldn¡¯t be able to remain indifferent when they heard the Heart of God.


    ¡°I just said that it feels like. I didn¡¯t say that it is.¡± Ling Lan nced at them nonchntly. She seemed to be reprimanding them for getting surprised over such a minor matter. They were embarrassing her.


    ¡°If it¡¯s not, don¡¯t mention the Heart of God. It¡¯s a scary thing,¡± Luo Lang muttered to himself. They got dumbfounded because Boss mentioned those three words.


    ¡°This should be the Heart of Imperial.¡± As the first sessor of the Li family, Li Lanfeng knew many secrets.


    ¡°Heart of Imperial?¡± Luo Lang was weaker in this aspect. He knew about the Heart of God through a series of coincidences but he didn¡¯t know about the Heart of Imperial.


    ¡°It¡¯s one level lower than the Heart of God. Legend has it that when an imperial realm formidable warrior dies, his entire concept energy will be congregated into a Heart of Imperial,¡± Li Lanfeng exined.


    ¡°This will exin why the rainbow pce has an endless supply of concept energy,¡± Ling Lan walked to the front of the Heart of Imperial and said calmly.


    ¡°But I don¡¯t sense any bug concept from this Heart of Imperial...¡± Luo Lang asked in confusion.


    ¡°In order for the concept energy here to reach the rainbow pce, it must pass through the swamp.¡± Ling Lan thought for a moment before continuing, ¡°I remember that some creatures are able to absorb other concept energy and turn them into their own concept.¡±


    ¡°Those four poisonous creatures must be the transfer station.¡± Li Lanfeng got the answer too.


    ¡°The faction supporting the 13 Lords seems really powerful. They could actually get a Heart of Imperial to protect them. This is equivalent to having an extra life... Luckily, Little White acted quickly. If not, the results might be different.¡± Li Lanfeng frowned too. He couldn¡¯t help but start to worry. Would the 13 Lords really be afraid of the Soul Society and the mercenary world? What if they already had some rtionship with the Soul Society or the mercenary world? They wouldn¡¯t have any chance of winning in that case.


    Ling Lan understood Li Lanfeng¡¯s worry. ¡°We have to take the risk. If we lose, I¡¯ll need you to continue fighting with me in another world.¡±


    This time, Ling Lan¡¯s sess rate wasn¡¯t high. Based on her past style of doing things, she never took an unfavorable bet. But, she had no choice but to do so now. She had to risk it. If she risked it, she might have a chance. If she didn¡¯t, there would be no chance at all.

 Chapter 1352 - Original Form!

    <h4>1352 Original Form!</h4>


    Li Lanfeng nodded at Ling Lan¡¯s words. Since they already made the decision, they would have to bear with the result, whether it was good or bad.


    Ling Lan lifted her right hand and waved at the Heart of Imperial. The hovering Heart of Imperial seemed to be attracted to her hand as it flew gently into her grasp.


    Ling Lan closed her fingers gently. She held the Heart of Imperial in her hand.


    ¡°Such a pure and clean imperial domain concept energy.¡± Ling Lan observed the Heart of Imperial. As she admired it, she felt a little puzzled too. ¡°I don¡¯t understand why Lord Gen didn¡¯t choose to absorb it directly but instead, left it here.¡±


    ¡°Maybe he can¡¯t absorb it because their concept didn¡¯tplement each other. He might get injured if he tried to absorb it forcefully,¡± Li Lanfeng thought for a moment before replying.


    ¡°You make sense. Since we can¡¯t find the answer, let¡¯s bring it back,¡± Ling Lan replied in an even tone. ¡°After we make an agreement with the 13 Lords, I¡¯ll find some time to analyse it. We¡¯ll know the answer by then.¡±


    Worry shed past Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes. But, he still nodded. As for Luo Lang, anything Boss said was correct. The thought that analysing the Heart of Imperial was dangerous never crossed his mind.


    The three of them went back on the same path. When they reached the swamp again, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang were bbergasted by the scene in front of them.


    The swamp wasn¡¯t a swamp anymore. It had turned into a gigantic dry ¡®reed field¡¯. The entire ce was covered with and densely popted with reed. The characteristic of a swamp was nowhere to be seen. Plus, these ¡®reeds¡¯ were durable and soft. They were dancing around casually in the wind.


    The four haughty poisonous creatures were also nowhere to be seen. They wondered if they were dead or Little White had swallowed them into its stomach.


    ¡°Is this Little White¡¯s original form?¡± Luo Lang asked in surprise. He suddenly remembered something. ¡°I remember now. They are the tentacles at the bottom of the river on Juhao.¡±


    Luo Lang remembered the time when their entire mecha n was beaten up badly by Little White. In the end, Boss killed it with his beam gun. Did this mean that Boss didn¡¯t kill Little White in the past and even brought it back as a pet?


    Luo Lang¡¯s thoughts were all written on his face. It was so easy to guess what he was thinking. Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Yes. The one that died before you was his clone.


    ¡°So these are all Little White¡¯s clones.¡± Li Lanfeng looked at the soft reeds in front of him. When he recalled their fight in the past, he felt his hairs standing on end. He believed that if someone entered this reed pool identally, they would die a horrible death. They wouldn¡¯t even have any bones left because he could see the tiny slit opening on the stem of the reeds that looked like a clean set of sharp teeth. Those were fatal weapons that could kill people without spilling a drop of blood. Anyone would die if they met them.


    When Little White saw its master returning, a white round ball flew out of the ¡®reed field¡¯ and jumped into Ling Lan¡¯s arms directly.


    ¡°Rawr...¡± (Master, I took care of those creatures.)


    ¡°Pfft~¡± Little White spit out four ck round balls from its mouth and looked at Ling Lan in anticipation.


    The ck round balls had a sinister domain concept energy to them. Ling Lan felt the energy and understood that these must be the heart of the concept of the four poisonous creatures. Their concept energy was messy and not pure. It even gave off a sinister aura that made people ufortable.


    Ling Lan patted Little White¡¯s big head and replied, ¡°You can use them. This kind of thing is not suitable for us.¡±


    All the concepts in this world had their set of rules. Although many animals were able to evolve into powerful creatures, they couldn¡¯t be substituted. For instance, if Ling Lan and herrades wanted to find a shortcut to increase their strength, they could only look for the Heart of Imperial from a human to increase their strength. They couldn¡¯t use the Heart of Concept from another species. Anyone that tried to challenge this rule would be injured heavily.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t so arrogant to think that she could challenge this rule that had been around for many centuries. Plus, she already had a Heart of Imperial. Thus, she didn¡¯t care about those from the poisonous creatures. She would rather give them to Little White to increase its strength. It might be able to help her in the future.


    Little White was ted at Ling Lan¡¯s words. Other creatures might have to reconsider before devouring these Heart of Concept but for Little White, a bugged character who could swallow anything, even if you gave it a human¡¯s Heart of Imperial, it would be able to stomach it.


    Little White quickly finished gobbled up the four ck round balls. Then, it jumped onto Ling Lan¡¯s shoulder like nothing had happened. It felt as though the four ck balls were four pieces of sweets.


    Ling Lan shook her head. At first, she wanted to use Little White as reference but it seemed like she found the wrong creature.


    ¡°Erm, Little White, are you not going to retrieve your clones?¡± Luo Lang reminded Little White when he noticed that it was starting to fall asleep in Ling Lan¡¯s shoulder without any intention of removing the huge ¡®reed field¡¯.


    Little White was unhappy that someone disturbed its beauty sleep. It rolled its eyes at Luo Lang and made a few sounds. Then, it turned its back to Luo Lang and ignored him.


    ¡°Huh? What did it say?¡± Luo Lang looked at Li Lanfeng with tears all over his face. Sob, he couldn¡¯t understand Little White¡¯snguage.


    ¡°Well... Little White says that there¡¯s ample nutrients in this swamp so his clones can grow quickly here while protecting the rainbow pce. It can kill two birds with one stone.¡± How could he tell Luo Lang what Little White really said? In actual fact, Little White said, ¡°Retrieve my clones? Are you an idiot? That is a stupid question.¡± Li Lanfeng felt mentally exhausted. He had a hard time trying to maintain a good rtionship between hisrades.


    Ling Lan smiled at Li Lanfeng. As a strategist, his intelligence wasn¡¯t suited to work in human rtions so it must be hard for him to think of a reasonable excuse for Luo Lang. However, since he seemed like he was capable of it, she would let him handle all of her personal rtionships. Plus, Ling Lan was used to using Li Lanfeng too.


    If Li Lanfeng knew Ling Lan thoughts, would he feel helpless or happy? No matter what the answer was, it couldn¡¯t be denied that Li Lanfeng was getting more important in Ling Lan¡¯s mind.


    The three of them returned to the hall of the rainbow pce. Just as they arrived, the five guardians were slowly waking up. They were astounded when they saw Ling Lan who was sitting on the ice throne and smiling at them.


    ¡°Since you agreed to surrender, I have to give you some gifts,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    If that excruciating pain was their gift, they would rather not have it. The five guardians cursed silently in their hearts. However, on the surface, they appeared respectful, not daring to show any signs of discontent. They were afraid that they would get some more of those gifts.


    ¡°Go back and feel it properly. You will like it.¡± Ling Lan saw through their thoughts immediately. Her Profound Insight was too powerful. It was impossible for any weaker people to hide their real feelings in front of her. But, Ling Lan didn¡¯t mind it. She kept the five guardians because she needed them for manualbour so in her mind, they just needed to be obedient. If they didn¡¯t bow down to her sincerely, it wouldn¡¯t affect her.


    The five guardians¡¯ faces started twitching when they heard Ling Lan telling them that they would like this excruciating pain. Did she think that they were masochists?


    They would never expect that in the future, they would really like this agent just like what Ling Lan said. They even hoped that they could drink it every day. However, at that time, it would only be given based on their merits, which would cause them to put in all their efforts intopleting all the missions Ling Lan assigned them, afraid that if they didn¡¯t do well, their merits would be cut and they wouldn¡¯t get the gene agent they desired.

 Chapter 1353 - Shemale?

    <h4>1353 Shemale?</h4>


    The sky turned dark, leaving only Lord Gen¡¯s rainbow pce as the only source of light in this dimly lit area. Since Ling Lan killed Lord Gen secretly and swiftly, the rainbow pce hadn¡¯t descended into chaos as it continued to operate as per normal. Plus, with the help of the five guardians controlling the situation, everyone in the rainbow pce was pacified quickly. Nothing noteworthy happened in the territories controlled by Lord Gen either. Everything seemed peaceful and orderly.


    Of course, Ling Lan knew that this peace was just temporary. If she didn¡¯t gain the approval of the other 12 lords in the end, she would be faced with endless challenges and the unrest among the people below her.


    Li Lanfeng also followed the five guardians to take care of the matters in the rainbow pce. If Ling Lan really became the new Lord Gen, the general manager of the entire rainbow pce would definitely be Li Lanfeng. Compared to Luo Lang¡¯s brash and reckless attitude, Ling Lan trusted Li Lanfeng¡¯s intelligence and meticulousness more.


    As for Luo Lang, he went back to the 7th Bugle Call just as a precaution. If the 13 Lords didn¡¯t ept Ling Lan, they would definitely attack the 7th Bugle Call and the rainbow pce together. Although Little Seven, Tian Fang, and Luo Yang were in the 7th Bugle Call, theirbat abilities didn¡¯t ease Ling Lan¡¯s worry. With Luo Lang around, Ling Lan would feel more at ease.


    Of course, this was what she told everyone on the surface. In actual fact, Ling Lan was also nning her route of retreat. If by any chance the 13 Lords really decided to cast aside all considerations for a potential war with the Soul Society and attacked them, Luo Lang and the crew members would have a higher chance of escaping under the protection of the 7th Bugle Call.


    As for Li Lanfeng and her... since they seeked to gain, it was necessary for them to risk their life for it.


    Why did she choose Li Lanfeng to take the risk with her? Thinking up to this point, Ling Lan felt sorry for Li Lanfeng. Luo Lang was her little brother whom she raised personally. She couldn¡¯t bear to let him take the risk of dying. As for Li Lanfeng... he was her friend and her soul mate. It seemed natural for him to take the risk with her.


    This isn¡¯t a good... Ling Lan felt guilty. She decided that if they survived this predicament smoothly, she would treat Li Lanfeng better.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that when Li Lanfeng heard her asking Luo Lang to leave while letting him stay behind, he was extremely ted. Then, random thoughts about Ling Lan¡¯s intention behind her action began to surface in his mind. If Ling Lan treated him even better... fine, Ling Lan, you are seeking your own death.


    Ling Lan sat on the ice throne alone as she waited silently for the 12 lords toe and give her their final verdict. This feeling of her life being controlled in the palms of someone else wasn¡¯t good.


    ¡°This will be thest time.¡± Ling Lan put her head down as a malicious intent shed past her eyes. As long as she could persevere through this most difficult checkpoint, she would be able to control her fate entirely.


    At this moment, many shadowy figures appeared in the hall. They came silently without any notice.


    Ling Lan ced one hand on her head and looked at them directly. She saw the five expected guests barging in her hall and smiled. ¡°Five lords came to visit the rainbow pce personally. I feel so honoured.¡±


    Lord Card suddenly rushed in front of Ling Lan until he was an inch away from Ling Lan¡¯s face as he smiled cheekily in his clown outfit. ¡°Are you the Lan Xiao who pretended to be from the Rainbow Raiders? No, that shouldn¡¯t be your real name. How should I address you, little friend?¡±


    Seeing Lord Card being so close to him, it ticked a nerve of Ling Lan as her force of presence suddenly exploded outwards. Lord Card instantly retreated back to his original position. He continued smiling as he said, ¡°You¡¯re really unfriendly.¡±


    Ling Lan replied calmly, ¡°I don¡¯t like it when peoplee too close to me. As for my name, you can address me as Lord Gen.¡±


    The moment she said this, Lord Card¡¯s smile froze. The other four lords¡¯ faces turned cold.


    Lord Holy, who was wearing a white gown and had golden hair and blue eyes, sneered. ¡°You¡¯re really impolite. Do you really think that we will allow an organization to enter the Lawless Lands?¡±


    Ling Lan gave a small smile. ¡°Then shall we make a bet?¡± Her fearless and nonchnt attitude frooze the expressions on the five lords¡¯ faces. This was the first time they saw such an arrogant invader. In the past, everyone who wanted a piece of the Lawless Lands acted cautiously in front of them as they were afraid that the 13 Lords would ban together and eradicate them if they provoked the lords. If the five lords had a choice, they wanted to attack this arrogant little brat together.


    However, Ling Lan was fiddling with two objects in her other hand. One was the token representing the governor of the 18th District of the Soul Society. The other was the token used by White Monarch from the Rainbow Raiders. These two items reminded them that there were very influential organizations supporting this arrogant little fellow.


    Why did the 13 Lords choose to believe Ling Lan¡¯s lies? It was because Ling Lan was too strong for her age. Only the extremely elusive Soul Society was able to groom such a rare genius. Only a rare genius was able to convince White Monarch to work with him.


    Without this crucial factor, they would have killed anyone that had the same two items and had spoken the same words as Ling Lan. Did they really think that they were idiots? Would they believe anyone who came with a token and dering that they were from a certain organization?


    Lord Zhen noticed the awkward atmosphere. It was hard to continue the conversation so he tried to mediate the situation. ¡°Lord Qian and Lord Kun would like to know besides the Soul Society, and the Rainbow Raiders, who else wants a part of the Lawless Lands?¡±


    Ling Lan replied indifferently, ¡°On the front, I belong to the Rainbow Raiders. As for the Soul Society, they are not involved in this.¡±


    ¡°That means the Soul Society is working with the Rainbow Raiders, or the mercenary world, right?¡± Lord Demon, who was dressed quite openly, instantly covered her mouth andughed sweetly at Ling Lan¡¯s words. Her chest jiggled as sheughed.


    ¡°You can think of it that way.¡± Ling Lan gave a mysterious smile to Lord Demon.


    ¡°How about this? Little brother, if you¡¯re willing to spend a good night with me, I can help you.¡± Lord Demon¡¯s eyes lit up when she saw Ling Lan¡¯s gaze. She licked her lips and looked at Ling Lan lovingly.


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows slightly when she heard this. Her smile got a tone brighter. Lord Demon followed her and smiled sweetly at her too, making her look even more enchanting and seductive. Contempt could be seen in the other four lords¡¯ eyes when they saw this. They seemed to be directing their disgust at Lord Demon and Ling Lan.


    At this moment, Ling Lan opened her mouth and emphasised every one of her words. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t like a man.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha...¡± Lord Card clutched his stomach andughed loudly. ¡°Shemale, you finally met your match today. I¡¯m going to die fromughing.¡±


    The other three lordsughed too. This was the first time Lord Demon¡¯s real identity got exposed and also the first time she got rejected. In the past, once Lord Demon activated her seduction domain concept, she never failed. Even they almost sumb to her enticement. The fellow in front of them was young but his willpower was amazing. Most importantly, he had good eyesight. He didn¡¯t get fooled.


    ¡°Go and die.¡± Lord Demon was instantly infuriated when her secret was exposed. She swung her whip at Lord Card.


    ¡°p!¡± Lord Card flicked a card out, forcefully directing the whip away from him. The next second, he came beside Ling Lan and shouted in a fearful tone, ¡°What a fierce shemale. Lan Xiao, hurry up and help me.¡±


    Lord Demon was even more furious when she saw this. She swung both of her hands and ten whips flew out. Just as they were a distance away from Ling Lan, the tip of the whips suddenly turned into hideous snakeheads. They opened their big mouths and bit towards her.


    The snakes were about to reach Ling Lan but she didn¡¯t move as she sat on her ice throne. She just raised her eyebrows in response.

 Chapter 1354 - She Couldn’t Lose!

    <h4>1354 She Couldn¡°t Lose!</h4>


    Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! The snakes were being whipped back.


    Even Lord Card was also suddenly attacked. He was forced back to his original position.


    At that moment, the icy throne Ling Lan sat on had ten intimidating tentacles iling around it, creating an indomitable image to the people below. Along the tentacles, there were slit-like openings that had teeth in them. In that moment, the tentacles currently had their slit-like mouths open savagely and it would drool from time to time. As the drool fell onto the floor, it would create a sharp hiss before quickly corroding holes on the ground.


    ¡®What a terrifying sight!¡¯ The five lords got vignt when they saw the tentacles.


    Lord Zhen stood there frozen like a statue. He had seen Lan Xiao¡¯s space domain concept and ice element concept. Now, he was showing a nt based concept? He was nowpletely confused. What was his actual domain concept? Or perhaps he had three different domains concepts?


    Lord Zhen shook his head to get rid of the ridiculous thought out of his mind. Logic told him that it was impossible. However, what was before his eyes made him doubt himself. What was even happening? He could now only hope that Lord Qian and Lord Kun could give him a logical answer to these series of ridiculous events. Otherwise, he would actually doubt the knowledge he acquired in the past. If that were to happen, it would damage the foundation of his domain concept, which would be really bad for his progress into god-realm.


    ¡°It seems Mr. Lan Xiao has many trumps cards up his sleeve,¡± Lord Kan, who hadn¡¯t made any remarks, finally said his first few words. A guarded look appeared in his eyes. If they were afraid of the Rainbow Raiders in the beginning, then they were also now somewhat afraid of Ling Lan as well.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare toe and stay in the Lawless Lands if the Emperor didn¡¯t have confidence in me to do so.¡± Ling Lan smiled lightly. While he said that, pride and confidence oozed out of her demeanour.


    It seemed like Lan Xiao was probably the most prized underling of the Emperor of the Soul Society. Some of them even suspect that Lan Xiao might be the Soul Emperor¡¯s son or grandson. Only those who had the full backing of a strong organization would be able to show such a confident expression.


    The five lords all made this judgment in unnned unison. The reason they came to the rainbow pce wasn¡¯t because they had made a decision. Instead, they were trying to probe Ling Lan. If Ling Lan¡¯s behavior was off by even a little bit, they would determine that taking Ling Lan out wouldn¡¯t cause the Soul Society and the Rainbow Raiders to react. If that was the case, the five of them would definitely cooperate and kill Ling Lan on the spot. However, Ling Lan¡¯s uncanny behavior made her hard to read.


    The five of them looked at each other with suggestive nces, in the end, Lord Zhen spoke up, ¡°Lan Xiao, as long as the Soul Society keeps its promise by only taking Lord Gen¡¯s territory, not cause problems or start wars and open trade routes to the Lawless Lands, we will not take offense for the previous Lord Gen¡¯s death.¡±


    ¡°No problem,¡± Ling Lan said without hesitation. Since she was about to seed, she wasn¡¯t going to back down.


    ¡°When will the shipment of supplies arrive?¡± Lord Holy suddenly asked in a serious tone.


    The other four lords all looked towards Ling Lan, waiting for her response.


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. She knew that this was one of the tests for the other lords to ept her as one of them. If she was to say that she couldn¡¯t supply them supplies, it would reveal that her position in the Soul Society wasn¡¯t as high as she behaved. At the same time, it would show them her cooperation with Rainbow Raiders wasn¡¯t on the best of terms. Once they believe they could bear the negatives of killing her, the other lords would definitely make a move on her life.


    ¡°When do you want it to arrive?¡± Ling Lan smiled lightly, looking as if she was very confident.


    ¡°One month!¡± Lord Kan said without hesitation.


    ¡°You are purposely making it hard for me...¡± Ling Lan had a helpless look on her face. ¡°Even if I report this to the Emperor now, from preparation tomunicating with the mercenary world and shipping it here, it would be impossible without at least three months. The Lawless Lands is too far away from the center of everything.¡±


    ¡°If you depart from the closest nation near the Lawless Lands, just one month should be enough,¡± Lord Kan said inly.


    ¡°You think we¡¯re so stupid to expose where the Soul Society is stationed?¡± A look of mockery showed on Ling Lan¡¯s face, mocking them for doubting her intelligence.


    If they actually import supplies from the closest nation near the Lawless Lands, that territory would instantly be useless. With that intelligence, that nation¡¯s government would immediately move out all their forces to wipe out all of the Soul Society influences in their territory.


    ¡°Since we¡¯re going to cooperate, you need to show your sincerity.¡± Lord Kan¡¯s attitude was quite clear. If the Soul Society wanted the lords to ept them, the Soul Society must ept their conditions.


    ¡°If we were to give up a stable territory for an unstable territory... Do you think the Soul Emperor will agree to that?¡± Ling Lan half-smiled. ¡°If you want to cooperate peacefully, don¡¯t bring up such unrealistic conditions.¡±


    The two of them met each other¡¯s gazes with neither of them wanting to let up. The atmosphere instantly turned tense and it seemed as though a battle was going to ensue.


    ¡°It¡¯s just supplies, isn¡¯t it? Lan Xiao¡¯s words make sense, so we should give him some time. However, the Lawless Lands is currently in dire need of more supplies, so the faster the better. How about this? We will meet in the middle. How about two months? If we see the supplies in two months, we won¡¯t interfere with the Soul Society doing anything in Lord Gen¡¯s territory. If the supplies don¡¯t arrive in two months, then sorry, we will take back Lord Gen¡¯s territory and ask the Soul Society to find somewhere else to settle,¡± Lord Zhen spoke up. He had a determined look on his face with the meaning that the terms were not for discussion.


    ¡°Is that a promise?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and asked.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a promise and condition from us,¡± Lord Zhen said without hesitation.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes brightened, and after a few seconds, she responded, ¡°Alright, I will notify the Emperor.¡±


    ¡°Alright, we await your good news.¡± After saying those words, the five lords disappeared from sight.


    After waiting quietly for a while, Ling Lan confirmed that the lords had left. Then, she said inly, ¡°Come out.¡±


    A silhouette appeared in the main hall of the pce. His expression was somber while his eyes had a look of worry that he couldn¡¯t hide.


    At the same time, the dancing tentacles suddenly disappeared. Then, a little white ball jumped out of thin air. It was Little White. Those tentacles were created by Little White. Its tentacles seemed to have evolved because it had devoured the cores of the four poisonous insects.


    ¡°Two months? Where are we going to get them those supplies?¡± Li Lanfeng steeled himself and forced the low spirited feeling he had into the back of his mind as he spoke out the biggest problem they had at hand.


    Ling Lan closed her eyes with an exhausted expression. Although she only spoke with the five lords for a short amount of time, every sentence and expression was still the results from her careful consideration and practice. Maintaining such a high-state of concentration, it was really taxing to her mind.


    Looking at the tired Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng felt heartbroken. He walked behind Ling Lan and slowly caressed the side of her head, hoping it would help her feel a little better.


    ¡°We¡¯ll let Tian Fang, Luo Lang and the others go back once to find Qi Long to deal with it,¡± With a steeled expression, Ling Lan forced those words out of her mouth, even though it made her feel useless.


    ¡°Will there be enough time?¡± A back and forth trip, in addition to the time spent on gathering supplies, was already difficult in three months, not to mention how the 13 Lords only gave them two months to work with.


    Ling Lan clenched her fists until her nails dug into the palms of her hands. She really didn¡¯t want to drag too many people into this. However, now it seemed that couldn¡¯t be avoided.


    ¡°If Luo Chao fuses with Jin, it can be done.¡± In the end, she still dragged in her two little sisters. However, she was already at this step. She couldn¡¯t just lose like this!

 Chapter 1355 - Risk!

    <h4>1355 Risk!</h4>


    ¡°Also, go and find Xia Qingyi. Ask him to prepare a portion of the supplies we need.¡±


    Li Lanfeng sounded frustrated. ¡°Are you preparing to gamble everything on the Lawless Lands?¡±


    ¡°There are too few people I can use. No matter who¡¯s avable, as long as they can be used, I¡¯ll use them,¡± Ling Lan replied.


    ¡°Can Xia Qingyi be trusted?¡± Li Lanfeng asked earnestly.


    ¡°He has to listen to me until I die,¡± Ling Lan replied decisively.


    Although Ling Lan wasn¡¯t able to contact the learning space and Little Blossom, she still decided to meet Xia Qingyi. It was because with the help of her Profound Insight, she knew that Little Blossom¡¯s clone was still inside his brain. It wasn¡¯t affected by Little Blossom¡¯s disappearance. Little Blossom ordered his clone to hibernate, so even without Little Blossom¡¯s presence, the order remained as it was.


    Luckily, only Ling Lan knew about Little Blossom. As for Xia Qingyi, he thought that cing Little Blossom was one of Ling Lan¡¯s abilities so for his safety, he would never betray her as long as she was alive.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Since Ling Lan had spoken, Li Lanfeng knew what he had to do.


    Almost immediately, Li Lanfeng left the rainbow pce. He went back to the 7th Bugle Call and ryed Ling Lan¡¯s new order.


    The 7th Bugle Call immediately unloaded all of its goods. Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei took care of the safety of the supplies.


    The 13 Lords weren¡¯t able to confirm Ling Lan¡¯s background so they suppressed the news that Lord Gen had already died. Thus, the other factions in the Lawless Lands didn¡¯t know that Lord Gen¡¯s identity had changed.


    At the same time, Ling Lan went down to the swamp below the rainbow pce which had already turned into a ¡®reed field¡¯.


    ¡°Little White, protect me.¡± Ling Lan spoke to Little White which was on her shoulder.


    Little White nodded its entire body obediently. The next second, it jumped down from Ling Lan¡¯s shoulder and entered the ¡®reed field¡¯ before disappearing without a trace.


    Ling Lan took a step forward and arrived at the center of the ¡®reed field¡¯.


    Suddenly, the ¡®reeds¡¯ parted away, revealing a deep hole around ten metres in diameter. Ling Lan slowly entered the hole and the hole slowly closed behind her. It turned into a swamp again. New ¡®reeds¡¯ started forming on top of the hold. Finally, it turned back into an inconspicuous ¡®reed field¡¯. No evidence of the hole was left behind. It was as though nothing ever changed.


    Actually, after Ling Lan found the Heart of Imperial, she had tried to swallow it. She wanted to use the power from the Heart of Imperial to open the doors of the learning space and make contact with Little Four.


    Ling Lan felt that there was no reaction from the learning space because her domain concept wasn¡¯t powerful enough to open the doors. Now, with the Heart of Imperial, she saw a ray of hope.


    Since there was hope, Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to continue waiting. There was a huge risk but she didn¡¯t care about it anymore.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t making this decision because she was impulsive. She just didn¡¯t have the time to do things safely. She had already met six of the 13 Lords of the Lawless Lands. In order to kill one Lord Gen, she already needed to borrow Little White¡¯s strength. If she relied on her own strength, she would still be able to kill her opponent but she would get seriously injured in return. In reality, one lord was already on par with her. So what if she had the advantage of the unknown? She didn¡¯t just have one enemy. She had a bunch of enemies. If two or three of them attacked her together, she would be in trouble.


    The 13 Lords were aggressive in their approach too. They only gave her two months to do something that normally could only be done in three months. This was all because she wasn¡¯t strong enough... Ling Lan hated the feeling of helplessness. Hence, she needed to be stronger so that she could protect those people that followed her and ensure their survival.


    Luckily, it wasn¡¯t impossible to be stronger in two months, especially when she had the Heart of Imperial.


    Since there was a possibility of sess, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t give up. Anyway, she was already dancing with Hades. She didn¡¯t mind doing another dance with him.


    Returning to the darkness again made her feel like she was going back into a womb like she did in the past. At that time, she was cultivating in her mother¡¯s womb. She didn¡¯t know how long she spent inside but when she woke up, her mother was already giving birth. She didn¡¯t know what was happening so she almost caused a difficultbour to her mother. Fortunately, Little Four reminded her so she was able to avoid a disaster.


    Thinking back about it, Ling Lan felt sad. She was all alone again. She didn¡¯t have her mother doting her. She also didn¡¯t have the apaniment of Little Four. Her mind and heart felt empty.


    Ling Lan suddenly smiled. Why was she feeling sad? If she was able to stand at the peak, she could get everything back. Her mother, her younger brother, all of them would return to her. None of them would be left out.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze was firm. She slowly closed her eyes. The Heart of Imperial in her arms slowly floated out of her grasp. As it was floating in front of her, she used her spiritual power to bind the Heart of Imperial and started extracting the concept energy inside.


    The Heart of Imperial¡¯s physical appearance was small but in actual fact, it was the culmination of all the concept energy an imperial realm formidable warrior gathered in his entire life. There was almost an endless supply of energy inside. However, to absorb the energy, the concept energy had to be converted to one¡¯s own. Ling Lan was very careful when doing this step. She would control the amount of energy she extracted each time, afraid that something would happen, causing her to injure herself.


    This wasn¡¯t the only thing she was careful about. She also brought thest 30 second generation Nuwa agent with her.


    All in all, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t a reckless and impulsive person. It was just that the current situation forced her to take a risk, but all the decisions she made were done after serious considerations. Ample preparations were already made beforehand.


    Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power and the cultivation techniques of the Divine Command sect were like cheat codes in a game. For normal humans, their energy came from their bodies. For instance, the absorption of the Heart of Imperial was done by the body. Then, the person would have to change the concept energy he sucked into his own domain concept. There would be serious damage done to the body using this method because of the collision of the concept energies in the body. That was why Lord Gen didn¡¯t dare to absorb the Heart Of Imperial. It was very easy to get injured by the energy core of an imperial realm formidable warrior. That was why he ced it below the rainbow pce and used the poisonous creatures as the transferring medium before sucking the energy.


    With this method, some of the concept energy would be wasted and the effects were slower but it was overall safer.


    However, to Ling Lan, getting a little injured wasn¡¯t a problem. She was able to activate her spiritual power and used the techniques of the Divine Command sect to extract the energy of the Heart of Imperial outside her body. Then, she would use her spiritual power again to fuse and change the concept energy, pulling out any foreign elements that would harm her. After that, she would absorb the energy into her body. With the cheat-like techniques, she evaded the step that everyone was most afraid of.


    It had to be said that Ling Lan¡¯s golden finger was really amazing.

 Chapter 1356 - Don’t Want To Die!

    <h4>1356 Don¡°t Want To Die!</h4>


    The energy from the Heart of Imperial entered Ling Lan¡¯s body continuously. Ling Lan could feel the concept in her body getting thicker and thicker. Even with such obvious signs, she remained patient and started congregating andpressing the concept energy. She had asked her master, Mu Shui-qing, how to advance to god-realm in the past. He told her that she mustpress her concept until she couldn¡¯tpress it anymore. When the concept in her body reached a point where it couldn¡¯t hold anymore, this was the time to break through to the god-realm.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know how far away she was from the step her master mentioned. After all, she just entered the imperial realm not long ago and had just begunpressing her concept. She just hoped that the Heart of Imperial would allow her to achieve half step into god-realm. That way, she would have the confidence to fight with the 13 Lords.


    During this period of time, she had been analysing her Profound Insight. Number One told her that Profound Insight was the most powerful innate talent in the universe. Ling Lan had always thought that its strength could only be utilized in mecha piloting. Now, she finally understood what Number One really meant. The power of Profound Insight she was able to control was heaven-defying enough. If she couldpletely grasp Profound Insight, the space domain that everyone was fearful of was not even worth mentioning.


    This was the reason why Ling Lan had the confidence to fight with two most powerful lords out of the 13 Lords, Lord Kun and Lord Qian.


    The concept in Ling Lan¡¯s body beingpressed stably. Just like that, she continued repeating the same procedure over and over again. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know how many days had passed or how long she had cultivated. She always thought that she would only end her cultivation when the energy in the Heart of Imperial was finished or someone disturbed her. But, unexpectedly, the Heart Of Imperial, which had been giving off energy steadily, suddenly exploded. She was caught off her guard.


    Every imperial realm formidable warrior had a motive for creating their Heart of Imperial before they died. Some wanted to give their descendants a shortcut to grow stronger while others had some hidden secrets. If it was the former, there was nothing wrong with using it as long as you were careful enough. Thetter was worse as it was impossible to guard against it.


    It seemed like Ling Lan¡¯s luck was bad. This Heart Of Imperial wasn¡¯t the former. It was thetter. Also, it was the most irritating kind, the kind of Heart Of Imperial that had revenge in mind.


    Normally, this kind of Heart Of Imperial would give off some dark aura. Yet, this Heart Of Imperial, whether it was from the appearance or its aura, didn¡¯t give off any kind of weird feeling. That was why Ling Lan neglected this point.


    We could only say that some things were not written entirely in books. The Heart of Imperial was already very rare. Even if the military had done some research on it, they wouldn¡¯t be able topletely understand it. There would definitely be some omissions of details and information they couldn¡¯t find out.


    As luck would have it, Ling Lan chose to believe the research andpared the Heart Of Imperial with it. She thought that the Heart of Imperial was the first kind so she used it boldly. If she knew that it was the second kind... fine, Ling Lan would still use it. However, she would be more careful and remain vignt.


    However, it was toote now. The energy of the Heart Of Imperial escaped the control of her spiritual power and started entering Ling Lan¡¯s body furiously.


    ¡°Pfft~¡± Ling Lan¡¯s body couldn¡¯t handle the impact of such huge concept energy. Blood spurted out of her mouth.


    Different concept energy started tearing her body apart. A vicious look shed past her eyes. ¡°Double Limit Release!¡±


    The snowke symbol appeared on her forehead. Then, it turned ck as it swiftly spreaded through her entire forehead. She looked devilish. At the same time, her hair grew longer and turned silver instantly.


    ¡°Suppress it!¡± The double imperial realm domain concept suppressed the messy and violent concept energy in her body simultaneously. At the same time, Ling Lan repeatedlypressed the violent concept energy. She had no time to care about the different concept energies anymore. She knew that this would cause implications to her advancements of physical skills in the future but now, she just wanted to stay alive. Hence, shepletely disregarded the risk involved in doing so.


    The two energies collided and got suppressed in her body, increasing the damage caused to her body.


    Ling Lan quickly downed a bottle of the second generation Nuwa agent. The Nuwa agent quickly nourished Ling Lan¡¯s body.


    Just like that, when the concept energy hurt Ling Lan¡¯s body until she couldn¡¯t bear with it anymore, she would drink a bottle of the Nuwa agent. The process repeated again and again. Shepressed the concept energies continuously. Finally, Ling Lan drank herst bottle of Nuwa agent. Yet, the collision in her body didn¡¯t stop. Seeing this, Ling Lan¡¯s heart turned cold. Was she going to announce her failure here today?


    The effect of thest bottle of agent was diminishing and the pain got stronger. Blood kept flowing down the side of her lips.


    Ever since she came into this world, she had been vomiting blood all the time. But, she never died from it. It seemed quite funny.


    In the face of life-or-death, this was actually the thought that appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s mind.


    ¡°That¡¯s really quite funny. However, since I can¡¯t die from vomiting blood, I will not die here.¡± Ling Lan opened her mouth and scolded angrily, ¡°F**k! You want to y hard? I will not y with you anymore!


    ¡°I want to live. Let¡¯s see who will survive to the end.¡± Ling Lan smiled. Since her body couldn¡¯t handle it, she wouldn¡¯t use her body.


    Ling Lan decisively moved the violent energy to her mindscape, which caused a severe headache. Fortunately, Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power was strong enough so she didn¡¯t lose her consciousness because of the excruciating pain.


    ¡°If you want to charge, let me give you an opportunity. Go ahead.¡± Ling Lan guided the huge energy towards the learning space.


    ¡°Ah~!¡± Ling Lan screamed into the air. Her silver hair flew in the wind. Any normal human being wouldn¡¯t be able to handle the extreme pain caused by the impact. Veins started popping out on Ling Lan¡¯s forehead. Her expression was crazy but determined. The epitome of ¡®To win, or die trying¡¯.


    Number One, who was nourishing Little Four and the other instructors, suddenly looked up. For the first time, astonishment appeared on his cold and expressionless face.


    The next second, he came to the great hall of the learning space. He raised his hand and pushed it forcefully in the direction of the entrance.


    ¡°Boom!¡± Thebination of the force outside and inside finally shattered the enclosed passageway.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Number One sensed that the concept energy didn¡¯t belong to Ling Lan so he frowned slightly. The next second, invisible barriers appeared and protected some of the doors.


    Number One ignored the other doors.


    He heard many cursing and swearing in the background. ¡°F**k!¡± ¡°What the hell is this?¡± ¡°What sneak attacked me?¡± ¡°Damn it,e out and I¡¯ll hit you.¡± The next moment, the other eight instructors appeared in a haggard state in the great hall.


    Number One looked calmly at the passage. His lips seemed to be tilted at a certain angle. ¡°It¡¯s a little stupid and reckless but fortunately, the passage is opened.¡±


    Then, he disappeared on the spot.


    ¡°Erm... did Number One just smile just now?¡± Number Three was bbergasted.


    ¡°He didn¡¯t. You must have mistaken,¡± Number Six, Number Seven, and Number Eight replied simultaneously.


    Number Nine quickly retracted her astounded expression and resumed her cold expression.


    Number Five nced at Number Nine with a smile. He moved his mouth without a sound. ¡°Your brother is really funny.¡±


    Number Nine rolled her eyes at Number Five. She wouldn¡¯t admit that her brother, the ice mountain that never had expressions on his face, would smile. She would never admit it.


    Number Four touched her chin thoughtfully.¡¯This is fun. I never expect the ice mountain to look even more handsome when there are expressions on his face. I really like him.¡¯

 Chapter 1357 - Starting From Zero the Next Day!

    <h4>1357 Starting From Zero the Next Day!</h4>


    After using concept energies from the Heart of Imperial to push through the pathway into the learning space, Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape exploded in a bang, causing her to fall unconscious.


    Even with Ling Lan¡¯s strong spiritual power, the terrifying energy created from instantaneous shock was still too much for her to handle. Her mind automatically protected her by making her fall into a deep sleep.


    Just like that, Ling Lan was in a trance for quite some time, not knowing how long had passed. Finally, she felt something around her. She didn¡¯t know who was softly breathing on her face. It made her feel somewhat itchy and ufortable.


    Ling Lan slowly opened her eyes and saw Little White¡¯srge round eyes with tears within them. The itchy feeling she had was Little White using its little tentacles carefully wiping off the blooding out of the corner of her mouth.


    Seeing its master awaken, Little White called out excitedly.


    ¡°Wah wah wah, master, you¡¯re finally awake. You slept for three days. I thought you were going to leave me all by myself. Wah wah wah...¡± Little White spoke as tears flew everywhere. It seemed Ling Lan¡¯s deep sleep did indeed terrify it.


    Ling Lan put her hand out and softly caressed Little White¡¯s small head and said in a hoarse voice, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t leave you behind.¡±


    Little White¡¯s white hairs had already turned gray from dust. Some parts of its hairs were even in knots and filled with mud that were already dry. These were all around its body. It seemed that during the past few days, while Little White was guarding her, it didn¡¯t even have time to clean its little white hairs. It should be known that Little White liked being clean and would always clean its little white hairs from time to time. Sometimes even Ling Lan thought it was excessive.


    Now, it seemed like she was the most important thing on Little White¡¯s mind. It wasn¡¯t how she thought Little White was forced to follow her. If Little White cared for her so much, then she would also treat Little White as an important family member and never leave its side.


    Acquiring Ling Lan¡¯s acknowledgment was actually quite difficult. Ling Lan¡¯s would never put forth feelings into someone first. However, if she were to feel that someone cared for her genuinely, she wouldn¡¯t shun them away. Instead, she would put them in her care and put forth her true feelings as well.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± (Master, how are you doing right now? You spat out a lot of blood. I¡¯m scared.)


    Little White was deeply traumatized after remembering Ling Lan¡¯s terrible state in the past two days. In those two days, it actually thought its master was going to leave it. It thought that it wouldn¡¯t be able to see its master open her eyes again and talk to it.


    ¡°I¡¯m awake so I¡¯m fine.¡± Ling Lan held Little White in her arms and softly caressed the hairs on its body. Little White¡¯s warm body temperature made Ling Lan feel that she was still living in reality.


    At thest moment before she closed her eyes, she felt her mindscape explode after using the Heart of Imperial to force open the learning space, Ling Lan had thought she was actually going to die. However, now it seemed that Hades probably thought she was too troublesome and sent her back into the world of the living.


    ¡°Did anything happen in the rainbow pce in the past few days?¡± Since she was now fine, Ling Lan returned to reality and began asking Little White about the current state of affairs.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± (Nothing. It¡¯s been very quiet.)


    Little White thought carefully for a moment. Although its main body was by its master¡¯s side this entire time, there was still a clone of it looking over everyone in the rainbow pce. It should be fine since it didn¡¯t see anyoneing in to try to destroy them.


    ¡°Forget it. I¡¯ll wait until my injuries are healed and go up and take a look.¡± Little White¡¯s answer made Ling Lan smile. With Little White¡¯s simple thought processes, she actually couldn¡¯t get much information out of it.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± (Master, don¡¯t worry. I will protect you.)


    Seeing Little White trying to get on her good side, Ling Lan smiled. ¡°Alright then, don¡¯t let me down.¡±


    After that, Ling Lan closed her eyes once again and began to use her Qi exercises to repair the damage caused by the explosion from using the Heart of Imperial¡¯s concept energy.


    Ling Lan had the Qi exercises ever since she was inside her mother¡¯s womb and never stopped in the past 20 or so years. She didn¡¯t know just how many levels the Qi exercises had, but looking at how it recovered her body¡¯s injuries, Ling Lan hypothesized that the level she reached was probably quite high.


    She slowly organized the messy concept energies. Other than the ice element and her Profound Insight concept, there was another unknown concept energy that didn¡¯t belong to either of them. Ling Lan knew that the energy must be the culprit that caused the Heart of Imperial to implode. Ling Lan attempted to get rid of that problematic concept energy out of her body but to her surprise, she found out it was actually entwined with her Profound Insight concept. No matter how much Ling Lan tried to get rid of it, it wouldn¡¯t budge even one bit.


    After failing to do so for more than 10 times, Ling Lan finally gave up. It was because she had discovered the more she tried to get rid of it, the more the unknown concept energy wrapped around her own Profound Insight concept energy. It was as though she wasn¡¯t trying to get rid of it, but ratherpressing andbining it.


    ¡°Man, I still have other things to do. Whatever.¡± Ling Lan gave up on it and began to focus on her Qi exercises to repair her body¡¯s injuries. One round after the other, the Qi exercises began to repeat itself automatically. After not needing her to focus her attention on it, Ling Lan put her focus on her mindscape.


    The part where her mindscape had exploded worried Ling Lan a lot. It was just that she was injured too severely that she had to focus on her body¡¯s injuries. Now that her injuries didn¡¯t need her attention, Ling Lan decided to investigate this part of her mindscape.


    She carefully stepped into her mindscape. As expected, the condition of the mindscape was terrible. The originally vast and limitless mindscape had disappeared, not to mention the dark clouds, strong winds, thunder and lightning. There was only a wastnd left there, as if it was the end of the world.


    ¡°Looks grim. Starting from zero it seems.¡± Right as Ling Lan was going to use her spiritual power, she felt a sharp pain in her head. It almost caused her to faint, a sign that her spiritual power had been depleted. Currently, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t use her spiritual power and could only let her spiritual power recover naturally.


    ¡°It seems now I can only leave it up to fate,¡± Ling Lan said helplessly.


    Ling Lan turned her gaze to a certain area inside the mindscape since the entire mindscape didn¡¯t need her to tend to it. In the past, she had always refused to enter that ce, but now...


    Ling Lan felt somewhat helpless. She hoped that the Heart of Imperial could sessfully help her break through into the learning space, but she was also afraid of it failing. She just needed to investigate to see whether it had worked, but Ling Lan actually felt somewhat afraid and scared.


    If it didn¡¯t work, then in her current state, she didn¡¯t know when she would have another chance at breaking through the learning space. Her Little Four and instructors... she really missed them. Even hearing Instructor Number One¡¯s reprimanding voice would still make her feel warm inside.


    Ling Lan, who lost so much, wanted a family member to stay by her side. She was afraid her hope would be destroyed again. She didn¡¯t know whether she would be insane from the pain if the oue was a failure.

 Chapter 1358 - The Best Son. The Best Brother.

    <h4>1358 The Best Son. The Best Brother.</h4>


    ¡°Ling Lan, you¡¯re f*cking weak.¡± Ling Lan forced herself to shut her eyes. The fear of failure in her erupted, and by the time Ling Lan realized fear was taking over her, she swore at herself to get herself out of that pitiful state. When Ling Lan felt that her turbulent mind was calm, she opened her now calm eyes that had no hesitation.


    What was wrong with failing? No failure could stop Ling Lan¡¯s drive towards the top. The learning space was only a tool that would help her to the top, but on the road to the top, the constant variable was always her.


    Ling Lan walked up with determination and pushed therge door that stopped her from entering the learning space for all this time.


    Unexpectedly, the doors that were heavy as mountains in the past, were easily pushed open. Ling Lan had already prepared for her to fail. So, when the doors opened right before her, the grand scene dumbfounded Ling Lan.


    ¡°Why are you standing there staring at nothing?¡± Instructor Number One¡¯s calm and soothing voice echoed in her ears.


    This was a voice that Ling Lan couldn¡¯t be anymore familiar with, a voice that Ling Lan would think about in her dreams. Hearing that voice she so dearly missed broke down Ling Lan¡¯s hardened heart. ¡°I-Instructor Number One!¡±


    Tears quickly dropped down from the corners of Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. Those were tears of happiness, and a rare show of weakness because Ling Lan finally saw someone she could depend on.


    ¡°Come in.¡± Seeing a heartbroken Ling Lan, Instructor Number One¡¯s voice was still very calm, but Ling Lan seemed to hear a soft sigh as well.


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Ling Lan immediately disappeared from where she stood, and appeared in Instructor Number One¡¯s dimension.


    On top of a mountain, Instructor Number One was currently sitting on a stone b meditating with his eyes closed.


    Sensing Ling Lan¡¯s arrival, he slowly opened his eyes and said, ¡°You were too reckless to use the Heart of Imperial in your mindscape. Next time, don¡¯t be so reckless.¡±


    Even with Number One¡¯s reprimand, Ling Lan still answered him with a genuine smile, ¡°Yes, Instructor Number One.¡±


    ¡°Although the result isn¡¯t bad, it would still affect your development somewhat in the future. I¡¯m sure you understand already.¡± Instructor Number One looked at Ling Lan. A look of astonishment passed through his eyes in an instant.


    ¡°Yes. Having two domain concepts is already a restriction for advancing into the god-realm. Now there¡¯s another unknown concept that doesn¡¯t belong to me adding to the mix. If I can¡¯t resolve this issue, then I would forever stay within the imperial realm, never having the chance to advance to the god-realm.¡± Ling Lan spoke out her realizations.


    ¡°As long as you know,¡± replied Instructor Number One. ¡°This can be a blessing or a misfortune. It just depends on how you resolve it.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for the pointers, Instructor Number One,¡± said Ling Lan gratefully. Other than her father, Ling Xiao, and her mother, Lan Luofeng, the instructors in the learning space were the only ones who gave her pointers selflessly.


    ¡°However, being able to break through into the learning space so quickly is great for Little Four. Good job.¡± After seeing Ling Lan had learned her lesson, Instructor Number One praised her. Instructor Number One knew that reprimanding and praising sometimes need to be used in tandem. That was why he didn¡¯t forget to praise the effort Ling Lan had put in.


    ¡°Little Four?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s heart skipped a beat. She already found it weird that Little Four hadn¡¯t actually came to her after she had been in the learning space for so long. Normally, after not seeing her for so long, Little Four would immediately jump on her and ask for hugs and kisses the moment she stepped in.


    ¡°Come with me.¡± Instructor Number One stood up and used his finger to sh the air to open up a tear in the dimension.


    Ling Lan followed Instructor Number One apprehensively into the tear. While Ling Lan was thinking of the worst case scenarios in her head, she arrived at the dimension Little Four was sleeping in.


    After seeing Little Fourying in the air silently with bands of light around his body supplying him with energy, Ling Lan felt her heart ache as tears uncontrobly came down her face. Her voice turned hoarse. ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°Come with me.¡± Instructor Number One didn¡¯t answer her and only gestured to Ling Lan to continue to follow him into the next dimension.


    In this dimension, there were two cores giving off light. The first core was bright but gave off a somewhat odd feeling. The other core was dim and lifeless as if it was going to flicker out of existence in the next second.


    Ling Lan felt the energy presences given off by these two cores. The familiar feeling caused tears to fall from her eyes again.


    ¡°This is my father¡¯s and Xie Yi¡¯s.¡± Her intuition about her father was correct. But, what surprised her even more was that Xie Yi was still alive. She couldn¡¯t be even more happy than she was currently. It was also because the chance of Xie Yi surviving from that explosion was so slim that her Profound Insight couldn¡¯t actually detect Xie Yi¡¯s life signal. Ling Lan had always thought that Xie Yi had actually left them. Luo Lang was heartbroken, but so was she. However, as the Boss, she couldn¡¯t let herself give in to that feeling of loss and vent the pain in her heart. She could only silently endure all of it in her heart.


    ¡°Yes. When Little Four saw your father self-destructing to save your life, he rushed over in an attempt to grab ahold of his spiritual power just like how he did in your past life. But he neglected to factor in how weak your spiritual power was whenpared to your father¡¯s. Your father¡¯s spiritual power is of a different existence. The oue of trying to take in more than he could handle was bacsh. He was lucky that he didn¡¯t fully copse from it.¡± Instructor Number One finally told Ling Lan the reason why Little Four was unconscious.


    ¡°Little Four, you are the best son and brother my parents and I could ask for,¡± Ling Lan said proudly with tears in her eyes.


    Back when she said her parents would be Little Four¡¯s parents and Little Four would be her only younger brother, she was being sincere. She thought Little Four didn¡¯t understand such emotions and feelings. Perhaps the father and mother he had mentioned were only seen in books and that he actually didn¡¯t understand feelings of child and parent and how one could die for the other. Now it seemed that she was wrong. Not only did Little Four understand it, he also did it was well. He was a better human than she could ever be. She was still the child that her father and mother worried about while Little Four already protected their father.


    ¡°Son? Brother?¡± Shock passed through Instructor Number One¡¯s eyes. He had always thought that Little Four putting his life on the line to take in Ling Xiao¡¯s spiritual power core was because of Ling Lan. He thought Little Four didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to be sad, evolving to a point where he only acknowledged Ling Lan. Now it seemed that wasn¡¯t the case. Could Majesty Four actually have evolved to the point where he possessed emotions and feelings?


    ¡°Yes, Little Four is my younger brother and my parents¡¯ son, Ling Shi.¡± Ling Lan finally understood that Little Four gave himself this name because of her. (Note: Although four in Chinese is pronounced ¡®si¡¯, ¡®shi¡¯ is likely used here because ¡®si¡¯ does not sound as good; reason was not mentioned by author)


    Little Four really did want to be her parents¡¯ son, and her younger brother. He didn¡¯t just say it randomly.


    Instructor Number One was silent for a short while and then sighed, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then Ling Lan, I will leave Little Four in your care in the future. Don¡¯t let him down.¡±


    Perhaps Majesty Four no longer needed them to watch him. With Ling Lan here, Majesty Four would not evolve down the wrong path.


    Ling Lan was the disciple Number One had nurtured with great care, a disciple he prized the most. Although Number One never said it out loud, he still trusted Ling Lan with the depth of his heart. He believed that Ling Lan would definitely not disappoint him.


    ¡°Yes, Instructor Number One.¡± Ling Lan nodded deeply. Even if Instructor Number One didn¡¯t say anything to her, she still wouldn¡¯t let Little Four down in this life.


    ¡°You¡¯ve seen everything now so you now know everyone¡¯s situations are all quite dire.¡± Instructor Number One temporarily stopped talking about Little Four and pointed towards the two cores.

 Chapter 1359 - Forbidden!

    <h4>1359 Forbidden!</h4>


    ¡°Yes. Although father¡¯s spiritual power core shines brightly and is full of life, it stillcks a feeling ofpletion. It¡¯s as though something is missing. Xie Yi¡¯s situation is worse since he only has a small piece of his spiritual power core left. It could extinguish at any moment now,¡± Ling Lan spoke out what she had sensed.


    ¡°Your father... is actually the same as you, a double innate talent individual. He awakened two domain concepts.¡± Number One¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°Little Four wasn¡¯t aware at the time, so it caused a huge deal of problems when he tried to put these two concepts together inside of him.¡±


    ¡°Father is too strong.¡± Ling Lan felt grateful to Little Four for saving her father without any care in the world. But, she was also angry at her father for hurting Little Four


    ¡°Strength is one thing, but what hurted Little Four the most was the domain of your father¡¯s terrifying innate talent.¡± After saying that, Number One¡¯s expression turned steeled. Even if it was him, facing Ling Xiao¡¯s Devour innate talent probably won¡¯t be easy either.


    ¡°Terrifying?¡± Ling Lan was shocked.


    ¡°Your Profound Insight innate talent is the strongest innate talent in the world. However, there is a forbidden innate talent that can almost rival yours.¡±


    ¡°Forbidden... my father?¡± said Ling Lan in shock.


    ¡°Little Blossom is like that too.¡± Instructor Number One nodded.


    ¡°Devour!¡± Ling Lan took in a deep breath. When Instructor Number One mentioned Little Blossom, she knew what the forbidden innate talent was.


    ¡°Come.¡± Number One opened up a tear once again and led Ling Lan to the next location.


    Ling Lan finally saw Little Blossom. He was unconscious just like Little Four, hovering in the air with countless bands of light pouring energy into Little Blossom. It seemed that Little Blossom¡¯s condition was just as bad as Little Four¡¯s.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with Little Blossom?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression was serious as she asked worriedly.


    ¡°The spiritual power core of Devour isn¡¯t something that can be absorbed. That thing would devour all energy once it touches something and would not stop until there¡¯s nothing left.¡± Instructor Number One remembered the moment of crisis from when it first happened and sighed inside his head. ¡°If Little Blossom didn¡¯t use all of his own devour energy to force your father¡¯s Devour spiritual power core out of the learning space, we and the learning space might not exist anymore.¡±


    ¡°However, the result of that is Little Blossom¡¯s energy beingpletely drained, causing him to fall into aa. His injuries are more severe than Little Four¡¯s.¡± Number One told Ling Lan Little Blossom¡¯s condition in detail, then he led Ling Lan back into the room where Ling Xiao and Xie Yi¡¯s cores were being kept.


    ¡°Look closely at Xie Yi core,¡± Instructor Number One asked Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan activated her Profound Insight domain and saw ayer of dark energy swirling around that dim and seemingly extinguishing light source. That small amount of dark energy was slowly sucking Xie Yi¡¯s life force dry.


    ¡°That¡¯s the Devour concept?¡± The concept energy gave Ling Lan a sense of familiarity. It was strange to her because it was something she had never experienced before, yet it was ever so familiar to her.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Instructor Number One¡¯s hand slowly reached towards Xie Yi¡¯s core. Then, he transferred his own energy to Xie Yi¡¯s core, supplying it energy while not damaging the core.


    Slowly, the light source in Xie Yi¡¯s core became brighter. This seemingly simple action actually caused a thinyer of sweat to form on Instructor Number One¡¯s forehead. It should be known that no matter what Instructor Number One did, he would do them all calmly and nonchntly. He definitely wouldn¡¯t be like this. It seemed like keeping Xie Yi alive was not an easy task.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t dare to make a sound, in case it would bother Number One. Just like that, she stood there without moving a muscle for half an hour. Just when she saw Instructor Number One slowly take back his hands. Xie Yi¡¯s core¡¯s light source was now much brighter than before and was more lively. However,pared to Ling Xiao¡¯s core, it was not even worth mentioning.


    ¡°One session of energy transfer used to be able to support him for one week. Now it can only support him for three days,¡± said Instructor Number One. ¡°The Devour concept your father has left behind is much stronger than Little Blossom. Moreover, it has the ability to take in energy and evolve into something even stronger. One of these days, I won¡¯t be able to keep it at bay. When that happens, Xie Yi cannot be saved anymore.¡±


    ¡°Even you are out of ideas?¡± Ling Lan asked anxiously.


    ¡°If forbidden concepts were that easy to handle, they wouldn¡¯t be forbidden,¡± said Instructor Number One as he shook his head. ¡°On Mandora, it¡¯s considered something that cannot be resolved. Whoever touches it, dies. The Mandora Star System once had a Devour virus, the Doomsday Flower, appear in our star system. Back then, it almost destroyed the entire star system. Countless hackers, scientists and two intellect kings died before we managed to sessfully lock up the Doomsday Flower. However, even until now, we can only lock it up. We didn¡¯t have the power topletely destroy it. You see, Little Blossom is really strong, right? Well, in reality, he is only just code left over by the Doomsday Flower who evolved into what he is now. He can¡¯t bepared to an actual Doomsday Flower back in the day.¡±


    After saying all that, Instructor Number One turned around and asked Ling Lan, ¡°And that was the Doomsday Flower of just the virtual world. However, your father¡¯s Devour concept is an existence that can devour energy from both reality and the virtual world. Its power is stronger than the Doomsday Flower by a hundredfold.¡±


    ¡°So, only my father can deal with it?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to lose any of her friends. If no one could deal with the Devour concept, her father¡¯s own powers should be able to resolve the issue.


    ¡°It would have to be a Ling Xiao with the Devour concept.¡± Instructor Number One didn¡¯t believe that Ling Lan¡¯s idea was any good. Especially because after the Devour core was spat out by Little Four, they didn¡¯t know where it had gone. Perhaps they might not even find it in this lifetime. If in the future, conditions allowed it, using the Duplication core to resurrect Ling Xiao still wouldn¡¯t be a way of resolving this problem.


    ¡°Then, is there anyone else in this world that can deal with this problem?¡± Ling Lan clenched her fists forcefully. Why was she always so weak and could only watch as her loved ones die in front of eyes?


    ¡°Little Blossom could perhaps be able to deal with it,¡± Instructor Number One guessed. However, Little Blossom was still in aa. No one knew whether it would work or not. ¡°However, there¡¯s a problem. We don¡¯t know when Little Blossom will wake up and if Little Blossom waking up is rted to whether Little Four can wake.¡±


    Ling Lan raised her head and looked towards Instructor Number One with determination, ¡°Tell me Instructor Number One, what do you need me to do?¡±


    ¡°Meditate like your life depends on it. Provide more energy to the learning space. You know that the learning space¡¯s energyes from your concept energy and strong spiritual power supply. We can¡¯t be short of either of those two things,¡± Instructor Number One replied in a serious tone.


    ¡°I understand,¡± Ling Lan turned around, preparing to leave.


    ¡°Are you not going to stay by your father, Little Four and the others for a bit longer?¡± asked Instructor Number One nonchntly.


    ¡°Staying by them now won¡¯t do any good. I would rather go back and research how I can supply the learning space with more energy,¡± said Ling Lan calmly. It wasn¡¯t because she didn¡¯t want to stay, but because she knew what was more important for her to do.

 Chapter 1360 - What’s Wrong?

    <h4>1360 What¡°s Wrong?</h4>


    ¡°Haste will not bring sess. If you force yourself too much, you might create trouble instead,¡± Number One reminded her.


    ¡°I understand. All the decisions I make currently are not only for myself. I will not be reckless.¡± Ling Lan turned back. Her gaze was sharp but clear. She didn¡¯t lose control of her emotions because of her concerns.


    Number One lowered his head and hid the approval and satisfaction in his eyes. He said, ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    Ling Lan stepped forward firmly, leaving the learning space in a blink of an eye.


    ¡°Ling Lan, if you want to wear the crown, you have to bear the weight. This is the path you chose. No matter what happened, you must follow through it with determination,¡± Number One said softly. Then, he slit the air and returned to his dimension and started meditating.


    Ling Lan returned to her mindscape. Her mindscape was still withered, filled with wounds and scars.


    ¡°This can¡¯t continue. I must find a way to recover my spiritual power.¡± Ling Lan took a deep breath and sat down. Even though she knew that using her spiritual power to cultivate would bring her great pain, she still decided to do it.


    Once she activated her spiritual power, her head started hurting, as though someone used a hammer to knock her. The pain that came from the depth of her mind so she could fall unconscious to rid of it if she desperately wanted to.


    However, that was impossible for the determined Ling Lan. Ling Lan gritted her teeth and resisted the terrifying pain. She forced herself to congregate a thin wisp of spiritual power.


    Luckily, Ling Lan had already tormented herself for two lifetimes so she had a high tolerance for pain. Anyone else would have fainted from the pain and failed.


    Ling Lan controlled the wisp of spiritual power that was about to disperse. She used the Divine Command sect¡¯s method of cultivating spiritual power to regenerate her spiritual power slowly. She did it again and again. Every time she used the method, the pain each time would get stronger. She gritted her pearly white teeth so forcefully that cracking sounds could be heard from her mouth. Her mouth was filled with the taste of blood.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t care less about all these. She fully focused on forcing herself to remain conscious and not lose to the excruciating pain. One hour passed. Two hours passed... Ling Lan¡¯s perseverance finally seeded. Spiritual fountains started appearing in her withered mindscape. It slowly nourished the dry ground. As the amount of water kept increasing, Ling Lan¡¯s face, which had a hideous expression due to the pain, turned calm again.


    She passed the most difficult obstacle!


    Ling Lan slowly opened her eyes and let out a satisfied smile.


    If her father, Xie Yi, Little Four, Little Blossom, and all her other friends weren¡¯t waiting for her to save them, she might not have been so harsh on herself. As expected, humans needed to be forced.


    However, Ling Lan remembered Number One¡¯s warning. Haste will not bring sess, and the cultivation of spiritual power was the same. She must rx when she needs to. Ling Lan decided to pause her cultivation for the time being and return to the rainbow pce to take a look at what had happened during these few days.


    Ling Lan opened her eyes. Little White, who had been guarding her all these while, shouted happily when it saw her opening her eyes.


    It knew that its master was cultivating but the memory of what happened a few days ago still frightened it. It was afraid that its master would lose consciousness for many days again.


    Ling Lan smiled as she hugged Little White. She didn¡¯t mind how messy and dirty its fur was. She still rubbed it forcefully.


    Then, the ground of the swamp opened again. Ling Lan slowly walked out of the hole.


    The swamp was still the ¡®reed field¡¯. It looked like nothing huge had happened. Ling Lan floated in mid-air and disappeared the next second.


    When she returned to the rainbow pce, she saw the servants guarding outside her room. They were ted to see her. ¡°Lord Gen, Guardian Ji and Guardian Yu have important things to report to you.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. She sent these two people out to deal with the matters in Lord Gen¡¯s territories so they would take at least ten days to finish touring the territories. Why were they back so early?


    ¡°Okay. Ask them to wait for me in the main hall,¡± Ling Lan ordered. No matter what happened, she would meet them first.


    ¡°Yes, Lord Gen.¡± The servants left respectfully and called for Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei to enter the pce.


    Ling Lan tidied herself casually and ced the red gown the servant prepared for her over her shoulders.


    Just before going to the main hall, Ling Lan thought of something. She asked Little White who was washing itself too. ¡°Little White, how many days has it been since I entered the swamp for cultivation?¡±


    Little White counted with its tentacles before replying, ¡°Seven days, master.¡±


    Seven days had passed by unknowingly. That meant Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei weren¡¯t very early.


    Ling Lan shifted her body and appeared in the main hall. She flicked her red gown slightly and floated down from the sky beforending stably on her ice throne.


    Thebination of her cold and handsome face and the dazzling and vibrant red gown made her look enchanting and beautiful, even when her hair was short and ck. Yu Shangfei and Ji Ming, who were waiting in the main hall, were shocked.


    This was the first time they saw Ling Lan¡¯s face clearly. But, they were only able to take one look at her. The next second, when they looked at Ling Lan again, they couldn¡¯t see her face clearly anymore.


    However, that one look was enough to make asting impression in their minds.


    They controlled their astonishment and paid their respects. ¡°Lord Gen.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Ling Lan asked sternly. Little White jumped into Ling Lan¡¯s arms obediently. Everyone knew that their new Lord Gen had a very cute little pet. Lord Gen liked it very much. The people in the rainbow pce liked it too. They would feed Little White asionally, and Little White never rejected any of the food. Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about that either as Little White¡¯s stomach was made of steel. If someone wanted to poison it... it was a waste of their time.


    The new Lord Gen was a man of few words. Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei only met Ling Lan a few times but they knew that this was their new master¡¯s style.


    ¡°The leaders of the three big factions, Jimu, Feihuang¡¯e, and Tianpingyuan, which are under my territory, would like to meet Lord Gen,¡± Ji Ming replied hurriedly.


    ¡°Why?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.


    Ji Ming nced at Yu Shangfei. Yu Shangfei rushed forward and kneeled down. ¡°This is all my fault. I drank too much at the wee party of the leader of Jimu and identally revealed some of your details. Please punish me.¡±


    Ling Lan stopped stroking Little White. Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei suddenly felt a sharp gaze dismembering their bodies. Ji Ming¡¯s heart shuddered. He also kneeled down. Yu Shangfei ced both hands on the ground, not daring to look at Ling Lan¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°What did you say?¡± Just when the two of them were unable to resist Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence anymore, she finally spoke.


    ¡°I just said that Lord Gen is more powerful now. That¡¯s all.¡± The perspiration on Yu Shangfei¡¯s forehead dripped on the marble floor. The amount of sweat almost formed a puddle, and this was caused by just a simple release of Lord Gen¡¯s force of presence. If their master really got angry, Yu Shangfei didn¡¯t know how he would die.


    ¡°Ji Ming, I don¡¯t have to tell you what punishment you¡¯ll receive, right?¡± Ling Lan nced at Ji Ming indifferently. Ji Ming nodded quickly. ¡°Yes, Lord Gen.¡±


    ¡°Three dayster, ask them to meet me here.¡± Ling Lan disappeared after she finished her sentence.

 Chapter 1361 - Depend On Your Performance!

    <h4>1361 Depend On Your Performance!</h4>


    Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei kneeled for a while longer before they finally found their strength again. They slowly stood up.


    ¡°Do you think that we¡¯re doing the right thing?¡± Yu Shangfei wiped the sweat off his forehead as he asked with uncertainty.


    ¡°If he¡¯s really powerful, the three leaders of the factions will not change anything. However, if he is just... don¡¯t me me for being merciless.¡± A ray of ambition shed passed Ji Ming¡¯s eyes. Since anyone could be Lord Gen, why couldn¡¯t it be him? The two powerful subordinates of Lord Gen had already left. He was now all alone in the rainbow pce. Ji Ming felt that he had a chance.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± (Master, that asshole wants to betray you.)


    Little White was in charge of watching over the entire rainbow pce so it heard the exchange between Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei clearly, so it immediately reported to Ling Lan angrily.


    Ling Lanid on the soft bed in her roomzily with her eyes closed. She seemed to be asleep. She caressed Little White¡¯s furry body and said calmly, ¡°It¡¯s alright. I can use him as a warning to others. At least, I don¡¯t need to search for one anymore.¡±


    ¡°Rawr!¡± (Okay. Master, I can help you with this.)


    Little White waved its tentacles excitedly. This was definitely an opportunity for it to perform. It would make use of this opportunity when the person who always prevented it from performing, that irritating person, wasn¡¯t here (the irritating person was Li Lanfeng).


    ¡°Sure. I¡¯ve fed you till you¡¯re so fat so it makes sense that you help me with some things.¡± Ling Lan smiled as she pinched Little White¡¯s fat body. The feeling is not bad.


    ¡°Rawr...¡± (No way, Little White isn¡¯t fat!)


    Little White waved its tentacles angrily. (Don¡¯t think that just because I came from others, I don¡¯t understand humannguage. Master is definitely teasing me. Master is so bad.)


    ¡°Not fat? If you use your body to knockout those three people, I¡¯ll believe you.¡± Ling Lan opened her eyes and smiled as she pointed at Little White¡¯s fat forehead with her finger.


    Little White wrapped its tentacles around Ling Lan¡¯s forefinger and whined. ¡°Master, Little White can definitely do it. Hence, Little White isn¡¯t fat. I¡¯m really not fat. Really, really not fat.¡±


    Little White was smart. In the past, its master said that if it got fatter, she would cook it and eat it. ¡®I still remembered this. I wouldn¡¯t give master any chance of cooking me. Hmph!¡¯


    ¡°That¡¯ll depend on your performance.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t expect Little White to take her joke for real and still remember it until now.


    Actually, as long as there was a strong spiritual fluctuation in Little White¡¯s mind, Ling Lan would be able to detect its thoughts through the spiritual waves even if it didn¡¯t ¡®rawr¡¯. Little White thought that it was thinking silently but in actual fact, Ling Lan knew almost everything it was saying in its mind. Simrly, Li Lanfeng could read Little White¡¯s mind too. That was why Little White always lost to Li Lanfeng. Imagine if you tell your opponent what you want to do to him... if you could still seed, it was definitely because your opponent felt that you were too pitiful and decided to cooperate with your n.


    Let¡¯s give some tears of sympathy to our naive and cute Little White!


    Three days passed with a snap of the finger. During these three days, Ling Lan was either cultivating or meditating. Compared to three days ago, her mindscape was in a much better state. Her mindscape at least wasn¡¯t dry anymore as there was a thinyer of spiritual sea. Her internal injuries had almost fully recovered with the help of the Qi exercises. After recovering, she could now use her ice element concept, but her Profound Insight was still a problem as it was still bound by the unknown concept.


    This was a lethal problem. When she activated her Profound Insight, the amount of concept energy consumed would increase twofold. The consumption of energy was calcted by the second. The first second, the energy consumed was normal. The next second, the energy consumed was twice of the first second. The third second, it would be four times of the first second. The fourth second, it would be eight times and the fifth second, it would be 16 times... Based on the amount of energy she had, she could only activate her Profound Insight for 53 seconds. It wasn¡¯t even one minute. This was a sad thing.


    ¡°What¡¯s that unknown concept?¡± Ling Lan already tried using all of her energy. It was still 53 seconds, not a second more and not a second less. She was tired and helpless. She started meditating to restore her energy.


    This was already her third test. But, she still didn¡¯t understand what that unknown concept was. Besides wasting her Profound Insight energy exponentially, there weren¡¯t any other implications. This revtion made her quite confused. Currently, she was in a normal situation but during a battle, she didn¡¯t know if the unknown concept would cause any trouble.


    After recovering her energy, Ling Lan didn¡¯t investigate the unknown concept anymore. Instead, she had afortable sleep to be full of spirit and energy when she weed the three leaders.


    Today, Ling Lan was wearing red too... For some reason, the servants at the rainbow pce liked to prepare red gowns for her. Ling Lan never cared about her style so she just wore whatever that was prepared. She didn¡¯t like rich colours but every time she saw the servant carefully walking over with the red gown and the fear and anticipation in their eyes, Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to disappoint them.


    Besides the colour, these gowns were reallyfortable to wear. They were well-fitted too. Ling Lan really respected those servants. They only served her asionally and never touched her body but they were able to get the right proportions just by looking at her. They were quite impressive.


    Ling Lan admired such workmanship so she respected them a lot.


    At this moment, Ling Lan sensed something in the main hall. She moved instantly and appeared on her ice throne in the main hall in an instant.


    The main hall wasn¡¯t as dark and gloomy as it was in the past. But, it was very cold, so cold that a normal person would the instant they walked in.


    To prevent the weaker servants from getting hurt, Ling Lan restricted them from entering the main hall.


    Anyone who entered the main hall was required to have a certain amount of strength. This rule, in the future, would serve as a guide in measuring the strength of the people in the Lawless Lands. It would be a legend. Of course, that was in the future. We shall not talk about it now.


    The main hall was so cold the temperature should be around zero kelvin. Hence, by right, besides some unique flowers and nts, nothing could survive here. Yet, strangely, in the two rows of flower beds at the side of the main hall, there was a nt that looked like the zephyr lily, which looked like an ordinary green nt.


    No one knew what nt this was because Lord Gen had nted them personally. They started sprouting in two days and after another day, they flourished. The pale main hall appeared lively because of them.

 Chapter 1362 - Bottom Line!

    <h4>1362 Bottom Line!</h4>


    The leaders of Jimu, Feihuang¡¯e, and Tianpingyuan walked into the main hall with scrutinizing gazes.


    The reason for their sudden visit was because they had heard rumours doubting the strength of the new Lord Gen. To validate their new found doubts towards the new Lord Gen, they asked for a meeting indirectly so that they could test him personally. And, thinking about it now, what Guardian Yu said might not be a slip of the tongue. He might have intentionally revealed the information to them.


    The three leaders were all smart people since they could convince the previous Lord Gen to allow them to develop in his territory. After sorting their thoughts, they knew that they were used by Yu Shangfei and Ji Ming.


    The three of them exchanged nces with one another. They had already made a secret agreement prior to this meeting, but everyone had their own ideas on how this meeting would end.


    Who was this new Lord Gen? They decided to wait and see.


    Right at this moment, a man in a red gown suddenly appeared on the ice throne above them. While staring them down, he sat down on the throne slowly.


    Based on the amount of grace and oppressiveness the man had, the three leaders instantly knew that he must be the new Lord Gen.


    The three leaders lowered their heads and performed a deep bow. ¡°Lord Gen!¡±


    Ling Lan stared at Ji Ming, who led them in, coldly. Seeing the ice cold stare, Ji Ming knew he needed to speak up, so he hurriedly took a step forward and introduced the leaders from the left to the right. ¡°Lord Gen, they are the leaders of Jimu, Feihuang¡¯e, and Tianpinyun. Huo Yan, Lu Jiachi, and Xiang Tengyun.¡±


    ¡°So, you want to meet me. Well, that¡¯s a coincidence, because I also wanted to meet the faction leaders in my territory,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    The three leaders didn¡¯t dare to reply to Ling Lan as they were not clear on what the new Lord Gen was trying to suggest with his words. Was he trying to give them an opening gambit or was he still intending to maintain a good rtionship with them?


    ¡°This is my territory. Besides my men, anyone not under my reign shall exist.¡± Ling Lan wasn¡¯t interested in chatting with them so she just dropped the huge announcement.


    The respectful expressions on the three leaders dropped. Only Ji Ming lowered his head as he gave a knowing smile.


    ¡°You are left with two choices. One, move out of my territory. Two, join my rainbow pce.¡± Ling Lan gave them no room for negotiation. As thisnd would be her future headquarters, she wasn¡¯t interested in sharing her territory. She wasn¡¯t the Ling Lan who was passive until someone touched her bottom line. Now, she wanted to be a king, and to be one, she mustn¡¯t make any concession.


    ¡°Lord Gen, we already made an agreement with the previous Lord Gen. Even if he isn¡¯t around now, you can¡¯t just overturn the pact we made in the past,¡± Lu Jiachi replied agitatedly. He couldn¡¯t control himself anymore.


    Ling Lan slightly lifted the corners of her lips, looking as if she was sneering at how easy it was to agitate them. ¡°He is he. I am me. If you¡¯re not happy with me, I can help you go look for him.¡±


    Lu Jiachi replied furiously, ¡°Sure. I want to see the previous Lord Gen.¡±


    Hearing his outburst, Ling Lan just smiled mysteriously at him. The mysterious smile made Lu Jiachi feel like a bucket of cold water was poured over his head. After realizing what he said, he shivered and regained his senses immediately.


    ¡°Do you really want to meet him?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and asked.


    Lu Jiachi opened his mouth. However, he couldn¡¯t squeeze the word ¡®Yes¡¯ out of his mouth.


    ¡°What a pity. The previous Lord Gen is very lonely in Hell...¡± Ling Lan crossed her legs and petted Little White which was lying on her legs. The tone she used sounded regretful.


    The moment she said this, the three leaders looked at Ling Lan with fear. They thought that the previous Lord Gen had just retired and handed over his crown to the new Lord Gen. That was why they were indignant when they heard that the new Lord Gen wanted to end their agreement. However, now, they knew that this wasn¡¯t a peaceful session. The new Lord Gen killed the previous Lord Gen brutally and got the position that way.


    But, why didn¡¯t the other 12 lords sound anyints?


    The same question appeared in the minds of all the three leaders. They had stayed in Lord Gen¡¯s territory for a long time so they knew the 13 Lords had a rtively good rtionship with each other, even though on the surface they were constantly trying to beat each other.


    Other than that, they felt fear because they could feel the malice this new Lord Gen had towards them. When he said that sentence just now, they really felt a sh of killing intent from Lord Gen.


    The three of them started bing more vignt as they were not aware how far this new LOrd Gen would go to enforce his reign. Huo Yan¡¯s right hand, which was hidden in his sleeve, secretly held on a ck round pearl.


    ¡°My patience is limited. Tell me, what do you choose?¡± Ling Lan noticed that the three people had calmed down so she continued pressing them for answers.


    The faster she took care of this, the earlier she could go back and cultivate. The fate of many people rested on her shoulder. Whether Little Four, Little Blossom, her father, and Xie Yi could wake up or not depended on her concept energy and her spiritual power, so the thing shecked most was time. If her self-control wasn¡¯t strong enough, she might have indulged in cultivation and nevere out.


    ¡°Lord Gen, are you forcing us to leave?¡± Huo Yan asked in a pained tone. They had been developing in Lord Gen¡¯s territory their entire life. All their men and power were here. To build themselves until this point, he had put in an entire lifetime of effort. If they really left, they would have to start from zero again, but they were already too old to start from zero. They didn¡¯t have the spirit or the courage to start all over again.


    ¡°You can take it that way,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡°Lord Gen, you are the lord here but you mustn¡¯t force someone into a hopeless position.¡± Xiang Tengyun clenched his fist. The veins on his forehead were almost exploding. He really hated Ling Lan¡¯s ruthless methods just like the other two leaders.


    ¡°I¡¯ve already given you two choices. No matter which one you choose, your lives will be spared,¡± Ling Lan said indifferently.


    She didn¡¯t directly order to kill them. This was the bottomline she guarded. Ling Lan didn¡¯t forget the wall painting she saw when she passed her mission in the learning space. She didn¡¯t choose to go on the cold and heartless Sovereign Dao in the past. Now, she wouldn¡¯t choose it either.


    ¡°We will not choose any of the options.¡± The three leaders looked at one another before replying simultaneously.


    In the past, they bore with the suppression of the previous Lord Gen before managing to gain the opportunity to develop their faction. They didn¡¯t rely on their tongue to get this opportunity. The previous Lord Gen didn¡¯t allow them to develop in his territory because he felt kind either. They got the chance because they had an item that could threaten the previous Lord Gen.


    Huo Yan suddenly opened his palm, revealing the ck round pearl in his hand.


    ¡°Lord Gen, don¡¯t force us to use this,¡± Huo Yan said calmly.


    Ling Lan frowned slightly. What was this round ck pearl? Why didn¡¯t she recognise it? She didn¡¯t have any relevant information in her memory... Was he making an empty show of strength or was it really a threat to her?


    Ling Lan narrowed her eyes. She touched Little White¡¯s soft fur with her right hand while looking as though she was considering something.

 Chapter 1363 - Thunderbolt Sphere?

    <h4>1363 Thunderbolt Sphere?</h4>


    While the leaders of the three factions were speaking with Ling Lan, Ji Ming silently moved closer to the door of the pce. When he saw that little white ball appearing, he wanted to rush out of the pce. However, he didn¡¯t expect that when he wanted to leave, he felt as though his legs were being pulled on.


    Bang! Ji Ming fell face-first near the entrance.


    He turned around and looked at his ankles with apprehension. He could feel a slimy tentacle wrapping around his ankles, and the source of that tentacle was the strange flowers behind him. Currently, the nt was looking at him with a hungry gaze while its tentacles were growing longer as it iled around furiously.


    Ji Ming immediately realized something. Back when the five lords came to this ce to probe Ling Lan¡¯s capabilities, it was the nt that had stopped them.


    Everyone had always believed that the tentacles were Ling Lan¡¯s own abilities. They never expected the source of the tentacles to be the normal-looking nt.


    Ling Lan nced at Ji Ming indifferently. When she discovered Ji Ming¡¯s odd behavior, she had already put Little White in charge of keeping him in ce. Thus, if Ji Ming behaved or moved oddly, Little White would make a move on him.


    ¡°Tell me, what is that and what can it do?¡± asked Ling Lan.


    Ji Ming had a frustrated expression on his face. He indeed knew the faction leaders would use this item to fight against Ling Lan. However, he didn¡¯t expect that he would fall into such an unfavorable position. Faced with a threat to his life, he could only choose to tell Ling Lan the truth.


    ¡°This is called a thunderbolt sphere, an item created from the Heart of Imperial...¡± a look of fear was shown on Ji Ming¡¯s face.


    ¡°Thunderbolt sphere?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows, ¡°I think I understand somewhat.¡±


    ¡°You think that can harm me?¡± Ling Lan was curious. Even if an imperial realm formidable master came down to kill her, it was almost impossible for him to do it alone. She didn¡¯t understand why these faction leaders, who were only titled domain realm master levels, could be so confident in a small ball.


    Ling Lan finally understood the degree of talent in the Lawless Lands. In the Federation, encountering someone at the domain stage was very difficult, and titled domain realm masters were even rarer. However, here in the Lawless Lands, one can easily encounter a domain realm master and anyone that was called upon could easily be a titled domain realm master. It was indeed just as the rumors in the Federation mentioned. The rumors were that in the Lawless Lands, domain realm masters were all over the ce and ace operators were like cattle in a farm, were true.


    ¡°You can test it out,¡± Jimu Huo Yan said coldly. A hint of confidence and decisiveness showed in his eyes.


    Seeing his sudden burst of confidence, Ling Lan thought about it carefully. It was as though she was thinking whether she should try it or not.


    Ji Ming¡¯s expression changed instantly and shouted loudly, ¡°Lord Gen, once the thunderbolt sphere explodes, it could reach the strength of three imperial level domain realm mastersbined together. You must not let it explode!¡±


    Perhaps Ling Lan might not die from it, but the others in the room wouldn¡¯t be able to get away with their lives.


    The thunderbolt sphere was indeed very terrifying, but it was usually used as a deterrence. It wouldn¡¯t be used unless absolutely necessary. It was because after it is used, it would be an oue of mutual destruction. Ji Ming did want the throne, but he still loved his own life more.


    ¡°Three times the power? No wonder you¡¯re so confident.¡± Ling Lan finally knew why they were so confident.


    ¡°Do you actually want to give up your lives?¡± Ling Lan leaned against the armrest of her chair as her right hand rubbed Little White¡¯s soft hairs rhythmically. She seemed to not even care about the threat of the thunderbolt sphere. That uncaring expression on her face made Jimu and the others begin to hesitate.


    In the end, none of them wanted to die.


    ¡°You asking us to give up everything here is the same as asking for our lives. If that¡¯s the case, then why would it matter if we give up our lives? At least, we will have youe with us. It will be worth it.¡± shouted Xiang Tengyun angrily, and the hesitation of Jimu and Lu Jiachi instantly turned into determination.


    If they were to back down now, they would have nothing left. Plus, they were already one foot in the grave so they didn¡¯t need those extra years in misery.


    Although they were all titled domain realm formidable warriors, they still lived 20 to 30 years more than the average person in the Lawless Lands. So if they were to leave without a fight, they would live the rest of their lives with nothing. Unless they have the luck to break through their barriers and advance into the imperial realm, they would be nothing for the next few years. After beingfortable for most of their lifetime, were they actually going to be poor, homeless and be stepped on by others in theirst few years?


    Moreover, they had offended many people. As soon as they be removed by the current position, their old enemies would definitely make moves and go against them. When that happened, they would be totally helpless.


    ¡°You people really won¡¯t give up until it¡¯s over it seems.¡± Ling Lan sighed.


    Everyone looked at each other. Only Ji Ming had a sharp look in his eyes, but he immediately put his head down, not daring to look at Ling Lan again. It was as though he was afraid Ling Lan would be able to see through to his thoughts.


    Right as the three of them didn¡¯t know whether to ept Ling Lan¡¯s terms, they suddenly felt their bodies turning stiff.


    Jimu¡¯s expression changed instantly. He wanted to open his palm to toss out the thunderbolt sphere. However, he shockingly discovered that his hand had be a block of ice. Even the thunderbolt sphere in his hand was frozen in ice.


    ¡°Break!¡± The mes on Jimu¡¯s body roared. He wanted to crack open the ice around his body, but discovered that no matter how strong his me concept burned, it wasn¡¯t any bit effective against theyer of ice.


    It easily suppressed his power. Their concepts were supposed to suppress each other, but right now, only his was suppressed.


    What made him feel even more despair was that the thunderbolt sphere actually left his palm and slowly floated out of the ice. Two long, jade like fingers held up the thunderbolt sphere.


    ¡°This is the thunderbolt sphere?¡± Ling Lan felt the energy within it and was dumbfounded for a moment.


    ¡°Explode!¡± Another angry voice echoed in the room. Xiang Tengyun, who was originally encased in ice, actually moved. Another thunderbolt sphere flew towards Ling Lan.


    Right as Ling Lan was about to use her ice element concept to freeze the thunderbolt sphere, it exploded right after leaving Xiang Tengyun¡¯s hand.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Xiang Tengyun was instantly sent flying by the explosion¡¯s energy. He smashed onto the wall of the pce before falling limply to the ground. Not long after, a puddle of blood painted the ground red. Xiang Tengyun was covered in blood. The right hand he tossed the ck sphere with instantly turned to dust, leaving him with a broken arm.


    Of course, the explosive energy did not only send Xiang Tengyun flying. The others were also sent flying backwards. Jimu and Lu Jiachi were somewhat protected because they were frozen by Ling Lan. Although theyer of ice turned to dust after the explosion, the two of them were more or less still intact. They smashed to the ground and fell unconscious as blood continuously poured out of their mouths. If they couldn¡¯t receive any medical attention soon, they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to live for long.


    After seeing Xiang Tengyun toss out another thunderbolt sphere, Ji Ming activated his domain to protect himself, so his condition was much better than Jimu and Lu Jiachi, but he was still severely injured.

 Chapter 1364 - Refuse?

    <h4>1364 Refuse?</h4>


    Of course, this was because the imperial level energy created by the thunderbolt sphere was controlled. If it had exploded with all of its energy, they would definitely be reduced to shreds by the terrifying energy equivalent to three imperial realm formidable masters attacking all at once.


    Ling Lan senesed the terrifying domain concept energy and knew it was going to be bad.


    She wanted to activate her ice element domain to go against the sudden explosive energy.


    However, right at that moment, the worrying concept that wrapped around her Profound Insight, suddenly activated with her Profound Insight domain.


    ¡°Holy sh*t!¡± Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but swear out loud. This power that she had no control over was too damn familiar. Ling Lan remembered when she was in the learning space studying, the instructors loved using this method to pull her back into their dimensions to train without asking whether she wanted to or not.


    Despite Ling Lan knowing that this uncontroble energy had nothing to do with the instructors, she still automatically thought of her loving yet annoying instructors.


    The instructors, who were busy cleaning up the learning space, all simultaneously rubbed their ears and felt hot.


    It was odd. Why did their ears suddenly be so hot? Did Number One forget to turn on the A/C?


    Although they were a bit disgruntled, they remembered Number One¡¯s stone cold face and stopped themselves from doing anything stupid.


    The only one who was brave enough to find Number One... Oh no, she didn¡¯t sense anything. It was because when Ling Lan thought of the instructors, she didn¡¯t exist in that list.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t activate the ice element domain she wanted to use and could only ept using the Profound Insight domain that could only hold for 53 seconds.


    ¡°Disintegrate!¡± Ling Lan only hoped that the disintegration power of her Profound Insight would be able to neutralize the force of three imperial realm formidable warriorsbined.


    Disintegration can reduce the power of any concept, and it was indeed the best method of dealing with this situation. If it didn¡¯tst for only 53 seconds, Ling Lan would have definitely used it from the beginning. However, 53 seconds were definitely not enough topletely disintegrate such arge explosion. Ling Lan even suspected that it could only disintegrate a small portion of the energy before running out of juice.


    She should think how to use the ice element to follow up her Profound Insight.


    Ling Lan prepared herself for the worst oue. There would definitely be ws during the switch which would cause great harm to her. She only hoped that her body would be able to handle the shock when she switched between the two domains. Even if she would be injured, there at least would be any life-threatening injuries. It should be known that she didn¡¯t have any Nuwa agent on her at that moment.


    However, something unexpected happened. Just like before, when Ling Lan wanted to activate her ice element domain, the unknown concept overruled her control and activated her Profound Insight instead. This time it was the same as before. When Ling Lan wanted to use her disintegration technique, the unknown concept overruled her control once again. It cooperated with the Profound Insight domain to create a whole new technique.


    Ling Lan actually felt the explosive force suddenly losing its strength quickly. This wasn¡¯t the power of disintegration, but it was ratherpressing these energies down.


    This behavior of her new technique gave Ling Lan a familiar feeling. As she was feeling the Profound Insight energy from her body depleting, she began to think why she felt so familiar with the new technique.


    Ling Lan began to scour through her memories. Finally, she remembered the time when she first obtained her Profound Insight domain. When she was choosing a technique, there were two different choices.


    Back then she had chosen disintegration!


    The rejection power she had given up on... seemed to have this type of power.


    Could it be this was what was meant by Rejection?


    No, Ling Lan felt it was somewhat different. It came from an unknown concept. It seemed this new technique had an unknown connection with the mystery concept.


    As time passed, the literal bomb in the pce was slowly beingpressed.


    Seeing the explosive energy beingpressed into arge ball, Ling Lan didn¡¯t n on letting up just yet.


    If she were to let the energy explode now, wouldn¡¯t all that she had been through be for nothing?


    Compressing energy wasn¡¯t an easy task, especially when it was aboutpressing the energy of three imperial level formidable warriors. Despite the Profound Insight being the mainponent and the unknown concept helping it, each second of thepression would cause a bacsh towards Ling Lan¡¯s body and mind. Luckily, Ling Lan¡¯s endurance had already reached a godly state. If she were to deem herself as second in the world in terms of endurance, no one would definitely dare to proim themselves as number one. Additionally, with Ling Lan impressive spiritual power, she was able to endure it all while still conscious.


    The 50 seconds that she had endured didn¡¯t seem long. However,pressing the concept energy for 50 seconds wasparable to torturing both her mind and body for the same amount of time.


    ¡°Compress!¡± Ling Lan shouted. She used thest of her Profound Insight energy, in addition to all of the spiritual power she could amass to put them towards therge sphere in front of her.


    Bang! A sharp snap was heard. Ling Lan felt disoriented all of a sudden. She was like that for a moment. When she recovered from her dizzy state, she saw a ck sphere floating in front of her.


    Ling Lan decisively reached out her hand and held it. It was the thunderbolt sphere that she put all of her effort intopressing.


    Of course, Ling Lan still had a few questions. Why did it return to being a thunderbolt sphere after beingpressed? Or perhaps that might be the way the thunderbolt sphere was created? These questions would have to wait until she had time to do some research. However, she now must first resolve the troublesome individuals in front of her.


    Ling Lan pped her hands. Soon, a few rtively capable guards came into the main hall.


    Right as they entered the main hall, they saw the terrible state the three faction leaders were in. They all had terrified expressions on their faces, not knowing what could have happened to them tond in this state. The only thing they could be sure of was that these faction leaders definitely offended their Lord Gen.


    They quickly knelt down, waiting for Ling Lan¡¯s orders.


    ¡°Take these three to the medical department. Doesn¡¯t matter how you treat them, just make sure they are alive in the end,¡± Ling Lan said nonchntly.


    Ling Lan really didn¡¯t care to save the three of them since they already decided to die when they thought about mutual destruction. However, seeing that they had made her discover her Profound Insight¡¯s path to its next evolution, Ling Lan gave them a chance to live because she was in a good mood. Of course, whether they can survive or not would have to depend on the ability of the medical department of the rainbow pce. If they didn¡¯t have any way of bringing them back alive, what awaited these three was still going to be death.


    The guards quickly took the three to the medical department. When they turned around to leave, they remembered that they didn¡¯t feel cold inside the main hall. In the past however, they would shudder from the cold if they even got close to the door of the main hall, not to mention being inside.

 Chapter 1365 - Convince Me!

    <h4>1365 Convince Me!</h4>


    After dealing with those three individuals, Ling Lan looked at the severely injured Ji Ming nonchntly.


    ¡°You¡¯re smart but also dumb,¡± said Ling Lan as she walked beside him while staring him down.


    Ji Ming endured the pain as he struggled to raise his head. He had a look of innocence on his face before managing to squeeze a sentence out of his lips. ¡°Lord Gen, please trust me. I didn¡¯t know they would do that.¡±


    Ling Lan smirked. ¡°Do I look like someone that¡¯s so easy to be fooled?¡±


    ¡°Yu Shangfei said he misspoke when he got drunk, but I already knew it was done on purpose. On top of that, I knew it was all arranged by you.¡± Ling Lan formed a three prong ice spear on top of her right palm. ¡°You really think you had a chance because I took down Lord Gen and 13 Lords epted me as the new Lord Gen? Are you an idiot?¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s words turned Ji Ming¡¯s originally pale face even more pale and defeated. He didn¡¯t think that his little plot had been known by Ling Lan long before this. He didn¡¯t know why Ling Lan didn¡¯t make a move earlier and just let him y it all out.


    Ling Lan smiled mockingly. ¡°It just so happens I need to do something to show the unruly people in this territory who¡¯s boss. But, luckily you came and helped me with this.¡±


    Ji Ming now knew that Ling Lan was trying to use him to frighten all of those who reside in the rainbow pce.


    ¡°But now, you are no longer of use to me.¡± Ling Lan slightly raised the three pronged ice spear and slowly stabbed it towards Ji Ming¡¯s forehead.


    This spear came extremely slowly. Ji Ming watched as the spear came closer and closer towards him. He wanted to move away, but it was like his body had been sealed, stopping him from moving an inch.


    No, he didn¡¯t want to die! Ji Ming shouted in terror, ¡°Don¡¯t kill me. I¡¯m also from the Huaxia Federation.¡±


    The ice spear suddenly stopped before Ji Ming¡¯s forehead. Ji Ming couldpletely feel the chilliness of the ice spear. He could feel the coldness seeping into his head, as though it was slowing his mind.


    ¡°Oh?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.


    The voice floated into his ears. Ji Ming couldn¡¯t piece together what the voice was trying to say. His consciousness slowed down to a snail pace. The only thing he knew was the fact that he was still alive.


    ¡°Lord Gen, you are from the Huaxia Federation as well, right? Even if you aren¡¯t from the Huaxia Federation, you still have some rtions with it. Lord Gen, seeing that wee from the same birthce, please let me go,¡± pleaded Ji Ming.


    Ling Lan frowned and thought for a moment. The hand that held the ice spear suddenly loosened, causing the ice spear to fall to the ground.


    Ji Ming closed his eyes in despair, yet the expected pain didn¡¯te. When he opened them again, he saw the ice spear slowly dissolve before his eyes.


    Without there being a threat to his life in front of him, Ji Ming loosed up and fell to the floor. He then realized that even in such an icy cold ce, his inner shirt was actually soaked by his sweat.


    ¡°I will give you three minutes to convince me to let you live...¡± Before Ji Ming had time to make head or tails of the situation, Ling Lan¡¯s icy cold voice rang in his ears.


    Ji Ming immediately calmed his nerves and sat up. He knew that whether he could live or not would depend on those three minutes. He would need to find a reason to convince Ling Lan.


    Ji Ming thought for a moment and then said, ¡°Lord Gen, I am a citizen of the Huaxia Federation. It was because of my good innate talent that I was provided the opportunity to get into a military academy, and I graduated with flying colours. However, after entering the military, I mistakenly offended a descendant of a powerful family, which I didn¡¯t think was a big deal at that time.¡± Ji Ming smiled bitterly after saying all this. ¡°But, what I didn¡¯t know was that after offending him, not only was my future destroyed, they also painted me as a criminal. In the end, I was convicted before they sent me to the Lawless Lands.¡±


    Ling Lan sat on her icy throne and looked at him indifferently, ¡°You still have two more minutes. You can think of a better reason.¡±


    Her words meant that she didn¡¯t believe that story.


    Ji Ming shouted frustratingly, ¡°Lord Gen, what I have said was all true. If that wasn¡¯t the case, why would I be here?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the answer you¡¯re giving me?¡± Ling Lan leaned against the armrest with her right hand holding her head. She knowingly looked at Ji Ming with a half-smile. The look froze the frustration on Ji Ming¡¯s face and in the next second, his expression slowly returned to normal.


    ¡°What do you want to hear, Lord Gen? That way I can make up a story up to your liking.¡± Ji Ming suddenly became neither haughty nor humble. It waspletely different from his behavior of being a scaredy cat who hid behind others and plotted against people.


    ¡°This is your actual personality,¡± said Ling Lan. ¡°How could someone who dares to plot against the position of lord be afraid of dying? Don¡¯t take your acting too far.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for pointing that out.¡± Ji Ming knelt on his knees. Despite having heavy injuries on his body, he still straightened his back as he endured the immense pain. Hepletely got rid of his sleazy behavior from before.


    ¡°If you want to die, I¡¯d be happy to give you that. If you don¡¯t want to die, then you should understand what you need to do in order to live.¡± Ling Lan caressed Little White, who had jumped up onto her knees asking forfort. She had a look of indifference. ¡°If you want to get something, you must pay something of simr value... I¡¯m not someone that¡¯s so generous.¡±


    Ji Ming clenched his fists and a struggling expression shed between his yes. However, he had already reached this point. He didn¡¯t want to just give up and die.


    ¡°I¡¯m from the Huaxia Federation.¡± Finally, Ji Ming made his choice. He raised his head and stared at Ling Lan with fire in his eyes, ¡°That¡¯s the truth.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Ling Lan replied. She didn¡¯t raise her head, still focused on rubbing Little White¡¯s soft hairs. Rubbing these hairs was like an addiction of sorts. Little White¡¯s soft hairs felt morefortable the more she rubbed them. She really wanted to rub these little hairs on her face, but she had to maintain her cold and unmoving impression.


    ¡°What I said before wasn¡¯t made up. I did indeed graduate from the military academy with flying colors. Then I entered the military...¡± Ji Ming¡¯s expression wasplicated. If he was given the choice again, would he still choose the same path he chose in the past? Probably not.


    ¡°There we go,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. ¡°When you entered the domain stage, you probably weren¡¯t even past 35 years old. In the Huaxia Federation, being a domain realm master at such a young age, you would be considered a prodigy. Even if you had offended a descendant of a powerful faction in the military academy, with your qualifications, there would still be organizations who would be willing to protect you.¡±


    Ji Ming¡¯s eyes brightened. The hesitation he had originally instantly disappeared. He nodded and said, ¡°Yes. Although I had some problems with a descendant of a powerful family, there were still organizations who protected me. After entering the military, my development was smooth. I became an ace operator, domain realm master and team leader of a certain ace mecha n¡±


    After saying all that, Ji Ming had a look of pride in his eyes. This was the achievement he acquired on his own. The position he held was 100% acquired through his own abilities.

 Chapter 1366 - Plan of Sacrifice!

    <h4>1366 n of Sacrifice!</h4>


    ¡°You would have had a great future if you stayed in the Federation. So, why did youe here?¡± asked Ling Lan.


    ¡°Humans are all in nature greedy, and would almost always give in to their desires. Even if I was doing well in the military, I could only be promoted to a lieutenant colonel, while he had already been assigned as amander of a regiment and been promoted to senior colonel through his family¡¯s connections.¡± Ji Ming smiled sarcastically. ¡°Isn¡¯t it funny? The achievements I was proud of were nothing in the face of a powerful background. Especially when his military rank was higher than mine, my belief in the system cracked.


    ¡°With your personality, you would never do something like betraying your nation ormitting a severe crime. As long as it wasn¡¯t too over the top, the organization you were with wouldn¡¯t give up on you that easily,¡± Ling Lan guessed. ¡°Then there leaves one other possibility. You were unsatisfied. Unsatisfied where you are in life. You wanted to rise higher than that descendant just so that you could return all of the humiliation you received.¡±


    After hearing that, Ji Ming¡¯s eyes narrowed to not show the surprise in his eyes. He didn¡¯t expect to have his personality totally be figured out after just meeting this new Lord Gen four to five times. This prospect terrified him. This person in front of him was not only incredibly strong, just his intelligence, thought process and methods were already heaven-defying. Who could deal with such a terrifying individual?


    ¡°Am I wrong?¡± Seeing Ji Ming be totally silent, Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and asked him, but her eyes were filled with confidence.


    That sentence awakened Ji Ming from his thoughts and immediately replied, ¡°Lord Gen, your guess is spot on.¡±


    He continued to smile bitterly. ¡°Back then, I was young, naive and proud. I always thought that as long as I dared to think it, I would be able to seed. However, all that changed when my organization drew up a n to invade the Lawless Lands. They called it the n of Sacrifice.¡±


    ¡°n of Sacrifice?¡± Ling Lan frowned. This name already had a bad vibe to it. It definitely wasn¡¯t anything good.


    ¡°Yes, n of Sacrifice. They would choose the most loyal soldiers of the Federation to give up their current statuses and train them into the most hardened criminals to enter the Lawless Lands. We would then use our own methods to infiltrate into the different factions to incite many turf wars, and thus depleting the strength of the Lawless Lands. What¡¯s worse is that we are not allowed to expose our identities even if it meant death.¡± Ji Ming said calmly. Because of his hotheadedness, he wasted 30 years during the best time of his life in the Lawless Lands. Moreover, with the problem of the environment, his body quickly deteriorated to this current state, and soon he will see the end of his days. His body and mind had been depleted of their potential. After trying everything he could to reverse that, even trying to go back to the Federation, he gave up. Now after he gave up, he could finally calmly see all of his mistakes in the past.


    ¡°It seems like you failed,¡± said Ling Lan.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know whether there are still spies in the Lawless Lands. I never knew any of them and wouldn¡¯t contact them even if I know their identities. I was just by myself from the very beginning all the way until now. I don¡¯t even know whether I had killed my so-calledrades during the past few decades.¡± Ji Ming looked down at his two old and wrinkly hands, the hands that had alreadymitted many sins. Even if he were to sessfullyplete his mission, he wouldn¡¯t be able to return his past self.


    ¡°The 13 Lords aren¡¯t people you can overthrow.¡± Ling Lan sighed regretfully for Ji Ming¡¯s sake. If their goal was to overthrow the 13 Lords, the n of Sacrifice was already destined to fail. The only thing that was unfortunate was that this n cost the lives of many outstanding and loyal individuals from the Federation.


    Ling Lan believed that the spies who were still alive were definitely just as strong as Ji Ming. Otherwise, they would never be able toplete the mission they were assigned. However, just the lords she had met, each of them were old sly foxes. They would definitely look through a person¡¯s ancestry before promoting them. Although Ji Ming managed to conceal himself, were the others as lucky as him?


    Plus, Ji Ming was originally someone who was naturally good at disguising himself. He also cleverly chose to disguise himself as an annoying and negligible person. Through all these years, he managed to avoid suspicion just because of his disguise. Ji Ming was undoubtedly very intelligent. He controlled a few points very well and hid himself among the guardians. He didn¡¯t perform too well while also not falling behind.


    ¡°I understood that after bing a guardian. If you hadn¡¯t appeared, I thought I would be living the rest of my life like this. Everything I experienced in the Huaxia Federation would then be just a passing thought in my mind...¡± Ji Ming showed pained expression. If he had known it woulde to this, he definitely wouldn¡¯t havepeted with that descendant.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m very satisfied with your answer.¡± Ling Lan held Little White and stood up. ¡°Your life is your own now. Whether you can live or not, will depend on whether you can get to the medical department.¡±


    After saying that, Ling Lan disappeared from the main hall.


    Ji Ming looked at the empty main hall and smiled bitterly. The secret he kept for his entire life was let out because of his desperation to live. This would be considered as betrayal. Normally, he would feel ashamed of himself, but for some reason, he actually felt relieved. It was as though the burden in his heart waspletely lifted after he exined everything.


    He sat there silent for a few seconds before taking a deep breath. He endured the immense pain on his body and crawled up from the ground.


    Lord Gen said that if he wanted to live, then he must depend on himself. Ji Ming felt his injuries be worse. Thinking about it, he really regretted thinking of such a silly n to scare Lord Gen with the thunderbolt sphere. Luckily, Lord Gen had blocked off the strongest wave of the explosion. Additionally, his own timely activation of his domain also helped save his life. However, this was all it could do. The only hope he had was the medicinal agents at the medical department. He hoped it could be strong enough to stop his injuries from bing worse. That way, he would be able to live another day.


    Ji Ming slowly limped towards the medical department. This was the first time he hated the fact that the medical department was so far from the main hall. If he were to live through this, he would definitely move the medical department near the main hall!


    At that moment, in the farway Huaxia Federation, on Cheyu, Lingtian Independent Army, that had recovered their strength, received two uninvited guests.


    Qi Long kept a straight face as he pretended to not see the two ¡°VIPs¡± from the Flying Dragon Special Forces sitting on the leather sofa in his office.


    ¡°Major General Qi, we¡¯re considered acquaintances, right? Don¡¯t give us that kind of look please.¡± Mu Chaoran had a smile on his face. He wasn¡¯t any bit awkward after seeing Qi Long¡¯s rude expression.


    ¡°Haha, Senior Colonel Mu, we¡¯ve only met a few times on the field. I don¡¯t think that qualifies as being acquaintances,¡± Qi Long put a fake smile on his face. He really didn¡¯t want to talk to these two people.


    Every time these two came to Lingtian, it wouldn¡¯t be for anything good. In the past, Boss could deal with them, so he was carefree about their presence. However, now, ording to Han Jijyun¡¯s words, he must stay as far as possible from them as possible in case they drag them into something troublesome.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so heartless. In the past, we also went through hardships with your Boss so we can be considered brothers,¡± Mu Chaoran began trying to get on Qi Long¡¯s good side.


    He had no other choice. It was because Ling Lan¡¯s whereabouts were too secretive, so they had no choice but to meet Ling Lan¡¯s underlings for some information.

 Chapter 1367 - Bad or Good Thing?

    <h4>1367 Bad or Good Thing?</h4>


    Qi Long smiled in a friendly manner, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare go that far.¡±


    ¡°Forget it, I don¡¯t want to go around in circles with you.¡± Mu Chaoran heard Qi Long¡¯s perfunctory tone and stopped smiling. His expression was somewhat stern. ¡°We came here because we hope Major General Qi can provide us with some information.¡±


    Qi Long¡¯s expression also became stern. ¡°Please go ahead.¡±


    ¡°Where did Lieutenant General Ling go?¡± Mu Chaoran asked this question straight away.


    Qi Long raised his eyebrows. ¡°Ever since Lieutenant General Ling disappeared from the battlefield in the battle against the Twilight Empire, there hasn¡¯t been any news of his whereabouts. Hasn¡¯t military headquarters been trying to find him all this time? I also want to know where he is.¡±


    Tang Ningyu, who was sitting on the other side, spoke up, ¡°You can only fool outsiders with those words. Everyone knows that it was you, Major General Qi, who brought Lieutenant General Ling to General.¡±


    Qi Long had an innocent smile on his face. ¡°Senior Colonel Tang, your words don¡¯t make any sense. Let¡¯s not even say whether or not Lieutenant General Ling had gone to General. Even if he had gone there, I would think he had gone through with your connections. After all, Senior Colonel Mu just said that you were like brothers who had gone through hardships together with Lieutenant General Ling.¡±


    Qi Long seemed to be an honest and obedient person on the outside, but in reality, he was ranked third among everyone in Lingtian in terms of evilness.


    Boss didn¡¯t even need a mention. He was definitely the most evil out of all of them.


    Li Lanfeng on the other hand, who liked hiding his intentions behind a smile, showed as a mild-mannered individual on the outside. He made people feel warm and cared for, but was actually plotting to kill them behind their backs. Every sentence he spoke might be a trap. A person wouldn¡¯t know when they had fallen into a trap. Qi Long feared Li Lanfeng the most and would never challenge him unless absolutely necessary. However, other than these two, even Han Jijyun was only just strategic, not evil in his eyes. He had a good heart, but wasn¡¯t as evil as Qi Long. Han Jijyun was also considered someone with an odd personality.


    This ranking was internally epted by everyone in Lingtian. Otherwise, why would they have worked together to get Qi Long into the highestmanding position? It was because everyone believed other than Boss and Li Lanfeng, only Qi Long could carry the heavy burden of the Lingtian Independent Army on his shoulders.


    Qi Long¡¯s words made Tang Ningyu speechless. He didn¡¯t know how to respond for a short while.


    ¡°Major General Qi, let¡¯s not test each other anymore. We don¡¯t have any negative feelings towards Lieutenant General Ling. It¡¯s just that we received our chief¡¯s orders for us to follow Lieutenant General Ling and protect him.¡± Mu Chaoran didn¡¯t want to waste anymore of their time here and instantly told Qi Long the reason they came here.


    ¡°Chief? General Ren from the Flying Dragon Special Forces?¡± asked Qi Long in surprise.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s him.¡± Mu Chaoran nodded heavily.


    Qi Long remembered that him bing themander of the Lingtian Independent Army wasrgely because of his help. Although he didn¡¯t know whether it was with good or bad intentions, he still couldn¡¯t forget the help he had given to him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Qi Long said slowly.


    He wasn¡¯t lying to them. He really didn¡¯t know where Boss had gone. When Boss left, he only told him that he was going to the vast universe to create his own organization. After he did that, he woulde back and fight against the top brass of the military headquarters to avenge his father.


    At that time, Qi Long didn¡¯t want to ask for more detail. The safest way of keeping a secret was not knowing it. Qi Long knew this very well. Thus, he didn¡¯t ask back then because he knew if he had asked, Boss would definitely tell him the answer.


    That was his intuition and was the trust between brothers. However, the more it was like that, the more Qi Long didn¡¯t want to know the answer. He didn¡¯t want Boss to be exposed to more dangers. If it had been Qi Long himself, Boss wouldn¡¯t have wanted that either.


    ¡°Lieutenant General Ling didn¡¯t leave any information behind?¡± Mu Chaoran¡¯s eyes showed that he was somewhat anxious.


    ¡°The universe,¡± Qi Long thought for a moment and then said this word.


    He knew only this word. As for whether they could find him or not would depend on their abilities.


    Why did Qi Long choose to tell them? It was because his Animal Instinct told him that it would be better if he told them.


    Other than Boss, Qi Long trusted his Animal Instinct the most. It was because Boss had said it was his strongest ability. Although there wasn¡¯t any reasoning behind it, the information his Animal Instinct innate talent gave him had always been the most suitable, relevant and correct.


    Qi Long kept that in mind. Thus, when his Animal Instinct innate talent notified him, he would follow it to make the most suitable decision.


    ¡°Universe?¡± Mu Chaoran¡¯s eyes brightened. He could now confirm that he definitely wasn¡¯t anywhere in the nation.


    ¡°The rest is up to you guys. I can¡¯t help you anymore,¡± Qi Long said inly.


    ¡°Understood. Thank you for putting your trust in us, Major General Qi.¡± Although Mu Chaoran felt it was odd that Qi Long was so cooperative, they now had hope of finding Ling Lan. Mu Chaoran didn¡¯t want to waste any time here with Qi Long, so he and Tang Ningyu said their goodbyes and left.


    After they had left, the door of the restroom on the side opened silently.


    Han Jijyun walked out from there and frowned. ¡°Are they safe to deal with?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but they probably shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡± Qi Long smiled.


    ¡°Oh? Your innate talent?¡± Han Jijyun knew Qi Long the best. After hearing Qi Long say something like that, he understood what he meant.


    ¡°Yeah. I also have a feeling that something big will happen and it will be connected with these two.¡± Qi Long had a slight look of anxiousness on his face. The information his Animal Instinct had given him was too vague. He just knew that it wasn¡¯t going to be a bad thing, so perhaps it would be something good?


    ¡°Can you determine the rough time?¡± asked Han Jijyun. If Qi Long said something big was going to happen, then something big would definitely go down. No matter if it was good or bad, he must make proper preparations.


    Qi Long rubbed his forehead and felt his thoughts for a moment. ¡°It should be within three days.¡±


    Three days quickly passed by. Inside the headquarters conference room of Lingtian¡¯s base, Qi Long, Lin Zhong-qing, Luo Chao, Han Xuya, Li Jinghong and He Chaoyang were discussing the progress of preparations done by the logistics department.


    Suddenly, Qi Long raised his head. A sharp look appeared in his eyes as he disappeared from his spot. When he reappeared, he had already reached the door. An iron fist with an explosive sound went through towards the empty doorway.


    Poof! A muffled sound travelled to their ears. Then, a silhouette appeared from thin air, blocking Qi Long¡¯s iron fist with both of his hands.


    The strength of both of them actually created arge dent on the metal door.


    Qi Long saw that person and was overjoyed. He took back his fist and shouted in excitement, ¡°Luo Lang.¡±


    Luo Lang? Everyone present who was familiar with that name all looked towards that person. As expected, it was the face that they couldn¡¯t be more familiar with. A face that they didn¡¯t see each day, but still thought of each day. It was Luo Chao¡¯s older brother, Luo Lang.


    ¡°Howe your back? Where is Boss?¡± Qi Long walked up and hugged Luo Lang¡¯s shoulders as he shouted in excitement.


    ¡°Boss didn¡¯te back,¡± Luo Lang said calmly.


    ¡°Didn¡¯te back?¡± Qi Long put his hands down disappointedly. ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to be protecting Boss? Why did youe back?¡±

 Chapter 1368 - A Drunken Fit?

    <h4>1368 A Drunken Fit?</h4>


    Although they were very happy seeing Luo Lange back, they were still more worried about Boss.


    ¡°Of course I have a reason foring back,¡± Luo Lang said in an annoyed tone. ¡°Quick, prepare some food for me and water. I¡¯m dying from hunger and thirst.¡±


    Luo Lang went to the neutral nation that was the closest to the Federation on the 7th Bugle Call. 7th Bugle Call was a big target which made it inconvenient for it to go into the Federation. Thus, Luo Lang let those on 7th Bugle Call start purchasing supplies. Luckily they brought some native products from the Lawless Lands with them to sell, so they could acquire some money that way. It was just that selling and buying would take a lot of time. However, that wasn¡¯t a problem. ording to Ling Lan¡¯s n, the 7th Bugle Call was originally taking on the role of drawing the attention of the 13 Lords to the neutral nation. Luo Lang on the other hand would use that opportunity to sneak into the Federation, make contact with Qi Long and let Qi Long prepare the supplies. Afterwards, they would take the Jin Ship and transport it to the Lawless Lands.


    All in all, the 7th Bugle Call was just bait to make the 13 Lords not know the real powers behind Ling Lan. They could think it was the Soul Society or the mercenary world. The more unsure they were, the safer Ling Lan was.


    In order to not expose himself and to save time, he had his domain activated all the way here. Other than when he was incredibly hungry, he didn¡¯t waste any time on any other misceneous matters.


    Seeing Luo Lang¡¯s disheveled look, Luo Chao immediately prepared food and drinks for her older brother.


    Luo Lang gulped down arge cup of water, and only after he felt he was alright, he spoke, ¡°Boss has an assignment for all of you.¡±


    After hearing Luo Lang¡¯s words, everyone stood on attention with their backs straight. It was as though it was no longer Luo Lang standing before them, but rather Boss Ling Lan who they admired and respected.


    ¡°Boss needs supplies. This is the list.¡± Luo Lang took out a list of items and handed it to Han Jijyun, who had already arrived.


    Han Jijyun opened it up and took a look. A look of surprise appeared in his eyes for a moment. Although there were some restricted military supplies in the list, most of it was basic supplies for living needs. Some were even verymon.


    ¡®Could Boss be somewhere where these resources are limited?¡¯ Han Jijyun looked through the list of items and urately determined the situation Ling Lan was in.


    ¡°Time is of the essence. We came here as fast as we could. Even with the Destruction Devil, it still took us 31 days, and plus the fact that I also used up four more days to get here. In total, we used up 35 days. Now there¡¯s a problem. This shipment of supplies must reach Boss within 25 days,¡± Luo Lang said in a serious tone.


    ¡°How is that possible?¡± After hearing the time restraint, Han Jijyun¡¯s expression changed slightly. ¡°We still need to gather the supplies. The fastest we can do that is three days, then we would only have 21 days on the road... No starship can fill in the difference of 10 days.¡± Destruction Devils were already the fastest starships in the Federation. Han Jijyun couldn¡¯t think of any other starship that could be faster than a Destruction Devil. They required a starship that had triple the speed of a Destruction Devil to even barely stay within the time limit. This was definitely not a mission they couldplete.


    ¡°You have to make it possible even if it¡¯s impossible,¡± Luo Lang¡¯s expression was not good. ¡°Otherwise, Boss will be in danger in the Lawless Lands.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡± Everyone there all had surprised expressions on their faces.


    ¡°Let¡¯s stop asking. Zhong-qing, Jijyun, Jinghong and Chaoyang, you four go and prepare the supplies. The quicker the better.¡± Qi Long was the most calm out of everyone. He knew that it was a race against time. Thus, he ordered those four to go do what they needed to do. As for the questions, they could save them for when they finished gathering the supplies.


    Qi Long¡¯s words calmed everyone down. Soon, Han Jijyun, Lin Zhong-qing, Li Jinghong and He Chaoyang all rushed to different warehouses and began to go through the supplies the base already had. They knew very well that if the supplies could be gathered quicker, then they would have more of a chance of staying within the given time limit.


    After seeing everyone beginning to gather supplies, Luo Lang breathed a sigh of relief. After relieving his concerns, he was able to focus on the bowl of rice in front of him as he ate in a crazed manner.


    After sensing his digestive system no longer protesting that it needed food, Luo Lang then raised his head to look at Luo Chao, ¡°Little sis, Boss said you and Jin will be responsible for the shipment this time.¡±


    Qi Long¡¯s eyes brightened. How could he forget about Jin Ship?


    If other Destruction Devils couldn¡¯tplete this task, Jinbined with Luo Chao might be able to do it.


    However, could Luo Chao endure the long and arduous journey?


    Combining with Jin used much of her limited amount of energy. With Luo Chao¡¯s current level of Qi-Jin, no one knew how long she could do it for.


    Luo Chao¡¯s eyes shined brightly. She enthusiastically clenched her fists and nodded with force. ¡°Understood. I will definitelyplete the mission.¡±


    Luo Chao can feel the trust Boss had in her because Boss gave her a mission that put her life in her hands. It was just like in the past when Boss chose to expose her real gender to her and Han Xuya without any hesitation.


    ¡°Bang!¡± An angry fist smashed into the table in front of Luo Lang.


    Luo Lang immediately reached out with his hands, creating multiple afterimages in the process. They all safely grabbed the tes and bowl that are flying up in the air, not letting even one bit of the food get spilled.


    ¡°I also want to go,¡± Han Xuya said angrily.


    Luo Lang calmly put down the food tes and bowls and replied, ¡°I didn¡¯t say you aren¡¯t going.¡±


    ¡°I want to go. I have to go... Ugh? I can go?¡± Han Xuya thought Luo Lang would refuse so she shouted reflexively.


    ¡°Boss knew that you and Luo Chao wouldn¡¯t leave each other. If Luo Chao goes and you aren¡¯t allowed to go, the world will be turned upside down. You follow Luo Chao to the Lawless Lands and turning that ce upside down would be better than leaving you here and give Qi Long a headache,¡± Luo Lang rolled his eyes.


    Even though Boss didn¡¯te back, he still knew everyone¡¯s reactions. He had told Luo Lang how to handle every one of them before he came here.


    ¡°Hahaha, the person who knows me best is still Boss.¡± Han Xuyaughed out loud with her head towards the sky.


    ¡°Alright, go, just don¡¯t cause trouble for Boss,¡± said Qi Long worriedly.


    Han Xuya ruthlessly red at him with a look of dissatisfaction. ¡°When did I cause trouble?¡±


    ¡°Did you not? A few days ago, you broke the rules to drink alcohol, and you actually got drunk. You were even in a drunken fit. That was fine, but you also shamelessly put your hands everywhere.¡± After Qi Long remembered this part, his expression was somewhat annoyed.


    ¡°Hey, yes, I broke the rules. Yes, I got drunk. But who the f*ck said I got into a fit and put my hands everywhere? Who was I touching with my hands?¡± After hearing Qi Long¡¯s words, Han Xuya exploded with anger. In her memories, she slept like an angel. The next day when she woke up, she was wearing her pajamas and her uniform was folded near the front of her bed frame. This was enough to prove that she got drunk and went directly to sleep. She even remembered to change into her pajamas and fold her military uniform.


    ¡°You put your hands on...¡± Qi Long suddenly closed his mouth and stopped talking. Then, he snorted coldly, ¡°All in all, you are not allowed to drink alcohol while you are there, in case you cause Boss any trouble.¡±

 Chapter 1369 - Flying Solo?

    <h4>1369 Flying Solo?</h4>


    ¡°Hmph, cat got your tongue?¡± Han Xuya raised her head proudly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I know my ce. Plus, if it wasn¡¯t because I miss Boss so much, I wouldn¡¯t have drank anyways. Now that I can be together with Boss, why would I need to drink that foul thing?¡±


    After hearing Han Xuya talk about being together with Boss so enthusiastically, Qi Long felt a bitter taste in his mouth.


    It was probably because he wasn¡¯t the one following Boss in the Lawless Lands. Qi Long finally felt the taste of being restrained by his responsibilities. He couldn¡¯t do whatever he wanted. He could only restrain his desires while trusting Boss andrades and do what was best for everyone.


    On another front, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran, who had been surveincing Lingtian¡¯s headquarters all this time, discovered Lingtian¡¯s suspicious movements.


    ¡°I think there¡¯s something going on.¡± Tang Ningyu put down the infrared binocrs and turned towards Mu Chaoran, who wasying down at the top of a hill.


    ¡°That definitely the case,¡± Mu Chaoran said confidently as he spat out the grass he was chewing in his mouth.


    ¡°What do you think it could be?¡± Tang Ningyu¡¯s eyes brightened.


    ¡°Although they¡¯re being very careful, the things they¡¯re moving are still too much. As long as someone went in to investigate, they would definitely be able to find something odd,¡± Mu Chaoran said while in deep thought. ¡°I don¡¯t mind using the power of the Flying Dragon Special Forces to go investigate. I keep getting the feeling that it has something to do with him.¡±


    Tang Ningyu nodded, ¡°I also think that¡¯s the case. But, during the time he doesn¡¯t want toe back, what we need to do is to not expose him.¡±


    Both of them knew very well who they were referring to as ¡®him¡¯.


    ¡°I think we should pay them a visit.¡± Mu Chaoran smiled somewhat devilishly.


    ¡°Perhaps we might identally find something.¡± Tang Ningyu also smiled.


    At that moment, Lingtian was fully working in full force to help gather the supplies Ling Lan had requested. The people Qi Long sent to do the work were all veteran mecha operators and veteran logistics personnel who had followed Ling Lan from the very beginning.


    Of course, these mecha operators were now team leaders of mecha teams, or at least deputy team leaders. The logistics personnel were almost all logistics team leaders and deputy team leaders.


    In order to keep the secret from spreading, most these people, who usually delegate the work to others, didn¡¯t bring any team members with them. At most, they would bring only the confidants they could 100% trust. Additionally, they themselves would do the work as well. The result of bringing less than the usual amount of people was that everyone was exhausted to the point where they couldn¡¯t even stand. It reminded them of times when Ling Lan mercilessly pressured them. That taste of darkness, pain and being at death¡¯s door they dearly missed.


    For them, it tasted sweet as nectar. It was as though they had gone into the embrace of their mothers.


    Seeing this, Zhao Jun and Lin Zhong-qing, who were leading them, could once again confirm these veterans were all masochists. They wouldn¡¯t feelfortable if they weren¡¯t in pain.


    Of course, only Boss had the qualifications to put them through that type of pain. This time, after hearing they were going to prepare supplies for Boss, they ran very fast, arriving at their destinations in the blink of an eye. They definitely didn¡¯t have the unwillingness from the past when they were given a mission. In the past, when asked the reason for theirziness, they would say that they were old and needed to retire and that those types of assignments should be given to the younger soldiers to help them gather experience.


    What they said wasn¡¯t wrong, but they could say that so tantly was because Qi Long and the others didn¡¯t have Boss¡¯s ability to make these veterans fullyply with their words.


    Of course, when it came to major matters, these veterans wouldn¡¯t drag Lingtian down. They would do what they needed to and alsoplete them with flying colors and perfectly. Qi Long and the others knew the reason they were so cooperative and hardworking. It wasn¡¯t because of them, leaders only by title, but rather it was because of themander they all admired, Ling Lan!


    In reality, they only acknowledged Ling Lan as the onlymander of the Lingtian Independent Army. Qi Long was a great representative, but that was it.


    If Qi Long had even a single thought of changing the Lingtian Independent Army, those veterans would do things that would definitely hurt Qi Long¡¯s feelings.


    However, Qi Long indeed didn¡¯t have any thoughts of changing anything. Seeing the army working so well with Boss, he admired Boss¡¯s abilities even more. Even though Boss left, Lingtian Independent Army was still Boss¡¯s independent army. It would still develop in the path he had designed and not stray into a different one.


    ¡°Going at this speed, the most we can cut is 2 hours. Do we need to choose a few more trustworthy people to go and help transport and load the supplies?¡± Han Jijyun said worriedly. The number of people they could use were too small in numbers. As luck would have it, the supplies Boss wanted were way too much. This time, the entire Jin Ship was filled up. In order to create more space, the soldiers going with Luo Chao were cut to 2000 from the original 5000.


    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that they were afraid of not having an ace mecha n holding the fort and fighting off dangers, they would have taken out the entire mecha n and made space for the supplies in the mecha hold.


    ¡°We can¡¯t anymore people. The veterans we can trust are all here. Those who aren¡¯t going are more or less unclear in terms of trustworthiness. We can¡¯t take that risk. Plus, the more people there are, the bigger themotion. It would also draw the attention of certain people. It wouldn¡¯t be any good for us.¡± Qi Long shook his head and overruled the idea.


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, Luo Chao will be under a lot of pressure.¡± Han Jijyun was worried about their little sister.


    ¡°They will need to grow up sometime,¡± Qi Long said calmly. ¡°Boss called Luo Chao for this mission probably because he thinks she has the qualifications to fly solo now.¡±


    ¡°You think so?¡± Han Jijyun asked with uncertainty.


    Back in the day, Boss fully protected their two little sisters. Although he behaved in a secretive manner, they still knew Boss very well. How could they not have sensed that?


    As for men like them, it was just cruel torture. They would be tossed into dangerous situations against dangerous people, and Boss wouldn¡¯t hesitate even for a moment. Boss fully believed that their real potential could only be forced out at death¡¯s door. It was a way of improving themselves in an explosive manner. Each one of them came out from those types of training alive. Facing death was already something they deemed as normal. If it wasn¡¯t like that, they wouldn¡¯t have used it either.


    However, their Boss¡¯s determined life-or-death training methodpletely copsed when it came to their two little sisters.


    When dealing with their two little sisters, the training amount was slowly changed. Boss was afraid if he had gone overboard, it might cause some permanent problems for their two little sisters (All the male underlings cried in pain. Why didn¡¯t Boss worry about them having problems with their bodies). Not only that, when their two little sisters were training, Li Shiyu was waiting on the side. It was because Boss was afraid an ident might happen which required treatment at a moment¡¯s notice (All the male underlings cried in agony once again. Why did they still have to crawl to the medical department by themselves for someone to save them after they only had one breath left in their bodies after the training?)


    Not to mention, Boss had personally researched a training method that was suitable for their two little sisters. He even taught them the Ling family¡¯s fighting technique (self-defense technique?) for females. This difference in treatment made these male underlings all look at their two little sisters with envious looks (Li Lanfeng did not express his jealousness, but he would bite on his nkets at night).

 Chapter 1370 - Going Side by Side!

    <h4>1370 Going Side by Side!</h4>


    All in all, the difference in treatment allowed these male underlings to understand that they were just random spurts of mud on the ground in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. Their two little sisters however, were viewed as precious treasures in Boss¡¯s eyes.


    With that in mind, the fact that Boss would be willing to send their precious little sisters onto the front-lines boggled Han Jijyun¡¯s mind.


    ¡°Although Boss has protected Luo Chao and Han Jijyun very well in the past, have you not noticed the path Boss has arranged for them?¡± asked Qi Long.


    The moment Qi Long said that, a lightbulb lit up in Han Jijyun¡¯s mind as he immediately figured out why Boss had a sudden change of treatment towards their two little sisters.


    ¡°So Boss has been developing Luo Chao and Xuya from the very beginning,¡± said Han Jijyun.


    ¡°It¡¯s just that the method he used to develop them is different than ours.¡± Qi Long slowly stood up from his seat. When the bright gleam of the eastern sun shone upon his face, he looked as though he was an ancient sage who was gleaming into the insight of the universe. ¡°Forceful and conservative. Both very good methods.¡±


    ¡°Men are more suited to be trained with the forceful method. If I was told to train in the same way as Luo Chao and Xuya, I would definitely die from boredom.¡± Han Jijyun thought for a moment, and understood why there was such vast difference in treatment.


    ¡°This is what Boss decided early on,¡± Qi Long said calmly. ¡°From the very beginning, Boss never nned to pamper Luo Chao and Xuya into weaklings who needed our protection. He wanted them to fight with us side by side.¡±


    ¡°I only submitted to Boss because he would never give up on any of us. He would shatter every perception of us and build us up to the top with him, this includes the supposedly ¡®weak¡¯ women.¡± Qi Long clenched his fists. At that moment, he discovered thatpared to Boss, they were too inferior in every possible way.


    While they were running in the front, their minds were filled with thoughts about Boss and their brothers, which one of them was thinking of the two little sisters who weregging behind them?


    Only Boss remembered that there were still two silhouettes running behind them. Those two wanted to catch up to them, but they didn¡¯t know how to do that. In the end, they became saddened by that fact. It was Boss in the end who held their little sisters¡¯ hands and helped them catch up step by step.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t we all the same?¡± Han Jijyun walked beside Qi Long and stood shoulder to shoulder. ¡°Sometimes I think we¡¯re lucky to have such worthy Boss to put our trust in.¡±


    Qi Long nodded. Right as he was about to say something, he saw two uninvited guests rushing right past the guards, who tried to stop them, and got into his office.


    ¡°...Do you think Lingtian is part of the Flying Dragon Special Forces that you cane and go as you please?¡± Qi Long had a stern look on his face. When they were putting all their effort into preparing the supplies Boss needed, these two suddenly barged in here. This was definitely not a good sign.


    ¡°Tell us. Where are you going with all those supplies?¡± Mu Chaoran plopped down on the sofa with his leg propped up and got straight to the point.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Qi Long suddenly had the urge to punch someone in the face. ¡°Why are you still here?¡±


    Mu Chaoran opened his hand and said, ¡°Well, it can¡¯t be helped. That one word you gave us didn¡¯t give much information, so we can only monitor you to acquire more useful information.¡±


    ¡°Are you not afraid that we won¡¯t have any information?¡± Qi Long was a bit annoyed.


    ¡°How¡¯s that possible? You¡¯re the brother-in-arms Lieutenant General Ling trusts the most. He would definitely contact you. It¡¯s just a matter of how long it would take,¡± Mu Chaoran said confidently.


    ¡°In reality, everyone knows this. If it wasn¡¯t for the Flying Dragon Special Forces, do you actually think your little operation here could deceive the surveince of the military headquarters¡¯ special ops team?¡± said Tang Ningyu, who sat on the side with an expressionless face, coldly.


    In order to protect that person, they used all of their efforts and connections to lead those surveying around Lingtian¡¯s base away. Of course, the main reason they could do that was because they had the chief¡¯s full support in whatever they did. Otherwise, just the two of them, wouldn¡¯t be able to deal with that many people.


    ¡°Alright, what do you want to know?¡± Qi Long walked to the front of Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu before sitting down forcefully on the seat opposite of them.


    ¡°Does Lieutenant General Ling need these supplies?¡± Tang Ningyu¡¯s eyes looked straight at Qi Long. He wanted an answer to the question.


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Qi Long didn¡¯t beat around the bush and instantly admitted to it.


    Han Jijyun slightly raised his eyebrows. Although he didn¡¯t know why Qi Long was so straightforward, he was still very trusting in Qi Long. He knew Qi Long definitely had some reasons for his decision, so he just stood on the side and watched on.


    ¡°We want to go where the supplies go.¡± Mu Chaoran leaned his body forward and ced one hand on the coffee table in front of them while he stared at Qi Long right into his eyes. His eyes were filled with an unwillingness to be rejected.


    Hearing that, Qi Long just crossed his arms as he smiled cheekily.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The order we received is to protect, not anything else.¡± Tang Ningyu also leaned forward with a serious look on his face.


    ¡°I believe that, but after I let you go, you will lose everything you have by going there. You won¡¯t have your name, your identity, and there is a chance you might note back in this lifetime. Are you sure you want to go?¡± asked Qi Long whileughing.


    ¡°When we took up this mission, we were already no longer part of the Flying Dragon Special Forces,¡± Mu Chaoran said in a serious tone.


    The sudden statement shocked Qi Long. It was as though the chief of the Flying Dragon Special Forces had predicted something like this would happen. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have made such arrangements beforehand.


    ¡°Alright, after two hours, the supplies will be fully loaded and the starship will officially depart.¡± Qi Long didn¡¯t deliberately try to make it difficult for Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran, and just allowed them to go.


    ¡°That¡¯s great.¡± Mu Chaoran excitedly pped his hands. Suddenly, he raised his head and asked, ¡°Why did you let us go this easily? I thought you would ask us to promise something before allowing us to go.¡±


    ¡°Promise what?¡± Qi Long raised his eyebrows and asked.


    ¡°Such as making us promise to obey Lieutenant General Ling¡¯s orders or to not do anything that could endanger Lieutenant General Ling,¡± said Mu Chaoran.


    ¡°Heh heh!¡±ughed Qi Long. ¡°You actually think you can threaten Boss with your meagre strength? Plus, after getting to Boss and you still dare to defy him, then I can only say you¡¯ve done living life.¡±


    Qi Long¡¯s words incited anger in Tang Ningyu. As a proud member of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, Tang Ningyu had a type of pride that Qi Long didn¡¯t have. It was clear that Qi Long was looking down on them. That was why he let go so easily. It was because Qi Long was sure they definitely couldn¡¯t be a threat to Ling Lan.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be angry. I¡¯m only speaking the truth. Despite how outstanding you are,pared to Boss, the difference is between night and day,¡± Qi Long said indifferently.


    Right as Tang Ningyu was about to stand up and refute what Qi Long said, Mu Chaoran held him down. He smiled, but his eyes had a hint of coldness. He spoke to Qi Long, ¡°I know Lieutenant General Ling is a one in a million prodigy from the heavens, so those words can perhaps only be said by Lieutenant General Ling. You on the other hand aren¡¯t qualified...¡±

 Chapter 1371 - Departure

    <h4>Chapter 1371 Departure</h4>


    Hearing Mu Chaoran trying to put him down, Qi Long just spoke in an indifferent tone, ¡°Sure, whatever you say. In reality, you know better than anyone. If you could actually be somewhat troublesome for Boss, I would love to hear and see that.¡±


    Qi Long¡¯s attitude of looking down on them ignited the fury in Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu¡¯s heart. Right as they were about to explode, they heard Han Jijyun speak to them from the other side of the room, ¡°Senior colonels, are you not going to prepare anything? After all, there¡¯s nothing where you¡¯re going...¡±


    Mu Chaoran¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Really nothing?¡±


    Han Jijyun shook his head side to side. ¡°Piss poor.¡±


    ¡°Understood. Thank you for the reminder.¡± Mu Chaoran nodded towards Han Jijyun before snorting coldly towards Qi Long. Then, he stood up and left with Tang Ningyu. Of course, he didn¡¯t forget to ask Han Jijyun the time they needed to gather for departure.


    It wasn¡¯t because they didn¡¯t want to instantly go over to the area of departure, but because Qi Long and Han Jijyun were too careful and only agreed to bring them there when it was time for departure.


    After seeing the two of their silhouettes disappear, Han Jijyun turned around towards Qi Long, who had stopped looking prideful, and asked him, ¡°You wanted to bring them down a notch?¡±


    ¡°From what we heard from Luo Lang, we can know that Boss isn¡¯t having an easy time in the Lawless Lands. Other than having strong enemies pressuring him from every angle, he alsocks strong fighters under hismand. Unfortunately we can¡¯t go since we have to make sure to guard the Lingtian Independent Army for him.¡± Qi Long sighed in resignation. ¡°Those who can go are like Zhao Jun, who has amoner background with no ties with any factions, and Luo Chao and Han Xuya who or enemies don¡¯t put focus on.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. All the brigade leaders are all being watched closely by different factions and organizations. Once they leave the base, they would definitely investigate them. Although Zhao Jun would also be followed, it would be fine as long as he was sent out under the name of a 4 or 5-star mission,¡± replied Han Jijyun. ¡°Luckily, Zhao Jun took many 4 and 5-star missions in the past in order to find a breakthrough for himself. They investigated him quite a lot back then, but after discovering he was indeed on assignments, they just let him go without checking him too much in thest few assignments.¡±


    ¡°Moreover, Zhao Jun never showed signs of being close to Boss.¡± Qi Long deviously. ¡°In those people¡¯s minds, Zhao Jun works under Li Lanfeng. They see him as someone out of the 10 brigade leaders who isn¡¯t a confidant of Boss.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why we treated Zhao Jun differently, right?¡± After hearing Qi Long¡¯s words, Han Jijyun smiled.


    Although Zhao Jun entered Lingtian because he followed Li Lanfeng, after so many years of growing up, moving forward and bonding with them, he had already elevated his own status to being their brother for life. Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng¡¯s rtionship was indeed close and separable, but his admiration and respect towards Boss wasn¡¯t any less than the others.


    ¡°It will be hard for us to send out more people to help Boss. There¡¯s no doubt that two strong people like Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran going there will be a good thing,¡± said Qi Long. ¡°However, I can¡¯t let them think that they¡¯re actually that important.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why you stomped their pride into the ground, making them think that we just think of them as a nuisance and that we did them a favour by helping them.¡± Han Jijyun sighed as he shook his head.


    ¡°They¡¯re going there to be Boss¡¯s underlings, not be his master. Plus, they said they are going there to protect Boss, pfft~ It must have been hard for them to speak so shamelessly. Isn¡¯t it better for them to understand the reality of it all earlier?¡± Qi Long replied calmly.


    ¡°I thought you¡¯re very friendly with Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran,¡± Han Jijyun¡¯s intuition was on point.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure why, but whenever I see that guy, I just get annoyed, but I don¡¯t see him as an enemy.¡± Qi Long¡¯s Animal Instinct was oddly discriminatory against Mu Chaoran. That was why Qi Long didn¡¯t have any good expressions on his face when speaking to Mu Chaoran.


    ¡°Oh right, is Zhao Jun ready? ¡± Qi Long put aside the problem with Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu and continued to discuss the matter they were speaking about before.


    For this assignment, Zhao Jun brought his own brigade. He also chose a few capable and trustworthy mecha operators andbined them into an ace mecha n of 2000 people to protect Jin Ship. This time, in order to ensure the battle potential of the ace mecha n, they brought with them the Federation¡¯s newly invented second generation free transform ace mechas, while those who were now imperial operators on the other hand, brought the Federation¡¯s standard imperial mechas with them. However, the outer appearances of these mechas were not any different than the 2nd generation free transform ace mechas. The capable mecha engineers of the Lingtian Independent Army perfectly disguised these mechas.


    ¡°He is already done. The logistics department brought along a group of experienced veterans. They¡¯re all great at repair and maintenance, without any need of getting used to the environment. They can work the moment they get on the job,¡± replied Han Jijyun.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Qi Long¡¯s eyes began staring into the void. This was all that he could do right now. He could only send out as many capable individuals as he could and hope that they would be of help for Boss faraway in the Lawless Lands.


    After a short while, Jin Ship finally departed from the port two and a half hours ahead of the prearranged time.


    On the surface, it was taking off to facilitate Zhao Jun in his four-star team mission. He would lead the mecha operators who worked under him towards the designated of the assignment.


    Although using a Destruction Devil as a transport vessel was considered luxurious, it still wasn¡¯t considered outrageous because he was one of the ten brigade leaders of Lingtian. Plus, the threemanders and the vicemander had agreed to it. At most, the military headquarters would speak out on how this Senior Colonel Zhao Jun from Lingtian was being inappropriate by showing off.


    On this front, Jin Ship ship sessfully departed, but on the other front, Li Lanfeng went through many neutral nations. He changed many different starships before finally arriving at the Chaotic Lands.


    His speed was much slower than Luo Lang. After all, he wasn¡¯t like Luo Lang who had the luxury to board the 7th Bugle Call.


    Although the Chaotic Lands were deemed as ungoverned on the outside, it was still realistically beingpletely controlled by the manyrge factions and organizations. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact Ling Lan had cooperated with Xia Qingyi from the Soul Society after taking out the Frost Monarch and quickly taking control of the Frost Monarch¡¯s faction, much of the Chaotic Lands wouldn¡¯t be in their control. Additionally, after taking over Hades¡¯ territory with the power of the Soul Society backing him, Xia Qingyi was able to stabilize everything they had acquired in the Chaotic Lands.


    Of course, on the surface, the territory of the Frost Monarch still belonged to him and the Soul Society controlled Hades¡¯ territory. Even the Soul Society believed from Xia Qingyi¡¯s reports that they only controlled one territory and was only cooperating closely with the Frost Monarch.


    The only person who knew about this secret was Xia Qingyi, who controlled both territories by himself. Every time the ¡®Frost Monarch¡¯ worked together with the Soul Society, Xia Qingyi would always respectfully provide the Frost Monarch some unimportant benefits during the negotiations. It was these mutually beneficial negotiations that made the Frost Monarch¡¯s faction and Soul Society¡¯s rtionship even closer.


    The Soul Society also didn¡¯t feel any dissatisfaction from the way Xia Qingyi dealt with these matters. The two guardians, who were sent by the Soul Society to protect him, but actually to watch him, had begun working for Xia Qingyi a long time ago. When they made their reports, they would make it sound as if they¡¯re working really hard. Additionally, the Soul Emperor of the Soul Society was quite satisfied because of the amount of benefits the Soul Society had reaped from the Chaotic Lands.

 Chapter 1372 - Flawed Person!

    <h4>1372 wed Person!</h4>


    After achieving such aplishments, Xia Qingyi was awarded the position of the governor of the 18th district. When such arrangements were made, there was originally going to be a neer recing him in dealing with the business in the Chaotic Lands.


    However, how could Xia Qingyi give someone else the business that would dictate his own future? So, he immediately arranged for the Frost Monarch¡¯s side to refuse any discussions with the neer and proim Xia Qingyi as the only person they were willing to do business with. No matter how the Soul Society tried to make this change, the Frost Monarch¡¯s side wouldn¡¯t budge and would always ask for Xia Qingyi and no one else.


    How could the Soul Society let their arrangements in the Chaotic Lands be messed up after putting so much effort there? On the surface, Xia Qingyi had already epted the new arrangements, but he refused it after hearing the Frost Monarch was not too happy with the neer. He was willing to take up the role for the sake of the Soul Society, even if it meant double the work, which thus made a good impression with the higher-ups of the Soul Society. In the end, other than being the governor of a district, he was also the manager of the business in the Chaotic Lands.


    After a few years, Xia Qingyi had organized the Chaotic Lands like a bunker. Oh right, wasn¡¯t there still a Hermit?


    Indeed, the Hermit was still that Hermit, but he wasn¡¯t the one from before. As for why, Xia Qingyi knew very well that his master and two guardians from the Soul Society had made a move.


    The Hermit was still governing his own territory and would ally with other factions to go against the faction of Hades controlled by the Soul Society, as Ling Lan didn¡¯t want the Soul Society and the Hermit to have a close rtionship. Them fighting amongst themselves made it easy for an absent Frost Monarch like her to sit quietly on the throne.


    The Hermit was simultaneously very afraid and admired the Frost Monarch. The attitude the Frost Monarch showed was that he didn¡¯t want toe in between them and the Soul Society¡¯s quarrels, which made the Hermit respect the Frost Monarch even more to the point of regarding him as a master and himself as a disciple.


    It was because of suchplicated rtionships that the Chaotic Lands was stable. If other powers wanted to enter the Chaotic Lands, they wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything and could only ask the three kings for a business cooperation.


    Even though the Frost Monarch, who had a closed door policy for years, didn¡¯te out in the eyes of the public, no one would dare to make any moves on the Frost Monarch¡¯s faction. It was because both the Hermit and the Hades factions controlled by the Soul Society were respectful towards the Frost Monarch. These foreign powers were afraid that if they weren¡¯t careful, they might cause trouble for themselves, causing the three kings to gather together and eradicate them.


    Li Lanfeng arrived at Chaotic Lands and instantly went into Hades¡¯ territory. Actually, it was fine no matter which one he went to. It was just that Hades was the most appropriate. As long as a person knew what was actually happening in Hades, they would know that it was under the Soul Society¡¯s control.


    With a token, Li Lanfeng quickly met up with the two guardians. Xia Qingyi was no longer the poor and drab-looking Xia Qingyi. At that moment, he held a high-ranking position with great power. Unless there was anything important, he wouldn¡¯t be in the Chaotic Lands normally.


    The two guardians were also Ling Lan¡¯s underlings. After hearing it was their master sending Li Lanfeng here, the two of them didn¡¯t say anything and contacted Xia Qingyi, telling him toe as quickly as possible.


    After less than two days, Xia Qingyi arrived. This was already the result of Xia Qingyi using the fastest starship avable in the Soul Society.


    Xia Qingyi went straight to the room Li Lanfeng was resting in. When Li Lanfeng saw him, he didn¡¯t waste any time and instantly told him everything Ling Lan had ordered Xia Qingyi to do. Xia Qingyi then knew that his master was actually preparing to make a foothold in the Lawless Lands, the ce where even the Soul Society had sacrificed countless strong individuals but in the end still had to retreat from it.


    The Lawless Lands was the ce where the Soul Emperor wanted to take revenge against. Unfortunately, he never had the courage to make any moves on it after that one time.


    Of course, the Soul Society had probed the Lawless Lands under the guise of some other organization. Despite failing countless times, they hadn¡¯t actually exposed their real identity. This was why when Ling Lan used the Soul Society¡¯s name, the 13 Lords didn¡¯t suspect anything.


    What shocked Xia Qingyi even more was that it seemed his master had seeded. He instantly got rid of one of the lords and took his ce. He even made a temporary promise with the other lords. As long as the promise was kept, he would officially be a lord of the Lawless Lands.


    Something that even the Soul Society couldn¡¯t do... His master had done. If someday, his master could take over the Lawless Lands, and in addition to the Chaotic Lands... After thinking to this point, Xia Qingyi excitedly shuddered. He seemed to have followed an incredible individual, and he himself was actually one the participants working under that individual.


    Xia Qingyi knew very well that on the surface, the Chaotic Lands was ruled over by the three kings. However, in reality, there was only one king. As long as his master came here personally and hinted towards the Hermit, the Hermit would definitely bow down and work as his master¡¯s underling.


    Despite almost exploding from his excitement, Xia Qingyi was after all still Xia Qingyi. After a few seconds, he controlled his emotions and asked, ¡°What do you need me to do?¡±


    ¡°I need the Soul Society¡¯s name and for you to write up a contract of coboration to send the needed supplies to the Lawless Lands,¡± Li Lanfeng said calmly. ¡°Make it a long-term periodic thing.¡±


    ¡°Master used the Soul Society¡¯s name?¡± Xia Qingyi frowned. He knew very well the Soul Emperor abhorred anyone who used his name. If the Soul Emperor knew about this, it would be a big problem for his master.


    ¡°That¡¯s why you need to say it¡¯s business coboration,¡± replied Li Lanfeng. ¡°Of course, the responsibility will be on you. As for how you would resolve Soul Emperor¡¯s anger, that¡¯ll be up to you.¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words were somewhat heartless. Despite Xia Qingyi¡¯s expression not changing, his eyes still turned somewhat cold.


    ¡°What? Feeling a bit ufortable?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled slightly. ¡°As the governor of the 18th district, you are already considered in the top ranks after eliminating those pseudo ranks of those elder guardians. It¡¯s quite normal for you to have an attitude after being treated so coldly by our master.¡±


    ¡°No, not really,¡± Xia Qingyi smiled. The coldness in his eyes instantly vanished and returned to how it was before.


    ¡°It¡¯s better if you don¡¯t. If you want to catch up to our master, you have to improve your own abilities.¡± Li Lanfeng cheekily smiled. ¡°Our master doesn¡¯t care for people working for him, especially those who fall behind.¡±


    After saying that, Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile got even wider. However, the more he smiled, the more Xia Qingyi felt it was cold as ice, ¡°Master thinks of those people as wed, and such wed objects don¡¯t need to exist.¡±


    Xia Qingyi smiled coldly. ¡°Are you threatening me?¡±


    ¡®Motherf*cker. Isn¡¯t he just with master a few years earlier than me. Plus, he got to stay by master¡¯s side all this time, shamelessly taking all the benefits that came. He actually dares to think he is superior than me just because of our circumstances? So f*cking shameless.¡¯


    ¡°It¡¯s not a threat, just a reminder,¡± Li Lanfeng said lightly. ¡°Everyone¡¯s smart. I¡¯m just afraid you might be too smart for your own good...¡±


    ¡°Moreover, the type of people that our mastercks the least are smart people.¡±


    ¡°The list!¡± Although Xia Qingyi was smiling, those two words were said as though they were squeezed out through his teeth.


    Li Lanfeng took out a list of supplies from his pocket and handed it to him, ¡°These are the important ones. You can add some standard supplies if you want.¡±


    ¡°If I want? Just this list needs three transport starships...¡± After seeing the amount of supplies on the list, Xia Qingyi felt his gums itch. There was already that much and he wanted him to add some if he wanted? Transporting this many supplies was still going to take some effort even if it was him. Plus, he couldn¡¯t sneak it past the Soul Society even if he wanted to.

 Chapter 1373 - The Pre-arranged Time

    <h4>1373 The Pre-arranged Time</h4>


    ¡°That¡¯s your problem,¡± Li Lanfeng replied without any sympathy in his voice.


    ¡°Okay, I will prepare the supplies, but I need to return to the Soul Society,¡± said Xia Qingyi as he frowned. He must receive the Soul Emperor¡¯s approval first before moving this much supplies. If he didn¡¯t have a good reason, he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to convince the Soul Emperor. Xia Qingyi was worried because this wasn¡¯t an easy issue to go about resolving.


    ¡°Just say you have made contact with Lord Gen of the 13 Lords. Lord Gen¡¯s cooperation will depend on these supplies. That¡¯s the condition he gave. If the supplies are sessfully delivered, Lord Gen will agree with the Soul Society entering into the other areas to develop their influence.¡± Li Lanfeng spoke out the reason Ling Lan had prepared for Xia Qingyi.


    Xia Qingyi¡¯s eyes brightened. ¡°That¡¯s a good reason.¡± This was actually an empty promise. If anyone else dared to negotiate like this, the Soul Emperor would definitely look the other way and not even roll his eyes. However, when it came to the Lawless Lands... It had been the Soul Emperor¡¯s biggest regret. This promise was like sweet poison, where he clearly knew it was bad but still would rather die trying.


    ¡°Good luck.¡± Li Lanfeng waved towards Xia Qingyi to show that their conversation was over and he could now leave.


    Xia Qingyi was quite annoyed. This was his territory. Unfortunately, this person in front of him didn¡¯t have the thought of behaving like a guest one bit. Doing things like he was the boss of this ce, and doing it proudly too without any bit of shame.


    There weren¡¯t any stops in between as Xia Qingyi rushed back to the Soul Society. He immediately reported this situation to the Soul Emperor. Li Lanfeng could only wait patiently for Xia Qingyi¡¯s good news.


    Time passed by quickly and soon, it reached the deadline Ling Lan had promised with the 13 Lords.


    Ling Lan was holding Little White while sitting on the icy throne in the main hall of the rainbow pce. She was calm and unnerved. It was as though she didn¡¯t what this day would entail.


    Ji Ming, who stood below, couldn¡¯t hold the worry in his mind. He couldn¡¯t help but raise his head and look at Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t react to him as she just continued rubbing Little White¡¯s soft hairs rhythmically and calmly.


    Seeing that, Ji Ming didn¡¯t know why, but he calmed down. It was as though everything was going to be okay.


    Yu Shangfei felt it was odd. When did Ji Ming care so much for Lord Gen? When he knew Ji Ming¡¯s n had failed and almost died along with the three faction lords, Yu Shangfei had been hiding outside, not daring to return. He was afraid that Lord Gen would know that he was working with Ji Ming on that n. Although Yu Shangfei knew for certain that Lord Gen knew about it, he still chose to hide himself. As long as Lord Gen didn¡¯t ask for him, he would just hide away and pretend to not know anything.


    Right at that moment, the main hall suddenly had strong ripples of domain concept energies.


    Ling Lan raised her head and flicked her right sleeve. Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei suddenly cked out and in the next second, they appeared behind Lord Gen with a thinyer of domain concept energy wrapped around them.


    At the center of the main hall, five people appeared out of nowhere. It was indeed the five lords who had made the promise with Lord Gen two months ago.


    Lord Holy spoke up, ¡°Time is up. Can you tell me where the promised supplies are?¡±


    Hearing him, Ling Lan just continued to calmly rub Little White¡¯s soft hairs. She indifferently replied, ¡°We haven¡¯t reached the final hour yet. Lord Holy, don¡¯t be so impatient.¡±


    Killing intent rushed through Lord Holy¡¯s eyes. At that moment, Lord Zhen who was standing on the other side, smiled. ¡°Our little friend is right. It hasn¡¯t reached the promised time yet. How about we have a conversation with him and drink some tea. We can wait for our little friend¡¯s good news together. You guys should know that Lords Qian and Lord Kun are very interested in the items our little friend has promised. We can¡¯t disappoint them, can we?¡±


    Ling Lan raised her head and half-smiled at Lord Zhen. She looked confident as ever as she said, ¡°If you five lords want to do that, then as the master of this ce, I of course would happily wee all of you.¡±


    Afterwards she spoke to Ji Ming, ¡°Ji Ming, call someone to get us some tea.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Lord Gen,¡± Ji Ming epted the order respectfully and left the main hall in the blink of an eye.


    Soon, Ji Ming brought tea with him. With six imperial realm masters in the main hall, the standard servants definitely didn¡¯t have the capabilities or guts to walk in. Even Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei felt suffocated under the force of presence of all six imperial realm masters. Luckily, Ling Lan wrapped her concept energy around them, saving them from the embarrassment it would be if they kneeled down under the pressure.


    The six of them silently drank their tea. Ling Lan was silent the entire time, while the other five lords didn¡¯t want to speak with Ling Lan either. Perhaps they were waiting for the promised time to arrive before deciding whether they should kill Ling Lan or not.


    Finally, time still merciless reached thest second of the promised time.


    Lord Holyughed coldly, ¡°It¡¯s already the first day of the third month. We still don¡¯t see supplies right now... ording to the rules, you must pay for your crimes of killing the original Lord Gen.¡±


    Ling Lan smirked. ¡°So... you want to fight?¡±


    Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei jumped away from Ling Lan instinctively. Their movements made it seem as though they were not associated with Ling Lan.


    Lord Holy looked towards them with a satisfied gaze. ¡°Very good. As for the mistakes you two have made, we will deal with that at our own discretion.¡±


    Yu Shangfei had a look of joy on his face, while Ji Ming on the other hand had his head down respectfully. No one saw theplicated look in his eyes.


    ¡°Haha, look, even though you were Lord Gen for two months, you¡¯re still just by yourself with no one to depend on.¡± Lord Holy sneered.


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Ling Lan smiled as she asked.


    At that moment, Ling Lan had already spoken with Little White. If the five lords attacked all at once, they would push with their spiritual power together, making them temporarily lose their focus to make it easier for Ling Lan to escape.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t so confident to believe that she could fight against five imperial realm masters at once. If she couldn¡¯t escape in that time window, she would definitely be dead.


    Seeing Ling Lan still have an expression of indifference even after reaching this point, Lord Holy¡¯s killing intent got even stronger. As a lord who could control the life and death of the citizens of Lawless Lands, he hated people like Ling Lan, who he couldn¡¯t control, appearing in the Lawless Lands. From the beginning, his suggestion was to kill Ling Lan. Unfortunately, the other lords were thoroughly convinced by the supplies Ling Lan had promised and the amazing future she had painted in front of them. That was why they gave her two months of time. In the past two months, he had already endured to his limit.


    ¡°Kill!¡± Lord Holy shouted angrily.


    The five lords all activated their domains simultaneously and covered Ling Lan from all directions.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan pinched Little White¡¯s round body. Right as the two spiritual powers were about to explode...


    Ling Lan sensed something. She pinched Little White again and forcefully pushed back the rush of spiritual power back into Little White¡¯s throat.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± Little White put all its effort in swallowing the terrifying spiritual power shockwave back into its stomach.


    Luckily, its stomach was a multiyered space that could store spiritual power. Otherwise, just the bacsh from the shockwave was enough to cause it to sleep for a few days.

 Chapter 1374 - Up For Discussion

    <h4>1374 Up For Discussion</h4>


    Sensing the immediate danger, Ling Lan instantly activated both of her domains to resist against the pressure created by the domains of the five lords.


    Boom!


    Suddenly, a white sh of light blinded everyone¡¯s vision. When they regained their vision, they only saw a wide snowyndscape densely covered with fog. Water molecules in the air could be seen clumping together to form exquisite snowkes. The main hall had turned into an icy image of itself.


    Without warning, the entire foundation of the rainbow pce shook as if a massive earthquake was to ravage the Lawless Lands. If Ling Lan hadn¡¯t ordered everyone to temporarily retreat out of the rainbow pce earlier, just this force alone was enough to shock them to their core, instantaneously killing them.


    Even Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei, who were an inch away from the front door of the main hall, were also severely injured by therge shockwave. They each spat out a mouthful of blood.


    The two of them pitifully fell to the ground. Their eyes dted and their face drained of blood out of fear. Even so, curiosity took the better of them, as they turned to look directly at the source of fear behind them with apprehension.


    The current Ji Ming was very worried for the well-being of the new Lord Gen. Lord Gen was facing five lords by himself. Could he escape out of their clutches with his life?


    Ji Ming didn¡¯t dare to think of the other likely possibility. Lord Gen already shocked the whole Lawless Lands by killing the previous Lord Gen, and if he were to fend off five Lords simultaneously, none could ever match his prestige.


    Ever since he knew the new Lord Gen was rted to his nation, the Huaxia Federation, he felt a feeling of kinship with Lord Gen. As a sort of distant kin, he didn¡¯t want anything happening to him.


    After Ling Lan endured thebined efforts of the five Lords, she swallowed the blood that was about to rush past her throat with an unchanging expression on her face. She calmly scanned at the five lords who had surrounded her, looking as though what they were doing were of no threat to her.


    In reality, if Ling Lan had only used her ice element, the only consequence wouldn¡¯t be just blood rushing up the throat. Luckily, her Profound Insight innate talent was a concept that was somewhat heaven-defying. Tying the Profound Insight concept with the ice element concept created a monstrosity, being sub-zero ice that could disintegrate everything it touched.


    The main advantage of the disintegrate concept was that it could disintegrate foreign concept energies that wereing from all sides as fast as possible.


    However, the more pressure Ling Lan was under, the more energy the disintegrate concept had used. Her fully filled tank of Profound Insight concept energy only held on for less than 20 seconds before it waspletely depleted. Even with just 20 seconds, it was still enough to disintegrate more than 70% of the iing concept energies, leaving the leftover energy for the ice element Domain¡¯s strong defensive strength to handle.


    Even so, Ling Lan was still severely injured by that exchange. It was just that Ling Lan was used to tolerating any internal pain from her body, which disallowed any of the five lords to discover that she was indeed injured, not like how she seemed on the surface.


    Not seeing the results they had expected, the five lords were frozen in shock.


    Right as they were about to attack again, they heard Ling Lan said, ¡°Although they got herete by a few minutes, they still arrived. Really, do think about whether you really want to continue this farce?¡±


    Lord Holy¡¯s eye¡¯s glimmered, looking as though he was calcting something. Suddenly, a decisive gleam showed in his eyes. He instantaneously disappeared and reappeared in front of Ling Lan with a fist aiming directly towards Ling Lan¡¯s sr plexus.


    That one fist had all of Lord Holy¡¯s domain concept condensed into one giant amalgamation of glowing energy. He was hoping to kill Ling Lan before she could uphold the end of her deal.


    Already sensing what Lord Holy was going to do, Ling Lan¡¯s eyes flickered and a cold smirk appeared on her face. She preemptively flew up from her throne and arge spatial tear suddenly appeared in front of the throne. The lighting angles shone on the tear made it seem as though it had sharp white canines that were ready to swallow everythinging its way.


    Lord Holy could clearly feel the limitless suction force from the spatial tear in front of him. rms soon red his mind with the warning of danger.


    In that moment, Lord Holy made a swift decision to retreat. He flickered in the air before appearing beside his allies.


    The five lords carefully watched the fearsome spatial tear before them. Twice they fought with Ling Lan, she had always shown a different concept. The first encounter was the ice element. This time, it was even more exaggerated than the already crazy powerful ice element, she revealed to them the most legendary and heaven-defying concept in the known universe, space concept.


    The space concept was too applicable in every situation. It could be used defensively. It also had incredibly strong killing potential. At the same time, it was also the best concept for escaping. Inyman¡¯s terms, it was called the concept of undying. No matter if it was used for attacking, defending or protecting one¡¯s life, it didn¡¯t have any weaknesses. It was even considered the strongest in all of those aspects. How could such a concept not be heaven-defying and not be feared by others?


    The killing intent in Lord Holy¡¯s mind slowly dissipated as calmness quickly took over his brain.


    ¡°You are truly someone from the Soul Society. I have nothing but respect for you.¡± Lord Holy¡¯s attitude did a 180 to appear nothing but humble. It was as though the person who had just attempted to take out Ling Lan wasn¡¯t him, but someone else.


    Ling Lan spoke calmly, ¡°You¡¯re too kind.¡± Her expression was unwavering, looking as though the scene about Lord Holy trying to kill her never happened.


    The five lords looked at each other, and in the end Lord Zhen smiled. ¡°Young friend, since you can keep your side of the deal, then I can¡¯t heartlessly refuse such a cooperative business partner just because the shipment waste by a few minutes, right?¡±


    After saying that, Lord Zhen looked towards the other four lords and said, ¡°Let¡¯s vote on it.¡±


    Before the others could speak, Lord Zhen casted his vote out loud, ¡°I vote to continue our business with our little friend here.¡±


    Seeing his shameless attitude, Lord Card just rolled his eyes towards Lord Zhen. Now, with no grounds to reject Ling Lan¡¯s deal, Lord Card instantly said, ¡°I don¡¯t have any problems with that.¡±


    When Lord Demon saw the two of them make their choice, he cheekily covered his mouth as he snickered. That snicker caused the assets on his chest to shake, creating a sight that was mesmerizing to the less informed, but to the informed, it would only incite looks of disgust..


    ¡°Our little friend here is so pretty and tender. I really like him a lot. I finally don¡¯t have to look at these old bags of skin around me anymore. After so many years, I¡¯ve already got sick of it.¡± When Lord Demon looked at the other four wrinkly old lords, he also had a look of disgust. However, when his gazended on Ling Lan, he looked lovestruck as though he wanted to gobble up Ling Lan. He then smiled sweetly. ¡°I¡¯m very pleased that you can join us.¡±


    Ling Lan could feel goosebumps all over her body. The veins on the sides of her forehead also popped out. She suddenly had the urge to immediately punch someone in the face.


    Lord Yu on the other hand, seemed to be used to Lord Demon¡¯s antics as he wasn¡¯t affected in the slightest. He still calmly spoke out his opinion, ¡°It can be discussed.¡±


    Seeing the other for lords all settling for peace, Lord Holy could only reply unwillingly under his breath, ¡°I also don¡¯t have any problems with it.¡±


    Ling Lan nced at Lord Holy before looking away indifferently. She waved her right sleeve and five ice thrones appeared out of thin air on both sides of the main hall.


    ¡°Have a seat!¡± Ling Lan raised her hand as she gestured for the five lords to sit down.


    The five lords chose the ice thrones closest to them and sat down without speaking a single word of thanks to Ling Lan. Instead, they turned their gaze towards the entrance of the main hall in unnned unison.


    Simrly, Ling Lan didn¡¯t speak as she also set her gaze at the door.


    Everyone was waiting. They were waiting to feel the energy fluctuations of anding starship.


    These energy fluctuations were usually very weak because of how far they were from the source. Standard domain realm masters might not be able to sense it, but for imperial realm masters like them, it was definitely something they could sense.

 Chapter 1375 - Let’s Wait and See

    <h4>1375 Let¡°s Wait and See</h4>


    They didn¡¯t wait for long. After tea in the hands simmered down to room temperature, a few silhouettes appeared at the entrance of the main hall.


    The person leading them was indeed that same beautiful and charming young man, Luo Tianhua. At that moment, there were also three other simr aged individuals beside him. They were all unique in their demeanors, but from their auras, they were not less capable than each other.


    Beholden with such a sight, the five lords were bbergasted. An inexplicable ¡®Lan Xiao¡¯ had already shocked them to their core. Now, suddenly appeared a few more monstrous geniuses who were only slightly weaker than ¡®Lan Xiao¡¯. Such powerful geniuses, other than those major nations, could only be nurtured by an organization like the Soul Society that had been around for millennia.


    The five lords suddenly sensed a deep-seated frustration in their hearts. As natives, they had always been proud of the Lawless Lands¡¯ monstrous physical constitutions, believing that in terms of physical skills and mecha operating, those from the Lawless Lands were far more talented than anyone in the gxy. However, these young men who stood before them shattered that perception into pieces. Even monstrously talented citizens of the Lawless Lands might not even be able to reach their current realm at their age, and there was no need topare them with the monstrous demon ¡®Lan Xiao¡¯. He was an impossible existence...


    The four of them entered the main hall despite noticing the unrecognizable faces. Noticing theirck of respect towards them, the five lords intentionally put forth their pressure to take them down a notch.


    Among the four people who arrived, Luo Tianhua, who the lords have met once before, along with a barbarian like young man seemed to not react to their pressure. They both looked on calmly. The other two, one with a devilish look while the other has a sharp and cold presence, only frowned slightly before returning to their normal expression in the blink of an eye. The pressure the five lords gave off didn¡¯t affect them too much.


    The four of them walked towards Ling Lan¡¯s ice throne uniformly until they were three meters away. Then, they knelt on one leg and ced their left hands on their right breast, performing a standard bow for underlings when greeting their superiors. They were showing their respect to the Soul Society.


    ¡°Master Lord Gen!¡± shouted the four of them respectfully and in unison.


    ¡°You¡¯re five minuteste. Wait to receive your punishmentter.¡± Seeing two unexpected faces, Ling Lan was somewhat surprised. However, even so, she still calmly made the decision to punish the four of them all together.


    Ling Lan knew that they had gone through many hardships and had tried their best to arrive on time. However, they were stillte. Luckily, Ling Lan had some trump cards to withstand thebined attack of the five lords. If she was just somewhat weaker, not only would she die, they who arrivedte would also definitely die with her.


    Only when people die, information would not be leaked. Only when they die, could the Lawless Lands paint themselves as innocent for killing them. Despite no one believing them to be innocent, there wouldn¡¯t be anyone or anything to disprove of their ims. Even if the Soul Society knew it was the lords who killed them, the Soul Society still needed to think carefully about whether the war would be worth it or not.


    After all, dead people were worthless. Even if they were monstrously talented when they were alive, talent was useless when it came to a corpse.


    ¡°Understood,¡± Luo Lang and the others bowed and responded respectfully.


    This was Ling Lan¡¯s usual way of dealing with things. Luo Lang and Zhao Jun had already gotten used to it, and did it naturally and smoothly. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran on the other hand did it subconsciously because Zhao Jun had helped them to limatize to the customs of Lingtian. Zhao Jun told them they must ept anything Boss told them to do. If they couldn¡¯t do just that, then they should just not see Boss.


    After being told that continuously for more than 20 days, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were sessfully brainwashed. After Ling Lan¡¯s order, they subconsciously reacted like Zhao Jun had told them, kneeling down and epting the order given to them obediently.


    ¡°This is the first shipment of supplies the Soul Emperor has made me bring.¡± Luo Lang respectfully pulled out a list of supplies and held it above his head.


    Ling Lan used her mind to contact Little White and a white tentacle rushed towards Luo Lang. It grabbed the list on Luo Lang¡¯s hands and then handed it to its master.


    Ling Lan took it and carefully scanned it. A slight smirk appeared on her face. She raised her head and looked towards Lord Zhen. ¡°Lord Zhen, because of the time crunch, the Soul Emperor will send full shipment in batches as they are still gathering the rest of the list. Following this shipment, there will be a second and a third one.¡±


    After saying that, Ling Lan flickered her finger lightly. The list in her hands floated towards Lord Zhen and then slowlynded in his hands.


    Lord Zhen could sense that there was no residual domain concept energy left on the list thatnded on his hand. Just this perfect control of power was enough for him to acknowledge Ling Lan.


    Lord Zhen knew very well that moving objects like this through the air, no matter what the object was, the slower the speed, the more difficult it was to control. The way Ling Lan passed the object through the air was definitely more than difficult... Despite ¡®Lan Xiao¡¯ being so young, the insights he had of his domain concepts didn¡¯t seem to be weaker than any of them. His degree of control over his energy was even greater than them. This was perhaps why he was able to endure abined attack from the five of them.


    Lord Zhen pushed the random thought to the back of his mind and opened the list. After reading through it, his expression warped into one of joy. Of the things on the list, most of them were rare weapons and equipment they had always wanted but couldn¡¯t get their hands on them. There were also a portion of needed supplies of daily necessities for the citizens. Although they were already cooperating with the mercenary world to obtain such necessities, the mercenary world would sometimes not be able to get their hands on the necessary amount. The nations in the central region were too guarded against the Lawless Lands. They definitely wouldn¡¯t let the mercenary world get their hands on too much of the stuff and let the Lawless Lands have the possibility to develop faster.


    Lord Zhen¡¯s look of joy drew in the attention of the other lords. Soon after, they all looked through the list Ling Lan had given them. Like Lord Zhen, they all had looks of surprise and joy on their faces. They didn¡¯t expect the Soul Society to be so courteous when they had just barely cooperated.


    ¡°This is how our Soul Society is presenting itself. Now, we want to see how the 13 Lords present themselves,¡± said Ling Lan indifferently as she put her head down and rubbed Little White.


    Although she sounded indifferent, her tone of voice suggested that if they sincerely cooperated with them, everyone would win. If not, everyone would lose out on this deal.


    The five lords met each others¡¯ gazes as they discussed in hushed tones. After they finished discussing with one another, Lord Zhen stood up and smiled. ¡°My little friend, we have seen the Soul Emperor¡¯s good faith. However, we will go back to Lord Qian and Lord Kun to further discuss how we canpensate you for this grand gesture. How about we give you an answer tomorrow?¡±


    Ling Lan gave a half-smile towards Lord Zhen. After a minute of full silence, just as Lord Zhen¡¯s smile was about to crack, Ling Lan suddenly let out a huge smile.


    All the ice and snow in the pce a few seconds ago suddenly melted. Lord Zhen was someone who had seen the beauties of the world. However, after seeing Ling Lan¡¯s smile, he was dumbfounded for a full second. When he fully realized what he had done, the expression on his face turned unfriendly.


    Ling Lan still smiled brightly as she said, ¡°That¡¯s fine too. I will wait for your good news.¡±


    The five lords then said their goodbyes and disappeared from the main hall. They only left behind five empty ice thrones in their ce.


    Ling Lan¡¯s smile slowly disappeared and her expression finally turned as cold as ice.


    ¡°Boss, what do they mean?¡± Luo Lang seemed to sense something was off and immediately asked.


    ¡°Heh, what do they mean? Well, that is for them to decide.¡± Ling Lanughed coldly. The fingers on her right hand softly rubbed together before flicking outwards. The five ice thrones instantly shattered into dust.

 Chapter 1376 - Let Bygones Be Bygones!

    <h4>1376 Let Bygones Be Bygones!</h4>


    ¡°We already showed them our goodwill, but they¡¯re actually still not satisfied yet?¡± Zhao Jun took in a deep breath. In order to help Boss increase the amount of bargaining chips he had, Lin Zhong-qing packaged all of the good stuff from Lingtian¡¯s warehouse. Of course, even if he hadn¡¯t done that, Qi Long and Han Jijyun would have made the decision to do so. If they thought it was not enough, they would have asked the military headquarters for more. Even if the military headquarters didn¡¯t give it to them, Qi Long could still ask his father for them...


    This shameless way of doing things... waspletely inherited from Boss. It could be considered a tradition within Lingtian.


    ¡°If you can swallow more, then why not do so? In the end, it¡¯s just a game between us,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°Troublesome.¡± Luo Lang rubbed the back of his head annoyingly. Without the calm personality by his side, his brain was really useless in everything except for motor skills.


    However, it seemed Little Leng hadn¡¯te out in a long while. Luo Lang was somewhat worried about him. He didn¡¯t know if something had happened to him and whether everything was alright.


    ¡°Heh, at least he still has the conscience to think of you.¡± After sensing the thought of the primary personality, the evil personality smiled devilishly towards the calm personality.


    ¡°He¡¯s always been good,¡± said the calm personality.


    Recently, the evil personality had been restricting him from leaving his side. He had already expected this to happen when he called upon the evil personality, which was why he wasn¡¯t furious about his current situation. Plus, the primary personality wasn¡¯t in any danger, so the calm personality just let him do as he pleased.


    ¡°What you said is so annoying.¡± The evil personality¡¯s gaze turned ice cold. The two of them were always on the opposite side, constantly suppressing each other. The evil personality always thought the calm personality was the most important person in his life. He was his opponent, but also brother. However, the person who entered his heart, put someone else in his heart. Although the said person was their master on paper, in the eyes of the evil personality, that primary personality was too weak in his eyes. Just what qualifications did he have for the evil personality to think of him as his master?


    ¡°When will you understand?¡± The calm personality drew a long sigh. The primary personality¡¯s truthfulness and honesty did indeed draw the calm personality towards him. In the time he stood by Luo Lang¡¯s side as he grew up, Luo Lang had respected each of his personalities as an actual person who had the right to make their own decisions. He treated them like his own flesh and blood. How could the calm personality not sense the sincerity he showed them. In the end, he wholeheartedly and willingly wanted to help Luo Lang until he climbed to the top.


    However, before all that, what made him willing ept being a servant wasn¡¯t the primary personality¡¯s sincerity but instead, it was Boss Ling Lan. That person, once angered, might be able to kill them even if all the personalities went against him all at once.


    ¡°I don¡¯t need to understand. I just know that he isn¡¯t qualified,¡± said the evil personality in an annoyed tone.


    ¡°Whatever you want.¡± The calm personality didn¡¯t want to speak any further. Some things could only be known after someone experienced it. The evil personality wouldn¡¯t believe anything he said right now anyways.


    The two personalities became silent once again. On the outside world, Ling Lan turned towards Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. She raised her eyebrows slightly, ¡°Also, why are you two here?¡±


    Tang Ningyu snorted coldly. ¡°What? We¡¯re not weed?¡±


    Mu Chaoran was smiling slightly. ¡°We¡¯ve missed you. After all, we were friends once.¡±


    Ling Lan smirked and said, ¡°It¡¯s probably because you received a mission toe find me, but didn¡¯t have any leads, so you could only shamelessly stay around Lingtian to hitch a ride.¡±


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran blushed after hearing Ling Lan tantly exposing them. Mu Chaoran then got even more shameless and said, ¡°Oh man, if you knew, why did you have to make it so obvious? At least save some face for us.¡±


    ¡°Just tell me, who gave the order for you to track me?¡± Ling Lan wasn¡¯t going to fall for that. She just wanted to know what she wanted to know.


    Ling Lan¡¯s attitude forced Mu Chaoran¡¯s smiling face back. He quickly got stern. ¡°Flying Dragon Special Forces highestmanding officer, General Ren.¡±


    Ling Lan was surprised. She only heard about his person once from her father. When her father mentioned their rtionship with each other, it didn¡¯t seem that good.


    Now a person, who had an average rtionship with her father, suddenly ordered Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran to find her? What was he nning? Was he an enemy or ally? Or perhaps he had some evil plot in mind?


    Ling Lan knew very well that he must have discovered that the two of them had worked with her before, so he sent them to her. These two had some rtionship with her, making it easier for them to locate her. Her father¡¯s nned assasination forced Ling Lan to be very guarded against everyone from the Federation¡¯s military headquarters. That was why she couldn¡¯t help but doubt their intentions after seeing Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran arrive.


    Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s surprise, Zhao Jun quickly walked up and told her about how the chief of the Flying Dragon Special Forces, General Ren, helped Qi Long to acquire themander position of the Lingtian Independant Army. Along with the fact that he spoke out to support Lan Luofeng to be the 23rd division¡¯s stand-in general.


    After hearing all that, it seemed that this chief of the Flying Dragon Special Forces should be her father¡¯s friend, or perhaps someone who was really friendly with him. If so, then it might just be as Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu had said. That person was only worried about her so he sent them solely to protect her?


    There was too little information for Ling Lan to rely on to have an urate idea of what General Ren was nning to do. She could only put arge question mark on General Ren¡¯s face for now.


    Ling Lan would never lower her guard against someone just because he had helped her in some way. When she didn¡¯t have any evidence to confirm it, Ling Lan would be guarded against anyone, including Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran.


    ¡°All of you should return to Jin Ship now. There might be people probing us out tonight.¡± After deciding it was not worth her time to think about such matters right now, Ling Lan promptly gave the four of them orders.


    ¡°Yes, and you two will follow as well.¡± Ling Lan suddenly pointed to the side where Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei had been wallflowers for a long time.


    ¡°Yes, Lord Gen!¡± The two of them immediately epted the order.


    Just then, the two of them were carefully studying the three new underlings their master had gained. Luo Tianhua they had already seen before, was a titled domain realm master just like them. They had thought someone with monstrous talent like Luo Tianhua was only an outlier. So, they were quite shocked to see that they were actually three more individuals who were not any weaker than Luo Lang. They were at most only just a tiny bit weaker.


    Compared to Ji Ming¡¯s mild shock, Yu Shangfei was more unsettled. After all, he did something simr to betrayal when Lord Gen was in danger. He was afraid Lord Gen would remember that and deal with him afterwards.


    So, he really didn¡¯t expect Lord Gen to not punish them but instead, sending them on a mission. Yu Shangfei breathed a sigh of relief, grateful for Lord Gen¡¯s attitude of letting bygones be bygones.

 Chapter 1377 - Oath!

    <h4>1377 Oath!</h4>


    The clock struck midnight in the rainbow pce, signalling for those weary that it was time for bed. Even when multiple homes turned off their lights to prepare for their slumber, the rainbow pce was still lit up as bright as day.


    Often, patrol would be seen doing their duties around the pce. However, today was an exception. Halls, rooms, corridors, all empty with no one in sight.


    Although such a scene would usually be indicative of misfortune befalling, today was a celebratory day, as everyone in the pce was relieved from their duties for the night. Family members who usually worked during graveyard shifts were able to spend some quality time with their families and create evesting memories together. For those with no family, it was still a glorious day as sleep would be their number one priority for the night. These times of happiness were ordered by one person, Lord Gen, who was in a great mood for the whole day.


    Although no one understood why Lord Gen made such a decision, no one would be mad about not working, and thus after being notified of their leave, the servants and guards all happily packed their bags and went home. The only exceptions were the leaders of the patrol and guardians who were taken by Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei to defend Jin Ship.


    Ling Lan sat on the ice throne in the main hall with her right hand holding her forehead as she closed her eyes slightly. This whole scene created a picturesque image of a lonely king racking his brain to think of ways to improve the environment his subjects were living in.


    On her crossed leg, Little White was there flopping on its belly while sleeping with its tentacles pointed in different directions. A drop of morning dew was hanging on for dear life near the corner of its lips. When the liquid was about to drop, Little White instinctively sucked in forcefully to get it back into its mouth.


    Right at that moment, at the certain area of the main hall, a green nt suddenly emerged from the marble flooring. In the blink of an eye, it grew to the height of a man and then slowly changed into the figure of silhouette.


    There stood a man with a pristine green cape with vines interwoven between each thread. His pitch ck hair naturally flowed down from his head to the back of his neck. The man stood there quietly before lifting his head, parting the hair that was covering his face to reveal a strong chiseled jaw with sharp eyebrowsplementing his already cat-like eyes. He didn¡¯t look any older than someone in his early 30s. He had a slight smirk on the corner of his lips. He exuded a warm and fresh aura to anything and everything around him. With just his presence alone, the cold hall got a few degrees warmer.


    Sensing a gaze on her, Ling Lan slowly parted her closed eyelids. After seeing the rtively middle-aged man in front of her, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t surprised as she spoke out calmly, ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for you. What should I be calling you? Lord Qian? Or Lord Kun?¡±


    ¡°You knew I wasing?¡± The middle-aged man said with a surprise in their voice. ¡°You may address me as Lord Kun.¡±


    ¡°With such a massive undertaking by the Lawless Land, it is obvious that one of you wille and meet me.¡± Ling Lan pushed against the handles of her throne as she slowly sat up straight.


    ¡°I see why you gave your people a day off.¡± Lord Kun showed a contemtive look on his face.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that what you want too? I¡¯m only just fully cooperating with you.¡± Ling Lanughed lightly.


    p! p! p! Lord Kun alsoughed with her and slowly pped his hands. ¡°To think Soul Society actually developed someone like you. They are really making me look at them in a different light.¡±


    ¡°To be one of the lords of the Lawless Lands while being so young is quite impressive as well. In terms of influencing the Lawless Lands, the 13 Lords are doing a much better job than the Soul Society.¡± Ling Lan seemed to be suggesting something.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing really. I was just lucky enough to be nurtured and developed in the Lawless Lands,¡± said Lord Kun inly.


    Suddenly, Lord Kun¡¯s tone turned cold. ¡°With us here, no other faction or organization can have a piece of the Lawless Lands. If the Soul Society has that kind of thought, I would suggest you turn around and leave¡±


    ¡°Lord Kun, you don¡¯t need to worry about that. The Soul Society¡¯s goal was never the Lawless Land. We only want to keep a lifeline on the Lawless Lands, that¡¯s all,¡± Ling Lan said without any fear in her tone.


    ¡°Is that Soul Society¡¯s promise?¡± Elder Kun¡¯s eyes shined with a bright green light for a moment. A sliver of his domain concept silently activated.


    This was the domain technique from the branch of thenguage concept called ¡®Oath¡¯. Under that concept, a conversation could be made into an oath bound by heaven and earth. Once the oath was broken, heaven and earth would dictate the punishment.


    How could Ling Lan not have detected it? However, she still gave Lord Kun the oath without hesitation, ¡°That¡¯s right. This is the Soul Society¡¯s promise. The Soul Society doesn¡¯t want to be the ruler of the Lawless Lands. The Soul Society only wants territory that it could hold in the Lawless Lands.¡±


    ¡°Is Lord Gen¡¯s territory enough?¡± Lord Kun kept pressing for the oath to be more binding.


    ¡°Yes, the Soul Society only wants Lord Gen¡¯s territory. It is enough.¡± Ling Lan looked straight at him and didn¡¯t hesitate one bit.


    ¡°Alright! The oath has been created.¡± Lord Kun¡¯s eyes shined green for a moment once again. Then, on both his and Ling Lan¡¯s foreheads, the letters spelling out ¡®oath¡¯ appeared. Then, it slowly sank into their heads, symbolizing that their promise was acknowledged by heaven and earth.


    Lord Kun was very satisfied with how the oath ended up. It was because this oath wasn¡¯t not restrictive to them, but only Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan was nonchnt about it because her oath was made to the 13 Lords with the Soul Society¡¯s name, not her own.


    ¡°Tomorrow, the 13 Lords will officially announce to the Lawless Lands for you to take up the position of Lord Gen,¡± Lord Kun finally said the words Ling Lan wanted to hear.


    ¡°However, on the subject of supplies, you must satisfy our needs,¡± Lord Kun immediately brought up his demands.


    ¡°We will be responsible for the supplies, but only when moneyes to me,¡± replied Ling Lan.


    In terms of supplies, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t actually worried. Firstly, she had the Chaotic Lands, along with Soul Society¡¯s 18th district¡¯s governor, Xia Qingyi, helping her to prepare and gather supplies. If Xia Qingyi was smart enough, he would grasp this opportunity to acquire the Soul Emperor¡¯s full support. That way, she would actually then be a real representative of the Soul Society on paper. It would also make her deals with the Soul Society be proper.


    Secondly, on the matter of acquiring high-end weapons and equipment, the Lingtian Independent Army would be able to resolve that if the Chaotic Lands and the Soul Society were not able to.


    Thirdly, Ling Lan believed that Little Four would definitely wake up. It was only a matter of time. Once Little Four woke up, she would be able to continue working to build up their corporate empire. When that happened, what wouldn¡¯t she be able to do?


    These three points were enough for Ling Lan to have the confidence to ept Lord Kun¡¯s conditions. Of course, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t some idiot in business. Money that she could make still needed to be made.


    ¡°That¡¯s not a problem. Even if we don¡¯t have money, we can use items to exchange for them,¡± said Lord Kun as he smiled slightly. It was clear that he didn¡¯t want to give money.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, but that price must be lower than the market by half.¡± Ling Lan mercilessly haggled down the price.


    ¡°No way. You¡¯re crazy.¡± Lord Kun, of course, wouldn¡¯t agree. That condition was like squeezing him dry.


    ¡°We can¡¯t do business without money,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. ¡°One trip to and fro, no matter if it is manpower or supplies, everything is doubled. The losses I suffered there can only be managed with the money you give me.¡±


    ¡°Hadn¡¯t you already made money by bringing in the supplies?¡± Lord Kun said calmly. ¡°Don¡¯t you have such arge appetite. Otherwise, if you make everyone unhappy, it wouldn¡¯t be good for you.¡±

 Chapter 1378 - You Want to Fight?

    <h4>1378 You Want to Fight?</h4>


    ¡°If we¡¯re talking business, exchanging items for my supplies is not sustainable for my side. You already know I can¡¯t sell the exchanged items for 100% of their value, and selling them at 60-70% of their value is already being optimistic, so me epting the exchanged items at 50% of the value is a reasonable offer. Lord Kun, I¡¯m not trying to cheat you. If any other merchant was in my position, you would have been given an even lower price when ites to your proposal.¡± Ling Lan was actually quite knowledgeable of the business world. Her eloquent words stunted Lord Kun for a moment.


    ¡°What you say makes sense, but the other lords will not consider 50%. If the Soul Society wants to enter into the Lawless Lands quickly, you should concede a little.¡± Thinking about the potential profit they could make, Lord Kun got a little excited, but on the surface, he still had a stone-cold expression. ¡°You should think about it carefully.¡±


    Ling Lan massaged her temples, contemting the offer of Lord Kun. After a few seconds, she finally relented and said, ¡°Then tell me, Lord Kun. At what price can you ept?¡±


    Lord Kun calmly said, ¡°80% of the original selling price.¡±


    Hearing the ridiculous offer, Ling Lan shook her head regretfully. ¡°I will lose too much with that price. If this is a short term deal, it will perhaps be fine, but considering that it is a long term deal, the Soul Emperor would definitely not agree to that price.¡±


    ¡°You really won¡¯t consider it?¡± Lord Kun¡¯s eyes sharpened slightly. The temperature of the entire main hall suddenly dropped.


    Ling Lan stared directly at Lord Kun fearlessly. ¡°It¡¯s not that I won¡¯t agree to it. That price is simply not eptable to the Soul Emperor.¡±


    Hearing Ling Lan denying any fault in this failed argument, Lord Kun¡¯s expression got even worse.


    ¡°Lord Kun, you should really think where you stand in this deal. I¡¯m being nice when I say you should be the conceding party here, not me. Although we do wish to have a ce to call our own in the Lawless Lands, we are not desperate for it. Just think about it. Letting us suffer losses while you reap profit, doesn¡¯t sound like a good long term business rtionship. Only when both sides profit, we¡¯re happy. Don¡¯t you think so?¡± Ling Lan said slowly.


    Lord Kun visibly contemted for a few seconds before slowly speaking up, ¡°Tell me the lowest you can go? Don¡¯t go around in circles with me. I only want to hear it straight up.¡±


    Ling Lan bit her lip in frustration. ¡°70%. That¡¯s our limit.¡±


    When Lord Kun heard that, a small smirk appeared on his face. ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll settle with 70%.¡±


    Looking at the gloating Lord Kun, Ling Lan suddenly realized she had been fooled. She smiled bitterly. ¡°I¡¯m still too naive.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just as you said, it¡¯s better when both of us win.¡± Lord Kun smiled happily.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s very good, but I will be punished by the emperor.¡± Ling Lan helplessly sighed.


    ¡°If the emperor wants to discipline you, tell him toe find us.¡± Lord Kun gave Ling Lan some empty words tofort her. Suddenly, he shifted his gaze to the green nt growing in the corner of the frozen hall. He uncontrobly let out a confused sound. ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen this species of nt before,¡± Lord Kun instantly teleported next to the nt. He reached towards the nt as he said in a joyful tone.


    Before his fingers could mp down to pull a lead off, the green nt suddenly retracted back into the soil before emerging a meter away from him in the soil.


    ¡°It could sense my intentions.¡± Lord Kun¡¯s lips curled upwards as he looked curiously towards the green nt. He again reached out with his hand in an attempt to stop the nt from escaping. However, before he knew it, a pale jade-like hand had already lightly held his wrist.


    ¡°Lord Kun, are you that bored to y with my pet? Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s a bit rude?¡± Ling Lan looked at him with raised eyebrows.


    ¡°Pet?¡± Lord Kun looked at the green nt that had now vanished, with a shocked expression. The presence he felt earlier was clearly of the nt element. Could it be a nt that had a certain degree of intellect?


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t nice enough to exin to Lord Kun, so she only looked towards Lord Kun indifferently, hoping that he would take his hand back soon. She didn¡¯t want him to annoy Little White¡¯s clone.


    ¡°What if I must?¡± Lord Kun was a person who wouldn¡¯t stop until he got what he wanted, so he obviously wouldn¡¯t stop even if Ling Lan told him to stop.


    Hearing Lord Kun¡¯s dominating words, Ling Lan narrowed her eyes. A dangerous presence leaked through her voice as she said coldly, ¡°Perhaps, you want to fight?¡±


    The two of them stared at each other coldly. The originally harmonious atmosphere was instantly reced by a bone-chilling atmosphere as it slowly diffused through the whole hall.


    Bang!


    The two of them both expanded their concept energies and sent each other flying backwards.


    Ling Lan waved the red cloak behind her andnded firmly on the ground. Her right hand had three ice spears in it.


    Lord Kun on the other hand softlynded on the ground. As hended, the ground below him cracked open to reveal countless of green vines wrapped around each other. The interlocked vines seemed to have came alive as the vines slowly expanded and contracted like a beating heart. The small buds on the surface of the vines slowly blossomed into bright red flowers the size of bowls.


    ¡°nt concept!What a rare sight.¡± Ling Lan got cautious. The concept Instructor Number Five had was simr to what was shown before her. In her spars against Instructor Number Five, Ling Lan never got ahead of him before. Most of the spars ended with her getting beaten to a pulp by Instructor Number Five. Such terrible memories about the nt based concept naturally made Ling Lan adhor any person who had the nt concept.


    ¡°You¡¯re not too shabby either. You are quite perceptive yourself.¡± Lord Kun believed that his sneak attack was well hidden in the first exchange between them. Other than Lord Qian, any of the lords would have been injured by that. They definitely wouldn¡¯t have been like Lan Xiao who sensed it the moment Lord Kun had made his move.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t respond to hispliment. She wasn¡¯t going to tell him that the reason she was able to sense it quickly waspletely because she had a lot of experience dying to sneak attacks infused with the nt concept. After ¡®dying¡¯ so many times, her body had naturallypletely memorized the presence of those sneak attacks. Once any sneak attack infused with the nt concept came near her, her body would instinctively escape from it.


    ¡°I have heard a lot about you from Lord Zhen, but since we¡¯ve started already, let me see just how strong you are.¡± Right as Lord Kun finished speaking, the flowers on the vines suddenly increased in size and then began to outwardly grow.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan immediately leaped off the floor. The ce she was standing at originally had already be a wall of ice.


    Phew! The red flowers suddenly spat out bright red liquid at the ice wall Ling Lan had just formed. Then, a sharp sizzling sound echoed in the area, and the ice wall instantly liquefied into a puddle of red liquid.


    ¡°It¡¯s a type of poison concept. The strong poison has the ability to disintegrate domain concepts...¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression tensed up. This ability was quite simr to the disintegration ability of her Profound Insight concept. However, it was still much different in terms of how they would disintegrate concepts.


    Her Profound Insight¡¯s concept of disintegration would cause her opponent¡¯s domain concept to disintegrate by its own ord and split up in a molecr level.


    Lord Kun¡¯s strong poison concept on the other hand was disintegrating the concept by rearranging his opponent¡¯s domain concept¡¯s structure, causing his opponent¡¯s domain concept to be filled with ws or cracks. Then, the wed domain concept wouldn¡¯t be able to hold together andpletely copse.


    Despite the two being fundamentally different, they still produce the same results

 Chapter 1379 - Return!

    <h4>1379 Return!</h4>


    ¡°Using your ice element concept alone won¡¯t be enough against me. I heard a lot of fanfare about your space concept. I really want to witness the so-called invincible space concept. I want to see just how invincible it is under the assault of my nts.¡± Just as Lord Kun finished speaking, his gentle aura turned malicious. Then, he lifted a finger to point at Ling Lan¡¯s direction.


    Ling Lan immediately felt something was not right. Without wondering why, she just jumped off the ground.


    A crimson bug suddenly emerged from the floor where she was standing at. As the crimson bug crawled out from the ground, it shook its body a little to reveal the razor thin wings. Seeing Ling Lan flying above it, it let out an ear-piercing screech, revealing its mouth which had rows of teeth much like a meat grinder. It then flew towards Ling Lan at lightning speed with its intimidating teeth.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Seeing the crimson buging towards her, Ling Lan just snorted in response. She flicked her sleeve and multiple green tentacles shot out of her sleeve. Slit-like holes could be seen all over the tentacles, where it housed rows of thin and sharp teeth. There was also still saliva hanging off the teeth. Seeing the revolting buging towards them, they weren¡¯t frightened by it but instead, they got excited, as if they met their lunch. More saliva started to form in its mouth, but most of it dripped on the ground which corroded a huge area.


    ¡°Screech!¡±


    ¡°Rawr!¡±


    When the two monsters faced off against each other, they started taking mouthfuls of each other¡¯s body.


    ¡°Screech...¡±


    ¡°Rawr...¡±


    The two monsters continued to bite each other ruthlessly. Everything depended on which one was stronger. Only the strong were able to devour their opponent. At this moment, one could even hear the sound of chewing, which sounded exceptionally eerie in the empty main hall.


    After Ling Lan released Little White¡¯s clone, she disregarded the crimson bug. Shended on the ground lightly and ced her red cloak over her shoulder. They were like her red wings as they glided down slowly along with her. Along with her arrogant and domineering aura, she looked like an emperor looking down on her subjects.


    Lord Kun suddenly had this gut-wrenching feeling from the depths of his body. He felt shame, ashamed that he had intruded on the territory of a king, and fear, fearful of what was about toe.


    However, the feeling onlysted for a fleeting moment. But, before he could analyse these emotions, Ling Lan flicked her fingers with her outstretched hands.


    In an instant, an overwhelming amount of ice needles were formed densely in the air. And with a snap of a finger, they flew towards Lord Kun like the rain in a storm.


    ¡°Simple tricks!¡± Lord Kun scoffed. He ced his palms together and his body immediately sunk into the ground like a nt.


    Phew! Phew! Phew! The ice needles pierced the marble flooring like a pin cushion.


    Suddenly, Ling Lan¡¯s entire body suddenly shattered into ice shards.


    Vines with glowing red flowers could be seen shattering through all the ice.


    After the vines missed their target, they fell heavily onto the ground heavily, cracking the marble floor into tiny pieces.


    ¡°What a pity.¡± Behind the spot where Ling Lan was standing, a nt had grown out from the ground. In an instant, it turned into Lord Kun.


    ¡°Two failed sneak attacks. His instinct is really amazing...¡± Lord Kun carefully scanned around him. He wanted to find where Ling Lan was hiding.


    He carefully took a step forward. Suddenly, his expression froze as he could feel something brushing his legs.


    Lord Kun remained motionless. His eyes slowly got tainted with green. With the help of the Eye of nt, he finally saw what he felt.


    It was a thin and almost invisible threadid horizontally in front of him. This was the threat that his leg touched.


    Lord Kun raised his head to carefully look at the area near him. Under a certain lighting angle, he could see threads covering the main hall from the right to the left, forming a huge web. Unexpectedly, he had be the prey of the web.


    A figure slowly appeared in the air to show Ling Lan crossing her arms in front of her chest. There was a transparent threat linked to each of her fingers. Without a doubt, the creator of this huge web was Ling Lan.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to have such a technique,¡± Lord Kun said with a stern face.


    Every imperial realm formidable warrior had their own signature imperial technique. They would rarely be used until the final moment. Just based on this huge and frightening presence, as well as the powerful threat he felt from the web, Lord Kun had reasons to believe that this was Lan Xiao¡¯s imperial technique.


    ¡°If I didn¡¯t have this ace up my sleeve, how would I have been chosen toe here?¡± Ling Lan replied with a calm expression before tightly clenching her fist.


    The threads in the main hall started to enclose on Lord Kun from all directions.


    ¡°Break!¡± Lord Kun waved his hands and numerous vines burst out from the floor below him. Then, they attacked the threads crazily.


    The two parties started fighting bloodily. Either the red flower vines got minced by the threads or the threads were torn apart by the vines. The battle would only end when one party depleted all of their domain concepts energy.


    Ling Lan watched as her threads got lesser and lesser slowly. As for Lord Kun¡¯s vines, there seemed to be an infinite number of them. New ones kept appearing to rece the ones that died.


    This was an expected result as Lord Kun was more powerful than her. No wonder he was one of the figureheads of the 13 Lords. His strength was indeed a tier above the other members of the 13 Lords.


    One Lord Kun was already powerful. Then, how powerful was Lord Qian who was rumoured to be in the god-realm?


    The more she understood about the imperial realm, and the closer she got to god-realm, Ling Lan got a deeper understanding of how scary god-realm was. When she was young and naive in the past, she just knew that her master was powerful. She would at most think that her master was only a little more powerful than her father.


    This naive perception remained until she became a titled domain formidable warrior. But, after she smuggled herself into General to meet her mother with the help of her master, was when she finally understood how frightening god-realm was.


    At that time, even though her master was standing in front of her, she waspletely oblivious to her presence.


    When he revealed himself, the sense of danger she felt then was terrifying. Her Profound Insight told her clearly that if her master was her enemy, she must run away immediately as far as she could.


    When an imperial realm formidable warrior met a god-realm formidable warrior, the only thing she could do was run. This showed how frightening god-realm was. The god-realm was definitely unbelievable in the range of human capabilities. Honestly, Ling Lan thought bing an imperial realm formidable warrior was already an unbelievable feat, but at least an imperial realm formidable warrior could still die.


    The threads were disappearing at a noticeable rate. In the end, there were only a few hundred threads left. Seeing this, Lord Kun smiled lightly. Although his smile looked normal, the feeling it gave was exceptionally cold.


    ¡°Since you have been so kind to show me your beautiful show, let me return the favour.¡± Lord Kun waved his hand and vines erupted from the floor around Ling Lan. The red buds on the vines bloomed instantly. In that instant, a gentle breeze blew past the main hall. The petals of the flower seemingly couldn¡¯t withstand the wind as they detach themselves to be carried on by the wind. The main hall suddenly dove into a world of red petals. It was eerily beautiful.

 Chapter 1380 - Calculated Their Steps!

    <h4>1380 Calcted Their Steps!</h4>


    Witnessing such a beautiful sight, Ling Lan¡¯s heart trembled. Although a scene like this would usually invoke a feeling of admiration and appreciation within someone, it only invoked a feeling of dread in Ling Lan.


    The more beautiful something was, the more dangerous it was. In the learning space, under the guidance of her instructors, Ling Lan had a deep understanding of this principle, whether it was the written meaning or the hidden meaning.


    The petals suddenly seemed to have given a burst of life, as they naturally changed their direction to fly towards Ling Lan ferociously.


    At the scene, Ling Lan instantly understood what Lord Kun meant when he said he would return the favour.


    Without a doubt, he was returning her with petals like how she did to him with ice needles.


    Ling Lan ced her hands together and a giant ice dome congregated around her.


    Boom! The razor sharp petals exploded as soon it hit the ice doom.


    A dense red mist soon began to spread around the hall from the exploded petals.


    The emergency rm in Ling Lan¡¯s mind started ring furiously. Without a second to waste, she quickly held in her breath.


    However, Ling Lan immediately realized something had gone terribly wrong, as the red mist was slowly infiltrating into her domain concept.


    It was corroding her domain concept!


    Right at this second, Little White¡¯s clone, who was fighting with the crimson bug, finally devoured its opponent. It burped in satisfaction... The meal it ate today was very nourishing for its body. After it finished the battle today and had a good sleep, it would be able to advance.


    Suddenly, its body shuddered. It turned wild with joy as it looked at the thick red mist.


    It smelled something that was even more delicious. This red mist was definitely the tonics of tonics.


    ¡°Rawr!¡± (Master, please let me eat it.)


    Little White shouted agitatedly as the appearance of the red mist was a huge opportunity for it. If its master ate the red mist without sharing with it, it would cry itself to death. In Little White¡¯s eyes, anything that was good for it was good for its master too. Thus, in his mind, its master would like to eat anything that it liked to eat too.


    Fortunately, Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that Little White had this weird perception about her. If not, she would definitely give Little White some quality education to let it understand that there was a difference in the taste between humans and monsters like it.


    While Little White was being jealous of eating the good food by herself, Ling Lan was still thinking of ways to solve this danger that could erode her domain concept.


    Suddenly, she could hear Little White shouting with all its might.


    ¡°That¡¯s good too.¡± Ling Lan decisively stopped using her ice element concept. Almost instantly, a slit appeared in front of Ling Lan. It slowly opened, revealing a deep and endless multi-dimensional space.


    ¡°It¡¯s really the space element.¡± Lord Kun¡¯s expression turned serious. He carefully observed the multi-dimensional space that was opened.


    After the multi-dimensional space appeared, a huge suction force came out of it. All the red mist in the air got sucked into the multi-dimensional space.


    Little White was a pet that loyally protected its master. After the red mist was sucked into its belly, it noticed that Lord Kun still wanted to attack its master, so it got angry and it tried to bite Lord Kun.


    Hmph, Little White must be a qualified loyal pet that attacked without barking.


    Who instilled this thought into Little White? ...Please look for its raiser, Li Lanfeng.


    In Lord Kun¡¯s point of view, he could only see the multi-dimensional space extending and moving towards him. His gaze turned sharp. He waved his hands in an orderly manner and a patch of grass magically grew ground from the pulverized marble floor. Then, the grass grew out radically until it was like a giant wave of grass. With its immense momentum, it moved towards the multi-dimensional space with the intention to wrap itself around it.


    The giant grass wave covered the entire hole. Although the suction forceing from the hole was strong, the grass wave could still hold on as its ends were clinging on the edge of the hole, helping it to hold on with perseverance. No matter how much Little White sucked, it wouldn¡¯t go in.


    This stalemate was maintained for a few seconds. Little White soon realized it couldn¡¯t do anything to the grass wave, so it decided to stop.


    Snap! The multi-dimensional space closed up. The grass wave slowly fell to the ground without the suction force from the ck hole.


    When it fell to the ground, everyone could see that only the edges of the grass wave were left. The center portion had already been sucked away.


    Little White felt a little full. The mass amount of energy was wreaking havoc in its body, so it must immediately enter its evolution state or the energy would go into an uncontroble state. If that happened, it would get injured.


    Hence, it started rawring out loud a few times. (Master, I¡¯m full. I need to evolve so I¡¯ll leave first.)


    Before Ling Lan could reply, all of Little White¡¯s clones in the main hall withered away. Little White followed its withered clones and flowed down their roots, piercing through the marble floor to reach the soil below the rainbow pce to hide in the depths of the soil.


    ¡°Space element is indeed impressive. Take another attack from me.¡± A cold intent appeared in Lord Kun¡¯s eyes. His hands danced around each other quickly, and soon the entire main hall was swarmed with nts. The extravagant and brightly lighted hall turned into a world of nts.


    Ling Lan could distinctively feel her opponent¡¯s domain concept pushing away and segregating her ice element domain from the main hall.


    This was clear evidence that her opponent¡¯s domain concept was more powerful than hers. Although they were both in the imperial realm, there was a huge difference between her and Lord Kun.


    Killing intent suddenly appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s gaze, and a powerful force of presence descended on Lord Kun¡¯s head.


    Lord Kun was caught off his guard by the sudden change so he vomited out a mouthful of blood.


    Fortunately, this force of presence onlysted for a split second. Even so, Lord Kun felt cold sweat all over his body, even his legs were a little weak.


    ¡°God-realm!¡± He stared at Ling Lan with dread before finally managing to squeeze these two words out. He didn¡¯t expect such a frightening existence to be present around Lan Xiao.


    Ling Lan ced her hand behind her back and said calmly, ¡°The 13 Lords of the Lawless Lands is very powerful. If the Soul Society doesn¡¯t show some sincerity, how can we ask for a peaceful coboration?¡±


    In order to do business in this viciousnd, you needed to have a powerful background. If not, you¡¯re not here to do business, you¡¯re here to give up your life.


    ¡°Soul Society really covered all their steps,¡± Lord Kun said with a pale face. He was pale because having such a powerful person stationed here didn¡¯t mean anything good for the Lawless Lands. Plus, he was also quite injured from the altercation.


    ¡°Thank you for thepliment. The Soul Emperor doesn¡¯t like to fail.¡± Ling Lan smiled and said, ¡°The promises of the Soul Society still remain effective.¡±


    ¡°Good. I¡¯ll tell Lord Qian about this.¡± Lord Kun replied resolutely, ¡°Tomorrow at 8 am, the news of a new Lord Kun will be announced. This is a decision made by the 13 Lords of the Lawless Lands.¡±


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Thank you. The goods will be here three dayster.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a promise then,¡± Lord Kun confirmed.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Ling Lan gave her promise again.


    After this affirmation, Lord Kun¡¯s figure disappeared from the main hall. The world of nts quickly subsided. In a blink of an eye, the main hall returned to its normal appearance.


    Only after a few minutes did Ling Lan feel that Lord Kun¡¯s aura hadpletely disappeared. ¡°Pfft.¡± She finally spat out the blood that she had been withholding in her chest.

 Chapter 1381 - Nothing!

    <h4>1381 Nothing!</h4>


    ¡°He only took over my body for one second, but the bacsh is already so severe. Just how strong is Instructor Number One?¡± Ling Lan pressed against her chest and smiled bitterly. However, asking Instructor Number One to possess her body for a while was a part of her n. Even though it would severely injure her, it was something that needed to be done. For her n to conquer the Lawless Landed, she needed the strength to stand on level ground with them, even if she didn¡¯t have it, she still needed to fake she had it.


    ¡°This should be enough to stall them for a while.¡± Ling Lan endured the immense pain and walked to the ice throne to sit down. Then, she began to practice her Qi exercises. Without the Nuwa agent, Ling Lan could only use her own restoration techniques. She was lucky that the Qi exercises had always been good to her. Despite not being as strong as the Nuwa agent, it still showed some positive results.


    At the spaceport, where the Jin Ship was docked at, it was just as Ling Lan had expected. A few unknown factions attempted to steal the supplies on the Jin Ship. However, these people didn¡¯t think that they would be met with a brick wall.


    There were actually more than 10 titled domain realm formidable warriors guarding Jin Ship and domain realm masters swarmed the ship.


    Of course, the thieves weren¡¯t weak either. Although they were caught off guard in the beginning, they quickly calmed themselves and pushed back those on the Jin Ship.


    Right as other factions were watching from the sidelines, deciding whether they should join or not, the Jin Ship finally revealed their fangs. No one expected the Jin Ship to have an ace mecha n of 2000 soldiers, and most of them were peak level ace operators.


    It should be known that an elite ace operator with a top-ss ace mecha could easily deal with a beginner domain realm master. A peak level ace operator with a top-ss ace mecha would be able to fight against titled domain realm formidable warriors. It was just like if the Jin Ship suddenly had 2000 men who were just as strong as titled domain realm formidable warriors. Would any standard faction be able to fight against them? Unless it was a faction under the 13 Lords. However, the factions of the 13 Lords had made a pact with Ling Lan, so they definitely wouldn¡¯t take the risk of exposing themselves by sending their own ace mecha ns to join the battle.


    Those factions who saw the situation turn badly for them, quickly retreated. Zhao Jun and the others remembered Ling Lan¡¯s orders and didn¡¯t chase them. They stood firmly and guarded Jin Ship without leaving its side.


    Li Shiyu, who had been busy saving the injured soldiers, finally treated thest patient. After some grueling hours of work, he finally stepped out of the medical operating room.


    Luo Chao, who had been busy dealing with all kinds of administrative affairs, was currently lounging on a sofa in front of the operating room. She was leaning on the back of the sofa with her eyes closed.


    Her face showed that she waspletely exhausted. As themander of the starship, she was given the responsibility ofmanding the battle. It was her first time taking on such a huge responsibility, so it really exhausted her.


    When Li Shiyu walked out of his operating room and saw this pitiful sight, he felt sad for LUo Chao. He walked into his own room beside the operating room, took out a nket and gently ced it over Luo Chao.


    His gaze fell upon Luo Chao¡¯s beautiful and elegant face. Despite Luo Chao and Luo Lang¡¯s faces being almost identical, Li Shiyu could always differentiate between the two of them ever since the first time they met.


    Although everyone basically reached a consensus that even their smiles werepletely identical, Li Shiyu never actually agreed with that. From his point of view, Luo Chao and Luo Lang¡¯s smiles werepletely different. Luo Chao¡¯s smile had a hint of shyness to it, while Luo Lang¡¯s smile on the other hand was a nk sheet. If he were to say it nicely, it would be considered a pure smile. If he were to say it in a mean way, then it would be considered just Luo Lang being stupid.


    But, all of this was just his own opinion. After all, Li Shiyu wasn¡¯t someone who would force people to agree with his subjective opinions. The differences he saw between the two of them were kept in his mind, never to be told to anyone.


    However, it was because of his unique perspective that made him pay more attention to Luo Chao. In Lingtian, Luo Chao had always been the person who everyone neglected. Her brother Luo Lang just shined too brightly in front of others. No matter if it was physical skills or mecha piloting, among the younger generations in Lingtian (not including Lingtian¡¯s Boss Ling Lan who wasn¡¯t considered a human), he was definitely among the top three. In addition, he was also the one of the brigade leaders. Luo Lang was definitely the person everyone had their eyes on in Lingtian.


    In contrast, his younger sister Luo Chao, other than the friends she grew up with, along with a few older individuals who she was in good rtions with, most would ignore Luo Chao¡¯s growth because of the traditional and primitive thoughts about women. If she were to appear in front of everyone, she would either be mistaken for her brother Luo Lang, or be given thebel of Brigade Leaders Luo¡¯s younger sister. It could be said that in Lingtian, even though she had be the department head of the one of the departments in logistics, there were still people who believed she got to that position because she had such a good brother. Furthermore, they also brushed off her personal achievements just because she was Boss¡¯s fianc¨¦e.


    No one truly acknowledged Luo Chao¡¯s abilities. She was constantly being underestimated and wronged, even her dumb older brother Luo Lang didn¡¯t notice. Boss Ling Lan however... As themander of an army, there were too many matters he needed to handle, which constrained his time to concern himself with his fianc¨¦e. Additionally, Luo Chao had always been a strong-willed woman. Even if she had been wronged, she wouldn¡¯t speak out about it. She would only bite her lip and work hard to quickly grow, in order for everyone to acknowledge her sooner.


    It was like that when she followed Li Shiyu to learn medicine. There were many times, when he did checks at night, he saw her staying back in the operating room by herself. She used needles on her own body to study where the pressure points were precisely at. Only after experiencing the effect and pain that came along with it could one finally acquire this technique. Luo Chao understood that, and did not go easy on herself.


    Li Shiyu acknowledged that in the past, he was more or less affected by the traditional way of thought. That was why when Boss sent Luo Chao and Han Xuya to learn under him, he only taught them some basic first aid for emergency purposes. He didn¡¯t want to teach them too much. However, Luo Chao¡¯s perseverance and her willingness to improve made him acknowledge her, and all her drive to improve was because of one person. Wasn¡¯t he the same when he first set out to be a military doctor? It all was to help that one person who he treasured the most. Li Shiyu understood Luo Chao¡¯s thoughts because he was in her position before.


    After noticing her strong drive to improve, Li Shiyu began to patiently teach Luo Chao all of his learnt medical techniques. He was willing to teach whatever Luo Chao wanted.


    After Lingtian became an army and Luo Chao left to be a department head within the logistics department, Luo Chao finally felt she could hold her head up high. Luo Chao faced the suspicions against her, worked hard and slowly proved everyone wrong. Others might not have seen all of her hard work behind her glorious achievements, but he saw it clearly. He knew the path Luo Chao took was not an easy one, but rather quite hard.


    Most importantly, no one helped her in this difficult path. Luo Lang had always been negligent and careless, so he wouldn¡¯t understand Luo Chao¡¯s trouble unless told. Boss on the other hand... Li Shiyu actually believed Boss clearly knew about Luo Chao¡¯s troubles, but Boss never chose to do anything about it, he just watched from the sidelines. Sometimes, even Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t understand why Boss would be so heartless. After all, Luo Chao was his fianc¨¦e, not just another subordinate. Why did he treat her that way? Even if he didn¡¯t help her, at least he should give her some words offort.


    Unfortunately, he never said anything to her.

 Chapter 1382 - This Was Love!

    <h4>1382 This Was Love!</h4>


    Li Shiyu saw everything. He felt his heart hurting for Luo Chao. He interacted with Luo Chao for a long time, so he knew she was working so hard for Boss Lan¡¯s sake.


    Luo Chao didn¡¯t want to be left too far behind by Boss Lan. She wanted to catch up with him and stand beside him.


    This was probably what love was!


    Li Shiyu didn¡¯t really know anything about love, since he ced all his focus in his medical research, so he never really had the time to experience love before. However, after learning Luo Chao¡¯s feelings towards Boss Lan, Li Shiyu felt that her actions could only be exined by love (actually, Luo Chao just wanted to catch up to her idol).


    Unfortunately, the man Luo Chao loved wasn¡¯t someone who would prioritise his family! Boss Lan¡¯s heart was too big for just his family. He fitted too many people inside his heart, leaving the space for Luo Chao almost negligible.


    Boss Lan was definitely a good boss and a good brother. Li Shiyu acknowledged Boss in those aspects wholeheartedly. However, looking from Luo Chao¡¯s point of view, Boss Lan wasn¡¯t a qualified lover or fianc¨¦e.


    However, this was all Luo Chao and Boss Lan¡¯s personal matter, while he was just a bystander. He didn¡¯t have any right to decide whether they were qualified to be together.


    Oh, he needed to talk about his little sister, Xuya, too. This was their matter. Although he couldn¡¯t say anything about their rtionship, he could still have his own opinion about it. In his opinion, Boss Lan was a bad lover and a bad fiance.


    He felt pity for Luo Chao, so maybe because of this feeling that he started to take notice of Luo Chao. Unconsciously, he started doting Luo Chao as though she was his blood-rted little sister. He hoped that Boss Lan wouldn¡¯t let down such a good youngdy. He didn¡¯t want to see his beloved little sister getting hurt or cry because of love.


    If that day really came, he hoped that he would be able to provide Luo Chao with a sturdy shoulder to cry on.


    Thus, when he heard that Luo Chao wanted to lead the Jin Ship to reinforce Boss Lan, so as someone who was worried that she would get hurt, he decisively moved his surgery room onto the Jin Ship.


    Of course, this was only a small part of the reason. Most importantly, he was worried about Boss Lan. When Boss Lan left, he didn¡¯t bring many bottles of medicinal agents with him. Li Shiyu was afraid that without him, based on how Boss Lan always disregarded his safety when he was fighting, Boss Lan would be severely injured. He was really afraid of this.


    Still, he didn¡¯t expect the first night at the Lawless Lands to be so dangerous. If the reinforcements didn¡¯te in time, if there wasn¡¯t a Dr. Frankenstein like him stationed here, a lot of soldiers would have died.


    As the captain of the Jin Ship, Luo Chao had a torturous night. Luckily, she managed to pull through it.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s gazended on Luo Chao¡¯s furrowed brows. She was frowning even in her sleep. Ever since Boss disappeared during the battle with Twilight, Luo Chao¡¯s brows had never rxed. Li Shiyu was worried about Luo Chao¡¯s state of mind.


    Impulsively, Li Shiyu raised his right hand and massaged Luo Chao¡¯s brows lightly. He wanted to straighten the creases on her forehead.


    His little sister Luo Chao was most beautiful when she was smiling.


    Suddenly, Luo Chao opened her eyes with vignce when she felt someone touching her forehead.


    Li Shiyu retracted his hand in shock. He looked at Luo Chao, who opened her eyes, with a gaping mouth. He didn¡¯t know what to say suddenly.


    ¡°Brother Shiyu?¡± Luo Chao looked at Li Shiyu in surprise. She didn¡¯t understand why he looked so scared.


    Luo Chao sat up, causing the nket covering her body to slide down. Instinctively, she lowered her head and pulled it up. When she saw the nket, she knew that Li Shiyu must be the one who ced it over her. She looked up and said gratefully, ¡°Brother Shiyu, thank you for the nket.¡±


    Li Shiyu finally regained his senses. He said seriously, ¡°Don¡¯t sleep like that in the future. The temperature here is a little low. It is easy to catch a cold here, especially when you¡¯re so tired.¡±


    ¡°I understand, Brother Shiyu,¡± Luo Chao replied obediently. She knew that Li Shiyu reprimanded her because he was concerned about her, so she epted it readily.


    ¡°Luckily, you¡¯re alright.¡± Li Shiyu suddenly turned to walk into his room. After some time, he came out carrying a leather suitcase.


    ¡°Brother Shiyu, where are you going?¡± Luo Chao asked sternly. They just fended off the thieves. It wasn¡¯t safe to go out now.


    ¡°I am going to see Boss Lan,¡± Li Shiyu replied calmly.


    ¡°Why? Didn¡¯t Boss say he woulde and find us?¡± Luo Chao asked in confusion.


    ¡°Boss sent everyone out yesterday, why do you think he did that?¡± Li Shiyu asked Luo Chao instead of replying to her.


    Luo Chao started thinking seriously. After a moment, her pupils dted in fear. ¡°Boss is fighting too?¡±


    ¡°Do you think that they will only mess with us?¡± Li Shiyu sneered. ¡°If they wanted to uproot us, they definitely would not let Boss go.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say earlier? I¡¯ll call people over immediately,¡± Luo Chao jumped up and said agitatedly.


    ¡°This is not the right time for them to go over,¡± Li Shiyu replied in aposed manner.


    ¡°Why?¡± Luo Chao didn¡¯t understand what Li Shiyu meant. Shouldn¡¯t they send help to Boss as soon as possible?


    ¡°Boss¡¯s fight isn¡¯t something people like us can take part in. He sent everyone here probably because he was afraid that his fight would implicate us. He is concerned about our safety.¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s mind was as clear as day. As someone who was once an inheritor of the Li family, he had been groomed to be a family head ever since he was young, so his thought process was smooth and based on reason. If there wasn¡¯t already a better choice, the Li family would never bear to let Li Shiyu walk on the medical path.


    ¡°I¡¯m just worried that Boss might be injured and that he doesn¡¯t have enough medical agents with him. If he doesn¡¯t get the agents in time, it may affect his health in the future.¡± Li Shiyu exined why he wanted to leave now. The thieves came and left quickly, so there was a huge possibility that Boss won his fight.


    ¡°I understand, but I want to go too.¡± Luo Chao hurriedly caught up with him.


    ¡°If you leave, what will happen to the Jin Ship?¡± Li Shiyu understood that Luo Chao was worried about her fiance but as the captain of the Jin Ship, it wasn¡¯t right for her to leave.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. My brother is here.¡± Luo Chao gave a naughty smile.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Li Shiyu was puzzled. What did this have to do with Luo Lang?


    Luo Chao pouted. ¡°Hmph, my brother always asks me to pretend to be him. This time, he can pretend to be me.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± This time, Li Shiyu was stunned.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, Brother Shiyu. I¡¯ve already told Jin to inform my brother.¡± Luo Chao hooked Li Shiyu¡¯s arm and smiled at him sweetly.


    ¡°I see. You¡¯re Luo Lang now.¡± Li Shiyu understood her intention now. Luo Chao would return to the rainbow pce as Luo Lang. Fine, this could be a way for Luo Lang topensate his little sister after years of not taking care of her and leaving her without a care in the world. Li Shiyu abandoned the poor Luo Lang decisively.


    Thus, ¡®Luo Lang¡¯, Ji Ming, Yu Shangfei, Tang Ningyu, Mu Chaoran, Li Shiyu, and Han Xuya brought a portion of the servants from the rainbow pce back.


    Lord Gen¡¯s guardians were with them so their journey back to the rainbow pce was very peaceful. No insensible people came out to block them or create trouble for them.

 Chapter 1383 - Reckless.

    <h4>1383 Reckless.</h4>


    When they returned to the rainbow pce, they went directly to the main hall. As they pushed open the door to the main hall, the sight of an apocalypse was revealed to them. However, there was no one in sight. Everyone¡¯s expression turned grave when they couldn¡¯t see Ling Lan. Under Ji Ming¡¯s lead, they rushed towards Ling Lan¡¯s room.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Han Xuya was the most anxious out of everyone. She was so worried about Ling Lan¡¯s safety that she recklessly pushed the door open without asking and ran inside.


    Behind her, Luo Chao stood there, looking helplessly at her hand. She wanted to grab Han Xuya but she missed her by just an inch.


    ¡°Hmph~¡± A cold snort was heard. Then, the familiar voice of Boss entered their ears. ¡°Come in.¡±


    Hearing the calm voice, everyone finally felt relieved. They took a deep breath before stepping into the room.


    Once they entered the room, they saw Han Xuya being locked up in a huge ice cube three meters away from the main door, only her head was not encased in ice. She looked at them pleadingly as she mouthed out the word ¡®help¡¯. She was obviously asking them to save her as soon as possible. She was probably afraid of angering Boss so she didn¡¯t make any sound.


    Mu Chaoran smiled when he saw this. He walked over and patted the sturdy and huge ice cube. He said, ¡°We can¡¯t destroy this. You have to wait for Boss.¡±


    Han Xuya red at Mu Chaoran when she saw him teasing her. She turned and looked pleadingly at Luo Chao and Li Shiyu. She knew that only these two people could help her.


    Luo Chao shook her head helplessly. She had no choice but to shout into the bedroom, ¡°Boss, we¡¯re here. Are you still resting?¡±


    ¡°Wait for me for a moment.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold reply came from the room. Li Shiyu frowned slightly. Boss¡¯s voice sounded a little weak. It looked like Boss was seriously injured in his fight.


    However, there were some people here whom he wasn¡¯t sure whether they were his allies. Thus, Li Shiyu suppressed the worry in his heart. He would wait until there was no one around before treating Boss.


    After some time, Ling Lan slowly walked out of the room with a red cloak over her shoulders. She nced at the group of people indifferently.


    Luo Chao blushed at the sight. She didn¡¯t expect Boss to be so handsome when she wore a red cloak. The bright red colour and the cold aura of Bboss were two extremes but on Ling Lan, they seemed strangely harmonious.


    Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu felt confused when they saw Ling Lan. Was this still the pure and invisible Little Brother Shaoyun in their memory?


    Of course, this wasn¡¯t the cold and oppressive Major General Ling they saw on General either.


    The current Ling Lan was still cold but he wasn¡¯t extremely cold like how she was in the army. She was more indifferent now. She gave off the feeling that she had forsaken the world, looking at the world coldly as a bystander. It felt as though nothing mattered to her. Her aura wasn¡¯t as domineering as before when no one dared to look at her in the eyes. However, her nonchnt nce was still too piercing for someone to look directly at her.


    ¡°Sit.¡± Ling Lan signaled for everyone to sit down and talk.


    Hearing Ling Lan talking, Luo Chao regained her senses. She couldn¡¯t bear to see Han Xuya being punished so Luo Chao pleaded for her. ¡°Boss, Xuya was reckless, but she was just worried about you and wanted to see you. Please forgive her.¡±


    Ling Lan nced at Han Xuya. Han Xuya looked like she knew what she did was wrong. Thus, Ling Lan flicked her finger and the ice cube around Han Xuya dispersed immediately.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so reckless in the future,¡± Ling Lan said.


    Based on how natural Han Xuya pushed open her door, she probably did it many times in the military camp. It was alright if she just pushed her door or Luo Chao¡¯s door but if she pushed other men¡¯s door like this, wouldn¡¯t she suffer if she saw anything she shouldn¡¯t see?


    Fine, Ling Lan never thought that the men would be the ones that would suffer in that situation. If a situation like that happened, she would decisively stand on thedy¡¯s side.


    ¡°I understand, Boss.¡± Han Xuya quickly raised her hand to show that she understood.


    Everyone sat down. Ling Lan looked at Ji Ming. ¡°What happened yesterday?¡±


    Ji Ming quickly stood up and replied, ¡°There were indeed many factions that got greedy. Many of those dirty thieves came.¡± As he spoke, he looked at Luo Chao and Li Shiyu before continuing, ¡°However, the Jin Ship had a mecha n protecting it so everything ended well.¡±


    Even the people of the starship came to visit Lord Gen. From the looks of it, Lord Gen¡¯s position in the Soul Society wasn¡¯t as simple as he thought.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Ling Lan looked at Li Shiyu.


    Li Shiyu didn¡¯t need Ling Lan to open her mouth to know what she wanted to ask. He said, ¡°There are some injured but no one died.¡±


    Ling Lan nodded her head in satisfaction. This was just the start of her overall n, so she didn¡¯t hope to see casualties so early. Although Ling Lan knew that they would be casualties in her pursuit to conquer the Lawless Lands, she still hoped to push it as far back as possible.


    Ji Ming remembered the mess they saw in the main hall. He couldn¡¯t suppress his curiosity so he asked, ¡°Lord Gen, what happened in the main hall. Did someone attack the rainbow pce?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that ce... Lord Kun and I got excited during our chat so we decided to have a duel. I didn¡¯t notice the state of the main hall.¡± Ling Lan replied dispassionately, ¡°Since you asked, you¡¯ll be in charge of the maintenance of the main hall.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Lord Gen,¡± Ji Ming replied happily. To him, this was the first step Lord Gen was taking in trusting him.


    ¡°Go ahead.¡± Ling Lan waved her hand. Ji Ming left the room and started getting busy with repairing the main hall.


    There were now only the people from Lingtian and the Flying Dragon Special Forces left in the room. Li Shiyu looked at Ling Lan and enquired whether these two people from the Flying Dragon Special Forces could be trusted.


    Ling Lan gave him a look to tell them that they were alright. Li Shiyu put down his worry and immediately rushed over to Ling Lan¡¯s side. He took out a small device and started inspecting Ling Lan with it.


    Luo Chao and Han Xuya looked at Ling Lan worriedly as they noticed her pale face.


    ¡°Boss, why didn¡¯t you take the Nuwa agent?¡± Li Shiyu was slightly furious.


    He detected that Ling Lan¡¯s old injury had red up again because she fought before her old injury could recover. Hence, with the addition of this new injury seriously damaged her body. This kind of injury was the hardest to treat as it needed to be treated slowly. Once a mistake was made during the recovery process, there would be loststing implications. As a responsible military doctor, Li Shiyu hated this kind of patient. First, they were hard to treat, and second, they were irresponsible people who didn¡¯t take care of their bodies.


    ¡°I finished it,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°You finished it?¡± Li Shiyu eximed in surprise. Boss only left them for a few days and he already finished all the Nuwa agents he brought along with him? Those were life-saving agents. Did Boss drink them for his three meals?


    ¡°Yeah. I almost died so I used all of them.¡± The way Ling Lan talked about her close shave to death made it sound extremely casual.

 Chapter 1384 - Identity Of The Spy

    <h4>1384 Identity Of The Spy</h4>


    Li Shiyu was shaken to his core. Just how severe was Boss¡¯s injuries for him to use up that many Nuwa agents? Everyone was totally aware that Boss was heaven¡¯s child who could have anything he wanted in life. Their current situation was a perfect example of this, where Boss easily took over the position of Lord Gen aftering to the Lawless Lands for only such a short amount of time. However, no one knew that him acquiring this position almost had cost him his life.


    After thinking about the struggles Boss had encountered, Li Shiyu rejoiced that he made the decision toe. At least when Boss goes to the front-lines, he would be able to nurse Boss¡¯s body when he returned back after a tough battle.


    While he was praising himself in his head, his hands didn¡¯t stop moving as he prepared two vials of Nuwa agents before handing them to Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan calmly took them off Li Shiyu¡¯s hands and drank them immediately. With Nuwa agent by her side, her recovery speed would increase by quite a lot. In a ce that was fraught with danger, quickly recovering can ensure her own battle strength and safety.


    Ling Lan quickly absorbed most of the Nuwa agent¡¯s effects. The rest of the effects must be absorbed slowly. The amount of Nuwa agent Li Shiyu had given her was very precise. If there was anymore, her body wouldn¡¯t be able to absorb it which would be a waste.


    After all, this was not the Federation. Li Shiyu had the ability of creating the agent, but here he didn¡¯t have the materials to create anymore. In a barren ce like this, Nuwa agents were basically equivalent to another life, so they must not waste even a drop of it.


    Feeling her condition bing much better, Ling Lan ced her attention on Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. Yesterday, when she was deflecting the suspicion on her from the 13 Lords, she didn¡¯t have any time to speak to them in detail. Now, the danger had passed so Ling Lan was in the mood to speak with them.


    ¡°You probably already know roughly what I want to do. Tell me, are you nning on going back or staying?¡± asked Ling Lan in a straightforward manner.


    ¡°You want to make use of this barrennd?¡± Tang Ningyu asked with a disapproving expression. ¡°Will that be of any use? You should return to the Federation with us instead. The position of general of the 23rd division is waiting for you. Your future shouldn¡¯t be wasted in such a barren ce.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the military headquarters¡¯ answer for my father¡¯s death?¡± asked Ling Lan coldly.


    ¡°...¡± Tang Ningyu was silenced by Ling Lan¡¯s oddly piercing words. He didn¡¯t know how to respond.


    ¡°Just say it. Although I already know what they did, I still want to know how despicable they can be.¡± Ling Lan pulled on her sleeves as her expression turned colder than normal. Looking at the sight before them, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran felt that the icy cold Major General Ling from the past had returned.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran looked at each other with vignce. Then, in the end, Mu Chaoran bit his lip as he said, ¡°Taking on the enemy without being given any orders to engage! Dealing with private matters over performing his duties!¡±


    ¡°Great, great, great! Haha...¡± Ling Lanughed angrily. Her malevolent aura quickly exploded outwards.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran¡¯s chests felt as if a fist had ruthlessly struck them. A mouthful of blood instantly came out from their mouths.


    Luckily, Ling Lan only fully let go for a slight moment. Otherwise, the two of them wouldn¡¯t be just spitting out blood. On the other side, Li Shiyu, Han Xuya and Luo Chao were not even one bit affected. Despite being overly angry, she didn¡¯t lose her rationality. Her force of presence was still controlled perfectly. It was only sent towards Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu.


    ¡°Haha, that¡¯s the military headquarters for you! In the Twilight Empire, which one of the steps that my father took wasn¡¯t after careful nning and thought? If it wasn¡¯t for their devious scheme, why would he leave a winning battle toe and save me?¡± Ling Lanughed out maniacally. ¡°Even though it is all their fault, they not only push away all responsibility for their crimes, they even dirty the name of my father. Tell me, what can I do against apletely corrupt military headquarters if I go back? I probably would be a puppet that they can toss back and forth.¡±


    ¡°However, you can¡¯t resolve General Ling¡¯s grievances by being here,¡± shouted Mu Chaoran. He didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to walk a crooked path. The stronger Ling Lan became, the more afraid he was that she would walk the wrong path. If that day were toe, it would be the end of the Federation.


    ¡°I can¡¯t now, but it doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t go back in the future,¡± Ling Lan regained herposure and said in a calm expression. The anger she had festing in her body seemed to have disappeared.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran stared nkly after hearing those words. Mu Chaoran recovered quicker of the two. ¡°You want to take over the Lawless Lands? That¡¯s impossible.¡±


    Only by bing the king of the Lawless Lands, would Ling Lan have the qualifications to negotiate with the Federation. Then, there would be hope for the military headquarters to give some leeway and right the wrong they did to Ling Xiao.


    ¡°Why would it be impossible? I¡¯m already one of the 13 Lords,¡± asked Ling Lan.


    ¡°It¡¯s impossible. No matter if it¡¯s the Federation, Caesar or any other nations, they won¡¯t allow the Lawless Lands to have just one king.¡± said Tang Ningyu with certainty. As the next generation leader who was developed by the Flying Dragon Special Forces, the database Tang Ningyu had ess to was vast. For example, secrets regarding the Lawless Lands.


    ¡°I know. There¡¯s spies hidden in here from many nations. Once they discover danger, they would work with their home nation to create chaos and bloodshed.¡± During the time on the Lawless Lands, Ling Lan had been reading through the documented events on the Lawless Lands. She had more or less discovered some patterns.


    Tang Ningyu¡¯s mouth moved but in the end, no words came out of his mouth. In his mind, the Federation wouldn¡¯t resort to doing that.


    ¡°I also know that some of these spies have risen quite high here. For example, being the guardians of the 13 Lords.¡± While Ling Lan was speaking, she was also focused on Tang Ningyu¡¯s expression. ¡°Some may even have be one of the 13 Lords...¡±


    After those words were said, Tang Ningyu¡¯s eyes twitched a little. Despite it being hard to detect, how could it escape from Ling Lan¡¯s sharp eyes?


    Seeing that, Ling Lan narrowed her eyes and smirked. It was just as she had expected!


    In the past few days, Ling Lan had been thinking about an issue. It was clear that Lord Qian and Lord Kun were strong, but why had they never thought about unifying the Lawless Lands? With the strength of the Lord Qian and Kun, it was definitely possible.


    Unless, Lord Qian wasn¡¯t in the god-realm like the rumours said. However, all of the documented information showed that the possibility of Lord Qian had entered the god-realm was highly likely.


    Lord Kun, who just fought with Ling Lan, was clearly halfway into the god-realm. Someone who could be respected by someone who was halfway into the god-realm, other than an actual god-realm individual, there was no other exception.


    The fight with Lord Kun wasn¡¯t just to buy her more time. Ling Lan was also using that fight to determine Lord Qian¡¯s real strength.


    Both sides were probing each other. Perhaps Ling Lan fell into the trap of believing the fake facade the opponent had purposely created. However, Ling Lan had always been cautious. She would rather assume her opponents to be stronger than her than to think they were weaker.


    The only thing that could scare Lord Qian from unifying the Lawless was definitely the person or people pulling the strings behind the 13 Lords. Or perhaps Lord Qian himself was also a spy.


    This prediction seemed absurd, but after careful thought, it was a possibility.

 Chapter 1385 - Damage!

    <h4>1385 Damage!</h4>


    It was highly likely the Lawless Lands being in a messy state was because of that possibility. A treaty of alliance between the 13 Lords but on the surface, they flooded each other¡¯snd piging, killing, raiding, doing everything possible to make it seem that peace would be impossible between the 13 Lords, and the reason for them doing so? They wasted countless lives of innocent citizens with terror just to create an image of an unstablend to throw off the surveince being put on them by the other nations


    So what if spies were embedded in their power structure? They had spent their entire youth, maybe even their entire life at the Lawless Lands. Ultimately, humans were ves to their emotions, and as time passed by, emotions would change. When people obtain positions of power, they would be more susceptible to their selfish desires, abandoning what they had in the Federation just to fulfill their selfish desires here. All in all, people¡¯s intent would change over time.


    ¡°The 13 Lords are very interesting.¡± Ling Lan smiled. ¡°We have a lot of time. We can slowly dig deeper into them, and I¡¯m sure there¡¯ll definitely be something.¡±


    Tang Ningyu calmed down and took a deep breath. He said, ¡°Lieutenant General Ling, I hope that you can consider this carefully. You¡¯re one of the 13 Lords now, but it won¡¯t affect the overall power structure of the entire Lawless Lands. Hence, the nations won¡¯t act when they receive the news. But, when they realise that you have the intention of unifying the Lawless Lands, they will definitely get rid of you at all costs. There is no question in that.¡±


    ¡°We won¡¯t let them know my intention then.¡± Ling Lan smiled at Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran ambiguously. ¡°Are you nning to tell them what I said to the Federation?¡±


    Tang Ningyu pursed his lips tightly. The emotions in his gaze wereplicated. He couldn¡¯t decide what he should do in that instant. After remaining quiet for some time, he finally replied, ¡°The order I received is to protect you. The spies have nothing to do with me.¡±


    In the end, he still lost to his feelings for Pei Shaoyun. He only interacted with Pei Shaoyun for a short one month and met with his real identity a few times after that. By right, he shouldn¡¯t have such a deep emotional attachment to him. However, in the depths of his mind, the innocent smile and the eyes that trusted him fully would always appear in his mind whenever he tried to ignore him. Because of this feeling of guilt, he was unable to do anything harmful to the real identity of Pei Shaoyun.


    Forget it, he should just pretend that he didn¡¯t know anything. He was supposed to watch over the Ling Lan, not the Lawless Lands. Why should he care?


    Also, if Ling Lan was able to hide the truth from the tight surveince and unify the Lawless Lands, that was his ability to do that.


    Tang Ningyu decided to be a bystander. As for Mu Chaoran, he wasn¡¯t as loyal to the Federation or to the Flying Dragon Special Forces as Tang Ningyu. Thus, he obviously wouldn¡¯t report Ling Lan to the Flying Dragon Special Forces. From the very beginning, he already decided to side with Ling Lan.


    Plus, a hacker like Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t let them have any opportunity to leak the news out.


    The two of them understood this point so they chose not to do anything. They were already Ling Lan¡¯s guests, so they wouldn¡¯t be so stupid as to be his prisoner.


    Li Lanfeng, who had stayed in the Chaotic Lands for three months, finallypiled all the supplies Ling Lan needed with the help of Xia Qingyi.


    He yearned to go back to Ling Lan so he left the port the same night and rushed all the way to the Lawless Lands. By the time he arrived at the Lawless Lands, he had already left Ling Lan for five months.


    The moment Li Lanfeng reached the port of Lawless Lands, he called the manager of the port to look after the three transport ships. After he settled everything he needed to do, he rushed all the way back to the rainbow pce.


    This was the first time he left Ling Lan for so long. He missed Ling Lan so much that he almost went mad. One day apart feels like three autumns. Li Lanfeng finally had a taste of what this felt like.


    He dashed straight to Ling Lan¡¯s room. He knew that if there wasn¡¯t any matter for him to deal with, Ling Lan would most probably be cultivating or resting in his room.


    ¡°Ling Lan!¡± Li Lanfeng pushed the door open and shouted happily.


    ¡°Ah, Big Brother Li is back.¡± A pleasant voice much like the gentle sounds of a windchime floated over.


    Li Lanfeng stopped in his tracks abruptly. The joy on his face disappeared instantly and his expression turned cold.


    But, the next second, a smile appeared on his face again. His aura turned gentle. ¡°It¡¯s Luo Chao.¡±


    Yes, it must be because the Jin Ship had arrived. He missed Ling Lan so much that he forgot all about the Jin Ship. They needed Luo Chao to merge with Jin in order for them to send the supplies within such a tight time limit.


    ¡°Why are you in Boss¡¯s room?¡± This was the matter Li Lanfeng was most concerned about. Even if she was Boss¡¯s fianc¨¦e, they should avoid arousing those rumours, right?


    ¡°Boss asked Xuya and I to move in together with him,¡± Luo Chao said shyly. Although they knew that Boss was ady, others didn¡¯t. Thus, when they moved in, everyone would definitely think that they were already Boss¡¯s women.


    In actual fact, this was indeed the case.


    Luo Chao¡¯s words made Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart ache tremendously. His heart couldn¡¯t bear such torment.


    ¡°C-Con...¡± He wasn¡¯t able to say the word ¡®congrattions¡¯ no matter how hard he gritted his teeth.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t say anything but Luo Chao understood what he wanted to say. Her face immediately turned hot. Fortunately, she still remembered the order Ling Lan gave her. She said hurriedly, ¡°Boss asked you to meet him in the study.¡±


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s decision would cause some misunderstanding, Luo Chao and Han Xuya knew that this was Boss¡¯s way of protecting them. There were too many powerful people in the rainbow pce. All of them were unruly and belonged to the previous Lord Gen. They didn¡¯t dare to create any trouble now because they sumbed to Boss¡¯s frightening strength but that didn¡¯t mean that they might not do something stupid. For instance, they might challenge Ling Lan¡¯s subordinates to crack down Ling Lan¡¯s powerful image.


    The twodies were on the weaker side so they were easy targets for these people. When someone wasn¡¯t strong enough, their identity became even more important.


    Li Lanfeng forced the heart-throbbing pain back into the recesses of his body when he heard this. He quickly turned around and dashed into Ling Lan¡¯s study.


    The moment he entered the room, he heard Ling Lan¡¯s indifferent voice. ¡°You are back.¡±


    Hearing the words, Li Lanfeng felt warmth in his heart. Ling Lan¡¯s words seemed to have appeased the throbbing pain a little.


    ¡°I... didn¡¯t expect your two fianc¨¦es toe.¡± Li Lanfeng had already lost his cool. He didn¡¯t choose to report his work but instead, insisted on finding the truth.


    ¡°Luo Chao came so it would be weird if Xuya didn¡¯te.¡± Ling Lan looked at Li Lanfeng in surprise. With Li Lanfeng¡¯s intelligence, he should be able to guess what had happened easily.


    ¡°I thought that Qi Long wouldn¡¯t bear to let her go.¡± Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t control his desire to tamper their rtionship so he acted decisively.


    Ling Lan was shocked. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Li Lanfeng rubbed his forehead in frustration. He seemed to regret what he said without thinking just now.


    ¡°I knew Xuya likes Qi Long. Are you saying Qi Long likes her too?¡± Ling Lan was happy. She didn¡¯t want her two younger sisters to really be her fake wives. If there were really people who like them without fearing that they would offend her or get beaten to death by her, and she felt that the man was good too, she didn¡¯t mind letting her younger sisters go.


    Ling Lan had more expressions than normal but the greater the fluctuations in her emotions, the colder her expression became. This made it harder for people to understand her true emotions.


    Hence, in Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes, Ling Lan looked angry.


    As expected, Ling Lan liked women. He liked his two fianc¨¦es.

 Chapter 1386 - The Result Of Hunger

    <h4>1386 The Result Of Hunger</h4>


    At this realization, Li Lanfeng was in despair. Did this mean that he doesn¡¯t have any hope at all?


    ¡®No! Nothing is certain until thest moment. I still have a chance. I must have.¡¯


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes were sparkling. Initially, he was nning on progressing their rtionship slowly. He wanted to ingrain himself into Ling Lan¡¯s heart with baby steps. However, the arrival of Luo Chao and Han Xuya lit a fire under his butt. He now understood he must take the initiative. If not, he would lose everything.


    ¡°In the past, I unintentionally noticed that Qi Long¡¯s gaze is a little special when he looks at Xuya. That¡¯s why I took notice of it.¡± The moment Li Lanfeng decided to take the initiative, he wouldn¡¯t be soft-hearted.


    ¡°Qi Long has been hiding it from me very well,¡± Ling Lan controlled her urge to roll her eyes as she spoke calmly.


    It was no surprise that they were starting to look for love since they were now adults. She still remembered in the past when Han Xuya confessed to Qi Long. That brat rejected her directly with the reason of wanting to focus on bing stronger.


    ¡°I think he¡¯s just afraid of offending you. After all, Xuya is your woman. Even if Qi Long really likes her, he won¡¯t dare to say it.¡± Li Lanfeng pushed forward secretly again.


    ¡°You know that I was heavily injured at that time so I had to ept Luo Chao and Xuya¡¯s care under those circumstances. My family rule is like this so I must abide by it. But, if the two of them like each other, I can¡¯t heartlessly break them up, right? But, the brat¡¯s performance really disappoints me. He is really bad,¡± Ling Lan said angrily.


    Was she so unreasonable in Qi Long¡¯s eyes?


    ¡°Maybe the more you love someone, the harder it is to break the status quo... Plus, Qi Long has respected you ever since he was young. He takes you as his elder brother. He might feel bad if he troubled you with his love struggles.¡± Li Lanfeng pretended to be speaking up for Qi Long.


    ¡°I have to thank you for telling me this, Li Lanfeng.¡± Ling Lan felt thankful in her heart. She didn¡¯t believe that Li Lanfeng had a slip of his tongue. He must have discovered something so he used this chance to remind her.


    Ling Lan lifted her right hand and rubbed the middle of her eyebrows. In the future, she might have to worry about her younger sisters¡¯ marriage to prevent some men from snatching them away when she wasn¡¯t paying attention.


    Although Qi Long was a brother she groomed personally, in this case, she would stand on her younger sister¡¯s side. If anyone dared to bully her younger sisters, even if they were her brothers, she would beat them up.


    Li Lanfeng saw this and hurried forward. He stood behind Ling Lan and helped her to massage her temples.


    ¡°Actually, there¡¯s no need to be angry. You should know that you¡¯re the dream lover of all the women in the Federation. If you want, there will be a line of women waiting to marry you,¡± Li Lanfengforted Ling Lan softly. He was afraid that the issue he said would make him Ling Lan unhappy.


    ¡°The Federation? Dream lover? Isn¡¯t that talking about my father?¡± Ling Lan felt speechless. Everyone envied her but to her, this was nothing to be happy about.


    ¡°That¡¯s the generation before us. Two years ago, the military did a survey. The person that thedies in our generation wanted to marry the most is you.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart was dripping blood. If he had a choice, he didn¡¯t want to say this. This meant that he had many potential love rivals, too many. What made him the most frustrated was that he still reminded Ling Lan about it voluntarily. Li Lanfeng felt that in this rtionship, all of his actions were getting dumber by the second.


    ¡°You mean that without Han Xuya, there will still be manydies waiting for me to pick?¡± Ling Lan finally understood why Li Lanfeng said this to her. She found it infuriating and funny at the same time. She felt touched too. Without a doubt, Li Lanfeng was worried that Qi Long and Han Xuya¡¯s issue would hurt her so he took great care to console her with those words.


    ¡°You said it.¡± Li Lanfeng pushed the me away from him instantly.


    ¡°I¡¯m not a stud,¡± Ling Lan said with disdain. ¡°One wife is enough for me. Also, I don¡¯t have the heart to think about these now. This is what I¡¯ve discovered during this period of time. Lanfeng, take a look at it.¡± Ling Lan quickly ended the useless conversation and took a file from her table. She passed it to Li Lanfeng who was behind her.


    Li Lanfeng took the file and quickly read through it. About a minuteter, he closed the file.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Ling Lan leaned back on her chair and turned her chair to face Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng ced the file back on the table and contemted for a while before replying, ¡°The waters in the Lawless Lands are very deep. It¡¯s deeper than we expected.¡±


    ¡°You see it too.¡± The corners of Ling Lan¡¯s lips moved up slightly.


    ¡°That¡¯s because the information you chose is very useful. It¡¯s all very scattered but once you put them together, you¡¯ll still be able to notice a link between them.¡± Admiration shed past Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°The difficulty has increased but this is an opportunity for us too.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes shone brightly. At first, she thought that she would need at least eight to ten years toplete her goal but from the looks of it, if she nned her steps properly, she might be able to reach her goal faster.


    Li Lanfeng said, ¡°Diverting attention!¡±


    Ling Lan said, ¡°Substituting one for another!¡±


    The two of them came up with their opinions simultaneously. When they heard each other¡¯s words, they exchanged a nce and smiled. Their ns were different but they knew that the result was the same.


    Recently, the entire rainbow pce was very busy, from the top all the way to the bottom.


    Whether it was the authoritative figures of the rainbow pce, or the maids, all of them very extremely busy.


    During this time, the biggest change was the life of the maids. At the start, they always lowered their heads in fear but now, they were able to look straight into anyone¡¯s eyes.


    Anyone, including the men under the other 13 Lords or the authoritative figures in the rainbow pce, felt their hearts shaking if theyid their eyes on these maids.


    The maids were able to be so confident... Yes, and it was all because they were the personal guards of Lord Gen¡¯s wives.


    That¡¯s right, those maids who didn¡¯t have any pride, the maids that could be bullied by anyone in the past, were gathered by the two wives of Lord Gen. Out of boredom, they gathered the maids to train them into their personal guards. The two wives even set a rule. The maids had toe to training every morning. All their work would be shifted to the afternoon. No one was supposed to disturb them during their training.


    What? What about those team leaders, managers, or guardians who didn¡¯t have anyone serving them?


    Nothing would happen. If they couldn¡¯t ept this, they could find Lord Gen for their maids.


    This was the oppressive reply the two wives gave them.


    Such actions undoubtedly ignited people¡¯s anger. So unsurprisingly, the infuriated group of guardians and managers went to look for Lord Gen to give them an answer.


    They looked for a long time and finally found their Lord Gen in the kitchen.


    When they saw him, they were all dumbstruck.


    The powerful Lord Gen in their memory was raising a kitchen knife and gesturing the knife at a fish on the chopping board. He seemed to be considering how he should cut the fist.


    He looked... a little disheveled.


    When Lord Gen saw them, he asked calmly, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±


    When he found out what they were here for, he replied with a question. ¡°Don¡¯t you have hands?¡±


    ¡°So?¡±


    ¡°So... you go make your own breakfast! Do you understand?¡± Lord Gen growled furiously at them. He looked like a malevolent deviling from the depths of hell. No one dared to protest anymore.


    After everyone calmed down and analysed the situation, they instantly understood that the malicious gaze from their Lord Gen was because he was too hungry.

 Chapter 1387 - Want To Do.

    <h4>1387 Want To Do.</h4>


    Ling Lanidzily on her soft couch. She felt like she received a new life.


    At the side, there were no leftovers on the tes. A pair of slender and beautiful hands were tidying the table carefully.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect your cooking skills to be so good.¡± Ling Lan was in a good mood. Her eyes were curved upwards like the beautiful crescent moon.


    This scene was entirely different from Ling Lan¡¯s usual cold and proper image. Somehow, it was still mesmerizing.


    At the rare sight, Li Lanfeng¡¯s hands trembled slightly. The tes he was holding almost slid off his trembling hands. Fortunately, he reacted quickly. He exerted force on his fingers, managing to nip the te between his fingers. Luckily, he didn¡¯t embarrass himself in front of Ling Lan.


    ¡°In the past, I lived alone so if I want to eat something, I have to figure it out myself,¡± Li Lanfeng replied calmly. He wouldn¡¯t tell Ling Lan that in order to win his heart over, he secretly learned many new techniques. Cooking skills was ranked the number one technique you had to know when chasing someone, so he definitely learned it well.


    This was the kind of person Li Lanfeng was. If he decided to do something, he would do it to perfection.


    His hard work finally paid off. Li Lanfeng waited for a long time to show off his cooking skills, and the chance came.


    When he knew that Ling Lan was figuring out how to cook in the kitchen, Li Lanfeng prepared an borate breakfast for him. However, he didn¡¯t send the food over directly, instead he waited until Ling Lan almost exploded in anger because of her hunger. Then, he would swoop in like an angel descending from heaven, gracing Ling Lan with food that could save her life.


    As expected, Ling Lan was extremely touched.


    Li Lanfeng was indeed very scheming. He loved Ling Lan crazily but when he should beposed, he remained calm and calcted how he could get the most out of this serving of breakfast.


    ¡°You¡¯re really impressive. I tried to learn how to cook many times but I kept failing...¡± Ling Lan looked at Li Lanfeng in admiration. She had already realised that her talent in cooking was close to nil. She reckoned she inherited this gene from her mother. Luckily, her father¡¯s cooking skills were amazing.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about such small matters. It¡¯s a waste of your effort. ¡°Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡°In the future, I can be in charge of your breakfast, lunch, and dinner.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯d be great. Thank you as always, Lanfeng.¡± Ling Lan smiled in satisfaction. This would really solve her greatest difficulty. These past few days, she was really very hungry... Mind you, she had a huge appetite ever since she was young. If you stopped her from eating, she would really turn berserk.


    She didn¡¯t know how Luo Chao and Han Xuya came up with the idea to train the maids. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but recalled what happened a few days ago.


    ¡°Boss.¡± Luo Chao and Han Xuya rushed into her study room excitedly.


    ¡°What the matter?¡± Ling Lan put down the things she was doing and asked them with her raised head.


    ¡°We thought of what to do,¡± Han Xuya shouted happily.


    For the past three months, they could only stay in Ling Lan¡¯s room. If they wanted to go out, they had to make ample preparations. Ling Lan had to send a few powerful guardians to protect them or send Zhao Jun or Luo Lang to do it.


    There were just too many dangers in the Lawless Lands. No one knew what would happen if they went out. Plus, Ling Lan was still reorganising the various factions in Lord Gen¡¯s territory. Where there was suppression, there would be resistance. At ces where they couldn¡¯t see with their eyes, the battles never stopped. Ling Lan had to be careful.


    One or two days were easy to bear but once they stayed here longer, Han Xuya and Luo Chao got bored. Of course, they were people who were able to restrain themselves. They knew they shouldn¡¯t create trouble for Boss at this time so they didn¡¯t say anything to her.


    However, Ling Lan was always concerned about her two younger sisters so she soon realised their boredom. Thus, she asked them to look for meaningful things to do in the rainbow pce.


    Her younger sisters were very obedient. They decided on the spot that they should go back and think about this carefully.


    They thought deeply for more than ten days. They took so long that Ling Lan wanted to give them things to do. But, the two of them finally found an answer.


    Ling Lan allowed them to think of a fun activity to do because she wanted to train them. She wanted them to learn how to quickly find their position in a new environment. This was how Xie Yi was trained in the past.


    ¡°Fine, tell me what you have thought of. After all, you have thought for a really long time.¡± Ling Lan put down the documents in her hands and teased them.


    Luo Chao nced at Han Xuya. Han Xuya opened her mouth and said, ¡°Boss, we have been studying the ranking system of the Lawless Lands. This is a ce where strength determines your status. Powerful people will have a better life. In an organisation, they will be able to sit in high positions and enjoy more authority and benefit.¡±


    ¡°Just like the nations in the central region,dies are at the bottom of the social status. Their lives are probably worse than thedies living in the central nations. In the Lawless Lands, the lowest beings, the maids, are women. Women can be sold and killed whenever people want. They are treated like animals...¡± Luo Chao¡¯s expression was sorrowful and furious. This ce was a woman¡¯s hell. Unless they met a good husband, no one would have a good ending.


    The women that had better lives were the maids of the 13 Lords. No wonder the women in the Lawless Lands turned crazy in order to be ced on the waiting list when the 13 Lords choose their maids every year. Those parents who loved their daughter were willing to spend a huge sum of money to buy a waiting list position. Those without money would kill to get a position.


    ¡°But, in actual fact, the women in the Lawless Lands are not as weak as the people from the central regions. After Brother Shiyu¡¯s experiments, we realised that the special climate and environment of the Lawless Lands caused a rise in people¡¯s physical constitutions here. This doesn¡¯t just apply to men. It applies to women too,¡± Luo Chao continued speaking.


    ¡°It looks like you really did your homework. You even bother our extremely busy military doctor.¡± Ling Lan smiled mysteriously at Luo Chao. Only she was able to ask Li Shiyu for a favour. If you asked who¡¯s the person who doted on Luo Chao the most in Lingtian, it wasn¡¯t her. It wasn¡¯t Luo Chao¡¯s blood-rted brother, Luo Lang either. Instead, it was their military doctor, Li Shiyu. He had always loved her like his blood-rted younger sister.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t. Brother Shiyu was already analysing the special environment of the Lawless Lands. He knew that I needed it so he gave me the result of his research,¡± Luo Chao replied hurriedly. She just went to find Brother Shiyu and coincidentally, the thing he was researching on was what she needed.


    ¡°I¡¯ll believe whatever you say then.¡± Ling Lan shrugged. What else could she do? This was her beloved younger sister. She couldn¡¯t expose her, right?


    ¡°Boss,¡± Luo Chao and Han Xuya said simultaneously.


    ¡°Fine, fine, fine.¡± Ling Lan quickly raised her hands to surrender in front of the whining Luo Chao and Han Xuya. ¡°Continue speaking.¡±


    Her younger sisters¡¯ whining skills were really powerful. Even though she was a woman, she couldn¡¯t handle it. Ling Lan really felt worried about the men who liked her younger sisters.

 Chapter 1388 - Very Shameless.

    <h4>1388 Very Shameless.</h4>


    ¡°We performed an examination on the physical constitutions of the maids in the pce, and we found out that most of them have physical constitutions that are as strong as the both of us. Some even have better physiques than us.¡± Han Xuya¡¯s eyes lit up as she recounted their findings, as this finding made them exceptionally exhrated.


    ¡°So...¡± Ling Lan seemed to understand what they wanted to do.


    ¡°So, we decided to train these maids to let them understand that women can take charge of their own lives too, and that they are not inferior to anyone, not even to their male counterparts,¡± Han Xuya clenched his fist as she spoke excitedly.


    ¡°In the past, we were able to form an all-femalebat team in Lingtian. Today, we will form an army of capable women that will strike fear into whoever hears of their name.¡± Luo Chao took a step forward as she puffed up her chest confidently. Her face was already red in excitement and her eyes were sparkling brightly as she envisioned the future of her sessful army.


    ¡°Have you formted a n for your goal?¡± Ling Lan thought for a moment and asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ve already done it. Boss, please take a look at it.¡± Han Xuya quickly took out the proposal they prepared and passed it to Ling Lan.


    Looking at the nervous and anticipating faces of Han Xuya and LUo Chao, Ling Lan let out a wide smile like a proud mom would and said, ¡°You really made ample preparations. You even have the proposal ready.¡±


    Han Xuya scratched her head and smiled foolishly in reply.


    Ling Lan carefully read through the carefully written and well thought out words and snickered a little


    ¡°It looks like you didn¡¯t just use my military doctor. You even brought in my strategist.¡± Ling Lan smiled ambiguously at Luo Chao and Han Xuya again.


    ¡°No, w-we did not. We really didn¡¯t. Lanfeng just felt that our idea is very good but iscking in some aspects, so he kindly offered us some pointers to improve on the n.¡± Han Xuya wiped away the cold sweat off her forehead. In reality, they really did use Boss¡¯s name to ask many of her loyal subordinates to helpe up with this meticulous n.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Anyways, the proposal is very detailed. The timeline is thoroughly nned out and segmented well too. If you can persist with this n, you might really see some great results.¡± Every aspect of the proposal was written clearly, and issues that mighte up were already geared up with contingency ns to resolve them. If they followed the proposal, there would be no problem.


    But, even still, it was quite unexpected for Li Lanfeng to help them with their proposal. What was even more surprising was that she could tell he had spent a significant amount of effort to write this proposal. Ling Lan knew Li Lanfeng well enough to tell that he wasn¡¯t a person who would do tasks that were of no benefit to him unless she was the one who ordered him to. Without her direct order, Li Lanfeng would reject anyone who required his expertise. Even if he couldn¡¯t coldly reject the person entirely because of their rtionship, he would juste up with some half-assed ns and be done with it.


    At that time, Ling Lan didn¡¯t actually understand why Li Lanfeng would help Han Xuya and Luo Chao so much. Now, after satiating her hunger, it was as if a hemorrhage in her brain had been unblocked, ideas of why Li Lanfeng would help them surfaced in her mind until only one idea persisted.


    ¡°Were you the one who gave Luo Chao and Xuya the idea to train the maids?¡± Ling Lan immediately sat up straight from the sofa. Her eyes narrowed as she thought, ¡®So this is the fellow who caused me to be hungry for so many days. Why did I even feel grateful towards him in the first ce?¡¯


    ¡°Not really,¡± Li Lanfeng said with an innocent face.


    However, his innocent baby face didn¡¯t work on Ling Lan as she smiled coldly. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t you, who suggested the idea then? Anyways, why would you be so kind as to help them write up an entire proposal in the first ce?¡±


    ¡®Hmph, are you trying to fool me? Don¡¯t you know I understand you the best? What a sneaky guy! Hnng!¡¯


    ¡°It is a long story.¡± Li Lanfeng gently and meticulously wiped the coffee table as he replied calmly, ¡°When I came back, I kept noticing them sighing every day. I can¡¯t bear to see them like this so I asked them what happened.¡±


    ¡°So, you gave them this stupid idea?¡± Ling Lan asked in frustration.


    ¡°No...¡± Li Lanfeng gave a wronged puppy-eyed look. ¡°After hearing their concerns, I suggested Luo Chao and Xuya to return to the Jin Ship. After all, they are the captain and vice-captain of the ship. They can go back and train their little soldiers to pass time. Luo Lang will also be able toe back. Plus, I think Luo Lang is more suited to stay here.¡±


    ¡°But, they can¡¯t go back now.¡± The Jin Ship was now kept under tight surveince from all the factions in the Lawless Lands. Luckily, everyone thought that Luo Lang was the captain of the Jin Ship. With him being a titled domain formidable warrior and having an ace mecha n at his beck and call, were enough to deter anymore from doing any shady business. If they revealed Luo Chao and Han Xuya as the true captains of the ship, trouble woulde right on their doorsteps the very next day.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t afraid of those direct confrontations, but she was very afraid of the secret schemes they could cook up to mess with the twodies. So, even though it pained her seeing her sisters so sad, she had to keep Luo Chao and Han Xuya in her room.


    ¡°I know, so I asked them to cultivate whenever they have the time to improve their personal strength. Only when they have the capability to protect themselves and the people around them, can they be released.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. He appeared as if he was really thinking for his younger sisters.


    ¡°Hadn¡¯t they been doing that for the past three months?¡± Ling Lan red at Li Lanfeng angrily. What he said achieved nothing but confused her in a giant loop. In the end, wasn¡¯t he saying the same thing?


    ¡°Yes. I just said it would be more tolerable if there are people training with them.¡± Li Lanfeng shrugged. His expression was extremely innocent. ¡°I just said this sentence at the end.¡±


    ¡°Haha, so you¡¯re saying Luo Chao and Han Xuya were enlightened by your words and decided to train the maids?¡± Ling Lan scoffed. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m so easy to fool?¡±


    ¡°No. I might be able to fool anyone else, but I can¡¯t fool you, Ling Lan.¡± Li Lanfeng sighed. ¡°Aren¡¯t you the one who understands me the most?¡±


    Ling Lan just looked at him coldly.


    ¡°Fine, I concede. I did say something else.¡± Li Lanfeng raised his hands to surrender. He felt bitter in his heart. How frustrating. Why can¡¯t I hide anything from him? Rabbit really understood him very well. He might be unable to escape from his grasp in his entire life.


    ¡°I told them I miss the Lingtian Independent Army. If we were there, they would be able to lead their army of females to challenge the other battle teams for some fun. They won¡¯t be so bored there.¡± Li Lanfeng finally told her the truth.


    ¡°I knew the root of the problem lies in you.¡± Ling Lan felt strange that Han Xuya and Luo Chao would suddenly have the idea of training the maids in the pce when they never thought about this for the past three months. Now, she found the culprit who foiled her breakfast and lunch in the past few days.


    ¡°But, why did you suggest such a bad idea?¡± Ling Lan felt speechless. The maids all went to train, leaving no one behind to cook until it waste afternoon. If Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t help with her breakfast and lunch, she would have to resort to using her non-existent cooking skills. Ling Lan felt her heart clogging just thinking about it.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to agree.¡± Li Lanfeng pulled a long face. He looked as if he really did mention it casually.


    ¡°You¡¯ve already written such a good proposal. How can I not agree to it?¡± Ling Lan felt even more frustrated. If you didn¡¯t want it to happen, why would you write such a thorough proposal? She couldn¡¯t even find a reason to reject them.


    ¡°That¡¯s because you will be looking at it.¡± Li Lanfeng appeared even more innocent. ¡°If I didn¡¯t write it properly, you might think that my skills have decreased. I will feel very wronged if you really think that.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Your skills are decreasing? I¡¯ll thank you if you stop being so good at shamelessly scheming against people.¡± Ling Lan rolled her eyes at Li Lanfeng with an annoyed expression. His words were too fake. He obviously created this mess but he shamelessly denied it.


    ¡°Thank you for yourpliment.¡± Ling Lan waspletely defeated by Li Lanfeng¡¯s proud look when he plimented¡¯ his shamelessness.

 Chapter 1389 - Reliable?

    <h4>1389 Reliable?</h4>


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile broke a little when he noticed that Ling Lan¡¯s expression was still frosty. He conceded in the end ¡°Fine, it¡¯s my fault. I¡¯m willing to make up for my mistake. I¡¯ll take care of all your meals from now on, is that alright?¡±


    ¡°At least, you¡¯re smart when ites to appeasing me,¡± Ling Lan replied in satisfaction. If Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t dare to admit his mistake, she would definitely drag him to the training room next door and teach him a good lesson.


    Her attitude must be too good recently. All of them were starting to rebel.


    Li Lanfengughed softly when he heard this. He carried a pile of tes and chopsticks and left Ling Lan¡¯s room.


    The moment he stepped out of the door, Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile curled up even higher. He appeared a little arrogant.


    His immacte scheme allowed his n of pursuit to finally go on full gear. First, he gave Han Xuya and Luo Chao some work to do so they didn¡¯t have to stay with Ling Lan all the time. Now, without them constantly reminding him that Ling Lan had two fianc¨¦es, he would be able to imprint himself deeper into Ling Lan¡¯s heart without interruption.


    He now had more time to spend with Ling Lan with him being in charge of Ling Lan¡¯s three meals.


    Li Lanfeng never thought of just making breakfast and lunch for Ling Lan. He was so greedy that he wanted to take care of her dinner too. He wanted Ling Lan to fall in love with his cooking. It would be the best if Ling Lan got addicted to his cooking. That way, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t be able to leave him for his entire life.


    Since he had already decided to chase a husband that had a difficulty grade of SSS+, Li Lanfeng knew that he had to use all kinds of methods while using a multi-pronged approach to break down the defenses in Ling Lan¡¯s heart.


    Li Lanfeng never thought that he would fail. To win or die trying. He would either live a loving life with Ling Lan or die.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know that the strategist she trusted the most actually had such ¡®evil thoughts¡¯ towards her. She didn¡¯t have much experience with romantic rtionships, so she didn¡¯t notice the ¡®bad intentions¡¯ behind Li Lanfeng¡¯s current actions.


    After half a year of reorganisation, Ling Lan finally took control of most of Lord Gen¡¯s territory. She took care of all those people and factions that had evil underlying intentions. Of course, this kind of reorganisation resulted in a series of bloodbath.


    The people that acted were mostly Luo Lang, Zhao Jun, Tang Ningyu, and Mu Chaoran. Their methods when executing these bloodbaths were merciless and vicious. Soon, their feared name started to spread across the Lawless Lands, and soon they were deemed as the Four Heavenly Kings.


    No one knew the names of these executioners, so they were given titles that used their individual unique appearance to differentiate them.


    They were: Pretty Heavenly King (Luo Lang), Violent Heavenly King (Zhao Jun), Cold Heavenly King (Tang Ningyu), and Smiling Heavenly King (Mu Chaoran).


    All the leaders of the various factions in the Lawless Lands knew about the Four Heavenly Kings. They were Lord Gen¡¯s most trusted confidants. Although there were ten guardians at the rainbow pce, they belonged to the previous Lord Gen, so they obviously would need some time to win over the trust of the new Lord Gen. The only guardian that the current Lord Gen trusted more was Ji Ming. Even Yu Shangfei, who epted the new Lord Gen right at the start, lost to Ji Ming in terms of the trust given to them by Lord Gen.


    Everyone thought that Yu Shangfei would be unwilling to ept this unfair treatment and would argue for his fair share of trust, but unexpectedly, Yu Shangfei voluntarily took a step back and listened to Ji Ming like a subordinate would. The other guardians of the rainbow pce were extremely astounded when they saw such a scene. It should be known that when they were still following the previous Lord Gen, Yu Shangfei was the right hand man while Ji Ming was more on the sidelines.


    They didn¡¯t know that the reason Yu Shangfei suppressed his unhappiness was because he didn¡¯t have any confidence to outperform Ji Ming. Who told him to turn his coat on Ling Lan so early on. Although the new Lord Gen had told him to redeem himself by good service and didn¡¯t really punish him, the initial wrong move caused him to lose Ling Lan¡¯s trust. If he wanted to turn the tides around, he needed to perform well in the future.


    During such a situation where his position was unstable, how would he dare to create any trouble? He had to tuck his tail between his legs and keep a low profile.


    The old and new of the rainbow pce had a harmonious rtionship with each other. Surprisingly, they actually didn¡¯t engage in internal strife, and it was all because the new Lord Gen didn¡¯t discriminate against the followers of the previous Lord Gen. Although he didn¡¯t really trust them, he still allowed them to remain in their positions while building a few new powerful teams to let his close confidants be the leaders.


    When distributing misceneous missions, he still used the old guards. When he needed to strike hard and suppress those restless factions, he would use his confidants.


    Since the Four Heavenly Kings were really young, everyone including the other 12 Lords, were waiting to see them make aughing stock out of themselves. They wanted to see Ling Lan failing and embarrassing himself. However, although these four young men were young, their strength were on par with titled domain realm formidable warriors like them. Not only did theyplete the missions Ling Lan assigned to them, they also earned a feared name for themselves.


    The people that didn¡¯t take the new Lord Gen to heart didn¡¯t dare to underestimate him anymore after seeing the performance of these four young men.


    But, in the Lawless Lands, peace was only temporary, and soon, Ling Lan and her men weed their first problem.


    ¡°Are you saying that the goods that we transported back this time were snatched by Lord Li¡¯s men?¡± Ling Lan was shocked when she heard the emergency report by Ji Ming.


    Ji Ming nodded. ¡°Based on the timeline, it¡¯s time for a battle royale.¡±


    Hearing the term, Ling Lan remembered the information she tidied up a few days ago. She raised her eyebrows and said, ¡°A scuffle every three months, a battle every six months, and battle royale every year?¡±


    ¡°Yes. In the past few months, because of your new position, our people suppressed themselves very much. Hence, the scuffle didn¡¯t happen...¡± Ji Ming replied.


    ¡°So, will it be a battle or battle royale?¡± Ling Lan needed to ask clearly. There was a difference between a battle and battle royale. If she didn¡¯t know which one it was, she might make the wrong decision.


    ¡°Based on their movements, it should be a battle royale. However, you just seeded the throne, so I don¡¯t know what the other lords are thinking.¡± Ji Ming wasn¡¯t very clear on the procedures when it came to the matters of a new lord, since there had not been a change in the 13 Lords since he came here.


    ¡°A battle is a fight with one party, while battle royale is an all for nothing brawl with everyone involved.¡± Ling Lan knocked on the handle of the ice throne and quickly started thinking of a solution.


    ¡°Let¡¯s discuss our ns on the basis that it will be a battle royale.¡± At this moment, a gentle voice suggested behind her. It was Li Lanfeng who came in to send her lunch.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s do that.¡± Ling Lan felt that this was the safer option. She nodded and said with a cold expression, ¡°Ji Ming, immediately bring four guardians and the battle teams under them to the battlefield at the borders. Let them enjoy a good fight with Lord Li¡¯s men.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Lord Gen,¡± Ji Ming said excitedly. Without a doubt, this order meant that Lord Gen trusted himpletely. Lord Gen gave him the right tomand all the battle teams. Only a confidant could do this.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Ji Ming¡¯s back as he left the pce happily. Then, he retracted his gaze and turned to look at Ling Lan. He asked, ¡°Is he reliable?¡±


    Li Lanfeng left the Lawless Lands for a long time so he didn¡¯t have a clear understanding of the old guards like Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei. Plus, Li Lanfeng was also a very suspicious person. Besides Ling Lan, he would suspect anyone else, much less trust them.


    ¡°You can give him about 60% of your trust. That¡¯s enough,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently.


    This was Ling Lan. She never totally trusted anyone. She just knew how to put them to good use.

 Chapter 1390 - Collaboration!

    <h4>1390 Coboration!</h4>


    ¡°I think the likelihood of it being a battle is slim. It is much more likely for them to start a battle royale.¡± Ling Lan raised her chopsticks and ate a few mouthfuls of her lunch before she continued.


    ¡°Yes. If they really did wish to start a battle royale, they will look for you.¡± During this period, Li Lanfeng had formed his own secret intelligence team. It was in charge of gathering all kinds of information from the territories of the other lords.


    Ling Lan nodded and stopped talking. She focused on filling up her stomach.


    Li Lanfeng sat at the side and looked quietly at Ling Lan. Whenever he looked at Ling Lan, he wondered how good it would be if he could just continue staring at him for his entire life.


    Suddenly, Ling Lan hastened the speed of her chopsticks and finished thest bit of food. The moment she put down her chopsticks, a man in a purple gown appeared before her.


    ¡°What has happened for Lord Zhen to grace my pce with his presence?¡± Ling Lan calmly took the towel that Li Lanfeng passed over and wiped her hands slowly.


    ¡°Did Lord Li snatch your goods?¡± Lord Zhen smiled and asked.


    ¡°Yes. I want to know if this is a battle or the battle royale?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. In order to create the impression that the Lawless Lands were in chaos, the 13 Lords coborated with each other to create many ¡®games¡¯ that were built on top of numerous corpses and pools of blood. As long as they were able to achieve the results they wanted, they didn¡¯t care how many injuries or casualties were caused.


    When Ling Lan realized this, she felt pity for the lowest dregs of the Lawless Lands as their fates were being in the hands of these cruel lords. However, now, she needed to be involved with those cruel lords. She really hated this feeling of helplessness. She felt contempt towards the 13 Lords as well as those who feared the potential of the Lawless Lands.


    ¡°You¡¯re indeed a smart person. The other lords were wondering if we should inform you but Lord Qian and Lord Kun said that you would have known about it already so we don¡¯t need to make the extra effort,¡± Lord Zhenmented.


    ¡°I¡¯m just surprised. Since the 13 Lords are already basically on the same side, why don¡¯t you just form an alliance and develop the Lawless Lands properly?¡± Ling Lan asked. Her clear and transparent eyes made Lord Zhen unsure if Ling Lan was testing him or if she was really curious about it.


    He contemted for a moment before answering slowly, ¡°Humans are hard to predict. No one can know when they will be backstabbed if they form an alliance.¡±


    ¡°I see. None of youpletely trust one another.¡± Ling Lan nodded.


    Ling Lan¡¯s straightforward and direct answer stabbed right into Lord Zhen¡¯s heart. Could we still have a friendly conversation?


    ¡°Do you trust us?¡± Lord Zhen refuted.


    Ling Lan pondered carefully before replying, ¡°I really can¡¯t.¡±


    Lord Zhen felt frustrated by the reply again. This fellow wasn¡¯t even willing to pretend to be friendly. He was really bad.


    ¡°Did youe because I am coborating with you for this battle royale?¡± Ling Lan noticed that Lord Zhen didn¡¯t have the interest to chat further so she went straight to the point and asked for his purpose of his visit.


    ¡°Clever. You understood everything without any exnations from me.¡± Lord Zhen gathered hisposure. Maybe this youth was still young so he hadn¡¯t learned how to be slick in his speech. He shouldn¡¯t make people feel so stifled when talking to him.


    ¡°Who is our opponent?¡± Ling Lan asked curiously. She wanted to know how the 13 Lords choose their enemies for a battle royale.


    ¡°This time, Lord Li and Lord Demon are on the same side,¡± Lord Zhen replied.


    ¡°This time?¡± Ling Lan immediately caught the main point.


    Lord Zhen looked at Ling Lan meaningfully. During all their conversations, this youth was able to catch the main point of his sentence every time. This sharpness was rarely seen among the younger generations he knew. Lord Zhen already didn¡¯t n to hide so he nodded and said, ¡°We drew lots.¡±


    ¡°And you chose me?¡± Ling Lan smiled ambiguously. It looked like the other 12 lords admitted her identity as Lord Gen on the surface but deep down, they still discriminated against outsiders. They didn¡¯t even call her during such an event and just let her fate be decided by random lots.


    ¡°Actually, as long as six lords have gathered, we can start drawing lots,¡± Lord Zhen exined why she wasn¡¯t invited. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know if he was speaking the truth or not.


    ¡°Is it a 2 versus 2 battle royale?¡± The documents kept in the rainbow pce didn¡¯t exin the battle royale clearly. Thus, Ling Lan still had many questions regarding it. Since she had the chance to rify her doubts now, she wouldn¡¯t miss it. She would ask everything she needed to ask.


    ¡°Not really. There would be six teams. Besides the team which had been decided right from the start to be our enemies, we can still form other rtionships with the other teams,¡± Lord Zhen replied.


    ¡°Form rtionships... they can be your enemies or your friends, right?¡± Once again, Ling Lan detected the hidden meaning behind Lord Zhen¡¯s words.


    Lord Zhen was speechless. He was already so obscure with his words but the other party was still able to urately catch the important point.


    ¡°I understand. How do you want to fight?¡± Ling Lan replied.


    ¡°Together.¡± Lord Zhen gave a helpless look. If it wasn¡¯t for this, why did hee here?


    ¡°I mean, are we splitting up to fight with one opponent each or are were doing it together?¡± Ling Lan felt helpless too. In Lingtian, she didn¡¯t even need to talk. One look was enough for herrades, whether it was Han Jijyun or Li Lanfeng, even people like Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and Xie Yi were able to understand her intention and made the necessary arrangements. She didn¡¯t need to go into so much detail.


    ¡°Of course it¡¯s together. Based on Lord Li¡¯s temper, he won¡¯t likely split up.¡± Lord Zhen understood the other lords very well. Lord Li had a fiery temper. He liked to gather together and attack his opponent with all his might. As for Lord Demon, she didn¡¯t like to make any decisions so normally, she would listen to what her partner preferred.


    ¡°Is Lord Li very bossy?¡± Ling Lan asked when she noticed that Lord Zhen only mentioned Lord Li but said nothing about Lord Demon.


    ¡°He¡¯s a little bossy but that¡¯s because Lord Demon doesn¡¯t care about anything.¡± Lord Zhen smiled as he exined the reason.


    ¡°Really...¡± Ling Lan was dumbfounded. She met Lord Demon before. That time, the impression that Lord Demon gave her wasn¡¯t that of a person who was easy to talk to...


    However, Lord Zhen had known Lord Demon for more than ten years. He would have a much deeper understanding of her so Ling Lan decided to listen to Lord Zhen¡¯s opinion temporarily. As for whether Lord Demon was really like what Lord Zhen said, Ling Lan felt that she had the time to assess it personally.


    ¡°Oh, right. Whether it¡¯s the battle or the battle royale, the 13 Lords never show their faces.¡± When Lord Zhen was leaving, he reminded Ling Lan.


    ¡°They don¡¯t show their faces?¡± Ling Lan frowned. She felt worried about letting herrades go onto the battlefield alone without her overlooking them. After all, the men under the various lords, whether it was their techniques or their physical skills, were all much stronger than herrades.


    ¡°Ling Lan, no one can be 100% certain of what will happen on the battlefield. You need to let go when you should. If not, they won¡¯t have the chance to grow up,¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly opened his mouth and said.


    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned cold instantly. She wanted to protect the people she loved but she never thought of pampering or spoiling them.


    ¡°Ask Luo Lang, Mu Chaoran, and Tang Ningyu to lead their teams for battle. Let Zhao Jun lead the elite mecha battle team and follow behind them.¡± Ling Lan gave her first battlemand coldly.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression turned stern too. He quickly changed into his subordinate mode and prepared to leave to inform his otherrades. Ling Lan abruptly stopped him and said, ¡°Tell them that we don¡¯t do unfavourable trades.¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled immediately. ¡°I understand.¡±


    As expected, Rabbit was still that cunning rabbit. He would never do anything that was unfavourable. Lord Li... you better take care of yourself.

 Chapter 1391 - Resolve It Myself!

    <h4>1391 Resolve It Myself!</h4>


    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s your name?¡± Luo Lang, who arrived at the battlefield and was still looking at his surroundings curiously, heard a voice ringing by his ears.


    Luo Lang turned around and saw a young man d in purple clothing, looking at him with a smile on his face.


    Luo Lang stared at him indifferently. He didn¡¯t answer and continued to look at his surroundings.


    ¡°That proud huh?¡± The young man had an amused look on his face. In the past, as long as he flirted with a girl, that girl would be pleasantly surprised and be shy. They wouldn¡¯t be as cold as this one in front of him.


    Tang Ningyu nudged Mu Chaoran lightly with his elbow, ¡°Looks like someone doesn¡¯t want to live anymore.¡±


    ¡°Oh, indeed.¡± Mu Chaoran smiled as his eyes looked over with interest.


    ¡°Should we intervene?¡± asked Tang Ningyu as he looked at Luo Lang¡¯s impatient expression after being bothered by the young man d in purple.


    Mu Chaoran gestured to Tang Ningyu to look at Zhao Jun, ¡°Zhao Jun didn¡¯t even do anything, so why are you in a hurry to do something.¡±


    In the rainbow pce, possibly because knowing their agenda foring here was not simple, Luo Lang and Zhao Jun weren¡¯t on the best of terms with Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. They wouldn¡¯t even talk to each other unless there was business to be taken care of. Mu Chaoran was originally not apassionate person. If they didn¡¯t bother him, then he wouldn¡¯t bother them. The only person who could make him bow down was probably Ling Lan. In contrast, despite Tang Ningyu¡¯s cold appearance, in reality, as long as things were not done too over the top, Tang Ningyu wouldn¡¯t take it to heart. He was much more friendly than Mu Chaoran.


    Zhao Jun heard Mu Chaoran¡¯s words, turned around and replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine. For this type of problem... Luo Lang is quite proficient in handling it.¡±


    In Lingtian, the leaders always dealt with their own business. Others would rarely lend a helping hand unless one person actually requested for help. This was a way of showing their trust in theirrades.


    After being harrassed for quite a while, Luo Lang¡¯s patience waspletely depleted, and in that instant, Luo Lang made a move. ¡°Bam!¡± That young man was instantly mmed to the ground.


    ¡°Drive Master!¡± From afar, a group of men d in purple pounced towards Luo Lang.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Luo Lang only snorted coldly, and those men were instantly sent flying into the air. They fell to the ground stack on top of each other, moaning and groaning in pain. In that moment, there actually wasn¡¯t one person who could stand up.


    Themotion alerted the other people from Lord Zhen¡¯s group. After seeing Luo Lang beating down on the young man d in purple, their expressions instantly changed.


    ¡°You¡¯re taking this too far,¡± A purple-cloaked elder suddenly appeared in front of Luo Lang and spoke in a cold voice.


    ¡°I hate it when people bother me after I already refused to talk several times,¡± Luo Lang replied without any fear in his voice.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± asked the purple-cloaked elder cautiously when he sensed Luo Lang¡¯s force of presence being not much weaker than his own.


    ¡°I work under Lord Gen,¡± said Luo Lang calmly as he stood up.


    The purple-cloaked elder gestured to his subordinates to get Drive Master away from Luo Lang.


    Luo Lang didn¡¯t stop them from doing so. He even stepped back to make it easier for them to take Drive Master away.


    ¡°Lord Gen really has many amazing individuals working under him. I was just speaking to Guardian Ji about this matter. I didn¡¯t think that I would be able to see someone as strong as you this early on,¡± said the purpled-cloaked elder as he smiled. He used this opportunity to use Ji Ming¡¯s name to show that they held simr positions in each of their respective factions.


    However, his words didn¡¯t change Luo Lang¡¯s attitude towards him. He was still cold as ice. ¡°Thank you for yourpliment.¡±


    ¡°However, even though we are cooperating, you still have to give us an exnation as to why you attacked Drive Master with no reason at all.¡± Luo Lang¡¯s expression of indifference made the elder be fraught with anger. The tone of his voice clearly turned somewhat passive aggressive.

 Chapter 1392 - Sowing Seeds?

    <h4>1392 Sowing Seeds?</h4>


    ¡°Exnation?¡± Luo Lang raised his eyebrows andughed his heart out. The ethereal sight brightened up the eyes of everyone who was lucky enough to see it. In their eyes, the entire world suddenly turned radiant and bright.


    Suddenly, Luo Lang flicked his right hand out of everyone¡¯s vision. Following that, a dazzling white gleam shed by the eyes of the spectators


    The purple cloaked elder, who was the target of the dazzling white gleam, quickly backed up a few meters in one step.


    Suddenly, a purple cloth slowly drifted down to the ground. Looking at the cloth, it was obvious the source of the cloth was from the elder.


    At that moment, Luo Lang was already holding an unsheathed sword in his right hand, the sword that had cut the elder¡¯s sleeve.


    The purple cloaked elder narrowed his eyes when he saw his sleeve on the ground. He slowly raised his head with a cold look in his eyes. ¡°The Four Heavenly Kings...¡±


    He was one of the enforcers working under Lord Zhen. Before he came here, Lord Zhen had already informed him to be wary of the Four Heavenly Kings working under Lord Gen.


    They and the guardians of the past Lord Gen were familiar with each other and they all knew each other¡¯s bottom lines, so rarely would there be any quarrels. However, they had never met the new Four Heavenly Kings. Although they had heard from their subordinates about their appearances, the images they had in their minds were still blurry, not to mention knowing their temperaments or bottoms lines. Lord Zhen was telling them to be wary because he was afraid they might make a mistake and cause a scene with these four. After all, in this battle royale, they were allies. If there were any quarrels, it wouldn¡¯t be beneficial for either of them.


    They were quite cautious in the beginning. However, no matter how cautious they were, they wouldn¡¯t know that among the Four Heavenly Kings working under Lord Gen, there would be someone who actually had the appearance of a young woman. It was even his dumb grandson who disturbed that person. One mistake could perhaps spiral into creating a rift between the two groups.


    Why was the purple cloaked elder so sure of Luo Lang¡¯s identity? Individuals at their level could easily sense the strength of someone just from that one move. The purple cloaked elder knew very well that this ethereal beauty standing before him wasn¡¯t any weaker than himself. Being a stranger who was no weaker than him, along with the fact that he was part of the Four Heavenly Kings, the name ¡®Handsome Heavenly King¡¯ floated into his mind clearly.


    ¡°How¡¯s that for an exnation?¡± asked Luo Lang as he smiled beautifully.


    The purple cloaked elder¡¯s eyes twitched. That beautiful smile invoked the feeling of fear within him. It was clearly a pure smile, but he could sense danger... much danger.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s our fault.¡± In the end, the purple cloaked elder decided to concede to not blow up this misunderstanding. Plus, Lord Zhen had already told him to not mess with them. In reality, a big part of the reason why he was being so much like a doormat was because being around Handsome Heavenly King made him feel uneasy.


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then all is good.¡± As he said that, Luo Lang¡¯s right hand shook slightly, and the sharp sword in his hand disappeared like smoke.


    A glint of fury shed past the purple cloaked elder¡¯s eyes. In the end, he chose to suppress his anger that was caused by Luo Lang¡¯s flippant behaviour and turned around to leave.


    ¡®It¡¯s fine. It is fine. There is still a lot of time for my revenge in the future. There is no need to be in a hurry.¡¯


    Luo Lang watched as the purple cloaked elder left in a calm manner. Then, he calmly turned his head to the left. Just as he did that, a figure appeared beside him. Zhao Jun.


    ¡°You offended him,¡± Zhao Jun spoke of the obvious fact.


    ¡°Why would that matter?¡± Luo Lang nced at him indifferently.


    ¡°Being totally not cute. In the past, you were never this temperamental.¡± Zhao Jun shrugged.


    ¡°In the past? Did I even have the chance to show this side of me?¡± Luo Lang snorted coldly. ¡°It was all handled by Xie Yi...¡±


    After saying that name, Luo Lang felt his heart ache. That was the truth. In the past, he would just focus on training while those annoying matters around him would be given to Xie Yi to handle. After being saved by Boss in the military academy, it seemed that he wasn¡¯t put in any troublesome situation because of his looks? Even if there were, Xie Yi would have resolved it for him before he could say a thing.


    Back then, he felt Xie Yi was just being a good brother. He knew what he hated and helped him resolve it beforehand. Now that he thought about it... Were those only just things a brother would do?


    Luo Lang felt his thoughts were in chaos. Ever since Xie Yi said he liked him in hisst moments, it turned Luo Lang¡¯s world upside down. Now whenever he thought back to how they spent time together in the past, the things he took for granted now felt as if there was something more to them.


    ¡°Forget it, if I can¡¯t make heads or tails of it, then I just won¡¯t think about it.¡± Luo Lang shook his head and tossed aside those messy thoughts. ¡°I¡¯ll wait until Xie Yi returns and clears up everything.¡±


    Ever since he returned to the Lawless Lands, Boss had been hinting that there was a possibility that Xie Yi might not have died. This possibility definitely brightened up Luo Lang¡¯s dark and gloomy mind. Although Ling Lan also said after that it hadn¡¯t been confirmed yet, Luo Lang stillpletely trusted Ling Lan¡¯s words. He was sure that Xie Yi was alive and would definitelye back to them.


    ¡°You¡¯re right...¡± Zhao Jun thought of the Xie Yi, who was always around Luo Lang, and nodded in agreement.


    It was just that he never expected them to ever be so helpless in a situation, so much so that Xie Yi had to sacrifice himself to turn the situation around. Luckily, Boss told them that Xie Yi should be fine, otherwise, he would have wanted to return to the Federation, barge into the military headquarters and force them to give him an exnation.


    Zhao Jun wanted to say some more, but a sudden energy burst alerted him.


    He and Luo Lang looked at each other and vanished almost simultaneously. Simrly, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran followed suit.


    In the next second, the four of them stepped onto the frontlines of the battlefield simultaneously. They stood in a fan-shaped formation behind Ji Ming and the other guardians.


    In front of them, 12 other people stood on the opposite side of them while staring at them with emotionless gazes. The 12 people were seemingly split into two groups of people, as two distinctly different coloured uniforms were within the group. One group donned themselves in all ck, while the other group wore some mildly blinding rainbow colored uniforms.


    Knowing that the four of them weren¡¯t familiar with the Lawless Lands, Ji Ming quietly exined it to them. The group in all ck were six out of the twelve magistrates working under Lord Li, while the blindingly colorful ones were six out of the twelve subi working under Lord Demon.


    Six subi? After hearing those words, the four of them couldn¡¯t contain their wry expressions. Just think about it. Six men, wearing such bright colored clothing and calling themselves subi... It indeed could make people shudder at the thought.


    ¡°Are they only sending these twelve?¡± Tang Ningyu was still the best at controlling his wandering thoughts and was the first to ask Ji Ming about the battle.


    ¡°Who knows.¡± Ji Ming shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s possible that it¡¯s just a smokescreen for their real ns. Or it could be just the twelve of them.¡±


    ¡°Actually, the problem isn¡¯t that. Look behind the twelve of them.¡± Ji Ming pointed behind the colourful group of people.


    They saw many human-like figures standing motionless there. Despite it being far away from them, they were still able to see them clear.


    ¡°Those are mechas,¡± Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes froze for a moment. With his calction, he guessed that there were probably no less than 5000 mechas.


    ¡°Yeah, you actually thought this battle royale would involve us?¡± said Ji Ming. ¡°It¡¯s still mostly based on the mecha battle. We are just here to supervise those mechas. At the same time, it will be convenient for us to resolve any issues with others.


    ¡°Only 5000 mechas?¡± Thebined force of two lords only amounted to this much? For Zhao Jun, who had experienced many battles with each of them involving hundreds of thousands or millions of mechas, this wasn¡¯t anything worth his while.


    ¡°This is just to probe the power of each side,¡± Ji Ming looked at Zhao Jun annoyedly. ¡°The rules only allow for 5000 mechas to fight. If a real battle royale actually starts, how could there be only this little mechas? Plus, these 5000 mechas are all chosen by the two lords and all elite operators. Their proficiency with mechas topped all of their peers.¡±


    ¡°There actually rules for how many mechas are allowed...¡± Zhao Jun felt that this type of battle was just like ying a game. It didn¡¯t feel real at all. The rush of bloodshed and ughter wasn¡¯t there for him.


    ¡°It is the promise made between the 13 Lords, and it must be followed. Other than that, everything else is real,¡± Ji Ming said calmly. When he first entered the Lawless Lands in the past, he also believed this was just a game or show. However, after experiencing countless battles and seeing countless people bleed and die, he realized that it was only considered a game for the 13 Lords. However, for those working for them, each battle was fought with their lives on the line. No one knew who was going to return alive.


    After seemingly understanding the meaning behind Ji Ming¡¯s words, Zhao Jun, who was originally nonchnt, had a more serious look on his face.


    ¡°I just don¡¯t understand. If the 13 Lords are in a harmonious rtionship with each other, why do they need to start a battle royale every year and needlessly waste their subordinates¡¯ lives?¡± Tang Ningyu, who was listening from the side, asked as he frowned. He couldn¡¯t ept this way of governing. It was as though other than the 13 Lords, everyone else were no different than ants.


    Ji Ming didn¡¯t answer. As a spy, he knew very well why that was the case. They were doing it to make a show for the other nations. However, whether these shows were for the benefit of the Lawless Lands or for something else, he didn¡¯t know.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably to sow seeds,¡± Mu Chaoran thought for a moment and replied.


    ¡°Sowing seeds?¡± Luo Lang looked towards Mu Chaoran with a perplexed look on his face.


    ¡°Although being cut off from the rest of the universe, basically stunting its growth, it still managed to ensure outsiders from taking over,¡± Mu Chaoran spoke out what he was thinking. ¡°We¡¯re born into uncertainty and die in peace. These words although don¡¯t fit the situation on the Lawless Lands, it still has merit to it. Without outside danger, people would devolve into something like cattle, causing people in the Lawless Lands to lose their savagery and terrifying battle potential. Aren¡¯t the nations in the center of the gxy most afraid of the Lawless Lands¡¯ battle potential? Once they lose that... the Lawless Lands will lose everything.¡±


    ¡°Without pressure from the outside, in order to maintain the battle strength, they could only start these needless battles between themselves.¡± Mu Chaoran¡¯s words also enlightened Tang Ningyu. Tang Ningyu then followed up, ¡°Through periodic battles, the battle strength of the people of the Lawless Lands could be preserved. It could also let them evolve and advance in the battlefield, eliminating the weak and preserving the stronger.¡±


    Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu¡¯s words shocked Luo Lang. Was that the truth behind it all?


    The 13 Lords started many wars not only to put on a show for the nations in the center of the gxy. They were also doing this to sharpen the fangs of the Lawless Lands?


    ¡°That exnation makes sense,¡± Zhao Jun said inly. ¡°Otherwise, there would be no way to exin it.¡±


    ¡°But, in the end, aren¡¯t they just killing each other?¡± asked Luo Lang. Was that actually a good reason for these battles? Luo Lang, who always followed his own instincts, wasn¡¯tfortable with the decision the 13 Lords had made.


    ¡°Yeah, no matter how good the reason, it¡¯s still fighting and killing amongst themselves.¡± Mu Chaoran¡¯s expression was somewhat ice cold. When those in power make such decisions, they would usually do it without any remorse.

 Chapter 1393 - Uninvited Gues

    <h4>1393 Uninvited Gues</h4>


    While they were speaking, the mecha group on the opponent¡¯s side suddenly had someone roar at the top of their lungs. At the same time, the mecha group on their side also did the same in response.


    Ji Ming¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°The mecha battle has begun.¡±


    As Ji Ming¡¯s word left his mouth, the mecha group behind them suddenly moved out. The opposing side also did the same.


    ¡°It began just like that?¡± Luo Lang was stunned. He thought that the guardians, enforcers, magistrates and devils would fight first and then the mecha battle would start.


    ¡°Then how do you want it go?¡± Ji Ming said helplessly. ¡°A mecha battle with 10 thousands mechas. We can¡¯t do anything in such arge scale fight. They have their own way of battling, after all.¡±


    ¡°I know, but don¡¯t wars require strategy? Staring just like this...¡± Even Luo Lang, who didn¡¯t like to use his brain, felt this way of fighting was too crude.


    ¡°These are our best mecha operators. They don¡¯t need to show any strategy, they just need to show their power,¡± exined Ji Ming. ¡°As for strategy, we leave that to the other mecha armies.¡±


    ¡°Where are they?¡± Tang Ningyu looked around them. Other than their group, along with the mecha army that had already met up with their opponents, he didn¡¯t see anyone else.


    ¡°The battlefield for strategy isn¡¯t here.¡± Ji Ming pointed towards a tall mountain towards their left. ¡°Behind that mountain, there is an extremelyrge field. Mecha armies from our side are all within that battlefield. What they need to do there is to survive for three days, which is quite a difficult goal.¡±


    ¡°Luckily, it¡¯s Nameless who is leading the army. He¡¯s one of the 12 guardians. He reached this position not because of his physical skills, but because of his mecha piloting. He¡¯s the best at piloting among the 12 of us and has reached imperial level.¡±


    ¡°Imperial level? Can¡¯t he already fight on par with imperial realm formidable warriors with some of the 13 Lords? If he is that strong, why doesn¡¯t he just create his own organization,¡± Mu Chaoran said in surprise. Why would such a strong person willingly stay under Lord Gen¡¯s faction? It didn¡¯t make sense.


    ¡°You really think an imperial operator could fight against an imperial realm formidable warrior?¡± Ji Mingughed coldly. ¡°I watched with my own eyes an imperial operator getting insta-killed against an imperial realm formidable warrior.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s because of the mechas!¡± Zhao Jun could guess the reason why.


    ¡°Correct. The mechas in the Lawless Lands are essentially crap. The true source of an imperial operator¡¯s strength is their mecha, without their mecha, they are just an empty husk. Plus, for an imperial mecha to fight on par with an imperial realm formidable warrior, they would need a top-ss imperial mecha. Fighting without one, would just be a matter of how long can they hold for.¡± Ji Ming sighed.


    The other three finally understood the meaning behind Ji Ming¡¯s earlier words. On an equal ying field, the two could indeed fight on par. However, in the Lawless Lands, it was impossible. This was why the 13 Lords could sit calmly on their thrones. Even if a mecha operator was strong, without mechas to facilitate them, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to stand on the same level as the 13 Lords.


    This exined why this Nameless imperial operator was among the 12 guardians of the rainbow pce. It wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t want to leave, but rather he didn¡¯t dare to leave. Especially after having a new Lord Gen. They still didn¡¯t know Ling Lan¡¯s real personality. None of them knew whether she was a merciless individual who would rather destroy them than to give them their freedom.


    While they were speaking, the mixture of magistrates and subi finally couldn¡¯t wait anymore.


    ¡°Blind Bitch Ji,e out.¡± A forty-year-old or so ck cloaked man with a cold expression on his face suddenly called out Ji Ming.


    Ji Ming immediately raised his head and instantlyughed. ¡°Oh hey, it¡¯s ck Sh*t.¡±


    ¡°I previously said one of these days I will take your life, and I¡¯m telling you now that that day hase. Come out and die.¡± The ck-cloaked man named ck Dirt, had a huge grudge against Ji Ming. From the way they called each other nicknames, it showed that they were already unable to handle each other¡¯s presence. It was just that in the past, when the 13 Lords were in good rtions, they didn¡¯t have the chance to resolve this grudge. However, today, as enemies, they finally could start this life-or-death battle.


    ¡°Heh, I can say the same to you,¡± Ji Ming¡¯s eyes narrowed. He stepped forward and reached the center area.


    ck Dirt shed forward and appeared in front of Ji Ming.


    ¡°Their killing intent is very strong.¡± Zhao Jun frowned. ¡°Are they really fighting to the death?¡±


    ¡°Of course. They wouldn¡¯t stop until one side dies.¡± Yu Shangfei, who had been silent for the entire time, began exining it for them.


    ¡°I always thought the numbers of guardians, enforcers, magistrates, subi and others are always set in stone. They would fight and at one point, they would stop. After all, you all are considered the most trusted subordinates of the lords. They wouldn¡¯t let you die easily,¡± Luo Lang was surprised.


    ¡°Indeed, the amount of guardians doesn¡¯t change. If someone dies, there would just be someone new to rece them. There are so many capable and strong people below us who are all wishing that we would die sooner,¡± said Yu Shangfei.


    This was the real situation with working under the 13 Lords. No one knew when they would die in the battlefield. Even the 12 guardians couldn¡¯t escape an oue like that.


    Luo Lang and the others could feel the mercilessness of the Lawless Lands from Yu Shangfei¡¯s words. If these people were in the central gxy, with their capabilities, even if they couldn¡¯t be leaders of an organization, they would still be esteemed guests of such organizations. They would enjoy the privileges of the elites. Even if they were unlucky, they would still be able to live peacefully somewhere until they grow old. However, in the Lawless Lands, these people didn¡¯t know how many tomorrows they had. Perhaps, today was theirst day in this world.


    Although Luo Lang and the others wanted to get more information about the Lawless Lands, their opponents didn¡¯t allow them to as they invited them to fight to the death. They would fight until they could no longer fight. Of course, if someone was so weak, then they deserved to die.


    At that moment, in the Li Fire Pce thousands of miles away, an uninvited guest appeared.


    This uninvited guest entered without being asked to go in.


    Lord Li, who was lying on his bed with his eyes closed while enjoying the service of his female servants, suddenly opened his eyes. He looked towards the empty hall and said coldly, ¡°Since you are here, then why don¡¯t you show yourself.¡±


    After those words were said, a silhouette slowly condensed out of the air. He wore a bright red cloak around him, but had a cold aura around him. The two extremes were actually oddly a good blend. When paired with that face, which was the epitome of human beauty, even rarely seen in books, it made Lord Li feel that the colours of the world solely existed for that one person.

 Chapter 1394 - Naive!

    <h4>1394 Naive!</h4>


    Lord Li stood up from his seat with wary eyes. ¡°Lord Gen!¡±


    He had never seen the new Lord Gen before, but Lord Li was certain that this unfamiliar guest was Lord Gen.


    ¡°Lord Li, I¡¯ve heard much about you,¡± Ling Lan said indifferently.


    ¡°Why did Lord Gene to visit me?¡± Lord Li signalled for the maids beside him to leave. Then, he continued, ¡°We are enemies now. Isn¡¯t it a little rash of you toe without any warning?¡±


    ¡°That is precisely the reason why I am here.¡± A majestic ice throne slowly condensed behind Ling Lan. She flicked back her gown and sat down cross-legged on the throne, giving off the impression that she was the owner of this pce.


    Her sudden movement did shock Lord Li a little, but after he realized what she was implying by her actions, he felt a little infuriated and humiliated. He really abhorred those who didn¡¯t have manners.


    ¡°Once the battle royale starts, the result will be decided on the battlefield. Even if youe and find me now, I can¡¯t do anything.¡± Lord Li suppressed the anger in his heart and spoke with an unfriendly tone. If he had a choice, he wanted to kick this impolite brat out of his pce.


    ¡°I have no interest in this matter,¡± Ling Lan replied coldly. ¡°I came because I want to ask you when you¡¯re nning to return my goods to me.¡±


    Lord Li was stunned. In a blink of an eye, heughed loudly. ¡°Hahaha, Lan Xiao, Lan Xiao, don¡¯t you know that once the battle royale starts, everything you take bes your spoils of war?¡±


    ¡°I honestly didn¡¯t know that,¡± Ling Lan answered calmly.


    ¡°Now that you know, you can leave. Pardon me for not sending you out.¡± Lord Li stood up and waved his sleeve nonchntly.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to hurry.¡± Ling Lanpletely ignored Lord Li.


    ¡°What else do you want?¡± Lord Li replied furiously, ¡°I¡¯ve already made myself clear. Plus, I don¡¯t wee you here.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that once the battle starts, everything you take is your spoils of war?¡± Ling Lan smiled. Her smile caused the entire pce to lit up. ¡°I¡¯m sure you have pretty good stuff locked up here.¡±


    Lord Li was in a daze. He didn¡¯t expect such a cold and unfriendly person to be so mesmerizing when he smiled. Fortunately, he liked women. If not, he might not be able to control himself.


    Even so, Lord Li was still affected by the smile, slowing him down by a beat. After calming down, he finally realised that Lord Gen wanted to rob him.


    At this realization, Lord Li exploded in anger. He curbed himself to the best of his ability because he didn¡¯t want to fight with the other party. Every single move made by an imperial realm formidable warrior was lethal and terrifying. If two such individuals fought, carnage and destruction would follow.


    While he was furious out of his mind, he was still confused. He and Lan Xiao weren¡¯t life-or-death enemies. Nothing could be gained if they beat each other up. Plus, as someone who had been one of the 13 Lords for a long time, Lord Li treasured his life. How could he take the risk of dying?


    However, even though he feared the possibility of death, he couldn¡¯t possibly let Lan Xiao step all over him like that. When need be, he would fight to the tooth and nail


    ¡°Hahaha! You are pretty confident, huh?¡± Lord Li looked up at the sky andughed heartily. Suddenly, he lowered his head to equal that of Ling Lan as he red at Ling Lan sinisterly with a vicious gaze.¡±Don¡¯t think that just because you killed the previous Lord Gen, you are able to do whatever you want in the Lawless Lands.¡±


    Ling Lan softly yawned as her eyes stared into Lord Li nonchntly. There weren¡¯t any fluctuations in her emotions when she heard what Lord Li said. It felt as though everything Lord Li said was bullshit.

 Chapter 1395 - You’re Dreaming!

    <h4>1395 You¡°re Dreaming!</h4>


    The atmosphere between Lord Li and Ling Lan turned viscous. It seemed a huge fight was imminent.


    Suddenly, both of them jumped up from their thrones simultaneously. A long whip appeared in both of their right hands and they shed the whip at each other viciously.


    One red and one blue. Two long whips with two different colours cracked at each other forcefully in mid-air.


    ¡°Smack!¡±


    A loud ear-piercing sound was let out. Sparks of two different colours could be seen as the whips shed along each other. Seeing that their initial attack was a failure, the owners of the two whips flew back andnded on the ground.


    Ling Lan twisted her waist and her neck to let out some tension in her body. She flicked her right wrist and the blue whip cracked in the air once again, rushing towards Lord Li ferociously.


    Seeing the vicious whip, Lord Li just snorted in derision. He shook his wrist and his red long whip weed the blue whip.


    ¡°Smack!¡±


    This time, an even higher pitch sound pierced their ear drums, and more sparks filled up their vision.


    Ling Lan stretched her right hand out and caught the long whip that bounced back right in her hand. Then, she did a spin, spinning her red robe as well. She did this spin to counteract the forceing back from the whip.


    Lord Li grabbed a hold of his whip too, but he chose to take two steps back to eliminate the force.


    Ling Lan stabilised her body and looked at Lord Li in aposed manner. She said, ¡°Maybe that can make you change your mind.¡±


    A red light shed past Lord Li¡¯s face. His gaze turned sharp and killing intent exploded from his body.


    In the face of the overwhelming killing intent, Ling Lan¡¯s expression still remained indifferent. She already had facial paralysis for more than 20 years of her life. If Lord Li was nning to affect her with that little amount of killing intent... well, it would be quite difficult.


    Lord Li frowned when he saw Ling Lan¡¯s ever-unchanged expression and gaze. The next second, the killing intent disappeared.


    ¡°You want to continue this farce?¡± Lord Li asked coldly.


    ¡°That¡¯ll depend on your decision. If you want to fight...¡± Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned sharp and icy. ¡°I¡¯ll fight.¡±


    She spoke firmly without any hesitation. Fighting spirit exuded from her body in an instant. This showed her resolution.


    A disheveled look appeared on Lord Li¡¯s face for a split second. He didn¡¯t expect that Lan Xiao would disregard his own life and take such a huge risk just to get his goods back.


    How unlucky! Lord Li cursed. He had no choice but to soften his attitude. ¡°What do you want?¡±


    ¡°What you stole from me...¡± Ling Lan said slowly.


    When he heard this, Lord Li felt that he could still ept it. Just as he was about to agree, he heard the rest of Ling Lan¡¯s sentence. ¡°But five times more.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re dreaming!¡± Lord Li shouted angrily.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t agree, I don¡¯t mind. I really do want to know how strong Lord Li of the 13 Lords is.¡± Ling Lan lifted her left hand and an ice tri-edge trench knife slowly formed in the air. Ling Lan wrapped her fingers around the icy handle.


    As for the blue long whip in her right hand, the flowing water started condensing before turning into a transparent Tangdao with a cold aura.


    The chilling sword caused Lord Li¡¯s face to twitch. He clenched the fire elemental whip in his hand.


    Should he fight or not?


    There were only two paths in front of Lord Li.


    If he didn¡¯t fight, he needed to give the other party five times the goods he snatched. This young and hot-blooded brat would definitely not give in if he didn¡¯t satisfy his criteria. If he chose to fight, there was a possibility of death. No one could know what the end result of an imperial realm battle could be.


    ¡°Two times.¡± Lord Li gritted his teeth. He decided to take a step back but he would never agree to repay five times the amount.


    Ling Lan looked at him indifferently. Obviously, she wasn¡¯t satisfied with the number Lord Li gave.

 Chapter 1396 - I’m Not A B*tch.

    <h4>1396 I¡°m Not A B*tch.</h4>


    ¡°Three times. Don¡¯t get too carried away with yourself,¡± Lord Li said with a furious expression. If Lord Gen still wasn¡¯t satisfied with this, he would fight even if he didn¡¯t want to.


    In reality, the amount of goods Ling Lan brought back was really huge. If he was really going to pay five times more, he would probably die of heartache. As such, he would never agree to her radical request.


    ¡°Fine. Since we¡¯re both members of the 13 Lords, I¡¯ll give you some leeway.¡± Looking at Lord Li¡¯s heartbroken expression, Ling Lan knew that she was close to his bottom line. This was the only reason why she agreed to settle for three times the amount.


    Actually, Ling Lan didn¡¯t care how muchpensation he gave. After all, there were two huge powers behind her helping her to gather her supplies. The only issue on her hand was time. The reason why she wanted five times the amount ofpensation was to make an example out of Lord Li. If she didn¡¯t punish Lord Li for what he did, the other lords might think of her like a doormat who they could steal off of with no repercussions.


    Even if she really did tolerate Lord Li¡¯s actions, the same thing would happen a second time, a third time, and multiple times in the future if she didn¡¯t nip the problem off the bud immediately. Plus, as a person of her caliber, she could never allow this to happen, as this would undermine her legitimacy as a representative of the Soul Society.


    Another reason was that ever since she was young, Ling Lan had always been the bully, and in the Lawless Lands, this wouldn¡¯t change. Her image mustn¡¯t fall.


    ¡°When the battle royale ends, please pay me what you owe.¡± After resolving the issue, Ling Lan gently opened her hands, letting the Tangdao and the tri-edge trench knife fall to the floor before dissipating them into a ball of cold mist.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will not forget my promise.¡± Lord Li squinted. The fire whip in his hand also disappeared.


    ¡°However, my promise won¡¯t stand if you lose the battle royale. The battlefield will decide everything. If you lose, you will concede your invaded territories and have to cough up everything you snatched.¡± Lord Li said coldly, ¡°Lord Gen, don¡¯t go against this rule.¡±


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. ¡°The battlefield will resolve itself. It has nothing to do with me.¡±


    ¡°Then, why did you still ask me forpensation?¡± Lord Li asked angrily. This was his rightful gains from the battle royale. Why was this fellow shameless enough to ask for it back?


    Ling Lan tidied her gown and looked up. She sneered. ¡°Because I¡¯m not a b*tch.¡±


    After she finished speaking, her body slowly merged with the background and disappeared. Only Lord Li was left in the pce.


    Lord Li stood still for a moment. Then, he went back to his bedroom toy on his bed. He crawled onto his bed, ced her hands above his stomach and shut his eyes.


    More than ten secondster, Lord Li suddenly snorted andughed. ¡°That fellow is really not afraid of anything...¡±


    He actually became an example to warn the other lords. This fact infuriated Lord Li. However, there was nothing he could do, unless he was willing to risk his life just like the other party and ept the battle.


    But... he was too old to take such risk anymore. Plus, life just became more valuable the more you lived it. He really didn¡¯t want to risk his life just over some stolen goods unless there was no other choice.


    ¡®Let¡¯s wait and see. Let me see if you can still be so arrogant after the battle royale ends,¡¯ Lord Li thought to himself furiously.


    On the other side, Zhao Jun brought his mecha n and entered the Kamoda District.


    This was the section the 13 Lords segregated for mecha battles. This area amounted to 50 acres, making the surface area as wide as the main territory of a lord.


    This piece ofnd would be given to the lord that won the battle royalest year. Lord Gen lost terriblyst year so he didn¡¯t have the home ground advantage. He could only attack from the outside.


    Fortunately, the Kamoda district was very big. They could attack the district from all directions. Even if the owner of thisnd wanted to ambush them, he couldn¡¯t do it unless he had reliable information regarding their offensive ns.


    However, the lord who lost would be guarding against this leak of information too. To counteract this problem, he would give the leader of the mecha n the luxury of choosing where to attack from several preset options.


    This act stopped any chances of them getting exposed and being ambushed.


    And as battle royales got more figured out, no one had the interest to do such an arduous and fruitless job anymore.

 Chapter 1397 - Blood Path!

    <h4>1397 Blood Path!</h4>


    This time, honestly speaking, Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha n only had about 2000 people. Among the tens of thousands of mecha operators on the battlefield, his mecha n didn¡¯t seem significant at all.


    Hence, when the mecha n Zhao Jun led disappeared secretly from the waiting zone of the battle royale, no one noticed their disappearance, including Lord Zhen¡¯s subordinates who were supposed to be in the same group as them.


    Maybe Lord Zhen¡¯s subordinates just ignored them because they didn¡¯t think Zhao Jun¡¯s 2000 mechas could affect the results of the battle royale.


    The Kamoda district consists of a bunch of various environments, simting various environments an army might encounter which they should get used to, making it a perfect battlefield to train the people of the Lawless Lands. The area consisted of nd, hignds, deserts, grasnds, a jungle, an endless swamp, ake thousands of square kilometers wide, and, of course, a continuous stretch of mountains.


    With the known fact that fights frequent the area, the citizens of the Lawless Lands never really settle in the area. Only people who were driven into a corner and with no ce to go back to would take the risk and live here, hoping for a slim chance of survival.


    ¡°Regimentmander, there¡¯s a mecha n in front of us with more than ten thousand mechas.¡± The leader of the scout team reported his newest findings.


    Zhao Jun asked, ¡°Do you know who they belong to?¡±


    ¡°We saw the symbol on their chest. It¡¯s a lightning bolt. They should be under Lord Zhen.¡± Soon, the team leader sent the video clip they recorded to Zhao Jun.


    ¡°Ignore them. We¡¯ll go around them,¡± Zhao Jun ordered calmly.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander.¡± The leader of the scout team ordered his men to change their scouting areas.


    After some time, they met another group of people but this time, they met their own people. The mechas they met had a symbol of a seven-colored scorpion on their chest. It was a ten thousand mecha squad under Lord Gen.


    Zhao Jun still chose to evade them. He didn¡¯t choose to gather with the main army.


    Zhao Jun knew that although the addition of their 2000 mechas would increase thebat potential of that mecha squad, who would be the one inmand? If the other person¡¯smanding ability was on par with Boss, fine, let¡¯s not make things difficult for the other party. If the person¡¯smanding ability was on par with him, he didn¡¯t mind listening to them. However, from the video clips taken by the scout team, it was obvious that themander didn¡¯t know what tactics were. His mecha squad was flying above a piece of nd extremely obviously.


    To Zhao Jun, they were basically calling to be targets. Even if they wanted tomit suicide, they shouldn¡¯t do it so obviously.


    Of course, Zhao Jun wouldn¡¯t be a busybody and remind the othermander kindly. Maybe his kind reminder might be viewed as a provocation instead. If the situation wasn¡¯t handled carefully, disputes could happen easily. After all, he was the new Lord Gen¡¯s men. The new and old guards already had a grudge, and he didn¡¯t want to magnify it.


    Actually, Zhao Jun didn¡¯t understand why Boss didn¡¯t take bold and drastic measures to reorganise the confidants left behind by the previous Lord Gen but instead, left them alone. To prevent them from being discontented, he didn¡¯t interfere with them at all. The new guards only formed a new click by themselves, separating themselves entirely from the old Lord Gen¡¯s click. They were like two parallel lines, no one would meddle with each other.


    Based on Boss¡¯s usual brutal and cold-hearted methods, he would definitely create a huge bloodbath in order to be able to control the entire Lord Gen¡¯s territory. Zhao Jun was already eagerly waiting to fight with Boss. But, unexpectedly, Boss¡¯s attitude towards them changed 180 degrees, turning into a gentle lord before them. If he didn¡¯t understand Boss well, he would have suspected if the ruthless version of Boss was an illusion from his nightmare.


    But, his puzzled mind was soon resolved when Li Lanfeng came to pass him Boss¡¯s order before they left. Based on this order, Zhao Jun knew that the cold and vicious Boss was still there. He just hid his intentions well, only revealing his fangs when it was the right time.


    Zhao Jun appeared rash and impatient, but he was actually an extremely calm and calcting person. Just like what Li Lanfeng said, Zhao Jun was the best at protecting himself. If his interest wasn¡¯t affected, he would choose to be a bystander. You could say that he was cold-blooded. It was this trait that allowed him to have a good rtionship with all the brigade leaders (now, they were all regimentmanders) of Lingtian. Even Li Yingjie, who didn¡¯t have a good reputation, had a good rtionship with him.


    Thus, even though he knew that this mecha n might suffer heavy losses when they would eventually get ambushed, he still ordered his mecha n to move away from them as far as possible.


    He wasn¡¯t interested in bing a life saviour, especially when he still had to carry out the important mission Boss gave him. He mustn¡¯t make such a dumb mistake at this critical juncture.


    The 2000 mecha operators slowly moved away from the nds and entered the jungle zone.


    Most wouldn¡¯t choose to enter this zone, as everyone was well aware that a jungle with a lot of trees was the easiest ce toy an ambush. If you entered recklessly, you were looking for death.


    However, to Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha n, the jungle wasn¡¯t really dangerous to them. They only needed to have good mecha piloting skills to maintain their speed as they passed through the forest.


    That was because to increase their chances of sess, Qi Long sent over the most powerful batch of modified mechas. All the specs of these mechas had reached the fundamental requirements for imperial mechas. Moreover, they were all equipped with the chameleon system.


    They were able to get the chameleon system all thanks to Boss. When he was still themander of Lingtian, he forced the chief of staff, He Xuyang, to give him these systems. It was said after that, He Xuyang ran to find General Ling Xiao because he wanted to retire from his position. But, in the end, he got persuaded to stay by General Ling Xiao. As for how General Ling Xiao persuaded him... this had always been one of the secrets of the 23rd division. Interested parties could search for the answer themselves.


    The moment the mecha team entered Kamoda, they activated their chameleon system and maintained a steady speed which suppressed the noises of their mechas.


    ¡°Regimentmander, the two mecha ns we met all had around ten thousand people. I feel that in this ce, the default for a mecha n is ten thousand people.¡± The secondarymander, Pan Dongyu¡¯s voice sounded on Zhao Jun¡¯s team channel.


    ¡°Yes. That should be right.¡± Zhao Jun had the same thought too.


    ¡°Once we meet our opponent, it will be a little tough for 2000 of us to fight with 10000 of them.¡± Pan Dongyu frowned slightly. Although he believed in the abilities of his n members and felt that they could fight with three opponents at once, fighting with five opponents was still too frightening. Once there was too much pressure on his n members, they might not be able to perform to their best, and this could cause a huge number of casualties. It was a consequence both he and Zhao Jun couldn¡¯t handle.


    ¡°If we don¡¯t even have the courage to do this, why are we here?¡± Zhao Jun replied calmly.


    A part of his mecha n consisted of his original team members but most of them were experienced mecha operators moved over from the other mecha brigades. Moreover, they were the most powerful batch of mecha operators that moved over. Many of them were veteran mecha operators from the original 250 Mecha n. They knew that Boss was in trouble so they voluntarily agreed to be moved. Some were the mecha operators who used to be stationed at Base 013. They managed to survive due to the protection from Boss. Yan Three was a public figure so he couldn¡¯t move here. If not, he might have fought with Zhao Jun for the position of regimentmander.


    All in all, Zhao Jun went through a whole series of struggles and fights in order to clear a blood path toe to the Lawless Lands.

 Chapter 1398 - Hate Fighting?

    <h4>1398 Hate Fighting?</h4>


    In the conference room of the rainbow pce, Li Lanfeng, Luo Chao and Han Xuya were busy with their work.


    Ling Lan sat in the main seat of the room, holding her head with her hand with her eyes closed.


    Han Xuya, who was using the newly invented optical supeputer to receive signals, had a look of joy on her face as she received a signal. She immediately deciphered the signal and walked beside Ling Lan after organizing the information.


    ¡°Boss, this is the first battle report from the battlefield on the frontlines.¡± Han Xuya handed over the document in her hands.


    Ling Lan opened her eyes and took the document. She looked at it and her mouth instantly pouted.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Is there a problem?¡± Li Lanfeng, who was sitting beside her, was studying the map of the area of Kamoda. Even though he was not looking at Ling Lan, he could sense the change in pressureing out from Ling Lan¡¯s body, so he immediately raised his head to ask her what was wrong.


    ¡°Yeah, Zhao Jun and one of Lord Li¡¯s mecha teams encountered each other.¡± Ling Lan handed the document in her hand to Li Lanfeng, ¡°He decided to face them head on.¡±


    ¡°Zhao Jun always fights like that. Plus, if they¡¯ve already encountered each other, if they don¡¯t fight head on, it will make us look weak.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled as he gave an exnation for his friend.


    ¡°He¡¯s in the jungle area.¡± Ling Lan sent a side nce at Li Lanfeng. It was as though she wanted to see just how much Li Lanfeng could make the situation sound better.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile instantly froze. Luckily, he was someone who was adept at being shameless. ¡°It¡¯s because of the mindset of everyone in the jungle that gives him an inherent advantage. While everyone is setting up ambushes in the dark, he would crush them through brute force in broad daylight. Perhaps there will be a surprise.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll wait to see that surprise you mentioned.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t expose Li Lanfeng for forcing the fact. Although she was somewhat unsatisfied with Zhao Jun¡¯s decision, she still decided to not do anything about it. The most she would do was to drag him back into the training room after hees back to sharpen him. As for whether he would be hanging near death¡¯s door, it would depend on Ling Lan¡¯s mood at the time.


    Li Lanfeng could only give Ling Lan a faint smile. What could he do? Zhao Jun was his friend. Even if he knew that the decision Zhao Jun made wasn¡¯t optimal, shouldn¡¯t he, as his friend, back him up?


    Ling Lan stopped talking about this topic. After all, Zhao Jun was the only one who knew the real reason why he made such a decision. She couldn¡¯t just sit here and make a judgment for him. If she did, why did she even delegate her powers in the first ce. Ling Lan decided that afterwards, when Zhao Jun would send her theplete report, she would analyze it again.


    Ling Lan went into deep thought. While doing so, her fingers rhythmically tapped the table. This finger tapping thing was a habit she had inherited from her father, and it would show itself when she was deep in thought.


    When the sounds of tapping entered everyone¡¯s ears, everyone subconsciously softened their steps. They were afraid of making any noise that might affect Boss¡¯s train of thought.


    Suddenly, Ling Lan raised her head and looked towards Luo Chao, who held the secretary position, and asked, ¡°Luo Chao, does Zhao Jun have enough medics and medicinal agents with him?¡±


    ¡°Department Head Li equipped Regiment Commander Zhao with S level equipment. As long as they don¡¯t go over the top, it should be enough to hold until the battle royale finishes,¡± replied Luo Chao.


    ¡°S level. That¡¯s two Nuwa agents for every mecha operator.¡± Ling Lan nodded and then turned towards Li Lanfeng, ¡°Lanfeng, you know Zhao Jun best. Do you think Zhao Jun would go too over the top in this battle royale?¡± Ling Lan put more emphasis on ¡®too¡¯. It was clear that Ling Lan knew that Zhao Jun would do something over the top, but she didn¡¯t just to what extent.


    ¡°Zhao Jun... When he¡¯s calm, he¡¯s very calm. When he needs to go crazy, he goes really crazy. So, I can¡¯t really give you a definite answer. ¡± Li Lanfeng frowned. ¡°He and Qi Long, once they go into battle mode, they¡¯re both hot-blooded and even insane. However, the source of their hot-bloodedness and insanity arepletely different from each other.¡±


    ¡°Qi Long honestly enjoys the thrill that a fight brings him. Watching Qi Long fight, no matter how crazy or difficult it is, we are able to sense the excitement and exhration from Qi Long. Additionally, his special physical constitution and innate talent makes him very suitable for prolonged fights, and the longer he fights the higher the chance of him getting an epiphany to be stronger.¡± After saying all that, a look of envy fell upon Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes. That special physical constitution was something everyone looked towards with jealousy.


    ¡°But Zhao Jun isn¡¯t like that... His hot-bloodedness and insanity are forced onto himself. It could even be said that he hates fighting, despite giving people the impression that he loves to fight.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze was stern. After knowing Zhao Jun for so many years and being his friend for more than ten years, Li Lanfeng, who was naturally good at digging deeper into things, of course saw through what was hidden within Zhao Jun¡¯s heart.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s shocking words stunned Luo Lang and Han Xuya, and their stunned state was not without reason. In Lingtian, if anyone was asked which regimentmander liked to fight the most, they would rank Qi Long, Zhao Jun and Luo Lang as the top three candidates. However, Li Lanfeng¡¯s wordspletely shattered their perception of Zhao Jun.


    However, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t surprised by this. ¡°I¡¯ve sensed this in the past. It¡¯s just that it¡¯s Zhao Jun¡¯s personal matter and I shouldn¡¯t talk about it.¡±


    ¡°All in all, it¡¯s still because of his family background. The identity of amoner caused his starting point to be extremely low, but luckily, his outstanding talents shined through, causing his family to put all their hope onto him. Additionally, being in a poor third-rate forced Zhao Jun to depend on himself and climb up the ranks one by one. While under immense pressure, in order to be stronger, sometimes he could only go towards danger,¡± exined Li Lanfeng.


    After hearing the exnation, Luo Chao¡¯s eyes brightened. ¡°That¡¯s why he does the same thing as Elder Brother Qi Long. He forces himself to fight in order to get stronger.¡±


    Li Lanfeng nodded. ¡°Yes. Many times Zhao Jun would force himself towards his limit in the hopes of finding a way to be stronger, whether it is improving his sense ofbat or his proficiency in mecha piloting.¡±


    ¡°He isn¡¯t like Qi Long who enjoys fighting because of the thrill. It was instead reality forcing him to fight.¡± Luo Chao had a sad look on her face. The image of a lonely child appeared in her mind, a child had nothing and could only fight and fight, bleed and bleed, in order to strengthen himself until he finally got epted into the First Men¡¯s Military Academy.


    ¡°This is the reason why he couldn¡¯t control his titled domain level technique yet. Forcing himself to fight would in the end be the devil in his heart,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. ¡°Perhaps this battle royale will give Zhao Jun a chance to rid himself of that problem.¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes instantly brightened, ¡°Really?¡±


    Ling Lan nodded, ¡°There are opportunities. I protected you guys too much in the past. Although you guys were safe, it also decreased your chances of growing on your own. When Zhao Jun understands the burden of bearing the responsibility of the lives of thousands of people on his own shoulders, the problem with the way he does things will be resolved.¡±

 Chapter 1399 - Judging.

    <h4>1399 Judging.</h4>


    Zhao Jun held the control stick tightly in his hand. Sweat wasing out of his hand continuously before evaporating in an instant.


    Zhao Jun was nervous. There seemed to be a huge problem weighing down on his heart.


    At first, he thought that there was nothing he was frightened of. However, when he had to give the order for his team to fight with a mecha n that vastly outnumbered them, Zhao Jun suddenly realized he wasn¡¯t as fearless as he thought.


    Although he had been through countless torturous battles and had fearlessly led his mecha team to fight on the first line of offense, he realized he could do all those war god-like acts because he hadrades he could trust behind him, and at anytime he was no longer able to withhold any longer, his trustyrades would lead reinforcements to save him.


    Because he had this confidence, he didn¡¯t feel any pressure. He just needed to focus on fighting. However, now, in this unfamiliar Kamoda district, where he had no reinforcements, he could feel the chilling wind blowing behind him.


    Moreover, in the past battles, Boss or the strategists would be the ones giving the direction. He was just an executor. Yet, at this moment, he had to measure all the possibilities and make a decision with no one helping him. Whether it was right or wrong, it was his decision to make. If it was right, everything would be still alright. If he made the wrong judgment, the entire mecha team would be annihted.


    Zhao Jun finally understood what responsibilities a regimentmander had to endure.


    Would they really be able to fight against five enemies each? Zhao Jun hesitated.


    ¡°Regimentmander, our enemy is already less than five kilometers away from us.¡± The leader of the scout team hastily reported.


    ¡°Should we fight or not?¡± Cold sweat formed on Zhao Jun¡¯s forehead. Was he able to handle the trust of these 2000 mecha masters? The pressure of failure was rapidly creeping up on him.


    ¡°Regimentmander, they¡¯re already four kilometers away.¡± Mecha moved at a very fast speed. Within a short time, they had shortened the distance by one kilometer.


    ¡°Zhao Jun, don¡¯t be nervous. Think about Boss. What would he do?¡± Zhao Jun violently grabbed his control stick with his left hand, but his right hand was still trembling.


    ¡°I don¡¯t create trouble but that doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯m afraid of trouble. Since some people aren¡¯t afraid of death and havee to offend us... let¡¯s kill them all.¡± In his mind, Ling Lan¡¯s indifferent voice flooded his mind. Boss was never afraid.


    ¡°Since there has to be a fight, let¡¯s not think about how to evade it. What I should think about is how to exterminate the other party and eliminate all future troubles.¡± Yes, Boss never backed down. He liked to solve their problems once and for all. He wouldn¡¯t forgive their enemies.


    ¡°The chance of us winning is more than 50%. Why not take the bet?¡± That¡¯s right, Boss was a decisive person. No matter how bad their situation was, he would be able to lead everyone and cleared a path for themselves.


    ¡°Zhao Jun, I believed you!¡± The voice of Boss when he was passing the leadership of the mecha n to him came up in his mind. This was what he said.


    Yes, Boss always believed in them. Even if they made a huge mistake, even if he punished them heavily, the trust he had in them never diminished.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, since Boss trusts me, Zhao Jun, why don¡¯t you trust yourself?¡± Zhao Jun suddenly smiled brightly. Deep down in his heart, he hated this kind of endless battle. However, as long as hisrades were fighting, as long as everyone needed him, he wouldn¡¯t retreat from the frontlines.


    ¡°Since Boss trusts me, Zhao Jun, why can¡¯t you trust them?¡± The first half of the sentence was the same as before but thest part was different. The former was him judging himself while thetter was him questioning himself.


    ¡°Everyone, split up and cooperate with each other for an ambush.¡± A glimmer of decisiveness showed Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes. He gave the order to fight without hesitation.


    ¡°Yes.¡± The leaders of all the teams received hismand.


    Soon, the mechas started splitting up. Each team went to search for the best ambush location. To facilitate their ambush, the chameleon system would be constantly activated.


    In the far corner, Lord Li¡¯s ten thousand men mecha n was rushing in their direction quickly. On the way here, they didn¡¯t sense anything amiss here.


    ¡°Anything up front?¡± Every mecha n had a team of scouts scouting the situation in front of them. Lord Li¡¯s army ced high importance on their frontline scouting. Every kilometer they moved the strategist of the regimentmander would ask the scouts about any changes up front.


    ¡°No enemy mecha ns have been discovered currently.¡± Although the jungle zone was known to have a lot of ambushes, their radar and other reconnaissance equipment all showed that it was safe.


    ¡°Everyone, be careful. Based on the news given by themand center, we should be meeting an army from Lord Zhen or Lord Gen if we head in this direction.¡± The voice of their regimentmander appeared in their channel to remind them.


    ¡°I sure hope those two teams won¡¯t work together,¡± One of the team leaders was a little worried as he said.


    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be possible. Lord Zhen and Lord Gen¡¯s rtionship isn¡¯t good, so the rtionships of their subordinates are bad too. It¡¯s rare to see them getting along harmoniously,¡± Someone refuted.


    ¡°That¡¯s in the past. I heard that Lord Zhen supported the new Lord Gen in taking over the new position.¡± One of the team leaders seemed to have some ways of getting secret intel.


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible, right? How can our Lord Li watch Lord Zhen expand his influence without doing anything?¡± Another team leader refuted the idea again. Their rtionship with Lord Zhen was quite bad. Although it wasn¡¯t as bad as the rtionship with the old Lord Gen, it wasn¡¯t any better either. As for why Lord Li and Lord Zhen had such a bad rtionship... we have to talk about their domain concept. Thetter had the lightning element while the former had the fire element. Both of them wished for the title of the most powerful offense domain concept. The two lords wouldn¡¯t bow down to each other so after a few altercations, the rtionship turned sour.


    ¡°Stop talking nonsense. Even if their rtionship is good, they might not cooperate. They are for sure guarded against each other.¡± One of the team leaders saw through the lords.


    There might be alliances formed during a battle royale, but everyone knew your ally this year might be your enemy the next year. No one would maintain a working rtionship partner whom they coborated with for only a few days. Everyone just appeared harmonious on the surface. Sometimes, for the sake of benefits, they would y dirty with one another.


    ¡°As long as they don¡¯t cooperate, we are not afraid of anyone,¡± Another team leader said arrogantly. He was boasting. In these few years, Lord Li had always owned the territory of Kamoda because he was always on the winning side of the battle royale. Their mecha n might not be the first among all of Lord Li¡¯s mecha n but they were among the top three. He had never lost for the past few years. It was understandable that they felt proud of themselves.


    ¡°Okay, stop chatting. Even if there¡¯s no situation reported up front, everyone still has to be careful.¡± The regimentmander appeared and ended this conversation.


    At this moment, a portion of the mechas had already entered Zhao Jun¡¯s ambush zone.


    ¡°Leader!¡± After seeing so many mechasing over, the team members that were hiding in front started feeling restless.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to hurry. Let them leave.¡± Their leader was very calm. Only a small portion of the mechas had entered their trap. If they revealed their fangs now, they wouldn¡¯t be able to achieve the greatest result. They needed to bear with it for a while longer.


    In Lingtian, once you got on the battlefield, all the mecha operators would have to listen to their team leaders unconditionally. The ranking system must be abided strictly. Anyone that dared to break the rule would be punished. The punishment was enough to ensure that they lived in hell every day in the future.


    The mecha operators knew this so after their team leader spoke, no one said anything else. They controlled their impatience and waited silently.

 Chapter 1400 - A Heaven-defying Cheat Code!

    <h4>1400 A Heaven-defying Cheat Code!</h4>


    After lying prone there waiting patiently until their bones were about to creak from exhaustion, finally, most of the opposing mecha army had entered their trap. Seeing that none of them had been discovered yet, the team leader let out a minute sigh of relief. The sigh of reliefing out of his body was like a burden on his heart being slowly lifted, it felt as though he had been liberated and was ready to fight to the bitter end. With his whole heart and soul being all geared up to fight, he let out a magnified roar that traveled through the whole jungle.


    As his roar died out, shadows started raining down on the unsuspecting mecha army. While they were raining down the air, silver sheens of light were falling along with them.


    To prevent their opponents from discovering them from using infrared equipment, they didn¡¯t bring any heat-generating weapons, which meant they were executing this ambush with only cold weapons.


    Before long, a scene of massacre and destion followed with the descent of the silver sheens. In the back of their minds, they knew this day might possibly be their end, but they did not agree with that notion, so they would fight and fight until they were the only ones left standing.


    ¡°Regimentmander¡¯s orders: Once the Nuwa agents are finished, we will retreat from the frontlines.¡± As the gruesome fight carried on, it naturally would get more intense, and as such it was inevitable that mecha operator¡¯s on Zhao Jun¡¯s side would get hurt in the process. Once someone sustained any life-threatening injuries, they would be sent back to the medics to be injected with the life-saving Nuwa agent, and after a few minutes of rest, they would jump right back on their feet and continue to fight. However, even with such a powerful lifeline, it was still limited in supply, and thus it was why Zhao Jun ordered his men to stop when they ran out of such powerful medicinal agents.


    Although Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha n was outnumbered by the enemy by five times the amount, they still managed to grasp the overall tempo of the fight as they were able to get the jump on the enemy first. Moreover, with their powerfulbat ability and with the help of the Nuwa agent, they continued controlling the tempo of the fight within a tight grasp, and thus the situation started tilting in Zhao Jun¡¯s favour.


    With their unrelenting spirit and seemingly undying status, the feeling of fear started to spread across the whole army. As the number ofrades on their side got fewer and fewer, that feeling of fear took over their already erratic mind. Before themander could even order a retreat, a portion of the mecha operators already had a mental breakdown. They actually started running away.


    Once one mecha operator started to flee in fear, it caused a domino effect within the others as they all started slowly taking steps back before fully running in a mad dash.


    Soon, Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha n started to wake up from their semi-bloodcrazed state, as they looked around the jungle, they realized the ground was littered with corpses and dyed with blood. They look around their vicinity, but not a single enemy in sight. They were seethed that the enemy would take the fun away from them.


    Zhao Jun did try and chase after the fleeing enemies, but when he realized that they were going towards the nds, he decisively called back his mecha operators and hid back in the jungle.


    Zhao Jun won this battle but the number of agents on his hands were severely depleted. The more saddening fact was that casualties were sustained. Although only three mecha operators had died, it was enough to sadden theirrades.


    Although the Nuwa agent was able to save a person¡¯s life even if they were at the brink of death, if you were unlucky enough to get hit in the fatal spot, you would die immediately. No amount of Nuwa agent would be able to save your life. This was the situation the three casualties faced.


    However, these mecha operators grew up on the battlefield. They were used to saying farewell to theirrades. After they grieved for a while, they recovered from their grief and started clearing up the battlefield. They sharpened the weapons and started searching for any survivors from their enemy¡¯s side.


    Based on the rules of the Lawless Lands, if these survivors weren¡¯t saved by their survivingrades or some sort of reinforcement, once the battle ended, they would be ves of the winner.


    Zhao Jun and his men knew clearly that Bosscked everything, including men. The more capable ves they captured, the better it was for Boss.


    Of course, to ensure their safety, these ves were chased away from Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha n by some of his men to be locked up in a temporary location. There would be a small mecha team stationed there watching over them.


    ¡°Regimentmander, how are we going to act after this?¡± The team leaders couldn¡¯t wait for their next fight after they tasted their first sess.


    Zhao Jun pondered for a while. He said, ¡°Control this jungle first. Close all entry and exits.¡±


    ¡°Huh? We¡¯re not fighting anymore?¡± The team leaders were a little disappointed.


    ¡°I¡¯ve thought about this carefully. I don¡¯t think that Boss sent 2000 of us into Kamoda to fight on the frontline.¡± Zhao Jun said, ¡°That was the mission of the mecha army directly under the previous Lord Gen and Lord Zhen...¡±


    ¡°Then what do we do? Be an onlooker?¡± One of the team leaders asked curiously.


    ¡°No, we¡¯re going topletely crush our defeated enemy.¡± Zhao Jun smiled.


    ¡°I see.¡± Anyone that was able to be a team leader wasn¡¯t stupid. Hence, the team leaders instantly understood Zhao Jun¡¯s ambiguous words.


    ¡°When both sides suffer heavy losses, it will be the time we act.¡± Excitement was seen in Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes. Fortunately, he got enlightened just in time. If not, he might have died to pay for his mistake.


    ¡°Boss, news finally came back from Zhao Jun¡¯s side.¡± Han Xuya, who had always been waiting for the result of the fight, jumped up in excitement immediately when she received a report back from Zhao Jun.


    Li Lanfeng, who had always been calm andposed, couldn¡¯t control himself either. He stood up and shouted, ¡°Hurry up and say it.¡±


    ¡°We wonpletely. We destroyed more than 4200 enemy mechas and gained a total of 4577 prisoners. 2800 mechas escaped. But, three mecha operators on our side died.¡± When she read thest past, Han Xuya¡¯s voice sounded slightly dejected. However, she regained herposure quickly. Compared to what they had gained, these deaths were negligible.


    Luo Chao, who was worried at the start, gave a bright smile when Han Xuya read the result of the fight.


    ¡°It looks like Zhao Jun didn¡¯t fight with his opponent directly. He at least used tactics,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled as he said. Based on Zhao Jun¡¯s intelligence, he should have thought about using tactics, but there was still the possibility of Zhao Jun going crazy and ordering his men to fight the enemy head on. But, luckily, that didn¡¯t happen.


    The only person that remained indifferent was Ling Lan. When she heard the result, there was no change in her emotion. She just asked calmly, ¡°Ask Zhao Jun what he ns to do after this.¡±


    Han Xuya immediately sent Ling Lan¡¯s inquiry over to Zhao Jun. Within one second, Zhao Jun gave his reply. ¡°Wait and see. Bear the fruits of other people¡¯sbor.¡±


    After hearing Zhao Jun¡¯s reply, Ling Lan gave a light smile. It looked like Zhao Jun had understood how to be an outstanding regimentmander.


    ¡°Very good. Li Lanfeng.¡± Ling Lan shifted her cold gaze towards Li Lanfeng. This was the look of a person who had been ustomed to hold a bunch of power and authority.


    Li Lanfeng stood up straight. ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Immediately lead two medical battle teams to reinforce Zhao Jun.¡± Ling Lan knew clearly that Zhao Juncked all kinds of medical agents at this moment, especially the Nuwa agent. Nuwa agents must be the main reason why there were so few casualties. Without the Nuwa agent, at least half of Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha n might have died in order to take down a ten thousand-men mecha army.


    A fight was tough, especially when you wanted to fight against an enemy that had overwhelming numbers. If he didn¡¯t have those agents, the price he had to pay for a victory would be expensive and tragic. At this thought, Ling Lan was d that she decisively took Li Shiyu under her wing. This decision allowed Lingtian, as well as her, to have the most heaven-defying cheat code¡ª¡ªmore lives. Ling Lan felt that this cheat code was on par with Little Four, maybe even more useful than him. With the Nuwa agent in hand, she could own the entire world.


    (Little Four cried sadly. You can¡¯t just throw me into the dusty corner just because I¡¯m in aa... No, I must wake up immediately to prove that I¡¯m the most useful and heaven-defying cheat code. Li Shiyu, you bastard. Move to the side... Sob, I understand it now. Li Shiyu must be my natural enemy. He wants to take away my position as the most important underling to Boss. How irritating!)


    ¡°Yes.¡± The moment Li Lanfeng replied, he disappeared from the spot.


    The medical teams had already finished their preparations. They were just waiting for Ling Lan¡¯s order.


    Luo Chao and Han Xuya left the meeting room and started getting busy with their work. When Ling Lan was left alone, she slowly opened her hands, revealing herpletely wet palm

 Chapter 1401 - Unexpected Even

    <h4>1401 Unexpected Even</h4>


    ¡°It turns out that I¡¯m still afraid.¡± Ling Lan remained silent for a few seconds before mocking herself.


    The battle of Twilight caused her to almost lose her father and her brother, Xie Yi. This event had truly scarred Ling Lan¡¯s heart, and with that scar, there was now a weak point in her heart. But, the situation and the circumstances around her didn¡¯t allow her to be weak. She had no choice but to force herself to be calmer and stronger than everyone around her.


    After entering the Lawless Lands, Ling Lan knew that a series of bloodbaths were waiting for her. She knew that the number of deaths on her side would only increase, and she was truthfully prepared for it. However, when reality hit, Ling Lan realized that she was still afraid of losing any more than what she already had lost. It was especially apparent when she heard Zhao Jun decided tounch a frontal attack, her heart scrunched up tightly.


    Fortunately, the more she cared about something, the more indifferent she would appear on the surface, which meant that no one knew what she was afraid of when they were looking at her.


    ¡°I really am not a qualified king.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s gaze darkened slightly. Her entire body became dull and gloomy. However, the next second, she opened her eyes wide and a powerful force of presence was released. Although it onlysted for an instant, everyone in the rainbow pce was instantaneously stered to the floor.


    Luckily, the force of presence was gone almost instantly, so it didn¡¯t hurt anyone in the rainbow pce. But, the people here still felt frightened. They didn¡¯t know if their Lord Gen suddenly lost control of his anger or was it because another imperial realm formidable warrior passed by and decided to perform another show.


    ¡°If I can¡¯t do it, I won¡¯t. I¡¯ll just do what I want.¡± The Dao that Ling Lan chose, although she named it the Dominance Dao, it wasn¡¯t what it meant literally. It didn¡¯t mean that she would be vicious and selfish. What she meant was a Dao of a free heart.


    The former meaning was being selfish and thetter was proving her heart. They seemed simr but there was actually a huge difference in them.


    Based on what Number One said, Ling Lan¡¯s Freedom Dao was a few tiers higher than the normal Dominance Dao and Killing Dao, and with that, the difficulty of cultivating such Dao skyrocketed. Other Daos were considered the minor way while Ling Lan¡¯s Dao was a Dao to the main origin. The minor way might be weaker but because it was small, it was hard to go wrong, as such the rate of sess of cultivating such Dao was higher too. However, Ling Lan¡¯s Dao on the other hand crossovered with too many other paths, which made it difficult to make every step right on this path. Plus, since this was a unique path she chose herself, she didn¡¯t have any prior experiences she could take as reference. Ling Lan had to rely on herself. This made the difficulty of this path even harder to measure.


    At this moment, her Profound Insight, which had been limiting her enlightenment all these while, suddenly crossed its bottleneck and a new series of enlightenments appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s mind.


    Ling Lan was pleasantly surprised. She hurriedly closed her eyes and carefully felt this new series of enlightenments. It was a few hourster that she opened her eyes again. She let out a deep sigh. ¡°So that is the case. I almost made a grave mistake.¡±


    The Dominance Dao was never truly her. When she forced herself to change to fit her Dao, she was twisting her true nature. Fortunately, she realized this early enough. If she really walked on the Dominance Dao, she believed that she would definitely regret it at the end.


    Ling Lan smiled. Her heavy heart lightened up instantly and she felt more rxed.


    In the learning space, a few of the instructors stopped what they were doing in unnned unison and looked up at the virtual sky.


    A rare smile appeared on Number Nine¡¯s cold and stern face. It was a very faint smile but it was beautiful.


    Number Five was stunned. He gave an sly smile and said, ¡°This is exciting. Is this luck or is it something else? This is worth analysing.¡±


    Number Four gave a relieved smile. Suddenly, she realized something. ¡°Ah... does this mean that I have to wait longer? This is infuriating.¡± She was only able to appear if Ling Lan met some obstacles or had a hole in her soul. Number Four felt frustrated. The relieved feeling she had when Ling Lan walked back on the right path disappeared in an instant. She wished that time would move backward to the moment when Ling Lan achieved the enlightenment. If she had the power to, she would definitely mess up Ling Lan¡¯s enlightened state.


    Number Three proudly raised his head towards the sky andughed loudly as he sat in his own space. ¡°Hahaha... As expected of my beloved disciple.¡±


    Number Two slowly came out of the darkness and looked at the dark skies. He said softly, ¡°This is good.¡± Then, he went back into the darkness.


    Number One opened his eyes slightly and looked into the empty space. After a while, he closed his eyes again. In that slight time window when he opened and closed his eyes, there seemed to be a faint, almost unnoticeable smile on his face.


    Before Ling Lan was able to finish feeling happy for the fact that she managed to correct her mistake in time, a sudden realization almost made her expressionless face turn hideous...


    In the past, she never took note of this matter because Little Four had always reminded her about it. Her mother, Lan Luofeng, would also contact her to remind her when the time came. Thus, no such problem happened in the past 20 years. However, now, Little Four was in aa and she was far away in the Lawless Lands, causing her mother, Lan Luofeng, to not be able to contact her. This small matter that she had disregarded for one year now came to find her for trouble.


    Was this extreme joy turning into sadness? Ling Lan stared at the patch of water mark on her seat. She didn¡¯t need to see it to know that it would be red in colour.


    This had never came for 20 years so Ling Lan almost forgot that her body still had this ability. But now, her old friend came to have a heart to heart talk with her. She felt like cursing biology...


    ¡°Ask Luo Chao and Han Xuya if they know whether there are any hormone suppressors among the goods.¡± Ling Lan could only seek help from Luo Chao and Han Xuya now.


    When Luo Chao and Han Xuya knew this, they were dumbfounded. They went into a daze.


    Fine, they knew that Boss was ady but Ling Lan¡¯s powerful and dominant image was ingrained too deeply in their minds. Sometimes, they would forget that Ling Lan was ady unconsciously and treat her as a man.


    They took a while to clean up for Ling Lan. After doing so, they quickly went to check on the cargo. However, there was no good news as Luo Chao and Han Xuya was told that they didn¡¯t have the hormone suppressor that Boss needed. They were still in shock when they heard the reason why. The people in the cargo they asked told them that Li Shiyu felt that forcefully changing a person¡¯s natural body hormones might seem harmless on the surface but deep down, it might not be the case. He hadn¡¯t researched the implications but it was better to not mess with anything that they weren¡¯t sure about.


    Plus, there were more men than women in the Lingtian Independent Army, especially among theirrades. They only had two younger sisters, Luo Chao and Han Xuya. They just wanted to dote on them, so how could they bear to let them fight on the frontline? Thus, their younger sisters wouldn¡¯t need to use this kind of thing. This was the reason why Luo Chao and Han Xuya didn¡¯t need to undergo any hormone suppressor treatment like most of the female soldiers did before entering the battlefield. They had the luxury to bring along the monthly necessity that they needed to use.

 Chapter 1402 - Probe!

    <h4>1402 Probe!</h4>


    ¡°I wonder if Li Shiyu brought any hormone suppressors with him.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that the possibility was high but to make things easier, it was better to ask Li Shiyu about it.


    ¡°Xuya and I can go and ask him.¡± Luo Chao knew that Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to expose her real gender so she volunteered to probe Li Shiyu about it to see if they could get anything out of him.


    After some time, the two of them came back with a helpless expression. It looked like they didn¡¯t get anything.


    ¡°What happened?¡± asked Ling Lan.


    ¡°When Brother Shiyu heard that we wanted hormone suppressors, he scolded us before we can finish our sentence.¡± Han Xuya wiped the cold sweat off her forehead. This was the first time she realised how scary a good-tempered person could be when they got angry.


    ¡°Brother Shiyu thought that we wanted it for ourselves. He¡¯s worried that we want to use it.¡± Luo Chao spoke up for Li Shiyu in a soft voice. ¡°Boss, if you don¡¯t have to use that thing, don¡¯t use it.¡±


    Luo Chao was worried about Ling Lan¡¯s body. She had been using hormone suppressors to control her natural bodily function for more than 20 years. She was scared that it could maybe permanently harm Ling Lan¡¯s body. She seemed alright now, but what Li Shiyu said made sense too. There had to be a price to pay when you defied nature. Luo Chao was frightened that the price Ling Lan had to pay in the future would be too big for her to handle.


    Ling Lan had been Luo Chao¡¯s male idol ever since she was young. Even though she was ady now, she was still her male idol. She really hoped that Ling Lan would have a good life, a life filled with no regrets.


    ¡°We will be going through a lot of tough battles soon. Once this thinges, my ability will drop. So, we need to think of a way to solve this.¡± Ling Lan could already feel her body was showing her signs of getting weaker. If this happened during a battle, it wouldn¡¯t be good.


    Luo Chao knew that Ling Lan was right. They weren¡¯t at a safe ce. This was the Lawless Lands where danger was found everywhere. No one knew what would happen tomorrow. Boss had the ambition of unifying the Lawless Lands. If every month there would be a time window when she would be weak, it would be quite frustrating.


    ¡°But, where can we get hormone suppressors if Brother Shiyu doesn¡¯t want to help us?¡± Han Xuya scratched her head. She couldn¡¯t think of another way out. Ah!


    The three people in the room all wore a helpless expression on their faces as they stared at each other. They didn¡¯t know what to do.


    Luo Chao and Han Xuyaughed when they saw their cold and indifferent Boss showing the same helpless expression as them... They felt that their rtionship with Ling Lan seemed to have gotten closer than before.


    ¡°I¡¯ll look for Li Shiyu personally.¡± Ling Lan gritted her teeth. She prepared to use her status as Boss to suppress him if need be. Of course, that was if Li Shiyu did have hormone suppressors.


    Li Shiyu was in hisboratory, analysing and researching on all the nts he had gathered from the Lawless Lands. He wanted to use these nts to make useful agents.


    When he knew that they had to stay at the rainbow pce for a long time, the first thing Li Shiyu did was to move his research equipment and devices to the rainbow pce. Then, he put in 100% of his enthusiasm to start his agent factory.


    Li Shiyu knew that just based on transporting goods, even if the Jin Ship went back and forth non-stop, it would be unable to satisfy the huge amount of agents Boss required. The only way to get arge amount of agents in reserves was to use the local resources to create agents.


    To hasten the speed of production, Li Shiyu started with the agents that had already existed on the Lawless Lands and was proven to be effective. Within a short time, he was able to analyze the various ingredients needed to make these agents.


    However, the agent-making procedures on the Lawless Lands were very outdated. The original recipe had many ws too so the agent it created wasn¡¯t the best. It couldn¡¯t meet Li Shiyu¡¯s expectations. Now, he wasbing through all the permutations andbinations of ingredients and concentration that could make the best treatment agent. Once he seeded, they would be able to be self-sufficient in creating these treatment agents, which had the highest demand. That way, the Jin Ship would be able to take back more raw ingredients for the Nuwa agent and he would be able to make more of this life-saving agent to prepare for their future battles.


    Just as he was focused on his research, he suddenly felt an intense re shooting daggers at his back. He hurriedly turned his head and saw Ling Lan standing at one side and looking at him silently.


    ¡°Boss, why do you have the time toe here?¡± Li Shiyu was surprised. Ling Lan was the Boss but he respected all hisrades like peers. Once they started working, he would rarely disturb them. For instance, once Li Shiyu entered theboratory, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t disturb him even if something huge happened.


    ¡°Did something bad happen?¡± This was Li Shiyu¡¯s first reaction. His expression changed as he quickly asked Ling Lan this question before she could reply to hisst.


    ¡°Erm...¡± Ling Lan answered in a hesitant tone. ¡°The problem is not big. Are you free?¡±


    Li Shiyu knew that Ling Lan was asking if he had the time to chat. If he wasn¡¯t free, Ling Lan would leave and wait for him to be free.


    ¡°I can do my researchter. Boss, what is the matter?¡± Li Shiyu decisively put down his research. Although Boss said that it wasn¡¯t an important affair, it still must be something big for him toe here personally.


    Unexpectedly, Ling Lan didn¡¯t reply instantly. Instead, she remained silent for a moment as if she was having difficulty saying it. She ced her fist in front of her mouth and coughed lightly.


    ¡°Erm, just now... Luo Chao and Xuya came to find you.¡± Ling Lan felt that this thing was a little hard to talk about.


    Li Shiyu was surprised. She didn¡¯t know why Boss mentioned Luo Chao and Han Xuya. After all, they came for hormone suppressors. When Luo Chao asked him about it, she was extremely shy too. Did she go and look for Ling Lan out of unhappiness because she didn¡¯t get it from him?


    Li Shiyu shook his head. He felt that based on how embarrassed Luo Chao was when she came, she wouldn¡¯t dare to talk about such private matters in front of Boss. If he thought carefully about it, Han Xuya had more hope of doing this.


    ¡°Boss, did Han Xuya tell you everything?¡± Li Shiyu probed Ling Lan carefully. He realized that it was really awkward when two men were talking about the private matters of a woman. Not only that, he had to probe Boss to make sure that he got the correct intention.


    ¡°They told me some things. That thing is very important to them. If you can, help them with it.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t exin further.


    Did this mean that they said or they didn¡¯t say it? Li Shiyu started pondering in his heart. Did Luo Chao and Han Xuya find an alternative to the hormone suppressor or did they really tell Boss that they needed the hormone suppressor?


    Li Shiyu decided that he should just wait and see first. If they didn¡¯t tell Boss about the hormone suppressor directly, he would make Boss feel awkward if he mentioned it first. At the same time, Luo Chao and Han Xuya would feel awkward in front of Boss too.


    ¡°That thing will do nothing good for their body. I think it¡¯s better for them to not use it.¡± Since Boss didn¡¯t say what it was, he wouldn¡¯t either. This was the safest way.


    ¡°But, after some time, when I start my n, there will be countless battles. Without that thing, it will be dangerous for them to enter the battlefield,¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t say what she needed explicitly.

 Chapter 1403 - I’m Not Stupid!

    <h4>1403 I¡°m Not Stupid!</h4>


    ¡°If we needed the two of them to enter the battlefield to fight, we¡¯re really lousy.¡± Li Shiyu didn¡¯t agree with this point. When he saw Ling Lan furrowing her brows furiously, he knew that Boss was still worried. Thus, he added, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if there¡¯s really a need for it, I¡¯ll prepare it for them. However, I won¡¯t give it to them now.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You have it?¡± That¡¯s good news.


    However, Li Shiyu¡¯s reply crashed all of Ling Lan¡¯s hope. ¡°Not now.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you¡¯ll prepare it for them if they need it?¡± Ling Lan asked him back.


    ¡°I need time to analyse how it¡¯s made. Or maybe the Jin Ship can bring some of it along when ites back with the next batch of goods.¡± Ling Lan was very disappointed by Li Shiyu¡¯s words. No matter how fast the Jin Ship was, it would take at least two months to make a trip back. Including the time needed to load and unload the goods, it would take at least three months. That meant that she had to endure three months of her menses.


    ¡°No matter what, we should prepare all kinds of agents just to be careful,¡± Ling Lan said helplessly.


    ¡°I was in a rush when I came so I only had the time to bring the agents that we needed the most. I ignored those that aren¡¯t necessary,¡± Li Shiyu spoke righteously. Ling Lan was crying in her heart. Was she able to tell him that hormone suppressors were what she needed the most?


    ¡°Also, Boss, the thing that Luo Chao and Xuya want might do harm to their bodies. You should persuade them against using it.¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s expression was filled with worry. He sincerely hoped that his two younger sisters wouldn¡¯t use hormone suppressors.


    ¡°If they don¡¯t need to use it, I also hope that they won¡¯t use it either. However, no one knows what will happen in the future, so it¡¯s better to prepare while we can. It might be harmful but it¡¯s better than dying,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    Li Shiyu trembled a little when he heard Ling Lan¡¯s words. He started self-reflecting. Was he too extreme when he rejected his younger sisters? After all, life was the most important thing. If you were dead, everything else would be useless.


    Also, if there were really any harmful implications from using the hormone suppressor, they still had him, right?


    Li Shiyu managed to convince himself. He nodded his head heavily and said, ¡°I understand. Boss, after I finish making the healing agents, I will start researching on the medication Luo Chao and Xuya need.¡±


    Since they needed to use it, he would rather make it himself. He had more confidence in his own medication... He didn¡¯t like hormone suppressors, but as a top-ss military doctor standing at the peak of the medical world, he knew all the form of all the medication in the Federation, including hormone suppressors.


    Now, he just needed to take out the portion that he felt would cause harm to the body or use other medications to suppress the harmful effects. That way, he might be able to create a hormone suppressor that he felt was safe.


    ¡°I¡¯ll rely on you then,¡± Ling Lan replied in aposed tone. The result wasn¡¯t as satisfying as what she expected but at least Li Shiyu didn¡¯t despise the thought of making hormone suppressors. This was extremely good news for her. She would be able to get the agent she needed from Li Shiyu and she didn¡¯t have to resort to think of other ways of finding it.


    After that, Ling Lan disappeared from theboratory. Li Shiyu shook his head with a bitter smile when he saw that he was alone again.


    Boss personally came for such a small matter. It looked like Boss really ced much importance in his two fianc¨¦es.


    By right, Li Shiyu should feel relieved. However, for some reason, he had a bitter feeling in his heart. It felt as if the younger sisters he doted so lovingly was being snatched away. Although it was by his well-respected Boss, he wasn¡¯t able to chase away the sense of grief at the bottom of his heart.


    This was probably the feeling of being an older brother. This was the first time he experienced this feeling. Li Shiyu was inexperienced in this area so naturally, he used this to exin his emotions.


    As the battle royale at Kamoda got more chaotic, the mecha ns from both sides started engaging in violent fights. At the start, the result was evenly split but as time went by, Lord Zhen and Lord Gen¡¯s side started winning.


    How did this happen? That was because after every huge fight, Lord Demon and Lord Li¡¯s mecha armies would be ambushed by a mysterious mecha n.


    There weren¡¯t many people in this mecha n, but that was the exact reason why they were able to move around quickly and mysteriously. However, they would only appear after a mecha army had won a tough fight, taking them out instantly when they were fatigued from the earlier fight. On the other hand, if there were still a huge number of mecha operators left, this mysterious mecha n would swiftly retreat after creating the first round of casualties. They really came and went like the wind. People were caught off their guards.


    Lord Demon and Lord Li¡¯s army suffered heavy losses. Thus, they started collecting information on this mysterious mecha n. But, there was too little information on them. They were unable to conclude within a short time if this mecha n actually belonged to Lord Zhen and Lord Gen.


    No one knew who they belonged to but the remaining mecha ns and mecha army of Lord Demon and Lord Li started keeping their guards up...


    However, it was not very useful. After they fought a tiring battle with Lord Zhen and Lord Gen¡¯s army, when they were already tired and drained of energy, they would always meet the ambush of this mysterious mecha n.


    ¡°Haha, Lanfeng, your strategy is really amazing.¡± After Zhao Jun once again easily annihted a mecha n that belonged to Lord Demon, he patted Li Lanfeng¡¯s shoulder andughed excitedly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be happy so early.¡± Li Lanfeng nced at him. He didn¡¯t hide the look of pity in his eyes.


    Zhao Jun¡¯sughter was stuck in his throat. He remembered the first sentence Li Lanfeng said to him when they met. ¡°You¡¯re dead.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Zhao Jun asked in confusion. They just won a huge fight.


    ¡°Haha, fighting ten thousand people with 2000 men. You¡¯re really awesome!¡± Li Lanfeng mocked.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t have a choice then.¡± Zhao Jun touched his nose cheekily. After he calmed down, he realised that his decision at that time was indeed a little impulsive.


    Fortunately, they had Military Doctor Li¡¯s Nuwa agent to help them. That was why they took the victory with only three casualties. If not, they might have to sacrifice close to a thousand mecha operators in order to win over their opponent. However, to Boss, this wasn¡¯t a victory at all. Only idiots would do something like this. This was a huge failure in his book.


    ¡°You need to exin to Boss after you go back.¡± Li Lanfeng scoffed. ¡°However, I don¡¯t think you will have a chance.¡±


    ¡°Lanfeng!¡± Zhao Jun grabbed Li Lanfeng¡¯s shoulder and looked at him lovingly. ¡°We are best friends, right?¡±


    ¡°No!¡± Li Lanfeng replied decisively.


    ¡°Lanfeng, you can¡¯t be so heartless,¡± Zhao Jun said with a pitiful expression.


    ¡°I¡¯m not stupid.¡± Li Lanfeng wanted to break free from Zhao Jun¡¯srge hand. He didn¡¯t want to interfere in this affair.


    Li Lanfeng was always someone who never allowed himself to get into a passive or disadvantageous position. Based on the mistake that Zhao Jun made at the start, Ling Lan would definitely punish him. It would definitely be a torturous punishment too. He wouldn¡¯t be stupid to help Zhao Jun.


    ¡°No, you must help me.¡± Zhao Jun held Li Lanfeng¡¯s shoulder tightly. He wasn¡¯t willing to let him go.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t say much, but he understood that Boss was unhappy. If Boss was unhappy, he was dead, and the only person who could solve his problem was Li Lanfeng.


    Everyone in Lingtian knew that Boss never changed his decision easily. If there was anyone that could make Boss change his mind, it was this sly fox Li Lanfeng.

 Chapter 1404 - Enchanted!

    <h4>1404 Enchanted!</h4>


    ¡°Must?¡± Li Lanfeng turned to him as he shed an eerie smile. ¡°Why must I help you?¡±


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t understand why Zhao Jun was so confident. History had shown, any problem that was concerned with Ling Lan, he would always side with her.


    ¡°You won¡¯t help me?¡± Zhao Jun returned the gesture with a simr eerie smile. ¡°Then, don¡¯t me me if I tell Boss that you don¡¯t like Han Xuya and Luo Chao after I go back.¡±


    Li Lanfeng squinted his eyes as a dangerous gleam shed by them. ¡°What part of me doesn¡¯t like them?¡±


    In that instant, the thought of destroying Zhao Jun went through Li Lanfeng¡¯s mind.


    ¡°If you like them, why are you trying so hard to push them away? Hehe,¡± Zhao Jun sniggered as he said. He wasn¡¯t the least afraid of the dangerous aura Li Lanfeng was exuding.


    ¡°Zhao Jun, did I ever tell you that you must always act with caution if you want to live longer?¡± The smile on Li Lanfeng¡¯s face got progressively more devilish.


    Zhao Jun immediately wiped away the smug smile on his face. ¡°Fine, fine. Don¡¯t smile like that. It is creepy. Just take it that I didn¡¯t say anything.¡±


    It couldn¡¯t be helped, he was just too familiar with that smile. That was the smile when Li Lanfeng was scheming someone¡¯s death. He had seen and experienced the aftereffects of the smile, so the smile now would just give him the chills. In fact, he wouldn¡¯t mind it too much if the smile was not directed at him, but when Li Lanfeng smiled like that at him, Zhao Jun could feel his blood turning into ice.


    Li Lanfeng retracted his devilish smile slowly. He remained silent for a few seconds before opening his mouth and asking in aposed tone, ¡°Was I too obvious?¡±


    ¡°Not really.¡± Zhao Jun touched his nose and continued awkwardly, ¡°It¡¯s just that I understand you too well to fall into your trap. You are quite impatient towards people you don¡¯t like.¡±


    ¡°Really? I thought I was quite patient,¡± Li Lanfeng muttered to himself softly.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Zhao Jun acted as if he didn¡¯t hear what Li Lanfeng said. No one knew if it was because Li Lanfeng¡¯s voice was too soft or was Zhao Jun pretending to not hear it.


    Either way, Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t interested in continuing with this topic. From Zhao Jun¡¯s words, he knew that the effect of his outer facade was fading away.


    Yes, when he saw Luo Chao and Han Xuya staying beside Ling Lan every day, he felt as though his heart was being stabbed by a thousand knife cuts. He had really tried his best to endure until now. If he hadn¡¯t controlled himself, the exploding amounts of jealousy within him could have manipted him toy his hands on Luo Chao and Han Xuya. But, luckily, in the end, his rational side still suppressed his emotional side.


    ¡°Actually, you don¡¯t have to worry. From what I see, Boss will not lose his edge nor ambition because of his romantic rtionships.¡± Without asking Li Lanfeng directly, Zhao Jun could only guess why Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t like Luo Chao and Han Xuya. In his mind, Li Lanfeng was an ambitious person. So, as an ambitious person, he would do everything in his power to propel himself forward, but unexpectedly, Li Lanfeng seemed to have tied his ambition with Boss. In that case, it was natural for him to discriminate against any ¡®unfavorable¡¯ elements that would affect Boss¡¯s grand ambition.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m not worried about that. If I was worried about that, I wouldn¡¯t have allowed them to stay beside Boss,¡± Li Lanfeng said. ¡°On another note, about your problem, do you think Boss will lighten your punishment just because I say so? If you really do want a lighter punishment, you should perform better so your achievements would offset your initial failure. And to do that, you will have toplete the task Boss gave you with minimal casualties. This is the only way I think you will have a chance to survive.¡±


    ¡°Okay! Help me to think of a n please.¡± Zhao Jun would pester Li Lanfeng until the very end. Thinking about the hours of work he would have to do to get this pest away from him, Li Lanfeng could already feel the back of his head itching.


    ¡°Remember that you owe me a life.¡± Li Lanfeng helplessly agreed, a part of the reason was because he wanted to get rid of the pesky bug, but the main reason why he wanted to get away was because he wanted to go back to Ling Lan¡¯s side. Without him looking after Ling Lan, he was afraid that Ling Lan would cheat on him, wait, no. He meant he was afraid someone would snatch Ling Lan away.


    He used one night to summarise all the information on the enemy he had on his hands. Then, Li Lanfeng came up with a few protocols for Zhao Jun to follow in different situations. There were protocols if they wanted to ambush, spy, or even infiltrate. All in all, Zhao Jun would have to rely on himself during the battle to decide what he decided to go. Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t help him with this. After all, Zhao Jun was the regimentmander of his own mecha n. This was the difference between a strategist and amander. Strategists would onlye up with the framework of the n, while themander would execute the ns. But, ns were ns in the end. There would always be an unstable element when applied to reality. Thus, it was up to themander to make the necessary adjustments.


    Li Lanfeng came hurriedly and left hurriedly. Three dayster, he returned to the rainbow pce.


    ¡°Huh? Why are you back so early?¡± Even Ling Lan was surprised by Li Lanfeng¡¯s speed.


    ¡°Why did you say it like that? Do you not want to see me?¡± Since they were alone, Li Lanfeng took off his silver mask. His face, which could mesmerise people in a second, had a tinge of mock anger and resentment on it, adding vour to his already cute puffed up cheeks. Ling Lan almost couldn¡¯t handle it.


    ¡°Can you speak properly?¡± Ling Lan held onto her forehead as she sighed.


    Didn¡¯t this man know that his face could bend a straight man? Why was he still giving this expression? If she was really a man, Ling Lan didn¡¯t know if she could remain straight.


    ¡°I am hurt by your words.¡± Li Lanfeng gave a beautiful mourning expression as he leaned on Ling Lan¡¯s chest. His entire face showed that he was looking for constion.


    Suddenly, his doey expression turned grave. He straightened his body and grabbed Ling Lan¡¯s chest forcefully. His entire aura turned cold. ¡°You¡¯re hurt.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± A moment ago, he was still looking forfort like a petite youngdy. Why did he change the topic so abruptly? Ling Lan was stunned.


    ¡°Why hadn¡¯t Li Shiyu treated you? Why is the smell of blood on you so strong?¡± Li Lanfeng was extremely nervous. ¡°Where did you get hurt? Are you still bleeding? Is it because Shiyu¡¯s agent doesn¡¯t work? What happened? How did you get hurt when I just left for three days?¡±


    Why was he so helpless every time Ling Lan was hurt? Every time Ling Lan was hurt, she wasn¡¯t the only one in pain. He was hurting too. The difference was, Ling Lan¡¯s body hurt while his heart hurt.


    Upon hearing Li Lanfeng¡¯s rapid series of questions, no matter how calm Ling Lan was, she still couldn¡¯t control the flow of her blood. It shot right up to her head. She was embarrassed!


    ¡°Ah, why is your face so red? Is it because...¡± Lanfeng¡¯s face was pale. There was a stark contrast with Ling Lan¡¯s red face and her normal cold face. Just when he was about to turn his head and call for Li Shiyu¡¯s help.


    Suddenly, his world started spinning. Boom! He got pressed down by Ling Lan. At the same time, Ling Lan used her right hand to press his mouth firmly to stop him from shouting.


    ¡°Shut up,¡± Ling Lan said with frustration and anger.


    Just based on the swift and precise action Ling Lan did just now, suppressing him with a single move, it was enough to prove that there was nothing wrong with Ling Lan¡¯s body.


    Li Lanfeng was a smart person. He got agitated just now because he was too concerned about Ling Lan. So, when he noticed that Ling Lan was alright, his rationale took over and he nodded his head obediently to show that he wouldn¡¯t say anything.


    After Ling Lan noticed him nodding, she put down the hand that was covering his mouth, revealing the extremely beautiful face. The corners of his eyes and the corner of his lips were both filled with smiles. The bright smile told Ling Lan that Li Lanfeng was very happy that nothing happened to her. He was really worried about her...


    Although Li Lanfeng¡¯s series of questions made Ling Lan very awkward and even embarrassed, when she saw the smile, her heart started getting warm and restless. She was grateful for the concern Li Lanfeng had for her.


    Yes, she would never admit that she got enchanted by his smile.

 Chapter 1405 - Teach Me Then.

    <h4>1405 Teach Me Then.</h4>


    ¡°I had a breakthrough recently. I lost control a little during the process so some problems arised. I¡¯ll be fine after some time,¡± Ling Lan carefully exined. She was a little surprised by her fluency toe up with an excuse. But, what she said was the truth. She just took away an important point because she didn¡¯t want the people who cared about her to worry, and of course know her true gender .


    ¡°As long as you¡¯re fine,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled gently as he said.


    ¡°But still, your nose is really sensitive... You can actually smell it.¡± Ling Lan was a little speechless.


    Li Lanfeng smiled and remained silent. He wouldn¡¯t tell Ling Lan that his entire mind was on him. He would notice it even if there was just a slight change about him.


    Ling Lan felt that she had exined everything she should, passing this crisis smoothly. Hence, she pushed her right hand on the ground and jumped up.


    She looked down to see Li Lanfeng still lying on the ground with a faint smile. She stretched her hand out naturally and prepared to pull him up.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile got brighter when he saw the outstretched hand. He reached his hand out and felt forceing from the hand to pull him out. With the help of that firm hand, he stood up from the ground.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t control the sudden force. He just allowed it to pull him into the other person¡¯s arms.


    Ling Lan was bbergasted as she hugged the beauty that voluntarily fell into her arms... What was going on? She didn¡¯t use that much force, right?


    ¡°I was too worried just now. When you suddenly attacked me, I instinctively wanted to resist, but I stopped my domain forcefully when I realised that it was you. I got injured by the bacsh.¡± Ling Lan felt the warm breaths by her ear. It was a little itchy. Li Lanfeng was exining why he was so weak.


    Was he saying that it was her fault?


    Forget it, they were just hugging each other for a while, right? It wasn¡¯t the first time they hugged. They had done it many times in the past, so once more wouldn¡¯t mean anything. Moreover, Li Lanfeng was a beauty. She wouldn¡¯t lose anything by hugging him.


    Li Lanfeng gave an evil smile when he noticed that Ling Lan had stopped resisting. His n seeded. He leaned closer to Ling Lan and furiously breathed in the cold aura on Ling Lan¡¯s body. He hoped to get more of it so that he could be able to satiate his desire for a longer period of time.


    Love that prated through the bone. This was definitely an emotion that could turn someone crazy. Sometimes, Li Lanfeng felt that he had already gone berserk.


    ¡°Are you feeling better?¡± Ling Lan asked in concern. If he still wasn¡¯t feeling well, maybe he needed to be fed with agents.


    Li Lanfeng could feel that Ling Lan was about to release him. He wasn¡¯t willing to let Ling Lan go so he turned his body and grabbed Ling Lan¡¯s waist tightly. He leaned his head on Ling Lan¡¯s shoulder and said with a hint of desperation as if he was using all his might to bear with the pain, ¡°Ling Lan, in the past, I told you that I like someone, right? I really really like that person.¡±


    Ling Lan wanted to push Li Lanfeng away, but when she heard the sorrow in Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart, she continued hugging him. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Tell me about it.¡±


    She had never been in a rtionship but she had read multiple romance novels before. Thus, she might still be able to help her friends with some advice.


    ¡°But, that person doesn¡¯t like me. That person doesn¡¯t like me at all,¡± Li Lanfeng choked as he said that. Even if Ling Lan couldn¡¯t see Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression, she could feel his despair.


    Ling Lan knew that Li Lanfeng was chasing the person he liked, but she always thought that it was not an issue to him. He was a sly person and had many tricks up his sleeves. After scheming against the person a few times, no woman would be able to resist him. But, surprisingly, the strategist that she thought was omnipotent would meet such a huge rejection.


    ¡°How did you chase after her?¡± Ling Lan decided to find the problem from his methods.


    ¡°I hint my love to that person many times but that person didn¡¯t seem to get it. So, it must be because that person doesn¡¯t like me but didn¡¯t want our rtionship to be awkward so that person pretended to be oblivious, ¡°Li Lanfeng replied.


    ¡°Not everyone is so quick on the uptake. If you don¡¯t outright say it, how will the other party know?¡± Ling Lan felt helpless. In the novels, many people missed their love of their lives because they didn¡¯t confess. She once thought that the people in this world were more straightforward but from the looks of it now, they were no different from the people in the world of her past life. They still had romantic problems like one-sided love.


    ¡°Really?¡± Li Lanfeng seemed uncertain.


    ¡°Of course,¡± Ling Lan said firmly.


    ¡°But, what if that person rejects me if I confess? Ling Lan, I¡¯ll really be crazy if that person rejects me. I really love that person. I love that person so much,¡± Li Lanfeng said as he clutched his chest. He was afraid of the answer. If Ling Lan rejected him, he wouldn¡¯t know what he would do. He really didn¡¯t know if he would resort to hurting Ling Lan at that time. This was the reason why he didn¡¯t dare to take the crucial step.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what to say. She didn¡¯t expect Li Lanfeng to be so crazy in love. This fact angered Ling Lan quite a bit. Who on earth was that person who mesmerised her strategist to this point? If she really rejects Li Lanfeng, her strategist would be destroyed.


    To prevent one of her important men from getting destroyed, Ling Lan had no choice but to rack her brains toe up with a solution to help Li Lanfeng get thedy he liked.


    ¡°If she doesn¡¯t agree, we can knock her unconscious so you can sleep with her first?¡± Ling Lan knew that this idea wasn¡¯t morally right, especially to thedy, but for the sake of Li Lanfeng and herself, she had to resort to more devious means. Of course, based on how much Li Lanfeng loved thisdy, he wouldn¡¯t do anything bad to her. He would definitely be a good husband and father.


    After thinking about this, the guilt in Ling Lan¡¯s heart lessened a little.


    ¡°Knock her unconscious?¡± Li Lanfeng raised his head and looked at Ling Lan oddly. ¡°I can¡¯t do it.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± Ling Lan was surprised. Li Lanfeng was a titled domain realm formidable warrior while she was an imperial realm formidable warrior. How could they not be able to do this?


    ¡°That person... holds a high position. There are many powerful people around that person, including imperial realm formidable warriors...¡± Li Lanfeng chose a few points to reply to Ling Lan. He spoke cleverly. It was up to the listener how she wanted to interpret his answer.


    In actual fact, Li Lanfeng was crying in his heart. If he could do it, he would have done it a long time ago. Of course, in order to make the other party be responsible for him, he had already prepared himself mentally to be the one at the bottom.


    ¡°You fell in love with such a powerful person? She even has imperial realm formidable warriors protecting her? There¡¯s only four families in the Federation that have this ability. Which one is she from?¡± Ling Lan knew that the Li and Ye families were pushed out by the government of the Federation to suppress the four elite families. Solely based on their foundation, the Li and Ye families weren¡¯t strong enough. However, with the help of the government and the fact that the Li and the Ye families each owned half the business world, the reputation of these two families was higher than the four elite families. It was understandable that they became the top two elite families.


    As expected, this dense man never understood his obvious hints. Li Lanfeng sighed in his heart deeply again. He didn¡¯t have the interest to reply to Ling Lan anymore.


    But, when Ling Lan heard Li Lanfeng sighing, she thought that she made the right guess. She thought that Li Lanfeng felt too hopeless so he didn¡¯t want to say who that person was...


    Ling Lan contemted for a moment before saying, ¡°Why don¡¯t you seduce that person?¡± Since they couldn¡¯t use brute force, they could only use the soft approach. Ling Lan didn¡¯t believe that any women would be able to reject Li Lanfeng if he seduced thedy with this mesmerizing face of his.


    ¡°Seduce?¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes lit up. Would this work?


    ¡°That¡¯s right, seduction.¡± Ling Lan gritted her teeth.


    ¡°But I don¡¯t know how.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze turned dull.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know? Learn then.¡± Ling Lan was agitated. Why were her men all so troublesome? Not only did she have to guide them to be stronger, she even needed to help them think of ways to get their wives now. Why was it so difficult to be a Boss?


    ¡°Teach me then,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and said.


    He was waiting to say this sentence all along.

 Chapter 1406 - At Night When No One Is Around?

    <h4>1406 At Night When No One Is Around?</h4>


    ¡°Teach you?¡± Ling Lan was stunned. They went through all that and in the end, she was supposed to teach Li Lanfeng how to seduce a woman? The most important thing was, she didn¡¯t know how to seduce a man... not to say a woman.


    ¡°Ling Lan, don¡¯t forget that you have two wives. You should be very experienced in this aspect.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled as he reminded Ling Lan beside her ears. The impression he gave Ling Lan was of a fox demon.


    ¡°Huh? You think I would need to resort to seducing them to get them to be my wives?¡± Ling Lan turned her head in disdain. She would never allow Li Lanfeng to realise that she was inexperienced in this aspect.


    ¡°Of course you won¡¯t need it. But, didn¡¯t your wives use such methods before?¡± It seemed that Li Lanfeng had fixed his mind on pestering Ling Lan. He must make her teach him something.


    ¡°Do you think Luo Chao and Xuya are those kinds ofdies? Do you think that I will be seduced by them? What kind of nonsense is that?¡± Ling Lan flicked her sleeves in mock anger.


    If she really knew how to do it, she didn¡¯t mind giving him some tips. But, she didn¡¯t know anything... She couldn¡¯t be polite to Li Lanfeng anymore.


    ¡°If you can¡¯t even teach me, who can I learn it from?¡± Li Lanfeng said dejectedly. He looked like a puppy that was abandoned. Ling Lan really couldn¡¯t bear to see him like this.


    Sob, she couldn¡¯t resist cute little animals at all. Every time Li Lanfeng gave her this kind of look, she would want to help him to solve any of his difficulties.


    How good would it be if Little Four was around? Once again, Ling Lan felt how inconvenient it was without Little Four. If Little Four was here, he would be able to find some information rted to seduction in his database. Then, she would be able to give this information to Li Lanfeng directly and ask him to look through it himself.


    ¡°How about this? You can go into the virtual world and look for videos to learn from.¡± Ling Lan walked to her desk and held the armrest of her chair. She sat down.


    ¡°It¡¯s useless. They¡¯re all videos ofdies seducing men,¡± Li Lanfeng shook his head and sighed.


    So he had this thought before. Ling Lan realized that Li Lanfeng knew what to do. He just didn¡¯t dare to act because he hadn¡¯t perfected the technique.


    ¡°Since you know it, why are you still looking for me?¡± Ling Lan was speechless. Was she an omnipotent treasure chest to herrades? Why did they always look for her when they needed solutions for their problems?


    ¡°You¡¯re the only one that knows this. If I don¡¯t find you, I¡¯ll go crazy.¡± Li Lanfengid on the table weakly. His dejected and pitiful expression caused Ling Lan to reach her hand out unconsciously and touched his pitch-ck and silky hair in an effort to console him.


    His hair was nice to touch. It was even morefortable than touching Little White¡¯s fur... Ling Lan touched his hair again.


    Li Lanfeng smiled happily when he felt the warmth on his head. He even cooperated with Ling Lan and rubbed his head against Ling Lan¡¯s palm. He felt as if he was really being caressed by this man.


    How could he bear to let someone else get this person? Li Lanfeng¡¯s desire to hold onto Ling Lan gotrger...


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s cooperation caused Ling Lan to touch his hair a few more times...


    Erm, she seemed to have touched him for too long!


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know how to end this. Would Li Lanfeng think that she had some weird fetish? Although Li Lanfeng was beautiful, she really didn¡¯t have any evil intentions towards him.


    ¡°Erm... You can still grasp the essence of the videos. Whether it¡¯s a woman seducing a man or a man seducing a woman, the essence of seduction is still the same.¡± Ling Lan retracted her hand naturally. She forced herself to say something to shift their attention away from the awkwardness of touching his head for too long.


    Li Lanfeng looked up and raised his eyebrows. ¡°Are you saying that I should duplicate what they did?¡±


    ¡°I think you can try.¡± Ling Lan felt that the essence of seduction was the same. There should still be some results if he used the seduction methods of a woman.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you find it disgusting or too feminine?¡± Li Lanfeng seemed anxious.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words caused the image of a rough man doing such actions to appear in Ling Lan¡¯s mind. Her body shuddered violently. She felt that it was quite frightening.


    Then, her gazended on Li Lanfeng¡¯s beautiful and angelic face. Her thoughts suddenly changed. She felt that it wasn¡¯t so strange after all.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you try it?¡± Ling Lan suggested weakly. She really didn¡¯t have any confidence regarding such matters. She could only hope that thedy Li Lanfeng liked took a fancy to his face. If not... the results were unpredictable.


    ¡°To you?¡± Li Lanfeng frowned slightly. He seemed to have misunderstood what Ling Lan said. He thought that Ling Lan was asking him to perform in front of her.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Did she say that just now? Thinking back, Ling Lan felt that her words might really cause misunderstandings.


    Just as Ling Lan was about to exin that she didn¡¯t have this intention, Li Lanfeng seemed to have made a decision. He bit his lips and said, ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll try. If it¡¯s really unsightly, don¡¯tugh at me.¡±


    From Ling Lan¡¯s point of view, Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze was hesitant but firm. He had decided that he would do anything to gain the heart of thedy he loved. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what to say suddenly. Was she supposed to exin that he misunderstood her words or was she supposed to give him encouragement?


    ¡°I¡¯lle and find you at night when no one is around.¡± Li Lanfeng threw this sentence at her and disappeared from his spot before Ling Lan could decide what to say.


    ¡°At night when no one is around?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s mind went nk for a few seconds. Then, she suddenly understood what was happening. She eximed with her hands against her cheeks while panicking inwardly, ¡°At night when no one is around!¡±


    Oh my god! Did Li Lanfeng mean that he wasing to seduce her at night when no one is around?


    Blood almost came out of Ling Lan¡¯s nose when she understood what was happening. What the hell was going on? Why did she be his target of seduction? Although this was just a practice, the entire business had nothing to do with her. Nothing at all! Who on earth did she offend for this to happen to her?


    But, this matter didn¡¯t bother Ling Lan too much, as she was soon engrossed by her work. The Kamoda district battle and the reorganisation of power in the rainbow pce didn¡¯t give Ling Lan much time to waste.


    After a busy day, Ling Lan felt a little tired. She finished washing up andid on her bed. While she was half-asleep, she suddenly reached her hand out and grabbed a fair and smooth hand.


    ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re not asleep.¡± Familiar voice whispered beside her ear.


    Ling Lan felt the veins on her temples throbbing. She slowly opened her eyes and said through her gritted teeth, ¡°Li, Lan, feng, you¡¯re really doing this?¡±


    Her gazended on an exceptional beauty standing at the side of her bed. He was only wearing a thin shaw gown. His fair chest could be seen faintly. There was a faint smile on his face as he looked at her with love in his eyes...


    Is he starting already? Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what to do. She didn¡¯t expect Li Lanfeng to start instantly the moment he arrived. She was caught off guard.

 Chapter 1407 - Fun!

    <h4>1407 Fun!</h4>


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t you the one who asked me to try it out?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled ambiguously. ¡°Since you suggested it, I came to test it out on you. I can¡¯t just look for that person directly without testing it first, right? If the person is disgusted by me, I will die.¡±


    ¡°I will not fight a war that I¡¯m not confident in. This is what you taught me.¡± Li Lanfeng sat down on the bed and bent down slightly.


    ¡°But I¡¯m a man...¡± Ling Lan looked at the beautiful face inching closer to her. Although it was enchanting and captivating, her expression still remained calm andposed.


    Hmph, although I¡¯m ady, I¡¯ve seen many beautiful men in my past life as well as this lifetime (even if most of them were photographs and videos). I¡¯m very experienced in beauties. How can I lose?


    However, she was a man now. If Li Lanfeng seduced her, he was seducing a man. Wasn¡¯t there something wrong with this?


    Ling Lan raised her hand and rubbed the center of her forehead. She sounded a little helpless as she said, ¡°Lanfeng, did you get your target wrong? Shouldn¡¯t you find ady?¡±


    ¡°Who do I look for? Luo Chao? Han Xuya? I bet that before I could start, they would raise their fist at me and scold me for being a pervert.¡± Li Lanfeng slowlyid down on his side as he spoke. He was facing Ling Lan on her bed.


    There was a hint of resignation on his face. He seemed to be telling Ling Lan that he came to look for her because he had no other choices.


    ¡°There¡¯s many maids in the rainbow pce too,¡± Ling Lan suggested decisively.


    ¡°Them? They didn¡¯t need to be seduced. With my current status, there will be many people who are willing to sleep with me.¡± Li Lanfeng shook his head dejectedly. It was obvious that besides Ling Lan, there was no one else he could find.


    ¡°Zhao Jun...¡± Ling Lan tried to struggle.


    ¡°He¡¯s still in Kamoda. Plus, he doesn¡¯t know that I like someone. I don¡¯t want him tough at me.¡± Li Lanfeng rejected Ling Lan¡¯s suggestion without a second thought.


    ¡°Then you don¡¯t mind meughing at you?¡± Ling Lan wanted to roll her eyes.


    ¡°You have alreadyughed at me. I don¡¯t mind if youugh at me again,¡± Li Lanfeng said with a smile. By hook or by crook, he had already decided that he would ask Ling Lan for help.


    ¡°Are you not even willing to help me with this?¡± When Li Lanfeng saw Ling Lan¡¯s cold face, his smiling face copsed. He looked at Ling Lan pitifully like a puppy that had been abandoned by its owner.


    Ling Lan felt her heart turning soft. She actually relented to his pestering and told him to do what he wanted.


    When Li Lanfeng heard this, his eyes lit up, even his beautiful face turned radiant. Ling Lan, who was scolding herself secretly, couldn¡¯t reject him when she saw his face.


    Li Lanfeng quickly sat up and stretched his hands out. His hands, which were normally very stable, were trembling slightly. There seemed to be excitement in his eyes as well as a hint of nervousness.


    His hands slowly got close to Ling Lan¡¯s sleeping gown. Finally, he touched a button on the gown.


    With shaking hands, Li Lanfeng managed to unbutton one button. Just as he was about to move down to the second button, Ling Lan grabbed his hands and asked coldly, ¡°What are you trying to do?¡±


    Li Lanfeng raised his head with a confused expression. He didn¡¯t seem to understand why Ling Lan had stopped him.


    Ling Lan felt the veins on her forehead throbbing again. She forced herself to squeeze her words out of her mouth. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you seduce the other party so that they will take off their clothes themselves?¡±


    Did Li Lanfeng get the wrong script? She wasn¡¯t the one who was supposed to seduce him. Why was he taking off her clothes?


    ¡°Me?¡± Li Lanfeng was enlightened. His face turned red immediately, all the way to his ears.


    ¡°You don¡¯t dare to take off your clothes? How are you supposed to seduce the person you like then?¡± Ling Lan looked at him with disdain. Where was his dedication? Why was he so hesitant?


    Li Lanfeng raised his head. His face was still red but his gaze was filled with endless love. He seemed to have immersed himself in his character. Ling Lan felt that he was looking at her as though she was his lover.


    Li Lanfeng tied his thin shaw gown casually at the waist. Ling Lan saw him reaching his hand out and pulling the bowknot apart. The thin shaw gown spread opened and slid down slowly from his shoulders.


    Li Lanfeng looked scrawny but he was someone who looked skinny when he wore clothes but muscr when he took them off. He had well-defined muscles. With the help of his glowing white skin and the mesmerizing face, Ling Lan actually felt her throat turning dry.


    Li Lanfeng slowly leaned towards Ling Lan. At the same time, he raised Ling Lan¡¯s hand and ced it on his face.


    ¡°I really like you.¡± Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan intently. His gaze was a little sorrowful. He wanted to love but couldn¡¯t. He wanted to get that person but he couldn¡¯t. His grief started spreading uncontrobly.


    Ling Lan frowned. How good must that person be for Li Lanfeng to like her so much? He liked her until he felt inferior. Ling Lan took pity on Li Lanfeng.


    Li Lanfeng was always someone who knew what he was doing. Every time he did something, he would make the necessary arrangements beforehand so that he could control the overall situation. He wouldn¡¯t stop until he reached his goal. Besides her, everyone in Lingtian had been schemed by him before. Actually, if her safety wasn¡¯tpromised, Li Lanfeng would scheme against her too. However, Ling Lan didn¡¯t think that it was a bad thing so she just let him be.


    For instance, this time, Ling Lan knew that Li Lanfeng was using her words against her.


    But, she was willing to get schemed by him.


    Li Lanfeng understood this point too. This was their way ofmunication. To him and to her, it was fun for them.


    Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but sigh. She raised her hand and rubbed Li Lanfeng¡¯s head. She wanted to give some constion to the man who was breaking down because of love.


    Li Lanfeng leaned against Ling Lan¡¯s chest. The two of them hugged each other. The atmosphere gradually turned calm. A few secondster, Ling Lan suddenly pressed her chest and shouted coldly, ¡°Li Lanfeng, what are you doing?¡±


    Li Lanfeng smiled lightly. ¡°I¡¯m seducing you? If not, why am I here?¡±


    ¡°I think that your seducing skills are already good enough.¡± Ling Lan pulled away Li Lanfeng¡¯s hands that were trying to take off her clothes.


    She almost lost her innocence.


    ¡°That¡¯s not enough. You didn¡¯t have any reaction.¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t seem to want to stop.


    ¡°What reaction should I have? The person you should seduce isn¡¯t me.¡± Ling Lan was speechless. If she really had a reaction, things would go out of hand.


    ¡°But you had no reaction to my seduction attempt at all. Doesn¡¯t that mean that my seducing skill isn¡¯t good enough?¡± Li Lanfeng said unwillingly.


    ¡°What do you want me to do then?¡± Ling Lan was frustrated.


    ¡°You should at least give some reaction so that I know whether I¡¯m doing the right thing.¡± Li Lanfeng felt that Ling Lan wasn¡¯t cooperative enough.


    ¡°Reaction? What reaction do you want?¡± Ling Lan was getting impatient.


    ¡°What would happen if my temptation worked? Maybe your heart will be moved?¡± Li Lanfeng thought for a moment before replying with some uncertainty.


    ¡°You will go as long as I¡¯m moved?¡± Ling Lan smiled coldly. ¡°Let me give it to you then.¡±


    Ling Lan turned her body and pressed Li Lanfeng below her.


    Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan in astonishment. He didn¡¯t expect Ling Lan to react this way.


    Ling Lan raised her hand and slid her finger down Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes, along the side of his face, and to his lips. She slowly caressed his lips with her fingers.


    When Li Lanfeng felt Ling Lan¡¯s cold finger touching his lips, his body started trembling. He closed his eyes slightly and his mouth opened uncontrobly. His tongue slid out and licked Ling Lan¡¯s finger.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression, as well as the numbness on the tip of her finger, caused Ling Lan to lose her cool in an instant.


    She lowered her head and roughly blocked Li Lanfeng¡¯s naughty lips.

 Chapter 1408 - Responsible?

    <h4>1408 Responsible?</h4>


    Li Lanfeng was shocked, but that didn¡¯tst for long as the feeling of exhration took over his body. He immediately reciprocated the bold act and started kissing Ling Lan back passionately.


    After some time, Ling Lan regained her senses only to realize a panting Li Lanfeng was underneath her looking at her with zed out-of-focus eyes. She panted heavily before finally opening her mouth and said, ¡°Congrattions, you seeded.¡±


    Her words fell into deaf¡¯s ears as Li Lanfeng¡¯s lustful eyes showed no response. Li Lanfeng ignored everything in the world as he slowly inched his fingers towards Ling Lan clothes. He really looked like a vixen that would destroy a country.


    However, as his fingers got closer to Ling Lan, a chilling gaze befell him, the chilling gaze was like a bucket of cold water being poured over his head, he said instinctively, ¡°Huh?¡±


    Ling Lan replied to him by flicking him off her bed with a wave of her sleeve.


    ¡°Based on your performance just now, you can go and seduce that person you like.¡± Ling Lan had alreadyid down on the bed with her back towards him. She expressed that since the practice had ended, Li Lanfeng could now leave.


    Li Lanfeng stretched his hand out and touched his lips with a reminiscing expression. During the kiss a moment ago, both of them were equally as passionate. His lips were a little numb and painful but this feeling was what he yearned for so long. He really wanted to do it again.


    ¡°Ling Lan, you kissed me!¡± Li Lanfeng started whining shamelessly.


    Ling Lan almost blew a fuse when she heard this. The kiss was a humiliation to her. She actually lost to beauty.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you want the answer to a sessful seduction?¡± However, on the surface, Ling Lan still appeared calm. She gave a general answer. ¡°You have seeded. This is the result you should receive.¡±


    ¡°But I didn¡¯t ask you to really kiss me.¡± Li Lanfeng was shameless. He climbed onto the bed again and leaned against Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan turned around and raised her hand. She pressed Li Lanfeng down beside her, preventing him from touching her body.


    Li Lanfeng struggled but he couldn¡¯t break free from her grip. Thus, heid helplessly beside Ling Lan. He tilted his head slightly and smiled as he looked at her. ¡°Ling Lan, how does it feel to kiss me? Was it disgusting? I¡¯m a man after all.¡±


    Disgusting? Of course not. He was a beauty and he did not taste bad. Ling Lan thought about it carefully. If she went back to being ady and needed to choose her future partner, she probably wouldn¡¯t reject a man like Li Lanfeng.


    As expected, she liked anything that was beautiful! Ling Lan touched her face as she contemted. She suddenly realized that all herrades she groomed tirelessly were handsome fellows with unique styles. This was enough to prove her love for beauty.


    Among all of them, Li Lanfeng was the most beautiful. Hence, she had more patience and tolerance for him... If she was an emperor, she would definitely be a bad emperor that indulged in beauties.


    ¡°I¡¯m taking it as though I waspleting a mission. On the battlefield, amongrades, that is nothing to worry about,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently.


    ¡°So, you don¡¯t hate it, right?¡± Li Lanfeng squinted. He looked like a little fox.


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re myrade,¡± Ling Lan replied firmly.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Li Lanfeng was satisfied. Heid down obediently and closed his eyes to sleep.


    Ling Lan was stunned by Li Lanfeng¡¯s shamelessness again. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going back?¡± This was her bed.


    Li Lanfeng opened his eyes and smiled as he replied, ¡°I¡¯m very tired so I¡¯ll rest here.¡±


    ¡°No!¡± Ling Lan replied instantly. If her parents knew that she slept on the same bed with a man...


    Either her father would chop Li Lanfeng up or her mother would happily arrange their wedding for them, and she didn¡¯t want either of those oues.


    That¡¯s right. Although Ling Lan appreciated Li Lanfeng¡¯s beauty, she didn¡¯t have any evil intention towards Li Lanfeng. It wasn¡¯t Li Lanfeng¡¯s problem, she just couldn¡¯t see herself be entangled in a rtionship for the rest of her life. After pretending to be a man for more than 20 years, Ling Lan was used to it. She liked it even. Adding on, her new goal was to be the king of the Lawless Lands, fighting her way back to the Federation with the title of king to return justice to her father. Before shepleted her goal, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t think of anything else, including her future.


    ¡°You kissed me,¡± Li Lanfeng whined pitifully. He gave the look of a puppy that got abandoned again.


    ¡°I said that was just practice, a mission,¡± Even Ling Lan felt a little guilty when she refuted.


    ¡°But you still kissed me. My first kiss is gone.¡± Li Lanfeng had already left any sense of shame behind him. He decided that he would stay on Ling Lan¡¯s bed and not leave no matter what.


    You sound as if you¡¯re the only one who has their first kiss stolen! Ling Lanined in her heart. But, she had to admit that she was the one who took the initiative. It looked like she needed to take responsibility.


    ¡°What do you want then?¡± Ling Lan asked weakly.


    ¡°You need to be responsible,¡± Li Lanfeng pushed his limits.


    ¡°Responsible?¡± Ling Lan was bbergasted. She didn¡¯t know what Li Lanfeng meant.


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s so cold outside and you are still asking me to leave? You¡¯re so heartless.¡± Li Lanfeng shifted his body towards Ling Lan to show that he was really cold. He needed Ling Lan to give him some warmth.


    ¡®As someone in the titled domain stage, he was afraid of the cold? Li Lanfeng, can you be even more shameless?¡¯ Ling Lan was totally speechless. However, she knew she couldn¡¯t force Li Lanfeng to leave tonight.


    ¡°Are you testing my patience?¡± Ling Lan said coldly.


    Everyone in Lingtian knew that Boss never slept with anyone on the same bed. Even her fianc¨¦es, Luo Chao and Han Xuya, had never slept with her.


    There were some people that tried to challenge this rule. Qi Long, Luo Lang, and theirrades once betted with one another to see who would seed. But, they got immediately frightened by Ling Lan¡¯s cold gaze and backed off. Since then, no one dared to suggest this overboard idea, not even Li Lanfeng.


    Yet, now, Li Lanfeng was bold enough to face the possibility of death right in the face.


    ¡°You kissed me,¡± Li Lanfeng said pitifully.


    F**k, he¡¯s using this again.


    Ling Lan touched her forehead while internally bashing herself for giving in to the temptations. ¡°So, to be responsible for you, I have to let you sleep here?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. You understand me the most,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled as he replied.


    ¡°Do what you want,¡± Ling Lan answered helplessly. ¡°However, don¡¯t let anyone misunderstand our rtionship. Leave secretly tomorrow morning.¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡± Li Lanfeng nodded his head happily.


    Finally, he got a little closer to Ling Lan.


    Li Lanfeng closed his eyes in satisfaction. He didn¡¯t let Ling Lan notice his tear of happiness that was about to fall out of his eye.


    Hearing Li Lanfeng¡¯s serene and calm breathing, Ling Lan sighed. Fortunately, Li Lanfeng still thought that she was a man so he wouldn¡¯t do anything weird to her. Well, actually, Ling Lan felt that this situation had already gone in a strange direction.


    To hell with her instinct! Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what the strange direction meant but the hint that her Profound Insight gave her made her anxious and frustrated.


    ¡®Forget it. Everything will work out in the end. I will just take care of the matter when ites.¡¯ Ling Lan couldn¡¯t find an answer so she threw her wandering thoughts to the back of her head.


    At first, Ling Lan thought that she wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep with someone beside her. But, as time went by, she slowly got used to Li Lanfeng¡¯s presence and naturally fell asleep.

 Chapter 1409 - Misunderstanding?

    <h4>1409 Misunderstanding?</h4>


    Luo Chao came bright and early in the morning with a piece of good news from the frontline. She casually entered Ling Lan¡¯s room without wondering whether she was there or not.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Luo Chao had always entered Ling Lan¡¯s room freely so she just went in without knocking.


    There was a thinyer of shaw covering the huge bed, and she saw a figure of someone lying on the bed.


    Luo Chao didn¡¯t notice anything strange so she casually lifted the shaw with a bright smile on her face, but her smile cracked when she saw a familiar yet unfamiliar face under the thin nket Boss always used. She stood there stunned for a couple of seconds, because the person on the bed was someone that should have zero chance being here


    ¡°Li Yinfei?¡± Luo Chao eximed in surprise.


    Her voice startled the sleeping beauty on the bed. The eyelids of the said beauty trembled. The brows of the beauty furrowed, clearing attempting to not wake up from the beautiful dream he was having. However, that was not possible as he slowly opened his eyes to see Luo Chao looking at him with astonishment. He smiled cheekily.


    However, no matter how beautiful or enchanting the face was, it couldn¡¯t dissipate the suspicion and astonishment Luo Chao was feeling. Luo Chao shouted furiously, ¡°Who are you? Why are you on Boss¡¯s bed?¡±


    If Boss was a real man, she might suspect that Boss decided to snatch Li Yinfei over to be his wife due to her beauty. But, her boss was clearly ady. How could she fall in love with anotherdy?


    Well, unless Boss was confused about her gender because she pretended to be a man for too long. But, as someone who had always been with Ling Lan, Luo Chao felt that there wasn¡¯t any possibility of this happening.


    Hence, this person shouldn¡¯t be Li Yinfei. She shouldn¡¯t be sleeping so tantly on Boss¡¯s bed too.


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s you, Luo Chao.¡± The beauty¡¯s voice was surprisingly low. It sounded very familiar to her too.


    The cogs in Luo Chao¡¯s mind turned as she remembered who this voice belonged to. ¡°Regiment Commander Li?¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡± The beauty seemed to have remembered something. He touched his face lightly, realising that his mask wasn¡¯t on his face, he immediately gave an apologetic smile. ¡°I forgot to wear my mask. I¡¯m sorry, Luo Chao. I didn¡¯t mean to lie to all of you.¡±


    ¡°Ah... What on earth happened?¡± Luo Chao couldn¡¯t care less whether Li Lanfeng lied to them or not. She could usually stay calm regardless of the situation, but the impact of the scene in front of her was too great. ¡°Regiment Commander Li, why are you on Boss¡¯s bed? Did you sleep with him yesterday?¡±


    Boss slept with a man and this man was still an ethereal beauty. Most importantly, Boss was a woman... Luo Chao¡¯s mind was filled with these thoughts. She felt that her world was copsing. She almost turned crazy.


    ¡°Boss allowed me to stay yesterday night.¡± Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t help but smile when he heard the question. His smile was full of emotions. There seemed to be many meanings hidden in it. There were hints of happiness and even embarrassment. Luo Chao almost got blinded by the smile.


    ¡°You... you...¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile impacted Luo Chao greatly. She didn¡¯t know what to do for some time.


    Li Lanfeng smiled and asked calmly, ¡°Oh right, Luo Chao, what are you doing here?¡±


    Li Lanfeng proimed his position as the owner of this ce when he said this. He really liked to stimte his ¡®love rival¡¯ at any time.


    Luo Chao¡¯s face turned red to green. She moved her lips but she didn¡¯t know what to say or ask. In the end, she felt tired and just said, ¡°Where is Boss? I have something important to report to him.¡±


    Li Lanfeng slowly sat up when he heard the question. The nket slid down his body slowly, revealing his fair and glowing chest. He wasn¡¯t wearing clothes. Li Lanfeng lifted his hand to his chest to prevent him from getting exposed. He said with regret, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was really tired yesterday so I don¡¯t know when Boss left.¡±


    Tired? What could make him so tired? Ah, Li Lanfeng wasn¡¯t wearing any clothes... What happened yesterday night? Was Boss unable to resist the beauty so sheid her hands on Regiment Commander Li?


    Li Lanfeng told herself that she mustn¡¯t overreact before confirming with Boss, but the scene Li Lanfeng showed her and his words steered her to think in that direction.


    ¡°Erm, I will look for him myself!¡± When Luo Chao left, she stumbled a little. Her expression revealed how shocked she was.


    After seeing Luo Chao running away in a flurry, the corners of Li Lanfeng¡¯s lips lifted up. There was a hint of coldness in it.


    Since he acted, he never thought of giving Luo Chao and Han Xuya a chance to stay beside Ling Lan.


    Luo Chao rushed out of the bedroom. The cold wind outside allowed her to regain her senses a little. She finally had the ability to think of where Ling Lan could be.


    Ling Lan had the habit of practicing in the morning. Most of the time, she would be at the highest point of the rainbow pce, the Purple Cloud tform.


    Thinking about this, Luo Chao hurriedly went to look for Ling Lan. Indeed, she saw Ling Lan there. Ling Lan in a red gown, looking at the clouds floating in front of her with her hands behind her back. She was getting inspiration from these movements, seeking for her next opportunity for a breakthrough.


    She felt movements behind her so she turned and saw Luo Chao. She raised her eyebrows slightly and asked in surprise, ¡°Luo Chao, why are you looking for me?¡±


    ¡°Erm...¡± Luo Chao wanted to ask Ling Lan directly about Li Lanfeng but when she saw Ling Lan¡¯s indifferent expression, she couldn¡¯t say it. She held her breath. In the end, she just talked about business matters. ¡°Just now, the frontline sent back a report. They had a minor victory against an ace mecha n. They won against their domain realm masters too. As for the Kamoda battlefield, they suffered two losses and obtained four wins. Regarding the two battles that they lost, it was reported that the two enemy teams that won made no contact with their base thereafter.¡±


    Luo Chao smiled when she said this. ¡°I think that Regiment Commander Zhao must have found a chance to attack them.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. It looks like Zhao Jun understood what his tactic should be. This is very good.¡± Ling Lan turned and continued observing the changes in the sky.


    ¡°Erm, erm... Just now, I saw Regiment Commander Li in your bedroom.¡± Luo Chao hesitated for a while before finally asking about Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°He¡¯s not up yet?¡± Ling Lan frowned. Li Lanfeng was gettingzier.


    Boom! Luo Chao felt as if a hammer was knocked on her head heavily. So, Regiment Commander Li was saying the truth. Boss really slept with him.


    ¡°Boss, you and Regiment Commander Li... is it alright for you to do this?¡± Luo Chao tried her best to squeeze this sentence out. She never expected that Boss would be tainted by someone... Luo Chao¡¯s mind was in a mess. This came too suddenly for her to process. She couldn¡¯t maintain herposure.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it?¡± Ling Lan was confused. All she did was lend half of her bed to Li Lanfeng for him to sleep on. What was wrong with that?¡± At this moment, Ling Lan hadn¡¯t remembered that she was ady and that she wasn¡¯t on the battlefield. There was no life-or-death situation forcing her to do this so she couldn¡¯t understand why Luo Chao was dumbstruck.


    Did she confirm it? Did Boss admit it? Luo Chao was in a daze. She couldn¡¯t even remember how she bid farewell to Ling Lan and left the Purple Cloud tform.


    Ling Lan stayed on the Purple Cloud tform and stared at the clouds for a long time. Suddenly, she eximed loudly.


    ¡°Did Luo Chao misunderstand just now?¡± Ling Lan just remembered that Luo Chao knew she was a woman.

 Chapter 1410 - Slept Together?

    <h4>1410 Slept Together?</h4>


    Luo Chao¡¯s mind was nk. She unconsciously came to Li Shiyu¡¯s territory, the medical department.


    Maybe in her heart, besides Ling Lan, she trusted Li Shiyu the most. Hence, she came to find Li Shiyu instinctively.


    Li Shiyu was practicing the physical skills of the Li family to strengthen his body. When he saw Luo Chao walking in as if her soul left her body, he stopped what he was doing and checked up on her.


    ¡°Luo Chao, what happened?¡± Li Shiyu asked in concern. It was umon to see Luo Chao like this. As a military doctor, he needed to care for her.


    ¡°Brother Shiyu, I need to calm down first,¡± Luo Chao said nkly.


    ¡°Sure. Come here and have a seat first.¡± Li Shiyu brought Luo Chao into the living room and let her rest on the sofa. Then, he went to the back and poured a cup of calming tea for her. This tea was able to soothe a person¡¯s emotions. It was used to treat people like the current Luo Chao.


    He passed the teacup to Luo Chao, but Luo Chao didn¡¯t even look at it. She just raised her head directly and gulped everything down.


    Soon, the tea took effect. Luo Chao¡¯s mind became clearer and her eyes weren¡¯t as dull as before. They started bing brighter and clearer.


    ¡°Tell me, what happened?¡± Li Shiyu sat opposite Luo Chao and asked sternly.


    It was obvious that Luo Chao received toorge of a stimulus just now. She might have even lost her soul. This was very dangerous. Luckily, Luo Chao subconsciously knew that she had to find him. If she had gone anywhere else and missed the best time for treatment, the consequences were unimaginable (Brother Shiyu, you¡¯re thinking too much. Sister Luo Chao is just dumbstruck. Even if you don¡¯t treat her, she will calm down after some time naturally. The situation you worry about will not happen. You must have made the wrong diagnosis because you were too worried).


    Luo Chao sped her hands together as she squirmed in her seat. Then, she raised her head and looked at Li Shiyu carefully. She was struggling to decide if she should tell him what she saw.


    ¡°Is it about the hormone suppressors?¡± Li Shiyu noticed the hesitation and dilemma on her face. He couldn¡¯t help but think whether it was because he had refused to give her the hormone suppressor so she met some problems that she was too embarrassed to speak about.


    After all, in Li Shiyu¡¯s mind, that was the only thing that Luo Chao would have a hard time speaking about.


    ¡°Erm, it is and it isn¡¯t...¡± Luo Chao thought of something when she heard Li Shiyu¡¯s reply. She didn¡¯t deny it. Luo Chao knew how important the hormone suppressor was to Boss so if Li Shiyu was willing to do something about it, she would definitely grab this opportunity.


    ¡°Besides this, what¡¯s the other problem?¡± Li Shiyu detected that Luo Chao had something else to say.


    ¡°Yesterday night, Regiment Commander Li stayed at Boss¡¯s ce.¡± Luo Chao thought for a moment and still decided to tell Li Shiyu about this.


    If this was true, she wouldn¡¯t be able to hide it from anyone. Luo Chao¡¯s rtionship with Li Shiyu was always very good so she wanted to give him a reminder in case he lost hisposure like her because of his astonishment.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Li Shiyu answered calmly. He didn¡¯t find it shocking.


    ¡°Oh?¡± Luo Chao got agitated when Li Shiyu appeared so calm. She wanted to shake Li Shiyu awake. ¡°Brother Shiyu, why are you so calm? Boss is sleeping with Regiment Commander Li on the same bed. On the same bed!¡±


    ¡°So what?¡± Li Shiyu replied calmly.


    He even saw his elder brother lying in Boss¡¯s arms. What was so surprising about them sleeping together? Also, there was nothing wrong with two men sleeping together, right? Although Boss rarely slept with other people, it was just rare. His elder brother was an exception.


    ¡°Boss is...¡± Luo Chao almost revealed the truth. Fortunately, she realised her mistake in time and changed her sentence, ¡°Boss never slept with anyone. Isn¡¯t it weird that Regiment Commander Li is sleeping with Boss now?¡±


    ¡°Not really. I saw them sleeping together before.¡± Li Shiyu decided to exin himself when he saw how agitated Luo Chao was.


    ¡°What? Luo Chao was bbergasted. ¡°When was that?¡±


    Li Shiyu recalled, ¡°Should be three years ago...¡±


    It had already been so long! Luo Chao didn¡¯t expect that Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan¡¯s secret rtionship had started three years ago. She only knew about it now! Did Boss hide her rtionship too well or were they too careless?


    Li Shiyu frowned when he saw Luo Chao¡¯s look of disbelief. He asked, ¡°Why are you so shocked? They¡¯re just sleeping together, right? Isn¡¯t that very normal?¡±


    Luo Chao forcefully suppressed her astonishment, Li Shiyu¡¯s words made her remember that everyone thought Boss was a man. Hence, they felt that it was alright for two men to sleep together. However, she knew that Boss was a woman. If a woman slept with a man on the same bed, and she did it more than once, it was definitely abnormal.


    ¡°Have you realised that Regiment Commander Li has a different feeling towards Boss?¡± Luo Chao thought that this must have happened because Li Lanfeng shamelessly decided to act. If not, based on Boss¡¯s calm and indifferent personality, she would never do something like this.


    ¡°Different feeling?¡± Li Shiyu was confused at the start but the next second, she understood what Luo Chao was saying. He eximed, ¡°How is that possible?¡±


    How could his immortal-like cousin brother have evil intentions towards Boss? Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t ept what Luo Chao was saying.


    ¡°Why not? They¡¯re sleeping together,¡± Luo Chao said firmly.


    She understood Boss¡¯s character. If they didn¡¯t have such a rtionship, she would never allow Li Lanfeng to climb on her bed.


    ¡°Wait, I need to calm down.¡± Li Shiyu signaled Luo Chao to stop talking to let him calm his emotions first.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s haggard performance was just like how she reacted when she found out about the truth. Luo Chao knew what he was going through so she sat at the side and waited for Li Shiyu to recover.


    Li Shiyu turned around and went to the shelf behind him to make himself a cup of calming tea. He gulped it furiously. He felt that he wasn¡¯t able to calm down with his own ability due to the severity of what Luo Chao was saying. He needed the help of external medication.


    Still, it took him some effort to calm down. Li Shiyu went back to the living room and sat opposite of Luo Chao. He said seriously, ¡°Okay, now, you can tell me everything you know.¡±


    Luo Chao didn¡¯t hide anything.


    ¡°You think that Regiment Commander Li has that kind of feeling towards Boss?¡± Li Shiyu still couldn¡¯t ept this.


    Luo Chao nodded resolutely. ¡°I¡¯m very sure. Also, Boss admitted it.¡±


    ¡°Boss, admitted it?¡± Li Shiyu felt as though he was struck by lightning again. This sentence was even more impactful than everything Luo Chao had said so far. It was enough to kill someone in a split second.


    ¡°Yes. But Regiment Commander Li was the one who took the initiative.¡± Luo Chao directly pushed the me to Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°My... brother... initiative...¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s voice was so soft Luo Chao almost couldn¡¯t hear him. He didn¡¯t expect the cousin he respected so much to be someone that might be denounced by others.

 Chapter 1411 - Stupid Little Girl

    <h4>1411 Stupid Little Girl</h4>


    Li Shiyu felt his world was being overturned. His emotions were in a mess. He looked up at Luo Chao to see a tinge of worry on her face. However, there were no signs of anger. He felt weird so he asked, ¡°You, don¡¯t hate Regiment Commander Li?¡±


    His brother was the third party between the rtionship of Luo Chao and Boss. Shouldn¡¯t Luo Chao be angry and furious at his intrusion?


    ¡°Huh?¡± Luo Chao was puzzled by Li Shiyu¡¯s question.


    ¡°You¡¯re Boss¡¯s fianc¨¦e. Why aren¡¯t you angry at all?¡± Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t understand what Luo Chao was thinking.


    ¡°Ah...¡± Luo Chao finally understood why he was confused by her mild reaction. Right, she was the rightful fianc¨¦e of Boss. Why was she getting stepped on by Regiment Commander Li?


    She pondered for some time. She had never thought about this so when Regiment Commander Li¡¯s affair came out, she was stunned.


    But, she couldn¡¯t tell Li Shiyu the truth so she replied, ¡°Actually if Boss likes him, I can ept it. It¡¯s just that the news came so abruptly that I can¡¯t control my emotions.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re... really a stupid little girl.¡± Li Shiyu felt deeply saddened when he saw Luo Chao taking a backseat in her rtionship. In the past, he thought Boss was someone who would take care of his younger sister¡¯s future but now, it didn¡¯t seem to be the case.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask Regiment Commander Li about it? If they¡¯re really together, I¡¯ll learn to ept it,¡± Luo Chao bit her lips as she asked. She felt a little unwilling, but if her goddess chose Regiment Commander Li, she had to force herself to change her attitude towards the matter. She felt that she could do it.


    ¡°Really!¡± Li Shiyu touched Luo Chao¡¯s hair lovingly. She was too kind.


    If his elder brother was really in a rtionship with Boss... Shiyu couldn¡¯t help but shudder at the thought.


    Luo Chao was definitely not his elder brother¡¯s match. She might not even know how she died.


    After all these years, Li Shiyu had gained some understanding of his elder brother¡¯s real personality. His elder brother was someone who wouldn¡¯t allow any obstacles in his path. If what Luo Chao said was true, Luo Chao and Han Xuya would be the obstacles that his elder brother wouldn¡¯t allow to exist.


    Two days passed by quickly. The battle at the frontline became even more heated. Reports came flying in every few hours. These reports might be about their own team or their opponent¡¯s team. There were reports about the other armies too. The entire rainbow pce was running on full gear because of the battle.


    Logistics was very important during a prolonged battle. Fortunately, the previous Lord Gen had an abundance of supplies, and with Ling Lan getting a continuous supply of resources from Lingtian and the Chaotic Lands, her army had a smooth journey during the battle.


    Victory reports kepting from the frontline so everyone in the rainbow pce were all in a good mood. They seemed exceptionally light-hearted when they did their work.


    But, someone wasn¡¯t happy. As time went by, his emotions got heavier. He would asionally be in a trance and sigh.


    Soon, Ling Lan heard about his abnormal state.


    ¡°Oh? Are you saying that Li Shiyu¡¯s emotions have been weirdtely?¡± Ling Lan closed the file in her hand when she heard this. She was a little confused. She looked at Han Xuya intently.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Han Xuya was in charge of organising the medical supplies so she met Li Shiyu very often. She was quite a perceptive person so after a few interactions, she noticed something wrong with him.


    ¡°Luo Chao seemed strange too. But, no matter how much I pestered her, she just brushed it off by saying she is fine.¡± Han Xuya changed the topic and talked about Luo Chao. She seemed confused. The people around her had been acting weirdly in these past few days.


    Li Lanfeng, who was arranging piles of documents at the side, let out a slight smirk when he heard this. He seemed to think that what Han Xuya said was interesting.


    Yes, Regiment Commander Li too. Han Xuya saw Li Lanfeng from the corner of her eyes. She felt that Regiment Commander Li¡¯s gaze was chilling when he looked at her.


    Luo Chao? Did she really have a misunderstanding? Should she look for Luo Chao to have a chat and tell her that there was nothing going on between Li Lanfeng and her?


    Ling Lan felt her head hurting. This was the trouble created by Li Lanfeng. Thinking about this, she turned and nced coldly at Li Lanfeng who was snickering secretly at the side.


    Li Lanfeng felt Ling Lan¡¯s gaze. He shrugged innocently and expressed that he didn¡¯t know anything.


    Ling Lan was thinking if she should punish Li Lanfeng with a month of training. However, this fellow was in charge of her three meals. If he really copsed from the punishment... she wouldn¡¯t have any food to eat.


    F**k, the result of punishing him was that she would go hungry? Ling Lan felt speechless. She realized she had no choice, but to forgive him.


    Still, she felt that she needed to meet Luo Chao to exin to her. As for Li Shiyu, Li Lanfeng was his brother, right? Let Li Lanfeng solve his younger brother¡¯s problem.


    ¡°Lanfeng, go find Shiyu and show him some concern. Tell me what¡¯s the matter with him.¡± Ling Lan decisively threw this responsibility to Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Yes, my Lord Gen,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled as he replied. There was happiness in his voice. He seemed to be teasing Ling Lan too.


    The moment he finished speaking, he disappeared on the spot. He went to look for Li Shiyu.


    Only Ling Lan and Han Xuya were left in the meeting room. Han Xuya didn¡¯t have to worry anymore so she crossed her arms and said with contempt, ¡°Boss, don¡¯t you think that Regiment Commander Li¡¯s tone is unbearable?¡±


    Ling Lan replied calmly, ¡°Isn¡¯t it very normal?¡± That¡¯s because you haven¡¯t seen how shameless he was when heid on her bed. Once you see that, everything else is normal.


    Normal? Han Xuya started wondering if she was thinking too much. She always believed that Boss was right.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s very normal, Maybe I got affected by Brother Shiyu and Luo Chao. Because of them, everything felt weirdtely.¡± Han Xuya gave herself the perfect excuse.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t know what to say when she looked at Han Xuya. Sister, I was just saying nonsense.


    In the medical department, Li Shiyu, who was keeping records on the stock of medical agents, couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh as he looked at his agents.


    How was he supposed to look for his elder brother to talk about this? Luo Chao asked him to question his elder brother but he didn¡¯t know where to start. If everything was just Luo Chao¡¯s misunderstanding, would he hurt his brother if he asked him directly?


    In these past two days, after calming down and recalling what Luo Chao said, he felt that her evidence wasn¡¯t solid enough, so there was a high likelihood of it being a misunderstanding.


    Of course, this was because Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t believe that his immortal-like elder brother would degrade into such a character unless he really loved Boss. But, in all these years, he never noticed his elder brother showing that kind of feeling towards Boss. Did his elder brother hide his emotions too well or did Luo Chao overanalyze?


    Thinking about this, Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t help but sigh again.


    ¡°I stood here for five minutes and you have sighed three times. Shiyu, what is on your mind?¡± A gentle voice entered his ears. Li Shiyu raised his head abruptly to see his elder brother standing in front of his desk looking at him with a frown with a gaze filled with worry.

 Chapter 1412 - Truth?

    <h4>1412 Truth?</h4>


    Li Shiyu was pleasantly surprised. ¡°Brother, why are you here?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t Ie to see you when I¡¯m free?¡± Li Lanfeng raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°You¡¯re usually busy. If there¡¯s no business, you won¡¯te and look for me.¡± Li Shiyu directly exposed his elder brother¡¯s lies.


    Li Lanfeng rubbed his forehead awkwardly. It looked like having a younger brother who knew him too well wasn¡¯t a good thing. He couldn¡¯t put on the nice guy facade he was so used to.


    ¡°Xuya said that you have been acting weirdtely. She¡¯s a little worried so she told Boss, and Boss asked me to talk to you.¡± Since he was exposed, Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t pretend anymore. He immediately told Li Shiyu his intention foring.


    Li Shiyu looked at Li Lanfeng with an aggrieved expression. Wasn¡¯t his gloomy mood caused by the person in front of him? Now, the guilty person came to question him with an innocent face. Li Shiyu could feel a mouthful of blood getting stuck at the back of his throat.


    Li Lanfeng was a perceptive person, so he immediately understood what Li Shiyu meant just by looking at him. He pointed at himself and asked, ¡°Because of me?¡±


    Li Shiyu replied to Li Lanfeng with an ¡®it¡¯s good that you know¡¯ look.


    ¡°My body condition has been very good recently. I didn¡¯t cause any trouble recently too.¡± Li Lanfeng immediately denied any responsibility for Li Shiyu¡¯s down mood by showing the facts to prove that he didn¡¯t do anything to make his younger brother unhappy.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t cause any trouble?¡± Li Shiyu squeezed the words out from between his teeth.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression was very innocent, he really made it seem as if Li Shiyu was in the wrong instead. With the help of his beautiful and ethereal face, Li Shiyu, for a moment, really thought that he was in the wrong. Did he misunderstand his elder brother?


    Huh? When did his brother take off his mask? Li Shiyu immediately saw the mask in Li Lanfeng¡¯s right hand...


    F**k. Can his brother be more shameless than this? Is he trying to use his beauty to escape the questioning?


    Li Shiyu had seen this face many times so he was slightly immune to it. He got enchanted for a moment but he soon managed to barely regain hisposure. ¡°Brother, don¡¯t try to be evasive.¡±


    Li Lanfeng saw that he couldn¡¯t escape this time so he asked helplessly, ¡°Fine, what do you want to say? Since you think that I¡¯m guilty, you should at least give me the reason why.¡±


    Li Shiyu contemted for a while before asking carefully, ¡°Erm, Luo Chao said that she saw you sleeping over at Boss¡¯s bedroom two days ago. What happened?¡±


    Li Lanfeng snickered a little when he heard this. He said calmly, ¡°What else can happen? I discussed some matters with Boss untilte at night so I ended up sleeping there.¡±


    ¡°There are many bedrooms at Boss¡¯s ce. Sleeping on the same bed... Boss never allowed that before.¡± Li Shiyu was too shy to speak directly.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean that it will never happen.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled ambiguously. ¡°Why are you saying all that? Do you think it¡¯s not right?¡±


    ¡°Boss, Boss, knows your appearance... Brother, if you do this, won¡¯t people misunderstand?¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s face turned red but he still expressed his worry.


    ¡°What kind of misunderstanding can they have?¡± Li Lanfeng raised his eyebrows slightly. His faint smile disappeared and his gaze turned cold.


    The change in his expression caused Li Shiyu to feel that his elder brother had suddenly be very distant. It gave him the illusion that he would lose his elder brother at any moment. Li Shiyu was frightened. He shook his head hurriedly and said, ¡°Nothing, nothing. I¡¯m just worried that you¡¯ll be harmed by rumours.¡±


    ¡°Rumours? Why didn¡¯t I hear about it? What kind of rumours?¡± Li Lanfeng asked nonchntly.


    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s nothing. Maybe I had a misunderstanding too.¡± Li Shiyu didn¡¯t dare to look at Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes. At that moment, he felt that he must have misunderstood his elder brother and that Luo Chao probably misunderstood what Boss said.


    ¡°What kind of misunderstanding are you talking about?¡± Li Lanfeng continued pressing for an answer. ¡°If you don¡¯t say it, how can I relieve you from your doubts? With our rtionship, there¡¯s no need to hide anything between us. It¡¯s better to be frank. Misunderstandings only happen because people aren¡¯t frank enough. If it is not resolved, the misunderstanding will fester and in the end, be a huge and destructive problem. We are both mature people. It¡¯s better if we solve it now.¡±


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s words lessened Li Shiyu¡¯s guilt a little. He felt that his brother was extremely right. Although he believed his elder brother, he also needed to convince Luo Chao with facts. He didn¡¯t want Luo Chao to continue on with the misunderstanding and get constantly hurt by it.


    ¡°Luo Chao thought that you and Boss are in that kind of rtionship.¡± Li Shiyu finally said it.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s fingers, which were holding his mask, tightened a little. His expression was dark. But, he asked in a slow tone,¡±You, do you believe it?¡±


    Li Shiyu shook his head hurriedly. ¡°I don¡¯t believe it.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Li Lanfeng sighed.


    ¡°Because, brother, you¡¯re not that kind of person. Even if he¡¯s Boss, you won¡¯t...¡± Li Shiyu was a little anxious. He got convinced in the past so now, he wanted to make up for it by showing Li Lanfeng how much he trusted him.


    p! Li Shiyu felt a slight pain on his forehead. Li Lanfeng flicked his forehead andughed softly. ¡°You¡¯re really my stupid younger brother...¡±


    Li Shiyu held his forehead in shock. He didn¡¯t know why Li Lanfeng said that.


    ¡°You will always push aside anything that you deem unpleasant, and indulge yourself with a pleasant illusion of reality. But, reality is cruel,¡± Li Lanfeng said indifferently, ¡°How fortunate is the calctive and sordid Li family to have such a naive person like you...¡±


    Li Shiyu¡¯s confused eyes slowly dted as Li Lanfeng started speaking. In the end, his eyes were filled with rm and shock.


    Luo Chao was speaking the truth!


    ¡°Are you shocked?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled coldly. ¡°Shocked that your pure, clean, and strong image of your brother is this kind of character?¡±


    ¡°Brother, what are you saying? Are you in your right mind?¡± Li Shiyu shouted agitatedly. He had already regained his senses.


    ¡°Why are you so agitated?¡± Li Lanfeng gave a mocking smile. He took a long step and came right in front of Li Shiyu. ¡°Actually, you only cared about your Little Sister Luo Chao. You¡¯re just hurt that a third party like me appeared before she married Boss. Oh, actually, I¡¯m the fourth party. There¡¯s Han Xuya after all.¡±


    ¡°You, what are you saying?¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s words caused Li Shiyu to stammer instantly. He lookedpletely nonplussed.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that true? Whenever Luo Chao is around, your gaze will unconsciously move to where she is. When she needs your help, you always help her wholeheartedly.¡± Li Lanfengughed softly when he said this. ¡°You even feel resentful towards Boss because of Luo Chao. Although you tried to hide it, my dumb younger brother, I understand you too well. One look and I know what you¡¯re thinking...¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t!¡± Li Shiyu denied it agitatedly. He would never have any evil thoughts towards his Little Sister Luo Chao.


    ¡°You love her but you don¡¯t know it... how sad.¡± Li Lanfeng sneered and shook his head.


    ¡°No, Little Sister Luo Chao is my family. I treat her like my little sister,¡± Li Shiyu repeated the words over and over again. He seemed to be convincing Li Lanfeng and convincing himself too.


    ¡°Really? In that case, I will not need to worry when dealing with Luo Chao,¡± Li Lanfeng said calmly.

 Chapter 1413 - Forced?

    <h4>1413 Forced?</h4>


    ¡°Brother, what do you mean?¡± Li Shiyu was extremely sensitive when it came to Luo Chao. Hence, when he heard what his brother said, he could feel a sinking feeling in his stomach.


    ¡°The Li family never shares.¡± Li Lanfeng gave Li Shiyu a knowing smile as he nced at Li Shiyu.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s expression changed entirely. ¡°You n to get rid of Luo Chao?¡±


    ¡°If you admit your real feelings, I might show some mercy.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡°Of course, if you don¡¯t care, I won¡¯t bother.¡±


    ¡°Brother, you can¡¯t do this. Luo Chao and Han Xuya are our sisters. They¡¯re Boss¡¯s fianc¨¦es. If you do this, you will anger Boss.¡± Li Shiyu grabbed Li Lanfeng¡¯s hands and begged him earnestly.


    Li Lanfeng struggled his hands out of Li Shiyu¡¯s tight grip and patted Li Shiyu¡¯s head. There was a faint smile on the corner of his lips, and the smile got bigger slowly. In the end, the smile bloomed on his elegant and beautiful face. The entire room turned bright because of his smile.


    The smile that could overthrow a country! The smile that could enchant the entire world!


    Li Shiyu had some resistance against the smile, but even he couldn¡¯t help but enter into a trance. However, he regained his senses very quickly. It wasn¡¯t because he was strong-willed. Instead, it was because there was no warmth in Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes at all. There was only coldness. The coldness froze Li Shiyu awake.


    Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t help but shiver furiously in ce. He didn¡¯t know if he was trembling due to Li Lanfeng or was he worried about the clueless Luo Chao and Han Xuya.


    ¡°Shiyu, based on my rtionship with Boss, do you think he¡¯ll get angry?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and said.


    ¡°But, but, but on the surface, Luo Chao and Han Xuya are Boss¡¯s fianc¨¦es...¡± Li Shiyu could only grab onto this life-saving straw. He kept emphasising Luo Chao and Han Xuya¡¯s identity.


    ¡°Look, you also know that it¡¯s just on the surface...¡± Li Lanfeng patted Li Shiyu¡¯s face lightly. He spoke in a mocking tone, ¡°But, my rtionship with Boss is a fact.¡±


    Li Shiyu¡¯s face turned pale. He opened his mouth but couldn¡¯t refute.


    ¡°You are worried about you Little Sister Luo Chao, right?¡± Li Lanfeng scoffed. He slowly leaned towards Li Shiyu¡¯s ears and whispered, ¡°You will have time to worry about her in the future.¡±


    Then, Li Lanfeng wanted to turn around and leave. However, he realised that Li Shiyu was holding onto his sleeve firmly. Li Shiyu¡¯s face was filled with humiliation and fear but when he grabbed Li Lanfeng¡¯s sleeve, he held onto them firmly and tightly.


    Li Lanfeng turned around to look at Li Shiyu. ¡°Why? Do you have anything else to say?¡±


    ¡°Brother!¡± Li Shiyu shouted in anguish. ¡°Please let Luo Chao and Xuya go!¡±


    ¡°Who do you want me to show mercy to?¡± Li Lanfeng raised his eyebrows and gave a faint smile. ¡°Is it Luo Chao or Xuya?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re both my younger sisters...¡± Li Shiyu pleaded. However, his voice sounded so weak.


    ¡°To me, they¡¯re not. They¡¯re my rivals. They¡¯re my enemies.¡± Li Lanfeng was an extremely selfish person. The only person he cared about was Ling Lan. Maybe he had some brotherly feelings towards Li Shiyu too, and that was only because Li Shiyu treated him wholeheartedly and was loyal to him. That was why he was a little more lenient towards him. But, that was the most he could do.


    Li Lanfeng was fully aware that Ling Lan was the most important person to him. He would never give him up, even if he had to sacrifice himself.


    To Li Lanfeng, Ling Lan meant the world to him, and if it meant he would have to give up on his lovely younger brother, as well as his best buddy Zhao Jun who went through thick and thin with him, he would do it in a heartbeat. With him being so cold-blooded, why does he need to concede to Han Xuya and Luo Chao who were a lot more distant to him. In his eyes, they were obstacles he would get rid of eventually.


    Moreover, since he had already tasted sess, how could he let the two eyesores hurt him any longer? Li Lanfeng had turned crazy because of his possessiveness. He would think of all kinds of ways to clear the obstacles in his path. As for whether Luo Chao and Han Xuya would get hurt, why would he care?


    ¡°Brother!¡± Li Shiyu shouted in agony.


    ¡°You can let go of me.¡± Li Lanfeng raised his free left hand to signal Li Shiyu to release him.


    ¡°Brother, let them go. I beg you.¡± Li Shiyu was too aware of his elder brother¡¯s cruel methods. In the entire Lingtian, no one dared to offend his brother. The most frightening thing was, those people that got schemed by his brother didn¡¯t even know who calcted against them. They blindly came to find his brother like an idiot to ask him to help them, only to be fooled again.


    Li Shiyu suddenly remembered that when his elder brother showed him his calctive side, he never hid from him. He seemed to be purposely reminding him what kind of person he was. Hence, the image of a powerful and scary elder brother was ingrained in the depth of Li Shiyu¡¯s heart. That image breeded terror in his heart when he knew his brother was going after Luo Chao and Han Xuya.


    ¡°You never actually thought of me as your younger brother,¡± Li Shiyu said miserably. The elder brother he was willing to sacrifice his dream of being a mecha operator for, the elder brother that was his whole motivation for bing a military doctor, the elder brother that he treated wholeheartedly, the elder brother who he visited everyday with care and concern, had never treated him sincerely before. The sacrifices he made ever since he was young had be a joke.


    ¡°You¡¯re still so stupid now. I don¡¯t know what to say to you, my younger brother.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled mysteriously. ¡°If I didn¡¯t realise that you have feelings towards Luo Chao, I won¡¯t have done this.¡±


    Li Lanfeng reached his left hand and tapped Li Shiyu¡¯s forehead. ¡°I¡¯m trying my best to tolerate your stupidity because I treat you as my younger brother. If not, do you think you can live sofortably? Look at that stupid Li Yingjie.¡±


    ¡°So, you are saying I should thank you? After all I have done for you?.¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s expression was agitated.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to view me as your brother anymore, I don¡¯t mind. There are no family affections in the Li family anyway, especially for me. I was groomed to be the first inheritor of the Li family so familial rtionships are just a joke to me.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression was indifferent. However, Li Shiyu still detected the hint of self-contempt and disdain that shed passed his eyes.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s heart trembled. He was a smart person. If not, he wouldn¡¯t be able to be one of the best military doctors after he changed his career path. He thought of the person whom the Li family pushed out to flirt with men, the social butterfly Li Yinfei.


    Mind you, Li Yinfei¡¯s face belonged to his elder brother. How disgusting must the Li family be to make this decision of turning his elder brother¡¯s face into one of a performer without his consent? When they allowed people to make fun of and to look down on Li Yinfei, they were looking down on his elder brother too.


    Did his elder brother choose this path because he was forced by the Li family?


    How stupid was he to think that the Li family would let go of his elder brother so kindly, especially when his elder brother had this beautiful face which could destroy a country?

 Chapter 1414 - He’s Very Good!

    <h4>1414 He¡°s Very Good!</h4>


    Li Shiyu started wondering about the inner workings of his family. His entire body started trembling violently. His elder brother¡¯s words echoed beside his ears. ¡°I¡¯m trying my best to tolerate your stupidity because I treat you as my younger brother. If not, do you think you can live sofortably? Look at that stupid Li Yingjie.¡±


    Was he able to live sofortably and choose the career he wanted because his elder brother had formed a pact with the Li family?


    For instance, when the time arrived, he would be the beauty that climbed onto powerful figure¡¯s beds?


    Li Shiyu clutched his brother¡¯s sleeve even tighter. He said with anguish, ¡°Brother, am I able to leave the Li family because you made some promises with grandfather?¡±


    Li Lanfeng was stunned. He turned his head and replied quickly, ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Brother, you¡¯re lying.¡± Li Shiyu said with sorrow and anger. ¡°Why can¡¯t you tell me the truth? Is it because I¡¯m not strong enough?¡±


    Li Lanfeng turned and looked at Li Shiyu. His gaze was flickering and he revealed a hint of helplessness in his expression. ¡°Why do I have to mention what happened in the past? I¡¯m fine as long as you¡¯re doing well.¡±


    So it is true!


    Li Shiyu was enlightened. His freedom was built on his elder brother¡¯s sacrifice. If it wasn¡¯t for the Li family, why would his elder brother be willing to y such a character? He was already Boss¡¯s most trusted aide and one of the best strategists in the Federation. Once he returned to the Federation, he would be able to rise to a high position that had actual power with his own capabilities. If the Li family just helped him a little, being an adjunct in an independent army was an easy task. Even if he entered the 4th Division, he would be able tomand an army.


    However, from the looks of it now, the Li family wasn¡¯t satisfied with what they had. They wanted more. They wanted to control the entire 4th Division as quickly as possible.


    The only way they could achieve this target was to work tightly with Boss. Based on what Boss was doing now, if he was given enough time, he would be able to rule over the Lawless Lands, and with the power of the Lawless Lands, when he returned to the Federation, he would definitely be able to rule over the nation.


    At that time, the Li family, which had an intimate rtionship with Boss, would be able to rise high in power within the Federation.


    Li Shiyu didn¡¯t forget that besides the Lawless Lands, Boss controlled two huge divisions in the Federation. One was the 23rd Division of the Federation and the other was the only powerful mecha independent army, the Lingtian Independent Army.


    Both of these armies were powerful enough to affect the decision of the military world in the Federation. In addition to his status as the king of the Lawless Lands, if Boss was willing to help, the Li family would be able to get the 4th Division they deeply yearned for.


    But, how could the Li family be sure that Boss would definitely help them? With the help of his elder brother, of course. In order to please his beloved, Boss would help them.


    Indeed, the Li family was ying a good game. But, how could they disregard his elder brother¡¯s dignity and ask him to do something so shameless? Even if they were able to get the 4th Division, he wouldn¡¯t be able to clear this stain in his life.


    Li Shiyu felt his heart hurting for his elder brother. He understood why Li Lanfeng always said that the Li family was a selfish and calctive family. That was because his elder brother had grown up amidst all these schemes. His elder brother was even hurt by them, while he got protected very well because of the sacrifices his elder brother made. He was able to do what he liked without knowing all the ns happening behind his back.


    The most frightening thing was, he almost hated his elder brother because of a misunderstanding. If he didn¡¯t realize this, he would be another person who hurt his elder brother.


    He was really a stupid younger brother. How could he not notice the things his elder brother did for his sake behind his back?


    Li Shiyu felt his heart throbbing in pain. He was so oblivious. He always thought that his grandfather really loved him and his elder brother.


    ¡°Brother, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry,¡± Li Shiyu lowered his head and apologised to his elder brother repeatedly. This was the only way he could feel better.


    ¡°What are you sorry about? We just did what we both wanted. I don¡¯t owe you anything and you don¡¯t owe me either,¡± Li Lanfeng said calmly.


    ¡°But...¡± Li Shiyu still wanted to say something. However, Li Lanfeng reacted faster than him and interrupted his speech, ¡°I don¡¯t have any path of retreat anymore. But, you do.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Li Shiyu was confused. He didn¡¯t know what Li Lanfeng meant.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be deceived by your arrogance. I don¡¯t have much time left. Luo Chao and Han Xuya¡¯s ending depends on you.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression was grave. He looked as if he couldn¡¯t bear to do it.


    ¡°Li family.¡± Li Shiyu immediately understood. As Boss¡¯s journey in the Lawless Lands became smoother, the Li family would get more anxious. This exined why his elder brother was in such a hurry to act.


    ¡°Think about it carefully. I can only drag for three more days.¡± Li Lanfeng gave Li Shiyu a deadline. He knew that it was hard for Li Shiyu to make up his mind within such a short period of time, especially when Li Shiyu still thought that his feelings for Luo Chao were still brotherly love.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Li Shiyu nodded seriously. He slowly released his hands that were holding onto Li Lanfeng¡¯s sleeve tightly.


    He had to think about this matter now. For the sake of his elder brother, Luo Chao, and Han Xuya, he must understand what his true feelings were. He didn¡¯t want any of these three people to get hurt.


    Li Lanfeng patted his shoulder and wanted to leave.


    Li Shiyu suddenly thought of something. He grabbed onto Li Lanfeng¡¯s sleeve once again.


    ¡°What do you want to say this time?¡± Li Lanfeng turned around with a helpless expression. However, there was a faint doting emotion on his face.


    Li Shiyu lowered his head and struggled for a moment. Then, he raised his head and asked seriously, ¡°Brother, are your feelings towards Boss real?¡±


    He couldn¡¯t bear to see his elder brother getting hurt.


    The corner of Li Lanfeng¡¯s lips lifted up slightly. There was warmth in his smile. This was the first time his elder brother gave a smile with some temperature in it. This smile might not be as enchanting as the ones before but it warmed up Li Shiyu¡¯s heart. His agitated heart started calming down gradually.


    ¡°He¡¯s good and I¡¯m good too.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled happily as he replied to Li Shiyu with this sentence. This short sentence represented his feelings, his boss¡¯s feelings, and their rtionship.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. That¡¯s good...¡± Li Shiyu didn¡¯t know if he should be happy or sad. He just repeated his words continuously as he released his elder brother¡¯s sleeve. He watched as his elder brother¡¯s figure disappeared in front of him.


    He stood nkly on the spot. After a long while, he gave a bitter smile. Even if they liked each other, the world discriminated against gays. Would their rtionship have a happy ending? Li Shiyu wasn¡¯t sure. In the end, he could only sigh.


    However, his worry for Li Lanfeng and Boss onlysted for a while. That was because he still had a messier rtionship to clear up.


    Were his feelings towards Luo Chao like what his brother said or did he really treat her as his younger sister? Li Shiyu didn¡¯t dare to think about this deeply in the past but now, reality forced him to think about it carefully...


    Li Lanfeng appeared in front of Ling Lan¡¯s door. His lips moved up slightly and he sneered.


    As expected of his stupid younger brother!

 Chapter 1415 - Who Does He Like?

    <h4>1415 Who Does He Like?</h4>


    Li Lanfeng quickly restrained his expression. The mocking smile changed into a warm and gentle smile. He walked into Ling Lan¡¯s room with an innocent and harmless aura.


    Ling Lan was busy with her work. When she noticed the door opening, she stopped what she was doing and looked up. ¡°Lanfeng, you¡¯re back.¡±


    ¡®Yes,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled as he replied. He walked to Ling Lan¡¯s desk and started arranging the files that were in a mess.


    ¡°How¡¯s the situation?¡± Ling Lan decided that she wouldn¡¯t do her work anymore. She leaned back against her chair and asked in azy tone.


    ¡°Nothing much.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s hands paused slightly while he was tidying the files. He contemted for two seconds before opening his mouth slowly, ¡°Our youngster at home is all grown up now. He knows how to be lovesick now.¡±


    ¡°Lovesick?¡± Ling Lan was dumbfounded. She never expected to hear this answer from Li Lanfeng.


    The Li Shiyu who put all his attention in inventing and testing new medication actually liked someone?


    Ling Lan always thought that among herrades in Lingtian, Li Shiyu would be the hardest person to get moved by someone. His entire mind was on his medical career... Plus, Li Shiyu treated this fox vixen in front of her as his idol. He treated his elder brother wholeheartedly.


    Ling Lan sometimes felt that Li Lanfeng disappointed his younger brother. The amount Li Shiyu had put in for his elder brother and the affection he received weren¡¯t proportionate.


    ¡°Who does he like?¡± Ling Lan was a little curious.


    She suddenly realized that herrades around her had grown up unknowingly. All of them were starting to get lovesick.


    Li Lanfeng was lovesick and so was his younger brother. She wondered if Qi Long and the rest of herrades were having this feeling too.


    Ling Lan touched her chin. She felt that she needed to think about herrades¡¯ future carefully now.


    Li Lanfeng nced at Ling Lan and opened his mouth. He seemed to be having some difficulty with telling the truth. In the end, he didn¡¯t say anything. He just gave a long sigh.


    It had something to do with her? Ling Lan immediately understood what Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze meant.


    There were only twodies that had something to do with her. They were Luo Chao and Han Xuya...


    Han Xuya was a straightforward and outright person. She liked Qi Long ever since she was young. Although Qi Long had rejected her and she had set her mind on bing stronger with no intention of solving her marriage problem, Ling Lan still believed that she wouldn¡¯t like someone else any time soon.


    Plus, the interaction between Li Shiyu and Han Xuya was more friendly than affectionate. Han Xuya wasn¡¯t as close to Li Shiyu as Luo Chao. Even if Ling Lan didn¡¯t take too much notice of them, she knew that Li Shiyu was extremely serious when he was teaching Luo Chao medical knowledge.


    Luo Chao was a part-time student but in fact, her medical skills wasn¡¯t any weaker than those ordinary military doctors that graduated with a medical degree. She might even be more proficient than them. As someone who had a midlife career change, this proved how much effort Li Shiyu put in her.


    After eliminating the impossible, the answer was obvious. Ling Lan raised her eyebrows in surprise and said, ¡°Luo Chao?¡±


    Li Lanfeng instantly gave a bitter smile when he heard this. ¡°Nothing can be hidden from you. Don¡¯t be angry. I¡¯ve already reprimanded him. He should be more clear-minded now.¡± He sighed softly again.


    ¡°I¡¯m not angry. I just didn¡¯t expect Shiyu to like Luo Chao.¡± Ling Lan was unexpectedly calm. Li Lanfeng frowned secretly at her calmness. For a moment, he didn¡¯t understand what Ling Lan was thinking.


    How could Li Lanfeng know that Ling Lan was actually ady? The two fianc¨¦es she had were just younger sisters to her.


    In Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, Luo Chao and Han Xuya were both outstanding and exceptionaldies. It was normal that someone liked them. If no one liked them, that would be weird. But, she just didn¡¯t expect Li Shiyu to be the one that liked Luo Chao.


    ¡°Shiyu has always been immersed in his research so he didn¡¯t have any chances of interacting with otherdies. As time went by, before he even realised it, he had already fallen for her.¡± Li Lanfeng ignored his confusion for the time being. Everything must go ording to his n. He gave a helpless expression and looked at Ling Lan apologetically. ¡°Shiyu has always been naive. Don¡¯t me him. Also, this kind of thing...¡±


    Li Lanfeng appeared to be in a dilemma. He said ambiguously, ¡°Maybe Luo Chao gave some wrong signals to Shiyu so Shiyu misunderstood her.¡±


    Ling Lan frowned slightly when she heard this. ¡°You¡¯re saying that Luo Chao...¡±


    But Luo Chao never told her this. Ling Lan was puzzled.


    ¡°Maybe Shiyu was misled.¡± Li Lanfeng changed his words. ¡°However, we can¡¯t ignore this problem. I suggest that we must split them up appropriately to prevent a huge mistake.¡±


    A huge mistake? Ling Lan furrowed her brows again.


    Li Lanfeng lowered his head and contemted it for some time. Then, he raised his head and said apologetically, ¡°We are having a huge battle now. After this, there will be even more battles. We don¡¯t have the time to be distracted. We should nip this problem from the bud as soon as possible. However, if we want to do that, Luo Chao will have to suffer a little.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.


    ¡°Three dayster, the Jin Ship will finish unloading all its goods. After that, it will be going back to the Federation to source for the next batch of resources. Luo Chao can go back with the Jin Ship at that time.¡± Li Lanfeng said calmly, ¡°To prevent anything from happening, Han Xuya can apany her too.¡±


    Li Lanfeng decisively brought Han Xuya into the mess.


    Ling Lan narrowed her eyes. A cold aura exuded from her body and she red at Li Lanfeng coldly.


    Li Lanfeng squinted too. But, on the surface, he still appeared calm andposed. He looked as if he was just giving a normal suggestion with no selfish motives.


    ¡°Li Lanfeng, you¡¯re very selfish.¡± So what if Li Lanfeng appeared calm? Just like how he understood Ling Lan, Ling Lan knew him very well too. One look and she knew what he had up his sleeves.


    Li Lanfeng pretended that he didn¡¯t hear what she said. He continued looking at her indifferently.


    ¡°Li Shiyu is your brother so you want to protect him. I can understand that. However, Luo Chao and Han Xuya.. are my fianc¨¦es and younger sisters. I cared about them too.¡± Ling Lan gave a cold smile.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s face twitched a little when he heard this. He gritted his teeth and forcefully suppressed this heart-throbbing pain.


    ¡°Now, you want to send my younger sisters away because of your little brother... Li Lanfeng, do you think I will agree? Especially when your younger brother is the one who made the mistake in the first ce.¡± Ling Lan stood up. Now, she was like the parents of thedies, furiously beating up the force of presence of the male¡¯s family in an attempt to build a high status for her younger sisters.


    This sudden movement caused Li Lanfeng to take a step back unconsciously.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t your younger brother be punished instead?¡± Ling Lan ced one hand on the table and leaned towards Li Lanfeng. She stared at him intently.


    They were very close to each other. Ling Lan¡¯s calm breath blew up Li Lanfeng¡¯s hair. Because of her movement, Li Lanfeng was squeezed between Ling Lan and her desk. He had the illusion that he was being engulfed by Ling Lan¡¯s aura.


    Li Lanfeng opened his mouth. He was still able to maintain the calmness on his face but his ears and the skin behind them had turned red.

 Chapter 1416 - Rats From The Same Sewer?

    <h4>1416 Rats From The Same Sewer?</h4>


    ¡°What should we do then? Shiyu can¡¯t leave. The resource weck the most in the Lawless Lands is medication, and he is required to solve this problem.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart pounded furiously for an instant. However, he quickly regained hisposure. He then logically exined why he suggested keeping Shiyu back and sending Luo Chao away.


    ¡°If you think it¡¯s fine for them to be like that, you can keep them here. However, I still suggest making some arrangements to prevent any undesirable oue from happening...¡± Li Lanfeng appeared to have understood Ling Lan¡¯s worries, so he altered his suggestion.


    She stared into Li Lanfeng¡¯s dark eyes and said sternly, ¡°I¡¯ll ask Luo Chao for her opinion first.¡±


    For this kind of matter, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t just listen to one side of the story. Li Shiyu was important but to Ling Lan, Luo Chao was equally as important.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze flickered. He pondered carefully before suggesting, ¡°Shiyu is young and easily embarrassed. When I talked to him, it took me a lot of effort to dig that out from him. I even beat around the bush for quite a while. I think that Luo Chao is the same too. When you ask her about this, don¡¯t be too direct. Luo Chao might be too shy to say the truth or she might sprinkle in some lies that may affect your judgment.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Ling Lan half-believed in his words. She never had any gooddy friends in her past life. This lifetime, because of special circumstances, she didn¡¯t have suchdy friends too. Luo Chao and Han Xuya knew that she was a woman but they still treated her like their brother. They cared about her, trusted her, and admired her. However, they would never spill their hearts out to her.


    ¡°You¡¯re her fianc¨¦. How can she tell you these things?¡± Li Lanfeng reminded Ling Lan about her identity. He felt that it still wasn¡¯t right so he volunteered. ¡°If you ask Luo Chao about this with your identity, she might think that you¡¯re going to punish her. Why not let me have a chat with Luo Chao?¡±


    Li Lanfeng thought that Ling Lan would ept his suggestion but instead, she shook her head and said, ¡°It¡¯s alright. I will take note of it. Let me deal with Luo Chao.¡±


    Ling Lan knew that Li Lanfeng suggested this out of goodwill. He didn¡¯t want her rtionship with Luo Chao to be awkward. But, that was if she was a man. In reality, she was a woman, and Luo Chao knew this. Hence, if she went to talk to Luo Chao about it, Luo Chao wouldn¡¯t misunderstand her intention. She would also believe that Luo Chao would reply to her truthfully.


    Ling Lan¡¯s reply was unexpected so Li Lanfeng¡¯s earnest expression froze for a moment. Fortunately, he was good at controlling his expression so he gave a smile soon after. ¡°That¡¯s good. I hope that we can solve this perfectly. I really don¡¯t want my stupid little brother to get hurt. What a pity...¡±


    Li Lanfeng let out a forlorn sigh when he said this.


    Li Lanfeng was stingy with his emotions and liked to calcte everyone, but Li Shiyu was still his younger brother after all. How could he throw this kinship away so easily? Plus, Li Shiyu treated him sincerely for so long. Even a rock would turn warm from all these years of care and concern.


    Initially, Ling Lan wanted to talk to Luo Chao after she finished settling the affairs at the frontline.


    However, she didn¡¯t expect something huge to happen.


    A four-way royale battle suddenly urred on the frontline, and the Kamoda battlefield was uncontactable. When Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng heard about this, they threw these small matters at the back of their minds and focused on tackling this sudden war.


    When they heard that the other three lords sent more troops into Kamoda, Ling Lan decided to send a new mecha n into the area too.


    Ling Lan suspected that this sudden battle royale and the fact that her men were uncontactable was a scheme plotted against her.


    ¡°You are going to Kamoda? No way.¡± Li Lanfeng instantly rejected Ling Lan¡¯s decision when he heard it.


    ¡°It¡¯s too weird that they¡¯re uncontactable. I need to see what¡¯s happening personally. I suspect that this might be a trap,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°That¡¯s a mecha battle. What can you do if you go there? Unless you have a god-ss mecha, you won¡¯t change anything.¡± Li Lanfeng had thought of this probability too, but so what? How could he let Ling Lan risk himself?


    ¡°Although it¡¯s not a god-ss mecha, it¡¯s still an imperial mecha that has been modified by Chang Xinyuan, and that¡¯s enough for me,¡± Ling Lan said. If it was in the central regions, there would be no chance for her to enter a battlefield secretly with her mecha, much less make a difference in the grand scheme of things. However, this was the Lawless Lands. There were many ace mechas here but very little imperial mechas. God-ss mechas were even rarer. The modified imperial mecha Chang Xinyuan made for her wasn¡¯t the best in the Lawless Lands, but it was enough for her to be on top of the food chain here.


    ¡°Do you really think that there are no god-ss mechas here?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled coldly. ¡°Based on my analysis, there are at least two to three god-ss mechas in the Lawless Lands.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t deny it. She felt the same way too.


    ¡°Why do you still want to go then? What if you meet a god-ss mecha?¡± Li Lanfeng was furious. He felt that Ling Lan was taking an unnecessary risk. He was fooling around with his own life.


    ¡°They won¡¯t appear,¡± Ling Lan replied indifferently, ¡°Li Lanfeng, based on your intelligence, you should havee to this conclusion. Why aren¡¯t you trusting your judgment but instead, afraid of the illogical possibilities?¡±


    Li Lanfeng opened his mouth to refute her point, but he couldn¡¯te up with one . He was usually able to remain heartless and cold-blooded. As long as the possibility of sess was more than half, he dared to put even hisrades in danger. But, he just couldn¡¯t bear letting Ling Lan be in any forms of danger. However, how could he tell him that? He knew that he would lose his mind when facing Ling Lan, including the calmness and viciousness a strategist should have.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡± Since he couldn¡¯t stop Ling Lan, he would go with him. Even if there was danger, he would protect Ling Lan.


    ¡°The rainbow pce needs you.¡± Ling Lan would not allow Li Lanfeng to follow her. The battle royale at Kamoda was important but the rainbow pce was important too.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright to hand the rainbow pce over to Shiyu, Luo Chao, and Han Xuya for a few days.¡± Luo Chao and Han Xuya managed to learn some management skills under Ling Lan¡¯s training. As for Li Shiyu... he dropped this subject halfway through, but still as the second-in-line inheritor of the Li family, he had been specially groomed before. He should know what he needed to know. Li Lanfeng knew that Li Shiyu was actually quite good at overall management. Well, at leastpared to Li Yingjie, he was much better at it.


    Li Lanfeng always suspected that all the scheming and calctive genes of the Li family had congregated in him during his generation. Maybe that was why his two younger brothers were so naive.


    Fortunately, they still had their intelligence genes. If they focused on a certain direction, they were still able to be the cream of the crop of that path. This was the only feature that allowed Li Lanfeng to still believe that they were his younger brothers.


    The firmness in Li Lanfeng¡¯s gaze and his unrelenting attitude gave Ling Lan no choice but to agree with him.


    Ling Lan knew that once Li Lanfeng made a decision, he wouldn¡¯t change it.


    Huh? Why was his bad habits so simr to hers? Was this what they meant by rats from the same sewer scurry together?

 Chapter 1417 - Saw Through I

    <h4>1417 Saw Through I</h4>


    The Kamoda district was an expansive area, and every once in a while, mes of war would rage there. Other than the mecha ns that were working directly under the 13 Lords,moners would try their best to stay away from the district.


    However, that didn¡¯t mean Kamoda didn¡¯t have citizens living there. In reality, Kamoda had arge amount ofmon folk living and growing their poption in this district. It was just they had learned to hide whenever arge-scale battle royale began, and they would also try their best to not get close to the dangerous parts of the district. Luckily, the battle royale usually didn¡¯tst for too long. As long as they endured until it ended, they would be able to return back to their homes and live their normal lives again.


    However, not every person who lived in the Kamoda district had this mentality. Some boldermoners were quite fearless when it came to matters of war. The only reason they were living in Kamoda was to reap any scraps of war.


    The Lawless Lands had always been scarce on resources. If anyone was asked what was the most valuable scarps on the Lawless Lands, everyone would say with certainty that it was mechas and mecha parts, even second hand ones were quite pricey.


    It was because of this fact that a new type of job quickly gained prominence in the Lawless Lands, mecha scavengers. Their grounds for scavenging were therge battlefields that frequent battles, and Kamoda was such an area.


    The higher the risk, the higher the reward. In order to earn more money in the Lawless Lands and for their family members to live better lives, even if they fully knew doing this was like reaching their hands into the jaws of a tiger, these people were still willing to risk it every time.


    A group of refurbished mechas were hidden in the bushes, carefully watching the area in front of them. In that t in in front of them was a brutal battlefield. The mechas from both sides were battling for their lives. There were already quite a few destroyed mechas on the ground...


    That was all money!


    The people in the hidden group of mechas couldn¡¯t help but look at the mechas like they were gold. They were now waiting for thest dregs of those mechas to finish fighting before they would sneak out and do their thing.


    Finally, one side of mechas couldn¡¯t hold out against the relentless battering of their opponents, and they made an instant decision to stop fighting and escape. The victorious mecha army seemed to be in a killing craze as they actually continued to chase after them. Not long after, there were no longer any moving mechas in that area.


    The youngest of the group hiding behind the bushes couldn¡¯t stay put any longer when he saw this scene. Right as he was about to stand up, he heard his leader¡¯s stern voiceing from their mechamlink channel. ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡±


    ¡°Ah?¡± The young man was perplexed.


    ¡°Wait for a while and see if any of the mechas moves,¡± reminded his leader.


    In the area in front of them, the seemingly wrecked mechas might not bepletely dead. The mecha operators working under the lords were all quite strong. They were the strongest within the Lawless Lands. As long as they hadn¡¯t died, they would still have plenty of battle strength. They were scavengers and not mercenaries. Everything must be done carefully to reduce the chance of them dying to the minimum.


    The young man understood this point and stopped his mecha from moving to wait.


    After another five minutes passed with no mecha moving, he finally heard their leader shout out in themlink channel, ¡°Move out.¡±


    Around 6 or 7 mechas got rid of their disguises as they quickly rushed towards the targets they had their eyes on.


    The young man had his eyes on a mecha that was rtively intact. As long as he brought back the mecha, he wouldn¡¯t need to work one bit for three years. Of course, for safety purposes, they would firstpletely dismantle these mechas, change them into parts and sell the parts separately. That way wouldn¡¯t expose the fact that they had scavenged them from a battlefield.


    Right as they were trying their best to take the mechas with them, they suddenly heard their leader nervously shout, ¡°Quick, hide. Mechas areing.¡±


    After hearing those words, they didn¡¯t think for a second as they instantly tossed aside the mechas and quickly rushed towards their original hiding spot. Only the young man was there shocked, standing motionlessly. The shout made him panic for a moment, but only made him hesitate for a short while. After seeing everyone else tossing aside the mechas, he also followed suit and ran back to their original hiding spot.


    Right as he finished hiding himself, he saw three mechas appearing from the edge of the horizon.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s only a small mecha formation.¡± The leader breathed a sigh of relief in the channel. Even if they were discovered, they were still able to handle three mechas.


    Bing a mecha scavenger wasn¡¯t something anyone could do just because they wanted to do it. The requirements for such a profession were high to work in this field. A person must at least be a mecha operator. Otherwise, no one would team up with them, leaving them to scavenge by themselves. Although working alone came with its perks like not splitting the profits, it still had a major problem, the problem of not having any channels to sell the goods. For a lone scavenger to sell their spoils, he would have to ask for help from a scavenger organization. However, the price they quote such lone scavengers were scarpspared to the actual value. With such exploitation running rampant, it wasn¡¯t worthwhile for a person to risk their lives and to work alone.


    So, over time, no one worked alone anymore.


    ¡°Boss, there seems to have been a small mecha battle below. There¡¯s still fire and smokeing from there. It probably ended not long ago.¡± After acquiring the situation on ground, Luo Lang reported it to Ling Lan.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go down and take a look.¡± Whileing down here, Ling Lan hadn¡¯t met up with any mecha armies from any of the factions. She also hadn¡¯t seen any battlefields. And now, she finally saw one, she would most definitely go down there to carefully examine it. Perhaps she could acquire some useful information.


    Three mechas slowlynded in the ins below them.


    Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng each chose a destroyed mecha. They knelt down to carefully examine them while also not forgetting to take photos of them.


    ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, the mecha I¡¯m looking at should be one that works under Lord Zhen.¡± Li Lanfengpared the color and shape of the mecha and the symbol on the chest and arms to the database and reached this conclusion.


    On the other side, Luo Lang immediately reported, ¡°The one beside me should be from Lord Demon¡¯s faction.¡±


    ¡°It seems Lord Zhen and Lord Demon¡¯s mecha teams encountered each other and fought each other.¡± Ling Lan looked around and saw around 17 or 18 dpidated mechas on the ground. If it was actually a war withrge numbers of mechas, the final number of mechas destroyed wouldn¡¯t be so low. The only possibilities were that this was a battle between two battle teams or more urately two weak battle teams.


    ¡°It seems therge-scale battle royale is real.¡± Luo Lang sighed.


    ¡°That may not be the case. It could also be just for show,¡± Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t agree with him.


    ¡°A show? But so many people died,¡± Luo Lang was confused.


    ¡°The person of power only looks at the big picture. Plus, if there are enough benefits for them, sacrificing some pawns are worth it,¡± Li Lanfeng said calmly.


    Luo Lang frowned slightly after hearing those words. He didn¡¯t like those types of ns. But, he decided to not argue with Li Lanfeng about that, so he piloted his mecha to look towards another direction. He then saw through his screen some ashes.


    ¡°Ah, there are ashes here. It was blown here,¡± Luo Lang said joyfully. ¡°It seems that there are still people alive who flew towards that direction.¡± The direction Luo Lang pointed towards was indeed the direction the mechas escaped towards.


    ¡®Leave, leave...¡¯ The young man hiding in the bushes kept repeating those words in his head. He was frustrated because he didn¡¯t know why the three mechas were taking their sweet time. It was clear that there wasn¡¯t anyone alive in the wreckage.


    At that moment, Ling Lan¡¯s gaze fixated on a destroyed mecha. No matter how she looked at it, the pose it had was odd.


    Li Lanfeng saw the direction Ling Lan¡¯s mecha was looking. She was looking directly opposite of Luo Lang. He thought for a moment and then piloted his mecha,nding beside that mecha Ling Lan was looking at.


    Li Lanfeng knelt down and looked carefully. He smirked slightly. ¡°It seems there are traces here as well.¡±


    ¡°You see it too?¡± Ling Lan said inly.


    ¡°Yeah, the traces are quite obvious.¡± Li Lanfeng made his mecha stand up.

 Chapter 1418 - Curious!

    <h4>1418 Curious!</h4>


    ¡°It seems we found something by sheer luck that others would search far and wide for.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s gaze fell upon the bushes and forest beside her.


    The leader of those hidden saw that one of the three mechas looked towards their direction and his heart skipped a beat.


    Were they discovered?


    Before he could determine that fact, he heard that mecha that was looking in their direction shouted, ¡°Come out.¡±


    Was it a ruse? Or were they actually discovered?


    The leader was hesitant. He didn¡¯t know whether to go out to fight or continue to hide.


    Everyone else was waiting for their leader¡¯s orders. Their hands were already on the control stick waiting for their leader to give the order to attack. Once their leader ordered an attack, they would rush towards the three mechas and surround them.


    The reason mecha scavengers could survive so long in the Kamoda district was because no one could hold anything over them. The job of a mecha scavenger was a brutal one. They would either take out those who discovered them or escape with their tails between their legs. If they couldn¡¯t escape, they would immediately self-destruct to not allow any information of scavenger organization to be leaked out.


    Not knowing why, the leader of that group kept feeling that the three mechas standing before them were dangerous. He thought for a moment before deciding to bet on the fact that it was just a ruse.


    Ling Lan saw no activity in the forest and looked towards Li Lanfeng.


    Without being given any orders, Li Lanfeng knew what Ling Lan meant. He took out the beam gun from his back and instantly pointed it towards the forest.


    It wasn¡¯t a ruse! They were actually going to attack.


    The leader of the scavengers immediately ordered, ¡°Attack.¡±


    If they hid anymore, they would be idiots. The opposition was clearly going to attack the ce they were hiding at to get them out of that position by force.


    After that order was given, six mechas jumped out of the forest from different positions. They were very well coordinated with each other. They split into two groups of three and attacked Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng, who were closest to their position.


    Seeing this, Li Lanfeng walked in a ¡®Z¡¯ shape and dodged the attack of the first mecha. At the same time, the beam gun had already be arge sword.


    Bang! Therge sword instantly blocked the attacks from the other two mechas.


    The attack was the umtion of force of two mechas, but Li Lanfeng blocked it with ease. Not only did he not budge from it, he also used the force of the block to send the two mechas attacking him to fly backwards.


    On the other side, Ling Lan saw three peoplee towards her. She didn¡¯t pull out her sword but instead, backed up quickly, instantly dodging the attacks.


    How could those three people be willing to give up on their pursuit? After seeing Ling Lan dodge backwards, they piloted their mechas and instantly followed up to attack.


    Bang! Their attacks were finally blocked by arge sword.


    ¡®Did that person finally make a move?¡¯


    The three of them looked past their weapons. The mecha they were originally attacking was already 20 to 30 meters away from them. The one that blocked them was actually the third mecha on the other side of the battlefield. When did he arrive?


    They originally wanted to use their position to their advantage to quickly take out the two closer mechas. After taking the two of them out, they would then go all out on the mechas furthest away from them. That was why when the third mecha appeared in front of them in the blink of an eye, these three scavengers couldn¡¯t believe their eyes.


    ¡°Your opponent is me.¡± They heard a voiceing from that mecha. That person spoke with a nonchnt tone, as if he didn¡¯t see them as a threat.


    Despite the mechas of the scavengers looking so so and even somewhat dpidated, they were definitely still not any weaker than standard mechas after being modified by the top-ss engineers of the scavenger organization. These people piloting these mecha were also experienced ace mecha operators. Despite not beingparable to the elite ace operator armies under the 13 Lords, they were still not any weaker whenpared to operators from standard armies. In fact, they were even a bit stronger than the standard ones.


    In order to survive, these scavengers were much more shameless than mecha operators. Thus, their fighting style was more towards the despicable and dirty side.


    Thus, if their opponent looked down on them, they wouldn¡¯t be angry. Instead, they would be happy. They were used to grasping any advantage they could get, and one of those advantages was when their opponent would look down on them, they would surprise them with unexpected strength.


    Perhaps, the reason the scavenger organization made the outer appearance of the mechas so dpidated was with this reason in mind. It was perhaps that they wanted their opponents to think of them as weak.


    The three of them quickly backed up slowly. They didn¡¯t try to split up to go after Ling Lan. Instead, they surrounded this new mecha while trying to find a chance to destroy it.


    Although they didn¡¯t know why the other mecha didn¡¯t want to join the fight, they still wouldn¡¯t refuse such an advantage for them, right? Were they going to be stupid and split one person to attack that one person? No!


    Interesting!


    Luo Lang excitedly licked his lips. The disy on his mecha¡¯s disy was showing the area around him in a full 360 degrees, allowing Luo Lang to haveplete vision of his opponents¡¯ movement.


    They suddenly pounce towards him with unexpected strength!


    Luo Lang shifted sideways and dodged the extremely well hidden knife from the first mecha. At the same time, therge sword in his hands swung backwards to sh at the mecha attacking him from above.


    Luo Lang¡¯s heavy sh came too suddenly, but the mecha operator attacking from above was a still veteran after all. After seeing the sword shing right at him, his engine throttled to instantly stop him from dropping any further downwards. He forcefully stopped his mecha in mid-air as he prepared to dodge the sword sh.


    ¡°Nice try,¡± Luo Langughed softly. Therge sword he originally swung backwards, suddenly flew out of his hands to fly towards the dodging mecha.


    ¡°Look out.¡± The third mecha was originally going to attack Luo Lang from the ground. After seeing the sword in the air, he could only give up on his original n. He temporarily switched the focus from Luo Lang to the flying sword. He was attempting to bring down the sword.


    Bang! Hisrge sword struck down Luo Lang¡¯s sword.


    At that moment, Luo Lang took one step and arrived next to the location where his sword was struck down. He quickly picked it up and swung it towards one direction.


    This time, he was attacking the mecha that he evaded in the beginning.


    This was unexpected as Luo Lang recovered pretty quickly. It could be said that when Luo Lang tossed out hisrge sword, everyone believed he had lost his chance to beat them. How could they have known Luo Lang did all that to attack that one mecha?


    Therge sword forcibly swept that mecha. The immense force instantly sent that mecha flying. It smashed into the ground and skidded on the ground for more than 10 meters before stopping.


    After seeing theirrade being struck down, the other two mechas actually didn¡¯t panic. They didn¡¯t choose to go save theirrade, but rather continued attacking from two blind spots, one from above and one from below, before Luo Lang could recover from his previous attack.


    It could be said that when theirrade had taken a hit, these two were still able to calmly choose the best position of attack. This type of mentality proved these mecha operators weren¡¯t ordinary people.


    After watching to this point, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but raise her eyebrows. She was now somewhat curious about this group of mecha operators.

 Chapter 1419 - Speaking With Someone Who Is Smar

    <h4>1419 Speaking With Someone Who Is Smar</h4>


    ¡°Don¡¯t kill them,¡± Ling Lan ordered decisively.


    Luo Lang was originally nning on destroying one of the mechas. After hearing Ling Lan¡¯s orders, he immediately stopped his sword mid-sh. Instead, he began to evade the flurry of swordsing at him.


    Afterimages of Luo Lang¡¯s mecha were formed. With unbelievable movements, he managed to escape from the pincer attack of the two mechas from his two blind spots.


    At the same time, without any prior preparations, he used the strength of his arms to execute a True Whirlwind Strike.


    This was considered a special technique which was done with no signs of preparations. The explosive nature made it impossible to defend against.


    The unexpected attack made the two mechas unable to evade in a timely manner.


    Bang! Bang! The two of them were struck by therge sword in the whirlwind. The two mechas flew backwards before smashing to the ground.


    Luo Lang closely chased after them. Therge sword in his hand ruthlessly shed towards the mecha closest to him.


    He chose to sh at the chest of the mecha because he remembered Boss¡¯s orders. The hip area and the cockpit were connected to the operator¡¯s lifeline. If he wished to finish them in one hit, he would choose to hit them either on the hip or cockpit first but this time, he was not gunning for that.


    The chest was where the engine was situated. Once that was destroyed, it would turn the mecha into a giant piece of junk. It was clear that attacking them on the chest was the best choice if they wanted to leave them alive. However, the chest was where it was the most fortified. If the power of the attack wasn¡¯t stronger than its defensive strength, then the attack wouldn¡¯t do anything to it.


    However, for Luo Lang, it wasn¡¯t a difficult thing to do, especially when he was piloting a mecha Chang Xinyuan had modified for the brigade leaders, no, regimentmanders. All of its specifications were not far off from top-ss imperial mechas.


    Luo Lang¡¯s attack was quick, giving his opponent no chance to react. Right as he was about tond his attack, a white light suddenly shot out from the forest. It moved towards Luo Lang¡¯s back.


    A sneak attack!


    Luo Lang seemed to not have realized it as he continued to sh hisrge sword down towards the mecha below him.


    Bang! Therge sword struck the chest area of the mecha below Luo Lang, causing sparks to fly. The armor on the chest of the mecha was instantly cut open, showing the metal parts and wiring with sparks flying out.


    It was a clear indication of Luo Lang achieving what he wanted to do.


    When that white light was about to hit Luo Lang¡¯s mecha, it was suddenly intercepted by another white light. It didn¡¯t harm Luo Lang¡¯s mecha one bit.


    The person who made a move was Ling Lan. Luo Lang trusted that Boss would definitely protect him, and Ling Lan was definitely not going to stand by and watch as his underling got ambushed.


    After achieving the desired result, Luo Lang stomped on the ground with his mecha¡¯s right leg. His mecha then flew up in the air and therge sword in his hand ruthlessly shed towards the other mecha that was preparing to stand up.


    Right as Luo Lang¡¯s sword reached that mecha, arge mecha suddenly rushed out of the forest with a sharp spear. The sharp spear pointed its tip towards Luo Lang¡¯s mecha¡¯s cockpit.


    Bang!


    A loud bang was heard. The force behind the spear was astounding. The entire ground actually shook which caused dust to fly up into the air, lowering the visibility of the area.


    Immediately after, there was another loud ¡®bang¡¯ followed by the sound of cracked metal.


    After the dust slowly settled, the scene in front of them could finally be seen clearly.


    Ling Lan was on one knee, with her right hand pushing down a mecha onto the ground. The mecha Ling Lan held down was iling its limbs, struggling to get up. However, no matter what it did, it couldn¡¯t get out from the seemingly weak hold of her right hand.


    In front of Ling Lan, Luo Lang stood there with one hand holding his sword hilt downwards. The tip of therge sword had already stabbed into the chest of the mechaying on the ground. It was clear that it passed through the mecha and stabbed into the ground.


    In just an instant, these people took out two of their mechas. When their leader appeared, he was also held down by the opponent using only one hand with no chance of fighting back.


    No matter if it was the three mechas that were fighting Li Lanfeng, or the mecha that Luo Lang had sent flying earlier, all stopped fighting immediately. They all fixated their gaze on Ling Lan in unnned unison and their disheveled leader. They could only stand there and watch.


    He was undoubtedly the strongest out of all them to be able to be their leader. However, their strongest mecha operator couldn¡¯t even go one round with the opponent and was even easily held down by them. This difference in power made these scavengers understand that these three mecha operators weren¡¯t ordinary mecha operators. No, they weren¡¯t even part of the strongest elite ace operators working under the 13 Lords... Were they some of the legendary imperial operators who guarded the 13 Lords?


    They were all veterans in the Lawless Lands, so they clearly knew of the exalt status of imperial operators in the Lawless Lands. In reality, there were quite a lot of imperial operators in the Lawless Lands. However, each of them were considered to be their own boss. These imperial operators were known to the public as the strongest individuals after the 13 Lords.


    These imperial operators were much stronger than those titled domain realm formidable warriors. Titled domain realm formidable warriors were at most the guards or butlers of the 13 Lords and were still considered servants. However, imperial operators, other than those under factions, had signed contracts with the 13 Lords to cooperate. Even if one was to join the ranks of the 13 Lords, they would be given the status of guests to the 13 Lords. Not only would they have actual power, they would also be given the freedom that everyone in the Lawless Lands hoped to acquire.


    An imperial operator was enough to take out their entire scavenger team, not to mention three of them. No matter how many people they had, it wouldn¡¯t be enough for these three to y around with.


    Mecha scavengers were people who would lower their dignity to the strong, because they knew what they had to do to survive in this harsh environment. When they realized that they couldn¡¯t win, they wouldn¡¯t waste time and would just beg for their lives instead.


    The leader of the group struggled for a moment. After discovering that he indeed didn¡¯t have any chance to escape, he stopped, surrendered and smiled bitterly. ¡°Duke, I surrender. I won¡¯t try to escape. If you have anything you want to ask, I will definitely cooperate, so can you please let me go?¡±


    ¡®Duke¡¯ was the respectful way of calling imperial operators in the Lawless Lands. It was a show of status.


    While the leader was struggling, he still calmly contacted his tworades who had been struck. After discovering they were alive, being the smart man he was, he quickly guessed what Ling Lan and them wanted from them. This leader decisively chose to cooperate since their lives were in their opponents¡¯ hands.


    Mecha scavengers didn¡¯t want to die unless they couldn¡¯t escape from it. It was because there were still family members who needed them to take care. They couldn¡¯t just die like that.


    ¡°You¡¯re very smart. I like speaking with smart people,¡± Ling Lan said indifferently while loosening her right hand. She then slowly piloted her mecha to stand up.

 Chapter 1420 - Partners?

    <h4>1420 Partners?</h4>


    The leader of the scavengers, who was just given back his freedom, quickly crawled up to a standing position. He looked around to discover that the other two opposing mechas had already blocked off all their routes of escape. It seemed like he needed to put down the idea of running away.


    The leader sighed in his mind and spoke up with sincerity in his tone, ¡°Duke, please ask your questions.¡±


    ¡°Where are you from, who are you, and why are you here?¡± Ling Lan asked the three basic questions. She needed to understand who these people are and what they were doing here.


    With mechas that looked like a mess with patches and spare parts of mechas of other models being jumbled together, they definitely weren¡¯t from mecha armies under the 13 Lords. The mecha armies of the 13 Lords would definitely not have any mechas that seemed so dpidated.


    Ling Lan carefully studied the mechas in front of her. Their mechas looked rough around the edges from all the repairs, however in fights, the power their mecha showed and their defensive strength was not any weaker than the official mechas from the Federation. This proved that behind these mecha operators, there was an expert modification master, and behind the expert modification master was an entity that could gather this many exceptional mecha operators and an expert modification masters. No matter if they were an organization or not, their power wasn¡¯t something that they could ignore.


    The leader of the scavengers hesitated, he was in a dilemma. If he were to expose the scavenger organization behind them, they wouldn¡¯t be able to live a good life even if they were to return back alive. However, if he didn¡¯t tell them, he wasn¡¯t sure whether it would anger these three people standing before them which might cause their death.


    The reason he brought these people out here to take such risk was to feed their families, and he wanted to bring them home safely.


    The leader knew very well about the situation of his underlings¡¯ families. They couldn¡¯t afford to die. Once they passed on, their family members probably wouldn¡¯t be able to continue to live in this dog-eat-dog world that was the Lawless Lands, not to mention there was even a first-time scavenger he needed to be responsible for. A young man like him had unlimited potential in the future. If he just died here, it would be very unfortunate.


    The leader thought about it for a moment, sorting out in his mind about the details he could spill. ¡°We are mecha scavengers. In every battle royale, we woulde here and look for mecha parts that could be exchanged for money.¡±


    ¡°Mecha scavengers?¡± This answer surprised Ling Lan. She didn¡¯t expect a profession like this toe up in the Lawless Lands.


    ¡°There¡¯s a battle royale every year. In every royale, there would be losers and winners. ording to the rules, anything the losers left on the battlefield would belong to the victors as spoils of war. For example, these destroyed mechas would be cleaned up by the victors after the battle royale,¡± exined the leader of scavengers. ¡°We on the other hand would sneak into the battlefield, using the small time window before the victors coulde to clean up to pick a few parts to sell. We would then go to the ck market and exchange them for some daily necessities or money.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have a choice but to do this risky job. There¡¯s elders and children at home who can¡¯t feed themselves. They need us to make money to live, and they are still barely scraping by. In the Lawless Lands, if a person wanted to make money, other than putting their lives on the line, everything else was suicide. We can¡¯t die. The fates of so many people on our shoulders...¡± The bitter sadness in his tone showed that they were forced to do this job.


    ¡°So you mean you found out about this money making scheme identally?¡± asked Ling Lan.


    ¡°Yes.¡± The leader nodded.


    ¡°Your mechas are modified quite well, huh?¡± Ling Lan suddenly changed the subject of the conversation.


    ¡°Huh?¡± The leader of the scavengers could grasp the underlying intention behind Ling Lan¡¯s words in that moment.


    ¡°Although your mechas are visually disgusting, the different parts actually melded together quite well. The modifications done on the mecha aren¡¯t lowering the specs of the mecha at all,¡± said Ling Lan with a half-smile on her face. ¡°And the defensive strength of your mecha is tough even with all the patches and repairs.¡±


    The leader of the scavengers could feel his heart tightening up. At that moment, he didn¡¯t know how to respond.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you know what that means, right?¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°Um, what does it mean?¡± the leader could only follow the conversation and ask.


    ¡°The person who modified your mechas is a master-level engineer. You guys are quite lucky to randomly have such a big shot working with you,¡± Ling Lan said sarcastically as she smiled slightly.


    ¡°Haha, yeah, we really are lucky.¡± The leader could only pretend to y dumb until the end. In the cockpit, he was alreadypletely soaked through and through with cold sweat. It was because he knew he could no longer lie to the opponent. Most mecha operators wouldn¡¯t focus on mecha modifications. How could he have known that this imperial operator standing before him was knowledgeable enough about mecha modifications to see through the secrets of their mechas¡¯ repairs with just one look?


    They were too unlucky!


    ¡°You guys are part of an organization.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t need that leader¡¯s answer to conclude that. From the way the leader answered her questions, she had more or less already confirmed this. That was why Ling Lan said it as a statement and not a question.


    The leader had been afraid he would expose the organization. However, after the opposition made it clear, it was as though a tense string had snapped, allowing him to finally feel relieved, causing him toy t in his cockpit.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t hear a response, but not answering could also be an answer.


    ¡°A mecha scavenger organization. The mechas you bring back would be handled by them. They would then give a certain price for the quality of the mecha you have brought to them... Members like yourselves would then also receive some benefits from the alliance or organization, such as mecha modifications.¡± Ling Lan continued, ¡°This would exin why your mechas had signs of a master-level modification engineer¡¯s work on them.¡±


    The leader of the scavengers waspletely speechless. Just in a few sentences, the opponent had already exposed the inner workings of their organization.


    ¡°Yes, perhaps, you appearing here is also because your alliance or organization had given you the coordinates, and these coordinates would require money or points to redeem...¡± Leader of scavengers went through a myriad of expressions the longer Ling Lan spoke. It was because what Ling Lan said was theplete truth. He felt relieved that he wouldn¡¯t have to expose the organization, but he was getting more fearful of this imperial operator standing before him.


    ¡°That¡¯s interesting.¡± Ling Lan was quite happy. After entering the Kamoda district, she no longer had any intel, and with the fact that she couldn¡¯t get in contact with Zhao Jun and the other two, she was going in blind. She could only fly around like a headless fly and hope a blind cat like her could encounter a dead mouse. She didn¡¯t think they would be so lucky not to encounter a dead mouse, but rather a fat and lively rat.


    It was clear that in the Mecha Scavenger Organization, had intel about the other battlefields, and this intel was indeed what Ling Lan needed the most at this moment.


    There was once a saying that would say that war was fought with logistics, but intel was essential for winning a war.


    Ling Lan put much importance on the intel that could determine the win or loss of a battle. That was why Ling Lan decided right then and there to turn towards a different direction. They would go and meet with this secretive Mecha Scavenger Organization.


    Ling Lan believed that the Mecha Scavenger Organization definitely didn¡¯t just have intel about the situation in the Kamoda district. This was an organization that managed to perfectly dismantle mechas from the battlefield, silently sell them without showing any ws on the markets of the Lawless Lands, and not be discovered by the 13 Lords in all these years. Its power and roots were definitely nted firmly into the Lawless Lands.


    Perhaps, they would be a suitable partner to cooperate with.

 Chapter 1421 - Disappear!

    <h4>1421 Disappear!</h4>


    Ling Lan waited for the leader to reply. The leader tried his best to gather his strength and forced an awkward smile on his face. He said weakly, ¡°Everything I said was normal. Why does Duke think this way?¡±


    Even if he was to die, he needed to know the reason.


    Ling Lan replied nonchntly, ¡°That¡¯s because you were tooposed. This isn¡¯t the attitude of someone without a backing.¡±


    The leader was enlightened. All in all, they were too careless. Lone scavengers wouldn¡¯t be as daring as them. They wouldn¡¯t have left any traces of them, especially when they realised that someone wasing closer. For their own safety, they should escape as far away as possible as soon as they notice someone.


    Ling Lan pouted her lips secretly. She had read many novels in her past life. The situation here was the standard configuration of such an organisation. It would be hard for her to not think of it.


    ¡°The rules of the Mecha Scavenger Organization are very strict. If you take me away, we might never be able to work there anymore.¡± The leader changed his attitude and started acting pitiful.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t reply to him. She just raised her head and looked at Li Lanfeng who was at her side.


    Li Lanfeng raised his beam gun and aimed it at the forehead of the leader. It was obvious that Ling Lan was warning him. If he didn¡¯t agree, none of them would be able to stay alive.


    The leader started getting anxious when he saw this. In the end, he gritted his teeth and said, ¡°You can follow us secretly. We will not be aware.¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t reply to him. She silently disagreed with his suggestion.


    The leader took a deep breath and said resolutely, ¡°If you don¡¯t ept, kill us.¡±


    If they tantly brought them to the Mecha Scavenger Organization, they would forever be on the hit-list of the organization. When that happens, not only them, but their families would also get implicated. The leader knew clearly the methods of the Mecha Scavenger Organization. He wasn¡¯t willing to harm his family members so he would rather end this here. Maybe the organisation might take care of his family since he worked up and made many contributions in the past.


    Although the leader made a decision, he was still perturbed. No one would want to die if they didn¡¯t have to. This was his thought. His brothers were having the same thought too.


    Just as the leader was feeling despair because Ling Lan hadn¡¯t replied to him, he heard Ling Lan¡¯s voice. ¡°Okay.¡± It sounded like a nightingale.


    The leader was ted at the sudden new lease on life. He quickly gathered hispanions who were still able to move and picked up the two mechas that Luo Lang had damaged badly. They also carried a mecha they hadid their eyes on with them. Then, they started going back to their base camp.


    As for Ling Lan and herrades, they followed behind the mecha scavengers secretly.


    Kamoda was huge. Ling Lan and herrades flew for two hours before finally arriving at the mountainous portion of the district.


    The leader was very cooperative. He took a short rest at the side of a mountain before rushing towards the mountain as though he wanted to m into it. Then, he disappeared entirely.


    The other mechas followed the leader and all the mechas disappeared right in front of Ling Lan and herrades¡¯ eyes the same way.


    Ling Lan waited for a moment before controlling her mecha and flying over. By this time, they had all activated the newest generation chameleon system equipped on their mechas. The chameleon system was able to stimte the dynamics of their environment. It allowed Ling Lan and herrades¡¯ mechas to appear invisible while they were moving using dynamic simtion while also blocking radar searches.


    Of course, the new generation of the chameleon system wasn¡¯t perfect. The mecha was moving so it would naturally produce heat. Thus, if their enemy used infrared detectors, they would still be able to notice them.


    However, there were problems with infrared detectors too. Due to the environment, radiation, as well as the heat produced a human, it would taint the environment which would affect the result of the infrared detectors. Among all the tracking devices, infrared detectors suffered from the most amount of errors. Thus, most ces wouldn¡¯t use this kind of outdated and problematic device. They preferred the universal and urate radar detector.


    Li Lanfeng walked to the hillside where the mecha scavengers had disappeared and inspected it carefully. He also used all the devices equipped on his mecha to search the area. The three mechas were well-equipped with tracking devices. They had all kinds of systems, including the heat detectors that were given up by most people.


    As the results of the search shed on his screen, Li Lanfeng¡¯s fingers started flying over his control panel. Using his spiritual power, numerous amounts of data reflected through his eyes furiously.


    Luo Lang looked at Ling Lan standing calmly at the side with Li Lanfeng standing motionlessly at the hillside. He couldn¡¯t help but asked curiously, ¡°Boss, why aren¡¯t we looking for the door?¡±


    Waiting here without doing anything wasn¡¯t a good n.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to hurry. Let Lanfeng analyse his data first. Maybe we¡¯ll get an answer soon,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly. She trusted Li Lanfeng¡¯s capabilities, especially when ites to data.


    Of course, if Little Four was here, Ling Lan would definitely take charge herself. It wasn¡¯t because she trusted Little Four more. As an intelligent entity, Little Four¡¯s speed at solving this kind of problem was much faster than a human. This was the advantage of his kind. Even if Li Lanfeng¡¯s talent in virtual data exceeded the boundaries of a human, whenpared to Little Four who was an amalgamation of data himself, he was iparable.


    They didn¡¯t have to wait too long as Li Lanfeng¡¯s stable voice was heard. ¡°I found it.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± Luo Lang was impatient so he asked anxiously.


    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s simr to our chameleon system. There¡¯s a door here but the door is disguised as part of the mountain,¡± Li Lanfeng exined.


    ¡°So we just m into it directly?¡± Luo Lang was excited to try.


    ¡°Well, if you want to alert the people inside, you can do that,¡± Li Lanfeng mocked him.


    ¡°I see. Is there a mechanism here or do we need a passcode to open the door?¡± Luo Lang appeared enlightened. He was a little slow so he didn¡¯t realize that Li Lanfeng was teasing him.


    Li Lanfeng took a deep breath. Sometimes, talking to simple-minded people wasn¡¯t very fun.


    He turned and said to Ling Lan, ¡°I¡¯ve already deciphered the passcode. However, I¡¯m not sure about the situation behind the door. Do you think they will take the chance toy an ambush or they may have gone to inform the Mecha Scavenger Organization directly?¡±


    ¡°They won¡¯t inform the organization. They will nevery an ambush too.¡± Ling Lan shook her head. ¡°If they do that, they will just expose themselves. They had already shown they rather die than to get exposed. Now, they won¡¯t do it either.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just worried that there might be guards behind the door.¡± Ling Lan was more worried about this. Once the door was opened, if there were guards inside, they would definitely be discovered.


    Before she understood how deep the waters of the Mecha Scavenger Organization was, Ling Lan didn¡¯t want to alert her enemies.


    ¡°We can only take the risk,¡± Li Lanfeng said calmly.


    ¡°Of course. We can¡¯t give up halfway.¡± Ling Lan had her worries but this wouldn¡¯t affect her initial decision. However, when she was executing her n, she would try her best to think of all the dangers so that they would be well-prepared.

 Chapter 1422 - Evolved!

    <h4>1422 Evolved!</h4>


    The three of them knew that once they entered through the door, they might be walking into a lion¡¯s den. But, they were all soldiers who had fought through many hard-fought battles. This slight problem wasn¡¯t enough to stop them from achieving their goal, which was to obtain more intel about the situation in the Kamoda district.


    Ling Lan nodded at Li Lanfeng. After being given the approval to go forward, Li Lanfeng touched the hillside and told Ling Lan and Luo Lang, ¡°Follow behind me closely.¡±


    After he finished speaking, he took a huge step and entered the door. Ling Lan followed him without any hesitation. Luo Lang brought up the rear.


    The three of them rushed towards the hillside. Then, they disappeared mysteriously.


    The moment they entered through the hillside, all they saw an extremely expansive tunnel. Luckily, there were no guards but Ling Lan quickly noticed that there were numerous surveince cameras hidden behind the ceiling of the tunnel.


    Fortunately, Ling Lan and herrades had turned on the chameleon system beforeing in. The moment they entered the tunnel, the chameleon system almost instantaneously changed the colour of the mecha ording to its surroundings, allowing the mechas to blend with the background of the environment. This might be useless against perceptive domain realm masters but it was enough to tackle these rigid machines.


    Still, to keep the energy fluctuations to the minimum, the three of them changed their mecha control system to manual mode. While doing so, they switch the full throttle mode of their engine to the less energy consuming mode, minimal energy mode.


    In minimal energy mode, besides the energy needed to ensure that the mecha systems continued working, all the ease of use functions were turned off. The movement of the mecha relied entirely on manual control.


    This kind of control would allow the heat emission of the mecha to get close to zero, preventing them from being caught by infrared detectors.


    ¡°Boss, there¡¯s aser security system in the tunnel.¡± Luo Lang activated his radar scanner and saw multiple red lines scattered in the tunnel. They formed aplex structure with almost no holes, essentially forming arge web over the entire tunnel.


    ¡°Let¡¯s test your fundamental skill,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. After saying that, she maneuvered her mecha through theser web with much agility.


    ¡°Haha, how can I be beaten by this?¡± Luo Lang was unwilling to admit defeat so he followed Ling Lan and passed through the web withparable amounts of agility.


    Li Lanfeng shook his head and followed behind them.


    Actually, in their eyes, this kind of defensive system was nothing to them. They were able to pass through it even when they were in their second or third year of being a scout.


    They were so easy to intrude that the Federation gave up this kind of defensive system centuries ago. Most would only see this kind of low-level defensive systems in their history lessons. Yet, in the Lawless Lands, this system still existed. So, it was quite an interesting experience to Ling Lan and herrades who were able to see and experience it personally for themselves.


    Although this was an easy obstacle, the three of them didn¡¯t getcent. Instead, they became even more cautious the more they got deeper into the tunnel. The simpler something seemed, the moreplicated it might be. Luo Lang might not think this way but Ling Lan, who liked to think deeper into matters, and Li Lanfeng, who naturally liked to overthink, definitely thought about this possibility.


    Luckily, no problems urred during their journey. The three of them came to the exit sessfully. However, to their surprise, they saw many guard mechas there.


    Ling Lan was surprised for a moment. But, soon, she understood why the other party made this arrangement.


    The best time to ambush someone was when they just entered through the door. But, it was also the hardest time for the guards to differentiate a friend from a foe, especially when people entered through the door using the passcode. The guards wouldn¡¯t be able to make an urate judgment instantly. By the time they could differentiate the enemy, it would be toote to attack them.


    The enemy however, wouldn¡¯t need to make such judgment. They could just start shooting blindly the moment they entered through the door. The result was clear. Before the guards at the door could react, they would be killed by their enemies.


    To prevent these unnecessary deaths from happening, the Mecha Scavenger Organization shifted their guards to the exit. They also ced some surveince equipment and a low-levelser defensive system in the tunnel. This would give the guards enough time to understand the situation inside the tunnel and prepare themselves.


    Once intruders were found, they would be attacked in all directions when they reached the exit. In this case, the intruders would be the ones who didn¡¯t have the time to react, not the guards.


    This was a good arrangement. But, there was a major weakness. The guards were too dependent on the surveince equipment, if they couldn¡¯t detect the intruders like them, they could easily bypass every security checkpoint.


    ¡°They are the scavengers from a moment ago,¡± Li Lanfeng reminded them through their earpiece.


    ¡°Boss, what do we do?¡± Luo Lang always listened to Boss¡¯s orders.


    ¡°Don¡¯t stop. Pass through them directly. Don¡¯t alert the guards.¡± While Ling Lan gave her order, her hands didn¡¯t stop moving. She controlled her mecha to fly towards the exit.


    Luo Lang didn¡¯t understand why they were doing this but he was someone who firmly believed in Boss¡¯s orders. Thus, he instantly executed the order and followed behind Ling Lan¡¯s footsteps.


    Li Lanfeng thought for a split second and roughly understood the meaning of Ling Lan¡¯s order. He smiled and followed them decisively.


    The leader who brought them in was discussing something with the chief of the guards. Mechas had their own personal channels so Ling Lan and herrades couldn¡¯t hear what they were saying. But, she could tell that the mechas weren¡¯t on their guards.


    This showed that the leader didn¡¯t betray them.


    This was why Ling Lan dared to fly past them. The guards didn¡¯t notice them and the leader who brought them in had attracted the attention of the guards. This was definitely a good chance for them to sneak in.


    However, it was extremely difficult to find a way to sneak past these mechas which were standing disorderly. There might not be an easy route to go pass them.


    The distance between each mecha might not be big enough for a mecha to pass through. It meant that there was no way they could smuggle themselves in.


    In reality, this was what happened.


    The mechas looked as though they just chose to stand in their positions casually but if you looked at them carefully, you would see that all their positions were extremely nned out. No matter which route you take, you would reach a dead end.


    The person who arranged this arrangement was an expert.


    Li Lanfeng, who was good at scheming, noticed the problem the moment he got near the mechas. When he saw that, the spark in his eyes lit up.


    At this moment, many different routes appeared in his mind. However, all of them were immediately eliminated.


    ¡®Is there a way through?¡¯


    Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan¡¯s mecha from the corner of his eyes. She passed the first set of mecha without any hesitation. When Li Lanfeng saw that, he calmed himself down.


    There must be a way!


    He knew that Ling Lan wasn¡¯t someone who acted rashly or bet on something that was unwinnable.


    Where was it? Why couldn¡¯t he see it?


    Li Lanfeng always knew that there was a distance between Ling Lan and him. He thought that the distance between them had shortened but in that instant just now, he felt that the distance was still as vast as the ocean.


    How can I be left behind by you again?


    Li Lanfeng was extremely frightened of being left behind. Suddenly, his eyes turned ck entirely.


    The pupil of his eye expanded without any limit until it devoured all the white parts of his eyes, looking as if his eyes had turned into ck holes.


    Li Lanfeng was currently looking at a four-dimensional world. The passages around him and the mechas in front of him all turned into lines. They criss-crossed each other. It looked like a minor virtual world.

 Chapter 1423 - No!

    <h4>1423 No!</h4>


    ¡°This is...¡± Li Lanfeng was dumbstruck but he immediately understood what was happening. This should be a sign that his spectre abilities were evolving. Although he didn¡¯t know what would be the new function, evolution was still a good thing.


    But, the next second, he knew what it could do.


    Deduction!


    In this minor virtual world, a few routes started to map out in his head. These were routes he had deduced. However, this didn¡¯t mean that all the paths were urate and safe. A deduction was just an inference he made based on the situation. It might still be slightly different from the reality. Whether he was able to find the most urate path out of all these routes depended on his own judgment.


    This evolution just allowed him to visualize the best routes he could think of. It didn¡¯t give him the final answer. He still had to rely on himself to make the ultimate decision.


    This was an example of how different innate talents could be. Ling Lan¡¯s Profound Insight was able to give her a clear answer right from the start. As it evolved slowly, it¡¯s ability got scarier. Sometimes, even Ling Lan found it difficult to control her own innate talent.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t have the time to slowly make his judgment. So many things were pushed towards his te but all these happened within a blink of an eye, and Li Lanfeng needed to choose his route immediately.


    There was no time topare and stimte the routes. Reality forced Li Lanfeng to make his decision the instant he saw the image.


    In the end, he still relied on his instinct. He chose the path his intuition told him to.


    This proved why Qi Long¡¯s Animal Instinct was one of the best innate talents for mecha operators even though it sounded so unreliable. All the different divisions were fighting to get him.


    During a crucial moment, there was no time for you to think too much. It was a life-or-death situation. In such situations, only innate talents like Animal Instinct would allow you to see an opportunity in an instant. Mecha operators that were able to sense danger could live longer. Mecha operators would only be useful if they were able to survive.


    Li Lanfeng was very decisive. It could even be said that he was more decisive than 99.9999...% of the people in the world. If he had to admit that he was weaker than someone, it would only be Ling Lan.


    Li Lanfeng was able to live well in the Li family and have such a good life because of his emotionless and cold-blooded heart.


    There were many devious people in the world, especially in the Li family. They were born with this trait in their blood. They mightck hot-headed and naive people but people like Li Lanfeng? They came in masses.


    But, as long as he was a human, he would have something he treasured. In that case, he would have a weakness, and that weakness could be easily used against him.


    The people of the Li family more or less had things they treasured. For instance, the family head of the Li family viewed prospering and passing on the legacy of the Li family as his responsibility. In order to do this, he was willing to make numerous devious ns. He even started his plot more than twenty years ago just to increase the chance of it happening. However, this was the reason why Li Lanfeng was able to catch onto his weakness and used it as leverage to get what he wanted.


    For instance, Li Shiyu treasured his brotherhood with Li Lanfeng. Thus, under Li Lanfeng¡¯s guidance, he went on a path he would never have taken in the past. Not only that, having a military doctor as his younger brother added more security to his health. At the same time, Li Lanfeng managed to get rid of a powerful opponent fighting with him for the title of the family head.


    Another example, Li Yingjie was the third-in-line sessor of the Li family, but he grew up to be an impulsive and typical rich second-generation youth. Without Li Lanfeng¡¯s secret doings and his ns to groom Li Yingjie into a big bully, do you believe that the Li family, who was the master of schemes, would raise such a naive and stupid sessor?


    Of course, we wouldn¡¯t know if there were other members of the Li family who helped to push Li Lanfeng¡¯s ns.


    But, Li Lanfeng knew who had helped him. If he was able to use someone else¡¯s hands to get rid of an opponent silently, he was happy to do it.


    In Li Lanfeng¡¯s heart, Li Yingjie was just a stranger that had the same surname as him. That was it.


    What if they were brothers, so what? He was able to scheme against Li Shiyu, the person who loved and trusted him deeply, mercilessly. So, there was no way he would treat Li Yingjie, someone who he had never even seen before, any better.


    What worsened the situation back then was the fact that Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t care about anything, even himself. Hence, he would use himself as leverage in an argument too. He never showed mercy even when it came to plots about himself, so what kind of virtuous soul did he need to have to not treat others harsher than how he treated himself.


    Back then, Li Lanfeng literally had no weakness. Hence, in the Li family, every step he made was stable and urate, and in the end, he got what he wanted.


    But, he was still unable to break the curse of fate. He met Ling Lan who introduced him to the beautiful world. But, simultaneously, Ling Lan gave him a fatal weakness.


    Li Lanfeng tried his best to get rid of this weakness in the past, but he lost. He lost hard.


    Li Lanfeng had a weakness now but it only surfaced when Ling Lan¡¯s safety was in jeopardy. As long as it didn¡¯t affect her safety, Li Lanfeng was still the same Li Lanfeng.


    Obviously, everything said above had nothing to do with what was happening now. In that minor virtual world, Li Lanfeng was extremely calm and he made a decision in an instant.


    It wasn¡¯t an obvious route. There were at least four other routes that looked much safer than this one. However, Li Lanfeng was instinctively drawn to it when he firstid his eyes on it.


    Almost at the same time, his mecha appeared in his virtual world. Then, multiple split screens were disyed in front of him showing each position he was supposed to move. The split screens were analysing the steps and methods he needed to operate his mecha as well as the sess rate of these movements.


    At this moment, Ling Lan, who was the first to make the move, had already evaded the mechas of the scavengers. She sessfully passed the first set of mechas of the guards.


    Ling Lan was invisible to the human eye. She also stopped all unnecessary heat production. But, the wind produced when she was flying past the mechas still existed.


    Without a doubt, it was up to the piloting skills of the mecha operator to ensure that the winds generated wouldn¡¯t alert the sensors on the guards.


    This kind of close-distance phasing maneuver was definitely considered a ¡®god-ss¡¯ piloting skill. Let¡¯s not talk about ace mecha masters. Even imperial operators might not dare to bet that they would be sessful.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mecha piloting skills were undoubtedly perfect. Under her control, the wind caused by her mecha was negligible. It wouldn¡¯t even be noticed by the mecha that was just beside her. Thus, the ones further away wouldn¡¯t detect her too.


    Luo Lang followed behind Ling Lan closely.


    Now, the Luo Lang in control wasn¡¯t just the normal Luo Lang.


    It was impossible for Luo Lang¡¯s primary personality to keep up with Boss¡¯s pace.


    Luo Lang knew this and the calm personality knew this too. Hence, the moment Ling Lan moved, Luo Lang and the calm personality merged instantaneously.


    The first answer the calm personality gave after merging was synchronised simtion.


    They would copy Ling Lan¡¯s piloting, his route, and his movements exactly to pass through.


    ¡°No!¡±


    Suddenly, both Luo Lang and the calm personality realised a huge mistake.


    Luo Lang couldn¡¯t keep up with Boss¡¯s hand speed. At the same time, his spiritual power was weaker too. It was only weaker by a little bit but this stopped him frompletely copying Ling Lan¡¯s movement.


    Both of them knew what the result would be. They would be exposed.

 Chapter 1424 - Not One Less

    <h4>1424 Not One Less</h4>


    In the cockpit, cold sweat covered Luo Lang¡¯s body in an instant. Whether it was the primary personality or the calm personality, they could only watch as their mecha failed to pass through the gap between the guards. Their movements were too big. Their mecha slid towards one of the guards at the side.


    ¡°No!¡±


    Not only was the primary personality unable to ept this reality, but the calm personality also couldn¡¯t ept it too.


    Although there were different personalities, all of them had a simrity. They didn¡¯t ept failure.


    ¡°There¡¯s still a chance.¡±


    This strong belief stimted Luo Lang. His eyes widened and his hand speed, which had already reached the maximum, instantly elerated again. At that moment, it was actuallyparable to Ling Lan¡¯s hand speed.


    The primary personality and the calm personality were entirely focused so they didn¡¯t realise that while they were unwilling to ept defeat and were looking for an opportunity to break through, the two personalities reached the same resonance. They managed to merge perfectly. This Luo Lang wasn¡¯t abination of the primary personality and the calm personality. It was an entirely new Luo Lang.


    This new Luo Lang had the calmness of the calm personality and the powerful mecha piloting skills of the primary personality. Because these two personalities merged perfectly, Luo Lang¡¯s spiritual power, which didn¡¯t reach the requirements just now, increased immediately to the point where he could execute Ling Lan¡¯s movements.


    ¡°Let me pass!¡± Luo Lang gritted his teeth as his fingers created afterimages as it moved through the control panel. Luo Lang should have felt an immense backsh from going this fast but currently, Luo Lang felt nothing. There was only Boss in his eyes. While he watched Boss elegantly phasing through the various mechas, he was mimicking Boss¡¯s movement with almost a 100 percent uracy.


    Luo Lang¡¯s mecha barely scraped by his opponent¡¯s mecha. At the most crucial moment, Luo Lang seeded.


    Luo Lang waspletely honed in on Ling Lan so he didn¡¯t have the time to feel happy. He needed to follow behind Boss¡¯s footsteps closely to get by the next set of guards.


    At the back, Li Lanfeng, who noticed Luo Lang¡¯s almost miraculous movement, narrowed his eyes. He was very observant so it was natural that he noticed that Luo Lang had gotten stronger in that split second.


    Actually, when he saw Luo Lang following Ling Lan¡¯s actions, Li Lanfeng already knew what Luo Lang wanted to do.


    He had thought Luo Lang was going to fail.


    When Luo Lang almost alerted the guards, Li Lanfeng almost had a heart attack. But, before he could provide help, Luo Lang managed to evade the mecha sessfully.


    His instantaneous shift in movement proved that the current Luo Lang was more powerful than the Luo Lang a moment ago.


    ¡°I can¡¯t lose.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s ck eyes turned even darker and deeper.


    About Ling Lan¡¯s maneuvers, Li Lanfeng felt that he had enough spiritual power to execute it. However, his hand speed, due to his physical constitution, had always limited his improvement. Although he managed to solve his physical constitution problem after meeting Ling Lan, he had already missed the prime time to grow stronger. Thus, his body still restricted his growth.


    In actual fact, in Lingtian, Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha piloting skill was seventh out of all the mecha operators.


    Ling Lan hadid the foundations for Qi Long and Luo Lang¡¯s mecha piloting future. With the help of their amazing talent, there was nothing much to say about their hand speed. They were the top two within Lingtian. The two vicemanders, Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi, Brigade Leader Gu, and Li Lanfeng¡¯s best buddy, Zhao Jun, all had faster hand speeds than Li Lanfeng.


    What about Ling Lan?


    Was Ling Lan even a human? This ranking was only for humans.


    Of course, having quick hands didn¡¯t represent your real mecha piloting ability. If they really had a fight, Li Lanfeng might not lose to the people who were ranked higher than him. In Lingtian, there were two people recognised as the most difficult opponents. They were Qi Long and Li Lanfeng.


    Qi Long was hard to fight with because he would get stronger and crazier as the fight went on. He was like an unkible cockroach. This teasing nickname had been following him for a long time was validated even more the more they spent time with him. Although many people from Lingtian still didn¡¯t know who or what a cockroach was, since their boss said it, it must be a very strong person or animal, right?


    Imagine fighting an undying opponent. What could you do to him? You would only get more and more tired the more you fought him. In the end, there would only be one thought in your mind, why hasn¡¯t it ended yet? Fine, I think I should just admit defeat.


    As for Li Lanfeng, no one knew how to fight with him yet. Every single move he made always looked like a trap. If you guard against it, it might be nothing. If you don¡¯t, fine, a punch wasing right at your face. The longer you fought with him, the more frustrated you would get before finally, you wouldn¡¯t feel like fighting anymore. Ahh! I got fooled again! I admit defeat! I give up! Please let me go!


    Hence, even if Li Lanfeng had suddenly evolved sessfully like Luo Lang, based on his limiting hand speed, he wouldn¡¯t be able to jump and leap like him. He could at most be as fast as Qi Long, and that was his best already.


    This was the hard truth of the limitations of physical constitution. It was like a natural chasmid in front of Li Lanfeng.


    His crippling physical constitution forced Li Lanfeng to find other ways to catch up with Ling Lan, and because of his earlier efforts, he finally managed to evolve in that opportune moment.


    On the bright side, Li Lanfeng¡¯s spiritual power was stronger than Ling Lan. Using that and his evolved innate talent to his advantage, he managed to find a new route using his spiritual power. This route didn¡¯t require any heaven-defying technique like what Ling Lan was doing. It was just a seemingly useless ability. But, Li Lanfeng knew that this was what he wanted now. This ability could help him make more of his limited hand speed.


    Being provided with all the possible routes he could take, but the final decision was always made by Li Lanfeng personally. With this ability, he felt more confident in bing the number one underling directly below Ling Lan.


    Yes, Li Lanfeng never gave up this goal. Even though he fell in love with Ling Lan and was willing to stay beside her, he never gave up his goal.


    This was because he became greedier. He didn¡¯t just want to be the most important person in Ling Lan¡¯s heart. He also wanted to be the most powerful person among herpanions. He would never give up either of his goals.


    When Li Lanfeng noticed that Luo Lang had seeded, hepletely ignored him.


    Of course, he didn¡¯t have a choice, it was because he was going to face the same predicament as Luo Lang had just now.


    Just like Luo Lang, if he was unable to control his mecha urately, Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha would alert the guards.


    The route that Li Lanfeng chose was different from Ling Lan¡¯s route.


    Ling Lan¡¯s route was the shortest, almost being a straight line. But, undoubtedly, it was the most difficult too. Only a monster like Ling Lan would be able to use this route without alerting the guards. Luo Lang, who had evolved, could only barely manage to scrape by. Many times, he almost bumped into a guard. This further proved that there was a huge gap between Luo Lang and Ling Lan¡¯s mecha piloting skills.

 Chapter 1425 - Not Enough Ability

    <h4>1425 Not Enough Ability</h4>


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s route seemed less difficult than Ling Lan¡¯s. This was because the route he chose had thergest gaps between the guards. Of course, this increased the distance he needed to travel. Moreover, he had to pass through four more mechas than Ling Lan.


    But, in actual fact, the difficulty between the two routes wasparable. To add to his already high-strung nerves, he couldn¡¯t fail. Once he made a mistake, he would reveal himself and destroy Ling Lan¡¯s n entirely, which then would expose Ling Lan to danger; something that he would allow himself to do.


    Thus, he must seed.


    After calming his mind, he rushed towards the guards.


    His hand speed increased exponentially and in an instant, it reached his limit.


    Although he chose a slightly less difficult path, that didn¡¯t mean that with his current ability, he would be able to pass through it easily.


    ¡°Let me pass!¡± Li Lanfeng screamed in his heart. However, his eyes were still ck and calm, like the surface of ake.


    He flew past the guards at an obscure angle. Li Lanfeng¡¯s fingers couldn¡¯t be seen on the control panel anymore. If someone didn¡¯t notice where his arms were, they might think he was just sitting in his cockpit, not doing anything.


    Cold sweat continued to drip from Li Lanfeng¡¯s forehead. He realized that he had almost lost control of his mecha because it was moving too quickly. It was almost steering away from its original course. Once it left the route entirely, he would hit the guards.


    ¡°No!¡± Li Lanfeng refused to let that happen. The rejection in him was so strong that Li Lanfeng¡¯s hand speed, which had been stagnant for so many years, suddenly increased.


    This increase was minimal but it was enough to allow him to stabilise his mecha.


    The mecha managed to pass through the guard with less than ten centimeters of distance between them. It was a narrow miss.


    Then, he passed through the second and the third mecha.


    When Li Lanfeng passed through thest mecha, he finally saw the back of Luo Lang¡¯s mecha, who followed Ling Lan.


    It was no surprise that he was slower since he chose the further route.


    After passing through the tunnel, they saw a huge za. There were many mecha standing tall and upright in the za. These mechas were all different in appearance. But, if you looked carefully, you would notice their simrity. Just like the mechas of the mecha scavenger team that lead them here, these mechas had all been repaired.


    ¡°The two of you will stay here temporarily. I will go and scout the area first.¡± Ling Lan raised her right hand and gave her order.


    ¡°Let me go.¡± Li Lanfeng couldn¡¯t bear to let Ling Lan be in danger so he volunteered himself hurriedly.


    ¡°You¡¯re not strong enough.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cockpit suddenly opened. She was already standing at the door.


    ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be any mechas inside. If we still use our mechas, we will be discovered by the organisation,¡± Ling Lan said calmly without care if her words would hurt Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°But, this is their base. It will be dangerous if you act alone,¡± Li Lanfeng sighed as he said this. ¡°If we can invent the spatial pocket mentioned in the books, we won¡¯t need to be so careful.¡±


    If they were able to bring their imperial mechas along, they would be able to fight with a god-realm formidable warrior. Then ,Ling Lan as an imperial realm formidable warrior would have the chance to fight against god-realm formidable warrior, if there was one stationed here.

 Chapter 1426 - How Could I Have Known?

    <h4>1426 How Could I Have Known?</h4>


    Legend has it that there were seven organizers in the Mecha Scavenger Organization. However, those who worked under them never fully met with all seven of these big wigs.


    Still, the highest tower at the center of where the organization was situated would always have one of the organizers garrisoned there.


    The equipment and set up of the atrium in the first floor of the za gave Ling Lan the feeling she had returned back to the Federation.


    Technologically advanced optical supeputers were lined up on both sides of the atrium for scavenger members to look up information. One of the walls disyed mecha materials and part and how much they were worth. These supeputers facilitated the scavengers to choose the missions they could handle. This method was not so different from the mercenary centers in the center of the gxy.


    ¡°That¡¯s interesting.¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. In the next second, she had already disappeared from the crowd.


    The people around her seemed to not have noticed there was a person beside them just then.


    The top of the tower was quite empty. Other than a set of elegant sofas, there weren¡¯t anything else.


    With ss walls on all sides, sitting on the sofas would allow the person to monitor the za below them.


    At that moment, there was a mature and handsome middle-aged man sitting there, holding a ss of red wine while slowly sipping from it.


    Suddenly, he stopped sipping his wine. He let out a deep sigh as he slowly put down his wine ss. A look of regret fell upon his eyes. It was as though he felt it was unfortunate that his peaceful afternoon was gone just like that.


    ¡°Since you¡¯vee, you might as welle out,¡± said the middle-aged man.


    Right as he finished, a silhouette appeared behind him. It was indeed Ling Lan.


    The middle-aged man turned his head with no surprised expression on his face. After seeing Ling Lan, he scanned her from head to toe before saying, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to be this young.¡±


    He couldpletely see through how young Ling Lan was. Even if his scene before him was deceiving him, the young and fresh aura she gave off was enough to prove that her strong life force and liveliness.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to be this old,¡± said Ling Lan nonchntly. She didn¡¯t care whether it would offend the middle-aged man.


    The middle-aged man¡¯s expression hardened. To punish Ling Lan¡¯s disrespect, he sent a hidden force towards Ling Lan.


    However, when this hidden force was a meter away from Ling Lan, it silently dissipated. It was as though the middle-aged man hadn¡¯t attacked.


    The middle-aged man¡¯s expression froze slightly. ¡°No wonder you¡¯re so bold to havee here by yourself.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m indeed quite curious how you are able to establish such arge organization right under the 13 Lords¡¯ noses.¡± It was though Ling Lan had returned home. She slowly walked to the sofas and casually sat in one of the sofas in front of the middle-aged man.


    The middle-aged man smiled. ¡°We are only a few poor bastards trying to make a living and feed our families. You think the 13 Lords will care about low-ss people like us?¡±


    ¡°If it was elsewhere, they indeed wouldn¡¯t care. However, in Kamoda, you people are taking the profits of the 13 Lords.¡± Ling Lan half-smiled. ¡°The stuff you are scavenging up are the 13 Lords¡¯ wealth.¡±


    The middle-aged man didn¡¯t stop smiling, but his eyes narrowed slightly and a sh of killing intent showed within them.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± said the middle-aged man coldly as his smile actually cracked.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Ling Lan answered with a question.


    The middle-aged red at Ling Lan coldly and didn¡¯t answer. The atmosphere around them got tense.


    Shing! Suddenly, a sharp sword appeared out of thin air and it ruthlessly sliced towards Ling Lan.


    However, right as it was about to hit Ling Lan, the sword suddenly burst into ash. Ling Lan on the other hand was still sitting calmly on the sofa watching him indifferently like a king when watching a jester.


    ¡°Who are you realy?¡± The middle-aged man had a slightly worried expression on his face.


    ¡°What should I call you by? Should I call you Lord Dui, or the master of the Mecha Scavenger Organization?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words suddenly intruded upon hisrgest secret. He instinctively made an attack.


    The middle-aged man suddenly vanished from the sofa. Soon after, a huge axe appeared above her head. It chopped towards Ling Lan with much force as if it was trying to split apart the universe.


    Boom! The axe was met with a tough ice shield.


    The ice shield on top of Ling Lan¡¯s head stopped the axe from moving any further.


    The sh between the two domains caused energy shockwaves. Just as the ss around them was about to shatter, the trembling domain concept energies suddenly dissipated into the air. The top of the tower was just as peaceful as it was before.


    The axe sensed that it couldn¡¯t move any further and suddenly retracted itself. In the next second, the middle-aged man who had originally vanished, appeared once again. This time, he was standing below therge axe.


    He put his hand upward and sped it. The axe then automatically returned in his hand.


    ¡°Ice element. I know who you are.¡± The middle-aged man had a smile on his face after finally finding out the identity of his opponent. ¡°You¡¯re the new Lord Gen, Lan Xiao.¡±


    ¡°Well, now that we know who each of our identities are, I will get straight to the point. Where¡¯s my people?¡± asked Ling Lan calmly.


    ¡°How should I know?¡± said Lord Dui with a smile on his face. ¡°Your opponents are Lords Li and Demon, not me.¡±


    ¡°This so-called battle royale... Do I look like someone that can be that easily fooled?¡± Ling Lan said inly. ¡°The master of the Mecha Scavenger Organization really knows how to calcte everything.¡±


    Lord Dui smiled. ¡°Kamoda¡¯s citizens are quite pitiful. Since the battle was started by us, then we have this responsibility to resolve this issue.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps I should speak with Lord Holy and the others,¡± Ling Lan looked at Lord Dui with a half-smile on her face. ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯d be interested in knowing about the Mecha Scavenger Organization.¡±


    Lord Dui smiled and said, ¡°Sure, however, be careful not to get killed by us. Some of us may not have such a good temper like me.¡±


    Those words implied that this organization was actually created by the 13 Lords.


    ¡°I just so happen to have people at Lord Holy¡¯s ce doing some business. I should listen to Lord Dui¡¯s suggestion and notify my people to tell Lord Holy about this.¡± Ling Lan took out amunicator. When she was about to push down on a button, Lord Dui made a move once again.


    Bang! Not sure from when, but an ice sword appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s hand to block the sudden wide axe swing from Lord Dui.


    ¡°So, Lord Dui actually doesn¡¯t want Lord Holy to know about this,¡± Ling Lan said mockingly with a smirk on her face while looking at Lord Dui.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± Lord Dui looked at Ling Lan with a defeated look on his face as he spoke in an angry tone.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression suddenly turned ice cold and said the words one by one, ¡°Where, are, my, people?¡±


    ¡°Haha, who knows? Maybe they were ambushed or... all died.¡± Lord Dui had a mocking smile on his face. ¡°You really thought that we would let someone who doesn¡¯t know about the Lawless Lands to be one of the Lords? You¡¯re dreaming.¡±


    Shoo! A cold sh of wind blew across his face. Lord Dui felt a strong force on his hands and was pushed back uncontrobly by the force.


    Just what type of person was Lord Dui? Hended firmly on the ground by putting a single ton of weight on himself.


    Bang! Before he could fully regain his bnce, Lord Dui¡¯s expression changed slightly. He hurriedly put up hisrge axe to use it as a shield to block Ling Lan¡¯s follow up attack.

 Chapter 1427 - Extremely Reasonable

    <h4>1427 Extremely Reasonable</h4>


    ¡°Lord Dui, don¡¯t force me to ally with Lord Holy and the others,¡± Ling Lan had a cold expression on her face. ¡°I¡¯m quite sure I can be the enemy you fear most.¡±


    Lord Duiughed coldly and said, ¡°I can just take you out first to avoid being exposed.¡±


    After saying that, therge axe in Lord Dui¡¯s hand was swung once again.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes shed in an icy glimmer. ¡°Ice Age.¡±


    In an instant, the entire tip of the tower was encased in ice.


    Bang! Therge axe struck into the frozen ground, causing ice shards to fly into the air.


    After Ling Lan used her ¡®Ice Age¡¯ domain technique, shepletely vanished. Lord Dui looked around him. He knew that Ling Lan had merged within the snow and ice. If he wanted to see her, he must first get rid of the ice domain and force her toe out.


    ¡°Earth Splitter.¡± Lord Dui decisively tossed out therge axe in his hand. After leaving Lord Dui¡¯s hands, the axe grew huge until it shadowed over the entire tip of the tower. It was as though it was about to break open the dimension.


    Right after, it chopped downwards in an attempt to crack open this ice and snow domain.


    Boom!


    The power was clearly terrifying, but the entire building wasn¡¯t affected by one bit, not to mention copsing.


    It was clear that Ling Lan and Lord Dui¡¯s fight seemed wild, but was actually quite restrained.


    The chop didn¡¯t do anything to Ling Lan¡¯s ice domain. The entire top level of the tower was still encased in ayer of ice and snow.


    After seeing the current situation, Lord Dui frowned slightly. While in deep thought, he figured out what the reason was.


    The ice and snow domain focused mainly on defense. It merged with the tip of the tower nicely. The amount of domain concept energy his opponent had dished out wasn¡¯t as restrained as his own. He spected that if his opponent didn¡¯t use 100% of his power, then he would at least have used 80% of it. Him on the other hand, only dared to use 50% of his domain concept energy to prevent this ce from bing destroyed. The difference between them was too great, so how could he get past that defense?


    It was clear that he was in a difficult position, unless he wasn¡¯t afraid and didn¡¯t care about this building. However, was that possible? Not only were there countless people in the za, just the amount of equipment below them didn¡¯t allow him to do something like that.


    All in all, it was because of resources. In the center of the gxy, as long as a person had money, it wouldn¡¯t be hard for them to reacquire those types of equipment. However, it couldn¡¯t be said the same in the Lawless Lands. It was being ousted by all the nations, so they would need to pay a huge price to get another set of the equipment they had. Even the 13 Lords would feel their teeth ache from hearing the cost.


    Right as Lord Dui was hesitating, he heard Ling Lan¡¯s voice in his ears.


    ¡°For defense, I wouldn¡¯t dare to say that the ice element is the strongest, but it is still in the top three. Although your axe has immense destructive power, you still won¡¯t be able to break through my domain, unless you don¡¯t mind losing this ce.¡±


    ¡°I have said that we just need a ce to stay and I don¡¯t want to be included in your petty fight. However, if you continue messing with you, I¡¯ll show you why I was chosen to be here.¡±


    ¡°Whether you¡¯re an enemy or ally doesn¡¯t depend on me, but depends on your attitude,¡± Ling Lan said coldly. ¡°I¡¯m going to ask again, where are my people?¡±


    ¡°How about you ask that question to me?¡± Suddenly, a voice rang beside Ling Lan¡¯s ears.


    Ling Lan¡¯s expression changed instantly. Before she could react, she sensed a strong force instantly hit her.


    Bang! Ling Lan suddenly flew out from an area of ice and snow. Right as she was about to smash into the ground, she turned her body andnded on her feet. However, the force behind the attack was too strong. Ling Lan uncontrobly stepped backwards a few steps before managing to regain her bnce.


    Just one attack was enough to force her out of her own domain. There was no doubt that the person who just appeared was definitely a god-realm level individual.


    Ling Lan swallowed the blood that was about toe from her mouth. She then looked coldly at a certain direction and said, ¡°You should be Lord Qian if I¡¯m not mistaken.¡±


    She had met Lord Kun before. The feeling she had about this person was that he was stronger than Lord Kun. Then that meant it was the legendary Lord Qian in the 13 Lords who had entered into the god-realm.


    ¡°You¡¯re a smart one.¡± Right as the voice finished speaking, a grey-cloaked man appeared out of thin air at the ce Ling Lan set her eyes upon. He looked in his 40s. The aura around him was calm and peaceful. It was as though he didn¡¯t have any power whatsoever.


    Ling Lan said calmly, ¡°There aren¡¯t more than two god-realm masters in the center of the gxy. I didn¡¯t expect there to be one here in the Lawless Lands.¡±


    ¡°And what good is that?¡± Lord Qian sighed slightly. ¡°Isn¡¯t the Lawless Lands stillpletely locked up by the center of the gxy? Aren¡¯t the citizens of the Lawless Lands still living like animals?¡±


    ¡°It seems I¡¯m mistaken. I thought this was the result of the decisions you people have made,¡± Ling Lan half-smiled. ¡°It seems I wronged the lords who loved their country and people.¡±


    Lord Qian was surprised. ¡°Oh? What you said is very interesting, little friend. How about you tell me about it?¡±


    After saying that, he flicked his right hand and the tip of the tower that was encased in ice instantly melted to return to its original state in the blink of an eye.


    ¡°Come, sit and chat.¡± Lord Qian randomly chose a sofa and sat down, then he gestured towards Ling Lan.


    Despite facing a god-realm master, she didn¡¯t have any ounce of fear in her body. After all, being taught by Instructor Number One at a young age and bing Mu Shui-qing¡¯s student when she was 13, with two of the strongest people in the universe constantly using their aura to pressure her, why would she be scared now? After hearing Lord Qian calling her, she slowly walked over and sat down firmly in a seat directly in front of Lord Qian.


    Ling Lan¡¯s fearless attitude invoked a look of admiration in Lord Qian.


    Although they were both part of the 13 Lords, he still didn¡¯t care who Lord Gen was. Thus, Ling Lan killing the original Lord Gen didn¡¯t annoy Lord Qian. In reality, he was willing to see stronger individuals take over.


    Of course, firstly, they must not disrupt his ns.


    ¡°Master Lord Qian,¡± said Lord Dui softly as he had already stood behind Lord Qian like a servant.


    ¡°Leave this ce to me. It seems we have two more guests. Go invite them toe up as well.¡± Lord Qian smiled as he looked at Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang¡¯s hiding ce as he spoke to Lord Dui.


    When Lord Dui was fighting Ling Lan, he didn¡¯t have the mind to pay attention to any other intruders. Now that he was hinted by Lord Qian, how could he not know where the intruders were? After hearing his words, he immediately replied, ¡°Yes, Master Lord Qian.¡± In the next second, he disappeared from where he stood.


    After seeing her own people being discovered, Ling Lan didn¡¯t show any panic in her expression. She was still calmly looking at Lord Qian.


    ¡°Not bad. Calm and collected. You have a bright future ahead of you.¡± Lord Qian noticed her demeanor and couldn¡¯t help but praise her for it.


    Ling Lan was as calm as she was before, not moved by Lord Qian¡¯s acknowledgment or praise. It was as though the Lord Qian before her was just an ordinary person saying an ordinary statement.


    After seeing Ling Lan not be moved mentally after a god-realm master praised him, Lord Qian had an intrigued look in his eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯m interested in what you said just now. Do you want to tell me now or do you want to wait for your people and say it then?¡± Lord Qian spoke first and went back to the topic he was interested in before sitting down.


    Ling Lan took out her right hand and elegantly pulled on the corner of her left sleeve. Then, she said calmly, ¡°If Lord Dui¡¯s inviting them up here, then we should wait for them to talk about it together.¡±


    Lord Qian let out a lightugh after hearing Ling Lan¡¯s words. ¡°Haha, you aren¡¯t worried about your two friends?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s there to worry about?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and asked.


    ¡°Out of the three of you, you¡¯re the strongest and could somewhat fight against Lord Dui. Your two friends on the other hand wouldn¡¯t be able to go against Lord Dui even if they were to fight against him together...¡± Lord Qian looked towards the entrance. ¡°If theye, their lives won¡¯t be in their own hands anymore.¡±


    ¡°What of it?¡± Ling Lan smirked slightly.


    Lord Qian was surprised and then smiled. ¡°You¡¯re too ruthless, kid.¡±


    With his capabilities, he saw through Ling Lan¡¯s real age in an instant. At his age, calling her kid made sense.

 Chapter 1428 - Probe.

    <h4>1428 Probe.</h4>


    Ling Lan smiled but didn¡¯t reply to Lord Qian.


    She didn¡¯t have a choice in deciding whether she could be ruthless or not in this situation. Plus, she was sure Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang preferred to fight alongside her even if the risk of dying was very high. If she really did ask them to run, she would just be insulting their resolve to go along with her.


    After waiting there silently for a few minutes, she saw Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang walking over calmly apanied by Lord Dui.


    When they saw Ling Lan, they hastened their speed to stand behind her without any hesitation.


    Lord Qian¡¯s eyes lit up when he saw them being so loyal to Ling Lan. He got even more interested in Ling Lan now. Ling Lan was very young but he managed to gain the respect of hisrades of the same generation. He must have some capabilities.


    He inspected Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang for a while before pointing to Ling Lan and saying, ¡°Do you know he was the one who brought you in here to die? What do you think about that?¡±


    Lord Qian observed the three young men in front of him with interest. He wanted to see if anything interesting would happen because of what he said.


    Luo Lang looked at Lord Qian in confusion when he heard this.


    As for Li Lanfeng, from the moment he came in, he had a small smile on his face. The angle of his lips never changed. It was as if what Lord Qian said was of no significance.


    Lord Qian nced at Li Lanfeng. Then, he looked at Luo Lang who didn¡¯t seem to understand what was happening. He asked, ¡°Tell me honestly. If I¡¯m satisfied with your answer, I might show some mercy and let you leave this ce alive.¡±


    ¡°What about Boss?¡± Luo Lang looked at Ling Lan who was in front of him.


    ¡°He is my guest. He can¡¯t leave,¡± Lord Qian smiled and replied.


    Luo Lang shrugged nonchntly when he heard this. ¡°Why should I leave then?¡±


    Lord Qian was stunned. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I will stay beside Boss wherever he is,¡± Luo Lang said seriously. ¡°Plus, I promised someone that anyone that wants to hurt Boss will have to step over my dead body first.¡±


    As Luo Lang was speaking, his entire body seemed to have turned into a sword that was about toe out of its sheath. His aura was filled with killing intent.


    ¡°Same for me.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and agreed with Luo Lang.


    While Li Lanfeng was saying that, his aura was gentle and harmless. When standing beside Luo Lang who was engulfed in a malicious aura, they formed two different extremes. However, Lord Qian wasn¡¯t on Luo Lang but rather on Li Lanfeng. He sized up Li Lanfeng intently for a moment.


    But, it was only for a short moment. To Lord Qian, who was almost invincible, he wouldn¡¯t take it seriously if there was an imperial realm formidable warrior in front of him, much less two titled domain realm formidable warriors. He only looked at them again because the immense trust the two of them had for Lord Gen... This firm belief moved his heart a little.


    Actually, Lord Qian¡¯s words might seem simple but he used a psychological attack to waver Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang¡¯s trust in Ling Lan. At first, he thought that he would see the end of a beautiful camaraderie but surprisingly, he failed. He was quite surprised.


    The psychological attack of a god-realm formidable warrior would cause a single doubt in their hearts to amplify multiple times. If there was a single hint of distrust or weakness in one¡¯s heart, the rtionship between the two would be destroyed.


    Lord Qian didn¡¯t know that Luo Lang grew up with Ling Lan so their friendship had already been etched deeply into their bones. In addition, Luo Lang was a pure person. To him, one means one and two means two. He was very straightforward and direct. When he liked someone, he would treat them wholeheartedly. How could such a person have any holes in his heart?


    Plus, with Luo Lang¡¯s Alter Ego, it meant that he had many personalities inside him. Thus, even though his spiritual power wasn¡¯t as strong as Ling Lan or Li Lanfeng, it wasn¡¯t much weaker either. A psychological attack only had a high rate of sess if your opponent had a weak spiritual power. With the same logic, the stronger his spiritual power, the lower the sess rate. Hence, his psychological barrier wouldn¡¯t be broken so easily with just a few sentences.


    As for Li Lanfeng, he was another extreme.


    Luo Lang was pure and naive so he had no holes in his heart. On the other hand, Li Lanfeng wasplicated and sinister. His personality was very dark and his heart was full of desires. Power, position, lust, and gluttony. In a sense, he was a wed human. But, because his greed had reached to an extreme degree, unless you struck him in his fatal spot, his heart wouldn¡¯t be moved.


    Lord Qian¡¯s attack was aimed at the wrong direction so he didn¡¯t yield any results.


    Ling Lan appeared as if she didn¡¯t notice Lord Qian messing with herpanions or maybe she didn¡¯t care about it at all. All she did was just smile at Lord Qian.


    ¡°Haha, not bad.¡± Lord Qianughed. He didn¡¯t hide what he did. Not knowing what was happening, the naive Luo Lang also startedughing too.


    However, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng maintained their smile and didn¡¯tugh.


    ¡°Fine, young friend, you can tell me your thoughts now. Why do you think that it¡¯s our decision for the Lawless Lands to be in this trash state?¡± Lord Qian suddenly retracted his smile and stared intently at Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan felt as if her face was being shed by many knives. In the end, her eyes, skin, and the inside of her eyes started hurting.


    A cold gaze appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. Her body trembled a little. In an invisible world, she sessfully evaded the frightening death re of Lord Qian.


    It looks like the two of them were just staring at each other but she and Lord Qian knew that they had already exchanged a blow. If she couldn¡¯t resist the attack, she might have been blinded for life.


    ¡°Thank you, Number One. Thanks for helping me.¡± Ling Lan thanked Number One in her mindscape. With her own ability, she would not be able to evade the re from a god-realm formidable warrior. No matter how strong an imperial realm formidable warrior was, they were nothing in the eyes of a god-realm master. Truthfully, they were just little children who couldn¡¯t put up much resistance.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. When you need me, I will act.¡± Number One¡¯s indifferent voice appeared in her mindscape. This voice was cold but it gave Ling Lan a sense of security. With Number one by her side, she didn¡¯t have to worry about anything.


    ¡°At first, I thought that the 13 Lords started the battle royale because they wanted to sow seeds... I thought that they wanted to train a batch of warriors in the Lawless Lands.¡± Ling Lan smiled. ¡°But, I soon realised that that wasn¡¯t the case. You started the tradition of battle royales so that all of you would have an easier time controlling this ce.¡±


    Lord Qian scoffed, ¡°You should have read the history of the Lawless Lands from the books in the rainbow pce. Mind you, these battle royale are what the nations in the central regions hoped to see the most. If we don¡¯t have battle royales, it won¡¯t be long before the alliance troops of all the nations would charge in and purge everyone here.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s insufficient resources in the Lawless Lands for them to waste manpower here.¡± Ling Lan exposed him with a single sentence.


    ¡°Even if they don¡¯te so quickly, the spies they sent will create unrest and hatred among us. Without us, the battle royale will still exist,¡± Lord Qian said calmly. ¡°Rather than letting innocent people get hurt, the lords decided to start the battle royale voluntarily. That way, we can train our army while preventingmoners from getting hurt. We kill two birds with one stone.¡±

 Chapter 1429 - Direct Confrontation

    <h4>1429 Direct Confrontation</h4>


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t refute that statement. But that didn¡¯t mean she epted Lord Qian¡¯s exnation either. She just smiled and continued looking at Lord Qian.


    Lord Qian didn¡¯t mind. He stretched his hand out and took over the cup of tea Lord Dui passed to him. He had a sip of the tea before cing the teacup on the coffee table at the side. Then, he looked at Ling Lan indifferently.


    The entire space started turning cold. Realizing this, Luo Lang changed his standing posture. The killing intent that he retracted a moment ago reappeared.


    Ling Lan on the other hand didn¡¯t seem to have noticed anything. She appeared calm andposed. There was not even a change in her smile.


    Li Lanfeng had a simr expression but Lord Qian noticed that he was clenching his left fist tightly.


    Hmm, the new Lord Gen was still worth taking note of.


    With just a few nces, Lord Qian was able to determine the strength of the three youngsters in front of him.


    Lord Gen was the most powerful among the three. The one that was always smiling was the second and the man who was the purest was the weakest.


    But, Lord Qian liked the weakest but most naive young man. The person he hated the most was the one who kept smiling but couldn¡¯t hide his thoughts. He was a calctive person.


    As for Lord Gen... Lord Qian sighed softly in his heart. If he had a choice, he didn¡¯t want to be enemies with him.


    Lord Qian was a little mindful of those people whom he couldn¡¯t control.


    Finally, Lord Qian opened his mouth. ¡°Fine, if what you said was true and we started the battle royales for our own selfish motives, what do we get out of these battle royales?¡±


    ¡°Profits from the war.¡± Ling Lan looked around the room. She smiled and continued, ¡°For instance, the Mecha Scavenger Alliance.¡±


    ¡°If we started the battle royales, won¡¯t we have more losses?¡± Lord Qianughed as he asked. ¡°We always used expendable resources in battle royales. Aren¡¯t we wasting money in the end?¡±


    ¡°If the 13 Lords are only ying among themselves, it is true that the loss will outweigh the gain. But, are the 13 Lords the only yers in these battle royales?¡± Ling Lan suddenly leaned forward and stared coldly at Lord Qian with a hint of threat.


    Lord Qian was bbergasted. He didn¡¯t expect an imperial realm formidable warrior to have the guts to threaten a god-realm master like himself. He didn¡¯t know if he shouldugh at the young man for overestimating himself or should he praise him for being audacious?


    ¡°Are you saying that there is someone else involved in this? I remember that there are only 13 Lords in the Lawless Lands. There¡¯s no 14th lord.¡± Lord Qian outrightly denied the im.


    ¡°Yes. There¡¯s no 14th lord in the Lawless Lands. There are only the 13 Lords. However, these 13 Lords have different masters behind them, right?¡± Ling Lan smiled and said.


    A cold sh of light shot out of Lord Qian¡¯s eyes when he heard this. It struck Ling Lan directly.


    Bang!


    Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang also felt their ears ringing. They felt dizzy.


    Lord Qian and Ling Lan were still sitting opposite each other on the sofas. The only difference was, there was a drop of blood slowly dripping down the corner of Ling Lan¡¯s mouth.


    Without a doubt, the two of them had secretly exchanged a blow just now. An imperial realm formidable warrior forcefully bore the attack of a god-realm master.


    Lord Qian was astounded for a moment. He knew clearly that he didn¡¯t hold back just now. He thought that he would see Lord Gen lying sprawled on the floor but instead, he managed to bear with it. Plus, the drop of blood on the corner of his lips wasn¡¯t a sign of an internal injury. Lord Qian knew that it was caused because Lord Gen didn¡¯t manage to suppress the blood churning inside his body. With enough time, the young man would be able to regain his health.


    ¡°Not bad. It looks like you¡¯re not just an imperial realm formidable warrior. You must be half-step into god-realm, right?¡± For the first time, Lord Qian appeared cautious. At the same time, there was hidden killing intent in his gaze.


    That year, when he was the age of this young man, he just managed to advance to the domain realm. He didn¡¯t even dare to think of the imperial realm then. If it wasn¡¯t for the series of coincidences, he might have stopped at the imperial realm. But, this young man managed to enter this unpredictable realm so early in his life. What kind of genius was he?


    ¡°Anyone that walks on this path wants to reach that realm,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°Do you reallye from the Soul Society?¡± Lord Qian started to suspect what he thought was the truth.


    ¡°What about you, Lord Qian?¡± Ling Lan asked him back instead of answering.


    ¡°Me?¡± Lord Qianughed loudly. ¡°Who do you think can make me listen to him?¡±


    ¡°Based on Lord Qian¡¯s ability, it truthfully will be hard for you to bow down to anyone unless the person is another god-realm master or a god-ss operator. However, ability isn¡¯t the only thing that can make people listen to you. Emotions can too.¡± Ling Lan smiled. ¡°Lord Qian, you must still be unable to forget your country.¡±


    ¡°Country?¡± Lord Qian suddenly sneered. ¡°You think that I have a country?¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± Ling Lan shifted her gaze to Lord Qian¡¯s cuff.¡±If you really forgot about it, why do you still insist on wearing that bracelet?¡±


    Lord Qian raised his eyebrows. He lifted his right hand to reveal the bracelet with a dragon head. He smiled and asked, ¡°Isn¡¯t this just a coincidence?¡±


    Ling Lan nodded. ¡°Yes, it might be a coincidence. But, Lord Qian, you can¡¯t use this excuse.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s strange. Why can¡¯t it be a coincidence for me?¡± Lord Qian was baffled.


    Ling Lan smiled slightly. ¡°God-realm masters are in their own world, ungoverned by the rules of the universe. The influence of the coincidences in the universe won¡¯t affect you. Hence, it can only be done on purpose.¡±


    Lord Qian¡¯s gaze turned cold. ¡°Seems like you have a deep understanding about god-realm.¡±


    ¡°It couldn¡¯t be helped. I have three god-realm masters at home. Even if I don¡¯t want to know about it, I can¡¯t.¡± The smile in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes got brighter.


    Lord Qian¡¯s gaze flickered. He seemed to be considering something.


    ¡°You¡¯re not from the Soul Society,¡± Lord Qian spoke slowly but firmly.


    ¡°Yes and no,¡± Ling Lan¡¯s reply was ambiguous.


    Lord Qian understood her. ¡°You have an identity in the Soul Society but your real identity is something else... You¡¯re not from the mercenary world too. I¡¯ve seen the abilities of all the three kings, and you¡¯re not one of them. You said that you¡¯re Lan Xiao but you¡¯re not from the Lan faction of the Rainbow Raiders. Since those are all not your identity, where did youe from? Why did youe to the Lawless Lands?¡±


    ¡°The identities are fake but I really do need a territory of my own,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡°You couldn¡¯t stay in the central regions anymore, right?¡± Lord Qian sneered.


    ¡°You too, right? Everyone is the same.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t give in. She confronted him directly.


    Lord Qian nced at Ling Lan indifferently. ¡°You kept provoking us. Are you really seeking death?¡±


    ¡°I might not be able to live even if I don¡¯t provoke you. In that case, why not be more wilful? At least I don¡¯t have to be frustrated.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s tone was still calm even in the face of death.


    Lord Qian¡¯s gaze turned sharper. Just as everyone thought he was about to attack, Lord Qian suddenly looked up andughed. ¡°Hahahaha...¡±


    ¡°Interesting, interesting. As expected of Ling Xiao¡¯s son and the grand-disciple of Mu Shui-qing.¡± Lord Qian suddenly exposed Ling Lan¡¯s identity.


    Sure enough, she was unable to fool this sly old fox.


    When Ling Lan saw Lord Qian for the first time, she had a strange feeling. She felt that Lord Qian should know her real identity. The probing after that proved that her instinct was correct.


    ¡°How should I address you then, themander of the frontlines in the Lawless Lands sent by the Federation?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t get nervous when her identity was exposed. Instead, she said her prediction nonchntly.

 Chapter 1430 - Old Monster?

    <h4>1430 Old Monster?</h4>


    ¡°Or rather, the previous chief of the Flying Dragon Special Forces?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t give in.


    Lord Qian furiously stretched his hand out and grabbed Ling Lan¡¯s cor. Simultaneously, Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned icy. She tapped in Lord Qian¡¯s direction with her right forefinger lightly.


    The movement happened in an instant but Li Lanfeng, Luo Lang, and Lord Dui could see the action clearly. In their eyes, it even looked a little slow.


    This wasn¡¯t because their ability was on par with Lord Qian or Ling Lan. It happened because the two of them used the time concept when attacking. If they wanted you to see it, you would see it. If they didn¡¯t n to show you, you wouldn¡¯t be able to see it at all.


    Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang understood why Ling Lan did it but the reason behind Lord Qian¡¯s decision provided much food for thought.


    Then, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang felt a powerful force of presence surging towards them. In that instant when it was about to engulf them, it slid past their body and didn¡¯t injure them.


    Both of them knew it happened because Ling Lan was protecting them.


    It was unexpected. Surprisingly, Ling Lan still had the energy to protect them when she was fighting with a god-realm master. Luo Lang looked at Ling Lan with respect and admiration. As for Li Lanfeng, he looked at her with respect and worry.


    In the end, he still dragged Ling Lan down.


    In the real world, the battle between Lord Qian and Ling Lan seemed extremely calm. If someone came in now, they might think that the two of them were just gesturing in the air silently. They wouldn¡¯t have guessed that a single mistake would cause one of them to get injured seriously and might even result in death.


    Lord Qian attacked with his full strength but the other party managed to withstand it without any changes in his expression. Shock slowly grew in his eyes, but the confusion was growing at arger rate.


    ¡°Who on earth are you?¡± Lord Qian squinted and asked coldly. He was staring at Ling Lan, trying to see if he could see through her.


    ¡°Haven¡¯t you already guessed my identity?¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡°You are him but not him.¡± Lord Qian stared at Ling Lan seriously. He wanted to detect something from her eyes.


    ¡°So what if I am or not?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s tone was like a pool of stagnant water. There were no ripples in her tone.


    Li Lanfeng frowned slightly. Ling Lan had always been cold and heartless, but the coldness she exuded had never been this strong. It felt as if the current Ling Lan wasn¡¯t the real Ling Lan.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect your existence to be like this. There is really nothing impossible in this world.¡± Lord Qian seemed to have understood something.


    But, Ling Lan didn¡¯t reply to him. She just stared at Lord Qian coldly.


    ¡°Maybe we can have a good chat.¡± Lord Qian¡¯s ¡®chat¡¯ meant the same thing as before but this time, his attitude had changed drastically.


    At first, he asked Ling Lan for a chat because he was interested in her. He was looking down on her and talking to her as if he was bestowing her a favour. Now, he treated Ling Lan as an equal, someone he could discuss matters with.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to end the mess in the Lawless Lands?¡± Ling Lan went directly to the point.


    ¡°The other lords won¡¯t listen to me,¡± Lord Qian answered calmly.


    ¡°Each for their own master. If you touch their interest, it¡¯s understandable that they won¡¯t listen to you.¡± Ling Lan wasn¡¯t surprised. ¡°But, you can¡¯t deny that some of the lords are your men, for instance, this one.¡± Ling Lan looked up at Lord Dui who was standing beside Lord Qian.


    Lord Dui smiled and didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°He is my half-disciple.¡± Lord Qian didn¡¯t hide this fact. All the other lords already knew about his rtionship with Lord Dui. Even if he didn¡¯t say it now, Ling Lan would be able to hear it from the other lords. In that case, why not reveal it directly?


    ¡°The other lords that invested in the Mecha Scavenger Alliance might not be your men but they are your coborators,¡± Ling Lan continued.


    Lord Qian wasn¡¯t surprised by that im as it was pretty obvious. If not, why would he allow those people to join him? He smiled and asked, ¡°What else?¡±


    ¡°Your opponent should be a god-realm master from Caesar. I want to know which lord he is.¡± Ling Lan looked up and stared at Lord Qian.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze was too sharp. The smile on Lord Qian¡¯s face was wiped away and his gaze turned cold. ¡°Why do you ask?¡±


    ¡°If he isn¡¯t a god-realm master, you can kill him easily. A god-ss mecha master can be killed too if he doesn¡¯t have his god-ss mecha with him.¡± Ling Lan tilted her head and pondered. ¡°If you are this tolerant, the other party can only be a god-realm master.¡±


    ¡°Why did you guess that he¡¯s from Caesar?¡± Lord Qian remained silent for some time before finally opening his mouth.


    ¡°Besides Caesar, I can¡¯t think of another nation that can do this. Well, there¡¯s still the Federation. That¡¯s you, Lord Qian.¡± Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but smile when she said this. The cold aura around her disappeared and the entire atmosphere around the room turned... refreshing?


    Lord Qian frowned slightly. He looked at Ling Lan thoughtfully but didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°It¡¯s time to reorganise the Lawless Lands.¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t care about his actions. She quickly revealed her motive thereafter.


    ¡°Reorganise?¡± Lord Qian smiled. ¡°The moment we do something here, Caesar will get the news and the Federation will know too.¡±


    ¡°We just have to make sure Caesar doesn¡¯t know,¡± Ling Lan smiled as she said.


    ¡°You¡¯re being optimistic.¡± Lord Qian shook his head in disappointment. His gaze turned indifferent. ¡°But, it¡¯s rare to meet someone from my country so I¡¯m in a good mood. This time, I will pretend that I know nothing. However, the next time, you won¡¯t be so lucky.¡±


    Lord Qian lowered his head and took his teacup from the coffee table at the side, signalling the end of the conversation.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t dejected. She stood up swiftly and flicked her sleeves. She said calmly, ¡°I¡¯m sure that Lord Qian has a list of the spies from the other nations. I anticipate our coboration.¡±


    Before Lord Qian could reply, Ling Lan¡¯s figure started disappearing slowly in front of Lord Qian. Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang also moved and left the tower.


    Lord Dui was slightly furious when he saw how impolite they were. ¡°This bunch of impudent brats... Let me teach them a lesson.¡±


    ¡°No need. You¡¯re not Lord Gen¡¯s match.¡± Lord Qian stopped him.


    Lord Dui was dumbfounded for a split second. Then, jealousy appeared in his eyes.


    ¡°Don¡¯t let your jealousy affect your rationale. Lord Gen isn¡¯t as simple as you think...¡± Lord Qian raised his head and looked at the roof. ¡°Maybe there¡¯s an old monster here.¡±


    The moment he looked into Lord Gen¡¯s eye, he had the feeling that if he really killed Lord Gen, he wouldn¡¯t be able to live the next second. At his stage, he knew clearly that this wasn¡¯t an illusion.


    Old monster? Lord Dui¡¯s eyes cleared up. Lord Qian told Ling Lan that he was just a half-disciple but in Lord Dui¡¯s heart, Lord Qian was his master. He was someone he respected and regarded as a god.


    Maybe this was the only way to exin why Lord Gen was able to fight with Lord Qian when he was only around 20 years old.

 Chapter 1431 - The 7th Preserve Distric

    <h4>1431 The 7th Preserve Distric</h4>


    Ling Lan led Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang to their mechas. After boarding their mechas, they ran for quite a distance, passing the door to the Mecha Scavenger Alliance to leaving the mountainous portion of the Kamoda district before stopping their mechas.


    ¡°Cough, cough, cough. The waters within the Lawless Lands are deeper than I had previously thought.¡± Ling Lan frowned. She took out a medicinal agent beside her and drank it in one big gulp.


    ¡°You¡¯re injured,¡± Li Lanfeng immediately knew something was up.


    ¡°Lord Qian is too strong. Although it seems as though I wasn¡¯t at a disadvantage, in reality, I still got injured,¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t hide the fact.


    Even though Instructor Number One had helped her, her body still couldn¡¯t endure Instructor Number One¡¯s possession because she hadn¡¯t reached god-realm yet.


    ¡°If it was possible, I really want to bring the whole Lingtian here with us.¡± Luo Lang felt somewhat frustrated. It was because Boss didn¡¯t have enough people to work with. Otherwise, why would Boss have to work so hard just to y around with the other 12 lords?


    ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. Not only is the Federation¡¯s inner circle paying attention to Lingtian¡¯s every move, other nations are also doing the same. If we are unlucky, this may be the battlefield for an intergctic war. It wouldn¡¯t benefit us,¡± Li Lanfeng said calmly.


    ¡°I¡¯m just saying.¡± Luo Lang shrugged. He respected Lanfeng¡¯s shrewdness so he wouldn¡¯t doubt Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°No matter. Sometimes, seeding in greatness doesn¡¯t need toe from our own hands.¡± Ling Lan suddenly spoke out loud.


    ¡°To have the 13 Lords fight each other?¡± Li Lanfeng knew what Ling Lan was talking about.


    ¡°Don¡¯t they fight every year?¡± Luo Lang didn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°The battle royale now is created by the 13 Lords as a show to entertain the outsiders,¡± exined Li Lanfeng. ¡°They all make sure to regte the battle royale to a certain degree to not cause too much damage to each other. It also helps in training their troops, leaving only the strongest to survive... What Boss means is to make them actually be enemies and fight to the death with each other.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ve already been cooperating for decades. Is that going to work?¡± Luo Lang was quite worried.


    ¡°That¡¯s because the benefits of doing so were not enough in the past,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°As long as they are human, they will have greed. Even those who are given the title of god wouldn¡¯t be able to escape this nature.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. ¡°That¡¯s why they will always have a weakness.¡±


    ¡°Was your time in the Mecha Scavenger Alliance sessful?¡± Ling Lan suddenly asked Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t let you down.¡± Li Lanfeng sent the data he acquired to Ling Lan. When Ling Lan was speaking with Lord Dui, he wasn¡¯t doing nothing. He used his spectral abilities, infiltrated into the Mecha Scavenger Alliance¡¯s optical supeputer and found the intel they wanted.


    Of course, Li Lanfeng was after all not a professional hacker and not like an invincible cheat engine like Little Four. The intel he acquired was very limited.


    ¡°7th Preserve District?¡± Ling Lan saw the name and was somewhat confused.


    ¡°In Kamoda, there are a total of 30 safe zones where the averagemoners can live. These 30 districts are all named as preserve districts,¡± exined Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Zhao Jun and them went to the 7th Preserve District to do what?¡± Ling Lan frowned.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably because they needed to have a ce for the injured to rest so they went there. It could also be because of some factors out of their control, or perhaps they fell into a trap...¡± There was too little information, so Li Lanfeng could only speak out all the possibilities that he could think of.


    ¡°We¡¯ll know the truth when we get there. Don¡¯t worry,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. Ling Lan trusted that Zhao Jun wouldn¡¯t randomly go to a ce that had nothing to do with them.


    The three of them quickly piloted their mechas and rushed towards the 7th Preserve District.


    At that moment, in the outskirts of the 7th Preserve District, a woman wearing a white cloak was with a group of children helping a group of strong men bandage their wounds.


    ¡°We finished treating your wounds. You can leave now.¡± said the female doctor in an annoyed tone towards the young man walking towards her.


    ¡°Doctor Ju, there are too many of us that are injured. Our medicinal agents are all used up. If you don¡¯t help them, they¡¯ll definitely die,¡± said the young man with a pained look on his face.


    After hearing that, Doctor Ju¡¯s beautiful face had a struggling expression on her face. At that moment, she didn¡¯t see that the man she was bandaging had rolled his eyes. The look that man had while he looked at the young man was filled with contempt.


    ¡°How about I add in some more of our own medicinal agents and let you take them with you?¡± Doctor Ju struggled with herself for a moment before deciding to help these people.


    In reality, it was a coincidence that Doctor Ju encountered these people. It was because one of the children in this district was sick and the herbs she needed to treat the child was used up. The child¡¯s sickness also couldn¡¯t wait. After thinking about it, Doctor Ju decided to run out of the safe zone and go into the mountains a few kilometers away to gather the herbs.


    There were originally no issues. However, when she was about to return with a bountiful amount of herbs, a mecha fell down from the sky and smashed down on the ground less than 100 meters away from her.


    After feeling the shockwave of the crash, she couldn¡¯t control herself to go towards where the mecha fell. After walking for a good minute, she saw a mecha operator climbing out of the smoking mecha.


    Before she could say a word, the mecha operator instantly took out the beam gun from his belt and aimed at her without warning. Just when she thought she was about to die, a beam of light suddenly shot down from the sky to instantly kill that mecha operator.


    Although that person had identally saved her, Doctor Ju still had a one track mind and believed that since she was saved, she must repay the favor.


    Thus, she followed the mecha that saved her towards their battlefield. The situation was dire. The group that saved her had more or less two to three mechas surrounding each one of them. However, this group of mecha operators was undoubtedly very strong, strong to the extent where they were stronger than the strongest mecha operators from the 7th Preserve District. In the end, the overwhelming number of enemies were sessfully pushed back by this group of mecha operators. However, for such a result, almost everyone had injuries.


    Compassion was something Doctor Ju always had. Moreover, these were people who had saved her, so Doctor Ju didn¡¯t hesitate and asked whether they needed help along with whether they needed medicinal agents.


    After hearing her words, the mecha operator who had saved her was instantly moved. He immediately asked her toe look at his injuredrades.


    Right at that moment, Doctor Ju knew that the leader of this group was actually the young man in front of her, and he was quite a chatterbox (when did Zhao Jun be a chatterbox?).


    She thought about it and she allowed the young man to send the injured to the 7th Preserve District because there were too many of them and Doctor Ju didn¡¯t have enough medicinal agents on her. She originally thought the young man would be suspicious and hesitant. She didn¡¯t expect that he just agreed with her wholeheartedly.


    Then, the result of that decision was that the 7th Preserve District became sort of a paradise for the injured of that group of mecha. No matter who got injured, they would be sent to her. Once they recover, they would regroup and continue to fight.


    Doctor Ju¡¯s words were undoubtedly ignored. Zhao Jun immediately shook his head and said, ¡°We won¡¯t leave until the battle royale is done, so Doctor Ju, we will still need your help in the future.¡±


    ¡°I-I don¡¯t want that...¡± Doctor Ju felt her world copsing. If she had known it woulde to this, she wouldn¡¯t have tried to repay the debt of saving her life in the first ce.

 Chapter 1432 - That’s Enough

    <h4>1432 That¡°s Enough</h4>


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that as long as you get into contact with your Boss, you would be able to resolve the issue with the medicinal agents?¡± Doctor Ju looked at Zhao Jun with hope in her eyes. She hoped that she would hear some good news from him.


    ¡°But you also should know that there is no signal in Kamoda.¡± Zhao Jun¡¯s expression darkened. Being the smart person that he was, he realized they were set up from the beginning.


    Doctor Ju knew what Zhao Jun said was the truth, but...


    ¡°But with just my own strength, I can¡¯t satisfy the amount you guys need to use.¡± She was worried. The amount of raw materials for medicinal agents she could gather around the area had been progressively decreasing. If the battle royale didn¡¯t stop soon, she would have to go further away from the 7th Preserve District to find more raw materials. For a normal woman like herself, it was undoubtedly a difficult and dangerous task for her to do.


    ¡°I know... and I¡¯m sorry. ¡± Zhao Jun sighed deeply. How could he not have known about what Doctor Ju was concerned about? In reality, if he didn¡¯t have to pressure such a fragile woman so shamelessly, he wouldn¡¯t do it. However, in order to save therades he fought side by side, he couldn¡¯t help but be forceful in his attitude while putting pressure to this innocent woman.


    As long as they could hold on until the end of the battle royale, he would definitely repay this woman. Zhao Jun surreptitiously clenched his fists and reminded himself to remember the kindness she treated them with in the past few days.


    At that moment, Zhao Jun didn¡¯t know that Boss Ling Lan was already rushing towards them with Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang.


    ¡°Did you get the right information?¡± Miles away from the 7th Preserve District, arge mecha n was garrisoned in a valley.


    ¡°It¡¯s correct. They are hiding in the 7th Preserve District.¡± The scouts team responded.


    Bang! The regimentmander of the mecha n struck the mountain wall with his mecha¡¯s fist, creating arge hole in it.


    ¡°The 7th Preserve District shouldn¡¯t exist anymore,¡± said the regimentmander in an icy cold tone.


    ¡°Regimentmander, what should we do?¡± the team leaders of the mecha teams around him promptly asked.


    ¡°Since they don¡¯t want to live anymore, we shall satisfy them,¡± said the regimentmander mercilessly.


    ¡°But the 7th Preserve District is under Lord Demon¡¯s protection.¡± One of the team leaders was hesitant. After all, Lord Demon was part of the alliance. If they did this, wouldn¡¯t Lord Demon be dissatisfied with them?


    ¡°We kill them all and then push the me onto Lord Gen.¡± The regimentmander had thought about his n long before this.


    ¡°Understood!¡±


    ¡°Elder sister, Elder Father is looking for you.¡± Just as Doctor Ju finished treating an injured soldier, she saw Little Qing, who was a 12-year-old girl apprenticing under her, ran in with bated breath.


    Doctor Ju¡¯s hands froze in ce. She turned her head with a stiff expression on her face. ¡°He is looking for me? For what?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, Elder Father didn¡¯t say,¡± said Little Qing as she shook her tiny head.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going right now.¡± Doctor Ju slowly stood up from her stool as she spoke. She calmly walked to the bathroom to wash her hands before going out to meet Elder Father. Although she looked outwardly calm, while she was washing her hands, her hands were slightly trembling.


    ¡®Elder Father¡¯ was a term of endearment given to the district mayor of the 7th Preserve District. He was given such a title because the reason why they were able to have a peaceful ce to stay in an area of constant war was because of Elder Father¡¯s capabilities. Even though he was their savior, personal details about Elder Father were not known to anyone in the district, it was as though he was shrouded in a cloud of mystery. They only knew to call him Elder Father because the older generation had always referred to him respectfully as Elder Father, so those who joined after also followed suit.


    Elder Father normally wouldn¡¯t deal with the affairs of the district, but once he said something, it was like an imperial decree that everyone must follow.


    After walking through the door of a normal looking thatched house, she saw Elder Father sitting beside a fire pit with a branch in his hand. He looked as if he was grilling something. Not long after, a delectable scent of meat began to waft to her nose.


    ¡°Elder Father, you¡¯re looking for me?¡± Doctor Ju surreptitiously swallowed her saliva before knocking on the opened door.


    ¡°Sit,¡± said Elder Father as he pointed towards the tree stub beside him.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Doctor Ju carefully sat down just as Elder Father had told her to. She carefully adjusted her sitting posture before staring towards Elder Father¡¯s direction. Everyone in the district at her age were all brought up by Elder Father, so they all respected him greatly.


    ¡°I heard you saved some injured men,¡± Elder Father asked softly. He usually never interfered with the 7th Preserve District. He would just allow the children to do what they wanted.


    ¡°Yes, they saved me, so I couldn¡¯t just leave and not ignore their call for help.¡± Kindness should be repaid, and simrly revenge should be taken if necessary. Elder Father had taught them that when they were very young.


    ¡°Yes, that is how it should be.¡± Elder Father had a light smile on his face, but it quickly turned into a look of reprimand. ¡°However, all things must be done to a certain point. You shouldn¡¯t overdo it, otherwise you would feel the bacsh thereafter.¡±


    Doctor Ju was confused why Elder Father was reprimanding him. She couldn¡¯t understand what Elder Father meant with his statement.


    ¡°The 7th Preserve District was allowed to retain its peaceful state because we never got ourselves involved with the battle royales.¡± Elder Father gently patted Doctor Ju¡¯s head, just like how he did when she was younger. ¡°However, if we get caught up in it, then the 7th Preserve District will no longer be as peaceful as before. Little Ju, you will need to make a hard decision.¡±


    Doctor Ju put her head down and thought deeply for a moment. After a few seconds, she raised her head with a look of determination in her eyes, ¡°Elder Father, I understand.¡±


    Elder Father looked at her into her deep eyes and sighed. ¡°Fatees and goes. If you want to do it, do as your heart says.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Elder Father. I¡¯ve disappointed you,¡± Doctor Ju felt guilty for her rash decision.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m very happy you could make a decision. You¡¯ve matured greatly.¡± Elder Father¡¯s warm hand rubbed Doctor Ju¡¯s head. The kindness andpassion in his eyes didn¡¯t decrease by one bit, even after she made such a decision.


    ¡°If you want to leave, you should leave as early as possible. Even if they were to hide themselves well, those who want to know will still be able to find them. If you stay here any longer, it wouldn¡¯t benefit anyone,¡± Elder Father reminded in a calm tone.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Doctor Ju was surprised by his words.


    ¡°Take Little Qing and the other children with you. It¡¯s better for them to leave with you than to stay here,¡± said Elder Father.


    Doctor Ju frowned slightly at his words. Little Qing was the oldest out of all of the children under 12 years old. The youngest in the district was only 7 years old. Was it really a good idea for them to experience the brutality of a battlefield where they might die if they were unlucky and live a path of bloodshed at such a young age?


    ¡°Staying here will only make them bemon folk. The future of the 7th Preserve District¡¯s children will be in your hands.¡± Elder Father seemed to understand what Doctor Ju was thinking and exined his reasoning.


    ¡°Understood, Elder Father.¡± Despite Doctor Ju not liking it, no matter how difficult Elder Father¡¯s requests were, she still wouldn¡¯t refuse it. At most, she would use her own life to protect Little Qing and the other children.


    ¡°Time is of the essence. Tell Little Qing and them to pack their things and leave immediately. Don¡¯te back unless the battle royale ends.¡± Elder Father was undoubtedly someone who was decisive.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll take them away immediately.¡± Doctor Ju felt the hurriedness in Elder Father¡¯s tone, so she stood up instantly and left the room.


    ¡°Regimentmander, Doctor Ju is going to take the children ande with us?¡± After suddenly receiving Zhao Jun¡¯s announcement, many of the team leaders didn¡¯t understand why. They were here to fight a battle royale, not here to be babysitters for children.


    ¡°It¡¯s my fault,¡± Zhao Jun¡¯s expression was serious.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Zhao Jun randomly admitting to a mistake confused everyone.


    ¡°I was too simple-minded to think the 7th Preserve District was able to provide us some breathing room.¡± After Zhao Jun heard Doctor Ju telling him that she was going to take the children and follow them to leave immediately, he understood this fact.


    The so-called preserve districts were only ythings for those lords. They could take these ces out any time they wanted.


    The team leaders immediately understood the meaning behind Zhao Jun¡¯s words.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t cause trouble for the 7th Preserve District, did we?¡± One of the team leader¡¯s was frustrated. It wasn¡¯t because they didn¡¯t like those children. It was just that they felt taking children in the battlefield wasn¡¯t a good idea. However, now, they understood that staying here wouldn¡¯t be the best for the children either.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just hope we still have time,¡± Zhao Jun looked at the setting sun in the west. He hoped that his worries were only just a thought.

 Chapter 1433 - Go Back!

    <h4>1433 Go Back!</h4>


    ¡°Regimentmander, we have a major problem. We discovered an enemy mecha n.¡± Right as Zhao Jun and the others were done settling the children settled in their mechas, the scouts around them gave them bad news.


    ¡°Predict their trajectory.¡± Zhao Jun¡¯s heart skipped a beat, but he still asked with hope in his voice.


    ¡°They are going towards the 7th Preserve District, where we are. We¡¯re exposed.¡± Not only after, the scouts team predicted the target the enemy mecha n was moving towards.


    ¡°Damn it,¡± Zhao Jun cursed softly in consideration of the children around them. He then jumped into his mecha¡¯s cockpit.


    Doctor Ju had just settled in the secondary seat. When she saw Zhao Jun jumping in with a dark expression and hurriedly closing the cockpit, she knew something was wrong.


    ¡°Retreat at top speed,¡± Zhao Jun ordered in his n¡¯smlink channel.


    ¡°Yes, Regimentmander!¡± Without saying anything else, all of his team leaders knew what had happened.


    Zhao Jun piloted his mecha, quickly leading his mecha n out of the 7th Preserve District. Doctor Ju then asked loudly, ¡°Regiment Commander Zhao, tell me! What is wrong?¡±


    Zhao Jun didn¡¯t answer, only the sounds of his fingers tapping on the control panel echoed through the cockpit. His fingers quickly danced around the control panel and his mecha speed increased by one level once again.


    ¡°Tell me, is something happening to the 7th Preserve District?¡± Doctor Ju wasn¡¯t stupid. Zhao Jun¡¯s attitude proved what she had guessed.


    Zhao Jun didn¡¯t answer. One reason was because he didn¡¯t know how to answer. The second reason was because he believed answering wouldn¡¯t result to anything.


    ¡°I want to go back.¡± Doctor Ju was still worried about her friends and family in the 7th Preserve District.


    Zhao Jun totally ignored her, and the mecha still quickly rushed forward. He was trying to rush out before the enemy could encircle them.


    If the enemy had sent out one mecha army, perhaps Zhao Jun would still try to fight. However, this time, the scouts gave him the intel that it was clearly three mecha armies cooperating with each other. Even if the mecha operators in his n could fight 1 against 3, Zhao Jun wouldn¡¯t be dumb enough to go against enemies that had 10 times the number of people they had.


    ¡°Did you not hear me? I want to go back.¡± Doctor Ju wanted to grab onto Zhao Jun¡¯s hand with the intention of stopping him.


    Before she could reach him, she felt a force instantly push her hand back.


    ¡°Calm the f*ck down,¡± said Zhao Jun angrily.


    ¡°Elder Father is there. My friends and family are all there. How can I be calm?¡± Doctor Ju shouted.


    It was easy for bystanders to say that, but it was her own family members they were talking about, who could actually stay calm in her situation? Doctor Ju knew if she went back, she wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything, but she couldn¡¯t control herself. She wanted to go back, even if it meant dying with them.


    ¡°What can you do if you go back?¡± shouted Zhao Jun. ¡°If they can¡¯t find us, they won¡¯t have a reason to attack the 7th Preserve District. Don¡¯t make things more difficult.¡±


    Doctor Ju became silent. After a few seconds, she said softly, ¡°They aren¡¯t going to attack the 7th Preserve District? Can you really fool yourself like that?¡±


    Zhao Jun turned silent. It was just as Doctor Ju had said. The words he said just now couldn¡¯t even fool himself. With three mecha armies surrounding the 7th Preserve District, there was no doubt that they had solid intel about their location. If they couldn¡¯t find them, it would quite possible they would wipe out 7th Preserve District to let out their rage.


    ¡°Elder Father predicted it woulde to this. That¡¯s why he told me to take the children away...¡± Doctor Ju now understood everything. She slumped back down to her chair with tears rolling down her face. She didn¡¯t know whether she should resent or thank Zhao Jun for saving their lives. She couldn¡¯t even look at Zhao Jun with a straight face.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Zhao Jun squeezed those words out of his mouth with difficulty. If it was possible, he also didn¡¯t want to do this. However, at that moment, they had lost contact with Boss so they were all on their own now. After fighting constantly for so long, they had already reached the point where they were running out of bullets. Reality forced them to find a safe ce to let his n members rest and treat their wounds. The appearance of Doctor Ju and the 7th Preserve District was like a silver lining of hope for Zhao Jun. Perhaps his selfishness made Zhao Jun unwilling to think about the consequences of his actions.


    He was still a selfish person. He also didn¡¯t have Boss¡¯s ability to easily resolve a difficult issue.


    ¡°It¡¯s me who caused the death of everyone in the district. I¡¯m too simple-minded to think it would be fine.¡± Doctor Ju mocked herself while smiling as tears dripped down her face. Her smile was depressing.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s hand on the control stick tightened for a moment before loosening again.


    ¡°But I must go back. Regiment Commander Zhao, please put me down. I beg you. Please take Little Qing and the others to a safe ce and let them live peacefully...¡± said Doctor Ju.


    ¡°Do you know how far away we are from the 7th Preserve District now? If you go down now, you would have to walk back for an entire day,¡± said Zhao Jun.


    ¡°I have to go back no matter how far I am.¡± Doctor Ju looked towards Zhao Jun with a determined look in her eyes.


    Zhao Jun knew Doctor Ju had made up her mind. He couldn¡¯t help but curse under his breath, ¡°F*ck!¡± Then he pushed down on hismlink connect button, ¡°Leader Mu, the mecha n will be under yourmand now.¡±


    Leader Mu shuddered when he heard those words. ¡°Regimentmander, where are you going?¡±


    ¡°I need to go back to the 7th Preserve District.¡± He was indebted to Doctor Ju. Plus, the 7th Preserve District being on the brink of destruction was because of him. If he didn¡¯t go back to take a look, he wouldn¡¯t be able to live with himself.


    ¡°You can¡¯t, regimentmander! Going back to the 7th Preserve District is too dangerous.¡± Leader Mu immediately refused. He couldn¡¯t watch as his regimentmander nned to give up his life.


    ¡°That¡¯s an order.¡± Zhao Jun was also a person who wouldn¡¯t change a decision he made.


    ¡°F*ck!¡± Leader Mu also swore under his breath. He pushed down on themlink connect button, ¡°Have the team leaders without the childrene out and follow our regimentmander.¡±


    If that was the case, then he must increase his chances of survival. He couldn¡¯t just let his regimentmander go there and give up his life.


    Not long after, ten team leaders came out from the n and followed behind Zhao Jun.


    Then, Zhao Jun¡¯s entire mecha turned 180 degrees towards the opposite direction. The 10 mechas behind him also followed suit. They were just as elegant and agile, without stagnating.


    Zhao Jun ran for a short while before seeing beeps on his radar. ¡°Activate the chameleon system.¡±


    The 11 mechas stopped nearby the district. They soon camouged themselves with the scenery around them. Other than touching them physically, the mechas on the Lawless Lands wouldn¡¯t be able to discover them.


    This was also why Zhao Jun had been able to escape the enemy armies¡¯ encirclements. However, the enemy seemed to have discovered this as they would destroy the environment around them every time they patrolled the area, ensuring that Zhao Jun and them didn¡¯t hide around them.


    A few minutes after they hid themselves, they saw arge team of mechasing towards them.


    ¡°It looks like their encirclement has sessfully trapped us in.¡± Zhao Jun frowned. At the same time, he rejoiced that the others had left quick enough. They managed to get away in a crack of the enemy¡¯s encirclement before the enemy couldpletely surround them.


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Doctor Ju asked worriedly.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see how the situation goes. If we don¡¯t get discovered, we will follow behind them.¡± Of course, in order to avoid being discovered on the enemy¡¯s radar, they must change into manual mode.

 Chapter 1434 - One Round Of Humiliation Was Enough

    <h4>1434 One Round Of Humiliation Was Enough</h4>


    The 7th Preserve District was surroundedpletely. Elder Father was consoling the citizens of the district who were surrounding his thatched house.


    ¡°Why are they surrounding us? This is a preserve district.¡± Many people couldn¡¯t understand what was happening in their state of fear.


    Grief shed past Elder Father¡¯s eyes. There was never any actual safe ce in the warring districts. A preserve district was just a blessing the 13 Lords gave them when they were in a good mood. They could take it back anytime they want.


    ¡°Calm down. Let me go and ask them.¡± Elder Fatherforted the defenseless citizens. Those that were able to fight were already fully armed after Little Ju left.


    The 7th Preserve District would never allow them to be seized without a fight. If the other party couldn¡¯t let them go, they would try to pull them down to hell together. Killing intent appeared in Elder Father¡¯s eyes.


    The situation was very bad. Just like what Elder Father had expected, their opponent knew Little Ju had saved those soldiers, and now, they wereing here to retrieve them.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. We are totally ignorant of the matter. As for those people that you mentioned, they¡¯re not in the 7th Preserve District,¡± Elder Father spoke in an unyielding tone.


    ¡°In that case, there¡¯s no need for the 7th Preserve District to exist.¡± The regimentmander of this mecha n was a cold-blooded person. He decided the fate of the tens of thousands of people in the 7th Preserve District with just one sentence.


    ¡°Are you trying to vite the rules of the battle royale? All the 13 Lords approved of the construction of the 7th Preserve District,¡± Elder Father said angrily.


    He had guessed this ending but when it really happened, Elder Father couldn¡¯t maintain hisposure.


    ¡°So what?¡± The regimentmander smiled coldly. Would the 13 Lords punish them for these ordinary and useless low-ss people? No, they would even feel that making them in their backyard was a waste of time.


    ¡°Raze the 7th Preserve District down. I want to see what other districts dare to take them in again,¡± The regimentmander said viciously.


    He wanted to massacre the 7th Preserve District in order to vent the frustration he had endured in these past few days. At the same time, he wanted to use them as an example to warn the other districts to let them understand their position in the Lawless Lands. They were just uselessmbs that could be culled anytime they want.


    ¡°Kill them!¡± The regimentmander didn¡¯t give Elder Father any more time of his day as he immediately ordered a massacre.


    Swoosh! A mecha positioned behind the regimentmander shot at Elder Father. Elder Father was soon going to be devoured by the beam ray.


    Bang!


    Suddenly, numerous mechas dropped down from the sky. One of the mechas opened his beam shield in time and blocked the beam.


    ¡°Elder Father, we¡¯re here.¡± A deep and strong voice came from the mecha.


    ¡°You came just in time.¡± Elder Father threw this sentence down and disappeared on the spot the next second. After some time, another mecha appeared beside the speaking mecha. It was Elder Father¡¯s mecha.


    ¡°Huh?¡± The regimentmander couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised when he saw the bunch of mechas suddenly falling from the sky.


    These mechas didn¡¯t belong to Lord Gen as these mechas in front of him were very old mecha models. But, their owners seemed to have taken great care of them, so much so that they looked brand new. If it wasn¡¯t for their dated outer shell, the regimentmander might think that they were the current-gen mechas.


    He didn¡¯t expect this seemingly ordinary 7th Preserve District had such a bunch of powerful mecha operators hidden inside it.


    The malicious intent in the regimentmander¡¯s eyes grew stronger. He had already broken his rtionship with the 7th Preserve District openly, so all the more he wouldn¡¯t allow anyone from the 7th Preserve District to live. No matter how powerful they were, they all must die here.


    ¡°Kill them!¡± The regimentmander gave the order, and more than a hundred mechas rushed out towards the mechas from the 7th Preserve District.


    The mechas from the 7th Preserve District had to face double the amount of mechas they had.


    It was obvious that they didn¡¯t n to engage in a battle of attrition with Elder Father. They wanted to end this fight quickly and then pige the entire 7th Preserve District.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The mechas used their cold weapons to fight against one another. Although Elder Father¡¯s team had half the number of men, their mecha piloting skills were not bad at all, maybe even a level higher than their opponents. So, the enemy mechas weren¡¯t able to do anything to them for quite some time. Some of them even managed to suppress their enemy even though they were fighting with two mechas.


    ¡°Damn it.¡± The regimentmander looked at the fight for a few minutes and soon he noticed that the situation wasn¡¯t as optimistic as he imagined. He cursed silently before he gave his next order decisively, ¡°Send in another brigade. We must finish those pieces of trash in the next three minutes.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± The leaders of the brigades replied simultaneously.


    Before they could decide which brigade would go, they heard an agitated voice. ¡°Don¡¯t fight with me. This time, it¡¯s time for Brigade 21 to shine.¡±


    The brigade leader of Brigade 21 hadn¡¯t achieved much on the battlefield, so he was quite desperate for an opportunity to earn some merits. Luckily, they seemed to have faced some easy prey.


    The other brigade leaders knew of Brigade 21¡¯s miserable situation so they didn¡¯t try to snatch it away from him. The brigade leader of Brigade 21 happily led his team and entered the battlefield. Now, Elder Father¡¯s team members had to fight with three enemies each. The situation changed instantly. Danger was everywhere.


    ¡°Elder Father...¡± Doctor Ju, who was sitting in Zhao Jun¡¯s cockpit, shouted when he saw Elder Father in danger.


    Zhao Jun had followed behind the mecha army secretly and sneaked their way here. They didn¡¯t dare to get any closer when they saw the mechas at the boundaries of the 7th Preserve District. They decided to hide and observe from a distance away.


    Doctor Ju clearly saw what was happening to Elder Father.


    But, in this kind of situation, Doctor Ju didn¡¯t dare to beg Zhao Jun. She knew that if they exposed themselves now, it was the same as seeking death. She respected and loved Elder Father but she couldn¡¯t let a stranger die for her own selfish desire either.


    She couldn¡¯t do it so she could only cry silently. Her tears dropped down one by one. At this moment, she hated herself for being weak. She hated herself for being rash and stupid.


    ¡°Is it very painful to see your loved ones dying?¡± Zhao Jun¡¯s voice sounded clearly beside her ear. It was cold.


    ¡°Do you hate yourself for being useless, for being stupid, and for being reckless?¡± Zhao Jun was speaking her true thoughts. Doctor Ju forcefully pinched her thigh. She wanted to use the pain to regain herposure. Doctor Ju knew that once she lost control of her emotions, she might break down and resent everything in the world.


    ¡°I also hate it. I hate that I can only hide at the side and watch my brothers fight... so that we will have a chance to live.¡± Zhao Jun¡¯s expression was nk but cold. He seemed to have thought of something. ¡°At times like that, I will tell myself that I will only allow such weakness once. The next time, even if I die, I will stay beside them.¡±


    ¡°Damn it, I don¡¯t want to be a coward again. Even if Boss said that I¡¯m stupid and irrational, I don¡¯t care anymore,¡± Zhao Jun shouted. Then, he controlled his mecha and shot out like a cannonball.


    At the same time, the ten mechas behind him emerged too.


    They had the same thoughts as Zhao Jun. They felt sad for what happened at Qingri wormhole but at the same time, they also remembered the humiliation they felt.


    One round of humiliation was enough. They didn¡¯t want to suffer a second one. This was how Lingtian was like!

 Chapter 1435 - A Killing Blow!

    <h4>1435 A Killing Blow!</h4>


    Eleven mechas suddenly appeared and attacked the mechas that were surrounding Elder Father¡¯s mechas.


    ¡°Why did youe back?¡± Elder Father shouted furiously when he saw them.


    Right from the start, when he asked Doctor Ju to leave with those children, he had never thought of leaving this ce alive. Thus, when he saw theming back, he was shocked and furious.


    Bang! Zhao Jun blocked the cold weapon that was attacking Elder Father andughed crazily. ¡°I¡¯m not a coward.¡±


    ¡°Idiot.¡± Elder Father scolded angrily. But, the anger in his heart wasn¡¯t as strong as his words. He just felt that these people were a little stupid but his emotions wereplicated.


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind being an idiot. At least being an idiot can answer to my heart.¡± Zhao Jun¡¯s reply was upright. Now, Zhao Jun had a deeper understanding of what Boss had said before. He said that you would have real courage when you could answer to your heart.


    Zhao Jun only had eleven people on their side but they were all outstanding mecha operators. Moreover, the equipment on their mechas were top-ss, even by the Federation¡¯s standard. Thus slowly, they were able to withstand this huge wave of mechas.


    The regimentmander gritted his teeth furiously when he saw this. They were the mecha who messed with them everytime they fought a battle. They were very much so a pain in the ass to the lords. In the end, they had no choice but to work together to devour this personal mecha n of Lord Gen.


    Of course, the main reason for doing so was to wash away the disgrace they had from all the defeat in the past.


    He pressed his connect button furiously. ¡°The target has appeared. Location: xx,xx¡±


    He was reporting to his superiors; themanders of the three mecha armies.


    ¡°Arriving in three minutes.¡± Almost at the same time, a few replies were received on the channel.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see where you can run to.¡± The regimentmander gave a sinister smile. He was determined to win.


    Three minutes weren¡¯t too short nor too long. The moment Zhao Jun managed to suppress the first wave of mechas, three minutes had passed.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Suddenly, mechas started to drop like flies from the sky. The moment theynded on the ground, they started attacking Zhao Jun and his ten team members.


    ng! ng! ng! The members in Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha n were all carefully selected. Even in Lingtian, his mecha n was among the top five in terms of ability. Thus, even though this sneak attack was sudden, they were still able to resist.


    Zhao Jun forced thest opponent to retreat before carefully looking at his enemies, and his heart dropped.


    The newly appeared mechas looked different in terms of design from the mechas that were initially raiding the district. It was obvious that they weren¡¯t from the same mecha army. Zhao Jun had guessed that there might be a few mecha armies working together but when the truthid out in front of him, he still felt slightly bitter.


    ¡°You really put in much effort to take care of us,¡± Zhao Jun said coldly.


    ¡°Hmph. You can talk all you want now. We¡¯ll make sure you can¡¯t go back alive,¡± the person who replied was still that regimentmander. He gritted his teeth forcefully and squeezed the words out of the gaps of his teeth when he was saying this sentence. You could tell how much he hated Zhao Jun and his mecha n.


    ¡°Try it then.¡± Zhao Jun sneered.


    ¡°Kill them!¡± The two parties couldn¡¯t live under the same sky. There was no need to say nonsense between them. A few sentences was enough.


    This time, the mechas that their opponent sent were lesser than the first wave but they were all elites. They were probably team leaders. This increased the pressure on Zhao Jun and his team members. After some time, a few mechas on the opposing side were destroyed. Fortunately, the modified mechas by Chang Xinyuan were extremely sturdy. It was able withstand a few blows from their opponent. There wasn¡¯t much damage or harm done to the mechas.


    But, no matter how strong the mecha was, it had its limit too. Zhao Jun understood that if they didn¡¯t get out of this ce soon, all eleven of them wouldy here forever and be wandering spirits.


    Did he regret it? Zhao Jun didn¡¯t regret anything. He was wrong to involve the district from the start. Everyone had to pay the price for their mistake. If he died here, he deserved it. He wouldn¡¯t me anyone.


    ¡°Boss, are we not going to help him?¡± Far away, Luo Lang, who was hiding and watching this battle, couldn¡¯t help but open his mouth.


    ¡°Since he made the decision, let¡¯s see how far he can reach,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly.


    ¡°But, I think that Brother Zhao can¡¯t handle it anymore.¡± At this moment, someone in Zhao Jun¡¯s mecha n got injured again and Luo Lang¡¯s eyebrows jumped uncontrobly. His heart pounded furiously too. During the entire time he spent watching the battle, his heart was extremely lively. For a moment, Luo Lang felt that his heart might stop working.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Luo Lang. Boss is confident,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled andforted him.


    ¡°Erm...¡± Luo Lang was speechless. Zhao Jun was Li Lanfeng¡¯s best buddy. Why wasn¡¯t he anxious? Instead, he, who wasn¡¯t as close to Zhao Jun, was feeling nervous and worried.


    ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯re stupid.¡± A mocking voice appeared in his mind. Luo Lang pouted his lips secretly. This personality really wasn¡¯t cute at all. Little Leng was still the best. He didn¡¯t know when Little Leng would finish resting ande back. Luo Lang missed his cold and indifferent calm personality. His calm personality really cared about him.


    Zhao Jun and his men fought with their lives on the line, and they managed to endure a few more minutes. During this time, the strongest person of the cohort, Zhao Jun, even managed to destroy a few mecha when he had the chance.


    However, his action struck the ho¡¯s nest as the opposing regimentmander sent out 20 mechas again. They were all team leaders too.


    It was obvious that the other party had no intention of letting Zhao Jun alive. They didn¡¯t want to give them any chances.


    ¡°Have you confirmed the location?¡± Ling Lan asked Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Li Lanfeng sent the locations of three red dots to Luo Lang and Ling Lan.


    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Luo Lang was surprised.


    ¡°These are the ces where themanders of the three mecha armies are hiding,¡± Li Lanfeng exined. ¡°I was already searching for their position, but they were very cautious in hiding their location. However, I sessfully got their coordinates when they ordered for more reinforcements.¡±


    ¡°So, we were not waiting here to see Brother Zhao¡¯s capability. We are waiting for an opportunity to hit them where it hurts.¡± With the help of Li Lanfeng¡¯s exnation, Luo Lang gradually understood why they had to wait.


    ¡°We have too little people. We must kill them with one strike.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up. She had been waiting for a long time for this moment.


    ¡°There¡¯s only one chance,¡± Ling Lan reminded.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Luo Lang grabbed his control stick tightly. This was their only chance to save Zhao Jun and his men. They mustn¡¯t make any mistakes.


    ¡°Charge!¡± After counting three seconds silently, Ling Lan suddenly shouted loudly.


    The three mechas shot out like ferocious tigers leaping out of their cages. They pounced at their targets.


    The threemanders were staring at their mecha screens intently and waiting for their men to kill those wicked enemies. At this moment, they felt a shudder in their hearts. They quickly shifted their mechas to evade.


    A cold sh of light was seen. Three different shaped but equally sharp swords stabbed into their cockpit from the back of their waist urately.


    A killing blow!

 Chapter 1436 - Won’t Regret I

    <h4>1436 Won¡°t Regret I</h4>


    The video chat disy of themanders suddenly turned ck.


    ¡°What happened?¡± The team leaders were stunned. They tried their hardest to reconnect with them, but all they heard from the other side was silence.


    ¡°Commander Ai¡¯er.¡±


    ¡°Commander!¡±


    ¡°Commander Qiao!¡± There were shoutsing from different parts of the army, but none received any response.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look.¡± In unison, everyone started to turn around to go check theirmander, including the team responsible for guarding the threemanders.


    ¡°They¡¯re here. You guys be careful.¡± Ling Lan felt the ground below her shake violently and calmly reminded Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang.


    ¡°Understood.¡± Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang held their control sticks firmly, fully knowing that a bloody massacre was about to begin.


    Taking out themanders was the first and easiest step of saving Zhao Jun and the others. The next and most dangerous was how they would handle the cumtive anger of three armies.


    If they managed to hold them off for long enough, Zhao Jun and the others would be safe. If they couldn¡¯t hold them off, not only would they perish here, Zhao Jun and the others wouldn¡¯t be able to live the next day either.


    Whether they live or die would depend on this.


    ¡°How about it, Ling Lan? Should I take over?¡± A familiar and sharp voice rang in Ling Lan¡¯s mind.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, Instructor Number Three. If I can¡¯t even manage this much, I will be too embarrassed to say I¡¯m your student,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    She was just facing a bunch of average mechas. Moreover, they weren¡¯t even god-ss operators. She didn¡¯t need Instructor Number Three to handle a bunch of small-fries.


    ¡°I know, but you can¡¯t say the same about yourrades.¡± Number Three asked with a light smile on his face. Compared to Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang were clearly in more risk of dying. If they were unlucky, they might actually die here.


    ¡°This is something they must experience anyway. I can¡¯t follow them and take care of them forever.¡± When Ling Lan spoke those ruthless words, her expression was freezing cold. However, for some reason, there was also a hint of warmth in her eyes.


    ¡°Oh you.¡± Number Three sighed. Sometimes, letting go was also a type of courage, a courage not everyone had.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re already mentally prepared about your decision, even if the oue is the one you desire the least?¡± Number Three¡¯s expression suddenly turned stern.


    ¡°Of course. I may be angry or sad, but I won¡¯t regret it,¡± Ling Lan shouted angrily. As the shout left her throat, her left hand danced around the keyboard and her right hand pulled forcefully on the control stick. Her mecha shot up like a cannonball towards the iing mechas.


    ¡°Ah!¡± The enemy mecha operator only saw a white sh of lighting down from the sky, before feeling a bone-crushing feeling in his abdomen. The pain totally fried his mind, and all he could do was scream in pain. Just before thest bit of oxygen left his body, he let out a small whimper before staying forever silent in excruciating pain


    ¡°What happened?¡± Another team of mecha from afar, unaware of the danger that was about to befall them, asked angrily.


    ¡°Wu...¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    ¡°Ouch!¡±


    ¡°Ugh...¡±


    Themlink channel could only record their dying breath before cutting off in an instant. Those who heard those noises felt a chill going down to their spines. The mystery of the killer shocked them to their core. However, they all knew that something terrible must have happened to theirrade.


    Everyone was on high alert. Their only sce was the weapons in their hands, the only thing that could provide them with a sense of safety. Not long after, the truth behind the sudden deaths were revealed.


    ¡°Enemy attack! Enemy attack!¡± Screams echoed from theirmlink channel.


    It was good that it was just an enemy attack.


    The brigade leaders felt as if a boulder was being lifted off their shoulder. In the Lawless Lands, people weren¡¯t scary. What was truly scary were the unexinable phenomenons happening in random districts. As a member of the official armies of the 13 Lords, they knew much more of the secrets in the Lawless Lands than a normalmoner of the Lawless Lands.


    ¡°Report your positions. Don¡¯t get left behind. We¡¯ll surround them together.¡± The brigade leaders all contacted each other. They believed they fell for the attack because they were separated.


    ¡°Alright.¡± The team leaders contacted each other. On the other side, Ling Lan activated all of her reconnaisse systems. Despite not being as detailed and clear as Little Four, it was still enough for Ling Lan to use.


    ¡°Firmament, don¡¯t disappoint me,¡± shouted Ling Lan in her mind. Her mecha leaped into the air before dropping like a huge cannonball towards the closest enemy mecha.


    Although Ling Lan¡¯s piloting abilities could easily overpower these mecha operators, she wouldn¡¯t be able to insta-kill those enemy mechas if it weren¡¯t for Firmament.


    When Ling Lan first received the Firmament, its edge was the best avable in the market at that time. In ranking of cold weapons for ace mechas, it could be easily ranked in the top 10.


    Of course, as Ling Lan¡¯s mecha reached the imperial level, Firmament which had followed Ling Lan for her entire journey and had helped her achieve many military merits, seemed to not be able to follow in Ling Lan¡¯s footsteps.


    If it wasn¡¯t for Chang Xinyuan, Ling Lan would have had a headache with picking another cold weapon to rece Firmament. After all, Ling Lan was quite used to Firmament, changing it suddenly would make Ling Lan feel odd. Although with Ling Lan¡¯s adaptability and the experience she had, she would eventually be able to get used to her new weapon, however, the unexinable connection between the weapon and the user wasn¡¯t something that could be offset by a short amount of training and some experience.


    Lucky for Ling Lan, she had a mecha modification master like Chang Xinyuan by her side, so she didn¡¯t have to worry about that problem. After Chang Xinyuan reforged it on multiple asions, Firmament¡¯s edge had reached a level where it suited her needs.


    It could be said that unless it was a cold weapon made for a god-ss mecha, out of any cold weapon made by humans, if the Firmament¡¯s sharpness was in the second ce, no other human-made cold weapon would dare to proim first. The way Chang Xinyuan put it was that it was enough for Boss to use until he switched to a god-ss mecha.


    However, no matter how strong the Firmament was, after piercing through mecha cockpits for so many times, the de¡¯s edge would dull. Once Firmament loses its terrifying sharpness, no matter how overwhelming Ling Lan¡¯s piloting skills were, she wouldn¡¯t be able to cull down the overwhelming amount of enemy mechas in front of her. Moreover, she would be able to intimidate them if she weren¡¯t insta-killing them.


    In mecha battles, although it was mostly on abilities, mentality was also something that shouldn¡¯t be disregarded.


    Just like right now. A group of team leaders appeared in front of Ling Lan. However, after seeing Ling Lan cut down two of their mecha operators with just two shes of her sword, these leaders panicked. Some of them also hesitated their movements.


    Although their hesitation wasn¡¯t obvious, it was still enough for a mecha operator of Ling Lan¡¯s level to kill these people.


    Ling Lan¡¯s mecha shed around the battlefield, creating multiple afterimages in the process. Her movements were swift and unpredictable. If one stopped to look, she would have already gotten in front of that person. If they took another look, they would see multiple mechas toppling down with a sh of white light.


    ¡°Ah!¡± A team leader shouted with an earth-piercing scream. Perhaps it was to make himself less scared, or perhaps it was to let out his fear. He raised hisrge sword in a desperate attempt to kill the monstrous spectre that was killing hisrades.


    Shoo! A deafening sharp sound echoed in his ears.

 Chapter 1437 - No Need

    <h4>1437 No Need</h4>


    ¡°Ugh...¡± The team leader looked down at his abdomen. Darkness was encroaching his vision, but a blood-stained sword would forever burn in his mind. It sliced through his abdomen and blood slowly poured out from his body.


    Shoo! The blood-stained sword instantly vanished from his sight. It was as though what he saw, the pain he experienced, and the agony he felt were just an illusion. Unfortunately, the gut-wrenching pain in his abdomen brought him back to reality.


    ¡°Ah!¡± The team leader shouted in agony. That terrifying mecha wasn¡¯t just an illusion! It was actually piloted by a terrifying monster!


    ¡°In the Lawless Lands, you all are the strongest mecha operators there are. Unless a god-ss operatores, you are invincible.¡± He remembered the words Lord Demon had told them in the past.


    ¡°You lied to us, Lord Demon...¡± The team leader angrily breathed hisst breath. He died with regret in his mind.


    Ling Lan pulled out Firmament from the destroyed mecha. The resistance she felt when she pulled back her sword made her frown slightly. It meant that the damage on Firmament had already caused it to lose its original sharpness.


    ¡°Attack!¡± A new group of team leader mechas that had just arrived saw the mechas of theirrades be ughtered mercilessly, and they all exploded with anger.


    In a battlefield, there was no right or wrong. They were allrades who moved forward or retreated together. Comrades could only survive by fighting side by side in battle of bloodshed. The feelings they had for one another was embedded in their bones. The anger and sadness of seeing theirrades killed off was not any less than what they would feel if it was their families who were the ones being killed. This trait could be also found in Ling Lan and her friends.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t hesitate when she saw arge crowd of mechasing towards her. She just went straight towards them with no fear whatsoever. Topensate for Firmament getting dull, she used more of her mecha piloting abilities rather than the barbaric stab and thrust.


    Shing! Another mecha perished by her hand. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know how many team leader mechas she had in. These people might have been good people who loved their families and loved helping others on an ordinary day. However, here, they were all enemies. This was not a situation where she could disy herpassion.


    ¡°This type of useless war really annoys me.¡± It was clear that there weren¡¯t any problems with the nation or feuds between families. It was just a game yed by those in higher power, but countless people were required to pay with their lives for their enjoyment. This was the first time Ling Lan felt annoyed by the Lawless Lands. ¡°I hate it. I hate it very much.¡±


    As Ling Lan cried out angrily, Firmament mercilessly stabbed through another mecha¡¯s cockpit.


    ¡°Then, you must be a yer and not a pawn,¡± suddenly Instructor Number One¡¯s voice echoed in her ears.


    Ling Lan¡¯s gaze became sharp as ever. ¡°From when I firstnded in the Lawless Lands, I never thought of bing a pawn. Lord Qian, Lord Qian...¡±


    Out of the two times she said Lord Qian¡¯s name, the first was said softly with regret. The second one was said while biting her lip with unhidden anger.


    ¡°As long as you¡¯ve made your decision.¡± Number One¡¯s voice was still calm and collected.


    In the ce where Ling Lan couldn¡¯t see, Instructor Number One¡¯s own dimension, his originally cold face had a rare look of worry, uncertainty before turning into a helpless look.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this what you wanted? Why would you regret it?¡± Suddenly, a pair of white jade-like hands appeared in the air and ripped open the dimension. A graceful silhouette walked out from the dimensional tear with a look of contempt on her face.


    Number One gave her a nk stare before slowly closing his eyes to ignore her.


    ¡°Your expression really annoys me sometimes.¡± Number Four puffed up her soft cheeks. She walked up and touched Instructor Number One¡¯s cheek.


    Bang!


    Number Four was sent flying backwards.


    Instructor Number One slowly said, ¡°Number Four, don¡¯t overstep your boundaries.¡±


    ¡°Overstep what boundaries? I just like you, what¡¯s wrong with that? I liked you before we came here. Aftering here, I still like you. Why am I wrong for chasing the person I like?¡± Number Four whined as she bnced herself.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget our responsibility, Number Four.¡± Even when facing the woman who was the epitome of seduction, Number One was still as cold as ice. Number Four¡¯s words didn¡¯t make him waver one bit.


    ¡°Responsibility? Majesty Four? He¡¯s already half dead, what responsibility do we have other than to wait for him? About Ling Lan? What should I be responsible for if you don¡¯t give me a chance to meet her?¡± After saying that, Number Four felt her stomach was filled with unsettled feelings. Which of the other instructors were as held back as her? She finally had a female student for her to have a chance to show what she could do. However, as luck would have it, she actually didn¡¯t have any chance to show up in the past 20 or so years. She sometimes would even think that Ling Lan was actually a man and not some woman.


    The one who caused those sleepless nights was none other than this icy cold corpse Number One. Just looking at him made her angry and annoyed... Argh! He was too lovable. Alright, Number Four knew that in this lifetime, she was set on Number One. She was definitely a masochist for liking such a terrible man.


    ¡°The Ling Lan we know now doesn¡¯t need the knowledge you have,¡± Number One was very determined about this point.


    ¡°Ling Lan is a girl. You can¡¯t develop her like a man,¡± Number Four walked up, grabbed Number One¡¯s cor and said angrily.


    ¡°No matter if Ling Lan is a man or woman, she is destined to be a king. A king won¡¯t need lessons that would give her weaknesses,¡± Number One said calmly.


    ¡°How are my lessons giving her weaknesses? I can develop into someone who could manipte men with her womanly charms, to make men grovel under her feet! How is that weak?¡± Number Four couldn¡¯t ept Number One¡¯s reasoning.


    Number One took Number Four¡¯s hands off his cor and softly ced it on her chest. ¡°Only those who are not strong enough need those types of irrelevant skills. Ling Lan is strong enough and will only grow even stronger in the future. Number Four, you clearly understand this, that is why you never force yourself to appear in front of Ling Lan and only silently wait for your opportunity.¡±


    ¡°My knowledge is irrelevant?¡± Number Four asked in a saddened tone. By the time those words left her mouth, she was already on the verge of tears.


    ¡°It is irrelevant now, but it doesn¡¯t mean it will be in the future. Ling Lan doesn¡¯t need it right now.¡± Seeing Number Four in such a sad state, Number One mellowed his tone. But, before Number Four could notice it, he raised his head to look at the outside world to see Ling Lan fighting furiously. This was her own fight. Even if the instructors wanted to help her, they wouldn¡¯t be able to do that. ¡°You understand, right? What Ling Lan needs the most is power right now. Her own power and power of her followers. All of these don¡¯t fall into your expertise.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just unnecessary.¡± Number Four mocked herself as she smiled bitterly. A drop of her tears dripped down her face.


    ¡°Each person has their own value, it¡¯s just your time hasn¡¯te yet.¡± Number One held Number Four¡¯s hand and pushed it slightly. He pushed her away from him and then said, ¡°When Ling Lan reaches the next stage of her life, she will need you.¡±


    After saying that, Instructor Number One closed his eyes. Number Four wanted to say something else, but she discovered that she was now out of Instructor Number One¡¯s dimension.


    Number Four immediately stomped her feet in frustration before returning to her own dimension.


    ¡°Hmph. Not letting me touch him, but then touching me himself?¡± Number Four washed away the expression of weakness she had in front of Number One and smiled like a fox that just had arge meal.


    ¡°Also, Little Ling Lan, you have to make your masters proud. I¡¯m still waiting toe out. Don¡¯t lose.¡± Number Four stopped smiling and was slightly worried for Ling Lan¡¯s situation.


    Although she hadn¡¯t conversed with or met Ling Lan, she still watched Ling Lan grow up from when she was a child until she was an adult. For her, it was like watching her own child grow up. Her feelings towards Ling Lan weren¡¯t any less than the other instructors. Plus, there was also Instructor Number One in the mix. With him liking Ling Lan and caring for her, Number Four definitely would also like her and care for her.

 Chapter 1438 - Won’t Let Others Have It Easy

    <h4>Chapter 1438 Won¡°t Let Others Have It Easy</h4>


    ¡°Ugh!¡± His mecha was struck consecutively. The immense shocks from the hits, even after the mecha had provided protection against them, still caused Li Lanfeng to be injured. He spat out a mouthful of blood.


    ¡°Beep! Beep! Beep! Warning! Warning! Mecha damage has reached 47%. Please retreat immediately.¡± The optical supeputer if the mecha gave out a warning, advising that the mecha was no longer fit to fight.


    ¡°Retreat? If he doesn¡¯t retreat, how could I?¡± Li Lanfeng smiled coldly. From when he followed Ling Lan into the battlefield, he had decided to move forward or retreat together.


    The high-intensity fight had truly exhausted him, but now his spirit instantly exploded in strength.


    ¡°Ah!¡± He shouted angrily as therge sword in his hand shed horizontally. The sh sent three mechas attempting to take him out to fall back.


    ¡°Also, as long as he¡¯s alive, I won¡¯t let myself die.¡± Li Lanfeng held his sword and rushed forward. ¡°Even if I do, I won¡¯t let you have my life that easily... now die.¡±


    Hisrge sword ruthlessly stabbed towards an enemy mecha¡¯s cockpit. Even though the enemy mecha was aiming for mutual destruction, he still didn¡¯t relent and push forward.


    Shing!


    Therge sword stabbed through the cockpit and simrly, the opponent¡¯srge sword also stabbed through Li Lanfeng¡¯s cockpit.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± The opponent was shocked. The feeling the arm of the mecha gave him felt as though he had missed. However, he clearly saw therge sword hit its mark.


    He wanted to get to the bottom of this, but he didn¡¯t have any chance to do so. It was because at that moment, his cockpit was struck and the immense pain took over his senses. The mecha flopped and smashed into the ground, causing dust to rise into the air. The mecha operator, who had lost his life, didn¡¯t have the chance to see that therge sword in his mecha¡¯s right hand had actually split in half. The half that was still intact also had a lightyer of dark fog on it.


    In the end, that dark fog dissipated. The sword was now even shorter than when the mecha fell to the ground. However, these were all small details that probably wouldn¡¯t be discovered by anyone.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The three enemy mechas that surrounded Li Lanfeng all fell to the ground. They were all killed in one hit after being stabbed in their cockpits by Li Lanfeng.


    The fallen mecha operators didn¡¯t know how they died even at the moment of their deaths. After all, they were the first to attack, but they were the ones who died. However, for some reason, the opponent they struck first in the cockpit, managed to miraculously survive.


    Li Lanfeng finished off the rest of enemies around him and then a new wave of them rushed towards him.


    The battle was going to continue like this until one side loses confidence in themselves.


    On Luo Lang¡¯s side, it was a simr situation. His situation might be even more precarious than Li Lanfeng¡¯s. He was struck so many times that the optical supeputer¡¯s warning rms were going off for more than a minute. The damage the mecha sustained was already over 50% and was almost at 60%.


    Luo Lang knew very well that once it passed 60%, the battle power of the mecha would decrease exponentially. Once it passes 70%, it would no longer have the power to fight.


    ¡°Is this death?¡± Luo Lang didn¡¯t panic but instead asked this question calmly.


    ¡°Luo Lang, you have to live even without me being here.¡± The words Xie Yi told Luo Lang echoed inside his head again.


    ¡°Xie Yi, I won¡¯t go back on my word. I will definitely live a good life.¡± Luo Lang¡¯s originally calm expression became sharp.


    ¡°Alter Ego! You¡¯re actually activating this domain at this moment. Do you want to die?¡± an angry voice rang in his head.


    ¡°Since I want to live, I need to take the necessary risks,¡± Luo Lang said calmly.


    ¡°Calm personality?¡± The evil personality¡¯s expression changed slightly.


    ¡°Yes and no.¡± Luo Lang smiled sharply.


    The evil personality was stunned for a moment before a big change in his expression took over.


    ¡°Evil personality, you have to help me this time,¡± Luo Lang said calmly.


    The evil personality¡¯s expression froze for a moment before hesitatingly saying, ¡°When did I not help you?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear.¡± Luo Langughed out loud. His entire mecha rushed forward and pounced towards the enemy mecha group.

 Chapter 1439 - Reinforcements?

    <h4>1439 Reinforcements?</h4>


    Luo Lang dodged his opponent¡¯s attack precisely. His giant sword shed towards his opponent¡¯s cockpit. The huge force caused his opponent to m on the ground heavily.


    The evil personality noticed that in that instant, Luo Lang¡¯s spiritual power, no, it should be considered the calm personality¡¯s spiritual power, diminished by a little.


    The full potential of the mecha could only be achieved by elerating the mecha to its fastest speed. Based on Luo Lang¡¯s original hand speed, it was impossible for him to do that. That was why he had to use his spiritual power to make up for it.


    He couldn¡¯t operate the mecha in its full potential because the mechas Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng were piloting looked like ace mechas but in fact, they were modified imperial mechas.


    Imperial mechas were usually controlled manually with the hand. Then, more experienced imperial mecha operators would transition into using spiritual power to control their mechas. All god-ss operators had to go through this step to achieve what they had achieved.


    An imperial mecha was like a training mecha for future god-ss mecha operators. By piloting them to their full potential, it would allow the mecha operator to slowly move away from hand control to where he could just use spiritual power to control the mecha. Thus, in order to advance to a god-ss mecha master, you need to have a very strong spiritual power. If your spiritual power didn¡¯t reach the requirement, you wouldn¡¯t be able to control a god-ss mecha even if you were given one.


    The evil personality looked at Luo Lang who was immersed in the battle and sighed softly. He slowly went back to Luo Lang¡¯s mindscape and supported the primary personality with his spiritual power.


    Personalities like him mightck some things but they would neverck spiritual power. That was because they were spiritual beings to begin with.


    More and more mechas fell down beside the three of them. But, theirbat ability didn¡¯t decrease at all. It looked no different from when they started fighting.


    ¡°Are we still fighting?¡± Someone was trembling in fright.


    ¡°They shouldn¡¯t for too long. We need to take revenge for ourmander.¡± There was nock of hot-blooded people in the Lawless Lands. This was the reason why they were able to maintain a strong reputation for so long.


    Another bunch of people who didn¡¯t fear death rushed forward.


    Ling Lan was already numb from all the fighting. It could be seen clearly that there was no sword aura on Firmament anymore. Ling Lan being able to kill one opponent with one strike was all because of her frightening speed and spiritual power. This allowed her mecha to have enough energy to break the defense of her opponents¡¯ mechas.


    But, everyone had their limit. Ling Lan didn¡¯t know how long she was able tost. She didn¡¯t know how long Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang couldst too. But, since the fight hadn¡¯t ended yet, they could only continue fighting. This was their only way to find a chance of survival.


    ¡°Charge!¡± Almost simultaneously, the three of them shouted furiously and raised their giant swords. They charged towards their enemies again.


    ¡°They¡¯re not human...¡±


    Another bunch of people died. This time, their opponents didn¡¯t fill up the gaps like they did before. Being brave and fearless of death depended on the situation too. Many people had already gotten killed on their side, Yet, their opponent¡¯s strength hadn¡¯t decreased. They even got stronger instead.


    Ling Lan nced at the mechas that were surrounding her but didn¡¯t dare to take a step closer. She shook her Firmament slightly.


    ¡°Come on,¡± Ling Lan said coldly.


    Silence was the only reply to her. Ling Lan smiled coldly. Her mecha stomped its feet and rushed over.


    ¡®If you¡¯re noting over, I¡¯lle to you!¡¯


    Ling Lan wanted to rest but she was more afraid that if she rxed, she would lose her drive to kill. Instead of letting that happen, she would rather make use of the time to kill another batch of enemies.


    Her opponents panicked when they saw Ling Lan attacking them voluntarily without resting.


    They didn¡¯t charge at Ling Lan but instead, chose to run away.


    ¡°Trying to escape? In your dreams!¡± Ling Lan sneered. Her mecha disappeared and appeared beside another mecha. She stabbed Firmament viciously into the mecha¡¯s cockpit.


    Another stab, another kill. Clean and precise, just like her earlier moves.


    All the mechas ran far away. They were afraid that they would be the next person to visit Death.


    Ling Lan tried her best to open her slightly sore eyes. After fighting for so long, even she had reached her limit. Her sweat drenched her body many times over. If it wasn¡¯t for the automatic drying system of the mecha cockpit, she would bepletely wet now.


    Just as Ling Lan was about to start killing again, her enemy got into a frenzy.


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    Screams of agony suddenly appeared in her enemy¡¯s team channel. Those were the cries of death. It was obvious that someone had died again.


    Who was it? The three mecha ns weremanded by three different people. There was no interaction between them. Hence, no matter how dire the situation on the other side was, the other mecha n wouldn¡¯t know anything. Thus, this scream could belong to their soldiers.


    The only possibility was that, besides this terrifying monster in front of them, another new monster had appeared.


    Soon, they heard the sound of fighting on the outskirts.


    ¡®Enemy attack!¡¯ This was the first thought in their minds.


    As expected, the rm for an enemy attack sounded the next second.


    ¡°What should we do?¡± Theirmander was dead and many of their team leaders were killed by Ling Lan too. There was no one that could make a decision.


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    ...


    Screams of pain could be heard continuously. Soon, everyone understood that there wasn¡¯t just one enemy. There were many of them.


    ¡°There are too many monsters. Help, help.¡± The other side was already in a mess. Cries for help drowned the channel.


    No one knew how many enemies there were. On the other side, the team leaders surrounding Ling Lan had gotten frightened by her. Thus, when they heard that there were more enemiesing over, they didn¡¯t want to fight anymore.


    ¡°Run!¡± Someone shouted.


    ¡°Run!¡± The people behind agreed with him.


    The team leaders¡¯ mechas were the first to retreat. After that, the ordinary team members started retreating even faster.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t chase after them. Instead, she turned and rushed towards Luo Lang.


    Aspared to Li Lanfeng, she was more worried about Luo Lang.


    ¡°Enemy attack!¡± The other mecha army instantly rang the rm when they saw Ling Lan.


    Soon, a row of mechas weed her.


    Ling Lan held Firmament and rushed forward without any hesitation.


    sh! sh! sh!


    The sword shed and a few mechas fell to the ground. Ling Lan had broken through the first line of defense easily. She quickly moved towards Luo Lang¡¯s location.


    ¡°Surround her,¡± The mechas in the outer ring started shouting.


    ¡°What is that?¡± At this moment, someone shouted in astonishment.


    ¡°The Demon 37 army is retreating.¡±


    ¡°Why are they retreating?¡± The already confused soldiers were shocked.


    ¡°Look at the coordinates xx,xx.¡± Some realized the situation and immediately reminded them.


    Soon, everyone fixed their screens at that coordinate. They realised that without them knowing, the mecha n they had been looking for revenge had appeared there.


    ¡°They¡¯re not retreating. They¡¯re running away.¡± They saw their alliance army clearly now. They weren¡¯t retreating but running away in a flurry.


    The mecha n that they thought they could easily devour was killing their alliance army like ferocious tigersing down the mountain.


    ¡°They¡¯reing over here.¡± Before they could understand why this was happening, they saw the mecha n flying towards them viciously.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have enough men on our side. Requesting for reinforcements. Requesting for reinforcements.¡± Their opponents were closing in on them from all directions. Based on their estimate, they would soon be overwhelmed by the iing enemies.

 Chapter 1440 - Fight Until The Very End

    <h4>1440 Fight Until The Very End</h4>


    Luo Lang barely managed to beat back the mechas surrounding him. The damage of his mecha had already reached 60%. Thebat ability of his various mechaponents had dropped drastically. Fortunately, the evil personality was nice enough to fuse and replenish his spiritual power so that he could maintain his exceptional reaction speed. Moreover, since he was fighting them like a rabid dog, the enemy mechas were quite afraid of him so they didn¡¯t dare to attack him too violently. If not, he might be at his wit¡¯s end already.


    Luo Lang shook his head suddenly. Just now, he felt his vision getting blurry. He was a little dizzy.


    ¡°Have I reached my limit...¡± Luo Lang sighed softly as he gave a bitter smile. Was he going to go back on his promise?


    ¡°Don¡¯t be disheartened. We can do it.¡± The evil personality that had always looked down and mocked him unexpectedly encouraged him.


    ¡°So you¡¯re afraid of death too.¡± Luo Langughed heartily. He finally found a chance to get back at this evil person who didn¡¯t treat him nicely.


    Although Luo Lang was pure and naive most of the time, when he wanted to anger people, he was quite good at it.


    The evil personality didn¡¯t say anything. He seemed to be agreeing with Luo Lang silently. But, he also felt wronged. How can he be nice all the time when talking to this stupid and naive person whose brain never worked properly?


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will not let you die until the veryst moment,¡± Luo Lang suddenly retracted his smile and continued his sentence in a serious tone.


    He wasn¡¯t joking or teasing the evil personality when he said this. He was being totally sincere. In Luo Lang¡¯s heart, the calm personality, the evil personality, and all the other personalities were never clones of himself. He had always treated them like real humans. He treated all his personalities like brothers.


    The evil personality trembled a little. His gaze turned deep as he looked at Luo Lang. Suddenly, he seemed to understand why the calm personality respected the primary personality so much.


    ¡®Maybe, this time, you¡¯re right,¡¯ The evil personality thought to himself.


    ¡°Sure. Let¡¯s fight until the very end,¡± the evil personality said calmly. His tone and expression sounded a little like the calm personality now.


    Luo Lang feltfortable with how the current evil personality was acting. He smiled and said, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s fight until the very end.¡±


    He pulled the control stick furiously. His spiritual power, with the support of the evil personality, exploded again.


    The badly damaged mecha mmed into the mechas that were carefully closing in on him.


    When they saw Luo Lang rushing over to attack them again, the mecha operators surrounding Luo Lang gritted their teeth and raised their swords. They charged forward and the fight started again.


    Mechas fell down one by one. The wounds on Luo Lang¡¯s mecha got increasingly more severe as time went by.


    ¡°Alert! Alert! The damage of the mecha had reached its maximum. The mecha will lose itsbat ability in approximately ten seconds. Alert! Alert!¡± The mainframe of Luo Lang¡¯s mecha suddenly gave off an ear-piercing rm. It seemed like his mecha couldn¡¯t hold on for much longer


    ¡°Sigh, it¡¯s the end.¡± Luo Lang gathered all his energy and unleashed it all in this final attack. Even at thest moment, he hoped he would bring more enemies down with him.


    ¡°You have done well.¡± A familiar but unfamiliar voice appeared beside his ear. It sounded like the calm personality but maybe it wasn¡¯t.


    ¡°I still broke my promise.¡± Luo Lang closed his eyes in pity. The mainframe had just finished its countdown and the mecha exploded with a loud ¡®boom¡¯.


    Luo Lang¡¯s mecha exploded into a giant mushroom cloud. Luo Lang¡¯s cockpit flew out quickly amongst the explosion.


    When Chang Xinyuan designed this model in the past, he took into consideration the survivability of the mecha operator when the mecha lost itsbat ability entirely.


    He made use of therge explosion created by the self-destruct sequence installed in the mecha, as well as the immense energy and heat produced during this moment to disrupt the vision and the reconnaisse systems of the opponents¡¯ mechas so that the cockpit would be able to escape out of their visible range within a short time. The most extravagant thing was that these cockpits were equipped with the expensive chameleon system. After it shot out of the mecha, it would be able to collect information about its surroundings and merge with the environment.


    ¡°Finally! Hurry up and find the cockpit,¡± The enemies shouted happily when they noticed that Luo Lang¡¯s mecha was finally done in by them.


    Luo Lang killed so many of theirrades so they really wouldn¡¯t be able to let him go, unless they tortured the hell out of him. Even if he was dead, they wanted to find his corpse and beat it until it became a pile of blood to vent their anger.


    But, before they could do anything, they saw a mecha dropping down from the sky.


    Boom! The mechanded with a forceful quake. Some weaker mecha operators almost lost their bnce.


    Ling Lan slowly stood up, allowing the dazzling sunlight shine on her mecha, almost blinding the onlookers in the process. She looked at the familiar mechaponents scattered on the ground with a chilling gaze and her grip on the control stick tightened.


    When the enemy mechas saw this newly arrived mecha raising its cold weapon that was drenched in blood, they took a step back uncontrobly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, he¡¯s already at his limit.¡± A team leader shouted loudly when he noticed that the morale of his men was being sapped away by their opponent. Although he was also scarred, those words he said still brought him a sliver of courage.


    Still, he wasn¡¯t talking nonsense. The exterior of Ling Lan¡¯s mecha was indeed filled with scratches and burn marks. Even Firmament, which was covered with dried blood, had dents and chips all over its edge. The de didn¡¯t even look sharp anymore.


    Yet, even so, the straight and tall mecha body and the intimidating presence in the eyes of the mecha gave them the illusion that it was looking at them with contempt. The eyes of the mecha were a reflection of the eyes of the mecha operator. Although they were robotic eyes, it somehow gave them the feeling as if they were gazing at a metal giant.


    It was a frustrating feeling. Finally, the frustration spilled out of their chest which turned into an angry roar. ¡°Charge!¡±


    All the mechas rushed out in tandem. The frustration in their chest, the huge pressure bearing down on them, and the fear and weakness in their hearts meant that charging forward was the only way they could save themselves. Once they shrunk back, they would lose all hope of bing anything significant in this lifetime.


    Ling Lan looked at them charging at her indifferently. She stomped her feet furiously and her mecha shot out like a ck ray of light.


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    ¡°Ouch!¡±


    ...


    When the lights of all the mechas went dark, Ling Lan spun her Firmament and sheathed in its holder.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    The mechas around her fell down consecutively.


    ¡°Ling Lan has be stronger.¡± In the learning space, Number Three felt content when he saw how Ling Lan was performing.


    ¡°But she has already reached her limit,¡± Number Nine, who was standing beside Number Three, said worriedly. There was pain in her eyes.


    Number Five silently appeared beside Number Nine. Heforted her by saying, ¡°This is the path she chose. No matter what the result is, she must ept it.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± Surprisingly, Number Nine didn¡¯t argue with him.


    ¡°If you know it, why did you...¡± Astonishment could be seen in Number Five¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°I know that but I still feel bad for her, alright? Can¡¯t I feel this way?¡± Number Nine red at Number Five.


    ¡°Erm...¡± Number Five was stunned by Number Nine¡¯s sudden burst of anger. He almost couldn¡¯t maintain the evesting smile he had on his face, the smile that all the other instructors hated.


    Number Nine snorted at him and disappeared the next second.


    Number Five touched his face awkwardly. He just wanted to console Number Nine. How did he offend her instead?


    ¡°Women are unreasonable sometimes.¡± Number Three gave a knowing look as he patted Number Five¡¯s shoulder. Before Number Five could respond, he moved and left.


    Number Five patted the spot where Number Three touched him with disdain. He smiled and said, ¡°You¡¯re just as worried about her. Why are all of you hiding it?¡±


    He looked intently at Ling Lan who was still fighting. The next second, he disappeared.


    He didn¡¯t notice that he had also lost his calmness. The living dead that never cared about anyone in the past was gone.

 Chapter 1441 - It’s them!

    <h4>1441 It¡°s them!</h4>


    ¡°Kill them!¡±


    ¡°Charge!¡±


    On the outskirts, the mecha n that came unexpectedly broke through a certain point in the line of defense and charged into the district without any hindrance.


    Themotion over there quickly affected the mechas in the center.


    Zhao Jun and his men, who were already exhausted from the constant fighting, noticed that their opponents¡¯ attacks had suddenly weakened a little.


    A few smart people quickly turned on their radar system and noticed the numerous green dots on the map.


    ¡°Alliance army!¡± Only the mecha operators from Lingtian were recognized as their alliance. The others were all yellow dots or red dots.


    A thought appeared in Zhao Jun¡¯s mind. He got anxious. ¡°It¡¯s them.¡±


    It was clear that only his mecha n had so many people in this district. They had disobeyed his orders and came to save them.


    They were looking for death. Zhao Jun knew this clearly. Their opponents were a few times of their size. This time, they really couldn¡¯t go back home anymore.


    Zhao Jun was furious and agitated but a warm feeling flowed through his heart. The warm feeling in his heart made him feel rejuvenated again.


    ¡°Damn it. Gather your senses. Don¡¯t let theme for nothing,¡± Zhao Jun shouted angrily. He held his giant sword tightly and forced an enemy mecha in front of him to move back.


    ¡°Yes, regimentmander.¡± Hisrades who were fighting too shouted back furiously.


    They had already reached their limit but when they saw theirradesing to save them, they were suddenly full of strength again.


    ¡°Your men?¡± Elder Father forced an enemy back and panted as he asked. As expected, once you got old, your stamina would deteriorate significantly. He only fought for a short while but he already found it tiring.


    ¡°Yes, they came,¡± Zhao Jun replied calmly. Although they disobeyed his order, he felt their sincerity. They were willing to go through life and death with them.


    However, if they were lucky enough to survive this ordeal, he would definitely teach these bastards who ignored his order a huge lesson. Zhao Jun gritted his teeth in frustration, and the strength he used when he was wielding his sword increased multiple folds.


    ¡°Commander, they¡¯ve rushed in. What should we do?¡±


    ¡°Calling formander, calling formander. A huge number of enemies has been discovered in Zone 023. Please give an order. Please give an order.¡±


    ¡°Commander! Please reply! Please reply!¡±


    The enemies surrounding Zhao Jun and his men couldn¡¯t find theirmander so the situation started turning into a mess. All of them fought for themselves and they couldn¡¯t cooperate with one another. The advantage they had because of their numbers had disappeared entirely.


    ¡°Damn it, Demon 37 troop is retreating. They¡¯re retreating. They want us to die for them... Ah!¡± One of the mecha operators screamed in pain in themlink. Then, he went silent.


    More and more mechas started appearing around them. In that instant, it seemed as if their surroundings were filled with their enemies. They couldn¡¯t find theirrades. These mecha operators finally got scared.


    ¡°We can¡¯t be their scapegoat! Damn it, Team 1099, follow me.¡± Finally, one of the team leaders, who was fighting, couldn¡¯t bear it anymore and chose to retreat voluntarily.


    His decision affected the other teams around him, and a lot of teams started dashing out rapidly.


    The mecha operators, who lost their team leaders, saw the other mecha operators retreating. They couldn¡¯t receive any orders from their superiors so they conformed to the majority and started retreating furiously too.


    Ling Lan had just finished off the mecha operators surrounding her. Just as she was about to continue taking care of the enemy mechas that were closing in on her, unexpectedly, the enemy mechas suddenly turned around and ran away furiously. In a blink of an eye, there were no more mechas in front of her.


    ¡°Did they just run away?¡± Ling Lan was shocked.


    ¡°Yes, Little Ling Lan. Tsk tsk tsk, you have obviously scared them away. How scary.¡± Number Five sniggered in Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape.


    ¡°All thanks to your guidance.¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. She turned and took a few steps. She came to an empty spot. She squatted down and pushed the grass aside. A piece of rock was revealed.


    ¡°Luo Lang, are you alright?¡± Ling Lan pressed hermunication button.


    ¡°I¡¯m alright, Boss.¡± The stone suddenly split open to reveal Luo Lang being sprawled on the floor. This rock was actually the cockpit. It managed to disguise itself sessfully through using the chameleon system.


    As he was speaking, Ling Lan¡¯s cockpit opened. Luo Lang used all four limbs to crawl up from the ground and climb into the cockpit.


    ¡°Sit tight,¡± Ling Lan ordered in a low voice. Luo Lang quickly buckled his seat belt. Ling Lan¡¯s mecha jumped up again towards another location.


    She must rush to find Li Lanfeng now. She was afraid that Li Lanfeng had reached his limit.


    Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t know how long he had been fighting. He just dodged numbly, waved his sword numbly, and operated his mecha numbly.


    Li Lanfeng even thought that he was just a bystander, watching another Li Lanfeng who was fighting.


    This was obviously a result of his spiritual power controlling his body. But, this was the only way he could control his mecha when he was already at his limit with a seriously injured body.


    If this continued, Li Lanfeng knew that the state of his body, which he took so many years to nourish, would deteriorate again.


    But so what? His Ling Lan would only be safe if he dragged more opponents down with him.


    Suddenly, he felt another mechaing towards him. Li Lanfeng instinctively raised his sword and shed at the iing mecha.


    ng! The mecha grabbed his mecha¡¯s right wrist swiftly.


    Li Lanfeng was dumbfounded but before he could react, he heard a familiar voice. ¡°It¡¯s alright, Lanfeng. You can rest now.¡±


    ¡°Rabbit...¡± Li Lanfeng smiled. He forced himself to say the nickname he had always kept in his heart. Then, the mecha fell down.


    Ling Lan lifted him up with her left hand and said in a low voice, ¡°I¡¯ll take over from here.¡±


    She hugged Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha in her left arm and wielded Firmament with her right hand. Her mecha stomped on the ground and she shot out, bringing Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha with her. She charged forward like a cannonball towards the enemy mechas that wanted to surround them but didn¡¯t dare to.


    Luckily, Li Lanfeng was alright! Ling Lan was in an extremely good mood. She chose to save Luo Lang first because she was confident of Li Lanfeng¡¯s ability but deep down inside, she felt sorry towards him.


    Even with one mecha in her arms, Ling Lan¡¯s agility wasn¡¯t affected in the slightest. She made a few evasive maneuvers and struck down a few mechas.


    ¡°Charge! Regimentmander is over there!¡± Suddenly, there was amotion outside. The enemy mechas surrounding Ling Lan started running away abruptly.


    At the same time, many familiar mechas rushed over.


    ¡°Regimentmander! We¡¯re her... erm, Boss!¡± The excited voice suddenly got stuck in his throat. Many mechas that were rushing over almost hit their legs together. Fortunately, their mecha piloting skills were top-ss so they stopped themselves from getting embarrassed just in time.


    ¡°You came to the wrong ce. The target is at xx,xx. You have thirty seconds. 1, 2, 3...¡± Ling Lan said coldly.


    ¡°Charge!¡± All the mechas dashed towards the coordinates given to them as though there was a devil chasing after them. They suddenly wished that they had a pair of wings.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Ling Lan reminded Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng. She brought Li Lanfeng¡¯s mecha and flew into the air. In a blink of an eye, she flew by the other Lingtian mechas.

 Chapter 1442 - Clear Up.

    <h4>1442 Clear Up.</h4>


    Zhao Jun and Elder Father finally managed tost until reinforcements arrived. They gathered their strengths for a moment and fought for a while longer. But, after all, they had already reached their limit. They were right in the center of the fight too so their enemies wouldn¡¯t give them any chances to catch their breaths.


    ¡°Ah!¡± One of the mecha operators from Elder Father¡¯s side got struck by their enemy. He fell down with a loud scream.


    ¡°Are we finished?¡± The moment this sentence appeared in Zhao Jun¡¯s mind, he heard a loud roar. ¡°Charge!¡±


    Boom!


    A mecha flew down from the sky andnded on the ground lightly.


    Oh, wait, it wasn¡¯t just one mecha. It was also holding a mecha that seemed to have lost its ability to move in its left arm.


    The model of these two mechas was too familiar to Zhao Jun. They were so familiar Zhao Jun, a tough guy who wouldn¡¯t cry easily, had tears in his eyes.


    ¡°Boss!¡±


    ¡°Lanfeng!¡±


    Zhao Jun shouted in a low and hoarse voice.


    ¡°Boss?¡±


    ¡°Boss!¡±


    Zhao Jun¡¯s shouts awakened hisrades who were still fighting. The first cry sounded confused but the second cry was filled with joy.


    They were already at their wit¡¯s end but suddenly, energy flowed into their bodies and they managed to suppress their enemies who were attacking them.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Noises of mechas fighting were heard.


    Soon, a bunch of familiar mechas rushed over.


    ¡°Boss, we came in time.¡±


    The bunch of people were panting furiously. In order to rush to the designated location within the time limit Boss set for them, they ran like never before.


    ¡°Charge!¡±


    Ling Lan threw this word down coldly. Her voice was filled with killing intent.


    The moment shended, she understood the situation of the battle. Zhao Jun had eleven men with him, but there were only seven people standing now. That meant that four had already fallen...


    ¡°Charge!¡± The mecha operators from Lingtian just arrived at the scene so they didn¡¯t understand what was happening. However, when they heard Ling Lan¡¯s order, they charged towards their nearest enemy without any hesitation.


    This was Ling Lan. She was the soul of Lingtian. With an order, even if they were asked to die, the soldiers of Lingtian would never hesitate.


    They gave all their trust to Ling Lan. Because of this trust, they believed that Boss would never lead them to their deaths.


    They weren¡¯t brainwashed to be deadly loyal. It was just an unbreakable trust that was won through sincerity.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Ling Lan¡¯s Firmament formed rays of ck light in the air. She pushed back the enemies that were surrounding Zhao Jun.


    ¡°Zhao Jun, I¡¯m here.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s indifferent voice appeared on the mecha channel.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Zhao Jun was only able to shout this word. He couldn¡¯t say anything else.


    ¡°Regimentmander, we¡¯re here too.¡± Around ten more mechas rushed over and saved the rest of Zhao Jun¡¯s men who had already reached their limit.


    It was really them. Zhao Jun felt his chest warming up...


    Suddenly, he understood what Ling Lan meant when he said that he wouldn¡¯t abandon any of hisrades.


    ¡°Finish them.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s calm voice sounded again. Zhao Jun and his men, who just got saved and were feeling touched and excited, felt a chill on their back. Without even thinking, they raised their giant swords in their hands and rushed towards the enemy mechas fearlessly.


    At this moment, they had all forgotten that they had already reached their limits. They just felt that their bodies were suddenly filled with energy and the fact that they mustn¡¯t embarrass themselves in front of Boss.


    After Ling Lan gave the order, she started clearing up the enemies before everyone else.


    Elder Fatherid on the floor exhausted. His age didn¡¯t allow him to stand up with energy again and fight another round. He was really out of energy.


    This must be their leader.


    Elder Father¡¯s gazended on Ling Lan¡¯s mecha. Every single attack she did was sharp and clean. There was no unnecessary actions or energy wasted.


    ¡®He isn¡¯t simple,¡¯ Elder Father thought to himself silently.

 Chapter 1443 - Family Rule Again?

    <h4>Chapter 1443 Family Rule Again?</h4>


    By this time, their enemy had no thoughts of fighting anymore. They got the news that their alliance army had already retreated and they were the only army still fighting. In addition, the continuous swarm of mechas from Lingtian and the fact that there were nomanders giving orders caused their psychological barrier to break down. Within a short time, they had all ran away like the tides of the ocean.


    Ling Lan gave the order to chase them for 50 kilometers. The Lingtian army only came back after they chased their enemies for exactly that distance.


    Zhao Jun opened his cockpit and came down with Doctor Ju.


    Doctor Ju rushed to Elder Father¡¯s mecha and shouted agitatedly. ¡°Elder Father, Elder Father, are you alright?¡± Elder Father¡¯s mecha was already lying on the ground. She was really worried.


    Elder Father¡¯s cockpit opened with a loud bang. Elder Father crawled out with some effort and said tiredly, ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±


    He had rested for a while so he finally had the energy to move.


    Doctor Ju saw this and immediately took out the agent she had prepared from her medical bag. She passed it to Elder Father.


    ¡°Use ours.¡± A cold voice sounded behind her. Doctor Ju turned around hurriedly. She saw a soldier full of killing intent standing behind her. He had a bottle of agent in his hand. It was tightly sealed but her instinct told her that this agent wasn¡¯t simple.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Doctor Ju said with pleasant surprise.


    She took the agent from the soldier and wanted to open it for Elder Father to drink. However, Elder Father reached out and grabbed her hands to stop her. ¡°This is just a minor injury. There¡¯s no need to waste such a good agent.¡±


    Ling Lan said calmly, ¡°This medicine might be good for your old injuries.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Doctor Ju¡¯s eyes lit up. Her reason for bing a doctor was because she didn¡¯t want to see Elder Father being troubled by his old injuries again.


    ¡°If that¡¯s really the case, this medicine is too precious.¡± Elder Father was touched but he still rejected. ¡°It¡¯s better to leave it for those who need it more.¡± Elder Father looked at the mecha operators that were injured and reminded her.


    ¡°There¡¯s enough.¡± Ling Lan looked up slightly at the horizon. ¡°This battle royale is ending soon.¡±


    ¡°Based on past experiences, it¡¯s almost the end.¡± Elder Father smiled bitterly.


    Ling Lan smiled slightly.


    Doctor Ju had already opened the agent at the side. She calmly passed it to Elder Father. Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s insistence, Elder Father didn¡¯t refuse anymore and drank it directly.


    ¡°Thank you for taking care of them.¡± Ling Lan nced at Zhao Jun who was standing diagonally behind her.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to thank me. It wasn¡¯t my idea to care for them,¡± Elder Father replied. He frowned slightly. He just drank the agent but he had already started to feel the effect.


    Elder Father wasn¡¯t able to hide his change in expression from Ling Lan. Seeing this, Ling Lan raised her hand and asked Elder Father to just focus on recuperating, rather than continuing to talk to her.


    Elder Father nodded gratefully. He found an empty spot and sat down. After some time, his expression gradually turned hideous. Doctor Ju, who had been observing him, felt her heart pounding furiously in fear.


    ¡°That¡¯s how the Nuwa agent works. The greater the pain, the more effective it is,¡± Zhao Jun walked up to her and exined hurriedly.


    Doctor Ju nodded to show that she understood. Then, she started waiting patiently at Elder Father¡¯s side.


    By this time, the search and rescue had ended. The leader in charge of the search and rescue looked gloomy. This time, they had lost two leader caliber soldiers. Fortunately, the other two leaders still had one breath left so after drinking the Nuwa agent, they managed to survive.


    ¡°War!¡± Ling Lan closed her eyes to hide the pain in them. When she opened them again, she had resumed her calmness.


    ¡°Bring them back home,¡± Ling Lan said in a low voice.


    ¡°Yes, Boss.¡± The leader took the order and left. Even if the leaders died here, they would bring them home to the ce where they grew up in.


    ¡°Boss.¡± Luo Lang looked at her worriedly.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.


    ¡°Brother Lanfeng¡¯s condition seems terrible.¡± After the battle ended, he went to treat Li Lanfeng.


    Ling Lan was shocked. She moved her body and immediately came in front of Li Lanfeng¡¯s cockpit.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Ling Lan frowned and asked when she saw the medic standing outside the entrance of the cockpit with a helpless look.


    ¡°Ah, report. Regiment Commander Li¡¯s body is covered with wounds. It has been a long time since he got injured. In addition, the automatic drying system of the cockpit caused his undergarments and his skin to get stuck together. If we want to take them apart, it will reopen the wounds again.¡± The medic¡¯s face scrunched up with frustration. Li Lanfeng seemed to be experiencing excruciating pain. If they wanted to take off his clothes to treat him, it was almost the same as peeling the entire skin off.


    ¡°Zhao Jun,¡± Ling Lan shouted.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Zhao Jun immediately came beside Ling Lan.


    ¡°Immediately built a temporary medical tent,¡± Ling Lan ordered. ¡°We¡¯ll treat his wound right here.¡±


    Ling Lan knew that the longer they dragged, the more serious Li Lanfeng¡¯s injuries would be. Although the Nuwa agent¡¯s self-healing ability was very strong, it was not enough to heal all the gaping wounds on his body, not to mention the internal injuries. If they didn¡¯t separate the clothes from the skin as soon as possible, once the clothes got stuck in the wounds... it wasn¡¯t just about peeling the skin. They would need to dig into the flesh too.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Zhao Jun knew that they couldn¡¯t waste any time so he hurriedly led some men and built a new temporary surgery tent.


    ¡°Cough, cough...¡± Li Lanfeng suddenly coughed a few times. A drip of blood flowed down the edge of his lips. His body was breaking down. If it wasn¡¯t for Li Shiyu¡¯s life-saving agent, he might have died this time.


    ¡°Commander, the Li family has its family rules too,¡± Li Lanfeng smiled and said to Ling Lan weakly.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Ling Lan frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t speak. Save your energy for the treatmentter.


    ¡°I have to say it. I¡¯ll bandage my wounds personallyter.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s expression suddenly turned serious.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Faint anger appeared in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°I can¡¯t let anyone see...¡± Li Lanfeng gave a bitter smile.


    Ling Lan then remembered Li Lanfeng¡¯s beautiful face. She understood a little of what he was saying.


    ¡°They will just be bandaging the wounds on your body,¡± Ling Lan exined. ¡°I will watch over them.¡±


    ¡°Not only that. Everywhere...¡± Li Lanfeng forced himself to keep conscious. ¡°Although it isn¡¯t as strict as the family rules of the Ling family, it isn¡¯t any better...¡± He grabbed Ling Lan¡¯s hand. ¡°It will affect my future. Don¡¯t let... anyone... see it... anyhow... go back to the base camp, find... Shi...¡±


    Before he could finish his sentence, he fainted.


    Ling Lan furrowed her brows even more furiously. It was obvious that Li Lanfeng¡¯s injuries didn¡¯t allow him to wait until he went back to the base camp for treatment.


    ¡°Boss, we¡¯re done.¡± Zhao Jun had already finished building the temporary tent.


    ¡°Boss?¡± The medic looked uncertain. Were they going to carry out the treatment?


    ¡°Prepare all the antiseptics and bandages.¡± Ling Lan made a decision swiftly. She would take care of the problem when it came but now, she must save Li Lanfeng first.


    ¡°Yes, Boss.¡± The medic rushed to prepare the medications and bandages.


    Ling Lan carried Li Lanfeng up and swiftly walked to the temporary tent built by Zhao Jun and his men.


    She carefully ced Li Lanfeng on the stretcher. After some time, the medic came back with all the necessary medications and bandages. He ced them at the side.


    He took the pair of scissors and was just about to cut the clothes. Just then, he heard Ling Lan¡¯s voice. ¡°Let me do it. You can go out.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡± Ling Lan nced at the medic. Her gaze wasn¡¯t cold but the medic still felt as if an icicle just prated his soul.


    ¡°Oh, oh, alright. Alright.¡± The medic didn¡¯t know what he was saying. By the time he regained his senses, he had already ran out of the tent.


    He patted his chest lightly. Only the regimentmanders would be able to withstand the aura of theirmander. You could really kneel in fright from just his nce.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what your family rule is but since you¡¯re so afraid of it, it¡¯s not something simple. Maybe it¡¯ll be easier to solve it if I¡¯m the one doing this.¡± Ling Lan sighed softly. Then, she took the pair of scissors and started cutting the undergarments that were stuck to the skin.


    Wait... My Ling Lan, have you forgotten that you¡¯re ady? How can you look at a man¡¯s naked body? Even though it¡¯s covered in blood and badly injured.

 Chapter 1444 - What Do You Want To Know.

    <h4>Chapter 1444 What Do You Want To Know.</h4>


    Night came. Elder Father sat beside a campfire alone, listening to the warm crackling of wood chips being burnt. His hands were holding a metal skewer with a b of meat over the fire, waiting patiently until it was cooked to perfection.


    Oils from the fat of meat dripped into the fire, creating a crisp sizzling sound that echoed through the campsite. Everyone in the vicinity turned their heads to take in a waft of perfectly cooked meat. Hunger pangs started wrecking through their body, but they didn¡¯t dare to walk over there to request for some because someone they were deathly afraid of was already there.


    ¡°You¡¯vee at just the right time. The meat is perfectly cooked.¡± Elder Father revealed a gentle smile in a certain direction.


    Something flew out from that direction and towards Elder Father.


    Elder Father caught the item with one outstretched hand. He turned his gaze towards the item in his hand to see that it was a bottle of liquor, a rare one at that. It was white liquor specially brewed by the Federation¡¯s military.


    ¡°Thank you!¡± Elder Father¡¯s eyes lit up in excitement. He adeptly opened the bottle and downed a huge gulp.


    ¡°This sures brings back memories.¡± Elder Father wiped his mouth with his sleeve and let out a satisfying sigh.


    ¡°It has been more than ten years, right?¡± Following this sentence, Ling Lan walked out of the darkness slowly.


    ¡°Hmph, why do you say that?¡± Elder Father smiled mysteriously.


    ¡°Before I came here, I met Lord Qian.¡± Ling Lan found a seat beside Elder Father casually and sat down.


    Elder Father paused for a moment, showing a pondering expression. Then, he continued drinking another gulp of the liquor before putting down the bottle slowly. ¡°Did he ask you toe here?¡±


    ¡°No, he didn¡¯t tell me.¡± Ling Lan calmly took the metal skewer from Elder Father¡¯s other hand and pulled it towards her body. She blew at the barbecued meat that was giving off an enticing fragrance.


    ¡°How did you find me then? Especially when the signal is blocked.¡± Elder Father was confused.


    ¡°So, you know who Lord Qian is...¡± Ling Lan raised her head and smiled ambiguously.


    Elder Father didn¡¯t reply to her. He just stared silently at the warm campfire. He seemed to be in the midst of recalling something.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan wasn¡¯t in a hurry to rush him. She continued blowing the piece of meat in her hand. When it wasn¡¯t scalding hot, she took a bite to have a taste of the delectable meat.


    ¡®Huh, it¡¯s actually not bad.¡¯ Ling Lan¡¯s eyes lit up with surprise. Within a few seconds, she finished 2.5 kilograms worth of meat in her hand.


    She had fought in a mecha battle before this and after that, she helped Li Lanfeng with his injury. These took up much of her stamina so her appetite got a littlerger than usual.


    When Elder Father noticed that Ling Lan really liked his barbecued meat, he took another few more skewers of meat and ced them over the campfire to cook.


    One of them focused on barbecuing while the other was focusing on eating. Although no words were exchanged, the atmosphere between them was harmonious.


    Elder Father felt that the time was about right so he begrudgingly put down the liquor bottle. He shed in the direction of the meat and a few deep cuts soon appeared on the meat. Then, he flicked his fingers and the seasoning got sprinkled onto the meat. Soon, the fragrance of the meat engulfed them. These perfectly cooked meats were ready to be eaten.


    Elder Father passed the barbecued meat to Ling Lan. After passing it to Ling Lan, his hands instinctively went towards the bottle of liquor and he took a huge gulp from it.


    He wiped the corner of his mouth forcefully and said, ¡°You can ask now. What do you want to know?¡±


    Ling Lan took a bite of the meat. She slowly chewed it a few times before opening her mouth. ¡°You probably came to the Lawless Lands with Lord Qian, right?¡±


    Elder Father looked at Ling Lan in surprise. ¡°Why do you say that?¡±


    ¡°No matter how much the Federation trusts someone, they wouldn¡¯t leave him without any scrutiny. Moreover, the Lawless Lands is a special ce. They wouldn¡¯tpletely trust anyone with it,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°You¡¯re really sent by the Federation. They¡¯re probably starting to suspect the Lawless Lands, right?¡± Elder Father seemed to be on guard.


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Ling Lan lifted the corners of her lips slightly.


    ¡°The ability and equipment of your mecha team can only be provided by the Federation or Caesar. Your looks... If Caesar wants to form a mecha n that was full of ace mecha masters with this many pseudo imperial operators and a few imperial operators, it would still be quite difficult for them.¡± Elder Father had good eyesight. The moment these people acted, he knew their level.


    ¡°Lord Qian has really betrayed the Federation?¡± Ling Lan asked.


    ¡°Yes and no.¡± Elder Father sighed deeply.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°If the Federation didn¡¯t restrain his men, he wouldn¡¯t have any worries anymore.¡± Elder Father gave a bitter smile.


    ¡°I¡¯m a little curious. That year, the Federation sent you probably because they wanted you to restrain him. Why are youcking behind so much? You are even hiding here now...¡± Ling Lan looked up at Elder Father.


    Elder Fatherughed forcefully when he heard this. ¡°Trust...¡±


    ¡°You were betrayed by someone.¡± Ling Lan immediately understood. ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, Lord Qian acted personally.¡±


    ¡°Why do you think so?¡± Elder Father asked Ling Lan back.


    ¡°Since the Federation sent you here, your ability at that time must be on par with Lord Qian. If not, you wouldn¡¯t be given the important task of restraining him. Among the bunch of people sent in the past, Lord Qian and you should be the most powerful ones. The rest wouldn¡¯t have the ability to injure you heavily. The only person who could hurt you so heavily until you are unable to recover even now must be him,¡± Ling Lan calmly exined her guess.


    ¡°I just don¡¯t understand why weren¡¯t you guarded against him in the first ce since you¡¯re tasked with restraining and watching over him.¡± This was the point Ling Lan couldn¡¯t figure out.


    ¡°In the Lawless Lands, it is hard to find a ce for yourself here. That year, a few thousand of us were sent here. Now, only less than a handful survived. At that time, in order to survive, we don¡¯t have the time to think about the issue about trust, missions, or anything. We can only survive if we helped each other...¡± Elder Father clearly remembered the past. Signs of deep-seated pain showed in his eyes. Therades that fought with him fell down one by one along the way. The ones that survived grew apart and in the end, they broke their ties.


    ¡°So you believed him.¡± Ling Lan understood it now. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect him to leave you alive.¡±


    Elder Father understood what Ling Lan meant. By right, Lord Qian could just kill him and end everything. He forced a smile on his face and said, ¡°Maybe we¡¯re getting too old that we reminisce about the past more. He might still want to leave some old friends behind or have some memories of the past.¡±


    ¡°Or maybe he felt that you¡¯re not a threat to him anymore so it¡¯s alright to let you live.¡± Ling Lan hit the nail in the head while not giving Elder Father any face.

 Chapter 1445 - Be Other People’s Chess Pieces

    <h4>Chapter 1445 Be Other People¡°s Chess Pieces</h4>


    Elder Father was silent for a moment. Then, he said slowly, ¡°Maybe... what you say is the truth.¡±


    The atmosphere around the warm campfire turned gloomy, but Ling Lan didn¡¯t seem to notice. When she opened her mouth again, she went on to an entirely different topic. ¡°I don¡¯t think that Lord Qian purposely maintains this situation because he¡¯s afraid of the Federation.¡±


    Elder Father gathered hisposure and replied, ¡°We¡¯re not the only ones in the Lawless Lands.¡±


    ¡°Caesar.¡± Ling Lan gave a knowing look.


    ¡°Yes. The amount of effort Caesar put in to conquer and control the Lawless Lands is not any lesser than ours,¡± Elder Father said with a muffled voice. Most of therades that came together with him had died in the hands of Caesar. The two nations had too many altercations in the dark, no one knew what they had to pay for this ¡®peace¡¯. They just maintained a fake state of peace on the surface. When they met in the Lawless Lands, the two parties tore off their friendly facade and attacked each other like rabid animals, all they wanted to show to the other party was to see who was stronger and who had better tactics.


    ¡°From the looks of it now, our side seemed to have control of the situation,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. Since Lord Qian and Lord Kun were both from the Federation, it was obvious who made the call among the 13 Lords.


    Elder Father gave a bitter smile and shook his head when he heard this.


    Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.


    Elder Father said, ¡°How can Caesar allow themselves to suffer such a loss? No one knows when they will act.¡±


    ¡°But Lord Qian is already in the god-realm. Is he not enough to control them?¡± Ling Lan was in deep thought.


    ¡°How sure are you that there are no god-realm masters among the people sent by Caesar?¡± Elder Father asked Ling Lan.


    ¡°What¡¯s Lord Qian¡¯s intention?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t seem to have heard what Elder Father had said and asked him back this question.


    ¡°How would I know? I haven¡¯t seen him in a long time, so long that I almost forgot I knew him.¡± After that, Elder Father downed some more liquor down his throat. His expression was a little indifferent. He was not even drinking for the taste anymore, he was drinking to wash away the painful memories surfacing in his mind.


    ¡°In the Lawless Lands, you should be the one that understands him the most.¡± Ling Lan raised her head. Her gaze was intense and sharp, so sharp that Elder Father couldn¡¯t deny her words.


    Elder Father took another gulp of liquor to calm his turbulent emotions. The man in front of him was very young but his gaze and the aura on his body could even suppress him. Mind you, he was someone who wasn¡¯t even afraid of Lord Qian.


    Elder Father arranged his words in his mind and said slowly, ¡°He has always been a confident person. Maybe he already knows what to do.¡±


    Ling Lan frowned slightly.


    ¡°Is there a problem?¡± Elder Father asked curiously when he noticed this.


    ¡°Maybe we have been used,¡± Ling Lan said in aposed manner.


    Elder Father was astounded. Then, he immediately got enlightened. ¡°Lord Qian?¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t reply or deny it.


    ¡°He...¡± Elder Father sighed. ¡°He has always been good at scheming.¡±


    ¡°If he didn¡¯t betray the Federation, I don¡¯t mind being someone else¡¯s chess piece,¡± Ling Lan answered nonchntly.


    Elder Father¡¯s eyes brightened up a little when he heard this. He couldn¡¯t control himself and said, ¡°Good, good, good... With people like you in the Federation, it¡¯s worth it even if we died here.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t say the word ¡®die¡¯ so easily. Staying alive is more useful than being dead.¡± Ling Lan stood up.


    Elder Father smiled sadly. ¡°If we can live, who would want to die? But, with my current strength, there¡¯s not much use of being alive either...¡±


    ¡°That might not be true...¡± Ling Lan smiled at him mysteriously.


    Elder Father shook his head. ¡°I know my own body. You don¡¯t have to console me.¡±


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t say much more. She just saluted to Elder Father and disappeared on the spot the next second.


    Elder Father sat beside the oddly cold campfire and drank a few more mouthfuls of liquor silently. Unknowingly, he had finished the entire bottle of liquor.


    ¡°Seriously, shouldn¡¯t he ask more about Lord Qian...¡± Elder Father said helplessly. He threw the empty alcohol bottle into the campfire as he gave a low sigh.


    The next day, when Elder Father got up, he realized that the surroundings were very quiet.


    ¡°Why is it so quiet?¡± Elder Father asked in a puzzled tone when Doctor Ju came to inspect his body.


    ¡°They left.¡± Doctor Ju seemed to be on low spirits.


    ¡°Who?¡± Elder Father was stunned.


    ¡°Regimentmander Zhao and their leader?¡± Doctor Ju replied in an uncertain tone.


    ¡°They left so quickly?¡± Elder Father frowned. ¡°They had many injured men, right? Why don¡¯t they stay here to let them recuperate first?¡±


    ¡°They seemed to be in a hurry. Regimentmander Zhao and his men left in a rush. They only had the time to tell me that they were leaving and asked me to inform you. They hoped that you wouldn¡¯t me them for being disrespectful.¡±


    ¡°I understand. They¡¯re not the only mecha n that participated in this battle. There might be other people waiting for their reinforcements. Time waits for no man.¡± Elder Father expressed that he wouldn¡¯t me them.


    ¡°Lord, Lord Gen and his confidants had left the 7th Preserve District. We can¡¯t find their location now.¡± All the lords received this intel almost at the same time.


    ¡°What a pity... they actually escaped,¡± Lord Holy said with some regret.


    ¡°The Mecha Scavenger Alliance actually let them off? I thought that there would be a good show to watch. How boring.¡± Lord Demonid on the couch in her bedroom and appeared to be very bored.


    ¡°Lord Gen is still quite smart.¡± Lord Zhen smiled.


    ¡°Don¡¯t disappoint me, brat...¡± Lord Kun furrowed his brows slightly as he looked at the direction of the battlefield.


    ¡°How far can you go?¡± Lord Qian looked at the 3-dimension map in front of him with a smile on his face. ¡°This game is getting more and more interesting.¡±

 Chapter 1446 - Extra Episode 1

    <h4>Chapter 1446 Extra Episode 1</h4>


    After going through a series of assessments, the first batch of graduates from the First Military Academy of Country Lan finally reached the moment where they needed to make the decision that would affect their future.


    ¡°Oh right, have you thought of which division you want to go to?¡± The students who were gathered in the za and waiting for the virtual screen to show their information couldn¡¯t help but ask each other when they met anyone they recognized.


    ¡°Of course, I want to go to the Emperor¡¯s Lingtian army. That is our most powerful division. They¡¯re the real emperor¡¯s army.¡± Everyone got excited just thinking about the prospects of joining such an illustrious division. They would rise in rank tremendously if they managed to enter the Lingtian army and be the emperor¡¯s personal soldier.


    ¡°Don¡¯t let your imagination run wild. You need to pass through various difficult tests before you can enter Lingtian. Not only do you need to have outstanding personal strength, but your political background must also be adequate too. We don¡¯t have the right to enter Lingtian.¡± In the crowd, there was someone who clearly understood the criteria of entering Lingtian clearly so he couldn¡¯t help but burst their bubbles.


    ¡°I know. I¡¯m just dreaming about it. Still, my biggest goal in life is to enter Lingtian.¡± 20-year-old men were all full of ambition and enthusiasm.


    ¡°Hmph, who isn¡¯t. We used to be an undeveloped zone enved by other nations. Now, we have sessfully built our nation and have a spot in the Intergctic United Nations. These are all possible because of our emperor. Who doesn¡¯t respect our emperor?¡± In Country Lan, Emperor Lan was everyone¡¯s idol.


    ¡°Can you stop daydreaming? It¡¯s impossible for us to get into Lingtian. Let¡¯s find a more reachable division. Do you all want to get randomly allocated by the system?¡±


    ¡°Of course not. I heard that those who didn¡¯t get chosen by any division or didn¡¯t manage to register in time would be allocated by the system randomly. Emperor Lan specially granted this favour so that they won¡¯t lose their chance to enter the military.¡±


    ¡°Actually, there¡¯re many divisions that are not bad. For instance, General Qi¡¯s Longdou Army, General Luo¡¯s Yizi Army, General Xie¡¯s Zhung Army, General Han¡¯s Zhongce Army, General Lin¡¯s Zhongqing Army... and Marshal Li¡¯s Mufeng Army.¡± Someone mentioned the most famous armies in Country Lan. Themander of these armies were people who fought alongside Emperor Lan in the past.


    ¡°The other divisions might be alright but Marshal Li¡¯s division might not be a good ce to go to now...¡± someone said with pity.


    When this was said, the atmosphere turned tense. Everyone said that Country Lan was perfect. The only problem was the rtionship between Emperor Lan and Marshal Li.


    Emperor Lan married someone recently. This person was sent by the Federation to make peace with Country Lan through a marriage. Hence, the rtionship of the young master of the top elite family in the Federation, Li Mn, who was Marshal Li, and Emperor Lan became dangerous.


    There was a rumour that they used to be a couple in the past. However, the old fogeys in the parliament were afraid that once Emperor Lan and Marshal Li got married, they would be too much of a power couple. They were also afraid that no one would be able to restrain Emperor Lan in the future so they proposed that the emperor¡¯s husband mustn¡¯t have any real military power. If Marshal Li wanted to marry Emperor Lan, he needed to give up his current status...


    Imagine a man, especially a man who had immense military power in his hands, having to give up his power to be a toy-boy?


    In the end, Emperor Lan and Marshal Li broke up. Unfortunately, before their rtionship could heal, the Federation took the opportunity to send a beautiful man to marry Emperor Lan...


    No woman can resist the charms of a beautiful man!


    Although they felt pity for Emperor Lan and Marshal Li, they had to admit that the emperor¡¯s husband now was really beautiful. It was understandable that Emperor Lan would get moved by him.


    But, since then, Emperor Lan and Marshal Li became enemies. This made Marshal Li¡¯s Mufeng Army that not very attractive division to be recruited by.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care. I just don¡¯t want to go to the Mn Army.¡± Aspared to the Mufeng Army, these cadets hated Empress Li Zhunjiang¡¯s division more.


    It was called an army but in actual fact, it was a toy that the emperor gave to her husband to y when he was bored. The soldiers inside there werecking in all areas. They were all weak people who had negativebat abilities. People who graduated from the military academy looked down on this division. As the cadets from the First Military Academy, there was no way they would want to go to this army.


    ¡°Sigh, I hope that heaven will help me!¡± Everyone agreed with this sentence.

 Chapter 1447 - 11th Preserve District?

    <h4>Chapter 1447 11th Preserve District?</h4>


    The 11th Preserve District got news that the 7th Preserve District got surrounded by the armies of the 13 Lords. It caused a huge uproar within the district.


    The district mayors had more or less talked to each other before. Some of them even had good friendly rtionships with one another.


    Compared to the other districts, the 11th Preserve District and 9th Preserve District had more interactions due to their close geographic locations. A lot of people in the 11th Preserve District had people they knew in the 9th Preserve District.


    A crowd had already gathered at the residence of the district mayor of the 11th Preserve District. Most of the crowd had agitated and confused expressions.


    ¡°Mayor, do you think they have discovered something?¡± A middle-aged woman asked agitatedly


    The district mayor of the 11th Preserve District was a tall and muscr middle-aged man. His eyes were bright and his gaze was sharp. When he heard what the women said, he red at the woman. ¡°Why are you so anxious? Don¡¯t scare yourself.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just afraid that...¡± The woman immediately shrunk back.


    ¡°Afraid your head!¡± The district mayor was exasperated at his people.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we at least make some preparations? Maybe their next target is us?¡± A man from the crowd frowned and suggested.


    ¡°We shall not do anything that will attract suspicion.¡± The district mayor thought for a moment before deciding to keep everything the same.


    ¡°But if something really happens, the future of the Lawless Lands and us will perish here.¡± As the hope and seeds of the locals, nothing must happen to them.


    ¡°In that case, tell me where can we go?¡± The district mayor shook his head and said, ¡°The Lawless Lands is big, big enough to ept everyone whoes here. But, the funny thing is, there¡¯s no ce for locals like us to live safely.¡±


    The moment he said this, everyone turned quiet. Those younger ones weren¡¯t able to hide their anger.


    ¡°It¡¯s better if we don¡¯t do anything. That way, no one will suspect us... Sometimes, staying put is better than making a move.¡± The district mayor sighed.


    ¡°Being passive isn¡¯t how we do things.¡± Some of the crowd were unhappy.


    ¡°Of course, we have to know why they decided to attack the 7th Preserve District first.¡± The district mayor squinted. He knew that the district mayor of the 7th Preserve District wasn¡¯t a local of the Lawless Lands.


    ¡°Report! We have received a report from the frontlines.¡± Suddenly, a young man squeezed past the crowd to get to the district mayor.


    The district mayor looked at the report and started pondering. He didn¡¯t forget to pass the report to the crowd beside him. All the people gathered here were worth trusting. They were on the same boat after all.


    Not long after, everyone read through the report.


    ¡°It looks like the 7th Preserve District asked for their own death. They took in the enemies of the lords. This had entirely nothing to do with us.¡± Finally, they felt at ease. When they first heard about the 7th Preserve District being surrounded, their first reaction was that they were discovered.


    ¡°We can¡¯t deny the possibility that they are trying to fool us.¡± Someone was still extremely careful and cautious.


    ¡°Yes. We still need to be careful.¡± Most of the people agreed with that person.


    ¡°Am I the only one that is thinking about the background of the two sides?¡± Someone had a deeper look at the situation.


    The district mayor¡¯s gaze turned sharp. He pointed at the person and said, ¡°Tell me about it.¡±


    The person nodded and continued, ¡°The people who surrounded the 9th Preserve District consisted of three lords.¡± To prevent people from eavesdropping on them, he used hand signals to tell everyone who the three lords were. ¡°The one that was being surrounded is the newly ascended lord.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying that theybined efforts to give the new lord a hard time?¡±


    ¡°They might be settling ounts with him.¡± The person shook his head. ¡°All in all, the new lord can¡¯t make anyints against such treatment.¡±


    ¡°The 13 Lords will never allow a new lord to join them so easily.¡± Everyone nodded. If that wasn¡¯t the case, they wouldn¡¯t be in such a bad state. They had to hide in this ce and conceal their identity while living the life of a normal person.


    ¡°The new lord must be in a tragic state now.¡± No one had high hopes for Lord Gen.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see the result of this battle.¡± The district mayor knew that this fight would affect Lord Gen¡¯s position in the Lawless Lands.


    As a local of the Lawless Lands, he wanted to send these foreigners away. Thus, he was happy to see internal strife, and even hatred, among the 13 Lords, as this could be an opportunity for them to grow and prosper.


    If the 13 Lords started supporting one another and helping one another, they would really need to cry.

 Chapter 1448 - Find The Answer.

    <h4>Chapter 1448 Find The Answer.</h4>


    ¡°Boss, where are we going?¡± After flying blindly with seemingly no goal in sight, Luo Lang finally couldn¡¯t withstand the urge to appease his curiosity.


    ¡°To find an answer,¡± Ling Lan replied calmly. Currently, Li Lanfeng was seated limply on the auxiliary seat next to her. He was still unconscious.


    ¡°Answer?¡± Luo Lang was puzzled. Why was Boss being so indirect with his words? Why couldn¡¯t he understand anything? In the past, when Xie Yi was beside him, he would always exin everything whenever he didn¡¯t understand something. Now, realizing he was so helpless without Xie Yi, Luo Lang started to miss the times when he had Xie Yi beside him. Back then, he wouldn¡¯t need to care about anything then as Xie Yi would do everything for him.


    ¡°Why did Lord Qian betray the Federation? The information I have now is not enough.¡± Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but frown when she said this.


    Lord Qian had already reached the god-realm. He belonged to the tip of the totem pole of formidable warriors. Logically, as long as he didn¡¯t leave the Lawless Lands, the Federation couldn¡¯t do anything to him even if he disobeyed them. But, realistically, that wasn¡¯t the case. On the surface, the Federation couldn¡¯t mess with more god-realm formidable warriors or god-ss operators when their tes were already filled with god-realm formidable warriors and god-ss operators from Caesar, but based on her deep understanding of the Federation, Ling Lan knew that there were a few god-realm formidable warriors that they hadn¡¯t revealed yet. If the Federation really wanted to deal with him, they had their ways.


    If she was aware of this, Lord Qian must know this too. Hence, without ample reasons, a sly old fox like him wouldn¡¯t take the risk to betray the Federation so easily. He even attacked hispanions who went through thick and thin with him.


    This was the reason why Ling Lan didn¡¯t ask Elder Father more about Lord Qian. Even after spending years together as apetitive rival to Lord Qian, Elder Father still truly didn¡¯t know about the true face of Lord Qian. Because of his pre-set impression of Lord Qian being wrong, he got schemed by Lord Qian in the end.


    Since the Federation gave him this important mission to infiltrate into the Lawless Lands, Lord Qian must be an extremely intelligent person. As one, he naturally wouldn¡¯t let go of any suspicious factors. If Elder Father wasn¡¯t guarded against Lord Qian, it meant that he didn¡¯t know what Lord Qian truly cared about. Lord Qian might have allowed Elder Father to live because he was his oldrade, but the most likely reason was because Elder Father was totally oblivious about Lord Qian¡¯s true thoughts, so it was totally useless to question Elder Father further as it might skew her impression of Lord Qian into a totally different direction.


    Since Elder Father didn¡¯t have the answer, she needed to find other ways to get it. Luckily, Ling Lan had previously gone through the historical records about the Lawless Lands during this period of time, and she finally found a lead where they could obtain the answer.


    The lead was the 11th Preserve District.


    These people were the true natives of the Lawless Lands who knew the true faces of 13 Lords. Yet, the 13 Lords chose to ignore and let them be. They seemed to be sowing seeds or nning something. Of course, since they belonged to different factions, every lord had their own goal in mind. Ling Lan was a newly arised lord so even though she knew that there was something wrong with this district, she couldn¡¯t interfere with them immediately.


    The previous Lord Gen might have his ns but unfortunately, he died. His ns were forced to stop. Of course, some other lords might have stopped his ns because they didn¡¯t want her to join the inner circle.


    It would be impossible to start the infiltration towards the district from the roots. If she had enough time, Ling Lan had the confidence that she would be able to infiltrate the 11th Preserve District. But, she knew that the thing shecked the most now was time.


    Plus, Lord Qian wouldn¡¯t give her the chance to infiltrate into their system. She understood this even though she only met him once.


    Since he wouldn¡¯t give her the opportunity, she could take the initiative before they could interfere with her. Ling Lan had never thought of letting go of the initiative.


    She lifted her arm and signaled for everyone to a stop when she noticed that they had reached her destination.


    Almost all the mechas behind her stopped abruptly in mid-air.


    ¡°Camouge on the spot,¡± Ling Lan ordered calmly.


    Following her orders, all the mechas disappeared and started looking for their hiding spots.


    Ling Lan, Zhao Jun, and Luo Lang stepped out of their cockpits. As theynded on the floor, the chameleon systems on the mechas activated to make them disappear on the spot.

 Chapter 1449 - What Do You Have Here?

    <h4>Chapter 1449 What Do You Have Here?</h4>


    The district mayor of the 11th District discussed with his confidants for a long time but nothing came out of it. They only ended the discussion on a sour note and left hastily.


    The district mayor watched as everyone left his office. Then, he let out a deep forlorn sigh. That sigh essentially epassed the frustration, anger, and helplessness about the situation at hand.


    The district mayor¡¯s chief secretary, Diyi, asked in a low voice, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±


    The district mayor gave a bitter smile. ¡°The longer we stay here, the more I feel lost.¡±


    Diyi didn¡¯t reply when he heard this. Instead, the muscles on his cold face just twitched uncontrobly.


    ¡°You feel it too?¡± The district mayor looked at the peaceful grasnd outside his window with a stern face. The sun was still bright but inside, his heart was cold, cold as theing winter.


    They had been hiding for so long under the burning sun, but they had never felt warm before. Instead, what was theirs before, the sun, theirnd, and their people, all became unnatural to them. They didn¡¯t even remember the days when they basked in the glorious sunlight, without wondering when would the lords cast their shadows over them again, locking them in eternal darkness. Did the 13 Lords really get fooled by them? His only hope now was that the new lord would attract their attention away from them.


    ¡°This battle royale gotplicated for no real reason. Also, the 7th Preserve District...¡± Diyi revealed the worry in his heart.


    ¡°We can never tell them about that. We can only talk about them secretly.¡± If they wished to unite the Lawless Lands together, they needed to give the people hope, not a reality with no future. They needed to subtly manipte the people in order to make them persevere in their fight for freedom. This was a fight for freedom against invincible weapons and power. No one would be willing to take the bet if they knew that they would lose.


    ¡°I know.¡±


    ¡°I just hope that Lord Gen will give us more hope.¡± Maybe he was their single chance of salvation? As long as the other lords had all their focus on Lord Gen, this might be their opportunity to break free from their shackles.


    ¡°What hope do you need me to give?¡± A cold voice suddenly shattered the solemn atmosphere. The voice was monotone enough to be mistaken as if a robot had said it. That emotionless and ever-unchanging voice terrified him to the core.


    Still, as an experienced people¡¯s man, he managed to quickly put on a facade of calmness. He looked up towards the door coldly and said, ¡°Since you came, why do you still need to hide?¡± He was speaking in the Federationnguage. It sounded a little awkward but it was still quite urate.


    The moment he finished speaking, a figure appeared out of thin air five meters away from him. With clear and ear-piercing steps, the figure walked towards his table..


    The figure was wearing a mecha suit. He didn¡¯t have any expression on his face but his cold aura was enough to freeze the air in the room.


    The figure who just came was very impolite, showing no respect to one¡¯s elderly. He just directly walked to the right side of the district mayor without any ounce of respect.


    Suddenly, a chair was pulled out from under the table. Two people wearing the same mecha suit appeared behind the seat. Each of them held each side of the chair and pulled it out slowly, seemingly preparing a seat for their leader.


    One of them was muscr, tall, and handsome, while the other was skinny, frail, and beautiful. There were two entirely different styles but when they stood together, it didn¡¯t seem weird. It looked quite harmonious.


    The man with the cold aura seemed to have expected this. He just walked directly towards the seat and sat down on it casually.


    The district mayor controlled the turbulent emotions in his heart as he squinted his eyes. ¡°Lord Gen.¡±


    Based on what he said at the start and how his subordinates were able to appear beside him without them noticing, the district mayor quickly inferred who this man was.


    Ling Lan just nced at him indifferently. She neither denied or affirmed his words.


    However, the district mayor wasn¡¯t asking a question, he was instead stating a statement. Thus, he didn¡¯t need Ling Lan¡¯s reply either.


    ¡°Oh, Lord Gen is here. I apologise for not weing you. May I know why you¡¯re here?¡± The district mayor suddenly smiled and weed Ling Lan enthusiastically.


    ¡°You... what do you have here?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t act polite or beat around the bush. She just went straight to the point.


    ¡°What do we have?¡± The district mayor¡¯s expression didn¡¯t break but his eyes narrowed slightly. If Ling Lan hadn¡¯t taken special care to observe him, this minor change might go undetected.


    ¡®As expected, there is something weird going on here.¡¯ The ends of Ling Lan¡¯s lips lifted slightly into a barely noticeable smile.

 Chapter 1450 - Gamble!

    <h4>Chapter 1450 Gamble!</h4>


    ¡°Heh, what do you mean by that, Lord Gen?¡± The district mayor had a surprised look on his face, as if he didn¡¯t understand what Ling Lan was talking about.


    ¡°You know very well what I am talking about and so does Lord Qian. That¡¯s why he let you people live in the 11th Preserve District all this time. Am I wrong?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes stared into the eyes of the district mayor. The shapeless pressure she exuded pressure him to the point where a thinyer of sweat formed over the district mayor¡¯s forehead.


    The district mayor¡¯s breathing got rapid in shorter intervals. With Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence that was half-step into the god-realm, even if he used all of his body¡¯s strength to resist, it wouldn¡¯t be of any use.


    Right as the district mayor felt that he was about to cave in from Ling Lan¡¯s pressure, the mountain-like pressure disappeared. Not expecting it, he overexerted himself by using all of his power to resist against nothing. He groaned and a mouthful of blood shot out from his mouth. He lost a lot of his energy as he slipped on his chair.


    Ling Lan¡¯s force of presence was controlled perfectly. The force that was put on the district mayor didn¡¯t affect the chair one bit. She also didn¡¯t give him any chance to resist the force.


    Diyi looked at Ling Lan with fear in his eyes. However, he didn¡¯t dare to move an inch. That was because at that moment, Luo Lang¡¯s right hand was holding his right shoulder with an index finger perking up slightly on the artery on his neck. If he even moved a single inch, his neck would be punctured.


    The district mayor understood the dangerous situation he was in. He realized he wouldn¡¯t live to see the next day if he did not do what Lord Gen wanted him to do.


    When he raised his head to look at Ling Lan again, the calmness in his eyes disappeared and instead, it was reced with fear.


    ¡°Tell me and perhaps you will have a chance to take your revenge,¡± Ling Lan closed her eyes and said indifferently.


    ¡°Giving it to you is no different than giving it to him.¡± The reason the district mayor could be the most authoritative figure of the district was because he was the strongest both mentally and physically. Even in front of Lord Gen, he immediately calmed his steel nerves and replied in a normal tone.


    ¡°But you hate him very much, don¡¯t you,¡± Ling Lan said nonchntly. ¡°Are you willing to die just like this?¡±


    ¡°Bringing him down with you before you die and cause civil unrest within the lords. As long as there¡¯s this possibility, don¡¯t you want to try it out?¡± Ling Lan spoke slowly in a mild-mannered tone. It was as though she was making a suggestion to an old friend.


    The district mayor could be seen struggling internally. He realized he was slowly moved by those devilish words. It was just as Ling Lan had said. He didn¡¯t want to die without doing anything significant. Even if he had to die, he must bring the most hated enemy of the Lawless Lands down with him.


    ¡°Heh, maybe you are working with them. Wouldn¡¯t me telling you be the same as telling him?¡± The district mayor wasn¡¯t going to tell their secret that easily, especially when this secret was going to dictate the future of the Lawless Lands and the original natives of the Lawless Lands. He wouldn¡¯t expose the secret until he had no other choice.


    Ling Lan half-smiled as she looked at the district mayor and said slowly, ¡°I think you are mistaken about something. You don¡¯t have a choice.¡±


    ¡°My mecha army is just right outside the district. If you don¡¯t tell me, I will raze and burn down your district to the ground. Once I wreck everything you hold dear in your heart, I¡¯ll go find what I want personally, even if I can¡¯t find it, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll get some clues. Plus...¡± Ling Lan turned towards Diyi. ¡°Perhaps there are people who are willing to use it in exchange to have a chance to live.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s words caused the district mayor and Diyi to visibly panic. Yet, the district mayor looked at Diyi and then turned towards Ling Lan, ¡°You don¡¯t need to waste your time. Only I know this secret.¡±


    Ling Lan calmly looked at her hand and said, ¡°I¡¯m a person who loves to gamble.¡±


    Then, she leaned towards the district mayor and smiled. ¡°How about we bet on it?¡±


    After Ling Lan finished speaking, Luo Lang¡¯s hand, that was now holding Diyi¡¯s throat, began tightening his grip.


    ¡°Ugh... ugh... ugh...¡± Diyi tried his best to struggle, but how could he get out of the vice-like grip? He used all of his might to open his mouth, as if he was trying to say something.


    ¡°Stop!¡± In the end, the district mayor lost in the bet.


    Looking at him trying to stop Luo Lang, Ling Lan smirked in delight . Seeing that smirk, Luo Lang¡¯s hand loosened around Diyi¡¯s throat.

 Chapter 1451 - Not Interested

    <h4>Chapter 1451 Not Interested</h4>


    ¡°You are no different from ¡®that person¡¯.¡± The district mayor calmed his nerves and then said calmly, ¡°Giving it to you is the same as giving it to him. It wouldn¡¯t benefit the Lawless Lands at all.¡±


    ¡°Good things should be kept to yourself, but trying to keep it without the ability to protect it is an unforgiving mistake.¡± Ling Lan stood up from her seat and walked next to the district mayor. She then smacked him over the shoulder. ¡°When everyone in the 11th Preserve District dies, do you think the natives of Lawless Land would still exist after a few decades?¡±


    The district mayor¡¯s expression darkened significantly.


    ¡°You would rather sacrifice the future of the natives of the Lawless Lands than to take a chance on grasping a future where your people can finally hold their heads up high. How dumb can you be.¡± Ling Lan inched her face closer towards the district mayor. A constant smile was stered on her face and her tone was full of mockery.


    The district mayor tried to turn his head, but he knew he couldn¡¯t afford to. The lives of everyone in the district were on his shoulders. He couldn¡¯t evade Ling Lan¡¯s gaze. Once he evaded, it was like evading the responsibility on his shoulders.


    After a short while, the district mayor finally calmed himself and asked, ¡°If I tell you, will you let us go?¡±


    Knowing he didn¡¯t have any choice, the district mayor began grasping for straws to survive.


    Ling Lan shook her head andughed, ¡°You¡¯re too naive. No matter what you say, you will suffer the same end anyways. However, I can promise I won¡¯t ughter the citizens in the 11th Preserve District. So, tell me the secret that would cause unrest amongst the lords. At least, your deaths would then be of more value.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha....¡± The district mayor suddenlyughed derisively towards the sky. Afterughing, he looked at Ling Lan with an enraged look in his eyes as he spoke coldly, ¡°If it¡¯s death either way, I would be an idiot if I told you anything.¡±


    ¡°Whatever. If you want to do that, sure. Anyway, now, I won¡¯t need to make him my enemy and I could just continue to be Lord Gen. That¡¯s not bad either,¡± Ling Lan had a nonchnt look on her face.


    The district mayor started at Ling Lan to see if he could find any hints of hesitation. However, he didn¡¯t see anything but instead, he saw her bing more confident. Maybe that was Lord Gen¡¯s real thoughts on this issue.


    The mental wall of the district mayorpletely copsed. With the faith he had on the secret he held protecting them copsing, he lifelessly flopped on his chair.


    ¡°You win!¡± said the district mayor bitterly.


    His right hand slowly reached towards his waist to pull out a sharp dagger. With the dagger in hand, he stabbed his own left shoulder.


    Blood spewed out of the wound. Diyi, who was still catching his breath, couldn¡¯t help but gasp in surprise.


    Ling Lan, Luo Lang and Zhao Jun on the other hand were only watching the district mayor calmly, being totally not surprised by his sudden self-muttion.


    The district mayor had always believed the citizens of the Lawless Lands were gifted with a heavenly physique, making them stronger, stronger than the average person, but these foreigners weren¡¯t even human. They were a bunch of abnormal beings.


    Although the district mayor was going through a difficult time in his mind, the hand holding the knife didn¡¯t stop at all.


    The knife continued to roughly cut open the flesh on his shoulder. He carved out chunks of his flesh to the point where his bones could be seen from the surface. When the bones surface in everyone¡¯s vision, they realized a part of his shoulder was actually made out of metal.


    Despite the district mayor almost carving out a few pounds of flesh, no blood leaked out of his body due to his exceptional control over his muscle, which constricted the blood vessels around his shoulder.


    He gritted his teeth as he used the tip of the dagger to chip against a certain point on his metal shoulder bone. As the knife chipped away the bone, a smallpartment within the bone was revealed.


    He then used the tip of the dagger to dig thepartment. A ck object quickly flew out from there and shot towards Ling Lan.


    Hundreds of silver threads suddenly appeared in front of Ling Lan and quickly created a, instantly catching the ck object within it.


    The district mayor endured the pain and spoke with bated breath, ¡°Everything you want is there. As for whether you can decrypt it or not, that¡¯ll depend on you.¡±


    Ling Lan looked closely at the ck object suspended in mid-air by her silver threaded. She went into deep thought as she scrutinized the ck object.


    ¡°I hope you can keep your word and let the citizens of the 11th Preserve District go. As for us, you can kill us if you want.¡± The district mayorughed bitterly.


    ¡°He also has one of these, doesn¡¯t he?¡± Ling Lan didn¡¯t answer, but rather asked a question instead.


    The district mayor¡¯s eyes narrowed. The look he gave Ling Lan wasplicated.


    ¡°This is bing interesting.¡± Ling Lan stood up. A slight look of helplessness was shown in her eyes, but also an unseen look of joy.


    ¡°We can finally go back. This time, we have to rest up well,¡± Ling Lan turned towards the door and didn¡¯t turn back.


    Luo Lang and Zhao Jun followed suit.


    The district mayor looked at the fading silhouettes of the three of them in both fear and surprise. When the three of them walked out the door, he finally couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°You¡¯re not going to kill me?¡±


    ¡°Not interested. As for whether the 11th Preserve District will be able to live to see the next day, that¡¯s your problem, not mine.¡±


    There was no one there, but Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice rang in the district mayor¡¯s ears.


    The way she said it was cold and heartless, but it seemed to have made him feel somewhat... grateful?

 Chapter 1452 - Trust in Comrades

    <h4>Chapter 1452 Trust in Comrades</h4>


    After three days, the battle royale had finally reached its end.


    In the end, all the lords suffered wins and losses in this battle royale, but one lord¡¯s result stood above all. With the newly appointed Lord Gen, Ling Lan, having such great performances despite participating for the first time, it brought great shock to the lords. Whenparing the losses they had sustained from the battle to the benefits they had reaped from the battlefield, she definitely had won out.


    Like previous battle royales, after it was over, people would sit down and negotiate benefits andpensation. However, these diplomatic matters that required brainpower weren¡¯t Ling Lan¡¯s responsibility.


    Li Lanfeng, who had just woken up from his long rest, was immediately kicked out of the rainbow pce before he could have a serious talk with Ling Lan about his family rule.


    With him as main representative and Zhao Jun as his assistant, they went to Lord Qian¡¯s territory to fight another battle royale but with brains against the representatives sent by the other lords. There were no weapons or smoke, but it was morepelling than those types of bloody battle royale and more mentally draining.


    After sending out Li Lanfeng, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but breathe a sigh of relief. In reality, she was also afraid that Li Lanfeng would find her and talk to her about it. Although Ling Lan didn¡¯t believe that Li Lanfeng was actually willing to marry a man... her. Plus, as he was a very intelligent man, he would definitely use this opportunity to ask for some weird request. Before she could confirm what Li Lanfeng wanted, Ling Lan decided that she wasn¡¯t going to give Li Lanfeng that chance to ask for something in return.


    Ling Lan liked to make preparations for anything she did. The situation back then forced Ling Lan to make the decision to treat Li Lanfeng¡¯s injuries. However, it didn¡¯t mean that it would cause her to be at a disadvantage.


    ¡°I will definitely find out what you actually want.¡± Ling Lan smirked in delight, basking in the glory that she had beaten Li Lanfeng in a fun game. After sorting the steps she needed to take to ovee this predicament, she looked down at the ck object on her palms that was ¡®given¡¯ to her by the district mayor of the 11th District.


    ¡°Luo Chao!¡± Ling Lan turned around and shouted towards Luo Chao who was idling on the sofa.


    ¡°I¡¯m here, Boss.¡± Luo Chao got beside Ling Lan in just one step.


    ¡°I need to go for closed door meditation for a while. You and Xuya will be responsible for the Gen district in the time being. If you need to fight, go find your brother. If you need to discuss something, find Shiyu,¡± ordered Ling Lan.


    ¡°Ah? Oh!¡± The unexpected arrangements made Luo Chao gasp in surprise. Then, she calmed herself and took her orders like a textbook soldier.


    ¡°Luo Chao, you and Xuya are already very strong.¡± Ling Lan seemed to have sensed the unsettled feeling and uncertainty in Luo Chao¡¯s heart. She reached her hand out and patted the back of her head, ¡°You have to believe in yourself.¡±


    ¡°But...¡± It was the first time Luo Chao was responsible for such an important role. So, naturally, she wouldn¡¯t have the experience too. At first, she was jealous of her brother being a regimentmander, but she quickly appeased herself by knowing the fact that the only reason why her brother was a regimentmander of a n was because Boss had partnered him up with a skilled deputy who made up for his ws. Her brother¡¯s job in that n was to be the main fighter of the mecha n.


    ¡°Don¡¯t pressure yourself too much.¡± She patted her head lightly. Ling Lan with a gentle smile on her face said, ¡°If you need help, don¡¯t be afraid to ask yourrades, they are yourrades for a reason.¡±


    Luo Chao gradually calmed down and she nodded with great force, ¡°I understand, Boss.¡±


    Then, she felt her head get patted lightly again. ¡°You can do it!¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s soft and gentle voice flowed into her ears, but there was no one standing in front of her. Luo Chao knew that Ling Lan probably went to have her closed door meditation session. She didn¡¯t know where Ling Lan had gone, but she didn¡¯t need to know. She only knew she needed to protect the entire Gen district until Boss returns.


    Below the rainbow pce, in the vast swamp area, Ling Lan found a suitable area for closed door mediation and before she knew it, she was instantly swallowed up by the ground.


    In a dark hole, Ling Lan slowly opened her palm to reveal the ck object that was sitting in her hand.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think that this star system would have something that originated from Mandora... Mandora, just what type of star system is it? I really want to see it for my own eyes.¡±


    ¡°Ling Lan, are you ready?¡± As she was imagining what would be like to live in the Mandora star system, Number One¡¯s voice steadily rang in Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape.

 Chapter 1453 - It’s Enough

    <h4>Chapter 1453 It¡°s Enough</h4>


    ¡°Instructor Number One, I¡¯m ready,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°Begin the transport. I have already ryed the path to you. Be careful,¡± Number One said in a serious tone.


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± replied Ling Lan.


    After saying that, Ling Lan closed her eyes and the ck object on her hand began to crumble apart. The ck outer shell continued to crumble apart to reveal a handful of silver sand that was glittering in the light inside.


    Just as the ck outer shell finished disintegrating, the silver handid t on her hand before sinking into her skin.


    In Ling Lan¡¯s body, the silver sand entered Ling Lan¡¯s bloodstream. It began to flow from her hand to her feet before finally reaching her head.


    A hardly visible thinyer of sweat formed on Ling Lan¡¯s forehead. In order to control the silver sand to not harm or move to another location in her body, Ling Lan must use all of her concentration to direct the flow of the sand. Moreover, with the fact that she only had one chance to do it, added to the pressure.


    ¡°Here,¡± Number One¡¯s voice echoed.


    Ling Lan¡¯s body shook violently. The silver sand broke through the walls of her mindscape and rushed straight for the learning machine.


    At that moment, in Ling Lan¡¯s mindscape, an erged structural blueprint of the learning machine had appeared. Number One had already marked a few points on it which Ling Lan must carefully ce the silver sand in their respective points. If the silver sand was deposited wrongly, Number One would instantly destroy the silver sand. If that happened, it would mean Ling Lan had failed what she was trying to do.


    Before going about doing this, Number One already had a serious conversation with Ling Lan. If there were any mistakes during the process, they would rather give up on the chance of upgrading the hardware than to let anything happen to the learning machine.


    It couldn¡¯t be helped. The learning machine was just too precious. Not only was there the learning machine, there were also people who Ling Lan cared about in it. For example, the instructors, Little Four, and Little Blossom. Also Ling Xiao and Xie Yi, who were waiting to be revived. Ling Lan couldn¡¯t gamble with their lives on the line and she didn¡¯t want to do it either.


    What Ling Lan took from the district mayor of the 11th District seemed to be a data storage device in the beginning, but it was actually a rare material that would cause a giantmotion if they were in the Mandora star system. The silver sand could actually be used to upgrade the hardware of the learning machine by one level.


    Once Ling Lan had acquired it, Instructor Number One immediately sensed it. He quickly told Ling Lan to quickly go into her mindscape and prepare to upgrade the learning machine.


    Of course, the reason Instructor Number One was so quick to make such a decision was because of Little Four, who had been in aa. When Ling Lan touched the ck object, Little Four¡¯s body reacted greatly to it. It was definitely an important item connected to Little Four¡¯s body since it was able to cause such an acute reaction.


    In the end, it was Little Four¡¯s body¡¯s natural instinct to get stronger that caused him to have such a reaction.


    As time went by, more and more silver sand was slowly getting deposited into their designated points.


    The mass amount of sweat had already caused the hair of Ling Lan¡¯s forehead to stick to her forehead. Ling Lan¡¯s always calm demeanor was actually broken in this procedure.


    Both Ling Lan and Number One knew what upgrading the hardware meant...


    Little Four was going toe back.


    Number One had initially thought he needed decades of Ling Lan¡¯s spiritual power to replenish him. Now that if the hardware upgrade was sessful, the energy it replenished might be able to awaken Little Four.


    ¡°Good job, you seeded, Ling Lan,¡± Number One said with satisfaction.


    Despite him being calm and cool, a look of joy still couldn¡¯t escape his eyes.


    If someone had told Number One that he would one day have a disciple that he would bepletely satisfied with, he probably would think that person was dreaming or perhaps drunk. However, now, Number One was able to tell everyone without hesitation that Ling Lan was his favourite disciple and only disciple.


    Just Ling Lan was enough.

 Chapter 1454 - Selfish Person.

    <h4>Chapter 1454 Selfish Person.</h4>


    At this moment, Ling Lan didn¡¯t rx even though the silver sand had been sessfully deposited in their respective points. Instead, she prepared herself for the iing recoil the hardware was generating.


    Little Four¡¯s learning device wasn¡¯t the average learning device, to begin with. Thus, the process of upgrading it wasn¡¯t also a normal process too. The recoil generated during an upgrade was enough to devastate a normal person. Only people with exceptionally strong spiritual power would be able to endure such recoil. Even so, the price they had to pay to endure such torment was not to be slighted either.


    However, this amount of recoil didn¡¯t put pressure on Ling Lan as she had the spiritual cultivation of the Divine Command sect which was already close to god-realm.


    Ling Lan withstood the strongest three waves of recoil. After enduring those waves, the waves got decreasingly less powerful. As the waves of recoil ended, Ling Lan finally rxed. She knew that it was the sign that the hardware of the learning device had upgraded sessfully.


    ¡°You have done well.¡± Number One, who was guarding Little Four, suddenly opened his mouth.


    ¡°Thank you, Number One,¡± Ling Lan appeared behind Number One silently and whispered.


    After enduring the recoil, Ling Lan hurriedly came into the learning space to inspect the effects of the upgrade had on Little Four.


    ¡°Little Four¡¯s condition is improving. Don¡¯t worry.¡± Number One knew what Ling Lan was worried about so he gave her the answer first.


    ¡°Is the upgrade enough for Little Four to wake up?¡± During this period of time when Little Four was in aa, Ling Lan realised how important he was to her. Without Little Four, her heart felt empty. She knew that Little Four might wake up after this but the strong and confident Ling Lan suddenly felt afraid. She was scared that her expectation was set too high that the reality would disappoint her.


    ¡°Even if he doesn¡¯t wake up now, it won¡¯t be long before he does,¡± Number One said calmly.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s gaze turned firm. Being weak was just temporary. Being strong was eternal.


    ¡°Number One, Little Blossom¡¯s situation is improving!¡± Number Five suddenly appeared in the room and eximed in surprise.


    Number One frowned. He lowered his voice and said to Ling Lan, ¡°I¡¯ll go and take a look.¡±


    He disappeared with Number Five without waiting for Ling Lan¡¯s reply.


    Only Little Four, who was hovering in mid-air, was left in the room, as well as Ling Lan, who was standing beside him.


    Ling Lan stretched her hand out. Her slender and glowing fingers gently caressed Little Four¡¯s chubby cheeks. Even though he had been in aa for such a long time, he still maintained his chubby and cute look.


    Little Four¡¯s whiny look whenever he did anything wrong surfaced in Ling Lan¡¯s mind. He always would hug her and call her ¡®Boss¡¯ in a cute manner in an attempt to tter her. He wouldin to her angrily and tell her his ns to drag Li Lanfeng down.


    ¡°Little Four, I really miss you,¡± Ling Lan said softly.


    There was no one else around her so in front of Little Four, the person who apanied her for two lifetimes and understood her the most, she let go of herself.


    ¡°Do you know when my father died, I was really sad, but what caused me to almost breakdown mentally was you. Little Four, when you suddenly disappeared, I thought that I was abandoned by the entire world,¡± Ling Lan smiled as she said. Tears started to appear in her cold and indifferent eyes.


    ¡°But, I didn¡¯t believe, I didn¡¯t believe that you¡¯ll abandon me. You once said that you¡¯ll apany me for life. You¡¯ll even apany my children for their entire life too...¡± Ling Lan stroked Little Four¡¯s cold cheeks softly. They didn¡¯t have the warmth that Little Four had in the past. Now, Little Four looked more like a robot, even if he looked like a human to the naked eye.


    ¡°There¡¯s not many people I trust. My parents, you, the instructors, therades that grew up with me, and the friends that went through life and death with me... But, the only person I trustpletely is you. Even my parents can¡¯t make me do that.¡± Ling Lan raised her head and controlled her tears. ¡°Little Four, ultimately, I¡¯m still a selfish person. Besides you, whom I know entirely, I¡¯ve never given all my trust to someone else.¡±

 Chapter 1455 - Evolve?

    <h4>Chapter 1455 Evolve?</h4>


    ¡°That¡¯s why Little Four, wake up, I need you!¡± This was the first time Ling Lan said that she needed someone. The Ling Lan now was no longer the strong and invinciblemander in everyone¡¯s eyes. She was no longer the dominant Boss who all of herrades believed that she could fight off thousands of soldiers. Now, she was a girl who needed someone to rely on.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you one chance. If you don¡¯t wake up now, I might not need you anymore.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s demeanour suddenly turned cold and her expression turned indifferent. She slowly took back her finger, as if the weak expression she just showed was an illusion.


    Her weak self was extra baggage. Faced with the loss of Little Four, she went back to demeanor of the Ling Lan from her previous life. The weak version of Ling Lan that was dependent on everyone else around her to survive, that was sad that everyone showed concern for her but no one actually felt concerned for her, and that was lonely.


    If staying here being all weak wasn¡¯t going to do anything, then she would be going to do what she needed to be, a cold and heartlessmander.


    Just as she turned around to leave, the corner of her sleeve was suddenly pulled on by a chubby little hand.


    ¡°Don¡¯t... leave!¡± Little Four¡¯s weak voice rang from behind her.


    Ling Lan¡¯s body shook and her eyes instantly teared up.


    She rapidly blinked her eyes. The blinking immediately erased the immense joy she had along with the weakness she shouldn¡¯t have had or rather shouldn¡¯t have shown.


    She turned around and flicked her finger lightly, ¡°Dumb Little Four. You finally slept enough.¡±


    The Little Four hovering in mid-air groaned in pain. Then, he immediately jumped up and held his forehead with a look of being wronged. With a sad look on his face, he said, ¡°Boss, I¡¯m a patient right now, can¡¯t you be a bit more nice to me?¡±


    ¡°Nice?¡± The bones on Ling Lan¡¯s finger began to make cracking sounds. She then spoke in a cold tone, ¡°Do you need me to give you a massage personally?¡±


    It was clear that this ¡®massage¡¯ would definitely make Little Four be in so much pain that he would rather die.


    As an intelligent entity, Little Four was, of course, not rted the word ¡®dumb¡¯. He shook his head furiously.


    Right as Little Four was about to cause himself to faint from shaking his head too much, a hand suddenly held his head and stopped his shaking head.


    Ling Lan¡¯s head caressed Little Four¡¯s head. This sudden warmth stunned Little Four.


    ¡°Boss?¡± Little Four raised his head in surprise.


    In the next second, Ling Lan used all of her might to hug him. The hug was so tight that Little Four actually felt as though he was suffocating.


    ¡°Little Four, it¡¯s good that you¡¯re fine.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s calm voice flowed into Little Four¡¯s ears. Despite it sounding cold as it had always been, Little Four still managed to hear the happiness and gratefulness in Ling Lan¡¯s heart.


    As the hug continued, Little Four could feel his body warming up to the point where his main CPU might overheat.


    ¡°Next time, I won¡¯t allow you to take such risks again. Even if it is for mom or dad or even me. I won¡¯t allow it. Don¡¯t ever do that again, do you hear me?¡± said Ling Lan sternly.


    She hoped that Little Four would always exist even at her passing. Even if one day she weren¡¯t to exist anymore, she still hoped Little Four would continue to exist in this world and live without any worries.


    Little Four felt himself short-circuiting for a moment. The two top level restrictions of the learning machine actually somehow went against each other which made his circuits go haywire.


    The first responsibility of the learning machine was to protect the life of the host, and the second responsibility was that it couldn¡¯t go against the orders of the host.


    Ling Lan, who was holding Little Four, felt that Little Four¡¯s body had frozen stiff. Upon realization, she quickly and gently ced Little Four down. When she saw a sleeping Little Four again, she felt her mind was about to copse.


    ¡°Instructor Number One!¡± Ling Lan quickly shouted.


    Number One appeared in an instant.


    ¡°Instructor Number One, what¡¯s wrong with Little Four?¡± Why did Little Four suddenly stop responding to her. His originally bright and lively eyes actually darkened. It was as though he was a robot that suddenly lost its power.


    Instructor Number One lightly pushed down on Little Four¡¯s head and frowned slightly. ¡°He actually began evolving right after he woke up. He really is a piece of work.¡±


    Evolving an intelligent entity like Little Four required work to be done in advance to prepare for it. Usually, it required months of dedicated research and careful experimentation of the direction of the evolution to increase the chance of sess, otherwise, the evolution would fail easily.


    Instructor Number One thought Little Four was too impulsive to evolving himself after sensing he could evolve. How could he know that it was because of some of Ling Lan¡¯s actions and words that caused Little Four¡¯s original restrictions to have a terrifying w? In order to repair this w, Little Four naturally chose to evolve after sensing the room for an evolution. This was actually a method Little Four used to protect himself.


    ¡°Is Little Four in danger?¡± Ling Lan said worriedly.


    ¡°At most, he would just fail and waste this opportunity to evolve that you managed to acquire with great effort,¡± said Instructor Number One frustratingly.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Ling Lan was no longer worried. As long as Little Four was fine, no matter how wasteful it was, Ling Lan wouldn¡¯t mind.


    Number One understood the meaning behind Ling Lan¡¯s words. He shook his head silently. With a host who pampers her own intelligent entity without thinking about any of the risks... Number One felt his head hurt.


    Each and every one of them weren¡¯t easy to deal with.


    Little Four¡¯s evolution wasn¡¯t something that could be done in just one or two days. So, after getting assured that nothing would happen to Little Four, Ling Lan left the room.


    She used her spiritual self to scan the entire rainbow pce to discover that everyone was systematically going about their work.


    Seeing this, Ling Lan was no longer worried. She took a deep breath before taking a step forward to arrive beside Instructor Number Five.


    Instructor Number Five was studying Little Blossom¡¯s situation closely. After sensing Ling Lan¡¯s arrival, he said, ¡°A portion of Little Four¡¯s energy was devoured by Little Blossom. I¡¯m not sure if Little Four was affected or not.¡±


    This was the result after Instructor Number One and Number Five analyzed them. Otherwise, with Little Blossom¡¯s terrible state, things wouldn¡¯t get better so suddenly.


    ¡°Little Four just woke up, but now he¡¯s evolving himself,¡± said Ling Lan calmly. ¡°Also, without Little Four¡¯s consent, Little Blossom can¡¯t devour Little Four¡¯s energy.¡±


    Ling Lan was much more knowledgeable of the rtionship between Little Four and Little Blossompared to the two instructors. Although Little Four bullied Little Blossom, Ling Lan knew that Little Four actually cared a lot for Little Blossom. It was probably when Little Four sensed Little Blossom was in danger, he voluntarily sent energy to Little Blossom.


    ¡°If he¡¯s fine, that¡¯s good,¡± Number Five had a nonchnt look on his face. He was now more interested in Little Blossom. The way he looked at Little Blossom was like a wolf watching its prey... as if he was hoping to get a bite of him.


    ¡°Instructor Number Five, I want to enter the virtual time dimension.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words instructor made Number Five retract his gaze.


    ¡°Why?¡± Instructor Number Five had a stern look on his face.


    ¡°I want to find the catalyst to advance into the god-realm,¡± Ling Lan said in a serious tone.


    ¡°No,¡± Number Five instantly refused.


    ¡°Instructor Number Five,¡± shouted Ling Lan with determination.


    The two of them stared at each other. After a few minutes, Instructor Number Five wiped his helpless expression with his hand and said in dismay, ¡°Convince me with a good reason.¡±


    ¡°Lord Qian,¡± Ling Lan only said those two words.


    Number Five was silent for a while, then said, ¡°You should know where your problem lies.¡±


    This time, it was Ling Lan who was silent. Having been stuck at the peak of the imperial realm for so long and not being able to touch up the god-realm, she ,of course, knew the reason.


    She advanced too quickly. Although the advancements were carefully done, her basics were still clearly less solid than those who have had decades or even centuries of time to build it up. Even if there was the learning space¡¯s time machine speeding things up, giving her more time to train, it still wasn¡¯t enough to make up for centuries of work.


    Advancing into the god-realm required enough power inyers. Otherwise, if theyers were too thin, it wouldn¡¯t work. That was the issue Ling Lan had. Her amount of power was not enough, so she couldn¡¯t get close to the door of the god-realm.


    Slowly, gathering power was the best method to advance into the god-realm. Unfortunately, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t wait!

 Chapter 1456 - There’s Only One Chance

    <h4>Chapter 1456 There¡°s Only One Chance</h4>


    ¡°Lord Qian won¡¯t give me time.¡± Especially after she had received the thing Lord Qian wanted. If things kept going the way it did, Lord Qian would definitely make a move soon. However, this time, he wasn¡¯t going to let her off easy like before.


    ¡°You were too hasty in your decisions,¡± Number Five said helplessly.


    ¡°I can wait, but the others can¡¯t.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression was determined. The move she made seemed to have been made blindly without any care about the consequences, but in reality, the only way they could escape from the clutches of Lord QIan was by doing those seemingly reckless actions.


    ¡°With your wits, you clearly could have avoided it.¡± Number Five still thought Ling Lan¡¯s n this time was not well executed.


    ¡°Why should I refuse what has been given to me?¡± Ling Lan responded coldly.


    ¡°However, at the same time, you also paid the price for it in time. You clearly had time to prepare for it.¡± Number Five, a person who disliked taking any risks, didn¡¯t like Ling Lan¡¯s extremely reckless way of doing things.


    ¡°What¡¯s destined toe wille eventually. Plus, what¡¯s the point of getting one to two more years. If I can¡¯t advance into the god-realm, I can only be a pawn in Lord Qian¡¯s grasp, not his opponent.¡± Ling Lan saw through it all. ¡°In that case, I would rather grasp all of the opportunitiesid before me regardless of risk, and perhaps something magical might happen.¡±


    ¡°For others, one or two years are indeed useless, but for you, with the virtual time dimension machine, it¡¯s not like you are helpless.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words could fool others, but they couldn¡¯t fool Number Five. He knew about Ling Lan just as much as Ling Lan knew about herself.


    ¡°Using the virtual time dimension machine will only help me sense the catalyst to advance the first time I use it. If I don¡¯t seed in my first try, then the subsequent trials would only help me acquire more experience, but I will no longer have a chance to advance. In that case, what¡¯s the point of having that one or two years? I would rather risk it now.¡± Ling Lan knew very well what she wanted. ¡°Sometimes, fighting against the tide doesn¡¯t mean there¡¯s no chance of winning.¡±


    Number Five looked at Ling Lan with a heavy gaze. ¡°It seems, you¡¯ve made up your mind.¡±


    ¡°After meeting Lord Qian, I realized that this was the only path I can take.¡± Every decision Ling Lan made, although not necessarily calcted, was made through careful deliberation over the pros and cons. After deliberating over and over again, she made the conclusion that what she did was the best choice.


    ¡°Alright, since you¡¯ve made up your mind, I¡¯ll let you go in. Just like you said, you only have one chance,¡± reminded Number Five.


    Ling Lan nodded.


    Number Five¡¯s finger shed the air beside him lightly and a dimensional tear slowly opened up. It gradually got wider and wider until it was wide enough for a person to fit through.


    Ling Lan nodded gratefully towards Number Five and walked into the dimensional tear without looking back.


    Boom! The dimensional tear crackled the moment Ling Lan went in. It was then the dimensional tear started to swirl, gradually getting smaller and smaller with each turn before disappearing in a ¡®pop¡¯.


    The next second, a slender figure appeared beside Number Five.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you try to stop her?¡± asked Number Five. Even though she was so worried, Number Nine didn¡¯t even try to persuade her against it or even see her off, Number Five thought it was out of character for Number Nine to do that.


    ¡°No one can stop Ling Lan from doing what she wants. Even Number One can¡¯t do that.¡± The time Number Nine spent with Ling Lan was the longest out of all the instructors. Her feelings for Ling Lan had already surpassed the love for a disciple. It could even be said that she had already thought of Ling Lan as her child.


    When Number Nine realized her motherly feelings for Ling Lan, she no longer gave Ling Lan any instructions or suggestions. That was because she knew her feelings would affect her judgment., and without proper judgement, she wasn¡¯t qualified to be an instructor for Ling Lan. The only thing she could do now was to trust in Ling Lan. Even if she was worried and desperately not wishing for her to go, she couldn¡¯te out and affect Ling Lan¡¯s decision.


    ¡°Number Nine, the rule of the dimension states that you shouldn¡¯t have feelings for the host,¡± reminded Number Five.


    ¡°Then you can enforce that rule right now,¡± Number Nine red at Number Five as she replied.


    Number Five smiled sweetly after hearing those words, ¡°Why should I enforce it. This ce isn¡¯t Mandora. There isn¡¯t that annoying disciplinarymittee too.¡±


    ¡°If there really was a disciplinarymittee, you would have gone there long ago I¡¯m sure.¡± Number Nine didn¡¯t leave any face for Number Five and spoke out his true intentions.


    ¡°Expected of the person who understands me the most.¡± Number Five¡¯s smile became even sweeter. Even his eyes were smiling. The originally cold smile actually looked beautiful at that moment. It was like a flower blooming in the harsh cold winter.


    ¡°It¡¯s already been so long but I still don¡¯t understand you.¡± Number Nine looked at Number Five with disdain and then disappeared in the next second.


    Number Five sighed softly after Number Nine left. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s been so long already, but why don¡¯t you understand what I want...¡±

 Chapter 1457 - Her Choice

    <h4>Chapter 1457 Her Choice</h4>


    Ling Lan stood on top of an iceberg and looked at the endless white snowyndscape before her.


    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that there was a red setting sun in the west, Ling Lan perhaps thought she was going blind.


    She didn¡¯t know how many sunrises and sunsets she had seen since she had been in here and she didn¡¯t know how many world-ending apocalypse she had experienced either.


    The power of nature made Ling Lan, who was halfway into the god-realm, felt as though she was an insignificant ant in this giant world.


    She softly spoke, ¡°Is it still not enough?¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s cold and sharp eyes darkened significantly. Teetering between life and death was usually the easiest way to improve oneself. However, facing death time and time again didn¡¯t give Ling Lan what she wanted.


    ¡°Did I not dive deep enough? Even though the catalyst is in front of me, I can¡¯t reach it?¡± A bitter smile formed on Ling Lan¡¯s face.


    As days, months, years gone by, Ling Lan knew her chance to enter the god-realm was getting slimmer and slimmer.


    ¡°I am unwilling to just give up like this!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression turned icy cold. She knew very well what the oue would be if she didn¡¯t advance into the god-realm.


    ¡°I have said it before, I won¡¯t allow myself to be helpless ever again!¡± Ling Lan clenched both her fists. ¡°Master, I¡¯m sorry. I need to use the forbidden Divine Command Sect technique.¡±


    After saying that, Ling Lan¡¯s entire body sank into the snow.


    Number One, who had his eyes closed while meditating, instantly opened them.


    ¡°You¡¯re not going to stop her?¡± Number One¡¯s shadow suddenly spoke in a cold voice. It was Number Two.


    Number One¡¯s eyes flickered slightly before slowly closing them. ¡°This is her choice.¡±


    ¡°Advancing to god-realm is still too difficult for the present, Ling Lan.¡± Number Two didn¡¯t think it was a good idea.


    ¡°If she doesn¡¯t force it, she would only have a few more days to live anyways. Dying now orter is all the same so might as well risk it all. ¡°A charming voice rang from the other side of the dimension. A dimensional tear opened up and Number Four walked out while striking many different poses.


    ¡°Even you can¡¯t sit still anymore?¡± Number Two sneered.


    ¡°Our fates are tied with Ling Lan. If she doesn¡¯t advance to god-realm, would it benefit us?¡± Number Four smiled lightly.


    ¡°...¡± Number Two was speechless. He didn¡¯t want to speak with these intelligent entities who already had their own agendas. He quickly disappeared from Number One¡¯s shadow.


    ¡°He ran away pretty quick,¡± Number four sneered coldly.


    ¡°That¡¯s because you are being unrealistic so he didn¡¯t want to speak with you anymore.¡± Number Five¡¯s voice echoed from behind Number Four.


    ¡°How am I not being realistic?¡± Number Four ruthlessly stared down Number Five.


    ¡°If Ling Lan were to die, we would at most return to the drawing board and wait until Majesty Four awakens to find the next host and start again.¡± Number Five pointed out the specialty of their learning machine.


    ¡°Yeah right, if Majesty Four didn¡¯t evolve and create a connection with Ling Lan, what you said might be true. However, now, if Majesty Four were to wake up and find out that Ling Lan had died, he definitely would choose to destroy himself. Then we¡¯ll all die,¡± Number Four rebutted.


    ¡°You forgot the meaning of our existence again, haven¡¯t you?¡± Number Five responded helplessly.


    Number Four was speechless and couldn¡¯t find the words to refute him. She could only look towards Number One angrily. ¡°Number One, are you thinking of using your final authority if that happens?¡±


    Number One slowly opened his eyes. All of the instructors had alreadye into his dimension unbeknownst to him. It seemed that Ling Lan¡¯s situation worried every instructor.


    Looking at them standing there with hopeful eyes, Number One snorted coldly and said, ¡°Everyone go back to where you came from now!¡±


    ¡°Alright, fine, fine. I¡¯ll go back. Staying here won¡¯t do any good anyway.¡± Number Five smiled with an indifferent look on his face.


    Looking at that irritating face, Number Nine couldn¡¯t control her urge as she released a furious kick towards his knee. After kicking Number Five, she quickly disappeared, without turning back to see what the oue of her kick was.


    Number Five gritted his teeth and rubbed his kicked knee. While limping, he walked forward and simrly disappeared from the dimension.


    ¡°If there¡¯s nothing fun happening here, then I¡¯ll be leaving too.¡± Number Three yawned like he didn¡¯t have care in the world. Before he finished his sentence, he had already left.


    ¡°You men are all so stubborn and so boring.¡± Number Four flicked her wavy long hair and walked out of the dimension the same way she came in.


    The other instructors slowly disappeared after Number One ordered them to leave. In the end, Number One¡¯s shadow also became lighter before finally disappearing in a sh as well.


    The entire dimension returned to its peaceful state. Then, Number One slowly closed his eyes.


    ¡°No, I won¡¯t.¡± Number One¡¯s lips moved slightly.


    ¡°Ow, ow, ow...¡± The immense pain made Ling Lan tremble. The immense pain seemed to being from deep within her body, but also seemed to be from the outside of her body as well.


    ¡°Quickly, quickly, patient on Bed N27¡¯s suddenly has a reaction. Give her a dose of painkiller.¡± A woman¡¯s voice rang beside her ears, with a hint of worry and panic in her voice.


    ¡°Ling Lan, don¡¯t be scared. Ling Lan, don¡¯t be scared. You¡¯re very brave. You have to believe in yourself. This time, you will be able to endure it.¡± On the other side, another soft female voice sounded as an ice cold towel was used to wipe her forehead. The refreshing feelinging from the towel was the only thing stopping Ling Lan from fainting.


    ¡°Ling Lan, you are the strongest girl I know. You definitely can endure it.¡± From a further ce, there was a voice of a crying woman cheering her on.


    Ling Lan suddenly felt her arm get injected by a needle. The cold liquid was then felt going into her bloodstream.


    However, all of this didn¡¯t have any effect on the unbearable pain she was feeling. Ling Lan thought that she was going to die from the pain.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Ling Lan finally screamed out.


    ¡°How¡¯s the situation?¡± A familiar male voice suddenly echoed in her ears.


    ¡°Dr. Li, we just injected a dose of painkiller, but it doesn¡¯t seem to have an effect,¡± replied one of the female voices.


    It was then a warm hand touched her with the intention of checking on her. ¡°Her condition worsened this quickly. If we don¡¯t stop it soon, Ling Lan won¡¯t be able to live past tonight.¡± the male voice sounded firm but yet had a hint of unwillingness to it.


    ¡°Wuwu... Then what should we do?¡± One of the female voices actually began crying.


    ¡°Ling Lan¡¯s so nice. I don¡¯t want anything to happen to her,¡± said the other girl while sniffling.


    ¡°You all need to focus. You¡¯re all nurses. If you panic, who will the patients depend on?¡± the male voice suddenly shouted angrily.


    ¡°But, but, what should we do?¡± The female voices suddenly had more strength to it, as if they were awakened from the shout.


    ¡°Continue to inject painkillers. Remember to not go past the limit,¡± ordered the male voice. ¡°Nurse Han, go apply for the new experimental medicinal agent immediately.¡±


    ¡°But, doesn¡¯t it have irrecoverable side effects? Our superiors have already ordered us to not use it carelessly.¡± Nurse Han was somewhat hesitant.


    ¡°Why think about that when the situation is this grave¡± the male voice was determined.


    ¡°But if something bad happens, it will be on your ounts, Dr. Li,¡± said Nurse Han with uncertainty.


    ¡°If we don¡¯t try, it¡¯s the same as doing nothing. No matter what the oue is, I will take full responsibility,¡± replied the male voice calmly. It seemed that this decision was made through careful deliberation, not panic like what he just showed.


    ¡°Alright, Dr. Li.¡± Nurse Han realized that Dr. Li had already thought it through, so she didn¡¯t try to convince him otherwise anymore. She turned around and went to apply for the experimental medicinal agent.


    ¡°Ling Lan, endure it for a while. The new medicinal agent will be here soon. You will get better, so you have to hold on.¡± Beside her ears, that soft female voice had been constantly cheering her on. This voice also sounded very familiar. It seemed that this voice had been standing with her the whole time she was in pain.


    It was just that she had never thought of giving up, but why was everyone here afraid she would give up and why were they so desperately trying to cheer her on to continue to live?


    Although Ling Lan felt dizzy from the pain, her brain was still working at full speed. When she came about this realization, she was somewhat confused.

 Chapter 1458 - Five Years Into the Future?

    <strong>Chapter 1458 Five Years Into the Future?</strong>


    not long after, nurse han brought back the new experimental medicinal agent.


    after a few sharp crackling sounds, a needle was injected into her arm. a cool liquid went into lingn¡¯s bloodstream through the needle.


    the pain that wasing from deep within the bones began to get better. feeling much better, lingn took a deep breath to calm her nerves. after taking some much needed breaths, lingn finally opened her eyes.


    the blinding white light blinded lingn¡¯s eyes for a second. for a moment, she thought that she was still in the snowy mountain range from before.


    ¡°lingn, you¡¯re awake. how do you feel?¡± a voice filled with joyful surprise made lingn return to reality.


    lingn frowned slightly. she quickly realized that her cautionary abilities and sensitivity were now greatly weakened. even if she had failed to advance into god-realm, she wouldn¡¯t instantly regress to someone with only the basics in physical skills. what was happening?


    ¡°lingn, don¡¯t scare me like that. look at me. look at me...¡± a soft hand softly caressed her face while panicking. that person¡¯s voice began to tremble.


    ¡®their force of presence is that weak? they aren¡¯t better than the average person. myrades have never been that weak.¡¯


    lingn¡¯s gaze finally fell upon that person.


    ¡°luo chao?!¡± the familiar face stunned lingn.


    ¡°lingn, that¡¯s good, you still remember me,¡± luo chao smiled as she cried.


    ¡°what is this ce?¡± lingn looked at this familiar yet strangely unfamiliar ce.


    ¡°lingn, this is the military¡¯s central medical department,¡± replied luo chao.


    ¡°military¡¯s central medical department?¡± lingn was confused for a moment, ¡°it¡¯s such a familiar name.¡±


    ¡°of course, you¡¯ve been living here for more than 20 years.¡± luo chao sighed deeply, releasing the frustration and sadness she had felt in the past few days. ¡°unfortunately, we couldn¡¯t find the reason for your condition.¡±


    ¡°20 years?¡± lingn was shocked.


    ¡°it¡¯s fine, lingn. you¡¯ve once again won against the disease. you¡¯re the best.¡± luo chao seemed to have already be used to lingn returning from death¡¯s door every time. while she wiped her lingn¡¯s forehead using a wet towel, she was cheering lingn on at the same time.


    ¡°what¡¯s the time right now? give me the year.¡± lingn frowned and asked. she had already sensed the strangeness of this ce. this military central medical department didn¡¯t have a single person who trained their physical skills. every doctor or nurse who passed by had weak forces of presence, and she was also the same. no, her aura was even weaker than the weakest of nurses. it was so weak that she might leave this world in the next second.


    ¡°april 2nd, 2018. april fool¡¯s just passed,¡± luo chao replied with a gentle smile. this type of urence where lingn didn¡¯t know the date and time had happened many times in the past so she had already gotten used to it.


    ¡°really...2018? five yearster?¡± lingn furrowed her brows. currently, it was five years after her supposed death in her past life. with a mind full of questions, lingn moved her body and used all her might to sit up.


    luo chao immediately went to help her after seeing lingn move.


    ying down is better for you. your body¡¯s condition isn¡¯t too good. sitting will burden your muscles and organs too much.¡± a male voice shouted in a serious tone.


    lingn looked over and as expected, it was the answer she had in her mind¡ªli shiyu!


    ¡°in my memory, you guys probably came here in thest five years,¡± lingn said calmly.


    before she died, this world didn¡¯t have li shiyu, luo chao and the others. if her assumption wasn¡¯t wrong, that nurse han, who went to report the results of the experimental medicinal agent, should be han xuya.


    ¡°yeah, five years ago, you were in grave danger. everyone thought you weren¡¯t able to live. i even heard that you had stopped breathing and your heart had stopped beating. luckily, dr. li was in the military central medical department giving a seminar then. when he heard of your condition, he decisively chose to help. after months of intensive care, you finally showed signs of improving. it was then when dr. li took over your case, and since we are doctor li¡¯s assistant, we followed dr. li here.¡± luo chao carefully recounted what happened in thest five years. she exined slowly while making sure lingn was doing okay. the five years they have been together, they had already thought of lingn as their own sister.


    ¡°i¡¯m not sure how much time dr. li has invested into researching your disease for you. but, if you want to repay us, then don¡¯t let this disease defeat you.¡± a familiar female voice suddenly rang from the door.


    lingn looked over. as expected, it was han xuya.


    ¡°actually, i find it a bit odd. why did you stay here?¡± you would have a much brighter future if you go research some other disease.¡± lingn turned and looked towards li shiyu.


    the information she had wasn¡¯t enough. lingn could only deduce the background of li shiyu from the future world.


    li shiyu was stunned for a moment. it was as if he didn¡¯t expect lingn would ask this type of question. he tilted his head down to think about it and said, ¡°perhaps, it was just destiny. perhaps, your condition interests me. or perhaps... i have already gone bored of praise and needed some challenges in my life.¡±


    ¡°it looks like i gave you a lot of hardships.¡± lingn smiled.


    ¡°yeah, there¡¯s so much that it almost makes me suspect all that i have achieved.¡± li shiyu smiled bitterly.


    it was because of this almost unsolvable problem that he kept refusing to return to the headquarters. he had stayed here all this time for this girl he was worried about. he had stayed here for almost five years. his instructor back at the headquarters had been barking at his ears about him wasting five golden years in his life.


    there had also been people who also suspected whether he had fallen in love with this tough girl. however, internally, he knew that he pitied and worried about her, maybe even liked her. however, it was nowhere close to the word ¡®love¡¯. of course, he couldn¡¯t ensure that as time passed, this ¡®like¡¯ might not grow into ¡®love¡¯...


    ¡°my condition isn¡¯t something that can be treated in this world. you know that.¡± lingn looked at li shiyu intently. she believed that in this world, li shiyu was still a genius in terms of medicine which meant that he knew about her body¡¯s condition.


    ¡°as an esteemed doctor, i won¡¯t acknowledge the term ¡®terminal illness¡¯. no matter what disease or condition, i will always believe there is a chance to live.¡± li shiyu looked unwilling to give up. just like how he was in the future world with linfeng¡¯s terminal illness, he was still trying to fight a cure and had been trying to do so for more than 10 years.


    ¡°even in this world, you are still you.¡± although lingn wasn¡¯t sure why she had returned to this world and why these people who shouldn¡¯t have existed here randomly appeared before her. these people, no matter their personalities or attitudes, were not different than herrades in the future.


    ¡°you¡¯re tired. rest well and don¡¯t speak too much.¡± seeing lingn slowly closing her eyes, luo chao, who had been paying attention to ling all this time, immediately suggested.


    she was truly the same as luo chao. she was still as detailed and as sensitive. as long as lingn had a slight change in her mood, she would be able to sense it.


    this feeling was familiar. there was someone in the future world who could also quickly capture her change in mood. it was just that he was more discreet than luo chao. no matter if it was a concern or a reminder, he would say it in a more discreet way. even if she sensed it, she would ept it wholeheartedly.


    linfeng... she actually thought of him. was it because of li shiyu being here?


    lingn slowly shook her head. she stopped thinking about it since it could not be exined. of course, her head shaking also caused luo chao to speak up with concern. if it wasn¡¯t for han xuya, who couldn¡¯t bear to watch anymore, pulling her away, lingn probably needed to try tofort that little girl who was scared for her.


    still, it felt really good to return to this world and meet a few familiar people!


    lingn closed her eyes tiredly and went to sleep once again.

 Chapter 1459 - Who Are You?

    <h4>bel for="wp-manga-chapter-name">Chapter <bel>1459 Who Are You?</h4>


    ¡°Ling Lan, look. Are these flowers pretty?¡± Luo Chao smiled brightly as she held a bunch of blooming flowers while skipping in from the entrance.


    ¡°Yes, not bad.¡± Ling Lan raised her head calmly and looked at it.


    ¡°Luo Chao, can you don¡¯t talk so loudly? Ling Lan¡¯s ears won¡¯t be able to take it.¡± Han Xuya red at Luo Chao angrily.


    The experimental agent had saved Ling Lan¡¯s life but it had its side effects. Ling Lan was losing her sense of hearing every day. Based on what Li Shiyu said, if they didn¡¯t find a solution for it soon, Ling Lan would lose her sense of hearing entirely.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t just have difficulties hearing. If the noise was too loud, her eardrums would burst from the vibration too. It was a contradictory problem. If someone wanted Ling Lan to hear them, they would have to speak loudly. However, if they were too loud, it would damage Ling Lan¡¯s eardrum.


    Luo Chao¡¯s bright smile was wiped away when she heard this. She looked at Ling Lan with pain in her eyes.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. Being able to survive is better than anything.¡± Ling Lan smiled brightly.


    In this world, she was just an ordinarydy. She didn¡¯t have any responsibilities. She couldugh if she wanted to without any burden.


    ¡°It¡¯s good that you think this way.¡± Han Xuya smiled too. She seemed a little relieved.


    During these five years, after apanying her through all of what had happened, she saw clearly how strong Ling Lan¡¯s personality was even though she was so weak. Doctor Li once said that if this illness fell on a tough man, he might not be able to persevere until today. But, even though she knew how strong Ling Lan was, Han Xuya was still afraid that losing her hearing would be a fatal blow for Ling Lan. She was scared that Ling Lan would break down.


    ¡°Is the weather outside good?¡± Ling Lan looked outside the slightly opened window. The slight breeze of refreshing wind and the sun hung high in the sky invoked the urge within her to go out.


    ¡°Yes, the weather is really good. The flowers in the forest had all bloomed...¡± Luo Chao noticed Ling Lan¡¯s gaze so she said impulsively, ¡°I¡¯ll ask Doctor Li if you can take a walk outside.¡±


    ¡°Erm...¡± Before Ling Lan could open her mouth to stop Luo Chao, she had already rushed out like a gust of wind.


    ¡°Will it be too troublesome?¡± Ling Lan frowned slightly. She knew that if she wanted to go out with her weak body, they would need to make many preparations which would be a huge hassle. Even if these people were her familiarrades, in this world, they were strangers. They had no rtionship with her so it wasn¡¯t right to trouble them so much. In actual fact, deep down inside, Ling Lan didn¡¯t like to bother other people. This was why she had the habit of settling everything herself.


    ¡°No. It might even be good for your recovery.¡± Han Xuya appeared forthright but she was actually very sensitive. She could tell what Ling Lan was worried about.


    ¡°...¡± Ling Lan was speechless. Han Xuya sounded like she was coaxing a little child. Was she so easy to coax in their eyes?


    In these past few days, she realised that in Luo Chao and Han Xuya¡¯s eyes, she was a bright, cheerful, and naive youngdy that loved to smile and was full of hope...


    She didn¡¯t expect to be treated like a naive and puredy by herrades one day. This feeling was strangely familiar.


    Why did she find it familiar? Ling Lan raised her head and thought about it carefully. In the future world, she seemed to have yed this kind of character before. At that time, herrades said that her acting skills were outstanding. She really acted perfectly like a naive and pure young man. Now, thinking back, it might be because of her past. In order to survive, in order to gain medical attention, she needed to paint herself into someone the doctors and nurses liked. After putting on the show for a long time, even she started to believe that she was this kind of person.


    ¡°Did Ie back in time so that I can see who I really am? What a bloody punishment.¡± Ling Lan gave a bitter smile. She came back to peel away her fake mask and examine the real her... This really wasn¡¯t a good experience.


    After a series ofplicated paperwork, Ling Lan finally sat on the wheelchair. She was pushed out of the ward by Luo Chao and Han Xuya. Of course, the busy Li Shiyu had no choice but to put down his work. He stood behind them with a stern expression.


    The danger of this trip outside was very high. If not, Li Shiyu wouldn¡¯t have this dark expression. But, what made Ling Lan curious was how Li Shiyu, who viewed her safety as the most important matter, got convinced by Luo Chao to ept this dangerous request.


    ¡°I thought that you would reject it.¡± Ling Lan looked at Li Shiyu whose expression became more and more serious. He woulde and inspect her condition asionally.


    Li Shiyu was examining her body when his hands froze. He took a deep breath and continued with his examination. At the same time, he asked, ¡°I thought that I¡¯ll reject it too.¡±


    ¡°But you still agreed.¡± Ling Lan smiled. She looked like a little fox now.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s face turned a little red. He didn¡¯t want his thoughts to be noticed by Ling Lan so he changed the topic hurriedly, ¡°Don¡¯t you miss your parents and your younger brother?¡±


    Ling Lan asked him back, ¡°They hadn¡¯t visited me for quite a while, right?¡±


    She went to the gates of hell and came back but the three closest people in this world never came to visit her. If Li Shiyu didn¡¯t mention them, she had almost forgotten that they existed.


    The three people turned silent at her question.


    ¡°It has been very long, right? So long that they had already forgotten that they still have a daughter,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. When she advanced to the imperial realm, she had already broken the ties with her past life. Now, these three people were just strangers to her. She had no feelings towards them.


    Her expression caused a misunderstanding to form among the three people. They all thought that Ling Lan was hurt by the actions of her family. Han Xuya held the handles of the wheelchair tightly and said sincerely, ¡°Ling Lan, you still have us.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. We¡¯ll apany you and you will ovee your illness.¡± Luo Chao bent down and looked up at Ling Lan earnestly. She used her gaze to tell Ling Lan that even if the entire world didn¡¯t want her, they would stay beside her.


    ¡°Is it good to be so emotional?¡± Ling Lan patted Luo Chao¡¯s head andughed silently. ¡°Also, do you really understand me?¡±


    Luo Chao looked at Ling Lan in confusion. She didn¡¯t know why Ling Lan said this.


    ¡°You... ever since you woke up, you never mentioned your parents or your younger brother,¡± Li Shiyu suddenly said.


    Ling Lan turned around and smiled at him. She signalled for him to continue.


    ¡°Actually, before you went into aa, you would ask about them once a month, and the way you ask about them is always different.¡± Doctor Li¡¯s gaze turned deep.


    Han Xuya and Luo Chao started feeling sad for Ling Lan. There was a tinge of anger in their eyes too. They were feeling hurt and wronged for this youngdy who got abandoned by her family secretly.


    ¡°At that time, no matter how you tried to hide it, you can¡¯t hide how much you miss them. It¡¯s in your eyes. But now, when you mentioned them, you don¡¯t have any emotions anymore.¡± The things that Li Shiyu noticed were more than the twodies.


    ¡°Once your pain umtes until a certain degree, it will die,¡± Ling Lan said calmly. ¡°As a doctor, you should understand this more than me.¡±


    The pain in Luo Chao and Han Xuya¡¯s eyes got stronger.


    ¡°But, the time for that is too short... Also, you seem to have forgotten a lot of things... especially during these past five years.¡± Li Shiyu stared at Ling Lan intently. ¡°So, who are you?¡±


    This question astounded Luo Chao and Han Xuya. They looked at Li Shiyu simultaneously in shock.

 Chapter 1460 - It’s Me, But Also Not Me

    <h4>Chapter 1460 It¡°s Me, But Also Not Me</h4>


    ¡°who am i?¡± lingn looked towards the sky in a daze, and as the bright sunlight shone on her face, she squinted her eyes. ¡°i¡¯m not quite sure actually.¡±¡°no matter what you are, there must be a reason for you being here,¡± li shiyu said calmly.¡°in the past, i was me. in the future, i will still be me, but now, i¡¯m not me.¡± lingn looked towards li shiyu with a sharp look in her eyes, ¡°tell me, who am i?¡±


    these statements regarding ¡®i¡¯ and ¡®me¡¯ confused li shiyu. he frowned slightly and began to ponder deeply about it.


    ¡°i¡¯m tired. i want to go back to rest.¡± without waiting for shiyu to answer her seemingly nonsensical question, lingn turned towards luo chao and han xuya and smiled lightly. ¡°i¡¯m sorry for being so troublesome.¡±


    ¡°oh, oh, it¡¯s fine. it¡¯s fine.¡± han xuya was surprised by those words and didn¡¯t say anything else. although there were a bunch of questions she wanted to ask lingn, she just calmly pushed lingn back into her room.


    luo chao looked towards li shiyu, who was still in deep thought. her mouth moved, but in the end, she didn¡¯t make a sound. instead, she followed behind han xuya and went back with lingn.


    ding! ding! ding! a tune was suddenly yed from li shiyu¡¯s pocket.


    hearing the tone, li shiyu awakened from his deep ponderment. he looked around and realized that there was no one around him. he straightened the look on his face and reached his hand into his pocket. he took out a cell phone and took the call unconsciously.


    ¡°yes... who is this? you need something, elder brother?¡± li shiyu, who was still daydreaming, heard a familiar voice and was instantly alert. hearing the voice, his expression instantly rxed and even his eyes were filled with smiles.


    ¡°grandpa wants me to go back home? not interested.¡± li shiyu¡¯s expression suddenly became cold before returning to being warm again. ¡°elder brother, how is your body recently?¡±


    ¡°that¡¯s good that there¡¯s nothing wrong. when i have time, i wille and examine you,¡± li shiyu said sternly. ¡°if you feel something wrong with your body, you definitely have to contact me.¡±


    ¡°huh? i was thinking about something just now and was not in the right state of mind.¡± the person on the other side of the call seemed to have discovered li shiyu¡¯s dazed state earlier. ¡°it¡¯s actually nothing really. it¡¯s just that there is one thing that worries me.¡±


    ¡°yes, it¡¯s rted to medicine somewhat, but could also have no connection to it at all. this thing is a bit... unexinable.¡± li shiyu didn¡¯t know how to exin it to the person on the other end of the call.


    ¡°it¡¯s not that i don¡¯t want to tell you elder brother... these things, it¡¯s... alright, alright, if you want to know then i¡¯ll tell you.¡± the person on the other end of the call seemed to be getting angry at li shiyu. after numerous pestering, li shiyu could only give up and tell everything that had happened to the person on the other end.


    ¡°yes, it¡¯s that girl. her condition is the same as yours. it¡¯s just that hers is worse than yours. she¡¯s almost near the point of death each day...¡± li shiyu¡¯s expression was nk. the reason he stayed behind all those years ago was because of this. much of the reason why his brother had be better in the past 5 years was because li shiyu had this live experimental subject, lingn. she helped him eliminate the failed treatment methods and only left him with the ones that worked.


    without the permanent damage caused by the failed methods and the side effects caused by the failed medicinal agents, her brother¡¯s condition became better and better. lingn on the other hand, although he made sure to keep her alive, she was still being tormented by death everyday. at this stage, li shiyu didn¡¯t know whether he was being grateful or hateful towards her.


    ¡°speak to her?¡± the suggestion given by the person on the other end of the call seemed to have surprised li shiyu. ¡°no, why do you need to tell her about your situation?¡±


    ¡°equivalent exchange?¡± li shiyu¡¯s expression showed that he didn¡¯t understand. ¡°my motive? is it that unbelievable?...but grandpa won¡¯t allow your situation to be exposed to the public.¡±


    suddenly, li shiyuughed. ¡°elder brother, you know me best. elder brother, you¡¯re right. trust should be the basic thing to have between people.¡±


    ¡°but, are we actually going to tell her everything about her father, mother and younger brother?¡±


    ¡°will she be able to handle it if we tell her?¡±


    ¡°alright, elder brother, i can¡¯t convince you. i will have a serious talk with her. i hope it can be just like you said. hopefully, she can give me an answer.¡± li shiyu sighed and said, ¡°otherwise, i will actually not be able to eat or sleep.¡±


    li shiyu arrived at lingn¡¯s room. he knocked on the door and walked in after opening it.


    lingn was half lying in bed. han xuya and luo chao were sitting on the sides of the bed and were talking to her. after they saw him walk in, the fiery atmosphere instantly became ice cold.


    in the past, they had always looked at him with warm looks in their eyes. now, those looks actually became somewhat cold.


    but, these were his nurses, they should be standing with him. they were somehow unknowingly taken away by that girl and was now on her side. now, the two of them had somehow deemed him as an enemy.


    ¡°i want to talk to you,¡± li shiyu took a deep breath and said slowly.


    ¡°talk about what?¡± lingn raised her eyebrows.


    ¡°talk about why i¡¯m here and why you¡¯re here,¡± li shiyu covered two bases in one sentence.


    lingn smiled and nodded. li shiyu had many questions for her, but she also had questions for him as well.


    ¡°five years ago, i coincidentally came here for a seminar, and while i was speaking with the director of the ce about all types of conditions and diseases that were in the department. our conversation led us to speak about your condition.¡± li shiyu reminisced about the past. ¡°when i heard about your condition, i was shocked because i was very familiar with your condition.¡±


    li shiyu had a pained look on his face. seeing that look, lingn closed her eyes slightly. it seemed that this world had perfectly duplicated everything of her friends. linfeng, oh, it should be li mn, also existed in this world. then, it would perfectly exin why li shiyu would take it upon himself to save her.


    ¡°so, i¡¯m just ab rat.¡± lingn just deduced a bit of the information she had and knew what role she yed in this world.


    lingn¡¯s words stunned li shiyu to the core. he had only begun exining and she had already guessed the truth.


    ¡°he¡¯s the most important person to you, right?¡± lingn didn¡¯t find it strange. if the linfeng in the future could fool li shiyu and make him do his bidding, then the linfeng of this world would also have this ability.


    li shiyu slowly calmed his shocked expression. he was originally still somewhat uncertain about the decision his elder brother made to publicize the information. now, he was convinced to do it.


    in reality, he felt guilty for treating lingn like this. now that he could speak about it, the burden in his heart was being lifted as he talked about it.


    ¡°yes, he is the most important person in my life. he is so important that even if i researched a few effective treatment ns, i wouldn¡¯t dare to use them as i wasn¡¯t 100% certain about them.¡± li shiyu looked at lingn intently and continued, ¡°that day, when you suddenly had too great of an adverse reaction, you had even stopped breathing and your heart stopped beating, the nurse went to report to the department head in a panicked state, and the department head requested me to perform surgery on you. back then, i only wanted to make sure whether there was anyone else in this world who had the same condition as him.¡±


    ¡°then, you found me.¡± lingn knew what happened afterwards. li shiyu would definitely not give up such a perfectb rat. he definitely wasted a herculean effort that day to drag her away from death¡¯s door.


    ¡°if i didn¡¯t do what i did, you would have actually died that day,¡± li shiyu said sternly.


    ¡°okay, i understand,¡± replied lingn. otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t have time traveled to the future and find her new family, friends and lover... ugh, lover should get in line. she¡¯ll have one eventually. lingn cheered herself on. she didn¡¯t believe that she wouldn¡¯t be able to get a wife of her own.

 Chapter 1461 - It’s the Taste She Likes!

    <h4>Chapter 1461 It¡°s the Taste She Likes!</h4>


    ¡°to Be Honest, I Really Want to Make You Better...¡± Li Shiyu Sighed. He and His Elder Brother Hadn¡¯t Reached the Point Where They Were Completely Cold-blooded Yet.


    ¡°I¡¯m Already Grateful for Giving Me Five More Years to Live.¡± No Matter Whether This World Was Real or Not, Ling Lan Did Indeed Cherish This Life Very Much From the Very Beginning. No, It Should Be Said That Ling Lan Had Cherished This Life From the Beginning All the Way to the End of It. As Long as She Could Live, She Would Do Anything to Continue Living. Even if She Were to Be a Lab Rat, She Would Still Try Her Best to Live.


    ¡°However, in the End, Some of My Failed Treatment Methods Still Caused Irreversible Damage to Your Body,¡± Li Shiyu Felt Very Guilty for His Actions.


    ¡°but Aren¡¯t I Still Alive?¡± Ling Lan Knew Very Well What Price Had to Be Paid. In Ling Lan¡¯s Mind, Living Was the Most Important and Nothing Else Mattered.


    ¡°You Have Such a Forward Perspective About Life and Death...¡± Li Shiyu Had a Look of Admiration in His Eyes. In the Beginning, He Had Indeed Treated Ling Lan as a Lab Rat. However, as Time Passed, Perhaps He Had Already Thought of Ling Lan as His Friend.


    ¡°However, in Terms of Your Family, Why Can¡¯t You Be the Same.¡± Li Shiyu Sighed Again. Everyone Had Their Own Weak Spots. Ling Lan Was Great in Everything, but Cared About Her Family Too Much That Until Now She Couldn¡¯t Come Out of That Rut.


    ¡°...i Thought I Was Already Progressive Enough With My Family!¡± Ling Lan Was Speechless in Her Mind. She Had Already Let Go of Her Parents and Younger Brother From This Life Completely. Why Did Li Shiyu Have to Say That Last Sentence? Didn¡¯t She Already Show That She Didn¡¯t Care?


    ¡°if You Were Like What You Said, Why Haven¡¯t You Asked Where Your Parents Are? Or What Are They Doing? Or Why Haven¡¯t They Come to See You?¡± Li Shiyu Expected Better From Her.


    ¡°...¡± Did She Need to Remember to Ask About People She Didn¡¯t Care About? Ling Lan Had an Annoyed Look on Her Face and She Had No Clue How to Answer.


    ¡°You Keep Refusing to ept Their Messages. Aren¡¯t You Just Afraid to Know Whether They Love You or Not and Whether They No Longer Want You or Not? You Always Say You Are the One Who Burdened Your Parents and Younger Brother. They Can Live a Better Life if They Give Up on You. Aren¡¯t Those Words Just to Save Face and Cover Up the Reality That You Were Abandoned?¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s Eyes Were Sharp as Ever. This Time, He Won¡¯t Let Ling Lan Escape This Conversation Again.


    Ling Lan¡¯s Eyes Turned Ice Cold and Met Li Shiyu¡¯s Gaze, ¡°Don¡¯t Use Your Own Assumptions to Judge the Thoughts of Others. That¡¯s Really Laughable.¡±


    ¡°is That Not True? Ling Lan, I Admire Your Strength When Faced With Death, but Your Weakness When Faced With Family Makes Me Look Down on You. You Really Are a Coward in This Aspect!¡±


    Bam! Upon Hearing the im, Ling Lan Furiously Smacked the Cab Beside the Bed. After Her Weak m, the Muscles in Her Arm Tore Up, and Soon Her Patient Gown Was Soaked in Blood.


    Luo Chao and Han Xuya Couldn¡¯t Help Gasp at the Sight of a Blood-soaked Ling Lan. However, Seeing the Two of Them Look at Each Other With Killing Intent, They Actually Didn¡¯t Dare to Get Any Closer.


    Ling Lan Closed Her Eyes and Calmed the Anger in Her Heart. Then, She Opened Her Eyes and Said Coldly, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll Give That Chance. Where Are My Parents and Younger Brother? What Are They Doing? Why Haven¡¯t They Come and See Me? Tell Me!¡±


    Li Shiyu Didn¡¯t Say Anything Else and Only Took Out a Cell Phone From His Pocket. He Handed It to Ling Lan. ¡°Everything is on There. The Folder Name is ¡®ling Lan¡¯. Take a Look.¡±


    Ling Lan Grabbed the Phone and Clicked on the Folder Icon. There Was Actually Only One File Folder in There, and It Was Hers.


    She Opened the Folder to See Many Videos and Pictures in It. Ling Lan Randomly Tapped One of the Videos.


    The Video yed and It Showed Her Parents From Her Previous Life. It Was Probably Made a Few Years Ago, Judging by Their Countenance.


    ¡°Lan, Today is Your 22nd Birthday. Unfortunately, We Can¡¯t Go to the Hospital to Celebrate Your Birthday With You. We Can Only Make a Video at Home and Wish You a Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday!¡±


    ¡°Elder Sister, Happy Birthday! Your Little Brother is Cheering You on Here. Get Better Soon and Come Home. We¡¯re All Waiting for You.¡± Her Younger Brother¡¯s Head Suddenly Squeezed Into the Frame From Outside of the Screen. The Way He Smiled Was Somewhat Dumb.


    Afterwards, They Said Some Other Matters About Her Health and the Video Ended.


    Ling Lan Closed the Video Without Any Facial Reactions and Tapped on Another Video.


    ¡°is Everything Prepared?¡± This Time, the Video Wasn¡¯t Self-filmed. They Had a Third Person Doing the Filming. In the Video, Her Mom and Dad Were Squeezed in a Small Kitchen and Were Boiling Something.


    ¡°Mom, Dad, You Always Bring Sister Those Foods. Won¡¯t Sister Get Tired of Them?¡± Her Younger Brother¡¯s Voice Echoed From Outside of the Frame of the Video. It Seemed That Her Younger Brother Was Responsible for Filming This Video.


    ¡°It Can¡¯t Be Helped if She Gets Tired of Them. I Already Asked the Doctor. She Can Only Eat Things With Little to No Taste. Other Foods Aren¡¯t Good for Her Body. However, It¡¯s Fine. I Will Focus on the Timing and the Taste Will Definitely Be the One Lan Likes.¡± Her Mom Carefully Opened a Parchment Paper and Took Out a Few 50-year-old Ginseng. Then, She Carefully ced Them on a Bncing Scale, Afraid That the Precious Ingredient Would Break and Lose All of Its Nutritious Value. Looking at the Weight of the Ginseng on the Scale, She Shook Her Head and Eagerly Took Another Ginseng Out and Cut It in Half. After That, She ced That Cut Piece on the Scale as Well. After Discovering That It Was the Right Amount, She Put Away the Rest Within the Parchment Paper and ced It Back Into a Wooden Cupboard.


    She Then Gingerly Cut Off the Roots of the Ginseng With a Pair of Scissors Before Tossing Them Into the Creamy White Fish Soup That Had Stewed for 12 Hours.


    ¡°This Recipe Must Be Correct With No Mistakes. The Doctor Said These Foods Are Good for Lan, but We Still Must Control the Amount urately.¡± Her Father Was Quite Nervous Standing on the Side. ¡°Otherwise, It Would Cause Harm to Lan.¡±


    Her Mother Nodded, ¡°I¡¯ve Confirmed It Multiple Times. After All, This Deals With Lan¡¯s Body. I Won¡¯t Be Careless.¡±


    ¡°I Hope These Foods Can Be Useful for Lan¡¯s Condition, So Our Trip to the Mountains in the Dongbei Province Wouldn¡¯t Be for Naught.¡± Her Father Looked at the Fish Soup and Hope Filled in His Eyes. He Hoped That the Daughter He Cared So Much for Could Get Better Soon and Return to Him.


    ¡°They Are Definitely Useful!¡± Her Mother¡¯s Expression Was Determined.


    ¡°the Doctor Said We Don¡¯t Need to Chop It Up. Swallowing It Whole Will Have a Better Effect.¡± Her Younger Brother Was Somewhat Confused by His Mother¡¯s Discrete Actions.


    ¡°Your Sister Knew How to Take Care of the Household From When She Was Very Young. If She Knew That We Spent a Large Amount of Money on These Ginseng, She Would Definitely Get Angry at Us and Not Eat Them. Getting Angry Isn¡¯t Good for Her Body.¡± Her Mother Didn¡¯t Want Anything to Affect the Results of Her Daughter¡¯s Treatment Even the Slightest Bit.


    ¡°Alright, When She Gets Better and Comes Back, I Will Show Her These Videos... Let Her Know That Although She Had Been in the Hospital for Years, We¡¯re Still Waiting for Her to Come Home.¡± Her Younger Brother Suddenly Turned the Camera Towards the Small Dining Room in Their Home. The Walls of the Dining Room Were Filled With Picture Frames, and in Every Single One of Them, There Was a Different Picture. There Were Single Photos of Her Mother, Father and Younger Brother, Group Photos of the Three of Them. There Were Also Photos of Their Entire Family From the Hospital. But, on the Walls, She Had the Most Photos There. There Were Photos From When She Was Younger and All the Way Until Now.


    Ling Lan Suddenly Remembered That Her Parents Would Take a Photo of Her Every Time They Came to See Her Before or After Her Birthday.


    ¡°Look, Sis, You Have the Most Things in the House. I¡¯m Already a Bit Jealous.¡± Her Younger Brother Suddenly Got in Front of the Camera and Made a Weird-looking Face to It.


    ¡°Bam!¡± a Large Hand Immediately Smacked Her Younger Brother¡¯s Head.


    ¡°Ouch!¡± Her Younger Brother Yelped.


    ¡°Stop ying Around. Turn Off the Camera. If We¡¯re Late and Make Your Sister Wait, I¡¯ll Skin You Alive,¡± Her Mom Said Loudly.


    ¡°Okay, Okay...¡± as the Voice Trailed, the Video Also Ended.


    Ling Lan Looked at the Cell Phone nkly. It Turns Out, Her Parents From Her Previous Life Knew That She Had Already Gotten Tired of the Food They Gave Her. It Was Just That She Couldn¡¯t Eat Anything Else. They Could Only Make It Constantly for Her Day After Day and Year After Year. However, Every Time, the Taste Wasn¡¯t Bad. It Was Just as Her Mother Had Said, It Was the Taste That She Liked.

 Chapter 1462 - the Real Self

    <h4>Chapter 1462 the Real Self</h4>


    For a Short While, Ling Lan Continued to Tap Open Videos and Watch Them. They Were All Videos of Daily Life Made by Her Younger Brother. Some Had Something to Do With Her and Some Didn¡¯t.


    However, No Matter What It Was, Her Dad, Mom and Younger Brother Would Always Mention Ling Lan in the Videos. They Sincerely Hoped That Ling Lan Could Get Better and Return Home.


    Ling Lan Quickly Scrolled Through Everything. Suddenly, a Filename Caught Her Eye.


    It Was Named ¡°I¡¯m Finally Useful as Well.¡±


    The Videos Before This Were All Named With the Numbers Automatically Given to the File. This Sudden Appearance of This Name Made Ling Lan Open It With Curiosity.


    The First Frame of the Video Was an eptance Letter to a University. Her Younger Brother¡¯s Voice Echoed From Outside of the Camera Frame, ¡°Sis, Do You See It. I Got epted Into University.¡±


    His Long Fingers Turned the Camera Away From the eptance Letter to His Smiling Face Along With His eptance Letter Beside His Head.


    ¡°Medical Department of B University. The Top Ranked Medical Academy in the Entire Country. Isn¡¯t Your Little Brother Amazing? Sis, You Have to Remember to Praise Me Later, Okay?¡±


    Ling Lan Suddenly Remembered That the Year She Left the World Was the Year When Her Younger Brother Was Taking His Entrance Exams.


    She Seemed to Have Never Asked Her Brother What School He Wanted to Get Into. Every Time They Met, He Would Only Call Her ¡®sis¡¯ and Then Sit Quietly on the Side While Listening to Her and Letting Their Parents Speak. Quiet and Scanty With Words Was Ling Lan¡¯s Impression of Her Younger Brother. However, in the Videos, He Was So Lively...


    Ling Lan Had Thought That This Younger Brother of Hers, Who She Would Not See More Than Twice in a Year, Would Have Little to No Feelings for Her. They Had Never Had Any Deep Talks With Each Other. Ling Lan Felt It Was Already Enough That Her Younger Brother Didn¡¯t Look Down on Her for Being a Burden to the Entire Family So She Didn¡¯t Dare to Hope for More. However, Now, Ling Lan Seemed to Not Be So Certain of Her Own Thoughts.


    Her Younger Brother Originally Smiled Brightly, but It Slowly Became Forced. He Put His Head Down and Rubbed His Eyes With His Hands. Then, He Raised His Head as His Expression Returned to the Radiant One From Before, but His Eyes Were Still Red. There Were Still Tears on the Corner of His Eyes That Hadn¡¯t Been Wiped Off.


    ¡°That¡¯s Why, Sis, You Have to Keep Holding on. Wait Seven Years and I Will Make You Better.¡± Her Younger Brother¡¯s Expression Was Stern. It Was as Though Ling Lan Was Sitting on the End of the Video Camera.


    Ling Lan Was Shocked for a Moment. Her Younger Brother From Her Previous Life Was Actually Like Li Shiyu. He Walked the Path of Bing a Doctor for Her.


    ¡°Where Have They Been All This Time?¡± Ling Lan Raised Her Head and Looked at Li Shiyu Coldly.


    ¡°Oh? You Finally Want to Know?¡± Li Shiyu Leaned Against the Wall With His Arms Crossed in Front of His Chest as He Spoke inly.


    Ling Lan Closed Her Eyes to Calm Herself Down. Her Emotions Were Fluctuating Too Much. Usually, When Her Emotions Were Fluctuating Much, She Would Make the Wrong Judgments.


    When She Opened Them Again, Ling Lan¡¯s Eyes Returned to the Calmness She Once Had. She Looked Down Towards the Cell Phone. This Time, She Chose to Look at the Pictures and Not the Videos.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s Expression Changed Slightly. He Didn¡¯t Think That the Intuition of a Girl on the Brink of Death Was This Good. She Managed to Choose the Direction Where She Could Possibly Find the Answer.


    The Pictures Were Mostly Named With Their Dates. Ling Lan Picked a Few by Their Dates. Most of Them Were Family Photos. She Quickly Scrolled Down and Saw ¡®contract Page 1¡¯. She Quickly Tapped It Open.


    It Was a Copy of a Job Contract. It Was a Land Survey Contract Outside of the Country. If It Was What She Thought It Was Supposed to Be, This Was Rted to Her Father. Ling Lan Remembered That Her Father Was a Land Surveyor, and When She Saw Her Father¡¯s Signature on ¡®contract Page 6¡¯, It Solidified Her Thought.


    ¡°Did My Parents Leave the Country While My Younger Brother is Studying at B University?¡± Asked Ling Lan.


    ¡°the Sry Outside of the Country is Rtively High. They Asked Me About Your Condition. I Told Them That Even if It Could Be Cured, the Recovery Afterwards Would Still Cost a Fortune. It Was a Bottomless Pit. They Had Also Thought About It for a Long Time Before Deciding to Go Out of the Country to Earn More Money,¡± Li Shiyu Said Calmly. ¡°as for Your Younger Brother, His First Three Years Were Indeed Spent at B University, but Now He¡¯s Not There... He Was Too Good in His Studies So He Was Sent to Country M to Further His Studies.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s Good.¡± Ling Lan Finally Felt Relieved When He Knew Her Family Was Doing Well Without Her. As for Meeting Them... She Was No Longer the Ling Lan From the Previous Life, So She Wasn¡¯t Tied Down by Her Past Life. She Didn¡¯t Care About It Anymore.


    ¡°That¡¯s Why They Haven¡¯t Been Here to See You. Wait a Few More Years and You¡¯ll Be Able to See Them. Don¡¯t Misunderstand Them Anymore.¡± Li Shiyu¡¯s Voice Echoed Softly.


    Ling Lan¡¯s Eyes Narrowed Instantly. Her Hands Were Clenched So Tightly That the Cell Phone in Her Hand Made a Few Cracking Sounds.


    She Slowly Put Her Head Down and Gazed Upon the Screen of the Cell Phone Once Again. She Chose to Use Time to Organize All the Files. The Most Recent Videos and Pictures Were From Three Years Ago.


    Ling Lan¡¯s Fingers Trembled Slightly as She Tapped on the Latest Video.


    ¡°Sis, Summer Vacation is Over. It¡¯s Time for Me to Return to B University. Not Long After, Mom and Dad Will Also Go to Another Country to Work. We¡¯re All Working Hard, So You Have to Work Hard Too. Sis, Mom and Dad Said You Are Our Family¡¯s Toughest and Most Sensible Child. They Said if I Even Learned 30% From Your Tenacity, I Would Have Been an Army Commander in This Life. I Don¡¯t Know How Much I Could Learn From You Right Now, but I Will Definitely Acquire the Spot to Go to Country M to Fully Develop Myself. When That Happens, I Will Definitely Make a Video to Tell You.¡± Her Younger Brother Held in His Fist While Facing the Camera. It Was to Cheer Her on and Also Possibly to Make His Promise.


    ¡°Lan, We Took Your Brother to the Train Station. We Also Have to Prepare to Go to the Airport. In the Future, We Can Only Come Back on Your Birthday to See You. Your Brother Taught Us How to Video Chat. Even if We¡¯re in Another Country, We¡¯ll Still Be Able to Video Chat With You. Lan, No Matter How Far Apart We Are, You Will Always Be Our Most Treasured and Loved Daughter.¡± Her Mother¡¯s Kind Smiling Face Appeared in the Video. Her Father Was Sitting on the Side. When He Saw the Camera Looking His Way, He Moved His Head Away Slightly. However, After Her Mother Used Her Elbow to Nudge Him, Her Father Could Only Face the Camera. The Serious Look on His Face Slowly Melted Into a Smile That Was Deemed to Be Warm by Him. He Then Nodded His Head at the Camera.


    It Was Just Like How It Was in the Past. Her Father in Her Past Life Never Liked to Show His Feelings. He Wasn¡¯t Like Her Other Father, Ling Xiao, Who Liked to Show His Love for His Daughter and Wouldn¡¯t Let Her Neglect Him. He Would Even Get Jealous of Her Mother if the Two of Them Got Too Close. Although Ling Lan Didn¡¯t Know Whether Ling Xiao Was Jealous of Her Mother or of Her.


    Although They Had Different Ways of Expressing Their Love for Her, the Love Both of Her Fathers Had for Her Were Genuine.


    Ling Lan Had Tears Form in the Corner of Her Eyes as They Slowly Trickled Down Her Face.


    From Quietly Sobbing, to Crying Loudly in the End.


    ¡°Ling Lan, What¡¯s Wrong? Ling Lan, Don¡¯t Cry. Don¡¯t Cry. Crying is Bad for Your Body.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s Loud Crying Stunned Luo Chao and Han Xuya.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s Expression Darkened. He Knew That He Couldn¡¯t Fool Ling Lan.


    ¡°Let Her Cry. Crying Will Be Better for Her,¡± Li Shiyu Stopped Luo Chao and Han Xuya From Trying to Comfort Her.


    Han Xuya and Luo Chao Looked at Li Shiyu. They Didn¡¯t Understand Why Exining the Misunderstanding Would Cause Ling Lan to Be This Sad if It Was a Happy Thing.


    Li Shiyu Sighed. These Three Girls Were Around the Same Age. Compared to the Intelligent Ling Lan, His Two Nurses Were Too Naive.


    ¡°Returning to This Time Period is to Make Me See Who is the One That is Actually Cold and Heartless. It¡¯s You, Ling Lan! Not Your Parents Nor Your Brother, They Were Always There Cheering You on, but You Were Too Selfish to Realize It. From the Beginning and to the Very End, the Most Selfish Person Was You. The Person You Loved the Most Was Also You. You Escaped From the Possible Pain You Could Have Felt and Chose to Love Yourself in the Way That Benefits Yourself the Most. It Was Always You and Not Others. No Matter if It Was the Previous Life or This Life, They Are All the Same. The So-called Dominance, So-called Freedom, Are All to Cater to Your Selfishness. Ling Lan, That Your Real Self.¡±

 Chapter 1463 - Welcome Home Ling Lan!

    <h4>Chapter 1463 Wee Home Ling Lan!</h4>


    Right at that moment, a deep voice flowed into Ling Lan¡¯s ears, ¡°What is Dao?¡±Ling Lan slowly raised her head. At that moment, she was in a world of darkness. Other than the source of light a meter away from her, the rest was all enveloped in darkness. Li Shiyu, Luo Chao, Han Xuya and others were all gone.¡°What is Dao!¡± The deep voice echoed once again but this time, it had a hint of strictness.


    ¡°Freedom of the heart. I am the Dao.¡± Despite having tears in her eyes, Ling Lan¡¯s expression was still determined as ever.


    ¡°Exin.¡±


    ¡°I am myself. It¡¯s good if I¡¯m kind. It¡¯s fine if I¡¯m ugly. It is still me!¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes became progressively sharper as she talked. Her eyes were like a deep well. There was no longer any hesitation in her eyes.


    ¡°You¡¯ve realized it now?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I have realized it,¡± Ling Lan said without hesitation.


    ¡°Where will you go?¡±


    Ling Lan stared intently at the darkness as though she was thinking about something.


    ¡°Where will you go?¡± The deep and strict voice seemed to not want Ling Lan to have time to think as it asked loudly once again.


    ¡°I will go to wherever I¡¯m from.¡± Ling Lan spoke these words and then took one step forward without any hesitation.


    ¡°Lan, we¡¯re back.¡± A familiar voice came from behind her.


    ¡°Sis, where are you going? I¡¯ve finished studying and came back. I will definitely make you better. Our family will be able to be together again.¡±


    In the darkness behind her, the silhouettes of Ling Lan¡¯s parents and younger brother from her previous life actually appeared. They looked towards Ling Lan with looks of panic.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t seem to be phased by their appearance. She lifted up her other foot and continued to walk forward.


    ¡°Lan, are you really going to abandon us? Are we really not worth your love?¡± Her mother from her previous life began to weep loudly. She had a look of despair. It was as though she was abandoned by the person she loved the most, and now had no reason to live.


    ¡°Lan,e back, we¡¯re all waiting for you.¡± Her father, who didn¡¯t always express his emotions, finally spoke up to call for the daughter he loved.


    ¡°Sis, are we just not that important to you? Sis...¡± Her younger brother also shouted out loud. ¡°We worked hard our entire lives for you, but in the end, you still abandoned us. Sis, you¡¯re so cruel. I hate you! Hate you!¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s foot trembled slightly. She raised her head and closed her eyes. In the end, she still took the third step.


    ¡°Lan, where did we go wrong? Lan, Lan, why didn¡¯t exin anything to us? It was like that in the past and it¡¯s the same now? Why, why? Why won¡¯t you speak with me about it,¡± shouted her mother in agony.


    ¡°The me in the past life was perhaps mistaken. The truth I believed may have been a misunderstanding. It made me miss out on so many things and lose so many things. It caused me to lose faith in my family until I reached the end of my days... However, even so, even if I missed out, I can¡¯t go back!¡± Ling Lan instantly opened her eyes. A cold and sharp look appeared in her eyes, ¡°In this world, hard work does indeed help a person get back things that they have missed. However, there is no turning back and dealing with old regrets. There is no longer a chance to restart. If I lose something, then it is lost forever. No matter if it was because of someone else or myself, I can¡¯t go back.¡±


    ¡°You guys are great, but no longer belong to me. My future is in another world. That ce has parents and friends who I love. I need to take responsibility for them.¡± Ling Lan began to smile, but tears silently trickled down her face. ¡°I¡¯ve finally seen through myself. The selfish and cold person that I was, was actually made to be loving and warm by those people. All in all, it is still because I¡¯m too cold-blooded. That¡¯s why I chose them, who treated me better, and chose to abandon you.¡±


    ¡°Mom, dad, and little bro. This is thest time I will call you by these names. It really will be thest time. From now onwards, this world will no longer have the Ling Lan from the previous life. It will only have the Ling Lan from this life. I, Ling Lan, am Ling Xiao¡¯s daughter, Lan Luofeng¡¯s daughter. I am Lingtian Army¡¯smander, the Lawless Lands¡¯ Lord Gen, andstly a god-realm master.¡±


    ¡°My Dao is a selfish Dao. It is an uninhibited Dao. It is a Dao of freedom. I will name it, Dominance Dao!¡±


    As she spoke the sentence, from the beginning of ¡®Dao of freedom¡¯, the voice from her younger self mixed with her current voice. The mixture of her young and mature voices actually caused the entire dimension to shake.


    Finally, the darkness was shattered and light appeared in front of her.


    At the end of the light, Instructor Number One was looking at her with a joyous look on his face.


    ¡°Ling Lan, wee home!¡±


    Instructor Number One¡¯s originally cold and sharp tone, actually felt warm and kind in Ling Lan¡¯s ears.


    Ling Lan smiled. It was a different smile than the bitter smile she had when facing away from her family from her previous life. Her smile now was filled with happiness and warmth, ¡°Yes, instructor, I¡¯vee home.¡±

 Chapter 1464 - The Highest Kill Order!

    <h4>Chapter 1464 The Highest Kill Order!</h4>


    Ling Lan¡¯s smile suddenly dissipated as her entire body quickly moved backwards.Bang! A loud explosion resounded through the entire dimension.The entire ground began to split open, making it look like a scene from the apocalypse. Ling Lan stepped on the dirt and rocks flying in the air with great agility. She was in mid-air as she calmly looked towards Instructor Number One.


    Instructor Number One reached out with one hand and clenched it towards her direction.


    A ck square suddenly appeared in front of Ling Lan. It stretched out infinitely and instantly cut the space between her and Instructor Number One.


    However, it was useless as arge hand easily pierced through the separated space between them. It continued towards Ling Lan with unstoppable momentum before crashing down towards Ling Lan¡¯s head.


    An ice mirror immediately formed above Ling Lan¡¯s head to block thatrge hand.


    Bang! The immense shockwave shook the entire dimension once again. It made Ling Lan feel as if she was in a tornado greater than Category 20.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Therge hand started to m against the ice mirror below it with great force. After going against each other for a short while, the ice mirror finally couldn¡¯t handle anymore battering, it actually began to show a few small cracks.


    Sensing the cracks, Ling Lan raised her head and looked at the ice mirror. Her eyes suddenly turned pitch-ck as her pupils began to swirl like whirlpools. If someone were to look at them closely, they would find Ling Lan¡¯s eyes actually had the symbol of yin and yang spinning within them. If someone couldn¡¯t follow the speed of the spin, they would just see Ling Lan¡¯s being dyed in all ck.


    As her eyes became like that, the ice mirror suddenly stopped cracking and began to repair itself. In the end, it returned to its original appearance with no cracks in it.


    A short while afterwards, therge hand was pushed back and in the end, disappeared in front of Ling Lan.


    Instructor Number One raised his eyebrow slightly after seeing what had happened. He put his hand down. At the same time, Ling Lan had also stopped exerting her powers and the entire dimension that they were in, returned to normal.


    ¡°I was afraid the foundation of your power wouldn¡¯t be steady. Now it seems, it won¡¯t be too big of a problem.¡± Instructor Number One was afraid Ling Lan might further destabilize her foundation by advanding.


    ¡°It was by sheer luck. Luckily, with the dimension¡¯s help, I was able to somewhat fill the gap.¡± The years she spent in the time dimension to train wasn¡¯t all for naught. The time spent there showed the benefits she had reaped when she advanced.


    ¡°However, this type of fight is useless for you now. If you actually wanted to ensure your god-realm status and control it, you still need to go through a battle of life-or-death.¡± Instructor Number One knew very well what Ling Lan¡¯s underlying problem was. Although Ling Lan seemed to have advanced into the god-realm, it was still a pseudo advancement. She needed to face another god-realm opponent in a battle of life-or-death. The pressure of survival would steady her god-realm. If Ling Lan seeded in living through the battle, then she would finally graduate into a real god-realm master.


    However, if she couldn¡¯t find a god-realm master to fight, she would only be able to remain as a pseudo god-realm master for three days. Any longer than that, the energy in her body would slowly deteriorate, and in a week, she would return to her original realm.


    If that were to happen, that meant Ling Lan no longer had any chance to advance into the god-realm in this lifetime.


    There was only one chance, and it was based on whether Ling Lan could grab hold of it or not.


    A battle to the death was something Instructor Number One couldn¡¯t give Ling Lan. Despite being able to pour out his killing intent, he couldn¡¯t bring it to himself to actually think about killing her.


    It was because Instructor Number One didn¡¯t want Ling Lan to actually die. He knew that and Ling Lan knew that too. Those who have reached their level of strength, couldn¡¯t fool each other if they didn¡¯t have the thought of killing each other.


    ¡°It seems you¡¯ve already nned for it,¡± Instructor Number One remembered something.


    Ling Lan nodded, ¡°Once my spirit returns to my body, Lord Qian will immediately be able to sense it. He doesn¡¯t know my real situation, so he will definitelye to deal with me before my god-realm steadies.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re all ready, right? This will be a huge fight...¡± asked Instructor Number One.


    ¡°They are ready from the very beginning,¡± smiled Ling.


    ¡°This battle can only be fought by yourselves. We can¡¯t help you this time. Be careful.¡± sighed Instructor Number One sighed lightly. ¡°Go!¡±


    Instructor Number One moved his right hand and lightly pushed Ling Lan out of the dimension.


    At Ling Lan¡¯s current strength, him being able to push Ling Lan out of his dimension was because Ling Lan didn¡¯t go against his will to be pushed out, otherwise, with Ling Lan¡¯s current strength, although still being somewhat weaker than Instructor Number One, it was impossible for him to easily push her out.


    Ling Lan¡¯s consciousness returned to her body. Her force of presence suddenly expanded greatly. The originally dead swamp suddenly began to shake and tremble.


    Far away from there, in Lord Qian¡¯s pce, Lord Qian was still thinking about how to get back what he lost from Ling Lan. Sensing the tremor, he looked towards the direction Ling Lan was at.


    ¡°Actually seeding in advancing to the god-realm... I can¡¯t allow him to live anymore.¡± Lord Qian¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly as a look of killing intent shed between them.


    Beep! Beep! Beep!


    The other 11 Lords in the Lawless Lands suddenly received the highest kill order that they had ever received since they began the reign of the 13 Lords.


    ¡°We are finally going against Lord Gen!¡± Lord Demon smiled.


    ¡°The Lord said we¡¯re fighting with everything we got,¡± Lord Ghost reminded her from the other end of the video call.


    ¡°I know, I know... I¡¯ve disliked him for a long time already. This time, I can kill as much as my heart desires.¡± Lord Demon¡¯s eyes suddenly turned red and glimmered with an odd light.


    Lord Zhen received the order to and immediately stood up...


    ¡°Is it still not enough?¡± He paced around anxiously, ¡°What should I do?¡±


    He suddenly stomped his feet and pushed down on themunication passcode he hadn¡¯t used in a long time.


    ¡°Why did you call me? Aren¡¯t you afraid of Lord Qian finding out?¡± Elder Father¡¯s face appeared on the other side of the call with a look of displeasure on his face.


    ¡°Lord Qian just gave the highest kill order.¡± Lord Zhen didn¡¯t care about the look on Elder Father¡¯s face and immediately went straight to the point.


    Elder Father immediately frowned. ¡°Lord Gen!¡±


    ¡°Yes, he wants us to wipe everyone of his men out.¡±


    ¡°After so many years, he¡¯s still this ruthless.¡± Elder Father knew him very well.


    ¡°What should we do?¡± Lord Zhen¡¯s expression was somewhat gloomy. They had waited so long for the Federation to send a high level expert toe to stabilize the Lawless Lands. No one believed that the Lawless Lands was once the Lawless Lands the Federation believed it to be. Lord Qian was also no longer the trustworthy Lord Qian that he once was.


    ¡°You adapt based on the situation. I will take people there as well,¡± Elder Father said decisively.


    ¡°Are you crazy? What are you going to do? Are you looking to die?!¡± Lord Zhen shouted angrily with a hint of fear in his eyes.


    ¡°Him and I should have a final face-off,¡± Elder Father said calmly.


    ¡°Mu Jinyi, wake up. Unless your great great uncle Mu Shui-qinges, no one will be able to deal with him.¡± Lord Zhen was about to explode. None of these people made his life easy.


    ¡°You underestimate the Mu family. He didn¡¯t kill me in the past not because he cared about our camaraderie, but because he didn¡¯t want to take the risk.¡± After saying that, he didn¡¯t give Lord Zhen another chance to speak and instantly ended the call.


    ¡°Huh? What!!!¡± Lord Zhen nkly looked at the dark screen. In the next second, he instantly smashed themunicator on the ground. He was furious, ¡°F*cking Mu Jinyi, hanging up on me again! You really like hanging up on me, don¡¯t you? And telling me to adapt based on the situation. How the f*ck am I supposed to adapt... F*ck. My life will be lost because of you.¡±


    After saying that, he vanished after stomping his feet as he began rushing straight towards the battlefield.

 Chapter 1465 - Who Will Be the First to Arrive?

    <h4>Chapter 1465 Who Will Be the First to Arrive?</h4>


    The Normally Rowdy and Lively Rainbow Pce Was Oddly Quiet. No, Not Only Was It Just Today. For the Past While, the Staff From the Rainbow Pce Were Given Vacation. In the Past Few Days, Other Than the People Needed to Keep the Pce Running as Per Normal, There Weren¡¯t Any Other Unnecessary People There Anymore.


    Oddly, the Moon Tonight Was Bright, Brighter Than It Had Ever Been in the Past Month. On That Specific Night, the Rainbow Pce Seemed Even More Quiet. In the Hallway to the Main Hall, a ck-cloaked Man Stood in Front of It.


    Suddenly, a Dark Figure Slowly Rose From the Ground in Front of Him. The Figure Raised His Head and Looked at the Man. The Dark Figure Was Actually Zhao Jun, Who Was Sent Out as a Representative for the Negotiations. He Was Also Wearing a ck Cloak With a Hat on His Head. ¡°Everyone is in Position. Is He Really Going to Make a Move?¡± Zhao Jun Still Felt All of This Came Too Sudden.


    Upon Hearing the Question, ck-cloaked Man Slightly Raised His Head. It Was Indeed the Other Negotiation Representative, Li Lanfeng. ¡°Once Our Commander Advances to the God-realm, He Won¡¯t Wait Until He Steadies His Realm.¡±


    ¡°Will Our Commander Be Able to Advance Into the God-realm? But He¡¯s So Young...¡± Although Zhao Jun Believed Boss Would Eventually Be a God-realm Master, It Was Still Something That Should Happen After a Few Decades. After All, Boss Was Still So Young. If He Advances, He Would Leave His Mark in Human History. There Hadn¡¯t Been Anyone Who Had Been a God-realm Master in Their 30s. The Youngest God-realm Master in History Was Someone Who Advanced Sessfully at the Age of 51...


    ¡°if He¡¯s Made His Decision, He Won¡¯t Fail!¡± if Ling Lan Said He Wanted to Advance Into the God-realm, Li Lanfeng Believed in Him Without the Slightest Hint of Doubt. The ns and Arrangements He Already Made Was Based on the Sess of the Advancement.


    From the Very Beginning, He and Ling Lan Had Never Thought What They Would Do if They Failed!


    Zhao Jun Was Just About to Say Something, but His Expression Went Through a Drastic Change. He and Li Lanfeng Looked Towards the Back of the Pce Almost at the Same Time.


    ¡°the Energy Fluctuation is Terrifying. If He Had Intended to Kill Us, We Wouldn¡¯t Have Any Chance to Resist.¡± Zhao Jun Had a Horrified Look on His Face. No One Liked the Feeling of Fate Being in Someone¡¯s Else¡¯s Hands. Especially, Those People Who Were at Current Strength Would Hate It Even More.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s Expression Wavered for a Moment Before Breaking Into a Happy Smile. ¡°He Seeded!¡±


    ¡°Boss Seeded?!¡± Zhao Jun Also Realized It.


    ¡°the Timing is Really Good.¡± Li Lanfeng Looked Towards the Bright Night Sky. Sometimes, No Matter How Much Someone Tried to n Ahead, They Still Wouldn¡¯t Be Able to Factor in Destiny.


    ¡°Destiny, I Will Believe in You This One Time!¡± Li Lanfeng Said Softly.


    ¡°What?¡± His Voice Was So Soft That Zhao Jun Didn¡¯t Hear What Li Lanfeng Had Said.


    ¡°I Said, I Hope Everyone Won¡¯t Disappoint Our Commander.¡± Li Lanfeng Smiled With Immense Amount of Hope.


    Zhao Jun Tilted His Head to the Side. From the Tiny Bit He Heard Just Now, He Knew Li Lanfeng Wasn¡¯t Telling the Truth. However, if Li Lanfeng Didn¡¯t Want to Tell Him, Then He Wouldn¡¯t Ask for Any Further Detail. This Type of Mutual Understanding Was Something Only Friends Had With One Another.


    ¡°Who Do You Think Will Be the First to Arrive? How About We Bet on It?¡± Zhao Jun Was Bored From Waiting, So He Wanted to y a Game to Pass the Time.


    ¡°Who Are You Betting on? The People Working Under Lord Qian or Lord Qian¡¯s Opponents?¡± Replied Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Wait a Second. I Can Understand if It¡¯s People Working for Lord Qian. What Do You Mean by Lord Qian¡¯s Opponents?¡± Zhao Jun Was Confused. ¡°Are You Saying They Are Our People?¡±


    Li Lanfeng Looked at Him With Disdain. ¡°if It Was Our People, I Would Have Just Said Our People. His Opponents Are Just His Opponents. They Have Nothing to Do With Us.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t He the Head of the 13 Lords?¡± Zhao Jun Was Still Confused.


    ¡°He¡¯s Just the Head of the 13 Lords by Name. You Really Think the 13 Lords is Like Our Lingtian Army That Regards Our Commander as the Highest Commanding Officer?¡± Li Lanfeng Snorted Coldly. ¡°Just Looking From the Names of the Lords, There Are at Least Two Factions. As for Whether or Not These Two Factions Have Their Own ns, That I Don¡¯t Know.¡±


    ¡°Heh, It¡¯s Pretty Frustrating Being Lord Qian.¡± Zhao Jun Pitied Lord Qian.


    ¡°if It Wasn¡¯t Like This, Would the Federation and Caesar Not Worry About the Lawless Lands? Of Course, It Doesn¡¯t Eliminate the Possibility That They Are Working Together to Put on a Show for the Federation and Caesar.¡± Li Lanfeng Couldn¡¯t Help but Think More Deeply About the Situation.


    Zhao Jun Nodded. He Had Forgotten Where All the 13 Lords Had Come From. These People, Who Came From Different Backgrounds With Different Intentions, Might Still Be Guarded Against Each Other Even if They Were to Coborate With Each Other.

 Chapter 1466 - Fallen Into a Trap

    <h4>Chapter 1466 Fallen Into a Trap</h4>


    This was one of the paths that went towards the rainbow pce.The rainbow pce had a main hall with seven secondary hallsplimenting it.The seven secondary halls were named after the seven colors of the rainbow, and all seven of them pointed towards seven different directions. Therefore, there were seven paths that went towards the main hall. If someone wanted to enter the main hall, they must go through one of the seven secondary halls first.


    In the Orange hall, extreme wind and rain suddenly came out of nowhere. This sudden shift of weather didn¡¯t cause amotion inside the Orange hall as there was no one inside it.


    ¡°For no one to guard one of the secondary halls, this is surprising. Lord Gen¡¯s influence is seriously deteriorating,¡± a calm voice suddenly echoed through the orange hall. In the dark and silent hall, a middle-aged man d in a blue gown appeared after he spoke.


    An icy cold voice followed, ¡°The rainbow pce is still massively influenced by the previous Lord Gen. You think too highly of this nobody if you thought he could make them work for him in such a short amount of time.¡±


    A middle-aged man in a white gown appeared beside the blue gowned man.


    The former was Lord Kan, nicknamed Tornado. Thetter was Lord Xun, nicknamed Rainstorm.


    ¡°However, this new Lord Gen seems to be smart enough to predict our movements and send them away from the massacre we are about to start. Thisrge pce actually has no living soul in it. This kill order Lord Qian had sent out was all for nothing,¡± said Lord Kan regrettably.


    ¡°That might not be the case. Lord Gen seemed to not have brought away his own loyal followers. Those people should still be here. It¡¯s just that we don¡¯t know where they¡¯re hiding. How troublesome!¡± Lord Xun had a hint of impatience on his face. He hated these hide and seek games the most.


    ¡°Lord Qian really thought too much of them to have us all move out. Just three of us would be able to tten the entire rainbow pce.¡± Lord Kan felt that Lord Qian exaggerated the need for all of them toe.


    ¡°Did you not sense the energying from the main hall? That person is not easy to deal with.¡± The expression Lord Xun showed when he looked towards the main hall was stern. That terrifying energy wasn¡¯t anything to joke about.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t he Lord Qian¡¯s problem?¡± Lord Kan pouted. ¡°If he¡¯s afraid of someone affecting his status, he should resolve the problem himself.¡±


    ¡°Or perhaps this is a test Lord Qian arranged for us. We should still be careful. Who knows, maybe someone will be the next Mu Jinyi.¡± Lord Xun was undoubtedly more cautious than Lord Kan.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll listen to you. We¡¯ll go straight to the main hall. We should be the fastest ones to get there, right?¡± asked Lord Kan.


    ¡°Theoretically, Lord Zhen and Lord Demon should be the fastest. However, out of these two, thetter is our opponent and won¡¯t obediently arrive on time and I¡¯m not sure what the former is thinking...¡± After saying that, Lord Xun couldn¡¯t help but frown. Lord Demon was originally untrustworthy, but Lord Zhen¡¯s attitude of nothing mattered also annoyed him.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t he in good rtions with Mu Jinyi? That event back in the past. It may have caused him to have a grudge,¡± said Lord Kan while thinking deeply.


    ¡°Who knows. However, Lord Zhen was neverpliant on the outside and disobedient on the inside when it came to orders from Lord Qian. No matter what his attitude is, he¡¯s still on our side.¡± Lord Xun didn¡¯t understand Lord Zhen. ¡°Let¡¯s go. If we arrive toote, they¡¯llugh at us, especially that annoying clown.¡±


    Out of all the lords, the one he hated the most was definitely Lord Card. He didn¡¯t know why Lord Card would always get on his nerves, but the two of them just were never on the same page and hated each other.


    ¡°Okay, I also don¡¯t want to see Lord Demon¡¯s devilish face smiling with satisfaction.¡± Lord Kan also had someone he didn¡¯t like.


    Right as the two of them were preparing to leave, they suddenly stopped in their tracks.


    Lord Xun frowned slightly. He looked towards an empty space in a certain direction and said inly, ¡°Come out!¡±


    The seemingly empty hall actually had people in it. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that they said they were leaving, causing the enemy to have a fluctuation in their mood, they perhaps would have actually been fooled by these people.


    At that moment, behind the pir near the corner of the hall, a person suddenly walked out.


    This neer had an extremely youthful appearance with an honest and shy smile. It was as though he had identally walked into the hall and bothered them by ident.


    Lord Xun couldn¡¯t help but be shocked for a moment after seeing the neer being so young. People, who have reached their current strength, were able to easily look past a disguise. They wouldn¡¯t be fooled by any disguises.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Lord Xun asked.


    ¡°Qi Long!¡± The man standing before them had dumb-looking smile on his face as he scratched his head shyly and answered the question wholeheartedly.


    ¡°Qi Long?¡± Not only Lord Xun was confused, Lord Kan was also confused. In their reports, the loyal underlings the new Lord Gen had brought didn¡¯t have someone named Qi Long. Moreover, with the fact that he could hide his presence from them, this Qi Long must definitely have some skills. This type of person would definitely have been in their reports. The only possibility was that Qi Long had never appeared in front of the public in the past.


    ¡°You work for Lan Xiao?¡± Lord Kan asked a follow up question to confirm Qi Long¡¯s identity.


    Qi Long nodded. At that moment, he hadn¡¯t realized nodding was the same as signing his death warrant. Lord Qian¡¯s order to kill was to take out every one of Lord Gen¡¯s people and not leave even a single one of them alive.


    ¡°You¡¯re honest, but unfortunately, no matter how honest you are, we won¡¯t let you go!¡± Lord Kan had a look of pity in his eyes. He was beginning to like this little boy.


    ¡°You?¡± Lord Xun turned and asked Lord Kan.


    Lord Kan nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯ll do it!¡±


    After saying that, a visible whirlwind suddenly appeared beside him and it went towards Qi Long in an indomitable fashion.


    Just as the whirlwind was about to crush Qi Long into pieces, Qi Long suddenly vanished.


    In the next second, he appeared behind Lord Kan and ruthlessly hit the back of his head.


    ¡°Bang!¡± However, his fist didn¡¯te close to his intended target before getting blocked by a kite shield made out of wind. Upon realizing he wouldn¡¯t get past the shield unless with some more forceful methods, Qi Long quickly bounced backwards beforending firmly after somersaulting in the air.


    Lord Kan turned around slowly. His expression showed that he was not in the best of moods.


    ¡°You were at a disadvantage.¡± Lord Xun understood what happened from just one look.


    ¡°Who knew that the hunter would be the hunted. Pretending to be prey, but was actually a predator all along. I actually fell for your trap,¡± said Lord Kan coldly. An aura of killing intent was visible forming around his eyes.


    When he made his move in the beginning, he was nonchnt about it so he at most used 30 percent of his strength. He didn¡¯t expect Qi Long to have everything nned out. From the beginning, Qi Long was not phased by their appearance, judging from the fact that he put in all of his strength right from the start.


    If the difference between their strength were too vast, no matter how many traps the weaker party uses, it wouldn¡¯t harm Lord Kan. However, as luck would have it, Qi Long¡¯s strength wasn¡¯t too far off from him. He was only weaker by one stage. Luckily, for him, his reaction speed was fast enough to deflect the fist.


    ¡°However, you¡¯ve sessfully angered me...¡± Right as Lord Kan finished, he had already arrived in front of Qi Long. A sword made out of sharp wind appeared in his hand.


    ¡°Break!¡± Qi Long shouted loudly. He pushed out with one hand and the wind sword in Lord Kan¡¯s hand vanished with a ¡®pop¡¯.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Lord Xun was confused by what just happened. However, it didn¡¯t phase him for too long as the next second, a water whip appeared in his palm. He whipped it towards Qi Long, who was fighting with Lord Kan.


    Bang! Then a loud explosion was heard.


    A glimmer of silver light brightened the entire hall. Two long whips shot out and shed against the stones flooring, leaving two whip-like scars.


    At that moment, a beautiful young man with a slim and scrawny physique appeared in the hall.


    Both Lord Kan and Lord Xun knew who this person was . It was Lord Gen¡¯s mostpetent follower, Luo Lang!

 Chapter 1467 - Lord Demon!

    <h4>Chapter 1467 Lord Demon!</h4>


    ¡°Didn¡¯t think you two would be ced to guard this hall,¡± said Lord Xun.¡°Not so much ced. It¡¯s just we drew straws and got this hall,¡± Luo Lang said nonchntly.He didn¡¯t want to be with Qi Long, but unfortunately, the oue from drawing straws always had surprising effects.


    In reality, he and Qi Long being grouped together wasn¡¯t the best set up. Among thepanions who work under Boss, Qi Long, him, Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun were considered to be the strongest patch. Li Yingjie was somewhat weaker than them. Han Jijyun and Lin Zhong-qing were then weaker than Li Yingjie by one stage. It would perhaps have been more logical for him and Qi Long to bring someone weaker with them instead.


    However, at their current stage, drawing straws wasn¡¯t only just a matter of luck. It also had some sort of destiny involved in it.


    Thus, even if he and Qi Long mentioned that they wanted to split up, everyone else rejected the idea.


    Now, it seemed that it was very lucky that they didn¡¯t split apart. No matter who they would have brought with them, it might probably bring about their death.


    The two people standing before them were probably the Tornado, Lord Xun and Rainstorm, Lord Kan from the 13 Lords.


    Although their strength among the 13 Lords weren¡¯t ranked the top, they were still in the middle of the pack. If Qi Long hadn¡¯t managed to fool Lord Kan, causing him to fall for the trap, it was possible that he and Qi Long would have a difficult battle on their hands.


    As expected, this time, it was just as Boss had predicted. The 13 Lords all moved out. Luo Lang couldn¡¯t help but worry about his other friends.


    On the tworge pirs outside the doorway of the Purple hall, there were two people, each leaning beside one pir.


    One of them looked towards the night sky. The starry sky was oddly closer than the one they could see in the Federation. It gave the illusion that he could put his hand out and pick those stars.


    However, the star inside his heart seemed to be moving further and further away from him...


    ¡°Do you ever regret it?¡± suddenly the other person leaning on the other pir.


    ¡°Regret what?¡± the person looking at the starry sky retracted his gaze and asked confusedly.


    ¡°Coming here to find what we had regretted in the past. Unfortunately, it is only our own regrets. He doesn¡¯t even care about us.¡± No matter how dark it was, one can tell that he had a crestfallen expression on his face.


    ¡°That is our own problem, Ningyu!¡±


    They were indeed Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran, who didn¡¯t minding all this way to disguise their identities in order to find an answer they were looking for.


    Tang Ningyu was stunned for a second before feeling cold sweat forming around his body. ¡°Thank you, Chaoran.¡±


    If he hadn¡¯t shouted at him, he might have fallen into a trance, and perhaps he would never fully get out of it unless he sees past it in the future.


    ¡°Ling Lan doesn¡¯t owe us anything. Back then, we all used fake identities. It¡¯s just he fooled us, but we didn¡¯t fool him! In the end, we lost to him!¡± Mu Chaoran was as clear-headed as he could ever be. ¡°The reason we came here was undoubtedly because of him, but the main reason we came was because we want an answer. Isn¡¯t it just for our own selfish reasons that we want topletely erase this underlying issue and in the end to improve ourselves further?¡±


    ¡°All in all, we¡¯re still doing this for ourselves!¡± Mu Chaoran sighed. The way they had met Ling Lan was already a mistake from the very beginning. That was why it was much more difficult for them to acquire that connection than the others.


    Mu Chaoran envied Qi Long, Luo Lang and the others. They met Ling Lan in the right way, got to know each other in the right way and grew up together in the right way. Naturally, they became the friends Ling Lan cared about.


    He also envied Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun and the others, who joined halfway. Working together, fighting together and going through life-or-death situations together. These types of experiences together in the end made themrades who trusted each other.


    However, all of that were things he and Tang Ningyu could never possess. That was why they were only people who could only impact Ling Lan¡¯s life as a passerby.


    ¡°Being with Ling Lan is very difficult.¡± Tang Ningyu sighed.


    ¡°The pressure from being in a life-or-death situation is the best way for someone to grow,¡± replied Mu Chaoran. It was because of this reason that Ling Lan had be strong. Compared to him, the two of them, who are nicknamed prodigies of god and monsters of the generation, really were disappointing in their abilities.


    ¡°Who do you think our opponent will be?¡± asked Tang Ningyu. ¡°Li Lanfeng wished us good luck... That guy¡¯s good luck is never any good.¡±


    ¡°No matter who it is, this will be a battle of life-or-death. Perhaps it¡¯s also the time we will find out the answer to our question,¡± Mu Chaoran¡¯s urge to find out the answer was getting stronger.


    ¡°You also felt it?¡± Tang Ningyu asked with surprise in his voice. He thought he had been the only one with that thought.


    ¡°There is perhaps our downfall, or perhaps our chance to change destiny,¡± said Mu Chaoran.


    ¡°Hahaha! Chance to change destiny? That¡¯s so funny,¡± a charmingughing voice echoed through the Purple hall.


    Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu immediately stood up straight and looked towards the direction of the voice.


    A person wearing a dress appeared in the direction of the voice. Them being extremely familiar with the 13 Lords instantly knew who that person was. ¡°Lord Demon!¡±

 Chapter 1468 - Medusa!

    <h4>Chapter 1468 Medusa!</h4>


    ¡°oh my, i didn¡¯t think i was so well-known by others. this is embarrassing.¡± lord demon covered his mouth with a paper fan in his hand as he made a coquettish expression.


    after hearing that, both tang ningyu and mu chaoran felt goosebumps forming on their arms. out of the 13 lords, only lord demon liked to wear the clothes of the opposite gender. adding to that, he would be caked with heavy make-up to further disguise himself as close to a woman as possible. this habit of his was known by almost all of thewlessnds. if they still didn¡¯t guess who lord demon was, they would actually be idiots.


    ¡°the two of you look quite handsome. i really like that. hmm, what should i do?¡± lord demon¡¯s eyes nced at them with reluctance. it had been a long time since he had encountered such high-quality men, and he was really tempted to have a taste of them. ¡°but lord qian told me to kill everyone. hmph! it is so difficult.¡±


    lord demon¡¯s feverish gaze towards tang ningyu and mu chaoran sent a chill down their spines. they quickly remembered an interesting fact about lord demon; he was someone who frequently toys and ys with men.


    ¡°how about we y for a while?¡± lord demon got into a jubnt mood after seeing some handsome prey. he was initially thinking about joining the raid of the rainbow pce just for some entertainment, but it seemed he found some good entertainment of his own. after he had had his fun and got bored of them, he would immediately kill them and that way, he wouldn¡¯t bete to the real show.


    immediately thinking about the fun he could have, he quickly appeared beside tang ningyu and his long powered finger caressed tang ningyu¡¯s cold and stern face.


    bang!


    before the finger could caress his face any further, tang ningyu immediately pped away the finger before retreating back many steps.


    the coordination between mu chaoran and tang ningyu had been slowly growing ever since they first started working together, and now they were like a well-oiled machine. while tang ningyu was backing away, mu chaoran also backed up as well, staying in sync with tang ningyu.


    lord demon gingerly sniffed his finger and smiled sweetly. ¡°such a fresh smell. it has been so long since i¡¯ve smelled a man with such a nice smell. augh! i love it so much!¡±


    tang ningyu¡¯s veins popped out of his forehead. he was trying his best to push back the puke he could feeling up his stomach in order to maintain hisposure. however, his clenched fists proved that tang ningyu wasn¡¯t as calm as he put himself out to be.


    ¡°i really don¡¯t want to kill you. how about this? if you continue to follow your lord gen, you all will eventually die. so, you should go back with me and i¡¯ll make sure you stay alive.¡± lord demon felt that he should give them an olive branch in their time of need.


    ¡°heh!¡± tang ningyu snorted coldly. ¡°how about you think about how you¡¯re going to be able to leave here alive?¡±


    ¡°huh?¡± lord demon frowned at the unexpected arroganceing from one of his toys. he was enraged that his kindness was rejected by them. ¡°you really don¡¯t know your ce.¡±


    in the next second, a spectral w appeared on top of tang ningyu¡¯s shoulder. with the ws bared, it ruthlessly went towards tang ningyu¡¯s shoulder des.


    bzzz!


    purple lightning shined brightly along with a deafening thunder. tang ningyu¡¯s entire body was enveloped by lightning which in turn destroyed the spectral w that wasing towards him.


    ¡°lightning.¡± lord demon¡¯s eyes narrowed. he quickly disappeared from his position in the next second.


    bang! a fire dragon suddenly emerged from the ground from where he was previously standing.


    ¡°bzzz!¡± lightning and thunder appeared everywhere in the hall. almost at the same time, a purple lightning dragon suddenly came crashing down from the sky and rushed towards a ce where there was no one standing there.


    did the dragon miss?


    suddenly, a human figure appeared out of the location where the lightning dragon had struck. it was indeed lord demon, who had evaded mu chaoran¡¯s fire dragon. the position he chose to evade towards was indeed the position the lightning dragon was rushing towards.


    tang ningyu made the correct judgment in an instant.


    bang! the purple lightning dragon fearlessly bit down on lord demon.


    ¡°ah!¡± a deafening cry was heard.


    the lightning dragon, that was originally shining brightly with purple lightning all over its body, was suddenly devoured by a heap of darkness. in the end, it could no longer give off any purple lightning before gettingpletely dissipated.


    the ground began to tremor. the darkness suddenly split into a part into countless ck threads.


    no, they weren¡¯t threads. they were more like tentacles.


    no, they weren¡¯t tentacles either. it was because at the end of the tentacles, there were slithering snake heads with blood red fork-like tongues.


    ¡°medusa!¡±


    tang ningyu and mu chaoran¡¯s eyes widened slightly. this was something from western mythology. legend said that she was the witch who represented death. they didn¡¯t think they could actually see it for their own eyes...

 Chapter 1469 - Fire of the Blue Lotus

    <h4>Chapter 1469 Fire of the Blue Lotus</h4>


    ¡°Annoying!¡± Arge spectral female head formed behind Lord Demon. The head with snakes for hair slowly opened its eyes.The creepy floating head filled Tang Ningyu And Mu Chaoran¡¯s vision. Although the head was spectral, those slithering snakes she had for hair were real energy entities.¡°You really are taking my kindness for granted. If I don¡¯t show you who¡¯s boss, you won¡¯t know how to show respect.¡± Lord Demon snorted coldly. His right hand immediately went forward in a w shape.


    The snake head behind him also creepily flew forward and pounced towards Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran.


    Tang Ningyu stepped forward and pushed out with one hand.


    Suddenly, deafening thunder echoed throughout the entire hall. A lightning quickly appeared above the ce they stood to protect them.


    Bang!


    The snake heads crashed into the purple lightning and created a deafening sound.


    Therge shockwave caused the ground below them to shake.


    Tang Ningyu¡¯s expression turned red and then white. Blood continuously to trickle down from the corner of his lips.


    Being still at the peak of a titled domain realm formidable warrior and having not reached the imperial realm, he couldn¡¯tpletely defend against the assault of an imperial stage domain expert. The only thing he could rejoice was that Lord Demon never nned to actually kill him so he intentionally lowered his energy output. Otherwise, this attack, even if Tang Ningyu didn¡¯t die, would still severely injure him.


    Right at that moment, Mu Chaoran, who had been standing beside Tang Ningyu, slowly disappeared. In the end, he hadpletely vanished.


    Lord Demon already knew how strong Tang Ningyu was just by testing him once. He now knew Tang Ningyu wasn¡¯t on par with him. Realizing that, Lord Demon snorted coldly and reached out with a clenched hand. Along with the movement of his hand, countless snake heads flew out from behind him and rushed towards Tang Ningyu¡¯s lightning barrier.


    Suddenly, Lord Demon¡¯s expression fell as he quickly retracted his hand. The countless snake heads also rushed back and covered up Lord Demon¡¯s entire body.


    Boom! Purple-ish blue mes suddenly erupted in a three meter diameter from the position where Lord Demon was standing.


    From above, it actually began to slowly look like a fully bloomed purple-ish blue fire lotus flower.


    Inside the fire lotus, Lord Demon slowly opened a crack from the snakes that wrapped around his body and showed his flirtatious and devil-like face.


    ¡°Blue lotus mes!¡± he said with a stunned expression on his face.


    He originally belittled Mu Chaoran. Now, he couldn¡¯t help but be cautious towards him.


    ¡°Luckily, it hadn¡¯t turnedpletely blue. Otherwise, I would have definitely been severely injured if I didn¡¯t prepare for it.¡±


    Blue lotus mes was the ultimate technique the fire element domain masters could execute. The strength of the mes were based on color. Red was considered to be the beginner level of the technique. Purple mes were in between and the ultimate color was blue. The purer the blue color, the stronger the mes.


    Of course, once he couldpletely control blue lotus mes, it would mean that Mu Chaoran would have officially advanced to the imperial realm.


    Lord Demon didn¡¯t expect Mu Chaoran, who kept hiding behind Tang Ningyu looking like an aide, to be actually stronger than Tang Ningyu. He had actually managed to get close to the door to bing an imperial realm expert.


    ¡°That¡¯s odd. You¡¯re stronger than him, so why did you be his deputy?¡± Lord Demon¡¯s gaze fell upon a certain ce in the za and asked softly.


    In Lord Demon¡¯s mind, it should be survival of the fittest. That was why he didn¡¯t understand why Mu Chaoran would yield to Tang Ningyu when he was much stronger.


    ¡°Strong?¡± a mocking tone echoed from within the blue lotus mes. Mu Chaoran¡¯s body slowly appeared out of it.


    ¡°What would that matter?¡± Mu Chaoran smiled coldly. ¡°One¡¯s destined to a status based on their talents and family background.¡±


    Tang Ningyu frowned slightly. It was not sure whether it was because he was in pain from his injuries or it was because of Mu Chaoran¡¯s words.


    After hearing that, a smile instantly formed on Lord Demon¡¯s face. ¡°Oh? That annoying habit of yours feels very familiar...¡±


    ¡°I thought you already knew about our backgrounds.¡± Mu Chaoran sneered.


    ¡°You¡¯re a brave kid.¡± Lord Demon¡¯s smile became even more flirtatious. ¡°But I like that.¡±


    ¡°Brave?¡±

 Chapter 1470 - Regret!

    <h4>Chapter 1470 Regret!</h4>


    ¡°You guys probably came from the same ce as him and maybe even followed the same master.¡± A hint of dread appeared in Lord Demon¡¯s eyes for a moment. Despite them being enemies and that person giving the order to kill them all, this connection they had made him no longer certain of his actions. Would killing them be a problem for him in the future?¡°Him? Who is he?¡± Mu Chaoran thought of something and quickly exchanged a nce with Tang Ningyu.Lord Demon raised his eyebrows and said, ¡°Heh, that¡¯s not something that you need to know.¡±


    Immediately after saying that, the snake swarmed the two of them from all directions. They were like tidal waves. Wave after wave continued to crash down as if they weren¡¯t going to stop until theypletely devoured the two of them.


    Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran almost simultaneously threw out their fists.


    A purplish blue dragon and a purple dragon appeared. The tworge dragons suddenly wrapped around each other and in the end formed into a purple colored fire and lightning dragon. It ruthlessly went towards the tidal wave like a King Cobra fighting through an ocean of snakes.


    ¡°In your dreams!¡± Lord Demon snorted coldly. The tidal waves grouped together into one big wave before crashing down.


    Boom! The two amalgamation of energies finally ruthlessly smashed into one another.


    Unsurprisingly, Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu flew backwards and smashed against the pirs of the hall. The impact caused the pir to fall over. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the foundation of the hall was secure, it was possible that the roof might have crashed down on them.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± The two of them had blood sprayed out from their mouths almost at the same time. Just that one attack, because of the severe gap in strength, already caused them to be severely injured.


    ¡°You two are indeed very good, but that¡¯s it. Compared to that person, it¡¯s like night and day,¡± said Lord Demon as his right hand grabbed the purple colored lightning and fire dragon.


    Right after speaking, he pinched his fingers with great force. The dragon cried out in pain and vanished in an instant.


    ¡°Now, it¡¯s time to deal with you two.¡± Lord Demon frowned. He slowly walked towards Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu. Having been severely injured, they couldn¡¯t move a single muscle of their body. They could only watch as the grim reaper slowly approached them to reap their lives.


    In the Blue hall, two people were sitting on the steps in front of the hall. The two of them were 50 centimeters apart and each sat in a corner. They didn¡¯t bother each other and just sat there silently. It was as though they wereparing to see who could be silent for longer.


    ¡°Hey, Lin Zhong-qing.¡± Finally, one of them couldn¡¯t handle the depressing atmosphere anymore. He frustratingly called out to the person, who could stay silent for longer, beside him.


    Lin Zhong-qing turned around with a nk expression on his face. ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll die here?¡± Li Yingjie put his hand behind his back and looked towards the starry sky. Each one of them were likerge bright lights which made the surroundings clear in his eyes.


    Li Yingjie was quite proud in the past and thought very highly of himself. However, after being with Ling Lan for so long, he also knew well of the difference between him and Ling Lan. He also knew very well that the enemies who wereing tonight weren¡¯t ones they could fight against.


    Perhaps, once the fight begins, it would mean that they had reached the end of their days.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with dying? We should have died already,¡± Lin Zhong-qing thought it through already for some reason.


    If Boss didn¡¯t force himself to activate the god-ss mecha and hold off the enemy forces, they would have died on Haijiao before reinforcements had arrived. They were given a second chance to live by Boss. It was already good enough that they were able to live this many extra years.


    ¡°But I still want to live. I still have so many things I haven¡¯t done yet.¡± Li Yingjie had a burning desire to live in his eyes. He didn¡¯t want to give up without living life to the fullest.


    This Li Yingjie, who was now full of life, actually improved the impression Lin Zhong-qing had about him.


    Lin Zhong-qing was silent for a moment then he asked, ¡°Boss told you to go back. Why did you go back?¡±


    ¡°You guys all stayed here. If I go back, wouldn¡¯t I be mocked for being a coward?¡± Li Yingjie red at Lin Zhong-qing. He wasn¡¯t going to make them look down on him. He especially didn¡¯t want Lin Zhong-qing, who he had looked down on, to look down on him.


    ¡°We won¡¯t do that. You have family, responsibilities and burdens to take care of. From the very beginning, we are not on the same path.¡± Lin Zhong-qing felt it was odd that Li Yingjie kept thinking he was part of their group. From the start, he was the one that randomly joined in. If it wasn¡¯t for Boss¡¯s extremely heaven-defying strength making Li Yingjie give in, perhaps they would have broken off their ties a long time ago.


    ¡°What do you mean not on the same path? When was I not on the same path?¡± said Li Yingjie angrily. This kind of attitude annoyed him greatky. It made it seem as though he was never a member of their group, as though he had never been considered a peer by Lin Zhong-qing. This pure disregard of his existence made him extremely angry and at the same time invoked a feeling of failure.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t your dream to inherit the Li family and be the family head?¡± Lin Zhong-qing still remembered Li Yingjie¡¯s grand ambition.


    ¡°Bing the family head and being on the same path as you guys have zero connections, alright?¡± Li Yingjie, of course, hadn¡¯t given up on his goals. However, that didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t part of their group.


    Lin Zhong-qing thought for a moment and felt Li Yingjie wasn¡¯t wrong. ¡°Alright, but shouldn¡¯t you try your best to stay alive to go back to inherit the family and be the family head?¡±


    If that was the case, then why stay here and give up his life? Lin Zhong-qing didn¡¯t understand.


    In the past, Lin Zhong-qing felt that he knew Li Yingjie very well. However, in the past few years, he felt that the image he had of Li Yingie in mind was straying further from reality. Moreover, there were too many people above Li Yingjie if he stayed in Lingtian. Being under Boss¡¯smand, he acquired many military merits and climbed the ranks like a rocket. However, no matter how fast he did it, there were always a few people who climbed even faster than him. That made Li Yingjie seem not that outstanding whenpared to those people.


    If he had gone to an army arranged by the Li family, with Li Yingjie¡¯s current ability, he would be able to naturally advance to the rank of major general with the Li family¡¯s help. Maybe, if acquired just some more military merits, it might even be possible for him to be amander of an army. This begged the question; why did he intentionally get involved with Lingtian¡¯s messy situation if he had another safer and peaceful path to choose from?


    ¡°Actually, after I refused Boss¡¯s order for me to leave, I have been asking myself why I refused him.¡± Li Yingjie smiled bitterly. He was very well aware that he and those in Lingtian had an unbreakable barrier between them. Despite them being nice to him and them treating him like brothers, it was still just ¡®like¡¯ brothers and not actually brothers. Li Yingjie was a perceptive person so after so many years, how could he not feel the difference between the two.


    If they didn¡¯t treat him as a brother sincerely, it would have been logical for him to leave them at that moment.


    Li Yingjie knew even if he left, they wouldn¡¯t me him. However, at the eve of that major decision, he decided he didn¡¯t want to leave.


    ¡°Did you find the answer?¡± Lin Zhong-qing was a bit curious.


    ¡°Not yet.¡± Li Yingjie didn¡¯t know where to start. He just knew that he didn¡¯t want to just leave like that. If these people died, this regretful feeling would follow him for his entire life and haunt him for the rest of his life.


    Li Yingjie was a clear-cut person. If he didn¡¯t want to leave, he chose to stay.


    ¡°Do you regret it?¡± asked Lin Zhong-qing.


    ¡°Regret?¡± Li Yingjie said with a self-mocking smile on his face. ¡°I don¡¯t regret my decision now. I just regret...¡±


    Suddenly, he stopped speaking. Lin Zhong-qing looked at him confusedly. He didn¡¯t understand why he had stopped talking.


    ¡®If it was possible, I want to go back to when we first met and portray myself as a good person so I could be your friend. I wish I was not a massive bully towards you, so much so that I made good people like you hate my existence.¡¯


    ¡®You don¡¯t know how much I regret that...¡¯

 Chapter 1471 - Lord Dui

    <h4>Chapter 1471 Lord Dui</h4>


    ¡°interesting...¡± a voice suddenly rang in their ears.


    lin zhong-qing and li yingjie immediately sprung up from their rxed position and looked around nervously.


    they actually didn¡¯t sense an enemy had appeared near them. if the enemy had attacked them without warning, perhaps the two of them would have been two corpses by now.


    the two of them felt a bitter taste in their mouths as they looked at each other with resignation.


    li yingjie suddenly held lin zhong-qing¡¯s hand and pinched it softly. that pinch was to tell lin zhong-qing that he was going to fight until the bitter end with him. at the same time, that pinch was also done to give them some courage to fight this seemingly unbeatable enemy.


    receiving the pinch, lin zhong-qing pinched back. he never expected the person standing beside him when he faced the grim reaper was the annoying li yingjie.


    moreover, li yingie gave him strength and courage near their impending doom. this was whatrades were like. perhaps, after these years of being together, he had already acknowledged li yingjie as arade and a brother. it was just that he hadn¡¯t realized it yet.


    ¡°you guys have a great rtionship.¡± after these joyful words were spoken, a silhouette slowly appeared from the steps at the end of the stairs.


    the two of them stared towards that direction with a nervous yet cautious look in their eyes.


    ¡°don¡¯t be nervous. i¡¯m just here to ask for directions.¡± the silhouette walked up slowly. in just a few words, he had already arrived roughly 10 meters in front of them


    the owner of the silhouette was around 30 to 40-year-old man with a mild-mannered aura. he was smilingpletely free of any worry, as though he was someone walking around leisurely in a park.


    lin zhong-qing quickly went through the details of the 13 lords he had memorized in his head and he instantly found the details that matched this man¡¯s looks.


    ¡°lord dui!¡± lin zhong-qing said sternly.


    ¡°not bad, little friend.¡± lord duiughed with a slight look of admiration in his eyes for a moment.


    ¡°hmph!¡± li yingjie snorted coldly and walked forward to stand in front of lin zhong-qing, blocking off lord dui¡¯s line of sight from seeing lin zhong-qing.


    ¡°oh, a feisty one!¡± lord dui looked at the annoyed little kid with obvious interest. seeing thepletely useless show of bravery and camaraderie, he immediatelyughed out loud.


    from the position they took to face off against him, he quickly realized the kid who stood in front of his friend was the stronger one out of the two. however, no matter how strong he was, in his eyes, he was still an ant waiting to be stomped.


    li yingjie stared back at him with seemingly no fear in his eyes. lord dui¡¯s way of looking down on them as though they were children and weaklings really irked him.


    lin zhong-qing immediately felt the pressure on his body being lifted just by li yingjie blocking lord dui¡¯s line of sight. those who reached the imperial realm could actually kill with just a look. when lord dui was looking at him, it was as though he was facing against a humongous heaven slicing axe. that single gaze was about to chop down and slice him in half like a piece of log.


    without lord dui¡¯s pressure, lin zhong-qing¡¯s brain quickly turned its gears. although most of the thinking in lingtian was done by linfeng and han jijyun, lin zhong-qing still controlled the entire lingtian army¡¯s logistics division. and as such, his intelligence was not any worse than the other two.


    the fact that lord dui didn¡¯t make a move on them when they hadn¡¯t sensed him really confused him. although the possibility that he was so confident that he didn¡¯t need to ambush them couldn¡¯t be eliminated, the attitude he had afterwards assured lin zhong-qing that lord dui had no intentions of killing them.


    ¡°why?¡± lin zhong-qing stepped forward and stood side by side with li yingjie. he asked with a side tilted head.


    li yingjie sent a worried nce at lin zhong-qing. he wanted to tell lin zhong-qing to move back, but in the end, he didn¡¯t make a sound.


    ¡°hahaha, very good, very good. lord qian¡¯s kill order still has its worth it seems,¡± lord dui suddenlyughed maniacally towards the sky.


    lin zhong-qing and li yingjie werepletely confused by lord dui¡¯s behaviour. wasn¡¯t this person here to kill them? why did he justugh?


    ¡°what is that guy trying to do?¡± on the roof of the blue hall, a silhouette suddenly appeared and looked down at the scene below him with a frown on his face.


    before he could think about it, he looked towards the rainbow pce with a stern look on his face.


    ¡°lord kun is actually there... who else is there? they¡¯re actually having such an intense fight with lord kun.¡±

 Chapter 1472 - Lord Card!

    <h4>Chapter 1472 Lord Card!</h4>


    In the Yellow hall, Han Jijyun and Li Shiyu looked towards the door with visible nervousness.¡°Why are you shaking?¡± said Han Jijyun smugly.¡°Aren¡¯t you pissing in your pants as well?¡± Li Shiyu snorted coldly.


    Han Jijyun chuckled coldly, ¡°Not going to pretend anymore, Lingtian¡¯s most handsome and cool doctor?¡±


    ¡°Heh, the strategist who never wastes his words is actually such a chatterbox?¡± Li Shiyu rebutted without any care for Han Jijyun¡¯s feelings.


    After bantering to calm their nerves for a while, the bantering suddenly stopped and the entire hall returned to its initial silent state.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I was out of line.¡± After a few minutes of awkward and heavy silence, Han Jijyun finally spoke up.


    ¡°I was also nervous.¡± Li Shiyu let out a heavy breath of air, as though he was trying to push out the pressure in his mind.


    ¡°I finally understand where the source of my calmness is from. I didn¡¯t expect I would find out what kind of person I am here. Sigh, I really can¡¯tpare to Li Lanfeng.¡± Han Jijyun¡¯s crestfallen expression portrayed how sad he was. After chasing him for so long, Han Jijyun had only realized his true self now. In reality, he was just a useless person. In the end, he could only guard the hall that was furthest away from the main pce. He didn¡¯t have the strength nor the mentality to guard one of the three secondary halls that were nearest to the main pce.


    Li Shiyu frowned. ¡°What are you moping on about?¡±


    ¡°Perhaps I¡¯m just an extra in this grand scene. Perhaps I was insignificant from the very beginning.¡± Sadness in Han Jijyun¡¯s eyes became even more prominent. ¡°It would have been better if it was me who died and not Xie Yi. If Xie Yi was here, perhaps he would be much more of a help to Qi Long and the others, not like the useless and scared me.¡±


    Han Jijyun seemed to have immersed himself in his own sad thoughts. The depressing aura he was giving off was bing thicker and thicker.


    ¡°Han Jijyun, Han Jijyun¡­¡± Li Shiyu cried out angrily. However, no matter how loud his voice was, it couldn¡¯t reach Han Jijyun, who was immersed in his own thoughts.


    Li Shiyu made a decision at that moment. He flicked his wrist and a miniature vial of tranquilizer appeared in his hand. Right as he was about to inject it into Han Jijyun, he was suddenly frozen in ce.


    ¡°Oh, you shouldn¡¯t stop such a fun game. Be a good boy, okay?¡± A hoarse voice rang beside Li Shiyu¡¯s ears. A gloved hand suddenly appeared in front of him and slowly took away the syringe in Li Shiyu¡¯s hand.


    Li Shiyu tried his best to turn his head to see a man dressed like a clown, and that clown was happily tossing his syringe away.


    ¡°This is because of you,¡± Li Shiyu said coldly.


    No matter how weak Han Jijyun¡¯s mentality was, after the many years Boss had polished him, the amount of pressure he could endure was definitely not something that should be underestimated. He wouldn¡¯t fall into a ditch of negative emotions so easily. Even if he did, he would easily be able to get himself out of that rut.


    ¡°Clever child.¡± The clown had a wide smile on his face.


    ¡°Lord Card!¡± Li Shiyu knew who he was when he firstid eyes on him. ¡°The rumored demon who liked to y with the minds of his victims.¡±


    ¡°Looks like you know me very well.¡± Lord Card smiled deviously.


    ¡°Not very well, but since I came to the Lawless Lands, I should have basic knowledge of the 13 Lords,¡± said Li Shiyu calmly. Now that he knew it was Lord Card, no matter how much he worried for Han Jijyun, it would bepletely useless so he could only stop worrying and focuspletely on dealing with Lord Card.


    Out of the 13 Lords, if they were to face the other lords, at most they would lose their lives and reincarnate into their next lives. Only Lord Card would make his victims live in agony and continue tormenting them after they had died.


    ¡°You¡¯re quite the interesting one. You actually don¡¯t have too many negative emotions,¡± Lord Card¡¯s curiosity was overflowing. His domain gave him the ability to control the negative emotions of humans. As long as it was a human, they would always have negative emotions in their mind. Once that person¡¯s ws were grasped by him, he would go straight for their minds and drive them to live in eternal agony.

 Chapter 1473 - A Controlled Life!

    <h4>Chapter 1473 A Controlled Life!</h4>


    Li Shiyu looked at Lord Card with a chilling gaze. He knew clearly that he had his own problems with dealing with his negative emotions. How could he believe his words?¡°Interesting, very interesting.¡± Lord Card turned his wrist and another paper card appeared in between his index and middle finger.Vignce started to be obvious in Li Shiyu¡¯s gaze.


    Suddenly, Lord Card flicked his wrist lightly and the card flew out of his fingers. It flew towards Li Shiyu at lightning speed.


    Li Shiyu moved his body to dodge but he realized that this piece of paper card kept following behind him. No matter where he moved, he wasn¡¯t able to get rid of it.


    At a single instant, the paper card was seemingly given a speed boost as it instantly flew past him and hovered right in front of him.


    With it being in front of him, LI Shiyu immediately stopped in his tracks and stared vigntly at the paper card that was unfolding itself, and slowly a figure of a woman, who was smiling amiably, appeared in front of Li Shiyu.


    At the sight of the women, Li Shiyu¡¯s eyes widened like the moon in the dark sky. It was because that woman was his gentle and beautiful mother.


    ¡°Shiyu, it¡¯s time for dinner.¡± Suddenly, his vision went ck before it was soon filled with a surrounding he was all so familiar with. He was back in his childhood home, in the dining room with his mother in the kitchen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to eat yet. I haven¡¯t finished my research.¡± As soon as the child¡¯s voice was heard, a young child sitting on the dining table stuffing himself in a mountain of books entered his vision.


    Li Shiyu saw a stubborn young version of himself lowering his head into piles and piles of research reports on the dinner table. He was so focused in reading the reports that he didn¡¯t notice the disappointment in his mother¡¯s eyes when he rejected her.


    ¡°Don¡¯t starve yourself, Shiyu. Eat properly. You can read all you want after you eat.¡± A gentle hand covered the book Little Shiyu wanted to continue reading.


    ¡°Mom, don¡¯t disturb me, okay? I¡¯ll eat when I¡¯m hungry.¡± Little Shiyu couldn¡¯t understand his mother¡¯s love so he looked impatient and irritated when he realized his mother was actively disturbing his reading.


    ¡°Sigh~¡± The mother sighed softly. There were signs of disapproval in her eyes.


    ¡°Shiyu, your body is your greatest asset. Without a healthy body, you can never aplish the wish you pursue. Do you want to be like Mn?¡±


    ¡°Mom, stop talking!¡± Upon hearing his eldest cousin brother¡¯s name, Little Shiyu immediately red up and mmed the table. To him, His eldest cousin brother¡¯s health had always been a thorn in his heart. He didn¡¯t expect his beloved mother to use it as a negative example.


    Little Shiyu couldn¡¯t control the boiling rage and overflowing disappointment that was about to explode from him so instead ofshing out at his mother, he pushed his mother away and ran out the dining room.


    After almost hitting a countertop, Li Shiyu¡¯s mother was visibly shocked. She didn¡¯t expect her son, whom she loved dearly, to push her one day because of an outsider.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that in your heart, I can¡¯t even bepared to an outsider... Shiyu, Shiyu...¡± His motherined in a low voice. She couldn¡¯t hold her tears back as they fell down her face.


    ¡°Tsk, tsk, tsk. You hurt your mother¡¯s heart for your eldest cousin brother whom you¡¯ve only met a couple of times. You are quite difficult to understand.¡± Lord Card¡¯s voice rang beside Li Shiyu¡¯s ears.


    Li Shiyu looked at the scene in front of him in a daze. Very soon, the image changed to his eldest cousin brother.


    ¡°Cough, cough, what is it? Shiyu?¡± His eldest cousin brother¡¯s health had always been very poor. But, he still struggled to sit up to talk to him.


    Actually, his elder brother wasn¡¯t much older than him. However, when Li Shiyu saw him, he felt reassured. He felt as though he was talking to an elder brother which he never had, one that was filled with knowledge and was ever so kind to him.


    ¡°Why does everyone think you won¡¯t get better?¡± When he thought of his mother¡¯s words, Li Shiyu felt his heart hurting. He felt that in the eyes of everyone in the Li family, his elder brother was practically dead.


    ¡°It is because I¡¯m very sick, so sick that it is impossible to cure. Grandfather had already found the best, best doctors but they concluded that there was no cure.¡± A gentle hand touched his head. His elder brother rubbed his head lightly, calming the anger and agitation in his heart.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe it. There must be better doctors. Grandfather just hasn¡¯t found them yet.¡± Li Shiyu refused to ept that answer.


    ¡°Yes. Everyone works hard. Cough, cough... I will work hard too.¡± His elder brother couldn¡¯t even finish a sentence properly. He had to use all his energy to keep his coughing down to a minimum. Thus, his sentences were simple and short. But, even so, he still gave Li Shiyu his most gentle smile.


    ¡°Brother!¡± Li Shiyu felt deeply in pain as he saw the amount of suffering his brother had to go through. How could he not notice the tight fist that was trembling slightly under the nket? It was obviously a sign that he was bearing with extreme pain. His brother never wanted to let him worry so he always appeared calm and indifferent in front of him.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. Brother will work hard and live. I will wait... for you... to find a doctor that... can cure me.¡± His elder brother smiled. ¡°I have confidence. Without grandfather, I still... have you.¡±


    Li Shiyu¡¯s tears dropped down uncontrobly. His elder brother clearly knew his own situation well. Besides grandfather, everyone from the Li family had given up on him. But, just like what his elder brother said, even if his grandfather abandoned him one day, he still had him, his little brother. His little brother would never let him suffer alone.


    ¡°Brother, don¡¯t worry. You still have me.¡± Li Shiyu grabbed his elder brother¡¯s cold hand.


    At that time, Li Shiyu didn¡¯t know what he could do. However, the seed topletely cure his elder brother was already nted in his heart.


    ¡°Tsk, tsk, tsk. You are living entirely for this person?¡± Lord Card said with pity. ¡°Your life is entirely manipted by him. Your intention was never your own. You live a sad life.¡±


    ¡°Sad? Everyone has their own purpose. My purpose is to give him a healthy body.¡± Li Shiyu wasn¡¯t affected by Lord Card¡¯s words.


    ¡°How childish. Do you really think that it¡¯s your own choice?¡± Lord Card smiled. ¡°Do you want to know the truth?¡±


    Li Shiyu frowned. He turned and looked at Lord Card who was obviously waiting for a good show.


    ¡°I can sense an energy in your body, and that energy doesn¡¯t belong to you. It¡¯s an invasive energy that has been nted by someone else. It wasn¡¯t done recently too. It has umted over many years...¡± Another paper card appeared in Lord Card¡¯s hand. The smile on his face got even wider. ¡°It all goes back to your childhood.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Li Shiyu asked coldly.


    ¡°It means that the choices you think you made yourself are actually subtly influenced by this energy in your body.¡± Lord Card sniggered. ¡°It controlled your entire life.¡±


    ¡°So what?¡± Li Shiyu scoffed. If Lord Card wanted to attack him psychologically using this, he was underestimating him.


    ¡°Nothing. I just want to watch a good show.¡± Lord Card wasn¡¯t bothered. He flicked his fingers lightly and a card flew out. It flipped open in front of Li Shiyu¡¯s eyes.


    It was a king card. The king¡¯s face was stern but Li Shiyu saw Li Mn¡¯s face on the card. He was wearing a gentle smile.


    ¡°Shiyu, you¡¯re here.¡± It was still the same face with the same gentle smile. His elder brother stretched his hand out from the card and held his hand.


    But, this time, he saw a ck glob of energy on his elder brother¡¯s hand which slowly flowed into his body through his hand.


    ¡°How¡¯s school?¡± The smile on his elder brother¡¯s face seemed a little ring.


    Little Shiyu told his elder brother about what he had been doing recently enthusiastically. While listening, his elder brother nodded profusely. He looked to be in pain so he was frowning slightly. But, for some reason, Li Shiyu detected a sense of impatience from his elder brother. Little Shiyu, who was talking excitedly, didn¡¯t notice anything.


    ¡°Brother, I¡¯ll definitely find a way to cure you.¡± Little Shiyu seemed to sense that his elder brother was ufortable so he said this sentence with a serious face.


    ¡°Yes. I will pass myself to you.¡± His elder brother smiled brightly. However, this smile was piercing to the eye. Li Shiyu noticed that his elder brother looked pleased with himself.


    ¡°See? He groomed you meticulously. Did you really want to be a military doctor from the start?¡± Lord Card¡¯s voice rang beside Li Shiyu¡¯s ears again, and the question he asked struck straight into his heart.

 Chapter 1474 - Fake Is Real!

    <h4>Chapter 1474 Fake Is Real!</h4>


    li shiyu couldn¡¯t help but bite his lips in exasperation. his expression was a little dark.


    ¡°without any intervention, you could have had an even brighter future. but, you were manipted by the very person you hold so dear to walk on a path that you shouldn¡¯t have walked on. yet, you still believed that it was your own decision...¡± lord card¡¯s sigh sounded beside li shiyu¡¯s ears. ¡°you¡¯re really a pitiful person.¡±


    ¡®me? a pitiful person?¡¯ li shiyu¡¯s gaze turned absent-minded. the warmth he received when he was young was just a fraud?


    at this moment, the image changed to the moment when he went to find his elder brother on azure...


    ¡°is anyone here?¡± han jijyun had been running in this endless tunnel for a long time. he stopped in his tracks. his wild emotions had all been in a wreck after running so furiously but he managed to calm down now.


    ¡°is this the devil of my heart?¡± han jijyun remembered what boss warned him in the past. you could never guard against the devil in your heart. no one knew when it would appear or what would cause it to appear. however, once the devil of your heart explodes, you would enter a predicament that you locked yourself in.


    unless you defeat the devil of your heart, you would forever be stuck in a trance. you might turn into an idiot, a lunatic, or even die in an explosion because you were unable to control the energy in your body.


    the devil in one¡¯s heart was extremely frightening. people who cultivated would always try their best to prevent themselves from developing a devil of their hearts. however, the devil of their heart could also be an opportunity for the right people. it was the greatest danger but at the same time, it was the greatest opportunity a cultivator could get.


    han jijyun remembered the scene when he was controlled by the devil of his heart. he whispered to himself, ¡°i didn¡¯t expect the devil of my heart to be linfeng.¡±


    this revtion was surprising but yet reasonable. before he entered the military academy, he had always thought that he was the only strategist of boss¡¯s team. to be the best he could be, he studied very hard for his role, and no one around him couldpete with him for his role. so, naturally, when he was at the scout academy, he grew to be confident and proud of himself.


    but, after entering the military academy, when linfeng appeared, han jijyun felt a sense of loss. at the start, he didn¡¯t mind about him but as he interacted with linfeng more and started to understand his mind better, he thought that if god had already made someone so excellent, why did he make someone even better?


    linfeng would do anything to gain victory, even resorting to more unscrupulous means. han jijyun was full of respect for his resolve but also filled with contempt. this contradictory feeling was slowly chipping away his idea of a great strategist. in reality, he looked down on linfeng when he could not think of more upright means to resolve the problems he faced, but when he constantly outperformed him time and time again through those devilish means, he couldn¡¯t deny his existence anymore. in the depths of his heart, he felt that linfeng might be a better strategist than him. it was a feeling he couldn¡¯t ignore.


    this was the first time linfeng made han jijyun felt defeated. the second time he felt defeated was when they were on haijiao. in the face of a life-or-death situation, linfeng was much more decisive and ruthless than him. as for him, he hesitated and cowered in fear during that time.


    two clear defeats made him feel useless. although he managed to adjust his emotions with the help of boss and his brothers and managed to find his own position, in the depths of his heart, linfeng was still a thorn that couldn¡¯t be taken out of his heart. that person constantly reminded him of his failures.


    han jijyunughed at himself mockingly. ¡°i actually felt that that should already be the case. it looks like my heart is more honest than me.¡±


    it was time to destroy the devil of his heart.


    when han jijyun made that decision in his heart, his gaze turned cold. at this moment, he became a confident person who had no weaknesses.


    suddenly, the tunnel copsed around him. the dark corridor turned bright in an instant.


    han jijyun was very calm at this sudden change. he raised his head and looked at his surroundings to realise that he was now in a huge hall.


    his vision was blurry. han jijyun could only faintly see that there was someone sitting on a high throne far away looking down on him.


    ¡°you¡¯re here?¡± the person on the throne had a familiar voice. following the sound, the blurry vision cleared up and the face of the person appeared in front of han jijyun.


    ¡°linfeng!¡± han jijyun said firmly.


    even if he knew that the person in front of him was fake, he knew that with the devil of his heart around, fake is real.

 Chapter 1475 - Irresolute And Hesitan

    <h4>Chapter 1475 Irresolute And Hesitan</h4>


    ¡°i¡¯ve been waiting for you for a long time.¡± linfeng, who was the devil of han jijyun¡¯s heart, seemed to be waiting for this day toe.


    ¡°that¡¯s why i¡¯m here now,¡± han jijyun replied calmly.


    ¡°do you have the confidence to beat me now?¡± linfeng smiled slightly. it was a gentle smile but to han jijyun, it was ring.


    ¡°actually, you¡¯re not that strong!¡± han jijyun emphasised every single word he said.


    ¡°actually, you¡¯re not as confident as you think.¡± linfeng was calm.


    han jijyun¡¯s expression changed slightly. he suddenly realised that the linfeng produced by the devil of his heart understood him better than the real linfeng.


    ¡°is that weird?¡± linfeng smiled.


    han jijyun looked at him silently. he didn¡¯t want to be led on by linfeng¡¯s words.


    ¡°you¡¯ve forgotten...¡± linfeng suddenly disappeared in front of him. the next second, he was already behind han jijyun. linfeng¡¯s pearlyughter pierced his ears. ¡°i¡¯m actually you.¡±


    bang~! han jijyun pushed his palm behind him to attack linfeng. however, he hit nothing but air.


    ¡°hmph, you hate me so much that you don¡¯t even want to talk to me.¡± linfeng¡¯sughter seemed to being from everywhere.


    ¡°ever since you became the devil of my heart, you are no longer a part of me.¡± han jijyun¡¯s mind was much clearer now.


    ¡°if you lose me, your realm will drop and you won¡¯t be able to catch up with the person you¡¯ve always been chasing. do you bear to let me go?¡± the devil linfeng knew very well what han jijyun was afraid of so he was not frightened of him at all.


    ¡°yes. i¡¯ve always been hesitating but your reminder made me understand that your presence will always forbid me from catching up with the people i¡¯ve always wanted to catch up with.¡± han jijyun raised his head suddenly. the killing intent in his eyes was obvious.


    he always seemed calm and to many people, the decisions he made were much more eptable than the ones linfeng made.


    however, han jijyun knew that among everyone around boss, he was the most irresolute and hesitant.


    he couldn¡¯t be like linfeng who put boss¡¯s benefit at the top of his priority. all the decisions he made were the ones that benefit boss the most. hence, when he needed to sacrifice someone, he wouldn¡¯t show any mercy.


    he couldn¡¯t be like qi long, who remained firmly loyal to boss and never had any thoughts of backing out once he made the decision to follow boss.


    he wasn¡¯t as pure as luong, who would give his entire heart to someone once he decided to trust the person. he was willing to go through any thick or thin with boss.


    he wasn¡¯t as decisive as lin zhong-qing, who would immediately fill in the empty slots in their team without caring about the price he had to pay.


    he didn¡¯t have xie yi¡¯s big heart. as long as he was given space, he was able to grow up strongly on his own.


    he didn¡¯t have li shiyu¡¯s devotion. once he was needed, he would sacrifice anything to help others.


    he wasn¡¯t like chang xinyuan who would repay a casual favour with his life. he gave his entire life to boss who gave him a second chance in life.


    he wasn¡¯t like his two little sisters who admired boss and treated him like the center of their world.


    he followed boss because he couldn¡¯t bear to part with their close rtionship. he couldn¡¯t bear to leave behind the friendship he had with hispanions.


    yes, he couldn¡¯t bear to give them up. it wasn¡¯t because he couldn¡¯t give them up. the decisions he made seemed more tolerable than linfeng¡¯s and felt fairer but he knew that he had his own selfish motives. he was afraid, afraid of losing his ce in the team, bing another weaker copy of linfeng.


    he was just used to using righteous reasons to cover up his selfish intentions. he convinced many people, including himself and the people that were important to him... that he was useful, he was different, and that he was good while linfeng was evil.


    lingn¡¯s ring eyes suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. han jijyun felt cold sweating out of his body.


    he had never lied to boss before! han jijyun suddenly had a realisation.


    ¡°tsk, tsk, tsk, you¡¯re so scared that your clothes are drenched right from the inside.¡± the devil linfeng suddenly mocked him.

 Chapter 1476 - Sneaky?

    <h4>Chapter 1476 Sneaky?</h4>


    By now, Han Jijyun had realized his fears were nothing to worry about so in front of Li Lanfeng, he justughed confidently. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m scared, but I was never afraid of you.¡±


    Surprisingly, Li Lanfeng actually smiled and nodded. ¡°I know. I¡¯ve already said it before, the person who knows you best is me.¡±


    ¡°In your mind, there has always been an existence you are extremely terrified of. Despite him being your Boss and helping you through your entire journey, you are still afraid of him...¡± The Li Lanfeng created from his inner demons was like the real Li Lanfeng. He could see through everything and hit him where it hurts.


    ¡°Yeah, how could we not be afraid. The secrets hidden deep within our hearts that we don¡¯t want anyone to know... There is always someone near us that could easily see through us.¡± Han Jijyun raised his head and looked at the bright sky. He didn¡¯t know whether he regretted his decision or not.


    The status Han Jijyun had in Lingtian wasn¡¯t as simple as it seemed.


    He came from a background of an elite family who specialized in intelligence gathering. He was taught from when he was very young that they had conflicting views with the military and government. The cooperation with these entities were only as a way of overseeing them and vice versa.


    With a background in intelligence, they would be taught of every knowledge an intelligence officer needed. On the surface, they were like normal kids and entered the military academy to learn, but they would also be trained in multiple other areas outside of school. When they grow up, they would be sent to be the important officers of different armies or government departments based on their own abilities. They would be an existence that would oversee the army¡¯s highest ranking officer or the government official they work for.


    Yes, other than being a soldier, Han Jijyun also had a hidden identity. He was an officer from the national intelligence bureau sent to Lingtian to oversee Lingtian. His main objective was to oversee and search for any information regarding Ling Lan.


    ¡°Is that my own inner demons?¡± Han Jijyun smiled. Tears uncontrobly trickled down his face.


    No one could reject their own backgrounds. From the moment he was born, his fate had already been decided. It was just he didn¡¯t expect he would put forth so much emotion and feelings towards hisrades, friends and the Boss that he loved, feared and admired.


    Unable to cut off these emotional ties and unable to refuse the pressure his family was giving him. This conflict of interest caused him to feel guilty of his actions, making him doubt whether what he said or did in the past was genuine. He couldn¡¯t find a bnce of the two in his heart. In the end, this conflict of interest grew into his inner demon.


    ¡°Jijyun, if you need anything, you can alwayse find me,¡± Suddenly, memories of Ling Lan surfaced in his mind. Ling Lan stared at him with a sharp look in his eyes. His words were slow, but clear.


    ¡°Jijyun, sometimes you think too much.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s calm stare had a look of understanding, but mostly helplessness.


    Han Jijyun remembered everything rted to Ling Lan, and suddenly realized.


    ¡°Boss, why didn¡¯t find me and make it clear?¡± Han Jijyun suddenly shouted out angrily. Was watching him struggle by himself funny?


    ¡°You hate him. Hate the fact that he watched coldly while you struggled and was in pain. He didn¡¯t care about you. If you want to crush him beneath you, follow your heart and ept me.¡± The Li Lanfeng created from his inner demons was like a devil trying to tempt humans to do nefarious things.


    ¡°Yes, I hate him. I hate him so much.¡± Han Jijyun opened his eyes and a look of hate burned in his pupils. This look of hate actually made the inner demon feel somewhat afraid.


    ¡°Then, let go of your heart, let me be one with you to be a stronger version of yourself,¡± the devil in his heart continued to tempt him.


    ¡°Come!¡± Han Jijyun no longer resisted and let his inner demon move towards him to be one entity.


    Right at that moment, the situation suddenly changed. Han Jijyun suddenly reached out with his hand and grabbed the head of his inner demon. Earth shattering energy suddenly shot through his hand.


    ¡°Ah!¡± The inner demon began to struggle and wanted to escape Han Jijyun¡¯s grasp. It wanted to run from Han Jijyun who was attempting to erase it from existence.


    ¡°Why? Why? You already hate him so much. Why do you still want to kill me?¡±


    The inner demon didn¡¯t understand. Han Jijyun clearly hated Ling Lan to the core. Why didn¡¯t he go and find Ling Lan to exact revenge but rather want to kill him, the source of his power?


    From the moment the energy went through his body, the inner demon could feel Han Jijyun¡¯s undying determination to kill him.


    ¡°Yes, I do hate, but not Boss Lan. The person I hate is myself. I hate that I¡¯m weak. I hate that I was blinded. I hate that I am weak,¡± Han Jijyun said coldly. The tone he used didn¡¯t hide any of the hateful feelings he had towards himself.


    ¡°It was clearly an easy matter, but was madeplicated because I thought I was so smart. I really made it difficult for myself,¡± Han Jijyun had an odd look on his face. ¡°I was really dumb and stupid to even let a disgusting thing like you appear in me. I really have reached the epitome of stupidity.


    ¡°Ah, you will regret it. You will regret it.¡± The inner demon wasn¡¯t weak by any means. He was just caught off guard as he didn¡¯t expect Han Jijyun would set such a trap. Additionally, with Han Jijyun¡¯s iron will to end him, it didn¡¯t leave him with any room to escape.


    Every step the inner demon took was the wrong one. Once he lost the upper hand, he no longer had any chance of surviving.


    Through all the curses being thrown towards him, the inner demon finally couldn¡¯t withstand the pressureing from his head and in the end, sumbing to the pressure and disappeared into smoke.


    After finally dealing with his inner demon, Han Jijyun plopped down on his butt with an exhausted expression and for the first time in a while, experienced the fresh air around him. It was just as the inner demon had said. Cleansing him was not a simple task. After all, the inner demon was actually also part of Han Jijyun¡¯s strength. Killing him was the same as erasing a part of his strength. As the inner demon disappeared, Han Jijyun¡¯s titled domain stage immediately regressed to where he was now barely within the domain stage.


    In the real world, Han Jijyun opened his eyes and saw Li Shiyu sitting beside him. He noticed that Li Shiyu couldn¡¯t move and Lord Card was watching from the side. When he saw this sight, he knew that Li Shiyu must have also fallen into his trap.


    ¡°Hey, you came out quite quickly. Not bad.¡± Lord Card suddenly smiled at Han Jijyun. His wrist flicked and another card appeared in his hand.


    While still being mindful of the terrifying card, Han Jijyun stared at him coldly. The next moment, he surprisingly just sat down and began to stabilize his domain.


    ¡°Hmm? You actually dare to train right now?¡± Lord Card was confused by the sight in front him. Han Jijyun was basically telling him that he wasn¡¯t going to resist and would be handing his life to Lord Card.


    ¡°As one of the 13 Lords whose strength is at the level of an imperial stage domain expert, you really like to be sneaky, much like a puny thief,¡± Han Jijyun replied calmly. After saying that, he closed his eyes and focused on his meditation in order to make himself recover to his original strength as soon as possible.


    ¡°Heh, are you making fun of me now?¡± Lord Card¡¯s eyes flickered and the thought of killing the two entered his mind. As someone who liked to y with other people¡¯s minds, he didn¡¯t like when others were doing the same thing in front of him.


    ¡°Heh, you think I won¡¯t kill you?¡± Lord Card¡¯s eyes were showing no emotion as a card flicked out of his hand and flew towards Han Jijyun. He never liked for his toys to feel superior over him. Despite the fact that he was being sneaky, it was only because he loved to see his victims in despair until they eventually die of guilt.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Suddenly, a silver gleam flew by and pierced the card that was about to take Han Jijyun¡¯s life.


    With a silver needle in the middle of it, the card was stuck into the ground roughly one meter away from Han Jijyun.


    At the sight of the silver needle, Lord Card¡¯s eyes narrowed as he looked towards the direction from where the silver needle hade from. He said coldly, ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    A voice echoed from afar, ¡°As one of the 13 Lords, I¡¯m not in agreement when ites to you making a sneak attack on a defenceless enemy.¡±

 Chapter 1477 - Vicious Character!

    <h4>Chapter 1477 Vicious Character!</h4>


    Lord Card snorted and warned the approaching figure like a bear who just got a salmon, ¡°This is my prey. I can kill him however I want. Lord Yu, don¡¯t overstep your boundary.¡±


    The moment he finished speaking, a caucasian with golden hair and crystal blue eyes appeared in the air above him out of the blue. The caucasian man was wearing a full set of western knight armour with aplimenting knightly sword attached on his waist. To add more to the image, there also was a feather attached on the top of his helmet.


    It was indeed Lord Yu.


    He stretched his hand out and beckoned with his fingers. The silver needle that was piercing the card promptly hovered back into his hand. Upon closer inspection, the silver needle was not actually a needle at all, but was instead a miniature silver knight sword. It was so small that from afar, it looked like a silver needle.


    At this moment, Li Shiyu was still under the illusion and Han Jijyun was still focusing on recuperating on the side. Thus, both of them knew nothing of what was happening near them. If they could be fully aware of what was happening right now, the two of them might be shocked and wonder why such a powerful stranger, who had nothing to do with them, decided to save them.


    ¡°With my creed by my heart, I cannot allow that to happen,¡± Lord Yu said calmly.


    Every imperial stage domain expert already had their own Dao. Lord Yu¡¯s Dao was the righteous and creed-abiding Dao. Once someone has chosen their Dao, they must abide by it and believe in it forever.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re going to be my enemy because of these nobodies?¡± Lord Card was so angry that a sinister smile slowly formed on his face. The fact that Lord Yu and he came from the same ce and that they had always been helping one another for so many years, it further aggravated him that he was interfering with him now.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be your enemy. It¡¯s just that my Dao doesn¡¯t allow me to let you do this. After they wake up, you can kill them however you want,¡± Lord Yu patiently exined.


    If he let Lord Card kill two defenceless enemies now, a hole would be formed in his Dao. Therefore, Lord Yu had no choice but to interfere with Lord Card, even if it meant destroying their rtionship. But stopping Lord Card didn¡¯t mean that he was saving Han Jijyun and Li Shiyu. He just hoped that Lord Card would kill them after they regained their consciousness.


    Lord Card didn¡¯t reply to Lord Yu. He just threw away the cards in his hand and stared at Lord Yu coldly. As the staring contest continued on, the atmosphere around them turned extremely tense. A fight seemed on the verge of breaking out.


    Lord Yu couldn¡¯t help but frown when he realized this wasn¡¯t going to end well. His right hand instinctively went towards his sword.


    If Lord Card wanted to fight, as a knight, he wouldn¡¯t reject the duel no matter how absurd the reason for the duel was.


    Red hall. Luo Chao and Han Xuya hugged their legs and sat quietly outside the door of the main hall.


    ¡°Luo Chao, are you nervous? Are you afraid?¡± Han Xuya tightly squeezed her thighs to her body in a desperate attempt to calm herself down.


    Luo Chao shook her head as she nkly stared at the space in front of her. ¡°I¡¯m not nervous or frightened. Instead, I am happy. Finally, I don¡¯t have to hide behind our brothers¡¯ backs.¡±


    ¡°Me too.¡± Excitement and nervousness were written across Han Xuya¡¯s face. What she did just now was to calm down her excitement.


    ¡°Boss said that I¡¯m stuck at the doors of the titled domain realm. I only need to go through a life-or-death battle to advance, so this might be my chance to finally be a titled domain realm master.¡± Unfortunately for Luo Chao, even though she had arguably worked as hard as her elder brothers, the natural weakness of being ady caused her advancement to the titled domain realm to be a hundred times harder, or maybe even more.


    ¡°I just want to be stronger so I can help Boss.¡± Luo Chao¡¯s goal was very pure. Ever since she was young, Ling Lan was her god. She was God¡¯s follower, and that was the only reason why she was desperately trying so hard to grow stronger.


    Of course, if they hadn¡¯t met Ling Lan in their life, they might not have been able to advance past the Qi-Jin stage in their entire life. The domain realm was even more impossible for them. In all these years, Ling Lan had spent so much effort to groom them and to allow them to break the limit of their own bodies. She allowed them to enter the domain realm, a realm that no woman had entered for close to a thousand years. What was more amazing was that Han Xuya¡¯s physical condition was better than Luo Chao¡¯s so she managed to touch the doors of the titled domain realm sessfully.


    ¡°We must survive.¡± Han Xuya slowly held Luo Chao¡¯s hand and gripped it tightly as she cheered for both of them.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Luo Chao nodded firmly.


    This time, both of them knew that once they met one of the 13 Lords, their chance of survival was grim. However, they weren¡¯t afraid. They knew that if they didn¡¯t stop the next lord, theirrades would have one more enemy to face which would put them in more danger. Their entire team might even be annihted because of this.


    ¡°Huh? There are two youngdies here.¡± A voice filled with astonishment was heard.


    Han Xuya and Luo Chao jumped up abruptly. Before they could react, a person had appeared in front of them.


    This person was wearing a ck gown which only revealed his head. If you didn¡¯t look at him carefully, you wouldn¡¯t be able to see that it was a human. It just looked like a ball of ck smoke.


    The person swung his ck gown and the gown fluttered in the air like a pair of ck wings. He smiled brightly. A row of white teeth appeared on the smoky head, making it look quite frightening.


    Han Xuya¡¯s first reaction was to pull Luo Chao behind her. This was a habit she had gained after so many years of being the elder sister figure. Even though she knew that Luo Chao was a domain realm master, old habits die hard.


    ¡°Prettydies, don¡¯t be nervous. Don¡¯t be nervous.¡± The person smiled kindly.


    Han Xuya said coldly, ¡°Lord Ghost!¡± This person¡¯s appearance only fitted with the description of Lord Ghost.


    ¡°What a smart little girl. One look and you know who I am,¡± Lord Ghost replied in satisfaction.


    Luo Chao secretly squeezed Han Xuya¡¯s left hand which was hanging at the side of her body.


    Han Xuya understood what Luo Chao meant. She leaped up abruptly and threw a side kick at Lord Ghost viciously.


    Lord Ghost gave a mocking smile when he saw Han Xuya¡¯s leging towards him. He tilted his body slightly and prepared to dodge the kick that couldn¡¯t be any slower in his eyes.


    ¡°Bang!¡± A huge loud thud was heard.


    Lord Ghost took a few steps back. He looked at Han Xuya in shock. He had evaded the kick so why was he hit?


    Also, the kick that he thought was soft had so much strength behind it. It actually caused the blood in his body to churn. He almost got injured.


    Han Xuya didn¡¯t back down after she seeded in her first attack. She took a few steps forward and this time her fist came forward.


    Not underestimating these two girls anymore, Lord Ghost¡¯s gaze turned vignt. He quickly evaded Han Xuya¡¯s fist. This time, his speed of which he evaded the fist was much faster than before. The distance he moved away from the fist was greater too.


    Bang!


    Another loud thud was heard. Both of the attacksnded in the same spot. Even though he was very careful and seriously tried to evade the attacks, he failed.


    Lord Ghost felt a sweet taste in his throat. The taste of blood quickly spread throughout his mouth. Upon this realization, he knew that he must have suffered a small injury.


    He hadn¡¯t been injured in many years. Yet, now, in this insignificant hall, he got injured by thedies he looked down on. This was definitely one of the most humiliating moments of his life.


    Lord Ghost was infuriated. He howled into the air like a crazed tiger. Han Xuya and Luo Chao could feel their eardrums popping. They werepletely disorientated by the frightening howl. While pushing through the piercing pain, the two quickly plugged their ears with their fingers to keep this tormenting noise out of their ears.


    Killing intent shed past Lord Ghost¡¯s eyes. He stretched his ghostly ws out to grab Han Xuya so that he could torment her viciously.


    At this moment, a light shed past his eyes.


    Bang! Lord Ghost was forcibly pushed back by the sh of light. He mmed onto the ground with arge impact.


    Upon the impact, the entire pce started shaking as if it was about to copse on itself at any moment. At this moment, Lord Ghost finally saw the sh of light clearly. It was a small silver humanoid mecha.


    No, it was more urate to say that it was a person wearing a mecha outerwear. But, this outerwear had all the weapons and equipment a humanoid mecha should have.


    The humanoid mecha clumsily climbed up from the ground. After colliding into Lord Ghost, the impact caused was a little overwhelming for the person inside.


    ¡°Chang Xinyuan, are you alright?¡± Luo Chao asked nervously. She had alreadye beside the humanoid mecha.


    The humanoid mecha waved his hand. ¡°I¡¯m alright. My new experiment is finally put to use. Unfortunately, it¡¯s still in its testing phase. If not, that crash just now should have seriously injured Lord Ghost even if it didn¡¯t kill him,¡± Chang Xinyuan said with pity.


    The force behind his new invention was still not enough to fight with imperial stage domain experts. It was still not as powerful as the big-sized imperial mechas. But, to make it portable and convenient, he had to sacrifice on the bulky exterior of the big-sized mechas. But, because of that, the strength and explosive power of this mecha were greatly reduced too.


    On the other side, Han Xuya had already started attacking Lord Ghost, who still hadn¡¯t gotten up from the ground, with immense fury.


    She really wanted to kill Lord Ghost when he was still down. However, instead of invoking awe in Chang Xinyuan¡¯s heart, this ruthless and scary image instead caused Chang Xinyuan¡¯s heart to pump furiously. On the other hand, Luo Chao was looking at Han Xuya calmly as if this was something natural.


    ¡®She is truly Boss¡¯s younger sister. They are all vicious characters.¡¯ Chang Xinyuan felt that he was smart to stay inside hisboratory. He heard that his younger sisters often found men for duels. Sadly, none of hispanions who were on equal strength as them managed to escape their evil ws.

 Chapter 1478 - Luo Chao’s Ability

    <h4>Chapter 1478 Luo Chao¡°s Ability</h4>


    Han Xuya used up all the energy she had avable in her tank to unleash about close to a hundred raining fists on Lord Ghost..


    But, as time went by, she felt that the spot her fist was hitting wasn¡¯t flesh but was instead a hard skeleton.


    Han Xuya suppressed her curiosity and struck her fist down forcefully.


    Bang! This time, however, she felt that the rebound was much greater than before. She was prepared for it but she still had to take some steps back because of the huge rebound. Her raining fist was instantly stopped.


    As Han Xuya tried her best to stabilise her body, she finally noticed that a huge pair of ck wings was protecting Lord Ghost. The pair of wings encased Lord Ghost, protecting him from her fist. What Han Xuya was hitting towards the end should be this pair of wings.


    p~ The ck wings suddenly stretched open until it was about ten meters long. It directly covered half of the Red hall, causing the entire za to turn dark.


    Lord Ghostughed in a shrill voice. ¡°You¡¯ve really made me angry. I want to kill all of you.¡±


    Lord Ghost¡¯s eyes were blood red. Along with the huge pair of ck wings, he looked like a giant bat. Luo Chao and Han Xuya remembered Lord Ghost¡¯s nickname, Poison Bat. Looking at such a sight, they immediately knew where this nickname came from.


    ¡°Be careful!¡± Luo Chao reminded Han Xuya who was standing in front of them. In this fight, Han Xuya was the main fighting force of their team.


    Han Xuya gritted her pretty white teeth. Her body shot out like a cannonball and she waved her fist again.


    ¡°Go and die!¡± The five fingernails on Lord Ghost¡¯s left hand suddenly extended in length. There was ayer ck goop shining on his thin and sharp fingernails. He wed at Han Xuya¡¯s face ruthlessly. He no longer showed mercy on her because she was ady.


    Lord Ghost¡¯s w came really quickly. When Han Xuya saw the wing towards her, she instinctively wanted to move away but she realized she couldn¡¯t move.


    Realm suppression!


    These two words appeared in Han Xuya¡¯s mind immediately. She was about to get wed by Lord Ghost but there was no sign of fear on her face.


    Picturing ruining the face of a pretty girl, a devilish smile formed on Lord Ghost¡¯s face. However, the next second, his smile froze.


    Han Xuya got suppressed by him so by right, she couldn¡¯t move. Yet, she went against expectation and forcibly shifted half a meter towards her left. This half a meter shift allowed her to escape from his poisonous ws.


    Of course, these actions were done in a blink of an eye.


    Han Xuya broke free from Lord Ghost¡¯s suppression and jumped backward. She came to Chang Xinyuan¡¯s side.


    Lord Ghost retracted his ws slowly. His gaze shifted away from Han Xuya and finallynded on Luo Chao.


    ¡°Your domain is very interesting. You can actually control her body.¡± How could Han Xuya¡¯s strange actions escape from Lord Ghost¡¯s eyes? Even if he didn¡¯t notice it at the start, by now, he had already understood everything.


    Lord Ghost also understood why when he clearly had evaded Han Xuya¡¯s attack at the start but she was still able to hit him. This wasn¡¯t Han Xuya¡¯s ability. It was that sweet and delicatedy¡¯s ability.


    Luo Chao didn¡¯t reply to him. She only looked at Lord Ghost indifferently. She knew that she couldn¡¯t fool Lord Ghost for long. It was just that she didn¡¯t expect him to see through it so quickly.


    This was the caliber of the 13 Lords. None of them were simple. The difference between their abilities was too stark.


    ¡°It should be a spiritual domain concept. It¡¯s very special. I¡¯ve never seen it before.¡± Lord Ghost was very interested in Luo Chao¡¯s ability. The first thing that came to his mind was that this ability was very useful to him. Thus, the strong killing intent in him subsided a little.


    They responded to Lord Qian¡¯s order to kill everyone not because they were afraid of him. It was because they were too bored. They wanted to move their bodies and see some blood.


    But, ultimately, they were the ones who would decide whether they wanted to kill these people or not.


    If he was able to gain this ability, the loophole in his domain could be patched up. That meant that god-realm wasn¡¯t impossible anymore.


    Greed seeped out of Lord Ghost¡¯s eyes. Once he thought of this possibility, his heart started pounding furiously.

 Chapter 1479 - Protec

    <h4>Chapter 1479 Protec</h4>


    Everyone from Lingtian who could fight had already met up with their respective opponents. Everyone was putting their lives on the line toplete their given mission, because they knew what price they would have to pay if they couldn¡¯t. If their lives were needed to save the lives of theirrades, they wouldn¡¯t even flinch when epting the deal.


    In their minds, their own lives didn¡¯t really worth much to them, but the precious lives of theirrades must be protected!


    The fights in every hall were all fought with maximum intensity. However, one of the halls stood out as the fight there had reached a crucial turning point.


    Lord Kun, who had easily jumped past the Green hall and went straight into the main hall, was stopped by Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun who were guarding it..


    The past majestic and picturesque main hall was now half-destroyed with the marble floors being pulverized to bits and the walls copsing on itself.


    When Lord Kun first went into the main hall, there was always this ring smile he had on his face but now, his appearance was reduced to that of a crippled beggar. He even had his left arm torn off from his shoulder. What was worse was that although he wasn¡¯t bleeding out profusely, there was this thinyer of dark energy that was enveloping his entire left shoulder.


    This ominous dark energy obviously didn¡¯t belong to Lord Kun as it was continuously devouring Lord Kun¡¯s domain energy for it to growrger and to eventually envelop his entire body.


    Lord Kun endured the pain that was like thousands of fire ants biting his shoulder and flipped his right hand. Ayer of green life energy slowly started to rise from his right hand. With that life energy in hand, he pressed on his left shoulder, and as the green life energy touched his shoulder, it started fighting off the dark energy.


    As the two energies shed, Lord Kun had a pained expression on his face. The muscles on his face began to tremble which made him seem like he was transforming into a monster.


    Not long after, the green energying from his own body sessfully suppressed the dark energy and drove the dark energy out. After relieving himself of the hellish torture, Lord Kun calmed down and turned to look towards the prone Li Lanfeng not far from him. Seeing Li Lanfeng lying there, being no threat to him at all, thoughts of how to torture him began to surafce in Lord Kun¡¯s mind.


    Beforeing here, Lord Kun never thought he would be reduced to such a poor state because of two little brats. When Lord Kun first walked into the main hall, he didn¡¯t think much of Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun, he was even nning on casually walking by them without giving them the time of his day.


    Noticing his indifference, how could a scheming person like Li Lanfeng give up on such a good opportunity?


    In an instant, ns on how to exploit such opportunity began to surface in his mind. His final n was to have Zhao Jun be the primary attacker with him being the secondary as to give Lord Kun a false impression of their strength.


    For the role of being the primary attacker, Zhao Jun performed very well. Having already entered thete stage of titled domain realm, he was able to give Lord Kun some pressure. It made a support like Li Lanfeng, who had just reached the title domain realm, not seem like much of a threat.


    With Lord Kun cing most of his focus on Zhao Jun, Li Lanfeng was waiting patiently for the opportune time to strike.


    Having the concept that could erase any type of energy that was considered a cheat even in the grand scale of the universe. With such a cheat in hand, even Lord Kun couldn¡¯t get away unscathed.


    However, being halfway into the god-realm had slight chances of irvoyance. Just as Li Lanfeng was about to pounce at him, alert bells in Lord Kun¡¯s head immediately sounded. Although it seemed impossible for something here to endanger his life, he still believed in his instincts so he shifted his position just slightly. If he didn¡¯t shift his position, Li Lanfeng¡¯s erasing energy would have struck his heart, not his left arm.


    If his heart was hit, Lord Kun probably would no longer be in this world. Then, the winners of this fight would be Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun.


    Fortunately for him, but unfortunately for Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun, Lord Kun was an individual who was halfway into the god-realm. Despite these two realms being only half a stage apart, the half stage was still the difference of life or death for Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Die!¡± After suffering so much, Lord Kun definitely wasn¡¯t going to let Li Lanfeng go. Not only did Li Lanfeng tear off his arm, he also cut off his path into the god-realm.


    A broken physical body was thergest hindrance for advancing into the god-realm. The path not only represented their minds, but also their bodies. Only when both their minds and bodies were perfect, would one be able to advance into the god-realm. It wouldn¡¯t work if either of those two weren¡¯t perfect.


    Thus, all of his anger and rage were directed towards Li Lanfeng.


    Zhao Jun, who was lying in a corner, quietly took out a vial of medicinal agent when Lord Kun¡¯s focus was on Li Lanfeng and immediately injected it into his neck artery.


    Just as Lord Kun was about to attack Li Lanfeng, he shot up like a cannonball and pounced towards Li Lanfeng.


    Bang! Zhao Jun covered Li Lanfeng with his body without any fear for his life. He managed to forcibly block Lord Kun¡¯s death blow with his body!


    ¡°Zhao Jun!¡± Li Lanfeng screamed as he lifted his head to watch Zhao Jun blocking the death blow for him.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± Blood poured out from Zhao Jun¡¯s mouth.


    He used all his might to turn around and smile. He then moved his mouth.


    ¡°Zhao Jun!¡± Li Lanfeng stared nkly as tears rushed down his face uncontrobly.


    ¡°It was nice knowing you, Lanfeng!¡±


    Boom!


    After he said that, Zhao Jun¡¯s strong and muscr body immediately went limp andnded heavily onto the ground. Blood quickly spilled out from his body onto the floor.


    It was just like what they said. They would protect theirrades even if it meant giving up their own lives.

 Chapter 1480 - Dao

    <h4>Chapter 1480 Dao</h4>


    Ling Lan waited in the swamp, deep within the rainbow pce with her eyes closed.


    She opened her eyes the instant Zhao Jun fell to the ground after saving Li Lanfeng.


    Her eyes looked dark and depressed, but there was no fluctuation in them. It was as though that person who had just fallen had nothing to do with her.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that you to be so heartless to this extent. It¡¯s no wonder that you could reach the god-realm at such a young age. However, do you think the price you paid for advancing is worth it?¡± A mocking voice echoed from afar.


    Ling Lan said calmly, ¡°You¡¯re here.¡±


    She sounded as though she had predicted this moment.


    A silhouette suddenly appeared a few yards away from Ling Lan. It was indeed Lord Qian who she had encountered that one time.


    ¡°After only a few short while, you¡¯ve managed to make me see you in a different light. Not bad.¡± Lord Qian gave a scrutinizing gaze as he was studying Ling Lan from head to toe.


    ¡°It was all due to your hospitality,¡± Ling Lan said in a tone that was just as fierce.


    If it wasn¡¯t for the pressure Lord Qian had given her, she wouldn¡¯t have gone to extreme lengths to get to this realm.


    ¡°Beforeing here, I had thought that you would care about your subordinates. Now it seems that I¡¯ve underestimated you yet again.¡± Lord Qian¡¯s expression was somewhat cautious.


    Conventionally, a young man like the one in front of him would always be a little hot-headed and emotional. No matter how strong a person was, as long as they had something they cared deeply about, it could be exploited.


    However his senses told him that the young man standing in front of him had no fluctuation in his emotions. This young man was either a heartless and emotionless monster, or he was someone who could perfectly control his emotions. No matter which type he was, neither were types Lord Qian wanted to deal with.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t answer and only stared at him indifferently.


    ¡°Your subordinate is probably dead. Although they¡¯re quite strong, Lord Kun is still unfortunately the strongest person after myself amongst the 13 Lords.¡± Lord Qian turned towards the direction of the main hall. With a pitiful tone, he was clearly attempting to affect Ling Lan¡¯s emotions.


    ¡°Since they chose to enter the battlefield, death is unavoidable. Plus, dying in battle is the most honorable death for a soldier. Lord Qian, don¡¯t you think so?¡± Ling Lan said as she raised her eyebrows.


    Lord Qian was surprised by how noble Ling Lan¡¯s words portrayed her indifference to be. ¡°Aren¡¯t those just sweet words used to trick the average soldier into giving up their lives for a useless cause? You actually don¡¯t understand it seems...¡± Lord Qian couldn¡¯t help but shake his head in disappointment.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t the meaning of one¡¯s life existence itself? Why would it matter whether the meaning of those words are good or bad, real or fake?¡± Ling Lan said calmly. ¡°As long as they believe it to be worth it, then it is worth it.¡±


    Ling Lan¡¯s Dao was one of freedom. Calling for one to do what their hearts desired. She gave it the name ¡®Dominance Dao¡¯ not because she wanted others to follow her, but rather it was because all of the Dao in the world could be her Dao. That was what the Dominance Dao meant in her case.


    ¡°So you just watch as they go on the wrong path? And to not give them any hints...¡± Lord Qian was somewhat surprised. When training, helping others was also a way of forging one¡¯s own path. It was something that every cultivator needed to do, unless the cultivator walked on the path of the legendary evil Heartless Dao. Could it be that this young man was walking on this forbidden path?


    Lord Qian didn¡¯t want to believe it because no one had ever been able to sessfully walk down that path as it totally went against human logic and emotions. It was a path that defied even the heavens. If that was the case, once that person entered into the domain realm, they would be punished by the heavens and instantly implode,pletely disappearing from this world.


    ¡°A hint? He has his own path to walk. Will your experience be suitable for him?¡± Ling Lan suddenly looked at Lord Qian with a cold yet sharp look. ¡°Or perhaps, the path you walked was wrong from the start. The so-called hint you give will make him walk down the wrong path instead.¡±


    After hearing that, Lord Qian felt anger rushing up his head. As one of the two only god-realm experts (known by the world), a little brat actually suspected he walked the wrong path. It was the worst insult someone could say towards him. If his Dao was wrong, how could he have advanced into the god-realm?


    The killing intent inside Lord Qian became more and more pronounced. He wanted to instantly erase this annoying punk right then and there.

 Chapter 1481 - Chosen By God

    <h4>Chapter 1481 Chosen By God</h4>


    With overwhelming anger and killing intent fogging his mind, Lord Qian wasn¡¯t going to be as lenient as before. Before, he only put forth enough force to make Ling Lan understand the difference in their power. This time, he instantly went for the kill.


    The moment he attacked, the entire dimly lit swamp lost all sources of light and becamepletely dark.


    However, for domain realm masters and above, the effect of light on them could more or less be neglected. Even if it was so dark that they couldn¡¯t see their own hands in front of them, Lord Qian and Ling Lan would still be able to see each other clearly.


    Suddenly, in the dark sky above Lord Qian, a round moon made its appearance known to the fighters.


    Ling Lan looked at Lord Qian coldly as her pupils suddenly began to rotate. In the end, her pupils became the Ying Yang symbol.


    Lord Qian slowly put up his right hand and his index finger pointed towards Ling Lan.


    Ling Lan saw the moon above Lord Qian suddenly split apart to be thousands of des of light. They all aligned in the air and rushed towards her.


    Not only were these des of light able to instantly destroy all beings under the god-realm, the light it shined also burned Ling Lan¡¯s eyes.


    The Ying and Yang symbol in Ling Lan¡¯s eyes quickly spun and devoured the ring light that was piercing her eyes. Then, she reached out her right hand towards those des of light before clenching her fist tightly. ¡°Break!¡±


    The des of light suddenly stopped in mid-air as though they were facing a brick wall, no longer moving any closer towards Ling Lan.


    Seeing this, Lord Qian frowned slightly. His index finger pushed towards Ling Lan¡¯s direction once again.


    The thousands of des seemed to have received the order as they began to shake crazily. The des were like blood sucking locusts shaking their bodies in tandem, trying desperately to get past the barrier stopping them from devouring everything.


    Ling Lan felt the stronger forceing from Lord Qian. She just snorted coldly and pushed towards Lord Qian¡¯s direction once again.


    Lord Qian didn¡¯t think that Ling Lan had more gas in the tank. After being pushed, the des of light were actually forcibly pushed back just a little bit.


    That small amount wouldn¡¯t be discovered by anyone if they didn¡¯t watch the fight in detail. However, for the two people in the battle, they felt it in an instant.


    Lord Qian¡¯s expression changed slightly. Although he didn¡¯t put forth all of his power, he still used 70 to 80 percent of his full power. It should be known that ever since he had entered the god-realm, he hadn¡¯t used more than 50% of his full power. He originally thought that Ling Lan¡¯s recently advanced god-realm would be filled with ws. Normally, after reaching the god-realm, one would then realize their Dao was just a prototype. Only after going through many years of enlightenment and training, would one be able to repair those ws. That would then perfect their Dao and let their Dao be one that was recognized by the gods.


    Training never stops!


    Before arriving, Lord Qian, who reached the god-realm more than a decade ago, was confident that thepletion of his Dao was much higher than Ling Lan, who had just reached the god-realm. Killing Ling Lan might take time and effort, but wasn¡¯t supposed to be a difficult thing to do.


    This was why he didn¡¯t put forth all of his power and only used 70 to 80 percent of it. Of course, he also wanted to use this battle with Ling Lan to reach a new epiphany and perfect his Dao even further.


    It should be known that people who have reached this realm could only improve when fighting against others in the same realm. However, out of the people in the gxy who had reached the god-realm, he and Mu Shui-qing were the only two out there.


    Mu Shui-qing had advanced into the god-realm long before him. Just the legends about Mu Shui-qing already worried him, not to mention the fact that he couldn¡¯t leave the Lawless Lands. He truly didn¡¯t dare to provoke Mu Shui-qing. Thus, Ling Lan¡¯s appearance made him feel joy, but also left a bad taste in his mouth.


    In the past, he thought he was a child chosen by god. He was able to advance into the god-realm at a somewhat younger agepared to Mu Shui-qing. However, Ling Lan¡¯s existence... Was he still a child chosen by god?


    Thinking about this, the killing intent in Lord Qian¡¯s eyes became even thicker!

 Chapter 1482 - Why Did It Appear?

    <h4>Chapter 1482 Why Did It Appear?</h4>


    Lord Qian snorted coldly. Suddenly, a wave of starry light started to cascade on the swamp. The moon hanging in the night sky grew significantrger as it moved to station behind Lord Qian


    It was just as she expected! Ling Lan immediately understood what was currently happening. The Ying and Yang symbols in her eyes spun even faster to eventually be deep and dark whirlpools.


    The title Lord Qian had was ¡®The Sun, Sky and Stars¡¯. The domain concept he had awakened was also ¡®The Sun, Sky and Stars¡¯. The Sun, Sky and Stars were considered the root of all concepts in the ancient times. Undoubtedly, the concept Lord Qian had awakened was the one of the most powerful concepts.


    ¡°Unseal!¡± Ling Lan said in her own mind. A snowke symbol suddenly imprinted itself onto her smooth forehead. Her ck short hair quickly grew longer and turned silver in an instant.


    Lord Qian¡¯s eyes narrowed when he saw what had happened.


    Others might not know what it meant, but someone like him, who had reached the god-realm, knew exactly what the change represented.


    He couldn¡¯t control the immense amount of jealousy inside of him. The stars from the starry sky suddenly lit up and quickly mixed in with the other light sources attacking Ling Lan.


    The star power forcibly pushed Ling Lan back by one step.


    ¡°Double Unseal!¡±


    Just as Ling Lan was about to sumb under the assault of the starry light, she decisively activated the imperial realm ultimate technique she had learned.


    The snowke symbol on her forehead turned ck and filled Ling Lan¡¯s entire forehead. Soon, ayer of ice armor appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s body, along with arge pair of crystal-clear ice wings.


    The wings of ice flew her towards Lord Qian¡¯s direction. The light sources moving towards her suddenly stopped as though they were being controlled. They stopped before Ling Lan¡¯s body and couldn¡¯t move forward any further.


    ¡°You actually acquired it!¡± Lord Qian¡¯s eyes grimly stared at Ling Lan¡¯s forehead. There was no longer any hesitation in his eyes.


    This person must die!


    Lord Qian hadpletely realized that if this world actually had a child chosen by god, then this young man in front of him was that person. He had received too much from god. There was so much that Lord Qian couldn¡¯t control his jealousy and was green with envy. He hated Ling Lan so much that he wanted to kill her.


    Profound Dao! The end goal of all Dao was this. The goal he had been thristing for his entire life was easily received by this young man standing before him. What was even more annoying was that it seemed as though this young man didn¡¯t understand how lucky he was. How could he not hate him for it?


    ¡°It?¡± Ling Lan was perplexed for a moment. She had already felt the change in Lord Qian¡¯s presence, symbolizing the start of a life-changing fight.


    Sensing Lord Qian¡¯s gaze on her forehead, Ling Lan touched her forehead with her left hand. He meant this symbol?


    Although Ling Lan didn¡¯t understand why Lord Qian¡¯s killing intent suddenly rose, this symbol definitely wasn¡¯t as simple as it seemed if Lord Qian put so much of his attention on it.


    She initially thought the change in outer appearance was because of her technique so she didn¡¯t make a big deal out of it. However, from Lord Qian¡¯s attitude and behavior, she quickly realized it was important.


    ¡°Why does it appear?¡± asked Ling Lan.


    Lord Qian smiled angrily, ¡°You think I will tell you?¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± Ling Lan said calmly. She asked as if she was right and responded as though he should tell her.


    ¡°Heh heh heh... If you still have a breath left in you before you die, perhaps I will tell you!¡± Lord Qianughed coldly.


    The number of fingers Lord Qian was pointing at Ling Lan got increased to five, and it brought along the pressure of the entire Mount Tai against Ling Lan.


    This was an attack thatbined all of Lord Qian¡¯s star and moon power.


    Ling Lan¡¯s eyes locked and simrly changed to using her full hand, ruthlessly pushing towards Lord Qian. At the same time, therge wings of ice behind her pped towards Lord Qian¡¯s direction with no hesitation.


    Bang! The shapeless energies shed against one another.


    Ling Lan groaned in pain. At the end of the sh, she could no longer control her body as she was forced back by onerge step. The ice armor and therge wings behind her began to crack. The cracks becamerger andrger before shattering in the end to be tiny ice shards. A streak of blood also flowed down from the corner of her lips.


    Despite Ling Lan activating her ice element domainpletely with the power of the Ying and Yang symbol, she still couldn¡¯tpletely block this attack which caused her to sustain internal damage.

 Chapter 1483: You Did It On Purpose

    <h4>Chapter 1483: You Did It On Purpose</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    "Heh heh!" Lord Qian couldn¡¯t help but sneer when he saw Ling Lan injured. He didn¡¯t hold back with that strike just now. If he still couldn¡¯t severely injure Ling Lan, he would suspect that all his insights into the god-realm over the years were fake.


    As expected, it¡¯s still a littlecking, Ling Lan thought to herself. She had already been prepared for this, so this oue didn¡¯t dishearten Ling Lan. Instead, she had gained some insight from that strike.


    Since she didn¡¯t have enough energy reserves, she would y to her strengths. Ling Lan made a decision.


    In the next second, Ling Lan disappeared.


    Lord Qian sneered. "Such trivial tricks are useless in a battle at the god-realm."


    After entering the god-realm, one actually already had their own world. In their own world, they were undoubtedly the god of the world in question, ruling over all life and death.


    Lord Qian extended his hand again and pointed. The entire main hall was already upied by the elements of the stars and moon. There were no other elements. It was obvious that Lord Qian wanted to turn this ce into his world and then capture Ling Lan.


    Lord Qian lowered his eyes slightly and frowned instantly. When he looked up, there was a sh of confusion.


    There was actually no trace of the other party¡¯s elemental existence. The reason for this situation was that the other party had already fled far away. And the other reason was that the other party¡¯s god-realm was higher than his, so he was unable to find it.


    However, both of these were impossible. The first possibility of escaping far away meant that traces had to be left behind. It was impossible for her to vanish into thin air without leaving anything behind. As for having a god-realm that was higher than his? That would be hrious. Among all domains, the sun, moon, and stars domain was the best. In the battle just now, Lord Qian already knew that the other party had awakened an ice-elemental domain. This was a special mutation and could be considered one of the best. However,pared to his sun, moon, and stars, this mutated domain was much weaker.


    If it wasn¡¯t for these two reasons, there was another possibility. The other party had used a mystic technique to temporarily fool his domain...


    "You have some tricks up your sleeve... However, do you think you can fool me like this?" Lord Qian suddenly extended his hand and grabbed at the void. In that direction, a white energy element was suddenly pulled out.


    "Come out!" Lord Qian pulled back forcefully and the white energy suddenly turned into Ling Lan.


    "It¡¯s over!" Lord Qian mmed down with his other hand, and the star and moon energy rushed crazily towards Ling Lan.


    Lord Qian went all out with this strike. He no longer held back.


    Pfft~ Ling Lan couldn¡¯t withstand the devastating blow and spat out a mouthful of blood.


    Before a smile suffused in Lord Qian¡¯s eyes, he suddenly retreated.


    A ck hole suddenly appeared where he stood, as though a hole had been dug out. It looked strange and terrifying.


    "Double domain!" The knowledgeable Lord Qian could tell at a nce what it was.


    Ling Lan, who was originally spewing out blood mist, suddenly dispersed again. The blood mist also turned into bone-chilling ice mist. Lord Qian had only caught Ling Lan¡¯s ice element avatar.


    "You did it on purpose." Lord Qian had an idea.


    Seeing Ling Lan¡¯s second domain, Lord Qian realized the answer to the question he was puzzled about.


    "Your domain is the thing preventing me from sensing your existence." There was aplicated look in Lord Qian¡¯s eyes. The sun, moon, and stars domain was the strongest domain in the natural elements, but there were two special elements that were independent of other elements.


    In the history of human development, there had been a few people who had entered the domain, but that was all. This was because this element was too domineering and violent. Those who had awakened this element couldn¡¯t control it and were eventually devoured by the spatial element, bing its nutrients. The lesson of blood made many people who had awakened spatial elements choose to develop it conservatively and use it as a reserve. They didn¡¯t dare to take risks easily.


    As for time, there had never been such an awakened talent in human history. Perhaps there had been one, but it had been deliberately erased.


    However, no matter what, these two elements were the most special existences in the entirety of human awakening. Lord Qian had never seen anyone use spatial elements so skillfully. The elements were so stable that there was no possibility of a bacsh.


    "I didn¡¯t expect you to still have it." For the first time, Lord Qian revealed a serious expression.


    "You¡¯re very impressive too. You actually noticed this." With this shout, the hole that had been dug out slowly formed a human figure. It was Ling Lan herself.


    She casually extended her hand and a ck triangr de appeared in her right hand. At the same time, a crystalline short de appeared in her left hand.


    Lord Qian was stunned when he saw this. Before he could figure out what was happening, Ling Lan had already arrived in front of him. The triangr de in her right hand was already stabbing towards his face.


    Lord Qian retreated quickly and dodged Ling Lan¡¯s unexpected attack. Ling Lan was already prepared. Her figure rushed forward, but the triangr de and Lord Qian maintained a distance of a few millimeters.


    "How dare you!" Lord Qian extended his right hand and grabbed the triangr de that was about to stab into his face.


    <i>Not good!</i> Godfather held the triangr de and felt a problem.


    "Break!" Lord Qian crazily released the stars and moon energy.


    "Bang!" Huge forces collided, sending Ling Lan flying.


    Ling Lan somersaulted in the air andnded firmly on the ground. It didn¡¯t seem to affect her, but the hand she used to hold the triangr de was already mangled. A stream of blood flowed uncontrobly from the corner of her tightly shut mouth.


    However, Lord Qian, who had been in control of the entire situation all this time, was now in a sorry state.


    His hand was also mangled. In order to protect his hand, he had paid the price of being injured.


    "I must kill you." The killing intent in Lord Qian¡¯s eyes was no longer concealed.


    "You never wanted me to live," Ling Lan said coldly.


    If not for that, why would she force herself to enter the god-realm with a dying heart to fight for this possible chance of survival?

 Chapter 1484 - Set-up

    <h4>Chapter 1484: Set-up</h4>


    The two of them knew what the oue of this battle would be. Ling Lan didn¡¯t have any intention of getting lucky from the start, and Lord Qian also had no possibility of stopping.


    In a battle at the god-realm, there was actually no chance of using tricks. It was a manifestation of the strength of the two¡¯s control over their respective domain. Originally, Ling Lan had just entered the god-realm, so her control and energy of the god-realm¡¯s domain concepts were definitely not as good as Lord Qian¡¯s. The battle would ultimately end with her dying from exhaustion. It was just that she didn¡¯t know how long she couldst.


    However, it just so happened that her magical second domain allowed her to sessfully dodge thews of Lord Qian¡¯s domain, giving her a fighting chance.


    Ling Lan recalled what Instructor Number One had told her. ¡°Profound Insight isn¡¯t a simple talent...¡±


    In the past, even though Ling Lan knew that Profound Insight was not a simple talent, there was almost zero information on it in this world. And Mandora seemed to have some taboo regarding this talent. Little Four wanted to help her find information on it, but he couldn¡¯t provide it. Because of Profound Insight, Ling Lan had always gone with the flow and developed freely. She didn¡¯t force anything.


    However, today, Ling Lan, who had already entered the god-realm, understood the unruliness of the god-realm¡¯sws. Only then did she truly feel how terrifying this talent was.


    <i>Profound Insight, what is it?</i> Ling Lan had a hint of reverence in her heart as she disappeared in front of Lord Qian again.


    Lord Qian frowned. He aimed at the spot where Ling Lan disappeared and grabbed.


    All he felt was the void.


    <i>I actually can¡¯t find her...</i> Lord Qian used the god-realm¡¯s nomologicalws of the stars and moon tob through the area, only to have his frown deepened.


    <i>Why is this happening?</i> Lord Qian didn¡¯t understand. Logically speaking, Ling Lan¡¯sprehension of the god-realmws definitely wasn¡¯t as deep as his. Even if they were at the same level, she couldn¡¯t be so wless.


    <i>Are you trying to trick me again?</i> Sensing the faint trace of an ice element in his domain, Lord Qian snorted at the seemingly invisible ice element, but he didn¡¯t attack.


    The ice element slowly drifted to his side. Without any hesitation, he waved his hand and wiped it out with stars and moon elements.


    Those who could enter the god-realm were sly old foxes. Even if they found something supposedly harmless suspicious, they would carefully clean it up in advance without leaving any possibility of danger.


    As expected, the ice element was only an ice element. It was easy to kill it, but it was useless. This was because Ling Lan had deliberately exposed it to Lord Qian as bait.


    Soon, the ice element came out again. This time, it wasn¡¯t just a sliver. There were many of them as they floated towards Lord Qian.


    ¡°You want to use these trivial tricks to expend my nomological energy? Are you underestimating me or have you failed to understand the profundity of thews?¡± Lord Qian looked up at the starry sky. His strength came from this universe. As long as the universe existed, there was no way he could run out of energy.


    ¡°Ice elements stand zero chance of surviving in my god domain!¡± Lord Qian said firmly.


    He slowly raised his right hand and clenched his fist. There was no longer any ice element in his divine domain.


    This was a god-realmw. It obliterated all elements that didn¡¯t belong to it.


    The only exception to protecting her ice elements was unless Ling Lan also activated her ice domain and allowed the two divine domains to sh.


    ¡°Spatial elements aren¡¯t really impossible to find...¡± Suddenly, Lord Qian dispelled his divine domain.


    ¡°Right here!¡± A cold smile appeared on Lord Qian¡¯s lips. He instantly activated his divine domain and struck out with his palm. This was an attack that contained all the power of the stars and moonw. It was an attack that determined victory.


    <i>Bang!</i>


    ¡°Pfft~¡± Ling Lan couldn¡¯t hide anymore and spat out a mouthful of blood.


    ¡°How is that possible?¡± A look of surprise appeared on Ling Lan¡¯s face, as if she hadn¡¯t expected to be discovered.


    ¡°Nothing is impossible.¡± The stars and moon elements transformed into a huge hand that grabbed Ling Lan¡¯s neck ruthlessly. Lord Qian slowly dragged Ling Lan to his side.


    ¡°You can use my god-realmws to hide; likewise, I can also remove myws to expose you,¡± Lord Qian said with a sneer. ¡°If you fight me openly, you might not have lost so quickly. Your tricks backfired. You underestimate the god-realm.¡±


    Ling Lan was enveloped by the power of the stars and moon, unable to break free. Lord Qian said coldly, ¡°You may die now.¡±


    The nomologicalws of the stars and moon from all directions crushed Ling Lan¡¯s body, causing blood to spray uncontrobly from her mouth.


    His originally lustrous eyes gradually dimmed as a satisfied smile appeared on Lord Qian¡¯s lips.


    Suddenly, the smile on his lips froze. He suddenly let go of Ling Lan and attacked her from both sides.


    <i>Bam! Bam!</i> Two loud booms sounded at almost the same time.


    Lord Qian was forced back dozens of meters as he spat out a mouthful of blood. He slowly looked to the side with a cold expression. ¡°Mu Jinyi.¡±


    Then, he looked to the other side with a hint of confusion. ¡°How did you do it?¡±


    Ling Lan wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and said coldly, ¡°I just wanted you to be able to find me.¡±


    Lord Qian instantly understood that the other party had been setting up a trap from the beginning.

 Chapter 1485 - Villains Die From Talking Too Much

    <h4>Chapter 1485: Viins Die From Talking Too Much</h4>


    Ling Lan and Mu Jinyi had barely managed to injure Lord Qian, but it was not without a price.


    In Ling Lan¡¯s right hand, the moon and stars elements were corroding the spatial element she had applied on her hand. As for Mu Jinyi, the hand he had attacked had already be mangled. The moon and stars elements were also constantly damaging his arm.


    Ling Lan lowered her head and shook her right hand, dispersing the stars and moon elements. At the same time, her spatial element dissipated.


    At the same time, Ling Lan flipped her left wrist. Mu Jinyi, who was on the other side, suddenly extended his other hand.


    A medicinal agent appeared in his hand.


    When Mu Jinyi saw this familiar appearance, he knew what it was. Without asking, he poured it into his mouth.


    A few secondster, the originally mangled hand suddenly began to heal. The stars and moon elements that were corroding his arm seemed to encounter some obstruction as they separated from his arm.


    Seeing this, Lord Qian¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly. After sweeping his gaze over the medicinal agent, he looked at Ling Lan.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± It could actually restrain the elements of the divine domain. This was absolutely impossible.


    ¡°Medicinal agent,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    Lord Qian¡¯s eyes burned with rage. He didn¡¯t believe that Ling Lan didn¡¯t understand what he was asking. This answer was definitely intentional.


    Ling Lan looked at Lord Qian indifferently, as if telling him that she was doing it on purpose. What could he do?


    ¡°Hahahahaha...¡± The angry Lord Qianughed out loud. Mu Jinyi¡¯s expression changed and he retreated hundreds of meters.


    However, it was already toote. Lord Qian had already arrived in front of him and grabbed him by the throat.


    In the blink of an eye, a ck saber beam suddenly descended from the sky and shed at Lord Qian¡¯s hand that was grabbing Mu Jinyi¡¯s throat.


    When Lord Qian sensed the immense spatial power, he snorted coldly and flipped his wrist to grab the ck saber that descended from the sky.


    ¡°Bam!¡± It was clearly just a hand making contact with a saber shadow, but it was like a huge mountain colliding. The immense energy produced caused the entire main hall to tremble violently.


    ¡°Your opponent is me!¡± The ck saber-wielding Ling Lan looked at Lord Qian and said coldly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. None of you will be left alive,¡± Lord Qian said coldly.


    ¡°Senior Mu, leave this to me,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    Mu Jinyi was stunned when he heard this. Although he had been secretly injured by Lord Qian that ended his cultivation, his old injuries had healed because of Ling Lan¡¯s medicinal agent. At this moment, his strength had already recovered to the half-step god-realm. Although he still wasn¡¯t Lord Qian¡¯s match, with him assisting in the attack and interfering with the opponent, Ling Lan, who had already reached the god-realm andcked some foundation, had a chance of winning.


    However, if he left, Mu Jinyi was certain that defeat was Ling Lan¡¯s only oue.


    ¡°There are ces elsewhere that need you more!¡± Ling Lan seemed to understand Mu Jinyi¡¯s confusion. She swept her gaze over the secondary halls below. Although her expression remained indifferent, her eyes so calm that they seemed nonchnt about life and death, Mu Jinyi could actually sense the rich and surging emotions beneath Ling Lan¡¯s calm.


    In a split second, Mu Jinyi went through countless struggles deep down. In the end, he silently stomped his feet and vanished from the spot.


    ¡°I never expected you to be so naive as to let Mu Jinyi save those ants?¡± Lord Qian sneered. ¡°It¡¯s useless even if he rushes over now. They are either dead or crippled. It¡¯s better to stay here. Perhaps you can live a little longer.¡±


    ¡°Do you know aw?¡± Ling Lan suddenly asked with a serious expression.


    Lord Qian was stunned by Ling Lan¡¯s sudden question.


    ¡°Law?¡±


    ¡°Yes. ording to thew in novels, viins all die from talking too much,¡± Ling Lan answered seriously.


    Lord Qian was puzzled before instantly understanding her words. ¡°Die!¡±


    The furious swipe was far more violent than the previous attacks.


    Activate domain! Suddenly, Ling Lan¡¯s surroundings turned pitch-ck. There were no other elements around her.


    ¡°Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam...¡± The elements of the moon and stars were like a tidal wave that rose higher and higher, mming fiercely at the domain Ling Lan had activated.


    Every time they collided, Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but move backwards. By the time this wave of attacks passed, Ling Lan was actually forced back several hundred meters.


    The attack might only be instantaneous, passing in the blink of an eye. However, only those who experienced it knew how painful and difficult it was to withstand this wave of attack.


    ¡°Cough, cough.¡± Ling Lan couldn¡¯t help but cough out mouthfuls of blood.


    ¡°Could it be that Ling Lan doesn¡¯t have a chance?¡± The nine instructors had been watching this battle the entire time. Seeing Ling Lan heavily injured, Number Nine couldn¡¯t help but voice out the question on her mind.


    Everyone was silent. Based on the current situation, Ling Lan was indeed hopeless.


    Number Nine refused to give up and looked at Number Five. Number Five was speechless. He could only turn his face away, not daring to look at her anxious, helpless, and teary face.


    ¡°Number One!¡± Number Nine looked at Number One in pain.


    Number One, who had been closing his eyes as though he no longer cared about anything, finally opened them.


    ¡°Number Nine, you need to cultivate again,¡± Number One said calmly.


    ¡°You can punish me however you want in the future. I just want to know if Ling Lan still has a chance,¡± Number Nine could no longer control her emotions and shouted.


    ¡°So what if there¡¯s no chance? So what if there¡¯s a chance?¡± Number One said coldly.


    ¡°If there¡¯s no chance, I¡¯ll apany her.¡± Number Nine looked at Number One coldly, her eyes resolute.


    Number One stared coldly at Number Nine, whereas Number Nine looked stubbornly at Number One.


    Number One slowly raised his right hand and pointed his index finger at Number Nine. Number Nine took a step forward without any fear.


    ¡°Pa!¡± With a hand chop, he knocked out Number Nine. Number Five helped Number Nine and smiled apologetically. ¡°Number One, Number Nine¡¯s mood is unstable. I¡¯ll calm her down first.¡±


    Number One stared coldly at Number Five. Just as Number Five felt that he was about to be killed by Number One¡¯s gaze, he heard Number One say, ¡°Number Four, take Number Nine to sober up.¡±


    ¡°Got it.¡± Number Four smiled charmingly and took Number Nine from Number Five¡¯s hands in the blink of an eye before disappearing.


    Number Five quietly wiped the sweat from his forehead. Just as he was about to focus his attention on the battlefield outside, he heard Number One¡¯s voice. ¡°In the future, stay away from Number Nine.¡±


    ¡°Ah?¡± Number Five suddenly turned his head and saw that Number One had already closed his eyes, as if the voice just now was a mere illusion.


    Was he hallucinating?


    ¡°Ling Lan¡¯s chance lies in death.¡± Number One¡¯s voice rang in everyone¡¯s ears.


    Everyone was shocked when they heard that, but they quickly understood.


    ¡°Then this opportunity is equivalent to not existing.¡± Number Three wailed.


    ¡°That might not be the case.¡± Number Five¡¯s eyes lit up, having studied the instantaneous moment of life and death all these years.


    ¡°Is that so? But how do we find life after death?¡± Number Two also felt that this was a conundrum.


    Number One opened his eyes again and looked at Ling Lan who was still struggling outside. Worry shed across his eyes.


    <i>Ling Lan, Profound Insight isn¡¯t that simple. In this battle, life and death depends on whether you can grasp another profundity of Profound Insight.</i>

 Chapter 1486 - This Is My World

    <h4>Chapter 1486: This Is My World</h4>


    At that moment, thepanions who were in their own battles in the various halls were about to be wiped out.


    Main Hall: Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng versus Four-leaf clover¡ªLord Kun. Currently, Zhao Jun was dead and Li Lanfeng was on the brink of death.


    Orange Hall: Qi Long and Luo Lang versus Tornado¡ªLord Xun, and Rain¡ªLord Kan. Qi Long and Luo Lang fought a bloody battle and were on the brink of death.


    Purple Hall: Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran fought Medusa¡ªLord Demon. They were heavily injured and had to bitterly defend. Dying in battle took all but an instant.


    Blue Hall: Lin Zhong-qing and Li Yingjie versus Pangu¡¯s axe¡ªLord Dui. They were on the brink of death and were unable to put up much resistance.


    Yellow Hall: Han Jijyun and Li Shiyu versus Clown¡¯s smile¡ªLord Card. They were gued by mental demons, and the chances of death were high.


    Red Hall: Luo Chao, Han Xuya, and Chang Xinyuan versus Poison Bat¡ªLord Ghost. The difference in strength was huge. Their lives were at the mercy of Lord Ghost.


    In this battle, Ling Lan¡¯s side suffered aplete defeat, without any chance of survival.


    Everyone knew that Ling Lan was fighting a bitter battle with Lord Qian and she was in peril. Right now, it was impossible for him to descend from the sky and save them like a god like before.


    Are we really going to die here? This thought uncontrobly surfaced in everyone¡¯s minds as despair silently crept over them.


    ¡°Hahahahaha...¡± Being grabbed by Lord Kun, Li Lanfeng, who could no longer fight, suddenlyughed out loud. Along with hisughter, blood irresistibly flowed out of his mouth.


    Lord Kun¡¯s hand that was about to take Li Lanfeng¡¯s life paused. He frowned slightly. ¡°What are youughing at?¡±


    He was about to die, so why was he stillughing so arrogantly? Had he gone crazy because he knew he couldn¡¯t live?


    ¡°I¡¯mughing at how foolish I am for not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth and wanting to change my fate... I¡¯mughing at how I¡¯ve schemed my entire life and making those fools believe me, to the point of foolishly doing things for me. They changed their life trajectories, and even gave up on their lives. How freaking stupid.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s voice became softer and softer. At this moment, his life force was about to disappear.


    ¡°I¡¯mughing at how ugly I am, hoping that he would like me... I don¡¯t deserve him with such looks. I don¡¯t deserve...¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s voice became softer and softer. This battle had exhausted all his domainws and drained his life force. In addition, his body was almost destroyed from the battle with Lord Kun. There was no way he could survive.


    Lord Kun looked regretfully at Li Lanfeng, who was like a rag in his hand. To be able tost until now, this person was indeed not simple. He also admired him a little, but the two of them were in a situation that only one could survive. Even if the other party only had half a breath left, he wouldn¡¯t be soft-hearted and let him off. Lord Kun was prepared to personally send the other party off and end his life.


    The mask that had been usingws couldn¡¯t be maintained when Li Lanfeng;s domain conceptpletely disappeared.


    With a ng, the mask fell to the ground.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s beautiful face was revealed.


    Lord Kun¡¯s heart skipped a beat. He was about to kill the other party¡¯sws when he instantly stopped.


    <i>Should he kill her or not?</i> Lord Kun frowned and was puzzled by his hesitation.


    ¡°Who is he/she?¡± At Lord Kun¡¯s half-step god-realm strength, he wouldn¡¯t easily ignore the existence that interfered with his emotions.


    If he ignored these, it would affect his future development. Although he looked like he could only stop here, Lord Kun saw his arm that had been destroyed by the battle and his killing intent rose again.


    However, when he saw that face, the killing intent quickly dissipated.


    Lord Kun¡¯s brows furrowed even more tightly. After a second of silence, he snorted coldly and said, ¡°In that case, it won¡¯t be toote to kill you after I clear my doubts.¡±


    As soon as he finished speaking, he extended his finger towards Li Lanfeng¡¯s forehead and began searching for her spiritual power that was about to be extinguished.


    Even if his killing intent was blocked for some reason, Lord Kun didn¡¯t show any mercy when searching Li Lanfeng¡¯s spiritual power. Instead, he did it wantonly. This kind of barbaric search method would injure Li Lanfeng even if she was at her peak. At this moment, her spiritual power, which was about to be extinguished, didn¡¯t have the ability to protect her. Even if Li Lanfeng didn¡¯t die this time, she might directly be an idiot because of the search.


    Thisst bit of spiritual power carried Li Lanfeng¡¯s remaining memory fragments.


    Lord Kun saw a girl who was seriously ill. She fell into a desperate situation because she didn¡¯t have the money to treat her illness. In the end, because of her outstanding looks, she obtained the Li family¡¯s help. However, she also signed a contract to sell her body and became a social butterfly for the Li family to make contact with the various military and political figures.


    But even so, she didn¡¯t give up on herself. She awakened her talent domain and gradually strengthened her strength. In the end, she sessfully infiltrated Lan Xiao¡¯s side and became his trusted aide and secret lover.


    As for where Lan Xiao came from... it was all darkness. Was it because Lan Xiao was too mysterious and she didn¡¯t have any information about this? Or was it because her life left the deepest impression on her remaining portion of spiritual power and core memory?


    ¡°Another pitiful person...¡± Lord Kun sighed.


    If she hadn¡¯t met Lan Xiao, perhaps she could have had a better life.


    Lord Kun shook his head. The killing intent in his heart hadpletely vanished when he read the other party¡¯s memories.


    Forget it, she wouldn¡¯t be able to live anyway. If this person is really lucky and doesn¡¯t die, ording to my search methods, she would either be an idiot or a vegetable.


    Besides, it was indeed a pity to kill such a pretty face.


    At this moment, Lord Qian suddenly appeared in the main hall.


    ¡°Why haven¡¯t you killed them?¡± Li Lanfeng looked at Li Lanfeng in Lord Kun¡¯s hand.


    ¡°Whether I kill her or not, the oue is the same.¡± Lord Kun shrugged. Just as he was about to leave Li Lanfeng behind, he saw Li Lanfeng suddenly open her eyes. Those pure eyes stirred his heart.


    ¡°She doesn¡¯t seem to have any memories.¡± Lord Qian saw the problem at a nce.


    ¡°I stole thest bit of memory,¡± Lord Kun said indifferently.


    ¡°Then she¡¯s a nk piece of paper now.¡± Lord Qian shook his head. He really didn¡¯t need to care about such a person.


    ¡°Yes, let her live.¡± Lord Kun looked at her face and felt that it wasn¡¯t a bad idea to leave her behind to feast his eyes.


    ¡°Up to you.¡± Lord Qian killed Lan Xiao, so he naturally didn¡¯t care about these ants, especially one that was harmless and without any abilities or memories.


    Just like that, Lord Kun took her back. She survived. Apart from being able to live normally, she didn¡¯t know how to speak or do anything. However, she would look at Lord Kun with her pure gaze. She wouldn¡¯t make a fuss, sitting there quietly or lying down quietly when she was tired.


    Lord Kun felt very peaceful by her side and gradually liked to sit beside her. Just like that, year after year, until he reached the end of his lifespan.


    ¡°I hope my subordinates can continue to take care of you.¡± Lord Kun¡¯s wrinkled hand touched the excessively young face.


    ¡°I really wish I could take you away, but I also wish that you can continue living. If only I could be like you and not grow old and die...¡± This face was just like when they first met. It was young, beautiful, and wless. It was as though time had forgotten her existence and couldn¡¯t bear to let a beauty die...


    The beauty¡¯ste blooming... Lord Kun suddenly woke up.


    ¡°That¡¯s not right... Why won¡¯t you age?¡± Lord Kun looked at his aged and decaying body before looking at the other party¡¯s overly young appearance.


    The beautiful, expressionless faceughed for the first time. It was a dazzling smile.


    ¡°Because this is my world...¡±

 Chapter 1487 - Dream of Desire?

    <h4>Chapter 1487: Dream of Desire?</h4>


    After Li Lanfeng said that, Lord Kun, who had already secretly umted his domain concept, grabbed Li Lanfeng¡¯s throat without any hesitation and wanted to crush it.


    When Lord Kun realized that Li Lanfeng wouldn¡¯t grow old, he knew that he had fallen into a trap. He continued pretending to be puzzled because he wanted to confuse Li Lanfeng and make him lower his guard so that he could kill the enemy in one move and escape the trap.


    Lord Kun¡¯s confident strike missed.


    As he had used all his strength, he failed to hit his target. All his strength ended up giving him a bacsh.


    <i>Pfft!</i> Lord Kun spat out a mouthful of blood.


    ¡°Your world, your world...¡± Lord Kunughed maniacally.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. My world. Then, I am the master of this ce.¡± Li Lanfeng slowly walked out from another ce.


    Lord Kun red at Li Lanfeng with his bloodshot eyes and said coldly, ¡°What kind of world is this?¡±


    ¡°You can call it the Dream of Desire.¡± Li Lanfeng smiled.


    ¡°Desire? Dream?¡± Lord Kun muttered to himself.


    Suddenly, he grabbed his injured arm.


    Ssh! Blood spewed out as Lord Kun convulsed in pain. However, his expression was abnormally indifferent. He wanted to know if he could find the ws in this dream under the intense pain.


    Seeing Lord Kun¡¯s actions, Li Lanfeng only smiled and didn¡¯t stop him. It was as if he was very sure that using this method wouldn¡¯t change the situation.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a dream,¡± Lord Kun said with certainty.


    ¡°Of course not,¡± Li Lanfeng said calmly.


    ¡°But you chose this name,¡± Lord Kun said coldly. ¡°You did it on purpose.¡±


    ¡°I just gave it a casual name. I didn¡¯t expect you to believe me.¡± Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile was no longer beautiful in Lord Kun¡¯s eyes. It was vicious and ugly.


    For Lord Kun to be able to enter the half-step god-realm, he was definitely not a rash and impulsive person. Although he knew that he had entered a trap at the beginning, infuriating him, he quickly calmed down after seeing that his attempts were useless after a few times. He began to consider what kind of existence this strange world was.


    He reached out to touch the thing beside him. It was indeed real and not illusory.


    He closed his eyes slightly and listened carefully. The sound of the wind and insects outside were so real and natural without any oddity.


    ¡°This shouldn¡¯t be your world...¡± Lord Kun opened his eyes and said calmly.


    Li Lanfeng smiled without saying anything.


    ¡°Therefore, there¡¯s nothing you can do even if you want to kill me.¡± Lord Kun looked at his arm that he had just scratched. ¡°It hurts because I feel that I should be in pain if I¡¯m injured, but if I don¡¯t think I¡¯m injured, then I won¡¯t be in pain.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to lie to yourself,¡± Li Lanfeng said calmly.


    ¡°Is that so?¡± Lord Kun smiled and looked at his injured hand. ¡°If I don¡¯t think I should be injured, I won¡¯t be.¡±


    With this sentence, Lord Kun¡¯s mangled arm suddenly recovered.


    At that moment, Li Lanfeng¡¯s smile finally disappeared.


    ¡°Furthermore, if I don¡¯t find myself old, I won¡¯t grow.¡± Lord Kun, who was originally old, rotting, and filled with an aura of death, suddenly seemed to turn back time and returned to his prime.


    ¡°This world is only a spiritual world... And I¡¯m only a spiritual power.¡± Lord Kun looked at his body that was filled with vitality and was extremely satisfied. ¡°But that¡¯s all. To trap me in a harmless spiritual world is underestimating me.¡±


    ¡°The game ends here! Break!¡± Lord Kun¡¯s prepared spiritual power rushed towards Li Lanfeng in an attempt to wipe out his spiritual power. Then, the spiritual world that had trapped him wouldpletely disappear.


    Li Lanfeng disappeared again, but Lord Kun didn¡¯t care. His target wasn¡¯t Li Lanfeng from the start, but everything he saw.


    Indeed, under his immense mental strength¡¯s sweep, the surroundings turned chaotic. At that moment, he heard a grunt from afar.


    Lord Kun turned his head and saw a figure appear in the void. That gorgeous face was pale and blood kept flowing from the corner of his mouth. His mental attack had dealt a heavy blow to the other party.


    ¡°I¡¯m finally out. It¡¯s time to end this.¡± Lord Kun slowly walked towards Li Lanfeng. Even though the other party¡¯s world was very mysterious, in front of absolute strength, it was just a farce. It could be pricked with a poke.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s beautiful eyes revealed a look of despair as he watched Lord Kun walk over step by step. Did he really have no chance?

 Chapter 1488 - Terrifying Laws

    <h4>Chapter 1488: Terrifying Laws</h4>


    Lord Kun walked towards Li Lanfeng step by step. The more despair Li Lanfeng felt, the happier he was. Being tricked by Li Lanfeng, who was much weaker than him, was a humiliation to Lord Kun. He had to get revenge.


    He grabbed Li Lanfeng¡¯s throat. Lord Kun was very cautious at that moment. He carefully used hisw to sense the feeling in his hand.


    Feeling the pulse of life and the warm feeling to the touch, he confirmed that it was a corporeal object.


    He slowly clenched his fingers. He wanted to see this face twist in despair. It would definitely satisfy him.


    ¡°Die!¡± Lord Kun said cruelly.


    Li Lanfeng struggled in despair. This was a sign of powerlessness before death. It was the tragic end of the weak.


    ¡°Do you want to see me like this?¡± Just as Lord Kun was enjoying this scene, Li Lanfeng suddenly stopped struggling. His originally pained and look of despair revealed a mocking expression.


    <i>What¡¯s going on?</i> Lord Kun¡¯s heart trembled.


    ¡°I said it¡¯s my world...¡± Li Lanfeng smiled again in an extremely charming manner. ¡°Was my acting okay?¡±


    ¡°No way!¡± Lord Kun exerted strength in his five fingers again. He had to kill this detestable person.


    Li Lanfeng¡¯s eyes were cold and determined.


    At that moment, Li Lanfeng¡¯s neck suddenly disintegrated into countless 0s and 1s. Then, his entire body became 0s and 1s.


    Lord Kun was stunned again when he saw this. The ck 0s and 1s spread along Lord Kun¡¯s arm.


    Following that, Lord Kun saw an extremely terrifying scene. He saw his arm turn into 0s and 1s along with the numbers before disintegrating.


    The disintegration instantly spread to his arm. What was even more terrifying was that he didn¡¯t feel any pain.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t happening. This isn¡¯t happening.¡± Lord Kun used his domain concept to stop it. He wanted to return to normal, but it was to no avail. Then, he used the recovery ability of the Four-leaf cloverw to stop the terrifying disintegration force, but it was also useless.


    Seeing that the disintegration had already reached his shoulder and was spreading towards his head and body, Lord Kun¡¯s eyes revealed determination.


    A sharp sword formed fromws appeared out of nowhere and ruthlessly sliced off his arm from his shoulder.


    Just as the severed arm separated from Lord Kun¡¯s body, itpletely disintegrated. The strike was surgical. It sliced through the ck 0s and 1s without missing a single one.


    After Lord Kun¡¯s decisive strike, Lord Kun felt his mind go adrift. The scene he saw was back in the main hall. Not far away, the two people he had fought werepletely lying there. Although he didn¡¯t know if they were dead, they were definitely on theirst breaths.


    As expected, he had just been dragged into Li Lanfeng¡¯s domain.


    That domain, especially the final scene, was truly terrifying and unresolvable. Furthermore, it drew people into the domain without them noticing. This was rather horrifying. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the other party hadn¡¯tpletely grasped his domain concept, he might not have been so lucky toe out alive.


    Perhaps it was because he had just awakened his domain concept that he was so unfamiliar with it. Lord Kun had some answers in mind.


    Even so, he still paid a painful price.


    Lord Kun lowered his head and looked at his arms. He immediately smiled bitterly. At that moment, one of his arms waspletely gone. The other only had half an arm left. His body was so badly damaged that hepletely had no chance of advancing to the god-realm. His realm would also regress because of his iplete body. It was unknown if he could ultimately maintain his strength at the imperial level.


    He had really suffered heavy losses in this battle.


    He couldn¡¯t help but feel regret. If he hadn¡¯te here, if he hadn¡¯t chosen this path, if he...


    These copious numbers of ifs might have prevented him from ending up in such a situation.


    However, what infuriated him was the person who destroyed his arms. He had to tear him to pieces.

 Chapter 1489 - Half-step God-Realm Sphere

    <h4>Chapter 1489: Half-step God-Realm Sphere</h4>


    At that moment, Li Lanfeng was lying there quietly. If it wasn¡¯t for his chest heaving slightly, one would imagine him to be a corpse. After fighting to the final ounce of his strength, the mask on his face had long disappeared. Although his face was pale, it still didn¡¯t take away his breathtaking beauty.


    ¡°He¡¯s indeed a monster.¡± Killing intent shed in Lord Kun¡¯s eyes.


    Just as he finished speaking, Lord Kun¡¯s massive domain concept swept towards Li Lanfeng like a tornado.


    Lord Kun made up his mind to reduce Li Lanfeng into dust and make himpletely disappear from this world.


    Seeing that Li Lanfeng was about to die at Lord Kun¡¯s hands, Ling Lan, who had fought Lord Qian to the bitter end and failed to avoid the fatal blow, revealed an almost indiscernible smile on her cold face. ¡°Fine by me!¡±


    The mark on Ling Lan¡¯s forehead began to disappear. Her long hair that was dancing in the wind slowly returned to its original short hair. She fell to the ground. She seemed to have seen her fight to the death with Lord Qian. She saw herselfing to the Lawless Lands. She saw her father, Ling Xiao, dying to save her. She saw Haijiao, the 23rd Division¡¯s 250 Mecha n, the First Men¡¯s Military Academy, the Scout Academy, the instructors of the learning devices, and her infancy. Her final destination was the moment of her transmigration.


    <i>Is this my life?</i> It was indeed exciting, but she still had many things left undone. She still has too many things that left her indignant. Herpanions, her parents, her instructors, Little Four, Little Blossom...


    And that fat ball-like Little White...


    <i>Pa!</i> A huge tentacle wanted to take another step forward to deliver another strike. To ensure that nothing went wrong, Lord Qian flew out from the strike.


    At the same time, another huge tentacle gently wrapped around Ling Lan¡¯s fallen body.


    ¡°Ji~¡± The ultrasonic waves filled with despair jolted everyone in battle. Their attacks slowed down.


    <i>Bam!</i> A huge body descended from the sky. Lord Qian¡¯s eyes narrowed as he retreated.


    He saw a huge crater where he had been standing. At that moment, a huge spherical creature waved countless tentacles and attacked him fiercely.


    At the center of the sphere, Ling Lan¡¯s body was already wrapped inyers of its tentacles. The tentacles wrapped around her seemed to be afraid of injuring her. They were slow and gentle,pletely different from the tentacles attacking Lord Qian.


    What was even more shocking was that ck liquid flowed out of the sphere¡¯s eyes as though it was crying.


    Lord Qian shed with the tentacles a few times. He could already sense the strength of this creature. It actually had the strength of a human half-step god-realm. He couldn¡¯t help but feel rmed. It had to be known that in human records of savage beasts, terrifying savage beasts and mysterious creatures at the imperial level and above usually existed in the depths of the universe. It was a ce that humans found very difficult to reach or survive.


    As long as they didn¡¯t provoke these terrifying creatures in those ces, they definitely wouldn¡¯te to the human world. Therefore, imperial level savage beasts and creatures were only recorded in history and legends. They had never been seen before.


    Lord Qian had always been in the Lawless Lands. so he had never seen such a powerful savage beast or creature.


    Unexpectedly, at this moment, the creature in front of him was a half-step god-realm creature. It even appeared in the human world and even ignored his supreme divine domain which was much stronger than it. It looked like it was willing to risk its life to kill him. It also did an exceptional job protecting Lan Xiao. Could it be that this creature was rted to him?


    Lord Qian shook his head. Be it historical records or legends, it was impossible for creatures at the imperial level to fight alongside humans and help each other. ording to the records, creatures at the imperial level and above had their own rules. They were not allowed to befriend humans.


    Then what was going on?

 Chapter 1490 - Do you regret it? Was it worth it?

    <h4>Chapter 1490: Do you regret it? Was it worth it?</h4>


    The world here was silent, so silent that Ling Lan felt suffocated.


    Was she dead? There was no Ox-Head or Horse-Face¡ªguardians of hell. There was no so-called hell either...


    <i>Little Four said that once one¡¯s spiritual power dissipates, they will bepletely dead.</i> Ling Lan silently observed this tranquil world, beginning to consider whether this was thest moment before her spiritual power dissipated.


    But why would my spiritual power produce such a world at the very end?


    Ling Lan was perplexed.


    Suddenly, two streaks of light appeared on her left and right. It was as if two paths appeared out of thin air in the tranquil space.


    <i>Are these here to guide me?</i>


    Ling Lan looked at the two paths, which only slightly differed from each other in terms of brightness, and frowned slightly.


    Staying here was not a solution. Ling Lan took a step forward, unwilling to give up. However, she realized that she couldn¡¯t step out at all. It was as if she was restricted.


    She tried to step onto the dark path on the left, but there was no resistance at all.


    It really wanted her to take this path.


    Ling Lan was just about to step onto this dark path when her heart skipped a beat. The step she took came to an abrupt stop.


    Right on the heels of that, she moved 180 degrees horizontally and stepped onto the brighter path.


    The moment she stepped on the bright path, the other dark path instantly disappeared as if it had never appeared before.


    <i>Is this a choice?</i> Ling Lan pondered.


    Since it had already been decided, Ling Lan would not dwell on it no matter the oue. She instantly forgot about the dark path, and decisively made her way along the bright path.


    After walking for an unknown amount of time, Ling Lan felt as if she had experienced her entire life. The long period of time and the unchanging environment had already be a tranquil and silent world. If not for the terrifying endurance she had gained from her two lifetimes and the training she endured in this life of hers, any other ordinary person would probably have been driven mad by this andpletely copsed.


    Ling Lan closed her eyes slightly. When she opened them again, she was still calm and indifferent, as if she had never suffered prolonged torture.


    After a long time, a deep sigh sounded in the tranquil space.


    Ling Lan didn¡¯t seem to hear it. She continued to walk forward with her original pace.


    The sigh did not stop. Every now and then, it would ring out, gradually reaching Ling Lan¡¯s ears from afar, as if reminding Ling Lan not to ignore its existence.


    Ling Lan wasn¡¯t moved at all. She continued walking on the path at her own pace.


    ¡°Boss Lan!¡± The voice was the first to lose its cool and suddenly shouted.


    A cold light shed through Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. Suddenly, she reached out and pulled out someone by the ear from the void.


    ¡°Ouch, ouch, ouch...¡± That person grabbed Ling Lan¡¯s hand that was pulling at his ear and jumped out with a loud cry.


    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Ling Lan let go of her hand and asked calmly.


    ¡°I¡¯m here to see you.¡± That person had a smile on his face, just like before.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t somewhere you should be, Xie Yi,¡± Ling Lan said calmly.


    ¡°I¡¯m not supposed to be here, but Boss Lan, you should know your current situation. Why?¡± Xie Yi shrugged nonchntly.


    ¡°You mean I¡¯m dead?¡± Ling Lan was not surprised. Wasn¡¯t this supposed to be the ending?


    ¡°That¡¯s true and that¡¯s not true. It should be said that you stepped onto the two realms of Yin and Yang, so you will meet us who are also in the two realms of Yin and Yang,¡± Xie Yi smiled and said.


    ¡°You guys? Xie¡¯er?¡± Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.


    ¡°It¡¯s not just Xie¡¯er. There are others too...¡± Xie Yi replied. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to choose this path. If you chose the other path, you wouldn¡¯t have met me. It seems like I¡¯m luckier than Xie¡¯er. Hahahaha. ¡±


    ¡°The other path has Xie¡¯er?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s heart thumped.


    Xie Yi didn¡¯t reply and just smiled at Ling Lan.


    ¡°There are others... Xie¡¯er won¡¯t be the only one you¡¯ll see.¡± Ling Lan pondered over Xie Yi¡¯s words, and then thought about how Xie¡¯er represented Xie Yi¡¯s dark side. Then, did that dark path contain such existences?


    ¡°Since the person I¡¯m meeting is you, it¡¯s fate¡¯s choice. Speak.¡± Putting aside the enlightenment she had just received, Ling Lan turned to look at Xie Yi.


    Xie Yiughed and shook his head. ¡°I can¡¯t hide it from you after all. I just want to ask, Boss Lan, have you ever regretted it?¡±


    ¡°Regret?¡± Xie Yi¡¯s question made Ling Lan pause for a moment. She seriously thought back to the choices she had made in this life. Although not every choice was correct, every choice was what she wanted to do. Even if the result might cost her life, she did not regret it.


    ¡°No!¡± replied Ling Lan decisively.


    ¡°No?¡± Xie Yi¡¯s gaze wasplicated. There was admiration, relief, helplessness, and worry. In the end, he sighed. ¡°Boss, we can¡¯t help you. You can only rely on yourself. All the best!¡±


    As soon as he finished speaking, Xie Yi turned into a gust of wind and disappeared without a trace.


    <i>Do I regret it?</i> Ling Lan looked down at her hands and repeated Xie Yi¡¯s question.


    <i>Yes, I have no regrets!</i> Ling Lan raised her head once more, her gaze calm. She once again set off on her journey, waiting for her nextpanion.


    Since Xie Yi said there were other people, he couldn¡¯t be the only one who appeared.


    After walking for some time, Ling Lan seemed to turn numb. Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out, ¡°You¡¯re finally here, my daughter.¡±


    Following this voice, Ling Xiao suddenly appeared in front of her. The warmth of his aura nourished Ling Lan¡¯s initially exhausted mind. She instantly became filled with vigor and strength.


    ¡°Long time no see, Father.¡± A hint of a smile appeared in the corners of Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. Along the way, she had also thought that it would be good if she could just see Ling Xiao one more time. Unexpectedly, her dream hade true. This made her rather happy and blessed, and her initially indifferent expression became lively.


    ¡°You¡¯re more powerful than before. I¡¯m proud of you, my daughter.¡± Ling Xiao revealed a proud look. Just like before, he was the one who always considered his precious daughter the best in the world.


    ¡°Father, if I hadn¡¯t reached this level, would you also not have wanted to tell me your true strength?¡± Ling Lan sighed. She knew that her father was very strong, but she didn¡¯t realize that her father was even stronger than she had imagined.


    ¡°Some things require you to figure it out on your own. Everyone¡¯s path is different,¡± said Ling Xiao with a smile. Since Ling Lan had already found her path, he did not need to interfere with her choice.


    Ling Lan sighed, ¡°Father, just be honest. It¡¯s fine even if you don¡¯t know what to say.¡± After being Ling Xiao¡¯s daughter for so many years, how could she not understand Ling Xiao¡¯s problem?


    ¡°Ahem~¡± Ling Xiao brought his fist to his mouth and coughed a few times before saying, ¡°Erm, I came this time to ask, do you think your life was worth it?¡±


    ¡°Was it worth it?¡± Ling Lan¡¯s eyes narrowed.


    In this life, she became Ling Xiao¡¯s daughter and Lan Luofeng¡¯s daughter. She got to know a bunch of friends. She got to know Little Four, Little Blossom, the instructors, and the chubby Little White. They were all important to her. Compared to her previous life, she had received so much. How could it not be worth it?


    ¡°It was worth it. I¡¯m proud that I¡¯m your daughter. I¡¯m proud that I¡¯m Ling Lan!¡± Ling Lan said firmly.


    ¡°I¡¯m proud of you too.¡± Ling Xiao¡¯s gaze was filled with gratification, but there was also a trace of worry, but more of helplessness...


    With that said, Ling Xiao disappeared from Ling Lan¡¯s sight as suddenly as Xie Yi¡¯s disappearance.

 Chapter 1491 - You Are Courting Death.

    <h4>Chapter 1491: You Are Courting Death.</h4>


    Ling Xiao¡¯s sudden disappearance did not dishearten Ling Lan much. From the moment Ling Xiao appeared, Ling Lan was already prepared that he would disappear quickly, just like Xie Yi.


    <i>Is it worth it?</i> Ling Lan frowned. She thought back to Xie Yi¡¯s question about regret.


    <i>They appeared to tell me something, but because of the rules, they can¡¯t say it directly, so they can only give me an indirect reminder.</i> Ling Lan understood what was going on, but her answer was also her true thoughts. Since there had been no changes until now, it meant that she still hadn¡¯tprehended the catalyst.


    Ling Lan knew that this was probably herst chance, but she also knew that forcing herself to search for the so-called answer would only lead to her going astray. Thus, she was not anxious and continued walking forward.


    If her spirit dissipated without finding that catalyst in the end, it could only mean that she, Ling Lan, was still not strong enough to pass this life-or-death juncture. There was no need to me anyone. She could only me herself for being too weak, and that she was not strong enough to control her own fate.


    After walking for an unknown amount of time, just as Ling Lan found herself almost exhausted, she suddenly saw someone squatting not too far away from her.


    Ling Lan was surprised by his appearance, but when she thought about it, it made sense.


    With just one step, Ling Lan arrived beside that person.


    ¡°Zhao Jun!¡± Ling Lan shouted calmly.


    Zhao Jun seemed to snap awake. He looked up and saw Ling Lan. He was ted.


    ¡°Boss Lan, are you here to take me back?¡± Zhao Jun asked agitatedly.


    Ling Lan looked at Zhao Jun, who was different from before, and a thoughtful look shed in her eyes. She slowly asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I blocked Lord Kun¡¯s attack that meant certain death for Lanfeng and woke up here...¡± Zhao Jun was extremely distressed.


    ¡°How long have you been here?¡± Ling Lan scanned the silent world and thought of another possibility.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know either. It feels like a lifetime has passed but it also feels like I just came.¡± Zhao Jun was a little nk.


    ¡°What are your thoughts?¡± Ling Lan asked seriously.


    ¡°I want to go back. Ourrades are still fighting. I have to go back to them and fight together with them.¡± Zhao Jun¡¯s eyes were filled with anxiety. He seemed to have been trapped here for a long time and had been fighting for a long time. Yet, he also seemed to have just arrived and knew nothing about this ce so he was at his wit¡¯s end.


    ¡°Boss Lan, you¡¯re here to bring me back, right?¡± Zhao Jun looked at Ling Lan hopefully. In the hearts of hisrades, Ling Lan was omnipotent.


    Ling Lan suddenly sensed something. She nced at Zhao Jun and didn¡¯t say anything. Then, she slowly stepped back and pulled away from Zhao Jun.


    ¡°Boss Lan, why are you retreating?¡± Zhao Jun was puzzled. He wanted to follow Ling Lan but found that he couldn¡¯t move at all.


    ¡°Damn it, why did you seal me up here? Boss Lan, what is going on? What is going on with this strange world?¡± Zhao Jun roared furiously, wanting Ling Lan to give him an answer.


    Ling Lan, who had retreated more than ten meters, looked at Zhao Jun, who was struggling furiously, and said calmly, ¡°Zhao Jun, in this world, there is no one you can rely on. You are courting death if you ce your hopes in others.¡±


    ¡°Courting death?¡± Zhao Jun was shocked by Ling Lan¡¯s words and stopped struggling.


    ¡°Yes, I won¡¯t take you away. If you don¡¯t want to die, break free from this world on your own,¡± said Ling Lan coldly. ¡°People without ability don¡¯t deserve to live.¡±


    ¡°Roar!¡± Zhao Jun roared angrily. The oue he had been looking forward to had ended up in this manner. Zhao Jun was furious. Was this still the Boss Lan he respected?

 Chapter 1492 - I Know Youre Not

    <h4>Chapter 1492: I Know You¡¯re Not</h4>


    ¡°Ignore what you have and ce your hopes on others. Zhao Jun, you¡¯re too stupid.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s cold voice rang in Zhao Jun¡¯s ears, causing his heart to tremble.


    ¡°Also, do I really exist?¡± Ling Lan asked coldly.


    This question made Zhao Jun calm down quickly. There was a look of deep thought in his eyes.


    Ling Lan ignored Zhao Jun. She nced at him indifferently and turned her head to see that the bright path which had been temporarily changed because of Zhao Jun had already corrected its direction and was now extending into the depths of the void.


    Pausing for a moment, Ling Lan indeed turned around and once again stepped onto the path of light, looking for the catalyst that belonged to her.


    ¡°Boss Lan, do you really not exist?¡± Zhao Jun asked, unwillingly to give up.


    ¡°So what if I exist? So what if I don¡¯t?¡± Ling Lan turned and asked coldly.


    Zhao Jun fell silent. After a few seconds, he muttered to himself, ¡°Am I really unable to go back?¡±


    ¡°That you have to ask yourself,¡± Ling Lan said coldly. ¡°Do you want to?¡±


    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I want to? I want to go back. I want to go back. I really want to go back.¡± Zhao Jun was agitated again as he shouted with all his might.


    Ling Lan¡¯s cold re stunned Zhao Jun once again.


    ¡°If you really want to go back, even if you¡¯re in hell, you will forge out a bloody path to return. You¡¯re still here because you don¡¯t have the courage to do so.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s words stabbed at Zhao Jun¡¯s heart.


    ¡°In the end, you are nothing more than a coward.¡±


    After Ling Lan¡¯s merciless words, she disappeared from Zhao Jun¡¯s sight.


    <i>Coward?</i> Zhao Jun questioned himself silently.


    ¡°I¡¯m not...¡± If he was a coward, he wouldn¡¯t have blocked a fatal blow for Li Lanfeng. If he was a coward, he wouldn¡¯t have fought Lord Kun together with Li Lanfeng to the death. If he was a coward, he wouldn¡¯t have struggled so hard to find a chance to escape.


    ¡°I¡¯m not!¡± Zhao Jun¡¯s unyielding roar reached Ling Lan¡¯s ears again.


    Ling Lan raised an eyebrow slightly. ¡°I know you¡¯re not.¡± This voice was very soft, barely audible. In the end, only Ling Lan herself knew what she had said.


    ¡°It would be nice if only all of this had just existed.¡± Ling Lan looked at the empty world and continued moving forward with hope. Lord Kun¡¯s fatal blow to Li Lanfeng suddenly stopped when it was about tond.


    Lord Kun looked at the position where Lord Qian and Ling Lan were fighting. He smiled and continued attacking.


    Lord Qian had indeed garneredplete victory.


    ¡°Ji~¡± A terrifying supersonic wave caused Lord Kun¡¯s spirit to suddenly freeze. His hands paused again.


    Lord Kun instantly retracted his powerful spiritual power and looked at Lord Qian¡¯s battle with a grave expression.


    ¡°Such a terrifying creature actually appeared in the human world...¡± Lord Kun¡¯s expression wasplicated. If his arms were intact, he would definitely fight this half-step god-realm creature personally. Unfortunately...


    At this thought, the hatred in Lord Kun¡¯s heart ignited once again. The pausedw condensed once again and ruthlessly crushed towards Li Lanfeng.


    ¡°Boom!¡± Lord Kun watched as the nomological energy struck Li Lanfeng¡¯s body. He watched as Li Lanfeng¡¯s body was sted into pieces by thew andpletely disappeared from this world.


    ¡°Pfft~¡± A mocking voice suddenly sounded.


    Thew that was about to swallow Li Lanfeng¡¯s body suddenly froze.


    Lord Kun¡¯s heart palpitated. He looked at this inexplicable scene in astonishment.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± Lord Kun sensed something and looked around solemnly.


    ¡°Return!¡± The voice was heard again. Following that, the frozenws around Li Lanfeng suddenly swept towards Lord Kun.


    ¡°You want to use myw to hurt me? Dream on.¡± Lord Kun tried to control hisw, but he discovered that thew sweeping over didn¡¯t listen to his orders at all. It attacked his master indiscriminately.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± Lord Kun could only retreat and dodge the nomological attack.


    Fortunately, this was his nomologicalw. The opponent could only allow his nomologicalw to retrace its path when attacking. He could notmand it to continue attacking.


    ¡°Just who is ying tricks?¡± Lord Kun looked around vigntly, wanting to find this expert who had appeared unexpectedly.


    However, besides Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng who were lying on the ground, there was no one else around the main hall.


    Lord Kun used his domain concept to search a few hundred kilometers around the main hall, but to no avail. He couldn¡¯t help but frown. At the same time, he was secretly on guard. This invisible enemy made Lord Kun feel a huge sense of danger.

 Chapter 1493 - Rhythm

    <h4>Chapter 1493: Rhythm</h4>


    Lord Kun searched carefully but didn¡¯t find anything. He had no choice but to converge his spiritual power into the main hall and put his guard up. He didn¡¯t want this mysterious enemy to find an opportunity to attack him while his spiritual power was too scattered.


    At that moment, Lord Kun shouted, ¡°That¡¯s not right!¡±


    He stared at where Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng were supposed to be lying, unable to hide the shock in his eyes.


    There was no one there.


    That¡¯s right. Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng had disappeared before Lord Kun¡¯s eyes.


    Could it be the expert who had stopped him by sounding out twice?


    Lord Kunposed himself. Although he was indeed shocked that the person was able to take the two away without him noticing, he had exchanged blows twice with the other party in an instant. The other party¡¯s strength was at most simr to his and definitely not stronger than his.


    For someone with Lord Kun¡¯s strength, once they fought, they would be able to roughly understand the other party¡¯s strength. If it was someone at the god-realm, even if they didn¡¯t use their full strength, the difference in their levels, the suppression and attack from a superiorw against an inferiorw would instantaneously show during a sh.


    Lord Kun calmed down. As long as he didn¡¯t make any mistakes and didn¡¯t reveal any weaknesses, he believed that the other party wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything to him if he didn¡¯t give the other party a chance to ambush him.


    As for the two puny ants, even though they did not make that monstrositypletely disappear from this world, it was unlikely they would survive.


    Lord Kun immediately threw Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng to the back of his mind and focused on dealing with the mysterious enemy who was hiding in the surroundings.


    ¡°Badump, badump, badump...¡± Suddenly, Lord Kun heard an indistinct, rhythmic sound.


    Lord Kun¡¯s expression froze and his ears twitched uncontrobly.


    ¡°Badump, badump, badump...¡± The rhythmic sounds became louder and louder. It was as if the entire main hall was beating along with this sound, and it was beating faster and faster.


    Lord Kun¡¯s expression changed drastically and he quickly sealed his ears. However, his heart seemed to have already been controlled by the sound. The speed of his heartbeat also increased. It was beating rapidly, causing Lord Kun¡¯s face to flush red.


    ¡°teau of Life! Activate!¡± Lord Kun decisively activated his domain technique.


    At that moment, Lord Kun already understood that he had unknowingly been brought into the other party¡¯s domain.


    This was undoubtedly extremely dangerous. In a battle between experts, this was prelude to him losing the initiative and falling into a disadvantageous position.


    Last time, he identally fell for that monstrosity¡¯s trick and was brought into the domain realm of the other party. Although he managed to finish off the other party in the end, he had to pay the price of losing an arm in order to escape.


    Lord Kun didn¡¯t want history to repeat a second time. Compared to the first time when he waspletely unprepared, Lord Kun had learned his lesson this time. When he realized that the situation wasn¡¯t right, he didn¡¯t hold back at all.


    Countless four-leaf clovers rapidly grew under Lord Kun¡¯s feet. In the blink of an eye, they filled the entire main hall. The boundless vitality caused Lord Kun¡¯s throbbing heart, which was on the verge of losing control, to instantly stabilize. The difort that made Lord Kun¡¯s scalp tingle also quickly disappeared.


    ¡°It¡¯s a pity that you met me,¡± Lord Kun sneered.


    If it were someone else, they might be helpless against such a strange domain technique. However, his domain concept was his life force. As long as his domain concept energy wasn¡¯t exhausted, he remained immortal no matter how serious his injuries were.


    ¡°Badump, badump, badump...¡± These pulsating sounds had be indistinct and distant after Lord Kun activated his domain concept. However, at this moment, they actually started to beat vigorously again as if they had adapted to Lord Kun¡¯s domain concept or had received a domain concept¡¯s replenishment. The sound also became louder and clearer.


    ¡°Badump, badump, badump...¡± Lord Kun had kept his ears sealed, so it should have been impossible for him to hear anything but he couldn¡¯t stop the sound from entering his ears. Even though his heart was protected by the domain concept, he could still feel his heart beating. He felt frustrated and diforted because of the mismatch in rhythm.

 Chapter 1494 - Warning? Retreat!

    <h4>Chapter 1494: Warning? Retreat!</h4>


    Lord Kun frowned slightly. He noticed that the floor, walls, and roof of the hall were covered with four-leaf clovers. He alsopletely disappeared into the four-leaf clovers.


    ¡°Badump, badump, badump...¡± The thumping sounds didn¡¯t stop because of this. Instead, as he disappeared, the sound grew louder, and before long, the ground and the main hall started to tremble along.


    The four-leaf clovers also began to sway rhythmically.


    But whether it was Lord Kun or the mysterious expert, there was no trace of them.


    The tremors intensified until the entire ground began to resonate.


    The main hall seemed to be unable to withstand the power of this resonance and began to quake violently. Several cracks instantly appeared on the walls and the entire main hall began to crumble.


    Finally, the resonance reached a certain limit. With a loud bang, the entire main hall copsed.


    Countless dust, debris, and four-leaf clovers fell from the ceiling.


    At the same time, the ground split apart, creating severalrge holes in the ground filled with four-leaf clovers.


    The four-leaf clovers swept over once again, quickly covering the fewrge holes. The entire ce was once again covered by four-leaf clovers.


    ¡°Badump, badump, badump...¡± The resonance continued. As this resonance grew in intensity, the four-leaf clovers on the ground danced alongside the resonance like waves.


    It was clear that both sides were in a match; the loser being the first to falter.


    Lord Kun sneered. It was impossible for the resonating sound to tear through his four-leaf clover domain.


    As long as there was a single four-leaf clover in the Lawless Lands, his domain concept would exist. These nts were the one thing the Lawless Lands had copious amounts of.


    This was also the reason why Lord Kun was able to grow faster than others in the Lawless Lands. Back then, he was willing to ept orders toe to the Lawless Lands because of the four-leaf clovers that grew everywhere.


    In other gxies, four-leaf clovers might be a very rare nt, but in the Lawless Lands, they were just wild grass that could not be removed no matter what methods were used; they would continuously grow again at the sign of spring.


    The resonance intensified, but Lord Kun remained unperturbed. He had already be a part of the four-leaf clover, so the resonance forces had long been distributed to every single four-leaf clover in his domain. The damage he received was virtually nonexistent.


    Just as Lord Kun thought that his opponent¡¯s efforts were futile, he suddenly felt his heart palpitate.


    He then heard a bang that sounded like an explosion.


    ¡°Not good! Danger!¡±


    His heart palpitations came fast and furious. This was a warning that every expert would awaken upon entering a domain. The higher the rank, the more urate and obvious this warning would be.


    How could Lord Kun, who had already reached the half-step god-realm, overlook such a dangerous warning?


    He decisively extracted the nomological energy and left the swath of four-leaf clovers.


    As soon as he left the four-leaf clovers, the green four-leaf clovers, which were originally full of vitality, instantly shattered and turned into particles that disappeared in midair.


    Lord Kun, who had amazing eyesight, saw that the four-leaf clovers that had turned into particles were surrounded by ayer of hardly discernible ckness.


    ¡°Badump, badump, badump...¡± This was the only sound in the entire space. Lord Kun felt the blood in his body vibrating because of this sound. It made him very ufortable. He wanted to use his nomological energy to expel the influence of this sound, but he realized that the moment hisws appeared, it was stopped by ayer of ck nomological energy.


    What was going on?


    Lord Kun suddenly thought of the scene when he lost his arm...


    Even though it didn¡¯t directly and savagely separate him like before, the ck energy contained the same aura as the nomological energy.


    ¡°Badump, badump, badump...¡± The rhythm of the resonance became stronger.


    The nomological energy was different from the ck nomological energy. But what was strange was that these two differentws could fuse together. The power of the acoustic resonance was increasing the ck nomological energy.


    Lord Kun could clearly see the ck nomological energy bing stronger bit by bit.


    However, under the acoustic resonance¡¯s forces, his nomologicalw was being reduced bit by bit. Every resonance was an attack that dealt damage to his body.


    Lord Kun¡¯s eyes flickered. He looked at his arms and then at the ce where Lord Qian should have ended the battle but there was nothing there.


    He stomped on the ground and disappeared. In the next second, he appeared outside Lord Gen¡¯s rainbow pce. At that moment, his fear disappeared.


    ¡°I¡¯ve paid the price with a pair of arms. Lord Qian, I didn¡¯t let you down.¡± Lord Kun didn¡¯t want to die in the rainbow pce. The reason for his continued survival to this day was that he never neglected warning signs.


    As soon as he finished speaking, he left the battlefieldpletely.


    Lord Kun officially withdrew from the battlefield. The resonance in the main hall also started to weaken and eventually disappeared.


    If someone were to pass by the ruins at this moment, they would see two people bleeding from their seven orifices, lying side by side, unmoving. It was unknown whether they were dead or alive, but the two of them were tightly holding hands on either side, not letting go.


    Main pce: Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng fought against four-leaf clover Lord Kun. Lord Kun had retreated while Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng¡¯s oue remained unknown.

 Chapter 1495 - Thank You!

    <h4>Chapter 1495: Thank You!</h4>


    In the Red Hall, even though Han Xuya, Luo Chao, and Chang Xinyuan had tried their best, the difference in strength was too great. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the Lord Ghost Poison Bat yearned for Luo Chao¡¯s awakened domain and wanted to think of a way to snatch it, they wouldn¡¯t have been able tost so long.


    Even so, Poison Bat, who was already an imperial realm formidable warrior, was able to grasp most of Luo Chao¡¯s powers within a short period of time. The greed in his eyes intensified. Without a doubt, Luo Chao¡¯s powers were able to fill the gap in his domain concept.


    With two loud ps, Lord Ghost sent Han Xuya and Chang Xinyuan flying.


    ¡°Pfft~¡± The duo were injured by Lord Ghost and fell heavily to the ground, spitting out blood.


    Lord Ghost¡¯s target was obvious. In order to protect Luo Chao, Han Xuya and Chang Xinyuan tried to stop him time and time again. Although Luo Chao used her domain concept and got them to dodge Lord Ghost¡¯s attacks repeatedly, the difference in strength was apparent. Before long, Lord Ghost seized an opportunity and dispatched the two annoying bugs that were interfering with his movements.


    ¡°Ah, peace and quiet atst.¡± Lord Ghostughed sinisterly. He felt that the air in front of him had be much fresher, making him feelfortable.


    Luo Chao looked at Han Xuya and Chang Xinyuan worriedly. She didn¡¯t know how they were doing.


    However, she quickly looked at Lord Ghost, her gaze suddenly bing resolute and fierce.


    With a flick of her wrist, the silver bracelet on it stuck to her skin. A miniature needle suddenly shot out and urately pierced her skin.


    ...


    When they drew lots for the deputy halls they were responsible for, Luo Chao had heard a gentle voice behind her just before they left. ¡°Luo Chao...¡±


    Luo Chao turned around. It was Li Shiyu who took care of them meticulously.


    Only Luo Chao and Han Xuya grew up together with everyone in Lingtian. Everyone treated them as their younger sisters and doted on them dearly. They used their own ways to protect and take care of them. Luo Chao and Han Xuya knew that every elder brother treated them sincerely. However, when it came to being considerate and caring, the one who noticed their needs in every way was Li Shiyu, whom they had been learning medicine from.


    Although Li Shiyu was the brother they had only gotten to know after entering the 23rd division, their rtionship with him was even closer than Qi Long and the other girls since they had constantly been under his tutge. If Luo Chao wanted to find someone forfort or top confide in, the first person she would choose would be Li Shiyu.


    As for Ling Lan? Luo Chao would tell you very seriously that she was Boss. Only when it was a matter of life and death, or if she needed to decide her own future, would she look for the Boss to resolve it. How could she disturb Boss Lan over such trivial matters?


    Luo Chao stopped when she found Li Shiyu stopping her. She asked curiously, ¡°Brother Shiyu, what¡¯s the matter?¡±


    Li Shiyu watched the others rush back to their respective spots to make their final preparations. No one knew the oue of this battle. Would they be able to survive?


    He was most worried about the two weakest girls, especially Luo Chao who was a little weaker between the two.


    Li Shiyu fell silent for a few seconds. In the end, he could only ask, ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    ¡°Yes, no matter what the result is, I¡¯m very happy that Boss Lan is willing to let us take charge of Red Hall.¡± Luo Chao smiled happily, her face beaming.


    Li Shiyu knew how happy Luo Chao was. In Ling Lan¡¯s eyes, they weren¡¯t burdens. They weren¡¯t people she needed to protect. They wererades who were willing to give their backs to,rades who had been acknowledged.


    This was true respect. Even if they knew that such a decision might send them to their deaths.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s hands trembled. He couldn¡¯t be as steelhearted as Ling Lan. If he could, he really hoped that these two sisters of his wouldn¡¯t have to face all these dangers¡ªdangers that elder brothers like them should ward off.


    ¡°Brother Shiyu, you have to... work hard too!¡± Luo Chao¡¯s eyes showed a hint of worry. They were weaker, but Li Shiyu was not much stronger than them. It could be said that among thepanions following Boss Lan, besides Chang Xinyuan, Li Shiyu was the one with the weakest physical skills. If they were said to be in peril, then Li Shiyu was not much better than them.


    ¡°Are you worried about me?¡± Li Shiyu noticed Luo Chao¡¯s worry. He smiled and patted Luo Chao¡¯s head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I don¡¯t just fight with physical skills.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I believe you.¡± Luo Chao smiled. The worry in her eyes disappeared. That¡¯s right. Li Shiyu was the most talented military doctor in the Federation. How could he be as weak as she thought?


    The trust in Luo Chao¡¯s eyes made an indescribable emotion rise in Li Shiyu¡¯s heart. Before he could understand what it was, he heard Han Xuya waving at Luo Chao from afar and shouting, ¡°Luo Chao, hurry up.¡±


    Luo Chao quickly waved her hand as acknowledgment. She turned around and said, ¡°Brother Shiyu, let¡¯s talk when we get back.¡±


    <i>We¡¯ll talk when we get back? Is that possible?</i> Li Shiyu ahd looked at Luo Chao with aplicated expression.


    Luo Chao was just about to leave when Li Shiyu grabbed her hand.


    Two question marks appeared in Luo Chao¡¯s eyes.


    Li Shiyu lifted Luo Chao¡¯s hand and took out something from his pocket.


    It was a silver bracelet, one that was beautifully crafted.


    He slowly wrapped the bracelet around Luo Chao¡¯s wrist. Luo Chao looked at Li Shiyu¡¯s actions in confusion. She didn¡¯t know what its significance was; all she did was wait quietly for Li Shiyu¡¯s exnation.


    She heard a click when the bracelet was fastened.


    Li Shiyu¡¯s gentle voice rang in Luo Chao¡¯s ears. ¡°I got Xin Yuan to make this. There¡¯s a mechanism inside. I have a new agent that I just invented. Of course, I hope that you don¡¯t need to use it. That¡¯s because using it means that you¡¯re in a desperate situation.¡±


    Li Shiyu looked at the bracelet with aplicated expression. It was unknown if giving this bracelet to Luo Chao was good or bad for her.


    Luo Chao, who knew Li Shiyu very well, immediately understood. ¡°The agent isn¡¯t mature yet. Are you not sure of the results?¡±


    Li Shiyu gave Luo Chao an approving look. ¡°Do you still remember the ident when I was concocting Nuwa¡¯s Number Three agent?¡±


    Luo Chao¡¯s expression turned serious when she heard that. ¡°I remember that when Boss went out for a mission, someone had used that opportunity to tamper with yourboratory.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Actually, I know who the mastermind is. However, they have groomed me for so many years. They can have the unimportant information if they want it. It can be considered as repayment for grooming me,¡± Li Shiyu said calmly. It was also at that moment when he severed his ties of gratitude.


    ¡°However, there was a silver lining. They were probably afraid that I would create a new agent so they wanted to deal some damage. Unexpectedly, a new agent was produced.¡± Li Shiyu looked at the bracelet and frowned slightly. ¡°It¡¯s a pity that I haven¡¯t figured out the form yet. The ones I concoctedter were always a little off.¡±


    Just this tiny difference waspletely different from the effects of the new agent that was identally produced.


    ¡°So, that idental agent is in this bracelet?¡± Luo Chao immediately came to a realization.


    ¡°Yes, I wanted to use it as another trump card for Lingtian. It¡¯s a pity...¡± Li Shiyu felt a little regretful. If he had more time, he would have more confidence in this battle.


    Luo Chao¡¯s expression changed. She immediately went to undo the bracelet and return it to Li Shiyu.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move! This agent is going to be wasted if you identally activate the mechanism.¡± Li Shiyu quickly stopped her.


    ¡°Brother Shiyu, this agent should be given to someone more suitable,¡± Luo Chao said firmly.


    ¡°No, the effects of this agent are higher for people who are weaker. The agent will be much weaker the other way round. ording to my research, the agent might not have any effects on an imperial realm formidable warrior. Not only is it ineffective for the god-realm, but it might also have the opposite effect,¡± Li Shiyu exined.


    ¡°But at the same time, its side effects are quite scary. I haven¡¯t thought of a solution yet,¡± Li Shiyu said seriously. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s right or wrong for me to give it to you. Its side effects might make you wish you were dead.¡±


    ¡°Even so, I still feel that you might need it.¡± Li Shiyu clenched his fists tightly. He looked at Luo Chao with aplicated gaze. His rationality didn¡¯t allow him to do this but he felt that this was what Luo Chao needed. He should give it to her.


    Luo Chao smiled. She knew why Li Shiyu did this. He knew what she wanted.


    She hugged Li Shiyu tightly and smiled. ¡°Brother Shiyu, thank you!¡±


    She smiled very sweetly. It was as beautiful as Luo Lang¡¯s smile when he activated his innate talent domain. Even though she was smiling, two drops of tears fell silently from her eyes.


    This was the first time she felt this kind of satisfaction and gratitude in her heart for being so doted, understood, and supported.


    ¡°Luo Chao, you muste back alive!¡±


    Luo Chao seemed to remember Li Shiyu¡¯sst words by her ears.

 Chapter 1496 - Star Barbarian

    <h4>Chapter 1496: Star Barbarian</h4>


    Luo Chao only felt a surge of energy surging out of her body and quickly engulfing her entire body.


    ¡°Ah~¡± The explosive energy brought damage to her body. The intense pain made Luo Chao scream uncontrobly.


    ¡°Luo Chao, you can¡¯t lose!¡± Luo Chao bit down on her lower lip to stop herself from screaming.


    However, the pain didn¡¯t disappear. Instead, it got worse. Luo Chao felt that she was being torn apart by the energy.


    Luo Chao felt as if she was floating. She floated into the cosmos and saw the endless sea of stars. This familiar feeling made her feel warm and safe. It was as if she had returned to her mother¡¯s embrace but also as if she was protected by her Boss.


    There were countless scattered stars, asteroids, and all kinds of light rings in the cosmos floating around Luo Chao quietly. Luo Chao wanted to reach out and touch them, but she realized that she wasn¡¯t herself. She was arge fish-shaped astral beast that was moving freely in the cosmos.


    Suddenly, an asteroid smashed towards her. Luo Chao subconsciously waved her hand, wanting to swat the asteroid away.


    Luo Chao suddenly came to a realization. She was just a fish-shaped astral beast. She didn¡¯t have any hands and couldn¡¯t swat the huge asteroid away.


    Just as Luo Chao thought that she was going to be hit, the next scene stunned her. The huge asteroid seemed to be blown away by swat. It spun 270 degrees and flew out.


    ¡°Boom!¡± The huge asteroid crashed into a light ring and then fell back into the cosmos.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± The asteroid suddenly screamed. Luo Chao, who was in a daze, was suddenly jolted awake.


    Ah, how was that an asteroid? It was clearly the Poison Bat Ghost King. Because of Luo Chao¡¯s strike, he had smashed into the ground and sted open a crater.


    He cried out in pain, his entire face turning iparably hideous.


    Poison Bat Ghost King was infuriated that he was injured by an ant.


    ¡°Did I hit you with that move just now?¡± Luo Chao, who had regained consciousness, looked at her hands. She could feel the concept energy in her body.


    This wasn¡¯t a beginner domain. Although Luo Chao hadn¡¯t experienced the power of the subsequent levels of a domain, she felt that she should have reached the half-step imperial stage.


    Why did she think so? It was because the domain concept suppression that was originally terrifying enough to make people tremble in fear and force them to surrender had weakened to the point that it was almost negligible.


    At this moment, every cell in Luo Chao¡¯s body was screaming, ¡°I can, I want to fight!¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Brother Shiyu!¡± Luo Chao clenched her fist.


    <i>Thank you for giving me the ability to fight against an imperial realm formidable warrior.</i>


    <i>Thank you for letting me stop being your burden.</i>


    <i>Thank you for letting me protect the people I want to protect.</i>


    Luo Chao looked at Han Xuya and Chang Xinyuan, who were struggling to stand up to protect her.


    She was able to persist until now and not be captured by the Ghost King because they were protecting her with their lives. Now, it was her turn.


    Luo Chao raised her head abruptly, her eyes determined.


    The scene that she saw just now was probably the nomological skill that she had temporarily obtained through the agent.


    <i>I name it ¡®Star Barbarian¡¯!</i> Luo Chao thought.


    This nomological skill was automatically engraved with this name.


    Lord Ghost suddenly jumped up and his body suddenly dispersed. Countless bats swamped over from all directions.


    Luo Chao replied calmly, ¡°Star Barbarian!¡±


    The entire Red Hall suddenly vanished, and Ghost King realized that he had arrived in the boundless cosmos. Other than the stars, asteroids, light rings, there were all sorts of objects that floated in the cosmos.


    <i>This is that girl¡¯s domain? How is this possible?</i>


    The Ghost King couldn¡¯t believe it. Firstly, Luo Chao had just stepped into the domain stage. She hadn¡¯t familiarized herself with the concept energy; therefore, there was no way she could activate such aplete domain. Secondly, because of their physique, very few girls were lucky enough to enter the domain stage. In human history, there wasn¡¯t a single woman who could enter the titled domain stage, let alone theter stages.


    However, the pressure Luo Chao¡¯s domain gave him wasn¡¯t that simple. Even though her domain concept wasn¡¯tplete, she had the power of a half-step imperial realm formidable warrior...


    This was definitely breaking a human record.


    Ghost King was unwilling to believe that he would encounter such an unimaginable and impossible existence. He was even more willing to believe that it was a human powerhouse who had something against him that had attacked him.

 Chapter 1497 - I See

    <h4>Chapter 1497: I See</h4>


    Be it the arrival of another expert or the girl¡¯s domain, Ghost King didn¡¯t dare dy. He also quietly activated his domain.


    Despite Luo Chao, Han Xuya, and Chang Xinyuan using all their strength, they were utterly defeated by Ghost King even without him activating his domain. This proved that the difference in strength between the three of them and Ghost King was too great. However, Luo Chao finally made Ghost King treat the battle seriously.


    Ghost King¡¯s domain was ck, and the originally dark cosmos became even darker.


    Luo Chao¡ªwho had transformed into a fish¡ªdidn¡¯t seem to sense anything amiss.


    Ghost King¡¯s expression changed slightly. He realized that his domain concept wasn¡¯t blocked.


    In general, if one party was careless in a domain battle, they would directly enter the other party¡¯s domain. When they activated their domain, they would definitelypete with the other party¡¯s domain concept. The strength of thew determined the range of the territory.


    Ghost King originally imagined that he would be able to shake thews directly after he activated his domain, but he never imagined that the other party¡¯sws could amodate hisws...


    What kind ofw was this?


    Ghost King felt apprehensive. The countless bat clones that had disintegrated dispersed again, bing a dense horde.


    His true body was hidden among them; it was undoubtedly difficult to find his only true body among the countless bats. After doing this, Ghost King calmed down a little and quietly waited for the other party to take action.


    Luo Chao only felt like she was a creature in the cosmos. The environment around her warmed and freed her. She obtained countless amounts of energy from the cosmos as if she belonged here.


    <i>Yes, this is my world!</i>


    In Luo Chao¡¯s fish-like form, she freely flew through the cosmos. Although the light was so dim that one could barely see their fingers, this did not affect Luo Chao much. Her senses could see every corner of this cosmos domain clearly. It was as if she had a irvoyant eye. She could also hear the pulsation of all the stars and asteroids in the cosmos. The cosmos was not the silent and lifeless cosmos that she had previously imagined. Every existence here had its own life.


    Except for those bats that didn¡¯t belong to the cosmos...


    Luo Chao frowned in disgust. As someone who liked cleanliness, she hated these darkws. The bats with a destructive nature existed in the cosmos filled with vitality.


    ¡°Can¡¯t I chase them away?¡± Luo Chao asked.


    The vitality of the cosmos pulsated as a voice softly replied in his ear, ¡°The cosmos is all-epassing. It can amodate all, light and darkness, life and death...


    ¡°So, we can only let them exist?¡± Luo Chao felt helpless. She really didn¡¯t like them.


    The cosmos¡¯ aura became warmer as if it was telling her something.


    ¡°What exactly is it?¡± Luo Chao seemed to be in thought. This domain was brought about by an agent, allowing her to skip levels. It could be said the strength didn¡¯t belong to her. Luo Chao was very unfamiliar with this domain concept. She could only try to figure it out through trial and error.


    <i>Boss would have been able to understand it at a nce, right?</i> Luo Chao thought.


    ¡°Luo Chao, your talent in Starship Navigation should be at the level of an overlord in the cosmos.¡± Thinking of Ling Lan, the words Ling Lan had said to her involuntarily surfaced in Luo Chao¡¯s mind.


    Luo Chao was disappointed when she first awakened Starship Navigation. This skill could not increase her physical skills. As a person whose physical skills were the weakest, she dreamed of awakening talents rted to physical skills so that she could follow in everyone¡¯s footsteps.


    Ling Lan could tell Luo Chaos¡¯s disappointment, so she told her about the power of Starship Navigation and its value.


    ¡°In the cosmos, a starship is controlled by a Starship Navigation talent individual. I guess only mecha operators above the imperial level can intercept it. The rest can¡¯t do a thing to it. It¡¯s impossible for us to be in mechas every day. No matter where we carry out missions, we need a starship to transport us. This is when we are in the greatest danger. If you are the one driving the starship, you can ensure that our journey through the cosmos is safe. Tell me, isn¡¯t this talent precious? We will have to rely on you for protection in the end.¡±


    Luo Chao seemed to feel Ling Lan¡¯s gentle hand on her head. Ever since they were young, Boss Lan had always been by their side when they needed him the most, helping them resolve their problems and guiding them.


    Now, these detestable people would join forces to harm her Boss Lan once they crossed their line of defense.


    Luo Chao knew that it would be a close call for Ling Lan to fight Lord Qian alone. If Lord Qian was reinforced by another one, death was a certainty. She definitely couldn¡¯t allow that to happen.


    Starship Navigation was an overlord-level talent in the cosmos. ording to thew, the domain produced was based on a starship talent. Therefore, itsws should be rted to it.


    Just as Luo Chao thought of this, she sensed that the rhythm of the celestial bodies with life in the cosmos was pulsating at an even more happy pace if they were very excited.


    ¡°So, I guessed right!¡± Luo Chao suddenly came to a realization.


    ¡°All-epassing. I see!¡±


    With this shout, the space around the fish-like creature¡ªwhich was swimming freely in the cosmos¡ªsuddenly fluctuated before it vanished.


    Ghost King was originally studying the fish-like creature that kept swimming around. He had alsomanded countless clones tounch probing attacks. However, he was repelled by a series of fluctuations before he could approach the creature.


    ording to Ghost King¡¯s initial estimations, this creature had at least reached the imperial level.


    He also wondered if that was the other party¡¯s main body, but he had never seen an expert who had made their main body sorge after openly activating a domain. It was as though they were afraid their enemy wouldn¡¯t attack because of their failure to see it... There was a high chance that it was bait, meant to lure him into attacking with all his strength, giving the other party an opportunity to find energy traces and find his main body.


    <i>Heh heh, you want to deceive me with such petty tricks? Dream on!</i>


    Ghost King decisively gave up on attacking the gigantic fish-like creature with all his strength. He even carefully used nomological energy to search the cosmos in an attempt to find some clues and find the other party¡¯s main body.


    How could Ghost King have imagined that this was because Luo Chao had relied on an external force like an agent to forcefully raise her realm level? This was the first time she had stepped into a realm many levels higher than herself and also the first time she had activated her domain. She waspletely clueless. She didn¡¯t know how to use nomological energy to hide her true body. This was the reason for the appearance of such a scene. She didn¡¯t hide her true body at all and openly told the enemy that she was here. Come and beat me.


    Fortunately, when Luo Chao activated her domain, Starship Navigation naturally transformed her body into an interster creature, allowing her to move freely in her domain ofws. If it were still Luo Chao in her own form, Ghost King probably would have attacked her with all his might.


    It was this illogical situation that confused Ghost King. In the end, he gave up on attacking with all his might for his own safety, allowing Luo Chao to escape the cmity.


    Having just activated her domain and revealing her true location, even though the fish-like creature looked infinitely close to an imperial realm formidable warrior, it was actually just a paper tiger. Ghost King¡¯s full-powered attack would definitely break through Luo Chao¡¯s defenceless domain and seriously injure her. It was truly a blessing.


    It was also because of Ghost King¡¯s abandonment that Luo Chao had the time toprehend thews. Of course, all of this happened in just a few seconds.


    When Ghost King realized that the gigantic fish-like creature had vanished into the cosmos with a turn of its body, his expression changed slightly when he sensed the nomological feedback he received.


    It¡¯s actually real? However, the opportunity was fleeting. The other party¡¯s main body had already disappeared into the cosmos. It was toote for him to track her down.

 Chapter 1498 - Domain that Doesnt Conform to the Law

    <h4>Chapter 1498: Domain that Doesn¡¯t Conform to the Law</h4>


    Luo Chao had gained initial control of her domain concept, so she finally made her real body disappear from her domain quietly.


    The vanished Luo Chao carefully experienced the response her domain gave her. She felt something that belonged to her domain. Every existence was iparably amiable. Just as her mind came into contact with the celestial bodies, she felt them enthusiastically calling out to her. The ugly, countless bats and the ck energy made Luo Chao feel very ufortable when they ever so slightly approached her.


    This was likely someone else¡¯s nomological energy, which was why she found it so annoying.


    Luo Chao was like a child who had just learned how to walk. She tried her best to absorb the domain concept¡¯s feedback so that she could walk or even run as soon as possible.


    <i>These bats and ck energy are really annoying. It will be good if they can be expelled.</i> Just as this thought surfaced in Luo Chao¡¯s mind, she saw the originally still asteroids and all kinds of junk floating in the cosmos suddenly attack the bats as if they had received orders.


    The celestial body¡ªwhich was originally emitting a dark glow¡ªsuddenly lit up, forcefully expelling the ck energy from the Ghost King¡¯s domain.


    The countless poisonous bats that the Ghost King¡¯s avatar manifested dodged all kinds of attacks in the cosmos.


    All the changes in the cosmos appeared in Luo Chao¡¯s mind. She saw a Poison Bat dodging an attack from space junk. When she saw an asteroid pass by the point it dodged, she had a thought. <i>Ah, it will be nice if that asteroid over there can make a turn and attack this spot...</i>


    The subsequent scene stunned Luo Chao.


    Just like she had imagined, the asteroid vited its trajectory and forcefully did a 90-degree turn before crashing at the spot Luo Chao was thinking of.


    Bam! This unexpected change in trajectory caught the Poison Bat off-guard. The asteroid smashed into the bat, turning into mush that scattered across the cosmos as space junk.


    <i>Everything in the cosmos will actually listen to my orders?</i> Luo Chao seemed to have obtained a new toy and excitedly began experimenting.


    <i>Come, attack this spot. Go over there. Fight, chase over here...</i> Luo Chao was having fun. With a thought, she couldmand everything in the cosmos.


    <i>This is the evolved version of my previous talent¡¯s controlling skills, right?</i> Luo Chaomanded as she came to a realization.


    <i>F*ck, this domain is too strange. Everything inside can actually attack automatically...</i> Ghost King didn¡¯t sense the fluctuations of a powerhouse¡¯s nomological energy attached to the asteroids, junk, or celestial bodies.


    Ghost King felt his heart ache when he saw his avatars being minced to death by the asteroids and junk in the cosmos. The death of his avatars drained his nomological energy. The more they were killed, the greater the drain on his energy. Furthermore, his main body was hidden among these avatars. If all his avatars were minced to death, his main body would naturally be exposed.


    <i>This doesn¡¯t conform to aw.</i> Ghost King had been inbat for decades, but he had never encountered an attack in which he couldn¡¯t find any traces of the other party¡¯s usage ofws.


    This cosmos seemed to be a real cosmos, not a domain created by an expert.


    Ghost King dodged another celestial body¡¯s attack as his eyes showed extreme ruthlessness.


    Since he couldn¡¯t find any traces of the other party¡¯s attack, he might as well destroy this entireary sector and force the other party out.


    With a supersonic roar, the bat¡ªwhich was still dodging around in the cosmos¡ªsuddenly transformed into a ck fog and vanished.


    At the same time, a bat in the cosmos suddenly expanded in size. It instantly became the size of a celestial body¡ªno, it was evenrger.


    The gigantic bat roared at the sky and suddenly pped itsrge wings.


    Asteroids exploded wherever the sound waves reached. The celestial bodies on both sides of its pping wings were directly detonated by the immense energy.


    The originally beautiful and orderly cosmos became a mess with this strike.


    Luo Chao¡¯s heart ached. She liked this cosmos. She was very sad to see it destroyed.


    <i>Don¡¯t worry. That¡¯s not the end of our lives.</i> Sensing Luo Chao¡¯s sadness, all the existences in the cosmos¡ªwhether they suffered the attack or not¡ªreplied to Luo Chao with a strong pulsating rhythm.


    The asteroids and celestial bodies that had been damaged began to repair themselves, condensing into small asteroids and celestial bodies again. This destruction did not reduce the existence of the cosmos. Instead, more asteroids and celestial bodies appeared because of the destruction. A destroyed celestial body condensed again and actually split into more than ten smaller ones. As long as they were given enough time, they would be new gigantic celestial bodies and be an important member of this cosmos again, making the celestial bodies that existed in this part of the cosmos richer.

 Chapter 1499 - Luo Chao, Come Back~

    <h4>Chapter 1499: Luo Chao, Come Back~</h4>


    ¡°What the f**k is this domain?¡± Ghost King was infuriated when he saw this magical scene.


    He had never seen such a strange thing. There were no nomological energy fluctuations, but the destroyed domain could repair itself.


    The unconvinced Ghost Kingunched another ultrasound attack. He attacked with all his might; furthermore, the chain of attacks immediately destroyed most of the cosmos, leaving it in ruins.


    Luo Chao watched the Ghost King abuse the cosmos helplessly. She felt powerless and extremely sad. She seemed to sense the destroyed celestial bodies, asteroids, and everything that belonged to the cosmos¡ªthey were hiding, crying, and resisting.


    She wanted them to escape this disaster, but the entire cosmos was being destroyed. There was no ce for them to hide.


    The existence of the cosmos was like her child, but she couldn¡¯t protect any of it. Luo Chao couldn¡¯t help but cry.


    <i>If it were Boss Lan, she would definitely protect this area of the cosmos as if she were protecting us...</i> Luo Chao shed tears, but she spoke with extreme pain and hatred. <i>Luo Chao, you¡¯re really too weak. You¡¯re so weak that I look down on you. Not only can¡¯t you protect Xuya, Chang Xinyuan, and the others, but you also can¡¯t protect this cosmos that was born because of you, much less help Boss Lan. Luo Chao, when can you stop crying and truly stand in front of the people you care about and fight to the end for them? Luo Chao, when can you do that? Tell me, tell me!</i>


    The questions in his heart echoed, and the unyieldingness in his heart elevated.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be sad. You still have us...¡± The angry Luo Chao felt thefort that came from the cosmos again. This warmth had existed from the beginning and had never stopped.


    ¡°So, are you guys my friends?¡± Luo Chao asked with a smile, tears flowing down her face.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. We are your best friends. Feel us with your heart and don¡¯t resist us...¡± A joyous voice sounded from the cosmos. Although these voices were much weaker than before due to the destruction, they still existed. It was only at this moment that Luo Chao heard them clearly.


    ¡°I know that there¡¯s a chance of death, but I¡¯m willing to take the risk as long as there¡¯s a chance. Therefore,e on.¡± Luo Chao¡¯s eyes flickered with determination. She rxed her mind and let the energy¡ªwhich was attempting to approachpletely integrate into her body.


    All the celestial bodies in the cosmos immediately flickered violently. When the Ghost King tried tounch another intense attack, he suddenly realized that the stars in the area he was attacking were suddenly shining together.


    <i>Star Illumination...</i> Just as these two words surfaced in Ghost King¡¯s mind, he felt a powerful force rebound his attack.


    Making out a sharp retreat, Ghost King phased away a few times and retreated extremely far away. He pulled back his gigantic wings when he heard countless celestial bodies exploding to the side.


    Ghost King looked into the depths of the cosmos with a solemn expression. He didn¡¯t expect the Star Illumination to be so powerful that it directly reflected his attack. Even with his god-like speed and distance retreat, he couldn¡¯t dodge it.


    The energy in the cosmos was immense. To Luo Chao, it was simply infinite. Immense energy desperately squeezed into Luo Chao¡¯s body, and she felt like she was about to burst.


    Luo Chao knew that if she couldn¡¯t withstand it, she would explode and die. This was the result of her letting down her guard and allowing the nomological energy to enter her body. This was her choice. Even if such an oue were to happen, Luo Chao wouldn¡¯t regret it.


    Upon seeing her gigantic fish-like body swell up like a balloon, Luo Chao knew that she was about to reach her limits. However, the nomological energy was still endlessly boring into her body. If she didn¡¯t stop this energy, she would perish before she could even begin fighting.


    ¡°Stop, stop...¡± Luo Chao wanted to stop the energy from entering her. However, something appeared in her mind just as she spoke.


    <i>I see. It can no longer be stopped.</i>


    When she agreed to the nomological energy¡¯s request and stopped resisting, thus allowing them to enter, she had already made a pact with the nomological energy. Therefore, the nomological energy would not stop its entry unless the pact waspleted and these nomological energy was fully contained.


    <i>Am I really going to die?</i>


    But even if she were to die, she had to make it count. At the very least, she couldn¡¯t let the detestable Ghost King in front of her live.


    Luo Chao understood the oue from her death. Han Xuya and Chang Xinyuan wouldn¡¯t be alive, and herpanions¡ªwho were in battle¡ªmight also suffer a disaster because of having one more enemy to face.


    Therefore, Luo Chao, you have to hold on! Luo Chao encouraged herself. Since you can make yourself sorge, you might be able to make yourself bigger, bigger, and even bigger...


    Luo Chao¡ªwho felt her body about to burst¡ªfelt a tearing pain that made her muddle-headed. But even so, she still cheered herself on, making herself bigger and bigger...


    In a spot where no one could see, Luo Chao¡¯s gigantic fish-like body becamerger andrger bit by bit.


    Finally, with a sudden bang, it turned into nomological energy that filled the entire cosmos.


    After an unknown period of time, Luo Chao¡¯s consciousness returned. At this moment, she felt that the cosmos was different.


    Everything in the cosmos seemed to be her body, and she was the cosmos itself.


    <i>So that¡¯s what¡¯s happening.</i>


    At this moment, Luo Chao suddenly understood something. She looked at a certain corner, raised her right hand, and slowly reached over. She seemed to grasp something and gripped it gently.


    The celestial bodies in the cosmos shimmered simultaneously. Just as Ghost King was hesitating about whether he should explore the depths of the cosmos again, he suddenly felt his surroundings freeze.


    <i>Not good!</i> An rm sounded in Ghost King¡¯s mind. At his level, how could he not know that this was a warning from hisws?


    In an instant, he transformed into thousands of bats that fled in all directions.


    But just as they flew out, all the bats seemed to be frozen in space as if time had stopped.


    ¡°Howl~¡± The bats that filled the area emitted an ultrasound at the same time.


    This was Ghost King¡¯s strongest killing move. The ovepping ultrasonic wave of nomological energy immediately broke through the restraints.


    Luo Chao felt like the cosmos was about to be destroyed by the other party¡¯s terrifying nomological energy. Upon seeing that the other party was about to escape her cosmos, Luo Chaoughed.


    <i>I promised all of you, and I hope you can fulfill my wish...</i> Luo Chao smiled very beautifully. There was yearning and unwillingness in her eyes, but there was more resolve and determination.


    ¡°As you wish!¡± the nomological energy in the cosmos replied in a low voice.


    ¡°Retain him forever!¡± Luo Chao said softly to Ghost King¡ªwho was about to break through the cosmos domain. At the same time, her hand¡ªwhich was reaching out to Ghost King¡ªclenched again.


    ¡°Ah~¡± The Ghost King saw his strongest attack tear a hole in the other party¡¯s domain as he struggled free. His eyes were filled with joy. No one wanted to fight in another person¡¯s domain, especially in such a mysterious and indescribable domain.


    Upon seeing that he could escape, the joy in the Ghost King¡¯s eyes froze before it could dissipate.


    ¡°No!¡± He felt like his body was firmly gripped by a hand. The nomological energy around him was immense and terrifying.


    ¡°No!¡± Ghost King shouted tragically. He desperately circted all the nomological energy in his body in an attempt to escape this disaster.


    ¡°No!¡± The Ghost King finally shouted in despair when he saw that his nomological energy could not withstand a single blow from the immense and terrifying nomological energy.


    ¡°Pfft~¡± Ghost King¡ªwho had been standing motionless in the Red Hall¡ªsuddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.


    <i>Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft...</i> His body suddenly cracked as blood sttered everywhere. He fell to the ground.


    Han Xuya and Chang Xinyuan¡ªwho were seriously injured¡ªhad been waiting for an opportunity. Upon seeing this, the two of them pounced forward at the same time. The cold weapon on Chang Xinyuan¡¯s miniature mecha and the special de in Han Xuya¡¯s hand simultaneously sliced across Ghost King¡¯s neck from above and stabbed through his heart from below.


    When they saw Ghost King finally take hisst breath, the two of them copsed from exhaustion.


    In the real world, Han Xuya and Chang Xinyuan realized that Luo Chao and Ghost King had suddenly stood still as if they had lost their souls. The two of them knew that their battle was already a battle in the spiritual domain. They couldn¡¯t participate in such a battle. They were worried for Luo Chao, but they couldn¡¯t provide any assistance.


    However, they did not give up. Instead, they kept waiting for an opportunity.


    Before they knew the results of the battle, the seriously injured ones had been secretly recuperating and recovering their energy, waiting for an opportunity to attack. However, they didn¡¯t dare act rashly, afraid that attacking without knowing better would instead implicate Luo Chao¡ªwho was fighting them.


    It was only when they saw Ghost King spew blood and explode with blood that Han Xuya and Chang Xinyuan knew that their opportunity hade.


    Without a reminder, the two of them attacked at the same time,pletely preventing Ghost King from having a chance to live.


    Han Xuya panted heavily. She had expended all the energy she had just gathered in that attack. However, it was extremely pleasant to be able to survive. She couldn¡¯t help butugh.


    Chang Xinyuan couldn¡¯t help butugh. As long as he lived, it was better than anything.


    Suddenly, Han Xuya thought of something and turned her head to the other side. Over there was Luo Chao, who had been standing there silently.


    ¡°Luo Chao, we won!¡± Han Xuya shouted happily.


    Upon hearing Han Xuya¡¯s words, the cold expression on Luo Chao¡¯s beautiful face vanished. She revealed a faint smile¡ªone beautiful beyond words.


    Han Xuya smiled as well. They were really too lucky to have survived.


    However, her smile suddenly froze. The next second, she howled in grief, ¡°Luo Chao!¡±


    Luo Chao fell to the ground with a smile.


    ¡°Boss Lan, I protected everyone. Brother Shiyu, I didn¡¯t waste your agent...¡±


    ¡°Luo Chao!¡± Han Xuya leaped over, wanting to hug the fallen Luo Chao.


    She tried to hug her but failed.


    The moment she was about to hug Luo Chao, Luo Chao¡¯s entire body suddenly turned into crystalline points of light and dispersed.


    ¡°Luo Chao~ Come back,e back. Don¡¯t scare me, you jerk, you jerk...¡± Han Xuya looked at her empty hands in despair and shouted angrily. Her tears fell uncontrobly.


    However, she could no longer get the shy and gentlepanion who had always been by her side back.


    ¡°Why did this happen...¡± Chang Xinyuan stared nkly at the spot where Luo Chao had disappeared. His eyes were bloodshot, and the tears at the corners of his eyes had streamed down uncontrobly.

 Chapter 1500 - My Fate Is My Own, Not the Heavens

    <h4>Chapter 1500: My Fate Is My Own, Not the Heavens</h4>


    Ling Lan, who had been walking forward, had a thought.


    A figure suddenly lit up and condensed in the distance.


    ¡°Luo Chao...¡± Ling Lan squeezed out the name through her teeth with difficulty.


    Although Luo Lang and Luo Chao looked the same, Ling Lan had been able to instantly distinguish the two of them from when she first met them. There was no mistake.


    Luo Chao looked surprised to see Ling Lan.


    ¡°Boss Lan!¡± She wanted to run over, but she realized that she couldn¡¯t get close to Ling Lan no matter how hard she tried.


    Ling Lan fell into deep thought and arrived beside Luo Chao in one step.


    Luo Chao looked at Ling Lan, who was just inches away from her, and the smile on her face became even brighter. She was actually beautiful beyondparison.


    ¡°Luo Chao, you¡¯ve be stronger.¡± Ling Lan raised her right hand and gently stroked Luo Chao¡¯s head. A faint glow shimmered in her eyes.


    ¡°I can¡¯t drag everyone down. Boss Lan, I defeated Ghost King,¡± Luo Chao said excitedly.


    ¡°Yes, very impressive. Luo Chao, you¡¯ve grown up and be even more impressive,¡± said Ling Lan with a smile.


    ¡°Of course. I entered the domain realm. With Brother Shiyu¡¯s agent, I became infinitely close to the imperial level. I¡¯ve used action to prove that us girls are no weaker than boys in terms of physical skills.¡± A hint of pride and excitement bloomed on Luo Chao¡¯s face. At this moment, she was excited that she had broken a historical record for humans. She had already forgotten that Boss Lan¡ªwhom she admired¡ªwas also a girl.


    ¡°Yes, Luo Chao, you¡¯re really amazing. Let everyone know that girls can also stand among the strong.¡± Ling Lan patted Luo Chao¡¯s head gently to express her approval of her.


    ¡°Boss Lan, I¡¯m very happy. I won¡¯t be a burden to you anymore.¡± The smile on Luo Chao¡¯s face slowly started to fade before disappearing.


    ¡°Boss Lan, if possible, I still want to follow you back to the Federation and take revenge together with you. I want to find the people who killed General Ling Xiao and who schemed to harm us.¡± Tears fell from Luo Chao¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°Then follow me. Don¡¯t give up.¡± Ling Lan¡¯s expression became cold.


    ¡°Boss Lan, is it really okay?¡± Luo Chao asked in a low voice as tears flowed down her face which was squeezing out a smile.


    ¡°Why not?¡± Ling Lan looked up at the endless void. ¡°I never hand myself over to my so-called fate.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Boss Lan. I understand.¡± Luo Chao seemed to have gained strength from Ling Lan and nodded vigorously.


    ¡°It seems like my time is up.¡± Luo Chao suddenly sensed something. ¡°Since you just mentioned fate, I want to ask you what fate is?¡±


    ¡°What is fate?¡± Ling Lan was stunned.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. What is fate?¡± Luo Chao¡¯s expression became dazed. ¡°Is everything we do what we want to do, or are we just being driven by fate? Is everyone¡¯s experience destined? An ending that we can¡¯t escape from?¡± For example, she had reached her end.


    ¡°Fate? Is this the destined end? If it¡¯s meant to be like this, why am I here?¡± Confusion shed across Ling Lan¡¯s eyes. From Xie Yi, her father, to Luo Chao, they had been asking her questions. On the brink of death, these questions definitely weren¡¯t that simple.


    Regret? Although every step had been arduous and daunting, she had also lived a turbulent life with freedom. Her father, Ling Xiao, had always trusted her from the beginning to the end and provided her with all kinds of protection. He was even willing to give up his life.


    Although she couldn¡¯t live openly as a girl, she used the identity of a man to obtain friends,rades, andpanions who were willing to follow her.


    Was it worth it? It was really worth it. In her previous life, she had no idea that her current life would be so turbulent. She asked herself honestly that she had yearned for freedom and the outside world to lead a thrilling and fun life when she was confined to a small hospital bed in her previous life. Now, she was satisfied with all of this.


    If this was fate, she would dly ept it. However, she was also unwilling to ept such a fatepletely.


    Ling Lan looked at Luo Chao, who was looking at her as if waiting for her answer.


    ¡°Fate has always been in our hands from the beginning,¡± said Ling Lan slowly. ¡°If it¡¯s said that we¡¯vee this far because of fate and because of fate¡¯s machination, how can we exin our choice back then?¡±


    ¡°Fate has never been a straight line. It has countless forks and countless possibilities. Your decision will lead fate to different nodes and paths.¡±


    <i>Therefore, I won¡¯t hand any of you over to so-called fate. I only believe that my fate is up to me and not the heavens.</i>


    <i>If fate wants to take away mypanions, it will also have to get my permission!</i>

 Chapter 1501 - Wait for Me

    <h4>Chapter 1501: Wait for Me</h4>


    Luo Chao smiled. ¡°So, is this your answer?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± Ling Lan reached out to wipe away Luo Chao¡¯s silent tears.


    ¡°Wait for me!¡± Ling Lan patted Luo Chao¡¯s pretty face. She abruptly turned around and left without hesitation.


    It wasn¡¯t that she didn¡¯t want to chat with Luo Chao for a while longer, but Ling Lan knew that staying here wouldn¡¯t help Luo Chao at all. Since it was futile, she might as well find an opportunity.


    Luo Chao watched as Ling Lan walked away. Her tears fell again.


    Finally, Ling Lan¡¯s figure disappeared from Luo Chao¡¯s sight. At this moment, Luo Chao smiled and said softly, ¡°Alright, Boss Lan!¡±


    With this shout, Luo Chao¡¯s entire body dispersed like a fluorescent light, reying the scene that happened in the real world. The entire space returned to its cold silence as if Luo Chao had never existed.


    Luo Chao¡¯s appearance stirred Ling Lan, but she still couldn¡¯t find her direction.


    Ling Lan stared at the quiet world again with a serious expression.


    ¡°What do you want me to understand?¡± As smart as Ling Lan was, she already understood that this path was paved by the heavens to allow her to find her ownw. Otherwise, she might be stuck here for the rest of her life, or she might disappear from this world when her life force waspletely cut off outside and when her spiritual power could no longer support her. That would be true death.


    Ling Lan took a deep breath to calm herself down and continue moving forward firmly. Since she had yet to find an opportunity, she could only continue walking until she encountered another catalyst.


    Orange Hall: Qi Long and Luo Lang were fighting Tornado Lord Xun and Rain Lord Kan. The battle between the two parties had also reached its final climax.


    The Orange Hall was no longer what it used to be. This was a world filled with violent storms. In the middle of this world, Luo Lang had a cold expression on his face. His entire body emitted thick killing intent. His two long whips hung by his sides. However, the strange thing was that no matter how strong the gale was or how intense the rain was, it could not shake him at all.


    Qi Long¡ªwho should have been fighting beside him¡ªhad disappeared.


    Likewise, there was no sign of Tornado Lord Xun and Rain Lord Kan. It was as if Luo Lang was the only person in this world.


    ¡°Fusion domain?¡± Although Luo Lang¡¯s gaze was calm, there was still a hint of seriousness.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect such a nomological skill to exist in this world. It¡¯s really an eye-opener.¡± Luo Lang¡¯s gaze turned cold, and the murderous aura around him intensified.


    ¡°The pressure from the fusion domain is getting stronger. The other party¡¯s next move should be a trump card. With our abilities, we won¡¯t be able to block it.¡± Luo Lang¡¯s gaze became sinister.


    ¡°The fusion domain boosts them to the half-step god-realm from the imperial stage, making theme infinitely close to the god-realm. The difference in our strength is too great.¡± Luo Lang¡¯s gaze became calm and indifferent again.


    ¡°The main body isn¡¯t strong enough to amodate more of our personalities.¡± A hint of regret appeared in Luo Lang¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°It¡¯s already good enough. In just a few years, we managed to amodate five people at the same time.¡± Luo Lang¡¯s eyes had a hint ofnguidness.


    ¡°Can¡¯t we resist it even with the five of usbining forces?¡± Luo Lang¡¯s eyes were bright and clear.


    ¡°The five of usbined only bring us infinitely close to the imperial stage...¡± The calm and indifferent Luo Lang mercilessly broke the illusion.


    ¡°No matter what, we have to take a gamble.¡± The bright and clear-eyed Luo Lang suddenly became determined. ¡°I want to buy time for Qi Long.¡±


    ¡°Can yourpanion really do it?¡± The calm and indifferent Luo Lang finally voiced his doubts.


    ¡°I trust him,¡± the bright and clear Luo Lang replied firmly.


    ¡°In that case, let¡¯s give it a try.¡± The calm and indifferent Luo Lang fell silent for a moment before making this decision.


    These seeminglyplicated exchanges onlysted for an instant in Luo Lang¡¯s mind.


    Luo Lang knew that whether he lived or died depended on whether he could block the other party¡¯s terrifying sure-kill technique. It was a perfectbination attack delivered by two imperial realm formidable warriors.


    ¡°Ah, I promised Xie Yi that I would live on with his wish!¡± Luo Lang suddenly roared. His domain concept increased crazily...


    Various expressions began to appear on his face, making him appear ferocious and terrifying.


    Tornado Lord Xun and Rain Lord Kan¡ªwho hadpletely fused with the wind and rain¡ªcouldn¡¯t help but be stunned when they saw this.


    Although they had been fighting for so long, they actually didn¡¯t know what the other party¡¯s domain concept was. The other party seemed to have only shown an increase in physical strength and didn¡¯t show any signs of elemental or other special domain concepts.


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